Publications
Partners
Who doesn’t like a bit of fantasy or role-play? Especially if your costume is made from the finest, body-hugging leather. Justus Visagie tries the new BMW on for size
BMW 730d
R1 443 000
It had arrived and so did we. It was very deep blue in colour. The leather seats were a chocolate tan colour and they can ventilate your hide with built-in fans.
In fact, there was a lobola of leather stretched over the interior. The metallic switchgear and machined covers of the Bowers & Wilkins speakers were of metal, not chromed plastic.
I pressed the start button and the long turbo six-cylinder breathed deeply.
We were about to depart on a little diplomatic mission to Maliba Lodge, a five-star hotel and spa in Lesotho.
In her figure-hugging dress and large sunglasses, my companion, the psychiatrist, effortlessly channelled Die Antwoord’s Rich Bitch, whether she intended to or not.
Our land yacht gently carried us from Saxonwold to Bloemfontein and on to Ladybrand. It was autumn, but rain had brought the veld to spectacular life. We viewed it through the car’s thick, isolating windows, as if through a bank teller’s bulletproof glass.
The BMW’s frugal diesel engine didn’t need sustenance, but we did. The psychiatrist dialled Living Life Station Café into the sat-nav, but it led us into an informal settlement with near-impossible roads, so we turned around and got old-fashioned directions instead.
At the border post I disembarked to have our passports stamped. The psychiatrist sat immobile in the BMW 730d. My eyes couldn’t separate her from the car. Onlookers gasped softly or whistled under their breaths.
We drove lazily along a crowded road. Carts and high school kids flowed around the yacht’s bow. At a T-junction, we turned left and suddenly it felt as if we had the country to ourselves.
I’ve never seen Lesotho look so fine. It was greener than the eastern Free State, and the sandstone cliffs higher and more dramatic. They were glowing in the late-afternoon sun and the moon rose against a deep blue sky. We had gone through the looking glass.
The big BMW confidently negotiated the ever-twistier road. It was dark when we reached Maliba. We checked in, listened to quite a long briefing and had a decent dinner. Staff members were professional, warm and almost regal. We were charmed.
The next morning, we walked a scenic detour to the main building. To cross a stream, we jumped from stone to stone like kids. I puffed up the hill and we walked out on to the deck where towering, emerald-green mountains with faraway waterfalls awaited us. This was the view I had come for and nothing could have prepared me for its beauty.
We spent the whole day there, only retiring to the dining room for superb mushroom soup and ostrich fillet with grilled vegetables and creamy mash. We rounded off our stay at Maliba with a massage in the spa and then set sail for reality.
So, this car, then. It’s almost as much of a delight as our stay was. It’s filled with so much tech that it will take years to discover or master all of it. Like the timer that will start the air-con before you get in. Or the gesture-controlled infotainment system, which I couldn’t master, looking like a wizard whose spell doesn’t work.
It’s lighter than its predecessor, but still feels heavy and not nearly as satisfying to drive (if you’re an enthusiast) as the BMW 330d or X6. I was also disappointed by the limited legroom in the back, considering its size. It’s not cramped back there, but if you’re tall, the person in front of you has to sit quite close to the dashboard. The solution for this is to acquire the stretched 750Li at R2 million, or the stretched 320d GT luxury auto for R567 000.
On our way home, we stopped at KFC. The car and the psychiatrist looked (and were) out of place. “Do you still make Rounders?” she whispered to the cashier.
Visagie was a guest of Maliba Lodge. For more info, visit maliba-lodge.com
