Endurance tests

Every now and then you'll here that some or other motor manufacturer is doing an endurance test on their vehicles. Usually this takes the form of taking a couple of their vehicles, and driving it at constant high speeds over long distances.

These endurance test probably serve a function to the sort of person who drives his vehicle in town most of the time, and goes on holiday no more than a couple of hundred kilometers away from home. It is lost on me though. At one point I used to drive to Windhoek in Namibia twice yearly. This is a distance of 1500km, which I would normally complete in a single day, usually driving between 120 and 140km/h. Of course I am not doing the high speeds those endurance guys are doing, but I've done this to my vehicles on so many occasions that it surely proves the reliability of the vehicle more than those endurance tests.

I heard this story form a friend: A couple of Japanese people came to South Africa at one point to test a vehicle. The test called for testing it at no more than 60km/h on a gravel road. While they were doing this, that had a jaw-dropping moment as a farmer raced past in an old model Hilux, doing well over a hundred. Apparently, or so I am told, they were equally amazed at what taxi drivers do with those Hi-Aces!

Ja, these Toyotas are tough! Not only the Toyotas though. Almost any modern vehicle is an amazing piece of engineering.