IN A week characterised by the world mourning the death of pop star Michael Jackson, I just couldn't help noticing something else.

IN A week characterised by the world mourning the death of pop star Michael Jackson, I just couldn't help noticing something else.

Suddenly there were many minibus taxis brandishing the official GauRide stickers from the recent Fifa Confederations Cup doing the rounds everywhere.

Clearly the taxi guys are proud of their participation in that prestigious soccer event.

Still on the minibuses, McCarthy Toyota in Centurion have 14-seater Quantum buses going for R249995.

The same dealer has specials on the Corolla Verso priced at R37000 less than the list price. .

Also interesting this past week was driving the new Nissan Navara 4x4 on an adventure trail for a poverty alleviation project to Kruger National Park - owned and managed by villagers in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.

Ssangyong specials have graced these pages before and the company has just gone further by offering a special package on its Kyron 4x4 that gives buyers R2000 as subsidy towards monthly instalments for 24 months.

Look out for the McCarthy Renault dealer in Pietermaritzburg. They have low prices on the Koleos 2,0 dCI 4x4 range, marking down the new price by a staggering R45000.

Moving into the interior and looking at the cheaper end of the market, Constantia VW Mastercars in Roodepoort has scored plenty of 2008 VW Polo 1,4, in various colour schemes and is selling the lot at R112995 each, a far better price than the R139000 for a new unit.