Table of contents for November 2018 in Wheels

Be warned, however: further irritation may ensue. While we have indeed driven it (finally!), the review on p56 isn’t of the production-ready car, but a camouflaged testing mule still undergoing final engineering sign-off. This has me genuinely worried. Not because our early taste was underwhelming – Ryan Lewis’s review shows there’s plenty of goodness lurking beneath that bamboozling paintwork and felt-covered cabin – but because by the time it finally arrives next year, the risk is that the Supra could have successfully and spectacularly executed the automotive equivalent of jumping the shark. By the time it finally arrives, Supra may have done the automotive equivalent of jumping the shark We’ve seen this before, of course. Drawn-out and agonisingly protracted vehicle-reveal schedules are nothing new. But while manufacturers the world over…

Porsche has put its Mission E concept from 2015 on display in Sydney in preparation for its first fully electric production vehicle, the Taycan, arriving in Australia. Due to land in 2020, Porsche Australia is currently taking ‘expressions of interest’, backed by a refundable $2500 deposit – despite a lack of guidance regarding price or standard spec for the new model. A fast-charging network in eastern states and parts of WA will be pivotal to the roll-out plan for the Taycan’s local debut, but Porsche is yet to announce its charge-provider partner.…

The EV with the longest range in Australia is poised to be a ...Kia. The all-new, all-electric e-Niro small SUV was revealed at last month’s Paris motor show, and the headline stat is its promised range. Even on the stricter WLTP cycle, the e-Niro offers a combined range of 485km, and up to 615km in urban environments. Both of those figures are further than the claimed range of the Jaguar I-Pace, Audi E-Tron, Mercedes-Benz EQC and Tesla P100D Model S and X siblings, despite the Kia packing a smaller 64kWh battery...…

When Jason Bargwanna stepped down from the DSO role at the end of 2016, a controversial rule went with him – the redress. However, despite its removal from the rulebook, Baird says that redress is still a concept that can have a place in the sport: “It’s not a rule, but we have an agreement that drivers can address something themselves, but only if it’s a one-on-one situation.” By limiting the scope of when a redress is implemented, Baird hopes it prevents repeats of incidents like the controversial end to the 2016 Bathurst 1000.…

When the 2019 Supercars championship starts in the searing heat of Adelaide in late February next year, Craig Baird will have a new tool at his disposal that makes his current information-gathering systems seem outdated. It’s called Hawkeye, and at the time of print it will have just undergone its second trial run at an event. The system will allow Baird to access every single camera at the track, including those onboard each car, and trackside for the broadcast, at any time, even if they aren’t recording. Hawkeye allows Baird to timestamp incidents during a race, and watch them back from multiple angles at the same time, frame-by-frame. Fibbing drivers beware.…

Tesla’s eccentric frontman Elon Musk has been forced to limit his powers and pay a large fine following a settlement deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over security fraud charges. The American regulator sued Musk over tweets claiming he had sourced funding to take Tesla private, at $420 a share. An investigation revealed this to be false. The settlement deal allows Musk to remain as the CEO, but he must step down as Chairman and pay a US$10 million fine. Tesla will also pay a US$20 million penalty as part of the settlement.…

This is largely due to policies that encourage people to make the switch which are broadly supported by all of the country’s political parties. Though EV sales are now booming in Norway, their share back in 2011 was between one and two percent. The government’s decision to use its system of car taxes to make EVs more or less cost-competitive with fossil fuel-burners has been so successful that car makers are now fretting about their ability to keep up with demand. Norway makes it easy to imagine becoming an EV owner, but which EV would I actually buy? The reason for my latest visit was to spend time in what is currently Norway’s best-selling car, the second-generation Nissan Leaf, which went on sale there in February. It will eventually reach…

A new Neo Sport model grade (which replaces the old entry-level Neo) gains a reversing camera, which is now standard across the range, along with Mazda’s MZD infotainment system. Maxx Sport and model grades above also score a pair of cup holders in the folding rear armrest, while the flagship Akari now includes a 360-degree camera and adaptive cruise control. Pricing has jumped by roughly $1000 across the range, though Mazda has introduced keen drive-away pricing for all variants, starting at $23,990 for a manual Neo Sport.…

So what differentiates the LT1 engine from the LS3, which was the last atmo 6.2-litre V8 used by HSV in 2016? In a word, plenty. The current (gen-5) LT1 made its debut in the 2014 C7 Corvette, improving efficiency with direct injection and variable valve timing, as well as cylinder-shutdown tech that allows it to run as a V4 on a light throttle at highway speeds. There’s also greater sophistication in the lubrication system, utilising more efficient variable-rate oil pumps compared to the LS-series engines. Only a handful of parts are shared between LT1 and LS3.…

Rainey & Turn 10 You lose another 35m of elevation in the next fourth-gear left, Rainey, where the circuit sheds camber as it tightens and your car feels like it’s being pulled to the outside wall. A fast, banked right is next, in fourth, the track seeming to catch the car as you bend in the wheel. Turn 11 Tight left precedes start-finish straight, with a wall right up against the apex curbing. Even prototypes crawl here, rarely doing more than 80km/h – so slow it feels like you’re walking. Patience helps here, as it does with Laguna generally. Start & Turn 1 Turn 1 doesn’t get a name but no one who’s been through it in anger will ever forget it. Porsche 935s hit 225km/h through Laguna’s first and…

Yuppie flew The Yuppie is born – the young upwardly mobile professional. Well, they were already in cities, but thanks to Chicago journo Dan Rottenberg, now we had a word for highly paid, self-absorbed young suits. Dack is back Aussie rock royalty AC/DC release their seventh album Back in Black, signifying the band’s return with Brian Johnson after original frontman Bon Scott died earlier in the year after a bender. Banked oval Johnny Rutherford wins the Indy 500 in Jim Hall’s Chaparral racer. The team went on to win the 1980 Indy Series; Chapparal, with its origins in the ’60s, inspired ’70s-era ground effect Formula 1 cars.…

How long has Toyota been teasing us with the Supra? Murmurs of a fifth-gen car first surfaced way back in 2007, but really gathered steam in 2011 when the 86’s chief engineer, Tetsuya Tada, confirmed Akio Toyoda had asked him to oversee the project. Joint development with BMW began in 2012 (the Supra shares its platform, engine and much of its electrical architecture with the new Z4), before the swoopy FT-1 concept car appeared at the 2013 Detroit show. Since then Toyota has been annoyingly coy, hyping the Supra but divulging very little of interest. Interestingly, BMW has been much more upfront with the Z4. We’ve already seen it in full and are driving the production car next issue.…

Porsche debuted the 935 in 1976, and it quickly became a force to be reckoned with in Europe and abroad. By 1978 its competitive edge was beginning to wane, leading to a third iteration focused singularly on Le Mans. An 845hp (621kW) water-cooled 3.2-litre engine was developed, and proved monstrously fast (367km/h down the Mulsanne in qualifying was unmatched) but trouble in the race meant eighth was the best Schurti and Stommelen could manage. It mattered little, as by then the legend of Moby Dick was established.…

As for repeat offenders, Baird says tensions are heightened in the lower-half of the field, where ultra-competitive drivers try every trick in the book not to be last. “My problem in this office, is from 20th position to the back – no one wants to be there,” he says. Adding to that is Simona DeSilvestro’s presence, who, as the only female on the grid, has suffered a trial by fire, flamed by fragile male egos. “No one wants to come back and say they got beaten by a girl. But I’m telling them, they’d better get used to it, because she can drive,” says Baird.…

What is it? A revolutionary new electricity storage system by French technology startup NaWa which uses nano carbon engineering to far exceed conventional capacitor performance. By coupling the high-efficiency units with more conventional lithium-ion batteries, the company has created a hybrid energy storage device with enormous potential for electric vehicles. How does it work? Conventional capacitors offer a superior charge and discharge rate compared with existing battery technology, but NaWa’s innovation uses pioneering carbon nano-tube technology to offer charging and discharging five times faster than the best conventional capacitors. While batteries rely on a relatively slow chemical reaction to store and then recover electrical energy, the ultra-capacitors use vertically aligned carbon nano-tubes with a secret coating to physically separate protons and electrons without chemistry. When required, the capacitors can release…

While ‘hydrogen in water out’ fuel cells sound simple and good, dig a bit deeper and hydrogen faces many challenges as a ‘clean’ fuel for light vehicles, especially in Australia. Most hydrogen is currently cracked from gas in a high energy-consuming and high CO2-producing process. The only way to produce hydrogen cleanly is to produce it from water using renewable energy. This uses a lot of water and a lot of energy. This is governed by the laws of chemistry and physics and will not change. It then needs to be compressed or liquefied (using energy) and transported through what would be new, and expensive, nationwide hydrogen distribution infrastructure. And fuel cells are only 50 percent efficient, so in the end the consumer ends up paying a lot for energy…

That was five years ahead of Sweden – where the three-point belt had been invented – 13 years ahead of the UK, and a full 19 years in front of those carefree Italians. In the USA, several states still won’t issue fines for non-use of a belt unless another offence is also being committed. One, New Hampshire, doesn’t require them to be fastened at all; maybe the state motto of ‘Live Free Or Die’ should be amended with ‘head first, through the windscreen.’ But nearly 50 years on, our interest in safety is in danger of becoming an obsession. Arguing against the work of the Australasian New Car Arguing against ANCAP regs might seem like lobbying for a ban on kittens – who doesn’t want safer cars? Assessment Programme might…

In terms of the segment into which it lands, the AMG honchos must be cackling with delight. Rivals from BMW and Audi – the M6 Gran Coupe and RS7 Performance – are both in their twilight days, with replacements still some time away. Which really only leaves Porsche’s Panamera, which, in Turbo guise, is well down on outputs, and about $90,000 more expensive. The Turbo S E-Hybrid has AMGrivalling stonk, but costs a whopping $460,000. ‘Open goal’ is the term that springs to mind.…

The LED matrix headlights on the new Continental GT are said to be modelled on the look of expensive lead crystal glasses. We all love a bit of bling, but the lights offer a functional edge, utilising the LED matrix tech as seen on high-end Audis. Bentley claims you’ll be able to use high beam 80 percent more than before, and it’ll even recognise pedestrians and keep them in a cone of low-beam light. The lights are just part of a suite of tech in the car that sees it fitted with 100 ECUs and over 8km of cabling.…

So how, exactly, do you get a ticket from the fuzz when you’re parked by the side of a road with no speed limit? The Manx police had complaints about high speeds and marginal overtaking from Mono drivers. Not guilty: I’d been driving at pedestrian speeds for the photography on these pages. This made me easy to catch. An officer had been dispatched to find someone in a Mono to give a ticket to, and I was a sitting duck. My car had no front number plate, but at just £60 and without penalty points, I cheerfully accepted his ticket for it. He asked if he could snap the car for the force’s social media feeds; I agreed, if we could photograph him for the story. A cautionary post appeared…

A solar attenuating windscreen sounds a good idea. Especially if, as is the case with this vehicle, there’s so much glass overhead that at times it feels like you’re perambulating about in a mobile propagator. Only issue with the ’screen is that it appears to block not only UV but also any attempts to open either the gate at work or my garage at home with a remote key fob. Hanging an arm out the window seems to be a workaround, but I’m unconvinced the benefits outweigh the downsides.…

One of the biggest advantages of our old 6 has been the hatchback bodystyle and its vast 510-litre cargo capacity. The ability to easily throw luggage and bulky prams in the back has been a huge positive. Mazda’s decision to axe the hatch for its third generation 6 was a disappointment to say the least, but I’m looking forward to lobbing gear into the wagon’s 506-litre cargo bay – and that’s with the cargo blind in place. Ditch that and there is easily another 100 litres available.…

PORSCHE Motorsport has celebrated its 70th by once again throwing off the shackles and casting the rulebook aside to showcase the extent of its engineering nous. Following the 919 Evo record-breaker, Porsche’s racing division has now created an outrageous, unrestricted 911-based tribute to the iconic 935. Bearing the same three-digit nameplate and the Martini livery of its 1978 forebear, the modern day 935 is a 515kW single-seat track weapon built on the GT2 RS, and unmistakably styled to mimic the car better known as Moby Dick. The project was developed in complete secret, and met with genuine astonishment from an unsuspecting crowd when revealed last month at Rennsport Reunion, a Porsche motorsport festival in the United States. “It’s unbelievable the feedback that we got from the fans. It was a…

“We will never build a Googlebox, a shitty car” STAR of this year’s Paris Show? That’s easy. Yet Peugeot’s e-Legend coupe provided a very different take on EV autonomy to most. “All car manufacturers when they talk about autonomous driving and electrical cars, they try to do something super futuristic, eventually science fiction-esque, you know?” muses Peugeot’s design director, Gilles Vidal. “Science fiction always shows us a scary future. There’s no happy science fiction movie. I looked actually. They’re all dark in one way or another. The future delivered to us in this way is always a bit weird. The future can be super-emotional, interesting, bright. Let’s not fear autonomous driving as a loss of something because it will be delightful in many ways. Let’s create a concept that pushes…

The long-term fate of the Kia Stinger could be in doubt if sales expectations aren’t met in difficult markets. “Whether there will be a replacement [Stinger] is too early to say,” Kia’s head of design Gregory Guilliame told Aussie media. “Time will tell, it’s still a bit early but America needs to do volume. They need to sell the car,” Guilliame added. While Australians remain enthusiastic for the twin-turbo sedan, supply constraints at a factory level have limited sales, with a three month wait for V6 models.…

The Holden VH Commodore that Peter Brock drove to Bathurst glory in ‘82 and ’83 sold at a Lloyds auction last month for $2.1 million, making it one of the most expensive Australian cars ever sold. Only one other chassis has won Bathurst twice – HRT’s ‘Golden Child’ in ‘01,’02. The ‘Last of the Big Bangers’ Bathurst winning Group C VK Commodore from 1984 also crossed the block, with a final sale price of $850,000. A Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III also sold for $800,000 at the same auction, with a claim to fame of being driven by Brock at Bathurst for a Wheels feature.…

A Toyota Supra range expansion is being planned, potentially bringing lighter, faster, cheaper and more engaging variants. Toyota engineers are looking at ways to deliver more of what enthusiasts are begging for. “Everything is still open. For example, transmission; we are studying a manual transmission. A bigger engine, or a smaller engine, lighter version, track edition – this is all now ongoing,” the Supra’s assistant chief engineer, Masayuki Kai, told Wheels. A Gazoo Racing version could potentially slice 100kg off the circa 1500kg kerb weight of the regular model.…

HIGHLIGHTS SUVs, with sales of 41,420 units, now represent the largest proportion of overall vehicle sales, at 43.7 percent. The tally saw the segment grow by 6.2 percent, with small SUVs contributing much of the gain, with growth of 25.7 percent for the month (2711 units) and 24.7 percent year-to-date. Light commercials, encompassing dual-cab utes, remain up 2.3 percent YTD, though were down 1.8 percent in September. LOWLIGHTS: Despite the continued growth of the SUV segment, total national monthly sales were down 5.5 percent in September, compared with the same month last year. Bad news? Not really. On the back of five record years, a decline is just part of a normal market cycle. Passenger car sales represented one third of the total market in September, with a tally of…

You’d think Australia would be insulated from emissions legislation in Europe, but we likely won’t be. Last month, Europe’s parliament voted to increase emissions regulations in its member nations – a move that would see average vehicular CO2 emissions in 2030 drop by 40 percent relative to the already strict 2021 target. The proposed limit for 2030 is a mere 38g of CO2 per km for passenger cars. The knock on effect will likely be a rapid proliferation of EVs, PHEVs and hybrids through model ranges, which are sure to make their way Down Under.…

They say time waits for no man, but American singer-songwriter Tom Waits’ drummer Shelly Manne was reportedly not the most punctual band member so, on at least one occasion, Tom did in fact wait for Manne. In recognition of Masafumi Ishikawa’s Lexus Design Award-winning timepiece, Lexus is putting this ultra-minimalist World Clock into production. Pricing has not yet been finalised, but as it is constructed using the same carbonfibre sheet found in the highest-performance Lexus models, you can bet it won’t be cheap. An arrival date is also unconfirmed but it will be worth the wait. Lexus World Clock $TBC craftedforlexus.com Generally speaking, hardback books tend to be more expensive than softbacks. So it shouldn’t be surprising that when you bind a book in leather, encase it in…

CAN WE talk about good decisions? The success of the third and latest generation Bentley Continental GT hinges on just one. Surprisingly, it’s a decision that so many Grand Touring class cars get wrong and if – as Bentley is – you’re intent on defining the best grand tourer in the world, it’s the fundamental building block of the car. That single attribute you need to nail is ride quality. It’s as simple as that. The Continental GT’s trump card is the polar opposite of a sub-eight Nurburgring lap time. Dial the diamond-knurled drive selector switch into Comfort and it rides better than any Continental GT before it. The reason for that is the new three-chamber air spring design that delivers 60 percent more air volume and a wider range…

The standard four-wheel-steering system can feel odd at times. It pulls the usual trick of turning the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the fronts at slow speeds (by up to 2.7 degrees) before moving in-phase (turning up to 1.0 degree) as the velocity increases, but unlike other, more subtle systems, the effect in the Megane is pronounced. It never feels nervous, but the eagerness of the chassis to turn can feel unnatural until you learn to trust that the grip is there.…

It’s a shame that the 2.0-litre flat-four, manual gearbox and turbos in both petrol and diesel guises have been dropped for this fifth-generation, SK-series Forester. However, the Japanese firm is planning to introduce several petrol-electric hybrid variants over the next two years, to help broaden the Forester’s performance potential as well as improve its economy. Hands up who’d also love to see a basic, utilitarian manual version as per the original series? Just me, then? Righto.…

FIFTY YEARS ago, a French car was en route to victory in a mammoth event set up to showcase the British and Australian motor industries. The 1968 London-to-Sydney Marathon, the first and still greatest of the ultra-marathon car races (not rallies), was a gift to the car makers from Britain’s leading newspaper, The Daily Express. Its proprietor, Sir Max Aitken, a Battle of Britain fighter ace, was staunchly supporting Britain’s isolationist policies against a massive push to join the European Common Market – and a win by an Austin, Ford Cortina or even a Hillman would be a huge call to arms. But on the last night of competition, after more than 16,000 competitive kilometres over just 10 moving days (do the maths), a French car was leading, followed by…

Idly sitting in traffic on the way into work, I was given to admiring the rear three-quarter view of a three-door 2012 Kia Rio, before the penny dropped and I realised that both the Rio and the Velar’s lines were the work of the same person, Massimo Frascella, who’s resume also covers stints at Bertone and Ford. That’s enough to forgive him his choice of first car, a red Austin Metro that he binned after two weeks, subsequently redeeming himself by buying a Lancia Beta Coupe.…

The Mazda’s infotainment system and my iPhone have had an unsteady relationship thus far. On the first few drives the 6 has displayed a message reading ‘Unable to connect to Bluetooth audio’ yet has connected for phone calls. At first I put it down to flaky electronics, but no Mazda vehicle I’ve driven has shown an issue previously, so now the blame is solely on my iPhone. While the connection issues have mostly vanished for now, Mazda’s plans to install Apple CarPlay will be a welcome addition.…

Motoring writers, having driven just about everything on wheels, still love acting out the game, most frequently at dinners after new-model launches and preferably with a couple of equally passionate designers or product planners. I still play the game with enthusiast friends, despite knowing that the vagaries of mood mean today’s carefully considered selection may not survive into the morrow. In late 1979, as editor, I decided the subject deserved a magazine feature. Five Wheels contributors were asked: If you could have any six cars in the world, what six would find a place in your garage? Each was given what I thought was a realistic word count: 750. Or 3750 words in total, so a serious feature. Trouble was nobody wrote to length. Bill Tuckey, bless him, submitted over…

1 Hit repeat The Speedster formula has reappeared with 911 3.2 (1989), 964 (1992), 997 (2010), and two special-build 993s for Butzi Porsche (1995) and Jerry Seinfeld (1998). A 991 version was shown at the 2018 Paris show. 2 Quick lil’ bastard James Dean was an early Speedster customer, collecting a white 1500 S from Competition Motors Hollywood in March 1955 – and winning his maiden race in it. 3 Long holiday James Dean’s Speedster 1500 S, chassis 80126, was rediscovered in May this year, having been in the south of France for at least 20 years. 4 Wright’s stuff The Speedster had a heck of a venue for its debut: Max Hoffman’s New York showroom, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. 5 Power surge Trickest Speedster? From late-1955 Porsche produced…