Table of contents for Yearbook 2023 in Wheels

AC charging LEVEL 1 AC TRICKLE CHARGING This is the most basic home or destination charging option, where you plug the car into a standard 240V AC (alternating current) socket. While convenient, this is the slowest method, offering only about 2.0kW of power through a normal 10A socket. This means it can take from four to 50 hours to charge your car, depending on the battery size. Calculating charging time is quite simple – just divide the battery capacity (kWh) by the charging rate to gain an approximate time. So, for a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with a 20kWh battery - divide that by the 2.0kW charging rate and you get about ten hours. LEVEL 2 AC FAST CHARGING There’s a quicker home option by installing a Level 2 (wall-box) charger,…

IF ALL THIS coverage of electric vehicles has got you a bit wistful for peak internal combustion, do we have a deal for you. The Wheels Modern Classics book features 20 of the finest from the ’80s, ’90s and Noughties given the star treatment. The development stories, the tips and tricks, buying advice, and never seen-before award-winning photography, all in one beautiful hardcover volume. Launched to celebrate Wheels’ 70th anniversary year, Modern Classics is available in a special offer to new subscribers. Simply take out a year’s subscription to Wheels for $120 per year (a near 30 percent saving on the cover price already), and we’ll also send you a copy of Modern Classics. That’s in addition to the digital back catalogue of every Wheels edition since 1953 and the…

WHAT HYUNDAI could achieve with this new second-generation Kona Electric, if priced right, is a dominant position in the EV market. But if the price is wrong, interest in the latest electric Korean could be swept away by China’s already successful BYD Atto 3 – along with the smaller, cheaper, but just as compelling BYD Dolphin, MG 4 and GWM Ora. Whatever those models might lack in polish or prestige, they each compensate with a strong value argument for budget-focused Aussies. Prices for the Kona are yet to be released, which makes judging its value proposition somewhat onerous. There are effectively three configurations of the Kona Electric: the base Kona Electric Standard Range with a 48.6kWh battery pack, 99kW/255Nm motor and front-wheel drive; a Kona Electric Extended Range with 64.8kWh…

TOORAK TRACTORS, Balmain Bulldozers – call ’em what you will. The big SUV has become just as much of a fixture of our better postcodes as ethical venti mistos or electric pooper scoopers. Like most vehicles that are statement purchases, their shelf lives can be incredibly short. But they represent key brand-builders for car manufacturers, while acting as mobile test beds for technology to see which features buyers find useful. The three SUVs listed here are all packed with the stuff – some of which will stand the test of time and filter down into more mainstream models, while others will have the propensity to become footnotes in Richard Porter’s ‘Boring Car Trivia Vol. 97’. Somehwat incredibly, given the likelihood of reversion to a mean, all three are markedly different.…

CHINA’S AUTO industry has grown up fast. The industry cut its teeth teaming up with (and in some cases, shamelessly copying) Western automakers to make cut-price ‘appliance’ cars. In the wake of the pandemic and rising electric-vehicle demand, however, there’s been a perfect storm brewing through which China is striding towards EV dominance. And there’s perhaps no better demonstration of this than the two affordable electric small cars you see here: MG’s excellent 4 hatch and BYD’s quirky new Dolphin. A phoenix risen from the ashes of MG-Rover’s UK demise, the MG 4 is undeniably a better hatch than what the Brits ever produced. It’s built for us in a state-of-the-art factory in Ningde, China, and caused the motoring press to sit up and pay attention when it landed locally…

SKULL-CRUSHING acceleration is no longer enough. We get it. Electric cars can accelerate quickly and once you’ve experienced something that can get to 100km/h in around three seconds, it’s not something you’ll likely be keen to repeat. Put simply, it’s not particularly pleasant. With that in mind, it’s fair to say that we’re entering a second phase of electric performance cars where handling, feedback, and all of the other measures that distinguished a sporting car in the old days of suck, squeeze, bang and blow are having to be rediscovered for a new generation of vehicles. What’s more, it’s not an easy task when hefting considerably more than two tonnes. The cars you see here (and on subsequent pages) perform that task better than many of their ilk. You expect…

“JUMP” ISN’T A word you expect to hear while driving a $1.5 million Ferrari around a circuit, yet I swear that’s what Ferrari’s test driver, who is improbably young and rakishly thin, has just said over the radio. “Be careful over the jump,” comes his ultra-cool voice from the car ahead of me, the high-pitched howl of his own SF90 XX rising in the background. “It’s extra wet here”. Spray is pouring off the back of his car, which unlike my scarlet red machine is a shade of brilliant blue, and despite his warning, the test driver doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. We slingshot through the right-hander that leads onto the bridge at Fiorano and I watch as he gases it out the other side, the bewinged…

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Volvo 940 aced ANCAP’s original crash tests. The worst for drivers? The Ford EB Falcon THE FACT THAT ANCAP was only the second new car assessment program in the world may come as a surprise to readers not clued up on the history of new car safety. Established in 1993, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program was a response to the drive for safety in the United States led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, better known as the NHTSA. In 1978, the Yanks started using crash-test dummies to evaluate the safety of vehicles going further than the 1973 standards that were more concerned about how a car survived a stack than its occupants. In Europe, luxury- and safety-conscious brands Mercedes-Benz and Volvo were innovating, bringing…

WAIT, WHAT? THE Huracán is dead? Well, not officially. But you can’t order one anymore. Sant’Agata stopped taking orders for new cars way back in May, and is concentrating on fulfilling the existing order bank of Tecnica, STO and Sterrato models – the last of which will be built in July. So if you want a new Huracán, that train has sailed, my friend. The Huracán achieved something that wasn’t always a strong point of Lamborghini. It got better and better with each passing year. It’d be easy to dismiss that as just dewy-eyed nostalgia – the creeping realisation that when this atmoV10 is gone, nothing of its ilk will be built again. Yes, there is an element of only realising what you’ve got when it’s (nearly) gone, but there’s more…

Keep it tight (no more than 200 words) and do include your suburb if via email: wheels@wheelsmag.com.au You can also have your say on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (search for Wheels Australia) “This is just what every pedestrian, cyclist and sedan owner has been waiting for: more monster trucks” MONSTERS INC ON FINISHING the article on the possible return of General Motors to Australia I had to check the date of the magazine. It was with horror that I realised this was not your April first edition. This is just what every pedestrian, cyclist and sedan owner has been waiting for; more monster (stop using full-size to describe these) trucks occupying our streets. Existing examples can’t be entered without the obligatory side step addition just so normal sized individuals can…

WILL EVS SAVE THE PLANET? IF ELECTRIC vehicles depend on unsustainable battery materials and electricity for charging, are they really any more eco-friendly than a petrol or diesel car? Environmentalists have long lobbied for the urgent transition to a ‘greener’ and decarbonised electric transportation system, to avoid billions in health costs and further global warming. On the other hand, sceptics argue EVs are worse for the planet since they have large battery packs made up resource-limited materials and are mainly charged off coal-fired electricity. Some also endorse liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a better and already well-established approach. So, which ‘side’ is right? CHARGING WITH FOSSIL FUELS IF ELECTRIC cars are charged with power from high-emitting coal-fired stations, are they worse for the environment than petrol and diesel cars? According to the…

$125 FOR A 12 MONTHS SUBSCRIPTIONS PLUS THE WHEELS MODERN CLASSICS BOOK! SCAN HERE TO SHOP NOW Phone our new Australian-based call centre on (02) 8315 2092 or visit secure.whichcar.com.au/wheels Offer valid until January 31 2023 or while stock lasts. Prices shown are in AUD and available for Australia delivery only. Discounts represent the percentage saving on cover price. Book valued at $49.99. Offer valid for new subscriptions and renewals of existing subscriptions. If you have a current print subscription, you are entitled to ANYTIME FREE digital access. Please email subscritions@wheelsmedia.com.au or phone our support team to request a login and password.…

WHICH OF THESE three cars is the best? Arriving at any sort of decision there is tough. Tesla would pose that the public has spoken via their wallets and voted overwhelmingly in favour of its increasingly common Model Y, and who are we to undermine the democratic process? Actually, it’s exactly our job to do just that. The best car on this page comes from Korea, but we could argue at length which, in the here and now of 2024, that particular model is. Whether the Hyundai Ioniq 5 or the Kia EV6 are better buys than the Tesla Model Y – a subtly different consideration – is another debating point. Of course, should your skirt fail to be blown up by any of this trio, other contenders are arriving…

Unlike the EV6, Kia has enough supply to satisfy all but the most unlikely levels of EV9 demand KIA’S GOT some brass ones these days, because its new EV9 electric SUV is big, bold, and bloody expensive. It’s also unique, for Kia and the market alike, which could result in a surprise success – even at $100k a pop. It’s here. Arriving in rapid form after its global reveal just nine months ago, Kia’s massive EV9 is now on sale in Australia. And, unlike the smaller EV6 when it launched last year, Kia has enough supply to satisfy all but the most unlikely levels of buyer interest, with an allocation of around 100 cars each month. Whether the EV9 will come close to those sorts of sales numbers remains to…

IT’S WEIRD, isn’t it? Speak to most motoring industry types and they’ll tell you that sedans are on the skids. Everybody wants an SUV, you see. Scan the ranks of electric vehicles, however, and the deepest pool of talent undoubtedly resides in that very form factor that nobody apparently wants. Go figure. There are some very worthy cars that never made the cut in our final reckoning in a sector dominated by the Tesla Model 3. Indeed, much of the challenge in this corner of the market is in delivering a product that doesn’t shamelessly ape the Model 3, but which delivers a driving and ownership experience that’s some way divergent from the noisy upstarts from Palo Alto. Indeed, there seems to be a covergence occurring. Tesla won’t admit it,…

IT’S SIX YEARS since the Hyundai i30 N emerged as a hot-hatch that finally convinced keen drivers that Korea could build a bona fide performance car. The Ioniq 5 N, however, has a different mission: to persuade highly sceptical petrolheads that an electric car can be similarly entertaining. The regular-sized five-door and the oversized hatchback – or crossover if you prefer – share a mutual project leader: Albert Biermann. There’s some full-circle symmetry, too, as where the i30 N was the German’s first N car, the Ioniq 5 N will be the 66-year-old’s last before a belated retirement. Biermann has a no-nonsense view on performance cars of the future: they will/must be electric and there’s little point mourning combustion engines. The 5 N certainly looks the part. Its stance is…

INDIA’S INDUSTRIAL agriculture giant Mahindra is sowing the seeds of global passenger-car ambition, and Australia has been targeted as particularly fertile ground. The Mumbai-based tractor manufacturer turned car maker has a strategic plan to transition from farmers’ fields to suburban driveways. And a key part is a forensic analysis of customers as it introduces a new product line – including a contemporary take on the traditional diesel ute alongside forthcoming electric vehicles. With fresh products – the XUV700 and Scorpio SUVs – recently released, the Australian arm is priming to be at the sharp end of the mothership’s global goals. The ‘Global Vision’ target – announced in October by Mahindra’s Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director and chief executive (Automotive and Farm Equipment) – is a two-and-a-half-fold increase in the automotive division’s…

IT’S A HOT-topic question. Indeed, the growing interest in electric vehicles is being demonstrated by increasing sales – mainly led by the strong supply and value equation Tesla and BYD models – alongside new EV options reaching the Australian market that are driving down prices. With more models to choose from and expanding national charging infrastructure, should your next car be all-electric? Finally, for many buyers, the answer is probably “yes”… with some caveats. So far in 2023, a total of 56,922 electric vehicles have been sold in Australia to the end of August. That’s almost quadrupled compared to the same period last year – and is now the third best-selling powertrain behind petrol and diesel. Yet, it’s still small bikkies in a total annual new car market of a…

WHAT ARE the different types of batteries in today’s electric cars? Electric vehicle batteries are the key source of juice to power the drive unit, but not all are the same. Conventional EV battery packs are made up of blocks of modules, which contain cells within them (either pouch, prismatic or cylindrical shaped). Structural batteries are also emerging that embed cells within the vehicle chassis – eliminating the need for space-wasting module enclosures. Cells are made up of a cathode (positive terminal), an electrolyte and separator, and anode (negative terminal). In plain terms, charged particles (ions) need to move from cathode to anode via the electrolyte when charging – and vice versa when discharging – in order to get electrons to go around the battery between cathode and anode current…

THEY’RE OFTEN USED for shorter journeys, largely in urban or suburban areas, and there’s little to no penalty for a bit of added underfloor ride height. That’s why the small SUV would appear to be one of the finest exemplars of the benefits of full electrification. It might seem strange, then, that consumer choice has, until very recently, been spotty at best. That’s largely due to consumer price sensitivity in this particular sector, where margins have traditionally been tight and competition among established ICE contenders intense. Convincing buyers to pay a significant premium for an electric alternative has, thus far, proven an uphill task. You need only look at the 47 percent price increase from a Kia Niro hybrid to a Niro EV in equivalent S trim to appreciate why…

AFTER MYRIAD delays (including that issue of wheel nuts coming loose), Toyota has finally confirmed that its first electric vehicle, the BZ4x, will hit Australian shores in February 2024. And it will do so in a mildly updated form, sporting ‘BEV’ badging and improved cold-weather charging prowess. When we were invited to Japan for a preview of Toyota’s electric future – or, rather, the battery-electric vehicles it believes will form just one part of a multi-powertrain future involving plug-in and series-parallel hybrids, sustainable fuels, and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles – a BZ4x was provided for us to sample around a technical off-road course. It’s the same loop of Nagoya’s Sanage Adventure Field (bar two particularly technical sections) used for the Japanese launch of the 300 Series LandCruiser in August 2021,…

ON THE FACE of it, you’d think small hatches would be one of the very first genres to migrate successfully to electric power, but anyone looking at the market as a whole in the past few years will have seen it atrophying. The reason? There’s little to no profit margin in these cars. Electrification could change that as manufacturers charge more for vehicles which Bloomberg predicts will be cheaper to build than ICE vehicles by 2026. That’s only part of the equation, however, as manufacturers need to claw back the sunk costs of research and development, all of which are built into the sticker price of an electric hatch. That’s part of the reason why, as we approach equality in build cost, an EV will continue to be priced higher…

NOTHING EXEMPLIFIES the growth of Mahindra & Mahindra since the end of WW2 more than its advanced R&D facilities in multiple cities around India. Key to the product and development of its products are the Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) near Chennai and the new Mahindra SUV Proving Track (MSPT) some 50 kilometres away. The MRV is located within the 1626-hectare Mahindra World City, which is also home to the Indian operations of other global automotive companies. MRV houses Mahindra’s product development and testing facilities for everything from electronics, powertrains, chassis development, safety, ergonomics and acoustics. It’s a cutting-edge facility that allows Mahindra to compete with the world’s leading automotive brands. The MSPT was modelled on the IDIADA test facility in Spain, long considered to be the best in Europe and…

PRICE Recommended retail figure at time of publication (asterisk indicates driveaway price) ENGINE TYPE L, in-line; V, vee; F, flat. Number of cylinders. T, turbo; S, supercharged; D, diesel; H, hybrid; E, electric SIZE Litres or kWh POWER kW TORQUE Nm TRANSMISSION M, manual; A, auto; D, dual-clutch; C, CVT WEIGHT Kerb, kg 0-100 km/h, acceleration in seconds (Wheels as-tested figures in italics) FUEL CONS Consumption in litres, or kWh, per 100km RON Octane of fuel required, as numbered, or D for diesel RESALE percent, 3-year resale in Glass’s ISSUE TESTED month/year DRIVE A, all-wheel; F, front; R, rear. Any figure in bold is our own estimate. ALFA ROMEO – BMW BMW – FORD FORD – HYUNDAI HYUNDAI – KIA KIA – MASERATI MASERATI – MERCEDES-BENZ MERCEDES-BENZ – MITSUBISHI MITSUBISHI -…