Inhaltsverzeichnis für July 2022 in Wheels

Model Jeep Grand Cherokee L Limited Engine 3604cc V6 (900), dohc, 24v Max power 210kW @6400rpm Max torque 344Nm @4000rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 2270kg 0-100km/h 8.5sec (estimated) Economy 10.6L/100km Price $87,950 On sale Now THERE WAS a time – about a decade ago – when Jeep’s Grand Cherokee was Australia’s favourite large SUV. Its seven-slot grille would regularly muscle Toyota’s Kluger and the Ford Territory out of the picture with seemingly unstoppable sales. A short time after in 2014, the company enjoyed its best year to date with more than 30,000 Australians buying in to the brand. But the new-car market is a savagely fickle place to play and things started to go downhill. The sales, it appeared, were stoppable after all. Today, Jeep is resolute in its mission…

Model Nissan Qashqai e-Power Engine 1497cc 3cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Motor Single (front axle) Max power 140kW Max torque 330Nm Transmission Single-speed reduction Weight 1635kg 0-100km/h 8.5sec (estimated) Economy 5.3L/100km Price From $40,000 (estimated) On sale Q4 2022 NISSAN DARES to do what others don’t” we’re told in a very glossy presentation. And the car you’re looking at is perhaps the most mainstream possible interpretation of the philosophy. It’s a hybrid crossover, but not as we know it. It’s a ‘disruptor’, apparently. Given Nissan’s alliance partnership with Renault, the Japanese could have easily lifted a plug-in hybrid powertrain off a shelf in France and slotted it straight into the Qashqai. But it’s gone for something quite different; a more potent development of a technology it’s popularised in Japan over the…

01 STUPENDOUS PAINTJOBS NOT MANY CAR makers are able to out-source their respray work to the likes of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. But M likes to get arty, and it has the clout. The Art Car series began in ’75 when Hervé Poulain asked artist friend Alexander Calder to use a 3.0 CSL as a canvas, and convinced M to enter it in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The series has endured ever since, its most striking examples Technicolor expressions of M’s extrovert spirit to put its dour, corporate rivals in the shade – who could forget Jeff Koons’ comet-of-colour M3? Even without fine art involvement, M’s boasted some legendary liveries: blue, violet and red-striped CSLs, Jägermeister DTM cars and Prodrive’s red and white Bastos rally M3s. And in…

M5 (E28) The modern super sedan genome starts here Engine 3453cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v Max power 210KW @6500rpm Max torque 340Nm @4500rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1430kg 0-100km/h 6.5sec (claimed) Top speed 245km/h (claimed) LEGACY Launched a thousand copycats LET’S BE clear about what the E28 M5 didn’t do first. The world’s first super sedan? A Dodge Coronet 426, Mk2 Jag 3.8 and many others would line up to set you straight on that point. BMW M’s first four-door? You could probably argue that the South African 530 MLE homologation special of 1976 nabbed that honour. Neither the MLE nor the German-built 1980 E12 M535i that came later had the M1’s 24-valve straight-six, mind, but the M635 CSi coupe did, and it was unveiled almost 18 months before the E28 M5.…

3.0 CSL (E9) Homologation rules’ gift to the world Engine 3153cc 6cyl, sohc, 12v Max power 154kW @5600rpm Max torque 285Nm @4300rpm Transmission 4-speed manual Weight 1245kg 0-100km/h 7.0sec (estimated) Top speed 220km/h LEGACY Six European Touring Car Championships M3 CSL (E46) Big shoes. Fills them Engine 3246cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v Max power 265kW @7900rpm Max torque 370Nm @4900rpm Transmission 6-speed automated manual Weight 1385kg 0-100km/h 4.9sec (claimed) Top speed 250km/h LEGACY The finest M3 ever built THE 3.0 CSL and its contemporary, the 2002 Turbo, laid the foundations for BMW’s ‘ultimate driving machine’ adventure. Along with their less powerful but still charming siblings, they pointed the way to BMW’s modern car-making template: mixing the excitement and drama of the better Italian sports sedans and coupes with the reliability and…

GENESIS G70 SHOOTING BRAKE Price as tested $81,000 (+ORC) This month 121km @10.6L/100km Overall 121km @10.6L/100km SOME PEOPLE love a good mystery, but I’m not one of them. If I watch a documentary on Stone Henge, I don’t want some beardy boffin in a tweed jacket giving me a rambling theory on how it could have been built because no-one really knows. I want a 3D computer animation showing exactly how the aliens managed to levitate those 40-tonne lintels to nestle on the uprights. Another mystery I’d like solved relates to the rear seat of the G70 Shooting Brake. How is it that the second row of a car measuring 4685mm can feel less roomy than that of a Golf or a Mazda 3? Okay, we know the inherent packaging…

CHIP DIP Major German automakers are estimating it might take until 2024 for production to normalise as microprocessor shortages continue to bite. Production continues to be constrained around the world but European and US assembly lines are especially affected, leading to long wait times for new vehicles and other flow-on effects, like a continued inflating of some pockets of the used-car market. Late May, US President Joe Biden even toured the largest semiconductor plant in the world in South Korea with the country’s president Yoon Suk-yeol, underscoring the seriousness of the ongoing issue, which is affecting multiple industries. M RACER REVEALED Is this the sexiest new race car of the last 10 years? BMW’s new M Hybrid V8 prototype has got to come close. With its sights set on America’s…

WHEN CHRIS BANGLE left BMW in 2009 to pursue a design career outside the automotive business, there was a huge sigh of relief from many of the brand’s devotees. Bangle had overseen the most significant change to BMW design since perhaps Frenchman Parl Barcq’s work on the E21 3 Series, E24 6 Series and E32 7 Series. More so, even, than Turin-born Michelotti’s Neue Klasse BMWs of the 1960s, too, which were echoed by Ercol Spada. Trouble was there was a substantial rage over what Bangle had done. Bangle was a controversial appointment when he took up the reins of BMW design in October 1992. It wasn’t that the German carmaker had replaced Deutsch designer Claus Luthe with a non-German; after all, the aforementioned French and Italian designers were pillars…

TWENTY YEARS AGO, if you wanted a fast and affordable performance car with five seats and all-wheel drive, your choice was simple: buy a Subaru WRX or a Mitsubishi Evo. Fast-forward to the present, however, and things have changed. The Evo is no more (that one still stings, doesn’t it?) and the WRX has been swamped by a hoard of hugely capable front- and all-wheel drive hatches that are quicker, quieter and more comfortable. Valiantly, Subaru rallied and the WRX’s recipe was refined and improved, but its icon status had started to wane. It felt more like a visceral throwback than the pioneer it once was, and against tech-infused rivals with slicker interiors and ‘Drift Modes’, you got the sense it was half a step behind. Now, though, we have…

ON ONLY THREE occasions in more than 100 years has BMW craned the glowing crucible from its furnaces of creation and cast the coveted CSL badge. The first took the form of the E9 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’ in 1972, the second came 32 years later in 2004 for the E46 M3 CSL, and now the company has done it again to mark the arrival of the most potent M4 in its history. A CSL is a pretty big deal. Launched at the Concorso d’EleganzaVilla d’Este in Italy, the 2022 M4 CSL has finally revealed its secrets after months of speculation, but M4 fans wanting to buy a piece of BMW M history had better have deep pockets and good contacts. Kicking off from $303,900, the new CSL is the most…

Z3 M Coupe (E37) Flamboyant looks plus old-school thrills make for cult-classic status Engine 3201cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v Max power 236kW @7400rpm Max torque 350Nm @3250rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1375kg 0-100km/h 5.3sec (claimed) Top speed 250km/h (limited) LEGACY The more conservative, less charismatic Z4 M Coupe IN MANY WAYS the M Coupe is the odd one out in this group of BMW icons. It has no motorsport pedigree, production was short-lived and objectively it was neither a commercial nor even critical success. So, why is it here? Because above all, this car is a brilliant demonstration of the M division’s vision and craft, transforming unpromising base materials into something arresting, unique and – as time goes on – highly sought after. The so-so starting point was the Z3 M Roadster,…

YIN AND YANG, dark and light, Pepsi and Coke, C-Class and 3 Series. Some dualities are eternal, and while the car world is full of classic rivalries, few are as long-lived and closely run as that of Germany’s two favourite RWD sedans. The arrival of the new-gen W206 C-Class is an opportunity to throw both of them back in the ring to resume their grudge match, but this time around the playing field will be a tad uneven. While obtaining a C200 (the ‘base’ model of the W206 family, if you can describe a $78,900 car as ‘base’), was fairly easy, securing a mechanically equivalent 320i was less straightforward. Happily, a 330i could be made available, and while its 2.0-litre turbo inline-4 is 40kW, 100Nm and 0.5L up on its…

SKODA KODIAQ RS Price as tested $67,440 (+ORC) This month 595km @10.9L/100km Overall 1192km @11.1L/100km THERE AREN’T many seven-seaters that do this. ‘This’ being SUVs that offer properly sporting levels of power and handling, while providing ample room for the kids and their friends. It’s not really a thing at this price point, and that’s what makes this new Kodiaq RS so compelling. It helps that the Kodiaq is on the smaller side of the ‘large SUV’ segment. The new mid-size Nissan X-Trail, for example, rides on a 2706mm wheelbase and measures 4681mm long; while the bigger new Pathfinder has a 2900mm wheelbase and an overall length of 5021mm. The Kodiaq, at 2791mm and 4697mm respectively, is much closer to the X-Trail in size – yet its ‘Simply Clever’ packaging…

THE MONEY maker at Mercedes-Benz used to be the E-Class sedan. As comfy as an armchair, quietly competent when you needed to get somewhere in a hurry, and built like a tank, it was for decades the heart and soul of the three-pointed star. Philosophically, it still is. But when it comes to making money at Mercedes-Benz these days, the GLC SUV is king. The GLC is the best-selling Mercedes-Benz in the world. Which is why the 2023 GLC is one of the most important new vehicles Mercedes-Benz will launch this year. Code-named X254, the 2023 GLC is built on the MRA2 vehicle architecture that underpins the C-Class, E-Class and S-Class sedans. Compared with the current model, overall length has increased by 60mm. The wheelbase has increased by 15mm to…

DUE MID ’23 SUBARU SOLTERRA Subaru and Toyota created the beguiling BRZ and 86 twins together, so here’s hoping the Solterra/Toyota BZ4X electric SUVs are just as convincing a collaboration. Combining the Latin words for sun and earth, the Solterra deploys an 80kW motor on each axle for a total of 160kW, with a 71.4kWh battery and 460km range in AWD guise. No word yet on a FWD version for Oz. DUE 2023 VOLKSWAGEN AMAROK Dust off your finest fluoro fleecie: the next Amarok is edging closer to Aussie shores. Continuing the dual-cab theme of shameless platform sharing, the new one is based on the Ford Ranger and is tipped to come in petrol and multiple diesel guises, including a turbo-diesel V6. Nothing has been revealed as yet so you’ll…

Model Genesis GV60 Performance Motors dual (front + rear) Battery 77kWh Max power 320kW Max torque 605Nm Transmission single-speed reduction Weight 2200kg 0-100km/h 4.0sec (claimed) Economy 19kWh/100km (estimated) Price $110,000 (estimated) On sale Q3 2022 PLEASE WELCOME the new Genesis GV60, brother in arms of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. Although all three cars share the same E-GMP architecture, they are quite different in character and appeal. The Ioniq 5 is the pragmatic choice – roomy, affordable, solid, comfortable, and features the same 800V fast-charging system and long-range battery. The Kia is, well, good enough to our reigning COTY. The GV60 splits the pair by trying to be… exactly what? More prestigious, for sure, notably better equipped, more stylish inside and out. Predictably, it’s also set to be…

1. CLASSY PORTRAIT 11.6-inch screen is quick, crisp and majors on functionality. HVAC controls aren’t buried in annoying sub menus (hooray!) but there’s no wireless phone charging, digital instrument cluster or head-up display. 2. SPLIT PERSONALITY Manual and CVT auto versions deploy different all-wheel drive systems. The manual has a mechanical centre LSD with a 50:50 split while CVTs boast a variable electronic centre diff with a 45:55 nominal split. 3. BETTER SERVICE The old WRX required a trip to the dealer every six months or 12,500km but Subie has increased those intervals for this new model. You now only need to visit a dealer once a year or every 15,000km. Win. KNOW THIS Aren’t you Levorg? There’s a good reason the WRX wagon feels like a different car altogether…

M1 Procar (E26) If Carlsberg did a one-make race series Engine 3498cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v Max power 345KW @6500rpm Max torque 390Nm @5000rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1265kg 0-100km/h 4.5sec (claimed) Top speed 305km/h (claimed) LEGACY Only two seasons but it burned bright. Imagine Lewis and Max battling it out in M1s today M1 (E26) M’s first road car, and its last supercar Engine 3453cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v Max power 204KW @6500rpm Max torque 330Nm @5000rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1300kg 0-100km/h 6.0sec (claimed) Top speed 260km/h (claimed) LEGACY First a flop, now a legend STEP ONE of raising your profile as a car brand: build a supercar. And since you’re BMW Motorsport GmbH (the snappy one-letter nickname isn’t official until 1991), best make one that’s a racing car as well…

M3 (E30) M’s homologation-special E30, tweaked to win in DTM and Group A Engine 2302cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v Max power 160kW @6700rpm Max torque 240Nm @4750rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1200kg 0-100km/h 6.7sec (estimated) Top speed 230km/h LEGACY Why BMW must always make a small, rear-drive M car WHEN, FINALLY, the sun sets on the combustion-engined car, the sky shifting first to a (lightly smog-smudged) orange before fading to black, the ’80s will surely go down as the type’s golden age. The combustion engine has evolved since, of course, becoming smoother, cleaner, more powerful, tougher. But for the car itself, the machine that’s capitalised on the engine’s outrageously high specific output and curious hold over the human imagination more successfully than any other, the ’80s were as good as it got.…

1-SERIES M (E82) The first turbo M car has its flaws but it’s one of the all-time greats Engine 2979cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v, twin turbo Max power 250kW @5900rpm Max torque 450Nm @1500rpm Transmission 6-speed manual Weight 1375kg 0-100km/h 4.9sec (claimed) Top speed 250km/h (limited) LEGACY The M2 FOR A CAR that nails the M division brief so perfectly – rear-wheel drive, locking diff, manual gearbox – the 1 Series M Coupe is a surprisingly off-script M car. It’s M division gone A-Team, like a crew barricaded themselves in Garching overnight armed only with angle grinders and welders, then blasted back out the next morning in a car built from gut-feel and stuff they’d found lying about inside. The 1M’s an unusual M car for several reasons. Its suspension wasn’t evolved…

MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER EXCEED Price as tested $48,629 (+ORC) This month 1136km @8.6L/100km Overall 2207km @9.2L/100km SO FAR WE’VE established the newgeneration Mitsubishi Outlander is handsome, richly equipped and significantly better to drive than its predecessor (hefty thirst and occasionally terse ride not withstanding) but this month the Mitsu faced its sternest test to date: the Inwood clan. They stood, shoulder to shoulder, like an ancient tribe prepped for battle, waiting for me to park the Outlander so they could clamber aboard. There were five in total and one wielded a pram, its driver slowly pushing it forward and back in a movement that somehow seemed malevolent. The Outlander seemed unperturbed but I was worried on its behalf. We’ve loaded it to the gunwales before with bags but we’ve never had…

IN BUSINESS SCHOOL it is sometimes taught to let others be the ‘pioneers’. Once a risk-taking product gets traction and proves there’s market appetite, you can swoop in and clean up with a rival offering that is simply better, more sharply priced, or both. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Toyota was the risktaker with its daring Prius, but it paid off – and changed the motoring world. Nobody knew what a hybrid was but suddenly here was one, claiming a rockstar 3.57L/100km for an affordable price. ‘Global warming’ was on minds and lips, and driving a Prius showed you cared. Fast-forward 16 years and with the Prius proving a smash hit – in the US in particular – the rising South Korean automotive behemoths decided they can simply do…