Inhaltsverzeichnis für March 2021 in Wheels

HOLDEN SPECIAL VEHICLES was set to become General Motor’s global performance car division at the start of the millennium. Wheels can now reveal details of a top-secret plan where HSV’s parent company, TWR, was set to expand its footprint across the Pacific and repeat the successful model it had established with Holden in Australia to create a range of high-performance models for global GM brands such as Chevrolet and Cadillac. In an exclusive interview for a feature story in this issue (p54), former HSV Chairman John Crennan confirms that in 2002 he was in the final round of negotiations with GM heavyweights, including then-GM North American Chairman Bob Lutz, to relocate to Detroit and manage the proposed US-based division. “The plan was to set-up an off-line facility in Detroit and…

MODERN CARS HAVE many ways of saving your life. Take your eye off the road for a second and semi-autonomous technology will keep you in your lane or hit the brakes. Make a bigger error and active safety systems such as electronic stability control will do everything they can to prevent a collision and, in the event of an unavoidable crash, passive safety tech including airbags will maximise your chances of walking away. But the next generation of cars will extend your life expectancy not just when the unforeseeable happens, but every time you climb aboard. Health-monitoring technology is the next big advancement in occupant protection and comfort, and it has numerous real-world benefits. Software and the computing power of ultra-fast processors, along with highly sensitive sensors, are pioneering new…

SEE IF YOU answer “yes” to any of the following: You can recall a little bloke with large eyebrows called John Howard running the country. You saw Independence Day on DVD. You got your bounce on to ‘California Love’ by Tupac when it first hit the FM airwaves. If there were at least a couple of nods in there, it’s probable you were around when the February 1996 issue of Wheels hit the stands. It was, of course, the magazine’s COTY issue, and to save you true loyalists from rifling through your back issues, I’ll remind you that the Mitsubishi TE Magna won. The relevance of this? Well, 1996 was the last time Wheels’ COTY was held at the vast Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) facility near Anglesea on Victoria’s…

AUDI E-TRON Ingolstadt’s all-new EV SUV has proved itself in previous testing to be a brilliantly refined and swift contender. Its range doesn’t break any new boundaries, though, and it will need to overcome high prices and the slightly underwhelming standard spec of the entry-level 50 quattro model. VARIANTS ON TEST: 50 quattro; 55 quattro BMW 4 SERIES To date, more notorious for its front-end styling rather than its outright abilities, but COTY could change that. Chassis and powertrains are brilliantly sorted in both variants, and packaging is strong for a coupe. M440i xDrive is a junior M4, so really, anything could happen. VARIANTS ON TEST: 420i Coupe; M440i xDrive Coupe FORD ESCAPE Proved just how quick and capable it is from last issue when it went head to head…

“Excellent, but doesn’t move the segment forward by any margin”ALEX INWOOD Variants tested 50 quattro, 55 quattro First Edition As-tested prices $140,450, $161,900 Warranty 3-year unlimited km TARDY TO THE EV party – especially for a brand endlessly spruiking Vorsprung Durch Technik – the e-tron is Audi’s delayed response to the established Tesla Model X and Jaguar I-Pace, as well as 2020’s COTY-winning Mercedes-Benz EQC. No pressure, then. Based on Audi’s MLB Evo architecture underpinning most models from the A4 up, it’s also the entrée to a buffet of upcoming EVs, with most expected to switch to an all-new specific platform still under development. Like the EQC then, the e-tron SUV and its swoopier Sportback twin (imagine an electrified BMW X6 rival) aren’t strictly bespoke, although – incredibly – the…

“Diesel six is nicely refined; easily the pick of the engines”ASH WESTERMAN Variants tested 2.5T 2WD, 3.0D AWD, 3.5T AWD Luxury As-tested prices $90,600, $103,600, $120,600 Warranty 5-year unlimited km THERE’S MORE THAN a whiff of new beginning to the Genesis GV80. Years after dipping its toe into the Aussie market with slow-selling big sedans, it feels as though the cavalry is finally arriving in the form of two much-needed SUVs. The broad shouldered and imposing GV80 is the first to launch (a smaller and more affordable GV70 is due later this year) and it’s clear Genesis has gone all-in to lure buyers away from established rivals like the Audi Q7, BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE. Pretty much everything is new. Riding on the fresh ‘M3’ platform which is stiffer…

“Fancy A-Class bits’n’ bobs let down by (obvious) penny-pinching stuff”TIM ROBSON Variants tested 250 4MATIC, AMG 35 4MATIC As-tested prices $80,560, $96,285 Warranty 5-year unlimited km ON THE FACE of it, the Mercedes GLB is an answer to a question nobody seems to have asked. Yet, in some ways, the self-consciously dorky/ultra-cool (please choose) SUV might just be the most convincing of all the current crop of front-wheel-drive-based Benzes. Spun off the MFA2 architecture introduced by the existing A-Class hatchback in 2018, the GLB is a tall-bodied, high-riding three-row premium SUV, with styling that references the massive full-sized GLS, with a hint of G-Class Geländewagen attitude added in. As the ‘B’ implies, the newcomer fits between two popular SUVs – the GLA crossover and the much-larger GLC. And when you…

“Pushes the safety envelope for the segment … and the tech envelope with the hybrid”ALEX INWODD Variants tested Ascent Sport CVT, ZR Hybrid, GR As-tested prices $24,130, $33,050, $50,000 Warranty 5-year unlimited km THE YARIS has grown so sophisticated it sparked a philosophical debate about pricing versus value. Just in case you missed the big news, the base grade now costs $7000 more than before at $22,130, while the flagship ZR is now nearly $10K heavier on your wallet. Buyers are already voting with their feet. By the end of 2020, sales had halved. Toyota’s response is that – with Yaris adopting the Corolla’s TNGA platform technologies for dramatic advances between the third and fourth generations – price hikes are unavoidable. From a COTY perspective, surely this would kill it…

IT WAS MERELY hours into COTY 2021 before the impact of COVID-19 would be felt. Veteran judge Byron Mathioudakis, here attending his 11thconsecutive year, was the first to show symptoms of this insidious virus. Not actual physical sickness symptoms; no, more seriously, a downcast demeanour realising he would have to kerb his natural inclination for skipping around and randomly hugging his fellow judges and the production crew after a year apart. Some of us – okay, me – actually realise we miss Byron’s affections, so at one point very early in proceedings, I consider pinching the petty cash tin to head into town to buy him a haz-mat suit and a respirator, just so some semblance of high-contact normality can resume. There’s no question the threat of a communicable disease…

FEELS a bit ironic, actually… As I sign off on my two-decade-long automotive journalistic stint to move into the car industry proper, I’m a little bemused by the fact that the last car I’ll officially drive on the job is Ford’s Puma. It’s a car I had high designs on, too… but personally, despite the relative praise received during our Car of the Year 2021 testing, the little Puma is very much not my cup of tea. Plopped into the burgeoning small SUV arms race like an unwanted puppy, the turbo three-pot Puma has unfortunately disappointed me at almost every turn – and I’m reminded of that failing every time I pause for the damn door to unlock with a sensor key that won’t actually unlock itself without me having…

NO DISRESPECT to any sports car brand,” said Ron Dennis in 2008 as he revealed McLaren was about to get into the business of building road cars, “but few can list 20 World Championships, and wins at Le Mans.” Few? Dennis was being generous. There was really only one. “I’d love to aspire to be Ferrari,” he said in answer to the obvious question. Fast-forward to 2021. Ron Dennis no longer has any involvement at McLaren, but the car he was announcing – then code-named P11 but launched as the MP4-12C – has since spawned a 14-model lineup. Bold, brave hypercars like the Speedtail and the brutalist Senna have earned the McLaren name plenty of street cred. But those Ferrari aspirations? They’re still a work in progress. Enter the McLaren…

JOHN CRENNAN’S CROSS-TOWN compatriot at Ford Performance Vehicles, David Flint, also now reveals he had unfinished business in his top drawer around the time of his retirement from the top job in 2006. “I wanted a third limb on our business,” Flint now admits. “I wanted to create Ford Performance Parts – a catalogue that allowed owners to customise their vehicle beyond our boundaries. And that never eventuated because I couldn’t get agreement from my partner at Ford. That would have taken us closer to where John and HSV were.” What about a GTHO? “GTHO didn’t come very close at all,” Flint now concedes. “When it came time to do the analysis of the chassis, we weren’t confident we could put that much power through it without significant cost. We…

“The ‘anorak wearing’ folks responsible for creaky MG ragtops were short of money in the early 2000s – but certainly not of ideas” BEST IS YET TO COME YOUR SUPERCHEAP AUTOS article (February ’21) asked the “The best MG … ever?” question of the MG ZS EV. In fact, the “anorak wearing” folks responsible for the creaky ragtops were short of money in the early 2000s – but certainly not of ideas. Behold the MG TF 200 HPD (working) concept of 2003. HPD stood for Hybrid Performance Development; it paired a 118kW petrol engine driving the rear wheels with a 33kW electric motor driving the front wheels via a CVT. Performance was brisk, with the HPD getting from zero to 60mph in the high five-second bracket, while it had a…

FROM $400 ‘GERMAN ENGINEERING, HOLLYWOOD ENDING’ ARTWORK This Porsche 917K digital artwork depicts the winning car of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans. Though it isn’t a unique artwork, it’s being produced in a limited run of 150 small, 25 midsize and only five large 220 by 94cm prints – the latter has already sold out despite costing $27,000. If you’re desperate, put the scissors to work on the image above… automobilist.com TAG HEUER GULF CHRONOGRAPH Tag Heuer’s Formula 1 series of wristwatches has plenty going for it, but this offering is the most blatantly racing-inspired. Order pricing is listed at $2350 from tagheuer.com/au. RACING LIVERY FACE MASKS Online car culture apparel store blipshift.com sells a range of accessories on top of its shirts. These livery-inspired masks cost about…

Model Mercedes-AMG GLA45 S Engine 1991cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 310kW @ 6750rpm Max torque 500Nm @ 5000-5250rpm Transmission 8-speed dual-clutch Weight 1765kg 0-100km/h 4.3sec (claimed) Economy 9.3L/100km Price $107,035 On sale Now KEY THE IGNITION off, let your heart return to something that doesn’t feel like a jackhammer and try to order your thoughts. The Mercedes-AMG GLA45 S doesn’t always make that easy. Driven as intended, it’s shockingly fierce and searingly rapid. Mentally piece together the road that it’s just demolished and it’s clear that this is a small SUV that rewrites what we thought were the extremes of the genre. As impressive as the bald facts are – and 310kW/500Nm in a car that weighs less than 1700kg is certainly impressive – we feel it’s incumbent…

1. FUNCTION The objective is to assess every aspect of a car’s function, taking into account its intended role. Put simply, we’re seeking complete satisfaction. Scores therefore reflect the presence, or absence, of excellence in a multitude of areas. Every aspect of design is considered, always in relation to purpose and price: vehicle packaging efficiency; all-round user-friendliness, especially interior layout, flexibility and ergonomics; quality of materials and assembly; visual and tactile pleasure. Driving dynamics take into account all handling characteristics and their fitness for the car’s role. We’re looking for sweet harmony in the interaction between tyres, suspension, steering and brakes. Comfort is crucial: quality of ride on varied surfaces is a major factor, but seating and spaciousness, plus overall smoothness, quietness and quality of noise are also important. The…

“Petrol front-driver lets its COTY cause down somewhat”ASH WESTERMAN Variants tested S Diesel AWD, GT-Line 3.5 FWD As-tested prices $50,290DA, $62,685DA Warranty 7-year unlimited km REGULAR READERS might recall that the previous Sorento was Kia’s ‘Datsun 1600’ moment. You know, that instant when a fledgling brand finally comes of age, as Nissan did back with 1968’s iconic 510-series 1600. The opposite of jumping the shark. Launched in 2015, the last Sorento scored Kia’s first Wheels comparison win, lured loads of new customers and elevated the brand out of the bargain-bin status. So, how does the all-new fourth-gen version rate then? Built on a bigger platform, the seven-seater Kia grows in every direction, and also gains a wheelbase stretch for even better family-friendly packaging, as well as greater cargo-lugging capacity. All…

JUST BECAUSE this year’s field of cars is fewer in number than in previous COTYs, it doesn’t mean the job’s any easier – or any less heated when it comes to discussion and debate. The field could consist of five or 25 contenders – it doesn’t make a lick of difference. The processes of elimination, honed over several decades, remains the same. With every variant now tested by every judge, it’s time to sit down in a private, quiet venue with an ample supply or water, caffeine and snacks, and begin the discussion process in the lead-up to the first round of voting. With judges primed for robust debate, a timer is useful because journalists love the sound of their own voices, but also an alarm is effective in diffusing…

IT’S AS IF the Yaris took a trip at an ’80s WRC after party with the Audi Quattro Sport, Lancia Delta HF Integrale and Austin Metro 6R4, emerging days later still jacked and with only its original lights, mirrors and some dashboard bits intact. Everything else about this Gazoo Racing homologation project is unique – from the aero-enhanced three-door, four-seater body, significantly more coupe-like (think original Honda CRX) carbonfibre-roofed silhouette and aluminium doors, bonnet and hatch, to a Corolla/C-HR rear platform, complete with multi-link suspension. At the other end is a fierce 200kW/370Nm 1.6-litre three-pot turbo/six-speed manual combo, providing a dazzling 156kW/tonne power-to-weight ratio and 5.2sec 0-100km/h capability. Permanent all-wheel-drive tech includes a 50/50 front/rear torque-split Track mode, 30/70 front/rear in Sport and 70/30 front/rear in Normal, though 100 percent…

WE WERE about 20 minutes north of Newcastle, me and the Kia Sorento, cruise control holding us at an indicated 110km/h, the diesel four barely audible as it sipped at an indicated 7.2 litres per 100km. I was gathering together my final thoughts on Kia’s seven-seater, helped by a cranking Tidal playlist via Apple CarPlay, when a WhatsAp message pinged through from one of my more cerebral, deep-thinking mates. The Apple assistant helpfully asked if I’d like her to read it, which I did. In her slightly staccato delivery, she said, “What would you prefer to fight: A giraffe-sized dog, or 100 dogsized giraffes?” It was a tricky one, especially as the stature of the dog-sized ‘geeraffs’, as she pronounced them, wasn’t specified. Were we talking fox-terrier-sized? Or would I…

DUE Q2 MERCEDES-BENZ S-CLASS Mercedes’ luxo limo is known for pioneering tech developments that trickle down, and this generation should be no different. Safety advances include front-facing airbags for rear occupants, while mega-powerful computing manages its semi-autonomous driving capability. Later in the year, a PHEV S580e will lob, with a claimed 100km EV range. DUE Q2 MAZDA MX-30 Mazda says the ‘MX’ prefix is reserved for the models which step out of the ‘normal’, and the ‘30’ does seem to fit that description. The SUV coupe, with rear-hinged ‘freestyle’ rear doors, will come here both as a hybrid and EV, the latter powered by a front-mounted electric motor producing 107kW/271Nm. DUE Q2 HYUNDAI i20 N Having already pre-sold a batch of its baby hot hatch online, Hyundai will soon land…

IF YOU’RE OF AN age where you remember when the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 was one of the fastest of Japan’s ridiculously hightech new breed of coupes for the ’90s, then you’ll probably remember one key fact – the Mitsubishi’s weight. Had it been a film and television star snapped holidaying in France, it would’ve been on the front page of New Idea faster than you could say ‘pass me another cream bun’. But with the benefit of hindsight and from the context of a different era, there’s something deeply wonderful about a two-plus-two as OTT as the 3000GT. After all, it only weighs 1720kg, so how about some body positivity, people! Thing was, back in 1990 when the 3000GT efftively showed the door to the already deceased Starion, its bulk…

NOW THAT THE war is over, let’s catch up for lunch… said no two adversaries ever! Just imagine if that were true though; if Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee regularly played poker and swilled bourbon long after the battle of Appotomax brought a close to the American Civil War. Or if Churchill invited that little Austrian fella with the funny moustache over to 10 Downing Street for tea every Sunday. Or, more recently, if George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein smoked cigars and reminisced about the good ol’ days every September in the White House. It would be intriguing to be part of a world if any of those situations were true, or even possible. But they weren’t, primarily because those combatants didn’t get along in the first…

BY THE TIME the judges jump into the first group of cars on the morning of day two, they’ve had ample time to absorb the avalanche of info from the individual presentations and walk-arounds. So by now, if they didn’t previously, they have a clear grasp of key attributes like safety equipment, value, packaging, and perceived quality. Pretty much everything except dynamic assessment, so time to hit the test loop. By linking five courses/dynamic exercises at the AARC, we condense what could take hours or even a day of regular driving in the real world down to around 20 minutes. The moment the wheels hit the dirt section, even before the first turn is navigated, judges are listening for underbody noise suppression; how loud and intrusive is the sound of…

Variants tested Base, ST-Line MSRP pricing $29,990, $32,340 Warranty 5 year unlimited km EVEN AFTER A testing week of long days and occasional short tempers, few grew weary of the Ford Puma. Ponder that for a moment. Most small SUVs are affordable. Many are practical. Some are refined. A few are stylish. A couple are dynamic. But none are all these plus fun… bar this one. Sceptical? Confused? A bit of context may help here. Engineered in Germany, the Romanian-made Puma resuscitates a storied name that graced a Fiesta-based coupe for Europe some 25 years ago. Affordable, sassy and spry, it proved popular. However, realising buyers were migrating en-masse to SUVs, Ford replaced the original Puma with the also-Fiesta-derived Fusion (2002) instead, then the EcoSport a decade later – and…

Variant tested 110 P400 SE (294kW/550Nm 3.0-litre inline-6, petrol) As-tested price $116,116 Warranty 3-year 100,000km IN THE HISTORY of daunting tasks, reinventing the Land Rover Defender is surely only just behind repainting the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling and re-recording Abbey Road. But the fact is, for fording rivers and climbing mountains, any number of 4x4s matched the curmudgeonly English off-roader icon decades ago. Here, the challenge was recapturing the essence of the old charmer, which ceased production in 2016 after 68 years. Yet looking back was not the way forward for the new Defender, and for that, fans past, present and future ought to be grateful, because the outcome is a vehicle of astounding and unexpected bandwidth. Essentials first. Based on the D7 architecture as per the existing Discovery, Range Rover…

‘UNANIMITY’ CAN BE a tricky word to say; much harder to achieve. In an increasingly divided and opinionated world, getting a disparate group of individuals to form a unilateral consensus on anything can be near-impossible. The COTY judging process is often no exception, yet for 2021, in a rare moment of great(ish) minds thinking alike, all six members of the judging panel cast their vote for the winner you see here. There would be no split decision, no recasting, no blow-ups or toys thrown out of the pram. The Mazda CX-30 is the 2021 Wheels Car of the Year, and all of us agreed on it. For Mazda, it’s one hell of an achievement, and takes the company’s tally to nine COTY victories since the award’s inception in 1963, putting…

BANG! The unidentified object slams onto the bonnet with such a resounding thud that it makes everyone in the Genesis jump. Cruising as we are down a typical suburban street, it takes me a moment to realise that the fleeting flash of brown and green that I caught just prior to impact was actually that of a medium-sized branch. Blown free of its perch in the gumtree canopy that skirted the edge of the road, the branch collided with such fury that it felt as though it came screaming in from low orbit rather than a few metres above us. “What the…” I thought, before: “THE PAINT!” Now there are all sorts of special paranoia that comes with car ownership. At the extreme end live a unique breed of enthusiasts…

REMEMBER WHEN NO-ONE built rorty, raspy (and frequently rusty) sports cars like the Italians? The 1960s and early-70s have long remained the golden era for many of Italy’s greatest brands, and that’s particularly true of Fiat. Did you know that Australians bought 5692 Fiats in 1970? You’ll also now be able to reminisce about that time when Fiat entered a model-sharing agreement with Mazda because the fruits of that union – the Hiroshima-built Fiat/Abarth 124 Spider – has officially ceased production. Of course, it’s not really news anymore that the 124 Spider wasn’t long for this world. In early 2019, Fiat said it wouldn’t be developing a replacement, but few observers were expecting the 124 Spider to be withdrawn from Europe by the end of that year, with just the…