Sommaire pour February 2018 de Wheels

Ford fires double-barrelled Bullitt Ford’s Mustang Bullitt limited edition came as no great surprise when it was revealed in Detroit. The Blue Oval has offered the nostalgic special version of the Mustang in two previous generations and a couple of recent spy shots appeared to suggest it was chambering a third McQueen tribute. What we didn’t see coming was one of the two original Mustangs that McQueen drove in the 1968 Bullitt feature film rolling out alongside it. The original stunt vehicle resurfaced in 2017 but the hero car displayed has been squirrelled away by a private owner since 2014. Hyundai reaches terminal Veloster Hyundai continues the rollout of its high-performance N-brand with the second-gen Veloster given the Namyang treatment. Sharing the i30 N’s 2.0-litre turbo…

FEBRUARY-MARCH ALFA ROMEO Stelvio; ASTON MARTIN Vanquish S Ultimate; BMW i3S, i3 update, X2 and M5; CITROEN C3 hatch; FORD Ranger Raptor; HOLDEN ZB Commodore/Calais and Colorado Sportscat; HYUNDAI i30 N; JAGUAR E-Pace, XJ update and XJR 575; JEEP Grand Cherokee Trackhawk; LEXUS RX-L 7-seat; MAZDA MX-5 update and MX-5 LE; NISSAN Navara update; PEUGEOT 5008; PORSCHE 718 Cayman/Boxster GTS, 911 Carrera T, 911 GT2 RS and Panamera Sport Turismo; VOLKSWAGEN Mk6 Polo 70/85TSI and Golf GTI Original 3dr APRIL-MAY AUDI RS4 Avant and R8 rear-drive; CHEVROLET Silverado ute; GENESIS G70; HYUNDAI Ioniq hybrid; KIA Cerato sedan; LAND ROVER Range Rover Sport and Range Rover facelifts; LEXUS LS; LOTUS Evora GT430; MASERATI Ghibli, Quattroporte, Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio updates; MERCEDES-BENZ X-Class ute, S-Class coupe/cabriolet facelift and AMG GLC63 wagon/coupe;…

THE HEART of any high-performance car is the mind-bending puzzle of pistons, pumps and parts that combine to breathe life into what would otherwise be a soulless amalgam of parts. Less often does just one engine have the same effect on an entire brand, but that’s exactly what Mercedes-AMG’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is doing for the company. When it blasted onto the scene under the bonnet of the AMG GT, the all-new M178 engine realised much-needed CO2 benefits while retaining the torque response buyers expect from an AMG powerplant. But that was 2014 and outputs have steadily grown from an initial 340kW/600Nm as the engine proliferated in models including the C63 and E63. For its latest party trick, though, the Affalterbach firm has slotted the V8 under the bonnet of…

AUDI’s pokiest SUV has for too long lacked poke. The Q2 landed locally a year ago and, although the front-wheel-drive 1.4 TFSI petrol is just perky enough, it still uses a basic torsion bar back-end when even a VW Golf scores a full multi-link independent rear suspension (IRS), for half the price. The costly and porky Q2 2.0 TDI quattro does have IRS, but lacks the mumbo to feel sporty. Enter the 2.0 TFSI, complete with quattro all-wheel drive and IRS – so, on paper, the Q2 should finally have the performance to match its polished, rather than povvo, chassis hardware. The 2.0 petrol eeks out 30kW/70Nm more than the 1.4 TFSI to now tally 140kW/320Nm, and its 6.5sec 0-100km/h time is a couple of seconds quicker. The inevitable downside…

IT WAS a huge drive to tackle in a day. Sydney to Bourke and back for Wheels’ first-ever ‘consumer test’ of the then-new HQ Kingswood. Back when listening to the Ashes test on AM radio and extending Holden’s asthmatic ‘red’ six to 154km/h in fourth gear wasn’t so unusual. Forty-six years ago, would you believe. That epic road trip – “to see if it is possible to drive 1000 miles [1609km] in a day and still have time for photographs, an enjoyable lunch and yet arrive home reasonably sane the same night” – has remained forever etched in our memories, demanding a retrace, if perhaps not a total repeat. This time, however, the automotive landscape has completely changed. The scorched earth stretching north-west to Bourke in New South Wales’ outer…

IT’S TOO early in the genealogy of the small SUV to apply Darwinian ‘theory of evolution’ logic to know exactly what to expect next. Natural selection has played a huge part in the success (and failure) of Golf-class hatchbacks, perhaps to the detriment of any major product innovation in more recent times, but that homogeneity has yet to hit the almost wilfully diverse small-SUV category. So should we be grateful or guffawing at the results? Hyundai’s daringly drawn Kona may provoke some of the latter. Its out-there styling is far removed from the Euro-sleek appearance of its i30 platform cousin, but maybe that’s what small-SUV buyers want – some relief from the humdrum mainstream. The same could be said for the blatantly against-type Toyota C-HR, a coupe-on-stilts SUV (as its…

GIVEN how long we spend at the wheel of our cars, a comfy driving position is almost as important as getting our hands on one of those fabled mattresses or pillows that the late night TV spruikers promise will change our sleep patterns forever. Dial 1-800 NOW! Thankfully, the days of ‘Italian Ape’ driving positions, characterised by gorilla-length arms and stumpy legs, have largely been consigned to the dustbin of history. But despite huge advances in ergonomics, the occasional turkey still gets through. Our own Ford Falcon was one of them, with the swansong FG/FGX featuring a steering wheel that sat in your lap and could never be adjusted high enough. Car engineers and designers will tell you there are all sorts of mitigating factors that lead to such compromises…

THE FINAL days of 2017 were rapidly receding, and the moment had finally come to hand back the keys to my Kia Picanto long termer. Nestling myself into the cabin for one final farewell, I realised just how much I’d miss my zesty buddy. In the lead-up to our paths diverging, I’d been driving the Picanto like a teenager let loose on his parent’s car for the first time. At every traffic light grand prix, I rowed my way hastily through the gears. The seven-point-whatever per 100km fuel consumption is evidence of this. The Picanto will happily oblige an overly enthusiastic driver, yet at the same time, you can plop an in-law in the passenger seat and glide around town smoothly and unobtrusively, without becoming a chicane for other traffic.…

IF YOUR idea of off-roading is bumping along at 5km/h with a spotter walking in front, Ford’s Ranger Raptor is likely to come as a bit of a culture shock. “We’ve designed this vehicle to go up to 170km/h or thereabouts off road,” says Damien Ross, the Chief Program Engineer for the Raptor. Taking that as a key design parameter for the Raptor, everything has been worked back from there: engine, suspension, brakes, and body have all had the essence of Dakar truck-style capability worked into them. The arrival of the Ranger Raptor couldn’t have been better timed. Although there has been rumblings about tightening domestic tax loopholes that have undoubtedly boosted sales of dual-cab utes, manufacturers have realised that there’s headroom in this market for premium products. While most…

What is it? An evolution of the traditional vehicle braking system that has remained fundamentally unchanged for decades. Multiple system components are consolidated into a single unit for weight saving and faster brake response times. Alfa Romeo is the first manufacturer to adopt the system, dubbed Integrated Brake System (IBS), in its Giulia mid-sized sedan. Bosch is also developing a similar system it calls iBooster. How does it work? A traditional system requires a master cylinder, vacuum servo and pump for boosting brake force, and an ESC controller, but the Continental solution replaces the vacuum booster’s role with an integrated hydraulic pump and reduces system complexity to just one component. Like a traditional master cylinder system, the brake pedal is still directly connected to the MK C1 unit for fail-safe…

(RE)LIVE AXLE I am a 35-year veteran of GM Holden who retired in 2002. In 1969 I undertook a two-year work assignment at the Chevrolet Buffalo gear and axle plant in the USA that was tooled up to produce the rear axle assembly for the then-new ChevroletVega small car. Early road testing of preproduction cars indicated that the NVH in relation to the rear axle was not acceptable for production. The chief product engineer assigned from the Detroit Tech Centre was convinced that the monocoque vehicle construction was the major reason for the excessive NVH, and he sought me out for a discussion as GM Holden was producing monocoque vehicles, and we did not have significant issues with NVH. He stated that GM was only producing two monocoque cars –…

IN 1959, Stirling Moss drove an Aston Martin DB4 GT to victory on its race debut at Silverstone. Today, I feel like I’m stepping back in time as I head out onto the famed British circuit in a brand new DB4 GT – an official ‘continuation’ of the original produced by Aston. Built at Newport Pagnell like the originals, 25 are being handcrafted, and all are sold despite an asking price of A$2.6m and a caveat that you can’t actually drive this DB4 GT on a road. Two are heading to Australia. Just 75 original DB4 GTs were produced through to 1963. The company took the regular DB4, chopped 13cm from its wheelbase to save 85kg and increase agility, and added a twin-plug cylinder head to the straight six. Of…

RATHER than question the legitimacy of Jaguar’s decision to fit a 2.0-litre turbo four to its F-Type, maybe we should instead be asking: “What took you chaps so long?” Jaguar’s rivals in this segment have embraced turbo fours for about as long as anyone can remember, while the Porsche Cayman/Boxster are now 2.0-litre turbo fours exclusively. Besides, it’s not as if Jaguar has just slipped in a limp-wristed, barely boosted four to cynically create a hairdresser’s special. Fact is, the Ingenium engine installed here is in a way more muscular state of tune than it appears anywhere else in the British manufacturer’s line-up. Outputs rise from the 177kW/340Nm unit offered in XE, XF and F-Pace, to a way more tempting 221kW, backed by 400Nm available from just 1500rpm. Credible sportscar…

Gareth Brown Program launch manager Richard Ferlazzo GM Australia design director James Amari Specialist engineer – chassis and powertrain Kate Carr Product definition manager Peter Roberts General manager – Holden launch management David Johnson Lead development engineer Jeremy Tassone Vehicle development manager Rob Trubiani Lead dynamics engineer Ben Stephens Vehicle validation engineer Chris Miles Senior marketing manager – passenger cars AUSTRALIANISATION isn’t easy. Not if done properly at any rate. While some manufacturers might be happy to fit a different set of dampers for our conditions and leave it at that, Holden likes to do things a bit differently. The team assembled here is responsible for turning the Opel Insignia into the significantly more polished ZB Commodore. From the process of initially canvassing for engine and chassis combinations appropriate for…

IT GINS, fittingly I guess, in a classroom. Outside, not 10 metres away, sits ‘my’ 911 GT3 RS, resplendent in Lava Orange, its tyre pressures set just so, its flat six thrumming away as oils and vital fluids are brought to temperature. Beyond it, Queensland Raceway beckons, the promise of an entire day of instructed hoonery so tantalisingly close. But first, the required dose of medicine, delivered by Porsche’s chief driving instructor and touring car legend Tomas Mezera. It’s designed, I deduce, to knock some of the confidence from our sails. Not that I have much left. The seeds of self-doubt are blowing my way, and the morning has been spent with some germinating in the concern that I’m about to be not so brilliant at something most car lovers…

AS MUCH as I’d like to think I’m immune to the common human failing of making poor decisions, the arrival of this rather beautiful red Lexus LC 500h proves that alas, I am not. Having spent the last three months in the burly, brilliant and rather boisterous V8-powered LC 500, the decision to swap it for the hybrid version for the final month of the LC’s long-term loan seemed a smart one. After all, the two cars are identically priced and the hybrid’s complex drivetrain intrigued me. Can an aspirated V6 petrol mated to a lithium-ion battery and electric motor really compare to the character, noise and fire-and-brimstone performance of the V8? And if it couldn’t, would it deliver enough of an efficiency boost to justify the sacrifice? It doesn’t…

HAVE you noticed how cars become etched in certain stages of our lives? I grew up in the back of a Holden FC Station Sedan (and still have the scar on my pinkie where I cut myself on a door), courted in a VC Valiant, drove my first child home in the back of a Mercedes-Benz 250SE, and took my young family on memorable trips to the centre of Australia in a Land Rover Discovery. We hit another of those significant benchmarks the other month, and this one will forever be connected with the Subaru. My daughters have just started their Victorian Certificate of Education, two crowded years of stress, worry and achievement that will lay down the foundations for what they will do for the rest of their lives.…

JUICE CRUSHER Motorsport PR kingpin and Indy 500 team entrant Brett ‘Crusher’ Murray grew up playing just about every kind of football there is, but he was introduced to racing on an underage expedition to Mt Panorama. “We took my mate’s mum’s car and drove it from Albury to Bathurst, when we were 15. We drank booze all weekend and drove back. None of us had a licence…” HE’S THE front-row forward who barged all the way onto the grid at the Indianapolis 500, along the way building a major motorsport media agency and establishing friendships with pretty much everyone who’s anyone in motor racing, both here and in the US. In the 50 years since his birth in Albury, NSW – also where he was selected to play for…

ANY gym junkie will tell you that shedding mass then adding muscle is a good thing, and vehicle engineering lab-coats work around a similar gospel. Chopping 80 kegs off the kerb weight of a car is bound to improve performance. It’s simple physics, especially in a bantamweight like the Suzuki Swift Sport. Adding 70Nm of torque has a similar effect, but do both at once and it’s a recipe for huge gains. Now topping the fifth-generation Swift range that arrived last year, the Sport has undergone a significant shift by moving away from naturally aspirated power and embracing the turbocharger. It borrows a 1.4-litre force-fed four-pot from its Vitara Turbo cousin, replacing the atmo 1.6-litre of its predecessor and bulking up by 70Nm to now deliver a healthy 230Nm of…

IT’S NO great spoiler to say that Subaru’s BRZ tS won’t net you any additional power. Sorry, but you probably knew this already. Mewl and puke all you like about that one because Subaru isn’t budging and, aside from a cursory 4kW increase for the manual model when the BRZ was facelifted last year, hasn’t significantly moved on power since the car’s 2012 unveil. Instead, Subaru now promises poise and precision from a car that was initially sold on quite the opposite. You bought a BRZ because you valued the throttle adjustability of its rear-drive chassis, helped in no small part by the modest grip of the Michelin Primacy tyres. The BRZ tS ditches that rubber in favour of heftier 18-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4 hoops that generate significantly more…

The VXR feels surprisingly agile, while the ride and refinement in the Calais impress PORT MELBOURNE to MOUNT BEAUTY THIS was the plan. Pick up two Holden Commodores and subject them to the full gamut of Aussie conditions by driving them the long way from Melbourne to Sydney via the high country. From there they’d arrow north-west and end up in the kiln-red earth out the back of Bourke, retracing a classic Wheels test route. Manoeuvring the VXR out of Holden’s Salmon Street facility, it was clear that despite being built in Russelsheim by Opel, there’s a superficial continuity of General Motors look and feel. The nav screen still has that clunky look and the automatic gear selector arcs through a long throw before arriving at drive. Other things aren’t…

IT’S NOT often I find myself imagining the sound my bottom must surely be making, but this is one of those rare moments. Having just hopelessly overcooked a tight switchback in a moment of ham-fisted stupidity, the rear tyres of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q are now marching across the centre line with alarming determination, apparently in a rush to introduce themselves to an oncoming four-wheel drive that’s also doggedly – and inexplicably – glued to the middle of the road. If that battered LandCruiser is the rock, just beyond it is a hard place. The Jebel Jais mountain road is bookended on one side by sheer rock, and nothingness on the other, with nought but a 1000m drop between you and the ground a Road Runner-cartoon-long way below. There’s…

COMPARISONS are odious. Whoever coined that phrase many years ago probably didn’t have five of the finest performance SUVs available and a deserted road to play on. Then they’re anything but. Fun, however, wasn’t always on the agenda with fast four-wheel drives. As a marker of how rapidly this sub-genre has progressed, it’s not too long ago that such vehicles were all firepower and no finesse. Yet it’s hard to argue against the fact that the current crop of contenders has more bandwidth than any other vehicle class. They’re the decathletes of the automotive world, their ascendancy coming from virtually nowhere. The idea behind this match-up was formed when whittling down the long list for Wheels Car of the Year. We had to have the Range Rover Velar at COTY.…

FR3-M8 sounds like the sort of made-up name a non-driving, non-car person concocts when attempting to pay-out jargon-talking petrolheads like us, always to zero effect. But in this instance, FR3-M8 is legit – the typically American naming code for the Ford Mustang GT’s Track Handling Pack. All $4130 worth (including fitting) of lowered, progressive-rate springs, new front struts and revised upper strut mounts, new anti-roll bars, rear dampers, rear toe links and toe-to-knuckle bearings have done very good things to the Mustang. Firstly, sitting 25mm lower, it looks bloody tough, even wearing the stock black 19s. And secondly, its springy ride and pattery wheel control have disappeared in favour of an ultra-disciplined ride reminiscent of something Renault Sport would produce. In other words, uncompromising but not uncomfortable. As for the…

AFTER many weeks of flawless reliability, I was beginning to wonder whether anything would break or fail in my Megane GT. Just like the Peugeot 308 Active I ran for nearly 17,000km a few years back, here was another French car stubbornly refusing to misbehave. Then a large crack appeared like an earthquake fault line across the lower windscreen, just like that. Unprovoked. There’s no blaming flying stones from speeding semis coming the other way. Nor any errant deep potholes – certainly the unmarked tyres and 18-inch alloys would attest otherwise. A phone call to Renault had the car quickly booked in for a replacement. I was informed that sudden windscreen cracking is a known problem with the fourth-gen Megane, and that as a result parts are in short supply.…

IN 1952, a talented engineer and racer founded a company that would become legendary for combining lightweight, coupe bodies with proprietary mechanical parts, to create truly world-beating sports and racing cars. Colin Chapman and Lotus? Nope – wrong side of the English Channel. Jean Rédélé (1922-2007) was the son of a Renault concessionaire in Dieppe, France. In 1950 he started rallying in a Renault 4CV (aka 750) which, after constant development, in 1954 carried him to class victories in the Mille Miglia, the Liège-Rome-Liège, the Tour de France Automobile and the Coupe des Alpes. The latter event provided the name – Alpine – for a venture that had begun in 1952, in a 4CV-based prototype 2+2 coupe with an aluminium body designed for Rédélé by a young Giovanni Michelotti. In…