Sommaire pour November 2015 de Wheels

TURBOS CHARGED Ferrari has taken out a host of patents on electric turbos and cylinder deactivation SQUARED UP Front and rear guard contours suggest Dino’s track may not differ too much from the 458, so expect an oversquare, almost Stratos-like body. PIPE BOMB Mule’s tailpipes are tucked well out of sight, suggesting a more compact rear end for the hardware beneath. STYLE GUIDE Ferrari says the Dino won’t look like this artist’s impression, and nor will it be cut-price. “We may produce a 500 horsepower Ferrari but it will not be a cheap Ferrari,” says company chief Sergio Marchionne. DINO RIVALS There’s one hell of a scrap at the $350K price point that Ferrari currently misses out on. The Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8, Aston Martin Vantage and McLaren 540C…

IF YOU believe Australian-born Apple designer Marc Newson, car design is caught in a bit of a rut. Asked about his design pet peeve in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Newson singled out the automotive industry. “There were moments when cars somehow encapsulated everything that was good about progress,” he said. “But right now we’re at the bottom of a trough.” Tough words coming from a man who in 2001 penned the Ford 021C small sedan concept – a styling exercise that featured a kitchen drawer-style boot, a glowing dashboard and pedestal-mounted swivelling seats. But they’re significant words given Apple’s influence, and the company now wants to swing that focus to the area that, in Newson’s own words, has dropped its game – the car. Newson’s move to the…

MAGNIFIQUE ROBBO is not alone in being in awe of the DS. In 1963 I bought an ID19 (the DS’s cheaper cousin, for I couldn’t afford a DS). But all the important bits were there; the wonderful shape, hydraulic suspension, disc brakes up front, and under your right foot was a six-inch button shaped like a mushroom that was the brake ‘pedal’. Citroen should commission Richard Ferlazzo [Holden design director] to do an EFIGY-type revival of the DS23: modern engines, eight-speed gearbox, plus all the mod-cons of the day. It would be great if it was built with quality and reliability in mind (dare we expect a seven-year warranty? – my original ID19 only had six months!). An inspired design by Richard of a modern DS23 would set the world…

Model Mercedes-AMG C63 S Estate Engine 3982cc V8 (90°), dohc, 32v, twin-turbo Max power 375kW @ 5500-6250rpm Max torque 700Nm @ 1750-4500rpm Transmission 7-speed automatic Weight 1725kg 0-100km/h 4.1sec (claimed) Economy 8.7L/100km Price $157,400 On sale Now WE’RE not suggesting there is the prospect of an abrupt end to the luxury-SUV boom, but local C-Class wagon sales have increased nearly seven-fold in the past decade. This version is the C63 S AMG Estate, which is again loaded to the gunwales with such credibility that a roof-pod accessory is almost mandatory. We’ve already driven the sedan at Bathurst and declared it yet another progressive step for the brand’s biggest-selling AMG line; this is our first taste on local roads of the more practical version. While boot volume increases by five litres…

Model Jaguar XE 25t Prestige Engine 1999cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 177kW @ 5500rpm Max torque 340Nm @ 1750-4000rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Kerb weight 1535kg 0-100km/h 6.8sec (claimed) Economy 7.5L/100km Price $64,900 On sale Now REMEMBER that famous Enzo Ferrari quote about buying the engine and getting the rest of the car thrown in for free? Well, there’s a bit of that going on with the new XE, but in this case you’re paying for a cracking chassis rather than an engine. Impressively, its technical specification reads – and ultimately drives – like a sedan version of the F-Type: double wishbone and Integral Link suspension, contained within a stiff, aluminium-intensive rear-drive platform prioritising optimised weight balance, topped by a strong, mostly aluminium body that’s Jaguar’s most rigid and…

Model Lexus RX350 F Sport Engine 3456cc V6 (90°), dohc, 24v Max power 218kW @ 6300rpm Max torque 360Nm @ 4700rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 2085kg 0-100km/h 7.9sec (estimated) Economy 9.6L/100km Price $85,000 (estimated) On sale November BLAME (or thank) Akio Toyoda. He’s the one responsible for the mad scattering of lines, creases and angles stamped so proudly into the body of this new Lexus RX. But not in the way you might expect. As this fourth-gen RX neared the very end of five years of development, the Toyota CEO dropped a bomb on the Lexus chief engineer: “I don’t like the styling,” he said. “Change it.” The chief engineer now shakes his head sadly, the way you might remembering a dead loved one, when asked how much his team…

Model Citroen C4 Exclusive Engine 1199cc 3cyl, dohc, 12v, turbo Max power 96kW @ 5500rpm Max torque 230Nm @ 1750rpm Transmission 6-speed automatic Kerb weight 1240kg 0-100km/h 10.9sec (claimed) Economy 5.1L/100km Price $33,990 On sale Now IT’S no longer all that obvious to me why people buy French cars. I guess they’re cheaper than German cars, while still having some (Western) European cachet. But it’s been a long time since we assumed French quality to be much superior to that of mainstream makes, and French cars have had too many sales suicides to continue striving for quirkiness and character. According to those who sell the Citroen C4, its customers are private individuals who put a priority on ride comfort and relatively high equipment levels. This first facelift of the second-gen…

WITH the exception of the V8 engine, most of the Commodore family drives as it did following an MY15 update that tweaked the steering in FE1-suspended cars late last year. Same suspension, same tyres and same feel. But the FE3 suspension reserved for Redline versions of the SS-V sedan, wagon and ute has been modified for better performance, control and comfort. Peer under the rear of the Redline and there’s a significantly broader anti-roll bar that now sits closer to the edge of the wheels. While it’s slightly thinner than the carryover component on regular SS variants, it’s said to offer better stiffness and control, allowing the rear springs to be softened slightly without upsetting handling. It also allows the car to squat better, in turn improving traction out of…

COULD be going out on a particularly shaky and xenophobic limb here, but I’m not sure I trust the Germans. It seems they sometimes say things they don’t really mean. BMW said it would “never, ever, ever” make a front-wheel-drive car; Volkswagen told us that smaller-displacement engines were the future and that no one wanted manual gearboxes anymore, even in hot matchbox hatches like the Polo. And then there was that whole thing back in 1938, with the country’s chief midget agreeing to “peace in our time”. But then he was a vegetarian – allegedly – and thus a lunatic. Perhaps in the case of Volkswagen we should be generous enough to see its updated Polo GTI, with a whopping great 1.8-litre turbo engine (replacing the 1.4-litre twin-charger) and a…

THE process of dreaming about, researching and tyre-kicking your next new car is filled with exciting possibility. But actually laying your cash down at the dealership can snap you from fantasy into a grim reality of lacklustre retained values, wildly expensive insurance premiums, spiralling repayments and untold thirst for premium fuel. What if you knew about the hidden costs upfront, because someone had crunched all the critical numbers, before drawing conclusions about how to best spend your hard-earned on a gleaming new car? That's where Wheels’ annual Gold Star Value Awards comes in. In other years, Wheels has taken the cream of the crop across all the key car classes and broken each car down into key cost components such as annual fuel and depreciation costs before feeding the data…

A LUNAR eclipse occurs maybe a couple of times a year, which, according to my exhaustive research, is about the same frequency that the average enthusiast driver of an SUV may actually probe the dynamic envelope and see what the thing is capable of when hustled through a few corners. And it’s with a hung head and a rising sense of shame that I realise I’ve fallen into the same pattern. It’s not as if driving a mid-size SUV has robbed me of the will to live; it’s more that a bunch of disparate elements need to come into careful alignment before driving with any real enthusiasm can actually occur. First, no kids on board. My daughter will soon be old enough to be riding around with 17-year-old blokes on…

IN THE 18 years I’ve been writing about cars professionally, not many have impressed as consistently as the 308 1.2-litre three-pot turbo auto. Four months and 5000km in, the Peugeot’s punchy yet supple driveability, fluid dynamics, restrained class and unbelievably excellent build quality continue to shine brightly. That makes the faults in this small-car superstar all the more glaring. Probably top of the list is the touchscreen’s overloaded functionality. Like an old Merc’s indicator/wiper stalk, it has too many jobs to do, and scrolling between each can be tiresome. For instance, changing the temperature requires a different display ‘window’ followed by hit-and-miss prods of the display. A simple thermostat dial – or even a big old knob just like the one for altering the fine audio system’s volume – would…

DESPITE society’s obsession with lycrainfused bike riding and 24-hour gyms, we’re generally a pretty lazy bunch. The thought of getting out of your seat to change the TV channel or answer the phone long ago went the way of home-delivered milk and affordable houses. Walking to the shops? Forget it in this app-happy world. So I’m not as surprised as I once might have been that plugging in a power cord feels like a chore. Yet I haven’t had to visit a petrol station for weeks. That’s life in an electric car for you. Three months into my time with a BMW i3 and it’s time to say goodbye, only I’m not ready to wave it off. Sure, I could live without the oddball looks (it’s dorky and skinny from…

THE range-topping versions of Kia’s cheapest car, the Rio, have returned. The three-door Sport and five-door SLi each get a direct-injection 1.6 good for 103kW. However, a manual transmission is absent (the Soul manual has also been dropped), with Kia offering only a six-speed auto. That means the only manual Rios get the less-enticing 1.4-litre engine. The Rio won’t be the cheapest Kia for long though, with the arrival of the $14,990 drive-away Picanto slated for late this year. And, again catering to the two-pedal brigade, it w ill be fitted exclusively with an automatic because the brand “doesn’t want to be the cheapest in the marketplace … [we] want to have the best offering”.…

THE fastest Subarus on the market are now slightly safer with the introduction of some crash-avoidance technologies to the WRX and STI Premium models. Blind spot warning and auto high-beam headline the changes, while there’s now a camera in the passenger exterior mirror that gives better side vision when reversing – handy to avoid scuffing the 18-inch alloys. The unchanged regular WRX is also unchanged on the price front, while the WRX Premium increases by $900 and the STi Premium by $400. Entry to the base STi has come down $500. As for the Japanese brand’s EyeSight technology – which uses twin cameras to look for other vehicles and instigate auto braking – it’s not yet available on the WRX or STi. PRIVACY NOTICE This issue of Wheels is published…

M4 gets GTS treatment BMW has turned up the wick on its already blisteringly quick M4 by slapping a GTS badge on its rump. Shown in concept form at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the M4 GTS is not only faster, harder and bristling with an angry-looking and manually adjustable carbonfibre front splitter and rear wing, but adds BMW’s new water-injection technology for a boost in grunt and drop in fuel use. Official power figures are yet to be announced (a regular M4 produces 317kW/550Nm), but the GTS wears wider and stickier Michelin Sport Cup 2 tyres which should help shuffle all that grunt to the road. Monkey business NEXT time you’re in a new-car showroom, call the salesperson a “chauvinistic baboon”. After all, Australia’s advertising watchdog has given you…

ADELAIDE will become the nation’s development Mecca for self-driving cars this year, but the architect of Australia’s first autonomous trials says more could be done to allow driver-assist technologies. Speaking exclusively to Wheels just a day after announcing that South Australia would trial self-driving vehicles on its roads from early November, state transport and infrastructure minister Stephen Mullighan said this nation’s archaic laws were already blocking new technologies from coming here. “A car which can detect a sign on the side of the road, and that that’s the speed limit, and it can govern itself accordingly, that’s obviously a good thing,” Mullighan says. “This is the sort of thing we need to get cracking with. “Not having those technologies offered to the Australian market, it’s a shame for convenience’s sake.…

PowerBook Duo MINIATURISING technology doesn’t work when all you do is physically shrink things down to match. Apple’s 1992 bid to create an ultra-portable notebook spawned a cramped keyboard, tiny screen and no easy way to connect it to that shiny new thing called the internet. Newton Message Pad THIS precursor to the iPad was meant to revolutionise the business world. The Newton was introduced in 1993 as a personal digital assistant that could recognise handwriting, although poorly. Big, slow and with woefully crap battery life, it was shelved in 1998. Pippin PiPP!N, as it was marketed in 1995, and its boomerang-shaped AppleJack handset were meant to conquer the infant games console market. Rubbish graphics and the memory capacity of a goldfish meant the game was over even before it…

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER Alfa Romeo 4C Spider; Audi RS3 Sportback; BMW X1, 3 Series facelift; Ford Focus, Everest; Holden Commodore update; Infiniti QX80; Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce; Mercedes-Benz GLE wagon/coupe, S500e plug-in hybrid; Porsche Cayman GT4; Volkswagen Caddy, T6 Transporter/Multivan; Volvo S60 Cross Country Porsche Cayman GT4 WE’VE already dubbed it the analogue sports car for the digital age, so the October arrival of a Porsche motorsport-fettled Cayman rates as one of the most highly anticipated launches of 2015. At $189,900 it’s almost $20K cheaper than the entry-level 911, but shoehorns a 283kW 3.8-litre flat-six in behind the driver to give it more poke. Six-speed manual-only, 4.4sec 0-100km/h – what’s not to like? DECEMBER ONWARDS Alfa Romeo 4C Spider; Audi R8 V10, RS3 Sportback; BMW X1, 3 Series facelift; Citroen C4…

Model Jaguar XF R-Sport Engine 1999cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, TD Max power 132kW @ 4000rpm Max torque 430Nm @ 1750-2500rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 1555kg 0-100km/h 8.1sec (claimed) Economy 4.3L/100km (EU) Price $89,000 (estimated) On sale December THERE’S a time for revolution. That time for Jaguar was 2007, when Ian Callum’s boldly styled XF set the tone for a rebellious, resurgent brand. Now, the second-generation XF sets out to prove it can beat ‘difficult second-album syndrome’. The success of that first XF enabled Jaguar to build the smaller XE. Ironically, that has given the XF a new and clearer identity. It’s no longer the entry-level Jaguar chasing buyers across segments; the XE now stalks BMW 3 Series buyers, leaving the XF to hone in on the 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz…

Model Hyundai Tucson Highlander 1.6T Engine 1591cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 130kW @ 5500rpm Max torque 265Nm @ 1500-4500rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Weight 1575kg 0-100km/h 8.5sec (estimated) Economy 7.7L/100km Price $43,490 On sale Now IF YOU were a big fan of Hyundai’s ix35 compact soft-roader, and thousands of you were, then we’ve got some bad news – your car no longer exists. What we mean is the badge is gone, replaced by the global nameplate Tucson, and the new model has grown so much (65mm longer, 30mm wider, 5mm higher, with a 30mm-longer wheelbase) it’s now classified as a medium-size SUV, just like Mazda’s CX-5. Hyundai has no immediate plans for an entry-level tall-boy, so you just need to accept that it’s time to grow upwards, and outwards,…

Model Audi Q7 3.0 TDI quattro Engine 2967cc V6 (90°), dohc, 24v, TD Max power 200kW @ 3250-4250rpm Max torque 600Nm @ 1500-3000rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 2060kg 0-100km/h 6.5sec (claimed) Economy 5.9L/100km Price $103,900 On sale September CUT it any way you want; 240kg is a lot of fat. It’s the weight of a big motorcycle, or a pair of fully grown pandas. It’s also how much Audi has sliced off its new Q7. The second generation of Ingolstadt’s XXL SUV is not only lighter, but both smaller (on the outside) and bigger (on the inside), and bristles with more on-board computing power than the Starship Enterprise. Throw in improved dynamics, a 21 percent fuel-efficiency improvement and class-leading levels of refinement, and Audi’s flagship SUV has quite a lot…

Model Toyota Corolla ZR Engine 1798cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v Max power 103kW @ 6400rpm Max torque 173Nm @ 4000rpm Transmission CVT automatic Kerb weight 1275kg 0-100km/h 10.5sec (estimated) Economy 6.1L/100km Price $28,990 On sale Now IN ALL of its 11 forms over 48 years, there has never been a bad version of the Corolla. While at worst several have been dull, or sluggish, or cramped (and occasionally all at once), they’re always dependable. However, more dynamically rounded and refined rivals such as the Volkswagen Golf and Mazda 3 have long been tastier. Alongside these cars, the Toyota seems more workaday healthy takeaway than weekend gourmet lunch. And while that was always okay when the Toyota was priced accordingly, nowadays even that gap is negligible. Enter the Series II hatch facelift.…

READ ALL THE LATEST REVIEWS WHEELSMAG.COM.AU Chrysler 300 Restyled large sedan reaches into the past to bolster its (slightly) more upmarket future, with SRT variants to follow WheelsMag.com.au/chrysler300 Ford Ranger Ford has refreshed its popular Ranger ute for 2016, with styling and tech upgrades aimed at making upper-spec XLT and Wildtrak double cabs more attractive for families. WheelsMag.com.au/fordranger Honda Accord Sport Hybrid Honda attempts to reassert its technological prowess with a new-generation ‘i-MMD’ hybrid drivetrain headlining this new range-topping $58,990 Accord variant WheelsMag.com.au/hondaaccordsport Audi A3 Sportback e-tron The most efficient A3 yet kicks off the e-tron sub-brand, but is Audi too late to the electric party, or has this plug-in hybrid hit the spot? WheelsMag.com.au/audia3etron Stay regular Get your daily dose of Wheels with news, videos, galleries and more at…

IT TAKES a few moments to drink in the visual changes to VF II because they’re all subtle, or in some cases almost invisible. The entry-level 3.0-litre Evoke sedan sneaks through wearing merely a stylised ‘Series II’ badge on its bootlid, but the Sportwagon receives the first visual change to its back end since it launched in 2008. New LED tail-lamps in a C shape hook around strip indicators that continue the horizontal line from the chrome tailgate applique, making the handsome wagon look even wider and tougher. Calais and Calais V are the first VF II variants to appear noticeably different. Each gets new wheels – polished thin-spoke 18s with a charcoal base on Calais, and chunkier polished-spoke 19s with a lighter background on Calais V – while the…

Peter Hughes Exterior design manager “The VR Commodore of 1990 was where I began at Holden. I also did design work for the Monaro and was the lead exterior designer on the VE Commodore.” Richard Ferlazzo Design director “I started in 1988 and initially worked on the Toyota version of the VN Commodore. I was lead exterior designer for VT Commodore and chief designer for WH Statesman/Caprice. I worked in Detroit in the mid-1990s and now head the Australian design team.” Andrew Holmes Chief engineer “I was originally a suspension engineer working on VT Commodore in 1995. I then looked after brakes before becoming the vehicle system engineer on Camaro. I went on to become engineering manager for VF before becoming chief engineer in 2013.” Amelinda Watt Lead development engineer…

IF YOU want to know how not to take over a car company, look at Jaguar. In 1989 the Coventry cat was bought by Ford, an American company that had no experience with European luxury cars. Ford imposed its platforms, parts and planning, creating a fragmented model family and stifling development of models that were important to the Jaguar brand. It’s understood that Ford lost a couple of billion every year. If you want to know how to take over a car company, look at Jaguar. In 2008 it was bought by Tata, an Indian company that had no experience with European luxury cars. Tata acknowledged as much and put its faith in Jaguar’s experienced and enthusiastic leaders, who began developing a cohesive family of desirable models. It’s enjoyed double-digit…

IT WAS three in the afternoon before I could finally escape last month’s seven-seat SUV comparo and head north, from the hills outside Yackandandah in Victoria. The Picasso had been fuelled in Bright earlier that morning, yet a strafe up icy Mount Buffalo and back again had already put a dent in its digital bar-graph fuel gauge. And checking its tyre pressures before being loaded with luggage and camera gear revealed that the luscious urban ride I fell in love with on first acquaintance was largely due to its 205/55R17 Continentals being under-inflated. Pity. Black ice quelled any enthusiasm in the tighter stuff towards Mount Buffalo’s peak, but faster corners in the foothills revealed that the C4 Picasso retains much of the Peugeot 308’s dynamic DNA, albeit watered down. Perhaps…

THE ironic thing is that I would laugh at someone who ignored a warning light on their dash and kept driving right off the face of the planet as a damn fool. History is awash with stories of people, some of them women, who kept pootling about in their cars despite a red oil light warning of impending thermo car-killer disaster, and yet when an icon flashed up on the dash of my Subaru Forester I was more bemused than befuddled. Much as I’m loath to admit it, my refusal to engage with instruction manuals of any kind (I figure industrial designers are paid a fortune to make such things effectively redundant, because they understand that only a small percentage of people will read them) can be problematic. In my…

“I CAN’T believe you gave it back,” says HSV’s keeper of the keys, Tim Stevens, as he drives off in ‘my’ Clubbie after I returned it to Clayton, just shy of 16,000km on the odo and near spotlessly clean. Not a single stone-chip near those white nostrils, a scuff on any of those stunning 20-inch wheels, nor a single mark. I loved that car, and it showed. I’ll miss it. That doesn’t mean it was perfect. The cabin is tacky but fun, the materials good rather than stellar, and for some reason the boot remote stopped working days from the end – before randomly working again. On the road, the transmission proved too slow to maximise the 340kW on tap and, while the R8 is a supremely sorted vehicle for…

MAZDA has added a booted version of the 2 (detailed on p48), in conjunction with a mild tweak of the range. All 2s now feature rear parking sensors and all but the base Neo have a reversing camera. But the Neo does pick up cruise control. The Maxx scores the MZD Connect colour screen previously reserved for the Genki, while Genki picks up LED headlights with running lights. The 2 sedan will only be available in Neo and Maxx grades, the latter getting a different engine tune for an extra 2kW/2Nm. Maxx and Genki prices have increased by $700 while the base Neo remains unchanged.…

Style wise Don’t expect major bodywork updates, just functional modifications to front spoiler, grille, sills, bumpers, diffuser and a rear wing More bang for your buck What’s the next cheapest four-door 476kW+ car? There’s only one and it’s a $625K Ferrari FF. The 430kW Mercedes-AMG E63 S retails at $251K. Stop motion The most powerful Holden ever needse equally potent stoppers. HSV will have to pick between the current AP architecture or a version of the Corvette ZR1’s Brembo monoblocs. Wingin’ it THE high-rise spoiler in our artist’s illustration is an attention grabber, but wings like these are out of favour with car companies because punters prefer something more subtle. “Customers are expecting a lot more sophistication rather than a big wing on the back,” says former Holden design director…

A NEW sub-488 Ferrari – powered by a larger version of the twin-turbo V6 already being built at the Maranello plant for use in the Maserati Ghibli and the Giulia, where it makes 380kW – would provide a more accessible entry point to Ferrari ownership. This would also provide Ferrari chief Sergio Marchionne with the volume increase he desires, having based the company’s imminent float on sales of 10,000 units a year – well up on ex-CEO Luca di Montezemolo’s long-standing cap of 7000. Ferrari, unofficially, feels that such a move would “screw the brand”, and add too much volume. At the same time, selling a healthy number of still quite expensive entry-level Dinos at, say, $350,000 each – still a bargain for a Ferrari – couldn’t be too bad…

Tesla Model S TESLA is expected to switch on more of its dormant autonomous car functions in Australia with a software update later this year. Most of the carmaker’s vehicles have self-drive hardware in place, waiting for laws to catch up. Google car DEVELOPED from modified road-going cars but in reality more a battery-powered pod, Google’s US-only experiment is the most advanced self-driving project so far. It only has a steering wheel because California’s politicians insisted. Project Titan THE so-called Apple Car is fuelled more by speculation than hydrogen or electricity. Poaching key car industry heavyweights and clandestine BMW factory visits point to the iCar being a real-world project. But we still haven’t seen a car... Volvo XC90 VOLVO’s tech development includes trialling a daisy-chain of cars that follow the…

LEAF MUNCHER SILK is a thread excreted by the white Bombyx mori (which means “silkworm of the mulberry tree” in Latin) to spin its cocoon. The Chinese, who have been raising silkworms for 5000 years, are world leaders in silk production. Zegna buys all its silk from China, but ships it to Italy for spinning and weaving. By coincidence, China has become Maserati’s biggest market, ahead of North America. COMING SOON THE Zegna silk option will arrive in Australia late this year, with the MY2016 Ghibli and Quattroporte. It’s likely to cost about $6000, depending on model and variant. Silk will also be an option in Maserati Levante SUV from the moment it goes into production in Turin around March next year. Eventually, the Zegna silk interior will be an…

Model Volvo XC90 D5 Inscription Engine 1969cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, TTD Max power 165kW @ 4250rpm Max torque 470Nm @ 1750-2500rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 1970kg 0-100km/h 7.8sec (claimed) Economy 6.2L/100km Price $96,950 On sale Now THIS is a new era for Volvo. Car companies often wax lyrical about new dawns, but the XC90 is off a slate that’s as clean as they come. It’s Volvo’s first completely new post-Ford product, ushering in a new platform, a new generation of engines and fresh design language under former VW designer Thomas Ingenlath. With a starting price of $89,950, the new XC90 is $20K more expensive than its predecessor. The most popular model is expected to be the $96,950 Inscription D5 (about 60 percent of sales), which is the mid-spec model, rides…

Model Citroen DS3 DStyle Engine 1199cc 3cyl, dohc, 12v, turbo Max power 81kW @ 5500rpm Max torque 205Nm @ 1500rpm Transmission 6-speed automatic Kerb weight 1090kg 0-100km/h 9.9sec (claimed) Economy 4.7L/100km (EU) Price $30,000 (estimated) On sale Early 2016 HALF of all first-generation DS3s sold in this country were automatics. Yet, when Citroen Australia learned the recently facelifted model retained the ancient four-speeder, it decided to wait, knowing that a six-speeder was in the pipeline. Shrewd decision. The new automatic brings essentially the same seamless PSA turbo-triple drivetrain (here with 81kW, not 96kW) that so impressed the Wheels COTY judges in the Peugeot 308. While the old 88kW 1.6-litre four-speed auto delivered 6.7L/100km, the new 1.2-litre turbo – on sale early in 2016 – slashes this to 4.7L/100km. And, despite…

Model BMW M5 Pure Engine 4395cc V8 (90°), dohc, 32v, twin-turbo Max power 412kW @ 6000-7000rpm Max torque 680Nm @ 1500-5750rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Weight 1865kg 0-100km/h 4.3sec (claimed) Economy 9.9L/100km Price $185,000 On sale Now SLAPPING a Pure badge onto the rump of a BMW M5 creates certain expectations. Particularly when BMW itself says this new Pure special edition is “raw and track-inspired”. This makes you think the Pure M5 will be a stripped-out special with less weight, less luxuries and a greater focus on hardcore performance. Could it even be an M5 CSL? Sadly, the answer is no. What this ‘special edition’ is, in essence, is a regular M5 without the super-sedan’s now-standard Competition Pack. That means power falls 11kW to 412kW (torque is unchanged at 680Nm), there’s…

IT’S minus-three degrees in Warwick, Queensland. This town in the Darling Downs has the dubious distinction of being the coldest in the sunshine state today. But Warwick is getting ready to warm up. At the Sandy Creek Raceway, just west of town, 200 kart racers and their helpers have come from as far afield as New Zealand for a round of the Rotax Pro Tour kart series. Soon, the frozen air is being shattered by the buzz-saw blat and smoky scent of two-stroke engines. Karts rasp on elevated trolleys as frozen fingers fidget with carburettors, gear ratios and tyre pressures. Thanks to big-box hardware stores, the personalised marquees, rubber floor mats and professional tool trolleys make the paddock resemble a World Rally Championship service area. The transporter of choice is…

THREE weeks in and I’m paranoid. People really are watching me. I loaned my new Genesis long-termer to Damion for a few days, and the first thing he remarked on was how people stare as it glides by. We’ve both driven cars that attract attention, but they’re usually loud sports cars or Italian supercars. Not Hyundais. It’s never been Hyundais… until now. So I’m not imagining things. The Genesis is a head-turner. I don’t think it’s particularly alluring, though the styling is cohesive and premium, and the sedan’s stance is strong. Some COTY judges last year felt the Genesis could easily be mistaken for an Aston sedan. The grille does mimic the Rapide a little, and there’s that winged badge, but otherwise it’s a stretch in my eyes. Perhaps the…

YOU wouldn’t think a cylinder the size of a snack-can of baked beans could be a real game-changer for something as big as a car. But enthusiasts know only too well there’s no replacement for displacement. It’s an easy way of gaining performance. What’s not so easy is adding cylinders to existing engines. Cosworth put a couple of its four-cylinder engines together and created the legendary DFV V8 that dominated F1 racing for 20 years, while Volkswagen Group made a W12 by mating two V6s. In the same vein, Renault’s 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbo available for the Captur is essentially the 0.9-litre three-pot with an extra cylinder tacked on the end. My apologies to any engineers reading this… After complaining last month about the slovenly progress of my blue long-termer, I…

EVER noticed the size of Toyota switchgear? Surely I’m not the only one to realise that Camry switches are apparently designed for the massive thumbs of Sissy Hankshaw, lead character in Tom Robbins’ novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. But after years of deriding Toyota’s big, chunky buttons as being like the over-sized key-pad on a pensioner’s phone, it’s recently started to make sense to me. You see, having stuttered past a milestone our test cricketers seem incapable of achieving – the half-century, not 16 – I’ve begun to notice the drop-off in my eyesight. My distance vision is still terrific, but the close-range performance of my previously 20-20 peepers is undoubtedly on the wane. It happens to the best of us. In fact, medical science has a name for…

CITROËN’S range has thinned out in recent months as the local importer awaits fresh metal. Like the C4 Aircross SUV, the C3 hatch is taking a holiday until the next-gen model arrives around 2017, while the refreshed C4 hatch now does without a manual ’box. Citroën has also discontinued some slow sellers in its line-up, including the DS5 petrol. Sister brand Peugeot (which has the same local distributor) has also thinned its model range, ditching the 5008 MPV among other model variants. Importer Sime Darby says these moves are all about preparing its French brands for a fresh blast of new metal, which began with the new-generation Peugeot 308 that was a finalist in last year’s COTY.…

1 SMART FORTWO 2695mm Soon-to-be-discontinued two-seater is known for its smallness. At upwards of $20K, though, it’s difficult to justify against Polos and Mazda 2s. 2 CATERHAM 3 WHEELER 3260mm It’s no surprise that a car missing so much of what other cars get (like a fourth wheel) is also shorter than most things on the road. 3 CATERHAM SEVEN 3360mm It’s all about simplicity with the track-focused Caterham range, with the shorty of the family being the CSR 175. 4 FIAT 500 3546mm It’s small compared with other city cars, but the modern Cinquecento is more than half a metre longer than the 1957 original. 5 HOLDEN BARINA SPARK 3595mm Cheapest Holden and the shortest five-door on the market, though that may change when an all-new model arrives here…

AMONG the storied stable of Italian thoroughbred supercars – Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati et al – it’s often forgotten that there have been as many Italian supercars with breeding somewhat less thorough. Logic suggests that crossing Italian style and motor racing experience with an affordable, under-stressed American V8 engine should produce an affordable, high-performance workhorse. Or, perhaps, a crude, compromised and badly built bastard. One could say either about the cars of Alejandro de Tomaso. Born in 1928 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, de Tomaso’s family wealth enabled him to buy a Bugatti Type 35 at just 17. Racing success encouraged him to move to Italy to join the OSCA factory in Modena. In another astute move, he married American heiress and racer Elizabeth ‘Isabella’ Haskell, whose family controlled Rowan Controller Company,…

FOR 50 years, the tall figure and goofy grin of Dave Milliken has been as familiar a sight to NSW racing drivers as, well, the coloured flags he might be waving at them. Now 72, Milliken still spends a few days each week overseeing events from his “naughty box” above the start-finish line at Sydney Motorsport Park (nee Eastern Creek). It’s just up the road from the Campbelltown area where he was born, raised and still resides. As a kid, he and a friend tagged along to speedway and circuit races at Windsor and Mt Druitt, meeting luminaries such as Jack Brabham, Lex Davison, Frank Matich and the young Geoghegan brothers. His first car, a Morgan, gave way to an MG TD, then an Anglia, improved with a then-popular Cosworth…