Sommaire pour October 2016 de Wheels

While Rod Nash is happy to confirm PRA Garage as the legal name of his race team’s new performance tuning business, he won’t comment on whether Tickford is the name it will be marketed under. However, a Wheels search has established that the Tickford name was trademarked in Australia by PRA Garage Pty Ltd of Campbellfield earlier this year. Tickford Vehicle Engineering was the British business that started developing performance models for Ford Australia in 1991. By 1999 a family of higher-performance AU Falcons and Fairlanes had been developed under the Ford Tickford Experience banner to take on HSV. Tickford also ran the factory racing operation. But in 2002, after Tickford was taken over by rival British firm Prodrive, a new joint-venture was established with Ford Australia as Ford Performance…

Q80 concept previews S-Class rival due 2018 200kW 2.0-litre VC-T and 3.0-litre TTV6 hybrid in the mix Infiniti supercar to use next-gen Nissan GT-R platform 3.0-litre TTV6 hybrid has 410kW potential; driver-selectable RWD/AWD INFINITI is considering production of a flagship limousine and a high-tech hybrid supercar as part of a bold plan to establish the fledgling brand in an increasingly crowded luxury market. Speaking to Wheels in Japan, Infiniti president Roland Krueger gave clues to the top-secret upcoming models designed to help cement the brand as a technology leader alongside the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. It’s part of a bold strategy to improve brand awareness leveraging alliance partner Renault, technology supplier Mercedes-Benz and parent company Nissan. Headlining the new direction is understood to be a long-teased supercar that…

WHEELS has learnt Hyundai is planning a new 250kW AWD hyper hatch to sit above the already confirmed i30 N, and rival the Ford Focus RS and A45 AMG. Hyundai’s N Performance division has begun testing a prototype of the just-revealed new-gen i30 with an uprated 2.0-litre turbo and all-wheel drive. There are no plans for production… yet. When Wheels attended the recent opening of Hyundai’s new test track at its Namyang proving ground, the company’s head of performance development, Albert Biermann, revealed crucial details about the top-secret project. “If we came up with a performance car on the highest level then it might be too fast for our customers and our dealerships,” said Biermann. “But I can see for the future that we…

A NEW electric-powered Volkswagen to be unveiled in concept car guise at the 2016 Paris auto show presages a range of up to five new EVs already granted developmental green lights by company chairman Herbert Diess. The top-secret plan will include at least one SUV, something likely to be on the radar of Volkswagen Australia managing director Michael Bartsch, who said the brand will add five new SUVs to its portfolio in the next two years. Volkswagen’s electric future – partially aimed at burying ghosts of the diesel emissions scandal – is part of ‘Strategy 2025’, aimed at netting the German carmaker up to one million EV sales annually by the middle of next decade. Sporting a new design lineage that company insiders suggest will influence the appearance of its…

AUSTRALIA’S motoring sweetheart, the Mazda 3, has long been a likeably lusty little performer. But even brand loyalists would admit that the Japanese C-segment diva can get a bit mouthy – rowdy even – in the noise department. Happily, Hiroshima has been listening, so welcome the Series II. External changes are so subtle they need pointing out, so please note the wider grille, “more horizontal” bumpers, and altered air intakes and rear diffuser. The more obvious mods are inside, with a slimmer-spoked wheel, redesigned instrument graphics and more storage. From mid-spec Touring up, the handbrake gives way to an electronic toggle, and the GT and Astina’s head-up display is more informative. Significantly, the CD player is history across the range. More importantly, there’s less droning thanks to a significant increase…

THERE were great expectations when the all-new Colorado arrived in 2012. Soon after, there were big disappointments for a ute that was underdone in so many ways. But Holden listened, and the updated RG Colorado is the result. The most obvious visual changes are on the nose; new bumper, new bonnet and new American-infused grille. No alterations to other panels, though, and the basic chassis remains. But slip behind the wheel and changes are more obvious. New electric power steering is more consistently weighted and sharper, while revised Bridgestone Dueler hoops further improve the dynamics, accurately pointing the dual-cab with a whiff of the inherent floppiness tall sidewalls can give. As well as a revised leaf-spring set-up in the rear that brings added compliance, Australian engineers have also retuned the…

PORSCHE is happy to describe its new Panamera as a whole mess of contradictions, or a car “based on things you thought could not be combined”, as it words it. It is designed to be the sportiest car in its class – the exec-express segment, where it’s up against automotive giants like the Benz S Class – and yet also a relaxed touring sedan. It’s all about sports-car proportions, yet it has space for four tall grownups (193cm-tall men, to be Germanically exact), and it packs a wealth of infotainment and assistance systems, yet it’s all about a direct driving experience. It has also transitioned from woefully ugly duckling into a beautiful, although still intimidatingly large, swan. How does one create a car that can be all these things? By…

The true heart of Mercedes’ Classic collection is stored in 11 anonymous warehouses MERCEDES’ temple to the car as a work of art is a dramatic nine-level aluminium and glass building. Designed as three overlapping circles, it houses 160 glistening cars and 1500 exhibits in 16,500 square-metres of floor space, or almost the area of the Sydney Cricket Ground. By the time this architectural jewel opened in 2006, the museum located just outside the Unterturkheim factory gates at 100 Mercedes St, Stuttgart, cost Mercedes-Benz a cool $230 million. Worth it; since then more than seven million people (40 percent foreigners) have taken the tour through this giant atrium space with no straight walls and no closed rooms. The museum is a monument to Carl Benz, the founder of the company…

The flair of previous models has gone; fifth-gen Odyssey smacks of cynical, expedient engineering HONDA seems to have, at last, turned a corner, with models like the latest Civic demonstrating that the one-time ‘Fear of Europe’ can again deliver progressive and enjoyable cars. So in finishing ninth, the fifth-gen Odyssey – launched in 2014 – clearly isn’t one of them, even if does subscribe to the Japanese company’s ethos of efficient engineering and easy operation. Strong points first. The 129kW 2.4-litre four is a keen and lively performer, despite being bound to CVT transmission that encourages economy over excitement. In a typical Honda manner, it relies on revs to really get moving (loudly), but driveability is impressive and mid-range acceleration is sparkling, aided by a pair of paddle-shifters that help…

If you plan to use the third row all the time, then the Multivan really comes into its own VOLKSWAGEN invented the MPV. Fact. It happened way back in the 1950s when the nice people at Wolfsburg bolted some extra seats into a Kombi van and created the Microbus. Even the name was clever. And when you look at this latest variation on the theme, it’s quite plain to see that VW’s ’50s mind-set remains. If it ain’t broke, etc… Trouble is, the rest of the players have embraced newer design elements, leaving VW’s people-mover at risk of becoming an anachronism, purely on the basis of it being so closely related to a commercial vehicle. Happily, one of the things that stamps it as a parcel van is the very…

Much of what makes the Platinum so palatable transfers wholly to the Si LAST year Kia scored its first-ever Wheels comparo win with the then-new third-generation Sorento. In flagship $56K Platinum AWD diesel guise, the South Korean seven-seater SUV wooed us with its practicality, performance, efficiency, refinement, comfort, dynamic capability, value, and industry-leading warranty. But what about the $41K front-drive V6 petrol Sorento Si? It didn’t impress nearly as much at Car of the Year testing, so expectations weren’t high for its Megatest chances. As it turns out, though, much of what makes the Platinum so palatable transfers wholly to the Si, beginning with a clear emphasis on passenger wellbeing. An easily accessible and inviting interior are great starts, closely followed by seats of almost sumptuous comfort in the reclinable…

THE capacity to safely swerve around an obstacle – and recover from it – is at the core of tyre safety. On a quiet piece of Sydney Dragway tarmac, that obstacle is a witch’s hat, but on the road a child running out from the kerb or another driver’s ill-judged manoeuvre could provide the sudden need to change your car’s course. Our slalom course packages a series of seven such swerve-and-recover events – spaced 20 metres apart – to put each tyre under intense pressure in a discipline that’s done in less than 10 seconds. In this era of mandatory ESC, an oversteer moment following an avoidance manoeuvre is no longer; with ESC switched off, as it was for each test discipline, it’s encouraging that even our least polished players…

IT’S not advisable to fit different tyres on the same axle – mismatched fronts, or mismatched rears, in other words – even if there isn’t a physical axle between them. It’s also less than ideal to fit different tyres at the front than the rear, or so we’re led to believe. In either case, differences in grip and tyre circumference at each corner could have implications for the balance of the chassis, or the workings of the ESC or all-wheel-drive systems. But with 50 or so tyres lying around, we were in a position to experiment. The JAX team fitted a Nexen to the left-front and a Maxxis to the right-front. That’s two of the worst-performing tyres tested (not that they’re all that bad) at the end of the car…

IF YOU’RE to believe the media hype, last month I achieved the impossible, at least for a young person living in a major capital city. I bought a house. Sure, it’s not exactly how I pictured my first home, but it’s close to the city, has oodles of space, and it’s mine. All mine. The downside to this, apart from being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, is that buying a house meant I had to move. Normally I’d rather barbeque my own tongue than spend a weekend lifting furniture, but with the huge red minus on my bank statement still fresh and a big blue wagon sitting in the driveway, I decided to forego the removalist company and do the move myself. How hard can it be? I…

HUMAN beings depend on five senses that prevent us falling out of the evolution tree, but the rockstar senses are sight and sound. They’re the lead singer and guitarist, and so score the hot groupies. Smell, taste and touch can make their own arrangements. It’s the same with cars. What I really focus on are their looks and the noise they make. I’m not excited about a big-nosed SUV with a piddly exhaust, and I bet you’re not either. I want curves and presence, and a noise that makes me tingle and drives me. I want to hear a wailing V12, a snarling V10, a burbling V8. But modern cars are increasingly powered by turbo four-cylinder engines, as in the RC200t. Powertrain engineers may prefer a big atmo engine, but…

Ranger  The Ranger will kick off the Tickford revival with a circa-180kW tune for its 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbo-diesel. Suspension mods by Supashocks and 20-inch alloy wheels are designed to improve dynamics. Everest Tickford will apply the same drivetrain and styling tweaks from the Ranger to the Everest SUV for a 2017 launch. Think 180kW diesel engine, alloys, fender flares and suspension tweaks. The addition of coil-spring rear suspension will require a retune of the rear. Mustang Next on Tickford’s list is Mustang, tipped to land just months after Ranger. Mustang performance parts for are common and Ford Australia is looking to offer a suite of options, including a supercharger kit for the 5.0-litre V8. Full details of Tickford’s plans for Mustang are not yet known. And then…  Tickford has not…

INFINITI has revealed drivetrain technology claimed to reduce fuel use by 27 percent while boosting power. The innovation involves variable compression ratio technology for a new 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine set to arrive in cars from 2018. The first recipient of the new engine will be the QX50 SUV, where it will be mounted transversely across the engine bay. Infiniti describes its new Variable Compression Turbo (VC-T) engine technology as a revolution, adding that it will be as significant as liquid cooling, fuel injection and turbocharging. The VC-T engine is able to vary the amount of compression the air and fuel mixture undergoes, between 8:1 and 14:1. In turbocharged engines a lower compression ratio is better for performance, while a higher ratio improves fuel efficiency. Infiniti says the key…

HOLDEN’S SUV strategy has crystalised with confirmation the GMC Acadia will arrive here from the United States in 2018 wearing a Holden badge. The large seven-seater will take on class kings such as the Toyota Kluger, Mazda CX-9, Nissan Pathfinder, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento. Like those cars, Acadia is built on car-based underpinnings with an emphasis on the suburbs rather than the scrub. But it will come with a four-wheel-drive system for added traction and occasional jaunts to the mountain or bush. The made-for-America wagon will also form a crucial pillar in Holden’s strategy to claw back ground lost by the Commodore over the past decade as families switched their allegiances to SUVs and away from the large cars that once filled suburban driveways. Holden chairman and managing…

VW will introduce five new SUVs to Australia before the end of 2018, according to local company boss Michael Bartsch. Following the new five-seat Tiguan (launched as we went to press), an even larger Tiguan XL – with a longer wheelbase and seven seats, as pictured below – will arrive in 2017. Next will be the third-generation Touareg, based on the MLB Evo platform that also underpins the Audi Q7 and Bentley Bentayga. Number four will be based on the next-generation Polo, giving VW a much-needed entrant in the booming small SUV market, though not until 2018. The fifth arrival will likely be an SUV version of the Amarok utility to compete against other ute-based SUVs such as the Ford Everest, Toyota Fortuner, Holden Trailblazer and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport. Australia…

THE focus on the W213 E-Class, hyped as the most intelligent Mercedes-Benz ever, has been its self-steering functionality, its ability to park itself and the safety tech. But Benz is at pains to point out the technology is there to assist the driver, not replace them. It’s a point not lost on me as I sample the new-gen E-Class for the first time in Australia. A 20km cruise along a busy freeway has the steering wheel easing the car towards the middle of the lane. You can run hands-free for kilometres before it warns to put your hands back on the wheel. You can even flick the indicator and the car performs a lane change, all the while monitoring other traffic. It’s clever stuff, and gives an inkling into this…

HYUNDAI i30 SR V KIA CERATO Si PRICE & EQUIPMENT 20 POINTS Price and platform similarity sits at odds with philosophical differences in the i30 SR and Cerato Si. The Hyundai is sportier to look at than to drive, while it’s the reverse in the Kia, yet they perform on a similar plane, and share rear parking sensors, reversing camera, auto headlights, LED DRLs, leather/synthetic trim, cruise control, sat-nav, and 7.0-inch colour touchscreens. 16/20 Cerato gets ample active safety gear including blind-spot detection, lane-change assist, rear cross-traffic alert and front parking sensors, but misses out on a driver’s knee airbag, dual-zone climate and auto wipers. It also rolls on 16-inch alloys rather than 17s, which, with a more conservative exterior, makes for a subtler visual package. 17/20 INTERIOR & VERSATILITY…

Citroen Grand C4 Picasso Holden Captiva Honda Odyssey Hyundai Santa Fe Kia Carnival Kia Sorento Mazda CX-9 Nissan Pathfinder Toyota Kluger Volkswagen Multivan LOVE makes the world go round, particularly if it ends up with seed sown and a healthy bun in the oven. But it’s right at this point that a fork in the road ahead emerges. Do you trade in your life for the sake of your children, buy a people mover and a couple of cheap tracksuits, or do you remind yourself who you really are and try and navigate the challenges of parenthood and breeding pressure with charisma and class? It’s a quest for the latter that has driven the inexorable rise of the SUV. The long, large-booted traditional wagons and van-based people movers that many…

LAST time we tested (and slammed) the Pathfinder, Nissan had a conniption. ‘Surely it can’t be that bad’ went the general line of questioning, but the ST-L Hybrid was indeed an undisputed dunce. So kudos to Nissan for stumping up a base ST for this Megatest, knowing full well its US-made SUV was never going to be the darling of the group. More the plain-Jane, uncoordinated sister. Yet there’s something about the base Pathy that cuts through its layers of mediocrity to make it almost likeable. For all the Pathfinder’s flaws, in comparison to Holden’s odious Captiva, it actually feels plush, refined and inviting. In fact, smoothness is something the Nissan excels at. From its generously padded front seats to its seamless CVT transmission and a proven V6 engine that…

It traverses the middle road with typical Toyota thoroughness NEED proof that Australians are becoming more like Americans? Presenting exhibit A: Toyota Kluger. Square jawed, spacious, and muscular, the seven-seater SUV feels totally tailored for local tastes. No surprise, then, that it is this test’s biggest seller by some margin. The latest Kluger, however, is more Uncle Sam than Uncle Arthur, with this third-generation Camry/US Avalon-based version sourced from Indiana since its early-2014 launch. In a comparo last year, the up-spec Grande AWD suffered against rival diesel alternatives (the Toyota is petrol-only), mainly because of a jittery ride, road drone, and excessive consumption. But this time, both the GX and GXL AWDs (we reviewed both; GXL pictured) impressed on a number of fronts. Firstly, it’s the most powerful, with addictively…

Carnival’s transformation has been so profound it deserves a new name THE TRANSFORMATION of Kia’s Carnival from an unrefined, undercooked misery bus to something genuinely impressive has been so profound it probably deserved a different name. But Carnival it stays, and this time it’s worth paying for a ride. Sharing DNA with its Sorento platform buddy, the Carnival takes a very different approach to ferrying bodies. It’s much bigger than the Sorento – 335mm longer and 95mm wider, riding on a 280mm-longer wheelbase, meaning you’ll need a McMansion if you want to garage it – yet the Carnival successfully marries handsome styling with luxurious space, which isn’t easy for a base-model people mover. Even the plastic-steering-wheeled, hubcapped Carnival S feels like a limousine. It generously cocoons front- and centre-row occupants…

The mechanic Ian Tate Mechanic 1969-1974 and Goodwood car preparer 2006 Harry Firth mechanic 1956-75; started car prep and engine-building business and continues to work there at 77; major player in historic car racing as long-time president of Victorian Historic Racing Register; occasional classic car racer The Protege Craig Lowndes Teammate 1995-1997 Son of early-’70s Brock mechanic Frank Lowndes; six-time Bathurst winner; record 13 Bathurst podiums; first ATCC/ V8SC driver to win 100 races; three-time series champion; awarded OAM in 2012 largely for work outside motorsport The Manager Jeff Grech Mechanic 1982-1985 and team manager 1994-1997 Known to all as Hog because he used to ride a Harley; has worked for HDT, Perkins Engineering, Gibson Motorsport and Holden Racing Team; been involved in 10 Bathurst wins; now runs Team 18…

BEING able to perform a quick stop was once part of a skilled driver’s arsenal. Now it’s part of the car’s, because ABS means there’s little for the driver to do other than stand on the pedal. However, the histrionics of the average ABS system means being familiar with how emergency braking feels – ideally at a defensive driving day like those run by Ian Luff – is an asset in a real crash-avoidance scenario. Thankfully Renato has done plenty of hard stops. So, with the driver removed as a variable and a car that pulls up with unfailing consistency, we can test tyres and nothing else. The braking test is conducted on the same smooth section of tarmac, with track evolution (or otherwise) measured by regularly deploying the control…

TYRE noise invariably comes in a trade-off with ultimate performance; a tyre is often noisy because it has an aggressive tread pattern. High-grip, soft-compound tyres, on the other hand, can be a low-noise option, provided you’re not overly concerned with wear life. We’d like to measure wear life, but it’s difficult in two days of testing; it’s not that we don’t cause plenty, more that it’s done unevenly, in conditions that don’t represent normal road driving. Measuring noise is quite straightforward, using an SPL meter set to store a peak figure in decibels over a straight section of coarse-chip road. The noise test also serves as the opportunity to scrub-in ‘green’ tyres; we only do a handful of kilometres, but it’s enough to remove the smooth, just-moulded finish from the…

WINNER Continental Conti Premium Contact 5 PERFORMING very well at one or two disciplines while being within cooee of a podium in most others has in previous years been enough to seal outright victory. But that wasn’t how the Continental Conti Premium Contact 5 went about the 2016 Wheels Tyre Test. Its superiority was settled by winning every single dynamic discipline to stand proudly atop the dais. The only discipline the Conti didn’t win has zero safety or high-performance implications – tyre noise. And it hardly dropped the ball there, coming third just one decibel higher than the hushed Goodyear. It’s almost impossible to fault the Continental’s performance, though part of the reason it performed better than its rivals was its lower treadwear rating. The 280…

ACCORDING to a UK survey, moving house is more stressful than divorce. Having just done exactly that – the house bit (for the fifth time in six years), not the divorce part – I reckon that’s probably stretching the truth a bit. The actual moving part isn’t the issue. It’s the aftermath of dust, boxes, clutter and mind-boggling mess. Did I mention dust? Given the chaos of winter 2016 in our household, it’s no wonder the C63 has been restricted to commuting and ferrying duties. But in doing so it proved there’s a lot to be said for the often-ignored practicality of a roomy medium-sized sedan. In the C63, full pack-horse duty requires a press of the boot button (either on the driver’s door, the keyfob, or squeezing under the…

BACK when I had my first car, I waged war on unnecessary equipment. As a 19-year-old in a Mazda RX-7 of the same age, these included the jack, spare wheel and washer bottle. This made it a stripped-out, race-ready special, you see. Part of that personal philosophy has always stayed with me. The average modern car, by my purist’s rationale, is chock full of flagrantly useless crap. While I wasn’t about to rip out the Optima GT’s heated front seats or steering wheel or blind-spot monitor, I vowed never to use such weight-adding, performance-sapping luxuries designed for people lacking my resolve and skill. But I’ve been infected by the insidious disease that is the convenience feature. “The heaters are already there, contributing to the Kia’s 1605kg kerb weight, Jimmy,” went…

THE PRICE OF SUCCESS  Ace race engineer Ron Harrop has made hundreds of innovations, including captive wheel nuts in Supercars; initially banned, now mandatory. “I have experienced many things that are 100 percent legal, then get banned for being too clever. If you’ve kicked the ball and the goal post gets moved while the ball’s in the air, well, that’s just not fair in my view.” IN 2014, Ron Harrop received a call from CAMS. The caller explained that he’d won the Phil Irving Award, recognising achievements in motor sport engineering. “I thought it was a joke at first,” Harrop recalls. The only joke is that it took so long to acknowledge an engineer who was inspired by Irving himself, and whose intuition and passion took Harrop Engineering from a…

Global Ford recognition separates PRA Garage from rival tuning houses A HOT Ford Ranger and hyped-up Mustang will be the first two models from a road car business established by the Blue Oval’s former factory V8 Supercars team, Prodrive Racing Australia (PRA). The venture has been registered as PRA Garage but is expected to be marketed under the Tickford name associated with local fast Fords in the 1990s and early 2000s. But while the old Ford Tickford Experience (FTE) high performance brand was a joint-venture sanctioned by the factory (see breakout), as was its successor Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV), PRA is going it alone without official backing of Ford Australia’s local sales and marketing arm. But there is some involvement from Ford internationally, as parts and accessories are being developed…

LOW OCTANE IS FALSE ECONOMY Why do Australians have a fixation on running our cars on low 91-octane petrol? It’s the cheapest, yes, but in terms of cost per kilometre it’s not. The manufacturers detune our vehicles to accept the stuff because that’s what the ignorant customer demands, and in the process destroys the efficiency of a modern engine gasping for 95 or even 98 octane. Left alone in overseas specification, the engines would reward us with equal or better cost per kilometre and the joy of more power. There would be added savings, too. By withdrawing 91RON, the manufacturing, sales and distribution costs would come down on 95 and 98 octane. Then there is the environmental aspect. With engines detuned and running inefficiently, they are exhausting more greenhouse gasses…

SHANGHAI Fashionista wears mainly pale-blue metallic paint, with glossy black topsides. It’s not the kind of colour combination you expect to see on an Aston Martin. No sign of Savile Row-style understatement inside, either. The cabin’s blue-and-ivory leather is extensively patterned with stitching, perforations and shoe-like brogueing. This look is one of six designer specifications created by Aston Martin to show the breadth of colour and trim choice available to buyers of its new DB11. Other looks have names like Mysterious Sport, New Heritage and Iconic Craft, none of them quite as loud and adventurous as Shanghai Fashionista. Together they testify to Aston Martin’s ambitions to ensure its big new 2+2 GT has truly global appeal. This is a car designed to satisfy the fantasies of those special people with…

THE plug-in hybrid remains an odd proposition; hugely complicated cars that struggle to match the real-world economy of modern diesels. Plug-ins offer a belt-and-braces approach to future mobility – electric operation backed up by internal combustion – but trying to combine both worlds makes them both heavy and pricey. The Optima PHEV is Kia’s first plug-in, sister to the Hyundai Sonata plug-in that’s already on sale in some markets, and is powered by the combination of a naturally aspirated 114kW/188Nm 2.0-litre petrol four and a 50kW electric motor, the pair producing a total system output of 151kW. The 9.8kW/h lithium-ion polymer battery is claimed to be good for an electric-only range of 53km and can be recharged from flat in just three hours with a domestic 240-volt supply. Travel further,…

CARS don’t get much bigger than this one for Infiniti in Australia. Not literally of course – that role is filled by the elephantine QX80 SUV – but when it comes to brand awareness, and of having the potential to boost Infiniti’s dismal sales, the Q30 could be something of a game changer. Officially it’s pitched as a crossover, thanks to that loftier-than-normal ride height, which straddles the divide between conventional hatches and taller small SUVs. Its pricing fits that gap, too. Starting at $38,900 for the entry-level GT and finishing at $56,900 for the diesel-powered Sport Premium, the Q30’s three-tier range will attract buyers shopping everything from the cheaper Audi A3 and BMW 1 Series, to more expensive variants of the Mercedes-Benz GLA and BMW X1. Then there’s the…

This rare exotic is a signal that ‘Power of Dreams’ may soon be more than just an empty marketing slogan T’S EASY to be cynical about the new Honda NSX. The Japanese outfit’s regular line-up contains some depressingly mediocre product with barely a hint of sporting sparkle, yet here we have a $420,000 hybrid supercar, to be built at the rate of just 1500 a year, that appears to be about as relevant as a gym membership in jail. The last thing the world needed was yet another supercar. But Honda did, even though this car’s presence will be so negligible you’ll be lucky if you ever see one. The new NSX is a glimmer of hope for a brand that used to be seen as Japan’s BMW, a rallying…

A parts-bin ambience makes Captiva feel like it should be wearing a $20K sticker IF A WEEK is a long time in politics, then a decade is an eternity in the fashion-driven world of SUVs. Yet that’s how long the basic Holden Captiva model has been with us, the South-Korean-built five- and seven-seater soldiering on with just one major facelift and a couple of upgrades along the way. To say the basic product is starting to look and feel its age is no stretch of the truth. This mid-spec Captiva LT V6 translates to an all-wheel-drive version of the long-lived GM Theta platform with the same Melbourne-built 3.0-litre V6 as seen in its Commodore stablemate since 2009. Holden claims 190kW and 288Nm but, in the real world, the Captiva’s performance…

It’s kids-only in the third row, unless you really dislike your in-laws that much IF THERE’S one vehicle that clearly stands out as a driver’s express among this motley crew, it’s Hyundai’s Santa Fe. Tuned in Australia to deliver precise handling and some enthusiast appeal, this limited-edition ‘30’ (see sidebar) introduces Hyundai’s punchy 3.3-litre petrol V6 to the Series II Santa Fe line-up for best-in-class acceleration to back up its sporting claims. Thing is, it could be argued that Mazda’s excellent CX-9 is also a driver’s car – one that manages to spread its talents across a broad field covering ride quality and refinement, as well as driver appeal. And that leaves the handling-biased Santa Fe high and dry if we’re viewing these chariots in a seven-seat context. On its…

IT’S KIND of refreshing to see that, in the case of the Grand C4 Picasso, Citroen is back doing what it does best; hurling the rule book into the nearest dumpster. The Picasso is weird but also wonderful in many ways, and it’s a breath of fresh air to sit in a car made in 2016 that is so bright and open feeling. Of course, that’s a function of the fact that most of the bodywork is made from glass (or so it seems) and the panoramic sunroof fitted to our test car makes the Citroen feel light and bright regardless of which row you’re sitting in. That huge windscreen (that looks like a receding hairline) is good fun, too, and unless you’re a glareophobe as Ponchard claims to be…

SINCE Mazda’s CX-5 kicked off the newly independent Japanese brand’s ‘SkyActiv’ model renaissance back in 2011, each proceeding model has earned widespread respect, if not universal acclaim, tempered mostly by persistent road-noise intrusion. To Hiroshima’s credit, minor sound-suppression measures have been implemented with each respective facelift. But this second-generation CX-9 is a massive leap forward, finally breaking the noise, vibration, and harshness hex that has plagued Mazda for decades. It’s almost like driving with earmuffs on. Yet this SUV makes the right noises in other areas. Consider, for example, a large and wide cabin offering a welcoming and quality environment. Supportive seats, a stylish dash, lovely steering wheel, classy instruments, tactile switchgear, abundant storage, and slim pillars for decent all-round vision all come through loud and clear. The second row…

IT’S an unwritten rule that testing tyres can’t be fun – it’s all about rigorous analysis – but it seems the Ian Luff crew missed the memo. The circuit layout they provided is much the same they use for driver training days, and more like a motorkhana than a device for punishing hapless tyre-test drivers. The point, of course, is to string every aspect of tyre capability – transient and steady cornering, and braking – into a single discipline. This year’s lap made the circle test redundant because the slalom and circuit laps provide all the lateral acceleration data we need to dissect a tyre. Three laps on each tyre also introduces heat into the equation, which we measure at the conclusion of each run. A lap contains a quick…

IF WE conducted just one tyre test discipline, it would be wet braking. Why? Because this is the area a tyre can really help the average driver get out of trouble. It’s where a tyre proves its worth when it goes wrong on the road. And while the average non-enthusiast might be reluctant to spend-up on tyres in search of crisp turn-in or tenacious traction, they might if they think they’ll save them in the rain. The wet stop is also the one that throws up some curious results. Good dry-stoppers don’t always do so well when the taps are turned on – a result of the tread-to-groove area ratio among other factors. Sometimes tyres stop better in the wet than the dry, usually because they’re relatively poor in the…

EAVESDROP on a typical pub conversation, especially around election time, and it’s clear just how easy it must be to do someone else’s job. Running the country? Pah, nothin’ to it; just ask any schooner-swilling scholar of the Westminster system. I figured the same may be true for automotive product planning and model development. I have zero experience working for a car company so I’ve no idea of the constraints that these people must work within. Therefore, of course, I could do their job. I’m probably overqualified. So as the Tucson leaves the Wheels garage, and I reflect on the largely positive ownership experience over the last six months, I thought I’d offer some friendly product-planning advice to Hyundai regarding what could be improved with the facelift. My first missive…

REX or XE? Albury is 260km as the crow flies from Melbourne CBD, or about an hour with our largest regional airliner. The driving distance, though, is 326km, which should take around three and a half hours with one quick pitstop. Logic, therefore, suggests that making like a bird is better. We’re willing to argue that choosing to fly Jaguar XEpress is best, though. Admittedly, it was my organisational dyslexia that dictated this, but the opportunity to assess the British-built 3 Series-slayer (see Wheels April 2016) in a role it should sashay through proved irresistible. Road trip! After the usual racket of a cold diesel engine in warm-up, the 2.0d quietens to a distant hum as it thrusts forward with effortless ease, while soaking up the rotten northern-suburban backstreet geography…

AT THE end of World War II, Ferdinand Porsche, whose father had designed the Volkswagen, was a 36-year-old engineer who drove a VW cabriolet with a supercharged engine. From that inspiration, he built a stripped-down roadster, which begat the production Type 356. And from that, he built a global car company. The 356 enjoyed sales and motorsport success in equal measure, but by the late-1950s customers were wishing for more interior and luggage room and a quieter, more powerful engine. In 1959 Porsche initiated project T7, followed in 1961 by T8. The design constantly evolved everywhere between two-seater and full four-seater. The boss’s son Ferdinand ‘Butzi’ Porsche, by then in his mid-20s, was officially credited with the eventual 2+2 design, although veteran Porsche body engineer (and 356 designer) Erwin Komenda…