Sommaire pour July 2024 de Wheels

COLLECT ALL OF THE ICONIC GREATS AUSTRALIAN CARS THE COLLECTION Discover an exceptional collection of 1:43 scale Australian car models, vividly bringing to life the rich motoring heritage of Australia. ISSUE 1 $6.99 inc. GST HOLDEN MONARO HK GTS 327 (1968) With each model, a magazine where you will find specially selected archive articles from different Wheels magazines, Australia’s ultimate reference for motoring journalism. STEP INTO A FASCINATING WORLD WHERE YOU HAVE THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER THE INITIAL IMPRESSIONS OF AUTOMOTIVE JOURNALISTS AS THESE VEHICLES FIRST HIT THE ROAD. SCAN ME! AT NEWSAGENTS NOW! ISSUE 02 CHRYSLER VH VALIANT CHARGER R/T E49 (1972) ISSUE 03 FORD XC FALCON COBRA (1978) ISSUE 04 HOLDEN EH SPECIAL SEDAN (1964) ISSUE 05 FORD XY FALCON GT (1970) ISSUE 06 CHRYSLER VALIANT S-SERIES (1963)…

“SEDANS AREN’T dead,” says Mike Simcoe, General Motors’ senior VP of Global Design. On the face of it, that might seem a bit of an odd comment given that Cadillac is set to launch in Australia next year with a range of electric SUVs, but the transplanted Melbournian is clearly in no mood to mince his words. “SUVs are a necessary evil,” he admits, before describing them as a “comfortable, rational purchase.” He’s clearly one of us, somebody who recognises that customer tastes are something that he can influence but, ultimately, not control. With factory right-hook Lyriq crossovers confirmed for a 2025 launch over here and the Optiq compact(ish) SUV and Vistiq seven-seater likely to follow on their heels in ‘26, Simcoe clearly faces a challenge in getting Cadillac, a…

THE VOLKSWAGEN Touareg has been revamped and repositioned, with the entry-level 170TDI model now offering a claimed $10,000 of extra spec for a lower price than the outgoing version. That sounds something worth investigating in an era when egregious price-gouging seems the norm. It still comes with a V6 turbo-diesel engine, all-wheel drive and a 3.5-tonne braked towing capability, but as with the previous take, it remains a five-seater, and that means some of its rivals may make better sense for family-car buyers. Unless, of course, you are one of those people who bought a sevenseater only to realise that the third row could have just been a big boot… The updated Touareg 170TDI lists at $86,790 plus on-roads – nearly $2500 less than the last version, but with the…

HEY, HAVEN’T we already reviewed the MY24 Model 3 in the January issue of this very magazine? Well, yes, we have, though that was the entry-level RWD variant that kicks the range off at $61,990… No, wait, that was the price last December. There have been a few changes since and the Model 3 now starts from $54,900. But you may want to check back tomorrow in case that changes again. Here we’re testing the flagship Performance that has, for one reason or another, been delayed by several months but finally joins the RWD as well as the mid-spec Long Range. Historically, the Performance has been our least favourite Model 3, simply because it never seemed great value. It has cost as much as $102K, though is currently available for…

IT MIGHT leap out of the blocks quicker than a Turbo S, but what can the 992.2 GTS achieve on track at the Nordschleife? Porsche managed a 7min 16.934sec time in a rear-drive GTS last year which, again, is quicker than a 992.1 Turbo S (7m 17.11s). In fact, it’s also quicker than the resolutely track-focused 991.2 GT3, which is quite an achievement. Even so, it does rather beg the question: why do it? Why go to all that effort designing a new engine, a hybrid system and an electrically driven turbo when the same power and torque could have doubtless been delivered by turning up the wick on the old engine? There are two declared reasons: first is the new engine’s ability to eliminate turbo-lag; second it means the…

Hybrids are on a roll, and nowhere more so than at the origin source – Toyota. In April, the now-ubiquitous Hybrid drivetrain (in all its forms and capacities) surpassed 10,000 units in a calendar month for the first time for Toyota in Australia, and the now five-year-old, current-generation RAV4 nailed a monthly nameplate record – 5857 deliveries – of which a staggering 94 percent were Hybrid variants. Stats like that carry enormous weight when it comes to configuring the competitor set for the all-conquering RAV4. With diesel variants having disappeared from many medium SUV model ranges in recent years, the efficiency heavy-lifting has been handed to petrol-hybrid engines. And given their combination of crisp performance, drivetrain smoothness and overall range, it has become the most intelligent alternative … within reason.…

MAZDA CX-90 D50e GT Price as tested $85,550 This month 798km @ 6.5L/100km Overall 798km @ 6.5L/100km AMAZING HOW quickly your priorities can shift, isn’t it? Not so long ago, in the relaxing, carefree and golden-hued dreamland before children, shopping for a new car was wonderfully selfish. How it steered, what it sounded like, and how worn are the sticky Pilot Sport tyres were all genuine concerns. Having kids, however, sends all of that tumbling into the ether of irrelevance faster than an ousted opposition leader. Suddenly, instead of calling up mates to discuss steering feel and whether the 1.6- or 1.9-litre engine is the one to go for, you find yourself creating spreadsheets that compare boot space litreage, rear knee room, crash-test percentages, and whether or not the middle…

PERUSE THE GROWING line-up of Toyota GR models, which currently includes the GR Yaris, GR Corolla, GR Supra and GR86, and you’ll notice a key omission: there is no performance SUV. Given GR’s mission is to make fun machines that “make car guys smile” you could argue the lack of a heavier, higher-riding SUV makes total sense, yet that doesn’t mean a GR SUV isn’t on the radar for Australia’s most popular brand. Tomoya Takahashi is GR’s company president and, while on a recent visit to Australia, he told Wheels that it’s logical to begin to add SUV bodies to the GR model range in the future. “To expand the GR brand, maybe those [SUVs] are needed as well,” he said. “Some people can only use SUVs because they have…

THERE AREN’T VERY many TVR Cerberas in Australia. Why would there be? There aren’t that many in the UK. From a high of 1023 licensed vehicles there back in 2003, there were only 276 left on British roads by the end of last year. In other words, the magnificent Cerbera is becoming a very rare vehicle everywhere. Flawed but fabulous, it’s a car with such breathtaking audacity and ambition that it certainly deserves to be saved, so when we tracked down this beautiful Cerbera Speed Six in Melbourne, we were determined to give this Blackpool unicorn its moment in the spotlight. The Cerbera developed a reputation as a metronomically unreliable car. Owners wanted a classic British sports coupe. What they got was a classic British project. When asked what they…

THE PREVIOUS four generations of Hyundai Santa Fe shared one thing in common. They were all easy to damn with faint praise. Really not bad. There or thereabouts. A lot of metal for your money. That sort of thing. Did anyone ever dream of owning a Hyundai Santa Fe? It achieved popularity almost by a slow, creeping type of inoffensive overall competence. You discounted everything else and, after that process of elimination, there it was to fit the family transport brief. With the fifthgeneration version, that’s about to change. The Santa Fe has developed a persona all of its own. Before we go any further, you might well have come to a conclusion on whether that’s a good or bad thing. The styling – especially around the rear end –…

THE ALL-NEW Polestar 3 might have a smaller number than the orthcoming Polestar 4 but it’s a much more expensive, more expansive and more sophisticated vehicle – a large coupe SUV, according to its maker, intended to compete among luxe EVs such as the BMW iX, Audi Q8 e-tron and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, as well as the combustion engined Porsche Cayenne. With exclusive competition like that, the handsome Polestar 3 needs to be capable of more than just Instaworthy glamour shots. And based on our first taste of it through the city and hills surrounding Madrid, there’s a strong chance that the Polestar 3 (in dual-motor form, as tested) will translate well to its international markets, including Australia. Officially revealed way back in October 2022, the Polestar 3 made its…

THE SUB-$20,000 car is dead, long live … well, your best hopes for a brand-new budget car in 2024 and beyond. MG’s second-generation MG 3 has arrived, ousting its predecessor that was the last new car Australians could buy for less than 20 grand with no more to pay. Following the Kia Picanto’s move above the $20K drive-away mark earlier this year, the new MG 3’s opening pricing has climbed from $18,990 drive-away to $23,990 plus on-road charges. Ouch. We had been pre-warned, with MG keen to emphasise that the replacement would come as standard with significantly more equipment – notably, extra safety features that were conspicuous by their absence on the old MG 3 (along with its distinctly underwhelming three-star NCAP crash rating). There’s also a big leap in…

VOLVO XC90 ULTIMATE B6 DARK Price as tested $119,800 IT’S GREASTER TIME! Or Greek Easter, as the more religious members of my expanded family would prefer I call it. This means an annual pilgrimage down to Canberra, where much of the Greek side of the family resides. With small- or medium-sized SUVs we’ve taken for the three-hour drive to the nation’s capital from Sydney, the boots would typically have little space once packed with luggage and kids’ paraphernalia. Naturally, the latter occupies most space. Such is the XC90’s voluminous cargo compartment, however, we’re able to pack our long-weekend belongings into the rearmost area without needing to fold the third-row seats. Not that either of the boys plans to sit right at the back for the journey. Eddy occupies what has…

PRICE Recommended retail figure at time of publication (asterisk indicates driveaway price) ENGINE TYPE L, in-line; V, vee; F, flat. Number of cylinders. T, turbo; S, supercharged; D, diesel; H, hybrid; E, electric SIZE Litres or kWh POWER kW TORQUE Nm TRANSMISSION M, manual; A, auto; D, dual-clutch; C, CVT WEIGHT Kerb, kg 0-100 km/h, acceleration in seconds (Wheels as-tested figures in italics) FUEL CONS Consumption in litres, or kWh, per 100km RON Octane of fuel required, as numbered, or D for diesel RESALE percent, 3-year resale in Glass’s ISSUE TESTED month/year DRIVE A, all-wheel; F, front; R, rear. Any figure in bold is our own estimate. ALFA ROMEO – BENTLEY BENTLEY – FERRARI FERRARI – HYUNDAI HYUNDAI – KIA KIA – LEXUS LEXUS – MERCEDES-BENZ MERCEDES-BENZ – NISSAN NISSAN –…

FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED IN THE CAR WORLD THIS MONTH 1. Mitsubishi has underscored its push to hybridisation in Australia. CEO Takao Kato said: “We will offer not only battery electrics but also plug-in hybrids and hybrids, and introduce appropriate products that will meet the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) set by the Australian government.” 2. BMW has shown its new M135. This will feature a 233kW/400Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four. It can hit 100km/h from a standstill in 4.9 seconds – one-tenth slower than before – and tops out at 250km/h. 3. Jeep’s first ‘global battery vehicle’ – the Wagoneer S – has been revealed. It’ll get to 100km/h in 3.4sec, weighs 2570kg, develops 447kW and rivals include the Mercedes EQE. 4. Is your INEOS Grenadier wanting a little for…

THE 2025 KIA EV3 electric small SUV – a rival to the Hyundai Kona, Volvo EX30, BYD Atto 3 and MG ZS EV – has debuted ahead of its Australian launch. Kia Australia has confirmed the EV3 will arrive in local showrooms sometime in 2025 – joining other dedicated EVs like the EV5, EV6 and EV9 – with exact timing to be confirmed closer to its launch. The EV3 is based on the Hyundai-Kia Group’s E-GMP modular electric vehicle platform – but, like the EV5, it has a front-wheel-drive bias and a lower 400-volt charging architecture. The EV3, like the bigger EV5, is front-drive and gets 400V charging – not the all-wheel drive and 800V architecture of EV6 and EV9 Larger E-GMP electric vehicles like the EV6 and EV9 are…

ISTHE 2024 BYD Seal U – sorry, Sealion 6 – worth your attention? It certainly is. Not least because of its name change for Aussie shores, where European buyers get a car more closely linked to the fully electric Seal sedan. BYD Australia wanted to avoid such confusion. Of bigger significance is the fact this car is a plug-in hybrid. Left-hand-drive markets get an EV version, but for now there are no plans for RHD. Instead, we gain yet another contender in the hybrid SUV sector – albeit one with a few sneaky tricks up its sleeve. There are two configurations: a 1.5-litre non-turbo four-cylinder engine paired up with a single 145kW electric motor in the 160kW front-wheel-drive Sealion 6 Dynamic. Meanwhile, the Sealion 6 Premium straps a perkier 1.5-litre…

WERE THIS THE observation of a public relations spokesperson in a press conference, I might have taken thecomment with a fistful of salt.But this is no press man and this is no press conference. It’s veteran Porsche racer Joerg Bergmeister – class winner at both Daytona and Le Mans and winner outright of the Spa 24 Hours – and right now we’re sideways, power on, steaming towards the exit of turn one at the Weissach test track, a corner approached at nearly 260km/h. He’s grinning and chatting away, providing the most literal and vivid illustration imaginable of the point he is trying to make. We are in the new Porsche 911, the second-generation 992, on sale now in base Carrera form and in Carrera GTS guise – the once traditional…

TODAY FERRARI still provides the benchmark. It’s a strange thing but whenever one of these tests takes place, we always think of the other car as the one ‘being put up against the Ferrari’. It is Ferrari’s opponent that always starts in the role of pretender, the one with it all to prove, and whatever the outcome of the next few thousand words, I don’t think they’ll do much to change that. What is different is that the young upstart trying to depose the king now has a different name: McLaren. If you really want to find out if a Ferrari still has what it takes and is more than just a legendary badge sat atop a delectable skin, it is to Woking, not Sant’Agata, that you must now turn.…

WITH THE NEWS that the Lamborghini Huracán’s successor is set to slot a turbocharged V8 behind its driver’s shoulder, the final curtain has been drawn on the V10 engine. Received wisdom has it that the production car V10 was inspired by the 1988 turbo ban in Formula 1, with manufacturers keen to latch onto the reflected glory of the astonishing-sounding motorsport engines. The truth, as ever, is a little more complicated. While diesel V10 engines have been used in tanks, trucks and buses for many years, the first petrol V10 was the 272kW 4.0-litre unit in the back of the stillborn Lamborghini P140, which dates to 1987. It was carried over to the 1995 Cala concept which also failed to launch. It wasn’t the European bluebloods that got first dibs…