Table of contents for June 2020 in Wheels

DUE Q3 FORD ESCAPE The Escape is one of two key SUV launches for Ford in 2020; the other is the Puma. Prices start at $35,990 and rise to $52,940 for the PHEV, which has an EV range of 50km and draws power from a 14.4kWh battery. The rest of the FWD/AWD range uses a 183kW/387Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo. DUE JULY MERCEDES-BENZ GLB Built off the modular MFA platform, the in-between-size GLB offers Merc yet another seven-seat SUV option and slots in between the GLC and upcoming GLA. Engines will be four-cylinder turbos, while the GLB 35 4Matic variant packs 225kW/400Nm. Local pricing is yet to be revealed. DUE H2 VOLVO XC40 RECHARGE ‘Recharge’ is Volvo-speak for EV, which translates into a compact SUV with two electric motors (mimicking AWD)…

WE GET IT. You’ve played so much Gran Turismo that wisps of smoke are starting to bloom from the back of the PlayStation. All of your model cars have been built, and destroyed, then built again. And you’ve spent so much time working your way through the ‘greatest car movies of all time’ list that you now know Bullitt is a truly terrible film (car chase aside, of course). The metaphorical walls are closing, though mercifully there’s one avenue you haven’t explored: planning where to drive once the lockdown lifts. This is serious business. You’ll be tempted to return to your tried-and-tested routes – familiarity is reassuring, after all – though we’d challenge you to think bigger. So go on, expand your horizons. Fire up Google Maps, jump on Airbnb…

IN A CRAMPED, unglamorous attic space, Daniel Craig is sitting on the floor, casual as you like. You can’t help but notice that he’s handsome but – no offence – not quite as smouldering as his big-screen persona; his face is covered in what resembles a grim, female-repelling case of teenage acne. To his credit though, he cracks a joke about it. He’s down-to-earth, relaxed, and not the Daniel Craig we expected; not the guy who, a few years back, threw a high-profile celebrity strop, swearing blind he’d rather slit his wrists than make another Bond movie. There’s a good reason for his hang-loose demeanour. This isn’t the Daniel Craig, simply a version of him, the next best thing. Mark Higgins is a 48-year-old British rally champion turned full-time stunt…

LEXUS RX450hL SPORTS LUXURY Price as tested: $111,070 This month: 513km @ 11.7L/100km IN SOME SMALL, weird way, I can’t help feeling like the automotive version of a toiletpaper hoarder. Driving around solo in a large SUV with seating for seven feels wilfully excessive in these times where we’re all supposed to be pulling together to buy and use only what we need. Each time I jump in, I feel like the bloke who’s just stuffed his garage with a few pallet-loads of Sorbent premium threeply, and I hear Scotty from Marketing’s scolding tone: “Just stop it.” Fact is, my only daughter and her tribe of friends have gone from being lift-bludging teenagers to independent young women seemingly in just a few blinks of my eyes, so I’ll never fill…

WHAT A captivating, confounding and frustrating thing the Alfa Romeo 4C is. Actually, ‘was’ is more accurate, given Alfa has decided, after seven eventful and controversial years, to cease production. So how shall we remember the 4C? And should we be upset that it’s no more? The first question is tricky, so I’ll start with the second: yes, we should care. For all its flaws (and there are many) we shouldn’t forget that the 4C is pretty much everything a petrolhead could ask for. It’s Italian, mid-engined, and because it’s built around a carbonfibre tub, it’s also truly exotic. And light. Compared to a Porsche Cayman, the 4C weighs 350kg less. Further, at $89,000, has there ever been a more affordable carbon-tubbed sports car? And then there are those looks.…

IT’S BEEN a very long wait. The Nissan 400Z that looks set to be unveiled next year comes on the heels of the 370Z, a model that’s been with us 11 years, its life neatly bookended by two recessions. Because of the latter, Nissan isn’t committing right now to a firm launch date for its 300kW twin-turbo tearaway. Despite development being almost complete and an unveiling originally set for the New York International Auto Show on April 8 (with 2021 pencilled in for initial Australian deliveries), the coronavirus pandemic has put those plans firmly on ice. In fact, such is the impact of the macroeconomics on discretionary purchases like sports coupes that Nissan has delayed the entire launch schedule for at least a year. So what can buyers expect when…

WHEN Wheels broke the news of Ford’s secret V8 Ranger Raptor project earlier this year, the response from our readers was significant: “Hell yeah!” Well, we now come bearing bad news, as the highly anticipated muscle truck has been put on ice; a victim of the global financial belt-tightening in response to the coronavirus pandemic. An industry source confirmed it’s unlikely the V8 Raptor will be the only victim, with many ‘indulgence’ programs being shelved as companies focus on higher-profit products. This is true for General Motors’ latest baby, the mid-engined C8 Corvette. It has been reported that GM’s executive director in charge of program management, Michelle Braun, told suppliers to hold fire, as all development programs have been halted. This includes the right-hand-drive Corvette, which had been expected to…

Model Porsche 924 Carrera GT Engine 1984cc 4cyl, sohc, 8v, turbo Max power 154kW @ 6000rpm Max torque 275Nm @ 3500rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1180kg 0-100km/h 6.9sec Economy 9.1L/100km Price $185,000 (estimated) THERE’S A received wisdom that has long enveloped the Porsche 924. It was the rejected Audi project with a van engine, championed by Ernst Fuhrmann, the misguided Porsche CEO who tried to obliterate the 911. The 924 was the unloved Porsche; the vehicle that traded on, rather than embellished the badge and which put the engine at the wrong end of the car, cooled by the wrong medium. The truth? Well, there’s a lot wrong with that lazy summation. In fact, Professor Fuhrmann was a pragmatist, and a very clever one at that. His 928 project was…

Model Audi A3 35 TFSI Engine 1498cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo, mild hybrid Power 110kW @ 5000-6000rpm Torque 250Nm @ 1500-3500rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Weight 1280kg (estimated) 0-100km/h 8.2sec (estimated) Economy 5.0L/100km (estimated) Price $42,000 (estimated) On sale December 2020 DIAMONDS, AS we know, are formed under pressure. As VW’s Golf becomes even more mature and sophisticated in forthcoming Mk8 guise, the pressure has increased on Audi to make its fourth-generation A3 appreciably more than ‘just’ a Golf with a sharper cut of its jib. The two share a platform, naturally, and there will be a level of commonality with engines. So is the new A3 a carat heavyweight? Our preview drive didn’t allow a definitive verdict, but it did reveal a compact premium hatch with plenty of polish. Audi…

CALL IT the remnants of the cultural cringe: that belief that whatever we produce in Australia, Europe does it better. Its reach surprised me when I arrived Down Under in 2013. The Euro view of Australians is of can-do, salt-flecked superheroes, refreshingly shorn of neuroses. Truths, as ever, often lay elsewhere. I was minded of this internalised inferiority complex when the motoring desk was discussing great driving roads. Many colleagues could name the iconic routes in Europe, but looked askance when I mentioned that certain Aussie roads were just as good, if not better. I’ve never driven anywhere that approaches the Targa roads of Tassie, and on mainland Australia there was a drive that I’d champion as easily having the measure of Romania’s Transfagarasan Highway, the road Jeremy Clarkson confidently…

FORD FIESTA ST Price as tested: $32,940 This month: 344km @ 8.1L/100km PEOPLE I TRUST have been remarkably positive about the Fiesta ST. Scott Newman, MOTOR’s road test editor and an authority on all things fast and flashy, says it’s one of the top three performance cars he’s driven. Then there’s Trent Giunco who, having road tested my car in last month’s issue, is still telling anyone who’ll listen how it “just won’t understeer” and that it’s more fun than a Lambo. Okay, that last part isn’t true, but you get the point. So why am I wondering what all the hype is about? All I can think, as I bounce and jiggle my way to complete my weekly shop, is that the ride is pretty firm. And that the…

VOLVO V60 T5 INSCRIPTION Price as tested: $72,390 This month: 940km @ 10.6L/100km THE COVID-19 lockdown has meant the menial task of getting out and grabbing groceries has become an exciting proposition. Three of our closest supermarkets are usually plundered of essentials, so driving an extra five minutes to a better-stocked option is something I’ve come to cherish. The short drive provides an opportunity to crank the wagon’s excellent 14-speaker Harman Kardon sound system and enjoy a moment away from the madding crowd at home. When you’ve run the supermarket gauntlet, the Volvo’s keyless entry really proves its worth. Swipe a foot under the bumper and the electronic tailgate opens automatically, leaving you to place your bags on the handy hooks on either side of the cargo bay, keeping all…

ANALYSTS TEND to place the blame for Nissan’s current financial issues on former CEO Carlos Ghosn’s ‘growth at any cost’ strategy. Last year, the company’s sales slumped by 10 percent in the US, its second-biggest market after China. Ghosn, now in hiding in Lebanon after absconding from house arrest in Japan, led an unprecedented push for growth, with huge dealer incentives collapsing the bottom line. In order to achieve a target of 10 percent market share in the US, Ghosn’s stair-step incentive scheme both alienated dealers and led to customers becoming trained to shop for end-of-month bargain deals. The result? A 57 percent year-on-year profits decline. Ghosn is now being sued by Nissan for $135m, the company claiming that its “legal actions form part of Nissan’s policy of holding Ghosn…

HOW WILL the COVID-19 pandemic affect the value of your car? The answer, as in so many cases, is it depends. Demand has clearly slackened for new cars, but at a time when many are feeling the pinch, the used car market can often be relied upon to step up. While new car sales fell by 52.3% in April, the fleet used car sector in Australia was also hurting. “We’ve seen a mass exit of trade buyers on the back of minimal enquiry levels; many buyers have been sent on leave,” said Brendon Green, General Manager of Motor Vehicles at Pickles auctions. “Average sales price across every single brand/make are down between 10-20 percent. Surprisingly, units sold to private buyers have doubled during that period as they hunt down high-quality…

But please, keep it tight (no more than 200 words) and do include your suburb if via email: wheels@wheelsmag.com.au You can also have your say on Facebook (search for Wheels Australia), Instagram or Twitter LETTER OF THE MONTH If only governments had the wit to tax vehicles on their weight, height and breadth DUAL-CABS CARRYING SOME OVERSIZE EGOS READING BYRON’S ‘redneck wonderland’ column (Wheels, May 2020) amused and horrified me in equal measure. Then I performed that treasured weekend ritual, the trek to Bunnings, where Byron’s jaundiced forecast about dual-cab utes came true! On our left, a massive Ford Ranger. On our right, a huge Hilux. Dead ahead, a VW Amarok. So far, so bad – can’t see ahead, left or right. Over the other side of the lane, a…

PICTURE IN your mind’s eye the boss of a supercar company. Razor thin, perfect hair, tanned a leathery Monaco brown, poised in a perfectly cut Zegna business suit. Luca di Montezemolo, the legendary leader of Ferrari, is the archetype. Or the implausibly fashionable Stephan Winkelmann, who ran Lamborghini and is now at Bugatti. But McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt is an entirely different proposition; a ruddyfaced, wispy-haired Liverpudlian who began his working life building Ford Escorts on the Halewood assembly line in the early 1980s. He seems a more jeans and tees kind of guy. “That’s a little bit where I still am,” Flewitt tells Wheels. Just a little bit, though. By the time he was wooed away to McLaren Automotive in 2012, just two years after it had been established,…

Model Ford Focus ST Engine 2261cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Power 206kW @ 5500rpm Torque 420Nm @ 3000-4000rpm Transmission 6-speed manual Weight 1508kg 0-100km/h 5.7sec (claimed) Economy 7.9L/100km Price $44,690 On sale Now HAVE YOU ever attended a christening and a wake on the same day? Okay, me neither, but I imagine the emotions involved may be a little like those felt here. The celebratory part is the local arrival of the $44,690 Ford Focus ST hot hatch, but its launch coincides almost exactly with news that the overlord of the semi-affordable hot-hatch segment, the Focus RS, has copped a bullet to the heart. When Ford delivered the news that its revelatory, drift-capable allpaw hero would not be renewed in fourth-gen form, a few of us (okay, only me) whimpered…

UJIRO MATSUDA’S lightbulb moment, it must be acknowledged, took a while to arrive. The man who apprenticed as a foundry steel worker from age 14, and who would go on to be the founder of the Mazda car company, was 31 when his nimble mind conjured a pump specifically designed for chemicals. The ‘Matsuda-type pump’ would be the basis for his first company. Understanding the backstory of Mazda’s founder is pivotal to understanding the brand. It’s an unconventional path scattered with hallmarks and personality traits that would define the ‘dare to be different’ ethos which continues to permeate the company, even a century from its beginning. Matsuda would later go on to establish a weapons manufacturing business, cracking the big time with a deal to supply Japanese, and later Russian…

MAZDA CX-30 Price as tested: $42,490 This month: 545km @ 7.4L/100km I HAVE TAKEN to keeping a copy of Wheels in the seatback pocket of the Mazda CX-30. That and an email from Victoria Police ought to prove to any testy roadside rozzer that this is a test car that requires driving, something I clearly can’t reasonably do at my desk at home. That said, a couple of other engagements have meant that my use has been strictly local, the CX-30 doing a sterling job of bumping up dirt tracks in the hills to spots where my partner and I can go for a walk in complete isolation. As a result, the body surfacing that Mazda is so proud of is frequently plastered with mud. Inwood claimed to need the…