Innehållsförteckning för October 2018 från Wheels

Here’s a pair of limited-edition Ferraris sure to get collectors frothing. The single-seat Monza SP1 and dual-seat Monza SP2 Barchettas take design inspiration from Maranello’s early racing barchettas, like the 166MM from 1948, but are based on the mighty 812 Superfast, with that model’s fearsome V12 wicked up even further to 603kW. Crowd-stopper design elements include upwards-opening doors, and a forward-hinged bonnet to showcase the V12. Just 500 of the all-carbonfibre cars will be built for a yet-to-be-disclosed figure; deliveries from June 2019.…

HIGHLIGHTS The fact August 2018 was the total market’s second-best August total in eight years indicates market resilience in the face of economic uncertainty around factors such as drought in eastern regions and declining residental property values, as well as Federal political instability. Small, medium and large SUVs did most of the heavy lifting, climbing 8.3 percent to 41,271 units. SUVs as a whole now account for 42.8 percent of the total market YTD. Despite this, it was passenger cars on the podium ahead of SUV sales, topped only by light commercials – the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger respectively – in the total market. LOWLIGHTS: Compared with 2017’s record August, monthly sales were down 1.5 percent and YTD sales also dropped 0.3 percent below a record-setting tally for 2018.…

There’s possibly only one engineering feat in the automotive world more impressive than Bugatti’s unfathomable Chiron. The monstrous quad-turbo, 16-cylinder coupe might be able to get from zero to 400km/h and back again in 42 seconds but that kind of pales when you realise someone in a darkened room in Denmark worked out how to recreate the Chiron in 1:8 scale using nothing but Lego bricks. Assemble the 3599 pieces in the correct way and you’ll end up with an eight-speed gearbox clipped to an engine with moving pistons. And you can even move the active aero into the top-speed position using the special key, just like the real thing. Six jolly green giants is a lot of cash for a Lego set but it’s still about 6000 times cheaper…

THERE is only one mid-size SUV on sale with proper off-road chops: the Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. No other vehicle in the segment is available with a low-range transfer case, and that rut-riding ability, and its V6 engine, give the rugged American a distinct point of difference. But this generation has had a hard time finding favour with Aussies, a problem that Jeep admits came down to its looks. The 2019 facelift ditches its squinty, double-decker headlight design and brings an equipment upgrade as well. All four variants carry over existing engines rather than the 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder introduced overseas. Cherokee Sport runs a petrol 2.4-litre atmo four producing 130kW/229Nm sent to the front wheels only. Longitude, Limited and Trailhawk use Jeep’s 200kW/315Nm 3.2-litre Pentastar V6, which is an energetic (and…

MAX VERSTAPPEN calls the Hungaroring a Mickey Mouse track. Danil Kvyat reckons it’s a bit too narrow for modern F1 cars. They might well be right, but in a McLaren 600LT, it’s electrifying. All those things that GP jockeys hate – the guardrail proximity, the patchy runoff, the weird sightlines, the linked sequences of bends that make overtaking almost impossible – don’t really matter when you’ve got the track to yourself in a 441kW road car that weighs just 1356kg. The 600LT is not a difficult car to understand. Take a 570S and just tweak virtually every dynamic criterion. Aero, brakes, track width, power, torque, spring rates, roll bar width, breathing, weight, tyres – you name it, it’s been amped up by a few percent. You might consider these marginal…

Scratch what I just said about the sports seats. The set-back pedal box forces a splay-legged driving position which, after a couple of hours at the wheel, feels like a DVT in the making as too much of your weight is pressed onto the side bolsters. Bring back the old Recaros. Likewise the switches for the cruise control are weirdly scattered between wheel and centre console. Arriving at Heathcote to a damp strip with standing water, it’s clear we’re not going to get too close to Renault’s claim of 100km/h in 5.8 seconds. That time was set with a dual-clutch version with launch control, so even in perfect conditions, we’d probably call a 6.2-second time a good ’un in the manual car. Switch the car into Race mode and the…

SURE, he got to race with Peter Brock, and yes he won Bathurst, at his very first attempt, but when Tomas Mezera put his life on the line as a “young and stupid” boy - fleeing communist Czechoslovakia to sleep rough on the streets of Austria, and celebrating his 21st in a violent and terrifying refugee camp - he was dreaming of something more. “For me, it was all about getting to Formula 1, and even when I ended up sleeping in parks, and nearly freezing to death, well, I believed I would make it. But you know, you’re young and you’re stupid and you think you can do anything,” Mezera, now 59, chuckles, with some rue. “After sleeping rough, the refugee camp was like the Hilton, because at least…

A half-decade on and some trim looks dated, tiny digital tacho is ugly and noise is still a constant companion despite two updates since 2014. But overall dash design/layout works well, with sophisticated wheel, driving position, MZD screen/controller and lower-console presentation. Bolstered outboard seats promote comfort and support; rear-seat kneeroom reasonable and most scalps avoid ceiling despite coupe-like silhouette due to low cushion. High waistline and narrow glass limit vision. Spare is a space saver. Boot volume is 408L, the second-best here.…

MORE God-fearing men than myself may be well-advised to follow the ninth commandment; the one that decrees thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s wife. But what about coveting the interior of thy car’s cousin? Surely that’s not off limits? See, I recently fell under the spell of the stunning, game-changing interior of the Land Rover Velar, with its dual-screen lushness and high-end touch points. As I sat there making lame little cooing sounds, it brought into sharp relief the generational gap between it and the perfectly adequate, but rather less-stunning interior of my XF. I admit to a few improper thoughts, Lord; those of the lustful kind. Yes, different brands, and models from different eras. The reality is that interior design and in-cabin technology is one area of the automotive…

IT’S OFTEN credited as revolutionary in ways it wasn’t – front-wheel drive and transverse engines had both been seen decades earlier – but the Morris Mini-Minor, aka Austin Seven and Austin 850, changed forever the template for small cars. It also enjoyed one of the longest production runs of any, in the company of fellow revolutionaries like the Citroen 2CV and Volkswagen Beetle. The accidental egalitarian Mini was beloved of poor families and pop stars alike. It began in response to the post-war popularity of affordable, European ‘bubble cars’. In 1955, Leonard Lord, president of British Motor Corporation (BMC), assembled engineer Alec Issigonis and inventor/engineer Alex Moulton and a small team to create a car within dimensions later given as 10 x 4 x 4 feet, and using BMC’s existing,…

Trim, taut and terrific The Mini’s incredibly compact unitary body measured just 3055mm long by 1410mm wide by 1346mm tall and weighed just 626kg. Space efficiency drove the brilliant rubber cone suspension, essentially struts with control arms at the front and trailing arms at the rear, but with dome-shaped rubber ‘cones’ replacing steel springs. Rack-and-pinion steering helped mask the torque-steer effect of unequal-length driveshafts. Tiny 10-inch wheels enclosed four drums. A for antique Mini’s magic lay in the four-speed gearbox mounted in the sump; a contemporary motorcycle innovation. The four-cylinder A-series dated from 1951’s Austin A30, with three main bearings and iron block and (non-crossflow ohv) head. Mini unit displaced 848cc; with single SU carb it gave 25kW at 5500rpm and 60Nm at 2900rpm. 0-60mph (97km/h), at 26.5 seconds, was…

Although the original pop-up lamps have been ditched due to legislative issues, the PF0 still looks astonishingly clean. The flanks are unadorned by gaping intakes and the cabin seems shrink-wrapped between rounded arches, with three-point dihedral doors taking a chunk out of the roofline when opened. The teaser image shows the split wing elements, which sit above an active rear diffuser. The door sills are slim. As Perschke puts it, “you don’t have to be a trained yoga teacher to get into and out of it.”…

MOTORSPORT is facing an uncertain future. The support of manufacturers and sponsors who have traditionally propped up the multi-billion dollar industry is beginning to waver, while viewer habits are becoming increasingly fragmented in an ever-changing media landscape. Then there are traditionalist followers who feel put out by a shift towards ‘green conscious’ regulations. What motivates a man to lead a venture, which, if successful, would make his own career redundant? But there may be an unlikely saviour – Lucas di Grassi. Racing drivers aren’t traditionally well equipped to solve the multi-faceted existential problems facing motorsport, immense talent behind the wheel notwithstanding. But Lucas di Grassi isn’t a normal racing driver. A member of the famous high-IQ society Mensa and with a degree in Economics, his ideas are formed outside the…

CADILLAC is back on the radar for Australia. Weeks into the daunting role of reviving Holden, recently appointed chief Dave Buttner is evaluating the strength and breadth of the iconic American brand with the view to introducing it Down Under as early as 2021. General Motors product development boss Mark Reuss has prised the door open to establish Cadillac locally during a recent trip to Australia, instructing Buttner to undergo an appraisal. “It’s up to Dave but we’re certainly capable of doing that,” said Reuss when asked about the prospects for the American luxury brand, hinting crucial right-hand-drive engineering work is under way, adding, “it could be an opportunity for us.” Committing to driving some of the dozens of development Cadillacs at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground, Buttner told Wheels…

What is it? A revolutionary form of combustion engine valve actuation that not only removes any physical connection to the crankshaft, but also enables infinitely variable and independent valve timing. Dubbed Intelligent Valve Actuation or IVA, the engine innovation is the work of Cambridge-based tech firm Camcon. How does it work? Unorthodox valvetrain systems have come and gone including pneumatic, hydraulic and solenoid types, but the Camcon solution uses the company’s electrically operated ‘bi-stable actuator’. Unlike a solenoid, which has an energised position and a non-energised position, Camcon’s design features two non-energised states. When the unit is energised it lifts the engine valve into the open position – when the unit is de-energised the valve stays open. When the unit is subsequently energised in the opposite direction, the valve snaps…

“GET SET, ZZZZ !” Like Editor Inwood, I also missed Goodwood FOS this year. I had to fly home midway through my holiday in the UK as my brother died and his funeral was on the day I had scheduled to go to Goodwood. I liked the August issue’s Editor’s letter touching on the electric Volkswagen ID R at Goodwood and noting the role noise plays in high-performance vehicles. Though I have never driven an EV, let alone an EV track car, a few thoughts occurred to me. I’m the owner and somewhat slow driver of a Subaru WRX tarmac rally car. Track cars are a pain to drive on the road – climbing over the roll cage, the crashing suspension, the jerky and whining drivetrain, the…

THE YELLOW advisory signs with the squiggly lines provide the official confirmation of what we already know. We’re deep in Gold Coast drivers’ country, but still the lumbering Hilux in front of us holds his course. The lush hinterland ramps up towards Mount Tamborine, beckoning us in. Still we wait. Finally, mercifully, old mate sticks two wheels on the verge and allows us space to pass. Snap, the six-speeder’s beautifully tactile short-throw lever is flicked back to second and the throttle squeezed to the floor. This is it, our first real chance to extend the MX-5’s heavily revised 2.0-litre SkyActiv-G engine and see to what extent it really changes the character of our 2016 Car of the Year winner. Instantly obvious are an extra level of zingy eagerness to rev,…

ALTHOUGH the 2019 Subaru Forester is all-new, meeting it feels a bit like catching up with an old pal. There’s a sense of familiarity and dependability that creates an entirely different kind of appeal to that exuded by ostentatious luxury and performance cars. The fifth-generation Forester is built on the company’s new Global Platform which supports electrification and will soon underpin the first-ever hybrid Forester, yet initially, the Forester range has been pared back. In its previous generation, the Forester was offered with atmo, turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel engines and manual and CVT automatic transmissions. For now, though, every 2019 Forester has a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated four bolted to a CVT. The 2.5i and 2.5i-L open proceedings with respective pricetags of $33,490 and $35,490, but only the 2.5i Premium ($38,490) and…

OF ALL the cars on which I’d hate to be a set of rear tyres, this one sits at the top of the list. Aston’s DBS Superleggera produces 533kW from its twin-turbocharged V12, but that isn’t the telling stat here. It’s the 900Nm of torque. And the inescapably portly kerb weight figure, which, despite the use of carbonfibre body panels that save 72kg, sits at 1693kg. And that’s sans fluids. Combine the two and there’s a lot of physics for two 305-section Pirellis to manage. And more often than not, they fail. Drive it hard on a circuit and even careful use of the throttle sends the traction control system into overdrive, especially exiting slower corners. Turn the electronic gubbins off and you’ll barbeque the bespoke rear rubber faster than…

“THAT’S where the money is.” Those are the alleged words of the late US career criminal Willie Sutton, and it’s a sentiment that must have been in the minds of Lexus’ top brass when they decided to greenlight the company’s first-ever compact crossover, the UX. If there’s money to be made in the car biz, it’s surely centralised in the lucrative SUV segment. Sutton wasn’t talking about cars – he was talking about banks; specifically, why he robbed them – but his principle nevertheless holds true. Lexus has a golden opportunity to shift the focus away from the homely CT200h that’s been its gateway model up until now and onto a more exciting SUV. After all, that’s where the money is. And truth be told, it’s also where the next…

WE’RE now two years into the second-gen CX-9’s tenure and already talking about update number two. On face value that smacks of a car company trying desperately to make an uncompetitive car more appealing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The COTY-winning CX-9 was the best large SUV on the market when it launched, and Mazda’s internal drive to make it an even stronger proposition is only making it harder for rivals to catch up. The existing range has had the material quality to make buyers of premium SUVs think hard about the value of a badge, and now there’s an even ritzier CX-9 range-topper on offer. Dubbed Azami LE (for Luxury Edition) the new flagship variant, priced at $66,490, stretches the CX-9 range to five and elevates…

IT REALLY is a magnificent moustache. Bushy and brilliant in its whiteness, it gleams under stage lights as its owner, head of Mercedes-Benz cars Dr. Dieter Zetsche, speaks emphatically to a group of pushy journalists, each eager to quiz the boss of the world’s oldest car company about its future. Next to us sits arguably the most significant new Mercedes in decades, its rump emblazoned with an all-new badge that reads, simply, ‘EQC 400’. It’s the first mainstream electric car from Mercedes-Benz, and Zetsche is in full swing at its global reveal in Stockholm, Sweden. “We’re all in!” he proclaims. “We are … ALL … IN … with electric cars.” Don’t let its familiar shape fool you. Those looks may be closely related to the conventionally propelled GLC mid-size SUV,…

ULTRA-LIGHTWEIGHT 10-SPOKE FORGED ALLOY WHEELS AND TROFEO R TYRES COMBINE FOR A 17KG SAVING IN UNSPRUNG MASS. OPTIONAL TITANIUM WHEEL BOLTS SAVE ANOTHER 0.42KG CARBON TUB AND ALUMINIUM BODYWORK ARE GARNISHED WITH 600LT’S CF SPLITTER, FRONT FLOOR, SIDE SILLS, INTAKES, REAR WING, ELONGATED REAR BUMPER AND LARGER DIFFUSER TOP-EXIT STAINLESS-STEEL EXHAUSTS SAVE 12.6KG. REAR WING IS COATED IN A SPECIAL CERAMIC FINISH SO IT DOESN’T COOK WHEN THE EXHAUSTS ARE OPERATING AT FULL AFTERBURNER…

EVERYBODY knows that Renault makes the best hot hatches. It’s as reliable an indicator as a Porsche performance car of the year win or a Rover K-Series head gasket failure; merely one of those little things that ground the automotive world on a reassuring footing. Sure, other hot-hatch manufacturers are available, and every once in a while one of them will build something class-leading, but these are anomalies; mere blips until normal service resumes. All of which ignores the fact that the first Megane Renaultsport was a bit of a dog’s dinner. The 165kW Megane 225 (launched overseas in 2004) showed initial promise but needed a fair amount of remedial work before it came good in Cup guise in 2005. Trace the lineage of many Renaultsport hot hatches and you’ll…

Initial impression on our challenging hill route? Good engine, strong brakes, average manual transmission, fantastic chassis. There’s not quite the consistency we would have hoped for across the major controls, the gearbox feeling a little clumsy. The vertical shift planes of gears 1-2 and 3-4 are set close, with the 5-6 shift feeling further out right, which meant that dropping from fifth to fourth wasn’t a snap back, but a deliberate guide to the spring’s detent and then a pull into the lower gear. The shift itself is deliberate but slightly notchy, and the shift knob is a weird and uncomfortable shape. The relaxed throw of the shift can also feel out of cadence with the sharp steering. Faulting the Megane’s handling balance is a tougher assignment. It’s fantastically chuckable,…

THE ANCESTORS of the Native Americans were a deeply resourceful, passionately territorial, and highly intelligent bunch, especially in their ability to live and thrive in harmony with the environment. But here’s a little-known fact: they were rubbish at road-building. I figure this because I’m staring through the screen of the new JL Wrangler at a collection of boulders the size of garbage cans blocking our passage just a few kilometres along the eastern entry to Rubicon Trail, which I’m told was first cleared by the Paiute and Mono tribes as a means to access the fertile hunting and fishing grounds of the Eldorado forest in California’s Sierra high country. This lot clearly didn’t care about making life easy for themselves, or perhaps impersonating a mountain goat was considered a tribal…

“The estate car market will never be quite the same again now that the Range Rover has been introduced. It is, after all, just as much an estate car as anything else…”– LJK Setright, Car, February 1971 WHETHER you like it or not, the SUV is the modern evolution of the wagon. Resist the temptation to aerate this messenger in a hail of bullets and consider that for a moment. Buyers have voted with their wallets and wagons now sit a little higher and can go a little farther off the beaten track. Leonard Setright, a cranky, British facsimile of Peter Robinson, had this figured out almost half a century ago but, for most of us, it’s taken that long for the penny to drop. Indeed, it took until 2004…

SINCE launching in 1967, the Toyota Corolla has witnessed plenty – the civil rights movements, sexual revolution, space race, fall of communism, rise of the internet, Ford’s AU Falcon – but surprisingly few Wheels comparo wins. Let’s count ’em. It wasn’t until the February 1973 issue that the second-gen KE20 finally outgunned its rivals (the Ford Escort, Mazda 1300 and Datsun 1200). But the lardy KE30 (’74) and boxy KE70 (’81) that followed were well off the pace, leaving the first front-drive AE80 to snare two more victories (August 1985 and July ’86). Frustratingly, Corolla regressed again through three successive rebodies (1989 E90, ’94 E100 and ’98 E110), before the newly minted MC-platformed E120 brought home gold in late 2002 and early ’03, though that momentum waned with the 2007…

Did Darth Vader inspire the unremittingly black, plastic helmet-like dash and digital instruments? Group’s roomiest and best-equipped cabin also boasts biggest centre console storage. But cheap off-gas odour is repelling, seating needs more support, touchscreen volume slider too fiddly, lower-console trays tricky to access, rear armrests are set too low and storage meagre back there. Worst still, no interior here is noisier. Luggage blind is flimsy and probably provides little (much-needed) sound insulation. Cargo capacity is a leading 414L. Spare is space saver.…

Corolla’s designer dash is modern and minimalist, yet nicely functional too due to buttons rather than infuriating touch sensors. Plastic wheel and instrument dials look cheap enough for Hilux duty, but sumptuous seating, ample space and next-level refinement make Ascent Sport relaxing and inviting. But rear doors lack storage and boot capacity is a piddling 217L with a full-sized spare fitted. Hybrids ditch spare altogether for inflation kit, for a more workable 333L. This should be available on regular variants too. Expect Toyota to sort it quickly.…

HE’S THE man who put the small Victorian town of Castlemaine on the map – and then repeatedly tried to blow it off the map with machines like his street-registered, 2250kW aero-engined ’55 Chev, the 27-litre V12 Warman Special, a twin-supercharged 7.0-litre Model T Ford … and around 30 similar automotive affronts over a period of five decades. Castlemaine is known as ‘The Street Rod Centre of Australia’. It was Rod Hadfield, 72, who moved to the town in his early 20s, that proclaimed it so. “When I first came here, they were building rods, but it was all underground,” he says. “I decided to start Castlemaine Rod Shop and advertise it and not be afraid to admit it – that if you’re driving a modified car, there wasn’t something…

IT’S VIRTUALLY impossible to disentangle the histories of Pininfarina and Ferrari. The fate of the styling house formed by Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina was inexorably changed in 1951 when, in a small restaurant in Tortona, Farina and Ferrari met. Since that discussion over coffee, every Ferrari road car bar the 1973 308 GT4 and the 2013 LaFerrari have been Pininfarina designs. Now there has been a still more seismic shift in the ambitions of Pininfarina. At this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, it displayed the styling buck for its PF0 (‘PF zero’) electric hypercar. Pininfarina is now a manufacturer in its own right. That’s the story the company would want you to believe, in any case. Speak at length to CEO Michael Perschke and you’ll come away filled with visions of…

Often regarded as one of Pininfarina’s most iconic concepts, the Ferrari 512S Modulo is being given a fresh life by James Glickenhaus. Despite wowing crowds when it was first revealed at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, and winning 22 design awards, the concept car was only ever a design project, and has never moved under its own power. Glickenhaus bought the car from the Italian design house in 2014, and debuted a better-than-new version at Monterey Car Week last month, 5.0-litre Ferrari V12 and all.…

Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button is selling his Sunday driver, a one-of-a-kind McLaren P1. The unique hypercar is being sold through UK company Steve Hurn Cars, with an asking price just shy of A$3 million, but there is a hidden Easter Egg in its software. The car is fitted with ‘Track Mode 2’, which is a McLaren Special Operations (MSO) modification that gives the car a road-legal version of the ‘Race’ driving mode. According to Steve Hurn Cars, this is the only P1 fitted with the option.…

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER ASTON MARTIN Vantage and DB11 Volante; AUDI A7; BMW i8 facelift and i8 Roadster; FORD Focus, Mustang Bullitt and Everest update; HYUNDAI Ioniq hybrid, plug-in hybrid and EV; JAGUAR F-Pace upgrade and SVR; KIA Cerato hatch and GT; LAND ROVER Range Rover P400e plug-in hybrid; PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS; SKODA Fabia facelift; SSANGYONG Musso, Rexton and Tivoli DECEMBER-JANUARY ALFA ROMEO Stelvio QV; ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR; AUDI Q8 and RS5 Sportback; BENTLEY Continental GT coupe; GENESIS G70 and G80 sedans; HOLDEN Acadia; HYUNDAI Veloster and Kona EV; JAGUAR I-Pace; JEEP Wrangler; LEXUS CT200h update; MERCEDES-BENZ C63 AMG update and X350d 4MATIC; SUZUKI Vitara Series II Ford Focus Ford’s fourth-gen Focus is set to usher in a return of the dynamic greatness that made the original the darling of the…

I read with interest the Honeywell turbo development (‘Explained’, Wheels, September.) Good on them. But isn’t that a bit like improving gas lighting? Surely the trend towards splitting the turbo (to drive a generator) from the compressor (run by an electric motor), makes it pretty much redundant? Even then, it’s surely just a stepping stone from hybrids to full EVs? And given CSIRO has solved the shipping of hydrogen problem (stripping off the H from ammonia, at the filling station), EVs may be a fleeting ‘stepping stone’ to fuel-cell EVs? Referring to Insider in the same issue, I’ll get an early vote in that BMW is doing the smart thing by using the same platform for fuel, hybrid and EVs until the market settles down. Although some may like to…

It’s universally accepted that Australia has unique conditions: huge variances in climate between seasons and road conditions that aren’t exactly the envy of the rest of the world. For these reasons, car manufacturers invest in local technical and engineering departments – but most wouldn’t expect to hear the same for tyre makers. However, you’d be surprised. Bridgestone places significance on ensuring it has the right products for the Australian market across its complete range: the low-rolling resistance Ecopia range, the Potenza performance range, Turanza touring line and Dueler products for SUVs and 4x4s. The iconic tyre brand conducts extensive local testing, teaming up with manufacturers such as Honda to collaborate on future product development. The two Japanese powerhouses identified areas where they could work together on projects that will ultimately…

We pick up the RS280 in central Melbourne and while the ride is on the firm side, it’s never what you’d call harsh. It torque-steers and slithers on wet tram tracks, the diff sometimes having a sly snatch at the wheel, but it rides speed bumps and cobbled laneways without having you checking your health cover for chiro extras. The four-wheel steering gives it a virtual short wheelbase, which manifests in a mere slice of the wheel to send the car through 90-degree lefts and rights. The engine pulls well at low revs, but any aural character seems to emanate from the speakers rather than anything oilier. Pressing the RS button only shuttles between two of the six drive modes. Go for anything other than Neutral or Sport and your…

THIS ought to be terrifying. The road runs across a rolling plateau, open at first before diving downhill in a series of ever-tightening, wildly cambered bends. Fat gobs of rain spatter the windscreen. I’m attempting to keep the teardrop-shaped tail lights of the Hyundai i30 N somewhere ahead of the red ribbon that marks top dead centre of the Megane RS280’s steering wheel. Rather than slowing for the corners we seem to be accelerating, sucked into the rainforest as if we’re in a venturi, having crossed some unmarked event horizon. Every once in a while, the Hyundai’s tail lights disappear mid corner as it yaws into a big tail slide, before blinking back out of the gloom, the tyres firing bark and leaves in twin vortices behind it. I’m laughing…

What sets Wrangler Rubicon apart from the Sport and Overland models? Most notable are driveline changes aimed at toughness and crawling ability. Its axles are beefier Dana 44s and its low-range transfer case (called Rock-Trac) provides a shorter ratio at 4:1, while its final-drive ratio is also shorter (4.10 versus 3.45). Further, Rubicon gets Tru-Lock electronic locking differentials to help it find traction in really extreme conditions, and runs mono-tube dampers, along with a slightly higher ride height for better ground clearance. Finally, it gets an electronic disconnect for the front anti-roll bar to increase axle articulation, allowing it to find traction where lesser rigs would be hopelessly spinning a hung wheel.…

If you’re having trouble seeing past the Ascent Sport’s inexplicably truncated cargo capacity, consider the range-topping ZR Hybrid (with more kit as well as better fuel economy) for another $7500, since that trades a spare wheel for a repair kit and 116L of extra luggage space. In Europe a natty wagon version is waiting in the wings as well, but sadly that’s not for Australia. Or wait for the altogether different (and as-yet unseen) next-gen Corolla sedan out sometime next year.…

Unexceptional but tremendously functional, the i30’s cabin is deeply inoffensive and extremely difficult to fault. Beautifully built, it is a dream to operate despite Active’s hard monochromatic materials and plastic wheel. Firm seating and crisp instruments seem very Germanic, as is dash’s overall solidity and conservatism. Storage is first class throughout. Rear seat area is a bit noisy, ride a tad stiff but still comfy, and space is unexpectedly generous. Full-size spare; boot volume is a useable 395L.…

JONI MITCHELL, it’s reasonable to assume, probably wasn’t thinking about returning her Kia long termer when she wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. Nevertheless, that line “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” seems to have been my earworm ever since the Stinger went back. Not that I took the car for granted. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t smile when I started it up, grinning at the thought that for this serendipitous six-month spell, I had a 272kW rear-driver in the garage and some twisty country roads within five minutes of my front door. That said, it’s possible to become blasé about some of the Stinger’s lesser-appreciated qualities. The biggest surprise for me was how adept the Kia was as a…

FOR THOSE just tuning in, let’s recap. During the last few months I’ve become friends with the 3008. It’s a good car. We’ve bonded over almost 3000km of day-to-day toil and had some fun on the side, but since last update things have taken a turn for the French. In August I mentioned an overdue service I was planning to book. The 2500km check is a dealership’s way of building customer relationships by transitioning buyers from the salesperson they connected with initially to the technicians who will maintain their vehicle. It’s sometimes referred to as a run-in service or a second handover, and allows owners to voice any early concerns and get help with functions they’re struggling to master (typically adaptive cruise control and self-parking features). It’s also a good…

FAMILIARITY breeds contempt, so they say, but like so many well-worn maxims that phrase doesn’t apply to everything. It certainly doesn’t apply to the Swift Sport I’ve been driving for the past five months. I don’t want to give it back. That’s the summary of how I feel about it. Can you blame me? It’s light, chuckable, looks cool, is a cinch to park and sips fuel. The seats are great, it loves to be driven like a hooligan, and even the stress and duress of a trackday wasn’t enough to make it wilt. It’s a Jack Russell of a car, bursting with energy and playful to the extreme. But this isn’t Stockholm Syndrome. I’m not going to ignore its flaws. For starters the gearshift action could be more precise…

AT THE end of an extended test period with any car the question must inevitably be: ‘would you buy one?’ So to Holden’s Equinox, GM’s flag-bearer in the mid-size SUV class, and a vehicle designed to steal market share from a list of competitors as long as your arm and growing at a pace. Chief among these are the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail, all accomplished vehicles with strong reputations, loyal followings and double-digit market share. The Equinox arrived on our shores in late 2017 as an unheralded new model, bearing a name plate no-one knew or recognised, to compete in a segment where Holden’s previous offering had been the unloved Captiva. What’s more, it launched into a pall of negativity surrounding Holden, thanks to the impending end…

Carter wanted a steady job after the birth of his first child, and in 1949 became the editor of Outdoors and Fishing. As a result, he was in on the birth of Wheels and became friends with its first editor, Athol Yeomans. He then resigned to travel the inland of Australia, writing books and articles – occasionally for this magazine – all backed by his evocative photography. The Porsche era ended when falling import duty meant there was no point to buying a car in Germany and thus made the cars “too bloody expensive” in Carter’s words. He died in 2010, aged 82.…