Innehållsförteckning för January 2023 från Wheels

JAGUAR LAND ROVER’S boss, Thierry Bolloré, has walked away from the company, ostensibly “for personal reasons”. Hmm. With him goes his Reimagine plan to reinvent Jaguar as a Bentley-rivalling EV marque, lifting the brand sharply upmarket in the process. It’s always somewhat disorientating when a brand stretches either radically up or downmarket, but the public perception of these two strategies is markedly different. Ford’s second-gen Mondeo was hailed as one of the landmark cars in its class, but when Jaguar rebodied the Mondeo’s bones to create the more affordable X-Type, it was widely derided. It wasn’t that the X-Type was a bad car. Far from it. It just didn’t mesh with what buyers expected from Jaguar. People tend to remember failed down-market brand stretches and associate them with naked opportunism, cynicism…

FOLLOWING YEARS of speculation, it appears General Motors will spin off the Corvette nameplate into a dedicated sub-brand. Car and Driver reports that the current C8 Corvette sports car will be joined by a four-door coupe and a performance SUV – both all-electric – due in 2025. GM has already confirmed plans to launch electrified versions of the C8, with an all-wheel-drive hybrid set to be revealed later this year. The move will see General Motors compete with Porsche, providing models to take on the likes of the Taycan and upcoming Macan EV in a bid to improve the profitability of the world-famous Corvette nameplate. An electric SUV with a well-known sports car nameplate is also the formula for the Ford Mustang Mach-E; however, the Corvette SUV will be a…

DUE Q3 AUDI Q8 E-TRON In a bid to quell E-Tron confusion, Audi has renamed its large electric SUV the Q8 E-Tron. The name change coincides with an update of the EV, which brings a bunch of useful improvements, including a larger, more energy-dense battery and more efficient motors. Result is a range increase of around 170km for the 55 Quattro Sportback, now good for 600km. DUE Q2 JAC T9 Australia’s crowded ute market is about to get another entrant, with importer for Chinese brand JAC announcing that it’s set to launch the diesel-powered T9 model in June, with an EV version to follow in 2024. The T9 is powered by a 2.0-litre four making 125kW/410Nm, runs an eight-speed auto, and will be priced to target rivals from GWM and…

AS A GENERAL rule, I like car people, but in the last few months it has become clear that we are all a bunch of shameless hypocrites. Only in recent years have the most staunch and evangelical car enthusiasts started accepting that SUVs might actually be okay – myself included – but it’s taken decades for high-riders to shake off the reputation that they’re unnecessary, flawed motoring follies for the thoughtless. Indeed, for many years SUVs deserved to be scoffed at by people who really knew what driving was about and those who intimately understood the dynamic, safety, economy and aesthetic compromises that were necessary to create the early examples. So why is it that the first-generation Holden Cruze, VolvoV70 Cross-Country and Ford EcoSport copped the flak and mire they absolutely…

ELECTRIFIED LEXUS MODELS ARE nothing new. Thanks to proprietary hybrid technology donated by parent Toyota, the Japanese luxury brand has been offering more frugal versions of its premium models for nearly 20 years. More recently it introduced its first full EV with the arrival of the UX 300e, while the RX 450h plug-in hybrid is also live in other global regions and will join its siblings Down Under. So you’d be forgiven for thinking the new electric RZ 450e is less significant than the electrified models that came before it, but you’d be wrong. The new addition to the Lexus line-up will be arriving on local shores in the middle of 2023 and when it does, it’ll introduce an AWD, pure battery-powered mid-size SUV with 230kW and about 450Nm, up…

FOR A CAR that can claim to be 2023’s most controversial performance sedan, the W206 Mercedes-AMG C63 S sure does make a low-key first impression. It’s hunkered down in the concrete bowels of our hotel in Spain and, if this were any other C63 from the last 20 years, pressing the starter button would deliver a moment of giddy, child-like glee as its booming V8 thundered into life and bounced off the car park’s walls. Fire up this all new fifth-generation C63, however, and all you get is… silence. Yep, AMG’s brutish M3 rival is now a plug-in hybrid, but really, the fact that this is the first C63 not to have a V8 is just part of what makes this car so intriguing. What you see here is a…

HYUNDAI i30 SEDAN N Price as tested $49,060 This month 1460km @9.8L/100km Overall 1460km @9.8L/100km VERSATILITY IS GOOD, right? If there was one take away from our testing of the Hyundai i30 Sedan N in 2022 it was that it had a stack of bandwidth at its elbow. A vehicle that can both carouse and cosset usually makes a very agreeable thing to live with, so when the time came to replace the Subaru BRZ in the Wheels garage, my curiosity was piqued by the car that wears an Elantra N badge on the other side of the Pacific. Over here, it’s the i30 Sedan N, the name jarring on a raw nerve of mine that refuses to be moved from the belief that there’s a natural order of things…

CUPRA FORMENTOR VZe Price as tested $60,990 (+ORC) This month 383km @2.8L/100km Overall 1183km @4.0L/100km THREE OUT OF every five Cupras sold in Australia is a Formentor, though no prize to the Spanish brand for correctly predicting it would be the most popular in its three-model range. As a smallish midsized SUV and with the widest range of variants, the Formentor is primed to be the No.1 seller. Is it, however, worth considering Cupra’s Leon hatchback? And is the VZe the Formentor variant we would most heartily recommend? We took our Formentor plug-in hybrid for a drive alongside newly introduced VZ grades of the Formentor and Leon to answer those very questions. Partially, at least. VZ sits above the base V and, in features specification, is virtually identical to the…

THERE’S A THREAD that runs through an entire bloodline of supercars that we can tease at during their lifetimes but which only really makes itself apparent through the lens of hindsight. Underrated, misunderstood, underbacked or merely out of place and time when they were launched, cars like the BMW M1, the Porsche 964 Carrera RS, the Ferrari F50, the McLaren 12C and the BMW i8 all needed time beyond their respective production runs for us to appreciate them for what they achieved. The Honda NSX could well join their ranks. It certainly counts as overlooked, here in Australia especially. “We want to deliver one less than demand,” said engineering project leader Jason Bilotta in 2016, perhaps unintentionally parroting Enzo Ferrari. The build capacity was just eight cars per day, with the…

FRESH FACTS 05 THINGS IN THE CAR WORLD WE LEARNED THIS MONTH 1. That’s fast! The McMurtry Speirling has been performance tested and it has recorded 0-97km/h in 1.4 seconds and a quarter mile time of 7.97 seconds. Berserk. 2. El and back. Shelby has won a case against Denice Shakarian Helicki, widow of Gone in 60 Seconds director E.B. Halicki over trademark rights to the name Eleanor. 3. Puro-pause. Ferrari has put the brakes on sales of its $728K Purosangue SUV in Australia, as local demand threatens to blow out the order bank. 4. Ouch. One speed camera in a 30km/h zone in Liverpool, NSW raked in $2.5m in 7 months. 5. 4-star general. Honda’s HR-V has scored a mere four stars in its ANCAP rating. It scored below the…

NINE LAPS OF the Aussie map. That’s 135,000km, which is the distance Ford Australia reckons it put on its locally converted right-hand-drive F-150s that have undergone durability testing at the You Yangs proving ground in Victoria in preparation for the large 4x4 ute’s local launch later this year. Ford says the F-150 has been punished with extreme temperatures, trailer towing, water crossings, ultra-fine sand, mud and corrosion tests. “When F-150 hits Australian showrooms, customers can rest assured it has been put through the same local durability program as the Ranger and Everest which, of course, is the same program the left-hand-drive F-150 went through in the States,” says Dave Burn, Performance and Customisation Chief Program Engineer for Ford Australia. “We’ve torture-tested, tuned and re-worked the right-hand-drive F-150 so that Aussie…

TRAVEL IS GOOD for a great many things. It exposes you to new people, new cultures, new cuisines and new languages, but perhaps most importantly it whips you out of the bubble that is your life to show you how the rest of the world lives theirs. I recently returned from a six-week trip to Japan where I spent quite a lot of time driving around, and after two solid weeks of driving tight city backstreets, regular urban roads, expressways, toll roads, rural highways, curvaceous mountain touge and winding coastal scenic routes, there was one constant I noted: Japanese drivers care not for speed limits. Almost every single one of them. A casual disregard for speed limits is practically universal in that country. That may surprise a lot of you. We…

Model Honda Civic e:HEV LX Engine 1993cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, dual-motor hybrid Max power 135kW @5000-6000rpm Max torque 315Nm @0-2000rpm Transmission e-CVT Weight 1497kg 0-100km/h 8.1 sec (claimed) Economy 4.2L/100km Price $55,000 (drive away) On sale Now THERE ARE SOME cars where the USP leaps straight out at you. The Honda Civic e:HEV LX is not one of them. But where more overt vehicles can result in that initial novelty dulling fairly quickly, a grower like this hybrid Civic rewards those who are in it for the longer haul. Of course, Honda is no newbie when it comes to selling hybrids in Australia. It was first to market here back in 2001 with the original Insight and it was even brought us a hybrid supercar, the 2017 NSX NA2. In…

There’s a law of diminishing returns when it comes to tweaking an engine that’s already making big power and torque for its size KAIZEN. IF YOU HAD TO sum up the 2023 Honda Civic Type R in a single word, that’s it. For Japanese carmakers kaizen means continuous improvement, and the new Type R is a masterclass in the art and science of the process. Every tiny piece of the FL5 Type R, from the powertrain to the suspension to the steering and brakes and gearshift and driver support systems, all of which are based on hardware used in the previous generation FK8 model, has been lovingly, meticulously, polished and preened to tease out incremental improvements in performance and handling and all-round driveability. And what does that all that mean?…

THERE’S SMOKE coming from under the bonnet, and my mind frantically races trying to remember if there’s a fire extinguisher under the passenger seat. A lyrebird cackles from within the bright lilac ferns somewhere nearby, while I try to convince myself the slowly wafting smoke is from the brakes. Brakes that smell, peculiarly, like bushfire. Brakes that were hardly used while hammering uphill in this underpowered 1986 buzz box, trying to keep up with a new Toyota GR86. As we reach the top of the winding Donna Buang Road east of Melbourne, the smoke seems to have subsided as we lift the heavy steel bonnet to find a crispy eucalyptus leaf attempting self-immolation by means of wedging itself between cylinders two and three of a 35-year-old cast-iron exhaust manifold. The…

KIA EV6 GT-LINE Price as tested $79,950 (+ORC) This month 1108km @17.0kWh/100km Total 1108km @17.0kWh/100km GUILT IS A hell of a thing. That overbearing feeling of wrongdoing was whispering in my ear as I was mulling over what car I should try and secure for the Wheels long-term fleet after the departure of the Jaguar F-Type. I’d been indulging in just a few too manyV8 vices this year, so it was time for something with a smaller environmental footprint. What better than the most recent COTY winner – the Kia EV6? A few calls later and Kia confirmed that a RWD GT-Line could be ours for three months – but there was a hitch. The car that was available for us was in Sydney, and would need to be collected.…

ALFA ROMEO – BMW WHAT IT IT ALL MEANS 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. BMW – FORD WHAT IT IT ALL MEANS PRICE Recommended retail figure at time of…

DARK MATTERS FORD’S MUSTANG Dark Horse has been the target of much rumour, but Dearborn has finally released power figures for its V8 atmo hero and they’re, well, they’re there. The breathed-on Coyote V8 is good for 500 horsepower in the old money, which equates to 373kW with a side order of 567Nm. That makes it the most powerful Mustang without forced induction or a Shelby badge. “Mustang has always pushed the envelope. From Mustang GT to Dark Horse, this is our best 5.0-litre V8 yet. It’s naturally aspirated awesomeness,” said Ed Krenz, the Mustang chief engineer, somewhat immodestly. THIS IS GETTING A BIT SILLY IT DOESN’T seem too long ago that the E36 M3 was the M3 that BMW liked to forget about, much like a cousin who lives…

THE HIGH-PERFORMANCE flagship of Ford’s F-150 line-up is the Raptor R, a ute with a seriously sharp set of talons and a sub-five-second 0-100km/h time. It’s powered by a 5.2-litre supercharged V8 borrowed from the Mustang Shelby GT500, retuned for less peak power but more torque to better suit the 4x4 application. Fitted to the Raptor R it makes 522kW and 867Nm, figures which put it near enough to line-ball with the 523kW/882Nm Ram 1500 TRX sold here for just under $200,000. So could the Raptor R join the two confirmed F-150 variants in Australia? Ali Jammoul, global vehicle program director for Ford Performance, had this to say on the possibility of a locally converted F-150 Raptor: “If the opportunity is there; if we can make financial sense out of…

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, Instagram or Twitter (search for Wheels Australia) “I’m not sure that COTY has ever been awarded to a bad car per se…” COTY HEROES AND VILLAINS AS WE APPROACH another Wheels Car of the Year, I’ve been given to mulling over the past results. While I’m not sure that COTY has ever been awarded to a bad car per se, there certainly have been some winners that were stronger than others. With that in mind, I’d like to group the winners into three brackets. Tier One are the absolute stars; the cars that were always going to win and which could have come back the…

THE ALLURE of the Honda S2000 is a peculiar one. To speak personally, it’s always been one of deep respect, if anything, falling somewhere short of outright fandom. As someone who grew up living and breathing all things ‘golden era JDM’, Honda’s technical masterpiece always hovered in my periphery. Unlike many of its peers, it was never known for any notable period motorsport accolades, and it was never in the same conversation as GT-Rs, Supras or the other turbocharged powerhouses. Strip away all the clout and hype so rife in today’s late-model Japanese car scene, and the Honda S2000 has always been known for one simple thing. Being a bloody brilliant driver’s car. Then why, when speaking to the owner of this meticulously curated example you see before you, did…

Model Nissan X-Trail Ti Engine 2488cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v Max power 135kW @6000rpm Max torque 244Nm @3600rpm Transmission CVT Weight 1668kg 0-100km/h N/A Economy 7.8L/100km Price $49,990 On sale Now NISSAN’S X-TRAIL Is an indelible part of Australia’s mid-sized SUV landscape. Not only does it offer an affordable option from a trusted Japanese brand, but a broad sweep of variants has always meant there’s something for virtually everyone. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the X-Trail is Nissan’s most popular model after the Navara ute. But the 2023 X-Trail has just arrived and, for now at least, it offers just one drivetrain, zero hybrid options and the prices have also inched upwards across the four-grade line-up. In a fearsomely competitive market, can Nissan’s favourite SUV make a splash with a comprehensively…

IF COSTCO SOLD vehicles, its warehouse racking would be stacked to the purlins with cars like the Nissan Pathfinder. In recent years, the large SUV has stood as a monument to the fact that sometimes sheer quantity is the most important factor in choosing a new car, with cost a close second. But it hasn’t always been that way. When it was introduced in 1985, the Pathfinder was a relatively capable two-door off-roader with body-on-frame construction and designed by the same guy who penned the 1968 Pontiac GTO. As it evolved, however, the Pathfinder slid further in a conservative direction, becoming a price-led ‘soft-roader’ with families as its majority audience. For the fifth-generation model though, Nissan wants to rekindle some of that original sense of adventure and deliver a Pathfinder…

NOT SO LONG ago, Australia’s small-SUV set seemed more like a reality-show cast than any kind of brains trust. Larger and heavier than the hatchbacks that sired them, they offered neither the grunt, the space, nor the value-for-money of lower-level medium SUVs costing only marginally more. For the most part, the small-SUV allure rested purely on visibility, manoeuvrability, and perceived modernity. There were exceptions, such as Honda’s second-generation HR-V (2014-21) whose benchmark interior package somehow compensated for its patchy dashboard and detail design, and its dull drivetrain. Mazda’s likeable CX-3, on the other hand – now re-classified as a light SUV – included just enough extra interior room to make it appealing, though without the boost in boot space to sufficiently lift-and-separate it to true SUV status. Clearly the increasingly…

SUBARU WRX SPORTSWAGON Price as tested $57,990 (+ORC) This month 1642km @9.4L/100km Total 3593km @10.2L/100km IT’S TIME To bid farewell to the Subaru that should – and it mostly does, except for a few details that could deter the more particular drivers among us. I’ve spoken at length on the WRX Sportswagon being offered exclusively with a CVT automatic transmission. Going auto-only, and a CVT at that, is the type of thing enthusiasts will declare a showstopper on what could’ve otherwise sold in big numbers, but considering the CVT has so far represented 55 percent of WRX sedan sales, it seems most customers aren’t deterred by such things. Indeed, after three months with the WRX Sportswagon, I’ve had to question my identity as an ‘enthusiast’. Am I simply too adept…

BY NOW YOU’D be familiar with Max Hoffman, the expat Austrian turned influential NewYork car importer who introduced war-ravaged European marques to a cashed-up, post-war American market. In the early-1950s, particularly, Hoffman’s product-planning pop-psychology prompted iconic and unforgettable cars ranging from the stripped-to-a-price Porsche 356 Speedster to the ultimate road-going supercar of the day, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. With the latter – which Hoffman grandly sealed with an advance order for 1000 cars – his genius extended to backing it up with an each-way bet. Knowing well the success of affordable British roadsters from such as MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey, Hoffman also lobbied for a similarly production-based little sister to soak up the glow of the supermodel 300 SL. Both the 300 SL ‘gullwing’ coupe and a prototype 190 SL…