Category: News

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HOT-ROD LAND ROVER DEFENDER

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Land Rover has revealed a limited-edition high-performance version of the Defender to celebrate the Land Rover marque’s 70th anniversary in 2018. The somewhat improbable Defender Works V8 is the most powerful and fastest version that Land Rover has ever created. The 5.0-litre naturally-aspirated petrol V8 produces 400 horsepower (297 kW) of power that’s backed up by 515 Nm of torque. All four wheels are driven through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission with sport mode. It will accelerate from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 5.6 seconds, while top speed… Read more

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2019 MAZDA CX-8 REVEALED

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Mazda Australia has announced the company’s brand new model, the CX-8 is coming Downunder, though not till the second half of the year. A seven-seat SUV powered at this stage only by a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine, it sits between Mazda’s CX-5 and CX-9 There’s currently no Mazda CX-7 as it was aimed at the sporty SUV buyer and not at the family car folks, however there’s still room for the 7 to slot in at sometime in the future. Mazda tells us the CX-8 is narrower and shorter than the… Read more

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TENNIS SPECIALS FROM KIA

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Kia has sponsored the Australian Open tennis for many years and it comes as no surprise that it has just announced some special editions to tie with the event. Indeed, the only surprise is that the South Korean giant hasn’t done it every year. The most popular is sure to be the Kia Rafa Stinger Signature Edition. Just 75 are being built – that number to mark Rafael Nadal’s 75 singles titles to date. Each will have body decals that feature a Rafa signature, and a unique title number on… Read more

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STUNNING TEST DRIVES OF FORD MUSTANG

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Like to spend a couple of hours at the wheel of a Ford Mustang on Australia Day? Ford Australia has introduced ‘The Ultimate Mustang Road Trip’ over the Australia Day long weekend, January 25 to 28. And not just on any roads, but on some of Australia’s most beautiful driving roads, including the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, the Northern Beaches in Sydney and Coolangatta in Queensland. Pop-up locations for these spectacular two-hour test drives are: New South Wales: St Ives Showground, 450 Mona Vale Rd, St. Ives, NSW, 2075. Victoria:… Read more

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60TH ANNIVERSARY FIAT 500 CABRIOLET

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Fiat Australia is importing a special edition 60th Anniversary Fiat 500 as a tribute to the original cute-as-a-button, and very Italian, Fiat 500. Soon given the pet name of Cinquecento, the tiny four-seater (yes, four!) first went onto the road in 1957. The 60th Anniversary Fiat 500 is only sold as a cabriolet, it features classic styling cues, with a vinyl dashboard, the vintage logo on the front and a chrome finish on the bonnet. Its dual-colour body paintwork has a three-layer white for the lower sections of the body,… Read more

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SUZUKI SWIFT SPORT TURBO

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Small car master, Suzuki knows a thing or two about building hot machines at modest prices. We won’t get into talking about Suzuki motorcycles here, we’ll leave that for our bike guys Peter Thoeming and Stuart Woodbury. What we are reporting on is the latest version of a car that first delighted hot-car lovers on a limited budget – the Suzuki Swift GTi – over thirty years back. In recent generations it has been given the title of Swift Sport Turbo. The term ‘pocket rocket’ has been used many times… Read more

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JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE 2011 – 2016

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2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo

Jeep began the whole SUV thing almost accidentally with the introduction of the CJ (Civilian Jeep) not long after the Second World War ended. Spotting holes in the market Jeep introduced station wagons and later – 1996 to be precise – came the first Jeep Grand Cherokee, a large 4WD aimed more at buyers of luxury station wagons rather than keen off-road drivers. These first units are getting on in years, so we will start this used car checkout with the WK Series Grand Cherokee launched in Australia in February… Read more

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TOUGHER THAN EVER – NEW MERCEDES G-CLASS

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The Mercedes-Benz G-Class is the real deal. Forget SUVs, SAVs, SATs, crossovers, soft roaders and a variety of other vehicles people buy because they want to be seen at the wheel of a Tough, or should that be Tuff? vehicle. The Merc G-Class is in a lightly populated class of large, serious, ladder-frame working vehicles. The current model dates back to the late 1970s, with several updates in the meantime so a new model is long overdue – and is on its way. Mercedes is gradually passing information to the… Read more

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JEEP TRACKHAWK: THE WORLD’S CRAZIEST MUSCLE CAR

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Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk has reached us Downunder with a bang. Want to buy one? Too bad, because the first batch has already been snapped up. Only 62 Trackhawks were in the first ship to dock here. The guys and gals at Jeep have a quirky sense of humour – and have gone for 62 because that’s the capacity of the Chrysler Hemi V8 engine – 6.2 litres. If that’s not large enough a supercharger has been added to pump its apparent capacity to somewhere about 10 to 11 litres,… Read more

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2018 HONDA ODYSSEY UPDATES

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Honda Odyssey people mover has had an external facelift, an upgraded interior and improved driver assist technology for the 2018 season. The Odyssey VTi now has an ‘aero’ front fascia design previously used on the top-of-the-range VTi-L. Bright chrome surrounds for the new front foglights add to the image. Topline Odyssey VTi-L has received a ‘premium aero package’ bolder bumper shaping, LED foglights and a dark chrome finish on the grilles and door handles. It also has a revised rear fascia and a stylish tailgate applique. Inside the VTi-L, the… Read more