Category: News

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NEW PEUGEOT 3008 HAS FRENCH FLAIR INSIDE AND OUT

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Peugeot’s all-new 3008 SUV is hitting our market at just the right time from the point of view of the new Australian importer. Inchcape, best known here as the importer of Subarus, has taken over from the Sime Darby organisation which hadn’t been performing as well as had been anticipated in recent years downunder. At the launch of the new 3008 the MD of Inchcape, Nick Senior, made it very clear his organisation is serious about doing well in the sales race with both Peugeot and its sister company Citroen…. Read more

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EXTRA FASHIONABLE JAGUAR XF WAGON

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How the world changes. Had you suggested a decade back that Jaguar should design a large station wagon and power it with a diesel engine people would have laughed uproariously. Yet the latest Jaguar XF Sportbrake will soon be a major new entrant in the premium estate wagon segment in Australia. The XF Sportbrake by Jaguar keeps the curves of the large XF saloon but gradually shapes a graceful roofline to the rear without too much loss of the practicality buyers demand from a wagon. Jaguar tells us rear occupants… Read more

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SUBARU WRX AND STI UPGRADED

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Subaru WRX STI Spec R

Subaru WRX and WRX STI have both been upgraded for the 2018 season. Most changes are visual and some additional spec has been added to the lower cost models. Biggest news is the introduction of a new range topping model – the WRX STI spec.R, featuring Recaro seats amongst other items. There have been no mechanical changes as the already full-on engines and transmissions have proven more than adequate in the opinion of many owners. However, there’s an old saying that, “you can never have too much power” so perhaps… Read more

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FIRST DRIVE: HONDA CR-V FIFTH GENERATION

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Honda was one of the earliest players in the family SUV business and has an excellent reputation amongst existing owners. Many of them have remained loyal and moved to each new generation as they’ve been launched. This is likely to be the case with the just introduced fifth generation Honda CR-V. This CR-V moves up in size and is offered here for the first time with third row seats. One interesting feature is that ground clearance has been increased to 208 millimetres from the 170 mm of the just superseded… Read more

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QUEENSLAND’S ELECTRIC SUPER HIGHWAY

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Australia’s electric vehicle industry has welcomed the launch of the Queensland Electric Super Highway. The State’s energy minister Mark Bailey unveiled the first of many fast-charging electric vehicle stations in Cairns. Stations will eventually be rolled out at various locations down the Queensland coast to the Gold Coast. Mr Bailey said, “This fast-charging station is the first of many proposed throughout the state which will be announced by the Palaszczuk Government in coming months, making it possible to drive an electric vehicle from the state’s southern border to the Far… Read more

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2017 HOLDEN TAKES US TO THE FUTURE OF SUVS

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Holden Equinox has a semi-sleek visual appearance at the rear that hides what is a large cargo compartment

There’s no secret that Australians steadily lost interest in large family sedans and station wagons over the past five to ten years. To the extent that slow sales meant the closing of the Ford Australia factory and the impending shutdown of GM-Holden and Toyota factories over the next few months. Buyers deserting traditional family sixes in favour of various types of SUVs meant that Holden began to look closely at various alternatives. Everything from small front-drive tall hatches to full on 4WDs. We’ve just spent a delightful day in the… Read more

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2018 COMMODORE VXR REVEALED

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Late last year Holden released initial details of the fully-imported NG (Next Generation) Commodore ahead of its Australian launch in early 2018. In an interesting move, journalists have been provided with an extensive array of details much of them under strict embargo. It comes as no surprise that the big emphasis of the latest release is on the hot Commodore VXR flagship. It will come with a V6 engine putting out 235 kilowatts of power and 381 Newton metres of torque through a nine-speed automatic transmission to an all-wheel-drive system…. Read more

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HYUNDAI’S NEW i30 N HOT HATCH

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Speculation on when the South Korean car marques would enter the hot-hatch scene have been around for years. Though keen to become major players in the global scene, both Hyundai and Kia sensibly decided to concentrate on mainstream vehicles and leave the esoteric models till later. Well, later has finally arrived and Hyundai is well and truly onto the high-performance scene. It has published extensive details and photos of the i30 N hot-hatch. The ’N’ tag comes from Namyang, Hyundai’s huge R&D test arena (which we have driven on several… Read more

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AUDI SQ5 IN THE TRUE TRADITION OF PERFORMANCE WITH PRACTICALITY

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The phrase sports utility vehicle, or SUV, these days is applied to anything from a compact two-wheel drive ‘shopping trolley’ to a large genuine off-roader that, in most cases, can carry up to seven occupants. Deconstructing the segments there are few that justify the tag ‘sports’, or even ‘utility’. However, German auto maker Audi has just dropped off in Australia a vehicle that does fit the bill The second-generation Audi SQ5 is the successor to one of the most popular Audi performance models to have made it to these shores… Read more

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NEW LAND ROVER DISCOVERY IS HERE

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Land Rover chose one of Australia’s most iconic and recognisable locations, Uluru, to launch the latest version of its Discovery SUV. You will need to take our word for this because, in respect to the wishes of the traditional owners of the land, no photographs will be published showing the new bigger Disco in front of the old, and much, much bigger, red rock. When the first Land Rover Discovery was produced in 1989 it was a cross between the capable, but rather crude Defender and the luxurious Range Rover…. Read more