Category: Road Test

Road Test Review

No comments

PEUGEOT e-2008 REVIEW

  By ,

Launched here in September 2023, the e-2008 is Peugeot’s first fully electric passenger. A compact SUV, it joins the e-Partner compact electric van as well as the Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) versions of the 3008 SUV and 508 sedan. Future electrified models will follow in 2024 with the launch of E-208 hatchback, E-3008 mid-sized SUV, e-Expert medium van and 408 PHEV. The petrol-powered Peugeot 2008 has been on sale here since 2020. It comes in two variants, Allure and GT each with a PureTech 130 engine that generates 96 kilowatts of… Read more

No comments

LEXUS LX600 ULTRA LUXURY LIVES UP TO ITS NAME

  By ,

Effectively an upmarket version of the Toyota LandCruiser, the Lexus LX large premium SUV has been around since the mid-1990s. The latest (fourth generation) LX arrived here at the end of 2021 shortly after the new LC300. It comes with petrol or diesel power, four equipment variants, three seating options and a host of new safety and tech features. The four variants are base LX, Sports Luxury, F Sport, and Ultra Luxury. The first three are available with either petrol or diesel engines, the Ultra Luxury is petrol only. Prices… Read more

No comments

TOYOTA COROLLA 1.8 ZR HYBRID HATCH

  By ,

Finished in black over silver, Toyota’s ZR Corolla looks more eye-catching than ever. In the past few years the company has been able to transform the image of the car from staid and conservative into something much more sporty that has younger buyer appeal — at least that’s the plan. Flanking the hatch is the more traditional sedan for mums and dads and rally bred, three- door, all-wheel drive GR hot hatch at the other end of the scale for the boy racers (and boy racers at heart). Each grade… Read more

No comments

MAZDA3 SEDAN

  By ,

Mazda3 has been on sale here for almost 20 years on the Australian market. Indeed, you can make that 45 years if you include the 323 that preceded. The ‘3’ has been a consistently high seller for most of its life often contesting the top spots in both its small-medium segment as well as overall sales against perennial rivals like Toyota Corolla, Kia Cerato, Nissan Pulsar and Hyundai i30. The latest, fourth generation, Mazda3 arrived here in February 2019 year in five-door hatchback form with the four-door sedan joining it… Read more

No comments

HONDA CR-V VTi LX AWD

  By ,

It’s been a little over 12 months since we drove the previous Honda CR-V. Introduced to Australia in 1997, CR-V has grown to become Honda’s most successful model globally. Released in July last year the sixth-generation of the five- and seven-seat SUV, like its predecessors, is targeted at families. This time around the styling is more sophisticated and some might say sporty, with particular attention to the interior. As Japanese car makers fight to stave off the onslaught of increasingly better Chinese competitors, Honda was one of the first companies… Read more

No comments

TOYOTA ADDS PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS TO ITS MARKET-LEADING HILUX

  By ,

Toyota scoured the globe to find something extra for its best-selling HiLux pick-up range. With inspiration coming from the Dakar, one of the toughest off-road endurance events in the world, plus input from the company’s Australian design team in Melbourne and extensive testing here, the result is the all-terrain performance GR Sport dual cab. Seen as a replacement for the range-topping Rugged X, Toyota landed on the GR HiLux racecar that was making its presence felt in one of the world’s toughest off-road endurance events, the Dakar Rally, for inspiration,… Read more

No comments

ALFA ROMEO GIULIA VELOCE

  By ,

Demand for mid-sized sedans has been declining steadily in recent years as more and more buyers are switching to the more functional SUVs. But if you want some pizzaz in your life, love driving and don’t need to carry lots of stuff in the back then the Alfa Romeo Veloce is well worth considering. There are currently three models in the Giulia range: Ti, Veloce and Quadrifoglio as well as a limited-edition version of the Quadrifoglio called 100th Anniversary to commemorate the first use of that badge in the 1923… Read more

No comments

TASKMASTER OF HUGE PROPORTIONS

  By ,

Question: does the Navara PRO-4X Warrior, a latecomer to the ranks, have enough to take on the army of talent in one of the most closely fought contests in the Aussie automobile market? With fully armed dual cab pick-ups the likes of the Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton, Toyota HiLux Rugged, Mazda BT50 Thunder, Isuzu’s D-Max and the US Ram holding the line, the Navara Warrior has its work cut out. Not that Nissan isn’t out to giving things a shake, calling on input from local specialist engineer Premcar, to light… Read more

No comments

VOLVO XC60, PLENTY TO SAY . . . MOSTLY GOOD

  By , ,

What’s in a name? Plenty for Volvo, the Sino-Swedish car maker with its new mid-size luxury SUV, the XC60, tagged with a string of descriptors to separate each model from one another. Take, for example our test vehicle, the Volvo XC60 Ultimate B5 Bright: phew! And that mouthful comes without mentioning vital specifications such as the powertrain – in this case 2-litre turbocharged, four-cylinder petrol engine, plus eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. ‘Ultimate’ relates to the trim level, B5 to the engine, a turbocharged petrol motor enhanced by a… Read more

No comments

FORD RANGER PLATINUM 3.0L V6 4WD TURBO-DIESEL

  By ,

Platinum Ranger is the last stop before you get to the top of the range, the Raptor, which is almost another $10K plus on-roads. Dropping back, one gets you the 2.0-litre four-cylinder Wildtrak X, with Platinum sandwiched between them. There are so many grades of Ranger these days, with so many special editions to come when sales start to slow that it’s hard to keep track of them. The spreadsheet detailing the grades and equipment they come with is mind blowing. It must be working for Ford, however, because Ranger… Read more