Category: Road Test

Road Test Review

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NEW HONDA ZR-V GETS ADVANCED HYBRID TECHNOLOGY

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There’s a misconception out there that, in late-2001, Toyota was the first manufacturer to launch a petrol/electric hybrid passenger vehicle onto the Australian market. While the Prius name quickly became synonymous with the emerging powertrain technology in fact it arrived about six months after the Honda Insight. The Insight didn’t live up to its name leaving Toyota to dominate the hybrid (HEV) market to such an extent that it now offers them in just about every model in its range. Indeed, many of its most popular models, such as Camry,… Read more

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CR-V DRIVING TO THE LETTER

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The folk at Honda, it seems, have long memories. Back in 1995 the Japanese company developed one of the first compact sports utility vehicles on the market – the Comfortable Runabout Vehicle, or CR-V, as we know it. Landing Down Under in 1997, in the 30 years since, the CR-V has sold almost a quarter of a million units here and won numerous awards, including Australian Car of the Year in 2023. Why wouldn’t anyone wish to continue to bask in the glow of such storied ancestry? Welcome to the… Read more

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DIESEL IN TOP-UP FOR TANK 300

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As sports utility vehicles go, the Tank 300, a middleweight with petrol or hybrid punch, these days is a little nippier on its feet thanks to the addition of a turbodiesel engine. However, has the Great Wall Motors off roader still a way to go to match the opposition? Available in two well-appointed grades – Lux and Ultra – the new Tank 300 diesel is powered by GWM’s 2.4-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder engine, delivering 135kW of power at 3600rpm and 480Nm of torque from 1500 to 2500rpm. Mated with a nine-speed… Read more

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TRITON TESTED – IT’S JUST A QUESTION OF THE PRICE.

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  After a string of hybrid and fully-electric vehicles, including a full-blown electric ute, it was kind of refreshing to get behind the wheel of a no-frills turbo-diesel 4×4 ute like they used to make (and obviously still do). The five-seat Mitsubishi Triton GLX double cab “Pick Up” (somewhere along the line they became pickups) , in either 4×2 or 4×4 configuration, is just such a beast, complete with good old fashioned steel wheels. Mitsubishi describes the GLX as everything you want in a tough, reliable and durable ute —… Read more

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COROLLA AT ‘CROSS’ ROADS

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With the automotive industry increasingly switching on to electric power, getting into a new Corolla was like putting on a comfy cardigan. Not that the Toyota favourite that has been around since 1966 was at all moth-eaten and had seen better days. Far from it, the latest iteration, the Corolla Cross SUV, unlike back in the day, does not run on fossil fuel (petrol) alone. With the latest Toyota hybrid system on hand, there are a few electrons whizzing down the wire here too. The ‘Cross’ is Toyota’s way of… Read more

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DEEPAL’S S07 – IS IT THE CHINESE ANSWER TO CITROEN?

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The Deepal S07 has to be one of the weirdest cars we’ve driven in years. Apart from anything else, it’s got no dashboard. That is no instrument panel to tell you what’s going on. It teleported us back to the turn of the century and the debut of the ill-fated Toyota Echo with its then unusual, centre-mounted digital speedometer. The difference being that although the Deepal EV has a large centrally-mounted, free-standing touchscreen, which swivels to welcome the driver — there’s still no instrument cluster and that means no speedometer…. Read more

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HAVAL H7 VANTA HEV

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Haval has gone for a rugged, almost retro-look with its new the mid-sized H7 Hybrid, emphasised by bolt-on mudguard flares. Well, they look like they bolt on, but despite the rugged exterior it is actually front- wheel drive and shares its underpinnings with the softer H6 plug-in hybrid that we tested recently — though you can’t plug this one in. Which is kinda funny, we had planned to grab a charge spot across the road from the Orpheum Theatre in crowded Cremorne — until we discovered it doesn’t have a… Read more

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CR-V DRIVING TO THE LETTER

  By ,

The folk at Honda, it seems, have long memories. Back in 1995 the Japanese company developed one of the first compact sports utility vehicles on the market – the Comfortable Runabout Vehicle, or CR-V, as we know it. Landing Down Under in 1997, in the 30 years since, the CR-V has sold almost a quarter of a million units here and won numerous awards, including Australian Car of the Year in 2023. Why wouldn’t anyone wish to continue to bask in the glow of such storied ancestry? Welcome to the… Read more

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MAZDA CX-60 IN MARKET FOR SUCCESS

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You have to hand it to Mazda, the Japanese automobile manufacturer never gives up in its quest to please . . . and thus, sell more product. With some early wobbles with its new-generation CX-60 family SUV, Mazda has pared back the powerplant and pricing while ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ in lifestyle stuff. With the 2.5 litre Skyactiv-G four-cylinder G25 petrol unit joining the CX-60 big boys in Pure, Evolve and Touring trim levels, the entry-level Pure price is $44,240, plus on-road costs, the Evolve and Touring (on test)… Read more

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FURTHER BONUS FOR FRESH-FACED IONIQ 5

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The Ioniq 5 burst onto the local electric vehicle scene more than three years ago like the greyhound favourite out of a trap at the Dapto Dogs. The Dapto dish-lickers have since gone to the dogs, with the track winding up, but the Hyundai-built Ioniq 5 crossover SUV has continued to live a storied life, which has included being named the 2022 World Car of the Year. Now the MY25 Ioniq 5 five-seat SUV locally has won styling updates, new features and technology, and two new battery sizes delivering up… Read more