Category: Road Test

Road Test Review

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ADDED VITALITY FOR LONG-RUNNING VITARA

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A little over 30 years ago Australia was showing off to the world with Expo 88 in Brisbane, around the same time Suzuki had the first Vitara small sports utility vehicle breaking cover. Now it is the turn of the Vitara Series II to carry the banner. Since, the Vitara, with a grandiose detour to the name of Grand Vitara, has been a mainstay of the Japanese company’s offerings to the automotive world. Now it is the turn of the Vitara Series II to carry the banner. With diesel fast… Read more

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NISSAN INTRODUCES QASHQAI ST+

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Nissan has introduced an additional model to its Qashqai range. Qashqai ST+ sits between the entry grade Nissan Qashqai ST and the higher-spec Qashqai ST-L. At the top of the four-model range is the Ti. Qashqai ST+ has all of the features of the ST but adds privacy glass; a 7-inch touchscreen with digital radio, satellite navigation with traffic alert; a 360 degree Intelligent Around-View monitor with moving object detection; and power-folding and heated door mirrors. Qashqai has 430 litres of rear cargo volume, increasing to 1598 litres with the… Read more

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2019 BMW X4 M40i REVIEW

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Coupe-styled SUVs are an interesting juxtaposition. On the one hand, their swooping rear end appears to challenge the practical nature of SUVs, yet on the other hand they can and do work. The X4 M40i may be a case in point. With a body somewhere between an SUV and a medium-sized hatch and the heart of BMW’s performance machines, there is little question about its ability to impress. STYLING With its sloping back, wide stance and pronounced grille, the BMW X4 M40i cuts an arresting figure. What it lacks in… Read more

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A ‘TONNE’ OF WORK IN TRITON CHALLENGE

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The Triton has carried the weight of Mitsubishi light truck expectations for more than 40 years, and with the model year ’19 range, there’s no sign of them being offloaded any time soon. As I write this the Triton lies in overall third spot on the vehicle sales charts in Australia. Mitsubishi Australia is keen to keep its place in a weakened vehicle market, with the current model Triton, it says, combining the pick-up truck with passenger car levels of comfort for private and commercial purposes. It carries over, and… Read more

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RENAULT KOLEOS ZEN REVIEW

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Unlike many of its rivals that have up to five different SUVs in their range Renault has settled on just two models, the compact Captur and, the subject of this test, the mid-sized Koleos. A relatively late arrival on the SUV market Koleos went on sale in Australia in 2008. After facelifts in 2011 and 2013 the current, second-generation, model was released here in 2016. Built at the Renault Samsung Motors plant in Busan, South Korea it shares the same platform, engine and transmission as the Nissan X-Trail. Three variants… Read more

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GT A FINELY BALANCED CERATO FRONT RUNNER

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Kia continues its love affair unabated with ‘G’ and ‘T’ (No, not the alcoholic beverage, the sporty suffix). Hot on the heels of the Picanto GT and various GT-Line models, the Cerato came up with a ‘GT’ variant. Does it earn it? Added to this is a multi-link independent rear suspension, the work of a local ride-and-handling team of engineers tasked with matching the car with Australia’s wide-ranging road surfaces. Sport mapping added steering sharpness and weighting, as well as more precise shift points in Sport Mode, combine with a… Read more

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VOLVO XC40 T4 INSCRIPTION

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The very Swedish Volvo XC40 midsize SUV has an excellent blend of style, performance and practicality. And it goes without saying it’s one of the safety vehicles on our roads. Volvo has just revised its XC40 range and added a new model called Inscription. Sitting midway between the existing Momentum and the sporty R-Design the Inscription features a powered front passenger seat, leather-trim, ambient interior lighting and a powered tailgate. It is the subject of this review. The XC40 is slightly larger than others in its class, at 4425mm long,… Read more

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VOLKSWAGEN TIGUAN ALLSPACE R-LINE

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Midway through 2018 Volkswagen introduced the seven-seat Tiguan Allspace. Though based on the five-seat Tiguan the new Allspace is a significantly longer vehicle. It has more overall length, at 4701mm (+215mm), a longer wheelbase (+109mm), and 106mm more rear overhang. All of which allows for the addition of two seats in a third row but with the same width as the five-seater. Cleverly it still has a boot capacity of 230 litres with all the seats in use. Some competitors have most of their boot space disappearing when a rearmost… Read more

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RIO IN ‘LINE’ TO KICK ON FOR KIA

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Kia has done work on the Rio, realigning its hatchback to meet the demands of an increasingly sophisticated market. The Rio has upgraded drivetrains and revised its levels, the Si and SLi models being sidelined to make way for the new Sport. The latter featuring a six-speed automatic transmission in place of the old four-speed gearbox. While the range-topping GT-Line takes up a glad bag of goodies including a feisty 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine mated with Kia’s own seven-speed dual clutch automatic. The entry-level Rio S is unchanged, with the 74… Read more

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KIA FINE TUNING GIVES BIRTH TO BABY ‘GRAND’

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Why, you might wonder, has Kia added a hero car with limited appeal (manual transmission only) to a cluttered, highly competitive compact car market? The answer is: because it could. The model in question is the Picanto micro and the latest addition to the range, the GT. According to Kia Motors Australia Chief Operating Officer Damien Meredith the company was happy with how the Picanto had gone over its three years of on sale Down Under. “With that in mind it seemed like the right time to give an opportunity… Read more