Category: Road Test

Road Test Review

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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

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2019 SUZUKI JIMNY

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Suzuki Jimny is quite simply the most talked about vehicle on the planet. Forget the multi-million-dollar, ridiculously-overpowered vehicles just unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, the cute-as-a-button Suzuki is the one that is dominating car-nut conversations everywhere. Since the first photos of the Jimny were released Suzuki dealers have been bombarded with enquires from potential buyers, some dangling cash in front of them as they walk into showrooms worldwide. In our home state of Queensland you might just get one before Christmas, but don’t hesitate… Suzuki Jimny simply has no… Read more

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COMPACT CROSSOVER NEW BEGINNING FOR LEXUS

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Seduced, I suspect, by the sales inferno of the small sports utility vehicle around the globe, Lexus has made a foray into the sub-50K market with its new UX range. The Lexus UX – for urban crossover, a mix of SUV and hatchback – raises a new curtain on entry-level SUVs for the Japanese luxury car maker. The entry-level model, the UX 200 Luxury is priced at $44,450, while the range-topping UX 250h Sport Luxury petrol / electric hybrid costs almost half as much again, at $67,062. Add the upper… Read more

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2019 MAZDA CX-9 REVIEW

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The CX-9 is the flagship of Mazda’s SUV fleet sitting above its successful CX-3 and CX-5 models. The current CX-9 was released in 2016 and was given its latest upgrade in September 2018. With seven seats standard across its range vehicles such as the CX-9 have effectively replaced people movers especially when they come with the choice of front- or rear-wheel. The former contributing to better performance, lower fuel consumption and reduced emissions and the latter providing extra traction for towing or mild off-road capability. Five Mazda CX-9 variants are… Read more

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2019 RENAULT MEGANE R.S. REVIEW

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New Megane R.S. 280 is a serious sporting hatch that’s aimed at the keen driver who wants to get the best from their motoring life. It features the latest in powertrain technology, chassis tuning and aerodynamic assistance. However, its stunning styling and excellent colour choices mean it will also appeal to those more interested in serene grand touring than in track day blasting. Australia has historically been one of Renault Sport’s biggest markets for the Megane R.S. and a week in the latest model shows this is likely to continue…. Read more

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GOLF R ‘SPECIAL’ TRUMPETS A STIRRING FANFARE

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Waste disposal is not the thing to attract an adrenalin rush in someone seeking a heart-stirring driving experience. However, all the action need not be limited to under the bonnet. Heightened vehicle performance can be an arm’s length away from – and at the upper end of the sporty spectrum – to the power plant. Take the new VW Golf R Special Edition, for example. Replete with performance options, previously available only in Europe, the outstanding feature of the Golf R Special Edition is the Akropovic exhaust and muffler made… Read more