Category: Road Test

Road Test Review

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RENAULT MEGANE GT-LINE

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Renault’s all-new Megane five-door hatchback range is very well priced, starting at just $22,490 for the Megane Life with a manual gearbox. Megane is aimed at buyers considering Asian cars but who would like a healthy dose of French flair. This will be a major selling point of fourth generation Megane. Our test car was a Megane GT-Line with a tag of $32,490, plus on-road costs. It has plenty of sporting flair in its shape but doesn’t have the added power of the $38,490 Megane GT. The GT-Line has an… Read more

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CITROEN PICASSO LETS THE SUNSHINE IN

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Citroen C4 Picasso isn’t an easy car to categorise. While strictly speaking it’s a five-door hatchback it comes with the option of seven seats so can be seen as a mini people mover but also has many of the qualities which attracts buyers to compact SUV crossovers. Where it does stand alone is in the amount of natural light provided inside the car through the combination of a huge windscreen and panoramic glass roof. The top of the windscreen continues back till it’s almost above the front seats while the… Read more

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ALL-PURPOSE AUDI MOVES TRADITION FORWARD

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While a tsunami of sports utility vehicles is well on its way to swamping passenger car markets around the world, some marques are offering a middle ground vehicle. Versions of the traditional station wagon with higher ground clearance and all-wheel-drive. Frankly these sensible high-riding wagons are not proving popular because buyers prefer the macho image of a 4WD (even if its does have 2WD and compromised ground clearance…). The latest version of the A4 comes in Avant (station wagon) style, with the top of the heap being the new second-generation… Read more

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INFINITI Q50: AN AFFORDABLE PREMIUM SEDAN

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They say that imitation is the sincerest format of flattery so when Infiniti launched the first batch of its ‘Q’ cars in early 2014 and named them Q50 (for its mid-sized sedan), Q60 (coupe and convertible) and Q70 (large sedan) it was fairly obvious that the Japanese car maker was setting its sights high by imitating the BMW and Audi numbering format. More realistically Infiniti’s main rival is likely to be its Japanese compatriot Lexus. This week’s review car is the Infiniti Q50 and its chances of becoming a realistic… Read more

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BALENO IS BACK – WITH MUCH MORE

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Something old, something new, something borrowed and, if you wish, something (Premium Ray) Blue. That’s what’s on offer with the new Suzuki Baleno – the name, the design, the engine and the colour. Sounding more like an exotic dance, the Baleno took its first steps in the 1990s as a ‘light’ passenger car. Now it has jumped the fence into the ‘small’ passenger segment, having the exterior dimensions of the former with interior space of the latter. The new Baleno comes in two specification levels – GL with a 1.4-litre… Read more

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VERSATILE Q30 IS INFINITI’S MARKET-LEADER

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Our test car is the latest, and most affordable, model in the upmarket Japanese the Infiniti Q30 five-door hatchback crossover SUV. It’s also the company’s most important model, sitting as it does in Australia’s most popular, and most competitive, segment. Interestingly, because Infiniti’s parent company Renault-Nissan has a technical partnership with Daimler, the Infiniti Q30 shares a number of components, including its engines and transmission, with the Mercedes-Benz GLA. Infiniti Q30 comes in three variants (GT, Sport and Sport Premium) with the choice of three turbocharged engines, two petrol and… Read more

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MIGHTY MUSTANG SOUNDS GREAT, GOES HARD

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Until now Aussies have had to bring in secondhand Mustangs from the US of A, or perhaps some other intermediate country. While there were some imports by Ford Australia back in the mid 60s then again in 2001, these were overpriced and the local conversion to right-hand driver should have been visually better, though mechanically they were fine. The Ford Mustang finally reached Australia in full factory format in 2015 and has been a huge sales success. Order one now and your chances of getting it this year are slim…. Read more

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2017 AUDI RS Q3 PERFORMANCE

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Audi is pushing hard on the high-performance versions of just about every car in its increasingly comprehensive range. The latest version of the RS Q3, with ‘Performance’ added to its title joins the RS6 and RS7 Performance models introduced to Australia in the latter half of 2016. Note that the Audi RS Q3 Performance SUV replaces the RS Q3, rather than being an added model above it. Aussies like their quick cars and anything other than the quickest of them all is simply not on their shopping list. Audi tells… Read more

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FRESH ‘TRAIL’ OPENS UP HOLDEN TERRITORY

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The Chevrolet Trailblazer, formerly the Holden Colorado 7, comes to Australia from a different direction, on its way up market, with little or no added cost to the customer. Developed by Holden in collaboration with GM Brazil alongside the 2017 Holden Colorado, the new Holden Trailblazer looks and has a big emphasis on high-tech features. Despite a long list of new technology and a design makeover, the 2017 Trailblazer pricing remains largely unchanged from its predecessor. The entry-level LT (our test vehicle) stays at the $47,990 of the corresponding Colorado… Read more

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ABARTH 124 SPIDER IS AN AFFORDABLE ITALIAN SPORTSCAR

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The Abarth 124 Spider is an affordable Italian sportscar with lots of racing, rallying and sporting heritage behind it. Its shape is cleverly based on that of the early 1970s Abarth 124 Rally. Best of all, it’s cheap as chips. The cost of the little hotshot has been kept down by teaming with Mazda which builds the world’s biggest selling open-top car, the MX-5. An odd situation? Yes, but one that’s increasingly common these days, with many unlikely bedfellows – BMW and Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes, and many more. The… Read more