Category: Road Test

Road Test Review

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VELOSTER SUCCESS STORY CONTINUES

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It’s been a long time, but well worth the wait. When the Hyundai Veloster first came out, with its out-there looks and unusual architecture, it shaped up to be a challenger to the hot-hatch mob. Unfortunately, somebody had forgotten about giving it the performance to match. The Veloster was held back by a naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine. Fortunately, we forgave shortcomings, much talk being of the sedan-cum-coupe styling, with two doors on the passenger side, only one on the driver’s side. The result was the dismissal of the inconvenience of… Read more

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2016 AUDI A1 1.0 TFSI REVIEW

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The A1 is the thinking person’s mini – premium brand, competitive pricing but a restrained, forward-looking design rather than the fun, frolicking three-door BMW Mini. Last year Audi’s smallest car got an extra pair of doors after launching as a three-door and while A1s kept selling, the three-door did not, so the five-door Sportback is on its own. VALUE The A1 1.0-litre three-cylinder starts at a mere (for Audi, anyway) $26,900, which means a bare-bones spec with a five-speed manual transmission. Step up to the seven-speed dual-clutch, as the vast… Read more

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2015 HYUNDAI SANTA FE SR

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The Santa Fe was the first of Hyundai’s range to burst through the $50,000 mark and it didn’t seem to bother Australians one little bit. Emboldened by the success of the $53,240 Highlander and seeing how sporty SUVs are doing alright for the Germans, the Santa Fe SR seemed like an answer to an obvious question. So the Korean company called in their increasingly busy chassis team to give the bruiser a going over before marketing slapped a $59,990 sticker on it. VALUE Based on the Santa Fe Highlander spec,… Read more

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AUDI Q3 UPGRADE IS WORTHWHILE

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Audi and its two prestigious German rivals are locked in serious sales combat in the midsize SUV crossover market. Audi’s Q3 recently received a midlife makeover to increase its fitness for the fight. Though normally used only on sealed roads, the Q3 has reasonable ground clearance that enables it to handle mild off-road driving conditions. Part of this revamp is the use of electronic stabilisation control that can be set up in two stages. The ESC off-road mode adjusts ABS and the electronic differential lock. STYLING Audi Q3 maintains the… Read more

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2015 MASERATI GRANTURISMO MC SPORTLINE

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Cars that have had this many birthdays on sale don’t really deserve to look this good, but the GranTurismo’s first impression is a good one – it’s so pretty and that Birdcage-inspired nose, if anything, is getting better looking. They don’t really deserve to be this engaging, either. Maserati’s range continues to expand with the Ghibli finally coming on line but the real attention-grabber remains the GranTurismo. And in this Sport Line guise, you get a bit of Stradale visual aggro without the chiro-inducing ride. VALUE The GranTurismo MC Sportline… Read more

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2015 MINI JCW REVIEW

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A few weeks back we enjoyed a great day at Phillip Island thrashing around in a series of brightly coloured gen-three Mini JCWs. Now we have come back to reality having road tested one for a week on our home turf on the Gold Coast – traffic, speed cameras, rough and ready roads, the full catastrophe. Given the high-tech nature of the all-new third-generation John Cooper Works (JCW) and engineering ability of BMW, which runs Mini these days, it didn’t come as a surprise that the real-world didn’t faze the… Read more

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2015 AUDI RS7

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Ingolstadt’s big fast cars don’t make headlines the way their BMW and Mercedes counterparts do. We’re not entirely sure why because Audi’s RS6 and RS7 are two of the most capable cars on the planet. Following a trip around Philip Island in the RS7 where its abilities were worked hard, we borrowed the keys for a week to live with the big coupe on the road. VALUE The Audi-RS7 kicks off at a stout $241,610, an increase of $12,500 over the Avant-only (station wagon) RS6. Your money buys you a… Read more

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MERCEDES-BENZ B 250 MIXES FUN WITH FUNCTION

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The Mercedes B-Class has been on sale in Australia for almost a decade, having evolved from one of Benz’s cleverest products, the A-Class city car. The latter was one of the first little-big cars – managing to combine a small exterior with a deceptively large, strictly two-seat interior, largely through its tall body. The B-Class inherited many of these qualities but with a more conventional styling than its boxier older sibling, but nevertheless it’s still taller than the average five-door hatchback. The benefits include easy step-in access, a relatively high… Read more

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2016 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER EXCEED PETROL REVIEW

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Mitsubishi Outlander is an important vehicle for the Japanese giant, competing as it does in one of the strongest market areas in Australia, that of midsize SUVs. Mitsubishi has long been a major player in the field of comfortable passenger-oriented vehicles, having introduced the Pajero to a surprised public downunder 33 years ago. Back then 4WDs were somewhat crude truck-based vehicles, Mitsubishi showed it didn’t have to be like that. Outlander first arrived in Australia in 2003 as a smaller brother to Pajero and has sold consistently since the get-go…. Read more

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LAMBORGHINI HURACAN CREATES HURRICANES

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Lamborghinis never fail to turn heads and Huracan is right up with the most eye grabbing of them all. Lamborghini owners of a certain type seem to favour orange and Kermit green, but this wicked-looking black car must be the best of them. VALUE As with any thoroughbred, value is all relative. The Huracan LP4-610 starts at knee-weakening $428,000 plus on roads. The standard inclusions are leather trim, carbon and aluminium bits and pieces, a fully-digital dashboard, four speaker stereo with DVD, Bluetooth and USB, climate control, selectable driving modes,… Read more