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CAT BRINGS THE SOFT TOUCH TO A HARD HEART

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A cat with nine lives might be taking things too far, but one feline of the automotive variety has at least two. The Jaguar XE 300 Sport, like the ultimate furry friend, will pad around all day as quiet as a mouse, but switch to Sport mode and the claws come out, together with a strident engine soundtrack to match. The XE range is the British answer to the Germans’ – Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, not forgetting the Italians’ Alfa Romeo Giulia and assorted others from the… Read more

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CUNNINGHAM C4R

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Right from the beginning of the 1950s a number of American motoring enthusiasts were keen to match the European mastery of the road-racing technique. Many of them built small Americanised sports cars but only Briggs Cunningham was successful and achieved fame from his attempts. Cunningham built several different models of cars but most observers agree that his best effort was the C4R. This car featured a tubular chassis with strong side members and small, lightweight cross-members but was hardly state-of-the-art when compared with the racing chassis built into most of… Read more

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JAGUAR AUSTRALIA AND CHARGEFOX TEAM UP

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Jaguar Australia, a founding partner of the Australian Electric Vehicle Council, has signed an official agreement with Australia’s biggest public electric vehicle (EV) charging network, Chargefox. At this stage Chargefox only has three fully operational, ultra-rapid charging stations operating: two in country Victoria at Barnawartha and Euroa and at Toombul, in Brisbane. It’s early days yet but by the end of 2019 a national network of twenty two ultra chargers will form a network connecting Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide. Additional ultra-rapid charging stations are being planned for Western… Read more

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LEXUS RC F: ENHANCED PERFORMANCE

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Lexus Australia has announced a substantially revised RC F range that will include a more affordable entry price plus sharp specification for the first RC F Track Edition. Visually, Lexus RC F incorporates new single-piece high-grade LED headlights and a wider grille with L-shaped mesh pattern, emphasising a lower stance. Enlarged front-side air breathers and new canard ‘fins’ on the lower front bumper more accurately harness air. Control of flow is then directed by fin-shaped side rocker mouldings – derived from the RC F GT3 race car – to new… Read more

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BMW UNVEILS NEW V8 ENGINES FOR X5 AND X7

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BMW X5

BMW has announced details of new flagship models for its X5 and X7 SUVs each with upgraded 4.4-litre V8 engines. The engines are based on the company’s TwinPower Turbo technology and generate up to 390 kW of power from 5500 rpm and 750 Nm of torque between 1800 and 4600 revs. As a result, the new BMW X5 M50i is able to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds and the X7 M50i in 4.7 seconds. Both models combine the V8 engine with an eight-speed Steptronic sports automatic… Read more

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ALLARD K2

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The name Allard came into the motoring history books in 1936 when Sydney Allard, a London Ford motor dealer with a penchant for motor sport, including motor racing, decided to build for himself the Allard Special. Based on a Ford V8 chassis and with other Ford parts to provide the running gear Allard encased the whole thing in a cut down Bugatti body. He, as well as others, was obviously pleased with the results of this unusual combination because he went on to build a further 11 of these cars… Read more

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JAGUAR XK 2006 – 2015

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2006 Jaguar XK

By EWAN KENNEDY, Marque Motoring CAPTION: A. B. C. 2015 Jaguar XK BODY COPY Jaguar XK is a large British sportscar with styling that’s unashamedly based on that of the almost legendary Jaguar E-Type. From the nose with its big oval opening, to the rounded tail the XK’s design works exceptionally well. In this review we will look at the all-new Jaguar XK launched here in July 2006, partly because those before it are getting on in years as it’s made entirely from aluminium, with panels rivetted and bonded using… Read more

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HYUNDAI KONA PURE ELECTRIC

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The first all-electric production car to go on sale in Australia was the Mitsubishi I-MiEV. In 2010 I picked up one from Mitsubishi in Brisbane and drove to our home on the Gold Coast – arriving there with just five kilometres to spare before the dash readout told me the batteries would be flat. That’s nail biting territory … Last week I picked up a Hyundai Kona Electric from Brisbane, drove home along the same route – and arrived with 398 kilometres to ‘empty’. Such has been the advancement in… Read more

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MAZDA6 LINEUP REVISED

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Mazda Australia is adept at constantly fine tuning its business to gain the best in profits. So changes have been made to the Mazda6, not in appearance, but under the skin. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are finally now standard. And there’s an enhanced audio system for clearer FM radio sound thanks to the fitment of a second antenna. Mazda tells us this expands the overall reception range and cancels out noise generated by secondary wave interference, which occurs when radio waves from the broadcasting station are reflected by solid… Read more

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SUBARU FORESTER IS A TRIED AND PROVEN MID-SIZED SUV

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Subaru Forester was one of the pioneers of the SUV trend which has been such a feature of motor vehicle sales not only in Australia but around the world. The first Forester was launched here in 1997 as a relatively mild looking station wagon but subsequently evolved into a stylish medium SUV with genuine off-road capabilities. Within a year it had become Subaru’s best-seller and has remained so right through until 2018 when it was pipped at the post by its precocious smaller SUV sibling the XV. Unlike most of… Read more