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NEW MITSUBISHI TRITON : FIRST DETAILS

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Mitsubishi has announced information on its upcoming, virtually all-new Triton that will arrive in Australia in January 2019. Local pricing and specifications will be announced closer to the local launch date. Mitsubishi is of course a Japanese company, but Triton is built in Thailand and the factory proudly tells us the new Triton has been developed to be, “Engineered Beyond Tough”. A handy catchphrase in these times when small pickup trucks are the vehicle of choice amongst private buyers, and of course tradies. Triton has a front face that incorporates… Read more

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FORD KUGA 2012 – 2017

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2012 Ford Kuga

Ford Kuga is an SUV of the modern type, that is it’s aimed at the suburban user than the bush basher. However, some Kugas have have the added traction of all-wheel-drive and can be used tackle bush tracks and fire trails. Others are purely two-wheel drive vehicles. Kuga replaced the Ford Escape – which was a genuine 4WD – in February 2012. Ford Australia had been slow to realise buyers wanted crossovers and the 2012 model had been on sale in Europe for four years before it reached us downunder… Read more

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2019 PORSCHE PANAMERA SPORT TURISMO TURBO

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Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo adds another dimension to the prestige German marque’s range. A body that’s part way between that of a station wagon and a five-door coupe. It attracted plenty of attention from those who know Porsches during our week’s road test, though some initially failed to recognise that it was a wagon, which may be exactly what the designers were aiming at. Our test car was the big gun – the Panamera Sport Turismo Turbo, which is simply sensational. STYLING The new generation Panamera coupe has been on… Read more

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FORD’S FASCINATING FOCUS: THE ACTIVE

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Ford Focus Active is a standard Focus that has extra ground clearance and some body add-ons to give it a semi-SUV look. It has as much as 34 mm additional ground clearance to give it an elevated driving position, something that can be handy in traffic. Focus Active is not a toy, though, because front and rear skid plates can let you tackle moderately serious dirt roads. Inserts in contrasting silver alter the Focus Active’s styling when compared with others in the Focus range. There are unique front and rear… Read more

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NEW HIGH-TECH ENGINE FOR RENAULT CAPTUR

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A fascinating new powerful turbo engine is now available on Renault Captur. With a capacity of just 1.3 litres it develops up to 150 horsepower, hence its title 1.3 TCe 150. In Australian terms that 110kW, torque is an equally impressive 250 Nm from an amazingly low 1600 rpm. Despite this added power and torque the fuel consumption is rated at just 5.4 litres per 100 km on the combined cycle. We’ve yet to road test this new model but will do so asap and get back to you. The… Read more

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2019 AUDI A7 SPORTBACK LAUNCH

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Audi A7 Sportback generation two has arrived in Australia, but at this stage only the topline model, the 55 TFSI is here. It’s the subject of this review and we have done extensive test drives of several cars. Audi A7 has long been one of our style favourites and it was great that Audi brought chief designer Andreas Koglin to Australia for a detailed explanation as to how he achieved the shape. (He also gave we journos some ideas on how to sketch cars on paper. Mine looked only marginally… Read more

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MASERATI 350: A NEW PRICE LEADER

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Maserati has introduced a lower cost Levante to Australia with a recommended retail price of $125,000. That’s almost $15,000 under the price of the Levante turbo-diesel. On-road costs from dealers and governments have to be factored in. It’s powered by a Maserati-designed, Ferrari built, 350 horsepower (257 kW) 500 Newton metre twin-turbo V6 that displaces 3.0 litres. It is a detuned version engine in the range-topping Maserati Levante S that has 430 hp (321 kW) and 580 Nm. Drive is through an eight-speed automatic transmission to all four wheels with… Read more

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BMW UPGRADES ITS ACTIVITY MODELS

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BMW X1

BMW Group Australia has announced specification and pricing updates for its X1 Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) range, as well as its X2 Sports Activity Coupe (SAC) models. BMW’s ‘Navigation System Plus’ interface, and head-up display, is now fitted as standard to the entire X1 range. Previously, these advanced technologies were standard only on the top-line BMW X1 xDrive25i. The navigation and infotainment system has an 8.8-inch colour touchscreen display and app-style interface. It can also be controlled via the iDrive Touch controller or Natural Voice Recognition. The BMW Head Up… Read more

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HONDA CR-V: OUTBACK ADVENTURE

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Julie and I were both overdue for a long relaxing holiday and the offer of a press test of the new fifth generation Honda CR-V arrived at just the right time. It would be hard to pick a better vehicle for reasons that will become evident later in our review. We took the Honda from our Gold Coast home to far western Queensland by way of the Warrego and Landsborough Highways through Roma, Charleville and Barcaldine to Longreach. We spent several days on Longreach, touring the Qantas Founders Museum, the… Read more

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ROVER P6 2000

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1971 Rover P6 2000

Early model Rovers, like many other prestige cars, were usually looked on as being very staid and suited only to elderly, grey-templed drivers rather like the early Volvo image. The Rover 2000-P6, introduced in 1963, was the first young man’s Rover. It was packed with new technology and was ideal for the young executive on the go who wanted big-car ambience with sportscar manners in a more compact car. The Rover 2000 was a 160 km/h saloon, perfectly suited to the motorway age. This was a crisp, restrained car, modern… Read more