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SUBARU FORESTER 2008 – 2017

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2016 Subaru Forester

By EWAN KENNEDY, Marque Motoring CAPTION: A. B. C. 2016 Subaru Forester BODY COPY Subaru is a quiet achiever in Australia, the Japanese company that has often been ahead of the pack in design. Its Forester is a classic example, decades before SUVs became king the hill in sales in Australia, Subaru was selling all-wheel-drive station wagons. Forester was launched here in 1997 as a relatively mild looking station wagon but later morphed into a medium SUV in styling. In this used car review we pick up Forester from February… Read more

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BMW 620d GRAN TURISMO

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We’re not sure is low-cost is the correct term to use to describe this latest BMW, but you can now buy a 6 Series Gran Turismo for under $100,000. The local importer has added the 620d Gran Turismo, at $99,900 to its lineup. That’s significantly down on the $123,500 of the BMW 630i which is the current lowest cost model. BMW 620d Gran Turismo is powered by a turbo-diesel 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine that generates 140kW and 400Nm. New 620d Gran Turismo comes in BMW’s Elegant Luxury Line, which includes a… Read more

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STUNNING NEW AUDI A8

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The all-new fourth-generation of the Audi A8 flagship is now on sale in Australia. It’s a large sedan – or should that be saloon? The German machine has handsome lines that give it a real presence on the road as evidenced by the number of people who looked it over while we drove it out of Sydney on the launch program. We use the word handsome as it has relatively conservative lines – as is the norm in any of the topline German prestige machines. No flashy lines because these… Read more

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NEW MERCEDES A-CLASS: FIRST DETAILS

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A new Mercedes-Benz A-Class will be launched here in August and the importer has provided us initial details. INFOTAINMENT A major feature will be MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) with intelligent voice control and natural language comprehension. This is activated by saying “Hey Mercedes” to give you access to infotainment functions, destination input, phone calls, music selection, as well as writing and hearing messages. MBUX can even anticipate what the user would like next. For instance, if you often telephones your mother on Tuesdays MBUX will give her telephone number as… Read more

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MAZDA’S BEST OF A GOOD BUNCH

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The Mazda3 marches on as one of the most popular cars on the Australian market with upgrades to its lower end models for modest increases in price. A range of equipment has been added to Neo, Maxx and Touring grades across hatch and sedan variants. Buyers of the top-notch SP25 and SP25 GT are the big winners with driveaway matching the manufacturer’s figure before on-road costs. The Mazda3 SP25 continues to feature advanced keyless entry, dual-zone climate-control, electric parking brake, headlamps auto on / off and 18-inch alloy wheels, while… Read more

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DODGE VIPER

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First shown at the 1989 Detroit Motor Show as a concept car the Dodge Viper was a real crowd pleaser. The fact that Carroll Shelby, the legendary creator of the Cobra had acted as a consultant to Chrysler in the car’s design greatly assisted in boosting its image. Chrysler was so pleased with the public reaction that they immediately set about forming a design team to rush the car into production. Thirty months later the Viper started to appear in Chrysler showrooms across the USA. By the use of a… Read more

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HIGH-POWER DIESEL FOR RANGE ROVER SPORT

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If you’re going to sell a vehicle with Sport in its title then customers will demand plenty of performance. So the Australian importer of the Range Rover Sport has announced that it will stop importing the four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbo-diesel engine and replace it with a new design V6 3.0-litre twin-turbo unit. At the same time the Rangie Sport also sees the introduction of Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go function. This maintains a set distance from the vehicle in front and to follow it to a stop and pull… Read more

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NISSAN GT-R50 BY ITALDESIGN

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The Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign has made its world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The first-ever collaboration between Nissan and Italdesign, the GT-R50 prototype could become the blueprint for an extremely limited run of hand-built production vehicles. Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign commemorates the 50th anniversaries of both the Nissan GT-R, in 2019, and Italdesign, in 2018. Based on Nissan’s latest GT-R NISMO it combines Japanese brute force with Italian craftsmanship. Key design features include a pronounced power bulge on the bonnet, stretched LED headlights, a lowered roofline, and… Read more

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KIA SPORTAGE MAKEOVER MORE THAN SKIN DEEP

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It is customary for car companies to give a model a midlife makeover, which can include anything from tinkering around the edges of design, adding specifications, to adjusting prices. Rarely does it include digging deep to improve performance parameters. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, one being among Kia’s latest upgrades to the fourth-generation Sportage released two years ago. The MY19 version of the compact sports utility vehicle has come under the ‘spell’ of the Wizards of Oz in ride and handling. Acknowledged world leaders in the field,… Read more

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VALIANT CM REGAL

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Launched in November 1978 the CM Valiant gained all the improvements of the models before it, yet ironically it was the last of a breed. Chrysler had perfected things such as the handling package and ELB (Electronic Lean Burn), as well as fine tuning the Valiant to rid it of most of its annoying bugs. Many believe this car was the best of all the Valiants, however it was a case of too little, too late. The Charger, which had almost been put out of its misery with the CL,… Read more