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TOYOTA CAMRY AND AURION 2006 – 2016

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2014 Toyota Camry Hybrid

Toyota Camry is no longer built in Australia because the Altona, Melbourne factory was closed down in October 2017. An all-new fully imported Camry replaced the Australian one at that time. The stylish new 2018 Camry created a lot of buyer interest and already many Camry owners have traded in their cars on it. Meaning dealers may have an oversupply of used Camrys and are keen to drop prices to shift them. No promises, though. Toyota Camry has long been a major player here, first arriving in 1983 as a… Read more

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HYUNDAI PREVIEWS NEW SANTA FE

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The fourth-generation Santa Fe will go on sale in Australia at a date yet to be announced, other than ‘around the middle of this year’. Significant details have already been released as Santa Fe will be tackling one of the hottest segments of our market. Longer, wider and with a stretched wheelbase, the Santa Fe is a little lower and plainly aimed at those looking for a comfortable station wagon rather than a 4WD The fourth-generation Santa Fe introduces a new iteration of Hyundai’s frontal style, called Cascading Grille. Slim… Read more

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2018 HYUNDAI SONATA PREMIUM

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Hyundai Sonata is due to be replaced by an all-new model in the first quarter of 2019, but the current one has received significant changes to see it through the intervening period. The importer has trimmed the range to just two models by discontinuing the Elite. Sonata is now offered in only in Active and Premium format. STYLING A major facelift has given the Sonata a striking appearance. Its front end has a huge grille, sleek headlights and large daytime running light housings. The tail has received a sort of… Read more

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2018 RANGE ROVER VELAR TURBO-DIESEL

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Land Rover has added another model to its already expansive range. The Range Rover Velar sits neatly in the gap between the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport. Velar debuts Range Rover’s latest Touch Pro Duo infotainment system, with two high-definition 10-inch touchscreens. More about this in a moment. Naturally the Velar follows Range Rover’s long tradition of having a light, stiff, aluminium-intensive body. Keeping weight down not only gives even better off-road performance, but also makes it feel more agile around town and as a bonus it… Read more

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FIAT 500X UPGRADES

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Fiat 500X, the expanded version of the iconic Fiat 500, hasn’t done as well as expected in Australia. So the model range has been trimmed, prices reduced and a feature-packed Launch Edition has been introduced. Only 100 of the latter are coming Downunder. Price drops range from $1010 for the Fiat 500X Pop six-speed manual (now $24,990), to $2010 (now $29,990) for the automatic only 500X Pop Star. On-road charges have to be added, but we suspect you might be able to haggle with a dealer as part of this… Read more

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FORD FALCON 2002 – 2015

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2016 Ford Falcon XR8 Sprint

  Used Ford Falcons have long been favourites on the used car scene, especially with those living in the great Aussie bush. They are ruggedly built, seem to last forever if driven and serviced correctly, and soak up rough and ready backroads and dirt tracks much better than overpriced machines from Germany and the UK. Most Falcons are four-door sedans, station wagons and utes. Two-door hardtops and panel vans were also built back in the old days that are beyond the scope of this article. Ford Falcons have seating for… Read more

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MASERATI LEVANTE HELPS SET LAND SPEED RECORD

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Just when you thought nothing could be crazier than the snowboarding aerobatics at the Winter Olympics comes the setting of a new Guinness World Record for, ‘fastest speed on a snowboard towed by a vehicle’ at an amazing 149.65 km/h. British snowboard sensation Jamie Barrow was towed behind a Maserati Levante S to set the record on a frozen lake at St Moritz in Switzerland. They would love to have reached 150 km/h, with one run actually getting to 151.57 km/h, but for obvious reasons the Word Record rules require… Read more

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ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD III

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1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III

The shape of this car was a radical break with tradition for Rolls-Royce and Bentley. It appeared first on the Bentley S2 Continental chassis in 1959 as a Park Ward drophead design and was attributed to Norwegian freelance stylist Vilhelm Koren. This new talent was found by Crewe’s head of styling on a trip to the Turin Motor Show. The bold crisp lines and austerely simple shape had a dramatic straight-through wing line with single headlights at the corners. There was the merest suggestion of a fin in the backwards… Read more

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LIMITED EDITION BMW M4 CONVERTIBLE

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BMW promotes its cars as Ultimate Driving Machines. The German marque has a strong history in motorsport and arguably attracts even keener drivers than the other big name Germans and Brits. So it comes as no surprise that its latest limited edition, the BMW M4 Convertible Edition 30 Years pays tribute to many sporting successes over the last three decades, such as European and German touring car championships. Only 300 BMW M4 Convertible Edition 30 Years are being made, all with the M Competition Package. It produces 450 horsepower, 331… Read more

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JAGUAR MARK II

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Towards the end of 1959 Jaguar expanded its range of cars with the release of the new Mark II saloons. This provided a range of ten basic models which also offered a choice of transmissions and disc or drum brakes for the standard 2.4 and 3.8 saloons, XK150 series body styles and a wide range of exterior and interior colour schemes. The Jaguar range at that time comprised the large and luxurious 3.8-litre Mark IX saloon, the 2.4 and 3.4 standard saloons and the 3.4 XK150 and 150S as before,… Read more