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QUEENSLAND’S ELECTRIC SUPER HIGHWAY

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Australia’s electric vehicle industry has welcomed the launch of the Queensland Electric Super Highway. The State’s energy minister Mark Bailey unveiled the first of many fast-charging electric vehicle stations in Cairns. Stations will eventually be rolled out at various locations down the Queensland coast to the Gold Coast. Mr Bailey said, “This fast-charging station is the first of many proposed throughout the state which will be announced by the Palaszczuk Government in coming months, making it possible to drive an electric vehicle from the state’s southern border to the Far… Read more

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GREAT WALL STEED – A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

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Few would deny how far utility vehicles have come in the past two decades. Any doubts can be quickly dismissed by getting behind the wheel of the latest Great Wall Motors Steed. The Dual Cab is so last century. While there are some positives about the latest version of the pickup – toughness, reliability, and most of all, price (from $24,990 driveaway) – there are question marks against the Steed’s safety. Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what independent vehicle safety advocate, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program,… Read more

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2017 HOLDEN TAKES US TO THE FUTURE OF SUVS

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There’s no secret that Australians steadily lost interest in large family sedans and station wagons over the past five to ten years. To the extent that slow sales meant the closing of the Ford Australia factory and the impending shutdown of GM-Holden and Toyota factories over the next few months. Buyers deserting traditional family sixes in favour of various types of SUVs meant that Holden began to look closely at various alternatives. Everything from small front-drive tall hatches to full on 4WDs. We’ve just spent a delightful day in the… Read more

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2018 COMMODORE VXR REVEALED

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Late last year Holden released initial details of the fully-imported NG (Next Generation) Commodore ahead of its Australian launch in early 2018. In an interesting move, journalists have been provided with an extensive array of details much of them under strict embargo. It comes as no surprise that the big emphasis of the latest release is on the hot Commodore VXR flagship. It will come with a V6 engine putting out 235 kilowatts of power and 381 Newton metres of torque through a nine-speed automatic transmission to an all-wheel-drive system…. Read more

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HYUNDAI’S NEW i30 N HOT HATCH

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Speculation on when the South Korean car marques would enter the hot-hatch scene have been around for years. Though keen to become major players in the global scene, both Hyundai and Kia sensibly decided to concentrate on mainstream vehicles and leave the esoteric models till later. Well, later has finally arrived and Hyundai is well and truly onto the high-performance scene. It has published extensive details and photos of the i30 N hot-hatch. The ’N’ tag comes from Namyang, Hyundai’s huge R&D test arena (which we have driven on several… Read more

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2017 FORD MONDEO TITANIUM WAGON REVIEW

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In an interesting twist Ford and Holden have decided to go in different directions with their post-Commodore and post-Falcon largest passenger cars. While Holden has chosen to re-badge its Insignia model as Commodore, Ford has opted to drop the Falcon name altogether and retain the Mondeo moniker. With Commodore still being built locally it’s too early to say whether Holden buyers will switch en-masse to the Insignia (or NG, for next-generation, Commodore) but Ford’s strategy seems to be working with Mondeo sales booming both from downsizing ex-Falcon buyers as well… Read more

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2017 MAZDA CX-5 TOURING REVIEW

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Mazda CX-5 has been a hit in Australia since it arrived here just over five years ago. Now the second generation has been introduced. It features interesting style, improvements to the powertrains and uprated technology. A new Touring model has been added to the CX-5 range. Sitting between the Maxx Sport and CX-5 GT, the new Touring was our test vehicle as Mazda was keen to get us into one to promote it. And thus increase its sales from the already healthy figure of over 115,000 CX-5s sold to date…. Read more

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TOYOTA AVENSIS VERSO 2001 – 2010

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You would go a long way to find a more versatile passenger vehicle than the Toyota Avensis, a seven-seat people-mover that drives more like a car than a van or SUV. When launched in December 2001 Toyota told us it hoped the Avensis would appeal to the many people using 4WD vehicles around the suburbs. That appeal was a failure, Toyota apparently not realising that drivers like to be seen in rough ’n’ tough SUVs and 4WDs and consider vehicles like Avensis to be rather sissy. However, those who are… Read more

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MG TC

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No model made a greater contribution to MG’s fame than the TC, produced from 1945 to 1949. The first MG to reach volume production status – 10,000 in four years – it became Britain’s first postwar export success. Just over 2000 were shipped to the USA, where it was a cult car, and the two-seater also sold strongly in Australia. The TC design was derived from the 1939 TB which, in turn, was a development of the 1936 TA. Although dated when it appeared, the 1.25-litre TC proved enormously popular… Read more

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JAGUAR MARK V

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The Mark V was the first completely redesigned post-World War II model to be produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd, and it continued many of the pre-war traditions of Jaguar cars in terms of style, opulence and the general level of fittings. It continued to use the 2 1/2-litre and 3 1/2-litre engines, previously sourced from Standard but now made by Jaguar after buying the machine tools from Standard. Whilst design of this car did not vary significantly from the pre-war Jaguars it did have a totally new, extremely stiff, box-section… Read more