Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Wheels

It hasn’t even been confirmed, yet already dealers are holding hundreds of orders for the hotly anticipated so-called GTS-R, as reported exclusively by Wheels in our October issue last year. The new model will pick up a higher-outputsupercharged LS9 V8 making close to 500kW – the most of any Australian-made car. While speculators are pinning their hopes on the final HSV GTS or a limited-edition Commodore SS as a model that could go up in price, the final HSV appears to be the one most likely to attract investors before Australian-made V8s are killed off in late 2017. The Maloo R8 SV Black will sell for $62,990 and the Clubsport R8 SV Black for $65,990. There will be no Tourer version, with that car instead being offered only with the…

S40 EV TO HAVE 350KM RANGE 3CM-HIGHER FLOOR HIDES BATTERIES XC40 COMPACT CROSSOVER 134KW, 1.5L TURBO TRIPLE VOLVO has launched the small-car platform that will carry it – and its Chinese owner – into what it hopes will be a crash-free, self-driving and electric-powered future. The first cars to adopt the new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform, unimaginatively dubbed the 40.1 and the 40.2 in concept form, pave the way for the next-generation S40 sedan, V40 wagon and XC40 SUV. CMA has been designed for three- and four-cylinder application as well as hybrid and pure electric. The platform will also be used under various models from Geely, the Chinese giant that now owns the Swedish brand. The CMA platform is crucial to Volvo’s future, a brand that just six years…

SIX OF THE BEST Respect. That’s what I took from the editor’s column (Editor’s Letter, June), and I agree. It’s interesting you highlighted Ford’s 1977 1-2 win to help make your point. As a then seven-year-old it changed my life forever, even though dad’s XC wagon was a six-cylinder 4.1. In that lies my point. For every ‘iconic’ V8 Falcon there have been dozens of sixes out there just doing their job, so when the whispers started about an XR Sprint it seemed a no-brainer to order the XR6 Sprint, the last true all-Aussie. While patiently waiting for it since February I have looked forward to Wheels each month to see what you guys have done with one. Nup. Still no real test or tribute. Respect, boys. Norm Boisen, Adare,…

Model Renault Megane GT Engine 1618cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 151kW @ 6000rpm Max torque 280Nm @ 2400rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Weight 1392kg 0-100km/h 7.1sec (claimed) Economy 6.0L/100km (EU) Price $40,000 (estimated) On sale September “YOU don’t buy a Renault by accident,” says the Renault man next to me. “It’s a deliberate decision not to buy anything else.” Looking at the left-hand-drive Megane, I can see what he means. Its design flourishes look nothing like less-brave competitors’, especially those LED hockey-stick headlight extensions. This Euro-spec GT model is one of four shipped in by Renault Oz to preview. This model will top the core Megane range, producing 151kW/280Nm from the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol also found in Clio RS. It’s the fieriest Megane outside the potent Renaultsport models that are…

Model Kia Cerato S Premium hatch Engine 1999c 4cyl, dohc, 16v Max power 112kW @ 6200rpm Max torque 192Nm @ 4000rpm Transmission 6-speed automatic Kerb weight 1332kg 0-100km/h 10.2sec (claimed) Economy 7.1L/100km Price $24,990 (driveaway) On sale Now KIA knows when it’s onto a good thing. The current Cerato, on sale here since 2013, has been something of a slow-burn success story, steadily climbing the sales charts from outside the top 10 in its category to now sit on the cusp of the top five, poised to overtake Holden’s ageing Cruze. So when it came time for an update, Kia played it smart. All the Cerato’s core strengths remain – strong value, energetic engines, and a spacious, comfortable interior, backed by Kia’s industry-leading seven-year warranty. But its handsome styling has…

Model Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe Engine 1991cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 180kW @ 5500rpm Max torque 370Nm @ 1300-4000rpm Transmission 7-speed automatic Weight 1490kg 0-100km/h 6.0sec (claimed) Economy 6.6L/100km Price $83,400 On sale Now SAME wheelbase, same length, same width, but 60kg more metal. Oh, and you pay more for it. Like many two-doors, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe doesn’t start with the best sales pitch. However, the brochure has glossy images of the elegant “diamond grille” and the sleek S-Class-Coupe-esque rump, and that’s when the circa-$5K price premium over an equivalent C-Class sedan wins the Coupe some crucial, style-inspired points. AMG’s boffins have also chipped in with the suspension tune, diluting some of the cushiony ride of the C and injecting more cornering nous to liven things up. Under…

 IT WOULD not, unusually, be an exaggeration for me to say that the Ferrari 488 GTB has changed my life. And not merely because it’s the fastest thing I’ve ever driven. It’s also the car that ushered me into a coffee addiction, gave me one of the greatest hours I’ve ever enjoyed, inspired a life change for my whole family, and managed to both depress and disappoint me in a way few inanimate objects could. SWAPPING THE ANGELIC SOUNDS OF OLD FOR THE WHISTLE AND WHINE OF A TURBINE BRINGS SPEED. SO MUCH SPEED It is, in short, a profoundly powerful car, in ways that even its ferocious numbers cannot fully represent. Someone asked me, while chuckling at the absurdity of the question, whether ‘488’ referred to the number of…

Zombies. We’re surrounded by zombies, many of them dressed in sexy-schoolgirl outfits and a disturbing number wearing contact lenses designed to make their eyes look genuinely undead. It’s almost Halloween in Tokyo and the locals, who have a long-held love for American traditions – aside from H-bomb dropping – are mad for it, stalking the world’s busiest streets in gory gangs. A block further along, though, and you’re in a park so intensely manicured that the grass looks ever so slightly cowardly, as if it’s afraid to grow unkemptly, and no one is speaking louder than a whisper. This is Japan; equal parts chaos and order, politeness and madness, peace and disquiet. James Deane, a 53-year-old Australian-born and still Aussie-accented senior designer for Honda who has lived here for 25…

UTES are good for carrying stuff, doing circle work, driving to Cape York, towing boats… not racing in Australia’s toughest off-road race. But when did good sense ever stop the magazine that took a Porsche 911 to the top of Big Red, and a 7 Series limo up the Birdsville Track? So we put it out there that Wheels wanted to compete in the race they call the Bathurst 1000 of the outback, the Finke Desert Race. And Mazda – cleverly or stupidly, jury’s out – stepped up. So now, on the June long weekend, Team Wheels with yours truly at the wheel and seasoned co-driver Bernie Webb calling the turns, will line up alongside 559 other cars, bikes and quads to see who can get from Alice Springs to…

WHETHER it’s an oversight or a deliberate ploy on my part to save the best bits for last, like that cherished final bite of a sweet treat, it occurs to me that nigh on half a year into our journey with the XC-90, I’m yet to dedicate a column to how the big Swede drives. That’s because there’s been so much other stuff to write about, but we can’t look past those key quantifiers of vehicular excellence: ride, handling and performance. The sheer verve of the 2.0-litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel never fails to impress. Frankly, it strains credibility that an engine of such modest capacity can shift the Volvo’s near two-tonne mass with such alacrity, but it does. Like ugly men with glamorous partners, small engines punching above their weight…

BACK in high school, we had the classic PE teacher straight from central casting. Quads like wine barrels, a head like an Easter Island statue, and a top lip crowned with a belter of an ’80s pornstar moustache (well, to be fair, it was the ’80s, and what he did in his spare time was his own business). He also had a sadistic love of inflicting pain on pimply teenagers. Prized among his cache of suffer-fest activities was the dreaded Tuesday morning shuttle-run session. It took the normally semi-enjoyable activity of running, but stripped it of any rhythm, flow or changing scenery. Instead, by making it a series of stop-start bursts between marker cones, it turned running into something that made us mostly turn purple and want to puke. I’ve…

Ford is getting serious with its Kuga SUV, which is being smashed in the sales race. Having added a reversing camera across the range months ago, Ford has now focused its attention on the entry-level Ambiente, which receives dual-zone climate control and sat-nav, the latter teamed with a new 8.0-inch touchscreen. Digital radio is also part of the $29,990 deal for the front-drive automatic. Ford sold just 1515 Kugas in the first four months of the year, less than one-fifth the rate of the class-leading Mazda CX-5.…

1 BMW i3 0.0L/100km Go for the pure electric i3 and you’ll use no fuel at all, courtesy of a 22kWh battery pack claimed to cover 190km. The 125kW/250Nm motor provides snappy performance too. 2 NISSAN LEAF 0.0L/100km Bigger body and bigger battery (24kWh) than the i3, but the Leaf’s range claim is only up to 170km. Respectable performance from the 80kW/280Nm motor, but bland dynamics. 3 TESLA MODEL S 0.0L/100km If it’s no-fuel excitement you want look no further than the Model S P90D, which delivers 967Nm. Tesla trumps on range too, with up to 557km for the lower-powered 90D version. 4 AUDI A3 SP'TBACK E-TRON 1.6L/100km You’ll use either no fuel or lots more than 1.6L/100km with Audi’s plug-in. Good fun, though, with a combined 150kW/350Nm thanks to…

THE crafting by hand of bespoke steel panels is often lamented as a thing of the past. At Sydney firm WD Hadley Pty Ltd, traditional coachbuilding methods have been a dying art since 1965 – and not in the way you’d think. Walter ‘Wal’ Hadley worked as a coachbuilder at the famous London firm of Hooper’s. Says son Gary: “Back then, when they left school at 14, it was, ‘Woodwork or metalwork?’ Dad did the timber body frames.” Wal migrated to Australia in 1957, finding work in Sydney at WG Smith, a truck body builder. There, he taught himself to weld and work with steel, and applied his skills to the company’s line of hearses. He soon caught the attention of racing and sports car constructor Guy Buckingham, for whom…

Mike Simcoe GM global design chief When I was still green, Bill was already one of the ‘Old Guard’…. I wasn’t smart enough to see behind the legend or understand his depth of knowledge and experience. All I saw was the myth, largely created by his own stories. A warm, engaging companion, never dismissive of a less-experienced passenger. We live in very different times. I fear the business is no longer big enough to contain a character like Bill. Pedr Davis Author and motoring writer Bill’s passing has touched so many people, not just his family, relatives and friends but also the countess readers who knew him only through the written words. Bill had a magic touch. I once remarked that his columns seemed so effortless. “Yes,” he replied, flexing…

SPECS Model Audi SQ7 Engine 3956cc V8 (90°), dohc, 32v, TTD Max Power 320kW @ 3750-5000rpm Max Torque 900Nm @ 1000-3250rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 2330kg 0-100km/h 4.8sec (claimed) Fuel economy 7.2L/100km Price $160,000 (estimated) On sale October FIRSTDRIVES MOTORWAY cruising in eighth gear is the best way to experience the effortlessness and newfound flexibility of Audi’s SQ7, the fastest seven-seat SUV the company has produced. The first production car with an electric turbo – or, more correctly, an electric compressor, which amounts to a 7kW air pump that revs to 70,000rpm – puts its full 900Nm to use with a squeeze of your right hoof, barely flustered by the prospect of building pace well beyond triple figures. Not even 2330kg of aluminium and steel can make Audi’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo…

Model Fiat Abarth 595 Engine 1368cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 103kW @ 5500rpm Max torque 206Nm @ 2000rpm Transmission 5-speed manual Weight 1042kg 0-100km/h 7.9sec (claimed) Economy 6.0L/100km Price $27,500 On sale Now ABARTH versions of the Fiat 500 are, you can easily imagine, the Jack Russells of the motoring world. Small and cute, yet at the same time tough, they’re pint-sized bundles of energy and performance constantly pulling at the lead to mount your mate’s leg. Now there’s a new one, and things aren’t quite so froth-at-the-mouth manic. It’s simply called the Abarth 595 and on the surface it’s hard to tell what’s different. There’s the same aggressive Abarth bodykit, the same turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine and the same retro-funky interior. The biggest change is to the…

Model Audi A3 Sportback 1.0TFSI S-tronic Engine 999cc 3cyl, dohc, 12v, turbo Max power 85kW @ 5000-5500rpm Max torque 200Nm @ 2000-3500rpm Transmission 7-speed dual clutch Weight 1170kg 0-100km/h 9.7sec (claimed) Economy 4.7L/100km (EU) Price $35,000 (estimated) On sale October AUDI claims it invented the premium small car with the original A3 in 1996. Fans of various Wolseley, Riley and Vanden Plas models from the ’60s might have something to say about that, but look where those brands are today. Clearly, Ingolstadt knows how to make something stick. Now, four years and a million cars later, the third-gen A3 has undergone a facelift – enough to keep the hard-charging Mercedes A-Class at bay, it’s hoped, when Aussie sales start in October. Along with a flatter and squarer grille, there are…

Model Audi A4 Avant 2.0TFSI quattro Sport Engine 1984cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power 185kW @ 5000-6000rpm Max torque 370Nm @ 1600-4500rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Kerb weight 1585kg 0-100km/h 6.0sec (claimed) Economy 6.6L/100km Price $72,900 On sale Now IN A world increasingly consumed by SUV ownership, it’s easy to overlook the virtues of a well-executed wagon. The lower centre of gravity, improved driving dynamics and generally sleeker aesthetics all trump a higher seating position and light-duty off-road ability. A good wagon visually speaks of utility and true day-to-day functionality, rather than suggestions of rugged, once-in-a-blue-moon recreation. Audi’s new B9-generation A4 Avant aims to seduce those not sold on the SUV ‘dream’, and its powers of seduction are strong. The new model is 26mm longer than the outgoing B8 Avant,…

 Model Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio First thing you notice about the Giulia is its sexy, sinister exterior styling Engine 2891cc V6 (90°), dohc, 24v, twin-turbo Power 375kW @ 6500rpm Torque 600Nm @ 2500-5500rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 1580kg 0-100km/h 3.9sec (claimed) Fuel economy 8.2L/100km (EU) Price $135,000 (estimated) On sale February 2017 THIS is the fastest Alfa Romeo production car ever built. It’s also the most important. It might not be the most significant in terms of market relevance or volume, but as far as Alfa Romeo – one of the world’s oldest brands – is concerned, the company’s future depends on the Giulia’s success. This high-performance Quadrifoglio model (it means four-leaf clover, and Alfa has dropped ‘Verde’ from the name) sets a new benchmark for the famed Italian marque.…

Picanto may be the oldest design here but it’s modern in an agreeable Euro/Asian fusion way Holden Spark Daewoo no more! Spark’s dash is as civilised as its predecessor’s was crap, with Teutonic solidity, slick controls, modern multimedia and the best rear seat comfort. LS-spec patterned cloth trim way better than LT’s clammy ‘Sportec’ vinyl pictured here in an LT. Standard Apple CarPlay/Android Auto highlights the fresh fascia, justifying Spark’s price premium. And, unlike before, the interior doesn’t stink. Rear cushion tips forward for a deeper extended cargo area. Kia Picanto Ageing Picanto dash holds up well, with sporty instruments, plenty of practical touches and interesting textures. However, the dated central multimedia unit is distractingly fiddly to operate, while the driver’s seat-height adjuster only tilts at the front, resulting…

THERE are Ford people and Holden people. You’re either a BMW man or a Mercedes man. Lambo or Ferrari. Mazda or Honda. Open-wheeler or sedan. Atmo or turbo. We all have our preferences and often we wear them as proudly as colours on a uniform. Frankly I’ve never bought into the whole tribal loyalty thing, possibly because it’s an indulgence you can’t afford as a journalist – something I have been since I was a teenager, when such bonds are usually formed. I simultaneously fell in love with Monaros and GT-HOs, with Beechey and Moffat, with Geoghegan and Matich, with Sandown and Bathurst. I’ve always loved diversity in cars, and motor racing and music styles, so the luxury of being one-eyed has largely been restricted to footy and a lifelong…

WHAT kind of arsehole would you have to be? Seriously, that’s the question you can’t stop asking when someone slams into your parked car – be it beautiful and brand new like my Infiniti Q50 or even wheezing and decrepit – hears the horrible crunch, shatter and scrape of impact, and simply drives off. No apology, no note, no goddamn human decency. Not since someone egged an Aventador outside my house have I so severely questioned the worth of humanity. I don’t think it was someone in my street who did the deed to the right-rear corner of my brand spankers Infiniti, shattering the brake light and leaving some ugly scratches, mainly because no one in my street drives a big, dick-headed SUV, and looking at the height at which…

I’VE never had a car tell me there’s a ferry on my route before, but that’s exactly what my A3 e-tron tried to do on a recent crossing of Sydney Harbour. It was so convinced I should get out on the water that it even suggested we board a ferry and dock at Circular Quay. It would have been quite the voyage. I refrained from obeying, but it was a reminder of how much computers have to deal with and how easy it is for a simple miscalculation to lead to grander confusion. Fortunately my final month with the e-tron was a lot less dramatic than aquatic adventures to the seabed. Nearing the end of my predominantly electric propulsion I decided to crank up the petrol engine occasionally for more…

Honda has launched its new Civic sedan with an optional ‘Black Pack’ kit aimed at those who like customising their cars. Costing an extra $2998 on the VTi, VTi-S, VTi-L and VTi-LX, or $2298 on the RS, the pack changes many of the chrome and silver components to black. It includes black alloy wheels, grille, side skirts, spoiler and mirror covers. Honda Australia is expecting about 10 percent of buyers of the new Civic sedan to fork out extra for the Black Pack. The new Civic hatchback is due here early next year.…

BACK in the extravagant 1980s, Sydney IT recruitment specialist and exotic car enthusiast Paul Halstead spent most days surrounded by Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and De Tomasos in his fabled car emporium, The Toy Shop. For a short time, The Toy Shop exported Australian-built 351 Cleveland V8s to Italy and assembled Panteras in Australia. Halstead showcased the De Tomaso product by commissioning Queensland-based former McLaren engineer Barry Lock, constructor of Kaditcha racing cars, to build a ground-effect Pantera for GT racing. Just a few years earlier (1983), Alfa Romeo had shown the prototype Alfasud Sprint 6V, based on its four-cylinder liftback. Intended for Group B homologation, it was equipped with Alfa’s 2.5-litre V6 mounted at the rear, in the style of intended rivals like the Renault 5 Turbo. But Alfa’s financial…

Toyota will have hybrid versions of every model by 2029 Next-gen Toyota 86 slated for 2020 Supra shares BMW Z5 platform In showrooms globally by 2018 Batteries good for 50km of pure electric driving TOYOTA will switch to hybrid power for its next-generation 86 sports car and upcoming high-performance Supra revival. The Japanese carmaker is already well advanced in the development of batteries and electric motors for its soon-to-expand sports car range. Insiders tell Wheels the company is confident it can deliver performance gains and meet stricter emissions standards being phased in across the US and Europe by the end of the decade. First out of the blocks will be the new Supra, due in 2018. Previewed as the FT-1 Concept at the 2014 Detroit motor show, and later presented…

Mechanical sound enhancer to beef up induction noise Black highlights pump up the visual aggression Grange nameplate to retire in October Track Edition gets stiffer springs and 6-piston AP brakes GET set for the meanest, loudest HSVs ever produced – and the best sound you’re likely to hear from a Holden for years to come. HSV has announced a trio of limited edition atmo models – R8 SV Black (sedan and ute), Grange SV and R8 Track Edition – that will bring back (briefly) the 6.2-litre Chevrolet-sourced LS3 engines for the Holden performance arm. Between them only 650 will be produced, 50 of which will be the last HSVs to wear the Grange nameplate ahead of the badge’s retirement in the lead-up to the end of manufacturing. All have to…

HYUNDAI is going Volkswagen GTI hunting. The Korean carmaker is working on what could be a hot hatch gamechanger as part of a high-performance play to cement it as a broader competitor to Toyota, Volkswagen, Mazda and Ford. The i30 N, to be revealed later this year, will be the first of a family of higher-performance Hyundai and Genesis models created under the N sub-brand. Recently poached BMW M boss Albert Biermann heads development of all N models. The i30 hatchback – the mechanicals of which were being tested in the Nurburgring 24-hour race as Wheels went to press – will help forge the go-fast pathway for the Korean brand with a track-developed three-door designed to outpunch front-drive rivals. Hyundai says the i30 N will be more hardcore than…

Model BMW M4 GTS Engine 2979cc 6cyl, dohc, 24v, twin-turbo Max power 368kW @ 6250rpm Max torque 600Nm @ 4000-5500rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Weight 1510kg 0-100km/h 3.8sec (claimed) Economy 8.5L/100km (estimated) Price $295,000 On sale Q4 2016 TWO things disappoint about the BMW M4 GTS. The first is the price, which is roughly double that of the regular M4 Coupe. The second is that this track-focused, road-legal special is only 27kg lighter than an M4 with a dual-clutch gearbox (which is standard on the GTS). But no one seems to care, because they’re all sold out. And screeching around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain with a stupid grin breaking out between gurns of concentration, I’m inclined to agree. The GTS is a massive step up from the stock M4. It’s…

Model BMW iPerformance 330e Engine 1998cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo + electric Max power 185kW @ 5000-6500rpm Max torque 420Nm @ 1350-4250rpm Transmission 8-speed automatic Weight 1660kg 0-100km/h 6.1sec (claimed) Economy 2.1L/100km Price $71,900 On sale Now NOT so long ago, hybrid vehicles were the preserve of Hollywood celebs and progressive thinkers. Statements of environmental awareness. Now they’re mainstream, and understated. In fact, the new BMW 330e plug-in hybrid is about as attention-seeking as agoraphobia. Besides a flap on its front-left mudguard and some tiny badges, it could be any 3 Series. Its drivetrain consists of the 320i’s petrol engine and a 65kW/250Nm electric motor. An extra 20Nm has been squeezed from the 2.0-litre turbo four (now producing 290Nm), while total output is 185kW and 420Nm. At $71,900, this plug-in…

Model McLaren Sports Series 570GT Engine 3799cc V8 (90°), dohc, 32v, twin-turbo Max power 419kW @ 7500rpm Max torque 600Nm @ 5050rpm Transmission 7-speed dual-clutch Kerb weight 1350kg 0-100km/h 3.4sec (claimed) Economy 10.6L/100km (EU) Price $390,000 (estimated) On sale Q3 2016 SMALL changes have big effects, and although the idea of a McLaren Sports Series with more luggage space and softened-off suspension doesn’t sound like a radical idea, the new 570GT proves to be more than the sum of its parts. The big change is the arrival of what McLaren calls the “Touring Deck”, a secondary luggage compartment at the back of the car and above the mid-mounted engine, accessed through a side-hinged glass hatchback. It might sound like a relatively minor tweak – the 570S Coupe already has some…

Model Land Rover Defender Heritage 90 Engine 2198cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, TD Max power 90kW @ 3500rpm Max torque 360Nm @ 2000rpm Transmission 6-speed manual Kerb weight 1902kg 0-100km/h 15.8sec (claimed) Economy 10.0L/100km Price $54,990 On sale Sold out THE original Land Rover, inspired by the WWII Jeep, has survived almost an entire human lifetime, from the Cold War to global warming. It was launched in 1948 after Rover engineering director Maurice Wilks drew an outline of a proposed light tractor that could double as an off-roader in the sand and showed it to his brother, Rover boss Spencer Wilks. Today, the go-anywhere 4x4 workhorse is as much a British motoring thoroughbred as the Austin Mini and Jaguar E-Type. Now the Defender is dead, killed off in January by tougher…

Pleasingly thin A-pillars and a lower bonnet line hark back to Honda’s golden years Giving Civic the RS Honda Australia was prepared to continue with ‘Sport’ rather than ‘RS’ for the Civic 1.5 turbo, as those letters are famous for signalling ultimate performance in models such as the Ford Focus RS and Porsche 911 GT3 RS. But the locals were forced to fall in line with global naming policy, which sees RS sit below Si and Type R in the Honda hierarchy. Suspension of belief Key chassis advancements include the implementation subframes for the redesigned MacPherson strut front multi-link rear suspension, with the latter also gaining liquid-filled compliance bushings to stop noise and vibration paths. Improved underbody aero properties also promote quietness. Considering how much the new Civic has…

THE LEVANTE LOOKS FAR BETTER IN SOFT SUNLIGHT THAN UNDER THE HARSH LIGHTS OF THE GENEVA SHOW IF YOU’RE a physicist who has just cracked time travel, hold off on the predictable ideas for a first spin in your new machine. Don’t head backwards to a betting shop, or dial up the future to see how your grandkids turn out. Consider instead the amusement to be had in dispatching the new Levante 20 years into the past and then driving it to a meeting of the Maserati faithful, revealing that the future of the brand would turn out to be a diesel-powered SUV. Mind you, the response might not entirely be spluttering indignation; the brand’s faithful would just as likely be delighted to learn Maserati would make it into the…

AFTER last month’s thrash-and-dash extravaganza, all to the tune of the C63 S’s bent-eight rumble, it was back to humdrum urban duties for the AMG’s penultimate month on fleet. A Mother’s Day blast up the M1 reminded me just how luscious the C63 can be when chewing up distance, but it’s a different beast when traversing the obstacle course of shopping-centre car parks. Experience has shown that relying on the drivetrain’s Comfort mode, and thereby cancelling out first gear, is anything but comfortable for the C63. As the transmission slips and slurs trying to channel enough torque to the rear wheels, the C63 simply hangs about, wondering what’s going on. It’s especially hard-going in Sydney’s tight inner-city parking stations, where steep ascents and brutal speed humps leave the C63 struggling…

SIX hours. Alone. In the Focus. It was my way of farewelling the LZ Focus Sport manual hatch. It was also a chance to get to a level of intimacy that would reveal if, over the almost six months it had been ‘mine’, there were any skeletons lurking in the closet. The 300-odd kilometre drive to Seaspray, a beachside town on 90 Mile Beach, for a lazy weekend was likely the last time I’d have the chance to clock so many miles in the Focus, which has proven utterly reliable the entire time – as you’d expect, yet still worth mentioning. In all that time I hadn’t really sampled the stereo properly. The daily radio chatter in traffic needed to be met by a country road, amped-up rock-fest, with bad…

BMW has expanded its M3/M4 family with the addition of a Competition pack that ups power from 317kW to 331kW. As well as software updates, the Competition models get a beefier sports exhaust system. Acceleration has improved slightly, with the claimed 0-100km/h sprint taking just 4.0 seconds. BMW has also tweaked the suspension on the Competition models, with revised springs, dampers and anti-roll bars. Competition models bring a circa-$5000 premium over the regular M3, M4 Coupe and M4 Convertibles that remain on sale alongside them.…

As with any brand trying to establish itself, Mahindra’s pitch is value. So the XUV500 comes with a diesel engine whereas similarly priced rivals have a petrol. And the car is packed with everything from leather and a 7.0-inch touchscreen to auto wipers and a reversing camera.…