Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2016 i Wheels

A TURBOCHARGED Mazda will be in showrooms in 2016, despite the fact that the company has publicly dismissed turbocharging for its frugal ‘SkyActiv’ petrol engines. While the rest of the global automotive industry reduced engine size, swapping cylinder count for forced induction, Mazda has been steadfast in producing higher capacity, high-compression engines without the need for artificial aspiration. “A turbo and downsizing is a temporary solution to not having the right engine in the car in the first place,” said Robert Davis, Mazda’s senior vice president of R&D back in 2011. Now, Mazda has wheeled out the all-new CX-9, its seven-seat flagship, with a 2.5-litre turbo four-cylinder engine in place of its predecessor’s 3.7-litre 60-degree V6. So why did it choose turbocharging? “SkyActiv is not an engine, a single thing,”…

THE FUTURE of Renaultsport is brighter than its Liquid Yellow war paint, says the man responsible for keeping the high-performance sub-brand a hard-core enthusiasts’ beacon. Of course, Regis Fricotte would say that, but the sporting arm of the French car maker is facing some serious threats: the pressure from Renault to increase volume without tarnishing its reputation, its controversial link to Formula One and rumours of an SUV. Fricotte says that the RS brand can sell more cars without risk of sullying its hard-won reputation. “Currently we’re between 35-40,000 cars [globally],” he says. Does he want to double it? “That’s our ambition, within the next four years.” The path to 80,000 RS sales worldwide includes its cheaper GT Line support models, but may see the two-letter badge attached to the…

ONLY a proper supercar can make you swear involuntarily, and produce actual shock and phwoar at its performance. The new and long-awaited Honda NSX is a proper supercar, then, as we’d dared to hope it would be, despite being powered by a mere V6 (and three other motors, including one for each front wheel). Honda sprung a surprise drive of the new NSX at its Tochigi proving ground before the Tokyo Motor Show and Wheels was the first one out of the pits onto the high-speed bowl. Our first impression was of dazzling, dizzying speed, but the “holy shit” moment came halfway through the second lap when my bowing-even-while-seated co-pilot insisted I slow down to 50km/h on the straight, switch back from manual mode to Drive and then plant it.…

THERE’S something about the new MX-5 that inspires genuine emotion, and we’re not talking the adrenal kind. It’s deeper and warmer than that, almost as if you’re discussing which of your own kids you like most. That’s the level of passion surrounding the MX-5 1.5 versus MX-5 2.0 debate. Of course, it’s ultimately semantics. At its core, the ND MX-5 is a masterful achievement. Its lithe form is underpinned by a balanced, supple and deliciously communicative chassis that celebrates the joys of bodyroll and makes motoring fun at any speed. But how much speed do you need? The 2.0-litre MX-5 is rumoured to be a result of the Yanks kicking up a stink about the concept of having only 1.5 litres. It’s a meatier engine than the 1.5, thanks to…

FEW cars have experimented with as many engine configurations in such a short lifespan as the entry-level version of Lexus’s top seller, the IS. The original IS200 mimicked the dominant BMW 3 Series of the day with an in-line six-cylinder layout, before shifting to a V6 configuration for the IS250. Now the IS200t has slipped into line with its contemporary rivals with a 2.0-litre turbo four-pot. The 200t is the usual boosted deal: more power and torque with an 18 percent fuel-economy improvement, thanks in part to auto stop-start. The IS200t is now competitive at 7.5L/100km. The raw numbers have the power up to 180kW and torque at a stout 350Nm. Throw in an extra couple of ratios to the auto – eight in total – and it translates into…

READ ALL THE LATEST REVIEWS WHEELSMAG.COM.AU Hyundai Santa Fe Beware the enemy within. After a raft of updates, does this well-equipped, pragmatic seven-seater have the goods to fend off the smaller Tucson? WheelsMag.com.au/MY16HyundaiSantaFe Toyota Mirai A vision of the future that Australia will have no part in – yet. However, the Mirai’s outlandish styling ensures it isn’t merely an alternative fuel source emitting water vapour. WheelsMag.com.au/ToyotaMirai Discovery Sport Si4 SE Land Rover’s Freelander replacement, the Discovery Sport, is already a hit. And the addition of turbo-petrol power won’t hurt, despite being available in just one variant. WheelsMag.com.au/DiscoverySportSi4 Honda Clarity Fuel Cell A pioneer of automotive hydrogen fuel-cell tech, Honda gains further Clarity with this second-gen variant. More practical with four doors, it’s still not coming to Australia. WheelsMag.com.au/HondaClarity Stay regular…

A HUGE field of stellar cars, eight experienced judges, seven exciting days and thousands of high octane kilometres... This is the 2016 Wheels Car of the Year. Now in its 53rd year, the world’s longest-running motoring award for excellence is upping the ante. This year, our exclusive award will become more inclusive. This year COTY has two complementary goals. First, and always foremost, is to crown the Wheels Car of the Year. Secondly, we’re determined to make COTY the de facto Wheels road-test annual. We’re cramming more great cars launched in the past 12 months into COTY. We’ll make our eight expert judges work harder than ever before. And we’ll cover the highs and lows in more detail, and across more publishing platforms. We’ve even convinced our publisher to add…

HOLDEN is nervous. What could possibly come out of a lunch dedicated to a bunch of ex-Holden blokes re-running all those old Commodore movies on the insides of their eyelids and telling stories that should not be told, while also exploring the future of the company post-2017, when ‘Australia’s Own’ Commodore dies? What indeed? Anxious? In Holden’s shoes, I would be too. This lunch, months in the planning, involves five senior but now retired Holden operatives, plus current managing director Mark Bernhard and Mike Simcoe, design vice-president of GM International and father of the VE Commodore. Sean Poppitt, once a Wheels staffer and now Holden’s director of communications, is there to wave the big stick if things go too far. As they inevitably will. My task is to prevent lunch…

INAN age where old ideas are so readily discarded for new, there’s a peculiar dignity in settling on something authentic and constantly refining it. Very often, these are the cars, clothes, watches – whatever – that hold our affection. Herbert James Munro took that affection to extremes. In 1920 the 21-year-old farmer’s son from Invercargill, New Zealand, bought a new 600cc Indian Scout and began racing it. Munro married in 1925, a union that would produce four children, but he already had his life partner. Over the next five decades, he would race, tune and rebuild his motorcycle, until it was the world’s fastest Indian. Living alone in a breeze-block shed with his bikes (the Indian later joined by a 1936 Velocette 500cc single), the gruff, eccentric Munro was a…

BRUCE GARLAND is enjoying his second life. His first ‘ended’ when he slammed his Isuzu ute off a 10-metre dune in Chile during the 2011 Dakar Rally, which saw him break his back and suffer a heart attack at the wheel. Months of recuperation only resulted in another heart attack and a quintuple bypass operation. “At first, I didn’t think I was getting out of the hospital,” he grins. “Then I realised that they might just fix me up, so when they had to take a vein out of one of my legs to bypass part of my heart, I told them to take it out of my left leg because I need the right for driving.” Now the five-time Dakar veteran and legend of Aussie desert racing is back…

PEOPLE will tell you that marriage is a blissful union and that it’s all about sharing life’s best moments with someone, but really it’s not; it’s about the arguments. Without the frequent fights and ding-dong disputes, marriage would feel even longer than it does, and your choice of car is as good a reason as any to go at it. I chose this quirkily expensive and basically unjustifiable Citroen C4 Picasso partly because I have an almost inexplicable love for it (although I prefer the diesel-engined and more practical Grand Picasso), though I fully intended to hide this slightly embarrassing admission behind the coverall excuse that a lot of men no doubt use: “I got it for the wife.” I was utterly convinced she would love everything about it and…

THERE were times when I had the A3 cabrio long-termer earlier this year that I could have cheerfully set it on fire, such as when attempting a smooth throttle application while reverse parking. And Audi Australia ended up letting me have that one for twice as long as initially planned. Conversely, I’d have happily hung onto the replacement sedan indefinitely. But then, as Murphy’s Law would have it, the call came to return it bang-on three months after picking it up. The next day, ideally, because its registration was due. Of course, I didn’t know this because we don’t have rego window labels any more. However – with due respect to the busy team that puts together my favourite mag – as a Wheels contributor I have experience in handling…

SUV plans stall Alfa Giulia We’ve seen the Alfa Giulia being teased for some time now, but the production variant is still around a year away. Why so long? An Alfa Romeo insider claims that the Giulia is set to be followed by an SUV spun off the same platform, and development work on the sedan has been tapered off to allocate more resources for the SUV, pictured here in mule form, to catch up. Alfa views an SUVs as a cash cow it cannot overlook, especially in the two markets it’s targeting for growth: China and the US. The delay will also push back the arrival of the BMW M3-baiting QV. Reborn S2000 locked in A senior Honda designer let slip to us that a replacement for the much-loved…

IN 2016 the Alpine brand will return after more than two decades with a two-door, lightweight Porsche Cayman rival. So how can Renault-Nissan manage two performance arms without inbreeding? “I was a creator of Renaultsport, but it’s not the same customer as a Clio RS,” says Alpine CEO, Bernard Ollivier. “A Clio RS is quite heavy, with four seats; you can take your children to school; you can go to the track on the weekend. An Alpine is not that. An Alpine is a pleasure on a daily basis, but not to take your children to school; it’s a specific use pleasure.” That rules out suggestions of a crossbred Renaultsport Alpine. “They are different brands – different customers, different positioning,” Fricotte says. “There shouldn’t be any confusion when the Alpine…

FEBRUARY-APRIL 2016 Audi A4 and R8; Bentley Bentayga; Citroen C4 Cactus; Ford Focus RS; Holden Spark; Hyundai Elantra; Infiniti Q70; Jaguar XF; Kia Cerato facelift; Lexus GS-F; Mercedes-Benz GLS; Peugeot 308 GTi; Porsche 911 Carrera Jaguar XF Jaguar has expanded the XE look for its new-generation XF executive sedan, and has worked hard on polishing its dynamics to give the German luxury establishment a shake-up. It rides on a slightly stretched wheelbase, but is shorter than the eight-year-old car it nudges out of the showroom. JLR’s all-new 2.0-litre Ingenium turbo-diesel four debuts under XF’s bonnet, bringing increased performance and much greater refinement than the old 2.2D. MAY-JULY 2016 BMW 330e and X5 xDrive40e; Ferrari F12 Berlinetta M; Honda Civic sedan; Infiniti Q30; Jaguar F-Pace; Lamborghini Urus; Maserati Alfieri; Mazda CX-9;…

THE Kia Optima set the design trend for the car maker, which spruiks ‘The Power to Surprise’ as its slogan. Yet for a car that set the look and characterised the confidence, verve and difference of the Korean brand, the second-gen Optima plays an awfully straight bat in terms of its looks. There’s hardly any resemblance to the stunning ‘Sportspace’ concept shown at Geneva 2015. It’s a good thing, then, that it sits on a new platform, offers more space and is a far more honed execution than its predecessor. There are just two trim levels. The $33,490 Optima Si is the price leader, aimed primarily at fleets and pragmatists. The step up to the Optima GT we’re driving here is an eyebrow-raising $10K. At $43,990, it’s the most expensive…

BUILD it and they will come. Along with the classic Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams, 1989 gave us the first Liberty, a quality mid-sizer that culminated with the sleek Mk4 of 2003, before supersized Yanks demanded a more bloated and blunter version that tarnished Liberty’s once-strong image. Not surprisingly, the latter failed to resonate with Japanese consumers, prompting the launch of a smaller, lighter, Impreza/ WRX-based Levorg wagon. Yes, it spells ‘grovel’ backwards, but that hasn’t stopped a sales stampede in Japan, and the Aussie distributors are counting on a repeat performance when two versions arrive – base and Premium – in June starting around $45K. Now, Subaru hates us calling Levorg a WRX wagon, even though most panels up to the B-pillar are shared, as are the platform…

SKODA’S nailing it with the Octavia RS. The Czech brand’s performance hero is such a popular cocktail of performance, value and practicality that it’s had to boost production to meet demand. And customers are still willing to wait more than six months for their car to arrive. Imagine how our mouths watered, then, when news of this even faster RS 230 version reached our ears. Like the regular RS, strip away the 230’s body and it has the same basic bones as a Volkswagen Golf GTI. It’s a bigger car, though, thanks to a 60mm longer wheelbase and around 100kg of extra heft brought by its chunkier, and more practical, liftback-sedan or wagon bodystyles. What the 230 adds over the regular RS is a 7kW power hike for its strong,…

PROPERLY compact SUVs: Are they the faddish selfie-sticks and man-buns of the car world, or the future of the small car? Leader of the pack for design and dynamics is the in-demand CX-3, launched to widespread acclaim (and a Wheels comparo victory) earlier this year, so we’re fortunate to snaffle one for a few months to find out what it’s like to live with. Choice is another area where the Japanese-built, Mazda 2-based, crossover shines, pummelling the competition by offering the option of petrol or diesel, front- or all-wheel drive, and manual or auto. We absolutely applaud Mazda for that. Given that going AWD brings the preferred De Dion rear axle set-up (rather than the torsion beam arrangement of front-drivers) and that the $30,990 sTouring version (as supplied) is aimed…

I’M LOATH to admit that some slightly colourful adjectives have been slung at the Qashqai in its last few weeks. Trust me, I don’t feel good about it. The three-month ownership experience of this top-spec petrol Ti model has been largely very positive, so I do feel a bit harsh and churlish after I’ve muttered a few choice expletives in its general direction. A large part of the issue is the main thoroughfare between my place on Sydney’s northern beaches and the city. It’s possibly one of the most annoying roads in existence since the driveway to Kyle Sandiland’s place was completed, and there’s no escaping its clutches. It’s built from concrete slabs joined by expansion gaps, most of which have shifted and subsided over the years. It takes any…

WHAT was the most famous turbocharged car launched in 1982? Duh! The Knight Industries Two Thousand, of course. KITT, the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that starred in Knight Rider, was a forced-induction fake, but it probably marked the year in which turbocharging left the realms of European exotics and filtered down to more affordable machines. Mitsubishi was early to the force-feeding party with its four-cylinder ‘Sirius’ engine. It developed a turbocharged version of the 1.8-litre 4G62 for the rally-destined Lancer EX1800 in 1980, and soon followed with the turbocharged 2.0-litre 4G63. The rear-drive Lancer EX2000’s econobox body hardly sizzled with sex appeal. As Mitsubishi prepared to emerge from part-owner Chrysler’s shadow in the US, it was only too aware of what the Nissan Z, Toyota Supra and Mazda RX-7 coupes…

VAL Gorecki admits that he’s briefly bemused when he’s at work and a complete stranger tells him to get a life. “I always pause and think, ‘But I’ve got a life. I’ve got a great life’. The other one is, ‘Get a real job’. I can’t actually imagine another job that’s so much in contact with what’s going on in my city.” Gorecki, 61, is an authorised parking officer with the City of Melbourne. Yep, a parking cop. He joined the force four years ago and clearly remembers his elderly mother’s words. “She said, in her lovely Polish accent, ‘Oh my God, you’re going to be one of the most hated people in the world!’” He’d never seen it that way. “I’m passionate about the city and I think we’re…

Fiat 124’s horizontal rear lamps are an homage to the ’66 version; bonnet “power domes” throw forward to 2016 Nine speakers, including two in the headrests, add to the opera under the bonnet 119kW ‘MultiAir’ turbo four powers the rears for the first time. Packs more punch than the MX-5, too IS THIS the Mazda MX-5 you’ve always wanted? The 2016 Fiat 124 Spider has been revealed at the 2015 LA motorshow as the start of Fiat’s renaissance, and comes with a more powerful turbocharged engine and Italian dressing inspired by its classic 1960s namesake. The highly anticipated soft-top convertible, which is based on the Mazda MX-5 and built in the same Hiroshima factory, was launched in the prime convertible market at the LA motor show. That shark nose, undulating…

TWENTY-FIFTEEN was a huge year for new cars. As Wheels goes to press with a month still to play, our Aussie hunger for new metal is on target to top 1.15 million. But we reckon 2016 will be bigger again thanks to low interest rates, an insatiable hunger for SUVs and deals indicative of brands desperate to protect their patch. Holden and Ford will be winners in 2016, stepping up to third and fifth respectively on the sales charts. For the former, though, it still won’t be enough to surpass the unexpected hard charger, Mazda. And no brand will come close to unseating the dominance of Toyota. But not all car companies will share in the 2016 spoils. There are tough times ahead for Hyundai, while Mitsubishi and Nissan won’t…

SELF-DRIVING HACK I find myself laughing at the recent news of self-driving cars being trialled in South Australia. The thought of self-driving cars to me is an absolute joke, and running over a fake kangaroo in the trial run in SA is the least of the developers’ worries. The biggest issue with self-driving cars, in my opinion, is that hackers will cause absolute havoc on our roads. They have already shown that they can access car controls through the infotainment system. This issue wouldn’t be as big of a problem if the cars only used an array of sensors to move about. However, I’ve read reports that self-driving vehicles will be connected to each other through local wireless networks to avoid collisions and such. This will just make it easier…

JUST about every car company claims to have a ‘smart’ key of some kind, but they’re all going to look like fob slobs next to the iPhone-esque Display Key offered with the new 7 Series. Fitted with a lushly graphical touchscreen, this next-gen gadget can tell you remotely how much range you have left, ‘precondition’ your vehicle before you get to it on a hot day, remote start and, once BMW gets around some tricky local regulations, will even be used to park your cruiser-sized car remotely in tight spaces. And, most importantly of all, it will be quite simply the coolest car key to drop on a bar, or a conference table – no contest. This is merely the smallest of the leaps forward the new Seven makes, alongside…

IT TAKES just four laps of Spain’s daunting Circuito Ascari to realise that Mercedes-Benz has created something special with the AMG C63 S Coupe, a car with the sort of dynamic depth once the preserve of cars from its arch-rival, BMW’s M Division. Of course, AMGs have always been fast, but they haven’t always been the sharpest scalpel in the surgical drawer. Yet through the tiller, pants and pedals, this new C63 coupe feels as if it’s been honed by a master swordsmith. Fortunately, it still has all the brawn and ballsy bodacious-ness we’ve come to expect from AMG’s Affalterbach bunker, but those staples are now underpinned by hitherto unseen levels of technical sophistication. Beneath the flared front and rear guards are tracks that have been widened by 20mm and…

THE car industry is deeply concerned by the fact that young people aren’t buying their wares, or even getting their licences, in the numbers they used to, but perhaps this is because they’re not building enough cars like the Honda S660. What 17-year-old, of either sex, wouldn’t lust after a car as cool and fun as this? The S660 roadster, particularly with the short-shifting, super-slick six-speed manual gearbox, is a car that reminds us of how great Hondas used to be, before someone in charge nodded off at the wheel and woke up having lame Earth Dreams. Sadly, this two-door (coin) pocket rocket is a Japan-only kei car, built for their domestic market as a replacement for the similarly cute Honda Beat and powered by an improved version of the…

It’s where the engine is, not what the engine is, that makes the 911 what it is. So while 2016’s Carrera and Carrera S will have a boosted boxer six, the mostly new 3.0-litre twin-turbo engine doesn’t alter the fundamentals of the driving experience one little bit. That’s because, as ever, the engine is aft of the rear axle. The consequently butt-biased weight distribution accounts for the 911’s unmistakable dynamic flavour; the twerky way it rides a road’s heaves and dips, and its clenching rear-end grip accelerating out of slow corners, for example. If anything, the 2016 Carrera and Carrera S models are even more 911-ish than the current naturally aspirated 3.4- and 3.8-litre models they will replace in March. Though capacity is reduced,…

BOATS AND cars usually don’t mix. When describing how a car handles, if you’re painting the picture using any references to water or nautical pursuits, there’s a strong chance that said vehicle is a wallowing, nauseating pile of sick. And therefore not suited to Tasmania’s magnificent roads. If you’re from mainland Australia, however, and want to traverse the Apple Isle in something other than a rented Camry, it’s across Bass Strait you’ll go by the only means possible, on board the ‘new’ Spirit of Tasmania, which apparently isn’t a boat at all. It’s a ship. A bloody huge one that also transports cars. When a recent launch invite mentioned ‘new Audi RS3 Sportback’ and ‘Tasmania’ in the same sentence, our ears swivelled like K-9’s, provoking the obvious question: “Any chance…

THE Munro Special remains the world’s fastest Indian, thanks to the record set by its constructor/rider almost half a century ago. But which is the real Munro Special? In September 1977, Norman and Neville Hayes purchased Munro’s Indian, his Velocette and most of his other motorcycling paraphernalia. Today, two “Munro Indians” are displayed at the E. Hayes hardware store – one of them clearly identified as the replica built for the 2005 film. The other, which has no bodywork, is sometimes identified as the genuine Munro Special Indian. However, the famous streamliner bike that Munro raced at Bonneville actually resides in California. On Munro’s 1962 trip he befriended the Pierce family, owners of an Indian motorcycle dealership in Los Angeles. Rather than ship his streamliner back and forth, Munro left…

THE supposedly Chinese curse ‘May you live in interesting times’ is probably not Chinese at all, but from my spot in the editor’s chair of Street Machine magazine it has a certain ring to it. SM has, for 35 years, celebrated big Aussie rear-drive cars, but that era is about to end. As a magazine, we’ll be fine, but what the heck are right-thinking folks (that is, those who enjoy big cars, with large donks and rear-drive) going to do for daily transport when the ‘proper’ Commodore and Falcon are no more? One obvious answer is the Chrysler 300. It will be too American for some, but has the size, grunt and heritage. And it turns out that a less-obvious alternative has been sitting in the car park at work…

SEVEN months and 10,737km in, it’s au revoir Melbourne and bonjour Sydney for our French friend, summoned northwards for road-test editor Ponchard to see out its final few weeks with us in the Emerald City. Actually, make that 16,000km and nine months later because Peugeot Australia delivered the wrong car initially, meaning we’ve in fact run two 308s consecutively. Such extended exposure has naturally revealed blemishes: The touchscreen layout with separate menus for the audio and climate systems isn’t as intuitive as having actual switches; the cruise control struggles to maintain the set speed on inclines; not every button on the steering wheel is illuminated; the finish in the driver’s footwell area isn’t ship-shape; and are the so-called rain gutters porous? Speeding fines and wet hair aside, these are minor…

1 TOYOTA 86 2600 2012 COTY winner is still a favourite on-road, thanks to entertaining rear-drive dynamics. Subaru sells one-fifth as many of the near-identical BRZ. 2 HYUNDAI VELOSTER 2435 Base 1.6 is hardly sporty, but it has the looks to classify it as a sports car. Turbo adds more spark while maintaining the innovative three-and-a-half door body. 3 BMW 4 SERIES COUPE/CONV. 1667 Fresh name hasn’t deterred buyers from what used to be known as the 3 Series Coupe/Convertible. Turbocharged four-pots suit rear-drive dynamics, too. 4 BMW 2 SERIES COUPE/CONV. 1592 Last of the rear-drive 2s are also proving popular ahead of a shift to front-wheel drive. Get one while you can. 5 MERCEDESBENZ E-CLASS COUPE/CONV. 1401 Spacious by two-door standards and with plenty of grace, especially from the…