Australian New Car Buyer

In the previous issue of the magazine, I suggested that 2022 might not be a great year to buy a new car or SUV, because Covid-related production issues have led to a shortage of new vehicles, at the same time as demand from buyers is very strong, so prices are high and waiting times for many models are lengthy --up to a year in some cases. Understand this. A car dealer is not your friend. He or she is out to extract the maximum amount of money from you for whatever car you choose, so in this short supply/high demand market dealers are in no mood to haggle and nearly all buyers are paying full freight. It’s obvious looking at dealer ads on carsales.com.au that some dealers are actually charging well…

JOSHUA DOWLING Joshua Dowling is the National Motoring Editor at drive.com.au and a World Car of the Year judge. Joshua is renowned for his consumer-first approach and you can also read his regular rants on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling. In this issue, he tests the BMW iX, Lexus NX and Polestar 2. JOHN CAREY John is a contributor to Wheels magazine where he is a Car of the Year judge, and publications in the USA and UK. He lives in Bergamo, Italy, and covers new model launches for us from Europe. Inthisissuehe tests the Ferrari 296 GTB. BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS Byron is a car tragic. He claims that a dream as a toddler of driving an Austin A35 sealed his fate. Byron writes for goauto.com.au and Wheels, where he is a judge on Car of the Year. He particularly…

In our tests on the following pages and in the Showroom, we have used symbols to give you a quick indication of the strengths of each car, and star ratings to indicate in more detail how each car stacks up in its class. Here’s what the symbols and stars mean: Our piggybank indicates a car that we think represents good value for money against the others in its class. It may not necessarily be the cheapest, but taking into account factors like standard equipment, safety, the way it drives, resale values and quality, it shapes up as a good deal. A capital S indicates a car that scores five stars out of five for occupant protection in ANCAP crash tests and has stability control plus six airbags as standard or as reasonably…

In Australian New Car Buyer, we include trade-in values for every model in our Showroom section. These are provided to us by Redbook, Australia’s leading authority on used car values. Each model we test includes three- and five-year retained values, expressed as a percentage. These are based on what the wholesale price — ie, the price that a dealer would pay for the car — would be for a car in average condition with average kilometres for its age. You’ll find Redbook’s three- and five-year retained values in the Spex box. Typically, cars with the best retained values show 55%-60% after three years, and 40-something percent after five years. The cars nobody wants are worth that after three years, and 20-something percent after five. When you’re selling your car privately, trading it in…

Alfa Romeo’s Giulia is aggressively priced and generously equipped. It deserves more attention against its German rivals. Start money is $63,950 for the 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbopetrol Giulia Sport, with 147kW of power and an eight-speed automatic, in a rear-wheel drive layout. Giulia Veloce, at $71,450, looks like the value/performance/equipment sweet spot in the Giulia line-up. It gets a 206kW version of the 2.0-litre turbopetrol engine, plus premium performance hardware including adjustable suspension, a limited slip rear differential and exquisite traditional Alfa five-hole 19-inch alloy wheels. Alfa also needs to make a heroic, forceful statement of intent with the Giulia, and that it certainly does with the Quadrifoglio, priced at $138,950. Up against Audi’s RS5, BMW’s M3 and the Mercedes AMG C 63 S, the Quadrifoglio (or four-leaf clover, Alfa’s historic racing symbol) boasts suitably ballistic…

Alfa Romeo’s first-ever SUV can be had with a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine, producing 147kW and 330Nm, or a performance chipped version with 206kW/400Nm, both with an eight-speed auto and all-wheel drive. The range kicks off at $64,950; the Sport is $69,950 and the Veloce, with the 206kW engine, is $78,950. The headline-stealing act here is the thumping 2.9-litre bi-turbo petrol V6 that lives exclusively in the performance-focused Quadrifoglio (or Q for short) model. It’s priced at $146,950. The same engine that powers the brand’s fire-breathing Giulia QV, the V6 churns out 375kW and a whopping 600Nm — enough to see 100km/h whip by the windows in just 3.8 seconds. We’re testing the Veloce. It overdelivers on performance and luxe at this price compared with German rivals. Claimed 0-100km/h is 5.7 seconds, so it won’t…