Содержание выпуска: November 2020 — Wheels

SO HSV AS we knew it is no more, and instead selected vehicles from the GM empire will come Down Under via General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV). The cars we know are locked in for 2021 are the C8 Corvette plus the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 2500. Beyond, that, though, the senior executives at GMSV are not saying. So let’s strap on the speculator goggles, not to think too hard about the business cases, and have a comb through the GM catalogue to see what GMSV could, theoretically, get its hands on. 1. CHEVROLET TAHOE The all-new fift h-gen Tahoe retains a body-on-frame construction, (as opposed to monocoque) which makes it well-suited to owners towing vans or boats. With the Holden Trailblazer set to bite the dust, this could serve…

But please, keep it tight (no more than 200 words) and do include your suburb if via email: wheels@wheelsmag.com.au You can also have your say on Facebook (search for Wheels Australia), Instagram or Twitter LETTER OF THE MONTH ‘Lack of knobs on the new model is a deal breaker’ KNOBS – THE PLOT TWIST A RECENT EXPERIENCE with a loan car – a new version of the car I currently own – was revealing. Nice car; peppier engine than our own; slick trim. But in place of the dials and knobs for temp, fan and many other functions was a large tablet screen located just above the mid-dash HVAC vents, with three separate touch-screen menu pages. As well as being oblique to the driver’s view, it was fiddly and non-intuitive.…

Model Audi e-tron 50 SUV Motors dual (front + rear axle) Max power 300kW (boost mode) Battery 71kWh lithium ion Torque 664Nm Transmission single-speed reduction Weight 2490kg 0-100km/h 6.7sec (claimed, boost mode) Economy 28.5kW/100km (on test) Price $137,700 On sale Now EXACTLY TWO YEARS to the day after Audi launched its first massproduced EV in a hall crammed with 2000 guests in San Francisco, the e-tron has arrived in Australia. And it’s priced $200 less than the COTY-winning Mercedes-Benz EQC… Such was the delay, Audi has launched both SUV and Sportback bodystyles at the same time, starting at $137,700. Both use a pair of electric motors, with the front providing 125kW and the rear, 140kW. Both units also contain a single-speed transmission and two-stage diff. It equates to 265kW and…

MORE POWER, MORE torque, greater traction, better skids, and, crucially, increased choice. They’re the headline take-outs for the forthcoming M3 sedan and M4 Coupe, both due to launch simultaneously in the first quarter of 2021. Are we excited? Just a bit. So please, let’s avoid any disparaging comments about that oversize grille treatment; agree there will be zero speculation as to what a couple of kidneys that size would fetch on the dark web. Instead, we’ll focus on that fact that this pair promise to be the most heavily developed performance variants of donor 3/4 Series in the history of the nameplate(s). And choice? Well, welcome to the broadest range of variants ever offered to Aussie buyers. At launch, customers will be able to choose from high-output Competition-badged variants of…

THE TRAIL IS DETERIORATING as it descends; cracks in the clay base creating fissures wide enough to swallow a wheel, while the rocks have quickly scaled up from softball-sized to bread loaves. Ahead of me, the new Isuzu D-Max picks its path carefully, its shiny flanks now dulling under a first coating of dust. The trail never gets gnarly enough to require low-range, but flexes just enough attitude to keep SUVs out as it levels off on the valley floor of the Tarlo River National Park in the NSW southern tablelands, and leads us to a causeway across the gentle flow of the river itself. It occurs to me that if we perhaps had a couple of mountain bikes in the trays and a few kids grubbing up the rear…

TOYOTA SUPRA GT Price as tested: $85,036 This month: 397km @ 9.1L/100km I HAVE AN odd relationship with the Toyota Supra. I’m a massive fan of the JDM icon, but the first time I drove one it bit me, hard. You see, as a uni student I had a mate, Keeley, who was renowned for owning powerful modified cars – like a MkIV Supra aerotop that deployed nearly 600kW to tortured rear tyres. Keeley threw me the keys to his pride and joy at a local track cruise as a birthday gift. But, foolishly, on my ‘warm up’ lap I planted the throttle only to experience an aeon of turbo lag. When the volleyballsized turbo finally did spool up, the tyres were as hapless as a watermelon hit by an…

NISSAN JUKE TI Price as tested: $26,385 This month: 156km @ 9.6L/100km APIFFLING 156KM. That’s my total for this month of Stage 4 lockdown here in Melbourne. The Juke genuinely hasn’t strayed beyond a five kilometre radius of my home, despite the temptation of deserted roads and nor has it broken curfew. That paltry figure has come about schlepping backwards and forwards to the shops, occasionally taking the back road to grab the groceries just so I don’t forget what going round a corner feels like. Driving briskly for short distances is never a recipe for stellar fuel consumption and the figure has tiptoed up to close to double digits this month. These sorts of journeys only throw into focus the Juke’s staccato throttle pedal feel upon cold starts. Nevertheless,…

IN A YEAR OF unexpected headlines, perhaps the most surprising is ‘Toyota hypercar nears production’. Yep, Australia’s favourite car brand will soon have a model capable of shaming McLarens at your next track day. Dubbed the GR Super Sport, what you see above is a pre-production version of Toyota’s planned hypercar. Which begs the question, why is a brand mostly associated with practicality and affordability building a multimillion dollar bespoke vehicle for the world’s ultra-wealthy? It all has to do with Toyota’s growing GR road car sub-brand, and a little race in France. Short for Gazoo Racing, the same name of Toyota’s factory racing efforts, GR is the Japanese giant’s answer to the likes of BMW M Division and Mercedes-AMG, and the GR Super Sport is to be its new…

THE AUTO INDUSTRY is set to be given an almighty shake-up as Rimac (the Croatian electric vehicle startup) looks set to buy Bugatti – one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious sports car brands. How could this happen? The EV startup wasn’t even in diapers when Bugatti’s Veyron was obliterating production-car speed records At face value, it seems unimaginable that a car company that wasn’t even in diapers when the Veyron was busy obliterating production-car records could be in a position to acquire a marque with such a wealth of heritage. And yet, both the flogging of Bugatti, and its acquisition by an EV authority make perfect sense. Bugatti’s parent company Volkswagen is fast-tracking its own electrification and carbon-reduction strategy in the wake of Dieselgate, but the hypercar manufacturer’s…

INVENTING NEW AND increasingly narrow automotive niches within niches has been raised to a high art form, but in the case of Mercedes-Benz, the path back to a more rationalised model lineup has already started in the face of budget cuts. However, there is a bodystyle that has escaped the cull, and which has actually thrived as an outlier. The Merc GLE Coupe was always a definite for a second generation, thanks to its ability to attract a ‘particular type of buyer’. Merc’s words; not mine. Based on the more affordable GLE SUV, the GLE Coupe is not merely a C-pillar-back restyling job. There’s a revised, more steeply raked windscreen that leads into a new roof skin, while the whole shooting match is slightly bigger than the previous generation GLE…

Ford Ranger 1. SLOT MACHINE Ranger shows its age with smaller, lower resolution screen and a slot for those quaint old things called CDs. But good old-fashioned volume knob way superior to D Max’s button-fest 2. LEND US A TENNER There are 10 ratios in Ranger’s auto, and it occasionally gets confused as to which one is optimum for road speed and gradient. In urban driving, though, it’s smooth and quick shifting 3. DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR There’s now an app for Wildtrak called FordPass Connect that will help you locate it if you have a senior moment in a crowded carpark, as well as start it remotely, and provide ‘health alerts’ Isuzu D-Max 1. SCREEN & SHOUT D-Max’s larger, hi-res screen wins the multimedia battle, but its submenus aren’t…

one THE BRAKES AND TYRES We love the beefy six-piston brake calipers of the Z Proto, however these will likely make way for smaller units on the production car. Likewise the aggressive Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres (255/40 at the front, 285/35 out back) could also be swapped for less-focused rubber. two THE GEARBOX A six-speed manual transmission for the Z Proto is refreshing in an era of ultra-quick automatics. However, Nissan will need to have a self-shifting unit ready to go at launch. Z car buyers opt for the three pedal layout more than most (35 percent), but no auto option would be an own-goal. three THE NAME There remains debate around what the production car will be called. Previous Z cars have been numbered to reflect engine displacement, where…

Alpine A110s 1. SPACE RACE A110 interior is a packaging achievement; fairly roomy. Does lack minor storage, with no glovebox or door bins, only a small compartment in the centre console. Feels premium enough. 2. SHIFT BLISS Metal paddles attach to the column rather than steering wheel – not ideal if you ask us, but have an okay-feeling action and also there’s no thinking about how to pluck third mid-drift. In the wet, maybe… 3. HOT SEAT Snug fixed-back buckets one of the highlights of the Alpine’s interior, offering incredible support, decent comfort and looking the business, if lacking a little adjustment. BMW M2 CS 1. INNER VIBE M2 interior is starting to date a little, and feels a bit cheap in places for a $140K car… but works well…

HYUNDAI VENUE ELITE Price as tested: $26,385 This month: 145km @ 12.6L/100km IT’S HARD TO GAUGE which Dan has been more significant in steering Victoria through the pandemic – Dan Andrews or Dan Murphy’s. Melbourne is now past the halfway point of the strict Stage 4 restrictions that have continuously morphed. These laws now allow residents to drive within a five kilometre radius of their home for exercise. Since the change kicked in, I took the opportunity to get out with the family in the Venue to see how it would manage fully loaded. The small Hyundai does well to give the impression of space in its interior. There’s plenty of head room, including in the second row, but your knee caps can quickly reveal that to be small comfort.…

LEXUS RC F Price as tested: $165,797 This month: 398km @ 15.9L/100km THE GOD OF horsepower may be the deity to which us performance enthusiasts kneel, but I still reckon there’s plenty to be said for getting on board with the demons of late braking. Actually, given how little it takes in a high-performance car to achieve licence-losing velocity, you could mount a case that it’s actually more satisfying and less anti-social to be consistently late, hard and accurate on the anchors when having a bit of crack than it is to be going wide-open throttle at every opportunity. And when the braking package is anything like the optional set-up fitted to this RC F, it’s pretty much a professional obligation to take full advantage of the massive stopping power…

DUE NOV SKODA KAMIQ Australia’s bulging small SUV market is about to have a new contender in the Kamiq. The range will start at $26,990 plus on-roads, making it slightly more expensive than some rivals, but it comes rammed with kit, and is built on the same MQB-AO platform as the Volkswagen T-Cross. DUE NOV ALFA ROMEO STELVIO & GIULIA Q Exterior styling tweaks, new colours, an updated infotainment screen and extra safety kit headline the changes for Alfa’s ball-tearing Stelvio and Giulia Q variants. Importantly, the engine (one of the best in class) remains unchanged and still pumps out 375kW and 600Nm. DUE NOV MERCEDES-BENZ E-CLASS While softening the edges of its E-Class sedan, Merc has made some subtle but important updates, adding more active safety equipment, fresh engines,…

IF THE Stinger sports sedan launched in 2017 was a pivotal car for Kia, then this, the all-new fourth-generation Sorento, is the Koreans’ true landmark. From its chiselled, masculine exterior design, to the premium, tech-driven feel of the cabin, this is an SUV that instantly feels like the beginning of a new chapter. Our drive was of the top-spec GT Line, crowning an eight-strong range and powering all four wheels via a new iteration of the company’s 2.2-litre diesel hooked to a new eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, so that will be the focus here. But the four spec levels are also offered with a 3.5-litre petrol V6 (200kW/332Nm) driving the front wheels. The petrol variants arrive in a month or so, with the base petrol S model yours for $46,990 driveaway…

THERE IS A LONG shadow cast from the 21st level of Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. The shadow has a vast reach, touching everything associated with the manufacturer since the turn of the millennium. Cast not by a physical object, this shadow belongs to the ghost of Le Cost Killer – Carlos Ghosn. The disgraced, exiled, and now international fugitive former leader of Nissan earned a reputation outside the company for his cut-throat leadership, and was praised for saving the Japanese manufacturer from the brink of financial ruin. Internally, however, plans of a daring corporate coup to dethrone the polarising Ghosn had been put into motion more than a year before handcuffs were slapped onto the Lebanese-born CEO’s wrists. Now, Nissan is hoping to break free of the two-decade legacy…

IT’S GOOD TO be back. Twist the vaguely car-shaped key in the Cayman’s ignition and not four but six cylinders at the small of your back bark and settle into a reassuringly rattly idle. At low revs some of the all-time great Porsches sound like a cutlery drawer being emptied into a distant washing machine, and the GTS continues that theme. It’s not noisy or unpleasant but it is mechanical, gritty. It bodes well for what’s to come. A quick recap: until this car came along, the only currentgeneration Porsche Cayman you could buy with a flat-six rather than a turbo’d flat-four was the $206K 718 GT4. To both justify the investment in creating the GT4’s 4.0-litre engine and un-wring the hands of enthusiasts (and motoring journalists) who’ve bemoaned the…

An easy way to keep safe on the road is purchasing quality tyres from reputable brands. MITCHELL GOLLEDGE, Managing Director at Continental Tyres, the leaders in tyre safety, shares his tips on things to consider next time you purchase new tyres. WET WEATHER As we head further into winter, it’s important that when purchasing new tyres to consider how well they react in wet braking conditions. Tests at Continental’s Contidrom Test Center in Germany have shown that on wet roads, most cars require a stopping distance of an additional 12 metres when travelling from 100km/h compared to dry conditions. When cars are fitted with budget tyres, stopping distances can increase even more – up to an additional 18 metres! It’s important to purchase tyres that can perform strongly in all…

FORD FOCUS ST Price as tested: $26,385 This month: 204km @ 11.1L/100km A QUICK PEEK at the above odo reading is enough to tell you I haven’t driven the Focus much this month. But that hasn’t meant I haven’t spent much time in the Focus. COVID life, especially in a lockeddown Melbourne, is an odd thing made tolerable mostly by your own imagination. So while I haven’t clocked up many kilometres, I have managed to get my motoring fix by running a different lens over my little blue Ford and asking a simple question: how does it measure up as a practical daily? In some ways, this is the true test of a hot hatch. Outright performance is important, of course, but the beauty of buying a fast hatchback is…

BACK AROUND 2012, when the Mercedes-Benz product-planning gurus were brain-storming in Stuttgart, the notion of a dual-cab 4x4 ute must have seemed like a punt that could not fail to pay off. The segment was simmering and getting hotter, while M-B’s tech tie-up with Renault-Nissan meant the company could develop its own version of the NP300 Navara, saving big bucks compared to a clean-sheet design. It’s hard to imagine a brave lone voice piping up from the back the room: “Yeah, nah; bad idea, folks. We’ll only get greedy with the price tag, and buyers will smell the Nissan connection a mile away. Some smart-arse will nickname it a Navara in mascara; the thing will tank, and we’ll end up having to put a bullet in it after about three…