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How do you boost performance? Add 2 cylinders and 1 litre. Audi now has a Q5 for the owner who loves performance but doesn’t want to shout about it. WHAT IS IT? The most powerful non-Audi Sport model in the Q5 range. With an uprated 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 under its handsome snout, this is Ingolstadt’s mid-size SUV for buyers with a penchant for understated grunt. WHY WE ARE TESTING IT? Orders are already open for the sportiest diesel Q5 in Austra...
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The popular SUV from Germany has a clean striking look. THE SECOND-GENERATION Audi Q3 has been unveiled in Germany, featuring bold design cues taken from the Q8 flagship to provide a more mature, but less dour look than its predecessor. Now able to pass on junior-SUV duties to the Q2, the new Q3 offers more family-friendly practicality and comfort than before, while sharing much of the infotainment, connectivity and latest advanced driver assist systems with the...
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Major improvements across the board. The first major revamp of Mini’s current-generation hatch, which adds cosmetic tweaks, welcome technology embellishments, and under-bonnet improvements that save fuel WHAT IS IT? Mini’s most connected small car yet. This first major revamp of the gen-F56 Mini sees it adopt BMW’s ID5 generation of its Connected Services technology, which allows owners to monitor and control their car via a smartphone app. There are visual changes too, and ...
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Korea's Hyundai large SUV 7-seater has improved across the board! WHAT IS IT? A much-needed total makeover of the South Korean giant’s large SUV, elevating it to the sophistication level of the current Tucson and i30, and closer to where it needs to be when packaging seven useable seats. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT? With a drive route encompassing a dizzying array of corners and close to 50-percent dirt, Hyundai Australia is confident of the TM Santa Fe’s impressive all-rounder status...
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SUVs leave you a little cold? Newly refreshed sedan talent is definitely worth a look! WE REALLY shouldn’t take it personally. Sliding sales of medium to large cars may have pulled the manufacturing rug out from under the Aussie-made Mitsubishi 380, Ford Falcon, Toyota Camry and Holden Commodore over the last decade, but it’s a global phenomenon affecting every developed market in the world. Facing a juggernaut of SUV aspiration, car sales are faltering – especially mainstream ...
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Major high tech engine change in the baby C-Class. WHAT IS IT? This is the freshly updated version of the fifth-gen Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan that will begin arriving in Australia from August. The C200 will be the most affordable model in the line-up, though that doesn’t mean it’s the least appealing. This time around it debuts a brand-new engine with 48V mild hybrid technology. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT Aussies buy more C200s than any o...
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Luxury in a Small Package - We Compare Two of Europe's Latecomers A DECADE ago, luxury cars were a niche market. The top four manufacturers – Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz – and their kind, including Jaguar, commanded just one in 20 new-car sales. Fast-forward to today, and that figure has grown to around one in every 10. That’s almost mainstream. Much of that stellar growth in the luxury car segment has come from SUVs. Nowhere is that more apparent than in...
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With an eye on German competition, Audi has significantly upgraded driving dynamics and technology. AUDI has worked on the aesthetics, brain, brawn, and athleticism of its A6 sedan to bring it closer to its natural rivals. WHAT IS IT? The first new Audi A6 since 2011, this fifth-generation model brings greater cabin space and a diesel-heavy engine line-up. Audi’s attempting to stand out from the crowd with the A6 by adding a mild hybrid system acr...
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The Ute loses it's funny face and comes out smiling for 2018. IN AN attempt to remain relevant in a booming dual-cab market, Mazda Australia went to its bosses in Japan with plans to upgrade the front-end of its ageing BT-50 workhorse. Japan HQ ticked off the idea and provided Mazda Australia with the technical requirements the new BT-50 must meet, and Mazda Australia went to work redesigning the outgoing model’s front fascia, with the intention of adding sharper style line...
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  With as much safety tech as an S-Class and greater connectivity smarts than any of its stablemates, the new-generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class aims for the stars WHAT IS IT? The fourth generation in an A-Class lineage spanning 21 years and two distinct schools of thought in design terms – tall, innovatively packaged and utility focused (first and second gen); conventional but classy and more socially acceptable (generations three and four). Needless to say, t...
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Luxury and Sport by Lexus Review WHAT IS IT? The 2018 Lexus LS500 F Sport LS  pushes the boundaries of design and comfort like never before and sits at the very top of the Lexus tree. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT Lexus has dispensed with its ubiquitous atmo V8 for this iteration of its flagship sedan, replacing it instead with a muscular twin-turbo V6. The big question is; does the drop in cylinder count and engine capacity detract from what made the previous-generation Le...
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 Ford Mustang GT v Chevrolet Camaro SS comparison. The stunning show of colours is the result of a cool ocean on one side of the city, mountains on three others, something called an inversion layer and tonnes upon tonnes of vehicle exhaust belched into the atmosphere every day. Californians are addicted to their cars and the atmosphere bears the scars. The spectacularly beautiful people are another example of a superficially pretty veneer masking an uglier reality....
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Ford Fiesta ST   In approximately 12 months the next-generation Ford Fiesta ST will arrive on our shores. The new ST will feature a more powerful 147kW/290Nm 1.5-litre three-pot EcoBoost engine and six-speed manual transmission, with performance further enhanced by light-weight cutting-edge chassis technology and advanced aerodynamics. Ford Performance claims the three-door will sprint from 0 to 100km/h in just 6.7 seconds, 0.3-seconds faster than the 134kW/2...
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Welcome back to the quintessential M5! WHAT IS IT? This is BMW’s sixth-generation of M5, dubbed F90. It’s the follow up to 2011’s fast but uncharismatic F10 and it seeks to raise the bar for performance while reconnecting with the M5 legend. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT We previewed the F90 M5 in prototype form almost a year ago, and now the fully fledged car is on Aussie terra firma it’s time to reacquaint ourselves. There was a time when an M5 was the ultimate t...
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Suzuki is Number One in customer satisfaction survey SUZUKI has claimed top honours in Canstar Blue’s 2018 overall satisfaction survey of new-vehicle buyers, beating out 14 other popular automotive brands to claim the maximum five stars. Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, Honda, Volkswagen, Kia and Mercedes-Benz received four-star ratings, while Holden, Mitsubishi, Ford, Nissan, Subaru, BMW and Audi were assessed three stars each. BMW recorded the largest drop in overall satisfaction aft...
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Which all-new Audi Q5 variant offers the best buy based on features, performance and value? Launched in July this year, the second-generation Audi Q5 is a sharp-looking luxury, five-seat SUV that steers and rides brilliantly on its efficient all-wheel drive chassis. It comes with a choice of fuel-efficient petrol and diesel engines both with seven-speed dual clutch automatic transmissions, and is brimming with standard features including automatic emergency braking and first-rate smartphone...
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Suzuki’s little hottie is a delight, and terrific value. The Suzuki Swift Sport has returned to our shores, with the all-new flagship of the fifth-generation Swift family rolling into Suzuki showrooms powered by a turbocharged powerplant for the first time. Priced from $25,490 for the six-speed manual variant and $27,490 for the six-speed auto, the Swift Sport  easily hangs onto its title of Australia’s cheapest hot hatch. Its nearest rival, the Volkswagen Polo GTI, retails...
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The new small sedan from Kia has been shown in the USA show circuit. It should be launched in OZ as the Cerato sedan in the 2nd half of 2018. Kia’s big reveal at this year’s Detroit Motor Show was the new-generation Forte, a car which will arrive in Australia in the middle of this year with the steering wheel on the right side and Cerato badges on its bootlid. And when it gets here, it will give the Korean automaker a much-needed shot in the arm in the still-vital small car segme...
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It's Down to Three Holden, Ford & Toyota no longer manufacture cars in Australia, but wait.......there is good news! After almost seven decades of continual passenger car production, we now face a future where everything on our four-wheeled landscape is fully imported. Like Donald Trump’s early morning Tweets, every time we pass a Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore or a Toyota Camry it’s a bittersweet reminder that our world is out of balance. But there is hope beyond the horizon...
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  Now with a Sport variant that will prove attractive. Kia has updated its third-generation Sorento SUV and while not much has changed in terms of size, space and exterior aesthetics it has had a significant technical makeover. TELL ME ABOUT THIS CAR The Sorento now has enhanced suspension and steering for improved ride and handling, a new eight-speed automatic transmission and advanced safety features including auto emergency braking. Inside, the seven-seat cabin has more soft-tou...
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How do they stack up against a Commodore SS-V Redline? An unbroken line of ’em, stretching back nearly four decades who’ve stood at a bowser before, refuelling Australian-built Commodores, jotting down records, meticulously checking tyre pressures and fluid levels before subjecting the car to the rigours of a Wheels road test. And I’ll be the last of them. Booking a Holden Commodore SS-V Redline on the week that local production wrapped up was always going to be loaded with poi...
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The Captiva replacement is a huge leap forward WHAT IS IT? Holden’s all-new mid-size SUV, imported from Mexico, which replaces the five-seat Captiva. It’s expected to be one of Holden’s best-selling vehicles along with the Colorado and next-gen Commodore. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT The Holden Equinox has been through an extensive localisation regime at the hands of engineers both on the ground in Oz and during the car’s five years of development in North America. The Aussie brand says its ...
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UPGRADES? An updated version of Hyundai’s Sonata mid-size sedan that rivals the Toyota Camry, Mazda 6 and the incoming, imported Holden Commodore. This isn’t an all-new car, but rather a facelift that brings overhauled styling for a sportier look, important tech and safety upgrades and a revised two-tier model line-up that starts at $30,990 for the entry-level Active and tops out at $45,490 for the range-topping Premium model we’re driving here. WHY WE’RE DRIVING IT To see i...
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