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Camaro SS In Oz next year THE great success of the Ford Mustang has probably shown the way for the  Chevrolet Camaro in Australia next year. However, while the ’Stang comes out of the factory with the steering wheel on the correct side for us, it looks as though it will be up to Holden’s performance sub-brand, HSV, to swap over left-hook Camaros until an all-new sixth-generation model, potentially with right-hook ambidexterity, arrives in the US late 2018, and in Australia as lat...
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 This Years Top 5 Favourite Sports Cars in Australia Ford Mustang - 5967 The unprecedented demand for the pony car goes on and a dusting of Ford Performance tuning options will likely buoy its popularity through to a facelifted version due in 2018. Hyundai Veloster - 1359                                                   It might lack monstrous power, but Australians still love the Veloster. A vast majority are sold in automatic form, and its unusual styling and everyday usab...
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This is a car that could easily put the cat among some of the European pigeons! On paper, this perception-altering rear-drive liftback sedan has all its ducks in a row – strikingly muscular styling, purist drivetrain layout with an all-turbo engine line-up, a dedicated sporting focus and enough packaging proficiency to carry some credibility – yet the gamble of entering a declining global sedan market dominated by German brands with a Korean badge glued to your snout and tail can’t be o...
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Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk is a Winner! This is sensational! Wheels is currently in the good ol’ US of A putting the muscle SUV to the test. But before the review is released, we thought we’d get you primed for the sheer scale of this beast with a quick rundown of its impressive stats and figures. First, the headline act. The 6.2-litre supercharged ‘Hellcat’ V8 produces 527kW and 874Nm. But that is meaningless without context. When it arrives, the Trackhawk will become...
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HOW DOES IT STACK UP? WHAT IS IT? An atmo 3.6-litre V6 that drives all four wheels via one of the cleverest drivetrains around is a good basis for a performance sedan, and the latest six-pot Commodore builds on those underpinnings with a whole host of smart decisions. It pays to temper your enthusiasm a little, though. Expect an SS replacement and you’ll be disappointed. Instead, Holden has delivered something smarter, safer and sli...
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Is this the SS Alternative? https://youtu.be/LGlYLZr5S3Q Available with a grunty 272kW/510Nm turbocharged V6, rear-wheel drive and the most luxurious interior for a Kia since… forever, the Stinger arrives just months before the departure of its closest on-paper rival – the Holden Commodore SS. The local launch is still weeks away, but we’ve thrashed it on Aussie roads already – and have the video to prove it. Wheels is the only Australian outlet given this level of early a...
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Kia takes on the establishment. Affordable performance. WHAT IS IT? Kia’s all-new, sporty flagship that’s set to land in Oz later this year with two turbocharged four-door variants to choose from. Stinger’s timing is perfect, but it has to be brilliant to take over the performance sedan mantle from Australia’s fallen natives. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT Back in January, Kia offered selected media a preview drive of the Stinger in pre-production guise at its proving ground in South K...
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  The first major update for a number of years. WHAT IS IT? The mid-life updated version of Volkswagen’s venerable Golf hatchback and wagon in mid-range Comfortline trim - the one Volkswagen predicts to be the volume seller of the range. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT? This is the first time Volkswagen has regarded a Golf mid-life refresh significant enough to label with a ‘0.5’ half mark. The 1.4-litre turbo engine has been wicked up and a light facelift applied, but the most si...
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WELCOME to your first official look at the third-generation BMW X3. While it was leaked on the internet days before it was supposed to, thanks to BMW’s over-eager Hong Kong outpost, we now know the official details of the German brand’s all-new mid-size SUV. And they are juicy. The headline act is the range-topping X3 M40i, which is the first ever X3 to carry an M prefix and is set to rival the Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 and Audi RS Q3. Powered by a 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbo, the ...
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Unlimited kilometre 5 year warranty from July 1 2017 HONDA Australia has announced its entire product portfolio will now carry a five-year warranty – unlimited kilometres for private buyers, 140,000km for fleet and commercial operators – matching the aftersales support of Renault and Skoda. The enhanced warranty supplants the three-year/100,000km service and is effective from July 1, however Honda’s warranty program excludes roadside assistance which is bundled with its Warranty Plus packa...
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ALFA Romeo is making people sit up and take notice. ALFA Romeo has a winner on its hands. Not only is the all-new Giulia the most hyped Alfa sedan in decades, but in flagship QV guise, it’s a giant-killer too, having recently stunned its lauded rivals from AMG and BMW M in our latest sports sedan showdown. But how does Alfa’s billion Euro baby fare without the beefed-up Quadrifoglio dressing? Can it really be just as impressive in run-of-the-mill Super guise? In many ways this ba...
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Prices and Australian model information released in advance. The fifth-generation Discovery adds a list of clever features designed to bolster its practicality credentials. Available in both five and seven seat configurations, the new Discovery range starts at $65,960 for the base Td4 S, stretching all the way north of $130,000 for the limited-run Td6 First Edition. Three engine options are available for the new model – two 2.0-litre four-cylinders, and a 3.0-litre V6 – all fu...
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Is the Fiat 124 an MX-5 Copy? Italian Mazda makes Japanese sit up and take notice. I’m at the wheel of a bright blue Fiat Abarth 124 Spider and next to me, squashed unceremoniously into the passenger seat, his expansive 180kg frame spilling into my side of the intimate cabin, sits a mostly naked and very sweaty sumo. This is central Tokyo on a baking 32-degree day and, as I reverse our car down a narrow one-way street towards a tiny Italian restaurant, I realise we’re causing a ...
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 The new Civic, launched here in sedan form just under a year ago. The hatch has arrived to stand alongside it's brother in Australian showrooms. WHAT IS IT For the past two generations, the Honda Civic hatch has been more of a half-brother to the Civic sedan than a direct relative. Based on Jazz underpinnings and built in the UK, it was literally a world apart from its Thai-sourced sedan contemporary. But now, in its tenth-generation, the Civic range is back to ...
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Evolution, not Revolution, is the way forward. WHAT IS IT? Launched in 2015, Australia’s best-selling small SUV and has just received an update that lacks aesthetic changes but addresses the CX-3’s few weaknesses, including ride refinement and road noise. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT The Mazda 2-based crossover ticked a lot of boxes when launched in 2015 and deserved its place at the top of its segment. But two years is a long time in the SUV world and newcomers such as the Toyota C-...
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 CM3 and C63 too rich for you? Never fear, we've got the answer!. When it comes to powerful luxury sedans, just how much do you really lose by stepping down to the circa-$100K zone? Do the Audi S4 quattro and Mercedes-AMG C43 4matic sit forever in the shadow of the heavier-hitting Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63, or are they plenty of car for most people, most of the time? It’s handy that the S4 and C43 have ample design distinctions both inside and out, because...
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Crew Cab 4X4 Utes are bought by many Australians as work and play combos. Range-topping dual-cab utes with delusions of passenger-car grandeur – trying to be all things to all people is a hard thing to master. The original ’48 Holden did it. Roomy enough for six, light enough to be both lively and fuel-efficient, yet strong enough to tackle much of what the unpaved Aussie Outback could throw at it, the monocoque-bodied ‘humpy’ Holden was a bit like Hugh Jackman dressed in an Akub...
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Toyota is looking for a gap in the small SUV segment. Based on the underpinnings of the C-HR small SUV, the FT-4X amps up the off-road ability and chunky design with an FJ Cruiser-inspired look, right down to the nose that eschews the Toyota stylised badge for one that spells out the brand across the badge. Created following weeks of interviews with “outdoorsy millennials” from the San Francisco Bay area, the FT-4X has low-range gearing and a mechanical four-wheel drive system (inste...
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Shanghai Motor Show reveals an all new style. Concept A is an appetiser for the A-Class sedan expected to join the MFA family as part of the platform's second-gen roll-out, which will start with the updated A-Class hatch later this year. Its deliberately minimal styling approach features a side profile notably free of the tucked and folded body lines seen on other Benz models, following the example set by the recently launched E-Class Coupe. “The time of creases is over,” said...
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  Would you consider an "almost" M3 to save $$$$$s? It’s a quandary. After all, the M3 is a highly-accomplished and incredibly focused sports sedan, but that’s perhaps its greatest issue. To some, it may be too focused. So, could a roided-up BMW 340i M  step in as a more street-friendly (and budget-friendly) package? BMW’s M Performance catalogue may provide the answer. WHAT IS IT? A regular ol’ BMW 340i sedan, except enhanced with a range of dealer-fit go-fast products from BMW’s ...
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 Mazda MX5 Retractable Fastback A classier, more universally appealing version of Mazda’s revered and accessible sports car manages to keep the faith. WHAT IS IT? Mazda’s brilliant ragtop roadster range has diversified and grown to include the Mazda MX-5 Retractable Fastback (RF), Mazda’s second attempt at a folding hard-top for its iconic sports car, but with a greater focus on coupe aesthetics and maturity. WHY WE’RE TESTING IT Mazda worked off the flab and went back to basics with it...
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German built GM Opel for Australia The next-generation Commodore will be built in Germany on GM’s E2XX platform, and based around a European engineered and designed Opel Insignia mid-size car. The idea of a European model replacing the Aussie built version isn’t a new one: the first signs that the next Commodore would not have ground-up local design and development emerged in early 2014 as Holden started planning its replacement for the current car’s Zeta-based, Aussie engineered and deve...
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A Starting Price of $210k.....WOW! Revved up: The top-spec Maserati Quattroporte GTS is now split into two variants, the GranSport and GranLusso. MASERATI has revealed Australian pricing and specification for its large luxury Quattroporte sedan, with the range kicking off from $210,000 before on-roads for the base level Turbo Diesel model and topping out at $349,990 BOCs for the twin-turbo V8 GTS GranLusso. The mid-life refresh for the model released in 2014 also introduces two new trim lev...
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  2018 Mercedes-Benz X Class Concept Utes Revealed The Worksite Will Never be the Same MERCEDES-Benz has pulled the covers off a pair of exciting concept vehicles in Stockholm, Sweden, that give the first clues to what its forthcoming entry into the popular one-tonne ute class will look like. To be known as the X Class, the new ute, or pick-up depending on your preference, will go into production late in 2017 for an Australian launch in the first quarter of 2018. Australia has b...
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  MX-5 Brother Has The Goods STYLING is such an impossibly subjective element of a car that it is often not worth dwelling on for a review, but in the case of the new Abarth 124 Spider its looks are the first key point of differentiation from the Mazda MX-5 with which it shares much of its construction. Beauty is, without doubt, in the eye of the beholder, but there are a number of observations one can make here without fear of conflict, including the Abarth’s traditional approach, whi...
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We Thought this car was going to be Expensive! Not so! Fiat today confirmed the Abarth will start at $41,990, with sharp introductory pricing meaning you could buy the turbocharged two-seater for $43,500 driveaway, in six-speed manual spec. That’s thousands less than early speculation had suggested for the Mazda-built Abarth – but also thousands more than the most affordable MX-5s, including the 1.5-litre base model ($31,990) and the entry-level 2.0-litre ($34,490). The most expensiv...
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