Wheels inbox: Diablo SV, wind throb, Lotus Emira over an M2 and more!

Wheels magazine has always had a passionate audience, with a thriving letters section. Here's the latest from our readers.

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I feel the need...

I just wanted to thank Andy Enright and the Wheels crew for the article about the Lamborghini Diablo SV for the January 2024 issue.

I was born in 1993 and now I’m 30 years old but Need For Speed, Gran Turismo and Test Drive games were a really big part of my childhood, and shaped my subsequent love of cars. All I can say is thank you for the nostalgia trip.

The Lamborghini Diablo SV sits alongside numerous ‘90s supercars which were the icons of my childhood.

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When reading the article, all I can be reminded of was the beautiful soundtrack of NFS 3 and NFS High Stakes.

I really hope for more ‘90s icons. Any chance of Wheels magazine ever touching upon the homologation specials of the ‘90s, in particular regarding the GT1 class? I know it’s hard to source rare unicorns like the Porsche 911 GT1 and the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR.

Still, it would be a great time to look back at a time where car manufacturers went mad in trying to find loopholes in motorsport.

🖊️ Bilal Baydar, via email

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Low voltage batt-ery?

You're confident car companies won’t go broke (Editor’s Letter – Jan ‘24), though it has happened before.

I agree collectively they won’t ultimately allow that to happen, but foresee a BIG pushback in the future if EV sales tank. Millions of recalls by Tesla, Toyota, etc… maybe also a canary in the mix?

Recent Sydney to Melbourne ICE versus EV comparisons have highlighted major EV weaknesses in terms of cost, travel time and frustration. A particular weakness of EVs, it seems, is highway/distance cruising versus battery charging? Welcome to Australia…

So I’m definitely with you ICE collectables. I just wish I was 20 years younger to take full advantage. I also agree on the Mustang ‘Dark Horse’, a sure winner for those with $125K to lay down.

🖊️ Gordon Batt, via email

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This resonates

Innocently working my way through the January edition when I arrived at Shana Zlotin’s update on the Genesis GV70.

Quietly hiding in the text was an outbreak of dirty talkin’ – Helmholtz resonance – in Wheels! I almost went all warm and tingly. Keep up the fine work. Sneak in some more without warning.

🖊️ Ian Cutler, Eleebana, NSW

Rims and range

For all those of us keenly looking at an EV option, I was very intrigued with the recent review of the Hyundai Kona EV and specifically the sentence: “The 99kW Standard Range lists a WLTP-certified driving range of 370 kilometres, while the 150kW Extended Range list 505km with the 17-inch wheels and 444km for the 19s”.

Could you explain why the driving range drops (as much as 12%) with larger wheels and is this the same consequence for all EV cars?

🖊️ Robert Ius, Haberfield, NSW

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Raising the roof

In the recent coverage in the EV buyers guide, I read multiple references to the possibility for charging for free with rooftop solar.

This is a bit of a misconception (and is not limited to operation of electric vehicles). Anyone with rooftop solar will likely have selected a plan with the highest feed-in tariff they can achieve, and by using, rather than exporting, solar energy you are sacrificing (therefore effectively paying) this rate.

My FIT is currently 14c/kWh and my general usage is 38c/kWh, so while using solar, where possible, is undoubtedly the preferable way to go about things, the real cost saving to me would be 63%, not 100%. Something for potential buyers to keep in mind if trying to balance the sums of going electric – using solar isn’t actually free.

🖊️ Vaughan Moutrie, Wattle Grove, NSW

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Stalk to the hand

Are you guys staking out my house? The reason I ask is because I’d narrowed my new-car list down to a shortlist of four.

Then I read John Law’s sports car review of the exact four cars I’d settled on. While I’d agree with most of his judgments, I totted up my own scoresheet and the M2 came top, then ‘Vette, with the Lotus and Supra tying for joint third.

So I’m buying the Lotus (Emira). Who said buying a sports car was ever in any way objective?

🖊️ Kane Stevens, Kiama, NSW

The Wheels question to you

Brabham Automotive's gone phut. Will you miss it?

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