Lexus owners and prospective buyers will be pleased to hear that the Japanese manufacturer is now adding smartphone mirroring to seven of its model lines.
From November 1, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are now standard on NX and RX SUVs, LS and ES sedans and LC and RC coupes, while the new compact UX SUV will join the rest of the gang from December 1.
Following the upgrade, prices for the NX and LS models have risen $300 and $250 respectively, and the RC and LC ranges have increased by $150.
At odds with their more premium positioning, the LX and GS models haven’t been included in the offering, thanks to an older head unit. The IS won’t get any of the smartphone mirroring love, either.
Owners of the LC and LS (built from 8 January, 2018 onwards), RC (built from 27 November 2017 onwards), NX (built from 1 September, 2017 onwards) and ES (4 July, 2018 onwards) are now able to upgrade their existing infotainment systems to include the smartphone mirroring capability, as part of a dealer-fit software update for a one-time cost of $249.
Existing UX owners will have to wait until December before they can take advantage of the upgrade.
Lexus says the software update takes roughly 60 minutes and a dealership can do the update while your car is being serviced. Lexus can even arrange for your car to be picked up and dropped off at your home or workplace.
The company is one of the few holdouts not to have offered the popular smartphone mirroring service in its cars, with Mercedes-Benz also late to the CarPlay party.
Meet England’s answer to the Ferrari Monza, the McLaren Elva, a two-seat, open-top roadster that is the latest in McLaren’s Super Series range.
The name harks back to the McLaren-Elva sports racers of the 1960s, the Bruce McLaren-designed machines customer versions of McLaren’s Group 7 racing cars.
McLaren GT lands in Australia!
Under the carbon clamshell bonnet is a monster 4.0-litre twin-turbo, dry-sumped, flat-place V8 producing 600kW/800Nm. It’s connected to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and with launch control engaged 100km/h is claimed to take under three seconds, with 200km/h reached in 6.7sec.
Obviously, ditching the roof, windscreen and side windows helps shave kilograms, though a windscreen is available. Unlike the similar Ferrari Monza, which isn’t road-legal in the United States, McLaren claims the Elva is homologated for all major markets.
The Elva chassis uses electro-hydraulic steering, McLaren one of the last manufacturers to retain hydraulic steering for its extra connection, while its clever hydraulically-interlinked dampers control the body in corners while also providing a remarkably compliant ride.
A series of aero devices protect passengers, primarily including a large central air inlet with a carbon wind deflector that rises and lowers 150mm to divert air over and around occupants, who are separated by a large carbon central spar.
As you’d expect for a Super Series model, virtually every part of the car can be personalised through MSO, from interior colours, paint colours, gloss carbon fibre, different wheels and even the badges are available in white gold or platinum.
Unusually for an ultra-rare hypercar, all examples aren’t currently spoken for, so if you’re keen, get in touch with your nearest McLaren dealer now.
While rally drivers deserve the utmost respect for their abilities and willingness to take great risks to gain literally tenths of seconds, it must be said that their cars are a big part of the reason WRC is such a spectacle.
So seeing three former WRC cars for sale, all from the same team and having been steered by one of this country’s greatest rally drivers, has us envious of whoever’s able to snap them up.
All three cars are from the final era of Subaru’s WRC campaigning, between 2006 and 2008, and all have been under the care of Australian former WRC star Chris Atkinson for various rallies.
The most expensive of the three at £165,000 (AUD$310,000) is an ‘06-’07 model (called S12b) which was first raced by Norwegian Petter Solberg. After four rallies (Rallye Deutschland, Catalunya, Rally de France, and Rally Ireland) in 2007, the keys were given to Atkinson for Rallies Mexico and Argentina in 2008 in which the Aussie took the second podium step.
Solberg took ‘Chassis #16’ back later in 2008 for Rally d’Italia (aka. Sardinia), its final outing in a WRC rally. The car would then go on to rally in Hungary, France, and the UK before finding its way to current owner Derek McGarrity, himself a successful rally driver from Northern Ireland. Thus, the cars are UK-based currently.
He says in his listing that Chassis #16 has been completely rebuilt by ex-Prodrive specialists (important given Prodrive built Subaru’s rally cars) at Melvyn Evans Motorsport and is “totally like a brand new car”. In total, it’s entered 53 rallies.
McGarrity is also selling the two other WRC Imprezas, the oldest being an earlier chassis from the same generation as Chassis #16.
Chassis #4 (an S12, rather than S12b) is up for grabs at £130,000, a little under AUD$245,000, and was driven by both Atkinson and French multi-discipline racing driver Stéphane Sarrazin during 2006.
Atkinson was less successful with this car, placing 11th both times he drove it (Sweden and Greece), but now-Formula E driver Sarrazin found himself placing 5th on the car’s WRC debut at Rally Monte-Carlo. Since Monte-Carlo, it’s participated in 59 other rallies.
The third car, an S14 for sale is one of the last entered by Subaru World Rally Team, driven four times by Atkinson in 2008 and retired twice of those outings. Mads Ostberg then became the custodian of Chassis #4 of the S14-spec Impreza, only completing half of his six WRC outings due to three retirements.
The S14 Chassis #4 finally saw victory in the non-WRC Cambrian Rally in Wales in 2009, under Ostberg. This car also found itself under stewardship of Australian driver Tony Quinn in the 2016 Donegal Rally in Ireland – finishing 42nd of 104 finishers. Dozens of cars retired, and Quinn was the only non-UK/Irish entrant.
This rather prolific car has started a total of 101 rallies. It can be had for £149,995, or a little more than AUD$280,000. Plus the cost of getting it to Australia, of course!
A Hobart man has pleaded guilty in a Tasmanian magistrate’s court to stalking his ex-partner, who claims the man tracked her movements via a smartphone app linked to her car.
The app gave the stalker real-time information on his victim’s location, as well as giving him the ability to remotely start and stop the vehicle.
It also provided him with information about where the car was parked, how much fuel was in it and even allowed him to open or close its windows.
The man, a former tow truck driver who had worked for the Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania, helped her to buy the Land Rover, which gave him access to the car’s vehicle identification number (VIN) as well as the vehicle’s keys, which gave him enough access to satisfy the app’s security requirements.
Simply knowing the car’s registration, for example, or other details of the owner would not be enough for someone other than the vehicle’s owner to set up an account.
The prosecution also alleged that the man, who dated the victim for just six months, also used a monthly subscription plan to monitor his ex’s phone.
She only discovered the subterfuge after her own mobile phone disappeared from inside the car, and she used her laptop to try and track it down.
Upon logging into her own phone account, an email trail from his address detailed the full extent of his hacking, with maps of her workplace and car parking locations downloaded to his account.
“When I told [my colleagues] that a man was stalking me and had control of my car, they looked at me like I had lost my mind,” the woman told the court.
“I was in shock and fear for my life when I realised he was stalking me and had control of my car.”
Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Avery described the man’s behaviour as “premeditated and calculated.” The man will return to court for sentencing in December, where he could be placed on a community protection register for up to 15 years.
While this particular case is shocking and confronting – and speaks far more to the deranged mindset of the perpetrator – the fact is that setting up a smartphone app to work with a car is more detailed than simply entering an email address and phone number into a phone.
Smartphone connectivity to varying degrees is available across a number of brands sold locally, including Hyundai, Land Rover, Nissan and Mitsubishi, while future updates will allow for owners to provide access to other people to drive their cars via codes sent between phones.
Three secret Chevrolet Colorado prototypes have been flown into Australia from North America under the cover of darkness.
They would have gone undetected as well, if it wasn’t for a keen Wheels reader, who snapped a couple of pictures.
Disguised to varying degrees, the first of the three models is a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, wearing light camouflage.
This is likely the facelifted ZR2, which was revealed in America recently. However, the two other utes have piqued our interest, with GM going to great lengths in an attempt to disguise their shape.
It is possible that these are prototypes for the next generation Chevrolet Colorado, which previews a new platform, and potentially new engines.
Sightings of Chevrolet Colorados and GMC Canyons are not uncommon in Victoria, as there is an extensive testing program conducted within Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground – much like what happens with Cadillac products. However, these are often wearing minimal to no camouflage.
The fact that these three dual-cabs are being disguised by GM indicates that they hold secrets intended to be kept from the public eye.
“Those Chevrolet Colorados are here for engine and transmission calibration work at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground as part of our ongoing program of work on products in the GM global product portfolio,” a Holden spokesperson told Wheels in a statement.
Chevrolet has been working on the next generation of the Colorado for a little while now, with news emerging earlier this year that development of an all-new platform, dubbed GMT-32xx, has been put on ice.
Instead, it is reported that the current GMT-31xx architecture is being updated, with the chassis to be called GMT-31xx2.
Wheels understands that regardless of whether the platform is all-new, or an evolution of the existing chassis, the next-gen Colorado will become a global product, meaning the Thai-built Colorados that are currently sold in Australia will become the same as the US Chevrolet models.
As a result, the Holden Colorado will grow in size to match what is offered in North America.
A Holden Colorado LTZ dual-cab measures in at 5361mm long, 1872mm wide, and 1800mm high, with a 3096mm wheelbase. The US-spec Colorado ZR2 is 5395mm long, 1886mm wide, and 1834mm high, with a 3264mm wheelbase.
If the next-gen Colorado ZR2 is available in right-hand drive, it would be a logical choice for Holden to put into showrooms as a Ford Ranger Raptor rival.
Currently the ZR2 and Ford Ranger Raptor are relegated to battling each other on spec pages alone, as the Chevrolet is exclusively sold in North American, while the Ranger Raptor isn’t sold Stateside.
It is understood the next-gen Toyota Tacoma, which is similarly sized to the US Colorado, could also be developed for right-hand drive and be brought down under in the near future.
The ZR2’s selling point is its suspension, with an independent coil-over-shock set-up in the front, and a solid axle with semi-elliptic, two-stage multi-leaf springs in the rear. That may seem straight-forward enough, but each corner is fitted with Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) dampers.
What the hell are DSSV dampers? Well, it’s the same technology used in Formula 1 cars, along with high-end supercars and hypercars like the Aston Martin One-77, Ford GT, and Mercedes-AMG GT.
Inside each damper’s aluminium body are three spool valves. Two of the valves provide compression and rebound damping optimised for everyday use, while the third is specifically designed for extreme off-road use.
Oh, and there are locking differentials on each axle.
Powering the Colorado ZR2 is a choice of two drivetrains, the first being the 2.8-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic gearbox fitted to Holden’s Colorado, while a 3.6-litre naturally aspirated V6 mated to an eight-speed auto is also available.
The LGZ V6 is an evolution of the Alloytec that debuted in the 2004 Holden VZ Commodore. In the Colorado ZR2 it is tuned to produce 230kW @ 6800rpm and 373Nm @ 4000rpm.
What do you think, should Holden sell the Colorado ZR2 in Australia?
The 2020 Porsche 992 911 Turbo is being readied, promising supercar-crushing performance and a return to the model’s sporting roots.
Recent generations of 911 Turbo have been brilliant all-rounders, but in an attempt to answer criticism the model has lost some of its character, Porsche plans on inserting some extra aggro into the new 992 Turbo.
“We have been steering the 992 Turbo fractionally more in a back-to-the-roots directions,” says Porsche’s sports car development, Frank-Steffen Walliser. Most of the 992’s development occurred under recently-retired 911 boss August Achleitner, but small details such as stiffer bushings and revised spring and damper settings are said to give the Turbo a sportier edge when driven hard.
The new 911 Turbo will be powered by a 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six (codename: EA292) matched to an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox and, of course, all-wheel drive.
Development continues, but it is believed the flagship Turbo S will produce 485kW at 7000rpm and 800Nm between 2500-4000rpm. Performance is set to be eye-opening, with figures of 0-100km/h in 2.7sec, 0-200km/h in 8.5sec and a 333km/h top speed suggested. The standard non-S will be little slower, with power in the region of 440kW.
What’s interesting is that the Turbo eschews any sort of electrification, even a 48-volt mild-hybrid system increasingly found in the performance models of Audi, Mercedes-AMG and others.
The 992 is hybrid-capable, the eight-speed PDK able to incorporate an electric motor and the body designed to accommodate batteries, but according to Walliser: ““The benefits of partial electrification are marginal compared to the complex weight, packaging and cost issues.”
Weight is already critical for the Turbo, extra equipment and the added gear increasing the kilogram count, which will put the 992 on the wrong side of 1600kg. Controlling this mass will be a full suite of chassis trickery, including all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, torque vectoring and active anti-roll bars.
Staggered lightweight wheels measure 20 inches front and 21 rear wrapped in tyres 255/35 and 315/30 respectively. Behind this are monster brake discs, 410mm front and 390mm rear, with carbon-ceramic rotors an option.
Revised styling includes restyled bumpers, a new rear diffuser, wider, slimmer LED running lights and larger intakes, which also improve aero. Front intakes channel air to suck the nose to the ground at high speed, while the fixed rear spoiler is 20 per cent larger.
It’s unclear when the production 911 Turbo will make an appearance, but you can read our ride-along in the December 2019 issue of MOTOR, out tomorrow.
New research by Roy Morgan shows that Japanese auto giant Toyota is at the front of mind of Australian new car buyers, with 16.8 percent of those polled indicating a preference for the Big T.
The poll, which asked participants which brand they were most likely to select if they were to buy a new car in the next four years, had Toyota in a clear position of dominance. In a distant second place was Mazda with 8.7 percent of respondents preferencing the Hiroshima brand.
The rest of the running order was fairly closely stacked, with Hyundai in third (7.6 percent), followed by Volkswagen (6.0 percent), then a step down to Mercedes-Benz (3.8 percent), Holden (3.6 percent), Nissan (3.4 percent), Ford tied with Subaru (3.3 percent), Honda (3.1 percent), Audi (2.7 percent), BMW (2.5 percent), Mitsubishi (2.4 percent) and Lexus (1.2 percent).
The total sample size for the survey, which is conducted on an on-going basis throughout the year, is around 50,000 people.
The result isn’t a huge surprise though. The top three positions mirror those of what’s selling strongest right now. What’s interesting is that aspirational brands like Mercedes-Benz, and Audi feature in new car buyer wishlists, while in neither appear inside the top-ten brands in present-day sales figures.
Roy Morgan’s research also delved into what bodystyles were on the shopping lists of would-be new car buyers (above), with cars from the SUV category unsurprisingly coming out on top. All told, 40 percent of respondents said they were looking for an SUV as their next new car, with 35.1 percent chasing a traditional passenger car.
Curiously just 8.1 percent of those polled said they were intending to buy a commercial vehicle, a result that’s at odds with present-day car sales figures that put the current market share of light commercial vehicles at 21 percent (2019 year-to-date), largely driven by strong demand for dual-cab utilities.
The Reader: Greg Weston The Car: 2018 Porsche 718 Cayman S The Mileage: 2500km The Ownership period: 3 months
This feature was originally published in MOTOR’s June 2018 issue
What did you drive before? I had a Renault Megane RS. Up until then that was by far and away the best car I’ve ever had. Some years earlier I had a couple of WRXs and [the Renault] just made me realise how good a really well designed chassis can be. The 2000 WRX was one of the very early ones, but I actually drove one back to back with the Renault. It felt outdated. The steering felt like it had a friction nut attached to it.
Quite an upgrade to a Porsche, then? I was looking for a bit more performance. My father had a couple of Porsches over the years. A second-hand one came up and it wasn’t that expensive. One thing that does surprise me is the quality of the steering. But also the suspension, the combination of compliance and handling. I can’t believe it.
Seen the track yet? I did Winton six weeks ago, it’s not as good as Phillip Island, but it’s still exciting. I couldn’t nail the sweeper so I still need to get my line right on that. You almost have to put the brake on in the corner. I was trying to brake before. Then I took a ride in a GT3 and he showed me how good the brakes were.
You owned a 987, do you miss the engine? Well, I’m also going to say the four-cylinder engine is a highlight. It’s fantastic. It’s obviously a fair bit faster, but if the roads are less exciting I enjoy short shifting because there’s a lot of torque there. With the flat-six, if you want to rev it out it does that pretty well, it makes maximum power at reasonably high revs, which is fantastic. As for the sound, I quite like the [four cylinder’s] sound, too.
You wrote in denouncing our PCOTY 2018 Winner. [The Civic Type R] surprised me and I would really like to drive it. But I hate the styling.
THIS HASN’T happened since 1970. In foul weather at Brands Hatch on Saturday, a Brabham driven by a Brabham took the chequered flag.
The BT62’s maiden outing saw driver David Brabham take the top step of the podium in the Britcar Dunlop Endurance race.
Sir Jack’s son crossed the line to take the win, marking the first time since the South African Grand Prix nearly half a century ago that a Brabham driven by a Brabham had won a race.
“It was a dream start for the car and for the group. It’s the rebirth of Brabham back on a racetrack and there are lots of mixed emotions,” Brabham said.
“With three or four laps to go I could feel myself starting to feel the emotion of it, and I was like, ‘No, no, focus!’ because the conditions were treacherous –you didn’t want to make any sort of mistake -and I didn’t want to throw that win away by pre-empting things in my head and thinking about it.
“It’s a fantastic achievement and I’m just really proud of everybody involved in the project,” he told the UK’s Motor Sport.
The long game for Brabham is to their car compete at Le Mans in 2022 but Saturday marked a first step on that road.
Saddled with a big ballast penalty and restricted to just 335kW of its maximum 560kW output, the BT62 nevertheless saw Brabham and co-driver Will Powell lead the field home, despite an issue with the screen fogging in the wet.
Brabham has assured us that customer cars will be fitted with an electrically heated windscreen, with first deliveries scheduled for Q1 of next year.
A teenager from Pennsylvania has created a way to see through a car’s A-pillars at the corner of the windscreen, winning a cool $25,000 prize along the way.
As manufacturers strive to make each successive car stronger and thus safer, there’s little chance that A-pillars will be shrinking any time soon. But 14-year-old Alaina Gassler has designed a prototype that effectively makes A-pillars ‘see-through’, thanks to a simple camera and projector set up.
Gassler used a webcam placed on the outside of the A-pillar to capture vision of the outside world, and fed the live footage through to a small projector aimed at the inside of the pillar. She then covered the pillar with a special reflective fabric that reflects the picture only to the driver.
Gassler explained to Popular Mechanics that that the reason she decided to create the fix was because, in part, her grandmother scraped the side of her car due to the blind spot.
“I wanted to find a way to get rid of them,” Gassler said. “My older brother, Carter, just started to drive, so it was a big safety concern.”
The prototype was tested out on the family’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, which has large A-pillars causing a sizeable blind spot.
From the footage above you can see the prototype definitely works well, but improvements for next time include using curved LCD displays mounted around the pillar instead of a shaky projector.
This idea isn’t strictly new to car companies, but it seems as though no manufacturer has actually implemented a proper solution as yet. As such, Gassler and her dad hope to acquire a number of patents that will help protect the idea, to further develop their solution.
The invention was developed throughout Gassler’s eighth grade school year, and took out the grand prize of $25,000 at the Society for Science Broadcom MASTERS (Maths, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars) middle school competition.
She plans to reinvest her winnings back into the development of the invention by making it more unique, then patent the design before submitting it to interested car makers, with Gassler suggesting Tesla.
