HSV has announced a special edition Monopoly board bearing the Clayton brand’s name, as well as a theme based on its greatest muscle cars.
Available from March, with per-orders already starting, HSV says the set comes with six HSV board tokens to replace the likes of the battleship and the boot.
The 1996 VS GTS-R, HSV’s 20 Years of Maloo model, a HSV steering wheel, a wheel from the E-Series, a HSV badge, and a HSV gear shift are the player pieces that come with the set.
In addition, rather than trying to attain a monopoly on real estate, the goal of the game is to create the best collection of HSV models, with Old Kent Road becoming the VN Group A, through to Regent Street being replaced with the 1996 VS GTS-R.
The two blue tiles, Park Lane and Mayfair, become the 2008 HSV W427 and the 2017 HSV GTSR W1 respectively, marking two of the rarest models out of Clayton.
HSV doesn’t include any of its recent US-imported endeavours such as the Silverado or Camaro on the board, nor does the Holden Colorado Sportscat by HSV make an appearance.
Train stations are replaced by different HSV engines, and the utilities are now HSV’s Walkinshaw Park and Bathurst HQ properties.
“Curated for the HSV enthusiast, featuring coupes and utes, early classics and the latest beasts,” HSV says, “this edition of Monopoly delivers a touch of HSV excitement as you wheel and deal your favourite performance machines.”
Marie Kondo has a lot to answer for right now. The Japanese celebrity minimalist has single-handedly caused a 38 per cent rise in St Vincent De Paul charity bin donations thanks to her new Netflix show ‘Tidying Up’, but in making the act of ‘throwing out your junk’ fashionable Kondo has actually tapped into a movement in the zeitgeist that is doing good things for motoring enthusiasts.
In the past few years, global economists and futurists have noted that consumers are increasingly favouring an ‘experience economy’. Part of that ‘do more and buy less’ ethos, not unlike Kondo’s method, the movement is a natural 21st-century shift from the service economy of the ‘80s and’90s. Rather than have someone else do the work for them, the modern consumer is now obsessed with not only having their pizza, but feeling something about it too.
On a grander scale, this interest in experiences explains a rise in “Instagram-worthy” selling points, be that in a restaurant or at a festival, or the rise things like escape rooms and virtual reality installations. It’s going to Japan and checking into a hotel manned entirely by robots, it’s a San Francisco museum just for ice cream, and it’s getting behind the wheel of a modern poster-car and pummelling someone else’s tyres for a day– instead of pummelling your own. Naturally, car manufacturers now want a piece of the bucket-list-as-a-commodity pie.
Of course drive days are nothing new, but the huge scope of choices and the integrated lifestyle element; AKA the new experience certainly is. Think of it like this: you want to do a track day… but what if you could do that and have a massage, helicopter ride and celebrity chef-prepared dinner too? What if your drive day was set in a beautiful location only known to a few, or held at one of the country’s most premium motorsport parks in a one-on-one session with the best racing drivers in the country? Want to know more about the tech, safety and capability of your car? Forget a dealership test drive when the alternative is to learn about your latest purchase while wearing an open-faced helmet and hurtling down a straight usually reserved for a supercar.
“The one area that is really important to us, is for customers to really know what their car can do,” comments Jerry Stamoulis, Mercedes-Benz Head of Media Relations and Product Communications
“The benefit of them understanding the vehicle’s safety and technology increases their driving experience. Sometimes when you purchase a vehicle, there isn’t enough time during the sales process to run through everything. So, often, when we have these customers coming to our events, they will discover things they never knew their cars could do – so the actual ownership experience improves.”
Stamoulis says the demand for drive days is on the up, partly down to an increase in sales for the German brand, but also because customers – especially those buying top-dog AMG vehicles – are increasingly interested in lifestyle experiences that revolve around their car of choice, be it a lunch at the Bathurst 12 Hour or watching the Australian Grand Prix.
If current market trends and our increasing obsession with experiences are anything to go by, our appetite for drive events will only get bigger and that puts the pressure on them to get even better. A handy bonus of all this is that more accessible driver programs should make for safer drivers on the road – not to mention a healthy ego-boost for those taking part via their social media feeds. Because, pics or it didn’t happen, right?Curious? We’ve already talked about The Bend’s brilliant new drive experience program, so here are more of the best drive days and experiences worth signing up for or adding to your next milestone wish list. And the only thing you’ll need to hide from the Marie Kondos of the world, will be a branded lanyard (or seven).
BMW Driving Experience Courses
What: Offering something for every level of driver, including half-days for those wanting to toe-dip, these Phillip Island-held track days offer the chance to take some of BMW’s most fun cars, including the M2 (the jury’s still out if an M2 Competition will join field), the M240i, M3, M4 and MINI JCW for a slam down Gardner straight, while learning the fine art of cornering, oversteer and understeer control, high-speed braking, driving physics (advanced course only), or simply finessing your power slide on a skid pan. Plus, if you know Phillip Island, then you know it’s a track like no other. Price: $650-$2200, book here or through a BMW dealer.
Porsche Driving School
What: From mastering the track with meticulous accuracy to high-performance blasts at the wheel of a 911 GT3, through to learning proper racecraft in a 911 GT3 Cup Car, this Mount Cotton-based driving school is arguably one of the best in the country. This will also give prospective Porsche buyers (or existing owners) a taste of the range, with Cayman, Cayman S, Boxster, Boxster S, 911 Carrera, 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet, 911 Carrera 4 GTS, Panamera 4S, Cayenne GTS, Macan Turbo all in the mix. And for those real adrenaline junkies, Mount Cotton kindly throws in some resident marsupials that reside in the centre of the track, just to make sure you’ve brought your A-game. Price: $1,595 – $6,820, book here or through a Porsche dealer.
Audi Driving Experience
What: When it comes to cool track days, Audi offers many trim levels – from basic track day courses (including female-only driving experiences) to more advanced training up to Audi Sport Pro Driving and Race Driving Experiences. To get to the latter, you have to complete the former. But if a one-hit experience is more your speed, consider jumping on one of the Audi Ice Driving Experiences. One of these might take you to the alps of Austria or ice-covered fields of Sweden, but they’ll certainly push your skills to the limit, with a promise of some schnapps, a spa or a Swedish massage at the end – not to mention a European trip of a lifetime. Price: $999- $6,500+, book here or through an Audi dealer
Aston Martin Art of Living Experience
What: If you’ve been watching WhichCarTV, you will soon be able to witness some of the scenes from Aston Martin’s On Ice experiences – a multiple-day snow driving course that takes place each year in New Zealand and Japan. But that’s just scratching the surface of the pinch-me experiences offered by the Brits. Wryly named the “Art of Living” program, Aston Martin’s hyper-luxurious offerings are more of a holiday, and combine incredible fuel-injected opportunities with a lifestyle element to help you wind down from all that adrenaline. Choices include an annual pilgrimage to Monaco for a race weekend with the Red Bull Racing team or hitting the 24 Hours of Le Mans, to a seven-step Nürburgring training programme that can’t be equalled by Gran Turismo. Granted, many are exclusive to customers, but not all. Price: P.O.A, book here or through an Aston Martin dealer.
Mercedes-Benz First Gear
What: Mercedes-Benz offers some pretty impressive experiences, including track days and the prestigious AMG Driving Academy, an invitation-only event that travels around the world to tear up snow and bitumen. However, one of the more unique drive days Merc offers is its First Gear program, made specifically for young drivers (and you don’t have to be a customer). This half-day event uses models from across Mercedes-Benz’s sprawling range, including a mammoth, 18-tonne Actros truck, and aims to teach young drivers things like risk-avoidance, emergency procedures, braking techniques, vehicle physics and how to handle critical situations – there’s even an element on a skid pan that focuses on loss of control. Essential skills laced with a bit of luxe fun. Price: $350, book here or through a Mercedes-Benz dealer.
Drift Cadet Drift School
What: So you think you can dance? Melbourne drift school Drift Cadet offers basic to advanced lessons in slides. The courses are held at Winton Motor Raceway’s skidpan and are a half-day intensive lesson that include things like clutch-kicks, handbrake action, donuts and figure eights, through to advanced motorkhana skills; all performed like a smoky ballet in a Toyota 86. Price: $599, book here.
Jaguar Track Experience
What: Complimentary for new Jaguar owners, but also open to anyone, Jaguar’s Track Experiences take place in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney and offer a chance to really hear that bellowing F-Type sing. Also featuring other models from Jaguar’s latest range, this day focuses on track and real-life skills – giving you one-on-one tuition from highly skilled drivers on corning, braking points and how to get the most out of the British carmaker’s highest-performance vehicles. Price: $495, book here or through a Jaguar dealer.
Careful… if there’s one word to describe the manner in which we drove the laps which Volkswagen Australia offered us in its apprentice-built Arteon time attack car, it’s that. Careful.
Not just because it was very, very rainy, or because it was cold and the car is fitted with Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R semi-slicks, or even because the car’s boasting 360kW and 600Nm. It’s because Luddenham Raceway, the setting for our race car romp, is a tight track with little room for error.
The previous result of this was a stripped-out VW Amarok with custom suspension, smaller track tyres, but the standard diesel V6 engine. It lapped Easter Creek in 1:57.01, two seconds quicker than a Golf GTI.
The Arteon time attack car, known to VW as the ‘ART3on’, was built with the aim of hitting 100km/h in less than four seconds, something which Volkswagen claims it has achieved uphill on Luddenham’s straight with a 3.9sec run.
Aside from its custom track-focused build, it’s also sporting a harlequin-like livery designed by a street artist from Sydney named Simon Murray.
Underneath that is a host of modifications made to the chassis, suspension, and the Arteon’s standard running gear. The massive lift in power and torque, up 154kW/250Nm from 206kW/350Nm to 360kW/600Nm, comes thanks to several RacingLine modifications including a stage 3 turbo and intercooler setup, plus intake, oil management and fuel pump upgrades.
Upgraded DSG software comes from Harding Performance and TVS Engineering, helping the standard seven-speed gearbox transfer the new outputs to the Arteon’s four wheels. Bilstein Australia supplied a custom racing suspension setup, and APR dished out the stopping power.
Inside, the seats have all been turfed and a roll cage put in place of the rears, while Velo racing seats sit up front. Most of the carpet and lining has been removed, while the dash and centre console are the only major interior elements that remain.
All up, the changes to the Arteon allowed a 1:49:02 lap of Eastern Creek with racer and driving coach Renato Loberto at the wheel. Luckily, Loberto was also on hand to coach us at Luddenham.
After a few demonstration laps in the passenger seat, during which Loberto gave a taste of what could go wrong and where it’s likely to happen, it was time to drive.
Being strapped into the driver’s seat is a bizarre fusion of the alien and familiar, facing Volkswagen’s familiar dash while feeling a bucket seat underneath and race-style metal shift paddles behind the wheel. At idle, the car is burbling and vibrating as you’d expect a racecar to do, competing with the visuals of its exterior for volume dominance. This is clearly not going to be as easy as driving a standard 206kW Arteon.
On the out lap, Loberto asks if we can keep things smooth and gradual, keeping throttle application conservative in corners and at low speeds. Even with this request – or plea – taken into account, the mix of cold-ish Trofeo Rs and a wet surface wasn’t conducive to laying down 600Nm, and it showed in a rather startling fashion.
A moment of reflexively strong right foot had the 360kW Volkswagen wanting to get sideways, while still heading for the outside of a bend.
“Did you feel that? You lost traction there,” Loberto said. I was aware, or at least my heartrate was.
Its exhaust note is almost equally as exhilarating. The anti-lag system creates intense crackles and backfires on the overrun, and it sounds like there’s a rally car trying to get out.
After getting more familiar with the Arteon’s bitey gearshifts and sharp torque delivery, it becomes much friendlier, almost to the point where on any other day (and on a more open track) it seems like it could be considered ‘easy’ to drive.
After fighting puddles for enough laps to feel like the Arteon wasn’t constantly at risk of meeting the wall, Loberto suggested opening it up properly on the short straight.
While the Arteon might not have topped a particularly impressive speed, in fact a Golf R was almost certainly faster in the conditions, its acceleration is brutal and a dry surface would surely reveal a proper weapon.
If anything, the rain gives us an excuse to ask VW Oz for another crack in the dry…
2019 VOLKSWAGEN ARTEON TIME ATTACK CAR SPECS: Engine: 1984cc inline-four, DOHC, 16v, turbo Power: 360kW @ N/A Torque: 600Nm @ N/A Weight: N/A 0-100km/h: 3.9sec (claimed) Price: N/A
Like: Impressive pace; unsuspecting package; WRC soundtrack Dislike: Nervousness in low-grip conditions; low grip conditions ruining our fun
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
The transition of electric vehicles from exception to the rule has taken a significant step, with the Nissan Leaf becoming the biggest overall selling car in Norway.
Nissan sold 12,303 second-generation Leafs in the Scandinavian country last year, seeing it leap ahead of 2017 ladder leaders; the Volkswagen Golf (9859), BMW i3 (5687), Toyota RAV4 (3856) and Tesla Model X (4891), in its first year on sale.
It’s a big achievement for Nissan’s electric hatch in a country where more than a third of the 148,000 cars sold in 2018 were all-electric.
The electric BMW i3 was the third biggest selling car in Norway after the Volkswagen Golf, with the Tesla Model X (fourth), Tesla Model S (eighth) and Renault Zoe (10th) also making the top-10.
Hybrids also represented about a third of sales.
Uptake of electric vehicles in progressive Norway was always going to outpace the rest of the world – the fact that only about 30 percent cars sold there last year have combustion-only powertrains shows what can be achieved with the help of environmentally-conscious government policies and incentives.
By comparison just 1352 EVs were sold last year in Australia, which has almost five times Norway’s population, with that number representing 0.1 percent of all cars, SUVs and light commercial vehicles sold. Of these about 67 percent, or 910, went to commercial or government buyers.
The Nissan Leaf, which recently launched in Australia, was also the biggest selling EV in Europe, with 40,699 sold across the continent where EV sales represent about 2.0 percent of the market.
Nissan isn’t resting on its laurels with its electric hatch, with the Japanese carmaker recently announcing a new version, the Leaf E-Plus that extends its real-world single-charge range by a about 40 percent from about 270km to 380km.
This should make it a more attractive prospect in Australia against new, similarly priced (about $55,000), rivals such as the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, and Kia e-Niro, the latter of which has a 600km-plus urban range.
Who doesn’t love a good engine swap?
It turns out a MOTOR reader named Jorrit decided to take things a little further by replacing most of the mechanicals in his Holden Combo van with more powerful and sporting parts from Astras.
Jorrit tells us the Combo started out completely standard, with a fairly unimpressive 66KW.
“0-100km/h was possible eventually. First thing I did was fit some Barina SRI foglights and a steering wheel, this made it look a bit more sporty. That’s how it started.”
“It sat quite high on its wheels so I went looking for ways to lower it. I had done some research to find out that Astra TS suspension might fit.
“Some Astra coilovers arrived shortly after that. Being a Van the rear suspension needs to hold a bit more weight, which meant the Astra springs were too soft.
“Being a mechanic by trade I work on many different cars and noticed that Commodores with independent rear ends had a spring that looked like it would fit.
“A few attempts later the right spring rate and length was found. At that point I also modified a Whiteline rear Barina sway bar to fit. Go kart handling achieved.”
With the suspension altered to make the Combo a little more corner-friendly, Jorrit decided 66kW from the Combo’s 1.4-litre four suddenly “wasn’t going to cut it,” so he found the largest engine he thought he could reasonably fit into the Combo’s engine bay – a 2.0-litre turbocharged Astra TS engine.
“But with a more powerful and heavier engine you also need bigger brakes, wheels that clear those brakes, and stronger CVs. Already having Astra coilovers I knew that the hubs would bolt onto that.”
The next step was to make the hubs, control arms, and steering rack work together. Some fiddling and searching turned up the processes and parts which allowed the Astra wheels, brakes, and mechanicals to cooperate.
“Fitting the new engine in the tiny engine bay was a nightmare. There was a bit of force required to make it fit.”
Jorrit tells us of sledgehammers and much time spent fiddling with seemingly minor parts in order to fit an A/C compressor and alternator, and after finally sorting the engine bay, the ‘Turbo Combo’ was born.
He says there are still electronic bugs, for example the ECU no longer has ABS to manage, which has ‘confused’ it.
At the moment, Jorrit says the Turbo Combo is making 184kW at the crank, but has yet to put it on a dyno. That’s not a huge number these days, but it’s far more than you’d expect to be hiding under an inconspicuous little van.
“The exhaust at my request has been made quiet yet free flowing with the rear muffler dumping down, and a little tailpipe fitted at the end to make it look standard.
“A large front-mount intercooler and stainless charge piping still needs to be fitted, hopefully in the next few weeks. The Combo Turbo doesn’t weigh much and has surprised many off the lights or on twisty mountain roads.
“The induction noise makes it sounds like a Japanese import, it handles like a hot hatch but it looks like a van. My idea was to make it a sleeper and I think I’ve achieved that goal.
“I even left the ‘max 80km/h’ sticker on the ‘spare wheel’ to make it look like it’s already wounded.”
Is it a proper sleeper? Let us know what you think of the Turbo Combo in the comments below!
WHEELS is undergoing a major revamp, with a brand-new look, better paper stock and new sections.
The relaunched Wheels magazine will be on sale January 31, and the changes are generated by the most important cog in our wheel – you. Our readers stated in no uncertain terms that they wanted to see more car culture when we ran our hugely-subscribed Wheels survey last year.To answer the call we have introduced the new ‘Overrun’ section.
Following the regular news section of the mag, and preceding our in-depth first drive reviews, Overrun is a place to celebrate everything that makes being a car enthusiast great.
We’ll be chatting to motoring icons in a series of unique and insightful profiles. There will also be investigations into the issues that matter most to you, where we will delve to the core of the topic to provide information you won’t find elsewhere. Overrun will also be a home for fantastically left-field aspects of car culture.
While Wheels will continue to focus on the best new metal you can buy today, Overrun will be where we celebrate cars of years past in an ongoing series called Modern Classic. An icon from the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s will be featured every month, and we’ll examine what made them legends, or perhaps why they’re due their moment in the sun.
Pick up our first issue of the year on January 31, and make sure to tell us what you think of the new section.
Ever since Suzuki wheeled out a ute-backed version of its box-fresh Jimny at the Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this month, the question of whether we’ll see a load-lugging production version of the Suzuki Jimny is looking like a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’.
“I’ve been inundated with questions, not only from customers but from dealers as well – ‘we want it, let’s do it!’”, Suzuki Australia general manager Michael Pachota told WhichCar at the national launch of the new Suzuki Jimny.
“The agricultural side of Australia [has a] need for a small off-road vehicle as capable as this with a ute tray. The demand is definitely there. Our dealer network is screaming for it, so when they saw that [concept] it created a few problems for me!
“But at the same time, I put my hand up for it straight away when Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) said they would do something with it.”
But it’s not just Australians who want a utility-focused Jimny pick-up – according to Pachota, virtually all markets where Suzuki currently operates have expressed keen interest in such a model.
“Most countries have requested it from SMC. We have a global distributor’s conference every six months, and at the last conference we all voiced our need for a ute-back [Jimny], as well as a five-door,” he said.
The idea of a five-door Jimny variant would be new ground for the nameplate, which has exclusively been a two- or three-door vehicle. However, the idea of a family of Jimny vehicles with three body styles – three-door and five-door wagon, plus a two-door utility – is an appealing one to Suzuki Australia.
Jeep has already adopted a similar formula with its just-launched JL Wrangler, which will spawn the Jeep Gladiator pick up variant later this year.
“If the name starts with ‘Jimny’, we’ll sell it,” Pachota said. “A five-door would broaden the range of customers beyond just the thrill seekers, the adventure seekers and the young drivers who just want the cutest 4×4 on the block. It would really broaden our demographic.”
However, indications are that a pick-up utility would be the priority for Suzuki globally rather than a five-door wagon, which would likely require significant engineering to accommodate a proper second row of seats.
“I wouldn’t write [Jimny ute] off,” Pachota said. “They built that concept car to see people’s reactions, and I’m sure that they, like I have, have been inundated with requests to build one. I would be very confident that they would be considering it.”
“The five-door would be great as an added bonus, but once you develop a long-wheelbase platform, you’ve got both ends covered – it’s just about the shell.”
The Suzuki Jimny launches in regular three-door form on January 26, and WhichCar will bring you full pricing and specifications on January 25 – along with our first local review.
Are you one of those who lust after a Jimny ute? Let us know in the comments below!
THERE has always been a bit of a problem with airbags.
While they work well during their initial inflation phase, if your crash lasts any longer than around half a second, their utility is pretty much nil.
They just become floppy net curtains that ensure you can no longer see out of the vehicle that may well still be moving at speed.
Hyundai has recently developed an airbag system that is designed to improve performance in the 30 percent of all vehicle accidents classified as multi collision incidents.
They could be slumped, thrown sideways or forced into other unusual positions that aren’t always catered for by a standard airbag.
Most modern airbags feature multi-stage inflators already, but the calibration of these systems is usually measured by an accelerometer, the vehicle in effect deciding how big an impact you’re having and deploying the airbags appropriately. Using a suite of sensors inside the vehicle, Hyundai’s system deploys the bags in a far smarter fashion, not using all the available inflation charge straight away and taking into account the body position of the occupants.
“By improving airbag performance in multi-collision scenarios, we expect to significantly improve the safety of our drivers and passengers,” said Taesoo Chi, head of Chassis Technology Centre at Hyundai Motor Group.
“We will continue our research on more diverse crash situations as part of our commitment to producing even safer vehicles that protect occupants and prevent injuries.”
Hyundai has given no date as yet on when we will see this tech productionised.
Daniel and Matt round off the show on an equally mainstream, rough and tough note, test driving a pair of plus-sized dual cab utes from America. If you think the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are big, just wait until you see what we got our hands on.
See the full episode: Watch at tenplay.com.au (AU) or primetv.co.nz (NZ)
Tell us your thoughts below: Can you see yourself buying an American ute?
We throw the Corolla into a battle royale against its main rivals from Mazda and Hyundai to see if the Japanese stalwart deserves its place when compared with two other popular offerings.
Click here to see the next segment
See the full episode: Watch at tenplay.com.au (AU) or primetv.co.nz (NZ)
Tell us your thoughts below: Which small hatch would you put down your hard-earned for?
