Porsche likes to squeeze its money’s worth from the 911. Of the water-cooled models, the 996 version was around for six years, the 997 a yawning nine years and the 991, eight. It’s hard to believe that the 992 has already been with us for six years, so well has it worn its years. It has though, and it’s now been treated to what has become a Porsche staple: the mid-life update.

This is dubbed the 992.2 generation by the factory and we’re driving the 911 Carrera coupe. To simplify things a little for you, it’s everything that most of us will ever need from a 911. Given that it’s priced at $280,500, maybe you’re right to expect something quite special, even from the base model 911.

A decade ago, that sum would have bought you a 297kW/440Nm Carrera 4S with a 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated engine and change for some options. Now you get a 290kW/450Nm twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre with half the number of driveshafts. Is this progress? It’s a question worth asking.

Let’s take a look at that engine first. Unlike the Carrera S and GTS models, which have both enjoyed major power bumps, the flat-six plumbed into the posterior of the Carrera isn’t hugely different to what went before in the 992.1. That installation made 283kW/450Nm, so you now get the same torque figure but seven additional kilowatts that have to lug about an additional 11kg, resulting in a modest uptick in power-to-weight ratio (from 188kW/tonne to 191.3kW/tonne). That additional grunt comes from the turbochargers that were fitted to the previous 911 GTS and the old 911 Turbo’s chargecoolers.

That was done largely because they’re more efficient, but the tickle of power is a welcome bonus. As indeed is the added response and flexibility. Two-thirds of peak torque is around just 1500rpm, before the maximum of 450Nm chimes in from 2000rpm – and it stays all the way to 5000rpm, making the Carrera feel fairly brawny.

That is unless you drive it back to back with some more senior 911 models, as we did. A new Carrera GTS with 570Nm of torque can make the base car feel a little breathless on a race track, but on roads, it’s not something that’ll occupy your mind for a moment.

Some will miss the fact that you can no longer buy a Carrera with a manual transmission and I’d say that’s a warranted complaint. You have to step up to the slightly more aggressive Carrera T if you want three pedals and a stick. That’s $306,800 and also includes gear like standard Sport Chrono, rear-wheel steering, PASM Sport (lowering by 10mm) and Carrera S-style bigger alloy wheels. Given how expensive Porsche options are, if you were already thinking of optioning the wheels and Sport Chrono onto your Carrera, that’s almost $8000 accounted for straight away. It’s another $7000 for PASM Sport and rear axle steering, but those are two options not offered on the base Carrera, so there’s a little curtain-lift on how Porsche slyly walks you into more expensive models.

Instead you’ll have to content yourself with the standard eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, which is a truly excellent piece of engineering. Thus equipped, the Carrera can leap out of the blocks to 100km/h in 4.1 seconds or 3.9 seconds if you opt for Sport Chrono pack, which also includes the Sport Plus drive mode, Launch Control, the Porsche Precision track app, the Sport Response button and the hero PSM Sport mode. This is the one option I’d consider a must-have for the base Carrera, as it appreciably lifts the ceiling of its abilities by a few per cent and is reasonable value at $4370. Other technical changes include better brakes, the Carrera now getting the six-piston front calipers that were standard-fit on the old 992.1 Carrera GTS, beefier engine mounts and revised gear ratios to help address the perennial Porsche complaint of overly long ratios.

The exterior changes will escape many casual onlookers. Beadier matrix LED headlamps and a more sculpted look to the front air intakes are the key differences up front. The number plate now sits in a more raised position, allowing space beneath for the car’s rather ungainly sensors. At the rear, the number plate has been raised, now no longer sitting between the exhausts. The rear light bar also looks sleeker and more cohesive. It’s evolutionary stuff; nothing radical.

Inside, things are a bit more interesting. The main difference is that the 911 no longer has back seats. Well, it doesn’t have back seats as a standard fit item. The reason why is to gerrymander weight and efficiency figures a little. Should you want rear seats – and it’s a key 911 attraction amongst buyers – they are a zero cost option from new.

Talking of keys, the 911 now features a starter button rather than the knurled twist ‘key’ it featured before. This looks cheaper and more generic than the twist key, but it’s arguably easier to use. The dash has ditched its one analogue clock and gone to a full curved digital display that’s configurable through seven different screen modes. Again, some will say that this is another area in which the 992.2 is reverting to the mainstream, but the screens look pretty good and include full Android Auto and Apple CarPlay wireless integration.

The driving position is as good as ever. You sit low in the car, the standard 14-way electrically adjustable sports seats being a decent chair. Should you want more lateral support, there’s a four-way adjustable sports seat that’s a little more sculpted, which is a zero cost option. You can’t option in anything more aggressive, so if you had designs on something like the racy CFRP bucket seats, bad luck. Buy a Carrera T and budget another $11,250 for that particular privilege.

Prod the starter button and the 911 Carrera fires up into a purposeful chunter. The PDK box engages cleanly and easily with no mechanical shunt. The control weights feel cultured and well-oiled. The cabin is free of low-speed squeaks and rattles but there’s the immediate realisation that this is a louder car than before. The new engine mounts seem to transfer more vibration into the passenger cell and there’s also an element of synthesised sound being piped into the cabin. Put that down to the fitment of particulate filters strangling the engine’s natural acoustics a little.

The Pirelli P Zero tyres also transmit a hefty quota of decibels into the cabin. This is a shame as the Carrera has always been a great long distance cruiser. Indeed, the gearing of the latest 992.2 features lower ratios for the first six gears and then longer ones for the top two cogs to help give a long-legged feel to freeway driving, but the noise never really goes away and can be wearing on open-pore surfaces.

A 135-litre frunk and 261L of free space behind the front seats if you have rear seats fitted, or 373L if you don’t, means that the 911 has enough practicality to easily manage a couple’s weekend away. You might also need to budget for a set of noise-cancelling earbuds, or else you can crank up the standard Bose surround system – all 570 watts and 12 speakers of it.

Ride quality is very good, with fantastic body control. Smaller surface imperfections can send an audible jolt through the 911’s superstructure, but the revised adaptive dampers do a great job of rounding off the worst excesses. The brakes feel mighty, with serious stopping power again and again. Only on track would you start to find their limits, and we had one car that felt as if it might have warped a disc, but on road they’re more than up to the task.

The gearbox does a great job of selecting the right gear, but if you’d rather take control, the stubby metal paddle shifters feel great, with a positive soft click into the next gear. One thing we didn’t miss at all was the rear-wheel steering that’s fitted to the GTS. If anything, this gives the standard Carrera a more natural and trustworthy feel to the steering, and it’s huge fun to punt around the Phillip Island circuit, exploring its surprisingly benign limits. For that, I’d like to think it’s my skills behind the wheel, but it’s largely due to the brilliant PSM Sport stability control setting on these Sport Chrono-equipped cars.

The engine sounds bassier and more organic than the GTS, and it’d be happy enough on a track day. It’s as a road car that the Carrera really shines, and that element of both practicality and all-round performance is why it’s such an icon. That hasn’t really changed with the latest car. Yes, there are some elements of the 992.2 that have appeared to erode its quirkiness, but that’s been a process observed for years, maybe decades.

The best part of the base Carrera is that it still feels like the definitive 911. The GTS might be more capable, the GT3 angrier, but this is the datum from which they all spawn and the best way to judge a new 911 in its entirety. On that basis, the 992.2 update is more than worthy. The best news? While most of the other models have increased in price by $25k or so, the uptick in price for the Carrera has been a mere $2700. That has to be the rarest of things: a present from Porsche.

Specifications

“IT’S FULL OF BALLS.”

When Hyundai told me I’d be picking up the new Santa Fe XRT from John Cain Arena in Melbourne and that it might have some promo material from the weekend’s Melbourne Mavericks netball match in it, I wasn’t expecting a boot full of unsecured Gilbert Phoenix size fives. This could prove a problem, especially as the route I’d chosen for the day took us out of Melbourne and into some of the most inhospitable parts of Victoria.

It would certainly be a test for the Santa Fe, an SUV that blends seamlessly into suburbia, but which doesn’t really do arduous. With the XRT accessory pack, Hyundai wants to add some attitude to this lovely but mild-mannered box. Or, if you prefer, some balls.

The XRT Peak Option Pack, as fitted to this one, adds $9,990 to the price of your Santa Fe and includes the 17-inch off road wheel and tyre package, an integrated side step, a bonnet protector, a roof platform, XRT mud flaps, roof racks, and underbody skid plate, window visors and the XRT suspension kit. This features new hub carriers, stabiliser bars, springs and longer stroke HL Mando shock absorbers which deliver 30mm of extra ground clearance over a standard Santa Fe. In fact, with 210mm of clearance, the XRT features the exact same clearance as an entry-level Toyota Prado, but the Hyundai’s long overhangs mean that it can’t match the Japanese car’s approach and departure angles.

If you don’t need all the trimmings, the XRT Adventure option pack nets you the wheels, tyres, suspension, underbody skid plate and mud flaps for $6,990 including GST and fitting. That may well be a bit more palatable to many. The tyres were meant to be Pirelli Scorpions, but a supply issue meant that our vehicle was shod with Yokohama Geolander AT rubber measuring 235/65 R17 all round.

I’m waiting for photographer Ellen to arrive at the Three Sugars Cafe in Warburton. The skies are leaden and, given our route out to Woods Point reaches over 1200 metres above sea level, it looks like it might be cold, wet and windy if the clouds scuttling along the Yarra Ranges ridge lines are anything to go by.

It’s an intriguing route, following the Yarra east towards its source before ramping crazily uphill on the tortuous Reefton Spur road. Arriving at Cumberland Junction, the road then turns to dirt diving into wooded wilderness before arriving at Matlock (population: 7) before dropping down to the remote and historic gold-mining settlement of Woods Point, nestling in an elbow of the brook that becomes Victoria’s mightiest river, the Goulburn.

That ought to give the XRT a reasonable workout. As well as understanding what it is, it’s also important to accept what this Santa Fe is not. It’s not one of those Serious Off Roaders, beloved by men with voluminous beards, a hard drive full of electric winch porn and a predilection for killing their dinner with a spade. I was half looking forward to being smirked at by these types, who would be unable to resist giving me that ‘you’re driving entirely the wrong vehicle’ sort of look. So while you’re not about to be wading through 800mm deep water or engaging low range to tackle a gnarly incline, you’re nevertheless getting something that’s rugged enough to deliver peace of mind when tackling an extended variety of off-trail adventures.

Putting theory into practice

Tackling Reefton Spur is a different matter. On the way out, I’ve been impressed by the refinement of the hybrid Santa Fe, even on the Yokohama AT rubber which has, if anything, helped to massage away some of the flintier edges of the standard car’s ride. There’s little in the way of tread block singing on smooth bitumen and even when you subject them to some cornering forces, there’s not that woolly vagueness that afflicts many SUVs on knobbly hoops. The thing with Reefton Spur, though, is that it goes on and on and on.

Its origins date back to the 1860s and the Victorian gold rush, when a cart track was built to haul material between the gold workings of Reefton and Jamieson. The road as we know it today was the result of a different natural bonanza: timber. The post-war building boom meant that during 1947-48, the Forests Commission invested in a major project at the Big River, and the Reefton Spur Road was scratched out of the mountain slopes as a trucking route for mountain ash sawlogs. This 20km stretch – from the old Reefton township to Cumberland junction – comprises 180 bends, ascends 632 metres and, should you arrive like us midweek, is usually devoid of traffic. The odd logging truck chugging from the plantations beyond Cambarville is all we see. The road itself is rhythmless, with the odd short descent thrown in to keep you on your toes, and the surface is patchy and deformed from winter ice and snow, summer fires, mountain ash roots and the sheer weight of those big logging trucks. In a sports car it’s a challenge, in a big 4×4 it’s a handful.

Lyrebirds explode out of the ferns in a screeching cacophony as the Sant Fe whirs through. It’s making a pretty good job of things, but the threshold at which the tyres start to wilt gets lower and lower as the tyre carcass gets hotter and hotter. Our car is the Calligraphy trim, in six-seat guise, and weighs 2105kg before you start adding the XRT accessories. In other words, it’s quite a hunk of car to be flinging into off-camber tightening apexes. Amazingly, the undersized 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine doesn’t feel as if it’s lacking for muscle. With a total system torque of 367Nm at its elbow between 1000 and 4500rpm, helped by a reasonable alert six-speed automatic, it’s far from embarrassed when you make demands of it. If you’re concerned that XRT-ing your Santa Fe will turn it into a blancmange on the blacktop, fear not.

Cumberland Junction arrives and it looks like a satellite offshoot of Summernats. A pile of expired wheels and tyres sits on the roadside, cremated radial belts litter the roadway and the bitumen looks more rubbered-in than the Gunsei touge course. It seems a long way to come for a bit of circle work, and one VE Commodore isn’t going home anytime soon, buried so far backwards into the underbrush that, given time, it may well earn its own historic marker signpost.

Head right – passing the obligatory LandCruiser owner giving me that look – and the blacktop ends in short order. In this case it transitions instantly to washboard: the sort of corrugations that were you merely on a weekend jaunt, would have you turning back and reconsidering your options after a couple of hundred metres. At one point it felt as if the entire centre console was trying to tear itself free from its moorings, and the vibration hit a certain frequency whereupon all of the netballs in the boot instantly went from shuffling about meekly to wildly flinging themselves about the cabin. Fortunately, after a few kilometres, the terrain changed and the washboard ended.

At the further reaches

The route out to Cambarville climbs and falls as you follow the spine of the Yarra Ranges. There’s nothing in Cambarville, a locality named after two sawmill owners, A. Cameron and F.J. Barton, who set up shop in the 1940s, before the settlement was repeatedly ravaged by fire and deserted in 1971. Now it’s the gateway to huge pine plantations and, curiously, one of the loveliest stretches of road for miles. After 25km of jarring dirt roads, you’re suddenly presented with a serpentine, seven-kilometre stretch of some of the smoothest hotmix you could imagine. It’s heavenly.

There’s considerable conjecture as to how this section of the C511 came to be. One persistent rumour is that it was laid by Australian Army engineers ahead of a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1954, as part of a tour that took in the soon to be completed Upper Yarra Reservoir. Try as I might, I can find no basis in fact for this. The reintroduction to dirt consists of a pock-marked cluster of potholes that fire water over the Santa Fe’s windscreen. Back into it with gritted teeth.

Barrel into some of the tighter corners and you can experience a sudden introduction of washboard that casually walks the nose of the Hyundai wide. There’s a three-stage stability control system that can do little but rob you of throttle authority when this happens. I experiment with it off – in its middle setting and fully on – and realise things can get quite exciting with everything fully off, but that there’s little material difference between the other two nanny modes.

Unlike, say, an Everest or a Prado, there’s not much in the way of off-road specific settings that you can play with. There’s a hill descent control mode, that we’re not about to use today, and three off-road settings: Mud, Sand and Snow which, for the most part, just implement a few different lines of code in the traction control software. The tempting looking clay-rutted trails that clamber up into the nether reaches of the plantations look a little too sporty for the Santa Fe. Horses for courses and all that.

Photographer Ellen brings us to a halt for yet another photogenic corner, folds of blue-grey pastel hills peering through the trees, fading into fuzzy layers. It’s quiet out here. The brake discs tick as they cool, the Santa Fe’s hybrid electrics emitting a soft whine. The air is so clean that hairy green lichens grow madly on every snow depth marker, signpost or fence line. We count three separate fires on the distant horizon, but the wind has dropped to nothing now. The light’s starting to soften though, and we realise we’ll need to hustle to get to Woods Point and back before night falls.

We emerge from forest onto the bald hilltop of Matlock, formerly the thriving gold mining community of Emerald Hill. You don’t have to wander too far from the road here to find mineshafts angling into the tussock grass. At its peak, back in the 1860s, the town had about 300 residents and sprawled across the plateau, some 1213m above sea level. Winters were harsh on this windswept knoll, and the gold seams were said to have been spectacularly productive before they pinched out. Like Cambarville, Matlock was devastated by fires, first in 1873, which killed its gold industry and then in 1939 when the timber industry was brought to a similar full stop. This is hard country in which to make any sort of living.

Drop off the northern scarp slope from Matlock and the road descends down to the headwaters of the Goulburn River. The terrain becomes folded and rilled, with lusher vegetation and the road surface becomes softer and loamier. It’s only 7km between Matlock and Woods Point, but the contrast between the two settlements is stark. Whereas Matlock is bleak and moribund, Woods Point has some spirit. You roll in and are welcomed by the Commercial Hotel on Bridge Street and a small general store.

A Telstra cell tower on a nearby hill was installed in 2019, bringing this remote community a little closer to the rest of the world. For some who choose to live so far off the grid, that was perhaps a blessing and a curse. One gold mine is still operating in the locale, the A.1 mine, run by Kaiser Reef. It was the Morning Star mine, though, that was the heart of the original community. Founded in 1861 and producing some 883,000oz of gold, it closed in 2023. This seam, situated on a spur leading to the junction of the Morning Star Creek and the Goulburn River was accessed via a 160m shaft. Even as recently as 2019, the mine’s owners, AuStar Gold, were reporting hugely productive seams at nearby McNally’s Reef. There’s still plenty of gold in them hills.

We’re left to ponder whether the XRT kit for this Hyundai Santa Fe is a little nugget of gold or just a bit of mere tinsel. For mine, the $6990 Adventure option pack seems like the better choice, delivering all the bits that add capability. The $9990 Peak option pack merely adds three grand’s worth of tinsel. The Santa Fe XRT’s bigger issue is that the accessories add cost to what is already a fairly pricey vehicle. The Hybrid AWD starts at $58,500, the Elite Hybrid retails at $65,000 and this Calligraphy Hybrid starts at $75,000. Add $7k to those prices and you start getting into the gunsights of some very capable competitors. A Ford Everest Tremor, for example, costs $76,590 and will get you to off-road spots where the XRT would be waving the white flag. Likewise the $72,500 Toyota Prado GX.

Neither of these macho SUVs delivers the sophistication of the Santa Fe’s hybrid powerplant and neither come close to levelling with the Hyundai’s assured and quietly stylish interior finish. That’s where the Korean car might well find its niche. Should your off-road ambitions be a little more limited, but you still require a modicum of capability and the reassurance of tougher tyres and suspension, the XRT asks for little in terms of material compromise. It still rides and handles neatly on road. Do without the Peak pack’s aero-penalty roof platform and you won’t knock too much of an edge off the standard car’s fuel economy either. In short, you’re adding a few percent to the all-up price and adding considerably more in terms of extra ability. We’d call that a win.

As the evening falls in Woods Point, we realise that we have 55km of dirt road to tackle once again, this time with bonus nocturnal marsupials thrown into the mix, before tackling the giddy dive down Reefton Spur. It’s been a long day but the Santa Fe XRT has shrugged off the worst that this teak-tough road has thrown at it. We pass another marker for the gravestones of some long-passed folk of this unforgiving high country. I switch my steering wheel heater on, fire up a playlist on the Bose stereo, sink into the Nappa leather seats and ponder the privilege of having things easy. That’s the beauty of a vehicle like the Hyundai Santa Fe XRT. Taking the rough with the smooth has a lot to be said for it.

Specifications

Sometimes it’s hard to establish just where a measure of healthy scepticism lapses into hard-bitten cynicism. Nobody wants to be that rube, who falls for the promises of snake oil salesmen and is hook, line and sinkered by the extraordinary claims. Take the BYD Shark 6 ute as a for-instance. It’s normally pretty good policy to ignore a company’s first stab at a new market sector because said company will learn quickly and bring along something a whole lot better in time.

That was certainly my read when I first heard that Chinese manufacturer BYD was about to sell a ute into the Aussie market. After all, there’s nowhere else on Earth that knows more about utes than Australia, that lives and breathes them, and devours every last detail of their existence. Make no mistake, this is a phenomenally well-informed market. The result, I assumed, would be that we would point and laugh, condescendingly write it off as a plucky first stab and get back into our Rangers and Hiluxes.

Then rumours of huge pre-orders started circling. The initial sales figures backed the rumours up, admittedly swollen by buyers falling over themselves to place an order for this plug-in hybrid before the government pulled the plug on fringe benefit taxes. In March, the Shark claimed a 14.7 percent share of the 4×4 dual-cab market, seriously eroding the shares of Ford and Toyota and positioning itself in third place, snapping at the heels of the Hilux. Established names like the Mitsubishi Triton, Isuzu D-MAX, Mazda BT-50 and Volkswagen Amarok had all been instantly leapfrogged.

Many didn’t understand quite what it represented. Because it couldn’t tow 3500kg, it was dismissed by the hardcores as a pretend ute. It certainly wouldn’t be your first choice to drag a horse float or to venture into the Simpson Desert. What we wanted to establish today is not how it might appeal to these power users, but how it fulfils a role as a large but light-duty ute for the buyer who will use it for its absolute target use-case: on suburban tarmac or country dirt roads, as a vehicle that offers an active lifestyle option without requiring you to delve right into the weeds of off-roading or heavy towing.

On this route we start at an EV charger in Doveton and we end, appropriately enough, at Shark Bay or, as its better known today, Safety Beach on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

I realise fairly on in the piece that I’m committing some sort of EV crime. I have parked a lowly plug-in hybrid on a 350kW high-speed DC charger. This Evie unit at Doveton is the only high-speed charger in quite a wide radius, and I feel slightly self-conscious with the Shark sitting there accepting a maximum charging rate of 40kW. Only a few weeks earlier, I’d charged a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N at this same charger at 240kW, adding a stack more power to it than the paltry 25.8kWh I’ve pumped into the Shark 6 over 50 minutes to top it to 100 per cent. I know, another public charging station demerit. Nevertheless, I vow to move aside if another user needs to charge an EV.

The reason I want the battery at its peak state of charge is that I’m keen to see how far we go today on battery power alone. The claim is 100km, but we know about manufacturer fuel economy claims. I’d heard some fairly scary stories about the Shark’s lack of overall range, due in no small part to the tiny 1.5-litre engine working itself hard to maintain battery state of charge, in turn rapidly draining the 60-litre fuel tank. This was to be no hypermiling exercise though.

First impressions are promising. The cabin is a far more mature proposition than evident in the designs BYD first offered the Australian market, with quality touch points, considered materials choices and decent ergonomics that belie the $57,900 list price. It’s big too, with plenty of space for one six-footer to sit behind another. Oddments space, charging facilities and all-round visibility all score highly. Moving round to the back, there’s a sizeable 1200-litre tray with a spray-in bedliner, a pair of lights, six tie-downs, a trio of three-pin plugs – ideal for camping trips. Up to 6.6kW is available via the vehicle to load (V2L) function. Payload isn’t standout at just 790kg but, again, it pays to consider the Shark’s role in the larger marketplace.

Our route starts on major arterials: M1, M420 and M780. I’ve yet to pair my phone with the Shark and the native nav is stuck in an endless loop, locating the car in Dandenong trying to get it to exit the M1. We follow signs south to Hastings, on the shores of Western Port, the nav still rinsing and repeating. It’s not a promising start. We switch off and on a few times, but it still can’t seem to camp onto a signal. Only by connecting to Android Auto does the native nav then refresh itself. Weird.

The other thing that’s odd is that the party piece of the Shark’s interior, the 15.6-inch rotating display, will do its thing with a voice command without invoking the BYD assistant. Just saying “rotate screen” will get it to do its 90-degree spin, which suggests the car is listening to everything you say, all the time. Even without donning the tinfoil hat, that’s a bit spooky. It’s also worth noting that if you’re wearing polarised sunnies, the screen goes virtually invisible when rotated into portrait mode. The otherwise excellent head-up display also dims to near illegibility.

People want to talk to you about the Shark. I was buttonholed by a tradie at the charging station who was keen to hear my views and when we stop in Flinders for lunch, an old boy in the general store also wanted to pick my brains as he was looking to replace his old Navara and wanted to know if the Shark was much chop. It seems that there’s still a swathe of interested but undecided potential buyers out there in the market in whom BYD has piqued interest, but have yet to commit. Although the ute comes with a a 6-year/150,000km vehicle warranty and an 8-year/160,000km warranty for the high-voltage battery, the sort of customer who might typically buy a vehicle locally will probably require a bigger dealer network before feeling fully assured.

After a highway section that wasn’t offering a lot of opportunity for the vehicle to add any re-gen to the battery, energy consumption is reassuringly modest. In the end, we register 85km before the state of charge reaches 25 percent and EV mode kicks in. You can hold the EV/BEV button down to force it to continue running in EV mode – the so-called ‘Max EV’ option, illuminated in blue in the binnacle – but otherwise the 1.5-litre engine suddenly chimes in. Had we done so, it would have comfortably exceeded the 100km claim, so that’s a big tick on the positive side of the BYD’s ledger.

Because the dual electric motors have been pressed into action and the engine has been effectively twiddling its thumbs for the last couple of hours, it sounds like a cold start procedure when internal combustion finally chimes in. It’s quite startlingly uncouth for a few minutes before it seems to settle back to a less obnoxious background chunter.

One thing Shark owners will have to become comfortable with is that while the engine does drive the front pair of wheels in some instances, it’s more often used as a generator to charge the battery. In this guise, the engine speed bears no relation to your speed across the ground, and it can sound like it’s straining a bit, desperate for an upshift that there’s no way of making. Nudge up the 12-speaker Dynaudio stereo instead. Another oddity is that the Shark will automatically enter towing mode if a trailer is connected, at which point the cruise control is deactivated, even if you’re nowhere near the 2500kg braked towing limit.

Entrain the motors and the engine with some purpose and the Shark is undeniably rapid. We timed it at 5.6 seconds to 100km/h which is quicker than a figure achieved in a current Ranger Raptor with the same data logger. In short, there’s no ute at a comparable price point that’s anything like as quick off the mark as the Shark. At 2.7 tonnes, it’s no lightweight though, and this, coupled with the bulbous Continental CrossContact RX tyres (265/65 R18 all round) don’t promise much when the road gets twisty.

Boneo Road, which runs out of Flinders towards Cape Schanck, is the perfect place to trip up a clumsy ute. As the road climbs towards the track to Bushrangers Bay, it throws in a few wicked corners, with decidedly odd cambers. There are still pieces of a Lamborghini Gallardo on the hillside below the top hairpin where somebody extravagantly ran out of talent here.

Pitch it into a corner and there’s a slightly numb feeling on turn-in, as it settles on its springs, but outright grip is surprisingly good, the front end proving surprisingly resistant to understeer. The dynamic package is, on the whole well judged. The transition from re-gen to friction braking is slick, the two modes of electrical steering assistance both have something to be said for them and some thought has clearly gone into the control weights.

Ride quality has, however, been a point of contention. In short, the Shark’s primary ride and overall body control is extremely good. Secondary ride is a bit flintier. Pass over a cat’s eye or a patched piece of bitumen and the thud will run right through the Shark’s superstructure. On typically poor Aussie B-roads it can be ab it busy, but then that goes for virtually every other ute on the market. Perhaps it’s the contrast between the driveline serenity and this typically ladder-framed secondary ride that jars with some reviewers. I didn’t find it particularly offensive in the greater context of available dual-cabs.

On dirt, the Shark feels relatively surefooted, up to a point. On mild corrugations, the independent rear suspension does a good job. Up the amplitude of the washboard and things start to get a bit lively. We didn’t have the opportunity on this drive to really start clambering around, but the Shark’s limited wheel articulation and reliance on software rather than a locking diff or a low-range transfer case means that you’ll need to recognise the limits of the hardware. The terrain modes comprise Muddy, Sand, Snow and Mountain and hill descent control is fitted as standard. The three drive modes are Eco, Standard and Sport.

From the dirt roads of Boneo, we head north. It’s a picture-perfect autumnal day on the peninsula, cerulean skies with no wind, the seasonal green starting to creep back into the paddocks after a dry summer. It’s getting warm and the Shark’s air conditioning seems to struggle to get up to speed, although the seat coolers on this Premium model – a lower spec Essential model is due to join it early next year – are a welcome and effective inclusion as these dark pleather seats could probably cremate your unmentionables in the peak of an Aussie summer.

Talking of coolers, this grade features dual wireless mobile phone chargers, and the one on the right is cooled to keep your handset from overheating. That’s a thoughtful touch. As is the way that you can drop the tailgate from the key fob, the screen, a button on the fascia or a button on the tailgate itself. It motors down briskly, but it’s up to you to heave it closed. I also like the way that the ADAS intrusions aren’t obnoxious.

The driver attention monitor can be a little zealous, but the chimes are soft and it can be switched off. There’s a huge suite of driver assists and the Shark has a newly-minted ANCAP five-star rating, scoring 85 percent for adult occupancy protection, 87 percent for child occupant protection, 86 percent for safety assist and 74 percent for vulnerable road user protection. The latter score was hobbled mainly by the excruciatingly-titled ‘AEB Pedestrian Backover’ score of 1.0. So do keep that in mind and endeavour not to reverse this ute over people.

Fuel economy? We’re getting firmly into discussions on the length of a piece of string here. Measuring and communicating plug-in hybrid fuel economy has long been a bone of contention among regulatory bodies and we averaged 3.4L/100km, which is clearly not particularly representative. After depleting the battery to a 25 percent state of charge and running in hybrid mode, the figure was 8.1L/100km (against a 7.9L claim), which is pretty much the same as I’ve been achieving with my Mazda BT-50 long termer although that would require a sharp southerly turn while crossing the Nullarbor to get to 100km/h in 5.6 seconds.

The roads we find ourselves on are well-trodden in Wheels‘ history, as the run across the Mornington Peninsula and then onto the multiple hairpins that pitch down the face of Arthur’s Seat were once the Car of the Year test route. I imagine legions of bearded COTY jurors, knotted of brow and white of knuckle, flinging cross-plied, chrome-bumpered behemoths up this road and pause to consider quite how far we’ve come. Today, it’s Chinese influencers in the wild posing with a Lexus LC drop top, IT consultants pretending to be bikies on box-fresh Harleys and us, maintaining a modicum of tyre-squealing tradition.

The locals display signs protesting at plans to build a luge track to run beneath the Arthur’s Seat Eagle gondola lift and, had I paid millions for a hillside view of the bay, I’d probably object to non-stop shrieking and clattering all day too. They didn’t particularly like it when we were doing likewise in old Falcons and they haven’t changed their opinions. Times change but some things are reassuring constants.

Our drive route ends at an unassuming spot. Dunns Creek meanders under the road onto the wholly photogenic Safety Beach. Today it’s a popular spot for families to swim in its sheltered waters. It used to be one of the most shark-infested stretches of water in Australia. The reason? Behind where the famous Dromana drive-in movie theatre sits today is a garden centre, but prior to 1988 this land was occupied by an abattoir. In the early 20^th century, offal would be thrown into Dunns Creek and neighbouring Sheepwash Creek to be flushed into the sea: a sea which was thick with bronze whalers and the occasional great white shark, drawn by the prospect of easy pickings.

Thankfully much has changed since then. Dunns Creek disappears into a culvert and still looks somewhat unappealing, but it no longer attracts dangerous sharks to its confluence with Port Phillip Bay. The old name for this stretch of water, Shark Bay, has largely been forgotten. In fact, the last fatal shark attack in Victorian waters came way back in 1987, off the shores of Mornington Peninsula. Given how many people use the waters for recreation, it’s a genuine success story of responsible people, wildlife and environment management.

The BYD Shark 6 also leverages its own story of success. Sales have backed up a lot of the pre-launch hype. It’s a genuinely good ute. Yes, you have to accept the limitations of the vehicle, but we’re not all in the market for something that can tow a tectonic plate or drive to Cape York. A good constituency of ute buyers just want the security of all-wheel drive and reasonable ground clearance, plus they want to be able to tackle a dirt road without worry, need to be able to throw bikes, fishing gear or camping equipment on board, or drive to the tip with a browning Christmas tree after the New Year celebrations. The Shark 6 answers that call beautifully and, in most of these use cases, will feel more civilised and easier to live with than pretty much any other 4×4 dual-cab in the market.

It’s not perfect but BYD appears to be learning on the job at an eye-watering speed. What’s more, it deserves more than to be patronised as a worthy first try. The Shark 6 will improve over its lifetime, and will do so quickly, but it’s more than good enough right now that if you’re thinking of buying – and its blend of qualities is right for you – don’t sit on your money and wait for something better. Certain caveats aside, it feels like the real deal. My healthy dose of scepticism on this one? Parked.

Eco Warrior

In most vehicles, pressing the Eco button will soften off the throttle response and it’ll upshift earlier. The Shark 6 is different. This drive mode is an environmental mode, and it means that the vehicle will default to battery power at virtually every opportunity, and also switch drive to just the front axle. It’s worth knowing this, because many will switch on the Shark’s Eco mode, thinking it will eke greater range out of the battery. Instead its first instinct is to use all of the battery’s available charge.

Specifications

With the cost of living crisis continuing to affect many Australians’ budgets, it’s no surprise that new vehicle sales are down by 5.1 per cent – or almost 21,000 units – compared with this time last year.

Many of us are tightening our belts, and although many of us may want one, a new car simply isn’t on the horizon for a lot of us.

Car manufacturers are aware of declining sales across many segments and in the lead up to the end of financial year (June 30th), many have launched pre-EOFY sales in the hope of boosting sales numbers.

Hyundai, for example, is offering special drive away pricing across most of its range, while newcomer Geely has a free charging cable and further discounts available. Buyers can save more than $20,000 on some run out Jeep models, while Volkswagen is offering special finance rates and big discounts on some products.

It’s not just mainstream brands either, with Audi and Genesis offering potentially big savings for buyers through special finance offers.

May 2025 pre-EOFY deals:

Audi

Q3 35 TFSI S line Edition: $60,900 drive away, 7.49 per cent finance rate
Q5 45 TFSI Sport: $85,990 drive away (usually $88,315 +ORC), 7.79 per cent finance rate
Q5 Sportback 45 TFSI S Line: $92,990 drive away (usually $96,515 +ORC), 7.79 per cent finance rate
Q7: five-year service pack (worth $3820), 3.99 per cent finance rate
SQ7: five-year service pack (worth $4600), 3.99 per cent finance rate

Ford

Ranger XLT bi-turbo 4×4 dual cab: $60,000 drive away (usually $63,640 +ORC)
Ranger Wildtrak bi-turbo 4×4 dual cab: $70,000 drive away (usually $69,640 +ORC)
MY23 F-150 Lariat LWB: $133,000 drive away (usually $140,945 +ORC)
MY23 F-150 Lariat SWB: $137,000 drive away (usually $139,950 +ORC)
Transit Custom Trend SWB: $55,000 drive away (usually $56,590 +ORC)
Transit Custom Trend LWB: $56,000 drive away (usually $57,590 +ORC)
Transit 350L RWD mid-roof: $62,000 drive away (usually $62,990 +ORC)
E-Transit mid-roof: $64,000 drive away (usually $89,990 +ORC)
Mustang Mach-E Select: $63,000 drive away (usually $64,990 +ORC)
Mustang Mach-E Premium: $77,000 drive away (usually $79,990 +ORC)
Mustang Mach-E GT: $94,000 drive away (usually $97,990 +ORC)
Tourneo Titanium X: $74,000 drive awayaway (usually $70,990 +ORC)

Geely

EX5: $2000 trade in bonus, complimentary mode 2 charging cable and either five years of servicing or a $2000 discount. For those financing, Geely is also offering a special 3.88% finance comparison rate.

Genesis

GV70 2.5T: 6.99 per cent finance rate for in-stock vehicles
MY25 GV80: $7000 deposit contribution and $2000 delivery fee reduction ($9000 in total)

Hyundai

Venue manual: $25,990 drive away (usually $22,750 +ORC)
Venue auto: $27,990 drive away (usually $24,750 +ORC)
Venue Active: $29,990 drive away (usually $27,000 +ORC)
Venue Elite: $32,990 drive away (usually $29,500 +ORC)
Kona: $35,490 drive away (usually $32,500 +ORC)
Kona Electric: $5000 bonus
Tucson: $39,990 drive away (usually $39,100 +ORC)
Tucson N Line 1.6T AWD: $45,990 drive away (usually $45,100 +ORC)
Tucson Hybrid: $46,990 drive away (usually $45,100 +ORC)
Tucson N Line Hybrid: $50,990 drive away (usually $49,100 +ORC)
Tucson Elite: $44,990 drive away (usually $46,100 +ORC)
Tucson Elite 1.6T AWD: $46,990 drive away (usually $48,600 +ORC)
Tucson Elite N Line 1.6T AWD: $49,490 drive away (usually $51,100 +ORC)
Tucson Elite Hybrid: $51,990 drive away (usually $50,100 +ORC)
Tucson Elite Hybrid AWD: $54,490 drive away (usually $52,600 +ORC)
Tucson Elite Hybrid N Line: $54,490 drive away (usually $49,100 +ORC)
Tucson Elite Hybrid N Line AWD: $56,990 drive away (usually $51,100 +ORC)
Tucson Premium Hybrid: $62,490 drive away (usually $59,600 +ORC)
Tucson Premium Hybrid N Line: $63,990 drive away (usually $61,100 +ORC)
Tucson Premium 1.6T AWD: $58,490 drive away (usually $55,600 +ORC)
Tucson Premium N Line 1.6T AWD: $59,990 drive away (usually $57,100 +ORC)
Ioniq 6: $20,000 bonus
Palisade: $5000 finance contribution or $3000 factory bonus
I30 Sedan: $30,990 drive away (usually $29,000 +ORC)
I30 Elite Sedan: $35,490 drive away (usually $33,500 +ORC)
I30 Premium Sedan: $38,990 drive away (usually $38,500 +ORC)
I30 N Line Sedan: $38,990 drive away (usually $36,000 +ORC)
I30 N Premium Sedan: $43,490 drive away (usually $41,500 +ORC)
I30 Hybrid Sedan: $34,990 drive away (usually $33,000 +ORC)
I30 Hybrid Elite Sedan: $39,490 drive away (usually $37,500 +ORC)
I30 N Line MHEV Hatchback: $38,990 drive away
I30 N Line Premium MHEV Hatchback: $43,990 drive away (usually $37,500 +ORC)
Staria 3.5L V6: $53,790 drive away (usually $49,500 +ORC)
Staria 2.2L Diesel: $56,790 drive away (usually $52,500 +ORC)
Staria Load: $5000 finance contribution

Isuzu Ute

D-Max SX single cab high-ride 4×2 1.9L manual: $32,990 drive away (usually $32,700 +ORC)
D-Max X-Rider dual cab 4×4 3.0L: $57,990 drive away (usually $59,500 +ORC)
D-Max X-Terrain dual cab 4×4 3.0L: $68,990 drive away (usually $70,500 +ORC)
MU-X LS-M 1.9L 4×2: $46,990 drive away (usually $48,400 +ORC)
MU-X LS-T: $69,990 drive away (usually $71,400 +ORC)
MU-X X-Terrain: $73,990 drive away (usually $75,100 +ORC)

Jeep

Avenger Longitude: $40,000 drive away (usually $49,990 +ORC)
Grand Cherokee Limited: $62,000 drive away (usually $72,950 +ORC)
Gladiator Night Eagle: $66,000 drive away (usually $78,250 +ORC)
Wrangler Night Eagle: $75,000 drive away (usually $87,250 +ORC)
Gladiator Rubicon: $76,000 drive away (usually $81,450 +ORC)

Kia

K4: $3000 deposit contribution
K4 Sport: $37,990 drive away (usually $35,190 +ORC)
EV6 and Niro EV: free 22kW EVSE home charger
Stonic GT-Line: $33,790 drive away (usually $31,980 +ORC)
Picanto Sport automatic: $22,340 drive away (usually $19,990 +ORC)

Mahindra

Scorpio Z8: $38,990 drive away (usually $31,990 drive away)
Scorpio Z8L: $41,990 drive away (usually $46,990 drive away)
XUV700 AX7L: $38,990 drive away (usually $42,990 drive away)

Mazda

Mazda2 Evolve: $29,990 (usually $26,990 +ORC)
CX-3 Pure: $32,990 (usually $30,370 +ORC)
Mazda3 Pure: $33,990 (usually $31,310 +ORC)
CX-30 Pure: $35,990 (usually $34,060 +ORC)
Mazda6 Sport sedan: $37,990 (usually $36,290 +ORC)
CX-5 Maxx: $37,990 (usually $36,740 +ORC)
BT-50 XS Cab Chassis 4×2: $38,990 (usually $36,400 +ORC)
Mazda6 Sport wagon: $39,290 (usually $37,590 +ORC)
CX-60 Pure: $53,990 (usually $50,240 +ORC)
BT-50 XT Pickup 4×4: $54,990 (usually $51,000 +ORC)
CX-80 Pure: $59,990 (usually $55,200 +ORC)
BT-50 XTR Pickup 4×4: $62,490 (usually $62,750 +ORC)
BT-50 GT Pickup 4×4: $65,990 (usually $63,070 +ORC)
BT-50 SP Pickup 4×4: $67,990 (usually $66,170 +ORC)

Mercedes-Benz

• Complimentary three-year service plan on most models
• $5000 deposit contribution on AMG A 35, GLB 35 and C 43 models

MG

ZST Vibe: $23,888 drive away (usually $26,490 +ORC)
ZS EV Long Range: $36,888 drive away (usually $47,990 +ORC)
QS: $46,990 drive away for Excite, $50,990 drive away for Essence

• $1000 bonus on MY24 MG3, MG4, MG5 and HS models

Nissan

• 1.9 per cent finance rate for Navara, X-Trail, Pathfinder and MY25 Qashqai e-Power ranges
• 2.9 per cent finance rate for petrol Qashqai models
• 4.9 per cent finance rate for Juke and Z ranges
• $1000 loyalty bonus on X-Trail

Peugeot

3008: complimentary three-year service plan
Partner: $1500 cash back
MY23 Expert SWB auto: $46,990 drive away (usually $48,990 +ORC)
MY23 Expert LWB manual: $40,990 drive away (usually $46,736 +ORC)
MY24 E-Expert: $79,990 drive away (usually $79,990 +ORC)
MY23 Boxer: $49,990 drive away (usually $54,527 +ORC)

Skoda

MY24 Fabia Select: $29,990 drive away (usually $32,490 drive away)
Karoq and Kamiq: 6.99% finance rate

Smart

• Free on-road costs and three-year/60,000km service plan for all models already in stock

Subaru

• Five-year roadside assistance and a factory bonus on all models, aside from the Solterra and MY26 Forester

Toyota

bZ4X: 1.9 per cent finance rate and a free 7.4kW ABB Terra AC wallbox charger

Volkswagen

MY24 T-Cross Life: $36,990 drive away (usually $33,990 +ORC), 7.99% finance rate
MY24 T-Cross Style: $39,990 drive away (usually $37,490 +ORC), 7.99% finance rate
MY24 T-Cross R-Line: $43,990 drive away (usually $40,990 +ORC), 7.99% finance rate
MY24 T-Roc CityLife: $37,990 drive away (MY25: $39,990 drive away – usually $38,990 +ORC)
MY24 T-Roc Style: $42,990 drive away (MY25: $44,990 drive away – usually $41,990 +ORC)
MY24 T-Roc R-Line: $51,990 drive away (MY25: $53,990 drive away – usually $49,990 +ORC)
MY24 T-Roc R: $65,990 drive away (MY25: $67,990 drive away – usually $64,990 +ORC)
MY24 Touareg 170TDI: $95,538 drive away (MY25: $98,373 drive away – usually $89,490 +ORC), free five-year service plan
MY24 Touareg Elegance: $109,938 drive away (MY25: $113,073 drive away – usually $103,490 +ORC), free five-year service plan
MY24 Touareg R-Line: $119,898 drive away (MY25: $123,573 drive away – usually $113,490 +ORC), free five-year service
plan
MY24 Tiguan 110TSI Life: $47,990 drive away (usually $43,990 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan 132TSI Life: $50,990 drive away (usually $47,990 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan 162TSI Elegance: $59,990 drive away (usually $57,090 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan 162TSI R-Line: $61,990 drive away (usually $60,590 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan Allspace 110TSI Life: $39,990 drive away (usually $43,990 +ORC), 10.42% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan Allspace 132TSI Life: $44,990 drive away (usually $47,990 +ORC), 10.42% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan Allspace 162TSI Elegance: $59,990 drive away (usually $57,090 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan Allspace 162TSI R-Line: $61,990 drive away (usually $60,590 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Tiguan Allspace 162TSI Wolfsburg Edition: $64,990 drive away (usually $63,990 +ORC), 5.99% finance rate
MY24 Golf Life: $39,990 drive away (usually $38,690 +ORC)
MY24 Golf R-Line: $44,990 drive away (usually $47,990 +ORC)
MY24 Golf GTI: $59,990 drive away (usually $56,090 +ORC)
MY24 Golf R: $69,990 drive away (usually $70,590 +ORC)
MY24 Polo Life: $31,990 drive away (MY25: $32,990 drive away) (usually $34,790 +ORC)
MY25 Polo Style: $37,990 drive away (usually $34,790 +ORC)

MY24 Polo GTI: $42,990 drive away (MY25: $44,990 drive away – usually $41,790 +ORC)
MY23 Amarok Core: $51,990 drive away (MY24: $53,990 drive away – usually $55,490 +ORC)
MY23 Amarok Life: $56,990 drive away (MY24: $59,490 drive away – usually $59,490 +ORC)
MY23 Amarok Style TDI500: $66,990 drive away (MY24: $69,740 drive away – usually $69,740 +ORC)
MY23 Amarok Style TDI600: $70,990 drive away (MY25: $73,740 drive away – usually $73,740 +ORC)
MY24 Amarok PanAmericana: $76,990 drive away (usually $78,990 +ORC)
MY23 Amarok Aventura TSI452: $76,990 drive away (MY24: $79,990 drive away – usually $82,990 +ORC)
MY24 Amarok Aventura TDI600: $79,990 drive away (usually $82,990 +ORC)

Do trailers, caravans and boats belong on suburban streets? It’s an increasingly controversial question in our crowded city streets, where space is at a premium, and a commonly asked one for one council in Sydney.

Randwick City Council revealed it has been swamped with complaints about boats and trailers parked in suburban streets, and has issued $28,000 in fines and impounding more than 400 vehicles in recent times as a result.

Parking in major cities is increasingly scarce and increasingly expensive, and many residents argue that trailers, boats and caravans take up critical space. According to Randwick City Council, many reported cases allege that some vehicles are parked for weeks at a time, making parking difficult for locals.

What does the law say? Boat owners can legally park their craft – including outside the owner’s residence – for up to 28 days at a time.

This week, Randwick City Council told Yahoo News Australia rangers had been kept quite busy tending to reports of what residents claimed were unattended vehicles and trailers.

The council told the news outlet it is actively monitoring and removing trailers that have overstayed their welcome in its streets. “State government rules allow owners of registered trailers to park their trailer legally on the street outside their home, and to park the trailer elsewhere for up to 28 days before moving it,” a Randwick City spokesman told Yahoo.

“Rangers have investigated 932 suspected unattended vehicles in 2025, impounding 440 and
issuing over $28,000 in fines.”

It’s not a new controversy in congested Sydney. Two years ago a boat parked in the street at Freshwater on Sydney’s Northern Beaches had “f**k it off” spray painted in red on its side. The owner then responded to the vandals by taping a note to the boat which read: “The boat and trailer are registered, and we can thus park it legally in the street.”

Understandably tired of the drama, the boat’s owner then posted another – and presumably the last –letter to the community. It read: “The boat will be moved in the next few days, please do not damage it or graffiti it”.

Aston Martin has become the first manufacturer to offer the second generation of Apple’s smartphone mirroring system, which is called Ultra. Expanding the in-car real estate massively for the system, CarPlay Ultra can now be displayed on a car’s digital driver’s display as well as the infotainment system.

This means that users can display maps or media from their phone alongside the rev counter and speedometer, while they will also be able to to select various designs for the instruments and it will offer more personalisation than a lot of manufacturers’ in-car displays.

Users will also be able to control the climate and audio controls through the CarPlay interface.

Debuting on the brand’s current range including the DBX SUV, Vanquish, DB12 and Vantage, CarPlay Ultra will be available as an update in the coming weeks for existing core models featuring Aston Martin’s next-generation infotainment system.

Apple CarPlay Ultra will be on all new Aston Martin vehicle orders from today in the US and Canada as standard and made available as an update for existing models in the coming weeks through Aston Martin’s dealer network.

It’s not yet known when Apple CarPlay Ultra will reach Australia, or which manufacturers will offer it
next.

Toyota has revealed the new bZ4X Touring, which is a Toyota-badged version of the Subaru Trailseeker first shown in April. Like that car, the bZ4X Touring is an electric high-riding wagon with up to 280kW of power and it’s confirmed for Australia in the first half of 2026.

Like the bZ4X and Solterra twins, the bZ4X Touring shares a lot with the Trailseeker, aside from unique front end styling and a revised rear bumper. According to Toyota, the bZ4X Touring’s roof rails are capable of carrying 70kg.

Measuring 4830mm long, 1860mm wide, 1620mm tall and riding on a 2850mm long wheelbase, the bZ4X Touring is 140mm longer than the regular bZ4X. According to Toyota, the bZ4X Touring’s extra length is behind the rear axle and that contributes to a 30 per cent increase in bootspace to approximately 588-litres with the rear seats up.

For the Australian market, the bZ4X will use the same 74.4kWh battery used in the bZ4X and only the flagship 280kW all-wheel drive drivetrain will be available locally, with the 165kW single motor variant in Europe not to be offered at launch. According to Toyota, the company is targeting a 30 minute rapid charging time, with DC fast charging of up to “around 150kW”.

On the inside of the bZ4X Touring is an identical dashboard to the regular bZ4X and their Subaru twins, including a redesigned centre console and a new 14.0-inch touchscreen with live navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a 360-degree camera.

Other available interior features includes a dual wireless phone charger, a nine-speaker JBL sound system, ventilated front seats and a panoramic sunroof.

Safety features include AEB with pedestrian, cyclist and motorcyclist assistance, adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert with steering assistance, lane trace assist and auto high beam. The Toyota bZ4X

Touring is due on sale in Australia in the first half of 2026, with local pricing and specifications due to be confirmed before then.

Chery Australia has announced that new plug-in hybrid versions of the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 SUVs will land locally in July, marking the first hybrids that the company has sold here.

The new Super Hybrid system uses a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, a single electric motor, a dedicated hybrid transmission and an 18.3kWh lithium iron phosphate blade battery.

Outputs are yet to be detailed, but the related Jaecoo J7 SHS with the same drivetrain makes a combined 255kW/525Nm. Chery claims that its petrol engine offers industry-leading thermal efficiency of 44.5 per cent and its transmission has 98.5 per cent thermal efficiency.

According to Chery, the hybrid system will enable the Tiggo SUVs to travel over 90km on electric power alone and give a total range of over 1200km. While exactly charging ability is yet to be confirmed, Chery says that it will be able to be DC fast charged for a 30 to 80 per cent charge in as little as 19 minutes.

Aside from the new drivetrain, the company debuted a revised look for the Tiggo 8 with new bumper and headlights and both the ‘Pro’ and ‘Pro Max’ part of the Tiggo 7 Pro and Tiggo 8 Pro Max names have been shelved, like the recently updated Tiggo 4.

Further Australian pricing and specification details for the Chery Super Hybrid range will be announced closer to its local arrival in July.

The first electric Mini with a full-fat John Cooper Works performance package has arrived.

It’s part of a five-model JCW line-up for 2025 which covers the whole Mini range for the first time. That means the electric Cooper hatchback and Aceman wagon, the combustion-engined Mini Cooper as both a three-door hatch and convertible, as well as the family-focussed SUV-style Countryman. They have all been tweaked with a little more power and new suspension tuning.

The new JCW crew is not as extreme as earlier cars, cutting back on the pop-bang exhaust and some of the over-tight suspension, but signals a major milestone.

“This marks the completion of our new Mini family. This is the biggest investment we’ve ever done into the Mini brand,” says Alex Brockhoff, general manager of Mini in Australia.

Brockhoff talks a lot about the ‘go-kart feel’ of Mini in general and the ‘pinnacle go-karting’ of
the JCW models.

“Australians really like a fast car,” says Brockhoff, as he highlights a JCW showroom share which rivals Switzerland – and New Zealand – for global JCW leadership.

On the sales front, Mini deliveries through the first five months of 2025 have leapt ahead by 72 per cent, with just over one-third running on battery power.

It helps, naturally, that the cars are the completely new fourth-generation Mini models. The only shared BMW background is for Countryman, which sits on the platform of the BMW X1, while the electric models have a completely bespoke mechanical package and are made at a Chinese factory in a joint venture with GWM.

Pricing starts at $57,990 for the three-door petrol hatch and $63,990 for the all-electric JCW hero. There is conditioned-based servicing for all cars, with capped-price servicing available up to five years, and the electric models have an eight-year battery warranty in addition to the five-year coverage for the car.

It’s hard to get a serious feel for the 2025 models during a short day at the Mount Cotton driving centre in Queensland, with track laps behind a ‘pace car’ in the combustion cars and skidpad work including a motorkhana for the electric models. There was no chance for real-world driving.

The mechanical package for the combustion cars is familiar, with a JCW engine tweak up to 170kW and 380Nm good for a 6.1 second claim for 0-100km/h in the three-door hatch. All petrol cars have a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox with front-wheel drive.

There is better yaw control after tweaking to the dynamic stability control and the Sport+ mode gives more freedom in controlled conditions.

Aesthetically, there are – of course – special 17 and 18-inch alloys, a JCW exterior ‘styling’ pack with sports stripes, with JCW seats, steering wheel, and anthracite roof liner in the cabin.

It’s all predictable stuff but the cars feel more ‘special’, not just in the Mini family but compared with so many other copycat cars in showrooms today. The fabric covering the dashboard and doors, combined with a JCW stripe on the fabric ‘third spoke’ for the steering wheel, is enough to help it stand out.

Then there are the electric cars.

They average a $5000 hit on the bottom line for the combustion cars, which Brockhoff describes as a “manageable surcharge” before getting into the background.

“It’s the first time with Aceman. And the first time with electric JCWs,” Brockhoff tells Wheels.
“We are a more urban brand, where electrification makes perfect sense.”

Battery-powered Mini sales topped 30 per cent in the second half of 2024 and are now at 36 per cent.

Mechanically, the JWC electrics take a hit of around 300 kilograms for the 54.2kWh battery, with range claimed at 371 kilometres for the Cooper and 355 for the larger and heavier five-door Aceman in WLTP conditions. The electric motor provides 190kW and 350 Nm and, with front-wheel drive, the hatch has a claimed 0-100km/h time of 5.9-seconds with 6.4 for the Aceman.

So it’s quicker in the sprint than the ICE cars and also gets something not available with petrol power – launch control.

The cabin of the electric cars is shared with the other JCW models, although the driving feel is different. The acceleration is more linear, as you would expect, but the electric Mini feels both more and less like a go-kart. Having the battery slung low means it changes direction very swiftly, and the extra heft helps to keep it planted, but you cannot fight against the weight of the battery.

Away from the skidpad onto a road with proper corners, the JCW electric turns well but is prone to pushing straight ahead if you go a bit too quickly. The ride is not as compliant as the petrol models. The larger Aceman is practical but, for sporty driving, lacks the driving finesse in the three-door hatch.

Specifications

Skoda Australia has announced local pricing and specifications for the Elroq small electric SUV ahead of its local arrival in September. Priced from $54,990 plus on-road costs, the Elroq will be initially offered in two models with up to 529km of range (WLTP).

Initially, the Elroq will only be available with a 82kWh (net) NMC battery for a claimed 529km range (WLTP) and it can be DC fast charged at up to 175kW for a 10 to 80 per cent charge in a claimed 28 minutes.

The Elroq is powered by a 210kW/545Nm electric motor on the rear axle, giving it a claimed 6.6- second 0-100km/h sprint time. Variants with smaller batteries and less power and also a dual-motor RS with 250kW exist in Europe, and could potentially be sold in Australia later on.

The Elroq measures 4488mm long, 1884mm long, 1625mm tall and rides on a 2765mm long wheelbase = the latter of which it shares with the larger Enyaq – and its boot measures between 470-litres with the rear seats up and 1580L with them folded.

The Elroq will compete with cars such as the Kia EV3 and Hyundai Kona Electric.

Skoda Elroq pricing (plus on-road costs):

Skoda Elroq Select standard equipment:

• 19-inch alloy wheels
• Automatic LED exterior lighting
• Rain-sensing automatic wipers
• Heated/auto-folding/dimming mirrors
• Keyless entry and start
• Dual-zone automatic climate control
• Fabric/leather-look upholstery
• Heated front seats and steering wheel
• 5.0-inch driver’s display
• 13-inch touchscreen
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Wireless phone charger with ventilation
• 4x USB-C charge ports
• Mode 3 (Type 2) charging cable

Safety

• Seven airbags
• Autonomous emergency braking with intersection assistance
• Lane keep assist
• Emergency assist
• Adaptive lane guidance
• Adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Door exit warning
• Reversing camera

Elroq 130 Years model adds:

• 21-inch alloy wheels
• Matrix LED headlights with adaptive high beam
• Augmented-reality head-up display
• Electric front seats with memory and massaging
• White synthetic leather cabin trim inserts
• Tri-zone automatic climate control
• 12-speaker Canton sound system
• Electric tailgate
• Automatic parking
• Rear door sunshades
• 360-degree camera
• Orange seatbelts and contrast stitching

The Skoda Elroq is due to go on sale in the third quarter of 2025.