While the Dodge Viper isn’t officially available in Australia, there’d be countless Aussie car lovers left a tad forlorn from this week’s announcement that after 25 years, the iconic American supercar will cease production at the end of 2017.

As a nod to the place the Viper holds in motoring history, Dodge will commemorate its final year of production – and the car’s 25th anniversary – by releasing five limited-edition model Vipers.

While details on price are yet to be made available – and you can rest assured you’ll need some pretty deep pockets to get amongst the action ­– each model is likely to pack the Viper’s knee-weakening 8.4-litre 481kW/813Nm V10 engine.

Aussie fans of Kenny Powers and the American comedy series Eastbound and Down will be familiar with the Viper SRT. Limited to just 25, the commemorative Viper Snakeskin GTC will boast the SRT’s distinctive green exterior, but replace the white racing stripe with a snakeskin pattern instead.

Limited to only 31, the Viper VoooDoo [not a typo] commemorates the 2010 model of the same name, while the Viper 1:28 Edition ACR recognises the blistering lap record set by Randy Pobst at Laguna Seca in October 2015. Production of the Viper 128 Edition ACR will be limited to 28 cars.

Of course, it’s not the first time supercar fans have waved a teary goodbye to the Viper. Launched in 1992, production of the car was halted in 2010 when Dodge filed for bankruptcy at the height of the global financial crisis. Re-launched three years later, the new incarnation struggled to achieve parent company Fiat Chrysler America’s sales expectations. “Every economic analysis that we have carried out for keeping that vehicle alive in its current state doesn’t add up,” FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne told the Detroit Free Press.

While 2017 will definitely be the end of the road, the Viper’s legacy is likely to live on as part of the Fiat Chrysler family. Marchionne suggested earlier this year that the technology and engineering that powered the Viper will be incorporated into future sportscar designs across the FCA range, which includes Alfa Romeo and Maserati, among a host of others.

TELL ME ABOUT THIS CAR

Audi’s curvy new A5 Coupe will reach Australia sometime in the first half of 2017, and it’s a two-door worth waiting for. This is one of the prettiest projects to emerge from the company’s design studios in recent years. Its shapely proportions and eye-pleasing details – especially the wave-shaped shoulder lines down each side – give the A5 Coupe a dose of visual appeal that’s missing from the new Audi A4 sedan and Avant wagon.

STRENGTHS

• Though they look quite different, the A4 and A5 Coupe are very closely related under the skin. Both are built on the ‘MLB Evo’ platform, meaning lots of important technology is shared. The list includes unseen body structure parts, suspension, steering, brakes, engines, transmissions, and more.
• The A4 has been justly praised as the best medium-size car Audi has ever produced. The company’s ‘MLB Evo’ technology is just as impressive in the new A5 Coupe. This is an agile car, with accurate steering and a nicely balanced attitude when cornering.
• Audi’s new 2.0 TFSI quattro model, with seven-speed double-clutch auto, is perhaps the sweetest spot in the A4 line-up. It blends strong turbocharged acceleration with good fuel efficiency and quattro all-wheel-drive traction.
• This combo works just as well in the A5 Coupe. In line with the two-door’s sportier role, Audi’s engineers seem to have equipped it with a slightly louder exhaust system. The result is that you can better hear the turbo 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine’s growl. Compared to the current A5 Coupe, the new and upgraded engine brings a welcome 15kW power increase.
• The A5 Coupe’s dashboard and centre console are the same as those used in the A4, and there’s nothing wrong with this. Audi is regularly praised for the quality of its interiors, and with good reason. The company is also at the pointy end of the premium car field when it comes to infotainment and driver aid technologies.

• For reasons of style, the A5 Coupe rides on shorter and stiffer springs. This improves the car’s stance on the road, but the firmer suspension doesn’t blot out the bumps as well.
• Inside, the new A5 Coupe is roomier than before. But while the new platform allowed Audi’s engineers to make the cabin a little longer and wider, the rear seat, designed for only two occupants, is still short on headroom for taller adults.
• With the Australian launch of the A5 Coupe months away, Audi is still working out the details of standard equipment lists and prices. What they’re aiming to do is position the new models close to their equivalents in the current range. So expect a price tag of around $80,000 for the A5 Coupe 2.0 TFSI quattro. This is a hefty $10,000 premium over an A4 sedan – which has exactly the same stuff under its bonnet.

Absolutely, beginning with the usual suspects…

The BMW 428i is a must-drive. Also try the Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe. Both feature lively turbo four-cylinder engines and are priced close to where Audi expects to position the A5 Coupe 2.0 TFSI quattro.

For something with a slightly different flavour, the Lexus RC 350 F-Sport shouldn’t be overlooked. Though less expensive than any similar German, this coupe packs a more powerful V6 engine into a distinctively Japanese package.

Ford’s addition of free sat-nav upgrades to its scheduled servicing might not seem like a big deal, but it is yet another sign of the shift in the way new cars are sold in Australia.

Where once Ford rode proudly on the back of Falcon and its thousands of fleet sales, it is now only months from the end of local production on October 7 and the swap to becoming a full-line importer.

Nowadays the money is in private customers – that’s you folks – so Ford is hell-bent on selling you a car, servicing it and then keeping you coming back to the dealership for more … and spending more.

It’s not like Ford is alone in hearing the penny (or should that be dollars?) drop. ‘Customer experience’ is now a byword in the industry. Holden and Toyota, which exit local manufacturing roughly 12 months after Ford are making the same sort of noises.

Mind you, some other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as Mazda have been headed down this path for more than a decade, so Ford and co. have much ground to make up.

“Customer experience is as important as new product launches,” declared Ford Australia president Graeme Whickman.

“I think we have to change with the times. Things are changing around us. I don’t think it is necessarily an indictment or a criticism of the way things were done in the past it’s just quite simply consumers are looking for something different.

“Their benchmarks are very different; their expectations of technology are very different, how they get treated. They are benching us against a new Telstra flag store or an Apple store.”

The sat-nav offer is part of a much larger initiative Ford Australia has developed based on similar ventures by the Blue Oval in North America. Here it’s called ‘Dealerships of the Future’ and now covers more than 75 percent of its customers and also includes free service loan cars; auto club memberships; iPad-based shopping and service apps and even motor show-style unveiling of purchases to new owners.

Evidence that this approach is working is in the stats, Ford claims. Service retention is up 37 percent since 2012, while sales are up 16.4 percent in 2016 – reversing a consistent downward slide since 2004.

“Customer experience is the new frontier and I think people are now waking up to that,” said Whickman.

“Our job is to build on the gains of the last 18 months and determine where we go next because we are determined to be known for our customer experience.”

Stunner Aston to receive limited run of just 99.

HOLD onto your faces, because Aston Martin will be putting the Vanquish Zagato into production.

The achingly beautiful car – which started life as a one-off concept vehicle – will now be sold to customers.

Powered by a mega 6.0-litre V12 with just under 600 ponies in its stable, the production car will shift from standing still to 100km/h in 3.5-seconds.

It could be powered by a donkey for all we care, because, well… look at it!

All the body panels are made from carbon fibre, and the mirrors are styled off those found on the One-77. Carbon fibre makes its way into the interior as well, with a splash of bronze thrown in for good measure.

If you want to own one, chances are you have already missed the boat. Deliveries are scheduled to start in the first quarter of next year.

The missing piece in Mazda’s impressive ‘SkyActiv’ passenger-car range – the new-gen CX-9 seven-seat SUV – goes on sale in Australia next month and will offer customers a greater choice of equipment and safety equipment across a broader model range.

There’s better value too, with a newly named entry-level Sport model starting at $42,490, which is $1280 lower than its predecessor. The front-drive Sport model (replacing Classic), will be accompanied by an all-wheel-drive entry-level alternative for the first time.

The Sport AWD demands a $4000 price premium and shares Mazda’s new turbocharged 2.5-litre ‘SkyActiv’ four-cylinder petrol engine and six-speed automatic ’box with its front-drive sibling. Previously, you had to spend $56K to drive all four wheels in a CX-9.

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Above Sport sits the Touring (from $48,890), and like every new Mazda CX-9 variant, it will also be available with front- or all-wheel drive, again with a $4000 premium for the latter.

The CX-9 GT will start at $57,390, while the range-topping Azami kicks off at $59,390. The most expensive new-gen CX-9 will be the Azami AWD at $63,390 – $1710 dearer than the old Grand Touring AWD range-topper.

What Australia won’t see at launch is the CX-9 Signature. A bells-and-whistles, premium-brand fighter featuring Nappa leather and matte exposed-grain rosewood trim, the Signature caps Mazda’s US line-up but the Aussies were afraid of the whole ‘wood-trim’ thing … until they saw it.

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Given its surprisingly tasteful execution, and a still-competitive expected sticker approaching $70K, the Signature could be a welcome addition to Australia’s CX-9 line-up in the future.

While the new-gen CX-9 has less power than the heavier 3.7-litre V6 model it replaces (170kW versus 204kW), a big slug of turbocharged torque (420Nm at 2000rpm) means it is unlikely to be any slower than the previous version. For the record, the old CX-9 managed 0-100km/h in 8.5sec and the standing 400m in 16.2sec in Wheels testing.

Of far greater relevance is the new CX-9’s huge leap in fuel efficiency. The official figure for the front-driver is just 8.4L/100km (down from 11.0L/100km) while the AWD’s fuel number is 8.8L/100km (compared to 11.3 for the old V6). And that’s using regular 91-octane unleaded.

For the first time, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and ‘Smart City Brake Support’ (forward and reverse) will be available across the entire CX-9 range.

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The range-topping Azami will expand the CX-9’s technology cache with equipment like adaptive LED headlamps, auto high-beam, driver attention alert, lane-keeping assist and full ‘Smart Brake Support’.

The new-gen Mazda CX-9 hits Australian showrooms in July.

2016 MAZDA CX-9 PRICING

You shouldn’t have to follow motorsport to appreciate the critical importance of tyres when it comes to not just performance but also safety.

You could have enormous power, the sharpest chassis and Jupiter-sized brakes, but you couldn’t call your performance car effective if the rubber between it and the road wasn’t up to scratch.

And it’s not true that car makers always fit their vehicles with the best rubber possible. Reality is, they’ve got to balance a number of factors including fuel consumption, noise, ride quality, wear resistance/life, supply logistics and cost.

Toyo and Nitto are Japan’s only representatives, Bridgestone benched because its new tyre relevant to this test wasn’t yet available. China’s HiFly rounds out the list and here’s hoping it fares better than last year’s last-placed compatriot, Winrun.

We’re testing a 235/35 R19 this year, chosen for its popularity in the ever-burgeoning compact, high-performance car segment.

Our test regime comprises four disciplines run in the dry – slalom, braking, motorkhana, lateral G – and one in the wet. Wet-braking is designed to expose any tyre that might be a one-trick, almost-a-slick, track-attack competition special rather than a real-world all-rounder that performs no matter the conditions.

A control tyre was tested periodically to establish a reference point for all our competition rubber. This allowed us to assess whether any tyre was able to gain an advantage by running at a time of day that happened to be optimal conditions.

Our number one gun Warren Luff captains the driving side again, and we’re using our pinpoint-accurate Racelogic timing gear.

And in our ongoing efforts to improve the Test, we’re completing dry disciplines on the more real-world bitumen surface of Sydney Dragway’s enormous car park, a departure from Sydney Motorsport Park’s concrete testing surfaces.

We have more control over the spread of water this year, too, improving consistency. (But sadly we couldn’t control the amount of dirt on the surface, as you’ll see.) With everything locked and loaded, it’s time to get stuck in.

THE CONTENDERS

It’s Europe vs Asia in one super-heated rubber run-in *Prices for one 235/35R19 tyre

HIFLY HF805 CHALLENGER DSRT

Origin: China 
Treadwear: 280
Price: $139

MICHELIN PILOT SUPER SPORT

Origin: France
Treadwear: 300
Price: $429

DUNLOP SPORT MAXX RT

Origin: Germany
Treadwear: 240
Price: $371

GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 ASYMMETRIC 3

Origin: Germany
Treadwear: 300
Price: $426

PIRELLI P ZERO

Origin: Italy
Treadwear: 320
Price: $373

CONTINENTAL CONTISPORT 5P

Origin: Czech Republic
Treadwear: 240
Price: $379

NEXEN N FERA SU1

Origin: Korea
Treadwear: 300
Price: $173

TOYO PROXES T1 SPORT

Origin: Japan
Treadwear: 240
Price: $328

HANKOOK VENTUS S1 EVO2

Origin: Korea
Treadwear: 280
Price: $282

NITTO INVO

Origin: Japan
Treadwear: 220
Price: $321

THE TYRE TESTS

Cone-weaving – or slalom by its more technical name – is a classic tyre test exercise (and exercise run during almost any performance driving course you care to mention).

Going against the stopwatch is fun, of course, though it’s also a stern test of a car’s ability to swerve and recover in the case of something suddenly coming into your path, such as the classic kid-chasing-a-soccer-ball-onto-the-street situation.

We’re not here to test the Audi RS3, but Luffy says the Audi is so well balanced it provides the perfect platform for our first challenge of our 10 tyre models’ construction, as their sidewalls and shoulders are subjected to deformation with multiple aggressive changes of direction.

Luffy rolls through a start-gate at 50km/h then negotiates nine equally-spaced cones before triggering the Driftbox again at the finish point.

As with all the following tests, our aim is to eliminate as many variables as possible. So the Audi RS3 remains in second gear to wipe out any differences in shift times. Electronic stability control and traction control are also switched off.

Just the name of Hankook’s Ventus S1 Evo2 creates certain expectations, yet the Korean tyre-maker recorded 10.0sec exactly to place third and leave Luffy summing up the MOTOR team’s thoughts on the brand that triumphed in the 2014 Tyre Test. “It’s noticeable how much the Hankook range continues to improve,” he said.

Indeed, its scalps in the slalom included the big names of Pirelli, Goodyear and Continental. Korea’s other representative here didn’t fare so well – second last. “In the slalom on the Nexens, the back of the car really starts to move around a lot, and that ultimately dictates the speed you can carry through there,” Luffy noted.

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Michelin was one of only two tyres to break the 10.0sec barrier, though it was Dunlop’s Sport Maxx RT that was a further two-tenths clear to lay down an early benchmark in the slalom exercise.

DRY SLALOM RESULTS

It’s probably best the Sydney Dragway grandstands were empty during our testing, avoiding mass head-scratching as a car tried to do the opposite of the traditional action and slow as quickly as possible.

Our second dry exercise was again held beyond the 400 metres of extra-adhesion surfacing to ensure the tyres were being tested on a hotmix that has more in common with typical Aussie roads.

Having tested directional grip in the slalom, now the 10 sets of tyres were being tested for their performance under brakes – which in the Audi RS3’s case were proper bits of hardware. Eight-piston calipers up front with drilled discs are more than enough to shoulder the repeated hauls needed for this test.

That makes our 100km/h cruising-speed approach hugely relevant, with a coned gate marking the point where Luffy starts braking – and a line of equidistant cones providing a visual reference for the final resting points in addition to the Driftbox readings.

With ABS making emergency braking as easy as ABC – limiting tyre slide as Luffy stomps on the brake pedal – the only variables in this exercise stem from the tyres themselves: compound stickiness, tread pattern and material construction.

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Those variables, though, were enough to put a full seven metres between the first-placed Dunlop (34.75m) – proving it had both impressive straight-line and directional grip following its slalom win – and the last-placed Nitto (41.75m).

Seven metres is nearly two car lengths. If Skippy had sat 40 metres ahead of the point of braking, the driver of a Nitto-shod RS3 isn’t the only one who’d have road kill in their bloodied lap. The Nexen and HiFly had respective stopping distances of 40.81m and 40.21 – starting to set a pattern for the performance of the cheaper tyres.

In a performance context, the Dunlop-tyred RS3 offers an advantage under brakes of 1.5 car lengths compared with the Audi hot-hatch when fitted with Nittos. Even the skid marks of the second-placed, German-but-made-in-the-Czech-Republic Continentals ended nearly two metres further down the track than those of the British-but-made-in-Germany Dunlops.

DRY BRAKING RESULTS

Never trying

We couldnt do it without…

There was notable assistance, too, from Eagle SMF, who supplied the tyre changer machine the JAX Tyres team used to fit and remove all the tyres, using two sets of rims: one set being prepped while the other was on-track. If you need a change of boots for your car, check your options at www.jaxtyres.com.au – with full pricing transparency – and book an appointment online.

It’s fair to say our version of a gymkhana wouldn’t get the kind of YouTube views enjoyed by Ken Block.

But while there were no stunt vehicles, hovering helicopters, or doughnuts involved here, there were plenty of witches hats and Australia’s own Hoonigan, Luffy, MOTOR’s man-who-we-ask-to-do-the-important-stuff, Warren.

The motorkhana – laid out in Sydney Dragway’s vast car park – comprises seven tight-radius bends, interspersed with a short-burst straight, a quick-ish S-bend, and a shortish start/finish that blends into a fast, sweeping right-hander.

This is the toughest test yet for the tyres, as they’re subjected to the longest duration of punishment – asked to perform consistently on a longer run, with tyre heat introduced as a factor with the potential to affect results.

And tortured the tyres are, as Luffy attacks every lap as if he’s qualifying for a Bathurst pole – putting the Audi constantly on the edge of adhesion.

The budget tyres struggled, with the HiFlys making themselves heard not so much through squealing but through the RS3’s flaring revs that exposed power-down issues. It was the Nexens’ turn to collect the wooden spoon, though – six-tenths slower than the HiFlys. The Toyos were seventh, yet would probably have hoped for a greater margin than four-tenths over its subsidiary brand Nitto.

Luffy noted some rollover in the Hankooks’ sidewalls and the Ventus set couldn’t replicate the podium heroics from the slalom, though they were still fifth – and still in the highly respectable 1min20sec ballpark along with the Continentals, Michelins and Pirellis.

No trophies for guessing the only tyre to break the 80sec barrier. The Dunlops volleyed home a 1min19.14sec to make it three wins out of three and leave rivals needing to come up with a different kind of hat trick involving a rabbit, if they were to top this pile of rubber.

MOTORKHANA RESULTS

Mr Consistent

Luffy provides testing times for our tyres

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You don’t hire any old numpty to do the driving for a tyre test. Warren Luff brings to the table skills from his full-time job as a Movie World stunt driver, his experience as one of the best V8 Supercar endurance racers around and the fact he knows modern performance cars, and road tyres, better than surely any other Australian race driver. As a MOTOR stalwart he knows well the Tyre Test drill, which this year included 100 laps of the motorkhana, 600 cones slalomed around, and more than 2000 metres of emergency braking. Literally the best man for the job of testing tyres in Australia. Follow the Holden Racing Team’s Luffy on Facebook or Twitter (@warrenluff).

Going around in circles doesn’t always mean you’re lost. MOTOR found the answers it was looking for in its final dry-bitumen discipline: the lateral G test. Or circle test/cornering test, by other names.

Whatever you call it, this test should come with a warning label: Not an exercise to be conducted straight after breakfast or lunch. And, fortunately, with 10 sets of tyres and three control tyre runs to get through in just a day, Luffy proved to have an iron-clad stomach. It was left to each set of rubber to spew marbles as they were subjected to an exercise that determines outright lateral grip.

Luffy’s task was to simply build up speed in the RS3 around a circle of witches hats, keeping the Audi’s nose close to those cones and accelerating to the point of breakaway understeer – where the tyres are part gripping, part slipping.

There are complex-looking formulas for calculating cornering forces, though we simply left it to the 10Hz GPS engine and motion sensors of our Driftbox timer to record peak lateral force (g-force) for each tyre.

The test threw a curveball at the bottom trio of Toyo, Nitto and (last again) Nexen, though the RS3’s chassis ensured the 0.97g to 0.99g cornering-force range was still well above that of your average road car.

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The HiFly managed to equal the earth’s gravity with a 1.00g. It was appreciated by Luffy for its predictability, despite its obvious status as a budget tyre.

“The HiFlys have struggled in most aspects with the class they’re in today, though while the grip level was a lot lower than the more fancied runners you could tell where the tyre was going to let go.”

Goodyear’s Eagle F1 was also praised for its consistency, which kept it in the midfield across all disciplines. Michelin’s Pilot Super Sports and Pirelli’s P Zeros tied with a lateral g result of 1.02g – upstaged by Hankook again (1.03g), while also trailing the Continentals (1.04g).

LATERAL G-FORCE RESULTS