Reviews of new cars drew plenty of eyeballs to Wheels, but a comparison of a new BMW with a classic pleased more.

ARE THESE the halcyon days of the decade for drivers? Prices are at historic lows in real money, and new-vehicle sales are at record highs. That gives used-car shoppers more bargaining power, and means more of us can have the steers we aspire to.

Enjoy it while you can. Most of our cars are imported, and this week the dollar dipped below US 70 cents, a fall of 14 percent since December. If the slide continues – and that is what’s expected – the cost of a sweet new drive cannot fail to float up.

It is possible that most Wheels visitors already get this, which could explain the trends in site traffic this week. With a caveat, most interest was in reviews and prospective new models. Matt Raudonikis’ assessment of the upgraded Ford Ranger topped the list of fresh review posts, with Damion Smy’s Jaguar XE drive following hot on its heels. Spy pics of the new Mazda CX-9, a seven-seat SUV, also drew plenty of eyeballs.

Also rating strongly was Stephen Corby’s introduction to life long-term with the most sensible Subaru Forester, the newly introduced CVT-gearbox diesel. Having recently spent four months with its sexier sister, the turbo-petrol Forester XT Premium, Corby was well placed to reveal what you’d miss.

While these were the best read of the fresh posts, they were brightly outshone by two added last week. The idea of HSV putting a 476kW Corvette V8 into a Commodore continued to capture viewers’ imagination. And appreciation continued for the battle of the BMW M cars: the current M4 vs the 2003 M3 CSL. Is it possible that as well as enjoying watching Wheels staffers Nathan Ponchard and Alex Inwood clash on video, viewers were exploring the pleasure potential of owning a 12-year-old classic? That’s something more of us may find reasons to do as the decade develops.

So, what did you buy your wife/partner for their last birthday?

It doesn’t really matter what it was, because we’re betting it wasn’t a Ferrari FXX K.

Benjamin Sloss is Google’s vice-president of engineering, which apparently means he’s essentially in charge of making sure Google stays working.

That’s a pretty important job, one that clearly comes with a pretty handy pay-packet, and Sloss’s favourite way of spending? That’s right, cars.

Sloss purchased the Ferrari 599XX Evo auctioned for victims of the 2012 Emiglia earthquake, and lured his wife and fellow petrolhead Christine to Fiorano under the guise of her completing some birthday laps in their 599XX.

Sloss is a genuine enthusiast, regularly posting updates of his new purchases on a variety of web forums, particularly SVTperformance.com, where he goes by the name Treynor.

Thanks, Benjamin, for making any present any guy ever buys now seem pretty feeble in comparison!

Dreamworld claims it will reveal “the world’s largest collection of Peter Brock racing cars” as part of its own little Ferrari World … Straya style.

The showcase will include the Torana XU-1 that Brocky took for his first Bathurst win in 1972 and the ‘#05 Big Banger’ VK Commodore of 1984, alongside 30 other original and replica Perfect rides.

The new 6000-square-metre “interactive motorsport precinct” will form part of a multi-million dollar investment by the theme park and open in time for the Christmas rush.

According to Dreamworld CEO Craig Davidson the company has worked closely with Brocky’s family to create an authentic celebration of the country’s motorsport history and the most iconic figure within it.

“There is nothing ‘museum’ about this,” Davidson said in a statement. “It’s a motorsport-themed thrill-ride precinct anchored by a celebration of Australian motorsport and Brock’s achievements from the 1970s through to his modern day legacy.

Don’t know about you, but we would have liked a roller coaster following the path of the actual Bathurst track, perhaps with mandatory ‘fat arming’ for every rider in true Brocky tradition. Even a deliberate track-squiggle up at McPhillamy Park could represent the slight dab of oppo when Brock got caught in the wet in Bathurst 1994.

Just like buying the right-sized shoes for your feet, your car deserves a tyre to match. There are a multitude of different tyre types, sizes and compounds, so it’s important to make sure you’re fitting your car with the right one. If you’re overwhelmed by choice, this video should help.

Click here to watch Alex explain wheel alignments.

When a car’s wheels are out of alignment, it can affect handling and fuel economy. Here’s how to tell if your car needs an alignment.

To learn what all the figures on the side of your tyres mean, click here.

It’s no secret that tyres play an important role in making your car go. But did you know that the ID number on the side of your rubber is more than just a complicated maths sum? Watch this video to find out exactly what it all means.

LOAD AND SPEED RATING INDEX

81 = 462 kg

82 = 475 kg

85 = 515 kg

86 = 530 kg

87 = 545 kg

90 = 900 kg

91 = 630 kg

95 = 690 kg

96 = 710 kg

N = 140 km/h

P = 150 km/h

Q = 160 km/h

R = 170 km/h

S = 180 km/h

T = 190 km/h

U = 200 km/h

H = 210 km/h

V = 240 km/h

Z = 240 km/h

W = 270 km/h

Y = 300 km/h

Click here to learn how to check your tyre pressures.

PLUS

• It’s the best-equipped Commodore ever; even the entry-level models come with new goodies like hill-start assist, front and rear park assist, climate control and an eight-inch touchscreen media player with plenty of connectivity. Interior quality is a big step forward, too.
• The huge, 495-litre boot should be able to take pretty much everything you can throw at it. If not, there’s always the Sportwagon with 895 litres of space and split-folding seats that fold down to create a whopping 2000-litre cargo area.
• The car has grown over the past 35 years from a medium-sized replacement for the Kingswood into one that’s bigger in every dimension, meaning that no matter how tall your teenagers are, they’ll fit in the back.
• It’s a great way to stand apart from the SUV crowd and have more fun driving.

• It’s big, which makes inner-city driving and parking more difficult, but no more so than bigger SUVs.
• In a world where everyone is switching to small cars to save on fuel, the Commodore is heavy, which doesn’t help its economy, which isn’t as good as the similarly sized (and priced) Skoda Superb diesel or Subaru Liberty 2.5.
• Holden has been slashing prices, which makes for a good deal today but horrible resale down the road, after they’ve slashed the prices again to shift the last of their stock.

THE Ford Ranger has outsold the Toyota HiLux for the first time in Australia, leading the popular ute category for the month of August 2015.

While light commercial sales were down from July, Ford will be shouting from the rooftops after selling 2096 examples of the locally engineered Ranger, compared with the Hilux’s 1956 sales (4WD and 2WD combined).

Throw Australia’s appetite for utes into the mix of overall vehicle sales, and the Ford Ranger was the fourth best-selling vehicle overall, too.

“What’s important is that we’ve done this with a better mix of retail buyers,” a Ford spokesperson told Wheels. “As people choose trucks more for family use, we seem to be picking those buyers up.”

A strong performance from the new Mitsubishi Triton (1991 sales) pushed the Toyota back to third in the hotly-contested pick-up race, and sixth overall.

Sales of new cars increased year-on-year in August 2015, driven by SUVs and private buyers, with 90,705 vehicles sold across Australia.

While the figure is down on July’s result of 92,308, it’s ahead of August 2014 when 88,155 vehicles were sold.

There’s no prize for guessing the best-selling vehicle. The Toyota Corolla was the clear favourite with 3050 sales for August, ahead of the Mazda 3 on 2673. The Holden Commodore filled the podium spot for passenger cars, with 2144 sales to push the Hyundai i30 – the top seller just two months ago – down into fourth place.

The most popular SUV was the Mazda CX-5 with 1980 sales, which made it the sixth passenger car overall. The Hyundai ix35 almost overtook the Mazda, with 1967 sales. Impressively, the ix35 has sold consistently well despite its age (the current generation has been on sale here since October 2010, and has just been replaced by the new Hyundai Tucson).

Year to date, Hyundai (68,115 sales) has moved into third, with a margin of 613 cars on Holden ikn fourth. However this gap is expected to widen. Fifth was Mitsubishi, with Ford in sixth.

The Ranger was the only bright spot for Ford, making up 39.2 percent of its overall sales tally of 5354 vehicles. That left Ford with a market share of 5.1 percent for the month.

At long last, Toyota is returning to the compact SUV scene with an alternative to the Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V. Expect this little sister for the now mid-sized RAV4 next year.

LATE to the party it kicked off with the original, diminutive, RAV4, Toyota is back in the compact SUV game. Here is a production version of the C-HR concept that debuted almost a year ago at the Paris Motor Show.

Expected to surface in finished form at the Geneva show in March next year, Toyota’s answer to the hot-selling Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V, Holden Trax and (internationally at least) Nissan Juke ought to be in Aussie dealerships in the second half of 2016.

We’re expecting big things dynamically too, since the compact crossover also ushers in the Toyota New Global (TNG) architecture that is to underpin a host of next-generation B and C-segment cars and crossovers, starting with the imminent fourth-generation Prius hybrid.

With local executives making no secret of their desire for something striking and youthful to offer beneath the now-medium sized Toyota RAV4, this petite crossover appears to be right on the money. Tapping into one of the fastest growing segments in Australia, it could end up being one of the most important new releases for 2016.

Have spy pics of your own? We’d love to see them. Just email them to [email protected]

It is more grand tourer than sports sedan, but with the biggest V8 sold in Australia the Chrysler 300 SRT stakes out a patch all its own for image and punch.

WHAT IS IT? The all-conquering, fire and brimstone version of Chrysler’s pimpin’ sedan. It follows the classic rear-wheel drive V8 formula, and it has a 6.4-litre engine – so slap on your “There’s no substitute for cubic inches” t-shirt.

WHY WE’RE DRIVING IT What the previous SRT didn’t need was more power. So Chrysler has given us just that: an extra 3kW of grunt to make the Russell Crowes of this world spin themselves silly in tyre smoke. More importantly, the old five-speed auto has been replaced by a new eight-speed transmission, so that getting that power down should be even easier.

Chrysler knows this only too well, and this car is unique to Australia: you cannot buy a 6.4-litre 300 in the ’States. Does that make up for them paying less for our Holden Monaro a decade ago? Answers on a postcard…

The previously limited edition 300 SRT Core is now a full-time model, and starts at $59,000. For $69,000, there’s the 300 SRT, which adds forged alloys, leather upholstery, sat-nav and – most importantly – adaptive dampers. Think of the Core as a rival for the Commodore SS and Falcon XR8, and the SRT as the HSV Clubsport combatant.

Both the Core and the SRT have the same powertrain, which means the 300 is the grand-daddy of them all in terms of numbers. Its 6.4-litre V8 is the biggest, has the most torque (637Nm!) and plays second fiddle only to the 430kW HSV GTS for power, with 350kW. That’s 3kW and 6Nm up on the old 300 SRT, thanks to two significant changes.

On a wet airstrip, the 300 recorded a 13.0sec flat standing quarter-mile time, reaching 100km/h in 5.0sec. There’s easily a 12-sec run to be had in the dry, especially with a launch-control system that allows you to set your own revs before feeding the Getrag LSD.

Yet it’s the overall manners of the 300 that have improved. The driving position is a tad high, and the seats are broad yet short under-thigh, but that steering is a vast improvement from the remote feeling of the old car, with much more feel and bite. It’s not a standout, but it allows you to manage the 300 well, even on heavily pot-holed country roads.

Supplied by Bilstein, the adaptive dampers are a serious step-up. On the central 8.4-inch screen, you can customise not only the dampers but also the steering, throttle and transmission – or pick from three modes: Street, Sport and Track. You can do this even in the Core model, but of course it misses out on the adaptive dampers and runs Bilstein monotubes instead.

The modes affect the car noticeably. Track, of course, is the harshest for ride, and you can hold the eight-speed in gear – it won’t up-change on you. Sport will change up for you, with swift but occasionally clunky shifts at 6100rpm, especially compared to the smooth yet still quick shifts in Street mode. The ride is still firm but far from uncomfortable in Street, with no crash-through on large bumps, and even in this softest setting, dive and squat are virtually nil. The result is excellent overall composure.

The 300 SRT is more grand tourer than sports sedan, as its weight subdues its on-paper promise. Yet it has very long legs on country roads thanks to its new transmission, and the steering provides a bite to match its punk/rat-rod style. It will win many over with its unique appeal. It’s not perfect, but there’s nothing quite like the V8-powered 300 for image and punch.

SPECS Model: 2016 Chrysler 300 SRT Engine: 6417cc V8, ohv, 16v Power: 350kW@6150rpm Torque: 637Nm@4250rpm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Weight: 1965kg 0-100km/h: 5.0sec (est) Fuel economy: 13.0L/100km Price: $69,000 On sale: Now