Audi (and various spare parts departments) wins chaotic Spa 24 Hour
A SPATE of destructive crashes brought chaos to the 24 Hours of Spa before the survivors got down to the business of coming out on top – and, to the surprise of few, Audi reigned supreme in yet another sports car enduro.
Four Audi R8 LMS rockets finished in the top five, but they were almost upstaged by a BMW.
The winning outfit was the pole-winning #1 Audi run by the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Rene Rast and Markus Winkelhock.
Rast made the decisive move with 15 minutes of the 24 hours remaining, passing the leading BMW. The # 1 Audi and # 77 BMW had duelled throughout, exchanging the lead every hour during the pit-stop phasing.
The Spa triumph marks the third 24-hour grind taken by Audi this year, coming after wins at Le Mans and Nurburgring.
Second place went to the BMW Z4 GT3 of Dirk Werner/Lucas Luhr/Markus Paltalla.
The podium was completed by the #3 Audi R8 LMS ultra in the hands of Christopher Mies/Frank Stippler/James Nash.
No fewer than four safety car periods interrupted the first three hours in what was a challenging start to this year’s twice-around-the-clock Belgian classic, these days a race exclusively for GT3 cars.
Then around the five-hour mark, while the cars were behind the safety car, the race was red-flagged following a significant incident between two Ferrari 458 Italias near Stavelot.
The race was stopped because the air ambulance was called to transport British driver Marcus Mahy to hospital. Australian Liam Talbot was sharing the Ferrari with Mahy.
The larger-than-usual Australian contingent was boosted by the presence of several high-profile drivers keen to add to their international portfolio in light of the limited opportunities to use their passports in V8 Supercars.
Speedster Shane van Gisbergen’s introduction to the Spa 24 Hours will have to wait at least another 12 months after his co-driver Tim Mullen was involved in a heavy shunt in just the second hour. The #101 Von Ryan Racing McLaren was demolished just as racing resumed after a safety car period.
Richard Muscat, who races an Erebus Mercedes GT car in Australia, finished 34th in the Black Falcon’s Pro-Am Mercedes SLS, after starting rear of grid following an engine change.
The all-Australian Lamborghini team of Steven Richards/Steve Owen/David Russell/Roger Lago ran in the top 30 in the first half but was sidelined with electrical problems.
The #52 AF Corse Ferrari of Craig Lowndes, fellow Aussie Steve Wyatt and Europeans Andrea Piccini and Michele Rugulo finished a strong eighth outright. Read exclusive interview with Lowndes here.
NASCAR at the Brickyard
Marcos Ambrose is still looking for the NASCAR Sprint Cup win that will secure him a slot in the Chase for the 2014 championship.
The Aussie couldn’t get close at Indianapolis in Sunday’s Brickyard 400, won for the fifth time by evergreen Jeff Gordon.
Ambrose finished 22nd, on the lead lap, after qualifying mid-grid but starting at the back after a transmission swap.
Retro Dick
THE Bathurst 1000 win by Dick Johnson and John Bowe in 1994 is to be commemorated at Mount Panorama in October when DJR’s current Ford hits the track wearing a special retro livery to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the victory remembered as the team’s best ever.
With such great memories, it was an easy decision to take the yellow, blue and red presentation into the 2014 Bathurst 1000 race.
Neatly, there will be a Johnson in the famous #17 Ford, with part-timer Steven – Dick’s son – stepping back into the seat alongside V8 Supercars regular David Wall.
Sponsor Wilson Security enthusiastically supported the idea of reviving the 1994 livery.
Quiet achiever
WHILE Andretti Formula E continues to evaluate candidates for its second full-time driver in the new global FIA all-electric racing series, the American team recently called up one of its own from its broader stateside outfit.
Following a fine fourth on the streets of Toronto, Indy Lights rookie Matthew Brabham made his way across the Atlantic to visit with the team at its headquarters at Donington Park, where the Indianapolis-based 20-year-old took a tour of the team’s new facilities.
There he met with team members and had the opportunity to have a look at the innovative electric cars up close, even squeezing in a few test laps in the Spark Renault SRT-01E.
The third-generation racer said: “The Formula E car is very interesting and complex and I think it has a great future ahead, and it was a lot of fun, so a big thank you to the team.”
The UK visit by Brabham, son of four-time IMSA champion Geoff Brabham and grandson to the late Sir Jack, suggests team owner Michael Andretti is grooming the Australian rising star for bigger things.
“Matty has a bright racing future ahead of him,” said team boss Michael Andretti, who also has world champion breeding, being the son of Mario.
“He’s done a great job for us in Pro Mazda and Indy Lights. We’re very much enjoying having him as a part of the Andretti team and look forward to being a part of his developing career.”
“As one of our drivers, we were happy to have him visit Donington and learn more about Formula E.”
Next up for the United Fiber & Data/Mazdaspeed driver, currently fourth in the Indy Lights championship, is a double-header race weekend at Mid-Ohio next weekend.
Aussies shine in murky Suzuka Eight Hour
BUOYED by the rich history of Aussies in the Suzuka Eight Hour, seven riders from Oz lined up for the 37th running of Japan’s biggest motorcycle race.
And a bunch of them finished in the top 10 while one of our boys grabbed a place on the podium in second, less than one minute behind the winning Honda CBR1000RR of Takumi Takahashi/Leon Haslam/Michael van der Mark. The same team and riders also won the previous year.
Second was the Yoshimura Suzuki of Takuya Tsuda (who started from pole position), Australian Josh Waters and Randy de Puniet.
“It was really crazy weather conditions; sunny and then heavy rain,” said Waters.
“It was totally unpredictable throughout the race, lots of safety cars, but I am sure we did our best today.”
Team Kagayama completed the podium with Noriyuki Haga, Dominique Aergerter and Yukio Kagayama. They just managed to keep the Monster Energy Yamaha of Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Aussies Broc Parkes and Josh Brookes out of third.
The eventful race was something of a crashorama right to the end. Rain storms didn’t help, delaying the start and then returning mid-race to create more havoc.
IN the true dark night of my soul, I always knew Holden’s VE Commodore would be the last all-new Australian car.
Deep into writing Autobiography, my book that chronicled the VE story – from Mike Simcoe’s first proportion-defining scribble to the 2006 press launch – it seemed to be accepted as a sad inevitability inside The General. The indigenous Australian family car, designed, engineered and manufactured locally, could never be sustained in an era of global product development and ever tougher emission and fuel standards.
Falling domestic demand for large family cars during the life of VE and a dramatic plunge in exports simply confirmed that the huge R&D investments required for a new Australian car were impossible to justify.
Next year’s VF – a refresh, not the once-planned, pre-GFC, new top-hat of the VE – continues the concept. But already we know General Motors and Holden have no plans for a true home-grown successor. Pragmatism rules.
When the last VF slips off the Elizabeth, South Australia, assembly line at the end of the decade, at least 70 years after Ben Chifley unveiled the first Holden, the locally built Commodore will be replaced by something Chifley would have struggled to comprehend, or recognise. Perhaps a mid-sized, front-drive sedan, or, more likely, a compact SUV.
To investigate the validity, even the relevance, of Australia’s love affair with our native cars – for 60 years our best sellers, until being deposed by the Mazda 3 in 2011 – just months before the launch of the VF, Wheels collected a VE in Adelaide for the long haul to Sydney.
Our new long termer, an SS V 6.0-litre manual sedan, isn’t, as snapper Wielecki feared, painted the “dreaded, beige-side-of-champagne colour, designed for the Kath-and-Kims”. Worse, it’s a $55,290 Z Series in Holden’s latest hero colour: ‘Alchemy’ purple, which photographs as a kind of dirty, swampy black in most light. It also rides on the highly polished 19-inch forged alloys inherited from Pontiac’s G8 VE variant.
Wielecki’s unimpressed. “They’re for someone with bad taste who wants to go to the Summer Nats,” he bleats. I whinge that the rear spoiler detracts from what otherwise, despite familiarity, remains a desirable and superbly good-looking sedan. A slightly curmudgeonly start to three days on the road together, then.
With the odometer reading a mere 195km, the VE heads towards the swooping, cresting, cornering roads of the Adelaide Hills. Any serious wheel twirling will happen in the next few hours, with the rest of the journey all seemingly endless, arrow-straight roads.
Already I’m taking advantage of the bent-eight’s bottom-end flexibility, loving the subtle V8-burble, the tall gearing and bemoaning the day when lazy, big-capacity engines are no more.
One run up and down through the precise, rather than heavy, short-shifting, manual box – with its firm yet smooth clutch action – convinces me of the recent progress Holden has made in drivetrain refinement. Cohesive, no slack, no rough edges, exactly what a keen driver expects from a big-muscle sports sedan.
No surprise, then, that 20 percent of Commodores are V8s and, of those, an amazing 40 percent still drive via a clutch. It’s a percentage of manual take-up rarely seen anywhere in the market, or the world, today.
In the VE’s six years, steering ratios have generally quickened and the Commodore now feels slower to react through the first 15 degrees of wheel movement than it should. So, while it still feels planted, comparatively, the latest car isn’t as agile as it might be. Will the VF’s electric steering use a quicker rack? We’ll soon know.
I’ve never bonded with the VE’s excessively large-rimmed and big-diameter steering wheel, and that hasn’t changed. Unwelcome reflections under the midday sun mean reading the instruments is near impossible, while the red-numbers-on-black of the trip computer become an endless source of frustration, legible only in the dark.
Barely above idle at 1600rpm, the Commodore effortlessly pulls sixth gear up the long Eagle on the Hill climb. The L98 270kW V8’s torque peak is 530Nm at 4400rpm, but the torque curve’s plateau feels as high and flat as Uluru. Crawling between shops down Lobethal’s narrow main street, it’s ridiculous to imagine that this village in the Adelaide hills was home to a sealed 13.8km street circuit, which hosted the 1939 Australian Grand Prix.
Frieda, who migrated to Australia with her parents as a 14-year old from Austria in 1956, shows us the two chequered poles that mark the start-finish line of a race won by Allan Tomlinson in a supercharged MG TA, at an average speed of 135km/h, in front of 60,000 spectators. There’s also a plaque: ‘In Memory of the men and machines that competed on this circuit at a time when motor cycle and racing cars were symbols of speed and courage.’ Indeed; Lobethal was Australia’s Spa: no run-off areas, racing at daunting speeds along fence-lined, high-crowned country roads with three long straights; a circuit dubbed Australia’s greatest by three-time AGP winner Doug Whiteford.
Frieda remembers the 2009 Lobethal Grand Prix revival, with a 93-year-old Tomlinson (who died in 2011) driving a replica of his winning MG down the street, but is keener to tell us that as teenager she earned five shillings (50 cents) an hour picking peas, twice what her parents were paid to work in Lobethal’s famous Onkaparinga tweed factory. “All we could see,” she says wistfully, “was peas and green trees…it was the end of the Earth.”
Instead of the M1 motorway, we deliberately head the VE onto the 13km of the old Princes Highway from Nairne to Kanmantoo. Off-camber blind corners, closing-radius bends, mostly bumpy surface, up and down, this road perfectly defines the challenges thrown up by the Adelaide Hills.
The VE storms the conditions, despite my self-imposed 4000rpm rev limit to run in the engine and transmission. Instantly at home, the FE3 suspension tune, introduced on the Series II, might have been specifically engineered on, and for, these roads. Firmer dampers and thicker rear anti-roll bar, plus an infinite degree of clever work on the chassis, add a subtlety to the body control and ride quality compared with the firmer and less supple FE2 setting.
Enthusiastic cornering occasionally set the stability-control light flashing, without annoying intrusion. There’s no crash-through on bumps, the front Brembo brakes are strong and progressive, the VE calm, confident and rewarding. Balancing the gentle turn-in understeer on the throttle, the chassis absorbing all the bumps thrown at it, I simply refuse to believe Holden’s soon-to-arrive Malibu, fully imported from the USA, will cope with even remotely the same assurance.
Wielecki, an inveterate adventurer – he once took four months to ride a 110cc postie bike across Australia – loves the weird. He’s spotted a variety of sculptures at the entrance to a property on Strathalbyn Road. These wondrous contraptions turn by wind power, including one that looks like it’s driven by a bloke on a bike, but isn’t.
Tailem Bend and a fast-flowing Murray River come and go before the VE heads south to Meningie and the marsh lands, salt lakes and the sweet seaweed smell that characterises the Coorong. Wielecki, sighting a pink lake, is keen to use the location. After checking the salt’s firmness, the Holden creeps along the tracks, is snapped, and safely returns to the blacktop. Not so the aging Toyota Land Cruiser that’s driven straight off the road and immediately sunk into the salt, just a few metres off the sealed surface. Alex, a Pom, and Jessica, his Oz girlfriend, aren’t concerned, despite their wheels sinking ever deeper, even with the front diff locks engaged and low range selected. Pushing achieves nothing. We leave them – yes, with a supply of water – as Jessica attempts to thumb down a helpful tradie.
I want to refuel for the run north to our overnight stop in Bordertown, but bloody Wielecki wants to shoot the Commodore with Kingston’s Big Lobster – 17 metres high and four tonnes of questionable sculptural value.
The 12.4L/100km is reasonable given the performance, but confirms that the VE’s 71-litre tank fails to deliver a big-country-suitable range when tied to the bent-eight.
We drive the 116km to Bordertown at a steady 130km/h and see two other vehicles. Our boredom is shattered only by an explosion of sound. A bird has smashed into the driver’s exterior mirror, breaking off the upper plastic cover. Thomas finds the dead bird, I locate the mirror section and refit it. No damage apart from a couple of tiny scratches. Tough car, the Commodore, and that’s the thing – this car is designed to beat the Aussie Outback. Today, too few buyers care, and those who know still demand the image of an off-roader when they hit the Grey Nomad trail with a caravan.
The 133km from Bordertown to Pinnaroo, an utterly composed 160km/h cruise, tacho needle hovering over 2400rpm, is broken only by Wielecki’s enthusiasm to capture a field, the cloud and the colour of the grass. Traffic? What traffic, beyond a lone school bus.
The Mallee Highway heads east into Victoria, through a series of depressing, near-derelict Soldier Settler towns that struggle to survive. I don’t dare draw any parallel to the Commodore’s future. We cross the Murray again at Tooleybuc, heading east to Deniliquin on roads that are as flat and wide as they are lonely. The Commodore eats the desolate, treeless landscape.
What will happen to ‘Denny’, self-proclaimed as ‘The Ute Capital of the World’ and host of an annual festival celebrating them, when Ford and Holden stop building them? A Ranger and Colorado Muster? I think not.
The Commodore treats the gravel road with disdain, proving again that no import can match the effectiveness of the subtle, local tune of stability-control and ABS systems. If only the interior showed the same capability; it’s the most obvious area where the Commodore has fallen behind the opposition. In terms of materials, quality of fit, design and equipment the dashboard lacks the class you expect from a $55K sports sedan. Bloody hell, even the navigation takes an eternal 36 seconds to boot up. Expect a massive advance in VF.
Ned Kelly’s rambling 7500-word Jerilderie Letter sowed the seeds for a North Eastern Victorian Republic, but today in Jerilderie we’re more interested in the small, covered car yard that contains a second-generation Chevy Camaro, an FJ Holden, first-generation Ford Mustang and a tatty ’67 Corvette.
Narrandera throws up the Mary Celeste of servos, a deserted Caltex station that’s been closed for eight years. How it could die, located at the busy junction of the Sturt and Newell Highways, is a mystery.
Finally, there are corners again, joyous corners, on the road from Junee to Gundagai and the Hume Freeway. Engine breathing hard, running the V8 out to the soft 6100rpm limiter, the SSV proves its credentials as a serious sports sedan. It feels supremely strong.
In terms of responsiveness, performance, chassis balance – particularly how you can lean on the outside rear rubber – consistent steering behaviour and comfort, there is nothing like the Commodore (except the Falcon, of course) at anything close to the same, affordable price. Overall consumption, to the last fill before Sydney, reveals a 12.9L/100km average.
Australians won’t truly appreciate what they’ve lost until the domestic cars disappear. So please, enjoy the Commodore (and the Falcon) while you still can.
IT’S an equation that will be familiar to X6 owners. You pay extra – about $9K – for a BMW X4 compared with the X3 from which it derives its underpinnings, you lose rear headroom and cargo capacity, and gain sportiness and style … of sorts.
Unlike the original X6, however, the X4 sensibly arrives as a five-seater (the X6 from 2007-11 seated four, for exclusivity), and when you look at the sportier mid-size SUV’s coupe compromises, it only sacrifices 8-16mm of headroom and 50L of cargo volume.
Sure, the X4’s swooping roofline is lower – by 36mm – but so are its seats, by 20mm up front and 28mm in the back, which brings a sportier seating position, says BMW. Rear headroom is unexpectedly okay.
The headliner of a four-strong X4 line-up is the xDrive35i, which is powered by the brand’s venerable 225kW 3.0-litre twin-scroll turbo-petrol six.
The 28i variant found in the X3 range isn’t offered, but elsewhere they go variant for variant – from the $69,430 entry-level xDrive20i to the $73,400 20d and $83,900 30d.
Given the model’s style and performance focus, the M-kitted 35i might be the obvious choice, but the torquey and thrifty 20d and the 30d – near 35i-quick and far more economical – are the pragmatist’s picks.
It takes a deliberate exploratory mission to venture into the rev range of the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel in the 30d because, with 560Nm available at 1500rpm, revs are rarely a necessity. The soundtrack is unremarkably diesel-like, but goes unheard given effective sound-deadening and the fact the mill does much of its work at little over idle.
The big oiler uses about 30 percent less fuel than the petrol flagship – 8.3L/100km on the combined cycle versus 5.9L/100km for the 35i – yet its 5.8-second 0-100km/h time is just 0.3sec slower.
The 30d misses out on the 35i’s 20-inch alloys and M suspension, though all variants get adaptive dampers. The diesel rides better, yet still has a distinct personality split between its Comfort and Sport modes, which apply their effects to the accelerator and (excellent) eight-speed auto as well as the dampers.
You can shift the X4 yourself via snappy standard paddles, but there’s little point given how good a job it does left to its own devices with all that torque.
Standard variable-ratio steering wraps relaxed highway cruise ability with the sharpened responses needed to negotiate switchbacks.
With lock on, the snout points quickly and precisely, delivering trustworthy grip. Unloading the tail brings a noticeable tightening of line, but no drama. This is a well-balanced chassis that handles nothing like most SUVs.
If, while making a passion-fuelled beeline across the BMW showroom from an X3 to the raunchier-looking X4, you experience a bout of rational thinking, it’s the 30d rather than the more obvious 35i you would choose. It says plenty about the rapid, efficient turbo-diesel six that if you stuck with your heart, the result probably wouldn’t be any different.
Plus: Packaging not as compromised as you might expect; extra equipment helps justify price premium over X3 Minus: Pricier and less practical than its sibling; marriage of coupe roofline and SUV body won’t appeal to everyone
Model: BMW X4 xDrive30d Engine: 2993cc in-line 6, dohc, 24v, turbo-diesel Max power: 190kW @ 4000rpm Max torque: 560Nm @ 1500-3000rpm Transmission: 8-speed auto Weight: 1820kg 0-100km/h: 5.8sec (claimed) Economy: 5.9L/100km Price: $83,900 On sale: Now
Aston Martin has confirmed it intends to revive the Lagonda nameplate with a super-exclusive four-door ‘super saloon’.
How exclusive? Well, it will be offered for sale by invitation only and only to Middle East customers. Pricing is confidential, but we suspect that it will fall firmly into “if you have to ask…” category and, to the target market, is largely irrelevant anyhow.
Technical details are currently scarce, but Aston confirmed the car will be built on the VH architecture that underpins all its current models and use carbonfibre body panels.
Under the bonnet will reside a version of Aston’s 5.9-litre V12, though considering the clientele surely more than one customer will request fitment of the 559kW 7.3-litre V12 from the One-77 hypercar.
Aston’s latest four-door is said to draw inspiration from the William Towns-designed Lagonda produced during the 1970s and ’80s. That’s not a promising start, as the Lagonda is often referred to as one of the worst cars ever made thanks to its horrendous fuel economy, strange styling and truly disastrous reliability.
As the world’s first computer-managed production car, catastrophic electronic failures were commonplace, and the development cost of the electronics alone was four times the budget allocated for the whole car.
No release date is currently offered, though a reveal at the famous Pebble Beach Concours has been mooted.
When your CV includes four World Rally Championships, three Le Mans 24-Hour wins, three Paris-Dakar victories and four Pikes Peak titles, there’s a fair chance you know something about making cars go fast.
So it’s amazing it’s taken Peugeot so long to tap the fountain of knowledge contained within its motorsport department, especially when you consider how impressive the end result is.
Peugeot Sport’s first road-going offering is the RCZ-R, a thoroughly tweaked version of the stylish French coupe.
At its heart is a 1.6-litre turbocharged four that produces an incredible 199kW/330Nm. The stratospheric specific output is possible thanks to motorsport know-how like a heat-treated block and pistons made from F1-grade aluminium.
Not too long ago, an engine this small making this much power would be about as responsive as a drugged dachshund, but turbo lag is very mild and the responsive, revvy engine endows the RCZ-R with a serious turn of speed.
Close gear ratios and traction provided by a Torsen limited-slip diff help haul the French flyer to 100km/h in a claimed 5.9sec with top speed limited to 250km/h. That diff also makes a massive, er, difference in the corners.
Even on slippery surfaces, once the turn-in phase of the corner is completed, pretty much full throttle can be applied, the diff providing the initially eerie feeling of the front end pulling itself further towards the apex.
The well-judged traction control system is adept at trimming away any excess, but wheelspin is easily contained with the electronics off.
The standard RCZ is a fine-handling thing, especially on track, but for the R the ride height has been lowered 10mm, suspension stiffed 14 per cent at the front and 44 per cent at the rear, and tracks widened 18mm/12mm front/rear respectively.
Ride quality is acceptably firm but it could do with more wheel travel, large bumps sending the suspension thudding into the end stops.
On a smooth road though, the RCZ-R is able to use its huge grip reserves and punchy engine to devastating effect, carving through corners with serious pace.
Some more communication from the front end would be nice, and there’s an initial impression the RCZ-R favours grip and stability over pure fun. Push harder, however, and a well-timed lift will send that shapely derriere arcing as wide as the smile on the driver’s face.
On a circuit with room to play, there’s a suspicion this new hardcore RCZ will prove a riot – hopefully we can confirm that soon.
Unfortunately, one area the Peugeot really lets itself down is, worringly, the braking department. There’s nothing wrong with the hardware, with enormous 380mm floating front rotors with four-piston calipers filling the 19s.
Outright stopping power isn’t too bad either, but the feel from the pedal is awful. It’s like there’s air in the system, with response seeming to improve if you pump the pedal.
Given the speed of the car, you end up dabbing a left foot on the brakes race driver-style just to ensure there is something to press against at the next corner. Is it a trait unique to this particular car? Maybe.
It’s also quite thirsty when pushed hard, proving that no matter how small the engine, if you want to make a certain amount of power you need to burn a certain amount of fuel.
Traditional RCZ bugbears also remain. It’s tricky to see out of, some of the ergonomics are an acquired taste and at $68,900, it’s far from a bargain, especially as Renault’s Megane RS265 offers a very similar experience for $20K less.
However, that’s very literally the price you pay for those stunning looks, and at least now in ‘R’ guise, the RCZ has the balls to back up its beauty.
Engine: 1598cc inline-4, DOHC, 16v, turbocharger Power: 199kW @ 6000rpm Torque: 330Nm @ 1900rpm Weight: 1355kg 0-100km/h: 5.9sec (claimed) Top Speed: 250km/h (limited) Fuel Consumption: 6.3L/100km (claimed) Price: $68,990
Ford Australia gave enthusiasts their first look at the updated Falcon overnight, pulling the virtual covers off the XR8 and XR6.
“We’ve purposely revealed the XR6 and XR8 first,” said Ford Australia President and CEO, Bob Graziano, “We’re very excited about the return of the XR8, as this badge has not been seen on a Falcon since 2010.”
As expected, the new Falcon adopts an interpretation of Ford’s global corporate face, a trapezoidal grille which, on the XR models, is flanked by slimline headlights containing dual ‘hockey stick’-style LED daytime running lamps.
For the XR8, the distinctive bonnet bulge, necessary to provide clearance for the 5.0-litre supercharged V8, has been extended back to the windscreen.
In profile the new Falcon remains much the same as FG II, but while no pictures have yet been released of the rear, Ford has confirmed it will feature split rear LED tail-lights. The XR8 will be easily identifiable by its lower diffuser and quad exhaust tips.
Ford is remaining tight-lipped on prices and specifications, but expect the XR8 to match the outgoing FPV GT’s 335kW/570Nm, while premium brakes appear to lurk behind the standard 19-inch wheels.
Powering the rest of the range will be the venerable 4.0-litre inline-six in petrol, EcoLPI and Turbo configurations, while selected models will also continue with the 2.0-litre EcoBoost four.
The new Falcon goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2014.
THIS is our first look at Ford’s final Falcon.
Revealed in full after months of teasers, this car, shown in revived XR8 spec, gives us our first look at the last ever Falcon, which will go on sale as part of the facelifted 2014 range in late November.
The return of the mighty XR8 revives a badge that hasn’t graced Australian roads since 2010.
Even in this sporty guise, the visual differences to the existing FG Falcon are obvious.
Known internally as 201X (Ford is yet to announce the final model designation), the last Falcon debuts a dramatic new nose dominated by a large trapezoidal honeycomb grille that, along with slimmer headlights, showcases Ford’s global design DNA.
The XR8’s iconic bonnet bulge has also been enhanced and now runs all the way to the windscreen – a design hat-tip to the new Mustang, which hits Aussie shores next year.
At the rear, smoother wraparound LED tail-lights adorn a new boot, while the XR8 boasts a new rear diffuser and quad exhaust system.
New wheels, a new hero colour and large cross-drilled brakes complete the makeover.
Bodywork changes include a new bonnet, boot and front, while alterations to the car’s basic bodyshell design are minor.
Ford is yet to reveal the Falcon’s interior, but Wheels understands changes will again be minor and limited to trim and infotainment upgrades.
As for engines, Ford won’t be drawn on the XR8’s performance, but we understand the hot Falcon’s supercharged 5.0-litre V8 will produce the same 335kW and 570Nm as the recently departed FPV GT and GT-P.
Engines for the rest of the range will remain unchanged, bar some engine mapping tweaks to improve fuel economy. That means buyers will have the choice of four, six and eight-cylinder petrol units.
Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but expect the XR8’s sticker to be significantly less than the defunct FPV GT, which started at $70,790. The last XR8 sold for $48,390 in 2010.
ALMOST 15 years since Audi introduced the CVT ‘Multitronic’ transmission, what was seen as a highly advanced step towards the future is about to be no more.
Beginning with the Europe-only, front-drive A7 TDI Ultra launched this week, Audi will switch to a new-generation, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission (which it calls S-tronic) for all its front-wheel-drive models with longitudinally mounted engines.
At present, the Multitronic CVT – introduced in the front-drive B6 A4 – is still fitted to front-drive variants of the A4, A4 Avant, A5 Sportback, A5 Coupe, A5 Cabriolet, A6 and A6 Avant, but as all-new or updated models roll out during 2015, the seven-speed S-tronic will take its place.
When Multitronic replaced Audi’s four-speed and five-speed ‘tiptronic’ automatics in Australia in 2001, it offered huge gains in both efficiency and performance.
However, Audi now claims its new seven-speed dual-clutch ’box is even more efficient than the continuously-variable transmission it will replace.
Despite having seven set ratios, the S-tronic can reduce engine revs at cruising speeds even further than the CVT, and can deliver equivalent performance to the punchy Multitronic in combination with improved efficiency.
The dual-clutch S-tronic is also a more inherently sporty transmission – mirroring Audi’s desire to continue bolstering its sports-luxury image, and its soaring global sales.
In the A7 TDI Ultra – a front-drive A7 featuring Audi’s new-generation 160kW/400Nm 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 destined for our updated A7 in quattro form only – the seven-speed S-tronic helps the far-from-small A7 achieve 4.7L/100km on the combined fuel cycle, and reach 100km/h from rest in just 7.3 seconds.
RENAULT has given the Megane a new dual-clutch transmission to go with a new mid-life nose job.
While the Laurens van den Acker nose job ensures you won’t mistake which French label the Megane comes from, it’s the changes underneath that should have the Golf/Focus rival building on its impressive 2014 sales momentum. This is easily the best ‘sensible’ Megane to date. The cosmetic changes are smart, working cohesively with the rest of the car, despite being blatantly corporate.
Our test car, the GT-Line, gets a set of 17-inch alloys and silver strakes on the restyled front and rear bumpers to go with the new bonnet and bootlid. The GT also scores the latest 7.0-inch R-link touchscreen, well bolstered, comfy cloth seats, a leather-wrap wheel and Renaultsport instruments.
It’s that new drivetrain that’s most impressive.
The 97kW 1.2-litre turbo has previously only been offered in manual form, but now a six-speed Getrag dual-clutcher is offered (dubbed EDC by Renault).
This spells the end of the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre CVT-equipped Megane, with this new set-up offering much better economy. At 5.6L/100km, the EDC matches the manual, while being a massive improvement over the old 2.0-litre’s 7.8L/100km.
In one word, its driving character is smooth. This engine will not push you back in your seat, but nor is it slow witted.
Sure, it has 8kW less than the old 2.0-litre, but it has 205Nm at 2000rpm against the old unit’s 197Nm, and at a much higher 3750rpm.
It is refined across the rev range, with a quiet note around town that develops a nice edge when you push, yet it’s never coarse.
But you will be pushing it often: to make brisk pace, you can get on the throttle early, and you’ll have step on it up steep hills as this engine loves and needs to be spinning quickly to keep it happy, despite that torque being offered earlier.
The gearbox changes smoothly, but it’s not lightning fast, nor will it hold onto a gear; it’ll change up or down on you, taking some of potential joy from the ‘Manual’ mode.
Making matters worse, there are no shift paddles and even if you use the centre chrome lever to self-shift, it’s set up backwards: upchanges are forward, while dropping a gear calls for a pull back. Hardly instinctive.
The refinement and competence of the entire package is what makes this Megane the most convincing.
The light steering needs more bite, but it’s obedient and predictable, while the handling balance is so neutral that you’ll need to delve deep for any understeer, with no sign of a tail snap when you lift off the gas, either.
The ride handles bumps quickly and effectively, but over bigger potholes the GT can take a little longer than expected to settle down and compose itself. With this new downsized engine and gearbox combo, the Megane GT is a comfy, spacious and reasonably quick hatch that offers good value for money and low running costs, and proves that Renault isn’t messing about in the war with the VW Golf. Game on.
Model: Renault Megane GT-Line 130 TCe EDC Engine: 1197cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v, turbo Max power: 97kW @ 5500rpm Max torque: 205Nm @ 2000rpm Transmission: 6-speed dual-clutch Kerb weight: 1247kg 0-100km/h: 10.9sec (claimed) Price: $26,990 On sale: Now
The latest mule of the second-generation NSX is missing the exciting bark of the Acura prototype that teased Indycar fans at the American Mid-Ohio Raceway in August 2013 (which you can listen to here).
Initially, the new NSX was thought to be powered by a naturally-aspirated V6 hybrid drivetrain, a theory supported by the raucous soundtrack of the Acura prototype. The latest video, however, is consistent with Honda’s display at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show revealing the NSX will use a twin-turbocharged V6 engine.
The range-topping sportscar is still expected to go into production, its hybrid all-wheel drive system consisting of three electric motors, and a direct-injected mid-mounted petrol engine married to a dual-clutch transmission driving the rear wheels.
Australian customers are promised the NSX will make it to our shores, however further details on its arrival and a launch date have not yet been revealed by Honda Australia.
