“Is this a diesel?”, my inquisitive passenger asks with a slight hesitation, not sure if the semblance of clatter briefly heard at take-off was really from our car. I’m tempted to say it isn’t, and rely on the new Golf oiler’s cultured mid-range note and smooth rev-ability to fool and disguise. But the fact this question was posed at all should spell success for any diesel engineer.

Despite making the same 103kW and 320Nm outputs as the MarkV Golf TDI, this Mark VI scores an all-new direct-injection 2.0-litre design. And, unlike the previous donk, the new car scores a particulate filter, eliminating the blasts of black smoke sometimes seen when behind an accelerating Golf V or Jetta. The only thing that carries over is the six-speed DSG, as the seven-speeder found in petrol Golf VI variants apparently can’t handle torque over 280Nm.

So it’s a Golf 103TDI Comfortline for the weekend, to take a bunch of celebrating end-of-season cricketers and a boot full of sleeping bags and fishing rods to NSW’s mid north-coast for a two-day getaway. Optioned with leather trim ($3300), sunroof ($1900) and three-mode adaptive dampers ($1500), the 103TDI Comfortline DSG’s $35,690 base price quickly spiralled to $40,890.

The dampers – Adaptive Chassis Control, in VW speak – quickly came under scrutiny. With a varied mix of peak-hour pottering (escaping Sydney’s CBD on a Friday arvo is always painful), freeway cruising, and back road punting, the merits or otherwise of its Comfort, Normal and Sport modes were clear. Comfort is an obvious choice for the freeway, with superb absorbency and a fine ability to lope over large undulations with only the slightest hint of float. Normal, surprisingly, isn’t the happy medium I expected, firming-up the dampers ever so slightly, but retaining the Comfort setting’s overly light steering. For almost every situation except cruising, it was Sport that proved most impressive. The steering weights-up nicely, the body immediately feels more tightly screwed down, yet the ride never hints at harshness.Sport is obviously the default setting for corner carving, too. Likewise, slide the DSG into Sport (so Sport and Sport, right?) and it’ll hold gears to keep you in the diesel’s luscious mid-range and flick back a ratio or two when you’re hard on the brakes. And, quite simply, the new Golf’s handling is outstanding. Its mighty resistance to understeer, even when riding a diesel-sized shot of torque mid-corner, is surprising, and there’s a level of poise and balance that marks the VI as a demonstrable improvement over the outgoing V. As one car-nut friend opined, “the new (Mazda) 3 is gonna have to be pretty bloody good to beat that”. Agreed.Okay, the Golf isn’t cheap, it’s a tad conservative, and it’s smaller than, say, an Accord Euro or Commodore Berlina, which are both similarly priced at around $40K.But, in addition to its palpable sense of quality and refinement, there’s the fuel economy: over the course of our trip, the Golf slurped to the tune of 5.3L/100km, giving it a range of a whisker under 1000km.This again surprised my passengers. But this Golf isn’t just a very good diesel … it’s a very, very good car.

You can tell the difference between PR hype and genuine excitement about a car. At least, as a motoring writer, you hope you can. Too often it’s the former, but it was patently clear the media presentation for the MY09 Boxster and Cayman was the latter.

It’s probably pretty easy for Porsche Cars Australia national training manager Paul Watson to be excited. The MY09 Boxster and Cayman might not look dramatically different to the models they replace, but there have been significant drivetrain upgrades that make them faster, more economical and even more desirable.At the heart of the upgrade are all-new engines, a 2.9-litre (up from 2.7) for the base model and a 3.4-litre for S models, both based on the new 997 facelift 911 engines, the first new architecture since Stuttgart moved from air- to water-cooled.The 2.9 doesn’t get direct fuel injection, but still meets EU5 emissions. It cranks out 188kW/290Nm in the ragtop and 195kW/300Nm in the coupe. The DFI 3.4 musters 228kW/360Nm sans roof or 235kW/370Nm with fixed metal overhead.After debuting in the recently facelifted 911, the seven-speed PDK automated manual transmission filters down to replace the previous five-speed auto. The manual ‘box is up from five to six ratios and a limited-slip differential can be optioned for the first time.Great, but how does it go? Glad you asked, because we felt like a fang.This launch was different to others. Partners are invited and couples are handed a car for the day and sent on a country drive on and around Victoria’s Great Ocean Road. We book-ended the range, cheapest to most expensive: base Boxster manual on Saturday, Cayman S PDK on Sunday.We’ll concentrate on the drivetrains because the basic Boxster/Cayman chassis design carries over in revised form, and remains a rare automotive gem. From the lively, communicative steering to the controlled yet compliant suspension and the chassis’ inherent balance, it approaches sports car perfection.Porsche’s Paul Watson had made much of the work done on the tuning of intake acoustics and this is one of the first things you notice when booting either car/engine from low revs. The only difference between the throbby induction notes is that it’s more guttural from the bigger 3.4-litre S donk.The base engine is more effective than ever and PDK versions are claimed to sprint to 100 in 5.6 and 5.5 seconds (Boxster and Cayman respectively). The manual is fractionally slower, but the flipside is you get the tactile delight of snicking the lever yourself.After a frustrating crawl in the Cayman S stuck in slow-moving traffic along the GOR between Torquay and Apollo Bay, we headed inland and discovered its true worth. S badge firmly affixed to its rump, the Cayman evolves from quick coupe to quasi supercar. Overtaking is effortless and every corner blurs into the next with a blissful sonic backdrop of flat six rasp and wail as revs soar. If the engine isn’t in the meat of its powerband, it will be in fractions of a second via a bump of the PDK lever or a press of the wheel-mounted shift buttons. Even left to its own devices, the new seven-speed automated manual is always decisive and snappy.When you consider the 2009 Boxster manual is, at $113,000, just $4K more than the 1997 original, its value case is overwhelming. At the other end of the scale the $160,800 Cayman S PDK hits 100 kays from rest in 4.9 seconds, only two tenths behind a PDK Carerra. Tough choice, but regardless, two days in Porsche’s latest affordable sportsters made it clear: the excitement is all real.

HONDA’S Civic five-door is one of those rare cars that combine looks with intelligence. Due to arrive in Australia mid-year, the UK-made hatch stands out in the big-selling small-car crowd, its exterior design makes everything else look plain, while the interior’s clever flexibility outsmarts the opposition.

Because the Civic hatch launched back in ’06, and exports to Oz of the Type-R three-door began the following year, the five-door won’t be entirely unfamiliar. In fact, with its Alfa-like blacked-out rear door handles it’s not hard to mistake the five-door Civic for a three-door.Extra doors aside, there’s little difference. Same chunky profile, thrusty stance and bold details. The effect is very Japanese. Civic’s shape reminds me of the miniature radio-control caricature cars you see for sale in Tokyo toy shops. It might alienate some conservative small-car customers (who’ll no doubt scurry off to a Toyota showroom to check out the soothingly unadventurous Corolla), but the Civic will also attract others.The Honda’s interior is equally interesting. The instrument panel is the same bi-level design seen in the Civic sedan, with digital speedo above and beyond a large, blue-lit single dial housing tachometer and multi-function display. The rear of the cabin doesn’t look special at first glance, but it features the same kind of seat-folding smarts as seen in the Jazz.As well as being practical, the Civic hatch is also an above-average drive. While the car is built with a pair of petrol engines, only the larger unit is headed for Australia. Thanks to a recent mid-life upgrade, the 103kW 1.8-litre i-VTEC is now available with a five-speed auto as well as a six-speed manual. The availability of the conventional auto probably accounts for Honda Oz’s decision to begin imports in ’09. Previously there was no true auto available, only an automated version of the six-speed manual, dubbed i-Shift.The engine is a smooth-spinning honey. Power delivery is linear, and accompanied by some induction honk at the big-number end of the tacho dial. The manual tranny is typical Honda; brilliant. It’s slick, precise and filled with a bunch of relatively close-spaced ratios. The auto is fine, too.While it doesn’t seem to do the handling any harm, the hatch’s simple torsion-beam rear suspension might explain the level of road noise. On coarse-chip surfaced British roads and motorways the hatch is raucous, noticeably louder than Civic sedan with its multi-link rear end. But the electric steering is excellent. It’s direct and delivers a good sense of connection.Road noise aside, the hatch’s only other obvious shortcoming is visibility. That rising waistline and chubby C-pillar do hinder over-the-shoulder sightlines. The view directly to rear isn’t great, either.Prices? Honda Oz planned to sell only upmarket versions, to cover the high cost of the UK-made hatch. And that was before the GFC. But even if Civic prices do start at close to $30K, as looks likely, it’s a car that at least provides some persuasive reasons to pay the extra.Honda Civic 5-door hatch 1799cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v 103kW @ 6300rpm 174Nm @ 4300rpm 5-spd auto or 6-spd manual 8.6sec (claimed, manual) $29,000 to $35,000 (est) June (est)

The KIA stand at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show wasn’t the easiest place to find, but it hosted two important debuts.

The car was the Kee, a bright yellow two-door coupe concept. The man was Peter Schreyer, the Kee’s designer, former VW Group design hero and Kia’s new design czar.Poached to become Kia’s global design chief in 2006, the urbane shaper’s resume includes the slick Audi TT and first-generation A6. Now Schreyer’s Kee concept has become road-going reality in the form of the Cerato.The look of his Cerato’s exterior is clean, modern and nicely detailed. It stands up well against any Euro or Japanese opposition and simply banishes most Korean efforts (including the old Cerato) as jokes from times gone by.Perhaps more surprising — actually, definitely more surprising — is the drive experience. An extensive launch drive left no doubt: the Cerato has dynamic capabilities well beyond the Korean norm. Riding on a significantly longer and wider footprint, the new Cerato combines the Hyundai i30 strut front-end with a new torsion-beam rear. The result is convincingly tidy handling and a controlled ride.Australia gets the tauter ‘Euro’ suspension tune which brings with it some abrupt ride qualities. But the damper and spring rates are well sorted, in turn keeping body movement predictable.The hydraulic steering is light, as suits the Cerato’s primarily urban role, but the weighting, crucially, doesn’t go all weird and wacky when pressure is applied. Nor does rack rattle and kickback become too excessive over bumps and potholes. Even the Kumho Solus tyres display gripping talent.Other aspects of the Cerato impress, they just aren’t as unexpected. The new Theta II 2.0-litre four-cylinder is quiet and smooth, boasting power and torque figures a Corolla would die for. It even gets enthusiastic about its task, when the intake valve timing ramps up at 4000rpm.The five-speed manual’s combined claim is 7.8L/100km, the four-speed auto just one tenth more.Korean interiors have been improving for a while in terms of design, materials and quality, and the Cerato hits two out of three nails on the head. The look is modern, clean and well-built, it’s quiet to ride in and spacious both fore and aft for adults. The large 415 litre boot’s size and shape is aided by the torsion beam’s compact design. The let-downs inside are predictably hard surfaces.It’s one of the sacrifices of hitting a cutting edge pricepoint, another is the obvious lack of noise deadening material under-floor on gravel roads. Yet the base model Cerato S is a true bargain at $18,990 considering it comes with six airbags, ABS with EBD, active front headrests, and air con. ESP and cruise form a $1000 package option.The top-spec $22,990 SLi adds 17-inch alloys, front foglights, climate control, as well as cruise and ESP. The auto adds a further $2000.Away from the main stage Schreyer and his cohorts at Kia have done fine work developing an unexpectedly convincing car.So far, nothing better has come from Korea.Kia Cerato S 1998cc 4cyl, dohc, 16v 115kW @ 6200rpm 194Nm @ 4300rpm 5-spd manual or 4-spd auto 9.3sec (claimed) Now, $18,990

Let’s not get caught up in the light car stereotype, which dictates that small cars are merely shopping trolley urbanites, ever consigned to mundane duties and designed as bait for Daddy’s little princess begging for her first car; cheap, safe and economical. Indeed much of the light car brigade – Mazda 2, Renault Clio, Suzuki Swift, and the old Fiesta and Barina – has provided genuine driving enjoyment in light, chuckable, pint-sized packages for many years.

Ford’s all-new Fiesta, however, isn’t just fun to drive – it’s a genuine driver’s car. And as the first-born child of Ford CEO Allan Mulally’s ‘One Ford’ campaign, Fiesta doubles as not only an all-new model, but one very important Ford.Approaching the Fiesta for the first time, in Wheels‘ carpark burrow, it’s the smallest details which impress first. Unlock the car, via the folding key fob, and the headlamps glow to life, the side-mirror mounted blinkers flashing appropriately. Arriving at the driver’s door, one can’t help but admire the deeply-etched side character crease, then be impressed by the solid, quality weighting of the door itself. The interior plastics may be a tad mismatched, and it can’t match a Honda Jazz for seat-folding smarts, but in our mid-range LX there’s even front footwell lamps and a perfect-sized leather steering wheel with backlit audio and cruise controls.Speaking of perfect, the (now electro-assist) steering certainly fits the bill. Sharp, linear, consistently weighted, brilliant. Indeed Ford has managed the almost impossible task of mixing effortlessly light weighting and a quick rack (2.6-turns lock-to-lock), with a real sense of connection and feel. As one colleague opined, “you wouldn’t be unhappy with this steering in your sports car”.The old Fiesta was already the sharpest light car in the garage, and this new model continues its legacy. Like its Mazda 2 relative, there is a surprising resistance to understeer and minimal bodyroll. Push right to the limit, and the level of grip and poise is astounding for a little tike, although its non-switchable (optional) ESP does shut down proceedings a little earlier than you’d hope. Where the Fiesta really moves ahead of the Mazda (and most of its competitors) is with its damping. Whatever evil road irregularities are thrown its way, the Fiesta lopes along nicely, ever hinting at plushness, but always maintaining good body control. A bit like a Golf GTI, in fact.New Fiesta’s 1.6-litre Ti-VCT four-cylinder petrol engine produces 88kW and 152Nm, both class-leading outputs, and well up on the previous 1.6’s 74kW/146Nm. It’s a revvy, rorty little unit, and torquey when pulling from low speeds in taller gears. Teamed with a tight gearchange and feelsome clutch, and you have one thoroughly enjoyable drivetrain that complements the car’s fab ride and handling to near-perfection.Ford’s confidence in calling new Fiesta “the most important new Ford since the Model T” can certainly be understood when driving its new darling child, and for $18,490 for this LX five-door model, it’s an absolute steal. Only the sense that Fiesta isn’t as well screwed together as its Japanese rivals may let it down. Otherwise, it pushes the light car game demonstrably ahead, and leaves that small car stereotype laying in dead waters.

Forget the all-new Ford Fiesta’s striking smiley face, funky styling, handy performance, good small-car safety, and right-for-the-times fuel efficiency. Call me shallow, but the thing that caught my eye when I first stepped aboard was the design of those gauge needles, with that beautiful teardrop base, trimming down to a long and sleek red pointer.

Car manufacturers love building into their cars a factor called the USP – Unique Selling Proposition.Okay, the gauge needle design almost certainly isn’t the Fiesta’s most obvious USP. It’s probably not something that gets the lads and laddettes talking down at the local bar.Fishing out Ford’s extended press kit, I carefully flipped through all 36 pages for a chapter, or even a mention, about the new gauge needles. But lo, nary a word. The Blue Oval PR and marketing folks clearly don’t place the same importance on such things as moi!Instead the kit was full of stuff about passive and active safety equipment, economical yet zippy engines, great dynamics, packaging efficiency and a host of good-value standard features.And how the new Fiesta, complete with model inspired good looks and dynamic driveability, will shake up the light car segment.“The all-new Fiesta will be the hottest property in the light car segment,” said Ford Australia president & CEO Marin Burela said back at the launch in January.Burela is a little biased. In his previous gig in Europe, as Ford’s executive director of small cars, Burela had responsibility for developing the new Fiesta for the world.It was designed to meet the differing needs of customers around the globe, from Western and Eastern Europe to North America, China, Australia and South Africa.And it appears to have hit the spot. Fiesta seems destined to be a strong seller in the local Light segment, up against the mighty atoms like the Mazda2, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Getz and Honda Jazz.Like the Mazda2 and Yaris before it, the Fiesta has the looks that the youngies love.The dramatic, eye-catching design of the new model is an extension of Ford’s kinetic design language. Sharp angular lines help differentiate the new model from its rivals, while the contemporary interior introduces easy-to-use controls.The Fiesta comes with a choice of two body shapes (three- and five-door) and three model levels.An 88kW/152Nm1.6-litre four cylinder engine with five-speed manual transmission is standard across the range. A four-speed automatic transmission, matched to a 71kW/128Nm1.4-litre engine, is available as an option on all models except the sporty three-door Zetec.Fuel economy for the 1.6 manual is a frugal 6.1L/100km and carbon is emitted at the rate of 143g/km. The 1.4’s fuel economy is 6.9L/100km and carbon emissions are 164g/km.Prices start at $15,750 for the CL model, $18,490 for the LX and $20,250 for the Zetec (excluding dealer delivery and statutory charges).The model we sampled and enjoyed was the three-door base CL in manual form riding on regulation 15-inch wheels.The engine is pleasantly enthusiastic with a lovely clutch/gearbox action. The absence of torque means there is a need to change down on hills. Final-drive gearing appears a little short but this obviously hasn’t hurt the fuel economy numbers.It steers pleasantly, and goes around corners hard without noticeable body roll.There are characteristics inherent to three-door designs that I don’t like – the long heavy door being one, and the need to go searching behind you for the seat belt is another. But there’s no knocking supportive and comfortable front seats nor the rear-seat room available in the Fiesta.Forward visibility is excellent, but over-the-shoulder vision is limited.All Fiestas come standard with anti-lock brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), plus driver and passenger airbags as standard.Additional safety equipment, optional on CL and LX and standard on Zetec, includes front seat head and thorax side airbags, driver knee airbag and dynamic stability control (DSC) with Traction Control and emergency brake assist (EBA). A 3.5mm audio jack and Easyfuel capless refuelling is standard on all models.Wondering how the Fiesta has fared in the market in its first couple of months on sale here sent me scurrying to the VFACTS official sales numbers.It’s doing well but not as well as it probably deserves to do. In March, 834 Fiestas were retailed across Australia. This compares with 1741 Yaris, 1597 Getz, 828 Jazz sales.These Fiesta sales could accelerate once people realise how intoxicating it is to look at the tacho and speedo needles…

Under normal circumstances, pushing a Lamborghini Murciélago to its top speed would be enough excitement for a day. Twelve cylinders wailing away behind your head as you flatten the right pedal is bound to get anyone’s adrenaline pumping. However, this wasn’t a normal day, nor were they normal circumstances.

For one thing, it was night. The sun had recently set, but the bucolic landscape surrounding the Nardo Technical Centre was already as black as the Alcantara-lined interior in which we were sitting, awaiting our turn on the track. And what a track it is: a fiveu-lane-wide, 12.5-kilometre ring that surrounds the giant test facility in southern Italy. The perfect proving ground for driving the latest, lightest, greatest, most-righteous Murciélago — the LP670-4 SV — to the upper reaches of sixth gear and its lofty top speed close to 340km/h.Its elevated rear wing is a dead giveaway that the LP670-4 SV is not your garden-variety Murciélago. The alphanumeric nomenclature stands for its longitudinally-aligned, posterior-mounted, 670PS V12 and four-wheel drive system. But it’s the SV suffix — for SuperVeloce, or ‘Super Fast’ — that sets this macchina apart. The revised valve timing, intake and exhaust systems for the SV’s 6.5-litre V12 bring another 22kW compared with the plebeian LP640, for a soothing 493kW at 8000rpm.The SV also sheds 100 kilos, with mostly carbonfibre alterations to its chassis, interior, and engine/drivetrain. Add in quicker electronic gearchanges, and, Lamborghini claims, the SV will accelerate to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds en route to a 342km/h top speed with the optional small spoiler, or 337km/h with the gigantic Aeropack wing.Serious drivers will opt for the Aeropack. On Nardo’s 16-turn, 6.2km handling track, the big fixed wing generated enough downforce to keep the rear end firmly planted, compared to the base Murciélago, which sometimes shakes its booty around apexes.Running clockwise in the left lane round the big Nardo ring — it’s bumpy around the three-to-four-km markers — the car bobs gently on its dampers, like a speedboat clipping the waves. By the time you pass the five-kay marker, there’s nothing left to do but sit back, relax, and watch as the broken white lines just off the starboard bow appear to connect.Driving the gentle arc is point-and-shoot simple. “We tuned the steering for high-speed sensitivity,” says Mauricio Reggiano, head of Lamborghini R&D. The on-centre feel is precise and responsive at what would be lift-off velocity for most aircraft. I keep the throttle pinned to the floor, and soon nudge the speedo near its 342km/h terminal velocity, at which point my passenger — a Lamborghini Driving Academy instructor — raises and drops his left hand, gently reminding me to return to the posted 240km/h limit.Not that I can say I blame him. The passenger’s seat always feels faster.

Lambo LP670-4 SV

Engine 6496cc V12, dohc, 48v Max Power 493kW @ 8000rpm Max Torque 660Nm @ 6500rpm Transmission 6-speed sequential manual 1-100km/h 3.2sec (claimed) Price $900,000 (estimated) On sale Late 2009

The arrival of the new 3.9L/100km Toyota Prius in some neighbourhoods will be greeted as no more pleasing than the approach of a flaming asteroid. Do not stone these cynics as Earth-haters. Just one look at this blob – yes, blob, because wind tunnels don’t sculpt Miuras, they sculpt humpy, lumpy hatchbacks with saggy jowls and thyroid issues – would arouse only a horny baleen whale.

And so far, Toyota’s tally of scampy, fun-loving hybrids stands at exactly zero. That is, assuming you don’t go orgiastic over each microgram per nanolitre of carbon dioxide saved on trips to the shopping centre.

For 2009, Toyota proudly unveils a Prius that is only incrementally improved. To make matters worse, Honda has essentially mimeographed the Prius’s blob-chic shape with its new Insight. So let the cynics have their field day.Alas, the new Prius is definitely better in some respects. It’s less jowly. With its new scything headlights – LED optional – and up-kicked tail, it may even be called daring. Look close for the faint bulge. Saviour it, because that’s all the testosterone on offer. Thanks to its more rigid body, wider track and tightly wired steering, the new model is definitely less clueless than its predecessor. Underbonnet kilowatts have risen and acceleration times are quicker.The interior feel has also been coined up, the digital multicolour dash layout with its soaring centre console far less antiseptic than before. People who want to spend Lexus money on a Prius can now do so thanks to a pile-on of posh options. They include a self-parking system, lane-departure alarm, distance-monitoring cruise control, and heaven’s own glass sunroof with solar panels which, when the car is parked, power a cabin-cooling fan. A titanium humidor can’t be far behind.Indeed, the latest Prius redesign glories in details. The wheelbase remains unchanged, the body has grown longer and wider by mere millimetres. But that body has been reshaped by the dictates of aerodynamics, interior packaging, and bored owners looking for freshness. The nose looks pointier, the upper grille openings smaller. The roof arc peaks farther back to allow more rear-seat headroom. Chiselling in the cheeks and an overhanging spoiler unite with new underbody trays to give a greasy 0.25 drag coefficient, Toyota claims.

Below a bank of digital, three-dimensional multicolour displays depicting, among other things, the power flow in the hybrid system, a flying buttress links the dash with the centre armrest while cleaving the front cabin into two distinct compartments. The shift selector moves off the dash and into a more traditional and sportif station at the driver’s elbow, where, we are told, so-called ‘hyper-milers’ can more easily slap it into neutral on coast-downs for the few extra drams of fuel savings. The seats are trimmed more plushly, a height adjuster is now fitted to the driver’s seat, and, at long last, the steering wheel tilts and telescopes.About 50kg heavier at 1380kg, the new Prius gets more combined kilowatts underbonnet, 16 from the upsizing of the Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder from 1.5 litres to 1.8, for an even 100kW total. Gone is its predecessor’s accessory drive belt: the water pump, steering booster, and air-con compressor are all electric.

Conceptually, the 202-volt, 27kW nickel-metal hydride battery pack and hybrid drivetrain are unchanged – one big electric motor helps the engine propel the car while a smaller starter/alternator also controls the drive modes via the planetary gear transmission. Even so, 90 percent of the powertrain components are new, with everything from the water-cooled power inverter to the two drivetrain motors shrunk.The big, 60kW traction motor now has half as much grunt – 207Nm compared with 400Nm – but turns twice as fast, now 13,500rpm, through a torque-multiplying gear reduction drive. The system now more closely resembles that in US-market Camry and Kluger hybrids.Finessing the hybrid drivetrain pays off in the more seamless switchover from electric to petrol propulsion. Apart from installing new engine mounts, engineers replaced the chain-driven final drive with gears so there is less ‘chuggling’ during engine start-up. Like the Insight, the new Prius lets you select a pure-EV mode, allowing engine-off driving up to 50km/h for 1.6km – remember, the battery pack is small.The Prius also has an ‘Eco’ mode which slows down the throttle and idles the air-con more often to conserve petrol. Finally, there’s a ‘Power’ mode that prioritises acceleration. Have it your way.Suspension architecture is unchanged – struts up front, a torsion-beam behind. Caster was tweaked to give the helm a more pronounced on-centre feel – before it had basically none – and the electric power steering was retuned for a more natural, less game-console heft.Otherwise, in city driving the new Prius feels pretty much the same as the old car. It still strolls off the line in no great hurry, needing just over 10 seconds to hit 100km/h. Still, this beats the old car, which couldn’t reach 100 kays that quickly unless pushed off a cliff.Toyota says it has reworked the soundproofing but we were unable to discern major hush improvements during a petrol-electric tour of central Florida. An android artificiality still characterises the steering and brakes, even if the wheel feels a little firmer to the palms.But the Prius wasn’t built for the pilotes in the neighbourhood. It’s a commuting corpuscle for people who want to shave their fuel consumption in a highly visible way, rather than shave lap times. And at that, Toyota’s wondrous blob excels.

Toyota Prius

Body steel, 5 doors, 5 seats Drivetrain front-engine (east west), front-drive Engine 1798cc four cylinder, dohc, 16v petrol + electric motor Power 73kW @ 5200rpm (petrol) and 60kW (electric) Torque 142Nm @ 4000rpm (petrol) and 207Nm (electric) Transmission Electric CVT Size l/w/h 4460/1745/1490mm Wheelbase 2700mm Weight 1380kg 0-100km/h 10.4sec (claimed) Price $40K (estimated) On sale July

With the needle pointing at 175km/h, maybe a fraction more, the new 3 MPS hangs in perfect equilibrium in the high lane of the steeply banked turn. The car doesn’t want to climb higher and closer to the barrier that surrounds the high-speed track at Mazda’s Miyoshi Proving Ground. Nor does it want to descend to a lower, slower altitude. This is the canted curve’s ‘neutral speed’, where you could let go of the steering wheel and the 3 MPS would still track true inside the fast lane.

As the horizon twists back to horizontal and a straight stretches ahead, it’s time to find out how much the Mazda has left. Downshift from sixth to fifth, blipping the engine’s revs into the high-power end of the tachometer’s arc … and floor the throttle. The 3 MPS accelerates, although not with an effortless rush. It’s obvious that much of the direct-injected 2.3-litre turbo’s power is busy muscling the Mazda’s 0.32 drag coefficient shape and its 2.217 square metres of frontal area through the mild, April air, with not a great deal left in reserve. While the Mazda ploughs past 200km/h with ease, the rate of acceleration begins to taper beyond that. There’s no doubt the MPS will reach its claimed 250km/h top speed, but this isn’t the Mazda’s natural realm.Less than an hour later I’m finding out where, exactly, the Mazda does belong. The global road circuit at Miyoshi is a favourite. Yes, it’s an entertaining track to drive, but it’s also a good place to test. It has almost everything you could want: slow corners, fast corners, smooth corners, rough corners, flat corners, rising corners, diving corners … and (take a breath) a long straight.As our pre-production 3 MPS is the only car using the track (Mazda has shut down testing for 90 minutes, just for Wheels) I can stop on the straight for a standing-start launch, or six. It’s soon obvious the car’s standard ESP is best left on. It’s a pretty polished system that does a good job of delivering a swift take-off with a minimum of torque-wasting wheelspin. Switching the system off makes it abundantly clear how much it does. Without ESP active, popping the clutch with anything over about 2000rpm showing on the tach is going to get you instant, wild wheelspin. It happens despite the inclusion of a standard limited-slip differential, and faster than you can think about easing pressure on the throttle to re-establish grip.Mazda quotes a 6.1sec 0-100km/h time, and the car certainly feels capable of something close to this number. Although the new 3 MPS is a little heavier and the engine’s max power output practically unchanged at 191kW, the slightly taller ratios inside the six-speed gearbox lend some cred to the claim. Where the first-generation (best Wheels-recorded 0-100km/h time 6.4sec) needed third gear to make it to 100km/h, the new one apparently reaches the benchmark at the very top end of second.The most notable thing about the new MPS’s undiminished performance is its character. It’s as quick as ever, yet much less busy. Where the old one was a torque-steering handful, this one’s 380Nm are barely felt through the wheel when launching from rest or flooring the throttle to slingshot out of a second-gear corner. Only when pushing hard through Miyoshi’s lumpiest corner – a right-hander that uses every millimetre of the suspension travel front and rear, and has the car skipping sideways – is there any steering tug worthy of mention.Through the circuit’s smoother bends, the steering is remarkable only for its precision and feel. The 3 MPS is set up for mild understeer, and you can feel its onset quite clearly through the rim. You can hold the MPS right on the cusp of front-tyre slip, into and out of corners. Or you can ignore the quality of the steering, and slap it brutishly from apex to apex, letting the sweetly subtle ESP tidy up after you. Switch the system off, and you’ll find that the Mazda really is nicely balanced and inherently stable.Both clutch and six-speed manual have the right combo of weight and feel. The effective brakes grew a little whiffy at times, but never felt like fading. The level of drivetrain refinement is just right, with a sonorous exhaust rumble around 3500rpm that’s characterful rather than annoying. Finally, ride comfort is better than expected (and remembered from the first-generation 3 MPS).That the new MPS is a more polished drive than its predecessor is undeniable. And there’s no reason to doubt that it’s every bit as quick as its predecessor, although the new car’s greater sophistication may create the impression it’s slower. This may not be what every hot-hatch customer wants; there are plenty who prefer drama to calmer…But whether everyone approves of the 3 MPS’s new flavour or not, what Mazda’s engineers have achieved is impressive. They have, after all, transformed the 3 MPS while recycling much of the first model’s hardware.Yoshiyuki Maeda, program manager for the entire new Mazda 3 line-up, confirms the changes to the MPS’s engine are minor. Mazda didn’t want any more power, but did want Euro 5 compliance, requiring small changes to the cylinder head design and a rework of engine management electronics.While power hasn’t increased, performance reliability has been improved. The switch from the first 3 MPS’s underbonnet intercooler duct to a bonnet scoop for the new model is the key, Maeda explains. “Like in Australia, even in the circumstance of the 35 celsius degree, the intercooler cooling efficiency can be maximised,” Maeda said. This means less decline in power as temperature rises.Inside the six-speed manual (largely carried over from the first-gen 3 MPS), first to fifth gears are all a little taller. The aim here was to make the car’s performance more accessible more of the time. And while the 3 MPS’s brake discs and calipers remain the same, the power assist was recalibrated. As was the ESP system.Changes to the body and chassis, however, were substantial. And it’s these that are responsible for altering the 3 MPS’s previously manic character. “The body rigidity [is] much improved. Also, the suspension rigidity [is] improved as well,” Maeda says. These gains gave his chassis engineers a wider range of damper and bush tuning options with which to work. “That’s the reason why the steering feels much improved.” A third, additional, fixing point for the steering rack, compared to the first-gen car, also contributes to the palpable improvement in steering accuracy, he adds.At the same time as the engineers were working to make the new 3 MPS a more serene drive, the design department was striving to make it look wilder than ever. As with the intercooler scoop, which design wanted every bit as much as engineering, the changes were often good for both departments.There was a big difference between the understated appearance of the first-gen 3 MPS, and its manic performance. In contrast, the second-gen model looks like something potent, yet delivers serious speed in a much more civilised manner.In every sense, the second 3 MPS is better balanced than the first, and its new-found equilibrium makes it a more desirable car.

Mazda 3 MPS

Body steel, 5 doors, 5 seats Drivetrain front-engine (east-west), front-drive Engine 2261cc in-line four, dohc, 16v, turbocharger Power 191kW @ 5500rpm Torque 380Nm @ 3000rpm Transmission 6-speed manual Size l/w/h 4505/1770/1460mm Wheelbase 2640mm Weight 1472kg (estimate) 0-100km/h 6.1sec (claimed) Price $40,000 (estimated) On sale August

Surely, even in Germany, this couldn’t be called convertible weather. Down on the flatlands it’s a sunny 15 degrees. Up here in the Snowies, somewhere near Cabramurra, it’s closer to four. The wind is howling, clouds are whipping past at road level, noses drip and drizzle stings. If it wasn’t for windscreens, foot heaters and hats, this merry band of road testers would be frostier than a penguin’s pecker. And that’s one very cold beak…

Sensible drivers would raise the roofs to keep the elements out. But then, does any of this quartet look like the kind of car a sensible type would consider owning? Each is priced on the wrong side of six figures; none has more than two seats and fairly token luggage capacity. And even though the individual cylinder count stops at six, healthy power outputs promise performance aplenty. As our topless testers rip past with ears flapping in the wind, you can bet the farmers and hydro workers passing in their white Landcruiser utes think we’re just a little bit crazy.

Funny, too, that this lot are all from Germany, a country often accused of lacking a sense of humour. It’s difficult to not see the funny side of the rest of the world queuing up to buy the Teutons’ ever more powerful and outrageous artworks on wheels.The reason for our congregation is the new BMW Z4, with its long roadster bonnet, folding hardtop roof and, in the case of the sDrive35i, a twin-turbo six and seven-speed double-clutch gearbox. Fortuitously, each of its rivals – from Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche – are also new in their own ways. The TTS arrived late last year featuring a beefed-up four-cylinder turbo engine delivering 200kW. Just before that, Mercedes waved the wand over its SLK, nipping and tucking the styling and adding a more powerful V6. Not to be outdone, Porsche recently slotted a seven-speed dual-clutch and direct-injection into its re-engined Boxster S.While all four are two-pedal cars, only the Mercedes uses a conventional torque converter auto, albeit the clever 7G-Tronic now fitted to almost all of Benz’s rear-drive cars. And where two pedals might once have been seen as the default choice for poseurs whose driving ambitions rarely extend beyond tooling about town in D-for-Dawdle – the spec sheets for all four suggest they have the potential to deliver some serious sports-car thrills.But before getting too carried away, we need to visit a dealership and part with our hard-earned. It’s the Audi that inflicts the least pain in this regard, the TTS coming in at a snip under $100K, or $103,265 with the dual-clutch transmission. That’s about five grand more than the TT coupe, or a similar amount above the V6 quattro Roadster. Depending on how you look at it, that’s either plenty of choice around the one price point, or grounds for some confusion about which is the best TT to buy.The SLK 350 and Z4 35i are much closer, and a fair bit more expensive, at $119,000 and $120,400 respectively for their two-pedal variants. The mid-engined Boxster S raises the bar again at $146,000 with the PDK twin-clutch. As if to rub salt in the wounds of recession-shy Aussie buyers, the Porsche came optioned with 19-inch wheels, adaptive suspension and a Sports Chrono package among other items, lifting its price to an eye-watering $162,300. More cosmetic additions to the TTS, Z4 and SLK meant that in the form you see them here, they cost $108,000, $125,480 and $139,800 respectively.For that sort of money you might reasonably expect more than just pose value, so it’s a good thing that all four deliver in their own ways. The 2.0-litre, direct-injection turbo four fitted to the TTS gets a significant power hike over the standard TT – the kilowatt count rises from 147 to 200, and torque is up from 280 to 350Nm.This makes the TTS the least powerful car on test, which would be okay if it were also the lightest. But it’s not, tipping the scales a good 120kg heavier than the Boxster S which boasts the most power, all 228kW, from its 3.4-litre flat six. At least the Audi is not the heaviest on test, that honour goes to the 1580kg BMW Z4 35i. However, with its twin-turbo in-line six delivering a competitive 225kW and a benchmark 400Nm (from as low as 1300rpm), the BMW backs its beef with muscle. Finally, with its rev-range extended and its power output lifted by 24kW to 224kW, the SLK 350’s 3.5-litre V6 promises to make the 1485kg roadster decently quick.For the mathematicians among you, that’s a combined 877kW storming up Kosciuszko, climate control and tachos in the red, each car flaunting its remarkably different character; zinging, howling, popping. It makes for wonderful open-air theatre, provided you’re not a mountain goat, or a late breaking possum.Take the Z4: drop the hammer in first or second gear, and there’s electrifying performance backed by a deep and menacing exhaust note that pops and grunts between upshifts of the automated gearbox. And the flexibility and torque application of the twin-turbo six is stunning; throttle inputs in sixth or seventh gear from low rpm don’t produce coughs or splutters, only a long, steady rush of acceleration.Audi’s smaller four-cylinder engine also loves to rev, and although clearly less meaty than the BMW, it’s full of characterful whooshing and whistling. And if the higher-boost turbo indicates a degree of peakiness to the power delivery, there’s no indication of that in practice. It pulls strongly across the mid-range, spins hard to its redline, while the quattro all-wheel-drive system easily looks after traction.Then there’s the Merc. Like a choirboy singing in the wrong key, it’s ousted as the aural weak link of this orchestral quartet. Yes, it has plenty of performance, but the V6 sounds grainy and feels unwilling to rev. Its seven-speed auto is also slower-shifting than the dual-clutch ‘boxes.Finally, there’s the Boxster’s donk – an absolute gem. With a guttural, spine-tingling wail at full throttle, it has a delicious ability to rev hard and fast, delivering ever-increasing scales of acceleration. Yet the flat six is just as happy to pull big loads from low revs and, when left to its own devices, the transmission shifts quickly into seventh gear. Manual changes are effected by buttons on the steering wheel residing alongside the driver’s thumbs, or via the console-mounted shift lever.The Porsche’s handling, too, is sublime. The addition of optional active suspension and the Sports Chrono package gives a much greater degree of adjustment to gearbox and handling modes. With it all turned off, the ride is acceptably supple, gearshifts smooth and precise, and the driver is left wondering why any adjustable modes are needed. The steering’s also deliciously accurate and well weighted, chassis balance close to perfect, and grip levels enormous on the larger optional tyre package. Hit the ‘sport’ button and the suspension stiffens, gears are held longer, and cornering speeds increase. Go to ‘sports plus’ and there’s another level of gearbox and suspension performance, but the trade-offs in ride and gearshift harshness (not to mention the barest skerrick of available ESP functionality) mean this mode is best left for racetracks or truly challenging smooth roads.Back in the BMW, and the impression from the driver’s seat is more classic roadster. The Z4’s two seats are located almost as far back as the rear axle, with a long speedboat-esque bonnet stretching out ahead. It looks cool but can be disconcerting as the steering acts almost too sharply for the rear end to catch up, requiring continual re-adjustment even in higher-speed corners. Hit the three-stage ‘sport’ button and the steering nervousness disappears, the gearbox goes into a more serious mode and the whole equation feels much handier. Retaining ESP functionality on slippery surfaces is advisable, however, because with 400Nm on tap the rear end is easy to break loose and the steering lacks the communication to give full confidence in recovery.The TTS is less dramatic, but hardly less effective. It’s a more nimble car than the Z4; lighter in the steering but with more feedback, it changes direction quickly and with impressive stability. Even the dual-clutch gearbox shifts more smoothly, the two paddles behind the wheel perfectly positioned for manual shifts. It does tend to understeer in tighter corners, at which stage the ESP kicks in to kill the power, but with the stability system switched off there’s more than enough AWD traction to maintain safe grip.And even with the magnetic dampers set to the harder of their two settings, the ride of the TTS is surprisingly supple, which works well with the quietness of the tyres and engine to give the car refinement as well as punch. This is no highly strung, pumped-up version of the TT, but a capable and comfortable sports car in its own right.Chasing the TTS, and tracing the same safety-yellow shoulder lines, the SLK 350 immediately feels less composed, the ride more knobbly and the body more flexible. It also has a big steering wheel, and while the steering itself seems quite good initially, when the pace quickens it feels more the convertible, less the sports car. The brakes, too, feel spongier and less aggressive on retardation than its rivals.If fuel consumption is an issue then the Boxster performed the worst, although its overall figure of 12.2 litres/100km hardly makes it dipsomaniacal, and barely more thirsty than the Audi (12.1 L/100km), the BMW (12.0 L/100km) or the tall-geared, atmo Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 at 11.5 L/100km.With no back seats, bodies designed for looks rather than utility and, of course, folding roofs that have to be stored somewhere, none of these cars is built as a family hauler. But it is interesting to note the difference between the BMW and Mercedes’ solid hardtops and the TTS and Boxster’s fabric items: the latter two are comparatively quick to disappear while the SLK and Z4’s require more time. Boot space is also compromised by the hardtops (roof down, the BMW and Mercedes end up with luggage slots instead of boots) and attention has to be paid to pulling a luggage cover forward or the folding operation ceases to function.So the Audi is left with a very useful boot able to swallow a decent amount of luggage (or extra wind cheaters) and the Boxster S also splits quite an acceptable amount between the shallow compartment behind its engine and the deep bay between its front wheels. The TT also has the more attractive and user-friendly interior, possibly in the latter case because it resorts to good old-fashioned buttons for chores like cranking up the heat after snapper Brunelli demands another top-down cornering shot. The Z4, on the other hand, has the latest iDrive menu-based system which can be distracting and takes a lot of learning. The SLK’s COMAND version, which also relies on a vast array of buttons, is hardly better. Porsche’s touch-screen is the best compromise of the three.Like many recent BMWs, the Z4’s lack of space for oddment storage seems, well, odd, as does the fact its sun visors can’t be swivelled laterally. Minor annoyances in the others include the Merc’s 12-volt power output being hidden in the passenger’s footwell, the lack of iPod connectivity in either the Audi or the Porsche, and the latter’s cacky beige interior treatment and slabby dashboard – far less classy than the Audi’s black cockpit, or the BMW’s sweeping instrument panel. But then, compared with the SLK’s gorgeous, arrow-sharp wedge shape, the Z4’s Wacky Races-style long bonnet or even the Boxster’s double-ended version of Porsche’s ubiquitous styling theme, the TT’s high sills and bubble-shaped roof possibly make it the least attractive of the four cars.Fashion may well dictate which of these cars will sell to a particular person, but in terms of functionality there can only be one winner – the Boxster S. Not only is it fast, it possesses the best iteration of the dual-clutch transmission in the PDK, and is balanced to perfection for quick driving.But it’s also 40 percent more expensive than the cheapest car here. Pricing does not separate the Z4 35i and the SLK 350, but the BMW’s sublime engine, along with the quick gearbox and the option of steering and gearbox performance modes, helps make it the better of the two. The SLK looks fabulous and up to a point is fast and capable – it just lacks that final 10 percent of sharpness.Which leaves us with the TTS. Offering a terrific blend of poise and performance for less than any other car here, it also has less packaging compromises, yet surprisingly high levels of refinement both in terms of ride quality and noise suppression.Heading back towards the big smoke, woollen scarves and beanies finally removed and temperatures returning to something approaching sanity, the decision’s clear: for the ultimate in performance, the Porsche is the pick of this bunch; weigh everything up against price and the TTS is a winner. Bet the guys in Ingolstadt get a chuckle out of that.