Do buyers of SUVs place much importance on razor-sharp handling, or are there more pressing priorities?
Toyota has decided that the new fourth-gen RAV4 should wear myriad changes – mostly positive – including more evolved and involving dynamics.
The new-gen is even fun to drive, though less so on poor surfaces.
Such is the dramatic overhaul of the RAV’s design and engineering that the latest iteration of the original SUV is unrecognisable as such.
Old styling cues, including the characteristic tailgate-mounted spare, are gone.
Yep, a top-hinged rear ’gate is the go. With a standard space-saver.
If you want a full-sizer, it’s now a $300 option that can be found under the cargo floor.
Replacing the slow-selling 3.5-litre V6 engine is a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel clearly aimed at taking on the Subaru Forester and Mazda CX-5. Read full review here.
New images have emerged showing the Toyota 86 convertible with its soft-top roof up for the first time.
The patented images, first published by Car and Driver magazine, hint the soft-top is edging closer to production, just months after being shown as a concept at the Geneva Motor Show.
No further details of the car have emerged, although it is understood the convertible will share the coupe’s 147kW/205Nm 2.0-litre boxer engine.
Final production versions of the convertible 86 are tipped to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in November.
A lesbian business woman in England is seeking to help young homosexuals to learn to drive by opening the world’s first gay driving school.
Sick of hearing horror stories about ‘old-school’ instructors calling gay pupils ‘faggots’ or questioning transgender students about their sexuality, 27-year-old Karis Smith has opened her own business.
Called the ‘Gay Driving School Manchester’, the business seeks to teach gay students in an accepting, safe and relaxed environment.
Miss Smith’s website says: “Gay? Lesbian? Bisexual? TG/TS/TV? Looking for driving lessons with a friendly driving instructor in a comfortable learning environment? Then look no further. I am a young, female, gay driving instructor.”
Miss Smith says the reaction to her business has been ‘very positive’, but what do you think?
Do homosexual drivers need their own driving school? Or is this simply a smart business idea?
Journalists, by nature, are cynics.
So when Honda Australia declared its first ever diesel, fitted exclusively to the Civic hatch, is as refined and as quiet as its petrol offerings, I sniggered into my morning coffee.
Jump behind the wheel however, and you quickly realise Honda isn’t telling porkies.
The new 1.6-litre i-DTEC oiler is a gem, offering a satisfying blend of efficiency, performance and refinement.
The first engine to use Honda’s ‘Earth Dreams’ technology in Australia, the new turbo-charged oiler produces 88kW and 300Nm – not enough power to feel blisteringly quick, but more than adequate for daily driving.Read full review here.
Here, at last, is a truly fast Volvo that isn’t rubbish.
If the S60 Polestar Limited Edition was human it could to walk and chew gum at the same time, something that’s never been true of high-performance Volvos in the past.
Engineered by Volvo’s Swedish racing partner Polestar to order for Volvo Australia, the first batch in a limited run of 50 cars will arrive here in late June. It will be priced above $100,000.
This car’s mission is to add muscle to the image of the entire S60 line-up in Australia. The Polestar-tuned turbo 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder engine delivers a creamy 257kW at 5700rpm and at least 500Nm from 2800 to 4750rpm through a six-speed Getrag automatic and Haldex all-wheel-drive system.
Polestar promises a 4.9sec 0-100km/h time. Read full review here.
Most 50 year olds get slippers for their birthday.
Not Lamborghini.
To celebrate its 50th, Lambo has cranked the volume on its already bonkers Aventador up to 11, to give the world this – the LP720-4 50 Anniversario.
The new, limited-edition model gets 15kW more than the standard car, plus a new, even more aggressive bodykit styled on the 2012 J concept.
The new kit gives the LP720-4 a 50 percent increase in aero efficiency, yet the new car retains the standard Aventador’s 2.9 second 0-100km/h sprint and 350km/h.
Remember the good old drive-in movie theatre?
Well Merecedes-Benz is reviving the concept with its new GLA concept.
The sporty, SUV crossover is actually a portable movie theatre, using laser beams that can, supposedly, project images from a smartphone, the internet or digital storage device.
All you need to do is point the car at a suitably flat surface.
Similar technology was shown at this year’s Detroit Motor Show on the Smart Forstars concept.
Aside from its ability to play movies, the GLA concept looks to be an interesting addition to Merc’s lineup.
Aimed at younger buyers, the crossover will be unveiled at this weekend’s Shanghai Motor Show and should be a rival to the BMW X1.
Details remain scarce, but expect the GLA to be powered by a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder engine producing 155kW.
Ah the Chinese. They aren’t what you’d call…original when it comes to car design.
Instead, they seem nick design cues from other brands and wack on a new badge.
Take the nation’s newest supercar for example.
Called the Icona Vulcano, it seems to be a Frankenstein of the supercar world’s elite.
See it from the front and you think Ferrari F12. The side, Corvette Stingray. The rear, Lexus LFA.
Still, you can’t copy a car’s performance and it’s here the Vulcano comes into its own.
With a claimed top speed of 350km/h from its 670kW 6.0-litre V12, Icona claims the Vulcano can charge from 0-200km/h in less than 10 seconds.
Nice.
Porsche Australia has wiped the cost of a brand new car from its sports car range, with some models now a whopping $36,000 cheaper.
The brand’s most famous model, the 911 Carrera, boasts the biggest drop in price, with the new 991 Carrera 4 Cabriolet $36,300 less.
The base 911 drops by $22,900, with the entire 911 slashed by between 7.5 to 13 percent.
The Boxster and Cayman both receive a five percent drop, while the Cayenne range is slashed by 10 percent.
That means the new Cayenne Turbo S is now $34,400 cheaper at $259,600, while the Boxster S and Cayman S are $8,400 and $10,500 cheaper respectively.
The only model in the range not to receive a price drop is the four-dour Panamera.
Porsche says it hopes the price cuts, as well as the introduction of a fifth model to its range – the Macan SUV – in 2014, will help to double its Australian sales by 2020.
The company has also ruled out offering cash rebates to current Porsche owners caught out by the price drop, instead saying it will negotiate terms on a case by case basis.
The new prices come into effect on June 1 2013.
Like a doctor examining the brain of an insane person, Peugeot has revealed details of its mental 208 T16 Pikes Peak prototype.
And trust us, if you think this car looks bonkers, it’s nothing to what’s under the bonnet.
This thing is a monster.
Capable of out-accelerating a Formula 1 car, the 208 T16 will hit 0-100km/h in just 1.8 seconds.
Keep it pinned and 0-200km/h is done in 4.8 seconds – the same time it takes a Porsche 911 to reach half that speed.
A massive 652kW (875hp), mid-mounted, twin-turbo V6 provides the 208’s grunt, with the whole car weighing just 875kg.
Yep, that’s one horse for every kilo.
A 208 in appearance only, underneath the T16 is a bespoke endurance racing prototype, boasting Peugeot’s latest racing tech.
That means four-wheel-drive, pressurised dampers, double wishbone and pushrod/rocker suspension, torsion bars, anti-roll bars, vented carbon brakes and magnesium wheels ‘derived from F1 technology’.
As you’d expect, a special driver is required to drive such an insane car at Pikes Peak.
Luckily, Peugeot has employed nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.
We think he’ll be up to the job.
