The wraps have come off a stunning array of new models and exotic concept cars, as well as a few blasts from the past, at this year’s Australian International Motor Show.
A sea of shiny new metal will be on display at Sydney’s Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre until the 28th of this month, offering an opportunity for rev heads, young and old, to slam doors and kick tyres to their heart’s content.
Adding the Speed suffix to the second-generation Bentley Continental GT pumps up top speed by 12km/h over the regular W12-powered Conti GT. With a 330km/h vmax, the Speed is the fastest car Bentley has ever made.
On semi-busy autobahns near Munich on the international launch of the Speed, the big Bentley easily and often powered past 300km/h. At 300km/h you’re covering 81 metres every second. Think about that next time you’re on a footy field. At that pace the Speed remained rock solid, even thundering through sweepers with the speedo needle wrapped past 300. Not only that, but the Speed remained quiet enough to hold a conversation with a back seat PR passenger – though she went strangely silent when we began overtaking cars with a 180km/h differential in velocity.
The Australian International Motor Show opens its doors at Sydney’s Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre this Friday. Here’s a taste of what’s to come.
The biggest new car showroom in the country will offer a mouth-watering line-up of fresh and shiny metal, with exciting highlights in store for performance-minded enthusiasts.
Heavy-hitting sedans from Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) and Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) wave the flag for Aussie muscle, while Mercedes-Benz has built a discreet display stand for its hi-po AMG bahnstormers.
New sports-focused models from Ford, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Opel and Porsche also highlight the best euro offerings.
As a name, ‘Up’ is ripe for ribbing. Even Volkswagen played the joker at the launch with a “This way Up” roof sticker on one example. I didn’t check to see if there was a companion sticker underneath that said “Wrong way Up”. But the VW Up is no joke. This diminutive city runabout from the world’s biggest carmaker will have a profound impact on the way many Australians buy cars. Priced from just $13 990 for the three-door and $14 990 for the five-door, the Up is the cheapest European new car in Australia. It’s also the cheapest car with five star safety, a strong lure with first-car buyers, downsizers and second-hand shoppers.
First impressions after driving the cheaply priced five-door Up at the Australian launch are of a car that’s far from cheap. The interior styling matches the exterior’s playful theme, and though the proliferation of painted metal surfaces impart a Spartan air, the Up has the basics covered. Standard equipment includes remote locking, electric front windows, a decent stereo and air conditioning. Cruise control and Bluetooth are both part of option packs that also include leather trim, alloys, sunroof and a satnav system with integrated trip computer.
Two obvious signs of cost saving in the cabin are the tilt-only steering wheel and the rear windows that open only a few inches on a hinge. Despite the Up’s compact dimensions — at 3.54m bumper to bumper, it’s 50cm shorter than a Polo yet rides on a wheelbase just 5cm shorter — it has more space inside for occupants and luggage than the Mini Cooper (which is almost half a metre longer). The back seat can take a full-size adult without cramping those in front and the luggage area is surprisingly deep given there’s a full-size spare under the floor, though it is narrow between the hatch and seatback. Front and front-side airbags are standard, as is VW’s City emergency braking system which intervenes when it senses a potential rear-ender, as long as the Up is doing less than 30km/h. Airbags for rear passengers are not available for love or money, which Volkswagen says won’t stop the Up’s five-star EuroNCAP score translating to the Australian NCAP.
The Up’s 999cc three-cylinder engine is not particularly quiet at idle, but it’s a pleasing growl that only really sounds rough close to its 6,600rpm limit. 55kW and 95Nm is adequate for moving the 880kg hatch around town but the engine quickly runs out of puff on long hills in taller gears. The five-speed manual has a direct, light action which makes light work of shuffling ratios.
Dynamically, the Up’s strut front and torsion beam rear has enough competence to be encouraging, but ultimately has limited grip to give. It handles bumps well but limited wheel travel struggles with poor surfaces. The electric steering is extremely light to take the effort out of manoeuvring.
Like most Volkswagens, the Up prefers premium unleaded, which may not sit well with budget shoppers. Volkswagen claims 4.9L/100km on the combined cycle; we saw 5.7L/100km on the trip computer across 150km of urban and extra-urban roads.
One area which may scare buyers away is Volkswagen’s reputation for high servicing and parts costs. VW is aware of this and is looking into offering fixed-price servicing, on the Up at least.
The only other weakness in the Up’s arsenal is the lack of an automatic gearbox, which accounts for between 60 and 70 percent of rivals Suzuki Alto and Nissan Micra sales. This is a huge problem for VW, because a robotised manual is available overseas — which I drove at the international launch in late-20011 — but it’s crap. It makes the car lunge during gear-changes and is so focuses on getting into fifth for fuel economy that it’s almost never in the right gear for real-world situations.
How Volkswagen Australia solves this dilemma could be the difference between selling a car that is clearly a class above its rivals in the hundreds or the thousands.
Model Volkswagen Up 5-dr Engine 999cc 3-cyl, dohc, 12v Max power 55kW @ 6200rpm Max torque 95Nm @ 3000-4300rpm Transmission 5-speed manual 0-100km/h 13.2sec (claimed) Price $14 990 On sale October
Pros: European qualities at a Korean price, roomier than it looks. Cons: engine runs out of puff, no automatic, running costs.
From 1998 until 2005, the McLaren F1 was the world’s fastest car – one of the longest reigns in WFC history.
And even when it lost its title, it was by just 2km/h and to a heavily modified Porsche 911 from a German tuner company called 9FF. Of course, the Bugatti Veyron arrived in September 2005 and raised the bar to 407km/h and a subsequent variant of the Veyron pushed the envelope out to 431km/h. But most car enthusiasts and motoring journalists still rate the McLaren F1 as the greater car.
All of which makes today very exciting. I have a 7am rendezvous with a McLaren MP4-12C.
The future of the naturally-aspirated V8 is something of a bone of contention within Porsche at the moment. So that makes the 4.8-litre second-generation Cayenne GTS potentially very special indeed; one of the last – or maybe even the last – Porsche V8s unencumbered by turbo plumbing and lag.
Mind you, it’s only when you drive the most road-oriented model in Porsche’s Cayenne SUV range that you understand its stablemate Turbo has lag after all.
Hit the GTS’ throttle and the response comes NOW. In the Cayenne Turbo it’s now followed closely by HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!
Finally fitted with wider rear rubber and a sophisticated launch control system, FPV’s limited edition GT R-Spec is the fastest-accelerating car ever made in Australia. On a sticky Sydney Dragway, a six-speed manual R-Spec stormed to 100km/h in 4.57 seconds before crossing the standing 400 metres in 12.64 seconds at 189km/h. Unfortunately a missed shift into third gear caused one run to be aborted but not before the brash FPV hit 100km/h in 4.52 seconds. These numbers beat the 4.7/12.8 recorded by a 7.0-litre HSV W427 back in the August 2008 issue of the Wheels.
The R-Spec runs 1-inch wider 19×9.0 rear wheels fitted with 275/30 ZR19 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx rubber (245/40 ZR19 fronts on 8.0-inch rims), to finally match the footprint of HSV’s line-up. To make full use of the extra grip, both manual and auto R-Specs run a launch control system (a first for FPV).
Like many such systems, the FPV’s launch control is activated only when stability and traction control remain on. There’s no secret handshake to activate launch control either, simply dial up wide open throttle with the clutch pedal depressed and first gear engaged. Revs settles to around 3200rpm and once you drop the clutch, the blown V8’s ECU manages torque throughout first gear. That’s not to say there’s no wheel spin, and there’s a surprising amount of slip on the snap shift into second. The fat tyres chirp and squirm again into third and give a brief chirp into fourth towards the end of the quarter. The slow-shifting manual costs time and there’s little doubt an auto R-Spec will go faster again.
Other changes to the R-Spec include 45 percent stiffer rear springs, firmer front control arm bushes and front strut mounts, retuned ZF Sachs dampers and a 1mm thicker (now 19mm) rear anti-roll bar.
FPV will build 350 R-Spec sedans, half of which will be available in the hero colour combination of Silhouette (black) with Vixen (red) strips, wheels and details. White, red and blue (all with black detailing) will also be available. Both manual and auto R-Spec’s cost $76 990 plus on road costs.
See the current issue of Wheels magazine for a comparison test between the FPV GT R-Spec, HSV Clubsport R8 and Chrysler 300C.
The final new model and concept reveals for the 2012 Paris motor show include some interesting off-roaders and the skeleton of Ferrari’s ultimate supercar.
Smart’s ForStars is a cool urban city car concept, Suzuki’s S-Cross concept is a big brother for the brand’s SX4 soft-roader, Nissan’s TeRRA is a fuel cell electric off-roader, and Ssangyong’s EV concept e-XIV is its latest zero emissions concept.
Volvo’s V40 Cross Country extends its XC line-up, Maserati has confirmed its Kubang concept SUV (pictured) will be called Levante when it hits production, and that it will be building a mid-size sedan, resurrecting the Ghibli name.
And Ferrari displayed the composite chassis for its Enzo supercar replacement (codenamed F70) that uses four different types of carbonfibre.
The wraps have come off another batch of exciting new models and concepts at this year’s Paris motor show, making it one of the most important in recent years.
New hot hatches from Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Mini, Peugeot, Renault and Volkswagen promise a bright future for compact performance.
While concepts from BMW and Lexus point to next generation versions of their entry level luxury sedans and hatches.
As well, wild concepts from Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot confirm alternative energy propulsion doesn’t have to be boring.
The first batch of fresh metal from the 2012 Paris motor show has broken cover, with some big surprises unveiled at Volkswagen Group’s preview night event.
Bentley’s GT3 race concept marks the brand’s formal return to motorsport, first pics of VW’s Golf VII GTI reveal a car rumoured to be powered by a 2.0-litre turbo four producing 162kW/350Nm, Lamborghini’s Gallardo has received a late-life makeover, and Porsche has previewed its next-gen Panamera with a hybrid concept.
Outside the VW stable, McLaren’s dramatic P1 aims to be the world’s best driver’s car, and Jaguar’s fabulous F-Type marks a sports car return to form for the leaping cat.
Stay tuned for more news and pics tomorrow.
