Coupes under $50k

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Whether you’re just starting to drive or heading into a mid-life crisis, coupes appeal to all of us. Luckily, these days you don’t need to spend big money to enjoy the thrills of the swept-back driving experience.

While you are able to buy a Subaru BRZ or Toyota 86 for less than $40,000, choices start to expand once you’re shopping under the $50,000 so let’s start there.

Toyota 86

It is getting a little long in the tooth, but the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ combo still offers sports car thrills for an affordable price. Available in manual or automatic with a choice of specification levels, the Toyota 86 has stood the test of time despite external pressure to fill it with extra power.

Mazda MX-5

Mazda MX-5

With the nameplate just celebrating its 30th birthday, there’s small wonder why so many flock to the Mazda MX-5 for an engaging top-down drive. Even if you’re more of a hard-top fan, Mazda now offers the RF version which includes a folding metal roof.

Hyundai i30 Fastback N

A relatively new player to the coupe game, Hyundai’s i30 N was transformed into a four-door coupe following the success of the hatchback. Sleeker styling marries with everything that made Hyundai’s first true hot hatch great

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The people have spoken. Audi Australia has bowed to demand and given the S8 a ticket to Australia in the first quarter of 2014.

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Review: HSV Range

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Will anyone lament the loss of the V8 from the engine menu in Mercedes-Benz’s standard E-Class line-up for Australia when a tasty V6 has been added? Probably not.

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Review: Holden Malibu

Holden keeps its foot firmly on the gas with the launch of its all-new Malibu mid-size sedan, which arrives hard on the heels of the VF Commodore.

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Lift the bonnet of the new Quattroporte S for a glimpse of Maserati’s future.

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Brings the speed, but not the pharmacology

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Review: Renault Captur

Last year was all about zombies, but that’s all undead now. This year’s all about the … um, sub-compact SUV? Baby crossovers? Light-car cross-dressers? Whatever.

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Walking around the one and only Mercedes-Benz E63 S AMG in the country is something like the calm before the storm. But not just any storm, more a category five hurricane on wheels.

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Review: Kia Rondo

The Australian male is world-renowned for his stoicism. He goes over the trenches for his mates. He tells fibs to the same mate’s wife because a beer commercial told him to. That mate repays the favour by saving the first mate from a shark attack by punching the bastard thing in the nose.

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Review: Nissan Pulsar SSS

Car companies love tapping into nostalgia. Invoking memories of a bygone hero is a shortcut to consumers’ wallets that potentially saves millions in advertising.

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Review: Fiat 500 1.2 Pop

“It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!” singer/songwriter Dolly Parton once remarked. And then there’s this – Fiat’s ‘repositioned’ but otherwise unchanged 500. Now from $14,000 driveaway, it’s the least expensive way to look classy on four wheels.

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It’s cheap, it’s small and it’s Italian – everyone meet the ‘new’ Fiat Punto.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before …

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