Coupes under $50k
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- Best coupes under $50k
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
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
Shock! Rolls-Royce to build SUV
Gasp! Rolls-Royce is set to break with more than a century of tradition and build a ‘radical SUV’.
Review: Mitsubishi Mirage
Since the closure of the Tonsley Park assembly plant in 2008, Mitsubishi Motors Australia has struggled to come to terms with both its past and future. Staff have come and gone, managing directors have been rotated like Aussie fast bowlers, and the GFC strangled the vital supply of new product from Japan.
Review: BMW X1
WITH Audi’s Q3 premium compact and smart, affordable crossover alternatives such as Kia’s Sportage, Mitsubishi’s Outlander and Subaru’s XV stealing customers, BMW is fighting back with a wide-ranging mid-life upgrade of its X1.
Review: Honda CRV
The new, Thai-built fourth-generation is easily the best CR-V in the model’s 17-year history.
VF Commodore Ute and Wagon revealed
Hot on the heels of the advance showing of its new VF Commodore, Holden has released pics of the Ute and Sportwagon variants.
New Renault Clio RS200 grids up
Renault Sport Techologies, the French maker’s race and performance road car specialist, has taken the wraps of its new generation Clio RS200.
Review: Porsche Cayman
Poor man’s 911? Don’t believe it. In fact, until the 991 911 range is filled out with the superstar Turbo and GT models, the second-generation Cayman S is the most focused and fun car Porsche currently makes.
Review: Audi RS4 Avant
Who says the fast life has to stop when you start a family?
Alfa’s stunning 4C set for Geneva debut
The production version of Alfa Romeo’s stunning mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car, the 4C, is set to make its debut at the 82nd International Motor Show in Geneva (7-17 March, 2013).
Benedict XVI to hand over Popemobile keys
In resigning his position as leader of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will also be handing in the keys to the many ‘Popemobiles’ residing in the Vatican garage.
Review: Opel OPC range
The odd thing about pushing this car really hard is that you know exactly when you think the car will start understeering, and steering-wheel tugging, but it just doesn’t.
Toyota goes turbo with 86 racer
Toyota in the UK has released details of the first GT4 racing version of the Toyota 86, due to hit the track later this month following completion of the first chassis by UK-based motorsport engineering pioneer GPRM.
Nissan’s ‘Godzilla’ goes lightweight
Nissan has created a limited edition, strictly two-seater version of it’s GT-R supercar, with with a special suspension set-up tuned at the famed Nurburgring circuit in Germany, and lightweight, quilted cloth mats in place of the usual rear seats.
Faster than a speeding KIA…
Known as ‘The man of Steel’, Superman has been transformed into ‘Wheels of Steel” thanks to KIA’s tribute version of its Optima Hybrid unveiled at this week’s Chicago Auto Show.
Review: Mazda 6
If the new Mazda 6 was just 50 cents longer, it would be as big as a Commodore.
Holden’s new VF Commodore launched
The most technically sophisticated and electronically advanced car ever built in Australia, Holden’s VF Commodore, has broken cover.
Commodore to stay in Oz
Mike Deveraux has just confirmed VF will be followed by another Commodore, built in Adelaide, and built on one of two (yet to be determined) global platforms.
Dwarf cars are documentary stars!
Ernie Adams, 72, lives in Maricopa, in the heart of desert country, just south of Phoenix, Arizona, and builds incredibly detailed, road-legal, roughly half-scale replica cars, by hand, from scratch, in his workshop shed.
Bond’s DB5 for sale
James Bond’s 1965 Aston Martin DB5 has been offered for sale in Europe. The iconic Aston, which comes fitted with machine guns, bullet-proof windscreens and revolving number plates is expected to fetch more than $4.5 million.
Patrick Dempsey to drive Porsche at Le Mans
Hollywood star Patrick Dempsey, who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd (aka McDreamy) in the TV medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, has been confirmed as a factory Porsche driver for this year’s Le Mans 24 hour sportscar race (June 22/23).
F1 to race on Great Ocean Road
In a stroke of marketing genius, a Formula One car will belt along the Great Ocean Road in a world-first stunt to promote Victoria and the Australian Grand Prix to the world.
Review: McLaren MP4-12C Spider
TALK about a car of the moment. Right now, the 12C Spider is crucial to the evolution of McLaren Automotive, the brand. No one has ever been in any doubt that the 12C can deliver the goods dynamically, where it counts.
McLaren’s 50-year film trilogy
A 26-year-old Bruce McLaren founded his new company, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, in a small south London lock-up on September 2, 1963, and tragically, only seven years later, the Kiwi racing ace was killed testing one of his M8D Can-Am sportscars at the Goodwood circuit, in the south of England.
Merc C63 AMG ‘Edition 507’ bahnstormer
Mercedes-Benz’s performance and motorsport division, AMG, has produced an even wilder version of its C63 hot rod, scheduled to go on sale here later this year.
