Archive for January, 2010

Across the line

The tenure of SBS TV as the home of Top Gear in Australia will cross the line on Monday evening. The final episode via SBS will air at 7:30pm and is one from the vault—the final episode of Season 4—which originally aired in August 2004. It’s a great snapshot showing how far the show has [...]

Porsche GT3 R makes debut

// Posted in Porsche

Fancy the odd track day? Got a lazy $500K burning a hole in your pocket? Reckon you could show that old man Michael Schumacher a thing or two? Then Porsche have the right car for you. It’s the 911 GT3 R and it made its worldwide debut yesterday. In exchange for your half million dollars [...]

Audi A5 Sportback – Australian specifications

// Posted in Audi

True to their word Audi have delivered the A5 Sportback into local showrooms with a two-pronged offensive. Kicking off the A5 Sportback range down under is a 2.0 TFSI equipped model with a manufacturer’s list price of $78,400. This will be partnered with a 3.0 V6 TDI priced from $89,100. If that seems a little [...]

Mini-e-tron is R4-U2NV

// Posted in Audi

Rumours are getting stronger that the Mini-e-tron revealed in Detroit this week is a thinly disguised preview of the upcoming Audi R4 mid-engine sportscar. US blog InsideLine claim they have been told as much by sources within Audi. The underpinnings of such a car would likely be shared across the Volkswagen group’s range, including its [...]

A big luxurious taxi

That headline sounds less than flattering, but if you watch Vicki Butler-Henderson’s Fifth Gear Web TV review of the Porsche Panamera Turbo you will see she loves the thing. I’m still not convinced of the Panamera’s styling, outside or inside, but, apparently the sensation from the driving position is a very good one. Ultimately, that’s [...]

Detroit showcar Audi e-tron

// Posted in Audi

Audi released another e-tron model at NAIAS early yesterday morning. Rather awkwardly its title is “Detroit showcar Audi e-tron”. Maybe they were too busy cramming to get the concept car made in time for the show to bother coming up with a catchy model name. Perhaps they should have called it the Mini-e-tron, okay that [...]

Volkswagen Jetta four-door sedan rendering

US based site VWvortex brings us some great coverage of the New Compact Coupe, including this rendering of how they expect the next Jetta sedan will look. In fact, the report says the profile of the show car is pretty much exactly the same as the final shape for the production version of the four-door [...]

Night whiter

Given yesterday’s news of the New Compact Coupe this special edition Eos model announced by Volkswagen Australia, called the White Night, looks like a bit of an afterthought. Featuring a Candy White body with a Deep Black roof the convertible can be optioned with a 147kW TSI petrol engine ($55,990) or 103kW TDI diesel ($53,990).  [...]

Detroit: Volkswagen New Compact Coupe

Today Volkswagen presents its stunning New Compact Coupe at the NAIAS in Detroit. There’s a nice and cuddly green side to this car, but for now, let’s just focus on the looks. Said to offer a hint of what to expect from Volkswagen’s new four-door Jetta, which is due for release later this year, the [...]

Detroit: 2011 Ford Focus

Ford has just released new images of their 2011 Focus at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Production will commence later this year, with European and North American sales to commence simultaneously in early 2011. The new Focus has been developed by a worldwide team with major input from Germany, Britain and the [...]

Drive Thru: Audi S4

While the ‘new’ Audi S4 has been on sale in Australia for almost one year now it does represent something of a new world order for Audi and manufacturers around the planet, who are now desperate to play the green card by lowering CO2 emissions and fuel consumption figures. On that basis, gone is Audi’s [...]

MINI CHALLENGE 2009 – Round 8 TV highlights

The 2009 MINI Challenge season wrapped up just before Christmas at the Sydney 400. This was a new street circuit for the series, held in Homebush at Sydney Olympic Park.Coming in to the round Paul Stokell held a reasonable safe series lead and just needed to collect a meagre 24 points from the three races [...]

US F1 – On the nose

US F1 brings us this crash test of their nose cone. As they say, two days to build and two milliseconds to destroy. While the car is being design and constructed in good ol’ boy country—Charlotte, North Carolina—this crash test took place in England. I know its early days for US F1 yet, but there’s [...]

Tunnel vision

Yeah, sure it’s most likely a fake, but this ad/viral/promo clip for the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG ‘Gullwing’ is worth a gander all the same. In case you’re wondering, the text at the end of the clip reads: “Cockpit, engine, wings. Is it still a car?” It’s all a bit reminiscent of Jeremy’s Twingo review from [...]

Are you winding me up?

// Posted in GM, Saab

GM have given notice that the wind down process of Saab, first announced late last year, has commenced. Consulting firm AlixPartners have been chosen by GM to act as wind down supervisors. A statement released by GM reads, “The wind down process is expected to take several months, and will ensure that employees, dealers and [...]