Archive for February, 2010

BMW M3 Competition Package

// Posted in BMW

BMW have just announced a new Competition Package that can be added as an option when ordering a new M3. For BMW, pricing is quite inexpensive really, at just £3,315 (AU$5,820). Nothing official from BMW Australia just yet, but you’ll read it here when it’s available. For your extra cash you get restyled and lighter [...]

The “lightweight” Panamera

// Posted in Porsche

Porsche have taken the Panamera one step further by releasing a new “lightweight” version. It’s not sure if lightweight refers to lite, as in the car only has a 220kW V6 engine. Or are is Porsche actually being serious and trying to fool you by referring to the car’s 1730kg kerb weight as light. I [...]

F1 pre-season: Jerez test #2 schedule

Tomorrow night (Australian time) the F1 circus returns to Jerez for the third of four sanctioned pre-season test windows. There will be four days of testing and as with the previous sessions the teams generally run one driver per day. The schedule of who will be driving when is available below. A reminder that you [...]

MINI UK announces Countryman pricing

// Posted in MINI

MINI have just announced UK pricing of the Countryman range. While these numbers won’t directly translate to the Australian market, it will give an idea as to where we can expect the Countryman to sit in MINI Australia’s hierarchy. Prices have been released as OTR figures and a two-wheel drive Countryman Cooper S is priced [...]

The “5 by Peugeot” Concept Car – 508 preview

// Posted in Peugeot

Peugeot have just released images of this new Concept Car. Peugeot are pushing it as a “new luxury saloon driving experience”. Its full title is rather clumsy—5 by Peugeot Concept Car—but just look at it. There’s nothing clumsy about the exterior. It is a very, very good looking car. Nothing revolutionary in terms of overall [...]

Audi RS5 to debut at Geneva. Promise!

// Posted in Audi

Yes, okay, any post speculating on the debut of the Audi RS5 is going to look a little bit foolish given the previous prediction of an Essen debut failed to materialise. However, if we take a look back to 2008 we can see that AUSmotive is not the first site to go hard with an [...]

2010 Golf Wagon – Australian pricing

Volkswagen Australia have just released an Estate version to their volume selling Golf range. Known in Australia as the Golf Wagon, it will be initially offered in two model lines—Trendline and Comfortline. Entry level pricing, before those nasty delivery and government charges, starts at $26,990. That gets you a 90kW 1.4 TSI Trendline with 6 [...]

BMW takes out the Bathurst 12 hour

The Eastern Creek International Karts BMW 335i driven by Garry Holt, Paul Morris and John Bowe has won a dramatic 2010 Armor All Bathurst 12 hour race. They completed 202 laps in all and finished 3.3 seconds ahead of the East Holiday Parks Mitsubishi EVO IX. It was the second win at the event for [...]

VIDEO: Lotus T127 launch & shakedown

Lotus Racing have provided some behind the scenes footage of the launch of their new Lotus Cosworth T127. There’s three clips in all and they can be seen below. The first Lotus in Formula One since the mid 90s was first revealed on Friday. It will be driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli. For [...]

Can’t see the Forrest for the trees

Major disaster has been avoided at the Armor All Bathurst 12 hour race today after a massive gum tree fell over and blocked the track just after Forrest’s Elbow. It was around 1pm when the incident happened and the race was being held under Safety Car conditions due to consistent heavy rain. The Safety Car [...]

MINI 50 Camden: Inside Mission Control

// Posted in News

The special edition MINI 50 Camden released last year features an exclusive “Mission Control” system. While the name sounds comprehensive, it’s essentially a novelty addition that plays pre-recorded message in response to driver inputs, for example, turning the car on or off, switching on the Sport button and so on. A brief clip of the [...]

LIVE STREAM: 2010 Bathurst 12 hour

The 2010 Armor All Bathurst 12 hour is currently streaming live online. Click on the image above to load the live stream, or you can watch the race right here on AUSmotive with the embedded stream loaded below. Racing started at 6:30am and currently after a bit over quarter race distance Rod Salmon is leading [...]

Lotus unveils 2010 F1 car

Overnight Lotus Racing unveiled their 2010 Formula One racecar, the Lotus Cosworth T127. Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, spoke at the launch and here’s a bit of what he had to say, “The last few months have been some of the most challenging of my career, but it’s been a challenge the whole team and [...]

OFFICIAL: Porsche GT3 R Hybrid

Following yesterday’s post about the GT3 R Hybrid comes this official release from Porsche, including high res images which you can access by clicking on the pics you like. Porsche have described this car as a”racing laboratory” so we can expect this to be the first of many hybrid racecar applications from Stuttgart. As reported [...]

2010 Volkswagen Touareg – due in Australia next year

Volkswagen unveiled it’s new Touareg in Munich yesterday. It’s certainly a sharper looking car than the model it replaces, and it’s 200kg lighter, as well. The savings don’t stop there, either, with reductions in fuel consumption of 20% expected. The launch was dominated by a V6 Hybrid version which offers 280kW and 580Nm of torque, [...]