Inhaltsverzeichnis für December 2023 in Wheels

This time it should happen. General Motors’ American luxury brand Cadillac will return to Australia – 15 years after the global financial crisis prompted a last-minute bail-out of a planned local launch. The Cadillac Lyriq large electric SUV will spearhead the brand’s global expansion, which will include Australia and New Zealand from late 2024, along with Japan, the UK, and parts of Europe. Cadillac plans to be an all-electric brand by the end of this decade, with the reduced complexity of EV production making it easier for cars to be built in both left- and right-hand drive configurations. GM will split its sales operations set-up in Australia, with Cadillac established as a separate, EV-only brand while ICE models sit under the GM SpecialtyVehicles (GMSV) banner that was introduced in 2020…

WE RATE THE Corvette C8 Stingray. Anything that can emerge in top spot in a comparison test against a Mercedes-AMG C63 S, an Audi RS5 and a Jaguar F-Type P450 (Wheels Sept ’22) is clearly made of the right stuff. With a 369kWV8 slinging just 1545kg up the road, it’a a potent and accomplished thing. It’s priced keenly too, thanks to its factory right-hand-drive build. We always knew that the ‘vanilla’ ‘Vette was just the start. The C8 product line had some hugely ambitious plans behind it. The first of the specials to make landfall in Australia is the Z06. This features a 5.5-litre atmoV8 with a flat-plane crank and, in Australian tune, develops 475kW and 595Nm. The first cars are now arriving, and the asking price in the 3LZ…

WERE YOU TO believe everything you read on the internet, you’d know that this is the worst Civic Type R that Honda ever built. The FN2 has no diff, no torque and no independent rear suspension. It’s around 100kg heavier than its predecessor, the breadvan shaped EP3, with no added power. “It just doesn’t feel that quick,” said Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear, adding “all the poise and controllability that you used to get in the old car is just sort of… gone”. Wheels threw the FN2 Type R into two big sports car tests. It came last at the 2008 Handling Olympics and was slowest around Haunted Hills in a hot hatch megatest in March 2011. So what went wrong? And why is this car even here when it’s…

FIFTY GRAND is not what it used to be. Once upon a time, it bought you a top-of-the-line sports car. Even earlier than that, it’s probably what your parents spent on their house. Their four-bedroom one, we mean. In inner Sydney. These days, it gets you an SUV for hauling around spouse and spawn, and not even a top-spec one. Of course, while the best salary your parents could ever aspire to would be considered unliveable in 2023, cars have come a long way. The standard equipment list of a car from yesteryear would be lucky to fill a page of A4, whereas today’s run-of-the-mill SUVs pack more equipment and technology than the most advanced vehicles of a generation ago. And we know which one we’d rather have a crash…

THERE AREN’T many vehicles remaining on the market that can drive well both on-and off-road, take seven people, carry large stuff inside and tow a heavy trailer. Throw in decent safety and fuel efficiency and the field narrows further. But that’s not to say there isn’t genuine quality on offer. Apart from the Toyota Prado, all models featured here are available with 2WD-only options, though we’ve chosen to focus solely on the off-road-capable 4WD models. We’ve shortlisted the four best large SUVs in the division and all are extremely well-suited to the gerat Australian outdoors. Should your requirements, or indeed your budget, be a little more diverse, also consider vehicles such as the GWM Tank ($47–$61K), LDV D90 ($47–$52K), Mahindra Scorpio ($42–$46K) SsangYong Rexton ($50–$60K) and Toyota Fortuner ($54–$67K). TOYOTA…

THERE’S SOMETHING suspiciously Bavarian about the new Mazda CX-90. Glance around Mazda’s new large SUV and there are multiple echoes of BMW. The taillights have a hint of BMW XM while G50e, denoting the CX-90 model grade, has a certain Munich ring to it. Mazda’s rotary infotainment controller, meanwhile, is more than a little iDrive. And someone has plonked a 254kW 3.3-litre turbo straight-six under its bonnet. Mazda would doubtless appreciate comparison to one of the world’s most coveted brands, given that it’s aspiring to a more premium positioning – and price. From the outset, there’s no disputing that the CX-90 is one of the more handsome vehicles here – if admired from the correct angle, such as the front three-quarter. The ‘Kodo’ design language translates well to the CX-90, with…

IN CERTAIN parts of Australia’s capital cities, the X5 is more ubiquitous than the humble Camry. Since launching at the turn of the millennium, BMW’s family-sized SUV quickly became a firm favourite among the upper-middle class, and now, four generations on, that popularity has endured. It’s not difficult to understand why. For one, it’s attractive. We talk about the Mazda CX-90 having good proportions, but that’s arguably because it copies the X5’s format. Meanwhile, on the inside, the X5 is classically German. Cleanly presented with well-crafted materials throughout, it’s difficult to find surfaces that look or feel unpleasant, or out of place – even the standard ‘Verino’ leather feels high-end. Switchgear and lidded closures all smoothly operate with a pleasing tactility to them, and it’s genuinely hard to find a rough…

GENESIS GV70 ELECTRIFIED Price as tested $103,370 This month 355km @8.2L/100km Overall 355km @8.2L/100km When I heard that Infiniti (Nissan’s luxury brand) was departing Australia back in 2019, I assumed this might ultimately be the case for Genesis – the luxury vehicle division of Hyundai. While the two brands aren’t related, nor are their products the same, I wondered how Genesis would be able to pull off what others have tried to execute and failed. For every success story like Lexus, there’s a sorry tale like Eunos, Infiniti or, indeed, Ford’s upmarket push with Vignale. Yet despite the daunting odds, Genesis is still very much part of Hyundai’s plans. Brand loyalty remains strong here in Australia, so why ignore the established luxury marques and pick a relatively new one like…

1965 AUSTIN 1800 IF YOU EVEN knew there was a Car of the 20th Century, you probably thought it was the Ford Model T, as voted in December 1999 by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation. The same august (if unheard of, before or since) body also named Giorgio Giugiaro as Designer of the Century – so, you know, no beef there. What you may not have known was that the Car of the Century had already been proclaimed a full 35 years before, by the company that built it. To this accolade was launched, on 20 November 1965 in Sydney, the Austin 1800. To give it due, just six years after the revolution of its sibling Mini, the 1800 was a space-efficient stand-out against a class of cart-sprung and drum-braked rivals –…

FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED IN THE CAR WORLD THIS MONTH 1. BYD has come out swinging with the pricing for its Seal electric sedan. With prices around $10K less than initial estimates, the range starts at $49,988 and tops out at $68,798. 2. Last month we reported that the updated Tesla Model 3 features no indicator stalks. You also have to swipe the touchscreen to change gear. Seriously. Just stop. 3. The Subaru BRZ tS for 2024 gets revised suspension and Brembo brakes with gold-painted calipers. Manual BRZ models will also gain active safety features – including AEB. 4. First deliveries of the Tesla Cybertruck begin on November 30th. Elon Musk claimed “there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck and in making the Cybertruck cash-flow…

CELESTIQ CADILLAC’S CUSTOM-ORDER flagship EV, the Celestiq, may be an option for wealthy Australians with at least half-a-million dollars to burn but America’s electric answer to a Bentley Flying Spur isn’t expected to be part of the official local range. The specs stand out as much as the Celestiq’s sleek, coupe-sedan styling – a 111kWh battery, 447kW, all-wheel drive, active rear-wheel steer, active roll control, adaptive air suspension with magnetic ride control dampers, four-zone microclimate cabin system, and five high-definition interactive displays. ESCALADE IQ THE ESCALADE IQ is a new fully electric spin-off of Caddy’s iconic full-size SUV that would be expected to sit at the top of the local range. It’s a beast at 5.7 metres long, and it monsters Mercedes-Benz’s EQS electric SUV in several other measures. It’s…

THE JAPAN Mobility Show (or the Tokyo Motor Show as it was previously known) might be the first great motor show since pre-pandemic times. Typically focused on the domestic market, this year’s show felt like a tipping point as Japanese carmakers flexed their next-gen electric-car muscles. It featured everything from exciting reinvigorations of iconic sports car names to mass-market EVs and motorised wheelchairs – there was even an electric LandCruiser. TOYOTA WITH AKIO Toyoda no longer in the limelight, the 2023 Japan Mobility Show became the stage upon which new Toyota president Koji Sato would act out his electrified vision. The Toyota stand was dominated by EV concepts with the FT-Se GR sports car and FT-3e SUV front and centre. Along with the quirky Kayoibako (which means shipping container in Japanese),…

Messing with tradition is a dangerous exercise. What’s more, launching a product that’s the first of its kind is also fraught with danger – and Ford has elected to roll both of those risky ventures into one car. Brave. The Ford Mustang Mach-E is the Blue Oval’s first serious foray into the world of all-electric motoring. Now, three years (yes, really) after launching in its home market, it is finally on sale in Australia. Rusted-on Mustang aficionados will likely despise it purely because it applies the hallowed Mustang name to a high-riding, five-door crossover (and the absence of combustion power obviously raises their hackles too). But let’s try and look beyond the marketing – is the Mustang Mach-E a good performance EV or not? Starting from $79,990 for the RWD…

ONE OF THE particular cruelties of getting older is the sudden ability to identify youthfulness in other people. It doesn’t creep up on you, this special power, but it appears suddenly–like an extra toilet stop in the night or a pair of white New Balance trainers – and its arrival can deliver quite a shock. This is exactly how our group of assembled SUVs must be feeling as they watch the 2024 Honda CR-V roll into our designated meeting place. Now in its fifth generation, the 2024 Honda CR-V is box fresh and doesn’t only roll on a new platform and boast a roomier, more premium-feeling cabin – so big, in fact, that the CR-V is officially classed as a large SUV – it looks sharper than its predecessors, too.…

IT’S A HARD nut to crack, this world of premium SUVs, but few newbies have enjoyed such roaring success as the Lexus RX. The version you see here is the fifth generation – an all-new model that sauntered onto our roads earlier this year. Longer, wider, lower and sitting on a stretched wheelbase, it’s the biggest RX yet and also offers buyers a boggling array of choice thanks to four engines, four trim levels, multiple option packs and the choice of front-or all-wheel drive. Our particular tester is the RX350 F Sport, which retails for $98,370 and doesn’t only score a host of sporty detailing like unique 21-inch wheels, more aggressive bumper designs, and an F Sport steering wheel. Propulsion comes from a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder that makes a healthy 205kW/430Nm,…

IT’S EASY TO forget that it was the second-gen XC90 that kickstarted the Swedish brand’s modern transformation. Launched way back in 2014, the XC90 came within striking distance of winning Wheels COTY. And now, almost 10 years later, it has edged out much fresher competition to win our gong for the best luxury large SUV. Talk about ageing like a fine wine… A 2022 update saw a rejigging of the model range (the existing trim levels of Momentum, Inscription, R-Design and Recharge were replaced by today’s Plus, Ultimate Bright and Ultimate Dark) and the injection of Volvo’s latest Android-based infotainment system, which now includes Apple CarPlay. For this test, we’re driving the high-spec B6 Ultimate Dark which uses a fizzy 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder producing 220kW/420Nm, supplemented by an electric supercharger and…

MERCEDES-BENZ GLC 300 Price as tested $103,370 This month 985km @7.8L/100km Overall 1340km @7.9L/100km I’M STARTING TO get used to the GLC speaking to me as I exit the car. I mean, it’s all very polite, but after a while “Just a moment – you’ve forgotten your phone” begins to get a bit wearing. The problem, as I see it, is that the phone resides in one of two places, both of which are hidden from the driver. It’s either in the centre box where the USB-C slots are or it’s buried in the bowels of the dash where the wireless charger resides. Maybe that’s deliberate. My Google Pixel juuust about fits into the wireless charger, but as soon as rubberised phone case meets rubberised charging pad, the pair grip…

RICHARD FERLAZZO COULDN’T have been more right. The designer was assessing Ford’s box-fresh Escape at the 2021 Wheels Car of the Year, and after giving his views on its design, summarised with the pithy observation that it “may struggle to get noticed.” Yes, the Escape was ejected in round one of the event, but the judges all loved its ride and handling, yet instinctively knew that the dynamics alone wouldn’t deliver the sort of showroom sizzle that would pitch the Escape ahead of the likes of the Toyota RAV4 or the Mazda CX-5 in theVFACTS rundown. In fact, its sales were even more dismal than we could have likely imagined. Ford sold 1673 Escapes in 2021, where it was beaten by the Renault Koleos (1937). To offer some frame of…

WAKEFIELD RETURNS After settling a legal dispute betwen circuit operators and the local council, Wakefield Park is set to reopen. The racetrack, near Goulburn in southern NSW, had been shuttered since September 2022. New owner Steve Shelley points to significant re-engineering required to bring the circuit within noise restrictions, claiming that the track will re-open in mid-2024 as a special bi-directional facility. Great news. Not such great news? It’ll be renamed the crashingly generic “One Raceway”. HIGH COURT NIXES VICTORIA’S EV TAX The High Court has struck down the Victorian government’s tax on electric vehicles. The court’s split 4-3 decision now appears to have serious ramifications for state revenues, lawyers have claimed. The ruling claimed that Victoria’s road-user charge on electric and hybrid vehicles was an improper tax on the…

THE GMC YUKON will take on the Toyota LandCruiser 300-series in Australia from early 2025 as General Motors continues to expand its presence locally. GM’s full-size luxury eight-seater SUV will join the Silverado pick-up and Corvette sports coupe in its ‘Specialty Vehicles’ stable in Australia and New Zealand. GMSV will import the high-spec Denali model for local conversion to right-hand drive by the same Walkinshaw operation that looks after the Silverado’s switch from LHD. It will become the first GMC on local roads since the smaller Acadia seven-seater was rebadged as a Holden in 2018 to replace the underwhelming Captiva. Yukon competes in a busy space in North America, rivalling models including the F-150-based Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, Nissan Armada, as well as stablemates from Chevrolet, the Suburban and Tahoe.…

Keep it tight (no more than 200 words) and do include your suburb if via email: wheels@wheelsmag.com.au You can also have your say on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (search for Wheels Australia) “Today the recommended retail prices already include the extra cost of premium colours” PALETTE KNIFED AFTER READING the latest garage report on the Subaru Outback, one thing that needs to be put into context is the statement that there is no additional charge for metallic, pearl or silica paint colours. The reason is that Subaru Australia no longer imports cars with traditional solid paint colours. Hence today the recommended retail prices already include the extra cost for metallic, pearl and silica colours. If plain solid colours were offered in Australia, these cars would be close to $1000 cheaper…

What’s significant about the new 2024 Mercedes-AMG GLC63 S E-Performance? Let’s start by winding the clock back 10 months to our first go in this car’s sedan sibling, the latest Mercedes-AMG C63 S. It’s not a car that bowled us over – its four cylinder hybrid powertrain feeling overwrought after the muscle-car swagger of its older namesakes. Well, this is the first time we’ve sampled the set-up since. While this GLC63 is almost 150kg heavier – at a gobsmacking 2310kg – much less historical weight is being carried on its shoulders. Halving the cylinder count of a performance car feels a less sacrilegious act when the car is already something of a sin in the first place. Namely, a fast SUV. A 350kW tune of the Mercedes-AMG A45’s 2.0-litre engine…

Where the Jeep is imposing, the classy new Mazda CX-90 is handsome IT DOESN’T SEEM that long ago that transporting seven people in a single vehicle required either a commercial-based van-with-seats, or simply outright breaking the law. These days, however, car makers are helping soothe the deeply troubling introspection that often proceeded the purchase of a ‘people mover’ by offering seven-seat SUVs instead. But the question is, which one to get? To help answer this, we’ve assembled four of the finest mainstream seven-seat SUVs we could muster, two hailing from South Korea, one from Japan and the other, the Land of the Free – all asking under, or around, $80,000. The seven-seat Jeep Grand Cherokee Night Eagle couldn’t be more American if you found it gently rotating in a hot-dog…

THERE’S A CERTAIN warm, fuzzy feeling in seeing 1200km of range flash up in the instrument binnacle after a servo stop. That’s life with a 90-litre fuel tank and aVolkswagen Touareg 170TDI. Due for a facelift in 2024 – before some sort of EV behemoth replaces it altogether in the coming years – the Touareg even in its current guise is still an eminently pleasing vehicle. Under the bonnet is a 3.0-litre turbocharged diesel V6 twisting out 170kW and 500Nm – the latter from just 1750rpm. There’s an eight-speed torque converter auto and all-wheel-drive, while its $87,990 list price, before any options, doesn’t look quite so scary after a few inflationary years. It’s a classy, handsome, if modest vehicle – whose design somehow makes 19-inch wheels look like 17s – and…

UNLIKE THE Mazda andVolkswagen, the Genesis GV80 benefits from a badge that puts distance between it and its humble origins. On the other side of the coin, building brand rep has been a struggle for Hyundai’s premium offshoot, with 2023 Genesis sales tallying a measly 1451 cars as this was written. With Luxury pack (which adds $10,500 over the base grade), the GV80 borrows heavily from uppere-chelon Euros with its lush leather (supple Nappa hide in the Luxury) and diamond-stitched upholstery. Silver/chrome highlights and fine knurling around switchgear and knobs are a nice touch, but could be better executed on the bigger dials – such as the rotary transmission selector and mode dial – where the moulding seam can be felt by roving fingertips. Soft-touch plastics and padded surfaces are…

PRICE Recommended retail figure at time of publication (asterisk indicates driveaway price) ENGINE TYPE L, in-line; V, vee; F, flat. Number of cylinders. T, turbo; S, supercharged; D, diesel; H, hybrid; E, electric SIZE Litres or kWh POWER kW TORQUE Nm TRANSMISSION M, manual; A, auto; D, dual-clutch; C, CVT WEIGHT Kerb, kg 0-100 km/h, acceleration in seconds (Wheels as-tested figures in italics) FUEL CONS Consumption in litres, or kWh, per 100km RON Octane of fuel required, as numbered, or D for diesel RESALE percent, 3-year resale in Glass’s ISSUE TESTED month/year DRIVE A, all-wheel; F, front; R, rear. Any figure in bold is our own estimate. ALFA ROMEO – BMW BMW – FORD FORD – HYUNDAI HYUNDAI – KIA KIA – MASERATI MASERATI – MERCEDES-BENZ MERCEDES-BENZ – NISSAN NISSAN -…