Table of contents for Yearbook 2025 in Wheels

THE NATURE OF MAKING A DECISION and making it public is the potential backlash for having said opinion. Such is the way of the coveted Wheels Car of the Year award, where opinions are many and varied. By now, you know the result, so I’ll write no more on COTY here. Instead enjoy the issue, read the detailed breakdown and please let us know what you think. The way I see it, we have a deserved and rightful winner that we’ll look back on strongly in years to come. Onto more pressing issues and kudos must go to Publisher/Owner/Head Honcho/Guardian/Wheels Devotee, Matt O’Malley for holding the fort over the past few months. Editing a monthly magazine is no easy task, let alone a magazine with Wheels’ storied history. Editing a monthly…

THE DEATH OF ALLAN MOFFAT is much more than the passing of a motorsport legend. It’s another sad reminder of the demise of car making in Australia and a tribal time that will never come again. When I was young, we were a Ford family. The people up the road were Holden. That’s the way it was – apart from one oddball mob who had a Valiant in their garage. Ford versus Holden was a deeply rooted feature of the Aussie landscape from the sixties through to the nineties, reflected as much in suburban driveways as local car showrooms or at Mount Panorama. The arrival of a new Falcon or Kingswood was a Very Big Deal, and things only got more tribal when the Commodore hit at the end of…

WHENEVER an established manufacturer – what we’d now call a ‘legacy brand’ – releases an electric car, there’s an added sense of anticipation. Unlike a challenger brand that can enter the market with whatever it wants to release carrying no weight of expectation, an established brand has plenty at stake. That’s certainly the case for Mazda, with the release of an electric car that isn’t just important because it’s a Mazda. It’s important because it’s a Mazda 6. See, the Mazda 6 – in the face of increasingly rabid SUV demand – remained popular with buyers in Australia in both sedan and wagon form. Aussies loved the 6 as an alternative to the ubiquitous Toyota Camry – stylish to look at, functional, comfortable and a lovely car to drive. The…

1 Rough ride road (1.0km) Potholes, patches, lumps and bumps driven at a steady 100km/h reveal plenty about a car’s ride, stability and rigidity. 2 Double lane-change (120m) Simulates emergency avoidance manoeuvre at 80km/h. Primarily assesses ESC system on bitumen. 3 Performance testing We also test the cars’ 0-100km/h times and dry braking performances to validate manufacturer claims. Yes, they do gild the lily on occasions. 4 ABS test A 100km/h brake test designed to reveal not just stopping ability, but also stability. 5 Static poke and prod Each judge now gets their own time to conduct this part of the test. It results in a stronger verdict via less groupthink and a broader range of insights. 6 Ride and handling: sealed road (4.0km) Used for onlimit handling, bitumen ESC…

IT WAS GREAT TO HAVE THE BMW 220i Gran Coupe in the COTY contest. It did everything expected of a new BMW and was a perfect ‘palate cleanser’ to provide relief from the seemingly endless line-up of SUV and EV contenders. Following lap-after-lap on the handling course in too many bland-mobiles, it was relaxing and enjoyable to drop behind the wheel of the little BMW and go cruising. Or sprinting. It was the same story at the end of each day, when the BMW was a popular choice for the commuter trundle from Lang Lang back to the overnight COTY base. But does the Gran Coupe M Sport move the needle on the crucial measures of a serious COTY contender? “Remind me again – it’s like the Civic, because it…

IT WAS EARLY IN 2024 WHEN the bait came through the inter-web. Hyundai wanted to know if I’d like to fly to Dubbo in central NSW to sample a top-secret prototype of what could become a volume selling model. In this game, that’s like asking a politician if they’d like to tour the factory where lies are planted as seedlings and grown into policies. We all know that Hyundai uses local suspension engineers to get things right, but less well known is that the brand in general likes testing prototypes down under. Our time zone is closer to South Korea’s than Death Valley’s, for instance, and landing secret cars here in large boxes is both cheaper and easier. Plus we have plenty of temperature extremes and enough red dust to…

ON PAPER, THE NISSAN Ariya was looking good. It ticked the first, most important box for any new EV, with a claimed range just over 500 kilometres. The starting price of $55,840 was not high and not low, but not out of step with rivals arriving from outside China. Also, it’s not just another big-box SUV, as Nissan has injected some angles and originality in its exterior design. Inside, there was plenty of space and an airy look and feel. Going back to basics, the Ariya – a name variously attributed as ‘noble’ and ‘celebration’ – is a mid-sized SUV when most Australian families are shopping for something in that space and a growing number are being converted by EV contenders from brands as diverse as MG and MINI, Kia…

NOW WITH SELF-DRIVING capability – love it or not – the Model Y attempts to reinvent itself in an ever-deepening crowd of not just electric options, but efficient hybrids and plug-in hybrids, too. That love-it-or-not theme is a common one also, not just with electric vehicles in general, but with the Tesla brand in particular. The reality is, though, Tesla puts forward an incredibly compelling case for those of you wanting to move into the EV realm. In regard to value, and we’ll look at the Model Y specifically in a minute, Tesla has the market at its mercy. Its public charging infrastructure is better and more extensive than any other. And it works. All the time. Tesla’s app is easier and more intuitive to use than the competition, and…

AFTER THE FIRST STINT BEHIND THE WHEEL of the Skoda Kodiaq the judges – all of whom had tested the previous iteration – were unanimous. It looks and feels like a Skoda Kodiaq. There’s been no deviating from the well-worn path and in effect, that’s a good thing because the Kodiaq has always been a sensible choice for family buyers. With its seven-seat capability and clever cabin, the Kodiaq aims to take down stablemate Volkswagen with a more sensible approach. For buyers the issue is that the price is almost lineball. The Sportline 4x4 on offer for Wheels COTY starts from $58,990 before on-road costs, and at the time of testing was available for $61,990 drive-away. Which means it’s effectively price positioned right alongside the Tayron. Like the Tayron though,…

MG FACED A CONUNDRUM for Wheels Car of the Year this year. The judging team had asked for the IM5 to be delivered for consideration, with a crucial caveat: the judges wanted the entry-grade IM5 Premium, which would give the new electric sedan from MG a better shot at competing with the rest of the entrants. The Premium rings the till at $60,990 driveaway. Unfortunately, the MG Australia team couldn’t get its hands on an IM5 Premium in time and asked that the IM5 Performance be considered instead. Price is a huge barrier for any brand to overcome, especially a brand new to the market in this country. MG has a foothold, but sub-brand IM is just starting out. As such, the IM5 Performance, which costs $80,990 drive away, was…

AS IF FURTHER EVIDENCE were needed of the decline in passenger cars in the face of the rise and rise of SUVs and dual-cab utes, witness the demise of the Ford Focus after 27 years. A final five-door white hatchback rolled off the line at Saarlouis plant in Germany on November 14 to signal the end of an era – first announced by Ford back in 2022 – the compact passenger model repeating the fate of the Mondeo and the Fiesta in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The demise of all three came despite sales numbers being reasonable. But it was the margins, you see, which made further iterations of each model uneconomic, according to Ford. “We’d always competed at the heart of the passenger-car market, which didn’t work out too…

ALWAYS LEARNING Well done on the road deaths story (Nov 2025 issue). Dr. Newstead has great insight. However as one of Australia’s leading driver trainers (28 years working in 28 countries) his comments about “advanced” driver training need some explanation. It is true young drivers don’t need skid control or advanced vehicle handling skills. But there are many forms of driver training (on-road mentoring, video eLearning, simulators and defensive driving courses). These provide further education of drivers–whether this changes the risk profile of the participant is up to the participant. The driver education provider has delivered what they were paid to do, provide further experience, advice and awareness. Dr. Newstead and his cohort will cite research that condemns some forms of driver training, but these studies are often flawed and…

Mick Doohan does not stop. He cannot stop. A monster crash might have put a red line through his career as a MotoGP racer, but what it also did was to spark the start of his second life as a super-successful businessman. Doohan now splits his time and his life between the monied world of Monaco and his home base on the Gold Coast in Queensland, where you might expect him to throttle back to enjoy the surf and sunshine. Not likely. He is still flat-out on the next deal, as well as guiding the motorsport career of his son Jack and looking for junior’s next opportunity after Argentine Franco Colapinto stole his seat at Alpine before he got a fair crack at Formula One. He is an aviation entrepreneur,…

Wheels has always taken safety very seriously – not just during Car of the Year testing, but more broadly across all of our testing and assessment – whether locally or internationally. As you can see in the list at right, safety is a key feature of the judging process in its own right. Safety isn’t just about features on a specification sheet, or an ANCAP rating, though. For the Wheels team, safety resonates through everything we do during COTY testing. So much so, we tapped into one of the smartest minds in safety in this country. When you’re using a facility that’s impacted by wildly varying weather, with a broad array of surfaces and conditions, safety is at the forefront of the judge’s minds. You might know Karl as a…

REMEMBER THOSE CRAZY t-shirts from Japan in the 1980s? The ones that featured Japanese-English translations so incongruous they were worth the admission for that alone. ‘Super-Bomp Explorage Crew’ was, I think, my favourite. Don’t know about you, but I’m getting a similar vibe from the Chery Tiggo 7. Maybe I’m wrong; maybe the Chinese-made SUV really is a ‘Super Hybrid Urban’. I’m only making (labouring) this point because there are several other reasons to consider the Tiggo 7 in this form. Those start with the slash-and-burn pricing of $39,990 drive-away. At that price-point, you might not be expecting a plug-in hybrid driveline, but the Tiggo 7 has one. Nor might you anticipate 18-inch alloys (which, to be honest look more like plastic hub-caps to these eyes), wireless Apple Carplay…

WHAT WE HAVE HERE, ladies and gentlemen, is a bona fide time machine. Climb inside, press the start button. When the engine is stone cold, you’ll sense a small delay as the glow plugs warm the internals sufficiently to convince high-pressure diesel to explode under nothing more provocative than mechanical compression. And within seconds, you’ll be transported back to a time when NVH stood for Not Very Happy. Pull the shifter into D, tip in some throttle and prepare for the aural and tactile onslaught of a truly old-school diesel experience. There’s vibration and there’s noise. Haul on to the main road and feed it some more throttle. Now you notice that while there’s a distinct sense of relentlessness about the acceleration, relentless is not another word for enthusiastic. Try…

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE terms that we use a lot in testing is a simple one. “It’s the answer to a question nobody asked.” The judging team visited that phrase more than once during COTY, and more than once when dissecting the merits of a four-wheeled conveyance devoid of a back window. It is, without doubt, one of the Polestar 4’s most glaring deficiencies. It doesn’t work in theory and it doesn’t work in practice. On the plus side, the Polestar 4 looks and feels well-made, and delivers premium cabin ambience, rough road thumps aside. On the move broadly, and on smoother surfaces, it’s a serene driving experience. The interior isn’t just thoughtfully appointed, it’s beautifully executed and stretches well beyond Tesla’s austerity. Front and second row space is a…

JOB ONE WHEN ASSESSING the Volvo EX30 Cross Country is figuring out what it’s actually for. It is, after all, an all-wheel-drive, jacked-up SUV, yet its pure electric driveline tends to preclude it from attacking the Ood-nadatta Track. Its performance aspirations are clear, too, with twin electric motors delivering a combined 315kW of thrust and 543Nm. But a kerb mass of just shy of two tonnes will always see it playing in the forwards, rather than on the wing. In reality, the transformation to the Cross Country version of the EX30 is a pretty commonly used move from the Volvo playbook and has been for decades now. You add some wheel arch extensions, bigger wheels and tyres, all-wheel-drive, hike the ride height and call it a Cross Country. The end…

DAVID MORLEY GOT THE MAHINDRA IN ONE. “If you’re not looking for much, it’s got plenty,” he said after his first drive. His one-liner on the Mahindra XUV3XO was a spoton bullseye, priceless, and reflected the feelings of the whole judging panel. Everyone was surprised – in a good way – by the sweet little Mahindra. At considerably less than $30,000 on the road, it set the benchmark for affordable value in 2025. It also became the first Indian car to make it into a COTY contest. In the past there was no indication a Mahindra would ever bother the scorers, despite the good intentions and plans to eventually become much more than just the homegrown Holden-style hero of India. And it was not disgraced. The Mahindra survived the early…

ONLY ONE CAR NEEDED A NEW SET OF tyres after the COTY testing program. It was also the car with the heaviest fuel use and the one that usually went missing when it was time for the lunch run. It was, of course, the Toyota GR Corolla. At some time, everyone wanted the key for a bit of PDA. That’s a personal display of affection, in this instance. It was usually on the ride-and-handling circuit, one-up without a passenger to critique the drive, and it was a reflection of the unique position of the GR Corolla in the COTY contest. But there were also four-up laps to check the car’s ride quality and composure, and an in-depth check of the engineering work under the pumped-out guards and big wheels. Even…

SPONSORED BY HONDA CIVIC IS A CAR YOU WILL buy now, and love from the get go,” observes David Morley during testing. “And “THE then, in six or 12 months, you’ll feel even better about your purchase, because it will keep rewarding you.” We could sum up this year’s winner with those words alone and move on to admiring Ellen’s beautiful photography. However, as is always the case with a great car, the 2025 Honda Civic is much more than the sum of its parts. Perhaps most pleasingly for those of us with a traditional bent, this year’s winner proved that a conventional car can still take the fight right up to – and win against – SUVs thanks to a blend of all-round quality, real-world comfort, space, practicality and…

MEDIUM SUVS remain a critical battleground for just about every manufacturer in Australia and one of the original entrants to the segment was Toyota with the RAV4. Along with Honda’s CR-V, you could credit Toyota’s volume seller for building the segment, such is the enduring popularity of the now legendary RAV4. There’s plenty for potential buyers to research with this new model, too, so before we get into this brief first drive – undertaken on a closed test facility rather than open roads – let’s take a look at the model structure. The table included here (p29) details the range, including the addition for the first time of a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variant. Five model grades make up the hybrid model range, with both 2WD and AWD available, while the PHEV…

SPONSORED BY THE WHEELS CAR OF THE YEAR testing week has seen it all. The influx of Japanese brands, the rise of South Korea, and now China and India, wading into the heavily contested and undoubtedly oversupplied Australian new-car market. The rabid rise of SUVs – first medium, then large and upper large – and the wave of dual-cab fever. Where once the most important cars in Australia were large sedans, they are now SUVs and dual cabs – like it or not. Muscle cars, sports cars, hot hatches, fast Euro sedans, wagons and performance electric cars – you name it, Wheels Car of the Year has faced it head on. Political infighting, wars, pandemics, and global financial disasters have all flowed in the undercurrent over the decades since 1963…

NOTHING BRIGHTENS A Car of the Year contest quite like an Alfa Romeo. The Italian brand has always created cars to make people smile. An Alfa has never claimed a COTY crown, despite the enthusiasm of the Alfisti – the brand’s traditional fans – and the appeal of cars like the classic GTV. Although this year’s COTY hopeful managed to tap into Alfa’s history for its name, the Junior of 2025 is unrecognisable from the 1960s sporty coupe of the same name. This one is a compact SUV and its roots are as deeply embedded in the USA as they are in Italy. That’s because, under the skin, the Alfa Junior is actually a Jeep Avenger. Yes, a Jeep. And the same mechanical package is also used for the latest…

ANONYMITY CAN BE A good thing, provided it’s your choice. But when anonymity is thrust upon one, making up the numbers is not always where you want to be. The art of the wallflower is hardly confined to the GWM Haval H6, but it remains that, as was obvious when all the SUVs were parked in one spot during our COTY test laps and a badge check was needed to ID it. For a bloke who, as a kid, could correctly identify pretty much any make or model from a kilometre away, this is an admission of personal failure. But also a realisation that pragmatic packaging will sometimes triumph over distinctive design. And when it comes to pragmatism, the Haval H6 takes some beating. It taps into the conventional in…

MAZDA’S SHOWROOM IS awash with SUVs – there’s your ‘thanks for the tip, scoop’ moment for Wheels Car of the Year 2025. Within the CX-60 range as tested for COTY, there are three drivetrains, petrol or diesel, and five trim grades available. And that’s one model in amongst many. At the time of testing, the price spread started from $47,990 drive away, scaling up to $74,192 drive away. The GT grade we included was priced at $67,990 drive away. Mazda is a brand that carries the heavy burden of multiple COTY successes, dating back to 1980 with the 323 – along with the expectations of a judging panel keen to assess whether any new Mazda delivers on the premium, sporty feel we expect (demand) from the Japanese manufacturer. CX-60 GT…

MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE THE brand itself is part of the landscape. Perhaps it’s the fact that the car in question knows what it is, where it fits in and who’s buying it. Maybe it’s because there are no pretensions or inflated boasts to harpoon during the first drive. Whatever, the Subaru Forester is four-wheeled comfort food. Lacking the Darth-Vader styling of some of its mid-sized SUV peers, and without the buzzing, whirring pure-electric driveline that continues to polarise the marketplace, the Forester is wholesome and satisfying. Just like Grandma used to make. That said, just as time honoured recipes get constantly tweaked, the latest Forester has grown an evolved hybrid element to its driveline, in this case a pair of electric motors teamed with the trademark flat-four petrol engine. But…

THE RELEASE OF THE VOLKSWAGEN TAYRON (pronounced Tie-ron) earlier this year was fascinating. And that’s because the Tiguan Allspace has been a sales success in Australia, yet Volkswagen made the big call to replace its popular, well-known nameplate with a new name that needs to be promoted in a very crowded marketplace. The resulting SUV was present at Lang Lang for Wheels COTY testing. From the minute the first drive loops were done, all judges knew this was yet another high quality Volkswagen SUV. “Feels solid,” said Robinson. “Drives beautifully,” said Gover. “It’s got some punch to it,” said Morley. And yet, none of that is surprising. Wheels is accustomed to expecting quality from a new Volkswagen, and that’s exactly what the Tayron delivers. The judges had the 150 TSI…

IT’S POSSIBLY A KIND OF PAVLOVIAN response thing (without the salivating) but when faced with yet another mid-sized SUV, the default mental programming in my head is to prepare for disappointment. Not that these things are necessarily bad cars but, as a tribe, they don’t exactly offer too much in the dynamic thrills department. It’s all down, of course, to their devotion to the task of moving people safely, efficiently and at a price-tag that still allows for a driveway to park them in. And that’s often at the expense of any real sparkle. As in: If you’re not looking for much, they offer plenty (thank you, Harper Lee). But just like Harper Lee’s back catalogue which, for literally decades consisted of the singular To Kill a Mocking-bird (and even…

AT THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM HOLDEN WAS RIDING THE CREST OF A WAVE. It was number one in the sales race by a country mile, a good 25 per cent ahead of second-placed Toyota, and the latest Commodore was not only thumping its main local opposition but being shipped to the Middle East as a Chevrolet Lumina and Brazil as a Chevrolet Omega. It seemed like everything Holden touched was turning to gold and this corporate confidence translated into an incredible run of concept cars unveiled in the late-1990s and early-Noughties. There was, of course, the beautiful Coupe Concept that led to the reintroduction of the Monaro, followed by the Utester, Sandman and HSV HRT Maloo utes, and the wild Porsche-baiting HRT 427 Coupe. Not everything made production –…