Aussie Motoring

After 20 years and numerous styling changes the Nissan Pulsar is dead and its replacement is about to hit Nissan showrooms across Australia. To replace the Pulsar Nissan are introducing the Tiida – a totally different car to the Pulsar.

The Tiida comes with better equipment levels than the old Pulsar but confirms Nissan’s commitment to the sub $20,000 market by landing in the showrooms with a base price of $19,990.

Even though the Tiida is not due for release until February 1 a number have been out and about on the motoring writer circuit and a brief review is already been released by one writer.

It seems that the new Tiida is:

Bigger and more comfortable

Has good all-round view from the driver’s seat

It’s good to drive

It has problems with the 6 speed manual gearbox

You can read the first review of the Nissan Tiida here

There are definitely times when the way manufacturers advertise their motor vehicles is downright boring.

But you really couldn’t describe this ad produced to market the Honda Civic in the United Kingdom as boring.

Oh and the car looks like this:

While people in Sydney and Melbourne have had a chance to look at the Nissan Tiida while they were on display in various shopping centres the rest of us have had to sit and wait.

Come February 1 the wait will be over because that is the date set for the Tiida’s release. Expect some photos here that afternoon.

The Kia Cerato has received the “Most Delightful Vehicle of 2005″ award in the small car division from Strategic Vision, a US company that has been running the awards since 1996.

Strategic Vision measures the experience of approximately 90,000 new vehicle owners annually. According to Strategic Vision, the results give the industry actionable information about multiple issues, including building better vehicles, communicating more effectively, increasing sales opportunity, creating strong brand image, creating loyalty, and assessing success and failure of strategy.

The Cerato is known as the Spectra in the US market

Both Ford and General Motors have announced savage cuts to their workforce. Ford is set to close 14 plants and sack 25,000 to 30,000 workers while GM intends closing nine plants and laying off 30,000 workers.

Both companies are facing stiff competition from Japan and Korea and both companies are said to be burdened with the costs of healthcare and pensions for workers but is that the whole picture?

Of course, it’s easy to blame others and say that the Asian manufacturers can produce a cheaper product that the big two simply cannot compete with but is that really the case?

It seems it might be more a case of producing vehicles that no one wants to buy. After all the other major US manufacturer, Chrysler, actually gained market share last year and the three major Asian competitors, Hyunda, Honda and Toyota all have plants in the US.

Admittedly they don’t have all the costly overheads that the US companies have but they are making cars that the American consumer wants to buy.

Will the same thing happen here in Australia?

There is no doubt that Toyota is definitely selling more vehicles overall than Holden and Ford but the Commodore and Falcon are still the two most popular vehicles in the country. Ironically it’s Mitsubishi - an Asian manufacturer - who is struggling here.

Back on December 7 we reported that the James Bond Car would soon be going under the hammer in Phoenix Arizona.

The auction has now been held and what was advertised in the sales brochure as a “1964 Aston Martin DB5 Coupe” will soon be on its way to Switzerland after a Swiss business man topped the bidding at $US2.5 million.

The Australian equivalent is $3,347,250.

The successful bidder was not present at the auction but placed his bids over the phone through a friend. The friend’s only instructions were ” … bring the car back to Switzerland.”

Quite a few people have been coming to the site looking for the specifications for the Nissan Navara.

If you follow this link you will find a comparison chart that will show you the Nissan Navara Specifications for each model.

Here is an interesting quote from the latest Nissan eNews

The all new turbo diesel Nissan Navara Dual Cab has been voted “Best Pick-Up” in the 2005 What Van? Awards in the UK. What Van? drove every light commercial vehicle available in the British market, assessing them for drivability, comfort, performance, handling, refinement, safety, load area, economy and value for money. The Navara picked up the gold in the “Pick Up” section beating off stiff competition from the Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi L200.

Since its launch in August 2005 in the UK, Navara has been the top-selling pick-up every month. Out of the total number of pick-ups sold in Britain in September over 40% carried the Nissan badge.

What Van? editor Neil McIntee commented: “It’s rare for What Van?’s band of hardened hacks to fall completely in love with a vehicle at first drive, but that’s what happened with the Navara. It’s one of the best-performing diesel 4×4 pick-ups we’ve ever encountered”.

You can read the full article here at What Van?

And you can find a brief review of the new D40 Nissan Navara dual cab here

Mitsubish released the 380 last year and was frank in telling the market place that the 380 was the make or break car for the company in Australia.

Unfortunately sales have not been what they had hoped and even the Toyota Yaris outsold the 380 in December. With sales results like that job cuts were inevitable.

Stand by to get slugged in the hip pocket again. Fuel prices are going to rise significantly and it could start to happen as early as Tuesday.

The cost of crude oil has jumped by of $US2.00 a barrel and the exchange rate of the Aussie dollar against the US dollar has fallen.

Prices in Queensland (where they are subsidised by the State Government) are expected to rise to around 123.0 cents per litre while in country areas they could go over 130.9 cents per litre.

As I write this the cheapest fuel in Brisbane is 106.9 cents per litre.

The new Holden Barina is here but is it worth looking at?

Five Good Reasons

1. At $12,990 it’s cheaper than this time last year

2. It comes with a 1.6 litre motor as standard

3. It handles well in tight spaces

4. Standard equipment includes airconditioning, power windows, adjustable steering wheel, driver and passenger airbags and adjustable driver’s seat

5. It has excellent fuel economy 6.9 litres per 100km for the manual and 7.8 litres per 100km for the automatic

Five Bad Reasons

1. It’s not the same car as this time last year. Last year’s Barina was built by Opel - this year it’s built by Daewoo - enough said

2. The manual gearbox could be better

3. At least one motoring writer has described cabin as filled with “low rent plastics”

4. The quality does not compare well with others in its class

5. It only comes with a 3 year or 100,000km warranty

You can find a full road text of the new Holden Barina here