Aussie Motoring

Honda describe this car as their “bite-sized wonder” and there is no doubt that this definitely does fall into the small market and they are even going so far as to promote it in a toy-like way with an obvious attempt to link the Jazz to Thomas the Tank Engine.

The price of $15,990 for the base model fitted with a 5 speed manual transmission may not sound all that competitive by but the range of features, including airconditioning, that are standard certainly does make it worth a second look.

The base model comes with:

Anti-lock brakes

SRS airbags for driver and front passenger

Pretensioners on the front seat belts

Front and rear crumple zones

Multi-reflector headlamps

Wide opening hatch

Airconditioning

4 speaker CD tuner

Storage areas

Fully folding rear seats to give you increased cargo room

1.3 litre engine

5 speed manual or CVT automatic transmission ($2,000 extra)

Honda offers two other versions of the Jazz - the VYi and the Vti-S - both of these are powered by a 1.5 litre engine coupled to either a 5 speed manual box or a 7 speed sequential shift automatic that can be controlled from an F1 type paddle adjacent to the steering wheel.

The VTi is $17,990 for the manual while the VYi-S is $20,390 for the manual. Auto on both models is an extra $2300.

The new Jazz now comes with a full-size spare wheel as well as all the other goodies and is a whopping $1400 dollars less than its predecessor.

The new Honda Jazz comes from Honda’s new plant in Thailand and you can see more of this neat small car here

Very few vehicles are currently sold in Australia withside air bags fitted as standard equipment although they are offered as an option by many manufacturers. So are they really worth the extra money?

The US insurance industry suggests that they certainly do improve the chances of a vehicle’s occupants surviving a side impact. After conducting a number of crash tests on various mini-vans and the Toyota Prius the insurance industry rated all the vehicles fitted without side air bags as poor - the worst rating in a four level score.

The same vehicles, when fitted with side air bags improved considerably in the ratings and the Prius reached the top of the rating system.

Suzuki XL7 - The all-new 2007 Suzuki XL7 made its world debut at the 2006 New York International Auto Show. Suzuki’s flagship SUV evolves from a truck-based SUV to a more car-like unibody design with front-wheel drive and available all-wheel drive.

The larger, more comfortable Suzuki midsize crossover SUV is powered by a sophisticated, Suzuki-built 3.6-liter V6 engine matched to a five-speed automatic transmission with manumatic control.

Follow the link to see the full report on the Suzuki XL7 SUV

Towards the end of this year Dodge will be making a return to the Australian market with a range of vehicles. The first to be released will be the Caliber - an unusual vehicle that doesn’t quite seem to be one thing or another.

Aussie Motoring has already taken a preview peek at the Dodge Caliber in a piece called The Yankees Are Coming but we also thought we should present the views of your typical SUV driving American and there’s no one more typical than our man in the US - Jim Williams - who was happy to give us his views on the Dodge Caliber

Dodge, that great American institution of innovation and cool tough looks, has taken it upon itself, as a company, to create the Dodge Caliber a “Neon-replacement mini-SUV car”. With good fuel economy, spacious interior and improved safety features, it’s the SUV of the future right? Well, I don’t think so, and I am going to tell you why.

First things first, the good stuff, the Caliber does in fact get pretty good fuel economy with most models of it getting 28 mpg city and 32 mpg on the open road, so it gets respectable gas mileage for something that’s supposed to be an SUV. I think I can back out of my driveway in my full sized, 5 door Ford Explorer on a gallon of gas, so 28 mpg sounds great to me.

And they seemed to have taken safety with this thing pretty seriously as well, with side curtain air bags and advanced multi-stage airbags in the dash, it’ll be a comfortable slide into the windshield at 70MPH if you happen to be so unfortunate. Headlights on this thing are huge and fog lamps come standard on one model and optional on another cast a low wide beam for added visibility.

Now on to spaciousness, when I think of an SUV space is one of those things that comes immediately to mind. I can toss a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of plywood inside my explorer and it will fit.

But the Caliber, being a mini-SUV has a wheelbase shorter than the wheelbase of Chrysler’s Neon sedan. Neon’s wheelbase is 105 inches, (and that’s small folks) while the Caliber ‘boasts’ a wheelbase of only 103.7. The overall length for a Neon is 174.4 inches and the Caliber sadly measures 173.8.

Now on to how I really feel about this mutation of an SUV. This is not a true Sport Utility and you can tell by the things they hype about this vehicle. Rims, sound system, cool looking headlights are not what I would call features that a serious SUV buyer is looking for. And to top it off you’re going to need all those safety features because Dodge decided to throw in so many distractions you’ll get a fender bender leaving the garage.

The interior is packed with things like:

an in dash beverage cooler, ok if you just said ‘how cool’ leave now,

a holder for your mp3 player or cell phone in the center arm rest,

and a ‘golly gee, look at this’ lighted beverage holders!

Toss in the mp3 jack on the dash, the DVD driven navigation system, and a radio that you will find yourself fiddling with for far too much time, and you get to test the theory all on your own that the number one cause of accidents isn’t alcohol, but people distracted by other things while they are driving.

Overall Dodge has put a lot of time and money into producing a car that is in no way any sort of a sport utility vehicle. This thing couldn’t even with any self respect call itself a station wagon. If you closed the doors on the Caliber you could probably fit it inside an average US station wagon.

If you’re in the market for an economy car this may work out for you, but as an SUV, even a mini one, it is a sad excuse of a vehicle.

The Volkswagen brand achieved worldwide record sales in the first quarter of 2006. 795,000 vehicles were delivered to customers during the first three months of the year.

This is the highest start-of-year figure in the history of the company and represents a rise of some 108,000 vehicles or 15.7 percent compared with the prior-year period. Dr. Michael Kern, Board Member for Sales and Marketing at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, said: “Our new products are now realizing their full potential on the markets. Additionally, improvements in sales structures independent of the models themselves are having an effect.”

In March alone, Volkswagen Passenger Cars sold 330,000 vehicles to customers worldwide. This represents a rise of 16.3 percent compared with the same month in 2005. During the first three months of this year, a total of 795,000 vehicles were delivered to customers worldwide, 15.7 percent higher than the first quarter of 2005. According to Kern: “The Passat has made an impressive mark on the market. And there will be other models to follow this year, first and foremost the Eos, which will be launched on the German market in May.”

Volkswagen achieved noticeable growth in all regions during the first quarter. Growth was strongest in China, where deliveries increased by 32.2 percent to 144,800 vehicles, and the USA, where sales totaled 53,300 units (plus 24.3 percent). In South Africa, sales rose by 22.8 percent to 19,600 units, while sales in South America rose by 10.1 percent to 108,700 vehicles.

Volkswagen Passenger Cars also reported a noticeable increase in Western and Central Europe (excluding Germany), where deliveries to customers rose by 15.3 percent to 259,000 units. In Germany, 125,200 customers opted for a Volkswagen during the first three months of the year, 8.9 percent more than during the prior-year period. In March alone, 52,800 new Volkswagen were delivered to customers in Germany, 9.8 percent up on March 2005. Kern commented: “As a result, our market share has risen to over 19 percent and we have significantly extended our leading position compared with last year.”

The Golf was the main motor for the delivery record. 288,000 customers chose the Golf, Golf Plus, Golf Variant and Jetta, 11 percent up on the prior-year period. The Passat, both the saloon and estate versions, was the second largest contributor, with a total of 140,000 units delivered to customers during the first quarter of the year.

Less Show and Same Go

Sadly this is one car we will not be seeing in Australia but we can always dream of a luxury level car that goes like a rocket.

Subaru America have released a limited edition Subaru Imprezza that has all the refinements of a luxury car with all the get up and go you would expect from a Subaru WRX.

You can read all about the Subaru Impreza(R) WRX(R) STI(R) Limited for 2007 by following the link

Feast your eyes on a fully restored Holden Torana XU1, the dream car of half the petrol-heads in Australia in the early 1970s.

The XU1 was a car that won touring car races and some of the roughest rallies in Australia when driven by such household names as Peter Brock and Colin Bond.

This particular car was one of the first to be delivered in Brisbane but Ivan, the current owner, found it in a very sad and sorry state. It’s now been lovingly restored to it’s original condition and colour and still features the original running gear.

This beautiful car will soon be joined by a fully restored Holden Monaro - one of only a few that came off the production line with a T-bar auto.

Ivan happily let me take a couple of photos for Aussie Motoring on the condition that I make it plain that this car is NOT for sale

With prices ranging from $53,990 for the 3.5 litre V6 up to $59,990 for the 5.7 litre V8 the Chrysler 300C is not going to be over-populating Australian roads anytime soon but Chrysler certainly hopes that it will bring “some passion back to the luxury sedan market.”

At least that’s what Gerry Jenkins, the head of Chrysler Jeep Australia, hopes.

And will it succeed? Well one reviewer suggested that it certainly was a head-turner but who buys a car just to turn heads?

Ok … so I’m in the minority here and lots of people would think of buying this car just on it’s looks. I guess they would not be disappointed then to find that it really does perform … in a straight line. Nor would they be disappointed in all the creature comforts that come standard on this car.

In fact, if you bought this car only for it’s looks you wouldn’t even be disappointed by it’s around town fuel consumption - 16.1 litres per 100 km of city driving. But then what could you expect from a car that weighs in at 1.8 tonnes?

You can find a full review here

Chrysler will also be releasing a long wheelbase version of the 300C at the New York Motor Show this weekend. Whether that version actually makes it to Australia or not is yet to be determined.

Suzuki SX4 - Making its North American debut at the New York International Auto Show, the Suzuki SX4 is a compact sport X-over (crossover) vehicle with a versatile five-door hatchback design and standard all-wheel drive. The stylish Suzuki SX4 offers bold attitude with performance.

SX4 features a 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine matched to a five-speed manual transmission or available four-speed automatic with manumatic control. Six airbags and ABS with electronic brake-force distribution are standard

Follow the link to read more about the Suzuki SX4

The all-new 2007 Elantra makes its world debut today at the 2006 New York International Auto Show. Hyundai’s 2007 Elantra is the seventh all-new model from Hyundai in just 24 months, giving Hyundai the freshest lineup in the industry. All new from headlight to taillight, Elantra brings more refinement, safety and interior space to compact car shoppers.

Follow the link to read about the new Hyundai Elantra 2007