Aussie Motoring

There are some interesting examples of fine old cars hiding in the backstreets of Hervey Bay and the surrounding villages and here is one of them. I’ve seen this beautiful old 1963 Tbird around Torbanlea - a village just off the Bruce Highway between Maryborough and Childers on several occasions but I’ve never had my camera with me until today.

This time I had my camera and it was parked out on the footpath.

If vintage American cars turn you on and you would like to own one then this baby is for sale … but I doubt that it comes cheap.

Earlier this month we reported on the latest car sale figures for the Australian market in May but not every country … nor every segment … was as bouyant as the Australian market was in May. In once instance the impact of falling sales has led to some serious re-thinking of future plans.

General Motors experienced a 37% drop in the sale of SUVs and vans in the United States during May and, when you consider that GM makes more money from the sale of SUVs than it does from conventional vehicles, it’s no wonder that GM is re-thinking its future strategy.

GM did have a team of engineers working on developing fuel-saving technologies for their SUVs with a view to introducing them by 2012 but no more. The team has been dispanded and re-assigned to other projects and General Motors may soon be making changing it’s focus from SUVs to more fuel efficient cars.

Volkswagen is also experiencing some problems in what it describes as “a difficult market environment”. While sales are surging in China they are falling when taken on a worldwide basis. VW reported a drop in of 0.8 percent in worldwide sales in May.

Kia on the other hand reported a 16.5% increase in worldwide sales during May with large increases in all markets. Most noteable were a 56.8 percent increase in sales to China, an 8.8 percent increase in sales to Europe and an 8.6 percent increase in sales to North America.

The new BMW M3 Convertible is about to hit Australian streets and it’s definitely something special. The new M3 comes with a high-revving V8 that’s even lighter than the six-cylinder unit that powered previous M3s. The new 309kW 4.0 litre motor comes as standard with a six-speed manual gearbox.

What makes this BMW even more interesting is the fact that this is the first BMW to be offered with an optional  seven-speed M double clutch transmission with BMW’s Drivelogic and specifically designed to work with high-revving V8 engines.

The M3 Convertible also features a retractable hard-top as standard, sun-reflective leather upholstery that keeps the surface temperature at up to 20 degrees Celsius cooler than conventional leather.

The first demo models of the BMW M3 Convertible will be in the showrooms from July but the first deliveries to customers won’t begin until the last quarter of the year.

There’s something about French cars that appeals to me … they’re quirky and definitely fun to drive and that’s probably why I still regret selling my Peugot 404 wagon (you could crank start it) and my Renault 12 sedan - the one that was covered in paint blemishes from new but Renault never quite got round to fixing for me.

That inherent character is still around today, I mean how could you look at something as ugly as the Megane and not love it. And I guess it’s that character that made me take a second look when the promo for the new Renault Laguna arrived in my inbox.

It’s not due to arrive till much later in the year but Renault doesn’t want to surprise you by having it arrive here unannounced. The new Laguna will come with a “wide range of petrol and diesel engines” all coupled to a six-speed gearbox or a five-speed auto.  And even though the promo forgets to mention the size of the engine I think 2.0 litre is going to be the standard here.

The new Laguna comes with ABS, Electronic Brake Distribution and Emergency Brake Assist. It also comes fitted with dual side airbags the include new impact sensors that allow the bags to be deployed in half the time taken by other vehicles.

Inside the car you’ll get all the creature comforts you could want in a car. There’s an air quality system that automatically closes when it detects impurities in the air as well as dual zone climate control with three modes to keep everyone happy.

Interestingly the Laguna will also be available in a station wagon variant. You can find more information about the new Renault Laguna here

Over the last year or so I’ve bumped into a number of people from Europe who are amazed at how little lighting there is on our major country roads at night so today I thought I’d share a couple of photos I took yesterday as we headed north to Rockhampton.

We left well before dawn and took a back road from Hervey Bay across to the Bruce Highway at Torbanlea.

The light straight ahead is the full moon while the light slightly to the left is a reflective road sign. It’s a back road so you wouldn’t expect to see much lighting but the next picture was taken on the Bruce Highway - part of Australia’s Highway 1.

No lights but for the tail lights of the only other car on the road at that hour of the morning, one lane in each direction and plenty of road kill to be seen once the sun came up.

Remember the early Mini’s? They came with a speedo, a fuel gauge and two or three warning lights and that was it! But not any more.

Since BMW took over the Mini you get all the information on your dashboard that you could ever want. 

There’s the time, the temperature, the distance you’ve travelled and two other interesting bits of information as well.

On the left beside the bowser icon you’ll see what your current fuel consumption is and alongside that a suggestion of what gear you should be in as well.

Sometimes you just have to wonder if too much information doesn’t take all the fun out of driving. However BMW would really have to work hard to take the fun out of the new Mini John Cooper Works models. The hardtop will do 0-100km/h in 6.5 seconds while the Clubman will do it in 6.8 seconds and both can reach 238km/h.

The price for one of these hairy little beasts starts at $48,000 plus onroad costs.

Well that’s the hype surrounding the latest fire-breathing Toyota Corolla and with specs that include a Dual VVT-i 1.8 litre engine that delivers 100Kw of power then it’s definitelly got the grunt to live up to the hype.

It comes with either a 6 speed manual transmission or a 4 speed auto and the list of features is impressive.

Prices start at $29,500 for the 5 door 6 speed manual and $31,500 for the five door 4 speed auto.

You can read more about the Toyota Corolla Levin ZR here and if you check out the photos you’ll see that this car comes with a push button to start the vehicle. That’s something you might think is quite new but the early Morris Minis came with a push button starter … although it didn’t look quite as flash as the one in the Corolla Levin

Australian new motor vehicle sales remained strong last month, despite higher interest rates and fuel prices.

Official VFACTS figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that 88,640 cars, trucks and buses were sold in May – an increase of 43 vehicles on the same month last year.
“This is a good result for the automotive industry, although there is evidence that interest rate rises and other factors have slowed the rate of growth in recent months,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

Year-to-date the car market is now up 4 per cent on the same period in 2007, which was an all-time record year.

The May figures reveal a ‘two-phase’ car market, with the passenger car market down slightly (2.5 per cent) while the SUV and light commercial markets continue to boom.

Sales in the medium SUV segment were up 16.8 per cent on May 2007 and the large SUV segment was up 12 per cent, despite the impact of higher fuel costs.

The light commercial vehicle market also continues to be buoyant – with ute sales particularly strong.

The pick-up/cab-chassis 4×4 segment rose 5.7 per cent over May last year, while the van segment rose 22.5 per cent.

Mr McKellar said an increasing number of passenger vehicles and SUVs are being bought with clean-diesel engines.

“Several new common-rail injection clean diesels have entered the market in the past few months, and we can see that Australian drivers are keen to give the new technology a try,” Mr McKellar said.

Vehicle buyers seeking improved fuel efficiency do not necessarily have to choose a smaller vehicle.

“The traditional image of diesel vehicles has changed, he said. Diesel vehicles can provide significant benefits in terms of fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions but have good power and performance.”

Mr McKellar said higher fuel prices should not scare consumers away from traditional petrol engines either, because new technology has made these more efficient.

“Our analysis shows that higher fuel costs are prompting people to shop around to find a new car that both suits their needs and also has better fuel economy than the one they are currently driving,” he said.

Toyota remained the top-selling marque in May with 23.4 per cent of the market, followed by Holden with 12.5 per cent and Ford with 10.9 per cent.

So far this year Toyota leads the sales race with 101,816 vehicles sold, followed by Holden with 55,155 and Ford with 44,183.

Earlier this week General Motors announced that it would be closing four plants in the United States and Canada in a cost-cutting exercise that see a reduction in GM’s production of trucks and SUV’s. That was probably to be expected as the cost of fuel rose and the demand for big vehicles diminished.

What was not so obvious though was that General Motors also planned to close part of its plant at Fisherman’s Bend Plant in Melbourne. Reports suggest that up to 500 jobs could be lost and Holden closes the four cyclinder engine production line.

Two more small vehicles available in Australia have been given a five-star crash test rating by the Australian New Car Assessment Programme - ANCAP

The top of the range Lancer ated highly for occupant protection following a series of crash tests – a frontal offset, a side offset and a pole test. The model tested was the top-spec model, which includes head-protecting side air bags and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) – both prerequisites for a five-star rating under ANCAP’s rating methodology. The lower spec Lancer scored four stars.

The Hyundai i30, which also includes side curtains and ESC, achieved five stars after a recent modification improved the vehicle’s knee impact area, which ANCAP had raised as an issue. The New Zealand i30 will receive the same upgrade. Similar to the Lancer, the lower spec i30 scores four stars.