Ordinary Guy. Super cars
Matt Hatton takes the Land Rovery Discovery Sport out into outback NSW for our first adventure story. He loaded up the family and set out on an Easter odyssey to pound the Disco Sport’s chassis into submission. He failed, but learnt a lot along the way.
Read MoreBMW’s big SAVs (their acronym, not mine) aren’t slow, particularly the ones we get in Australia – we don’t mess about with the slow ones. I drove an M50d for carsguide at the X5’s launch and I thought, “Yeah, this will do.” Well, clearly, it hasn’t done for some people. So BMW has dropped the twin-turbo V8 from the M850i M Performance flagship into the X5. And, as it turns out, the X7. Both are obviously fully-loaded, so pretty much the only thing these cars are missing is a time-travel…
Read MoreWell, it’s not like it wasn’t a bit obvious it would happen, but BMW has done full-fat M versions of the X3 and X4. Imaginatively, they’re called X3 M and X4. Like the X3 M40i and X4 M40i, it’s a twin-turbo six-cylinder version of each, but with just a scootch extra pep. Well, a lot extra. And to go with the pep, there’s a bunch of go-faster tech underneath to make sure you don’t come off the road. There’s even two versions of each – M has already slapped the…
Read MoreRedline co-pilot Brendan Allen prised the Porsche Cayenne from Peter Anderson’s hands for a few days to see what the fuss is about. You’d be forgiven for letting this latest release from Porsche slip under the radar as the brand continues to be diluted by countless SUVs out in the wild. Take a drive around Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs or Melbourne’s South-East and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that one in ten cars (not SUVs, but cars) is either a Cayenne or Macan S. It’s the latter that…
Read MorePorsche’s saviour, the Cayenne, is now in its third generation. It’s the quintessential performance SUV, with the right badge and the right price for that badge. Times have changed. Where the Cayenne was easily king of kids a decade and a half ago, the rest of the Germans are absolutely on it. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes all have a dog in the fast SUV hunt with more on the way. The Brits have the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport and even the Americans have the completely batty Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. The Italians are finally on stream, with Maserati and Alfa throwing twin-turbo V8 and V6s into this warzone. Porsche has to work for…
Read MoreThe Audi Q8 has arrived in Australia and we’ve got the price and specification right here. Available for delivery in January 2019, the first Q8s to arrive in Australia are the petrol 55 TFSI and diesel 50 TDI. The 55 kicks things off, priced from $128,900. Based on the Q7 and A8 platform, the Q8 is a big five-seat luxury-sporty SUV. That’s a bit of a mouthful, but it will make sense, especially if you read our full review. Audi Q8 Standard Features The 55 and 50 are hardly low-spec…
Read MoreThe Audi Q8 is Ingolstadt’s X6/GLE Coupe rival is a big five-seat luxury SUV that only the Germans seem to get right. In a year where we’ll soon see the humungous BMW X7, the Q8 takes a different route. It’s shorter than the car it’s based on – the Q7 – but wider and centred on moving four or five people in style. Audi Q8 Interior What’s also neat is the interior. Like the new black glass dominated A7, the Q8 is even more impressive. Build quality is tighter than…
Read MoreLand Rover’s current purple patch started with the LRX concept penned by Rob Melville, head of McLaren design. Then, as now, Land Rover’s design team is run by Gerry McGovern, the kind of fellow who knows a good thing when he sees it. After what seems like a hundred years on sale, the car that kicked off the renaissance and introduced the world mud-plugging to Victoria Beckham, has been replaced. The Range Rover Evoque second generation is here and it’s…well it’s pretty similar. And that’s not a bad thing. The…
Read MoreIf you want a fast SUV, there’s a new contender – the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. Oh, we knew it was coming, but wow, here it is and it looks tough. F-Pace SVR From the minds that brought you the wonderful F-Type SVR – a firm favourite here at The Redline – comes an SVO-fettled F-Pace. The company is having a massive year, and just about all of it is pivoting around SUVs and not just Jags. We knew this was coming, but courtesy of the New York Motor Show, we’ve…
Read MoreIngolstadt’s MQB-based compact SUV has had the Audi Sport treatment – the result is the Audi SQ2 (not pictured. Sorry) 2018 means lots of Q-ing (I am not sorry for that pun, not one little bit) It’s a busy year for Audi’s Q-line of SUVs, with three ready to pop this year – the Q8, the long-overdue new Q3 and the SQ2. I know this will upset a lot of people – hello, lovely to have you along – but the Audi Q2 is quite a nice little car.…
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