Tag: #zerogeewhiz

Toyota Supra: Baggage-free review

Unlike one or two people on the internet, I have never really had a strong opinion on the Toyota Supra.

Not because I couldn’t be bothered or anything like that, I just didn’t see a Supra on my driveway, even the last of the old generation. You know how some cars just don’t speak to you? That was the Supra for me.

The Mazda RX-7 of the same period, though. Phwoar. But that’s for another time.

Then the usual, annual rumours of a Toyota sports car surfaced. The previous rumours were nonsense – or so I thought – based on the idea that the 86 had done well. Of course they would return to the Supra.

Not Toyota, I thought. Not now – far too straight-laced these days.

Then came The Announcement – BMW and Toyota were working together on a new sports car. We knew it would yield the new Z4 – that was easy – and then it turned out, I was wrong – Toyota was going to put something like the FT-1 into production.

After an absolutely interminable drip-feed, the new Supra landed and then arrived here late last year, a decade ago after all that’s happened since.

So here we are – another baggage-free Redline review, like the Porsche 911 – the Toyota Supra GR.

How much is a 2020 Toyota Supra GT and what do you get?

$84,900 + ORC

It looks like a lot of money and for a Toyota that isn’t a LandCruiser, it is. And you’re not getting a discount, not even in lockdown, because supply is tight.

Anyway, you get a 10-speaker stereo, 18-inch alloys, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, adaptive dampers, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, electric and heated front seats, sat nav, auto LED headlights, (very good) fake leather, powered heating and folding mirrors and a tyre repair kit.

The stereo is familiar to anyone who’s even seen iDrive. It has been de-BMW-ified and everyone who says “it’s just a BMW interior” is right, up to a point. Those of you who work in IT (and no doubt other industries) will be familiar with the ‘latest-minus-one’ version policy. Most of the bits and bobs inside the Supra are latest-minus-one BMW bits, which is completely fine. Don’t listen to the whingers, it’s plenty enough to separate the Supra from the Z4.

For some confounding reason, we don’t get Apple CarPlay. I understand not getting Android Auto (BMW doesn’t have it yet either), but seriously. What the hell. Other markets get it. What makes us special?

Safety

The Supra has seven airbags (including driver’s knee bag), forward AEB (high and low speed with pedestrian detection), forward and reversing collision warning, stability and traction controls, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, speed zone recognition and rear cross-traffic alert.

Nobody has (deliberately) crash-tested the Supra so there’s no ANCAP, EuroNCAP or IIHS crash ratings. Plenty of gear, though, as you can see.

Warranty and Servicing

Here’s fun – while BMW will only give you a three year warranty on the Z4, Toyota will sling you a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty on the Supra, with another two years of driveline coverage if you keep it serviced with the big T.

While service intervals are set at 12 months/15,000km, the most you’ll pay for the first four services is $385 per service. That’s a bit more than your average Toyota service, sure, but this is a different beast to my Mum’s Yaris. A Z4’s pre-paid service regime is $110 more over the four years. Having said all of that, you do get roadside assist for free with the BMW.

Look and feel

The Supra did not impress me in photos (it does in these – they’re spectacular!) and it wasn’t until I saw one that I thought, ah, yes.

It didn’t bother me for the expected reasons. The echoes of Supra past aren’t too much and it is rather more contemporary than I was expecting. By the end of its time with me, I really liked (most of) it. I absolutely dig the dished wheels a lot. The muscular rear guards are awesome and I adored the massive clamshell effect of the bonnet. It looks nothing like the car it shares its underguts with and that’s an excellent and necessary achievement.

The interior is, frankly, a little bland. But then, you know, Toyota crossed with older BMW. Like I’ve already said, just enough has been done to separate it, but those who know will spot plenty of BMW bits. I don’t quite know why that’s a complaint – it’s by far the best Toyota interior, so shut yer traps.

Boring convenience stuff includes a pair of cupholders and a few sensibly-sized trays and cubby holes for your stuff, handy in a tight cabin. The boot is an impressive 297 litres but, predictably, difficult to get things in and out of. Not really that kind of car, though, is it? If you give too much of a toss about boot capacity or cupholders, may I politely suggest a Veloster? Or a Kluger?

A couple of things bothered me, but the big one was the finish on the “hat.” You can see all the structures of the Z4 if you know where to look and where that car finishes and the Supra starts. So the roof is sort of a hat on that structure.

Problem is, it squeaks. This is not very Toyota and reminded me of the first Jaguar F-Type Coupe I drove ages ago. It’s the same sort of thing – hat on a roadster – and that first car squeaked.

Given Toyota know a thing or two about quality, I’m sure it will be fixed, but it takes the gloss of a $90,000 car.

Chassis

You already know there is a lot of BMW Z4 underneath, which itself is spun off BMW’s CLAR (cluster architecture).

It’s all very familiar – MacPherson struts at the front, five-link rear suspension. The dampers are BMW’s adaptive setup, but with some Toyota fiddles and tweaks to separate it from the Z4 M40i’s feel.

The electric power steering is also the same, but again, Toyota’s chassis folks breathed on it a bit. Some say it’s different enough to the Z4’s so you’d notice, but it’s not that clear-cut if you ask me.

The gorgeous 19-inch alloys score 255/35s at the front and 275/35s at the rear, with Michelin providing Pilot Super Sports.

BMW’s active limited-slip diff is also along for the ride and that, my friends, is a good thing. The first car I drove with an active LSD was a BMW and I remain entirely convinced of their value.

Drivetrain

Again, familiar – BMW’s B58 3.0-litre straight six is in a bunch of cars and I like them all. It’s an excellent engine and finds its way into the Supra unchanged.

That means a very respectable – and probably inaccurate – 250kW between 5000-6500rpm and 500Nm (also inaccurate) between 1600-4500rpm.

And when I say those figures are inaccurate, it’s in a good way. Like most BMW performance engines today, the figures are – anecdotally from YouTube dyno tests – around 10% more in real life.

The eight-speed ZF carries over as well and with a kerb weight of 1495kg, you’ll crack the ton in 4.4 seconds.

And can we talk about how the bonnet rolls down over the wheelarches? Gorgeous.

Driving

I knew the Supra and I were going to get on just fine from the second I gave it some throttle. The exhausts bark (but in a fairly restrained way) and you’re flung forward, just like that.

The A90 Supra is more amped-up than the Z4 M40i which, to be fair, is a fighter to start with (a fact I had forgotten until the week after I had the Supra). You really have to watch your toes in the Toyota because there’s not much play in the throttle.

That’s a good thing, mind – it means you’ve access to all that smooth twin-turbo power from the B58 whenever you want it. Traction off is a handful, so you’ve been warned.

Add that to the frankly spectacular turn-in and you have a real best-of-both-worlds sports car. It’s still light enough to be chuckable but keeps you on your toes, in a similar vein to the distinctly analogue 86 does (in the wet, anyway).

The chassis itself is reasonably compliant, which is impressive given its lack of travel. In normal mode it rides the bumps quite well and around town is eminently usable, even if you can’t really see out the back. My wife chose to drive it because she loved the way it held the road. The response from other road users was…well…disappointing.

But what’s really great is getting out on your own and giving it a damn good thrashing. It’s such a great platform from which to leap off the cliff and really get stuck in – the traction and stability systems are well-judged and that diff works you into a corner like few other cars can.

It’ll kick the tail and slide if you’re not paying attention but it’s never threatening. You definitely have to hustle it a bit as the steering does get heavy, but it’s here you’re feeling what’s going on under the front wheels. A bit of speed and lateral load adds feedback to the wheel you don’t get when you’re puddling about.

Which, when you think about it, isn’t a bad thing because you don’t always need the wheel chattering at you. Certainly didn’t bother me.

Redline Recommendation

Of course yes. The A90 Toyota Supra is a proper laugh. Fast, exciting and in the actual flesh, great to look at. Not pretty, no, but great to look at.

I don’t know if it’s a Supra or not, but it’s a belter of a car, with more to come in the form of the 285kW upgrade later in the year and a few tweaks. Hopefully those under-the-skin tweaks don’t settle the car down too much but I tell you what – 250kW is absolutely plenty.

If you’re on the edge of buying, feel free to jump – if you like driving, you’ll love the Supra.

May 4, 2020
2020 Nissan Patrol: A Real Chonker

Nissan’s Y62 Series Patrol has a new bum, new face and a whole lot more gear to go with it. And boy is it a big boi. A real chonker.

You are going to have to forgive me if I tell you that I give no hoots, let alone multiple hoots, about the Nissan Patrol vs The World argument. Or the sub-arguments of Patrol vs Land Cruiser. That one in particular bores me to tears.

Now, I know people have strong feelings about it. I do not. If you’re here for strong feelings about wheel articulation and live axles and whatever else, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a review of the 2020 Nissan Patrol for the vast majority of the people who will buy it and drive it on the road. Mostly.

So anyway, the 2020 Nissan Patrol is a top and tail of the tried and true Y62. The Patrol name has been kicking around for the best seven decades. The Y62 has been with us for almost ten years, so it was about time it got a new look. And some safety gear. Lots of safety gear.

How much is a 2020 Nissan Patrol and what do I get?

Nissan Patrol Ti – $76,990 + ORC
Nissan Patrol Ti-L – $92,790 + ORC

Look, $92,790 is a lot of money for a Nissan, I’ll grant you that. And a nearly $16k belt over the standard Ti is a whole Kia Picanto. I was not sure what to expect when I clambered in but got a bit of a shock.

Your money nets you 18-inch alloy wheels, a 13-speaker stereo, multi-zone climate control, cameras everywhere, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, rear entertainment screens (with headphones, dontcha know), DVD player, front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control, electric and heated/cooled front seats, power everything including tailgate, leather everywhere, sat nav, auto LED headlights, auto wipers, sunroof and a full-size alloy spare.

The stereo is the mildly updated but still deeply sad Nissan head unit. It’s not as bad as Toyota’s, but it’s not great, either. It is better to use apart from the DAB interface which is infuriating, but plug in your phone via USB and you’ll be okay. There is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and, frankly, that ain’t right. Then again, arch-rivals don’t have it either, so maybe I’m the jerk here.

Safety – no rating

Apart from the car’s appearance, the focus of the MY20 update has been adding safety gear to the Ti and topping up the Ti-L.

The Patrol arrives with six airbags (the curtains go all the way to the third row), ABS, stability and traction controls, blind spot monitoring with active assist, around-view cameras, forward AEB, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and reverse cross traffic alert.

The Ti-L has a thing called Intelligent Rear View. No, it’s doesn’t look for smart people’s bottoms – seriously, that would be creepy – but like Range Rover’s rear camera, means you can see out the back without everyone’s heads in the way.

You get top-tether points in the second and third rows for a total of four as well as two ISOFIX points in the middle row.

Warranty and servicing

5 years/unlimited km
Capped-price servicing: 3 years/$3236
5 years roadside assist

The warranty is a good one and befits a car of this price – you’ll struggle for a premium brand to offer you a five year warranty, with Mercedes acting as the Lone Ranger on that front.

The capped-price servicing seems inviting, but there are several catches.

The first is that service intervals are an irritating six months/10,000km.

The second is that the program doesn’t run as long as the warranty.

Third is the cost – $376, $577, $392, $860, $407 and $624. So that’s $3236 for three year’s motoring.

Just as annoying over at Toyota is the short service interval, but each service is no more than $300 for the first two years, so that’s $1200 for two years. And the Toyota is a diesel, which generally cost more to fettle.

Basically, the Nissan costs as much as a BMW or Mercedes of similar size. At least it’s cheaper to buy and the capped servicing regime is longer than its main rival.

Look and feel

A Nissan Patrol almost blocking out the sun

Looks big, feels big, is big. That’s no surprise or genuinely newsworthy comment, but it’s difficult to understand the scale of the Patrol unless you’re standing next to it. It’s an absolute monster and looks everyone one of its – get this – 2754 kilograms.

It does maintain a vestigial ruggedness in profile, but the wheels are hardly go-anywhere looking. It seems to me the the designers were absolutely going for the Range Rover vibe on the Ti-L. Which is fine, but it needs a set of 22-inch rims for that.

I am a massive fan of the new front end. I love the new headlights – 52 separate LEDs – and the way the Ti-L’s bumper frames them. It’s almost aristocratic and I like it.

The rear is fairly inoffensive apart from being as imposing as the north face of the Eiger. Squint a bit and it looks like a full-face hemet staring back at you. Or an Imperial Stormtrooper variant.

The interior is massive, as the 5175mm length suggests. You can see there’s plenty of room in the back – two six-foot-three teenagers lounged about and the third row os also genuinely useful, if a bit upright and tight for taller folks.

Each row gets a pair of cupholders for a total of six and there are air vents all the way to the back. Nice.

The wood on the dash is pretty horrible (and also not wood), it would be much nicer if it wasn’t there. It also doesn’t fit the futuristic look of the new front end. You do get two USB ports and a 12V powerpoint up in front (and in the boot).

Stuff worth knowing

It’s 5175mm long, 1995mm wide and 1940mm high, so you’ll just get under those roof scrapers at shopping centres. It weighs almost three tonnes at 2812kg.

You can tow 3500kg braked and 750kg unbraked, with a maximum towball load of 350kg.

Gross vehicle mass (GVM) is rated at 3500kg and the gross combination mass (GCM) a staggering 7000kg. Maximum front axle load is listed at 1650kg and the rear at 2030kg.

Ground clearance is a vertigo-inducing 272mm (which means a big climb up, thank goodness for the grab handles and steps). Wading depth is an impressive 700mm.

For the off-road fans – and this is not an off-road review – the approach angle is 34 degrees, rampover 24.4 and departure 26.2.

The huge wheelbase of 3075mm means a lazy 12.5 metre turning circle.

Chassis

Another of the key criticisms from the LandCruiser mob is the Patrol’s suspension setup. Apparently, off-road performance is dependent on horrific on-road ride and dynamics. The Patrol’s engineers didn’t think so (nor do Range Rover’s, just quietly) and have fitted double wishbones at every corner. While that does skew the Patrol to on-road performance, you have to remember that’s where all of them spend the vast majority of their working lives.

This Patrol also has a clever hydraulic body motion control, both for ride and handling. Acting a bit like air suspension, on road it keeps the body from wallowing all over the place, which would be easy given all that height and weight. It’s uncanny.

The balloony Bridgestone Dueler A/Ts are good for the ride, too, measuring 265/70. Not the greatest off-road tyres, no, but they don’t make a racket and mean that when you turn the wheel on tarmac, the car – by and large – follows where you want to go.

Drivetrain

One of the big whinges from the Toyota side of the fence is that the Patrol doesn’t have a diesel option. I don’t care. Why don’t I care?

Because it comes with a 5.6-litre, naturally-aspirated 90-degree V8 that loves to rev. The VK56VD (snigger) spins up 298kW at 5800rpm and 560Nm at 4000rpm.

A seven-speed automatic shifts the gears for you and gets the power out to all four wheels. You get all the usual modes such as Sand, Snow, Rock and on-road.

There is a selectable rear diff lock on the console and hill descent control is present and correct.

Fuel economy – 14.4L/100km (claimed)

I was properly confused after spending some time at the wheel of the Patrol. All this confident talk about its powerplant wasn’t as confident on my first day – the fuel economy display read “6.2”.

It took me ages to work out the cheeky sods at Nissan display in km/L rather than L/100km. So 6.2 km/l is actually over 16.1L/100km. It fell to 19L/100km after not very long.

Still, it does have a 140 litre fuel tank, so you’ll cover a reasonable amount of ground before having to stop for fuel. And you will claw back a lot in the cruise, the Patrol barely ticking over at highway speeds.

Driving

These photos aren’t me, but they’re pretty.

You really do know that this is a big fella at all times. It’s the first time in my life that I can remember double-checking the height measurements before heading into a shopping centre car park. And that long, flat bonnet stretches out before you, dominating your forward vision.

What’s beside the front wheels? No idea, better stick my head out and have a look. Thank goodness for all the cameras.

Once you have your bearings and the nosebleed from the altitude clears, it’s a damn comfy place from which to conquer worlds. The seats are definitely US-spec wide and flat but are comfortable despite that.

The steering is super-light, more evidence of US influence, but I found that when I turned the wheel, things happened. Given that what I wanted to happen was the result, that was also pleasing.

The hydraulic suspension is devilishly good at handling the bulk waving around more than a foot off the ground. While even a smaller LandCruiser Prado – or a Kluger for that matter – rolls around all over the place, the good ship Patrol stays quite composed. No, it’s not a McLaren 720S, but acquits itself well.

Wanna know what’s fun, though? Flooring it. The 5.6-litre’s growl may be muted, but it gets the chonker underway like few other large SUVs. Again, it’s no RSQ8, but it gets going with a pleasing roar. The transmission shifts very smoothly and quickly, which is almost out of character for a big off-roader but fits the Patrol’s luxury brief nicely.

Redline Recommendation

It’s hilarious, comfortable, quiet and a dead-set steamroller. I was very pleased I drove this thing because it was unexpectedly fun. I wouldn’t mind throwing it down a few muddy hills and across a river or two, because it feels like it could do anything.

It may not be the ultimate off-roader, but on the road, it’s better than the tall ship that is the LandCruiser.

April 22, 2020
Audi unveils the 2021 A3 Sedan

New four-door sedan to take on the 2 Series Gran Coupe is on its way. You’re going to have to be patient – it’s a year away. At least.

I drove the first Audi A3 sedan years ago. It was a good car, like its hatch sibling and spawned the rather excellent RS3 sedan and formed the basis of the RS3 LMS TCR race car. Sleek, sophisticated and tres chic, it sold very well. I reckon if you buy the hatch, you’re nuts.

Anyway.

There’s a new one coming, the 2021 Audi A3 sedan. It’s slightly longer, wider and taller for a bit of extra interior space.

Look and Feel

The car in the photos is, (un)helpfully the top of the line. The new headlights are even more obviously cut into the bumper, it has a bit more of an A7 vibe. It’s quite nice. The lights in shots are the optional Matrix LEDs. The daytime running lights are made of 15 LEDs and make different signature patterns on each model.

Like the old car, it’s a pretty calm sort of thing and fits very nicely in the Audi oeuvre. Some will complain it’s a bit tame, but I reckon it’s just about right. It looks pretty sweet on big wheels, too.

The rear lights are lovely LED units with a 3D lens shape, again like the A7. I’m liking Audi’s new fondness for shapely rear lights.

The new car has a drag co-efficient as low as 0.25, down from 0.29 (in the 2.0-litre TDI, anyway).

Even though these images are way too moody, it looks damn nice in here. The new console has a very Porsche 911 gear selector…uh…tongue?…but it looks pretty good compared to the Zuffenhausen edition.

As ever, the finishes look pretty amazing.

Like the A1, all dashboards are digital with the option to step up to the 12.3-inch (up from 10.25-inch) Virtual Cockpit.

Audi says that due to the car’s extra centimetre of height (143cm) and a lower front seat position has delivered an extra 2cm of headroom. Not sure it needed it, but why not eh?

The boot is still 425 litres, which is pretty impressive and really not that far off the A4’s.

Drivetrains

At launch, there will be two engines, a petrol and a diesel. It’s unlikely Audi Australia has chosen which ones we get, but my money is not on the diesel.

The 35TFSI is available with a six-speed manual (unlikely we’ll get that) and delivers 110kW. Displacing just 1.5-litres, the manual uses 5.0L/100km on the European combined cycle.

The car we’ll most likely get is the 35 TFSI with seven-speed twin-clutch. This has a 48-volt mild hybrid system that can boost torque by 50Nm for a few seconds. Fuel use is down to 4.5L/100km on the same combined cycle.

The diesel 2.0-litre TDI is also a 110kW unit with a seven-speed twin-clutch only.

How much and when?

Audi says we’ll have to wait for further information and the cars will be here sometime in the first half of 2021. At least we’ll have the new Sportback before then.

April 21, 2020
Hyundai Debuts DCT in new Veloster N

Hyundai’s long-awaited eight-speed twin-clutch transmission is ready for the road and will be in Australia – in the i30 N – from early 2021.

In irritating news, the Hyundai Veloster N is the first N model to score the Korean giant’s new eight-speed twin-clutch transmission. In better news, that same gearbox will land on our shores in the i30 N and i30 N Fastback in early 2021.

As you know, we rather like the i30 N here at The Redline. It’s way more fun than just about anything else on the road (Ford Fiesta ST excluded). It also knocked off my favourite in that segment, the Renaultsport Megane. It thoroughly trounces the Golf GTI, which is impressive, because that’s a very good car.

What both the Megane and Golf have over the i30 N is an automatic option. Both of those cars have twin-clutch automatics which broadens their appeal and makes them slightly quicker.

Hyundai always said a DCT was coming, so just hold your horses.

Eight Speed DCT

New gearbox, new seats.

The new transmission is a dual wet-clutch unit. Hyundai says – and this is perfectly reasonable – that this setup is better than a twin dry clutch. The oil keeps things cooler because, let’s face it, the 2.0-litre turbo four is a torquey beast. In this application it will ensure better reliability even if means a higher maintenance load.

Along with the eight-speed’s “better ride comfort” (what?), normal use will see your N use less fuel and, of course, at the end of a long day, it might be a welcome sight.

Hyundai has added three shift programs with terrible names. Really, strap in for this.

N Grin Shift – yikes – sends the engine into overboost for 20 seconds, delivering a seven percent lift in torque. Yup.

N Power shift kicks in when you use more than 90 percent of throttle, “mitigating any reduction in torque by using upshifts to deliver maximum power to the wheels.” I think that means it shifts faster and harder to give you the idea of dynamic gear shifts.

Finally, there is N Track Sense Shift. From the press release, it selects “the right gear and shift timing just like a professional race car driver to provide optimal performance.”

Yeah, me neither. I think it’s an auto shifting program which lets you get on with steering and braking, but it’s not immediately clear.

The transmission seems pretty clever, using engine braking on downhill and “detecting” track use and letting you wring its neck.

Anything else?

Yep. It’s packed with safety gear, which is handy.

Also, in the Veloster at least you can choose a set of lighter sports bucket seats. Saving two kilograms, they’re wrapped in suede and have an illuminated N logo. Like the M logos in BMW M seats.

How much and when?

i30 N Fastback / You can still have a manual / i30 N hatch

We’re still not getting the Veloster N in Australia, which is really annoying, but as I said, the eight-speed will arrive in the i30 N and Fastback. So, you know, hardly a terrible burden.

We don’t know how much yet – the car is about to go on sale in Korea with the i30 variants to follow soon after. We’ll have to wait until early 2021 to get in the saddle, which should be a blast.

April 21, 2020
2020 BMW M135i Review

Munich’s M Performance hatchback, the BMW M135i, has returned. Riding on an all-new platform, it’s not quite the car it replaces.

We like a bit of transparency here on The Redline. So I’m going to tell you that my love for the 1 Series extends to having owned three of them, all E87s – the 120i, 120d and 130i. That last one was a glorious thing in all its hydraulic power steering glory and really only needed a limited slip diff to take it supersonic.

I am obviously, “a BMW guy” – on top of the three 1ers, I’ve owned an E90 330d M Sport and an E60 M5. I adored the F20 M135i and M140i cars, despite the former being based on a car I once called “criminally ugly.” The latter was such a good car, you could choose it over the wonderful M2 and still sleep at night.

The F52 is a very different car to the first two generations of the 1 Series. The base car has gone front-wheel drive, the 1 joining the X2 and X1 on the Mini platform known as UKL2. So no more turbo straight-six, no more rear-wheel drive. We’re not in Kansas anymore – question is, are we in California or Iowa?

How much is a 2020 BMW M135i and what do I get?

$64,990 + ORC

It’s a pretty stiff start for the all-wheel drive M135i, reaching well in to your pocket for a four-cylinder transverse-engined hatchback. It’s a solid $5000 more than the F20 M140i that departed our shores last year.

Sixty-five large buys you 19-inch alloys, a 16-speaker stereo, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, cruise control, head-up display, sat nav, auto parking, electric front seats, auto LED headlights, auto wipers and pretty much power everything except the tailgate. No spare, just a tyre repair kit.

The 10.25-inch touchscreen runs BMW OS 7.0 which is a pretty nifty piece of kit and comes with a fairly decent set of services and has wireless Apple CarPlay to go with wireless charging. Unlike the Minis and the X2, the wireless charging pad is at the base of the centre console in a clever, grabby slot that a) fits big phones and b) stops the phone from flying about.

BMW is offering a weirdly limited colour palette. The lone freebie is Alpine White. For $1308, you can have Black Sapphire, Misano Blue, Mineral Grey, or Melbourne Red. Storm Bay, a darker grey, is $1808.

Options:

The ridiculous gesture control is $462 and stops being funny pretty quickly.

Comfort Package, which is $2300 for heated seats and steering wheel.

Convenience Package, $1200 for a cargo net, 40/20/40 split fold rear seat, power tailgate and an extra 12V power port.

The $2900 Enhancement Package ($3400 with Storm Bay grey) adds active cruise control and a sunroof.

You can get a bunch of individual things like M seat belts for $423 (more than adaptive suspension, for some reason), active cruise for $654 or heated seats for $577.

Safety – 5 Stars (ANCAP, Dec 2019)

The new platform means a whole bunch of new safety gear, a bit of a blind spot on the older car.

You get six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward AEB with pedestrian and cycle detection, blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and reverse cross traffic alert.

You also get three top-tether restraints and two ISOFIX points for the kiddies.

Warranty and Servicing

Frustratingly, BMW is still stuck with the three years/100,000km warranty. At the 2 Series Gran Coupe launch, I was told there were no plans to increase it – despite Mercedes’ move to five years. So, while that’s not a no, it’s quite likely a wait and see and things are moving fast at the moment. But in April 2020, it’s still three years with matching roadside assist.

Pleasingly, there is a very solid service pre-payment option called BMW Service Inclusive. You’ll pay $1550 for five years/80,000km of coverage and you’ll have to visit your dealer once a year at least. BMW says servicing is “condition-based” but it’s probably best to assume 12 months/20,000km type intervals, which is perfectly fine. You can upgrade to BSI Plus to include pads, discs and wiper blades.

Fundamentally, this is a good deal as long as the person behind the counter at BMW isn’t a jerk and insists you need a whole bunch of other stuff.

Look and feel

You know what? I don’t mind the M135i. You can spot it by the 19s, silly silver mirror caps (I really don’t like those and say so every time I see them. It also has the requisite black bits like the lip poking out from the side skirts and the rear apron with the twin exhausts poking through. Most of the chrome is gone in favour of black, which I applaud most heartily. You also get a M Performance grille which, unlike some BMWs, isn’t too big.

The M135i’s interior is excellent. Lovely M steering wheel, digital dash, huge iDrive screen and a really nicely detailed cabin. It’s quite lovely, although the back seat is a bit shapeless. The cloth/Alcantara you can see on the back seat is standard, the leather on the fronts a no-cost option.

Rear seat passengers are okay if there’s just two of them, but the door is a bit of a narrow opening. Once you’re in it’s fine, with your own set of cupholders, air vents and bottle holders. Annoyingly, there’s no armrest, though, which at $65k you might reasonably expect.

The two-level boot holds 380 litres and up to 1200 with the seats down, which is pretty good cargo space really. Front seat passengers get a really good pair of seats which are more comfortable than the AMG A35’s, although the M Performance blue nonsense might annoy you.

Chassis

As the M135i is based on the UKL2, you will note some familiar caveats. Like the Mini John Cooper Works, M235i and the aforementioned X2 M35i, it comes with 19-inch alloys but “static” suspension. If you want adaptive damping ($308), you have to dial back to the 18-inch alloys.

My car has the 19s, so standard suspension it was. The M Performance brakes are larger than the 118’s and you get those lovely blue callipers to look at. Chassis rigidity is good, and aided by a chunk of metal joining the strut towers.

There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the M135i’s chassis, apart from the active front differential, which is a clever solution to the front-wheel driveyness of a maximum 50:50 torque split.

Yes, the M135i is lower than 118i, with firmer suspension and it rolls on 235/35 Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres, which are perfectly fine.

Drivetrain

BMW’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo comes in a variety of tunes. Here in the M135i you get the B48A20T1 version, spinning up a very impressive 225kW at 6250rpm and 450Nm between 1750 and 4500rpm. It never feels strained or stressed, either, so there might be even more in it. As it’s in a UKL2, it’s slung across the engine bay.

Snuggled in behind it is an Aisin eight-speed automatic driving all four wheels. The maximum torque split is, as I’ve already said, 50:50.

All that power sends it on to 100km/h in a pretty decent 4.8 seconds, with a top speed electronically limited to 250km/h.

Driving

The first thing you’ll notice about the M135i is that it’s not a rear-wheel drive turbo six. That’s a given, yes, but worth pointing out. The old car had deep, deep lungs and propelled you forward with such abandon you wondered how it was legal.

The F52 is a little more calm at first, with a bit of turbo hesitation – it’s not really lag – before a solid shove in the back sends you on your way. Once you’re over about 1700rpm, where the torque kicks in, stay there because you will cover ground very rapidly indeed.

The steering is well-weighted and responds faithfully to your inputs, especially when powering out of corners – BMW puts the expensive diff to good use and you can get away with a fair bit.

The M Performance brakes are very good, which is handy given the huge slab of torque. You do build up quite a bit of speed between corners, so being able reliably wash it off, with good pedal feel into the bargain, is most gratifying.

But the whole time you’re driving the M135i – quickly at least – you know in your heart of hearts that the translation to the new platform has meant genuine sacrifices.

This isn’t a criticism in the sense of “I don’t like it.” Not at all. The M135i was the subject of “who has the keys” the entire time I had it, my wife taking a particular shine to it. It’s very, very good around town because it rides well and absolutely trounces just about everything else around it.

It’s just not the harder-edged, driver-focussed car a vanishing minority want. It’s just a different car and that is the best way to approach it.

Competition

Oddly, one of this car’s fiercest competitors is probably in the form of the X2 M35i Pure for $64,440 (link is an old review with wrong pricing for 2020). It’s a really nice spec and terrific fun to drive. Based on the same platform it looks better (in my humble etc.), has all the good bits and none of the pointless expensive bits. Costs a hundred bucks more to service over three years and rides higher, but that’s about it.

The Mercedes A35 is very good indeed. It looks a bit weird at the back, but apart from that, packs a similarly excellent interior, same constrained space but it’s a bit more lively and slightly more powerful. It is, however, a lot more expensive to buy at $72,500 and over twice as much to service over five years.

Audi’s S3 is getting on a bit. Okay, a lot. It probably has a slightly better all-wheel drive set up, but isn’t as sharp or well-equipped as either the Merc or the X2 or the M135i. Probably best to wait if you simply must have the four rings.

Redline Recommendation

I wasn’t thinking the M135i would be like the old car – it can’t be, it’s far too different a platform. I was hoping it would be a bit fightier, like the Mini John Cooper Works with which it shares a lot of its hardware.

It is, however, a tremendous car. It’s a well-judged package, with plenty of power and torque, a fluid chassis and restrained good looks. It isn’t a hot hatch anymore, though, which is a bit of a pity.

Hopefully it means there’s something in the wings…

April 20, 2020
2020 Toyota C-HR Koba Hybrid

Toyota’s youth-oriented but Boomer-bought compact SUV has already had its first minor tweak and now includes the series hybrid version.

Setting aside the dire name – C-HR means “Coupe – High Riding” – there is a great deal to like about Toyota’s tiny SUV. The price isn’t one of those things – we’ll get to that – but it’s a lovely, clean-sheet design that surprised me greatly the first time I drove it.

It was bolder than anything else in the segment, it was thrifty and popular from the get-go. It has a very cool interior, if not especially practical, but built on Toyota’s TNGA platform, it’s nice to drive and feels a lot more expensive than it is.

There were a few things to dislike, too – the world’s second-worst media system, the hopelessly inadequate CVT and the leisurely performance from the otherwise-excellent 1.2-litre turbo.

For 2020, a few things have been ironed out and there’s hope that the Hybrid powertrain will deliver where the CVT can’t.

How much is a Toyota C-HR Koba Hybrid and what do I get?

Koba 2WD Hybrid: $36,440 + ORC

$36,440 is $2500 more than a Koba front-wheel drive 1.2-litre turbo, so it’s a solid gain for pleasure of better fuel economy and the blue-tongued grille.

You get new-for-2020 18-inch alloys, dual-zone climate control, around-view cameras, keyless entry and start, active cruise control, LED fog lamps and daytime running lights, sat nav, auto LED headlights, front and rear parking sensors, leather wheel and shifter, electric folding and heated mirrors, power windows, and a space-saver spare.

I was a bit disappointed to step in and see the same screen atop the dash. It’s run by very dodgy software and powers a six-speaker stereo. The hardware itself is not too flash either, with terrible resolution and the colours are washed out.

What did please me is the very late arrival of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, along with the re-siting of the USB port. You used to plug it in on the head unit itself and it looked horrific and it was not very convenient either.

Oddly, there is just one free colour, Hornet Yellow. Another $450 gets you a contrasting roof with all colours. $500 buys you Ink, Nebula Blue, Oxide Bronze, Graphite (grey), Inferno (orange), Feverish Red, Shadow Platinum silver) and Crystal Pearl (white). So if you want a non-free colour and contrasting roof like the car I had, it’s another $950. Cheeky.

Safety – 5 stars (ANCAP, March 2018)

The C-HR packs seven airbags (including a driver’s knee airbag), ABS, stability and traction control, blind-spot monitoring, forward AEB (low-speed with pedestrian detection), forward collision warning, lane departure warning with steering assistance and reverse cross-traffic alert.

This is a pretty good package, especially considering the C-HR dukes it out at the loaded end of the Mazda CX-3, Hyundai Kona and Kia Seltos ranges.

You also get two ISOFIX points and three top-tether anchor points for baby seats and child seats.

Warranty and servicing

5 years/unlimited kilometres
5 years fixed-price servicing

Toyota’s excellent five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty also has a two year extension on the engine and transmission if you keep servicing with Toyota.

Which is hardly a chore, because it’s only $195 per service and, unlike some Toyotas (and Japanese rivals), the service intervals are set at 12 months/15,000km.

You do have to pay for roadside assist, though, which is a bit stiff. Then again, it’s a Toyota, so…

Look and feel

The C-HR is a terrific-looking thing. It’s not pretty, no, but really, the only pretty compact SUV is the CX-3. Toyota’s designers went for bold and they nailed it. I’m a particular fan of the front view and the new headlights on the Koba are slightly cleaner-looking, which is a bonus. The side view is also impressive apart from that horrendous rear doorhandle up in the top corner of the door. Hard to reach, not nice to look at, but it does disappear when you step back a bit.

The rear is striking but I still think the taillights are too big. No mistaking it, though.

Wrong seat material, right seats

This is a genuinely lovely interior. It’s full of lovely details and you can see a couple of new things. The first is the illusion of Apple CarPlay (and Android Auto) on the central screen. You can also see that the USB port is down in the console rather than up in the screen itself. The whole touchscreen arrangement has some cheap shortcut buttons, so it’s a bit nasty. Only real drama in the cabin.

The front seats are fanastic – something Toyota is doing really well these days – and there are a number of cool choices of texturing and patterning, including in the headlining.

Rear seat accommodation is quite good given how small is the C-HR. It’s better than the CX-3 by a long way, but is beaten by Kona, Seltos and smashed to bits by Qashqai, Kadjar and HR-V.

You get four cupholders in the car. The rears are in the door cards (pictured) which makes up or the lack of armrest. The boot starts at a very handy 377 litres and with the seats folded, you get 1112 litres. Front passengers get bottle holders in the doors.

Chassis and Drivetrain

The most important bit about this C-HR is the hybrid drivetrain. Out goes the 1.2-litre turbo and in comes the 1.8-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder with a CVT and electric motor.

Toyota is always cagey about the figures, but the 90kW combined power is an improvement on the 1.2’s 85kW. Unlike the RAV4 Hybrid, the C-HR is front-wheel drive only. If you want AWD, you’ll have to go back to the 1.2.

The stated torque figure of 142Nm is pretty weedy but also inaccurate – that’s just the figure from the 2ZR-FXE. There’s clearly more because the Hybrid C-HR feels that bit more sprightly than the standard car.

It’s pretty chubby, too, weighing in at 1460kg, which is a lot for a car this size. It’s disappointing that Toyota didn’t try and use the opportunity of the TNGA platform to reduce weight.

The C-HR Koba rolls on 18-inch wheels and 225/50 Bridgestone Potenza RE050As.

Driving

The C-HR is one of the finest compact SUVs to drive. Unusually for a Toyota, it just feels right from the get-go.

Actually, that’s not fair – all of the TNGA Toyotas are really nice to drive but they do share one common issue. They’re all really slow. It’s that last part of the puzzle that Toyota needs to get right, putting a bit of grunt into their cars. At this price point, your Kona or Seltos has a 1.6-litre turbo with a proper transmission, not the silly CVT Toyota persists with.

The hybrid powertrain is really good, though. Unlike the Hyundai Ioniq PHEV’s whirring and clicking, the much more polished Toyota system is seamless. You can trundle along on a very light throttle in electric-only power, which is very nice in traffic. I quite like playing the game of seeing how far I get in EV mode.

But what’s really great about the C-HR is the whole ride and handling compromise. The steering is really nice, with plenty of feel and you know what’s going on under the front tyres.

You can really throw the C-HR around (which makes the power deficit all the more depressing), cornering is flat and predictable. But at the same time, the ride is beautifully sorted.

In the cruise, the C-HR is super-quiet. It might not be cheap, but it feels more expensive than it is.

Competition

The compact SUV segment is a war zone, so I’ll stick with its obvious competitors. None of them are hybrids, so keep that in mind.

I don’t want to mention it, but the Mitsubishi ASX continues to sell like it’s actually a good car, which is endlessly frustrating. The top of the range ASX Exceed is still cheaper but expensive considering what a dud it is to drive. It looks better in 2020 guise – at least at the front – and is bigger, it’s just not a good car. Thirsty, incredibly cheap-feeling and despite sharing the advantage of a multi-link rear suspension, does nothing with it.

The Hyundai Kona is getting old but up at this level, you’ll get a quick and capable 1.6-litre turbo-powered Elite with tons of gear and a good chassis to go with it. Looks great, too.

Kia’s newest SUV, the Seltos, shares a lot of the mechanicals of the Kona but is bigger in every direction, with a much bigger cabin to more closely match the bigger cars in the class. It’s a terrific car and has a long, long warranty, good resale prospects as a result and they look terrific.

Honda’s HR-V is getting old but is by far the biggest. The turbo 1.5-litre versions are better than the gasping 1.8s but the overall experience is largely forgettable.

Renault’s Qashqai-based Kadjar is very good but pricey and missing some key safety gear. I really liked it and it has a really good ownership proposition. It also drives really well on the better rubber the Intens wears.

Redline Recommendation

The C-HR is a great car. It’s not very fast, no, but the Hybrid version is just good enough for me to say that it’s worth the financial stretch. It’s kind of annoying you can’t get a lower-priced one. If you can’t push up this high, there’s the phenomenally good-value Corolla Hybrid at around $33,000.

The C-HR is uncannily good, even in a segment populated with some great cars. It stands alone – for the moment – in the class as the only hybrid, though, and for some, that’s reason enough. It’s also a vastly more interesting purchase than the ageing and terminally dull Prius C.

April 19, 2020
Alpina B5 Touring: Genre-bending speedwagon

The 322km/h Alpina B5 Touring is probably the fastest wagon on earth but also the most comfortable. And you’ve never heard of it.

Who doesn’t love a wagon? Hardly anyone and if they don’t like a wagon, they’ve had a bad experience. Still no excuse. Redemption for those people can come from loving fast wagons.

Audi is at the forefront of this kind of delicious nonsense, the RS4 Avant and tremendous (soon to be renewed) RS6 Avant exemplars of the breed. They are fast, they are fun, they are practical.

BMW’s last genuine attempt at a seriously fast wagon was the E60 M5 Touring. I’ve seen one, in the flesh, in the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and it was glorious. M, however, has since backed away from full-house wagons, tempting you instead with big fast SUVs.

Alpina, though, they know you better. They also know what M knows and that’s the cold hard fact that hard-riding sports cars do not make great wagons.

So Alpina takes a 5 Series Touring, mixes in its own blend of a new suspension tune, a colossally torquey twin-turbo V8 and some signature bodywork and delivers what is quite possibly the fastest, most comfortable wagon on earth.

How much is an Alpina B5 and what do I get?

$210,000 + ORC

Rather generously, Alpina offers both the sedan and hatch for the same price. That’s quite nice of them. It’s also only a few bucks more (okay, ten thousand of them) than a BMW M5 which is not a wagon as I may have already established.

Your money buys you a 12-speaker stereo, Alpina 20-inch alloys, four-zone climate control, keyless entry and start, cameras everywhere, front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control, DVD player (how very), electric heated and cooled front seats, heated rear seats, LED headlights with high beam shadowing, power tailgate, sunroof, head-up display, beautiful embossed leather seating, auto parking, auto wipers and tyre pressure monitoring.

The stereo is run by BMW’s Operating System 7.0 with some lovely Alpina-ising and you get wireless Apple CarPlay and DAB+ radio on top of the usual stuff. It’s a good stereo, but I have tinnitus, so you’ll have to judge for yourself if it’s amazing. It also comes with the usual excellent BMW sat nav.

You can choose from a range of colours, starting with the only freebies, which are Jet Black and Alpine White. For $1679 you can get Azurite Black, Black Sapphire, Bluestone, Imperial Blue Xirallic, Mediterranean Blue, Almdandine Brown, Atals Cedear, Jatoba (another brown), Champagne Quartz, Sophisto Grey II, Cashmere Silver, Glacier Silver and Mineral White.

Rhodonite Silver is a sobering $2332 and Alpina Blue and Alpina Green will send you back to the booze for $4109. Yowzers. The former is beautiful, so it might be worth it.

You can specify all sorts of toys, like Night Vision with Pedestrian Recognition (no, it doesn’t wave at them and call their name) for $3770, a solid $8770 for the Bowers & Wilkins stereo, a pair of interior options called Lavalina I ($12,253) and Lavalina II ($22,244!) and various other bits and pieces. You can also specify a limited slip diff for $5923 should you fancy some sideways silliness.

Safety – 5 Stars (ANCAP, 2017)

The B5 has six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, cameras all around, forward and rear collision warning, forward AEB, reverse cross traffic alert, speed sign recognition, lane departure warning and lane keep assist.

The 5 Series on which the Alpina B5 is based scored five ANCAP stars in April 2017.

Look and feel

Nobody is pretending the 5 Series Touring is a design classic, but its quiet elegance is rather nice. I’m not taking on the world when I say that sometimes – sometimes – Alpina mods aren’t always particularly sympathetic. I drove a B4 once that was so 1980s West Germany I nearly puked 99 Luftballoons. The pinstripes…*shudder*

Anyway, the larger B5 has very tasteful bumper and sill extensions, Alpina lettering in the lowest section and badges that actually fit. The hundred spoke alloys look fantastic and I’m a big fan of the way the rear bumper/diffuser frames the quad exhausts. And the blacked-out chrome on the windows works a treat.

The cabin is full of Alpina delights like, again, badging that fits, the lovely blue and green stitching on the steering wheel, blue-backed digital dash lighting, really nice treatment of the leather on the seats, it’s all understated and nice. Earlier efforts were less so.

Obviously you can fit four adults in comfort and take all their stuff with you in the massive 570 litre boot. You get two cupholders in each row for a total of four and bottle holders in each door. If you’re not taking the tribe, you get 1700 litres of boot space and if you spec the tow bar, you can drag 2000kg braked or 750kg unbraked.

Chassis

The B5 Touring includes some excellent chassis mods.The most Alpina of them is their very own Comfort+ mode. While the engine might be hugely powerful, Alpina has added a more relaxed rather than overtly sporty M-style mode. It’s quite impressive.

You also get four-wheel steer, turning all of the 20-inch wheels which are shod with Pirelli P-Zero rubber (255/30 at the front and 285/30 at the rear).

The all-wheel steering not only makes it a piece of cake to park but aids high-speed lane changing, which is nifty. It already has a long wheelbase at 2975mm but with the rears turning in the same direction as the fronts at motorway speeds, it feels even longer and more stable.

The Touring scores rear air suspension to keep things off the deck when loaded up and that’s in concert with the Alpina-tuned adaptive damping. They’re from ThyssenKrupp-Bilstein. The B5 also has adaptive roll stabilisation which uses electric actuators to keep things flatter in the corners.

Long story short, there’s a lot underneath you making sure you waft along in comfort while taming the two-tonne kerb weight.

Drivetrain

This is the fun bit. Alpina takes BMW’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo 90-degree V8 and tunes it for 447kW at 6250rpm and a stinking 800Nm between 3000 and 5000rpm. Alpina says that 675Nm is available at just 2000rpm.

The turbos are both twin-scrollers (but don’t seem to be replaced by Alpina as in the B4) but there’s a whole new air intake system. There’s also a full Alpina stainless steel exhaust.

As ever, the eight-speed ZF is along for the ride and sends power to all four wheels. You can’t switch out the fronts, but as you already know, it’s not that kind of car. Alpina says the internals are strengthened and if you use the Launch Control, you don’t have to put up with reduced torque.

The Alpina B5 Touring cracks the 0-100km/h sprint in 3.7 seconds and will nail 200km/h in under 12 seconds. Top speed is a wild 322km/h.

Fuel consumption – 10.9L/100km

I’m always impressed by BMW engines. Despite the fireworks, the official combined cycle figure is 10.9L/100km and I managed 11.2L/100km. While not spectacular, it’s a good deal for all that power and torque.

It’s an extraordinary deal when you consider a 2.0-litre in the worst car on sale, the Mitsubishi ASX, can’t do better than 12.5L/100km while reluctantly handing out a quarter of the power and torque.

Driving

The Alpina B5 is really made to draw a fast, straight line across Continental Europe. Normally when a car journalist writes that, they mean it’s a low-slung GT from, say, Aston Martin, but, really, that’s not how those folks travel.

No, what this car is about is finding a comfortable cruising velocity and staying there. Quietly, composed, a little bubble of calm while you reel off the miles. There aren’t many cars that can do that while carrying a few hundred kilos of people and things.

I pointed this car at the Blue Mountains and I reckon it rarely got out of eighth gear on the climb. The effortless, endless torque just hauled us up the hill without barely a growl.

On the M4 motorway it thundered along, clearing all before its path. That road’s terrible surface was reduced to a distant rumble and the worst excesses of its amateur construction consigned to soft bumps rather than the heave you get in sportier machines.

While in Sport+ it will absolutely deliver a very competent and sporting drive, that mode underlines the colossal scope of the car’s chassis, from the A380-like smoothness of Comfort+ through to the Germanic tautness of the sporting end. It’s quite glorious.

Redline Recommendation

If you’re looking for snarling, bellowing machine, the Alpina ain’t it. The RS6 Avant has that market cornered and won’t cover the ground the same way as an Alpina can.

For long trips or serene urban use, the B5 is unbeatable. It never feels its almost five metre length or its considerable weight. And despite being over $200,000, doesn’t feel like a rip-off.

If only we had autobahns or, at the very least, police with a sense of propriety and proportion, this car would be perfect for this country.

April 18, 2020
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63S Four Door

AMG’s four-door rip-snorter is a wild combination of the brutal AMG GT powertrain, a few other Mercs and a hand-crafted bodyshell to fit passengers.

It might be called the GT but there is little under the skin to tie the two together, apart from (obviously) the twin-turbo V8. This thing exists because so does the Panamera and Mercedes customers just have to have something in the same vein.

How much is an AMG GT Four Door and what do I get?

GT53: $256,600 + ORC
GT63S: $359,100 + ORC

Well, that’s not messing about, is it? More than a hundred grand over the six-cylinder suggests there’s a lot to play with on the top-of-the-line. As usual in Australia, we don’t get the toned-down version, “making do” with the full-fat GT63S.

You get (deep breath) a 14-speaker stereo, climate control, reversing camera along with cameras every which way, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control, electric front seats, sat nav, active LED headlights, head up display, power tailgate, nappa leather and Dinamica, auto parking, active power steering and wireless charging.

Options aplenty, of course, with things like carbon-ceramic brakes ($17,900), the luxury rear package (which adds of all things, cup holders for a stonking $5900)(okay, not just cupholders), carbon fibre trim ($6600), rear-wheel steer ($4400) and 21-inch alloys ($6000). Pricing seems all over the shop there, but the rear-wheel steer seems like a no-brainer.

The GT has the old COMAND system on a small-ish screen but also has Apple CarPlay. The stereo is mint.

Safety – No ANCAP rating

Because the four-door shares a lot in common with the E-Class, it has tons of safety gear. Seven airbags, ABS, advanced stability and traction controls, blind spot with assist, active safety bonnet, forward AEB (high and low-speed), forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, speed sign recognition and tyre pressure monitoring.

As you might expect, there’s no crash test ratings for the GT given its specialised nature.

Warranty and Servicing

Five years/unlimited km
Pre-pay servicing/capped-price servicing, 12 months/20,000km.

One of the unexpected bits of good news in the recent announcement where Mercedes has moved to five year warranties was the inclusion of AMGs. This is a vast improvement on the old regime which just felt a bit skinny.

And believe it or not, you can pre-pay three years ($4300), four years ($6450) or five years ($7150) of servicing. You only need to see your dealer once a year or every 20,000km.

You can skip the pre pay and stick with pay as you go, which costs a further $1230 for the three year plan. Looking at the figures, that fourth service looks properly pricey.

Now, normally I’d complain about stiff service prices, but dead-set, if you’re spending $360,000 on a car, you clearly don’t have to worry about total cost of ownership.

Look and Feel

Despite Mercedes trying to make a link to the hunkered-down two-door GT, the Four Door rolls on the E-Class platform. It’s a lot higher and obviously more sedan-ey than the GT and is sort of less convincing than, say, an 8 Series Gran Coupe in that argument.

It still looks pretty cool though. It’s not as attractive as the GT but it sure as hell isn’t the abomination that is the Panamera, which itself is only slightly better than its predecessor.

It’s not pretty, is what I’m saying, but few cars are in this segment. There’s something about presence in a four-door car that hard to get, even Aston’s Rapide tried to hide the rear doors from your eyes.

The cabin is far more spacious than the coupe’s, which is obviously the point. You get a decent-sized boot to begin with, two seats in the rear for a snug fit laterally but with plenty of legroom and much more space for the front seat occupants.

A gallery of photos rather better than mine

Given its E-Class roots, the interior is top-notch. On top of that, given its got a bit of a handmade vibe, the materials are all very pleasant indeed. You sit really low in the chassis and so the low roof doesn’t bruise your bonce, which is handy. Once you’re in, you’re really in.

Drivetrain

Apologies, this a *terrible* shot

The AMG twin-turbo V8 is the engine, seemingly, for all things. Someone probably tried to cram it into the A-Class variants. I can just imagine a sweaty team of AMG engineers coming back to the boss and saying, “We just need to completely re-engineer it to fit, then we can have an A63.” And the boss briefly thinking about it.

Anyway, as ever, it’s a 4.0-litre V8 with two twin scroll turbos rustling up a massive 470kW and 900-freakin-Nm of torque. The huge twist figure is available from 2500-4500rpm and sends this big beast on to the ton in 3.2 seconds.

Similar to other German V8s and V6s, the turbos are “hot side inside”, crammed between the V8 to get them nice and close to the exhaust headers and reduce pressure losses.

The now-familiar nine-speed MCT transmission – with its low-inertia wet clutch for start-off – brings its usual mix of smooth shifting in normal driving and lightning-fast shifts on the go.

The 63S also has active engine mounts which change with the drive select.

Fuel Consumption

11.3L/100km (combined cycle)

You can safely ignore the official figure, because there’s little chance of you seeing it if you drive this the way AMG intended. Start with the more sensible 15.1L/100km of the city cycle and you’re better prepared.

The car does have a couple of fuel-saving tricks up its sleeve – the engine features cylinder on-demand and will drop a few cylinders to save fuel in the cruise. When you want all eight back, it obliges virtually instantly (ie, you won’t notice). It’s also got stop-start for saving fuel in the city, where it will obviously have the biggest effect.

Driving

I only had a quick go in the AMG GT Four-Door but it certainly made an impression on me. This thing is fast.

Nine hundred Newton Metres of torque is a lot. So is, let’s face it, a 2.2-tonne (give or take) kerb weight, especially as this isn’t a high-riding SUV. This AMG V8 makes complete mince meat of everything in its path.

I kind of approached this car as more of a grand tourer, the kind of car you could pop Ma and Pa in the back (well, my octogenarian parents) and they’d be perfectly happy. In every good sense of the phrase, they absolutely would not be happy back there because I would drive it like a loon.

The immense performance is always there, whether you potter around in Comfort mode or dial it up to RACE. The 4Matic all-wheel drive keeps you glued to the ground and even the modest suspension travel encourages you to push, push, push.

It’s not often something this long and heavy feels so agile. The power is just endless, with the nine-speed keeping the turbos spinning and the exhaust roaring. I was on a lovely country B-road, a road I know but full of surprises. Long fast bends with diving crests should be a recipe for disaster, but the grip of this thing is bottomless.

The only problem was, it was all over in forty-five minutes. But even with this brief taste, this car is clearly something special.

April 17, 2020
Lotus Evija Configurator Unveiled

Lotus has provided details on its EV hypercar’s configurator and a little more of what customers might expect to see.

The spectacular new Lotus Evija is mere months away and at the same time, already in production for first deliveries in late 2020. Lotus says the first year’s production of the limited-run hypercar is already sold out, so the company is now chasing the less brave punters.

To that end, the company has unveiled its configurator. It’s a touchscreen device that customer can use to see every single choice they made represented on the screen.

The idea is that you can place the car in a variety of environments – through the video game cleverness of ray-tracing – to see how your choices will look. Annoyingly, the pictures Lotus supplied are all the same colour, but the video above shows the car in other colours.

Lotus also tell us that as your Evija is built, you’ll get a series of gifts to go with certain milestones. There are no hints as to those gifts, but there you are.

One exceptionally cool idea is that at the end of it all, you get a book detailing your car’s journey. You get the book at the “handover celebrations” – good thing they call it that given it costs more than a New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

We’ll see more Evija as 2020 continues.

April 17, 2020
Ford Fiesta ST 2020 Review

The Ford Fiesta ST finally returns to Australia with a new three-cylinder engine, all-new everything else and stacked with gear.

What seems like a hundred years ago (September 2013), a comparatively youthful version of me stumbled into my second-ever car launch. The first had been the rather wonderful Peugeot 208 GTI a couple of weeks earlier. Small hot hatches were on the up as fellow Frenchie Renault would join with its new Clio R.S. a few months later.

For me, though, the Fiesta ST was a revelation. While the Clio and 208 were good, they were both missing something in the drive that the Fiesta absolutely nailed – it was absolutely focussed on the drive.

That meant it missed in a lot of areas too – the interior was an explosion of buttons, something that afflicted the externally attractive Mark 7* Fiesta. But it had a glorious gearshift, immensely playful chassis and a strong 1.6-litre turbo with a novel overboost function.

I loved it to pieces and my love for it was confirmed when I returned to compare it to the 208 a few months later.

It’s worth knowing that I am most definitely a hot hatch guy. I’ve owned three of the best – a 1989 Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9-litre, a Renaultsport Clio 172 and an E87 BMW 130i. Four if you count the 1977 Alfetta GTV 2.0-litre, which you probably shouldn’t.

In the middle of 2018, Ford launched the Mark 8* Fiesta-based ST and it was good. But due to some arguments on specification, it has taken almost two years to land here. Worth the wait?

Abso-bleepin’-lutely.

*I am using the British market definition of Fiesta versioning.

How much is a 2020 Ford Focus ST and what do I get?

Ford Focus ST Performance – $31,990 + ORC

The 2020 Ford Focus ST is more expensive than the old one, which was an absolute bargain, dodgy interior notwithstanding. The new one is packed full of stuff the old car didn’t have, Ford Australia piling on the specification that will likely put it way out in front of its challengers.

You get 18-inch wheels, climate control air con, sat nav, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, rear parking sensors, auto LED headlights, heated seats and steering wheel, cruise control, auto wipers, heated windscreen, leather wheel and shifter, powered heated door mirrors, a pair of excellent Recaro seats up front (like the old car) and a space-saver spare.

Ford’s SYNC3 powers the nice new 8.0-inch touch screen. It’s a really nice piece of hardware, better even than the one in the Focus, another Ford I quite like. It also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on top of the usual Bluetooth connectivity and you also get DAB radio. The ten speakers include Bang & Olufsen branding for what it’s worth.

While other markets have ST-1, ST-2, ST-3 and Performance, we get the full chonker, which explains the $31,990 price. That extends to a few other things which I’ll cover in the chassis section, but spoiler alert, it has a Quaife LSD as standard.

The “prestige” colours include Agate Black, Ford Performance Blue, Magnetic Grey, Silver Fox, all for a hefty $650. You can have Race Red and Frozen White for nothing.

The only other option is a $2500 panoramic sunroof which, for some reason, deletes the space-saver spare in favour of an inflation kit.

If you want to complain about the price, don’t – on paper it’s vastly better-equipped than any other in its class and in its biggest market, the UK, the ST-1 starts at £19,000 – or near enough $40,000 before on-roads.

Safety – Five star EuroNCAP

The old car was old before it even got going, so it was a bit skinny on the safety gear. This one has four airbags (rather than six – I’m yet to get to the bottom of that), ABS, stability and traction controls, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, forward collision warning, forward AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, rear cross-traffic alert, driver fatigue detection and speed sign recognition.

There are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether restraints in the back for child or baby seats.

The Mark 8 Fiesta scored five EuroNCAP stars in 2017, ANCAP is yet to award a rating.

Warranty and Servicing

Ford’s excellent after-sales package is along for the ride, with a five-year unlimited kilometre warranty with seven years of roadside assist as long as you service with Ford.

Ford offers a bunch of stuff, including fixed price servicing of $299 per service for the first four years/60,000km. As you can probably tell, that’s a 12 month/15,000km service interval.

When you do service the car, Ford will loan you one for the day (remember to book) and offer all kinds of assurances on tyre and brake costs.

It’s a good deal and the only thing I’ll complain about is that the warranty length doesn’t match Kia’s.

Look and feel

The Mark 8 Fiesta is a much more conventional-looking car than its predecessor, which is kind of a shame. The old ST was a three-door only proposition in most markets except, for some reason, the United States, which scored a five-door bodyshell made in Mexico. That probably would have been a better for our market, but our Cologne-made cars were pretty nicely built.

The ST gets the bigger wheels, lower ride height (not that we’d notice, it’s the only Fiesta on offer), more aggressive front and rear bumpers and a spoiler. It’s a bit of a sleeper really and I am A-OK with that. It looks great in dark metallics, too. It does look a bit awkward from the rear three-quarter view but I just can’t summon the required energy to care.

The cabin is a mahoosive improvement. Ford kept the good bits – clear instrumentation, excellent Recaro seats, enough room for four – and built on that. The dash is like smaller version of the excellent design in the Focus, with the screen standing proud.

The button explosion is gone, as is the afterthought screen installation of later Mark 7 Fiestas. The materials are way better and feel as good as any German hatchback, which is a nice bonus.

It’s not massive, of course. Boot space starts at 311 litres and expands to 1093 with the seats folded. No, you’re not getting an IKEA-friendly flat floor, so thank Ford’s engineers you won’t be subjecting your car to that indignity.

Rear seat space is fine for me, 180cm tall with big feet. I can fit behind where I drive but it’s not a long-trip proposition. You also don’t get an armrest or cupholders but you do get a bottle holder in each door.

Chassis

The Fiesta ST rides on Ford’s global B-car platform, although global is probably overstating it these days given the US has given up on “normal” cars.

The big news for this new ST is a clever new suspension setup Ford calls “frequency-dependent damping.” The company says it has worked out a way to ignore the sorts of stuff you encounter on the freeway but somehow knows when you’re on it and won’t toss you off the road if you hit a bump. Bottom line is, the ride is heaps better than the old car.

The 18s are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres measuring 205/40s. These tyres are different to when everyone else got to drive it in 2019 in France, the car running on plain old Pilot Sports.

The six-speed transmission sends the power out through a Quaife limited-slip differential. This is new to the Fiesta and in addition to electronic torque vectoring. A proper slippy diff is essential to powerful front-wheel drive cars – it stops you spinning away power cheap-arse torque vectoring can’t manage and has huge handling and traction benefits.

The front suspension include twin-tube dampers with MacPherson struts, while the rears are single tubers, allied to twist beams. A beefy 22.5mm anti-roll bar is fitted up front, too.

There is, naturally, an entire cottage industry devoted to brake and suspension upgrades. The brakes are the same size as the old car’s, apparently, despite a bit of extra weight.

Drivetrain

The old 1.6-litre turbo was a good machine, but always felt like it was running out of revs. It didn’t help that there was a yawning chasm (relatively speaking) between second and third. Most of the time, the engine spun up 134kW and 240Nm, both pretty useful figures. Sink the slipper and you got a fifteen-second gift of 147kW and 290Nm.

No more overboost shenanigans now. Despite dropping a whole cylinder and 100cc of capacity, the new 1.5-litre three-cylinder spins up 147kW at 6000rpm and a stonking 290Nm from 1600-4000rpm.

That’s damn near 100kW per litre.

Ford reckons you’ll crack the 0-100km/h run in 6.5 seconds. The quarter mile (0-400m) sneaks in under 15 seconds and no, I’m not telling you how I know that.

If that isn’t quick enough for you, the rolling acceleration is vivid for his kind of car – 80-120km/h takes just four seconds, almost as quick as our favourite next-size-up hot hatch, the Hyundai i30 N.

Fuel Economy – 6.3L/100km

The combined cycle fuel economy figure of 6.3L/100km is not a figure you’ll see very often in the real world because it’s way too much fun to try and hit it. Ford has done their best to help you with stop-start and cylinder-on-demand tech where the engine will drop to two cylinders on light load, such as when cruising on a flat motorway.

The fuel tank is not bad for a car this size, landing at 45 litres.

So far (I still have the car), it’s running at 9.4L/100km, which is pretty good given how it has been driven.

What about Mountune?

Well, yes, their tune was famous on the old ST and given this one has been around overseas for 18 months, it has already been released and updated.

The Mountune upgrade is called m235. With the aid of an OBD flash cart and smartphone app, you get a boost to almost 173kW (235 metric horses) and a whopping 350Nm of torque. The kit comes with a new induction box to improve breathing efficiency, which apparently takes ten minutes to fit.

It costs £479.17 or just under a grand in our Pacific pesos. Budget another $90-$130 for shipping.

Just for fun, that takes the power per litre over the 114kW per litre. Blimey.

There’s no mention of the Mountune offering being covered by Ford’s factory warranty. The old ST’s upgrades were. That’s a bit of a shame.

Driving

Within 100 metres, you know this car is special. That’s how the old car felt. While it doesn’t have the incredibly slick gearshift of the old one, it’s still excellent. The low-down torque is also way more evident as is the vast improvement to the ride.

As you know, I adored the old ST. This car has a lot to live up to and needs to be so good to match, let alone improve on the old-stager.

One of the fun bits of this job is people asking you what your favourite car is. Most are friendly, bantery types who cross their fingers and hope you say, “Kia Rio.” Then there are the ones who angrily buttonhole me and demand to know which half-million dollar supercar is obviously my favourite. Without a word of a lie, for the last six years, the answer has been, “A twenty-seven thousand dollar Ford hatchback.”

As a daily driver

It’s a bit of a drive down to the bit of road I like to use for these sorts of cars, so I could test Ford’s claim that the new frequency-dependent damping works well on motorways. Tick. The ride is so much better that it feels like cars with adaptive damping or even the larger Renaultsport Megane.

On the freeway you can really feel that torque figure, too. Overtaking is very fast and very straightforward. There’s almost no lag and it pulls strong in every gear between third and sixth.

In the suburban battle, it’s superb. Second and third are the tools of choice and you can grab any gap you want. Because there’s so little lag, you can trust the Ford to deliver. The suspension is still firm, but the trade-off is not as stark. You won’t be bounced out of your seat and the 2020 ST won’t jump about as much. It’s almost French hot-hatch subtle (not the RS Cup chassis, obviously) and doesn’t seem to have lost anything as a result.

And why you buy a Fiesta ST

The Fiesta ST has been, for some years, the best fast Ford. A bargain buy that would embarrass larger hot hatches from Germany and keep far more expensive ones honest. It was that good. The old Focus ST was a (fun) nightmare and the RS a bone-shaking supercar slayer – neither had the balance of fun and usability of the Fiesta.

This new one is good. Very good. Actually, it’s better than that. It’s just raised Ford’s own very high bar. It has raised the bar for every other hot hatch manufacturer. Seeing off the numb VW Polo GTI is easy but to stay ahead of not only the outgoing Clio and 208 and very likely beat the new ones, you have to be on your game.

Ford could have taken it easy, but this new car is a revelation. There are two major reasons.

The first is the supple new suspension setup. The damping is kind of a budget adaptive damping system without all the weight and electronic doo-hickery. It tidies up the rear no end, making sure the line you pick is the one you get.

But the big deal is the front end, complete with the Quaife limited-slip diff. You could always pile into corners way too fast in the Mark 7, but the torque vectoring was just not quite there. The LSD blows all that away.

You can still pile in hard. The super-sharp turn in is more refined, so you won’t get any surprises, even if the inside rear wheel is dangling in the air. The chassis is marvellously stiff and can handle it. Only a silly lift-off will cause drama and if you’re not an idiot and have left the finely-judged systems on, you can easily correct it with the fast steering.

You can get on the power amazingly early, too. I don’t much like cars that handle like they’re on rails, but corner exits are so fast and you can be utterly fearless stomping on the throttle. The LSD hauls you out and follows your steering inputs. It’s glorious fun and it will do it all day every day.

The brakes might look dinky, but they do a tremendous job out on the road. I don’t know how they’d enjoy a track day but if I ever find out, I’ll let you know.

And the whole time, the suspension keeps the body flat and under control. You will have so much fun in this car.

Rivals

We’re in a bit of a lull for this type of car. While the i30 N and Golf are duking it out with the Megane RS and whatever else is kicking around, the small hot hatch market is quiet. There’s a brand new Clio and 208 coming so the newest thing is the Polo GTI.

The Polo GTI is already a few hundred bucks more and you have to tick boxes worth $7300 to match the Fiesta’s specification. On top of that, you’re saddled with having to deal with VW service departments. I don’t know what the sales process is like because every time I have walked into a VW dealer, I have been roundly ignored.

Until recently I was a VW owner and while the car itself was a delight, the servicing was not a high point, from cost to the general attitude and the state of the service centres. Cost-of-ownership on the Ford will be substantially cheaper, with the Polo’s servicing costs running alongside that of a Mercedes A Class – five years of servicing is $3000. Competent, fast, unlovable and hugely expensive.

The RenaultSport Clio (or Clio RS) is about to be taken to the back paddock. It’s more expensive to buy in Sport form and even more in the excellent-but-uncomfortable Cup chassis. The interior isn’t as good (let’s be fair, it’s an older car) but it does look the business in that spectacular Liquid Yellow. Unlike the Polo, the first three services cost no more than $369 each, but you gotta wonder what happens after that. Apart from the $543 accessory belt change at 100,000km. Like the Polo, it’s twin-clutch only. I love it, but it’s never been my first choice. Good launch control, though.

The Peugeot 208 GTI is long gone but *might* still be available in its final edition, complete with LSD. Great seats, but the ride is shot to bits by the more focussed suspension and the engine feels like the old Fiesta’s 1.6. I love it, too, but the Fiesta will run rings around it. It is a manual, though…

Stretching the friendship is the Audi A1 45 TFSI. Way more expensive to buy, not much more to service but not nearly as focused. It’s a lovely thing, but not really an obvious rival.

A similar stretch is the Mini Cooper S hatch. Fun to drive, but not nearly as focussed or roomy. The 2.0-litre engine is very under-stressed and less powerful than the Fiesta’s triple. Also in the midst of a mid-life crisis.

Redline Recommendation

Basically, shut up and take my money.

I’ve driven hot hatches with way more power than this and are a lot more expensive and don’t get anywhere near delivering the thrills. This will embarrass machinery from Mercedes, Audi and BMW, no drama.

The best fast Ford – the best hot hatch on the market – is now so much better. In fact, I am genuinely weighing up buying one. If we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, this thing would be flying off the shelves and will make mince-meant of the Polo.

April 11, 2020