Author: Liam

Categories
MINI Random wallpapers

Random wallpaper: Team MINI at 2006 Targa Tasmania

Team MINI at 2006 Targa Tasmania

While trawling the press archives at AUSmotive I often stumble across some pretty cool images. Rather than keep them all to myself, I figured it would be nice to share a few from time to time. In the first of what will become a randomly updated series, I trust you enjoy this image taken from the 2006 Targa Tasmania. Click on the image above for a 2000x1320px version. Should you choose to use this as a wallpaper/desktop image that size should cover most monitor resolutions. If not let me know what size you need and I’ll see what I can do.

Categories
Honda

Honda trumpets Jazzy fuel economy

2009 Honda Jazz

With the recent release of the MY09 Honda Jazz the Honda PR department conjured up the Urban Fuel Economy Challenge at national media launch last week. The results are now in! During the challenge, both 1.3-litre and 1.5-litre versions of the all-new Jazz returned pretty damn impressive consumption figures of just 5.1 litres/100km across a 60km drive through suburban Melbourne.

That’s better than Honda’s published ADR81/01 figures of 5.8l/100km and 6.4l/100km for the 1.3-litre manual and 1.5-litre manual respectively. Apparently the national average consumption figure for Australia’s vehicle fleet is 11.4l/100km, so naturally Honda is pretty pleased with itself, coming in under half that national figure. The 1.3-litre i-VTEC engine produces just 138gCO2/km when fitted with the manual transmission. However, you may be surprised at how those numbers stack up against another small hatch. Read on…

Continue reading “Honda trumpets Jazzy fuel economy”
Categories
BMW

BMW’s Head of Design talks about 1 Series Coupe

Adrian Van Hooydonk, BMW’s Head of Design, talks us through the design of the 1 Series Coupé. The clip runs for 3 minutes, 44 seconds.

Source: bmw-web.tv

Categories
Drive Thru MINI Reviews

Drive Thru: MINI John Cooper Works

MINI John Cooper Works

When something meets your expectations so well, have you ever been left feeling almost let down? Equally, when something does meet your expectations so well, can you be anything other than impressed? These were questions I was asking myself a quick squirt in the new MINI John Cooper Works (JCW) today.

Firstly, a big thanks to Rolfe MINI Garage in Canberra for giving me early access to their demo JCW. To be thrown the keys and told ‘go and enjoy it’ was an opportunity I was not going to waste. Off to my preferred mountain test route I headed.

Continue reading “Drive Thru: MINI John Cooper Works”
Categories
News Top Gear Australia

Top Gear Australia to premiere on 29 September

TopGear logoLadies and gentlemen start your televisions! SBS has announced a premiere date for the Australian production of Top Gear—7:30pm Monday 29 September. Series 1 will run for 8 episodes.

Many fans of the original UK version of Top Gear remain skeptical about the merits of the Australian production. However, on paper at least, I think the Aussie cast looks very promising. Snippets I’ve read in the press also give me confidence with Executive Producer Andy Wilman acknowledging they have a hard road ahead of them to keep the spirit of the original show with the new efforts here and in the US. All signs to date indicate this production will be done, and done well.

From the SBS Top Gear website: Calling themselves “the ugliest men on television” the comical Australian larrikins have tested a diverse range of cars, talked, joked and sung their way through countless hours behind the wheel, have donned wool vests, top hats and goggles for stories—although not all in one outing, and have competed against each other in amusing, and sometimes bordering on the side of ridiculous, challenges. But most importantly, they have had a “darn good time”.

Categories
Audi Motorsports

Audi R8 GT3 – purpose built customer racecar

Audi R8 GT3

Remember when you were a kid and you had your dream car, a car, that in your mind, you would take from the factory and make it the fastest damn thing the world had ever seen. Well Audi has gone part way to helping you fulfill your dream with the release of the R8 GT3 race version. Clearly the guys down at Audi Sport, quattro GmbH and Audi Hungaria Motor Kft had plenty of Meccano when they were kids and it looks as though they shared similar dreams to the rest of us. Fortunately, unlike the chavtastic ricers you see doof-doofing at your local mall, these guys have actually put their Meccano skills to good use.

The R8 GT3 is a race ready customer car that meets all GT3 racing regulations out of the box. That means the 500hp+ (375kW) normally aspirated V8 is driven via the rear wheels only. A race strength 6 speed sequential transmission has been developed. Amazingly many of the suspension components are standard OEM parts. Three purpose built factories will be opened to service the vehicles in Ingolstadt, Necksarlum and Györ. Rich buggers living our dreams will be able to take delivery of their new dream racecar in the latter half of 2009.

Continue reading “Audi R8 GT3 – purpose built customer racecar”
Categories
Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 3

Fifth Gear - Series 14, Episode 3

A much better showing from the lads at Fifth Gear this week. The shootout saw Jason Plato pit der neue Passat R36 Estate against der neue Audi A4 3.0TDI Estate. TheR36 is Volkswagen’s most powerful and quickest production car to date, but it didn’t have it all its own way against the A4 oil burner. More VAG content when VBH compared a Golf GT TDI against a Kia PRO-cee’d diesel. She reckons the Kia is getting better. While I hate to admit it doesn’t actually look too bad, I’ll take her word for it otherwise. Jonny went to the Ultimate Street Car show, or Summer Nats for chavs. He claimed there was some art and talent there, and to be fair, he’s probably right. But there’s also a crap load of wasted money, including a Civic Type R that has had £90K (AU$193K) thrown at it. Tiff drove around with Jarno Trulli in a Prius. It’s okay, they fell asleep too. Tim Shaw simply has to lose the stupid jumpers and poxy jeans, although, that would leave him with precisely no personality. A point he proved again while trying to match manufacturer’s performance claims in a MINI Cooper S, Mazda MX-5 and an Ariel Atom. Tom drove around in a new Honda Accord Jap, oops, I mean Euro. Tiff closed out the show being a prat against Australia’s own Jason Crump on a speedway track. Predictable results and a whining Tiff followed. Passable.

Categories
Volkswagen

Computer generated renderings of the 2010 Golf GTI

Golf VI GTILeftLaneNews has just published some computer generated renderings of the 2010 GTI. While not official—we’ll have to wait for the upcoming Paris Motor Show for that—their images certainly do look convincing. Assuming these graphics are on the money, it is pleasing to see GTI specific treatments still exist. The Golf IV GTI was virtually identical to its lesser Golf siblings—a fault that Volkswagen fixed superbly with the Golf V GTI. Not long to go now until an official reveal for the Golf VI GTI, which is reported to have a revised 160kW/300Nm 2-litre turbo, which can be coupled to an optional 7 speed DSG transmission.

See more images now at LeftLaneNews. For more on the Golf VI, check out the AUSmotive Volkwagen category listing.

Categories
Holden News

Mechanics mangle Monaro

Mechanice mangle MonaroIn a story that is sure to send shivers down the spine of AUSmotive readers The Daily Telegraph reports of a shocking tale of Heartland Holden employees joyriding and crashing a customer’s car. Residents close to the Parramatta dealership were alarmed when Colin Chaffen’s Holden Monaro lost control and went crashing through a residential fence.

NSW Police are investigating the incident, however the Telegraph have quoted Mr Chaffen saying top brass at Heartland Holden attempted to deceive him by giving numerous explanations as to the cause of the accident. Raising his anxiety further were insurance payout complications from the Western Sydney Holden dealership.

But perhaps the most alarming revelations were claims from a former employee at Heartland Holden. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph the anonymous former employee claimed this was not an isolated incident, “They’re hoons. Whenever a nice car came in they were all itching to take it for a drive. I saw them do burn-outs, speed and drive erratically on test drives, and their attitude was ‘it’s not my car’.”

While it is difficult to verify the accuracy of the former employee’s claims, they do tend to support the worst fears for many innocent customers who have a right to expect their cars can be trusted when left with a supposedly reputable workshop. I’m sure I am not the only one that has heard anecdotal evidence of similar stories, although I personally haven’t heard of joyriding mechanics crashing a customer’s car before.

Source: The Daily Telegraph
(Thanks to Dave for the tip)

Categories
News Top Gear Australia

Top Gear Australia audience call

Top Gear AustraliaThe debut of Top Gear Australia is getting closer by the day. So much so that SBS has started an audience call for Series 1. If you are over 18, can easily get yourself to Top Gear Australia’s Sydney studio in September/October and don’t mind if your mug gets on the telly then this could be the gig for you! Follow THIS LINK to register your interest and you’ll be in with a chance to join Charlie, Warren and Steve for the studio filming.

Good luck!

Oh, a quick reminder that starting at 7:30 tonight SBS delves into the vault to bring us Series 2 of Top Gear UK. This is James May’s debut series and well worth a sticky beak if you’ve not already seen it.

(Thanks to Wes for the tip.)

Continue reading “Top Gear Australia audience call”
Categories
Volkswagen

Next generation Golf GTI spied

Golf VI GTI

The next generation Golf VI GTI has been spied in testing. With the recent release of information on the broader Golf VI range only the front grille and rear light/bumper treatment needs disguising in this test mule. It is expected the GTI will feature Audi-like LED daytime running lights up front. You can also see from the image above that the new GTI will adopt the latest trend for dual exhaust pipes on either side. Earlier reports suggest the entry level GTI will have a revised 211bhp (160kW) 2-litre turbo and the car will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show (4-19 October). It is believed the GTI will be a precursor to a new hero GTI featuring Volkswagen’s ‘R’ badge, with an all wheel drive turbo four cylinder replacing the R32 at the top of the Golf range.

Source: GolfMk6.com & World Car Fans

Categories
BMW Motorsports

BMW M3 race version

Regular trawlers of motoring websites will know information on this BMW M3 race version is not new. This does not mean its late arrival on AUSmotive is any less worthy however. A replacement for the awesome BMW M3 GTR the new M3 race version is all set for the 2009 American Le Mans Series. Like the previous GTR one would expect this M3 to have a crack at the Nürburgring 24 hour race in 2009 as well. Enjoy this clip above from bmw-web.tv before going all ga-ga over the glory of the images below (click each pic for a 2000px super image). Just look at it! There’s also enough technical data in BMW’s press information to keep anyone happy.

Continue reading “BMW M3 race version”