LATEST NEWS WITH LEXUS

Lexus image bruised by worldwide recall

Return to seller: Almost a thousand Lexus are being recalled in Australia.

More than a quarter of a million Lexus models recalled to fix faulty fuel lines By JAMES STANFORD

30 November 2007

LEXUS is recalling 264,000 cars worldwide, including 927 vehicles in Australia.The action represents another blow to the Toyota group’s reputation of seemingly unshakeable reliability after a series of recent recalls. Toyota has recalled more than two million vehicles worldwide in the past year or so.

This latest recall covers IS250 and GS300 models and relates to fuel lines that could crack and leak.In Australia the recall covers IS250 models built between August 31, 2005 and November 10, 2005 and GS300 models produced between December 21, 2004 and October 27, 2005.

According to the official recall notice, the defect is explained as follows: “During the manufacture of two fuel pipes located on the engine's fuel delivery manifold, high stress areas may have been created in the pipes.”“Combined with other factors such as continual high fuel pressure pulsations and the presence of natural corrosive agents in the fuel a fracture may form over time.”Lexus Australia will contact owners affected by the recall.

LATEST NEWS WITH TOYOTA HILUX

HiLux Heroes are coming to a town near you

Precision: Five modified HiLuxes promise an interactive experience.

Toyota's HiLux Heroes to take up where Holden's Precision Driving Team left off By PHILIP LORD 19 December 2007

MANY will remember the Holden Precision Driving Team performing wild acrobatic feats in their Holdens at events such as the Royal Easter Show.

Now they’re back, only this time the Holdens are gone and instead Toyota will be wowing the crowds with its HiLux Heroes.Founded by Lloyd Robertson in 1969, the Holden Precision Driving Team has toured the show circuit - except for a brief interlude in the late 1990s when the Holdens were swapped for Hyundais - up until Mr Robertson decided to retire a year ago.

The HiLux Heroes was conceived by Rick Bates and owners of Drift Australia, Wayne Boatwright and Scott Anderson.

Mr Bates said he believed it was an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed, and approached Toyota for sponsorship.Five HiLuxes were bought to use in the shows and cost around $50,000 each including modifications. They are based on the rear-wheel drive V6 manual pick-up, and the modifications include softer suspension, sump guards, rollbars, harnesses, seats, wheels and strobe lights.

Between four and five drivers will be employed to drive in the precision events, and all are ex-rally drivers who will hone their act to include driving on two wheels, jumping 12 metres off a ramp and drifting.

While the show circuit is still being booked, there will be about 20 to 25 shows that will likely feature the HiLux Heroes in 2008.

All states should see the HiLux Heros, except fort NT, WA and Tasmania, which are still yet to be confirmed. Visiting these states in alternate years is likely, given the transport costs associated with the team traveling from its NSW base.

Rick Bates said “The Toyota product is generally pretty tough, but we’re prepared if we do a gearbox or a diff or bend a panel. We’ve obviously got spares to replace them."Toyota and Bridgestone are the major sponsors, with other minor sponsors coming on board.

Rick Bates hopes that showgoers can become more involved than just watching the HiLux Heroes, by sitting in the cars as passengers during some of the stunts. “The two-wheel driving part of it is probably the most exciting part.

So what we’d do is keep the safety wheel on, as there’s a risk that without the safety wheel that it might tip over. “Not that anyone’s likely to get hurt - because it’s at a very low speed - but the general public might be a bit shook up in a rollover.

“We could offer that to the shows. I’m not sure how they would promote that but there is an opportunity to offer rides for sure.”

LATEST NEWS WITH FORD PORSCHE

Overview

WHENEVER we have the privilege of driving a Porsche – insert any model here – there’s a palpable increase in heart-rates in anticipation of the excitement generated by such a drive. The latest Porsches deliver all the right ingredients for the serious driver – outstanding dynamics, precise steering, superior roadholding and superb comfort levels. They’re long-distance sportscars that redefine the meaning of driving in an era where over-zealous policing – Victoria comes to mind - and extreme political correctness on the road is reducing the technique of driving to a highly dangerous, zombie-like state of mind. Fortunately there are some dedicated Germans at Porsche delivering cars like the Carrera 4S. Hallelujah.

Previous Model

Porsche (996) 911 Carrera 4SAugust 2001-October 2004 As part of the 2001 facelift of the 996-series 911 range, which included a bigger, more powerful boxer engine and fresh new interior and exterior styling from the flagship 911 Turbo, Porsche Cars Australia made the decision to reintroduce the Carrera 4S – which it described as a top-end 911 mimicking the Turbo’s tough, wide-bodied stance. Critics may have been upset by the teardrop headlights but there was little else to fault the car. It also got the seriously beefy wheels, brakes and clever-but-heavy four-wheel drive system. Replacing the then Carrera 4 as the only non-Turbo four-wheel drive in the local 911 line-up, the C4S is therefore one of two things, depending on your perspective: a poor man’s 911 Turbo or a bodykitted 911 C4. Either way, the C4S built on Porsche’s notoriety for top-shelf performance, handling, design and technology, even if it was not the quickest car in the 911 range.

Also Sleek A5 joins S5 on sale With Audi latest Vibes

Sleek A5 joins S5 on sale

Less expensive: New A5 is available now, priced from under $92,000. Audi's rapid S5 took all the limelight.

Now the more affordable A5 is on sale too By MARTON PETTENDY

21 December 2007

AUDI’S slinky new S5 coupe - complete with V8 power, a manual transmission and all-wheel drive - went on sale here in October priced at $131,900, and now the landmark new model upon which it is based has reached Australian shores.

The A5 3.2 FSI Multitronic might lack the S5’s piping hot 4.2-litre FSI V8 but, for now, as the entry-level version of Audi’s first A4-based two-door, it’s a whole lot less expensive at $91,900.

For $3000 more than the similarly engined TT quattro auto coupe, or $10,000 more than BMW’s smaller-engined 325i coupe, the first A5 to arrive here drives its front wheels with Audi’s direct-injection 3.2-litre petrol V6, mated to a seven-speed CVT auto with sport program.It produces 195kW at 6500rpm and 330Nm of torque from 3000rpm, sprints to 100km.h in a claimed 6.6 seconds and, like other A5/S5s, measures 4.63 metres long and has a 455-litre boot.

The complete A5 and S5 coupe range will be on sale here by mid-2008, with the quattro (all-wheel drive) and Tiptronic (automatic) version of the A5 3.2 CVT to go on sale in April, priced at $95,900 (an extra $4000), and the Tiptronic alternative to the S5 4.2 quattro manual to be released in May 2008, priced at $134,900 – up $3000.

LATEST NEWS WITH AUDI

Audi lands V8 oiler for its Q7 uber-SUV

Q-ship: Two Q7 4.2 TDIs took part in Audi’s across-Australia ‘Trans-Continental Crossing’ event in September 2007.

Bruising 240kW/760Nm 4.2-litre V8 turbo-diesel now available in Audi's wildest Q7 By MARTON PETTENDY

23 December 2007

AUDI has reclaimed the title of Australia’s most powerful diesel SUV with the local release of the Q7 4.2 TDI in late December.

The new king of the big but popular Q7 all-wheel drive wagon range comes priced at $123,900 and powered by the same 240kW/760Nm 4.2-litre twin-turbo diesel V8 that lurks under the $210,000 A8 4.2 TDI quattro limousine’s bonnet.

With peak torque on tap from 1800rpm, it’s not only enough to blast the 5.1-metre Q7 flagship to 100km/h in a claimed 6.4 seconds and, in another record, to a claimed top speed of 236km/h.It also betters the previous diesel SUV performance benchmark of 230kW/750Nm set by Volkswagen’s Touareg V10 TDI ($121,990), which is a second slower to 100km/h, speed-limited to 235km/h and returns average claimed fuel consumption of 12.6L/100km.

The Audi manages just 11.1L/100km.Of course, Volkswagen’s Touareg will leapfrog the gutsiest Q7 in April, when the R50 version lands with tweaked turbos to produce 258kW and 850Nm (from 2000rpm), priced higher again at $129,990.

However, it will also be governed to 235km/h and with an official 0-100km/h time of 6.8 seconds, the 2.5-tonne VW fails to better Audi’s V8 diesel SUV in the traffic-light dash.As always, Audi has another rabbit up its corporate sleeve as Volkswagen’s premium vehicle brand, and in the Q7’s case it is a ballistic new 6.0-degree 5.9-litre V12 twin-turbo diesel that delivers no less than 368kW of power and 1000Nm of torque from 1750rpm.

First revealed at the 2006 Paris motor show as Audi’s answer to high-performance luxury SUVs from Porsche, Mercedes-AMG and BMW, the Q7 V12 TDI is billed as the world’s first 12-cylinder diesel engine in a series production car.

A version of the 478kW 5.5-litre V12 TDI used in Audi’s R10 racing car, the street-legal, (2010) EU5 emissions-compliant diesel uses what Audi claims is the world’s first 2000-bar common-rail system (400-bar more than previously available).

Permanently driving all four wheels through a reinforced six-speed automatic gearbox, it can send the 2.2-tonne-plus S-badged Q7 to 100km/h in a supercar-style 5.5 seconds, has a limited top speed of 250km/h and uses only a little more distillate at 11.9L/100km.

All of that’s more than a match for the 6.0-litre petrol W12 that motivates Audi’s most expensive model, the $326,000 A8 6.0 quattro LWB sedan - not to mention garden-variety Q7 variants in the 3.6 FSI petrol ($84,900, the 3.0 TDI diesel ($86,800) and the petrol V8 4.2 FSI ($116,800), with which the Q7 4.2 TDI shares its specification level including 21-inch alloy wheels.

While the V12 Q7 will go on sale in Australia in 2008 priced at more than $130,000, a 4.2-litre V8 petrol-electric hybrid version of the Q7 will also eventuate.For now, however, the Q7 4.2 TDI not only makes a mockery of its more pedestrian stablemates but also shades V8 diesel luxury SUV peers like the Range Rover Sport TDV8 ($108,900) and Vogue TDV8 ($142,900), both of which offer 200kW/640Nm (at 2000rpm) 3.6-litre twin-turbo diesel V8 power.Unsurprisingly, the Audi V8 diesel even more easily out-guns Toyota’s first such engine application, in the $79,990 LandCruiser 200-Series (195kW/650Nm).

As for BMW, the upcoming twin-turbo diesel six-cylinder X5 3.0sd will be the Bavarian maker’s most powerful diesel ever when it launches here early next year, dispensing 200kW and 565Nm (at 200rpm) and priced at $102,800. The X5 3.0sd lowers the $86,800 160kW/480Nm X5 3.0d’s 0-100km/h time from 8.6 to 7.2 seconds - 0.7 seconds slower than the 4.8-litre petrol V8-engined X5 4.8i flagship ($118,300).

However, BMW has revealed a new twin-turbo 300kW/600Nm 4.4-litre petrol V8 that returns 12.L/100km fuel consumption and will push its forthcoming X6 “coupe-SUV” to 100km/h in a claimed 5.4 seconds. That’s 1.1 seconds smarter than the X5 4.8i and enough for the X6 xDrive50i to mix it with hyper-SUV rivals like the Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG petrol V8 ($160,874) and force-fed V8s like Porsche's Cayenne Turbo ($215,200) and the supercharged Range Rover Sport V8 ($136,900).Like all Q7s, the new SUV range-topper is available in five, six and seven-seat configurations and has a luggage capacity of 2035 litres.

LATEST NEWS WITH TATA MOTORS

Tata snares Jag, Land Rover

New custodian: Jaguar's forthcoming XF luxury sedan.

India's Tata emerges as new owner of Ford's lauded Brit icons Jaguar and Land Rover 21

December 2007

THE Birmingham Post has reported that Tata Motors will be the new owner of hallowed British brands Jaguar and Land Rover.

As we previously reported, the Indian auto giant was one of three potential buyers short-listed by the Ford Motor Company, which began selling off both car-makers' assets more than two years ago and confirmed in June that it was actively seeking a new owner for its UK-based luxury and off-road brands.

A buy-out agreement failed to materialise as expected in late July, and the winning bigger was as recently as a week ago not due to be officially confirmed until the first quarter of 2008.But the pre-Christmas report in The Birmingham Post - which is based in the West Midlands, where Jaguar and Land Rover employ more than 13,200 staff - claims Tata will be officially announced as the preferred bidder for both companies today (December 21) in the UK.

Neither Ford or Tata have so far made any no comment on the report, or whether the rumoured £1 billion purchase price is accurate.The news may come as a surprise to fans and owners of the British makes - not to mention workers at both factories who, along with the government, are believed to be supportive of the deal ,

but industry analysts agree it is a logical step in the Indian car-maker's march toward becoming a global vehicle producer. Tata beat fellow Indian auto giant Mahindra and Mahindra and private equity group One Equity Partners to claim what was once considered the jewel in Britain's car-making crown.

LATEST NEWS WITH MITSUMISHI

Mitsu 380 now from under $29,000

Silver-plated: Just 1000 examples of the 380 Platinum will be built.

Mitsubishi lowers entry price for 380 sedan even further via Platinum edition

28 December 2007

MITSUBISHI has released a Platinum Edition version of its 380 Series III sedan, based on the entry-level ES and featuring a claimed $6000 in free extras.Available now, the 380 Platinum manual is priced at $28,990 and features six-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels, with sports suspension, Platinum badging, body-coloured foglight bezels, platinum-finish upper and lower grille and a chromed exhaust tip. Inside, there’s an electric sunroof, Bluetooth capability and an extra accessory socket to power mobile phones or MP3 players.Only 1000 examples of the 380 Platinum will be built, in five paint colours and with the choice of five-speed manual or automatic transmissions – the latter with the option of LPG.