Victoria | Car Advice

Free car shows for Melbourne

June 24th, 2009 4 Comments

Shannons are hosting free classic cars shows at Melbourne’s Federation Square on the last Sunday of each month until Christmas.

The series kicks off this Sunday, June 28, with a display of sports cars from the 1920s and 1930s by the Vintage Driver’s Club.

Victoria Police operation targets truckies

June 15th, 2009 10 Comments

Victorian Police have this weekend completed a massive state-wide operation targeting truck drivers in what they say was a successful “blitz on heavy vehicle safety”.

Operation Austrans saw Police intercept over 4500 trucks on popular interstate routes from Friday night with a result of more than 1200 infringement notices being issued.

2010 FPV GT supercharged V8 ‘Coyote’ spied!

June 12th, 2009 272 Comments

A deafening whine made the ears of our spy photographer prick up, that deafening whine was the sound of a supercharged V8 Falcon.

Before the car scurried off into the distance, our photographer was able to snap some shots of what could possibly be Ford’s latest attempt at slaying Holden’s HSV offerings.

With over 60 per cent of FPV sales leaning toward the V8 engine, FPV has been desperately in need of an engine capable of taking on the ever expanding offerings from HSV.

GM Holden future secure – Reuss

June 2nd, 2009 81 Comments

In a significant move GM Holden, the Australian subsidiary of General Motors, has been quick to assure that the dramatic moves in the United States will not have a direct impact on Australian workers or the Australian car industry.

The Chairman and Managing Director of GM Holden, Mark Reuss, told a news conference this morning that the US moves would have no effect on Australian design, engineering and manufacturing operations, and that no local jobs would be lost.

Mr Reuss said Holden will continue normal operations in Australia and New Zealand and did not expect changes to its business after General Motors announced it has taken court action in the US to launch a competitive New GM.

The fact that Gm Holden has a taxpayer-funded deal in place to build a new small car, based on the Delta 2 platform used for the recently launched Korean-built Cruze, is believed to have played a big part in ensuring that Holden was saved.

“Operations at Holden are unchanged in Australia and New Zealand and we expect it to remain that way,” Mr Reuss, said today.

“GM has clearly stated that all of its businesses in the Asia Pacific region – and that includes Holden – continue normal operations and are not directly impacted by this process in the US.

“No operations outside the US are included in the court filing or court supervised process.

there had been speculation that Holden, like other GM corporate entities such as Saab, Hummer and even the GM Europe operation, would be sold off.

“Holden is a subsidiary of GM but we are a corporate entity in our own right – an independent company under Australian law,” Mr Reuss said.

“Beyond that, GM has indicated that Holden will be an important part of the New GM and we intend to maintain our focus on Holden product programs and activities.

“That means technology improvements to our best selling Commodore range, launching the all-new Holden Cruze this month, and the introduction of our locally-built fuel efficient, four-cylinder small car next year.

“We continue to run full operations at Elizabeth and Port Melbourne, producing cars for our 300-strong independent dealer network.”

However, the loss of a $1 billion deal to supply Commodores to the US, as the Pontiac G8, when GM decided to axe that brand in the US, has lead to production being cut in half at Elizabeth and workers being put on reduced rosters.

Hammering home the message that it’s business as usual in Australia, Mr Reuss said; “We don’t anticipate this decision will have any direct impact on Holden’s workforce, dealers, or suppliers.

“Holden customer warranties are not affected and we continue to deliver the sales and service experience that our customers expect.

“We wouldn’t normally issue statements to highlight nothing has changed, but we appreciate that customers will naturally ask questions about this sort of announcement from the US.”

Mr Reuss said Holden would remain informed of developments in the US, a process that had been determined to reinvent General Motors.

“The process being used in the US is unlike Australian and New Zealand law. It is a fast, court supervised process that permits the sale of selected assets to a new entity,” Mr Reuss said.

“Unlike court-controlled processes in many other countries, US chapter 11 allows GM to deal with the financial issues that have built up over many years and for New GM to emerge as a healthier business, better able to deal with the challenges of today and tomorrow.

“It does not mean ceasing to trade.”

He said that pending approvals, the New GM is expected to launch in about 60 to 90 days as a separate and independent company from the current GM, with two distinct advantages: it will be built from only GM’s best brands and operations, and it will be supported by a stronger balance sheet due to a significantly lower debt burden and operating cost structure than before.

GM has previously indicated it is negotiating with prospective buyers for the Saab and Hummer brands. GM is working closely with dealers, including those in Australia and New Zealand, to continue delivering vehicles and maintaining after sales and servicing requirements.

Asked if GM Holden would move to remove these brands from sale in Australia Mr Reuss said that to the contrary it would support the brands until they were sold and then would seek to work with the new owners to continue to provide support for them in the future.

GM Group Vice President and President of GM Asia Pacific, Nick Reilly, said: “We believe this step – which was taken with the support of the US Government – is the most efficient and effective means for New GM to emerge with substantially less debt and lower operating costs, and with our operations positioned for long-term success.”

Mr Reuss admitted that GM Holden, through its ownership of the GM Daewoo operation in Korea had an exposure to about 50 per cent of the debt accrued by that operation.

He declined to specify exactly how much that debt was.

Mr Reuss also said that from December, when the New GM came into being GM Holden would effectively be ‘fenced off” and would operate by itself.

He said this would mean that the company would receive operating capital from GM but would need to generate a positive cash flow, which he said the company was doing.

Mr Reus said the recently launched Holden Cruze, which is imported from Korea, and a similar but different Cruze model, which will be built in Australia from late next year, were significant steps in the future of Holden in Australia.

He also signalled a change in the model development of the company’s long-running large car, the Commodore, saying that the company would be doing business in a different way in the future, with ongoing development of the model replacing major model revisions.

“Next month’s Commodore will be the new Commodore and the month after’s Commodore will then be the new Commodore,” Mr Reuss said.

Hide It

2012 Ford Ranger T6 Australian spy photos

May 30th, 2009 36 Comments

Last time we spoke to our renowned spy photographer, he explained to us that the new lens he bought allows him to gain two F-stops of light, but the addition of a teleconverter takes away one F-stop …whatever that means.

Anyway, the main thing is that he has snapped photos of the 2012 Ford Ranger, codenamed the ‘T6′.

Photographed just outside Geelong, in Victoria (which is in Australia for our overseas visitors) it’s seen here in rep-mobile white.

It’s quite easy to tell that this prototype is based heavily on the Mazda BT-50. Put two photos of the car side-by-side and you’ll see what we mean. It’s presumed this prototype will form the bones of Ford’s global commercial vehicle platform and although it looks very similar to the BT-50, the headlights and doors are where the similarities end.

CarAdvice catches train surfer

May 11th, 2009 47 Comments

Quiet please, quiet please.

And the winner of this year’s moron of the year award goes to…

THE IMBECILE PICTURED BELOW!

Photo by John Marx

You can imagine how surprised CarAdvice’s Paul Maric was when heading home on Friday night after a road test. While we stand on a train overpass a train pulls in full of punters from the latest AFL match at Etihad Stadium – don’t ask us which match it was, we don’t follow AFL.

4000 drivers screened in Victorian Police operation

May 11th, 2009 4 Comments

As part of an on-going Police operation in Victoria, nearly 4000 drivers in the northern Melbourne suburb of Preston were screened for drugs and alcohol on Friday and Saturday nights.

Police caught 11 drivers under the influence as part of Operation Boags 4 which also tested vehicles for harmful levels of smoke and/or noise with the help of the EPA.

Melbourne’s on-street parking fees set to rise

May 7th, 2009 6 Comments

As if Melbourne drivers don’t already have it tough enough already with endless road works, hefty toll charges and ever growing peak “hours”, they’ll now also have to cough up another 50c per hour to park on CBD streets.

Currently it costs $3.50 an hour for on-street parking in Melbourne, but this price will rise to $4.00 per hour under the new scheme. This means an extra $20.00 per week outlay for inner-city workers who chose to park on the street.

AutoRoute: A different approach to 4WDriving Central Australia

May 1st, 2009 22 Comments

-by Josh McKenzie

I guess I can only blame myself for having been in this position. You see, I would normally do 25,000km a year as stipulated in my novated lease.

However, for reasons that can only really be justified by a sense of adventure and youthful exuberance, I felt the need to spend parts of the last year or so in cars and countries other than my own.

OK, so I’m not going to get much sympathy, but I did get an excuse for another road trip …

So that’s why I drove to Uluru. It was an easy choice really, being just over 2000km away from Melbourne and somewhere I had never been before.

Now the drive was going to be a little different than if I’d chosen say … The Sunshine Coast, as I would be contending with long, straight roads, isolation and the threat of the unknown.

My main concerns with setting off to Uluru were attributed to my vehicle; the VW Golf R32.

Firstly, it requires premium unleaded. Would this be available, and how far would it be between premium pumps?

In an attempt to answer this, I called a service station along the Stuart Highway in South Australia and asked if they had premium unleaded available.

“Nah matey, we don’t sell that brand. We do have Mobil petrol though”.

Right – great to hear that expert response.

My second concern was my space saver spare wheel. A trip to the local auto store helped ease these concerns with a few bottles of octane boost and a couple of cans of tyre goo.

What do you do at the beginning of a four-day break at 6am? You drive from Melbourne to Port Augusta.

It’s always liberating to set off on a holiday during rush hour – driving in a direction opposite to the masses, knowing that within a few hours they’ll be in offices whilst you’re in the sunshine.

My trip across the Westgate Bridge, that great escape venue from Melbourne, was no different to that.

Leaving a grey, cloudy Melbourne, I was greeted by sunshine and warmth as I approached the Grampians along the Western Highway.

But lets face it, how excited can I get about driving to Adelaide?

As beautiful as the hills are as you approach Adelaide, there’s a reason why there’s a giant Koala along the Western Highway.

Much of the same can be said about driving to Port Augusta; the most interesting aspect being the 40-degree temperatures causing some trees in the area to smell like cannabis.

Lucky my motel in Port Augusta had air-conditioning and the stale stench of early ’90s decor.

Day two is where the adventure begins. I start out early, brimming the tank with 98RON at the local servo before setting off.

Within a few kilometres of leaving Port Augusta on the Stuart Highway I’m introduced to the by-product of this bitumen: road-trains.

For the most part a road-train is a B-Double needing an ego boost, consisting of two or three trailers at tops. Easily overtaken by most cars and drivers given the great lengths of straight road.

Be warned though; there are five or six trailer behemoths.

Continuing on through Woomera to Coober Pedy, the main form of entertainment comes from cattle grids and road signs.

The cattle grids and signs indicating the animals on the road (also in German and Chinese) go hand in hand – but people, please, if you feel the need to get out of your car and into the sun, do not walk backwards through a desert.

The opal mines surrounding Coober Pedy make for a positively alien landscape.

That would normally be enough to make a town stuck in the middle of nowhere interesting, however, since it’s unbearably hot in Coober Pedy, people have decided to head back to the caveman era and live underground.

The locals told me the tourists seem to enjoy seeing the many underground churches, which may be an idea if you want to escape the heat for a bit.

With the first half of the day gone, it’s time for me to hit the road again and head on to the great Northern Territory.

Hours of relatively boring road later, I’m at the border and feeling welcome – by a nice big one-three-zero!.

While a 130km/h speed sign is no where near as exciting as the now defunct “de-restricted” speed signs, it’s still slightly liberating as a Victorian to not feel like a criminal for wanting to cover distance in an efficient and timely manner.

My arrival into the resort town of Yulara (at the entrance to the Uluru National Park) is about an hour before sunset, with just enough time to shower, eat and get to Uluru for the sunset show.

Although we’ve all seen the giant rock in various media, it really is quite a bit more impressive in person.

Closer to the resort there are a few dunes you can hike to in order to watch the final moments of the twilight sky disappear from over Uluru and the Olgas. If you’re as lucky as me, you’ll be alone to witness this as the hordes of tourists bus it back to their hotels.

As you may have guessed, Uluru also puts on a sunrise show. Although it’s the lesser-seen side of the giant rock, the sunrise paints it the most brilliant shades of red. It really was unfortunate that I couldn’t continue to be a tourist though.

High winds had closed the controversial climb up the rock, and high temperatures had closed all but the shortest of hikes. That disappointment was my cue to leave, reversing my journey to get back home to cold and dreary Melbourne.

So what did I get out of this road trip? Apart from 4680km extra on my odometer, I’ve learnt that I really need to see more of my own country. I’ve learnt that, despite its reputation, the Stuart Highway is actually an excellent road to travel.

Its excellent condition would put Victoria’s “A” roads to shame, with adequate services and more then enough other drivers on it to help you out if, heaven forbid, you broke down.

Its greatest dangers involve fatigue and overtaking – both of which can only be left up to you, the driver, to manage and common sense should prevail.

As for the car? Well, it’d be just a little unfair for me to attempt to provide you with an unbiased review, which is why I won’t. All the positives mentioned in previous reviews of the VW R32 still apply.

I’ll just state that I’m now in love with my car – a phenomenon many car enthusiasts can attest to.

Hide It

Where’s my spy camera?

May 1st, 2009 22 Comments

A blue VW Transporter van fitted with a single, external, tripod mounted camera capable of scanning up to 700 number plates an hour was trialled yesterday in Moorabbin, Victoria, as police attempt to catch disqualified drivers.

The trial, which police say is still in its infancy, has already proved the automated number plate recognition technology works and that it could substantially increase the likelihood of catching disqualified or suspended drivers, or simply those that have unpaid registration or fines.

Victorians worst mobile phone culprits

April 27th, 2009 12 Comments

Victorian drivers are being caught and fined for illegally using mobile phones whilst driving at the rate of 100 per day.

The figures, released by Victoria Police today, aim to reduce the number of drivers talking on mobile phones, especially commercial drivers who make up the majority number of those caught.