Car News

People often say “don’t forget where you came from”. Although we’re focused on every new car, every last detail here at CarAdvice, we have an extensive back-catalogue of news stories, lifestyle yarns and reviews. Here’s a look at what happened on the week of March 26 in years past. It should be in Australian showrooms very soon, too Get a load of that open-top V10 goodness Sadly, the handsome Optima won't be around in Australia much longer Is it your pick of the ute-based SUV segment?

Skoda has revealed the Octavia Sportline for the European market, bringing a more athletic look and feel without any extra performance. Much like the Sportline-badged Karoq, Kodiaq, and Superb, the Octavia picks up a number of styling and trim appointments, including a subtle body kit with gloss black accents, 18-inch 'Vega' alloy wheels, and full LED lighting front and rear.

Ferrari has whipped the covers off its latest, 'most extreme' one-off customer design yet, in the form of the retro-futuristic P80/C. Inspired by the 330 P3/P4 and 1966 Dino 206 S, development on the P80/C started in 2015, giving the car the longest gestation period of any one-off Ferrari. Rather than slapping a set of fresh body panels over the 488 GTB's base structure, the design team took a 488 GT3 and set about creating the track-ready weapon you see here.

Mercedes-Benz has recalled a smattering of 2018 and 2019 C-Class, E-Class and S-Class models, over concerns about an issue with the seatbelt detection system. According to the company, it's possible affected cars will not register a correctly-engaged seatbelt. A warning light and tone will sound in the instrument cluster, and there's a risk the car's Pre-Safe system won't function.

Skoda has manufactured the 500,000th example of the third-generation Superb, with the milestone vehicle rolling down the production line at its Kvasiny facility in the Czech Republic this past week. Produced at five different factories across the globe – including Kvasiny, Aurangabad (India), Nanjing (China), Ust-Kamenogorsk (Kazakhstan) and Solomonovo (Ukraine) – Skoda says it has made 1.25 million examples of its flagship sedan and wagon since it revived the nameplate in 2001.