The Nissan Navara EnGuard concept is designed to showcase both the ute’s all-terrain ability and a new life-saving vehicle platform. It comes kitted out with search and rescue equipment, including medical supplies. Batteries from the Nissan Leaf electric vehicles power tools, cutting equipment and aid powerful lights. The EnGuard is on...
Rallycross star Ken Block is back in his Ford Focus RS RX, this time in Gymkhana 9, where he raises hell around an abandoned industrial park in Buffalo, New York. US reports say Gymkhana 9 was supposed to be filmed in Sydney, with Block’s Hoonigan operation partnering with Forza Horizon 3 video. But Australian police [&hellip...
A British driver of a BMW 3-Series in this video was quickly reminded of one of the rules for tourist drivers on the Nurburgring: if you have an accident you quickly get off the track and behind the barrier. It was filmed at the Brunnchen corner, where a blue Ford Focus had either leaked coolant [&hellip...
In the lead-up to the unveiling of the Mercedes-AMG GT R, the company emphasised the car’s connection with the Nurburgring, or ‘Green Hell,’ circuit. This video gives us the first clear look at the car lapping the infamous racetrack. It’s a black-on-black GT R, unlike the ‘Green Hell Mango’ colour of the debut car. But...
The first Shelby Cobra fetched US$13.75 million (NZ$18.8m) at the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance auction. The car, known as CSX 2000, is the original prototype, built in 1962 when Carroll Shelby shoehorned a 4.3-litre (260 cubic-inch) Ford V8 into the engine bay of a British-made AC Ace. It never left Shelby’s hands –...
Atieva is an automotive start-up, a Silicon Valley company that designs, develops, and builds electric powertrains and is working on an electric vehicle. Some time back its owners/developers set up a drag race between its all-wheel-drive electric van, called Edna, and a Tesla Model S and Ferrari California. Edna blew them away. It is...
Australian artist Patricia Piccinin teamed up with trauma surgeon Christian Kenfield and Monash University road safety engineer Dr. David Logan to craft a human body impervious to the forces involved in car accidents. What came out of the collaboration is Graham, bulbous head and all. “The truth is, cars have evolved a lot faster...
Fifty-nine years ago this week, five US military men stood directly under the detonation point of an atomic bomb test. Code-named ‘John’, the 1.7 kiloton warhead exploded 5000 metres above them in the Nevada desert, bathing them in bright light. The sixth volunteer filmed them. All six developed cancer in their 40s and 50s. Four...
The all-American Chevrolet Equinox will replace the ageing Captiva SUV in the Holden line-up in New Zealand, the company has confirmed. GM Holden’s Melbourne head office released a statement today: “The all-new Equinox SUV will join the Holden line-up in 2017. This world-class SUV is the next step in Holden’s commitment to...
Sales of small SUVs in New Zealand are whittling away at those of small passenger cars, statistics that Subaru NZ managing director Wallis Dumper believes will provide new opportunities for the company’s next-generation XV model. “Small SUVs will in the next three to five years outsell small passenger cars,” he said. “It might be...
Gleaming prototypes of the new Toyota Supra hybrid sports car have been seen at motor shows for some time, but here we have the production model, heavily disguised while testing at Germany’s Nurburgring circuit. It appears much shorter than the Toyota FT-1-inspired show car and is certainly toned down in terms of styling. For a...
As far as famous military vehicles go, the Jeep from World War II immediately comes to mind. In recent years perhaps the Humvee stands out, certainly with American forces. But the first vehicle that could quickly help to change the order of battle was the motorcycle. The military has been utilising its simple and nimble [&hellip...
Kia design chief Peter Schreyer has gone back to a more traditional two-box design for the fourth-generation Rio, adding more upright styling front and rear. The wraps have just come off the new model, three weeks out from its official unveiling at the Paris motor show and roughly nine months from its arrival in New [&hellip...
Skoda is making much of the engineering integrity of its new Kodiaq SUV, saying it weighs around 400kg less than many rivals, offers more cabin space into the bargain, and gets even more nifty gadgets under its ‘Simply Clever’ banner, a trademark collection of conveniences for both car and occupants. The Kodiaq – named after...
A revised all-American SUV headlines the roll-out of new vehicles from Holden, the first of which will be launched in New Zealand next month. The seven-seat Acadia SUV is essentially a rebadged version of the new GMC Acadia, unveiled at the Detroit motor show earlier this year and due to go on sale in the [&hellip...
The new Renault Koleos range goes on sale in New Zealand this weekend, starting with the Zen model, presumably named because there is nothing illusionary about it – what you see is what you get. The SUV is significantly larger than the outgoing model and shares its platform, 2.5-litre petrol engine and continuously variable...
The fourth-generation Ford Mondeo seemed to sneak into New Zealand under the radar last year. One minute it was still on its way, the next it was here and had been for a few months. There was no fanfare, no Ford town crier hailing its arrival. Ford NZ said it couldn’t get every Mondeo model [&hellip...
Buy a Lexus and ‘thank you’ gifts start arriving in the mail. There might be a special edition book, a collection of music CDs, perhaps a gift from cutting edge NZ furniture and lighting design company, Resident. Customers at Lexus Auckland get VIP parking at the domestic and international terminals. There is always a gift. [&hellip...
I went to Japan in late 2005 to drive the fourth-generation Triton. I expected the usual route for a ute: a beat over mix of good and bad roads and some 4WD work. Instead, Mitsubishi confined the drive to its high-speed banked test circuit. Why? Because it said it wanted to show the double-cab test [&hellip...
I was having a beer with a couple of Mercedes-Benz engineers in Berlin in the early 1990s. The digital revolution was gaining momentum and talk turned to safety advances. Benz had not long equipped its premium S-Class with anti-lock braking and, like its competitors, was working on further safety devices. One of the engineers painted...
Lexus’ first attempt at a sports model to get up the noses of go-fast German rivals was the IS F Sport, a small sedan that arrived in NZ in October 2008 priced at $137,000 and running a revvy 5.0-litre V8 engine driving the rear wheels via an eight-speed gearbox. Ride/handling was poised and accurate on [&hellip...
The fourth-generation WRX is the best yet. Subaru said it would be, after ditching the Impreza badge from the third-generation model. The new sedan contains all of the ‘bang for your buck’ elements of the previous three models but adds a level of refinement and sophistication that rivals the...
The hot hatchback’s main purpose is to put a smile on the face of its driver. Owners will forgive and forget the flaws, the compromises the carmaker had to make to deliver a go-faster small car. Here the heart will always rule the head. The three-door Fiat 500 Abarth is the perfect example of such [&hellip...
Back in 1982 I drove a two-door Range Rover over part of the tortuous Camel Trophy route in Papua New Guinea. I was the editor of one of the country’s two daily papers and the Camel Trophy organisers had parked in the newspaper’s 4m-high fenced compound the Range Rovers and Land Rovers they used. The [&hellip...
There is a statistic from the road toll that the Government needs to take into account as it considers raising the maximum speed limit on some roads...
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US-sourced Chevrolet Equinox to replace Holden Captiva SUV 
Subaru XV – opportunity knocks for new-look 2017 model 
Toyota Supra hits test track, counting down to launch... 
The role of military motorcycles over the past 100... 
New Kia Rio hatchback longer, wider, and in NZ... 
Skoda’s Kodiaq SUV comes with more than the bear... 
Rebadged all-American SUV in Holden’s new model roll-out 
Renault Koleos – nothing illusionary about new Zen SUV 
Ford Mondeo wagon an allrounder with good road manners 
At the wheel: Lexus gives mid-sized IS sedan a... 
Mitsubishi Triton: Fifth-generation offers a new route for the... 
Mercedes-AMG wagon is race car and sneaky sleeper all... 
Lexus RC F: optional is the ‘Michael Schumacher... 
Subaru WRX – ‘best bang for buck’ is too... 
Fiat 500 Abarth Esseesse 
Range Rover Sport TDV6 SE 
