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Articles by Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson

Contributing journalist

Peter grew up in a house in Western Sydney where automotive passion extended to white Sigmas and Magnas. At school he discovered "those" magazines that weren't to be found in the house. Magazines that offered him the chance to sit in the driver's seat of cars he’d never even heard of let alone seen. His path to rebellion was set - he would love cars, know cars and want to write about cars, much to his family’s disgust. They wanted him to be a teacher. He bought a series of terrible cars and lusted after Ford Escort Cosworths, the Alfa Romeo 164 Q and occasionally kicked himself for selling his 1977 Alfa GTV. From 1.0-litre three cylinders to roaring V12s, Peter has driven them all and can't wait to tell you all about it.

Hyundai is having a massive year, delivering to our shores not one, but...Read more
Ford's small hatch, the Focus, is criminally under-bought in Australia. The latest model is one of the best hatchbacks on the road and when you chuck in the decent price, impressive equipment and absurdly powerful engine for its size, it's a winner. But you lot? You don't buy it in nearly the kinds...Read more
Sometimes it's worth sitting back and thinking about things we thought...Read more
Talk to anyone who knows things about cars and you'll find that the name Mazda pops up with some regularity when you ask about weird and/or wonderful vehicles. Its rotary-engined machines are the stuff of legend and seemingly every April there's a rumour of a new spinny-engined sports car from the...Read more
Anyone unfortunate enough to hear me banging on about electric cars - or perhaps more accurately, electrified cars - will be aware of my undying love for the existence of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). I love them because they offer a drama-free step into electrification. You don't need...Read more
The new Touareg - as we're still calling it because even though it's been here a while, it isn't the old one - is a proper piece of gear. Big, comfortable, technocratic and filled to the gills with stuff (in the upper end of the range, anyway), it pushes the boundaries of what Volkswagen can get...Read more
The 2008 is kind of a big deal for Peugeot - the old car was a bit niche and people didn't really know what it was. It also had a whiff of last-decade Peugeot whereas this one is proper 2021, fashion-forward Peugeot. The brand has changed so much in the past few years that it's even going to slap a...Read more
When you look at a Lexus LX, you see a distinct resemblance to a Toyota LandCruiser. That’s understandable given that, fundamentally, the Lexus LX is a comprehensively gussied-up Toyota LandCruiser. Built to put the luxury brand into the large SUV game , and taking advantage of Toyota's huge...Read more
Hyundai's Kona has already had a well-documented facelift, with a considerable amount of sleek applied to its distinctive Citroen-esque visage. The updates weren't restricted to the sheet metal, of course, with some reworking of the range itself, some mechanical changes and updates and interior...Read more
Getting through a new range of Hyundais is pretty exhausting because there are just so many to choose from. Even the top-of-the-range Highlander comes in two flavours of fuel and is absolutely loaded with gear. I've already driven the diesel and was very keen to see what a week in the petrol would...Read more
The second-generation Mazda CX-9 was a bit of a throwdown to the heavy hitters from Europe, and a shot across the bows of the rapidly improving Korean juggernaut. Big SUVs can be stylish, well-equipped and don't have to drink like an aircraft carrier, that was the Mazda message. That last bit was...Read more
One must maintain several affections in one's life, I think that's fair. I don't mean that in the life-partner sense, that would get me blamed for marriage breakdowns. But then, as a motoring journalist, you do sometimes wonder if your recommendations send a few relationships over the edge. What I...Read more
The Zen is the second in the three tier range and is the best value of the...Read more
Renault, like its French rival Peugeot, didn't quite nail the first...Read more
The second-generation Captur range opens with the sharply-priced Life,...Read more
The top-of-the-range Intens finishes the Captur range at $35,670, $5000...Read more
Previously on carsguide.com.au : Peter Anderson drove the Peugeot 5008 and...Read more
People in Australia are very unkind about the Skoda brand for reasons that are mired in a history long since past. The brand has formidable backing in the VW Group, which means it has access to an astonishing range of goodies while being able to maintain a Euro-car identity with price-tags closer...Read more
As surely as night follows day, when there's a new Kia in a new segment, we're told we probably won't be getting it. Those lucky Europeans and then some months (this time years, as it turns out) later, we find out that actually we are getting it. Not because Kia's Australian arm doesn't want the...Read more

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