Volvo Advice

Give the people what they want. It sounds simple enough, as long as you know what people are going to want before they want it.

The rise of luxury SUVs has driven the increasing amount of luxury family cars, whereas previously it was five-seat sedans like the BMW 5 Series or Mercedes-Benz S-Class, nowadays you can choose from the likes of the BMW X7, Mercedes-Benz GLS, Land Rover Defender 130 and more.

This might seem controversial, but really it’s just logical. If the idea of switching to electric vehicles instead of using combustion-engined cars was entirely about reducing the amount of CO2 produced, it stands to reason car companies would design EVs to be as small, and light, as possible, which, at first, they did (witness the Nissan Leaf, which was, for some time, the world’s biggest-selling

There are any number of ways to define a luxury car - or indeed the term 'luxury' itself, which means different things to different people, possibly based on how much of it they’ve personally enjoyed.

When most people think of off-road four-wheel drives (4WDs), they tend to picture beefy, petrol or diesel-guzzling beasts that only look legitimate when equipped with winches, caked with dried mud and decorated with a constellation of bugs.

To modern Australian families, the SUV is what a Commodore or a Falcon used to be - the sensible, obvious and most common choice of family vehicle.

Is 2017 the year of the new car for your garage? It's pretty easy to work out what's available now, but here are the most exciting models that are yet to arrive in showrooms.

That was the image portrayed by actor Roger Moore, who played the role of Simon Templar in the 1960s TV series The Saint. And Martin Hamilton-Smith has something in common with Moore — a white Volvo P1800 S, which is arguably the best-shaped car Volvo has built.“I remember the car as a kid, watching the (TV) program,” Hamilton-Smith says. “I was captivated by the style of the car. I searched for this model for almost two years and I wanted a cream example. I searched the nation but I opened the paper one day and there it was.”The Saint made the Volvo P1800 famous, giving it a sales boost as Jaguar rued its decision not to supply an E-Type for the program. From the early 1960s, the P1800 body was made in Scotland and the car assembled by Jensen in England.But then production switched to Volvo's home in Sweden, with the P1800 S model.Hamilton-Smith bought his 1965 model about four years ago.“I drive it once or twice a week,” he says, adding that the Volvo was a good entry point into the classic car scene — despite being pricey when new, the model is not highly priced now.“I paid about $19,000 for it. They were an extremely sporty car before Volvo went down the road of being a safe family car.”Hamilton-Smith says some people remember the car from the TV series and others are attracted by the shape of the two-door coupe and are surprised to discover it's a Volvo.The P1800 has a four-cylinder engine and had fair performance in its day. Volvo's involvement in The Saint extended to updating Templar's cars as the series continued — and Moore also getting one for his private use. Simon Templar's on-screen Volvo had the number plate ST1, uncannily a link to the STi version of a Subaru WRX which is Hamilton-Smith's everyday car.Since buying the Volvo, he's also bought a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 190SL silver sports car in close to original condition.Then there are two motorbikes, a 1997 Moto Guzzi 1100 Sport and a Honda VFR 800, the latter of which he races at club meetings.“The WRX STi is good on dirt roads because it's all-wheel drive, so I have all the bases (driving and riding) covered,” Hamilton-Smith says.However, he says the beaut little Volvo P1800 S remains the pride and joy of his collection.

We break down the big players by auto group, and which vehicles on the Australian market in 2019 and 2020 are owned and produced by Chinese car companies.

Police cars, efficiency tech, fast Kias and future Commodores make up the hottest news of the year.