Adventure Reviews

Subaru sells a lot of SUVs, but none are quite as quirky as the small XV. Has it got what it takes to be a genuine adventure SUV for your family?

The newest Isuzu MU-X is a more refined, better driving version of its old self, but is that enough to make it a viable option for a family tourer?

It's not flashy or high-tech but does the Pajero, one of the last remaining old-school 4WDs, still deserve your attention?

Can Mitsubishi's Outlander in 2WD guise be a genuine gravel-road bush tourer or is it just another wannabe weekend warrior?

With a pop-top roof bed and smooth ride and handling, is the Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity your cushy gateway to adventure?

QUEENSLAND'S history-soaked Condamine River is a steadfast contributor to the mighty Murray-Darling river system. But a 700-kilometre long river has to start somewhere and in this wandering waterway's headquarters on the slopes of the Great Divide you'll find a swag of adventure outings, almost on Brisbane's doorstep.

It's just one of those weekends - you know the ones. In the lead-up, while you're slaving away at work all week, the weather's bluebird perfection with sunny days and clear skies, warm days and gentle breezes. Then Friday arvo hits and, even though you're ready for a weekend camping, the southerly buster rolls in, threatens a month's load of rain in two days (Saturday and Sunday, of course) and drops the temperatures enough to make you question global warming again. This is an adventure just for those weekends. One that embraces the weather and still makes the most of the two days off.

Crest the Strzeleckis above Foster in Victoria's south-east and the physical presence of 'The Prom', Wilson's Promontory, is overwhelming and breathtaking. And here, from high above, the ocean is everywhere.

Forget the Kimberley or the top end. Australia's most amazing 4x4 tracks are in Victoria's high country.

The news that 51-year-old Mary Barra has been appointed as the first woman in the world to head a car company (General Motors) is a surprise, not so much that it has happened because a woman at the helm of what is still a male-dominated industry been brewing for a few years now, but that Ford didn't get there first.Ford is known for promoting women.  Indeed, almost 30 years ago they were the first car company to appoint a woman specifically to oversee the wants and needs of women customers in the showroom and had roving executives visiting outlets around the world to train sales men (and they are still invariably men) in the delicate art of persuading women to make the final purchase decision.And yet General Motors, known as a kind of lumbering giant where its own decisions can take eons because of an all-pervading and archaic bureaucratic approached, has up and gazumpt its long-time Detroit rival.  Who would have thought?Ms Barra certainly has the creds.  Her father was a die-maker with Pontiac for nearly 40 years.  She studied electrical engineering at the General Motors Institute (now known as Kettering University) to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree before receiving a GM fellowship at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1988 and a Masters degree in Business Administration in 1990.  In that she represented the emerging academic trend of women studying both science and/or engineering while adding business for good measure.  So she knows how a car works and understands the industry.In February 2011 she was appointed Executive Vice President of Global Product Development with responsibilities for design and the global purchasing and design chain and less than a year later Forbes magazine listed her as the 41st most powerful woman in the world.  This new appointment, which starts in January, will no doubt see her move up that particular pecking order.She can be found on the company's test track putting cars through their paces and she will need to be up to speed to improve profits which see GM lagging behind Ford and Toyota and she will need to literally drive improvements in the company's product lineup.  In fact just hours after her appointment was announced, GM pulled the plug on manufacturing in Australia.  Ms Barra would certainly have played an insider role in that decision. So where is Ford in all of this gender equality?  Across the Atlantic is another American woman who has just been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Ford Europe. Barb Samardzich is the third person appointed as COO of Ford of Europe in the past decade and both her predecessors have moved into top positions within the organization.It's known that Ford earmarks top jobs for those with corporate talent and like Mary Barra over in Detroit, Barb Samardzich has a background in engineering.  She was Vice President of product design before her October appointment as COO.  At a dinner to accept the trophy in the Women's World Car of the Year in Bonn in November she said she was 'surprised' at her appointment. “I didn't think it would happen so soon,” she said. “But the fact it has happened makes it tremendously exciting for women in the industry.”It is indeed, but whether other car companies take note remains to be seen. It's hard to see any Japanese, Chinese or Korean car companies appointing women to executive positions let alone Chief Executive, there just aren't any women in senior enough positions at the moment to progress that high.  And the fact that both Ford and Holden manufacturing will cease in this part of the world means fewer opportunities for women with the sort of engineering credentials that currently warrant them being given the chance.  If a woman is appointed to head up the new-look Ford and Holden in Australia she will likely have a business or accounting degree, not a technical background.Given the number of women in business schools and universities and the fact their numbers tend to outweigh men in these categories, it may not happen overnight but it's bound to happen.  After all it's only 130 years or so since Karl Benz invented the gasoline engine and made the first gas powered car.  That became known as the Mercedez Benz which was named, of course, after a woman.Sandy Myhre was the first woman motoring writer in the NZ Motoring Writers' Guild and is CEO of Women's World Car of the Year.