Family Reviews

The new-generation Mazda CX-5 is here but with rivals like the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Toyota RAV4 offering hybrid power, is the CX-5 missing a trick?

Skoda is a somewhat strange brand in Australia where it blossomed quite late after being brought into the Volkswagen family. The brand is seen as slightly left of centre in some regards, but utterly practical and sensible in terms of things like layout and packaging.The Skoda Kodiaq is the company’s mid-sized seven-seat SUV. It incorporates all-wheel drive which operates mostly as a front-wheel drive system.Engine choices consist of a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with 132kW, a 2.0 litre turbo-diesel with 140kW and a retuned version of that engine (with an extra turbocharger) with 176kW for the sportier variants. All Kodiaqs used a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission with a wet-clutch design.A facelift for 2018 brought a larger 9.2 inch touchscreen and a Sportline trim variant joined the range with its 20-inch alloy wheels and blacked out trim. The other notable addition was the 2022 Kodiaq RS which ditched the turbo-diesel engine for a 180kW turbo-petrol 2.0 litre.Within the Skoda company, this generation of the Kodiaq was known as the NS model.Built on the VW Tiguan’s platform, the Kodiaq is one of the smaller seven-seaters you can buy. In turn, that means the third row seats are exclusively for kids, and smaller ones at that, so it’s an occasional seven-seater for growing Aussie families. If you regularly move more than five bodies, there are better alternatives.What the Kodiaq does have, though, is a big chunk of personality. It’s practical in the way it's laid out and equipped and a bit more playful to look at than the Tiguan it shares so much with. If sporty driving fun is important to you, the Skoda scores a few more points over some of its peers.There will be people who will tell you their Skoda has been the most reliable car they’ve ever owned. And while it’s true build quality and materials are up to the VW family’s usual high standards, the Skoda, based as it is on the Volkswagen Tiguan mechanical platform, has had its share of reliability problems.Overall the picture is not bad and certainly not as terrible as those dark days of VW quality of a decade earlier.The turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine has a reputation for liking a drop of oil, but this is down to the design, not a fault with the engine. It uses low-friction piston rings (as do a lot of modern engine designs) and the small amount of oil consumed is more than offset by the fuel savings of the low-friction engine. Owners still need to keep an eye on the oil level, however.The demons of earlier dual-clutch transmissions seem to have been expelled by the time the Kodiaq NS turned up. Even so, you need to see a full service history to be sure and make certain during the test drive the transmission is not slow to select gears or that it doesn't shudder when you take off from a green light. These symptoms point to costly transmission woes.As a seven-seat family car, you also need to make sure the interior hasn’t been pummelled by years of carting kids, dogs and pushbikes around.The Kodiaq had been the subject of a handful or recalls, including one to check whether all the required nuts securing the rear seat had been fitted at the factory. Another was to ensure part of the engine’s plastic cover didn’t contact the turbocharger unit, which could have caused an under-bonnet fire.Possibly the most critical recall, though, was one involving the infamous Takata airbags that were fitted to some Kodiaq and needed to be replaced before they were needed in a crash. You can check out the details at https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/ to see if your car was affected. The alternative is to contact Skoda Australia’s customer service department for a VIN check.Not much changed mechanically over the years the NS model was on sale, so the Kodiaq to avoid now is the one lacking a full service history, with higher kilometres, or evidence of having been neglected or knocked about, rather than one with a particular build date.Experience with VW Group products has taught many people to be suspicious of cars with high mileage. Certainly, any second-hand Kodiaq with a big number on its odometer would force you to check the service history of that car very carefully.The vast majority of Kodiaqs from this series of cars have travelled less than 200,000km, so there’s no intel yet on how they’ll fare with even bigger distances on board.While the Kodiaq featured a maximum five-star safety package as standard, the one to buy now is not a specific trim level, but an example where the original purchaser ordered the Luxury Pack.The Luxury Pack added convenience stuff like ventilated, heated and memory front seats, matrix LED headlights, steering wheel paddles, tri-zone climate-control, as well as some important safety additions such as a 360-degree camera view, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. It’s worth the extra for that safety gear alone.Low to mid-teens is where the action starts here, but for that sort of money, you’ll probably be buying a relatively high-mileage example with at least 180,000 or 190,000km on board and perhaps even more.At the other end of the price scale, there’s lots of choice in late model Kodiaqs with little more than demonstrator mileage (sub-10,000km) showing. These are being offered for anything from low $50,000s to $60,000 and occasionally even more than that. That said, they’re basically brand-new cars at that point.Skoda dealerships are not as plentiful as Volkswagen showrooms, but the reality is that a VW dealer should be able to help with much of a Skoda’s servicing requirements. That goes for parts supply, too, and it’s also true to say an independent workshop specialising in late-model VWs should also cope easily with a Skoda.The exception to that will be in terms of body panels and trim pieces which are Skoda-specific. But the Kodiaq is a global model, so there’s plenty of online and overseas sources for such things.Like VW generally, the Skoda brand has a huge enthusiast following, so performance-oriented replacement parts are also readily available from a variety of vendors.Kodiaq sales represent a decent chunk of Skoda’s Australian sales. But as a fairly niche brand, that doesn’t mean Kodiaqs are everywhere. In fact, Skoda sells between 1000 and 2000 Kodiaqs a year in this country, making its stablemate the VW Tiguan, a much more common sight on roads and in the for-sale classifieds.

The Subaru Outback holds a special place in the hearts of adventurers everywhere. It’s long been regarded by its fans as a genuine mix of decent on-road manners, family-friendly practicality and sound off-road capability. Just right for light-duty off-roading.Now, Subaru claims, it has made the Outback even better and a new off-road-focussed variant called the all-wheel-drive Wilderness now sits near the top of the line-up.The Wilderness is equipped with a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol, four-cylinder, horizontally-opposed 'boxer' engine, 240mm of ground clearance, improved approach/departure angles and electronically controlled dampers.But is this new Outback all it’s cracked up to be? Read on.

Facing the competitive vortex created by more than a dozen new brands from China arriving in the local car market in the last couple of years, Hyundai has clearly embraced the adage ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join em.’That’s because its pure-electric Elexio mid-size SUV is made by Beijing Hyundai, a Chinese joint-venture company the South Korean giant operates with state-owned carmaker, BAIC.The single-motor, front-wheel drive, five-seater launched here in February this year in a single Elite grade to take on ‘Made in China’ rivals like the BYD Sealion 7 and Tesla Model Y.And now it’s been joined by an entry-grade version, simply called Elexio, that drops cost-of-entry from $61,990 to $58,990 (both before on-road costs) bringing it closer to similarly priced, sized and specified alternatives like the previously mentioned BYD Sealion 7 (from $54,990) and Tesla Model Y (from $58,900) as well as the Deepal S07 (from $53,990), KGM Torres EV ($58,000, drive-away), Mazda CX-6e (from $53,990), Renault Scenic E-Tech (from $55,990), Cupra Tavascan (from $60,990) and Zeekr 7X (from $57,900).The good news is, while saving three grand you’re not giving away much in terms of standard features. Big ticket items like dual-zone climate control, a six-way power driver’s seat, all LED exterior lighting, a giant 27-inch multimedia touchscreen (more on that later), Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wireless charging, a head-up display, six-speaker audio, alloy rims and a full-fat safety suite are all included.  For an extra $3.0K the Elite adds heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a power tailgate, 20-inch rims, leather-appointed seats, extra power adjustment for the driver’s seat and power adjust for the front passenger seat.   Proving a car’s looks are always subjective, I read the Elexio’s design as 1990s concept car. There’s something about those slim horizontal headlights with four cube-like LED units across each that says retro-futurism circa 1993.Other than that the car doesn’t stray far from the typical mid-size SUV template although a broad grey band running up the D-pillar and across the roof above the tailgate adds some visual pizzazz to the rear end.The interior is clean and functional but kinda boring, at least for me. The gigantic screen, filling around half the dash dominates things visually, but the otherwise predominantly grey colour palette feels flat.There’s plenty to like in terms of practicality, though, with lots of head, leg and shoulder room for me (at 183cm) front and rear and plenty of storage including generous door bins, a centre oddments box, glove box and a flying buttress style front centre console that creates additional space underneath it. There are multiple USB-C ports and a 12V socket.Also worth calling out is a simple device attached to the centre console cupholder unit. A frame with cup-sized detents in the centre either sits over the two cupholders on the left or flips over the storage tray to its right to create another pair of cupholders. Genius.The boot is a useful 506 litres with the 60/40 split-folding rear seat upright, expanding to 1540 litres with it lowered. No spare wheel, though, just an inflator repair kit, which isn’t good enough in Aussie conditions.The Elexio is powered by a single electric motor sending 160kW/310Nm to the front wheels. Decent outputs, although in a car weighing around 2.1 tonnes acceleration isn’t eye-widening. But this SUV has ample oomph in the city and suburbs as well as for easy highway cruising and overtaking. Ride comfort is more than acceptable, which is a stand-out in the EV era where newcomers often miss the mark on compliance and chassis dynamics. And even the steering passes muster with decent road feel and accuracy.But… then there’s ‘the screen’, confirming bigger isn’t always better.IMAX-like in width, it’s markedly offset to the left with key readouts like speed, battery level, time and climate settings located towards the right-hand end. There’s also a slender head-up display in front of the driver repeating key functions.But if, for example,  you need to adjust the air con on the move you have to take your eyes well and truly off the road and fiddle with on-screen controls. At which point the driver distraction warning slaps you over the wrist with an audible ‘bing’ and visual alert. Grrrr. Physical dials for at least the climate control would be a more user-friendly, safer set-up. An audio volume knob (other than the steering wheel scroll wheel) would be welcome, too.  And speaking of bings and bongs, safety is an Elexio strong suit with a maximum five-star ANCAP rating and nine airbags as well as every monitor, assist and warning known to human kind. But the lane-keeping assist and overspeed warning are overly intrusive, although amazingly, if you decide to switch these features (including the driver fatigue monitor) off, they stay off. No default reset on start-up. Hallelujah!Just to keep the whinging going for a minute, I’m not a fan of the flush-fitting exterior door handles. They pop out at an angle and are awkward to use. And I banged my left knee more than once on the chunky gear selector unit on the right-hand side of the steering column when exiting the car. Annoying and painful.    Claimed range from the 88.1kWh LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery is 562km (WLTP), with a 150kW DC fast-charge time from 10-80 per cent of 38 minutes. The Elexio also has 10kW AC charging capacity and V2L (vehicle-to-load) capability onboard, the latter accessed via a three-pin connector in the boot.Hyundai’s official combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle energy use figure is 18.2kWh/100km and over a week of city, suburban and freeway running we saw a real-world average of only 15.1kWh/100km, which is as unusual as it is impressive.  Warranty is a competitive seven years, unlimited kilometres and service intervals are two years or 30,000km. Hyundai’s service plans will see you paying $779 at the two-year mark, and another $1118 at four years, which puts your average annual cost at a category competitive $475.

MG’s latest SUV shows just how much Australia’s car market has changed in the past five years, and it is only a good thing for buyers.The new S6 is an electric mid-size SUV that goes head-to-head with some of the heaviest hitters in the country, including the BYD Sealion 7 and Tesla Model Y.Just five years ago there were literally no affordable electric vehicles in this category, now the S6 is just the latest arrival in a long line of cut-price, zero-emission vehicles with a family bent.This influx of models has driven lower prices and more choice, two things putting buyers in the driver’s seat.MG’s S6 line-up consists of just two variants. Both are the Essence grade — MG speak for fully-loaded — with buyers simply choosing between a single rear motor or dual motor set-up.Prices kick off at $49,990, drive-away, for the rear-wheel drive version and step-up to $56,990 for the all-wheel drive version we are testing.This is a decent chunk cheaper than its two big-selling rivals, with single-motor versions of the Model Y starting at $58,900 (before on-road costs) and the Sealion 7 kicking off at $54,990, drive-away. It is pretty much the same price as the entry-level Toyota RAV4 hybrid.The S6 only has two optional extras, $700 for metallic paint and Grey Ivory with Nordic Ashwood faux wood interior trim for $500.You get plenty of standard kit for that low outlay, with 20-inch alloy wheels, LED lighting front and back and roof rails as standard.Step inside and front seat passengers are greeted by power-adjustable seats wrapped in synthetic leather and synthetic suede trim. There is a heating and ventilation function. The rear window seats are heated, too.This is joined by a chunky, flat-bottomed and leather-wrapped steering wheel with heating function.An average-sized 12.8-inch central multimedia screen is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and has in-built sat nav and there is a solid 11-speaker stereo.A slim 10.25-inch digital driver display keeps it simple with vital information and not much else. This is supplemented by a head-up display that projects vital information such as travelling, speed, prevailing speed limit and safety warnings onto the windscreen in front of the driver.MG ticks all the safety tech boxes with plenty of active driver aids and solid crash test scores.At its heart the S6 uses a 77kWh Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) battery that delivers a claimed WLTP driving range of up to 530km in the single motor variant and 485km in dual motor examples.That’s par for the course for mid-size electric SUV, where 500km is the ballpark most aim for.The S6 uses 400-volt electrical architecture, which means it forgoes top-end charging speed. It maxes out at 144kW when connected to a compatible DC charger, which puts it in the same ballpark as the BYD Sealion 7 and Kia EV5 but behind the Tesla Model Y and more premium EVs such as the Zeekr 7X.MG reckons it can top it up from 10 to 80 per cent in 38 minutes.Single motor variants pump out 180kW and 350Nm to the rear wheels, with dual motor examples upping the ante to 266kW and 540Nm combined with all-paw grip.That’s plenty of grunt for a family-focused SUV, but less than other more performance leaning dual motor rivals.The interior is massive, with plenty of room for small and big kids. I had two child seats fitted in the back row, one forward and one rear facing, with plenty of room left for front seat passenger adjustment.The panoramic sunroof is pleasant in winter, and a proper shade will make it bearable in summer. The windows are large, which helps smaller kids in the back see out and helps reduce car sickness. The back pew also has its own air conditioning vents and USB-C charging ports.There are plenty of storage options throughout for knick-knacks, phones and bottles.The boot is a decent size at 581 litres, but the lack of any spare tyre is the chink in every EV’s armour. A fiddly tyre repair kit is a bad result for drivers.Unlike some other rivals, the S6 actually has a few buttons and dials in the centre console for basic controls. The steering wheel mounted buttons are clear and well placed, showing balance is returning to car cabins after years of touchscreen domination.The safety tech is overbearing, and the speed sign recognition routinely picks up the wrong signs. I often had a 35km/h speed warning going off when there is no such speed limit in NSW.MG’s electric vehicles are, in my opinion, the better cars to drive in its range. The S6 is no different. Despite its dual-motor power it isn’t particularly fast, and that’s okay. Moderate pace suits a sensible family car better, and it has the added benefit of not being an excessive drain on the battery.It has no problem bounding up steep hills or overtaking at motorway speeds.The S6 isn’t the biggest mid-size SUV but it feels large on the road and in underground car parks, luckily an array of sensors and cameras help in tight situations.It feels heavy, and at circa-2000kg, it is hefty. You experience it more acutely at low speeds, where it can feel lumpy and bumpy, especially over our pockmarked roads. This is accentuated by firm, heavy steering that makes driving feel harder than it should. A mega turning circle doesn’t help the experience, either.On the motorway it is a quality cruiser, eating up the kays with ease and in comfort. It has good insulation that keeps the world at bay and adaptive cruise control works well.Sadly, the safety tech is intrusive, loud and a constant distraction.The MG driving range is solid, and judging by our test you can expect to land in the ballpark of the company’s claim.A 10-year/250,000km conditional warranty is the biggest ace up this MG's sleeve. You’ll need to attend a MG dealer every logbook service to keep that warranty period, otherwise it reverts to a seven year/unlimited km guarantee.Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 25,000km, and will cost you $1376 and $1987 for a five- or seven-year plan for the AWD grade, with the RWD version being slightly cheaper.

Lexus launched its first fully-electric car in Australia back in 2023, but it’s fair to say the RZ has hardly made an impact on the electric car scene.Cursed at the time by high pricing, low driving range and a lack of features many EV adopters were looking for, the RZ seemed destined to sit at the bottom of the electric pecking order.Determined to turn its fortunes around, Lexus has refreshed the RZ for 2026 with drastically lower pricing and tweaked specs which it hopes will grant it a second look in the eyes of buyers.Does it have what it takes? I took a top-spec RZ 550e F-Sport for a week to find out.First things first, pricing. Lexus has slashed prices from the RZ range for its latest update to the point where this sporty top-spec one at $105,000, before on-road costs, is now more affordable than the base variant (which cost over $123,000!) when it first arrived in 2023.As a dedicated EV which shares its underpinnings with the Toyota bZ4X, the RZ’s closest rival is the Genesis GV60 from Korea, although comparisons are now difficult, because the GV60 in rear-drive form is $88,000. To get AWD like this RZ 550e you need to splash for the higher-performance GV60 Magma ($130,000).It also needs to face-off against the Audi Q4 e-tron (AWD from $99,818), BMW iX3 ($109,900 in AWD guise) and most problematically for Lexus, the smash-hit Zeekr 7X from China which costs from just $72,900 in Performance AWD trim.While the price-cut is welcome, and this top-spec car gets a bigger battery than before, it still feels like a let-down on range which remains a key consideration for many electric car buyers.Officially this higher-performance 550 e F-Sport version has 437km of driving range according to the WLTP measuring standard, on the back of an official 18.9kWh/100km energy consumption and a slightly larger 77kWh battery pack.My real-world test had the car’s computer reporting 410km of range, with the trip computer showing my most efficient trip being 18.8kWh/100km. It’s within a reasonable margin of error to the claim, but still disappointing in a market where many rival EVs will do 460km+ in the real world.There are other improvements. While the RZ maintains its somewhat middling 150kW DC charging capability for a half hour (10-80 per cent) charge on a compatible station, AC charging capacity has doubled from 11kW to 22kW.Power has also taken a jump, with total outputs now hovering at 300kW combined power for this 550e F-Sport. Unfortunately, though, all RZs are all-wheel drive, so range is a persistent issue no matter which variant you pick.On the styling front, the changes are also subtle, with this luxury mid-sizer maintaining a similar futuristic look to the pre-update version, complete with a grille-free face, and spiky aero coupe rear with twin protrusions on the roof and an interesting split spoiler atop the tailgate.The elephant in the interior is of course the 550 e F Sport’s yoke steering wheel. It’s strange to look at and bizarre to use.We’ll get to that in a moment, but the rest of the interior continues the futuristic theme with the asymmetrical stepped dash design, high beltline for the doors and weird little button door handles.The multimedia screen is a good size at 14 inches, and there’s a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster sunken into the dash complemented by a holographic head-up display for the driver.Despite its tech overload in the interior one advantage this Lexus maintains is physical dials for the dual-zone climate control and even an audio volume dial, with a handful of shortcut buttons, too.The steering wheel also features an array of initially very confusing buttons and controls which you get used to.Software in the RZ is pretty basic. While it isn’t burdened by some of the gimmicks of Chinese rivals, it’s also a bit too simple for a modern EV, not featuring some of the genuinely useful innovations of some of its rivals like pet mode or detailed energy consumption data screens.The back seat, while offering plenty of space behind my own (182cm) driving position, feels devoid of specific luxuries. The dark trim makes it feel small, but there are air vents and USB ports on the back of the centre console along with rear seat heating.The boot is a decent but not stellar 522 litres and there’s no spare wheel. Nor is there a vehicle-to-load system.Where this 550e variant shines, though, is behind the wheel, but it will take some getting used to.The yoke steering can’t turn a full 360-degrees, so the steer-by-wire control makes the wheels turn to full lock after just half a rotation.This, combined with almost zero feedback from the front wheels, is a confusing feeling. Even after a week, I couldn’t get used to the steering ratio. I found myself constantly having to correct after steering too far or too little.Take it on a bendy back road though and you’re in for a treat. The all-wheel drive system and brilliant torque management on offer in the RZ give this swoopy EV cat-like reflexes, mind-bending amounts of grip and healthy dollops of power despite relatively modest on-paper figures.This car highlights where Japanese automakers still maintain an advantage over their Chinese rivals. It’s brilliant to drive in unexpected and delightful ways.Like other Lexus products, the supple suspension and gentle cabin ambiance makes for a serene place to be and the safety tech proved refreshingly non-invasive.An important consideration is the Lexus ownership piece which is pretty good.A five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty is middling these days, but Lexus’ Encore ownership club, which you get five years' membership to as part of your service also includes things like loan cars at service time, as well as invites to events and track days and a range of deals with partner organisations.Service for the RZ is required once a year or every 15,000km and for the first five years it's fixed at $395. This is good for any car, but great for a luxury brand.

It feels like everyone has a VW bus story. Someone’s sister converted their Multivan into a home-away-from-home, Uncle Ern had a pop-top kombi and Macca at the pub has had his since 1982.Which is no surprise because many peoples’ favourite VW has been around, in one form or another, for over 75 years. And this limited ‘Edition’ package has been applied to the most recent, seventh-generation version of the Multivan.Exactly 300 will be available, each costing $79,990, before on-road costs, or $82,990, drive-away as an introductory offer.That price puts it between the short- and long-wheelbase Multivan Life ($77,990 and $80,290 MSRP, respectively) and adds additional standard fruit including a black roof and gloss black 18-inch alloy wheels, LED matrix headlights (with dynamic cornering function), darkened (LED) tail-lights, dual-tone synthetic velour and synthetic leather seat trim, heated front seats and the Digital Cockpit Pro instrument display.There’s also puddle lamps, ‘easy open and close’ power sliding doors and tailgate, built-in nav, a 360-degree camera view and a sliding multi-function table.Put the Multivan Edition next to rivals like the Ford Tourneo Titanium ($74,590), Hyundai Staria HEV Lounge ($73,740), Kia Carnival GT-Line HEV ($76,840) and Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer ($89,672), all before on-road costs, and the VW puts up a compelling value-for-money pitch.There are two colours, Pure Grey and Candy White, both with a Deep Black Pearlescent roof and door mirror combination and aside from Edition graphics this limited edition’s fundamental design is unchanged.It’s kind of like an expanded Golf with head- and tail-light treatments in particular clearly connecting it to the current VW family.The Multivan’s close to 5.0m length, near 2.0m width, 1.9 metre height and lengthy 3124mm wheelbase provide a comfortable interior for seven (an eight-seat Life is available). And while the interior has that typical VW look of teutonic efficiency it also feels welcoming thanks in no small part to the synthetic microfibre and synthetic leather seat trim. I’m guessing Shaquille O'Neal would have enough headroom in the Multivan, because at a lowly 183cm tall I had what felt like metres between my scone and the headliner.And it’s the interior layout’s incredible flexibility that makes this VW such a practical multi-passenger proposition.There’s a flat, walk-through floor and we’d need a separate website to detail all the available seating and storage combinations but suffice it to say rails running the length of the Multivan’s floor allow the seats to move easily so they can be adjusted to best accommodate the passengers onboard.With the driver’s and second-row captain’s chair seats set to my position I still have enough space in the third row, although toe room under the seat in front is a little tight. Up to teenage kids will be more than comfortable back there.Storage is everywhere including cupholders, bins and flip-up tray tables but the highlight in the Edition is its sliding multi-function table which can serve as a front centre console but has the ability to slip backwards, rise in height and sprout large tabletop surfaces for the second row. There’s Qi-compatible wireless phone charging up front as well as six USB-C ports and three 12-volt sockets spread across the interior and cargo area which is more than enough to keep everyone happy with fully charged devices. With all seats upright there’s 469 litres (VDA) of luggage space, expanding to 1316L with the third-row folded and a van-like 3672L with the second and third rows removed. The seats are lightweight and slide easily so removing them isn’t as hard as you might think. Maximum braked trailer towing capacity is a useful 2.0 tonnes.A 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine sends 110kW/310Nm to the front wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission with the current Multivan riding on VW’s MQB Evo platform which also underpins the Golf and Tiguan.And the Edition feels far more car-like than any of its predecessors. Don’t get me wrong, this is a boxy bus but the way it drives, rides and steers is exceptional.The engine feels responsive and strong, picking up acceleration quickly without a hint of turbo hesitation and works hand-in-glove with the super-smooth auto. The front seats are comfy, ride quality is terrific for this class of car, freeway cruising is effortless and road feel from the steering is good. Even winding B-roads didn’t unduly upset the Multivan’s handling or stopping power.Unsurprisingly, wind noise starts to make its presence felt around the A-pillars and exterior mirrors at around 100km/h, but never to an alarming degree. The Multivan scores a maximum five-star ANCAP assessment to the latest protocols with seven airbags (including a front centre bag) and the Edition boasts a laundry list of ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) crash avoidance tech, the highlights being AEB (auto emergency braking) Park Assist (with front and rear proximity sensors), adaptive cruise, lane keeping, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.There are child seat top tethers on the second row captain’s chairs and across the third row, with ISOFIX anchors on all of those except the centre rear position.  The official fuel economy figure for the Multivan on the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 6.2L/100km which puts it ahead of all key competitors and translates to a theoretical range of around 1160km. On the roughly 350km launch drive program which took in urban, B-road and freeway running we saw an average of 7.3L/100km, which would translate to a real-world range of around 950km. Not too shabby for a roughly 2.0-tonne bus.The Multivan is covered by Volkswagen’s five year/unlimited kilometre warranty which is now being overshadowed in the mainstream market with many brands at seven-, eight- and 10-year terms. Roadside assist is included for the first year.Servicing is recommended every 15,000km or 12 months with fixed price and pay-as-you go plans available. You’re looking at an average of around $650 per workshop visit over the first five years. Not the cheapest but not outrageous.Volkswagen operates a network of around 180 dealers and service centres across the country.

To say Toyota’s first major mainstream EV, the bZ4X, arrived in Australia with an arm tied behind its back would be something of an understatement. It arrived with both arms removed entirely.It was expensive, didn’t travel as far on a charge as its major rivals and had some tech quirks – and omissions – in the cabin. The fact that Toyota itself had spent much of the 12 months preceding its launch talking down EVs as impractical and unsuitable for much of Australia probably didn’t help much, either.Sales trickled along in minuscule numbers, while brands like Tesla and, later, BYD stole the limelight and the customers.But this is the bZ4X take two. It’s significantly (like $10K) cheaper, will travel much further on a charge, and hosts a more modern-feeling tech package in its cabin. And so I’ll be living with the two-wheel drive variant for the next three months to see if Toyota has at last got an answer to the sales-storming Tesla Model Y, or the BYD Sealion 7, for that matter.First things first: the price. My car opens the range, and you can have it finished in the same Eclipse Black you see in these photos for $61,320, on the road. That’s now cheaper than the cheapest Tesla Model Y, the rear-wheel drive, which is $64,215, drive-away right now. The cheapest Sealion 7, though, is a smidge over $59K, on the road.The Toyota now also outperforms the cheapest Tesla in terms of range. Toyota says my car, with its 74.7kWh battery, will travel 591km on the WLTP combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle, compared with the Model Y RWD’s 466km. In fact, to get a circa-600km range from Tesla, you’ll be dropping almost $75K drive-away on the Long Range AWD. The Sealion 7 offers just 482km on the WLTP cycle.So the price is right, or at least much better and the range stacks up well, too.In terms of power, Toyota has regrettably positioned its single motor on the front axle for front-wheel drive, and it develops 167kW and around 269Nm. Now, this is around two tonnes of metal, and Toyota says it will clip 100km/h from standstill in around 7.5 seconds. In real terms, it feels sprightly enough, but definitely not sporty in the way it goes about it. There is enough torque on offer to break front-wheel traction occasionally, but it’s otherwise a pretty sedate way of getting around.Nuts and bolts aside, the real test for the Toyota will be how well it fits into our family life. We have a home charger, by the way (just a cheap 7.0kW wallbox), so that makes EV life much easier for us. If we couldn’t charge at home, I think a true BEV would be off the list for us.The bZ4X is so far proving big enough for our one-kid family. The back seat swallows the baby seat with no issue, and the boot takes our two-part pram with little fuss, as well. But be warned, that’s about all it takes. For such a big car — around 4.7m long – the boot is a little underwhelming, and it’s hard to fold the seats flat when you need the second row for baby seats and the like.Toyota says you can expect 452L of luggage space, which is down significantly on the 500L-plus offered in the RAV4 Hybrid, chipping away at this EV’s family credentials.Another perk for my wife and me is the familiarity of the Toyota's cabin. I know some might view this as a negative, but I think the fact there are physical buttons for most core functions – things like your drive modes, mirror adjustments and core climate settings – is a major win.Now, no matter how much range your EV offers, if you're anything like me, you will find yourself running on the battery equivalent of fumes at some point. For me, that came when I was leaving my parents' place for the 29.8km journey home. For reasons known only to Murphy and his infernal law, I was unable to plug in during my visit, so I was forced to rely on the remaining juice to get home.No problems there, with some 45km of range remaining. Now, as I discovered so you don't have to, that estimate is very much a glass-half-full situation and – to my increasing horror – would drop in chunks of 5.0km at a time, seemingly at random.After much holding of breath, we made it back to our charger with about three per cent battery remaining, and the power output automatically throttled back as the Toyota went into make-it-home-somehow mode.Fully topped up, my in-car reader was telling me I had more than the maximum range at my disposal, some six-hundred-and-something kays. So take those readouts as a guide, not as gospel.Acquired: June 2026Distance travelled this month: 427kmOdometer: 4667kmAverage energy consumption this month: 13.5kWh/100kmNote: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number of automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics, and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

You’ve no doubt heard the term ‘design by committee’, which is another way of describing what happens when too many people have too much input in a creative project, and so the end result has had any unique or interesting features beaten right out of it.Well, I have another term for your lexicon. And that is ‘design by France’. And that, it seems, is the complete opposite, where just one person says ‘I think our family focused electric SUV should look like a muscular hot hatch. Throw those 20-inch alloys on it, too. Oh, and I want so many stalks behind the steering wheel that it feels like the driver is lost in a corn field.”Case in point? The Renault Scenic E-Tech Esprit Alpine (even the name is faintly ridiculous). On paper, none of the above would make much sense. But in an electrified world awash with same-same design (take amorphous blob, apply wheels), the Renault is a breath of fresh air.The matt grey paint and black roof of our test car (+$1300) surely helps, but the Esprit Alpine looks good/different, and its tough, muscular design only further grew on me.Inside, the good/different continues with Renault making some clever material choices, including the couch-like fabric (which turned out to be kenaf, a plant fibre) stretching across the dashboard and up the A-pillars. It gives the cabin a warm, modern and more environmentally conscious feel than the usual slabs of black plastic or synthetic leather.Less immediately positive is the congregation of stalks behind the steering wheel, with the gear selector, windscreen wiper stalk and separate media-control unit all clustered together. Add to that one of the flappy paddles that controls the regen braking and it's a busy place behind the wheel.Truthfully, it’s fine and fairly intuitive once you know where everything is, but it is confusing at first.In more good news, Renault hasn’t buried everything behind the vertical 12.0-inch central screen and horizontal 12.3-inch digital driver display (all angled toward the driver), either. There are physical air-con controls, steering-wheel buttons and mercifully the ability to adjust your wing mirrors from the driver's window panel.The tech generally works well, too. Wireless Apple CarPlay was flawless on test, and there’s a wireless phone charger that holds your phone in place, which is rarer than you might think. There’s also a deep storage area under the centre console, more space under the armrest and twin USB-C ports up front, though the single cupholder reminds you this is still a fairly compact-feeling vehicle in places.The front of the cabin can feel a little tight in terms of width and not all of the materials are winners. Some of the door plastics feel cheap, and that is even more obvious in the back seat, where the door trims and some of the other plastics don't feel overly premium.But space in the back is impressive. Sitting behind my own 175cm driving position, I had enough knee room to properly stretch out and the flat floor means the middle-seat passenger isn’t forced to straddle a transmission tunnel.There are two ISOFIX points, rear air vents, twin USB-C ports and a very clever fold-down centre armrest with cupholders and some extra storage built in.The boot isn’t huge in length, but it is deep and tall, and will swallow a total of 545 litres with the rear seats in place, or 1670 with them folded flat. A bit like the rest of the 4470mm-long, 1864mm-wide and 1565mm-high Scenic, then, in that none of it feels massive, but it does feel cleverly packaged.The nuts and bolts are positive, too. While lesser Scenic models get 125kW and 280Nm, this flagship model ups that to 160kW and 300Nm, produced via a front-mounted electric motor that delivers a sprint to 100km/h in 7.9 seconds.It gets the biggest battery, too, an 87kWh lithium-ion unit that delivers an impressive WLTP range of 625km. Charging is 11kW AC, or 150kW DC, the latter below average in a world of faster-charging EVs.On the road, the Scenic is a more complicated thing. It has all the ingredients that should make it one of my favourite driving cars. The steering is quite natural feeling, there's a firmness to the suspension that doesn't disconnect you from the road below and the acceleration is perky enough without being brutal.But it's the way those ingredients are put together that takes more getting used to than I expected. It feels as though the sensitivity has been dialled right up to the point where it can feel overly reactive to inputs, and as the brake pedal doesn't always feel linear in its application, it can end up feeling a bit jerky on the road.It just takes some getting used to with your inputs to smooth out the drive experience, and I should point out that my test was exclusively in greater Sydney, and the Scenic feels like a car that would really shine on flowing roads out of town.Still, it feels a cut above plenty of newcomer EVs from behind the wheel. There is a connection to what's going on beneath the tyres that's missing from some newer brands and there's very little in the way of motion sickness-inducing body roll from the Scenic's chassis.And perhaps best of all, I covered plenty of kilometres and all sorts of road conditions, and the active safety systems remained mostly quiet, calm and blissfully quiet throughout.Downsides? The reversing camera is poor. It has a weird fisheye effect that makes judging your surroundings harder than it should be, to the point where you end up relying on mirrors and old-fashioned shoulder checks instead.At five years or 100,000km, the warranty is way off the pace, too.And it isn't challenger-brand cheap. My car is $65,990, before on road costs, and before you add the $1300 in paint and roof. That’s real money. The longer-range Tesla Model Y is $68,900 MSRP. But the mid-tier Kia EV5 Earth is $64,990, and adds a second motor and AWD. That said, though, there is a cheaper Renault, still with the long-range battery, that starts below $60k. Still, what price a little joie de vivre?

I’ve been driving the Geely Starray Inspire for the past three months, but in the past few weeks the Chinese brand has shown off its secret power.Geely launched the Starray in September last year, but it has already delivered a game-changing update to the range-topping Inspire grade. That’s record-breaking time for an update, which takes the big name brands four or more years.Geely has switched out the old test car I’ve been driving for the better part of the past three months for the new and improved version.The headline changes are a much bigger battery, with a 30kWh unit replacing the former 18kWh powerplant. This boosts electric-only driving range by 53km to 136km. That’s good enough to force a name change to Starray Inspire Extended Range.Max DC charging speed doubles to 60kW, which allows you to fill the battery from 30-80 per cent in 16 minutes. Claimed fuel use drops to 1.4L/100km from 2.4L/100km. There have been other minor upgrades to the car, such as massaging front seats and towing enhancements.Besides that everything covered in my previous two instalments remains the same.All that costs just an extra $1500, with the Starray Inspire Extended Range starting at $41,490 before on-road costs.Crucially the Starray is now a more relevant competitor to the BYD Sealion 6 Extended Range, which starts at $46,990 (before on-road costs) but the Inspire is more inline with the full-fruit $52,990 Premium grade.That’s a fair chunk of change left in your pocket if you are searching for a plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV.After three months, more than 1000km travelled, and more than 24 hours of total driving time the Starray shines bright against its competition.The power adjustable seats wrapped in synthetic leather have excellent adjustment, which paired with the adjustable steering wheel allows drivers of all shapes and sizes to find the ideal seating position.There is great vision out the front, with the driver able to see all angles. Throw in a birds-eye view camera, multiple parking sensors and it's a cinch to negotiate tight carparks and city streets.The hybrid tech works seamlessly blending electric and petrol power. You’ll barely hear the petrol engine unless in Power mode, which only uses the engine to drive the wheels.It is a refined experience with minimal road noise or tyre roar entering the cabin.The 1.5-litre four-cylinder non-turbo petrol engine and electric motor combo makes a decent 193kW.In the real world that’s plenty, with the Starray bounding up steep hills and overtaking on the motorway with ease.If you are in Power mode or the battery is depleted then it can feel breathless.The steering is well weighted and predictable, which inspires confidence on tight, twisting roads.It exerts decent body control with minimal lean through the corners.Geely’s active driver aids are the best of any of the Chinese brands I’ve tested. All the tech worked as advertised and ditched the overbearing annoying beeps and bongs of rival brands. This is a big step forward and a surefire way to keep customers.The only constant was the speed warning that goes off when you exceed the speed limit by 1km. This is fine, except the speed sign recognition tech needs a bit of work to make sure it is holding you to the right speed limit.It’s not all rosy for the Starray, however.The suspension is far too firm, especially at the rear where you’ll hear and feel it crash over speed bumps and splutter over potholes and lumps along the way. Not ideal with kids in the back seat and items in the boot will move around if not secured.It would benefit from a local suspension tune that tweaks the set-up to better suit our roads and driving conditions, rather than the billiard table-like streets of China and Europe.The Starray could do with an all-wheel-drive option, too. All that power through the front wheels is never a good idea, with the wheels spinning at the slightest hint of a heavy foot when trying to turn.All-paw grip is a better and safer solution in the wet, which is an important consideration when buying a family car.Geely’s fuel-use claim is a tough one. You’ll need to be super disciplined in keeping the battery topped up to have any shot at getting close to the 1.4L/100km mark.The best I saw was 2.6L/100km for a 50km stint, and the worst was above 6.0L/100km.But if you can travel most of the time in Pure mode (EV only), then you’ll be laughing. The new battery is much better at achieving the EV driving range claim of 136km, while the older version routinely fell short of its 83km claim.2026 Geely Starray EM-i InspireAcquired: March, 2026Distance travelled this month: 300kmOdometer: 470kmAverage fuel use this month: 3.4L/100km