Luxury Reviews

Malcolm Flynn reviews the BMW M2 at the Targa Tasmania rally

Ewan Kennedy road tests and reviews the Jaguar XE S with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

Lexus and its parent company Toyota have more experience in petrol-electric cars than any other maker. Lexus CT200h is the lowest cost model in the Lexus range by quite a margin, with new cars being sold from just $39,990 when launched in Australia in March 2011. While far from being a hot hatch the CT200h has a touch

Craig Duff road tests and reviews the BMW X5 xDrive40e with specs, fuel consumption and verdict at its Australian launch.

European pocket rockets approach the same buyers from opposing directions. Paul Gover reports.

Jaguar aims to claw its share of the upper-end SUV action with its first stylish and sporty wagon, writes John Carey.

Almost three years ago Jaguar took the unusual step of introducing the F-Type convertible before the coupe version, it's usually done the other way around. Now an F-Type coupe has spent a week in our possession and we have enjoyed every minute in it.  As is normal, the coupe is lighter than the convertible because

Somebody needs to tell those hipster enviro-activists at Sea Shepherd to quickly make more stickers, because their fans have a fresh back window to stick ’em on. The new X5 xDrive40e is a petrol-electric hybrid SUV you can plug into your power point at home and then travel about 30km off a charge.Yeah, that’s not far, but according to the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development the average Australian lives 15.6km from where they work and that could make the daily commute fossil-fuel free – in BMW’s biggest SUV. Yes eco warriors you can have your planet and your luxurious loungeroom on wheels, too.You’re not going to get stranded at the 30km mark either, this isn’t a fully electric vehicle. The four-cylinder turbo petrol engine on board has an 180kW/350Nm output and can work in isolation or together with the 83kW/250Nm electric motor. That’ll give you a range of about 1100km if you’re mainly on a highway or about 750km in town.There’s never been an X5 xDrive40e before – this is the first of BMW’s plug-in hybrids in its new iPerformance division. The next to come will be the mid-sized 330e sedan and wagon in May.Like all X5 xDrives the hybrid is all-wheel drive and looks exactly like its siblings – the only giveaways being the low-key ‘edrive’ badges and the charging port on the front-left wheel arch.Pricing is in line with rest of the X5 range, too with BMW asking $118,900 for the xDrive40e – the same as the diesel-powered X5 xDrive 40d. The standard features list matches the 40d and includes Dakota leather upholstery and brushed aluminium trim, 10.25-inch multimedia screen with satnav and surround view camera, auto parking, active cruise control and 19-inch alloys.What the hybrid gets that the diesel doesn’t is the adaptive ‘Comfort’ suspension package.That price tag places the xDrive40e towwards the top end of the X5 range which kicks off at $86,200 for the front-wheel drive sDrive25d and steps all the way up to the $149,900 X5 M50d.The X5 xDrive40e has a five-star ANCAP crash rating. There’s lane departure and forward collision warning, stability and traction control, ABS and two ISOFIX mounts.You can also program the 40e to emit a sound to let pedestrians know it’s approaching – because 2.2 tonnes of metal creeping silently around a corner in a carpark tends to scare the breakfast out of people.As for the fossil fuel free commute – it has to be said that most electricity in Australia is made by shoveling coal into a big fire. So the key to being totally eco is to source your power through green energy providers or get solar panels on the roof of your house and make the sun pay for your drive to work.The human race is finally ready for plug-in hybrids because we’ve all trained ourselves to incorporate charging our phones into our lives. So the concept of getting home and putting your car on the charger isn’t much of an ask now.What does it cost and how long does it take to charge the xDrive40e? Well, it comes with a charging cable which will plug into your regular home or garage power point and will fully charge the SUV in five hours. BMW sells a wall unit charger for $1700 which will charge the batteries in about 2.5 hours. Either way the electricity bill comes to about $2 to charge the SUV completely.And that gives you the 30km electric-only range which is what we wanted to verify first at the Aussie launch of the SUV recently.Before starting we had to get our heads around the three modes for the hybrid system – Auto eDrive, Max eDrive and Save Battery. Like the other X5s the 40e has three regular drive modes too – Eco-Pro, Comfort and Sport.We started with Auto eDrive and Comfort selected which is the default setting and means the petrol engine will only kick in at speeds above 70km/h or if you’re not gentle with acceleration. After about 10 minutes we changed to Max-eDrive which is purely electric. After 27km of driving we were down to four percent battery. Our first checkpoint was at 32 km and here we reached it in 43 minutes with an average fuel consumption of 4.1L/100km and an average speed of 45.9km.Then going into Sport mode we ran the SUV on the petrol engine only for 47km to our start point. This saw us drinking at 10.6L/100km, but when in Sport mode the brakes charge the batteries and in the 53 minutes it took for us to get back we had regained 80 per cent charge.What’s it like to drive? Pretty much just like any other X5 – the ride is supremely comfortable, the steering is brilliant, there’s plenty of grunt and the eight speed auto transmission is faultless. Inside is lavish with abundant head and legroom with and comfortable and supportive seats. There's four cupholders (two between the front seats and two in the second row's fold-down armrest) and four bottle holders (one in each door). The 40e doesn't have a third row - this is a five seater. Our test 40e was fitted with the $3300 M-Sport package - this bring 20-inch wheels, adpative M suspension and panoramic sunroof.But the xDrive feels a tad heavier than its siblings and it is. BMW ditched the spare wheel (it has run-flat tyres) in order to fit in the in the 96 lithium ion batteries under the boot floor. The sheer weight of the batteries still means the xDrive40e is 120kg heavier than the xDrive 40d- so it’s the equivalent of chauffeuring Kyle Sandilands around all the time. Stuffing those batteries in means the boot floor is 40mm higher than a regular X5 and that drops the cargo capcity from 650 litres as found in the xDrive40d to 500 litres. The air suspension in the rear also seems to struggle to rein in the momentum of the extra mass and we watched the xDrive40e in front of us leaning fairly hard in a roundabout as we felt ours do the same.We were moving fairly quickly at the time and we were searching for faults, so owners may not notice or care.Speaking of quick,

Peter Anderson road tests and reviews the Audi TTS Roadster with specs, fuel consumption and verdict.

The Audi TT’s third generation range is starting to fill out. Less than a year from its debut on Australian roads, the warmed-up TTS arrived for those looking for a bit more oomph and dynamic ability from the iconic two door coupe.With a more powerful engine, amped-up looks inside and out and a focus on handling, the TTS also has quite the price tag.The TTS starts at a fairly stiff $99,900, a hefty $27,000 over the front-wheel drive base model and nearly ten grand more than the TT Quattro S-Line. For that you get bigger 19-inch alloy wheels, nine-speaker stereo with DAB, Bluetooth and USB, climate control, Alcantara and leather trim, front and rear parking sensors with reversing camera, keyless entry and start, adaptive damping, cruise control, Audi’s fully digital dashboard Virtual Cockpit, drive select, electric seats, satnav, automatic LED headlights, auto wipers, lane departure warning with steering assist and power windows.Our test car had metallic paint ($1400), optional twin spoke alloys ($350), matrix LED headlights ($1900), extended leather package ($1300), coloured interior elements ($470) and the $1900 Assistance Package. This package adds blind-spot monitoring, auto parking, high beam assist and heated folding exterior mirrors.This little lot brought the total to $108,620 before on-road costs.The new TT is as bold as the Bauhaus original first shown in 1995 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, before finally hitting the road in 1998. While the second-generation was a bit weak and got a bit lost trying to forge its own identity, the new TT is far more confident.The big flared wheel arches and arched, monoposto-style roof have stayed but everything else has been sharpened up. The Audi grille is low and wide, with slim, aggressive headlights housing Le Mans car-inspired daytime running lights.The TTS gets a beautifully integrated set of sill extensions and new bumpers front and rear. The rear incorporates a contrasting coloured diffuser flanked by four exhausts while the brake ducts up front look racier in a deeper bumper.Inside is standard TT, which is to say very pretty indeed. The interior of this car is a fantastic design although passengers may feel a bit left out without a central screen. When viewed from above, the dash is shaped like fighter plane wing. To carry on the theme, the air-con vents are circular with a turbine design. The centre hub houses the various controls for the climate control, clearing the console of a large number of buttons.Occupant space is good up front, with low seats ensuring decent headroom and there’s plenty of room for long legs in the front footwells. The rear seats are ridiculous. How anyone could ever get an ISOFIX seat in there is a mystery or cause for a referral to The Hague.Audi’s Virtual Cockpit is controlled by the MMI dial. The all-digital dashboard is a one stop shop for the usual speed, revs and warning messages as well as satnav, phone and stereo.The layout is slightly different to the standard car, too. The tachometer is front and centre, with a big digital speed readout in the middle. When you thumb the ‘view’ button on the steering wheel, the central dial splits into two smaller ones and move to the bottom corners of the dash to clear space for the other functions. It’s clear and at 60 frames per second, smooth as can be.The nine speaker stereo is more than enough to fill the small cabin. Controlled via the larger version of the MMI dial, it’s all contained within the car’s only screen in the dashboard. The TT has USB and Bluetooth connectivity as well as the option of Audi Connect for creating the car’s own internet hotspot.The satnav is an up-spec version with live traffic updates to help you navigate around snarls. If you’ve got internet in the car, you can also get a Google Maps overlay to show you the terrain.The new Quattro system is able to direct power up to 100% rearward which is, needless to say, most welcome for the keen driver.Audi Sport’s engineers had a very decent platform to start with on the basic TT. Much of the basics are carried over but with a far tauter base, to which is added sports adaptive damping.This gives the TTS an even more willing attitude when it comes to changing direction and, surprisingly, a pretty lively rear end. The problems of the base car remain in that the suspension doesn’t have much travel and a big bump will see the car bounce off the stops (and make a frightening, if harmless, noise while doing it). As if to make up for it, the car still sticks to your line unless the bump is absolutely gigantic, in which case you probably shouldn’t have driven over it.Tyre noise is a bit higher in the TTS, the 19-inch wheels wrapped in sticky 245/35 rubber (the standard car has 40 section tyres on 18-inch wheels) and the ride is a little more fidgety, and that’s before you switch to dynamic mode. Then things get serious.The throttle perks up even more, the damping stiffens up and – for a bit of theatre – the exhausts open up and start to bark and spit as you zoom from corner to corner. The steering’s weight also makes you feel more connected to the road – you probably wouldn’t want it this heavy full-time – making the act of driving more physical and more involving.The brakes on the TTS are spectacular, with a good, solid feel underfoot and an impressive line in not activating the ABS unless you really stand on them or the road surface is a bit of a mess.