Urban Reviews

Renault's Zoe is a compact electric city car with a big personality, and a price tag to match. Are you ready for a future that's this expensive?

Mitsubishi must have a thing for old cars. The Lancer, Pajero and ASX are all now much older than most other car companies would tolerate without them being given at least a vigorous going-over, if not replacing them completely. The Outlander is, comparatively speaking, a spring chicken, at just six years since its launch. That said, the pace of improvements has picked up over the past 24 months as new or updated competitors pile into the market.This car has a couple of important things going for it; it’s cheap, and it also has a bang up-to-date plug-in hybrid model, the PHEV.And as the MY19 Outlander has now arrived, virtually straight after the MY18.5, we thought it time for a good old fashioned shakedown.

If you've bought a Toyota Corolla hatchback before, there's a chance you made the decision with your head, rather than your heart. This time around, though, the Corolla is truly desirable.

The Toyota Corolla Ascent Sport 2018 model is the most affordable model in the new hatchback range, and comes with the choice of three drivetrains.The Ascent Sport is available with a 2.0-litre petrol six-speed manual at $22,870, a 2.0-litre petrol with new 10-speed CVT auto at $24,370, or a 1.8-litre petrol-electric hybrid with CVT auto at $25,870.Ascent Sport models come with LED headlights (with auto high-beam), LED daytime running lights, LED tail-lights, 16-inch alloy wheels, an 8.0-inch touchscreen media system with Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, voice recognition, USB/auxiliary connectivity and a six-speaker stereo.Ascent Sport hybrid models get push-button start, keyless entry and dual-zone climate control, where petrol versions have a regular old key and manual air-con. All Ascent Sport models come with a plastic steering wheel with audio controls, but at least there's an electric park brake and a 4.2-inch colour info display for the driver.Safety has been a big focus for Toyota, with every automatic Corolla fitted with auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection (day and night) and bicyclist detection (day), adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane-keeping assist, speed sign recognition, active cornering control (torque vectoring by braking), a reversing camera and seven airbags (dual front, front side, curtain and driver's knee).If you choose the manual, you miss out on fully adaptive cruise that works at all speeds - it gets a 'high-speed active cruise' system instead, plus there's no lane-keeping assist. All models get ISOFIX child-seat anchors.All Corolla models will attract a $550 extra cost for premium paint, while the Ascent Sport is the only variant with optional equipment available: buyers can add sat nav and privacy glass for $1000. We'd suggest you just buy the SX.

The Toyota Corolla SX 2018 hatchback is the mid-point of the three-model range, sitting above the Ascent Sport and below the ZR.The SX petrol model is available with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with a 10-speed CVT auto priced at $26,870, or a 1.8-litre petrol-electric hybrid with CVT for just $1500 more ($28,370).For your extra expenditure over the Ascent Sport you get exterior differentiators such as fog lights and privacy glass, while inside there's a 'premium steering wheel', dual-zone climate control, a wireless phone charger, push-button start and keyless entry, DAB+ digital radio and satellite navigation with live traffic updates. The SX has two USB ports (one front, one rear), and blind-spot monitoring is added to this grade.That's on top of the already extensive safety kit list, comprising auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection (day and night) and bicyclist detection (day), adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane-keeping assist, speed sign recognition, active cornering control (torque vectoring by braking), a reversing camera and seven airbags (dual front, front side, curtain and driver's knee).The SX has 16-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights (with auto high-beam), LED daytime running lights, LED tail-lights, an 8.0-inch touchscreen media system with Bluetooth phone and audio streaming, voice recognition, a six-speaker stereo.All Corolla models will attract a $550 extra cost for premium paint.

The flagship model in the 2018 Toyota Corolla hatchback line-up is the ZR, which sits above the entry-grade Ascent Sport and mid-spec SX.The high-spec ZR is sold with a petrol-auto 2.0-litre drivetrain, which lists at $30,370, and the 1.8-litre petrol-electric hybrid version is comparatively quite affordable for a flagship hatchback, listing at $31,870.ZR models look the sportiest of the lot, with a set of 18-inch alloy wheels making this model stand out from the pack - and inside there's a fair bit of differentiation, too, with heated front sports seats, leather/'ultrasuede' seat trim, driver's lumbar adjustment, a 7.0-inch driver info display, ambient lighting, a head-up display and a JBL sound system with eight speakers.ZR models also gain electro-chromatic (auto-dimming) rear-view mirror and high-grade bi-LED headlamps, and like the SX, there are two USB ports (one front, one rear), and blind-spot monitoring is included. Plus the ZR has a 'premium steering wheel', dual-zone climate control, a wireless phone charger, push-button start and keyless entry, DAB+ digital radio and satellite navigation with live traffic updates.That's on top of an extensive safety equipment list, with a heavy focus on safety gear: auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection (day and night) and bicyclist detection (day), adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane-keeping assist, speed sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring, active cornering control (torque vectoring by braking), a reversing camera and seven airbags (dual front, front side, curtain and driver's knee).The ZR hybrid model gets the biggest boot of the range because it has a tyre repair kit instead of a spare. The boot space is 333 litres (VDA), as opposed to 217L in all other variants, whether they have a full-size spare (Ascent Sport petrol) or not (all others).All Corolla models will attract a $550 extra cost for premium paint.

Nissan is on the cusp of a big turn-around. The new Juke heralds more global next-generation products to come - is it all good?

Remember when any review of a new hybrid car almost always included at least a couple of bad jokes about patchouli-scented owners?

The top of the Volvo XC60 range is a plug-in hybrid – not a token variant, not a half-hearted attempt to be seen to be doing the right thing. Nope, the top-grade XC60 is the twin engine, R-Design T8.