Articles by Byron Mathioudakis

Byron Mathioudakis
Contributing Journalist

Byron started his motoring journalism career when he joined John Mellor in 1997 before becoming a freelance motoring writer two years later.

He wrote for several motoring publications and was ABC Youth radio Triple J's "all things automotive" correspondent from 2001 to 2003.

He rejoined John Mellor in early 2003 and has been with GoAutoMedia as a senior product and industry journalist ever since.

With an eye for detail and a vast knowledge base of both new and used cars Byron lives and breathes motoring.

His encyclopedic knowledge of cars was acquired from childhood by reading just about every issue of every car magazine ever to hit a newsstand in Australia.

The child Byron was the consummate car spotter, devoured and collected anything written about cars that he could lay his hands on and by nine had driven more imaginary miles at the wheel of the family Ford Falcon in the driveway at home than many people drive in a lifetime.

The teenage Byron filled in the agonising years leading up to getting his driver's license by reading the words of the leading motoring editors of the country and learning what they look for in a car and how to write it.

In short, Byron loves cars and knows pretty much all there is to know about every vehicle released during his lifetime as well as most of the ones that were around before then.

Kia Tasman X-Pro 2026 review: snapshot
By Byron Mathioudakis · 12 Aug 2025
The Kia Tasman X-Pro 4x4 from $74,990, before on-road costs, is the off-road biased range-topper in the new ute series, chasing buyers who may otherwise go for a Ford Ranger Wildtrak or Isuzu D-Max Blade.
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Kia Tasman's next move exposed: The 2026 Kia Tasman ute’s next step against the Ford Ranger, BYD Shark 6 and Toyota HiLux to be hybrid power
By Byron Mathioudakis · 12 Aug 2025
Where does the Kia Tasman go from here? Is having a conventional diesel engine as the sole choice enough to run with the best-sellers? Should the Tasman follow the lead of the Ranger Raptor by going down the off-road performance path, to create a halo model for the rest of the range to bask beneath? Or is going hybrid the answer? The answer may shock you!
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'A race to the bottom': Why Kia refuses to extend its warranty to match the conditional 10 years offered by Mitsubishi, MG and Nissan in Australia
By Byron Mathioudakis · 11 Aug 2025
Kia will stick with its present warranty in Australia for the foreseeable future. With three manufacturers – Mitsubishi, MG and most recently Nissan – introducing conditional, dealer-service-activated 10-year options on top of their existing standard five-year timeframes, the modern-era long-warranty standard setter reckons stretching from its long-running seven-year/unlimited-kilometre item isn’t actually what buyers want or need.
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Kia Tasman X-Line 2026 review: snapshot
By Byron Mathioudakis · 10 Aug 2025
The Kia Tasman X-Line is the luxury-focused flagship in the South Korean brand’s first one-tonne ute range, and in some ways represents the sweet spot.
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Ute double whammy! Bold new 2027 Nissan Navara dual-cab to pair up with Nissan Frontier Pro hybrid ute to gate-crash the redesigned 2026 Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger PHEV and BYD Shark 6 party
By Byron Mathioudakis · 09 Aug 2025
From one of the oldest utes in Australia to two of the newest – and most technically-intriguing. This is what is shaping up for Nissan locally moving forward, as it shifts up two gears to regain the much-stronger standing it enjoyed for decades against the best-selling Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max. That's right, two utes to take on the tough one-tonne class.
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Kia Tasman SX+ 2026 review: snapshot
By Byron Mathioudakis · 08 Aug 2025
The Kia Tasman SX+ is the mid-grade version, and should appeal to buyers who want lots of features without paying too steep a price.
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Will the Nissan Patrol V8 live on?! Nissan's top brass responds to rumours the current 4WD will continue as a base version for the Y63 Patrol range to take on old school machines such as the 2026 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series
By Byron Mathioudakis · 07 Aug 2025
Will the long-lived Nissan Y62 Patrol V8 continue on sale after the all-new Y63 Patrol V6 launches? Due in Australia by early 2027, there has been some speculation that the next-gen model’s jump in technology, sophistication, complexity and – in all likelihood – price might see the current version continue as an entry-level ST-L grade underneath.
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Kia Tasman SX 2026 review: snapshot
By Byron Mathioudakis · 06 Aug 2025
The Kia Tasman SX is the second-from-the-bottom model in the South Korean maker’s first-ever one-tonne utility of this size sold in Australia.
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Kia Tasman S 2026 review: snapshot
By Byron Mathioudakis · 04 Aug 2025
The Kia Tasman S is the base version of the South Korean brand’s first-ever one-tonne utility.
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New Kia Tasman-based 4WD takes shape: What we know so far about the 2026 Toyota Prado, Ford Everest and GWM Tank 500 rivalling 4WD
By Byron Mathioudakis · 03 Aug 2025
The dust has not even settled on the Australian launch of the Kia Tasman, but attention is now already turning to what the next vehicle to be based on the one-tonne ute’s body-on-frame platform will be. With Kia revealing that the Tasman is the first of several, still-secret vehicles to be built on its unique TK platform, the front runner would surely be the much-speculated SUV version, which would take on the Ford Everest, Toyota Prado, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and GWM Tank 500 from about 2028.
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