Articles by CarsGuide team

The small car segment is the hardest-fought at the moment. And getting harder. Which gives the new Ford Focus an even bigger job to do, in trying to gain some ground on the classy VW Golf, sales-leading Mazda3 and a battalion of other strong contenders.The base model Ambiente’s price has been kept at $21,990, with all the equipment you’d expect – and some added goodies thrown in. There’s Bluetooth with voice command even in the entry model.Of the other trim levels, the Focus Sport has a greater emphasis on driving enjoyment.Key features include sports suspension, 17-inch alloy wheels, sports front seats, dual zone climate control and a Sony audio system with 4.2-inch colour screen and multi-function display. Sport also scores the Convenience Pack as standard equipment.It is more comprehensively equipped than the outgoing Zetec model. Titanium has even more goodies and sells from a starting price of $32,590. But one omission – or more truly, latecomer – is the satnav, which won’t join the range until later this year.The dynamic new look has real cut-through on the street and a classy new interior featuring Ford's acclaimed kinetic design language.Two distinctive bodystyles are available, sedan and hatch, each with its own appeal. Drivers will no doubt appreciate the cockpit-style driving environment, but while the cabin has lost none of the comfort and practicality, the centre stack and surrounds are starting to look overdesigned..Five stars in crash testing, with six airbags and a raft of technology to try and prevent the crash in the first place. There’s also a stronger body with extensive use of high-strength steels. New Focus also features a patented front chassis subframe, which de-couples during severe frontal impacts, avoiding deformation in the passenger cell footwell area. Pedestrian protection has been boosted by the addition of a "soft" cowl design in the front body structure and Ford has also relocated the windscreen wiper system to help further reduce injury risks.The basic line-up for the 2011 Focus is simple: hatchback and sedan bodies, three engines - 1.6-litre petrol, 2.0-litre turbodiesel and 2.0-litre petrol - with five-speed manual and six-speed DSG PowerShift auto.The double clutch Powershift manumatic would be difficult to overlook for everyday and sporty driving as it offers the best of both worlds and an extra gear over the manual which is five speed only. What happened to the six-speed manual?The hero car for the Focus will be the next RS. But what’s arrived this week already bodes well for a future hot hatch.In a brief stint over rough dirt roads and snaking blacktop, the new Focus showed good grip and agility.The smaller 1.6-litre petrol engine needs to be egged up the rev range to get any sparkle, but the 2.0-litre is more enthusiastic – no surprises there. But it is the 2.0-litre turbodiesel that we spent more time with that looks to be the best all-rounder, developing 120kW/340Nm – 20kw and 20Nm more than the last Focus TDCi we drove. The six-speed automatic transmission is a good worker, but the button on the side is fiddly and awkward to use.For full drive impressions, see Carsguide this weekend.

But a number of other car makers took out awards in the Automotive and Transport category including the Peugeot 3008 and Kia Optima which received Design Awards. The Peugeot RCZ, Hyundai Elantra and the all new Ford Ranger utility were also commended for Good Design. The recently launched Audi A7 four-door coupe was the named overall winner of the category. Director of Good Design Australia, Brandon Gien, said award winners were the result of unwavering dedication to good design and commitment to a professional design process. "Innovation, creativity and attention to detail are clearly at the heart of each project," he said. This latest design accolade adds to the growing number of awards the A7 Sportback has received since launch, including the highly-sought after Auto Bild Design Summit. In 1958, a small group of design and industry professionals established the Industrial Design Council of Australia (IDCA). Today, more than 50 years later, the Australian International Design Awards — a division of Good Design Australia — continues this proud tradition to recognise the best in design and innovation available to Australian consumers.

The small car segment is the hardest-fought at the moment. And getting harder. Which gives the new Ford Focus an even bigger job to do, in trying to gain some ground on the classy VW Golf, sales-leading Mazda3 and a battalion of other strong contenders. Value The base model Ambiente's price has been kept at $21,990,

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A POOR crash test result for the Chery J1 in Australia has quickly prompted a recall to fix a defect in the front seats – and raised the prospect of the little Chinese car earning a fourth star in the future. ANCAP gave the J1 three stars after testing in May, citing among the reasons a loss of structural integrity that would “result in considerable injury risk”. Engineers from Chery visited Australia to attend the testing and discussed with ANCAP technical staff how to improve the cars. As a result, Chery distributor Ateco Automotive today recalled the 702 cars in Australia to replace the front seat backrests, which can collapse in a crash. “After the ANCAP crash treating there was an amount of dissatisfaction with the three star result,” Chery spokesman Daniel Cotterill says. “Chery has looked at the design of seat components, and we’re bringing in complete backrests that incorporate an enhanced design.” Cotterill says that the J1 could now earn a better crash rating. “Yes. We actually do think that it would now get another star,” Cotterill says. “But there is no further testing planned at the moment. ANCAP is an independent body and has their own schedule for testing.” Ateco is contacting all customers and advising them to return their cars to dealerships for the backrest assemblies to be replaced and the seats refitted using new mounting bolts.

... as the Australian car industry returned to normality last month. The official Vfacts figures for July are released tomorrow and are expected to show that the Japanese-based carmakers have finally shaken off the production delays arising from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami earlier this year. That was evident in June when the mid-sized Mazda3 led sales on the back of orders taken after the natural disasters that the company hadn’t been able to deliver. That spike dropped in July but the Mazda3 was only just beaten into top spot by the Commodore and the duo are battling for bragging rights as the best-selling model of 2011. The Commodore is about 120 vehicles ahead in the year-to-date sales race but should get another shot of sales when the LPG versions go on sale later this year. Ford’s new turbodiesel Territory outsold the petrol model for the second consecutive month since its launch. The result proves both the pent-up demand for a diesel in the big SUV and that Australian buyers are accepting diesel as a smart alternative to petrol. Diesels are an increasingly popular choice, BMW's diesel-engined vehicles are outselling petrol versions for the first time this year. See this week's Carsguide for the full Vfacts details and a rundown on the diesel v petrol debate.

The touch of Le Mans is coming to Victoria with two famous veterans of the Heures du Mans taking to the Winton long circuit. It's all part of the Victorian Historic Racing Register's second annual Festival of Speed over the August 13-14 weekend. Two rare Porsche Carrera GTs built 44 years apart are also coming the circuit to play from the Porsche Museum on Wheels in Stuttgart. The hero car of the Porsche quartet is the much-decorated Porsche 962C sports car that won the 1987 Le Mans 24-Hour race. Regarded as the most successful sports racing car of all time, the 962 is powered by a mid-mounted flat six-cylinder 2994cc water-cooled boxer engine that with twin turbochargers produces 582kW at 8200rpm enough to propel the car at speeds in excess of 340km/h. Also from the Porsche Museum on Wheels and a Le Mans veteran is the even more spectacular Porsche 935 Coupe that finished eighth at Le Mans in 1978. Nicknamed 'Moby Dick' because of its extended aerodynamic bodywork that allowed it to reach 366km/h on Le Mans' Mulsanne Straight, the unique coupe was the ultimate development of the 911-based 935 coupe that was the most successful customer-racing car produced by Porsche in the 1970s. In all there will be four cars from the Porsche Museum on Wheels at the festival which will feature the 20-lap Shannons Rose City Touring Car Trophy mini-enduro for Historic Touring Cars, along with events for Formula 5000 racing cars.  

All the funniest and dumbest car crashes, mishaps and mistakes. Just don’t try any of this at home.

The New South Wales Government has switched off 38 speed cameras deemed to have no real safety benefit.

Economy and performance are words that seldom go together. But in the UK a car that easily achieves 2.8litres/100km (100mpg), has just been banned from rallying because it's too fast. The cigar-shaped petrol-electric Honda Civic Insight hybrid competes in the Formula 1000 rally championship, and has been asked to withdraw when rivals complained after it took two wins and a second place from the first three rounds of the 2011 championship. They said it had unfair advantage. However, the car, developed by the Lancaster-based Oaktec team, is no ordinary Insight. It has been developed over a six-year period, and in 2006 it took five Class-A victories in Formula 1000 and won the championship. What's more, it car uses CVT, which the firm found gave the best method of power delivery with a hybrid drivetrain. After a chat with the UK motorsport folk, Oaktec boss Paul Andrews commented: "It was a bit of a shock when I got the call. After six years of hard work we finally had our chance for a bit of glory. But I fully understand the perspective of the organisers and their wish not to spoil the sport for the other drivers." So the world's greenest rally car might soon run in another category.