Articles by CarsGuide team

Ika Windiarti, 33, fell unconscious when the 1998 Ford station wagon she was driving filled with gas, causing the car to clip a tree and crash into a parked car on Sir Donald Bradman Drive on Friday.Her daughter, 7, was also overcome by the fumes seeping into the car by worn seals. Her eight-month-old son Ibrahim died. “Every second-hand car that's sold by someone should have checks,'' she told Channel Ten. “We don't have serious problems with our car, it's very good mostly.''Police investigators had found “significant wear'' to the exhaust and seals on the car, causing fumes to drift into the cabin. Police Commissioner Gary Burns said Mrs Windiarti's proposal had some merit. “It would have to be done under some very strict conditions,'' he said.Premier Jay Weatherill yesterday described the incident as an awful tragedy. “If there's anything that we can do to prevent that, we'd like to find a way of making sure that this never happens again,'' he said.Mrs Windiarti revealed she is pregnant and says she finds some comfort that she's expecting another child. “I lost my son but I will get another one,'' she said.“Hopefully it will help me to relieve this feeling.'' Mrs Windiarti was discharged from the Royal Adelaide Hospital on Saturday night. Her daughter was released from the Women's and Children's Hospital on Sunday. 

The commission will release a report today showing that while the "effective rate of assistance'' for manufacturers is about 4 per cent, and 3 per cent for agriculture, the motor vehicle industry is getting about 9 per cent. The boost to the car industry came after the Gillard government poured more taxpayer funds into the green car innovation fund and Ford, which will cease its Australian operations in 2016. The report shows that, overall, $9.4 billion was poured into industry protection in the past financial year and, since May last year, the government has promised a further $430 million in handouts to industry that will be largely spent over the next five years. The report is likely to reignite political debate over assistance as a new alliance of manufacturing chief executives -- including the Australian-born Andrew Liveris, of US company Dow Chemical -- said industry was "not being mendicant in any way'', and the Coalition reaffirmed its commitment to slashing $500m from car industry subsidies. Yesterday ,the government defended its assistance to carmakers after Toyota Australia confirmed an after-tax profit of $149.1m for the year to March 31, up from a loss of $13.2m the year prior. Toyota confirmed that it had received $72m from the Automotive Transformation Scheme and grants in 2012-13, of which some was for a new engine plant under the green carinnovation fund. The office of Industry Minister Greg Combet said Toyota's financial results reflected not just its local manufacturing operations, but also "significant'' revenues from importing cars to Australia. "The Gillard government's assistance to Toyota supports its Australian manufacturing operations,'' Mr Combet's spokesman said. "These local manufacturing operations need to compete with other international Toyota subsidiaries for investment from global headquarters. "The government's assistance is an important ingredient in securing this investment and the jobs that come with it.''  Toyota spokeswoman Beck Angel said the company made a significant contribution to the Australian economy -- injecting about $1.5bn last year -- because of its manufacturing presence, which included local suppliers and wages. "If we do not build vehicles in Australia, this money may be spent in other countries,'' she said. The commission's annual survey of assistance shows the government gave $5.1bn in budgetary outlays ($400m less than the year prior) and $4.3bn in tax concessions. On top of this, net tariff assistance was worth $1.1bn. "Assistance generally benefits the industry receiving it and if well targeted and designed, can deliver wider community benefits, but it can also come at a cost to other industries, taxpayers and consumers,'' it says. In dollar terms, the net combined assistance to the manufacturing sector was $7.35bn, of which $1.1bn went to motor vehicle and parts makers. This translates into an effective rate of assistance -- a figure that measures assistance as a proportion of the value an industry adds to the economy -- of 4.1 per cent for manufacturers overall and 9.4 per cent for the auto sector. Opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella said the model was "broken and that's a view shared by'' the carmakers.  

Pickering triumphed in the recent bone-rattling Finke Desert Race, marking a record 11th consecutive class victory, and putting him in position for a Production 4WD trophy.Pickering took his Mitsubishi Pajero to first in class among a field of 99 vehicles, many of which were purpose-built offroad racers.He and co-driver Dylan Watson finished the tough 452km desert circuit from Alice Springs to Finke and back in a time of 6hr21m47s in what Pickering says was one of the toughest races in the event’s 38 years – with about half the entrants failing to make the finish line.Pickering says preparation of the barely modified 3.8-litre V6 petrol Pajero was the key to his record success. "Our Pajero was extremely strong all race and felt fantastic, even with some of the roughest conditions we have encountered on the Finke despite the welcome rain earlier in the week,” he says."When we arrived in Finke on Sunday afternoon there was virtually nothing to be done to the car. We inspected everything and did a spanner check but apart from precautionary checks there was nothing to attend to before the race back to Alice Springs on Monday morning," he said."The fact is the secret to success at the Finke is preparation as well as applying a strategy and a race pace that is fast enough to beat the opposition while ensuring you get the car to the finish in one piece,""We just set our race pace and stuck with it. We ran our own race and didn't push too hard. With the tough conditions we knew that our race pave was right and we would pick up places as the faster buggies and trophy trucks broke axles and suffered driveline problems and crashes," he added. 

Famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld is back with a second series of his unique show: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.  Based on this trailer, it looks like series 2 will be packed with plenty of tasty machinery, and some notable comics to boot.  

The next Toyota Corolla sedan is a chalk-and-cheese move on from the dowdy designs we're used to seeing.It's been toned down from the Furia concept that previewed the new sedan's styling at January's Detroit Motor Show, but the wedge-shaped body with sharp lines and edgy accents have still moved the looks light years forward. The downside is that these photos are as close as we'll get to it for more than a year, with the car arriving in the first half of 2014 -- nearly two years after the arrival of the current Corolla hatch.Toyota is having a bet each way on the Corolla sedan, with two design families: the US gets one and European and other markets -- including Australia -- get the other.Both versions have been unveiled today, with the US version being unveiled on its native soil, and the European model at an event in Istanbul, Turkey.Toyota Australia has confirmed that our local Corolla sedan will be closest to the European version in appearance, with detail changes likely to tailor the important model to local tastes. The differences between US and European versions are largely in design cues at the nose and tail, but there's the same growth in length and width -- and a lower stance -- for both.Significantly, both versions feature a 100mm wheelbase stretch over the existing Corolla sedan, resulting in a claimed 75mm legroom increase for rear passengers.Other markets will get a range of engines, including diesel and hybrid choices, but in Australia the sedan will be powered by the slightly revised 103kW/173Nm 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine currently seen in the hatch.Prices haven't been confirmed yet, but -- depending on exchange rates -- shouldn't move too far beyond the current model's starting price of $20,990 (topping out six spec levels later at $31,990).