Articles by Chris Thompson

The Audi A3 is a popular premium hatchback in a market increasingly interested in SUVs, so can it continue to hold the small car fort after a mid-life update?

The days of five-year warranties being competitive for mainstream brands are behind us, let alone the three-year warranties some brands persist with.Pioneered by Kia’s seven-year warranty a decade ago, the move towards decade-long warranties continues with newcomer brands looking to make a name for themselves, while some brands look to keep customers with servicing-conditional extended warranties.But now that Kia’s seven-year warranty is no longer the industry leader - despite still being unlimited-kilometre where others aren’t - will the South Korean brand extend its warranty to remain keep up?Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith told CarsGuide there are no plans to increase the once-leading seven-year warranty to match rival brands that offer a decade of warranty like MG, Mitsubishi and Nissan.None of those are unlimited-kilometre warranties, and the latter two are conditional to customers servicing their cars with the brands’ dealers. Kia’s seven-year warranty is both unlimited-kilometre and unconditional when it comes to servicing.While Kia’s warranty has by no means fallen behind the average, it’s been around for about a decade and the market has changed significantly in that time.“Over that period of time when we introduced the seven-year warranty, on the first of November, 2014, it was bought in for a lot of reasons but specifically it was to give people permission to look at our brand,” Meredith says.“It did a great job. In 2015, the number one reason for buying a Kia was the warranty.“The latest figures I saw, it’s not even top three, it’s fourth. So it’s changed, and it’s not as important to Kia purchasers as it was ten years ago.”Instead, the factors customers put above its warranty when buying a new car are brand or manufacturer, style, and driving performance.“It used to be an opener on the showroom floor, now it's more of a closer,” adds Kia Australia General Manager of Marketing Dean Norbiato.“As opposed to ‘we’ve got a seven-year warranty, look at us’, it’s now everything else. The brand, the quality, the trust in the brand, and then the seven-year warranty finishes it off.”Kia’s reaffirmed position on its seven-year warranty comes at the same time as reports emerge of Hyundai’s apparent plan to increase its warranty to eight years, up from its current five-year offer.An insider source told CarsGuide the brand is considering the move, which could feasibly be in response to sales not meeting expectations.If it goes ahead, it would leapfrog its sibling brand by a year. Furthermore, if it remains unlimited-kilometre and unconditional, it will be one of the strongest warranties in the industry.Honda currently offers an eight-year unlimited kilometre warranty, the only one to do so, making it the highest-duration warranty not limited by driving distance.GWM, Skoda and KGM SsangYong all offer seven-year unlimited kilometre warranties alongside Kia, while most of the industry offers five-year warranties. Many premium and European brands still offer three-year warranties.

In its CEO Investor Day report this week, Kia has confirmed its plans to introduce an electric ute to join the Tasman.

The Kia EV3 GT-Line Long Range is the most expensive variant in the EV3 line-up, but for its price it might start to borderline being a bit too expensive for the benefits over the mid-spec Earth.At $63,950 before on-roads, the GT-Line comes with one drivetrain option - an 81.4kWh battery allows for a driving range of 563km under WLTP testing. The EV3 is two-wheel drive in all its variants, a single motor at the front wheels produces 150kW and 283Nm. The EV3 charges (with a 350kW DC fast charger) as quickly as 31 minutes.The EV3 comes standard with features like dusk-sensing LED headlights, daytime running lights (DRLs) and partial LED tail-lights, two 12.3-inch screens (one a touchscreen for multimedia) and a 5.0-inch touchscreen for climate controls plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a six-speaker sound system, a wireless phone charger and USB-C ports in both the front and rear rows, a 12-volt outlet in the front and a household-style power outlet in the second row.The mid-spec Earth adds onto that 19-inch alloy wheels, synthetic leather seats with heating and ventilation, the driver’s side being 10-way electrically adjustable, a heated steering wheel, an electro-chromatic (or glare-dimming) mirror and a power tailgate.For the extra cost of the GT-Line, there’s a series of exterior design changes, cubed projection headlights, the tail-lights are fully LED, a three-spoke GT-Line steering wheel, alloy pedals, specific two-tone GT-line seats with the passenger side seat also becoming 10-way electrically adjustable, ambient LED mood lighting, a head-up display and the central upper storage compartment under the armrest becomes a slide-out tabletop.There’s no ANCAP score just yet, but plenty of safety equipment is standard across the range including seven airbags (one in the front-centre), smart cruise control, forward collision avoidance, lane-keep, rear occupant alert, multi-collision braking, blind-spot and rear-cross traffic alert, driver attention warning and a tyre pressure monitor.The EV3 doesn’t have a surround-view camera, but it does have front and rear sensors and a rear parking camera.Kia’s seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty applies to the EV3, and Kia offers prepaid plans of three ($674), five ($1285) or seven years ($1897) when it comes to servicing.

It seems the market has spoken, with Mercedes-AMG set to reverse its decision to downsize its hero C63’s engine to a hybrid four-cylinder.

Deepal's odd ute-SUV priced!

The Kia EV3 Earth is the mid-spec variant in the EV3 line-up, but for its price and features it comes with it’s probably the best pick for anyone looking for a premium small SUV.At $58,600 before on-roads, the Earth is available with just one battery and drivetrain option - an 81.4kWh battery allowing for a driving range of 563km under WLTP testing. The EV3 is two-wheel drive only - with a single motor at the front wheels putting out 150kW and 283Nm for all versions of the car. The EV3 charges (with a 350kW DC fast charger) as quickly as 31 minutes.While the EV3 comes standard with features like dusk-sensing LED headlights, daytime running lights (DRLs) and partial LED tail-lights, two 12.3-inch screens (one a touchscreen for multimedia) and a 5.0-inch touchscreen for climate controls plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a six-speaker sound system, a wireless phone charger and USB-C ports in both the front and rear rows, a 12-volt outlet in the front and a household-style power outlet in the second row.The Earth adds onto that 19-inch alloy wheels, synthetic leather seats with heating and ventilation, the driver’s side being 10-way electrically adjustable, a heated steering wheel, an electro-chromatic (or glare-dimming) mirror and a power tailgate.There’s no ANCAP score just yet, but plenty of safety equipment is standard across the range including seven airbags (one in the front-centre), smart cruise control, forward collision avoidance, lane-keep, rear occupant alert, multi-collision braking, blind-spot and rear-cross traffic alert, driver attention warning and a tyre pressure monitor.The EV3 doesn’t have a surround-view camera, but it does have front and rear sensors and a rear parking camera.Kia’s seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty applies to the EV3, and Kia offers prepaid plans of three ($674), five ($1285) or seven years ($1897) when it comes to servicing.

Will Kia finish on the podium in the 2025 sales charts?

The Kia EV3 Air is both the cheapest EV the South Korean brand offers, but also one of the most impressive.It comes in two versions, Standard and Long Range, from $47,600 before on-road costs to $53,315 respectively. The main difference between the two is, as you’d expect, battery size and driving range.The 58.3kWh unit for the Air Standard Range allows for a decent 436km, but the  81.4kWh battery in the Long Range brings an impressive driving range of 604km under WLTP testing.The EV3 is two-wheel drive only - with a single motor at the front wheels putting out 150kW and 283Nm for all versions of the car.The EV3 charges (with a 350kW DC fast charger) as quickly as 29 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent in Standard Range, or 31 minutes in Long Range.Both versions of the Air boast the same extensive list of standard features, including 17-inch alloy wheels, dusk-sensing LED headlights, daytime running lights (DRLs) and partial LED tail-lights, two 12.3-inch screens (one a touchscreen for multimedia) and a 5.0-inch touchscreen for climate controls plus wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a six-speaker sound system.The EV3 also has a wireless phone charger and USB-C ports in both the front and rear rows, a 12-volt outlet in the front and a household-style power outlet in the second row.There’s no ANCAP score just yet, but plenty of safety equipment is standard across the range including seven airbags (one in the front-centre), smart cruise control, forward collision avoidance, lane-keep, rear occupant alert, multi-collision braking, blind-spot and rear-cross traffic alert, driver attention warning and a tyre pressure monitor.The EV3 doesn’t have a surround-view camera, but it does have front and rear sensors and a rear parking camera.Kia’s seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty applies to the EV3, and Kia offers prepaid plans of three ($674), five ($1285) or seven years ($1897) when it comes to servicing.

Mercedes-Benz has added a new, lower-cost variant to its large sedan E-Class line-up, with the E200 joining the existing E300.The 2025 Mercedes-Benz E200 starts from $117,900 before on-road costs which represents a $14,100 saving over the higher grade E300, costing $132,000.The E200 joins the line-up almost a year after the current-generation E-Class launched in Australia.As well as missing out on real leather upholstery (replaced with synthetic leather) the E200 doesn’t have the AMG-Line exterior nor some of the extra power of the E300.Still powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo engine, the E200 has just 150kW and 320Nm under its belt and is aided by the mild-hybrid starter-generator which can chip in 17kW and 205Nm extra temporarily.It drives the rear wheels via a nine-speed automatic transmission, and has a claimed 0-100kmh sprint of 7.5 seconds.The E200 doesn’t miss out on too much kit, though, still retaining the clever digital LED headlights and Burmester 4D surround sound system with 17 speakers.As usual, safety is covered comprehensively by Mercedes with 10 airbags inside plus a host of active and passive safety tech.Finally, a Comfort Package which adds real leather seats with heating and ventilation comes in at $3500.