Articles by Craig Duff

Volkswagen set the bar high with last year's seventh-generation Golf, combining a brilliant chassis, ergonomic efficiency and responsive turbo engines.

The Renegade mini SUV launched in Geneva this week with a trio of petrol engines and a diesel, linked to manual and nine-speed automatic transmissions.Based on the same platform found under the Fiat 500X, the Renegade will be sold in front and all-wheel drive versions and the top-spec Trailhawk maintains a "Trail Rated" off-road capability.Jeep Australia won't comment on prices ahead of a 2015 local launch, but Carsguide expects he entry model to cost around $29,000, rising to $40,000 for the Trailhawk.Fiat-Chrysler Australia spokeswoman Karla Leach acknowledges the SUV is a key vehicle. "Most of the growth is coming in the small SUV range and we now have the full line-up from soft-roader front-wheel drives to the off-roading Trailhawks," Leach says.Seven airbags will be standard along with a slew of electronic aids, from blind-spot and lane departure alerts to forward collision mitigation and rear cross-path detection. A five-inch or 6.5-inch infotainment touchscreen will run the latest UConnect software and the driver's display includes a customisable panel.The exterior styling is Jeep's impression of a scaled-down Wrangler, highlighted by removable "My Sky" roof panels. The honeycomb fibreglass and polyurethane panels can be stored underneath the 350-litre cargo area on the manual version, while a tilt/slide mechanism automates the process.A new "Tek-Tonic" interior design look gives the Renegade a youthful look and plenty of soft-touch moulded plastics. The global Latitude badge will be replaced by Longitude in Australia to avoid confusion with the Renault Latitude.The top-spec Trailhawk will roll on 17-inch wheels and has 205mm of articulation combined and 220mm of ground clearance. A towing pack boosts capacity to 900kg with the 2.4-litre petrol engine or 1500kg with the MultiJet 2.0-litre tubodiesel.The Renegade is being built at the Melfi factory alongside the Fiat 500X. It will compete with the like of the Holden Trax, Nissan Juke and Renault Captur. 

Renault’s Clio is a heavy-hitter in the light hot-hatch stakes. The junior hot hatch market is fertile ground for enthusiastic drivers on a budget.

The best BMW in Australia is now a 2.

Benz's cheapest SUV yet is bad news for its rivals and glad tidings for buyers.

Benz board member and head of research and development Dr Thomas Weber says the global popularity of the A, B, CLA and soon-to-launch GLA-Class cars has stretched production capacity. That's before the arrival of a fifth model based on the Mercedes-Benz MFA front-wheel drive architecture.As reported first by Carsguide almost 12 months ago, this will be the stylish shooting brake take on the CLA, which is due here possibly by December. The A45 AMG has been the greatest victim of the compact line-up's success, with waiting times blowing out to 2016. "I know in Australia there is a lot of complaints ... they want to order the vehicle and we cannot supply it," Weber says.He is concerned delays could force potential Benz buyers to look elsewhere for a new car but says the focus must be to ensure any Benz, regardless of the price, meets the company's quality standards."We are dealing offensively with the problems you are mentioning," he says. "When we launch a vehicle the key priority is quality comes first."The start-up of the Chinese plant (for compact cars) for their domestic market will free up other plants. Premium and mass market sometimes is a conflicting issue. Of course, we are quite happy to see this additional demand and we will take action."Weber says Mercedes-Benz has learnt from the outstanding success of the compact car range and won't repeat the supply bottleneck. "Hopefully the C-Class, capacity wise, will be better," he says.  "In a period of only six months we will have four plants under operation. We differ from our competitors ... our strategy is to launch cars globally." 

Ford EcoSport and Holden Trax go head-to-head in this comparative review. .star {width:135px;}#article-corpus {width:100%; padding-right: 0;}

Shooting brakes were conceived and crafted to carry people and their assorted gear on hunting trips.

If what's on the inside counts, Nissan can start counting Altima sales.

None of us wants to crash our shiny new car but, if we do, we want to know we're safe. That's where the Australian New Car Assessment Program's standardised crash-testing analysis is invaluable, providing comparable ratings for vehicles of all types.The ANCAP site notes that a one-star car is twice as likely to kill you as a five-star model. Carsguide examines ANCAP's results to find the best of breed in each segment. It's worth noting the advanced software in some cars that readies the vehicle if a crash is imminent are disabled during the official tests. Cars are scored out of 37 points after the following tests.FRONTAL OFFSET TEST: The subject vehicle is accelerated to 64km/h and rammed into a deformable alloy barrier to simulate a head-on crash. To increase the severity and reproduce real-world conditions only 40 per cent of the car hits the wall - equating to a driver swerving to avoid an oncoming vehicle.SIDE IMPACT TEST: The T-bone hit rams a 950kg trolley into the side of the car at 50km/h. The sled has an alloy face to simulate the front of another vehicle, which deforms and absorbs some of the impact.PEDESTRIAN TEST: Simulates the results of hitting a pedestrian at 40km/h. The test assesses adult and child impacts, given their heads and limbs strike different areas of the car.POLE TEST: This is the most demanding test in the ANCAP repertoire. Trees and poles don't deform, so all the crash energy is transferred to the vehicle. The car is put on a sled and propelled towards a fixed steel pole at 29km/h.SAFEST SMALL CARSAUDI A3 36.41 See reviews of this carOfficially the best small car to occupy in an accident. Impressively, the windscreen pillar didn't move after a 64km/h hit with the concrete block.  HONDA INSIGHT 36.39 See reviews of this carIts score reflects a 3mm movement of the pillar in the frontal offset test and "slight risk" of serious leg injury for driver and passenger.   BMW 1 SERIES HATCH 36.33 See reviews of this carThere's a slight risk of serious chest injury for the driver in the frontal and side crash test and a slight risk of serious leg injury for the passenger in the frontal crash.   SAFEST MEDIUM CARSMERCEDES B-CLASS 36.78 See reviews of this carTops the charts with the highest score of any car in ANCAP database. Technically there's a 4mm movement of the front pillar and a slight risk of injury to the passenger leg closest the door.  BMW 3 SERIES 36.76 See reviews of this carBarely behind. It showed a 1mm movement of the pillar and there was a slight risk of serious injury to the driver's and passenger's legs.VOLVO V40 36.67 See reviews of this carThe only loss of points occurred during the frontal crash test, with a slight risk of serious injury to the front occupants' legs closest the door and the driver's chest.SAFEST LARGE CARSTOYOTA AURION 36.59 See reviews of this carFirst place in this class makes it the only locally built vehicle in any top-three line-up. There's a slight risk of lower leg injury for driver and passenger.   BMW 5 Series 36.53 See reviews of this carNot a bad place to be in the event of an accident either. It blitzed the side impact tests and only lost fractions of points in the head-on hit.    VOLVO S60 36.34 See reviews of this carSweden maintains its safety credentials. The passenger compartment stayed intact with only a 1mm movement of the front pillar.    SAFEST COMPACT SUVS SUBARU XV 35.53 See reviews of this carLike the slightly lower-riding Impreza, the XV scored highly in all crashes, with a slight risk of injury to the front occupants' chests and legs.    HOLDEN TRAX 35.18 See reviews of this carThe surprise packet. One of the smaller cars in the class has only a slight risk of serious leg injury for those in the front in a head-on crash.   Skoda Yeti 34.67 See reviews of this carDepite being one of the older examples in this segment, the Yeti still rates well for safety, with only a slight risk of serious leg injury for those in the front in a head-on crash.    SAFEST MEDIUM SUVSVOLVO XC60 36.53 See reviews of this carANCAP says the cabin 'held its shape extremely well" in the frontal test, with the pillar shifting just 3mm. There was a slight risk of serious chest and leg injuries to the driver.  FORD KUGA 36.33 See reviews of this carA solid second, posing a slight risk of serious chest injury for both front seat occupants. The front pillar moved 15mm.   HONDA CR-V 35.91 See reviews of this carPlaced well despite being penalised for the foot-operated park brake moving upwards and back. Structurally there was only a 2mm movement of the pillar.  SUBARU FORESTER 35.64 See reviews of this carTested this year, it scored highly in all crashes, with a slight risk of injury to the front occupants' chests and legs.   SUBARU OUTBACK 35.52 See reviews of this carFills the brand's quinella. Crashed in 2008 and at the time topped the charts as the safest vehicle ANCAP had tested. SAFEST LARGE SUVSMERCEDES-BENZ ML 36.34 See reviews of this car Luxury SUV has a slight risk of serious chest injury for driver and passenger in the head-on hit and a slight risk of serious leg injury for the passenger. The pillar moved 2mm. RANGE ROVER 36.19 See reviews of this carBig Brit has a slight risk of serious chest injury for the driver and the pillar shifted by 15mm.   NISSAN PATHFINDER 35.73 See reviews of this carSlight risk of serious leg injury for the driver. Unlike the other two, it applies to the upper leg as well as the expected lower-leg hits. Docked points for a marginal pedestrian impact result.