Articles by David Fitzsimons

A survey of car running costs for more than 600 popular models, to be released today by the NRMA, shows that motorists are saving $2 a week on the overall costs of running a car compared to last year. It now costs motorists an average of $183 a week to buy, fuel, repair, insure, and allow for car maintenance costs,

Here's our guide to the five biggest-selling people movers on the market (2010 year-to-date, VFACTS).

Australian wheelchair tennis champion David Hall's blue 1966 Ford Mustang fastback fits the bill. Hall, who won gold in the men's singles at the Sydney Paralympics and became the first non-American to win the US Open in 1995, fell in love with Mustangs after a trip to the US many years ago. When this particular Mustang became available in 1999 he was quick to snap it up. But life as a Mustang driver came with a shock. "My previous car was a four-cylinder Ford Laser hatchback. It was like the lawn-bowlers' car of choice," says Hall. Getting to grips with the V8 Mustang was a steep learning curve.  "The power was quite a challenge. It took some time to get used to. Particularly out on the open road. It can get away from you." Hall suffered serious injuries through a car accident when he was 16 and needed hand controls fitted to the Mustang to drive it. "I bought it in 1999 and just because I was travelling so much over the next six years with tennis I drove it only one or two times a week. But after I finished with tennis I use it now as a daily driver." The Mustang was imported from California in an ordinary condition. Hall said the car's then-owner Dennis Griggs stripped the car back to bare metal to begin a ground-up restoration that included converting it to right hand drive. A crash repair shop in Sydney that undertaken similiar work on other Mustangs did the work. He says Griggs used many of the original parts and had the car's paint job done in the car's original striking blue colour, officially known as Tahoe Torquoise by Ford. Now it's a striking sight on the streets. "It still blows me away, the reaction it gets on the street. People wave and give me the thumbs up. It is such an icon." Others remind him of the 1960s movie Bullitt, that featured a Mustang and a Charger in what many consider the best film car chase ever. Apart from the hand controls Hall has also been gradually changing the car to give it an even sportier feel. That's included changing the wheels, pipes and mufflers. "I wanted to put my own personality on it." Hall paid $28,00 for the car in 1999 and says it is worth much more now. "I think the fastbacks are a little bit rarer than the coupes. They are getting a little bit harder to find now." He estimates a fastback in excellent condition is worth up to $45,000. Hall played top level wheelchair tennis from 1990 to 2005 and is regarded as one of the game's greatest players. While he rates his gold medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympics as the highlight he also won nine Australian Opens, eight US Opens and seven British Open tournaments. He has been world champion six times and led Australia to the world team cup title four times. He also received the Order of Australia medal back in 2000. After retiring he was approached by Tennis Australia to take on the role as the National Wheelchair Tennis Adviser. This is a combination of coaching, spreading the word about his sport and encouraging others to take up wheelchair tennis. Hall says the game was invaluable in helping him recover from the physical and mental stresses he suffered from his injury. "I think sport can be a great heeler. Tennis ended up being something I could pour all my energies into while I was recovering." And now his great passion is slipping behind the wheel of his immaculate blue Mustang with its 289 cubic inch four-barrel Holley V8 engine.

Imagine being able to afford to go to a 5-star restaurant where your all-time favourite meal is served.  You start with the soup you desire, the entree you adore, the main comes rich in quality ingredients and it's all topped off with the tastiest of desserts and finest wine. But imagine if they served it all together on the one plate.StylingThat's the problem with the new luxury BMW 550i GT. It has the best of everything packed into one parcel but the finished product just doesn't quite look right.  BMW claims the car is a combination of luxury saloon, SUV and classic GT (that's grand touring rather than GT stripes).And it's here the problem lies. It doesn't really know what it is.  The four doors are frameless as in a sports car or convertible but from the inside you feel you are in a prestige SUV.From the outside, the shape of the car just seems to be a bit too big.  The big snout with a long bonnet and the ample rear are not the prettiest seen on the road.  And it is hard to be won over but the off-set panels and rear tail-lights that can cry `wrong' just as well as pioneering.The styling certainly fits BMW's definitions of the car with terms such as individual and unique.  It's just a case of whether you want to have your cake, eat it too and get a fillet mignon at the same time.Price and packageAt a smidgeon under $200,000 the big Beemer is packed to the rafters.  For starters there's the enormous grunt and smooth delivery of the 4.4-litre V8 twin turbo engine, that is seemingly urging you on to go faster, particularly when it has to loll along in traffic.It delivers maximum outputs of 300kW of power and 600Nm of torque. It may be a big car but it can step up quickly, going 0-100km/h in just 5.5 seconds.  The eight-speed automatic gearbox is extremely smooth. There's also the Dynamic Drive Control that allows you to change the handling and suspension of the car on the run through four levels from comfort to sport just by pressing a button.On the downside, fuel economy is a concern. BMW claims the official around town economy figure is a whopping 16-litres per 100km.  Allowing for some motorway cruising the onboard computer showed me 14-litres/100km. That's a lot, particularly considering the cost of premium unleaded these days.InteriorInside the car it feels as as big as a small room. With four seats (you can fold away the rear console to make a fifth seat if you have to), there's oodles of leg space in the front and back.  It's lathered in leather and the multi-flexible electronically adjustable seats wrap around you.The excellent head-up display, sat-nav, climate controls and the one-button console controller known as the i-Drive exude a prestige feel. The buttons and dials are solid and firm and relatively straight-forward to use. There's no flimsy controls or cheap material here.Features include a rear view camera, a sound system with 80Gb harddrive for digital maps plus an extra 12gb for storing all your music, four-zone automatic air-conditioning, TV with screens at the front and in the back of the front head-rests and hands-free Bluetooth technology for your phone.And it has two boots. Apart from the main boot there is a second, smaller lid under the rear window that can be opened separately.  But the small rear window also needs its own windscreen wiper.  Rear visibility through it is not great and it gets worse on rainy days.BMW 550i GTPrice: $192,900Engine: 4.4L/V8 300kW/600Nm twin-turboTransmission: 8-speed automaticEconomy: 11.2L/100km (official) 

Just two years ago rare examples of the original V8 supercar were selling for more than $600, 000 with talk of million dollar sales imminent.  But this week a highly desirable example made just $331, 000 at a major auction. Shannons national auctions manger Christophe Boribon blames the global financial crisis for the collapse in values.  "We reached an artificial high a couple of years ago but then the GFC hit. Now it is back to reality, " he said.  "There is only a limited number of buyers out there for a car like that.  "The car is a very rare car. The car is the holy grail of Australian muscle cars." Back in 1971 the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III sold new for $5300.  Just 300 of the high-performance supercars were built by Ford to win the Bathurst 500 that year, which Allan Moffat duly did comfortably. Interest was revived in the early 2000s when baby boomers flush with cash began seeking out the remaining examples, keen to get hold of the cars they watched race on TV and couldn't afford in their youth. At the 2007 Sydney motor show auction an immaculate Monza Green model was passed in at $620, 000. It had been expected to beat the $683,650 record price a Queensland buyer had paid for a similiar model a few months earlier.  Mr Boribon said that car was sold privately a few months later for less than the top bid. "There was talk at the time of one or two cars making a million bucks but I haven't seen any paperwork confirming that. It's impossible to say whether it happened." Last Monday another, nearly identical car in condition and colour to the 2007 Sydney auction car, sold for $331, 000 in Melbourne after bidding started at $260,000.  Sydney car collector Paul Carthew advertised  his white GTHO for one million dollars in 2008. Yesterday, he said he still had the car.  "I never got one genuine offer, I got a lot of wankers though.  "There was one car that I know about that changed hands for $900,000 at the time in Melbourne.  "That was the peak of the market. I didn't really want to sell it but I thought that if someone was prepared to pay that sort of money I was prepared to sell it." Mr Carthew said that despite the latest sale result he believed that a GTHO in excellent original condition with all the correct paperwork would still be worth $500, 000-$600, 000 today.  "It comes down to what people are prepared to pay for it." Collectors' eyes will now turn to a Sydney auction next Monday night (June 7) when a rare Holden 427 concept car goes under the hammer. It is reported to have last sold for around $900, 000 in 2007. Falcon GTHO Phase III Price new 1971: $5300Value 2007: $683,500Value 2008: close to $1 millionValue 2010: $331, 000

Diesels have a lot going for them and sales are up in Australia. But they battle to sway buyers put off by agricultural noises from under the bonnet. It's hard enough to convince people in the middle of the weekday when the diesel chatter can be drowned in the hubbub of city noise. But at 5am on a public holiday when you're about the only car on the road, it is deafening. As I drove through the suburbs to start the road trip, the chatter felt loud enough to wake up the locals."Are you going to have to put up with this all day, dad?" asked one teenage daughter. "It'll be fine. Once I get out on the highway, it'll be right," was my hopeful reply. To be fair, once you're on the open road, get used to the noise - and turn up the sound system - you can forget you are in a big, noisy 4WD.The $56,990 5-seat Mitsubishi Challenger XLS was added to the range this year to sit below the Pajero, but above the Outlander, as a serious 4WD that buyers could still live with around town. It has been hailed by writers who took it offroad, but has come in for flak from those who tested it as a big urban runabout. I was trying both in one trip.Around the city the Challenger does feel agricultural, with the 4WD transfer gear stuck next to my left leg, but its size and high-seating position are handy in traffic. On the Hume Highway its a smooth though cumbersome cruiser. It's no sportscar and even old-model small sedans fly past. But the next day when we tackle a rough trek through several abandoned gold mining towns in the mountain forests of the Great Dividing Range the world changes for the Challenger.Faced with a challenge it responds in style. It chugs up the dirt roads that follow the Goulburn River with aplomb. However the onboard satnav is soon searching for answers. Not far out of civilisation and it shows we are driving in the river.And then it goes blank, well green actually. According to the screen we are lost in a forest somewhere. You'd think climbing to the top of the Great Dividing Range you'd actually be getting closer to the satellite but this proves to be uncharted territory. Not so good for an offroad machine.The road deteriorates seriously as we reach the tiny towns of Gaffneys Creek and A1 Mine Settlement - once bustling but now largely abandoned. The Challenger though takes the steep climbs on the narrow dirt roads easily.After passing through the hamlet of Woods Point we climb to the fabled town of Matlock (remember the old TV cop show Matlock Police from the 1970s, but there's no sign of actor Paul Cronin and his police motorcycle now though).What we are confronted with in the dusk is a sign to Walhalla that I think reads 24km. But it actually says 74km and the road becomes atrocious. It's basically a narrow collection of rocks hardly changed since the days of the packhorse. Great 4WD territory but the average speed drops to barely 30km/h as we battle to avoid the gaping potholes. We bounce away around the plateau and begin the descent into the valleys of upper Gippsland. There's no sign of wheel slip on the rocks and the Challenger's high seating position is valuable for peering off the edge of the road into the valley.While this is supposed to be a test of the Challenger's all-round capabilities it also becomes praise for the ability of a humble Toyota Camry. Because around the corner, coming up the hill in the dark we meet a Camry-driving couple with two kids in the back who not only tell us they are aiming to be hundreds of kilometres away near Albury that night, they are low on fuel and the kids are hungry...With the trip now taking a couple of hours longer than Google maps forecast, we roll on through the darkness. The lazy roar of the engine sounds like a bear. The last 10 kays, on the edge of a cliff with a river below, is a narrow one-lane descent. The satnav has given up all hope now. Occasionally a place name appears, drifts around the screen aimlessly and disappears.Finally we arrive at our destination of Walhalla, where the bitumen starts again. The Challenger, now totally covered in dust, has proved its worth as a versatile hauler. Folding the back seats over has given us enough room in the boot for two mountain bikes and our luggage, but you would need a bike rack with the rear seats in use.Fuel economy has been good but not great with the diesel. It averaged about 15L/100km around town but came down to nearer 10-11L/100km on the open road. But it is more frugal than the petrol model.Returning to Sydney via Canberra shows that the Challenger is also a comfortable highway driver. However, it will mostly suit people who are regularly heading off the blacktop. There are better buys on the market, including the Toyota Kluger and Ford Territory, if you rarely leave suburbia.It's a high step to get in and out of the car but once there the leather seats were comfortable and easily adjustable. The reversing camera was invaluable and should be a basic in cars of this size. Overall, it's a big machine, with heaps of lazy power, a bit too noisy, but a delight in the tough stuff.

Diehard fans can recall famous Bathurst victories of up to 40 years ago that they watched trackside or on the couch year-by-year. They remember the legendary drivers who used to race roadcars around the mountain at breakneck speed.But the V8 Supercars that tore themselves to pieces around the new Homebush track  have little in common with the road-going V8s on sale today.  Rising fuel prices have scared many away from buying a V8 for the road but there is a passionate core keeping the bent-eight flag flying high. Sales figures this year show the V8 is a constant in a dwindling big-car market.Holden director of sales John Elsworth says 10 to 14 per cent of Commodore sales this year are V8-engined machines and that hasn't changed "for years".  At Holden and Ford's performance arms, Holden Special Vehicles and Ford Performance Vehicles, V8 sales are the core of their existence.One of the biggest V8 fans is Sam Mangiapane who owns two HSVs. Mangiapane bought a new HSV GTS this year and also has a VY Clubsport. He is the vice-president of the HSV Owners Club of NSW.  The GTS has a 6.2-litre LS3 V8 engine putting out 317kW of power and 550Nm of torque.The claimed fuel economy is 14.5 litres per 100km but Mangiapane says rising petrol prices wouldn't stop him and many others buying a V8."I'd keep buying them regardless," he says. "It won't stop people buying an HSV, or an FPV for that matter, because they are so passionate about them."Put it this way: I've yet to hear someone say they'd have to sell their car because it had become too expensive to run it."  Mangiapane says many V8 owners keep their fuel costs down by not driving them every day. Instead they are used for weekend runs, club activities and special outings.   Driving it every day becomes expensive," he says.Mangiapane says opponents of V8s who see them as gas-guzzling dinosaurs don't realise that technology has improved the cars' efficiency and economy."  The V8s of today are not like the V8s of the `80s and `90s. They are a lot better on economy and with greenhouse gases."Automatic-transmission V8 Holdens now feature technology that enables four of the cylinders to be shut down to save fuel when the car is cruising.Mangiapane loves driving V8s because of their performance. "The horsepower is the main thing. It's the power and it's the looks."  According to Mangiapane, club membership is rising by up to 10 per cent a year, ranging across the age groups. Nearly 10 per cent of the members are women.The current VE model is popular among club members, though the cheaper and older VS and VR models are also common club cars.  He says Holden's racing history, and Peter Brock in particular, are fond topics of conversation among HSV owners.HSV is now in its 21st year of business. It was started in 1988 as a joint venture between Holden and Tom Walkinshaw Racing, which then also ran  Holden's race team.  After years of the company passing through different hands and arrangements, today Walkinshaw owns the business again.

But that hasn't stopped her from joining a growing band of younger people who love to drive classic cars of the past - particularly the Beetle and the little Mini Cooper. The Beetle was one of the most popular cars ever on Australian roads, with more than 274,000 imported or assembled here.  Back in the early 1960s it was winning in showrooms, rally courses and racetracks around the country.  By 1962 it was ranked third behind only GMH and Ford for car sales in Australia. While many saw the Beetle as noisy and peculiar with the engine at the wrong end of the car, many more loved the Beetle as a value-priced family machine. Some even saw it as funky and cool. Rodriguez is one of those. And she says that original unique appeal has lasted well beyond the original cars' heyday.  Last year she bought a one-owner, well-travelled, nearly 50-year-old Beetle and has brought it back to life. She has helped experts restore the cream 1962 VW over the past year.  Rodriguez says she has driven many modern cars but adores the unique styling and feel of the old 1200cc rear-engined classic. "It's really cool, I just love it. It has classic lines, I love the chrome on it and the simpleness of it," she says.  "It's different, it's very humble, it's low maintenance. It just keeps on going." The skin specialist is on the road most days visiting clients around Sydney and uses the Beetle as her regular drive.  "It's my workhorse. I got rid of my Toyota and I've never looked back. I've never had any problems with it," she says. The little Beetle she nicknames "smallish bug" was in a sorry state when she bought it last year.  It had done more than 330,000 miles (520,000 km) with its only other owner. "It was banged-up a bit," she says.  "It was on old man's car. It was his pride and joy but he didn't have the money to spend on it. He didn't do a lot to it.  It was very worn and stinky and dirty.  It had three layers of seat covers, the carpet was rotting and all the rubber was crystalised.  There was a lot of cancer, rust, under the windshield." Rodriguez says many holes in the car had been patched up with Blue-Tack.  After paying $1800 for the car Rodriguez then got in contact with specialist VW restorers and began the process of breathing new life into the tired old bug.  She says she wanted to be involved and lent a hand where she could, even including sandblasting. The car now boasts sporty red stripes and the doors are emblazoned with "Kelly County" sherriff-type badges.  "They put it on a as a joke," she says.  After spending $5000 there's still more to be done to replace the window rubbers, carpets, seat coverings and fix some panels. But one item she has kept is the original number plate. It's showing its age but it is an important piece of the car's history.  Rodriguez admits that not too many women get involved in restoring old cars but she finds it a welcome release from her normal life.  "It is a hobby. It's just something different. It takes me out of the norm." While she uses the car as a daily driver she has also gone on some VW club runs around Sydney.  And she pepped-up one club show this year by getting some scantily-dressed girlfriends to pose as Formula One-style grid girls around the car. Rodriguez has got right into the restoration process and has even posted some videos of  the rebuild on YouTube.  One of the best treats she gets from the hobby is the look on clients' faces when she turns up. They expect to see her in a classy sports car but instead she's aboard a funky bug.  She says: "I just love people smiling as I drive by in it."

He has completed a year-long rebuild of a classic 1966 HR Holden - the car his father-in-law and WWII Kokoda veteran  Arthur James Bell (Jim) owned for 40 years.  While he loves Holdens it was as much a work to keep the car in the family and pay tribute to the war veteran's heroic deeds.The HR Premier sedan with its 186 red motor and Powerglide 2-speed auto transmission was sold new in Sydney by dealer C.V. Holland.  It was painted bronze but its first owner had it resprayed in a distinctive lime light green from Chrysler's paintchart.  Tesoreiro says: "It was a very unusual colour. It was a colour Chrysler used on the Charger in the 1970s."When Bell became its second owner it had done about 3000 miles (5000km). It became their family car.  Bell had owned an FB Holden earlier but the HR was to become his pride and joy.  "For the best part of 40 years it was the only car he owned."By 2006 when Bell couldn't drive it anymore Tesoreiro says he was given the car to restore.  "I asked him if I could restore it. He said he'd love that to happen."  While the engine was in good shape the body needed work and it no longer had much of its original interior.Tesoreiro says the car was stolen in the 1970s and the thieves stripped out every part of the top-of-the-range Premier equipment. The front bucket seats, rear seats, the steering wheel, badging and wheel caps were among items pinched before the car was recovered.They were replaced with standard model parts so Tesoreiro now needed to replace them with the Premier gear.  "A lot of  parts came out of a wrecker in Newcastle. I also sourced a lot of parts from eBay and local wreckeers."Extensive trim work was also carried out.  One of the biggest jobs was re-painting the car.  Tesoreiro gave the HR its third different colour scheme, opting for his favourite shade of Fowler's cream rather than the earlier bronze or green."That colour, I've always liked that."  He says the resoration cost about $10,000.  "It was all done in a year. I didn't have to touch the motor. It still drives beautifully.  It's done 89.000 miles. Jim was very fastidious about servicing the vehicle. Mechanically when I got the car, it was in very good condition."Tesoriero says he was determined to get the restoration done to remind Bell how it had looked when he first owned it.  He says the job was about 80 per cent completed when Bell died in January 2008.  Bell was part of the 3rd Australian Infantry Batallion that fought on the Kokoda track in New Guinea.Tesoreiro says he was part of a three man decoy missionin October 1942  when they came under attack.  "He was badly shot in the arm and he was carried off the track by the fuzzy-wuzzies."Bell was  brought home and spent 15 months in the Concord Repatriation hospital before being discharged from the army in 1944.  He later became president of the Kingsgrove RSL and was involved in the creation of the Kokoda memorial at Concord.Tesoriero says Bell's efforts inspired him to complete the restoration work.  "He was a Kokoda digger in New Guinea, Part of the restoration was respect for that legacy."  He says the car won't be put up for sale anytime soon.  "I am hoping it will always stay in the family. We really don't want this car sold."Tesoriero says the car is valued at between $15,000 and $18,000. He says HR values are rising.  "The car is starting now to have a bit of a growth spurt.  "People have begun to seek out some older classic cars, the old Holdens."  The HR was one of the biggest selling Holdens of all time.  Its distinctive lines made it a stand-out of its day and it is beginning to be appreciated again.

An accelerating Korean auto industry is now within a car's length of equalling sales of our home-grown models.  According to the official car sales figures for October released last week Korean vehicle sales in Australia were up 80 per cent compared to October 2008 and up 23 per cent for the year so far compared to the same period in 2008.Sales of Korean-made cars (12,324) nearly equalled the total sales of all Australian manufacturers (12,822) for the month.  Nearly 20,000 more Korean-made cars have been sold in Australia this year than in the same time last year.  By comparison, locally-built cars are down by 24,594 units, a drop of 17 per cent.Hyundai is leading the way, recording its best-ever October result in Australia, up by 106 per cent over October 2008, and is our fourth biggest-selling carmaker behind Toyota, Holden and Ford.  It's not only Hyundai and Kia that are raising the profile of Korea.The Holden-badged models of Captiva, Cruze, Barina, Viva and Epica are made by GM-Daewoo in Korea. The Renault Koleos is made by Samsung in Korea and Ssangyong SUVs are from a Korean plant.  About 39 per cent of light cars sold in Australia, 27 per cent of small cars and 26 per cent of medium-sized SUVs - including Australia's most popular SUV, the Holden Captiva - are built in Korea.A Hyundai spokesman said: "We are now on the shopping list. There was a time when we weren't but we have won awards - such as the Carsguide Car of the Year in 2007 - which has made people really notice us.  We didn't take our foot off the accelerator when the recession started late last year.  We didn't reduce production and we didn't spend less on marketing. That worked in our favour because people saw us as being constant."Overall car sales in Australia were up in October for the first time in 16 months.  Improvements were across the board covering private, business and rental buyers.  Sales of vans and Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were particularly strong.And the situation is set to improve when import tariffs drop 5 per cent from January 1.  Some importers, including Mazda and Subaru, have already passed on savings.