Articles by Gordon Lomas

It borrows nothing from the limited-run Z3 series M Coupe, which aimed at a narrow but discerning audience and was a wild, tail-happy blast to drive.When it came out in 1998, it was a ballistic little bread van-style unit cranking out 236kW of power and 350Nm for $137,000 new. The Z4 M coupe arrives for $127,500 with a completely fresh look some are interpreting as a modern-day version of Jaguar's E-Type.That may be so in the eyes of some, but this BMW has one gene unique to the species — the power of M division. There is not much that is subtle about the piping-hot Z4 hardtop, which produces 252kW from the screaming 3.2-litre M-tuned inline motor. Everything it does is edgy, loud and proud.It is a boombox on wheels, with an unrelenting soundtrack that fills the air like a heavy metal rock concert at full volume. This M baby barks big time, the quad tailpipes giving off their sinister beat at the blip of the throttle.You need to give the go pedal a decent shove to awaken the two-seater, and from there, its ballistic sounds turn into ballistic moves.Grip the meaty, three-spoke steering wheel; grab second, third, bang it into fourth, and you'll be guaranteed a thrill in less than 60 seconds. Pluck fifth and sixth only if you want to dawdle around.The clutch is fairly heavy and will give your left calf muscle a decent work-out in traffic. It is also measured for an early take-up so you can blast away with little delay.Balancing the take-up point and your throttle delivery is a fine art and one which, when applied precisely, rewards the driver.Gear changes on this model were a little imprecise, occasionally fumbling between third and fifth.The brakes are huge and can cop a hammering with the pedal feel firm, but with enough modulation that you can wash speed off gently and safely. On a drive involving city roads and highways for a week, the Zed blaster gulped about 12L/100km but that was being fairly kind to the equipment and sticking within socially acceptable speeds.It is a tough car and requires a firm hand at the controls. There are no compromises. It would be out of place down “poseur street”, where soft-style, fashion-accessory cars park. This is a carnivore on steroids. It rides like a rock, banging and crashing and walloping. Lack of suspension travel will do that.It is not as at home on the impure roads of Australia as it is on a nice smooth racetrack. That's its environment to a tee. The Z4 M coupe is essentially a competition car that just happens to be able to be cop a rego sticker on the window.Switching off DSC frees up the ability for the rear to wave its tail but it doesn't want to let go altogether. It can be controlled on the throttle. Point-to-point it is devilishly quick with pin-sharp steering. It doesn't promise to deliver a balance of serenity and aggression on demand. There is one mode for this BMW: hard and fast.

The Japanese car maker now owns a massive 21.9 per cent of the market, a rise of 0.6 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.Australia's leading seller has surged to 91,984 sales to the end of May compared with 82,227 for the first five months of last year.Toyota is driving the industry to continued forecasts that more than a million vehicles will be sold for the first time in a calendar year in Australia.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries has nominated an annualised rate (SAAR) of 1.022 million vehicles for 2007.Chief contributors to Toyota's booming figures are the four-cylinder Camry while the 4 x 2 and 4 x 4 variants of the HiLux have recorded huge jumps along with the Yaris and the introduction of the V6 Aurion.Significantly, since improved supply, the petrol/electric Prius has more than doubled on 2006 figures with 1333 sold to the end of May compared with 625 for the same period last year.Toyota continues to punch above the performance of the total market.“Our aspirations are always to grow bigger than the market,” Toyota Australia chairman Emeritus John Conomos said at the launch recently of the 10th generation Corolla.“No one has ever achieved 25 per cent of the market in modern times before.“It's probably not achievable this year but it's a goal worth setting.”Holden remains in Toyota's shadow. It has increased sales from 60,792 to 61,863 year-on-year, but its market share is down from 15.7 to 14.8 per cent.Ford is a clear number three but has slipped almost 5000 sales year-on-year and has lost 2 per cent market share which now stands at 10.5 per cent.Mitsubishi continues to claw its way back and is moving up on Nissan in a fight for fifth spot.Those models selling well for Mitsubishi have been the Lancer, Outlander, Pajero and the Triton 4 x 4 although the model which the Adelaide maker has staked its future on, the 380, has declined from 5176 to 4641 in year-on-year figures.On the luxury front, BMW recorded its second successive monthly record with 1497 vehicles finding owners, taking its year-to-date tally to 6462.What has been a massive seller for BMW has been the new hardtop 3-series convertible and coupe with combined sales standing at 1170 compared with 313 this time last year.While sales of the X5 Sport Utility Vehicle remain robust and Z4 convertible and coupe sales have grown by a massive 49.4 per cent it is the two-door 3-series models which have allowed BMW to gain significant market momentum.BMW customer deliveries last month were 11.7 per cent higher than May 2006, adding an extra 157 units to last May's record figure.Volkswagen, the only European importer to make the top 10 list, has lifted its year-on-year volume share to 2.6 per cent from 1.9 per cent with sales topping 10,918 to the end of May.

Once it gathers momentum the Captiva is smooth and tractableWith pricing this competitive it appears there is little choice; it's diesel or nothing.That's how Holden have shaped its charges on the petrol versus diesel equation for the Captiva wagon.The diesel joined the Captiva crowd only recently after the launch of petrol models in October last year.There is a rather mild $1000 price premium to pay if you want diesel over petrol.The Captiva diesel starts from $34,990 for the SX and rises to $39,990 for the CX with the LX topping the range at $42,990.As driven on this test, the CX reconfirmed initial thoughts the Captiva is a totally competent and viable four-wheel-drive family wagon.What's more is that, not including the extras such as on-roads and delivery charges, the Captiva proposes essentially an all-you-need-package for under $40,000.Okay, there's still plenty on offer on the accessory and options fronts but much of the big ticket boxes are already ticked, stock standard.And that psychological sub-$40k price is a moot point, particularly as you are getting room for seven, plenty of active safety devices, key equipment and the frugality of a modern common-rail diesel.On this drive the 60-litre tank was good for about 650km which cannot really be described as great.But it is considerably better than the petrol Captivas tested earlier this year that averaged close to 12 litres/100km.The CX diesel is quite a capable wagon, possessing excellent mid-range torque for those towing jobs and passing opportunities on the highway.Everything was clearly laid out in a functional cabin that contained good storage space for the multitude of bits and pieces that people carry in cars.Getting away from a standstill means overcoming a pronounced delay before the turbine in the turbocharger spools-up but once it gathers momentum the Captiva is smooth and tractable.The brakes are quite good, although at first you need reassurance as the pedal calibration is quite spongy.So Holden's effort to stem the massive head-start Ford has enjoyed with the outstanding but more expensive Territory has been given more emphasis with the arrival of the oil-burning power plant.Dimensionally the Holden versus the Ford is an interesting comparison.The Ford is the best part of 200mm longer, is wider and has a significantly longer wheelbase than the Captiva.But the Captiva has a decent 200mm of ground clearance compared with the Territory's 179mm and, at 1720mm (1700mm for the MaXX), is slightly taller than the Territory (1714mm).Price is the overwhelming weapon. The Captiva loads a hell of a lot into a $39,990 price package.

While Andretti's comments were motor racing-related they conversely were relevant to road car technology. Sitting in the lagoon restaurant of the Marriott Hotel at Surfers Paradise, Andretti was having a good old natter about whether driving skill has been taken away in this age of electronic overload. “I look at the computer as a tool and I've said it a thousand times, a tool to advance your knowledge.” The 1978 F1 world champion qualified his opinion by saying “a computer does not do the work for you — it gives you information. “But you have to ask the computer what you want to know therefore it's not a substitute for what you know.” That conversation was recalled when a letter to the editor in an issue of Forbes magazine in March appeared where a reader proclaimed his horror at electronic advances in cars. He wrote: “Allowing software unfettered control of our automobiles removes one of our chief assets; human decision making.” Well thanks for coming and don't mind us because for all the fancy pants technology there isn't a car you can buy that does the driving for you. The letter writer suggested if a child stood in the middle of the road and a car was programmed not to swerve into another car then it may instead swerve towards the child and put it at risk of being run over. One car which ranks as a gold medallist in terms of electronic wizardry, if not complexity, is BMW's M6 convertible. For $296,000 there are a trillion things you can program it to do — but you can't program it to run over a human. The M6 soft top possesses the same complex and sometimes awkward SMG Drivelogic 7-speed transmission attached to the 5-litre V10 engine as the hell-raising M5. But the real trickery is in the spider's web framework of M car's software. The driver has an arsenal of tricks from which to chose, depending on mood, road conditions or whether you can hire a track for a day to let the full complement of the M6's considerable athletic juices flow. There are a welter of different settings to suit your taste with the EDC (Electronic Damper Control) smoothing, or firming, ride in three distinct settings. The SMG gearbox is good for 11 different driving programs — six for manual S mode and five in automatic or D mode. Most are plain useless and make you wonder why BMW don't simplify the whole deal and cut the number of settings to normal, sporty, and hyper performance, for example. In sequential mode, the pure driving program is position six and this can only be activated if Dynamic Stability Control is switched off. The magic button to cut all the nonsensical steps you have to take to personalise the settings is M on the steering wheel. Press M (the “magic button”) and it lights everything up like a pinball machine. It gives you an instant extra 100bhp to lift maximum grunt to a neat 500bhp or 373kW, it firms up the dampers to their hardest setting and it gives you the maximum position of the Drivelogic gearbox. Whammo, everything is instantly maxxed out for a red-hot launch. All this smart-alec stuff is no gimmick. The personna of the M6 softtop changes from a little old woman shuffling down the street to a manic pole dancer on an endless prescription of No-Doz. Trying to convey the extent of the grip levels, the integrity of the rebound damping and the quality of the meaty steering feel of this convertible in words seems impossible. You need to taste the real thing to fully understand how the ragtop M6 can transfer all of its considerable energy on to the road with prodigious ease. In fact the dare is to find a road where you can explore the car's limits and the truth is they are few and far between. What helps harness all the brutality is the tricky M differential lock that keeps torque nice and balanced while it feeds varying amounts of torque to the rear driven wheels. That is one of the main reasons why the M6 convertible is such a traction attraction. Flaws in rigidity are always the issue with softtops but flex and shake here is negligible and you really need to be a test engineer who knows how to lap the Nordschleife blindfolded to detect any weakness. The M6 fires from 0-100km/h in less than 5sec but it does not lose marks when it comes to changing direction. Blip the right peg and the induction note and exhaust note coming from the four barrels sticking out the rear spoiler are infectious. This ballistic convertible is simply a car for all seasons, all conditions. It is as comfortable trucking along the city grind as it is in the spaghetti twists. Every now and then you need to glance at the head-up display that beams a colourful graphic of revs, speed and gear selection on to the windscreen. Of course all this silky performance is backed up by a braking package that can bring the M6 convertible to a stop from 100km/h in 36 metres. The two-stage brake lighting display is handy in stop-go traffic particularly if you need to give the pedal a serious nudge in a hurry which is when the area of brake lights grows more intense. Removing the carbon fibre roof that defines the M6 coupe has lost little in the way of dynamics. This V10 is a weapon and like many supercars these days, they are engineered to be driven way above what is socially acceptable on public roads. Expect to clock up the fly-buy points big-time at the petrol bowser as this is a demon on the drink and shows no respect for premium petrol prices heading towards $1.50 a litre. This test car averaged 19-litres/100km on a 450km drive that comprised 300km of 110km/h running and the rest in stop/start weekday traffic. Separately, a spirited run on fast winding back roads lifted the guzzle-rate to well over 20litres/100km. The M6 convertible is not a car for everyone, the price alone backing up that statement. But it is a car you need to spend a lot of time in if you are to have any chance of becoming intimate with the performance and electronic gadgetry. You need to tell it what to do in order for you to extract the best from the experience and learn what particular settings work best in particular environments. And for that, the BMW M6 convertible is truly gifted.

Those hanging out to buy Citroen's small four-wheel-drive, the C-Crosser, have a long wait on their hands.Citroen's Australian distributor, Sydney-based Ateco, has ruled out the C-Crosser coming here until late next year.Ateco has been forced to play the waiting game because the right powertrain and specification choices for Australia won't be available until more than a year after the launch of the manual version.The C-Crosser goes on sale in Europe in July in manual diesel form and automatic gearboxes, of which there will be a gluttony of choice, will not come on stream until the third quarter of 2008.The diesel will have the EGS robotised manual, the 2.4-litre Mitsubishi-sourced engine will have a CVT transmission and the Hyundai-sourced V6 engine will have a conventional automatic.“From our point of view, until the C-Crosser has a self-shifting gearbox it's not correct for this market and therefore we will wait until it arrives,” Citroen Australia public relations officer Edward Rowe said.Following the launch of the 7-seater C4 Picasso people mover last week, Citroen expects to have its next diesel offering in the C3 before the end of the year.It is likely to be the engine similar to the 1.6-litre HDi unit that is currently in the larger C4 hatch.A diesel engine is also confirmed to arrive early next year for the hugely successful Berlingo van which will be a 1.9-litre normally aspirated oil-burner rather than a 2-litre HDi which is also available.Citroen have all but ruled out bringing in the recently launched 5-seat version of the Picasso which is available from the start of next year.But they will go ahead with the exercise of homologating the car to cover themselves in case of a shift in market trends.Citroen Australia general manager Miles Williams indicated the pricing would be too close to the 7-seat Picasso.“We've agreed we won't order the car (5-seater),” Williams said.“I think we all know the five-seater market (people mover) is a pretty tough business.”

Fritz Steinparzer, head of BMW's four-cylinder diesel engine development which is about to flood the world market with oil-burners that make a mockery of so-called green petrol-electric hybrids, says oil company bosses are not doing enough to help in the race to curb emissions.Australia is one of a few large car markets in the world (the most notable being North America) where legislators have been accused of failing to hasten the clean up of dirty fuels.Currently diesel sold in Australia can contain up to 50 parts per million of sulphur compared to the less than 15ppm that European countries are bound by.Although it has to be said that companies in Australia, such as BP, are already selling diesel with a maximum of 10 parts per million of sulphur, two years before any Australian legislation requiring them to do so comes into effect.But because the cleaner fuels, diesel and petrol, are not mandatory here Australia will miss the latest generation of BMW high-precision petrol engines that reduce average consumption by up to 16 per cent.The third generation of diesel engines led by the two-litre turbo units and a stunning twin turbo 335i engine are further examples of how the development of such engines has slashed fuel consumption and drastically reduced emissions.Steinparzer is critical of oil companies which, he says, should acknowledge the latest technology in petrol and diesel engines and make a concerted effort to reduce sulphur.Steinparzer says oil companies make money out of taking sulphur out of the fuel in the refining process and selling it to chemical companies.“In my opinion some of the oil companies make money by reducing sulphur in fuel so they can sell it to the chemical companies,” Steinparzer said.“So what I'm saying is they (oil companies) should see this as a chance to reduce sulphur everywhere.”But while BMW are like many car companies who stay ahead of the game by exceeding environmental targets, the next step the industry faces is to downsize.“Our next step will be downsizing engines,” Norbert Praschak, project leader for BMW's four-cylinder diesel program said.“It won't be lowering weight that has been a problem for all car companies.“Weight reduction of petrol four-cylinder engines hasn't been as pronounced as the 15kW gain and 20 per cent fuel improvements.”The car industry has come under fire for being No.1 villains when it comes to world pollution compared with other industries.Johannes Liebl, BMW's “energy minister” in charge of making a litre go further, said the car industry had not presented itself in the best light before making a concerted effort to manufacturer vehicles that had a drastically reduced effect on the environment.“But the problem now is the figures are not fair,” Liebl said.“Traffic has a 16 per cent share in CO2 emissions and 12 per cent of that is passenger cars.“But we are not leaning back and are satisfied that our cut is only 12 per cent.“We are still trying to reduce emissions.“There have always been groups in society who have wanted restrictions on the car industry and we are used to that.”Since 1990, fuel consumption in vehicles has been improved by a massive 30 per cent and with BMW's “Efficient Dynamics” strategy there is plenty left in the tank to continue to cut fuel consumption. 

Toyota executives will boldly pitch TRD (Toyota Racing Development) products to be released on the market later this year directly at established hot-house models from Europe and Japan.David Buttner, Toyota's senior executive director of sales and marketing, said the TRD version of the Aurion will be marketed against some well-entrenched performance brands.Toyota is talking up the supercharged TRD Aurion with claims it can match Alfa Romeo's smart 159 sedan, the Volkswagen R32 Golf and the Subaru Liberty GT Spec B in refinement, response and performance.It is a big call but Toyota claims the racy Aurion is a tough car that offers more than just muscle.“TRD stands for an optimal blend of performance, refinement, handling and Toyota's traditional quality, durability and reliability,” Buttner said.“TRD is a bold innovation for Toyota. It adds individual character and enhanced performance to the outstanding integrity offered by all Toyota vehicles.”Toyota has backed away from pitching the TRD Aurion at locally made cars.The supercharged 3.5-litre V6 is set to meet a target of 235kW of power which eclipses the standard engine by only 15 per cent.On those figures it will be outdone by Ford's massively successful XR6 turbo that develops 245kW and costs under $48,000 for the sequential sports shift version.Toyota plans to feature an aura of sophistication around the TRD brand and as such will try to steer clear of being judged against local Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) and Holden Special Vehicles (HSV).“The TRD Aurion will provide a balanced driving experience for a sophisticated market, integrating its power with dynamic cornering ability, precise steering response and impressive stopping performance,” Buttner says.A range of vehicles is planned to join the Aurion in the TRD stable and will be phased in over the next couple of years.It is claimed to be the first time anywhere in the world that TRD has been established as a separate brand under Toyota.A Hilux based on a 4WD double cab will be the second model to get TRD treatment later this year. It will come with a supercharged 4-litre V6.

The first V8 to enter the well-known family that started with the legendary four cylinder E30 of 20 years ago is astonishingly lighter than the 3.2-litre six cylinder M3 engine. At 202kg, the meat of the M3 — cast in the same foundry that gives birth to BMW's Formula One engines — is 15kg lighter than the straight-six motor. It screams to a maximum engine speed of 8300rpm, cracking 309kW and generating 400Nm of torque. These figures were predicted before the official announcement late last week but the big news is the lower weight of the shorter V8 powerplant that can be placed further behind the front axle. Significantly, the maximum torque figure arrives below 4000rpm, giving it far greater low-down twist than the V10 M5 engine from which it is based. In fact, the torque spread is extremely flexible, with 85 per cent of peak pulling power maintained above 6500rpm. BMW does not like reference to the fact it is simply a V10 with two cylinders chopped off. That, it says, does not do the powerplant justice as, unlike the V10, the V8 has milder torque pressures so there is no need for high-pressure oil set-ups for the double VANOS continuously variable intake and exhaust cam adjustment. The world's most anticipated car of 2007 will be shown at the Frankfurt motor show in September and available later in the year. This super coupe promises fuel savings over the six cylinder of up to 8 per cent. It is fractionally behind the current M3 in the power-to-litres ratio, with the V8 measuring 77.2kW/litre compared with the six cylinders 77.6kW/litre. But BMW has left plenty of room to develop the V8. For example, it doesn't get the high-precision direct-injection technology afforded many of its new-generation engines. It also uses a conventional water pump rather than an electric pump so there are plenty of areas where BMW can raise the power bar for the four-litre unit in future. Perhaps the yardstick by which any bullet-like production car is measured remains the lap time it can generate at Germany's fabled Nordschliefe circuit. BMW engineers were cagey when cornered about suggestions the V8 is up to 15 seconds a lap quicker than the six cylinder. Official timed runs are slated for June, however it is known that what the M3 has produced on the track so far is impressive — although it is not as quick as an M5, nor for that matter the superlight M3 CSL, which has the bragging rights as the fastest M car. Curiously, there was no concept version of the M3 shown when BMW had the official press reveal of the engine details at M headquarters in Munich last week. When the concept car was shown at the Geneva show in early March there was a considerable backlash over the huge power dome on the bonnet. Blogs gave the bonnet bulge a universal thumbs down, forcing BMW to possibly fine-tune some of the design elements. The new V8 engine test facility that is encased in 2800m2 of reinforced concrete tests extreme temperature fluctuations from -20C to plus 60C. Durability runs, which mirror the F1 process BMW undertakes with its Sauber program, have been conducted over nine-day periods at an average speed of 183km/h, which in real-world tests BMW calculates would take between six to eight weeks. The Engine Control Unit, developed by Siemens, is based on the M5 and uses three processors. Up to 200 million calculations are made per second and each cylinder is scanned 250 times per second. This MSS60 management system is highly sophisticated and co-ordinates all of the engine functions with the various other control units on the car. The M3s knockout lightweight V8 is down on torque compared to Audi's fabulous RS4 rocketship and is expected also to be overshadowed by Mercedes-Benz's much anticipated and forthcoming C63 AMG. First drives of the M3 will be slated for July, when the wild child V8 coupe is put through its paces at the Ascari racetrack in Spain.

Ford, which has owned the company since 1993 will keep a 10 per cent holding.The company at the heart of the takeover, Prodrive, is a specialist motor racing business based in England which spread its tentacles to Australia where it has owned a V8 Supercar team since 2003.Ford Performance Racing evolved from Prodrive's buy of racer Glenn Seton's Ford team.Prodrive has become a leading player in the world of motor racing and is scheduled to run a team in Formula One after being allocated the 12th team franchise in 2008.Richards, right, led the takeover of the Gaydon-based (Warwickshire) sports car icon yesterday for $1.1billion, reputedly far less than what owner Ford wanted.Ford will reportedly continue to supply engines and components to Aston Martin which was established in 1913 by two Britons and which has had a chequered ownership and financial history having gone bankrupt and been rescued a number of times.Richards, who has regularly attended V8 Supercar races over the last few years, won the World Rally Championship co-driving for the great Ari Vatanen in 1981.Prodrive also runs the Subaru World Rally Team which has Gold Coast ace Chris Atkinson driving.He is being touted as a future world champion.It has won six WRC titles with Subaru (three driver's and three manufacturer's gongs).Rallying success also extended to involvement with Porsche, BMW and MG over the years.Other headline successes for Prodrive include five British Touring Car Championships and it was a class winner with the Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello at Le Mans in 2003.Prodrive also runs the Aston Martin Works sports car team which races cars in the American Le Mans Series and the Le Mans 24-hour where up to six cars will be entered for the June marathon.Under Prodrive Aston Martin Racing returned to competition in 2005 when it won its first two races with the awesome DBR9.Prodrive is one of the world's biggest motorsport and motor vehicle technology firms.It has more than 900 staff in Europe, North America, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.From 2002 to 2004 Prodrive managed the BAR Honda F1 team before control reverted to Honda.Prodrive owns 51 per cent of Ford Australia's performance road car arm, Ford Performance Vehicles.

The Magentis has replaced the ordinary Optima, and it is much more than simply a half-decent model rejig.Initial impressions, from the driving position to the feel of the wheel, had all the hallmarks of a surprise packet, and the Magentis was not deceiving us.After tooling around in the Magentis between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and out to rural Norwell among the cane fields for a week, there was enough evidence to conclude this is the genuine article.There is a V6 and a four-cylinder engine and both went through the road-test garage.Overall, the Magentis is refined, well built and, if you can handle the plain-Jane exterior, it is on the pace in just about every area.For $31,490, as tested, the V6 is a whole lot of car with a lot of kit in the mix.It is all dressed up with everywhere to go.There is a nice balance of soft and hard plastics inside, easy-to-interpret controls, comfortable seats and a fair amount of room for rear passenger comfort.It is generously appointed with all the gear such as trip computers that give you the important read-outs, steering wheel-mounted cruise control, alloy wheels with a full-size spare and MP3-compatible audio system. There is a long list of active and passive safety gear that makes more expensive brands look of questionable value.Traction control, ABS, electronic brake distribution, ESP stability control, active head restraints, and the list goes on.It's all there and occupants are protected by airbags all-round, including side and curtain.In automatic trim (with the sequential manual gate), the Magentis 2.7-litre V6 is quiet and refined. Although there didn't seem to be a whole lot of difference in performance, the four-cylinder car seemed a little perkier and a little better synchronised in city traffic.Fuel economy alone, which was almost a litre per 100km better, would be enough to tip buyers into the four, not to mention the savings on registration and insurance. As tested, the four-cylinder in EX-L luxury pack trim adds leather, 17-inch alloys, climate control, eight-way power driver's seat, faux aluminium trim, foglights and the five-speed automatic with tiptronic sequential shift as standard. Make no mistake, this is more than worthy to take on Toyota's four-cylinder Camry launched last year.There are times when cruising in the Magentis that you feel like you're in a $40,000 premium saloon. And this is no surprise if you know the model's history.Part of the refinement is explained by the Magentis heritage. It is a relative of the outstanding Hyundai Sonata and is loosely based on that car. There was a degree of tyre roar coming off the 17-inch Michelins on the four-cylinder variant.Fuel consumption was around 8.2L/100km for this test of stress-free, low-rev driving while the V6 returned around 9L/100km.The Magentis is reasonably well damped with good body control and neutral handling.Overall, it is a highly respectable unit which would hold its own against any immediate rival. In terms of a safe, highly kitted-out package the Magentis has few peers.The base four-cylinder Magentis starts at $25,990 ($29,490 for the EX-L luxury pack), rising to $31,490 for the V6.Some may be dismissive of Kia products based on past experiences with various models, but the Magentis is one to seriously consider and quite possibly the best passenger car the Korean firm has made.