Articles by James Stanford

But times have changed. The new generation of BMW-developed Minis were developed as prestige models - often the second car for a family who owns a bigger Beemer.The agile new Mini Cooper and Cooper S arrived in 2002 and have sold strongly.We have already seen the faster Works specials, but Mini is adding to the appeal with two new special models, Checkmate and Park Lane.These are effectively trim and equipment packs available on Cooper and Cooper S models and cost an extra $4600.That means a manual Cooper with either pack costs $34,500 and a supercharged Cooper S with either pack $43,500.The Checkmate adds special 17-inch alloy wheels, firmer suspension, sports seats, unique checkmate livery, bonnet stripes, unique interior trim and a sunroof.The Park Lane is all about luxury. It has grey leather seats and a two-tone leather-wrapped steering wheel.Available only in grey, the posh Mini adds climate control airconditioning, extra chrome touches inside and out, Harman/Kardon premium CD sound and 16-inch alloy wheels with run-flat tyres.There is nothing revolutionary about the new Mini additions, but their arrival gives us an excuse to go for a spin in the fun little model - we pick the Cooper S Park Lane.For those who might have missed it, the Cooper S has a supercharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine with 125kW and 220Nm and is front-wheel drive.It is 1215kg, which helps it do 0-100km/h in 7.2 seconds.This isn't lightning pace, but straight-line speed is not what the Mini is about. This car is about agility.An early morning run along the Great Ocean Rd confirms how much fun you can have in the Cooper S.The hatch is at home on the slippery wet, twisting tarmac. It is great fun to wind up the small engine and tip the Cooper S into the turns.With the supercharger whining away as it spins up, the Cooper S makes it feel like you are going faster than you really are.The standard Cooper engine is an ancient four-cylinder with a single overhead camshaft (rather than two) which means it is bit of a slug, but the boosted Cooper S engine is great. The extra torque of the supercharger is the big difference and means you can leave it in third for most of the bends. Its exhaust also emits a snap and crackle when you back off the throttle and let the engine slow - a nice touch.The front-wheel-drive Cooper S has excellent traction, even on greasy wet tarmac.Even with a supercharger bolted on, there isn't a mass of power surging to the driven wheels, so you can easily feed in the power as you exit turns.The six-speed manual does the job, but is a bit cumbersome. You really have to thrust the lever sideways and forward with a lot of force to select reverse and it is easy to get first gear instead.The ride in the Cooper S Park Lane is firm - expect to get bumped around a fair bit on uneven roads.It doesn't really spoil the drive, but is out of step with Mini's own description of the car as a "VIP lounge on wheels".The Mini has four seats, but only the front two have any reasonable legroom. Small children would be OK in the back, but larger passengers would find it a squeeze.The Park Lane's premium sound system is awesome, the speakers look cool. Boot space is limited, but you can fit in a few bags of shopping.What it lacks in practicality, the Cooper S makes up for in charm.It really is one of the most popular cars we have tested and makes a lot of people smile.

The move enabled the company to offer the basic South Korean hatch for an impressive starting price of $12,990, which has triggered record sales.GM Daewoo also builds a sedan version of the Barina, added to Holden showrooms in February. At $14,490, the four-door sedan is also competitively priced.The Barina sedan, sold as a Chevrolet Aveo in Europe and the United States, is an updated version of the Daewoo Kalos that was sold here.Australians have had some input into the updated model.The plain exterior styling had already been decided, but former Holden designer Mike Simcoe shaped the interior.Holden also fitted its own grille to the Barina and a Holden team worked on suspension settings and steering to give it the best set-up for Australian roads.The front-wheel-drive Barina sedan runs the same engine as the Barina hatch — a 1.6-litre four-cylinder with dual overhead camshafts. The five-speed manual is standard; a four-speed automatic costs $2000 extra.Standard equipment includes airconditioning, MP3 compatible CD sound with steering-wheel controls, electric windows, full-size spare and heated exterior mirrors.Metallic paint is an optional extra at $250.The Barina sedan has the same wheelbase as the hatch.The standard car rides on 15-inch steel wheels and braking is supplied by discs at the front and drums at the rear.It has a 60/40 split-fold rear-seat backs and boot space, adding up to 400 litres.Standard safety gear includes front airbags for driver and passenger and front seatbelt pre-tensioners.Side airbags are available in Europe, but not in Australia.An option pack that includes anti-skid brakes and 15-inch alloy wheels costs an extra $1190.The Barina sedan is fitted with a passenger safety cell made of high-strength steel to deflect crash energy.The European New Car Assessment Program cast doubt on the safety of the Barina sedan when it handed out a two-star crash result in February.GM Daewoo and Holden have disputed the result and asked for the car to be retested. Look past the Barina sedan's safety concerns and it shapes as a reasonable buy. It is not great to drive or ride in and its looks won't stop traffic, but it does the job at the right price.But we have a problem with its two stars in Euro NCAP tests.We can't recommend it unless it does better when it is retested and we are told why it performed so badly in the first test.According to Euro NCAP, many used cars offer better crash protection than the new Barina, including the superseded model (four stars). Hopefully, the problem is resolved, because the Barina sedan is not a bad car.Mike Simcoe has done well with the interior and it looks good. The dials and buttons appear cheap and the plastics are rock hard, but what can you expect for the money?The only problem with the Barina's interior is the speedo, which moves up and down in lumps at 100km/h. The interior is given a lift with metallic trim touches.There is more power than needed from the workhorse engine, but it is rough and noisy when pushed.The test car's automatic transmission works well enough. It sometimes hunts for the right gear and is not the smoothest unit, but it is not so bad for the money.Engineers have worked hard to eliminate soggy handling that has plagued many South Korean models.The Barina sedan handles well on bumpy roads and steering feels more solid than the previous Daewoo Kalos sedan. Some people may even find it too heavy.The trade-off for the suspension work is the ride is fairly firm and the suspension tends to crash and bash and even pick up a lot of bumps on relatively smooth roads.The boot is quite large and the Barina sedan has a full-sized spare, instead of a skinny spacesaver.Its airconditioning works well and quickly demists the windscreen on cold mornings.The CD sound system is good, but the unit gets hot after an hour or so.When it comes to style, the Barina sedan doesn't have much.Its exterior is bland, but at least it isn't ugly, as many earlier South Korean cars were.The test car has optional alloy wheels and the anti-skid brakes pack, which improves its look.Anti-skid brakes shouldn't be bundled with alloys in such a package, but at least it is an affordable $1190.

"I spent three months rolling on my roof until I mastered it. I have been able to keep my nose clean since then," Swift says.The British stunt master is thrilling Melbourne Motor Show crowds with tyre-squealing shows on a loading zone at the southern end of the Exhibition Centre.He will appear four times a day, until this Sunday night, in Peugeot 307 hatches.The show is an amazing mix of high-speed handbrake turns, big slides and an incredible example of how to parallel park — between two cars — in a hurry.Then there is the two-wheeled display. Swift uses a small ramp to pop the car's two left wheels up into the air and drives along in this precarious position.He does it with such ease that I can pop out of the window for a photo opportunity.Swift works away at the steering wheel, making slight adjustments to make sure the car stays on two wheels.The 307s Swift uses for his sliding show are standard, but he disconnects the anti-skid brakes and puts some adhesive tape over the handbrake button so it is easier to use in a hurry.The 307 he uses for his two-wheel stunts is standard, but runs a locked differential.Swift, 54, who often performs stunt shows at racetracks around the world, says he can drive on two wheels for about 5km at a time until the tyres give up.He says you need good reactions to drive a car on two wheels."It is like balancing a stick on your finger; you have to react so quickly, you don't have time to think about it," Swift says.Doing crazy stunts in cars full time is a job Swift loves."I've done nothing else for the past 25 years. I find road driving a little bit boring, but this gets it out of the system and I am very calm on the road," he says.Swift started his motorsport career as a navigator for a rally driver who tended to crash a lot.He took up motorkhana, a range of skill tests around witches' hats.Swift became the British motorkhana champion four times and decided to make a career out of driving.

The first petrol-electric hybrid cars have really drawnonly greenies, people who want to be seen driving an environmentally friendly car andfuel misers.The Toyota Prius has led the way, with Honda also chipping in with its Civic hybrid.But the floodgates are about to open.Carmakers are now developing spicy hybrid models for performance fanswho want a thrilling drive as well as good fuel economy.The first such sports hybrid vehicle is the Lexus GS450H.It runs a 3.5-litre V6 hooked up to an electric motor, which Lexus saysgives it the performance of a 4.5-litre V8 but is aseconomical as a 2-litre four-cylinder engine.Lexus says the GS450H is abl e to sprint from 0-100km/h in just 5.5 secondsand refers to the car as "good clean fun".The hot Lexus Hybrid will go on sale in Australia in April andwill be joined by a petrol-electric version of the Lexus RX all-wheel-drive, the RX400H, towards the end of the year.Further into the future, Lexus will have a hybrid version of its LS flagship and Toyota - its parent company - believes it can sell more than a million hybrids each year with a petrol-electric version of each new model.The hybrid push will pick up pace over coming years andLexus is not the only brand with green hybrid power on show in Melbourne.Honda is revealing the second-generation Civic hybrid sedan.The Civic IMA hybrid is based on the new Civic sedan that is also making itsAustralian debut at the show. It runs a 1.3-litre petrol engine linked up to an electric motor.The Civic IMA can run purely on electric power, up to 40km/h in someconditions, before the petrol engine is fired up to provide extra assistance.Honda says the electric motor now has 46 per cent more power than theprevious model, while the power output of the petrol engine has been boostedto 85kW.The carmaker also says the IMA is remarkably aerodynamic and uses just 4.5 litres offuel for every 100km travelled.Toyota will show its current Prius hybrid model, the current choice ofHollywood celebrities who want to go green, as one of the hero cars on its stand inMelbourne.The Prius, which is a hybrid-only model rather than a hybrid version of anexisting model, is selling strongly around the world and there is a waitinglist for the cars in Australia.

If you mention the words diesel and engine to most people they trigger memories of noisy trucks and buses that crawl down the road and belch black smoke from their tails. Or they think of an overweight four-wheel-drive heading into the outback. But times are changing - and fast - in the diesel world.A new generation of high-tech, clean-burning diesel engines is coming on fast in everything from compact cars to luxury limousines and new-age four-wheel-drives. And eventually there will also be diesel-electric hybrid vehicles in Australia.Take a walk around the motor show and you will see almost all themajor brands have a high-profile and high-tech diesel engine.They are coming thanks to cleaner fuels with a lower sulphur content, as well as developments on what are called common-rail and direct-injection diesels - which deliver fuel at higher pressures and with better control to boost combustion.Turbos also get huge gains from low-pressure turbocharging, so most of the hero motors are turbodiesels. The old days of glow plugs, which took ages to warm then fire the engine, are also gone.Carmakers are also attracted to the massive torque available from diesel engines, which means strong acceleration at low revs, and the fuel economy benefits, which have become more important as petrol prices have risen.Diesel power has become so impressive that Audi, which is looking to stretch its domination of the classic Le Mans 24-Hour race, has fitted a turbocharged diesel engine to the R10 racer it will use in France in June. The motor show will highlight the arrival of several leading-edge diesels.BMW has its first diesel sedan for Australia, the 530d. It is a genuineluxury car and comes with impressive performance of 160kW and 480Nm of torque, aswell as fuel consumption of just 7.5 litres per 100km. But BMW is also pushing harder and will have its X5 and X3 all-wheel-drive diesels as well as a 320d - a huge hit in Europe and potentially BMW's biggest-selling diesel car - along with a 120d for a preview at the show.The Volkswagen group is big on diesel and Audi has just introduced a fresh 2-litre diesel A4 and even plans tointroduce a high-performance 3-litre diesel in the A4 later this year, as well asconsidering a diesel version of its A8 limo.Not surprisingly, Audi's turbodiesel hero at the show is the giant new Q7 all-wheel-drive wagon, which will be availablein October with a diesel.Volkswagen will have its diesel twins, the latest Polo and Golf, along for the party at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and intends to put diesel power into its upcoming Jetta and the new Beetle before the end of 2006.There is also a chance that Honda could preview the Accord Euro diesel it has developed for Europe.Even Jaguar has jumped on the diesel bandwagon, fitting a high-tech dieselengine to its luxurious S-Type sedan.The $101,950 S-Type diesel runs a 2.7-litre diesel with twin-turbochargers, whichbump power to 153kW, and has 435Nm of torque.Jaguar does not expect to sell too many but says that some customers will enjoythe new engine. "We know other luxury brands are doingthis but we are yet to see diesel onpeople's radar when they are shopping for a luxury brand above $50,000," says Jaguar spokesman Todd Hallenbeck.Still, the biggest problem for any car company is getting customers to take a taste test. The task for carmakers is to get customers to test drive the new dieselmodels."We know that anyone who drives one (an S-Type diesel) will want it," Hallenbeck says."We are not just talking about people with fuel economy in mind. We are talking about a $100,000 car here; these people can afford to buy any type of fuel they want."This diesel offers great performance, very, veryclean emissions and, by the way, it also returns fuel economy of 8 litresper 100km."Diesel power will also be coming from two of the pioneers in Australia, Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz, with the French company even doing a turbodiesel for the sleek 407 Coupe, which is its stand star.The two-door model is available with a 3-litre V6 petrol or the dieselengine.Mercedes-Benz has four new diesels this year in the latest R-Class, the compact B-Class, the mid-range E-Class wagon and its four-wheel-drive hero, the upcoming GL.