Articles by Karla Pincott

Get in, sit down and buckle up for the third season of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Following the recipe for the first two seasons, Seinfeld is again dishing up a menu of interesting vehicles, with side orders of comedy legends and a coffee-laced garnish of banter. Watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee | Season 3 trailer And the largely reclusive Howard Stern makes a rare appearance, scoring a ride in a Pontiac GTO Judge, being curious about whether Seinfeld can pee in front of other men, and summing up the series: "This show isn't really a show. It's just for you to drive around in cool cars." Watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee | Season 2 trailer 30 Rock's Tina Fey rides with Seinfeld in a Volvo P1600 -- and admits she can't drive. Louis C.K gets chauffered in a Fiat Jolly and wonders if we're worms carrying around our personal worm meal. Watch Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee | Season 1 trailer Other courses in the comic banquet include a DeLorean, an MG, Jay Leno, Patton Oswalt and Todd Barry -- all peppered with Seinfeld's observational absurdities, and musings about weird dreams and 56-year-old hookers. The season starts January 2 on the Crackle website.

The small prestige car field is increasingly competitive, and with more luxury brands becoming affordable -- and feature-laden -- at this end of the scale, Audi has armed its first ever A3 sedan with sharp pricing to join its hatchback and convertible siblings in the fray.The A3 four-door range offers three petrol and one diesel model, all with seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmissions. Bidding for the prestige buyer starts with the entry level at $39,800 -- $4200 more than the base model A3 Sportback hatch -- for the 103kW/250Nm 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol variant in Attraction spec.Above that sit the 110kW/320Nm 2.0-litre turbodiesel and 132kW/250Nm 1.8-litre turbo petrol models, both in Ambition spec and priced at $44,800. The line-up tops out with the $47,800 quattro all-wheel drive version of the petrol Ambition model.Audi says these are the initial models for the A3 sedan -- suggesting that a performance-focused S3 will join them later -- but they expect to see the first models pull their weight in the sales battle.“We are thrilled with the price positioning of this new model. It’s a highly competitive segment of the market and the A3 Sportback has been very well-accepted since its May 2013 launch. We are now looking forward to even more customer interest with the arrival of this all new body style for the range,” Audi Australia managing director Andrew Doyle said.Audi A3 sedan rangeAudi A3 Attraction sedan 1.4 TFSI COD 103kW/250Nm $39,800Audi A3 Ambition sedan 1.8 TFSI 132kW/250Nm $44,800Audi A3 Ambition sedan 2.0 TDI 110kW/320Nm $44,800Audi A3 Ambition sedan 1.8 TFSI quattro 132kW/250Nm $47,800

Holden's new 'We're Here To Stay' commercial was intended to reassure Australia that the brand will not disappear in the future. But has the carmaker shown more of the future than it meant to?The ad features Holden ambassadors, dealers and staff -- and among the last of those is a designer working on a car we've not seen before. What shows on his computer screen is a four-door but with a fast coupe-like line to the rear roof. Meanwhile, sketches around his desk show a sportback or shooting brake wagon body.Holden has confirmed the person in the ad is not an actor, but one of their designers,  Evan Kingsbury, in their Melbourne studio. However the carmaker is coy about the vehicle Kingsbury is working on. "It's just a possible future General Motors car," Holden head of PR George Svigos told Carsguide, declining to be drawn further on the subject.So do the designs point to the next Commodore to be launched here after Holden halts manufacturing in 2017 -- which would mean it's a GM model in any case. Or are they sneak peeks at designs for the Chinese market, for which Holden announced earlier this year it would be developing two cars in a partnership between GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC).Either way, with GM's move towards more global platforms, there is the probability we will see a large sedan built on one of them in Australia after the Commodore ceases rolling off the local production line.That could mean the design work in the ad feeds into a project for a new Chinese-built Buick flagship that could be rebadged as a future Commodore.  That arrangement -- and the fluid lines of the design -- would fit with a comment in May by Mark Reuss, who told Forbes he'd like to see a Buick flagship that was “a much more beautiful Panamera,” (Porsche’s four-door sedan).At the time, Reuss was GM executive vice president and president of North America, but as the boss of Holden from February 2008 until September 2009, few would be more aware of the automotive design talent in Australia.And in his new position as GM's executive vice president of product development -- replacing May Barra in her move to the CEO's chair -- Reuss is certainly in a position to make the most of our talent pool.

Ford has announced a slew of new and updated models for 2014, headlined by the return of the much-loved XR8 -- and its V8 Miami engine -- as part of a styling and features overhaul of the Falcon range.Read Ford Falcon XR8 reviewsThe updates to the Falcon range will happen towards the end of the year and coincide with updates to the Territory SUV, with more details on both ranges to be revealed closer to the launch dates.Read Ford Territory reviewsHowever Ford's changes to other models kick off early in 2014 with the new Transit van range hitting showrooms in January with the front-wheel drive, short-wheelbase Custom model, powered by a 2.2-litre turbodiesel developing 92kW of power and 350Nm of torque -- an increase of 20Nm. It will be followed by the larger rear-wheel drive long-wheelbase Transit in the second quarter.The Transit range's features will include a new integrated and stowable roof rack, twin battery system, Ford’s SYNC in-car connectivity system with digital radio and Bluetooth, front, side and curtain airbags, and optional Trailer Hitch Assist, front and rear parking sensors and an electro chromatic rearview mirror with integrated rear camera display.Read Ford Transit reviewsThe Ford EcoSport compact SUV will be the next in line for changes, with February seeing the arrival of entry-level Ambiente and mid-level Trend spec models. And the Kuga SUV also gets a brushover, offering new paint colours, an optional $1200 pack that gives you a hands-free tailgate and smartkey system on the Trend spec level.Read Ford EcoSport reviewsThe Ranger ute line-up will expand, with the recently-arrived mid-level XLS now adding a 2.2-litre engine and the choice of six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmissions to join the 3.2-litre manual version. In addition, the 4x2 XL Single Cab Chassis 2.2-litre low-rider Ranger will be getting side airbags as standard, and satellite navigation has been added across the entire XLT line-up due to customer demand.Read Ford Ranger reviewsThis reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

This could be the best thing we've found to keep kids entertained in the car -- it's certainly been keeping the Carguide adults amused.Vroom: The Car App uses your phone to add the sound of a Ferrari, muscle car, tank or even tractor to your driving. Or just to your walk to the shops.The app has been developed by RJDJ, who were also behind the Inception and Dark Knight Rises apps. The designers say Vroom uses your phone's accelerometer and GPS to track when you're speeding up, braking and cornering -- and delivers the matching soundtrack. Stamp the accelerator and the engine roars. Corner quickly or slam on the brakes and the tyres squeal in unison.Free for Android phones but a mere dollar for iPhones, this is some of the cheapest fun you can have in your car. And it works outside the car too, with the phone able to add great sound effects even on a stroll down the street, with a couple of quick cornering manoeuvres to duck into nearby shops.You get the muscle car free, and can add an extra car -- an excellent imitation of the Knight Rider KITT -- for signing up to the app. Beyond that, an Italian supercar (guess which one) is $1.99, a Russian tank is $2.99, although we have no idea why people would pay more for a tank than a Ferrari. And an Austrian tractor, or horsepower of the four-legged kind are also available.We're hoping RJDJ keeps adding more vehicles and perhaps even other strange modes of transport, making this the perfect companion to keep the back seat happy on holiday road trips. Thomas the tank engine, Lightning McQueen, the Batmobile, Transformers, trucks, planes, speedboats  ... there's no limit to the fun we could have with this.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Following Holden's announcement that it will stop making cars in Australia after 2017, there's been strong concern about what would happen to the badge, with the big question being whether it would continue in Australia or be replaced by Chevrolet.Holden has responded with a new ad campaign titled Here To Stay, which doesn't shy away from the shutdown decision that will see about 2900 jobs go in Victoria's Port Melbourne and South Australia's Elizabeth plants. However the campaign aims to send a message to Australia that there is more to Holden than the factory floors, and there will be more imported cars to come wearing the Holden brand.But while the campaign has appeared very quickly, it wasn't part of the initial shutdown planning, Holden's executive director of vehicle sales, service and marketing, Philip Brook, says. "When we were notified of the shutdown decision this wasn't on the list of things we were planning to do," he says. "But what became apparent over the first three or four days was that there was a lot of misinformation out there -- there were some sensationalist headlines about 'Holden's gone and we're leaving the country altogether'."That was the impression people were getting ... and there were a couple of articles that were just plain wrong around us walking away from the Holden brand and using Chevrolet, and people has said we'd studied that -- absolutely categorically incorrect. And that we were bringing Commodores in from China -- again absolutely incorrect."Brook says the aim of the campaign is to make sure the public knew what Holden is planning for the future. "We wanted to get out and really clear things up with the public and make sure they understood that the Holden brand has been around for 100 years and we plan to be around for a very long time to come," he says."We just wanted to clear up the confusion, so it's really to let all of Australia understand we're here, and we've got a massive job to do -- we've got hundreds of thousands of cars and engines to build in the next four years.And we plan to continue selling Holdens well into the future, because it's two car lines that we build here in Australia but the rest of our model range is imported and we're going to transition to a fully imported model range."Brook says the campaign was also aimed at supporting the brand's own dealer network. "We've also got more than 230 dealers and thousands and thousands of staff that are employed by those dealers and massive investments that they've made over the years in Holden. And really what we wanted to do was support them as well, so this campaign is just about clearing things up."He says the creative approach for the campaign, and its launch, were both achieved with astonishing speed -- and largely sparked by the response from friends of people at Holden HQ. "We basically made the announcement about manufacturing on Tuesday and briefed the agency -- AJF in Melbourne who do all our ad creative work -- on the Thursday and they turned around the concept overnight."Normally  a campaign like this would take us months and we turned it around in a week so we're very happy with the work that's been done in a such period of time. But it was just a simple message, nothing more and nothing less than 'we've been around for a long time and we're going to be around for a long, long time in the future'."We made the announcement about shutting down manufacturing and then gave it 48 hours to gauge the reaction -- and a lot of us had friends and acquaintances ringing and texting and asking if Holden was finishing, based on the headlines and some of the articles they were seeing. So we wanted to clear that up and get the message out there."And while many businesses would have skirted any bad news in their next campaign following such an announcement, Holden has been very up front about mentioning the shutdown in the commercial."That's part of the Holden brand and being Australian. We've always been honest in our advertising," Brook says. "That's the way we do things -- it's part of our DNA -- that how we've always done things and that's how we'll continue to do things."However, despite the new commercial being panned by social media, and following on from a previous ad campaign based around the 'Think Holden' tagline, Brook says the new commercial is not part of the first steps to have Australia 'rethink Holden' as a full importer.   "This isn't the start of the repositioning," he says. "We've got a number of years yet with the brand and similar sort of products. We've got plenty of time to work through that. This was really just a short sharp campaign and once we get the message out there we'll move on and get back to the main job -- selling cars."

When even the toughest standard Jeeps just aren't hardcore enough, there's only one thing to do. Get Starwood Motors on the blower from Dallas and have them build you something that can conquer not only the worst this planet can throw at you, but likely turn alien terrain into toast as well. Starwood is famed for building some of the most extreme Jeep Wranglers around, and this was our pick for toughest vehicle of 2013: the Full Metal Jacket JK Wrangler Unlimited. It's powered by Chrysler's Pentastar 3.6-litre V6 engine that pushes out 213kW of power and 259Nm of torque -- getting the Full Metal Jacket Jeep to 100km/h in an admirable 8.4 seconds. Watch the Full Metal Jacket Jeep video But that's the start of the heavily modded Wrangler, which also sports a special 4700PSI tensile strength kevlar coating -- letting it shrug off even the worst of dirt, sand, water or salt -- plus an uprated suspension system that Starwood says makes it ride like a luxury car. Also watch: Jeep Wrangler Call Of Duty Edition The parts lists includes special coil over shocks, axles, gears, fenders, bumpers and winch, plus removable roof and doors -- in case you want to go from full metal to full monty. Also watch: Jeep Cherokee torture test video But creature comforts haven't been forgotten. The interior gets Procar leather and alcantara seats, kevlar-lined floors, and a Kenwood touchscreen nav system and DVD player, iPod and USB integration and satellite radio for the outer limits of civilisation. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

After several days of leaked images and teased details, Lamborghini has finally shown us the Huracan LP 610-4 that replaces the exiting 10-year-old Gallardo. And to give us a taste of what will arrive, they've released a video that follows the exploits of some lads who sneak into the Lambo HQ to get a sneak look and spin of the Huracan.Named in Lambo tradition for a fighting bull -- Huracan faced the matador in Spain's Alicante bullring in August 1879 -- the car will be unveiled at Geneva motor show in March and go on sale after being seen by prospective buyers in a series of private viewings around the world.Watch the Lamborghini Huracan 'home video' As expected, the Huracan is powered by an uprated version of the Gallardo's 5.2-litre V10, developing  448kW of power at 8250rpm and 560Nm of torque peaking at 6500rpm, mated to a new twin-clutch transmission derived from the system used in VW Group stablemate Audi R8.Watch three Lamborghinis crash and burn togetherThe new DSG delivers outputs to all corners, with the four-wheel drive system upgraded to add electronically switchable modes -- Strada (street), Sport, and Corsa (track) -- that alter the gearbox and engine settings, exhaust note, drive system and stability control.Watch the Lamborghini Gallardo track testLamborghini claims a 0-100km/h time of 3.2 seconds, 0-200km/h in 9.9, and a top speed of more than 325km/h, while keeping fuel economy to 12.5L/100km. That fuel figure is achieved with the help of a stop-start system and a weight of just 1422kg with diet strategies including the use of aluminium and carbon-fibre spaceframe chassis -- like the gearbox, adapted from the R8.Watch the Lamborghini LP-5704 Squadra Corse on the trackThe Huracan gets carbon-ceramic brakes as standard fitment, while the options include magnetic active suspension and electronically controlled variable steering ration system. Future Huracan versions are likely to include rear-wheel drive and convertible variants, but there is no manual gearbox on the plan now or in the future.The Huracan will arrive in Australia mid-2014 priced from $428,000, a rise of close to $20,000 over the current $409,500 entry level Gallardos but carrying the extra standard spec of carbon brakes, DSG and multi-mode four-wheel drive that will make it seem a bargain against the outgoing $541,500 Superleggera variants.This reporter is on twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Ford of Europe have revisited the Ken Block Gymkhana phenomenon with their second Snowkhana video Christmas card. Like Snowkhana 1, it uses stop-motion animation with toys to recreate Block action -- with 'Mental Block' at the wheel of a scale model of the real rallying Ford Fiesta ST. If you've seen the latest Ken Block exploits in Gymkhana 6, you'll recognise some of the stunts, in particular the scenes with earthmoving equipment, the signature obtacles ... and with plenty of cotton-wool 'smoke' from the tyres. Watch Ken Block Gymkhana 6 video And Ford has assembled a great cast of supporting talent for Snowkhana, including Darth Vader, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, a classic Ford Mustang and Ken Block himself. Watch Snowkhana 2 video Also watch: Snowkhana 1 video This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

One of the most interesting cars at the recent Tokyo motor show was the Subaru Levorg wagon concept, which is already on the radar for Australia when the production version is built -- expected to be later next year  and appear as a 2015 model.And it seems we might see other versions rolling off the line, with Subaru planning to unveil a performance-focused STI version at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January. The Levorg concept at the recent show will offer the choice of a 125kW/250Nm 1.6-litre or a 200kW/350Nm 2.0-litre boxer four-cylinder engines -- the latter borrowed from the new WRX sedan and Forester XT.However, as with the WRX STI that will be unveiled at Detroit show in January -- around the same time as the Tokyo Auto Salon on the other side of the Pacific -- the Levorg STI is likely to up the ante of the 2.0-litre's outputs, with power figures close to 230kW being mentioned. It also gets sportier underpinnings and helpers, including a tweaked suspension, unique flexible tower bar and rear roof spoiler.And it won't be alone on the Auto Salon stand, being just one of five Levorg concepts headed for the event. Its siblings include Subaru's Levorg Premium Sports, and three other cars that are showcases for aftermarket brands: the Levorg Syms, Levorg Prova and Levorg Corazon Sportier.Subaru Australia has put its hand up for regular versions of the oddly-named Levorg wagon, though there’s no word yet on whether it will be offered locally. If it is, the car would likely be seen as a wagon body version of the Impreza, filling the gap between the small hatchback and the larger Liberty models.They'll be accompanied by the BRZ tS that will be unveiled as an entrant for the Nurburgring 24 Hour race.