Articles by Karla Pincott

The wagon version -- or 'estate' if you're feeling European -- of the new class-leading Mercedes-Benz C sedan has been revealed, with more room and cargo space.Echoing the sleek, powerful design of the C-Class sedan, it's identical at the nose but gets a sharply raked rear pillar that adds visual speed to the wagon roofline, plus redesigned rear lights that extend into the tailgate, flanking the chrome grabrail.A 8cm longer wheelbase and 9.6cm longer body offers more cabin in every direction, with the rear seat passengers winning an extra 4.5cm legroom and the cargo area growing to 490 litres (up 5) with the seats up and 1510 (up 10) with them down.The rear seats now give more versatility by splitting 40:20:40 instead of 60:40, while the rear backrests unlock and fold electrically with a button-push. Powered operation and automatic opening are on the tailgate options list.Like the sedan version, the C-Class wagon will get some trickle-down technology from the S-Class flagship, including a heads-up display that puts driver information directly in their field of vision and a 6.5x4.5cm touchpad controlled in smartphone style by finger gestures.The engine line-up will echo the sedan with highly efficient turbocharged petrol and diesel engines, with a diesel hybrid also planned, all married to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.More details and confirmation of Australian arrival and specification will be revealed closer to the official unveiling in July, but with the new C-Class sedan hitting showrooms in August you can expect the wagon to follow by the end of the year. 

Increasing competition in the hot hatch segment has pushed Mazda plans for a Mazda 3 MPS powered by a turbocharged 2.5-litre, according to insiders in Japan.

After teasing the first glimpse -- although half-concealed -- of the 2016 Batmobile designed for Ben Affleck, film director Zach Snyder has followed up with a better look at both the vehicle and the costume of its caped crusading owner.Following the design of the more recent Tumbler Batmobile, the new one shows a similar trend to hardcore military styling with a stealth-spec finish, but with the kind of sharp angles that would do a Lamborghini show concept car proud.What we're seeing is the next development of Batmobile design (created by by Patrick Tatopoulos, who's also handled 300: Rise of an Empire, Underworld, and Live Free or Die Hard), which has progressed a long way over the decades since the 1960s TV series finned double-cockpit car designed by George Barris on a 1955 Lincoln Futura show concept.Check out our gallery to see the best of the Batmobile through the ages, following the timeline below. And stay bat-tuned for the movie -- current working title Batman vs Superman -- to arrive in May 2016 with Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader and Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel.Batmobile TimelineBatman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992)Designed by Anton Furst for the Tim Burton films that kicked off the current Batman movie franchise, this was a sleek and menacing vehicle with Art Deco influences that also reflect Furs' design for Gotham City.The car was built on a Chevy Impala chassis with a jet turbine with an afterburner at the rear, and featured  machine guns in the fenders, bombs, a batdisc-firing weapon, oil slick and smokescreen dispensers -- and Batmissile mode that retracted the wheels and ejected the side panels. Batman Forever (1995)Noted, and notably weird, artist HR Giger (Alien) was originally appointed to create the Batman Forever wheels, but had creative differences with director Joel Schumacher -- after initial director Tim Burton was sacked and Michael Keaton quit the Batman role. It may have been better if they'd settled the creative differences because the replacement design was an underwhelming result even with the added blue lighting effects.Powered by a Chevrolet 350 ZZ3 engine, its streamlined shape suggests nothing of Batman's power as a hero -- although during the movie, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian comments: "It's the car, right? Chicks love the car." Batman & Robin (1997)While following the sleekness of the previous Batmobile, the 1997 version looked more imposing and started to head slightly more towards the menacing attitude of the later vehicle. Again powered by the Chevrolet 350 ZZ3 engine, it ditched the single rear jet exhaust in favour of a trio of exhausts in the boat-tail rear.Designed by Harold Belker, and sporting the largest fins ever seen on a Batmobile, it rode on larger 22-inch wheels -- which lit up, along with the engine bay -- while another light display accented the turbine intake.The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012)The Tumbler we're now familiar with as the Batmobile started off with the tank-like military prototype for 2005's Batman Begins -- which itself owes a great salute to the Frank Miller comic book series The Dark Knight Returns.Rather than an aerodynamic shape to slip through the streets, the Christopher Nolan designed Tumbler is a 370kW 5.7-litre engined leviathan that will simply roll over the top -- or crush -- anything in its way. And anything it can't crush, it can blast. In attack mode the driver's seat slides to the centre and Batman stretches out face-down to manouvre the vehicle deftly and get more protection from enemy action.It echoed the dark side that emerged in Batman, and it looks like we're going to get more of the same in 2016, judging by Zach Snyder's brooding images of the coming Batmobile.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

It's not a bird or a plane, but this vehicle will star in the coming 'Superman vs Batman' movie due for release in 2016.  Tweeted overnight by film director Zach Snyder, the Batmobile is teased as a caped road crusader, with a cover only partially revealing what we'll see on screen.What we can already see is a hint of the armoury styling that echoes the recent Batmobiles -- a long way from the sleek designs under Tim Burton when the franchise was revived for the big screen in 1989, and even further from the 1960s TV series finned double-cockpit car designed by George Barris on a 955 Lincoln Futura show concept.The latest vehicle was designed by Patrick Tatopoulos, who's also handled 300: Rise of an Empire, Underworld, and Live Free or Die Hard. Snyder tweeted "Could be time to pull the tarp...Tomorrow?" which suggests that we'll see more of the next Batmobile in the next 24 hours.Shooting for the film is scheduled to start this month, with the movie expected to hit the screens in May 2016. The working title Batman vs Superman is likely to be replaced by the real title during filming and as promotion starts to build up. It will feature Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Torrential rain in the US caused a massive sinkhole to open up along a street in Baltimore, where bystanders filmed the row of cars half-tipped on the edge -- and then watched in horror as the massive disruption deepened and swallowed them.Following the recent sinkhole that claimed several valuable vehicle in the US National Corvette Museum, this video shows the full impact and eruption just metres from people watching. Watch the desktop version of the Baltimore sinkhole video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Holden has beefed up value equation with more features in the SV6 and SS Commodores, launching Storm special editions that for a limited time will replace the normal spec with features borrowed from the SS-V and Redline shelves.Additions for Storm include as standard: satellite navigation, front foglights with chrome trim (from the SS-V), 18-inch alloys with dark finish, red stitched upholstery and dash accents (from Redline) and Storm embroidery and badges.The Storm editions raise the price by $500 over the donor SV6 and SS sedans, wagons and ute, but the package offers more than double that in value."The total value is around $1200 -- the satellite navigation by itself would otherwise be a $750 option," Holden executive director of sales, product and marketing, Philip Brook, says.Holden will offer the Special Editions through May and June, with about 4000 cars in total being specced across the three body styles: 1600 sedans, 1200 wagons and 1200 utes."The SS V8 version of the utes is stronger than the six, but in the sedans and wagons we expect the SV6 to dominate," Brook says. "The SV6 is always quite strong -- it accounts for more than a third of the Commodore volume -- and should do quite well as a Storm Edition.“So far this year, VF sales are up 62.3% which is over 3,000 units. That’s more than any other car in the market and the Storm Special Edition will help add to that success.”The Storm editions area available only on petrol models, with no Storm upgrade for LPG cars. All SV6 Storm Editions are powered by the 210kW/350Nm petrol six-cylinder, while the SS Storm Editions get the 6.0-litre V8 delivering 270kW/530Nm with the six-speed manual form and 260kW/517 with the six-speed auto.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincottHolden Commodore Storm Edition list pricesHolden Commodore SV6 Storm (man) $36,490Holden Commodore sedan SV6 (auto) Storm $38,690Holden Commodore Sportwagon SV6 Storm (auto) $40,690Holden Commodore SS Storm (man) $42,990Holden Commodore SS Storm (auto) $45,190Holden Commodore Sportwagon SS Storm (auto) $47,190Holden Ute SV6 Storm (man) $33,490Holden Ute SV6 Storm (auto) $35,690Holden Ute SS Storm (man) $39,490Holden Ute SS Storm (auto) $41,690 

Photos of the next VW Passat have leaked, giving us clear angles on the changes to expect for styling and trim when the car is officially revealed later this year at October's Paris motor show.The images come via a Chinese internet site, and while poorly etched and somewhat fuzzy still offer a good look at what's been under the camouflage of the vehicles snapped by spy photographers during testing.The car shown is the Magotan version of the Passat for the Chinese market, a model that gets an extra 10cm stretch for the wheelbase but otherwise pretty much reflects what we'll see here.The Passat's styling remains restrained and conservative, with an unfussy front fascia but in this iteration quite a bit of chrome around the grille area. LED daytime running lights and a strong character line for the shoulder should give it some road presence.There are some strong hints of VW Group styling with Audi influence for the taillights, while the boot lip spoiler sculpting and the dual exhausts integrated neatly into the bumper give the rear some visual interest.No indications yet of the engine line-up, but with the Passat to be based on VW's flexible -- and almost ubiquitous -- MQB platform (which can take virtually any likely engine in the Group stable) the possibilities are myriad.However the local line-up is unlikely to stray far from the current mix, which kicks off with a 118kW/250NM four-cylinder 1.8-litre turbo petrol, followed by a 130kW/380Nm four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbodiesel and topped by a 220kW/350Nm 3.6-litre petrol V6.The big changes you can look for are probably going to be in the safety and features areas, where VW continues to roll up improving technology.

Carmakers advertise their product as doing all kinds of things for you - making life easier, unleashing your adventure side, and yes, making you more attractive. And while you might think that last hook is an outdated advertising approach --relegated to the female-draped supercar posters of the last century, or at the latest, the Ford 'pulling power' commercials of the last decade -- you'll still see it in a lot of current ad campaigns.But can a car really make you more attractive? According to the latest survey it can. But some of the most exotic cars can also make you unattractive.Ladies first. The survey conducted by Harris Poll for matchmaking site AnastasiaDate found that 48 per cent of women believe a car expresses the financial status of the driver -- and 20 per cent of women admitted finding a man more attractive after seeing the car he drove.But only 10 per cent would date somebody they weren't otherwise attracted to if that person drove an exotic car. Which means that 90 per cent of the guys who buy those cars to impress -- or acquire -- dates have wasted their dough. Or the 10 per cent of women they'll attract are shallow and possibly fake.Around 56 per cent of women thought a fast car meant the driver was an arrogant attention-seeker, and 17 per cent believed such a car meant the owner was insecure.The survey results suggested that women sometimes use a man's car to weigh up his more dependable potential, with 46 per cent believing the car reveals his image of himself, and 11 per cent thinking it reflects his views on family and his future plans.The exotic cars seem to work better for women, with only 38 per cent of men thinking a woman behind the wheel of one would be arrogant, and 6 per cent believing they would also be emotionally insecure.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Subaru revealed a 'self-cleaning car' a few years ago -- on April 1. Now Nissan has done the same, but it's no April Fool's Day stunt. They've just unveiled a new paint technology that promises to out an end to car washing. And it's not just destined for some future model. They're planning to offer it as an after-market product for cars already on the road.The Ultra-Ever Dry finish, created by UltraTech International, is said to allow the development of a layer of air between the surface and the elements, and be both hydrophobic (water-repelling) and oleophobic (oil-repelling), which means that oily grime, dirt and mud simply slide off.The video shows the finish applied to a Nissan Note, which then has all kinds of muck poured onto it -- none of which sticks on the treated side. There's no confirmation yet of when they're bringing it to market, or what the price range will be. However they have confirmed that rather than being offered as a special finish on new models, it will be available as an aftermarket one for all models.The upside is that you can expect this technology to spread to other brands. The downside? None, unless you're in the car wash business.Watch the self cleaning car finish video on our desktop site. 

Audi is on the march towards its target of having 60 models on the market by 2020, and it's looking like a large part of that expansion will be in SUV segments, with CEO Rupert Stadler sketching out plans for a larger SUV.Likely to be called the Q9 if a four-door -- or Q8 if a two-door -- the flagship SUV plans are on the table, but have not yet been given the go-ahead for production, according to CAR magazine in the UK. He added that if the Q9/Q8 hits production, it will include a plug-in hybrid drivetrain.The SUV range-topper would be another gap Audi would plug in the SUV field, where their current Q3, Q5 and Q7 are expected to be joined by a Q1 at the small end of the field, and possibly two-door Q2, Q4 -- possibly based on the TT Offroad concept unveiled at New York motor show -- and Q6 over the next few years. "We want to expand the SUV side of the business," Stadler is cited as saying at Beijing motor show. "By 2020, our Q-models will account for over 45 percent of sales."However he said the model expansion in the car segments would not include the sub-A1 city car that rumoured to be in the process of development on the platform from the Volkswagen Up -- which was recently dropped from the Australian line-up."There is no need for a car ," Stadler said. "We are quite happy with A1. It sells 120,000 units, and has a high degree of equipment and accessories, so are quite good."This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott