Articles by Karla Pincott

Set to debut properly at this week's Geneva motor show, the Kia Provo Concept is a boxy hatch with echoes of Mini styling.The Provo looks aimed squarely at the youth market, with styled-up alloy wheels filling huge wheel arches, single-span headlight and taillight clusters, and orange accents set of with an orange roof panel.The interior gets swathes of quilted leather -- including across the centre console -- a flat-bottomed steering wheel and chrome and carbon-fibre accents.Expect little of that to make it into production, but it does point to Kia testing the waters for a performance hatch -- and with stablemate-parent Hyundai having seen some success with the three-doored Veloster hatch, a similar car would add more youth profile for Kia. Karla Pincott on Google+ 

The images largely refer to it as the Golf Variant, but it's a good bet to be the next Volkswagen Golf wagon -- and likely to be revealed at the Geneva motor show this week. There's little news in the look, with the wagon echoing the Golf hatch from the nose to the B-pillar. Further back it gets a longer rear overhang to form the wagon body, with what looks like a deeper opening making for a lower load floor. It also gets different taillight clusters with a rounded inner shape, and the photos show metal roof rails fitted. There are no details yet on the drivetrains, but you can expect it to follow the current model's line-up of both petrol and diesel engines, plus manual and auto transmissions -- but reflect the changes seen in the Golf VII hatch. The 118TSI 1.4-litre engine is gone, with the two turbocharged petrols for launch being a 64kW 1.2-litre promising 4.9L/100km and a 103kW 1.4-litre that VW says will get 4.8L/100km with the help of cylinder deactivation that shuts down two cylinders between 1400-4000rpm. Other petrols are likely to join the range later, including different tunes of the 1.2 and 1.4, and possibly a larger capacity unit. On the oilburner side there’s a tweak of the current 77kW 1.6-litre turbodiesel which VW claims will return 3.8L/100km and a Bluemotion version which promises 3.2L/100km. A revised version of the current 2.0-litre oilburner – including changing its alignment to improve cooling – also raises it to 110kW and delivers 4.0L/100km. The Volkswagen Golf wagon is likely to go on sale in Europe late this year, and may make it here by the end of the year or early 2014 Karla Pincott on Google+  

There are a few simple things to remember and steps to take, that will make the experience easier and assist you in avoiding being ripped-off.1. Set your budgetWork out how much you can afford to spend, and don’t forget to include registration, insurance and regular maintenance and running costs. Both for insurance, and if you’re going to get a loan, shop around to get the best rate.2. Do your researchIt's important to have a thorough look at what’s out there before buying a used car. To get an idea of a model’s current market price, spend some time searching our used car ads online or in your local newspaper. Also check out our price guide to help you avoid paying too much.Be wary if you find a used car where the price is much lower than the market suggests it should be. If you’re determined to take it further, have the car checked thoroughly. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.3. Find the right carBrowse cars by body type, make or price  to find out which make and model might suit youGo window shopping by make and model, age, location… and all kinds of other helpful detailsRead our expert reviews of the car you’re looking forCheck the latest car news to see if a new model is coming -- which can reduce the price of previous models when it arrives.4. Contact the sellerAnd when you do, don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions…- how long have they had the car- why are they selling it- has it ever been damaged- what condition is it in- will it meet a RWC- does it have any `bad habits’5. Looking at the carIf the seller is a private party rather than a dealer, always go to their home address. Don’t arrange to meet them somewhere. Check that the home address is the same as the one on the registration certificate. Take a printout or copy of the seller’s advertisement with you to check that details like the odometer numbers are accurate.6. Check the car’s historyNo matter how genuine the seller seems, you should check the history of the car to make sure it’s not stolen, encumbered by an outstanding loan, or even a previous write-off. Get the car’s VIN number and check against the databases in the state in which it’s registered. For a small fee (free in some states), this simple step could save you a lot of money and problems.New South Wales, ACT and Northern TerritoryVictoria and TasmaniaQueenslandSouth AustraliaWestern Australia7. Checking the carMake sure you have a thorough look over the car yourself, and best of all, have an independent mechanic or automotive centre check it out properly on a hoist. It could save you thousands by revealing mechanical problems and previous damage.- always look at the car in full daylight, never in the dark or in rain that could conceal body marks, dents, rust and other defects- check under the car, the bonnet and the interior carpet for rust and signs – such as welding marks -- which may show the car has been in a crash- under the bonnet, look for signs of oil leaks on top of the engine, and underneath. Use the dipstick to check the amount of oil. If the level is low, the owner hasn’t been looking after the car properly- look around the oil filler cap for a white mayonnaise-like substance - this is an indication of a damaged head gasket which can be very expensive to put right- take a look at the tyres to make sure they’re in good condition with plenty of tread- get down in front of each front wheel and look along the length of the car. Both front wheels should be directly in front of the rear ones – if they're not, it could mean the car has been in a crash and ended up with a slightly twisted or `crabbed’ chassis- check the gaps between the body panels are equal – if they're not, the car could have been refitted badly, or may have been in a crash- inside the car, make sure the seatbelts work correctly, the steering wheel and dashboard are bolted on correctly, the front seats move properly and all switches work- start the car with a cold engine, which will make is easier to reveal problems like poor starting or too much smoke8. Test drive the car- before you set off, turn the steering wheel from one lock to the other to make sure there is no screeching, banging, or knocking- to test the handbrake, pull it on and then try to drive off very gently. It should hold the car back- listen for strange noises from the engine, and don’t let the seller distract you by talking or turning up the radio- drive on as many different roads surfaces as possible- use all the gears, and check the gear change is slick and smooth- make sure the clutch pedal 'bites' between the top and middle of the pedal's travel9. Negotiating the priceThe price is the price, but there’s often leeway for bargaining.- Make a list of any faults you found with the car, or any work that might need doing, and calculate how much this could add to the price.- From this position, negotiate the price with the seller.- Ask the seller what their best price is, make a lower offer and then say nothing. They can only either turn you down, accept your offer or name another price closer to yours.10. Paperwork and payment- Make sure all the paperwork is in order, and that you have original versions (never photocopies) everything … registration papers, service history and logbook- If you’re making a payment or even just a deposit, get a receipt and make sure the seller’s full details are on itNever ... and we mean never ... give or send a seller money without seeing the car, or without getting a receipt with all the details.  Scammers may ask you to send money by Western Union, Moneygram or other risky methods, or even through an address pretending to be Carsguide. Do not send them the money, and contact Carsguide immediately to report any seller you feel is a fraud. Carsguide does not act as an agent in handling buyer and sellers money, so any request to do this should be treated suspiciously.    

Doting parents no longer need to wait until graduation to give their kids some prestige wheels. Aston Martin has designed a luxury pram that for a mere £2,000 – or just a tad under $3000 – will carry their newborn in high-end style.Developed in tandem with Silver Cross – a British maker of baby carriages since 1877 – the Aston Martin Edition pram has everything the upper-class child could want.For a start, the wheels are based on those of the limited edition Aston Martin One-77, which retails for £1.2 million in Britain but would likely be closer to $3m here, if any of the 77 built had made it to Australia. The pram will also be a limited edition, with just 800 being made available exclusively from Harrods in April, each fitted with an engraved brushed chrome plaque and arriving with a certificate of authenticity.The Aston Martin pram also uses the same upholstery leather and suede as the cars, while there’ll be no baby bumps with a special air-ride suspension system. And with Aston Martin’s renowned build quality, you can bet on the only rattles being the ones in the bubs’ hands.Aston Martin hasn’t detailed whether there will be any additional accessories that can be optioned, but we think there’s scope for a few superspy features.Concealed machine guns might clear the checkout queue when mum’s in a hurry, and a spray of tyre-piercing tacks would slow down rivals for the last vacant table at coffee shops. Parents might pray some days for an ejector seat that would fire a tantrum-thrower out of the postcode – or perhaps they could take some inspiration from that other master spy, Maxwell Smart, and turn the hood into a cone of silence. Karla Pincott on Google+ 

The SS (Super Sport) name for the Holden Commodore rebadged as a Chevrolet has been condemned by a Hebrew newspaper as having a Nazi reference -- and threatened with being banned from entry. A report in The Times of Israel quotes Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth slamming the badging because of association with the

Leading Australian elite car chain Trivett has been acquired by one of the world’s largest automotive groups, Inchcape in a buyout worth $116.7m. Britain-based Inchape Group already has operations across Europe and Asia, with its Australian presence including Subaru imports and Volkswagen and Mitsubishi showrooms. It will now add the upmarket Trivett retail group with sales of 9000 cars a year across 23 showrooms and a range of 17 brands including McLaren, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce and Bentley. However Trivett executive chairman Greg Duncan says he and his son Matthew will both continue in a consulting role with Inchcape, and with positions on the board of Carsguide.com.au of which Trivett is a major shareholder in the joint-venture ownership with News Limited. “Both Matthew and I have been invited to enter into consulting agreements and we are committed to a seamless transition of ownership and to supporting our exceptional team of people,” Duncan says. “Trivett will continue with its total commitment to Carsguide and the Duncans will retain their shareholding in the Carsguide brand. Not only will we continue that commitment, but we will now have more time to focus on it.” Duncan says the approach from Inchcape was far from the first they had received, but was an excellent fit with Trivett’s nearly 30-year Australian leadership in prestige vehicles. “We've had approaches every year for the past five years. None have attracted us like Inchcape. None have been as compatible and as good a fit in every regard,” he says. “Inchcape has an outstanding global reputation for it's ‘customer first’ focus,” he says. “Their culture and Trivett's are very compatible. What we have created as a family business over the years they have formalised into processes that achieve high customer service on a consistent basis. “Inchcape approached us last year. They wanted to expand their retail ops in Australasia and in the premium segment. Our brands, our size, our location and our reputation was ideal for them. For us, we were in that ‘middle ground’, and to really leverage the business we needed to get bigger and expand beyond Sydney. As a family business in a very capital intensive industry this is a big step. The option to sell had great appeal. It is a good time for global companies to buy and for local companies to sell. “Their global CEO Andre Lacroix is an amazingly impressive leader. His commitment to his people and to Customer service was influential in our decision. As he's has said, Trivett is a quality business and a good fit for Inchcape. Like Andre we believe the two businesses are very compatible.”  

...to hit the market. The recent floods in Queensland and New South Wales affected thousands of vehicles, and experts say many will be cleaned up to hide the damage, and sold around the country before problems start to appear. Insurance companies have received claims for about 3300 vehicles – including cars, trailers, caravans and motorbikes -- worth about $30 million following the floods, but many other uninsured ones would also have been damaged. David Scognamiglio, CEO of consumer vehicle research site carhistory.com.au, said there could have been be up to 5000 cars damaged, and those without full insurance claims were the real danger to buyers. “Cars that were uninsured or underinsured will be cleaned up and hit the market again,” Mr Scognamiglio said. “Those cars become a danger to consumers with the potential to have huge defects in the electrical system – components that control the brakes, doors, nearly everything in the vehicle could be affected. They pose a real threat not only to people’s pockets but to their safety.” Laws prohibiting the resale of repaired flood write-offs and governing the declaration of flood damage to a vehicle are easily dodged by private sellers – and even dealers may be at risk, warns motoring body, the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland. “It can take up to six months before you can see signs of rust or corrosion in a water-damaged car, so there’s a reasonable window of opportunity for sellers to pass them on to unwary buyers, including dealers,” RACQ spokesman Steve Spalding said. He warned that a meticulous cleaning will remove most evidence of recent water damage, and buyers should take extra care with inspections. “An example I can recall after a previous flood was a late model Mercedes for sale that had been cleaned and detailed immaculately. The telltale clue was in the glove box – which they’d overlooked – where a mud tide-mark showed how deep the vehicle had been in water,” he said. Mr Scognamiglio said research showed the majority of buyers did not research a used car’s previous history. “We know that only 30 per cent of people really do proper checks. So 70 per cent of people in the private market are really putting themselves at risk,” he said. Both he and Mr Spalding urged buyers over the next six months to carefully check used cars, trailers caravans and motorbikes; looking in depth at both their physical condition and their official history. Tips to avoid buying a flood-damaged vehicle Check that the vehicle can be reregistered. Perform a vehicle history check at www.ppsr.gov.au or carhistory.com.au Check for mud, silt or watermarks under seats, behind the dash, inside the glove box, ashtray and other places that may have been overlooked during cleaning. Look for rusty tools in the tool pouch as this can easily be overlooked during cleaning. Look for corrosion in the spare wheel and boot wells, and also on unpainted metal components such as dash brackets and seat bases. Water damaged log books or service records are a giveaway, but will most likely be removed or replaced before sale. If books are missing or their condition appears inconsistent with the rest of the car, question why. Check the air filter element and inside the air cleaner housing and intake ducting for mud or silt that may indicate water has reached the engine. Salt water exposure will show as a white, powdery corrosion on alloy components. Look for green, powdery corrosion in electrical connectors. It may be necessary to carefully separate a connector to check for this. Mud build up inside the chassis rails on utes and 4WDs or on under body components, such as suspension parts, can indicate flooding or it could suggest use on unsealed roads. You’ll need to make a decision about which one it is. Damp seats, carpets and floor coverings may be a sign of water damage or simply of cleaning and detailing. Either requires further investigation. The smell produced by flooding can be difficult to remove from carpets and trims, so be suspicious of any vehicle that has been treated with strong fragrances that could be an attempt to hide the odour.   Karla Pincott on Google+  

Walkinshaw Performance is selling what must be the most desirable used ute in Australia. The rare and genuine Walkinshaw Performance HSV E3 Maloo is from their VIP fleet and is being moved on to make way for new fleet vehicles. Any doubts about the desirability? Just read some of the details in the ad. It's a 2011 plated super low km (<3,500kms) vehicle that features some of our finest work. This thing has more soul than Marvin Gaye, more power than seven of the Toyota Yaris -- and looks-wise it would give Miranda Kerr a run for her money (note: also faster than Miranda). Lists are usually boring, but this one is not. Read it while seated. First up we whacked a WP230 Supercharger atop the LS3 engine which turned a 317Kw Maloo into a 480+kw Maloooooo. It also now boasts more torque than a political rally while actually producing results. The wheels. We thought "20s would look nice". Up onto the hoist and shortly after the beast was shod with HSV SV Black 20" wheels with Bridgestone Potenza 275/30 rears and 245/35 fronts. Looks. A Maloo is already the best looking ute out there, but we added an HSV GTS front bar in matt black and a number of HSV Black parts (Bonnet and side vents) to make angry look angrier. The factory bimodal exhaust remains (As Top Gear's Richard Hammond once said "Makes it go to eleven"), but we added our billet aluminium matt black tips to ensure it was very WP styled. It has a towbar with a WP cap on it for when you're not pulling an Airbus A380 for a friend (did we mention 800nm of torque?). Of course it has a full service history, with all work done by us and backed by a balance-of-new- car warranty from WP. This ute has been snapped up by a buyer that says he is "very excited."    

The first official pictures of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur have leaked on the internet well before the car’s official unveiling at Geneva motor show next month.While the interior strongly echoes the latest Continental GT and GTC, the images show some exterior changes from their design cues with a more upright grille, more streamlined profile and trimmed styling of the rear light clusters.Bentley is yet to release details on the drivetrains, but is tipped to be using the current Continental's 373kw/660Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and 423kw/700Nm 6.0-litre W12.This journalist is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Economic woe clouding Europe has delivered a silver lining for Australia with the arrival of the new Hyundai i30 Tourer. The little wagon was designed and destined solely for Euro markets, but sliding sales there and a strong currency here gave the Aussie business case a leg-up and backflipped the previous decision not to send it to us. The i30 is Hyundai's star success story, their top seller -- and the sixth most popular car in Australia last year. Rivals for it on the sales leaderboard are the Mazda3 in first place, Toyota's Corolla in third and the Holden Cruze in fifth -- and just a whisker ahead of the Hyundai. But the i30 has a chance to leapfrog ahead this year, if the new wagon lends the hatch a hand by attracting extra buyers. Many of those will come from fleets that favoured the previously discontinued wagon, but with fresh looks and a sprinkle of extra equipment, it's going to lure private buyers too. In Europe, wagons are often an upmarket choice, and that tendency has seeded the more premium approach of the i30 Tourer', which was designed in Germany and built in the Czech Republic. Both Active and Elite spec get the classy grille seen only on the latter in the hatch, daytime running lights, speed limiter on the cruise control and smart 16-in alloys (and yes, a full-size spare) added to the already generous i30 fit-outs. That means the Tourer Elite also scores the hatch's rear view camera, 7-in touchscreen satnav with live SUNA updates and other goodies. But both wagons also get multi-link rear suspension, rather than the hatch's cheaper torsion beam. The Tourers share the i30 range's 94kW/260Nm 1.6-litre turbodiesel -- the Elite offers only that engine with a six-speed auto -- but the Tourer's petrol choice is the 98kW/163Nm 1.6-litre from the Veloster and Kia Rio, rather than the hatch's 1.8-litre (sacrificing 3kW and 15Nm with the change). There's a rise of $2000 over the discontinued wagon and current hatch, with the newcomer starting in showrooms later this month at $22,990 for the petrol and $25,590 for the diesel in Active manual spec (the auto adds $2000) and topping out at $31,190 for the Elite. Fuel misers might be philosophically attracted to the manual diesel's 4.6L/100km and petrol's 6.3L, but buying trends show most will then skip over it for the auto versions claiming 5.8L and 6.9L respectively. Load-luggers will love the increased cargo space, with 528 litres -- 113 more than the previous wagon and 150 more than the hatch -- ballooning to 1642 with the rear seats flat-folded. So... how does that stack up against that close leaderboard rival? The Holden Cruze wagon starts at $25,790 and is longer, wider and higher, but falls behind on 500 to 1478-litre cargo space -- and also on head and shoulder room. The Hyundai will also gain some applause with European styling and build against the Korean origins of the Cruze wagon. It will be an interesting race to the sales finish line this year. Wagons ho! This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott