Articles by Kevin Hepworth

Ageing designs and even older platforms have seen many prestige car buyers cross Saab off the shopping list before leaving home. The 9-3 sits on eight-year-old underpinnings, while the 9-5 is even older with its Epsilon platform approaching 12, a true geriatric in prestige automotive terms.“There is no doubt we have suffered because we spent a lot of time telling people what the price of the car was rather than what the brand was about,” says Saab Australia boss Parveen Batish.“That approach has a negative impact as far as your residual values are concerned and it takes a while to dig yourself out of that hole ... and we're not out of that hole yet.”Batish was on hand at the launch of the limited edition Turbo X and Aero fettle for the TTiD diesels. Saab hopes these will turn things around. Despite sales evidence to the contrary, Batish says the brand is heading in the right direction.To the end of May, Saab sales have dropped almost 27per cent over the same period last year, with just 592 cars registered.“We have been talking about the brand a lot more over the past 18 months. We've got to tell people what Saab's about if we're going to be sustainable in the future. We can't just go on price ... people are willing to pay as long as they know they are getting the performance and value they expect from the brand that they are buying.”The poster car for Batish's vision of a brave new future is one that will do little to improve the bottom line in raw figures but will provide a point of reference for what Saab is going to become.The Turbo X (just 30 examples will make their way to Australia) is a showcase of technology for future models. The all-wheel-drive (cross-wheel-drive in Saab speak) 2.8-litre V6 with active limited-slip rear differential is a clear signpost on the road to the all-new 9-5 due by early next year.“To have a hero car we can point to is hugely important for a couple of reasons,” Batish says. “Firstly it gives everyone a boost, a lift, and that will show in the marketing. More importantly it allows us to talk to the people we want. We can finally say to those people who have been scared to drive a front-wheel-drive car because , `You can't put that much power through the front wheels', try this.“It is true that 30 cars is not a lot of conquests, but from here AWD will flow to other models, at least as an option, in the very, very near future. That is what I mean about giving those people confidence. We can do one job at the moment in terms of lifting the brand with the Turbo-X and then with cross-wheel drive in the future we can bring those conquests to us.”Even before the flow down of the AWD and LSD technology, Saab is working to get its cars back on the consideration list.“The conversion rate when we get people into the cars is fantastic, something like 50 per cent,” Batish says. “That tells me we have a product people like but we have to get them into contact with it.”To that end Saab will be pushing what Batish believes is the brand's unique selling point.“As a brand what we're going to focus on is responsible performance. The fact we have excellent diesel engines with an Aero diesel, the fact we have enviro-power-flexible vehicles with E85, the fact we have four-cylinder engines with great performance and fuel economy. All of this leads to responsible performance.“Everyone wants performance. When people buy a premium car that's what they want.“We think we have great cars with great packages, especially the TTiD.”However, for all the “responsible” banter it is going to be, initially at least, the performance of the Turbo X that will grab buyers by the throttle.Saab has opened its AWD strategy with a car of which it has built only 2000 - all of which are black and which Saab Australia holds only four firm orders for the 30 examples it has been allocated. There is little argument that it deserves a better reception than that, and may well get one once those looking in from the sidelines at the $88,800 starting price get over the sticker shock.With 206kW and 400Nm the Turbo X, in six-speed manual or six-speed automatic, is open to some suspicion. The 9-3 Viggen (the car, not Saab's jet interceptor) is remembered for its audacious torque and atrocious manners.The Turbo X shares none of that. AWD and electronic LSD means the 400Nm of urge is delivered in a controlled manner. So much so that the Turbo X was at its best on a loose gravel road with the torque delivery switching from front to rear and side to side with effortless efficiency. 

If Lexus is synonymous with anything it is refinement. Nobody to blame but themselves for that one. Ever since the first Lexus emerged from the back door of the Toyota garage, determined to make its own way in the world the key performance target is `how quiet can we be'.The measure of how good the NVH boys at Lexus really are is in the level of criticism the badge receives for isolating the driver from the rest of the environment. At the pinnacle of that refinement evolution is the super-smooth LS460. Drifting along in its own little cocoon of silence, the LS is the current ultimate expression of no-fuss motoring. A little pricey for the average buyer, but what price such peace and quiet.Trouble is, as Lexus has found, not everybody wants to experience the world from behind layers of laminated glass and sound-deadening foam.For those with only moderately large budgets, Lexus offers the rather more sporty IS range. But what about those who like the idea of luxury — and have the budget to indulge it — but also feel the need for just a little bit of the `rough'. For those particular few there is the GS range, or — to be more precise — the GS460.The range-topper in the latest generation of GS cars has picked up much of what makes the LS a segment-leader but in a guise that promises a more visceral experience.It snorts and snarls a little more than would be acceptable for an LS, hunkers down a little more and transmits a little more of what is going on outside the cabin. But don't be fooled. It's no sporting hero, rather it's a gentleman athlete, and paradoxically, not quite the athlete the LS is. It is what it misses out on in coming to market some $50,000 more affordable — cheaper doesn't seem the right expression — that defines the GS460's ultimate athleticism.While it gets the same 4.6-litre V8 coupled to the same breakthrough eight-speed gearbox packaging the engine into the different body has taken a toll. The need for a different manifold and exhaust has stripped the GS460 of a degree of punch. Power is down 25kW while the torque has been trimmed by 33Nm over the 493Nm in the LS. The upshot is that despite less weight and a more aggressive nature, the GS is a touch less “sporty” than big brother in the Savile Row suit.While the GS can put the 0-100km/h sprint behind in a none-too-tardy 5.8 seconds, the LS can get to the same mark in 5.7s with even less fuss.Punch the GS along and the impression belies the raw figures. The car feels a little more lively, a touch more engaging than the LS.On its variable suspension the GS rides with either a comfortable firmness or a broken-surface absorbing plushness. The sportier ride actually suits the feel of the car better but neither is unpleasant.As with the LS the steering is light and less communicative than a true sports car, yet the car turns in nicely and the suspension does a grand job in controlling the considerable weight shifts at play during enthusiastic pedaling. A switchable stability control takes care of those moments when ambition overtakes ability but such is the giving nature of the system that there is little reason to turn it off outside a track environment.The classy sportsman theme continues inside the cabin, with an oddly pleasing mix of brushed aluminium and wood trim. A soft blue glow from the instrument panel is both easy on the eyes and easy to read. Lexus claims the system to be unique, relying on variable-transparency glass to minimise reflections from the gauge faces and help optimise visibility in all lighting conditions.The GS shares the wonderful Mark Levinson 14-speaker sound system from the LS along with a new arrangement of audio and telephone controls on the steering wheel.The GS460 also features 10 airbags, dual-zone climate control with pollen filter, heated and ventilated front seats with 10-way power adjustment, one-touch power windows, smart entry and start (keyless), Bluetooth mobile phone capability, rear-view camera with eight parking sensors, power moonroof, and active cruise control.The GS460 is an interesting exercise in maximising pioneering and expensive engineering. It takes much of what makes the LS an impressive unit and repackages it to embrace a small but well-heeled segment not ready to shake off the last vestiges of youth — yet not young and foolish enough to want to spend more time than necessary being uncomfortable. 

It will carry the economy-sized burden of gathering a new generation of Alfisti. Developed off the Fiat Punto platform, the MiTo is a compact three-door coupe with a sports-orientated sexy fun factor ... just ask Alfa. However, what it definitely is not is a spiritual successor to the Alfa Sud of the 1970s. “The MiTo is a very strategically important vehicle for Alfa Romeo, but it is not the new Alfa Sud, despite all the talk about that,” says Alfa Romeo Australia's Edward Rowe. “Firstly, the Alfa Sud was a Golf-sized car that was launched to compete against the Golf and the Sud has a straight-through lineage to today's 147 — a Golf-sized car. “The other significant thing is the Alfa Sud was designed to compete with the Golf directly. “It was a five-door hatch, there was a wagon version — it was a family five-door, five-seat hatchback that just happened to look cute and go around corners well. “It was a thoroughly mainstream model built under instructions from the Italian government (which owned Alfa Romeo at that time) to be Italy's answer to the Golf. Obviously the 147 has strayed away from the Golf competitor role a little but essentially that is still where it sits.” The MiTo, Rowe says, will compete in the hottest sector of the European market; the super-mini sector that sits directly below the Golf, Audi A3, Astra or 1 Series BMW style cars. “That segment is rapidly becoming Europe's number one market sector,” Rowe says. “It is very important for Alfa Romeo to have a model in that sector, but that doesn't mean going after the mass-market buyers in the sector. “The part of the sector that is growing isn't the mass-market section, the Polos, C3s and so on, it is the premium end of that market where people are coming down from the sectors above and want something cute, sexy and performance-oriented with all the fruit and gear. A smaller version of the cars they have been driving in the past.” Alfa Romeo importers Ateco Automotive hope to have the MiTo on sale in Australia by the middle of next year with an entry price around $30,000 moving up to the $35,000 range for the higher-end models. “The details are still being worked out but I would imagine we would take the top petrol engine, a 115kW turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol unit, the 90kW 1.6-litre JTDM diesel and possibly a smaller petrol engine as an entry-level car,” Rowe says. “The gearbox choices will be a six-speed manual and a Selespeed and the specification levels will be high.” Rowe stresses the MiTo is not a family car and will target a youth-oriented audience. “It is targetting a much younger market than the traditional Alfa Romeo market. It is firmly aimed at the 20-30 age bracket. Even the naming is aimed at the younger buyers. It is almost `X-speak' ... a contraction of two longer words, Milan and Turin .” Alfa has already hinted at a rush of further technological additions for the MiTo after its initial launch. Fiat has shown a hot version of the little turbo petrol engine that has been re-fettled to produce a storming 150kWs. There are also suggestions that a convertible version of the car could be available within a year while the Multiair electronically controlled valve lift system and the Fiat's version of the double-clutch automatic, the DDCT, are reportedly already slated for the MiTo. As with many small cars now, the MiTo was engineered to obtain maximum Euro NCAP safety rating and has a full suite of electronic driving aids including non-switchable dynamic stability control, MSR to prevent wheels locking during over-run and dynamic steering torque (DST). The MiTo comes standard with seven airbags, three-point seatbelts with pretensioners and load limit limiters and active head restraints. In-cabin comfort and refinement includes premium MP3 sound and the multi-functionality of the Blue&Me device. That is a system developed in conjunction with Microsoft that offers hands-free operation with a Bluetooth interface and advanced voice recognition, USB port, MP3 player and SMS interpreter.   SNAPSHOT ALFA ROMEO MiTo Price: from $30,000 (estimate) Engine: 1.4L/4-cylinder turbo; 1.6L/4-cylinder turbo diesel Transmission: 6-speed manual, Selespeed auto Rivals: Mini, Fiat 500, Peugeot 207 GTi On sale: July 2009

The four-door Panamera is already causing ripples.

There were motor shows coming, Mini's retro look-at-me originality was becoming a little ho-hum and there was a niche or two still to fill. The answer for BMW was to track the path of the original Mini ... move from the idea of a small passenger sedan to a small everything van in the style of the quirky little Traveller.Thus was born — or reborn — the Traveller Concept, an ultra-compact two-seat load carrier with the Mini's funky front-end and cabin and a bread van at the rear. A couple of years on the show circuit and the idea was tweaked and refined. A second row of seats added along with a rearward-opening “suicide” door in the style of Mazda's RX-8 — just one, in this case — and the modern rendering of the Clubman was born. What is really interesting about the Clubman is how cleanly it divides opinion.It is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, even among those enamoured of the little sedan. My 15-year-old daughter, already plotting ways to get her hands on a Cooper S, turned away in disgust. “It's gross ... how could they even do that?” she said. Evidently the opinion only bore depth if one was outside looking on or sitting to the rear of the B-pillar. Everything about the cabin and the front of the car still passes muster. The funky bits ... oversized dials, tactile switchgear and huggy seats still push the right buttons.However, it appears that the rear seats and the admittedly Mini-sized load area are going to win favour from the practical set — those stable, left-brain utilisers of society. That is strange because practical and sensible are not catchwords that go hand-in-hand with Mini. Look under fad in the dictionary and you will find Minis in general and the Clubman in particular. Yet, perversely, to a goodly degree the Mini Clubman is practical — particularly if you pretend it doesn't have rear seats and fold them out of the way. In that case you are going to be able to fit in a bike, a huge weekly shop or lots and lots of nice things to drink. The rear barn doors swing wide on clever hinges to ensure unfettered access to the load area. Coupled to the car's natural low ride height, this makes for very comfortable loading.You just have to be careful when closing the doors that you do so in the correct order — something you would probably get used to as an owner.What you are less likely to brush aside any time soon — particularly if you are using the rear seats for the children — is the self-centred design team that made those seats accessible only from the traffic side of a right-hand drive model. The criticism will carry little weight in Germany and continental Europe but for the Australian owner it's a biggie.All that aside, Clubman buyers will still know they have bought into what the manufacturer will have us believe is the most fun club in the country.And driving the Clubman is fun. Despite its longer body and the 80kg of extra bulk, the go-kart qualities of the original brick-on-wheels still shine through. While it may not be as sharp through the really twisty bits — or even around the cones at a gymkhana — it still has the ability to bring a smile to your face and leave a host of beefier, bulkier rivals wondering which way you went, as we discovered in testing with the Cooper S. The sports suspension tended towards being harsh but it did all that was required of it to maintain connection with the road.That impression of a firm ride is not helped by the use of run-flat tyres — but that is nothing new in the BMW stable. But under the bonnet the Clubman is exactly the same package as the basic Mini. In the Cooper S test car that means a punchy turbo 1.6-litre four-cylinder with 128kW of power and a noticeable 240Nm of torque there for the asking.The engine is a real treat. It provides more than enough punch to explore the well-sorted Mini chassis and brakes that allow you to dive deep into corners without any sense of fade.You will be able to find a touch of torque steer, particularly if overly enthusiastic on the throttle while the steering is loaded.But it is not snappy and merely acts as a reminder to wait through the corner before getting stuck in again.It is, after all, a front-driver.In the test car, drive was through a snicky six-speed manual — which begs the question: why anyone would want to dull the performance by paying a $2200 premium for the automatic.Does anyone really need a Clubman? Probably not, but there are going to be more than a few who will want one ... and the extra space won't hurt when putting forward a business case.

It has been on the workshop bench for more than a quarter of a century, now finally Porsche is ready to share its Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe gearbox with its legion of daily drivers.

 It is only a small “e” in the nomenclature but it represents a huge corporate watershed for Audi as the “other” German brand steps up to show the world that efficiency can be had without a magic bullet. With the launch of the A3 1.9 TDI e Audi Australia has started an internal reformation that is going to rumble across every model line in the four rings' showroom and provide a real-world argument for intelligent design over rampant technology.“This is the start of Audi's 'progressive performance' message,” Audi Australia's Anna Burgdorf said at the launch of the new A3 derivative.The ethos of the “e” car philosophy is largely common sense and involves use of design strategies available to any car manufacturer. There is no breakthrough technology in the engine, no super-efficient gearbox.What gives the A3 1.9 TDI e its remarkable hybrid-challenging fuel efficiency — 4.5 litres per 100 kilometres on the official government cycle — is a series of rather small tweaks that together result in an 8 per cent improvement in economy and the consequent improvement in emissions. Audi engineers have tuned the electronics of the 77kW 1.9-litre turbodiesel engine — the same unit found in the standard A3 and the VW Golf — while lengthening ratios for third and fifth gear in the five-speed manual box, resulting in optimised fuel efficiency, particularly when the driver follows the recommended gear selection as displayed on the dash.The car has also been lowered to improve efficiency through the air, lightened, fitted with aerodynamic plastic covers for the 16-inch wheels and shod with low-friction Michelin rubber to reduce rolling resistance.From there it is down to the desire, determination and concentration of the driver as to how much lower the fuel efficiency can be driven.While it is unlikely that any day-to-day driver will consistently return the 3.8L/100km figures achieved on the 366km launch drive from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island — driving purely for efficiency with windows up, airconditioning off, wing mirrors folded in and as much throttle-off time as possible — impressive real-world figures will be possible. The control car, driven to the speed limits, returned 4.3L/100km for the 366km drive. There is little noticeable difference to the 1.9 TDI stablemate.“The 1.9 e is the most efficient car in the Audi fleet and it shows that hybrid is not the only solution ,” Burgdorf says.“We know the car is not going to be a huge seller, about 60 a year, but there will be an `e' version in all core model lines by the end of the year.”Audi Australia's marketing manager, Immo Buschmann, says the popularity of the “e” cars will grow with the arrival of the A4 and A8 models later this year when the cars will carry badge proof of their green credentials — which is something that the A3 cars currently don't sport.“As a premium brand we have been telling the story of progressive performance for some time,” Buschmann says. “What we haven't been talking about is safety and environmental impact ... it has just been a given that it is there.”Buschmann says the design of the badging is a work in progress but will emphasise the green characteristics.While the strategy is easily implemented there is much more to come from Audi as the philosophy is rolled out across the company and expanded to include more — and more complex — technology.“There are already significant advantages in efficiency over hybrid technology,” Audi Australia's technical manager John Roberts says.“There is the advantage of weight. You don't have to carry batteries.“And there is the packaging advantage — you don't have to give up boot space to store the batteries.”He says 30 per cent of consumption is dictated by driving style.It is this area that the “e” future will target, Roberts says. SNAPSHOT Audi A3 1.9 TDIePrice: from $38,900Engine: 1.9L/4-cylinder turbodiesel 77kW/250NmTransmission: 5-speed manualEconomy: 4.5L/100km (claimed); 3.8L/100km (tested) 

Ford Performance Vehicles boss Rod Barrett admits he has been surprised by the $170,000 price tag on the 7.0-litre HSV 427 but, despite suggestions that the car's 200-unit production run is fully subscribed, he doesn't see a similar pricing structure for a GTHO. “I think that's a lot of money,” Barrett says. “I don't think I could put a car up at that money. “I know we're talking a couple of years off at the moment, but that price would be double the most expensive car I've released (the FG-based GT-E) and I just don't know where I could get the content to justify charging that price. “Anyway, I want to make this car affordable — affordable to the bloke who's a genuine GT-P, Cobra or GT Anniversary driver or collector. If the GTHO was to be a $100,000 car, I would be OK with that.” Original Phase III GTHOs from the 1970s have become something of a phenomenon in recent years, with auction prices soaring. While predictions of a million-dollar sale have not been realised, the top auction price has hit $750,000. Barrett said that while any production GTHO would be a limited-edition vehicle, it would be “special and affordable”. “The whole thing in this vision is that it'll be a completely different car to the Cobra or the 40th Anniversary GT. I've promised not to badge-engineer this car and I won't. “It will be a purpose-built car that reflects the attributes of a 1971 GTHO in all its forms. “We're not going to spray a car in a colour, throw on a stripe and say, `There you go — that's a GTHO'. That's not my vision for it.” Barrett says he has a clear plan in his head as to what will underpin a modern GTHO — right down to the wheels and the colour. There's just one key piece of the puzzle missing: what V8 is going to sit under the bonnet. “The (current 315kW) 5.4 is probably at the max of its power, so we would have to be looking at the global Ford family to find something suitable,” Barrett says. “Whatever it is, it has to have the character, reliability and driveability that's at the core of all FPV cars.” At the opposite end of the FPV scale, Barrett is working on ideas for a small — possibly four-cylinder — FPV hero. “To be honest, I haven't yet delved too deeply into the Focus, but it's on the priority list, albeit down the order,” Barrett says. “When the Focus comes down the production line at the Broadmeadows factory (scheduled for 2010 or 2011) that's something we'd be looking at. “Again, no formal discussions have been entered into with Ford, but that's the most realistic opportunity for us to do a small car because we can use the same mother-car model. “At the moment we would struggle with making a business case out of an imported car.”  

Set to be officially unveiled by Subaru Japan on June 17, the sleek seven-seat wagon is initially slated for the domestic market but Subaru Australia is not going to let that interfere with an opportu

...and Mercedes-Benz has more to come with an Estate diesel arriving in September with the C63 AMG Estate. For the moment buyers will have a single engine choice, the proven supercharged 1.8-litre four-cylinder wearing the C200 Kompressor badge.Price premium for the Estate is $1800 above the equivalent sedan model, making it $58,890.From September the 2.1-litre C220 CDI turbodiesel four-cylinder Estate will carry a $63,100 sticker, while the AMG version will land at $141,300 with the same 336kW and 600Nm 6.2-litre V8 from the sedan.The V6 C280 Estate — already on sale in European markets — could be added next year.Mercedes sold 706 C-Class sedans in April, 300 more than Audi's A4 and almost double the number 3 Series sedans moved by BMW.The C200 Kompressor develops 135kW at 5500rpm and 250Nm at 2800-5000rpm — nothing that is going to make it an excitment machine but the drive experience is nothing if not refined and will continue to win fans.A five-speed automatic is standard fare for the Estate all the way to the C63, which gets the star seven-speed auto.Estates, or station wagons, are not big sellers in the Australian market but Mercedes believes there is incremental growth available with 300 sales predicted this year and 500 a year after all the engine choices come on line.There are a range of options unique to the Estate, including self-levelling rear suspension ($2000), dark tinted privacy glass ($1010), automatic opening and closing tailgate ($1010), and a load-securing kit ($700).Load capacity in the Estate has been increased, at least in volumetric measures, with between 485 and 1500 litres depending on the rear seat position.That is an improvement of 146 litres over the previous model yet the load is still only rated to carry 100kg.