Articles by Marcus Craft

It's big, brash and in your face but is the gargantuan GMC Yukon Denali worth your consideration? General Motors Specialty Vehicles is banking on it. Packing a 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine, eight seats and a big features list, this top-shelf US 4WD has a price tag just under $175,000, making it a lot more expensive than most wannabe rivals in Australia. The Denali is here whether you like it or not.

Cars with a manual gearbox are becoming a rare breed on our roads as vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions now dominate the market. But, fear not my gearbox-loving friend, for there are still new cars with manual transmissions for sale in Australia.What is a manual car?Here's a super-simplified explanation. A manual car is a vehicle that has a manual gearbox, not an automatic transmission.A manual car has three pedals - from the driver’s point of view, left to right, a clutch, brake and accelerator.The clutch must be physically engaged/depressed by the driver (that is, left foot flat to the floor on the clutch pedal) before the gear stick can be moved in order to change gears and then the clutch must be disengaged/released in order for the car to then move forwards, via first, second, third gear etc, or backwards in reverse.A vehicle with an automatic transmission has two pedals. From the driver’s point of view, brake on the left, accelerator on the right.There is no clutch in a car with an automatic transmission because the auto does all of that aforementioned engaging/disengaging for the driver. However, the auto shifter needs to be moved to the ‘D’ (Drive), ’N’ (Neutral), ’R’ (Reverse), or ‘P’ (Park) position.Are they still popular in Australia? Yes, there are still new manual cars in Australia but they’re much less popular than in years gone by when manual cars dominated the roads, way back in those sweet pre-internet days…Are manual gearbox cars still being made? Yes, but there are fewer of them being made and cars with manual gearboxes are generally small, cheap cars or workhorse vans or high-performance sports cars.What has changed in the trends of manual car sales in recent years? When it comes time to decide manual or auto, people have increasingly favoured auto transmissions because these tech-advanced transmissions are generally smarter at selecting the correct gear ratios than the drivers themselves.What should you look for when buying a new manual car?Apart from any usual signs of misuse, damage or lack of maintenance of the vehicle itself, take the car for a test-drive and note any clunking or grinding noises emanating from the gearbox or if it slips out of gear, or if there are strong burning smells (transmission is overheating, low fluid level), obvious leaks (worn-out seals or gaskets) and/or the ‘check engine’ light comes on.Here are the top five manual cars available in Australia as new or, in the case of one particular vehicle listed here, near new.Read on.This all-wheel drive Rexxy has a 2.4-litre turbocharged, horizontally-opposed direct-injection 'boxer' four-cylinder, petrol engine (202kW at 5600rpm and 350Nm at 2000-5200rpm) and a six-speed manual gearbox.Punchy off the mark and gutsy on the move, this is a driver’s car, through and through, with the added bonus of Recaro front seats, Brembo brakes (with ventilated and drilled brake discs) and 19-inch matt-grey alloy wheels.The WRX made this list because what’s not to like about this Subie?Price: From $67,540 (MSRP)Small manual cars are still popular as they’re at the cheaper end of the market and so more budget-friendly than their automatic stablemates or rivals.This Hyundai has a punchy 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine (206kW and 392Nm) and six-speed manual. This neat all-rounder offers plenty of driver enjoyment in a modest package.This compact car made the list because of its bang-for-buck appeal.Price: From $50,000 (MSRP)This range of traditional workhorses retain its appeal – and its manual gearbox options across WorkMate, SR and SR5 variants.Manual utes are still popular in Australia, as is a manual 4x4 or manual 4WD or manual SUV. An SR5 with a six-speed manual gearbox and a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine (150kW and 420Nm) is a solid mid-range choice in the HiLux line-up.This ute made the list because it’s a manual labour legend.Price: From $60,670 (MSRP)Manual hybrid cars offer a great compromise between driving an EV and driving an internal combustion engine vehicle; you get the self-satisfied smugness of knowing you’re helping to prevent the world from turning into even more of a natural disaster-riddled hothouse than it already is, and you can drive around without any EV-related range anxiety.The cheapest Suzuki Swift Hybrid variant is this one, with a 1.2-litre naturally aspirated three-cylinder petrol engine (with 12-volt mild-hybrid assistance; 60kW and 110Nm) and a five-speed manual gearbox.This Zook made the list because it’s an impressive little all-rounder in a hybrid package.Price: From $24,490, drive-awaySure, it was technically released last year, but how could we not include the Ford Mustang Dark Horse?This wild beast of a car is a driver’s dream; it’s like driving a go-kart which has ingested a heavy dose of some kind of illicit substance.With a 5.0-litre V8 petrol engine (345kW and 550Nm) and a super-slick six-speed manual gearbox, the Mustang in Dark Horse is a barrel of laughs to steer around.The Mustang made this list because it’s a shedload of fun.Price: $98,017 (MSRP)

Why is my car aircon not cold?

The GMC Yukon Denali is the latest arrival in a continuing US vehicular invasion of Australia. Imported here as left-hand drive and then converted to a right-hander, the Denali is a big 4WD wagon with eight seats, a petrol V8 engine and a standard features list as long as LeBron James’s arm.Brought to our shores by General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV), the Denali is a premium-style vehicle; massive, comfortable and, as an eight-seat 4WD wagon, it has few rivals in the Aussie market. But it lacks a competitive warranty, its price-tag puts it way out of reach of a lot of 4WD buyers, and for a few distinct reasons it is a sterling example why US wagons and utes don’t belong in Australia.It’s too big.It’s big. Even the signature Denali grille – with LED headlights and chrome accents – is the size of a tiny house. The 2025 Denali is 5337mm long (with a 3071mm wheelbase), 2378mm wide, 1943mm high, and it has a kerb weight of 2813kg.The interior is great because it is big, roomy and occupant friendly, but the Denali’s gargantuan exterior dimensions simply mean it’s a beast of burden in busy city or suburban streets, and even on bush tracks, which can be quite narrow.The Denali demands to be driven with supreme consideration – and even more patience, more skill, and more experience than smaller four-wheel drives require – in order to avoid city- or bush-related damage, incidental or otherwise.Also, worth remembering is that fact that no matter how good a driver you are, there’s always a shopping trolley, key-wielding person who hates big vehicles, or someone who only parks their car by ‘touching’ the vehicle nearest to them out there, waiting to ding/scratch/dent your US behemoth. You’ve been warned.It’s not built for Australian conditions.The Denali is imported to Australia as a left-hand drive vehicle and then Walkinshaw's subsidiary company Premoso remanufactures the US 4WD wagons to right-hand drive at their facility in Clayton, Victoria. But the problems aren’t with Premoso’s work – they’ve done an impressive job – the flaws are in the vehicle’s original design and build.For one, as mentioned, it’s big. If you aren't used to steering a tank-sized 4WD around town then driving the Denali is going to be a very steep – and possibly very expensive – learning curve.Two, it’s built for open-road cruising on US freeways; it’s not engineered to cope with our punishing dirt-road corrugations of Australia, or our extreme heat, or our poorly maintained backroads and bush tracks.Thirdly, the Denali lacks the prestige fit and finish and build quality usually showcased in something at this price-point. Instead, there is hard plastic throughout, storage receptacles with flimsy lids, and lacklustre fit and finish.Also, this Denali is on 24-inch rims and paper-thin Bridgestone all-season tyres (285/40R24), which is not a wheel-and-tyre package suited to anything other than driving on the blacktop. These tyres don’t offer the grip of a decent all-terrain tyre and you can’t drop air pressures because there isn’t enough tyre there.The Denali has a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine – producing 313kW and 624Nm – and that’s matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission.This is a great vehicle to drive on-road for general day-to-day driving duties – settled and composed – and it’s close to flawless on the open road, smooth and refined, but that big V8 – as great as it sounds – has the potential to drink … a lot.The Denali’s air suspension – which aims to level out even major imperfections in the road or track surface – and its special dampers aren’t as effective or as seamless a system as the Patrol/Patrol Warrior’s Hydraulic Body Motion Control, which acts as a sway bar and sway bar disconnect equivalent and is very impressive. Official fuel consumption is listed as 12.8L/100km (on a combined cycle), but on my most recent test of it, I recorded 16.2L/100km. Not too bad, all things considered, but you have to remember that I didn’t have much weight onboard and I wasn’t towing anything.The Denali has a 91L fuel tank so, going by my on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 560km from a full tank. Once loaded up with real-world burdens (e.g kids, dogs, camping gear etc) then you’ll soon see the Denali’s fuel use climb.It’s expensive.The Denali has a price tag of $174,990 (excluding on-road costs), making it a lot more expensive than most vehicles that could be considered rivals in the Aussie market.Until now, if you’d been looking for an eight-seat 4WD wagon with a petrol V8 engine, you'd be limited to considering something like a Nissan Patrol or a Land Rover Defender 130, but at least the Patrol is almost half the price of a Denali.Another thing, as mentioned earlier, the Denali does not have the high quality of fit and finish and build quality usually associated with vehicles that cost this much – that’s disappointing.And maximum braked towing capacity in the Denali is listed as 3628kg (when it has a 70mm ball and weight-distribution hitch) – which isn’t that much more than other large 4WD wagons or utes in Australia offer (3500kg maximum braked towing capacity).US utes and wagons are big, bloated, overpriced and underdone – and they should go back from whence they came.Cue the hate mail...

Criminals have embraced technology and it’s helping them steal cars.

The driver-assist tech in a lot of new vehicles has the potential to be intrusive and annoying – from traffic sign recognition that’s woefully incorrect, to adaptive/active cruise control that is preemptive and too abrupt, through to stop-start functions that should be taken out the back and disposed of.

Let's be honest, we’ve all dreamt of ditching our everyday jobs, throwing off the shackles of modern-day domesticity and doing a road trip around Australia.

The Ford Everest Tremor is the latest mildly upgraded 4WD to enter the market. While the Ranger Tremor is a limited-edition variant, the Everest Tremor is here to stay.It has a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6, longer coil springs, Bilstein dampers and General Grabber AT3 all-terrain tyres.It also gets 'Rock Crawl' mode, steel bash plates, side steps and Tremor-specific styling and branding.

Everyone loves a good joke and car enthusiasts are no different because they all love funny car jokes.You name it and chances are there’s a car joke about it: driving jokes, car jokes for kids, car dad jokes, car jokes for adults, electric car jokes, car mechanic jokes, race car jokes, as well as car insurance jokes and car salesman jokes.So, here’s our exhaustive (exhausting?) line-up of jokes about cars.Q: Why was the car always tired?A: It never took any brakes.Q: What kind of car does Yoda drive?A: A Toy-yoda.Q: Why should you always carry peanut butter in your car?A: In case there’s a traffic jam.Q: Why did the man throw his spare tyre into the woods when he got lost?A: Where there’s a wheel, there’s a way.Q: What did you do with all those old car batteries?A: I gave them away, free of charge.Q: Why does it cost so much to put air in a tyre?A: Inflation.A jumper cable walks into a bar and the bartender says, “I’ll serve you but you’d better not start anything.”My wife asked me if I could go wash the car with our son. I told her a hose and sponge would be more efficient.Q: What did the car say to the stop light?A: You’ve changed, man!My wife gave birth to our son in the car on our way to the hospital. We named him Carson.I just got nine out of 10 on my driver’s test. The last guy was able to get out of the way.Q: What do you need to be able to drive in the outback?A: You need to show koala-fications.The worst thing about reverse parking is witnesses.Q: What kind of cars do people in Norway drive?A: Fjords.Q: What’s the difference between a Land Rover and a golf ball?A: You can drive a golf ball more than 100 metres.New Teslas don’t have that familiar new car smell – they have an Elon Musk.So, 95 per cent of the EVs sold in Australia are still on the road today. The rest were able to be driven home.Do people in EVs listen to AC/DC or something current?I walked into an EV dealership and asked them how much they charge.Q: Did you hear about the new EV from Germany?A: It’s a Volts-wagen.“Who won the 1975 Formula 1 World Championship?“Lauda.”“WHO WON THE 1975 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP?!”Q: What do strippers and the best F1 drivers have in common?A: They start in pole position.Q: How do you make a million dollars racing at Bathurst?A: Start with two million dollars!Q: What do drivers wear under their fire-retardant race suits?A: Speedos.If you can’t fix something on your race car with a hammer, then it’s an electrical problem.Anyone want to buy Doc Brown’s DeLorean? He only drives it from time to time.I went to my local car dealership and was looking at a potential buy when a salesman approached me.I was interested in if the interior was roomy enough to fit my family, dog and camping gear.I said: “Cargo space?”He said: “No, car go on road.”I visited a car dealership last week to check out the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series Sahara. I'm now just waiting to be paid…. so I can catch an Uber and go look at it again.What happened to the car dealership when it ran out of Kias?It sells Nokias now.A man walks into a Lada dealership and says "I'd like a hubcap for my Lada”.The dealer says: “That sounds like a fair swap.”I was in a lot of pain after I injured my neck in a car accident last year.Now I can look back and laugh.When I wrecked my last car, I solved the mystery of whether or not a Mercedes bends.When I regained consciousness after a car crash, the doctors tried to tell me I was actually a Swedish guy who had amnesia.I said: “Ha! I’m not falling for that one – I wasn't Bjorn yesterday!”Q: Did you hear about the car crash in Moscow?A: It turns out the guy was Russian to work.Q: What do you call it when a dinosaur gets into a car crash?A: Tyrannosaurus wrecks.A lot of mechanics reckon the best way to fix any car is to sort out the loose nut on the driver’s seat.Q: Did you hear about the mechanic who was addicted to drinking brake fluid?A: She said she could stop any time she wanted to.A mechanic mate of mine reckons a good way to get rid of annoying customers is tell them to go to the nearest Supercheap Auto or Autobarn and ask for a long wait.Q: What did the disgruntled customer say to the mechanic?A: “You auto know better!”Mechanic: “When were your tyres last rotated?”Me: “On the way here, mate.”Q: What do hospital gowns and car insurance policies have in common?A: You’re usually not as covered as you think you are.Q: What’s the difference between a new puppy and a car insurance company when you make a claim?A: The puppy stops whining after a week or two.A bloke was talking to a police officer after a car accident and explaining why he didn’t have car insurance.“There are worse things in life than pranging your car,” the bloke said.“Oh, yeah – what?” the police officer said.To which the bloke replied: “Talking to an insurance company sales rep.”A drunk bloke stumbles into a hotel where a car insurance convention is being held and yells, "All insurance agents are crooks, and if anyone doesn’t like it, come up and do something about it."A man immediately runs up to the drunk and says, "You take that back!"The drunk replies, "Why, are you an agent?""No," the man says, “I'm a crook.”A car insurance sales rep dad was teaching his daughter to drive when the car’s brakes suddenly failed while going down a steep hill.The daughter screamed: “I can’t stop!" What should I do?"The car insurance sales rep dad said: “Try to hit something cheap!”

The Toyota Tundra is the latest in a long line of full-size American pick-ups to arrive on our shores. The left-hand-drive Tundra is converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw in Australia and, on paper, this big ute is a well-engineered, well-equipped and purpose-built towing and touring machine. But the Tundra has a $156,000-plus price-tag. Is the Toyota badge enough to justify this much money?