Articles by Neil Dowling

Neil Dowling
Contributing Journalist

GoAutoMedia

Cars have been the corner stone to Neil’s passion, beginning at pre-school age, through school but then pushed sideways while he studied accounting.

It was rekindled when he started contributing to magazines including Bushdriver and then when he started a motoring section in Perth’s The Western Mail.

He was then appointed as a finance writer for the evening Daily News, supplemented by writing its motoring column. He moved to The Sunday Times as finance editor and after a nine-year term, finally drove back into motoring when in 1998 he was asked to rebrand and restyle the newspaper’s motoring section, expanding it over 12 years from a two-page section to a 36-page lift-out.

In 2010 he was selected to join News Ltd’s national motoring group Carsguide and covered national and international events, launches, news conferences and Car of the Year awards until November 2014 when he moved into freelancing, working for GoAuto, The West Australian, Western 4WDriver magazine, Bauer Media and as an online content writer for one of Australia’s biggest car groups.

He has involved himself in all aspects including motorsport where he has competed in everything from motocross to motorkhanas and rallies including Targa West and the ARC Forest Rally.

He loves all facets of the car industry, from design, manufacture, testing, marketing and even business structures and believes cars are one of the few high-volume consumables to combine a very high degree of engineering enlivened with an even higher degree of emotion from its consumers.

2017 Kia Rio targets Clio with 1.0 turbo
By Neil Dowling · 23 Jan 2017
A turbo engine and sports suspension will later this year cap the more subdued Kia Rio light hatchback range that launches this week, featuring in a new, more performance-focused variant.
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2017 Renault Kangoo gains 1.2-litre turbo
By Tung Nguyen · 13 Jan 2017
Renault Australia has boosted its popular Kangoo small commercial van range with a new turbocharged petrol engine for increased power and better economy.
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Radical engine for Infiniti’s next SUV
By Tung Nguyen · 11 Jan 2017
Infiniti has revealed a pre-production version of its new luxury mid-size QX50 SUV at the Detroit motor show and confirmed it will be the first to use the company’s radical, variable-compression engin
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F1-derived engine for Mercedes-AMG hypercar
By Robbie Wallis · 10 Jan 2017
Mercedes-AMG is pushing new performance boundaries with more news seeping out of the Detroit motor show about its highly-anticipated hybrid hypercar.
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Holden applies a sharp knife to Astra prices
By Neil Dowling · 10 Jan 2017
Holden has sliced up to $1700 from the price of its Astra hatch as sales of the new small-car fail to entice its Australian audience.
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New Holden Astra sedan will kill Cruze badge
By Neil Dowling · 10 Jan 2017
Holden will launch its third Astra model in May, confirming that its new sedan will drop the Cruze name.
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Kia Stinger to pack turbo V6 and RWD for circa-$40K
By Haitham Razagui · 09 Jan 2017
The covers have slipped off the highly-anticipated Kia Stinger sports sedan in Detroit, with confirmation of its Australian debut in September with pricing about the $40,000 mark.
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Will this twin-turbo Kia tackle the Europeans?
By Neil Dowling · 06 Jan 2017
The Stinger will be the most performance-oriented offering in Kia’s line-up and will compete with European sports sedans such as the Audi A5 Sportback.
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HiLux is Australia's favourite car
By Ron Hammerton · 05 Jan 2017
Australia's love affair with one-tonne utes can't be denied, with the Toyota HiLux being crowned 2016's most popular model.
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Escape retains Kuga's max safety rating
By Robbie Wallis · 05 Jan 2017
Ford has avoided Australian crash tests for its new Escape mid-size SUV and received the top-notch five-star rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).
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