Articles by Neil Dowling

The startling boast from one of the world's last remaining independent mass-market car companies comes as it prepares to unveil a new 1.6-litre turbo-diesel engine in Europe.Part of Honda's Earth Dreams Technology, the engine - to be introduced in the new Civic later this year - shows fuel economy has overtaken acceleration as the mark of the new-age car."It will be the lightest engine in its class, delivering sub 100g/km CO2 levels and a class-leading balance of fuel economy and performance,'' Honda says.The 88kW/300Nm 1.6-litre diesel - expected to claim about 3.5 L/100km to put it on par with cars including the Renault Clio diesel - will be shown at the Geneva motor show in March. More engine variants will unfurl over the next three years.Honda will also display at Geneva its NSX Concept, EV-STER and a prototype of the European CR-V. - The Honda NSX is confirmed to return to production - after the nameplate finished in Australia in 1997 - within three years. Honda has confirmed the NSX Concept will go on display at next month's Geneva motor show after its debut at Detroit in January.This concept car is being evolved to become a production car and go on sale within three years, Honda says. It has a mid-mounted V6 hybrid engine and Honda's all-wheel drive system.

I HAVE this uncomfortable feeling that in my dotage, I will be seen in a Mercedes coupe. On my way to someone's funeral. Sure, it's the mark of success, of luxury and of state-of-the-art automotive technology. It's just that I equate Mercedes-Benz coupes with old people.  But I'm having second thoughts. So

Toyota Camry Atara and Subaru Liberty Premium go head-to-head in this comparative review.

PART of the dream of owning an SUV is its command driving position that gives you unparalleled vision over lesser traffic. The other part is taking the kids to see the real Australia, via Birdsville.I was contemplating the virtues of the high driving position while sitting in Land Rover's delightful Freelander 2, waiting to turn left at a T-junction. Alongside me, turning right, was another SUV. Which blocked my view so I had to wait for him to go. Commanding view? Dream on.But that aside, this mini-Landie is an absolute gem. Everybody loved it. My family practically broke down in tears when I said it was being returned. They hadn't done that since I had to return Video-Ezy's copy of 101 Dalmatians.It falls into the Luxury SUV category and that tells you it's not a cheapie. At $55,310, it's a big ask until you shop it against its natural rivals and will even be shopped against its cousin, the mini-Range Rover Evoque.But it does get lots of leather, electric seats with heaters, a great sound system and a full-size spare wheel.The Freelander 2 starts at $44,990 for the turbo-diesel TD4 version, runs through two petrol models (priced from $49,990) and tops out at $65,584 for the deluxe diesel. The Freelander 2 TD4 SE is priced almost on par with the BMW X1 2.0d at $55,580. But, spec-to-spec, the Land Rover offers more and arguably will take to the hills with more aplomb. On the downside, it doesn't have a BMW badge.Powerful genes trickle through Land Rover's blood so there's no mistaking which family the chamfered two-box shape of the baby belongs. It works, though, because it's a very functional design that maximises cabin space while making it compact on the outside and nimble enough for congested city duties.The cabin follows some themes from its bigger sisters. It's clean, simple and stylish. Bold switches, bright instruments, a low-mounted dashboard to maximise visibility and - like the side glass - afford an airy and light interior. It's actually a clever move because, in comparison with most rivals, this vehicle is not as spacious.This is a constant all-wheel drive wagon driven by a enjoyable 2.2-litre turbo-diesel - which is also going into the Jaguar XF - and six-speed automatic. The clever bits include the Terrain Response system controlled by a switch set on the console.Depending on where you switch it - sand, mud, bitumen or rocks - it changes the Haldex drive system coupling and modifies accelerator response and gear shift points. Despite the Freelander's lack of a low-range gearbox, this system gives the wagon remarkable off-road ability.The diesel comes as a 110kW or 140kW (marked as TD4 or SD4). Torque remains at a strong 420Nm for both and is the key for the Freelander's brisk manners and ease of driving character.Like its predecessor the mini-Landie gets a five-star crash rating, six airbags and all the aids including electronic stability control, ABS on four disc brakes, cornering control and even hill descent. Interesting that a mate uses hill descent on his Discovery 4 to ensure a safe trip down his home's steep concrete driveway in the wet, so the device isn't only for off-road excursions.SUVs tend to look like they drive - top-heavy and cumbersome. The Freelander has none of that. It's quick, responsive, quiet and comfortable and feels more like a small car.The cabin is quite compact - though seats four adults with plenty of room - which perfectly suits small families or couples, as does the miserly fuel consumption.The 2.2-litre engine sounds small but really delivers. There is some low-end softness under the accelerator but you have the option of flicking the steering wheel paddle shifters to find a lower gear, or being patient.Mid-range deliver is all torque and smoothness and feels like it could pull like that forever. Close to perfect.I love the suspension that soaks up road irregularities as much as softening the bumps on dirt trails. It's a very good compromise.In the dirt the Haldex diff sends power to various axles. It's a heavy car and feels a bit uncomfortable on dry beach sand but lowering the tyre pressure provides traction.It is better on gravel and firmer sand trails where the all-wheel drive and quick steering rack give it confidence and stability at speed.This is one of the best SUVs - in all classes - on the market. It does everything right. But despite its Luxury SUV category, shoppers can go outside this framework and pick up similarly-equipped SUVs for a lot less money. Take the Mazda CX-7, for example or even the Toyota Kluger.Yes, the Freelander is probably the most competent "soft roader" in the SUV class but figure out if you're going to use its capability rather than just use it for its driveway appeal - a tragic finale for many BMWs. Slide down the Freelander model list and you'll notice the SD4 has a more powerful 140kW engine compared with the TD4's 110kW.Given fuel consumption is identical but performance is substantially better, pay the extra $1500 and get the SD4. Also, the auto is excellent so forget the manual transmission because it won't attract many buyers when you sell the car.

HUGE news in 1972 was that the all-new Holden HQ had ground-breaking coil springs and flow-through ventilation. Things moved much slower back then. Peugeot had the same features a decade earlier, yet Holden's inclusions were considered a marvel akin to time travel. Advances today are done with microscopic electronic widgets and wires - or, in increasing instances, without wires - hardly able to be seen with the human eye.Audi has just launched its premium A6 with standard stuff that would freak out most mid-aged electronics engineers. The mind-boggling starts with touch-pad controls with numeral recognition, a voice recognition system and a sat-nav operated by the touch pad. It also has coil springs and flow-through ventilation.VALUEYou have to expect the $116,500 price tag of the latest Audi A6. The car is lavish in its appointments yet there's a blanket of restraint that gives it understated elegance. Quality is paramount, as is the fluidity of the drivetrain that ensures limousine performance. All Aussie A6s get S-Line equipment and kit includes a 14-speaker Bose audio, walnut dash inlays and sunroof. It compares very well with its rivals.DESIGNKinda l ike an A4, but 200mm longer. Only the abrupt and in-ya-face grille stops the A6 from becoming invisible on the road, for it's lines are uncluttered and its proportions are close to perfect. The austere black-lined cabin is saved only by assorted alloy-look trim and matte walnut inlays but despite its simplicity, manages to carry a lot of style cred and also works a treat.TECHNOLOGYA lot of its highlights are expected from Audi. Energy recuperation from the brakes is used to top up the battery  and help the stop-start system. The A6 is partly aluminium, cutting weight 15 per cent on its predecessor and now making it only 30kg heavier than an equivalent A4. There's all-wheel drive under Audi's ``quattro'' tag, the perennial 3-litre V6 turbo-diesel - now with 180kW/500Nm for a 0-100km/h cracker of 6.1 seconds - and a seven-speed dual-clutch auto.SAFETYA full suite of electronics to help keep the car on the road and avoid accidents, eight airbags, a five-star crash rating and an unerring  ability to feel so confident, solid and safe on the road. The all-wheel drive is also a big plus, as is the stability when cornering, though a full-size spare would be appreciated. Yes, one will fit.DRIVINGPut 500Nm of low-end diesel torque in any car and you're in for a blast. The A6 doesn't disappoint - though it's not up to the BMW 535d's explosive kick - with so much on tap it keeps the seven cogs in the dual-clutch box quite busy. There is some lag - a combination of catching the turbo before it's up to speed while trying to wake a dozing dual-clutch box - that produces some awkward moments. If you want brisk motoring and avoid such odd moments of embarrassment, use the gearbox's manual mode via the paddle shifts. Ride comfort is superb (air suspension is available but probably not worth it) and the multi-link suspension front and back works hard to cleverly hide the nose-heavy character. Much like Porsche sweated over defying physics with the rear-mounted engine in the 911.AUDI A6 3.0 TDIPrice: $116,500Warranty: 3 years, unlimited kmResale: 56%Service interval: 15,000km or 12 monthsEconomy: 6.0 l/100km; 158g/km CO2Safety equipment: 8 airbags, ESC, ABS, EBD, EBA, TCCrash rating: 5 starEngine: 180kW/500Nm 3-litre V6 turbo-dieselTransmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch autoBody: 4-door, 5 seatsDimensions: 4915 (L); 1874mm (W); 1455mm (H); 2912mm (WB)Weight: 1720kgTyres: size 245/45R18, space-saver spare.

Nature doused the global car industry's optimism for 2011 and violently shook the list of best sellers. Toyota, driverless at the hands of a tsunami in March and Thai floods in October, has sunk from the world's biggest vehicle manufacturer to its third.With a 2011 production of 7.9 million vehicles, it now lags behind a relentless Volkswagen - with 8.156 million units for the year - well down on General Motors that is expected to report sales of nine-million vehicles. GM will release its 2011 figures at the end of this month.But though nature upset the mechanical order, there were a few highlights and records for the 2011 year. Rolls-Royce, owned by BMW, celebrated its 107th year with its best-ever sales. It sold 3538 cars, up 31 per cent on the 2711 in 2010, thanks mainly to renewed buyer interest in its Ghost and Phantom models.Parent BMW also reported a record. It earned the title of the world's biggest luxury carmaker with 1.67 million sales, up 14 per cent on 2010, thanks to accelerated interest from China and the US. Sales of the Mini rose by 21.7 per cent, followed by a 12.8 per cent rise for the BMW-brand products which account for more than eight out of 10 cars sold by the company. BMW sales executive Ian Robertson predicts it will remain the world's largest premium carmaker in 2012 and expects the global market for luxury vehicles to grow by more than 8 per cent this year.Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, sold 8.156 million vehicles worldwide in 2011, breaching the 8-million mark for the first time in the company's history. Sales included vehicles under the Volkswagen umbrella including Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Volkswagen brands. VW's 14 per cent sales increase over 2010 allowed it to frogleap Toyota, which had held the crown for the previous three years.US rival General Motors has not yet reported its annual sales, but analysts expect the Detroit-based giant sold about nine-million vehicles based on projections from the first three quarters. Bentley reported a 37 per cent increase in sales on demand from China and the US.UK manufacturers are faring better away from their home market. Overcoming UK sales, which slipped 4.4 per cent in 2011 over 2010, are booming sales in emerging markets and a strong revival in interest from US buyers. Eight out of 10 cars made in the UK are sold abroad and the biggest market for British-made cars at Nissan, the country's biggest carmaker, is Russia - one of the world's burgeoning markets.

But two dogs casually walked onto Jaguar's stand at this month's Delhi motor show and one had a crap. On the carpet. In front of Jaguar execs and press.It was just one among the many aspects that set this show apart from every other one on the calendar. On the Chrysler stand at Delhi, one of the cars crashed through the floor.Meanwhile, on the Ford stand, the Fiesta-based EcoSport SUV - due here in February 2013 - held its crowded debut beneath canvas and protected by six uniformed guards on each door.While the presentation raged, two guys busily wiped down the EcoSport on the stand, finishing off by walking the crowd with their hands out, asking for money.Ford's event managers knew nothing about the ``cleaners''. ``We didn't hire them - we have no idea where they came from,'' one event staffer says.On the second day, after the motoring journalists had their fill, the public was let in. Ford's EcoSport proved the most popular - 700,000 people crammed in to see it on the first public day, sufficient for Ford security to close the doors as people were being trampled.Outside, high security meant metal detectors and x-ray baggage scanners, but the streets of the show grounds were crawling with beggars.Welcome to India and the Delhi motor show for 2011, where if you're a foreigner, the entry fee is high and the distractions range from dogs on the prowl, kids with outstretched hands, sari-clad showgirls (and the word `girl' is used cautiously) and some really neat concept cars.There's no smiling welcome - while my shoulder bag plodded through the security scanner's conveyor belt, the screen operator was looking the other way, eating his breakfast - and no map to list where the manufacturer's are located.The expanse of the motor show site - actually a series of outer industrial streets with cyclone fencing temporarily erected to channel visitors through the ticket boxes - indicates the breadth of products on display but most buildings are only partially utilised. But you have to walk each building to view its contents.There are no press packs, no photographs of the vehicles on show and the representatives of the vehicle manufacturers are cautious with information - verbal or printed. There is no media centre and if you find a chair, best to carry it around with you because the alternative resting point is a dusty curb.Coffee is from street vendors and though you may think impoverished Delhi is cheap, each cup was the equivalent of $4.I heard a report about a guy who went into a filthy toilet for a leak and after rinsing his hands under the tap water, was confronted with a little kid holding a 10cm square tissue in one hand and the other hand out for money. The visitor declined the tissue. Walking back to the show, he saw dozens of squares of tissue on pegs on the cyclone fence. Clearly, after buying a tissue and chucking it in the bin, the boy then retrieves it from the bin, smoothes it out and pegs it ready for the next customer.The visitor says he wouldn't have minded paying for the tissue if there was any attempt made at making the toilet clean. He says it was filthy with stains, sand and dust on the floor, rubbish in the corners and a smell like a ... er, urinal.Even getting to the show is an exercise in tolerance - from pitying the families that live under a cloth cover on the dirt at the side of the highway, to the manic road conditions that yield to major indiscretions including multiple-vehicle lane sharing and travelling in the lanes of oncoming traffic.Single-lane roads can become four-lane highways and moments later, return to a single lane. Cycling in the middle lane, while traffic whizzes past, isn't unusual. India's contrasts never fail to surprise. On the morning bus ride, on a dirty, dusty street that looked like the remnants of a fierce military battle, was parked a glistening $1 million-plus Rolls-Royce Ghost.The show - about 25km from the heart of Delhi yet still well within its city limits that contain an impossible 21 million people - did convincingly capture the strength and unstoppable force of the future of India's vehicle industry.India produces 3-million vehicles a year, most for domestic consumption. But by 2020 - yes, eight years time - the production is expected to hit 8-million vehicles with a ramp-up in exports.Ford, for one, is investing $2 billion in factories - one new plant in the north-west and upgrades to its existing engine-car plant in the south-east. It is also lifting its workforce by 50 per cent at one plant, to 15,000 people.Ford's India boss, country NSW-bred Michael Boneham, says growth for his company will be 60-70 per cent over the next eight years. "By 2020, one-third of Ford's global sales will be in Asia,'' he says. "It's currently one-sixth. India is as critical to Ford as is China or Thailand."But in India cars are smaller and so profit margins are equally smaller. So we have to work smarter.''Ford only started exporting its Indian products last year. That car was the Australian-designed and engineered Figo (a five-door hatch) and sales were recorded in some adjoining Asian countries.Late this year Ford expects Figo will become swamped by its 100-plus country export program for the Fiesta-based EcoSport SUV. "EcoSport is huge for us,'' Boneham says. "But it's only the start. We will have eight global products by mid-decade."The first is the Fiesta, the second is the EcoSport and I can't tell you the rest. All are on the B-segment platform - we're not doing bigger platforms here.''The news is all good. The contrast is how a country that nonchalantly parades its poverty can have global ambitions as a major auto producer. But even a few stray dogs, paper-thin floors and crowds won't stop ambition quickly turning to reality.

The XA Alpha Concept - the result of Suzuki Japan's styling and Maruti of India's marketing - is presented as a potential replacement for the basic and boxy Suzuki Jimny 4WD.  But though it carries a lot of weight - the Maruti Suzuki venture is India's biggest carmaker with a massive 40 per cent share - and has all the contemporary SUV looks, chances are slim that it'll make it to global showrooms. "It's very much a styling exercise that reflects the trend in SUVs,'' says Suzuki Australia spokesman Andrew Ellis. "It's a reaction to what Suzuki sees people want. But there are no current plans for this to reach production. If Suzuki pressed the button on this project today, it'll be at least three years before it'll be seen in showrooms.'  India is Suzuki's biggest market and, in answer to booming car sales in the country, partner Maruti has completed a multi-million dollar research and development complex and engine plant near Delhi.  The XA Alpha Concept - which in size sits between the Jimny and Vitara three-door - was styled by the company's India-based designers in partnership with engineers from Suzuki's Japanese office. Maruti Suzuki has confirmed that the five-door SUV concept measures 4000mm long, making it around 350mm longer than the Jimny, 150mm longer than the Swift hatch and 60mm shorter than the three-door Grand Vitara.  Suzuki says the XA is focused on younger drivers in an urban setting, chasing a sports-focused look rather than the more ruggedly styled SUVs available in India. " This concept showcases the unified R&D efforts of Suzuki and Maruti which will be a big asset for us in India in the future,'' says Maruti Suzuki CEO Shinzo Nakanishi at the Delhi motor show.

Volkswagen Passat 125TDI and Hyundai i40 Premium go head-to-head in this comparative review.

MONTE Carlo is an ostentatious and underwhelming attachment of expensive Med-side apartments glued to the side of a impressive rock. In terms of value for money, it doesn't rate. In fact, tourists only remember it for its casino and the room rate bill. It's ironic that Skoda should choose the name for its special edition Fabia hatch.Monte Carlo is expensive and aloof - the Fabia version is cheap as chips and carries no pretence. The name, however, comes from Monte Carlo's association with motorsports and it's here that the look - and feel - of the Fabia starts to make some sense.VALUESo good. At $21,990 it's on par - and sometimes a little bit dearer - than rivals but it has lots to offer, especially that it looks as impressive as a Mini costing twice the price. The Monte Carlo is an ongoing model costing $3000 more than the standard Fabia and adding a new look and a few more features.DESIGNThere's a bit of Mini-esque design trickery here with black mascara over selected body parts - including the roof - to give it a visual whack. It looks great in white with the standard black roof with the bigger 16-inch black alloys setting it all off. The cabin gets sports seats and more black.TECHNOLOGYThe Polo-based Fabia five-door hatchback's drivetrain is unchanged in its transformation into the Monte Carlo. That is Volkswagen Polo's 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol attached to a five-speed manual gearbox. It comes only as a manual, countering its Polo GTI sister that gets only a dual-clutch auto. The Monte's bigger wheels slightly improve handling but in essence, it drives like the cheaper Fabia. SAFETYFabia gets a four-star crash rating but adds six airbags and electronic aids starting with stability control and brake assist. The spare wheel is full size an it doesn't impair on the big boot - other carmakers take note.DRIVINGThis is so much fun. The shift feel of the manual box is disappointingly rubbery but it's still an enjoyable stir while the engine surprises with good bottom-end torque and an eagerness to spin up high.It is such an engaging drive that you can get too enthusiastic with the handling - it will lift a rear inside wheel with ease - but understeer and common sense will bring you and the car back to earth. The ride comfort is firm-ish but perfectly comfortable for city driving. Aside from the imprecise feel of the steering and the vague gearshift, it's a great package.