Articles by Paul Gover

...and now Carparazzi has caught the hot AMG model on the road. The mechanical package mirrors the A45 AMG, including its 265-kiloWatt 2-litre turbo engine and all-wheel drive, and the GLA gets predictable hunkered-down suspension and extra body bits ahead of a public preview at the Frankfurt show in September. 

As other German brands wind back on their electric-car plans, BMW says it is still fully committed to the new-age i3 plug-in. It's a compact city car that combines style with substance. Here in 2014 for around $45,000.

The Polo-sized soft-roader is already under development in Germany and is intended to plug the gap below the Tiguan SUV, as well as battling a range of rivals including Benz's upcoming GLA.

I didn't know until this week that Lang Lang is at the heart of asparagus growing in Australia. For me, it's always been about new Holdens. I've been trekking south from Melbourne to the Holden proving ground for more than 30 years to get behind the wheel of the red lion's latest and greatest, from the very first Commodore - which one colleague managed to plant on its roof - through to what is now looking like the very last. I can still remember my surprise when I first took to the ride-and-handling course and discovered a piece of long, straight, undulating road that felt strangely familiar. "It should feel familiar. It's the Federal Highway into Canberra," laughed the then-spokesman for Holden, Marc McInnes. "That hairpin down there is out the back of Fishermans Bend. When the engineers find something they like, they survey it and bring it back here." All the best proving grounds have a direct connection to the real world, like the Lexus facility in Japan that has the actual piece of cobblestoned Belgian road discovered by engineers searching for the ultimate suspension test. It was ripped up, one numbered piece at a time, before being shipped to Hokkaido and re-assembled like a giant jigsaw. In the case of Lang Lang, Holden has built a network of roads that runs from a bone jarring ‘shaker' course through long stretches of slippery gravel to the high-speed bowl where I once cracked 300km/h in a hotrod Porsche 911. But that's another story. I've ridden the roads with some great drivers, from Peter Brock and Larry Perkins to Holden's guru test driver Rob Trubiani, and always learned something new. In the case of the VB Commodore, I learned - as the Holden engineers did, soon afterwards - that tuning the car just to conquer Lang Lang made it way too wayward for the real world outside the front gates. It was made less edgy in double-quick time. This time around, I cannot talk yet about the latest chapter in the Commodore story. But I can tell you I wasn't thinking about asparagus as I slipped behind the wheel of the VF for the first time. This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover  

Plans are being hatched for the SS V8 to live on beyond the lifespan of the upcoming VF Commodore, which now is just around the corner, provided that performance-car fans in the USA and Australia are still prepared to pay.Holden admits it could continue with a low-volume VF SS on its production line in Adelaide after the cut-off date for the current Commodore, which is set to be replaced by an international model with local tweaking.That would mean three models in the same factory, with the compact Cruze running alongside the SS and the new car. "We are considering all options going forward but won't discuss specifics at this stage," the chairman of Holden, Mike Devereux, admits to Carsguide this week.But one of his predecessors as Holden boss, Mark Reuss, believes a long-term SS is possible if export demand for the car is as strong as expected in the USA. Reuss led the push to take the SS to America as a Chevrolet - as well as Chevy's NASCAR racing spearhead - and also knows what is possible at the Holden factory in Elizabeth."We can sell this for as long as we can make it and sell it," Reuss, who know heads General Motors in the USA, says of the rear-wheel drive muscle car. He is a long-term fan of the Commodore SS and knows the pulling power it has in Australia, as well as its potential to bring buyers to Chevrolet dealerships in the USA."What if we have a really cool, loyal buyer base? What if we had that? What if it becomes the reason to go into a Chevrolet dealership?", Reuss says."What if we say we're not going to do it any more and there is an uproar saying that we want these? What if that happens, what would you do?"The decision for an ongoing SS does not have to be made for some time, probaby not until 2015, but Reuss is already keen to find a way to keep the Commodore going. "I think that is a pretty good idea," he says."You need another body shop to keep it going, so what? There are two body shops in a place people said we could only have one, they said we couldn't do it but we did do it."It is paid for, it's all there."This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover  

It's the compact SUV that will take Mercedes-Benz up against the Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forester and dozens of hopefuls in the compact family class for the first time. And it'll deliver a sideswipe to the Audi Q3 and BMW X1. The GLA is previewed this week as a concept car at the Shanghai motor show in China, filling in the biggest missing piece of Benz's bold, new small-car picture. It follows the A- and B-Class hatches, as well as the four-door CLA, leaving just one model to come (Perhaps a wagon? Perhaps a cabrio?) as the luxury brand drives down deeply into the mass-market showroom scene. Benz is looking to secure its future by luring younger buyers to the brand with cars that are cheaper and much less conservative, before feeding them up through the C-Class channel towards its flagships. In the case of the GLA, it's also building a stronger SUV presence that includes a second-generation GLK - similar in size to the BMW X3 and Audi Q5 - for Australia. While Benz is talking mostly about the design work on the Concept CLA crossover, as well as the mechanical package for Shanghai - a 2.0-litre petrol turbo engine, seven-speed double clutch manu-matic gearbox and all-wheel-drive - the production plan for the car is already set for next year. ''The GLA will arrive here next year. It will be in the second half of the year,'' the spokesman for Mercedes-Benz Australia, Jerry Stamoulis says. ''If you look at what we've done with the A- and B-Class, it will be competitive in the segment. And well specified.'' Stamoulis is not talking price, but with the two-wheel-drive X1 and Q3 opening from $46,900 and $44,800, it's likely to have showroom stickers starting at less than $45K. Based on its aggressive action with the A-Class that now threatens the Volkswagen Golf, Benz is also likely to also target upwardly mobile brands including Toyota and Mazda. ''It's a new category for us and this is one of the vehicles that our customers have been craving for some time. We cannot wait to get it here,'' Stamoulis says. ''They have always said there will be five models, and this is number four. We've already seen A-Class and B-Class, and the CLA which will arrive here at the end of this year, and now GLA. ''That leaves one to go.'' Stamoulis confirms Benz's overdue launch of the GLK, which was built only in left-hand drive until now, and says it's likely to land close behind the baby SUV. ''We're still working on the timing but we're hoping for late 2014. And it's also got some really cool stuff.'' The Concept GLA is claimed to be more of a crossover than an old-school SUV with a coupe-style roofline on a body that sits at 4.38m in length and 1.57m in height. Benz says the message for the vehicle is ''Escape the Everyday'', which helps explain the Shanghai party trick for the Concept GLA. It is fitted with laser-lit headlamps which also double as projectors, allowing the car to show pictures or film onto a screen or another surface - perhaps a garage wall? - from a wide range of sources including television and computers. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover

Small-car shoppers are spoiled for choice these days, but the spoiling and the choice have just become even better thanks to the all-new Volkswagen Golf.The seventh-generation Golf is more like a compact luxury car than any $19,990 bargain buy and will start favourite for this year's Carsguide Car of the Year award, even if Holden is about to unleash its VF Commodore.We knew the new Golf was special in Sardinia during a European preview drive and it only takes 30 minutes on home soil in Sydney to confirm the quality of the car. It's a ripper.Now, to put the Golf into focus, we've already seen the arrival of the impressive new sub-$40,000 A-Class Mercedes this year at a time when the Hyundai i30, Nissan Pulsar and Toyota Corolla have lifted the bar for value and quality in affordable small cars. So the Golf, the long-term pacesetter in the class, is caught in a squeeze between downsized luxury cars and upwardly-mobile price fighters.That's great for buyers, as Volkswagen has counter-punched by adding more safety, value and technology while holding the price line to a starting list price below $22,000.Golf 7 is also loaded with safety stuff, has an impressive multi-media package, and buying is easier thanks to pre-packaged kits of equipment in place of the tick-the-box ordering system for individual items.But it's the basics which provide the bedrock, as the Golf 7 sits on an all-new Volkswagen mechanical platform - that's shared throughout the group, to drive up numbers and push down prices - that means more space in the back and boot, less noise in the cabin, and new engine choices.VALUEThe Golf has never been the cheapest car in the compact class and that does not change, even though the bottom line now starts below $22,000 and Volkswagen says you can get a full-loaded car - "short of gold plating or sunroof" - for less than $35,000.It's also taken the prestige path on equipment, combining the most popular customer choices - in the same way as Benz and BMW - into packs. These sit above the basic car in either Comfortline or Highline levels, although the diesel car is only available to Highline standard.Even the basic Golf comes with cruise control and aircon, as well as a 5.8-inch colour touch screen for the infotainment package, and there is also a driver fatigue monitor and an extended differential lock for better grip and safety.The best things about stepping up to Comfortline are the rear-view camera and automatic parking system, as well as dual-zone aircon, while Highline brings sports seats, upgraded infotainment with satnav, and more bling in the cabin including an LED lighting package.But the starter car only has steel wheels, and a space-saver spare - a deal breaker for some Aussie buyers - is fitted to all models.As an offset, still very welcome but long overdue, Volkswagen has finally added capped-price servicing for the Golf that provides a package for 90,000 kilometres or 72 months with an annual fee pegged as low as $272.TECHNOLOGYEverything about Golf 7 tracks back to Volkwagen's new small-car platform, which provides better suspension design, more space in the back seat and a quieter cabin - thanks partly to an 'acoustic' windscreen. There are also big weight savings from the body through to the dashboard and aircon.That's the basics.But it's the tech tweaks that are built up from the platform that make life better for buyers.That's everything from an electronic parking brake to lots of extra safety equipment, including automatic braking, blind-spot detection, parking radar and a lot more.There is even an Eco Tip function which gives advice on saving fuel while you drive.The arrival of Golf 7 brings a different engine lineup, with turbos all around on both the TSI petrol and TDI diesel power plants. There is a six-speed manual on the starter car, but afterwards it's six and seven-speed DSG transmissions depending on the torque output of the engine - which means only six slots for the diesel.Power kicks off at 90 kW on the basic 1.4-litre petrol turbo, with 200 Nm of torque and fuel economy from 5.4 litres/100km, rising to 103/250/5.2 for the next step from the same capacity. Both have stop-start for fuel saving.The diesel is a full 2.0 litres and makes 110kW/320Nm for economy of 4.9 litres/100km, and its 0-100km/h time of 8.6 seconds is only marginally behind the better petrol motor at 8.4.DESIGNIt's easy to walk past the new Golf in the parking lot at Volkswagen headquarters in Sydney, which is loaded with all sorts of other Golfs and Tiguans and the classier new Beetle.That's because a Golf is always a Golf and always looks like a Golf.So the basics haven't changed, with a two-box hatchback layout, since the seventies.Golf 7 marks the change with sharper creases in the bodywork and a more elegant and, dare we say it, upmarket impact. It's just that little classier in the bodywork, from the shape of the nose to the LED trinketing.Inside, it's more of the same and more with the same, from the touch-and-feel plastics through to the way it all fits together. It's more like a Benz than a Hyundai, let's say.The highlight is the new infotainment package, which will even satisfy a tech-savvy Gen Y driver without putting a Baby Boomer outside their comfort zone.SAFETYGolf 7 has just had its five-star ANCAP tick, thanks to the strength of the basic body, a seven-airbag cabin and standard safety equipment that runs to ABS, ESP stability control, the tricky differential, fatigue detection and what Volkswagen calls 'multi-collision brake', that applies the brakes automatically to minimise the chances of knock-on impacts.As you move up the line the safety package expands to include parking radar at both ends, a rear-view camera, and automatic wipers and headlamps.For people who put safety first, the best deal is the Driver Assistance Package that bundles adaptive cruise control, city emergency braking, driving profile selection, top-level parking assist, automated reverse and parallel-parking and proactive occupant protection. But it costs more and is not available on the basic Golf 7.DRIVINGIf you were picking a small car to drive from Sydney to Melbourne you would take the Golf every time. It's quieter and more cosseting than anything else in the class, including the Benz A at one end and the new Pulsar at the other.And you could rely on the anti-fatigue system and punchier new infotainment to keep you going on the boring interstate bumble while driving a car that is more than capable and comfortable at a 140km/h motorway cruise in Europe.After driving all the Golf's rivals, I'm convinced that it is the best of the bunch and has raised the playing field to a new level. The A-Class has a classier badge, and you can get a Korean car with more for less, but the Benz is too harsh for our roads and the Koreans don't have finesse and refinement of the Volkswagen.The 90 TSI gets along plenty well for almost anyone, short of a Golf GTI fanatic, and the 103 doesn't bring much more. The diesel will be best for long-distance drivers or people who need the torque for a fully-loaded cabin.The most enjoyable thing about Golf 7 is the all-round enjoyment. It doesn't have much visual impact, but once you're inside you can see and feel the added class.On the road, the suspension is both controlled and compliant, a rare combination in a small car. So it absorbs bumps and keeps noise down, but doesn't flop or wallow in corners.DSG transmissions have been a sore point with many Volkswagen owners, and a source of lots of complaints to Carsgsuide, so we're hoping the new Golf finally gets it right. I tried the worst test of the double-clutch controls, holding it with the accelerator on a very steep grade, and it help without giving up the way we've experienced in earlier cars.I wasn't tempted to trial the safety systems, but it's good to know they're keeping a watchful eye. Especially for emergency braking.We're planning a lot of extra rounds with Golf in coming weeks and months, but the initial impression in Australia has just reinforced what we already knew. Seven is a lucky number, especially for people who want the best in a small car.VERDICTHave we found our Car of the Year champion for 2013? Almost definitely.

The two great looking new Citroens are under consideration as the French brand looks to win converts down under.The five-seater C4 Picasso has re-emerged as a likely starter for families while the DS Wild Rubis concept tops the wish list after its unveiling for the Shanghai motor show.The compact Picasso was originally dismissed in favour of the seven-seater Grand Picasso people mover that's already a long-term member of the Citroen family here, but has re-emerged as contender following a body update.The Wild Rubis is only a long shot because its development is focused on China, but Australia's plan for a DS-driven sales push means it would be a natural if it is available. "We want to build the brand and that means we're looking at everything," the head of Citroen Australia, John Startari, tells Carsguide.Citroen has just re-launched under a new distributor and plans to grow its sales by 35 per cent in the short term, with double-digit improvements over coming years, based on the strengths of the French cars. Startari says he was very impressed when he saw the C4 Picasso in Paris and has launched an investigation on its suitability for Australia. "It's not something we should discard, because there are significant changes."I saw it in France last week and it's on-brand," he says. "We don't have pricing yet, and that makes it harder, but it was a definite no and now it's a possible."We still haven't made a final decision, but I guess it's the inclusion of a lot of technology and the styling of the car that merits investigation."The Grand Picassos has already had an update with styling along similar lines."Included in the Picasso update are a 'loft-style' cabin with added space, twin touch-screen displays, park assist, active seat belts and even ultrasonic blind spot monitoring. Startari believes the Wild Rubis would have a surefire hit in Australia but is not confident it will be built with right-hand drive."I think it's a very exciting prospect. Coming out of China would mean that it's left-hand drive, so we'd need a business case for right-hand drive. And the largest right-hand drive market is the UK."The stylish SUV is clearly intended for DS production, although its 21-inch alloys and plug-in hybrid driveline might struggle for showroom approval. Citroen says it "points to a future DS SUV" and it's likely the concept will be transferred to the road within two years, with its basic 4.7-metre bodywork unchanged.Still, Startari is not getting over-excited. "We really have no information yet on the Wild Rubis. I cannot speculate because nothing has come through officially," he says.But he is looking forward to delivering an expanded Citroen range to Australian buyers. "It's great to be part of something that has this ability to do things differently. Cars are being traded as commodities now, regardless of the brand, and people are looking for something different."There is a relevant, visible point of difference at Citroen. And that's refreshing, as well as giving us the opportunity to do something different."This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover

The American shell is just the same, but the Freemont has an Italian heart that reflects the future of transatlantic development deals between Fiat and Chrysler.It comes to Australia with a starting price of $27,000 driveaway, as well as smaller engines and a five-seater cabin - with seven on call - that provides clear space around the Journey and a new opportunity for Fiat.The Italian brand claims the Freemont is the most fuel efficient vehicle in its people mover class, thanks to the 2-litre turbodiesel that starts at $32,600. The Freemont is not the most imaginative model spawned by the Fiat-Chrysler Alliance, with Maserati set to tap the Jeep well for its upcoming SUV and also picking up parts from the 300C, but it shows the new thinking at the company"This is the start of our new product offensive. You have to start somewhere," says Clyde Campbell, the president of Fiat Chrysler Group Australia."This was readily available and we thought we should give it a go. We think it will do reasonable volume, be a good contributor." Campbell, who has led the re-branding the re-positioning of Fiat and Alfa Romeo in Australia, says there is a lot happening at the Italian-American conglomerate."The thinking behind the Fiat-Chrysler alliance, which has become more than an alliance, now, is that they can share from what each other does well. We'll see it in multiple platforms."Fiat is good at small engines, so the Freemont gets launched here with a four-cylinder petrol and a good little diesel engine. Dodge and what Dodge stands for is probably not a 2-litre petrol."The Freemont is a mid-sized people mover with a flexible cabin that brings five seats and up to 1461 litres of cargo space - third-row seating costs $1500 - with Base, Urban and Lounge trim levels but even the starter car getting remote central locking, 17-inch alloys, aircon and power steering, rear parking radar, tyre-pressure monitoring and a 4.3-inch touch screen for an infotainment system including Bluetooth audio streaming."There's a lot of value. And there are a lot of trim levels, compared to the Dodge," says Campbell. But it's the planning around the Freemont that shows where Fiat-Chrysler is going."Chrysler builds it and ships it. But they fit it with the Italian engines," Campbell says. And he says there is much more action planned for 2013."We've got other Fiat product coming this year. We're going to re-launch the Punto and launch the Panda."We've already re-positioned Fiat and Alfa here with lower prices and more models. Now it's the product."This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

Information is good, but domination is bad. So I like big digital speedometers, blind-spot warning systems and reversing cameras, but I'm against automatic parking, radar cruise controls and anything which can influence the steering.My personal jury is still out on automatic emergency braking, but I think it's probably going to get a tick. The reason for this reluctance runs all the way back to the very first cars I drove with anti-skid braking systems, a BMW 5 Series and a Honda Accord.I can clearly remember the wheels of the Accord chattering and skidding as I tried a panic stop, but the Five was worse. I was driving on a gravel road when I needed to brake for a corner.I did, but the car did not, and I can clearly picture to this day the tree I narrowly missed as I arrowed off the road with the ABS system working - or not - precisely as the engineers intended.Hitting the personal fast-forward button, there was a Lexus that insisted on applying emergency braking power when another driver cut into my lane and cut the beam for the over-sensitive radar cruise control, a Camry that cut engine power just when I needed it in a corner, and a Volkswagen that refused to accelerate from a Stop sign because I was holding the car on the brake at the same time as tickling the throttle.Just last year, there was a Mercedes-Benz that swerved me into the path of an oncoming car when it detected that I had drifted over the white line, when in fact I was easing gently away from a potential head-on smash.I know that technology improves and I like some of the stuff that makes life easier, but I was overwhelmed this week by the all-new Volkswagen Golf and a bank of safety equipment that runs from a fatigue monitor to radar cruise control, automatic wipers and lights, automatic parking and even multi-collision braking to stop the car after a crash.A lot of this stuff is good, and there's no doubt that it should make our roads safer. But it's also encouraging a breed of drivers who are really just passengers, relying on their cars to save them from themselves. And that cannot be good.This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover