Articles by Paul Gover

... so Peugeot is adding a family version of the 308 in addition to a 008 crossover. Carparazzi caught it in hot-weather testing in southern Europe with pictures that show a considerable increase in length and width. 

The Patrol has landed. Well, almost … After a wait of more than 18 months, we've finally had an impressive first drive in the sixth-generation Nissan Patrol.It's bigger than before, with more heft and much more quality, and lines up nicely against the benchmark Toyota LandCruiser with a starting price promised from less than $85,000. But, and it's a very big one, the first customer deliveries are still more than four months away even though Nissan Australia has more than 6000 people with a confirmed Patrol plan.The reason for the delay is simple: demand for left-hand drive Patrols in Russia and the Middle East was overwhelming, with more than 40,000 deliveries to date. Australia went on the back-burner and the lack of right-hand drive focus is even reflected in an automatic shift lever that's still set for left-hand driving.Nissan Australia has high hopes for the Patrol and defends its local introduction, which includes a plan to sell the old and new models - officially the Y61 and Y62 - side-by-side. The old car continues as the diesel driver, as there is only one engine - a 5.5-litre V8 petrol - in the newcomer. "I'm not apologising," says Bill Peffer, managing director of Nissan Australia."There is no delay that is acceptable. But we have to follow the product lifecycle." Peffer says cumulative Patrol sales in Australia will top 100,000 next year, helped by the 14-year-old Y61. But the new focus is the Y61, "We're getting to the pointy end now. It's on sale officially in January but we'll have it at the motor show in Sydney," says Warwick Daly, model line manager for Patrol at Nissan Australia. "We've got a lot of interest and from the show onwards people will be able to place orders. It will basically be on sale from October.""The base will start from less than $85,000," Bill Peffer says simply. That means the new Patrol will go head-to-head with the latest Toyota LandCruiser, which currently starts at $83,490. Typically for Nissan, there are three model grades from the ST-L to the Ti at less than $95,000 and the fully-loadedTi-L for less than $115,000. Those prices are sharp for the class but there is more, as Nissan says it is aiming to conquest owners of luxury four-wheel drives up to the Range Rover and Porsche Cayenne.To do that, the Ti-L gets everything up to leather trim and auto zircon to a 13-speaker Bose sound system, around-view monitor camera system, electric tailgate and tyre pressure monitor. The advantage for the Patrol is a seven-seater cabin - including a fold-flat third-row bench - although the two lesser models are full eight seaters.The Patrol is still an old-school four-wheel drive, with a body that sits on a chassis frame and permanent four-wheel drive including low-range crawler gears. But its 5.5-litre petrol V8 is a thumper, and the base for Nissan's attack next year on V8 Supercar racing, making 298 kiloWatts and 560 Newton-metres of torque to ensure a 3500-kilogram tow rating.But the weights are hefty, too, up to 2829 kilos. The suspension is fully independent, brakes are big four-wheel discs, and the four-wheel drive system has driver-selectable 'modes' for different terrain, low-range gears and a differential lock.It has a range of other good stuff, lots of it for safety, but the highlight for many potential owners is the hydraulic body motion control system that applies pressure to keep the wheels in contact with the ground during off-road work and minimise body roll and improve cornering on the road. It's not on the bottom model.What can you say? The Patrol is a big, boxy, four-wheel drive that's designed to carry up to eight people and do heavyweight off-road and towing work. So it's no beauty. But it is way more stylish that the outgoing Patrol, with smoother edges and more - dare I say it? - LandCruiser looks.Inside, the cabin is well equipped and roomy but the ambience is 1980s. There is fake wood trim across the board and chintzy fabric in the ST-L, with lots shiny highlights. It probably works for the target buyers, but it's not as stylish or sophisticated as the luxury 4wds that Nissan is targeting.Nissan promises plenty of safety equipment, from front-side-curtain airbags and ABS brakes and ESP stability through to a rear-view camera on each model and the all-round four-camera system on the flagship. The Ti-L also gets blind spot warning and lane-departure assist, active cruise control, Xenon lamps and more.At last, the Patrol is more than a workhorse that drives like a truck. It is everything I had expected, and feels far more like the latest LandCruiser than the primitive model it replaces. We only have a brief trial drive, because the first two Patrols in Australia are not certified for road use, but it proves the Patrol is hugely competent off-road and quite nice on bitumen.It easily conquers a long uphill climb, where the torque of the V8 is more than enough for the conditions and the multi-mode grip compensates for rocks and loose sand. Then it's into a deep water crossing with no worries, with the transmission again matching its settings to the grip. It's definitely a Patrol and most owners will give up long before they approach the off-road limits of their car.On the road, the new Patrol is hugely roomy, cushy-style comfortable and well equipped. It rides nicely enough and there is acceptable cornering grip, but I need more time at the wheel to make any final judgement. But I know I don't like the chintzy trim below the Ti-L, and the shift lever is a big stretch across the console and that's annoying. How much extra would it have cost to do the right-hand drive conversion properly?For now, the Patrol looks good. But we need more time and a wider variety of conditions to give a proper Carsguide verdict.After 14 years the Patrol is finally new again. It's good, but probably not great.

... but that's just the start of the $1.6 billion development program at Land Rover, and the Sport is next in line. Unlike the current Sport, which is based on the Discovery, this one shares its basic styling and alloy construction with the new flagship. Here early in 2014 for around $100,000.  

... and this is the spin-off crossover that will follow. It looks like a wagon but it picks up the naming game from the existing SUVs to ensure the 2008 is roomier and more versatile than a straight wagon.  

There could also be a crossover from the company before any serious effort to re-invent the failed X-Type with a 21st century city car produces a result. Jaguar says it is looking to expand its lineup beyond the current cars - and the F-Type sports car planned to go public at the Paris motor show later this month - but says nothing is confirmed beyond the C-X75 supercar being developed in partnership with Williams Grand Prix to trump the Bugatti Veyron. "There are opportunities where we don't compete, but we've got to find the right thing," Jaguar's head of XJ development, Andy Dobson, tells Carsguide. "We've said before that we would look at a crossover but there are no decisions. We're looking at everything." Jaguar is having a big year on the product front with the updated XJ, the XF Sporting Brake - which will only be sold to customer order in Australia - and the F-Type. Apart from smaller engines in the XJ, which will be transplanted into the XF, the two models also get four-wheel drive for countries in the snow belt. "2013 is a process of infilling for us.The next stage is engines, and the next bit is further growth going forward off that base." But the man who is keenest on an all-new Jaguar baby car, chief designer Ian Callum, tells Carsguide there is no movement yet. "It's no further forward. We're looking at other things,"he says. "The reality is that a business case for a small car is very, very difficult. You need to do an efficient car, then charge for it. "And a small car needs to be fun. It's not just about CO2 and efficiency, it's about what people want to drive in cities going forward." The chase for improved efficiency is providing a range of results at Jaguar, although there is no sign yet that the company will dump V8 engines. "I don't think you're seeing the end of V8s, but they are downscaling," says Dobson. "There will always be a market for top-end performance cars. But the mass volume will be moving down." He says Jaguar is still battling with decisions about hybrid and electric cars, but pushing ahead with lightweight technologies. "It's no good having a very, very heavy car with big aero and rolling resistance with a hybrid in it," he says. "You've got to make the car slippery, you've got to work on the tyres, then (transmission) shift scheduling and engine management controls. And the car has to be light. "Plastics will be the next step. You're starting to see Structurally Moulded Compounds (a type of plastic) where you can have something very light and very stiff. "That's where the next big weight saving will come."  

Mark Knoffler rocked, Zara Phillips and Holly Valance smiled for the cameras, and a wide range of British celebrities including witty comedian Jimmy Carr - complete with toy dog - all made the running.But it was the $1.6 billion Range Rover that was the star in London tonight. As the off-road limousine waded through a giant fountain at the Royal Ballet School it signalled the renewal of the ultimate Toorak tractor into its fourth generation.Except that Land Rover says the new Rangie is going green with everything from a lightweight alloy structure to an imminent hybrid - the world's first diesel-hybrid SUV - and enviro leather. ‘We want to make it better in every respect,” the head of Land Rover, Phil Popham, tells Carsguide. That means building a Range Rover that rivals a BMW 7 Series or Mercedes S-Class as a luxury limousine, but can still trump a Toyota LandCruiser or Jeep in off-road conditions.The new Range Rover is bigger inside and out, has much more technology and luxury, and will be priced from $178,900 when it arrives in Australia in January. Jaguar Land Rover will have it in spotlights at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney next month, alongside the latest Jaguar F-Type sports car, but the first 25 cars are already taken.There are three engines for Australia - 3-litre V6 diesel, 4.4-litre V8 diesel and 5-litre supercharged V8 petrol - and standard equipment includes everything from re-engineered air suspension to a second-generation Terrain Response system, a choice of five or luxury four-seater cabin layouts, and even huge new brakes and alloy wheels up to 22 inches. “There are more than 2500 new parts,” says Popham. But the Range Rover still carries the DNA which has made it a global success over the past 40-plus years, in everything from the body design to split tailgate - now fully electric - and the 900-millimetre wading ability that was put to the test tonight. 

The cat has the cream as Jaguar updates its XJ flagship for 2013. The creaminess comes from two new engines, one the same as the EcoBoost motor in the Falcon four, as Jaguar looks for better efficiency and more friends for its global flagship.The four-cylinder XJ is still not confirmed for Australia even though it's a no-brainer at all levels, but a supercharged V6 takes over as the best bet for fans of the full-sized cat, thanks to a combination of classy performance and efficiency that trumps the V8 that's being dumped,The two new engines are also going into the XF that's the big mover for Jaguar, together with their eight-speed automatic gearbox, which shows the importance of the change. There are still lots of questions about the XJ update for Australia - with no news yet on the all-important prices for a car that currently starts at $253,600 - but the future is looking better.A preview drive in Britain shows the XJ rides a little nicer, as well as the potential for a four-cylinder engine that works just as well in the Jaguar as the Falcon. As for the supercharged V6, it's brilliant.VALUEWe'll have the full score at the opening of the Australian International Motor Show next month, when Jaguar plans to go public on prices. But the four-cylinder engine should set a new benchmark for the luxury class, not just Jaguar, and force Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz to re-assess their own cars."We are maintaining a strong value position," that's all I can say, Jaguar spokesman Kevin Goult tells Carsguide. "To be honest, we still haven't made a decision on the four-cylinder engine. We're waiting to see the reaction from the marketplace." The supercharged V6 takes over in the heart of XJ, where the 5-litre V8 model is currently set from $253,600, so there could be some extra value there.Any chance could be partly driven by the strength of the Australian dollar, with Jaguar disguising its move - and protecting resale values - by putting any change down to the new engines.TECHNOLOGYInstalling a four-cylinder engine in the XJ is an even more significant move than the similar change to the locally-made Falcon earlier this year. Even if they cannot tell the difference - and most people won't - there are a lot of snooty luxury buyers who would never consider a car without a luxury engine.But the EcoBoost four - even though Jaguar is not calling it that - makes a powerful case with everything from fuel economy of 9.3 litres/100km during our British preview drive to a useful 177 kiloWatts and 340 Newton-metres of torque. The outputs are not huge, but the 2-litre turbo four gets help in the XJ from the car's lightweight alloy structure and the brilliant eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox. That means it doesn't have as much heavy lifting to do, and there is always a gear to keep it in its best operating range.The new 3-litre V6 is effectively three-quarters of the outgoing naturally-aspirated V8 - a supercharged V8 continues - developed in-house by Jaguar engineers to produce 250 kiloWatts and 450 Newton-metres. It, too, has been tweaked to the eight-speed auto and to deliver a solid overtaking surge ahead of all-out punch. Impressively, it also returns 9.4 litres/100km in official testing. Both engines will go into the XF and promise even more impressive results there.So, what does this really mean for luxury cars, and the V8s that have always been so popular in Australia thanks to the Falcon and Commodore? "I don't think you're seeing the end of V8s, but they are downscaling. There will always be a market for top-end performance cars. But the mass volume will be moving down," says XJ program boss, Andy Dobson. The engine changes require a little fine tuning of the suspension, with Jaguar taking the chance to answer customer complaints with softening at the rear end.DESIGNNothing to see here. There is absolutely zero cosmetic change to the XJ, not even badges or paint colours. But Jaguar is working on a number of things for 2014 and beyond, including the three biggest Carsguide complaints in the cabin. They are the over-styled clock, a messy panel join in the centre of the dash, and digital instruments that read grey-on-grey instead of white on black.The clock goes first and the rest will be improved over time, designer Wayne Burgess tells me at the preview drive of the XJ. But now I'm recalling that Jaguar has had a change of sound system for 2013, switching from Bowers&Wilkins to Meridian. It's been made for financial reasons, although Burgess is talking-up the brand introduced in the brilliant Range Rover Evoque, and that does mean slightly different speakers in the cabin.Just in case you think Jaguar has gone soft of the styling, here's the official answer from Dobson. "We didn't ask for it. There's nothing that needs correcting. We made a very strong design statement with the car in the first place," he tells Carsguide.SAFETYOnce again, no change. There is no ANCAP score for the XJ but there is equally no reason not to expect a five-star standard. And it is loaded with all the high-tech stuff you expect in a flagship car to help with everything from parking to crash avoidance and driver mistakes.DRIVINGCreamy. That's the word that jumps into my head as I set off with the new V6 in the nose. The slow-speed response is creamy, the mid-range surge is creamy, and the suspension gives a creamy ride in both freeway conditions and narrow country lanes. The XJ is obviously familiar, and the downsized engine - although it's really only the number of cylinders, since the supercharger easily picks up the slack - does a brilliant job in all conditions. The eight-speed auto is a revelation, always picking the right gear for the conditions and - in paddle-shift manual use - shocking me at times. Once, overtaking from around 80km/h, I push on and then realise we're at 110km/h with five gears still to go. Now, about the 2-litre four. I'm a huge fan of the Falcon with the EcoBoost engine, which should be the only engine in the Aussie favourite, and it also works brilliantly in the big cat.It has more than enough performance for the job and, honestly, no-one who chooses an XJ is ever going to pick it. Until they get to the bowser. It provides easily enough performance to match the traffic, with reserves for overtaking, and the eight-speed also keeps it operating at maximum efficiency at all times and for all jobs.Turning away from the engines, the XJ update produces a slightly nicer ride but the car is still too bumpy and jumpy over acne-scarred roads and there is room for more improvement for local conditions. To be honest, XJ buyers should be looking at smaller wheels to get tyres with more compliance, instead of slavishly following the trend to the zero-compliance rubber that comes with 20-inch alloys.Looking around, the rest of the 2013 package is unchanged from the XJ's arrival around two years ago. I've come to accept, although not like, the car's plump rump and the rest of the deal has always worked well. Now we have to wait and see if Jaguar Australia has the bravery to bring the four-cylinder XJ and really give luxury shoppers a reason to move away from the German heavyweights. 

A Spanish waterfall has provided the evocative new name for the latest Opel Astra convertible. But don't get swept away in the excitement of the Cascada. We’ve previously seen some spy shots (see below). But for now Opel has only given the world a brief tease of its new droptop, damming supplies of information until October 17. It is only showing the open-air top of the new convertible as European carmakers rush to avoid the log jam of official unveilings at the Paris motor show at the end of the month. It follows the seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf and the latest Ford Fiesta, but comes ahead of the crucial Ford Mondeo that is scheduled for Thursday in Amsterdam.  Opel is even avoiding a Cascada display in Paris, keeping the spotlight on the crucial baby Adam city car it unveiled earlier this year. “It's only a teaser. A real tease,” confirms Opel's spokesperson in Australia, Michelle Lang, to Carsguide. “We're only showing the top half of the car for now. The full pictures come on October 17 and we know they will be hotly anticipated.” The Cascada is a no-brainer certainty for Australia, but not until the supply pipeline is full in Europe, as the German brand works hard to establish itself without the protective umbrella of GM Holden. It's already revealed the Corsa (think Barina), Astra and Insignia which will open its showroom action in Australia and admits it is doing everything possible to bring the latest models to Australia. “Absolutely nothing is confirmed. But if we were successful in getting production for Australia we're not looking at anything before 2014. But very early,” says Lang. She says there is no chance at all of an early Australian showing of the Cascada, perhaps at the Australian International Motor Show, with Opel waiting until the European spring. “I wish,” she laughs. “It won't be revealed until the Geneva motor show in March next year.” The Cascada is described by the Opel spin team as a 'high-quality, classy soft top for pure open-air indulgence'. So, no pressure, then. It's based on the latest Astra that's the focus for the Opel launch in Australia, with four adult seats and a folding canvas top that can do its work at up to 50km/h. Opel says the good looking body of the Cascada was inspired by its Kapitan and Rekord convertibles of the fifties and sixties, moving away from the chopped-top hatchback design of more recent times. It follows the make-or-break Adam and the baby SUV called Mokka, which are both looking pretty good for Australia once Opel establishes its three-car beach head this year.  

the sensible Swedish maker has done it again with its smooth looking new mid-sized V40 wagon.

...with what amounts to the collapse of FPV. The joint-venture Ford Performance Vehicles operation that was responsible for designing, developing and producing the FPV models has ended, with Ford buying out the dominant share previously held by Prodrive. Ford says it is part of streamlining work on the company and that the Falcon GT is safe, with a planned update of the FPV range included as part of the government-backed facelift planned for the Falcon in 2014. Still, 32 jobs are going at FPV with only a small offset against the 440 redundancies previously announced at Broadmeadows and Geelong, as Ford takes engine and vehicle assembly into its mainstream operations. The president of Ford Australia, Bob Graziano, reveals to Carsguide that the PFV decision was taken after a joint assessment with Prodrive - the British-based motorsport and engineering company that also operates Ford Performance Racing - of the business, including the forward model plans. "We, as the two partners, were looking at the business longer term. We didn't see it as a viable business in its current configuration," admits Graziano. "It will just become part of the Ford Motor Company now. It will ultimately result in us moving the production, marketing and sales of those vehicles into our broader operations. "From a customer perspective we don't anticipate any changes. It will be where the vehicles are developed and manufactured. "It's going to be integrated into our business. We're buying the assets of the joint venture, so the joint venture will actually cease to exist." Graziano refuses to discuss the cost of the change, but it's likely to be at least $20 million. The decision to bring PFV in-house at Broadmeadows follows two restructuring moves at the hot Falcon shop, one which cost jobs - including former boss Rod Barrett - in June. Graziano says he is still committed to FPV and promises there will continue to be fast Falcons in the company's range. "It's part of our history and it's been there for 20 years. Bringing it in will give us the efficiencies we need going forward," he says. "Yes, there will be FPV cars. They will be developed as they are today, and marketed through the dalers as they are today. The only difference is that they will be produced in our plants. “Although this segment of the market is relatively niche, it is an important part of Ford’s performance history and DNA. Both partners have worked hard to ensure the FPV brand can continue to thrive in Australia post the change to our current arrangements.” Ford intends to switch production of FPV's V8 engines to Geelong and put FPV final assembly through the line at Campbellfield. The change, which should be complete by December, is not expected to affect the operation of FPR, which continues as Ford's official factory racing team. “Next year’s change of ownership at FPV in no way affects the future of FPR," says team boss, Tim Edwards. "We are a separate business and all our plans for 2013 and beyond remain. The FPV brand continues, which is very pleasing for us as it is one of the team’s founding commercial partners."