Articles by Stuart Innes

The Daily delivery vans and cab-chassis derivatives have claimed a lot of firsts during the past 30 years and maker Iveco is just as chuffed with the latest range.The chassis frame on a light commercial vehicle, direct-injection turbodiesel engines, a 17cum van with 210cm interior height, common-rail diesel injection and even an engine that (in Europe) runs on natural gas are among the benchmarks claimed for the Daily van in those 30 years.Thanks to the array of models — seven wheelbases, low, mid and high-roof versions, two engines and various stages of power tune, a wide range of designated payload capacities, dual-cab versions plus single or dual rear wheels — it's possible to make thousands of Dailys without two being identical.It's reckoned that every five minutes, somewhere in the world, someone buys a New Daily van.The latest Daily — or New Daily as it's called, with capital N — retains the rear-wheel-drive configuration.All engines are Euro 4 compliant, some models having exhaust gas recirculation, and don't need a particulate filter.All engines are four-cylinder, in-line and have four valves per cylinder operated by double overhead camshafts. They use common-rail injection.The lighter, single-rear-wheel units use a 2.3-litre diesel with variable geometry blades in the turbocharger. Most Daily models have a three-litre turbodiesel engine. The HPI offers 109kW of power and 350Nm of torque. The HPT version ups this to 131kW of power and 400Nm of torque, but notably that torque is constant from 1250rpm through to 3000rpm, suggesting good engine flexibility.Oil and filters are scheduled for changing every 40,000km, limiting service costs and vehicle downtime.The Daily has independent front suspension and the solid rear axle can be optioned with air suspension for carrying delicate cargoes.Driver and passenger convenience and comfort are a priority with Daily. They have a parking sensor, central locking with remote control in the key, clever cab storage spots, including four DIN-sized compartments. Moving about the cab is easier thanks to the dash-mounted gearshift and shorter handbrake lever (made possible due to its lighter action). Seats are comfortable and supportive.The Daily can be had with a six-speed manual gearbox or six-speed automatic offering sequential shift.Payloads vary from 1265kg through to the extra long wheelbase, cab-chassis at 4260kg.The short van has a wheelbase of 3000mm, the mediums are 3300mm and 3750mm, the longs are 3950mm, 4100mm and 4350mm depending on van or cab-chassis style, leaving the two extra-long cab-chassis models with a 4750mm wheelbase. 

You'd never think that driving a Rolls-Royce would be so difficult. But that's what happens when you get a 1924 version of the brand that for decades was recognised as the world's best and most famous marque.This 1924 Silver Ghost, housed in the National Motor Museum, in Birdwood, is long, the 3.5m distance between its 21in diameter spokes wheels alone equalling that of a small car. Its top-hinged bonnet runs forward to the famous Spirit of Ecstasy lady.Under the bonnet sits a long, inline six-cylinder engine of about seven litres, dressed in brass tubing. There's even an oil can attached to the bulkhead.“There are so many grease and oil points that it could take you hours to grease it up,” museum director Kym Hulme says. But in those days cars were high maintenance items for their owners, or probably in this case, the chauffeur. The car was driven by an eccentric Irishman to Australia. For about 30 years in Adelaide it was owned by Ray Pank, who donated it to the museum a few years ago.Step over the footplate embossed with 'Coachwork by Maythorn & Son, London and Bigglesworth' and the back seat boasts enormous leg room. Your valet and lady-in-waiting can sit on the jump seats facing you. There's even a tiny glass sunroof.But to the driving; best get in from the left and slide across because the gearshift and handbrake lever block access from the right.Now, to the multi-stage starting procedure. There's a carburettor switch on the dash for 'starting' or 'running.' The steering wheel hub has just four controls - a lever for spark adjustment on the right, one for idling on the left, a fuel mixture control at the top and in the centre the ignition switch button which pulls out and rotates. They can get in the way of crossed-arms steering so it's the old push-and-pull routine with hands on the sides of the steering wheel. Steering lightens up at speed but for slow-speed corners it's heavy.The four-speed floor shift has gates but requires moving to the left on its way from first to second but then to the right on the way to third. Or something.It easily moves off in second gear despite its over two-tonne weight and it will idle along in third, such is the torque of this big engine.Downshifting is another matter - double-de-clutching while wrestling with this complicated gear change is difficult.It's a majestic car to travel in - even more so in its day - but you do feel for the chauffeur. 

JAMIE Whincup missed the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship by a hair's-breadth two points but last night he got the best consolation a driver could want - being presented with the Barry Sheene Medal.Whincup was runner-up to new champ Garth Tander - 623 points to 625 - in the nail-biting finish on Sunday to a season of 14 rounds that started at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide back in March. At the V8 Supercars Australia annual awards at a gala dinner in Melbourne, Whincup gratefully accepted the Barry Sheene Medal.In honour of the late Sheene, a former British world champion motorcycle racer who emigrated to Australia and came to love the V8 Supercar concept, the medal recognises the driver who best represents the sport on track and off track through the year.Whincup, 24, winner of last year's Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, races for the Triple Eight outfit in the Vodafone Falcon as a team-mate to Craig Lowndes, who won this award last year. Whincup, from Melbourne but now living on the Gold Coast to be near the team headquarters, has driven with Lowndes to win the Bathurst 1000 races last year and this year, as well as this year's Sandown 500.Had he not been beaten by .8sec on Sunday in the final race of the final round at Phillip Island he would have taken the V8 Supercar Championship from Tander (Toll-HSV, Commodore).“Jamie has shown character this year in bouncing back with real guts and determination,” chairman of V8 Supercars Australia, Tony Cochrane, said last night.The Mike Kable Young Gun award went to another 24-year-old, Dale Wood, who races a Holden Commodore VZ run by Greg Murphy Racing in the Fujitsu Series.Harry Firth, former Holden team manager and the first winner of the Bathurst 1000 race - with Bob Jane in a Ford Cortina in 1963 - was inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame.The Clipsal 500 race already is in the Hall of Fame for best event, allowing the 2007 best event award to go to the Bahrain round.The Clipsal 500 was named as having the best volunteers.Mark Winterbottom (FPR, Orrcon Falcon) won the award for most pole positions and Jim Beam Racing (Dick Johnson's outfit) the prize for best-presented team. Holden is manufacturer of the year.Meanwhile, Tander has denied that he has signed to drive for the Holden Racing Team next year.But he hasn't ruled out such a deal.“I certainly haven't had any discussions in the lead-up to Phillip Island, we were very focused on that,” Tander said yesterday. “This week we'll celebrate our championship victory and the year. If there is a discussion I guess it will happen some time after that.”

Citroen names the latest concept car C-Cactus; seeing it as a possible car of the future. The C-Cactus name is chosen because of the perception that the desert-dwelling plant needs little water to survive.The inference is this car needs little in the way of fluids (fuel) to keep going it.Citroen has built this C-Cactus car as a hybrid using a small diesel engine as well as an electric motor. And it has concentrated on light weight; meaning less energy is used to accelerate and keep the car at cruising speeds.The turbodiesel engine delivers about 52kW of power and the electric motor another 22kW when called on for assistance.Like existing hybrid cars, for urban driving there will be moments when the C-Cactus runs only on its electric motor. It's what Citroen calls ZEV mode (zero emission vehicle). The diesel engine has a particulate filter system. Fuel economy officially is rated about 3.4 litres per 100km and emissions therefore are a low 78g/km. Top speed has been capped at 150km/h.A key feature of the Citroen C-Cactus is the weight saving brought about by using fewer components, much of that achieved by combining tasks into one component.The cabin takes 200 parts to create, or about half the number of a conventional car of similar size. Even the dashboard is gone. Its functions, gearbox controls, navigation system and a few speakers of the sound system are all incorporated into a stylish centre console.Door panels are made of two parts instead of the expected 12. The car has an automatic airconditioning system, so Citroen argues that there's little need to open the windows. Thus, the window winding or power opening systems are not there: simple sliding panes do the job instead.C-Cactus has appeared wearing 21-inch wheels with special tyres that have been developed in conjunction with Michelin.  

The CX-9 is due to hit the showrooms in December, the large SUV will boast a 3.7-litre V6 engine. In Japanese spec it produces 204kW of power at 6350rpm and 366Nm of torque at 4250rpm. The Mazda CX-7 uses a 2.3-litre four-cylinder but the turbocharged petrol engine gives 175kW of power. The CX-9 is built on a different platform, having a wheelbase of 2875mm and a total body length of 5074mm. Mazda says Australia will be the first market to get the 3.7-litre version of the CX-9. It will be available in two grades; Luxury and Classic. Prices are expected to start in the low $50,000s. The CX-9 will sit on 18 or 20-inch wheels, depending on the version, and have three rows of seats. However, reasonable luggage space will remain; even when the third seating row is in use; 480 litres, which is comparable to a decent-sized normal car boot. Fold the third seat-row away and there's 928 litres of space to play with. The second-seat row is split 40-60 and can slide forward and aft 12cm. Mazda adds a wide door opening for third-row passengers to step in behind the second-row seat. CX-9s being built for Australia have stability control, roll-stability control, touch-screen audio with reversing camera, six airbags, cruise control, power windows and three-zone, climate-control airconditioning with separate control for the rear. Mazda's 'active torque split' all-wheel-drive system is used. It will automatically adjust torque distribution to the front and rear wheels from 100 per cent front wheels to 50-50.    

It's a sign of the future. First we had hybrid petrol-electric cars entering motor races. Now they're winning them. Just when we get used to diesel-fuelled cars winning the long-distance sports car races such as the Le Mans 24-hour, a Toyota Supra fitted with hybrid drive system has won the Tokachi 24-hour race in Japan.The 360kW, V8 race car that had been retired from Japan's Super GT series was converted to the electric-and-petrol hybrid system. Entered as the Denso Toyota Supra HV-R, it took pole, led most of the way with a comfortable gap and then opened out the lead over the closing stages to a formidable 19-lap margin.The Supra HV-R's 4480cc V8 engine generates 360kW of power at 6800rm and 510Nm torque at 5600rpm.But then a small, 10kW electric motor was fitted to each front wheel and a third, main electric motor delivering 150kW to drive the rear wheels. The whole car weighs just 1080kg.Electric motors in a hybrid car also act as generators, sending energy from the car's braking to be stored back in the batteries that drive the electric motors when accelerating.By having three electric motors in this racer, more energy can be saved and reused. After all, racing is largely about maximum braking from high speeds and rapid acceleration again.And because racing involves repeated acceleration and braking under full performance, a quick-charging capacitor system was adopted instead of the usual rechargeable batteries.Our carsguide; in previous years have suggested that hybrid race cars, and rally cars, are set to become common place in the future of motorsport; and perhaps even electric-only cars as motorsport plays its role in reducing emissions.It's understood that motorsport's world governing body FIA is looking at introducing hybrid technology into F1 from as early as 2011.It shows that hybrid cars don't have to be slow; just ask Japan's Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Akira Lida and Tatsuya Kataoka and Portugal's Andre Couto who shared the drive over the 24 hours in the Supra.  

The holidays are looming and if getting off the beaten track for a camping trip is your idea of fun, there's a sharp deal on offer from Nissan. Nissan has released a limited-edition Patrol DX Walkabout which features more than $7000 in free extras. The $49,990 (a standard DX retails for $50,290) Walkabout adds alloy wheels, a six-CD stacker, bullbar and $2000 of camping equipment to the DX, but just 275 vehicles are available.Meanwhile Nissan has also given its heavy-duty ute, the Patrol cab-chassis a new-look exterior and an updated three-litre diesel engine.The ZD30 turbocharged diesel engine with intercooler is also used in the Patrol wagon range and has been recently upgraded with a common-rail fuel injection system.One more apparent benefit of the engine, which replaces the previous older-technology 4.2-litre diesel, is the rated towing-capacity increase from 2500kg to an impressive 3200kg. Another plus for Patrol utes is that they are four-wheel-drive, complete with dual-range option. Patrol has serious off-bitumen credentials. The cab-chassis comes in two spec levels, the DX and the better-equipped ST. The DX can be ordered with coil or leaf rear suspension. The rear leaf springs are claimed to give optimum load-carrying ability and durability in rough conditions. All versions have a coil-sprung front end and an anti-sway bar.All have the five-speed manual gearbox and limited-slip differential. Standard equipment includes double door seals (to help keep out dust and noise), wide-opening doors, CD player and airconditioning. The ST gets carpet, power windows, central locking, side steps, map lights and large centre console. The DX has a driver's bucket seat and a two-person passenger bench seat, while the ST has two bucket seats. All DX leaf-spring and ST models have standard dual front airbags. The DX coil-sprung models have airbags as an option. Coil-sprung DX and ST models are fitted with four-wheel disc brakes, while the DX leaf spring model has large rear drum brakes and front discs.Pricing on the updated models remains unchanged: from $49,790 for the DX with leaf springs, $50,180 for the DX with coils and from $52,890 for the ST.The ZD30 engine standard in all Patrol cab-chassis utes is a 2953cc job with double overhead camshafts, turbocharged and intercooled — giving 118kW power at 3200rpm-3400rpm and 380Nm of torque at 2000rpm-24000rpm.The 95-litre diesel tank is backed up by an 80-litre sub tank, which promises good range for rural and bush use.Patrol cab-chassis tare without a tray fitted is 1997kg for the DX with coil springs, 2123kg for the DX with leaf springs and 2009kg for the ST with coils. GVM is 3150kg, 3400kg and 3150kg.

GM and its Australian arm, GM Holden, however, have given technological and financial support to challenge entrants as part of the car maker's interest in potential future fuel needs and energy efficiencies, which mean lower carbon dioxide emissions.The Panasonic World Solar Challenge begins in Darwin on Sunday on its 3021km-run south across the Outback to Adelaide.The GM-backed entrants include a petrol-electric hybrid car, sun-powered solar cars and a production car running on fuel that is 85 per cent ethanol; a renewable energy resource.GM Holden director of innovation engineering Richard Marshall said although the company was committed to alternative propulsion break throughs, diesel fuel now was the best solution for typical Australian driving needs.“We think drivers will begin to understand and choose the alternative powertrain solution that suits their transport needs,” he said. “Where drivers spend most of their time in heavily-congested traffic, petrol hybrids may offer the appropriate level of performance with low fuel consumption."“For people whose driving habits typically include a mix of inner city, suburban and country driving, diesel vehicles may be more likely to deliver powerful performance and better fuel economy."“In Australia, most driving falls into this latter category where relatively low-density residential suburbs, rapidly-spreading coastal fringes and long distances between rural population centres are generally more suitable for diesel power trains.” Mr Marshall's assessment is all the more interesting because no hybrid or diesel car is made in Australia.GM Holden is experimenting with a diesel Commodore but says at $50 million to develop, plus tooling costs, it is too costly to put into production yet. A hybrid Commodore would be priced too high to attract buyers; unless government incentives and subsidies were given.GM Holden spokesman John Lindsay said the company offered diesel engines in imported models, the Atra small car, Captiva SUV and Rodeo ute.The government's green vehicle guide website rates the Astra diesel fuel use at just 5.9 litres/100km, which is 20 per cent more frugal than the petrol Astra's 7.4 litres/100km.The diesel Captiva is rated at 8.6l/100km, or 25 per cent more economic than the petrol Captiva's 11.5l/100km.

The big, bold car grille is emerging as the styling feature of cars to come.

The 3 Series sedan, Touring (wagon) and Coupe all get the treatment to enhance buyers' choice. The M Sports package offered on the 3 Series Coupe is for drivers who want to get some of the reflected glory of the potent M3 model. Yet the M Sports pack is not just dress-up; it promises extra grip through larger wheels and tyres and lowered, sports suspension. The M Sports pack is available on the BMW Coupes in 323i, 325i and the exciting twin-turbo 335i versions at a premium of $6200, $4700 and $2600. The price varies because of the standard equipment on those models. The M Sports pack has asymmetric 18-inch diameter wheels. These are 8J wide for the front with 225/40 tyres, while at the rear the wheels are 8.5J and are fitted with 255/35 tyres. An option is 19-inch alloys; 8J at the front with 225/35 tyres and 9J at the rear with 255/35 tyres. The sports suspension, which is part of the pack, lowers the Coupe by 15mm. The M Sports pack brings a more aggressive design to the front of the Coupe, including larger intakes. It has sideskirts and distinctive rear bumper panels to aid aerodynamics. Inside, the pack adds sports seats to give greater lateral support when cornering and a leather-clad steering wheel with leather touches on the shift lever and handbrake. The M Sports pack can be ordered on BMW 3 Series Coupes from November. An Individual Luminance Edition is available on 3 Series sedans; bringing special exterior paint and higher levels of luxury. Seats and door inserts have Merino (cattle) leather. Sports seats and luxury steering wheel add to the package, which costs $7500. The Individual Luminance can be ordered on all 3 Series sedans; 320i, 320d, 323i, 325i and 335i.