Adventure

Jeep has announced a massive price cut as part of a drive-away campaign for MY23 Gladiator 4x4 ute stock ahead of the impending facelift.From $78,250 before on-road costs – about $86K drive-away depending on state – the base Night Eagle variant falls to $64,000 out the door.The flagship $87,250 Gladiator Rubicon (roughly $95,000 on the road) is being pushed out of dealers for $25K less, at $70,000.Jeep will replace the niche Gladiator later this year with a facelifted version that gets a new-look grille, side-curtain airbags a larger 12.3-inch Uconnect multimedia touchscreen (up from 8.4 inches), soft-touch cabin surfaces, and new alloy wheel designs.Pricing is yet to be announced for the new version but mechanically it is identical to the existing model.Both the Night Eagle and Rubicon are motivated by a 209kW/347Nm 3.6-litre 'Pentastar' V6 linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission with an active on-demand 4x4 system powering all four wheels.The Night Eagle has Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, LED exterior lighting, keyless entry, a nine-speaker Alpine sound system and more.The off-road focused Rubicon, meanwhile, adds a tough steel rear bumper, 17-inch alloy wheels shod in 32-inch (255/75 R21) off-road tyres, thicker Tenneco dampers, a low-range 'crawl gear', front and rear differential locks and an electronic front swaybar disconnect system.Luxury also increases in the Rubicon with leather upholstery, leather-appointed steering wheel and shifter, heated front seats and steering wheel.The lifestyle ute, which can be considered a niche alternative to up-market versions of the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Mitubishi Triton, has been subject to multiple price increases as Jeep repositions itself as a premium brand in Australia.The Night Eagle was introduced in 2021 at $68,250 and has climbed $10,000 to today's list price with no major upgrades.Gladiator sales are down by a significant 63.8 per cent this year with just 467 registrations to the end of June.Jeep Gladiator run-out pricing 

Holden may be gone, but – as Opel/Vauxhall’s recently-announced Frontera reminds us – it’s clear that a handful of the old names survive. They grace other, inevitably newer models from both within and beyond the broader GM family that once, of course, also included Holden. What do they look like today? Would fans of their Australian namesakes even recognise any sort of connection?

The 2024 Toyota HiLux represents a small step in an EV-lite direction. Some new variants have 'V-Active Technology', a combination of a motor generator, 48-volt battery and DC/DC converter aimed at improving performance and fuel efficiency, compared to the standard HiLux's 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine. It's not a hybrid HiLux, but it's the closest thing you'll get until that arrives in 2025. 

At the introduction of Toyota's upgraded LandCruiser 70 Series late last year all eyes were on the new four-cylinder version with auto transmission. But the tough as nails 4.5-litre V8 diesel manual hasn't gone away with an order bank stretching from here to Christmas... at least. Time to revisit an all-time classic off-roader.

Ineos has revealed a selection of Grenadier and Quartermaster concept vehicles at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed and none are electric. 

The Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series is approaching its first update since launching in mid-2021, according to reports. Typically reliable industry source BestCar has listed a host of very minor changes (far from a facelift) that are due to be announced officially in December.Most of the tweaks are said to satisfy tighter regulations on exhaust gases and safety. CarsGuide has contacted Toyota Australia for additional information and local timing. The 300 Series is almost certain to be visually unchanged, with only the Sahara ZX’s rear-seat entertainment system set for a change inside: dropping the CD and DVD player in favour of a simple HDMI port. The Nissan Patrol rival’s main updates will be applied to the safety systems, with the LC300 upgrading to Toyota’s third-generation driver aids. This should mean improvements to the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system with added cyclist detection, enhanced forward collision warning, speed sign detection and driver-attention warning to line up with global regulations.Another mandate-driven move is understood to be an update to the emissions control systems, particularly for the 227kW/700Nm 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel V6 we get in Australia.The new standard set by the United Nations Real Driving Emissions (RDE) testing stipulates less than 34 per cent particulate matter in emissions. Cyber security protection is also said to be improved. Pricing is likely to increase slightly, too. A running update is nothing new for a Toyota LandCruiser. The 300 Series’ predecessor sold from 2007 through to 2021 and had myriad updates and facelifts, the first (a new engine option) coming just two years after release. Don’t expect to see a major overhaul of the LandCruiser 300 until at least 2027, when it’s possible that more electrification, interior and technology updates may be rolled out. The latest update to the LandCruiser range comes after Toyota Australia announced the discontinuation of the 70 Series V8, citing community expectations for environmentally friendly vehicles.

The Volkswagen Amarok has been around since 2011 and it has garnered a stack of awards, a legion of fans and long ago set the standard for refinement in utes. Times changed, though, and the rest of the ute pack eventually caught up or even surpassed it. But the new Amarok is here and it shares the Ford Ranger's platform and many of that ute's components. Is it better than the top-selling Ranger?

The new Mitsubishi Pajero will be a potent plug-in powerhouse, with the reborn icon to pump out some 285kW, out-punching the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and Lexus LX, according to new reports.The new model is now all-but confirmed, with the brand global

Toyota's once top-selling HiLux has taken a hammering in 2024, with the brand's normally dominant dual cab now dropping more than 5000 units behind its arch rival the Ford Ranger over the first six months of this year.

Whether they're for work or for play, we are officially a nation of outdoorsy adventurers.