Family Cars

The Land Rover Defender Octa Black is supposed to be the 'ultimate Defender', but I'll be the judge of that after living with this monstrously capable high-performance luxury SUV for a week.

America is winning the new car emissions arm wrestle.

BYD's new plug-in hybrid sedan is about to launch in Australia, and it has got the Toyota Camry in its sights.A Department of Infrastructure filing confirms the BYD Seal 7 has been approved for sale in Australia, also exposing some key details about the new car. BYD Australia has been contacted for comment to find out exact launch times for its new model.There is no news yet on how much the Seal 7 will cost, but expect it to be more expensive than the recently-launched Seal 6, starting from $34,990 (before on-road costs). The Seal 7 is a bigger car than the Toyota Camry hybrid, but it will still live in its territory when it launches in Australia. Other rivals such as the Skoda Octavia mild hybrid and Honda Accord Hybrid will provide further competition, along with the Geely Emgrand PHEV, which is due to launch in Australia next year. The Seal 7 has a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and electric motor set-up, producing 197kW. It is expected to have an electric-only driving range of less than 200km when it lands.It measures up at 4980mm long, 1890mm wide, 1495mm high, with a wheelbase of 2900mm. The car will ride on either 17-inch or 18-inch wheels, but other details will be revealed closer to the car’s launch, which is likely to be in the next few months. The Seal 7 is BYD’s latest model in what has been a bumper past few months for brand Down Under, seeing it jump to second spot in the sales charts for April. This has been led by its electrified approach, including the Shark 6 PHEV ute and the Sealion 7 electric SUV. 

The new Volvo EX60 electric mid-size has been dubbed a ‘game changer’ by the Swedish carmaker.It needs to be too as it’s finally introducing an electric counterpart to its best-selling car of all time, the XC60.Speaking to CarsGuide, Volvo Vehicle Product Lead for the EX60 and EX60 Cross Country, Lorina Gewargis said it’s fun to be standing with the finished product and having delivered the promises the brand made years ago.“I would say we have packed this car with so much new technology that we haven’t done before and we did that in this timeframe,” said Gewargis.“I’m very confident that we have basically sold the kind of three main concerns that some consumers have when going to electric.“We have the range and the charging speed. Then obviously, price is a very important area as well. The price for the EX60 to be equivalent as current XC60 plug-in hybrid .”The EX60 is priced from $86,900 before on-road costs for the Ultra P6 RWD and $101,990 before on-road costs for the Ultra P10 AWD in Australia. These are equivalent with the XC60 PHEV.Volvo is readying a flagship P12 AWD version of the EX60, which offers the full 810km of WLTP-claimed range, as well as 400kW of peak DC fast-charging thanks to the 800V electrical architecture.This flagship EX60 P12 AWD trim will likely cost more than the P10 AWD trim and be closer to the BMW iX3 50 xDrive, which is currently priced from $109,900 before on-road costs and offers 805km of WLTP-claimed range.“We are designing it, engineering it and building it in Sweden. I think that’s the whole game-changer point,” added Volvo Technology and Programs Manager, Power Electronics, Adrian Thuresson.“Of course we have the HugeinCore, where we have fully centralised computing, where we improve this over time, continuously.“This is just the start of a really nice journey.”It’s worth noting that the EX60 is the first Volvo to have a landscape-oriented central touchscreen multimedia system.“We have a new world-first when it comes to restraints,” said Volvo Engineering Manager Front and Rear Structure Analysis, Dr Isabelle Stockman, noting the new multi-adaptive safety seat belt that’s making its debut in the EX60.“So with this … software-based car, we can analyse what’s going on outside of the car using the exterior sensors and also what’s going on inside of the car using the interior sensor.“Based on that information … we can then adapt to the situation with help of these … profiles now in the safety belt and together with the rest of the restraint systems.”Additionally, the Volvo EX60 has a clean, Scandinavian-inspired exterior design without regular door handles. Instead there is a tiny flap with a button at the bottom of the window. It’s a similar set-up to the front doors on the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Australia’s electric vehicle buying frenzy appears to have already subsided.That’s the view of one of Australia’s leading electric vehicle brands, BYD, which says its mix of models has already started to normalise despite the on-going fuel crisis. Sales of EVs jumped in March and April, as the price of petrol and diesel spiked amid conflict in the Middle East.In March EV sales were double what they were in March 2025, jumping to 14.6 per cent of the total market. That figure rose to 16.4 per cent of total sales in April, while searches on CarsGuide classifieds for EVs rose 230 per cent in March. Autotrader reported a 631 per cent jump in people searching for a new EV to buy in March.But the peak of this EV boom may already be behind us according to BYD Australia Chief Operating Officer Stephen Collins, which is telling because the brand only offers EVs and plug-in hybrid (PHEVs).“I'll tell you what we've seen,” explained Collins. “What we saw was that in March there was a big uplift. Our mix went from 50/50 PHEV/EV to 70 per cent EV and 30 per cent PHEV. Definitely March, absolutely. April it started to come off, that mix came off, and the huge spike was coming off, and I would say now is pretty much back to normal.”However, he added that even though the sales split had returned to its previous levels, overall demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles remains high as fuel prices appear unlikely to drop dramatically any time in the near-future. And Collins believes that this is all part of a long-running shift towards EVs and PHEVs.“I think the baseline from where we were in January, February to now is higher. So I think it's been one of those events that has actually changed the momentum. But I don't think it's true that, we're riding on the sort of a . Some people are saying, ‘Yeah, we're riding the wave of this, petrol, fuel crisis thing.’ Yes, there was a short period where it went really strong, but even prior to that, the trajectory was pretty obvious.”BYD has certainly benefitted from the current situation, finishing second on the April sales charts. Its 7702 sales that month put it only behind Toyota for the month, as buyers flocked to its line-up of ‘new energy vehicles’ including the most-affordable EV on sale today, the pint-sized Atto 1.BYD’s biggest EV success story is the Sealion 7, with the mid-size SUV not only the second best-selling EV in the country, behind only the Tesla Model Y, but is also amongst the most popular models in its class - which includes the likes of the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Outlander.As of the end of April sale, BYD was the fifth best-selling car brand in Australia, behind only Toyota, Mazda, Kia and Ford. The brand is aiming to have 30,000 new cars delivered by the end of the financial year, starting with a shipment of 4800 new vehicles aboard the BYD Zhengzhou, a company-owned car carrier due to arrive in Australia at the start of June.

KGM has detailed updates for its Torres and Actyon SUVs in South Korea.The 2027 KGM Torres with the regular 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine now comes with an eight-speed Aisin-sourced torque-converter automatic transmission, instead of a six-speed Aisin unit.The all-wheel drive petrol version now also receives off-road terrain modes in addition to the existing drive modes.The Torres is still also offered with hybrid and electric powertrain options.There are revised front and rear fascias, as well as new exterior paint colours and interior colourways.Inside, the Torres looks much more like the Actyon now. It receives a two-spoke, hexagonal steering wheel, as well as an updated screen set-up for the digital instrument cluster and touchscreen multimedia system.A number of key criticisms have also been addressed.There’s now wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a bigger gear selector, a physical switchgear cluster for the dual-zone climate control, as well as dual wireless chargers.It’s worth noting that the KGM Actyon also picks up the aforementioned updates, as well as the eight-speed automatic transmission.We’ve reached out to KGM Australia to see when we can expect these updated Torres and Actyon models will arrive Down Under. We’ll update this story once we hear back.KGM, which was previously known as SsangYong, launched the Torres in Australia in 2024 and was followed by the related and slightly larger Actyon in 2025.The South Korean carmaker has since launched hybrid and electric versions of the Torres, as well as a hybrid version of the Actyon.In the first four months of 2026 KGM has sold a total of 74 Torres examples and 80 Actyon examples. This is down considerably over top-selling rivals like the Toyota RAV4 (7571 sales), Hyundai Tucson (6842 sales) and Kia Sportage (5743 sales).

Stellantis, owner of Jeep, and Jaguar Land Rover have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to “explore opportunities to collaborate on product development in the United States”.Antonio Filosa, CEO of Stellantis said: “By working with partners to explore synergies in areas such as product and technology development, we can create meaningful benefits for both sides while remaining focused on delivering the products and experiences our customers love.” Meanwhile PB Balaji, CEO of JLR said: “As we continue to evolve JLR for the future, collaboration will play an important role in unlocking new opportunities. Working with Stellantis allows us to explore complementary capabilities in product and technology development that support our long‑term growth plans for the US market.”The tie-up comes as both companies face a tough tariff environment in the US, with Stellantis being embattled there in previous years with its previous CEO, Carlos Tavares, focusing largely on the European operation. JLR, meanwhile, could gain a foothold in the lucrative US market, where it does not currently have a manufacturing footprint.The partnership marks a major change in strategy for embattled Stellantis, which posted a A$37 billion dollar loss in 2025. Its house of 14 brands includes diverse marques from Jeep to Peugeot and Maserati. Under Tavares the US operation suffered, particularly Jeep. The brand pivoted to a more premium position, which didn’t resonate with buyers. Locally, it even resulted in the Grand Cherokee being pulled from sale as Jeep chose to focus on its more competitive offerings.JLR recently ended production of Jaguar models as it gears up for a major re-boot of its luxury passenger car brand, with the company still managing to post good results for 2025 off the back of record sales of the popular Defender and surging global sales of its new Range Rover Sport.The brand even claims that it has taken over 32,000 expressions of interest globally for its upcoming Jaguar Type 01 GT car.A bruising cyberattack, which shut down the brand’s factories in late 2025, has had an impact on the JLR’s bottom line. New tariffs in the US have caused the UK based company to post a 99 per cent profit slump in the first months of 2026.Both companies, which have been rivals in the past, have also turned to their Chinese joint-ventures for more global resilience.Stellantis has made clear its plan to lean on more partnerships, particularly with its Leapmotor joint-venture, and more recently, a new tie-up with Dongfeng to build more Peugeot models in China.Jaguar Land Rover has re-booted the Freelander marque as part of its joint-venture with Chery. The first model, the Freelander 8, pairs the design motifs from the previous Freelander small SUVs with an 800-volt architecture from Chery, plotted to be offered in both range extender hybrid and fully electric forms.Unlike previous Freelanders though, the new Chery-based model is an over-five-meter long three-row SUV. The tie-up has global aspirations and will exist independently of both Land Rover and Chery, and has been confirmed for an Australian launch.

Does the 2021 Subaru Forester have a timing chain or timing belt? And if it’s the latter, is it a dry or wet belt?

I'm after a medium sized car that handles both freeways and rough roads. I travel just under 200km to work and back home on a daily basis and want something that is fuel efficient and can go on gravel as l recently moved out semi-rural. I looked at the GWM Tank 300 but have read it's a guzzler. Not sure on the Outback or the Outlander, etc.

What switch controls the light for the speedometer in a 2008 Subaru Forester?