Luxury

The top-spec hybrid model in the new CLA line-up is the AWD 220 4Matic, sitting at $84,300, before on-road costs, which puts it in the same price ballpark as primo versions of its German ‘Big Three’ rivals, the Audi A3 sedan and BMW 2 Series.

Given the way so many four-wheel drives have morphed into performance SUVs over the years, it’s no surprise Range Rover had its own take on a high-spec, high-stepping wagon. The difference being, of course, that with a Range Rover badge, the end result needed to be sporty(-ish) and capable of plugging through the worst forest tracks and trails imaginable.The product of that thinking became the Range Rover Sport.Although the badging and high-end interior materials said Range Rover, the platform with its semi-monocoque construction said Land Rover. Land Rover Discovery 3, to be precise. But when you started to explore the Sport’s on- and off-road abilities and its tremendous looking body, any misgivings might have been scratched.The range kicked off in Australia in 2005 as the L320 series and included a huge range of mechanical packages. They started with the 2.7TDV6 which used a 2.7 litre turbo-diesel V6 with a six-speed automatic. With 140kW performance was okay, but importantly, the L320 used a proper two-speed transfer-case with permanent four-wheel drive.There was also a 4.4-litre petrol V8 option with 220kW and a storming 4.2-litre supercharged petrol V8 with no less than 287kW at its disposal. Both of those also had six-speed automatic transmissions and all V8 models had a locking rear differential for more off-road prowess.A year after the model’s launch, Range Rover added a 3.6-litre twin-turbo diesel V8 model with 200kW.The Range Rover badge decreed that luxury could not be forgotten, so every version of the Sport featured 18-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, cruise control, LED lighting and leather upholstery. The 4.4-litre V8 version added a CD stacker, bi-xenon headlights, and rear parking sensors, while the diesel V8 carried the same specification but with 19-inch alloys. The supercharged Sport added 20-inch wheels, Brembo brakes, front parking sensors, memory seats and mirrors as well as hydraulically controlled anti-roll suspension.Air suspension was a much hyped part of the Sport deal with the (on-paper) ability to make the independent suspension work as if the vehicle had solid axles in tougher off-road settings.Range Rover gave the L320 a facelift (to Series 2 spec) in 2009 with new engines and improved suspension as well as interior improvements to make the driver’s job easier.The new engines started with a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6, while the V8s were replaced by a 5.0-litre petrol V8. Available in either naturally aspirated or supercharged form, the new V8s were good for 276kW and a massive 375kW.The model was eventually replaced in 2013 by the L494 model Range Rover Sport. The short answer is yes, and no.The Range Rover Sport is a pretty amazing thing dynamically, able to combine high-speed stability with good comfort and even exceptional off-road abilities. That’s the ‘yes’ part.The ‘no’ comes in the form of a litany of serious mechanical and electrical problems that have surfaced over the years, tainting the Sport’s reputation.This car is a classic case of buyer beware, but if you do get lucky and find one that is reliable, the driving experience is hard to match. The problem is picking a good one, because the odds aren’t great that it will be clear sailing. In a nutshell, not great. In fact, not even close. Too many owners have had expensive, often catastrophic failures to make any other judgment. The problems are wide and varied, too, so there’s no short-cut to finding one that won’t necessarily break the bank.The rusted-on fans out there will beg to differ, but the facts are the facts, and this vehicle’s a gamble at best. This is no short list and the Range Rover Sport’s reputation for fragility and dud engineering is based on many years of turning motorists into mechanics.Let’s start with the real elephant in the room, the 2.7 and 3.0 litre V6 turbo-diesels. These have a pretty shocking record for destroying themselves due to problems with the bottom end bearings. Speculation is that the bearings themselves were either fitted incorrectly at the factory, or that they could wear and 'spin' in service. Either way, once you hear the warning noises from under the bonnet, you had a handful of seconds to pull off the road, shut the engine off and call a tow-truck. Any longer and you were likely to destroy the engine completely as the crankshaft failed due to the bearing problem.Symptoms that you have those precious seconds remaining include a knocking noise that gets louder as you load the engine, and a low oil pressure warning on the dashboard. Ignore it and you’ll soon have the con-rods on the ground under the car. Not nice.Scandalously, despite this being a known problem affecting the very earliest L320 cars, it took Land Rover until 2012 to sort a fix with a revised bearing design.Early examples of this engine also had a major design flaw in the oil pump assembly which was too weak to support the tensioner for the rubber timing belt that was mounted on the pump casing. This often showed up straight after a new timing belt was fitted and the added tension of the new belt exceeded the integrity of the pump casing.At that point, all hell boke loose as the timing belt jumped ship, allowing the pistons to collide with the valves and reducing the engine to scrap in milli-seconds. A revised pump casing design fixed things, but not before plenty of owners were replacing entire engines.The single turbocharger unit fitted to the 2.7-litre V6 was also prone to internal wear. Lots of white smoke from the exhaust was a sign that this was the case. Replacing the turbocharger unit was the usual fix. EGR valve failures on this engine are not unknown, either.The 5.0-litre supercharged V8 was not without problems and it often developed a rattle or ticking noise. This was usually traced to the timing chain tensioner, requiring the tensioner and the timing chain to be replaced. An improved design of the chain and tensioner helped, but didn’t arrive until the 2012 model.The Sport’s air suspension has also caused its share of grief with many owners returning to their vehicle to find it lying almost flat on the ground. The cause is usually the air suspension’s compressor system which can either fail to maintain the required ride height or simply allow all the air to escape the suspension units. One theory holds that the compressor itself was too small and was overworked, leading to failures.We’ve also heard of a few instances where the suspension units themselves have failed requiring costly replacement. But even the plastic plumbing for the air suspension seems underdone in the sense of a car designed for off-road work.Those are by no means the only faults associated with this make and model, but they’re the ones that keep surfacing over time. None of them are minor. Again, this is a long list because the Range Rover Sport has been far from immune from safety recalls to fix things that should never have gone wrong.Let’s start with the transmission which could sometimes refuse to select Park. This affected very early build L320s.Then there was the ABS sensor which could chafe its wiring on the wheel under extreme cornering and suspension travel situations. Again, this affected early (2005 and 2006) models.Perhaps the recall with the greatest potential for mayhem was one for V6 turbo-diesel vehicles built between mid-2004 and mid-2009. In those, there was a chance the vacuum system and the entire braking system could fail, leading to a total loss of brake performance. And again, that’s an awful lot of cars to be affected by such a serious defect.The L320 was also recalled at various points in time to correct faulty crank angle sensors that would stop the engine in its tracks, door latches that wouldn’t (latch) and fuel pumps that could fail prematurely.You can find out more by visiting https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/ Later built cars were definitely better than earlier-build examples, purely because Range Rover had time to sort things out (not that it always did). But the one vehicle we’d avoid would be the turbo-diesel in any of its forms as these were the ones with the dicky bottom end. This is a vehicle where the fewer kilometres covered, the better. That said, you do see the odd one with better than 400,000km on board still getting around, but it would be very interesting to find out how much of a grandfather’s axe it is. Those high-milers are also almost always turbo-diesel cars, too, but that’s as much a function of the fact that this vehicle arrived in Australia when diesel was the new black, and people were flocking to it. It’s very difficult to recommend this make and model unless you’re an expert in diagnosing and fixing them and don’t mind a bit of down time. The non-supercharged petrol V8 stands a better chance of going the distance, but even it lives in the shadow of air suspension failures and other maladies. A high-mileage turbo-diesel can be had for comfortably less than $10,000 these days. In fact, you see them advertised for as little as $5000 which still makes them a punt, but a much lower-stakes punt.There’s a wide spread of prices after that with something like a supercharged V8 version with 100,000km showing for between $45,000 and $50,000. The one thing in the Sport’s favour as a long-term proposition is the magnificent repair and parts industry that has sprung up around the brand. You could argue that’s a function of necessity to keep a flawed product on the road, but it also reflects the fanaticism the Range Rover brand has created for itself.There’s a legion of specialist workshops that know these vehicles backwards and can supply pretty much every part needed. Independent specialists are also usually a lot cheaper than Range Rover dealership repairs and servicing.The better news is that every time a Range Rover Sport is pensioned off or scrapped its parts help keep other Rangies on the road. There’s no way of knowing how many L320 Range Rover Sports were sold during the model’s eight years on sale. But we can tell you that the bigger online sales sites have between 50 and 140 L320s available for sale.The vast majority of those are turbo-diesel V6 variants.

In 2021 there was the Porsche Taycan soon followed by its closely related corporate sibling, the Audi e-tron GT. The era of the large, powerful pure-electric, four-door GT had arrived and they were due to be joined around the same time by the subject of this review, the Polestar 5.But Covid threw a spanner in those works and here we are in 2026 getting behind the wheel for the first time.The 5 instantly leap-frogs Polestar up towards those heavyweights as well more recent newcomers like the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE, with an initial two-model range - the Dual Motor at $171,100 and the Performance at $193,100 (both before on-road costs).Due in Aussie showrooms in the second half of this year, it’s ultimately very close to the design of the Polestar Precept concept that previewed the 5 way back in 2020.And at close to 5.1 metres long, just over 2.0m wide and a bit over 1.4m tall with a 2970mm wheelbase it’s a confidently sleek machine with a broad stance and an ultra-slippery 0.24 drag co-efficient.It’s underpinned by the bonded aluminium ‘Polestar Performance Architecture’ platform and clad with all alloy body panels to minimise weight and improve torsional rigidity. Kerb weight is still 2.5 tonnes, though. The interior is Scandinavian minimalism at its finest, but not at the cost of useful storage including generous door bins, a large central box, cupholders and wireless charging.The beautifully sculpted seats have been developed in collaboration with German specialist Recaro, the split-level dash is dominated by a central 14.5-inch portrait media screen, with a 9.0-inch driver display behind the wheel supported by a 9.5-inch head-up display. It looks cool and clean.Standard equipment highlights include a vast panoramic glass roof, top-end audio (up to a 21-speaker Bowers & Wilkins system), adaptive cruise, Pixel LED headlights, ambient cabin lighting, power-adjustable heated and ventilated front seats, four-zone climate control and heaps more.Lots of breathing space up front and the back seat is impressive. There are four primary seating positions, but Polestar positions the car as a ‘4+1’ so if you want to carry a fifth passenger (on shorter journeys) the enormous rear centre armrest/storage unit lifts up to a vertical position.And at 183cm I’ve got plenty of legroom, lots of headroom (helped by the height of the panoramic roof) and there’s a lot of storage in the doors, plus vents in the back of the front centre console as well as the B-pillar and hard shell map pockets in the seatbacks.Boot space is a passable 365 litres with the rear seats upright (including 52 litres under the floor), expanding to 1128 litres with them folded and there’s 62L in the frunk. But no spare, just a tyre repair kit, which is not good enough.Both grades are powered by dual permanent magnet synchronous motors, the entry-grade Dual Motor packing 550kW/812Nm and the Performance delivering no less than 650kW/1015Nm. More on those fireworks shortly…The drive battery in both models is a 112kWh lithium-ion pack, the car’s 800-volt electric architecture allowing DC charging at up to 350kW for a 10-80 per cent charge in as little as 22 minutes. An external charging indicator on the C-pillar is a cool touch. WLTP combined cycle energy consumption is around 18kWh/100km for the Dual Motor and a tick under 21kWh/100km for the Performance, for official ranges of 670 and 565km, respectively. For increased efficiency the rear motor of the Polestar 5 disconnects when not required.Behind the wheel, even the entry-grade Dual Motor is able to run 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds and the aptly named Performance drops the number to an eye-widening 3.2sec. They are both properly quick!The front seats are equal parts comfortable and supportive. Superb location and not a twinge after several hours behind the wheel.Bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres are designed specifically for the chosen Polestar 5 wheel combinations ranging from 21s on the Dual Motor to 22 inches on the Performance. They are as quiet as they are grippy, which is to say, very.Then you can add ‘Active Road Noise Cancellation’ and the slippery shape means there’s virtually no wind noise, even up at highway speeds.Suspension is by double wishbones front and rear with ‘MagneRide’ adaptive suspension in the Performance. And while the roads we covered for this roughly 300km drive from Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast to Copenhagen in Denmark, were high quality there were multiple bumpy, patched sections and even the Dual Motor soaked them up effortlessly. You can cover big distances in this car with ease.The steering is accurate, quick to respond and adjustable through three modes. But that doesn't modify road feel, which I’d put somewhere in the middle - not the worst, not the best.There are three levels of regenerative braking (if you count zero regen as one). The most aggressive is a single-pedal mode which pulls the car up rapidly.The physical brakes feature Brembo lightweight 400mm two-piece discs up front clamped by four-piston calipers and it decelerates strongly.Worth noting the 5 uses the same camera-based virtual rearview mirror as the Polestar 4 because, as with its sibling, there’s no back window. Takes a bit of getting used to because there’s no depth of field.Also pays to be aware this car’s turning circle is 12.3 metres, so not exactly a micro car in terms of its ability to park and manoeuvre in smaller spaces.Active crash-avoidance tech is extensive with 11 HD cameras, a driver monitoring camera, a mid-range radar and 12 ultrasonic sensors onboardEverything from blind spot monitoring and lane keeping assist to rear cross-traffic alert and tyre pressure monitoring are also present and correct. There are eight airbags if a crash is unavoidable.The Polestar 5 will be covered by Polestar’s five-year/unlimited km warranty with roadside assist included, which is still the norm in the luxury segment. The traction battery is covered for eight years/160,000km and there’s a 12-year corrosion warranty.

BMW beefs up its incoming electric car range with a cleverly priced variant.The new BMW iX3 40 variant will arrive in Australia in the formal quarter of the year priced at $89,900 (before on-road costs).That price puts it almost on par with the petrol-powered X3 SUV, and makes it cheaper than the previous-generation iX3 it replaces.It is also $20,000 cheaper than the fully loaded iX3 50 launch variant, which is due to arrive in showrooms this month.The new 40 grade’s price isn’t by accident. It slips under the Luxury Car tax (LCT) threshold, which also means it is eligible for the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) exemption when leased through a salary sacrifice arrangement.The FBT exemption has been a key driver for electric car growth in the past 12 months. The federal government scheme has been so successful that it has been forced to wind it down as it is costing taxpayers more than 10 times what the government originally forecasted.Keen BMW buyers will need to be quick as the cheaper iX3 will no longer be eligible for the scheme from April 1 2027.The iX3 40 comes with a single rear-mounted electric motor that makes 235kW and 500Nm. It can sprint to 10km/h in 5.9 seconds on the way to a top speed of 200km/h.It is fitted with a circa-82kWh battery that delivers a driving range of up to 635km, according to the benchmark WLTP cycle.The iX3 50 uses a massive 108kWh battery for a driving range of more than 800km, and a dual motor set-up that ups the grunt to 345kW and 645Nm.BMW claims the iX3 can absorb up to 300kW of juice when connected to an appropriate DC fast charger.This can add up to 300km of range in 10 minutes in optimum conditions, and can replenish the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in 21 minutes.It can accept 11kW via an AC charger, with buyers able to option it to accept a max of 22kW.There is a big list of standard equipment, with highlights including 20-inch alloy wheels, M Sport package, panoramic sunroof, auto tailgate, Harman/Kardon stereo, heated front seats, ambient interior lighting, wireless device charger and more.BMW iX3 prices

China's move into upmarket luxury carmaking is the stuff of nightmares, admits Bentley CEO, Frank-Steffan Walliser."If someone could keep me up at night, it would be this, but luckily I sleep", joked the former Porsche chief engineer, who now holds the reins as CEO and chairman at the British luxury car-maker.Luckily for Bentley, the father of cars like the 918 Spyder is up for the challenge of a raft of new rivals from the likes of Nio, Yangwang, Aito and the Rolls-Royce of China - Hongqi."I'm deeply impressed by what the Chinese automotive industry is delivering. But is this a luxury product?" Walliser shakes his head."From a technical point of view, and technology point of view be very advanced but in today's world horsepower is easy, the brand is difficult."Citing the Apple watch versus a Swiss timepiece example Walliser says just because a brand charges a high price, that doesn't equate to it being a covetable, luxurious item."This is why the brand is so important and our heritage behind it. And the luxury product, by definition, can only come from the centre of Europe. From either northern Italy, Switzerland, France, south of Germany, or the UK. There is no other luxury brand in the world."Look at Lexus. It delivers outstanding technology, but is only really established in the US and Japan."A good product is not enough. We will not be successful by just building better cars. You also have to build a better brand."Walliser says Bentley remains unlike any of its rivals as it can offer high-end luxury cars and credible 'real' sporty cars, like the latest GT Continental Supersports, that entire 500-car production run sold out in less than two weeks after it was announced.Even with the introduction of its most advanced car yet, the still-to-be-named Urban SUV that will come with an all-electric power, Walliser says the brand won't stray from its core values."[The new EV] will be made in a completely new factory, using a different method and be very, very advanced and modern but the hands-on approach to building it and the levels of craftsmanship – we did not take it away, so you will still see leather, you will still see wood and hand stitching. This will all stay."Helping him sleep deeply, Walliser also predicts China's huge technological lead over Europe will also be short-lived and as the technological arms race becomes equal, buyers of luxury cars like Bentley will begin to appreciate the power of a good brand even more.

The internet can be a horrible swamp, and the comments surrounding Ferrari’s unveiling were particularly, though predictably, brutal.“Great thing Enzo can’t see this garbage,” read one. “He’ll be rolling in his tomb,” said another. “This is such a cynical marketing product purely conceived to make money for the company. It hurts me on a cellular level to see Ferrari stoop so low,” wrote another user who clearly needs to get outside more. Fun fact, though. Those comments had nothing to do with the Luce, Ferrari’s first EV that was revealed to much fanfare and even more furore this week. That was actually the reaction to the Purosangue, the brand’s first SUV, and the model that would – according to the internet at least – definitely, absolutely and entirely destroy the fabled Italian marque.That didn’t happen, though, did it? I recently met an Australian buyer who’d dropped $1.1m on his Purosangue, and he had to wait almost two years for his production slot to open up, such was the demand. It is a massive driver of Ferrari profit, too, and is consistently among the brand's best-selling models, despite a production cap.The point is, the internet was wrong. And I suspect this same Luce storm will die in the teacup in much the same way.Now, I’d be lying if I said my eyebrows didn’t shoot skywards when I first clapped eyes on the Ferrari Luce at its unveiling event in Italy. I can’t say for sure what I expected, but I can say for sure that it wasn’t this. But having now spent some time with it, and even more time digesting it, I can tell you that the internet is wrong once again.The point has been so painfully missed by the Ferrari Facebook army, who seem to have been expecting an 849 Testarossa with a battery. Ferrari has made it clear this isn’t a vehicle designed to appeal to Ferraristi faithful. It’s designed to appeal to an entirely new audience, and that is not an audience with a poster of a petrol-powered Prancing Horse on their wall.The Luce had to look different to everything else in the Ferrari range, both to appeal to a new buyer, but also (and I suspect more importantly) to ring-fence the rest of the Ferrari range and preserve their fuel-exploding mystique. I think that's also why the Luce is slower than the fastest Tesla and lacks the brand's angriest driving modes – it can't have its EV outshine the lustier, brand-defining models."This is a different kind of Ferrari. And that was the point. That was the entire purpose of the exercise," LoveFrom (the firm who penned the Luce) co-founder Mark Newson told me.This wasn't supposed to be in the mould of other Ferraris.But I actually think the more pressing question is, if not this design, then what? Is the issue with the Luce, or is merely the fact that it’s electric?If it’s the former, then tell me what design could have possibly pleased the traditionalists? Something more like a Rimac Nevera? Perhaps, but I would argue Ferrari already has cars like that, and that plonking a couple of electric motors on a 12Cilindri would have only riled the web up worse.If it’s the latter – and I think it definitely is – then what the hell is everyone so upset about? There is one electric Ferrari, and nine petrol-powered options in the brand’s regular range in Australia. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it – the fleet is still 90 per cent in your favour. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder – or whoever is behind the keyboard – but I can tell you this; the exterior design has continued to grow on me. It is undeniably forward-looking, and I think a pretty bold vision of what a family friendly Ferrari EV can be. Is it my favourite-looking Prancing Horse? No, but it doesn't have to be. And if the exterior of the Luce is controversial, the cabin isn't. The interior is spectacular, blending elegance and tech in a way that feels really, really special.Will I buy one? Irrelevant, I'm afraid. I can't afford it. And that's one thing the internet masses and I have very much in common.

The first rung up the Mercedes CLA ladder above the entry-level 180 is this CLA200 at $68,100, before on-road costs, which puts it in the same price ballpark as its German ‘Big Three’ rivals, the Audi A3 sedan and BMW 2 Series.

The Mercedes CLA line-up kicks off at $66,500 for the entry-level 180, which puts it in the same price ballpark as its German ‘Big Three’ rivals, the Audi A3 sedan and BMW 2 Series.

The pile-on continues days after Maranello revealed its first electric car, with Lamborghini's CEO implying Ferrari has made a misstep with the new model.The 2026 Ferrari Luce debuted this week, designed by Jony Ive (of original iPhone fame) alongside Australian design veteran Marc Newson, and the internet has not reacted well.Nor has Ferrari’s customer base and investors - a drop in stock price of more than 6 per cent punctuated markets opening the day after the reveal.After that, external criticism from notable figures in the media and wider industry now includes Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann.While not the same direct admonishment as was handed down by former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo who said he hopes “they at least remove the prancing horse from that car”, Winkelmann told CNBC plug-in hybrids are “the right way to go”.While he wouldn’t be drawn on directly commenting on the Luce as “ speak about its competitors”, he said “by observing the market ... we saw that the acceptance curve for our type of customers is not increasing, and that therefore we decided to move away from a full-electric car into a plug-in hybrid”.“Every brand, every company has to decide for themselves.”Lamborghini recently reversed plans to build a new model EV, the Lanzador, as well as an electric Urus, in favour of PHEV technology.Ferrari, on the other hand, went ahead with the move.Winkelmann’s comments and the more direct criticism from di Montezemolo aren’t the only high-profile snippets of ‘feedback’ aimed at Maranello, with Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister (and Transport Minister) Matteo Salvini having taken to X (formerly Twitter) to say “electric, incredibly expensive (€550,000!), and aesthetically speaking, it speaks for itself... It looks anything but a Prancing Horse car”.“And this is supposed to be ‘innovation’? I wonder what Enzo Ferrari would say…," he said.The technology under the Luce hasn’t been as widely criticised as its design departure from Ferrari’s tradition - 772kW and 990Nm from four electric motors and a 0-100km/h sprint in 2.5 seconds would be welcome in most other stables.

Yet another about face on a new electric vehicle program has come courtesy of Toyota’s decision to discontinue development of the Lexus LF-ZC sedan.Unveiling the LF-ZC Concept in 2023 Lexus positioned it as “a symbol of Lexus' electrification journey, characterized by its sleek proportions, low center of gravity, spacious cabin, and an emotionally charged design that seamlessly blends functionality and aesthetics.”But three years later the automotive world has changed thanks to a slower than expected market uptake of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) globally and ongoing consumer preference for hybrid and pure-combustion models.At the same time, a combination of political factors including high US import tariffs and President Donald Trump's elimination of tax incentives for EV purchases, as well as the European Union’s revision of its ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 have also thrown a big spanner in the EV development works.Global players including Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Volvo, VW, and most recently Subaru, have also shelved multiple EV model programs. Volume Lexus LF-ZC production was scheduled to begin late this year at Toyota’s Tahara plant south-east of Nagoya, using large section ‘gigacasting’ techniques to split the vehicle’s alloy body into front, centre and rear sections for reduced complexity and cost as well as lighter weight and increased rigidity.Recently postponed to mid-2027, Nikkei Asia has reported Lexus will now discontinue development, to “instead focus on developing SUVs and other vehicles amid a global slump in EV sales.” Despite the cancellation Toyota and Lexus will continue research and development into gigacasting and battery technology as the LF-ZC was set to feature “advanced high-performance batteries made with a prismatic structure engineered to achieve approximately twice the range of conventional BEVs through improved aerodynamic integration and weight reduction.” A “compact powertrain” also helped deliver an ultra-low Cd (Coefficient of drag) value of approximately 0.20 for the car.