Utes

Toyota could be developing a little SUV-based ute in a throwback to the glory days of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore utes, according to reports.

Five airbags. AM/FM radio. CD player. Don't know how to use anything else. It has a screen, but not sure how it works. Keyless remote broke after five years and is far too expensive to replace. So as I cannot lock it, I don't leave valuables inside. Suits me fine.As it is a utility, it is perfect for my business. Perfect for carrying one tonne of weight (e.g. 1sqm of rocks or a pallet of pavers). Interior is basic but has everything that is needed. Air-con, electric windows, nice driving position, great vision, easy turning and parking.The easiest car (utility) to drive. Heaps of power (2.7 petrol). Five-speed manual with perfect gearing. Light. Great cornering. Good brakes. Drives better with a not-so-heavy load in the back. Armrest at the right height. Everything is positioned for effortless driving. Steering is light but direct and safe.With petrol at roughly $1.90 per litre on average, and a 60L tank, it costs over $100 to fill from empty. But the distance is a miserable 450-500km on a full tank. My previous two Hiluxes would achieve 600km on a full tank. Maybe emission control?One word: Toyota. This is the 6th Toyota (three Corollas and three Hiluxes) I have owned. The most reliable car on the road. Starts first time every time, and when it doesn't start first time, you know the battery will need replacing soon enough. Just keep regular servicing of the vehicle.

Tech is great with a big screen and Apple CarPlay compatibility. Plenty of safe driving features including a reversing camera and sensors seemingly everywhere on the car. The anti-collision warning system can be quite jarring if you are not expecting it and sometimes it can incorrectly inform you of an imminent car crash (in fact, reacting to cars turning out of your lane). Navigating through screen menus to the climate control system is a bit of an annoyance. Given not all the buttons are available on the centre console you have to navigate from Apple CarPlay into the Ford SYNC system to adjust certain settings.For everyday life the Ranger is a great addition with plenty of space available to throw a surfboard on the roof or in the tray, as well as off-road capability that allows it to hold its own on the farm. The Ford Ranger has stood up to any task I have thrown at it so far. With a length over 5.0 metres it can be difficult fitting into city parking spots and it often tests my reverse parallel parking skills. Getting into shopping centres, even with roof racks, proves to be simple and easy with a max height under 1.9m. No matter the situation you can trust that when you put your foot down the Ranger is going to take you exactly where you need to go, with great handling and a seemingly low centre of gravity you feel stuck to the ground. Driving the Ranger is almost always smooth even when off-roading (trying to find the best surf spots). With a great suspension system you barely feel any bumps in the road.Even when towing, the handling is top tier and I have yet to run into any issues. Running costs is where the sting comes for the Ranger. An average fuel fill costs me $150 which I'll run through every two to three weeks. Not cheap, especially with the cost of diesel remaining quite high thanks to the ongoing economic conditions. But this has just had to become a part of my budgeting the last few years.  Insurance also comes at a bit of a premium, however I would attribute that to my younger age. Insurance costs are higher than for a normal car.Finally, servicing. This is the only running cost I haven't seen increase considerably since changing cars with the average service running me for a couple of hundred dollars.There has never been a situation where I haven't had the upmost trust in my Ranger to respond as needed, from snow, to mud, to sand and asphalt. Have never had an issue.  In my three years of owning this car I have not had any large repair costs. With regular use I have only had slight issues with a rattle here and there which were cheap and easy to rectify. Overall, the reliability has been great and I've been very impressed with it. 

Kia has defended its passenger-car-sourced 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine as the correct powertrain for its incoming Tasman ute

The adaptive cruise control with lane keep is great especially when sitting in stop-start traffic (car stops and goes by itself). The tow settings are also a big step forward.Tyre pressure read-out is great and (surprisingly) very accurate.Very well designed interior. Only suggestion is addition of a phone holder . Why don’t carmakers integrate one into the design?The V6 is an awesome motor. I previously had a Nissan Navara ST-X 550 and loved it. The Ford is much better off the mark and the electronics give it a smoother feel. It's great to know you have power to spare when you need it.After 50000km my average fuel consumption is 8.7L/100km. This includes towing aproximately 6000km and a couple of trips in the bush.Apart from the occasional screen crash it hasn’t missed a beat

Nissan is urgently cooking up its vital new Navara dual-cab ute.The rugged new workhorse hasn’t been revealed yet but we’ve followed the breadcrumbs laid out by the Japanese brand and it’s starting to take shape via our digital render.Nissan threw out a red herring a few weeks back at the Shanghai motor show with its Frontier Pro mid-size ute reveal, but that vehicle won’t be the new Navara, according to previous information delivered by the brand.We know the new Navara will be based on the current Mitsubishi Triton and will come with diesel and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) power.Nissan global executive, Guillaume Cartier, told CarsGuide last year that it would lean into its strategic alliance to lower development costs and shortcut production timings.He confirmed it would have diesel grunt but would add petrol plug-in hybrid power during its lifecycle and then go fully electric once the brand's solid state battery ambitions were realised.This tie-up with alliance partner Mitsubishi could result in a 2.5-litre petrol engine paired with a pair of electric motors and a circa-23kWh battery to deliver more grunt than any Navara ahead of it, while slashing fuel use to about 2.0L/100km and pushing EV-only driving range close to 100km. It will need to if it is a hope of unseating the BYD Shark 6 and incoming Ford Ranger PHEV.Diesel power is likely to come from Mitsubishi’s bi-turbo 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine that delivers 150kW and 470Nm. It can carry a one-tonne payload and tow up to 3500kg.The Frontier Pro revealed in China the past month is a result of the company’s Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng, dubbed Zhengzhou Nissan.It uses a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine and transmission-mounted electric motor as the Frontier Pro. This set-up produces a whopping 300kW and 800Nm sent to all four wheels, which are eye-popping numbers by diesel ute standards.Built in China, this ute is expected to be for export markets, but is unlikely to replace the Navara. It might form a one-two punch in the brand’s ute line-up in the future, though.Digital artist Thanos Pappas has applied his craft to give us a vision of what that ute could look like. A shadow teaser image gave us the silhouette and he’s filled in the blanks.It’s a big blocky ute with flared wheel arches holding rugged all terrain tyres.A three-tier lighting signature adds some futuristic pop to the ute, as does a glowing Nissan logo. Rugged underbody cladding and side steps show its capabilities. Nissan has previously announced the new “one-ton pick-up” is due in FY26, which for Japanese companies runs from April 2026 to March 27.

Very good. The lane assist and front collision avoidance are easy to use and extremely useful on long highway trips. Another good feature is the wireless phone charging. Connectivity is simple. The all around cameras and sensors are a great assistance when parking in tight places. The multimedia screen is large which makes it easy to see maps, etc. I have taken five adults on a 1700km round trip and they all commented positively on the amount of legroom and how comfortable the seats were. They also mentioned how quiet it was and the ride quality. The rear cargo area had more than enough room for all the baggage and a cooler box. It's a large vehicle with a high seating position. It's easy to get into a comfortable driving position with the available seat and steering wheel adjustments. The 10-speed transmission delivers smooth changes and the power from the V6 is impressive. Steering is light and handling is sure footed. The suspension soaks up the bumps quietly which transfers into low interior noise. I’m averaging just over 10 litres per 100km and hoping this will reduce as the engine wears in. No first service yet due the low km travelled to date. Insurance costs (factored into the purchase price) were as expected. I haven't priced a new set of tyres but don’t expect them to be cheap. There have been a couple of recalls which have rectified mainly electronic defects. The Ranger has not missed a beat but has only 3000-plus km on the clock. I don’t expect any major issues by ensuring servicing at regular intervals. The vehicle will be doing some towing in the future over long distances so servicing is important.

Americans, it would seem, do want an electric pick-up truck, they just don't want the stainless steel-shelled Tesla Cybertruck.

Australia get ready for another ute from another brand because Chinese carmaker GAC has confirmed it will bring the production version of its GAC Pickup 01 concept Down Under.

Utes, and to a lesser extent vans, are often the first choice when it comes time for tradies to choose their workhorse.