2009 Isuzu D-MAX LS-U 4×4 Crew Cab Ute Road Test Review

2009 Isuzu D-MAX LS-U 4×4 Crew Cab Ute Road Test Review

It’s tough, handsome enough, and built for hard graft. But can you dress the D-MAX up and take it to the opera? Klosey slipped on a dinner suit and the Blundstones to find out.

There is a very good reason you see a lot of Isuzu utes and light trucks around building sites. It is the [...]

2009 Ford Fiesta Zetec Road Test Review

2009 Ford Fiesta Zetec Road Test Review

How good is the all-new Ford Fiesta? I will tell you… it’s very good, perhaps approaching brilliant.

From the second you nestle in behind the wheel and run your eyes over that crisp modern interior, you know you’re onto something special here. It looks good, and feels just right.

But fire the engine into life, slip the [...]

2009 Volkswagen Golf VI First Drive

2009 Volkswagen Golf VI First Drive

Evolution. The process whereby a species improves itself through eliminating its weaknesses and reinforcing its strengths generation-by-generation.

Volkswagen describes the newly-minted Golf VI as being a case of evolution rather than revolution, but has the German automaker truly improved upon the already excellent fifth-gen Golf, or is it nothing more than a fancy facelift?

Volkswagen Australia is [...]

2009 FPV GT 5th Anniversary Road Test Review

2009 FPV GT 5th Anniversary Road Test Review

You’re meant to give wood, not get wood, on your 5th Anniversary. Oops…

To celebrate its 5th year in the hi-po Ford building business, FPV has turned the temperature up a notch on a limited run of GTs.

And we rather like the result.

In fact, shortly after picking up our test car, a roadside vote was [...]

2009 Lexus IS F Road Test Review

2009 Lexus IS F Road Test Review

Take one smallish sedan, drop a thumping 5.0 litre V8 in the snout, give it hard-core handling and tough, out-there style… been done before? Yup. But Lexus does it again and gives us its own howling ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’, the IS F.

It can be an exercise in futility splitting hairs over the performance margins [...]

2009 Mitsubishi Triton GLX-R Turbo Diesel Super-Select 4WD Auto Road Test Review

2009 Mitsubishi Triton GLX-R Turbo Diesel Super-Select 4WD Auto Road Test Review

Mitsubishi’s Triton GLX-R Turbo Diesel now sports a locking centre diff. But how good is it when the going gets tough? To find out, we let it off the chain in Victoria’s spectacular high country.

The Blue Rag Range Track sits high in the Victorian snow country. It forks west from the Dargo High Plains [...]

2009 Volkswagen Eos 2.0-TDi 6-Speed DSG Road Test Review

2009 Volkswagen Eos 2.0-TDi 6-Speed DSG Road Test Review

“Knowing he hates the wind in what’s left of his hair, we gave Klosey the Volkswagen Eos to Review…”

I’ve never been a big fan of convertibles. To me they have traditionally swapped structural integrity and dynamics for a ‘softer’ drive and sunburn. You know, the type of car shunned by enthusiasts but coveted by poseurs. [...]

2009 Toyota Yaris YRX Road Test Review

2009 Toyota Yaris YRX Road Test Review

Perky, breezy, not too squeezy, and more than a bit of fun to poke around town.

Toyota’s Yaris has ‘city smart’ written all over it. In updated YRX trim, it comes with a bit more style and a few more goodies. Even better, in five-door hatch form, it offers surprising accessibility and interior space to [...]

First Annual TMR ‘BEST DRIVE, BEST VALUE’ Award

First Annual TMR ‘BEST DRIVE, BEST VALUE’ Award

The Motor Report is proud to launch its first ever ‘Best Drive, Best Value’ Car Awards.

This will be an annual Award, conferred each New Year’s Eve and granted to the car that, in the view of our road testers and writers, wins on a ‘best drive, best value’ comparison.

This year, the inaugural year of the [...]

2009 Suzuki Grand Vitara Prestige And 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan 103 TDI Road Test Review

2009 Suzuki Grand Vitara Prestige And 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan 103 TDI Road Test Review

“…the V6 more than makes up for its extra heft with its ability to slingshot the small crossover to the legal limit in very short order…”
To say that the compact soft-roader market is overcrowded is one hell of an understatement. From the Ford Escape to the BMW X3 there’s no shortage of high-ridin’, load-luggin’ vehicles [...]

2008 TRD HiLux 4000SL Road Test Review

2008 TRD HiLux 4000SL Road Test Review

Funny thing about blood in water. Turns sharks into a frenzy. Get a sniff of blood and sharks start thrashing around and chomping on each other’s arses. Remarkably, they lose track of the difference between ‘food’ and ‘an arse’. You’d reckon taste would be a bit of a give-away.

Whatever, the whole business is not a [...]

Next For Ford Australia: Falcon Sportwagon Spotted At TMR

Next For Ford Australia: Falcon Sportwagon Spotted At TMR

Ford Australia’s stay of execution for the I6 mill and the Geelong Engine Plant no doubt brought the odd tear of joy to Ford tragics. (Mike can’t stop blubbering… the kid’s collapsed, overwhelmed with happiness.)

So, perhaps there are winds of optimism blowing through Ford Australia. Maybe the Falcon, and life as we know it, is [...]

2008 Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI Pacific Road Test Review - The Economy Run

2008 Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI Pacific Road Test Review - The Economy Run

‘Greener motoring’ is the mantra of the modern automotive age. Any manufacturer not looking for greener credentials through improved fuel economy and environmental performance in the cars it makes, is getting pounded in the showroom.

Such is the ’showroom power’ of the environmental argument that even leisurely performers - like the Toyota Prius and Civic Hybrid [...]

2008 Nissan Skyline Coupe 370GT Road Test Review

2008 Nissan Skyline Coupe 370GT Road Test Review

Is the Japanese interloper a poor imitation of German favourites, or does it combine the same Teutonic appeal with a bargain-bin price tag?
Think of a car. Think of something with a powerful, punchy V6, a competent rear-wheel-drive chassis and an equipment list and sticker price that would put many a European manufacturer to shame. Now, [...]

2009 Volkswagen Touareg R50 Road Test Review

2009 Volkswagen Touareg R50 Road Test Review

Let’s talk about something big for a moment. Like an aircraft carrier. Something like the USS Ronald Reagan for instance: 95,000 tonnes, 332.8 metres long, twin Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors and four steam turbines… yeah, it’s big.

Now just hold that thought a moment because I think I have been driving the automotive equivalent of the [...]

Vectrix Electric Scooter Road Test Review

Vectrix Electric Scooter Road Test Review

With fuel prices soaring and no relief in sight, electric vehicles certainly make a lot of sense.

Turn on the ignition, hold on the back brake and dab on the front. Despite the complete absence of noise or vibration, the flashing ‘GO’ indicator on the LCD instrument display says you’re ready to roll. Welcome to the [...]

2008 BMW 125i Coupe Road Test Review

2008 BMW 125i Coupe Road Test Review

Some things are just plain wrong. Like pineapple on pizza. Like bicycle pants. And like putting “BMW” and “bargain” in the same sentence. That’s gotta be wrong. So what’s going on with the BMW 125i Coupe? Who ever heard of a BMW-badged two-door coupe, a growling three-litre straight six in the snout (like we’re talking [...]

2008 Mitsubishi EVO X Manual Road Test Review

2008 Mitsubishi EVO X Manual Road Test Review

Last weekend started out rather strangely.

Having sauntered down to the carpark Saturday morning, I couldn’t resist having a long look around the silver Evo X that had just been dropped over to me. Sure, I’d seen and been in the new Evo before, but another look over the flared guards and vented bonnet wouldn’t do [...]

2008 Lotus Elise R Road Test Review

2008 Lotus Elise R Road Test Review

There are views – supported by countless motoring press articles worldwide - that the Lotus Elise and Exige family are the best handling sports cars in the world. Some even going so far as to compare them to the handling of a Ferrari. A bold statement, but I could possibly be starting to agree.

The Elise [...]

2009 Subaru Forester XT Premium Road Test Review

2009 Subaru Forester XT Premium Road Test Review

“Subaru says it’ll do the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.9 seconds, but this feels faster than that.”

I know I’m stating the obvious here, but there really is no such thing as the perfect multi-purpose car. Finding a vehicle that adequately addresses the contradictory demands of a family-size load lugger, a sports car and an off-roader is [...]

2008 Nissan R35 GT-R First Drive

2008 Nissan R35 GT-R First Drive

I was more than a little excited when I first heard there was a slight chance that my bum could end up in one of the beautiful leather-clad seats of Nissan’s exquisite R35 GT-R. But I figured that I’d be riding shotgun only. Imagine my surprise, and immense delight, when I suddenly found myself behind [...]

Mitsubishi Evo X vs. Volkswagen R32 Road Test Review

Mitsubishi Evo X vs. Volkswagen R32 Road Test Review

A no-holds-barred TMR ‘drive-off’. Which is king of the heap? And if you’re in the market for a four-paw hammer, which should you put in the garage – Mitsubishi’s raw-boned EVO X, or Volkswagen’s scintillating Golf R32?

At 160km/h, Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evolution X begins to make sense. At 180, flicking down, then powering through a tightening [...]

2008 Honda Gold Wing Road Test Review

2008 Honda Gold Wing Road Test Review

“When it comes to the Gold Wing, you either ‘get it’ or you don’t.”

Honda’s gargantuan Gold Wing is truly the cruise ship of the motorcycle world. You don’t hop on it, you board it – and the view from the bridge, as you survey the ocean of bitumen stretched out before you, can’t help but [...]

2008 Renault Laguna Privilège dCi Hatch Road Test Review

2008 Renault Laguna Privilège dCi Hatch Road Test Review

Got an embarrasing story for you. A couple of weeks ago we found ourselves with three press car bookings in the same week. Tony was strapped into the new R36 Passat, The Insider had his bum in a Colorado and I thought I had a week off.

That was until The Insider called and said Renault had [...]

2008 Volkswagen Passat R36 Road Test Review

2008 Volkswagen Passat R36 Road Test Review

“Think of it as being like Mike Tyson in a business suit – smooth on the outside, but you can just tell that it’s ear-bitingly mad on the inside”

Life, as they say, is full of compromises. It’s a familiar tale – boy meets girl, marries, then rug-rats, and goodbye to the low-slung sports coupe. Then [...]

Triumph Daytona 675 Road Test Review

Triumph Daytona 675 Road Test Review

“…below that carefully crafted fairing lies around $9000-worth of factory Magic…”

Triumph was a latecomer to the middleweight supersport table, its TT600 in-line four arriving in 2000, some 13 years after Honda first produced the groundbreaking CBR600F.

Riding on the back of some fearless marketing, the TT was undeniably a worthy first effort, but its fuel injection [...]

2008 Ford Mondeo XR5 Turbo Road Test Review

2008 Ford Mondeo XR5 Turbo Road Test Review

The British motoring press wait on new model releases like saltwater crocodiles. They are every bit as reasonable and forgiving. They are like that, paradoxically, because Poms love their cars in a wholly unique way. And love – passion – can hurt; it can exalt and disappoint in equal measure.

All those defining British marques - [...]

2008 Holden SS V Sportwagon Road Test Review

2008 Holden SS V Sportwagon Road Test Review

Spend a week in the Sportwagon, and the strength of the package is irresistible. [...] Quite simply, at $46,290 for the SS V8 manual (rising to $53,790 for the SSV manual), it’s far and away the best wagon of the moment.
Show me someone who does not respond to the bellow of a V8 under the [...]

Road Test: Ford Mondeo TDCi versus Saab Aero TTiD

Road Test: Ford Mondeo TDCi versus Saab Aero TTiD

Sometimes you have to be sensible. You have to do things that please your accountant, much more than it pleases you. You even have to think like an “accountant”. (This is an interesting exercise in itself, if you find seeing things only in black and white interesting.)

Should you decide to start thinking like an accountant, [...]

2008 Ford FG Falcon XR6 Turbo Road Test

2008 Ford FG Falcon XR6 Turbo Road Test

Given the choice of keys to a new car for my first TMR test drive – exotics aside - the FG Falcon was always going to be high on my list, so I wasn’t about to complain when the keys to a Dash green XR6 Turbo were slipped under my door. Having watched with interest [...]

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