Motor Torque with David Berthon

At last, a French car this week – I was really looking forward to driving the
Renault Megane E-Tech SUV. Visually, this electric Megane has a great
silhouette more like a hatchback with large 20-inch alloys tucked right into
the corners, the styling impressive and giving it a more premium feel
although the resultant high tail tends to limit rear visibility. With a 60kWh
battery pack feeding a single electric mo...

The car market is hotting up towards the end of the financial year with
some excellent savings and its very much a buyer’s market at present.
Latest discount offer is from Chery with their 7-seat Tiggo 8 Pro Max SUV,
cutting $3,000 from the entry Urban model to $38,990 drive-away, making it
the most affordable seven-seat family SUV on the market. Higher grades
have also been cut – the Elite to $40,990 dri...

In a move that simply beggars belief the N.S.W. Parliamentary Inquiry into
e-scooters and e-bikes has recommended allowing e-scooters to be ridden
on shared paths and roads across N.S.W if they are ridden by a person
older than 16. They will remain outlawed on pedestrian only footpaths. This
hair-raising proposal would allow a speed limit of 10 to 20km/hour on
shared paths and a 20 km/hour limit on roads where the sp...

Talking further on National Road Safety Week starting today – a time
surely to reflect on the current poor driving standard in this state, The
campaign is national however we still don’t have a set of national road
rules – individual states still singing from a different hymn book. National
Road Safety Week is the work of Peter Frazer who daughter Sarah was
tragically killed by a truck driver in a t...

National Road Safety Week kicks off today, a time to reflect on the current
poor driving standard in this state, National Road Safety Week the project
of Peter Frazer whose daughter Sarah was tragically killed by a truck driver
in a totally avoidable crash on the Hume Highway at Mittigong in February
2012. Since then, Peter has devoted his life to improving road safety -
founding SARAH, standing for Safer Australian ...

Perhaps indicative of the hard trading conditions and highly competitive
new vehicle market Mazda has taken the axe to pricing on its CX-60 SUV.
Up to $5,560 has been shaved from some models in the luxury CX-60 line-
up - now priced from $53,990 drive-away while six new variants have been
added across the Pure and Touring grades. First launched in 2023 the
Mazda CX-60 was criticised for its harsh ride and twitchy gea...

As reported in the Australian this week it seems the luxury car tax could
soon be abolished as the re-elected Government gets calls from the
European Union to speed things up on a proposed free trade agreement.
For so long a thorn in the side of the car industry the Luxury Car tax most
affecting European imports and depending on the vehicles sticker price
adding 33 cents for every dollar it is over a threshold of $91...

Further on Mazda’s long standing CX-5 SUV but still highly competitive with ten models in a mix of petrol and diesel and front or all-wheel drive, I’m driving the second tier 2.5-litre six-speed automatic CX-5 Maxx Sport front wheel drive at $43,184 drive-away with optional metallic paint. I did nearly 900km over the Anzac weekend with a lot of highway cruising at the open road limit. The naturally aspirated four-cylind...

Driving the popular Mazda CX-5 SUV today, Mazda’s top seller, it’s been around a long time in ten models, a mix of petrol and diesel and front or all-wheel drive. No hybrid but I’m told its coming. I drove the second tier 2.5-litre six-speed automatic CX-5 Maxx Sport front wheel drive - $43,184 drive-away, which included optional Soul Red Chrystal Metallic paint at $795. A colour that has in many ways become a tra...

I finally caught up with the small Chery Tiggo 4 SUV recently – this relatively new Chinese newcomer has received favourable reviews – a highly equipped SUV in two sharply priced grades – the Urban at $23,990 drive-away and the Ultimate at $26,990 drive-away – both surprising in terms of value and very well-built for that money too. Utilising a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder with 108kW and 210Nm...

With sales slowing to just 190 units in the first quarter Mazda has slashed the prices of its large CX-90 SUV from $6,000 to $7800 across the 10-model range. The entry CX-90 G50E Touring now starting at $68,800 plus on-road costs. The flagship D50E Azami Takumi dropping to $91,924 plus on-road costs. The CX-90 was criticised at its launch in late 2023 for pushing the large SUV into much dearer pricing compared to the outgoing CX-9 ...

Driving Mitsubishi’s evergreen small SUV today – the ASX, not the latest small
SUV but outstanding value, long standing and well tried and tested and best
value in the second tier ES grade backed up by a 10-year/200,000km warranty as
long as it’s serviced by a Mitsubishi dealer. But how does it drive – the ASX ES
automatic at just under $30,000 drive-away powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder
d...

Talking about Mitsubishi’s small ASX SUV today – the ASX has been around for a
long time – first surfacing in 2010 but updated visually three times since. Sharply
priced it remains our fourth best-selling small SUV, strongly recognised for its
value story and a 10-year warranty. A roomy small SUV in seven front wheel
drive grades from $26,240 drive-away for the entry manual GS – I drove the next<...

We already have the luxury General Motors built Cadillac Lyric SUV and it
will be joined next month by GMC’s Yukon Denali luxury 8-seat SUV. The
full-size GMC Yukon Denali offers class defining pulling power in the form
of a 6.2-litre EcoTec 3 V8 engine with a healthy 624Nm of torque linked to a
10-speed automatic. While its official braked towing capacity is rated at
3,628 kilos, the highest braked towing capa...

Congratulations are due to young Australian driver Oscar Piastri. The
Melbourne born 24-year-old has shot to the top of the Formula One world
championship points score after winning his third grand prix of the season
in Saudi Arabia last weekend. Starting from second on the grid and beating
pole sitter Max Verstappen to the first corner. Quite simply, Oscar is a class
act and a wonderful ambassador for Australia in t...

Nissan has freshened its small Qashqai SUV range for 2025 adding a new e-
Power hybrid N-Design flagship at around $60,000 drive-away – hybrid power now
available on the two top spec Qashqai’s, petrol power on the lower grades. The
1.3-litre turbo petrol power on the four lower grades replaced on the hybrids by a variable
compression 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol turbo – and here the e-Power works di...

Nissan’s small Qashqai SUV has been freshened for 2025 in a re-aligned model range
with a new N-Design grade flagship with hybrid power standard – the Qashqai e-Power
hybrid N-Design around $60,000 drive-away. Nissan have added new technology and
equipment, freshened the styling, at the same time cutting the previous rather high
servicing costs and providing a longer warranty – but hybrid pricing remai...

Chinese brand Chery re-emerged on the Australian market in 2023, having
left in 2015 after sales tanked due to poor safety ratings. However, the
brands reemergence brought positive results firstly with the Omoda 5 SUV
and more recently with the Tiggo 4, 7 and 8 SUVs. Chery sales jumped in
the first quarter this year by 114 percent to 12,603, with the small 1.5-litre
turbo petrol Tiggo 4 Pro now representing 55 per ce...

Kia Australia this week launched their most affordable electric SUV in the
form of the EV3, mimicking their midsize EV5 and larger EV9 models. The
EV3 in three front wheel drive grades Air, Earth and GT-line, the Air with a
choice of standard and long-range batteries, the Earth and GT-Line only
long range. Priced from $47,600 and ranging to $63,950 the EV3 claimed to
offer a driving range from 436km to 604km dependin...