The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

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scott
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

Apparently Holden have stopped imports of ZB Commodore and Equinox until they can get thier overstock situation under control. There are so many new Holden products on grass it is not funny.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by eddy »

Having just got my motorbike licence I thought I had better brush up on the RMS quiz and was surprised how hard it was to get 20 out of 20.

Anyway as rules are changed it may be good to advertise the quiz on their big signs sometimes like " Test your knowledge on the RMS driver quiz."
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scott
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

NZ Police are going to replace their ZB Commodore liftbacks due to lack of rear headroom, they will be replaced with the wagon variant and the liftbacks will be re-deployed.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/ ... t-headroom

They seem to be selling more ZB's over the ditch. They can't give them away here. Saw a ZB taxi the other day though.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

This year has been a bit of a shocker for car sales, with preliminary August figures showing a drop by more than 12.5 %

From Carsales.com.au

Top 10 August 2019

1. Toyota Hilux
2. Ford Ranger
3. Toyota Corolla
4.Hyundai i30
5.Mazda 3
6.Mazda CX3
7. Mitsubishi ASX
8.Nissan X Trail
9.Mitsubishi Triton
10.Kia Cerato

Toyota still have the largest market share with 20.5% of the market, possibly due to it's strength in commercials, Holden were down 18% , the biggest loser in August, with the Trailblazer SUV it's only good seller.

Those utes are bloody nuisances, especially those used for non commercial purposes such as dropping the kids off to school and clogging up shopping centre carparks.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by crazyturbo76 »

scott wrote: They seem to be selling more ZB's over the ditch. They can't give them away here. Saw a ZB taxi the other day though.
It's all Camrys here in the Western Sydney taxi fleets, I do see the odd FG Falcon here and there though. Commodores have been out of style with the New South Welsh taxi operators for so long :P
Police services here tend to use Hyundais (both i40s/Sonatas, whatever their present sedan model is and iMaxes) both as panda cars and police vans - must be easier on Macquarie Street's purses.
scott
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

In Melbourne, there are an ever increasing number of Camry's (especially Hybrids) in taxi service. FG and FGX Falcons are still around, as well as small numbers of Commodores, a few with Chevrolet badges, plus lots of Corollas, Skodas, Klugers, RAV 4's and many more, especially after the Victorian government deregulated the taxi industry.

I have read today, Toyota Hilux drivers are being nabbed by the EPA for having white exhaust smoke pouring out of the exhaust, due to their DPF's clogging up. They are being dobbed in by other motorists.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by BanksfielderIdiot823 »

I think it was last month, but I saw a taxi which was a BFII Falcon XT (Station Wagon), so at least some are still around, albeit a very little few, far and spread out. It had been a long damn time since I last saw a BF taxi. Although I saw this Falcon while at Sydney Airport.
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scott
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

Pricing has been released for the Toyota Granvia people mover (Hiace based Tarago replacement)
from http://www.caradvice.com.au

All prices are before on road costs

Base Granvia $62,990 (six seat)
Base Granvia $64,990 (eight seat)
Granvia VX $74,990 (six or eight seat)

All are powered by the 2.8 litre diesel.

You get a full suite of safety features including autonomous emergency braking with cyclist and pedestrian protection, it would be good to drive down Beach Road on a Sunday and around Box Hill during the week, there you need AEB!!!!

Perhaps one day they will bring in a petrol electric Hybrid version.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by odie8888 »

the cab industry has changed so much.in adelaide you see the odd volkswagen,nissan pulsar,toyota corolla,mazda 3 and cx5 and there are more.i wouldn't be surprised if mercedes or renault are the providers or maxi vans for large entourages or people who need a disability taxi when it's time to replace the hiaces.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by B10BLE »

The Mercedes C63 AMG is dead.

The next C63 will have a hybrid 4 cylinder and AWD.

Mercedes may as well kill off the C63 name for the C25 AMG or C20/C200 AMG. Don't call it a C63 if it doesn't have a 6.3L V8. The current batch/generation of C63s aren't C63s because they have a 4L V8. It should've been called the C40 AMG.

It's better for Mercedes to return to the 6.3L V8 for the C63 and give it AWD as an option, even a hybrid V8 as an option.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by Campbelltown busboy »

We should have a Australian owned car manufacturer I know we had Holden witch was owned by Detroit based multinational manufacturer GM if a Australian with money bought Holden off GM when they pulled out of Australia then we would of had our 1st car manufacturer that would of been Australian cars built in Australia by a 100% Australian owned car manufacturer
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by Merc1107 »

Must admit I am surprised LPG hybrids were never given thought here. With modern injection systems offering little to no economy loss; it's amazing the low fuel use of a hybrid was never mated with a cheap (high octane) fuel like LPG.

Wonder if parts of the world with heavily-subsidised ethanol fuels have flex-fuel hybrids available?
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

Holden have posted their second lowest monthly sales result since 1948. They placed 11th in October.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/805522/vfa ... s-results/

Would hate to be a Holden dealer at the moment. I notice they have dropped the Future Proof the Future thing in the Trax ads, it seems Holden may not have much of a future.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by crazyturbo76 »

Merc1107 wrote:Must admit I am surprised LPG hybrids were never given thought here. With modern injection systems offering little to no economy loss; it's amazing the low fuel use of a hybrid was never mated with a cheap (high octane) fuel like LPG.

Wonder if parts of the world with heavily-subsidised ethanol fuels have flex-fuel hybrids available?
Brazil's been a big user of flex-fuel cars for decades now ever since the two big oil crises of the seventies - iirc they mandate a certain ethanol blend (E25), and cars sold there can run either on 100% ethanol or a petrol-ethanol blend.
scott wrote:Holden have posted their second lowest monthly sales result since 1948. They placed 11th in October.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/805522/vfa ... s-results/

Would hate to be a Holden dealer at the moment. I notice they have dropped the Future Proof the Future thing in the Trax ads, it seems Holden may not have much of a future.
Won't be long before they start putting Chevy badges on the rest of Holden's lineup it seems. I've heard many rumours of GM rolling out the rest of its' US entourage of makes here, so I wouldn't be surprised at that happening.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

The deregulation of the taxi industry has seen a lot of BF III Falcon wagons return to taxi service, or others enter. They seem to be holding up well, considering the newest ones are 10 years old next year, there are way more BF and FG taxis than VE or VF taxis around, the Alloytech V6' s don't hold up as well, especially on LPG.

Yes, I reckon the Holden brand will die soon. The ZB Commodore is lookng like it is not long for the world, Holden are throwing money at the dealers to get rid of their 2018 compliance plate stock, as there is still quite a bit of it around.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

Holden boss quits after the worst year for sales since 1948.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/811317/hol ... ince-1948/
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by boronia »

https://www.smh.com.au/business/compani ... 53iop.html

Well, it has been essentially dead since they started importing the fakes from Europe.
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scott
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

They will sell off the 2019 stock with a 7 year warranty and 7 years free service. The 7 year free service offer may be too good to be true, after a couple of years, I am sure a dealer will begin to try and offer injector cleans and other upsell items to claw back some money.

Holden dealers are getting very, very desperate, a friend of ours dealt with a rude Holden service advisor who treated her like dirt after she knocked back an injector clean on her Trax. Also reading on A Holden forum, many complaints about VF Commodore electric power steering issues and how they are being treated by the dealers, there is a recall for this, but other cars outside the recall batch have failed and the dealers have brushed them off.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by boronia »

AMPOL petrol will return to streets of Australia over the next couple of years as Caltex winds down its association with Chevron in the USA.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/calte ... 4b784a92b6 and other sources
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

Toyota are about to land a limited edition Landcruiser Sahara Horizon.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/825690/toy ... a-horizon/

at $129,090+ plus on road costs which I worked out on the Vic Roads rego calculator to be around the vicinity of $9,966 consisting of a rego fee of $302.40, $484.00 transport accident charge, insurance duty of $48.40 and stamp duty at a massive $9,044 and other Vic Roads fees. It will not be cheap. I based my rego calculations on it being garaged in Toorak, where I think most of these would end up plus there are dealer charges and accessories to add.

Ideal for the carpark at Chadstone or Double Bay, or at the McDonalds drive through at Toorak. No Apple Car Play though.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by Merc1107 »

I think Landcruisers and other Toyota 4WDs are hideously overpriced for the relatively spartan vehicle you get (but they are often simple and reliable). Like clothing brands, they're just capitalising on an iconic name with pricing that is hardly representative of the cost of production.

There can't be many makes where a late-model used car is priced higher than a new vehicle from the dealer, or where you can spend $5k+ and still get a knackered old bomb of a car.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by scott »

I found an ad for a secondhand 200 series Sahara circa 2013 for a ridiculous price, I forget the details but will do a post if I come across it again. They call it the Toyota tax.
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by huppypuppy »

scott wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:37 pm I found an ad for a secondhand 200 series Sahara circa 2013 for a ridiculous price, I forget the details but will do a post if I come across it again. They call it the Toyota tax.
Diesel 200's are commanding a much higher premium over the petrol variants - everyone seems to like the V8 D-4D twin-turbo diesel V8. And Lexus have now gotten into the diesel market with their LX450d - the LX450d shares the same 4.5 litre V8 D-4D as the LandCruiser
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by huppypuppy »

B10BLE wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:14 am The Mercedes C63 AMG is dead.

The next C63 will have a hybrid 4 cylinder and AWD.

Mercedes may as well kill off the C63 name for the C25 AMG or C20/C200 AMG. Don't call it a C63 if it doesn't have a 6.3L V8. The current batch/generation of C63s aren't C63s because they have a 4L V8. It should've been called the C40 AMG.

It's better for Mercedes to return to the 6.3L V8 for the C63 and give it AWD as an option, even a hybrid V8 as an option.
Considering the C63 AMG had the same capacity as a HSV Clubsport R8..... 6.2 litres! Mercedes-Benz found it easier to call the AMG variants the #63 (where # is replaced by the class of the vehicle the engine was fitted to - C for the C63, E for the E63, ML for the ML63 and so on) as calling them the #62 would not have made much sense!
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Re: The Motoring Thread- for the motoring enthusiasts here

Post by eddy »

After downloading a 4x4 by Kelvin I drew a hanging tray on it https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/ ... -twin-cabs
Parrahub, an extra option in the public transport menu http://www.parrahub.org.au/
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