North East Motor Guide

ON FRONT PAG E N O R T H E AST V I C TO R I A , A L P S A N D H I G H CO U N T RY

JANUARY 6 - 12

| 2017

> available online - www.nemedia.com.au

HIGH-TECH TRAILBLAZER: The Trailblazer takes up a premium position in the Holden line-up.

Fresh ‘trail’ opens up Holden territory

THE Chevrolet Trailblazer, formerly the Holden Colorado 7, comes to Australia from a different direction, on its way up market, with little or no added cost to the customer.

Developed by Holden in collaboration with GM Brazil alongside the 2017 Holden Colorado, the new Holden Trailblazer looks and has a big emphasis on high-tech features.

Despite a long list of new technology and a design makeover, the 2017 Trailblazer pricing remains largely unchanged from its predecessor.

The entry-level LT (our test vehicle) stays at the $47,990 of the corresponding Colorado 7, while the LTZ carries a skinny

By DEREK OGDEN price premium of $1000 ($52,490) over the similar Colorado 7.

At close to five metres long and two metres wide, the Trailblazer carries its bulk in pleasing proportion, not allowing size or decoration dominate as in some of the larger sports utility vehicles.

Its height and width are emphasised by a wide bar, incorporating the headlamp setup on the outer edges, and splitting the radiator grille in two.

Further styling enhancements include LED daytime running lamps surrounded by chromed accents complementing the front fascia and beefed-up bonnet design.

A redesigned interior includes premiumlook heated leather seats with contrast stitching, a fresh new dashboard and updated centre console.

Adding to interior cabin comfort, remote vehicle start via the key fob allows Trailblazer to reach a comfortable cabin temperature before passengers climb in. However, this not something we approve of, having an engine running with no one in the driver’s seat, and perhaps kids in the back is potentially dangerous.

GM-Holden has been strong in high-tech vehicle information, and more recently internet connectivity.

The Trailblazer carries on the tradition.

The big wagon boasts a new eight-inch

colour touchscreen, with the latest Holden MyLink infotainment system and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, designed for seamless integration with the driver.

The 2.8-litre Duramax 2 four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel, mated with a six-speed automatic transmission, stumps up an impressive 500 Nm of torque at a low 2000 rpm which makes the Trailblazer ideal for towing.

Peak power of 147 kW comes up at a rather low 3600 revs.

This really is a truck-style engine, we’ve no problem with that.

Holden has had the Trailblazer confirmed with a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Continued page 2 Q21d11337-v74/4816

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2

Jan 6 - 12 | 2017

Dangerous over emphasis on speed

By EWAN KENNEDY I’M going to sound like a stuck record yet again on the subject of safe holiday driving.

But so is everyone else when talking about road deaths and speed limits, so why should I be any different?

These depressing thoughts struck me yet again as the Christmas / New Year period began and my local Queensland police force proudly unveiled new speed cameras, promoting them as the way to reduce the road toll.

A toll that’s risen in many places Australian-wide despite the introduction of dozens of extra so-called safety cameras.

As usual the holiday period began with politicians who have little or no knowledge of driving spouting off about road safety and quoting misleading numbers about the percentage of crashes caused by exceeding speed limits.

TV news programs kept up a running score on the tens of thousands of people booked for exceeding speed limits, and another gruesome list on the number of road deaths.

It never seemed to cross their minds that the concentration on the former wasn’t affecting the latter.

From time to time the police will come up with information on a lunatic driver caught doing something like 120 km/h in a 60 km/h zone.

The inference being that we would all drive at such ridiculous speeds but for the vigilance of the police.

Which is arrant nonsense – only a tiny minority of drivers are idiots and these clowns will continue to do the wrong thing no matter how many speed fines they ignore and how often they keep on driving without a licence.

This enormous concentration on speed enforcement isn’t working.

I’ve said it many times before, but will continue to do so; the vast majority of

SPEED NOT THE ONLY KILLER: Watching the road is far more important than glueing your attention to the speedometer. drivers will travel at the correct speed for the circumstances and shouldn’t be fined, perhaps even lose their licences, for technical breaches of limits.

Those who do drive at an excessive speed for the conditions should be dealt with very harshly, preferably in some way that will keep them off our roads until they finally wake up to their own stupidity.

Any suggestions on how best to do this? No, neither have I… It really is time the authorities weaned themselves off from the enormous

revenues being generated from minor speeding fines and started to get serious about campaigns addressing the real causes of road crashes.

They could start with the number one killer – inattention due to misuse of mobile phones.

A series of ads stressing the importance of paying attention while driving wouldn’t be hard to put together and could have immediate positive results.

Which brings up my endless mantra on safe driving – always have two hands on

the steering wheel, two eyes on the road and all of your attention on driving.

Driving is an extraordinarily complex task that requires constant monitoring of a multitude of factors and taking the correct actions moment by moment.

Want to comment on this? You can reach me at ewan@marquenews.com.au/ but may I request that the “law-is-thelaw-and-must-be-obeyed” brigade don’t bother wasting my time? Anyone who feels blind obedience to the road rules is guaranteed to keep them out of trouble is living in fantasy land.

Fresh ‘trail’ opens up Holden territory From page 1 It has many active and passive safety features including driver’s knee airbag, trailer sway-control and hill descent assistance. Blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert are added to LTZ models.

With grab handles in all the right places, mounting the Trailblazer is no hard task.

Getting into the back seats, with the second row tumbling forward to the back of the front seats allowing reasonably easy access to the space.

With the third row in use load space isn’t too bad.

A waterproof well with lid across the back of the cargo compartment floor allows extra gear (or a few days’ groceries) to be stowed out of sight while still using the main luggage area on top.

There are quieter motors on the market than the Trailblazer’s old-style 2.8-litre turbo-diesel.

The six-speed automatic transmission is a bit ‘yesterday’ but it offers seamless changes and smooth going.

The 500 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm puts sees it delivering responsive overtaking.

Shift-on-the-fly to 4WD is always handy.

SPACE AGE: The new Trailblazer has plenty of room inside and easy access.

There can be few complaints with fuel economy, with the Trailblazer using only 5.7 litres per 100 kilometres on the motorway and a miserly 11.7 litres per 100 kilometres in a stop-start town running.

Australian and Brazilian engineers have teamed up to deliver extensive improvements over the Colorado 7, including a revised steering calibration providing a more precise steering feel thanks to a faster steering rack ratio and

fewer turns lock-to-lock.

While the variable steering effort in the electric system allowed the test vehicle to handle well at low speeds.

At higher speeds steering tended to be on the light side with less driver feedback from the wheels.

However, off road in tough going this could be an advantage.

Other key chassis developments include a revised set of engine, transmission

and body mounts designed to provide a more refined ride, in addition to a new final drive ratio on manual transmission Trailblazer, again for better drive quality, especially while towing.

To say the Trailblazer is a little rough around the edges could be taking criticism too far but the big SUV is held back by the dated driveline in a market with some seriously smooth operators, albeit at a premium price.

3

Jan 6 - 12 | 2017

2017 Abarth 124 Spider review

By EWAN KENNEDY THE Abarth 124 Spider is an affordable Italian sportscar with lots of racing, rallying and sporting heritage behind it.

Its shape is cleverly based on that of the early 1970s Abarth 124 Rally. Best of all, it’s cheap as chips.

The cost of the little hotshot has been kept down by teaming with Mazda which builds the world’s biggest selling open-top car, the MX-5. An odd situation? Yes, but one that’s increasingly common these days, with many unlikely bedfellows – BMW and Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes, and many more.

The Japanese are renowned for building cars well and the Abarth is made in Japan on the same assembly lines as the MX-5.

However, the 124 Spider has Italian bits where they matter, under the bonnet and in the suspension.

There’s an excellent visual resemblance between this new Abarth 124 Spider and the lovely 1970s originals. Just look at the round headlights, wide grille and bonnet bulges.

Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder, but this beholder feels the Abarth has a lot more oomph in its shape than the comparatively mild Mazda.

Inside the Abarth it’s a different story as it’s pretty much the same as the Mazda, with different seats and some changed details to partially differentiate it.

Affordability is the name of the and, in any case, the Mazda is more adventurous in the cabin than on its exterior.

Accessed through a 7.0-inch touchscreen display, there’s multimedia control and Bluetooth connectivity. There’s a Bose premium sound system with nine speakers, including dual headrest speakers, the latter providing good sound quality nice and close to the ears with the top down.

Excellent.

The Abarth 124 Spider’s engine and transmission are built in Europe then shipped to the Mazda factory in Japan. The

EUROPEAN CLASSIC: Open-top driving in an affordable Italian sportscar - life doesn’t get much better than a week in Abarth 124 Spider. engine is a MultiAir four-cylinder 1.4-litre unit. A turbo-petrol, it has 125 kW of power at 5500 rpm and 250 Nm of torque that begins at a relatively low 2500 rpm.

The engine sits in front of either a slick six-speed manual gearbox, or a six-speed torque-convertor automatic with paddleshifters. Like any pure sportscar the Abarth Spider is driven by the rear wheels.

A mechanical limited-slip differential is standard.

Sport Mode changes the calibrations of the engine, automatic transmission, electric power steering and stability control system.

Electronic stability system (ESC) is standard. When in use it applies selective braking and acts on the accelerator to take the car back on line if a difference between the driver’s action on the steering wheel and trajectory is detected. When driving on a racetrack, you can disengage the electronics to take full control.

There’s rear Cross Path detection as well as a reversing camera, both are handy with the top in place.

An odd item to appear under the Safety heading is the poor design of the bottle holders installed between the seat

backs. The first time we used the brakes moderately hard two bottles finished up in the passenger’s footwell. It could have been the driver’s.

The engine sits behind the front axle and therefore within the wheelbase – so the Spider is mid-engined, with all that means in the way of dynamic balance and agility.

Suspension is by double-wishbones at the front and a complex five-link setup under the rear. Bilstein shock absorbers and Brembo brakes are standard and the callipers are painted red to further add to the sporting Italian look.

Our initial test driving at the launch of the Abarth was carried out at the Norwell Motorplex centre in south-east Queensland during the launch of the car in October ’16.

We track tested the little Italian hotshots with their tops down. Then closed the roofs – which takes all of three seconds - before moving onto the water-soaked skidpan for some hilarious fun.

Road grip is very high and the Italian machine can lap in very respectable times, providing excellent feedback and being more than happy to respond to steering and throttle inputs. Excellent fun that’s

guaranteed to bring a smile to any keen driver’s face.

The 124 can get a little twitchy at the limit, as does any mid-engined car, so it’s best you know what you’re doing before getting behind the wheel and pushing hard. Indeed, may we suggest that you have an advanced driving training course under your belt?

And perhaps limit ten-tenths driving to track days?

The Brembo brakes never showed the slightest sign of fading during track use, which is hardly a surprise in a car designed to be driven by crazy Italians.

For the past week we have spent too much time in real life conditions: boring motorways with too-low speed limits, suburban roads, even a trip to the airport carpark. Fun? Not. But it did show the 124 Spider is perfectly tractable and happy and well suited to being used as a daily driver.

We did manage a trip or three to our favourite driving roads in our home territory behind the Gold Coast. The Abarth 124 Spider is surprisingly supple for what it is, it soaks up depressions and lumps, even when the bump stops come into play it never feels like being knocked offline.

Engine performance isn’t as exciting as that of the chassis which is inevitable given the lowish power output. Low-down torque makes it tractable around town and when you do push it past 4500 revs it does have a sudden Italian-like urge that’s great to enjoy.

Gearchanges are slick and easy and the six ratios are well sorted out for a light sporting machine.

An Italian sportscar for under $45,000 on the road? The Abarth 124 Spider would have seemed like a dream a couple of years back. Now it’s here. We love it and were very reluctant to take it back.

In many countries the 124 is also sold as a lower cost, less sporting model as the Fiat 124 Spider. The Australian importer says there are no plans to import it to Australia as it wants to concentrate on the hot version.

Ford Australia aims at the future

By EWAN KENNEDY

THE future of the automotive industry in Australia is rapidly taking shape.

While manufacturing is slowly grinding to a halt - Ford has stopped, Holden and Toyota are preparing to do so, the future is looking increasingly bright.

If you’re in design and engineering that is, sadly many people on the shop floor are losing jobs, thankfully with a great deal of assistance from the respective car companies.

The Ford Motor Company currently employs about 203,000 people and has 67 plants worldwide. It plans to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, data and analytics.

Ford Australia, with its long history of vehicle design, engineering and technology, will continue to be one of the most important links in the vital field of ongoing product development.

Mark Fields, the president and CEO, of Ford Motor Company flew to Australia to announce details of the forward plans. This includes a further $450 million investment in research and development (R&D).

The company’s head office in Melbourne will become a new product development centre tagged Asia Pacific Product Development Centre. It will have stateof-the-art virtual design and engineering

MOTORING ON: Ford’s Australian Blue Oval is expanding into the future. capability and be the centrepiece of Australia’s most advanced automotive development campus. The centre will have a 2000 person strong team, including 1750 engineers, designers and technicians.

(It’s interesting to note that Ford’s head office is happy for the Aussies to use Centre in the title rather than the American spelling of Center. Perhaps as a hat’s off compliment to the local people for their excellent work in the past?)

There’s also going to be an expansion of the Ford Asia Pacific Design Studio, increasing the modelling capacity and nearly doubling the state-of-the-art milling area with the addition of a new five-axis mill.

The company’s 950-hectare Lara Proving Ground outside Geelong will get additional test facilities, including durability, crash, noise vibration and harshness research.

We did a comprehensive tour of the Ford

Lara facilities a couple of years back and came away extremely impressed with the clever work being carried out.

A new test area is to be built at the Lara proving ground to support validation of a greater range of driver assist technologies.

Autonomous vehicle are certainly on the way and Ford has always been keen on being at the forefront of innovations in all fields. We anticipate being invited to Lara in the not too distant future to sit in a Ford and watching a car doing all its own driving.

With an eye well into the future Ford is also increasing its commitment to helping develop the next generation of engineers and designers. Ford recently raised $300,000 to expand student robotics programs in Broadmeadows and Geelong partner schools. Ford engineers will personally mentor students in these Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) programs to develop and program robots for competition around the world.

Holden is also looking to the future and has given details of its plans to become very much part of the GM empire. Toyota tends to take the Japanese approach of not saying too much until things have been put in place. We will keep an eye on what the two companies do as they approach factory closures late this year.

4

Jan 6 - 12 | 2017

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