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Motoring Matchmaking: More For The Blokes
Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
OK, so you’re a guy who wants to get a new car but you’re not sure what to get that will suit your situation. Your heart wants a brand new Lamborghini supercar but that’s probably not actually going to be possible with your budget… and the boot space thing might be an issue. So what’s right for you?
Here, we return to our series where we take (stereo)typical people and set you up with a set of wheels that suits your situation down to a T. This time, we focus on guys working in essential industries. Apologies in advance, but a Lambo isn’t one of the options, even if you deserve one for all your hard work during this weird time.
The Sheep and Cattle Farmer: Dave’s day may start at dawn and sometimes goes on half the night, but you can’t say that it’s boring. A typical day involves shifting stock; checking and fixing fences, water supplies and feed levels; and ensuring that the animals stay alive for long enough to bring in a profit. Any set of wheels owned by Dave has to be versatile enough to provide a nice shady place to eat lunch (and keep said lunch somewhere where the dogs can’t get at it); cart around dogs, sacks of feed, fencing equipment and sick sheep; and maybe carry a carcass on the roof when the shotgun has had to come into play. Given the terrain where the vehicle has to go no matter what the weather is, decent 4×4 ability and ground clearance are a must. When the time comes to head to town, there may or may not be a trailer involved, but it’s got to be able to take a load, and that includes the kids who wanted to come for the ride or need to get to netball practice or pony club. Looks are secondary factors but Dave wouldn’t mind something that scrubs up well… but not literally, as dirt and dust prove that you’re the real deal not some wussy city boy who only plays at offroading in the weekend.
Suggested vehicles for Dave:
Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara, Toyota Hilux, VW Amarok, Mazda BT-50, Mercedes Benz X-Class Ute
Mitsubishi Triton Ute
The Freight And Logistics Expert: Many years ago, Martin was a truckie but he’s now got his own trucking, freight and logistics company, and only drives the trucks if the business is getting a bit short-handed. Most of Martin’s days are spent behind the desk, negotiating contracts and doing all the thinking, negotiating and arranging parts of the job. When it comes to heading to the office, Martin likes his comfort to make up for all those years of driving trucks with dodgy air conditioning back in the 1980s. He also likes to drive something that looks sleek and smart – yes, it’s getting a teeny bit into show-off territory but he’s worked hard for this and he’s the boss. All the same, a little sports car just isn’t him: they’re just too low down and small, and Martin feels like he just can’t see anything properly or safely when you’re down that close to the road, a legacy of all those years of actual trucking work.
Suggested vehicles for Martin:
RAM 1500, Ford F-150, Audi Q7, BMW X5, Volvo XC90, Ford Ranger, Range Rover Sport, Mercedes Benz GLE SUV, Mercedes Benz GLS SUV, Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Porsche Cayenne, Ford Everest, BMW X6, Lexus LX 570
Audi Q7 SUV
The Healthcare Worker: As a male nurse, Tony’s popular with all the older gentlemen who feel a bit uncomfortable about having women deal with their bedpans – and he’s also popular with some of the women who appreciate a bit of eye candy when they’re in hospital. All the same, Tony isn’t there to flirt but to work, and the work’s pretty demanding. In fact, by the end of his shift, Tony’s wiped out. Coffee helps but Tony knows only too well what can happen if you nod off at the wheel in a vehicle that hasn’t got a high ANCAP rating – he’s had to help deal with the results. This means that Tony wants something with all the active and passive safety features just in case. A good stereo for blasting some energetic music is also greatly appreciated. Because he does a job that, in the past, was considered to be a bit girly, Tony also wants a car that’s definitely masculine in its looks rather than some dinky-wee hairdresser’s car – he doesn’t want to turn up on somebody’s gaydar by mistake, thank you very much.
Suggested vehicles for Tony:
Subaru Levorg, Holden Commodore, Ford Mondeo, Mazda 6, BMW 5-Series, Alfa Romeo Giulia, Holden Colorado, Audi A4, Audi A5, Audi A6, Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus RC-F, Volvo V50, Volvo V60, Volvo S60
Volvo S60
2020 Hyundai iMax Elite: Private Fleet Car Review.
This Car Review Is About: The passenger version of Hyundai’s durable iLoad commercial van is called iMax. There’s a pair of normal doors up front, a pair of sliding doors on the sides, and a rear horizontally hinged door. It’s exclusively diesel and auto for the drive-train, and in the Elite has eight leather covered seats.
How Much Does It Cost?: Hyundai’s website lists the iMax Elite as $48,990 driveaway as of April 2020. That’s with a Creamy White exterior. Go for Timeless Black, Hyper Metallic, and Moonlight Cloud (silver and blue), it’s $49,685 drive-away.
Under The Bonnet Is: 441Nm of torque, and they’re on tap between 2,000rpm and 2,500rpm. The auto is a super smooth five speed unit, and although seemingly needing a cog or two extra, still manages to deliver a figure of that Hyundai quotes as 8.8L/100km for the combined cycle. Otherwise they quote 11.2L/100km for the urban, and 7.3L/100km on the highway, a figure where a seven or eight speed transmission would help. Considering a starting weight of 2,135kg and a GVM (Gross Vehicle Mass) of 3,030kg, it’s a sterling effort however. Tank size is 75L. By the way, it’s a rear wheel driven beastie. Twing is rated up to 1,500kg braked.
On the Outside It’s: A van. But having four colours and not just a fridge white makes a difference. Contrasting panels low down bring a subtle two-tone experience visually. There are also 215/65/17 alloys and Hankook Ventra LT tyres, with the wheels looking more like they should be on something a little more sporting oriented. The sliding doors have pop-out, not sliding windows. Up front it’s a more modern look for the grille and headlight cluster, and there are driving lights set low down in the bumper.
Overall length is 5,150mm, with width and height providing a reason why vans are described as boxy at 1,920mm and 1,925mm respectively. The sliding doors are manually operated, not powered, nor is the rear door powered. The washer fluid jets spray in three thin jets and could use more pressure.
On The Inside It’s: Not surprisingly quite roomy. Given the cubic shape of the are behind the driver and front passenger, leg, head, and shoulder room are better than adequate. Head room is 1030 / 1018 / 987 mm for the front, centre, and rear, with leg room measured as 70 – 1039 / 839 / 765 mm, with shoulder room at 1632 / 1695 / 1627 mm. The front and centre seats have a sunroof as well. There’s beige leather and plastic trim in the iMax Elite, plus there was carpet and carpet rugs over the normal linoleum style floor.
The centre row seats have the familiar front mounted pull-rod in order to slide them, and a manual handle down on the side to fold. This allows easier access to the third row seats. Behind them is over 800L of cargo space, so for a family, plenty of room for a pram, bags, shopping, etc.
The driver’s dash display betrays the commercial origins, and oddly even down to not showing fuel usage nor a Trip B display. It’s a very basic speedo dial, rev counter, and fuel setup, and could really benefit from a higher class look.
Auxiliaries in the form of heat seating and venting, rear seat aircon controls, and USB port are found in the centre console, along with a pull out cup holder. There is, though, no dedicated space to hold a phone, even allowing for a shallow cavity up top. Audio via the basic Hyundai family 7.0 inch touchscreen is AM/FM only with no DAB, and again something that should be a little more upmarket by having that as standard. But there are apps for the smartphone access and Bluetooth for streaming.
On The Road It’s: Very quiet, even under load. The iMax Elite hums along with little fanfare being drawn to it. It simply gets up, gets ready, gets going. It’s mightily smooth in the way it rides and handles, but the high up seating position and cargo-van softness in the suspension, plus the dual purpose tyres, mean some corners are, by necessity, taken at a slower speed that most other vehicles.
The five speed auto, even allowing for the fact it’s only a five-cogger, is superb. It is as smooth as you can get in changing ratios up and down. This applies as equally to flat highway runs as it does to climbing or descending sloping roads. There is a manual shift option via the gear selector but that was ignored purely because the ‘box does such a good job on its own.
There’s a bare minimum of turbo-lag from the get go. The maximum torque is pretty much where highway velocities have the revs rolling to provide it, which means a gentle press of the go pedal, that silken drop back a cog or two, and access to 441 torques is there. The lack of turbo-lag helps too, as it means less effort and time waiting for the engine to deliver helps in the overall driving presentation.
The steering is in the Goldilocks zone; it’s not too heavy, not too light. This makes for three point turns on a suburban street, or in a loading zone much easier to deal with. It also made our excursion to a Blue Mountains lookout for a couple of photos via a gravel road as comfortable and unfussed as it should be. No bump steer, no tramlining in the gravel and mud, and a pose with Jessie and Nelson, (two local equine residents that gave the iMax Elite the hoof of approval), which was set up by reversing twenty metres or so, simple due to the just-right feel.
The brakes could do with some more bite and feedback though. There just wasn’t as much coming through from the pedal to state with certainty that the pressure being put down was gripping the discs as much as they could be. Ride quality is good enough, considering the iMax’s origins and the MacPherson strut/live five link rear axle.
What About Safety?: Hmmm….could be better. The spec sheet says side and front airbags for the driver and front passenger. It doesn’t say side/curtain airbags though. It’s rated as four stars by ANCAP. The second and third row seats all have adjustable head rest heights and the second row has ISOFIX mounts.
What About Warranty And Service?: For the warranty, the Hyundai website says: If the vehicle has been used for private and domestic purposes and is not and has not been previously used for a commercial application, including but not limited to taxi, hire, rental, courier, security, driving school, tour, bus operator or emergency vehicle. Vehicles used at any time for “commercial application”, as defined in the vehicle warranty policy, are excluded. Passenger vehicles that are or have been used for a commercial application are provided with a 5 year/130,000km warranty (whichever occurs first). An iMax that is used or has been used for a commercial application is provided with a 5 year/160,000km warranty (whichever occurs first).
Servicing information may vary so contact your Hyundai dealership.
At the End Of The Drive. The old saying, “for what it is” applies to the Hyundai iMax Elite. It’s a people mover that is based on a light commercial vehicle. That needs to be taken into consideration. So, for what it is, it’s ok. It’s not possibly what it could be, but for what it is, it does well enough.Given it’s a sub-50K vehicle, a few extra touches would still have it well competitive in price and lift the overall appeal, perhaps just enough, to make a little bit more of a dent in SUVs that cost more and do much of the same role.
Check it out in more detail here.
The Dying Art of Manual Driving
Among the diehard motoring fanatics, manual driving has been a fundamental component of one’s driving abilities. Even then, it offers a level of authenticity that you just don’t get when the car does all the work for you! After all, there has always been something about those perfectly-timed gear changes that just resulted in a sense of self-satisfaction.
However, much like a lot of things, especially in today’s day and age, a ‘trend’ doesn’t necessarily stay in vogue. At least if something more convenient and simple takes over. It doesn’t matter how much more authentic manual driving might feel to the masses, because the masses quite frankly don’t care.
What is surprisingly, however, is that they also don’t seem to care about the prospect of some handy savings on the up-front price of a manual vehicle either. Although that could have something to do with the fact that selling a second-hand manual car on the market these days is becoming more difficult than it otherwise should be.
Where do manual cars stand in the market today?
While manual car sales remain resilient throughout many European countries, it’s a vastly different proposition down under. In fact, cars with manual transmission have accounted for a diminishing portion of all new car sales over a long time, and it doesn’t help that more and more manufacturers are turning their backs on manuals when releasing their latest models.
Now accounting for well under 10% of all new car sales in Australia, it appears that there is no love for manual driving anymore. Everyday Australians want the convenience of an effortless drive. And, when you would normally have to grind along in peak traffic, who can blame them?
But we also need to consider the role being played by the population’s fanaticism with SUVs. Once upon a time, not all that long ago actually, true SUVs built for off-road conditions were favoured with a manual transmission.
Now, however, because we use our SUVs for almost everything but off-roading, the clear direction has seen the latest models fitted with automatic transmission as default. Driving purists must be in disbelief! Or maybe they’ve made the switch as well, since less than 2% of SUVs are now manuals.
What does the future hold for manual driving?
If there is one sole bright spot for manual cars, however, they have a loyal support base among light commercial applications. As the preferred choice for many heavy-duty fleets, or tradies alike, there is surely a safe haven for the tried and trusted manual car?
Well, that may have been the case, but if you haven’t noticed around you, dual-cab utes have rose to prominence as some of the nation’s best-selling vehicles. More to the point, it’s not only tradies using these vehicles now. Instead, they are finding themselves in the hands of families who want convenience and simplicity. Yep, you guessed it! That’s another one of our preferences squeezing manual sales.
But at the root of all this, there’s something else happening. Younger drivers just aren’t interested in manual cars. Forget about the fact they can’t drive manual, they don’t even want to learn how to do so. What’s even more worrying for fans of the format is that if we do move the way of autonomous vehicles, what then for the nostalgic days of manual driving?
Koenigsegg Gemera Is All Four The Experience.
It’s regarded as a seismic shift when a car maker, renowned for their dedication to producing hyper-luxury two seater vehicles, produces one that will carry four passengers, and endows it with the same quality as the rest of the family.
Swedish based manufacturer Koenigsegg is well known for their production of upper-level vehicles, and has established a reputation for making the quickest, most luxurious, uber-performance and luxury cars on the planet. The Gemera, made from the Swedish “ge” or give, and “mera” or more, is a new expression of the company’s desire to deliver only the best, and then keep going. In this case, it will go until just 300 units have been produced.
At a cost of USD$1.7 million, Gemera is powered by something a little unexpected. A twin-turbocharged three cylinder petrol engine is the main component of the drivetrain. At just 2.0L in capacity, on its own it’s good for 600 brake horsepower, or around 450kW. It works in partnership with three electric motors. There is one each for the rear wheels, and one for the engine’s crankshaft. Koenigsegg have given the small engine its own name. It’s called the TFG, or Tiny Friendly Giant.
Each rear engine makes 500bhp, and torque is a mammoth 737.5 lb-ft, or 1,000Nm. The front mounted e-motor produces an extra 400 bhp and 368.78lb-ft/500 Nm to power the front wheels, making an individual amount of 1,400 bhp, and stepped down to 1,100bhp when working with the 2.0L engine. The battery is rated at 800V. In all, Koenigsegg say the final power output is 1,700bhp/1,270kW and 2,581lb-ft/3,500Nm of torque. The Gemera’s dry weight is just 3,780 pounds/1,715kg.
Top speed is unspecified, with Koenigsegg stating only that it will reach 248mph/400kph in record equaling pace. The sprint to 62mph/100kph really is a sprint. 1.9 seconds is all that is required. Range on a purely electric drive is up to 30 miles/50 kilometres and a full top speed on electric power only is up to 186mph/300kph. Total range is said to be around 620 miles/1,000 kilometres.
Koenigsegg have an eye of the future when it comes to fuel usage. It’s a flex-fuel engine, capable of running on Gen 2.0 ethanol or a CO2 neutral methanol like Vulcanol or any mix thereof. When doing so it is rated as being as at least CO2 neutral as a pure electric car. Whilst these “next generation” fuels are being further developed for better access, the Gemera can also be driven on E85 and in worst case normal petrol.
With all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, and torque vectoring (plus a Wet/Normal/Track drive selector), and a huge 118 inch/3,000mm wheelbase, Koenigsegg have opened up two critical areas; the ability to seat four, and to provide superlative handling. The rear-wheel steering adds in rapid response and increased agility, and then there’s the small car turning radius. High speed running provides extra directional control. Helping the ride and grip are a choice of (standard) Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 295/30 ZR21 and 315/30 ZR22 tires, with the other choice being Michelin’s Cup 2 R. Wheels are Koenigsegg’s third-generation Aircore carbon fiber wheels with optional center locking.
In a design sense, the Gemera is a strict two door vehicle. To allow access to both front and rear seats, the fronts of the doors hinge to allow vertically aligned opening. Given the doors have the side intrusion bars and windows, it’s an astoundingly clever piece of engineering. The A-pillars are blacked out to render them almost invisible and the rear seats are located to still provide plenty of forward looking view. It’s an impressive car to see in the flesh. It’s low, and long, and broad. 195.8 inches/4,975mm gives it an imposing presence, the 51 inches/1,295mm in height the slinky looks, and the 78 inches/1,988mm of width the space inside.
For reverse views, there are high definition cameras on either side of the Gemera. There is a pair of screens for the driver to access information. One is placed behind the steering wheel and on the column, and one to the driver’s right. Each of the tabs on the carbon-fiber wheel have haptic feedback. It’s a practical vehicle too; Koenigsegg have built in eight cup holders, with one each of the four pairs heated. And each seat, heated, by the way, is carbon-fiber in structure, adding to the weigh reduction regime. The interior is bespoke luxury, with a choice of leather or Alcantara interior with custom contrast stitching.
Ceramic brakes provide excellent stopping power and again, weight reduction over steel discs. Each corner has double wishbones and adjustable gas-hydraulic shock absorbers. There is an electrically powered ride height adjust system for an extra 1.5 inches/35mm for the front. Just in case, there are a pair of fire extinguishers. Koenigsegg’s future proofing with Level 2 Autonomous Driving. Adaptive Cruise Control Lane Keep Assist, and Park Assist and standard, naturally, as is a helicopter-eye’s view for the 360 degrees worth of camera vision.
It’s the company’s first four door car. It’s pure beauty standing still. As a complete package, Koenigsegg have tagged the Gemera as the world’s first Mega-GT.
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