Private Fleet Car Review: 2016 Subaru Outback Premium Diesel & 3.6R
It’s fair to say that the Subaru Outback is a popular car, with owners in Australia always warm and fuzzy about theirs. It’s also fair to say that Subaru is still seen as a niche manufacturer and it’s also fair to say that that niche is getting bigger with the brand recognition really achieving cut through. The now twenty year old nameplate, WRX, has gone a long way to contributing to that, but there’s the Liberty, Forester and the Outback to thank as well. In February of 2016, A Wheel Thing attended the launch of the updated Liberty, Forester and Outback and recently sampled the 2.0L diesel and 3.6L petrol powered versions of the Outback Premium.
Of note were the subtle changes to the suspension in the wagons. It’s A Wheel Thing’s opinion that the Outback is one of the best in the medium wagon class for ride and handling. There is a bit of competition out there such as the Mondeo, Superb, and Octavia, just to mention a couple, but the incremental development work that Subaru Japan and Subaru Australia have jointly been involved it has paid off.
Real Life Bond Cars?
One of the neat features that you can expect in any good James Bond movie is a great set of wheels. It just wouldn’t be James Bond without the Bond car. In fact, it wouldn’t be Ian Fleming without the car, given that Ian Fleming also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
However, cars tricked out with tons of neat features aren’t just from the movies. We don’t yet have cars that can get invisibility cloaks or ejector seats but it is possible to get cars that might look normal on the top but are otherwise underneath. Cars that are just a bit… well, I’m afraid that “badass” is about the only word, little as I like it (and even though the quality of being badass is nothing to do with substandard bottoms or donkeys).
Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 HSV ClubSport R8 Manual
It’s safe to say that the Gen-F2 HSV range will go out with a bang and a half when their supplier, Holden, ceases local manufacturing of the Commodore in 2017. With the entry level sedan, the R8 ClubSport, packing 400 kilowatts and a massive 671 Newton metres of torque, there’s subtlety and brutality in equal measure to be found by the discerning driver.
Hiding, or perhaps more correctly, lurking, under the lightweight aluminuim bonnet, is 6.2 litres of the General’s latest alloy blocked Gen 4 V8, complete with a supercharger. In this car, it sits ahead of a Tremec six speed manual transmission, with enough clutch pedal required to test but not wear out the left leg. The gear selector movement is a delight, clicking through each ratio simply but with weight and under low throttle application, it’s easy to snick the lever along, with no feeling that you need to press against it to move.
Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 Range Rover Sport HST
A Wheel Thing welcomes Range Rover into the garage, with the limited edition Range Rover Sport HST. Powered by Jaguar’s high output supercharged 3.0L V6 and with a bespoke body kit, the HST sits at around mid range (between the 250 kW V6 and the V8 engines) in the cars available.
The power plant offers 280 kilowatts and 450 torques (with peak twist at a too low 4500 rpm). Although responsive thanks to the electronic throttle, there’s the small matter of moving a minimum of two point five tonnes, hence the reason there’s a one hundred and five litre fuel tank on board. Yes. One hundred and five litres. One can almost hear Doctor Evil in the background… Urban consumption is quoted as being a sniff under fifteen litres per one hundred kilometres driven, with highway and combined as 8.4 and 10.8 respectively.
It’s easy to understand why it likes a sip or three because it’s an immensely tractable and user friendly engine, with not just the power but the spread of torque being shared to all four paws via the eight speed auto and computer controlled drive system. It simply begs to be driven in anger, if only to hear the snarl both powerplant and exhaust give you.
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