Lexus: A World of Confusion
Every year in the UK, many thousands of (middle class usually) people flock on down to the legendary ‘Ideal Home Show’ at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. Architects, fashion stars, chefs, home designers and many more gather at this celebration of, you guessed it, the ‘Ideal Home’. It truly is the epicentre of everything modern and trendy in the home world. For many moons, I have heard wondrous stories from family members and friends of their trips to this homely holy land. This year was the year I finally got to go, on a little family trip with my mum.
An entire exhibition dedicated to the best and greatest from the modern home… OOH LOOK THEY’VE GOT NEW LEXUS MODELS ON SHOW.
Top Gear Festival Sydney 2014
It’s 4pm, Friday afternoon, March 7th. Ominous clouds hover overhead whilst Thor throws down bolt after bolt of lightning. Thunder ripples through the air as a result but most eyes are on the scene unfolding in a marquee. Not only are there Jeremy Clarkson and production assistants, there’s a McLaren MP 4/4, once driven by Ayrton Senna. There’s also the engaging nephew of Ayrton, the swoon inducing (according to my female colleagues), Bruno. The interview concludes, it’s due to be shown on the large screens dotting the Sydney Motorsport Park complex, host to the Top Gear Festival Sydney 2014. The storm moves on around to the east and heads north, allowing the unveiling of the McLaren 650S, just days after the world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show. Startling in its intensive blue colour, it’s more than a machine, it’s a work of art. It’s a great lead in to what promises to be a great weekend.
Saturday morning, 7am. I’m up, if not awake. Coffee, breakfast, I’m away. There’s a queue already at the gates, people waiting for the doors to open at 8.30am. My co-host, John, meets me at our commentary spot and we catch up with the people behind the scenes from last years successful debut. We’re on the mics, welcoming exhibitors and letting them know the punters are baying for their blood. gates open and roles are reversed, letting the punters know who’s there to see and buy from. There’s plenty, from ROH Wheels to Turtle Wax to HDT-SV to look at, plus, on the South Circuit, where the McLaren resides, is the Motoring in Motion section, where people 
can experience rides in the Volvo S60, Jaguar range and more.
Tradie's Five Alive: Toyota HiLux SR5
Toyota’s HiLux is a nameplate that’s been with us for quite some time, 1968 in fact. It’s been available in two and four wheel drive, hi rise and low rise configuration, two and four doors, diesel and petrol with one constant: a utility tray at the back. I look at the latest model SR5, with two doors, four seats and a diesel manual drive train.
It’s a grunty 3.0L diesel under the broad intake scooped bonnet, a low revver at that, with 126kW peaking at 3600rpm whilst torque is a sizeable 343 torques. What’s important here is the rev point: just 1400 rpm. This allows short shift as there’s little point goint past 2000 and it’s borne out by how rapidly the engine 
feels breathless. The gearbox is a five speed manual with transfer case. The lever for the manual is long, mostly intuitive but there were times when it refused to play ball, with reverse or third occasionally simply refusing to acknowledge its presence. The transfer case lever was the same; down and to the right and up again to go from 2WD to 4WD high range to 4WD low range. A hefty shove was required to move it back to 2WD position. Clutch pressure was ideal, balanced, with the pickup point also ideally positioned in the travel rather than lightswitch on/off.
The Australian Car Manufacturing Scene
So where to from here for those involved in the current Australian car manufacturing scene? With Ford’s manufacture of cars in Australia closing in 2016, and Holden and Toyota closing their manufacturing operations in 2017, this will leave Australia without any major car manufacturing going on.
With premium car manufacturing being so expensive to perform in Australia, the cost of physical labour in Australia is unlikely to become competitive on a global scale anytime soon. That’s not a particularly bad thing though, because I bet there are not many Australians who would want their wages to drop to the equivalent level of those in some other countries around the world.
Level 2, 9 Help Street