BEST INCOMING NEW CARS
Carmakers have a single skill: they can make every new vehicle sound as if it is the best vehicle on earth. In reality, many incoming new models are merely mediocre. Here are the truly good ones worth waiting for.
KIA TASMAN UTE
Yes, Hyundai and Kia are co-developing a full-size hardcore 4X4 ute - touted to be called the ‘Tasman’ - and most likely a 4WD wagon to boot. It does actually exist and is being developed, partly, in Australia.
It’s a poorly-kept secret, but the typical spy shots and informational prick-teasing was hampered by the pandemic.
Expect Hyundai/Kia’s 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine, a leaf-sprung rear on the ute and coils on the wagon, a proper low-range gearset, and heavy towing potential. We could even see the resurrection of the Hyundai Terracan 4WD from this new product derivative of the Santa Fe.
Given how popular the ute market is here, it should be a roaring success. Time will tell.
MITSUBISHI PAJERO SPORT
The next Pajero Sport will be a better overall design the the outgoing model, especially in relation to those clunky third row seats.
The narrow, cramped cabin was its Achilles heel of current Pajero Sport and is undeniably one of the main reasons it didn’t sell as well against the likes of Prado or Everest. But it’s reassuring to learn that Mitsubishi was given the design lead when it came to putting together the base platform for both Nissan Navara and Triton as part of the global corporate alliance (with Renault), and it could even become the next Nissan Patrol.
Questions still remain as to how much of Nissan’s board-level hubris will taint the end Pajero Sport product decisions, which should be answered by end of 2025 when it arrives in Australia.
The 2.4 turbo-diesel engine is back but more powerful and with a second turbocharger, the centre-diff locking Super Select 4WD system will return and an increase in maximum rated towing capacity. Pajero Sport will be a compelling value 4X4 wagon against Prado and Ranger-based Everest.
MAZDA CX-90
Clearly Mazda has Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW firmly in its sights, because just looking at this thing from the front gives the same dopamine hit as the supposedly premium SUV brands from Germany.
Petrol and diesel versions are coming in late 2023, and a plug-in hybrid EV is anticipated in 2024. If you’re not quite ready to go hard on the EV thing, consider waiting for the PHEV if somehow you’re not wooed by what will probably be Mazda’s gnarly 2.5 turbo-petrol four-cylinder and its 2.2 turbo-diesel powertrains.
Expect Mazda to keep doing its mainstream-premium product innovation stuff which we’ve seen in recent years has lifted the brand to the dizzying heights of P2 in brand sales. Knowing Mazda’s build quality and luxurious interiors don’t be surprised at a pricetag well over $90K.
SUBARU FORESTER TURBO
The timing of Subaru’s 50th anniversary couldn’t be more appropriate given the desperate need for passion within the brand. After many long years of blandness trickling in via the Toyota I.V. drip, it’s about time.
Happily, they’ve finally turbocharged the Outback, a new Impreza has finally arrived and the new WRX (now including a Sportwagon) gets all the hot bits they would have put on an STi anyway. The flame is returning, slowly.
Next, they just need to wedge that same WRX-derived 2.4-litre turbocharged Boxer engine into the Forester, call it the XT and glory shall be restored.
Shame all this progress has taken five years too long, allowing mainstream enthusiasts to find other brands and cool cars to fall for, like Hyundai i30 N, Kia Cerato GT and Picanto GT, Golf R and Honda Civic Type R.
Using the WRX and Outback Turbo as a yardstick, a Forester turbo should be an outright blast that will finally offer mainstream midsize SUV buyers something for the fans. Exactly when, that’s anyone’s guess.
TOYOTA TUNDRA
Australia’s obsession with utes should make for an interesting introduction of the Toyota Tundra, given the immense gravitational pull of the brand.
Can Toyota lure enough rich bogans to part with over $100,000 for a fancy American pick-up truck in our current economic climate of stagnant wages and soaring inflation?
This thing would hypothetically come with an enormously thirsty V6 petrol engine, or if Toyota Australia has its way, the 3.3-litre hot-vee twin-turbo V6 diesel currently in the LandCruiser 300. Right-hand drive conversations will be done by Walkinshaw (same mob doing RAM 1500 and Chevy Silverado), because Toyota Tundra is only manufactured in the US in left-hand drive.
R&D testing has apparently been conducted in Australia since around September 2022, so don’t expect much until late 2024, with possible teasers around six months before its expected launch.
MG 3
MG has come a long way in six years here in Australia and if its initial generation of affordable, simple cars don’t impress their next phase of models could very well change that.
The MG3 is a small, lightweight, simple hatchback that is in need of some modernising - especially its safety rating (currently unrated).
Vehicles like these are built to a strict price point and the fact MG hasn’t offered one up to be crash tested is a red flag, suggesting it may not perform very well in destructive tests.
So with a new one arriving in 2024, supposedly, it’ll be about time for a surprisingly popular model that has questionable occupant protection.
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