Welcome, one and all to a battle of epic proportions… well, maybe more a slight scuffle between three of the modern world’s automotive lightweights. Stepping into the ring will be the Suzuki Swift LTD automatic, representing Japan; the Kia Rio Automatic for Korea and last, but not least (actually it may be least, read on…), …
Well, now… naming your creation “Superb” is a bit egotistical, isn’t it? That’s a bit like me naming my first-born Dan the Magnificent, or claiming to be the Messiah (which I still think I might be… I vaguely remember walking on water the other night).
You may have been wondering where the hell I have been for the past couple of months… no I haven’t been abducted by rabid zombie donkeys, nor have I quit writing about cars… in fact, I have been driving many.
Truth be told, the Mazda CX-7 sports SUV leaves me a bit cold… in the FWD form, anyway. It has a cheap interior, underwhelming performance and drinks the liquid gold faster than Cher goes through wigs. Sure, the 4WD version is a bit of fun and both look the part, but they don’t quite pull …
A while back, I drove Hyundai’s rather ugly, yet rather brilliant, i45, and was thoroughly impressed by the levels of comfort and handling offered up in a sub-fifty-thousand-dollar car. Kia’s offering utilises the same running gear as the i45, yet it manages to do it with even more style and at a more attractive price.
Welcome, one and all to a battle of epic proportions… well, maybe more a slight scuffle between three of the modern world’s automotive lightweights.
Stepping into the ring will be the Suzuki Swift LTD automatic, representing Japan; the Kia Rio Automatic for Korea and last, but not least (actually it may be least, read on…), the Holden Barina hatch manual for Australia… um, make that Korea also, since it’s manufactured there by GM/Daewoo. So, which car is best?
Truth be told, the Mazda CX-7 sports SUV leaves me a bit cold… in the FWD form, anyway. It has a cheap interior, underwhelming performance and drinks the liquid gold faster than Cher goes through wigs. Sure, the 4WD version is a bit of fun and both look the part, but they don’t quite pull off what Mazda intended – creating the perfect blend of sports car and SUV. 
A while back, I drove Hyundai’s rather ugly, yet rather brilliant, i45, and was thoroughly impressed by the levels of comfort and handling offered up in a sub-fifty-thousand-dollar car. Kia’s offering utilises the same running gear as the i45, yet it manages to do it with even more style and at a more attractive price.
I’ve had the pleasure of playing one of the greatest racing titles of all time, over this last week. I was given this opportunity by NZGamer.com, so head on over and check out the full review of this incredible Xbox360 title!
http://nzgamer.com/x360/reviews/1447/forza-motorsport-4.html
After having just stepped out of the incredible 140k VW Touareg, you might think that the 47k SUV offering from Kia would be well and truly ruined. But you’d be wrong. Sure, it doesn’t have a whopping great V8, and it may also come with that tell-tale lower end “new car smell”, but this is a proper SUV with decent off-road capabilities, and costs less than the average family sedan (if you opt for LX 4×2 model at $33,990). And what’s more, it possesses a little bit of magic.
As a long time Commodore fanboy, I was, believe it or not, not particularly looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the new HSV GTS. Firstly, I’d recently driven the new FPV range and it wasn’t exactly at the back of my mind that HSV would have to pull out something pretty darned special to get anywhere near the Fords.
A couple of months back I was given a sparkling blue Ford Fiesta manual to pilot so that I could etch the driving experience into my brain and make the applicable comparisons when handed the 2k11 model. Step forward in time and now in my driveway sits a shiny red 2011 model, only this time, sporting Ford’s new PowerShift® transmission, complete with one more cog than the manual offering!
So, I’m on my way to the Auckland airport when I notice some dude in a black, mid-2000s Volkswagen Golf GTi shadowing me on the left hand lane. I’m not sure how long he’d been there, how long he’d been staring, or if he’d seen my world renowned headbanging to the Kings of Leon… but I found it creepy and I wanted it to be over.
There was once a time, not that long ago, that the mere suggestion of buying a Korean car was met with guffaws and snobbish harrumphing. But over the last half decade or so, Korean manufacturers such as Hyundai and Kia have not only closed the gap on their Japanese competitors, but in many ways, have begun to overtake them.
In my many years in journalism I have attended gallery openings, theatre openings, restaurant launches, casino openings, movie and CD parties, book launches, boat baptisms, launch launches, actor weddings and their corresponding divorce parties, and even the opening of a letter to the editor merited a celebration in some of the dead-end rags I’ve had to work for.
