OVERSTEER ROAD TEST: Volkswagen Polo R-Line We here at OVERSTEER are unashamed fans of Volkswagen’s littlest local offering, the Polo. It has all the charm of cheerful puppy, but can turn savage when pointed at a corner. Savage in a good way, that is, not in “a Kia Rio on Eco-tyres in the wet” kind […]
Author: Damien O'Carroll
The Volkswagen Golf has long been the five-door hatch benchmark and, as such, played in the upper-levels of the price range for the segment. But now the Golf goes on the attack with drastically reduced prices and increased spec. We spend a day thrashing a couple of them at the Golf 7 launch. What is […]
New engines, improved interiors and a transmission we have been waiting for (in a Land Rover, at least) were the big news from a low-key Land Rover launch today. The Freelander gets a brilliant petrol engine that will seem strangely familiar and the Discovery gets a brilliant 8-speed auto transmission. We spent a day sampling […]
OVERSTEER ROAD TEST: Volkswagen Beetle The second incarnation of the new version of a car originally conceived by a genocidal maniac and “designed” by a bloke who actually nicked the design off a another company is finally here. That’s right – the original Nazi fun-wagon is back! We take a Beetle for a blast! While […]
“Smarter, Safer, Further” is the way Subaru NZ are describing the new Forester in their marketing, even going as far to say “It can if you can”. We travel to a summery (but still rather breezy) Queenstown to see if it can… What is it? An SUV, okay? It’s DEFINITELY an SUV and if you […]
The Mitsubishi Mirage was once the sales hero of the Japanese manufacturer’s range in New Zealand, at one stage even claiming a massive 35 percent segment share. Now, after an absence of more than a decade the Mirage name is back to replace the un-lovely Colt. We head to Wellington to take it for a […]
Two additional body shapes for existing models and a facelift made up Hyundai’s recent “i-Model launch” – the introduction of the i30 wagon, the i40 sedan and a refreshed i45. We spent a day checking them all out. i30 Wagon Based on the same platform as the i30 hatch (the previous generation wagon had a […]
OVERSTEER ROAD TEST: BMW M6 BMW’s M cars are, as a rule, rather special. Despite the company’s slightly confused attempt to add SUVs to the M line up, the ‘proper’ M cars (the ones with a single number after the M… or in the case of the 1M, before…) are still very much the heroes […]
Still put out by the fact that you DIDN’T have a spare US$4.62 million lying around to nab the original George Barris TV Batmobile? Well, this may be of some consolation to you – in a strict, technical sense, the car Barris created out of a Lincoln concept wasn’t Batman’s first real-world ride. That honour goes […]
OVERSTEER ROAD TEST: Mercedes-Benz B250 The Mercedes-Benz B250 is a hard car to get your head around. On one hand you have the upright, mini-people mover body and slightly, well, grandmotherly styling. But on the other hand you have the noticeably lower ride height, big wheels and the quite frankly silly 155kW/350Nm engine lurking under […]
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