Have Car, Will Drive

I've long had a soft spot for the Jaguar XJ. In particular, I'm quite drawn to the elegance of the X300/X308 models, sold here from the mid 1990s through to the early 2000s. In fact, not long before I purchased my Focus I was seriously tempted by a 1997 XJ6 that was for sale by a local Jaguar specialist for a shade under $16,000. At the time however, a fear of ongoing maintenance costs and a reluctant preferance for optimum practicality won out over my desire for a piece of not-so-distant British luxury automotive history.

If you are looking for an unbiased review on a used family car, I suggest that you leave this page immediately. For this is a review of a car that is quite close to my heart, my dad's 2003 Mazda 6 Luxury sedan. This is the first car I ever drove, and the a car I regularly borrowed when I had just passed my license test. Even once I've had my own car, I have borrowed the Mazda on multiple occasions, either for holidays not suitable for my then current transportation or just because I wanted a spin in my first automotive love. I've been thinking about writing this review for quite some time, but I was waiting for the timing to be right. Having recently spent a whole week driving this car according to my usual routine, reminding me all of the car's joys and shortfalls alike it feels like that right time is now.

As it happens, I have quite a soft spot for hot hatches. This might suprise you, as my usual purist aproach to performance would require the engine's power to be driven through the rear wheels, and this is a class of vehicles dominated by front-drivers (as well as some all-wheel-drive cars too). However, having spent a considerable amount of time enjoying driving front-wheel-drive cars, including on some quite challenging roads, the idea of simply focussing such a vehicle for better performance is quite appealing. Of the front-drive hot hatches available in Australia today the RenaultSport Magane was aleady a top pick, so this week's announcement that we will soon receive 50 examples of the Renault Megane R.S. 250 Monaco Grand Prix Limited Edition was more than welcome.

Mazda BT-50, with extra beef! At last year's Australian International Motorshow in Sydney, amongst an underwhelmingly small collection of new product launches and concepts were the international launches of two new models: Ford's Ranger, and its twin the Mazda BT-50. Accompanying them at the show was a Toyota Hilux driven to the North Pole by TopGear, a Rally-Raid Isuzu D-Max and Volkswagen's new Amarok in full Dakar Rally support vehicle liverly. That's right, the most interesting vehicles at last year's AIMS were utes.

BMW Vision Concept at AIMS 2011 After more than a month of running around madly, resting intensly, and doing various things that can only be done during uni holidays, it is well and truly time for me to put some time back into Have Car, Will Drive. In that time I've visited the Melbourne Motor Show, driven upwards of 1500km including two trips to Phillip Island, and dipped my feet in the mirky waters of car mechanics peforming my first radiator flush and attempting to understand the intricate workings of a Hyundai's hydraulic clutch system. 

Can you say Mini Cooper Coupe ten times fast? You'd better get practising if you want a slice of Mini's newest additional to its ever-expanding line-up. Or if you want one with a longer name, you could go for the Mini John Cooper Works Coupe pictured here. Expected in Australia later this year, the Coupe chops two rear seats and a bit of rear roof from the standard Mini to turn it into a three-box sports coupe. I can't quite decide whether I like the design of the roof or not, but it certainly fits the brand's quirky young image. Expect to see the Coupe in Cooper, Cooper S and John Cooper Works guises, as well as possibly the diesel version on Australian shores, with engines just slightly updated versions of those found in other Mini variants.