German Car Forum

Last one for the day, Light blue R8. Not my favourite colour for the car.

Here are a few photos of some "Typical" Aussie cars. Holden really....
I am only posting these as Monster asked me to, and happy to do so

I wont give any details about them i will leave that for monster to go through.

Holden HSV GTS



Holden HSV Maloo R8 (Ute)



Cheers ASD

Both of them have the GenIV 6.0 L V8 from the Corvette with a peak power of 307kW. The GTR is the top of the VE Commodore based HSV, it comes with Magnetic Ride Control (MRC) as standard. Basically they are the same magnetic damper used in the F599 and the Audi R8.

The word Maloo is a indigenous word meaning Thunder. The Maloo is basically the Ute version of the HSV R8. A lot of people buy the ute because they see it as a 2 door coupe with extra practicality. It has the same engine and drivetrain as the rest of the HSV range, but with different traction control and rear suspension setting because of the different weight distribution of the car.

Audi usually have the best dressed girls but they aren't that willing to take photos with the show goers. This year they have the R8, the S5, the new A4, and a stunning white RS4.

Last year they have a silver R8 behind the protective glass fence, but this year we can have a good close up look at the car. The light blue and aluminium side blade combination isn't my favourite, It makes the car look soft. The car is very low to the ground it is definitely as low as the Lamborghini Gallardo, but not as compact. The car looks great from most angle, but from the side profile, the car looks unbalanced because the front overhang looks too long. Audi designers try to disguise the front overhang by having the headlights angled backwards as shown in my previous post, but when you view the side profile, the entire length of the front overhang is exposed.







The silver one from last year.

The new A4 was on my "to see" list of cars in the show. There was a metallic black 3.2 V6 Quattro on the main display area. My interest died down when I saw the special "White Edition RS4" on display not too far away from the new A4. So that explains why I have 2 half arsed photo of the A4. IMO it just doesn't look that new or interesting, it is a case of more of the same. Maybe it is the colour, or the lighting but it just doesn't appeal to me. I really hate the chin spoiler, it extends too far in front of the car.



Wish the old guy isn't at the background.

2 quick photos of the S5 taken by my friend asd01 because my camera ran out of battery. I am not entire convinced by the design of the A5/S5, and after seeing it in real life I am starting to like it more than before. The shape is definitely more eye catching than a BMW E92, but I think the slightly GT style window shape doesn't go well with the rest of the car's design. I love the design of the front though. Wish I had taken more photos of the car. I guess it has a sense of classical beauty about it, especially when looking at the side profile.




The interior is simply flawless, everything you touch, every surface is made from top quality materials. Every switch gear has been precisely engineered and manufactured so it feels so right every time when you press it.

White RS4. Simply stunning. Enjoy. (I spent too much time taking photos of the BMW CS so my camera was running low on battery towards the end so I can't take more photos)

The jewel in the RS4. One of the best engine ever made. Now this is what a performance engine should look like. Entire visible, not hidden underneath a plastic cover.

Where are they???

OK one more for you



I think I have 2 more, will upload when I am not busy.

Thanks a million, mate...

Last one for the day. R50 Touareg. Nice looking 4WD, ruined by the nasty R50 sticker on the side of the car. The engine bay is extremely tight and it is totally covered with plastic panels. Hope it doesn't melt in the heat.

Superb coverage man. Keep up the good work.

Thanks mate, it is always nice to see some feedback from other forum members.

Definitely!

Something different this time. I was interested to check out the new Subaru Impreza range. The fact that I didn't bother to take any photos of it tells you how boring it is, even for the WRX version. It looks very boring and the front looks dated already. Subaru promised a much improved interior quality for this generation of the Impreza, but sadly although the fit and finish is excellent, the material quality is very cheap. Brittle plastic everywhere, cheap feeling buttons. It is definitely disappointing, but when you put things in perspective, the material quality is about the same as the Mazda 3.

The most interesting display in the Subaru show area, for me (possibly martinbo) is the competely exposed drivetrain layout from the Liberty/Legacy 3.0R. It is fasiniating to see how everything in my car fits together, and to see the engine is positioned extremely in the car. Notice the driveshafts for the front wheels are located ahead of the gearbox to shift the front wheels in front. Audi has only recently started doing something similar.

Subaru call this Symmetrical Drivetrain cause the driveshafts for the front and the rear wheels have equal length and the propeller shaft is right in the middle of the car.


The top black part of the engine contain the air filter, intake manifold, aternator and various pump and pulley.


You can see the engine block sits very low in the car, thanks to the horizontal engine. You can see the transfer case located infront of the gearbox, sort of under the bell housing.



Front suspension arms and links, closer look at the transfer case.


Rear suspension subframe, suspension linkage anti roll bar and the differential with cooling fin at the bottom. I think the diff is a viscus coupling type.

Mazda 6. They only have the sedan on display, and it is locked, so i can't check out the interior. In real life the wheel arches are not as pronounced as they appear to be in the press release photos, but it is still a sharp an attractive design with nice details. The front headlight design is particuarly unique, with 3 rounded parallelogram shape stacked together. The rear light design looks great from far away but upon closer inspection, the detail looks a bit tacky. The best view of the car is from front on sadly I don't have a photo of it

Nothing much is happening in the Saab show area. They have this lovely 9-3 Turbo-X on display. More later.

I am back with more. Some of you might know, I have a massive soft spot for Saabs ever since i had a 97 9000cs.

The Saab stand is tiny and it was combined with the Hummer show area, thanks GM for destroying whatever respect Saab has.

This is the 1st time I get to see the facelift version of the 9-3 range. I like it a lot, including those clear tail lights which looks significantly better in real life. The car looks sharp and modern, and lots of young girls were crawling over the 9-3 Convertible saying "its hot", so Saab has done something right. The least appealing view of the car is the dead front on view. The front end looks too narrow, have a look



This 9-3 Turbo X wagon is seriously sexy. Good to see Saab has gone back to their unique 3 spoke wheel design. The design has disappeared for a while now, but it is back and Saab is the only company to pull it off.

The Bentley display area was being combined with the VW display area. They had their full car range on display. There was a bright red Continental GTC which looks absolutely wrong. Next to it is the brand new Continental Speed GT. The bonnet was opened for the entire show so I can't get a decent photo of it. You guys can see the engine bay is packed to the max. There are hardly any clearance between the engine intake manifold and the bonnet.




Now we come to this personalised Muller Flying Spur. For some reason my camera just refused to take good photos of this car. Maybe it is because it doesn't like it. The car is definitely very "bling" but it isn't what Bentley should be like. I still dont' like the overall shape of the Flying Spur, there is something strange about the side profile and the proportion of the car. The Arnage sitting next to it, now that is the genuine, real deal.




The Arnage is imposing and confident, unlike the Flying Spur which has all these extra and unnecessary styling jewellery to help it gain some respect. In another words, it tries too hard to impress. The Arnage has none of those but it is still a million times cooler.

One more of the CS. Can't get enough of it.

OMFG!

Karma for you!

Thanks bro . I think I can dig out one or two more but will have to do that later. Really wish I had a bigger memmory card for my camera.

NIKE: Just do it!

Full size version

Ok I think it is time to continue my review since i have gone a bit lazy and I have been dragging it out.

Porsche missed the show last year, but they promise to have the full range of cars this year. I was hoping to see the GT3 or the RS version, or a 997 Turbo Coupe, but no, Porsche decided not to bother and gave us the "normal" 997 line up and a single 997 Turbo converterble, which I must admit, looks a lot better in person, espically in metallic black.



There was a rare white coloured Cayman S on display, it is rolling on optional 19inch wheels, and it does look very sharp even though there is still a sense of awkwardness about the styling.




The "star" of the Porsche display area is the RS Spyder. It is always nice to see a manufactur bringing in their sportscar for display, and the RS Spyder sorta make up for the missing GT3 or GT2.

This RS is the previous season's version, but it runs the same engine as the current race car. The car is seriously wide, very low and massively long. It runs a 3.4 V8 which produce around 503bhp, and the entire car is only 775kg. Not sure if it is the dry weight or not, but it is still impressive for a car with such vast dimension. If you look close enough, you can see the exhaust pipe is located just in front of the rear wheels. Unlike the current car, this version has the larger headlights and the side profile is a lot cleaner without the various aerodynamic device attached to the side of the car.