Heres out new R32 sitting at the dealership. We take delivery for in on Thursday and its inaugural thanging shall be soon after . I'll take some proper photos on the weekend with the dslr since the shitty photos from mum's point and shoot don't do it justice .

The photos:

Awesome dude! Those cars are a hell of a lot of fun. Very well made little vehicle.

Nice car, although I whould have suggested a WV GTI

I sold my 2001 Ford Focus.

This is what I drive now

I'm not aloud to drive the GTI on my provisional license because it is a turbocharged vehicle... But i can drive the R just fine

Great car, nice choice.

eeeetttszzzz time to unpimp ze auto. . . .

What the hell ... thats a Camry in Australia, Corolla's are still the 'small car' that is like a carbine version of that. Is it just that the image is poorly named or is that really a Corolla overseas?

From what I saw in Romania this past spring the Corolla's are bigger than the Camry's in Europe. Blew my mind.

Nice R32. A guy in my apartment complex has one just like that. He and I race all the time. My GLI holds it's own just fine against it and has a sexy boot instead of a big widebutt hatch... =)

This has no boot The boot space is occupied with 4wd stuff.

yeah its a 2009 Corolla SPORT.

2.4L engine

mine is silver and has a more visible spoiler.

Here that exact model (minus modifications) is called the Camry Sportivo. Hence why I'm weirded out.



This is a Corolla Sport(ivo)

I wonder how the R32 compares to a Mini Cooper S/John Cooper Works Mini or a Volvo C30 O.o

It is a great car and all, but..... it's just a Golf. I guess Europeans and everyone but the U.S. enjoy smaller cars a lot more. At least it will be fast and nimble and corner very fun and excitingly.

Congrats though, it is a great color choice. As long as you didn't go with white or grey. I see too many of those here in the U.S. anyway. Nobody in the U.S. has any good taste in color. Nor do most car companies. All you see is mundane black, grey, silver, white BS. That's why our family got our 2006 Nissan Murano is the sunburnt copper (orange).

~Heartburn

Actually, Australia seems to have a thing for larger cars too. But most car enthusiasts consider them pretty trashy because quite simply, large & heavy = poor handling. We have large cars thanks largely to the cost of petrol, the large expanses of open road and the distances we have to travel. Sure, most trips are 10 minutes or so but when you've got to drive a few hours you want a comfy car.

great choice, Golfs (and all other VW/Audi's) are reknown for their sturdiness and reliability

as for it being small, I have to disagree
European and some Japanese constructors tend to enlarge the height of their models: gives a lot of extra space to carry stuff, your passengers sit straighter so they need less legg space etc. At the same time, engines are getting more and more effective: less fuel and more power and reliability

Some examples:

Toyota Corolla (version sold over here)



Hightened version: Corolla "Verso": carries 7 people with ease. My brother has one and these are great cars: compact yet spacious and powerfull. + Toyota gives a 5 year warranty these days




Citroën Xsara



Xsara "Picasso"



Citroën C4



C4 Picasso





And just look at the VW Golf

1996 model



2008 model

Any reference on C4, guys?
We're going to buy it as a secondary family car, only for me and my mother. We only have old Polo and Opel Zafira (it's too big, hate that car).
Also, it's a lot cheaper than Golf.

one of my colleages drives one
she's happy with it, but mind you: it's a young model so some skeletons may fall out of the closet... as typically with citroën

Yeah, in Australia we pretty much have 3 typical classes of car;

Large - GM & Ford manufacture these and they're in the 1.6 ton class, usually have a 4 litre V6
Medium - Nissan Pulsar, Camry (or European large Corolla), Lancer or Magna (Mitsubishi Camry competitor), usually 1.4-1.5 ton, 4 or 6cyl up to 3 litre
Small - True Corolla, Golf, Astra etc.

Go back 20 years and the large cars were the 'standard'. Now purchases are even across the range.

Its a golf with a 184kw 3.2L v6, 4wd and sounds like a high end sports car. The interior and build quality is much better then all the Aussie cars as well.

Well ... that depends what you class as an Aussie car ... basically nothing on the mass market is Australian owned and yeah the build quality is almost always lower then German cars but there are some upper end American owned manufacturers that make fairly nice cars. I wonder if any of the Toyota's made here get re-badged as Lexus's ... I mean there was a camry lexus and I see a lot of those on the roads. Also, you forget the small garage manufacturer. They principally use expensive parts and produce top end cars ... we have a small handful of them and their quality is hard to surpass (as is their price).

Seems to be a lovely car...

I'm talking about Falcons and Holdens. We test drove an fg falcon xr6 manual and a G6E automatic (they only come in automatics). The auto in the g6e is a typical ford auto, rubbish. When you placed your hand on the xr6 gear knob you felt a grinding sensation, like something was filling down something else, it doesn't install a lot of confidence. And the brakes weren't too good either. The interior was nice in them but it was overly complicated.

And they wonder why people prefer Japanese and German cars...

Actually not so much German anymore. BMW is still on par, but Benz has gone down the drain. They have become extremely unreliable and people take them to get fixed all the time (service costs a fortune!). In terms of looks, theres nothing special about "upper-middle class" Benz. Consumer Review magazines give them black marks in most areas, while BMW gets some good and some bad, about the same.

The big problem for German manufacturing is that they have outsourced their production to other countries - like Turkey.
Quality of the production has fallen, while prices remain the same (some crazy scheme Mercedes tried to pull to get even richer) - in the long run they lose because more and more consumers (even the rich ones) are turning their noses.

Want another problem with German cars? Most require high-Octane fuel ONLY, as in Premium, Super, etc... Especially the really fast and good looking ones. You dont need me to tell you why this blows.

Ok and now to Japanese cars. Why do people like them? Because the quality and care they are made with are something you would EXPECT from a German manufacturer. From using quality materials and plastics in the interior (trust me i've seen many new cars nowadays who's dashboards and interiors look "cheap") to "keepin it clean" under the hood.

Also, Japanese cars are easier to service, especially Toyota. Why? Toyota is everywhere (Russia makes their own Toyota Camry's and Corollas under license and specific regulations). Parts are readily available and relatively inexpensive. This is changing however as demand rises for economy vehicles. Toyota is raising prices because more people want their cars.

In terms of looks, VERY worth it, considering the double price difference between most Japanese and German cars (here anyway). Toyota was never really known for looks until a few years ago. In 1998 i would have never gotten a Corolla - that thing was and is ass ugly. Now I have a new Corolla SPORT and I cant get enough of it, looks great, feels like a ****ing jet inside, and rides great.

Obviously Japanese engines are better engineered in terms of fuel economy, which is becoming an issue for everyone nowadays. Relatively powerful engines, with relatively low fuel consumption.

well...thats just my 2cents on it anyways

P.S. I'm picking on BMW, Toyota and Merc. because thats what most people here drive in terms of German and Japanese cars. Since most people cant afford expensive German cars, they chose either Japanese or French (Peugeot, Citroen).

You seem to forget that Audi, Volkswagon & Porsche are all also German and 2 of them are on the rise and the third still holds its share of the market. Germans don't just manufacture luxury cars.



On Toyota you raise good points but the Japanese don't just make 'affordable' cars. Mazda's are mid-range and Lexus and most Nissan's are expensive. Also, some of the most economic engines are European. The problem is, you have to use diesel and you have to pay a lot to buy them.

Oh and the difference with Toyota is only one small part quality materials. Its much more the sheer volume of sale. Due to the amount of cars they sell they can afford more R&D then the next guy. Which means they make better use of materials ... and as they have a hard won (which no one 30 years ago would've believed) reputation for reliability they have to keep their R&D pumping in that area rather then in the "how can we make the same car cheaper and therefore make more money" area.

Ouch, I hope this doesn't happen to ours.
It's been on market for 3 years and not many people have it. On the other hand C3 is widely used, cute and reliable. Haven't heard anything bad about it so far.



I don't know where you got this because japanese cars are actually more expensive and I mean all of them except Suzuki.




You might want to see this, Cold

We are having some problems with the ipod interface. The sound quality is all distroted, theres no way to select songs or playlists from the ipod itself and the satnav unit only shows "track xx" and not like an ipod menu. Is this normal or is it fucked? Any golf owners with the RNS510 satnav unit care to enlighten me?

Thats depends on where you live and which company you're talking about. In Australia European cars have a premium price attached as do most American cars. Japan is a shorter trip (especially since their cars are made here). Only American owned companies here can undercut them in any area and only very rarely.

As I mentioned previously, Toyota's and Ford Focus are made here locally. They are the most affordable in terms of "foreign" cars.
European versions of the Ford Focus are much classier :]

here are the models we expect for next year




the no less interesting. Ford Verve. It's interesting Ford is American and I see models in Europe that I never see or hear of when im in the US.

Well This car is sort of similar about what Jeremy Clarkson said about the golf 650; The Ipod interface doesn't work, the Auxiliary connection doesn't work but the 250 hp v6 engine works, just fine (powers away) :)

Yeah, as far as I can tell Ford has a lot of sub-companies which produce models for the local markets while GM has a lot of brand-names to stamp on their range of products for the illusion of a difference. Of course the variety is about the same. Its just with Ford its got the right badge on it.

That Focus coupe is pretty cool. I mean, I still wouldn't drive one, but I wouldn't make fun of those either like I do the American version. As for VW and Audi being on the rise- saleswise they may be, but their quality still leaves MUCH to be desired. I like my Jetta and all, but there is no way I am keeping it for more than a year or two. And Audi's are actually worse. I'll give the German cars style and performance, but quality is just not there.

I've owned 11 Toyota's and Honda's in my time and never had to do anything to any of them except for put gas in them and change the oil. If you want piece of mind over long mileage, you get a Toyota or a Honda. If you want style and performance and don't mind trading a vehicle off after 40,000 miles before it goes to pot get something German. Same thing for American it's just a little more hit and miss on the performance and/or style.

Normally German cars are praised for their reliability. Maybe the VW's in American are manufactured in Mexico?

This myth originated when all other cars and engines sucked. So in comparison German cars were top notch. Now it seems the Japanese have caught up and surpassed German engineering in many respects. And like I already said, outsourcing production to 3rd world countries while raising prices to keep up with the market is really hurting their popularity.

One of the primary reasons people still purchase German cars is because the legend has not outlived itself yet, most people don't know this kinda stuff and rely on the common-knowledge that "German cars are amazing"

Cool, I like the R32, pretty much the closest thing to a Corrado now (which is the sweetest VW ever). All of a sudden I thought of how much I want to get a PS3 so I can play Gran Turismo 5, that game's gonna have F40s, FTW.

I see what you mean, but 50% moar horsepower and slighly better looking makes me disagree IMHO.

Edit to add the qoute:


Porsche 911 Turbo and GT2 beat the Nissan GT-R for fit and finish (for that matter, they beat it for everything except price and comfort) according to Car and Driver, so I think it depends more on which company.

the R32 has 50 more hp then the GTI (250 compared to 200) not 50% more. My biggest complain with this car is the fact the blinker and gear stick are operated with the same hand, so when doing traffic maneuvers, the blinker has to be forgone since the gear change is more important. The only other complaint is the fact the clutch feels like an on off switch . I'm finding it quite hard 'nuddging' the car forward because im used to hearing the engine rev rev/idle at 1500 rpm (my car is quite loud) and the r32 at 1500 rpm is quite silent. So i turn to rev it too much off the start or not give it enough revs

maybe your experience, but not mine!

Last 3 years I've driven an Audi A6 and it never let me down in 260 000 km's. Not even some small inconveniences of any kind.
Like 2/3 of pour company's fleet consist of German cars like Audi A4/6/8, Mercedes, VW Golf/Passats/Touran/... and I don't hear any of these people complain!

Which can't be said of those driving a Renault

Not a single coil pack failure?!?? My friends with Audi's spend more time driving around in limp mode than under full power...

Wasn't the old vw beatle produced in mexico up untill a few years back?
and it's Lexi not lexus's

you MUST have replaced the clutch plates at least twice on it

the reason the engine lasted so long is because it's probably a gas-guzzler. (i.e. A powerful/large engine on a light body will last alot longer than an average engine on an average body.)

cars aren't a big deal for most people here, because there is a good public transportation system. When I lived in the US, it was impossible to survive without one outside the city.

Pffft, public transportation, thats just for communists. Real men drive trucks to the local store!

I haven't replaced anything
Advantage of having a company car.

Off course it's had it prescribed maintenance

specs: 2.4 benzine (no diesel), converted to LPG (about 12l/100 km)

Top Gear?

As for the reliability of German cars, I'm not sure.
Nothing has ever gone wrong with our Polo, except for headlights level adjustment which I was able to fix myself.
Our Opel Zafira has done nearly 100 000 km and it's doing well. It has however a small hole in the exhaust. (But I hate Opel, really)
Father's company car - Audi A6 has made over 400 000 kilometers!!! and it still works. There have been some problems with it tho.

Also check the ADAC reliability report:
http://www.samar.pl/__/__la/en/__ac/sec,4/...ity-report.html
http://www.samar.pl/__/__la/en/__ac/sec,4/...ity-report.html

In my opinion, electronics are always better in Japanese cars but German cars are less likely to get you stuck on the hard shoulder.


Btw. in quest to find an ideal and cheap car for us, I've tested everything I could. More than 20 cars.
The trouble is that there're only 2 cars I like and they're neither Japanese nor German.............They're both French

I would take Citroën C4 as I mentioned because it's the cheapest hot hatch and still great. However I'm not sure about its reliability. It's based on Peugeot 307 which is the most unreliable car ever made (308 is fine). Also, there has been a facelift.







C4 was often criticized for its dashboard displays, there were to many. So the big tachometer under the steering wheel is gone and it was moved to the main display in the center. But look how tiny it is! I'd need a magnifier for that!





Then there's new Renault Clio or possibly Clio Grandtour







So what is so cool about it, eh? It's quite comfortable and quiet compared to other cars in this category and the suspension is nice too.
Also, new Clio is no longer considered to be a small car. The length of its wheel base is comparable, and I'm not joking, to GOLF
Furthermore, estate version doesn't affect handling for the low weight of extended boot.

I was very surprised by the (don't laugh) 1.2 TCE engine which is very lively, it has 100 BHP. Very low fuel consumption (5-6 litres to 100km), low emissions, I could go on and on......probably the best "1.2" out there.

So it's very practical, economical and IMO, reliable too as Renault Modus appears in ADAC reliability report 2006 and Clio uses its chassis and probably lots of its time-proven parts too.

Edit: and safe - gained 5 in Ncap
Now this is funny - small Modus vs. big Volvo

I swear the French are making a major resurgence in the automotive industries. Here, they're more expensive then the Japanese cars thanks to the import distance being massive but they're popping up all over the place. I really should have a look into em ... could actually be decent cars if so many people are going for em at the moment.

Oh and if any of you don't know, Loius Renault was a very interesting man. Some call him the Henry Ford of France ... but asides from France being directly attacked in WW1 & WW2 he was a pioneer of automobile racing (his brother even died from it) & he died in prison shortly after WW2 in suspicious circumstances.

Well if they're more expensive than Japanese cars, then the main reason for getting one is gone.
In Europe, they offer a lot more for the money than German or Japanese cars. French focus on comfort rather than speed and they never put as insane engines to their cars as BMW does.

For example some Citroens have a unique hydro-pneumatic suspension which is very very smooth (5:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdEKmnWUy4...feature=related
The question is, who needs it?

However you should be very cautious about French cars as their reliability has been fluctuating in past years. That's why lots of people avoid them.
For Example early versions of Renault's mainstream models - Megane and Laguna had some serious reliability issues. I know a guy who owned a Megane and it broke down twice in 4 years. Suprisingly he sold it and bought a newer one which works....so far.

Besides the new C5 and C6, Citroens aren't very reliable too. It pretty much depends on a piece you get.

Peugeots are better but something went terribly wrong with 307. It seems like someone in the company said,
A: "hey, let's earn more money from this car"
B: "ok, how do you want to do that?"
A: "let's replace current staff with some illiterated Algerians and buy all the materials from China"
B: "o-kay"
Everything in that car is breaking, even the door weather-strip.

Their new models however, seem to be all right, I've read some long-run tests in magazines. And I like their designs, this is the new Peugeot 308:



It has a soul, and it looks like it is going to eat ya! Coupe version is cool too.
But the Peugeots are more expensive than VWs, even here. And these new models have too many safety features making them too heavy.
I mean Peugeot 205 revolutionized Rally. 206 was their most popular model, so nimble yet so elegant. 207 is bulkier, much heavier and more expensive too.

Am I the only one here who drives a gas guzzling full size truck?

Gas prices are becoming unaffordable for gas-guzzlers, here in Belgium...

No I think Kraz has a 'ute'* as well.

*ute = pickup truck

I'm about to get my first car, a 1990 Holden Nova which is a license built Toyota Corolla.

True! around € 1.5 for a litre of petrol = not funny

Here in S-A, petrol is "only" € 0,80/liter. So I'm driving a Nissan Almera 2.0 at the moment
It's a beast