This week on Chasing Cars: BRZ priced for Australia, Forester heads to the Wilderness and Mercedes’ EQ onslaught

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In a week focused very much on moving towards sustainability in the automotive sector it was good to see that creativity has not been lost in the mix.

Hyundai pulled out brilliant ideas like its autonomous truck that needs to be seen to be believed and a 500kW, hydrogen-powered RWD coupe, which will likely make it to production in some form. It was all a welcome shock for sure.

Porsche didn’t let us down either, releasing the wild Mission R concept which previews the inevitable electric future of the Cayman. It will not only be very fast but looks the part too with a huge but elegant rear wing the clear party piece.

Away from EV news, we also saw some very alluring images of the next-generation Ford Ranger in its natural habitat drifting across lakes and climbing mountains.

But this only really scratched the surface of the news this week so let’s jump straight into it.

Subaru BRZ priced for Australia

Historically a car can be fun, fast and cheap but not all three. However, that may not be the case with the second generation Subaru BRZ which has been priced from $38,990 before on-road costs.

While that does translate to the low-mid $40k region once you tack on a few taxes it’s the cheapest rear wheel drive coupe on the market and looks to outperform its predecessor in a number of areas.

Subaru will offer its new sports car in two grades known as the BRZ Coupe and BRZ Coupe S and priced them at $38,990 and $40,190 respectively (before on-road costs). The auto does command a hefty $3,800 premium, however.

Toyota is expected to offer a cheaper starting price on the GR 86 twin as it has chosen a more stripped-down version for the base model while Subaru has more features as standard.

We’ve done a separate article breaking down the five key differences between the two which you can read here.

Subaru Forester Wilderness unleashed

In some very different Subaru news, over the United States, the company unveiled the Forester Wilderness edition, which is a beefed-up version of the popular midsize SUV that you won’t be afraid to take off road.

Engineers started by raising the ride height to 233mm, some 42mm higher than a standard Volkswagen Tiguan, gave it big mud tyres and dressed it with a more durable exterior.

Subaru also added a ladder-type roof rack that’s able to carry 100kg while on the move or 362kg when stopped – making it much easier to step up a roof-mounted tent away from the bugs and dirt.

The Forester Wilderness and the Outback Wilderness remain of keen interest to Subaru Australia but they are yet to confirm either for our market.

Mercedes-Benz can’t stop launching new EVs

Most companies release cars one by one but Mercedes-Benz, always an efficient bunch, decided to drop several on the same day.

The one most likely to soak up the sales is the EQE which is an electric version of the E-Class sedan. It looks quite a lot like the EQS and has a bit less range, but is still packed with plenty of technology to satisfy a new generation of buyers.

EQG isn’t ready just yet but the obvious electrification of the G-Class looks quite ready and will come to market at some point. Plus, with a low centre of gravity and four independent motors it could actually be even better off road than the petrol or diesel version.

Mercedes-AMG debuted its first-ever performance electric car in the AMG EQS 53 which will come to Australia in 2022 with its ridiculous 560kW/1020Nm outputs and S-Class luxury.

Other car and SUV news we covered this week:

• Ford gave us our first look at the new so-called T6.2 Ranger which is currently being developed in Australia and New Zealand but it’s still heavily covered in camouflage. 

• The Subaru Outback smashed safety records this week as ANCAP crowned the raised-family wagon the safest car it has ever tested under its strict new protocols.

• Volkswagen confirmed the Touareg R for Australia 2022, which is a ferocious beast with 340kW/700Nm armed and ready but it’s also the company’s first hybrid on our shores.

• Hyundai Motor Group held its Hydrogen Wave forum this week where it outlined a plan to make hydrogen commonplace by 2040 and would start with commercial vehicles by offering a hydrogen-electric powertrain option across its entire lineup by 2023.

• In the same event, head of R&D, Albert Biermann said it would offer the Hyundai Staria van with hydrogen by the end of 2023, its Australia arm said it was too early to confirm but added they remained very interested in the prospect.

• The Hyundai Nexo will be getting its second generation in the second half of 2023, where it is expected to feature a redesigned hydrogen fuel cell system that is more powerful and compact.

• And then – out of absolutely nowhere – Hyundai dropped the Vision FX concept: a rear wheel drive battery-electric and hydrogen-powered coupe built with Rimac, this is one you’ll really want to read more on.

• The Volkswagen Group’s Cupra brand is absolutely determined to bring the all-electric Born hot hatch to Australia at some point in 2022 but the specifics are still being worked out.

• Another day, another Tesla delay. Company CEO Elong Musk announced the highly anticipated Roadster would be delayed until at least 2023, falling just shy of its original 2020 deadline. 

• While it’s easy to get upset about the fact Renault has turned the Megane hatch into the Megane E-Tech electric SUV the end result looks bloody good with 470km of range, loads of new tech and a relatively friendly price.

• BMW Group announced it would launch EVs to cover almost every market niche by 2023 in both the BMW and Mini brands and plans to sell more than 10 million fully electric vehicles over the next 10 years.

• However, BMW also confirmed that it would continue to develop its petrol and diesel engines beyond 2025, so our favourite sports cars likely won’t be going electric just yet.

Cars and SUVs that we reviewed this week:

• We kicked off this week with a walkaround review of the new Kia Sportage midsize SUV which showed off what looks to be a solid SUV, we’re yet to drive it but that will come soon.

• Next, we held a faceoff between the Volkswagen Golf GTi and Hyundai i30 N hatch which proved to be more different to drive than you might think.

• You’ve been asking for more base model content so we took a look at Toyota Kluger GX large SUV with the non-hybrid V6 option and found it includes quite a lot right off the bat.

• Finally, we reviewed the BMW M4 Competition which is a truly ferocious machine that we found improved a lot over its predecessor.