Car news, 30 May ’24: BMW M3 gets more power, fully loaded Golf GTI now under $60,000 driveaway and more

“Damn shame,” I mutter to myself, blasting out of a tight, sodden corner at the chunky wheel of the new Mk 8.5 Volkswagen Golf R. My blues are due to this This will be the final petrol-powered interaction of the Golf R, but will this brutally effective hot hatch be remembered as a high point in the model’s history?

It was the concession that had to happen – an admittance by Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg that its approach to slick cabin technology in the 2021 Mk8 Golf The evergreen Golf GTI gets a mid-life makeover for generation eight, creating a hot hatch that’s now easier to live with, easier on the eye, and better than ever to drive.

A BMW winning the Bathurst 12-hour just 24 hours before launching the brand’s latest M car at the same venue is pure serendipity. It’s also a neat Will BMW's latest super-sedan be blunted by a kerb weight that almost matches that of a Ranger Raptor? We find on both on road ... and at top speed around the world-famous Mount Panorama circuit

The Volkswagen Golf turned 50 last year, and the famous German small car has been given a well-timed facelift to keep it looking trim and toned in its The eighth-generation Golf has been given a midlife makeover, and we've had an early opportunity to find out if the updates have improved Germany's latest-generation hatchback.

The really interesting part of this review is not that the 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI is significantly better to both drive and live with - because it is, Hot hatch GTI’s mid-life update proves sweeping changes are not always necessary for significant progress.

Kudos to Volkswagen Australia’s product planners: they update their strategy with the times. The brand was cool on the idea of plug-in hybrid cars for Slick return of the R-rated Touareg demonstrates why petrolheads should welcome well-tuned plug-in hybrid powertrains as a way to keep ICE alive

BMW’s M3 CS is a narcotic on four wheels, a car you’ll be guiltily and hopelessly going back to for more and more – and is a contender for greatest M3 in The 405kW M3 CS is the best M car we’ve driven – even if it does cost a pretty penny. Performance cars don’t get much better than this

“Two point four tonnes!” I just about spat out of my mouth after being informed of the mass of the 2024 Volkswagen Touareg R – notably after a lengthy, Can one vehicle do double-duty as a 340kW performance monster and a part-time electric SUV? Volkswagen’s new Touareg R audaciously attempts the task

The facelifted Volkswagen Touareg has arrived in Australia, it’s new and improved - always appreciated if expected mid-life cycle - but that’s not what Recontextualised by its lower price point, the Volkswagen Touareg should now be considerably more enticing to a new cohort of buyers

Australians love a big, rear-drive sedan – traditionally, at least. And maybe more would do well to snub the SUV trend and try a car like the new BMW The EV versions are stealing the show, but BMW’s comparatively lightweight 520i could be the dynamic sweetheart of the new 5 Series range

Volkswagen’s Touareg offers Audi-like engineering for a relatively discount price – even if it does look a bit short on equipment compared to halo grades The Volkswagen Touareg 170TDI is one of our favourite SUVs – a cut-price Audi, and surely as good as base models get

A half-century ago, BMW was a busy joint. It had just built its famed BMW Tower HQ, lobbed its first turbo car in the (ahem) BMW Turbo, and created its Munich’s sport-luxury sedan returns to Oz in its 8th gen with petrol and new ‘i5’ electric guises. It’s truly impressive, if not for all tastes

Volkswagen likes to mark key birthdays for its hot hatch models with special editions, and the twentieth anniversary of the all-paw Golf R is no Big power, big price, and big personality: the Golf R 20 Years is the ultimate expression of the brand’s sophisticated AWD hot hatch

Citroen's goal to create a comfort-focused wagon seems well-suited to Australia, a claim we seek to investigate over the next three months

When the Mk 8 Volkswagen Golf was released in Australia in 2020, there was a general feeling that the quality and usability had gone backwards since the Go-fast Golf R wagon reminds our testers of why it’s one of the best all-round performance car buys under $100,000

Volkswagen’s Touareg SUV is a peach in more ways than one, but do buyers really need to fork out top dollar for the 210TDI R-Line?

Thanks for joining us this Tuesday, May 27th 2025. Notably in car news today: Toyota-Lexus set to revise global range, oddball BYD ute spied. Browse this

Thanks for joining us this Thursday February 22nd 2024. Notably in car news today: more details on Volkswagen’s Touareg facelift, and the brand’s Scirocco In today's news Subaru has make its first EV a lot cheaper, the BT-50 has been canned in NZ and our review of the cheaper BMW i4 goes live.

Amid an ongoing chip shortage, Volkswagen has ceased the promotion of all grades that don't have a delivery timeline.

Volkswagen’s luxurious Touareg large SUV has had its price lopped in facelifted form as the first batch of updated crossovers lands in Australian Foreshadowed in recent months, Volkswagen has slashed prices for its Touareg alongside a newly-arrived facelift and spec upgrade to attract more sales

The facelifted 2024 Volkswagen Touareg range will be considerably more affordable than the list prices of the outgoing version, with VW’s Australian

Volkswagen Australia has announced it will significantly discount its current Touareg large SUV before the facelifted lineup arrives around April/ May The brand’s largest SUV has just had a big price cut prior to the facelift arriving in Q2

BMW unveiled its M Concept Neue Klasse over the weekend to preview the next-generation version of its most famous sports car in the M3 sedan. Expected to In an industry forced to choose between electric and combustion power, BMW straddles both lanes, and now we know what the future of ‘M’ will look like

BMW’s hometown of Munich, Germany, was the natural setting for this evening’s unveiling of the crucial new electric 3 Series sedan, which has now assumed The eighth-generation 3 Series is here, and while petrol and hybrid engines willpersist, the all-new electric version comes first — in more ways than one

The first pre-production BMW i3 — in other words, the marque’s first electric 3 Series — has been built overnight at the Bavarian brand’s Plant Munich BMW is nearly ready to start series production of its critical next-generation 3 Series, which will be built on two separate platforms to support petrol and electric power

Swings and roundabouts for hot Golfs, with now-plentiful GTI offered with a big incentive, but slow R supply is preventing new orders from being placed

BMW Australia has at last confirmed local pricing and specification for its eighth-generation 5 Series. But if the new fully-electric i5 has piqued your The new BMW 5 Series is set to be more advanced than ever and will include a fully electric version for the first time

After sending out a selection of teaser images, Volkswagen has revealed its Golf R 333 Limited Edition variant. It’s priced from a frankly Mega-buck 333 Limited Edition version of the Volkswagen Golf R will get a power boost up to 245kW and a louder exhaust system

A special edition Volkswagen Golf R 20 Years is finally making its way to Australia in time for its birthday party. Originally slated to arrive in 2022, After a near year-long delay, fifty special editions of VW’s fastest ever Golf are heading to Australia, priced at $77,490 plus on-roads

If you’re after a classic hot hatch, fresh supply of the Volkswagen Golf GTI is headed to Australia for the first time since December 2022. The same After a restriction was put in place on Golf due to a shortage of reversing cameras, there are 1300 fresh units of both Golf GTI and R-Line hatches headed to Australia

First, it was the BMW 3.0 CSL based on the current-generation BMW M4. Now, BMW has announced its new and more powerful version of the M3: the CS special Going against the pure rear-drive heritage of BMW, the new M3 CS will be exclusively all-wheel drive and automatic

Pricing for the BMW M3 Touring has now been confirmed in the UK, giving us a critical insight into its potential cost in Australia.