PUSHING boundaries is a Mazda thing – going rotary, dabbling with hydrogen, re-inventing the sports car. So much beyond-the-box thinking.
At a time, then, when so many other brands are announcing intent to either freeze ongoing internal combustion engines or even drop them altogether, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Hiroshima concern is putting a dollar each way.
Read MoreOFTEN you hear about brands that are ‘late to the party’; not so here – indeed, quite the contrary.
Mercedes has offered AMG versions of its sports utilities since 1999, so it was there at the start and knows the playlist backward.
Drive some AMG cars are you’d think this is a brand that has its head buried in the speakers as they blare sounds of past decades. Research what they’re preparing for the times ahead, however, and you’ll know that’s not true. Quite the contrary. These people accept electric-enhanced driving is coming, understand why it has to be and have signed off their plan.
Read MoreIN one of the North Island’s most isolated places, there’s a ghost town.
Nestled in a peaceful Taranaki valley, Tangarakau was briefly a bustling little settlement with a resident population of at least 1200.
Even though many structures have gone, memory of its existence linger.
Read MorePEOPLE who want larger small cars, those desiring hybrid but prefer not to draw attention to themselves, folk keen on off-road styling yet have no desire for any beyond seal ability.
In a nutshell, the Yaris Cross is for you.
With small crossovers being chic, petrol-electric interest rocketing, and an increasing count of consumers looking outside of the box … well, you can see why Toyota is confident about achieving big things from a car that slots a body shape inspired by its larger sports utilities onto a platform shared with the smallest tyke it sells.
Sure, from driving the hybrid editions in base GX (the silver car) and line-topping Limited (in red) formats, some personal irks were noted.
Read MoreREVISIONS that arrive with the mid-life update of Audi’s Q5 are so relatively modest you might be left with impression it was already in such a sweet spot the maker determined the less change, the better.
In the here and now, that might well be true. In reality, it’s also an acknowledgement from this maker that this another product being kept just fresh enough to maintain relevance until the new one comes along and essentially puts the type onto an entirely different path.
Read MoreAT 2518 metres, Mount Taranaki is the imposing presence in its namesake province … yet it used to be significantly taller still.
What cut the conical mountain down to modern size was what is known as a volcanic debris avalanche, a truly cataclysmic event when it occurred.
At least 7.5 cubic kilometres – yes, kilometres – of debris crashed off Taranaki Maunga’s north-western slopes, covering up to 250 square kilometres of land with material up to 30 metres deep. All the way to the coastline.
Read MoreAudi A5 40 TSFI/RS5 Sportback
Price: A5 $92,450 as tested; RS5 $157,900.
Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol, 140kW/320Nm, 3.0-litre twin turbocharged V6, 331kW/600Nm; seven-speed dual clutch, eight-speed automatic; FWD/AWD; combined economy 5.9/ 9.0 litres per 100km; CO2 136/206 g/km.
Vital statistics: 4673/4723mm long, 1846/1861mm wide, 1371/1360mm high, 2764/2766mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 465 litres,19/20-inch alloy wheels.
We like: RS5 is a fast and impressive car; styling has aged well; beautiful interior materials.
We don't like: A5 spec could be richer, Sportback shape is not for families.
BY now we should be getting used to the feeling that the wholly fossil fuel-reliant cars entering the market right now might very well be the last of an ‘old’ breed.
Electric in all its diverse formats is incoming and you can be positive about it, or hide your head in the sand, but either way the single biggest change in this industry since - well, since it began – seems a done deal.
And yet, that doesn’t mean you’ll wake up tomorrow and find petrol station forecourts chained off and growing weeds and everything moving being sustained off the mains. As quick as the change is racing in, there’s still time now – and potentially for quite a few years to come – to keep enjoying the tastes and sensations of what we’ve grown up with.
Spending time with Audi’s updated A5, tested in ‘mainstream’ 40 TSFI Sportback and more extreme RS5 formats, also presented as a breather from another trend.
THE RS5 (above) is a real stormer, but Audi offers enhancements that really lift the street image of the A5 (below).
There are now so many SUVs, some many formats and sizes, that it’s actually becoming rare to strike an orthodox car any more. But that’s definitely what the A5 is. It felt refreshing to be sitting this low down but also a little odd.
Who’s still into it? Well, apparently there’s been a bit of resurgence of interest now that Audi has stopped bothering with the three-door shell and now put all its engines and drivetrain choices into the five-door shell. It’s a slinky car, so not the very best choice if practicality is a priority; but doesn’t have to be, because that’s why Audi has the A4.
With this Sportback the boot space is fairly decent, but the rakish roofline of course eats into rear headroom and, also, when a tall person (hands up, here) is driving, legroom behind does rather suffer. It’s tolerable, but no more. It’s also really a four seater because the high transmission tunnel running down the centre of the car means the middle-rear seat is all but useless.
Still, I really cannot imagine many buyers are choosing this car for full-out family consideration but Audi won’t imagine that’d be a problem; it’s why they also do a DNA-sharing A4. The ‘Five’ is more a driver with front-seat passenger kind of deal, though it does offer plenty of luggage room for weekend getaways: the boot will take 480 litres and it has a nice, wide opening, although there is quite a high lip to lift things over.
The car’s look is an enduring strength. For a design that dates back to 2015, it still looks quite fresh, and certainly desirable; tangibly sportier and sexier than the A4.
The sheer quality is also massively impressive. Audi has long been the king of cabin quality and even though it's true to say that some aspects have been bettered by competing marques, it is still a really swish place. The sense of quality is undeniable.
The A5 on test was an $83,500 car that could have passed for a $150k model, thanks to being loaded with around $9000 worth of extras. Those 19-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels, for $1200, really suit its style for starters. This one also had sports suspension with damping control ($2500), a flat-bottomed sports steering wheel ($750), a matrix headlights package that’ll set you back $2800, privacy glass for $1400, and an ambient lighting package $300. So, $92,450 all up. For making million dollar impression? Good value.
Further, it also pretty good to drive. Markedly more decisive at RS level but still quite enjoyable in entry format, where even though dynamic assertiveness is less pronounced there’s delight in well-weighted steering. Suspension tune is pretty well sorted too; the RS is harder, of course, but even its comfy enough.
A5 buyers are clearly performance chasers; surely that’s why the street race editions now dominate. Whereas once the RS car was the niche edition, now the entry version is more fitting of that designation.
Strictly speaking, the 40 is the only ‘A5’ here for Kiwis. The other choices are the $126,500 S5 and the $157,900 RS5, which carry a different expectation given they swap from a front-drive system to having the brand synonymous quattro and bump out the entry car’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol for a V6.
The S5’s is single turbo and makes 260kW, the RS5’s is twin turbo and generates 331kW. The A5 gets along with 140kW, which is okay, but you’re never in any doubt about it not being the biggest or sharpest knife in the drawer.
Which is presumably why Audi will very quickly remind how economical it can be, with a cited optimal fuel consumption of just 5.9L/100km for the combined cycle. RS acolytes won’t bother to ask how their one fares but, well, let’s just say it’s not anything as brilliant.
Mind you, the A5 should have an edge given that, above the fundamental four-cylinder advantages, it has an additional fuel-eking feature in the form of a mild hybrid system, whose core implementation is a belt alternator starter connected to the crankshaft. When a driver lifts off the throttle or brakes lightly the BAS can recover up to 5kW of power and feed it into a lithium-ion battery. When the car is operating in the 55-160kmh speed range, the vehicle can coast with the engine switched off and the lithium-ion battery then powers the electrical consumers. Audi says the MHEV system can reduce fuel consumption by up to 0.3 litres per 100 kilometres.
The A5 provides an extensive suite of technology to enhance safety and comfort, with plenty of options to add if these don’t seem enough; it seems strange, though, that these cost extras include an active cruise control.
A5 interior presented as the epitome of high-tech smart … until the RS5 (below) showed up.
It’s standard on the RS5 but should also really be packaged to the entry model, as well. In respect to the operability of various functions, the A5 is the latest model to feel Audi's decision to drop the old MMI rotary controller for the infotainment and switch to a touchscreen. You get used to it easily enough but it’s challenging to work out how it delivers a comprehensively better operability.
Of enduring appeal is Audi’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’, which replaces the conventional dials with a full-LED display, ultra-high definition screen quality and iPhone-like configurability, to give a highly effective blend of technology and sophistication.
Shifting to the RS5 required something of a change of mindset. It’s obviously even more capable of putting a smile on your face away from the main road. Just triggering the V6 into burbling idle is enough to remind that a far more potent engine lurks beneath this version’s creased clamshell bonnet. Seeing that there are now RS1 and RS2 drive buttons on the well-crafted, flat-bottom Alcantara steering wheel further raises the heart rate.
An ability to nail 100kmh from a standing start in just 3.9 seconds and reach 250kmh before the speed limiter is serious shove by any measure. But that’s just part of the RS recipe and because all that muscularity channels through the company's quattro all-wheel-drive transmission too, you at least know the power is being dispatched to all four wheels in the most efficient fashion.
For all that, yes, there will be occasions when it aches to deliver more than you might necessarily want it to, but at same token it is not so feral as to become the sort of car that you’d never want to allow to fall into inexperienced hands. It will comfortably cruise at 100kmh in top gear with the engine barely seeming to rise far beyond idle speed.
Naturally, there’s more. A lot more. This engine has less aural theatre than the old V8, but when the turbos spool up, the V6 really comes alive - there is a massive swell of torque that'll keep your head and back firmly against the quilted leather sports seat. Switch the drive mode to Dynamic and the transmission into manual and you’re driving a wholly different car.
The RS5 sports a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6, the A5 gets by quite nicely with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder.
The one constant whether driving easily or eagerly is the tremendous traction. Despite having such huge torque within 35 degrees of right ankle articulation, the quattro system can never seemingly be bested. It could potentially be a more exciting ride if it could be made to deliver a more rearward bias, but then it might risk becoming less manageable. As is, it stands as a hugely effective cross-country tool, enabling drivers of all skill levels to safely maintain a decent average clip in seemingly all conditions.
Picking the RS5 from lesser A5s hardly requires an onerous detective work; the car is seriously altered in a myriad of ways beyond it achieving the requisite badges. You can add more, of course, by buying into a carbon fibre styling pack, an RS sports exhaust system and having the brake callipers treated to a red paint finish. Matrix LED headlights also enhance the package and, of course, the after-dark illumination.
You would struggle to call even the RS5 an all-out ‘driver’s car’, but it – and the A5 – are nonetheless good to drive. You can cover ground at quite a lick in either.
The way things are going, it’s very likely the next generation of this car could be massively different to what we get now. Even though the RS edition received its V6 because the V8 it once had was just politically untenable, given how deeply Audi has immersed into making electric cars it would seem probable that, at the very least, a plug-in theme is not so much a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ for this line.
The BT-50 looks over the entrance to Hokianga Harbour.
Mazda BT-50 Limited
Price: $60,990
Powertrain and economy: 3.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder, 140kW/450Nm, 6-speed automatic, 4WD, combined economy 8.1L/100km (as tested), CO2 208g/km.
Vital statistics: 5280mm long, 1870mm wide, 1790mm high, 3125mm wheelbase, 18-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Much improved ute design; driving manners almost SUV-like; impressive fuel economy; appealing price.
We don’t like: Some safety technologies are a bit intrusive; some electronic interfaces difficult to operate.
HERE’S a question that is almost impossible to answer: Which Northland beach is the most attractive?
Is it Mangawhai Heads, Langs Beach, or Waipu Cove? Sandy Bay or Ocean Beach near Whangarei? Is it one of those lovely beaches along what is dubbed the ‘Million Dollar View Road’?
Or maybe Coopers Beach or Taipa facing Doubtless Bay? Tokerau Beach or circular Maitai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula? Spirits Bay with its stunning sand right at the top? Ahipara Beach down the other side? Or maybe all the little coves along historic Hokianga Harbour?
It’s an extremely difficult choice. There are dozens of beaches and 10 major harbours along the region with the longest coastline – it stretches a massive 3200km – and at times it seems that each one is even more lovely than the one before.
I know all of this from having just toured quite a number of them in Mazda’s latest BT-50 ute.
Hokianga history. Hidden between a primary school and a bowling club at Kohukohu is a part-buried stone arch, the remnant of New Zealand’s oldest bridge, built in the 1840s using Sydney sandstone that was ship's ballast.and seen in this photo (below) taken in the 1860s.
Our Northland circuit was aboard the top BT-50, a 4x4 Limited, which at $60,990 achieves price advantage over almost all the competition, including the Isuzu D-Max equivalent, the X-Terrain. How’s that for re-setting retail thinking?
Mention also has to be made of the BT-50’s warranty. The ute’s new vehicle factory warranty covers five years or 150,000km, and Mazda NZ also offers a $250 fixed-cost servicing programme as well as on-call roadside assist, also for five years. That’s appealing.
Our plan for the beach-hopping journey through our northern-most region was to keep off State Highway 1 as much as possible, instead tracking up the east coast all the way to Cape Reinga, and then back down the west coast to Northland’s southern border halfway down the Kaipara Harbour – and visit as many beaches as we could along the way.
That’s a lot of beaches …. and a lot of winding secondary road to get to them. But this was the very environment that underlined the improvements achieved with the new BT-50. At the Limited level it is very much a road-oriented ute, with its 18-inch Bridgestone Dueller 265/60 tyres combining with new electric power steering to offer nice driving balance.
Of course the fact the ute continues with the live rear axle with leaf springs setup that is common on one-tonne utes, meant things often became quite juddery when negotiating some badly corrugated unsealed beach access roads. But the BT-50 handling it all, and the ability to move into 4WD High at speeds of up to 100kmh gave additional handling security.
A carving of enigmatic Kupe guards the entrance to the new cultural centre at Opononi.
And engine grunt? The 3.0-litre four cylinder turbo diesel aboard the ute is all Isuzu, a manufacturer that prides itself for making solid truck engines. For this iteration the engine, which was aboard the previous D-Max, has undergone various internal improvements that have added 10kW of power and 20Nm of torque.
The engine now offers 140kW of power and 450Nm of torque, with that torque available from 1600rpm to 2600rpm, which is right in the revolutions zone that the BT-50 operated virtually all the time. So it worked well, with hardly any stresses on the six-speed automatic transmission. As a result, we completed our Northland journey with an average fuel consumption figure of 8.1 L/100km, which was almost right on the button of the claimed 8.0 L/100km for 4x4 models.
A feature of this new ute is that it carries more than 20 passive and active safety technologies as part of what is called Advanced Driver Assist System. It’s very comprehensive, and ranges from automatic emergency braking to cruise control with stop/go, traffic sign recognition and blind spot monitoring, hill descent control to trailer sway control.
Overlooking a sea of avocados in northern Northland.
Some of it is a bit intrusive. For example the traffic sign recognition system audibly lets you know every time you have moved in or out of every speed zone and also complains whenever you are just a few kays above the speed limit. Same with the lane departure warning system, which also tugs on the steering wheel whenever it judges the ute is starting to wander.
If can become a little tiresome. Still, from the safety perspective it is far better to have such features aboard than not. And they have all contributed to the BT-50 being recognised as among the safest utes on the New Zealand roads, carrying a five-star ANCAP crash safety rating.
As we tracked north and visited to some lovely beaches and historic harbours, we eventually got past Mangonui and its famous fish ‘n chip shop (which has just been renamed Mangonui Fush Shop, for heaven’s sake), and stopped for the night at Taipa.
Maitai Bay at the top of the Karikari Peninsula
Now here was a magnificent beach. White sand, gentle surf, views out across Doubtless Bay, and a new bridge across the river of a design reflective of a sea-going double hulled waka, all to acknowledge that Taipa was one of the first – if not the first – landing places by Kupe, the great Polynesian explorer and navigator who discovered and named Aotearoa more than 63 generations ago.
There’s also a monument alongside the bridge’s western abutment that is a combination of a Pou Whenua marking Kupe’s landing, and a memorial that commemorates locals who died during the two world wars.
Beauty, tranquility, history … it was all there at Taipa. We agreed these factors could combine to make it Northland’s most attractive beach.
But then a couple of days later we arrived in the historic Hokianga Harbour, and our thoughts began to unravel. Because there at the little settlement of Opononi was a brand-new visitor attraction called Manea: Footprints of Kupe, an impressive multi-sensory journey of guided storytelling that tells the tale of the voyage and life of our country’s original coloniser – who, claim local iwi, landed first at Hokianga and based himself there for 40 years before journeying back to Hawaiki.
Pohutukawas are a feature of Northland's beaches. They provide great shelter.
It’s interesting to note that there was some local opposition to the creation of Footprints of Kupe because of fears it would ruin the relaxed vibe that is such a feature of the Hokianga. But the facility, opened late last year, is brilliant. And even better news is that Te Hua o Te Kawariki, the charitable trust that operates the facility, represents the harbour’s four marae, and all profits are returned to these marae for community projects.
As we used our BT-50 to wander around the Hokianga and visit its series of villages such as Kohukohu, Rawene and Horeke, it became increasingly obvious that the harbour is a massive cradle of history – Maori and European – and that the Footprints of Kupe simply adds to that.
So we decided that even though Hokianga isn’t a beach per se, it is part of the regional coastline and its combination of beauty, community and history makes it Northland’s most attractive beach.
And as for the new Mazda BT-50? Well, I’d say its combination of design, performance, comfort and safety specification puts it right up there as one of New Zealand’s best utes and clearly my view is widely shared.
Whereas last year a total of 1812 BT-50s were sold, in the opening two months of this year 466 have been registered. If that rate continue, this line could end the year with close to 3000 sales.
Characterful speed signage outside The Marlin hotel at Whangaroa.
The occupants’ coffee consumption possibly outdid the Multivan’s modest thirst for diesel.
VIP lounge came with an ever-changing view.
Volkswagen Multivan
Price: $79,500.
Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel, 110kW/340Nm, 7-speed automatic, FWD, combined economy 6.6L/100km.
Vital statistics: 4904mm long, 1904mm wide, 1970mm high, 3000mm wheelbase,18-inch alloy wheels.
We like: It's a unique take on the people mover, loads of passenger space, clever interior fitout, highly efficient powertrain.
We don't like: No spare wheel, no orthodox power plug.
AS is typical of best-laid plans, this one didn’t wholly go as I’d imagined it would.
The idea was brilliantly simple. I thought.
We’re motorsport fans. The New Zealand Grand Prix had moved up from our favourite locale, Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, up to the Hampton Downs track in south Waikato. It would be Ken Smith’s 50th turn-out. Toyota New Zealand and circuit owner Tony Quinn had mustered a who’s who of famous Kiwi ‘name’ drivers to join the veteran great on the grid.
Irresistible, right? Particularly since I was down to test what logically seemed to be the perfect vehicle for such a roadie.
Before getting into that … basically, there were four starters to do this: Myself and Mrs B, and two mates.
We were at the point of sorting accommodation when things got wobbly.
Josh, so straight-out enthusiastic, had cold feet. Convincing his partner hadn’t gone well. “She’s threatening me with a visit to A and E.” One man down, just like that.
Big Jerry was still 100 percent in. But with a caveat. His much-loved but all-too-under-utilised motorbike needed a run, sooooo … a twist. He’d ride the Triumph to Hamilton, where we’d found digs, then ride in our vehicle to and from track on race day. Which he did.
This meant, all the same, that for 80 percent of its utilisation, ‘VIP1’ – our preferred reference for what Volkswagen calls a Multivan 6.1 Cruise – was tragically under-utilised.
Just Team Bosselman aboard and upfront meant the ‘lounge’ behind was, for much of our escapade, as empty as a Queenstown tourist hotel.
We only managed to fill the ‘back room’ to something like capacity for a Saturday trip to a restaurant, Jerry and two old friends from Cambridge making a party of five for a 20-minute run each way.
That was the only occasion when the mid-row bucket seats were experienced on the move in their rear-facing position. Ken preferred to face forward, Julie taking the plunge and finding it “weird but comfortable.”
In fact, comfort was the common feedback factor from all, as well it should be.
In this market, vans are associated much more with moving pallets and parcels than people. In Europe, VW’s mainstay model goes … well, both ways. In addition to formatting for cargo, this mobile box also fits out for human cargo.
The end result is hugely impressive. As much as a Multivan obviously draws from the Transporter commercial vehicle, look inside and it’s another, wholly VW-designed, impressively plush world:.
kids with their electronic devices … Jerry enjoyed the VW’s comfort, at least for the leg between Hamilton and Hampton Downs.
Ours was a standard wheelbase front-drive edition configured for day-tripping, so although it could convert into a mobile bedroom – assuming you don’t mind laying on the floor - , it’s really more a mobile dayroom, with two chairs up front purely for travelling plus three more in the back, provisioning as another pair of chairs that can swivel backwards to face big bench set up for three occupants. Everything, including a clever cubby that converts into a table, affixed to a tracking system in the floor. This allows all elements to slide, tilt, rotate and be removed completely, allowing the Multivan to transform from people mover into a full-blown van.
It’s not a complete Tardis, in that the packaging ultimately only allows a fully expansive rear guest room at expense of luggage room. Yet it’s not impossible to cart luggage and bodies. You just have to get creative. Sure, when the back seat is ALL the way back, the floor space reduces considerably: Basically, think Suzuki Swift. But you still gets loads of vertical room and, with a bit of thought about it could all stack without toppling, I got four bags - one each for us, two for Jerry (a bloke who apparently packs for EVERY possible occasion) – slotted in. Heading back two days later, I recognised that all that stuff could just as eaaily stow behind those reverse-faced chairs. If you were a family heading off, you’d use the roof rails and maybe fit a pod. Or big a bigger version. VW does those.
For me, though, what I got was just right and very pleasing; which kind surprised, because I’m anything but a ‘van man’. Yet, this one is so well considered I was pretty much won over; as vehicle configurations go, it gives a pretty solid reason to think outside the box. Even though that’s what it is.
The Cruise trim we experienced is a step up from the alternate Comfortline for equipment level. You’ll find some snazzy appointments within a space accessing by electric-opening (by touch or remote) sliding side doors and the thoughtfulness of the design is compelling, while for quality of materials, fit and finish it was well ahead of the far-from-inexpensive motel room we took for two nights. Maybe I should have thought about sleeping in the van. The motel’s bed was terrible, too.
Ken Smith accomplished his 50th New Zealand GRand Prix outing … an astounding achievement. WEll done that man!
The attention to technology detail really impresses. One of the big changes for this year is adoption of a dashboard straight from the latest VW cars, so you get a neat touchscreen with all the latest gadgets and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto inclusion. You know a brand is right up to speed when the personal electronics inputs are high-flow US-C types (don’t worry, US-B users, VW provisions an adapter). And in case you were wondering – there’s no chance of mid-flight escape from those side doors as there’s a child lock activated electrically from the dashboard.
The internal versatility isn’t entirely complete; there was sad faces within Team B on realisation that it lacks the three-point plug input required to run our Nespresso Pixi coffee machine. No fridge, either. But you could get around both (and we did) to enable the roadside ‘scenic spot’ coffee stop between Waiouru and Turangi, shifting to the back so as to enjoy the seating and table (which is also so perfect as a work station you could imagine it opening up as easily as a mobile office as a use beyond weekend jaunts).
As a refresh of the T6 (which debuted in 2016), which in turn carried over the same platform that traces back to the T5 in 2003 (that, in turn, looks all the way back to the Type 2, colloquially known by every Kiwi as the Kombi), the 2021 line achieves styling revisions that tie it more neatly with VW’s latest cars without any awkwardness. So, apart from the interior reshape, it also has a grille design replicating that of other Volkswagen models from the crossover and sports utility family. This one also had a chrome pack, darkness-piercing LED headlights and continued a Kombi-born tradition, of a two two-tone, ‘white on the bottom trendy colour of your choice’ paint scheme. Spearmint green seemingly being a bit too wild for some.
Two litre turbodiesel isn’t overly power-packed, but it has heaps of torque and aces on refinement. It doesn’t drink much, either.
That 10.25-inch 'Digital Cockpit' instrument display and a huge touch-operated infotainment screen, on which users can adjust the layout to show driving data, full-screen mapping information from the navigation system or alternately use it as an Apple CarPlay portal, is brilliant, though integration didn’t operate seamlessly. I’m wondering if my iPhone is also to blame; you always hear about designed obsolescence and, after two and a bit years, the Bluetooth seems a bit dodgy. However, VW’s set-up also seems to demand decent WiFi link-up and that’s not a given in the central North Island. Driving up from the Manawatu and via Taupo then Tokoroa and to Cambridge provided a seamless podcast-listening, call-taking and making and map-using operability. Whereas coming back via the western side of Lake Taupo took us into a black spot that put the integration into quite a tizz. Even after radio reception returned, the phone integration never properly enabled for the rest of that day.
Never mind, the driving in itself was entertaining. For sure, the van-ness puts it in a wholly different category to a road car, but for those with SUV driving experience there’s a lot more similarity.
You sit more upright in a van, yes, and there’s a dashboard gear selector, but there’s plenty of adjustment for the seat and the steering wheel (rake and reach) and though you do rely even more on the sensors, mirrors and excellent rear vision camera to cover off all the blind spots, forward visibility is mostly unobstructed. This, the imperious driving position and sense that it’s a vehicle that rewards those who respect its 2300kg mass and stance don’t make it much different than, say, a large Range Rover.
The model featured is powered by a 2.0-litre 110kW/340Nm turbodiesel. This churns through a seven-speed twin-clutch trans to spin the front wheels. There is a factory engine update package that boosts the grunt and other versions are all-wheel-drive. Maybe you’d look at that power upgrade if you were frequently going to be driving with most of the seats filled, and some luggage aboard, and AWD is good for all-weather, but neither seems an absolute imperative.
we were fortunate to go from one vip lounge to another. Thanks Toyota New Zealand.
For sure, there’s good reason why you won’t see a GTI badge on the back of one of these. This drivetrain is more about hauling big kilos then high kmh count sprinting; it’s a toiler. There’s some brief turbo lag from idle, easily overcome by giving the throttle a decent stab initially then easing off when the torque arrives; that doesn’t take long. At same token, it’s far from being a road slug like a full-out campervan; when opportunity came to overtake, it delivered well.
Low-end muscularity is what this engine is all about; you get a big wave of twisting force served up from just 1500rpm to 3000rpm. It’ll rev harder but, for the most part, you find no need to make it do that. That’s the sweet spot pretty much all the time. Even within that band, it’s hardly being stressed. Giving the throttle a small nudge on the throttle was quite enough to keep it settled on 100kmh on some serious ascents.
Having the seven-speed automatic helps, and it acts swiftly and smoothly to move up through the gears and exploit the engine's torque.
The benefits of how it presents as driven seem two-fold. First, it’s surprisingly refined. The only diesel clatter comes at start-up; from there on it’s a low-toned background noise. Second, when tooling around in a tall gear at a steady clip trip, it becomes impressively thrifty. I was stunned that the trip computer’s long term average at journey’s end was reading 7.2 litres per 100km. That’s just 0.6L/km off the claimed optimal and better by 0.2L/100km than I saw from our Skoda Karoq TDi after our last big run.
This frugality meant the VW only needed a single refuel, which was more of a top-up since most of what I put in before leaving Hamilton still seemed to be in the tank 400kms down the line.
The refuelling exercise highlighted one quirk; the filler location is on the left side, right by the passenger door, which needs to be opened first so that the fuel hatch can be opened. Obviously, something that makes more sense when a driver is located on that side.
One salient change with this model is VW’s move to electro-mechanical power steering. You might not notice the change in respect to how it feels. That’s not the point. The more important reason for its implementation is that it enables better driver assistance systems to be added: Lane-keep assist, lane departure warning and park assist are now available. There’s also autonomous emergency braking (up to 30kmh), blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
Another element that will surely be appreciated is a cross wind assist that automatically activates at speeds above 80kmh. Should the van be hit by a sudden gust – or buffeted by a truck’s slipstream - the ESC will activate one or more of the brakes to help steer against it. If the vehicle begins to drift out of its marked lane at or above 60kmh, the system will counter-steer to correct its course.
Some will argue that, with its commercial-grade bones, the Multivan doesn’t offer the same kind of ride sophistication that more dedicated passenger vehicle platforms offer. I take that point.
if seat count is more important than ability to seriously off-road, then the Multivan smashes it.
On the other hand, there’s a practicality and value side here that also demands consideration, though it might not be readily apparent.
Thought about this rose in the aftermath of this test, when colleagues on a national publication offered thought about what kind of seven-seater SUV would be best suit a workmate whose family had recently grown.
Here’s the thing: The candidate seemed to be a city person who lived, worked and played in a city environment. So there was no absolutely valid reason for it to be any kind of SUV.
As it turned out, only one of his associates recognised this, in nominating the Mercedes GLB (car-based, tightly dimensioned, a good choice if perhaps a bit tight). The others, depressingly, all pitched XXL-sized $100k-plus off-road models as ‘best picks.’
For sake of failure to use a better descriptive - ‘vehicle’ would have done nicely - the Multivan at half the price as some of their choices delivering twice the efficiency and double the practicality was ignored.
What’s the hardest challenge to overcome for passenger-sorted vans? Quite obviously, it’s gotta be another ‘v’ word. Vanity.
Price: $51,995
Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre four cylinder SkyActiv-X mild-hybrid petrol engine, 132kW/224Nm. Six-speed automatic transmission with Sport mode. Front-wheel drive. Combined fuel consumption 5.5 L/100km, CO2 127 grams/km.
Vital statistics: Length 4460mm, height 1435mm, width 1795mm, wheelbase 2725mm. Luggage space 295 litres. Wheels 18-inch black alloys, 215/45 R18 tyres.
We like: Revolutionary new engine combines spark and compression ignition; mild hybrid helps things along; beautiful interior, excellent levels of specification.
We don’t like: Those A-pillars; it’s early days yet, but CO2 emissions will still be too high.
THERE’S surely little doubt the Government will accept what is recommended in the Climate Change Commission’s interim report on how New Zealand can reduce its net carbon emissions to nil by 2050.
Realising this goal means that, amongst other things, it will adopt the recommendation to ban the importation of all fossil-fuelled light vehicles after 2032.
It’s a hard call, but the cold fact is that in order to achieve its emission reduction goals, our country has to do it.
Latest figures are for 2019. These show transport being responsible for 36.3 percent of all our emissions of long-lived gases, and that petrol and diesel-fuelled cars, SUVs and trucks were responsible for 91 percent of that.
Such emissions for that year were calculated to be 16.6 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent (mt CO2-e).
The Climate Change Commission’s big report says this must be reduced to 8.8 mt CO2-e by 2035 if New Zealand is to meet its 2050 target.
The only way for New Zealand to do it, says the report, is to go big on electric vehicles. It suggests the EV share of our country’s light vehicle fleet must reach 18 percent by 2025, 40 percent by 2027, 60 percent by 2028, 80 percent by 2030, and reaching the 100 percent by 2032.
That’s a big call, considering that last year less than two percent of all new vehicle registrations were EVs. In fact sales in 2020 of vehicles with any form of electrification accounted for just 9.2 percent of registrations, hybrids making up almost 80 percent of that.
Things didn’t change in the opening month of this year, either. January figures showed that registrations of 244 EVs represented just 1.7 percent of all new vehicle sales. So there’s a very long way to go, and it is obvious – as has been pointed out in the Climate Change Commission’s report – that it is going to require support and incentives from the Government.
Feebate scheme, anyone?
And here’s an interesting thing: while the report looks at everything through green-tinted glasses and is extremely EV-centric, it does offer a small dose of pragmatism. It suggests that while the national EV supply grows over the next few years, there will need to be a focus on importing more efficient internal combustion-engined vehicles, particularly hybrids.
That’s because the report’s suggested path forward assumes the average efficiency of ICE vehicles will improve by around 1 percent per year, to reach a 15 percent improvement by 2035.
Is that a big ask for the motor industry here? Not really. Greenhouse gas emissions from light vehicle exhausts have been falling in recent years anyway, with CO2 emissions down 21 percent between 2006 and 2019 (the 2020 figures are not yet available). So it’s a sitter that the emissions will continue to fall over the next few years as the manufacturers continue to continually improve their internal combustion-engined product.
An outstanding example is Mazda, which is committed to reducing CO2 emissions to 50 percent of 2010 levels by 2030 and to 90 percent by 2050. A major weapon in this strategy is the brand’s SkyActiv engine technology, which since 2012 has continually improved the efficiency of Mazda petrol and diesel engines.
So far we’ve had SkyActiv-G (petrol) and SkyActiv-D (diesel) engines, and now we’ve received first examples of SkyActiv-X, which is quite revolutionary because it combines the higher-revving performance of a petrol engine with the torque and fuel efficiency of a diesel.
The engine is hybridised, too. It features a mild hybrid system that uses a belt-driven integrated starter generator and a 20V lithium-ion battery to recycle energy recovered during deceleration and braking and use it to assist the engine.
First examples of SkyActiv-X are aboard highly-specified Takami versions of the Mazda3 hatch and its SUV sibling the CX-30.
They’re pricey at $51,995 and $54,990 which is $3200 and $4000 more expensive than the Limited versions of each model, but for the money they are chock-full of efficiency, safety and comfort technology.
So how does SkyActiv-X work? Spark Controlled Compression Ignition (SPCCI) is a new technology that compresses the fuel-air mix at a high ratio, with a very lean mix. The engine uses a spark to ignite only a small and dense amount of the mix in the cylinder, which raises both temperature and pressure so that a remaining fuel-air mix ignites under pressure like a diesel, burning faster and more completely than in conventional engines.
The result is up to 30 percent more torque than the current SkyActiv-G petrol engine, better fuel efficiency than the current SkyActiv-D, and a power increase of 10 percent.
In the case of the Mazda3 we’ve been driving, this translates to an official average consumption figure of 5.5 L/100km and CO2 emissions of 135g/km. Unusually this figure is accurate too, because it is exactly what I achieved over a lengthy journey of several hundred kilometres.
By way of comparison, the 2.0-litre SkyActiv-G Mazda3 GSX is rated at 6.2 L/1`00km, while the 2.5-litre GTX and Limited models are rated at 6.6 L/100km. It must be said however that the SkyActiv-X model runs on 95 octane petrol while the others drink 91.
To my eyes this hatchback’s performance is more akin to the 2.5-litre model than the other 2.0-litre version, and this is underlined by the power and torque figures. The SkyActiv-X model offers 132kW of power which isn’t much short of the 139kW developed by the 2.5, and while maximum torque of 224Nm is less than the 2.5-litre model’s 252Nm, it gets there at 3000rpm which is 1000rpm further down the revs range.
As a result the hatch offers a nice spread of torque at open road speeds. This is particularly the case when the Sport mode is engaged, which enhances the vehicle’s accelerator response. But when in Normal mode and cruising at normal highway cruise speeds, the SkyActiv-X model is almost diesel-like in the relaxed way it lopes along.
The M Hybrid system is interesting.
Mazda has replaced the alternator and starter motor with the integrated starter generator (ISG), which captures energy that would normally be wasted during braking. This electrified energy is stored in a lithium-ion battery and then used to power electrical systems and assist the engine under acceleration by offering an additional 5 to 6 kilowatts. The result is improved efficiency and a smoother driving experience.
The ISG also has an involvement in the hatchback’s i-Stop system, which is unusual because it is able to shut the engine down before the vehicle comes to a complete halt – in fact, the i-Stop kicks into action as soon as the vehicle’s speed gets below 20 kmh. It’s all in the interests of keeping the engine stopped longer so less fuel can be used.
Then when the Mazda3 is about to move off again, the ISG operates as a starter motor to provide a quick and very quiet restart.
Dislikes? None really. Just like the other Mazda3 models, this version continues to have very thick A-pillars that can hamper views when turning, but you get used to it. And while the jury remains out for some regarding the ‘car as art’ exterior look of the vehicle with its large rump, there’s no arguing at all about the interior – its uncluttered design is beautiful.
At the Takami level the vehicle features a 360-degree view monitor for ease of parking and for negotiating into tight spots, and there’s also a reversing camera with dynamic guide lines that bend when you turn the steering wheel.
From the comfort perspective there is black leather seat trim – burgundy is an option – and a black cabin theme, a frameless automatic interior mirror, and even a steering wheel heater. Outside, the visual clues that this is the takami model are 18-inch black alloy wheels, larger exhaust pipes, and SkyActiv-X badging on the rear.
But overall, the visual treatment is all quite low-key – which is no doubt just how Mazda wants it, preferring instead to let the vehicle go about its work in an unobtrusive sort of way as it works to play its part in the Japanese brand achieving its environmental targets.
But will the Mazda3 SkyActiv-X M-hybrid meet the Climate Change Commission’s very tough targets?
Mazda Motor Corporation believes that most new cars will still have an internal combustion engine for many years to come, and it is using worldwide new passenger vehicle sales to underline that belief.
The corporation points out that international research forecasts that even by 2030, battery and fuel-cell EVs will account for just 10 percent of the 130 million vehicles that are expected to be built. All the rest will be ICE models – but of those, better than half will be electrified in some way.
So with that as background, it’s obvious we will have hybrids of various forms – including SkyActiv-X and its successors – for some years yet. Ironically they will need to improve too, if they are going to meet the Climate Change Commission’s green ambitions for New Zealand motoring.
MotoringNZ reviews new cars and keeps readers up-to-date with the latest developments on the auto industry. All the major brands are represented. The site is owned and edited by New Zealand motoring journalist Richard Bosselman.
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