Australian motorsport is having quite the moment.

In Formula 1, Oscar Piastri, Daniel Ricciardo and Mark Webber have all excelled on the world stage in recent times.

Record crowds attended the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne earlier this month, and now another form of motor racing is accelerating in popularity — rally driving.

Their conclusion is use guilt as an emotional driver to decrease the popularity of these cars.

I disagree, design principles to shepherd the car companies into delivering all the classic traits car owners love in a safer( for everyone), more efficient product.

We don't need a fight here, or negativity, we need a better product, and let these people have less damaging fun.

G'day all. Having an internal debate atm and interested in other's thoughts. I'll try to keep context as brief as possible:

I currently have a 2009 GU patrol and a 2003 xtrail, would like to replace the xtrail in the short term and the GU within 5 years or so. Both vehicles are pretty solid and reliable, but showing their age. The GU is set up for camping in remote areas, which we do a lot of - it's definitely not a mall crawler. Been looking lately at the Pajero Sport as a replacement for the xtrail. Reasoning is it would be far better than the patrol for highway trips, my daughter and her boyfriend could use it to tag along with us on camping trips, and if push came to shove it could be a somewhat reasonable stand-in for the patrol, even if it doesn't go as far (not likely to invest in aux battery, rear drawer setup etc). The pajero sport could never replace the GU though, just in terms of packing space and roof load capacity - we camp in national parks a lot so we have to bring all

Huge news!

An investigation by consumer advocacy group Choice found most of Australia's popular car brands collect and share "driver data", ranging from braking patterns to video footage.

Kia and Hyundai collect voice recognition data from inside their cars and sell it to an artificial intelligence software training company.

Privacy and consumer rights advocates are pushing for law reform to limit data collection to what is "fair and reasonable".

The federal government is facing calls to respond to an effective ban on Chinese carmakers in the US with moves of its own.

Auto industry experts say any moves would be complicated, and risk slowing the pace of Australia's transition to electric vehicles.

The Albanese government says it is "closely monitoring" the moves in the US, and is in talks with the Biden administration about any local implications.

So mum drives a 2003 Nissan pulsar, n14 I think.

The new mechanic round the corner wants $250 for spark plug change and $400 for front brakes, which I hope is pads and rotors for that price.

I've only worked on old hiaces, spark plugs were $6ea, front pads were about $40 and rotors were $60ish. That totals about $125, double it for modern price gouging to $250, that leaves $400 for labor, which seems high to me.

Whaddya reckon?

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/11844585

After more than a year of significant renovations and upgrades, One Raceway – formerly known as Wakefield Park – will reopen on the first weekend of October 2024.

Speaking to Drive, brothers Greg and Steve Shelley revealed final preparations were taking place at the racetrack, with several test days taking place before the debut event.

Located near Goulburn, approximately halfway between Sydney and Canberra, One Raceway is now a 13-turn track – up from 10 – thanks to the addition of new banked corners.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/byd-under-fire-customers-in-vin-mixup/

Considering that the VIN number needs to be inspected and verified for each vehicle during the entire Import/Compliance/Distribution/Delivery process, this is a pretty big balls-up.

What is with dickheads getting light bars on their cars now. I live in a rural area and not right on the road, trying to sleep and then at 12:38am some dickhead's got his light bar on and my whole room is illuminated, and the part of the road he was on... at least a kilometre or two away! WTF are they trying to see that their high beams won't show them? Are they trying to stun wildlife so they can hit them?

It's really difficult trying to drive at night now too, if the white head lights on new cars aren't burning your eyes out, you get one of these idiots come along. It's not just SUVs and 4WDs either, I've seen them on hatchbacks and sedans as well.

Sorry for the rant - unless you use a light bar in semi-rural areas that is

Imagine you're in the blue car, wanting to turn left:

Green is turning right. There is only one lane.

Two options I see:

(1) Stay behind the green car, to the left (and behind the crossing) until they leave.

(2) Pull up to the left of the green car (as if there were two lanes).

I assume (1) is correct given there is technically only one lane, but I can't find any materials on the NSW site or driving handbook about it and (2) is something I see other people do.

(I have my license test next week)

EDIT: Solved, option (2) is the right one. see https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/sharing-road-overtaking-and-merging/overtaking-safely

The only time you can overtake on the left is when the vehicle you’re overtaking is:

• waiting to turn right or make a U-turn from the centre of the road

The former Rhondda Colliery site will be turned into a $95-million motorsport park.

The project is part of the NSW government's ambition to repurpose old coal mines.

Construction of the park is expected be be finished by 2026.

Despite most businesses around the world returning to some form of normal after the pandemic, supply chain problems continue to disrupt the manufacturing and availability of new and second-hand cars.

This disruption has caused vehicle prices to sky-rocket, adding to cost-of-living pressures already being experienced by most Australians.

Car prices in Australia rose throughout 2023 with an average increase of almost 20 per cent since April 2020, even faster than the consumer price index.

I thought that the media was a little over the top with reporting every electric car fire.

Little did I realise just how blown out of proportion it was:

"...electric vehicle battery fires are rare. Indeed, the available data indicate the fire risk is between 20 and 80 times greater for petrol and diesel vehicles. "