On Throttle New Zealand

Driving a hybrid for the first time is quite possibly, apart from learning to ride a motorcycle, the most disconcerting motoring experience I've had in my life, period. This week I had the chance to take out the new Peugeot 3008 Diesel-Hybrid out for a spin while we shot it for the magazine. It wasn't only more than strange to turn the key on and hear nothing yet be able to drive away in silence, but was an eye opener for me into the appeal of such a vehicle in the urban environment. The 3008 is quite possibly the most well adapted urban lifestyle cars I have ever driven, and that is without it's key selling point of the frugal as **** diesel-hybrid. The 3008 has bucketloads of storage space, so the family pooch, kids, sportsgear and kitchen sink all could comfortable fit in the boot, and that is without even folding the fold flat rear seats down. I imagine it would be well suited for the tradesman who needs a jack of all trades car to shuttle the family around and th...

Ok I'm going to admit it here. When I first saw the WRX Nemesis parked at the office I was excited. My history with Subarus has been some of the best motoring experiences of my life, yet the time I spent in the $54,000+ special edition Nemesis truly hammered home a sad fact that I hate myself for writing. Subaru has really has lost its way with this WRX parts bin special. The limited time I spent in the car around Auckland I will admit was not an ideal length of time nor the ideal location for testing a 2.5L turbocharged Subaru, so please keep that in mind while reading this. However going on the shoot and getting to spend both time in the drivers and passengers seat has given me some strong initial impressions about the car. Firstly is the interior. The previous generation WRX (I'm talking the GDA chassis here) had a typically Japanese interior. Plastic dash, not a huge amount of features and a budget feel to it, and that didn't matter too much, but what we hav...