cars

Subaru Outback XT

With demand being high for Rangers, it seemed a good opportunity to explore selling my Ranger, and to look into a different vehicle to use for road tripping and daily use.

I had thought I didn't want another SUV in the traditional sense. I've driven 4x4s and utes for the better part of 15 years now. So, my thinking was that it was time for something new and different.

I explored potentially an EV, looking at small ones like the Cupra Born and larger in the Polestar 2, along with things like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV 6. But none really fit what I wanted it for; a road tripping vehicle. EVs wise I'm still unsure regarding availability of charging for my use case.

Eventually after knocking out all the traditional SUV-type 4x4s and other types of vehicles, along with various front-wheel-drive options, I'd narrowed it down to an all-wheel drive wagon. Of which there are not a lot of those on the market. It's basically Audi, Volvo and Subaru. Audis are expensive, Volvo are at the end of their fuel-based development lives and heading to all EV soon, which left Subaru.

And after some research, and several test drives in Subarus, I found myself focusing on the Subaru Outback.

Having tested them out, and doing plenty of research I thought this was the best ideal vehicle.

Subaru Outback, side.

I thought it was everything I wanted, and for a time it was.

It was something sporty, well, sportier than what I'd had previously, fun, and a sunroof!

It was a petrol engine, something I'd not had for more than 15 years. I'd mostly preferenced diesels for their range and fuel availability. 

But I'd made a decision, I wanted a change. And it was to a Subaru Outback.

And for a time, I actually really liked it, the all-wheel drive really made it feel planted on the road. It was fun to drive. There was great utility to having a lifted wagon. Although after having driven utes for the better part of 10 years, getting used to now having a boot was something new to remember and to use. 

Reverse parked in; Federation Square car park.

After having had utes where to most effectively park I needed to reverse it into a parking spot all of the time, I found I was still reverse parking the Subaru, even though I could easily have driven in nose forward without any issues. And getting to the boot after reversing in was a little more tricky I discovered.

Everything was going swimmingly, I'd done a few of my 'New Adventures'-type day trips and was planning a 'test road trip', probably to Canberra, as it's a great drive either along the Princes Highway and then along the Monaro Highway, or even along the Hume and back through the Yarra Valley, a good short road trip. Maybe even a further afield trip to test its long-range road tripping abilities.

Parked nose-in at the airport.

But then I had to pick my dad up from the airport, and that's when I should have realised that there were problems. Although it was with me, rather than the car, which is almost worst, because I can't blame the vehicle for this failing.

As mentioned in my airport parking blog, the drive up was actually surprisingly easy, an easy enough drive up, free from stop start traffic.

Unfortunately on the return journey, there was a lot of stop-start traffic, and that's when I started to get an ache in my knee. 

I didn't think much of it at the time, I'd been in the garden in the days before, and done some walking and other stuff, plus I'd driven up there. Maybe it was nothing, I didn't think much of it.

Then it was a few weeks later and I was driving back from the city, and again in stop-start traffic, and a little bit of an ache in my right knee and a little bit in my hip. I just thought, again, I'd been out and about walking around the city. Nothing really to be concerned about.

Then these things continued to happen, I thought 'it's a different vehicle, maybe I'll just reset the seat and steering wheel etc'.

Subaru Outback interior

When I'd picked it up the car the sales guy kinda loomed over me to change the seat and steering wheel settings while all I wanted to do was try and relax and work out the best way to sit. (He'd sort of leaned into the driver's window, kinda personal space invading.)

So I set everything back to base setting, lowered the seat back and pushed it all the way back and set the steering wheel to its most neutral position. Got out of the car, locked it, walked around a little bit. 

Then unlocked it, got back in as though it was a new vehicle. 

Then I set it all up, and it was comfortable, and then I went out for a long, slow-ish drive around familiar roads, stopping to adjust the seating etc to be comfortable, as you can only really know how it feels when you're driving, rather than sat in your driveway at a stop.

I thought 'yes, I've fixed it'.

I left it for a few weeks, and it seemed okay, although I was just running errands etc, nothing terribly hard or any lengthy driving.

And then there went a few days where I'd not driven at all. 

However, then I went to see my grandma, and was in some traffic, not exactly stop-start traffic, just general traffic and light-traffic with stop lights.

And then the pain was back, in my right knee, and also travelling up to my hip. 

Now it was about problem solving; what was this pain, what could I do to mitigate it and work out what it was that was wrong.

It was me. 

Long legs, and the more relaxed seating position of a car. It was just not working for my body shape. 

Jeep Wrangler in Tasmania.

Before the Rangers, I'd had a Jeep Wrangler (loved that vehicle, leaked despite replacing all the roof/door seals twice, I’d never have one again, but I absolutely loved it), the Jeep I'd had for a number of years with no concerns comfort wise. It also had quite an upright seating position, you sat and drove it more like sat in a chair than lounging. 

The Rangers too, at least how I had the seat set up, I put it into a similar position as I had in the Jeep, that more upright sort of position with my legs.

With the Subaru it was more of a car-like sitting stretched out experience. Once I worked out this was the problem, I tried to replicate this seating position I'd had in previous vehicles, I couldn't not to the same extent. It's just the wrong shape of vehicle to have that sort of seating. But I tried, and again tried to change the seating position to mitigate the pain I was experiencing.

Then I tried driving it for some time, and it didn't really help, I wondered 'am I tensing now that I've tried it in a different position?', 'is it me now trying too much?' so I reset it again to a more relaxed potion, so I wouldn't need to have as much tension on my leg / hip area, to see if that changed things.

It didn't. 

So then I started to wonder 'is this just in my head?', was I positioning myself weird, tensing oddly, and there was just something that I was doing, or thinking about doing that was causing my body stresses.

So I got others of my family to sit in it, and at first they couldn't see where I was coming from, and then told them to keep switching between brake and accelerator; simulating being in stop-start traffic, and they agreed, that they could see where I was coming from.

Beyond this issue of myself, there was one quite large issue with the Subaru, which I had resolved to live with, although annoying. It was its conservativeness regarding fuel economy and the distance to empty it reported.

It had a 62L tank, and would report about 500km to empty, no matter how I drove it, how I reset the trip computer or fuel efficiency monitor.

And on 1/4 of a tank all it thought it could do was 80km. 

I'd used the trip computer to actually calculate how much it could do, and it was closer to 750km. 

That in itself was not a deal breaker.

The pain, however was not something I could live with.

I'd at that point avoided really going out, unless it was absolutely necessary, because of the pain, and the worry of the extended effects of said pain.

So, much to my disappointment, not to mention annoyance in myself and my body I needed to be rid of the Outback, and return to something familiar. (Not a Jeep Wrangler, although I did, very briefly consider it). 

I've always considered failures as a learning opportunity, albeit the larger ones more than sting, they do inform the future.

Ford Ranger 2018 2.0 Bi-Turbo

I'd had my Ford Ranger Wildtrak 2018 since new, and I'd previously had a first generation Ford Ranger the "PXI", which was great. It was the vehicle I used to go to Woomera, to go along the Eyre Highway to Perth and back, I did the Western Explorer road in that Ranger. It was comfortable, easy to drive and predictable.

But it was also a little bit of a 'parts bin job', that first generation didn't have CarPlay, didn't have a digital speedo, the centre console area was from the Transit, while the dash was from a Focus.

So I decided to upgrade to in 2018 to upgrade to the 2.0 Bi-Turbo, thinking that more efficient, plus that 10-speed auto would make things better.

It...wasn't amazing.

I'd been on a road trip to Tasmania before the pandemic in 2019, and Canberra in 2021, and in 2022.

But there were some issues which manifested shortly after I bought it, the 10-speed auto was somewhat indecisive, it seemed like it didn't like you driving the vehicle in some circumstances. I got used to as soon as I was on a freeway or highway of putting it in cruise control, because letting it do its thing was much easier for me than having it hunt around for the gears if I was the one in control of the throttle.

I had become accustomed to this issue, the foibles of the gearbox, I'd learnt how and when it would do its weird gearshift.

But then on a recent trip up to Ikea, I was sitting in the middle lane on the Princes Highway and as I went from a standstill at the traffic lights and put my foot slowly on the accelerator pedal it just seemed to rev up through the rev range and then really, really hesitate and then it was a thump and it changed gear. Almost like it was ready to stall. It didn't, but it did worry me. 

After stopping at Ikea, turning it off and waiting 10 minutes I restarted to see if there were any warning lights or any indications that there was anything wrong. There wasn't, so I went about my day's intent and bought some reasonably priced flat-pack furniture and returned home.

Turned out that reasonably priced piece of furniture which had poor reviews because it was hard to put together, was not an exaggeration, it was really hard to put together, nigh on impossible. So I was back up on the Princes Highway the following day to return it, and while on the way there I experienced no transmission shifting issues this time. However, I did not feel as comfortable as I had done so. 

I went on to drive it a bit, did my failed trip and another trip to Canberra.

It went in for a service after that trip and I mentioned the gearbox problems to them, and they did a software update. 

Which turned out to be one of the worst things they could have done. Yes, before the software update it was a little unpredictable at times, it was a little weird, but like an old car I'd worked out how to work with it, how to live with its problems. 

But now, it was just worse. 

Instead of changing gears smoothly, it would hold onto the gears for a moment or two too long then jerk and gear change. And the most annoying thing is that it was in the 40-60 kilometre speed range, the speed where you're most commonly going to be doing that around and about, or when you're driving off at the lights.

I went back to Ford and mentioned this, and asked if they could downgrade the software, at least I knew how it worked, even if it wasn't great. I didn't expect they would be able to do that, downgrading a computer's operating system or a phone's is a bit of an ordeal, doing it to software in a vehicle's subsystem like the gearbox control I suspected was something that they wouldn't be able to do. And no was the answer, but I had to ask.

They did take it under warranty for a day and checked it. When I got it back they said there was nothing wrong with it, that it was functioning as expected. They topped up the transmission oil though.

This...improved things? For a time, but it still wasn't pleasant. It was okay.

I had lost trust in the vehicle to be consistent and therefore safe. I didn't ever want to be in traffic and it be shifting unpredictably, and that was one of my concerns with its unpredictability.

There were other smaller, though no less irritating things that also contributed to this decision to change it for something else.

There was a rattle / buzzing noise around the start stop button, it was from one of the plastic panels not sitting perfectly fine, and only started to make this noise when the ute had been in the sun for a while. I narrowed it down that the temperature had to be at least 22ºC exterior temperature as indicated on the dash before it started to make this noise. I did mention this when it went in for a service, and they said they fixed it...however while it happened less, it would still happen, and thumping it with my leg (which had previously stopped it) no longer did anything.

There was also a noise, a buzz / rattle noise from...'somewhere on the passenger side' of the cabin, I thought it was somewhere near the A-pillar. But with passengers, who could hear it, but couldn't work out where it was coming from. It was much more of an intermittent fault, and therefore hard to explain.

There was also a buzzing from the centre of the dash, near the windscreen only when the windscreen de-mister was on heat and on a high temperature – so if in cold weather and de-misting the windscreen. Again I suspect that was just the plastics reacting to the heat.

I dealt with these by either having audio playing loud enough not to hear it, or to have the aircon on high on a hot day to cool the cabin down so these things plastic things didn't do their buzzing thing.

But as someone who wants a good road tripping vehicle, many of these things added up, and made me think that a Ranger wasn't the best vehicle for me...or so I'd thought.

CarExpert Open Day

Today I went to the CarExpert Open Day, at Docklands. 

I didn’t really know what to expect, being an online/YouTube-based meet up. The last purely YouTube thing I went to I think was in 2011 out at Birrarung Marr and was quite uncoordinated.

I've been to various live podcast recordings which is a slightly different genre of 'internet-based things occurring in the real world'.

It was held on the top of The District Docklands east car park, on a very cold spring day. Apparently there was a coffee cart, but as I’m not a coffee drinker, and a disposable cup with a random tea bag slipped into it is not my idea of a wonderfully pleasant drink I elected not to imbibe.

Only about a quarter of the roof top car park had cars on it, and there were a couple of dozen people wandering around.

The Ineos Grenadier looks like an old Land Rover on the outside, but the inside has a fabulous amount of buttons and switches inside, and unlike most cars which are automatic which have a small place for your left foot, in the Grenadier there's actually a sizeable place for your left foot to sit.

The Renault Megane E-Tech looked the most 'movie future' car of the cars there. Like it's got the general idea of what a car looks like now, just pushed into the future a little bit.

It was certainly better sized than the photos and videos I've seen of it in online. Inside it was fine, has a similar airy layout to others like the MG4 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. I'm not sure if I prefer this or the more 'cockpit' style that cars like the Polestar 2 have (this wasn't on show, but I've had a look at them in the past).

The Porsche Cayenne was surprising as they often look quite big on the road. The interior was nicely considered, two large screens, the one in front of the driver had analogue (albeit digital) dials on display. I'm not really a fan of alcantara which was on the steering wheel, but it felt nice and soft, although I do wonder how well it'd wear with day-to-day use.

Interior of Porsche Cayenne.

The second infotainment screen was bright and clear. There were some shiny additional controls on the centre console.

Sitting in the Cayenne was perfectly fine, however getting out of the car I whacked my thighs on the seat bolsters, as they're sporty seats. But that could become irritating very easily if you had to live with that day-to-day.

The Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 was huge. I've seen these and the other US imported utes out on the road and they've looked huge. But actually seeing one in person, just standing in front of it, it's huge.

Also, I went to get into it, like I do my Ranger ute, which is step up, grab the inside door handle and slide in, pulling the door with my momentum to close.

When I tried to do it with the Silverado I almost fell backwards. It was just so huge and big, I realised I had to stand on the side skirts and then step into the cabin and sit down. And then grab the door and close it.

The interior is nice enough, it's very big and US-style, a very chunky gear selector. 

I don't know how anyone manages to drive these in anywhere built up, it's just so big.

The BYD Dolphin was interesting. A similar sort of floating design language as the E-Tech and Ioniq 6. A smaller screen ahead. But the interior isn't as odd as the BYD Atto 3. It's functional enough and simple enough. It's not quite the car for me, but I think it'll do well. The Atto 3 has already sold very well in Australia.

The MG4 was likewise fine. It also had a small screen ahead of the driver, compared to the E-Tech and others it's a very small screen. But it's a different market class.

The screen was okay, swiping across on it was smooth enough, but not as smooth as you'd see on your phone or whatever. But it's better than using the touchscreen on my Ford Ranger (although my Ranger is now a few years old). I think this will be a great EV for people, the get around and do stuff. The Camry of the i30 for EVs, something cheap and functional.

The Ioniq 6's interior was very similar to sitting in the Ioniq 5's interior, it's got more of a centre arm rest / cup holder area than the Ioniq 5. Like the 5 it had the camera pods and digital mirrors. I'm not really a fan of them, there'd be a learning curve I guess to look at or around the A-pillar rather than out the window when checking mirrors.

The Ioniq 6 was also running in V2L (vehicle to load) powering the sound system that they had on site.

The BMW iX1 was alright. Like the other electric cars it had a smilier floating open design inside. What seemed to be smaller than the E-Tech screens inside. 

Well considered and placed controls for the media on the arm rest. 

And on the doors a wood, or wood-effect panel. Although it was a lot of different textures and materials inside the BMW, brown leather and leather highlights, brushed aluminium, plastic, and on the door these plus two textured materials (one over the harmon/kardon speaker) and then the aforementioned wood.

The Nissan Patrol Warrior was the oldest, and inside really looked it. Given that this vehicle is around $100,000 it's a lot of money for a terrible interior. 

The screen is absolutely tiny, and the rest is a lot of grey plastic buttons surrounded by some piano black to tart it up a bit.

The buttons on the steering wheel too just make it look dated. 

Like the Silverado it's got a petrol V8, so it's not exactly going to be economical. 

Mazda CX-90 front.

The only car I didn't sit in, mostly because people seemed to be constantly in it was the Mazda CX-90. It had an interesting third row of seats, which looked like it would be almost impossible to have anything other than a baby seat in it.

I departed about an hour after arriving as I watched (and then felt) the rain slowly make its way towards Melbourne. The combination of the exposed site and the wind was making for a pretty cold adventure out. There didn't appear to be anything else that was going to happen.

I spoke to many members of the CarExpert team; Paul, Jade and Jack, along with Anthony Crawford (the co-founder of CarExpert) about cars, which was nice to do.

The District Docklands east car park

I went here for the Car Expert Open Day. I've never been to this car park. I don't think I've ever actually driven to the Docklands either. Have been to the Docklands in the past, but have usually come in via the tram. It's just an area of the city I've never found I've needed to go to.

Getting to the car park itself is very easy, coming off the CityLink going over the Bolte Bridge it's the first exit onto Footscray Road where there's significant roadworks going on. 

Then it's the first right onto Waterfront Way, and then I used the Waterfront Way entrance, but there is another entrance around on Little Docklands Drive.

The height limit is 2.17 metres, which should be fine for all passenger vehicles on the road at the moment.

You need to stop at boom gates and push a button for a ticket, the machine prints your numberplate on the ticket, and it is reading your numberplate into the system as well as I'd find out upon exit.

The passage in is a little, not confusing but basically if you're in there for 90 minutes it's free, which is presumedly to cover people who are going shopping at the Woolworths which is on the same site, and there are defined 90 minute parking bays again I presume for this purpose.

Then you continue through until you locate a ramp up for 'staying longer'. I went up to the staying longer level as I wasn't sure how long I wound be staying at the Car Expert Open Day. 

View of the city from the car park.

As I made my way through the car park I did briefly glimpse at a parking ticket machine in the middle of one of the levels. 

However once I made it up to I think the third level I didn't see another ticket machine, not at the lifts and stairs where I walked up to the roof where the Open Day was being held. 

I did notice once I wandered up to the Open Day area that there was a second lift area which might've held a ticket machine, but I didn't explore that.

The car park itself looks new and well kept, the bays large enough for my ute, although I reversed in to get the maximum use of the space there.

Upon departing I had not spent 90 minutes, I'd only been in there a little over an hour, but I had the ticket ready and my wallet ready just in case. And I was looking around for a ticket machine just in case.

There were a few A-frame signs placed directing towards the exit which eventually led me to hard to line up for exit.

As I slowed down and readied to insert the ticket the machine showed an animated smiley face / thumbs up emoji and the gate opened allowing me to exit. Which evidently meant it was reading the numberplate as you entered.

Little Docklands Drive and neighbouring car park.

The exit was on Little Docklands Drive. I realise now looking at the map I should have just gone straight ahead, as that would have led me to Footscray Road and turn left onto it.

Instead I made the mistake of going down St Mangos Lane, which led me back to Waterfront Way, but meant I had to do an awkward u-turn in front of Observation Drive. 

Which was...inelegant, I at least was going slow enough that when I hit and mounted the curb it wasn't too bad. I should've just gone around the block again and gone out on Little Docklands Drive.

Melbourne EV Show 2023

I wouldn't bother. If you're interested in a particular EV brand, seek them out in their respective show rooms or where ever, but don't bother here.

View as you walk into the Melbourne EV Show 2023

I'm relatively interested in EVs, read about and watch YouTube videos about them (and internal combustion engine cars too), not exactly a "motoring enthusiast" as the Shannons adverts go, but I'm informed enough. 

I saw an email a week or so ago from the RACV about the Melbourne EV Show at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre (or Jeff's Shed as I still think of it as). I did look at the website before going, so was aware that there weren't going to be all of the major car brands there, but still hoped that there would be something of interest.

For starters it's not exactly cheap to get in $32 for an adult. Back in the day that might've been a showbag of promotional stuff or something, but now that gets you nothing except the ticket. 

The show itself was in the end of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, and took up maybe a quarter of the space. 

Of the major car brands there was; Peugeot, Hyundai, Kia, Polestar, GWM, Audi, plus Zagame which had; McLaren, Cupra and Fiat and Abarth on show. There was also car clubs like the Tesla Owner's Club present as well. Along with other EV things like scooters and bikes which I'm not really that interested in. Plus JAC Motors had two trucks on show.

I had a look around all the vehicles that were on show and had a sit in several of them.

One which I was interested to have a look at and sit in was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, as it's a design which has fascinated me since it came out, and because I had wanted to have a test drive in one. However according to Hyundai you can't, you have to pre-order one and then they'll let you test drive it. 

But there was one here so I thought I could sit in it, and have a feel and see how the switchgear and everything felt.

So I was sat in one and put my foot on the brake as I sat in it (habit mostly), and it prominently said in the dash "key not in vehicle", so I felt safe switching the driving modes around just to see how the dash responded and how the display changed in the different driving modes. Then I thought I'd try putting it into drive to see if any of the animation changed or something, and nothing happened, obviously because the key was not in the vehicle, so I moved to get out of the vehicle, taking my foot off the brake...and then the car started to creep forwards. I pushed my foot quite quickly onto the brake and fumbled around with the gear selector to put it back into, well I couldn't find park but I put it in neutral in the panic.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

Suddenly a rep for Hyundai appeared and I explained what happened, he hunted through the glove box, and couldn't find the key and then someone brought the key over from a locked box somewhere. He seemed as puzzled as I was, and I kept apologising for what happened.

He couldn't work it out how it managed to move without the key inside it.

But he explained "the Minister was here earlier and it must have been left in an on position". Which I guess was fortunate discovery by accident that I did it and they discovered it, and that it wasn't a child or something that was messing around with it, because it could have ended very differently.

So I guess I have test driven an Ioniq 5, all of about 5 centimetres. 

So that gave me a rush of panic and adrenalin.

After that I wandered around to the other brands. 

I quite like Peugeot's 508 PHEV Sportswagon, it's got the added practicality of a wagon, and is from a European car brand, and a little bit left of field being a French car brand. 

Also the e-208 PHEV was also a nice looking small hatch. 

The Peugeot Partner Van which I also had a sit in, that did not have a comfortable driving position. I think were I looking for a van the Ford e-Transit would be a better van. It perhaps might be okay for short drives.

Polestar 3

There were a lot of people at the Polestar stand, there was only their upcoming vehicle the Polestar 3, which is due next year. The Polestar 2 you need to go to their 'Polestar Spaces' to see.

The Polestar 3 is a small SUV type design, from what I could see it looks nice. Although from a design perspective I think I prefer the Polestar 2.

One stand that had a lot of people at it was the GWM Ora, known in some markets as the 'Ora Funky Cat', although here it's just called the Ora, but it keeps its logo of an exclamation mark. It's one of the smaller EVs and probably one of the cheapest on offer, it looked quite popular with the older people at the show.

Talk with headphones

There were talks going on at the show, with an interesting format that it was all done with wireless headphones, so you could sit there listening to the bloke and there was no loud speaker sort of arrangement, just the bloke on stage talking into a microphone and everyone sitting there watching him with headphones on. It was nice. Although I really hope (but kinda doubt) that they clean the headphones after each performance.

I was surprised by the Kia stand, the EV9 and EV6. I'd seen the EV6 before in a Ford / Kia dealership area and didn't think I lot of it. But seeing the GT-line version and sitting in it in person really changed my perspective on it, it's actually quite a nice looking vehicle. I also appreciate what Kia are going for with their EV9 SUV, it's a much more boxy sort of look, in the same sort of realm as a traditional Land Rover Defender or a Jeep Wrangler.

Audi RS e-tron GT

I was also surprised by the Audi RS e-tron GT, which I had seen in reviews both video and print, but it always looked really big in those. But in person, it's large, as it's a four-seater car, but it's not huge. There was a Porsche Taycan nearby and that did look big.

The interior of the Audi is like all Audis, it was well considered, everything and how it works for the driver has been considered. 

The screens are a little smaller than some – like Polestar who go for a large centre screen and then a screen in front of the driver. But it lends itself to a driver-focused car in the Audi. 

EV Land Rover

There were some interesting stands on conversions of internal combustion engine cars – Land Rovers and a conversion for a Mini. 

However, having walked around the show for about an hour, I felt like I'd had my fill and it was a little bit underwhelming.

If you're interested in experiencing or looking into an EV in more detail go to that brand's car dealership or show room, 'space' as Polestar call them or 'experience centre' as BYD calls them. I think you'd get a better experience than at the EV show.

AOMC British & European Motoring Show 2023

in

Presented by AOMC (Association of Motoring Clubs) held at Caribbean Park, Scoresby. 

Show map <source>

MG obviously had spent extra money to be at this show because their space was HUGE compared to everyone else. AOMC (Association of Motoring Clubs),

When I got there at 12:00 pm it felt like it was at the tail end of events, and as I was walking around it seemed there were already some gaps in the cars parked there.

Caribbean Park is not well recognised by Google Maps, and from watching other people on the road they too must've been confused by how to get in there. 

There is Caribbean Business Park, there is a driveway / road that's not marked but was the entrance to the Caribbean Markets and then there is the entrance to "Caribbean Park". If you're coming from the main freeway – EastLink then you need to head east along Ferntree Gully Road and then do a u-turn at the turn for Koornang Road.  Caribbean Park has a big archway at its entrance.

Entry was $8 with that money supposedly going to the local CFA according to the tannoy announcements.

Where I walked in

The area was fenced somewhat, but I'm not sure why because there were gaps in the fences where you could walk in and there was no one stopping you to check. The site isn't exactly easy to walk into either, it's almost 900 metres from Ferntree Gully Road (although there is a bus stop at the entry so it is possible to go here via public transport).

Walking past the BMC-Leyland Car Club as I wandered into the show from the side, these were an eclectic mix of cars. What I would frame them as is '1950s-early 1960s TV show background cars'. Some Morrises including a van.

I really like the Jensen Interceptor, a lovely design of car. But the back window, which it has a unique curved piece of glass in it would be worrying to drive around in, because if it's damaged there's likely none in this country and likely if one existed it'd be expensive and / or probably have to come from the UK. But it's fabulous that there were so many of them on display and their car club is active.

I also really quite like Jaguar E-Types. Although every time I see them in person I'm just struck by how long the bonnet is, and can't help but wonder how hard it makes them to park.

Triumphs were well represented with several Triumph Stags on display. 

I like the latter TR Triumphs the TR7 and TR8 where they took on more of a wedge sort of shape.

Bentley was well represented by several 1980s examples, along with much older varieties. 

I quite appreciate the much older cars, the "vintage veteran" cars, there was a 1913 De Dion Bouton Model DW2 - 2 Cylinder, it has 821 cc and a cruising speed of 42 kilometres per hour. And it's for sale!

Also there was a Minerva Type R 1909 Roadster; a four cylinder 2.3 litre, it didn't list a cruising speed, but it has 16 horsepower. 

I appreciate the Rovers, I wouldn't say I'm a fan, or even think they look pretty, but there is a design aesthetic to them that I can appreciate.

I liked this Wolseley 16/45 Special 1925, with its tools in the engine bay and luxurious carpet in the small cabin.

Up one end of the show were Alfa Romeo, Saab, BMW and Volvo.

There weren't many Alfa Romeos left when I got up there, there looked to have been space for a few more, but it seemed like those drivers had left.

There were a number of interesting French cars from Renault, Citroën and Peugeot.

I quite like the French cars, both old and new, there's something that's a little different with them compared to their contemporaries.

In the Volvo area one stuck out the Volvo TP21 4x4 a Radio Command Car.

The Austin-Healeys all looked nice. And I'm sure they're nice to drive on the days when it's not too hot or sunny, there's no danger of rain and it's not too windy.

Of the many, many MGs, I didn't wander around a lot of them, it was a little bit overwhelming in a sort of...not underwhelming...just...whelming sort of way. MGB GTs are nice, but I don't really have a huge interest in MGs in general, and I sort of got to the MGs at the end of wandering around everything else. 

The pre-war MGs are great, and you can clearly see these are cars that have had money, time and care spent on them, very much the once on a club run sort of cars.

While I had heard of many of the defunct car makes at least in passing Alvis was one I had not. Two examples in bare aluminium caught my eye as I was finishing my wander around. They certainly were eye catching. I imagine them being driven by a love interest of Miss Fisher or something like that.

As I was getting ready to leave at around 1:00 pm it seemed like several cars on show were also starting to leave. 

When I was driving out the gates were no longer manned by anyone, which meant that entry was probably free by that point. 

So I guess if you're going to one of these car club shows get there early.

There were some food options, none that I thought to take photos of, or take advantage of. 

There were two coffee vans, one with the main food area, and another beside the MG area.

There was a pizza van, something that did 'tornado potatoes' and I think I saw a third thing but didn't quite process what it was.

Audi S4 45 TFSI quattro

Recently I had a car in at a dealer getting an engine warning light, and check engine light sorted, I was told it might take an hour…or longer, so they had a loan car sorted for me as it turned out to be the latter.

I was given an Audi S4 45 TFSI quattro, which according to the rego was a 2020 model.

The car I was leaving with the car dealer / mechanic wasn't an Audi, and this was the first Audi I'd driven.

Starting the car up it initially seemed a little unsettled, but as I drove it, this feeling seemed to go away completely.

Upon leaving the car dealer I didn't really take it for a drive, I departed for home; driving in the city's inner suburbs and then mostly on the freeway home, driving for a bit more than an hour.

Steering was very light.

My every day vehicle is a 2018 Ford Ranger Wildtrak. 

I sort of will use it as a yardstick to the Audi, mostly because it's my every day vehicle and it's comparable in production year, more so than the car that was being fixed.

My Ford Ranger has these driving aids; radar guided cruise control, speed detection in the dash, lane keeping assist.

Additionally in cabin it has sun visors that slide (so you can cover the whole window), Apple CarPlay and a touch screen.

What the Audi A4 doesn't have is the odd thing.

It didn't have a touchscreen. While it does have Apple CarPlay, you control it via a wheel / dial control in the centre console. While the wheel is also a circular D-pad control type sort of thing depending on the menu you have to mostly use it as a wheel to move around rather than a D-pad.

The Audi A4 does have radar guided cruise control…and that's it as far as I could tell. It's also got some sort of radar guided safety system, it kept flashing a red light in the instrument cluster when I got too close to a car in front, which I couldn't work out how to disable so I just ignored it.

It does not have lane keeping assist. But it does have blind spot assist (which my Ranger does not have). It's in the form of a large orange square light on the side of the wing mirrors that gets quickly annoying. The wing mirrors are also a very odd shape, contorting the available space to see stuff in it in odd ways.

The sun visors in the Audi also feel weirdly light and plasticky, and they don't slide, which was surprising, considering how big the doors / window glass is compared to the sun visors.

The whole dash was air vents. It was an interesting design choice, which I'm not sure I liked.

It had a digital instrument cluster, which was fine it's probably something I would get used to if I drove this car, but it looked like it needed some shading or something adding to the dials just to give it some sense of depth and reality. They looked dated in an odd way.

There's a digital instrument cluster in my Ford Ranger and if I was being optimistic I'd say it's practical. It's got an analogue display which is in the middle and a digital display to the right. It's practical, but looked a little dated when I bought it. But functional, and now it's…functional.

Unfortunately in the Audi it looks modern, in a sort of late 2010s sort of way. 

The view interface is fine, it's very smooth, it's just not very….I don't know. It's functional, but sort of stylistically functional, enough thought has been put into it that it most definitely is designed but…it's sort of trying to straddle the unreality and realness and not quite doing it.

The display in my Ranger is functional, but it's not trying to be anything other than a functional gauge (although the digital circular rev counter display in the Ranger is also terrible in a pretend sort of way).

On the instrument stalks there's also some oddness. 

The indicator stalk was very firm, I felt it required too much force to engage. 

Audi also seemed to have eschewed dials/rings on the instrument stalks for switches. Such as on the cruise control stalk, to adjust the radar guided cruise control distance (from the car in front) it's this lever switch that you click up and down. 

On my Ford Ranger it's buttons on the steering wheel. 

And on the windscreen wiper stalk to advance the speed is a switch to be rocked left to right.

These switches feel like you need to brace the stalks when adjusting them.

The two "real" displays on the instrument cluster are temperature and fuel, which are indicated by lights along the side. It's an…interesting choice, that sort of interrupted the clean look of the instrument cluster. But I guess there's some utility to having non-screen-based gauges.

The interior was very ergonomic, with my arm on the centre arm rest the volume knob and other controls were easy to hand. 

I could imagine this being a good car for tedious drives to and from work and other places. 

The centre arm rest also has a wireless charging plate to charge your phone. I used Apple CarPlay to connect my phone rather than messing around with bluetooth to connect to different car.

Which means I didn't experience much of the Audi menu system (aside from discovering the lack of a touchscreen).

On my drive back to the dealer I discovered that the location of the wireless charging plate (in the centre arm rest) did not allow for very good airflow, resulting in my phone overheating just before my arrival. A not great thing considering I needed it to scan in for the COVID QR check-in code upon arrival back at the dealer.

The speakers were really good, and I could hear a subwoofer somewhere in the rear. I heard stuff in some of my music I'd not heard outside of listening on a stereo at home or with good headphones.

On the whole it's a very good...'car'. It was perfectly fine to drive, it's well designed where it needs to be, with some odd quirks. It just didn't have much personality, it'd be a great company car, or as I was using it loan car.

Fast & Furious 6 review

Hands down one of the silliest movies I’ve seen in a while.
And Battleship is one of my favourite movies.
Fast & Furious 6 was very silly, so much so it pushed suspension of disbelief to breaking point and beyond.

The thing about Battleship is that it knows it’s a silly movie, it’s a movie based on a board game.
It’s got aliens in it, there’s ships, most of them aren’t battleships (spoiler; there’s only one ‘battleship’ in the movie Battleship), the rest of the ships in Battleship are destroyers or other sorts of vessels.
Actually all this information is given in quite a simple way with a bit of footage and a short bit of dialogue so you understand the difference between a destroyer and a battleship. It doesn’t however impart the difference between a boat and a ship. But generally you can put a boat on a ship but you can’t put a ship on a boat.

Returning to the topic for a moment....
I watched this on blu-ray, and used the fast forward button more than a few times, it was the only way to get through this movie, (even my favourite movie Battleship I usually skip through the soccer scene at the start).

Fast & Furious 6 carries so much baggage from the previous films that its title/opening credits sequence serves as a “Previously on” for the movie.
Small mercies at least it wasn’t a character having a flashback sequence of all the salient events of the previous movies, that would have been worse, even more so if it included a voice over.

Fast & Furious 6 takes itself too seriously and it’s a film that shouldn’t be serious it should be a movie that knows it’s a bit silly, or at least know that what they’re up to is at least a bit silly. Aside from one mention of ‘James Bond shit’ there’s no acknowledgement that the events within the movie are practically impossible and outside the bounds of ‘normal’.

The setting for most of Fast & Furious 6 was London.
Maybe they were running out of interesting locations to shoot. My first thought was that there was some sort of money deal that meant they could shoot there. But skipping through the Wikipedia article for Fast & Furious 6 there doesn’t seem to be the word “concession” used anywhere in the article. “Tax” is used once in relation to them shooting in the Canary Islands who gave a tax rebate of 38%.

The early ‘Fast and Furious’ movies were a fun mix of fast cars, soundtrack and vaguely good looking people doing stuff in a vaguely real way. This movie just smashes a lot of the suspension of disbelief out of the way. It’s definitely not helped by the way it treats physics. Optimistically I would say that physics are treated in a cartoon fashion. But it’s the way they play it so very straight whenever they ignore the laws of physics. There are jumps and catches mid air and then when they land it’s against a car’s windscreen or something.
I probably would have had less problem with it if they had some of the characters, after having done this do the movie-style thing of coughing up or spitting out some blood. Giving you some vague indication that they were hurt rather than just shrugging.

With Fast & Furious 6 I just couldn’t help while watching the scenes in London, just thinking, that The Italian Job, the original 1969 one not the really quite awful other film from 2003 also of the same name, that was the best car heist film. It’s got everything in it, some great quotable dialogue, some great uses of cars. Iconic cars at that; Minis.

Also, I never really noticed how god-y Fast and Furious 6 is. Maybe I never really noticed it in the previous films, but there’s a fair amount of god-related stuff in the films which could have been avoided, so it was obviously a deliberate choice to have them in there.

Finally. I didn’t like any of the characters in this film.
Some like Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) playing Hobbs I couldn’t work out why he was in the movie. I seem to recall he was in the last one. Johnson is cartoon like in his presence on screen, and that’a against Vin Diesel who is also almost cartoon like. Both are buffed up, except Johnson is too much, just him being in a scene throws out any believability.

Going back to Battleship, with its silliness, basic plot and lots of explosions and big soundtrack with AC/DC on it, it makes you understand and like the characters very quickly.
It’s quite economical with how it establishes everything (even if there’s a soccer match at the start which wastes about 10 minutes of the movie). Most of the characters in Battleship are likeable, there’s moderately interesting and you kinda care about them.
I didn’t really care about any of the characters in this movie, the biggest emotive response I had to the characters was fining them irritating.

Double finally, as all movies seem to have a post-credits sequence then I’ll write a final paragraph after ‘finally’. Things that make little sense; Paul Walker’s character flying back from London to the US to be locked jail up to find out information that could probably have come to the characters with some hand waving and tech-related sort of scenes in London. Location choices; RAF Bentwaters standing in for NATO base in Lusitania, Spain. I recognised this one because it’s been used on Top Gear. It’s also only shown on an overcast day and at night. If it weren’t for the onscreen graphics you wouldn’t know where it was (ok, fine there was dialogue indicating that the characters were going to Spain). That overcast day could and should have been either re-shot on a sunnier day or had the sky repainted to make it look sunnier. There’s enough movie short hand that exist that says Spain = sunny. Not overcast. Even in a moody military scene involving NATO Spain it should have been sunny, otherwise it could have been anywhere.