Tom Baker

5 days ago | chasingcars.com.au | Tom Baker |Curt Dupriez

BMW’s new second-generation 2 Series Gran Coupe, the ‘F74’, has launched in Australia, clinging to a particular ‘entry premium’ formula favoured by Munich and its Audi and Mercedes-Benz contemporaries as gateway drugs of sorts to brand ownership. Now, front-drive-biased small hatches – and, eventually, four-door coupes – have been ground floor entry for Germany’s Big Three dating back a quarter century now, but BMW’s 2 Series GC, debuting in 2019, is the latecomer.

5 days ago | chasingcars.com.au | Tom Baker |John Law

Electric cars are making headlines, but hybrids are all the rage. You only need to look at Toyota, Australia’s biggest new car seller, to see how popular petrol-electric is — its passenger car range has gone fully hybrid. It’s a trick that Subaru has so far missed. Sure, the fifth-gen Forester and XV both had hybrid systems, but Chasing Cars testing found them to be barely more efficient than petrol-only models in the real world. Enter the new, sixth-generation Forester.

1 week ago | chasingcars.com.au | Tom Baker |Evan Spence

Chasing Cars has previously had a good look at it inside and out at its global launch event in Tasmania, but this is the first time we’ve been able to drive the 2025 Kia Tasman 4×4 ute. Come July, Kia’s debut pick-up will be officially launched, but we’re one of the few Aussie outlets to get in at the ground level for an early Kia Tasman punt on dirt.

1 week ago | goauto.com.au | Tom Baker

Overview OUR BOX SEAT as road testers on the endless merry-go-round of new car model launches satisfies automotive curiosity, but it can also spark a sense of loss—as good cars we appreciate are displaced by electrification and complex technology that not all Australian drivers have asked for. Depending on your perspective, the rate of change in the automotive industry can make such models feel outdated—or reassuring. In the case of the updated Volkswagen Golf range, the latter applies.

1 week ago | goauto.com.au | Tom Baker

VOLKSWAGEN Australia is getting closer to announcing that a higher-performance version of the Golf GTI hot hatch will return to Australia, echoing a two-tiered GTI strategy last witnessed in 2020 when a TCR-inspired special edition was sold locally above the standard car. The sole Golf GTI currently offered to Australian buyers is the series production version that, in recently-launched Mk 8.5 format, produces 195kW of power and 370Nm of torque with a retail price of $58,990 plus on-road costs.