Tyre Plant Closure Puts 2000 Jobs On Line

UP TO 2000 workers may lose their jobs as a result of the closure of the South Pacific Tyres factory in Melbourne.

Hit The Road Like Jack

With the coming of the Toyota Yaris began the part of my life you could call my life on the road. I hadn't quite experienced a miserably weary split-up but I had the feeling that everything was dead, that I needed to traverse the groaning continent in a real gone little bangtail cat of an automobile.

Poor Tyres Mean Extra 3 Lengths In Stopping

A THIRD of the cars on Victoria's roads have at least one well-worn or unroadworthy tyre, dramatically extending braking distance.

Drivers At Risk As Spare Tyres Vanish

MOTORIST associations say drivers risk being left stranded by the growing number of cars being sold without full-size spare tyres - with the winner of the Wheels car of the year award among vehicles on the market with only a puncture repair kit.

Bid To Dump Space-saver Wheels

Space-saver wheels and tyres could be outlawed if a move in Federal Parliament to alter the Australian Design Rules is successful.

Get The Skinny On Your Spare

Space-saver spare tyres have come in for heavy criticism yet again following safety tests measuring their effects on handling and braking. Carried out by engineers from the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, the tests showed vehicles using the skinny spares had reduced cornering grip and longer braking distances.

It Ticks The Family Freighter Boxes ... Except Frugality

The Territory might not be the biggest automobile to come out of Ford's Broadmeadows factory (it's shorter than a Falcon) but it's certainly one of the heaviest.

Drive 'em Crazy

The first overlap between cars and the world of art and ideas probably came about when Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Laurel and Hardy team decided that automobile accidents were funny. Not that people of that era associated films with art or ideas. Like cars themselves, movies were just a fad.

Vacc Tackles Racv On Roadworthy Checks

The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce has taken the RACV to task for its comments over a VACC proposal to make roadworthy checks compulsory before a car is re-registered.

Vacc Urges Annual Roadworthy Tests

The Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce has again called for compulsory annual roadworthy tests in Victoria to get rid of cars that are "unsafe, unroadworthy and dangerous through negligence".

Prepare For Death Of De Spare

Car makers are now saying skinny spare tyres are taking up too much space when a small aerosol can do the job.

Happy Days, Delirious Price

The retro PT Cruiser cleverly packages feel-good shapes from decades past and a modern, flexible interior. Besotted buyers, says Bill McKinnon, will ignore the premium and endure its shortcomings. The 1930s-1960s was the golden age of American automobile design. In his fine book, Classic America

Soft Road, Hard Miles

The morphing of the automobile of the new millennium continues apace: part car, part four-wheel drive and part people mover. But JOSHUA DOWLING asks what happens when everyone's driving one. THE FUTURE of the soft-roader has firmed up. Our wheels are being re-invented before our very eyes. The

Expect To Pay More For Your Plane, Train And Automobile

CANBERRA Most road users will notice immediate price increases from midnight on Friday. Starting with the means of transport we use and love most - our cars - the cost of petrol in metropolitan areas will rise by between 1.5 and 2 cents a litre. In country areas the cost will be less, with

Auto Obsession

Forget loud stereos and wild paint jobs, the latest craze in modified cars is the shark-filled fish tank. Joshua Dowling peers into the subculture to find out why. YOU hear them long before you see them. Not because of squealing tyres or a loud exhaust but because of the "doof, doof, doof&

Stop Sign

We pay a high price, and not just in monetary terms, for our cars. Maybe it's time to think of other ways of getting around. By Jonathan Hawley. It can be difficult to argue convincingly that the world would be a better place without the automobile. To do so, you have to forget about how useful (

Plugs & Points

NO RAGE AT KIA CAMPAIGN Anyone who's seen Kia's latest advertising campaign for its recently upgraded Sportage small four-wheel drive was probably fairly impressed with the punishment dished out to the little Korean machine. Nope, not everyone. It seems the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland c

Luxurious New Lexus

LEXUS has upgraded its GS300 luxury sports sedan for 1999 with larger (17-inch) diameter wheels and wider, low-profile 235/45ZR17 tyres. Inside, the car gets better interior lighting and improved access to the child restraint anchorages. The GS300, released earlier this year, was the first car

First Award To Protege

MAZDA'S new 323 Protege has won its first major award, winning the Small Car section of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria's Best Buy Awards. The award judges chose the Mazda for its refined driving performance, improved engine flexibility and responsive handling. A FERRARI 550 Maranell

Dunlop An Olympian

DUNLOP Tyres has joined the Australian Olympic team, coming aboard as an official Games supporter. The company is planning a `highly visible' promotion campaign giving it significant brand and product exposure. HOW much does the Commonwealth Government take in excise from a litre of fuel?