Fit For For A King
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday May 19, 2004
BUYING a wedding gift can be a tough job, but buying a gift for royalty? Almost impossible.
Not for Swedish car maker Saab though.
For last Saturday's wedding of Prince Frederik of Denmark to Tasmanian sweetheart Mary Donaldson (aka Mrs Prince Frederik) Saab, on behalf of its Danish dealers, gave the couple a swish 9-3 Aero convertible.
It goes without saying that the sporty, $100,000 Saab has a high output, turbocharged engine, lots of leather and an electrically operated roof.
It also goes without saying that the regal Saab was finished in royal blue.
SOMETHING a little less regal (okay, a lot less regal) but almost as much fun is Hyundai's latest Tiburon offering.
The sporty Celica chaser has had a $3000 price cut and, for a limited time, comes with a factory sunroof worth $1800.
Other changes in this latest model-go-round include the dropping of the four-cylinder engine from Tiburon, making it a V6-only model.
The car also gets MP3 capability for its six-speaker audio and adds a new colour to the range with exciting blue (go figure) replacing the darker blue in the colour range.
Cutting $3000 from the price brings manual Tiburon down to $31,990 while the automatic model with Selectronic sequential transmission comes in at $33,680.
MITSUBISHI has made running changes to its semi-bonneted Express Walk-Thru van.
The new WA model Walk-Thru Express vans now feature a driver's side airbag and anti-lock brakes on the standard equipment list.
These extras were offered as a $4340 option on the previous SJ van. Mechanical changes mean the newcomer also has a 2.4-litre, single overhead camshaft, four-cylinder engine developing 97 kilowatts at 5500rpm and 192 newton metres of torque at 4250rpm.
Pricing starts at $29,290 for the manual model and $31,490 for the automatic variant.
AUSTRALIA'S oldest Ford, a 1903 Model A, is about to make its motorsport debut, 101 years after it rolled off Henry Ford's original Detroit production line.
The 31st car built by Ford, the Model A will take part in the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria's hillclimb re-enactment as part of the auto club's centenary celebrations in Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, on Sunday.
Owned by Tasmanian Francis Ransley, the car lived within a few hundred kilometres of the Ford factory for 86 years.
It was bought by Mr Ransley and shipped halfway around the world to his Wynyard home in 1989.
GERMANY'S Oko-Trend independent environmental institute has named the Mercedes-Benz SL500 as the world's most environmentally friendly car, significantly for the third successive year.
The institute cited the use of parts made from renewable natural materials, which reduce resource consumption, lower the carbon dioxide emissions and help not only with environmental and recycling management but also with procurement and logistics.
© 2004 Newcastle Herald