Volkswagen was slow to the small SUV market, only adding the Portuguese-built T-Roc to its fleet in 2020. By this time, competitors like the Toyota C-HR, Hyundai Kona, Mitsubishi ASX and Subaru XV were well established with strong sales volumes. VFACTS numbers also indicate many buyers flock to the smaller […]
Mark Davis
Mark is a contributing road tester at PerformanceDrive. With the soul and background of an IT nerd, Mark especially appreciates technology advances, safety, and attention to detail. His first car was a rusty powder blue 1972 Volvo 144 sedan. When he's not road testing vehicles, his daily drive is still a Volvo only now it's able to steer and brake all by itself.
2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV review (video)
Plug-in hybrid vehicles are on a steep upward trajectory here in Australia. VFACTS figures show sales have doubled from 2021 to 2022 alone. In early 2022, we saw the launch of the fourth-generation Mitsubishi Outlander. But it was launched without the PHEV offering that the previous generation Outlander boldly introduced. […]
2022 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLS 4×2 review
Did you know that Mitsubishi now only sells SUVs and utes? No more sedans or hatches for the Japanese brand as it reaps the benefits of the ever-increasing SUV market. 2022 brought a solid year for its large SUV – the Pajero Sport. It saw a 21 per cent increase […]
2023 Cupra Ateca VZx review (video)
There are a handful of new car brands making the long voyage to Aussie shores of late. If you like performance cars in particular, Cupra is a new brand you should get to know. Cupra, which stands for Cup Racing, is a new spin-off performance brand of SEAT, headquartered in […]
2023 Kia Stonic Sport review (video)
With the popularity of SUVs today, Kia could never offer too many models. The baby in a fleet of four SUVs is the popular Kia Stonic. It is an easy one for Kia as it is based on the Kia Rio. Throughout 2022, the Korean brand sold 8557 units in […]
2023 Genesis G80 Electrified review (video)
Genesis has put its hat in the EV ring with its largest luxury sedan – the G80, Electrified. We reviewed the ambitious Genesis G80 2.5T and gutsy 3.5T petrol variants, but now let’s see what this platform is like with the silent smoothness of EV power. Powering all four wheels, […]
2023 Volvo XC60 Recharge Ultimate T8 review (video)
We first fell in love with the Volvo XC60 T8 plug-in hybrid in 2020. It was one of the first SUVs to roll sheer performance and efficiency into one vehicle. For 2023, the luxury SUV has been updated with more power, more electric driving range, more features, refreshed design elements, […]
2023 BMW X1 review – sDrive18i & xDrive20i (video)
BMW has released the third generation of its baby SUV – the X1. But just because it’s the smallest does not mean it’s small. Now bigger, bolder and smarter than ever before, the 2023 X1 is out to reset benchmarks for its class. According to VFACTS, the outgoing X1 slipped […]