Our thoughts are with all those affected by the recent devastating earthquake in Christchurch on the 22nd of February 2011. We have family in the area and they are ok although very shaken and concerned for others worse affected, as we all are.
It all started in 1985 when Hyundai released the Sonata. It was a revamped version of the Stellar that actually wasn’t all that stellar. The Sonata was certainly nothing to write home about either, also pretty much every Sonata after that. Not to mention other models in the Hyundai range: Pony, Excel, Accent, Elantra and so on. Not that they were ever unreliable in fact they appear to be very reliable indeed hence you still see many of them on our roads daily, unexcitingly meandering along taking their occupants from point A to point B. These ‘80’s and ‘90’s Hyundai’s were bland, boring and very unsafe should their occupants be unfortunate enough to have an altercation with one of the many drivers on our roads that can’t, um, drive.
It’s easy to see why this festival has survived for 17 years now. Our lovely country seems to be full of some of the most stunning examples of motoring history from around the world, and it would seem most of them were in Kumeu this weekend.
This was my first visit to the Kumeu A & P Showgrounds, why? I don’t know but this classic car enthusiast sitting here tapping away on his laptop in the dark on a hot Sunday evening with a sunburnt face and sore legs now realises he should have popped his Kumeu Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival cheery a long, long time ago!
I would have loved to have spent much more time there getting to know the cars and their owners better but it would Read the rest of this entry »
2010 Holden Commodore VE Berlina Series II 3.0 V6 SIDI
It was with some feeling of expectation that I approached the new three litre V6 Berlina with all the hype surrounding the new SIDI (Spark Ignition Direct Injection) engine I had high hopes of a powerful and economical drive over the next few days.
Thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. Even with my heavy footed style of driving and plenty of that stop start city driving I was pleased to see the trip computer reading around 12.3 litres per 100k’s, factory claim is 9.3 which should be easily achievable on the open road.
NZ On Cars 