Cars in Australia

Well, I was looking through my photos that I took while I was in Brisbane to put on Friendster and I came across a few cars that I took while I was at Ekka in August 2003. Basically the Ekka is a fair that celebrates everything Queensland from farm animals, to the agricultural sector to the automotive industry.

I stumbled across the Holden Monaro, which is basically the 3rd generation of this model. It's also known as the Pontiac GTO in the States. Also known as the CV8, this 3rd generation of the Monaro comes with a 5.7 liter V8 engine. I was relating this story to my uncle in Ipoh and he informed me that before I was born my dad had a Holden Torana, which was a 1972 model with 3.3 liter block. Now I know where my passion for fast cars comes from. Too bad I'm more into forced induction, sorry dad.

The two Monaros that you see below are basically the GTO and the CV8-R. Both share the same engine, which outputs about 320bhp. The CV8-R on the other hand is a limited edition for 2003. Only 350 units were produced. I still recall the time when I stopped at the traffic lights and saw this bright Green Monaro with a boost meter on his A-Pillar. That time I was driving my 180SX and thought I'd just catch his attention to see what he really has under his hood. I gave the throttle a little push on idle and my blow-off valve just hissed when I let go. It caught the driver's attention and he jsut gave a grin and stepped on his car's throttle. All I heard was a loud rumble from his exhaust and followed immediately by a "Pshhhhhhhhh" from a blow off valve unit.

Mental note, do no piss off V8 drivers... and DO NOT mess with V8 turbos!

I just looked away, feeling really ashamed. Next thing I knew the lights turned green and all I saw was a cloud of white smoke. The bugger did a burnout in front of me and I could not even see his tailights.

Now back to the other two cars, the Mitsubishi Magna Ralliart edition and the 350Z. The Magna is based on Mitsubishi's Gallant chasis and the Magna is only limited to Australia. It's basically considered a local car there and they decided to throw in some interesting bits for the Ralliart edition. I've always fancied anything Ralliart but this edition was quite dissapointing. It came with an Evo 6 look-alike bodykit, the wing and all but the performance was still a 3.0 V6. Nothing to shout about in the performance department. The engine was stock, no MIVEC or any form of forced induction. Dull!

Now the 350Z, sigh, is probably the most beautiful sports car ever to come out from the land of the rising sun. Keep in mind that this was released in 2003 and it was the first edition. I've recently seen the Nismo version in KL and it looks a little more menacing with the race strips and all. The latest model to come out of Japan is the 350Z 35th anniversary edition, which revs all the was to the 7,000 rpm mark. The first edition only had till about 6,400 rpm and it ran out of breath around the 6,000 region. This car really has the right curves in all the right places. Sigh... if only I could afford one.

Apparently Nismo has also produced a 350Z in Japan, where they transplanted an RB26 DET engine from the R34 GTR. Turbo power! They matched it with a sequential 6-speed transmission and it's just unbelievable!