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The [front page] carries current 4WD articles. The 4wdnews index and archive is [here (click)].
NB FILLING News-0004.html from now on! -->|
<<<April 2000 onwards<<< |
>>>July-Dec' 1999>>> |
29 March 2000: Foers builds a unique Ibex 100" station wagon. Yellow terra Impreza from Subaru. Prices on the Suzuki Vitara SWB soft-top.
24 March 2000: General Motors may try to outbid Ford to buy Land Rover [-Financial Times]. The Brits are not happy about the break up of Rover (which makes the 4x2 cars and is separate from Land Rover); it will not be a comfortable job to try to sell BMW-made new Minis in the UK next year!
23 March 2000: Daimler-Chrysler
plans to acquire 1/3 of Mitsubishi!
Mitsubishi is expected to continue with considerable autonomy.
D.C. will have a veto on the Mitsubishi board. -->
This will make D-C-M the number three car maker in the world.
#1 G.M., subsidiaries and associates -
Buick, Cadillac, Chev, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn,
Holden, Opel, Saab, Vauxhall, Isuzu, and
shares of: --> Subaru, Suzuki, Fiat;
#2 Ford and friends -
Lincoln, Mercury,
Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Land-Rover,
Volvo, Mazda;
#3 Daimler-Chrysler and chums -
Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler,
Dodge, Jeep,
Mitsubishi.
Who is left by these musical chairs,
VW - Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda & Rolls Royce (to 2002);
Renault - Nissan (& Samsung 4/'00);
Toyota - Daihatsu;
BMW (for how long?) - Rolls Royce (after 2002);
Honda;
 Sport Trac |
17 March 2000: In a truly spectacular financial failure, Iridium, the global satellite phone system, has filed for bankruptcy. It is even possible that its satellites will be destroyed if the company is not rescued. What must have seemed like such a good idea when the enterprise began turned out to be not what consumers wanted after all.
17 March 2000: The Australian head of state, Queen Elizabeth II of England, began a visit to Australia. Back in 1954 there was a lot of "reviewing" from the back of a series-1 Queen-mobile but this year the Rolls Royce seems to be more favoured.
17 March 2000: BMW
is to break up Rover, "the English Patient",
and sell it off. There will be no new Rover cars, and
that division will be sold to a venture capital company `Alchemy'
who will phase out the Rover saloon cars to
make MG's. BMW will make the new Mini.
Does this make the Rover
75
an orphan? Profitable
Land Rover
will probably be
| 1 | M. Schumacher | Ferrari | 10 pts |
4wd.sofcom.com/2000/News-0001.html Jaguars dropped out early on. |
| 2 | R. Barrichello | Ferrari | 6 pts | |
| 3 | R. Schumacher | Williams | 4 pts | |
| 4 | J. Villeneuve | BAR | 3 pts | |
| 5 | G. Fisichella | Benneton | 2 pts | |
| disq | M. Salo | Sauber | - | |
| 6 | R. Zonta | BAR | 1 pt | |
| 7 | A. Wurz | Benetton | - | |
| 8 | M. Gene | Minardi | - | |
| 9 | N. Heidfeld | Prost | - |
7 March 2000: Cyclone Steve has a third life, this one in the Indian ocean - now bearing down on Exmouth and the Pilbara. (Became a rain bearing depression, moving inland, 9/3.)
3 March 2000: Melbourne International Motor Show (right) begins, running until 13 March.
March 2000: Audi has a P.R. problem on its hands, with the handling of the
TT coupe
under question following some high speed crashes in Europe.
The company commissioned TUV Suddeutschland to "carry out a
technical investigationof the TT's handling".
The report is that
"The Audi TT (including its original versions) is,
compared to the competition, a good sports car - better than the average
in this category - and is in keeping with the state of the art".
Perhaps in further response, Audi (au) is launching the
TT Experience EvenTT in the 2nd quarter of 2000 -
a defensive driving course for owners.
Also, owners of 1999-built coupes will be offered
a retro-fit of modified rear suspension and a rear spoiler.
Early y2k-built cars already have the mod's plus the ESP stability program -
to arrive in au from late March.
| Category | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| H.D. 4WD | Toyota Landcruiser GXL | Land Rover Discovery ES Td5 | Nissan Patrol Ti |
| Recreational 4WD | Honda CR-V | Subaru Outback Ltd | Subaru Forester |
| Sports and Performance | Subaru Impreza WRX | Honda S2000 | Holden Commodore SS |
| People Mover | Honda Odyssey | Chrysler GrandVoyager SE | Mitsubishi Nimbus |
| Luxury | Holden Statesman V8 | BMW 528i | Jaguar S-type V6SE |
| Family | Holden Commodore Acclaim | Mitsubishi Magna Advance | Ford Falcon Futura |
| Medium | Subaru Liberty GX | Holden Vectra GL | Daewoo Leganza |
| Small | Holden Astra City | Ford Laser GLXi / Mazda 323 Astina 1.6 | Nissan Pulsar Plus |
| Budget | Mitsubishi Mirage | Toyota Echo 3-door | Daihatsu Sirion |
1 March 2000: Tropical Cyclone Steve expected to monster the Gulf of Carpentaria coastline of Queensland.
29 February 2000: Mazda show a 4x4 twin-turbo' concept car based on the Mazda 626.
28 February 2000: Tropical Cyclone Steve crossed the Queensland coast
near Cairns bringing yet more rain
to the already water-logged state.
February 2000: Corkwood Press
is working on a facsimile edition of the
Journal of the Elder Scientific Expedition, 1891-2.
The expedition of 13 men and 44 camels went from the arid zone of
South Australia into Western Australia.
Price is to be
au$145 for the leather bound edition (50 copies),
$95 for the buckram edition (350 copies).
24 February 2000: The RACV reports that crash tests on old and new cars reveal great improvements in car safety over the last 20 years. "The driver of a 1977 Kingswood [sedan] is more than five times [more] likely to suffer serious injury than the driver of a comparable current model Holden Commodore in a frontal crash".
24 February 2000: Heavy rain in N.E. Australia has brought flooding to Queensland, N.T. and NSW. For example, Longreach is expecting record flood levels.
February 2000: Toyota (Australia) will gradually take over Daihatsu (Australia) operations from 1 July 2000.
20 February 2000: The Victorian 4WD Show (the event formerly known as the 4WD Field Day), Wandin, Victoria.
18 February 2000: The first Firefly type 66 vehicle has passed its first major milestone having left the assembly jig in January and is now on its way to being skinned and commencing mechanical installations at the end of this month. Still on target for May completion and then a short demonstration tour before going to Intershutz in Germany leaving 15th June. - Mike Eastman, Firefly Special Vehicles Limited.
February 2000: There is speculation that petrol prices could rise above au$1/litre by mid year if OPEC is able to keep the lid on production volumes - when demand exceeds supply prices go up. Of course Europe has long had even higher fuel prices, but that is due to taxation. Anyone for a (economical) diesel?
February 2000: From 1980s Brazil, the
Javali
4WD - another "lost cause".
11-13 February Trucks in Action show (right), Lardner Park, Vic' (au).
13 February 2000: Heavy rain in the Northern Territory and the north of South Australia has cut roads and marooned travellers.
February 2000: The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), WA, radio network will discontinue its afternoon sked from Monday 6 March 2000; this has been averaging less than 2 calls per day. The service will continue to operate a 24-hour emergency HF radio net', and will maintain the broadcasting of cyclone warnings. The country hour (12.00-13.00) and ABS news (13.00) will still be broadcast.
February 2000: Some pictures from Quad Drive 4WD Club in Western Australia.
4 February 2000, email:
Just been to the Brisbane Motor Show.
The most interesting bit
of information I picked up is that Toyota dealers now have
pricing information on the Turbo Diesel
Prado's:
They will be about $5,000.00 more expensive than the equivalent V6 model.
For example, the Turbo Diesel RV will be just under
$48,000.00, on the road. I think with this sort of premium
price, Toyota will have a bit of trouble selling them.
$5,000.00 buy's an awful lot of petrol, and the V6 is a very
nice motor. Obviously the same [-----]s who killed the Turbo Diesel
80-series
by pricing it so much more than the petrol
ones are still working for Toyota! The Turbo Diesel Prado's
are due at dealers by the end of this month.
At the Mitsubishi stand, they had the
new model Pajero
on display. It is a totally new vehicle from the old. It has
4-wheel independent suspension, and no chassis! It
has a wider and lower stance than the old model. The
information with it stated that it has more ground clearance
than the old [live rear axle] model,
but looking under it, [the new Pajero] looks lower -
4 February 2000: A day of total fire ban in Victoria with temperatures forecast to reach 40°C+/-.
4 February 2000: Honda Australia will preview a new five-door model of the HR-V four-wheel-drive at the Brisbane International Motor Show on 4/2/00. The 4-door has a 100mm longer wheel-base.
3 February 2000: [Press Release] from Opposite Lock extolling the virtues of the TrueTrac limited slip diff' (LSD) for constant four wheel drive vehicles.
3 February 2000: Petrol prices reached a record 82c/L+/- in Melbourne and went over 89c/L in some parts of country Victoria thanks to production restrictions by OPEC which have gradually driven prices up this year and to an increase in the tax on petrol which is indexed to inflation.
1 February 2000:
Western Star
(au) is to buy MAN Automotive (Australia)
which will continue, as Man Automotive Imports,
to be the exclusive agency for
Man trucks and buses in au/nz.
Man (de) will buy 100% of the UK firm ERF
from Western Star Truck Holdings (Canada)
28 January 2000: The RACV reminds car owners to get their vehicle(s) tuned regularly which both improves fuel consumption and reduces pollution. If you don't, you may be hearing more smog warnings from the EPA, now that the height of summer is upon us (au).
25 January 2000: Some more Engesa 4x4 pictures.
23 January 2000: The Dakar - Cairo offroad rally ended near the pyramids. Richard Sainct (BMW) won the bike section, Jean-Louis Schlesser / Henri Magne (Schlesser - Renault buggy) won the car section for the second year in succession, and Vladimir Tchaguine / Semion Yakoubov / Serguei Savostine (Kamaz 49252) won the truck section.
20 January 2000, Thursday: In the Dakar - Cairo rally, Jean-Louis Schlesser / Henri Magane (Schlesser - Renault buggy) hold a 14 minute lead over Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (Mega) with Jean-Pierre Fontenay / Gilles Picard (Mitsubishi Pajero) third in the "cars". Tchaguine / Yakoubov / Savostine (Kamaz 49252) lead Deazevedo / Tomecek / Vodak (Tatra 815) by 20 minutes in the trucks. Richard Sainct (BMW) leads Oscar Gallardo (BMW) by 45 minutes in the bikes.
17 January 2000: The Mobil Avgas contamination problem in Australia drags on with a large fraction of all light aircraft grounded. The problem is said to have been caused by too much ethyl diamine (a corrosion inhibitor) having been added to a batch of fuel before Christmas. The excess causes fuel filters and fuel lines etc. to become blocked. Mobil plans to reprocess the fuel, removing the contaminant, and blending the avgas with (leaded) automotive fuel in the ratio 1:10. In principle the high-octane (105) avgas makes an excellent car fuel, but the RACV voices all motorists' concerns that Mobil doesn't stuff up again and bring (older) cars to a halt too.
January 2000: Revolution Racegear, Australia's number one motorsport accessories store has signed as the primary sponsor of the new series of In Pit Lane which returns to Melbourne's Channel 31 [TV] Tuesday January 25th at the new time of 9.30pm. [more....]
January 2000: News of 4x4 Winter Trials in Estonia.
January 2000: Dutton Marine, maker of the amphibious, 4x2 Dutton Mariner S2 (based on the Ford Fiesta Mk3) and the 4x2 Dutton Commander (based on the Ford Fiesta Mk4), is to start selling the amphibious, four wheel drive Commander 4x4 based on the Suzuki Samurai 4x4.
January 2000: Subaru Australia have rereleased a leather trimmed special edition of the Impreza WRX at $2.5K above the 1999 price of the standard WRX.
January 2000: The Y2K Toyota Landcruiser 100-series GXV (top model) gets electronic braking and traction aids to match Merc's M-class and Landrover's Range Rover.
12 January 2000: Kia Motors Australia will stop distributing Kia vehicles from 29/2/2000, when Ateco Automotive Pty Ltd will take over this task [-Kia].
January 2000: Organisers of the Victorian Variety Club's 4WD Excellent Adventure (see 17 March 2000 in events) report the following "themes" for the event: start - Hawaiian, Mt Ben Lomond - Ski Bunnies, Rutherglen - Maverick, Cradle Mountain - Blues Brothers, Dover - Grease. (Mad as hatters.)
11 January 2000: The organisers of the 2000 Dakar-Cairo offroad rally decided to airlift the rally from Niamey, Niger to Sabbah and Waw el Kebir, Libya, between Wednesday 12 January and Sunday 16 January because of the risk of armed attack in Niger. The rally should resume on Monday 17 January. Overall after stage 6, Tuesday 11 January, Juan Roma (KTM) leads Richard Sainct (BMW) by 22 minutes in the bike section. Kenjiro Shinozuka and Dominique Serieys (Mitsubishi Pajero, T2) lead Jean-Louis Schlesser and Henri Magne (Schlesser - Renault Megane buggy, T3) by six minutes in the cars. Vladimir Tchaguine/ Yakoubov/ Savistine (Kamaz, T4) lead Andre Deazevedo/ Tomecek/ Vodak (Tatra 815, T4) by 40 minutes in the trucks.
10 January 2000: Detroit Motor Show begins.
January 2000: Photos (below) of the new 2001 Dodge Ram Charger currently being manufactured in Mexico. This particular one was spotted and shot (by Frederick Ammons) in Aspen, Colorado (USA) with Mex. licence plates - Henry Ammons
 |
 4wd.sofcom.com/2000/News-0001.html |
7 January 2000: [news] of the Y2K Europa Truck Trials and also of televising the Dakar-Cairo Rally on Eurosport TV.
6-23 January 2000: This year the legendary 4WD rally runs from Dakar to Cairo.
4 January 2000: The RACV reports that 75% of Victorians think the Citylink project will be good for Victoria and 76% believe it will reduce travel times. 72% say they will use it even means paying a toll, which it does. Meanwhile there are still engineering problems with water lifting the road surface in the (unopened) tunnels.
January 2000: Zeke Steggall is an Australian snowboard competitor and a [4x4 enthusiast].
1 January 2000: The road toll for Victoria remained at about 400 deaths p.a. through the mid and late 1990s, the low being 396 in 1992 (down from 847 in 1979). The RACV calls for renewed efforts to make the toll decline. It gives the interesting statistic that while 95% of car occupants wear seat-belts 25% of fatalities are unbelted - a pretty persuasive reason to belt-up.
2000 model year Toyota Hilux gets the option of an 85kW 3-litre turbo-diesel on the SR-5 trim-level crew-cab, single cab and chassis-cab models.
January 2000: VFACTS figures for 1999
show total vehicle sales of 786,845.
December 1999 sales (71,562) were up 1.4% on December 1998,
although sales for the full year are 2.6% lower than 1998,
and passenger vehicle sales (547,575) 6.3% down on 1998.
Most attribute the latter to a mini "buyers' strike"
as buyers wait for the GST to reduce new car prices.
GM Holden sold most vehicles (155,307) in 1999,
with Toyota very close behind, then Ford.
In the All Terrain Wagon segment,
Toyota Landcruiser (13038)
finished ahead of Nissan Patrol
wagon (10150) for the year,
not forgetting Prado (8266)
and RAV4 (6988).
Honda must be rubbing their hands with glee at the
CR-V (9735) and
HR-V (2857).
Subaru is doing something right with the
Forester (7390) and
Outback (4219).
Mitsubishi must have hoped for better from the
Pajero (5724)
and must have fingers-crossed waiting for the
new model.
Land Rover should be quite pleased with the
Discovery (4403),
e.g. beating the
Holden Jackaroo (4275).
Overall, all terrain wagon sales of just over 100K 104,058 -->
were 8% up on 1998.
1 January 2000: You made it through the nineties,
congratulations and welcome to the
Go to the
4/2000...,
7-12/1999,
1-6/1999
and
4wdnews archive
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