Best fresh cars arriving in 2017
Is two thousand seventeen the year of the fresh car for your garage? It’s pretty effortless to work out what’s available now, but here are the most arousing models that are yet to arrive in showrooms to help you make the best choice.
Alfa Romeo
It has been a very, very long time coming, but Alfa’s on-again off-again one hundred fifty nine replacement will eventually launch here in Australia in February kicking off with the M3-baiting 375kW QV version with the rest of the range to go after in March, powered by a 147kW Two.0-litre four cylinder engine.
The fresh Alfa scored the highest adult occupant safety score in EuroNCAP history, is believed to come standard with AEB, pedestrian detection and lane departure warning. Alfa remains tight-lipped about pricing, so we’ll know more come February.
Audi is keeping its cards close to the chest, so there’s just the three confirmed releases for two thousand seventeen – the Q2 and Q5 SUVs and the rather rapid S4 sedan and wagon.
The Q2 slots neatly under the Q3 as a mini-SUV suggesting from the German brand and is very much pursuing the fashionistas. Kicking off from $41,100 (the only confirmed price and higher than Q3’s) the Q2 is going to steal a few sales from the upper-end of Japanese cars like the Honda HR-V and Mazda CX-3 while also attempting to pinch Mercedes GLA and BMW X1 customers, mostly by undercutting them. And maybe a few Mini Countryman punters, too.
The fresh Q5, which debuted in Paris in September 2016, will arrive around the middle of the year, sometime in the third quarter. The fresh Q5 is a very significant car for Audi as the company sells boatloads of them every year. Unconfirmed reports have the go-fast SQ5 possibly joining the range before year’s end, but that’s a long shot.
Audi’s hot A4, the S4 and its wagon version, the S4 Avant will arrive in February. The V6 loses the characterful supercharger but gains a turbo nestled deep in V and Audi reckons they’ve made eight hundred switches to release fifteen more kilowatts and another 60Nm. It’s also lighter and sports an eight-speed ZF automatic.
We’d also be astonished if the A5 and S5 Coupes don’t make an appearance before mid-year.
The brand fresh five Series will land in Australia in March, commencing at $93,900 for the 520d. Codenamed G30, the five inherits geysers of fresh technology from its big brother, the 7, while premiering Apple’s wireless version of CarPlay.
Standard equipment is up across the range, too, with heads-up display, various semi-autonomous technologies and a big Ten.25 screen. The next M5 will most likely go after, as is BMW’s wont, in 2018.
In the middle of the year there will also be the fresh 760Li xDrive, BMW’s very first all-wheel drive sedan in Australia. That one will be loaded with fascinating tech and no doubt go like a rocket for passengers who like a thrill and to be able to choose the cabin fragrance.
If we were betting types, we’d put a large amount of cash on a fresh X3 to combat Mercedes and Audi a little more effectively and there could be some news on the next three Series, possibly at September’s Frankfurt Motor Demonstrate.
You can also expect to see a few models given a light going-over as the year wears on.
Citroen
Expect a quiet year from Citroen with just the facelifted Picasso mini people mover arriving in the very first quarter.
Optimists will point to the Cactus-like C3 being launched by the end of the year, but this seems unlikely at this stage.
Ford’s big release for the year is the Escape which will be on our roads by February to substitute the unloved Kuga. The name is switching to bring it into line with Everest and EcoSport while the cringey Kuga nameplate will soldier on elsewhere. The fresh Escape is a bit of a looker, with a more square-rigged treatment than the current Kuga sheetmetal.
There will be slew of fresh tech inwards too, with Sync3 bringing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to the mid-sizer. Prices commence at $28,490 (down $760) and will be along early in the fresh year.
Continuing the SUV trend, the rear-wheel drive Everest will lose the third row of seats which will come with a fresh, very competitive price tag of around $50,000.
The Ranger will also get a longer options list.
Yet another SUV might reach us by year’s end, the fresh puny SUV EcoSport which has been confirmed for Australia, but not when.
Genesis
Hyundai’s luxury division is kicking off life as a separate brand and will be a two model range by the end of 2017. The Korean giant hopes to replicate Toyota’s success with the Lexus brand.
The G80 is the fresh name for the current car known as the Hyundai Genesis and it will receive the usual mid-life-style upgrades and fresh badging.
The G70 is fatter news. Hyundai isn’t mucking about with this fresh brand, so the next car is a three Series-sized car expected to count a Three.3-litre turbo six among its power plants to go with smaller capacity turbo fours.
Holden
2017 is the year Holden makes its final transition to an import-exclusive brand after the sad end to local manufacturing of the venerable Commodore. A fresh car bearing that name will be exposed during the course of 2017, with slew of softening up of local fans for what is going to be fairly a switch to the car that once predominated Australian roads.
February will see a comprehensive facelift of the mini-SUV Trax. A fresh nose will give the car a fresh face albeit later Cruze owners will recognise the Chevy-based dual port grille. The backside’s switches are less evident, with fresh bumpers and lights.
Inwards looks much-improved, with the slightly wacky instrument pod making way for a more conventional arrangement and a fresh 7-inch screen to accommodate the newest version of MyLink, which will include Apple CarPlay.
Towards the end of the year we’ll see the Equinox SUV. That car is part of Holden’s renewed concentrate on SUVs and will substitute the pension-ready Captiva.
Honda
Fresh CR-V, fresh Civic hatch, fresh Civic Type R
The fresh CR-V can’t come soon enough for Honda who are all too aware of the Australian market’s fickle nature and apathetic treatment to the brand.
Honda has three fresh cars coming. The very first is the Civic hatch to join the recently arrived sedan. The hatch is mechanically similar to the sedan but shorter and with a smaller boot. While the looks are polarising, there’s no denying the interior will be one of the most spacious and cleverest in its class
Next up will be the CR-V. Honda is again taking aim at Tucson and RAV4, telling CarsGuide in December two thousand sixteen that the mid-sizer will need to clock up one thousand sales a month to be competitive. The local arm wouldn’t be drawn on whether we’ll get both five and seven-seat versions, but we’ll undoubtedly not be getting a diesel. If we do get the seven-seat (hell will freeze over if we don’t), that could be the key to Honda hopping several places in the sales charts.
The final confirmed release is the nutcase Civic Type R. Set to trouble the Renaultsport Megane and Concentrate ST for front-drive super hot hatch honours, the wacky looks will certainly turn goes.
Hyundai
Fresh i30, fresh petite SUV.
Hyundai has a big year ahead even however there’s just two confirmed launches. Its Corolla-bashing i30 hatch is to be substituted with a more Euro-centric fresh generation already previewed in 2016’s Elantra and shown at the Paris Motor Demonstrate. The fresh i30 will – originally at least – be restricted to the five-door hatch. The Korean brand discontinued importing the wagon Tourer in two thousand sixteen due to falling sales. Shame – we had one for a year and it’s a very capable car.
The 2nd big release of the year will be the petite SUV dealers have been screaming for. It hasn’t got a name or a specific release date, but with Toyota’s C-HR coming as well, Mazda’s CX-3 won’t have it all its own way.
The likely but unconfirmed launch for the year is the very first from Hyundai’s fresh spectacle brand, N. The i30N was previewed at the Paris display with a slightly foolish WRC crossover style hatchback and is expected to be a solid begin for the go-faster range.
Land Rover
One of Britain’s greatest fresh exports will arrive in Australian driveways and muddy ruts in mid-2017, beginning at a mildly surprising $64,300 for the Two.0-litre TD4. Across twelve distinct models and four spec levels (S, SE, HSE, HSE Luxury) and three different diesel engines, prices will rise up to the $130,000+ limited Very first Edition with a turbodiesel six-cylinder.
The Disco is still hugely popular here in Australia despite being older than some of our readers. That low embarking price is less surprising, however, when you see it doesn’t even have sat nav as standard but will have autonomous emergency braking, reversing camera and rear parking sensors.
The Range Rover Sport will get a fresh engine in the line-up as well as an updated version of the InControl entertainment system and the Autobiography model will join the Range Rover’s model range.
Jaguar
After a fairly busy two thousand sixteen with the F-Pace, Jaguar is going to have a rest until December when the fresh XF Sportbrake (wagon) will arrive. Expect pricing to be higher than the coupe-sedan and we think it might just have a fresh petrol engine under the bonnet.
Infiniti
It’s going to be a very quiet year for fresh products at Infiniti, with a fresh, fatter engine for the Q60.
We’re expecting an update to the Grand Cherokee heavyweight but the thickest news out of Jeep is the fresh Compass. Details are still a bit hazy, but we hope to see it this year. There’s also a slender possibility of a fresh go-anywhere Wrangler, substituting the old-stager presently on sale.
Fresh Rio, Picanto update, fresh Stinger, fresh petite SUV.
Kia’s smash-hit Rio petite hatch will be renewed along with its cousin, the Hyundai i30. Expect funky fresh looks, improved dynamics and a big lift in the interior. The fresh Rio will be along early in the very first quarter.
The fresh Stinger, unveiled at the Detroit Showcase in January will also reach our shores in both Two.0-litre turbo and Trio.0-litre twin turbo V6, both driving the rear wheels. The Two.0 turbo has an incredible 190kW to commence with, so 272kW Stinger V6 owners might want to get to know their local tyre supplier.
This is a bold budge from Kia – it’s fine-looking machine, has the grunt to go quickly and stay on the road but with enough power to get out of form with.
We’re not astonished (Kia has threatened this for a while), but it will generate a lot of column inches because it’s almost as big as the current Holden Commodore but with way more tech and an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Again, there will be a fresh puny SUV with collective underpinnings from sister company Hyundai, and we’re expecting an unveiling before the end of the year, possibly as early as August.
Lexus
Lexus’ big bold sports coupe will arrive this year, albeit we’re still not sure when or how much. Available with a traditional V8 or a hybrid drivetrain, it will duke it out at the top end of the premium market with the BMW six Series.
Lexus tells us the V8 was benchmarked against the glorious-sounding Maserati Gran Turismo, so for that alone we’re looking forward to it.
Mazda
The runaway success CX-5 SUV is still topping the Australian sales charts, despite its advancing age but because it’s still a fine car. The fresh one doesn’t look a lot different and isn’t much thicker, either, so Mazda is banking on owners looking to upgrade and fresh customers to notice the refreshed interior and tech uplift.
The styling is sharper and has been brought into line with the CX-9 while the interior has been redesigned with fresh seats, dash and a fatter screen in the instrument pod.
The A pile has been moved back slightly to improve vision but under the skin it’s the same CX-5 Australia knows and loves. There’s been some work to stiffen the chassis and Mazda has added its funky fresh G-Vectoring steering tech. Expect the same engine line-up and no, the brilliant, award-winning turbo Two.5-litre from the CX-9 has not been confirmed for the CX-5. Yet.
The fresh CX-5 will arrive by the middle of the year.
Mazda’s brilliant MX-5 is to get a sibling in January. No, not the Abarth one hundred twenty four Spider, that’s more of a cousin thing (and already here), but the retractable-roofed hardtop version, dubbed RF. Apart from the modded bodywork, little else is expected.
Maserati
Maserati is always late to the party and this Levante comes decades after European brands BMW and Mercedes fitted the wheels to the SUV bandwagon. Of course, Maserati’s fraught financial position back then had a lot to do with that and now in the loving, more organised arms of the Fiat-Chrysler group, the trident has a platform to use and the know-how from various parts of the Italian giant. Priced from around $139,990, the diesel-only Levante will be here from February 2017, but you can order one now if you like.
Mercedes-Benz
Merc’s fire-breathing sports coupe is set to become even more flamy towards the middle of the year with the GT3-inspired GT-R. More power from the twin-turbo V8, more everything from the chassis, the GT-R should be good-scary.
And the small-ish SUV GLA will get a light going-over to keep things competitive.
The fresh Mini Countryman will be along towards the middle of the year to further upset Mini purists but to help cash in on the continuing mini-SUV boom. It’ll have some stiff competition from the Audi Q2.
Nissan
The Japanese manufacturer has a lot of work to do in two thousand seventeen to make up a lot of lost ground. The very first half will see three releases, two of them facelifts and one a rocket on wheels.
Nismo’s version of the GT-R (aka Godzilla) will arrive in February, no doubt even tighter and swifter than the already terrifyingly quick all-wheel drive twin turbo coupe.
The seven-seat Pathfinder large SUV will receive a facelift around the same time as the GT-R Nismo arrives. These two cars couldn’t be more different, could they?
And around the middle of the year the X-Trail SUV will also come under the surgeon’s knife albeit details are scarce.
Peugeot
The little SUV that can, the two thousand eight will arrive around the middle of February with a light going over to improve the appeal of Peugeot’s off-beat and underrated 2008.
The big news is the all-new 3008, which will arrive sometime in the very first half of the year, most likely end of March, beginning of April. The old three thousand eight was a bit of a duffer but building on the success and ideas of the excellent 308, it’s a much better place to begin and to take on Euro, Japanese and Korean rivals. Peugeot’s weird iCockpit is installed in the three thousand eight and is like Audi’s Virtual Cockpit (in concept at least).
In the probably-too-hard basket is the all-new 5008. This car hasn’t been confirmed for Australia but it’s unlikely the French marque will pass on it. At best (and we’re talking one percent possibility), we could see it on the roads here by the end of 2017.
Renault
Fresh Alaskan, Megane RS, updated Clio, fresh Alpine.
Disregard anyone who says that Renault’s very first ute-truck thing isn’t coming here. We think it’s an odds-on cert and the only real question is when. It could be this year.
Hot on the high-heeled slippers of the fresh Megane, one of 2016’s standouts, is the replacement for everybody’s favourite front-drive hatch, the Renaultsport Megane. The RS has been providing Golf GTi drivers and even Golf R drivers a run for its money with its amazingly accomplished chassis, so the fresh one on its fresh platform should be a ripper.
The Clio will get it very first decent update since launch, which won’t come with a thick fanfare while nostalgia buffs should get their very first peek of the fresh Alpine sports car.
Skoda
We’ve already driven the Kodiaq overseas, but the fresh seven-seater from Skoda will reach Australia around mid-year, and the brand is hoping it grounds in a blaze of glory. Fatter than its VW Group brother, the Tiguan, the Czech SUV will use the same petrol engine (132kw/320 Two.0 turbo petrol) with a 140kW TDI coming later in the year.
The Octavia’s updated version will also touch down around July.
Suzuki
Hot on the high-heeled shoes of the fresh Vitara and Baleno, there’s another blast from the past on its way from plucky Japanese company Suzuki. The fresh Ignis, which made its debut at September’s Paris Motor Showcase will be here before Easter.
Specs and pricing are yet to be confirmed, but you can expect prices to be fairly punchy.
The little-hatch-that-can, the Swift, will also be substituted this year. It’s yet another evolution of one of our favourite underrated hatches.
Tesla
You’re very likely sick to death of hearing about it, but Tesla’s electrified SUV with the wacky doors will ultimately begin local deliveries, most likely within the very first quarter.
Toyota
Toyota’s fresh baby SUV, the C-HR, looks to be the game-changer we’ve been waiting for from Toyota. The Japanese company makes a range of very solid and dependable cars, but that’s not how you sell cars to the youthfull ‘uns. The eighty six is too niche so Toyota has bitten the bullet and gone to town with its CX-3 competitor that hits showrooms in February.
Annoyingly, C-HR stands for "Coupe – High Rider" but if you can disregard that and drink in the wild sheetmetal, you’ll see that Toyota is ultimately setting about appealing to a junior demographic and not building the Rukus that ended up being bought by baby boomers.
There will be slew of sensible standard equipment, however – autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise, lane departure warning, lane keep assist and reversing camera.
We knew Toyota had it in them.
Volvo
Fresh V90, V90 Cross Country
The Swedes have two releases for us in the very first half of the year, the fresh V90 and V90 Cross Country. These two cars are the off-beat alternatives to Mercedes and Audi’s big wagons and jacked-up wagons.
In the 2nd half of two thousand seventeen the all-new XC60 will be unveiled. It has been a very long time since we eyed a clean-sheet XC60 from Gothenburg and if it’s half as good as the fresh XC90, it should be a cracker. And the spyshots confirm it has those awesome Thor’s hammer headlights.
Volkswagen
There facelifted Golf is due to hit showrooms on our shores in July. It’s one of the more subtle goings-over of latest memory, even in the context of the Volkswagen Group’s notoriety for such things. There are fresh LEDs in the headlights, a broader intake grille and a chrome undress. Out the back the metal has been tweaked to make it look broader and some cars might have scrolling dynamic indicators.
Almost nothing switches inwards albeit the digital dashboard seen in Tiguan might make an appearance in higher models. The jury is out on whether we’ll get the fresh 1.5-litre petrol turbo just yet, so the existing 1.Four could score an upgrade to the cylinder-on-demand spec found in the current Audi A3. The fresh Volkswagen group seven-speed DSG transmission is also set to make an appearance.
Most likely the thickest switches will be upgrades to the safety package to likely include AEB across the board. None of this is confirmed, so there’s undoubtedly no pricing to talk about.
We could also see the seventh-generation Polo which was still running about in camouflage in Death Valley a duo of months ago. It looks a bit longer than the current one and will be built on VW’s MQB platform which has found its way under a number of VW Group cars. The interior should be a lot nicer than the current car, too, with a big touchscreen and some fresh tech.\