Cars

No matter how much cabin space your 4×4 or ute has, there are going to be times when it’s not enough, or you’d simply prefer not to have whatever it is that you’re hauling in the cabin with you.

A vehicle’s roof, however, is the ideal storage space for anyone who needs more. For a tradie, it’s a valuable cargo area for transporting timber, bundles of PVC tubing or even a ladder. For camping and off-roading, it’s a roomy accommodation for tables and chairs, full-sized coolers, or recreational equipment.

Canopies and toolboxes are the additions that most ute owners choose to install before anything else. Sitting on tubs or trays, these aftermarket accessories make the most of the available space and are one way in personalising your vehicle to meet specific needs. Tradies will want a smaller toolbox or fully kitted canopy for the practicality and versatility these add-ons bring. And anyone into serious off-roading is only limited by imagination as to what to fit inside for that ultimate off-roading adventure.

While most of us associate Toyota with affordable cars that just last forever, the company nevertheless has a few performance gems in its model lineup. The GR Yaris is effectively a road-legal rally car pumping out 200kW from an engine no bigger than three pints of beer. The revised GR 86 builds on the driving credentials of the first-gen car by adding crisper steering, a stiffer suspension layout, and a bit more grunt. Big thrills and the fastest acceleration times are in Toyota’s fastest production car to date, the BMW co-developed coupe, the Supra. All cars have a lot to offer. But if you’re after more performance, higher top speeds, and the ultimate road holding, a few aftermarket accessories can get you there.

Grinding, thumping, rattling, clunking, banging, popping, screeching and whining. These are Just a few of the annoying noises that you’ll hear from the inside of a car. And some can go on long and loud enough to drive you mad. If this is you, it’s time to check where those sounds come from and get them sorted.

Whether it’s on their way to the job site, or taking the family on holiday, Ford Ranger owners put a lot of wear and tear on their seat covers.

From suntan lotion and sweaty shirts, to power tools and pet hair, your truck’s seats and centre console can take a proper beating even during the course of ordinary use. And not stopping to scrub behind every stain and spill the moment they happen only gives them a chance to soak and grind their way permanently into your upholstery.

Seat covers can help you with your dirty dilemma; and fortunately, you don’t have to settle for ugly, universal-fitting ones that you wouldn’t otherwise hesitate to wipe your feet on. There are affordable, superior-fitting Ranger seat covers available that’ll protect your upholstery, and keep you safe while they’re doing it.

Over the last two decades, GPS navigation has become a key component in everything from air travel to house hunting. Even if you’re looking for 5-star dining in Sydney’s CBD, GPS is what allows a travel app on your smartphone to tell you precisely where you need to go.

That’s why it’s no surprise that when you combine GPS’s pinpointing capability with the widespread coverage of wireless communications, it makes an excellent security shield for cars and trucks. Vehicular theft is an ever-present reality in Australia, and it justifies the kind of subtle oversight and location sensing that GPS has to offer.

One Australian company has taken this real-time positioning benefit to a new level by developing a complete GPS/GLONASS-backed solution specifically for safeguarding personal property. It’s unintrusive proximity monitoring at its finest, and you can control it from your smartphone just as conveniently as any of your travel apps.

Regardless of whether you go with the Ecoboost, GT or Dark Horse variants of the seventh-generation Ford Mustang, you’ll see sub-5-second sprints to 100km/h. Both the turbocharged 2.3-litre and aspirated 5-litre engines are quick to redlines and urged on by snappy six-speed manual or ten-speed auto transmissions. But the Mustang offers a whole lot more than just outright speed. The distinctive styling embodied in the pair of 3 stripe tail lights harking back to the 1964 original, the huge 19-inch cast alloys and Brembo brakes all-round, paired with grippy low-profile tyres, a limited-slip diff, and paddle shifters, equate to a soul-stirring ride. The only thing missing is a decent exhaust to justify all the wild horses under the hood.