Car we most want to drive in 2016

With about 60 automotive brands to choose from and more than 300 distinct models on offer, Australians have never had as much variety when it comes to selecting a new car.

Whether it's a pint-size city runabout or a full-size outback tuff-truck, there's a vehicle out there for every need.

Next year looks like being another bonanza for new-vehicle buyers, but which new models due here in 2016 do our experts look forward to driving more than any other?

Mike Sinclair
Editor In Chief
Mercedes AMG GT R

Anyone with petrol in their veins will have salivated at the thought of being part of our Aussie GT Championship super test. And the second outing for the cars (scheduled for mid-2016) will be even better with confirmed starters including updated versions of all of the usual suspects plus a semi-factory AMG GT GT3 racer and the all-new BMW M6 GT3.

So while I’ll be doing my best to convince Bruce Newton and Luke Youlden that I really should be part of the test team to give a ‘gentleman racer’s’ perspective, in the meantime I’ll nominate my dream drive of 2016 the much vaunted and much talked about but still invisible R version of Mercedes-AMG’s amazingly competent GT. Built to take on the likes of Porsche’s GT3 RS and the very top versions of Audi’s R8, the upgraded, outrageous GT R should be a road weapon par excellence.

My only concern? That it will live up to the lofty ideals I’ve already set for it…

Marton Pettendy
Managing Editor
BMW M2 Coupe

Of the shiploads of hot new performance cars coming next year, the ones that may spring most immediately to mind are Porsche's new all-turbo 911 range, the cracking new Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupe and Peugeot's long-awaited 200kW 308 GTi.

All of them will be special in their own way, all of them will bring outstanding bang for your bucks and all of them will move the game on in their respective fields: supercar, mid-size performance coupe and hot hatch.

But there's one new-for-2016 performance that will do more than all that. BMW's first M2 marks not only a return to the compact rear-drive coupe formula pioneered by the 2002 and first M3 – a genre unmatched by any of its rivals – but will sets new benchmarks in its class.

What makes the M2 Coupe  even more special – apart from its sensible sub-$90K price, with a proper manual transmission -- is that it could be the last of its breed.

Ken Gratton
News Editor
Ford Edge and Land Rover Discovery 5

Among the usual plethora of high-performance, ultra-costly cars arriving next year, two that stand out for me are pretty humble. Foremost is the Ford Edge, which is expected to succeed the locally-designed and built Territory when Ford closes its Campbellfield assembly plant at the end of October.

Edge is a vehicle I admired in its first (left-hand drive only) generation, but I have never had the opportunity to drive one. The Territory, despite its age, will be a hard act to follow, so I can't help but feel curious about the Canadian-built SUV, if it should be that second act.

Another SUV I look forward to sampling is the Land Rover Discovery 5, which promises to be considerably lighter than the current Disco 4, with more fuel-efficient engines. And based on Land Rover's current product portfolio, I reckon the new Disco is bound to be a huge hit.

Matt Brogan
Road Test Editor
Ford Mustang

As a muscle-car nut from way back (albeit one from the 'other' side of Detroit's fence), I'm most keen to get behind the wheel of Ford's new Mustang.

Big, American coupes with big, American V8s seem to satisfy my inner caveman in a way not even the finest hot hatch can. It's a visceral need, one of primal desire, machismo and testosterone, equal parts concupiscence and catharsis. For me, it's a car that satisfies the senses – rubber smoke for the nostrils, burbling twin pipes for the ears and a sexy two-door silhouette for the peepers.

Ford is the only manufacturer to offer a new pony car in an 'official' capacity, and although it might be only a small consolation given the traditional 'Aussie' V8s are on the way out, it's consolation nonetheless. And that's enough for me.

Feann Torr
Staff Journalist
Ford Focus RS

Packing all-wheel drive traction, turbo-boosted horsepower and a socially acceptable price of around $50,000, the Ford Focus RS has the makings of a hall of famer.

Propelled by a vocal 257kW 2.3-litre turbo four that pumps out a very handy 440Nm, it's likely to put the Volkswagen Golf R to the sword with massive mid-range boost and more adhesion than a scratch-n-sniff sticker you found on a forgotten chest of drawers secreted in a cupboard. Just don't look inside...

And while Ford has scrapped the line-locker 'burnout' mode on Australian-spec Mustangs, I'm hoping it won't delete the 'drift' mode developed for the Focus RS, which is said to give the car a rear-drive effect. Up to 70 per cent of drive can be transferred to the rear axle. Sweet mercy...

Hard-core Recaro seats, hard-core suspension with adaptive damping, and hard-core acceleration will be the hallmarks of the European-designed Ford Focus RS, which has the potential to exceed all expectations.

Although it's unlikely to arrive in Australia until the second quarter of 2016, I'm hoping beyond hope I can score an early drive – and especially on a race track – because this could be the kind of $50K performance car that pushes the game forward in leaps and bounds, not just increments.

Bruce Newton
Senior Contributor
Tesla Model X

The Model S was not only a decent drive but it also represented a new breed of cars that are coming quickly down the road. The Model X is a harder sell being an SUV -- it will have to work harder to ride and handle acceptably. And just how will those silly doors work?

On the flip-side of that is what will Tesla’s obviously talented designers do with all that interior space?

The Germans now clearly have Tesla in their sights, so it’s not going to be good enough for the Model X to be an elevated Model S. It will have to progress the game again, or company founder Elon Musk’s many backers will turn to detractors.

Michael Taylor
European Editor
Alfa Romeo Giulia and Fiat 124 Spider

I can’t make up my mind between two contenders, but either way, the car I am looking forward to driving will be as much about the backstory as the car itself.

The first is Alfa Romeo’s stop-start Giulia, developed by a too-small team on a too-small budget on a too-tight timetable to take on the biggest and best established players in the A4/3 Series/C-Class segment. It smashed out an M3-beating Nordschleife time, but with 110kg missing and cut-slick race rubber underfoot.

Like so many people, I desperately want it to be great because the car industry is a far more interesting solar system when Alfa is a fully fledged planet, not a comet that comes and goes and comes again.

Then there’s Fiat’s 124 Spider. Heavier, more powerful and more clumsily styled than its stablemate (the Mazda MX-5, if you hadn’t noticed), it was supposed to be an Alfa Romeo before becoming a Fiat. Having all but abandoned everything bar the Panda and the 500, Fiat needs a hit.

It’s not as core-critical as the Giulia, but it can’t afford to miss, not least because it would inevitably draw awkward comparisons between Mazda’s development and engineering abilities…

Adam Davis
Contributor
Hyundai i20 N

As I'm pretty sure the keys to Jaguar's C-X75 'Bond Car' won't be handed over any time soon, and no-one's going to hand me a next-gen WRC 'supercar' testing contract, I'm inclined to rehash my 2015 wish and nominate Honda's NSX once more, for similarly-romantic reasons. With Jaguar XJ220-rivalling gestation, is this finally the year we'll drive one on local roads?

Failing that, how about a steer of a WRC-inspired Hyundai i20 N road car? The Hyundai Motorsport engineers were keen to talk all-wheel drive and turbocharging in Coffs this year, but I fear it was simply to create excitement among the assembled rally-crazed journos present.

Please build it, Hyundai – even if not next year, after the inaugural i30 N. Grunt and grip in such a diminutive package will quickly have people forgetting the Focus RS...