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News

Forbidden fruits: Nissan Z vs Subaru WRX vs Toyota GR Corolla

With Queen Elizabeth II on financial institution notes and place names like Richmond and Surrey, the west coast of Canada is most emphatically a British Columbia.

Apart from the vehicles, after all, that are largely not like any factor one can find within the UK. It’s primarily a land of American-style pick-up trucks and big SUVs – however there are some Japanese interlopers that you simply received’t discover in Britain. There’s an ideal premise, then, for us to assemble one of the best of them atop a coastal ski hill.

From Toyota, there’s the GR Corolla, a sop thrown throughout the Pacific since North America doesn’t get the GR Yaris. Toyota has taken the three-pot buzz-bomb spirit of its homologation-special hatchback and infused it right into a extra sensible four-door form. We’ve known as the bog-standard Corolla “pleasingly mischievous”, so how does practically 300bhp and an adjustable central differential seize you?

From Subaru, Canadians are fortunate sufficient to have each variations of the latest-generation WRX – what we as soon as knew because the Impreza WRX. You would possibly maybe not recognise how the yobbo boy racer of the Nineties has matured right into a household saloon with the disposition of a fluffy golden retriever. Yet the bonnet scoops and turbochargers are nonetheless right here, and so is the World Rally Blue paint that evokes recollections of Colin McRae and Richard Burns. Select both guide for max enthusiasm or CVT for daily-driver practicality and preserve the brim of your baseball cap as flat as Saskatchewan.

Lastly, Nissan’s merely named Z heaves into view with the world-weariness of Toshiro Mifune’s wandering ronin in Yojimbo (a superb film from 1961 – go test it out). Not completely a brand new automotive however an ageing platform given a recent physique design and a twin-turbocharged V6 engine borrowed from Infiniti’s components bin, this coupé is a bit of on the heavy aspect however nonetheless sturdy. And charismatic: Toyota requested BMW for assist with the GR Supra however Nissan stored the Z’s growth totally in-house, and it’s the higher for it.

These aren’t direct rivals in your hard-earned kilos (nicely, {dollars}), however all promise thrills for eager drivers. So let’s see whether or not British lovers can be inside their rights to have a sour-grapes angle to those forbidden fruits.

Nissan Z: The final samurai

Nissan Z front cornering

We’re now three many years away from the golden age of Japanese bubble-economy manufacturing. The likes of the twin-turbocharged Mazda RX-7 and Mk4 Toyota Supra are actually classics to be polished and loved on the weekend. But the automotive that proved the Rising Sun’s efficiency bona fides continues to be right here to fire up bother.

While the Z is solely named, it’s not likely the suitable title for it: it’s extra a reborn 300ZX, proper all the way down to the vintage-look tail-lights. Where the 240Z offered within the hundreds as a result of it was scarcely costlier than a compact saloon, this present Z is extra a muscular various to a V8 Ford Mustang. It feels engineered to be offered to the identical individuals who both purchased a 240Z new or simply missed out on doing so.

Motorsport

Airstream Trade Wind Debuts Featuring Big Batteries, Costs $129,400

Airstream has launched its latest travel trailer, the 2024 Trade Wind, which boasts the largest battery bank and solar array in the company’s history. Positioned between the International and Globetrotter model lines, the Trade Wind starts at $129,400 and is available for purchase now.

The Trade Wind is equipped with three lithium Battle Born batteries, each offering 270-amp-hours. This totals to an impressive 810 amp hours of battery capacity. On the roof, there are 600 watts of solar panels, allowing for efficient recharging of the batteries. The cabin includes a monitoring system that enables users to keep track of the solar setup’s output.

For added convenience, the Trade Wind features a 3,000-watt inverter/charger. This powerful device allows for simultaneous use of the microwave and 15,000 BTU air conditioner. Additionally, there is a SmartPlug 30-amp shore power hookup, which ensures the batteries can be conveniently recharged.


Motorsport

Santander Closes Accounts Of Customers Who Paid Cash For Cars In Argentina

Santander Bank of Argentina has started closing accounts of customers who purchased new cars with cash during the pandemic. The former Banco Rio entity considers these accounts suspicious despite the fact the AFIP, Argentina’s Administration of Public Income, authorized the transactions and the money originated in accounts held at the bank. 

The affected bank customers recently began contacting Motor1 Argentina, which broke the story. In each instance, the case involved a Santander Bank customer who purchased a new vehicle between 2020 and 2023 using electronic funds transfer. In those cases, the customer first received an alert on their cellphone through the Santander mobile bank app, followed by a formal letter notifying them of their account closure. The notifications indicate that Santander Bank considers these transactions suspicious despite the fact they were carried out using an official Certificate of Legal Funds approved by the AFIP. 

One Santander Bank customer, who bought a new Toyota Hilux in 2020, notified Motor1 Argentina after their account was closed. They had held the account for 20 years and bought the vehicle for five million pesos, the equivalent of $18,570 US dollars, using money from that account validated with a Certificate of Legal Funds. Another customer had their account closed after 25 years because they conducted the transaction online during the pandemic. A third purchased a Jeep Renegade with money from their checking account and had their account closed despite Santander Bank having records of all of their transactions.    

For over two decades, the AFIP has required customers and dealers to present official Certificates of Legal Funds to conduct new car transactions. Cash transactions are carried out using electronic funds transfers as a way to ensure the money is traceable for tax purposes and to avoid any appearance of laundering. Customers of Santander Bank were also encouraged to do business online, which in many cases, was the only option during the pandemic.    

Motor1 Argentina reached out to Banco Santander for confirmation. After 11 days, a spokesperson for the bank responded, stating, “The information published is false and lacks support. In no way are there general account closure procedures for car buyers. Any account closure process is analyzed individually and in accordance with current applicable regulations.”