Words: Jason Round

Well, yes, being a Hot4s staffer does have its perks, and so myself and Paton made our way down to Darling Harbour for the annual Sydney International Motor Show press-day pilgrimage.

On a whole, there was a massive emphasis on hot hatches, with high-powered offerings from Suzuki, VW, Holden and others all competing for a new wave of owners ready to jump into an economical and well-performing hatch.

Super-car wise, we couldn’t go past the Alfa Romeo Competizione, which, in deep metallic red, was almost as stunning as the many Euro beauties surrounding it. It is definitely something new from the Italians.

One of the standouts of the show was the unveiling of Audi’s entry into the super-car arena with the Audi R8. With a crowd at times five-deep around it, the R8 delivered with understated styling, a muscular, low-slung appearance and, of course, a 4.2L V8 helping it to haul to 100km/h in just over 4sec.

SAAB also had its super-futuristic Aero concept (with 2.8L, bio ethanol-driven twin-turbo V6) on display featuring ultra-trippy 3D lumo gauges, as did Mazda with its RX-7-like Kabura concept with what looked to be like hammocks instead of seats. Still, featuring an interesting 3+1 seating arrangement and rear-wheel drive, we’d definitely like to see it take a step out of fantasy and into reality.

Coming into summer, there were also a few cabriolet and convertible appearances being made, including a new drop-top VW, Ford Focus and Astra, all of which would make the perfect summer-night cruise machine.

However, the star of the show, and sure to attract the most attention, is the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano complete with carbon trim and monster 456kW V12 pushing its $600,000-short driver into 300km/h and beyond. It’s unlike any Ferrari you’ve seen before.

Mazda was peddling the very cool Mazda MX-5 hard-top and had a stickered-up MPS also on display to tickle onlookers, while Mitsubishi was pushing a sporty 380 variant and its usual slew of Ralliart models, including the Colt.

Toyota, meanwhile, was busy with the newly launched Aurion, while you could spot the Astra VX-R amongst the onslaught of VE Commos at the Holden stand (now with Hummer…).

Sadly, even though we must have checked about 20 times, Nissan failed to roll out the new GT-R. Next time perhaps…

The Lotus Europa S, Audi TT, BMW Z4 Coupe… we could go on forever, so why don’t you just check out our happy snaps instead?