How to eat and drink your way though the Fieldays motor exhibits

There's always great food and coffee at all the world's top motor shows - Frankfurt, Paris, Los Angeles, Mystery Creek....

There's always great food and coffee at all the world's top motor shows - Frankfurt, Paris, Los Angeles, Mystery Creek....

Mystery Creek? Near Hamilton? Where the annual Fieldays is held? Yes Sir. In the absence of any official New Zealand motor show, Fieldays has evolved into the country's default motor show.

Fieldays is very much a rural event, and for that reason utes and SUVs dominated in the displays created by the motor vehicle companies involved in the 2016 event. But there was other motoring product on show as well, ;making it worthwhile for any motoring enthusiast to visit Mystery Creek.

And as is typical of any motor show, many of the stands offered very impressive facilities for visitors.

An example was Great Lake Motor Distributors, which sells the SsangYong and LDV vans in New Zealand. This company obtained its own liquor licence and created the Sir Colin Meads Tavern - the famous man is a brand ambassador - complete with tables and chairs, restaurant, bar, and even a hot-tub in case the Waikato weather got too cold.

Ssangyong reps invited every customer in the North Island to join them for lunch on any of the Fielday's five days which meant more than 400 people sitting down to eat. When we turned up to look at the Actyon utes and Rexton and Tivoli SUVs, we were invited to partake of all the goodies on the lunch menu - so we agreed to return for the 12.30pm sitting.

Nearby was the Holden stand, complete with a tarted-up Colorado Xtreme holding pride of place in a huge display of product. On opening day racing ace Greg Murphy was on hand to meet and greet visitors. On our day the meet and greeter was Chiefs and All Blacks rugby hero Stephen "Beaver" Donald.

And it had pies. But what else should a true-blue Aussie car company offer? So we sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee and sample a couple of the pie selection.

Then - hello! What was that over there on the hillside that overlooks Fieldays? It was part of the Isuzu exhibit - an off-roading course that took guests up and down ramps and through mud and water in MU-X SUVs and D-Max utes. So we headed there - and we were promptly invited in for coffee.

Further down the way was Hyundai, which traditionally sets up an enormous facility, big enough to house vehicles and guests who cheer whenever a bell is rung to signify a vehicle has been sold via a Fieldays Special sales arrangement set up by the Korean brand. As people milled around and the bell regularly rang, we were asked if we'd like a coffee.

Shortly afterwards it was time for lunch. So we high-tailed it back to SsangYong, past the Ford stand which featured coffee and a table laden with Lego for the children to play with while their parents were looking at vehicles or having a go on another off-roading course, past the Suzuki, Kia, Volkswagen, Foton and Mahindra exhibits all of which were serving coffee, and into the Sir Colin Meads Tavern again.

Then it was out into the open again, searching for probably the most luxurious car on display - the Jaguar F-Pace SUV.

Before we could get there we encountered the Renault stand, complete with its own French-style cafe and patisserie. More food. More coffee. And so, laden with sufficient caffeine to keep us awake all night, we snatched a quick admiring look at the new Jag, got out of there and headed home.

People go to Fieldays for a variety of reasons. Some go there to view the latest and greatest agricultural innovations, others go because there are some very good purchasing deals to be had, and many others attend simply because it is an enjoyable day out.

But many others go to Fieldays because that is where they can close some excellent deals on the purchase of a new vehicle. As a result, Fieldays week is traditionally one of the year's big spikes in new vehicle registrations - and despite early fears that sales this year might be down on last year, the distributors we talked to all reported business being better than in 2015.

And as for us? We've had enough coffee to last the rest of June. Suffice to say we're wide awake as we write this....

Research shows cars can be carried away by even shallow water

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have demonstrated that cars can be swept away easier than people in flooded water.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have demonstrated that cars can be swept away easier than people in flooded water.

A team from the university's Water Research Laboratory dropped cars into a large tank at Manly Vale in Sydney's north on Friday to show how much force it would take for them to be washed from the road.

Principal engineer Grantley Smith, who led the research, said he was surprised at "just how little water it took to make even a large vehicle unstable".

"They became vulnerable to moving floodwaters once the depth reached the floor of the vehicle. Even in low water depths and slow flow speeds, floodwaters had a powerful enough force to make them float away."

In world-first tests using actual cars instead of miniature models, the researchers found a small car like a Toyota Yaris – which weighs 1.05 tonnes – was moved by water just 15 centimetres deep that had a flow speed of 3.6 kmh. It was carried away in 60 centimetres of water.

A larger Nissan Patrol four-wheel drive, at 2.5 tonnes, was moved by 45 centimetres of water and began floating in 95 centimetres of water, able to be pushed along by just a finger.

The cars were moved so easily partly because even shallow water can be deceptively strong, and partly because modern cars are so air-tight that instead of taking on water they get pushed along by it.

"People don't realise that even slow-moving water packs a powerful punch.

"Water is heavy: each cubic metre weighs about 1000 kilograms."

Greg Newton, the Acting Commissioner for NSW's State Emergency Service (SES), who helped to fund the experiment, said more than 80 cars were rescued in June when they became stranded in water during a storm that hit eastern areas of Australia.

"People need to re-think their actions and not drive into floodwater, because by doing this they are not only placing their lives at risk, but the lives of our volunteers who have to go out and rescue them," he said.

"Entering floodwater is the number one cause of death and injury in flood, so everyone should stay out and stay alive."

Even hands-free mobile phones are dangerous for drivers

Don't - seriously, don't - ask your lover over the mobile what they're wearing while you're driving, even if you're hands-free.

Don't - seriously, don't - ask your lover over the mobile what they're wearing while you're driving, even if you're hands-free.

The latest study on drivers' use of mobile phones concludes talking on a hands-free phone while driving is just as hazardous as holding the phone in your hands. And the most dangerous kind of conversation is one which sparks your visual imagination. Participants in the study who were distracted by visual imagery reacted half as fast to hazards as those who were not distracted.

It needn't even be something as exciting as a vision of your beloved in lycra. Simply imagining the facial expression of the person you're talking to is enough, said senior psychology lecturer Dr Graham Hole of the University of Sussex, because "the visual imagery competes for processing resources with what the driver sees in front of them on the road".

The experiment required 20 males and 40 women to sit in a car seat behind a steering wheel with pedals representing a brake and an accelerator. They were shown seven minute videos simulating road driving in which they had to respond to unexpected hazards by hitting the brake. One group was not distracted, the other group was distracted by a male voice on a loudspeaker making statements they had to identify as true or false.  READ MORE:  * Govt plans could tempt smart-device addicts * One in three Kiwis think it's fine to use their phones while driving * Police target drivers texting, calling, shaving at the wheel * Police catch driver texting on two phones * Texting while driving doubles reaction time

All the distracted drivers had slower response times than those who weren't distracted, but those whose answers required visual thinking - for example, "a ten pound note is bigger than a five pound note, true or false" - had the worst responses. Sentences such as "leap years have 366 days" were less distracting.

"Our study adds to a mounting body of research showing that both hand-held and hands-free phones are dangerously distracting for drivers," Hole said. "The only 'safe' phone in a car is one that's switched off."

He said chatty passengers tend to pose less of a risk than mobile phone conversations because they usually moderate the conversation when hazards arise, but someone on the end of the phone is oblivious to other demands on the driver and to non-verbal cues that might otherwise stem the flow of chat.  

Distracted drivers also suffered from "visual tunnelling", the study found. They focussed their eyes on a small central region directly ahead of them that was four times smaller than the area looked at by people who weren't distracted.

In New Zealand you cannot text, or use a hand-held cellphone to make or take a phone call. You can only make, receive or terminate a call while driving if the phone is secured in a mounting that is attached to the vehicle. An exception is made for 111 of *555 calls if it is unsafe or impractical to pull over.

A 2015 Deloitte survey asking 1600 Australian smartphone owners about their mobile phone usage habits found 42 per cent of those aged 18-75 had used their phones while driving. The NSW Centre for Road Safety warned even short lapses of concentration when driving could have "significant and devastating" consequences.

Six great looking cars of today

No one quite knows what makes a truly beautiful car. If they did, the road would be chock full of glamours.

No one quite knows what makes a truly beautiful car. If they did, the road would be chock full of glamours.

Car beauty is something of an art, and there is a fine line between beauty and downright offensive.

An attractive car has the potential to be timeless, and can even influence its ability to be a true classic.

After all, history has been kind to many lemons that were aesthetically pleasing.

READ MORE: * Ugly cars worth a drive * Five of the most beautiful car ever raced * The five ugliest racing cars * Is Ferrari's 488 Spider Italy's most beautiful car

And while modern cars are getting safer in their appearance so as not to upset the consumer apple cart, there are some gems out there on sale.

 Most cars that sparkle are out of reach to the average buyer, as looking good apparently takes time and money, but there are some that float the boat at just the right price.

 And while looks are subjective, in these cases, majority rules.

Jaguar F-Type

Jaguar had been languishing in automotive purgatory for decades; its cars had lost the fizz and pop that once made the brand an icon of beauty. That was, at least, until the launch of the F-Type at the start of 2013.

Considered a spiritual successor to the vaunted E-Type of the 1960s, the F-Type is regularly cited in lists of the most beautiful cars of all time.

 It is available in both coupe and convertible body type, though we will stick with the coupe for this list as it represents a purer form.

The two-door hard-top sports car stands out from the crowd with its twin front grilles that feed air to the brakes, streamlined headlights, a sweeping roof line and flared rear wheel arches that give it both an elegant and aggressive look that just works.

 Its body represents what lies beneath. Its stonking performance and symphonic sound add to the body beautiful image.

The Jaguar F-Type is a modern classic that has had as big an impact as the original E-Type, helping catapult the British car maker into the public conscience once again.

Ford Mustang

For decades we drooled at the Ford Mustang from afar, restricted to those left-hand-drive imports from the US, but now it is accessible as an official Ford import and in official right hand drive to those who can muster its circa $60,000 asking price.

The Ford Mustang is as American as Apple Pie, everything about it screams muscle from the US of A.

Its heavy wide stance lends itself to a powerfully built stallion that has the kick to match its aggressive look. Its twin grilles, flared rear wheel arches and fastback styling scream look at me. It has a presence on the road that anyone who has seen it in the metal can attest to.

The Mustang demands to be stared at as it rumbles past.

While the convertible is most certainly a looker, the coupe is the sweet spot. In V8-powered GT form it encapsulates the essence of the Mustang's glory years; drop dead looks with the muscle to back it up and the voice of a rock and roll frontman.

The new model certainly has been worth the wait.

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is an enigma, a silent assassin. It moves with grace and power that defies its swoopy luxury facade.

An all electric dynamo that can put most petrol powered V8s to shame, it needs its looks to stand out because it's muted voice can't do the talking.

It is futuristic in appearance, concealing technology that revolutionsed the electric segment and continues to be at the forefront of alternative propulsion.

The Model S has a muscular look and a wide stance while maintaining smooth lines typecast by its large grille, hidden door handles and moulded side panels and elegant rear. The burgeoning electric car maker needed to make a statement if it was going to take on the establishment, and its Model S does that in more ways than one.

Mazda MX-5

The long awaited fourth-generation MX-5 was almost 10 years in the making, and it didn't disappoint.

Featuring Mazda's "Kodo'' design language, which has transformed the brand's entire range - from its 2 city car through to the incoming CX-9 large SUV - into one of the best looking line-ups in the country.

The MX-5 has picked a range of awards for its design. The latest MX-5 harks back to the original with its lightweight and simple design. Its slim grille and sleek headlights meld into the smooth lines of the body, ending in an angular creased rear end. It really is cute as a button.

However, while the soft-top MX-5 is easy on the eyes, it is soon to be joined by a folding hard-top variant that one-ups it in the fashion on wheels stakes.

Even though folding metal roofs have blighted many car makers, the new MX-5 RF is a swoopy delight. It is a genuine fastback shape with sloping rear glass when the roof is up, and has a targa-style appearance with the roof down.

Both MX-5s represent simple drop-top motoring with pure design to match.

Ferrari 488 GTB

It would be easy to walk up to the bar of good looking cars and just order 'five Ferraris thanks', but the new 488 GTB stands out from its siblings.

The 488 GTB is the successor to the 458 Italia, a drop-dead looker in its own right. And its would be easy to think Ferrari couldn't improve on perfection, but the Italian brand keeps altering the formula.

The 488 is a modern supercar forced to comply with modern emissions regulations. As such it is the first mid-engined turbocharged Ferrari since the iconic F40. It has a wider front grille, larger side air intakes and revised rear and twin exhausts compared to the 458.

Its sculptured aerodynamic body wouldn't look out of place at the Uffizi Gallery. It is is the embodiment of a sports car, the reason car designers get up in the morning. It is as some say beautifully simple and simply beautiful.

Volvo XC90

SUVs don't often appear on lists like this, but Volvo has to be commended for turning what is essentially a two-tonne bus into a work of art.

In something of a throwback to the boxy old Volvos of yesteryear, the new XC90 stands tall and wide with its boxy shaped smoothed on the edges to give it a soft yet masculine appearance.

The Swedes are known for their smart design and the Volvo is no different. It has a big grille and its 'Thor's Hammer' headlights give it an aggressive look, while its big alloy wheels lend a prestige feel.

In a segment where classy looking vehicles are inherently sparse, the XC90 breaks away and shows that big can be beautiful, too.

What do you think? Can you think of a better looking car on sale today? Tell us about it in comments below.

BP boosted profit from higher fuel margin leads to $300 million dividend

New Zealand's second largest fuel retailer has returned $300 million to its British owners after higher margins helped it quadruple profits in 2015.

New Zealand's second largest fuel retailer has returned $300 million to its British owners after higher margins helped it quadruple profits in 2015.

BP New Zealand's financial statements show despite a 16 per cent fall in sales in 2015 to $2.78 billion, net profits after tax climbed to $128.2m, up from $30.3m in 2014.

The profit is the largest the company has reported in at least a decade.

The statements, filed to the companies office on Thursday, reveal that in December BP paid a $300m to its London-headquartered parent company, the first time it had returned any cash to its owner since 2011.

READ MORE: Fuel companies pay for regional discounts with higher city prices - AA

A spokeswoman for BP said in 2015 the company saw increased demand for its products, boosted by lower product prices, as well as economic and population growth.

This helped boost demand for its higher grade fuels as well as jet fuel, with more Kiwis flying.

During the year the company increased its retail sites from 84 to 90, while another dozen sites saw substantial refurbishment. The number of BP sites has since risen to 93.

While oil explorers have suffered from plunging international crude prices, lower retail fuel prices have not only boosted demand, they have allowed petrol companies to increase margins.

For most of 2015, petrol prices were below $2 a litre, with the national price falling as low at $1.73, which was the lowest level since May 2010, according to figures from the AA.

In New Zealand, margins on petrol have been growing strongly, a move some commentators have blamed on the sale of Shell New Zealand's retail operations into local ownership in 2010. The company is now known as Z Energy.

Figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show the margin between imported petrol and the retail price has risen from about 16 cents a litre in 2011 to just below 28c a litre in 2016.

McLaren puts 675LT Spider on a carbon fibre diet

McLaren has shown of its limited edition carbon fibre version of its 675LT Spider, dubbed the MSO Carbon Series LT.

McLaren has shown of its limited edition carbon fibre version of its 675LT Spider, dubbed the MSO Carbon Series LT.

The British sports car brand's bespoke unit, McLaren Special Operations, has produced a limited run of 25 675LT Spiders with a full carbon fibre body.

The Carbon Series adds a further 40 per cent of carbon fibre panels to the stock 675LT Spider.

It gets a carbon fibre retractable roof and tonneau, A-pillars, bonnet and rear deck, side blades, front and rear wings and fuel filler flap.

READ MORE: * Open top McLaren 675LT Spider revealed * McLaren plots model expansion * 675LT is the new track-focused McLaren

All 25 models are already spoken for, which follows the trend set by the standard 675LT Spider which sold its 500 total unit in just two weeks.

The MSO Carbon Fibre LT is in response to the brand's full carbon fibre bodied P1 on display at the 2016 Geneva motor show earlier. Sources have said that other customers have since ordered an additional set of naked carbon fibre bodywork for their P1 in response to the Geneva show car.

It is powered by the same 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 from both the coupe and convertible 675LTs. Power also remains unchanged at 497kW and 700Nm and is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch auto, with power sent to the rear wheels.

The special edition also has a claimed 0-100kmh time of just 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 326kmh.

Insurance industry ponders how to tackle autonomous vehicles

New Zealand's insurance industry is grappling with how to deal with the advent of driverless cars. Research in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has predicted that driverless cars and autonomous driving technology could cut US$20 billion from insurance premiums worldwide by 2020. At the moment, vehicle insurance makes up 42 per cent of all non-life gross premiums. Peter Shaw, chief executive at vehicle safety research firm Thatcham Research, said manufacturers were p

New Zealand's insurance industry is grappling with how to deal with the advent of driverless cars. Research in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has predicted that driverless cars and autonomous driving technology could cut US$20 billion from insurance premiums worldwide by 2020. At the moment, vehicle insurance makes up 42 per cent of all non-life gross premiums. Peter Shaw, chief executive at vehicle safety research firm Thatcham Research, said manufacturers were predicting highly autonomous vehicles, capable of allowing the driver to drop "out of the loop" for certain sections of their journey, would be available from around 2021.

READ MORE: * Google's driverless cars are now legally the same as a human driver * There's now a driverless bicycle

 "Without doubt, crash frequency will also dramatically reduce. We've already seen this with the adoption of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) on many new cars.

"Research predicts that by 2035, as a result of autonomous and connected cars, crashes will be reduced by 80 per cent. Additionally, if a crash unfortunately can't be avoided, then the impact speed will also drop as a result of the system's performance - reducing the severity of the crash," he said.

Tim Grafton, chief executive of the Insurance Council of New Zealand, said it was something that New Zealand insurance companies were thinking about.

"This isn't going to happen overnight, but if you look ahead 15 or 20 years, it will be a significant change for the insurance industry."

If New Zealand got to the point where all cars were driverless, the accident rate would drop significantly and the cars would be insured based on manufacturer liability. That would be a different environment for insurers, he said.

But they would still need to offer cover for theft, vandalism and break-in of vehicles. "That's not going to go away with driverless cars."

Even with autonomous cars, he said there would probably be situations where drivers would still have the ability to take over, and then the responsibility for a crash would still rest with them as opposed to the manufacturer of the car.

Coby Duggan, Volvo NZ national manager, said the insurance industry would have no choice but to react.

 "The medium to long-term impact on the insurance industry is likely to be significant. Autonomous driving technology is the single most important advance in automotive safety to be seen in recent years. It will mean fewer accidents, fewer injuries, fewer fatalities and fewer costs for vehicle owners," he said.

Volvo will start the UK's most extensive autonomous trial, called Drive Me UK, in 2017, with up to 100 driverless cars being driven on real roads, part of its global push to develop AD cars with similar programmes to be run in Sweden and China.

 "It's something that insurers are thinking about a lot," Grafton said.  "If by 2040 all cars are autonomous that's a very different scene with significant implications. A lot of disruptive technology impacts a lot of industries and that affects the insurers working with them. It's not being ignored. It's being focused on within proportion to what its impact is currently."

New Holden, Ram utes bring touch of global glamour to National Fieldays

National Fieldays near Hamilton might be New Zealand's biggest agricultural event, but it's also rapidly turning into a default motor-show for light commercials.

National Fieldays near Hamilton might be New Zealand's biggest agricultural event, but it's also rapidly turning into a default motor-show for light commercials.

Distributors have always been keen to display their latest utes to a receptive audience, and there are always some very sharp deals on offer. But things have gone up a notch for 2016 with the display of a genuine concept vehicle and a major new-model launch for Fieldays, which runs June 15-18.

The Holden Colorado Xtreme is essentially a pumped-up, pimped-out version of the updated Colorado production model due for launch here in September. It was designed and built by Holden in Australia, and unveiled at the Bangkok Motor Show in March. It has since travelled to Spain for a General Motors product conference and is now passing through NZ on its way back to Australia.

So, bragging rights for Holden NZ: Fieldays will be the first time the Xtreme has been shown in the Southern Hemisphere. It hasn't even done the rounds in Australia.

READ MORE: * Holden teases next-gen Colorado in Bangkok * New Holden Colorado goes American

It's also the first time the vehicle has been displayed as a Holden. In Bangkok and Spain it wore Chevrolet badging, as does the production Colorado in those markets.

The badge-engineering for Down Under was actually carried out at Holden NZ headquarters in Auckland and includes a new grille, a reskin of the tailgate graphic (which now carries a very subtle black-on-black Holden logo) and a new steering wheel.

The one-off car, which Holden NZ managing director Kristian Aquilina describes as the "most expensive Holden we've ever had here", is present for the wow-factor and brand-building value.

But the Xtreme is also based on the new-generation Colorado, which was revealed in Chevrolet form back in April. So many elements, especially the classy new interior, show you what the new Holden ute will look like.

Note the more car-like dashboard architecture and the addition of new technology such as an eight-inch touch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Back in 2012 when the current Colorado was launched, Holden executives admitted that the engineering and refinement of new-generation utes like the Ford Ranger had caught them by surprise. The new Colorado is the company's attempt at a serious catch-up.

"The Colorado will retain the features it's famous for, including a class-leading 500Nm of torque, 3.5-tonne towing and off-road capability, says Aquilina.

"But it will be a far more refined vehicle and offer an extended range of accessories that are fully integrated into the vehicle and backed by Holden."

Holden claims the Xtreme accessory package "inspired" similar products for the forthcoming production model, but of course the more likely scenario is that things have worked the other way around. The updated Colorado was signed off a long time ago and the accessories already designed, so the Xtreme's job is simply to preview them.

Indeed, features like the sports bar and side steps have already been pictured on production Chevrolet versions of the Colorado in Thailand and the United States.

Meanwhile, Fieldays is also the launch venue for American truck brand Ram in NZ, made by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). A range of Ram pickup tricks is being offered here by Ateco Automotive, the Kiwi distributor for FCA.

The Ram trucks arrive via Australia, where they are converted to right-hand drive by American Special Vehicles (ASV), a joint venture between Ateco's Australian division and the Walkinshaw Automotive Group. The converted vehicles are covered by a three-year, 100,000km warranty.

Formerly associated with the Dodge brand, Ram was relaunched as a standalone truck division in 2009.

The Ram 2500 and 3500 models are built around a bigger-is-better philosophy: the core engine is a 6.7-litre Cummins turbo-diesel producing 1084Nm of torque and the vehicles are capable of towing over six tonnes. They are marketed as workhorses rather than lifestyle vehicles - at least in the US, although the appeal of a genuine American truck with new-vehicle warranty and support may dictate otherwise in NZ.

The six-speed automatic transmission includes driver-adaptive shifting and three multiple clutch packs.

Both models have three-link front suspension. The 2500 rides on five-link coils at the rear, while the more muscular 3500 has Hotchkiss leaf-springs on the back.

The Ram trucks are 4WD with a low-range transfer that FCA claims is suitable for rock-crawling and the most challenging terrain, with shift-on-the-fly and three operating ranges.

The cabin features leather seats, heated and ventilated in the front with 10-way power adjustment for the driver and six way adjustment for the front passenger.

There's a heated, leather bound steering wheel with integrated audio controls, dual-zone climate control, tinted windows, a 20mm touchscreen display, nine-speaker sound system with subwoofer, ports for mobile devices and a media hub.

Paris to Peking car rally set to test Kiwis' endurance

Half a dozen Kiwis are set to embark on a real-life marathon that to some will resemble the "Wacky Races".

Half a dozen Kiwis are set to embark on a real-life marathon that to some will resemble the "Wacky Races".

Ahead of the Kiwis - mother and daughter duo Heather and Jo Worth, father and son Bruce and Harry Washington, Chris Pike and Colin Smith - and over 100 other teams is over 13,500 kilometres in the Peking to Paris endurance rally.

Vehicles range from a 1915 American LaFrance through to a 1977 Mercedes-Benz 280E and their arduous race visits 11 countries, After Sunday's start in Beijing (formerly Peking), the borders crossed take the trek through Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and finally France for the finish on July 13 in the centre of Paris.

Auckland mother and duo team, Heather and Jo Worth, are one of only two all-women crews and have spent a small fortune entering and preparing their 1968 Volvo Amazon car which they bought in Howick a few years ago.

With the entry fee around $50,000, Heather quips it has been like a "little open drain for funds" and she reckons it will be the last chance they will be able to afford to do it.

They are, however, not novices in endurance rallying, having already completed the Road to Mandalay in February 2015.

"I'm feeling quite excited about this. We thought the day would never arrive," she said from Sydney a few days before heading on to Beijing.

While this is their second big endurance event, she says the P2P is "much bigger, more daunting."

Weight is a really big issue and they will only take one small carry bag of clothes each with t-shirts, shorts etc.

"We have to carry a large number of spares, two extra tyres and aim to rotate the tyres every couple of days.

"The back seats have gone as they are too heavy as have the carpets and the car has been fitted with a big new petrol tank that can take 90 litres.

"It will be extremely noisy but we have to make the sacrifices to keep the weight down."

The car has undergone other alterations, including final strengthening work in Britain before being shipped on to Beijing.

"They are really well known for endurance rallies. We really need it to be super super strong and the place we sent it to has prepared other cars for rallies like this."

They are racing under the moniker "Team Xena" which they said was an easy decision with car called an Amazon and the fact they were an all female team.

"Team Xena" could, however, easily be "Team Kiwi" as their car is black and will be adorned with Silver Ferns.

Heather, a professor and head of an international HIV research group at the University of New South Wales, will have no regrets if this is her last endurance rally before she plans to retire back to Auckland in a few years.

"It is tough work... tough long days... you need to be very organised" she says, adding that relationships are also tested.

"There are some days when you have pursed lips with each other. But it is really, really good to do this with my daughter. This has helped bring us closer together.

"The first rally I did was quite soon after my husband passed away. It was a great way to get myself up and running again."

Meanwhile, the Washingtons (from Timaru) are expecting to rely on some good old Kiwi ingenuity to get them to the finish line.

While Harry Washington, at 19, will be one of the youngest competitors, his dad Bruce will be in his third P2P driving his 1929 Chrysler 75 roadster after also completing the New York to Alaska event in 2012 and another around the bottom part of Africa in 2014 (both in a 1937 Dodge coupe).

For Bruce there seems to be a bit of unfinished business.

"In 2010 the motor blew up in Mongolia. We begged, borrowed and shared a ride to finish.

"We got to the end, but it was an empty feeling and decided to comeback in 2013 for another crack.

"Even though we bent the front axle on the third day we got to the finish with some Kiwi ingenuity and were first in class, second overall, won the team's event and second in the European Cup for cars up to 1940."

"There's a lot of luck in it, things can go wrong at any time and we're up against multi-millionaires. I know of one who has spent 600,000 on a car. The money is mindboggling.

"Our aim is to get to the end in one piece. It's an adventure. It's an endurance rally of man, machine, the climate, the food."

Bruce says in today's world which is overly complicated by health and safety the rally was "one of the last great adventures".

"It is a challenge."

He believes many competitors are in for a shock and those with real "life skills" would prosper on the journey.

"It's Kiwis can do and Kiwi ingenuity," Harry quips. "The number eight wire we can do it. It's about overcoming adversity."

Teams face daily travel of up to 600-700 kilometres, many of which will be special stages and long hours of travel.

Bruce Washington said their car, while still possessing its original brakes, engine, radiator, chassis and differential is "on steroids".

"It has a five-speed gearbox and the modern technology we've been able to use has doubled the motor's power... that gives it more horsepower and torque to climb the hills.

"We've re-made better what was old.

"It's got attitude. It's a car with balls," Bruce Washington says, in explaining that was to do with a decorative addition hanging off the middle of the rear bumper.

Top speed he touts as 147 kilometres per hour but won't reveal where that was achieved.

You can follow the exploits of Team Xena on their Facebook page and the Washingtons on the website, Peking2Paris.kiwi.

Plenty of kilometres to go with the 'old' Holden Trax

The Holden Trax can almost claim to be the vehicle that created the small SUV segment in New Zealand. If you remove the Suzuki Jimny from the scene - and let's face it, that vehicle has so much history its deserves to be a museum piece - pretty much everything else in the segment is younger than the Korean-built model.

The Holden Trax can almost claim to be the vehicle that created the small SUV segment in New Zealand. If you remove the Suzuki Jimny from the scene - and let's face it, that vehicle has so much history its deserves to be a museum piece - pretty much everything else in the segment is younger than the Korean-built model.

That speaks volumes about the growth in the popularity of small SUVs, which have taken over from hatchbacks as the small vehicles of choice. The sales figures underline all of that. In 2013 when the Trax was launched in New Zealand, there were 6947 small SUVs sold. Last year the number had doubled to 13,169.

The car companies are joining on this massive growth in popularity by introducing many excellent new models. Nissan Qashqai, Mazda CX-3, Suzuki Vitara, Mitsubishi ASX, Honda HR-V, Subaru XV and SsangYong Tivoli are just some of the small SUVs more recently launched to meet the growth in consumer demand for this new-age small car genre.

In amongst all of this remains the Trax - the veteran in the field even though it is not yet three years old. But that shows just how quickly the new vehicle market is changing these days.

READ MORE: Why it's time to stop talking about SUVs

The good news for Holden is that the Trax continues to be popular. So far this year it has been selling at rate of better than two a day to maintain about a 9 per cent market share. That might be half the rate of the top-selling small SUV costing less than $40,000 which is the Mazda CX-3, but it's pretty good all the same, considering the vehicle is facing up to all those newer and flasher entrants.

And the Trax will be comforted to know it is soon be facelifted.

The refreshed model was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show in early 2016, and it is expected to go on sale in USA in the fourth quarter. The model has a substantially redesigned front end complete with daytime running lights, and on the inside there's a new 7-inch screen for an infotainment system that's compatible with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The facelifted model also features a host of safety upgrades.

Holden New Zealand has confirmed that the facelifted Trax will come to New Zealand, arriving some time next year. The company can't confirm at this early stage whether our Trax will feature what the US model has, but we expect it will contain everything we outlined in the previous paragraph - because that's what is now aboard the larger Captiva SUV which was facelifted earlier this year. Make sense?

Maybe we should explain why the Trax was at the Chicago Auto Show in the first place. It's very much a world car, a General Motors vehicle that is also sold as a Chevrolet, Buick and Opel in other parts of the globe. So when the facelifted model was unveiled at Chicago it was as a Chevy. Our model, which is built in South Korea, is distributed in New Zealand and Australia as a Holden.

When Trax was first launched in New Zealand, the only models available were powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine from the slightly larger Cruze. It came in for some criticism for this, because they 103kW/175Nm engine offered only adequate performance, while the Cruze could also be purchased with a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine that, while offering essentially the same amount of power as the 1.8, developed 200Nm of torque from a lower 1850rpm.

Fortunately it wasn't long before the turbo engine found its way under the bonnet of the Trax, It was a good move, because it transformed the Trax into a little SUV with purpose. And that's how things remain today - you can buy the Trax in entry $32,990 (currently $28,990 as a Fieldays special) LS form with the normally aspirated 1.8-litre engine, or you can spend another $4000 and get what is known as the Trax Turbo which comes with an LTZ level of specification and the turbocharged engine.

At the LTZ level the Trax comes with 18-inch wheels instead of the LS model's 16-inch versions, front fog lamps, rain-sensing wipers, a trip computer, pseudo leather seat trim, heated front seats, driver's armrest, and a few other bits and pieces such as chrome strip inserts in the door handles and a storage tray under the front passenger seat.

And of course the car also has the turbocharged engine, which is the same as that which powers the Barina RS hatch.

It's worthwhile comparing this engine's power and torque figures with the 1.8-litre engine. Whereas the two engines develop exactly the same peak power of 103 kilowatts, with the 1.8 it is reached at 6300 rpm while with the turbo it is reached at a much lower 4900 rpm. And while the 1.8 develops its 175 newton metres of torque at 3800 rpm, the turbo's 200 Nm is reached at 1850rpm and remains available right through to 4900 rpm.

As a result, the LTZ's drive is a lot more effortless. This Trax doesn't offer the sort of down-and-dirty performance that can often be associated with turbocharging - rather, the engine is nicely responsive at both urban and highway speeds which makes for an enjoyable drive.

The Trax' chassis is also calibrated for this sort of driving.  Suspension has undergone Australasian tuning so it is quite soft in the interests of ride comfort over performance, and the electric power steering is calibrated for good on-centre feel.

Interior is comfortable, even if it does feature quite a bit of hard plastic, and the Holden does feature a large amount ot minor storage with cubby holes and bins all over the place. It also features the MyLink touch-screen information system which remains very good, although it will almost certainly be improved once the facelifted model arrives next year.

During our recent week with the Trax Turbo LTZ, we had to contend with foul weather every day as a result of the New Zealand autumn finally arriving in force - probably with winter mixed in as well. So we had to drive the Holden in conditions ranging from heavy rain and hail, to gale-force winds and thunder. The little SUV handled it all, and a major reason was because of the flexibility of that turbocharged engine.

It might be small in cubic capacity, but it is big in its ease of operation. And that's something that can be said of the Trax in its entirety.