An article from Herald Sun, a newspaper from a land down-under, reports that newly qualified drivers are to face restrictions on driving certain vehicles.
New South Wales bars P-platers from driving high-performance models with V8, turbo-charged and super-charged engines. The ban extends to several cars used for everyday family transport, including a Volvo station wagon, the Holden Calais and Saab 9-3.
Holden Calais, eh? Probably sounds suave, sophisticated, mysterious to your average Aussie. Quite unlike the northern-French port-town after which it is named. Meanwhile, back in the article: Restrictions in the state of Victoria are suggested to follow New South Wales basing the restrictions on power to weight ratios.
Car companies are furious that many of their family vehicles have been included on the banned list in NSW. One puzzling example was the ban on the lightly super-charged Mercedes-Benz C180K sedan, with a modest 105kW - the more potent C350 V6, with 200kW of power, was allowed.
Mercedes-Benz Australia managing director Horst von Sanden said the P-plate restrictions were too simplistic.
"The C180K is on the banned list because it has a supercharger, which we haven't put into this vehicle to turn it into a high-performance car," Mr von Sanden said. "It's an issue of fuel efficiency. It's 105kW, so it is anything but a high-performance car. From a safety perspective, it is wrong to have a system in place that bans safe cars like the C180 Kompressor ...while permitting novice drivers access to a raft of more powerful cars."
The article goes on to say:
P-platers can drive the potent Audi A6 diesel, which accelerates from 0-100km/h in 7.3 seconds, but not the turbo A4 1.8T, which covers 0-100km/h in 8.7 seconds.
Car companies said yesterday the main problem with the restrictions was that, apart from some exemptions, turbo and super-charged engines were banned.
Wouldn't the Audi A6 diesel have a turbocharger, anyway? I wonder whether the Smart ForTwo is permitted with its three-cylinder turbo motor?
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