Wheels Inbox: The wrap-up from our 70th anniversary

Wheels magazine has always had a passionate audience, with a thriving letters section. Here's the latest from our readers.

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Wheels alignment

🖊️ Shane Davis, email

I loved poring over the Greatest 70 as pulled together by Wheels. No doubt a tough task. I thought you were off to a flying start when I saw Australia’s own VF Commodore in amongst the greatest sedans. Couldn’t agree more; we have a late-2014 Evoke, bog standard and well and truely surplus to our needs now, but I just can’t bring myself to sell it.

Then I turned the pages and saw the Mazda MX-5 listed in amongst the greatest sports cars, I thought yes, two from two! We have a 2003 NB that puts a smile on my face each and every time I take it for a drive, particularly along a twisty road.

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Moving onto 4x4s and I see the LandCruiser up in lights. We have an LC300 Sahara, a simply awesome vehicle for the big brown land.

At this stage I’m thinking this Wheels crew and I and are absolutely aligned. I never thought our 2018 Navara single-cab tray back would make the Ute list but it is a pretty handy workhorse.

Then I got to hot hatches and, what, no i30N? The N rounds out our little fleet of cars and it is an amazing little road rocket with such a depth of abilities, happy to potter about the suburbs in ‘normal’ then rip up a race track in ‘N Custom’. Truth be know it spends most of its time in N mode. What a cracker car.

I guess three out of five ain’t bad.

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Brain gain

🖊️ James Bellingham, via email

What a treat we got in the July issue of Wheels. The test of Civic Type R versus Porsche Cayman GT4 RS by Alex Inwood was just brilliant. It reminded me of the old-school Wheels drive stories in the best way possible, and Alex’s words really put me in the driver’s seat. Truth is, I’m never going to be in the position to buy that Porsche, but the Honda could be in my future. Given how good it is, I’d hardly be missing out.

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Then we had the Ferrari 296 GTB feature by Andy Enright, which was very different but no less fascinating. I loved the gentle walk-through of how we got to where we are today, and the more I thought about Andy’s description of how supercars and hypercars split at the Porsche 959, the more it made sense. I’d never seen that timeline explained in that way before, and that sort of cerebral analysis is exactly why I love Wheels. Keep it up!

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Save big bangers

🖊️ Sam Donnelly, via email

I’ve just been reading the Future issue of the Wheels 70th Anniversary and I’ve got an idea. I’ve grudgingly accepted that we’re transitioning to an electric future, but the thought of losing some great internal combustion engines physically hurts me.

My proposal is really simple. In order to preserve engines of Special Historical Value, I’d like every V12 and every normally aspirated engine that makes at least 350kW to be exempt from any ICE ban.

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They can continue to be built in numbers no greater than they are today, and the small number of enthusiasts who are willing to pay for the privilege can juice them up on e-fuels. This way we can save the great engines from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, GMA and Porsche in perpetuity.

Their carbon burden will be paltry and could even be offset with a manufacturer credit scheme. It would be a shame to lose these engineering masterpieces forever.

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Is the Giz a GOAT?

🖊️ Mauricio Ricci, via email

Tim Robson is onto something when he says that ‘Shane van Gisbergen is a once-in-a-generation race car driver’(‘Fast Track’, Wheels August).

Honestly, I think we don’t realise quite what a talent the guy is. When Autosport magazine compiled their list of the top 50 drivers on the planet at the end of last year, SvG ended up 10th on the list, behind Lando Norris (Formula 1), Will Power (IndyCar), Josef Newgarden (IndyCar), Stoffel Vandoorne (Formula E), George Russell (F1), Lewis Hamilton (F1), Kalle Rovanperä (WRC), Charles Leclerc (F1), and Max Verstappen (F1).

Where would you put him now that he’s shown NASCAR his stripes? Maybe fourth behind Verstappen, Hamilton and Rovanperä? Like Robbo says, once-in-a-generation.

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Snoozy zed

🖊️ Paul Mabey, via Facebook

Please help me understand why Nissan is charging nearly 20 grand more for the Nismo version of the Z when it only has 11kW more than the standard car? I can sort of understand modest power upgrades with a normally aspirated engine (I’m looking at you, Mustang Dark Horse), but the big 3.0-litre turbo engine of the Nissan Z ought to be easy to wring another 30kW out of.

I don’t get it.

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The Wheels question to you

The new Mitsubishi Triton: hit or miss?

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