i found this on another car forum..
P-platers can drive greener turbo cars
THE Victorian Government has lifted a ban on P-platers driving certain turbocharged and supercharged vehicles, citing environmental reasons.
In a statement released yesterday, Roads and Ports Minister Tim Pallas said the rule changes were designed to recognise "moderately powered, greener, lower-performance cars" that used turbocharging to improve fuel consumption.
But Mr Pallas made an embarrassing gaffe in announcing the new regulations, holding up a powerful and relatively thirsty turbo four-wheel-drive as an example of an environmentally friendly vehicle.
His statement said: "This is a commonsense approach, meaning young drivers won't be able to drive the sports-type, six-cylinder supercharged Holden Monaro, but would be able to apply for exemptions to drive the family fuel-efficient Mazda CX-7."
In fact, the CX-7 is more powerful than a Monaro and is one of the thirstier compact 4WDs on the market, using more fuel than a Holden Commodore wagon. A spokesman for the minister said he had made a mistake in the drafting of the statement and the new rules would single out only fuel-efficient turbocharged vehicles.
Turbocharged vehicles will now be banned or exempt based on their power-to-weight ratio, with drivers able to gain exemptions if their vehicle produces less than 125 kW of power per tonne. But the revised rules still leave loopholes for powerful six-cylinder vehicles, which still escape the P-plate ban. The Toyota Aurion and RAV4 V6 offroader both produce more power per tonne than the rules allow but are still deemed suitable for P-platers.
The spokesman confirmed those vehicles would remain unaffected by the new power-to-weight rules, which apply only to turbocharged vehicles.