Table of contents for September 28, 2022 in Autocar

The new BMW XM is the first electrified car from the company’s M performance division and only its second completely bespoke proposition, following the M1 supercar of 1978. It is also the division’s most potent and expensive car yet, with orders opening now from a Range Rover P510e-rivalling £144,980 and the promise of a range-topping ‘Red Label’ variant in 2023 with 738bhp – over 100bhp more than the current BMW M5 CS. The CS is edged by even the standard XM seen here, which packs a combined 644bhp and 590lb ft from a newly developed PHEV system. It pairs M’s familiar (but “extensively updated”) 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with a new electric motor – integrated into the eight-speed automatic gearbox – producing 194bhp and 207lb ft in its own right. Working…

Volvo’s range-topping new EV, based on the hugely popular XC90 SUV, will be called the EX90, the Swedish brand has said ahead of its 2023 launch. The electric SUV will be Volvo’s new flagship, the first car to sit atop its new SPA2 platform and kitted out with safety technology never before seen on a production vehicle. It will be sold beside a heavily refreshed version of today’s combustion-engined XC90. The EX90 will play a key role in Volvo’s plans to sell 600,000 EVs around the world annually from 2025, as it pushes towards becoming a fully electric car maker by 2030. Due as a production-ready version of the bold Concept Recharge shown in 2021, the EX90 will provide Volvo with a long-awaited entry into the increasingly important full-sized electric…

Pressure is growing on electric car makers and sellers to provide detailed information on battery health so that customers know what they are buying. Factors that affect health include age, high temperatures, operation at high and low states of charge and high electric current and usage (energy cycles). Variations in chemistry, thermal management and buffer limits (the cap the maker places on the top and bottom ends of the battery’s charging range) also contribute. Market analyst Autovista Group recently published a report outlining how, without information on these factors, residual value data on EVs will become harder to calculate with certainty. Produced in partnership with battery analytics specialist Twaice, the report said that how an EV is charged and driven over the first eight to 10 years of its life…

Jaguar Land Rover has taken the first steps to convert its Halewood factory on Merseyside to build electric vehicles, securing its future as the company rolls out zero-emission vehicles. JLR recently began the tendering process to upgrade the factory to build cars on its new “native BEV” Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA), a source close to the process told Autocar. It had already confirmed the EMA platform for the Halewood plant, one of three JLR vehicle assembly facilities in the UK, but this news will be welcome for the factory’s 3700 staff during this period of high uncertainty. The extended shutdown period to convert the plant will happen in 2024, the source told Autocar. JLR has said the first cars based on the EMA platform will arrive in the same year.…

THE HOTLY ANTICIPATED Polestar 3 will make its debut on 12 October, the brand has confirmed. Full official specs will be announced then, but details published by automotive data provider CAP HPi have already revealed that it will be priced from £78,900 and offered with a 107kWh battery, which gives a range of 380 miles in the Long Range entry-level model. Power comes from two motors, which put out 489bhp in the Long Range and propel it from 0-62mph in 5.0sec. A more powerful Performance model will also be offered, priced from £85,500. Power increases to 517bhp and the 0-62 time is trimmed to 4.7sec. However, range drops to 348 miles. The top speed for both models is 130mph. The 3 sits on the new SPA2 platform and weighs 2584kg.…

The all-new, third-generation BMW X1 is a bit larger than its popular predecessor. Just by 53mm in length, 44mm in height and 22mm in wheelbase, but that still means Munich’s ‘baby’ SUV is now 4.5 metres long. Only about 60mm off the length of the original X3, in case you were wondering… Anyway, a ‘baby’ SUV is now the default family car for huge swathes of buyers, and bigger will be better in many people’s books. Beneath it is BMW’s FAAR platform, which we have previously experienced only with the new 2 Series Active Tourer. It will also underpin the new Mini Countryman. The X1 is available with a range of mild-hybrid engines, running from a 2.0-litre three-cylinder diesel in the front-wheel-drive sDrive18d to a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol in the…

Luxury limousines have existed for as long as the rich have wanted to arrive in style, but extended SUVs haven’t. With the Bentayga EWB, Bentley is claiming a new segment, albeit with the proviso that the Range Rover LWB has long done the same thing with slightly less posh badging. An extra 180mm has been put into the Bentayga’s wheelbase, with all of that going to improve rear passenger space. You can have a regular threeman bench, two individual seats or, for £8395, Airline Seats, which are in the running to be the comfiest and most adjustable ever offered in a car. Beyond increased room, this SUV has another mission: fill the flagship role vacated by the Mulsanne in 2020. Only one powerplant is offered at launch: the 542bhp twin-turbo…

Variety isn’t something that the market for electric cars offered much of in its infancy, but as it has blossomed and grown, so it has gradually diversified. When Nissan prepared to launch its trendsetting Leaf onto the UK market in 2011, would we have imagined that within little more than a decade there would be zero-emissions hypercars and pick-up trucks, limousines and quadricycles, offroaders and luxury SUVs, electromodded classics and everyday-use family options of so many different shapes and sizes? It’s espoused in some places, meanwhile, that the one kind of car that can’t be fully and convincingly electrified is the sports car. The driver’s car, performance car, enthusiast’s choice: call it whatever you like. We’ve challenged that line of thinking so many times on these pages as we’ve driven…

“The biggest challenge has been from the guys studying the data and seeing where’s best to deploy the boost” The British Touring Car Championship entered a brave new world this season, mandating its most significant technical change in a decade: the introduction of an electrical element to the powertrain. Cosworth Electronics was engaged to provide the hybrid system, which deploys power through the gearbox, boosting a car’s performance by up to 40bhp for a predetermined amount of time. Fans are aware of which racers are using their boost via a blue light flashing in the rear side windows. Previously, the BTCC used a roster of success ballast to rein in the most successful machines and maintain a level playing field. Now, with the introduction of the electrical boost, it’s this…

MILEAGE 4561 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover whether the Cupra is a new EV contender or a gussied-up VW ID 3 Having spent most of its early time in my custody pootling around town or on shorter local journeys, our Cupra Born has recently had a change of scenery, pounding up and down the M3 and A303 for a series of trips to Somerset to visit family. Unlike an ICE car, which is usually at its most frugal in these sorts of conditions, the efficiency of a smaller EV such as the Born tends to suffer at sustained high speeds. That has meant plenty of planning ahead, ensuring that I’ve scheduled in a few pit stops at prudent intervals to keep the battery topped up. Overall efficiency has taken…

“The engine on its own is the most powerful four-cylinder unit currently in series production” The new Mercedes-AMG C63 S, due later this year, trades its iconic V8 engine for a 670bhp plug-in hybrid powertrain that combines a 469bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine and a 201bhp electric motor on the rear axle in a sophisticated four-wheel drive system. As before, the C63 will be available as a saloon and estate, but the role of the twodoor coupé and convertible will be picked up by a hot version of the incoming CLE, which replaces two-door versions of the C-Class and E-Class. For this new generation, the non-S C63 base model is dropped, leaving only the Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Performance, to use its full name. Visually, the C63 is differentiated from the…

MITSUBISHI WILL CONSIDER re-entering the UK market only once it has “more than one” electric car to offer, its European boss has said. The Japanese company unveiled the first of two new cars based on models from Alliance partner Renault that it will sell in its remaining European markets. The second-generation ASX compact crossover is a rebadged version of the Renault Captur that will be launched in March next year, and the brand has revived the Colt supermini by rebadging the Renault Clio, with sales due to start this autumn. The new ASX will be sold with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain to sit below the current Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV, but no electric variant has been announced. Mitsubishi left the UK in 2020 as part of a cost-saving strategy that…

“Refinement and ride quality are both good, but the control responses feel inconsistent” The original Smart City Coupé was one of the most revolutionary vehicles of the past quarter century – and a huge commercial failure. When the innovative miniature was first launched in 1998, Smart’s parent company, Daimler, predicted that cities would be designed around it – something that seemed genuinely possible, given its dinky dimensions and radical styling. But despite receiving generous backing for more than two decades, Smart never achieved commercial success, nor reportedly ever made a profit – and BMW’s much less technically adventurous Mini brand outsold it by more than three to one. That’s a quick way of explaining why, although the branding of the Smart #1 is familiar, almost everything else is different. This…

THE X1’s NEWBORN sibling, the iX1, is the first pure-electric model to arrive on BMW’s FAAR platform. A 64.7kWh (usable) battery delivers a WLTP range of up to 272 miles in the xDrive30 version that we drove, despite 308bhp courtesy of two electric motors, four-wheel drive and a hearty 0-62mph time of 5.7sec. While the model badging clearly leaves room for different versions, the xDrive30 is the only option from launch, so you will need to find £52,255 if you’re hoping to get hold of the iX1 in the near future (BMW will start taking orders later this year and first deliveries are pegged for January 2023). We had a drive in a prototype iX1, which proved to be a confident and cohesive car. The steering is short of feel,…

MODEL TESTED PURETECH 180 SHINE PLUS Price£33,810 Power178bhp Torque184lb ft 0-60mph7.8sec 30-70mph in fourth10.3sec Fuel economy 43.2mpg CO2 emissions148g/km 70-0mph47.3m If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then the new C5 X is not good news for Citroën’s management. It has been shown repeatedly that large saloons and estates from French brands – and by extension any brand that isn’t a German premium manufacturer – don’t sell all that well. So at a time when buyers are flocking to SUVs and crossovers, and even Ford and Vauxhall don’t see the sense in developing a new generation of the Mondeo and Insignia, here’s Citroën launching a new C5 – a model we thought had been permanently discontinued in 2016. There is more to the…

OKAY, LET’S HAVE some fun. Let’s take a break from all the worries and furrowed brows that usually surround EVs and simply enjoy the driving. Right now, there’s plenty of baggage attached to EVs, which isn’t surprising, given that one of the words most often used when discussing these machines is ‘anxiety’ (of the range variety). Then there are the concerns about the efficacy of the charging network or the lifespan of the cars’ lithium ion hearts. Worry, worry, worry. And of course for people like us, the rapid rise of the EV is also framed against a backdrop of the slow but fairly inevitable decline of our beloved internal combustion engine and, just as likely, the multi-ratio gearboxes they’re attached to. Yes, these fossilfuel-fed devices are nothing more than…

Twingo and co make small cars fun again SUPERMINIS FACE AN uncertain future today, due to SUVs and ever rising prices. Things were entirely different 29 years ago, as the Fiat Punto, Renault Twingo, Mk2 Seat Ibiza and Vauxhall Corsa arrived cheaply and cheerfully – of course eliciting a test to reveal the best. Named after a party island it may have been, but the Ibiza was a bit of a bore. “Supremely spacious and feeling robust, it has the potential to be as good as the Punto, but its gutless, noisy engine lets it down. “Next up is the Corsa, which looks the part inside and out. A strong engine isn’t enough to make it a driver’s car, the disappointing steering and shift preventing you from wanting to take…

MILEAGE 3650 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Can BMW’s second dedicated electric car live up to its range-topping billing? One of the major concerns that car lovers like us have about electric cars is how they can be given their own distinctive personalities. Aren’t they all just going to be differently styled yet ultimately characterless white goods when they share common electric motors and battery packs that don’t allow for bespoke tuning in the way that a good old combustion engine does? For a lot of early electric cars, and even plenty on sale today, that might be true. Yet increasingly now we’re seeing those that offer plenty of character of their own – something the BMW iX takes even further by creating a driving experience that doesn’t try to mimic…

There’s a good reason why Lamborghini’s signature colour is yellow. It’s because such an exuberant colour works perfectly on exuberant cars – the marque’s specialty. The Gallardo is a prime example, although not an arm-and-a-leg expensive one. In fact, you can now buy one for less than a new top-end BMW 5 Series. Introduced in 2003, the Gallardo first received a mid-mounted 5.0-litre V10 with 493bhp. It sends power to all four wheels through a single-clutch automated manual for those who desire flappy paddles or a conventional six-speed manual for purists. Either way, you will be rendered positively speechless after experiencing the Gallardo’s 10-cylinder speed and sound. “Power comes high up in the rev range, grip is strong and the handling is suitably sharp” You won’t mistake its noise for…

SUVs can be seen on every street corner in 2022, but it wasn’t verylong ago that they were rare choices. Many launched in decades past are hardly remembered, and even some of those that had a formative influence on the SUV as we know it today are seldom seen in traffic. So join us for a look at some of the forgotten cars that competed in the class long before it was cool. Saab9-7X 2005 The first of two very odd cars delivered near Saab’s sad end, the 9-7X was symbolic of General Motors’ mismanagement of the once fabulous company. The SUV had very little to do with Saab and a lot to do with the ubiquitous T360 platform that also gave the world the likes of the Chevrolet Trailblazer…

AUTOCAR READERS ARE invited to join editor-in-chief Steve Cropley in conversation with Simon Saunders, founder of sports car maker Ariel, at a special event in London next month. Saunders will share details of the Somerset-based firm’s latest project, the hugely innovative Hipercar EV, and discuss his experience of working for major car companies before deciding to start one of his own. Speaking at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall on the evening of 31 October, Cropley and Saunders will be joined by several members of the Autocar and Classic & Sports Car editorial teams for an in-depth Q&A session. Tickets cost £48, which includes light food and drinks. To book, visit eventsforce. net/hm/1260/register…

CHINESE ELECTRIC VEHICLE manufacturer Xpeng has launched the G9 SUV, a new flagship model that is claimed to be the fastest-charging mass-produced SUV on sale. Also the first mass-produced Chinese car to use an 800V silicon carbide battery, the G9 can charge at speeds of up to 480kW when using the firm’s S4 supercharging stations, according to Xpeng. This means, in ideal conditions, the model can gain up to 124 miles of range in around five minutes and charge from 10-80% in just 15 minutes. Xpeng claims a range of up to 436 miles on top-spec versions under the Chinese equivalent of the WLTP cycle – the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC). Using the WLTP cycle, the range stands at between 285 and 354 miles. Deliveries of the G9…

WILL BATTERY TECHNOLOGY be the end game for sustainable cars or will it eventually be overtaken by other alternatives? Either way, the vast quantity of research done to date points to the fact that battery storage is the most efficient way of using electricity on the move simply, because it doesn’t involve converting it from one energy carrier to another (like hydrogen, for example). BMW added to the stream of announcements in September, with news of a switch in battery cell design and a ramping up of manufacturing capacity. It opened the Battery Cell Competence Centre in Munich in 2019 and over the years has built up a network of 300 partners, ranging from companies to universities. For its sixth generation of battery, it’s changing both the format and the…

The Vauxhall Astra will be the first model to get a performance overhaul under the firm’s new GSe brand – an electrified successor for the GSi nameplate. Launching as a plug-in hybrid, the new range-topping, dynamically enhanced Astra GSe gets sharper handling, a tweaked, lowered chassis and uprated engine performance. As with standard models, the GSe will be available in both hatchback and Sports Tourer guises. The model uses the same 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine and 12.4kWh battery as the regular Astra plug-in hybrid already on sale, but its total output is boosted from 178bhp to 222bhp. Vauxhall has yet to announce any performance figures, but the mechanically identical Peugeot 308 225 plug-in hybrid has a 0-62mph time of 7.7sec, a 146mph top speed and an electric-only range of 37…

IT WAS A weekend of firsts as the newly electric-powered World Rallycross Championship (WRX) headed to Montalegre in Portugal. Four-time champion Johan Kristoffersson kept up his unbeaten streak in the first round, but Niclas Grönholm – son of two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm – ended that run in the second to score his maiden win, while team-mate Klara Andersson became the first female driver to score a podium in the series. Kristoffersson initially lost out in his Volkswagen Polo at the start of the final to Peugeot 208 rival Kevin Hansen. A latebraking dive into the first turn turfed Hansen into the gravel, leaving Kristoffersson to win – only for the Swede to inevitably be docked 10sec and drop to fifth in the final order. That handed Grönholm his…

It’s entirely appropriate for any Brabus product to have a surfeit of power, and that tradition is proudly being upheld by the range-topping Smart #1. You will be unsurprised to hear that a fourwheel-drive electric small SUV with 422bhp is seriously quick, especially given its instant torque. But potential buyers definitely shouldn’t come here looking for huge amounts of dynamic finesse – or even relatively modest amounts of dynamic finesse. This isn’t meant as a critical kicking. I had huge fun driving the #1 Brabus, and it’s hard not to warm to a car that looks so cute yet also threatens to spin all four wheels on dry roads. But it’s fair to say that the balance between power and control is definitely not centred on the scale. Changes over…

We’re often told that Alpina is all about ‘filling niches’ unexplored by BMW and particularly its M division. On the surface, this seems sensible. In reality, however, Alpina products can’t be considered straight substitutes for M cars, and the niche-filling strategy is rarely if ever executed in the strict sense. Just consider the current range. Alpina’s flagship B8 Gran Coupé coexists with the M8 Gran Coupé, the B7 with the M760Li, the XB7 with the X7 M60i, the B5 with the M5, the B3 with the M3… And we won’t mention the various diesel offerings, because it’s much the same story. The fact is that with the firstever M3 Touring announced, the only true niche filler in the Alpina line-up is the B5 Touring. Or at least it was until…

It will look like a hypercar, go and sound like a hypercar, and have a distinctly hypercar-ish price of £1.5 million before taxes. But the all-new Apricale, the first product of a bold new Midlands start-up called Viritech, has a much higher purpose than appealing to the billionaires who can afford to be one of its restricted band of 25 owners from early 2024. The Apricale is the world’s first hydrogen-powered hypercar, and thus very different from any other vehicle of similar size and potential by virtue of a fuel cell powertrain, which allows it to avoid the huge battery masses of contemporary EVs. The kerb weight is a staggeringly low 1000kg, nearly 500kg less than the conventionally powered (and slower) McLaren 720S, which occupies the same road space. Aficionados…

On my visit to the fascinating Cenex LCV show, I was fortunate enough to test drive a Ford Mustang Mach-E and a Toyota Mirai around the Mountain Circuit. Quite apart from the pure enjoyment of (relatively) unfettered access to such a fantastic piece of Tarmac, the drives were a revelation. The Mach-E was underwhelming. I didn’t like the massive touchscreen or the interior generally, the ride was rock-hard and it didn’t feel as fast as expected. It also wouldn’t fit my use case as a high-mileage driver, usually against a deadline, which makes charging anxiety and hypermiling not really an option. The Mirai therefore was a revelation. It’s a lovely looking saloon car that’s refined, comfortable and absolutely normal to drive. It even has proper buttons for the climate control.…

It may have been around since God was a child, but the Audi TT is still a real force to be reckoned with, especially if you’re talking used cars. Take the latest version, the Mk3, thrilling us skinny since 2014. You can expect lively performance and eager handling, of course, but you will recoil in pleasure at the modest sticker price. Where else can you get something so suave and premium in feel for a smidgen over £10,000? The all-turbocharged engine range is pretty straightforward. Initially, the TT came with a 178bhp 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol, a 227bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol (or 306bhp in the extra-sporty TTS), a 395bhp 2.5-litre fivecylinder petrol (exclusive to the super-sporty TT RS) or a 181bhp 2.0-litre diesel, with either frontor four-wheel drive. In 2019, the…