car review

And the award for the most improved EV goes to… the 2026 Toyota bZ

2026 Toyota bZ, car review, Cars / Tim Belzer / February 27, 2026

The world’s largest automaker has had a somewhat difficult relationship with battery-electric vehicles. Toyota was an early pioneer of hybrid powertrains, and it remains a fan today, often saying that given limited battery supply, it makes sense to build more hybrids than fewer EVs. Its first full BEV had a rocky start, suffering a recall due to improperly attached wheels just as the cars were hitting showrooms. Reviews for the awkwardly named bZ4x were mixed; the car did little to stand out among the competition.

Toyota didn’t get to be the world’s largest automaker by being completely blind to feedback, and last year, it gave its EV platform (called e-TNGA and shared with Lexus and Subaru) a bit of a spiff-up. To start, it simplified the name—the small electric SUV is now just called the bZ. It uses a new 74.7 kWh battery pack, available with either front- or all-wheel-drive powertrains that now use silicon carbide power electronics. And for the North American market, instead of a CCS1 port just behind the front passenger wheel, you’ll now see a Tesla-style NACS socket.

Our test bZ was the $37,900 XLE FWD Plus, which has the most range of any bZ at 314 miles (505 km), according to the EPA test cycle. When you realize that the pre-facelift version managed just 252 miles (405 km) with 71.4 kWh onboard, the scale of the improvement becomes clear.

Standard equipment is generous, even in XLE trim. Jonathan Gitlin

Our loan immediately followed a week with the bZ’s more powerful, more expensive Lexus relative. While I might have liked that Lexus interior and some of its mod cons like ventilated seats, the Toyota is a much better EV despite having fewer frills. With 221 hp (165 kW) going to the front tires and 4,156 lbs (1,885 kg) to move, the XLE FWD Plus is not speedy. In normal mode, 0–60 mph (97 km/h) takes 8 seconds, although there’s still enough torque in this setting to chirp the low rolling resistance tires.

And the award for the most improved EV goes to… the 2026 Toyota bZ Read More »

2026 Lexus RZ 550e review: Likable, but it needs improvement

car review, Cars, Lexus RZ 550e F Sport / Mike M. / February 25, 2026

Sometimes you drive a car you just don’t gel with.

The original Lexus RZ was such a case. It was Lexus’ first battery EV, and I was less than impressed when I drove it in 2023. In fact, I compared it negatively to the extremely not-good Vinfast VF8. Lexus knew there was room for improvement, too, so it reworked the RZ with new motors, a new battery, and NACS charging for North America, among other tweaks, for model year 2026. A front-wheel drive RZ 350e is now the range’s entry point at $47,295, and there’s also a $58,295 all-wheel drive RZ 550e F Sport that tops the range. We spent a week with the latter.

Mindful of how little I liked the first RZ I drove, I made sure to approach the 550e F Sport with an open mind. And despite a number of the car’s shortcomings, I find I have warm feelings for the electric Lexus.

New battery, new motors

There are new batteries for all MY2026 RZs, but the 550e benefits from a slightly larger capacity, at 77 kWh. Each axle features a permanent magnet synchronous motor, now with silicon carbide electronics, that delivers a combined 402 hp (300 kW). There’s also some new body stiffening, plus added sound dampening. As an F Sport Lexus, the 550e also gains some styling additions compared to its lesser siblings. There are new bumpers and a new front grille, plus 20-inch wheels wearing aero covers that hide blue-painted brake calipers.

It’s a relatively compact EV, at 189 inches (4,800 mm) long, 74.6 inches (1,895 mm) wide, and 64.4 inches (1,636 mm) tall. Jonathan Gitlin

On those 20-inch wheels, the range is just 229 miles (369 km), and that’s only in optimum ambient conditions. In chilly but not sub-freezing February weather, the RZ 550e averaged 2.5 miles/kWh, and with the battery at 50 percent state of charge, the car reported only 88 miles (142 km) of range. AC charging now peaks at 11 kW rather than just 7 kW, and with its NACS port, the RZ can DC fast-charge from 10 to 80 percent in as little as 30 minutes, Lexus says.

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The 2026 Mazda CX-5, driven: It got bigger; plus, radical tech upgrade

car review, Cars, First drive, Mazda CX-5 / Tim Belzer / February 23, 2026

ENCINITAS, Calif.—Its sales may have been buoyed of late by the big CX-90 and CX-70 SUVs, but for Mazda, the CX-5 is still where most of the action is. Unlike the similar-sized, similar-priced CX-50, which was designed just for North America, the all-new CX-5 is a global car, and it’s also Mazda’s standard-bearer for a range of new technologies. Gone is the basic but effective infotainment system, replaced by an all-new Google-based experience as Mazda starts its journey toward software-defined vehicles. There’s even an in-house hybrid on the way, albeit not until next year. And it starts at a competitive $29,990.

The new CX-5 is bigger than the car it replaces, 4.5 inches (114.5 mm) longer and half an inch (13 mm) wider than before, at 184.6 inches (4,689 mm) long, 73.2 inches (1,859 mm) wide, and 66.7 inches (1,694 mm) tall. Much of that extra space is between the axles—the wheelbase is now 110 inches (2,794 mm) long, which translates to more interior space. From the outside, there’s a new light signature, and the way the bodywork curves around the front and wraps down the fenders gives me strong Range Rover vibes, even if I could never adequately capture what I’m talking about with a camera. As ever, Mazda’s arresting Soul Red Crystal metallic paint (a $595 option) sparkles, even on a day when the sun remained hidden from view.

The last time that Mazda evolved this compact crossover, it did so with a new upmarket interior. Since then, the brand has staked out that space across its model lineup, with cabins that punch well above their price tags. Happily, the company’s designers haven’t lost much mojo since then, with a restrained approach that looks good across the five different trim levels, each of which is a $2,000 step up from the one that precedes it. But if you’re a current CX-5 driver, you’ll find much has changed, perhaps not entirely for the better.

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The Kia PV5 electric van combines futuristic looks and thoughtful design

car review, Cars, First drive, Kia PV5, vanlife / Tim Belzer / February 10, 2026

The driver gets a hefty 7.5-inch digital instrument binnacle alongside a 12.9-inch infotainment display. Nearly everything is run through that screen, which is sad for those of us who want a return to physical buttons. It’s quick and responsive, but it lacks the haptic feedback that confirms a tap. The infotainment system supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, so you don’t have to use it too much if you don’t like it.

On the road, delivering a load

Even with 600 lbs (272 kg) loaded in the back—Kia wanted us to have a proper experience—the van felt remarkably car-like. The steering is smooth, and it has a delightfully tight turning circle to help navigate small towns and sharp city bends. It felt sure-footed and stable, though the ride was a touch on the jiggly side on all but the smoothest roads.

Yes, it’s a van, so don’t expect a buttery-smooth ride, but because everything else is so car-like, you don’t expect quite so agricultural a ride. Nor do you expect the cabin to sound so echo-y. That contrast strikes you from time to time: it’s clearly built to do a job, but it’s also thoughtfully designed. Its touchpoints are designed to withstand heavy use, so while they’re not especially luxurious, they should hold up to the many painty/muddy/gunky hands that will use them.

The powertrain is smooth, the ride a bit less so. Credit: Kia

Its powertrain feels exactly as you’d expect from Kia: silky smooth. It’s not the quickest vehicle in the world, but its torque gets you up to speed briskly enough. Kia’s claimed WLTP figure of 3.8 miles/kWh (16.4 kWh/100 km) wasn’t quite achievable on a chilly day, but winter weather will inevitably knock those numbers down a bit.

You can tell the PV5 isn’t the result of a simple “we have a powertrain, so let’s make a van” situation. Real thought has gone into how it will be used, how operators will interact with it, and how to make their lives easier. Ford, VW, Stellantis, and other van makers in Europe should take note.

As for America, never say never. In the UK and Europe, the PV5 costs tens of thousands less than VW’s retro microbus, suggesting that a North American PV5 could avoid the sticker shock that slowed VW’s sales, leading VW of America to delay imports for a model year. Kia America hasn’t announced plans to import the PV5 yet, but Car and Driver recently spotted one testing US-specific modifications on roads near its office.

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Driven: The 2026 Lamborghini Temerario raises the bar for supercars

car review, Cars, First drive, Lamborghini Temerario / Paul Patrick / February 6, 2026

This V8 hybrid with more than 900 hp replaces the V10 Huracán.

Does this feel like an unusually restrained color for a Lamborghini? The car is the new Temerario. Credit: Bradley Iger

While mainstream vehicles usually get comprehensive updates every few years, low-volume exotics tend evolve more gradually. Supercar platforms often remain unchanged for a decade or more, with manufacturers instead focusing on what can be tuned, massaged, added, or subtracted to keep their lineups fresh. Every once in a while, though, a performance car debuts that truly earns the label “all-new,” and the Lamborghini Temerario is one of them.

As the replacement for the Huracán, Lamborghini’s bestselling sports car to date, the Temerario has big shoes to fill. At first glance, it might seem like a more subdued affair than its predecessor, but the Huracán debuted in a similar fashion before wilder iterations like the STO and Sterrato were introduced to the lineup.

During a technical briefing late last year, Lamborghini sales chief Frederick Foschini noted that the Temerario’s streamlined look is intentional. The team sought to increase downforce by more than 100 percent compared with the Huracán Evo through the car’s core design, rather than relying on big wings, splitters, and other racy aerodynamic bits. Designers were also tasked with creating an all-new car that was distinctive yet instantly recognizable as a Lamborghini. Judging by the number of heads this car turned during my time with it, I’d say the company was successful.

The venerable Huracán served Lamborghini well for a decade, but its replacement is a bit of a step up in terms of price and performance. Bradley Iger

It’s not obvious from a cursory look at the exterior, but the Temerario is longer, wider, and taller than the car it replaces. Underpinned by a new all-aluminum spaceframe that’s more than 20 percent stiffer than the Huracán’s, the Temerari’s dimensional changes become immediately evident when you settle in behind the wheel, as head and legroom are noticeably improved over the outgoing car. I’m 6 feet, 3 inches (1.9 m), and at a rained-out track session at Sonoma Raceway back in November, I was able to position my seat however I wanted with headroom to spare, even with a helmet on.

The Temerario is also a big step forward ergonomically, as Lamborghini seems to be taking a more pragmatic approach to the control layout, which, like the Revuelto, sees the majority of often-used features accessed on the steering wheel. The tightly packed array of buttons and knobs looks overwhelming at first, but once you’re used to it, having everything directly in front of you—and controlled by physical buttons rather than capacitive surfaces—means your attention can stay on the road.

They hybridized this bull

These are definitely welcome improvements, but the star of the show, and arguably the most controversial element of the Temerario, is its all-new powertrain. While the Huracán was motivated by a lovely naturally aspirated V10, the Temerario gets its propulsion from a 4.0 L twin-turbocharged DOHC dry-sump V8 that revs to a searing 10,000 rpm. An axial-flux electric motor is sandwiched between the flywheel and the eight-speed dual clutch gearbox. Combined with two additional electric motors that power the front wheels, the total system output is a healthy 907 hp (676 kW) and 538 lb-ft (730 Nm) of torque.

A Lamborghini Temerario engine as seen through the rear deck. — I’m not sure many owners will do anything with the knowledge of their engine’s firing order. Credit: Bradley Iger

A 3.8 kWh lithium-ion battery mounted in the central tunnel of the spaceframe powers the electric motors and provides about six miles (10 km) of all-electric range. Though it can be recharged in about 30 minutes on a Level 2 charger, the hybrid system is designed to capture energy from the internal combustion engine and regenerative braking, so owners won’t need to plug in very often, if ever.

The sophisticated setup adds some heft: Lamborghini cites a dry weight of 3,726 lbs (1,690 kg), which means the Temerario weighs about 600 lbs (272 kg) more than the Huracán Evo. Additional mass is never a welcome development for a sports car, but to the automaker’s credit, Lamborghini has done a truly commendable job of hiding it.

Although I had originally planned to drive the Temerario exclusively on track at Sonoma, heavy rain forced us to scrap that idea after a slippery autocross session and a few harrowing laps around the course. To make up for the false start, Lamborghini graciously provided me with a Blu Marinus example for a few days at my home in Los Angeles. While the dry weather seat time reinforced the notion that you really do need to get this thing on a racetrack to see what it’s capable of, I was pleased to find it’s not a one-trick pony.

It’s not a dumb beast

As with the Revuelto, the Temerario defaults to Citta (Italian for “city”), its all-electric drive mode, each time it’s started. This makes pressing the jet-fighter-style start/stop button less exciting than it was in the Huracán, but it gives the Temerario an element of stealth that its predecessor never had.

There are 13 drive modes, but only four main ones (Citta, Strada, Sport, and Corsa), which can be augmented with additional settings selected via the EV knob on the upper right-hand side of the steering wheel. The latter offers Recharge and Hybrid settings in all four main modes, while a third Performance setting is available only in Sport and Corsa. Each of these EV-related settings alters how the hybrid system behaves and how the battery’s state of charge is managed. The Performance setting is the only way to get the full 907 hp out of the powertrain.

A Lamborghini’s cockpit should always look dramatic, and the Temerario does not disappoint. Bradley Iger

The Temerario can reach highway speeds solely with electricity, but it’s not a particularly exciting way to get around. Acceleration is best described as leisurely, and the front motors’ torque output can struggle to contend with even a moderately steep hill, which often triggers the internal combustion engine to spring to life. But the engine has its own required warm-up process, so situations like this sometimes result in less-than-graceful powertrain handoffs.

How is it on the road?

Once all the systems are working together, though, the Temerario proves to be a surprisingly competent tourer, thanks to improved ergonomics and a firm but forgiving adaptive suspension that, in its softer setting, absorbs bumps on the highway instead of bouncing over them. But as impressive as the Temerario is at handling everyday driving tasks, everything starts to feel like a mere lead-up to the main event once you’ve unleashed it on a fast stretch of canyon road. Given room to stretch its legs, the V8 emits a superbike-like snarl as the revs climb, and the sheer thrust of the powertrain makes chasing its 10,000 rpm redline feel like a test of bravery, even in lower gears.

Lamborghini Temerario passenger seat — It’s a better road car than its predecessor. Credit: Bradley Iger

The way this car piles on speed is stunning on its own, but it’s the accessibility—and how confidently it can maintain a pace—that truly sets it apart from the Huracán. It feels every bit as nimble as the Huracan, delivering relentless grip even on standard Bridgestone Potenza Sport summer tires, while the brakes—which now use ten-piston calipers instead of the Huracán’s eight-piston setup—offer strong, repeatable stopping power at top speeds.

I did find myself occasionally wishing for more aero stability during these moments, though. Fortunately, for any would-be Temerario owners who plan to track their cars regularly, Lamborghini also offers the Alleggerita package. This add-on increases downforce by 67 percent versus the standard Temerario while swapping the Bridgestone Potenza Sport tires out for track-ready Bridgestone Potenza Race rubber. The package also includes a raft of carbon fiber components for modest weight savings over the standard car.

All this doesn’t come cheap, though. Temerario’s base price of $389,554 ($486,721 as-tested) represents a six-figure jump over the last Huracán, and you can tack on another 45 grand if you opt for the Alleggerita package in its most basic form.

That’s a tall ask, especially when cars like the Corvette ZR1 offer similarly incredible performance for substantially less coin. But something tells me that Lamborghini won’t have any problems moving its latest “entry level” model. Then again, have you seen the price of bitcoin lately?

Driven: The 2026 Lamborghini Temerario raises the bar for supercars Read More »

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: This feels like a complete car now

car review, Cars, Features, Lucid Air Touring / Kris Guyer / January 23, 2026

It’s efficient, easy to live with, and smooth to drive.

The 2026 Lucid Air Touring sees the brand deliver on its early promise. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Life as a startup carmaker is hard—just ask Lucid Motors.

When we met the brand and its prototype Lucid Air sedan in 2017, the company planned to put the first cars in customers’ hands within a couple of years. But you know what they say about plans. A lack of funding paused everything until late 2018, when Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund bought itself a stake. A billion dollars meant Lucid could build a factory—at the cost of alienating some former fans because of the source.

Then the pandemic happened, further pushing back timelines as supply shortages took hold. But the Air did go on sale, and it has more recently been joined by the Gravity SUV. There’s even a much more affordable midsize SUV in the works called the Earth. Sales more than doubled in 2025, and after spending a week with a model year 2026 Lucid Air Touring, I can understand why.

There are now quite a few different versions of the Air to choose from. For just under a quarter of a million dollars, there’s the outrageously powerful Air Sapphire, which offers acceleration so rapid it’s unlikely your internal organs will ever truly get used to the experience. At the other end of the spectrum is the $70,900 Air Pure, a single-motor model that’s currently the brand’s entry point but which also stands as a darn good EV.

The last time I tested a Lucid, it was the Air Grand Touring almost three years ago. That car mostly impressed me but still felt a little unfinished, especially at $138,000. This time, I looked at the Air Touring, which starts at $79,900, and the experience was altogether more polished.

Which one?

The Touring features a less-powerful all-wheel-drive powertrain than the Grand Touring, although to put “less-powerful” into context, with 620 hp (462 kW) on tap, there are almost as many horses available as in the legendary McLaren F1. (That remains a mental benchmark for many of us of a certain age.)

The Touring’s 885 lb-ft (1,160 Nm) is far more than BMW’s 6-liter V12 can generate, but at 5,009 lbs (2,272 kg), the electric sedan weighs twice as much as the carbon-fiber supercar. The fact that the Air Touring can reach 60 mph (98 km/h) from a standing start in just 0.2 seconds more than the McLaren tells you plenty about how much more accessible acceleration has become in the past few decades.

At least, it will if you choose the fastest of the three drive modes, labeled Sprint. There’s also Swift, and the least frantic of the three, Smooth. Helpfully, each mode remembers your regenerative braking setting when you lift the accelerator pedal. Unlike many other EVs, Lucid does not use a brake-by-wire setup, and pressing the brake pedal will only ever slow the car via friction brakes. Even with lift-off regen set to off, the car does not coast well due to its permanent magnet electric motors, unlike the electric powertrains developed by German OEMs like Mercedes-Benz.

This is not to suggest that Lucid is doing something wrong—not with its efficiency numbers. On 19-inch aero-efficient wheels, the car has an EPA range of 396 miles (673 km) from a 92 kWh battery pack. As just about everyone knows, you won’t get ideal EV efficiency during winter, and our test with the Lucid in early January coincided with some decidedly colder temperatures, as well as larger ($1,750) 20-inch wheels. Despite this, I averaged almost 4 miles/kWh (15.5 kWh/100 km) on longer highway drives, although this fell to around 3.5 miles/kWh (17.8 kWh/100 km) in the city.

Recharging the Air Touring also helped illustrate how the public DC fast-charging experience has matured over the years. The Lucid uses the ISO 15118 “plug and charge” protocol, so you don’t need to mess around with an app or really do anything more complicated than plug the charging cable into the Lucid’s CCS1 socket.

After the car and charger complete their handshake, the car gives the charger account and billing info, then the electrons flow. Charging from 27 to 80 percent with a manually preconditioned battery took 36 minutes. During that time, the car added 53.3 kWh, which equated to 209 miles (336 km) of range, according to the dash. Although we didn’t test AC charging, 0–100 percent should take around 10 hours.

The Air Touring is an easy car to live with. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Monotone

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for the way the Air looks when it’s not two-tone. That’s the Stealth option ($1,750), and the dark Fathom Blue Metallic paint ($800) and blacked-out aero wheels pushed many of my buttons. I found plenty to like from the driver’s seat, too. The 34-inch display that wraps around the driver once looked massive—now it feels relatively restrained compared to the “Best Buy on wheels” effect in some other recent EVs. The fact that the display isn’t very tall helps its feeling of restraint here.

In the middle is a minimalist display for the driver, with touch-sensitive displays on either side. To your left are controls for the lights, locks, wipers, and so on. These icons are always in the same place, though there’s no tactile feedback. The infotainment screen to the right is within the driver’s reach, and it’s here that (wireless) Apple CarPlay will show up. As you can see in a photo below, CarPlay fills the irregularly shaped screen with a wallpaper but keeps its usable area confined to the rectangle in the middle.

The curved display floats above the textile-covered dash, and the daylight visible between them helps the cabin’s sense of spaciousness, even without a panoramic glass roof. A stowable touchscreen display lower down on the center console is where you control vehicle, climate, seat, and lighting settings, although there are also physical controls for temperature and volume on the dash. The relatively good overall ergonomics take a bit of a hit from the steeply raked A pillar, which creates a blind spot for the driver.

The layout is mostly great, although the A pillar causes a blind spot. Jonathan Gitlin

For all the Air Touring’s power, it isn’t a car that goads you into using it all. In fact, I spent most of the week in the gentlest setting, Smooth. It’s an easy car to drive slowly, and the rather artificial feel of the steering at low speeds means you probably won’t take it hunting apices on back roads. I should note, though, that each drive mode has its own steering calibration.

On the other hand, as a daily driver and particularly on longer drives, the Touring did a fine job. Despite being relatively low to the ground, it’s easy to get into and out of. The rear seat is capacious, and the ride is smooth, so passengers will enjoy it. Even more so if they sit up front—Lucid has some of the best (optional, $3,750) massaging seats in the business, which vibrate as well as kneading you. There’s a very accessible 22 cubic foot (623 L) trunk as well as a 10 cubic foot (283 L) frunk, so it’s practical, too.

Future-proof?

Our test Air was fitted with Lucid’s DreamDrive Pro advanced driver assistance system ($6,750), which includes a hands-free “level 2+” assist that requires you to pay attention to the road ahead but which handles accelerating, braking, and steering. Using the turn signal tells the car to perform a lane change if it’s safe, and I found it to be an effective driver assist with an active driver monitoring system (which uses a gaze-tracking camera to ensure the driver is doing their part).

Lucid rolled out the more advanced features of DreamDrive Pro last summer, and it plans to develop the system into a more capable “level 3” partially automated system that lets the driver disengage completely from the act of driving, at least at lower speeds. Although that system is some ways off—and level 3 systems are only road-legal in Nevada and California right now anyway—even the current level 2+ system leverages lidar as well as cameras, radar, and ultrasonics, and the dash display does a good job of showing you what other vehicles the Air is perceiving around it when the system is active.

As mentioned above, the model year 2026 Air feels polished, far more so than the last Lucid I drove. Designed by a refugee from Tesla, the car promised to improve on the EVs from that brand in every way. And while early Airs might have fallen short in execution, the cars can now credibly be called finished products, with much better fit and finish than a few years ago.

I’ll go so far as to say that I might have a hard time deciding between an Air or an equivalently priced Porsche Taycan were I in the market for a luxury electric four-door, even though they both offer quite different driving experiences. Be warned, though, like with the Porsche, the options can add up quickly, and the resale prices can be shockingly low.

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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Ferrari doing what it does best: The 12Cilindri review

car review, Cars, Ferrari 12Cilindri / Tim Belzer / January 17, 2026

Retro design and a naturally aspirated V12 deliver tremendous appeal, but it’ll cost ya.

In the old days, they used to say Ferrari would sell you an engine and give you the car for free. The rest of the 12Cilindri is too good for that cliche, but it really is all about the engine. Credit: Bradley Iger

It has been nearly 80 years since Ferrari unleashed its first V12-powered sports car upon the world with the 125 S. In 1947, its debut year, the 125 S secured Ferrari’s first race victory, along with five other wins in the 14 events it competed in that season.

Although it was soon replaced by the 159 S, the success of the 125 S kick-started Ferrari’s storied history of producing some of the most desirable 12-cylinder performance cars known to man. And while the Italian automaker has come to embrace forced induction and electrification in recent years, its legacy of building stunning front-engine, rear-wheel drive machines with spectacular V12s stuffed into their engine bays continues with the 12Cilindri Spider.

Ferrari hasn’t shied away from leveraging cutting-edge technology in the development of its latest models, but the company also understands the value of a good throwback. As the successor to the 812 Superfast, the 12Cilindri boasts clever performance technologies, like a sophisticated active aero system and a four-wheel steering system that can manage each corner independently to enhance response, but it’s ultimately an homage to the heady days of late ’60s luxury grand touring. The exterior styling takes obvious inspiration from the 365 GTB Daytona, while its lack of all-wheel drive, turbocharging, and electric assistance bucks trends that have become nearly inescapable in modern performance cars.

It’s actually an easy car to drive every day, despite the width. Bradley Iger

Buy the engine, get the car for free?

Instead, Ferrari has deliberately prioritized the core principles that have defined its most enduring GT icons: elegant design, a meticulously engineered chassis, and a sensational naturally aspirated V12, the latter represented here by a 6.5 L dry-sump mill that delivers 819 hp (611 kW) and a soaring 9,500-rpm redline.

That horsepower figure might not raise as many eyebrows as it would have just a few years ago, but it’s worth noting that at a time in history when an alarming number of new performance vehicles are now as heavy as full-size pickups, the 12Cilindri Spider tips the scales at a relatively svelte dry weight of 3,571 (1,620 kg) pounds thanks in part to its focus on the fundamentals. Equipped with massage seats and a retractable hardtop that opens and closes in just 14 seconds, the 12Cilindri Spider is primarily aimed at fulfilling drivers’ fantasies of cruising along the French Riviera with the smell of the ocean in the air and the banshee wail of 12 cylinders in their ears. But it also takes on a noticeably more sportscar-like persona than its primary rival, the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante, mainly due to the 12Cilindri’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and more earnest performance-tuned chassis.

Sport is the 12Cilindri Spider’s default drive mode, a naming decision that helps set expectations for suspension stiffness, but you can also depress the steering-wheel-mounted Manettino drive mode dial to enable Bumpy Road mode, which softens the adaptive dampers beyond their standard tuning for more compliance on rough pavement. While the gearbox occasionally needs a second to get its act together from a standstill, and the car’s low stance makes the nose lift system an often-used feature, the 12Cilindri Spider is a remarkably civil cruiser when pressed into service for everyday driving tasks.

Crackle red paint covers the intake boxes, and maybe the cylinder heads. Bradley Iger

Still an HMI disaster

The in-car tech does tarnish this driving experience to a tangible degree, though. The liberal use of capacitive surfaces on the steering wheel and the instrument panel to control features like rear-view mirror position and adaptive cruise control, as well as the functions that are accessed via the 15.6-inch digital gauge cluster, frequently led to frustration during my time with the car, and although the high-resolution 10.25-inch central touchscreen looks great and is quick to respond to user inputs, wireless Apple CarPlay crashed on several occasions for no discernible reason and remained inaccessible until after the next key cycle. These may seem like trivial issues, but in a car with a $507,394 MSRP ($661,364 as-tested with destination fee), it’s tough to excuse problems that are so distracting and seemingly easy to rectify.

We had the same problem with the 296 GTB, and it’s time Ferrari retired its capacitive wheel and replaced them all with the version that has physical buttons. Which it will do for existing owners—for a hefty fee.

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, those quibbles always seemed to fade away whenever I found an open stretch of canyon road and set the Manettino to Race mode. Doing so eases up the electronic assists, sets up the transmission and differential for sharper response, and opens up the valves in the active exhaust system. But, in contrast to convention, it leaves the steering weight, suspension stiffness, throttle response, and brake-by-wire system alone in order to maintain predictable dynamic behavior regardless of which drive mode you’re in.

Ferrari’s capacitive touch multifunctioning steering wheel continues to let down the experience of driving a modern Ferrari. Bradley Iger

Although the exhaust is a bit quieter than I’d prefer, even with the roof stowed away, the sound that this V12 makes as you wind it out is the stuff that dreams are made of. It took me a moment to recalibrate to the lofty redline, though—with the gearbox set to manual mode, my mind naturally wanted to pull the column-mounted paddle about 2,000 rpm early. I blame this on my seat time in the Vanquish coupe last year. Aston’s decision to equip the Vanquish’s 5.2 L V12 with a pair of turbochargers enables it to best the 12Cilinidri’s horsepower figure by a few ponies while also providing a significant advantage in peak torque output (738 lb-ft/1,000 Nm versus the Ferrari’s 500 lb-ft/678 Nm), but it also relegates the Vanquish’s redline to a more prosaic 7,000 rpm while naturally muting its tone a bit.

OK, that’s enough torque

And to be frank, I don’t think the 12Cilindri Spider needs another 238 lb-ft (322 Nm), a theory that was backed by the flashing traction control light that fired up any time I got a little too brave with the throttle coming out of a slow corner. Intervention from the Ferrari’s electronic safeguards is so seamless that I rarely noticed it happening at all, though, and I can’t say the same for the Vanquish, which is undoubtedly thrilling to drive but often felt like it was fighting against its own prodigious output in order to keep the nose on the intended path. The 12Cilindri, by contrast, feels easy to trust when the going gets fast, and that sensation is bolstered by tons of mechanical grip, a quick steering rack, and a firm, progressive brake pedal.

But regardless of my thoughts on the matter, the 12Cilindri’s successor will likely be a significantly different beast with a lot more power on tap. Nearly a decade ago, we predicted that the 812 would likely be the last Ferrari to feature a naturally aspirated V12, and while this is a prediction that we’re happy to have been wrong about, this era is undoubtedly drawing to a close. A hybridized V12 will likely offer even more grunt, and enthusiasts rarely scoff at the prospect of more power, but it also opens the door to all-wheel drive, significantly more heft, and ultimately a very different driving experience. Until then, the 12Cilindri Spider serves as an important reminder that sometimes the most compelling aspects of a performance car can’t be quantified on a spec sheet.

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Not too big, not too expensive: The Chevrolet Equinox EV

car review, Cars, Chevrolet Equinox EV, First drive / Mike M. / December 19, 2025

There’s a lot of goodwill out there for the Chevrolet Bolt. As maybe the first properly affordable longer-range electric car on the market, the Bolt wasn’t perfect. It didn’t charge very fast, and people found the seats quite uncomfortable. But it could get more than 230 miles on a single charge—a lot in 2017—and you didn’t have to be flush to afford one. Oh, and it was also pretty good to drive. I know I was a fan from the first time I tried a prototype at CES in 2016.

Understandably, Bolt fans were upset when Chevy decided to kill off the car. Yes, it lacked features compared to more modern EVs, but it is also the brand‘s bestselling EV by quite a country mile. “Not to worry,” said the executives, who told us they had something better coming built on the platform they used to call Ultium but don’t anymore. Starting at around the same $35,000 price tag the Bolt launched with, this would be the new Equinox EV.

That $34,995 price tag was perhaps a bit more appealing when the car was eligible for the now-dead $7,500 IRS clean vehicle tax credit. Truth be told, the LT1 spec is a little bare-boned, and you’ll need to step up to the LT2 we tested—which starts at $40,295—if you want things like heated seats or wireless charging for your devices. (The good news here is that people looking for a bargain should know that used Equinox EVs with decent specs are already much cheaper, just a year after the car’s launch.) And let’s not forget, when the Bolt was young, the more expensive trim was almost $42,000.

Rear 3/4 view of 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV 1LT in Galaxy Gray Metallic parked on a street in front of a shop. Preproduction model shown. Actual production model may vary. Visit chevy.com/EquinoxEV for availability. — The Equinox EV shares nothing but a name with the gas-powered Equinox crossover. I think the EV version is much nicer to look at. Credit: Chevrolet

Not too big, but not too small

You get quite a lot more EV for the money in 2025 than you did in 2017. The Equinox EV is a whole vehicle class bigger, at 190.6 inches (4,840 mm) long, 77 inches (1,954 mm) wide, and 64.8 inches (1,646 mm) tall. It’s also a lot more comfortable than the subcompact was. The seats haven’t been pared down to save space and weight, and the suspension does a decent job of insulating you from the potholes that always grow around this time of year. And there’s a useful amount of storage space, with 26.4 cubic feet (748 L) of cargo volume with the rear seats in use or 57.2 cubic feet (1,620 L) with the rear seats down.

Not too big, not too expensive: The Chevrolet Equinox EV Read More »

2026 Mercedes CLA first drive: Entry level doesn’t mean basic

car review, Cars, First drive, Mercedes-Benz CLA / Tim Belzer / December 16, 2025

SAN FRANCISCO—Automakers are starting to follow somewhat familiar paths as they continue their journeys to electrification. Electric vehicles are, at first, strange new tech, and usually look like it. Mercedes-Benz’s EQS and EQE are good examples—with bodies that look like bars of soap worn down in the shower, they stood out. For early adopters and trailblazers that might be fine, but you need to sell cars to normal people if you want to survive, and that means making EVs more normal. Which is what Mercedes did with its newest one, the all-electric CLA.

The normal looks belie the amount of new technology that Mercedes has packed into the CLA, though. The car sticks to the four-door coupe look that the company pioneered a couple of decades ago, but there’s a thoroughly modern electric powertrain connected to the wheels, run by four powerful networked computers. And yes, there’s AI. (For the pedants, “coupe” means cut down, not two-door, so the name is accurate.)

The CLA is the first of a new series of Mercedes that will use the same modular architecture, and interestingly, it’s powertrain agnostic—a hybrid CLA is coming in time, too. But first the battery EV, which makes good use of some technology Mercedes developed for the EQXX concept car.

A blue Mercedes-Benz CLA parked in profile

At 185.9 inches (4,722 mm) long, 73 inches (1,854 mm) wide, and 57.8 inches (1,468 mm) tall, it’s not a particularly big car. In addition to the trunk, there’s a small frunk up front. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

That creation was capable of about 750 miles (1,207 km) on a single charge, but it was handbuilt and lacked working rear doors or an actual back seat. The CLA manages as much as 374 miles on a full charge of its 85 kWh (useable) battery pack, although as ever this decreases a little as you fit larger wheels.

But Mercedes has been restrained in this regard, eschewing that terrible trend for larger and larger wheels. Designers use that trick to hide the size of their SUVs, but the relatively diminutive size of the CLA needs no such visual trickery, and the rims range from 17–19 inches and no larger. Smaller wheels make less drag, and even though the CLA doesn’t look like it has been rubbed smooth, its drag coefficient of 0.21 says otherwise.

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Ugly infotainment mars the 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid experience

2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid, car review, Cars / Kris Guyer / December 10, 2025

Although many of us associate it with rally-derived machinery from the late 1990s and early 2000s, these days, Subaru has mostly abandoned its performance cars to concentrate on its true calling—rugged, all-wheel-drive vehicles that are high on practicality, powered by horizontally opposed “boxer” engines. One area where the brand has never particularly excelled has been fuel efficiency, which is where today’s test car, the Subaru Forester Hybrid, comes in.

The last time Ars reviewed a Subaru Forester, it left us impressed. How about one with 40 percent better economy, in that case? Now, the 2.5 L flat-four engine operates on the Atkinson/Miller cycle, which generates 162 hp (121 kW) and 154 lb-ft (208 Nm). There’s an electric motor-generator starter and an electric traction motor with 118 hp (88 kW) and 199 lb-ft (270 Nm) that work together to send a combined 194 hp (145 kW) to all four wheels via a symmetrical all-wheel drive system and a planetary continuously variable transmission.

The Forester Hybrid is 183.3 inches (4,656 mm) long, 70.2 inches (1,783 mm) wide, and 68.1 inches (1,729 mm) tall, with a 105.1-inch (2,670 mm) wheelbase. Jonathan Gitlin

If that sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because it’s the same powertrain that Subaru has also fitted to the smaller Crosstrek Hybrid that we drove in September.

The 14 hp (10 kW) bump over the non-hybrid Forester is little enough that it probably won’t be noticed, but a combined EPA fuel efficiency of 35 mpg (6.7 L/100 km) is a meaningful increase over the unelectrified Forester’s 29 mpg (8.1 L/100 km). In practice, I struggled to exceed 31 mpg (7.6 L/100 km) during my week with the Forester, although as you’ll note from the temperatures displayed on the dash, winter temperatures have arrived, and we all know the cold makes all vehicles less efficient, not just EVs.

Driving a CVT hybrid can often feel disconcerting. Sometimes you press the accelerator and the car decides that electric propulsion will suffice; other times, the engine will rev with a non-linear relationship to the power being delivered at the wheels, as internal combustion tops up lithium-ion and then sends electrons to a motor to make the car go. Like all Atkinson cycle engines, it doesn’t sound very mellifluous when worked hard.

The rest of the driving experience was quite pleasant. The Forester Hybrid rides well on tires that have plenty of sidewall, and the 8.7-inches (221 mm) of ground clearance gives plenty of room for suspension travel. While it doesn’t handle like a WRX (or my dear departed Saab 9-2x), driving the Forester is no real chore. Other than the engine and some wind noise, it’s mostly refined on the move.

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Great handling, advanced EV tech: We drive the 2027 BMW iX3

BMW iX3, car review, Cars, First drive / Rejus Almole / December 3, 2025

The first of BMW’s clean-sheet “Neue Klasse” EVs hits it out of the park.

BMW’s new iX3 is a clean-sheet design. It might be the most sustainable BMW ever, and remains decent to drive. Credit: BMW

The new BMW iX3 is an important car for the automaker. It’s the first of a new series of vehicles that BMW is calling the Neue Klasse, calling back to a range of cars that helped define the brand in the 1960s. Then, as now, propulsion is provided by the best powertrain BMW’s engineers could design and build, wrapped in styling that heralds the company’s new look. Except now, that powertrain is fully electric, and the cabin features technology that would have been scarcely believable to the driver of a new 1962 BMW 1500.

In fact, the iX3 is only half the story when it comes to BMW’s neue look for the Neue Klasse—there’s an all-electric 3 series sedan on the way, too. The sedan will surely appeal to enthusiasts, particularly the version that the M tuning arm has worked its magic upon, but you’ll have to wait until early 2026 to read about that stuff. Which makes sense: crossovers and SUVs—or “sports activity vehicles” in BMW-speak—are what the market wants these days, so that’s what comes first.

The technical stuff

As we learned earlier this summer, BMW leaned heavily into sustainability when it designed the iX3. There’s extensive use of recycled battery minerals, interior plastics, and aluminum, and the automaker has gone for a monomaterial approach where possible to make recycling the car a lot easier. There’s also an all-new EV powertrain, BMW’s sixth-generation. When it goes on sale here next summer, the launch model will be the iX3 50 xDrive, which pairs an asynchronous motor at the front axle and an electrically excited synchronous motor at the rear for a combined output of 463 hp (345 kW) and 475 lb-ft (645 Nm).

A BMW iX3 seen from the rear 3/4s, with Gibraltar in the distance — The lighter the paint shade, the better you can see the surface detailing, like the bulging wheel arches. Credit: BMW

Energy to the motors is supplied from a 108.7-kWh (net), 800 V lithium-ion battery pack. BMW abandoned the pouch cell/module approach used in its fifth-gen EV powertrains in favor of new cylindrical cells, which measure 46 mm by 95 mm. Instead of modules, the iX3 uses a cell-to-pack design that saves weight, as well as making the pack cheaper to assemble. And the top of the battery pack forms the floor of the car, with the seats bolting directly onto the pack—this saves yet more weight and space inside the vehicle.

Official EPA efficiency numbers, including the all-important range, will come closer to the iX3’s arrival in dealerships next year. You should expect at least 400 miles (643 km) of range, with 10–80 percent DC fast charges taking as little as 21 minutes on a sufficiently powerful charger. (Maximum DC fast charging is 400 kW.) For road trippers, there’s new route planning integrated into the BMW smartphone app as well as the car, which can project charging costs and even check reviews to tell you what the expected power level might be versus what the station claims.

All US market iX3s will be equipped with the “AC charging professional” option as standard, which allows for AC charging at up to 15.4 kW (which should take 7: 45 hours to fully charge from zero), as well as enabling bidirectional charging, whether that’s powering AC devices (V2L), or sending power to the home in an emergency (V2H), or to the grid on-demand (V2G).

Get in

BMW iX3 interior — There are two 45 W USB-C ports, as well as wireless charging pads, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are available wirelessly. Credit: BMW

From the driver’s seat, you can clearly see BMW’s new UI/UX paradigm. Forget the classic binnacle with its cluster of gauges. Now, there’s a strip of customizable display at the base of the windscreen that BMW calls “Panoramic Vision.” Lincoln has experimented with something similar, but the effect is far better resolved here as the display appears seamless with the frit of the windshield. I particularly liked the way the focal point for the display is several inches down the hood from the actual surface of the screen, which makes it easier to take in information at a glance and then return your eyes to the road quickly.

The optional full-color head-up display could use a little more brightness, however, and I’m going to call out the iX3’s steering wheel now because it’s the one thing that really lets the whole experience down. There are no horizontal spokes, just fresh air between the thumb grips and the multifunction panels on either side of the airbag, which seems an odd design choice, and it feels a little too fat to grip. The actual multifunction controls aren’t horrid to use, but “this car needed a better wheel” was heard more than once as journalists compared notes.

The rest of the cockpit ergonomics are fine. The materials feel pleasant to the touch, with an interesting contrast between the textured fabric on the dash and the padded plastics. There are plenty of physical buttons and a trapezoidal infotainment screen that keeps controls near the driver’s right hand.

However, there’s no more physical dial controller for the infotainment system, and Alexa has replaced Cerence in supplying the natural language processing and conversational AI. In practice, this feels like a bit of a downgrade, and not only did the AI assistant—that little Ninja-looking face in the middle of the Panoramic Vision display—repeatedly think someone used its trigger word when we hadn’t, but a lot of my requests were met with some variation of “I can’t help you with that.”

The drive impression

The calibration of the one-pedal driving mode—which you toggle on or off with the drive selector on the center console—is very well-judged, and the friction brakes shouldn’t take over unless you’re asking to slow by more than half a G, which means 98 percent of all deceleration events should return energy to the battery pack. It’s a quiet ride, too, as long as you keep it out of sport mode, although the suspension is relatively firm and you’ll feel some road imperfections.

On the road, I found the Efficiency mode plenty, despite this being the most throttled back. When not in one-pedal (D versus B on the drive selector), the iX3 coasts well, and one of the driver assists onboard will read speed limit signs and regeneratively brake you to meet them, if you’re coasting along and the limit decreases. (That’s among the assists you can disable, should you wish.)

It’s nimble enough at changing directions. BMW

The suite of advanced driver assistance systems now runs on its own domain controller, one of four powerful computers that replace the dozens and dozens of black box ECUs that each used to handle a single discrete function. Among the improvements are a new remote parking ability that uses the My BMW App on a smartphone to even better effect than James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies, and an adaptive cruise control that can tell the difference between a heavy application of brakes—at which point it deactivates—or a light brush, returning to speed after slowing.

Because the necessary sensors are included in all iX3s, future owners will be able to enable the various driver assists even if the original owner chose not to pick those options. For a fee, of course, but it makes the resale proposition slightly better.

That BMW scheduled some of the day at the Ascari circuit was evidence of an automaker confident in its product. On track, we pushed things a little harder. At up to about seven-tenths, the iX3 coped with the undulating circuit with composure. Praise belongs to the brakes, which we got to test in several emergency stops from highway speeds, and I’m not sure I saw anyone knock down a cone through the medium-speed slalom. The steering is well-weighted and has what passes for feel in the 21st century, with the right amount of power assist to make this actually rather heavy vehicle feel more like a featherweight.

A silver BMW iX3 outside a building with a giant eye on its wall and a horn coming out the side. — Based on our first drive, the iX3 should have what it takes to be a contender in the luxury electric crossover segment. Credit: BMW

Go beyond that, and you really start to hustle the car; unsurprisingly, the result is understeer, accompanied by some screeching tires. That starts to occur at speeds where you’re also more and more aware of the iX3’s roughly two and a half ton curb weight, and so backing off—at which point the nose tightens again—just becomes the natural thing to do.

Like the EPA data, exact US pricing will have to wait until closer to the iX3’s arrival next summer, though we expect it to cost less than $60,000. It’s entering a busy segment of the market, with rivals like the Audi Q6 and Mercedes-Benz GLC with EQ technology, just to name its German competition. Dynamically, the BMW is the one to get. It might even win on price, too.

Great handling, advanced EV tech: We drive the 2027 BMW iX3 Read More »

2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9: American car-buyer tastes meet Korean EV tech

car review, Cars, Hyundai Ioniq 9 / Tim Belzer / October 31, 2025

The Ioniq 9 interior. Jonathan Gitlin

The native NACS charge port at the rear means all of Tesla’s v3 Superchargers are potential power-up locations; these will take the battery from 10–80 percent state of charge in 40 minutes. Or use the NACS-CCS1 adapter and a 350 kW fast charger (or find one of Ionna’s 350 kW chargers with a NACS plug) and do the 10–80 percent SoC top-up in a mere 24 minutes.

With this most-powerful Ioniq 9, I’d mostly keep it in Eco mode, which almost entirely relies upon the rear electric motor. When firing with both motors, the Calligraphy outputs 422 hp (315 kW) and more importantly, 516 lb-ft (700 Nm). In Sport mode, that’s more than enough to chirp the tires from a standstill, particularly if it’s damp. Low rolling resistance and good efficiency was a higher priority for the Ioniq 9’s tire selection than lateral grip, and with a curb weight of 6,008 lbs (2,735 kg) it’s not really a car that needs to be hustled unless you’re attempting to outrun something like a volcano. It’s also the difference between efficiency in the low 2 miles/kWh range.

Life with the Ioniq 9 wasn’t entirely pain-free. For example, the touch panel for the climate control settings becomes impossible to read in bright sunlight, although the knobs to raise or lower the temperature are at least physical items. I also had trouble with the windshield wipers’ intermittent setting, despite the standard rain sensors.

A Hyundai Ioniq 9 seen from the rear 3/4s. — Built just outside of Savannah, Georgia, don’t you know. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

At $74,990, the Ioniq 9 Calligraphy comes more heavily specced than electric SUVs from more luxury, and therefore more expensive, brands and should charge faster and drive more efficiently than any of them. If you don’t mind giving up 119 hp (89 kW) and some options, all-wheel drive is available from $62,765 for the SE trim, and that longer-legged single-motor Ioniq 9 starts at $58,955. Although with just 215 hp (160 KW) and 285 lb-ft (350 Nm), the driving experience won’t be quite the same as the model we tested.

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