car review

the-audi-rs7—they-won’t-make-them-like-this-much-longer

The Audi RS7—they won’t make them like this much longer

Audi RS6 Avant, Audi RS7 Performance, car review, Cars / /

it weighs how much? —

We take one last drive in an old favorite, plus there’s some RS6 wagon action.

–

A silver Audi RS7 parked in a clearing

Enlarge / I’ve had a soft spot for Audi’s RS7 for at least a decade now. Will Audi replace it, or is this the last in its line?

Jonathan Gitlin

The arrival of competent electric vehicles is a boon for car enthusiasts as much as those who consider driving a chore and their vehicle a driving appliance. Electric motors can respond faster than the revviest naturally aspirated engines this side of a mid-2000s Formula 1 engine, and with more immediate torque than the mightiest of turbochargers. They are the way forward, for performance as well as energy efficiency. Such is apparent after spending some time behind the wheel of a $128,000 Audi RS7 Performance after a diet of mostly EV performance cars.

For a long time, the RS7 was the Audi to go for if you wanted something with more than two doors, because the R8 doesn’t work with your lifestyle. Based on the more humble A7 fastback sedan, it was worked over by Audi Sport, the four rings’ racing offshoot based up the road from Ingolstadt in Neckarsulm, Germany. The designers there gave it a restyle, with aggressively flared arches to envelope larger wheels and tires, and new aerodynamic features to keep the car planted at speed. The result is one of the brand’s handsomest creations, at least to this observer.

Under the hood, a twin-turbo 4.0L V8 is now even more potent than when we first drove the RS7 in 2019, with 621 hp (463 kW) and 627 lb-ft (850 Nm) at your right foot’s beck and call, sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed ZF 8 HP transmission and, at the rear axle, a torque-vectoring rear differential.

The seats are very supportive and comfortable for long drives, but you have to pay almost $2,000 to add a massage function.

Enlarge / The seats are very supportive and comfortable for long drives, but you have to pay almost $2,000 to add a massage function.

Audi

For model-year 2024 (and 2025, for the car is unchanged), Audi Sport took out 17 lbs (8 kg) of sound deadening, which, in addition to making the car lighter, also fixes one of my chief complaints from that 2019 drive, it being too quiet inside the car when I was in sport mode and wanted to hear the exhaust in its full glory.

This RS7 Performance sounds divine, in fact, with plenty of bass and, in its fruitiest mode, some pops and bangs on the overrun that elicit the odd giggle from the driver. For more mundane occasions with the sport exhaust’s valves closed, it’s unremarkably quiet and won’t wake the neighbors if you leave the house early in the morning (or come home late). A sonorous powertrain is still really the preserve of the internal combustion engine, although some EVs are beginning to play with that idea.

You might be expecting me to extoll the relative lack of mass of this car versus an electric alternative, too, but the RS7 is not exactly a featherweight. Audi Sport took out that sound material, and each of the new 22-inch wheels are 11 lbs (5 kg) lighter than before, but the RS7 Performance still weighs a hefty 4,916 lbs (2,230 kg). So while the all-electric Audi RS e-tron GT is quicker to accelerate—0.4 seconds faster to 60 mph than the 3.3 seconds it takes the RS7—the EV is only really heavier to the tune of a large adult.

Thanks to computer-controlled air suspension, you never really feel like you’re driving a car that weighs more than 2 tons. There’s little roll while cornering, and the power assistance for the steering makes easy work of turning the 285/30-section front tires.

  • Jonathan Gitlin

  • A lap of the original Watkins Glen road course was an opportunity to reflect on how dangerous racing there must have been.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • It’s a handsome bum.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • There’s almost 50 cubic feet (1,382 L) of cargo volume with the rear seats down—more than enough to swallow a bunch of camping gear.

    Jonathan Gitlin

The regular A7 already made a good highway cruiser, and the RS7 lost little of those chops even after its Audi Sport enhancement. The seats are comfortable on long drives while still gripping you well when things turn twisty, and they’re heated and cooled, but were I speccing a car at the Audi configurator I’d tick the box for the ones that use their inflatable air bladders to massage you as well.

The interior is well put together, with good sightlines from the driver’s seat. There’s a little too much glossy piano black for my tastes, and points have to be dinged for an over-reliance on touchscreens—bring back discrete buttons or dials for the climate controls, please. The haptic touchscreen needs a gentle press—I was poking it too hard for it to register my intentions, so the system ignored me at times. And the infotainment system is starting to feel a little bit dated in terms of voice recognition compared to Audi’s newest examples.

One downside to those huge tires is a propensity toward tram-lining, which was more noticeable while driving through a weather front. But otherwise the car felt as planted in the rain as it did in the dry. I was even able to better its official EPA rating on the highway by about 10 percent, though that’s still a rather unacceptable 24 mpg (9.8 L/100 km).

Even with the engine, chassis, and transmission settings all at their sharpest, the RS7 never feels less than utterly planted on dry roads. The interruptions in acceleration as the transmission changes up through its gear ratios feel almost jarring after becoming inured to single-speed EVs, but you’ll welcome their presence—and the engine braking they allow—as you slow for a corner.

The Audi RS7—they won’t make them like this much longer Read More »

lexus-at-its-peak—the-2024-rx450h+-is-one-smooth-plug-in-hybrid

Lexus at its peak—the 2024 RX450h+ is one smooth plug-in hybrid

car review, Cars, Lexus RX 450h+, plug-in hybrid SUV / /

Don’t get red leather seats —

The plug-in hybrid powertrain is pleasant, but the infotainment can irritate.

–

A green Lexus RX 450h+

Enlarge / It’s a somewhat pricey plug-in hybrid, but it’s also quite competent.

Jonathan Gitlin

Arguably, some of Lexus’ greatest innovations have been in its product strategy as much as any technology to emerge from its R&D labs. When it launched in 1989, it was with the idea that a car could combine Japanese reliability with the luxury and power expected from a big German sedan. A few years later the RX basically invented the crossover category with SUV-like looks but with fewer of the handling compromises.

I’ll be frank—I haven’t always jelled with those crossovers. During the last couple of years we tested both the RX 500h F Sport, which I didn’t find that sporty or particularly efficient, and the battery-electric RZ 450e, which left me very cold. Third time is evidently the charm, because I got on much better with the topic of today’s review, the RX 450h+ Luxury, to give it its full name.

This is Lexus’ plug-in hybrid version—the 500h carries a much smaller battery that only recharges as the car drives. In fact, it’s the same plug-in hybrid powertrain as that found in the smaller, cheaper NX crossover, combining a 2.5 L four-cylinder gasoline engine and a pair of electric motors fed by an 18.1 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Total power output is 304 hp (227 kW), but Lexus has declined to publish a combined torque figure or any outputs for the electric motors.

The RX is 192.5 inches (4,890 mm) long, 75.6 inches (1,920 mm) wide, and 67.3 (1,709 mm) inches tall.

Enlarge / The RX is 192.5 inches (4,890 mm) long, 75.6 inches (1,920 mm) wide, and 67.3 (1,709 mm) inches tall.

Jonathan Gitlin

Lexus figures that the RX 450h+ can drive 37 miles (60 km) on a fully charged battery, which takes about 2.5 hours to recharge via a level 2 plug. Like most plug-in hybrids, you can also tell it to conserve battery charge while you’re driving, or even have the engine rev a little higher and charge it while you drive (albeit with some reduction in efficiency, obviously).

I think in real-world use the actual number will be closer to 30 than 37, but with a fully charged pack each morning, that’s most or all of your average driver’s daily distance. It’s a very smooth motor in terms of power delivery, and the one-pedal driving mode (engaged by selecting B instead of D) has been well-calibrated with a very easy-to-modulate throttle.

It’s a little less smooth when the internal combustion engine is running, at least aurally. I’m not entirely sure if it’s an Atkinson cycle engine like you’ll find in Toyota’s many hybrids and PHEVs, but when its working hard it sounds harsh and, honestly, a little unbecoming a luxury brand.

Even when the plug-in pack is depleted to the point where the EV range is showing zero miles, there remains enough overhead in the battery to allow the RX to operate like one of Toyota or Lexus’ parallel (not plug-in) hybrids. Expect about 36 mpg (6.5 L/100 km) in this mode.

I enjoyed driving the RX 450h+ much more than the 500h, with its sporty pretensions. It’s not especially fast by the standards of 2024—if you floor it in sport mode, 60 mph (98 km/h) should show up in about 6.2 seconds—but turns well with acceptable steering feel. You might not want to take it down Tail of the Dragon, but I did enjoy curved highway intersections.

  • Visibility is quite good from the driver’s seat.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • A look at the rear.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Here, there’s 29.6 cubic feet (838 L) with the seats in use, or 46.2 cubic feet (1,308 L) with the rear seats flat.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The doors are my favorite bit of the interior.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The main instrument display.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Here’s what CarPlay looks like.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The native infotainment UI.

    Jonathan Gitlin

I must also praise the cabin. Stay away from weird color choices—thinking about the red leather seats in the aforementioned 500h—and stick to earth tones, here with semi-aniline leather in places. Lexus’ design team seems to be particularly good at door cards (the interior-facing bit) with a mix of materials that is interesting to the touch and the eye.

Can a car have Alzheimer’s?

However, some aspects of the RX 450h+ did manage to annoy me, and most of them are related to the electronics and infotainment. For example, why, when you start it up, is the car able to remember that the heated or cooled seats were previously on, but can’t remember that the air conditioning was also turned on? And having to reset the brake hold function (to turn it on) every time you start the car is also a pain.

It can be a bit hard to reach the far corner of the 14-inch infotainment touchscreen, depending on how large a human you are, and try as I might I could not fathom a way to dim the screen’s brightness at night, which was considerable even in night mode. The actual infotainment system itself is oddly limited in some ways, but it does feature wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so most people will simply cast their phones. I don’t pick on the infotainment to be mean, but it’s an area where most of Lexus’ rivals, particularly the European ones, are handily beating it.

Lastly, the automatic emergency braking system was a little jumpy. Not quite Honda-bad, but it did intervene inappropriately twice during a week.

This shade of green (Nori Green Pearl) drew a lot of compliments.

Enlarge / This shade of green (Nori Green Pearl) drew a lot of compliments.

Jonathan Gitlin

Given the plug-in hybrid powertrain, the RX 450h+ is the priciest of the RX range, starting at $70,080. Blame all that lithium-ion, I guess. There are cheaper plug-in SUVs out there, even from luxury automakers, but you’d spend more on a BMW X5 PHEV, albeit one with more power. Anyone looking at the RX would have to have made peace with the giant cheese grater grille, but you can’t see that when you’re in the driver’s seat, and after a week I discovered I rather liked sitting there.

Lexus at its peak—the 2024 RX450h+ is one smooth plug-in hybrid Read More »

the-2024-vw-golf-gti-is-the-last-of-its-kind-with-a-manual-transmission

The 2024 VW Golf GTI is the last of its kind with a manual transmission

car review, Cars, Volkswagen Golf GTI / /

blame Europe this time —

Get the manual while you can.

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A grey VW Golf GTI

Enlarge / The latest Volkswagen Golf GTI isn’t perfect, but it has enough charm to overcome its flaws.

Jonathan Gitlin

“They won’t make them like this much longer” is a pretty hackneyed aphorism, but it certainly applies to the Volkswagen Golf GTI. The Mk 8 Golf is due for a mid-life refresh next year, and when that happens, VW will be simplifying things by dropping the manual transmission option. That means model year 2024 is the final chance anyone will have to buy a GTI with three pedals. Yes, it has some flaws, but it’s also small and nimble, both attributes lacking in so much of what the automotive industry has to offer these days.

We’ve been a bit deficient in not reviewing the Mk 8 Golf GTI until now. I reviewed the more expensive, more powerful Golf R in 2022, but the last GTI we drove was the outgoing Mk 7 car in mid-2020. That time, we were only able to source a GTI with the two-pedal, dual-clutch gearbox, a transmission I felt didn’t quite suit the engine it was mated to. On the other hand, I was effusive about the old GTI’s infotainment, calling it “one of the best systems on the market.” Well, it was 2020, remember.

Under the hood, you’ll find yet another version of VW Group’s venerable EA888 four-cylinder engine, here with a turbocharger and direct injection. It generates 241 hp (180 kW) and 273 lb-ft (370 Nm), with that peak torque arriving at just 1,750 rpm. This sends its power to the front wheels via a seven-speed DSG or the soon-to-be-retired six-speed manual.

  • For this review, we tested both the DSG and manual transmission versions of the GTI.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • I don’t know if generations of Golf styling is exactly like Star Trek movies, but I do usually prefer the even numbers…

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • VW decided to drop the three-door Golf body style when it introduced the Mk 8 Golf.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • There’s 19.9 cubic feet (563 L) of cargo space with the seats in use, or 34.5 cubic feet (977 L) with the rear seats folded flat.

    Jonathan Gitlin

You can blame enlightened Europe for the six-speed’s demise. Over there, buyers prefer the two-pedal version by a massive margin, which even the high take rate for three-pedal GTIs in the US and Canada couldn’t make up for. (This is, of course, contrary to popular wisdom, which has it that all Europeans shun auto ‘boxes as a matter of course.) On top of that, getting the six-speed to comply with incoming Euro 7 emissions regulations proved to be just too much, according to VW, so it decided to drop the option.

Here in the US, both transmissions are rated at a combined 27 mpg (8.7 L/100 km), with the DSG getting the edge in city driving (24 mpg/9.8 L/100 km) and the manual beating it slightly for highway (34 mpg/6.9 L/100 km). In practice, I saw as high as 36 mpg (6.5 L/100 km) on highway trips with the three-pedal GTI.

A smarter GTI

A more modern electronic architecture was one of the improvements to the Golf from Mk 7 to Mk 8. On the plus side, it enables some clever vehicle dynamics control via the torque-sensing limited slip differential, the GTI’s stability and traction control, and the adaptive dampers, if fitted. Very keen drivers might prefer a mechanical limited slip diff, but in day-to-day driving, you’d never have an issue with the Mk 8 GTI’s electronic version.

The new electronics meant a big tech upgrade for the interior, too. Out went the physical analog gauges, which were replaced by a 10.25-inch digital display with various different user-configurable views. A move to capacitive control panels instead of discrete buttons adds an extra level of minimalism to VW’s traditionally spartan approach to cabin design, but they’re far too easy to activate by mistake.

The 2024 VW Golf GTI is the last of its kind with a manual transmission Read More »

this-ev-will-make-you-grin-from-ear-to-ear—the-2025-hyundai-ioniq-5-n

This EV will make you grin from ear to ear—the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

car review, Cars, hyundai, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 5 N / /

it goes duggeda duggeda duggeda —

Hyundai N’s attention to detail is on vivid display with this performance EV.

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The front half of a white Ioniq 5 N in an alleyway

Enlarge / Other automakers have half-heartedly tuned their EVs, but Hyundai’s N brand has gone all-out with the Ioniq 5, and the results are spectacular.

Jonathan Gitlin

Hyundai’s transformation over the past decade and a half has been one to watch. The automaker went on a hiring spree, luring design and engineering talent away from the likes of BMW and Audi to grow its own competency in these areas. It worked—few can rival the efficiency or charging speed of the current crop of Korean electric vehicles, for instance. And Hyundai’s N division has shown it can turn prosaic underpinnings into performance cars that push all the right buttons. Both of those things are on vivid display with the Ioniq 5 N.

The regular Ioniq 5 has been on sale for a while now, long enough to have just received a facelift. It’s one of our favorite EVs, with styling that calls back to the angular hatchbacks of the 1980s and an 800 V powertrain that’s easily best-in-class. Now, the company’s in-house tuners have had their way with it, applying lessons learned from rallying and touring car racing to up the fun factor.

It’s not exactly a novel approach, even for EVs. Kia beat Hyundai to the punch with the EV6 GT; the car is fearsomely fast, but I found it less compelling than the normal version, which is cheaper, less powerful, and more efficient. In fact, I’m on record as saying that when looking at EVs, the cheapest, least-powerful version is almost always the one to get.

Not in this case. The body has extra welds and adhesive to stiffen its shell, with new front and rear subframes and reinforced battery and motor mounts. The N even took mass out of the drive axles to reduce unsprung weight, similar to its World Rally Championship contender.

  • Among the obvious changes are blistered wheel arches and an assortment of aerodynamic ducts, winglets, channels, and spoilers.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The base Ioniq 5’s bone structure was well-suited for this motorsport makeover.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • This will probably be my car of the year.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • There’s a different center console, and new sports seats, plus a steering wheel with an awful lot of buttons on it.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The back is roomy, but it’s a little more claustrophobic than normal thanks to the backs of the big bucket seats.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • I mean, it’s not a dungeon back here or anything.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • There’s no need for additional bracing, so there’s as much cargo room as the base model.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • No frunk, just power electronics and HVAC parts.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • 15.75-inch brake discs and four-piston calipers help stop the front wheels.

    Jonathan Gitlin

The power steering has been strengthened and given a quicker ratio, and it has been comprehensively reprogrammed to deliver more feedback to the driver. As you might expect, there are all manner of clever algorithms to control how much power gets put down at each axle or to each rear wheel, with various levels of intervention for a driver to choose from.

Nominal power output is 601 hp (448 kW) and 545 lb-ft (739 Nm), with bursts of 641 hp (478 kW) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) for up to 10 seconds available with the push of one of the many buttons on the steering wheel. That’s sufficient for a 0–60 mph time of 3.3 seconds, with a chirp from the tires in the process.

The pair of electric motors are fed by an 84 kWh battery pack that will fast-charge from 10 to 80 percent in 18 minutes. However, just like with performance variants of internal combustion cars, the combination of big wheels, sticky performance tires, and all those aerodynamic drag-inducing addenda means it won’t be as efficient as the normal version. Here, that leads to an EPA range of just 221 miles (355 km), although that’s measured in Normal mode, not the far more efficient Eco setting.

You either get it or you don’t

The Ioniq 5 N’s best party trick is called N E-Shift, and it’s bound to be divisive. It simulates an eight-speed paddle-shift transmission, changing throttle mapping and lift-off regen to replicate each “gear,” and the effect is extremely convincing.

  • The different levels of performance or efficiency are readily available and easy to switch between using the multifunction steering wheel.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • This is the default instrument panel.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Here, the N E-Shift button has been pressed, and the power gauge on the right has turned into a tachometer.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • In N mode, with the N E-Shift active.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • This was actually the second charger I visited to recharge the Ioniq 5 N; the first EA charger started smoking and shut down. But that was an EA thing, not an Ioniq 5 N thing.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Like any car, if you drive it hard, you’ll have to recharge or refuel it often.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • As you can see, the Ioniq 5 N can also be quite efficient if necessary.

    Jonathan Gitlin

This EV will make you grin from ear to ear—the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Read More »

the-2024-volkswagen-id.4-pro-gets-a-new-rear-motor,-way-more-efficiency

The 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro gets a new rear motor, way more efficiency

car review, Cars, Volkswagen ID.4, VW ID.4 / /

not selling well though —

40 percent more power, 30 percent more torque, and a range boost to boot.

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A silver VW ID.4 next to some graffiti in an alley

Enlarge / The VW ID.4 has a new drive motor and infotainment system for model-year 2024. It’s not the sportiest EV you can buy, but it remains one of our favorites to drive.

Jonathan Gitlin

Volkswagen didn’t wait the traditional four model years before giving its ID.4 electric crossover something of a spiff-up. The tweaks to the model-year 2024 ID.4 are mostly under the skin or inside the cabin—like the recent refresh of the Polestar 2, this update was more about making the ID.4 an easier EV to live with, with more range and more power.

Volkswagen was one of the first automakers to react to Tesla finally making the electric vehicle viable. After the company-wide bet on diesel went up in a cloud of nitrogen oxides and black smoke, VW threw itself headlong into electrification as a way to meet ever-stricter carbon emissions regulations. Already an industry pioneer for the use of highly flexible vehicle architectures that let it build vehicles in a wide range of sizes and shapes with a common set of components and tools, it applied that approach to a line of electric vehicles, all branded under the Intelligent Design, or ID, name.

VW is a global automaker, but automobile tastes are often not global. For Europe, VW designed the ID.3, an electric hatchback that Americans who want forbidden fruit keep asking for, but which generated less than enthusiastic reviews from the people who actually got to buy them. Other models are optimized for China. But for America, with its adoration of the SUV and crossover, VW designed the ID.4.

The ID.4 was designed with America's love of crossovers in mind.

Enlarge / The ID.4 was designed with America’s love of crossovers in mind.

Jonathan Gitlin

Unveiled in the depths of the pandemic, we got our first (if short) drive in a prototype ID.4 in October 2020. Four months later, it was time to try the production version, an EV we proclaimed “a solid effort.” A few months later, we tried out the all-wheel drive ID.4 and checked out VW’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which has been churning out locally made ID.4s since mid-2022.

What’s new?

For model-year 2024, the $44,875 ID.4 Pro keeps its 82 kWh battery pack, but its EPA range jumps to 291 miles (468 km), up from 275 miles (443 km). The reason will probably seem counterintuitive if all you’re used to is gasoline cars—a new, more powerful drive unit that generates 282 hp (210 kW) and 402 lb-ft (545 Nm). That’s a 40 percent increase in power and a 30 percent increase in torque compared to the rear-wheel drive ID.4 Pro we tested in the past.

With internal-combustion engine vehicles, turning up the wick on the power and torque usually means your range plummets. Not so with an EV. The new motor has an improved stator and a new water- and oil-cooling system, both of which mean it can cope better with higher thermal loads—VW says this is “an elementary contributing factor” to the improved efficiency. The one-speed transmission has had its components optimized to reduce friction, and there’s a new inverter with all-new software.

  • A very tight turning circle means this is a great EV for American cities.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • There’s plenty of room here for your kids’ sports equipment, the monthly Costco run, or a vacation’s worth of luggage.

    Jonathan Gitlin

The battery can also accept a higher rate of power during charging and regenerative braking, now 175 kW, up from 125 kW. That means a 10–80 percent fast charge should take 30 min. While we weren’t able to deplete the battery quite enough to test that, a charge from 35–80 percent state of charge took just 22 minutes at a peak of 155 kW, and just under 31 minutes was sufficient to reach a 92 percent SoC from that starting point.

On the road, and despite its mainstream design, the ID.4 remains a pretty good EV to drive. It has a very tight turning circle (31.5 feet/9/6 m), which is helpful in the city, and on a winding back road it is far better-mannered than a family crossover should be. A shared vehicle dynamics control system with the latest Golf GTI no doubt helps here.

I prefer Comfort mode over Sport; the latter makes the steering heavier but with no more feedback and makes the lift-off regen braking more aggressive. Power delivery is very smooth despite the bump in output.

In any of the three modes (which includes Eco as well as Comfort and Sport) the ride is a little bouncy—US market ID.4s do without adaptive dampers, so it doesn’t change when you switch. And there was a fair bit of road noise from the tires at highway speeds.

I was surprised that, in relatively mild weather, I was able to achieve an average of 4.1 miles/kWh (15.2 kWh/100 km). As the weather got hot and AC was a necessity, this dropped to 3.5 miles/kWh (17.8 kWh/100 km), which is still an improvement on the First Edition we tested in 2022.

The 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro gets a new rear motor, way more efficiency Read More »

a-stripped-out-2024-cayenne-v6-may-just-be-porsche’s-best-daily-driver

A stripped-out 2024 Cayenne V6 may just be Porsche’s best daily driver

2024 Porsche Cayenne, car review, Cars, SUV / /

slightly spicy SUV —

Sometimes a simple spec without all the bells and whistles is the way to go.

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A Porsche Cayenne parked next to a chain link fence by a general aviation airport

Enlarge / It’s all too easy to go nuts with the Porsche option list and spend a fortune, but what if you didn’t do that?

Michael Teo Van Runkle

Porsche’s high-performance variants of the 911 might make for great headlines, proving the incredible potential of the world’s most iconic rear-engined sports car to serve as a track toy and off-road rally racer simultaneously. But while motorsport heritage always factors into any Porsche conversation, the 911 is anything but the top rung of the company’s sales ladder. Instead, the Cayenne and then Macan SUVs have led the pack in volume since 2002, bolstering the company’s financial position and allowing the smaller-scale 911s and 718s to continue production.

For model year 2024, the facelifted third-gen Cayenne now comes in seven trim levels, including the technologically advanced and startlingly quick Turbo E-Hybrid, which offers 35 miles of all-electric range and a 3.5-second sprint to 60 mph. And yet a base V6 Cayenne offers a far more attainable entree into what it’s like to own something other than a fully loaded, paint-to-sample uber-Porsche that can easily cost well over $200,000.

Revisiting the Cayenne SUV

A V6-powered Cayenne starts at $79,200, or almost $20,000 more than the smaller gasoline-powered Macan crossover. But the larger platform allows for a more refined vision of Porsche luxury on the interior, with more headroom, legroom, and cargo capacity. Despite the additional size, however, the latest iteration of the Cayenne never sacrifices the spirit that originally put the Sport in Sport Utility Vehicle. And even a small-displacement turbo V6 still delivers the highlights of Porsche performance, engineering, and reliability.

Porsche hasn't announced a replacement for the Cayenne yet, but we bet it will be electric.

Enlarge / Porsche hasn’t announced a replacement for the Cayenne yet, but we bet it will be electric.

Michael Teo Van Runkle

I took this 2024 Cayenne for a week loan in Los Angeles six months after selling my own 2006 Cayenne Turbo. Half a year without a Stuttgart SUV serving as my daily driver never dampened the impressions that originally inspired my purchase of a high-mileage Typ 955, though—especially that burly 4.5 L twin-turbo V8 pumping out 450 hp (335 kW) and 457 lb-ft (620 Nm) of torque. With a stout Aisin six-speed automatic transmission, 18-inch wheels shod in big knobby tires, and an adjustable air suspension system, my Cayenne Turbo handled far more difficult off-roading trails than I ever expected, all while still being able to cruise home on the freeway at with equal aplomb.

Since that undeniably over-engineered first generation—split between the 955 and later the 957 facelift—the Cayenne has evolved into a leaner, more consumer-focused SUV. The next generation, known as the 958, dropped the two-speed transfer case, locking differentials, and electronically disconnecting sway bars from the platform. With less truck-iness baked in, second and now third-gen (Typ 9Y0) Cayennes nail the sporty side even more effectively.

The biggest difference comes down to sheer weight. Without the substantial heft of a more complex driveline and powered by smaller displacement engine options throughout the lineup, the current Cayenne now tips the scales at 4,678 lbs (2,122 kg). Compare that to my Turbo, at 5,200 lbs (2,359 kg) before I bolted on steel skid plates, a swingout rear spare carrier, and bigger tires, and the difference in horsepower stats versus the V6-powered base Cayenne starts to seem less significant.

There's not much to see under the hood.

Enlarge / There’s not much to see under the hood.

Michael Teo Van Runkle

The single-turbo V6 receives ratings of 348 hp (260 KW) and 368 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque, though the latter figure peaks at just 1,450 rpm and explains the ability for a full-size SUV to manage a 0–60 time of just 5.4 seconds when equipped with the Sport Plus package and Launch Control. That’s a long way off from a Turbo GT, sure, but it’s better than the V6’s raw specs on paper perhaps suggest.

A stripped-out 2024 Cayenne V6 may just be Porsche’s best daily driver Read More »

the-mazda-cx-90-phev-gives-luxury-car-vibes-for-a-mainstream-price

The Mazda CX-90 PHEV gives luxury car vibes for a mainstream price

car review, Cars, Mazda CX-90, plug-in hybrid / /

love the interior —

This big Mazda is one of a handful of plug-in hybrid three-rows on sale today.

–

The front of a Mazda CX-90 with graffiti in the background

Enlarge / Can the big Mazda CX-90 make up for how disappointed we were with the last electrified Mazda we drove?

Jonathan Gitlin

Fairly or not, the Mazda CX-90 PHEV had a lot to make up for. The last electrified Mazda we drove was the abysmal MX-30, a cynical compliance car that proved too unpopular to remain on sale. That was a small hatchback crossover with suicide doors and a cork interior. The CX-90 PHEV, Mazda’s full-size SUV, is a much more substantial proposition, with seating for up to eight and starting at a reasonable $47,445.

You may miss out on some of the very newest bells and whistles found in the latest German or Korean luxury cars, but as electrified three-rows go, there’s a fair bit to like about this one.

Tech specs

The CX-90 uses a newly developed Mazda platform for larger vehicles, with rear-biased all-wheel drive powertrains. There’s a turbocharged mild hybrid inline-six cylinder engine available in two different levels of tune, but the one we’re interested in is the e-Skyactiv G powertrain, which pairs a turbocharged four-cylinder engine generating 189 hp (141 kW) and 192 lb-ft (260 Nm) with a 173 hp (129 kW), 199 lb-ft (270 Nm) permanent magnet synchronous electric motor.

  • If you need a gigantic SUV but also want it to be a PHEV, you don’t have too many choices. This one comes with a lot of good safety tech and not too much in the way of digital distraction, plus a great interior.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • With the third row of seats in use, there’s 14.9 cubic feet (423 L) of cargo volume. Drop the third row flat and that grows to 40 cubic feet (1,133 L). Fold down the middle row as well and you can fit 74.2 cubic feet (2,101 L) of stuff back there.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • A standard-size parking bay doesn’t leave much room.

    Jonathan Gitlin

Total combined output is 323 hp (240 kW) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm), all of which goes to the wheels via an eight-speed planetary gear transmission that uses a wet clutch instead of a torque convertor. Mazda says there’s a North America-specific tune that, by the sounds of it, has a peppier torque curve for better acceleration than the versions sold in Europe or Asia.

There’s a 17.8 kWh lithium-ion battery pack with an EPA-rated electric-only range of up to 26 miles. Add a full tank of gas to that and the CX-90 PHEV should go 490 miles, according to the regulator. Charge times are about 2.5 hours with a 240 V level 2 charger, and there’s a charge button on the center console that will use spare power from the internal combustion engine to recharge the traction battery while you drive (with an attendant hit to fuel economy as you do).

In normal mode, as long as the battery has more than 20 percent state of charge, the car will default to using the electric motor alone for propulsion. In this combined gas-plus-electric mode, the EPA rates the CX-90 at 56 MPGe. Below 20 percent SoC, the engine stays on and maintains some charge in the battery, which Mazda says is so the EV assist is always available.

There’s also an EV mode, although if the throttle pedal passes the kick-down point, the ICE fires up again, and the car reverts to normal mode. Sport keeps the engine fired all the time and adds electric torque, but at 5,243 lbs, this is not an SUV that will ever feel sporty to drive.

  • I don’t know about you, but my trips to Costco are not often long enough to get a meaningful charge in the battery. Particularly if there’s snow on the ground.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • In late spring, things went a lot better.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Charging stats.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The powertrain with a cutaway showing inside the electric motor, which is packaged between the engine and transmission.

    Mazda

Once the battery is fully depleted, fuel economy plummets as the relatively small engine works hard to keep this large SUV in motion—just 25 mpg (9.4 L/100 km) combined, according to the EPA.

The Mazda CX-90 PHEV gives luxury car vibes for a mainstream price Read More »

how-the-lincoln-nautilus-surprisingly-won-me-over-with-its-ride,-huge-screen

How the Lincoln Nautilus surprisingly won me over with its ride, huge screen

car review, Cars, Lincoln Nautilus / /

yes, really —

How I stopped worrying and learned to love the big screen.

–

A panoramic screen in a Lincoln Nautilus

Enlarge / In the past, car companies engaged in “horsepower wars.” Now it seems they’re competing in a screen size war.

Jonathan Gitlin

It’s important to try to approach a review car with an open mind, but I’ll admit my preconceptions were stacked against the Lincoln Nautilus. It’s on the larger end of the midsize SUV segment, bigger than I like them, and my last encounter with a Lincoln wasn’t entirely positive. And then there’s the whole giant screen. Not to be outdone by Cadillac and its 33-inch display, Nautilus has a 48-inch screen that stretches between the A pillars, which sounds like a recipe for distraction. And yet, this hybrid SUV won me over rapidly.

We tested the hybrid Nautilus, a $1,500 option for a model that starts at $50,415. The hybrid system combines a 2.0 L turbocharged four-cylinder direct-injection engine with an electric motor in parallel, sending torque to all four wheels via a continuously variable transmission. Total output is 310 hp (231 kW), with a maximum output of 300 hp (223 kW) from the internal combustion engine, or 134 hp (100 kW) from the electric motor.

It’s quite efficient, too. The EPA rates the hybrid Nautilus at a combined 30 mpg (7.84 L/100 km), although a combination of 22-inch wheels and oppressive Washington, DC, summer temperatures meant that I averaged a little bit less than that.

Lincoln hasn’t disclosed a torque figure for the electric motor, but it’s easily sufficient for the task of getting the 4,517-lb (2,049 kg) SUV up and moving, both smoothly and near-silently, before the gas engine thinks about firing up. At city speeds, the electric motor does almost all of the work, at least as long as the weather isn’t too extreme—in the depths of winter and the height of summer, you can expect the engine to fire up more often unless you turn off the heater or AC.

  • I’m not the biggest fan of the exterior styling, but this was a very good metallic red paint.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • On the other hand, I am a fan of the interior, except for the placing of the touchscreen.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • There’s quite a lot of room in the rear.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The Nautilus starts at just over $50,000, but you can spend a lot more than that depending on options and trim level.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Note the door handles that stick up and out from the side.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • This might be the best Lincoln I’ve driven.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The backup camera shows up where you normally see your map.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The Lincoln emblem is illuminated.

    Jonathan Gitlin

It’s a car that seems to encourage you to relax a bit and not be in quite so much of a hurry behind the wheel. That impression was helped by the seats, which offer plenty of adjustment and one of the best massaging functions you’ll currently find on four wheels. There’s even an optional digital scent diffuser.

Ride comfort was more than acceptable, despite the huge wheels, and the oblong-ish steering wheel never requires very much effort thanks to plenty of assist from the power steering. If the point of a luxury car is to pamper its occupants while they are transported from A to B, then the Nautilus should be considered quite luxurious.

How the Lincoln Nautilus surprisingly won me over with its ride, huge screen Read More »

the-2025-polestar-4:-great-steering-and-a-small-carbon-footprint-stand-out

The 2025 Polestar 4: Great steering and a small carbon footprint stand out

car review, Cars, electric car review, First drive, Polestar, Polestar 4 / /

watch out, Porsche Macan —

The styling is sharp inside and out, but the infotainment needs some polishing.

–

A white Polestsr 4 in a field

Enlarge / The Polestar 4 is the latest entrant into the crowded midsize luxury electric SUV segment. We think it has what it takes to stand out.

Jonathan Gitlin

“If you’re going to make a car and use all that energy, it should be a good car,” said Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar. Ingenlath was referring to the company’s latest electric vehicle, a midsize SUV with striking coupe looks called the Polestar 4. While Ingenlath is on point from a sustainability perspective, it makes good business sense, too. The Polestar 4 needs to be a good car to stand out as it enters one of the most hotly contested segments of the market.

In fact, Polestar uses less energy to make its latest EV than anything else in its range—the company quotes a carbon footprint of 19.9 tonnes of CO2 from cradle to gate. Like some other automakers, Polestar is using a monomaterial approach to the interior to make recycling easier, choosing the same base plastic for all the components in a particular piece of trim, for example.

The carpets are made from, variously, recycled fishing nets or plastic bottles. The vinyl seats use pine oil instead of the stuff extracted from the ground, and the knitted upholstery fabric—also recycled plastic bottles—was designed to leave no off-cuts.

  • The headlights are a Polestar trademark now, even though there have been just four models so far.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • Coupe-like looks, SUV-like practicality.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • No, your eyes don’t deceive you, there is no rear windshield.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The interior is inspired by sportswear.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • The back seat of the Polestar 4 outdoes rivals from Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.

    Jonathan Gitlin

  • At night, LEDs illuminate the interior from behind textile trim panels. The colors are switchable depending on which theme you have the car set to—more on that later.

    Jonathan Gitlin

The fastest Polestar yet

In addition to being the greenest Polestar so far, this one is also the most performant. We tested the $62,900 Long Range Dual Motor version, which can send up to 536 hp (400 kW) and 506 lb-ft (686 Nm) to the wheels. Pick this version and you should see 270 miles (434 km) from the 100 kWh battery pack. In a suitable location like a motorway toll booth, 60 mph arrives in 3.7 seconds (100 km/h in 3.8).

That’s if you’re in performance mode, at least. Switch to range mode, and clutches disconnect the front permanent magnet synchronous motor and remap the throttle pedal for better efficiency. There’s also a heat pump as standard. The car can DC fast-charge at rates of up to 200 kW, which should take the battery pack from 10 to 80 percent state of charge in 30 min. At home on an 11 kW AC charger, 0–100 percent SoC should take about 11 hours.

There is also a Long Range Single Motor variant with precisely half the power and torque but an EPA range of 300 miles (482 km). Driven by just its rear wheels, the Polestar 4 has more modest performance—60 mph arrives in 6.9 seconds, 100 km/h in 7.1—but it also carries a $8,000-cheaper price, starting at $54,900. New tariffs on Chinese-made EVs have come into effect, but Polestar told Ars that it is sticking with the original pricing. Next year, production of US-market Polestar 4s will begin in South Korea, which will mean significantly smaller import tariffs. (This story originally stated there had been a $10,000 price increase; this was incorrect.)

Jonathan Gitlin

It’s surprisingly good to drive

It has to be said: Making an electric car go fast is not particularly difficult. Electric motors generate most of their torque almost immediately, and unlike with a combustion motor, if you increase the peak power, there isn’t really an efficiency hit lower down the performance envelope. So even a 3-ton monster can get hurled down the road rapidly enough to embarrass a whole lot of supercars.

The Polestar 4 isn’t quite that heavy—5,192 lbs (2,355 kg)—so it forgoes air suspension in favor of conventional coil springs and dampers. These are passive in the Single Motor, but the Dual Motor is equipped with active dampers as standard, and if you choose the performance pack, it’s upgraded with stiffer springs and antiroll bars and new damper tuning.

Our test car was so equipped, and it was a noticeably firm ride, particularly when sitting in the back. There was also a bit of wind noise at speed, but more tire roar, thanks presumably to the performance pack’s 22-inch wheels.

The 2025 Polestar 4: Great steering and a small carbon footprint stand out Read More »

hello-sunshine:-we-test-mclaren’s-drop-top-hybrid-artura-spider

Hello sunshine: We test McLaren’s drop-top hybrid Artura Spider

car review, Cars, Features, First drive, McLaren, McLaren Artura / /

orange express —

The addition of a retractable roof makes this Artura the one to pick.

–

An orange McLaren Artura Spider drives on a twisy road

Enlarge / The introduction of model year 2025 brings a retractable hard-top option for the McLaren Artura, plus a host of other upgrades.

McLaren

MONACO—The idea of an “entry-level” supercar might sound like a contradiction in terms, but every car company’s range has to start somewhere, and in McLaren’s case, that’s the Artura. When Ars first tested this mid-engined plug-in hybrid in 2022, It was only available as a coupe. But for those who prefer things al fresco, the British automaker has now given you that option with the addition of the Artura Spider.

The Artura represented a step forward for McLaren. There’s a brand-new carbon fiber chassis tub, an advanced electronic architecture (with a handful of domain controllers that replace the dozens of individual ECUs you might find in some of its other models), and a highly capable hybrid powertrain that combines a twin-turbo V6 gasoline engine with an axial flux electric motor.

More power, faster shifts

For model year 2025 and the launch of the $273,800 Spider version, the engineering team at McLaren have given it a spruce-up, despite only being a couple of years old. Overall power output has increased by 19 hp (14 kW) thanks to new engine maps for the V6, which now has a bit more surge from 4,000 rpm all the way to the 8,500 rpm redline. Our test car was fitted with the new sports exhaust, which isn’t obnoxiously loud. It makes some interesting noises as you lift the throttle in the middle of the rev range, but like most turbo engines, it’s not particularly mellifluous.

  • The new engine map means the upper half of third gear will give you a real shove toward the horizon.

    McLaren

  • The Artura Spider’s buttresses are made from a lightweight and clear polymer, so they do their job aerodynamically without completely obscuring your view over your shoulder.

    McLaren

  • The Artura Spider is covered in vents and exhausts to channel air into and out of various parts of the car.

    McLaren

  • You could have your Artura Spider painted in a more somber color. But Orange with carbon fiber looks pretty great to me.

  • If you look closely, you can see the transmission hiding behind the diffuser.

    Jonathan Gitlin

Combined with the 94 hp (70 kW) electric motor, that gives the Artura Spider a healthy 680 hp (507 kW), which helps compensate for the added 134 lbs (62 kg) due to the car’s retractable hard top. There are stiffer engine mounts and new throttle maps, and the dual-clutch transmission shifts 25 percent faster than what we saw in the car that launched two years ago. (These upgrades are carried over to the Artura coupe as well, and the good news for existing owners is that the engine remapping can be applied to their cars, too, with a visit to a McLaren dealer.)

Despite the hybrid system—which uses a 7.4 kWh traction battery—and the roof mechanism, the Artura Spider remains a remarkably light car by 2024 standards, with a curb weight of 3,439 lbs (1,559 kg), which makes it lighter than any comparable car on the market.

In fact, picking a comparable car is a little tricky. Ferrari will sell you a convertible hybrid in the shape of the 296 GTS, but you’ll need another $100,000 or more to get behind the wheel of one of those, which in truth is more of a competitor for the (not-hybrid) 750S, McLaren’s middle model. Any other mid-engined drop-top will be propelled by dino juice alone.

What modes do you want today?

It's easy to drive around town and a lot of fun to drive on a twisty road.

Enlarge / It’s easy to drive around town and a lot of fun to drive on a twisty road.

McLaren

You can drive it using just the electric motor for up to 11 miles if you keep the powertrain in E-mode and start with a fully charged battery. In fact, when you start the car, it begins in this mode by default. Outside of E-mode, the Artura will use spare power from the engine to top up the battery as you drive, and it’s very easy to set a target state of charge if you want to save some battery power for later, for example. Plugged into a Level 2 charger, it should take about 2.5 hours to reach 80 percent.

The car is light enough that 94 hp is more than adequate for the 20 mph or 30 km/h zones you’re sure to encounter whether you’re driving this supercar through a rural village or past camera-wielding car-spotters in the city. Electric mode is serious, and the car won’t fire up the engine until you switch to Comfort (or Sport, or Track) with the control on the right side of the main instrument display.

On the left side is another control to switch the chassis settings between Comfort, Sport, and Track. For road driving, comfort never felt wrong-footed, and I really would leave track for the actual track. The same goes for the Track powertrain setting; for the open road, Sport is the best-sounding, and comfort is well-judged for everyday use and will kill the V6 when it’s not needed. Sport and Track instead use the electric motor—mounted inside the case of the eight-speed transmission—to fill in torque where needed, similar to an F1 or LMDh race car.

Hello sunshine: We test McLaren’s drop-top hybrid Artura Spider Read More »

ars-drives-the-second-generation-rivian-r1t-and-r1s-electric-trucks

Ars drives the second-generation Rivian R1T and R1S electric trucks

car review, Cars, electric truck, Rivian, Rivian R1S, Rivian R1T / /

no more car sick —

The EV startup has reengineered the R1 to make it better to drive, easier to build.

–

A Rivian R1T and R1S parked together in a forest

Enlarge / The R1S and R1T don’t look much different from the electric trucks we drove in 2022, but under the skin, there have been a lot of changes.

Rivian

In rainy Seattle this week, Rivian unveiled what it’s calling the “Second Generation” of its R1 line with a suite of mostly under-the-hood software and hardware updates that increase range, power, and efficiency while simultaneously lowering the cost of production for the company. While it’s common for automotive manufacturers to do some light refreshes after about four model years, Rivian has almost completely retooled the underpinnings of its popular R1S SUV and R1T pickup just two years after the vehicles made their debut.

“Overdelivering on the product is one of our core values,” Wassym Bensaid, the chief software officer at Rivian, told a select group of journalists at the event on Monday night, “and customer feedback has been one of the key inspirations for us.”

For these updates, Rivian changed more than half the hardware components in the R1 platform, retooled its drive units to offer new tri- and quad-motor options (with more horsepower), updated the suspension tuning, deleted 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of wiring, reduced the number of ECUs, increased the number of cameras and sensors around the vehicle, changed the battery packs, and added some visual options that better aligned with customizations that owners were making to their vehicles, among other things. Rivian is also leaning harder into AI and ML tools with the aim of bringing limited hands-free driver-assistance systems to their owners toward the end of the year.

  • Usually, an automaker waits four years before it refreshes a product, but Rivian decided to move early.

    Rivian

  • The R1 interior can feel quite serene.

    Rivian

  • Perhaps you’d prefer something more colorful?

    Rivian

  • An exploded view of a drive unit with a pair of motors.

    Rivian

  • There are two capacities of lithium-ion battery, and an optional lithium iron phosphate pack with 275 miles of range is on the way.

  • Rivian’s R1 still looks friendly amid a sea of scary-looking SUVs and trucks.

    Rivian

While many of these changes have simplified manufacturing for Rivian, which as of Q1 of this year lost a whopping $38,000 on every vehicle it sold, the company has continued to close the gap with the likes of BMW and Mercedes in terms of ride, handling, comfort, and efficiency.

On the road in the new R1

We drove a new second-gen dual-motor 665 hp (496 kW), 829 lb-ft (1,124 Nm) R1S Performance, which gets up to 410 miles (660 km) of range with the new Max Pack battery, out to DirtFish Rally School in Snoqualmie in typically rainy Seattle weather. On the road, the new platform, with its revised suspension and shocks, felt much more comfortable than it did in our first experience with an R1S in New York in 2022.

The vehicle offers modes that allow you to tackle pretty much any kind of driving that life can throw at you, including Sport, All Purpose (there’s no longer a “Conserve” mode), Snow, All-Terrain, and Soft Sand, alongside customizable suspension, ride feel and height, and regen settings. The R1S feels far more comfortable from all seating positions, including the back and third-row seats. There’s less floaty, car-sick-inducing modulation over bumps in All-Purpose, and Sport tightens things down nicely when you want to have a bit more road feel.

One of the big improvements on the road comes from the new “Autonomy Compute Module” and its suite of high-resolution 4K HDR cameras, radars, and sensors that have been upgraded on the R1 platform. The new R1 gets 11 cameras (one more than the first gen), with eight times greater resolution, five radar modules, and a new proprietary AI and ML integrated system that learns from anonymized driver data and information taken from the world around the vehicles to “see” 360-degrees around the vehicle, even in inclement weather.

While the R1S has had cruise control since its launch, the new “Autonomy” platform allows for smart lane-changing—something Rivian calls “Lane Change on Command” when using the new “Enhanced Highway Assist” (a partially automated driver assist), and centers the vehicle in marked lanes. We tried both features on the highways around Seattle, and the system handled very rainy and wet weather without hesitation, but it did ping-pong between the lane markers, and when that smart lane change system bailed out at the last minute, the move was abrupt and not confidence-inspiring, since there was no apparent reason for the system to fail. These features are not nearly as good as the latest from BMW and Mercedes, both of which continue to offer some of the most usable driver-assist systems on the market.

With the new R1 software stack, Rivian is also promising some limited hands-free highway driver-assistance features to come at the end of the year. While we didn’t get to try the feature in the short drive to DirtFish, Rivian says eye-tracking cameras in the rearview mirror will ensure that drivers have ample warning to take over when the system is engaged and needs human input.

Ars drives the second-generation Rivian R1T and R1S electric trucks Read More »

the-2024-subaru-solterra-is-nimble-but-sorely-lacks-range,-personality

The 2024 Subaru Solterra is nimble but sorely lacks range, personality

car review, Cars, Subaru, Subaru Solterra, Toyota bZ4x / /

how about an electric Baja —

Slow charging and inefficient driving, Solterra is no electric WRX or Forester.

–

A Subaru Solterra drives on a dirt road

Enlarge / With just 222 miles of range, you can’t venture far off-grid in the Subaru Solterra.

Subaru

Over the years, Subaru has generated a cult following in the US, making its name with all-wheel drive powertrains and a go-anywhere attitude. Cars like the rally-bred WRXes and STIs did a lot of work here, but lately, Subaru has seemed to go in the opposite direction, phasing out fun drives like the STI lineup in favor of volume-movers like the Ascent and bloated versions of existing models such as the Subaru Wilderness editions.

Its first electric vehicle is perhaps even less in character. The $44,995 Solterra is the result of an ongoing partnership with Toyota and was developed together with the bZ4X. Unlike the Toyota, there’s no single-motor option for the Solterra. It’s all-wheel-drive only, with a pair of identical 107 hp (80 kW) permanent magnet electric motors, one for each axle. That means you can do some, but not all, of the off-road things you’d expect to do with a Subaru.

Looks are deceiving

At first glance, the Solterra looks like the edgy, tech-leaning offspring of a Crosstrek and an Impreza wagon. The 8.3 inches of ground clearance is slightly less than the Outback or Forester, while the Solterra comes in at 184.6 inches (4,689 mm) in length, placing it squarely in the middle of the brand’s stable. It’s a rather compact SUV, even more so when you try to get comfortable in the cockpit. My short frame was cramped, and anyone taller than me won’t feel welcome on long drives.

The large multifunction steering wheel can obscure the small instrument display in front of the driver.

Enlarge / The large multifunction steering wheel can obscure the small instrument display in front of the driver.

Subaru

In what seems to be the norm with Subaru these days, the interior is full of plastic and cloth. Even on this top-line Touring trim test car, which comes in at just under $55,000, there’s a very cheap-looking dash with a plethora of rigid lines. Controls are close by, but the overall layout is borderline infuriating, with slow response times through the central infotainment system and a driver alert system that beeped and shrieked every 20 seconds for one reason or another. There were so many driver warnings and advisories popping up that I eventually tuned them out, which is probably not the intended effect.

Range Non-Rover

There’s about five miles (8 km) of charging difference between the 228-mile (367 km) Premium trim level and the Limited and Touring trims, which have an EPA range of 222 miles (357 km) on a single charge of the 72.8 kWh lithium-ion battery. In my 10 days with the car, the only time I eclipsed 200 miles (321 km) was leaving my driveway with the range reading 201. After about 10 minutes, it slumped back under 200 miles. In fairly normal city and highway conditions, I realized around 180 miles of range (290 km). When the weather called for air conditioning, I lost another 5–7 miles (8–11 km).

  • The Solterra is 184.6 inches (4,689 mm) long, 73.2 inches (1,859 mm) wide, 65 inches (1,651 mm) tall, with a 112.2-inch (2,850 mm) wheelbase. It has a curb weight of between 4,365 and 4,505 lbs (1,980–2,043 kg) depending on trim level.

    Subaru

  • The Toyota-developed infotainment system can be laggy.

    Subaru

  • The back seat has 35.5 inches (902 mm) of rear legroom.

    Subaru

  • There’s 27.7 cubic feet (783 L) of cargo volume with the rear seats in use and the cover in place.

    Subaru

  • Wireless device charging, as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, are available in the Limited and Touring trims.

    Subaru

Charging is slow, however. A stop to recharge from about 20 to 80 percent state of charge took the better part of 45 minutes. At launch, the Solterra was rated at an even longer 56 minutes to DC fast-charge to 80 percent, but for model year 2024, Subaru says that in ideal conditions, this should now be as quick as 35 minutes.

Charging at home was an overnight endeavor—nine hours on a level 2 charger. The Solterra currently features a CCS1 charge port, but in 2025, the company will adopt the J3400 standard, with adapters made available to existing customers so they can charge at Tesla Supercharger sites.

The 2024 Subaru Solterra is nimble but sorely lacks range, personality Read More »