car review

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 »

the-refreshed-2024-hyundai-elantra-n-remains-a-darn-good-enthusiast-car

The refreshed 2024 Hyundai Elantra N remains a darn good enthusiast car

car review, Cars, Hyundai Elantra N / /
A blue Hyundai Elantra N

Enlarge / The regular Hyundai Elantra is a perfectly fine compact sedan. But once the boffins at Hyundai N got hold of it, they transformed it into something with a lot more character.

Peter Nelson

Few cars are aimed quite at driving enthusiasts like the wholesome sport compact. In terms of everyday usability and fun factor, little can touch them, and luckily, there’s still a good variety of them on the new market. Among the best is the Hyundai Elantra N, which, for the 2024 model year, received a styling and chassis refresh. Pricing starts at $33,245 for three pedals and a manual gearbox, or $35,515 for a dual-clutch eight-speed, and either is a massive value for the performance and fun factor that they offer.

Amply sporty styling, plenty spacious

The 2024 Elantra N’s biggest change is in its face. Where previously it had beady eyes surrounded in a sea of black trim—kind of like the vehicular equivalent of a Belgian Malinois—its headlight, grille, and intake are now more geometric. Looks are subjective, but I’m a fan of the headlights, and the functional inlets improve radiator and brake cooling over the previous fascia.

Elsewhere, it’s pretty much the same angular four-door wearing some trapezoidal accents across its body panels and a pronounced rear spoiler. A new set of forged 19-inch wheels is wrapped in 245/35/19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires—these also shave off 8.25 lbs (3.75 kg) of unsprung weight at each corner, which bodes well for acceleration and handling.

  • The Elantra N is easy to distinguish via its bodykit and rear wing.

    Peter Nelson

  • Hyundai

  • The Elantra N’s seats hold you in place.

    Peter Nelson

  • There’s a grab handle for the passenger.

    Peter Nelson

  • the turbocharged four-cylinder engine has character.

    Peter Nelson

Inside, the Elantra N is spacious, offering great head- and legroom for tall folks up front and much of the same in the back. The front seats are some of the best on the market, offering excellent firmness and very assuring bolsters to keep you held in place when cornering. The steering wheel’s rim is thick and confidence-inspiring, though I wish I could have telescoped it closer to my torso.

Materials quality is good for its price, with substantial soft-touch surfaces where it matters, and the various switchgear and controls are laid out in a very clean manner—as is its infotainment system, which is lag-free. Conveniently, there’s a grab handle carved into the center console for the front-seat passenger. Finally, the N’s spacious interior translates to good overall visibility from a sporty driving position; you don’t sit up high but rather down in it, as any good sport compact ought to be.

The refreshed 2024 Hyundai Elantra N remains a darn good enthusiast car Read More »

the-2024-ford-mustang-mach-e-rally-proves-sideways-is-the-best-way

The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally proves sideways is the best way

car review, Cars, First drive, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally, Rallycross, Rallying / /
The front of a Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally showing fog lights built into the front fascia

Enlarge / The Mustang Mach-E Rally is the latest version of Ford’s electric crossover. It features plenty of power and a new drive mode, as well as plenty of rally-inspired accoutrements.

Tim Stevens

Mildly off-road-ready performance variants are extremely trendy right now, and it’s easy to turn your nose up at them. But when cars like the 911 Dakar or Huracan Sterrato actually improve the day-to-day drivability and comfort of the road-focused machines upon which they’re lifted, you have to respect them.

Me? I’m a die-hard rally fan and someone who’d rather drive sideways than straight. It’s no surprise that I love these special editions, from their top-boxes down to their all-terrain tires. But I also love electric vehicles, and while there are plenty of electrified crossovers and SUVs out there, it’s slim pickings if you want something rally-ready.

Today, that changes.

Meet the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally, a car with a name so clear you can’t ignore the purpose. It takes the $53,995 2024 Mach-E GT and gives it a few key upgrades, all in the name of providing better performance for low-grip motorsport—or at least the appearance thereof. But is this package more show than go?

  • Ford has integrated fog lights into the front fascia panel.

    Tim Stevens

  • The white alloy wheels are meant to remind you of the Compomotive wheels that Ford’s rally cars used.

    Tim Stevens

  • The Mach-E Rally’s rear wing probably does nothing to help range, but it looks very cool.

    Tim Stevens

  • Ford missed a trick by not giving the Mach-E Rally a suede or Alcantara wheel rim. At the very least we would expect a rally special to have a strip at 12 o’clock on the wheel rim.

    Tim Stevens

  • The rear seat backs are a little different.

    Tim Stevens

  • Here’s why: It adds more shoulder bolstering.

  • The stripes have a triangular pattern on them that’s also replicated on some interior trim.

    Tim Stevens

  • The Mach-E Rally is just as practical as all the other Mach-E variants.

    Tim Stevens

It starts with a standard Mach-E GT, which, for the 2024 model year, gets some significant updates in its own right. A new rear motor, lifted from the Ford Lightning, gives both the GT and Rally 480 hp (358 kW) and 700 lb-ft (950 Nm) of torque. That’s up from 634 lb-ft (860 Nm) before.

This Mach-E stands out from the crowd

A revised battery pack offers 265 miles (426 km) of range in the Rally, down slightly from the GT’s 280 miles (451 km), which is itself a 40-mile (64 km) penalty from the maximum range of 320 miles (515 km) you can now get in a 2024 RWD Extended Range Mach-E Premium. The new GT also gets slightly updated headlights, and the Brembo brakes and sport seats that were formerly an option now come standard.

Tick the “Rally” box, and you get several other goodies—most notably a revised suspension. It’s still the Mach-E’s adaptive MagneRide dampers but now outfitted with new “rallycross-tuned” springs delivering a 1-inch (25 mm) lift. That suspension is designed to keep the new 19-inch wheels on the ground.

Ford calls them “rally-style” wheels, but fans will spot them as an ode to the classic Compomotive TH seen on many iconic gravel machines of the ’80s and ’90s. Someone at Ford has a good eye for classic rally style.

This could be the ideal EV if you live near a bunch of forestry roads.

Enlarge / This could be the ideal EV if you live near a bunch of forestry roads.

Ford

The wheels look good and should keep the worst of the gravel from dinging up your brake hardware, but more significant is what they’re wrapped in. The Rally has Michelin CrossClimate2 tires on all four corners, an interesting proposition that promises good grip in all conditions yet low rolling resistance for EV use. Their chunky, V-shaped tread is not what you’d typically expect on an electric car, but they further seal the Rally’s all-terrain look.

Under the nose, there’s a slender bit of aluminum, a faux skid plate of sorts that I don’t think will protect much. Up higher, the Rally nose has a different grille insert with a pair of inset fog lights, while out back, a chunky, ornate wing hangs off the top of the rear hatch. The requisite custom graphics are here, including classy stripes running up the hood and tacky “Rally” graphics smeared across the doors. The more important appliqué, however, is invisible: Ford put paint-protecting film along the lower portions of the car to again fend off the worst of the gravel damage.

The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally proves sideways is the best way Read More »

the-single-motor-bmw-i4-proves-the-less-powerful-ev-is-usually-better

The single-motor BMW i4 proves the less-powerful EV is usually better

BMW i4, BMW i4 eDrive40, car review, Cars / /

This is a great EV. —

This rear-wheel drive EV is efficient, practical, and has class-leading technology.

–

A green metallic BMW i4 seen in the rain

Enlarge / BMW’s single-motor, rear-wheel drive i4 eDrive40 ticks an awful lot of my boxes.

Jonathan Gitlin

I have a theory about electric vehicles, and with a few notable exceptions, it’s this: The cheaper, less powerful version is usually the one to get. Big power outputs and short 0–60 times have been the industry’s go-to, but always with the trade-off being less range and a bigger sticker price. Today’s EV is a good example. It’s the BMW i4 eDrive40, a single-motor version of BMW’s smaller electric fastback sedan. It has taken a while to get some seat time in one, but the wait was worth it, because this is one of the best electric sedans we’ve tested so far.

I’ve driven the BMW i4 a few times now since its launch in 2021, but always the very fast, very powerful, rather expensive i4 M50. Which is fine, but not exciting like the M3. The i4 eDrive40 undercuts the twin-motor, all-wheel drive M50 by more than $10,000—it starts at a more reasonable $57,300 and goes more than 30 miles (48 km) farther on a single charge of the same capacity 84.3 kWh (net) battery pack, with an EPA range of 301 miles (484 km).

BMW made its name on the back of a string of driver-focused, rear-wheel drive sedans, and I had high expectations for the eDrive40 to live up to. With no front motor, there’s less weight on the front axle, and the front wheels just have to worry about steering and braking, not laying down power as well. Less power to put down means smaller wheels, which translates into a better ride and more range, although our test car was equipped with 19-inch wheels (a $600 option), which reduced its range to 283 miles (455 km) compared to the 18-inch option.

Although you can pay extra for leather, the standard trim is a synthetic fabric called Sensatec, which comes in four different shades.

Enlarge / Although you can pay extra for leather, the standard trim is a synthetic fabric called Sensatec, which comes in four different shades.

Jonathan Gitlin

Open the door via the aero-optimized recessed handle and things look promising as you slip down into the tan-colored seat. The steering wheel’s rim is thinner than you’d find in most modern BMWs, and its multifunction controls are proper buttons. Otherwise, the ergonomics are the same as the more speedy version, with a large double-screen display that stretches across from the A pillar to the center stack running BMW iDrive 8.5. This might be the last version of iDrive to still offer a physical scroll wheel as an input option alongside touchscreens and voice commands, so enjoy it while it lasts.

BMW builds good electric powertrains

At maximum output, the i4’s electrically excited motor can send up to 335 hp (250 kW) and 317 lb-ft (430 Nm) to the rear wheels. And in Sport mode, the first inch of throttle pedal travel delivers more than enough of that torque to jolt your passengers’ heads back into their headrests. Zero to 60 mph (98 km/h) takes 5.5 seconds, which might not sound like much in a 21st-century game of Top Trumps, but it’s more than enough for the real world.

Truth be told, I spent most of my time driving the i4 in Eco Pro, which dials back the power delivery even more than Comfort mode. Still, it never felt slow on the roads in and around Washington, DC. With the transmission set to B, there was a strong one-pedal driving effect; in D, lifting the throttle leaves the car free to coast, only regenerating (up to 116 kW) when you use the brake pedal.

I prefer D for highway driving, as any kind of downhill gradient, however slight, equals a chance to glide along, often gaining a little speed for free in the process. (This is one benefit of an electrically excited motor, which creates no drag on the drivetrain when not energized; the other main benefit is no use of rare-earth materials in the motor construction.)

Don't get distracted by the fact that the i4 thought it would only have 264 miles by the time it was fully charged—I drove to the charger in Sport mode to warm the battery as much as possible for better charging.

Enlarge / Don’t get distracted by the fact that the i4 thought it would only have 264 miles by the time it was fully charged—I drove to the charger in Sport mode to warm the battery as much as possible for better charging.

Jonathan Gitlin

Indeed, 4.1 miles/kWh (15.2 kWh/100 km) was possible without much effort, and over the course of about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) and who knows how many journalists, this particular car had averaged 3.7 miles/kWh (16.8 kWh/100 km). But then, this is BMW’s fifth-generation electric powertrain, so it’s had plenty of time to learn how to make them efficient.

BMW quotes a DC fast-charging time of as little as 31 minutes from 10–80 percent, with charge rates as high as 200 kW. If you set a DC fast charger as your location in the built-in Navigation, the car should precondition the battery pack for optimum fast charging, but there’s also a way to turn that on manually in iDrive.

In practice, I arrived at the charger with 24 percent state of charge and saw a peak of 186 kW shortly after plugging in. As EV drivers will know, charge curves are definitely not linear, particularly past 80 percent SoC, and getting all the way to 88 percent—55.8 kWh in total—took 1 hour and 2 minutes. (Since that was spent enjoying brunch at Mama Chang, conveniently located next to a bank of Electrify America chargers, it was time well spent.) BMW says an AC charge from 0–100 percent SoC takes 8: 15 at 11 kW.

The single-motor BMW i4 proves the less-powerful EV is usually better Read More »