Renault’s new small electric car has really caught my eye and I’ve posted about it and the Alpine A290 hot hatch as well. I’ve posted about them a lot. What gives?
I am a hatchback fan. I love them for their size – particularly the B-segment as they’re called in Europe. Cars like the Peugeot 205 and 306, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20, I just dig them.
Growing up in Australia that size of car was dominated by Japanese brands like Toyota and Mazda. While those cars were – and still are – very good cars, they’re not especially fun. The Yaris GR is the wild, out-of-the-blue exception.
Mazda has never really done a proper hot hatch and the one they did do, the Mazda MPS, is an insane torque-steerer in the mould of the infamously messy Alfa 33.
I’ve owned a few B-segment cars and even an A-segment. I’ve already name-checked the Peugeots – I had a 1989 Peugeot 205 GTI grey import, a box-fresh 2002 Peugeot 306 XSI and more recently a 1998 Peugeot 306 GTI-6 which I loved but its problems were beyond my limited abilities (the new owner is doing a nut and bolt restoration and I can’t wait to see the result).
Add to that the Renaultsport Clio 172, the VW up! (okay, that’s then A-seg) and a string of BMW 1 Series, most notably a manual 2007 130i and right now I own a 2007 130i automatic and a 2011 135i DCT.
I dream of owning a Fiesta ST, car I absolutely loved every time I drove one. So I’m a fan of the smaller size.
Absent from this list is, obviously, the Renault 5. We didn’t get them in Australia. My brother owned a pair of Renault 12s, one built here in Australia and one built at home, a Virage. After the departure of the mighty 12 (later to become a very long-lived Dacia, the 1300) and the 16 (what a car), Renault disappeared from the Australian passenger vehicle scene.
The original 5 overlapped both the 12 and 16 but as I say, we didn’t get it here. It was very much built for the roads and lanes of urban and rural France and because of that, worked well all over Europe. The first-gen ran from 1972 to 1985, an absolute age in modern automotive terms.
It spawned Gordini and Alpine versions as well as the mad 5 Turbo, a mid-engined rocket later (and amusingly) recreated by rival Renault with the Clio V6. Again by modern standards the 5 Turbo was hardly a tarmac-tearer with just 118kW, but the concept is clearly insane and it weighed nothing.
Also potty was AMC’s attempts to sell the Renault 5 in the US under the name Le Car. Blimey.
Anyway. The new 5 is retro done right, a proper homage to the Michel Boué original. That was a car he doodled in his spare time that somehow got an audience with the execs and was commissioned for production.
Sadly Boué died of cancer not long after the original car’s launch and would never have lived to see its wild success let alone see it recreated in his very old age. But the fact the original was so well-designed and in such a genuinely timeless fashion, the new R5 takes the recognisable parts, the iconography of Boué’s 5 and delivers something extraordinary.
But that’s not all of it.
The new 5 is built on Renault’s new small car electric vehicle platform, the AmpR Small, a derivative of the Nissan-Renault CMF-B EV platform. Renault has been quietly getting on with the business of developing EVs for a long time, with the Renault Zoe selling almost 450,000 units over 12 years on sale. It wasn’t a great car but it wasn’t a bad one either and I was quite fond of it. You can pick them up really cheaply if you need a city runabout.
AmpR is really clever. It uses a lot of parts that don’t matter if they’re carried over from ICE vehicles, in this case the Clio’s CMF-B platform. Renault has already spun-off the New Renault 4, another well-designed homage, from that platform.
For an EV, it’s light, coming under 1500kg. It has a decent range with the larger of two battery packs and it has an expensive but worthwhile multi-link rear suspension setup.
From everything I have read, it recalls the original values of the 5 and places them squarely where electric cars need to be in 2024. Usable, dependable and fun. The Renault 5 E-Tech as it’s known looks to be fun to drive but comfortable and therefore fun and usable. It isn’t a clean-sheet design with lots of well-proven parts, so looks to be dependable.
It isn’t hyper-expensive and does what French hatchbacks do so well – put a smile on your face even if it’s a bit on the slow side because it steers and rides with effortless character and style.
From what I’ve read and seen, it has a lot of what the Fiat 500e has but without the silly price and with a lot more room. Electric cars need to be as good as the 500e without the price tag. They need to be as good (at minimum) as a Tesla without the unnecessary size of the 3 and Y that many people don’t want in a second car or even their only car.
From a design perspective, the Renault 5 gets it right where the New Beetle got it wrong, at least for a lot of people. It’s not self-conscious and it’s not cynical. There’s a joyful vibe about the R5 and it wears the importance of its release well.
I cannot wait to have a drive of it and the Alpine. I may even be thinking of buying a 5 because it seems like an incredibly sensible car but with an abundance of design flair and chassis excellence.
Fiat’s enduring small car, the 500, has gone all-electric (for now) and we drove the two versions available in Australia: quick and quicker.
Words: Peter Anderson Co-pilots: Mark Dewar and Blake Currall Images: Blake Currall
I’ve always loved the Cinquecento. Even when it’s not very good – and there are a few versions that are borderline terrible – it’s fun. The formula of tiny car/big personality is a dead-set winner.
While it has obviously grown over its nearly seven decades on the planet – and yes, I know, the 500 was out of production for ages – it’s still a small car by modern standards. Smaller than the Mini which is now gargantuan. Smaller than the cars we now call small because stuff has just gotten so big over the years.
The 500 was resurrected in 2007 to take on its 1950s rival, the Mini, itself rebooted some years earlier by BMW. That second-generation spawned all sorts of nonsense like the entirely silly but somehow likeable 500X compact SUV (based on the same platform as the awful Jeep Renegade) but it also brought back the Abarth.
That car was deeply flawed but all the more fun because of it. There were so many versions including the hugely expensive Abarth Tributo Ferrari and the hilariously mad 695 Biposto.
For the third-generation 500, Fiat took a big gamble – it went slightly bigger but also went fully electric. I first saw one on the road in Italy in September 2022 and thought it was awesome. Coincidentally, my wife and I were haring around Puglia in a 500 1.2-litre manual mild hybrid hire car and we had the time of our lives. So the 500 was still fun after being on sale for nearly 17 years.
What would this chunky rebirth mean for this iconic car and its performance version, the Abarth?
Fiat 500e and Abarth 500e: How much are they and what do I get?
Fiat 500: $28,900 +ORC Fiat 500e La Prima: $52,500 +ORC Abarth 695 manual: $38,900 +ORC Abarth 5ooe: $60,500 +ORC
500e La Prima price and specs:
$52,500 before on-roads
Look, that’s a lot of money. The La Prima is very much the city car biased machine but in this rose gold (another $990 if you please) looks the absolute business. I am not a pink car guy but I really loved the way it looked and thought the extra bucks worth it.
At the time of writing, it should be noted, the La Prima was going for $49,990 driveaway. While that’s still not a steal, you’ll see why it probably doesn’t matter too much. It’s still a hefty premium over the older generation petrol car, now only sold, bafflingly, in automatic. The Abarth is still manual-only, thank goodness.
The 500e La Prima ships from the Turin factory with 17-inch diamond cut alloys, LED headlights, panoramic sunroof, “eco” leather seat trim, heated front seats, reversing camera, adaptive cruise, six speaker sound system, climate control, keyless entry and a tyre repair kit.
Abarth 500e Scorpionissima price and specs:
$60,500 before on roads
Like the La Prima this is a stack of cash. On the road you’re very close to a Polestar 2 with rear-wheel drive and the MG4 X-Power. Or a Tesla Model 3, but why on earth would you do that. Or the X-Power MG4, come to think of it – the rear-wheel drive cars are better and don’t run out of brakes.
From the same factory as the 500e, you get 18-inch diamond cut alloys, LED headlights, panoramic sunroof, Alcantara-trimmed body-hugging sports front seats, heated front seats, reversing camera, six speaker sound system with JBL branding, climate control, keyless entry and a tyre repair kit.
Media and entertainment
Both cars feature a configurable 7.0-inch digital dashboard, though they have their own “personalities.” They also both have a 10.25-inch touchscreen. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are present and correct, the screen is easy to use with both of these booted up.
Both cars have six speakers and there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me about either of them. The Abarth has JBL speakers but I rarely find myself saying, “Oh, gosh, these are much better.”
Annoyingly, the screen doesn’t say much about the car’s EV performance, something that is really starting to stick in my craw. So many cars offer next to no usable information on the battery and range. I have to check my maths a million times with most EVs when it should just tell me what’s going on.
Cheeringly, the climate controls are not buried in a menu somewhere which is also good because the screen menus are a bit hard to hit on the move. The voice control is okay but only minimally useful.
Safety: Four stars (ANCAP, 2021)
Both cars feature six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane keep assist, blind spot assist and tyre pressure monitoring.
The safety systems worked fine but the front parking sensors on the 500e were cooked. Every time you pulled to a stop they’d start beeping even with nothing in front of you. I’m pretty sure that was an isolated fault but it seriously irritating until I worked out you could turn off the parking sensors.
Service and Warranty
Three years/150,000 kilometres 12 months/15,000km, capped-price servicing
Well. A three year warranty in 2024 on a tiny electric car costing quite a lot of money just isn’t cricket. The 150,000km is meaningless given this car will rarely leave the confines of metropolitan centres.
The servicing regime is a 50:50 proposition. While you have to roll in every 12 months/15,000, the service will only set you back $250 for the first eight, taking you all the way to (theoretically) 120,000km.
Look and Feel
The 500e looks utterly superb, especially in Rose Gold. It’s such a great colour and absolutely works with the proportions, detailing and the vibe. I love the way the bonnet appears to have been closed over the lights but they shine through anyway. I love the aerodynamic side indicator repeaters. The faithful rendering of the wheel-at-each-corner stance (why isn’t this car rear wheel drive, though?), it looks splendid.
Even the wheel spec is just right.
Inside you’ll find the very cool seats with Fiat embossed in the backs as well as the 500 motif. I don’t like single-spoke steering wheels but I like this one because it makes sense to be able to see the dash but the flat bottom would – and in the Abarth does – look a bit funny with an extra spoke. I loved being in this car.
The dash on the passenger side even had a cool weave effect hinting at the textile roof and upholstery of the Nuova 500.
The seats are comfortable but as we’ll shortly discover, could do with a bit more lateral support. Irritatingly the sunroof blind is perforated so utterly pointless in summer and makes the air-conditioning work harder than it needs to. On the right kind of day, the glass sunroof is really fun, though, with so much light pouring into the cabin.
Fans of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will get this gag – a black Abarth is like Hotblack Desiato’s ship. Black on black. The light just falls into it.
As with the La Prima, the Scorpionissimo is really nicely detailed. I love the scorpion on the rear quarter, the wheels looks brilliant and it somehow goes from sweetness and light in the rose gold to dark and menacing in the Abarth black.
The interior has a cracking set of sports seats with a dodgy but good-looking pull strap to tip them forward for rear access. Alcantara is the perfect choice for the seats and it just looks great in here.
I never really warmed to the three-spoke steering wheel, though.
Ergonomically, the car is pretty good apart from the annoying door releases. A button that looks like a Mercedes starter button release the doors on the inside and on the outside you have to kind of squeeze the door handle. Perhaps more annoyingly is that you don’t hear the car lock when you press the key fob.
Entry and exit for the front is easy because the doors are huge. Vision out is brilliant because there’s lots of glass by modern car standards, too. My wife – who stands at 170cm – actually fit reasonably comfortably in the back seat behind my 190cm tall son. His head brushed the aforementioned perforated sunroof blind, so that’s a pain because you can’t get a 500e or Abarth without one.
It’s remarkably roomy, though.
The boot is predictably small, but useful enough for a city car. The cables you see here at the standard inclusions and they zip up nicely into the bag next to it. If you use public charging, you don’t really need these cables with you.
At just 185 litres it will take a few shopping bags or a single suitcase. You might squeeze a couple of cabin size bags in there too. But yeah, it’s tight. No surprises really given the car is just 3673mm long. But the 2322 wheelbase means there’s plenty of room for actual people, which is worth the trade-off I reckon.
Drivetrain and charging
500eLa Prima: 87kW/220Nm Abarth: 113kW/235Nm
The 500e ships with a permanent magnet electric motor driving the front wheels (WHY?) delivering 87kW and 200Nm, obviously both technically at zero revs. Because the 500e is a bit of a chunky boi with another 400-odd kilos over the older petrol car, the official 0-100km/h figure is nine seconds dead.
Stepping up to the Abarth nets you another 26kW and 15Nm, knocking the 0-100km/h time down to seven seconds.
Now. Both feature the same 42kWh battery pack under the floor. So that means the more powerful Abarth is penalised fairly heftily on range. The 500e has a WLTP range of 311km while the Abarth drops to 253km, an almost 60km drop.
That’s partly due to the bigger wheels and no doubt the different driving modes. So Fiat is being pretty honest on the differences. The 500e is rated at 14.4kW/100km while the Abarth climbs to 18.1kWh/100km. 14.4 isn’t bad, 18.1 is up there with some much bigger cars, so the aero and the wheels really do whack it.
Charging is by a CCS2 port on the right rear quarter with a maximum DC rate of 85kW and AC rate of 11kW. Fiat says you can charge from 0-80 percent in 35 minutes.
In the Abarth I got 12.768kW in at a maximum rate of 45kW on a 50kW Evie charger. So that took just under 20 minutes which feels a bit slow. At 58c/kWh it cost $7.41 which would get me about 75km in the Abarth and about 90km in the 500e. So it felt like the charging wasn’t all that quick.
The upside to the small battery is that you can charge at home if you have access to a power point. If you set it to charge to 80 percent at even 3kW per hour, that’s an 11 hour charge. You don’t need to do that every night unless you’re burning around.
In the real world, the 500e was the clear winner on range, carrying me and my family 220km and finishing with 26% of charge.
The Abarth fared much worse, needing a quick top-up and really only squeaking through 200km with that extra 13-odd kilowatts. But again, if you’ve the access, it’s all about changing your habits.
Driving
Let’s start with a careful dissection of the 500e okay fine, it’s so much fun. The 0-100km/h time doesn’t really tell the full story because it rockets off the line to about 60, which is exactly what you want.
It’s so wieldy and chuckable, the low-down weight does far more to help than hinder. Non-Abarth petrol 500s are hardly point-and-shoot machines, especially as you can only get them in auto at the moment, but the 500e is a bit of an urban warrior, slicing and dicing the traffic.
You can just imagine this thing scything its way through the traffic in Rome, handling the cobblestones like they ain’t no thing and generally being a menace (in a good way).
The three electric modes are reasonably distinctive but I’d like the option to tweak the settings to your own liking. I want the acceleration in Normal mode with the regen in Range mode. I tended to leave the thing in Sherpa mode which limits you to 80km/h (unless you smash the throttle against the firewall) which was a pretty good balance.
It probably wouldn’t be much good in summer as it also limits the air-con.
For such a small car, the ride is quite good even though the stiffer springs and suspension to stop it scraping its belly and sparking like an F1 car would murder the comfort in anything else this small.
You’re always aware that it’s stiff but it’s only on really bad stuff that it becomes a problem.
And this is where we come to the Abarth. Unfortunately, it’s too stiff as a daily. I took it across lots of different surfaces and it never really settles. Yes the turn-in is sharper and you can really make this thing go around corners at absurd speeds, but it bounces so hard your foot comes off the accelerator.
I imagine there was a lot of discussion about this. The seats help you to brace your leg for more control, sure, but to make it less kangaroo-ey would mean softening the response which would…suck.
It is probably hilarious fun on a track but you’d need a fast-charger because the range from the same 42kWh battery is compromised by the extra power draw of the motor.
The three modes in this car are basically Normal, Fast Street and Fast Track. That final rips out the regen so when you lift off the throttle, it coasts rather than applying any braking force.
At first this annoyed me but then I remember what happens when you hit a bump, and it all became clear. When you’re having fun, this will stop you making yourself ill. The safety systems are too good for you throw it in a hedge because of an imprudent lift-off in the Scorpion Street mode, but it will certainly make the car more predictable when going fast.
It is even more than the 500e but for the extra money, it’s less usable. That sort of makes sense in the Abarth 595 because it’s not mid-$60k on the road (although it is mid $40k…) but this one is for the really committed Fiat fan.
Redline Recommendation
They’re both enormous fun and if you’ve got the money to burn, I’ve given you enough information to tell you which one is best for you.
The thing about the 500e platform is that I think it’s everything good about electric vehicles. It makes absolute sense in its intended environment, it does a great job and it’s enjoyable.
While the Abarth is fun, it’s not everyday fun and the limited range blunts the overall brilliance of the package.
The 500e meanwhile will put a smile on your face very damn time you drive the thing. I’m not even going to get into the value for money argument because there isn’t one, it’s expensive, even at the promo price.
To be fair to Fiat Australia, the 500e and Abarth 500e are expensive everywhere. There’s not much to strip out to make a meaningful difference to the price, so we get them fully-loaded.
If it was $45,000 on the road, it would still be pricey but people would consider it because once they drive it, they’ll be hooked. I genuinely haven’t stopped thinking about this car for weeks.
Everything else this small has question marks over it because they’re not from a company that has been nailing the brief on small cars for 70 years. This is by far the most convincing small EV since the BMW i3, a car so good that nobody has been able to get close to it for over a decade.
I’d have one of these as a second car in suburban Sydney in a heartbeat. It’s fun, the charging is doable at home (I have the luxury of a garage) and every single person in my family loves it, including the dog. In a couple of years time I will be on the hunt for a used one, no question.
I’ll occasionally think of the Abarth but wouldn’t regret the 500e. Not for one moment.
Mini Electric will shortly arrive in Australia with a driveaway price and some extra goodies for the early adopters.
You wouldn’t know it, but this isn’t the first Mini in the country that can move under its own electric power. The Mini Countryman PHEV holds that distinction. The second one, however, is a fully electric brick so you can commit to the concept in some style.
How much is a 2020 Mini Electric and what do I get?
$59,990 driveway (Australia)
Mini is expecting the Mini Electric First Edition to arrive in Australian showrooms from August, so you might be allowed into the dealership for them to throw you the keys. Literally.
The three-door hatch comes with a 17-inch wheels in two designs, adaptive LED headlights, leather sport seats, head up display, a distinctive digital dash and a harmon kardon stereo system.
No doubt you’ll get a few extras too like wireless Apple CarPlay. Well, we hope so for that kind of money.
Look and feel
It’s a proper Mini, right down to the Union Jack taillights. I really like it when normal cars with normal looks (as normal as a Mini ever can be) have a fully electric option. To distinguish the externals, there are those funky alloys, the yellow mirrors and grill finish and a few badges and bits and pieces.
The interior has the usual changes, including a digital dash and a modified centre console, which still has a shifter. I bet there were heaps of arguments about that.
Drivetrain
The Mini Electric packs 135kW and 270Nm to send to the front wheels. Being electric, the torque is available from zero revs. Mini reckons it will crack 100km/h in 7.3 seconds (Mini Cooper S pace, if I recall correctly) and is front-wheel drive.
The battery is a 32.6kWh lithium-ion unit, delivering a 233km range (WLTP, so it should be reasonably accurate). If you can get your hands on a 50kW DC charger (“in this pandemic?”/”in this backwards country?”) you can get an 80 percent charge in a spankingly quick 35 minutes.
Redline Recommendation
I gotta say, I’m a bit disappointed at the price. For a little bit more money you can get yourself a Hyundai Kona Electric with twice the real world range. No, it’s not a Mini, but boy is it good.
Setting that aside, the price makes it a no-brainer against something like the perky but pricey Renault ZOE and Nissan’s dull Leaf. And apart from the cracking BMW i3, it’s the best-looking electric car. Yes, I said something earlier about normal-looking cars being electric, shut up.
It will be interesting to see how the Mini Electric goes. I think it’s the kind of car that wakes people up to EVs the way cars like the Leaf and underrated ZOE can’t. And because it’s not $120,000 but is a premium brand, I’ll be very keen to see what’s what.
And let’s face it, the world is going to be quite different on the other side of all this.
The Hyundai Kona Electric arrived in 2019 to add to the Korean company’s trio of electrified Ioniqs.Promising Tesla-like 440km-plus range and a price tag to beat it, Hyundai joined the EV big league.
Hyundai never, ever fails to surprise me. I owned two in the 1990s when they went through a brief purple patch with the Lantra and Coupe (Do. Not. Judge. Me.). The Lantra was surprisingly good and nothing broke while the Coupe often broke and had terrible paint but I loved it anyway.
The last ten years have seen a steady, inexorable rise to meet the challenge of 21st-century motoring. With the Ioniqs three, Hyundai had a solid grip on a city EV, a very good grip on a plug-in hybrid and a Prius-strangling series hybrid. Boring, not great to look at (the MY20 update is slightly better), but Hyundai showed it wasn’t messing about.
After the huge distraction of the i30 N hot hatch and Fastback, the compact SUV Kona scored a full EV drivetrain. It changed just about everything we know about the electric vehicle market.
Words: Peter Anderson Images: Rhys Vandersyde Co-pilot: Todd Fletcher
How much is the Hyundai Kona Electric and what do I get?
Pricing(December 2019) Hyundai Kona EV Elite: $59,990 Hyundai Kona EV Highlander: $64,990
You have a choice of two Kona EVs, as it happens. The “entry-level” Elite costs a stout $59,900 while the Highlander I had for a week stings you $64,990. For comparison, the bottom-of-the-range Kona Go is $24,000 while the turbocharged all-wheel drive Highlander is $39,990.
It’s a lot, but we’ll talk about why it isn’t really a bit later. It would be great if EVs were cheaper, but the less you spend, the fewer kilometres you will cover. It’s going to get better, though, so if you don’t have sixty-large, sit tight for a few more years.
The Highlander lands with 17-inch alloys, an eight-speaker stereo, climate control, reversing camera, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, pretty much everything is electric, sat nav, LED headlights, fake leather interior (nothing wrong with that), head up display, auto wipers and headlights, Qi wireless charging, sunroof, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated and cooled front seats, active cruise control and a heated steering wheel.
And instead of a spare tyre, you get a tyre repair kit. Gotta put the batteries somewhere.
Do you need all the Highlander’s extra stuff? Not really. Most of it is just cosmetic or luxury stuff like the sunroof or the wireless charging. The latter is a bit pointless because you don’t get wireless CarPlay, so, you know.
The Elite misses out on front parking sensors (honestly, you don’t need them in the Kona), auto high-beam, keyless entry, the screen is an inch smaller, the front seats aren’t electrically adjustable, there’s no head-up display and there are some either minor spec differences. You get a lot of stuff for the money when you remember this is an EV with a good range.
Safety: 5 stars (ANCAP, October 2019).
The Kona Electric has six airbags, blind-spot monitoring, forward collision warning, forward AEB (high and low-speed) with pedestrian detection, active cruise, front and rear parking sensors, lane keep assist, lane departure warning and reverse cross-traffic alert.
The Elite’s safety package is identical.
The Kona EV holds the distinction of the first electric car ever crash tested here in Australia by ANCAP.
Warranty and Servicing
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited km Battery Warranty: 8 years/160,000km
The standard Hyundai new car warranty applies to the Kona electric, with a separate warranty for the battery. It’s still pretty early in the car’s life to know if there are any persistent or common problems, but most EV owners wax lyrical about their cars, so they’re less likely to broadcast drama. Tesla owners are the most patient people I know.
However, given this one is going to appeal more mainstream buyers – a bit like the Nissan Leaf – I wonder if people will be more willing to get cranky if they feel the Kona doesn’t meet expectations.
Hyundai offers two ways to pay for maintenance. If you pay up-front for pre-paid servicing, you can roll the cost into your finance (if you have any). Otherwise you can keep checking back on the website (when they fix it) to see the costs associated with the Lifetime Service Plan program.
Whatever happens, every time you service the car at a Hyundai dealer you get another 12 months on roadside assist.
Look and Feel
At first glance, it’s obviously a Kona.
Inside and out, though, you’re left with little doubt that this is the Kona Electric. For a start you have the two-tone colour scheme, different front and rear bumpers and that wacky, blanked-out grille. The wheels are also weird-looking. All of those things add up to a lower drag coefficient to make the car slippery through the air and use less juice.
The Kona EV also has its own set of colours – Phantom Black, Galactic Grey, Ceramic Blue (pictured), Pulse Red, Lake Silver and Chalk White. Only that last colour is a freebie, the rest are a teeth-grinding $595.
The interior architecture is mostly the same as other Konas, barring the new centre console. The drive selector is a funny-looking cluster of buttons that look like afterthoughts. It’s as though the designers forgot to put something there. The new console also has a storage tray underneath because there’s nothing in the way.
As with other Konas, you get four cupholders (two upfront, two in the back), a storage bin under the armrest and big door pockets. The rear doors have small bottle holders, too.
Boot space is 39 fewer litres than the ICE cars, with 332 litres, which isn’t a lot. Also remember there’s no spare under there, it’s all Li-ion batteries. Having said that, 39 litres is going to make or break this as a load lugger, is it? You can drop the rear seats for more space, rising to 1114 litres.
Kona Electric Drivetrain
Weird drive select buttons
Rather amusingly, the Kona’s electric heart is dressed up to look like an engine. That’s weird.
The Kona’s electric motor sends power to the front wheels only (boo!) via a single-speed transmission. With 150kW and a massive 395Nm of torque on tap. That’s almost as much as, say, a BMW Z4 30i. Both figures are available from zero rpm, obviously.
More to the point, no other compact SUV on the market has this kind of poke except maybe for the Audi Q2, and even then…
Battery and charging
A 356-volt lithium-ion polymer battery pack lives under the car with a 64kWh capacity. On the WLTP (or more snappily, Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) cycle, the Kona scored an astonishing 449km of range.
WLTP is a good measure because it’s much closer to real life and actually takes into account driving the car for longer than 13 minutes on a rolling road where Volkswagen got itself into trouble.
To charge the battery, you have the usual options. At home it will take a day or so to get to 80 percent if you charge from flat to full. With the optional wallbox and onboard 7.2kW charger, that drops to about nine and a half hours.
If you can find a 50kW charger, you’ll get 0-80 percent in 75 minutes and 54 minutes if you score a 100kW charger. Good luck. But the key here is that the Kona is ready for those fast-charger boxes.
If you look closely at the photo of the engine, you’ll see an old-fashioned 12-volt battery sitting next to the motor. That’s because the Kona Electric is based on a standard internal combustion-engined (ICE) platform. It made me laugh, but it means Hyundai didn’t have to completely re-engineer the car’s electrical system.
This is the best bit. Hyundai has always been pretty good with its claimed fuel figures in its petrol and diesel cars. Always within about 10 or 15 percent where most carmakers are off by around 30 percent. Some even more, way more. NEDC figures are laughably off-beam, so it’s safe to disregard them. Hyundai pretty much does, too, which is heartening. More carmakers need to make sensible choices like that.
Even so, I thought 449km was going to stretch the truth a fair bit.
I had the car for a week and absolutely drove the wheels off the thing. I still managed 412km on the full charge it came with, with range to spare. That means I was using about 15kWh/100km, which is damn close to the WLTP figure. On a 30c/kWh tariff, that’s about $4.50 of power for every 100km. Contrast that with a Kona Active’s average of about 8.9L/100km and do that at a very generous $1.20 per litre, that’s $10.68 per 100km.
Do the sums over 15,000km per year and it’s a saving of $927 at the generous $1.20 figure. The real figure will be more because that’s rare and if you go with a certain power company, they’ll give you unlimited charging for $1/day at home. If you’ve got solar, then the savings will be greater again.
Driving
“I spy with my little eye…” / Energy recovery setting
I really like the standard Kona. I ran one for six months as a long-term test car for carsguide. It was a terrific car, even though it was a bit slow. Handled well, space for my family, decent boot. All that normal stuff.
The Kona Electric is one of the shrewdest moves Hyundai has ever made. The SUV market is going bananas so that’s a no-brainer. It’s a normal car for normal people, you just don’t fill it with fuel.
But to drop a car in the market with a genuinely massive range that silences even the most committed range anxiety adherents is brilliant. Range anxiety is a genuine thing – my wife won’t drive the i3 far if it isn’t the REX and panics when an ICE car drops to a quarter full. Something to do with her dad always running out of petrol because he’s a goose.
You don’t have to worry about that so much in the Kona. With such a long range, most people will only have to charge it once per week. Or, if you’re sensible, just plug it into the mains every night. It’s really about habit.
Anyway.
The Kona is one of the most capable urban cars I’ve driven. It’s fast off the line, meaning you can get ahead of traffic easily. That first jump is impressive and you never get bored of the shove from the traffic lights.
Like the i3 and Leaf, the Kona recovers energy when you lift off the throttle. You’ll find paddles on the Kona’s steering wheel. Obviously, given it’s a single-speed reduction gear, you’re not changing gears. What it does is change how aggressively the electric motor recovers energy. You have three settings to choose from and I always go for the most hardcore. You can then pretty much drive the car on the throttle pedal. It’s a lot of fun (hey, don’t judge me) working out when you lift off to roll the car to a stop at the lights or stop sign.
The standard Kona is pretty handy in the bends and the electric is even better. Probably partly to do with the way you can slingshot out of corners with that huge slab of torque. The steering is really good, just enough life to let you know what’s going on and the suspension soaks up the bumps beautifully.
Even though it runs on very tall sidewalls (215/55), the car has plenty of grip and rides really well. It walks a pretty good line between comfort and handling, like just about every Hyundai on sale today.
There’s not much to grip about – I’d like better tyres on it, but that would slightly increase consumption with the grip. Bigger wheels would also increase power consumption, but with such a long, dependable range, it can cope. I would also like it to look a little less electric-ey both inside and out. I reckon the interior is a bit chintzy with all the silver buttons everywhere.
Competitors
Nissan Leaf / Jaguar I-PACE (not really)
Electric isn’t cheap, I don’t care what anyone says. You can’t scream blue murder about this kind of pricing when there is nothing else like it on the market. Punters want SUVs and the next cheapest SUV is the Jaguar I-PACE, closely matched (in price) by the Tesla Model X. Both are completely different cars and twice the price. Neither can really cover the number of miles of the Kona and probably should, given the price differential.
Deep breath – the Tesla Model 3 is about $3000 more than the Kona Electric. Tesla claims a range of 460km on the NEDC cycle, so you can comfortably knock 80-100km off that. It is faster than the Kona to 100km/h by two full seconds. You also have no idea when you’ll get, tiny dealership network and you might get a car built well or not well at all. Luck of the draw. By all accounts, it’s a great car to drive, but in its basic form, is probably not going to get the job done the way the Kona does. Spend another $18,000 for the Long Range and you’ll leapfrog the Kona. The Tesla Model 3 is a good car. Whether it’s a good car for you in its basic form is up to you.
Next up is the second-generation Nissan Leaf. I’m not going to pretend it’s the world’s most interesting car, but it’s not a bad choice. It’s $49,990, so an easy $10,000 cheaper than the Kona Elite, but has a shorter range (270km). It’s well-specced, though.
Then there’s the hilarious little Renault Zoe, complete with the Jetson’s pedestrian warning sound. I really quite like the wee beastie, but it has a real-world range of 300km. Renault’s claimed figure of 400km with the ZE 4 battery set is a little optimistic. It costs about the same as the Leaf, which is mildly disappointing, but I reckon it looks better.
Redline Recommendation
There’s nothing fancy about all this – it’s a sensible, low-risk, low complexity approach. It’s not a technological tour-de-force like the Tesla, but we all know how that’s worked out for them. Hyundai has a huge dealer network, a long-term commitment to the Australian market and an excellent warranty and servicing package.
This car changed a few minds – one of my regular co-pilots, Mark, drove the Kona and couldn’t believe how much fun it was. He’s not on board with electric cars but the Kona might just have started the process of changing his mind.
This is the electric car I would buy today – my heart would be screaming BMW i3 S, but my head knows the Kona Electric is the best (silent) bang for your buck you can buy.
The Audi PB18 was unveiled yesterday at the annual poshfest at Pebble Beach. Ingolstadts’s commitment to electric cars continues with a very pretty – and working – electric supercar concept. Despite almost nobody buying the R8 e-tron, Audi persists. And thank goodness for that.
Much like the Infiniti Prototype 10, the PB18 is a monoposto single-seater, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. For a start the PB18 has a roof.
Looking at it, you can clearly see the design elements pinched from the limited edition Aicon as well as the R8 V10 supercar. But this is a supercar built around its electric drivetrain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el-4dupoIWg Audi’s official trailer for the PB18
The PB18 its more shooting brake than mid-engine sportscar. With all the electric gear down low, the car’s design is much more race-car oriented.
It has a real boot but things go a bit weird in the cabin itself. With just a single seat, the whole setup is mounted on a sliding system. Saves money on right-hand drive/left-hand drive conversion but I like taking people with me in fast cars.
The new-look dash is something to behold, though, a fully digital setup and some cool detailing. Very concept car.
Audi PB18 Drivetrain
Three electric motors push the PB18 down the road, with two at the rear and one at the front. The forward motor drives each front wheel via half-shafts and has 150kW (204PS). Together, the rears spin up 350kW (476PS) with a combined 500kW (680PS) on offer. Hit the boost button and, in F1 parlance, you’ll deploy another 70kW (96PS) for a total of 570kW (775PS).
That’s a lot.
And there’s more – maximum torque is an impressive 830Nm. Audi says that the PB18 will zip from 0-100km (0-62mph) in “scarcely more than two seconds.”
All of this entirely believable, by the way, although I am left wondering about the tyres’ longevity.
Power comes from a liquid-cooled, 95kWh solid-state battery. Audi claims a full charge delivers 502km (310 miles) on the WLTP cycle, which is a good indicator. If you can find an 800-volt power source, you have full charge in just 15 minutes.
For charging at home, the Audi PB18 e-tron can be charged wirelessly with Audi’s induction pad (real-world existence TBC).
Audi PB18 Chassis and Aero
The PB18 sports independent suspension all-round, with upper and lower transverse control arms. The front axle features pushrods while the rear has pull-rods, both familiar to race car fans. Audi says its off the R18 e-tron Le Mans car.
The huge 22-inch wheels are wrapped in 275/35s up front ad 315/30s at the back. The 19-inch carbon discs
Massive wheels measure 22 inches in diameter and are fitted with 275/35 tyres in the front and 315/30 in the back. Large carbon brake discs with a 19-inch (482mm!) diameter should serve you extremely well. Especially when you consider the extra engine braking from the recovery system.
The chassis itself is made of a mix of aluminium, carbon and “multi-material composites”, meaning the weight is “less than 1550kg.” Audi credits the lightweight solid-state battery for much of the weight-saving.
PB18’s aggressive aero certainly looks the part. The gaping hexagonal grille funnels air up over the windscreen, so there’s no front boot. For that full-on race-car feel, the suspension is exposed. The huge rear wing helps glue the rear down and you can bet your bottom dollar it has a flat…er…bottom.
What’s its point, though?
Well, it’s a concept, pure and simple. While it runs and there are bits of that are production-ready – like the electric motors – at best, this will be a limited run sportscar. The Aicon from last year will have a limited production run, so stranger things have happened.
The whacky sliding driving position is a good clue that this isn’t really a production car. With just one seat that slides from side to side to let you out, it’s not really something that normal customers would want.
Then again, for the kind of money Audi could charge for the PB18, normal customers aren’t really in the mix.
Think it’s dumb? Matt probably agree – read his concept car Hot Take
The Infiniti Prototype 10 is the Japanese luxury maker’s Monterey show car. And, let’s be honest, it’s a cry for attention. Infiniti has struggled for the sort of success of compatriot Lexus, so the company has gone big.
The Prototype 10 is quite interesting. The Prototype 10 will grab some headlines because it’s quite striking. And kind of irrelevant – there is absolutely no way this car is going anywhere near a production line.
What is the Infiniti Prototype 10?
Following on from the Prototype 9, Protoype 10 is an electric speedster. Looking at it, it’s quite reminiscent of Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss. Except it has fewer seats, probably so Infiniti could use the term monoposto. So, uh, yeah, not super-practical. Gorgeous, though.
The new Infiniti Prototype 10 is the work of new Executive Design Director, Karim Habib. With a new design director comes a new direction, so the 10 is about introducing some new ideas. Infiniti poached Lebanese-Canadian Habib from BMW late last year. Habib also worked at Mercedes, so he knows his way around luxury cars.
Infiniti recently announced that from 2021 its cars will be either hybrid, range extender or pure electric. If that sounds a bit far-fetched, remember that Infiniti is part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi giant.
“The Infiniti Prototype 10 echoes the layout and design of early speedsters. This period saw the creation of some of the most evocative car designs of all time, where power was celebrated through high-powered single-seat competition cars. Our new concept speaks of an electrified future, something which is reflected in its form and details.” – Karim Habib
Designed at Infiniti’s Californian design studio, the company reckons that made sense for a speedster. Something to do with the place being the natural home of the speedster. Mmkay.
This is the type of car Matt Hatton complained about, quite recently in fact. No specs, it doesn’t move under its own power. Most because it’s pretty, partly because it will annoy Matt, I love it.
As cries for attention go, it’s a good one.
Like our Pebble Beach coverage? There’s more here including the new BMW Z4, which is a real car you can drive.
Porsche’s electric future is underway and the first car has a name – Porsche Taycan. Yeah, you read that right. Tell me you didn’t hear aha’s “Take On Me” in your head as soon as you saw that.
Mission-E becomes Porsche Taycan
The Porsche path to electric has been a long, considered one. While Tesla provides covering fire for everyone, the people at Porsche have been getting on with it. By 2022, Porsche will have spent more than €6bn (US$7.1bn) on electric mobility. That’s twice the originally-planned figure, but I smell some double accounting here.
It’s not just Porsche, obviously. Following the PR disaster of Volkswagen’s Dieselgate, the whole group is going to EV land. We’ve already covered the new electric SUV Cross Turismo and I’ve written about it’s Audi sister car over at Drive Zero.
The Porsche Taycan is the automobile formerly known as plain old Mission E. Taycan sort of means “lively young horse.” I guess Mustang and Colt were already taken (that’s a joke, obviously).
Porsche went to great lengths to remind us they do good names. Cayenne means fiery (ok, cool, but it’s a massive SUV). Cayman means “incisive and agile” (does it?). Panamera apparently means it offers “more than a standard Gran Turismo” (uh-huh).
And Macan comes from an Indonesian word meaning tiger. That I like and didn’t know before.
Taycan Me (not sorry)
We don’t know much else. The drivetrain is comprised of two “permanently excited” synchronous motors. The system output is over 440kW (600PS) with a 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time of 3.5 seconds. Porsche reckons you can do multiple successive launches without a loss in performance. That’ll cause a bit of side-eye among the Tesla fans.
The company says the range is “over 500km” on the NEDC, so it’ll be an I-Pace matching (ish) 450km on the more realistic WLTP. It’s quicker than the Jag, though.
The car goes into production in 2019 at the new upgraded Zuffenhausen plant. The upgrades include a new assembly area, a new bridge to get the bodies and drive units to final assembly and mods to the existing engine plant. Which will no doubt include heaps of power plugs to charge them all up.
Of the extra €3bn, Porsche will spend €500m on the Taycan and variants, €1bn on electrification of the rest of the range (including hybrid versions) and €700m on charging networks, new tech and smart mobility. Oh, and another several hundred million on production sites. Porsche says the Taycan will create 1200 jobs all on its own.
This is as big a deal for Porsche as the I-Pace is for Jaguar. The Cross Turismo will also be super important because SUVs bankroll Porsche’s sportscar business. That doesn’t mean the sportscars don’t make money, it’s just that the SUVs make stacks more. And that means lots of cool weird stuff like special edition Speedsters and 918-style hypercars.
Porsche Taycan Video
Here’s a video of the Taycan, hosted on Vimeo for some reason:
You read that dodgy joke right – the next Maserati coupe, the Alfieri, is going electric.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ outgoing boss, Sergio Marchionne spent Friday telling the world about his five-year plan that someone else has to deliver. He’s off to terrorise his grandkids if they don’t win every three-legged race.
Maserati’s sales increase increase since 2011 – 700 percent! – is funding two new models to join the Levante, Ghibli and Quattroporte. That means the Alfieri (finally) and a new mid-size SUV to take on the Q5/X3/GLC-sized segment.
The presentation also included two new Alfa Romeo sportscars but what really got our attention was the new Alfieri.
Maserati Alfieri
First shown at a Geneva Motor Show aeons ago (okay, 2014) it looks like it’s finally happening. And it’s a bit unexpected.
The Alfieri is powered by three electric motors and the company says it will sprint to 100km/h (62mph) in two seconds. That sounds familiar. The three motors feature active torque vectoring and drive all four wheels.
Like the Gran Turismo and Gran Cabrio it replaces, it will carry four people but with that kind of performance will give a Ferrari GTC4 Lusso a walloping in a straight line. As well as mashing your kidneys.
Maserati says the battery system is 800-volts and will feature quick charge. The company also reckons the Alfieri will weight just 175kg more than it would if it sported a petrol engine.
Maserati Blue
The same electric tech will also find its way into the new Quattroporte, Ghibli and Levante replacements, offering fully electric and/or plug-in hybrid versions.
In fact, all Maseratis will feature electric or PHEV versions by 2022. The entire FCA Group is going mad for electric in order to ditch diesel, which doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. Guess who is going to make these power units? Ferrari. Join the dots, folks.
All of this is pretty bold for Maserati. Going all-on on electric is part of FCA’s €8 billion electrification spend that will see not just EV Maseratis, but Jeeps, Fiats, Alfas…and Ferraris.
Not going to lie, though – I’ll miss that Ferrari V8 in a Maserati coupe’s nose.
Here’s a thing – the new Jaguar I-Pace is fast. Like really fast. And I reckon Tesla should watch out because not only will the I-Pace see off a Model X 100D, it looks better and is bound to be built better. Rolling down the line at Austria’s Magna-Steyr – alongside E-Pace – the I is Jaguar’s game-changer.
Jaguar I-Pace
The I-Pace feels like it has been a long time coming, but it’s hugely important. It’s not just important to Jaguar, but to the whole industry. It’s the first non-Tesla electric SUV and it will set the tone for the rest of the business.
Like the Tesla, the I-Pace was conceived and designed as an EV, meaning no compromises. There’s no room for a conventional engine so no foot-in-each-camp nonsense. Jaguar says it designed the electric motors themselves to deliver 294kW (400PS) and a stonking 696Nm.
That’s enough to send the I-Pace on to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds, just a shade quicker than a standard Model X 100D. If you drive a little more sedately, Jaguar reckons you’ll get 480km or almost 300 miles out of the 90kWh lithium-ion battery (based on the new WLTP European testing cycle). The US EPA test reckons 389km (240 miles), which is still pretty good.
And before you fire up about the Model X, a P100D will show it a clean gigantic backside, quicker still if you pay for Ludicrous Mode.
Charging
The rapid charging stations Jaguar is planning to install will give you 100km of range in 15 minutes and an 80 percent charge in 40 minutes. Interestingly, the company is coy on 100 percent charge, probably because the last 20 percent takes ages and isn’t good for battery longevity.
Charging at home is rather slower, with an overnight charge (10 hours) getting you to 80 percent, but you’ll need the 7kW AC wall box for that. Jaguar reckons that’s good for most customers who will be able to charge on overnight off-peak electricity (cheaper, if you were wondering what that means).
Chassis
The two motors are mounted one at each end and chat to each other to decide which wheels need torque. I find the Tesla dual motors aren’t too flash on the power shuffling and mimicking a good diff, so it will be interesting to see what Jaguar has done. Jaguar may not be new to car-building, but it is new to electric.
The chassis is completely aluminium and Jaguar says it’s the stiffest in its range. It also has a 50/50 weight distribution figure, which bodes very well indeed for handling. That and the low position of the batteries means it should corner super-flat. The I-Pace has double wishbones up front and an “integral link rear axle”. Should you feel the need, you can spec air suspension as well.
Despite all the aluminium it won’t be light. The motors weigh just 38kg each but the overall weight of the car is 2133kg. But the low centre of gravity (lower than F-Pace) and even weight distribution should make it good to drive. If it’s anywhere near as fun as the E-Pace – and it should be with all that grunt – Jag’s on to a winner.
Interior
As with most electric cars, the interior should be reasonably spacious, with a flat floor and some funky features.
Jaguar called the new media system Touch Pro Duo. Using a bewildering combination of “touchscreens, capacitive sensors and tactile physical controls”, Jaguar says it’s intuitive. I think I need to play with it before I pass judgement, but it certainly looks good in there.
The I-Pace has integration with Amazon’s Ask Alexa, too, which will be interesting. You can ask Alexa things like “Is my car locked?”, or whatever is in the InControl app.
You can also get remote access to fire up the air-con or heating while plugged in. It recognises key and the Bluetooth signature of your phone and set the car up for you. That’s quite nifty.
The nav system is EV-centric, checking out how many curves and hills are between you and your destination. It will also have a think about the previous trips you’ve taken to tell you whether or not you’ll make it comfortably.
Jag also says it’s big inside with the room of a large SUV and I’ve seen nothing that suggests otherwise.
The Jaguar I-Pace debuts at the Geneva Motor Show and will probably be one of the big stars. As it should be.
In what appears to be an act of automotive parkour, the new Range Rover PHEV has climbed to China’s Dragon’s Road and then on to Heaven’s Gate. All 99 turns and 999 steps including a 45-degree incline to get there. That’s…well, it’s slightly nuts. But you can’t have stunts without nuts and a couple of extra letters.
Stunts also need good drivers, or, failing that a driver with a local connection. Ho-Pin Tung is a good driver and has a local connection – he had the chops to be a Williams development driver and has won his class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He’s also Jaguar’s Formula E reserve driver.
Dragon’s Road is on Tianmen Mountain. The 11.3km road is narrow and spectacular, with huge drops over the side. Once you reach the end of the road, you’ll find the stairs to Heaven’s Gate. They’re steep and, er, not really made for cars, not even for a two-tonne 297kW (398bhp) Range Rover hybrid which probably wasn’t on the builders’ minds, if I’m honest.
“This was the hardest Range Rover Sport challenge I’ve ever been involved with because, until we reached the top, we couldn’t categorically say we would succeed. By making it to the summit, we’ve proven the phenomenal capability of the Range Rover Sport plug-in hybrid like never before – with a genuine world first.”
Phil Jones, Land Rover Experience expert
Range Rover PHEV
But wait. Isn’t The Redline all about performance? We certainly are, and I think it’s fair to say that the Rangie is a performance car. Called the Range Rover Sport P400e, that e bit is important – it’s got an electric motor. Now, laudably, you can pootle around town on electrons only for up to 50km/h. Remember, the RR is pretty chunky, so even if you get half that, it’s cheaper, quieter and better for everyone, especially if you’ve charged from renewables.
Under the bonnet is the 221kW (300bhp) version of Jaguar’s 2.0-litre turbo Ingenium engine plugged into a nine-speed automatic transmission. Crammed in there is the 85kW electric motor which, as we’ve already mentioned, you can charge from the mains. When they’re working together, the Rangie moves with indecent speed and, as Tung discovered, will climb up the stairs when in the right Terrain response mode.
The video tells you all the good stuff, so have a watch and have a look at the images in the gallery.
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