Car review

Chinese giant adds a plug-in hybrid SUV to its growing British showroom range In the UK, there’s a belief that Chinese electric cars are often technically brilliant, while its ICE efforts never are. So where does the new BYD Seal U plug-in hybrid fit into place?This SUV is an important curiosity, because the world’s largest manufacturer of electric cars, which so far has only introduced EVs to the UK, has seen fit to bring a PHEV here.This isn’t new ground for BYD. Back in 2008, it was the first manufacturer to mass-produce a PHEV. Called the F3DM, it was a bit of a commercial flop. But the game has moved on a great deal since then, and now PHEVs are in the mainstream.The Seal U is very much aimed at family SUV owners who aren’t quite ready to make the full switch to electricity yet. Rivals include PHEV versions of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Kia Sportage and Toyota RAV4.

Hard-grafting and capable off-roader gains a longer, pick-up truck variant I wonder, if this Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster pick-up variant of the Grenadier 4x4 had been launched first, whether we would perceive the car differently.The Grenadier Station Wagon is sometimes compared unfavourably with premium SUVs because it costs as much as them but feels less sophisticated. This pick-up, though, sits in ‘N1’ commercial vehicle territory: if it had arrived first, would a shorter, boxed passenger version that followed have been cut more slack? And has the Quartermaster now found its place as a purer utility vehicle?

Latest, most sophisticated and tech-heavy Mustang yet remains one of the cheapest ways of getting of a V8 coupe With more than ten million sold across a production run stretching more than 60 years, the Ford Mustang had a firm spot in popular culture. Which means almost everyone has their own idea about what they think it should be. Whether it’s a Boulevard cruiser, something to lazily rumble its way down a motorway or to simply wake the neighbours of a Sunday morning, it probably is to me what it isn't to you. But there has always been one constant: it's one of the cheapest ways to bag yourself a new V8 coupe.This S650 generation is no different, with prices starting from £55,725 for the base GT model. That's £10,105 less than the BMW M2 and £19,399 less than the Porsche Cayman GTS. Even the more powerful, track-oriented Dark Horse variant - from £67,995 - is well priced considering it has an extra 7bhp and a suite of track-oriented upgrades.Ford hopes this, and the fact it is now only available with a V8, will continue the pony car's evergreen appeal among loyal customers, while also helping it to attract fresh, younger buyers.To appeal to the latter, this is the most tech-rich Mustang there has ever been - coming with twice the computing power of the last one, a drift-inducing electronic handbrake, the ability to receive over-the-air software updates and change its digital screens (up to 13.2in in size) to a retro 1970s look. So this comprehensively and technologically overhauled piece of American muscle that draws on six generations of experience to try and match the best in its class. But does it succeed?

Rather than cranking the dial up to 11 as the CSL did, this car aims for a perfect 10 Getting excited about the BMW M4 CS requires an understanding of its big sibling, the M4 CSL. That was the 1000-off, extra-special M4 that came out a couple of years ago, and while it was hideously expensive, it was also the first product in two decades to which M felt comfortable assigning its most venerated nameplate: the lesser-spotted ‘Coupé Sports Licht’.But the ripsnorting M4 CSL wasn’t a unanimous knockout. With its bonnet stripes it looked OTT and, at £130,000, it cost the same as an Audi R8. The driving experience was also broadly that of the regular M4 Competition. Which, to be clear, is no bad thing. But if you deign to dish out those hallowed letters, then some people will expect a ramp-up in drama akin to that of stepping from a Porsche 911 Carrera S into a full-blown GT3, and the CSL wasn’t that car. At 1650kg, neither was it all that licht, even if the 100kg saved over the Comp wasn’t bad going.So the CSL remains a touch unloved, even if it is undoubtedly an extraordinary M4. My go in one back in 2022 was brief, but the way that endless nose folded itself into corners – simultaneously flat and instant, but fluid and natural – left an impression. Compliance was borderline but the handling fizzed with energy and the souped-up straight six was a thuggish delight with a metallic turbo rasp. If anything, the real issue was thatthe thing was too oversteery.A sideways glance at the throttle pedal could loosen the tail. Punting the CSL down a damp B-road was a cold examination of your synaptic aptitude. It was brilliant but feral.Which brings us to the new, ‘lesser’ M4 CS. It promises to bottle most of the CSL’s vivacity but with sweeter road manners and fewer wayward handling impulses. 

Cupra uses some old-school tricks to create a new-age hot hatch  Press presentations for new cars are normally given by someone from marketing with lots of graphs and charts about trim levels and why it’s better than rival X at Y.  But the presentation for the new Cupra Born VZ was one to really sit up and pay attention.It was given by ex-World Touring Car Championship driver turned performance car development engineer Jordi Gene. It was delivered by a proper enthusiast with serious credentials and was all about brake pedal feel, suspension changes, drivetrain improvements; our kind of language, and a car to be taken seriously. The Born VZ is the hot hatch version of the standard Born hatchback, which is already the electric car we rate the highest for handling appeal. It recently won our best sub-£40,000 electric car test and last year beat a more specialist EV field where handling ability was placed at a premium.The positioning of the Born VZ is quite different to other electric hot hatches: at one end the Abarth 500e is stiff and raucous while at the other the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is hi-tech and terrifically adjustable. The Born VZ splits the difference quite nicely: it doesn’t make a play on electric technology, or even too much of the fact of being electric; its makers simply wanted to make a hot hatch that happens to be electric, so there’s no fake sounds or too much electrical interference.