First Drive

If you look at it in a certain way, choosing the new mild-hybrid version of the popular Ford Puma ST sport crossover instead of the original pure-petrol version will cost you precisely a tenner.

Deciding between the original pure-petrol car (with a six-speed manual gearbox) and the new MHEV one (with a seven-speed automatic) may therefore seem a simple decision: use less fuel and emit less CO2 for a tiny extra outlay. But it’s nowhere near that simple.

The Puma ST’s petrol-manual powertrain is the familiar 198bhp 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo set-up that we all know and admire from the now-departed Fiesta ST. It returns a combined 42.8mpg on WLTP test cycle, emits 149g/km of CO2 and gives the car a decent 0-62mph sprint time of 6.7sec.

However, the Puma ST Hybrid uses the smaller, 1.0-litre turbo triple as its main powerplant, linked to an integrated 48V starter-generator that can collect modest amounts of electrical energy when the car is slowing and deploy it again when the car accelerates.

Compared with more effective, more frugal hybrids (Toyota’s, for example) this system is relatively simple to engineer and, well, a bit token. Its main claim to fame is that it equips those who don’t want to shift their own gears with a handy dual-clutch unit, complete with easy-to-use shift paddles discreetly mounted behind the steering wheel’s horizontal spokes.

However, the mild-hybrid’s improvements in emissions and fuel economy are modest indeed. Its combined figure is 44.8mpg – up by less than 5% – and its CO2 output declines by less than 3%.

To get that, you’re choosing an engine that delivers 168bhp instead of 198bhp, so 15% less; and a model that’s 0.7sec slower from 0-62mph, a relatively easily detectable margin.

What are the upsides? One is that if your preoccupation is to buy a self-shifting hot hatchback, the Puma ST doesn’t require you to fork out the usual automatic margin – often up to £1500.

Another advantage is this car’s impressive throttle response at very low speeds – delicate manoeuvring in traffic, for instance. Here, the short-term intervention of the ISG is at its most effective: the car responds keenly to the lightest accelerator inputs, albeit with a low-speed grumble from the otherwise-excellent triple, which can sound a bit like a distant coffee-grinder.

As a total entity, this electrified powertrain fits the Puma ST envelope perfectly well. Were it not for the availability of the more powerful Ecoboost one, we would probably have few complaints.

With the 1.0-litre engine in its nose, the Puma ST’s familiar recipe of a neat-looking, well-equipped and reasonably compact crossover is just about good as ever.

If you’ve not been in a sporty Ford for a while, it takes a while to get acclimatised again to the chassis recipe of tautness, firm ride and a quick-geared steering system that offers a curious mix of pin-accuracy, fairly heavy rim effort and mild feeling of deadness until you’re really going for it.

Your regard for the Puma ST increases when you start to start driving it briskly and decisively. At that point, it strikes you as slightly ironic that a car built to such a suburban format should be such an obvious B-roads specialist. But this ST is meant to suit owners who need a practical car that they will also seriously enjoy punting briskly, and in any case, it’s an ideal choice.

As the Japanese firm's first electric family SUV, it’s clear just how important the Honda e:Ny1 is to the brand. We’ve already seen the manufacturer’s first steps into the world of battery-electric cars with the Honda E, a niche offering that has been on sale since 2020.

Honda’s high hopes for the e:Ny1 are vital for its zero-emission goals. As a result of the zero-emission mandate, the brand expects 22% of its registrations by the end of next year to consist of e:Ny1 sales, which is equivalent to around 7500 cars.

The firm has selected quite a congested segment in which to launch its first family EV. By Honda’s own reckoning, the e:Ny1 will directly face off with the likes of the Toyota bZ4X, Renault Mégane E-Tech, Volkswagen ID 4 and even the extremely popular Tesla Model Y. As the first car in Europe based on the firm’s e:N Architecture F platform, it has quite the job to do.

Honda positions the e:Ny1 as an acceptable and comfortable stepping stone into BEV ownership for both existing customers and those who are new to the brand. It looks like it will become just that sooner rather than later, too, given that Rebecca Adamson, Honda UK’s head of automobile, has said there would be no direct successor to the Honda E urban hatchback.

At 1584mm tall, 1790mm wide and 4387mm long, the e:Ny1 measures 60mm longer than the Honda HR-V. It’s the first Honda to feature the firm’s new electric vehicle identity, with a white Honda logo (in place of the traditional silver) and a typed-out ‘Honda’ at the rear.

It’s certainly an eye-catching car – particularly in the optional Aqua Topaz blue paint chosen to spearhead the model’s launch and with slimmed-down headlights, stylish wheel designs and a rear light bar all matching nicely with the surrounding black and chrome exterior trim.

Beneath the metal, power comes from a 68.8kWh battery offering 256 miles of range (WLTP) and able to charge at speeds of up to 78kW. That might not seem particularly rapid, but Honda says it has prioritised sustained higher rates over headline rapid charging figures, with “very little” drop when nearing capacity, which in turn helps to prevent battery deterioration and maintain range. Regardless, the e:Ny1 will get from 10% charge to 80% in around 45 minutes.

The car is driven by a front-mounted electric motor producing 201bhp and 229lb ft. That Civic-matching power is felt during acceleration, which is enough for the e:Ny1 to accelerate from a standstill to 62mph in 7.6sec, matching rivals including the ID 4 and Kia Niro EV.

There are three driving modes: Eco, Normal and Sport. Sport ups performance and slightly adjusts the steering, but most of our driving was done in a mixture of Eco and Normal, both of which seemed brisk enough.

Around town, the e:Ny1 is genuinely pleasurable to drive, with satisfying power delivery and light steering. It is softly damped and soaks up the majority of bumps with ease, and it’s a welcoming place to be for both driver and passengers. It beats the Model Y for outright comfort and felt great around Oslo, making navigating the city’s winding streets and tramlines a simpletask. It even held up comfortably during an accidental detour up a Norwegian green lane, on which it handled a dirt surface with aplomb.

Honda does suggest, however, that the e:Ny1 has been specifically engineered for a “fun and confidence-inspiring driving experience”. It fell slightly short of that description when tackling Norway’s twisting, fjord-circling asphalt.

Its near two-tonne weight is felt in the sharpest corners, where there is a tendency to understeer, and it lacks the dynamics offered by rivals such as the Kia EV6.

It’s clear Honda has placed an emphasis on comfort. The e:Ny1’s padded seats are plush and inviting, and there’s plenty of space in the back to accommodate taller passengers. The steering wheel helps the e:Ny1 feel like a quality product, with nicely positioned ergonomic buttons that are solid to press.

The huge infotainment system does look intimidating at first, but after a few minutes of fiddling it is simple enough to navigate, although it suffers from a degree of low latency and is tedious to use on the move.

Honda bills the e:Ny1’s specification level as a key draw for customers, offering desirable levels of technology even on its entry-level models. There’s a choice of two specification levels: the £44,995 Elegance and £47,195 Advance. We drove the latter, but it’s the former that Honda expects to be its biggest seller by a margin of 60% to 40%.

Standard equipment includes that expansive 15.0in touchscreen with sat-nav and smartphone mirroring, keyless entry, heated front seats and parking sensors. Automatic wipers are also included on basic models, as is dual-zone climate control, wireless phone charging and a set of 18in alloy wheels. Advance trim cars, meanwhile, benefit in addition from a panoramic sunroof, Honda’s Parking Pilot assistance system, a premium audio set-up, a powered tailgate and a heated steering wheel.

Thanks to the e:Ny1’s high-end specification and useable everyday practicality, it should be given genuine consideration as a family-friendly electric SUV. It is expensive, however, and the claimed 256 miles of range is well beaten by a slew of its rivals. 

It must be tricky for car makers like Bentley to know how much and how quickly to commit to the electrification of its cars. A battle is being fought between the volume-selling premium brands at present, with new plug-in hybrid SUVs emerging month by month - from BMW, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and others - with upwards of 60, 70 or even 80 miles of official ‘equivalent all-electric range’.

To a certain extent, it’s a battle that Bentley can afford to stand and watch, as nobody buying the new Bentley Bentayga S Hybrid will be worrying about benefit-in-kind tax bills. But it can only stay on the sidelines for so long, because soon enough, the customer is going to start to wonder why that colleague’s Range Rover can do 70 miles between charges while their Bentayga struggles to manage 30.

That, for now, is where the Bentayga rests in this fast-changing market for electrified luxury transport. Crewe introduced the Bentayga Hybrid in 2019, as its first electrified car. But, having now been through the process with the Flying Spur, it has revisited its big SUV and found some ways to improve the offering. It has also lately added new comfort-orientated ‘Azure’ and sporty ’S’ derivatives to the Bentayga Hybrid model line, and it’s the latter we’re testing here. 

What it hasn’t done, regrettably, is swapped the 3.0-litre version of the Volkswagen Group’s EA839 V6 petrol engine for the shorter-stroke, higher-output, twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre one that has powered the Flying Spur Hybrid from the start, and that also serves in the likes of the Audi RS4 and Porsche Cayenne S. So, even though the badging of the new Bentayga S Hybrid might suggest otherwise, it doesn’t run the same powertrain as the equivalent limo.

It does have marginally more power and torque than it used to, by dint of improvements to its motor, and a slightly longer EV range. It has a special sports exhaust, and a sound generating resonator under the bonnet to make up for the combustion engine's slight lack of audible presence. It has sporty seats and bumpers, and lots of racey-looking carbonfibre body trim if you want it. But, to drive at least, it isn’t a car transformed in quite the way that you might have hoped for.

That’s no particular fault of the car’s new S-specific suspension settings, it must be noted. The S Hybrid gets the same uprated adaptive air suspension as the V8-engined S, with its damper rates increased by 15%. It doesn't get Bentley’s Dynamic Ride active anti-roll bars, because of the packaging of the PHEV system – although I wouldn’t say that you miss them.

This car has creditable body control, chassis response and handling precision for the big, luxury conveyance that it is (it’s nearly 250kg heavier than the S) and will maintain both its dynamic composure and ride isolation fairly well if you choose to hurry it along. So there’s more than a modicum of sporting appeal about the driving experience.

The slightly disinterested-feeling V6 is just a little unworthy of one of Bentley’s S badges, though. Even when the electric motor is doing all that it can to assist, it still feels a little bit short on accessible torque in a car of this size and weight, needing revs (and downshifts from the slightly lazy, slow-witted torque-converter automatic gearbox) before it produces anything close to really commanding pace.

When you’re cruising around in EV mode, Bentley’s improvements to the Bentayga's battery and electric motor do tell. You can comfortably spirit it up to the far side of 50mph in the sweep of daily traffic without needing any extra grunt from the engine, and if you keep to those sorts of speeds, you will find 30 miles of EV driving easy enough to achieve.

Just how long that will continue to be judged enough for a £185,000 PHEV SUV when alternatives that cost half as much will go twice as far and farther is now Bentley’s problem to contemplate. Funnily enough, for a Bentley customer, I would imagine that a better combustion engine might even be a higher priority.

Remember straightforward hatchbacks of Tarmac-sniffing stance and turbocharged brawn? It is, I’m sad to say, a sign of the times that these cars now feel a bit of a novelty.

Hot hatches are dying out, with most of them now in their final evolutionary stage and quite expensive. Fifty-grand Honda Civic Type R, anyone?   

Among the stalwarts is the Mercedes-AMG A35, which ticks both boxes. Along with the rest of the A-Class range, it has been refreshed for 2023 before an electric successor arrives a couple of years down the line.

The updated version inherits the bulging bonnet of the hardcore A45 as well as that car’s grille, while the Mercedes roundel is swapped for one of the Affalterbach firm’s. That last element is curious, and I suppose the message is that this is a proper AMG.

Is it really? Doubts linger. The most ‘accessible’ AMG product in history, the A35 has always used a modified version of a mainline A-Class motor rather than something AMG-bespoke, so questions of authenticity are fair game. Equally, the new C63 has only four cylinders where previously you got an earth-shaking V8, so what even is authenticity anyway?     

With tweaked headlights, a new wheel design and other small changes, the A35 looks sharp enough, although the rear wing is an element the 416bhp A45 only just manages to pull off, so it looks just a bit try-hard on the A35. Fortunately, this dubious aerodynamic addenda comes only with top-ranking (and, at £51,000, conspicuously expensive) Premium Plus trim. Lesser flavours of A35 get a neat spoiler-cum-gurney that reminds me of the original Ford Focus RS.

Inside, Mercedes has done away with the touchpad, so the infotainment is now controlled solely via the crisp touchscreen. In general, the interior continues to trade more on superficial swankiness than unimpeachable quality, but it’s hospitable enough. And it has a new steering wheel that’s far more attractive, the old and absurdly thick multifunction spokes being binned.

In dynamic terms, five years on from its introduction, the A35 remains an interesting and inconsistent character. You can sense that in some ways it wants to be a B-road attack dog. It’s certainly sprung firmly enough for this kind of driving and maintains its composure well when you really fling it along.

At the same time, steering response can be disconcertingly lethargic off-centre, and the seats are neither supportive enough nor nestled low enough to match the tone of intent set by the suspension. So you back things off and try to flow the A35.

But then the ride quality sticks out for the wrong reasons. It borders on brittle unless the surface is a delight. The problem is pronounced at the back axle and seems to be related to spring rates, meaning that opting for the softest of the three damper settings isn’t much help. An upmarket, all-paw hot hatch needs more versatility than this. And fewer rattles. 

The A35 also has a bit of road roar problem, but as it already comes on Continental SportContact 6 tyres, I’m not sure there’s an obvious fix. Michelins would probably be a touch louder.  

There was never much wrong with this car’s gutsy performance, though, and the adoption of a 48V mild-hybrid system (kerb weight goes up 15kg as a result) is said to offer a 13bhp bump at lower revs, although the headline figure of 302bhp at 5800rpm is unchanged.

The facelifted car also gets Mercedes’ eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, which, despite its extra ratio, is lighter and more compact than the old seven-speeder. It’s wickedly snappy, even if the software can be a little slow to instruct for downshifts. 

Yet ultimately the A35 isn’t really at ease with itself, unfailingly rapid and in some aspects very slick as it is. I suspect ownership may frustrate, and that probably isn’t true of the updated BMW M135i.