Renault turns its wild 5 Turbo 3E concept to production. Shown here is nearly the production car, with only small tweaks to aerodynamics expected before it goes into production in the first half of 2027. Production will be limited to 1980 cars. While pricing is yet to be unveiled, it is expected to start from more than £130,000, may even reach close to £200,000 with options and personalization, which will put it against Porsche 911 GT3. Is it worth so much?

From its specifications and bespoke design, it might be. Like the original R5 Turbo launched in 1980, the 5 Turbo 3E is practically an all-new car, sharing little with the regular 5. It has a new aluminum chassis developed by Alpine division, all new suspensions and full carbon-fiber bodywork. While the regular 5 is front-wheel drive, this one is rear-drive, and it employs 2 in-wheel motors. Weight distribution improves to 47:53 like a mid-engined car and, yes, this is a strictly 2-seater like the old 5 Turbo or Clio V6.



At 4080mm, the car is just slightly longer than the regular 5, but it is massively wider at 2030mm and a lot lower at 1380mm. Wheelbase is slightly longer at 2570mm. The battery still lies on the floorpan, but is enlarged to 70kWh. Don't worry, kerb weight is merely 1450kg, actually lighter than the Alpine A290 with 52kWh battery, and Renault said it is working to trim more weight, so the final figure might be closer to 1400 kg.

Part of that lightweight must thanks to the standard carbon-fiber bucket seats, the lack of rear seats and a relatively spartan interior, e.g. fabric door pulls. The in-wheel motors are also lighter than conventional motors, although they do add unsprung mass so that Renault needs to redesign the suspension to cope. These motors are housed within each 20-inch rear wheel, turning together with the wheel and saving the need for gearbox. They also allow torque vectoring and drift. Combined output is 540 horsepower, plus 3540 lbft of torque measured at the wheel (because the motor turn the wheel directly, there is no way to measure crank torque). Renault claims 0-60 mph in under 3.4 seconds while top speed is 168 mph.



Obviously, the massive width, track-oriented aero and wide Michelin Cup 2 tires are not good for energy efficiency. Range is estimated at 400km (248 miles), about the same as the regular 5 with 52kWh battery. That said, the Turbo 3E empoys 800V battery and supports 350kW charging, which enables 15-80% to be done in 15 minutes. This allows its drivers to play for 20 minutes on track, return to pit for 20 minutes and go out again.

While the exterior design is obviously inspired by its rally car spiritual ancestor, it is actually designed as a part-time track car. There are deep air dam, low ride height and large diffusers to generate downforce. The NACA ducts ahead of the rear wheels draw air to cool the motors and brakes. As there are neither rear seats nor an engine sitting behind the driver, it affords a pretty large luggage bay even though a semi-rollcage is in place.



Outside, parts sharing with the regular 5 is limited to door mirrors, taillights and windscreen - although the latter is cut down to fit into the lower roof. More sharing is found inside, most notably the dashboard including intrument display and touchscreen, the A290 steering wheel and the center console with a row of physical buttons. The transmission tunnel is raised and features a vertical handbrake level, which is designed for playing donuts, obviously.

Still, it sounds a bit crazy to me to price it like a Porsche GT3. After all, a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is just as quick and offers a lot of gadgets to make it feel like driving an ICE performance car. Renault 5 Turbo 3E needs to inject more agility and emotional appeal than the A290 to beat the much cheaper Hyundai, let alone matching the mighty Porsche.

Codenamed C178, the third generation Mercedes CLA-class might look similar in shape and design to its predecessors, but it is dramatically different underneath the sheet metal. It is built on the new MMA (Mercedes Modular Architecture) platform which allows battery or combustion power. The platform will also form the basis of two more compact SUVs, but there won't be A-class anymore, so the new CLA will become the entry-level Mercedes-Benz once the current A-class retires.

At 4723mm long, 1855mm wide and 1468mm tall, the new CLA is 28mm longer, 15mm wider and 38mm taller than its predecessor. Its 2790mm wheelbase is 60mm longer, too. Hopefully this will boost its cabin space a little.

The car keeps its waterdrop shape and banana-shape frameless side windows. Coefficient of drag drops further to 0.21 for the base EV model, helping the car to achieve class-leading energy efficiency and range (more on that later). Style is not sacrificed either, as the new pseudo front grille is decorated with 142 LED elements. Besides, the slim LED headlights are now bridged with a lightbar, ditto the taillights.



Unlike its predecessor, the new CLA is primarily rear-wheel drive due to the conversion to electric power. Its electrical system runs at 800V, a crucial leap from the 400V system used in the company's existing EQ models. Working with high-performance silicon-carbide inverter, the CLA can be charged at up to 320kW, adding 200 miles of range in merely 10 minutes. Moreover, higher voltage means narrower cables and smaller motors can be used, cutting weight and energy losses.

Another important change is the use of a 2-speed gearbox like Porsche Taycan, with 2nd gear tailored to high-speed cruising to boost mileage, while 1st gear aids acceleration.

The permanently excited synchronous motor (PSM) it uses has efficiency lifted to 93 percent, thanks to using double-V-shape magnets in rotor and hairpin windings.

As for battery, it is also said to be improved in energy density and costs, but that is to be expected for any car makers whenever compared with their last generation technology. The launch battery on CLA is an 85 kWh NMC lithium battery. A cheaper LFP battery with 58 kWh will be added at the end of the year. As their energy density are 680 and 450 Wh per liter respectively, they actually occupy the same amount of space under the floorpan.



2 electric models are available at launch: CLA250+ (not sure what the "+" means) employs a single rear motor with 272 horsepower and 247 lbft of torque. It weighs at 1980kg (DIN), is good for 0-60 mph in 6.4 seconds and 130 mph top speed, but most impressive is an unbeatable range of up to 792 km (492 miles) on WLTP cycles.

Meanwhile, CLA350 4matic adds another motor to the front axle for a total output of 354 hp and 380 lbft, weighs at 2060kg, is capable of 0-60 in 4.7 seconds but top speed is still geared to 130 mph. Its mileage is still outstanding at 770 km (479 miles), thanks to the capability to disengage the front motor when cruising.

Want conventional engine? No problem, although the choices are much fewer than before. The CLA offers only one gasoline engine and no diesel option. The M252 four-cylinder unit is a brand-new development, displacing 1.5 liters, featuring a twin-scroll turbo and running at Miller cycle. It mates to a mild-hybrid system, which has a 48V, 27 hp motor integrated with the 8-speed DCT. A 1.3kWh battery is placed under the front seats. The engine will be available in 3 states of tune: 136 hp, 163 hp or, when mated with 4matic, 190 hp, likely to be called CLA180, CLA200 and CLA220 4matic respectively. It is believed that the M252 was developed jointly with Geely and is produced by the latter in China.

The CLA's chassis is more conventional. It rides on a strut-based 3-link suspension up front and a multi-link setup at the rear. Suspension arms and steering knuckles are cast in aluminum. Only passive dampers are used, at least until the arrival of AMG models.



Inside, the new CLA is said to offer slightly more room. Although the cabin floor is raised due to the battery, the standard panoramic glass roof with heat-reflecting coating is thinner than a tin top, therefore front and rear headroom are boosted by 16 and 28mm respectively. It also offers a bit more rear legroom, although with battery in place there is no space for your feet under the front seats.

As for storage, the double-decker transmission tunnel has a large cubbie underneath. The trunk is quite small at 405 liters, but electric models have another 101 liters of frunk.

The dashboard is dominated with a new interpretation of "Superscreen", which practically occupies the entire dashboard and is set verticially. It consists of a 10.5-inch instrument display, a 14-inch center touchscreen and an optional 14-inch passenger side touchscreen. If the latter is not taken, it is replaced with a panel trimmed with star patterns, which can be backlit optionally.

Infotainment system runs on Mercedes' own OS but incorporates Google Maps and AI assistants from Microsoft and Google. Its powerful processors and OTA updates ensure the CLA to be a "software-defined car", allowing it to evolve in the coming years through updates, including driving assistance system.

The C178 is primarily assembled at Mercedes' Rastatt plant in Germany, but its production will be extended to China and Hungary as well.

The combustion successor of A6 was set to be called A7 in order to be distinguished from the electric new A6. However, the new nomenclature was confusing and unpopular among dealers, so Audi reverted its name to A6 at the last minute. Now you distinguish them by sub-titles, i.e. A6 2.0TFSI, A6 etron etc., which might sound the same car installed with different powertrains, but actually they are built on different platforms. The ICE models rides on PPC (Premium Platform Combustion), which is an evolution of the outgoing A6's MLB Evo platform, while the electric version is developed from the all-new PPE (Premium Platform Electric) platform shared with Porsche Macan. BTW, the PPC is also used by the recently launched A5 - the combustion successor to A4 - which is too late to apply the corrected naming strategy.

As a result, what you see on the combustion A6 is very much like a supersized A5. The car's styling is very similar, just pumped up to 4990mm long, 1880mm wide, 1494mm tall (for Avant, as sedan is yet to be unveiled) and 2927mm in wheelbase, which is slightly longer than the outgoing A6. It certainly looks more graceful, while drag is lowered to 0.25 thanks to active shutter grilles, side air curtains and underbody covers.



As in A5, front and rear suspensions have 5-link setup, but the A6 can be optioned with adaptive air suspension with adjustable ride height and variable damping. Standard suspension rides on steel springs, while S line uses stiffer and 20mm lower setup. 4-wheel drive system has switched to Quattro Ultra, which uses a multiplate clutch to engage the rear axle only when needed. Active rear-wheel steering is optional, just like the last generation.

Powertrain lineup is simple, as there are only 3 choices and all of them are identical to the A5. Entry-level is the 2.0TFSI petrol, employing Miller-cycle combustion and a VTG turbo to produce 204 hp. It is good for 149 mph but 0-60 mph is a tad slow at 7.8 seconds. The base petrol engine is front-wheel drive only, so if you need Quattro, you have to opt for at least the 2.0TDI diesel. It serves the same 204 horsepower but offers 44 lbft more torque. When paired with Quattro, 0-60 mph is improved to 6.6 seconds. The diesel is also much better in fuel economy, thanks in part to mild-hybrid technology which is strangely not available to the four-cylinder petrol. It uses a 48V motor-generator attached to the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission to provide up to 24 hp and regenerate from braking up to 34 hp.

The top engine is 3.0TFSI, the same V6 used in S5 but not qualified for S badge here. It uses also Miller-cycle and a VTG turbo to produce 367 hp, accompanied with 406 lbft of torque. Quattro is standard, as is the mild-hybrid system. It is good for 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds while top speed is regulated at 155 mph.



For a wagon, the A6 Avant's luggage space is very small at 503 liters, blame partly to the LFP battery of the 48V mild-hybrid system which is stored under the boot floor.

Inside, most things are shared with A5, including the dashboard, center console and even a large part of door panels and grab handles. A 11.9in instrument and 14.5in touchscreen dominate the dash, while another screen can be added to the passenger side. Sadly, the center console is finished with the same cheap-looking and dirt-collecting piano black.

As sales is expected to be stretched thin by its etron sister, the combustion A6 is not going to repeat the success of its predecessors. In fact, from the shrunken engine lineup and mostly carried-over technology, you can see Audi has little ambition with this generation.

ES90 is the electric successor to Volvo S90 / V90. As you can see from these pictures, it becomes a crossover between saloon and SUV, as the car gets taller and features larger ride height. Even with massive, 22-inch wheels fitted in these pictures, it looks significantly taller and fatter than the outgoing S90, blame to the underfloor battery. Apart from taller, it is also transformed into a 2.5-box hatchback, but the boot is ridiculously small at 424 liters, although there is another 22-liter storage compartment up front.

The new car is built on the SPA2 platform shared with EX90 SUV, but has switched to 800V instead of 400V electrical architecture, which allows 350kW of DC quick charging. There are 2 types of battery: single-motor model employs 92kWh while twin-motor models pair with 106kWh battery. Both of them take 20 minutes to charge from 10-80 percent, 2 minutes longer than Porsche Taycan whose charging is rated at 320kW. This proves that average charge rate is more important than maximum rating.



The car is about the same size as BMW i5, Mercedes EQE and Volkswagen ID.7, measuring exactly 5 meters in length, 1942mm in width, 1549mm in height and 3102mm in wheelbase. We expect its interior to be roomier than the BMW and Mercedes but close to VW. Drag coefficient is pretty good at 0.25, if not as good as ID.7 (0.23) or Audi A6 etron (0.24). The car can be fitted with adaptive air suspension and adaptive damping. Wheels range from 20 to 22-inch, the latter is certainly not good to ride comfort.

The rear-drive, single-motor base model produces 333 hp and 354 lbft, good for 0-60 mph in 6.6 secconds, half a second slower than the single-motor ID.7. Twin-motor upgrades to 449 hp, 494 lbft and 5.2 sec, while twin-motor Performance model lifts further to 680 hp, 642 lbft and 3.9 sec (probably on short burst of overboost), almost as quick as Audi S6 etron. Unfortunately, all are capped at 112 mph following the safety policy of Volvo. The base car weighs 1991kg, while both twin-motor models tip the scale at 2127kg, about the norm of its class.

As for range, the single-motor model is rated at 650km (404 miles), beating the base ID.7 (615km) and A6 etron (624km), although it needs a considerably larger battery to do so. Both twin-motor versions with even larger battery manage a remarkable 700km (435 miles), beating the S6 etron (662km) if not the long-range single motor version of A6 etron (753km) or ID.7 (700km). In short, the Volvo is not quite as efficient as those German rivals, probably due to its extra height.



Inside, it looks quite boring, even MPV-like. Simplicity is the key to its design, which feaures virtually no switches and buttons except a few on the steering wheel. All functions are integrated into the Google-based OS and accessed via the 14.5-inch portrait touchscreen. If experience about other recent Volvo and Polestar models apply, it should be a nightmare to those not used to playing with iPad.

However, the new Volvo is equipped with powerful Nvidia processors and a Lidar at the roof, so that it supports unlimited software upgrades in the future, including some kind of autonomous driving. Volvo calls it the first software-defined car on the market, and hopes that more profit can be generated from selling software.