BMW XM
BMW XM
1 The metal trim on the doors looks quite expensive. We like that bit 2 Expect to see XM owners only hold this precise area of the steering wheel 3 Driving position is off - unusual for a BMW. Steering wheel doesn’t adjust low enough and the headrests are weird 4 Heater controls in touchscreen sub-menu = not looking where you’re going in your 640bhp 2.8-tonne behemoth 5 Another M badge. Just in case you forgot this is a true and proper M car. Honest
LAST YEAR DACIA BOSS DENIS LE VOT TOLD TG that the brand’s “job is to be late” with electrification. Leave the cutting edge stuff to Renault, sell the scraps for peanuts later. That’s Dacia’s schtick. So here we are in 2023 with the first hybrid Dacia of any kind, and it couldn’t be more basic. No plug, even though the platform could take one. Maybe one day it will, when PHEVs aren’t so dear. For now you’re stuck with a 1.6-litre petrol and (technically) two electric motors, though one is merely a starter-generator. The other’s good for 48bhp in short bursts. And we mean short – 1.2kWh battery only.
£148,060
Dacia reckons 30–40 per cent of Jogger sales will be hybrids going forward. Er, why? It costs £4k more than the 1.0-litre petrol but fuel economy only improves by 8mpg. Nor is it much quicker to 62mph. Going caravanning? Braked trailer weight’s capped at 750kg – the 1.0 will lug 1,200kg.
And it’s not like performance is transformed. The system crudely blends electric and petrol power, sending the revs soaring when the motor runs out of puff. Happily the hybrid’s extra weight doesn’t sour the ride or handling.
You won’t get a hybrid seven seater for less. So it’s cheap. But is it Dacia cheap? Doesn’t feel like long ago you could get a Sandero for four figures. Another victim of inflation, we guess.
Joe Holding
Year: 2018 or thereabouts. Location: BMW’s M division bunker. A cavalcade of 7-Series conveys the board of directors to the front door. “Good news, gentleman,” they tell the assembled faithful. “Off the back of M turning 50 years last year, we think it’s high time you did a bespoke M car.”
A shockwave of excitement zaps around the room. M hasn’t done an M-only model since the 1978 M1 supercar. While Audi RS and AMG have been making merry with their own supercar platforms, M’s been tuning repmobiles. “We believe this is the right time for a plug-in hybrid M car...” continues the boss. Faces fall at the expected weight penalty, but Günther from powertrains is grinning at Hans from chassis dynamics. Instant response. Anti-lag boost. Torque vectoring. Low centre of gravity. The possibilities for M’s new supercar are boundless.