The car market is currently dominated by SUVs and crossovers. People want to ride in comfort, sit high and refuse to sacrifice everyday practicality in the name of refined driving or fuel economy.
However, the desire to drive has not disappeared with the wind, so sports cars are being replaced by hot crossovers and powerful SUVs. Experts often claim that sportiness and practicality are two irreconcilable opposites, but manufacturers are trying to prove otherwise. And someone succeeds.
Sports cars are getting heavier
Undeniably, crossovers are at the top. Even such supercar brands, which until recently were unimaginable in this segment, have just joined the SUV family. Ferrari has unveiled its first four-door SUV, the Purosangue. Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley also already offer SUVs, while Lotus has announced they have started produce electric SUV Eletre.
Likewise, almost all representatives of the BMW X series can be purchased with the letter M (Motorsport) on the trunk lid. This means that the upgraded Bavarian models got not only a more aggressive exterior, but also a really sporty chassis and a powerful engine. Even the latest eye-catching model from the M division, the XM, is a massive crossover.
Kia has announced that the Stinger sports sedan is now being replaced by the electric EV6 GT, which, although it looks like a large practical and sporty hatchback, is in theory an SUV due to its relatively high ground clearance of 178mm.
Let’s EV6
The Cayenne and Macan have been the most popular in the Porsche family for more than ten years. Ford has also announced that it will only focus on high-end models in the future. It is significant that the last copy of the Ford Fiesta has already left the factory gates, remaining in the memory as one of the best-handling hot hatchbacks. For enthusiasts mourning this loss, the company offers to try the crossover Puma ST.
In my opinion, sporty and big terrains are the opposite of real athletes. They are richly equipped with various comfort extras, but this is already a signal that such a car will no longer be sporty. Sure, the power might be big, but it’s still a long, heavy ride with a soft suspension. This means that the car will not be obedient on the road and you can’t expect any good driving.
Club car reviewer Tom Timoshko
Dynamics are not enough – comfort is also needed
According to Tom, sportiness does not mean so much strong thrusts as specific controllability: very quick response and unconditional obedience to the driver’s commands. On the other hand, large all-terrain vehicles with a high center of gravity defy the laws of physics: inertia prevents them from stopping quickly and changing the direction of travel quickly.
An example is the most powerful and sporty Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio models, Giulia and Stelvio. Both share the same 510bhp V6 engine, but on the 20km Nürburgring track known as the Green Hell, the Giulia sedan clocked 7min 32sec and the Stelvio SUV 7min 51sec. Almost twenty seconds slower, despite the fact that when the record was set, the Stelvio had all-wheel drive and the Giulia only rear-wheel drive. True, judging by sales figures, Stelvio is also more successful.
This is a good example of how the market dictates the rules. Buyers want dynamic cars, but ground clearance and trunk size are also important in everyday life.
Club car reviewer Tom Timoshko
People’s reluctance to sacrifice everyday practicality and comfort for good handling forces manufacturers to think hard about how to balance it all. Of course, only a few will drive a crossover to an amateur competition, but buyers of sports cars separate the wheat from the chaff and want good handling in their everyday car as well.
In my opinion, it is possible to put sportiness in the body of a crossover, because crossovers are mostly only higher hatchbacks. Lowering the ground clearance and increasing the stiffness of the suspension brings them closer to athletes. However, a sporty crossover is always a compromise.
Profi Latvija editor and Latvian Car of the Year judge Guntars Pulss
The electric drive changes everything
Guntars confirms that some new technologies help even a heavy and large vehicle not to lean in sharp turns and maintain comfort. This is mainly due to the advanced electromagnetic shock absorbers, which stiffen or soften the chassis at the touch of a button. Until recently, it could be considered only a premium class attribute, but now this extra is also installed in the standard equipment of the sporty Kia EV6 GT.
Electric drive is a technology that, if properly calibrated, can radically change drivers’ stereotypes about heavy and long sports crossovers. Internal combustion models are able to drive straight fast, but inertia slows them down when cornering, and they have to gradually swing back for further travel. The electric motor, on the other hand, is able to compensate for this with immediate torque. The biggest challenge for engineers is programming these electric motors to quickly distribute power between the wheels.
In order for a heavy machine to go through a turn quickly, engineers play their own engineering games – try to transfer power to one wheel in a flash or, on the contrary, brake the other wheels. If the inner wheels are braked correctly, the driver will have confidence that the car is listening to him. And electric motors can distribute power much faster than internal combustion engines.
Profi Latvija editor and Latvian Car of the Year judge Guntars Pulss
A comfortable crossover can still be sporty
Kia has started to go in the sustainable direction and replaced its sports flagship Stinger with the electric EV6 GT. The crossover with two electric motors with 585 hp accelerates to 100 km/h faster than most supercars – in 3.5 seconds. Despite the weight of 2.2 tons, where the large battery also makes a good judgment, the EV6 is able to travel 424 km, convincingly overcoming the cascades of bends. This is ensured by several factors: limited-slip e-differential, the ability to adjust the power between all four wheels, advanced electromagnetic shock absorbers and high-performance brakes with energy recovery.
Kia’s ability to combine all these systems has also been appreciated by international experts – they awarded the EV6 GT model the title of the most sporty car in the World Car of the Year 2023 competition. left behind such competitors as the Toyota GR86 and Nissan Z, which are built according to the classic recipe – a gasoline engine placed in front, but the drive is taken care of by the rear wheels.
Electric cars allow us to program such things that we could not even imagine in the days of internal combustion engines, so it is likely that the future will pleasantly surprise us more than once.
Profi Latvija editor and Latvian Car of the Year judge Guntars Pulss
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2023-09-04 04:24:04
#electric #drive #bridge #gap #sportiness #practicality
