Test drive Audi Q8, Lexus UX, Toyota CH-R, Kia Cerato and others
Why sensors cause excitement and annoyance, where you can go in a small Lexus, how different two versions of the same car can be, and how not to go broke on fuel for a powerful engine
Every day, AvtoTachki employees test new cars, some of which spend quite a long time in the editorial office. This makes it possible to look at the cars from different angles and get acquainted with some of their features, experiencing a whole range of emotions - from disappointment to delight.
It probably looked very silly: night, Audi Q8, a key with endlessly clicking open / close keys and a smartphone in hand. Audi has prohibitively spectacular LED optics, which are not only very bright and sharp, but also capable of putting out a show every time you close or open the crossover.
About five years ago, I flew to the secret Audi laboratory in Ingolstadt, where the Germans come up with optics for their future novelties. Then, in the dungeon, we were first shown lanterns with organic LEDs, and they seemed like something too futuristic, not real. But after a couple of years, this technology went into mass production, and by 2019, almost all Audi models were equipped with such optics.
It is not only beautiful, but also safe: Q8 lights are visible in any weather, be it rain, fog or heavy snow. The head light is also very advanced. Matrix headlights allow, in fact, to always drive with a high beam, without blinding oncoming drivers. The sophisticated optics consists of hundreds of LEDs that adjust to oncoming traffic, dimming the desired sectors so as not to interfere with the rest.
Inside - the festival of touchscreens and LEDs. Inside the Q8, there are a minimum of physical keys - this is both annoying and delightful at the same time. Sensory "emergency gang" seems like a mockery, as well as temperature control through the screen. But this is only in the first hours: on the second day Audi turns into a convenient gadget, and the rest of the cars seem to be wrong and morally outdated. Technology always wins, and I want to look into Ingolstadt's dungeons again.
“I always admire these trees: this is my favorite place. And in the morning this is my walk. Sometimes I sit here and write, ”the writer Lev Tolstoy told about the secret corners of his estate in the Tula region. In Yasnaya Polyana he created War and Peace, wrote Anna Karenina and lived most of his life. It is only 200 km from Moscow to the cult place in the Tula region, but laziness constantly interferes with getting out there, or traffic jams are frightening.
Okay, under the windows is the Lexus UX 250h hybrid crossover in a smart F Sport version, so the weekend promises long and interesting routes anyway. You spread out in a comfortable red and black chair, press the Start button, and the car silently comes to life. The UX 250h is a 2,0 liter four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor with a total output of 178 hp. with., but the fuel consumption, even taking into account traffic jams, does not exceed 5-6 l / 100 km. This is when the salon is fully loaded with friends, and the trunk is loaded with things and provisions.
There are traffic jams outside the window, and in the cabin there is a pleasant tactile finish, convenient controls, a 10,3-inch screen and a solid Mark Levinson with 13 speakers. Plus, the F Sport décor includes a sports steering wheel and aluminum pedal covers. Only the front overhang with a clearance of only 970 mm is a little confusing, and it needs to be treated quite carefully on dark country roads.
The entrance to the territory of the Yasnaya Polyana museum costs only $ 1,30, and the tour can be obtained free of charge with the help of a corporate audio tour, which is read by the great-great-grandson of the writer Vladimir Tolstoy. But there is an option to book a two-hour excursion for $ 5,89. and, together with other tourists, explore the central part of the estate, the exhibition in the Kuzminskys Wing, as well as the 200-year-old stable.
It would not hurt to visit the estate museum of Andrei Bolotov, a famous Russian scientist, philosopher and writer, who is considered one of the founders of Russian agronomic science. It is to him that Russia owes its love for potatoes. No less curious is the story about Bolotov and tomatoes, which in Russia were considered poisonous, but tasted after the scientist ate the vegetable in public. Those who, after these stories, get hungry, can look for fashionable eco-shops and restaurants in the area - the dacha atmosphere is conducive to a very unhurried rest.
Horror stories about bad roads and bad gasoline aside, it's easy to fit the Lexus UX 250h into this historic ecosystem. All-wheel drive, even if it is tricky, with an electric motor on the rear axle, will be excellent insurance on smeared dirt roads, and the adaptive suspension, which is offered for the UX F Sport version, allows you to crawl over bumps and actively twist into corners on an empty local highway. In addition, all Lexus UXs are equipped by default with the Lexus Safety System, which will always hedge when something extraordinary happens.
Why are they looking at me and pointing the finger at me? I'm not driving a Pagani Zonda, and not an electric car of the latest generation, but just an ordinary crossover, albeit a premium brand. Yes, the car has been updated, but even the managers from the Volvo showroom will not be able to see the minor touches outside in the twilight of the evening city. So what's so special about him?
With this in mind, I drove the refreshed XC90 for the first couple of days. And then he got used to the reaction of others and simply stopped paying attention to it, never finding an answer to the question of why the Swedish crossover attracts so much attention. In the end, I decided that the XC90 is found in the stream much less often than competitors, and therefore every meeting with him causes, if not surprise, then at least interest.
Last year's sales statistics only confirm this theory. If Russian dealers sold BMW X5 / X6 in the amount of 8717 units, and the Mercedes GLE sold 6112 copies, then only 90 XC2210 crossovers were sold in Russia. And this is strange, because both in terms of driving characteristics and in terms of comfort inside the Volvo is quite comparable with competitors. And if we compare the configurations of similar price, then often the buyers of the Swedish crossover get even more. So what's the catch?
I admit that someone is confused by the modest volume of the engine. When you consider buying a full-size crossover, the least you'd expect to see under the hood is a 2-liter four-cylinder unit. Meanwhile, the manufacturer offers only such engines for the XC90 - both gasoline and diesel. But if downsizing does not bother you, then there really is plenty to choose from.
My version is equipped with a diesel turbo engine that develops 235 hp. with. and 480 Nm of thrust. In acceleration to 100 km / h, such an XC90 is clearly not a record holder, but it allows you to go faster than a stream and does not require frequent visits to gas stations. An eight-speed "automatic" for a metropolis with its endless traffic jams and measured rhythm of movement seems ideal, but when you press the gas sharply, the transmission sometimes thinks longer than the situation requires.
After catching another dose of curious glances at a traffic light, I decided that the XC90's modesty of market success was even better. If the Swedes were able to sell 10 thousand cars a year, the XC90 would hardly have been so visible on the streets. And it would turn out that the designers of Volvo, led by Thomas Ingenlath, tried in vain. Although in reality it turned out very beautifully, and such a car should not go unnoticed.
It so happened that in a couple of weeks I had two Toyota C-HRs in my hands. The first is the Hot version with a two-liter aspirated and front-wheel drive for $ 21. The second is the Cool modification with a small 692-liter turbo engine and an AWD transmission for $ 1,2.
The colossal difference in the price of these two cars is associated not only with the motors and the type of drive, but also with the equipment. The top-end C-HR is literally packed with all sorts of equipment, including even driver assistants such as a parking lot, blind spot monitoring systems and an assistant when leaving the garage.
However, in practice it turned out that the difference lies not only in motors and options. Each of them has shown its own unique character. The C-HR with a two-liter engine is a Russian soul. You press on the gas, and it starts to blame all the money. Sometimes it is harsh and even rude. Moreover, the sensitivity of reactions to actions by the accelerator does not spoil even the variator, which, according to the canons of the genre, should be a little thoughtful.
We have already noted the refinement of the C-HR chassis settings more than once, but the two-liter does not always hold up in an exemplary manner. The car drives recklessly and interestingly, but the front end, overloaded with a two-liter engine, begins to creep out on a high-speed arc much earlier.
The top version of Cool is perceived differently. Despite the modest volume of 1,2 liters, the turbo engine accelerates the car, maybe not brightly, but also worthy. At the same time, he treats the environment much more economically. Consumption is a good couple of liters less than that of the older unit.
And on the road, such a C-HR holds up completely differently. It reacts to all actions with the steering wheel and pedals just as quickly, but still smoothly. Small ripples pass with imperturbable nobility, and on the arc to the last it clings to the trajectory with all four wheels. In short, a typical European.
It turns out that under one body there are two cars with completely different values. And, for a Toyota CH-R, I'd go for the swanky Hot. Even if there was enough money for the coolest Cool.
“Not white, not white,” I thought to myself as I drove to pick up the car from the press park. In the spring, colleagues compared the new Cerato with another bestseller on the market - the Skoda Octavia. So, one of them was white, and the other was silver. And the guys unanimously argued that they could not get rid of the feeling that they were driving cars from taxi companies.
Spacious cabins and excellent value for money are a recipe for success with carriers. And in general, this is a big plus in the piggy bank of consumer qualities. In addition, non-stop threshing with motors in traffic jams and winding hundreds of thousands of kilometers on the routes to and from the airport are only possible with very hardy and reliable cars.
But is it possible to buy such a car and not merge with the total mass? If we are talking about Kia, then the answer is: red. Fashionable scarlet metallic not only emphasizes the shape of its body, but also gives it a much more expensive look. Moreover, this is not my personal subjective opinion, but a statement that has been repeatedly verified by passers-by.
As soon as you drive a freshly washed red Cerato into the underground parking lot of a shopping center, you immediately begin to catch glances. The second marker is car washes. Even at the most ordinary car wash, red Cerato is immediately offered waxing, processing with liquid glass, protecting the body with ceramics and a whole bunch of services with the prefix "nano", because for such a car the owner presumably does not feel sorry for anything.
This obsession is annoying and makes the driver proud at the same time. In the case of washing a couple of times a month, you can be patient. In the case of increased attention from passers-by, you can't stand it, and they won't accept you for a taxi driver either. So for the red in the case of the Kia Cerato, it is definitely worth paying extra. Moreover, it costs only $ 130.
I remember how a few years ago I first found myself behind the wheel of an electric Nissan Leaf and passionately “grew” virtual trees on its dashboard, trying to drive as gently as possible. The efficiency indicator of the Japanese hatch then flashed, then extinguished the Christmas trees on the dashboard, depending on how softly or sharply I pressed the gas.
The global goal was one: to grow as many Christmas trees as possible by the end of the trip. And this made real sense, because without operating electric stations, there was a risk of not getting from the office to the house at all. I tried to repeat the same thing while driving another Nissan brainchild - the Infinit Q50s sedan. Although there are no trees or an electric motor there is not a trace here.
Compared to the hardcore and obtusely expensive Subaru WRX STi, we manage to call the Q50s economical. But 14-15 liters per “hundred” is the consumption, which was shown by the on-board computer, and there is a feeling that in fact it was even a little more. It would be strange to talk about efficiency when driving on the track to a race track, but after a couple of weeks of driving a car in traffic jams, you start thinking about the manufacturability of the 405-horsepower VR30DDTT engine from a completely different position.
To be honest, it is damn good in its element: fast, aggressive and responsive as much as a responsive turbo engine with over 400 horsepower can be. But the real world requires a little different, and in the midst of traffic jams, you only think that cunning engineers think of everything for you and you would not have to save money. After all, they managed to somehow make the declared 13 liters per hundred in the city.
But as soon as the shooting day on the track was behind me, I switched the Q50s drive mode puck to Eco settings and began to use the gas pedal as carefully as possible. Just like the Nissan Leaf a few years ago. I don't know exactly how many virtual trees I saved, because there was nowhere to see. But in those days I still made it to the advance payment.
