Auto Express

New BMW X3 M50 gets more power and a Black Package 🐈‍⬛🇩🇪😎

The BMW X3 M50 might not be a proper, full-fat M car, but it now has the kind of power we expected from such a machine not so long ago.

As before, it’s powered by a turbocharged six-cylinder engine with mild-hybrid assistance, but it makes 44bhp more than it did previously, giving a new figure of 437bhp. A torque figure has not yet been revealed – if that remains the same, it will be 580Nm.

The added poke trims the 0-62mph time to 4.4 seconds, down from 4.6. BMW has also, for some reason, provided a figure with one foot of ‘rollout’, a method favoured in the USA, giving a spicier figure of 4.1 seconds. Of much more significance is that the engine is compliant with incoming Euro 7 emissions standards.

To go with the additional performance, you can also add a new Black Package. This comes with 22-inch ‘Polygon 1134’ design wheels, providing an obvious upgrade from the ‘mere’ 21-inch rims found on the regular versions. You also get black M and model badges with a silver outline, and gloss black brake calipers.

New Aston Martin DBX GT aims to combine elegance and brutal performance 😯💥🇬🇧

Aston Martin has just revealed a new GT version of its DBX SUV. Joining the range alongside the existing DBX707 and DBX S, this model combines the S’s colossal performance with a more elegant exterior look and luxurious interior. It’s destined to cost around the same as the S at roughly £210,000, and customer deliveries will begin in the final quarter of this year.

New BMW 3 Series revealed! 😮😍🇩🇪

This is the all-new petrol-powered BMW 3 Series, the German brand’s critically important compact executive saloon that’ll sit alongside the all-electric i3 in the range. ICE versions will arrive in UK showrooms in the second quarter of 2027 priced from £44,975.

While the two look similar, the 3 Series and i3 are very different entities under the skin. In place of the new i3’s bespoke electric architecture, the latest ICE-powered 3 Series will retain a platform optimised for petrol powertrains. It’ll arrive in the UK with two engine options, both with a 48V mild-hybrid system.

The range of powertrains will expand in future, and we expect to see a Touring estate bodystyle in time, too. For now, BMW’s next-gen 3 Series is poised to take the fight to Audi’s A5 saloon and Mercedes’ recently updated C-Class.

New Range Rover Sport Electric arrives! 😮💡🔌🇬🇧

The totem of socially unacceptable, gas-guzzling SUVs – the Range Rover Sport – is embracing electric power, good for a 374-mile range, but with little sacrifice on performance.

On sale now from £109,810 and with deliveries starting in early 2027, the Range Rover Sport Electric’s torque wave peaks at 850Nm, 100Nm more turning force than the 4.4-litre V8 SV edition musters. The SUV is also stiffer and has a lower centre of gravity, thanks to a mighty battery between the wheels.

Cupra Raval vs Renault 5: Which one gets your vote? ❓🙋🇪🇸🇫🇷

There are big changes on the way in the electric supermini class, and that’s largely courtesy of the Volkswagen Group. In an effort to accelerate electric car uptake, a brand-new platform called MEB Entry has been produced to underpin a fresh generation of small models, and they’re starting to make their way into showrooms.

Volkswagen itself is launching the ID. Polo and ID. Cross later this year, while order books for the Skoda Epiq small SUV are open now.

But first out of the starting blocks is the Cupra Raval, which is a SEAT Ibiza-sized supermini that has plenty of sporty Spanish flair thrown into the mix. The newcomer is available in a range of guises from sensible to racy. We sampled the rapid VZ in left-hand-drive form when we drove it in May, but here we’re testing a bread-and-butter model, the base V1 fitted with the larger 52kWh battery and more powerful 207bhp electric motor.

This combination pitches the Raval against higher-specification versions of one of the most refreshing small electric vehicles that we’ve seen, the Renault 5, so it seemed appropriate to line up the fun French hatchback against the Spanish-built newcomer. The question is, which of these electric superminis is a better buy?

New Volkswagen ID. Tiguan prototype review: more than just a rebadged ID.4 🚙🇩🇪✨

Verdict:
The Volkswagen ID. Tiguan drives similarly to the old ID.4 - which is no bad thing as we found the ID.4 comfortable and refined, if a little dull. The key changes come in the shape of the interior usability and as we’ve seen on other new VWs, the company is stepping in the right direction.

This new Nissan Z concept looks like it's straight outta Tokyo Drift! 🇯🇵👹🏙

We recently found out that Nissan still has aspirations to bring its Z sports car to the UK market and now, to excite fans even more, the firm has revealed its Z Kaze concept.

According to the company, the concept is “designed around nostalgia, heritage and driving enjoyment for Nissan’s seven generations of Z sports cars”. If you’re not clued up on your sporty Nissan history, the lineage encompasses the 1969 and 1972 Fairlady, the 1980 280Z, the 1984 and 1989 300ZX, the 350Z from 2002 and finally the current Z, which arrived in 2020.

Mad Brabus 900 Rocket Edition is also the first new Mercedes G-Class Cabriolet 🇩🇪🌞😎

A new Mercedes G-Class Cabriolet is coming soon from the car manufacturer, but long-time Mercedes tuner Brabus has beaten it to market, launching the Brabus 900 Rocket Edition Cabrio.

Like the upcoming G-Class Cabriolet, the Brabus 900 Rocket Edition Cabrio comes with four doors and it’s based on the hottest AMG 63 variant. However, the mechanism of the folding fabric roof is taken from the XL 800 Cabrio so the Brabus model looks slightly different to prototypes of the Mercedes with a unique roll hoop and side panels.

We’ve seen a few Brabus ‘Rocket’ models in the past. For instance, it took the G 63 performance SUV and gave it some serious attitude to create the ‘Superblack’ and even turned it into a lifted pick-up truck in the case of the 900 XLP. It’s unlikely you’ll ever see the new 900 Rocket Edition Cabrio, though, because just 10 will be made, presumably costing way more than the £670,000 (before VAT) Brabus was asking for the 800 XL Cabrio.

New Jensen Interceptor GTX’s supercharged V8 has one hell of a scream 😱 🚀🔥

Grab your headphones, people, because footage of the new Jensen Interceptor GTX flexing its muscles in testing has been shared on social media – and its 960bhp supercharged V8 sounds very loud and delightfully vulgar.

The track-only apex predator, which promises to deliver “the ultimate analogue driving experience”, sounds like an old-school hot rod or American muscle car. That’s because the supercharged 6.8-litre V8 motor lurking under its long bonnet is based on General Motors’ LT-Series used in the Chevrolet Corvette.

However, fewer than 20 per cent of the original GM components have been carried over; the rest comprises fully forged internals and motorsport components, custom-built to Jensen’s specifications.