The News for October 14th, 2022

Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. This week: BMW out-uglies themselves with new M2, Polestar debuts their first SUV, Ford is teasing a new Transit built for the outdoors, plus your news for the week.

2023 BMW M2

All the leaks that came out to suggest that the 2nd-generation BMW M2 would be pretty ugly were proven true this week. BMW, who still seem to think no one is repulsed by their designs, have unveiled a bigger, more powerful, heavier, and more technologically advanced sports coupe. There’s a lot to unpack with this one, most of which I will be ignoring.

Beginning with what everyone’s been talking about first, the styling. The latest stool sample from BMW’s design team is an especially awkward and bulgy design. Oversized boxy air intakes do provide a functional purpose as do the large kidney grilles. Fortunately, they’ve spared us the horror of another buck-toothed design as seen on the M3 and M4. But the “muscular” wheel arches that make it look like a marshmallow in the microwave and a lack of most signature BMW M styling cues aren’t doing it any favors.

Also not doing it any favors is the fact that it weighs roughly the same as its larger and more powerful M4 sibling. The six-speed manual M2 weighs 3,814 lbs. while the eight-speed automatic version is 3,867 lbs. That’s over a hundred pounds heavier than the standard M4 and just shy of the 3,880-pound weight of the M4 Competition. But at least there’s more power now to help make up for it courtesy of a reworked S58 3.0-liter M TwinPower Turbo inline-six. 453 horsepower and 406 lb.-ft. of torque over a very broad power band should at least make it fun to drive and very compelling on a track. 0-60 mph takes as little as 3.9 seconds with the automatic and 4.1 seconds with the manual.

The M2 retains its pure RWD setup with none of the part-time AWD from its larger siblings. But it does keep its standard Active M Differential, Adaptive M Suspension, and its monster brake setup with adjustable brake pedal sensitivity. The Dynamic Stability Control has gotten smarter as well with the ability to issue corrections up to 10x faster than other stability control systems. There’s also a built-in lap timer and “M Drift Analyzer” which records the duration, distance, and angle of the sick drift the driver just pulled out of the car show with. There’s no way this will be abused.

The 2023 BMW M2 launches globally next April. US pricing starts at $62,200 plus $995 destination and handling.

[Source: BMW]

2024 Polestar 3

Polestar has decided they want to print money by producing their first SUV. The Polestar 3 is an all-electric five-seat premium SUV with impressive performance and a long list of standard features. It’ll be the first Polestar to be built on two continents with US production on the road map for it.

The now signature Polestar styling has been translated onto its biggest platform yet, and it still holds up. “Polestar 3 premieres a new aerodynamic profile where strong focus has been placed on retaining the hallmarks of an SUV… This has been led by subtle yet effective aerodynamic optimization – including a front aero wing integrated into the bonnet, an aero wing integrated into the rear spoiler, and rear aero blades.”

Power comes from a 111kWh battery pack which feeds two electric motors, one on each axle. There’s a slightly rear-biased power distribution but the AWD traction will come in handy with its astronomical power rating. 483 horsepower and 620 lb.-ft. of torque is the standard specification, but opting for the Performance Package increases that to 510 horsepower and 671 lb.-ft. There’s torque vectoring at the rear axle and a disconnect feature which allows the 3 to operate as a FWD vehicle for energy savings. On the European WLTP cycle, they estimate a 610 km or roughly 380-mile driving range per charge. EPA numbers are usually lower.

There are loads of standard features to help justify its starting price. Standard equipment on all versions includes air suspension, a full-length panoramic glass roof, all-LED lighting inside and out, retractable door handles with proximity sensing, and 21-inch alloy wheels. The Plus Pack and Pilot Pack are fitted as standard for the first model year a 25-speaker audio system from Bowers & Wilkins with 3D surround sound and Dolby Atmos capability, soft-closing doors, a head-up display, and Pilot Assist. The Pilot Pack will also add an additional control unit from NVIDIA which manages three cameras, four ultrasonic sensors, and cleaning for the front- and rear-view cameras, providing accurate real-time data about the car’s surroundings. This enables enhanced 3D scanning of the car’s surroundings in greater detail and helps prepare the car for autonomous driving.

When the Polestar 3 goes on sale Q2 next year, its MSRP will be set at EUR 89,900 or roughly $87,500. US pricing may differ considering we’ll be getting ours built at home. Volvo Cars in Ridgeville, SC is expected to add additional manufacturing capacity by 2024. Until then, all Polestar 3s globally will be built in Volvo’s Chengdu, China plant.

[Source: Polestar]

Ford Transit Trail teased

Ford is going after all the influencers in your Instagram feed that use the #vanlife hashtag with this one. The Ford Transit is one of the most versatile and popular vans out there and it’s recently taken on a new role as a camping rig for many of its more adventurous owners. So Ford is offering up a new version just for them called the Ford Transit Trail. Not much is known about it as we only have a teaser tweet to gather info from, but their intentions are clear.

The Transit Trail is expected to be a more rugged and more capable van, perhaps with more overlanding features built in or the prerequisites for a heavily customized camping rig. Expect black plastic body cladding (which as you know means it’s practically a rally car), AWD, maybe a small lift, and some all-terrain tires. More will be revealed next month. You’ll know it’s on dealer lots when millions of people who venture outdoors to escape modern society spend their whole time with a camera in their face talking about their new van setup which probably cost an exorbitant amount of money.

[Source: Ford]

What’s your automotive news?

hooniverse news whats your naws

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, so now it’s your turn. If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.

Have a good weekend.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

10 responses to “The News for October 14th, 2022”

  1. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    I don’t know, I actually kind of dig that new M2 – especially the wheel bulges. Looks mean. Now, if they had only put gold basket weaves and some 60 series rubber underneath…

    On the personal front – the MiSSus is now a biker chick. She bought herself a little Honda Rebel so she can feel the wind in her hair and pick the bugs out of her teeth. We also woke up to 3″ of snow this morning, so maybe time to charge the batteries in the snowmobiles?

  2. Salguod Avatar

    The new layout on the site is completely unworkable, at least on my Android tablet. Big obnoxious ads obscure and dominate the content. It’s rather sad, this has been my go to automotive web site for years because of the unique content and the community and now it’s just new car reviews and ads. ☹️

    1. Sjalabummer Avatar
      Sjalabummer

      Same here, I commented on it earlier, too. The side is nearly unreadable in Opera for Android. Comment info is gone from the front page. All the “technical fields” are grossly oversized.

      1. Aaron Graham Avatar

        GAH! I’m sorry…I’ll get it back to normal.

    2. I_Borgward Avatar
      I_Borgward

      Not to pile on, but yeah, I’ve been kinda concerned about the ‘verse lately. I use a desktop to view the site exclusively (I’m not enough of a masochist to surf it on my iPhone), and it seems like I’m having to work twice as hard just to read half as much content. Too much visual dead space = scroll, scroll, scroll.

      The commentariat seems to be obscured and is dwindling away. Too many ads too often, too many reviews of exotics too few of us will ever afford. And, frankly, I don’t do podcasts, and would much rather read and article than suffer through downloading yet another video.

      This is still my favorite automotive hangout on the web, but at the risk of being a crank, I’m left to wonder… what the hell is going on out here?

      1. Aaron Graham Avatar
    3. Greg Kachadurian Avatar
      Greg Kachadurian

      Sorry guys. I’ve let our site admin know so he can look into it.

  3. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    The Polestar makes me ache a little. The front is too messy for my taste, all the “aero”-names suggest someone’s missing SAAB, and the interior still appears to have a massive tunnel inside, ignoring one of the big advantages of EVs: Spacious, flat floor interiors.

  4. scoutdude Avatar
    scoutdude

    I’ve got a bit of news. I ordered up some tires for the MKZ from Costco while they had the BFG sale. I bought the G-Force Comp-2 AS Plus. They were a little over $200 less than the replacement for the Michelins that were one it. My son and put some on his car a few months ago and the tirerack tests showed them to be at the top in the wet testing. Between ordering them and getting them installed my wife was driving it and I’m not sure what was thrown or kicked up that hit the driver’s window. Thankfully the side windows are laminated so it didn’t shower her with glass. Couldn’t find one in a local wrecking yard so I broke down and got one of of Amzon but it didn’t show up until after the tires were installed. Instead of Ford’s previous method of riveting the glass to the regulator it now just snaps in to clips that were easy enough to release.

    The other news isn’t really my news but my friend got his lighting a couple of weeks ago. He did put down the deposit as soon as they went live and placed the order as soon as he could. He went for the Lariat with the big battery and the tow package which is probably why it got it so quickly, so far he is very happy. I got to take a 1/2 hr ride in it, it certainly is quick and quiet.

    1. eatingpampers Avatar
      eatingpampers

      Without any of the usual BS in the motor dordle business. BMW’s new M2 is uglier than their last iteration, Polestar unveils its newest SUV, and Ford teases a new outdoor-oriented Transit.