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Has the horsepower arms race ended yet? If cars like the car tested here are anything to go by, Subaru could well be at the leading edge of a new movement. Yet, the surprise is that it might not be a bad thing. The Subaru Forester e-Boxer 2.0i-S Eyesight Hybrid as the car tested here is called in full makes all of 150hp and 194Nm of torque. Quite a long way off the heady days when the mighty 2.0XT made up to 240hp less than a decade ago.

The downside of the XT however, was its woeful fuel efficiency as it came with a four-speed automatic and needed a heavy weight engine oil and had to be fed high octane petrol. Add all-wheel drive into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for a proper guzzler.

These days, when fuel prices being what they are, the Forester needs to work smarter, not harder to stay relevant in the market.

To this end, Subaru has done exactly that.

To kick things off, the new Forester is literally a green car in more ways than one…

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2022 Subaru Forester e-Boxer Punches Above Its Weight

IN Subaru, Forester e-Boxer 2.0i-S Eyesight Hybrid

New styling, better fuel efficiency, improved features and a noticeable improvement in quality makes the (literally) evergreen Subaru Forester more relevant than ever

Okay, enough with the ’toenail’ jokes already…

While understandable why phonetically it may LOOK that way, especially to those who aren’t familiar with Italian pronunciations, it is pronounced tow-NA-ley. Tonale.

Now with more plug-in hybrid electric vehicle-ness (PHEV) on-board, Alfa Romeo calls it the Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4, with Q4 being representative of their all-wheel drive variant. For our purposes, ease of understanding and avoiding repetitious mouthfuls, we’re just gonna call it the Tonale PHEV instead.

Happenings

Alfa Romeo Tonale PHEV debuts screaming

IN Alfa Romeo, Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4, PHEV

Alfa Romeo’s Tonale PHEV answer to the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 promises to be as fun to drive as it is fuel efficient.

Porsche has made itself a leader in this space, but there are plenty of other car brands that can benefit from this technology. Has there been any interest from anyone else in the car industry that has reached out to you to potentially partner on this? Or is it only Porsche and the private sector at the moment?

There are some talks with other car and motorcycle manufacturers who are interested in such fuel, but in the beginning we will not have the volume to support the world. In principle there is interest, and although we see ourselves as pioneers in this direction, we hope that others will follow.

Happenings

Everything you need to know about how Porsche wants to save combustion engines with eFuels

IN Efuels, Synthetic fuels, Porsche

Porsche has just invested S$100m to produce synthetic fuels in Chile, with additional plants planned for USA and Australia.

Where the electric dream short-circuits

I’m no scientist myself , but it’s highly unlikely that all our mobility needs can be met by electricity alone. Car makers might be diving into electrified vehicles in a big way (spurred on by legislation of course), but it’s far from a catch-all solution.

Flaws include its low energy density (by weight/volume), making the technology unsuitable for most heavy duty transport applications. Lorries, planes and ships would require such large battery packs that they’d be essentially useless at hauling cargo.

Happenings

Could synthetic fuels be the carbon-neutral power source we need?

IN Efuels, Synthetic fuels

“Electric power good, internal combustion bad” seems to be the popular thinking now, but electricity alone is very far from ideal. Can carbon-neutral synthetic fuels be the realistic solution the worl

The new RAV4 Hybrid is an upgrade from the current RAV4 2.0L petrol version in almost every conceivable way. Its electric motor is mated to a 2.5-litre engine which generate a combined 215hp. That’s a significant leg up from the 170hp power output of the petrol model, and so is the acceleration: 8.1 seconds 0-100km/h for the Hybrid, down from 9.8 seconds for the petrol.

Happenings

Toyota RAV4 now available in Singapore with hybrid power

IN Toyota, RAV4, SUV, Hybrid, Borneo Motors

The electrified Toyota RAV4 gains power and fuel economy, but its price stays the same

Colleague Sheldon has already done a thorough lifestyle-review of the iX3 in full-glory 4K, so this article will concentrate on the rudiments of the EV experience from the perspective of a complete newbie – yours truly.

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An EV-newbie's Virgin Experience | with BMW iX3 M Sport Impressive

IN BMW, IX3, M Sport, EV, Charging

Electric cherry popped

Happenings

iX3 is the icing atop BMW Group Asia’s 7-year electrification cake

IN BMW, IX3, PHEV, EV, Singapore

Customers in Singapore now can choose which drivetrain they prefer

What, made by aliens, was it?

Well, not the “little green men” sort of alien you’re thinking of (unless the workers in Honda’s Suzuka factory wear green coveralls), but fans of Doctor Who would certainly appreciate one of the Jazz’s best-loved qualities since its inception: its TARDIS-like ability to swallow up more stuff than its exterior dimensions would suggest.

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Going That Extra Mile | Honda Jazz Hybrid

IN Honda, Jazz, Hybrid, Jazz Hybrid, Honda Jazz, Honda Jazz Hybrid, Kah Motor

The Honda Jazz has always been an economical little car, but this new hybrid version is little short of miraculous.

So, when an email popped into my inbox with the keywords 'cross-border', memories of the good old days - i.e. 2019 - came flooding back.

A cross-country network.

Turns out, the email wasn’t from the Government announcing border re-openings. Instead, it was the good folks at Porsche and Shell, announcing their EV charging network that spans Singapore and Malaysia.

Happenings

We went on an imaginary holiday in a Porsche Taycan

IN Porsche, Taycan, Taycan 4S, Porsche Taycan, Porsche Taycan 4S, Shell, EV Charging, EV Charging Network, Road trip

Porsche Asia Pacific and fuel giant Shell have announced a cross-country EV charging network – that means full-electric driving, all the way up to Penang!