I don’t like plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, aka PHEVs. It frustrates me, carting around a dead engine or a flat battery. The only good PHEV is a PHEV that’s working in the sweet spot of gasoline and electric in tandem. Five minutes later, you’ve astride an overweight slug.
Hold on. As of just now, I’ve decided I love plug-in hybrids. I adore the socially aware silence of trickling through a sleepy village on e-power, or leaving the house early with my neighbors undisturbed. I delight in the immediacy of the electric surge while the petrol engine builds up. There’s just one catch: I only want a plug-in hybrid powertrain if it’s in a supercar.
Yes, they’ve been around a while. The Holy Trinity and all that: P1, 918, TheFerrari. Haven’t driven any of those, but I did recently spend 48 hours in a McLaren Artura. I’ve decided that a chargeable gasoline supercar is the ideal PHEV.
Supercars are posey wedges. Capsules for showing off in. Even a relatively subtle one like an Artura is a flex. But by sidling through traffic without a flat-plane crank engine blaring away, the pillock factor is diluted. You don’t have to peacock if you’re not in the mood to.
Plus, a little stint of silence makes the engine fire-up (once you’re past the national speed limit sign) more of an event. You cherish and relish the gasoline side of the equation that little bit more. The Artura stubbornly only uses the e-motor until the V6 is warmed up, too, so you’re never rinsing it while the oil is stone-cold and gloopy.
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You might think PHEV is all a bit token in a hip-height high performer. Not sure I agree. I did a two-hour, 160km commute in the Artura and got 13.6km/L, having started with a 75% full battery. That’s the same fuel economy as our long-term Audi S3 Sportback manages. So there are benefits beyond papering over the twin-turbo V6’s inherent McLag.
And because McLaren has been clever with the hybrid system’s battery and motor, while ruthlessly chasing weight out of the car elsewhere, you never feel like you’re driving a leaden, blunted 570S laden with batteries and strewn with wiring. This isn’t a gasoline car spoiled, or an electric car sullied. It’s a supercar, improved. It feels terribly modern. Just a pity it looks like a seven-year old car, really.
I’m still not sure the next BMW M5 will improve as it morphs from 600hp V8 to 800hp PHEV—not on the evidence on the AMG GT 4-door hybrid thingy or Porsche’s top-end Panamera. So on the whole, I still think high-speed hybrids are hit and miss.
But for a supercar—even if it’s only a Sunday-morning treat—the concept fits beautifully. I like the Artura and the Ferrari 296. I’m looking forward to the Lamborghini Revuelto. The future’s bright. And low. And fast.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
