The Best Cars on Show in LA

The ultimate dad-wagon is back and fiercer than ever! The RS6 Avant was actually unveiled to the world a few months ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show, however, the Bahn-storming estate has been revitalised for 2020 and is on show in LA for a very special reason - this will be the first RS6 to be sold to the US market. The Americans will be able to appreciate an estate vehicle (which is a niche segment over there compared to in Europe) with a hugely potent 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine. The RS6 Avant is of course extremely luxurious, being a top-end Audi, and very practical thanks to its cavernous boot, but its also ruthlessly fast, with a 0-60 of just 3.6 seconds. The RS6 Avant goes on sale at the start of 2020 and it’s likely that your local dealership is accepting pre-orders now.

Another new model on show from Audi is their second all-electric SUV, the E-tron Sportback. The Sportback is based heavily on the regular E-tron SUV, which was launched earlier in the year and has received huge amounts of praise. The E-Tron Sportback has the same 277-mile range as it uses an identical powertrain to the SUV model, it’s also plenty powerful too with a maximum output of 407 horsepower. The new Sportback isn’t available just yet but we’re expecting it to go on sale in summer of 2020, so not too far away and we anticipate a starting price around the £70,000 mark.

Aston’s first-ever SUV is on show in LA and wow - it is a stunner. One of the most attractive SUVs on the market? It’s certainly up there. The front grille is undeniably Aston, and the boot lid is championed by a familiar ducktail that you’ll recognise from certain Vantage models. The DBX is a hugely important car for Aston Martin, potentially a lifeline for the brand, as they need to make more sales to a wider audience, and a premium SUV is a solid way of achieving this. The DBX will be built at an all-new factory in Wales and prices are set to start from £158,000 - so expect this to rival the likes of the Lamborghini Urus and Bentley Bentayga, right at the top of the SUV pecking order.

BMW’s model lineup gets even greater as BMW are exhibiting their upcoming 2 Series Gran Coupe in LA. It’s a sleek-looking thing that shoe-horns itself in somewhere between the BMW 2 Series Coupe and the 3 Series saloon. It has 5 doors and a hatch for a boot, with a shorter wheelbase than the 3 Series but a greater cabin size than the 2 Series Coupe. It’s quite a good looking thing in all fairness although the side profile is a bit anonymous but, interestingly, it will use a front-wheel-drive platform like the 1 Series and a few other models in the range have adopted. The 2 Series Gran Coupe is available to order in the UK with prices starting from £25,815.

The LA Auto Show is littered with new electric vehicles, but few have taken as much attention as the Mustang Mach-E. It’s Ford’s brand new electric SUV which dons the famous Mustang moniker and borrows loads of styling from its smaller sports-car sibling. To purists, the Mach-E will be undeserving of the Mustang name, but to those with a bit more foresight and a little less sentiment, this is a really promising car for Ford. Not only is the Mach-E extremely powerful, like every Mustang should be, but it’s also incredibly sustainable and efficient - like every modern car needs to be. You’ll be able to go from zero to 60 in under 5 seconds and you’ll also get 370 miles from a single charge - there’s no getting away from the fact that this Mach-E looks extremely impressive. The Mach-E is available to pre-order with prices starting from £40,270.

Like the Mustang, the name badge ‘AMG’ is synonymous with big-engined petrol power, but like the Ford, Mercedes are going a little bit greener to keep up with the times. Mercedes-Benz has debuted their AMG GLE 63 in Los Angeles with a mild-hybrid system. It’s the first time a V8 AMG has been given a bit of electricity to help ease its role and it makes an awful lot of sense. This mild-hybrid system doesn’t necessitate any plugging or charging, you won’t even know it’s there. Behind the scenes, though, a 48-volt motor helps make the start-stop functionality seamless while also adding up to 21 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque when called upon. 

Finally! The JCW GP has been unveiled at the LA auto show after almost 2 years since the concept was launched! What is it? Well, its a 300 horsepower MINI with some absurd-but-epic aero body parts and a lap time at the Nurburgring of under 8 minutes - which is very impressive for a front-wheel-drive hatchback. It’s the most powerful MINI ever produced and it will go from a standstill to 60 mph in just 5 seconds flat. Inside, the rear seats have been replaced with a sway bar to keep the car as solid as possible and bucket seats are a standard fit. The MINI JCW GP starts from £33,895 but you’ll have to be extremely quick as only 3,000 models will be made worldwide. Deliveries are expected to start in March of 2020.

Porsche looks to strengthen their already stellar lineup of performance SUVs with the introduction of the Macan Turbo. This might not be the star of their stand as the all-electric Taycan is on show too, but it is certainly worthy of an honourable mention. The Macan outsold the 911, Cayman and Boxster combined in 2018 so it was only a matter of time before a range-topping Turbo model was introduced. Yes, it’s ultimately powerful, but it’s still a Porsche so inside that beautiful exterior you’ll find a wonderfully crafted interior which is particularly well-bolted together. The new Macan Turbo is on sale now and prices start from £68,530.

The RAV4 is a hugely important vehicle for Toyota, although it might not seem like it. It doesn’t sell particularly well in the UK when compared to the rest of the world, but that could be due to change with the introduction of the plug-in Prime model. It’s the most economical Rav4 that Toyota has ever built but, strangely, its also really rather powerful. The facts and figures of this car pitch it to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, in fact, it is almost as fast to 60 mph as the Toyota Supra sports car! They’ve used a 2.5-litre petrol engine and mated it to an electric motor to create a combined 302 horsepower, which is more than you’ll likely ever need. It’s still extremely sustainable though and you can achieve a whole 39 miles of electric-only driving, which is class-leading for a plug-in hybrid SUV. It’s quite a baffling concept, this new Rav4 Prime but honestly its a really exciting project. We’re going to have to wait a fair while to see it on the roads though as this model is due to be launched for the 2021 model year, so keep your eyes peeled for more information as and when we get it.

And last but certainly not least is a concept car from Volkswagen which is due to be materialised in 2022. It’s a battery-powered estate car that - we think - is going to be similar in size to the likes of the Volkswagen Passat. Volkswagen has admitted that the concept on show in LA can still be a fair distance away from the final product as they are still looking at various iterations, but the car in principle is on its way. We do know that the final product will be fully electric with a range in excess of 300 miles, which will hopefully be the industry standard measuring stick by 2022, but for now, all way have to admire is this rolling prototype on show in Los Angeles.