SMMT test day at Millbrook proving ground (May 2024)

The SMMT testing day, is a day where automotive companies show off their new cars to the press, allowing us (the press) to drive and test them, ask questions, etc. Here is my overview of the cars that I tested recently on this day. If you have any questions on these cars, do not hesitate to ask away in the comments section below this article.

Now I’m not a massive fan of electric cars. Personally for me, it’s not the way forward, and don’t get me wrong. I am massive environmentalist believe that we need to protect our environment. However, I was drawn to testing electric cars, because so many automotive companies are making them now. So here I will run through the electric cars that I tested first, before I go onto the petrol cars that I tested.

Electric car reviews

Abarth 500E

A short test drive of this car. Now I’ve owned the rare and collectable Fiat 500 Ferrari edition that was given to every dealer globally. I also currently own an Abarth 595, so I believe I’m well placed to give an opinion on this car. My first observation was it was pretty difficult to work out how to turn the radio off and get out of the car and get into gear. Once shown it’s all pretty simple. The interior of the car is very nice and cute as it always is in a Fiat 500. The exterior is also quite cool and very similar to the standard car. Obviously being electric there are no exhaust pipes, however, there is a fake engine noise, however, this does not really go up or down when you accelerate, so in my opinion a completely pointless. Also, if you’re buying an electric car, are you really looking for a noisy petrol sounding car, personally I think not.

My verdict: I think this car is quite cool car. It’s certainly not one for me. I’m still yet to be convinced or have found an electric car that I would be happy to buy. This car certainly has good acceleration. However, I’m not sure how long the battery would last, as I drove approximately 4 or 5 miles and did about 5% of the battery. So unless you’re gonna drive this car very conservatively, you’re probably not gonna get much more than 100 to 150 miles from the battery.

My rating: 5 out of 10. I understand why they’ve made a Fiat 500 electric, but an Abarth with its racing pedigree, I just don’t get.

Price: from £33,364

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Citroen Ami Buggi Electric

I’m not sure about this car. It’s certainly unique looking/ quirky. It’s built for city travel only with a top speed of 28 mph. This car certainly had a lot of attention on the day and a lot of people wanting to drive it. How practical I’m not sure? I think it was more the novelty factor that drew people to it.

The test drive. I quite enjoyed it. It’s a unique vehicle for sure. I certainly don’t think I’ll ever have one in my car collection, but I could understand people having one if you live in a city. It’s a very simplistic vehicle a lot of plastic and rubber. If you don’t care about what you look like, i.e. you’re not pretentious, then this may be for you. I’m sure the insurance would be minimal and you can drive this from the age of 14 in some countries.

My rating: 4 out of 10

Price: £10,496

More information here.

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BYD

I’ve never seen a BYD car on the roads, but like anybody into cars, you will know that in China BYD is growing rapidly and challenging Tesla globally. So I took the chance to look at what they had on display.

BYD Seal & Seal S

To me this car looks like a copy of a Tesla S. The Chinese probably reverse engineered this car from a Tesla S. Have to say my first impression of this car (Seal S) having driven it, is it’s a 9 out of 10. However, on my test drive once I got above 70 mph there was a light buzzing and humming noise, which faded away, but then came back as I accelerated up to 100 mph. I’m not sure if that was the car itself which has a error particular, or this would be a situation with all of their cars. So to check I took out another car, the Seal, which is the rear wheel drive only car, compared to the all wheel drive S. Annoyingly, I still got that buzzing noise at around 90-100mph. Very frustrating. I even took the car out third time with the chief technical officer that was there on the day and he couldn’t explain why it was making those noises and he never heard those noises before. The technical officer on the day got in contact with headquarters and was then informed it was a known issue, which has now been resolved. The issue was sealant on the front windscreen. I’m hopeful that I will get a car in the future to test drive and make sure that this issue has been fixed and it’s not an ongoing problem. Watch this space.

My rating: 7 out of 10 with high speed buzz. If no buzz 9 out of 10 and a lot of car performance and luxury for the money and a nice place to be.

Price: Surprising to me was the price point of this car, being £45,000 (Seal) and £48,500 (Seal S).

More information here.

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BYD Atto 3

So my first drive of the BYD Atto 3 was a pleasant experience. I quite like this car. As a family, we currently own a Lexus NX350h and love this. The Atto 3 is smaller in height, maybe slightly shorter in length and about the same width, however, inside there is plenty of room and I would say if you are two adults and three kids, this car would be adequate, unless your kids are 6 foot five inches.

The car has some nice quirky features such as the air-conditioning vents. The opening of the doors (the handle) are attached to above the speakers and the side pockets have some cool design features (see below). The screen for the satnav music system is large enough and not distracting. It’s a nice and comfortable drive. I think it’s a very cool looking design and very tempting at the price point. I think it’s very reasonable. This is a for me is a family car. There’s no real punch in the acceleration it’s just a car to get you from A to B in comfort.

My rating: 8 out of 10

Price: Design version – £38k (which is the car that I drove and highest spec.) and Comfort version – £36.5k

More information here.

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Peugeot E-208

I took this car out for a drive as I’m assuming it’s a take on the classic Peugeot 208, but an electric version. Have to say that the car looks OK. I quite like the interior decor on this particular model, however, I don’t think the display and driving position and features are all that impressive And at 38,000 pounds I just can’t see why you would buy one. There are so many better options I think for the money and less money. 4 out of 10 for me. This car Abarth 500E and the other wins hands-down.I took this car out for a drive as I’m assuming it’s a take (nod to) the classic Peugeot 208, but an electric version. Have to say that the car looks OK. I quite like the interior decor on this particular model, however, I don’t think the display and driving position and features are all that impressive and at £38,000 I just can’t see why you would buy one. There are so many better car options out there, for the money and less money.

Our rating: 4 out of 10

Price: £31,200.00 to £36,250

More information here.

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Petrol car reviews

If you’re a petrolhead like me and there’s an opportunity to drive Porsches’, then why wouldn’t you. The car that I took the opportunity to drive was the:

Porsche 911 Carrera T

Wow. This is a great performance car. Looks great, sounds great, performs great. Accelerates hard, stops on the button, a drivers fantasy.

I really enjoyed driving this car and I did not want to stop. In my opinion, that says everything about a car. In my opinion, it’s an expensive purchase, but you get a hell of a lot of performance and fun and smile factor.

My rating: 9 out of 10

Price: £113,638

More information here.

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Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

I’m 51 years of age and I’m not sure I’ve ever driven an Alfa Romeo. Yes, sad I know. So I was looking very forward to driving this car as I did not get a chance to test drive it 12 months earlier. Wow, what a car to start my Alfa Romeo car driving experience. I have to say that I had a smile on my face straight from the off. I found the mode button immediately and had it turned onto race mode, which had all traction control and drive assistance turned off, which is just how I like it. The car was noisy, and just accelerated and accelerated and accelerated. At the time I did not know what the top speed was without researching it, but wow this felt like a 200 mph car. Then reading the spec sheet I discovered the top speed is 191mph. WOW. It just kept pulling and pulling. Boy was this fun. I had a smile on my face from start to finish, and as I walked away from the car, I had to turn back and look again, and that’s the sign of a great and beautiful car.

My rating: 10/10 for me. There was nothing that I did not like.

Price: £80,445

More information here.

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Mini Cooper S

An iconic car for sure, so I was driven to having a drive. When this car was in normal comfort mode, it felt a bit like a barge on wheels…not a great driving experience for my taste. The car wasn’t a responsive driving weapon as I would hoped it would be, so at that point I was going to give the car 4.5/5 out of 10. When I found a switch to change driving modes and turned the driving mode onto go kart mode, yes there is actually a go kart mode, then it became the car became responsive louder, and just a better round experience. However, for me the Abarth 595 is a much better car, a better experience and more fun.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10

Price: £33,949

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I hoped you enjoyed this article and my reviews of these cars. If you have any experiences with these cars yourself we’d love to hear your thoughts below.