This job is a fascinating one. Every so often, an automaker will toss you the keys to a brand-new car (or even fly you out to a testing locale) just for your experience, so that you can develop thoughts about the model to post online. Over the past two months, we’ve certainly developed some thoughts — and boy have we posted them. You’ve seen Part One, but now it’s time for Part Two of every car Jalopnik reviewed in 2022. Let’s dive in.
The luxury car market is in a weird place right now. Where V8-powered monsters were once lauded as the best you could get, carmakers are increasingly looking to electrify their top-tier models. And while the sport sedan of old reigned supreme, its crown has been stolen by the burgeoning performance SUV segment.
I can still feel that bittersweet pang of enthusiasm and disappointment when Toyota announced the GR Yaris — that homologation-special, all-wheel-drive three-door hatchback that seemed to deliver everything a rally fan could ever want in a daily driver. I was disappointed, because I knew we’d never get it in the United States. But Toyota promised something for us. We’d just have to wait.
Remember when hybrids were boring? It really didn’t seem that long ago that we were trying to come up with ways to make the things seem like anything more than snooze-inducing functional engineering. Even a starring role in Gran Turismo 5 couldn’t make the poor Prius cool.
For as long as I’m fortunate enough to do this job, the first step of every review will always be the same, no matter the car: get inside and press every button. This is how people tend to formulate their earliest impression of any vehicle, after all. Bless its forced-induction heart, the Golf R offers a limp handshake.
Cadillac is in an interesting position right now. The company wants to launch a new brand identity, but its most iconic product doesn’t really mesh with that new direction. Cadillac has said many times that from here on out, all its new vehicles will be electric. That leaves its flagship, the Escalade, in a weird spot.
Electric vehicle owners once considered themselves special; a rare breed, just a little more environmentally conscious and technologically advanced than Joe Q. Internal-Combustion. But like all emerging technologies, EVs are transitioning from advanced fancy tech to being plain old cars — in theory, a good thing for the planet.
Everyone loves to complain that modern cars have lost their character. They’re too competent, too isolated, too good. The cars of old were better because they were worse, these people say; automakers should start making cars worse to improve them. But what would it look like if a manufacturer actually listened to that advice? If a company known for tech and luxury decided to bank on character instead?
Luxury crossovers are a dime a dozen these days. Every automaker seems to offer one, with varying degrees of success. While the format is more or less established, there’s one luxury crossover that deserves some extra attention. It’s the 2022 Genesis GV70, and, like basically every Genesis product, it punches way above its weight class.
I’ll be honest: I have my favorites when it comes to hybrid systems. To me, the most efficient hybrid is a Toyota-style ECVT setup, placed in an ugly hatchback body that I’ve probably conned myself into thinking is the pinnacle of driving efficiency. Sure, Toyota’s hybrids are mechanically robust, but in my opinion, they’re ugly, and generally not fun to drive. The power delivery is syrupy, like pouring corn-laden Mrs. Butterworth’s imitation maple syrup on a freezer-burnt Eggo waffle. In the same way that unsatisfying meal counts as adequate sustenance, those Toyota hybrids are functional transportation. For awhile, it felt like Toyota’s winning combo (and dominant sales numbers) meant every mainstream hybrid had to rigidly follow that formula.
Most electric bikes that you see on the street are set up for commuters and delivery riders. They’re heavy, with wide tires to soak up bumps, and come decked out with fenders and luggage racks. Bikes like this are great if you want to leave the car at home and take an electrically-assisted ride.
There are generations of drivers in the U.S. who have no idea what the 2023 Toyota Crown is, or what it represents. The last time Toyota sold a new Crown here in America was in 1972; most of us born after Generation X have no recollection of the model. Some might say Toyota itself has no idea what the Crown is — or was — given the design of this latest model: No longer recognizable as a sedan, and much closer to a crossover.
They say to never meet your heroes. Put someone on a pedestal and they’ll only disappoint you, so by keeping your distance you can live in your brightest fantasies rather than heartbreaking reality. Of course, this isn’t always true – I’ve met the previous-generation FK8 Civic Type R, built from 2017 to 2021, and the reality of that car more than matches the dream.
Normally, “best-in-class” is just a stupid marketing phrase when it comes to cars. Then I get in a Kia Telluride and I’m like, alright, fine, I get it. That’s because every time I drive a Telluride, I wonder why anyone would ever buy any other midsize SUV. It looks rad, drives well, comes packed with creature comforts and it’s even (relatively) affordable. Hell, I’d take one of these over plenty of luxury SUVs. The Telluride is a benchmark defined.
These are strange times in the auto industry. After years of waiting and two generations without it, Ford is putting a V8 back in the Raptor to create this, the 2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R. At the same time, Ford is making a fully-electric F-150 pickup truck. The supercharged, Shelby-powered Raptor R and all-electric F-150 Lighting exist at opposite ends of a single spectrum, and going between the poles of Ford’s (and America’s) best-selling model can be jarring.
In 2021, the CR-V was Honda’s best-selling product here in America. It was the brand’s top-selling model in 2020 and 2019, too. In fact, it’s been Honda’s best-selling vehicle here in the U.S. for almost every one of the past 20 years. So when the time comes to update the CR-V, it’s a pretty important task for Honda and its engineers.
After George Lucas watched a rough cut of Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the director infamously said, “I may have gone too far in a few places.” This, I fear, is what BMW has done with the 2022 X3 M Competition. Much like The Phantom Menace, this BMW has all the building blocks to be great, but falls short in its delivery.
Every enduringly good car has a repeatable formula. If you’ve found it once and remained true to that ethos, you can find it again. At worst, you’ll give the world more of a great thing. The 2023 Honda Civic Type R is more of a great thing, in a wrapper many people will find more agreeable than the previous generation. Which is important, because it was hard to have any conversation about the outgoing Type R without tripping into a conversation about the design. Thank goodness; we can talk about something else now.
It was supposed to be an off-road adventure. But in a van. A dynamic test of the new all-wheel-drive diesel-powered 2023 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Just a tall vehicle crawling up a dirt road and maybe, just maybe, we’d get that one-tire-in-the-air photo for this article.
A lot of people considering e-bikes are doing so to either make getting into the outdoors easier, or they’re looking for a way to cut the number of car journeys they make each week. Both of those become a lot simpler with the RadRunner 2 thanks to grippy tires, a comfy seat and oodles of cargo-carrying capacity.
A two-door convertible sports car should make you feel special when you hit the road. With the wind rushing through your hair and a glorious engine soundtracking your ride, it’s enough to put anyone on cloud nine. When you get in the BMW M4 Competition Convertible, you get all that, but also comfy seats and a trunk you can squeeze full of various squashes. It ticks all the boxes while also being one of the most practical convertibles you can buy today.
Holy crap, the Mercedes-AMG G63 4x4 Squared. It’s twice the price of a standard G-Class, but also twice as cool. It’s a leather-and-suede-lined luxury tank with 577 hp, 627 lb-ft of torque, three locking differentials, portal axles, side pipes, all-terrain tires, a carbon-fiber light bar and one of the gnarliest rear bumpers I’ve ever seen. It has more ground clearance than a Ford Bronco Raptor and you can have it painted bright-ass neon green. Yes, it costs $350,050, including $1,050 for destination. But like, what the hell else even comes close? The G63 4x4 Squared is a rolling hyperbole.
Cars like the Lexus IS500 are a dying breed, and it’s likely the last time you’ll see something like this from Lexus. Hybrids and EVs are the priority moving forward. That’s just how it is. But for those of us who still want an old-school sedan with big V8 thrills, the IS500 is something special. It’s analog in the best way. And you owe it to yourself to go drive one.
Sometimes when an automaker introduces a new vehicle, the word “new” does some seriously heavy lifting. In spite of its recognizable exterior, the McLaren Artura is about as fresh as a car can be. I’d wager the dichotomy of the familiar styling and all the advancement it conceals isn’t coincidental.
Do you think, when governments around the world demanded reductions in global emissions, they knew they were condemning some of the world’s greatest cars to massive weight gains? Regardless of complicity, that’s the fate we’re now facing: decreasing displacements paired with increased mass. Somehow, in the case of the new Mercedes-AMG C63 S E-PerformanceS, it still works out just fine.
As electric vehicles continue to make their way deeper into the automotive landscape, it’s easy to forget about hybrids. They’re sort of like the middle child of the car world – stuck somewhere between the internal combustion past and EV future. Well, the fifth-generation Toyota Prius wants you to know that hybrids are still here, still relevant, and better than ever. The 2023 Prius comes with a new look, a lot more power, a premium feel, and sportier driving characteristics. It’s also the most powerful and, depending how you spec it, the most fuel-efficient Prius ever. It’s enough to pull the Prius – a car that has been on sale in the U.S. since 2001 – back into relevancy. Here’s how Toyota did it.
I took out my phone and began frantically taking pictures of my passport as the hundred-person-plus customs line inched forward. “You’ll get your passport back a little later,” someone at the head of the line told me. ”They’re going to hold on to them for a while.” I wasn’t sure if this person was an influencer, a journalist I didn’t recognize, or a VinFast employee. But it’s not like I had a choice. I mean, what was I going to do? The Vietnamese customs agent looked me up and down and put my passport in a pile with all the others.
By the end of this trip, sending my passport into the ether wouldn’t even rank among the top 10 craziest things I’d be privy to.
I was in Vietnam to sample the automotive fruits of VinFast; the fast-moving automotive startup had just begun selling electric cars in its home country and was already promising to bring them to the United States. I definitely learned something about VinFast, but it wasn’t exactly what the company wanted me to see.
Suburban malaise is a very real thing. Spend enough time in a small town and you’ll find yourself with a dull yet somehow intense boredom. Sure, you can mow the lawn and maybe get a drink down at the local dive bar, but it gets old. Fast. My solution to the boredom? Drive a Subaru BRZ.
There are honestly few things I enjoy more than a long drive. That’s why my girlfriend and I decided to do a roadtrip-based vacation a little while ago. We’d start in Los Angeles and then make our way up the coast to San Francisco, and damn did we have the right car for the job. Meet the 2022 Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Platinum Edition. It really could be the best long-distance cruiser and daily-driver on sale today.
The Kia EV6 is a great car. It’s reasonably priced, comfortable, offers as much as 310 miles of range and looks cool with its big ol’ ducktail on the back. But Kia knows it’s not enough to just be a good all-rounder in a world of high-performance electric cars. No, you’ve gotta be quick, too. Hence the introduction of Kia’s new halo electric car, the EV6 GT.