Innehållsförteckning för January 2022 från MotorTrend

Our 2022 MotorTrend Car of the Year program was a significant one for many reasons. It was our first Car of the Year back at Hyundai’s California Proving Ground after a pandemic-induced change of venue last year. With just 16 total nameplates—partially due to supply shortages, compounded by America’s appetite for more trucks and SUVs—it was our smallest COTY field in at least a decade. It was also significant because we had four new staff judges this year. Any veteran Car, Truck, or SUV of the Year judge can robotically repeat the six criteria we use to judge our three (soon to be four—stay tuned) Of The Year awards, but new blood reminds us our criteria and methods might not be as well understood as we think they are, both…

Meet the 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross, Toyota’s new SUV. Not that it bears much resemblance to the Corolla sedan from the outside—were we in charge of naming vehicles, we would have called it the Highlandette—but there’s plenty of Corolla under the skin and behind the doors. That doesn’t matter, though: Toyota’s intention is to invoke the familiarity of a name that, for millions, is synonymous with dependable transportation. This SUV slots between the entry-level C-HR and the ever-expanding RAV4. It rides on the same TNGA-C (Toyota New Generation Architecture-Compact) platform as the Corolla, with the same MacPherson strut front suspension. Front-drive Crosses get the Corolla’s rear beam axle, and all-wheel drivers get a multilink. Power comes from the 169-hp 2.0-liter engine, the same one used in nicer versions of the…

This month’s reader on location is Charles Kuning of Baltimore, who writes to us from Spain: “I forgot to take a copy of MT when I flew to India to see the Taj Mahal and when I went to Australia to see the Sydney Opera House. I remembered to bring a copy to Spain, but then I forgot to take it out for La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, and the top of Gibraltar with Morocco in the background. But the core reason I came to Spain is the building in the background of this picture, the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum by Frank Gehry—and I finally remembered to take my magazine to the roof of my hotel across the street at dawn.”…

Rivian’s suspension works a lot like that of the McLaren 720S in that it includes hydraulic cross-linking of adaptive dampers. The setup also shares the concept of using ride-height-adjustable air springs with several higher-end trucks and SUVs. Combining these elements gives the R1T several key advantages. Designing an electric “adventure vehicle” with sufficient range to encourage true overlanding requires a big battery pack, which drives a high curb weight. A high payload capacity is also essential to accommodate gear and fellow adventurers, and variable ride height is key for conquering the toughest trails. Air springs are the best way to accomplish these goals, but as they inflate, spring rates increase. Ride quality is determined by how well each corner’s shock damping and spring rates are matched, so maintaining reasonable ride…

When our TAT adventure concluded on the wind-blasted shores of Port Orford, Oregon, we still had 900 miles to go to reach MotorTrend’s home base in Los Angeles. This was our opportunity to test the R1T as most buyers will, treating it as a road-bound daily conveyance. The R1T’s hydropneumatic suspension imparts ride quality and body composure on par with some German luxury crossovers. The vegan “leather” seats were excellent, too; we remained cramp-free even after crashing over some of the roughest pavement the West had on offer. Other trucks aren’t the best baseline of comparison, as there’s nothing with a bed that floats over a road with the Rivian’s slickness. The glassy portions of Highway 101 that wind through Oregon and Northern California were hardly a proving ground for…

PROS Affordable, fun electric commuter with decent range • Dual-level (L1 and L2) charge cord and free installation of Level 2 charger • Button for one-pedal driving CONS No Super Cruise like the Bolt EUV SUV • No sunroof • We hoped for more significant material upgrades The Chevrolet Bolt compact electric hatchback impressed us so much when it first hit the market, we named it the 2017 MotorTrend Car of the Year. It was bold and fresh, ushering in a new era of fun electric cars that made sense as everyday drivers. For the 2022 model year, Chevy gave the Bolt a needed update to compete with an exploding number of new EVs, hoping new clothes on the old emperor would be enough to win the title again. “It’s…

PROS New base engine adds 45 horsepower • Nice proportions • Improved interior • Fun dynamics CONS Automatic transmission lags at times • No power liftgate for huge rear hatch • Can’t turn off stability control When Kia brought the Stinger five-passenger sport sedan to compete for the 2018 MotorTrend Car of the Year award, we were delighted with its capability, but the lineup suffered from an underpowered base engine. The Stinger is back to address that complaint with a new 2.5-liter I-4 that puts out 300 hp and 311 lb-ft of torque. The power output represents an impressive 45-hp hike over the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder it replaces, and the new mill is more fuel efficient. Like its more luxurious Genesis G70 counterpart, the Stinger is a rear-drive car, and…

PROS Even more of a good time than the original • Better engine, excellent driving dynamics • Light weight CONS Agricultural (by modern standards) engine • NVH still has room for improvement • Not quite as much fun as Toyota’s GR 86 “For pure, unadulterated driving delight, the BRZ packs a knockout punch.” That’s but one example of the praise we heaped upon the original Subaru BRZ rear-drive sports car nearly a decade ago. Now freshly on sale in its long-awaited second generation, we’re enthused to say, well, the same thing. The 2022 Subaru BRZ, again developed with Toyota alongside its Car of the Year–contending GR 86, rides on a revised version of the previous chassis, but it features elements of the newer Subaru Global Platform (SGP). In a nutshell,…

PROS Excellent hybrid model • Advanced tech for a compact • Features-per-dollar value CONS Inconsistent interior materials • 2.0L engine needs refinement • Ride quality on imperfect roads Dramatic slashes through its sheetmetal indicate this is no ordinary compact sedan. No, the ambitious 2021 Hyundai Elantra is laser-focused on the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla—but what else is new? Well, how about this: The Elantra comes closer to the Civic than it ever has before, if you know how to find the model’s sweet spot. Offered only as a sedan in the U.S., the 2021 Elantra offers three powertrains, including a 147-hp 2.0-liter inline-four most buyers will choose, a 139-hp hybrid most buyers should choose, and a 201-hp N Line aimed at enthusiasts. (A 276-hp Elantra N arrives for 2022.)…

PROS Space Age looks • Drives like a Porsche should • Supple suspension tuning CONS Clunky two-speed automatic • Not enough regenerative braking for most • Range mode limited to 60 mph One of the most intense debates we had during the 2021 Car of the Year program concerned the 2020 Porsche Taycan’s efficiency. “You are looking at the least efficient fully electric vehicle produced today, period,” we wrote last year. It’s that lack of efficiency that ultimately worked to hold the Taycan back from the Golden Calipers. A year later with a new, more efficient single-motor rear-drive variant, is 2022 now the time for the Porsche Taycan to shine? It certainly seemed promising. The updated 2021 Taycan sports the same underpinnings as last year’s finalist car, but it loses…

Everybody is enthralled with the 2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition P’s biggest number: 1,111 horsepower. But smaller numbers point the way forward to mass electrification: 3.9 horsepower per pound and 4.6 miles per kilowatt-hour. The former represents the Dream P’s drive unit (motor, reduction gear, and integrated power inverter), which produces 670 peak horsepower and weighs 163 pounds, for roughly triple the power density Tesla achieves. The latter represents the range the Air Dream Edition R gets from its 113-kWh battery pack. These mass-reduction and efficiency measures are just the tip of Lucid’s (slower-melting) efficiency iceberg. Imagine how small and light a 200-hp version of this motor would be and how many fewer kilowatt-hours of battery you’d need for a smaller, lighter, 300-mile family car that achieves 5 or 6…

On a recent visit to Toyota’s truck plant in San Antonio, Texas, we were surprised by how many full-size Detroit-bred pickups filled the employee parking lots. It illustrated the extent to which Toyota’s own full-sizer, the 15-year-old second-gen Tundra, had become uncompetitive. The completely new 2022 Tundra aims to win back buyers—with or without an employee discount. But does it have what it takes to dent the market penetration of America’s perennial best-selling vehicle from Ford or Ram’s multiple Truck of the Year winner? It’s worth noting Toyota has never sought to counter every powertrain, cab/box combo, or price point the Detroit automakers offer, choosing instead to target the heart of the retail market. For 2022, however, the Tundra adds a second powertrain option and a third wheelbase that allows…

We’re rolling along a Tennessee road in the all-new Ford Maverick when we pull up behind a beat-up, ’90s-era Ranger. One quick glance and it’s easy to see how much bigger the Maverick is. Ah, but the Ranger is a body-on-frame design, what some call a true truck. In the end, it’s all relative: There’s a new-generation Ranger, and it’s more than 10 inches longer than the unibody-architecture Maverick, while the latter can easily do as many truck things as that battle-scarred old Ranger ever could. Our first stint bopping around Nashville and the surrounding environs was in a base front-wheel-drive Maverick XL. Its optional 2.0-liter EcoBoost turbo I-4 with 250 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque mates to an eight-speed automatic transmission; mash the accelerator pedal to the floor,…

Might lithium-sulfur batteries push solid-state aside as The Next Big Thing in battery technology? Silicon Valley battery tech company Lyten just came out of stealth mode at September’s Motor Bella car show/mobility conference in metro Detroit after several years of federally funded research, and it made a very promising pitch: Triple the energy per weight! Charged ions of lithium metal do the heavy lifting in today’s batteries. When your Tesla is tethered to the Supercharger, these ions migrate through the electrolyte, across the separator, and plate out on the anode. Then when you floor the accelerator, they head in the other direction, forming chemical bonds with the cathode material. In today’s EV batteries, these cathode materials (typically nickel/manganese/cobalt-oxide molecules) can only host 0.5 to 0.7 lithium ions each, whereas a…

As I pull our Glacier White 2022 Rivian R1T electric pickup truck off its charger somewhere in western North Carolina overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains, I’m chewing on the idea that there aren’t many firsts left in this world. Sam Garcia, one of Rivian’s young electric charging engineers, catches me as I walk out of our hotel, loading up for the next day of our epic overland adventure. “Check it out,” he says, handing me a Rivian wheel center cap and an official-looking business card. It reads: “This item flew to space above the Karman Line on Blue Origin’s fully reusable New Shepard Launch Vehicle.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has ordered a fleet of Rivian vans for his company (not to mention an R1T and an R1S SUV for himself),…

Charging during our trek across the Trans-America Trail was such a nonevent that we felt more range anxiety concerning our Ram 1500 TRX support truck. Most days, we charged up just once in the middle of the day; some days, we didn’t even do that. Keep in mind, this trip wasn’t ideal for highlighting what everyday life with an R1T might be like—mostly because unless you live on a remote ranch, commune, or science station, you’ll drive on paved roads, near chargers, and likely for shorter distances. At a few stops, we used Rivian’s new Level 2 Waypoint chargers, plugging in overnight and waking to a full battery pack. For other stops, we hit up Electrify America fast chargers, taking on significant charge in less than an hour. If you’re…

AUDI E-TRON GT • CHEVROLET BOLT EV • HONDA CIVIC • HYUNDAI ELANTRA • KARMA GS-6 KIA CARNIVAL • KIA STINGER • LEXUS IS • LUCID AIR • MERCEDES-BENZ S-CLASS • MERCEDES-EQ EQS PORSCHE PANAMERA • PORSCHE TAYCAN • SUBARU BRZ • TOYOTA GR 86 • VOLKSWAGEN GOLF BEHIND THE SCENES AT MT’S (SHRUNKEN) 2022 CAR OF THE YEAR SHOWDOWN A small, eclectic group of cars for a small, eclectic competition. This is our second successive unusual MotorTrend Car of the Year contest. Once again, judges, photographers, videographers, and support staff were subjected to nasal swabs and remaining socially distanced outdoors in 90-plus-degree heat, and we all suffered the indignity of not sharing Costco-sized jugs of candy with one another. Stranger still? The skinny field of new cars competing for…

PROS: Four-door Corvette style • 4-second acceleration • Exclusivity CONS: Soviet powertrain NVH • Cozy coupe packaging • Prototype refinement Back at COTY in 2011, an identical-looking pre-production Fisker Karma arrived at the Hyundai Proving Ground with parts falling off or warping in the desert sun and doors that wouldn’t stay shut under cornering. After 10 years, a bankruptcy, a Chinese purchase of Fisker Automotive’s assets, and a major re-engineering effort, the Karma GS-6 returns for our consideration. Surely a decade in various ovens has fully baked this cake, right? Wrong. The many novice chefs attempting this Cordon Bleu recipe failed to nail this luxe/sport PHEV cake. Many ingredients are baked in: powerful rear motors to deliver Ken Block–worthy drifts, 45-kW DC fast charging for the battery, hand-stitched leather and…

PROS V-8 bragging rights • V-8 engine note • Good ride quality CONS V-8 fuel economy • No AWD option • Slow-reacting transmission The newest Lexus sport sedan punches an eight-cylinder peg through a six-cylinder hole with predictably polarizing results. Essentially an IS 350 F Sport with a 472-hp naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V-8, the IS 500 F Sport Performance is a throwback to when turbocharged engines didn’t yet dominate the premium sport sedan space. The powerful Lexus carves its own path in a niche shared with the Audi S4, BMW M340i, and Mercedes-AMG C 43, but we’ll get right to it: The Lexus doesn’t shift the conversation in a significant way. This one’s for dedicated Lexus performance fans. Opinions on the special Lexus generally fall to one of two viewpoints.…

PROS Exceptionally fun to drive; strong performance • Solid build quality • Daily-driver practicality CONS R model not as rewarding as it should be • Irritating clutch action • Infuriating capacitive-touch controls Volkswagen’s Golf GTI and R have long set the standard for spicy hatchbacks, and the new 2022 versions are as well assembled and fun to drive as ever, not to mention as practical as a shipping container full of closet organizers. So why weren’t they Car of the Year finalists? Simple: They fell victim to their own history of excellence. The previous-generation cars were especially adept at serving as both daily drivers and hair-on-fire canyon scorchers, and they were a blast in either situation. The new models, when measured against our COTY criteria, simply didn’t advance their own…

PROS Swimming in a pool full of cash feels less luxurious • Extreme engineering polish • Still the benchmark CONS Breaks no new ground • Overdesigned interior • Some finicky, cheap-feeling switchgear The latest Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan sat on the razor’s edge of a finalist appearance at this year’s Car of the Year competition. Some judges felt the Benz didn’t shine as brightly as expected over the mixed surfaces at Hyundai’s proving ground; others pointed out interior materials that seemed more déclassé than in past S-Class models. And then there was our test model’s “bordello” interior, with blood-red leather punctuated by riotous flashes of chrome, blinks of multicolor LED accent lighting, unsubtle diamond quilting, and sueded headrest pillows that sent judges groping for ’70s Super Fly references. Look, the reality…

PROS Mo’ powah, baby! • The previously irredeemable torque dip is redeemed • Sharper and more engaging CONS Interior is loud, cramped, and laid out a bit strangely • Engine needs more refinement (see: Subaru BRZ) • Rides stiffer than some might like We like sports cars. We like affordable cars. We like rear-wheel drive. We like manual transmissions. So we obviously fell head over heels for the affordable, rear-wheel-drive, manual-transmission 2012–2021 Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86 trio, right? Let’s file this one under, “It’s complicated.” We liked the old Toyobaru triplets (or twins, if you don’t count the Scion/Toyota versions as different cars), but we can’t say we loved them. Sure, we liked some of what they offered—namely the dialed-in chassis and low cost of entry—but clear compromises left us…

We got a first taste behind the wheel of the Hummer EV pickup, and it is a mouthful. There is a lot of Hummer to move—about 9,000 pounds—and when you factor in its trio of electric motors, 24-module battery pack, and all the bells and whistles included in the Edition 1 launch model, it certainly has a lot of presence. The Hummer is now a battery electric vehicle, but it remains true to its roots as an off-road-capable beast. With two motors in the rear and one in front, it packs 1,000 hp and a GM-claimed 11,000 lb-ft of torque measured at the wheels. However, our math puts it closer to 1,045 lb-ft measured at the shafts. Range is an estimated 350 miles on a single charge. We were among…

Carlos Ghosn is in a far nicer prison today. The former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and now-wanted fugitive fled the Japanese judicial system for the safety of Lebanon in a dramatic made-for-movies escape. He left a prison system condemned internationally for violating human rights and will not return to Japan; Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. While Ghosn is reunited with his wife at their Lebanon home, he cannot travel: A Red Notice issued by Interpol for his extradition at Japan’s request makes him a prisoner within the country. Still, the situation is markedly better than the alternative for the man who led one of the world’s largest automotive conglomerates until his surprise arrest on November 19, 2018, for under-reporting income. In a video interview with MotorTrend from his…

Day trips and nature-facing Airbnbs are great and all, but we recommend shacking up alongside your new Rivian at a campground, either local or afar. After all, there’s a lot the R1T has to offer in the way of wilderness amenities, particularly when it comes to how you choose to spend the quieter part of your nights. Rivian has you covered there—literally. Come rain, come shine, the new Rivian-branded Yakima roof/bed-top tent ($2,650) is a great place to stretch out under the stars, a pop-up shelter we made regular use of on the TAT. The co-branded tent is a port of Yakima’s existing Skyrise HD Medium rooftop tent, adapted and mounted on a set of Rivian Crossbars that sit astride the truck bed. The pair of structural bars lock into…

You’d expect that over 43 days and 7,686 miles of continuous off-roading, something on the Rivian R1T would break. This is hardly an indictment of the truck’s quality or its parts or its ability to tackle the adventures its outdoorsy image encourages. In fact, we were amazed by how few things went wrong during the Trans-America Trail journey. A few highlights of the damage we wrought: TIRES: Tire damage is inevitable when crawling around rocks. Our Ram 1500 TRX support truck chewed through four tires; each R1T suffered two tire failures. However, we installed a full set of fresh rubber on Leg 3 after the original set wore out. FENDERS: Clips holding the plastic front wheel arch trim to the fenders let go whenever the R1T hit water at speed,…

PROS Super-quick charge capability • Sleeper Taycan • Fast! CONS Understeer doesn’t need to be a brand trait • Less efficient than most competitors • Sleepier Taycan Ah, to be young! Established automakers like Audi or Mercedes-Benz likely look upon the Rivians and Lucids of the world with a sense of envy—oh, what can be done if starting from scratch. But with storied legacies to maintain, you’re left with the sense some brands are entering the electric era cautiously. Case in point: the 2022 Audi E-Tron GT. Based on Porsche’s J1 platform, which underpins that maker’s Taycan—a 2021 Car of the Year finalist and an entrant in this year’s program, too—the new E-Tron GT is Audi’s first electric sedan. Whereas its Taycan cousin is available in a smorgasbord of body…

PROS Knockout styling • Outstanding value • Cushy, quiet ride quality CONS VIP seats limit third-row access • Loud under acceleration • Other versions of the same van are more practical “Where are the other ones?!” This frequent refrain from our judges cut to the core of why the all-new Kia Carnival wasn’t a 2022 Car of the Year finalist. Blame our organizing committee: The only version we requested was a loaded, top-shelf SX Prestige model with unremovable—but fabulous—VIP second-row lounge seats. Thus, our judges had to determine its fate using only a version that doesn’t “minivan” as well as others might. And those VIP seats had technical director Frank Markus—a minivan packaging engineer in a previous life—in a tizzy. “Because I’ve only ever seen these ridiculous limousine versions of…

PROS Exceptional ride and handling • Excellent powertrains • Exciting to drive and practical, too CONS Expensive, especially as you add options • Confusing center touchscreen • HVAC controls too complicated Porsche’s asphalt-storming second-generation Panamera benefits from a few powertrain updates and subtle styling changes this year, and Stuttgart sent us three versions for Car of the Year evaluation: a base model, now with a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 (replacing the previous 3.0) making 325 horsepower and 331 lb-ft of torque; a GTS with its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 fortified by 20 ponies to make 473 hp along with its carryover 457 lb-ft of torque; and a Panamera 4S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo wagon. The 4S E-Hybrid is a new trim level powered by a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 plus an electric motor, good…

PROS Drives much better than it needs to • Upscale, well appointed interior • More mature styling CONS Cabin gets a smidge noisy • CVT is thrashy at times • Many of the best interior features gated behind Touring trim We really shouldn’t be so surprised about just how good the all-new 2022 Honda Civic is. The outgoing 10th-gen car remained top of the class in the compact segment right up until its recent retirement, so our jaws should remain closed and our minds unblown after spending time with the new version of Honda’s perennial compact superstar. We’ve said it before, but the new Civic really didn’t have to be this good; a simple, low-intensity refresh of the previous generation would have been fine enough for at least another three…

PROS Ultra-quiet, solid feel • Amazing steering abilities • Luxurious cabin CONS That shape • Rear seat not as huge as an S-Class’ • No frunk storage Our early conversations about the electrified Mercedes-EQ lineup’s biggest, newest, most luxurious sedan—the EV counterpart to the vaunted S-Class—were stuck firmly on its appearance. Bluntly, few Car of the Year judges liked the way the EQS looks. If anyone wavered off topic to note how the cabin is pleasantly quiet or how dazzling the available “Hyperscreen” displays are, they were shouted down promptly. The discussion inevitably veered back to the EQS’ bloblike roofline or its cab-forward appearance. Yet the dashboard sits fairly far back, so no, that roofline doesn’t benefit cabin space. And ahead of the wasted volume framed by the dash and…

CAR OF THE YEAR WINNER A utomotive progress usually happens slowly, like a white oak sapling growing in a forest. But every now and then a new car jumps off the forest floor like a rainbow eucalyptus, advancing like crazy while making a colorful splash. The Air sedan from startup EV-maker Lucid is just such a car, and its levels of innovation and sophistication are as unexpected as multicolored tree bark. A year or two ago, most of you and many of us might have said, “Lucid? Is it still going? I thought it was foundering like Byton, Faraday Future, Dyson, Nio …” Lucid is very much still going. It’s helmed by experts cherry-picked from various successful automakers, and it’s funded sufficiently to launch this Air sedan while developing its…

The new car that’s right at the top of my must-drive bucket list: the GMA T.50. OK, the name sounds about as sexy as the serial number on a kitchen appliance, so let me sell it a little harder: The road-legal GMA T.50 has a steering wheel in the center of its cockpit, weighs just 2,173 pounds, and is powered by a 654-hp naturally aspirated V-12 that screams to 12,100 rpm and drives the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. It also boasts active aerodynamics in the form of a fan that helps suck the car down onto the road at speed. Oh, and it’s designed by Gordon Murray. Born in South Africa, Murray has spent most of his adult life thinking about making cars work better and go…