Lists

Small SUVs barged into the market completely changing the automotive landscape and the expectations of fellow drivers. Suddenly, the performance and driving enjoyment that were rather high on the imaginary list of features that customers religiously craved for gave up place to cargo space and connectivity. Now, I am here to rank 13 small SUVs from worst to best. Trying to be as objective as possible, I have compared several main features trying to get a clearer picture. I am comparing the size, engine, cargo capacity, price, and connectivity. The 13 SUVs ranked here do make the bulk of all small SUV segment. Not one of them is longer than 177 inches, and all but one have a wheelbase shorter than 106 inches.

Interestingly enough, some of the most recognizable names that built up the small SUV kingdom aren’t here anymore. SUVs like the Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V, or the Mazda CX-5, somehow do not feel as little as they did a decade ago. Plus, all of them overshoot my length/wheelbase limit.

These are the most powerful vehicles under $30,000. Some of them offer an insane amount of raw power for the money, and we can thank the good ol’ capitalism and the competitive market for that.

Horsepower wars realistically started when the second car was invented, and, whether you like it or not, horsepower sells. This list, thankfully, shows that we live in a time when you can get the most bang for your buck, all thanks to your unsatiated need for speed and raw power. To give you a glimpse of the sheer horsepower insanity behind the sub-$30k price cap, let me tell you that you can have a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado with 310 horsepower for less than that. If you, however, like the appeal of a muscle car, then the Ford Mustang EcoBoost with 350 pound-feet of torque and 310 horsepower could soothe your need for power.

Despite the incredible power/price ratio of 300+ horsepower for less than $30,000, this is not the most you can get for your money, as you’re about to find out.

Black Friday might be the day synonymous with risking death to get a great deal on a year-old TV, but it’s also the perfect time to get a good deal on a new car. Black Friday can net you some pretty sweet new car deals that include 0% financing, “employee pricing,” no payments for 90 days, and even a decent chunk of cashback. The trick is to know where to look, so we’ve put together a list of the best new car Black Friday deals that we can find.

Toyota’s usual lineup for the SEMA Show is centered mostly around SUVs and trucks, but the 2019 edition brings the fifth-generation Supra into the spotlight. The Japanese carmaker took the 2019 SEMA Show by storm with a handful of modified Supras, either built by aftermarket tuners or developed by Toyota itself to preview upcoming parts and accessories. Here’s the four most interesting coupes you’ll find on the show floor.

Back in 2008, Ferrari launched its One-Off personalization program to a lot of fanfare at that year’s Geneva Motor Show. The goal was to give Maranello’s most important clients the opportunity to create their own Ferraris. It’s been over a decade since that announcement, and it’s safe to say that Ferrari’s program has become a resounding success. Every year, a number of one-off Ferraris enter our lives, commissioned by an individual who Ferrari deems as one of its VIPs. Models like the 2012 Ferrari SP Arya, 2014 Ferrari SP FFX, and 2018 Ferrari SP38 Deborah have been built. Each of these one-offs is unique from every other Ferrari in existence, largely because they came to life as a result of someone’s vision for his or her perfect Ferrari. The 2019 Ferrari P80/C is the latest one-off Ferrari to arrive, but given the success Ferrari has had with the program and the growing demand among customers to get their own “1of1s” — there’s a five-year waitlist, in case you qualify — the P80/C won’t be the last one-off Ferrari in the world. On the contrary, this first ten years of the whole program could be just the beginning of what will most likely turn into one of Ferrari’s most successful customer-centric programs in its long and illustrious history. In case you haven’t paid attention over the last ten years, check out some of the most memorable one-off models that Ferrari has created.

The world of resto-mods is the promise land of beautiful, vintage, bodyworks on top of modern, state of the art, powertrains with performance figures that embarrass modern sports cars. Be it an Alfa Romeo on steroids, a Mercedes bettered by AMG themselves, a Bronco that looks 35 years old but very much isn’t under the skin, the variety in restomods is ever increasing with quality as the main differentiator between the good, the really good and the exceptional.

The automotive industry has created some real design icons over the years, cars like the Mercedes 300 SL, the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, or the Porsche 911 remain etched into the minds of many petrolheads. Such emblematic designs seem to never age but, sadly, the engineering-wise, they are all outdated. Of course, you get a kick out of driving them merely because you get a chance to do it in the first place, but some want even more than that.

A select few look at classic cars as a starting point for a tough undertaking: transforming these icons of the past in machines that are able to keep up with whatever’s new on the road right now. The key is to have everything come out in pristine condition – hence the term restoration in ‘resto-mod’ – while modifying what’s under the skin. Some choose to start from existing cars while others do something more radical - building their own chassis from the ground up and then wrapping everything up in a retro bodywork that clearly reminds you of their inspiration. The Eagle E-Type and the Singer Porsches fall in the latter category.

Whichever road you choose, resto-mods are a brilliant – yet highly expensive – way to experience classic cars re-imagined in with technology that was barely on the drawing boards when some of these cars were new.

Keep reading to find our seven resto-mods picks

Picking the ten best Ferraris of all time is not an easy exercise, but somebody had to do it. Sports cars don’t come finer than those with a Prancing Horse badge, and in the 70 years that it has been around, Ferrari has built some of the finest and most desirable performance cars in the history of the industry. A lot of Ferrari models have climbed the ladder to iconic status, and even some of today’s models are on their way there, too. It took a lot of work — and arguments — but we managed to narrow down our choices for the ten best Ferraris of all time.

The 1990s were an interesting decade for the auto industry, though most of us remember it more because of what took place in the supercar segment. Back then, the “term” supercar wasn’t as widely used as it is today, but that didn’t stop automakers like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, and, yes, McLaren from developing performance beasts that didn’t rely on driving aids to be considered super. For the most part, the 1990s supercars were machines that came with insanely powerful engines, sleek and functional bodies, and low curb weights. Traction control? KERS? Launch control? None of these existed in that era, and, in some ways, that’s what made those exotics so pure and completely awesome. There’s a long list of supercars that shot to fame in the 1990s. We could’ve identified all of them, but that would’ve taken up a lot of space and time. Instead, we chose eight of the best and fastest supercars of that decade that have evolved into unicorns in today’s era of supercars.

It’s no secret that with the copious amounts of torque they carry, electric vehicles are considered some of the fastest-accelerating cars in the world, faster even than most of their non-EV counterparts. The eight cars on this list are proof of that. These are some of the fastest electric cars on the road today, so if you happen to see one on the road, try not to look at them the wrong way, unless you want to see first-hand just how fast they can go.

Porsche is known for continuously bringing race-bred technology into its road cars. The Stuttgart-based manufacturer that has been perfecting the rear-engine formula for over five decades now is also famous for its homologation specials, road-worthy counterparts built by Porsche to race thoroughbred competition machinery in production-based classes of sports car racing. 20 years ago, Porsche introduced the latest model that would spawn a myriad of racing versions: the Porsche 911 GT3, a track-oriented 911 that could be used as a daily driver (if you dared). It came at the same time as the not-for-the-purist 996 generation but, in spite of this, can you now imagine a world without the 911 GT3 in it?

Where were you in 1999 when Porsche unveiled the 996.1-generation Porsche 911 GT3? Well, you probably weren’t at the Geneva Auto Show where Porsche took the wraps of what was, in essence, the road-legal version of the newest Porsche 911 Cup car that would compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and later in the Porsche Supercup sharing the bill with the Formula 1 World Championship. The first 911 GT3 looked a bit tame but, as years rolled by, it evolved, growing bigger, more aggressive, and more insane and overshadowed with ease the 911 GT2, a model we originally thought it’d replace before Porsche decided to continue making GT2 models, somewhat as even more extreme versions of the 911. This is the story of the GT3, a model more famous than all of the track-focused 911s that have come before it, even the Carrera RS 2.7 of 1973.

A lot of stress is being given to safety features in vehicles today. Although cars and SUVs use this as a selling point, trucks never really came loaded with a lot of safety tech. However, things are changing now for good, and automakers have upped their game. The 2020 Ram 1500 bagged the Top Safety Pick + award, something unheard of in the truck segment. There’s no doubt that the larger trucks are a lot more equipped than the compact trucks, but what is the benchmark in this segment, and which trucks have scored the best and the worst?

Small luxury SUVs haven’t been around that long. In a way, they represent a niche within a niche (the broader pool of SUVs and crossovers), created by carmakers such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW, in their hunt for more income. The purpose of a small luxury SUV is to offer the plush comfort and technological bells and whistles of their larger peers, in a package that’s less expensive yet doesn’t compromise too much on the overall driving experience, assembly, and the quality of the materials used inside the cabin.

Pickup trucks these are days are not only about their hauling and towing capacities; they are fast, they often come with a luxurious cabin, and are loaded to the gill with high-tech features. So, why should they lag behind in terms of safety? People use trucks today as their daily driver, and family haulers, and they are concerned about safety. Automakers have started offering safety features, but which one tops the list and which truck scrapes the bottom of the barrel?

Once upon a time, the term “luxury SUV” described models that you could barely count on one hand. Today, the term “luxury SUV” describes a thriving ecosystem of some of the finest and most premium sport utility vehicles in the market. The growing popularity of SUVs has ignited interest in these models, resulting in the kind of demand that many thought was impossible as recently as a decade ago. And as more exotic brands — hello, Aston Martin, and Ferrari — enter the ring, the luxury SUV market is only going to get bigger and far more diverse than it already is today. But that’s a story for another time. For now, these are the seven most luxurious SUVs you can buy in the market today.

Lamborghini made its first step on the long catwalk of the automotive world back in 1963, when, during the Turin Motor Show, Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini unveiled the 350 GTV concept. The next year, Lamborghini perfected the road-going 350 GT, which was followed shortly after by the 400 GT. But the bases of Lamborghini had been established in 1962 when Ferruccio Lamborghini bought a plot of land in Sant’Agata Bolognese with the aim to build an “ultramodern” car factory.

It was Ferruccio who started the tradition of naming his car after breeds of fighting bulls, and it was also him who inspired its engineers, designers, and mechanics to come up with cars such as the Miura, Espada, Islero, and more recently, Diablo, Countach, Gallardo, Murcielago, Huracan, and Aventador. As of late, Sant’Agata Bolognese joined the SUV craze with the Urus, which also opened a new niche, that of Super-SUVs.

So, to come back to the main topic at hand here, how fast can a Lamborghini go? To answer that, we’re going to look at some of the brand’s most prominent models, including the said Urus SUV, since it has become a sales sensation of sorts.

Is there a performance car that doubles as a family car, and vice versa? It’s a tricky question to ask given that it’s usually one or the other. A performance car doesn’t make for a good family car. On the flip side, family cars aren’t exactly brimming with performance capabilities. Thinking along those lines has become a popular narrative over the years, but it’s also the wrong narrative.

There are performance cars that make for good family cars, and you might be surprised that there are certain family-centric models that can flash a mean streak every so often. These eight models fit the bill of a different sort of hybrid vehicle that not a lot of people pay much attention to. No, they’re not hybrids in the traditional sense that we know about in the business. They’re hybrids by personality. They can fit the bill of a car enthusiast’s dream performance car and they can double as vehicles that you can use to buy groceries and take your kids to soccer practice.

It’s no secret that if you want your car to post a blistering 0-to-60-mph acceleration time, turning all four wheels from the jump is the best way to do it. Sure, it’s not as easy as doing just that, but years of testing vehicles across all platforms has shown that all-wheel-drive cars provide much better traction than rear-wheel or front-whee-drive vehicles. Combine that capacity with all the new technologies that have arrived — launch control and torque vectoring — and it’s no surprise that some of the fastest-accelerating cars in the world are equipped with all-wheel-drive. Motor Trend has done a lot of testing on this front and the numbers bear fruit. These 10 sports cars are the fastest of their kind. They’re all equipped with all-wheel-drive and they can all leave you in the dust if you don’t give them the respect they deserve.

Land Rover finally revealed the new Defender at the 2019 Frankfurt Auto Show. The Defender was one of the most hardcore off-roaders before people started perceiving it as a premium SUV and not as a pure off-roader. It disappeared into oblivion in 2016 only to return three years later, reinvigorated. The new Defender is a lot more tough and back on track to being a true off-roader once again.

However, Land Rover has introduced it with all bells and whistles one can ask for and a lot of accessories to customize it as per you need. In fact, the accessories on offer have created a lot of buzz and they will be available right from the launch of the SUV. Just to be clear, there are 170 accessories and theme packs available for the Defender. We’ve chosen our pick and here are 10 accessories we found super cool and useful that you must consider if you plan on buying a Defender when it launches. Also note that we’re not going to mention the four default theme packs that Land Rover already has on offer.

When BMW rolled the 2002 Turbo towards the tail end of 1973, in the middle of the fuel crisis, everybody viewed it as insanity. Still, as years rolled by, the classic adage that said ’there’s no replacement for displacement’ seemed to hold true for at least some manufacturers. However, ever stringent pollution regulations and the need for increased efficiency pushed carmakers to embrace forced induction more broadly and strangled naturally aspirated engines one by one. Nowadays, big players such as BMW don’t even offer a naturally aspirated engine across their entire lineups and even Ferrari is all but ditching the engines that made the Prancing Horse legendary through their expertly honed soundtrack.

It’s not necessarily that naturally aspirated engines are going to go extinct in a matter of a handful of years but it’s clear that the performance levels achieved by turbocharged or supercharged units simply can’t be matched by a naturally aspirated engine. On top of that, an engine that uses forced induction is more economical due to its smaller capacity and friendlier with the environment which - in the eyes of everyone but some purists - is a win-win situation. While we love turbochargers and superchargers, we thought we’d take a look at some of the history’s best naturally aspirated engines at a time when fewer and fewer manufacturers still offer them - at least in performance cars. We assure you they are proper bangers!

2019 was packed with automotive launches so far, including everything from city cars and EVs to big trucks and supercars. Some are just practical cars that aren’t necessarily beautiful or fast, but others may go down in history among some of the most gorgeous vehicles ever built. However, some of the cars launched in recent years are still seen as beautiful in 2019. Some cars simply age well and retain their good looks as years go by.

We still have a few months and a couple of big auto shows until 2019 is over, but we already compiled a list with the most beautiful cars you can buy this year. Some are brand-new, some have been around for a couple of years, but we also included a car that’s almost 10 years old. Check out the list below and let me know if you agree in the comments section. Did I miss anything, is there a car that shouldn’t be on this list?

In case you were unaware, FCA stole the show this year at SEMA. The big headline was the Hellephant, a 1,000-horsepower monster that’s looking to curb stomp the competition as the most powerful crate engine ever offered by an OEM. We’re so excited about it that we decided to put together a list of cars that we think need a Hellephant under the hood, with entries ranging from the obvious to the slightly insane.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that the Hellephant is designed for either off-road applications or smog-exempt pre-1976 vehicles. Regardless, we’re sticking to our guns on this one in the hopes that one of you crazy wrench-turners gets inspired to create one of these wild beasts.

We’re in the last legs of 2018, and while the year has been filled with some of the coolest concept cars we’ve seen in a while, it also had its fair share of atrocious anomalies the likes of which we hope we never see again. It’s a little harsh, sure, but some of these automakers didn’t do themselves any favors by rolling these out without getting input from people who probably would’ve told them that their concepts needed a do-over. But alas, these concepts are here to stay, and we’ll forever be reminded that, at various points in 2018, we were subjected to their ugliness.