MotorTrend November 2022

Unless you’ve been living in a Cretaceous-era cave somewhere in the wilderness, you’ve probably noticed the automotive industry has reached a point where carmakers are delivering cars with long-range batteries and quick-charging capabilities. You don’t have to be a MotorTrend reader or even a hardcore car enthusiast to be aware of the sea change underway in one of the world’s most impactful industries. But because you are an MT reader, you may recall five years ago, when the Chevrolet Bolt EV became our 2017 Car of the Year. You might also remember we called out two numbers—238 and $29,995, to be precise. The first was the number of miles the Bolt EV could cover on one full battery charge; the second was its price after buyers collected their $7,500 federal tax…

Rejoice: The all-new Civic Type R has been revealed. Based on the 11th-gen Civic, the new Type R sits above the Si and Sport, and it emphatically caps the Civic performance lineup as the most powerful Honda car for sale in America. Honda says it will be as rewarding to drive as ever—what else is it gonna say?—with a direct and engaging feel. We’ll have to wait until this fall to confirm for ourselves, but with more power, a lighter chassis, increased rigidity, and improved high-speed stability, it sounds like the Type R has everything to deliver the same thrilling experience we’ve come to expect. Subaru’s STI has exited (perhaps not to return), but the new Type R will face more direct competition than its predecessor. A redesigned VW Golf R is…

Honda’s CR-V is a rare repeat winner of our SUV of the Year award, so it’s fair to wonder if the sixth-generation version will claim another victory. Its bolder design riffs on familiar cues: The upright grille expands on the previous hexagonal shape, and the accent strip that runs across the top is straighter and finished in chrome or black. A subtle kink accents the slim LED headlights. In profile, a creased shoulder line and angular window surround add some edginess. From behind, the L-shaped taillights recall the prior CR-V’s, but they contain additional LED details. Inside, if you’ve seen the Civic’s or HR-V’s dashboards, the CR-V’s looks familiar with a honeycomb-mesh air vent treatment, but it’s uniquely accented by textured trim below. A new internal frame gives the front seats more…

The 2023 Escalade-V highlights the model’s transformation into the vehicle it always should have been. We just drove it in long-wheelbase ESV trim, and oh boy, it’s something special. Its eight-cylinder salute to excess, a 6.2-liter behemoth breathed upon by a 2.7-liter TVS supercharger that pours on 10 pounds of boost, creates a 682-hp inferno underhood—more than the already staggering figure provided by the CT5-V Blackwing’s related powertrain. There’s 653 lb-ft of torque, too, slightly less than in the CT5-V. These are barbarous stats, at the hairy edge of good sense and societal responsibility, and the vessel that contains them is a massive slab of steel and aluminum that strains the asphalt at 6,450 pounds. Its size, mass, and presence dwarf its V Series stablemates, and it also has a very different…

Age has not wearied it, nor the years condemned. The 5.2-liter V-10 that powers the 2023 Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica may trace its origins back to a time when the iPhone was an idea and Amazon a work in progress, but one full-throttle acceleration run, one hot lap of a racetrack, one flat-out blast along a challenging back road is enough to convince you: It’s one of the all-time greats. An engine for the supercar gods. It roars and bellows and shrieks and snarls, this engine, performing a heroic horsepower opera that’s neither muffled by turbos nor synthesized by electric motors, and it punches harder than Tyson Fury in a bad mood. It’s one reason the Tecnica will be remembered wistfully when we’re all whooshing around in mega-horsepower EVs. But it’s not the…

There’s trail running, and then there’s overlanding. The former portends day trips or weekend jaunts, possibly primitive tent camping. The latter conjures extended off-grid adventuring where you may need to be self-sufficient for days while exploring the wilderness. American Expedition Vehicles seeks to cover the trail-runners with its Jeep Wrangler/Gladiator and Chevy Colorado offerings while offering overlanders the Ram Heavy Duty–based Prospector and Prospector XL. Both get toughened AEV bumpers, a 3.0-inch suspension lift, and AEV wheels. Tires are the main difference between the two packages. Base Prospectors get 37-inch tires that fit under stock fenders with Mopar flares. XLs get 40-inch tires that require the fender and rear quarter openings to be expanded by about 3.0 inches. (XL is 40 in roman numerals.) Choose the XL if you’re looking for…