Prime 10 Driving.ca automobile opinions of 2022

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Nicely, we’ve made it by means of one other New 12 months’s Eve, and 2022 is now firmly set in our rearview mirror. It began out as a tricky 12 months for the auto business, with supply-chain points and microchip shortages persevering with to hold over from 2021. As nicely, the Montreal and Toronto new-car exhibits didn’t occur. Neither did the Vancouver auto present, and it nonetheless isn’t able to return.

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However we did see issues begin to step by step stage out because the 12 months went on. Sellers began getting some autos again on their tons, and automakers started hyping some all-new or dramatically redesigned fashions for us to take a look at. To rejoice, we’ve rounded up our record of the 12 months’s ten hottest first-drives and car opinions for 2022, highlighting the tales that you simply, our readers and viewers, checked out most frequently in 2022.

2023 Honda CR-V First Look and First Drive

We at all times seize lots of eyeballs with ultra-high-performance autos, however it’s nothing in comparison with after we drive what Canadians are spending their hard-earned cash to purchase. The Honda Civic could dominate as Canada’s best-selling automobile most years, however the CR-V often outsells it right here.

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Stephanie Wallcraft received a primary have a look at this all-new, sixth-generation mannequin when it was on show alongside the Honda Indy in Toronto in July. Afterward, Nadine Filion received an opportunity to take it for a spin in her CR-V first-drive story. We’re getting a hybrid model for the primary time, constructed alongside the gas-only one at Honda’s plant in Alliston, Ontario. As well as, Alliston is the “lead” plant, that means the oldsters there developed the meeting procedures that can be utilized in each plant worldwide that builds the CR-V. Fairly cool, eh?

2023 Volkswagen ID. Buzz First Drive

Is there anyone who didn’t need to be Andrew McCredie when he received behind the wheel of Vee-Dub’s trendy and all-electric model of its beloved van? Particularly since we received’t really get one in Canada till 2024? He spun it across the streets of Copenhagen and throughout the bridge to Sweden. Onlookers had been throughout it, as a result of it’s simply so enjoyable and funky and in contrast to anything on the highway proper now — so it’s no surprise why so a lot of you gave it a glance, too.

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2023 Genesis GV60 First Drive

Adore it or hate it, electrical energy is coming to nearly all automakers, and Genesis – which to start with was strictly gasoline – isn’t any exception. Clayton Seams drove this premium model’s first-ever EV. The Efficiency trim provides you 429 horsepower and 446 lb-ft of torque, with a Increase Mode that gives a shot of 516 lb-ft and, in response to Clayton’s timer, zero-to-96-km/h occasions of 4 seconds flat.

After which there’s the orb. It’s a crystal ball that rotates within the console and turns into the rotary gear shifter. The explanation for it’s extra than simply the wow issue, so head over to the story to seek out out why the orb is there.

Comparability: Toyota i-Drive Max vs Ford PowerBoost Defined

With the value of gasoline today, who desires to spend greater than they should on the pumps? Toyota and Ford have each launched full-size gas-electric hybrid vehicles, however what’s actually below their hoods? Justin Pritchard took a glance, evaluating these two vehicles that each use twin-turbo V6 engines with electrical motors hooked up. They’re as a lot about efficiency as they’re about gasoline economic system, however once you’re filling them up, which goes to save lots of you extra money over a 12 months’s price of driving?

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The 6 greatest used SUVs below $20,000 in 2022

Assume we’re strictly about new autos? Our readers purchase used ones, too, and Justin Pritchard checked out the most effective pre-owned SUVs you may get in 2022 for a cap of $20,000. No person desires to spend so much on a used car, however as a result of new vehicles had been in such quick provide, the value of used vehicles correspondingly skyrocketed, so you might want to get essentially the most to your cash.

The record checked out six SUVs that had been prone to trigger the fewest complications, and correspondingly price much less to keep up and restore as soon as they had been in your driveway. Certain, you’d have anticipated a Toyota on the record — however a Mercedes?

2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 First Drive

Together with the all-electric Genesis GV60, one other standard piece from Clayton Seams was from automaker’s mainstream facet, the equally-new and equally-electric Hyundai Ioniq 6. Together with a clean and comfy trip, it options styling that the automaker refers to as an “electrified streamliner.” If that isn’t sufficient, there are additionally digital mirrors, two 12-inch screens, button-free doorways, artificial spaceship sounds, and plenty and plenty and tons of pixels.

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2023 Kia Sportage First Drive

The Kia Sportage morphs into its fifth technology for 2023, and for the primary time, we’ll get hybrid and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variations alongside the gasoline-only mannequin.

Stephanie Wallcraft drove the fuel model on a humid day on Vancouver Island, and reported that it’s higher in nearly each approach than its predecessor, together with in its trip and dealing with, elevated towing capability, improved styling, and enlarged second-row legroom and cargo area — however not all the things met with glowing approval.

Pickup Comparability: 2022 Ford Maverick vs Hyundai Santa Cruz

Small was huge information when these two compact trucklets hit the market, however it took some time for us to place their noses collectively. We’d seemed on the Santa Cruz earlier, however provide points meant we needed to wait to get our palms on a Maverick.

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After we did, Elle Alder and Jil McIntosh put them by means of their paces. Some argue that these sport-ute-based fashions aren’t actually vehicles, however we are saying something with a mattress that does what its proprietor wants it to do is a truck — plus these match into tight parking spots the place you may’t wedge in a full-size. We appreciated each, however a few components swayed our determination relating to the winner.

Mazda CX-90 and CX-60 First Look

This was an uncommon task, to say the least: drive an SUV we received’t recover from right here, to get an impression of 1 that isn’t made but. That’s what Sami Haj-Assaad confronted when he received to drive the newly-launched Mazda CX-60. It’s only for Europe, however it rides on the identical platform because the CX-90 and CX-70 which can be coming right here. The CX-60 may also share its plug-in hybrid (PHEV) expertise, because the Japanese automaker dips its toes additional into electrification.

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We’ll have to attend to expertise the CX-90, however we all know its all-wheel-drive will primarily energy the rear tires; it can characteristic an eight-speed automated, reasonably than Mazda’s standard six-speed; and together with that PHEV, we’ll get a turbocharged six-cylinder engine, too.

How did Honda get the Civic Si so incorrect?

“Civic” and “Si” often go collectively like chocolate and peanut butter, however Elle Alder was dissatisfied with this latest-generation model. It isn’t very highly effective, and whilst you nonetheless get a guide transmission, it hangs onto the revs too lengthy when you’ve clutched. He discovered the steering overweighted, the springs too stiff, and that it handles such as you’re driving by means of thick oil. His verdict? Check-drive a Volkswagen GTI as an alternative.