It’s a new year and time once again to look back on our favorite test drives. 2021 was a great year and saw a lot of 2021 and 2022 models that really shined. We’re picking favorites based on both our enjoyment and how surprisingly good the vehicle is compared to its peers.
Here’s our choices:
1. 2022 Volkswagen ID.4
This vehicle took our top spot for several reasons. For starters, it was one of the biggest surprises of our driving tests in 2021. On top of that, it’s the most well-balanced, well-considered electric vehicles we’ve driven. Finally, it’s just really well done as a right-sized, real-world vehicle for everyday use. Here’s the full review.
2. 2021 Polaris Slingshot
The Slingshot is one of our favorite vehicles. It’s a little open cabin, two-seat, three-wheeled autocar that offers extreme amounts of fun and a great amount of eyeball catching. Everyone loves this car/motorcycle. This is our second time driving one and we’re still enamored. Here’s what we had to say.
3. 2021 Lexus LC 500 Convertible
This is by far the most beautiful car we drove in 2021. The LC 500 is a luxury performance car that we believe will be considered a “classic” decades from now when collectors are lining up their favorites. The LC 500 comes as a coupe, a convertible, and even a hybrid. Here’s our review.
4. 2021 Ford Bronco
Highly anticipated and very much expected to be not as good as advertised, we were happy to find out that the new full-sized Bronco is, in fact, really, really awesome. It’s direct competition for Jeep’s iconic Wrangler and delivers a lot of reasons to think it might be better. But that’s not for us to decide. We just know that it’s really, really well done.
5. 2022 Genesis GV70
The GV70 is the best illustration of how the Genesis brand has been nailing it in the luxury segment. It’s sleek, drives very well, has a beautiful interior, comes with a lot of amenities, and is priced well below most of the competition. Genesis is changing the game in luxury vehicles. Here’s our full rundown.
6. 2021 Nissan GT-R
It really didn’t matter what this list was, the GT-R would definitely have been on it. This is one of the few sports cars that we truly appreciate no matter how “old” or “dated” or whatever people might call it. Godzilla is, and always will be, an icon of power and performance. Here’s us carefully not doing burnouts with it.
7. 2021 Toyota Supra
The comeback for the Supra was a big deal for Toyota and fans of this iconic nameplate. The Supra is made almost entirely by BMW, but is better than the model it’s based upon in many ways and is better off being from BMW instead of Toyota. Confusing? Don’t worry, it gets explained in our review.
8. 2022 Kia Carnival
The Carnival is Kia’s newest minivan, but Kia isn’t calling it that, opting for “multi-purpose vehicle” instead. But if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s probably a minivan. The Carnival is not only one of the best vans we’ve driven in a long time, but it’s one of the most versatile as well. “This sets a new bar for the minivan segment,” says our review.
9. 2022 BMW MINI 2 Door Hardtop
This car is on the list because it was likely the biggest surprise of the year. Not because it’s new or game changing, but because for us, it was the first MINI we’ve driven that we really, honestly liked. The MINI brand is an odd one and while it has a lot of die-hard fans, it’s not for everyone. For us, this two-door hardtop was the epitome of what MINI is (and should be). Find out why in our review here.
10. 2022 Nissan Frontier
The new generation of the Nissan Frontier was one of our most anticipated vehicles this year. We had high hopes, low expectations, and worried greatly about where it would fall between those two ends. Once we got our hands on it, though, we were happily impressed that was nearer to our hopes than our expectations. See the full review to see why.
And that’s our list. It took a lot of time and hand-wringing to come up with our favorites as we drove a ton of great vehicles this year. Here’s looking to another year of awesome test drives! To see every review we’ve done, you can go to the Car Reviews category here.
