The Top 10 Best Cars We Drove In 2022
2022 was absolutely stuffed with new car debuts and it sure kept the SlashGear automotive team busy. Alongside the sharp observations provided by our talented pool of contributors, Executive Editor Chris Davies and Automotive Editor Alex Kalogiannis racked up many miles — road and sky — testing the lot of them. Here are their personal picks of the best vehicles they've driven this year.
Alex - Ford F-150 Raptor R
The thing that makes a truck like the Ford Raptor R appealing is its potential. If you had one, you could tackle vast terrains and ramp it off hills, but realistically, it's more likely to spend more time in a Home Depot parking lot than leaping through the air. That's why it was a real treat to drive the Raptor R in an environment that could showcase all of that potential.
Michigan's Silver Lake sand dunes stood as imposing waves of earth that towered above us, but the Raptor R made quick work of them, powering up their sides with enough force to fling us over the top or carve across them like a 700-horsepower surfboard. I remember how inhospitable it was that day: cold and rainy, with high winds pelting sand across every surface. Meanwhile, the Raptor's cabin was perfectly comfortable. Well, as comfortable as it could be as I flung it around. I thought to myself "I'm going to try and break this thing" because I knew that this situation didn't call for a delicate hand. It was a heck of a stress test, and the Raptor R kept on rocking.
Chris - New Range Rover
SUV enthusiasts may well argue about who is the true daddy of the luxe-truck segment, but while rivals bicker it's the Range Rover which best straddles the worlds of plushness and practicality. 2022 brought the fifth-generation, sleeker and more capable. I love how it's still instantly recognizable for what it is, and yet the strength and cohesiveness of Land Rover's updates only truly become clear when you compare it side-by-side with the outgoing SUV.
It's inside where things get truly successful, though. The new Range Rover really does try to be something for almost everyone, whether you want a three-row family hauler, through to a hyper-luxurious four seat configuration with thrones fit for a private jet. Few cars so special feel quite so up to the task of being a daily-driver, and I can't wait to see how the all-electric Range Rover shapes up in a couple of years time.
Alex - Toyota GR Corolla
Though I came on board to SlashGear full-time late this year, I was contributing before that, which gave me the good fortune to cover both the GR Corolla reveal and the drive. I lumped these two together because it's fun to tag along with a car's full media journey, from reveal to hands-on time, particularly when it's a vehicle as hotly anticipated as this one.
Getting to see the GR Corolla in person and the enthusiasm around its reveal was a real treat, and talking about it for days with both media types and the Toyota engineers built up a sufficient amount of anticipation to see if it lived up to the hype. Good news: it does! Test driving the GR Corolla on the track was my first official duty as a full-time member of the SG team. Not a bad way to kick things off.
Chris - Lucid Motors Air
I'll confess, I was about ready to lump Lucid Motors in with the rest of the EV startup crowd. The past few years have seen plenty of wannabe-automakers make huge promises to rival Tesla and others, only to discover that building an electric vehicle is a lot harder — not to mention more expensive — than they expected. Happily, humble pie is a lot more fun to eat when you're in a high-tech electric sedan with more than 1,000 horsepower on tap.
It's fast, of course, but it's also surprisingly well-rounded. The Lucid Motors Air feels refreshingly free of gimmicks, and the result not only holds up to the obvious Model S comparison, but to experienced players like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, too. That it does so while offering close to double the driving range only makes the achievement here all the more impressive, and while the Air may still be priced out of consideration for most would-be EV owners, that in no way dilutes quite what Lucid has managed.
Alex - Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS
Porsches never really interested me until I was much older. As a kid, I was more attracted by the more the flashy Lamborghinis and Ferraris of the 80s and 90s like the equally colorful and sugary Saturday morning cartoons and breakfast cereals of the time. In contrast, Porsche was for "grown-ups" with polo shirts and boat shoes. Today, as a t-shirt-and-chuck-taylor-wearing adult, I still sort of feel the same, but I also "get it" now.
The 911 Carrera 4 GTS was not my first Porsche, but my time with it cemented my understanding of what has made the 911 such a long-standing presence in the sports car pantheon. Though as slick and modern as the competition, it's also built on all the qualities that make the Porsche 911 a serious, stellar sports car, iterated upon and refined to as close to perfection as possible like a well-aged scotch. Once you have an experience with a car like that, it's very easy to understand how lifelong brand loyalist can look down their nose at its rivals.
Chris - Ford F-150 Lightning
The easy route for Ford would've been to make its first all-electric pickup a whole new model. Instead, it promised to electrify the F-150 — America's best-selling vehicle for decades, and arguably the foundation on which Ford's reputation rests — in a risky move that, hindsight now tells us, absolutely paid off. Though price increases mean the head-turning sub-$40k sticker is no more, what remains is the balance of familiar and new that leaves the F-150 Lightning such a success.
On the one hand, this is the F-Series as we know it: functional, practical, and eminently capable. It just so happens to have twin electric motors instead of a big gas engine. Ford's genius, though, is tapping the benefits of the batteries even when the Lightning is standing still, and this F-150's ability to power a worksite, campsite, or even your whole home in the case of an outage could end up convincing EV skeptics where traditional green messaging has failed to.
Alex - Lamborghini Huracán Technica
If the Porsche 911 is an aged scotch, the Lamborghini Huracán Technica is vodka and Red Bull, served by the bottle that's adorned with sparklers while club music pounds through your over-taurined chest. They say the eccentric attitude of Lamborghini has been phased out, but Lambo has just been better at couching it within sharp, well engineered packages. The Technica is a celebration of the long-running Huracán ending its run, and a chance to send its V10 power plant out with a bang.
Having the chance to drive one earlier this year was a bit like visiting an old friend that you haven't seen in a while. It's been a while since I drove a Huracán, though I remember the last time I had the RWD version on the track it felt so tetchy and uncompromising. The Technica, however, felt far more confident while still feeling fun and goofy in that old Lamborghini way. Maybe I liked it because I've had a similar journey. Maybe I'm projecting. Either way, the Huracán Technica is a fantastic car that's a blast to drive.
Chris - Kia EV6
Electrification is only going to work out if it's both attainable and appealing, and Kia's EV6 delivers on both. On the one hand it's aggressively priced, starting at under $49k. At the same time, though, up to 310 miles of range, bold styling, and a high-tech (but not off-putting) cabin mean you don't feel like you're driving a mere compliance car.
Yes, the EV6 GT with its hefty 576 horsepower is out there shaming supercars and merrily drifting, but it's more affordable versions of Kia's hatchback which linger in my brain. For a long time we've been waiting eagerly to see which automaker will rise to the Tesla Model 3 challenge, and though the EV6 isn't the only car to offer a compelling alternative — yes, Polestar 2, I'm looking at you — it could be one of the most successful.
Alex - McLaren Artura
The McLaren Artura was a relief. Relief that came from McLaren taking all the feedback owners and (I like to think) reviewers like myself gave to them about its vehicles and actually implemented them in one big, stunning vehicle. It felt like a video game developer with a successful if slightly janky game series dropped a sequel with all of the bugs and quality of life issues addressed, all while the rest of it performed as magnificently as fans hoped for.
Relief also came from the worry that the hybridization of its powertrain would make it half-good as it could be or at least only worthwhile in-between charging systems. With the Artura, McLaren showcases hybrid performance done in the best way possible. The electrification is there to complement and enhance the engine, not the other way around, and while that might not be ideal in other cars in terms of efficiency, for a car like the Artura, it's the perfect arrangement. It's great to see a relatively young sports car maker like McLaren truly hit its stride, and I'm excited to see what comes next.
Chris - Cadillac Lyriq
GM's Ultium platform has needed more "show" and less "tell," with the bold boasts of outlandish EVs like GMC's Hummer EV struggling to feel relevant amid more mass-market electric transportation. The Cadillac Lyriq gave it that relevance. Not inexpensive, no, but competitive compared to the automaker's other crossovers and SUVs, and presaging a whole new — and more self-confident — way of delivering its particular blend of American luxury.
Indeed, while you might struggle to recall any other Caddy bar the big-daddy Escalade, the Lyriq holds its own. Memorable styling inside and out, a drivetrain that can compete in refined EV company, and technology that doesn't feel like GM outsourced it to the lowest bigger makes for not just a good electric SUV, but a good SUV, period. Cadillac can flirt with gas-guzzling excess all it wants to on the sidelines, but the Lyriq proves it still knows where its true future lies.