First Drive

The name Arteon is the culmination of the words Art & Eon. Art defines what happens when you allow your designers and engineers the freedom to create an eye-catching sculpture. Eon represents a long period of time, an homage to the timelessness and sophistication of the 2019 Volkswagen Arteon. Cars as art isn't a new concept, but it's usually the preserve of exotics or classics. That makes the Arteon something very different.

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Whenever a carmaker unveils a new electric car, I tend to get excited. With the seismic changes in today’s automotive industry, the introduction of a new EV is more than just the usual fanfare of presenting a new model to the public. It signifies the current direction of a particular carmaker. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, it took some time in coming up with their first all-electric vehicle. The 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC is the first of many to come from Stuttgart, and so naturally it has to be special. I got to drive it in rainy Norway.

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The 2020 Toyota Supra faces a tough audience. Fans of the original cars - with 17-plus years of misty eyed reminiscing under their belts - are automatically suspicious of anything Toyota might consider worthy of the Supra badge. Those familiar with Toyota's current range of earnest-but-hardly-heart-pounding models are, justifiably, skeptical that the automaker could make a legitimate sports car.

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The 2020 Rover Range Rover Evoque remains the smallest SUV in Land Rover’s lineup, and it’s all for the better. Why mess with a good thing when you have a winner on your hands? Land Rover sold around 800,000 units of the first-gen Evoque worldwide, so there are high expectations for a solid successor. The new Evoque retained a familiar overall look to the outgoing model, and that’s a good thing. Additionally, as expected, there are loads of improvements inside and out, packing a new array of technology to once again redefine the luxury crossover segment.

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The Porsche 911 remains the epitome of the everyday sort of sports car - and, depending on the trim, the everyday supercar as well - but the title of best German sports car is getting a serious challenge by the updated 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT. Now offered in four trim levels, from the GT, and GT C, through the GT R, and finally the track-focused GT R Pro, it's the latter, most intense version of AMG's fearsome coupe that should be giving Porsche some sleepless nights.

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Building a pickup with personality is tougher than it sounds, and so the 2020 Jeep Gladiator was always going to be divisive. Brash, unapologetic, and digging enthusiastically into a lengthy history of Jeep 4x4 heritage and iconic styling, the Gladiator could be at best a new truck hero, or at worst an overdue pastiche. Buckle up, because things get bumpy.

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The first ever 2019 BMW X7 is, without a doubt, built to satisfy the cravings of modern car buyers. We all know that SUVs - or sport utility vehicles - are the current darlings of the car buying crowd; you have to be a brave automaker to not have an SUV of some sort in your lineup. With BMW, there have been many SUVs to pick from - unless, that is, you needed a bigger people hauler. It's about time that the X7 made its debut, then, casting a huge net in the sea of potential SUV buyers.

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I just climbed out of the Tesla Model Y, and if first-impressions are anything to go by, Elon Musk's newest EV hasn't strayed far from its predecessors. The all-electric crossover isn't going to arrive with buyers until Fall 2020 at the earliest, but when it does I suspect they'll be struck more by how familiar it is, rather than how new.

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It was while trying to calculate, for the fourth or fifth time, which organ or combination of organs I could sell in order to afford a McLaren 720S Spider of my own that I found myself thinking about perfection. Nothing quite gets the juices flowing like a supercar edition of "which would you buy?"; similarly, nothing provokes so fierce a debate as arguing the pros and cons of incredibly expensive cars few of us could hope to acquire.

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If you thought slicing the roof off might leave the 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider softer, less extreme, or - dare I say it - even disappointing, worry not. The British automaker's latest addition to its Sport Series may have gained a retractable hard top roof, but this is no dilution of what makes a Longtail special. Never mind giving you a view of the sky: this extreme of engineering is all about bringing its audacious soundtrack inside.

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It was while going sideways on a frozen lake in the 2020 Volvo V60 Cross Country that I began to seriously question the wisdom of giving the American customer what they want. For years now, the answer to that question at car dealerships across the US has been "an SUV, please." That may be what they want, but what they actually need is something very different.

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It all started with the beautiful Audi Prologue concept unveiled by Audi at the 2014 LA Auto Show. The Prologue heralded the future of Audi exterior and interior design, under the pen and leadership of Marc Lichte. The rounded lines of the past are now strong and aggressive; gone are button-heavy consoles from the interior and, in their place, touchscreens and a handful of necessary keys.

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