My favorite cars of the year
Plus, all the thanks to all of you.
Hello from a blissfully still-snowy New York, but with rain today and temperatures in the 50s F (around 13 C), it won't last long. We had a muddy, rainy start to the winter, and it looks like similar conditions will take us into the new year. So it goes.
For me, I'll be spending New Year's Eve 35,000 feet over somewhere, winging my way out to an even warmer place: Saudi Arabia, where I’ll be covering the 2025 Dakar Rally. I'll follow the beginning of the rally with Ford Performance, the team aiming for overall victory with their Raptor T1+. If you remember my coverage from the 2023 race you know that this isn't exactly my favorite place to visit in the world, but as someone who's been watching Dakar Rally replays from afar for decades, I'm excited to get a much, much closer look this year than I’ve ever been able before.
I am sad to be away from home on another holiday (it was a lonely Thanksgiving en route to Tokyo for me this year), but it'll mark an exciting start to another year.
I'll get to my favorite drives from the past 12 months in just a moment, but before I dive into that, I wanted to take a moment to say how thankful I am to have survived 2024 on the freelance beat. It was a year full of thrilling opportunities (like the track-only Hyundai Ioniq 5 N eN1) and amazing events (like dressing up in my grandfather's uniform for the Goodwood Revival).
I'm covered in bruises from pinching myself so often, but more than anything, I'm overflowing with thanks for these and the hundreds of other opportunities throughout the year. Literally none of this would be possible without the love and support of folks like yourself, and for that you have my thanks.
Now, before I get too weepy, let's get on with some of my favorite drives of the year.
Porsche 911 GTS - The unlikely perfect hybrid
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when the proposal came through to hybridize the 911, one of the most iconic sports cars on the planet. Were the engineers excited by the challenge? Were there eye rolls? Did the biggest brains in Stuttgart want in on this project or did they want nothing to do with it? I wonder this because the reaction outside of the company was certainly... mixed when Porsche announced it was hybridizing the 911, but all fears and doubts were totally misplaced. The GTS totally blew me away. Yeah, it gained a little weight, but the way Porsche's brightest integrated the electric turbocharger with the high-voltage battery to create a sort of inductive regeneration system is utterly brilliant, and so is the GTS.
Mercedes-Benz G 580 - The electric G delivers
Some of the cars on this list are here simply because I expected they'd be pretty mid, but they turned out to be stellar. That's not the case with the electric G-Wagen. Mercedes-Benz has 45 years of expectations to deliver upon here, and G 580 does just that: It delivers. With improved handling, smooth power delivery, and stellar off-road performance, it's pretty much exactly what you want it to be. The only question now is whether the fickle influencer and celebrity market will follow. After all, it isn't the G's performance attributes that made it the most desirable rig on Rodeo Dr. Will this new one uphold its more modern legacy?
Subaru WRX tS - The evolution of all-road performance
While I expected to like the G, I wasn't particularly optimistic about the new WRX tS. If you know me, you know I have a bit of a Subaru problem... Imprezas in particularly. I've owned a half-dozen of the things and currently have two in my garage. It's safe to say I have a certain perspective about what the WRX should be, much like many Subaru fans of a certain age. Suffice that preconception doesn't align neatly with the way the WRX has evolved to be bigger, heavier, and more luxurious. Yet I found myself really loving the tS. Would I take it over a Toyota GR Yaris? That's a tough call... but the Subaru is certainly the more well-rounded machine.
Lamborghini Urus SE - The best big bull
Here's another one that I wasn't particularly enthused about. The initial Urus was impressive, but it just didn't seem edgy enough to earn the bull on the nose. The Urus Performante certainly brought the performance to the table but, along the way, lost some of the civility needed to be an SUV. The SE? It's a perfect mix of performance, aggression, and practicality, plus the benefits of a plug-in hybrid.
Ford Mach-E Rally - Sideways is the right way
When it was first unveiled, I was convinced the Mach-E Rally was little more than a visual package. And, let's be real, this isn't exactly a radical reinvention of Ford's electric SUV, but as I'd learn in my visit to Ford's testing grounds, the thing was certainly put through its paces and hardened for rallycross duty. The Rally is genuinely more fun to drive than a GT on my kinds of roads, but even if you do consider it purely an appearance package, it's a damned good one.
Nissan GT-R NISMO - Goodbye, Godzilla
This last one is the oldest one, the R35 Nissan GT-R, which finally enters a long-deserved retirement in the year ahead. The car still has a few months of production left in the Japanese market, and ahead of that manufacturing line going dark, I headed to Japan for one final lap of Fuji in the ultimate evolution of the R35. I expected to spend my morning behind the wheel picking apart how dated and tired this big coupe must feel. Instead, I fell in love all over again. As always, I brought back a few fun souvenirs from Japan, but what I really wanted was one of these.
And with that, I’m off to prep for a whirlwind trip to the desert. Wishing you all the best for the new year ahead.