These Are The Best Cars (And Trucks And Bikes) The Jalopnik Staff Drove In 2025

Well folks, it’s almost the end of the year. You’ve already gotten your Spotify Wrappeds and Apple Music Replays, all your favorite people and publications are posting and writing about their favorite things of the year — or least favorite, or memorable, or most shocking, or whatever else could get clicks. Obviously we here at Jalopnik aren’t above that, but even if we didn’t want your wonderful clicks we would be talking about the best vehicles our staff drove in 2025, from sports cars and pickup trucks to motorcycles and eighteen-wheelers. 

I say best, but take it to mean favorite as well. Our favorite car might not necessarily be the objectively best car, and in this context I think both are acceptable. I asked my delightful coworkers to tell me their answers, which didn’t have to be of a brand-new model. Some of them, including myself, mentioned a handful of fantastic cars, while in a few cases one vehicle rose head and shoulders above anything else. Now it’s time for you to read about the best cars the Jalopnik staff drove in 2025, in their own words. What was the best car you drove this year?

I had a fairly light year in terms of cars driven, but the ones I did drive were mostly very heavy hitters. In terms of normal cars, the new hybrid-only Toyota Camry was impressive, as was the Genesis GV80. I easily could pick the absurdly quick Audi RS E-Tron GT as a favorite, or the much less quick but extremely good Mercedes-Benz CLA EV. The Mercedes-AMG G63 and Bentley Flying Spur Speed PHEV were both surprisingly big improvements over their predecessors. Speaking of fast SUVs, both the Aston Martin DBX S and Bentley Bentayga Speed were both hella fun, and I just spent a week with the extraordinarily good Mercedes-AMG S63.

But I think the car I’ve gotta go with is the EV-swapped Porsche 964 RSR from UK-based company Everrati. The iconic flat-six has been tossed out in favor of a 500-horsepower electric motor, and despite the 62 kWh of total battery capacity, it has the same weight distribution as a normal 964 and weighs 40 pounds less than a 964 Turbo. There are a lot of other major upgrades like carbon-fiber bodywork and bigger brakes, and it all adds up to a totally joyous driving experience. Yes, it’s fast, but more importantly it still drives like a classic sports car, just without most of the downsides when you’re stuck in traffic or driving around town. The real reason this is my choice for the best car I drove this year is because of how excited it makes me for the future.

I drove a lot of cars this year — 83 to be exact, with over 16,000 miles of testing split between them. That means when it comes to choosing my favorite car I drove this year, well, the task is nearly impossible. Honestly, the fact I was able to whittle it down to three main highlights is an achievement in itself. Nevertheless, my three favorite rides of the year were the Lucid Gravity Grand Touring, the hybrid Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, and a 1991 Acura NSX. All three of these cars couldn’t be more different, but they had two things in common: they oozed personality and were a hell of a lot of fun to drive.

The Gravity Grand Touring is absolutely the highlight of the year when it came to tech and where the future of the automotive industry could go if left unfettered by the government. In my first drive of the car back in April, I said it “makes other cars feel pointless,” and that still holds true now. It just does everything so well. Its packaging is brilliant. It’s fun to drive despite being a big ol’ crossover. It’s supercar quick, thanks to the 828 horsepower and 909 pound-feet of torque its dual-motor setup produces. And it can travel nearly 450 miles on a single charge. What a vehicle.

Another highlight for me was the 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet. Its mystifyingly wonderful and powerful drivetrain combined with second-to-none driving characteristics and drop-topness made it easily the best modern sports car I drove all year. Every second I was behind the wheel of that car with the wind in my rapidly graying hair, I had a massive smile on my face. I know people will say that because it’s a convertible and because it’s a hybrid with an automatic, it’s not actually a purist’s vehicle, but they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. It’s for the pure of heart.

Finally, the absolute highlight of my year — bar none — was a showroom fresh 1991 Acura NSX. There’s nothing I could write about the NSX that hasn’t already been written, so I’ll just say this: meet your heroes every once in a while. Sure, I didn’t fit in it perfectly, and its clutch is absurdly high, and not having power steering takes a bit of getting used to, but none of that matters when VTEC kicks in, yo. What a year 2025 has been. I cannot wait to see what 2026 has in store.

While I didn’t get to drive nearly as many cars as Andy did, I still had more than my fair share of fun this year. Subaru, for example, lent a WRX tS to me for a week, which made me almost do a complete 180 on my initial impressions of the new WRX. I also got my hands on the ultra-luxurious Mercedes-Maybach GLS600, which I’ll never be able to afford but can’t help appreciating anyway. And, of course, there’s always the Fiat 500e that I thought made such a great daily driver, I decided to lease one with my own money earlier this year. But my favorite thing I drove all year? That honor goes to the 2026 Rivian R1 Quad Motor.

Sure, it has more than 1,000 horsepower, and yes, it’s ridiculously quick, but it’s easy to give an EV a lot of power. What really stood out to me — other than the part where it’s so quick, you kind of have to warn your passengers before you punch it — is the new kick-turn feature. It gives you an actual reason to buy the quad-motor version of the R1, and it works so well, I could actually see owners using it off-road. It’s also far more elegant than dragging the inside wheel for a sharper turn radius. Both the R1T and the R1S also proved to be such capable off-roaders, they were easily able to handle the most difficult off-roading course I’ve ever encountered on a media drive. Will most owners ever do any serious off-roading? Probably not. But it’s still awesome to see what feels like genuine innovation toward the top of the EV market. And while I’m sure some prospective buyers will find the R1’s front end a little too cute for their taste, what can I say? I love a truck that doesn’t look like it wants to eat me.

I drove over 30 new cars this year, but the two that stand out most in my head are the Volkswagen ID Buzz and the Toyota GR Corolla, two cars from polar opposite ends of the automotive spectrum that I loved for very different reasons.

Driving the Volkswagen ID Buzz was a childhood dream come true for me. My love of cars started with classic VWs, and the bus was always my favorite. I grew up with my eyes glued to every and any form of automotive media I could find, and I clung to every nugget of knowledge about a potential modern successor to the original Volkswagen Transporter. The ID Buzz was a long time in the making, and so was my desire to drive one. It was not thrilling in a traditional sense, but it was a thrilling experience for me because of my history with these bricks on wheels. Driving it made me smile, and it made everyone around me smile along with me. It genuinely made me giddy to even sit in it while it charged. It drives really well to boot, thanks to the convenience of immediate electric torque and a very low center of gravity. Everything about the ID Buzz tickled me, and though it’s corny, I won’t ever forget it. It reminds me that if I could go back in time and tell a younger version of myself where we’d end up in the future, I know that little Logan would be so stoked and proud of us.

The Toyota GR Corolla will make more sense to the enthusiasts. I was fortunate enough to attend the drive event for the 2026 GR Corolla, which took place on track at Sonoma Raceway. This was the first time I had the pleasure of driving the GRolla, and I had high expectations given how much I’ve heard about these spicy rally monsters. Those expectations were exceeded. I had an absolute blast slinging the GR Corolla around the track, and for the short time I had behind the wheel, I felt confident almost instantly, so I was simply able to enjoy myself rather than be laser focused on not biffing it. I had the added bonus of experiencing the prior model years back-to-back so I could better feel the gradual improvements, which made the drive even cooler.

I managed to make it through the entirety of 2025 without actually driving a car — pretty normal for a Brooklynite, all things considered — but I rode my fair share of bikes. I rode 13 in all, some of which I can’t even tell you about yet, but the best was actually a bit of a surprise. I rode it on a whim, at a completely public event, and I came away truly loving it: The Triumph Speed Twin 900.

In general, I’m getting a bit bored of 270-degree parallel twin engines, but the Speed Twin 900’s just fits its character so well. It feels like the Ur-motorcycle, the singular do-it-all machine from which all others are derived. It’s put together with such care, it fits so comfortably beneath a rider, every control falls so readily to hand. I expected good, but the Speed Twin 900 blew me away with motorcycling as a whole. If you condensed the entire activity down to a single model, this would be it.

There was a very close second place in 2025 that’s worth mentioning, though: The Honda Gold Wing Tour 75th Anniversary, in all its not-quite-wood-paneled glory. I spent a couple hours on one earlier this year, and I was downright unnerved when I set off. I started with one lap of a parking lot, and wondered how the hell I’d ever manage an 845-pound motorcycle. By the end of my little jaunt on the bike, though, I felt like I could do anything. I wove it through tight gas stations, I took it over gravel, it inspired confidence in a way that a bike its size simply shouldn’t.

I got to drive cutting edge electric cars and giant gas-devouring trucks in 2025, but by far the best and most impressive vehicle I drove in 2025 was the heavy duty Volvo VNL. Not only was it one of the coolest experiences of my life, but it gave me an even deeper and more profound understanding of what makes this vital industry tick. I’ve always had a fascination with trucking, and piloting a giant semi truck with a full 70,000-pound load in the trailer around a 3 mile track was a thrill and a privilege.

The technology in particular blew me away, with the truck making constant adjustments to meet driving and road conditions, as well as keep the driver, and everyone else on the road, safe. It was so deceptively easy to drive, so comfortable and natural that my daydreams of dropping this life of online media and hitting the roads have only gotten worse. If you ever hear a driver with the CB handle Blog Mom, well, you’ll know I’m right where I want to be.