Cars, trucks and SUVs are more than motorized servants. They are our escape machines, able to make us forget our worries as we indulge our passion for the joy of the open road. There have been some wonderful test drives during the past 12 months, and these are the most memorable in order of base price. Notably, only three of the 10 are pure internal combustion engine cars, while another is a gas-electric hybrid. The rest are pure battery electric vehicles.
The times are indeed changing.
—2023 Toyota Prius, $27,450: Now that most Toyota models offer a hybrid variant, Toyota’s designers created a car that looks sporty and challenged engineers to create a driving experience that matched its looks. Long considered a commodity car by Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, the new Prius is slick, sporty and appealing. Push this puppy hard and you’ll find it obediently tackles corners at a higher speed than possible with any prior model. It makes for a driving experience that’s actually fun — a word you’d never use in conjunction with any Prius until now.
