The 10 best vehicles Ars Technica drove in 2025
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Look at some of this user's other posts, realize he does nothing by troll and post cynical bullshit, and put him on 'ignore'. I did this ages ago, it was a wise decision.
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It's a totally new car. Built on the Renault Megane platform. It was always weird that the original Leaf didn't share more with the Renault Zoe, which came out at the same time, but with a water cooled battery.
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What has been your experience with the retractable door handles, especially now that we're firmly in glove weather.Just traded in my 2017 Volt for the 2026 Leaf, very heavily influenced by Ars reporting this year. That car is an absolute delight and, in what we figured was going to be a loss going in, is even able to carry our chonky rear facing car seats while still accommodating two pretty tall adults up front (I’m 6’ 2”, wife 5’ 8”). For all its flaws, I still loved the Volt, but the Leaf is just such a lovely experience with all the new safety adds in the intervening years. Thanks Ars for all the reporting on that this year, and it’s always a bit fun to see your “team” win one of these lists
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“Revanchists” really is the word of the year, isn’t it? People who thought Jim Crow, slavery, or before women were allowed to vote and own property were the good old days for good ole boys.
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I too would love read more about this, and have it mentioned and tested in reviews. But no for-profit utility company run by a billionaire is going to get my support for a virtual power plant made by reaching into our homes to control our own cars and battery backups. Not the guys who did the stock buybacks instead of keeping staff during COVID or catching up on much-needed maintenance. Not Xcel which already got caught locking Denverites out of their thermostats on a 100-degree day for a $25 credit several years prior.
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We have a Mach-E and generally I love it… but I do have a few pet leaves. It is a fantastic upgrade and I would not trade it for anything short of a brand-new Porsche Cayenne EV. The back seats are so much more comfortable! We’ve kept the old 2014 Volt, it’s still a great back-up car for our adult child to borrow when visiting or for trips to charging deserts like Wyoming.
OMG, my Mach-E does this every time. It’s an incredible pain. I go out to the car all the time for one thing or another. It also wants to turn on the alarms every time we get out, including in the garage! It’s incredibly sensitive to anyone just walking around. I like to keep my fob tucked away in my purse but thank goodness my husband is fine with keeping his fob right next to the interior garage door so at least it’s handy.
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Or the car was smart enough to use it's GPS to know it was in your garage and you'd set the system configuration option to not auto-lock when in your garage?
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Hyundai fixed these issues (and more) with the 2025 model year (I leased one several months ago).
The 2025 AWD Limited in my driveway has a larger 84 kWh battery (up from 78 kWh), wireless CarPlay, rear wiper, NACS charging port, roof rails, updated interior with physical buttons for HVAC/heated/cooled seats and heated steering wheel, auto proximity unlock and starting from your smartphone/Apple Watch,... The list goes on and on, it's about the longest list of meaningful improvements I've ever seen from a single mid-cycle model year change.
There is still no auto-lock as you walk away. This seems trivial to implement, so I wonder if this is a legal / liability concern, despite other manufacturers having similar systems. Doesn't bother me, since none of our previous vehicles had auto-lock either, but I know it's frustrating to not have a feature you're used to.
My only minor complaints about the car so far:
- The auto wipers aren't great in very light rain / mist. I wish there was a true intermittent setting in addition to auto, low, and high speeds.
- The air recirculate setting won't stay on. Sucks to be behind a diesel burner and realize (too late) that recirculate has turned itself off again. May be able to tweak this via settings.
- The Limited's rear cross traffic safety systems gives haptic feedback and bleeps and bloops as we wait to back out of our driveway on a busy street. It will sometimes hit the brakes as you're backing up if it thinks you're going to back into a car going the other direction. I try to back into our driveway when possible, but definitely an annoyance.
- It's larger than I really want for city driving and parking. I'd love the features and comfort this car has in a vehicle that's 2/3rds the size like the Hyundai Kona EV, Kia Niro EV, or Chevy Bolt. There just doesn't seem to be a market in the US for a luxurious small vehicle, particularly an EV.
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Settings > Vehicle > something like "Walk Away Lock" > Off.
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Can't even get these companies to reliably let us permanently disable ACC if we want to and you want geo-fencing and IFTT? Unlikely.
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That's not the way I would use it. I would charge the car up with solar during the day and feed the grid and my home in the evening when electricity prices are twice as high as daytime.
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Heck, that's what those ultrasonic parking assist and blind spot sensors are for, right? Take a ping off the door and walls, easy! (lol)
If the utility isn't buying midday solar back from residential installs at your distribution rate but instead your hourly bid solar rate for the region, you might as well zero the meter by charging your car rather than receiving a pittance for it. The value of residential solar at the meter varies wildly with the number of different schemes that have been implemented (and sunset) over the past ten years or more. Thus the value of battery-backing your home, even if most of the capacity is on wheels.
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lunatic_cringe
Smack-Fu Master, in training
I test drove a ‘25 Civic Hybrid. Truly amazing drivetrain but the almost mandatory Google infotainment account was a showstopper for me. Turn over another part of my life to Google? I did my best to find and read through the user agreements and privacy give-aways I’d need to submit to just to listen to some tuneage while I drive. Maybe there are work-arounds involving Bluetooth or some other I/O that Google could take away with a simple update? Nooooo .. they’d never do something like that, would they? Too costly a purchase to take a flyer. Civic Hybrid … no thanks.
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Efficiency and range aren’t the sole important criteria. My wife’s Volvo, with low profile highly efficient EV tires, required total wheel replacement after a low-speed curb strike. The over $2500 in tires and wheel would have paid for a lot of extra charging.
Tire guy said cracking wheels used to be rare, but is common with low-profile EV wheels.
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The tires aren't the problem. The wheels are. You should've got smaller wheels. Keeping the same circumference, smaller wheels are both more efficient and less likely to be damaged by a pothole. And less expensive. And reduce NVH.
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My '25 hybrid + iPhone12mini + Carplay disagrees with your assertion. *
* granted, different cult.. but at no point was I entering Google login stuffs.
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.. uum. no?
https://hondanews.com/en-US/honda-a...378955-honda-two-motor-hybrid-electric-system
tldr: its an interesting transmission setup with inline motor/generator setup with an additonal 'high speed lockup clutch' to direct-drive from the atkinson-cycle engine directly when it makes sense (which seems to be highway speeds). I still would like to find a graphic diagram.. but no, i dont think there is any cvt/belt-type drive involved.
and fwiw.. fully admit my bias: i LOVE mine. Previously owned Toyota Tacomas (truck being a side-effect requirement of riding motorcycles) and this thing is just a blast to drive, even as an econo-car. I make a game of the mileage stuff though; still trying to make it go over 60mpg but the winter weather has really drivent it down (but 'driven down' being 40s-mpg compared to V6-Tacoma 20mpgs? good lord i'll take it).
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According to Consumer Reports, the 2024 Ariya has a 88% reliability rating (admittedly, the 2023 was worse) and the Leaf shares the AmpR Medium platform.
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Google couldn’t do that without Honda agreeing and enabling that - it is Honda you are trusting, not Google.
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My Australian-market 2024 Ioniq5 has wireless CarPlay.
It is, overall, an excellent car, especially for road trips, which is my primary use. My only quibbles are: (1) the endless donging from the safety system. It takes 6 clicks on the infotainment screen to turn some (but not all) of that off; and (2) the cost. I’ll be replacing it this year and I’ll be buying one of three Chinese EVs, all of which are approximately $15-20k cheaper for similar specs. None of those EVs are available in the US.
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smallfussydog
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Just bought a Hyundai inster/casper and I asked the dealer about this. They promised a “few days” repair time and a loaner car, as the needed parts are in good supply. In Norway, at least.
So, no real fix but probably quicker repair time.
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Still debating in my mind whether I should get the Emira. I already have an Exige S for a weekend car. My Cayman is my daily driver.
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I’ve had the ‘25 Limited since this march. Love it, but. Hyundai’s decision is asinine and incomprehensible, but the doors are not at all hard to lock, unless you wear gloves, just annoying given that it would cost them next to nothing to patch. There are both hardware and software workarounds for locking the doors. For me this car’s biggest fail is its incredibly wide turning radius. It’s very hard to park compared to any other cars I’ve had including much larger SUVs and our VW Atlas.
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Go on, be brave! If you hate it you can sell it and get another Porsche.
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Heh.. I think I'd rather get a BMW Z4 M40i if I don't get the Emira.
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Thank you for the heads up. If that is the case, I feel bad for the person.
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For a commuter it would be good, but it sounds like you can only lock the doors under specific parameters. That would be a pain. Also, does a lower trim have intermittent wipers or do all have auto wipers? I can't fathom a car not having that feature any more than not having air conditioning.
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Being that they "posted cynical bullshit" about corporate goons, it's kinda unsurprising that Corporate_Goon clutched their pearls.
Thanks for pointing this person out, as a look at their posts reveals a cynical yet hysterically funny & poignant commentator on 21st century America.
My question to Ars, though, is what does "Permanently Ejected" mean? Are they banned from the forums forever? Temporarily? Or just ejected from this topic?
Kinda flabbergasted that their diatribe against cars was enough to get them ejected. Somebody is too sensitive here. They didn't attack forum members personally or anything, as far as I could see.
[Edit: typos]
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Hmmm, touche. For some reason that didn't come up in my couple minutes if googling before I posted my response. You're right, I'm wrong.
It's an interesting setup, and I like the idea. I'm not sure about how much I would enjoy driving it but, in principal, I don't see anything wrong with it.
Just a side note though: if your previous vehicles were Tacomas, especially the automatics, pretty much anything is going to be a blast to drive.
For the most part, I enjoyed my 2020 Tacoma after I fixed some factory/design defects, but it was the 6MT version. I don't think I would've enjoyed the Auto version. Oddly enough, I actually replaced my Tacoma with a motorcycle. Long story.
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Literally the only model and variant in BMW's catalog that I would consider buying, and only with the 6MT. Seems like everything else is an affront to eyeballs or just not interesting to me for other reasons.
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Once again my preferences seem to be at odds with most folks. I've not yet driven a vehicle with auto wipers in the rain that I actually liked. They never wipe when I want or at the speed I want. They've either waited too long to start or gone straight to Turbo Prop Mode for a sprinkle.
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Yeah, I was hoping lesser trims would NOT have auto and just regular intermittent-low-high and intermittent is the feature I cannot fathoms a car not having for clarification. Auto headlights work well enough and I like that they come on with the wipers, but I can still control them manually if I like. Auto wipers in this case don't seem to have that function.
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Genuine question: do you actually believe that this follows logically from my comment? Why or why not?
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Weird. I think every vehicle I've driven with auto wipers had the ability to revert to manual mode. Not being able to do that would be a deal breaker. Also, only one vehicle I've driven had automatic headlights to worked the way I want them to. A '99 Grand Cherokee. Every other vehicle I've driven with it has been far too quick with flicking the lights on and off again, to the point that doing less than 70mph under an overpass would make them click on and off again. That annoys me when I see it in my rearview mirror, or when the car in front of me lights up like they are hitting the brakes for no reason, so it also annoys me when the vehicle I'm driving does it. So I usually end up disabling it. Would be a good place for an Advanced Settings menu, so that people like me could actually tweak those behaviors.
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Finally! Someone for whom neither passenger nor cargo capacity is a consideration…
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