Aaron Bragman

Competes with: Lexus TX, Infiniti QX60, Acura MDX, Lincoln Aviator

It was telling to me when I drove a new Lexus TX 550h+ plug-in hybrid three-row SUV to get some personal up-close viewing time with the new 2025 Buick Enclave. The Lexus is, well, okay inside. It doesn’t feel particularly upscale or luxurious, and it’s full of elements that don’t feel any better than the Toyota Grand Highlander from which it is created. The new Enclave, on the other hand, was stunning.

Last decade, Italian brand Fiat introduced the original 500e electric city car as something called a “compliance car.” That means the brand basically did it because it had to — the state of California required a certain percentage of cars sold there to be zero-emissions or else an automaker would face penalties. So Fiat stuffed an electric powertrain into the 2013 500 and mostly sold them in California and Oregon. It turns out owners loved them, as they were small, zippy, fun to drive and came in riotous color schemes. Though production of the original 500e stopped in 2019, they’ve become something of a cult classic in the used-car market, finding their way slowly across the country to places they were never sold.

The verdict: Super quick, super loud, super expensive — and super cool.

With the 2025 Ram 1500 RHO, the brand has created a proper Ford F-150 Raptor competitor, one that’s more powerful than the rival Ford and several thousand dollars less expensive.

For all of you off-road Baja truck fans who wanted the more affordable Ford F-150 Raptor formula in a Ram-brand truck, your prayers have been answered: The 2025 Ram 1500 RHO is exactly that.

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade has earned a repeat win in a similar fashion by excelling in luxury, value and tech.

There’s something new in Lexus showrooms this year, a model the luxury brand has never had before: a big front- or all-wheel-drive three-row crossover-style SUV, a true family truckster with an “L” badge. Based off the Toyota Grand Highlander’s underbits but fancied up significantly to turn it into a Lexus (Toyota is the parent company that owns the Lexus brand, if ya didn’t know), the TX line represents a much more usable three-row crossover-style SUV than the stopgap attempt that was the Lexus RX-L. The GX and LX SUVs also have three rows of seats, but being more traditional truck-style SUVs, their third-row room is much more compromised. Not so with the new TX.

2024 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Night Edition AWD | Cars.com photo by Christian Lantry

While a lot of automakers are charging headlong into the full electrification of their lineups with electric vehicles to challenge the domination of Tesla, Toyota has long advocated for a slower, more balanced approach focusing first on hybrid technology. Part of it is Toyota insisting that battery technology simply isn’t ready for widespread adoption of EVs, and the other part of it frankly is Toyota trying to extend their investment in hybrid powertrains for as long as possible by trying to convince us all that hybrids are what we really want, not full EVs.