In this episode we review the 2025 North American, Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle Awards´ Best of list and pick the winners in each category, even before the official election date.
Total Car Score
S5E59 - The 2025 Car, Truck and SUV candidates are out ... and we already have the winners!
[MUSIC PLAYING] Up to four lines via virtual prepaid guard, a left 15 days qualifying unlocked device credit service ported 90 plus days with device ineligible carrier and timely redemption required. The card has no cash access and expires in six months. Hear that? Pumpkin. That's fall calling. And the pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks from that first sweater to late autumn weather. It's all a fall in just one sip. Order ahead on the Starbucks app. [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to the Total Car Score podcast. Bring you the world of cars from inside the car. And now your hosts, Carl Brouwer, Lauren Vix, and Javier Motov. Well, Lauren and Carl, can you believe it's already this time of the year? I think the year is over when the announcement of today's lease for NACTOI car, truck, and SUV of the year, right? It's amazing. It feels like it. The year is flown by, it's crazy. How come 2025? Oh, gosh. Now, yeah, let's not rush. There's so many things to happen this year, yeah. So anyway, this is for people who don't know how the schedule works. We've been driving all the eligible vehicles for a while now, the other ones that are available. And today, NACTOI, the board announced the lease, what they call the best of 25. And you've seen it already. So one thing, Carl, that surprised me initially, was like, there aren't that many new cars. I mean, we talked about this in a past episode. But I guess because of all the issues in the industry, this is like a very short list. Do you think so? I do. And it's interesting to me because it seems like most years we're scrambling to get as many cars and trucks as SUVs. And then you look at this year's list. And the lists of all three categories are pretty similar. They're all relatively close in terms of number. And it's not because there's more cars. It's because there's way less SUVs. And then there's a couple trucks. But yeah, I mean, I haven't counted them up, but it looks like I'm just going to say at a glance here. There's what, like 20 total across all three. Yeah, 25 is 25 total. It's like almost equal number for cars and SUVs. And only five-- well, not only five. Well, there's a reason for that. There was a list of every eligible car truck at SUV. But we cut that list down by our first vote for the best of. So we got rid of the ones. They're like, yeah, they're OK. So what you're looking at is the 10 best cars, the five best trucks, and the 10 best SUVs. And there's a lot of other ones. And we've driven them. So I mean-- There aren't that many other. I mean, I don't remember anything. I mean, we're going to go through the list. We can really start with the car. Well, also we should define what not to exist-- North American car and truck of the year. And we have journalists and media that are from Canada and North and USA. We're working on getting somebody from Mexico. Please, Javier and I are pushing hard. North America. So because it is North America, that's right. Hey, wait a second. Javier, where were you born? [LAUGHTER] But I mean, I believe most of my life in the US. So I was born in Mexico. But I was as a kid in San Francisco. Then I went to Addginson Kansas for high school and I've been in Miami since '89, so more than 30 years. So I don't know, I'm from, I don't know, wherever. Wow. And you travel forever. I guess you're right. I still feel like we're pretty international, just by having you on the jury. But yeah, you're right. We should have some current residents of Mexico for publications in Mexico. We're working on that. We have one specific one in mind. I won't say who, but as the jury rotates, it's like a lifetime, like a Supreme Court. So once you're on, you're on, as long as you meet the qualifiers. And that means that you have at least 50,000. Actually, Karl, you should say this. You're the one that wrote the bylaws. So you go ahead. Yeah, I know. I just got to produce content on a regular basis, at least one story in every-- it's very light, like every two months. And you've got to have a certain amount of reach that people see you. And it's funny, because people who aren't maybe familiar with everything that goes on in the industry would think that, well, what kind of automotive journalist isn't producing at least one story every two months? It doesn't have at least 50,000 people reach on their publications. And the other two of you on, I both know, it's like, sadly, a scary number of people who call themselves automotive journalists wouldn't meet those two retirements, I just said. I mean, it's true, the media industry has gone through even more struggles than the automotive industry. So there's been a lot of layoffs, a lot of people who had regular jobs who are now trying to do freelance job. And we lost two pretty big outlets. We lost Autoblog and Gear Patrol. And a couple others have had some huge layoffs. So with that, we try to hit the best and the best. And with honesty, people say, hey, what, my outlet's no longer here, I've been trying to get a job for you. I'm going to go sell insurance or something. And they move along. And that's fine. And that opens up opportunities for other media to join. We recently added on some younger people, so that's good. So we want to keep the word fresh, as they say. So go ahead. Yeah, and the main mission of the jury of NATO, it's to help customers, right? Like with our opinions, that give the best advice and tell them what's better than others and what's more value and all that kind of thing. And so that's the main object of all this process. So let's get to the car. Go for it, have your way up. We want to list them at all and then we'll pick our favorites. Yeah. So car of the year candidate is the BMW 3 Series, the BMW M5, Cadillac Celeste, Dodge Charger EV. Fiat E, Fiat 500 E, I'm sorry, Honda Civic Hybrid, Kia K4, Mercedes AMG E-Class, Porsche Panamera, and Toyota Camry. So to begin with, I want to say the ones that are not going to win, like to start. [LAUGHS] Wow. Cadillac Celeste, Dodge Charger EV, Fiat 500 E, Porsche Panamera, just because, not because it's not a great car, just because Porsche doesn't let pretty much anybody drive their cars. Right. And yeah, I will eliminate those out of the door. And probably the E-Class, because that's a pretty expensive car. So I don't think it's-- And the M5, the BMW M5. Well, the M5 is impressive. But I don't think we're going to get to drive it before our next voting round, which is just before the LA Auto Show. And then we do our final awards at the Detroit Auto Show in January. It's moved to that. Carlos, why do we have left? So now you're down to the Civic Hybrid, the Kia K4, which is, by the way, the Forte. But the Kia just changed its name from Forte to K4. But it's their compact car. Their Toyota Camry. That's a three series. Those are the finalists, I think. Those are the real finalists that have a three finalists. We need three finalists. I think is the Civic, the Kia, and the Camry. Yeah, the 3D series probably won't make the cut because of the premium car. And again, it's not like the M5, or like you said, the Panamera, or the E-Class, or the three series aren't great cars. But you'll notice those are all premium brands. And we tend to want to award a car that is the most meaningful to the widest band of the population. And a lot of people can't buy M5s and AMG E-Classes, and even three series, versus a Kia, or a Honda, or a Toyota. So I think we're already-- World cars are a little different. I think World Car tends to have more of a heavier hand on the more expensive cars. So that kind of leaves us with the Toyota Camry, the Honda Civic Hybrid, and the Kia K4. Those are-- I would say those are the final three, and in my opinion. I think we already have that job for all the other 47 jurors. [LAUGHTER] We didn't even have to vote. All right, we got it. We'll tell you. So now we've got those three, guys. So which one of those three is the long-term winner? Or do we want to say yet? I can guess. I'm going to guess it's a Camry. Karl? I guess-- I mean, this is really tough because all three of those cars are very viable and worthy of a wide band of people to buy them that. They're all good values. They all get good fuel efficiency. They're all nicely styled. There's no obvious winner to me. The Camry, I think, is the highest volume seller of that group. Number one selling car in the entire country. Yeah. So I think that automatically, again, if we're trying to think of the best car that's also the most widely available and widely appealing car, the Camry, it's probably the winner. Yeah. I'm going to go against you two. I think the Kia K4, just because it's completely different from the car, your places, it has pretty cool technology that design is also very attractive. It has Kia technology or the Hyundai group technology that we've known for years. So it's going to be very close. But I think maybe by a few votes, the K4 for me. Well, no, you didn't have to say it's up to Kia to get butts and seats. And that's been a problem with the brand lately. Yeah, I'm glad. So if you don't get the juror, all the 50 jurors have to drive these cars to give a fair evaluation. And if you're just going by pictures or you're swallowing a lot, that doesn't happen. So that's why some of these very expensive cars like the Porsche Pan and Merrill, like Javier was saying, it's not going to make it to the next round because we don't get to drive it unless we go to the dealer and then they'll let us drive it. But that's not the point. The point is we get cars, we all review them and we all cover them in different ways and then we post our reviews. So if we don't have an opportunity to drive these vehicles, they don't have a chance of making it to the next round. Yeah, it's like if you're a member of the Academy and then you are supposed to vote for the Oscars. Oh, well, I didn't watch the movies. Right, exactly. Well put, well put, yes. Yeah. So real quick, just to make this interesting, here's a question for us. We now we've picked who we think either should win or will win. Now, yeah, it's all three of us. We are required, an undeniable force has decided that we have to, each of us personally, buy one of these finalist cars personally. We have to-- - Of the whole list? Of the whole list, of course? - No, just the car category. - Just those three. - No, just as you know in the car category, any of the car category, not just the three finalists we talked about. - Oh, you have to buy one of these cars yourself personally and then own it for like five years. Which one are you buying? - Ooh, I'm touring between a BMW M5 and the Porsche Panamera, personally. Those are my two kind of cars. - Yeah, me too. But the M5, I'll get a touring. No, that said-- - Ooh, yes, M5 touring, which is a station wagon known as a shooting breaker in a font. Oh, for sure. That was really, really nice. - Amazing. - I think you're gonna go with the Charger EV, right? (laughing) - No, I'm gonna weigh the year for the internal combustion version if I buy one at all. So yeah, I'm not gonna get the EV version. So yeah, I think the M5-- - Who would you buy? - Probably, probably the M5. - Panamera, like you said, Lauren is also quite compelling and even the A-class is really a damn magical too. - True, true. Very nicely done. AMG cars are always my favorite. - I mean, it's interesting that we have spent a lot of time talking about cars, but let's move on to trucks, four-rangers, GMC Sierra EV, Ram 1500, Rivian R1T, and Toyota Tacoma. And again, I'm gonna say that one that is not gonna win are the GMC Sierra EV and the Rivian, because I think that Sierra, we're not gonna even drive, and the Rivian, it's cool, but I don't think it substantially changed from the first time that it participated. - No, so that means you with the four-ranger, the Ram 1500-- - I have a question. Why isn't the Silverado EV on here? Was it just not make the cut from boats? - They stopped production. They said they were gonna move production to 2026. - Yeah. - Oh, that's right. - After we drove it and reviewed it, which I give them credit for at least getting us in the vehicle. - Yeah, I guess the Sierra, which is the same platform, is more or less the same issue. That's why I say we're not gonna even see it. So again, in these days, we already have three. Like again, we've done the job for everybody else. Like, thank you very much. So, four-ranger, Ram 1500 and Tacoma, which this year, I mean, four has won four years in a row, I think, they really have a competition because both the 1500 and the Tacoma are amazing. I think I'm up with the Tacoma. - Well, I love the Tacoma TRD Pro, man. That off-road vehicle with those cool seats. What an awesome truck. - Well, I'm a huge fan of the Ranger Raptor. So I'm torn between the Ford Ranger and the Toyota Tacoma as a winner. I'm gonna have to probably drive both of them a second time before I make a final decision. - Yeah, I think I'm the same way, Lauren. I mean, that's just a tough call. The Tacoma is such a fabulous truck and it runs forever. If you're just, it's like, you get one more car to buy and if it breaks down before you die, you don't have a car anymore. That's, you know, let's paint another weird scenario. The Tacoma might be the best car in that circumstance. It's like, you get one more car purchase, that car gets to be your daily driver for the rest of your life. - Oh yeah. - And if it doesn't make it as long as you do, you don't have a car after it breaks. Which car are you buying? - Probably the Tacoma. They got those running around since they first came out. People are still driving them. You've seen them everywhere. It's amazing. - Let's move on to the, I mean, we're gonna, I guess, wait for the truck because it's very tough for the SUV, the Chevy Equinox EV and the Honda Prolo, which are the same. - Right, right. - The Volvo EX-90 that you didn't like, Carl. Like Hyundai, like 5N, which is amazing. You like that one. The Hyundai Santa Fe, Jeep Wagoneer, S, Lincoln, I'll tell you, sports mechanic EV, Toyota Land Cruiser, and the Volkswagen ID Boss. So in the process of elimination, I think we're gonna start with the ID Boss, which is gonna be amazing, but I think it's like not as mainstream as all the others. - It was hybrid. It would stay, they'd sell 'em. They would be able to make 'em fast enough. And it would lower the price and that $30,000 range. - Yeah. I think they'd be like Volkswagen bugs. They're the coolest little boss, but they gotta be a highway. - And a mechanic V for the same reasons that we already mentioned. - Uh-huh. - Then, I mean, the Prolo, and the Equinox, I think, eliminate themselves because they are really not as amazing as many others. They're good, but not like amazing. So we have kind of a close competition here, EX-90, IONIQ 5N, Hyundai Santa Fe, Wagoneer, S. - I think the Santa Fe has the best chance. - I agree. I think that's where we, it's so dramatically different and improved. - Yeah, it's a great, it's a great, it should be. And if not, I think the Land Cruisers was also really impressive. - I agree, that's my second choice. - More expensive, but, you know, I just kind of, you know, again, kind of like why we like the Tacoma, it just runs forever, you know. That Land Cruiser, and they kind of have gone back to their original roots in terms of it being a serious off-roader, more than a big luxury family car, like it was for like the past 20 years. So, I don't know, that's a tough one. - What about the Nautilus? The Lincoln Nautilus has an amazing screen. It is so dramatically different, and I have to give them a credit 'cause it looks good. It really looks good. - So it does look good? - Yeah, but not enough against the Santa Fe. - Again, it's kind of relatively expensive, you know. - Well, they've won with an Evigator. They went Lincoln one a few years ago with an Evigator, and I was surprised. A $100,000 truck at the time. But I have to say, one thing that beats them all in audio systems is the Volvo EX90, with that Abbey Road audio system was unbelievable. I mean, I listen to them. I don't have any room for music, and you don't want me singing, but the sound quality in that car was mind-blowing. - And that technology, I mean, those speakers that, for example, if you get a blind spot alert from the left side, you hear it on the left side. - That's pretty cool technology. - They did a great job with that car, especially with the speakers and the headrests. Of course, it's a little pricey, too. It is a general electric SUV, so there's only a few in that category. But honestly, looking at the full list, I think the Santa Fe has it hands down. The Land Cruiser is great. And I do like the VW ID Buzz, just wish it was a hybrid. It was a hybrid I'd probably buy one. - Yeah. - But as an electric car, I think it's gonna have a lot of limitations. - So yeah, we're gonna send these to all the other 47 jurors so they don't have to work out. We'll bring some of their jobs. Like we all work, yeah. Relaxing the annual test drive in October in an hour in Michigan. And we'll see, they were now as the finalist in Jen in December, no, November, I'm sorry. - November. - Out of the show, then the winners in Detroit, which is back, the Detroit Out of the Show is back in January. - I like it in January. It sort of starts the whole year off. - You know, you do CES before, after depending on how it falls, you do the Detroit Out of the Show. And then the year starts. Like you know, the year officially starts. Your off vacation and the cars start coming, you know. - The CES and Detroit Out of the Show are exactly back to back. Like CES Monday to Wednesday and then the Detroit Out of the Show right after. So we'll see. And again, as we started the segment, the year is over, guys. So Merry Christmas, happy new year. (laughing) - Oh gosh, that push it. I'm still enjoying the nice weather, you know. But we have a lot more cars to drive. And there may be some other cars that come in late, but at this point, they would be next year's competitors. So if you see something show up that we all review, and like at the LA Auto Show, Genesis is gonna be launching a car as well as Hyundai's gonna have a global launch, those will be in next year's North American car and truck and a year awards. So we'll continue driving. We'll continue showing you stuff from all around the world. We've got a lot of good stuff. Javier, I can find you at @haveyomota and you're like skiing in Chile and you're all over the world. You're absolutely crazy. And Carl's Carl with Carl Brower Cars, is that the new outlet, Carl? - Yeah, that's the YouTube channel, Carl Brower Cars. - With a K, Carl with a K. And I'm @Laurinfects. You can find me at Carcoach reports and we'll continue putting out great content. And please share this with your friends, especially before they make a purchase and check out all the rest of our content 'cause we've reviewed, but between the three of us, I don't think there's anything that hasn't been covered. - Yep. - Yeah. - All right. - Well, thanks for subscribing. - Thank you for listening. For more, check us out online at totalcarscore.com. (upbeat music) - Is this house a good price compared to others in the area? Are prices going up or down? If I don't make an offer right this very moment, will I miss my chance? These are just some of the questions a home buyer might ask. And these are the sorts of questions an agent who is a realtor can help answer. Because realtors have the expertise data and access to specialty training to help you navigate the process of buying a home. They provide support, guidance, and have your back every step of the way. That's what realtors do, because that's who we are. Realtors are members of the National Association of Realtors. - Earning your degree online doesn't mean you have to go about it alone. At Capella University, we're here to support you when you're ready. From enrollment counselors who get to know you and your goals, to academic coaches who can help you form a plan to stay on track. We care about your success, and are dedicated to helping you pursue your goals. Going back to school is a big step, but having support at every step of your academic journey can make a big difference. Imagine your future differently at capella.edu.