#newcars

Welcome back to drive notes, which is a Cliff Note's review of vehicles that are currently in, or recently were in, my possession for a test.

Today we have the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale eAWD.

The 2025 Ram 1500 I drove earlier this year no longer offers a TRX model. We knew, however, that Ram wouldn't go long without offering a high-performance trim. Enter the 2025 Ram RHO

Perhaps the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N we featured isn’t your speed. Too tall, too expensive, too electric. Give me an old-school small sports sedan, you say. Give me internal-combustion and real exhaust noise and a trunk – hatchbacks have too much utility for me!

I wouldn’t expect most crossover-ish hatchbacks to be solid track machines. Especially if they’re carrying the weight of an electric-vehicle battery.

So imagine my surprise at the relative capability of the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N as I hustled it around the famous Laguna Seca racetrack near Monterey, California.

Last week I wheeled a 2024 Kia Telluride SX-Prestige X-Line around town. I have thoughts, and here they are, in bullet-point form.

While the future of electric vehicles in the United States is likely nowhere near as dire as many have portrayed, the current state of things hasn’t done much to inspire confidence. Flagging demand has led to cutbacks on new EV projects and investments in manufacturing facilities, and a recent Gallup poll shows that people who don’t already own an EV aren’t as interested in buying one as they were a year ago.

Alfa Romeo has revealed its very first all-electric model, the subcompact Milano crossover. However, the automaker likewise plans on offering a hybrid version that mates a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbo to a 28-horsepower electric motor attached to the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox. While a that makes the model a 48-volt mild-hybrid, it should help Alfa cope with stringent emissions regulations and also serve as the volume model for numerous markets.

I tested a 2024 BMW i5 M60 xDrive last week, and I have thoughts.

Hit the jump for more.

I had two opportunities to drive the 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 last year – one short, one long – and found it charming.

Not only that, but unlike with many EVs, I found myself worrying less about range than I normally would.

Muscle cars are going electric.

Well, maybe not across the board. The internal-combustion engine Mustang seems safe, at least in the short term. That said, there will be at least one muscle-car EV on the market soon: The 2024 Dodge Charger.

The word “Hurricane” doesn’t usually conjure up a feeling of smoothness. Hurricanes are brutal forces of nature that involve whipping winds, flying debris, and extremely choppy waters.

The Toyota Prius was once reviled by most enthusiasts and often the butt of jokes, even in pop culture. Prius drivers were stereotyped as left-lane camping, NPR-listening, Green Party-voting smug virtue-signalers.

Today I bring you a honey of a car that has very few flaws and an expensive yet reasonable price.

Let's get into the pros and cons of the 2024 Mercedes-Benz CLA35 4Matic.

Today we have another bit of basic transport from Chevy, though this one is a step up in terms of price and size from the Trax I recently reviewed.

I dug the Trax's combination of utility, sport, and affordable price. Would I feel the same about the 2024 Chevrolet Trailblazer AWD RS?

The more I review crossovers and utility vehicles, the more I evaluate them by how well they just simply work for commuting duty. With exceptions for performance and off-road versions. Those with luxury-brand badging and/or premium pricing get viewed through that prism.

This is, hopefully, a common-sense approach. Most of you readers may be enthusiasts, like I am, but these vehicles aren’t built for that. They are utilities before they are sporty. So that’s the way I look at it.

Viewed through that lens, the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas generally works well. And with some upscale feel, to boot.