Show Notes
Today we're rolling out The Drive Awards, aka the Slashies, our annual celebration of the very best new cars and trucks on sale right now. We're running through the winners, the losers, the almost-got-it-rights—and we're peeling back the curtain to explain our picks and how exactly The Drive runs a comprehensive car review operation.
Every year, we review well over a hundred new cars and trucks to see if the promises car companies are making actually bear out in the real world. Next, we take the top-scoring models in our six main categories that best represent where the market is today and subject them to a staff-wide debate to make our picks. And finally, we put the winners of each category through one more round of voting to determine who gets the ultimate prize: Car of the Year.
This episode is special for another reason: The Drive's entire editorial team will be joining Joel and Kyle round-robin style as we walk through our thinking and methodology for each category. Get to know these names and voices, because you're going to be hearing from them a lot in the future.
Without further ado, these are your 2026 winners of The Drive Awards, with links to the full stories explaining each pick on thedrive.com.
Best Truck: Rivian R1T Quad
Best Value: Honda Civic Hybrid
Best SUV: Land Rover Defender Octa
Best Performance Car: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
Best EV: Nissan Leaf
Best Hybrid: Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid
Car of the Year: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
03:53 BTS of The Drive Awards
09:47 Best Truck with Joel Feder
17:24 Best Value with Andrew Collins
22:57 Best SUV with Caleb Jacobs
30:17 Best Performance Car with Byron Hurd
37:59 Best EV with Cyril Soliman
45:28 Best Hybrid with Adam Ismail
52:13 Car of the Year with Kyle Cheromcha
01:01:21 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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