jaguar tesla model 3 at Autopia2099

Hooniverse Asks: What thing in the automotive world caught your attention this year?

Jeff Glucker

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I feel like I’ve been saying “it’s been an odd year” for the last few years. This year doesn’t escape the use of that phrase. Still, there will always be interesting or attention-grabbing things for the better in a time when things around don’t always feel so great.

This year, I got to drive an electric Porsche wagon that I love. That certainly got my attention. I helped create a new car show focused on electric vehicles and it’s called Autopia2099. I hope that grabbed some of your attention. Running the 24 Hours of Lemons again for the first time in a few years was a great spot in the year, even if it didn’t start out so great. And yes, apparently I still owe you the full story on that one.

Ford made some news during SEMA this year. Ken Block jumped ship Audi. Lucid is delivering cars, and Rivian is delivering trucks. Motorsport delivered highs and lows, as it always does. And the world keeps on turning. So what automotive-related thing caught your attention this year? Share below!

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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15 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What thing in the automotive world caught your attention this year?”

  1. Tanshanomi Avatar
    Tanshanomi

    The Hyundai Santa Cruz.
    If I could afford it, it’s the first new vehicle in a while that I could actually see myself buying.

    Reply
  2. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    Ford Maverick – between low cost of entry, good fuel economy, and the hybrid power powertrain has been historically pretty reliable, it’s getting my frugal side very excited.

    Reply
  3. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    Redneck disposal of worthless cars in Finland is redneck-ier than in US. Who knew?

    And the guy rocks a mullet! Hatless proof: https://www.instagram.com/p/B0N3uFxFXAu/

    Reply
    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      This doesn’t surprise me at all, all your rednecks came from various bits of yurop in the first place.

      Reply
  4. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    the spike in prices has been significant. I understand why regular used cars have gotten more valuable, but some of the future classics becoming present classics so quickly has surprised me. less surprised that the fleet of shitty cars in my driveway hasn’t benefited from this sudden appreciation.

    the transition to electrics finally has some legit entrants besides Tesla, which is great. my personal opinion – if the Big Three survive, it’ll be after dramatic reorganization and shrinkage. maybe put BMW and Daimler in there too. i know nothing about the corporate and engineering cultures at the asian carmakers but i’m sure they’ll also face a thinning harvest in the years to come. this transition is accelerating. it’s sooner than i expected.

    2020 and 2021 seem to be the years that the buzz about autonomous driving settled back to reality for a bit. i’m still bullish on the technology being radically transformative and closer than we’re ready for, but expectations are being tamped, which is good. sort of the opposite of how i feel about EVs.

    Reply
  5. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Ten years after the first good enough EV hit the market, choice, affordability and a “new” way to car is on everyone’s lips. Not much of a discovery, but what irks me is how some car people remain firmly opposed. Not uninterested, but “I’m a diesel guy through and through”, and thus they won’t even consider the opportunity that EVs can represent. It’s the age old us vs. them mentality and it’s as useless as ever.

    Also, in the same “get off my lawn”-spirit, it was new to me when we bought the baby Hyundai that auto-settings can overrun manual input. That’s a bit of progress I could live without. Here’s me trying to turn off the AC while the car insists it’s on AUTO-setting:
    https://streamable.com/xqnvb8

    Reply
  6. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    How the Honda S660 came to a sad end this year, leading to a flurry of orders, selling out what was left of its run months in advance of it ending, prompting Honda to extend the run even further.

    It’s a weird contradiction – Honda or other companies can’t seem to justify continuing to make cheap, small sports cars, but there still seems to be at least a niche demand for them, even in just one market. It’s a sad dilemma that I hope will be resolved with a new S-car worthy of the name sometime soon, be it ICE or BEV

    Reply
  7. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    For me it is the realization that we have reached the Fin de siècle for horsepower.
    You can now buy a factory car with over 700 horsepower that (presumably) can be daily driven. 500 horsepower cars are relatively common. Modified cars with over 1,000 horsepower are growing more common. Of course, horsepower in electric cars is differently calculated but if we use 0 – 60 times, there are several sub 4 second cars we can include as equivalent.

    Can we posit that cars that run 0 – 60 times in “the threes” (sub four second times) are probably “over powered” for general use? That is comparatively stratospheric performance.

    But – how many cars available to ordinary consumers can reach that lofty goal anyhow? Make your guess.. go on….

    Well, if you guessed any number less than 600 distinct models of car, you’re wrong.
    https://www.zeroto60times.com/3-second-cars-0-60-mph-times/

    I think that once you reach such numbers “the horsepower race” has become pointless.

    It’s time to move on for car enthusiasts.

    Reply
  8. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Most amazing thing is how so-called “journalists” keep trying to shove EVs down our throats. As hard as they try, at the end of the day, the average person does not have a place to charge, cannot afford them, and don’t really feel a pressing need for them.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Who is “the average person”? A used Leaf is the cheapest to own and run car I have ever come close to. Every beater I’ve had was cheap, but did require upkeep and had high maintenance and substantial fuel cost. I bought the Leaf for 6k$ or so 3 years ago and have since spent less than 2k$ on maintenance and repairs and probably less than 700$ on “fuel”. I never even calculated that because electricity cost is basically negligable. Yes, not everyone can charge at home, but infrastructure is coming. People did at one point not need to find a pharmacy either anymore to buy a jar of petrol.

      Reply
    2. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      lol there’s no conspiracy bro. EVs may not make a lot of sense where you live. where I live they do.

      you may be right that the average person doesn’t need an EV, but nor can the average person afford any Mercedes, and I don’t see anyone accusing car journalists of shoving AMG C63s down our throats. if you don’t like the articles about EVs, don’t read them.

      Reply
    3. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      The average new car cost in the US this year is about $42k (about in line with the base price of a Mustang Mach E or an F150 Lightning, just to cite EVs that are much like what “normal people” drive), and out of ~250 million residences in the US, over 80% are single family, so plenty of normal people have places to charge.

      Also, mostly, normal people just want an unobtrusive car that works. Something smooth, quiet, requiring minimal maintenance, and can be fueled at home is about as unobtrusive as you can get.

      Reply
  9. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    I am indifferent to electric vehicles, just as I am indifferent to diesel vehicles, and frankly, most gasoline vehicles. Their respective choices of power source means less to me than the synergistic outcome. I don’t need the most economic, most powerful, best handling, most practical, quietest, or most isolating vehicle. What I want is a car that is best at combining all of those elements together into a package. I do want the vehicle to be elegant looking though in a “form follows function but nothing need be ugly” exterior design. Again though, balance is the key.

    I am not quite sure, to be honest, what that vehicle is in today’s choice. I have an opinion, but it’s only MY opinion and therefore like an elbow: everybody has two.

    I’d be curious to see what other’s believe to be “The Golden Mean”; the best balance of all these elements.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      That’s a take I can easily agree with, and I’ll jump on the turn from politics to pure cartalk. Two clear favourites pop up in my head; the Volvo V90, an almost painfully beautiful, very practical wagon that does most everything right in my head. These are special order with diesel engines from next year here, so my EV alternative would be the Kia EV6. A gorgeous vehicle, incredibly spacious inside, good to drive, with a thought-through balance when it comes to interior choices (it’s not all screen).

      Reply
  10. james zalanka Avatar
    james zalanka

    when I first saw a tesla model s, I considered it a best designed car body I had seen is quite some time. as for the logistics of EV cars, I see that as a work in progress. as I see it, if you have to get somewhere and back that is 250 odd miles from where you started from, thats a problem. on the other hand, if you just drive it 25 miles to work and then home again, it may be what the doctor ordered. a nephew does just that. it works for him. in the arena of citycar, it is a winner. that chevy bolt was a little hot rod…
    as a long distance traveling machine, not so much. perhaps a hybrid.
    in the long term, what is going to happen when government tax men come for their excise tax on the power put into an EV battery. that’s something I have heard is going to happen soon here in CO. how about the federal excise taxes on fuels, isn’t electricity a fuel?

    Reply