Granted, I’m easily excitable. But 2018 has some great cars in store for us, people. So let’s take a look at some of this delicious automotive goodness coming our way this year. Try not to freak out.
#1 Two words: NEW JEEP! You may roll your eyes and think, “That doesn’t matter, I’m not into Jeeps.” Oh, ok. Sure. But if you’ve ever been to the beach, the desert or the mall, you know that a Jeep is one of those vehicles that can instantly make you feel 20 years younger and put a smile on your face. The updated Wrangler finally gives us a 4 cylinder engine (cuz that’s efficient af), an easily retractable soft top and..wait for it..a diesel. Mama can’t wait to get her paws on one:
Photo: FCA America
#2 The Kia Stinger.
No really. Kia’s finally got a performance car and I’m chomping at the bit to drive it and so should you. With 365 hp twin turbo’d V-6 with RWD, it sounds dreamy. My automotive friends who drove it in the early release (yes, that’s envy talking) said it was fantastic! Let’s burn through 2018!
photo: Kia America
#3 The Redesigned Nissan Leaf
Listen, it hurts me as much as it hurts you that the Leaf is no longer hideous. I got so much mileage out of mocking it. But now, with its dare-I-say ‘sexy’ new look, I’m gonna have to drive it before I stop ragging on it. Plus, I secretly want a fun little EV so I can afford to stock pile classic cars in my yard. Does that make me a bad person?
#4 The Corvette ZR1
When Chevy brought us that insanely gorgeous Z06, I couldn’t stop staring. Now, they’ve released the ZR1 with a whopping 755 hp and a 0-60 time of under 3 seconds, I decided that I’m a Corvette Convert. And then are the rumors of an even faster twin turbo with 850 hp in 2018..it’s almost too much to take. It makes me glad to be American.
photo: Chevrolet
#5 Infiniti QX50
This is the car that makes me proud to be a woman. You know why? So I can ask dumb ass questions like “What’s Variable Compression Ratio?” Oh shut up, like you knew. In a world where automakers are doing incredibly advanced things to make engines more efficient, it seems unfathomable that doing something as simple as adjusting piston stroke with the throttle input would be revolutionary. In the case of the QX50, this switch improves efficiency by 35%, which is no joke. Plus, it’s even sweeter coming from this unlikely automaker.
#6 Subaru SUV Ascent
Speaking of simple, how about adding a third row into a Subaru (oh and don’t make it fugly). It sounds real easy, but so does world peace. So we’ll let Subaru off the hook for making us wait this long for the Ascent. Oh and toss me the keys, we both know you wanna drive it.
photo: Subaru USA
#7 Ford Ranger
For a while now, I’ve been wondering very sincerely, what happened to midsize trucks? Is it just LA or have pickups become like boobs in Calabasas– it’s hard to find reasonable sized ones in a crowd. I’m just sayin’. So with the Ranger rumored for a Detroit reveal (likely with their killer EcoBoost engine), those of us who dig smaller, more nimble pick ups will be stoked..especially because there’s a Ranger Raptor rumored as well ?
