Episode Details

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

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