These are the Cars You'll Be Obsessing Over in 2019

We've gotten our hands on a ton of new cars for the 2019 model year. Here's a roundup of all the reviews, road tests, and first drives we've done so far.

The 330i turns in with authority, even on Portugal's low grip road surfaces, and the rear lets go first under anything but the lightest throttle input. Stop screaming, mom, this is called oversteer and it’s the reason you buy a rear-drive car.

The steering rack quickens with lock so progressively that the ratio change is imperceptible, and taking just 2.3 turns, lock-to-lock maneuvering requires far less hand-flailing than in most BMWs. The M-sport brakes have fabulous initial bite without being grabby.

Read the rest of our 330i review here.

Ford stopped selling the Ranger in 2011, but now it's back for 2019. Though we're not getting the hardcore Raptor version, we still loved driving the standard truck. Low-mileage used examples like this one have already started to hit the market.

Mazda makes a 3 hatch, but not a proper wagon version. Considering Ford decided against bringing the Focus and its wagon variant Stateside, we figure there's a small space in the market for Mazda to move in on.

Aston Martin made a number of big changes to the DB11 V12 to create the AMR, including a 30-hp bump. That makes it good for 208 mph, but it's not the fastest Aston on this list.

The Z4 was totally redone for 2019, complete with a lighter power-folding soft top and a new B58 inline-six engine making 382 horsepower. Drive it calmly, and it should return over 30 MPG on the highway. Here's one you can own right now.

Unlike a lot of its rivals, the Porsche 911 nails the balance between ride and handling, and that's especially true of the Carrera T. It handles beautifully, while remaining comfortable enough for every day use in spite of its low profile tires and sportier suspension setup.

Porsche came under a lot of fire for adopting electric power steering for the 991, and early iterations of the system were especially not well received. The engineers figured out how to make it work, and while the steering in the Carrera T isn't quite as sweet as it is in a GT3 RS, it's still nice. Of course, it doesn't wriggle around like it does in old 911s, but it gives the driver what they need.

Check out our entire first drive of the Carrera T here.

For grand-touring purposes, we think the M850i xDrive is the sweet spot in the new 8-Series lineup. It might not be as outright capable as the M8, but the blend of performance and luxury makes it perfectly suited for long-distance travel. This one has just under 17,000 miles on the clock, and it can be yours.

The Mustang has come a long way from its crude muscle car beginnings. It's a truly fun car to drive in all environments, whether it be the track, the drag strip, or the street. And because it has four seats, you don't have to compromise much. Here's a brand-new one you can own right now.

The X5 is not a small car, weighing in at over 4800 lbs, but the 2019 X5 can actually handle. That's thanks largely to optional two-axle air springs, an electronically controlled locking rear differential, rear-wheel steering-where the rear wheels steer opposite the fronts at low speeds for added agility, and in the same direction at high speeds for increased stability-and a staggered set of low-profile Pirelli P Zero summer tires. On a backroad, the X5 doesn't magically transform into a sports-sedan-it's far too numb and big for that-but it doesn't amble along like a truck either.

Check out our first drive review of the X5 here.

The Cullinan is undoubtedly one of the most luxurious SUVs on the planet. With more customers wanting luxury features in their pickups, we suspect a chopped Cullinan would do surprisingly well on today's market.

The sound is, frankly, without peer. Listening to a pair of SVJ’s running nose to tail down Estoril’s front straight is more like sitting front row at LeMans than at your average California track day. It’s a piercing howl, one that no amount of turbocharged horsepower could possibly reproduce. While Lamborghini is clearly trying to build the highest performing car they can, equally, if not more important, is the theater of it, and the sheer volume and pitch of the SVJ screams exotica.

Lambo’s chassis engineers have gone all the way in order to cut weight from the SVJ, and it seems they have done so from, basically, everywhere. From the extensive use of carbon fiber in the body and interior, to lightweight, center-locking wheels, lightened suspension and exhaust components, and an engine bonnet without struts or a power latch, (meaning lift-off), they have touched it all, and done weight reduction in such a way that the car’s center of mass is exactly the same as before, but with rear steer and the ALA active aero system added in.

Read our full review of the SVJ right here.

Have you heard? The new Corolla is actually a fun car. It comes with two choices of transmission: A CVT or a six-speed. You can probably guess which of the two we recommend for generating the most smiles. This one has just over 18,000 miles, and it's for sale.

The LT's brakes, lifted from the 720S, don't beg for anything, except a little heat. Standard rotors are carbon-ceramics measuring 390mm up front and 380mm out back. They're clamped down with six-piston aluminum calipers at the front, and four-pistons at the rear. Together with bespoke Pirelli Trofeo R tires, they had no problems as journalists attending an early drive of the 600LT just keep pushing an indicated 155 mph, only to choose a late braking point that would be downright sketchy in a 570S.

But the brakes are only the beginning. Given its power and weight advantage, the 600LT accelerates harder than a 570S, and takes corners like it's learned from race cars, with a monstrous amount of front-end grip. Some of that grip is the added aero, a lot is the new rubber, but McLaren's lowered, stiffened suspension and wider tracks are unsung heroes of this battle against nature's forces, too.

Read the rest of our 600LT first drive here.

I can’t even tell you precisely what the new Supra will look like. Toyota invited journalists to Madrid, Spain to drive preproduction prototypes of the long-anticipated model. The cars were camouflaged inside and out.

Here’s what I can say: It’s a legitimate hoot to drive. I had one afternoon to sample the car, including a handful of laps at Jarama Race Circuit and an hour or so summiting the winding mountain roads of rural Spain. It was just enough to make me want more.

Check out the rest of our first drive of the Supra prototype here.

If you like the idea of the Elise, but want something more livable, consider the Porsche Cayman. It's as agile as the Elise, but has a real interior and more power. This 2007 base model can be yours for just under $18,000.

Now, V-Sport isn't the full V package. That car has the LT4 V8 from the Corvette Z06, meaning it has 640 horsepower and 640 pound-feet of torque. It's insanely fast. The V-Sport, one step below the V, uses a 3.6 liter twin-turbo V6 making 420 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. Numbers that are impressive in isolation, but are made irrelevant by the V.

In reality, the V is nearly unusable on the road. It's way too fast for your average American highway or even an above-average byway. The V-Sport brings everything into balance. The chassis tuning is spot on and the transmission, an Aisin unit, not one from GM, is excellent. It's been at the top of its class since it debuted, a better interpretation of a German sports sedan than most German companies are building.

Check out the rest of our review of the CTS V-Sport here.

Sometimes you want a muscle car, a luxury car, and a family car but don't have the space to park all three. Luckily, the Mercedes-AMG E63 S Wagon still exists. It's stupidly fast and sounds amazing, but it's also still as luxurious as you'd expect a Mercedes to be, and there's plenty of room behind the rear seats for that added dose of practicality.

The thing about the Stinger is that it doesn't really have one standout attribute. The steering is good, but not great. Same with the brakes and how it handles. The engine, the company's ubiquitous 3.3 liter turbo V6 with 365 horsepower, is nothing to write home about.

On paper, it's just a sedan that looks like a BMW, an Audi, and a parrot fish got together one night. But all those ingredients work in harmony to create one of the most fun cars in its class. It's good enough that it doesn't need to be looked at as a value proposition, which is good because the Stinger GT can cost more than $50,000.

Check out the rest of our Stinger review over here.

No, you won't be able to take the Trackhawk version of the Grand Cherokee very far off-road, and your gas mileage won't exactly be stellar. You will, however, have a spacious SUV that offers plenty of comfort and luxury features that also happens to be faster in a straight line than a lot of dedicated sports cars. It will also handle corners far better than any SUV that size should be able to.

Genesis hit it out of the park with its new entry-level luxury sport sedan, the G70. It's more fun than the competition, and looks great. Best of all, you can get it with a manual transmission. Sadly, if you want to pull out the best MPG, you'll have to settle for the four-cylinder automatic model. Here's one for sale on eBay right now.

The modern-day Challenger has always been a second chance for Dodge's pony car. Its timing is as right as the original Challenger's was wrong. That car debuted right ahead of the oil and emissions crises that hobbled the industry; this one was born to the era of skyrocketing production-car horsepower, a steady crescendo of performance that shows no signs of stopping. Today's muscle cars live on a different planet from the mid-century beasts that inspired them. The Redeye is the most brazen example of that.

But rock 'n' roll still needs guitars, and muscle cars still need to nod to the heyday. Even if those memories aren't 100-percent reliable. The Redeye is exactly as fast, as tire-punishing, as loud and sinister and aggressive and white-knuckle as foggy memory says the original Challenger 440 Six-Pack must have been. It's the kind of car your dad wanted to build in '71. Now he, or you, can buy it straight off the showroom floor.

Check out our entire review of the Hellcat Redeye here.

It's been a while since I've been this excited about a four-cylinder. The inline-four is more common-and more boring-than ever. The automotive world is filled with new four-cylinders (often turbocharged) and they all feel the same. Effective, but totally anodyne. This motor isn't. Mazda really worked to make it feel special like the best sports car engines of old. Think Alfa Romeo or Lotus-Ford twin-cam to get an idea of what I mean.

The response, smoothness and linearity of this engine are unparalleled in modern four-cylinders. And because it sits in an ND Miata, it's part of a complete package.

Check out our entire first drive of the newly refreshed Miata here.

This car is fast. Holy hell is this car fast. 480 horsepower in a Mustang GT is a ton. Just eight years ago, the Mustang GT made 300 horsepower. Now we’re at 480 without forced induction? MURRICA. From someone who drives an old-school 5.0 around, the smoothness of this engine at high-RPM, and the newest Coyote’s willingness to rev, is borderline exotic. It sounds brilliant, deep, punchy, and never droning, all over the rev range, and its overrun exhaust blasts aren’t as digital as you’ll find in all the new Porsches.

The powerband begins a bit higher than the Camaro SS or other LT-powered cars, but the tradeoff is it’s happier to rev out and stay up at the top of the range. Now, that’s not to say it has nothing down low; you can practically lug the engine below 2,000 if you really wanted and still keep the car moving slowly. But the gearing is spot on to match the revvy nature of the engine. My home canyons are all third gear, same as a Porsche 911 GT3. By my estimate, third is good for as low as 30 or as high as around 107-109 mph in the Bullitt.

Read the rest of Matt Farah's review of the Bullitt Mustang here.

When you jump inside the cabin, it becomes instantly clear why Aston Martin puts 200 hours into building a car. There is hand-stitched Scottish leather, metal and carbon fiber everywhere, and all the luxury surrounds an infotainment system that works, thanks to being Daimler's. The seats are comfortable, the necessity of the power lid on the central storage gives you enough to think about, and while the hood doesn't look as muscular from the cockpit as you might expect, the rear fenders have a reassuringly wild stance though those carbon fiber mirrors. After all, they were sculpted to hide 305-wide chunks of sticky rubber.

It's no surprise that the DBS Superleggera is a missile in a straight line, but instead of being a one trick pony, it also chews through corners like a Becker-tuned car should. To enhance the experience, despite being turbocharged, the V12 disguises itself as a supercharged engine at high loads, due to its oil pump making a very distinctive whining sound. That's very entertaining, and with the ever increasing intake noise, plus all the bangs coming from the pipes once your conscience makes you lift off, the DBS tends to deliver the goods every time you're done playing nice.

Continue reading our first drive of the new DBS here.

I drove the car for two laps. There are caveats. Jim drove the car to the track that morning, so I wasn't going to do anything that wouldn't let him get home. The car is worth more than everything that's ever been in my life, so the consequences of a mistake were rattling around in my brain. The ABS was working well, but the traction control was still finicky. It was recommended I be cautious on corner exit, since 700 horsepower through street tires can be a handful.

Even driven fairly slowly, this car is a riot. It's the rare supercar that doesn't need to be driven flat out to be fun. Somehow, a car that can run a 6:33 at the Nurburgring in race trim is also fun when it's cautiously hustled around Monticello. It's mind boggling.

Read the rest of our drive of the 003S here.

In contrast to all the youthfulness expressed in the exterior styling, the interior feels mature. Perhaps not as fancy as some upper-trim versions of the XC60 and 90, but not terribly far off.

There's a refined maturity to the driving experience too. It's all too tempting for automakers to try to make crossovers that bridge the handling gap between high-riding SUVs and traditional sedans or hatchbacks. It's often a pointless effort, likely to ruin ride quality with no major roadholding payoff. Volvo hasn't bothered with this, and it makes the XC40 all the better.

Instead of trying to be hot-hatch like, the XC40 is just easy and comfortable-it's isolating, in the best way possible. I found myself taking the XC40 for drives around the neighborhood just because it was so relaxing. It moves gracefully, in a way you'd expect from a big luxury sedan, not a little crossover.

Continue reading our review of the XC40 here.

Unlike many exotic manufacturers, Chevy isn't shy about offering a manual transmission in its top-spec sports cars. The Corvete ZR1 has a massively powerful supercharged V-8 and tons of aero pieces, but can still be purchased with three pedals. Better snag one fast before the automatic-only mid-engine C8 finally replaces it. This one has just 700 miles on the odometer and you can own it.

The I-Pace comes standard with height-adjustable air suspension, and the multiple test cars we drove were equipped with optional $700 adaptive dampers. They work fabulously. When it's at its best, Jaguar tunes its cars with a beautiful mix of supple ride quality and superlative handling, and that's the case here. The double-wishbone front suspension of the I-Pace is derived from the Jaguar F-Type, while its multilink rear is more similar to that of an F-Pace. In Dynamic mode, where dampers are set to their stiffest, the I-Pace is very composed, dealing with undulations and mid-corner bumps with total ease.

It's genuinely eager to eat up a mountain road, too, in spite of its size, thanks largely to a very low center of gravity. Like a Tesla, the battery pack of the I-Pace-a 90 kWh unit composed of 432 Nickel Manganese Cobalt cells-makes up the floor pan of the car, with all the weight concentrated between the two axles. Accurate, relatively quick steering, helps you make the most of the chassis.

Read the rest of our I-Pace first drive review here.

The G70 is one of our favorite sedans on sale right now. It's fun-driving, sharp looking, and can be had with a manual transmission. The only thing we can think of that would make it better is a station wagon version.

The Model 3 Performance is the only purely electric car on this list, and it certainly deserves the spot. We took a couple to Lime Rock Park a few months back, and had a ton of fun. Here's one for sale on eBay right now.

The roadster's roof, as you may have guessed, is removable. That means any issues you have with headroom are as easy as taking off two carbon panels. If you do remove the roof, you better hope that you don't have any luggage; the panels take over the entire trunk. Your best solution is to have your butler or assistant follow you in another car with your luggage... or with the roof panels. Your choice.

If you never want to put the roof down, the roadster is still the better choice. Why, you ask? With the top on, you can lower the rear window so you can hear the V12 even clearer. It doesn't let the outside in, so you can do this in the rain, wind, snow, or whatever other weather you experience near your house.

The roadster may cut the same profile as the coupe, but the ability to put that little window down is what seals it as the variant to get.

Continue reading our first drive of the Aventador S Roadster here.

If you want a locomotive's torque, or you're A) Ferdinand Karl Piëch or B) two-time champion Rhys Millen trying to beat an old Range Rover's record up Pikes Peak, by all means, choose the regular 12-cylinder Bentayga. It starts at a cool $200,000, but you may want to spend 50 grand more for a well-equipped one, or even a hundred extra if the Mulliner trims are your jam.

But for everybody else, the new Bentayga V8 seems to be the Bentley SUV to have, at least for now. It's not only considerably cheaper, but also lighter and louder, and therefore younger at heart despite projecting the same message to all those Cayenne drivers: You drive a Bentley, while they certainly do not. Having said that, the Bentayga's new V8 is a Porsche engine, and like a Cayenne Turbo S, the Bentley offers ten-piston brake calipers and 17-inch carbon ceramic rotors up front.

Continue reading our first drive review of the V8 Bentayga here.

Turbo engines suck because all that blowing–or blow because all that sucking–spoils the acoustics. Ferrari’s engineers have worked hard to improve the sound of its turbo V8, which is around 8dB louder in the cabin compared to a standard car. And if we’d never heard a Speciale, or even a regular 458, screaming to 9000rpm, we’d be pretty content right now with how the Pista sounds at its 8000rpm redline. But you can’t forget something like the Speciale.

The flipside is that this is a way more usable car than the old Speciale, or the Pista’s close rival, Porsche’s 911 GT2 RS. Snick it into seventh gear and cruise down the autostrada at just under 3000rpm and even without carpets–and with a noticeably stiffer ride than standard-its actually really civilized. If we had a garden full of four leaf clovers and both a GT2 RS and a Pista in the garage and wanted to drive across country to some far-flung track weekend shindig, we’d reach for the Ferrari keys first.

Continue reading about our first drive in the 488 Pista here.

We weren't sure whether we should include the BMW i8 on this list because of its price. But in the end, we couldn't ignore it. In the speed department, the $140,000-plus i8 will hold its own against similarly-priced competitors, hitting 60 mph in a scant 3.6 seconds. Amazingly, it does that with the help of a turbocharged three-cylinder borrowed from the Mini Cooper, aided by two electric motors. Despite its performance, the plug-in hybrid i8 is rated at 69 MPGe—though you'll probably get closer to 30 if you're driving it in Sport mode. This used 2014 model has depreciated to under $60,000.

Some might say the Project 8 is the best of both worlds: The performance of a supercar, with the practicality of a normal sedan. But really, using the Project 8 as an everyday commuter would be less than sensible. A hard suspension, low splitter, and that inefficient supercharged V-8 would make it hell on your daily commute.

Out on the road, the added mass feels inconsequential. The DB11 has dramatic proportions: At nearly 77 inches wide excluding the mirrors, the Aston is more than three inches wider than a Honda Accord. This makes for some exciting exercises in practical geometry-particularly in this region of France, where the roads get so narrow in places, you feel like you could palm both guardrails by simply stretching out your arms. The DB11’s broad shadow and 110-inch wheelbase make it feel sure-footed on sweepers and hairpins alike.

Continue reading our first drive review of the DB11 Volante here.

The McLaren Senna is all about lap times—not top speed. But when you've got nearly 800 hp and active aero that can trim downforce as speed rises, you're going to end up with something fast, specifically, 211 mph.

Fire up the GT3 RS, and the 4.0-liter flat-six fills the cabin with a rough, clattering idle, more mechanical noise than exhaust note. It’s very clear this is not a regular Carrera. With so little sound deadening, every time you tap the throttle, you hear a rush of air getting sucked into the intake.

This engine only offers 20 horsepower and seven lb-ft of torque more than the 4.0-liter in the previous GT3 RS. This is a case of numbers not telling the full story if ever there was one. It's a savage, revving to 9000 rpm with such ferocity, you'll want to swear off turbochargers for good. Between 8000 and 9000, it's violent and utterly addictive. The motor in the old 991.1 GT3 RS is great, but it can't match the fury and response of this one. Preuninger puts it best when he says this engine "has so much meat in it." He's biased, of course, but he's right.

Continue reading our first drive of the GT3 RS here.

With the clued-in suspension and excellent transmission, you can get comfy with the gas pedal. Lean on it firmly through curves, and you realize that the composure over bumps doesn’t come at the expense of body control. Like the DB11, the Vantage features two buttons on the top of its strangely square steering wheel’s spokes: left for damper modes, right for throttle, steering, and gearshift mapping. The Vantage skips the DB11’s GT damper setting, which feels too soft for any remotely energetic driving, and goes straight for Sport, then Sport Plus, and Track.

There’s a smidge of body roll but no understeer, so you can push harder on the gas and feel the rear tires load up as the corner opens. The tail will go wide, but only with a decisive nod from the driver. Given the go-ahead and with the stability system disengaged, it arcs neatly around, the electronically controlled limited-slip differential-fitted here for the first time-making it easy to moderate just how much of your view forward you want to take in through the door window, rather than the windshield.

Continue reading our about our drive of the all new Vantage here.