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2022 Toyota Corolla Cross XLE
This past July, Toyota sold the 50-millionth Corolla. The well-known, workaday compact car has been in production for more than 55 years and remains one of Toyota’s best sellers. In America, the Corolla is currently offered as a four-door sedan or hatchback, and now the name enters the incredibly popular crossover SUV market with introduction of the 2022 Corolla Cross.
First Spin: 2022 Infiniti QX60
2022 Infiniti QX60 Autograph
The product-planning teams at major automakers typically develop detailed demographic profiles of the consumers they’re targeting with their new vehicles, sometimes going so far as to create a hypothetical ideal target customer. Infiniti has done just that with its redesigned-for-2022 QX60 three-row, 7-passenger crossover SUV. Her name is “Claire.” She’s smart and stylish. She’s a leader at work and someone friends come to for advice. She’s a mom, and like most people today, she’s very, very busy.
First Spin: 2022 Toyota GR 86
2022 Toyota GR 86
As American new-vehicle buyers continue to choose SUVs in significantly greater numbers than traditional passenger cars, affordable cars of any type are less prevalent than they were as recently as five years ago. Enthusiast-friendly examples are a rarer breed still. When you sharpen the search to affordable, track-ready, rear-wheel-drive sports cars, you quickly determine they are approaching unicorn status.
2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Series III
The 1963 Jeep Wagoneer arguably defined the modern SUV. Truly a trendsetter, the original Wagoneer introduced key SUV features that remain nearly universal today: a four-door wagon body style, the pairing of an automatic transmission with four-wheel-drive, and a car-like ride, to name a few. Three years later, the 1966 Super Wagoneer advanced the concept further as the first luxurious utility wagon. This basic idea was refined in the 1978 Wagoneer Limited, which itself evolved into the prestigious 1984-1991 Grand Wagoneer. A modern interpretation of Jeep’s iconic Grand Wagoneer has been anticipated for years, and its intended introduction was revealed by Jeep way back in 2014.
Cheap Wheels: 2001 GMC Sierra C3
2001 GMC Sierra C3
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
Even if you’re only vaguely aware of GMC products in general and Sierra full-sized pickups in particular, you probably know the brand’s most stylish and luxurious examples have long worn the Denali nameplate. Denali made its debut as GMC’s top-of-the-line 1998 Yukon sport-utility vehicle. Before GMC got around to cataloging a Sierra Denali, however, there was the mostly forgotten (not by us, obviously) 2001 Sierra C3.
First Spin: 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Limited
Though clearly a small pickup truck, Hyundai calls its new-for-2022 Santa Cruz a “Sport adventure vehicle,” and to the company’s credit, it is unlike any other car or truck currently for sale in the U.S.
2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Summit Reserve
Despite being one of the oldest basic designs in the midsize-SUV segment, the Jeep Grand Cherokee is consistently one of the best-selling vehicles in its class. However, the Grand Cherokee has never offered one key feature that would allow it to compete more directly with rivals such as the Ford Explorer, Honda Pilot, and Volkswagen Atlas—a third-row seat. That changes with the introduction of the 2021 Grand Cherokee L, an all-new model that kicks off the Grand Cherokee’s fifth generation and comes standard with a third row of seating for 6- or 7-passenger capacity.
First Spin: 2022 Nissan Pathfinder
2022 Nissan Pathfinder
With the redesign of its long-running Pathfinder midsize SUV for 2022, Nissan seems to be trying to have its cake and eat it too. Stylistically, the new Pathfinder gets a sharper-edged, beefier look that recalls the rugged styling of the truck-based, body-on-frame Pathfinders of the 1990s and early 2000s. Underneath, however, is a heavily modified version of the more family-friendly, crossover-style unibody architecture that the Pathfinder has been built upon since 2013.
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
Legendary Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov was working on the idea of a midengine car by 1960. For years he poked and prodded management to let him turn “America’s Sports Car” into an American exotic, to no avail. Now his fervent dream is finally reality with the introduction of the eighth-generation “C8” Corvette, the 2020 Stingray.
Cheap Wheels: 1986-1992 Toyota Supra
1992 Toyota Supra
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine.
The first two generations of the Toyota Supra were well-equipped, long-wheelbase, six-cylinder variants of the Celica hatchback. Then in 1986, the two cars went separate ways. Celica transformed into a sporty front driver, and Supra went off on a new rear-drive sports-car platform. It’s that first Celica-free Supra that we think would make for a nice set of cheap wheels.
