The tail end of 2024 saw our annual round-ups of Driving.cawriters’ and editors’ most favourite cars they’d tested last year (as well as, of course, the even more popular least-favourite-cars-we-tested round-up). Now it’s time to flip the switch and focus on the future instead. That’s right: a look at the cars and trucks our contributors are most excited to drive in 2025.
As tends to happen every year, said authors’ anticipations seem to be largely centred on a few headline models, cars we’re sure you’re just as eager to hear about as they are to wheel. But there’s also still enough variety, here, for us to count some 17 different nameplates on this list, although we have to say several are of models we’re not sure will be ready for evaluation purposes in the next 12 months. Doesn’t mean we can’t keep our fingers crossed, right?
In any case, via a poll of the Driving.ca officers, here’s the cars we’re most looking forward to test-driving in 2025. How about you? What’s on your to-drive list for next year?
Sami Haj-Assaad: 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona, Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally, and Toyota 4Runner
While there are many electric vehicles on the market, several of them feel very similar. However, the Porsche Taycan arrived with distinctly unique driving dynamics, and was an EV that felt so different in terms of power delivery, dynamics, and overall feel. It didn’t feel like an appliance, it felt like something more, which is very rare for the current crop of EVs on the market.
For 2025, I want to drive EVs with more individuality. Fortunately, the Taycan GTS was updated for 2025 with more power and other upgrades, improving its overall performance factor. I’m eager to see if the Dodge Charger Daytona EVs offer a unique feel on the road, too, and I haven’t yet put the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally through its paces to see if the Blue Oval was inspired by the Porsche 911 Dakar.
Finally, I gotta get into one of the new Toyota 4Runners. Toyota SUVs are known around the world for their epic capabilities and reliability, and the old 4Runner has been around in some form or another for what seems like forever. The new one, however, sports some fresh new hardware that should hopefully set it up for a whole new era of Toyota truckin’.
Matthew Guy: 2027 Scout Motors line-up and Ram 1500 REV and Ramcharger
Looking ahead to next year, this off-road gearhead with dirt under his fingernails is eager to try the Scout lineup of trucks, models which have features like a real frame and solid rear axle. Sticking with electric pickups, the Ram 1500 REV should be a good foil to the Ford F-150 Lightning, especially if it retains the gas Ram’s interior, but the real star is likely to be the hybrid-powered Ram 1500 Ramcharger, which will have precisely zero range anxiety thanks to a V6 engine tag-teaming the electric gubbins.
Andrew McCredie: 2025 Kia EV3, Lucid Gravity, and Dodge Charger Daytona; and 2026 Rivian R2 and Hyundai Ioniq 9
Considering how many all-new electric vehicles are set to drop in 2025, this could be a very long list, but I’ll whittle it down to a handful. First and foremost is the Kia EV3. Yes, not the most exciting EV on this list, but as a small, urban, and relatively affordable all-electric, it will appeal to many people who are looking to jump on the EV bandwagon but are scared off my luxury vehicle pricing.
The Rivian R2 also sort of fits into that category of filling a much-needed niche, and as a big fan of the pickup and SUV produced by this U.S. automaker, I’m really looking forward to driving it. One of the most impressive EVs I’ve ever driven is the Kia EV9, so I’m curious to see how the coming-soon three-row Hyundai Ioniq 9 compares.
Then there’s the Lucid Gravity, the highly anticipated SUV from the automaker who set new design and battery high bars with its sensational sedans. And finally, the Dodge Charger Daytona, the first all-electrified Dodge that will come in single-, double-, and triple-motor configurations. And unlike the electrified Ford Mustang, the Charger EV stays true to its muscle-car design.
Renita Naraine: 2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz
This better be the year I get to drive the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, because it was also on my list for cars I couldn’t wait to drive in 2024, as well as 2023. Someone, anyone, put me in an ID.Buzz. That’s all I have to say.
Brian Harper: 2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed and 2026 Subaru Outback
Damn, as a proud owner of a 2008 NC, I was hoping Mazda would be introducing a new Miata, the current fourth-generation version (ND) of my favourite two-seat sports car turning 10 next summer and in need of a redesign (but not, please, God, with anything other than a zippy, gasoline-powered four-cylinder — which is to say, no weighty EV powertrain, please). Sadly, not a peep from the zoom-zoom company.
Since this is not to be, and as an ardent Anglophile, the Bentley Continental GT Speed will have to do, the fourth-generation uber-sedan seamlessly blending sumptuous, handcrafted luxury with ungodly supercar power; and the aptly named Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain pounding out a formidable 771 hp and 738 pound-feet of torque from a twin-turbo 4.0L V8 working in tandem with a 197-hp electric motor. Despite weighing an SUV-like 2,459 kilograms, the Speed will scorch any race track with a top end of 335 km/h (208 mph).
Keeping it a lot more affordable, Subaru is getting ready to raise the curtain on the seventh generation of its longstanding Outback. Forget Crosstrek and Forester, the wagon-like crossover is the manufacturer’s most iconic nameplate. But, if the spy photos posted of the disguised 2026 model aren’t pushing a false narrative, it would appear Subaru is abandoning the wagon shape that has defined the crossover for more than 25 years for a more traditional SUV body.
The Outback has always struck me as a good choice — and something stylistically “alternative’ — for those looking for a sporty, family-oriented set of wheels. So, it’s curiosity more than anything that has me wanting to know why this change in body styles.
Jil McIntosh: 2027 Scout Motors line-up
I want to drive a Scout. Yes, I’d also really like to drive (and own!) a 1960s International Scout, but for our purposes here, I’m talking about the one being built by the Volkswagen Group under that old model’s resurrected name. It’s going to be all-electric, but it’s also going to be body-on-frame and with off-road goodies like a solid rear axle, locking differentials, and disconnecting sway bar, and with a retro interior with real buttons and switches and handles. It’s not clear yet if it’s actually going to come to Canada, but if it does, I want to be behind the wheel.
Elle Alder: 2027(?) Toyota S-FR
I’m barking up an unlikely tree here, but I’m desperately hoping to see Toyota’s anticipated three-cylinder S-FR sports roadster launched to battle the Miata here in North America. Slated for model year 2026, the compact rear-drive runabout would bring some kei cuteness to our streets — but also, with any luck, the sort of three-cylinder pop that makes the GR Corolla feel so special.
This is even more optimistic now than it was two months ago, for Trump’s promised tariffs on imports to the U.S. would make it harder for Toyota to sell such a niche product at a juicy enough price. If Toyota sees too many headaches and too little reward in homologating such a low-volume special for that market (which dictates ours) the model may well just skip the continent entirely.
Brendan McAleer: Porsche 959, 2025 Dodge Charger, and 2026 Honda Prelude
I’m still waiting on my chance to drive a Porsche 959, specifically one of the Canepa-modified ones with the adjustable air suspension removed and fixed sport suspension in place. I hope Santa Motor Claus got my letter this year and is just taking his sweet time.
Pulling my sights down to a far more reasonable sporty-ish machine, Honda’s upcoming 2026 Prelude could be wonderful. Don’t expect a manual, and don’t expect a lot of power, but this little coupe sure looks stylish, and the program lead owns multiple driver’s cars. Things look promising.
Other machines on the to-do list include the new Dodge Charger, both the EV and twin-turbo Hurricane inline-six versions. Having just experienced that engine in a Ram pickup, it’ll be interesting to see how it fits the muscle-car ethos of the Charger. Weirdly, I think the EV version’s going to be closer in character to the ol’ Hemi-powered one.
Stephanie Wallcraft: 2025 BMW M5 Touring and Toyota 4Runner, and 2026 Toyota RAV4
I’m still holding my spot in line for a crack at the 2025 BMW M5 Touring. A few journalists have had their turn in it at the brand’s international first drive event, but most of us are still waiting for it to land in Canada. We’re so rarely treated to honest-to-goodness performance wagons these days, and I can’t wait to see if its 717-horsepower 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 lives up to the hype.
The 2025 Toyota 4Runner is high on my list as well, mainly to see if its four-cylinder powertrains — and especially the hybrid version — can win over this rugged off-roader’s many devout fans. (If the all-new Toyota Land Cruiser is any indication, the 4Runner should be perfectly capable. But we’ll need to test it ourselves to be sure.)
And there’s a not-zero chance we’ll be driving an all-new Toyota RAV4 before the end of next year. Given that it’s Canada’s best-selling SUV by a significant margin and the best-selling vehicle in the country that’s not a truck, a new RAV4 is a Big Deal. It’ll be very interesting to see if Toyota can improve on an already winning formula
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