This year's most popular topics included catalytic converters, Honda Accords, gas prices, electric Chevy Silverados, and even an obscure bill about EV chargers in North Carolina.
As 2022 comes to a close, we’re looking back at the 10 stories on Car and Driver’s website that made the biggest ripples in the automotive industry. In other words, these are the articles that you clicked on most. With topics ranging from gas prices to catalytic converters to all sorts of new sheetmetal, this roundup should have a little something for everyone.
10 Corvette to Launch as a Brand in 2025 with a Four-Door and an SUV
Corvette is one of the most recognizable names in the auto industry, so it stands to reason that Chevrolet would attempt to leverage the brand further. And that’s exactly what’s reportedly in store, as we reported that Corvette will become its own subbrand within GM’s portfolio, expanding starting in 2025 when an electric Corvette SUV and some sort of four-door arrive.
9 2023 Honda Accord Is the Best-Looking Accord Ever
While the Honda Accord is no longer one of the best-selling cars in the country, it’s still a big deal. That was evident when Honda released the new, eleventh-generation model this year and got a big response from our audience. The 2023 Accord sadly drops the more powerful turbo 2.0-liter engine upgrade, but we decided that we still liked the base 1.5-liter and the hybrid enough to keep it on our 10Best list for 2023.
8 Winter Is Back, but Don’t Idle Your Car
This was one of the most read stories of the year. Why? Let’s not beat around the bush: because people love a chance to argue in the comments section. Apparently, it’s human nature to take it personally when Car and Driver tells you to quit letting your car “warm up” for 20 minutes just so you don’t catch a chill. Some members of our own staff were incensed by that advice too, and so were a number of our readers, who apparently hate-read the story just so they could complain in Backfires. Having said that, there were also a lot of readers who agreed that it’s wasteful and not very environmentally sound to let a modern vehicle sit idling.
7 When Will Car Prices Come Back to Earth?
We were all there in high school economics class when they taught us the rule of supply and demand. But when the unfortunate reality of global supply chain issues reached our beloved cars, we all wanted—no, needed answers. At a time when 82 percent of car buyers paid over sticker for their new vehicle, we spoke to industry experts to get to the bottom of why car prices had soared, and when we could expect them to come down. Based on the popularity of that story, we were not alone in our search.
6 North Carolina Looks to Remove Public EV Chargers, Probably to the Trash
This year gave us North Carolina House Bill 1049, which would allocate $50,000 to destroy free public car chargers unless free gas and diesel pumps were constructed alongside. One of the bill’s sponsors, Ben Moss, hails from District 52, where later in the year the public car chargers were disabled for four days after domestic terrorists shot up the local power substations. In the aftermath, the perpetrators were possibly dismayed to realize that the list of things powered by electricity also includes the area’s gas pumps.
5 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV Revealed with 664 HP, 400-Mile Range
When one of America’s best-selling nameplates goes electric, you know it’s going to cause a stir. That’s exactly what happened when Chevrolet revealed the new EV version of its Silverado full-size pickup truck, which won’t arrive until the 2024 model year but nonetheless is poised to make a dent in the burgeoning electric pickup-truck market.
4 U.S. Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing—How Much Worse Will It Get?
There’s nothing that freaks Americans out like expensive gasoline—except maybe gasoline shortages—so when prices shot up in March to never-before-seen highs, the fear was palpable. When the story was published, the national average for regular had just topped $4. Prices kept climbing into June, when that figure crested $5 a gallon. Mercifully for the nation’s collective blood pressure, they’ve since receded and have fallen below $3 in some states.
3 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse Is a Badass New Breed of Pony
Ford worked over the entire Mustang lineup for 2024, but the news that really got the people going was the new Dark Horse performance variant. With a sinister look and numerous mechanical upgrades, this is the new top dog in the 5.0-liter Mustang lineup, and we now know that its massaged Coyote V-8 will make 500 horsepower.
2 2023 Toyota Sequoia Arrives with a Standard Hybrid Powertrain
When a car hasn’t been redesigned in more than a decade, you know there’s plenty of pent-up anticipation for the new one. That proved to be true for Toyota’s redesigned Sequoia, which entered 2023 with a new design, a modernized interior, and a standard hybrid V-6 powertrain.
1 The 10 Cars Catalytic Converter Thieves Target Most
Hide your kids! Hide your wife! Hide your catalytic converter? Yep, one of the biggest stories in autodom this year was the rising rate of catalytic converter theft. Heists of this important car part—which works to clean emissions from internal combustion engines—rose in 2022 due to the value of the precious metals found inside. Palladium, rhodium, and platinum can be salvaged from catalytic converters and sold for a quick buck, and we pored over data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) to determine the top 10 vehicles most targeted by thieves.
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