5 Cool New Vehicles We Discovered at the LA Auto Show

The media portion of the 2022 LA Auto Show is complete. We did not meet Ram’s new electric pickup truck yet; that’s been pushed back to CES in January. But we did meet some cool new vehicles — electric and not — that have us reconsidering some of the automotive world’s biggest icons.

Here are five cool new cars from the 2022 LA Auto Show.

The Porsche 911 now comes in a factory off-road version

Porsche

Off-road prepped Safari 911s are some of our favorite aftermarket Porsche mods. Porsche is building an in-house version — for those willing to shell out a fair bit of coin — the 911 Dakar. It comes with all-terrain tires, the potential for around three inches of ground clearance, two off-road drive modes and a special off-road launch control.

Subaru revamped the Impreza

Subaru

Subaru unveiled a new version of the Impreza, its affordable entry-level compact. The manual transmission is gone. So is the sedan body variant. But perhaps we could interest you in a sporty RS model?

The Toyota Prius is better — and flashier

Toyota

Toyota unveiled the new 2023 Prius and Prius Prime. The outgoing models were irredeemably quirky and dorky. The new models are clean, swoopy and — dare we say it — attractive looking.

The hybrid Prius gets a bump up to 196 hp (a 62% increase) and will be slightly more efficient at up to 57 mpg. The Prius Prime plug-in hybrid adds around 100 horsepower to get to 220 hp and should be able to travel nearly 40 miles on electric power. But as some astute killjoys will note, neither is a full electric car.

Toyota unveiled a new electric concept

Toyota

Toyota unveiled a new electric car concept, the originally named bZ Compact SUV concept. It looks like a sportier version of the bZ4X. It employs futuristic features, such as a personal assistant named Yui and curved infotainment and instrument displays. It may preview — at least for looks — a future Toyota production car.

Toyota did provide some clarity on its EV plans. The brand plans to introduce 30 EV models globally, with five of them carrying bZ branding.

The Fiat 500e is coming to America

Stellantis

Fiat is giving the American market another go. The Italian automaker has all but abandoned these shores. But Fiat just announced its new version of the 500e electric car will be coming to America in Q1 of 2024.

Fiat did not release any 500e specs. But the larger European version — with 118 hp and probably around 160 miles of EV range — seems like the best bet to carry over.

The 2024 Toyota 4Runner: What You Need to Know

Toyota

The 4Runner is due for a redesign. Here’s what to expect.

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