Double Down or Get Off the EV Train

It's time to choose

Author

Sergiu Tudose
September 21st, 2025

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Table of Contents

Time To Choose: Double Down or Get Off the EV Train

By: Sergiu Tudose

I bet you still remember the first real Tesla, don’t you? It could only manage around 200 miles on a single charge, but that 2012 Model S still laid the groundwork for what is today a flourishing EV industry. But there’s a lot of history between 2012 and now, and with electric vehicles finally starting to deliver on the promises that were made by carmakers years ago, where does that leave early adopters?

If you bought an EV between 2012 and no later than a few years ago, chances are it’s already obsolete. It doesn’t even matter what brand it is, or what type of straight-line performance it’s got, because only recently have we started to see range anxiety truly become a thing of the past (or charging speeds that work in real life).

Think about your smartphone for a second. Remember how fast it used to be back in 2020 when it was brand new? Not anymore though. Certain apps take longer to load, the camera might feel outdated, battery life isn’t what it used to be, plus one or two other issues you probably don’t even want to acknowledge.

Unlike with your phone, you can’t just replace your EV every year or two without taking a massive financial hit. That’s where the pain really sets in. You’re buying a gadget as an early adopter in an industry where technology is advancing at a crazy rate.

As an EV owner in 2025, if you’re staring at your car and wondering if it still makes sense, you’re left with basically two options. You can either trade up and land yourself one of these new-generation EVs, or step away completely and get a really efficient hybrid vehicle – perhaps even a non-hybrid internal combustion engine vehicle.

A lot of carmakers are now selling EVs that can do, at least on paper, 400+ miles on a single charge. You won’t have any issues finding something that’s way more efficient than your old EV. However, you still have to contend with external factors. EV batteries are highly sensitive to temperature, and the colder it is outside, the less efficient they become.

Same goes for driving conditions and driving style. If you enjoy spirited driving, you won’t get anywhere near those 400 miles of range without having to plug back in again. This is why I would advise you to only get the very best EVs in terms of efficiency. We’re talking around 400+ miles of range at the very least – preferably, target something with a rating of 500+ miles (800 km) of range.

For example, you can get 400+ miles from the new Audi A6 e-tron, which is a decent enough number for a family EV. But if you want to lay range anxiety to rest for good, look at something like the all-new BMW iX3 50 xDrive, with its massive 108.7-kWh battery and a reported 500-miles of range (WLTP). Although to be fair, the EPA is estimating just 400 miles of range.

The BMW will also recharge extremely quickly, as an additional 231 miles (372 km) can be added in just 10 minutes, while 10 to 80% can happen in just 21 minutes (on a DC fast charger). Of course, what you really want is the Lucid Air Grand Touring, with its EPA estimated range of up to 512 miles (824 km). That’s the golden ticket right there and it should be sufficiently future proof.

Today, we’re finally seeing EVs that live up to the hype thanks to the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Polestar and a few other brands. Feel free to step into the light and upgrade your tech, because what you can’t do anymore is pretend that your 5-year-old EV is still “the future”.

Note: please continue reading the full article on our site.

After 36 Years, the Subaru Legacy Says Goodbye

By: Elena Luchian

After 36 years of continuous production, the final Subaru Legacy has rolled off the assembly line at Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA) in Lafayette, Indiana. The milestone, which took place earlier this week, marks the end of the road for one of Subaru's most enduring and quietly influential nameplates.

The last unit was a Magnetite Gray 2025 Legacy Limited, equipped with a 2.5-liter flat-four engine, operating in an all-wheel drive setup. It features leather seats and the kind of well-rounded, practical appeal that defined the Legacy for decades.

Subaru Assembly Line

It wasn't a collector’s edition or a special send-off model. It was just a normal production car destined for a dealership lot. And somehow, that feels fitting for the Legacy: a car that was never about flash, but about function, value, and staying power.

When the Legacy debuted on September 11, 1989, it was a bold step for Subaru. It became the first model built in the U.S. and marked the brand's entry into the highly competitive midsize sedan segment.

More refined than its quirky predecessors, the Legacy retained Subaru's signature traits, such as the boxer engines and all-wheel drive, but wrapped them in a package that appealed to mainstream buyers

Over the next three and a half decades, Subaru built nearly 1.4 million Legacy sedans at its Indiana facility. Seven generations followed, with each refining the formula: understated design, excellent safety ratings, rugged winter capability, and surprising longevity.

Note: for the full article, please continue reading on our site.

Electric Pickup Trucks, the Automotive Fail of the Century

By: Cristian Agatie

Even after the Model Y became a resounding success, outselling any gas vehicle in the world, Americans continued to overwhelmingly prefer combustion cars. While EVs reached 50% of the vehicles sold in China and about 25% in Europe, the US market never surpassed 10%. However, people hoped this would change once carmakers launched electric pickup trucks.

Pickups, especially full-sized pickups, are some of America's best-selling vehicles and are also the most profitable. About two million of them are sold every year in the US. Surely an electric pickup truck would be a match made in heaven, pushing EV adoption to new highs. This made many EV startups consider an electric pickup truck as their first model.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Tesla the first company to offer such a vehicle, but a small (at the time) startup better known for selling 100,000 electric vans to Amazon. The Rivian R1T was a surprisingly well-built vehicle and was widely praised for its unique combination of luxury and off-road capabilities. R1T's success emboldened other companies to try their luck at the segment.

Rivian's fame didn't last long, especially as the production ground to a halt in the wake of pandemic lockdowns and supply-chain bottlenecks that followed. Early adopters discovered that the range, already limited, would drop by half when towing a trailer. Combined with the undeveloped infrastructure in the truck-heavy regions, this ensured that electric pickups remained a niche category.

Tesla was the last hope to turn around the electric pickup truck's fate, but instead, Elon Musk's company buried it. The Cybertruck launched in 2023, four years after its unveiling, missing all the checkboxes Tesla promised in 2019. The range was much more limited, the price was much higher, and being quasi-bulletproof meant little for pickup truck buyers. After the initial influencer and celebrity pool was exhausted, sales of the Cybertruck tanked.

The polarizing design and, more recently, Elon Musk's controversial political activism all but guaranteed Cybertruck's failure. Even though it offered a stripped-down RWD variant for less money, Tesla was forced to kill it, basically admitting that nobody wants the truck.

Tesla Cybertruck's failure now risks killing the electric pickup truck segment, with more carmakers pulling the plug on their projects. The latest to announce such a move was Stellantis, which scrapped the Ram 1500 REV. This is only the latest in a long string of dead electric pickups. Other companies like Slate Auto, Scout Motors, and Ford still hope to change this segment's fate, but succeeding will be nothing short of a miracle.

Note: for the full list of the best EV leases this month, please continue reading on our site.

Stop Whining: Your Crossover Is Just a Tall, Ugly Wagon

By: Alex Oagana

There's a cultural lie we've all agreed to tell ourselves. It goes something like this: crossovers are practical, crossovers are versatile, and crossovers are what modern families need.

That's why they've taken over dealer lots, clogged suburban streets, and invaded every rental car counter on the planet. But let me let you in on a secret: your crossover is just a wagon with a bad case of platform shoes.

Yes, that sleek 'urban SUV' you convinced yourself was rugged enough for the school run? Strip away the plastic cladding, drop it a few inches, and leave you with what Europeans have been happily buying for decades: a station wagon. Only the wagon is lighter, faster, cheaper, better looking, and usually more fun to drive. Crossovers are the automotive equivalent of buying hiking boots because you occasionally walk across a damp parking lot.

I get it. Nobody wants to admit their shiny new compact SUV is essentially a tall Corolla. Crossovers have better marketing: they come with names that evoke rugged mountain trails or arctic adventures you'll never experience. They make you feel like you're one Amazon purchase away from transforming into Bear Grylls when he was still the epitome of 'Adventure Man.' But in the real world you’re still just driving to the supermarket. And truth is, you'd be better off in a wagon.

Station wagons have been around since the 1920s, when they were little more than wood-paneled buses for ferrying hotel guests to train stations. By the 1950s and '60s, they were the undisputed kings of suburban practicality: long roofs, fold-flat seats, and engines big enough to tow the family boat. Somewhere along the way, though, wagons became uncool. Too square, too soccer mom, too 'your dad in cargo shorts.' And that's when the crossover marketing machine pounced.

Car companies figured out that if you slap on some black plastic, jack up the suspension, and give it a name like 'Highlander' or 'Outback,' people will suddenly believe they're buying freedom and adventure instead of a tall wagon with worse fuel economy. And boy, did people buy it. Wagons disappeared from America like disco records, while crossovers multiplied like rabbits at a petting zoo.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: wagons didn't die because they weren't good. They died because people are bad at admitting what they actually want. They wanted practicality without the stigma. They wanted cargo space without the suburban stereotype. They wanted the look of adventure without the mud on their shoes. And that's how we got to a point where the car-buying public spends billions on crossovers while pretending wagons never existed.

For the full article, please continue reading on our site.

Spy Photos and Renderings (the sharp & boxy edition)

By: Mircea Panait

Xiaomi Auto is back at the Nurburgring with another high-performance electric vehicle. Following in the footsteps of the record-breaking SU7 Ultra sedan, the YU7 GT is poised to become the fastest series-production sport utility vehicle at the Nordschleife.

Previously believed to be called YU7 Ultra, the zero-emission model is visually distinguished from lesser specifications in many regards, beginning with flared wheel arches. Larger brakes and Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires are featured as well. Believed to pack 1,526 horsepower, this no-nonsense SUV could easily beat the Audi RS Q8 performance's 7:36.698 lap time.

Xiaomi YU7 GT at the Nurburgring

The carparazzi also caught a South Korean electric sport utility vehicle at the Green Hell in the form of the EV3 GT. Building on the front-drive EV3 subcompact crossover, the GT certainly uses a dual-motor setup. We also suspect that Kia has retained the 400-volt architecture of the GT-Line and lower grades.

Given that an EV3 Long Range with the front-mounted electric drive unit needs 7.5 seconds to hit 100 kph (62 mph), there is plenty of room for improvement. Beyond the go-faster credentials, the GT nameplate also brings forth cooler styling cues for both the exterior and interior of the entry-level crossover.

Arguably the most intriguting set of spy photos from the past week stars an entry-level Audi e-tron model, which is hidden under Volkswagen ID.3 GTX bodywork. This mule poses more questions than it answers, though. The most pressing question is the name, but we also have to remember that Ingolstadt might actually be prepping two entry-level EVs.

In the rendering space, this week gave us a tremendously sweet longroof design study of the 2026 Lexus IS. One has to wonder how much longer Toyota will build this fellow, especially when consumer demand for crossovers and trucks continues to grow. Penned by Nikita Chuicko, the IS Wagon could make sense only if Toyota gives it a little something extra.

Another design study that really caught our attention is the 2027 Hyundai Tucson from Nikita Chuicko, a rendering that imagines the next-gen model in series-production specification. Taking inspiration from a variety of camouflaged prototypes, the rendered crossover leans heavily on the Santa Fe and Palisade for the boxy aesthetic and eye-catching front lights.

Supposedly coming in the third quarter of 2026 for the 2026 model year, the next Tucson will offer different wheelbases, of which the longer version is for North American markets. The 2027 Hyundai Tucson may also drop internal combustion-only powertrain options, a potential development that would bring it closer to the fully electrified range of the 2026 Toyota RAV4.

iOS26 is Here and Carplay Will Never Be the Same

By: Bogdan Popa

iOS 26 is here, and CarPlay users have every reason to be excited about it. The new iPhone operating system update brings major changes to CarPlay, beginning with the Liquid Glass visual refresh and ending with the Smart Display Zoom feature.

CarPlay has also received widget support, but contrary to what so many users expected, it's not exactly the feature Apple promised on small screens. You need an infotainment screen of at least 10 inches to run multiple widgets side by side. Otherwise, it's one gigantic widget on the display, eating up unnecessary screen estate.

If you haven't yet updated to iOS 26, head to Settings > General > Software update on your iPhone. You need an iPhone 11 or later for this update.

Android Auto users got mixed news this week. On the one hand, the app started misbehaving (again!), this time spamming drivers with the same notifications over and over again. It turns out Google Maps is the culprit, but a fix doesn't yet exist.

On the other hand, Google released Android Auto 15.3 to beta testers. This update brings us closer to the Gemini release and the introduction of a daylight theme. 

Congratulations for reaching the finish line!

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