40 10BEST FOR 2020 PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC URBANO ~ JANUARY 2020 ~ CAR AND DRIVER
Expert
Opinion
—Mercedes-Benz
A 220
Modern, upscale,
and handsome
interior.
—
Why the hell does
this cost $20,000
more than
the Mazda 3?
—
A great little
sedan at
$32,000; at over
$50,000, it
doesn’t make
much sense.Nissan Versa
While it’s a great
value, it’s
borrrrring.
—
It’s no longer
demoralizing to
drive a Versa,
and even
a little less
embarrassing.
—
I think Nissan
figured out
how to build cars
again. This
deserves a most
improved
award.
—
Not great, but
proof that cheap
cars don’t have
to be terrible.Subaru Legacy
The package is
nice; the
execution is not.
—
Better than
its predecessor,
but a very sober
and borderline
boring machine.The Ram 1500 is
changing the shape of
domestic luxury.American cars once oozed lux-
ury. They were smooth, quiet, and
powerful things. Think of a 1950s
Cadillac or Lincoln—cushy domes-
tic behemoths with burbling V-8s
and bodies bolted to full-length
frames. We’d pilot these vehicles
across far expanses of land, ferrying
our families and our imaginations to
places we’d rather be. We can still do
all those things. Only now they hap-
pen in a truck.
Ram has made this possible by
envisioning the light-duty pickup
as a luxurious yet utilitarian carrier
of families, fertilizer, and dreams.
But the Ram 1500 isn’t just the
best truck out there; it’s one of the
best vehicles. Its supple ride, rich
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elevate it to a place we never thought
possible for a pickup.
Sound like an utterly bananas
assertion? Consider: The Ram is
colossally good at nearly every-
thing—commuting, hauling, eve-
nings out. What other vehicle is as
comfortable and sublime as the best
cars and can move a load of scrap
wood to the dump? The 1500 retains
the imperishable pragmatism of a
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and daily usability.
This pickup scratches our variety-
loving consumerist itch with four
engines: an electric-motor-assisted
V- 6 and V-8, a turbo-diesel V- 6, and a nonhybridized
V-8. All are capably backed by ZF’s competent yet
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showstopper, the pièce de résistance that separates it
from the gray spectrum of domestic pickups, is its sus-
pension, which comes with a standard coil-spring rearAmerican
Splendor
Traditional
American luxury
didn’t die; it lives
on in all its glory
in the body-on-
frame pickup-
truck segment.