MGReviews' 2021 Year in Review / The Best Cars, Best SUVs, Best Trucks, and Best Vehicle of 2021

Hello and welcome to the MGReviews 2021 Year in 
Review. In this video I’m going to take a look  
back at all the vehicles that I test drove 
over the past year and pick a winner from  
different categories. So best car, best SUV, 
best truck, and then at the end, I’ll pick an  
overall best vehicle of 2021. But I’m also going 
to do a few sub categories. So best mainstream SUV  
and best luxury SUV and more like that. Now 
just keep in mind that these are all vehicles  
that I have personally test driven. I’m just 
one guy doing this YouTube channel so I don’t  
have time to review every single brand new 
car that came out in 2021 and sometimes,  
I don’t even have access to all the vehicles that 
came out in 2021. So apologies ahead of time if  
you’re expecting to see a certain vehicle but just 
keep that in mind. I’m just one guy doing this.  
Anyway let’s get into it. Could this Ford 
Ranger Tremor be the best new vehicle of 2021?  
Or could it be the all-new Genesis GV70? or could 
it be the Veloster N with the new DCT automatic  
transmission? It’s not the Veloster N with the 
new DCT automatic transmission. But speaking  
of the Veloster N, let’s get into our first 
category. The best cars that I’ve driven in 2021.
Cars these days are not as popular as they 
used to be. But for some manufacturers they  
still provide a

large chunk of their bottom line.
However the Chevrolet Spark is not one of them
for General Motors but it is a good car that’s
worth mentioning. This is the least expensive
new car that you could have bought in 2021. It’s
also economical, cheap to insure and maintain,
and if you get it with a manual transmission,
pretty fun to zip around a bustling city. However
the main contenders for the best mainstream car of
2021 are the KIA K5, Mazda 3 and the Honda Civic.
The KIA K5 is a bit more expensive than its
competitors but it offers a lot of value for
your money and it’s one of the few midsize sedans
that is offered with an all-wheel drive system.
However the finalists are the Mazda and the Honda.
So between those two, which one comes on top?
It’s the 2022 Honda Civic by the slimmest of
margins. The Mazda 3 is still a fantastic car
but the new Civic is all around a bit better.
It’s spacious, it’s comfortable, it’s got plenty
of power, good to drive, and it has lots of
available convenience and safety features.
Moving on to luxury cars, this year I drove
the new Acura TLX, BMW M440i, Genesis G80,
BMW 330e, Alfa Romeo Giulia, Genesis G70,
KIA Stinger, and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG.
Quite a few but my favorites were the Alfa
Romeo Giulia, Mercedes E63 AMG and Genesis G70.
Of those three, the best luxury car of
my opinion was the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG.
That is really no surprise
especially in this wagon form.
It has the spaciousness and comfort of
an SUV but the raw power of a supercar.
And finally we get to the best sports cars of
2021 that I’ve had the opportunity to drive.
These included the Ford Mustang GT, Mazda MX-5,
Mini Cooper JCW convertible, Hyundai Veloster N,
and Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. Not sure in
what other category to put that last one, so
it’s here. But of those sports cars my
pick for the best is… the Mazda MX-5.
Sure it’s the slowest of the bunch and the
least practical and I struggle to fit in it
comfortably but if you ever wanted to know
how a sports car should feel like, take one
of these out for a spin. No other car provides
a better driving experience than the Mazda MX-5.
These things are everywhere you look. It
feels like I review one every week of the
year which is why I have the running
joke at the end of each of my videos.
“And as always I will see you
in the next car or truck or
probably another bonkers SUV.” “And as always
I will see you in the next car or truck or
most likely it’ll be another SUV.” “And as
always I will see you in the next car or truck or
probably be another SUV.” But
in a sea of crossovers and SUVs,
there are a few pearls. Starting with the ones
that almost everyone can afford, the best extra
small crossover that I could recommend is
the Mazda CX-30. It has a few powertrain
options to choose from, a great interior, and
of course drives pretty well for what it is.
Moving up in size, the best compact SUV
of 2021 is the all-new Hyundai Tucson.
While I’m not a fan of how it looks and
a few of the interior material choices,
it packs a lot of gadgets, it’s available with a
wide range of engines including a plug-in hybrid,
and Hyundai have stepped up their interior fit
and finish. For three row SUVs, I would have
to pick Hyundai’s cousin, the KIA Sorento. Just
like the Tucson, it’s got the latest technology,
multiple powertrains, spacious interior and
this one doesn’t look too bad in my eyes.
Moving up, in pricing that is, to luxury
compact crossovers, admittedly I’ve mainly
driven Mercedes-Benz crossovers this year. There
was the GLA 250, the GLA 45 AMG, the GLB 35 AMG,
and the Mini Countryman. Which is not a
Mercedes. But of those luxury compact crossovers,
it’s the GLB 35 AMG that stood out the most.
Enough space yet incredibly fun to drive.
For larger luxury SUVs, there are a few more
choices. The Mercedes GLE and GLS, BMW X3, X4 and
X5, Volvo XC60 and XC90, Genesis GV70 and GV80,
Lincoln Aviator and Navigator, Cadillac Escalade,
and um did I forget one? Oh yes the Acura
MDX. The best two-row luxury SUV is a bit
of a surprise to me. I didn’t think that it
would be this good straight out of the gates
but I was wrong. I am talking about the all-new
Genesis GV70. It does everything a modern SUV is
supposed to do and it does it very well. Fast,
quiet, spacious, and good value for the money.
If you need an extra row, the best luxury three
row SUV of 2021 in my opinion is the Mercedes-Benz
GLS. Yes the one that I drove had a beast of an
engine under the hood but if you drive it like a
civilized person, then it’s a quiet, comfortable,
spacious, and very elegant luxury three-row SUV.
Now before we move on to the best trucks of
2021, let’s take a quick look at the EVs that
I’ve driven in this year. With all the talk
of internal combustion engines going away,
strangely I’ve only driven three full electric
vehicles this year. The Mini Cooper S electric,
the Ford Mach-E, which I still refuse
to call a Mustang, and the Mazda MX30.
I don’t think it’s any surprise as to which
one was the best that I’ve driven this year.
The Mini and the Mazda were adapted to
be electric vehicles. The Mach-E was
developed as an EV from the ground up so it
is the best EV that I have driven in 2021.
Now on to the workhorses in our lives; pickup
trucks. And starting things off with an honorable
mention to the Hyundai Santa Cruz. It’s not a
traditional truck with a body-on-frame design
but more so an SUV with a truck bed. However
you’ll want to look at it as it’s the best of
both worlds and it’ll be interesting to see
how it compares against the Ford Maverick.
Now moving on to mid-size trucks, I’ve driven the
Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, and Toyota Tacoma.
Although I really enjoyed my time with the
Gladiator Mojave, it’s not the best all-rounder.
That honor goes to the Ford Ranger. It’s got
plenty of space in the bed, it has a powerful and
yet efficient ecoboost engine, more than enough
capability for towing, and relatively inexpensive.
Move up a class to the half tons and
I’ve only driven two of them this year.
The all-new Ford F-150 Powerboost hybrid and
the insanely crazy but smile inducing RAM TRX.
Looking at these two for their overall package
and not the crazy 700 plus horsepower monster
under the hood of the TRX, the RAM 1500 is still
the king. The interior fit and finish as well as
the space is still better than the F-150. But RAM
needs to put a proper hybrid powertrain and get
on with developing their full electric variants
to continue competing against the Ford in 2022.
Now before we get to my pick of the
overall best vehicle I’ve driven in 2021,
I thought we should have a look, or rather a
listen, to the best sounding exhaust of 2021.
Pretty soon all that we’ll hear from cars is this
So we need to appreciate the wonderful and
intoxicating noises that some of them continue
to produce today. Kicking things off with an
honorable mention of the Hyundai Veloster N,
it has a common 2-liter turbo engine but coupled
with the active exhaust that it comes with,
it sounds very fruity
But the best 2-liter turbo engine I’ve heard
all year was in the Mercedes-Benz GLA 45 AMG.
It is also available in other 45
series of Mercedes-Benz vehicles
and it will soon replace the V8 in the C63 AMG.
Unfortunately. But at least it can develop
over 400 horsepower and it sounds like this
Add on a couple more cylinders
and you end up with a smooth
revving inline six engine. There aren’t that
many around but one of the best sounding is
the three liter inline six that’s under
the hood of the BMW X4M Competition
But for the best sounds of 2021,
it’s really hard to beat a V8 engine.
While the BMW X5M Competition
has a nice sounding V8
It’s not quite as good as the AMG V8
That one sounds really good. However you
can’t talk about V8s without talking about
the Americans. They know a thing or two
about making a good sounding V8 engine
and that’s why the 6.2 liter supercharged
V8 in the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye
and RAM TRX is my choice for the best
sounding engine I’ve heard in 2021
And finally we arrived to the overall
best vehicle I’ve driven in 2021.
Can you tell what it is? how about now? Yes it is
the 2022 Genesis GV70! Overall this is the best
vehicle that I test drove in 2021. I was really
impressed by its driving dynamics because it is a
comfortable and relaxing daily commuter but at
the push of a button, it can drive like as though
you have a hornet up your bottom. The interior
materials are top notch, really good quality. It’s
also quiet in there and very, very comfortable.
Plus for the price point of this GV70, you’re
getting a lot of value for your money. Of course
the German rivals also have the same features as
this GV70 but you’re going to be paying a little
bit more for those German cars. And on top of all
that, I think it’s a pretty good-looking SUV. I
would argue that this is probably the best-looking
Genesis vehicle that they currently make. So if
you are on the market for a compact luxury SUV,
I highly, highly recommend the 2022 Genesis
GV70. If you want to know more about this GV70,
I did a video review of it, also I wrote a
more detailed review of it over on my website.
You can find those links in the video description
or click on the pop-up banner up here.
And as always, I will see you in the next car or
truck or most likely another SUV. Anyway, thank
you for watching, please like and subscribe, have
a Happy New Year, and see you in the next video.