The annual Washington Automotive Press Association Fall Rally was held in a new location this year at Homestead Gardens in beautiful Davidson, Maryland and featured, for the first time ever, motorcycles thanks to Honda! With beautiful, crisp, weather, what more could you ask for?
Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy
The Hyundai Palisade has been a certified hit for the Korean automaker since its debut, elevating the brand and challenging the 3-row crossover segment across both mainstream and luxury competitors. With all that success, Hyundai didn’t sit on its laurels, they bring a full redesign to the table for the 2026 model year. Its design is clean and modern, inside and out. Ride quality is very refined and well-damped, with the only thing potentially needed is just a touch more power or added fuel efficiency. Luckily they have a hybrid coming that should help scratch both of those itches.
Luxury touches and features abound with laminated glass all around, heated and ventilated seats in the first and second rows, with additional heated seats in the 3rd row. Power seats for all 3 rows! And more seating controls than your parents would know what to do with. All of this at a retail price of under $60,000. In a market where the average new car sells for nearly $50,000 this still seems like a tremendous value, which seems tough to find these days.
Subaru Forester Wilderness
The Subaru Forester is a trust and reliable friend. It doesn’t seek attention or try to dazzle you with excess, but it’s absolutely the steady and sensible friend. Here in its updated Wilderness form, it’s also that friend that likely shops at REI. The Wilderness adds the sub-brand’s trademark anodized copper accents, but also gives it a lofty 9.3″ inches of ground clearance, Yokohama all-terrain tires, enhanced all-wheel drive capability and revised gearing for a substantive capability gains. The roof-rails are even able to support up to 800 pounds for those roof-top tents which are so very much on trend these days. Of note, there is a decent 10% or so hit to highway fuel economy ratings for all these changes.
The Wilderness is a bit mid-level, so it’s still a sensible package and good features all around. Heated front row seats are standard, but things like a heated steering wheel or heated rear seats are not (need to see other Forester trims for those). Dual-zone climate control is standard here, as is the larger, vertically oriented infotainment screen, which also supports wireless phone mirroring through Android Auto or Apple Car Play. One option package is available on the Wilderness for embedded navigation, a power rear liftgate, premium audio system and digital gauge cluster. Thus equipped, a Wilderness rings up just over $42,000.
Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter
Fun to see the expansion of off-road/overlanding personas in the Toyota lineup. Sitting atop the vast 4Runner spectrum is the new Trailhunter, tuned for overlanding excursions to complement the still available TRD Pro. It’s fun to see the inclusion of aftermarket component like the ARB roof rack, although that’s at the expense of any sort of sunroof. Old Man Emu shocks and thick looking 18″ Bronze wheels with 33″ rugged terrain tires help add to the Trailhunter form factor. The high-mount air intake also offers plenty of entertainment of turbo whistles and whooshes as you drive, while the on board air compressor will likely be handy to help blow up bike tires and camping pads.
Toyota, a company hell bent on manufacturing simplicity, offers quite a number of 4Runner variants or trims. There are turbos, hybrids, part time 4 wheel drive systems, full-time 4 wheel drive systems, Sports, Limiteds, 3rd rows and more. For body on frame 2-row SUVs, the other competition is generally of the modular top variety like the Jeep Wrangler or Ford Bronco, and potentially the biggest threat for the 4Runner is within the Toyota showroom with the Land Cruiser re-sized and re-price for American market duty. So what flavor 4Runner suits you best?
Lexus LC500 Convertible
Time has been relatively kind to the Lexus LC500. The taut, concept car like sheet metal and sharp lighting continue to look exotic. While pricing is definitely a bit more dear than I remember, with all versions now starting over the $100,000 mark. Inside, Lexus has also added upgrades here and there to help keep it up to date, and absolutely nothing can take away the aural bliss of the naturally aspirated, free-revving 5.0 liter V8, appreciated here in full ear form with the retractable soft top down.
As one of the few bespoke Lexus vehicles not shared with Toyota, the LC serves as a delightful flagship and stands out as a terrific grand touring option in the market. It’s a bit of a shame that the LC never received the full “F” treatment, back when there were actually F models to be had. But perhaps that’s a niche best left to something in the shape of the recently shown Sport Concept car.
Mazda CX-50 Hybrid
I have no doubt that Mazda’s Soul Red Crystal metallic is one of the absolute best automotive red paints on the market. The fact that it’s done by a mainstream mass market brand is icing on the cake. Mazda’s shaping of sheetmetal only helps to accentuate that beautiful paint. Their interiors also nicely balance a premium and clean aesthetic, feeling a bit special compared to the likes of the brands like Toyota, Honda or Ford or Subaru.
For their jump into the hybrid fray, Mazda tapped none other than their corporate partner Toyota to help with the CX-50. The RAV4 Hybrid system basically gets copy-pasted into the CX-50. Toyota hybrid guts with Mazda design, is this a match made in heaven? It definitely gives the Mazda showroom a quick hybrid option, but I do miss a bit of the jinba ittai (horse and rider) feel of the gas CX-50’s, mostly due to the loss of the geared automatic transmission in favor of the e-CVT setup from Toyota’s hybrid system. Luckily again choice is in the hands of the buyer, 2.5 Turbo CX-50’s are still available as well!
Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack
EV + Muscle Car? That’s what Dodge would like you to think of when you sample the all-new Charger Daytona. Now in 4-door form, the silhouette actually still looks very coupe-like, but there’s still sizable room in the 2nd row, with adults fitting easily. Cargo flexibility is also still good with the rear liftgate hatch. It also looks stunning in this shade of aptly named Bludicrous.
670 horsepower launches the Charger Daytona Scat Pack to 60 with the fury of the Hellcat Redeye of the past, and there’s actually some of the rumble too, with the Fratzonic chambered exhaust system. You can thankfully choose from a couple different auditory levels and hoonery. I wasn’t a big believer at first, but it makes the drive a bit more fun and engaging than purely electric sounds or random synthesized space ship noises would. The road feel and damping are well-managed for such a big and hefty sedan, as is the handling. Biggest questions here are the EV range, a bit middling at 241 miles, especially when given the price starting at roughly $60,000.
Toyota GR Corolla
Who would’ve thought that Toyota would one day field a turbocharged all-wheel drive hatchback with 300 horsepower and a 6-speed manual transmission?! And for a price that starts around $40,000. That’s a bargain relative to the last Subaru WRX STI hatchback sold in America was back in 2014 for $36,500, which in today dollars would be near $50,000. And yes for 2025 Toyota did make an 8-speed automatic transmission available, but the manual lives on! The shifts are fairly solid and short, with a satisfying thunk into each gear. The clutch isn’t overly stiff and is easy to modulate even the first time behind the wheel. It also offers up automated rev matching downshift if you like (but luckily you can also defeat this system if desired).
Yes, the interior materials aren’t immediately up to the snuff of say, a VW Golf R, but VW also decided to stop offering manual transmissions here in the U.S., so there’s that. But glad to see that Toyota continues to tweak and enhance the driving experience in itself with more torque, updated suspension tuning, improved clutch operation and making the front and rear limited slip differentials standard. Also appreciated that the ride quality is comfortable enough for daily driver type needs with the 18″ wheels vs. oversized 19″ or 20″ that we so often see on sports cars today.
Honda CB300R and NX500
Bonus motorcycle coverage!! Thanks to the wonderful team at Honda, we had motorcycles for the very first time at our #WAPARALLY and I was absolutely here for it. There for it? Anyways, motorcycles! It’s been a few years since spending regular time with that kind of power between my legs so I opted to ease back in with time on the CB300R, Honda’s entry city/sport bike. The power comes on smoothly and linearly, the clutch is easy to modulate and the gear shifts on the 6-speed manual and direct and quick. Everything falls easily to hand and foot, making it easy to jump back in the saddle. I guess the saying it’s like riding a bike really holds true. The CB300R is approachable and easy for riders of all skill levels. 12 out of 10 highly recommend for anyone looking to dip their toes into the 2-wheeled transport world.
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