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Payne: Here’s the 2024 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year
Posted by Talbot Payne on December 19, 2024
Reducing the field of new vehicles to three finalists this year wasn’t easy. We value value and my favorite trends in the market are the proliferation of electronics and standout design that has narrowed the distinction between luxury and mainstream cars.
The 2024 auto shopping aisle is full of new toys from pickups to electrics to compacts to SUVs and sports cars. Well, not too many sports cars.
As automakers stretched to meet government mandates and develop electric vehicles, small-volume performance cars like the Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Audi TT, Audi R8 and Kia Stinger were left by the side of the road. We miss you. Of the 50 new-for-2024 vehicles that I tested and reviewed, just four were sports coupes — the Subaru BRZ tS, Mercedes-AMG GT-63, Mercedes SL63 and Dodge Charger Daytona EV.
The Charger was one of the headliners in the industry’s push towards EVs. The big car’s 100 kWh battery replaced the Challenger’s iconic V-8 engine at the summit of Dodge performance. But as consumer adoption of EVs has cooled, so has the introduction of new EVs, and 25% of the new cars I tested were electric. Standouts included the Chevy Equinox EV, Volkswagen ID.Buzz and Rivian R1S. If it’s performance you’re looking for, off-road was the place to find it. New dirt-kickers included the Ford Ranger Raptor, Toyota Tacoma TRD and Ram 1500 RHO.
Our top three 2024 Detroit News Vehicles of the Year are all-around performers that bring tremendous value to their respective segments.
Second runner-up: Kia K4
After years of escalating vehicle costs (the average transaction price for new vehicles is north of $48K), the market has received an infusion of affordable, entry-level vehicles. The sub-$30K Chevy Trax and Buick Envista were finalists for our 2023 Vehicle of the Year, featuring roomy interiors, state-of-the-art electronics and standard goodies like lane-keep assist, rear-park assist and auto headlights. More subcompact SUVs followed this year like the new Nissan Kicks and VW Taos.
The $23K Kia K4 continues the trend in the compact sedan segment.
Honey, I shrunk the Cadillac CT5. The Kia K4 is a looker inside and out with teardrop head-and tail lights like the Caddy, and a wide, 29-inch hoodless screen inside. The screen can be personalized with the logo of your favorite NBA team — say, the Detroit Pistons. The base car is loaded with standard safety tech, including adaptive cruise control, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and automatic braking.
What hasn’t been shrunk is interior room. The K4’s rear seat is, remarkably, the same size as the midsize CT5 (and bigger than a BMW 5-series). Combined with sharp handling and 34 mpg fuel economy, the K4 also undercuts Toyota’s stylish Prius hybrid compact by seven grand.
Runner-up: Tesla Model 3 Highland
The Model 3 was an immediate sensation when Tesla’s flamboyant CEO Elon Musk introduced it in 2016, and the game-changing EV has inspired a flood of competitors in the years since. The Model 3’s first update for 2024 is a reminder of why Tesla still dominates the EV space.
The second best-selling sedan in the U.S. market after only the Toyota Camry, Model 3 received a pleasant (if modest) so-called Highland update to its exterior and added interior goodies like a rear-seat infotainment screen. The $40,000 car refines the core elements that made it a sales sensation: simplicity, charging, over-the-air updates.
Already iPhone simple in its interior hardware, the Highland model ditched its steering wheel stalks so that shifting is now accomplished in the screen (think a digital version of Lincoln shift buttons) and turn signals are accessed by buttons on the steering wheel. The cabin is quieter, but the added materials have not compromised neck-snapping acceleration. Tesla’s navigation system and charging network are integrated for range anxiety-free road trips — an advantage so coveted by other automakers that they have paid for access to Tesla’s Superchargers.
M3’s biggest advantage is it has never really stopped improving thanks to constant over-the-air updates. Having fallen behind GM’s Super Cruise driver-assist system, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system caught up this year by going completely hands free — using internal cameras to monitor the driver’s attention.
First place: Chevy Traverse
Call it the Multiverse. Chevy’s vanilla family bus was transformed into a bold, dirt-kicking, roomy, three-row SUV that can drive itself.
Drawing on Chevy engineering that has produced industry-leading sports cars and trucks, Traverse is powered by a brawny, 328-horse turbo-4 engine wrapped in a muscular truck design with a get-outta-my-way grille and stylish teardrop taillights.
“We love our new Traverse Z71,” beamed a Michigan couple I flagged down at a Meijer gas station in Gaylord. “We just drove hands-free up I-75.”
Hands-free driving in a Chevy? Yup, the third-generation Traverse now options Super Cruise (which Cadillac debuted in 2018) for use on long highway trips. You can even go hands-free on some secondary roads if you really want to freak the kids out. Option the Z71 model, and the family ute is also at home off-road with 32-inch all-terrain tires, underbody skid plates, and twin-clutch rear differential. The latter is made for Michigan snowdrifts — throwing 100% torque to the rear wheel with traction to keep you moving.
Once shy on standard features, the $39K base Traverse is now loaded with blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control, 360-degree camera, rear cross-traffic braking, auto high beams, side bicyclist alert, 29 inches of digital screens, wireless charge pad, and a partridge in a pear tree. Approach with an arm-full of groceries and the rear hatch will automatically open.
In a three-row class loaded with talent, including superb new models from Hyundai Santa Fe, Mazda CX-90 and Lexus TX, the palatial Traverse is the value standout, including a 17.7-inch dash screen powered by a Google Built-in operating system as intuitive as your phone.
Vanilla no more, the Multiverse — er, Traverse — is a rolling exhibition of the industry’s cutting edge in turbo engines, tech and ergonomics. All in a family SUV.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.