The Drive Awards 2026: Honoring the Top Cars We Tested
Andrew P. Collins
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The past year has been quite eventful in the auto industry. It seems like only yesterday that nearly every car manufacturer was proclaiming their commitment and financial backing for electric vehicles, while moving away from gasoline engines. At the same time, it feels as though the chaos of 2020 and 2021 was a lifetime ago, considering all that has transpired in the automotive realm since then; for example, many automakers have completely revised their EV strategies.
The current landscape influences how we navigate our everyday lives. It impacts our vehicle choices and dictates which cars we can realistically acquire. There’s a distinction, you know? Whether it’s due to tariffs, a shortage of chips, production hurdles, or basic inflation, developments in the automotive sector each year affect us more than we realize. For The Drive's team, it also determines the vehicles we get to test and, consequently, which ones we can rank each year.
And indeed, it’s that time again—time for the 2026 The Drive Awards.
This week, we will be presenting awards across seven categories. The announcement for Best Truck is coming soon; Best Value Car will be revealed tomorrow; Best Performance Car and Best SUV will be disclosed on Wednesday; Best EV and the new-for-2026 Best Hybrid will be announced on Thursday; and The Drive's overall Best Car will be recognized on Friday.
As in previous years, our finalists were chosen based on review scores, while category winners were decided through a team vote. To be eligible for this year's awards, vehicles needed to be new or, at the very least, significantly updated and driven by a member of The Drive's staff or contributor roster sometime in 2025.
As the website's deputy editor and the project lead for The Drive Awards, I take pride in presenting this year's winners to you. I truly believe that from the hundreds of vehicles we tested this year, this select group symbolizes all that is exceptional about today's car culture. More importantly, this year’s winners demonstrate that if you’re dissatisfied with the direction of the automotive industry, just wait a couple of years—it might surprise you.
See you next year.
Rolls-Royce
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