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With appearances by the funky BrightDrop van, Mercedes-Benz EQS-Class charging experience, Tesla Model Y hardware weirdness, and more.
One of the most common questions MotorTrend editors hear is, “What’s it like to drive all of those cars?” To give you a peek behind the curtain, we polled our staff about the various test vehicles they drove this week. While it’s a great job perk to constantly sample the newest products hitting the market, we’re also privy to the many weird and sometimes ugly aspects of modern cars, SUVs, and trucks. Welcome to the MotorTrend Garage’s Good, Weird, and Ugly for October 2025.
As someone who drove delivery in a Ford E350 20 years ago, I think the 2026 Chevrolet BrightDrop’s delivery mode is fantastic. Having the cargo and passenger doors open automatically when you put the van in park is a major time and effort saver. Plus, it keeps the cabin warmer or cooler, not leaving the doors open all the time to avoid manually opening and closing them at every stop. —Scott Evans, Features Editor
The 2026 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid’s cargo hold has this new bag hook that’s different from the others. It’s a slim, flat rubber doodad mounted on the right wall of the hold, but it’s super effective. If you get cargo hooks on a more budget-friendly vehicle, I’ve found they’re only somewhat good at keeping bags from sliding around, often coming unhooked. This one pinches the bag’s handles, and even though it can hold only a bag or two, it’s way better at preventing the handle from sliding off. —Bob Hernandez, Associate Editor
While technically not a vehicle MotorTrend tested this week, I spent about an hour driving my wife’s current-generation Jeep Wrangler Willys 4xe. We keep the plug-in battery charged at all times, and that means the first 20 miles or so are done in full EV mode. It’s quiet, has lots of torque, and has more than enough suspension travel and tire sidewall deflection to drive over rough roads with abandon. Every time I drive it, I think about how fun a fully electric Wrangler could be if Stellantis builds one. —William Walker, Deputy Director of Photography
It’s been a minute since I’ve spent time in a Rivian, but the 2026 R1S’ interior continues to impress, especially coming from such a young automaker. The plaid touches are great, the wood trim looks premium, and the overall fit and finish is outstanding. The infotainment system seems snappier and more intuitive. That said, the steering wheel still shimmies over bumps, so I hope the company figures this out for future products. —Erick Ayapana, Associate Road Test Editor
I was playing with our long-term 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV’s streaming app settings for Spotify and YouTube Music for a story about its Google built-in infotainment system. I realized the default setting when you download the apps and open them for the first time is low-quality streaming. I’m frustrated with myself for not knowing about this fix for the poor-quality audio during the first 12,000 miles of my long-term loan. Thankfully, the sound quality has improved noticeably and takes better advantage of the Blazer EV RS’ Bose audio system. —Billy Rehbock, Associate Editor
The 2026 Mercedes-Benz EQS400 SUV wouldn’t charge on anything other than Level 3 Electrify America stations. I tried three L2s, an unlocked Tesla Supercharger, and even a Power Up, and bupkis. To get charged enough to drive to the test track, I ended up having to hang out in a supermarket parking lot until about 1 a.m. until every other Mercedes in Glendale had finished charging (free for the first two years, ya know). That was both weird and bad. —Matt Taylor, Buyer’s Guide Senior Editor
Here's something you don’t see in a new car every day: heating and cooling controls that get colder or hotter in a multistep button push. This is in our 2025 Kia K4, which is a bit of a stripper, admittedly. Usually in cars, you have a kind of graduated setup that would make the air blow harder or softer, with sliders making things hotter or colder. And nowadays, the overwhelming majority of cars have gone to some sort of digital setup that shows the actual temp in numbers. This works OK, but yeah, I don’t see this becoming a thing anytime soon. —Mike Floyd, Director of Editorial Operations
Huh, OK, Cadillac. While crawling down the 405 freeway in especially bad Los Angeles traffic, my Super Cruising 2026 Escalade IQL started nudging the steering wheel this way and that, like Hollywood did in 1950s movie scenes set in a car. Weird. We didn’t feel the odd movement, but, uh, I did take control after that. —Zach Gale, Director of Car Shopping
As part of the Tesla Model Y’s change from Hardware 3 to Hardware 4, the car got higher-resolution cameras but lost the nose camera. It still has two up by the rearview mirror (wide and narrow angle), but the loss of the nose camera means nose-in parking suffers. The hazy “radar-like” heat map it has (instead of my beloved around-view monitor) is super annoying and pales in comparison. But I would be fine with that if I had a nose camera so I could see if I’m going into the planter next to my driveway. The hack I found? Backing into the driveway using the backup camera. Dumb “fix.” —Ed Loh, Head of Editorial
Billy Rehbock’s passion for cars started with his dad’s Volkswagen Jetta GLX, his mom’s Cabriolet, and his own Hot Wheels collection. A USC graduate with a Master of Science in journalism, he’s an associate editor for the MotorTrend Buyer’s Guide and covers everything from sports cars to SUVs.
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