AutoGuide's Most Anticipated Cars of 2025

We've still got four months left of 2025, and they're poised to be the busiest yet.

Every year the AutoGuide team drives hundreds of new cars. While that’s bound to happen again here in 2025, we’ve compiled a small (updated) list of the ones we’re most excited about. We kicked off the year with this list and since then we've driven a few of the vehicles on it: the latest Toyota 4Runner, the electric Dodge Charger, and Hyundai's Ioniq 9 flagship SUV. Now we're wrapping up summer but there are still 10 cars we're itching to get behind the wheel of.

Vehicles here could be for any reason: an established brand branching out into something new, a tweaked version of a current favorite, or a classic name brought back to life.

Your list is bound to look different from ours too, so make sure to let us know in the comments what you’re looking forward to!

Now we've seen the first production model to spearhead BMW's Neue Klasse era: the 2026 BMW iX3. Mike Schlee got to poke around the all-electric SUV earlier this summer, which slots in at barely bigger (but not necessarily more spacious than) the X3—not too surprising, given the name. With 470 horsepower, an 108.0-kilowatt-hour battery pack, and the promise of incredibly quick charge times, the iX3 extends BMW's impressive electric lineup into the biggest sector in the luxury market. We hope to drive it before the end of the year.

Had you told us two years ago that 2025 would see not only the Prelude’s return, but the potential for it to face-off against a reborn Toyota Celica, we’d have laughed. We know the ‘90s are having a moment right now, but c’mon.

Well, they’re both happening. The Prelude will arrive later this year, sporting Honda’s hybrid powertrain combined with bits nicked from the Civic Type R. Adaptive dampers should give it a wide breadth of abilities, and Honda has said it will be including simulated shifts to pump up driver engagement. Bring it on.

We were fortunate enough to hitch a ride in a pre-production Polestar 5 last summer. Even in that not-quite-done form, from the passenger seat, it was clear the young EV brand is targeting big players. The P5 is going after nothing short of the Porsche Taycan and Lucid Air, a big and sporty sedan in the grand tourer mold. The 5 might not be the sales volume leader the Polestar 3 is meant to be, but it will serve as a declaration of driver enjoyment for the brand.

Now we've seen the final production car, all 884 horsepower of it. This is a slinky, sexy four-door that we can't wait to slide behind the wheel of.

We ended the year with one of the wildest, purest drivers’ cars of 2024 with the Porsche 718 Spyder RS. It marks a final, 493-horsepower send-off for the existing, internal combustion Boxster. Both the droptop and its Cayman sibling are set to see new, all-electric models debut this year.

Rumor has it the project has seen some speed bumps, but with the Taycan and Macan EV as proof of what Porsche can achieve with electrons, we are cautiously optimistic that the new 718s—or whatever they end up being called—should still provide plenty of fun.

Do we like the Rivian R1S and R1T? Did we eat too many candies during the limbo week between Christmas and New Years? Yes on both counts.

As impressive as the not-quite-full-size R1T pickup and three-row R1S are, they’re all Rivian has. That will change when the smaller R2 comes on-stream for the 2026 model year. Expected to start in the mid-$40s, the R2 is roughly RAV4-sized, and will come with single, double, and even triple-motor variants. Expect a whole bunch of accessories to go with Rivian’s adventure image, too.

Toyota is reviving the C-HR name for a 338-horsepower, all-wheel-drive EV. It's the realization of a promise EVs have had for a long time: subtle body changes while retaining the same underlying equipment, in this case the bits from the much-improved 2026 bZ.

Like that model, there will be a Subaru sibling: the Uncharted. Both are shortened and, in the case of the Subaru, can be had with a smaller battery and front-wheel drive, promising to be one of the more affordable electric options out there. Want bigger? Look to the wagon-like Toyota bZ Woodland or the Subaru Trailseeker.

We finish this list not with the most exciting vehicle, but easily the one that has the biggest impact on the market: the 2026 Toyota RAV4. This is North America's best-selling vehicle that isn't a pickup; even in its final full year on the market, the existing model is setting sales records. This is the Default Family SUV of a generation, so there is a lot riding on its angular shoulders.

Toyota has made big moves here, turning the 2026 model all-hybrid. The plug-in hybrid also returns, with some trims gaining DC fast-charging capability. There's also a GR Sport model, a first for the RAV4 on this side of the pond. We'll be driving this one in the fall and expect to have a lot of thoughts.