Yet another year of driving garbage. And occasionally something nice. Welcome ya fucks, to the “The Cars” of 2025! A time for us to look back and reflect on all the four wheeled abominations we’ve driven and reviewed this year. Except for me, as I am both above and incapable of self reflection.

Hope y’all enjoy this year’s batch, a treat (if you call it that) to all those loyal consumers and mis-shifted assholes who’ve been reading and consuming the finest automotive content on the web.

Instead of a German Luxury Sedan, You Bought this:

You could’ve made the sensible decision and just bought that BMW/Mercedes/Porsche/Gumpert. But nooooope, you had to be different didn’t you. And ya know what, we salute you for having made the interesting choice. But which choice was the best choice?

Obvious but respectably, the wild and weird 2011 Aston Martin Rapide takes the win! Significantly worse in nearly every way but sound compared to a German luxury sedan, we wouldn’t blame anyone for going the way of Aston. Not only do you have a naturally aspirated v12 to drown out the rear passenger’s complaints, but the steering is genuinely wonderful. What surprises us (though maybe not you) is what came in second, the excellent and understated 2024 Volvo S60! In third is what we thought would actually come in second, the 2014 Jaguar XJ, another proper bri’ish sedan car. Naturally, it broke down during our testing, but that’s just a jag being a jag. In last, the younger electric brother 2024 Polestar 2, the apolitical Model 3.

Prunes and Dunes

Once again, the beloved Prunes and Dunes returns. Because shitty SUVs are everywhere and we’ve all driven too many of them. Anyways, we rejoice in celebration of the duality of SUVs. On one side, the prunes putting around the Target parking lot and on the other, some lunatic tackling the dunes of Little Sahara. We salute you both, begrudgingly, and with that on to the prunes:

Prunes: 2024 Ford Edge Titanium AWD

I know in the past two years, the pruniest SUV was usually some terrible thing. The Ford Edge is no exception. However what this car excelled in above every other vehicle I have driven, is its shear forget-ability. This is a disposable nothing car for nothing people. Its product planers took all of 5 minutes to approve the production of such a boring, lackluster, and forgettable product before continuing on with their bathroom coffee break. And they should all be ashamed that they made everyone else involved waste a few years of life bringing this to market. This car will be forgotten, and no one will care. In fact, it probably already has.

Dunes: 2023 Jeep Wrangler 4xe

Oh yesssss, very duney. Perfect for Daytona Beach Jeeps Beach Jeeps-on-the-beach Week or whatever it’s called, while also being interesting and comfortable. Stack the ducks a mile high, the Jeep Wrangler 4xe is your 2025 “Dunes” winner.

Pisstakers

For the cars you’d mistake for a urinal, we raise our glasses to you:

Wow, this did not turn out how we thought! You chumps have a sick taste for third-world country shitboxes because the 2018 Suzuki Celerio took the win! Perfect for running around dirt roads and eating up miles along with oil, the automated manual makes this form of transportation exactly that: a form of transportation. Not far behind is the car that’ll outlive us all, the 1991 Mercedes 300D 2.5 Turbo. Slightly less crusty is the 2009 Toyota Corolla, with the practically new 2024 Chevy Onix in last.

Fuck this Car 2025

Not an award for the most fuckable car of the year. No no, this car, the 2022 Lamborghini Urus, gets the distinction of being the first car reviewed to have its own highlighted section for us to tell it to go eat shit and die. This lying farce of a car started at $225,000 when it was new, and feels like a Pimp My Ride VW Atlas inside. “Oh but it drives so good for an SUV and the power is-” I don’t care. Fuck this car.

The Hot Hatch Batch

The trend of cheap fun continues! And nothing screams cheap fun like a $50,000 Civic and Corolla! Regardless of that fact, we’ll never say no to the chance of beating the piss out of a hot hatch. So let’s look at the group this year!

Well, that was way too uncomfortably close. Separated by a single vote, just ONE VOTE, the 2024 Honda Civic Type-R remains the hot hatch king. With the lord’s shifter and a touring car god complex, the CTR is a true glutton for punishment, despite its dead steering and egregious fake engine noise. In a close second comes the 2024 Toyota GR Corolla, combining everything great about a Subaru WRX’s character with the industrial might of Toyota. Plus actual rally powertrain or whatever. The race for third was also separated by just ONE VOTE, putting the Bavarian’s “visually challenged” yet blandly capable 2025 BMW M135 xDrive just a tick ahead of the feisty nugget that is the 2015 Ford Fiesta ST. Its owner (and co-author) wishes to tell you that it’s the true correct choice (and the only one you can actually afford).

AutoX-Rated

A lot of Autocross specials this year! Our official MSIMA AutoX aficionados have been hard at work making backroom bathroom deals to get their hands on a number of finely honed racing machinery. So let’s look what they’ve got for us:

Aaaaaand because you guys don’t know how to BE SERIOUS, the winner for the AUTOCROSS CLASS is the joke answer we threw in to make it a 4 car battle. We made a JOKE about whipping the Ford F-250 Lowes Special around an autocross course. We never fucking did it you mongrels. But whatever, the mob wins again. In a semi-close second is the actual spec racer turned autocross car, the CSM spec Ford Mustang. You fuckers. Anyways, an autocross prepped 2019 Civic Type-R comes in third, with the 2017 V6 Camaro rounding up the rear.

The Worst Car From 3 Years Ago

As is now tradition, we look back to when MSIMA was a mere baby. A fetal blip in the ocean of the interwebs. Back to our roots, we pay homage to the worst of 2022, a way to clear our collective minds and really put our present work into perspective:

Surprisingly, we have another consecutive victory for the Jeep Cumpiss, with over 70% of all votes. Trailing behind in second place is the Jeep Compass, followed by the Jeep Compiss. Sadly, the Jeep Cumpass doesn’t get any recognition this year. Like, none. Not one puny little vote for the guy. Poor guy will probably kill himself or something, idk.

Who let us drive these?

Another year, another batch of cars we shouldn’t have gotten our hands on. How do we keep getting away with it? I’m not allowed to say until the lawsuit is settled, but it’s not out fault that garage doors are easy to open with an f250.

You know I’m not mad nor angry. Just a little surprised that the v12 Aston Martin didn’t win. Then again, looking at the 1950 Bentley mkVI, you do kinda wonder who would trust a bunch of undercooked adults with that thing. And what a thing it was honesty, taking the spot of perhaps our most memorable drive for the year. In second, comes the all mighty 2011 Aston Martin Rapide, but that won something already so no more words to waste here. Following in third is a track prepped 718 Cayman, last year’s most chuckable car. And finally, in 4th, the old man cruiser and oddly adept back road car, an AMG bodied 1972 r107 450SL.

MSIMA’s 2025 Best Car of the Year

This year, we at MSIMA performed an our first proper, grown up comparison test. Two automotive titans went head to head on a road and track battle to see which car can claim hypercar superiority. However, while we made up our minds, we want to heard from YOU!

In a UNANAMOUS VOTE, MSIMA’s first ever, the 2021 Mesopotamian Oxcart beats out the Bugatti Chiron 27 TO 0. Never has a vehicle been so revered and beloved, that even against the strongest of opponents, the Oxcart prevails. Analog vs digital, slow car fast vs fast car slow, no matter how you slice it, the Mesopotamians know what the fuck they’re doing.

The Most Chuckable Car of the Year

Finally, you’ve made it to the end. The last bit of recognition for the most chuckable car driven this year. A decent amount of chuckable material was driven this year, from loosely related rally homologations and TCR wannabes to oddly corner hungry EVs and repeat track cars from last year. Each car its own glutton for corner sending punishment, turn in temptation, and Appalachian back road terrorizing. However, of all these candidates, there can only be one most chuckable car if the year:

Now I was going to award this to the Porsche Cayman again, because I have no shame. However co-writer Pierce would’ve had me drawn and quartered on a livestream if I did that. So, instead we have the Ford Fiesta ST! An equally deserving car and one of the most chuckable nuggets in the business. So, let’s hear it form the man himself.

It’s fantastic in every way, but most recognizably being the wild and wacky handling characteristics. With the chassis being so damn stiff, all it wants to do is rotate! And since it’s FWD, there’s no fear of careening off a cliff because your dumbass doesn’t know how to hold a slide. Just plant your right foot and the car does the rest. So easily chuckable, so stupid and so fun. Plus for the first time, an egg-shaped car gets to win this!

Thanks for tuning in!

That’s a wrap of for car reviews in 2025. As the years progress, we get older and undergraduate college fun fades away. As such, the constant supply of new metal to drive gets paired with writing time that has faded away a little. Never fully gone, but looking at 2023, we managed to pull 50 vehicles out of our asses and hold a more consistent and frequent schedule. But regardless we soldier forward, because doing this is quite fun. Thank you all for reading and consuming content. Couldn’t do it without y’all!

Till the next review in 2026! – Monty, Pierce, Jerry Backlicker, Dan the Pinecone, the Skinwalker, your Official MSIMA Pimp, Comrade Zdzisław, SwedishDiesel, Xaroula, the Bidster, Aaron, Smith, your local NonCredible™ Mechanophile, and all those who’ve graced these pages under the MSIMA Guest writer account.

Anyways, take your data: