TopSpeed

Walk into a Toyota or Honda showroom looking for an efficient small crossover and you will hear two names. The Kia Niro Hybrid rarely makes the shortlist, which is odd, because the numbers say it should. In its most efficient trims, it is rated at 53 mpg combined. It undercuts its Toyota rival on price, offers more room, and comes with a long Kia warranty. Yet it sells in a fraction of the volume. Here is what the Niro actually offers, where it falls short, and why so many buyers never try it.

Shopping for your first motorcycle is equal parts exciting and overwhelming — and if Royal Enfield is on your radar, the lineup can send mixed signals. Yes, the brand offers some of the most accessible price points in the segment, with certain models dipping well under $5,000. But affordability alone doesn't make a great first bike.

For two decades, the body-on-frame SUV conversation started and ended with the same two names. Wrangler owners mocked Toyota's aging V6, Bronco owners pointed to their locking diffs and 35-inch tires, and the old fifth-generation 4Runner sat quietly in the corner, reliable but irrelevant to the argument. That silence just ended with the new sixth-generation 4Runner.

When the fifth-generation Honda Prelude rolled off the assembly line in 2001, it marked the end of an era. For nearly two decades, the nameplate served as the Japanese firm's technological showcase, a sleek, front-wheel-drive sports coupe that introduced pioneering features like Four-Wheel Steering (4WS) and Active Torque Transfer System (ATTS).

There is an obvious reason a buyer chooses a BMW, and the choice narrows by the time they choose a 2 Series coupe, and is more finely tuned when they choose an M-inspired 2 Series Coupe. There is little to no chance that buyer is going to look at a Hyundai because the Korean brand is far below their prestige consideration—it doesn't make coupes.

Middleweight motorcycles seem to have developed a mild case of feature inflation. In order to give the buyer the best value for money, they’re employing bigger engines, increasingly sophisticated electronics, adjustable suspension, and premium hardware. All of it sounds great and is useful, but they have also pushed supposedly accessible all-rounders past $10,000 surprisingly quickly.

Lucid is a California-based electric vehicle brand that actually had some pretty humble beginnings as a battery company starting in 2007. They were originally known as Atieva, founded by Bernard Tse and Sam Wang. It wasn't until 2016 that they rebranded as Lucid Motors when they simultaneously revealed the Edna and the Air prototypes. By 2021, they went public thanks to a merger and opened their first production facility in Casa Grande, Arizona.

​Taking your bike for a weekend canyon ride or a highway trip is something every rider looks forward to. However, a motorcycle that gets the job done every day seems to hold more importance. A big cruiser for long hauls or a sharp sports bike for track days is something you may want in your garage. But everyday usability takes a hit with these motorcycles. So, to get around the city every day, naked bikes have proven to be a wise choice.

The modern BMW M5 delivers astonishing performance, but its price has moved it beyond the reach of many traditional sports-sedan buyers. A new 540i xDrive is considerably more attainable, yet its 375-horsepower inline-six cannot match the sound, speed, or sense of occasion of a genuine super sedan. That creates an opening in the used market for buyers willing to exchange a new-car warranty for considerably more performance.

Big cruisers age differently from most other forms of motorcycles. The styling mostly ages with time, and performance numbers matter much less because their mechanical simplicity becomes more valuable as the bike ages. The catch is that age also exposes neglected maintenance, awkward service requirements, and scarce parts, let alone anything proprietary. A used heavyweight cruiser therefore needs more than just chrome and displacement.