The biggest automotive hits and misses of 2024 according to Drive

There have been many highs and many lows in the automotive world this year, so these are the highlights from the Drive team.

With another year relegated to the annals of automotive history, there have been a number of highs and lows over the last 12 months.

And Drive has been at the forefront of it all as the biggest automotive publisher in Australia with multiple streams of content across various media.

We look back and give our take on the best and worst of 2024.

Alex Misoyannis, Deputy News Editor – Hit: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

It’s easy to criticise the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N from your sofa at home. $111,000 is a power of money for a Hyundai, it can only cover 450km on a charge (at best), and in an Instagram reel, the synthetic engine noises sound terrible.

But drive one and it’s a different story.

It’s fast but approachable, spacious but hides its size reasonably well, there’s plenty of grip when you want it (and trick differentials when you don’t), and the simulated gears and engine noise add a degree of driver engagement that is missing from every other EV.

Even the biggest skeptics I’ve spoken to about the car were won over on a quick drive – or even a few minutes in the passenger seat.

When Hyundai can apply the Ioniq 5 N’s tech to a smaller (and cheaper) car, it will convince plenty of rusted-on car enthusiasts to make the switch to an EV.

Alex Misoyannis, Deputy News Editor – Miss: EV chargers (again)

This was my miss of 2023, but the public electric-car charging network (with the exception of Tesla Superchargers) hasn’t improved enough over the past 12 months to justify choosing anything else.

I spent three months of the year in an MG 4 to find out what it’s like living with an EV without home charging (read more on that test here), and while the car was fantastic, the charging experience was not.

Most of the frustrations were related to broken chargers that cut the capacity of sites by a third or 50 per cent, charging stations not delivering their full output, and EV owners hogging charging bays to crawl their vehicles’ batteries up to 100 per cent while others wait.

All up, I spent 29 hours and 30 minutes charging electric cars last year, 72 times longer than it would’ve taken to fill up a petrol car with the fuel needed to cover the same distance.

Ben Zachariah, Journalist – Hit: F1

It’s been one of the best seasons of Formula One in recent memory, made only better by Drive to Survive popularising the category – to the point where my partner now knows more about the paddock politics than I do, and she’s able to watch more races than I’m able to and fill me in.

The quality of racing has been stellar, the diversity in the podiums has been fantastic, and while it was sad to see Danny Ric say goodbye (for now…), it was a pleasure seeing Oscar continue flying the flag for Australia and do us proud.

Ben Zachariah, Journalist – Miss: Cars getting more expensive

There’s never been more choice for new-car buyers in Australia – unless you’re after something affordable. Arguing about macroeconomic forces is like shouting into the wind, but in 2009, the cheapest new car on the market was $11,990 before on-road costs.

These days, you have to spend $18,290 before on-roads for a new car – an increase of 52.5 per cent. Compare that to the median salary, which in Australia in 2009 was just shy of $49,000, and has risen by almost 33 per cent to $65,000 today.

The difference is that new cars are now required to have far more life-saving safety gear on board compared with 2009. But for those who are now priced out of the new-car market, it just means they’re buying older used cars without the safety equipment anyway, and now don’t have the advantage of a factory warranty.

Someone find me a strong wind…

Jordan Hickey, Journalist – Hit: Hyundai Tucson Hybrid

I’m a big fan of the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid released this year to coincide with its mid-life facelift. If there’s any mid-size SUV out there to wean Australia’s massive appetite for the now-hybrid-only Toyota RAV4, this is it.

Hyundai has ticked all of the important boxes: Fuel-sipping powertrain but still with enough power? Tick. Up-to-date technology? Tick. Big boot? Tick. Choice of several variants to suit different budgets? Tick.

Best of all, it was the first model from the brand to include a simple mute-button fix for that annoying speed-limit warning, which has now rolled out over-the-air for other vehicles (although it still defaults to ‘on’ with each start-up). Commendable effort, Hyundai, and it’s likely you’ll be seeing more of these hit local roads in 2025.  

Jordan Hickey, Journalist – Miss: Toyota LandCruiser Prado

Don’t get me wrong: The new Prado 250 Series is undoubtedly a great car, and a nice step up over its 15-year-old 150 Series predecessor by taking the best bits from its LandCruiser 300 sibling.

Toyota has already set a monthly record in the 250 Series’ first month on sale, and it’s likely to remain as Australia’s best-selling large SUV in 2025. So why is it a miss?

My biggest issue with the Prado is the price. It now starts from over $70,000 before on-road costs for the base model with a plastic steering wheel and manual seats, about the same as an almost top-of-the-range Ford Everest Sport, and rises to $100,000 for the flagship Kakadu – or around $110,000 drive-away.

Is it really worth the premium over the Everest, more so over the Isuzu MU-X? These significant price rises – around $10,000 for each variant – combined with the same 2.8-litre diesel as before (albeit with 48-volt tech and a new eight-speed auto), a compromised luggage area, no sliding second-row seats, and no V6 diesel or turbo-hybrid options is a little souring for the all-new model. 

Tom Fraser, Journalist – Hit: NVES

Controversially, I think the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard is a big win for Australia. Carmakers (and the Australian public) have long called for a fuel efficiency standard and we now have one, as of 1 January 2025.

I have high hopes for the scheme and how it’ll shake up the local automotive sector. Fingers crossed, it spurs manufacturers on to bring in more efficient cars to the country. It’s not an electric vehicle standard, but it’s about reducing the overall emissions of all vehicles on the market. I really like the nuance there.

It might not be the efficiency standard that all carmakers were hoping for, and it might be applied sooner than anticipated, but the end result will be a net win for the Australian car-buying public.

Tom Fraser, Journalist – Miss: Driver attention monitors

Driver attention monitors aren’t brand new in 2024, but I’ve particularly come to despise this technology over the last 12 months.

Seemingly, no brand can do a good, functional driver attention monitor.

These systems come in varying forms as part of a car’s active safety boasts, but they all aim to detect when a driver has lost focus on the road ahead and prompt the driver into resuming their attention.

Sounds good on paper, but the real-world functionality isn’t there.

Systems often falsely detect my perceived inattention. It can be as simple as me wearing a pair of sunnies that a car will sound a little chime to tell me that I’m not looking at the road ahead.

I am, but it simply can’t see my eyes.

Even more frustrating is when carmakers put key car controls within the infotainment system and then the driver attention monitor has a go when you dare change a setting while driving the car. It’s nuts!

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