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Editors’ Picks March 2023 | Hot hatch galore and some great luxury SUVs

This month of Editors’ Picks sees us hand out a pair of nods to the best hot hatchbacks money can buy these days, the Honda Civic Type R and Toyota GR Corolla. You can read more about how they compare in our head-to-head comparison test, but both have their advantages, and we can highly recommend buying either of them. Then we head to Europe to recognize a couple of SUVs that just went through mid-cycle refreshes and came out on the other side just as lovable as they were before. In case you missed our previous Editors' Picks posts, hereÂ’s a quick refresher on whatÂ’s going on here. We rate all the new cars we drive with a 1-10 score. Cars that are exemplary in their respective segments get an EditorsÂ’ Pick designation. Those are the ones weÂ’d recommend to our friends, family and anybody whoÂ’s curious and asks the question. The list that youÂ’ll find below consists of every car we rated in January that earned an EditorsÂ’ Pick. 2023 Honda Civic Type R 2023 Honda Civic Type R front low View 34 Photos Quick take: The Honda Civic Type R embodies what at means to be a hot hatch. It's the best FWD car we've ever driven, and because it's a Civic, it excels with a spacious and pretty interior, too. This is the full package. Score: 8.5 What it competes with: Toyota GR Corolla, VW Golf R Pros: Sublime driving dynamics, magical shifter, gorgeous and utilitarian interior Cons: An expensive proposition, lacks basic luxuries like heated seats From the editors: Senior Editor James Riswick — "The Civic Type R is a resolutely composed performance machine that sufficiently builds upon the delightful man-machine interfaces found in the increasingly impressive trio of Civic Sport Touring, Civic Si and Acura Integra A-Spec. ItÂ’s even more fun and capable at higher speeds, yet remains just as forgiving and easy to drive. The 2023 Honda Civic Type R sure seems all grown up. Maybe itÂ’s because IÂ’m almost in my 40s, (ugh) but I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. The Type R magic is not lost." In-depth analysis: 2023 Honda Civic Type R First Drive Review: All grown up isn't so bad   2023 Toyota GR Corolla 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Circuit front three quarter low View 39 Photos Quick take: The GR Corolla is a serious performance machine that is sure to please any enthusiast with its brilliant driving dynamics. It's only let down by a cheap-feeling and small interior that doesn't lend well to daily driver duty.

Weekly Recap: Ferrari, Ford and Porsche power up for Geneva

Monday was Groundhog Day. Tuesday, apparently, was Sports Car Day. The Ferrari 488 GTB, the Ford Focus RS and the Porsche Cayman GT4 all debuted within hours of each other ahead of their rollouts at the Geneva Motor Show. Three sporty machines, three vastly different approaches – and a lot of implications for enthusiasts. That's a day worth repeating. It also illustrates the opportunities automakers see in the performance market, which is expected to grow in the coming years. Ford estimates the segment has expanded 14 percent in Europe and surged 70 percent in North America since 2009. The Detroit Auto Show was evidence of this, and performance cars of every stripe debuted, including the Acura NSX, Ford GT, Alfa Romeo 4C Spider and several others. This isn't a fad. Performance cars aren't going away. The question is why? Stricter CAFE standards are looming in the United States, as are tighter emissions regulations in Europe. And no one expects gas prices to remain low in America. None of this matters for sports cars, and automakers are increasingly using them to elevate their images. That's why Dodge rolled out two 707-horsepower Hellcats last year. It's why Ford has decided to resurrect the GT for road and track. It's why in the depths of bankruptcy, General Motors continued work on the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, not to mention the Z06. "Great brands are made one car at a time," Ford of Europe president Jim Farley said at the reveal of the Focus RS. Still, companies make those cars for different reasons. View 5 Photos Mainstream brands like Ford and Dodge want to build cars that get people talking, excite their bases and drive more potential customers into the showroom. They probably don't buy a Focus RS or a Hellcat, but suddenly the regular Focus hatch looks a bit hotter, and that V6 Charger seems to be just a touch more muscular. The halo of performance is alive and well in the eyes of automakers and their customers. "It's one of the most effective catalysts for ingenuity and innovation," said Joe Bakaj, vice president of product development for Ford of Europe. That also leads to a trickle-down effect. Some of the technologies inevitably make their way to other products. It's hard to think the new all-wheel-drive system in the Focus RS that distributes torque front to rear and side to side won't be used in other vehicles. It's different for Ferrari and Porsche.

Toyota finds profit in Europe thanks to hybrid sales

In the land of diesel, Toyota appears to be making money its own way and thereby making more of it. The Japanese automaker is taking on Europe's diesel-centric ways by substantially boosting sales of hybrids on the continent. That, along with cost cutting measures, has increased the company's European profitability, Automotive News says, citing recent remarks by Toyota's European operations chief Didier Leroy. Toyota, which lost money in Europe between 2008 and 2011, started turning things around two years ago by cutting labor at places like UK factories while consolidating production of models such as the Auris and Yaris hybrid vehicles. During the most recently completed financial year, Toyota Europe reported earnings that were up 75 percent from the year before, despite revenue being up just five percent. The company also aims to sell at least 1 million vehicles in Europe by next year and is boosting sales in countries like Russia. Late last year, Didier told Bloomberg News that Toyota's European market share was rising about one percentage point a year, while production at Toyota's factories in countries like France, Turkey and the UK were running at full capacity. Toyota estimated at the time that hybrids accounted for about a fifth of Toyota's European sales.