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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.

Toyota delves into the history of its Land Cruiser

One of the longest-produced, most widely distributed vehicles in all of automotive history is also one of its most rugged: the Toyota Land Cruiser. With 60 years of continuous production, 14 different model lines and thousands of variations of the Jeep-like sports utility vehicle, the Land Cruiser became a success worldwide and developed a cult following among enthusiasts here in the US.
We'll be the first to admit that tracing the vehicle's lineage from its humble beginnings as a prototype for Japan's National Police Reserve in 1951 to what it is today isn't an easy task, especially when one considers that the types of Land Cruisers produced traditionally have varied from market to market. For example, the Land Cruiser sold in the US is very different from the US-only 40 series Land Cruiser-inspired FJ Cruiser, which is itself different from the Land Cruiser Prado sold in other world markets.
To cover the Land Cruiser's sixty-plus year history from start to present, someone over at Toyota UK was thoughtful enough to devote a plus-size blog post to it. It's worth a read if you have a spare 10 or 15 minutes - and even if you don't, you can check out our historical gallery above. Enjoy!

Audi investing $30.3 billion through 2018 for product expansion

How does Audi plan to reach two million units in annual sales and pay for the 11 new models it's adding to its lineup - an expansion that may include models named SQ2, Q9 and F-Tron? By increasing its investment to 22 billion euros ($30.3 billion US) between now and 2018. That figure represents an increase of about 500 million euros over the previously planned outlay, according to a report by Automotive News, and that could be due to Audi wishing to goad the momentum that pushed it to 1.5 million annual sales two years ahead of schedule.
It's also about staving off the challenges from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Now that BMW has been able to turn some of its attention away from its "i" series of Megacity cars, it will reportedly spend more than planned in 2014 as it continues the rollout of ten all-new vehicles and 15 new-generation vehicles through the end of next year. Mercedes, having been dropped to third in the sales race, is preparing to add 13 new cars over the next six years.
Audi's money is going into technology, into product like the next-generation TT and the Q1 and production expansions and upgrades all over the world. The expenditure represents just under a fourth of Volkswagen's 84.2 billion-euro ($115.7 US) outlay devoted to taking the number-one global automaker title away from General Motors and Toyota by 2018.