IT'S BEEN A GOOD YEAR

It’s a year where high spots have been a little sparse. The annual custom where we celebrate the cars that put joy and excitement above all else, TopGear Speed Week, had to cope with a few absentees. Still, warm your heart with the fact Ferrari made the genius 296 GTB and Morgan the hilarious new Super 3. Better yet, know that something exists so good it beat them both. Hail the Porsche Cayman GT4 RS.

Back in the real world, the French had a good 2022. They don’t make the most exciting cars – wonderful Alpine A110 excepted – but they have clarified what they stand for. Every recent French car has a practical, good quality interior, appealing design and a general cheeriness down the road. Buyers like them. Dacia (OK, Romanian but part of a Parisian empire) with the Manifesto and Citroen with the Oli built concept cars that are delightfully simple and spare. Both companies are clearly working hard on ways to make new cars easier to own and cheaper. Sadly, too much of the car biz seems to be forgetting this.

Oil companies had a good year. Not because of anything they did. It’s just that energy was in shortage and they, as per the rules of capitalism, went ahead and gorged. Pity they didn’t invest much in renewables so as to become future facing energy companies. Still, electrification also had a good year, as shown by two of the great concepts we drove: the Porsche Mission R and Mercedes EQXX.

Whether your car is fuelled by pump or plug, at least in 2022 it was easier to go on a roadtrip again, free of most COVID barriers. It matters more where you go, and along what road, than what you drive. Take time celebrating the freedom we love in cars.