These Are Your 2022 Automotive Highlights

We've just about made it through another year. With 2023 just days away, now is the time to look back on 2022 with some rose tinted glasses. It's actually serendipitous that this is my last answer of the day for 2022, because it's also the one year anniversary of me joining Jalopnik.

It's been a fruitful year, getting to know you folks, making some friends and driving some great cars. My Jalopnik counterparts are working on various ways to reflect on the year through all the trials and tribulations 2022 threw our way. I'm sure you have a little list yourself.

That's why we are taking a look at your 2022 automotive highlights. What put a smile on your face this year? Let's see what you all had to say.

This weekend I filled up my car with $2.549 gas.

(Joke here) Now I don't need to shop an EV and can get a 8+ liter Truck like I always wanted!

(real comment here). The drop in gas prices will reduce inflation pressure across the board and hopefully make 2023 a year I can make ends met, unlike 2022, when I tried to do so with a 2% raise in a world of 8% inflation.

Things are looking up for 2023. Let's just hope there isn't another global disaster to knock gas prices off their downward trend.

Submitted by: hoser68

I road tripped with wife/boys and camped for 24 days straight: Chicago>Nebraska>Great Salt Lake>Tahoe>SF Bay>Rincon Beach>Grand Canyon>Moab>Neb. We ended the trip telling the boys (8/10) that the last camp site *might* have a pond to swim in, but it was a water park/hotel. Incredibly, zero divorces resulted from this trip.

I did a bunch of last minute work on the trailer right before we left, and was mostly sure we wouldn't be stuck on the side of the highway. We woke up to some amazing sunrises and saw the country up close. My son threw up at the Grand Canyon, we ate dinner as the waves crashed, showered naked in the woods, saw some antelope up close and the kids became comfortable being uncomfortable.

Road trips really are the best thing in the world, aren't they? Here's hoping you can make even more memories behind the wheel with your family in 2023! There's no better place to do that than in a car on an empty highway.

Submitted by: RustyBolts

Purchased a vintage Coleman cooler off marketplace. Went to this warehouse to pick up. These Volkswagens were in the warehouse too. They came home also. Turquoise one is a 1961, tan is a 1965. The Coleman ended up being a 1959 cooler

What an awesome little surprise that is! It's always great to find another car person in the wild.

Submitted by: NEA Dubhunter

Put it back together and everything worked after this.

I couldn't even dream of doing this. Good on you, brother.

Submitted by: Bob

The kid turned 16. She saved up some coin and paid for half of a Ghia project. Got it road worthy and spent some time in a large parking lot teaching her stick. She's about an hour away from feeling confident to take it on the road. So yeah, a pretty good highlight.

My heart, it's so warm right now.

Submitted by: SOLObucky

On a reccomend from this website, me and my buddy tried out Circle Drags. He won a dope trophy and showed all those rednecks what a little AWD import power could do.

I made it to the final 4 and got put out by a Gran Sport Corvette, so I am ok with this.

That rules. Good on ya. Keep working at it and someday, you'll beat the Corvette Grand Sport.

Submitted by: the_AUGHT

Jalopnik deleting this comment:

"You can say that about most any car from decades ago, yet a significant chunk of the population still wants them, enough to drive the price of a old cars well over the practical comparison test that you are applying.

How do you feel about $40,000 microcars?

Tbe real question is do they offer something that people want. Styling, driving experience, nostalgia, perceived cache or exclusivity, etc. I would argue this particular car doesn't have $15,000 dollars worth of that. But the simple statement "old cars worse" really isn't how the market works.

See also VicVinegar's statement below."

Disagreed with original commenter that cars are bad just because new cars are objectively better. Didn't curse, didn't call names, even think there might have been some logic and reasoning in there. But nevertheless zapped.

Thanks Jalopnik, good to know what I say matters to somebody.

As someone who works with Kinja every day, it can be a cruel and unforgiving mistress.

Submitted byL glemon

Finally seeing an EV from a start-up that isn't a Tesla out in the wild: the Rivian R1T. Not only did it blow the mind of my 10 year old (who belongs to a generation that only dreams of owning the official car of YouTube influencers: the Tesla Model Y), but we also got to park next to one and witness the mix of the friendly yet somehow creepy cartoon character (Gary?) of Rivian's Gear Guard surveillance on the infotainment screen when we took a peek inside.

Also, the owners must really like blue, because that's the only color we saw every time we spotted one.

Rivians are definitely a cool piece of kit. I always catch myself staring at one when I see it drive by, and that's starting to happen a lot more often.

Submitted by: paradescar

My VW 411 Lemons race car TOTALLY REDEEMED ITSELF by winning the Southern Fried Heaps Lemons Rally. This car failed to make the start and ultimately died with transmission issues on the Texas Lemons Rally the prior year, so we focused on putting it back together slowly this time and making sure we didn't make any mistakes. It was good enough in time for the Southern Fried Heaps rally, and the starting line in Alabama was close enough that, heck, sure. Send it.

It was a nearly 4,000-mile round-trip in a car that still fouled plugs and had a death wobble, but the sheer hooptieness of the car and the fact that Jason and I drove it there and back all the way from Austin—via both our moms' houses, which meant that my mom finally got to see one of my hooptie race cars in person for the first time, haha—meant we were a shoe-in for the top prize.

This was the year of The Dreaded Laramie, hands down, all hail my worst garbage car son.

I really need to make it new bushings now, though. The death wobble between roughly 45 and 55 mph yanked my arm loose to the point where my shoulder was borked for the next couple weeks after that. SOON! Well, after the 944 gets driveable. Technically, the 411 still runs, so it's a lower priority.

Hell yeah, Stef! That's what's up.

Submitted by: Stef Schrader

I guess my personal automotive highlight is still upcoming. Back in the spring a tree fell on my SRT-4 Neon, which I bought new and now have about 242K miles on. There's an old engineering saying along the lines of, "Good, cheap, fast. Pick two." I opted for good and cheap. The company I work for does some painting of trucks for another local company, so we have a large liquid paint booth and a good body and paint guy. Having him do the work is saving me a lot of money but taking a long time, since he's only been able to work on it part time. I decided to splurge a bit and add some subtle classy stripes. The windshield is being replaced tomorrow, so it finally should be finished this week! It's looking awesome. It's such a fun little car. I'll keep it until it falls apart, or until my aging knee doesn't let me press the clutch anymore.

Good and cheap is probably the right way to go. I'm excited to see how this build turns out. The Neon SRT-4 rocks!

Submitted by: CSX321

I managed to order a Mini manual Clubman S Untold. I placed an order a few weeks before Mini announced that they would pause manual transmissions due to the war in Ukraine. Soon after, my order changed to an automatic non-Untold. Then I called as many dealers as I could (10?) and no one could order one. The ones they ordered were for customers. Just when I about gave up hope and started looking at other manual cars (GTI, Mustang), my sales rep told me a co-worker ordered one exactly like mine and ended up backing out of it and he gave the order to me. He had placed the order a month before me and so the manual went into production. That's in a nutshell but there was so many twists and turns and so much stress and in the end, I got my last manual-ICE dream car. Also, when Mini brought back the manuals, they brought it back to all models EXCEPT the Clubman (which will probably cease as a model after 2023), so I really lucked out.

You should play the lottery because that is some good-ass luck. Cheers, brother.

Submitted by: Capt. Janeway's Imaginary Cat

For me – finally being able to go to car shows and other events after two years of COVID-related cancellations.

We really took being outdoors for granted all these years. I'm happy to be back outside looking at cars once again.

Submitted by: Earthbound Misfit I

Most anything I care about is in the rear view mirror (namely manual cars that are engaging and fun to drive) so I expect that as far as I can keep affording some of that I'll be looking at used cars until I become too unsafe to drive.

The one thing that gave me some relief this year is seeing that the ID Buzz doesn't seem to suck. I am dismayed to see everyone using the move to EVs to just build the same thing (luxury sedans and crossovers, with the odd truck and SUV) but EV instead of experimenting more with packaging and design. The Buzz may not be that revolutionary (it's a minivan) but it proves that the concept works in an EV package and hopefully it and others like it will bring some sense to the vehicle market.

Good news, fella. There are still plenty of fun-to-drive manual transmission vehicles for sale right now that are brand new. But that being said, looking to the future, the newest batch of EVs do bring a hell of a lot of fun to the table!

Submitted byL My Littel Metroid

In 2022 my epic experiences involved driving rather than wrenching. I only had one mechanical job that required me to use a jack stand and it took 30 minutes. On the other hand we took two trips to opposite corners of Oregon that were 6 hours of driving each way and one trip included a lot of gravel roads. This also involved a grand total of 20 miles of Interstate highway which was my only Interstate driving in 2022

I also successfully resurrected a motorcycle that had last run in 1997.

Wow, this sounds like an ideal year all round. Good for you – especially the motorcycle bit. Keep 'em alive!

Submitted by: Slow Joe Crow

Hosting the Calgary leg of The Distinguished Gentleman's Drive in my Dad's memory, and channeling the classic car hobby to raise over $20,000 for men's health, mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate cancer research.

Nah, not me crying in the answer of the day. I'd never do that. Dad is proud, wherever he is.

Submitted by: TRath