News Roundup: 2025 Ram REV, 2024 Mazda CX-90, and more 

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Welcome to our round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.

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Here’s what you missed while you were away.

2025 Ram 1500 REV revealed at NY International Auto Show

Ram Truck’s first battery-electric light-duty pickup truck, the 2025 Ram 1500 REV, was at the New York International Auto Show this week for its official international debut. A 168-kilowatt-hour battery pack comes standard, providing a reported 560-km range, but there’s also a larger 229-kilowatt-hour pack with a targeted range of over 800 km. That’s a big number for a big truck, which of course means it’s got to have big batteries, all of them to be protected for up to 24 inches of water-fording. 

Like its competition, the REV pickup can double as a power station for tailgaters, or even houses. All that range and usability, however, comes a hard cost, which we’re predicting will open around the $75,000 mark. 

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The 2025 Ram 1500 REV is scheduled to arrive in Canada in the fourth quarter of 2024. 

Opinion: Ontario’s OPCF 49 insurance agreement is straight-up predatory

It’s dressed up as a way for the provincial government to save you money, but Ontario’s new OPCF 49 agreement comes with some seriously dangerous potential downsides, according to columnist Lorraine Sommerfeld. What the agreement does is sign away a customer’s rights to recompense should their vehicle be damaged or destroyed in an accident (and here’s the critical part) even if it wasn’t their fault. 

For somebody with a long safe-driving record, opting in will only result in savings of around $300 per year, but for a young man in an expensive truck, for example, that annual savings could rise to $1,700, more than enough to tempt, but not nearly enough to cover the cost of any major repairs. Or, in Sommerfeld’s words, “those most impacted by sky-high insurance rates are also at the highest risk of considering this ‘choice’.”

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What’s new with the 2024 Mazda CX-90

Mazda’s new flagship SUV is also its first-ever plug-in hybrid and the most powerful production Mazda of all time. The 2024 CX-90 is available in 10 different configurations, including with either a PHEV powertrain or an inline-six-cylinder; and with seating for six, seven, or eight. 

Driving’s Jay Kana took the new Mazda for a first zoom-zoom late last month, and found the interior experience far elevated above that of the outgoing CX-9’s. He also noted the improved performance figures, which he says make it the best drive in the segment, beating out competition like the Toyota Highlander, Toyota Grand Highlander, Kia Telluride, Hyundai Palisade, Subaru Ascent, and Honda Pilot. 

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Get more driving notes and details on the 2024 Mazda CX-90 here. 

Highs and lows at the 2023 New York International Auto Show

The Javits Center in downtown New York, New York came to life this week, as automakers from around the world brought their latest and greatest goods to town for the 2023 New York International Auto Show. And we were there.

Our regular breakdown of the hits and misses this year includes the Genesis GV80 Coupe Concept (more on that production-preview down the list), the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness (one man’s hit, and another’s miss), and the Ram 1500 REV. The latter gets placed in the “miss” category for its sheer weight. We’re taking about an 8,000-lb-plus vehicle with a 3,000-lb-plus battery pack—how is that “green”?

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Kia’s 2024 EV9 also captured our attention as just the fourth all-electric three-row vehicle in Canada. Expect it to be the most affordable three-row EV option when it arrives. 

First Drive impressions in the 2023 Toyota Prius Prime

“Fast, furious, and frugal.” That’s how David Booth summarizes the new Prius Prime from Toyota, and he’s not wrong! The all-new Prius Prime looks and behaves much differently than its predecessor, with class-leading power that pushes it to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds, which may not sound so speedy until you compare it to the last Prius Prime’s 11.1-second sprint time. 

That increase in speed doesn’t seem to sacrifice efficiency, either. The PHEV’s 13.6-kilowatt-hour battery helped the Prime average 4.5 L/100 km in the XSE Premium during our test drive, even less than the rated 4.9 L/100 km. That doesn’t happen often. All-electric driving is now possible for up to 72 km per battery charge. 

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Read more stats, facts, and opinions on the all-new 2023 Prius Prime right here. 

Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness and more debuts at NYIAS 2023

As mentioned briefly above, two of the biggest debuts at the 2023 New York International Auto Show were the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness and the Genesis GV80 Coupe Concept. 

The Genesis is the coupe-SUV version (hey, all the other luxury makers are doing it, so why not Genny?) of the GV80 SUV, which is itself the SUV version of the G80 sedan. All of this is to say there’s plenty of nameplate recognition for the new vehicle to ride on. And although this is a concept with just four sport bucket seats and pretty aggressive styling, it will likely enter production soon, and probably not with too many changes. The thing looks nearly production-ready, and Genesis has confirmed it will be built in some form. 

Subaru’s Wilderness trim of the Crosstrek debuted in the brand’s dog-park-style auto-show booth, this time complete with actual live dogs you could pet. The Crosstrek Wilderness joins a number of other daily-driver AWD CUVs dressed up for the outdoors, with a half-inch lift and 9.3 inches of ground clearance, a front skid plate, knobby Yokohama Geolander all-terrain tires, and a lower drive ratio to provide more powerful starts and increased torque for off-roading. Subaru will begin delivery of the 2024 Crosstrek Wilderness this fall.