Best Of The Bay 2025 With Andrew Frankl

Greetings from Petaluma California, about an hour’s drive north from San Francisco. where this year’s Best of the Bay is being held.

There are an awful lot of auto journalists, wanna be auto journalists, so-called auto influencers-average age 19- in the Bay area, but when it comes to the top 14 The Auto Channel’s European Bureau Chief was among them. 14 top journalists, 14 top cars and SUVs.

This, the third annual Best of the Bay diving event was held-under gloomy northern California skies

The event’s HQ was the Sheraton hotel just off the 101 highway and literally within a mile of the nearest winery.

There was one interesting change from last year, we were asked to rank the various cars and SUVs by price category.

We had four under 50 thousand dollars, 6 under 75 thousand dollars and four to over over 75 thousand dollars with the mighty Lexus LX 700h topping the list at 141 thousand dollars taking it head to head in cost with Range Rovers.

I was seriously underwhelmed by Acura’s least expensive model, as headmasters say- Acura, you can do better!

And indeed they can-do because this 190hp 1.5 liter engine with CVT transmission is modest. Sluggish. The ride and handling are ok but with little go and no hybrid it didn’t get anywhere near my top choice.

One of the under 50 thou rivals was a lot more fun! Loved twisty road. It is a twin to the Dodge Hornet, a car I enjoyed very much last year. 268 hp and all-wheel drive with an exceptionally beautiful dark green paint it looked Italian and Sounded Italian. The interior was more Aperol than Campari so when all was said and done it did not get my vote for the best under 50.

The runner-up in this category and my personal choice was KIA’s Sportage Hybrid SX-Prestige AWD, I was very anxious about the value for money factor and felt that at just under 42 thousand dollars this KIA was exceptional value for money. I liked the styling, the space and everything this SUV had to offer.

Sometimes you get into the driver’s seat and feel immediately at home. 268 horses and up to 34 miles in electric mode.

As regular readers know I have been with The Auto Channel for 30 years-the question I always pose at the end every test-would I buy one?

The answer in this instance is a definite yes.

The group was eventually won by the equally excellent Subaru Solterra EV.

It is much-loved Subaru’s first entry into the EV world. The range is in the region of 270 miles which is very impressive. It has standard all wheel drive and this Subie is light and airy.

The price is a highly competitive 45 thousand dollars and if I were in the market for an inexpensive SUV I would certainly take a close look.

Some of my colleagues declared it a bargain and I can’t argue with that.

The Solterra's biggest problem might be the price as it might be affected by the latest tariffs.

The next category- cars and SUVs under 75 thousand dollars was won by my choice for overall winner-Jeep’s Wagoneer S Limited 4Xe. (Don’t ask me what all this is about, to me this is a Jeep EV, pure and simple.)

Anyway, not to make too fine a point on it I loved it.

Here I have to declare a bias. The family has a 10 year old Jeep which never misses a beat.

It needed a new set of Michelin tires (the thinking man’s tire). Our Jeep has been all over America from Miami to LA to SF and once it has been to the car detailer it looked as good as new.

Once inside the new Jeep I felt immediately at home apart from the silence which was a far cry from what we have in the garage!

Jeep claims 294 miles before empty but if you are off to ski in the Sierras with heater and radio on full volume I would suggest assume 250 to avoid range anxiety.

There are plenty of charging stations on route in Truckee and getting there should not be a problem. The comfort is supreme and at 70 thousand dollars I would consider it good value.

My journalist colleagues seem to agree that like me, they were raring to go on a road trip. Panoramic sunroof, 19 McIntosh speakers-what more do you need?

I should point out that it was a very close race indeed with the amazing 2026 Hyundai IONIQ AWD. I admired the styling, the range- the top 9 is good for well over 300 miles and it felt very space age.

To be honest it was a bit too high tech for me, I would need more time to appreciate its finer points.

Some of my colleagues absolutely loved it and it only lost out to the Jeep by one point!

There is a beautiful Yiddish word-chutzpah...it neatly sums up the winner of the over 75 thousand dollar category-the Dodge Charger Daytona EV Scat Pack track package.

Oh my life! Someone somewhere within the Stellantis corporation had the guts to approve this machine.

The cheek, the audacity and the sheer joy it is giving to people lucky enough to find one!

In case you have never heard of the Charger EV you are in for a surprise. Not only does it have a 400 volt propulsion system it also has a special sound system which blew everybody’s socks off.

I am talking about a synthesized sound system which means that if you choose to have it will make all the amazing sounds -Smokey and the Bandit, The Cannonball run.

Of course the Best of the Bay gathering is much more than driving cars and SUVs. It is a chance to catch up with representatives of the various makes one on one.

It is also an opportunity to catch up with colleagues and exchange views on the various products. I found out for instance that Stellantis were about to close the foundry and go all-electric in that wave of hysteria from a few years back.

In other words they nearly did a Jaguar. But mercifully under the Trump administration-whether you like him or not-manufacturers such as GM and Ford have had the shackles taken off and can produce what their customers want-big powerful gas guzzlers.

I am not going to discuss the right and wrongs of big V8 engines, but if you look at it from the viewpoint of the workers, the men and women assembling these SUVs first and foremost there have a job!

We all agree that EVs are here to stay but not to the extents some people demanded.

And of course gas powered trucks are far cleaner than they were many years ago.

Coming back to the 14 vehicles, the ones that I will remember for a long time were the Jeep and the Dodge, the amazing Hyundai the IONIQ 9, the tremendous value Kia Sportage and the Solterra which will appeal to Subaru’s very loyal customers.

I don’t have any statistics to back up my feeling but I think Subaru has the most loyal customer base with the exception of the Mazda Miata.

All in all this event was a very enjoyable two days. Great location, excellent accommodation and food. I just hope that next year’s event will be as productive as this one was.