It’s Pumpkin Spice Season, So Here Are 10 Hugely Anticipated New Car Launches

Look, we’re not bitter. You want a pumpkin spice latte, spam, or—hmm—deodorant? To each their own. Some anticipate the start of pumpkin-spice everything season for weeks or even months, and we can relate. MotorTrend has often waited patiently to drive, photograph, and actually test cars with excruciatingly long development cycles. Once these new cars arrived, we were all over them, evaluating how their unique flavors added color to the industry.

So what new cars from the last few years have been anticipated as much as pumpkin spice lattes and all its fall friends? Keep reading to find out.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: Worth the wait. But will we say the same about trims below the Turbo S?

The initial interest in the 2020 Hyundai Sonata astounded some of us at MotorTrend. Hyundai‘s years-long resurgence may continue with its new midsize sedan, which replaces a car whose post-refresh design had gone stale. Once the newness of the 2020 Sonata’s design wears off, just like a pumpkin spice pastry or latte, will we tire of the rest of the package, or will it continue to satisfy? Stay tuned.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: Through the roof, but whether the interest will last year after year—as it has with pumpkin spice everything—remains unclear.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: Nothing has been more hyped than the new Corvette, and we doubt we’ll tire of this supercar-at-a-Corvette-price anytime soon.

The NSX is a legendary nameplate with a dramatic history. After the first-gen model left, Acura was developing a front-engine V-10 model before that was canceled. The pumpkin spice craze has definitely seen a more consistent swell of interest from the public. That’s not to say the current NSX hasn’t arrived in a good place; the current model is a technologically advanced V-6 AWD hybrid. As we wrote in our 2019 Acura NSX review, “technology and emotion can happily coexist, counterintuitive as that might seem.”

Pumpkin Spice Rating: This one’s got complex flavors.

Hear us out. Subaru went big for its first three-row crossover with the B9 Tribeca. Inside and out, the Tribeca was interesting, strange, or downright ugly, depending on your perspective. So Subaru took a few years off from the segment after 2014 and returned with the boxy and conventionally styled Ascent. The idea of a new Subaru three-row SUV is something we’d waited years to see, and we had our first chance to get behind the wheel late in 2017.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: Satisfying yet also slightly bland. Still, you won’t be disappointed with this one.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: It’s the flavor you didn’t know you should be craving.

Once a luxury version of the Ford Explorer from the 2000s, the reinvigorated Aviator nameplate returns as … a Lincoln-engineered and -designed version of an Explorer. And as we discovered through extensive testing of 2020 Aviator hybrid and non-hybrid models, it’s pretty darn good. Compare the production SUV to the original concept, which we featured in 2018 here.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: Like a pumpkin spice pastry, it could be better than you think if you’re accustomed to more familiar options.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: It’s the one you forgot about years ago, and now it’s back. But is it any good?

A new Wrangler doesn’t arrive every day, so we were excited to test the new one. After thorough testing, the Wrangler proved its worth and became the 2019 SUV of the Year.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: Just like pumpkin spice season, you’ll either love or hate the inimitable Jeep.

Pumpkin Spice Rating: A bold taste of the future.