We spent a day this week in southwest Denver convening with automobile industry public relations people and a wide swath of new vehicles. And as the political world around us burns, the car business has learned to remain unbelievably adaptable to economic circumstances and the ever-changing whims of government directives — both of which are creating billions of dollars of uncertainty for the automotive sector.

With that cloudy atmosphere in mind, we still had a good time at this year’s Rocky Mountain Automotive Press group’s annual drive event, trying out more than a dozen examples of new vehicles, many of which we’ll have more extensive experiences with, later this summer.

The event’s two halo vehicles included a very flashy McLaren Artura Spider, a hybrid convertible supercar we will revisit in a few weeks, plus a first chance to drive the very showy and not-quite-in-production-quite-yet Dodge Charger Daytona EV. On the same day, Ram announced, surprise surprise, that it’s bringing back Hemi engines.

The all-electric Charger, which shares a platform with the new Jeep Wagoneer S EV, does a good job of retaining the historic look and feel of the gas-powered Charger, though its proportions are much larger and include serious aerodynamic bits on nose and tail.

Set on unbelievably wide race tires, we also discovered it will absolutely haul, and stick to corners, with a power system that’s either 496-hp in the base model or 670-hp in the Scat Pack edition – capable of 3.3-second 0-60 times. Its air-powered, simulated exhaust noise system can be annoyingly loud, but helps replicate the engine noises at least until gas-motorized versions of the Charger also enter production.

Meanwhile, the downsized Wagoneer EV also packs as much as 600-hp in its launch edition, and offers equally credible handling and performance, with the promise of just under 300 miles of range. We hope to try mountain drives in both in the months to come.

You’ll also read more soon about the very, very distinctive Hyundai Ioniq 9, the company’s all-new, three-row EV answer to Kia’s EV9 – a quick loop in Ken Caryl demonstrated it to be remarkably smooth and powerful.

There will likely be a lot of interest in the new Subaru Forester Hybrid, as well, the company’s first true mass-market hybrid. It’s got a 194-hp battery/motor combo that’s effective for quick off-the-line starts and about 35 mpg. Toyota’s RAV4 gets slightly better mileage but Forester offers a real, mechanical all-wheel-drive system and a total range of 581 miles per tank.

The rest of the day was sort of a blur of new, medium-sized SUVs, most of which seemed to share a similar blue-grey paint color, but there were still some nice highlights, beyond the more burly TRD Pro version of last week’s 2025 Toyota 4Runner and the acclaimed Lexus LX 700h we’ve already raved about. 

Honda’s upgraded Passport TrailSport edition is a much-improved, offroad-oriented version of the two-row SUV, with a traditional non-turbo V6 engine, a 10-speed transmission and hardened tow points on its bumpers. With its unibody design, its ride is much smoother than the 4Runner, but it’s still going to have loads of capability.

After a week ripping up the road in Volkswagen’s higher-output Golf R, we also had a short outing with the 2025 Tiguan, the all-new rendition of the compact SUV. It’s had a stylish makeover and is now on the same platform as the GTI, with a more powerful 201-hp output and both a hybrid and a higher-performance R-Line edition on the horizon.  

Kia’s Sorento X-Pro edition made an appearance, plus the largely updated and absolutely beautiful Genesis GV70 SUV that we’ll profile in fuller detail soon. We also hope to get a chance to spend more miles behind the wheel of the all-new Acura ADX, a subcompact, 190-horsepower SUV that builds off the Honda HR-V platform and will start at just over $36,000.     

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.