10 Biggest News Stories of the Month: BMW iX3 Moves Up in the World, Ram 1500 Fuels Interest
Being named World Car of the Year isn’t like flaunting some dubious designation, like “World’s Best Cup of Coffee.” If you received an award from the nearly quarter-century-old World Car Awards — this year comprising a diverse voting body of 98 automotive journalists from 33 countries recognizing automotive excellence and innovation — you did it! Congratulations! Great job, everybody! And for 2026, the genuine honor of World Car of the Year went to the 2027 BMW iX3. The all-electric compact SUV, expected to offer a driving range of some 400 miles, also took home the World Electric Vehicle title — and we tell you all about it in one of Cars.com’s most popular news stories of the past month.
Related: 2027 BMW iX3 Up Close: The Great Digital Reset
The World Car Awards were announced in early April at the 2026 New York International Auto Show, notably with Cars.com’s Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Newman and Managing Editor Joe Bruzek serving as jurors. In addition to the iX3 earning the top overall and electric honors, World Luxury Car went to the Lucid Gravity three-row all-electric SUV, while World Performance Car went to the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, a go-fast variant of the sedan that can generate an explosive 641 horsepower and 568 pounds-feet of torque for 10-second bursts.
For full details on the World Car Awards recipients — including World Urban Car and World Car Design of the Year winners — follow the link below to the No. 5 news story on our countdown of most read articles from April.
With the national average for a gallon of regular gas, at last check, having pumped up beyond $4.45, you can just hear Alanis Morissette crooning for many timing-challenged 2026 Ram 1500 buyers, “A Hemi V-8, as fuel prices spike — it’s like raaainnn … !” Yes, the return of the vaunted, venerated Hemi in the Ram’s 5.7-liter V-8 engine poses a scorching Faustian bargain as takers of this back-by-popular-demand engine option burn through gas money like it’s burning a hole in their wallets. Two mitigating factors to point out, however: The Ram 1500 faithful likely goes all but unbothered by this, as the half-ton pickup truck’s 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder is already well known to be superior in both performance and gas mileage (if not in reassuring engine rumble); and, as our editors’ real-world fuel-economy test proved, the Hemi at least delivers on its modest promise of an EPA-rated 16/20/18 mpg city/highway/combined. We took the Hemi-equipped truck on a 205-mile trek under normal driving conditions and returned an as-tested result of 18.3 mpg, well within a reasonable margin of error given the many variables involved. To say what you mean and mean what you say, well, that’s all a fella can ask.
For full details on our mileage test of the 2026 Ram 1500 Hemi V-8, follow the link below to the No. 6 news story of the month.
Beyond all that, we’ve got headlines on the Ford Maverick, Honda Accord Hybrid, Honda CR-V, Toyota Crown and Crown Signia, Nissan Pathfinder, Volvo EX60 and much more — so don’t stop reading till the digits double. Here are the top 10 news stories Cars.com readers couldn’t get enough of in the past month:
1. What’s the 2026 Ford Maverick’s MPG?
2. What Are the Best Used Cars for $15,000?
3. The 2026 Honda Accord Hybrid Makes You Want to Skip an SUV: Review
5. All-Electric BMW iX3 Crowned 2026 World Car of the Year
6. How Good Is the 2026 Ram 1500 Hemi V-8’s Gas Mileage?
7. These 8 New Cars Have the Best Value
8. Toyota Crown and Crown Signia: Everything You Need to Know
9. Is the 2026 Nissan Pathfinder a Good 3-Row SUV? 4 Pros, 3 Cons
10. New Volvo EX60 Looks Ready to Take on BMW iX3, Mercedes GLC and Rivian R2 EVs
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