Autoblog's Most Popular American Car Reviews

For us, and a lot of you we hope, the long Independence Day weekend is already here. This week we’ve already seen a lot of good American-car content, from a list of vehicles with the highest percentage of domestic production, to Brit cars we wouldn’t mind being re-colonized by, and, of course, Corvettes and fireworks. Yee-haw!

So it seems in keeping with the spirit of the holiday to look back on some American car reviews, too. But instead of simply commenting on our favorites, we dove into the back catalog with an eye towards the stories that our readers loved the most (as evidenced by you clicking on them, of course).

The data was surprisingly deep. Somehow, since we started reviewing cars in earnest around 2009, we’ve managed to write up more than a thousand pieces of critical content. From that pile a great many focused on American makes and models, of course, and plenty of those have been read hundreds of thousands of times.

Here then, ranked from ten to one, are the most popular Autoblog American car reviews, ever. Enjoy the holiday and the memories. 

You know a review is going to be juicy when it references the blood-feud between Pony Cars, Nürburgring times, the gas guzzler tax, and shit-talking engineering teams. Interest in the 580-horsepower Camaro was white-hot when we drove the car back in 2012, and it continues to smolder today. 

Read the full review here.

The interest in Ford’s heavy-metal Raptor can be neatly explained in the first line of Jeremy Korzeniewski’s 2010 review:

“A scant 30 minutes had passed after taking possession of this 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor until we had all four of its wheels off the ground.”

Trucks. Powerful, off-roading trucks. Jumping trucks. We love all of these things. Frankly, we’re only surprised the Raptor doesn’t rank higher than number nine.

Read the full review here. 

Not every popular American car review is about something with 500 horsepower or outrageous styling. When it comes right down to it, the cars we can all afford, and are willing to drive every day, are just as interesting as the fantastical stuff.

Such was the case with our report on the then-brand-new Chevy Cruze. Domestic compacts always draw a lot of eyeballs to Autoblog, and often generate more than a few impassioned comments in the process. (Dive into the historic reader battle below the review, if you dare.)

Read the full review here. 

Another car that’s always high on real shoppers’ consideration lists, the revamped 2012 Focus proved a huge traffic hog. Enough of you tuned in to read about the highest-trim of the new Ford to push it to the middle of the American car list; and to make it the 12th most popular review, period.

The Focus also marks out a fair warning: lots more Fords to come. 

Read the full review here. 

Content about the Ford F-150 is always going to find a big audience. More Americans buy the truck every year than any other vehicle, so it isn’t surprising to find that you all gobble up reviews of the newest iterations.

In 2011 the F-150 was especially interesting, of course, thanks to the addition of a turbocharged V6 to the range, and four new engines in total. (Don’t ignore the Internet Gold that is the 5.0 V8, either.)

Read the full review here. 

Ford’s most family-friendly vehicle scoring this high was a bit of a surprise, we’ll admit. It could have been pent up interest about a highly recognizable brand name, or it might have been that metallic brown paint. Who can say?

In either case the 2010 write-up generated hundreds of thousands of reads, far more gallery clicks, and lasting place on our all-time list. 

Read the full review here. 

It’s not that often that our master photographer suits up to review a car, but in the case of the Boss 302, Mustang-wizard Drew Phillips couldn’t resist.

Still amongst our favorite Mustangs of all time, it’s no surprise that the return of the “Boss” moniker generated a ton of buzz. Any time a Ford coupe can be compared, favorably, to the likes of the BMW M3, you know it’s a special, high-visibility machine. And the photos were killer, as you’d expect, though prepare your eyes for the horror of red wheels if you dive into the review. 

Read the full review here.

One Mustang good, two Mustangs great, right? In 2011 Ford brought the 5.0 out of history and back on to the pavement, as the world watched with glee. Jonny Lieberman was our man on the scene; wrecking rear tires and hurling jabs at other Pony Car competitors and generally getting with the spirit of the times.

The ’11 Mustang 5.0 was a big enough draw to pull down a top-five all-time review spot, and number two in terms of US metal. 

Read the full review here.

Ford may dominate this list and your hearts, overall, but nothing breaks the Internet like the name Tesla. In our first-ever drive of the Model S, we were thunderstruck with the technology evident in the cabin and powering the wheels, but also with the rapacious styling of the heartthrob EV.

Photographed by our own Mr. Phillips, this gallery of Tesla images was so widely stolen, that the hero shot at the top of the review has become a defacto press shot for the company. Sorry Drew!

A quick perusal of AutoblogGreen will tell you that Tesla is as hot as ever. The brand buzz may not have started with the Model S, but it was the launch of this car that kicked it into hyper drive. With thousands of review pieces written over a decade, this Model S joint is the most popular ever featuring an American car, and finishes second on the total list. We’ll save No. 1 overall for a later date. Have a great 4th! 

Read the full review here.