The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning delivered more than I anticipated during the week it was in my possession.

It is very comfortable, easy to drive. The electric power generated great initial acceleration, and did it very smoothly, more so than a traditional V-8-powered pickup. It claims a 10,000-pound towing capacity.

Its 320-mile range was reassuring, and easily recharged. Four of us – Jan and me, Bill and Kathy Allen – were aboard for a drive into Denver from Greeley. After our return, the Lightning had covered 133.5 miles, and the range available had been depleted by only 122 miles.

The frunk (front-end trunk under the hood where the engine would have been in traditional truck) offers good storage space, easily accessed.

A 15-inch touchscreen infotainment system is excellent, as is the BlueCruise hands-free driving assist.

The all-electric powertrain includes a 131-kWh battery pack and a pair of electric motors, one for driving each axle. The crew cab’s 5.5-foot bed houses a two-way charging system that can power an entire job site.

Due to unusually strong demand, the Lightning’s 2022 model was sold out earlier in 2022; orders for new model year will resume in late summer. And yet, we must mention a couple of drawbacks to all this.

The review model I drove is the high-end Platinum trim level, with the extended-range battery pack and sticker price of $94,004. An F-150 Lightning can be bought in the $45,000 to $60,000 range, but it is the standard version with range of only 230 miles, and its two electric motors combine for 452 horsepower, a lesser amount than the Platinum’s combined 580 horsepower.  

Regarding the extended-range power; sure, it is stout as can be and will haul or pull a load, 7,000 pounds, 8,000, 9,000 and more. A load to the farm or ranch, or nearby camping, not so noticeable. A long haul, though, and that 300-mile range, some say, may drop by half, maybe even more. And the lesser-powered standard-range trim has tow capacity of only 7,700 pounds.

The Lightning’s 48-foot turn circle seemed a bit wider than most traditional half-ton pickups and tended occasionally toward understeer.

Suspension is relatively soft for the Lightning, partly due to its utilization of a semi-trailing arm setup with progressive rate coil-over springs and a stabilizer bar. On their traditional gasoline and diesel-powered pickups, Ford, Chevy, GMC, Toyota and Nissan have used leaf springs for suspension of rear of their solid-axle pickups. Ram on its 1500 pickup suspends the live axle with five links and coil springs.

The Lightning Platinum is on a wheelbase of 145 inches, is 19 feet/3 inches in overall length, with curb weight of 6,350 pounds. Brake rotors are 14-inch in front and 13.8-inch at the rear. The truck’s GVWR is 8,250 pounds.

Beginning prices for the various Lightning trims are Pro $41,769; XLT $54,769; Lariat $69,269; XLT Extended Range $74,169; Lariat Extended Range $79,169; Platinum Extended Range $92,669.

When the Wrangler, toughest Jeep of them all, was tested successfully last fall with the 4xe plug-in hybrid system, it became a must that the much-more-refined Grand Cherokee would soon get its turn.

The occurrence, for me, came with arrival of the 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4xe with a turbocharged 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder engine of 270 horsepower/295 lb.-ft. of torque with 8-speed automatic transmission. It is assisted by a belt-driven 44-hp motor and a 134-hp electric motor for combined horsepower of 375 and 470 torque. Electricity is stored in a 400-volt,17kWh lithium-ion battery pack which provides 25 miles of all-electric power. As long as there is charge in the battery pack, its 375/470 power rate exceeds that of the long-used 5.7-liter, Hemi V-8 internal-combustion engine.

The 25 miles of electric drive will, of course, lift the Jeep’s fuel mileage and can be controlled by switching among three modes – Hybrid, Electric and E-Save, which shuts off the electric use. And, yes, with a bit of forethought, a driver can use the mode-switches to attain relatively high mileage readings.

I saved 20 miles of the battery pack for a return drive in descent from the mountains; for 91 miles we averaged 37.9 miles per gallon. For 318 miles of varied roads and terrain during the week, the overall average was 27.3.

Transitioning from electric to hybrid can result in a rough shift. The Grand Cherokee rides on Goodyear Wrangler 265/60R18 tires.

The small battery pack can be charged overnight from a 120 outlet; with 220, it can be done in 2 hours.

As we drove into the little mountain village of Glen Haven and parked at the General Store, across the street sat two pristine-looking Chevy Corvettes (a 2007 and 2005). Right out front of the store were two couples at a picnic table enjoying the daily-baked cinnamon rolls of the business. Yes, the Vettes belonged to them; Daryl and Lorraine McCown, Tim and Ann Krall of Estes Park. They had read, the day previously, my column in The Post featuring the 2023 Corvette Z51 Coupe.

The Grand Cherokee was redesigned this year, boasts a luxurious interior and continues to offer a compliant ride. The review model’s only exterior indicators are front tow hooks in “electric blue” and blue “4xe” badges.

From a base just over $65,000, Jeep ran the sticker price to$75,303 with these options among others: Uconnect 5 Nav with 10.1-inch touchscreen display, Nappa leather seats, wireless charging pad, back massager for front seats, passenger-seat memory, 2^nd-row window shade, four-zone temperature control, head-up display, surround-view camera, offroad group and rear backup camera washer.

Pleasant audio delivery comes from the 19-speaker McIntosh MX950 Entertainment System, including a 10-inch subwoofer for added bass quality and three small speakers atop the dash.

Clutches and manual transmissions have slipped away rapidly in recent years; surprising it was, then, that with the return of the Acura Integra to the U.S. for the first time since 2001, its buyers are offered a choice of a 6-speed manual tranny or CVT.

The 2023 Integra A-Spec w/Tech brought my way in late July is a replacement for the ILX in the Acura lineup. It is a sleek, four-door hatchback with coupe styling. Revival of the Acura Integra name comes after a 22-year absence; Integra was part of Acura from its introduction in 1986 through the 2001 model year.

A combination of a 200-horsepower, turbocharged 1.5-liter, 4-cylinder engine and the manual shifter adds quickness to the Integra, creating a fun drive with good-handling, particularly when dealing with road twists and turns. It has plenty of power to get up the hills of Colorado.

The sporty sedan also fares well in fuel-efficiency, with an EPA estimate of 26 miles per gallon in town, 36 on the highway for a combined 30. Premium fuel is recommended. My overall average was 31.8 mpg.

Pricing of the base model for the new Integra AWD is $31,895; the review model I drove had sticker price of $36,895, a relatively low price for a luxury entry-level.

Interior highlights are an easy-to-use 9-inch touchscreen infotainment center and a roomy 24.3 cubic-feet cargo area at the back.

Among driver-assistance safety features are adaptive cruise control, rearview camera, forward automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert, head-up display.

The Integra is 3 or 4 inches longer in both wheelbase and overall length than the ILX, the model which it has replaced. The Integra rides on wheelbase of 107.7 inches, is 185.8 inches in overall length, 72 inches in width, 55.5 in height and its curb weight is 3,075 pounds.

The new Integra is built at Marysville, Ohio; also assembled there are Acura’s other models – the TLX sport sedan, the MDX and RDX sport-utility vehicles and the NSX Type S electric.

The fifth-generation Range Rover L460, a midyear redesign with an optional third row of seats for the first time in the big unit, carried Jan and me in late June west into Big Thompson Canyon, then northwest on the Devil’s Gulch Road to Glen Haven.

The Range Rover is 17 feet in overall length, with curb weight of 5,600 pounds and rides on 23-inch wheels, another first for the iconic 4X4 sport ute. The narrow, curve-dominated roadway to Glen Haven would be a good test for it.

We’ve driven to the little community at least once a summer for many years, stopping at the Glen Haven General Store for visiting with owner Steve Childs and partaking of the delicious cinnamon rolls baked daily by his wife, Becky.

Big news in town is the Childs’ sale, after 40 years of operating the store, to Tom and Amanda Hoskins, who with children Sarah and Callum and Amanda’s mother, Becky Sorensen, will not only run the store, but provide daily the homemade goodies for which it is widely known.

Glen Haven is a nice, brief stop enroute to Estes Park, 10 miles up the road.

The RRover has an impressively smooth ride, is very quiet, though its size leaves maneuvering marvels to lighter sport models.

When I recall the 2023 Nissan Z car I drove six weeks ago in Boulder, it would have zipped those twists and bends of the roadway near Glen Haven much more quickly than did the big Rover. All the while, though, downshifting the Range Rover with its paddleshifters was virtually seamless; the Z’s downshifts left a rougher edge into the driver’s hands.

I used the paddles more than half the time on the descending curves from Glen Haven to Drake, then on to the Dam Store and leaving the Big Thompson Canyon. Much of descent was in 3^rd gear at 2500 to 3000 revs.

Responsive performance was delivered by the Range Rover’s 395-horsepower, 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6-cylinder with a mild-hybrid assist, 8-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel drive. Aiding the Range Rover’s four-wheel-drive prowess are active locking rear differential and terrain response with drive modes of Snow, Mud, Sand, Eco, Rock Crawl and Wade. An electrically operated rear axle turns independently of the front wheels at low speeds, shrinking the turning circle to 36 feet, from 40.5 feet in the previous model.

The inline-6-cylinder with turbo and the 48-volt assist averaged 21.8 miles per gallon on the drive to Glen Haven and 27.6 on the descending return.

A photo op of the new Range Rover with a 35-year-old Land Rover presented itself in Greeley. No sooner had I pulled into Autotailor in Greeley and parked out front than John Mitchell pulled up beside me in a 1987 Land Rover Defender 110, red, fully restored – what a grand sight, these two British motoring machines from Solihull, England, products of same assembly plant, though far-different eras. Mitchell, at his repair shop in Fort Collins, had done some work on the Defender and was test-driving it.

Base price on the three-row, seven-passenger Range Rover is $111,800. An all-electric Range Rover is expected in 2024.