CultureMap Auto Awards

SUV of the Year: 2013 Range Rover crash diets and keeps its crown with sexy, new curves

Editor's Note: In the first annual CultureMap Auto Awards, automotive writers Nic Phillips and Kevin McCauley bestow honors in 10 categories for the top 2012 cars and trucks and explain why they're deserving of a good hard look. Now we're down to the final three starting with the SUV:

SUV of the Year: 2013 Range Rover

Land Rover first introduced us to their idea of a luxury utility vehicle in 1970 and while they didn't invent the category — those honors belong to the Jeep Wagoneer — they have remained the echelon of the segment for more than 40 years. After a decade with the third generation, the "All New" fourth generation 2013 Range Rover has been thoroughly modernized and we already awarded it "Runner-up Best New Design" for its sexy, Evoque inspired design.

That is what's expected of a Range Rover — style — what comes unexpected is under its glossy paint in the form of this being the first all aluminum SUV. This Range Rover is nearly 850 pounds lighter than the previous generation without loosing any of its legendary off-road prowess. In fact it gains more — the air suspension gives more ground clearance, towing capacity remains a stout 7,100 pounds, on-road driving manners are more nimble, more car-like than ever before.

While the 5.0L V-8's in supercharged and non-supercharged form carryover from the third generation models, they're now mated to the silky smooth ZF 8-speed automatic we love so much. With hundreds of pounds less to haul around, the same 375 or 510 horsepower ratings go a lot further in getting faster, well, faster.

The price ranges have increased, now starting from $82,650 and Supercharged models can close in on the $130,000 mark. The 2013 Range Rover decidedly reaffirms the marque's reserved spot at the very top of the mountain.

SUV of the Year Runner-Up: 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL350 BlueTEC

While the entire GL model line has been completely remade for 2013, its specifically the GL350 BlueTEC that gets our Runner-up Award. With Audi's Q7 TDI winning our Crossover Utility of the Year Award it's little secret our affinity for small diesels in big SUVs and the GL with its 3.0L V6 BlueTEC is another option in the full-size, three-row category.

What sets the GL apart from the Audi though are its more truck-like SUV features including a 7,500 pound maximum tow rating, optional AIRMATIC air suspension with crosswind stabilizing feature, 8.5" of ground clearance and full-time four-wheel drive.

It's a viable alternative to the Range Rover which doesn't yet have a third row option and while it weights more than 600 pound more than the Rover, the GL's BlueTEC diesel delivers more torque at 455 lb-ft and better fuel economy with its city 19 MPG rating nearly matching the Range Rover's highway figure. It gets 26 MPG highway and starts at only $62,400.

2013 Range Rover - CultureMap 2012 SUV of the Year

Photo by Kevin McCauley

2013 Range Rover - CultureMap 2012 SUV of the Year

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Jobs report

Texas clocks in as No. 7 best state to find a job, new report says

Photo by The Jopwell Collection on Unsplash

It's easier to find a job in Texas than in nearly any other state.

If you’re hunting for a job in Texas amid a tough employment market, you stand a better chance of landing it here than you might in other states.

A new ranking by personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for jobs puts Texas at No. 7. The Lone Star State lands at No. 2 in the economic environment category and No. 18 in the job market category.

Massachusetts tops the list, and West Virginia appears at the bottom.

To determine the most attractive states for employment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 34 key indicators of economic health and job market strength. Ranking factors included employment growth, median annual income, and average commute time.

“Living in one of the best states for jobs can provide stable conditions for the long term, helping you ride out the fluctuations that the economy will experience in the future,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says.

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas led the U.S. in job creation with the addition of 195,600 jobs over the past 12 months.

While Abbott proclaimed Texas is “America’s jobs leader,” the state’s level of job creation has recently slowed. In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that the state’s year-to-date job growth rate had dipped to 1.8 percent, and that even slower job growth was expected in the second half of this year.

The August unemployment rate in Texas stood at 4.1 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Throughout 2025, the monthly rate in Texas has been either four percent or 4.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025, the monthly rate for the U.S. has ranged from 4 percent to 4.3 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the August unemployment rates in Texas’ four biggest metro areas:

Austin — 3.9 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth — 4.4 percent
San Antonio — 4.4 percent
Houston — 5 percent

Unemployment rates have remained steady this year despite layoffs and hiring freezes driven by economic uncertainty. However, the number of U.S. workers who’ve been without a job for at least 27 weeks has risen by 385,000 this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August. That month, long-term unemployed workers accounted for about one-fourth of all unemployed workers.

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed a record-low 44.9 percent of Americans were confident about finding a job if they lost their current one.

This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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