979: Possible Renaissance Incoming, Show It To The In-Laws, The Scottish Loop

Love them or hate them, everyone has an opinion on cars. But we believe we're all one great car away from a car enthusiast. So we're here to help you find a car you love, and let it take us to everything else in life. I'm Todd. I'm Paul, and this is the everyday driver car debate. Hello everybody, happy Friday. We hope you notice we're posting our old live videos from Test Drive videos channel on our main original everyday driver YouTube channel now as we are counting down all of our live podcasts.

One a week up until we do the 1000 in Austin at Coda, and at that point, then we will have a video podcast going forward. I can't believe we were just talking about this for a turn of the mics on. We were just talking about the fact that this audio medium is becoming a visual medium. I'm going to get over it. I swear, but it's going to happen. So we're setting. We're just talking about setting up the studio. It's going to be very cool. So that is coming when we do our Coda weekend. I'm reminding you again, we'll be at Circuit of the Americas in Austin May 31st June 1st. We're doing a road trip there and road trip from, but we're also doing the 1000th podcast while we're there.

We're having a really amazing hooked on driving track day. You have to come to some portion of it. We'd love to see on track, but you have to come to some portion of it. Various levels of it are open for registration. There are more coming. We'll keep letting you know, but that's going to be our biggest event of the year. And like everything is counting down to that event right now, including old podcast getting posted news from Nissan. The saga is not over everyone. Okay. Uchida son, their former CEO has quit, but they have so quickly named the new replacement, whose name

is Ivan Espinosa as their new CEO that it's clear this was in the works a long time ago. This wasn't just yeah, I'm done. Throw your hat on the ground and stop out. Because then they'd be like, whoa, we need a new CEO. And the search is on and they'd bring somebody in from Boeing or somewhere. You know what I mean? Or I would actually find a new CEO one who got it.

But apparently Ivan is a car enthusiast, which is good news. I've been thinking about this though, because he's got a big job ahead of him to not just revive Nissan, but really understand what the

partnership with Renault is doing for them. And then where does Mitsubishi fall into the product mix? Good point. It's almost like they're starting from scratch because they have no real

enthusiast product. The Z is out and it's good. We love the Nismo Z. The Nismo is excellent. Just needs a manual. The Skyline, the GTR is now out of production. True. And the rest of their cars and trucks have CBTs. I'm kidding, but it feels like it does feel like it. But

apparently this guy is a lifer. He has had his entire career at Nissan worked his way up from the bottom. He's been at Nissan like 20 years. I appreciate. That's good. And has said in

interviews that he thinks Nissan needs to be selling enthusiast cars. And one he would like to bring back is the Silvia. That's fascinating, which was the 240 over here. So they can have cars at different

strata of performance cars. This is all the right stuff to say. Let's see if he can pull it off. But this feels like the right car guy in this spot. Well, we've seen this exact thing happen with Toyota.

Akiyo Toyota. He is the motor sports enthusiast guy in charge of the company. He just stand down like a year or so ago. But he was there for a he was back from and changed the entire field of the company. Totally. So they came out with the GR line of products,

GR cars. They really have some hot focus sports cars. But now that he's gone, he set the company up for the future of a nice product mix from motor sports

enthusiasts all the way to trucks SUVs. They've got such a great portfolio. This is where Nissan is at and to Ivan, I will say we'd love to have you on as a guest. We'd love to pick a brain. But you can't just make the next

EVO like the EVO 11 and under the Mitsubishi brand, bring the Silvia back a new GTR because they also have to make money in the bread and butter mods. True. You're right. Yeah. So what is he going to do? What's the general plan? Hopefully that means investment in new products and

platforms. It's not just let's take the old one and redo it now. Nissan has been successful. And sometimes there's no reason to make major changes. Frontier has been excellent. They have made a lot of major underpinning changes, which I appreciate because you've got

cut costs somewhere. But this feels almost like a renaissance. And Ivan, I think every Nissan enthusiast worldwide will totally forgive Nissan if you bring back even one or two fun, focused, enthusiast sports cars. We'll say, okay, you went through the

period. There was a lot of people for like a decade. His name was Carlos until he was going. A lot of stuff went on. But now you've refocused the company. Everybody's back on board. Everybody wants to join

Nissan and really dig in and make the company what we all want it to be. This is great motor sports enthusiast company. And therefore dig yourself out of a hole. So you're not knocking on everybody's door. Hey, Honda, you want to buy us? Hey,

Renault, hey, who do you want to, you know, we want to shack up with somebody? I wonder if there is going to be a merger now that there's a new CEO. Is he going to go back to Honda and have a new

conversation? I mean, the opportunity theoretically exists. But what will happen here? Personally, I prefer the competition of Nissan being up against Honda and Nissan being up against

Mazda. In a perfect world, you want them to compete on their own. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. I've been wishing you all the best again. We'd love to have you on the podcast, even briefly just to pick your brain and see what's going on. But he's not quite on as of this recording. He's not quite taken over as CEO. But we want to see awesome new products and not just the same rebad stuff.

I mean, he's got infinity has so much promise. You're right. That's true. Yeah. Don't take the books. I can approach same platforms and just change the anyway. I think he gets it. We're wanting to see great products.

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Nick's writing in, he says, do I need to kill the dream because Nick is looking for something that doesn't exist very much and it's caused me to have kidding, probably recommend a car I've never even talked about on this podcast before.

Really?

It is kind of a joke. So we'll get there. But he's just discovered the podcast recently. We love that you found it.

You're looking around for something interesting because you've only ever driven practical vehicles, crew cab pickup, soccer mom crossovers.

But in 2020, just before COVID, that is just the marker of all of our lives. Isn't that anyway?

He finally convinced his wife they should get a fun weekend car to cruise with the family. He and his wife were their two little kids.

They were just about to do that. She was kind of on board. Then COVID hit. Job changes death in the family. COVID.

All right, like the complete reset happens. So it hasn't happened for a while. And now he's just started to resume the hunt.

Used car dealer near him had a 2021 Camaro SS convertible. And he thought, that's it. It's a four seat convertible. I can put the whole family in. I'm going to go look at it.

And then he realized that at six foot five three hundred pounds, he doesn't fit let alone the entire family. And what I find hysterical about this story is that the salesman at the GM dealer told you it's not possible for you to find a four-seater for you and the family.

Because he's trying to sell a Camaro, which look, I'll tell you something here, Nick, people much smaller than you don't fit in the Camaro. That's just a Camaro problem.

See, I take your salesperson's comment Nick personally. That sounds like a throw down to me. You won't find a four seat convertible with usable back seats, unless there's a horse jockey back there.

When it's Camaro, that's correct. That's correct thinking for the Camaro. Nick and his wife have a six year old and now nine year old. They're all shorter smaller than Nick of course for the moment for the moment.

So he knows the answer he says is probably a sports sedan that doesn't seem to nearly is sexy to him. He is not 100% set on the convertible. He's in the Midwest, but he thinks that would make it more fun.

It might help him sell it to his wife again because you know, we've gone to the cycle of the table and then it's kind of crept back in and so the convertible might help seal the deal.

Possibly. He says the challenger would otherwise work, but he doesn't feel like he's the target demographic and he doesn't want to go classic. He's not completely opposed, but he's intrigued by the German cars. He's only ever owned GM vehicles.

Interesting. Okay. All right. That means Nick is nervous about the BMW tax. You're right. You've named the two convertibles that I think your family will fit in. You will easily fit in. Yes.

BMW 440i or 435 or 430. He says there's BMW dealer in his town, but he doesn't want to go in unless he knows it's possible. Well, yes, on the other hand, that's why you walk in and allow yourself to be sold.

Here's the requirements. Here's what I'm looking for. It's a challenge salesperson. Sell me. What do you have? Yes, but I do think he's landed on the right obvious choice here. And that is we've been very, very surprised.

In spite of the terrible beaver teeth on the current four series, we've been incredibly surprised every time we have one, how much backseat space they have because they are essentially the unless you get the grand coupé, they are the two door version of what is otherwise a four door car. So they have actual backseat because it's essentially the chassis from the three series what we're talking about here.

So they make the four series, the grand coupé makes a really swoopy four-seater four door, but when they do the convertible two door, we've been shocked at the amount of backseat space. That is one of the very rare you and I can fit in the front seat.

People could sit behind us in a convertible.

Yeah, it works. Think of all of the convertibles, dear listener, that exist out there in two plus twos. There's a lot. There's a lot of two plus twos. You get Aston Martin's, you've got Ferraris, you've got all kinds of stuff that exists.

Sure.

Okay, at all kinds of price points, most of them won't take a big driver up front in anyone with legs in the rear.

Yeah, the BMW solves that for sure. You're absolutely right. Nick mentions the Audi A5 or S5 and also the C-Class Mercedes, he's got dealers in town for those choices as well.

And Nick says his original budget was under 20 grand when he started this quest, but he could bump this into 30,000 or a hair more of a 30. Good thing. Good job. Well done. We're going to use all of that.

His main question is whether he kills the dream or not. Does he go forward? Nick, I say yes, because I've got a lot of choices for you. You've got a lot of considerations here.

But let's get the crazy out of the way. First, I went looking at Maserati Gran Turismo, Capriolets. Perfect.

Go get one that puttered around Florida. Here's a 2010 Gran Turismo S with 60,000 miles in Jacksonville for 22 grand.

That is simultaneously amazing and terrifying. That is equal parts awesome and scary right there for sure. Nick, I found a 2011 Gran Turismo S with 38,000 miles for 30 grand.

What do you think? Another 2010 GTS in Overland Park, Kansas, 44,000 miles for 25 grand.

That one's close to him. That one is close because here's the thing. Also buying that used Maserati from Florida scares me an extra level.

Buying it close to him. Where's it to travel over in parts? Let's make that happen. That's actually really that's better than I thought it was going to be.

I mean, you're worried about the BMW tax. There is a Maserati tax. My Maserati was liable for a year until I jumped into the ECU until you promptly sold it with problems to the next owner, which is the Maserati way.

There should be a shirt that says the Maserati way. Anyway, I mean, 4,000 miles for 25 grand. That's more intriguing than I thought it was going to be. Now that you've said it, especially the fact that there's one in Overland, that's pretty close.

Just saying. And then to keep the crazy going, I went, you know what? How much are they? 2009 Bentley Continental GTCs just hang on. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm trying.

59,000 miles for 25, 9, 25, 26,000 dollars a 2009 Bentley Continental GTC. So the cabriolet. Yeah, 59,000 miles for 26,000 dollars.

That I know. I know. Suddenly, I thought you were going to be waiting on the budget on this, but that's crazy. Things are kind of interesting. Are they not? Yeah, they are. They're really interesting.

You would look like such a baller and a Bentley Continental with your family. And the fact that you spent less than 30 grand on it, no one would believe you when you go get ice cream. That's the story.

You're out with your family. Wow. Nice car. Let me tell you how much I spent. Now if you spend less, the mileage goes up and the risk goes up, but what is Nick?

Page after page of grand teresmos, a whole lot of Bentley Contennials from that late, odd era. Just entertain yourself and just look.

And just currently looking on auto-tempest right now because I still cannot believe this is the world we're living in. I really can't.

I have to get the classics out of the way. So don't forget about the Volkswagen thing in the 1960 Fiat Jolly of the 62 Lincoln Continental suicide doors.

Sure. I mean, if you're going classic, you got to at least entertain those ideas. But back to reality, how about Nick, just a Mustang GT? A Mustang GT convertible?

Yeah, I just don't know that they have enough backseat space. Once he's seated, I'm not sure that it's enough. It's not going to be amazing, but you know, then you're rocking a Mustang GT.

But the top down Mustang GT noises because the Ford, the four series can get it done. I believe it or not, the Maserati can get it done space wise.

I think so. Mustang. Mustang, okay, maybe on the cuss, but you know, you're rocking a Mustang.

But it's a Mustang. I get it. I see it. Yeah.

And then that takes me to the wild cards. The mini Cooper convertible, you need to sit in. I also suggest the Fiat 500 abart.

And they're smaller, but because of the interior seating, you're very upright. It's not a proportion where you're down in the car, you're kind of upright, so you actually have more space behind you.

Something to note, if it takes one of those to sell your wife, then maybe worth it, because you can spend even less on those, especially you get the abart convertible.

Sure. Only you will be able to make the final determination. But now, Nick, let's throw all of those out.

Okay. All right. Because I have the exact car, a Jeep Wrangler.

I'm getting it. That's interesting. I'm going to scroll back up to the top of your email here.

You said you need a fun car for a weekend cruising with the family, cruising around town, going to drive in movies, probably going to dinner, going to get ice cream.

Nowhere in your email, do you say I need to do curvy, twisty canyon roads, I need a low slung sports car. We're doing track driving, we're doing,

take the roof and the doors off a Wrangler, your kids will love going. Everybody lets pile into the Wrangler and go get ice cream.

You know, I hadn't gone there, but you may have solved it. You want to know where my equivalent to that was that I am mostly kidding, but I cannot believe that I've actually found a place to recommend this car.

I'm not really recommending it, but I have to say it anyway. You know what actually works here? Nissan Marano convertible.

It works. Don't do that. Please don't do that. I know, just no, no, please don't.

But when I look at your description, I go, you've owned, you know, family haulers and you need a lot of space and you want two doors, four seats in a convertible,

that really is the reason the Nissan Marano much to my sugar and exists.

There is one that shows up in the summer in Park City that is that that silvery blue with the tan top and tan interior and somebody has it in their Park City summer house,

because it pops up in the summer every year and I just look at it in awe that A, it exists and B, someone bought it.

And the reality is, they drive it with the top down all the time, proudly.

Yes, as if as if they're driving around and they think everyone else is jealous. That's the way they drive this car.

They're driving it around Park City, Utah, land of unlimited money, the crazy cars we see around here.

This person drives the Nissan Marano with such pride of I have the convertible version of this and I'm just thinking, kill it with fire.

He's really all I'm thinking. But block that out of my mind. If we're going there, you cannot not mention the Land Rover evoke convertible.

True, true. All so yuck.

Yes, but compared to the Marano better than the Marano.

Yes, buy one for everybody because they all need them. I mean, I still feel at the top kind of flying.

The four series is my favorite here. I actually like where you went very much. You could get into one of these scary but incredibly appreciated,

fantastic luxury barges that would be awesome and would make such a statement. I'm worried about where you get them service. It's separate thing.

I don't know, but at least you have the Bentley.

If you have to go for sports sedan, I want you to look at two. The Alpha Romeo Julia, excellent to drive, great to look at a worthwhile family fun car.

And also because you're talking about seating kids behind you, the Accurate TLX type S.

Okay. Because the thing we kept finding is that for Paul and I, big guys up front, we were fine. We just kept going, well, only kids in the rear. Well, that's what we're talking about.

You know, that could, I don't know what you drive daily, Nick. And if you, it's probably a truck based on what he's talking about.

I mean, maybe that could be the fun sports sedan in your life. I don't know if you need the truck. You might have an SUV already.

Well, my guess is that they have a pickup and a crossover that his wife drives. That's what I'm reading into this.

Based on the fact that he said, that's really all they've ever driven. So that's what I think we're dealing with.

So a sports sedan would be a big change. I say chase that four series convertible. See if that works for you.

Look, the Audi's interesting. I like the four series more. I think four series beats it on weight. I mean, pardon me, on on space.

So I think that's worthwhile. You can get the four cylinder version of the four series and be surprised by the power.

If you can step up to the bigger one, the 440 or whatever, great. But you don't have to have that. The 430's got a lot of power.

I think that is the answer unless you really want to roll the dice and get nuts with putt again over the park. There was one.

That's to be honest, because of what we do and what you experienced before, Paul. I really wanted to get the Maserati.

The sound is perfect. The sound is perfect. The space is surprising. You will look like you spent a hundred grand on that car.

And you spent less than your budget of 30 grand. They'll probably take like 23 you will need. It will need some level of service.

But this isn't your primary car. This is the fun car. You know what? I'm going to go this far, Nick.

What if you buy that Maserati and you give it a year? One year. Just is it going to be a disaster?

But don't buy it. The whole family buys it kind of on a lark. I mean, I realized this is real money. We're talking more than $20,000. I wrote this real money.

But you can probably get out of it in a year for most somewhere in the neighborhood of what you're buying it for.

So there's a part of me that's wondering, do you buy it just to see if it runs when you need it to?

Just because when it runs, it's going to be like, I cannot believe we have this car.

I don't care if you went literally down the block to pick up milk and came back. You're so going to be like, do you realize we have a Maserati in the drive?

No. Did you hear me leave? It sounded amazing.

But then if it lets you down, you have other vehicles. That's also true.

Is it worth? I know I'm talking crazy talk. I know what I'm actually doing is I'm talking YouTuber talk is what I'm talking right now.

Let's just buy it in case it breaks its drama, right?

But there's a part of me that we can make a film out of it, right?

Yeah, there's a part of me that wonders if this since this is the fun play car.

What if you gave it six months or a year planning to sell it?

It doesn't need to be a forever thing. Let's have this crazy, ridiculous experience everyone.

Can you believe we bought a Maserati? Can you believe it sounds like this and does this?

How much do we seem like ballers even though we spent normal person money and you dump it in a year and you buy the four series or whatever else?

I guess I only suggest this Nick because the fun comes from the story when people start to get a little nosy.

You're so right. That's actually the fun part.

Because you want the president of the H.O.A. to be knocking on the door like, is that your car?

Is that the loud one? Is that your car? It depends on the person.

But people can just sort of drop subtle hints like, oh yeah. So Maserati, huh?

So you're doing well. What do you do?

And it opens a conversation or, wow, how long have you had that?

Or when did you get that? And then you lay the price on them.

Just lay their ears back. Well, yeah, it's got really little miles, super well taken care of, runs great.

Let me fire it up for you. Guess how much I paid? Just over 20 grand.

I know we're speaking crazy talk, but this is our kind of crazy.

I'm going to give you one last push, Nick, for you and your wife to debate.

But you know who this is best to reveal to? The in-laws.

They're going to be so boggled. They're going to have no idea where to put what has just happened.

You could have bought a spaceship and it wouldn't shock them anymore.

See, then, just think of all the swag that you can buy.

The Maserati keychains, the Maserati t-shirts, all the Maserati stuff.

I mean, the history of Maserati is pretty awesome. It's pretty cool.

Yes. I have a Maserati themed bedroom in my house.

You do. It's very cool.

Nick, you too, can design the Maserati bedroom.

So when guests come over, you give them that, hey, God Maserati,

stay with us in our themed room.

Oh, it makes me hurt.

It's just because of the history. It really is fascinating and cool.

I wish the jokes weren't about Maserati like this.

I wish they were, you know, held their value and all that stuff.

But you know what? It is kind of cool that they are that way.

Nick, we're in Crazy Town. Maybe you should join us.

We've given you some real thoughts. The Marano's not a real thought.

But, you know, I like Paul's crazy here. I think let's embrace the crazy.

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Benji writes to us because he is interested in car camping.

He's in the market though for a reliable, affordable daily

for the next two-ish years because he needs to car around a wheelchair

because he cares for a senior citizen.

He'll be taking care of the senior citizen for about two-ish years

after that he's got his eye on a Lexus RCF.

Right now, Ben comes from a 2002 Honda Odyssey

with 310,000 miles.

Can't imagine why you're moving on.

That gut car's barely getting started, right?

2002 Honda Odyssey with 300 grand on it.

It's easy.

Barely broken in.

You said this transmission is starting to go.

Well, you know what, it's about time.

That car has earned its debt.

Let's be honest.

It's almost 25 years old.

It has 300,000 miles.

There's a part of that poor Odyssey that's just saying,

just kill me.

So the transmission is starting to go.

He wants to find a replacement before he,

it actually leaves him stranded.

This is where this gets even more interesting

because he's got a lot of debates he's happening

as to what he thought he would get.

He wanted the new Lexus TX 550 Plus

or maybe a Toyota Sienna woodland

and he went to his local dealers and he found

that no dealer within driving distance of him

had any idea if they would ever get one.

Six months or never.

Those are your choices.

Could be six months, could be never.

And they probably said that with a straight face.

Like, that wasn't a weird way to respond to the question.

Yeah, can I sell you any other Toyota product in the meantime?

Well, that just means Ben is now tempted

by a 2018 to 2020 Macon or Macon S

or a more than six-year-old Cayenne, Cayenne S or Cayenne hybrid.

Okay.

Panameras of all the flavors are on the table too.

But he says he thinks the Porsche options

are reliable with potentially expensive maintenance.

I would say yes.

Ben drives in the snow belt every year.

He needs all-wheel drive capability

because he's gotten stuck in the minivan multiple times

and canceled various trips

due to his lack of all-wheel drive capability.

Tires, what?

Tires are the most important thing.

I understand your all-wheel drive needs.

But still get the right tires.

Even with the all-wheel drive, please get all-weathers,

not all seasons, or full-on winter tires

depending upon your usage and how much snow

you're getting in your area.

Tires matter even with the all-wheel drive.

They matter so much.

Oh, absolutely.

I have a choice for you

because, and you didn't really give us a budget.

It's true because we're looking at like new things up here

the TX and the Sienna.

Those are expensive.

Those are $50,000 to get one.

Right.

But then we're talking about six-plus-year-old Cayenne's

which are way below $50,000.

I'm not sure you should buy something for the interim.

I mean, you're talking about the two years

you're going to be taking care of the senior citizen.

But you're also going on to talk about your car camping love.

Yes.

Because all of those options that you suggest in Macon's,

Cayenne's, all that stuff, he said,

would offer a pleasant accommodations.

He says the Panamera would be the tightest

and that would sacrifice camping practicality

for the best dynamics.

But what do you want to do?

Are you getting more into car camping?

Do you want something a little bit fire-road-capable

that can also store the wheelchair?

I also, it's unclear what kind of wheelchair,

because there's many different types of wheelchairs.

There's full electrics that weigh hundreds of pounds.

And you have to have a van or a lift to be able to take care of it.

Of course, there's the small lightweight stuff

that you can fold up.

I can't quite get a read on that.

But based on the stuff he's considering

and he's put on his own recommendations,

I'm assuming big assumption here.

I'm guessing this is a standard wheelchair.

I would think so.

So the Panamera being the biggest tell.

There is no way you're getting anything

but a standard wheelchair into a Panamera

and you're probably going to have to do some tetris

to even figure that out.

So my guess is, and again, he's looking at the TX

or the C&N Woodland, which would have more space.

But this must be a standard one.

And that's what I'm going to have to go forward with,

but we're still not sure.

I've got a choice for you.

And because you're dealer,

you're looking at Lexus or Toyota.

So I'm going to stay right there.

But I'm going for something that is Panamera-like.

Okay.

All wheel drive.

Okay.

It's Toyota.

All right.

And it's one we recently drove.

Again, it's the Crown Signia.

That's good.

That's really good.

These start at $43,000.

I think loaded kind of where you're going to want it

is about $52, just over $50.

But based on the other two choices that they gave us,

I think it's in the sweet spot.

And the best part is,

when you fold the rear seats down,

it's got the tray that flaps over the gap.

Yep.

Perfect for car camping.

Yes, you're right.

We actually did a little short.

We first saw this car.

I had Paul laying in it coffin style,

because they were asking about the fact

that it was more than six feet worth of space.

That's great, Paul.

You could lie down in the back.

We had it recently.

We drove it around and took it to the airport.

We did a bunch of stuff with it.

It's just usable.

It is the fantastic.

Subaru Outback alternative.

I think it's more interesting in the Outback.

It isn't the all-wheel drive of the Outback.

I get that.

But it has a lot of space in the back.

It's got the on-demand all-wheel drive.

No, I know.

But it's not the same system.

It's not the same system, but still.

But it doesn't have a CVT.

So there's that.

It's trade-offs.

I mean, it's a hybrid.

It's got the limited edition claims 3937 MPG.

I guess it has the Toyota CVT,

but it's not the terrible one of the Subaru anyway.

I mean, all things relative.

But still, I really liked it.

I'm not the buyer for the Crown Signia.

Of course, I want the GR version.

And there's internet stuff about it.

The next four I'm pure saying could be manifested

in the Crown Signia GR or something.

The Ground.

Yes, I know.

But you look at these things and you know what?

It's Wagony.

It's not full SUV.

It's not.

And that hatch is actually pretty impressive.

The cargo space back there is pretty impressive.

And to my knowledge, there's no other car in the market right now

that has those big trays that flap over the gap,

which is crazy to say.

Weirdly handy.

You're right, it is, yeah.

That's what you want for car camping.

That's what you want to lay down the whole length.

And I think based on what we've extrapolated

from the wheelchair needs that you have,

I think you can still get the wheelchair back there too.

But that justifies buying brand new

because you're not just buying with your eyes

on the next two years and then getting something.

You're buying thinking,

okay, this could be longer term, car camping.

And then get your sports car, you know,

addition down the road.

But I think this could be great.

Crowns, Signy, my friend.

Ben, go look at those.

I really like that.

I didn't go there.

But you know what?

Now that you're going there,

I think there's a lot of merit in that.

I do like it quite a bit.

I have a few others to mention.

I am going to, of course, no one surprised

what's about to happen.

I am going to recommend a Cayenne.

Okay.

You'd be perfectly happy on any back road.

You're going to be pleased with the dynamics much better

than what you've had so far.

You've had an old Honda Odyssey.

You've looked at the Lexus TX or the CNN minivan.

The Cayenne's going to feel like a sports car to you.

It is.

But if you don't get the first gen,

you get the second gen on apps.

So we're talking 2011 and up.

You've got all kinds of options for your budget.

Don't get the highest one you can get.

Get something middle of the road.

Like aim for an S.

Okay.

That's what we have.

We actually have the hybrid version.

But that's what we have.

We have a 2017.

You can find them for your budget.

They are reliable.

Yes, they are expensive when you have to get stuff done.

But they are reliable.

But I think you're going to be amazed.

I think it's going to feel like a sports car to you.

But then the second gen and up actually

has properly easy fold flat seats.

The other ones you have to do origami.

It has fold flat seats.

You've got lots of space in the back.

One of the questions I have about this person that you're helping is

can they get in and out of a car

or can they get in and out of an SUV?

Is there entry and exit a factor?

Oh.

Because I know some older people that they only want SUVs

because as I've joked before, you just kind of stop walking.

It's the right height to just stop walking.

We're not down into a car.

Okay.

But others would prefer to be down in a car.

So is that a factor?

I don't know here.

But I'm just throwing them out there.

I think the Cayenne is a great choice.

I also think you should consider the BMW X3.

But if you wanted to save a little bit of money

since this is a stopgap car,

the Chevy Blazer RS

is the rare test drive where we got in a car

expecting it to be

neither one of us is going to like it.

And the more we drove it, more we're like,

you know what, in this RS trim, this isn't half bad.

It had a few little sporty items on it

that actually made it drive surprisingly well.

You can find those for all the prices out there.

The Chevy Blazer RS.

This is prior to the current one where they made it EV.

I'm talking the prior one.

Okay.

So that's out there.

It has a all Camaro interior,

which maybe is a selling point and has more room than the Camaro,

which is a low bar.

That's out there.

Also, Alfa Stelvio's are surprisingly affordable.

Get a couple of those.

Stelvio's are very cool.

I think the Panamera's are out.

I think that it has the least amount of space.

You're going to have to go the farthest back in how old they are.

They'll be the least reliable.

I wouldn't go Panamera for you.

Lots of good options.

I like your crown very much, Paul.

But I have to pivot here, Ben, and ask you a question.

It's not what you wrote in about, but I have a burning question for you.

Why is it that in two years

you're going to buy a Lexus RCF?

Why is that the poster car?

Is it because it comes with all-wheel drive?

You've shopped at your Toyota dealer for the Lexus TX

and then the Toyota dealer for the Toyota Sienna Woodland.

Are you a person who only wants to buy a Toyota product?

Because you currently have a Honda Odyssey.

I'm just trying to understand why the Lexus RCF

is the pinnacle car for two years from now.

Have you driven it?

And have you driven the other sports car options

that are available for RCF money?

I'm not saying don't get an RCF.

That's not a car that I think of for,

oh, I'm going to go buy a pinnacle fun sports car.

RCF doesn't make that list.

I'm going to wait two years.

Oh, we'll drive.

You acknowledge that.

Maybe that factors in.

I'm going to wait two years.

I'm going to buy is the Lexus RCF in the top five?

Right.

It's solid.

It's going to be reliable.

It has the all-wheel drive.

I see the merits of it.

But I want to make sure that you drive

the competition that is available for the same money

before you go RCF.

And maybe that's what you do over this next two years.

Well, you buy whatever it is you're going to buy.

Just start doing some drive homework and testing some things

and figure out two years from now, RCF

or you know what?

I never thought I'd like one of those.

Ben, thank you for writing.

Really appreciate it.

We wish you happy hunting.

Yes.

And let us know what you end up deciding

because we've got some varied choices for you here.

Go to Autotemps.com slash every day for all your car searching.

Of course, when you're dreaming about RCS,

when you're looking for competition,

go find, go drive other stuff.

Go to other stuff.

Please.

Right to us everyday driver TV at gmail.com,

topic Tuesdays, car conclusions, car debates.

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Lots of good questions, but Mike's steering column on Instagram

asked something that got me pondering.

The corner that we've turned,

metaphorically and literally,

because we just had the recent Model 3,

and we've tried very hard to drive that

as a piece of technology at a vehicle,

and not as a political statement.

And that's getting harder and harder.

So we did kind of avoid that even though

it's happened in the comments anyway.

But that started us also starting to think about

what are the intelligent cruise controls

being offered on other cars.

So since then, we have at least investigated it.

Quality's not always there.

The ability's not always there,

but it's interesting because there is definitely

in every segment of the market some level of interest of,

well, will this do traffic for me?

What will this handle for me?

Which is not really how Paul and I are wired.

We're not really like,

how much will the car drive itself?

It's not ever on our consideration list.

I never really think about that.

But we're starting to, for you, dear audience member,

we're starting to at least investigate it in our test drives

and Mike Steering column says,

is this the future of car reviews being a passenger

in the front left seat behind the steering wheel?

And if so, he may have to change the name of his blog

called Mike Steering column where he talks about steering field

because apparently steering field doesn't matter anymore.

Mike, it matters very much to me.

And driving matters very much to me.

But we have consistently seen commentary

where people like these systems in stop and go traffic

and long highway road trips.

Where you're just, you're sitting there grinding miles,

be it really slowly or at high speed for long distance.

And people like these systems to just take one layer

of focus and control away from them.

I get it, but then we are all now paying a lot of attention

to the car's thinking.

I just rather drive it personally,

but I realized each is own.

So we're at least investigating them.

We have the last round of cars that have been here

have all had something.

So we're trying them out.

On Instagram, garage mayhem.

Has a question.

He says it's April 1st, 2006,

and the two of us have been invited to the grand opening

of Miller Motorsport Park.

We each have 20 grand by car for this event.

What are we buying?

And he asks me, Paul, which used Porsche M.I. buying.

April 1st, 2006,

the Cayman is barely available brand new.

That's true.

That's very true, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Those are too expensive.

So those are out.

Amazing to think.

A world without Caymans.

That's interesting.

I hadn't thought about that.

Okay.

What a horrible thought.

You know, I bet you'd get an S2000 for 20 grand.

A really nice one.

You could get an S2000.

There's still be a made.

So they're, so they're true.

They're probably.

And they hadn't spotted yet because of their...

Exactly.

You could get a really nice S2000.

All right.

That'd be fun to show up in.

Oh, that's good.

I was thinking 350Z.

That's good as well.

Slightly used.

Yeah, it'd be great.

You could use the final one.

Of course.

Probably C5 maybe.

I don't know if you could get a 20 grand C5.

0.6 for that money.

Then...

Don't know if they'd drop that far yet.

Yeah.

Might not have dropped that far.

But the Z, the Honda S2000 is a great one.

Probably somewhere in there.

But to think.

Okay.

To answer the question.

If I'm buying a Porsche,

I'd have to go back to a 944.

Yeah, you would.

You're right.

Might not even be able to get a turbo.

Hmm.

But that would be interesting.

Porsche does the GR86 way back when.

Yeah.

That's a fair point.

I like this.

The Bruce B asks,

why don't manufacturers offer a bench seat

in the higher trims of SUVs and trucks?

He said,

I'd like to keep the dog in the back on the bench

and projectiles from the back hatch,

from joining me in the front.

Bruce, here's what's happened here.

You have to think about the fact that all these cars

are being built in an assembly line.

And we have to keep the process simple.

And you also have to think about the fact that generally

where manufacturers present this is,

captains' chairs are more luxurious.

So as you get to the higher trims and more luxurious,

we have to go captains' chairs.

We can't do a bench anymore because,

of course, you want the higher end thing.

They luxury.

They don't think about the fact that there will be those people

that would prefer the bench.

And so they just leave it for the base models.

And it is a tragedy.

And I do agree with you.

But they want to do heated and cooled captains' chairs.

That's the luxury step up.

What do you mean you want a bench now?

It also means they have to have another build sheet option

to make sure they get right on the assembly line.

They got to keep it simple.

The luxury trims have the captains' chairs.

The base trims have the benches.

Done.

Even though I agree with you.

On Facebook, Michael Garrett says hypothetically,

if we were asked a host top gear or grand tour,

who would we each choose as our third co-host

and what would be our first major road trip and special B?

The co-host is tough because if we're invited,

that means it's a produced thing.

And we wouldn't get a choice.

We wouldn't get a say in the matter.

That's a good thought.

You've taught me this when it's a heavily produced thing

that the viewers doesn't really know that.

But it's so heavy-handed.

It's so overly produced that it's either something

to throw a wrench into the plans to create unnecessary drama.

I think the choices that we would come up with

would be great.

Fine.

It would work probably great.

But it wouldn't be like the controversial choice,

which is not what we thrive on anyway.

We're talking about modern day casting.

The reality of modern day casting.

You and I have been cast in the show.

To your point, what would happen is

it would be probably a woman from a minority.

That is the casting thinking.

And look, there may be a fantastic host out there.

But that would be a different rapport from you and I

than if we cast Tom Homanzek,

who used to do stuff for us,

who's German and fun and it is an old buddy.

But he's another middle-aged white guy, okay?

So the reason that Top Gear,

the one that we all kind of looked to

with the three guys, Jeremy, Richard and James May,

the reason it worked so well is because they were just,

they operated like peers.

The minute you put Sabine Schmidt,

fantastic host, great driver, rest in peace.

The minute you put her in that show,

the dynamic changed.

And the reason that Jeremy did stuff,

that way is because he was also a producer.

So he was essentially just casting.

This is an old guy's show.

And look, this has been studied

and I am not a psychologist, sociologist,

any of these things.

But this has been studied a lot.

When men are in a room,

and you put one woman in the room, the dynamic changes.

When women are in a room,

and you put one man in the room,

the dynamic changes.

Sure.

For better or for worse,

there's an alteration there.

So it would be interesting to see

what the casting would be.

I'm way off into casting theory.

But that is interesting.

This is hard because there's a lot of good hosts out there.

But I'm just going to stay with Tom

because we know him.

We have rapport with him.

And he's a good driver who's good on camera.

Unless he's got the Jersey accent.

His English sounds like he's from Jersey.

It's the weirdest thing on the planet.

But it's great.

Because I was thinking, you know,

because the original top-year host,

they had British accents.

It was always about the accent.

Tom's got an accent over here.

It's worth helping, yeah.

That's a Jersey accent.

But you know, there is a lot of difference.

He's a German who speaks like he's from Jersey.

It sounds like he's in the mob somehow.

I don't know how that works.

So what's our first major road trip and special?

Well, it have to be a viper being chased by a black hawk.

I'm just kidding.

Sorry.

Oh, wow.

It's the playbook.

You're right.

Episode one.

A hot sports car on a runway.

Being chased by an aircraft of some sort.

Uh-oh.

I have a friend who's an Osprey pilot.

I wish you weren't right.

But you are right.

Let's get an Osprey in there.

Oh my gosh.

What?

I'll tell you what I'm crazy.

What I want to do is I want to run away.

The Scotland 500, the Scottish Loop.

That would be excellent.

That would be like three episodes worth.

But that's what I want to do.

I was thinking Iceland.

But you know, with volcanoes and doing the loop around Iceland.

Yeah, sure.

Something gnarly with trucks.

I don't know.

But I like the sentiment.

Michael, I like the thought.

There's always been ideas that Todd and I've had.

And we have no money to go do that.

There are a lot of those ideas.

Yes.

And it just seems like Top Gear and Grand Two are always had the money.

So I don't think that they explored everything that could have been done.

And in the way that they did some of them work.

So built up and so like over the top gag.

It's like, okay, let's do this kind of more real and still have fun.

And still, you know, encounter stuff.

And it kind of felt overproduced in some ways.

But instead, Michael, let's turn every day driver into that next show.

Instead of us being on those name shows.

Let's turn every day driver into that show.

And you make it at that level.

You and I with budget is a scary prospect.

There's old ideas.

That is more fun.

Yeah, for sure.

Matt Gera 82 says in intriguing question in the Jetsons cartoon.

It all sorts of technologies just as flying cars and robot running the house.

But yet George Jetson appears to drive himself to work.

Was he secretly a car guy?

Don't look at me.

I didn't grow up watching cartoons because I was not allowed.

Whoa.

Well, my wife teases me because a lot of times she brings up stuff that happened in the first 10 years of my life.

And I know none of it because I was in England.

She's like, oh, that's right.

You had a completely different cultural experience.

But I did watch the Jetsons.

You know, he probably was because let's put it this way.

There are no other cars in the Jetsons world.

It was all little flying commuters.

It's not like they had race cars.

Otherwise, and granted, I don't remember to show that well.

But there is that kind of stuff.

But the other thing you have to think about is the Jetsons was essentially

a 1950s headspace sitcom done in the future.

Mom and Dad have completely traditional roles.

The kids look like kids from the 1950s.

It just has a sci-fi bent, which is kind of the look they're giving the new Fantastic Four movie.

Is it all the other one of those coming out?

The first, like, yes.

There have been multiple that have fallen right on their face.

But this one is coming out with Pedro Pascal and others.

And, you know, it's getting the full current Marvel treatment.

But it very much has that it's the 60s in vibe.

But the technology doesn't even exist.

And that's kind of what the Jetsons was.

That era of creation, everybody was very obsessed with rockets and everything.

But it has that very traditional roles.

So yeah, I think he's driving.

Because, of course, Dad went to work and he drove.

Well, producers.

They were not thinking lidar versus camera-based self-driving capabilities.

They were not talking about the code stacks and different approaches,

because Google Earth and Google Maps didn't exist.

They weren't even aware what the term code stack was.

These were animators hand-drawing things moving on, yeah.

Ralph asked a funny question we've been asked a few times,

and that is, how did we come up with our color codes?

Because I'm the guy in red and Paul's the guy in blue.

I guess I don't really remember.

This is how unthought through this was.

Okay.

Blue is one of my very favorite colors.

But I knew that we needed to have contrast in color.

So one of us should wear red and one of us should wear blue.

And I said to Paul, which one do you want?

And he said, I don't know, blue.

And I went, I guess I've been red.

I mean, literally, that was the decision process.

I distinctly remember it.

And what I didn't think of at the time,

because I color-cracked everything we do.

Okay?

Right, right.

I have a very red skin tone.

And if I get any kind of sun at all,

it looks like I got sunburned, especially when I'm wearing a red shirt.

If I had thought about this in color,

I would have insisted that I was in blue,

because you have a slightly bluer or greener skin tone

than I do comparatively, Paul.

I'm way down into, like, color science, okay?

You do have an eye for color.

So if you had worn red,

you would have looked typically much more balanced in color.

And if I had worn blue,

I would have looked typically much more balanced in color.

It's not political.

It's nothing other than literally,

I was like, well, blue and red are fantastic opposites

in t-shirt color.

Which one do you want?

And you went, I'll take blue.

And here we are.

20 years later,

I'm the guy that loves red.

That's how it comes out.

We tried to balance the equation with your bluesy floor,

and I had a red Mercedes for now.

I know.

And then it even confused me in the edit.

I was like, why are the colors backwards?

We're at a red and blue world now.

That's where we are.

Thank you for all your questions.

Really appreciate it, guys.

Write to us everyday driver TV at gmail.com.

And don't forget to check out the hookdown driving events.

Hookdowndriving.com.

We've got Circa of the Americas coming up.

We've got a big event at Watkins Glen for July 4th.

July 4th through the 6th.

You can find an event on the calendar in a region near you.

And also don't forget the HOD Europe adventure as well.

That is July 5th through the 11th.

Xanvort.

Spa Frank or Shaw.

The ring.

We would love to have you join us on that.

Lots of options.

And stay tuned for later in the year.

Fall driving events with everyday drivers.

We have driving events as well.

Looking forward to next time.

Cheers everyone.

979: Possible Renaissance Incoming, Show It To The In-Laws, The Scottish Loop

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