989: Knight Rider M2, No More Toy Cars, The Mood Lighting Difference

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. Welcome back to the podcast. We are rocketing our way toward podcast number 1000. This is what?

That means we're a little over a month away from the 1000, which will be at Coda. I have to bring it up again. Also in case you're confused or you've wondered, we are posting old live episodes of our podcast, which have been done on video every 25. We're posting that to our everyday driver YouTube channel now as we count down toward the 1000. Starting at the 1000, we're going to do one podcast a week, probably about 90 minutes. It will be on video going forward. We're going to have a whole different studio. It was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. We're really excited about the 1000 change over. But that

brings us up to the thing we keep talking about Paul, circuit of the Americas. This is such a big deal. It's not just that 1000 podcast is a two day track event. It's not just the two day track event. It's our 1000. It's so much culminating. It's a four day road trip to get there at a five to six day road trip. It's our biggest thing for both brands of the calendar year. That's why we keep talking about it so much. And what's so funny is you guys don't hear the conversations we're having behind the scenes to plan at all. The amount of time we spend talking about going to and from Austin is almost overwhelming. But we're very

excited about it. So that is coming up quickly. We've got people shipping cars from all over the nation. We've got California and shipping cars there. We've got people coming in from everywhere, which is going to be really cool to end. I'm very excited. Again, HOD has never been at this track before. I know. So it's both brands so much going on. We're going to be exhausted by the way at the end of the food trucks cars and coffee live podcast. There's so much stuff happening on those two days. That's May 31 and June 1. There's still many, many ways that you can be there with us. But also we are doing a big road tour. So on our website, you can see what the

road tour is going to be. But that's not even all the stuff we're doing because we are doing what we're calling Park City Drive Days in mid-July, late July. The initial info of that is on the website. The registration isn't open yet. And Bear Tooth pass is happening again in September. Registration isn't open there either. But it is coming soon. And in all cases, registration is early. It's early. If you're a patron. If you're one of our patrons, you wind up on the Discord channel. That's a fantastic community. And they get first access, which is really cool. We're really thankful for all of those folks. We do

monthly calls with them. We hop on the Discord and discuss lots of stuff happens because of the patrons which we really appreciate. So all of that is occurring. That's a lot of news. Well, there's still more news. Did you hear about this potential carbon fiber ban in the EU? Yes. It made for really good posts on all the websites. It was an overnight kind of a scare. But then I think common sense prevailed because people realized how widely used carbon fiber is. Not just cars, even though I'm thinking Ferrari is probably going to pipe up here.

And McLaren's probably going to have a say. Bugatti might say something. But how about Airbus? Yes, exactly. Aircraft manufacturers are going to be like, excuse me. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, reading various articles. I'm seeing the car scoops one from Andreas here. And he's pointing out the how large the industry is for carbon fiber. And it's not going anywhere. Let's put it that way to make things lighter to get EVs lighter. The amount of proliferation and use of carbon fiber used throughout the car industry. And it's becoming

cheaper. You know, hopefully to a price point where it can be used even not in exotics necessarily. Sure. Yeah. Trim pieces. But well, I'm all for an alternative. But what alternative? That's the thing. As of right now, it is so widely used in so many industries. Of course, we talked cars, but you've already touched on it. So many other industries. That's a difficult ban to enforce. Yeah. Agreed. So the good news is right now, there's no ban. They were considering it. And then they realized they kind of came to their senses. All right. Yeah. That doesn't affect a lot of industries. It's not just cars. I feel like

I read every big sweeping news article with a, okay, let's see how that shakes out. I feel like that's the place we're at just globally right now. Something crazy gets dropped as a headline. And you go, what's behind the headline followed by, are we sure? And just be cool for a moment. Just everybody breathe. Don't freak out. We're all freaking out. It's okay. Well, speaking of freak out, we just saw breaking news. The new 911 GT3 manual has set the record around the ring with a time of under seven minutes.

6.56.294. That's six minutes 56 seconds. Holy cow. You think the last GT3, you think this new one. To the 992.2 is trim and just a few upgrades. But no, it beat the previous GT3's lap time. That was a PDK. So it begs the question. Does that mean PDK is not the most ideal transmission for track driving? I can't answer that, but we haven't even gotten to the RS yet.

I mean, if this is just the normal GT3, what happens to the RS? New manual transmission record. It beat the Dodge Viper ACR from 2017 by just under 10 seconds.

Tires have a big part of that, but holy cow, arrow and chassis tuning. Amazing. I still don't see how they do it, but it always feels like they're leaving something in reserve. So theoretically, it could go faster, but then we have to wait for the RS.

And now road and track apparently is thinking about a GT2 RS doing like a 630 or something. Alright, so time to freak out everyone.

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Good car debates for this episode. We've got Mariano writing to us from Pennsylvania asking for something anything that isn't an SUV.

Okay. SUVs work for many people. Absolutely. They're great, but not for Mariano.

He's been listening to the podcast for the last few years videos on YouTube even before the COVID lockdown times.

Thank you. I love it.

He's reaching out to us for advice because he thinks he's ready for the next car chapter in his life.

Mariano currently owns 2013 Volvo S60 T6 R design with pole star performance.

It's a three liter turbo six cylinder sedan, 325 horsepower, 354 pound feet of torque with 127,000 miles on it.

Huh? He's got a 2013 Hyundai Genesis coupe 3.8, the V6 track mode. Naturally aspirated coupe puts out 350 horsepower, 290 pound feet of torque.

That was the best engine for that car. That car was underappreciated and I always enjoyed it when we got to drive it.

3.8 was good. That has 102,000 miles. And the Volvo is as daily. He loves it. The leather is comfortable. Premium sound is amazing.

He's owned the car for the last four years and he fell in love with Volvo on a trip to Sweden when he came back about a V50.

And then this S60 T5, well, another S60 and now finally this one, which is the cheap version of the pole star trim.

Love it. Okay.

But he says he's not a fan of the new Volvo Chinese era, the two liter turbo supercharged engines.

Turbo supercharged hybrid. It's just what you would like sir.

Or two liter. And then we're going to just force it to do more power. Yeah. They get a lot of power at them. It's crazy.

The Genesis is his fun. We can drive no tracker out across yet. Just fun twist. You're a driving between Pennsylvania's towns.

Love it. It's also a comfortable drive. Good seats, adequate interior. He doesn't mind the lack of rear camera or fancy screens.

He just loves the raw power and sound of that V6. And the fun from a rear-wheel drive car.

He's owned it for a bit more than a year and bought it because he got a good deal on it.

And he always wanted to have a black coupe because of his childhood days watching Knight Raider.

All right. You're also not alone. We've all been like, hmm, could I get something like a Knight Raider car?

Can I get a light on the front that goes, yeah, anyway, sure you could find something.

Oh, there's no question. Amazon's got that. Stick to your car. Absolutely.

He doesn't drive much lately. He works from home 100%. His daily drive consists of taking his kids to school and after school activities,

grocery stores, some places on the weekends with family, but he doesn't put too many miles on his cars anymore.

So he's wondering if it makes sense to sell both in order to buy just one car and have fun with it.

The Genesis gets less use. He only drives it when he's alone on weekends, whenever he finds the time.

It sounds like you're kind of neglecting it, driving it too much.

But he appreciates the contrast of driving the Volvo and the Genesis. It's an automatic versus manual.

All wheel drive versus wheel drive, that kind of thing.

So his expectations for the next car are something that's fun. A car that puts a smile on his face whenever he pushes on it.

Something comfortable. He doesn't feel like the multi screens or expensive luxury features should take precedence over the fun of driving.

But clearly seats and stuff matter at the same time, yeah.

A car that can haul his family for people.

A manual is a plus, but not a must have. He just doesn't enjoy driving SUVs, although his wife owns a Kia Sportage.

Turbo, naturally aspirated, he likes both. All for a budget of $30,000 and he doesn't see himself tracking or autocrossing this particular car.

Something that may be in the future.

He has test driven a 2016 blue Focus RS, and he was close to buying it, but he didn't enjoy the recaro seats.

Too tight for his liking. He hesitated, the car got sold to someone else.

He hesitated for an extra day.

An extra day, yeah. That's key. Those cars, when they're in nice spec, they are still selling fast right now.

So I'm sorry that happened to you, but I'm also not too surprised, unfortunately.

Yeah, great. He test drove a stock 2019 Civic Type R, which he liked, but it was noisy.

That was the prior gen to the current gen. Yeah.

That FK8 generation interior space was more than he needed. Cargo space was good.

So then he drove a 2022 Civic SI, we really liked that car.

It's very good. Yeah.

He found it more comfortable than the Type R, but less exciting, like the revhang lack of power, even though it's got 200 horsepower.

But coming out of the Type R, you're going to notice this for sure.

Absolutely. Yeah. He says cargo not as good as on the Type R.

Yeah, you've got that hatch.

And then he test drove a 2014 Wrangler unlimited to confirm his lack of interest in SUVs.

You just wanted to make sure that it's just, well, sure enough, I don't like SUVs.

Here's, here's what's happened. He thinks he doesn't like SUVs, but Mariano goes, I know I know what went through your head.

I guarantee you what your head was. I kind of always liked Wranglers.

He thought, will that be the exception? Will I get into that and be like, you know, I do like this.

I don't like SUVs, but apparently no joy there does not like SUVs and the Wrangler is fully out.

So yeah, it's an SUV, but it does different things.

It's like true, the funnest of the fun SUVs.

Yes. Well, we've read the stats before.

Apparently one of the most common cars cross-shopped with a Jeep Wrangler is a Mazda Miata.

Yeah. Those buyers cross-shopped, which I find amazing.

What that means is I just, I want a car that's not that actually doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I can take all the pieces off.

That's what we're looking for. Anyway, yeah.

Well, he's thinking if he can't find something that's next, you know, selling both these cars.

Do we think it makes more sense to keep the two cars that serve different purposes?

But which one do we keep or which one should he sell?

What's the replacement for something more exciting as enthusiast driving kind of car?

So stay with two cars and swap one of them is kind of what he's suggesting there, which, okay, that is an option.

Mario and his daughter just turned 16 years old, so he's thinking about keeping the Volvo for her.

But he's concerned that the age and mileage of the Volvo and potential maintenance costs in the future are nothing that a teenager should deal with.

Yeah.

So he says, I need to have a conversation.

He needs to talk to his wife.

Perhaps keeping the Kia Sportage 2019 85,000 miles is a better bet for that.

But that means we do a car debate for your wife.

Mariano means sell the two Kia Sportage goes to your daughter, but she's still in the house.

So that means that his wife could use that car as well, plus whatever car he ends up with because he works from home.

I think this door reaches a two car family step by step.

Yeah, I think we could get there.

Tell his daughter needs something just her own true.

Yeah.

Right.

You know, you got me thinking about that Volvo because once you discover Volvo, I think there's an enthusiast liking for those cars.

And Mariano, I was, I want you to be in a BMW.

I'm trying to figure out which BMW I like best for you.

I was noodling two series and three series.

Okay.

But you mentioned you wanted something a little bit older.

If we're going to do Volvo, and so I was thinking about yet another poll star for you because what works is a 2018 V60 poll star with 46,000 miles for 28.5.

Okay, yeah.

Now, that is the two liter I for supercharged all wheel drive eight speed automatic, but it's much newer.

Yeah.

And it's right in the sweet spot of your budget.

It's pretty much perfect for what you need.

It is.

I mean, I'm worried.

I mean, he already had another, you know, poll star tune.

And he's worried about the Chinese ownership era of those.

I mean, again, those two leaders have been asked to do quite a lot, and they have soldered on quite well so far.

Yeah.

And, you know, I've seen a lot of them with really high miles and they're great.

And I think you really should consider it because it's a, it's a such a different choice than typical Mercedes and BMW.

Sure.

Yeah.

Anything else we might suggest.

I love that you went car shopping.

I love that you drove that type R.

Because for 30 grand, your budget, you know, I was thinking Integra Civic Type R or Civic SI is an interesting choice there.

But I keep coming back to something from BMW.

It is really what you're asking for is the crux of what BMW sedans do.

True.

Something really fun to drive.

It can do some high performance driving, but yet take four people.

And it's a sedan, not an SUV.

You know, which three series do you go pursue for that kind of money?

E90 M3.

You get all the gas.

But the problem is, that's an older, it's older than the car.

It's older, fortunately, yeah.

But the problem is, you know, your budget.

I want you to get as much BMW three series or two series would probably be out.

Unless you could do a two series.

I mean, it's got four four seats.

It does have four seats.

There's somewhat usable.

And your family, you know, when you need to use it for four passengers, could you do it?

Because it's small enough, lightweight enough.

Yeah.

Two series, something to 35 to 40.

You could do an M240.

Are the M2s that down that far?

They're like, they're quite there, there yet.

Oh.

The first, the early M2.

The first, not the competition, just the straight up M2.

No, the original M2 before they did the engine swap.

That's interesting.

Maybe.

I don't know if they're down that far.

You'd have to find one with quite a bit of miles, I think, to hit your budget.

Well, I'm going to look right now, aren't you?

Yes, I am.

You know, I'm going to go into product planning mode for a second, Mariano.

Because what you've asked for here, other people have kind of asked for.

But I think you've clarified it more than most.

And so we're all just going to dream here for a second.

Because you know what you're actually asking for.

That could almost exist.

You're looking for the four-door version of the GR86 platform.

Toyota should make a four-door version of that platform.

Toyota Subaru should make a four-door version of that.

You know what it would be like, even with current power levels.

It would be like the return of the E36 BMW.

The E36 M3, in fact.

That was the scale of that car.

Yeah.

It was about the size of the 86 chassis.

I mean, at first glance, you think the 86 is too small for four doors.

But that was about the scale of that E36 M3.

Those are still beloved four-door M3s that aren't worth much anymore.

What if?

I'm just going to be in the what if column.

Toyota and Subaru made a four-door version off of that chassis.

Maybe then they do put the turbo motor in it.

That's what we're looking for.

Is a little lightweight four-door rear-wheel drive car and no one makes it.

The rear-wheel drive is the difference.

Yes, for sure.

Because there's plenty of sonatas and...

Yeah, of course.

And those are fast and they can be good and chords, all kinds of stuff.

But yeah, anyway.

I've got an idea, but I think what you're really asking for is that product.

Mariano 2018 BMW M2 standard.

42,000 miles in Garland, Texas for 29, 995.

They are there.

Wow.

They're there, everyone.

Wow.

I didn't think they were this low.

I was still thinking 2.35, 2.40s, but they are.

Which you could find all kinds of options there, but maybe go all the way to M2.

That is a good idea.

I like it.

Now, this is a manual, but I think that's meeting your needs.

It's just not four-door.

Can you imagine if they had built this M2 with four doors?

Well, that's why they have all the other models, but I take your point.

I guess.

Here it is.

There's not many for sale on auto tempest.

At that price point.

That's the hard part of that price point.

The other $30,000 M2, also 2018 model year.

It's got 92,000 miles in Fort Lauderdale.

That's what I would expect.

A $92,000 car in Florida.

That's what I would expect for this.

92,000 miles.

Sorry.

Yeah, 92,000 miles in Florida.

That makes sense to me.

Yep.

Here we go.

They're 30 grand, 42,000 miles.

It's black, black wheels.

It's the perfect car.

It's the Knight Rider M2.

It is.

That is a good point.

It's black with black wheels.

It's fully blacked out.

That's ridiculous.

All right.

Oh, this is it.

I don't know.

I think this is it.

Get ready to go to Texas and go get this car.

Drive it back.

Only 42,000 miles.

That's not bad.

I'm quite curious about that.

I'm amazed that any of them are down that low.

But that is quite a fine Bravo on auto tempest.

And for you for that, that's really good.

Okay.

Sell the two.

Okay.

Get this.

Go get yourself an M2.

The black M2.

Yes.

I didn't go there.

I actually have one car and a couple of flavors for you, Mariano.

But that M2 is compelling.

I have to say.

And spin the laptop around and you can see this thing.

That's great.

It is.

It's the Knight Rider M2.

It's exactly what that is.

Yeah.

Why not?

It's got 10 tunnel windows.

That is the Knight Rider.

Yep.

There it is.

I didn't know we needed that.

But you just put the whoosh on the front and you're done.

So here's the thing.

Since we can't get you the Ford or GR86, whatever that would be called.

I think you keep the sportage.

I think that is the car that your wife and your daughter kind of trade out on.

It feels like a new enough car to be a good thing for your daughter to be trying to learn to drive on.

That can be the family car as needed.

But we still need to get you into something that is four doors, four seats.

And I'm looking at these two cars you're trying to merge.

And I think I found the merge.

Okay.

You have a Genesis coupe that you love.

You have a Volvo pole star that you like a lot.

And they do different things.

My first choice for you.

I'm not sure the last time I recommended this car my first choice for you.

Is the Genesis G70 two liter turbo manual.

It is four doors, rear wheel drive, manual transmission.

But it has a good interior luxury seats.

It's a nice place to be that is going to rival what you had in the Volvo when you're just sitting in traffic or commuting.

But when you want to take it on a back road, the G70 surprises everybody that drives it.

And they only made that two liter manual in the sport trim, which has the better limited differential and the better suspension setup.

So it already is the better version that you want anyway.

It isn't very powerful.

That's the downside.

I wish they would have offered that manual transmission with other engines.

So my counterpoint for you is you need to also drive it with the V6 turbo.

Because that is by far the better engine.

And you may end up just buying that and saying, I don't need the manual because this engine is so much better.

You really might.

I mean, spend more and you'll like it more because it's more.

Yeah, but with $30,000 you can find either.

I want you to drive them both and really see.

I mean, the thing is, how much power do you need?

Because the two liter version here is less powerful than both your current cars.

It truly is.

But it has a decent manual and it has a really great chassis.

And then you step up to the V6.

You lose the manual.

You get a phenomenal engine that you're really, really going to like that V6 is great and powerful.

But I think that car, you're going to love it when the whole family's in it.

You're going to like it when you're sitting in traffic on those rare times because it's a nice place to be.

But if you ended up on a back road, you're going to love that car.

I think that that was my only one.

I just went, Genesis G70, I kind of want you to get the manual because they are so rare.

And you ended up with the manual transmission.

I found quite a few on auto tempest, but either way, I think that's your car.

Mariano, thank you for writing.

I really appreciate it.

Wishing you happy hunting and all the best while you go search.

Keep driving stuff as you decide.

Keep driving M2 at its price point.

I'm amazed you found the Knight Rider M2.

That may just win.

Yeah.

It's here.

I mean, there's in that price range, there's three for sale.

Okay.

All right.

Here's another $30,000 M2, but it's got 81,000 miles.

That's what I would expect.

I would expect close to 100.

But that one, that Texas one's a fine.

And it's the Knight Rider spec.

So perfect.

Mariano, thanks for writing.

If you've got a debate like Mariano, every day driver TV, edgmail.com, topic Tuesday's

car conclusions and car debates.

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Did you notice this next debate you were talking about?

People who own meadows and Wranglers and they kind of Greg's looking for something similar.

I just thought these two debates just go together.

They absolutely do a great job on that for sure.

And Greg's writing in and we have meadows and Wranglers and all kinds of fun going on here for sure.

Greg, thank you for writing.

He's also been listening for so very long and he says that he's interested in a car debate

because he dailies an ND3 Miata RF club in New England all seasons.

I love it.

That's fantastic.

Good for you.

Soul red manual.

He's been dailing sports cars for about a decade starting with the NA, then an NB, then a GRD6, now the ND3.

Okay.

Love it.

You can fit in all of those.

I think that's fantastic.

Good for you.

Greg is 32 years old, planning for a kid in the next year or so and the ND isn't going anywhere.

Okay.

All right.

Greg has a two-door JK Wrangler.

So you are the garage we're talking about.

Yes.

Miata on one side, Wrangler on the other.

Absolutely.

There it is.

Yeah.

Greg says that his wife is not a car person but she loves the thing.

You can't buy the way for her.

Yeah.

It's been tough having two toy cars.

Neither are good at being cars and that is so succinct Greg.

That's excellent.

That's very good.

Yeah.

That's why people cross shop those.

Yeah.

Here's Greg and his wife doing that exact thing.

So they need something that does car things because neither of these are good at being cars.

You can make both of them do all of the car things of your life but you're right.

When you guys add a child and all the child stuff and maybe dog and another kid or whoever,

those are neither of those cars are ideal for that situation.

I hope you keep at least the ND.

You said it's paid off and it's not budging but the loss of the Wrangler.

My wife still hasn't really gotten over it.

I mean, that's the thing.

She still kind of misses having a Wrangler even though the Rubikayans gotten us most of the way there.

But a Wrangler still could happen is what I'm hearing.

I suppose it could.

Maybe.

So his wife has tasked him with this burden.

Greg's wife has asked him to figure out what real car, like normal does car things isn't quite as fun they can get.

They need to add something.

The Paul Limiter for you, Paul is $40,000.

The real budget is about 35K.

It needs to be four doors, which, again, neither of their cars are automatic because his wife only likes automatics and doesn't want to learn to drive manual.

He said, believe me, I've tried.

And probably all wheel drive.

Okay.

So I like this.

The challenge is that this is the challenge.

This wipes the board of so many things.

Yeah.

Greg really doesn't want what he describes as I love this description.

The corporate two-liter four-cylinder turbo.

You're right.

Everything.

Everyone has one.

Everybody has one.

He said he actually drove the Alpha Julia, which of course I would recommend here.

He thought it was great.

You can even get an all wheel drive.

But the engine made him sad.

Because it has, you're right, a two-liter four-cylinder turbo.

If you are a carmaker right now in the world, what you're supposed to have in your portfolio up there on the shelf somewhere is a two-liter turbo that makes approximately

two to three hundred horsepower and around 250 pound Vita Torque.

You just have that in the quiver.

We put it in a car.

It's not an engine for any kind of personality, but it goes in all kinds of things.

And that engine is off the table.

So as a result, we wipe so many things off with it.

Wow.

Greg, thank you for writing.

He wants something with a more inspiring soundtrack.

He wants a sedan, a wagon.

He doesn't really need an SUV, but he doesn't really care.

Dynamically, priorities are clearly related to field, tactility, experience.

And he doesn't care about speed because he's got a Miata.

There you go.

He says, is his only option at BMW M340?

Because again, it would have the dynamics.

You could get it all wheel drive.

It doesn't have the corporate four-cylinder because you got the 40.

The 340 is the straight six.

I see how you got there.

That is a compelling argument for 40 grand.

I've got four choices for you and I admit I used 40K as the normal level and went to 45

to find what I really wanted because let's get what you really want.

I have a few here and then I have a wild card I'm quite proud of.

Really?

Okay.

I've got a wild card as well, but we'll wait because wild card means we can double the budget.

I didn't.

I mean, I didn't.

I'm just saying wild card means wild.

Well, you throw it out.

You're right.

Let it live.

I also suggest a Genesis G70 for Greg with a 3.3 liter twin turbo.

But how about the new 2.5 liter turbo?

It is better.

It is a lot better.

And it gets him away from technically the two liter.

Correct.

It's funny.

It's not 100 horsepower.

It is much better with that.

You're right.

It's not the more expensive 3.3.

It's the 2.5.

And guess what, Greg?

They are exactly in your budget.

They started at about 49,000 new.

And they have dropped.

You can find them all kinds of those 2.5.

And we did prefer that engine.

We did.

That's the basic.

For sure.

300 horsepower.

They're excellent.

Like I said, perfectly perfect in your budget.

It's a cool car.

Genesis luxury.

They're interesting to drive.

That was the biggest thing that struck us.

It's still entertaining to drive.

As you mention, experience, feel, tactility.

And for a sedan, it does all of those things.

It's not a BMW.

And it's not a two liter four.

It's a 2.5 liter four.

Safe.

Just got it.

Just pulled it off.

Well done.

Good job.

I also went shopping for Alpha Julia Quadrifolios.

And I found a bunch for 40 grand or less.

I was going to say, here's the terrible thing.

Is he can get away from the corporate two liter.

Yeah.

And get the quadrifoli.

Now it's not all wheel drive, but it is the one you want.

Correct.

It really is.

I mean, you're rocking a quad.

I noticed this too.

Yeah.

I see it.

I do.

That is interesting.

You've got options here.

And there's more, Greg.

How about a Cadillac CT for Blackwing?

In your budget, go shop.

Weirdly, a lot of them had open recalls.

And for the strangest reason, many of them had branded or salvaged titles.

Which, of course, brought the price down.

And Autotempus tells you that right in the listing.

Which is very helpful.

And something you want to know.

But I did find still other CT for Blackwings.

In your price range.

Not very many miles.

That would be entertaining.

Yeah.

Interesting.

It's such a counterpoint.

And we're almost creating the perfect three car garage for you.

Miata Wrangler.

And fun cool sedan right in the middle.

But the most fun cool sedan that I can think of.

It's small like a Miata.

Not a two liter.

It's not a two liter four.

I wonder if you went where I went.

Audi RS 3.

That was my wild car.

Really?

Yes.

Seriously.

I think that's the answer, actually.

It's a five cylinder.

Because the QV is not all-wheel drive.

And you could get them.

I thought of the Chevy SS in automatic.

But it's also not all-wheel drive.

It's rear-wheel drive only.

I thought of a used Porsche Panamera.

But your talk at eight to ten years old to get in the price point.

And I'm a little concerned about the reliability or the costs to make it run right.

I think it could run great.

But to make it run right.

My favorite engine, the three-liter V6.

Which are great.

And those would run well.

I agree.

But I suspect anyone in his budget is just going to need some like,

OK, I bought it.

Now here's the maintenance list.

I just think it's going to have that.

So I felt like the actual perfect car for him is the little four-door four-seat family run about.

That is the Audi RS 3 with the five-cylinder.

I agree with you, five-cylinder.

And in your budget, they're just out there.

You can just go get them.

I looked them up.

And there were so many.

And I just thought that is the answer here for Greg.

It's funny that you landed there as well.

Because I put it in wild card territory because it wasn't like the rest.

But I almost thought of it.

It could be one of those wild card sniper shots.

Because I was like, really, that solves your problem.

You know what?

They're not as expensive as I thought.

Because I went back to 2018-2019, Greg.

And I'm finding 40 to 70 or 80,000 miles.

All under 40 grand.

You could go newer if you wanted to spend a little bit more.

Yeah, go touch newer.

But even those 2018's, what's the lowest mileage I can find here?

51,000, 54,000, and they're both under 40k.

There's so many around in your budget.

And I really think you could just go out and get one.

And you have a great time.

I've got a 2019 right here in front of me in that gorgeous blue

listed right at 40k with 67,000 miles.

Why not?

Two later, it's at 2.5.

But it's also a five cylinder.

What you're worried about is just kind of the drony boring reality

that is those two liter turbos.

And the RS3 completely kills that.

Not drony, not boring.

And solves it.

And it ends up being a perfect little four door four-seat run

about.

And my guess is, because you've had every generation of Miata,

you aren't a tree like we are.

So there's going to be plenty of space in an RS3.

You're going to have backseat space in an RS3.

And I suppose now that we're talking about it,

we could entertain things like a golf r.

But two liter four.

Sorry.

But it's a two liter four.

Yeah, it solves everything.

Never mind.

But we can't do two liter four.

Never mind.

So this is the thing.

RS3, it's got an automatic.

It's got personality.

It's got an engine with personality.

I think we are one and done there.

I love that you went there as well.

Because once I landed there, I was like,

really, why do I have a list beyond that?

I'm just going to put it in a wild card,

but it really is kind of the shot.

Look at how many 2.5 liter engines are on the market.

Craig, there's still choice.

The five cylinder makes it different.

I love it.

All right, Greg, really appreciate writing.

Send your car conclusion when you end up getting something

and take photos of your triple garage there.

I love that.

Yeah, perfect record.

Yeah, yeah.

We'd love to see that covered on a future car conclusions.

Right to us everyday driver TV at Gmail.com.

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Listener, Stephen B. in Melbourne wrote to us just recently,

at the end of March here, he's in Melbourne, Australia,

and he was writing about the GX 550,

because we just released that piece not too long ago,

about the GX, really liked it,

and that was against your Rubikayan and in Moab.

Yeah, it was really fun.

And we actually have a piece coming up on the LX as well,

and we have another piece coming up where we drive the new forerunner.

So we're happened to get a lot of the Lexus and Toyota truck products

and we're covered in those coming up here,

but we've got some other comparisons happening that I'm really excited about

in addition to those.

But Stephen wrote us wondering about the GX,

and his title question here is,

could we drive a right-hand drive vehicle on our side of the road?

Could we do that?

Because then he lists the stuff they get that we don't.

Yeah, many 300 series Land Cruiser, Toyota D-Sles,

he lists the LC Prado that you guys get there,

and you mentioned the new, was it the LX 700H overtrail

that we also just recently drove,

you did a test drive on that.

I did it with my wife in fact,

it's going to be a pretty interesting one.

But his big point here is that they get the diesel version

of all of these, and he said, frankly,

here it makes no sense to get the hybrid

because the diesel gets such great MPG,

you just get the diesel.

He says the LX 500D5 cedar,

that is the LX, which is essentially the Lexus Land Cruiser,

but in diesel has a 30 gallon tank

and can travel 900 miles in diesel form.

Unbelievable.

That's amazing.

Well, you're question here about driving

a right-hand drive vehicle on the left side of the road.

Well, yeah, I mean, we've done it here,

and there's many JDM fans that do that in North America,

and they'll get some cool dream car

that's 25 years old or still, and do it.

Yeah, if it's only right-hand drive

because Australia is getting it for the first time,

so now it's made in right-hand drive,

so yes, absolutely.

And I think if you're considering that,

we really liked it.

It's a nice size, and it's not as big as that LX 700,

which apparently only would be a 5 cedar

because of your laws there.

And yeah, we'll have the 30 gallon tank.

That's a ton, but anyway, that's fascinating.

Yeah, we drove the LX 700H my wife and I,

so that's an interesting test drive coming up soon.

She got in it, and she had instant things to say,

and you were out of town, and I was like,

you know what, if you've got so many things to say about this,

let's just go take it for a drive.

Was it sort of good and bad?

Yes, she had thoughts, because again,

she loved her Wrangler.

She loved her Yukon.

She likes big body-on-frame stuff.

Her dad had a land cruiser for years.

So we got this whole conversation about it,

and I was like, hang on.

Test drive needs to happen on this.

Let's get this done, so that was actually very fun.

It's happening soon.

Steven, thanks for writing.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you guys for questions.

He's always on Facebook and Instagram,

and Daniel always writes it on Facebook.

He rapid-fires his questions.

He's got a machine gun of questions to ask every time,

and they're good.

One of his questions is,

if the Camaro is known for awful sight lines

and ability to see out of it,

what modern car has the best,

and Daniel, I just stayed in sports cars,

because you're targeting a sports car.

I mean, there's plenty of big fishbowl,

mini-vans, and craziness,

but you know what beats everything is actually the 9-11.

As sports cars go,

that just beats about everything.

As far as modern cars currently being sold,

the 9-11's got big.

We've got a cool 9-11 piece coming up soon,

but we just drove the latest gen,

and I was astonished again,

and I already knew what going in,

but I was astonished again by how much space that car has

for big guys.

We've known guys literally as big as like 6'10",

that race 9-11s with a helmet,

and they fit, I don't know how, but they do.

So it is, every year,

when we take people over to Germany and Belgium,

we get a tall driver's like,

which cars can I rent,

and we always say either Cayman or 9-11,

so the 9-11 has a ton of space,

but it also is just a fishbowl.

You have to almost fight to find blind spots

in that car.

I can see everything, which is very impressive.

Yeah, that's good.

Another question here on Facebook from Eddie Murphy,

who says if car commercials are to be believed?

Of course.

Absolutely, yes.

The average American buys a car

based on how good the mood lighting is.

They do?

Oh, yeah.

It's always about the...

Let me show you this car at night

and looking how cool it looks.

It's the mood lighting.

Here's the 256 colors you can make your interior.

My wife's fascinated by it.

Every time she gets an electric luxury car

that doesn't have it, she's like,

well, this thing's cheap.

Oh my gosh.

Anyway, yeah.

She's fascinated by it.

Let's pink on top and blue down below.

Oh my gosh.

She does it, for sure.

It sounds mostly like Mercedes.

Oh, she's a big fan of the way Mercedes does it.

For sure, absolutely.

We have the settings connected to the sport mode

it all goes red.

She's a big fan.

She wouldn't buy a car for it,

but she is a awfully big fan.

BMW does it a lot too.

The XM was fascinating when the phone rings.

The overhead mood lighting vibrates and rings

to the tone of your...

It flickers.

Yeah, it was fascinating.

Yeah.

It's not lightning.

That's your phone ringing, yeah.

Eddie's real question is,

are we all just easily distracted magpies

drawn to shiny tech completely forgetting

the fundamental purpose of a vehicle,

you know, the driving thing.

The driving is fun driving should be fun.

Yes.

Yes, and I feel like that is a given

among very savvy and educated consumers,

which is all of us.

Everyone has such access to information

that we kind of know that, yeah, driving is good

and sometimes Eddie that might not matter

as much to people.

And quite frankly,

there could be five or ten more requirements

before good to drive is on people's lists.

True.

Yeah.

There's tons of cup holders, amenities,

the latest tech.

Mm-hmm.

And that's why car manufacturers continued

to proliferate and push that.

I mean, we're seeing really lots of wiring harness.

Big, heavy wiring harnesses.

A lot of tech.

Yeah.

Combined with crash safety standards,

cars are just bloated.

It just seems like they're proliferating.

And now it's...

It's going to be tough to reduce

and shrink the size of things like

apillars in cars with the amount of airbags

that are everywhere.

Yes, people think driving is something

but driving might take a back seat

to all the tech, all the amenities,

the space,

and certainly design the style as well.

And look, I love that manufacturers

are continuing to push on materials

and really introducing materials

that are not honest,

but they look great and they feel great

and they feel great

and it keeps the price down on many cars.

But sometimes the cars that are

really focused on the driving thing

appeal to such a smaller audience through

then the wider car market.

And that's why car companies are trying

anything and everything to get people

into showrooms to experience their latest thing.

I mean, miles per gallon or range or distance,

anything like that.

That's the biggest thing.

You know, it was like for years.

It was how many megapixels is your digital camera?

Well, this one has more.

So it must be better.

Yes, totally.

No, this one has better glass

and a larger image sensor.

And people weren't as educated about it.

It was just a giant number.

It's not just horsepower.

It's not just good to drive.

But you kind of have a point, Eddie,

that if that were to be focused on again,

kind of like what Toyota has done with GR,

if Nissan would embrace like,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

We know all the things,

all the tech,

all the latest innovations.

We've got it.

But we're kind of going back to driving everyone.

What do you think?

That might resonate.

Well, I wish it would.

The problem is just the way we use our cars.

And the vast majority of people,

the reason we do all these road trips,

and we have you guys come with us,

is because the vast majority of us,

we only use our car to sit in traffic.

We only use our car in the worst possible situations.

And so this is why,

and we talked about it five years ago,

we were all concerned, supposedly,

that we were going to end up in autonomous vehicles

because it's so frustrating to sit in traffic,

why not have the car drive itself?

Driving has become something that we don't get to enjoy.

Unfortunately,

and we try to help all of you get out

and actually enjoy and drive your car,

whether it's hooked on driving track days

or our ventures with us,

or just find a good road near you.

This is when you start to go,

oh, this is what cars can do.

A clogged city street with a car

is the worst thing ever.

You may as well just park it,

walk or take public transit.

It's just not any fun to do, you know?

So that is the problem.

But you're speaking to it, Paul.

There is a smaller group of people

that would even consider buying a car for driving first.

I remember in the early 2000s,

I started making fun of car commercials

because the car commercial would talk about everything

but the driving.

It was like, well, this one has Bluetooth now.

It's like, well, you could have rolled the car through the scene

and told me it had Bluetooth.

You could have left it parked in the corner

and it told me it had Bluetooth,

and that was the reason to buy it.

But both BMW and Mazda left driving campaigns,

driving focus campaigns behind.

Mazda was Zoom's own.

BMW being the ultimate driving machine.

Those are in the past.

You're right, very good point.

Which means they sense their customers

that meant less to their customers.

I mean, it means the world to all of us,

so enthusiasts drivers.

That's the only thing that matters.

Yeah, true.

But they left that behind.

Maybe they could introduce that,

but it's going to have to be modeled by model.

I was interested, just read a fascinating article

I think was on the drive about Luke Donker-Volka,

talking about the globalization of platforms

making uninteresting cars.

And we've talked about, for sure,

one platform for one sports car.

And then do all your platforms

sharing for all the other MPVs and all that stuff.

Fine, but just make one car, one platform,

and that's your dedicated fun car, sports car.

It doesn't have to be big and heavy and powerful.

It doesn't have to be a meada either.

It can be something interesting, fairly lightweight, small-ish.

And it's just that car,

enthusiasts need to buy them for companies

to justify the investment.

It's hard to make those numbers work.

And this is what makes, you know,

when they get a few thousand sales on a GR86 or a Supra,

the car companies have to be excited

while they're selling 500,000 RAV4s.

Yeah.

Got a question here from Nate M.

Also on Facebook, talking about car design,

Nate, hopefully you heard Chris Chapman

on our last podcast episode, discussing design,

but he is asking about car designs getting more and more whack

over the past five years.

Nate had to wonder,

is it possible that those weird creases and folds

and origami creases are more aerodynamic

than pretty and curvaceous designs?

Are we seeing the visual result of trying

to get even the slightest amount of MPG gains?

Well, yes, I want to answer your question with two cars.

That is the Mercedes EQS and EQE.

Okay.

Of any cars, that had some of the lowest coefficient

of drag I think of any modern sedan

was the EQS sedan.

Crazy low numbers.

I think it was just over 0.2, it was 0.2.

Remember it was very low.

Forget what it was, but we talked about it.

It was quite low, especially for those big sedans.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And this was very smooth, curvaceous, jelly bean,

all those, you know, the smooth terminology

to describe the body surfaces of that car

and yet it has fallen on its face with customers.

Yes, you're right.

You're absolutely right.

Yep.

You could argue whether it's pretty or not,

but certainly it chased MPG because it's an EV.

Mm-hmm.

And it chased simple, clean shapes.

Mm-hmm.

That sounds like the recipe for success.

And yet both of them, the EQE was the crazy-looking SUV

that was so smooth, it was uninteresting.

So we-

Which is blob.

Yeah, for sure.

Just a blob, like covering a passenger compartment

and batteries and motors, they just sort of draped a sheet

like that French artist that always draped buildings

in fabric.

Yeah.

Buildings and bridges and everything.

Yeah, I forget his name too, but she was right there.

And it was always made the news.

It's like, didn't you just lay a sheet?

I mean, you did it well, but you just laid a sheet over a bridge.

Curtains over a building.

We're talking about it over on the news.

I mean, okay.

Signers name.

Yeah, anyway, yeah.

Fascinating by that.

But it's that kind of approach.

You'd think that would be the recipe for success,

but it wasn't.

We are so visual all the time, Nate.

We're looking for visual interest,

whether it's scrolling on your phone

or some sort of interesting, you know, your clothing,

your car, anything.

So I think it's up to designers

to make something visually compelling.

But you just walk around it

and you kind of walk back the other way

and you're studying it and you're backing away from it

and you're looking up close.

That I think is what is tough for car designers to do

and make it compelling

with an interesting theme,

not too much extra fluff on it.

So it's just visually too much.

But what's the right balance?

Clearly, less was less for Mercedes.

You can go too far.

The other way, you're right.

You gotta find that middle ground.

That's hard.

Dami had a question about your GT4

that I don't think we talked about.

And I wanted to follow up on.

His question was,

how are you going to keep from it

becoming too precious?

And what are the long term plans

for the show's Corvette C8?

Well, the Corvette C8 and the GTS

are both gonna need to be sold,

which is crazy that we have both those cars

in Paul Speck, Blue.

They're gorgeous.

Are both gonna be sold to new owners

and we're excited about that.

But you have this new GT4.

I have the Amira.

Your GT4 is actually fully PPFed, right?

It is, yep.

So that helps a lot, right?

But are there any other plans

for your efforts to actually drive it?

It helps that it was used.

Sure.

That I didn't get it new.

Sure.

And it also helps that it already has a ding in it

that I noticed.

And I was kind of bummed about it.

But you know what?

The other used cars that I bought

had something just a tiny scratch

and something that wasn't quite perfect.

Freeze you up.

I see it, yeah.

But what really helped me was owning the past

that came in GTS.

Okay.

Because I was too precious with that car

when I first got it.

And tracking it helped me get over it.

Okay, I see it.

And you bought a car you know you're gonna track.

So yeah.

So that alone I think will help me use it, drive it.

Sure, yeah, yeah.

Wash it, keep it nice, do what I can

and certainly don't go out of my way

to abuse it.

You're not going to abuse your car.

That's not travel.

Let's just go drive through it for fun.

You know, no.

But having, and the first came in that I had.

That 987 had a fender

that somebody had opened their door into the fender

and I never got it fixed.

And I always kind of bugged me.

But then I thought,

this is also freed me up to just drive.

Good point.

And I never tracked that car,

but having them that way just,

I can point to an imperfection on it.

Is this the reason I had random things happen to the Amir

when I first got it,

just like get over the hump of imperfection.

Anyway.

But that is the key thing.

We just want to take these cars and drive them.

We hope to actually see many of you guys in Austin.

We'll have both these cars in Austin.

We're excited about that.

I'm excited to be back at Coda with better cars.

And that is not, I'm not actually taking a slight

at my 300 ZX in your Porsche 928,

because it was cool cars.

We took all the way to Texas and got along Coda.

And I'm amazed by that.

But we were on all weather tires

on 30 to 40-year-old cars.

So we were just taking it a little easy.

I'm excited to have modern cars on modern tires

and actually experience Coda.

We'd love to have you out there with us.

Speaking of gravel,

I have to ask you this question as well.

Okay. Okay.

Gearbox car reviews on Instagram says,

so is the old Cayman going to get the Rubikayan treatment

to become the Rubikayman,

which is pretty awesome.

And I have to say that would be really cool

to do a rally Cayman.

But I think you'd have to start with the 987, wouldn't you?

I think you do.

And as a matter of fact,

FCP Euro has one.

They did a build of the 987.

And it is on their home page.

Yes, it's very cool.

They documented the whole build.

They showed you all the parts.

And it's super cool.

Yes.

I would love to do something like that.

But turning a GTS into that is kind of inappropriate.

It feels like it's just not...

You went the farthest way possible to get there.

Yeah.

I get your point.

Doing it like they did with the 987.

That just looks amazing.

I would love to.

But there's a lot of time and effort and energy

and cost poured into that car.

But Porsche did the Dakar from the factory.

Why can't they do the...

I mean, there actually was a concept.

That ice driving Cayman.

I think it was a 981.

But why doesn't Porsche come out with the...

The Cayman Dakar.

I see it.

The light overlander Cayman.

All right.

That's interesting.

Just raised with braid wheels and some lights and skid plates.

That's it.

Just too far.

You're right.

And it'd be a $200,000 Cayman.

Oh, be $200,000 when they first announced it.

By the time they get all of the dealership,

everything, it'd be a $300,000 car.

And they'd be sold out.

This is where we are right now.

It's ridiculous.

But it's true.

That and a whip and a...

I don't know what it comes with.

But not enough because they're going to be gone.

Yeah.

Jeff Boyardee on Facebook asked you

if you were going to do black wheels.

And I wanted to acknowledge the fact your car came on black wheels.

And you promptly took them off.

I did.

Yes. I did.

I still have those black wheels, those stock wheels.

And I think they're going to be painted.

I think they're going to be powder coated in different colors.

I don't see you leaving them black.

We're not going to do black wheel fans.

Plus, you're actually the new car on...

I mean, part of the new color on your GT4 is a darker blue.

And I think the black wheels don't help it.

I mean, I'm not a black wheel fan anyway.

But I can at least see the argument when the car is really bright

for the wheels to go dark.

I can see the argument.

It's not my thing.

But I can see the argument.

Like, a lot of people prefer the Amira in yellow on black wheels.

Right.

Okay.

I still like...

But I do see once the car gets really bright.

This is a darker blue.

And I felt like the black wheels just kind of muted the whole car.

You put it on those brushed gold apex.

And they look great.

Yeah.

I'm really...

You're a bit happy.

I like it so much.

I can't believe that...

Yeah.

And look at the photos.

I know.

That's a sweet built...

Wait.

That's really cool.

Yeah.

I get to drive it now.

I went to a coffee club meeting this past week.

There's this coffee club we're involved in.

And I got there.

And somebody at the coffee club realized...

Because I made some sort of comment about...

I just got there and was happy.

Because I driven the Amira.

And somebody across the room went...

Dream car.

Because that's my license plate.

And they realized they'd been sitting behind me at the light.

And I was like, did I do anything stupid?

Are you mad at me?

Or where is this going?

But my license plate is Dream car because I just don't know how it gets any further than that.

That's awesome.

Also, thank you to those of you that acknowledge my editor's note on Paul's GT4 film,

where he was ranting about how completely different the car was and I was like...

You are going to drive the GT4.

And...

I've driven him back to that.

I know.

You're going to drive this one again.

I know it's different.

Yes.

I have no doubt.

I know that it's great.

But I'd be completely different.

Because I had a Cayman and I bought a Ferrari.

I mean, you're just sure.

You have a Cayman problem.

And I respect it.

Because it's a great car.

It's a phenomenal car.

Thank you so much for all your questions.

Right to us.

Topic Tuesday's car conclusions.

Those great car debates.

Love hearing from you.

And we would love for you to join us on our two-day track day at Coda.

Come for the 1000 podcast.

Come to Hangout.

Come to get your car on track.

We'd love to.

Love to share Coda.

It's such an amazing track.

So very cool.

And I'd love to see you there.

HookedOnDriving.com for that.

And also everydayDriver.com slash adventures.

That adventures tab.

Keep your eye on that for future adventures coming up later in 2025.

Love to have you join us on any and all of the above.

We're looking forward to next time, everyone.

Cheers.

989: Knight Rider M2, No More Toy Cars, The Mood Lighting Difference

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BMW M240

Genesis Coupe

Volvo Polestar

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