Best Selling Cars of 2025 - The Corvette ZR-1 Modern American Supercar. Landcruiser FJ-40
Analog and Grit Podcast
Best Selling Cars of 2025 - The Corvette ZR-1 Modern American Supercar. Landcruiser FJ-40
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Term
Syllinder deactivation
It’s a way to save gas: the car shuts off some cylinders when you’re cruising, so it uses less fuel.
Term
OBD2
It’s a computer in the car that checks how everything is working and can tell you if something needs fixing.
Term
OBD-II
OBD‑II is the current computer system in cars that lets mechanics read detailed error codes and data. Every U.S. car made after 1996 has the same plug for this system.
Part
circle pin connector
The circle pin connector is the round plug you use to connect a scan tool in cars. It has 16 pins and lets mechanics read the car’s error codes.
Term
blind spot monitoring
Blind spot monitoring warns you if there's a car in the lane next to yours, helping you avoid accidents when changing lanes.
Term
lane departure warning
Lane departure warning tells you if your car is drifting out of its lane, so you can correct it before an accident.
Term
automated cruise control
Automated cruise control keeps your speed steady and automatically slows down or speeds up to stay a safe distance from the car in front.
Term
rearview camera
A rearview camera shows you what’s behind the car on a screen, making it easier and safer to back up.
Car
S Class
The S-Class is a top‑tier luxury car from Mercedes-Benz, famous for its smooth ride and fancy features.
Term
nav
‘Nav’ is a shorthand for navigation; it’s the GPS system in cars that tells you where to go and how to get there.
Part
curtain airbags
Curtain airbags are safety cushions that pop up from the roof to help keep people safe if a car hits something on the side.
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40
The Land Cruiser FJ40 is a classic Toyota off‑road truck that many people still use today because it’s very tough and reliable.
Part
valve springs
Valve springs are small metal coils that keep the engine’s valves shut and open them again.
Part
rods
Rods are metal pieces that connect the pistons to the engine’s crankshaft, helping the car run.
Car
1972 FJ40 Land Cruiser
It’s a Toyota truck from 1972 that can handle tough terrain. It looks like an old military Jeep but is a full‑size SUV.
Part
wind shield
It’s a piece of metal you can lower or fold to keep wind and rain out when you’re driving in rough places.
Car
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is a classic off‑road vehicle from the 1960s and 70s. It’s famous for its simple, sturdy design that many people like to bring back to life or improve with new parts.
Car
Toyota FJ Cruiser
The FJ Cruiser is a small SUV made by Toyota that looks like a mini Jeep. It’s popular for off‑road adventures and has a unique, boxy design.
Part
gearbox
The gearbox is the part of a car that lets you choose how fast or slow the wheels turn compared to the engine. It’s what makes a car go faster or slower when you shift gears.
Part
clutch
The clutch lets you shift gears in a manual car. When you press the pedal, it temporarily disconnects the engine from the wheels so you can change gears without stalling.
Part
carburetor
A carburetor is a device that mixes gasoline with air so the engine can run. Older cars used them, but newer ones use a different system called fuel injection.
Part
in-board suspension
In‑board suspension means the parts that control how the car’s wheels move are tucked inside the body, which helps the car handle better.
Concept
Sonoma Raceway
Sonoma Raceway is a race track in California where cars drive around turns and straightaways for competitions.
Term
lap record
A lap record means the car finished one loop around a race track faster than any other car before.
Car
Model 3
The Model 3 is an electric car from Tesla that many people buy because it’s affordable and has good range.
Car
Toyota Rogue
The Rogue is a small SUV from Toyota that many people buy for everyday driving. It’s comfortable and gets good gas mileage.
Car
Hyundai Venue
The Hyundai Venue is a small SUV that can seat four people. It’s inexpensive and easy to park, but it doesn’t have much room for extra stuff like strollers or luggage.
Car
Tesla Model Y
The Model Y is like the Model 3 but shaped more like a small SUV. It’s taller and can seat five people comfortably.
Concept
Cars and Coffee
Cars and Coffee is a meetup where people who love cars get together, drink coffee, and show off their cars to friends.
LIVE
You are listening to the analog and grip podcast, Amia Host, Victor, Troya. Who do we have today on our episode? We got Dylan back here again, happy to do another episode. Mainstay Dylan and only Dylan today, so just me and the co-host. Just a little bit of back and forth. A little bit of back and forth, yes. So on today's podcast, we're going to talk about new cars. Okay. This is a topic that we avoid here at analog and grip, because we talk about classics and vintage
cars, analog cars. Not that many new cars that are analog anymore. Yeah, we avoid that for obvious reasons. But, you know, being that we are a car podcast, we do need to talk about new cars, because that's what most people are buying these days. Yeah. Yeah, and it's important, I think, just for us as car people to, you know, at least be, you know, have a basic knowledge of what's on the market. Exactly. Yeah, so we both work in the automotive industry so we can definitely keep in touch with that
market. So today, we're going to go through a list of the top selling cars of 2025. So this list pretty much comprises data of total units sold through October of this year. Obviously, we're in December. So the list could be a little different by now, but regardless, these are the most popular cars, new cars in the United States. This will be interesting to see. Yeah. I'm looking forward to the list. So I'll have Dylan guest the car, based on, you know, a general description.
Yeah, Dylan is a little by little becoming the new guru on the podcast. I feel like I have a decent enough knowledge of new cars, you know, there might be some surprises, but I guess we'll find out. Yeah, this is when we drove to car week this year, right. You said that new cars are your weakness. If you had to say what you're a kill is super cars, super cars, yeah. But I remember there was like Mercedes-Benz EQS electric car in the road.
And, you know, we were playing that game where like, you had to say, hey, what car is that from a distance? And you had to figure out based on the, you know, obviously, we were probably four or five car lengths ahead. And you guessed wrong. And you're like, oh, well, you know, I'm not as good with new cars as I am with older cars, because Mercedes after O6, yeah, it kind of loses me, especially when we're talking about electric. I mean, that's like, well, that's 20 years ago now. Yeah, I know that's crazy. So it's 20 years of cars that like, you know, us enthusiasts kind of like stop, you know, stop.
Brush over, brush over, yeah. And you know, it's funny. You say O6 because I always say the sweet spot is from 95 to O5 when I say like classic vintage cars that for me, at least in my generation, were the most like, they were still analog, but they were still contemporary.
Yeah, I think cars from that time period just have stood the test of time really well.
I mean, the design characteristics are modern enough looking, you know, design language hasn't changed.
Let's put it this way. It's changed less from that time period to now to say like 80s to early 2000s, right?
Exactly. Yeah. And another thing like when you think of vehicles from the late 90s, early 2000s, a lot of those cars,
those generations of cars have outlasted the cars that came after them. Yeah, you know, that's true.
Like, for example, you look at like, I always say the second gen Ford Explorer, right?
The second gen Ford Explorer was from like 95 to like 2001, right?
You see more of those on the road. Then you do the O2 to like, O6 Ford Explorer, you know what I mean?
Even with like GMT 800, like if you look at that was the example, I was thinking of was GMT 800 because compared to some of the newer ones,
they had their problems. Right. And the GMT 800 is just kind of kept on trucking. Right. Exactly.
Like compared to GMT 900, which was like 07 and later, you know, they created cars that were a little like everyone
I've talked to said they had problems with their 07 Yukon or their 07 Tahoe because of whether it's the, you know,
they introduced the hybrid system back then. Obviously, I was a terrible.
Syllinder deactivation.
Syllinder deactivation because everyone was obsessed with getting better gas mileage.
So, you know, these are hitting miss things that it's innovative, but at the same time, it could crush that
the reputation of that generation. Yeah. Well, I mean, one thing too to consider is like, maybe for EPA stuff that the
Syllinder deactivation made a difference, but in practice, people really don't report significantly better gas mileage as a result.
Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah, 95 to 05, I would say is probably the best generation if you're looking for a car that has modern tech, safety tech, right?
Yeah. That's the biggest thing, I think. Like ABS is pretty standard fuel injected cars, you know, you're going to have
modern day air conditioning with even curtain airbags and stuff in the late 90s, only 2000s.
You're going to have standard airbags, passenger side, side airbags, curtain, like you said.
You know, another thing is like, you know, you think of like just OBD2, right?
Like, that was standard after 95. So, now you can diagnose your cars problems.
I think it was kind of standard. It was 95 was for a lot of cars like OBD 1.5.
They like to call it like Lexus is, even in 2000, the Lexus is how to OBD2 plug connector, right?
But to do full diagnostics, you still have that circle pin connector.
So, but let's just say by 2000, every car was OBD2, which was a big advancement.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I would say almost every American car transitioned OBD2 by 96.
You know, I mean, before you had to like use Morse code to figure out where the engine code was.
So, yeah, a lot of things that changed that we still use today after 1995.
But this list, I could say one thing about 2025, right? Now, fast forward, we're talking 30 years
later since 95. And so much has changed as far as just like tech features designed for safety.
So, like, for example, blind spot monitoring, running the departure. Review camera 2015, right?
Right. It was required. It became required, which is something like, my car doesn't have a rearview
camera. What do you mean? Like, it's already a standard feature that you can't go without.
Most people can't go without in a modern world. Non-car enthusiasts, really.
I know I'm like rolling my eyes. But like, lane departure warning, automated cruise control,
blind spot monitor, these are features that like now are becoming standard. They're the new rearview
camera, right? And they're the kind of stuff that you would see emerging on a lot of those early
2000s cars that were on the higher end. That's now trickled down into much cheaper cars.
Yeah. So, I think that's another good case for what we're trying to say about cars from that
period is if you buy an S class from that time period, it's going to have nav, it's going to have
curtain airbags, it's going to have a lot of stuff that you would see in modern adaptive cruise,
you know, stuff like that in a car from the early 2000s. So, it's really easy to make a case that
those cars are still, many of them are still very much modern. Yeah. And that's why you always
look to the S class today to see what the future holds in 10 years. No doubt. So, let's start with
the analog and grid marketplace. What's the latest car that the ANG garage is going to be
posting for sale? The latest one is a 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 that was completely frame off
restored in Colombia in 2019. Wow. So, kind of interesting. We have hundreds of restoration
photos of that one. Body was taken off the frame, dipped, stripped down completely to bare metal,
everything repainted, refinished, re-apholstered. The engine and transmission were rebuilt,
everything inside the engine. They got new pistons rods, valve springs, rings, full complete
engine overhaul, new accessories, all the hardware on the suspension, and under the truck has been
all re-zinc coated or replaced. So, it's basically a brand new 1972 FJ40. Nice. And this is the
model of the Land Cruiser that looks like it was pre-war, right? It's like a World War II Jeep. Exactly.
From 60 to 85 is the production run. I think in other countries even longer. Really?
As it pertains to the American market, let's just say 70s. Yeah, because then the FJ60 came out,
FJ62, right? Then the 80 series in the early 90s. But the FJ40, it's not that old, if you think
about it, it looks like a pre-war Jeep. It looks like one of those Willie's Jeeps. You can put the
wind shield down, and it has the hardware to keep it down and secure it, and it has a little bump
stop on the hood, which is super cool. On this one, the rear, I don't know if this is standard,
but it has the fender, like safari seats. Yeah, facing each other, right? Then the front end
looks very, I mean, you could say it's a mix of the fender and Jeep Wrangler, right? But it's
the Toyota version. The Jeep and said, how can we make this reliable, obviously capable,
but in a package that is unique so that way it can sell in the US market alongside the Wrangler.
Yeah, it came out in a time here where the Japanese manufacturers were really starting
to take hold in the US for the first time, so it only makes sense that Toyota would make their
own Jeep essentially for the US market, and it was a hit. So here, it says that the Land Cruiser
is the primary variant of the 40 series, produced for model years, 61 to 84 in Japan,
and until 85 in Venezuela. So I don't know if we got it that far into the 80s, but you know,
I look at this car, especially the one here for sale, it's going to go on cars and bits.
Yeah, that's correct. Okay, and you could tell it's been fully restored, but it's still kept
its essence. Yeah, it still doesn't. It was a factory restoration, so they brought it back to
original condition. It's not modified. It's not any kind of a resto mod. It's still
carbureted and no added creature comforts. Right. You could easily look at this car and say,
oh, that's 100% resto mod. It's going to have LED lights and all these things to keep it,
what the new interior and everything is going to feel like almost like a brand new car, like a
Ford Bronco, like 60s Broncos, a lot of them get resto modded. And for some reason, maybe I'm a
purest, I just don't really appreciate those resto mods. I don't think there were as much people
spend on them because I get that you want a vintage car with modern conveniences, but at the same time,
you're losing the essence of what that car was all about. Yeah, that's true in many ways.
The analog, the hardware, obviously, I know they like to keep the switch gear, all that stuff,
like the dials and the gauges all like to be kept the same. But when you change the leather
to some new modern leather vinyl, it just doesn't match. And I just look at those cars and it loses,
it's essence, like I'm saying, but this car doesn't have that. This car you look at it and you're
like, yeah, it has this orange cloth and all these things, but it still looks like an FJ 40.
You know, it doesn't look completely different like some of these Broncos do.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it doesn't have any of the Fender's cut. It's got a little bit bigger
tire and it's got a LED headlight, which just makes sense because of how much brighter they are.
Yeah. That's something you would do even on an original restoration, right? Because
if you wanted to put the sealed beams back on, you could just put them back on. So you're not
sacrificing anything by doing those kinds of upgrades and definitely not hurting the value,
but just making the car a better driver. And that's really the only improvement I can think of on
that on that car. Everything else is still the essence of an FJ 40. Yeah. 83 was the last year
it sold in the US. Okay. So pretty, pretty long run. Yeah. So you drove it. Yeah. How did it drive?
Like an old off-road truck. Not a pleasant around town driver, frankly. I mean, I'm not going to
sugarcoat it, but it would be a great beach cruiser. It's a three-speed. It's got real long gears.
You could just go down to the coast and keep it in first and cruise at 15, 20 miles an hour
down the water. But one thing I liked about driving it was it felt like it could take a beating.
Like the potholes wouldn't hurt it, right? And I think that's kind of the draw of an SUV for a lot
of people in San Diego, right, with these roads here. But I'm sure it would do incredible off-road.
The clutch and gearbox feel that long first gear that you can ride the clutch a little to
creep over rocks or you can keep it in first gear for a long time. It's not a granny gear,
which is good for off-roading, to have a usable first gear, especially considering you might put
it in four low and that makes the gear even shorter. So I think it's a great off-roader.
It's not something you necessarily want to get in every day and drive to work. It doesn't have AC,
you know, it's very bare bones, but it's usable. Right. One last thing on the FJ is, you know,
I look at that car and I see, you know, a Japanese off-roader that like it started the whole land cruiser
craze, right? I imagine back then, what year is this one? 72. Okay, so you don't need a smog it.
That's awesome. Yeah, no smog. But there was in a following, like there is a following today for
land cruisers. Now that land cruisers are now forbidding fruit because of the fact that they're all,
you know, discontinued in the U.S. They don't make the 300 series in the U.S.
unless you buy a Lexus LX 600 or whatever, which yeah, it's technically the same platform,
but it's a Lexus. It's not a cruiser. You know, I always thought the land cruiser was like the luxury
off-roader, but still subdued, not like a Lexus because Lexus is going to make a car that most
people are not going to off-road. They're going to make a really solid body on frame a luxury SUV
with a third row, right? But the land cruiser was the subdued version where like I still have money,
but I don't need to show off that I have. Yeah, yeah. You know, there's a lot of rich people who drive
land cruisers that don't want to be noticed. Exactly. And that's what I love about it, but at the same
time, it's still capable. You know, it has more ground clearance, I would suspect than like
with all the body cladding that like Lexus had. So this car is the, you know, it's the beginnings
of all that. You know, it's all cars, no matter what generation. If it's a nameplate that is, you know,
I guess we can say just exceptional, like it's a nameplate that everyone knows in the U.S.
It's a nameplate that carries a price tag unlike any other, right? No matter how many miles is on
the car. Yeah. You go to any car like that and the first generation is always worth the most.
Try it in true. I mean, it's just try it in true. And it's also good to look at where the land cruiser
started with our FJ40 because it shows you how SUVs have evolved across the board, right? I mean,
the FJ40 is just rugged. It doesn't have any back seat belts. It doesn't have AC. It has little
manual vents that you can open the wiper motor is exposed. And then you look at a modern land cruiser
and it has wood grain. It has heated seats. It's still capable, but it's more to kind of like
coddle of the owner. Yeah. And that's mainly U.S. market land cruiser. Yeah. You look at land cruisers
in Europe, Asia, and the Southeast, Asia, or even India. They use them just to get around town.
Yeah. And you can find manuals and stuff like that. And there are plot seats and there's no wood grain
probably. So it's mainly a U.S. market thing because how can you justify selling one? I mean,
they were like 80 to 90 thousand dollars. Yeah. Well, that's true, but even with that,
in mind that the American market is the one that's the fanciest, you can still watch the evolution
because it doesn't have a removable top or windows or anything like that, even the most basic land cruiser.
Yeah. I mean, they made FJ40s with the tops. I know a guy on my block who had one and he ended
up selling it for a modern FJ cruiser ironically. But I would pass it every day. It was like a burgundy
one. It had like the really cool safari windows like the wrap around windows. This one is an open top
one. Yes, removable top. removable top. So is there a top included on this one? Like a hard top?
Yeah. No, just the removable soft top. It's been fully replaced. Okay. So average price of a FJ40
land cruiser, $36,000 on classic.com. Yeah. They're coming down, right? Like most off-road SUVs are
coming down. Sure. But with something with the prestige of the land cruiser nameplate, $36,000
for the first generation, people are going to remember like, damn, I remember I used to be able to get
those for $36,000, right? And people are willing to pay for a really nice one because there's a huge
difference between the one that has cancer and one like ours. Of course. People are willing to
pay for that. And I cannot believe one thing I'd like to note before we finish on the FJ is
for a carbureted vehicle. It starts, it cold starts like a brand new fuel injected car. You turn
the key and it fires up like that, which I was pretty impressed by. And I think it shows the quality
of the restoration. Yeah. And that engine is like a, it's a straight six in there. Uh, yes.
Yeah. I remember looking at it last week with Josh and it looked very similar to like the four
liter AMC motor in the jeeps. Yeah. You know, which I was like, wow, like it just has that single overhead
camp. It looked like, but um, it was just, I mean, clearly, like you said, really well done restoration.
Yeah. No doubt. Excuse me. All right. Moving on to a video that dropped today. This was the
Jason Camisa lap battle. So not drag race. Okay. And I want to talk about it because you weren't on
the super car episode that we recorded a few weeks ago. And I wanted to get your take because
here he raced the ZR1 Corvette, the GT3 RS 911 Porsche and the GTD Mustang. Oh. So he took the,
I guess, newest versions of those cars, right? Yeah. The GT3 RS is nothing new other than, you know,
it's now out for the most recent 911. But the GTD Mustang with the in-board suspension,
like we saw it a car week and, you know, the ZR1, you know, we've seen now with a price tag at around
200,000 for Corvette. Yeah. Right. So they took it to Sonoma raceway and they had the same driver,
his Randy Popes, his driver, you know, so that way it's very good driver. Right. Very funny too.
Yeah. He's a, he's a character. So they had him drive the cars, different laps or in different
segments. But the result was, I think a lap record for Sonoma raceway for the Corvette ZR1.
And it blew away the GT3 RS which came in second and then the Mustang came in third.
blew away like, you know, they, I forget what the exact number was, but many, many,
many car lengths away. So the moral, the story here was the ZR1 is a super car. I mean,
it's beating a GT3 RS. I agree. If I was here for that episode or we were talking about super cars,
I would have shut down anybody who says the ZR1 is not a super car. And here's the devil's advocate
argument, you know, on the contrary, right, which was mainly, you know, JP's opinion. He said that
it's not a super car because, you know, just because it beats other cars in races and it takes
down the king, you know, let's say it raised another super car like a Huracan or maybe even an
eventador, right? Go a little bit further in price tag. If it can beat it on a racetrack, Josh's
argument was then it should be labeled a super car. But JP feels like, oh, but it's a Corvette.
They made hundreds and hundreds and thousands and, you know, versions of the Corvette. So it can't
be a super car. What I would say is, well, what about the Lamborghini Huracan is the Lamborghini Huracan
super car. Anybody with money can go out and buy a Huracan right now. Right. And actually,
around the same price as that, ZR1, you know, so I don't think the Lamborghini Huracan is
any less, it's a super car, obviously. Yeah, it's not any less exclusive. Or yeah, exclusive.
Yeah, because, you know, in your mind, you think, oh, Lamborghini, it's a super car brand. Anything
they make, including the Urus, is going to be a super car, right? But now it's been watered
down. Super cars are starting, I mean, super car brands are starting to realize that they need to
sell volume in volume, right? To keep their company afloat, right? Ferrari's done this for years
because, you know, they have to obviously win on Sunday and then sell on Monday. Right, right.
Very, very common, you know, thought process. You know, Enzo Ferrari was all about his race team.
He didn't really care about the selling side of things. But at the end of the day, he understood,
you know, we need money and only with clean capitals by selling cars. But like today, you know,
you have, I mean, a new McLaren comes out every week, right? Obviously Lamborghini with the Urus,
Ferrari now with the Sangue Dolce or Puro Sangue or whatever it is. There's cars out there
that you can look at and be like, that's not a super car, right? But the end of the day,
if you can be a beast on the track and break like lap records at different tracks around the
country, you're a super car. Yeah, yeah. And I think that video makes the GTD look pretty bad
because what's the MSRP on one of those? I mean, it's absurd. Yeah. And here's the, the moral,
well, let me go back. The moral story is that Corretta's super car. But you could also make a
hard claim for other two cars of super cars as well, the GT3RS, right? You know, my argument
was if it's the pinnacle, if it's the halo car, right? Or the upper echelon vehicle in their line-up,
then that's the super car, which the GT, the GTT tech, the Mustang GTD technically isn't.
The Ford GT is, right? But now that the Ford GT's, what, 2017 was when I came out,
the GTD is the latest halo car. Yeah. And you would expect it to be on par with like a GT3RS.
Right. Right. But it's heavy. That's the problem. It's, it's too heavy. I think it's over four
thousand pounds. Wow. So that's what they pretty much, you know, we're arguing in the video.
Just doesn't have, you know, the power to weight ratio isn't as high. So the ZR1 doesn't have
active arrow. It just has a straight wing. Yeah. That was it's, I guess, Achilles heel. But,
but it just puts so much power down that all the cars couldn't even catch up with it, you know?
So regardless, in my eyes, they're all super cars, even though they made hundreds of
thousands of Mustangs and hundreds of thousands of Corvette, you can get a Mustang of the same
generation today for like, what, 45 grand, right? A Corvette for like 60, a C8. But that doesn't mean
there's not a supercar version of that car, right? Maybe that car is on a supercar to JP's point.
But the ZR1 is. Yeah. I would even say the Z06 is. Right. Yeah. I agree. Yeah, I totally agree.
I mean, it has the supercar configuration, you know, it's mid-engine. And it, if it does
the same lap times, it's a supercar. Exactly. Doug DeMiro posted a video today on the ZR1.
And I don't know if there was like a embargo that lifted today because there's been many
content on the ZR1. I guess just ironic that both of them came out with videos on him. But he drove
it, you know, and I just forwarded all the way to him driving it because I just wanted to hear how
like, you know, the car drove and stuff. And I've driven a C8, like a standard C8. And that car
to be honest was very just calm and subdued at normal speeds. It was very forgiving. It didn't feel
like a, like a visceral rough experience driving it. Yeah. Which I think most Corvette owners want
because they're going to drive it pretty, you know, frequently just to go get ice cream. You know
what I mean? But then at the same time, you can take it to the track. Yeah. Right. He said the ZR1
was similar, like until he put down, you know, his foot on the throttle, it was fine. Very civil.
Yeah. Very civil. So he said that he's driven obviously many super cars. That this car is just as
super car worthy as any of the million dollar cars he's driven. Right. For 200 grand.
I mean, I think that gives us our answer, right? Yeah. I mean, we heard it from the man himself.
The man himself. Yes. The man, the legend, Doug DiMiro. But yeah, I mean, it's a super car.
I don't think there's any argument about it. It's probably the first real super car that the
American Ford Chevy company has created. Like when I say real, I mean, like everything about it,
the mid engine, you know, the fact that it's a track monster. Corvettes have been track,
that's why you can't compare a Corvette with a Mustang. The Corvette has always been a car meant for
the track. Right. Obviously there was Shelby's and there was other Mustang's like that. But like
the Corvette was not in the same segment as the Mustang. It was always ahead of it, right? It was
always a dedicated sports car more than the Mustang. Yeah. And sports car that you can take to the
track and do really good things on the track with it. Like it's not necessarily just meant to be
civil and use, you know, you know, around the streets and as a weekend drive. Yeah, I mean, a Mustang
is more suitable for daily use because most Corvettes up to the C Ford didn't even have a trunk.
Right. And they're not comfortable getting in and out of them. They're very loaded around.
They're a Mustang's aren't really like that. You know, so I never compared it to like that. Yeah.
But just just from like another person's perspective, like in Europe, let's say they can look at a
Corvette 0-1, 0-6 and just be like, damn, like we now actually, like they set the bar. Now we need to
catch up, right? Which is special. I mean, I would say probably since the C Ford, like they were,
you know, with the Grand Sport and they were starting to make models, the 0-1 and so on that were
designed for track use, right? Today, it's like it's reached. It's it's very best version. Yeah. Yeah.
No doubt. That the 0-1. They always get better. I mean, every generation of the Corvette has gotten
better than the last. Yeah. Except for during the malaise era. Right. But that was, that was across
the board, you know? Exactly. But just props to general motors for achieving this, you know,
monumental car. Yeah. Watching that video, I was really, you know, I knew I could be really
surprised with the GTD and its performance, because you look at the GT3 RS, you know, that is the
pinnacle European sports car, right? That can do it all, right? It's obviously a track monster. It's
something you can obviously take on the streets and drive relatively comfortably. But to see the
Corvette just crush it, it was like put a smile on my face. Yeah. It's an American, you know? And also
too, the people that don't like the Corvette, they don't like it because it's a Corvette. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Like if you ask 90% of people that are against it, they're going to tell you
A, it's because it's a Corvette. B, it's because you see them on the road everywhere. Right.
Exactly. But they don't ever have anything negative to say about the car itself. Yeah. And that's
why JP argued against it being a super car. But go ask anyone in Europe who's just a car fan, you
know, maybe not a snobby, you know, Porsche owner. They're going to, they see a Corvette or a Mustang
and they go crazy over them. They think it's so cool because they're not as common there. Yeah.
You know, but yeah, just props to GM. Moving on to the, I wanted to talk about a car brand
that I've driven a few times. I've, you know, not owned, but I've had a lot of seat time in this car
brand's vehicles. Mainly Toyota's is what I love to drive because I'm just a Toyota fan boy.
I'll admit it. But this brand I feel like is the only one that is able to compete with Toyota.
Okay. And they're not Japanese. All right. They're not European and they're not American.
Oh, it's got to be Korean then. Correct. Yeah. Hyundai or Kia?
Hyundai. Yeah. So obviously, Hyundai and Kia, sister companies, Hyundai, I believe owns a large
share stake in Kia. But I've been driving around in this hyonic hybrid, right? It's dionic hybrid
blue, right? You saw it today. Obviously a very boring car. Nothing exciting about it. Other than
the fact that it gets 59 MPGs. Yeah. At one point, yeah, it's insane. At one point, that
dionic blue, it's like the lesser powerful version, but you get that you make up, you trade
it that power for better MPGs, like for MPGs better than the regular ionic. But on the freeway,
it's fine. You know, yeah, you may have to step on it a little bit, but for the most part,
it cruises fine. It doesn't need to like really like let that four cylinder scream, right? Yeah.
There's no like sport mode like a priest. It's out of its own way. Right. It does. And I imagine
the next ionic hybrid because they're going to probably keep, they need something to compete with
the Prius. It's going to look like the new Prius. Like it's going to look stylish for the first
year, because right now, it still looks like the previous generation Prius. Yeah, it's got that
styling that they all borrowed, starting in the early 2000s like the inside of the Prius where
they have that rear window that's on. Yeah, exactly. Like you can't see through the rear view
mirror because of that little panel. But yeah, exactly same exact like shape and body design
language. But the reason why I think it's such a great car is because it's cheaper than a Prius.
It gets better MPGs than a Prius. And at the end of the day, like people that are buying that car,
they just need a car to get you from point A to point B. Yeah, an economy car. Right.
Exceptional MPG range. Now the difference with longevity, I can't speak on because
ionic hasn't been around. That's where I get more worried with the ionic. Right. And that's
everyone's concern. That's why everyone's willing to pay more for the Prius because it has that
longevity, that history that the ionic doesn't have yet. Yeah. Right. So time will tell I think
on the ionic, especially with battery degradation. Like because my ionic right now is getting me like
mid 45, right. It says it's supposed to get 55 to 59. And I'm not. So is that battery degradation
because it is a six year old car? Or is it just because I'm driving like, you know, like as if I'm
in my 911. It could be driving style. I mean, if you're doing a lot of city, you got to keep in
mind too that like rarely any, but you have to struggle to get EPA. Right. I mean, like when they come
up with those ratings, it's some guy from the EPA who's just lugging it around barely,
barely keeping the people behind them from honking at him. Right. Right. And especially downhill.
Right. You let your foot off the gas and let that, um, what's the word when you, uh, the region,
the region happen. So yeah. But regardless, that's one great car in their lineup. Another car I want
to talk about is probably the best bang for your buck front wheel drive sports car sports sedan that
you can own. And that is the Elantra N. Mm hmm. I've driven that Elantra N, um, for a good amount of
time. I have to. And I mean, it was dynamic. It is a Civic Type R at a fraction of the cost. I
honestly think it looks better than a Civic Type R, um, especially that baby blue. It's like a two-tone
baby blue and black with those wheels with the red stripe. Yeah. Beautiful wheels, colored brake
calipers. You can find a used one few years old where maybe 40,000 miles well on the 30 grand.
And, and that car is a lot of car for on the 30 grand. I mean, it does like shoot noises into
the cabin like, you know, fake sounds that you can adjust, um, because obviously it wants it to be
a sports car, but maybe doesn't have the exhaust tune the right, you know, to, to give off those
notes, but, um, because you can literally change the sound to, um, like, like track mode. Yeah. Yeah.
But it's not, it's the acoustics. It's not just the driving. Oh, really? I thought that it was
the exhaust. The exhaust. Yeah. Yeah. But, but you hear it. It pumps the sound into the cabin.
Oh, I didn't know that. The seats we got to scoot forward a little bit. That's going to come on
the radio, on the radio, on the podcast. But anyway, have you driven one before? I have. Yeah.
I actually spent some seat time in one. Uh, I, it's cool. You could disagree. I really did not
like the torque steer in the wheel hop. Uh, to notice that immediately when I drove it, if I took
off even mildly hard in it, it would wheel hop and torque steer. And I remember one time hopping
on the freeway and stomping on it in like second or third gear. And it just tight wheels bouncing
cart front end all over the road. Yeah. Uh, and I just really didn't like that. And I've driven
high powered front wheel drive cars that have managed that better. Yeah. Um, but let me put it this way.
I have a friend who has an Alontera and, and I drove it when he first got it and it was bone stock.
And then I drove it later on when he threw the whole parts catalog at it. Everything you could
possibly get for that car. And the torque steer and the wheel hop improved significantly. Yeah.
So I think with some easy modification, you can remedy that problem. That was my only complaint
about the car. But for me, that's a big one. Yeah. No, everyone's argument on a front wheel drive
car, right? Wheel hop torque steer. It's going to be, you know, I mean, yeah, the civic type of
also driven both, both generations. I've heard that one does better. I've never driven one.
And it does better. But at the end of the day, it's 20 grand more. Yeah.
Yeah. Opposite at the same age. Right. Right. It's, so that when I, when I started this,
this argument, it's I said, it's the best bang for your buck. Yeah. Right. It's not going to be
perfect. Right. Especially with the warranty with how good the warranty is.
A five year 60. So you can find a 2020. It's more. Well, first owner gets 10, 100 power train.
Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds right. Right. The second owners get 560 both,
basic and power train. But yeah, warranty is exceptional. But look, I'm just talking about it
from like, it's not going to be perfect. Just overall value. Right. That car is a great car for
somewhere. There are the values there. Someone crush-hopping a GR86. Right. Someone looking at,
you know, obviously, GR86, Subaru BRZ, you know, that entry lever. Right. And Corolla GR is a little
different because it's all will drive. Yeah. But similar price point, you know, you'd see those
in the lineup as competitors. Exactly. Yeah. And this car, I would say, I mean, you have a backseat.
Yeah. A usable backseat. Right. And it's interior wise, it's great. I love the manual.
Yeah. I would say that's a, like, Hyundai is on the verge of doing some big things. Yeah. Right.
I know they took a lot of engineers design people away from big, you know, automakers.
They just introduced the Ionic 9. They have electric third-row SUV. So, you know, I'm not going to,
I'm not a fanboy of Hyundai yet, like I am Toyota. But they've stepped it up. Just keep an eye
up because they have stepped it up, doing big things. I agree. All right. Let's get into this list.
Let's do it. All right. So let's start with, we got 25 cars on this list.
All sellers. Right. Top-selling cars or SUVs in 2025 in the US. No trucks.
Not as trucks. Okay. Pick up trucks. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. The very, not this one, but the next one
is a pickup. Okay. All right. So number 25, 116,000 plus unit sold. This car is pretty much the only
car in its segment. All right. It is Japanese, but no other car is in this segment. It pretty much
kept the same platform style, whatever you want to call it, or class, so to speak. And it is
good for light off-roading, trailer, maybe a light trail. How many guesses do I get?
You get three. Two or three. Okay. You get three. Toyota Crown? No. No. It's a pretty
popular name. I knew that that would be a long seller. Okay. Okay. It's a Toyota. It's not,
I didn't say Toyota. That's it's Japanese. Oh, Japanese. Okay. It's not Toyota. Gotcha. All right. Light
good for light off-roading. It's in its seventh generation. It's in its seventh generation.
Okay. Is it the, and you said light off-roading. So this is not like an off-road focus SUV. This is
more of a camp, like you go camping or on long road trips with it. Yeah. Is it a Toyota Highlander?
No, it's not Toyota. You said it's not Toyota. Damn. And keep in mind, it's the only car in its segment.
There's no other car. Cars brands are starting to make cars look like this segment again. Okay.
For a long time, Americans never bought this class or segment. European's did. But this car has kept
going with generation after generation in this class. Oh, man. On the seventh generation,
can I ask when it started roughly like when the model came out approximate? It doesn't say here,
but I imagine it's like late 80s, early 90s. Okay. Got it. Got it. Light off-roading. My mind keeps
going to Toyota, but you're telling me it's not a Toyota. It's not the pathfinder, is it? No. No.
Let's do two guesses. This will take a while. Okay. Okay. It's a Subaru Outback. Oh. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah, I guess
I have a hard time putting that in the class of its own, but I guess you're kind of right. Yeah,
it's the only station wagon car that ever really existed. I guess Volvo. I think Volvo. Yeah.
Japanese all-wheel drive. I see what you're saying. Volvo had like the V, the V, right? Which was like
the V 70, then they went with the, they had like a wagon version of the, which we'll call it the
XC 70 cross country. XC 70 cross country. Outback competitor. Okay. That's a good challenge to
the Subaru Outback, but this thing is still gone. Well, all those, because technically they get the
E-Class wagon still. They exist, but this is the only one that's continued and it does the best in
that segment. Yeah. No. For sure. Yeah. I think what threw me off is when you said it was in a
class of its own, I was imagining like some kind of like a sport back design. I got you know,
something kind of like that. Through you off a little bit. That's all right. Next one. So this
is an American pickup truck, 121,000 units sold. And it's gone up 11% since it was introduced in
2024. Introduced in 2024. Brand new vehicle. Brand new truck. It's the Maverick. Yes, it is.
Good job. It is the Maverick. So the Maverick was a big accessible vehicle, such a sensible vehicle.
Yeah. I get it. I've driven the hybrid version. It gets about 30s, low to mid 30s, you know,
for a pickup truck, that's exceptional. Yeah. However, it isn't body on frame like a pickup truck,
but it does look like a pickup truck, which is what people want, right? They still buy the Honda
Ridge line because it looks like a pickup truck. And you can still do pickup truck things with it
as long as you're not towing or hauling big loads. Right. And majority of people aren't.
The hauling capacity, I think, is over 2000, 2500. Yeah, it's probably not half bad. I remember I
wrote an article on it because I had one and I was, you know, I really enjoyed it. It was very
bare bones, but that reflected in the price tag, which most people pick up driver pickup truck drivers
don't care about. They want bare bones because they're using it for work or whatever it is.
Right. And it did enough pickup truck duty things, you know, and it did well. And I now you're
starting to see slate and all these like, you know, pickup trucks starting around 25,000.
You know, because they see like, wow, this is a segment that we need to capitalize on. Yeah,
yeah. Right. And it's because of the Ford Maverick. Yep. Right. You look at the Santa
Faye. No, Santa Cruz. And that didn't do nearly as well because it was more of like a lifestyle
vehicle, kind of like the Subaru Baja. The Maverick still feels like a truck. Right.
Or at least looks like one. All right. So number 23 is a vehicle. Japanese 125,000 units sold.
Let's see sales up 16% in the third quarter. I could tell you that this is probably like,
if you can't afford a Civic, you buy this car only because it's way cheaper and it's in the same
segment as a Honda Civic. It's still Japanese, but I think this name plate will be gone very soon.
And sales are up 16% this year. How long has the model run approximately since the 80s?
Okay. 80s. 80s are early 90s, kind of like the outback Japanese, not Toyota, not Honda, not Toyota,
not Honda. Is it the, I know that it's got to be a Nissan compact sedan. It's kick the Maxima,
because they didn't have a Versa or an Alt, did they have a Altima? No, Centra, Nissan Centra.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Altima, I don't know if they discontinued. Maxima, they did.
I don't know if they still. Yeah. So this is the Centra, which, you know, you're cheaper,
Civic alternative. Yep. Very common rental car. I think the reason why those probably sold so
well is because they're priced right. Right. And that's the only way for them to attract people
away from Honda or Toyota. All right. Number 22. So this car is started as a, I would say, a lifestyle
car. Okay. You know, something that, you know, few people bought just because they wanted to take
off road. Now you see them everywhere. 128,000 units sold for 2025. It is American. It is
quintessential American. Hmm. One point, there was only two doors. Now, I think it's 80, 20 sales,
80% four door, 20% two door. Okay. So they still make a two door. They still do. And it's an off
roader. Gotcha. American. Man, but they still make a two door. That throws me off a little bit.
It's not the, it's the Bronco, right? No. No. It's the Wrangler. Ah. It's the other one.
Okay. Yeah. I don't know if the Bronco is on this list. So I'm reading this list just as they were
kind of flat with liability, reliability problems. The Wrangler. The Bronco. Yeah. I mean, honestly,
a lot of people say that Bronco is more comfortable. It has independent front suspension.
That makes sense. Yeah. A lot of people like that, you know, for that reason. But then the
purist off road purist will say, Oh, no, like it needs to have a solid front axle. Yeah. You know,
but you're going to trade off with comfort. Sure. Um, but I mean, I wouldn't say the Bronco. It's
hard to say because it doesn't have the same history as a Wrangler. Um, but I wouldn't say that
four cylinder, that six cylinder or any worse. And because now Jeep makes multiple power trains too.
Right. Right. They have like a two liter. They have the, I think they still keep the penistar
three point six or the hurricane, whatever new version of it is. There's a diesel one. There's
the three 92. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Number 21, this is um, 130,000 units sold. Okay. You would
probably guess it's the most popular electric car in the US. And it's an American car. American
electric car. Most popular. What would you guess be? Model three. Yeah. Yeah.
Model three. Yeah. 130,000 units sold. So it's number 21 on this list. Okay. So not, it's not
super low on the list. It's not super low. Yeah. All right. This is, uh, 133,000 units sold.
This car has a name plate that's been around for maybe not as long as the outback. Okay. But it is
the SUV version. And it is a standard old drive. What do you guess? The SUV version. So are you
saying it's a Subaru Forester? Yeah. There you go. All right. So they did a redesign on it this
year. So I guess that I could see how that would spark some more interest. Yeah. My only like
gripe with these Subaru's and this is everyone's doing it now. Even like, I think I know what you're
going to say, but keep talking. The RAV4 wilderness and while the Subaru wilderness, the RAV4 has
like another wild something version. I forget the name, but like it's there making these plastic cladded
off road versions. And all they're getting is some basic all-terrain tire. Maybe an inch ground clearance.
Right. If that and, you know, probably an inch of body clearance because of the, it has a different
body. Yeah. But it's probably got the same suspension. I wouldn't wouldn't be surprised. Yeah.
I know like the, the, there's a TRD RAV4 and that got red coils. You know, I don't, I'm not buying
into it. It's a crossover. Why are you making a crossover? Right. Look like an overlander because I
get that overlanding as a hype and it's a marketing. But at the same time, you're buying a crossover.
You're not buying an off road. Just stop. All right. Number 19. This is 134,000 units sold. Okay.
Also, it was redesigned. It is a competitor to the RAV4 and the CRV and the Rogue and it's not
Japanese. Oh, competitor to CRV and Rogue. Isn't Japanese. Well, what would compete with those cars
that wouldn't be Japanese? It'd have to be American, right? No. No, it's not American. It's Korean.
Oh, is it the, um, okay. So we're talking smaller SUV compact. It's not going to be the
tell you ride. Would it be the, oh, the Hyundai Santa Fe? You're close, but it's not Hyundai.
Oh, the Kio and it's a compact. The Santa Fe is the midsize. Yeah. Yeah. It's not the Kona.
Is it not a step up from the Kona? Okay. And it's Kia Tucson. It's the Kia version. It's the
Kia version of the Tucson. Okay. Which would be the Kia sport. Hey, good job. Good job. I narrowed it
down. Yeah. There you go. Right on. Kia sport. It's actually really nice. You know, again,
these Korean cars are making really beautiful looking SUVs. I agree. I think the tell you ride. I've
always loved the tell you ride from day one. Yeah. I'm going to go through some of the ones that are
pretty quickly that are, like, probably going to be hard to guess because they're a little bit
more unique. Like this one, number 18 and 142,000 units. So this car actually outsold surprisingly
to Forester and the Outback. It's the cross track. Oh, look at that. Yeah. Right. Obviously it's
cheaper. Right. You still get the old one drive. It's still technically an SUV, but a really small
version of it. And they did redesign it recently. So I think that's the wilderness with those
little, like, yellow and mustard looking accents. Moving on. All right. So this is a good one.
This is American. This is like the quintessential American midsize SUV 154,000 units sold. It's
number 17 on this list. Typical mid sized SUV. Oh, man. Yeah. There's so many. You can think
of right Ford Chevy. So you'll be here all day. I would suspect this is the grand Cherokee.
Okay. I think I might have been able to guess that though because I know the popularity of those
recently. Okay. Yeah. I figured, you know, you'd have time to think about it and we're a little
short on time. No worries. But let's talk about the grand Cherokee because it's been around for a
minute. Obviously the ZJ was like back in the 90s. It was actually one at Express this past week.
Almost bought it. Oh, really? Yeah. There you go. That had the V8 in it, right?
Limited. Limited. And those are cool. They have like those snowflake wheels and like the
super cushiony padded seats. Yep. Yep. But you really want that car with the four-liter,
you know, because it's tried and true. But the grand Cherokee, I mean, it has its
gremlins. It's had its unreliability issues. Yeah. But it's kind of, it's kept true to what it's
been. I could suppose to be the more off-road-focused SUV. Right? I don't believe these are
body on frame. I think they're unibody now. They're kind of like, well, at least the original
XJs used to be like kind of a hybrid. The Cherokee. Yeah. Yeah. It was, no, the XJ Cherokee was
unibody. Yeah. But it had like solid acts. It has frame, it's a unibody that has like frame
rails in it. It's kind of unique. Yeah. Only thing about it. Let's assume this one is unibody
with the new one. Yeah. No. Yeah. It has to be. It's not going to be body because the wagon
here isn't all that. But the Cherokee, I mean, the grand Cherokee, at least, people bought because it
was just an affordable mid-size SUV and had a little bit more of a rugged look. Yeah. Compared to
like the Equinox. And it had a comfort too. I think it had enough creature comforts that it got
away with being rugged. So the next one on this list is the Ford version of the Grand Cherokee of
the mid-size SUV. The only, my only gripe about this car, I've owned many of them as a, you know,
it was my first car, is it's never changed its style or its look for like at least the last 10
years. Can you guess which American mid-size SUV it is? It's not the Explorer, is it? Yeah.
The Explorer. Yeah. I mean, subtle changes over the last 10, 15 years maybe. You know, I guess
if it's not, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sure. But I don't look at it in Explorer. I'm like,
wow, like it's good if you own an old one. It's good if you own an old one. Right. Exactly.
Which like this is the, like I said this earlier, the Explorer's like to me, they weren't the same
after the early 2000s. All right. Nissan Rogue is number 15. I'm going to go through a few
days because like I said, we're running out of time. The Rogue 161,000 units. Wow. I mean,
they're good looking. I'm sure they have all the same features as their competitors. Probably
priced okay, you know, might not be a tough sell. The number one thing people ask when they
try to buy a Rogue, or when they're buying a Rogue, is does it have that CVT transmission?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and most SUVs have a CVT these days. Like if you look at like a
RAV4 hybrid, the Toyota Venza, that power train is all running on a CVT, right. I think it's just
a Nissan CVT. Look, Nissan is very good at innovating and they will come out with technologies
ahead of people. The downside of that is it's not tried and true and tested. So now you built the
reputation of having the worst CVT industry, right, because of the, you know, one of the first
to the market with the CVT, you know, you buy a RAV4 non-hybrid, right. Now they're all hybrid,
but before, you know, the RAV4 came in either a hybrid or a non-hybrid, the non-hybrid didn't have
the CVT, right. So you could offer that instead, right. But if you want great gas mileage, you're
not going to put a CVT, right. But for the most part, CVTs have come a long way. I think what's most
important with CVTs is servicing them in their interval. The CVTs go bad when people don't service
them, and they require more, more often service than a traditional automatic transmission. So it gets
overlooked. Yeah. I think that's a big factor. True. All right. So moving on to the Kia Sportage,
we talked about the Hyundai Tucson. So it's a sister car, the compact SUV outsold it, 165,000 units
sold. Also a new design, they also make a hybrid version. Another good bang for your buck,
Hyundai, I'd say, a volume seller clearly at 165,000 units. Pretty good for one year.
So this car came back. It went on a little bit of a hiatus. It's American. It's a compact SUV,
completely redesigned. And I see him everywhere, surprisingly, because I remember that name plate.
I was like, oh, it's like the cheap entry level American SUV. You get, you know, people have like
bad credit. I'm just need an SUV, you know, kind of like the Dodge journey. Yeah, exactly.
Because the perfect car. The Dodge journey, I need a third row, but I got terrible credit.
So, you know, and don't get me wrong, there's got to be a car for old credit types. Yeah,
right. And that's okay. And when I see somebody in a car like that, it's better that they're in a
sensible car. Right. You know, instead of them buying, you know, like a cheap Hyundai venue,
let's say, because it's an SUV. And then I have a third kid, and now they outgrew the car in a year,
you know, and they have no room for three strollers. You know, they mean like, okay, get a
car that's sensible. Dodge journey has, you know, third row and a little bit of cargo space. Yeah.
This car is all new, redesigned. Name plate is old, not that old, but, you know, it's been around
in the early 2010s. Yeah. Came back kind of like the Venza. How the Venza came back. Very similar
in class, but it's American. You have any ideas? Similar to the Venza American top seller.
I would say it looks like the original Venza. Okay. Not so much the newer Venza. A little bit
more lower ground clearance. Kind of looks more like a wagon than an SUV. And it's a new model
2025. I was going to say it came out I think last year, 24th, maybe 23 as a new model as a new model.
Okay. A name plate that it was revived. Okay. And it's American. It's not the blazer, is it?
It is a Chevrolet. It's not a blazer. Oh, it's the. And it's not a trailblazer. It's not the
equinox, is it? It's even smaller. It's even smaller than the blazers. Oh, don't tell me it's a
track. Yeah. It's a track. Yes. Oh, my God. Almost 170,000. Well, it's going to clear 170,000 units
for the year. That is one of the ugliest new SUVs I've ever seen. Yeah. The tail lights. The front
is not heinous. The rear is ugly. Women are driving these cars. Yeah. I'm telling you. And
and look, I've said it before, you know, you need to have styling cues that appeal to both men
and women. You know, and like this one doesn't appeal to you. I mean, it looks aggressive from
the front. And it kind of gets a little more subdued. And I don't like how the rear end looks on
them. Well, that's that's where it starts to get subdued. Yeah. More feminine looking.
The front looks like a lot of their other cars in the line. Yeah. Like a trailblazer. Or, you know,
what is it? Trailblazer is like the smaller one and is the blazer, which is a little bit bigger.
And as an equinox, a traverse, there's so many SUVs these days. Yeah. All right. Moving on to
a very popular car, 180,000 units. Let's just round up. It's been around forever. It's the
most, I would say, practical compact sedan you could ever buy in history. Some of 12 on this list.
Compact or subcompact. Compact. Okay. Most reliable in history. It's not like the Corolla, is it?
Of course it is. Corolla. Yes. Of course. Body styles is due for a refresh, right? Yeah.
It's kind of been around a little bit. It's kind of been around for a little bit now. But, you know,
it's, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Obviously the design has never been. A Corolla has never been,
like a bad looking car. Yeah. It's kind of, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of conservative. It's
anonymous. Yeah. Very anonymous. Like you look at the Camry now. Holy shit. That's a Camry. Yeah.
The Corolla is not like that, especially the sedan. The hatchback obviously with the GR Corolla,
it can get a little crazy. But they don't take as many risks with the Corolla. Correct.
Number 11 on this list. Wow. It beat the Corolla in unit sold. Whoa. So the Corolla was at 180.
This one's at 185. Okay. And it's the Honda version. Oh, the Civic. Yeah. It's all
the Honda Civic. So the Honda Civic body style was changed recently. Looks, looks great. I love
the way you look. You can take a little newer than the Corolla. So maybe that has to do with it,
but regardless, you know, another tried and true car can't go wrong. Cheaper than the Corolla,
I believe, starting early. I think so. No way. Not much, though. Okay. Not much. Well, at least on
the used market, the Toyota's hold their value a little bit better. Okay. You know, now standard
features. I think it's probably what you want to look at. I know like Corolla's come with like
safety sense 3.0. And that's going to like have like the stuff I was saying early, like blind spot,
you know, maybe front end collision avoidance. That even when you're backing up, it has the
cross traffic alert, which is really good. I don't know if Honda comes with all that. I imagine
they're going to have to in order to keep up, you know, but either way, they outsold the Corolla
this year. Chevy equinox is number 10. So it obviously is, you know, I'm to my surprise, better
seller than the Ford Explorer. Yeah. You know, it's not a name plate that's been around as long
as the Explorer, but 203,000 units sold. I think you're right. You're on to something with what
you said about standard features. That's something that I've seen YouTubers compare before
when cross shop in two brand cars. So. Number nine on his list, 204,000 units sold. So I'll
make you guess this one. Okay. It is the, in my opinion, most reliable pickup truck ever.
It's got to be the Tacoma. Yep. Yeah. Toyota Tacoma. Number nine on this list.
Some complaints about the Tacoma, right? They have a hybrid four cylinder. There's some recalls
out there along with the Tundra. And a lot of people said like, is Toyota's reliability going to
start to decrease? I think it's going into question. There's recalls, there's things that now people
are like, oh, wait a second here, right? And that's going to allow companies like Honda and other
brands like that are close in competition to catch up. Exactly. It's that reliability that Toyota's
been hanging on to for so long. And remember the CEO, Akio, Toyota came out like what, eight years
ago now saying no more boring cars, right? But they just announced a new Toyota GT. Like they're
making exciting really cool sexy cars that is it at the compromise of reliability though, right?
Because now they're trying to incorporate hybrid technology almost into everything. I don't think
they make a car anymore. That's not hybrid. So what's the trade-off? Yeah, I mean, you're talking about
it just sounds like more to maintain. But then again, Toyota is pretty proven hybrid technology.
Yeah, you know, on a truck though with a turbo, a hybrid powertrain, it just seems like too much.
Yeah. Number eight on this list, 232,000 estimated units sold. Wow. And this car is probably the most
common, newest, most common electric car you see on the roads today. Just redesigned for 2025.
Okay. We already did the Model 3, another electric. So it had a previous generation that was another
body style. Yes. And this year 2025, it was redesigned completely. Okay. Sedan. No, you are on the
right track with the Model 3. Okay. Model 3 is a sedan. Well, this is not a sedan. It's a SUV
version. So it outsold the Model 3. Gotcha. It's not the model. It's the Model Y. Yeah. We got two
Tesla's on the list. Two Tesla's on his list. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because again,
the redesign and then also the charging network is a big seller for a lot of people. I'm more
surprised on how high on the, let me rephrase that. How low, no, how high on the list it is.
Low means more. Like, I would expect this thing to be closer to one. Okay. Right. So it's pretty
high at number eight. Yeah. There was a point where I think this was the number one selling car in
the US or it was close to the F-150, which has held that rain for a long time. Right. Right.
But this goes to show like the Model 3 was was up there. Right. This is real like top 10
crossovers. People won't cross over. Yep. It's the same car. And then the redesign helped.
Right. Because the redesign gives you that front end that looks a lot like the Cybertruck.
And then the tail light has that like, it's a bar. It's a bar, but it's it's like a glowing bar.
It's not. Yeah. It's not technically the light. It's more of the reflection of the light.
That makes it look like a light bar. But regardless, it's modern looking. It's been refreshed.
People are going to want to buy it. Right. Yep. Number seven, you can see it.
It turned my head. Honestly, I thought this would be, I'm surprised because it's a sedan that it's
this low on the list. Number seven, 234,000 units. But it is it for a long time, it was the
number one selling sedan in America. Okay. Um, American? No. Japanese. Hmm.
Redesigned in 2025 hybrid only. Okay. Redesigned in 2025. Best selling sedan.
Japanese. Japanese. Um, the camera. There you go. Yeah. Good job. It is the camera. So, um, I guess
I would say I'm surprised because it's a sedan, but I'm also not surprised it's a camera. Right.
Like it's going to always sell in the US. You know, people still need sedans. They don't want SUVs.
They're going to get a camera simply because they're priced well, great tech and they look good.
They look sporty now. They don't they're not like boring anymore.
Luxury features too. Yeah. In an LE. Yeah. You know, yeah, maybe you won't get led there,
but you'll get some luxury features in a camera. So, uh, you saw that one. GMC Sierra. Yep.
Um, so I'm surprised. 251,000 units. Uh, yeah. I mean, I think it's a go-to truck for a lot of people.
Like there's probably a lot of Sierra buyers who maybe use them for a fleet and they drive them
for a few years and they just replace it with a new one. Right. Yeah. I guess so. I mean,
the thing is I get to see it's a GMC. Like F-150. Oh, true. That's a good point that it's the GMC
version. Yeah. Not the Chevy. Like the Silverado. Right. Right. So, that's kind of where my surprise is.
Yeah. Um, I mean, on this list, there's top five. Let me, I got to like go to top five right now.
It's like not, um, yeah, it's not apparently in the same article. But, um, as we do that,
I, you know, I've always been a big fan of the GMC eucon, um, simply because like the Denali,
right? Like that, that car always competed with the Escalade, you know, and I've owned them
both of them. Yeah. I've always felt like that's the pinnacle GMC, you know, um, and then,
obviously, the Sierra, they have to make the Silverado version of it.
This is number six. I'm trying to get to number five, uh, and it's not letting me. So, um,
let's see, it's like stopped literally stopped. So, I guess we'll have to wait to hear number five
the top five, because it won't let me see it. Every time I hit, uh, read more, it just gives me more
in the next one. So, um, all right. Well, what do you got as far as, uh, any updates, any new
upcoming events and analog and grit for you wrap up? Oh, let's see. Not that I can think of off the
top of my head right now. Um, I'm sure we'll have our regularly scheduled cars and coffee
at the end of the month. And then I'm sure we'll be making plans for January. Okay. Yeah. So, uh,
Sunday, grit would would be after Christmas. I imagine is it that Sunday? Yeah, last Sunday.
Last Sunday of the month, right? And will there be a Sunday grit that weekend? Yeah, as far as I know,
because I think Christmas this year is on, um, it's in a weekday. Okay. It's kind of like midweek.
Um, but okay, cool. And then not no theme. I imagine anything. Uh, not yet. Yeah. Okay. I'm on the
non. Okay. Here we go. I got it. So I'm on the non iPad version. So I'm able to pull up the
top five. Okay. All right. So this one is similar to GMC Sierra. It's just the
Dodge version. Oh, like a ram 1500 ram 50. It doesn't say which one it says ram pickup. I
imagine it's the 1500 262 units. Wow. Um, so pretty solid. All right. Top four. Not a pickup truck.
This is a Japanese compact SUV. So kind of like the Tucson, right? They mentioned earlier
the Kia Sportage. This is a, um, more reputable brand. Is it the Toyota Corolla Cross? Nope.
307,000 plus units. Another Japanese manufacturer. Mm-hmm. Keep in mind. It's not a Mazda. Is it? No.
The ramp pickup was 262. And that was five. Now we're at four. We're jumping almost 50,000 more units.
Mm-hmm. And it's a compact SUV. Yeah. More than 50,000 units. Hold 307. And a reputable brand.
Um, is it the Honda CRV? Yes. Great job. Okay. CRV. Okay. Awesome. Good job. So yeah,
the CRV hybrid is a grown popular. They moved 165. The first three quarters up 14%. I imagine
the hybrid will, because now Rav4 is all hybrid. I imagine the CRV is going to do the same.
Okay. Right. Unless maybe they want to offer a non-hybrid, right? Where Toyota doesn't. And
true. We'll see. Um, but so as I just said, the Toyota Rav4 is third on this list. Mm-hmm.
Okay. So 358. So it sold 50,000 more units than number three. I'm sorry, number four.
This is number three. Um, and it is the Rav4. I'm not surprised that it's as high on the list.
I mean, it's just the most popular compact. Yeah. There's no question about it. It's been
the most popular compact SUV, right? It's pretty telling to see some of these big names that we know
that have been popular for a long time still have a substantial jump in sales. Yeah. Um,
that's pretty, uh, pretty cool, I think. Yeah. So let's see, um, the Rav4, uh, the hybrid only
six generation is due to go on sale. So next year. Gotcha. And this is, you know, this is probably a
comp, um, it comprised both hybrid and non-hybrid SUV. So 139,000 were the traditional Rav4 hybrid
while 16,000 were the plug-in hybrid. Mm-hmm. Not very many. Yeah. Yeah. And then the rest were,
were non-hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Mm-hmm. Um, all right. Top two. So, uh, can you guess what the
top two are? They're both in the same segment. They're both American. I already mentioned one of
them as being, you know, the king for a very long time. F-150 is not number two. It is number one.
Okay. So number two. Yeah. Again, had 422,000 and, and 685 units old, the Silverado. Okay. Yeah.
And that's number two. And the F series, can you guess? Let's do that. How many F series pickup
trucks were sold? 375. Well, the, the 422 was the Silverado. Oh, and that was number two. Yeah. Dang.
480. 597,000. Wow. That's more than half a drop. More than half a million units sold. I
mean, this is through October. So we could be at, you know, 700,000 by the end of the year. Um,
the crazy thing is, is like, pickups are so competitive in the U.S. The fact that they can blow away
their second, the most selling automobile. Yeah. By over 100,000 units. It's pretty impressive. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, more than 150,000 units than the next. Well, you want to know something I've observed
selling cars. Both here, we recently sold a 2017 F-150 here. And I've sold other ones in the past
with other people is a lot of F-150 buyers have another F-150. Right. Just something that I've noticed.
It's loyalty. Yeah. And I think it's loyalty. There's no other segment in the U.S. That is more
competitive based on loyalty than Ram, Silverado, and F series. Yeah. Right. Like, like, the
Ram buyers will never buy a Silverado. Silverado buyers will never buy an F series. Right. It's like
pride. Yeah. Right. And I get it because you probably grow up in a family. So you have your
allegiance. Right. To whatever brand you grew up in. And they're all biased to what each one
offers. Like, obviously, the, you know, the Silverado has like an Allison transmission. And,
you know, it was essentially one of the best, most robust, you know, transmissions that they can make.
Power trains in general. Right. Cummings, diesel, you know, if you're looking at the Dodge side,
right, where the Hemi, right, they'll argue the Hemi is the best engine, blah, blah, blah,
right. And then the F series, just the best all around truck. Right. Versatility.
Well, one thing that I think is also worth mentioning is since trucks are vehicles that have
a intended purpose, I think all it takes for somebody is one good truck experience to buy the same
exact thing, right? Yeah. Like, if you bought a 97 F 350, and it was a phenomenal truck for 10 years,
and it's just getting a little bit tired, you're probably going to go out and buy another F-150.
Exactly. That's what it is. They're just buying the next and latest greatest. They're not going to ever
cross shop an F-150 with a Tacoma. Right. Like, I'll never buy a, a foreign job. You know what I mean?
Like, that's the old mentality of pickup truck drivers. And maybe it's changing, right? Obviously,
Tacoma was high on this list. You know, and the Tacoma has been reliable since the, since the mid-90s.
Right. When it first came out, but at the same time, like, pickup truck drivers, they're usually buying
these cars in parts of the country where it's American or not, or bus. It's been American or bus.
Yeah, yeah. Right. For a long time, and they're not going to sway from that. So clearly, the numbers
say it. I mean, almost like we're talking over half a million years. The person who bought our F-150
had a Tacoma, currently owned a Tacoma, had an F-150 previously from the same generation and liked it
better. Really? Yeah. Pretty telling. Yeah. So, that's the end of this list. That's the end of this
podcast. You have no updates on A&G, other than the FJ-40 going for sale. You know, when it's going
to go live on cars and bits. No, we're probably going to schedule it for the new year. Gotcha. Yeah.
Alrighty. Well, until next week, happy holidays. Merry Christmas to everyone. And we'll talk to you
guys soon on the Analog and Grit podcast. Alright.
About this episode
A dive into the best-selling cars of 2025 reveals a mix of classic favorites and emerging competitors. Hosts Victor and Dylan discuss the Corvette ZR-1's impressive performance against rivals like the Porsche GT3 RS and Mustang GTD, sparking a debate on what defines a supercar. The episode also highlights the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40's restoration and its significance in off-roading history. Listeners will appreciate insights on the automotive market trends, including the rise of hybrids and the enduring popularity of models like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.
Original notes
Dylan joins the show to discuss a topic we rarely ever talk about on this podcast; New cars! We delve into Car & Driver’s list of the top selling new cars of 2025. We talk Sweet Spot Generation from 95-05. Which cars in Hyundai’s lineup can give Toyota a run for their money. The Chevy Corvette ZR-1 is a track monster and it proves it on Sonoma Raceway against the Porsche GT3RS and Ford Mustang GTD. Why the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 is a steal at its current market value.
Analog and Grit Podcast
Victor Troia
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