The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car made in the U.S. It’s known for being fast and having a recognizable look. The podcast mentions it because another car looks a bit like it from a certain angle.
The Revuelto is a Lamborghini supercar. It’s the kind of car that’s built with very advanced technology to deliver extreme performance. The podcast mentions it because it’s described as especially cutting-edge.
The Lamborghini Aventador is a very high-performance supercar from Lamborghini. It’s known for its bold styling and fast driving feel. The podcast mentions it as a car that was teased and then came out, which got people talking.
The Ferrari 458 is a mid-engine supercar from Ferrari, famous for its naturally aspirated V8 and classic “driver’s supercar” feel. Here it’s referenced alongside the 488 GTB as an example of Ferrari’s earlier aero styling that still looked relatively restrained.
The Ferrari 488 GTB is a high-end Ferrari supercar. The host mentions it to compare older Ferrari styling—still sporty and aerodynamic, but not as extreme as newer designs.
Stefan Winkelmann is Lamborghini’s top executive. The host mentions meeting him during a dealership event, which is why Lamborghini is the focus of that part of the story.
The Lamborghini Gallardo is a high-performance supercar made by Lamborghini. It’s known for its powerful engine and dramatic look. The podcast mentions it when talking about how the model was “around” in the past.
A “hypercar” is basically the next step up from a supercar—usually even faster and far more expensive. The hosts are saying Lamborghini’s lineup has shifted so that more models feel like they belong in that top tier.
A 2+2 Grand Tourer is a fast, long-distance car with two front seats and two smaller back seats. The hosts are saying Lamborghini is considering bringing back that kind of layout.
Here, “mobility” means using cars mainly to get around efficiently. The host’s point is that some supercar buyers don’t want that— they want the excitement and personality of a traditional car.
The Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 is a supercar made by Gordon Murray Automotive. It’s designed to be lightweight and focused on how the driver feels behind the wheel. The podcast brings it up because the speaker prefers it over another similar supercar.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that uses both a battery and a gas engine. You can charge the battery by plugging it in, which helps cut emissions compared with a normal gas-only car.
The Lamborghini Urus SE is a hybrid version of the Urus. In this discussion, it’s the example of the kind of plug-in V8 setup they expect in the new rumored car.
The Porsche Cayenne Turbo SE is a hybrid version of the Cayenne that’s meant to stay fast while using electricity. They bring it up because they think the new car’s hybrid system could be related.
Euro 7 is a new set of rules in Europe that makes car emissions harder to exceed. Automakers are worried because they’ll have to change their cars to meet the stricter limits.
A V12 is a type of engine with 12 cylinders arranged in a V shape. It’s often associated with a strong, distinctive sound—exactly the kind of thing new noise rules could restrict.
A “small scale manufacturer” is a car company that builds fewer cars than the big mass producers. The point here is that the rules (Euro 7) may not apply to them as quickly, giving them more time to adjust.
IMSA is a big endurance racing series in North America. Teams race for long stretches and have to balance speed with strategy and keeping the car healthy.
WEC is a big endurance racing championship. Cars race for hours, and teams compete across a season—so when more major brands join, the competition gets tougher.
LMH cars are the other top endurance race-car category. The key idea is that teams build more of the car themselves, which tends to cost more than the more modular LMDH approach.
LMDH is a racing rule/platform that lets teams choose from different chassis options. The point the hosts make is that it can be cheaper because you’re not starting with a completely brand-new car design.
The Volkswagen Golf is a common small car that many people use for everyday driving. It can also come in sportier versions. The podcast mentions it while comparing other small cars and how lively they feel.
The Polo GTI is Volkswagen’s sporty version of the Polo. The big twist here is that this one is described as electric, not the usual gas-engine GTI approach.
The ID 3 GTX is a sportier electric Volkswagen in the ID lineup. The host says it’s rear-wheel drive, and that matters because it changes how the car feels to drive.
A limited-slip differential helps the car put power down more evenly to the driven wheels. That usually means better traction and less wheel spin when you accelerate hard or drive on low-grip roads.
The Alpine A290 is a small performance car made by Alpine. The podcast talks about it in terms of range, meaning how far it can go before needing to be charged or refueled. It’s mentioned as a different option compared to other cars in the same general size category.
Term
HVAC clutch system
They’re confused by the name “HVAC,” because HVAC usually means the car’s heating and air-conditioning. In this case, the important part they’re really discussing is a drive-control system that helps the car put power down better.
Term
torque factoring
Torque factoring is a control strategy where the car adjusts how much torque is sent to the drive wheels based on conditions like traction and stability needs. The hosts suggest that, in theory, the system could have been implemented via torque-based control rather than a clutch-based eLSD approach.
They bring up the Volkswagen Polo as the alternative hatch they’re comparing against. The main point here is styling—keeping the car’s older look instead of going for something more radical.
A diffuser is a part under the car that’s supposed to help the airflow behave better. “Faux” here means it looks like the real thing, but it’s mostly for styling and doesn’t really function.
A flat floor is basically a smooth bottom under the car. The hosts checked for it because the aerodynamic parts under the car work better when the underside is shaped to control airflow.
The Renault 5 is a small car from Renault. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because it’s selling well and people are choosing it. They compare it to other small cars to explain why it stands out.
Infotainment is the car’s screen system for things like music, navigation, and phone settings. They’re discussing whether it’s controlled by touch/slider gestures or by physical buttons.
Sport mode is a button that changes the car’s behavior to feel more responsive. It often makes the throttle and driving feel quicker, so the car reacts faster when you press the pedal.
DCC is a suspension feature that lets the car change its “ride feel.” Soft mode is more comfortable, while firm mode helps the car handle more tightly.
The Hyundai i30N is a sporty version of the i30 hatch. The point here is that some people found its settings menu too complicated, while the host likes having lots of adjustability.
Powertrain is the “go” system of the car—things like the engine and gearbox working together. They’re saying the car can adjust how that system responds depending on the mode you pick.
Car
Volkswagen T-Cross
The Volkswagen T-Cross is a small crossover. Here it’s mentioned as one of the cars being compared for a suspension change in the rear. The host’s point is that a stiffer rear setup can make the car feel more responsive and affect how the rear behaves.
Term
rear beam
A rear beam is part of the suspension structure that helps hold the rear wheels in the right relationship. If it’s stiffer, the car can react more consistently when you turn or change throttle. The host is saying that stiffness can make the rear feel more lively.
Lift-off oversteer is when you let off the gas and the back of the car starts to swing outward. It’s basically the car getting “loose” when you stop accelerating. Drivers often notice it in sporty front-wheel-drive cars.
A rear anti-roll bar helps control how much the car leans in corners. If it’s stiffer, the car can feel more “alive” at the back when you’re driving hard. That’s why it affects how the rear feels during turns.
The Volkswagen Golf GTI is a sporty front-wheel-drive hatch that’s famous for being fun to drive. Here, the host says the Edition 50 tends to rotate the car when you lift off the gas—so it can feel a bit loose at the rear in that moment.
Spokes are the parts that connect the center of the wheel to the outer rim. If there are lots of spokes, it’s usually more annoying to clean because dirt can get into all the little spaces.
“Deep dish” means the wheel looks like it has a deeper, more scooped-in shape. It’s mostly about the look, but it can also matter for whether the wheel fits properly in the wheel well.
A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders arranged in a “V” shape, which is commonly associated with smooth power delivery and strong torque. In this segment, the hosts are discussing what kind of V8 the BMW Alpina concept might use and whether it’s likely to be turbocharged.
The BMW M5 is BMW’s top-performance version of the 5 Series. Here, they’re saying the Alpina won’t use the same plug-in hybrid power unit that’s found in the M5.
Electrification means moving toward electric power—like hybrids or fully electric cars. The point here is that Alpina customers still expect gas engines at this price level.
The Rolls-Royce Spectre is a Rolls-Royce that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. In this segment, they’re using it as a style reference for what the Alpina might look like.
The BMW 7 Series is BMW’s big, top-of-the-line sedan. They’re saying the Alpina version would be a four-door built on that same foundation, which affects how it drives and feels.
A “low volume manufacturer” is a company that sells relatively few vehicles compared with mainstream automakers. The hosts are implying that Alpina’s traditional scale constraints could be affected by being integrated with BMW, especially when regulations and corporate strategy (like EV requirements) are set at the larger group level.
Alpina makes special, higher-performance versions of certain BMWs. The XB7 is based on the BMW X7, but tuned by Alpina, and the hosts are saying a more “proper” Alpina model is coming later.
The Aston Martin Vantage is one of Aston Martin’s smaller sports cars. The hosts mention it as an example of the kind of car someone might have considered in this budget range.
The Jaguar F-Type is a sports car, and the “V8” version uses a bigger eight-cylinder engine. The hosts list it as one of the cars people might be shopping for in this budget.
The Porsche 911 is one of the most famous sports cars ever made. The hosts mention it because it’s a common “dream car” people compare against when shopping used sports cars.
The Aston Martin DB11 is a more “grand touring” style Aston Martin—built for fast, comfortable long drives. The hosts bring it up as a possible option people consider alongside other sports cars.
Depreciation is how quickly a car loses value over time. The idea here is to buy a used sports car after it’s already taken most of that value hit, but still early enough that you can keep warranty coverage for a while.
Being “under warranty” means the car is still covered for certain repairs. The hosts are saying they want a used car that’s new enough that warranty coverage lasts for a few more years.
The Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0L is a mid-engine Porsche with a bigger 4.0-liter engine, meant to feel more exciting and more “driver” than the simpler versions. In this discussion, they’re comparing it as an alternative to the 911 and the Aston Martin.
A facelift is when a car gets refreshed during its production life—usually styling and feature updates. Here, they’re saying the update was so big it didn’t feel like a small refresh.
Steering feel is how the car responds when you turn the wheel—how smooth, direct, and communicative it feels. They’re saying the Vantage didn’t feel as good as it should.
A gearbox is what changes the gears so the engine can work efficiently at different speeds. They’re saying the Vantage’s gearbox didn’t feel great to them.
Term
previous gen Merc stuff
This is a reference to Mercedes-Benz’s earlier-generation interior design and control layout—especially how buttons, screens, and switchgear were packaged. The host is criticizing the Vantage’s cabin tech as feeling dated, like older Mercedes ergonomics.
This Mercedes-AMG GTS is a fast Mercedes with a twin-turbo V8 engine. The host’s point is that it feels exciting and special, but still practical enough to live with day to day.
Term
hot V V eight
A “hot V” setup puts the turbochargers in the V-shaped space of the engine. That can make the turbos spool up quicker, so the car responds faster when you press the gas.
A “main dealer” is the official brand dealership. The point here is that servicing can be done through the normal dealer network, not only by rare specialists.
Car
AMG GT
The AMG GT is a high-performance Mercedes-AMG sports car. They’re saying this one is set up like a race car in one important way: it uses a dry-sump oil system, which helps the engine stay properly lubricated when you drive it hard.
A dry-sump engine is a special oil system that keeps oil under control even when the car is being driven very hard. It’s common on race cars because it helps prevent the engine from getting oil-starved in hard turns and acceleration.
Term
AMG warranty
A warranty is like a repair safety net from the manufacturer for a limited time. They’re pointing out that even though the car is from 2019, it still has two years of coverage left.
The McLaren 540C is a mid-engine supercar. In this segment, they mention it’s “detuned,” which basically means it’s been tuned to make less power than a more extreme version—often for smoother use or durability.
Detuned means the car’s tune has been adjusted to make less power than the most aggressive setup. The goal is usually to make it more manageable and less demanding to run.
The McLaren 570S is a high-end supercar made by McLaren. It’s designed to be fast and sporty, with the engine placed in the middle of the car. The podcast talks about it as a version that might have been tuned for different performance levels.
“Electronics” here means the computer systems and sensors in the car. If electronics are acting up, it’s often a software or sensor/module problem—not a broken engine part.
A “carbon tub” is the main safety structure of the car made from carbon fiber. It’s designed to be strong and rigid, which helps the car feel more connected and track-like.
A “track car” is a car set up to handle aggressive driving. It usually feels more responsive and controlled when you push it hard.
Concept
lightweight supercar feel
The speaker is talking about how light weight makes a car feel more responsive. In simple terms, it tends to feel quicker to move and easier to drive hard.
The McLaren 600LT is a sporty supercar from McLaren. It’s built to feel more performance-oriented than some other versions. The podcast brings it up while comparing it to another McLaren and pointing out the differences.
“Upwards exhaust” means the exhaust tips point upward instead of straight out the back. It’s mainly a visual detail that helps you tell certain McLarens apart.
A “four-door coupe” is basically a confusing label—coupe usually means two doors, while four doors usually means sedan or hatchback. The discussion is about how car names don’t always match the traditional definitions.
“Grand Coupe” is a name brands use for a car that looks like a coupe but is meant to be more practical. The hosts are basically saying the name is marketing, and the shape is closer to a hatchback than a classic coupe.
The BMW M2 CS is a sportier, more driver-focused version of the BMW M2. Here, they’re talking about it as a used car that’s been kept properly (low miles and full service history).
The BMW 3 Series is a popular mid-size car that many people buy as a daily driver. Some versions are built to be much faster and more sporty. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because the speaker grew up admiring BMW’s performance models.
The BMW 5 Series is a larger, more comfortable car than the 3 Series. Some versions are built to be sporty and fast. The podcast mentions it because the speaker looked up to older BMW performance models while growing up.
The BMW E46 M3 is an older M3 generation that many enthusiasts love. The speaker is using it as an example of the kind of BMW “drivers’ car” they looked up to.
This means the car is compact in length between its wheels and it sends power to the back wheels. That combination usually makes the car feel quicker to turn and more fun to drive.
The 2022 Corvette Stingray is a sports car with its engine mounted near the middle of the car, not up front. That layout affects how it drives and how it looks, and the discussion here is about the car’s roof style and overall proportions.
A Targa is a type of convertible roof where part of the roof stays in place for structure and safety. The middle section can open up, so you get open-air driving without a full soft-top.
A mid-engine layout means the engine is located closer to the middle of the car rather than at the front. That affects the car’s shape and how it feels to drive, and it’s part of why the proportions look different from certain angles.
“UK spec” means the car is set up for the UK market. That can include things like lights and regulations so it’s ready to drive there.
Term
buttons in the interior
Some cars have lots of interior buttons for things like media and climate. The host is saying these buttons are designed so you can identify them by touch, without taking your eyes off the road.
“Carrera 4” is Porsche’s way of saying this 911 has all-wheel drive. That can help the car grip better, especially when you accelerate. The host is using the badge to explain what kind of 911 this is.
An aero kit is a set of extra body parts meant to improve airflow around the car. In this case, the host thinks skipping it is the better choice because they prefer the cleaner standard look. Aero parts can also change how the car feels at higher speeds.
A sports exhaust is an exhaust setup designed to make the car sound more aggressive. The host is saying this one should sound deeper and more noticeable when you drive it. It’s one of the common ways people personalize a sports car’s character.
This is a Porsche Cayman GTS with a flat-six engine. The hosts are saying it feels and sounds special in a way that’s different from a newer turbo engine.
Naturally aspirated means the engine doesn’t use a turbo to force air in. A flat six is an engine layout with six cylinders arranged flat, which can help with smoothness and the way the engine feels.
A turbocharger forces extra air into the engine so it can make more power. The hosts are saying this one doesn’t feel like the rough, laggy kind of turbo you might expect.
Bucket seats are the more “racing-style” seats that wrap around you. They’re great for keeping you planted in corners, but they can be a bit less convenient than normal seats for daily driving.
The BMW M2 CS is a sportier, more driver-focused version of the M2. In this segment, it’s used as an example of how a more extreme “CS” style car can feel different from a regular M car.
The Porsche Cayman GT4 is a sportier, more driver-focused Cayman. It’s the kind of car enthusiasts pick when they want a more exciting, track-ready feel—here it’s mentioned as a used-car option.
An extended warranty is extra insurance for repairs after the normal warranty ends. It can help protect you from big repair bills on a used sports car.
AMG is Mercedes’ performance brand. The point they’re making is that an AMG can still feel exciting and loud, but it’s a little more comfortable and easy to live with than the alternative.
They’re talking about what it’s like to drive in India and how that differs from driving elsewhere. It’s a discussion topic, not a deep dive into one specific car.
The Toyota GR Corolla is a sporty version of a compact hatchback. It’s designed to feel more like a performance car while still being usable day to day. The podcast brings it up because it came up earlier and the speaker noticed it again on a trip.
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a special, track-oriented version of the 911. It’s made to handle hard driving and fast cornering, and the host is specifically talking about the 991.2 generation.
Concept
Evo Triangle
The “Evo Triangle” is a nickname for a popular set of roads that car enthusiasts like to drive. The host is using it to set the scene for how locals react to car groups.
They’re talking about what it’s like dealing with police while driving a performance car. The takeaway is that being sensible matters, and they seem to focus on reckless behavior.
The Ford Focus RS is a high-performance version of the Focus hatchback. The host is saying they’ve personally experienced how police/locals react when driving one.
LIVE
Welcome back to The Gassing Station, the podcast that goes sifting through the piston heads forums,
although this time, Coho Sam Sheehan, we've actually been doing some journalism.
I know, real journalism, not journalism, journalism. Journalism is when you're just
pumping out for SEO. Having seen some of the comments, some people don't believe that we're
actual proper journalists, but this time we have got not one, not two, but many news stories to
bring, all of which have broken in the space of an hour before we start recording this.
So there's quite a lot to get through. I'm going to bring you a piece of news that I've got.
You're then going to give me something and then I'll, a piece of news and then I've got one more
to top things off. So we're going to start off with the Lamborghini Phenomeno Roadster.
Phenomeno, good name. Phenomenal. Phenomenal PH.
We've known about the Phenomeno for a while. I think it was released last year.
It's one of these Lamborghini few-offs. Yeah.
Does that what they call them? They don't call, yeah. In fact, so I'll get on to that in a bit
because I've been chatting to someone quite senior at Lamborghini. And when I actually said
limited edition, special edition, I was corrected. I said, no, it's a few-off. And I was like, oh,
okay, yes. Because with the Phenomenal Roadster, they're only building 15 of them.
That is a few. Yeah, exactly. 1080 horsepower, the most powerful Lamborghini Roadster ever made.
It looks phenomenal. I tried squeezing that together, but it didn't really work.
The launch car is in a relatively interesting spec of like a light blue and red.
It reminds me very much of a Hot Wheels car, but that's very on brand for Lamborghini.
From this angle, it looks a little bit like a Corvette Stingray.
Oh, so little bits of it. I know that's quite offensive to Lambo designers.
If you said that in front of Lamborghini, you would be shot. I know. I mean, you know,
Meteor, who runs the Lamborghini design department, has created some really quite
spectacular designs. Yeah. I think it's all very, I would say Phenomenal, probably not my cup of tea.
Yeah, I think it's quite childish. I think it's like a Lambo if you allowed your kids to spec it.
Yeah, but you know, maybe we look at these things and we go, oh, it's a bit childish,
but a Lamborghini should be childish. I don't know. I think they've like, it's got what's all
like, why has it got black bits on the intakes on the bonnet? And then like, it's got like,
you know, like when, like Cleopatra eye makeup and stuff like what's going on?
And then a bit of red down at the bottom. It feels a little bit like when you've got a video game
that allows you to customize your car. And then you, you know, I tell you what, that's a good
point. It does look like it's come out of GTA, which is funny because the cars that are in GTA
are inspired by real Lamborghinis or real cars in general. But like the Lamborghinis are really
obvious. And so this one looks like it's inspired by a car that is inspired by a Lamborghini.
Yeah, yeah, a Grand Theft Auto. It can't be Lambo, but it looks like a Lambo.
The plan wasn't actually to talk about the Phenomenal because this was sort of a segue into
talking about what I actually wanted to talk about. But still, you know, it's potentially,
we're not the target market. Believe it or not, I don't couple of your grand short.
Couple of several million short of a Phenomenal. But it does make me think though, looking at it,
like the Revuelto is now so technologically advanced and so freaking expensive, what 400
grand at least, I think for one of them, that you kind of look at this. And do you remember
when they released the Rebenton? Yeah, yeah, but which is what kind of introduced that jet
fighter styling that's kind of stuck around for a while now, right? Yeah, yeah. So because everyone
used to say, oh, Lamborghinis, they're like jet fighters on wheels. So they went, why don't we
make a jet fighter on wheels? And so that previewed the Aventador and then the Aventador comes out
and you go, I thought the Mercia Lago was good looking. This thing is wild. And then the Phenomenal
comes out and you kind of go like, actually, Lamborghinis have been wild. They are so outlandish
now that it almost seems hard to outdo themselves. And so I look at this Phenomenal and I'm like,
that looks really cool. But if you haven't had a Revuelto, I don't know if there is a Revuelto
Roadster yet, but if there is, there almost certainly will be. I would be like, kind of happy
with that. And it cost me at least a million quid less. Do you know side track, I think Ferrari
have accidentally gone down the route of Lambo. I think Ferrari have got too extreme now. Because
I think Lambo, you're right, they've always looked really extreme. I always liked that Ferrari had
you think of a 488 GTB and especially a 458 and they were aerodynamically styled,
but still quite soft. They didn't have crazy aero angles here and there, whereas their new stuff
really does. Some of it does anyway. Although that should be fair, they are going to tone it down
again. I think they've gone a bit too extreme. I think Lambo are the only ones that should do
this extreme stuff because it works on that even if I think it looks like it's been designed by a
child. I was finished by child. I was actually meant to be going along to this to see the
phenomena Roadster. However, I couldn't make it for various work commitments. I think we're
probably podcasting to be honest. And for some reason that takes priority over seeing a brand
new Lamborghini. However, I was able to meet with Lamborghini CEO, Stefan Winkelman at the new
Lamborghini pool dealership. They're just opening a Lamborghini pool dealership. Did you bring your
swim shorts? I mean, it is opposite the sea because that's what pool is. But fantastic
dealership. I mean, when I arrived there, it was before the kind of the grand opening event. It was
a degree of journalists comes in, talks, and then that's you done. As you're leaving the champagne
come out, you're like, I see where the budget's gone. And also just to point out that there's,
you don't get many opportunities to dress up smart in the journalism world, mostly because
you're driving in the car journalism world, in the car journalism world. Yes, that's correct.
In the suit industry, I'm sure it's extremely different. But I don't get a lot of chances
to wear a suit or even just dress smart cash. So I was like, Stefan Winkelman is famously a
well-dressed man. I'm going to try and put a bit of effort in. So I didn't go in full suit,
but I went looking as smart as I could turn up. It was like a black tie event for a lot of the
customer event that was going on. And then you see Stefan Winkelman and you're like,
oh, it's just annoying. The man is so ridiculously well dressed. He's a ridiculously handsome man.
Man crush. Yeah, exactly. Always looks extremely sharp. You know, it comes up to me and he's so
excited to talk. And I'm just like, we're going to talk about industry stuff. You're going to hate me
about five minutes time. But no, so yeah, we sat down, we had a little chat, just kind of
want to figure out what was going on in Lamborghini's future, really. And a couple of interesting
things that came out of it. One was, you know, so I was asking him, there is such a cost of entry
now for a Lamborghini is ridiculously high because a Temurario is around 300 grand.
So the Eurus is the cheapest. Well, yes. So he reminded me, he's like, don't forget that we
have the Eurus. And I was like, yes, I mean, that's an SUV. But you know, I've also tried to be like,
oh, yes, I know that's a super SUV. It's a baby Lambo. It's massive. But it's the baby Lambo.
It is the baby Lambo. No, it is the is the massive one. But I was like, you know, so what what could
there be some scope for an entry level Lamborghini? Because you remember back when the Gallardo was
around? Yeah. Yes. So, you know, take inflation into account. But, you know, that was considerably
cheaper than than what a Temurario is now. Yeah. Well, it was definitely a supercar rather than
a hypercar, whereas everything now feels hypercar. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, well, that's the other thing
as well. I said, you've got Temurario is knocking on the door of 1000 horsepower. And that's the
baby Lamborghini, ignoring the elephant in the room that is the SUV. And so there he was saying,
well, we are if you know, slash when we would look to introduce a fourth model into the range,
it would be a two plus two Grand Tourer, which is which is very interesting because
you know, there hasn't been a two plus two Lamborghini since a Spada. Yeah, I think so.
They did that concept, didn't they? But they've they've done a few concepts. But the most recent
two plus two concept that they did was an electric car. So it was called the Lanza door. And it's a
car that indirectly has been axed because it was an electric two plus two. And Lamborghini
announced recently that it said, we're just not doing electric cars anymore, because no one wants
them. So we asked him to elaborate on that a bit more. And I said, you know, what were your
customers thinking? And the way he put it was like, and I think this is how a lot of
manufacturers are looking at things at the moment is they anticipated the curve of interest in
electric cars to grow. So obviously, not a lot of people interested in them to begin with.
In that market, right? Yeah, just in general as well. But you know, obviously, we see passenger
cars, EV uptake is getting bigger and bigger and bigger, even though the market's kind of a bit
all over the place at the moment. But yeah, as you say, in their end of the market, it just never
materialized. But I like the way that he put it, because he said, Lamborghini customers are after,
you know, it's desire performance and emotions, which sounds very marketing, but he's also right.
Yeah, you know, if you read between the lines, that is, I've saved up all this money to buy a
Lamborghini, a car famous for its noise. Yeah. And you're giving a giving me an electric car,
I've got no interest in that. So he said they're interested in that and not mobility.
And I was like, yeah, that's, because ultimately, that's what EV works so well in is mobility and
mobility is such a dirty word, not just on this podcast, but in that, in that corner of the market.
Yeah. And look at the Lotus, Lotus Evita, I don't know the exact sales numbers, but of course,
I know they've been working on it for a long time. But you know, clearly, it's not,
it's not like everyone wants an Evita. Yeah, very precisely. So I mean,
what, they're 3000000 cars or whatever. At that end of the market, people are like, well,
I know it's got crazy downforce and aero and stuff, and it's performance is high, but I just want
a big loud V12 engine. Actually, I'm going to counterpoint you there, Sam, because I think that
if you are, though there would build so few of them, that I think there would be some tech
bros around the world who would go, I want the best electric car ever, because I don't care
about speed, I just care about fastness and technology. And I think there are people out
there that would go, I would rather buy this than a GM GMA T50. I'm not one of those people.
If someone gives me 3000000 quid, I would go, well, I don't think you could buy a T50 anymore.
And I'd get a T33 from Gordon Murray and have a glorious noise. We'll see how much a Valkyrie is
going for. But so I understand it for that. But if we're looking at what this would have been,
2 plus 2, selling in relatively high numbers, you've got a lot of people going, yeah, well,
not that interested. I'd much rather have the Tuareg-based Urus with a big old V8 up front.
Subtle, subtle insult to everybody spent 200K on a Urus.
Well, I mean, you know, like, that's what it is.
That's what you're after, and obviously they're very practical, whatever.
So he didn't confirm what engine would be in this 2 plus 2.
But I think from what I can see that's rumored is that it would be a plug-in hybrid V8.
I was about to say it surely would be the same V8.
Which is what the Urus SE has. And that's putting out 800 horsepower.
Is that the same setup as the Cayenne Turbo SE as well?
Probably, right? Yeah.
Probably, because it's all Porsche.
Don't think they've introduced that on the Tuareg yet.
But yeah, so it would probably be along those lines.
And I think that makes a heck of a lot of sense.
So the idea is that I think it wasn't fully known of where it would sit.
From what he's told me, it would be positioned between Urus and Temerario,
rather than below Urus. So yeah, really interested to see what that looks like.
And I think that with no intention of building an electric car going forward,
having a plug-in hybrid 2 plus 2 sounds like a smart idea.
At least to come bring those emissions down.
The other thing he told me that I hadn't thought about is that,
you know, so Euro 7 comes in in November this year.
So that's what's terrifying for a lot of manufacturers is that they're going,
oh my God, we've got to get our performance engines ready for Euro 7,
because it's a properly stringent. And it's not just emissions, it's also noise.
So the noise cap for engines going forward is horrifically low.
You know, they're practically going to be silent.
So I put that to Stefan and I was just like, you know,
how's Lamborghini coming about this? Because big engines, V12s,
and famous for noise, what are you going to do about it?
And he goes, oh, we don't have to worry about that for another couple of years.
Because they're a small, they're classed as a small scale manufacturer.
And so Euro 7 doesn't come in for them for a few years,
which seems amazing that Lamborghini is classified as a small manufacturer,
because they do dish out a lot of euros.
I see them everywhere. I mean, admittedly, when I'm driving to Heathrow,
and I go through the posh bits of town, but I mean, I see I love them.
But I do see quite a lot of them. And, you know,
they're half 50% of Lambo cells these days are that fact is possibly a year or two old,
but I'm pretty sure it'd be right. If not more nowadays,
it's about 50% of what they sell. But there's still a small scale manufacturer.
100%. I think I'm plucking this out of thin air,
but I believe it's 10,000 models a year.
Ah, that makes sense.
And I think if they fit in with that 10,000, they're a small...
They must be close to it, because I think the euros was about 5,000 a year.
That's what I think, yeah.
And I remember it represented 50% at Lambo cells.
So they must be getting close to 9,999.
Absolutely. Well, so it's, it's,
it is one of those things where it's like, God, when do you...
It's the kind of desire of wanting to be, you know, sell more cars,
but then it pushes you into being a large scale manufacturer.
And then you get all sorts of other legislation that, you know,
maybe they'll just have to do Lamborghini too.
Yeah.
You know, like a YouTube channel where someone wants to do a spin-off.
Ha, ha, ha.
And just that sort of idea.
That's a different manufacturer.
They've got the group, yeah.
So yeah, so I'm going to be putting out a feature on that in the next few days slash
coming weeks, if I find some time.
But the other news that we found out was that I was like,
dude, when are you coming back to Le Mans?
Because a few years ago they had the SC63 LMDH car that wasn't especially fast.
And so they, they raced in the WEC for a year.
They raced in IMSA for a couple of years and they went, we're not,
we're not doing this.
We're putting the plug, pausing it.
And so I said, dude, what's, what's going on?
And he said, well, I didn't actually
call him dude, but he said it was way too expensive, basically,
and that they're considering bringing it back.
But the competition was basically more than expected, which is kind of like,
you look at, there's so many manufacturers in the WEC now.
McLaren's coming in next year, Ford's coming in next year,
Genesis has come in this year, Porsche has left.
But so Porsche has left and there's, there is a hole for where Porsche was,
but you've got so many other manufacturers coming in.
They're all wanting this shot at Le Mans because it used to be the case of where
it was two manufacturers battling it out for the win.
Now there's nine, 10.
Yeah. So it's a proper manufacturer class.
It's a proper battle.
It feels serious, doesn't it?
A proper war.
Not that their privateers aren't cool, but there's something about manufacturing.
So I think Lamborghini's looked at it and gone,
we would have to chuck a lot of money at this to make it work.
And we're not really interested.
So they're going to evaluate it for next year.
But my thinking is there's a new rule set coming in.
I think they're trying to plan a new rule set for
hypercars where it would be because at the moment you've got split between LMDH and hypercars,
LMH cars.
And one is LMDH is you have four different chassis manufacturers and you can build your car around
that and it's much cheaper than by building an LMH car, which is you build the whole thing yourself.
So a Ferrari is an LMH car.
Toyota is an LMH.
What Porsche was and Cadillacs and all that, they're LMDHs.
So Lamborghini had an LMDH car and they've gone,
well, I think if we wanted to win more, we'd have to build an LMH and we just don't have the money.
So let's see what comes of that.
But that's my news on Lamborghini.
I've got one more thing I want to bring you, but you've got something else to tell me first.
Yeah. And I'm just checking the embargo has literally just lifted four minutes ago.
Oh my goodness.
As we record this, this is breaking news.
It's actually on Pistones right now.
The news is, is that the Volkswagen Polo GTI is back.
But does it have a peppy little four-pot under the bonnet?
No, what a surprise.
It's electric.
It's an ID Polo.
But I'm going to try and make a case for it because I've driven the ID 3 GTX,
which has now been succeeded by the GTI version.
That's a rear wheel drive car and they've done some tweaks to that and I'm sure it'll be more fun.
But what makes me more interested in this is that it's front wheel drive
and it's got Volkswagen's clutch, was it VAC, limited slip diff electric thing
under the between the front wheels.
So it's going to be a proper hot hatch with 226 horsepower, sub seven second,
naught to 62 time and crucially and seriously different to Alpine A290, etc.
In this regard, it has a range that suggests it could actually be used properly as intended.
Because it has 263 miles of claimed range, which is, you know, I think it was 27 or something
more than the Alpine promises.
And in theory, you know, even if you knock back 20%, it's going to be way over 200 miles.
So if you live in a suburban environment and you've got fun roads just outside of it,
it could be a usable electric hot hatch.
Well, I mean, before we get onto that, what on earth is an HVAC clutch system?
HVAC, I always thought was something to do with it.
It's HVAC is bloody air conditioning.
Just making a joke, Sam.
But so what is the clutch VAC or whatever?
Well, they only referred to it in their press releases, an electronic limited slip differential.
When I asked them in person when I saw the car, I was like, it's the clutch based one, right?
And they were like, yeah, it is.
It's not because they could obviously use torque factoring and just make it.
But it's a proper and this is good.
It's going to be a proper electronic limited slip diff, which is not just on their EVs, of course.
So that means it should put the power down quite nicely.
Now, I should say the Cooper Reval is the same car on the Neath,
literally in terms of electric motor, diff, battery as well, 52 kilowatt hours worth of battery.
But the crucial thing in this versus the Reval, and normally, you know, when we're doing a comparison
between a Cooper and a Volkswagen, let's share a platform, you'd probably say
Cooper is a little bit cheaper, probably start a bit more aggressively.
It's kind of the sensible and more fun one to go for.
But in this case, I think the Polo looks really good because they kept it looking like the old
petrol one, albeit a little bit different here and there.
The rear is actually quite different.
But the front is recognizably Polo for the listeners.
It looks like the last Polo GTI, but with a light bar at the front, generally speaking.
Yeah, that's a really good point.
Actually, it does look recognizably like a Polo.
It doesn't look absolutely massive, which is a good thing.
226 horsepower, peppy.
The thing I love the most about it, though, is if you look at the rear, it's got a gigantic
faux diffuser.
I was about to say, you said faux before.
Yeah, because it's a diffuser.
It basically does nothing.
And I did get under the car and look under it to see, you know, in case there was a flat
floor leading up to it.
No, it's a bit of bumper with a bit of plastic in it.
It looks really good, but it's completely fake.
I'm just trying to think of what it reminds me of.
It's almost Valkyrie-esque of where you've got these two.
Wow, yes.
I know.
It was the first thing that comes to mind when I think massive diffuser.
But you've got these kind of two large channels either side of the bumper.
But the thing that I find really funny is that they've put some reflectors in there.
So if you had that as acting as a proper diffuser, that would kind of scoop upwards,
you know, and be like a proper Venturi tunnel.
Whereas it's like filled in.
It's almost like a faux exhaust.
Exactly.
You know, it's just, oh, that's a bit, oh, it's just the tip.
We've got a comment in by live podcasting.
We have a comment.
Oh my goodness.
Fui.
Fui.
I think they've got the looks right.
A positive comment on an electric car.
Oh my God.
Good Lord.
Fantastic.
I think they've got a point though.
It does.
It looks smart.
And I think that, yes, a Polo GTI would be a lot of fun if it was manual with a four-banger.
But we just got to be realistic that that's not going to happen on a car
that's probably going to sell in the tens of thousands.
Yeah.
And that's at this price point, because that's the thing as well, right?
The normal Polo is comparable with the Renault 5.
Renault 5 selling really well, of course.
And sort of in the early 20s.
This will be over 30, but it won't be much over
because it will get the UK government grant.
Unconfirmed, but Volkswagen will be like,
we don't, there's literally no reason why it won't.
So it will be in the early 30s, which for an EV,
you know, with OK range and decent performance means,
you can see this, I think this is going to be a classic case of if you go into a Volkswagen
dealership and oh, yes, you've got you've spotted the physical buttons everywhere.
You've beaten me to it.
I was going to jump onto that physical buttons in the centre dash for the.
I'm guessing that that's for the H bank controls.
That's actually a track.
Do you know what I actually just realised?
I sidetracked myself because I'm so bad at talking.
You know, when I was saying there were reasons to buy this over the Cooper of
our and then I got sidetracked on something else.
Yes, kind of remember what I was talking about.
The point I was going to end up on was the interior,
because the Cooper still got the slidey touch sensitive crap
on the infotainment, not on the buttons on the steering wheel.
I see.
That's all gone in the Cooper as well.
But it's got the slidey infotainment controls,
whereas the Polo doesn't.
It has proper little manual switches,
mechanical buttons on the wheel and for the climate.
That's kind of how Audi used to have their set up with you.
It actually looks really quite smart.
And I did some prodding.
Can you spot that now for the viewers?
Hopefully there'll be an image on screen.
Can I assume there will be?
Yes, there will be.
Excellent.
The interior image you see here and for the listeners that can you spot the hidden button?
It's hidden in plain sight.
Is it the GTI button?
Yes, you got it.
You got it.
There's a big GTI.
So you've got a steering wheel that's a two-spoke car.
And where the third spoke would be,
you've got kind of like a tongue that just says GTI.
Whereas I'm suing if you hit that, goodness happens.
Yeah, I mean, predictably the ambience,
the ambient lighting all goes red.
I think it's white normally.
And then it changes to sport mode.
Or it can be used as a shortcut to access the sport mode button menu.
Too many words, but you know what I mean.
And then you can do the individual mode, et cetera.
Oh, and the key thing in that is it gets standard fit DCC dynamic chassis control.
So it means you can soften it off or make it really firm.
And it's the typical modern Volkswagen one where you've got,
you can either just go through the key, the original setting, sport or comfort or normal.
Or you can actually slide a bar with, I forget the number,
but it had so many points on the bar, it was obscene.
It was like, you can go, I don't know,
it's 10 or 12 points on the bar from the softest to the firmest.
And I'm told by the engineers that it will feel more comfortable
than the old Polo GTI in soft mode,
but also be very, very good in sport mode.
I remember when the Hyundai Hyundai i30N came out
and a journalist who I won't name,
but they weren't writing for a proper performance car website.
They did a video and they said,
Oh, there's so, there are so many options in the menu that it's too much.
I'm overwhelmed.
I would much rather get in the car and it all be set up for me.
And I was like, I think you have totally missed the point of this car
because I love that kind of stuff.
I love going in and I want to fine tune as much as I can.
Of course, you can just shove it in sport mode.
I was about to say, you could use the shortcut.
100%.
But going in there and having all that stuff to fiddle with
is something that I would really enjoy.
And it sounds like you can do that on this GTI.
You can with the chassis.
And then with obviously the powertrain and everything else,
it's typical Volkswagen where you can just go from like normal comfort and sport.
But it's great.
And I mean, I'm excited for it in the sense that I think it will be a really good all-rounder.
It's not going to set you hair on fire.
It's not going to be the most exciting hot hatch.
But to be fair, the Polo GTI in recent years at least never was.
It was always just a really good all-rounder with good performance,
relatively subtle.
I think as the pH has commented and as I saw, I think it was good.
I really like the wheels.
Yeah, the wheels look really smart.
I would say I tend to be more on the positive side of things.
But I've always thought a couple of the previous generation Polos
have just been a bit like non-descript.
It's like, oh, they're cool.
I think that's kind of the point of a Polo GTI.
It is, yeah.
You know, it's like, okay, yeah, not bad, not the best, not the worst.
It's just really good.
This, however, actually looks quite desirable.
It feels like some more effort has been put into its design.
The interior genuinely looks quite cool.
I forgot to mention as well, actually.
I asked a question because I kind of said, as you've just said,
to one of the engineers.
Yeah, I know.
I spoke to some engineers and actually asked them questions.
I said, you know, previous Polos in most recent years at least have felt,
you know, where the Golf has had all these special editions
and you've got these racy ones.
The Polo was just kind of like, we've stuck a,
I think it was a two-liter in the end, wasn't it?
They had basically the Golf engine but detuned.
It just felt like an all-rounder that was pokey.
And it was kind of the car, I can imagine like someone's mum
going into a dealership going, I want a Polo,
but they've got a few quid and then the salesman goes,
why not go for the GTI?
And then they just upgrade, not because they want a Polo GTI.
I was like, is this just going to be like that again?
Or have you done anything specific to chassis tuning, etc?
And the engineer was kind of like, I could see him kind of being like,
well, what's wrong with the previous?
Why is that bad?
But then also at the same time, he went, oh,
we have changed the rear beam from the ID Polo to the T cross.
I think it's the ID cross rear beam,
which is bigger and stronger to stiffen up the rear.
And he said, that actually improves agility,
which I took to mean lift off oversteer.
Nice.
So, you know, anything with a stiffer rear anti-roll bar
or rear beam or whatever in a hot hatch that's front will drive
tends to feel a little bit more lively on the tail.
So it's obviously not going to be spiky.
Volkswagen do do that.
Edition 50 GTI is pretty rotating on lift off oversteer.
This won't be that.
But I think it's got some great potential to be quite fun as well.
If anyone can get it to lift off oversteer, it is you.
Well, hopefully, yeah.
I mean, I've got plenty of practice from a little Clio.
Precisely.
But no, I mean, I look forward to driving it at some point,
but it's nice that VW has put out so much stuff in recent years
that just has missed the mark.
100%.
And this was a live reaction.
I hadn't seen it until we were just looking at it now.
And it's live.
It's cool.
Yeah, and it's live.
And it's live.
Yeah, I totally agree.
And I think they've listened to us.
They opened the presentation.
When I went to see this car, there were a few on-show,
several of which are still under embargo,
so I can't talk about them.
But they basically opened up saying,
we know we kind of messed up the last few years.
And we've listened to what you're saying.
And that's in reference to journalists and obviously customers as well.
And that's why that interior is so much improved.
I absolutely love it when car manufacturers did that,
because that's what Ferrari did last year with the Malfi.
We messed up with the steering wheel and we put it back,
and it's just like, oh, hallelujah.
Right.
I've got the new BMW Alpina here.
Sort of.
What have you sort of, you chopped in your car
and you've got an Alpina now?
Do you know what I told you this morning?
You were like, oh, you've got an Alpina.
And I thought you meant I've got the Alpina.
And I was like, you've got an Alpina.
I've not bought an Alpina.
I have the poor man's Alpina.
I would love an actual Alpina.
No, this is the new Alpina, sort of,
because it's called the Vision Alpina.
Car manufacturers love a vision at the moment,
which is revealing something that is basically the,
just the new word for a concept car.
Yeah.
It's revealing something that looks really quite good,
looks surprisingly close to a production car,
but isn't the production car.
So called the Vision Alpina,
this is a two-door GT that has been inspired by the Alpina
B7 Coupe from the 1970s, based on the E24.
That's cool.
So it's a very, very sleek looking thing.
It's kind of like a, what's the best way to describe it?
It's a bit like what you could imagine
as a modern interpretation of the eight series,
or the next generation of the eight series.
It's really quite beefy.
The wheels are absolutely massive.
22s at the front and 23s at the rear.
20 spoke and these.
That's going to be a nightmare to wash.
Oh, it's good.
Well, yeah.
I mean, they're not fiddly fiddly, but yeah.
Oh my God.
20 spokes.
Yeah, 100.
Yeah.
If each spoke takes two seconds, that's 40 seconds.
I mean, just spray some cleaner on it, it'll be fine.
So these are the modern interpretation
of the signature Alpina wheels.
Oh yeah, to be fair, they always have spokes.
They do look a little bit different.
The reason is, is that if you can,
if I've got a picture of it, I'll put it up.
The old traditional Alpina wheels,
yes, they've got 20-odd spokes,
but they're quite flat on the surface.
So the kind of the center cap is sort of in line with the rim.
Whereas these are quite deep dish.
Yeah, they've got that concat.
Yeah, they have.
Which by themselves look extremely cool,
but whether they look Alpina-y, I'm not sure.
They almost look a little bit like an old GT1.
They almost look a little bit like an old GT1 wheel,
you know, racing car.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, with the center lock.
With the center lock.
So yeah, they're calling their own right.
It's got, like you would get on an Alpina body kit,
if you look at the splitter at the front,
just above it, you've got the Alpina wording,
just above that, like you get an old Alpina kit.
Otherwise, I think because we're so used to seeing
an Alpina version of an existing BMW product,
when you look at this, it's kind of hard to know
what's Alpina about it, because it's its own thing.
It's not an Alpina version of anything.
It's its own product.
I'm getting Nigel Thornberry.
I'm getting Nigel Thornberry from that face.
Look at the chin and the nose.
It's Nigel Thornberry.
For anybody that isn't a millennial
and didn't grow up with the Thornberry's TV show.
And I forgot the name, so I had to Google,
Cartoon Nigel British American.
It's a cartoon character with a massive ginger moustache.
He's got a moustache.
His nose is quite pointed and his chin is big.
That has all of those features.
I can tell you though that there's nothing ginger about this car.
No, hair excuse.
Like the color is not there, but the shape.
I would say though.
For the viewers, please let us know if you agree.
So BMW says that this is inspired by the E24.
I don't think that's right.
Nigel Thornberry.
Sam saying it's inspired by Nigel Thornberry.
What I see is, do you remember the three-litre CSL
limited edition that they released a few years ago?
I thought you were talking about the original.
No, not that.
Three-litre CSL.
Have a look at the three-litre CSL homage that they did.
And which was based on an M4.
I think I do remember this.
That's the badger, right?
Yeah.
I see that.
It's just got slightly thinner eyes and the grille is filled in.
But it is otherwise kind of a modern or a more contemporary version
of that three-litre CSL concept oddly, especially at the front.
On this car, the grille is filled in.
However, it's going to have a V8.
So how have they done...
I guess it's a concept.
They're not going to explain this.
But where is that V8 getting its intakes?
Nor have they explained what V8 it is.
Matt Bird's done the article and he says,
because he was actually there to talk to some Alpina people,
that it won't have the plug-in hybrid lump from the M5.
Okay, cool.
So it's not going to be a billion tons.
It is going to be a proper standalone V8,
likely twin-turbo.
Where that's come from though, I'm not entirely sure.
And the word from BMW Alpina boss, Oliver Wilechner,
I'm very sorry for butchering your name,
said that while electrification could...
It might be on the horizon at some point for Alpina.
Prospective buyers are pretty clear that they want combustion at this price point.
So it's like, great.
Well, I guess that's kind of in line with what Stefan Winken would mean.
Consistent, yeah.
If you're spending that kind of money,
you want something that makes a bit of noise.
And that's sort of how I see combustion cars are going to go into the future.
They will always be around,
but it's annoyingly they're just going to be for...
Expensive stuff.
They're going to be really expensive.
The day-to-day, the Polo just squeezes into that
because it's 30-something grand.
That's where EVs will live, isn't it?
And then you'll have combustion.
But I mean, fair enough, because that end of the market as well,
people could put, the brands might be able to say,
this is now sustainable fuel capable.
I don't know how much this will go for, but with a Lambo,
I can imagine some Lamborghini's owners being like,
oh, we're on sustainable fuel.
Probably not, because they probably don't care about that stuff.
But it's going to be positioned between a top of the range seven
and a Rolls-Royce.
So it'll be six figures, but it might a substantial gap.
It'll be six figures, but maybe not many hundreds of thousands.
Because you could look at this and go,
that looks like it's based on a Rolls-Royce dawn.
But wait, no, Spectre, that's it, sorry.
Rolls-Royce Spectre, that's the actual car.
But it is, which is good.
And the only catch, though, is that from what I can tell,
this isn't what the new Alpina is going to look like.
The actual Alpina is going to be a four door based on the seven series.
So this is just a vision in the most open-minded sense?
Pretty much, okay.
Pretty much.
Hence the grills.
It might come like this.
I don't know, it's still very early days.
Alpina has been, or BMW has been extremely coy on what its vision of Alpina is going to be.
This is our first little taste of it in true fashion.
It's like, this is what the future of Alpina is going to be, but it probably isn't.
I'd like to know if it's, because Alpina obviously being so closely joined to BMW,
it can't operate now as a low volume manufacturer.
It's part of BMW, surely, so that they might be getting dragged into,
or maybe they don't, I suppose, BMW soaks up the weight of the EV kind of mandate,
and then Alpina, because it will be on, it's part of the range,
but it's a smaller part.
Maybe they'll get away with it.
Because I'm just imagining, if they're going to cap the limit,
is this going to have to be really low volume to not upset the CO2 overall, or is it going to be?
That's a really good point that I currently don't know.
I don't think anyone will know.
I'm sure they won't reveal that stuff.
We'll just have to wait for it to come, and that'll be 2027,
when the first proper BMW Alpina, not that special edition XB7 that was released
a couple of months back, will come out.
We need to get on to a buying challenge, because we are waffling way too much,
and this week, we've got a post from Toyota MR23, which says,
which sports car budget, 60 to 80K?
And they say, I'm starting to look at you sports cars,
and I appreciate views from people who've owned or seriously considered the Aston Martin Vantage,
Jaguar F-Type V8, Porsche 911, or possibly an Aston Mars in DB11,
also interested in the Cayman GTS 4.0-litre as a slightly different option.
Having not owned any of those, I can't assist, but I've driven most of them.
The main aim is getting the best value buying used, but still something new enough
that it can stay under warranty for at least a few more years.
I'm less interested in having the latest model,
and more interested in buying at the point where most of the depreciation has already happened.
That's a tough one, because you've asked for two things there, that kind of opposing, right?
So new that it's in warranty, but it's also finished depreciation.
But isn't it like the first year or two when most of the depreciation happens?
So yeah, I mean, driving off the four-car typically, isn't it?
But yeah, precisely.
Yeah, so we've got some options.
Just to summarize, it's quite a long post.
They really have their eye on a 2019-era Vantage.
It seems to tick all the boxes of looks, theater, sense of occasion,
and it's already had a fair old hit to its price.
However, they're hesitant on the long-term ownership prospects.
That's where they like the idea of a Porsche 911, obviously.
But it's not really got that kind of excitement for them at the minute,
and that's the same goes for Cayman GTS 4.0L as a potential substitute.
So they're like, Carrera's maybe not quite doing it for them.
Cayman GTS 4.0L, a bit more so.
I would say just my input so far on those is I really wasn't won over by the 2019-era Vantage.
The current one is there were so many rough edges of that Vantage that the new one is
it was considered a facelift, but it was pretty much a new car.
They changed so much of it and updated so much of it.
That old car, I mean, it sounded pretty decent,
but I didn't think the steering was the greatest.
I didn't think the gearbox was the greatest.
I didn't think the technology inside was horrific.
Yeah, it was previous gen Merc stuff.
It was previous gen Merc stuff when it was new.
So, and it had like, you know, we were talking about buttons earlier.
I love buttons, but I mean, buttons for everything.
And it was, you know, it's just looked like the control ship of the Starship Enterprise was so
much on it. So that, I mean, you know, each to their own, but I probably wouldn't go for that
if it was my money. And again, I've mentioned it on this podcast before, Cayman GTS 4.0L ticks
a lot of boxes, but for the theater, certification thing and kind of it feeling special, for me,
it doesn't tick the box, which is why I'll get onto my list.
So, well, I can't be gone.
A car I've always, I think I've mentioned one of these on a much earlier pod,
but I'm going to bring up because I really do think they're great.
I think they feel such a fantastic all-rounder.
The Mercedes AMG is listed as a Mercedes Benz here.
It's Mercedes AMG GTS.
This is a car with, you know, a bi-turbo, twin-turbo, four-liter, hot V with the eights,
the hot V with the eight, hot V V eight.
And it's just such a car. I just think it's, they look spectacular.
They are comfortable, usable. You talk about buttons and switch gear.
I think it's got a good balance of the stuff.
I think these are just such cool machines.
And I think they feel special because of the engine, but also they do drive fantastically well.
I think handling, ride, you know, engine performance is really great as well.
But also they're not unbelievably hard.
I've been told from somebody who I know who has run one,
that they aren't crazy difficult to maintain and service as well.
You know, you just drop it off a main dealer, get it serviced like any other Mercedes.
It's not like you're owning something so exotic that it requires absolute, you know,
care and attention every 15 minutes.
It's a really interesting car this in the sense that it's, they're quite compact.
Yeah.
They are, from what I've heard, quite chuckable.
I've driven the latest version of the AMG GT and it was astonishingly good.
I really enjoyed it.
But it's also, there's quite a lot of race car preparation in there because it's a dry sump.
It's a dry sump engine.
So it is designed for being hammered, but it's also a really good daily car.
Annoyingly, that's quite a good option.
Yeah.
And I think like the car to live with, but that's also done a lot of it's depreciating
and it's not going to be catastrophic reliability wise.
This just kind of ticks all the boxes.
A very safe spec as well.
Kind of very dark gray slash black over black wheels, 76,000 pounds, 25,000 miles.
This one comes with a two year AMG warranty as well, even though it's a 2019 car.
So that's good.
Nice.
So, you know, it's just a great, I think this is, if you could do, say that,
it's a, it's a sensible buy.
The next one isn't, but my God, I would have one of these.
This ticks the theater and occasion box.
Yeah.
I've gone famously reliable.
Yeah.
And McLaren, but it's a 540C.
So hear me out on this one.
At least it's detuned.
Exactly.
That's what I'm thinking.
I'm thinking 570S detuned.
Now, I know the engines actually are not always the things to go wrong with these.
I think it's the electronics that they have a few issues with.
I've actually had a problem with electronics in the car once.
I think it's a little bit of a column A, a column B.
Yeah.
But I mean, you know, it's the classic, you know, I've been shopping for an old Porsche
and it's kind of like, if it's got to this age, maybe it's all right.
I love that way of thinking.
This is a 2019 car, 17,382 miles.
Only three previous owners, which, you know, given that a lot of cars start life in this
sector anyway is like least or, you know, they get swapped around quite quick at the start.
This one's three previous owners is okay.
You know, it's not, McLaren's are, of course, famously more race car than the equivalent
Porsche or Ferrari.
And that's true in this as well.
It's going to feel, you know, the tub of these things, the carbon tub, not only is it strong
and very safe, but also you really feel like you're in a track car.
And even though this is the baby McLaren, they still feel like a proper McLaren makes
all the same noises.
It's still ridiculously quick.
You know, you've got 530 horsepower.
Oh, yeah.
And that's the baby McLaren.
And it's, and it's light.
And as you say, it's super light.
And these are, I've driven a 570 but not a 540, but I, it still remains the baby McLaren.
They've never made anything cheaper or undercut it.
And it was astonishingly good.
And they look like, I mean, you know, to the untrained eye, I mean, even to the trained eye,
I wouldn't, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between this
and probably even a 600LT because even, even I would have to double glance at it and be like,
does it have the upwards exhaust?
So like that, if you're in a town that's, and that drove through it, you would go,
Oh, 570s.
Yeah, it was a 540c.
Yeah.
But still, um, yeah.
Again, annoyingly a good shout.
They, they aren't the most reliable cars, but also you see a lot of them around.
I do see a few McLarens here and there.
So clearly they're not all falling over all the time.
So it is a spectacular car.
And for, for a whisker under 80k, for a tenor back, that is a lot of machine.
Absolutely.
Um, sports cars, this, the next choice maybe doesn't squeeze into that category
because it is a two-door coupe, but what a two-door coupe?
Yeah.
Or just a coupe.
Sorry, a two-door coupe.
I'm getting all, there's no such thing as a four-door coupe actually, is there?
Well, I think you'll find our own one, Sam.
Yeah, but it's, it's a Grand Coupe.
That's a bit of marketing name, isn't it?
Grand, yeah, Grand Coupe.
All right, we can call it.
It's true.
It's basically a, it's basically a hatchback.
Yeah.
Anyway, go on.
But BMW M2 CS with just 3,100 miles on the clock.
So you've got, you know, a low mileage, full BMW service history.
This is, I think the other two I chose with 2019s, weren't they?
Yeah, this is a 2020 car.
Um, this is, I mean, I know it's not a proper sports car, but it is such a machine.
I mean, these, these, these are great.
This was the first CS, this was the first CS I drove.
And it was spell binding the, because my view of this is the CS cars.
If when I was growing up, you know, kind of idolizing E46 M3s, E39 M5s, E60s,
my view was always like, they are the greatest driver's cars ever of normal,
of normal kind of body shapes.
And, and realistically, you know, when you drive an actual M car, they are,
they are super, superb to drive, but they're obviously like
compromised to feel like a proper road car.
Whereas a CS for me is, is what your childhood brain imagines.
Yeah.
What's an M car would drive like, because it just fizzes.
It's just got so, the steering's so tactile, the, you know, you get, it just rotates beautifully.
And because it's an M2 and it's nice and small, it's just, it's wonderful.
They, it's expensive. It's $74,950.
And you think you can get an M2 comp for 40K less than that.
But still, well, I'm thinking in my head, that's a 45s price in AMG.
You know, so it's like a super hatch versus that.
I mean, I would rather one of these, you know, proper, proper.
It's a short wheelbase rear wheel drive.
So, you know, you've got that.
It feels a little bit more pure as well.
Doesn't it?
And for me, you know, we're talking about,
if we're talking about proper nerds of all of the cars that I would feel the most special,
it's that one.
Yeah.
Because I think this looks great, by the way.
Yeah, I do.
I, I, I agree.
Silver wheels.
I mean, there's always, always needs to be, for the listeners, it's that,
I don't know what the BMW name for it is, but it's that, you know,
French racing blue shade with a black, is it black carbon roof as well?
I think it is.
Oh, yes.
Black wheels, obviously black grills as well.
And I think it looks great.
Is it, is it though going to give them the same
certification as an Aston Martin?
I don't know, Sam, but I know that my car certainly does.
Yes.
Well, the first one anyway.
Oh, yes.
Because I've gone for, I feel like I've bought a couple of these up recently,
but it just seems like the obvious choice.
And it's a 2022 Corvette Stingray.
I had to go, I've had, I've had a recent drive on one of those.
Oh, yeah.
And that's, is that the drop top?
It is the, it's the Targa.
Yeah, absolutely.
So it's, it's in red.
We've got the black wheels with the silver lip around them,
which I'm going to admit is the, is the best look for the base C8.
Because I think the, the Z06 is kind of from then on, it looked really quite good.
I think the standard C8 can look a bit funny from some certain angles.
It's, it's the proportions of that mid-engine layout.
I think the wheels on this help a lot and it's also in red.
So it does have that kind of like real theater like, wow, this is a Corvette.
It's a bit of a mascara away from being that new Lambo.
It, it, it absolutely is for a fraction of the price.
This is $79,999, 6,000 miles, zero previous owners.
So it's pretty much box fresh and it's more importantly, it's right hand drive.
So it's a proper UK spec, spec one.
And this has a load of buttons in the interior.
It does have a heck of a lot of buttons.
We talked about this before where, yeah, you've got like the, the line next to the
kind of wraps around the cockpit.
It's great.
It's great.
You know, you, you, you want to use a control without looking down at the
buttons.
You just fill your way around because some of them have got a texture and a,
and they've got like bumps in them.
So you know which buttons they are by feeling them.
So it's, it's, it's a relatively new car, 2022, but my thinking here is, I,
I don't know how much the servicing is like on these or how expensive they are,
but ultimately it's a General Motors car.
Yeah.
It'll be, so I mean, it's, I mean, come on.
It's, it's practically a Chevrolet Lassetti underneath, right?
Right?
Yeah.
So I think it'd be like the AMG where, my MG, where it's like, it's just going to be
treated like a big engine normal car rather than, well, yeah.
And how easy it is to get some of the bits.
I mean, I've heard nothing but good things about them.
You had a pretty good experience in it, right?
Yeah.
It was pouring.
It was freezing in Wales and I was, I was terrified of getting into it.
I thought, oh, it's going to bite me in the arse.
And it was really nice to drive.
If, however, that doesn't do it for you, because I know that Chevrolets aren't to
everybody's cup of tea, if you fancy something a little bit more refined,
I do have a 911.
Yeah.
And it was the obvious.
It was the obvious choice.
And I know they said, oh, it's, it's not quite, you know, exactly what I'm after for the theatre.
First of all, the one that I've got here is finished in what I believe is Miami Blue.
So it is Miami Blue.
Yeah.
So it's that kind of really punchy blue.
So it's not like a boring spec 911.
It's a Carrera 4992, by the way.
I forgot to mention that.
It's, it's got the five spoke kind of modern interpretation of the foot wheels.
That looks good.
So it does look really smart.
It's also got Porsche stickers down the side too.
They're quite subtle.
But again, it just makes it feel a little bit more special.
They don't go all the way down.
Normally they link up with the rear wheel, but this one just stops at the rear, at the back of the door.
It does.
If you get, if you get a Carrera, regular Carrera, that's, that's what they have.
It's also got a little Porsche sticker on the, on the bonnet as well.
One previous owner, but this is an auction car.
So by the time you listen to this podcast, which will be on Tuesday, the 19th of May,
this goes live on Wednesday, the 20th.
So you'll be able to bid on it.
But it's just that kind of idea of if you go like, well, I do want to go for a 911,
but I want it to feel a bit more special.
I think this is actually quite a good shout.
It's an auto and being a Carrera 4 means that it's only producing around 400 horsepower.
But I think as an all in one, it's fantastic.
And it doesn't have the aero kit on it as well, which I think is the best, better option.
It's just a standard Carrera looking extremely smart with the sports exhaust at the back.
So it should sound a bit throatier.
And they are, you know, I've driven just a regular Carrera 4 before.
Brilliant.
Oh, they are.
I mean, absolutely fantastic cars.
They don't feel like an event in, I mean, the engines do make a lovely sound,
but it's not got a big V8 bourbon, but the steering feel in a Porsche,
which we've spoken about it before, is just, I mean, in this list, I mean,
actually McLaren aside, oh, and maybe the other one you're going to list in a minute.
But it's right up there with those.
It is.
Yes.
And I would say personally, if you were thinking of a Carrera, sorry, a Cayman GTS 4L,
yes, it's a naturally aspirated flat six.
And it is a lovely, lovely engine.
This is obviously a three-litre turbocharged, but it's not super.
It doesn't feel properly old-school turbocharged.
No, it doesn't at all.
It is a really refined unit.
It does sound genuinely very good.
It almost still has that kind of throatiness of what the old 991s and 997s had.
And I just feel like this is potentially a little bit more substantial than a Cayman GTS 4L.
However, if this was my money, I would probably go for this.
If you want the theater, you like the idea of a Porsche, but you don't want a 911,
and you're mulling the idea of a Cayman GTS 4L, just get a GT4,
because I've got one right here that's 79,995.
Five of that.
Black gold wheels.
And what does that say, Sam Sheehan?
It's, oh my God.
Oh, yeah.
It's got an extended warranty.
I've got a Porsche extended warranty on it, so it's a 2022 car, 10,000 miles.
So it's like box fresh, really.
It has the sports seats, so it doesn't have the buckets,
but I think for genuine usability, daily stuff, they're absolutely fine.
I've driven those seats in a Cayman GTS 4L.
If you're not track-dating it, they're fine.
If you're not track-dating it, it's fine.
It's got the fire extinguisher in it.
Yeah, well, you are track-dating it, but it doesn't have the bucket seats.
But that's just the way it is.
For me, this just felt like everything I wanted the Cayman GTS 4L to be.
It's a bit like the experience at M2 CS versus a regular M car.
Of course, the GTS is going to feel softer and more usable,
but I just love, I love the feeling of a properly tactile feedbacky steering.
Oh, yeah.
These sound great.
They're just marvelous.
And you look at it, every time, I had one for a week,
and every time I walked up to it, I was just like,
I cannot wait to drive that.
And it just didn't get that with a regular GTS.
So that would be my pick.
Cayman GT 4 79.995 with an extended warranty.
Now, my heart longs for the McLaren, but I am going to choose the AMG.
Because I think it offers something different to that in a slightly more
rounded package in the sense that it's not armchair seats,
but it's slightly more comfortable.
It's a little bit more relaxed, but still offers that extreme
and exciting engine sound and feeling.
Yeah.
Annoyingly, I think you picked the right one, but my car's better.
So let us know what you think.
So if you're listening to this on Spotify, there will be a vote.
You can vote on it.
You can choose my car.
You can choose Sam's car.
Or if you think we did a terrible job, go onto my story
on the Pistone's homepage, click on the topic,
put your own suggestions in there, and then just say, Cam Sam, you suck.
Onto our final topic.
Yes.
Which is driving in India and comparing it to other countries.
I added that little bit in there, by the way.
Oh, driving in India was the topic title.
Oh, I see.
The topic.
Thank you.
It's something that we can all relate to.
But there is a reason why we bought this up.
So this has been posted by Cobra Kid.
And it's quite appropriate.
Is that the beer or the snake?
Either way, it makes sense for India.
It does, doesn't it?
Either way.
Very fitting.
They say, I've just been lucky enough to spend a week in India with work.
It involves stays in Calcutta, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
The first journey from the airport to the hotel blew our minds.
The traffic, the noise, the horns, the chaos.
The chaos.
After a few days of it, it just seemed to work.
No one got angry.
There was hardly any damage on any car.
Simply a case of, if you are in a space, the other person isn't.
Loved it.
Now, Ian Geary says, this reminds me of Chiang Mai in Thailand back in 2007-ish.
It was chaotic, but really chilled.
I'll get onto that in a bit.
We had recently been to Rome where traffic was chaotic,
aggressive, and dangerous, particularly at airport taxis.
Deerfoot then says, just like a taxi ride I had years ago in Cairo,
utterly terrifying, but addictive at the same time.
How do you people get off?
Jesus.
Unreal then says, first link I could find, not presented as definitive.
And it's a Wikipedia link.
Interesting numbers that often contradict a view that it just all seems to work.
I drive from France and Spain a lot, and my enjoyment of their roads,
and sense that it's better, is undermined by the numbers.
Undermined.
That's weird.
Isn't that saying it's worse?
I think that's it.
I think that the idea is that it's like, oh, it's all so nice.
And then you look at the numbers and you go, oh, it's a bit chaotic.
If you look at Paris, they hit everything that they can find.
That's true.
You know, so that doesn't surprise me.
Spain, on the other hand, I've driven in the center of Madrid
and it was horrifically busy.
But otherwise, as soon as you leave the cities, it's relatively quiet.
Barcelona's not usually jam-packed.
No.
But yeah, I mean, we've both driven in countries where it's a little bit chaotic.
I'll say, I'll go with Thailand.
Actually, I tell a lie, I've not driven in Thailand,
but I've been passing there and it terrifies me.
Not in the sense of it's like, oh, it's quite exciting.
No, I mean, you're going to be always a little bit delicate.
But I mean, the problem is, is that you'll be swarmed by mopeds
that, again, they'll fill any gap that they can find.
But they will crash into you as well.
We were driving to the mall a few years ago,
and a bloke and a moped just plowed into the back of my wife's car.
Did he have a helmet on?
I think he did.
Yeah.
So they've got their version of Uber Eats out there or Deliverers called Grab.
So it was a Grab Rider and they're everywhere.
And just, yeah, I think he just kind of dusted himself off and then rode off.
Yeah.
And it's like, oh yeah, it just works.
But you'll also see families of three or four on a moped riding around.
And the part of you is going, oh my God, that's horrific.
Why are they doing that?
But then you realize that that's their only option of getting around.
So firstly, I just want to call out Unreal's name, Unreal, and then put into that thread
how he didn't agree with those previous links.
So I think that was a beautiful connection there between name and what he was trying to say.
He was trying to say, which is that they don't agree that those places are safer.
And I just want to throw in, because I looked at the list,
and I think it was a great find on Wikipedia, because it is telling.
I was on a trip the other day.
We spoke about the GR Corolla on an earlier pod.
And there were lots of American journalists on that trip,
because that's the car going to America.
And they commented on how the journey to Brands Hatch,
they'd spotted so many speed cameras and how ridiculous that was.
And they weren't being rude, but they were just effectively saying like,
I don't know how you guys live with this, because that's rubbish.
You've got all these speed cameras.
And I thought, no, I agree with you.
It is really annoying having all these speed cameras.
And in some cases, speed cameras are really just there to raise cash.
It's so clear, they're just money making schemes.
But when you look at the rankings internationally of, I mean,
it's a sad topic, but deaths per 100,000 people in a population.
So it's scaled for comparable population sizes.
The UK is in the top 10 in the world.
America.
Remarkable.
Can you guess where America is?
I know you've probably gone to my screen earlier,
but I don't think you would have seen the number.
I don't know the number, because I thought it wouldn't have been far off.
Oh my God.
Because my thinking is, is that there's such a little to hit out there,
because the roads are so vast.
Yeah, you think so.
And you don't have, you know, it's a really easy road network in general, America.
I mean, it's, we've got the twistiest tightest roads in some part.
100%.
Even our motorways are winding.
You know how like when people come to the UK and they see our like single car tracks,
people just bomb it down there and you just pray to God that you squeeze through.
You don't get that in America.
No.
So, so yeah, so they should be close to us because there's not a lot to hit and get wrong.
But the US is 111th on that list because they have, I mean, the numbers are still relatively
small, but they go up a lot compared to the UK.
So the US is 14.2 deaths per 100,000 people.
The UK is 2.6, which is comparable, is identical to Denmark.
And you know, we probably think of Denmark as a very safe country.
Monaco tops lift list with zero.
I would love to know if you're, I know we've got a few American listeners to this podcast.
Please let us know why that is.
What is it that's, that's going on in America that makes the road so much more dangerous than it is
in the UK?
Maybe it is a case of the fact that there aren't as many speed cameras because we are,
they're a littered here.
But you do get, you know, you don't have police out there that do seem to like they could,
feels like they can pull you over for any old reason.
It's just kind of like, I caught you, I caught you speeding.
Really?
Why?
Oh, I paged you.
So you have a rough estimate of what I'm doing rather than hard data.
Okay.
Not the best thing.
But still, it's, so it seems like there's deterrence.
But so yeah, I don't know why.
I saw when I was in Texas a couple of years ago, I brought this up in the pod many times.
I, I saw two massive road accidents.
Like one, I'm, it's really sad.
I'm pretty sure nobody got out of it.
It was horrible.
And they were both were for the same reason, which was with the highways,
certainly in Texas, like there's no like, you know,
meet slow lane, medium lane, fast lane.
It's just like a scatter.
Like every, all the lanes are all the speeds.
So in both cases, someone was doing ridiculous amounts of speed in a lane that,
I mean, there is no rule for the lane.
So they came along, someone changed lanes, smashed into them.
One, in one case, the pickup truck rolled off the highway.
This happened about half a mile ahead of me.
So I saw the aftermath, but I could see how it happened.
Rolled off the highway, rolled, rolled, rolled so many times.
And he just thinking, my God, I've never touched wood.
I've never seen a massive accident in the UK.
I've seen little accidents here and there.
I've had accidents, but I've never seen anything of that scale happen or unfold in front of me.
Yeah.
In all of my years of driving.
I actually had, on the way to a shoot,
this is a slight tangent, on the way to a shoot a few years ago, I,
it was really early.
I was in a Cayenne turbo GT.
And there was a lady in front of me who I think she dozed off at the wheel
and then woke up just before the armcote because I could see her gliding across the line.
So I honked and then she grabbed the wheel and she spun around and luckily she didn't hit anything.
But luckily there was a police car not far behind.
So they pulled over and made sure that she was okay.
And maybe gave her a bit of a slap on the wrist.
But still, you know, that's not to be like, oh, look how good our country is.
Because there are like, you know, there's,
I'm driving more and more on country roads that I enjoy.
And they've got freaking average speed cameras on them.
And potholes.
And potholes.
And I know that they're there for safety.
But my God, they're infuriating.
We drove on the Evo Triangle a couple of years back to do a shoot.
Yeah.
And it was my first time there.
And I was like, oh, I can't wait to drive on this.
And it's just average speed cameras everywhere.
Average speed cameras.
And prior to that, they just had on Mott,
well, they were Mott's actually, but they were police fans hidden around corners.
Because I went there in like 2012 and in my Clio when it was brand new to me.
And I was like, this was amazing.
And then I returned a few years later and it was just covered in police fans.
And now clearly they've got the average speed cameras.
That said, talking of the Evo Triangle in Wales,
I was in Wales for a little motorbike trip with a few pals.
And the reason I really liked this topic was because
it made me think of Wales.
And the driving standard in Wales, generally speaking,
and I'm sure somebody who lives in Swansea or the cities might disagree,
but out in the countryside is brilliant.
Really, really sensible.
Everyone was driving enthusiastically and admittedly on the 60 roads,
people were carrying some speed into the bends.
The locals know their way around and the road surfaces were great.
But the driving standard was clearly really good.
There wasn't anyone tailgating.
It was really nice.
And I knew I'd cross back into England for two reasons.
Because we didn't use the River Seven crossing.
We went across, we were a bit higher up the country.
So there were no welcome to England sites.
So you just carried on and then suddenly you were in England.
But you wouldn't have known.
The way I could tell was number one, the road surface became rapidly
worse and was declining in front of my eyes.
And secondly, I suddenly found myself with tailgaters,
people getting really short-tempered about stuff.
And then when I got back to London, oh my God, people pulled out,
people pulling out in front of me, making me have to use the brakes,
quite hard as well, on a motorbike bearing in mind.
So this is really dangerous.
Cutting me off, not noticing I'm there.
Driving standard fell through the floor.
And so, yeah, Wales, shout out to Wales.
Great roads, great driving standards, beautiful country.
We'd love to see where Wales is on that list, actually.
Is there enough people to actually get any data?
It's down in the UK, of course.
But I completely agree.
I was last there a couple of years ago.
And the driving standards were absolutely stellar.
And the only time I had some problems with people
was when we were shooting a bit.
It's just because the seller of a car,
it was a 991.2 GT3, was based around the Evo Triangle.
And the locals there really hate car people.
I think we had to pull over a little bit,
and there were just people honking and getting pissed off
because they just knew you were there to enjoy yourself.
Otherwise, yeah, the driving standards have been fantastic.
And while I can't speak for all people
that have had experience with coppers out there,
from what I've heard and the small amounts of times
I've engaged with them, it seems to be kind of like,
so long as you're sensible, they don't mind you.
Just be aware.
I think they understand people who are good drivers
and people who are taking the mick
and who are actually taking it seriously.
And the coppers out there don't seem like the sort of people
that would have a go at you just for being there.
Yeah, I agree.
I have first-hand experience of that in a Focus RS.
It was the Heritage Fleet Focus RS, that four-tower.
They just continued it.
And I was off to get a curry for the Piston-Ed's team
on a shoot we did there.
Every PH shoot is not complete without a curry.
I was driving sensibly.
I was under the speed limit,
but I did have it in all the raciest modes
and the exhaust was making all the noises.
And so I was sort of exercising the engine.
And Nick, editor Nick, was going,
right, we've got to get the curry quick
because otherwise it's going to get cold
and we've got to pick it up.
And I was like, this is great.
I love being told I have to go and get something
in a really cool car on nice, open, empty Welsh roads.
Anyway, an unmarked police car was following me for a while
and just pulled me over and was just like,
oh, you know, what are you doing?
You're quite loud.
You seem to be heeling and towing into every corner.
What's going on?
Nice, yeah.
And I was like, very apologetic and just said,
oh, you know, I did the motor and journeys thing.
Is this your car, sir?
No.
And then obviously that looks quite bad.
Managed to explain the situation.
They were really cool about it.
They were like, oh, yeah, we don't see many of these.
It's really cool.
Love the car.
Just bear in mind that local residents in the area,
you know, probably don't want you making a lot of noise at,
you know, 9 p.m.
Just keep it down.
It was really polite.
Yeah.
More police like that, please.
Welsh police.
Wealth traffic police.
In general, you rock.
Thumbs up.
Because I think it is that case of where it's like,
they're there too.
If they can kind of see that you're not taking the mick,
it's kind of like, just because the roads are empty
a lot of the times and there is really good visibility.
So, yeah.
Oh, it's such a beautiful country.
Everywhere we are.
We're gushing about Wales again.
Somehow we've gone from Calcutta to Wales.
Wales Tourist Board.
Here's my phone number.
And on that note, that ends another episode
of the Gassing Station podcast.
Thank you ever so much for listening to an hour's worth
of the two of us waffling.
If you liked your hour's worth of waffling,
please give us a five-star review
and maybe leave us some nice words.
It really just lets us know that we're on the right direction
and gets the word out of the Gassing Station to more people.
Sam, anything to add before we head off?
Oh, no, just more news coming.
We did good news this one, didn't we?
We've got some more coming on the next one.
Let me just check.
Is the embargo going to have lifted?
I think so.
Yeah, we'll have news.
Well, cool.
Well, provided the embargo is lifted,
we'll have some cool news when we see you next Tuesday.
About this episode
BMW’s Vision Alpina gets the spotlight: the hosts call “Vision” marketing basically “the new word for a concept car,” then dig into what the concept is based on, what it might use for power (a standalone V8, likely twin-turbo), and how Alpina-style aero bits like the wheels and diffuser look in practice. They also pivot into a used-sports-car “budget” challenge—balancing warranty, depreciation, and chaotic-road realities—before circling back to why buyers still want combustion.
There are loads of new cars to get through on today's episode of The Gassing Station podcast. The first Alpina designed under BMW ownership, VW's new all-electric ID Polo GTI, complete with proper buttons and 226hp, plus the Lamborghini Fenomeno Roadster and what boss Stephan Winkelmann had to say about the company’s future.
Elsewhere: a £60k–£80k sports car buying challenge featuring the Mercedes-AMG GT S, Porsche Cayman GT4 and Aston Martin Vantage — plus a debate on whether Wales really has the UK’s best roads.
🏎️ Sell your car on PistonHeads auctions: https://www.pistonheads.com/sell/auctions🎟️ Get your Annual Service 2026 tickets: https://www.pistonheads.com/events/annual-service
