The Honda Civic Type R is a sportier version of the regular Civic car. It has a stronger engine and looks cooler, making it fun to drive fast and take corners well.
A CVT is a special kind of transmission that changes gears smoothly without steps. It can also pretend to change gears so it feels like a normal car when you drive.
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both gas and electricity to save fuel and help the environment. It's known for being cheap to run and easy to maintain. They probably talked about it because it has affordable parts like tires.
The Toyota GR86 is a sports car very similar to the Subaru BRZ. It is made to be fun to drive and is good for people who want a sporty car that is not too expensive.
A manual gearbox is a way to change the car's speed by using a stick and a pedal. The driver has to do this themselves, which can make driving more fun and give more control.
Endurance racing is a type of car race that lasts a long time, sometimes many hours. It tests how well the car and driver can keep going without problems.
The Porsche 911 is a famous fast car that many people love because it drives really well and looks cool. People often talk about whether it's worth buying compared to other cars.
The Hyundai Palisade is a big family car that can fit many people and has lots of nice features. It's won awards for being a good SUV that many people like.
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that drives more like a sports car than a regular big car. There's also a version with a sleeker look called the Cayenne Coupe.
The Rivian R1S is a new electric SUV that can go off-road and has a lot of cool technology inside. It's made by a new company called Rivian and is related to their electric truck.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a very fancy and comfortable big car that many people see as a symbol of luxury. It's full of the latest technology and is often used as a benchmark for other luxury cars.
The Acura CL was a nice two-door car made by Honda's luxury brand. It looked sporty and was special because not many people had one.
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Hello, welcome to the Edmunds Car Cast Podcast, I'm Matt the Motorator, Deandra here with
Alistair Weaver, car cast brought to you by FanDuel.
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All right, here we go.
How are you?
I'm not too bad, thanks Matt, not too bad.
Monday afternoon as we called this, start of the week.
Yeah, like I said, I think last week is I've been getting into a few different cars, cars
that I've just sort of had on the list to drive and haven't had a chance to get into
them.
So I want to get into that as well as a nice little head to head competition that you guys
have done over at the test track as well.
So lots of good fun stuff to talk about.
I just want to check in as well about the journey on the BioPro Plus.
I'm still on it, I'm still taking it.
I will tell you that with the time change, we just had the time change over the past
weekend and my dogs are not getting up as early, so I got the extra hour of sleep.
Between the BioPro and that, already I feel so much better.
So if you guys have been following this, the BioPro is it's a 100% drug-free hormone health
formula that helps guys over 40 get leaner, tighter, stronger naturally.
It's a great program that you could subscribe to and send you these little vials.
You can do this little shot under your tongue.
Goldberg's been trying it as well and he started it off and he said the same thing.
He's like, it tastes terrible.
But he goes, but you know what?
I said, once you get into it, you don't notice it that much and he's only like a week and
a half.
I know it and he's like, you're right.
I don't even really notice it.
It's not as bad as you would think.
So he's kind of getting used to it.
So you've been doing it too?
I was then I had a dental operation.
So I had to, I've just been on protein shakes the last week, not been able to eat anything
too solid.
So that put me off a little bit.
But yeah, I wanted to get back into it.
They must have given you some shots or something because you have this amazing makeover.
You've got the Hollywood lips and you've got this, if anybody's had one of these, this
base is, it's, it's a bit graphic this, but they, they numb your gum and then they cut
a bit of skin from one part of your gum and then a tad bit of gum recession.
And so they then attached the skin to where the recession was, sewed it all up and and
sent me on my way.
But I went in for like what I thought was a sort of specialist appointment at 12 now.
Yeah, you need surgery.
Can you come back at four?
And I was like, well, okay, I'll come back at four.
Didn't really think anything of it turned upon the bike.
You know, then suddenly realized it's actually quite a major operation.
And it was like an hour long of sewing my mouth up and everything else.
Then I got a list of a hundred things that I couldn't do, antibiotics.
The last week's been a bit rubbish.
I had the reason we did recording the show on Friday, on Monday rather than Friday.
Cause I looked like a duck for most of last week and I still can't talk properly.
So it's been, yeah, it's one of those midlife crisis moments.
Yeah.
So my, my way, one of the things it said, did say, going back to your
bio pro plug is that I couldn't, I couldn't lift weights for three weeks
or what month or something.
Okay.
Which apparently is all to do with blood flow, that you need to let your body
concentrate on, on repairing the wound rather than trying to build muscle,
which I thought was interesting.
Well, the good news is, is you've been taking this for a month already
and it's probably already been making you overall better.
So your healing is going to be better.
Your hormone health is going to be better.
It's getting you in a better place.
So this is probably kind of the right time.
If you had done the surgery a month ago before you started it, maybe, I don't know,
maybe it would be worse off.
So, well, there you go.
So for those of you guys that do want to check it out, check out bioprotein
tech, it's TECH, by the way, bioproteintech.com slash carcast.
Again, bioproteintech.com slash carcast.
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OK, so this heads up matchup that you guys did.
You took Honda Prelude, Ford Mustang EcoBoost, Mazda MX-5, and Subaru BRZ
and threw them all together on the test bus.
Yeah, it's basically what we wanted to see was what's the kind of most fun car
that you can have for 40 grand and it's quite an eclectic mix.
Because the BRZ has been around for a while now when it's that kind of great
manual rear wheel drive coupe Mustang.
That's the force of the Mustang at this price point, which tends to be the
higher car special, you know, if Europeans come to California, they
rent a force of the Mustang convertible.
Yeah.
Miata, again, this generation has been around forever.
I don't love it with the hard top, I'd much prefer it with a soft top,
but that's the one we had.
And then the Prelude, which I had my first taste of it at the end of last year,
which is a really interesting car.
I think we talked about it a few shows ago.
Yeah.
But it's a real sort of parts been special that you've got basically a civic hybrid
with a really pretty body and then the front end of a Honda Civic Type R.
So they've kind of raided all these different bits and it was just it just
showed what the choice is because the Miata is a great sort of canyon car,
you know, sunny days with the top down.
And then the, you know, the BRZ is a bit more attract a community, you
know, people who really wanting to drive.
And then, you know, the Mustang in four cylinder form is a bit soft and floppy
and more of a kind of little bit heavier of the group also.
But the Honda Prelude is the only front wheel drive one in the group.
Everything else is rear wheel drive.
That's right.
Actually, yes, all of them, all of them are real drive and the Prelude is front
and it's the only one that's a hybrid as well.
It's a nice thing, the Prelude.
It's a weird car.
And I wonder how much there, you know, I wonder how successful it's going to be.
I'm not even sure Honda knows how successful it's going to be because it's
not it's not fast in conventional terms.
The test track zero to sixty seven point two seconds.
You mentioned its front wheel drive.
It's got this interesting transmission where it does.
It can actually fake gear changes.
So it's a continuously variable transmission, but it can fake gear changes.
So gives you that little bit more interaction.
It's actually slower in that mode, technically, but more fun.
So it's a it's I was we would try to work out and try and talk to people at
Honda, like, who's going to buy this?
And, you know, it's hard to say, but it's a is it like an older person?
It's like an empty nested car.
Is it a car for people with pre kids because it's quite cost effective to run?
It's hard to pigeonhole where it sits in the market.
And I think that's part of the reason why we did this test.
This is where we're right now.
We're just looking at sort of the the specs or crunch of the numbers,
the powertrain transmission, horsepower, weight, stuff like that.
What was interesting in this is the Miata and the Subaru BRZ are both zero to
60 in 6.4 seconds, but the Miata is a little faster over on the quarter mile.
Fourteen point eight seconds versus 15 three for the Subaru.
I thought it would be different because the Mazda is down about 40 or so horsepower.
I thought you would say the Subaru, even though it was a few hundred pounds heavier,
if they're both zero to sixty six point four seconds, I would think that extra
horsepower and torque is what would pull it at the top end of the drag strip.
But that's not the case here.
So I'm trying to figure out like what's going on.
If I looked at the numbers and said 181 horsepower versus 228 horsepower,
I would think the higher horsepower one would be faster overall in the quarter
mile, even though they had similar zero to 60.
Yeah, what I haven't got here is trying to do the mass in my head is the power
of weight, of course.
But yeah, I mean, the the the Miata is two thousand four hundred pounds,
which is really nothing in today's world.
So it's it's four hundred pounds lighter than the BRZ.
It's eleven hundred pounds lighter than the Mustang, which is a crazy, crazy statistic.
And it's eight hundred pounds lighter than the Prelude,
which has the hybrid powertrain and everything else.
It's interesting that both these cars are manual.
I didn't do the test didn't do the test numbers myself.
Both these cars are manual.
So sometimes it also depends on where they're geared.
Yeah, if you get, for example, into a conventional nine into a manual nine
eleven today, it's like a nine eleven T, the gearing is so long.
Second to third, it's all to do with emissions regulations.
So a lot of these cars have got gearing, which is just not ideal for ideal for the road.
So I think that might be might be part of it because they're almost the same speed.
But as you say, it's half a second slower by the time it gets to the quarter.
Looking at this, one of the specs we look at here is the lateral grip on the skid pad
and the Honda Prelude pulling one point zero two G's,
which is more than every other car in this group.
That's where that civic type are suspension that it's sharing with is is starting to shine
because of all of these cars, none of these is like a high performance variant of that car.
Right. It's not like, you know, an AMG or an M version of anything.
This is just the version of cars that they come in.
But the Prelude does take some of the performance suspension from the civic type R.
So maybe that's where we're getting that high lateral grip.
A lot of it with tires as well, if it's on summer tires and some of the others.
So, you know, if you think of the Mustang figure here, and I think this just shows
not just suspension setup, but tire setup as well, the Mustang 0.88 G off the top of my head,
our dark horse at the at the Edmunds you drags track was pulling like over 1.2.
I think it was like 1.25 or something.
So it just shows that it is suspension, but it's also tires make a huge, huge difference.
That was one of the big things when the when the BRZ first came out and the Toyota Equivalent
first came out. They're like, yeah, it's inexpensive and it's got a lot of performance
for the money, but it just had just like this very inexpensive like Toyota Prius tire on it.
And the easiest way to improve the handling of that car was a better tire.
That's all you needed to do.
And there were significant changes in its handling capability.
It's 60 to 0 braking capability.
Like everything was just better just from the tire.
Yeah, but do you know what? I'm going to kind of push back a little bit on this,
because if you want something that's fun to drive, I'd actually go in the other extreme
example and go for like a worse tire where you can actually feel the car have it sliding around.
I remember I started my racing career in an old
a sort of catering. It was like an entry level catering.
Not familiar what one of those is.
It weighs about less than a thousand pounds, super pure, no electronic gizmos whatsoever.
And it was on really rubbish tires.
I can't even remember what they were, but they were terrible tires.
But it was fantastic because it was all about 21 years old at the time.
It was all about learning car control.
Everything happened in slow motion.
The front would push, the rear would break away.
And then as I went on in my racing career and raced other things,
you get into things with more and more tire and more and more grip.
And you kind of lose that delicacy.
And if you're not careful, you lose some of that ability to really feel the tire.
So, yes, if you want to go faster track day, bolt on some sticky rubber.
But if you actually want to feel what the car is doing
and you actually want to have some fun in a fairly safe way,
then I'd go in the other direction and bolt some rubbish tires on.
Right. Unless you're like on Angela's crest, there's no guardrails.
And you could just there's just a drop as far as you like.
Now you're going to drive to your equipment.
You got to drive to your ability as well, right?
Like, yes, there's a bit of that.
But that is, I mean, you know, I appreciate the braking and stuff is important.
But that's another thing of all these cars, you know, like on the public road,
on Angela's crest, famous road outside LA, you know, you know, 1.3 G, whatever,
you're not going to pull 1.3 G realistically.
And if you are, you know, he's probably you're probably going way too fast for the public road.
So, yeah, I think having, I mean, I love the BRZ.
I think it's a fantastic thing or the Toyota version as well.
Because it's just that sort of very pure, very light, very simple.
And of course, you know, the Miata is the Miata is the same.
But I think Brian, who did the video concluded that at the end of the day,
just do a bit less door dash and get a Honda Civic Type R.
Yeah, OK. Let's let's look at the some of the notes on all of these cars.
We didn't you didn't really like rank them like first, second, third.
You just sort of had different opinions of each car, depending on the type of owner,
the type of driver, like what are you trying to do with the car?
And I think that kind of makes sense the most versus the BRZ.
What do you guys think?
Yeah, BRZ is just I mean, I've driven them loads now and the TR86 Toyota version as well.
And it's just a I think it's just a really sweet little car and it has that ability to feel,
you know, to feel fun when you're just commuting in it, you know, snappy little manual gearbox.
It's not fast fast, but it you know, it still sounds pretty peppy.
It's got that nice kind of Subaru buzz about it.
It's I just think it's a it's a nice thing.
And if you know, if you're wanting a toy car or you know, I still find every day car a little
bit stiff, maybe, but especially if you're wanting like a toy and want something that's
sensible money to run, not just a buy, but to run as well, then I think it's great.
And I think in terms of teaching yourself driving and feeling it out on a circuit,
if you want to do the old track day, then this is a really, really good place to start.
Yeah. OK. How does it compare to the Toyota version? Are they the similar similar now?
Or yeah, we saw like the Subaru one when it came out was like the little bit more sort of
refined luxury version.
I think they've done I mean, they all play around with the trims and the specs and everything
else. But I think the feeling that they said it feels more of a Subaru than it does a
Toyota. So I would probably buy the Subaru version.
OK. Masta, MX-5. I mean, been around forever definitely has a fan base.
I see. Miata is always the answer.
Yeah. That is what I've heard. You're right. The convertible has been around for so long.
It's probably preferred, but the little hard top is not bad looking and has a little bit
of a rake in the back. It's kind of sharp. I just think that the purity, the whole point
of the Miata is that it's supposed to be as pure as possible. And that's been the dangers
the years have gone on that they kind of built more and more stuff onto it. They did a hard top
version and you've got more weight where you don't want it. And the little rag top, I think,
is the way forward. But each to their own. And again, it's a bit like the Subaru in many ways,
rear wheel drive, manual gearbox, super lightweight, very easy to drive. I raced one of these as well
in Silverstone and endurance racing. They were great because when you get them set up on a track,
they're beautiful things to drive, but they don't have a lot of power. So on a track,
you really feel that lack of power. But on a nice sunny day, on a canyon road,
it's still a great, great car. And you're going to get closer to the limits. And I think
more people are going to have more fun and it's more accessible than anything like a fast
Mustang or a 911 or something like that. It's just so much more attainable.
Okay. And then where's the prelude rank in that group?
The prelude is like a funny car in that it's a more of an everyday car than the others.
It's not a car really you're looking at a track day with, but it'll still be fun on a twisty road.
I think it's for somebody who doesn't need the practicality of a hatchback or an SUV and just
wants something that looks a bit cooler, makes them feel good, but he's still a sort of nice
practical, fairly practical. The rear seats are tiny, but he's got a trunk. It's a decent,
nice, slightly cooler way of going around. So if you haven't got kids or you're wanting
something extra, this is a nice choice. And it's cheap to run, 44 miles per gallon hybrid system.
It's just, yeah, it's a nice thing. Yeah. And you were saying, if you wanted a little more
dynamic, then I guess the Civic Type R is where you want to go. But you're going to have to want
that look. You kind of need a little bit of that kind of boy racer look and do you want the wing
and do you want all that stuff on it or do you want sort of a more subtle version?
That's right. And you got a manual gearbox and the Civic Type R is the ride's pretty
stiff. It's a full on experience. And I think the Prelude just does that nice job of it. It's
a bit of a throwback really to kind of a pretty coupe or coupe, I should say these days,
at a sensible price point that you can throw people in the back for very occasional use.
But I think you're knocking around in that, that feels good. It feels a lot more interesting
getting into that than a RAV4 or something like that if you don't get into space.
Okay. And then the Mustang, the Mustang fits in on this list somewhere. Now the Mustang is a
bigger car and it's a heavier car. And it has the most horsepower. Where are we like 300,
315? Let me see if we got it up on the list. 315 horsepower. But back in the day, like Foxbody
Mustangs weren't even coming out with that much horsepower. Now the 4-cylinder is that much horsepower.
Yeah, you can remember this is the bottom of the Mustang range, 40 grand.
When you think that now the new supercharged, what is it called? Dark Horse SC is going to be,
we haven't seen the prices yet, but it's going to be pushing 100 depending on how you trim it,
perhaps over 100. So it's a very accessible Mustang, but it's also set up for,
you know, it's a lot, it's a lot softer. And now you're not getting the performance pack on this
that you used to do. So they, they're bringing out something called the RTR, which again,
I think we talked about a few, you had to launch right a few weeks ago. Yeah, yeah, I was.
Which is trying to address the idea of having a force in the Mustang with the rated suspension
that feels sort of sharper and firmer and everything else and a better driver's car.
Again, this is not, this doesn't do that well in this test,
because it just feels a bit sort of soft and compromised, but, you know, there are options
coming and, you know, the nice thing about the Mustang, you know, it is a bit more spacious.
It is in some ways a bit more comfortable as well. So, you know, it's still a decent choice at,
you know, at what is still a pretty, what's your start at? 33,000. By the time you've,
for that much car. Right. And if you want the performance variant, which not all of these,
these, these cars have a performance variant, the RTR is 39,000. And it does get you like the
upgraded brakes and a little bit more refined suspension and, and a few things. And they're,
they're drift brake thing that they've got going on. So it does give you sort of the sports version
of it without getting too crazy on price. Yeah, it looks good. They made some visual changes to
it as well to make it stand out from the other EcoBoost Mustangs. So if it was me, everyday
driver prelude, if you want to like have some fun track days, BRZ, if you're just looking for like
a fun weekend car for, for like, you know, going to the canyons, going down the coast,
me are still sensational. And then the Mustangs are Mustang, but I'd save up for the GT. I'd buy,
I'd buy a used GT ahead of a new EcoBoost. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Yeah. And so, and then by the way, you mentioned Dark Horse SC. So the prices haven't been confirmed,
but there's been a leak going around online about what the prices could be. And if it's right,
it's crazy. It's not, it's not like GT 500 money. It's like 109,000 to 127,000,
depending on like the track package and whatever carbon fiber bits and stuff,
like it's more expensive than the, than the previous gen GT 500.
If you start putting carbon wheels on it and carbon brakes, then yeah, you get very quickly
up north of 100, for sure. I haven't seen that. I haven't seen the definitive pricing either,
but I'm sure, I'm sure the carbon wheels, carbon brakes, that's going to add 20 grand.
Yeah. And, but I don't, I don't know for sure if, if like the stripped down,
cheapest version of that car is under 100 grand. Yeah, that's a lot of money, isn't it?
Where the GT 500 was, we could have gotten there. I want to say the GT 500, we paid
80 something for hours, which was kind of like a mid-spec car. I want the track pack was I think
100 grand with all the carbon on it, but they're going up to 130 grand. That's a lot of money,
isn't it? Yeah. So the internet is basically saying 103,490 to 108 before destination chargers.
And then you can do a track pack and special edition and whatever at, you know, 140,000.
Geez. And you don't even get rear seats because they rip the rear seats out
if you go for the track pack, right? Like they start taking, that's such a Porsche move too,
right? They see how it is not. Yeah. But at least Porsche gave you the option of putting them back
in. They should be removable, I think. You know, it's what we're talking about it in the office.
I was like, well, don't get the track pack because there's no, you know, it's hopeless for me.
It's funny because when I got my Mach 1, I didn't get the rear seat delete and I didn't get the
Recaro seats and said I got the rear seat and the front seats, the heated and cooled seats.
Because the Recaro seats and the rear seats delete are both things you can buy in the aftermarket,
but putting heated and cooled front seats in the car and getting a stock rear seat if you want it,
like it seems like way more of a chore than just going, hey, I'm going to go to the Ford
Racing catalog and get the rear seat delete kit with the crossbar on it. Like you can,
that's easy to get. Going the opposite direction wasn't easy to get, you know? So yeah. It's the
same with the 911. I don't see the benefit. I like, you know, because there's always times
we want to throw people by there. So yeah, but 130, yeah, that's a, I mean, that's, I'm trying to
think, I mean, I was trying to like reference where that sits in the market because everything's
got stupid money. I mean, you are, you are comfortable, you are into 911 territory there,
getting close to 911T, but yeah, that everything, I mean, the problem, this is a problem. Everything's
got got so expensive, but paying 130 grand when, when the range, when the range starts at 30,
just over 30 as well. So you've got a hundred thousand dollar price walk for a vehicle.
Yeah, that's, that's another tough part of it. And again, these prices aren't confirmed,
but if they're anywhere near this price, like we're still going to have this conversation of
going the base eco boost is 30 grand. And then that same car, same platform with all the bits
bolted on it is a hundred thousand plus. Like that's, that's quite a spread. But then I'll,
yeah, our supercharged dot course is now getting on for 90. Yeah. Yeah. And now you can't afford
the gas either. So that's the, that's the other thing, which actually brings me to my next point.
But first let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. Quick reminder this week on Fanduil,
you can get in big on the NBA matchups like the Denver Nuggets versus Oklahoma City Thunder,
or check out Cleveland Cavaliers laying big points against Philadelphia 76ers.
Build the same day, parlay or take your favorite player props,
download the Fanduil app and get in on the action.
Okay. So you mentioned gas prices and one of the vehicles that I've been driving very recently,
that I have now that are about to swap out is a Toyota Crown Signia. Is that right?
Insignia. Insignia, isn't it? Is it a Signia or Insignia? I think it's just Signia.
Oh, Signia. It's just Signia. Insignia was a Vauxhall in the UK. There you go.
So Toyota Crown Signia. Now, those of you familiar with Southern California, I had to
run some errands in the car. So I went from LA to Huntington Beach to Long Beach to West
Hollywood and back home and been driving around town. And I just went to go top it off so I can
swap it out for another press car. And I put three and a half gallons of fuel in it. Now,
I'm not going to tell you what that cost, but I'm telling you, Toyota has figured out probably
better than any one hybrid. They have because now they've stopped sort of saying this is a hybrid.
It's just a Toyota now. And I think also that sort of positioning it as don't try and position
it as a hybrid, just position it as an economical car, I think is really, really clever.
Also, when you fill it up, its total range is like 525 miles of range. And you'll get 38 miles to
the gallon. And I know there are some things that are a little better than that and there's
definitely things that are worse, but it just seemed like it drove as smartly as it could drive.
Like it did a good job. And I didn't really need to like hammer down on it and get on it.
I did a few times here and there like switch lanes or something, but overall I liked it. So, but this
is where my thought is going on this is we drove the Honda Palisade and that's an Edmunds top rated
award winner. We like that car, starts at around 45 to 3 row SUV. The hybrid one is definitely what
you guys like, myself included. So, it's about 45 grand and then you get up to the top calligraphy
model. The one that I drove, the one you guys have drove is about $60,000. And we're driving that
going, this is pretty nice. It feels like a lot of vehicle for 60 grand and decent gas mileage
with the hybrid. I loaded it up with a bunch of stuff as well and it performed great. I put
you know, 600 pounds of stuff in the back. Then I swapped it out for Genesis, what we talked about
was kind of expensive, GB80 coupe was like 90 grand or something. Yeah, it's a nice vehicle though.
But very nice, right? Like I love the black interior with the red stitching and the diamond
stitch and the red seatbelts and the good performance look good. I'm going to actually swap it out again
for the GB80 but not the coupe SUV, the regular SUV. I'm sure it'll have a little bit more room but
maybe not look quite as good. But let's do what the Cayenne coupe has done. Yeah. Let's just take,
you know, I think it's a smart idea. I don't know how many they're selling but I thought it was a
nice thing. And the interior is lovely. They're like, hey, let's make it a little bit smaller and
make it look a little bit better and charge a little bit more. Yeah. Drive a little bit sharper.
Yeah, drive a little bit sharper. So then I got a new Volvo XC60. I want to get your thoughts on
this. I like Volvo. I think the XC90 is fantastic and I'm going to drive the tiny one too that you
got into a while back, the XC30. But the XC30. So the XC60, it's a mid-sized two-row, it's not
the three-row. It's tough to compare it side by side with a Hyundai Palisade. But when I got into it,
there was a few things, you know, it just didn't feel quite as nice on the interior and some of
the buttons and controls felt a little too flimsy plastic to me. And overall, it didn't like exude
higher quality. But I grabbed the Minroni and it was $68,000. I'm like, this is a really nice
$53,000 vehicle and it's a really tough pill to swallow at $68,000, especially when the Palisade
can be fully loaded for $60,000. And this Toyota Crown, which is basically a Lexus version of kind
like a RAV4, like the interior just felt like every nice Lexus that I got into.
Yeah, it's a weird brand because the Crown is that really cool sort of sedan that they use
to taxes in Tokyo. Yeah. Yeah, it's a weird mix between, it's not even, you have the,
it sort of uses bits of the RAV4, but goes its own way. And so it's sort of supposed to sit between
a Toyota and a Lexus. It's a bit odd, but I don't think they're trying to sell very many. I never
see it advertised particularly, but I think it's probably nestling in the back of a dealership
and the dealership sell a few and everybody's happy. But you're right about the XC60. I mean,
I've always been a fan of it, but it is, it is like as old as the Hills now. I mean, the XC90,
how did the XC90 come out? That's like over a decade old. And then the XC60 was shortly after
it. And the reality was it wasn't supposed to go on, that they were doing the EX60, which we've
also just had a look at. And that's the electric SUV. So of all those big pitchers, right? We're
trending out of gas cars, a bit like Porsche, we're out of gas cars. We're going to do EX90, EX60.
Everybody's going to buy electric happy days. Disaster. EX90 has had loads of problems. It was
delayed. There's also some software issues going on. That's not selling. EX60, again, nobody's buying
EVs at the moment. It looks like a nice thing. Tough market. So what they had to do a bit like
Porsche is do a big pivot and say, how can we keep the XC90 and the XC60 going? So they've done
another facelift. They bolted in like a bigger iPad into the center console. But you know,
it used to be integrated. So it used to look like it was supposed to be there. And now they just
basically stuck on a bigger screen, which just looks like what it is. Like, oh, God, we've got to
do something. Right. Also, you're talking about it being a little dated. Although the tech seems
newer, no wireless carplay. I've noticed like the phone had to be plugged in all the time.
Yeah. And it kept telling me to like plug my phone in. And I was like, there was no option
for wireless carplay. So I was like, hmm, that seems a little two years ago. Some of this is also
because I remember having a same conversation with Porsche about the Mechan. The actual inherent
technology, what they call the architecture of the highest screen is an iPad. Why won't it work?
Well, actually, there is a sort of architecture built into these cars, where it's this generation
rather than that generation. And I wouldn't have to look at the new Rivian R2, which I'm going to
Texas this week, and we can talk about it on next week's show. And, you know, the technology in that
car is better than the technology in the R1S and the R1T. And it's not just that the software is
newer, actually, the hardware is the process is faster, the screen is better, everything about
is better. So a lot of the problem with these cars is it's not that easy to, it's not as easy to
update as you would think it would be. And I think Volvo's, you look at the sales figures,
Volvo's in a lot of trouble at the moment, they've got a desperately old model range.
And all the new cars, EX30, they can't, you know, Edmunds owns one, but they've had all sorts of
problems just built in China. Then the EX, EX60 is supposed to make a break, probably do well
in Europe. But over here, are people going to buy the, are people buying that? I don't know.
We'll see. People buy the Model Y still. They, you know, I think the Rivian R2 will do well, but
is your Volvo customer going to buy that? I don't know. It's tough.
Well, you're right. I found the EX60 just, it's not that I didn't like it. I just don't like it
for 68 grand. I like it just not for 68 grand, 55 grand. I spent a lot of, did a lot of miles in
EX60s. And I think they're really nice. They're a nice used buy. I wouldn't buy the hybrid used
probably, but the, but as a used buy, I think they're really appealing. Fantastic seats and
comfort and everything else. But anyway, looking at the schedule, like I said, GB80 is coming up.
Genesis G90, the big sedan. I know we don't talk about it much, but I'm a fan of the big sedans,
S-Class seven series. And every time I go to the LA Auto Show and I see a G90 there, I keep
reminding myself like, I got to drive one of these. And I'm expecting it to be nice. I don't
know how, I think it's got a few years on it. I don't think it's all that fresh, but I'm kind of
excited. I'm actually going to do a road trip. I'm going to do a road trip to Vegas and back for a
quick weekend with it. And I think it'll be nice for that, right? I like it. It'd be beautiful.
That last time I went to Vegas, I took an X BMW i7, which I thought would be great until I had to
recharge it and there's a massive queue. But yeah, the Genesis is not that old, actually.
And it's a nice, you know, I think it's one of those cars that probably does better in career
than it does here, because here everybody's buying SUVs, but it's a nice flagship for Genesis.
It's just good looking car, beautiful interior. And then there's a bunch of other fun stuff coming
up. I finally got on my list Ioniq 5N. Oh, it's a great car. Right? So that's going to come up in
April. We get to say goodbye. I've driven a bunch of these, but I couldn't say no. Lexus LC 500.
Yeah. The convertible inspiration series. Like they're ending that car and this is,
they just threw everything they can to make it as nice and as unique as possible. And they said,
have another go at it with this car. And you can't say no to it. That's such a nice car. It has such
great sound. It's a lovely car. I think I probably prefer the coupe, but I think in a few years time
when the value dips on those, that's going to be a nice. Yeah. And you see so few around,
you've got that exclusivity attached to it as well. Yeah. And it looks, so as much as I love a big
sedan, I'm down with the big coupe too, like a big CL, like old school CL, you know, eight series.
Like I'm down with that too. And I like that Lexus trying to go after like Mercedes SL.
A proper grand tour or a proper GT. Yeah. Yeah. And when you see the car and you see the details
they put in it, like the depth and the tail lights that they did, it's kind of funky. And
you see that car, you know, out front of your master's or whatever in Beverly Hills, you're
like, that's a nice car. Yeah. You know. Anyway, so I apologize. I think we're going to cut this a
little bit shorter than normal. I'm getting the text and they're here to swap out the cars already.
So I'm going to run down and do that. But you've got a lot going on coming up.
I've got a lot going on. I'm going down to Texas this week, South by Southwest,
Rivians launching the R2 there. I did have a little peek at it. So we have a video coming out
this Thursday all about it. So a really interesting car. If one EV can actually
break through and actually succeed, I think this might be the one. So I'm going down to Southwest
going to hand over the Edmunds top rated trophy for the R1S that they won and, you know, have a
look around. It should be an interesting event. I think Rivian R2 is one of the most significant
launches, you know, probably of the year, probably of several years. You're right. It's the only thing
out there that I think has a chance of really giving like the Tesla run for its money, like
high volume, good quality, hopefully cross your fingers, you know, all the attributes you want
in that size of an EV, right? Yeah, it's a good look. I mean, I'll, you know,
we could talk more about it on the next show, but I've spent some time with it. It's a nice thing.
Yeah. It's nicely, it's a scaled down Rivian, but it doesn't feel like a cut price Rivian. I was
really, I was really, really impressed with it. Sorry, I forgot to turn my phone off. That's the
page one of podcasting. That's all right. Okay. I was somebody trying to try to finish,
tell me that my lease is up on the Genesis and can he make me an offer for it? So.
Okay. Yeah, well, we'll have to figure out what you're going to do finally. We've been talking
about it for a while. We lose a lot of money probably. We lose a lot of money. All right. Well,
listen, let's wrap things up. Good luck. Healing, looking good. Talking okay.
Talking a little better than on the weekend. All right. Have a good trip. We'll see you guys next
week. And until then, keep the air and the spare and the bag and the wheel.
About this episode
A lively discussion comparing four sports coupes under $40,000: the Honda Prelude hybrid, Ford Mustang EcoBoost, Mazda MX-5, and Subaru BRZ. The hosts analyze performance metrics like zero to 60 times, quarter-mile speeds, lateral grip, and braking, highlighting the unique traits of each car. The Prelude stands out with its hybrid powertrain and impressive handling, while the Miata impresses with its lightweight agility. They also touch on tire impact, driving enjoyment, and the challenge of categorizing the Prelude’s market niche. Personal anecdotes and health supplement updates add a casual, relatable tone.
