Cherokee is Back, Consumer Reviews Popular SUV, Overlanding Minivan, and Some Strange Partnerships

Hello and welcome to the AutoGuide show.

There is a new Cherokee.

We do a different kind of review for the Toyota Corolla Cross, and there are some weird partnerships

starting up.

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Okay, so kicking things off, you may notice Kyle's not here.

He is off on trips at vacation, so we have Greg joining us once again.

And you know what?

Works out really well this week because two of our top stories are ones you did.

So what better than having the source?

First off, let's talk new Cherokeeds.

It's been a while.

Not everyone was sold on the last Cherokee.

I think they were dreaming of the old square days.

What's this new one all about?

So this new one, I think, is interesting in the fact that it really fits in line with the

rest of the Jeep lineup.

I was kind of hoping when I went to the reveal that this would be like a throwback to the

XJ, that wasn't going to happen.

That's just not like how companies really approach things.

I'm going to dust off the AMC four-liter and put it back in the Cherokee, no?

They actually did.

So they did this event at the old Viper Plant in Detroit, and they had all the

old XJs there.

And even some of the Cherokeeds going back to the early 70s, so it was pretty cool.

But I mean, this is very much like a modern midsize crossover.

So that's kind of the headline.

The old one was more of compact, depending on how you slice and dice that segment.

This one's definitely going at the midsize segment.

It's hybrid, which is a pretty capable hybrid setup.

So I think they're promising 37 miles per gallon.

So that's pretty reasonable.

Pricing starts at just under 37, and then it goes up with the different trims,

like Overland, Laredo, et cetera.

And then I think, obviously, you kind of look, it's a Cherokee, so the looks are

always very much a big part of what it is.

And it's definitely more generic than the old one.

The last one, I think, was polarizing.

You probably remember they rolled it out for, it was 2014, and people were like,

what are they doing here?

And part of it was because it wasn't an XJ.

And this is definitely not an XJ, but it's also probably not as polarizing.

I think it just kind of looks like a smaller Grand Cherokee in some ways.

They went for some of the XJ styling cues, but they're very subtle.

It looks just like a modern Jeep.

Yeah, like the Grand Cherokee, even the wagon ears, they all have sort of a

familiar look now, which is good, because Jeep's always had a bit of identity.

So why not lead into it?

And it's better than trying to graft the Wrangler face on vehicles, like

remember the Liberty.

So it's kind of nice having the two faces.

So a couple of things, putting it as a midsize, I think it's great because,

like you said, the last one was kind of a compact, but kind of not.

And it had a V6.

And then the Compass was sort of one size too big to fight the

cross treks and the curl acrosses, but not big enough to fight the

foresters.

So maybe the next Compass will grow a size too.

And then you have better line products.

Having this as a hybrid, I assume it's just naturally aspirated

four cylinder and electric motors.

So it's actually a 1.6 liter turbo.

So it's kind of interesting.

They've used this engine in Europe.

This is the third generation, but this will be the first application

of it in North America.

And it's also the first time Jeep has rolled out a non plug in hybrid.

So, you know, kind of wrap your brains around that for a little bit.

So I think they've actually brought a lot of good like gear to the midsize fight.

Like I think it's, you know, you look at this, it's a Jeep.

It's a Jeep Cherokee.

It does have that kind of Jeep coolness, but the hybrid is compelling.

I mean, there are frankly plenty of hybrids in the segment,

but this one looks promising on the surface.

So I think I think that was a good move too.

They did say a trailhawk, which is definitely more like off-road gear is,

you know, that's going to happen a couple of times.

They stumbled over the word trackhawk, which I thought was funny.

And the Jeep executives were like, don't quote us on that.

We're not going to do a trackhawk, which would be awesome.

I don't believe it.

I don't think there ever was a Cherokee trackhawk.

That's more of a grand Cherokee thing, but a trailhawk is on the way.

So I think that's, you know, maybe give him six months or a year,

whatever the normal cadence is for that.

Yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic about this.

Like I'm with you.

I think midsize is the way to go, especially when you look at the pricing

in this, like for vehicles like this and the equipment levels.

I also think you need to.

Like it's it is an interesting play in the midsize.

Like the old Cherokee, like the last gen was kind of big for compact.

This one, you know, you're going to the midsize segment.

And I tend to look at the new Forester as like, you know, it's a chief rival.

You know, whereas, I mean, look at the midsize segment, like half of them

are three rows, so the segment has changed a lot in the last 10 years.

So I guess, you know, we'll see because this will be a little bit,

you know, it is a two row crossover.

It will be a little bit on the smaller side compared to things

like a Hyundai Palisade or Mazda CX 90, which at least nominally are midsize.

Yeah, it's it is interesting because, you know, I said it's better.

They made it bigger.

They you're right.

They've gone so big it's kind of bordering another class now

because the Forester is I mean, they're big now, but it's still I would

say what we used to call the compact, you know, the RAV4, the CRV.

So it's like that hybrid Forester seems like the most natural competitor,

but this is slightly bigger than is this actually going up to the outback

because on airpacks and SUVs.

So maybe she forget put it in between, but somewhere else.

We'll see. Like you said, I'm optimistic to try it out.

I really think it in the Forester will be cross shop, especially if the

trail lock or when the trail lock shows up to go against the wilderness.

But there's also an outback wilderness.

So there may be two Subaru's is kind of going after.

So off to wait and see.

Thirty percent more cargo capacity than the old one.

So it is it is bigger, longer wheelbase, six point four inches.

It's wider, more legroom.

So I mean, to your point, this is bigger in every way.

I thought the interior was a little bit of an afterthought, too.

I got to look at it at the like the preview event.

Not an afterthought, like in a bad way, isn't it?

It's a below par interior, nothing like that.

But they also didn't do anything like crazy for it.

You know, it reminded me, frankly, a lot of how Subaru approaches

interior, just back to basics, you know, some Jeep styling cues.

They're using like, like fake leather, sort of with an eye towards sustainability.

My guess is there's some cost in there as well.

But just a very basic interior.

You connect the fifth gen is going to be there.

Pretty good size driver cluster, which I think is good, too.

So just, you know, just normal interior.

You know, sometimes it's like there's not a ton to say.

Maybe some of the higher trims or different trims or the track trail

hawk will offer something special.

But I just thought it was just a very typical Jeep interior.

Yeah, I was just looking up some of the specs.

Yeah, it is shorter than, you know, the the criss-signias and the outbacks

and the whatnot of the world, but it's bigger than the other ones.

So it is, I take it back.

It is playing in between again.

The hybrid, too, is more power than most of the hybrids in the

four-ster or four-size, not the Hyundai Kia ones.

But those two have always kind of been seemed to be a half a step bigger.

So, you know, everyone is such a crazy segment.

Everyone's trying to find something that's a little different.

So I think we'll see more of this down the road.

Yeah, I'm excited to drive it.

I really am.

So moving on, we had, speaking of hybrid SUV, the Toyota

Cruel Cross Hybrid in for a week, but it was a little different.

I didn't really drive it.

Instead, we were doing a consumer review as my family's looking to

replace our current family car.

So it was my wife that drove it mostly as we currently have a

cross-track.

So we're looking back in the same segment, which is probably the

second hottest segment right now, after the one we just talked about.

And there's so many choices.

So we drove this and I can't believe how much this has blown up on the site.

I guess there's a lot of people that relate to looking for something

in this class and what this does.

Because this is the only hybrid, really, in its competitive set.

It's got a huge advantage there.

And the power delivery is quite good because you get the electric

motor torque and power is almost 100 horsepower, which again is at the

higher end for this class.

And we found that it was very smooth, power wise.

The ride comfort is pretty good.

But they have to save money somewhere to be somewhat

price competitive with a hybrid.

And that's all saved inside.

The interior is pretty plain.

It's missing some features you'd find in other vehicles at this price point.

Like some have power passenger seats.

Some even have ventilated seats.

This does have a power liftgate, which is somewhat unusual in the segment.

But the actual maneuverability was good.

But the sidelines and just the dry feel was just never really found

like the optimal comfort position either behind the wheel or just how it

operates. And overall, it was just sort of like there.

There was nothing terribly good or terribly bad.

It was just kind of whatever.

But then the big difference was when we finally filled it up at the end of the

week for about the same distance driven took half the fuel our cross track does.

So this vehicle makes a ton of sense for someone who has a decent commute

that wants this class.

You'd save so much money over the month, over the year.

But if you're like us and we don't really have much of a commute, we don't drive

that much over talking less than 10,000 miles a year.

The. The things we didn't like don't offset the fuel savings.

So that's sort of what this vehicle has going forward.

It's it what you think it's the only hybrid and it's got a huge advantage there.

But in other places, it may not be right up top.

It's interesting looking at the numbers, like 45 city, 38 highway,

it was an impressive numbers, but, you know, we've bought

there was sort of like the course of our blood for more fuel economy, you know,

and it's almost like maybe overcompensate something in the past.

It really was more of a escuzzler.

But to me, it does be the whole picture.

And frankly, that's where things like the Cherokee we were just talking

about, where you do get some emotional hold, you know, it's got to all work,

you know, just buy like something that is fuel economy, you know,

it sounds like maybe you're brutally stem off a little more like, you know,

some more emotion to the drive.

Great. Since you started this part, you're breaking up crazy.

I know I can't. I can't even follow up your saying.

So I'm sure people listening wouldn't be able to. Oh, yikes.

OK. Now you're like, OK, you want me to restart or?

Yeah, I like to start about that to cut that part out.

It was really weird.

It's just goes is almost like there's something that's getting

near your house that appears for a minute and then it goes away again.

I don't know. Yikes.

All right. Take two. OK. Take two.

What was I saying?

Yeah, I mean, 45 miles per gallon is a pretty hefty number.

You know, that's one of the headliners.

But it's got to be the whole picture, right?

You know, the whole deal.

And if there's no like sounds like true emotion for this car,

it's it's a little tough, you know, you want to have.

And that's where I think like Jeep, like we were just talking about

and some Mazda's bring that level of, you know, interest to the table.

And that can make you think, well, I can trade two or three miles per gallon

in some cases for something that I'm just a little bit more excited to drive.

Yeah. No, it's a perfect thing you're brought up is this is like

the ultimate rational vehicle in the segment.

But no one buys a car on just pure rational.

I mean, if we all did, we'd be driving 30 horsepower little square pods

that putter us around, people want more.

And like I said, Toyota can't offer everything and a hybrid

because it's just the development and the cost behind it.

Like everyone would be doing it.

So they've staked out a claim and there's a very appealing position for it.

But that's sort of its only position.

So the comments we've got so far pretty much confirm, you know,

if you feel economy above all else and you need something

that's still family-ish and has some nice options, this is perfect.

But if not, then there's other things out there.

I think of the Toyota family, I would just step up to like a RAV4 or something

or a Crown Signia or something.

I think that would probably be my move.

Yeah. And that's a good point you bring up

because the RAV4 is very similar.

I find against this competitor that to it has the features,

but it's like inside and some of the the details are a little off,

but it's so good as a hybrid and even better as a plug-in.

Whereas I think when you hit Crown Signia, you finally get the full package.

That's because you're at a price point where you can start to offer everything.

But I love that car.

We talked about it on a previous episode.

That's such an underrated midsize.

But when we got to something a little bit bigger,

you drove one of my bigger surprises of the year.

I've driven two versions in both times.

I've been quite impressed.

Yeah. So this is the 2025 QX80 hugely important vehicle

in every sense of the word, huge for infinity.

We redesigned for the first time since Bill Clinton was in office.

Like it was getting a little long in the tooth.

I really liked it.

I think I'll give you the cut to the chase

and then we can maybe get into it.

I still like things like the Escalade and the Navigator

and even some things like the Range Rover and Mercedes lineups,

even if it's not quite apples to oranges with the Germans.

I still like them a little bit better,

but this is a very credible entry.

I think they did a lot to make it worth your money,

something that if you're looking for something

at this price point in this size, that this is now worth a look.

I think they've definitely upgraded it considerably.

I tended to like the design a bit,

although I didn't love it, but I did like it.

I've always thought infinity goes for it with design.

That really started under like Shiro Nakamura about 10, 15 years ago.

And you saw some really great looking infinities and nissans of that time.

And the QX, whatever it's called,

they've gone through a couple of different names with it.

I remember at one point it was like the 56.

It's always been like they haven't toned it back,

despite the fact this is a huge vehicle.

So I definitely I think they went for it here.

And that'll be your first sort of test if you want to buy this.

Like, do you like how it looks?

You know, and I think for me, it was kind of kind of in between.

So I mean, that's I mean, that's kind of how it looks.

It's a hundred and fourteen thousand dollars.

I had the autograph trim.

That's like the very top, pretty cool.

In my story, I wrote that I listened to a lot of a lot of Springsteen

last couple of weekends ago and the 24 speaker

clips sound system kind of tripped over it.

But you know what I mean, sounded really good.

It's a very roomy interior, you know, as you would expect.

Good materials, everything feels pretty good.

Tons of like cup holders, things like that.

We went to this like pool party thing.

And as you do in summer, you stay in the pool until like sunset.

So we're coming back and dusk is really kind of settling in.

All the ambient lighting looked really good in there.

So it's a very upscale experience and the powertrain.

You know, I mean, this is this is the big, frankly, one of the headliners.

It's a three point five liter.

It's a V six, five hundred and sixteen pound feet of torque,

which gives you a bit of, you know, get up and go right off of like stop lights

and things like that, four hundred and fifty horsepower.

And this replaces the very long running five point six liter V eight,

which to me, that reminded me almost of like that old

you know, big V eight in the Land Cruiser that Toyota used for years.

Same kind of vibe as far as like just lumbering V eights.

But this new one gives it a ton of energy.

And I think it's a strong product for infinity.

I think especially with some of these different trims like the autograph.

Cool. Very cool.

You know, they they're they're doing what they need to do in this segment.

Yeah, I was never sold on the styling of the last

well, any of them up to this point.

And some of them were just really weird.

The one that that's sort of, I don't know, I just had a weird front.

And this one is my favorite by far.

The vehicles you brought up are pretty accurate

because I find this is sitting somewhere between an escalator and a Range Rover

where the escalates that still like workhorse American SUV,

but with like every technology under the sun.

And not to ruin future episodes too much.

But I drove one recently and I couldn't believe some of the tech

and just how over the top it isn't a cost more.

But good for Cadillac and getting back to what they used to be.

And when the escalate first came out, it was, hey, here's a truck,

but a truck that has every feature you can find in the BMW or Mercedes.

And I think they kind of got away where they kind of went down

to sort of wear this in the Sequoia, not Sequoia,

Land Cruiser plate.

And now they've gone back to a step up.

Let's go crazy with that.

And I think this vehicle is filled that void really well.

We compared to the Land Cruiser or the not the Land Cruiser,

the Q Alex 700. Yeah.

And we prefer this.

It's just, I think, a better vehicle.

And we call it that the Japanese Range Rover.

And I still think it is.

It's it's got more than one styling queue.

It's got screens and layout and technology that mimics it.

And I'm sort of like what the Grand Wagoneer did for American cars.

It's and now that I've driven the escalate,

I wanted to compare this to the Grand Wagoneer,

but I'm thinking maybe the escalate.

So look for that down the road.

I also like your thought, though, on the Grand Wagoneer

as far as like something that they clearly tried to level up

and load all kinds of stuff into it and then build it

as its own sort of luxury brand.

I think Infinity even now still is a little bit of a challenger brand.

You know, they don't it's like they're not Cadillac.

They'll never be Cadillac, no matter how good or bad Cadillac is.

You're never going to call this the infinity of, you know, coffee mugs.

You know, it's going to be the Cadillac of this or that.

So it's same with like Mercedes and BMW, you know, things like that.

So I think that's a I like where you're going with that.

And having driven this thing, that was kind of a vibe

I would pick up from this is you're trying to figure out,

you know, what does luxury mean to you?

And I think Infinity, frankly, is still trying to figure that out.

What 30 years in they were trying to be like Lexus for quite a while

with the full line of cars and vehicles.

And their SUVs weren't that pretty, but their cars were.

And now it's finally translating to the SUVs and starting with the QX

60 and now this and I think they're on the right path.

And they were sort of between Lexus and Acura.

Not really sure which way to go.

And I still think they're trying to be more luxury than Acura.

That's more, you know, a lot of Honda based, high premium vehicles,

but they're not fully committing like Lexus where they're going full range.

So they can find that sort of spot where, I mean, they're

to your point about the Cadillac and whatnot.

They're they're much like Lincoln, I would say, in the US

where they're they're luxury, but their own thing.

So hopefully they continue their role and we'll see what happens.

Sounds good.

So speaking of something premium, Chrysler is one of the few companies

left that makes a minivan, the Pacifica.

It's one of the more expensive, but it's also probably the nicest in the segment.

So it's all Chrysler has right now.

I mean, I know in the US they have a they have a Voyager, I think it is.

That's like a stripped out Pacifica.

And in Canada, we have the Grand Caravan, exact same thing,

just a stripped out version.

But basically you're selling three versions of the same van,

stripped out, regular and plug and hybrid.

So they released a concept called the Grizzly Peak concept.

And basically it's an overland version of the van.

And I think this is a little over the top, but it makes total sense.

I don't know why they don't have one already.

I mean, Toyota has the or her hat and all they still do that.

Was it the Woodland Sienna where they jacked it up a bit?

So this is raised way up.

It's over two inches all around.

It's got almost eight inches of ground clearance now

and got K02 all train tires, which might be a little overkill.

It's all wheel drive because it is.

I mean, it's not anymore sophisticated necessarily.

And then it's got all the overland lights and fog lights

and roof carrier and they took out the third row seats,

which is actually makes a lot of sense because they're still on go.

So with the seat gone to, you now have a huge underfloor storage

and then you have a flat floor to put an air mattress

or even just a flat sleeping bag on because that's what you're overlanding.

So it's just a concept.

They don't even mention anywhere any thoughts of building it,

but I just have a feeling there's going to be a watered down version

of this down the road.

It just makes sense.

Do you remember this is everything's 10 years ago,

whether give or take 10 years, Ralph Jills,

the head of design for Stalantis, then Chrysler, et cetera.

He did like this, like I think it might have been a dodge,

but it was one of the vans and he called it.

I forget what he called it, like the dad van or the man van.

And it was like it had all this weird like performance stuff on it.

This feels like the off-road version of that.

I kind of love this.

This is just like if you look at the side pictures in your gallery,

the stance is just insane.

It's just this van that's like lifted with huge wheels.

This is hilarious.

So I like it.

I'm here for it.

I mean, honestly, literally if you can take a Porsche rallying,

like a 911 rallying, sure, take a van.

You know, it's nomally like a similar SUV silhouette.

So yeah, let's do it.

This looks cool. You can take more stuff.

And I'd say three quarters of the parts on here are things that either are

or easily will be in the Mopar catalog, like it has a built on awning

and the roof rack and the mudflaps and the other cargo mats.

So yeah, they didn't touch the mechanics really, except for the suspension lift.

So that's why, too, I think it'll come.

It's just easy to translate.

It's just will this all be Mopar accessories or will there be an actual version?

And if there is one of K2s, but even if it has an inch and a half

raise and some beefier tires, then people can overland in their van.

I mean, how many sprinters do you see rolling around like that?

Like it's a it's a market that no one's really in.

So hopefully they make it.

I agree. It's cool.

Moving on to our last story, there is a bizarre partnership

starting where Mercedes is in talks to buy BMW engines for its products.

Now, this isn't the first time luxury car companies have swapped engines.

I mean, Infiniti and Mercedes did and Aston Martin currently uses them.

But BMW and Mercedes, that's that's what you never thought you'd see.

These are like that's like Ford and Chevy.

Like they just don't seem like they should be working together.

But in the modern automotive industry and climate, it makes sense.

You need to spread cost, especially for cars.

These would be used in SUVs, too, but it's more of a car engine

because it's a turbo for, I mean, speaking Ford and Chevy,

they made a 10 speed auto together.

So, you know, things have changed.

So we may see BMWs.

I don't think the two liter or something smaller for the European market.

But I mean, Mercedes makes a fantastic two liter that makes crazy power.

But it's not a mainstream engine.

So BMW's engine that's in like their 330s and X3s and whatnot.

That's a good engine.

So if it ends up in Mercedes, I mean, great.

Yeah, I mean, is like sort of the end user to talking like tech product,

code guy, like that could be it could be good for consumers.

You know, and we consider like Mercedes and BMW have grown their

audience is so much that they're not just like enthusiasts like us that are

like, oh, look at this latest engine, look at what they did with this transmission.

It's just like, you know, person who, you know, wants a good engine

in their Mercedes and they don't care which factory in Germany it came out of.

So and that's probably I would say two thirds of three quarters of most,

you know, most customers, you know, you want to you want your luxury car

to have a good engine and you don't necessarily care how they got it that way.

Now there are probably 25%, 30% that are going to be like, no, you know,

I remember X, Y, Z engine that was in the BMW or this Mercedes

engine is why I bought this car.

You know, they're the ones who are getting up early to watch Formula One

and they will have a problem with it, but they also probably won't get these engines.

So just buy something higher of the of the portfolio that is not shared

with their arch rival from across across Germany.

Yeah, they brought a good point.

It's all about the end user.

People get hung up on where things are sourced or what's in it.

I mean, the Supra never got a chance because everyone's like BMW, BMW.

I mean, if you just forgot about that and drove it,

it was a great car and Mercedes lent technology to Chrysler with a crossfire.

And I mean, the charger was using a version of platform forever.

So it can work and I agree.

And it's not the specific engine to I think is part of the reason it may succeed.

It's like no one's sitting there pining for this legendary four cylinder Mercedes.

If Mercedes was supplying V6s to replace the inline six of BMW,

people would lose it, although Mercedes has inline sixes now, too.

But yeah, or if BMW was replacing the AMG V8s,

which Mercedes did themselves and is now backtracking because

those are the engines people are attached to.

So yeah, I think this this isn't going to matter.

It all has to have a little Mercedes badge instead of a BMW badge,

and that'll be that it is a great engine.

I'll say that. But I mean, Mercedes has had a history.

They sold AMG engines to Aston Martin of all people.

So I mean, I think it's a reasonable approach

in this sort of era of, you know, kind of weird partnerships

and even some consolidation.

So I mean, yeah, if GM and Ford could share a transmission,

you know, to your point about like, you know, the LX platform

with the charger and the 300 for Mercedes, what worked about that

was Chrysler took that platform and made it something totally different.

So and that's where I think you avoid the controversy.

With this, there is a little bit of overlap.

So I think they're they're walking on, you know,

it's not a minefield, but it's a little more treacherous territory.

But at the end, three quarters of their customer base, they'll be fine with it.

Yeah. And we have to see which engines and where it ends up.

I mean, if you're talking to a C class

with the Turbo four against the three series, the turbo four, then OK,

that's interesting.

But if it's in smaller engine and vehicles

that are more European based and don't necessarily compete head to head, whatever.

Anyway, so that wraps up our news and reviews for this week

on the Auto Guide Show, right by eBay Motors.

We are going to take a short break.

And then Greg and I will be back to talk to our special guest.

And then there's no F one segment this week.

It's called on vacation.

So Greg and I will be back again to wrap things up.

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All right, welcome back to the show.

We have a special guest today.

If you could just introduce yourself and what you do.

Yeah, I'm Andrew Burns.

I kind of work as a, I guess, best way to describe it is

like an IT fixer for a supplier that has a couple of plants

over sort of around North America.

So mainly do sort of like electronic ordering, but also, you know, kind of,

hey, this 20 year old machine is finally broken down.

We don't know who made it or where the instructions are.

Can you please fix it kind of thing?

So that's kind of where I fit in.

But yeah, every day is kind of different, but it's definitely entertaining

and it's fun to be kind of back in the industry, too.

And so it sounds like a bunch of appliances in my house

and air condition furnaces.

And it's never good when you get a repairman and they say, oh,

I've never seen one of these before.

I haven't seen one of these in decades.

So yeah, you know, needed fix, you know, sort of in today

or tomorrow kind of thing.

It's like, OK, yeah, we'll get on that.

Yeah, so. Oh, well, thanks for joining us for those watching.

We have another special guest, my dog, because I'm outside

doing this podcast, so hopefully everything goes well.

So usually we start at the very beginning.

So what got you into cars?

Were you born into a car family or is it something you've got into yourself?

Pretty much into a car family.

Dad always had something sort of interesting around.

So he had, you know, sort of like before I was around,

he had a Renault 8 Super and he had when I was a little guy,

he had like a late Plymouth Duster, but it was sort of a bizarre order.

So it had a four on the floor, slant six kind of thing.

So he always had sort of a steady stream of sort of

interesting stuff.

So he had an MGB and then eventually he'd built a MGCD kick car.

And so, you know, we'd spend a lot of weekends kind of working on that.

Restored a sort of mark three spitfire to out in the garage.

So yeah, it was pretty hard to avoid.

And his friends all had the same bugs.

So, you know, we sort of had friends around

that had some, you know, always had something interesting.

And, you know, I would talk cars to anybody who would listen back in the day.

So, you know, even as a little guy, I was very much into it.

And, you know, my good friend's

grandfather owned the local Lincoln Mercury merger dealership.

And then the lady that watched me, her husband, Bill Scott,

was a sort of a big figure in the steel auto group early days.

So in Canada, they're kind of a big group on the East Coast.

So he was, you know, he would he would give me brochures

and like sort of all kinds of little trinkets and whatever kind of came

across his desk and all the latest on what was coming next year.

So he was kind of a big influence, too.

I like how your dad would seem to really be into drivers cars

from Europe, European drivers cars.

And he even got a gesture that was as close as he could with a

four speed on the floor.

Yeah, exactly.

Like the anti-muscle car.

Muscle car, it's awesome.

Well, and it had at some point inherited a set of Cordova seats, too.

So it was, you know, it was quite plush.

With the rubber formats and the leather seats.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

For sure.

The top level Chrysler Corp stuff there in that area, right?

Sure. For sure.

Yeah, I know it was definitely a fun car.

But yeah, that's funny.

Can you imagine putting like escalate seats in a Chevy

tracks because it's pretty much on the down the way.

I'm not sure they can they kind of swap in that easily anymore.

But yeah, it's no longer building blocks.

All right, so let's pass forward a couple of years when you were

either in school or done school.

What was the first vehicle you got your hands on

or maybe the first one that you cared about?

Well, so I'm sort of like we still had this fire

when I was learning to drive.

So that's kind of where I learned a lot of sort of driving

around in a little Spitfire kind of learning manual and stuff like that.

And we we still had the MGTD kick car.

So that was, you know, that was like usually a good excuse

to get that out and drive that around.

But yeah, so the first car I ended up like really, you know,

sort of being mine was dad's Chevy celebrity.

So he used to take the ferry to work.

So I got the I got the celebrity.

But yeah, you know, sort of ended up being a long string

of a body GMs for me.

But yeah, the celebrity was kind of fun

because it was sort of like like a little bit of a sleeper, right?

It had had the big motor.

It had the four speed transmission.

It had the gauge package, but it was all chromed out.

So it was it was kind of well, as fun as 110 horsepower can be.

But yeah, eventually swapped that out, picked up a

from one of dad's friends.

They were getting rid of a cutlass cruiser wagon.

And so I bought that for a dollar, found a junkyard motor.

And then that car, I got that in 1997.

I think we finally junked it sometime, like seven or eight years later.

And yeah, so it was a that was kind of a,

you know, again, a totally gutless wonder.

But you know, you and six of your closest friends could file in.

And that was always, you know, sort of a fun thing.

But yeah. But yeah, sort of later on,

yeah, sort of ended up with kind of a whole host of things.

But, you know, sort of the one that I've had the longest is probably I've had

any in Yada for 20 years now, sort of bought it on a whim

because one car was kind of on its way out.

And yeah, it's kind of become sort of the family pet.

So it's been kind of trucking along for 20 years.

But, you know, it's sort of I've sort of taken it everywhere.

So it's been to, I don't know, 25 states or probably more than that.

So driven to coast to coast a couple of times. So that's, you know,

it's a pretty good grand tour for all things considered.

But yeah, it's it's probably not the best choice if you have lots of stuff to take.

But it definitely is a fun trip.

Yeah, as someone who's driven, not an NA, I owned an NA,

but I've driven an NC from Toronto to the Panhandle

and then right across the country as well.

That soft suspension actually isn't bad.

The biggest problem I found was how high the engine revs

and some of the 80 mile an hour states and yeah, exactly.

I mean, although, you know, sort of, yeah, the NC, at least you have a sixth, right?

But yeah, I mean, even if even in fifth, yeah, it's not exhausting,

but you definitely were wish there was that extra gear.

Although I think the five speed in the Miata is definitely

the superior to the six speed, just in terms of like, you know,

feel and things like that, right?

So I don't know if people haven't tried an NA, I kind of recommend it.

It's just one of those cars that you should like always try out if you get a chance.

So for sure. Yeah.

Stepping back to some of your older cars.

So this is Cutlass Wagon.

Was that the two eight in that order?

Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah.

Yeah. And it drove itself to the junkyard.

You know, it went to went to inspection and the the guy was like,

if I don't touch that, you know,

it won't go right through.

And so, yeah, so it it kind of

got silenced by the the salt out east,

sort of vicious in a way that

you know, sort of, yeah, my aunt,

you said she had started buying tires in the seventies,

but they would send engineers out from Japan to

you know, come study how the car is frosted in Prince Edward Island

and so she would, you know, they would come over and they would borrow the car

for a few days and they give her a loaner and they kind of go and like, you know,

take a look at all the body work and it would come back all cleaned up.

But yeah, they would send it back to Japan to see how bad it had rust.

Yeah, I think that was a scam of all the places they'd go.

Like PEI is not an easy place to get to or like a super.

Yeah, I think there might have been a green gables factor there or something,

you know, back when that was popular, but just wanted to vacation somewhere.

Well, when I was a kid, we had a 6,000 le wagon.

So yeah, you're a corporate sibling and we drove that all the way

across the country to to Victoria and back.

And Burgundy on Burgundy, it was a great car.

But the cars you grew up driving, I mean, they're not as good.

Maybe it's my 94 Cavalier three speed.

But no, yeah, pretty decent.

Well, I mean, everybody had a Cavalier back then, right?

Like it was sort of like issued, right?

Like he was the most popular car in Canada.

I don't know how long, but oh, yeah.

Yeah, they were, you know, indestructible.

I mean, they weren't exactly, you know, there was no sporting pretense, right?

But unless you got to the, you know, sort of Z24 or something like that.

But yeah, I mean, everybody had one.

Everybody knew when somebody who had one, you rode around in one.

But yeah, they're sort of one of those cars that just lasted forever

for no apparent good reason.

Yeah, it's one of those cars where it was terrible when you got it,

but it never got worse.

It was like just always at the same level.

Yeah, it was just fun.

I didn't get you there, but yeah, well, we had the 94.

So we still have the pushrod 2.2 litre in that thing.

And I mean, you forget to know, I'll change for like a year and it doesn't

care, it just keeps going.

Well, the worst part was trying to climb it, although with four people

in the car, because it did not have a three speed and 110 horsepower.

We're in a good combo.

Yeah, I mean, we had, you know, I found a car for dad one time

and it was a it was a little old lady owned 96 Regal, but it was like

the first year of the series to 3,800.

And yeah, we definitely I definitely had some fun in that car.

I'm not sure mom and dad know how much fun I had in that car.

But you know, sort of coming from 110 horsepower to sort of a 3,800

series to was like, yeah, it was just, yeah, this was this was

something exciting, right?

So, yeah, it's a pretty fun little car.

Kids today want to realize when you got a big car, 205 horsepower,

how fast it was relative to everything else.

Now it's like everything's like 300 plus.

And then I remember how much trouble we got ourselves into with

like, you know, 80 to 100.

I'm like, with a new driver in the house, this is kind of a concern.

Right. But yeah, it's yeah, it's a long, long way from those sort of

days in the, you know, the car, the six words kind of wheezing along.

I remember I had a Chevy Lumina in 1993 Euro sport or something.

And that felt like such a exotic handling thing back in the day.

And it was secondhand.

But I mean, yeah, I mean, it's it also speaks just how good cars are right now.

Yeah, it's it's it's incredible.

You look at like, even if you, you know, if you manage to hop behind

the wheel of a car that's three years older, you know, you just it's light years away.

It's incredible how much progress there's been, right?

And it's, you know, you would I remember like with the with the carb 2.8

is like, I had a screwdriver in the glove box in case the auto choke

and come off, right?

Like, you would have to pull over and like pop the hood and kind of rip

the air cleaner off and jam a screwdriver down there to get the

butterflies to open up and then, you know, put it all back together,

then hop back and get back into traffic.

And it's like, you know, you don't you don't have to do that anymore.

That was a Canadian rate of passage.

My dad, oh, yeah, the car is at all screwdriver in our 6,000 LE.

And I really remember even at like six, seven years old,

being at the corner store and having to pop the hood and shove it in there

to get it started again so we could get home.

And yeah, eventually I got smart and just put a manual conversion on it.

But yeah, it was, you know, always like hoping it wouldn't warm up

until you got to where you were going.

And then you could just do it afterwards.

But yeah, inevitably with diamond intersection and you kind of have to

like coast through and that was it.

It's funny you mentioned the difference in cars and like how much they've come

because I've, I don't know, they were just because of our age,

but I always feel like anything in the 2000s, I didn't feel like we're

that much different than today.

Like they've made all their big changes, 80s, 90s, like for screens.

Like that's the big difference.

Yeah.

But then I've been in a couple cars from like 03 and 04 recently.

And I was like, Oh no, these do drive completely differently.

Like it's not just a screen.

It's it's the brakes.

It's the suspension.

It's the interior as a whole.

So yeah, the interiors, I think from that era to now, the interiors

have really just come like leaps and bounds.

Right.

I mean, you know, you kind of had that low in the 90s and 2000s

where, you know, I mean, the seats were probably nice, but the

rest of the car was sort of flimsy, cheap plastic, like vinyl kind of

that didn't hold up all that well.

Like GM interiors were just awful for that sort of like a 10 year period.

And now, you know, you you you wouldn't they wouldn't feel out of place

in a luxury car of, you know, 30, 40 years ago, even in a sort of mainstream car.

Yeah, Greg went like this.

But the mid 2000s and early 2000s Chrysler's and Dodgers, I noticed that too.

I remember getting in a caliber and being like, Holy cow, is this bad?

Even back then.

And I mean, even the man, yeah, original chargers like Greg has

their interiors had a lot of plastic in them for what you're getting.

But the engine and chassis, so that's fine.

But man, those calibers and that CVT, they were awful.

Yeah, I got one as a rental and they were just it was just it's just like,

what did I do to deserve this?

You know, like to the rental car guy, it was just like it was it was

just it was so mediocre.

And it was it was I think I think it was worse because you kind of had seen

like, you know, like a Stratas and the breeze and stuff like that.

They weren't like they weren't great cars, but they were nice places to be in.

And, you know, sort of that change and like the interior from

sort of a 90s Chrysler to like that was just like, what are you even doing here?

People, I won't defend the caliber because I was in one in it

like an SRT four and it like literally overheated in the basement of the magazine

I worked for at the time.

The bar holds up a little better.

You know, I just thought I was biased, but yeah, yeah.

I mean, the materials, you know, 20 year old materials, just it's a different time,

you know, and I think if you look, I would almost draw the line around

like 2010 is when interiors like really tipped over into the modern era,

like getting like a fusion from like 08 or 09 and you're like, whoa,

you know, but even a few years later, they were much better.

Yeah, I mean, I guess the main thing I miss is the valour, right?

Like, you don't get there's no way it's close to yours anymore.

But yeah, you don't get the all purple with allure interior with allure.

Oh, yeah.

And it's super plush and nice.

And yeah, it's now it's like that kind of that that that heavy wearing cloth.

And it's like, I generally prefer a cloth seat.

But yeah, some days I'm like, maybe not.

But yeah, I mean, like, sorry, I was going to say, I blame the

caliber single-handedly for American CBT's because I think that was a lot

of people's first taste.

And then they were like, I never wanted these again.

Like, I remember it was the first time I drove one and I put it in drive

and I was like, why am I not moving? Oh, oh, now I'm moving.

Like, there was it was just such not a good transmission.

I mean, your point about what it came from, like it came from the neon.

Like the neon was its predecessor and that inside wasn't great,

but it was such a fun, economical, practical car.

And then kind of turn into the caliber.

Like, I love driving the answer.

They were great.

Yeah, I know.

Well, you know, the other thing was like it was stupid little touches, right?

Like, it was like, you know, you had that glow in the dark key, right?

On some of the early ones, right?

Like, it was just it was a it was a fun, stupid, cheap car.

And, you know, it wasn't wasn't that bad to drive.

And I don't know whether we kind of I don't even know what

what the equivalent would be these days.

I mean, you know, maybe you're like a tracks or something.

I don't know. I mean, I'm like, I would.

Yeah, I mean, in fairness, to be honest, I've said this for a while.

They were just way too far ahead of their time.

Like they were like, our small car is going to be a crossover now.

And everyone's like, this is dumb.

Whereas today it's what everyone's doing.

So they want to be genius, right? Yeah.

Yeah. They're just way ahead of the car.

And everyone has a CVT.

It was just like 20 years too early.

But yeah, I mean, it was sort of a wacky package in amongst.

And then you had the charger,

which was like basically a harkening back to the to the old days.

And, you know, I mean, I have one too.

And I love it because it's sort of one of those.

It's like a time work car, but it's still modern

where you still have the real drive and you still have, you know, sort of big power

and, you know, it's sort of reminiscent of a time and a place, right?

But still kind of, you know, not as likely to leave you by the side of the road.

But yeah, it was sort of that weird mix of like, OK, yeah,

you're way ahead of the curve on some things and like just, you know, OK.

And then the other hand, we're kind of pushing the the muscle car

look here again, too.

But I mean, it was genius.

They sold the pile of them.

So it's not too much calorie.

Well, I mean, the charger when it first came out to like the early one,

they were mind blowing because, I mean, a big American real drive car

was this recently deceased in Palette or the Crown Vic.

And those were like felt like eighties cars inside, but the way the switch

gear and the design and just the bulbous size of them.

So all of a sudden you had this sort of blocky, lean,

D8 powered charger. It was so cool.

Yeah, I mean, it was a huge comparison.

Like if you had if you had dad had a panther, he had a Crown Vic.

That I got mine in my charger, right?

And it's, you know, sort of driving them back to back.

It's it's a world of difference.

But I, you know, it's kind of panther is kind of another car

that I'm like, everybody should drive one at least once.

But I kind of feel bad that people don't have like a new one.

Like, you know, when they were new,

you kind of walked up to them in the rental car a lot and you're like,

you know, it's sort of like a like a floaty ride that was just kind of

like there's just doesn't exist today.

You know, they're they're they're a great cruisers, right?

You know, blowing through the Midwest and one of those is like,

you know, sort of quite an experience in itself.

What about a mercury marauder?

You know, whether it's about.

Yeah. I mean, it's like it was funny.

I was driving, I don't know, it was probably a year or two ago,

but it was like, you know, the civil hair lady in a marauder, right?

Like, it's sort of like one of those cars.

It's like, yeah, it's definitely a geyser car, but the marauder is cool.

And yeah, it was fun to see them around still.

So I think it was sort of sort of a good farewell to that car.

I mean, I don't know how long they've built before.

It was probably what, twenty three, twenty four years.

They were building seventy seven to twenty ten or something like that.

I don't know.

They kept it on for a very long time.

Yeah, that was until Mercury went by by.

I mean, yeah, the Crown Vic lived on for taxis and police cars until.

Yeah, I mean, it makes sense.

I mean, body on frame is perfect for like flea use, right?

You rack it up. OK, well, it's a fender, right?

It's not the end of the world.

You know, if you're going to live a hard life as a as a taxier,

a police car makes total sense.

Yeah, before I get on to the marauder for a sec,

the most the equivalent modern day car that I have driven

and Greg's driven recently, so if he agrees,

that feels like that traditional lowity old school.

Not rendezvous, the enclave.

Oh, OK. It's like you're completely disconnected from the road.

But like positively, like not because it's like this mess to drive.

It's like it just you just feel like you're in this big couch

that you could just get on the interstate and go for days.

Like it's just so isolating and comfy.

Yeah, I mean, well, we bring up the rendezvous,

which was absolutely a terrible vehicle.

I don't know why people give Aztec such a hard time

when when the comparable rendezvous was like even worse

than the Aztec and like every, you know, every way that mattered.

It had a cool gauge cluster there.

That's true. It did.

So the broader is funny because I also I classify it

with the Impala SS like the last rear drive one.

And like at the time, they were so cool.

But now it's like 255 horsepower.

I think the broader was like 302, which is like you said,

like a family sedan has that these giant heavy rear drive V8s.

Like that was performance, but times changed.

Yeah, I mean, well, you know, like, yeah, like a V6 charger

would probably outrun both of them without any trouble at all.

But yeah, I think I think there's still that cool factor.

It's like, hey, you know, it was it was trying something different.

And I think that's kind of one of the things that we don't see a lot of

right now is like a lot of those sort of special additions

or just kind of like limited run of of, yeah, hey, we're going to let

let the guys go or the guys and gals go wild here and do something fun.

But you don't see that too much anymore, which is kind of unfortunate.

It felt like with those two sort of like separated at birth,

you know, muscle sedans like they really were going for that muscle

car era, you know, even though the numbers weren't totally there.

The Impala actually was what, 260 horsepower and had the Corvette motor.

Yeah, so it was fairly legit.

But, you know, they were like 20 years after their time, you know, in some ways.

And I think we all love them for that.

Yeah, I think it's just, you know, it's it's it's one of those things that it's,

you know, they were, you know, is that that Darth Vader,

your car is your article and car and driver, right?

You know, it was just like, oh, yeah, this is this is something sort of crazy

and wild and weird.

And, yeah, you know, you should have poured over the magazines at the time.

And, you know, probably means more to us that we're kind of through that era

than it does to anybody, you know, kid today.

We're like, oh, well, it was 260 horsepower.

Yeah, I think that's so cool.

It was like 10 years too late, I think, even if that was in the 80s,

been great. But I remember when it was out in like 96, 97, it's like,

well, 20, I got the 240 horsepower Grand Prix over there that weighs

a thousand pounds less. So I know it's front drive, but it was yeah.

But it the coolness factor of the look was was awesome.

Yeah. And then Dodge came along and said, hey, we're going to put,

you know, a big V8 and our charger and make 400 plus horsepower.

So then that was sort of the real muscle today and came back.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's oh, go ahead.

No, no, go ahead. I was I believe the first one was the Magnum, too.

You know, if you want to talk about it in each case, that was something else.

Yeah, I mean, it's like why a big American wagon, right?

But I think, you know, I kind of wonder if what killed that was not having

the third seat, right? You kind of had the yeah, the big American wagon.

But it was like still a five seater.

And it was like, OK, you're kind of close.

But does it does it make sense versus, you know, sort of the

the big wagons we're used to.

I don't know if that's to be crazy by then, too.

Yeah, I don't even know if you could put a third seat in the Magnum.

It was yeah, that line was so low, right?

But yeah, and you kind of have that that, you know,

the charger doesn't have a super deep trunk to start with.

So a little bit tricky.

But yeah, it was it was definitely a cool car.

It was just, you know, I don't know whether it was like, OK, you know,

some the man with a family is going to cross shop that with a town and country.

I think that may have been a bit of a miscalp there.

Yeah, yeah, they had a they had a small group that wanted to buy them

and they all bought one and then just like a lot of cars.

Now what do you do?

Yeah, so many cars that are like that.

Cybertruck ID buzz, like people go nuts over them.

But then once the people who actually are going to buy one by one,

you're not sustaining it. So yeah, I know exactly.

But I mean, I'm glad they tried, right?

It was good to see. So exactly.

Yeah, there was just an error back in those 2000s

seemed with the American manufacturers where they were trying anything

because sales weren't good.

So for some reason, there was a performance error where everything performed.

Remember, Chevy had SS's on everything Malibu.

Oh, yes, yes, you got access.

I mean, I will defend that that era of Malibu a little bit

because it was such a like if you had driven the previous gen of,

you know, the first sort of like new Malibu, like 97, 98 ones,

they were so awful and like the brakes were terrible.

And the seats were like awful.

It was just miserable on every quantitative

of like measure that you could possibly get at and every qualitative measure, too.

And then you kind of got in like, you know, one of the 04 or later ones.

And it was just it was such a step change.

And now it is, I mean, you look like a Malibu is like, yeah,

if you need an car like the Malibu, like an external Malibu is like

pretty good option. I mean, there's there's a lot there to be.

Oh, Craig had to go.

Oh, yeah, I know he had to drop off for a call.

The.

It's funny about that Malibu you're talking about, because I had an Alaro

and it was crazy that platform mates could be so different.

Now, I know like mine was sort of the next gen after the

previous Malibu, but the problem for GM at that time was they made good

vehicles, but their styling was still not great like that.

Yeah, I mean, it's great. Yeah.

But it drove good.

I mean, in that platform in that era, I remember in that car, I still

wish I had a chance to drive is remember, there's the G six coupe

maybe sitting in two and you get the three nine.

They board out the three eight and in manual, you get a six

speed manual, three nine push ride front drive G six in like two

thousand and five or something, which is awesome.

Yeah, I mean, I had one for a couple of weeks as a rental

and the G six is a very underrated car.

You know, I mean, obviously it's like sharing the platform

with I think it was the Sab nine three at the time.

And, you know, even in rental auto spec with the V six, I mean, it was no

no slouch at all.

Just I think Pontiac was kind of poisoned by then.

Yeah, they were making great cars and it just was not

not hitting home at all.

It's kind of sad to see you look at that the G eight.

Obviously like fantastic drivers cars.

And they just didn't move at all for some reason.

You know, that G six first came out with the member Saturn aura.

Yeah, it's twin.

And yeah, I can't remember the initial legends, but they're OK.

But then when they gave it the dual overhead cam three six.

And the three nine was the performance one with the manual,

even though it made less power.

Like, yeah, it became quite the performer.

But like you said, I think Pontiac had a year or two left after that.

Yeah, I mean, the Saturn was another tragedy, too.

And you sort of have that that situation where it's like, yeah,

it's they kind of had the world by the tail.

And then all of a sudden it just didn't know where to go.

Yeah, yeah, then it was it was it was too bad because I mean,

they were a good little good little rigs.

But yeah, it was sort of it was a hard and fast fall.

Well, it's just GM at the time.

I mean, like I've it's no surprise to people who watch or listen to show

that I'm an Oldsmobile fan and same year.

Late 90s, early 2000s, they were probably making the best

products at a GM and whole packages.

They looked great.

The interiors weren't terrible.

They drove nice.

But by then, like they're that name was so dead, like it died in the 80s.

So it was too little too late.

But the Aurora, the Intrigue, the Lera, all good looking vehicles.

But I mean, I think they kind of missed a trick

with the Intrigue by not calling it a cutlass supreme.

You know, I think it was too much change too quickly.

And you kind of had the the buyers getting lost

on where where to go, right?

It's one of those situations where it's like, yeah, you have somebody

that's trading in their cutlass supreme.

It's like, well, we have this intrigue and it's like, well,

where's the cutlass rate?

Like, you know, sort of you had a nameplate that was kind of around

for what, 30 plus years at that point.

And then all of a sudden he's like, yeah, let's just switch that off.

They were trying too hard to go to their old customer base.

And I mean, Dodge just kind of almost did that with the electric charger.

And they quickly remedied that.

But yeah, part of the problem, too, at the time

was I worked at a Chevrolet Oldsville dealer in university

and you'd have a row of alleros and intrigues.

And I had trouble sometimes at first

by selling it apart.

So I could imagine a consumer wouldn't, you know, they wouldn't

realize like this is a big midsize, you know, nice premium sedan

versus sort of an intermediate or if you call the alleros.

Yeah, they were almost too identical.

But I guess Oldsville is trying to be like the Germans

and, you know, have a family look across the fleet.

Yeah, I mean, it was it was just like, I don't know.

I mean, I kind of wonder nowadays

about whether it was the right call to kill Oldsville.

You know, it's sort of one of those things it's like nowadays,

it kind of like in retrospect, it looks like Buick might have been

the one that that should have gotten the axe versus Oldsville.

But yeah, I don't know.

It's interesting to think about what might have been

if they had kicked around a little bit longer because I think,

yeah, the product mix was amazing.

I mean, even the alleros, like a nice little car,

just, you know, sort of nobody

was thinking in that direction or, you know, just got overwhelmed

by people just buying Cavaliers.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, if Buick wasn't selling so well overseas,

I wonder which one would have survived.

But oh, well, maybe they'll bring back

like a special shivvy or Buick one day.

That'll be called a Pontiacal.

They've kind of been teasing that that that Pontiac thing

every once in a while, right?

Now, I think, you know, for EV Pontiac makes perfect sense.

But yeah, we'll see if it ever transpires.

Performance EV, yeah.

That'd be cool.

Actually, a little performance EV, like a Coupe Over raised

car, sort of unknown in between and just give it like

seven horsepower and.

Yeah. Or, you know, or even give it, you know,

just a bunch of red gauges and a cool interior and like,

you know, some some cladding down the side or whatever.

Right. But this is something for us

that appreciate the Pontiac call it some cladding

and call it white track. Exactly.

You'll get us lining up for it.

Well, I need to let you go or our episode's going on.

But it's been great talking to you.

Yeah. It's been great to talk to you guys.

Maybe next time we have you on, we'll start bumping up

our errors. We covered the the 90s and early 2000s.

And I will move into for sure.

Yeah, we'll talk more about later on

or more recent.

But anyways, yeah, thanks again.

Have a good one there.

All right. Thank you. See you.

OK, boy.

OK, so that just about wraps things up on the Auto Guide

show brought to you by eBay Motors.

We'll take a quick look at what we've been up to this week

and what's next.

So for me, I was away for half the week in Denver.

I was driving the highly, highly updated Subaru Salter.

It was actually a discussion we had quite a bit on the trip

as to why this is just a refresh.

I know it's only three years down the road,

but why didn't Subaru just say it's a new generation?

I mean, even the structure is changed a bit.

They have increased safety.

So it's rare that a vehicle gets 57 percent more horsepower,

25 percent more range, a new look inside and out, new tech,

a revised structure.

And it's like, this is just a refresh.

So when this airs, my review will have just gone live,

but I'll save my thoughts on it for next week.

And then now that I'm back home, I'm actually driving nothing this week

because I got lots to catch up on.

Next week, I will have ACX 50 to do a full camping review.

And I'm going on a trip to Tennessee to drive some cars

and to watch Indy race.

So I'll have lots to talk about when I'm back.

What have you been up to, Greg?

Well, you have an awesome week ahead.

It sounds like for sure a good way to end summer here.

So next week, I am going to drive the new Ram V8, the new Ram V8.

That's out at the Chrysler Stellantis Chelsea Proving Grounds.

That probably won't make the next show just due to the embargo situation.

But I can't wait to tell everybody what that's all about.

A couple of things I do have coming up.

I spent a week in Michigan's upper peninsula in the Honda Passport Trail

Sport, which really interesting.

I can't wait to kind of dive into that.

What that was like.

It definitely feeds into that like off road, kind of adjacent-ish vehicle.

You know, you take a family hauler and make it more off roady.

And then I have a forerunner review coming up that I imagine

we'll get live next week.

So talk more about the forerunner who doesn't like that.

That's definitely that's very authentic.

So, yeah.

Yeah, that's a lot of off roadness that you have coming up.

The Ram, I can't wait to hear your thoughts because I mean,

I've driven many rams and many V8s and I love them.

But it's just funny that it's now the it's the entry level engine

in terms of power, maybe not in terms of price.

But it'll be interesting to see where it's places.

It'll be a huge seller because I think Ram of all truck brands,

maybe Chevy, a close second, they want V8.

So, yeah, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I think it will be very similar to the old one,

but maybe they change things.

It will be interesting.

And I did just drive the Hurricane six in the Ram.

So I honestly, I'm going into it with an open mind.

I really am like what which one's better.

I don't know.

Yeah, the high output, three liter.

It was a it was a party.

I think, yeah, I mean, that's that's like the special engine.

But I think the low output and the V8 output

is going to have more power and torque.

But I think I'd love to get two trucks with those two

at the same time and really see the difference.

I did that years ago with a Mustang V6 and a Mustang EcoBoost.

And it's crazy how much the character is different.

And I totally saw the appeal for both depending on the consumer.

So anyway, we're getting way ahead of ourselves

even driven yet, but we will discuss that probably in two weeks time.

Next week, as I said, I will be away.

So Greg, I believe you'll be here with Kyle.

And then I'll be back in two weeks.

Sounds good. All right.

Well, that's it for another episode and we'll be back next week.

And I personally will be back in two weeks.

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