End Of The Year Awards, What Do Navy Pilots Drive, Trying To Replace The Wrong Car | Episode 1,026

Well, you know what? Happy eve of Christmas eve. Isn't that right? Something like that. I am wearing my favorite Christmas shirt. It is a Christmas shirt. It's a Christmas movie. It's a Christmas movie. It's a Christmas shirt. I am wearing the Nakatomi Plaza Christmas party shirt that is black with white lettering. It is my favorite Christmas morning shirt. My wife years ago also bought me a black and white Santa hat that I wear with pride when everybody's required to wear Santa hats on Christmas morning. I am Bob.

There I am. But anyway, we hope you actually have some downtime this week. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy new year, all that stuff. We are missing next week's podcast. So the last week of the year, we will not do a podcast. We'll be back shortly thereafter, which is all good. We're very excited to actually be back with you guys. So we will skip one week and then we'll be back with a vengeance. We are going to cover kind of an end of year, a little bit wrap up on this podcast. Of course, car debates. There's some news up front, car conclusions. There's lots of stuff coming at you. We're excited to wrap up this week.

Thank you so much for the year with you guys. Thank you for all your patronage, your support this year. We're excited to keep bringing you some amazing 2026 events, both on the everyday driver and the hooked on driving side. We've got so much plan. We've got a big year planned for us for filming for filming schedule. We're excited by the success of the podcast. Please keep sharing. We're excited that you can find it more places in our video and just share a time to hang out and talk cars. We absolutely love it. So thank you all for tuning

this time as well. Really appreciate that. We will definitely get gear sorted for that. So the camera wasn't as great, but we're back for this. And then, yeah, skipping an episode and then we'll be back for 2026. You'll be surprised to hear. I'm already solving problems for our next live, which isn't for another 25 years, but it's okay. No, it's not just there's going to be software and gear and we're going to solve it. We're going to get it solved. But anyway, we'll get back into that. Let's dive into some news. And then we have what we're calling our end of year awards. We haven't really done an awards thing before, but we have we created some, I mean,

let's be honest, completely made up categories. We're going to talk about our end of year awards. So that's kind of very shortly. There's been some topics with designers. And you know, I love to cover design personally for various car companies. And that is a topic that came up about Jerry McGovern, the head of design for JLR. And we reported along with the world, everyone reported that he had been fired that he was gone no longer with JLR, you know, great career, you know,

ups and downs, goods and meds. And he was gone. But he actually still exists on the website. This is pulled from the JLR corporate media site. He is still named as being an employee. He is still the chief creative officer on the website. Well, and I did not know he was order of the British Empire. I didn't know his OBE. That's pretty interesting. Yeah, he's awarded that in 2020. The news that actually came out that we reported. We actually kind of underplayed it. The news was he was escorted from the building.

It wasn't like we've parted ways and it's over. It was like, yeah, you know, don't let the door hit you. It was that kind of news pretty much. And then Jaguar comes back with no, we didn't. So now we're just confused, but they haven't issued enough definitive statements to clear the air because they haven't cleared anything up. They haven't said, well, I mean, he's still on the website. Yeah, but we don't know what the relationship is. And he could be exercising legal agreements and some sort of contract and fighting back and wanting to stay on. But who knows what's actually going on. But that's the real.

There's turmoil in the designs. There's turmoil behind the scenes. They got shut down because of the hacking and couldn't build cars for six weeks or more. And so there's a lot of turmoil. So we will continue to bring you the juicy details, the juicy updates as we find out about them. But apparently un-fired, not fired.

I just don't know what's true anymore. That's the problem moving on to news from Mercedes Benz Gordon Wagner. They're ahead of design. Apparently is leaving Mercedes Benz. He's been there close to 30 years, I believe. And he has been influential on so many designs from Mercedes Benz. And really I liked his enthusiasm and his ethos. And that was you have to fall in love with a car before you even get in it.

Central surfaces. And that has been a Mercedes hallmark for years and years. And he has been very influential in a number of different cars, including the A-Class, the sixth Gen S-Class, the SLR McLaren alongside Gordon Murray when they designed that. And the AMG-1, remember that car when Mercedes had the bright idea to install the 1.6 liter turbo engine from the F1 car. So a derived unit of thought into a road going car.

And the head of the company said we must have been drunk when we decided that that was a good idea because of all the problems that you said before the German brand should get drunk at dance on the table. Apparently some of them have been with beaver teeth and the Mercedes one. This is the result. Yeah.

But he is being replaced by Bastion Baudi, who is the former head of AMG design, starting in February, 2026. And he sketched that AMG vision grand to reasonable concept. Here that is for the grand to reasonable six game.

And he's had a number of different hits too. So he's going to hopefully be continuing a string of hits, but kind of taking Mercedes into a new design direction, new era and not that they were stagnant necessarily, but I'm excited for what's next. The problem with a designer switch overhead of designs, which over is that it takes at least a year, 18 months before the public sees any real fruits of what that next generation, that next design theme will be. But hopefully we'll see some introductions here. And he said a great tone.

Also, you know, designing with highlights and reflections and making beautiful cars, which is what we want. So we hope Mercedes continues to do that, even though the new GLB concept I saw kind of looks like a key atelier ride or the key atelier ride looks like a Mercedes.

So when you say one or the other Kia benefits and Mercedes doesn't.

True, it doesn't matter which way it goes. The brand only looks one way beautiful cars is what we want. So a couple of other quick headlines, very quick headlines, I'm not going to dig dig very far into each of these, but motor one has has reported that the EU has officially rescinded the 2035 ban on internal combustion engines and various automakers Volvo among them are kind of waving their hands in the air, like, but we just got here, you know, but we would say that it was going to be a thing where I just don't think that was going to execute and it does seem to be kind of falling apart now.

That does not mean electric cars are going away. It just means the actual no more internal combustion engines of 2035. That is potentially going away. We've seen pivots throughout the industry and again the brands that have figured it out. I do think it's interesting. Volvo is one of the ones quoted as being like, but we figured it out. I'm like, yeah, because you have a Chinese parent and the Chinese are fully into EVs with a lot of subsidies nationally.

Anyway, here's a lot of money. Yes, for sure. So anyway, so that is happening. The other headline that actually read on the drive is the fact that infinity continues to claim they're going to make a manual sports sedan. Sure, which would be awesome. Yes, then they put four door sports car on it for real and have a be rear wheel drive. I'd like to see that too. Sure.

But anyway, but we'll see what the sun actually and infinity actually does there. I hope that is true.

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But let's move into the end of year awards. The EO, I don't know what I would have an acronym. The point is, we haven't really done awards before but I thought we could do it on the podcast. There are lots more we could do.

If you guys have ideas for awards, we should do going forward next year. We'll circle back to this. Maybe with a bigger award list, but we have five major categories.

And these relate to things we've actually covered in the last essentially calendar year. Best car reveal, worst car reveal, car that surprised us most, car that disappointed us most, and film of the year meaning our films that we made.

What is your film of the year doesn't have to be the one that was most successful. Just what did you like making the most.

And I ended up with two of these for most. I couldn't just pick one. I think I picked two for everybody.

But I had to tie break this here too. So jump in. Where do you want to start? I will just go with best car reveal. I do have two on that best car reveal for me is two of them.

First off, I have to start right here with the Toyota, the GR GT. That was, I mean, the pomp and circumstance of the car reveals are I always kind of my eyes kind of roll back in their head. Like, are we doing this? I mean, it's so laser lights and smoke machines and you'll never believe how awesome this is.

And you know, we've seen it before. This is years ago where the Faraday future then proceeded to drive itself off stage and stop. You know, they don't always go well. Okay. But this at least you made the comment where you said it feels like Toyota put the industry on notice. I think there's the flip side as well. And that is Toyota sees how much people with money will buy a special car. So this will probably be $200,000, which is crazy to think about. It looks like a weird mash of Toyota design and an AMG GT.

But bring this please. I'm fascinated to drive it. But I did feel like this feels, this is one of those releases, both the minor this, they feel real. This is a real vehicle currently coming. It's not just pie in the sky stuff, which is where stuff gets really way, way off base. So that's this one. The other one I have for this might surprise some of you, but it's the new Kia tell your ride. Oh, yeah.

Because this when the original tell your ride came out, this was Kia's, I feel like in some ways coming out party. The tell your ride was instantly at the top of the category when it came out and everybody went, that's a Kia and dealers were marking it up. There were year long waits to get one. This was a huge success. The new tell your ride needs to be a hit. But we saw it at the LA Auto Show. It looks great. It looks even bigger. It looks a lot like the scout, which

looks like the Rivian, but this appears to be a real success. We haven't driven it yet. Nobody's driven it yet. We look forward to driving it next year. But this seems to execute on exactly what Kia needed to do. So in that regard, I think it's a success. These two reveals again, the common thread of both of them for me are brands. We like, but cars that seem to actually exist. This is not just like look at the crazy thing we're going to do. These are real. And they have the potential to be very good and give some level of announcement to their classes.

In the industry, I thought both of them were very cool. Yeah, and yeah, we sat into the LA Auto Show and very impressed. So they had something great. And so we're expecting something improved upon greatness, which is a hard task. The sophomore album is always difficult.

But we're excited because we instantly noticed brand new details and build quality. All of those things just instantly felt like, yeah, this is going to be building on success. And it's going to be even better, which is pretty impressive.

I hope so. We'll see. We'll see. You want to jump into your best? Sure. Changing gears here to best car reveal. And the way I took this was not just the car, but the reveal itself.

And you might think I wanted to say Genesis magma GT because look at this sexy thing. Look at that. Yes. And that looks pretty close to real too. Yeah. It does look very real.

I also really wanted to say and acknowledging also again the GR GT so many things, so many good things to come out of this program. But as a reveal in and of itself.

Okay. All right. I'm putting the car aside, even though the car is very special and it is pretty amazing. But as a here's what we did for the reveal.

Absolutely goes to Mercedes Benz for revealing the AMG concept GT XX that set a 24 hour EV distance speed record of 3,404 miles.

It was at the Nardo high speed test track in Italy and the driver on the world, their quoting was completed in just under eight days, seven days, 13 hours, 24 minutes and seven seconds. And this concept GT had to lap a 7.8 mile circuit, 3,177 times,

averaging a speed of 186 miles an hour and they involved an F1 driver from their F1 program George Russell and set records doing it. So they revealed a car that nobody had seen or heard about.

And in doing so, they made history. They set speed records with the entire team as reveals go. It's hard to top this one in my opinion.

That is very good point. I hadn't thought about it in those terms. You've really nailed that. That's an excellent, excellent point.

Holy cow. They're celebrating technology. They're celebrating. Look what we did. It's man versus machine, which is what we love about Le Mans.

And they said, yeah, setting records, a new car, the technology worked. So it wasn't just, hey, here's this concept. And nobody knows what it can do. But they put real engineering behind it and had a bunch of drivers go thrash the snot out of it.

That's really good. That's pretty impressive. You're right. That is a big thing. And then they went, hey, world, by the way, boom, we did. Yeah, that's great. It's really good. I think as a reveal, I think Mercedes takes it on that one.

All right, go to worst car reveal, worst car reveal. I'm going to cheat a little bit here, just a little bit. I'm going to cheat because technically this was just over a year ago.

Can we all agree that the Jaguar type 00 talk about landing with a thud. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we all just went, what happened?

The initial response wasn't even repulsion. It was just shock. You know what I mean? I feel like everybody then, like, like, let's look at the, let's look at the design. Let's talk about what we think of the, but the initial response was just the entire world with what?

And then we all recovered and figured out our opinion. Right. So yeah, I think fire, or they didn't get fired. We don't know. People, people may have left the building. But the point is, I had to go with the Jaguar because that was actually the first week of December last year.

It's a little over a year ago. All right. But I have another one I want to talk about. And that is earlier this year at the Shanghai Auto Show. BMW was showing the new vision concept, the new class, right?

The one at the Shanghai Auto Show was glow in the dark. Look, this is not a comment on the car. This is a comment on the reveal. Okay. It was glow in the dark. And they showed it driving up a 55 degree wall.

My question here, just kind of like the what question mark from the Jaguar is, what are we doing?

The car doesn't need to glow in the dark point one. Why does it ever? And point two, you, what are we driving up walls?

Customers find yourself driving a 55 degree wall by our car. And there was a new conversation about the fact that it has fans and it gives it extra grip.

But this is, this is an irrelevant demonstration. This is the marketing department goes, you know what we could do.

And nobody, nobody went, yeah, but why? That's my thing here. Why is it glow with the dark? And why are we driving up?

What looks like a skate ramp? What are we doing? It's why I always think the design team should stand back from the car and ask, is it pretty?

Is that working? Yeah. And if it isn't, start over.

No, nobody seems to do that. Nobody ever stops. Nobody ever stops. What's there in motion?

So this, this is to look, I actually like this new class design. I think it's better than the Beaver Tief. I think the whole premise looks really cool.

I think this car in spite of being glow in the dark looks pretty awesome. But I just don't understand this reveal.

That's why it's worse to reveal for me. It's not actually the product. It's just like, what are we doing exactly in this reveal?

Glow in the dark and skate ramp and like cool edgy. It's cool. I suppose it is, but I do not get it.

Alright, switching over here. I did go after for my worst car reveal. I went after the car, not the reveal itself.

And I have chosen the Jeep Recon. Interesting.

Now this is a mid-size EV. It's an off-roading SUV for $67,000 with approximately 230 to 250 miles of range.

It's built on the STLA large platform from Stellantis. I'll come back to that. But I feel like it seems tone deaf to the market, currently where we're at,

although to be fair, the market has changed dramatically, very quickly and dramatically. And it's now up against the Scout.

But the Scout seems better thought through overall. So here's the Recon being shown, articulating, and you can take the doors off.

And there's a number of features. You know what, are cool. But that STLA large frame, that platform, excuse me, is shared with the charger and the wagonier

and a lot of other Stellantis vehicles. And it isn't body on frame. When they have the Wrangler and have pretty much proven to the world, the Wrangler is a definitive rock-crawling off-road vehicle.

They're trying to do that with this Recon without doing a body on frame and instead just plopping and sort of making it do things that it can mostly do.

But off-roaders, true off-roaders, I think will be more attracted to the Scout Terra because it is body on frame.

And Scout also has 325 to 350 miles of range, claimed right now, nobody's driven it yet. But also they've got the extra gas engine to increase the range as well.

So for a $67,000 vehicle to offer 230, 250 on paper, in the real world, that might be 200 on a non-body on frame off-road platform that is shared with chargers and other cars.

It seems like they're trying to quickly cobble things together and they haven't really thought through, whereas the new EV Recon should be a huge Wrangler that competes with Scout.

Without body on frame, true off-roader approach it the cheap way instead of kind of making yet another SUV, not that great of a range.

The world hasn't really been impressed. And again, even though it seems like what do you do in Stellantis, you seem very late to the party about what customers are actually asking for, like who asked for the Recon?

This was already a motion and the world changed.

You could argue the same thing for Scout or Rivian or any of those. Sales numbers have dramatically fallen, but for the future it just seems like they're trying to be reactive instead of proactive and define Jeep for, here's what we think the future is, a mix of both.

You know, fully off-road capable rather than just, well, we took an already existing platform and threw us something together real quick and that's kind of the impression that I get.

So for example, I just, I don't know who buys it. If you're going to really true shop, truly shop.

I'm very curious to see.

And spend that kind of money, you can't ignore this thing.

I'm very curious about both of them, both the Recon and your point about the Scout. That would be fascinating to see where that goes.

Cars that surprised us most this year.

Yes, I'm going to jump in on that one.

I'm going to start here with one that may not surprise anybody, but it really did surprise me.

And that is when we finally, finally got to drive the Alpine A110.

And I bring it up because this is one of those cars that based on what it is on paper, I came in with a lot of expectation that it was going to be good.

I expected it and wanted it to be good.

Generally, that's a recipe for disaster.

I also came to it not liking how it looked until I saw it in person.

I think in person it works. I don't like it in photographs.

I just don't think it's attractive enough.

I've never really liked the front end. I'd actually love the front end.

I know it references back the original, but I wish the front end didn't have the center two lights, which I know reference the rally lights.

But it's going to be a cleaner design without it.

But this in person is smaller and better looking than I ever expected, and it drives wonderfully well.

It made me, I mean, a lot of times we drive stuff, and it's only interesting because it's forbidden fruit.

Otherwise, it's like it's fine.

Right.

But this just drives really well, and it also, it surprises me at how good it is at being counter to the market.

World of 5C SUVs.

Alpine's next car is an electric 5C SUV, and it's been in some movies and stuff.

So I mean, ridiculous in comparison to this.

This is such an old school car to have been built now.

And then it just works.

It proves all of the stuff about old school cars.

So that was one of them.

The other one actually really might surprise many of you, but I had to bring it up.

My own Rubikayan.

That's awesome.

Really surprised me this year because we actually took it.

Believe it or not, that was earlier this year.

To Moab, when we rock crawled it, the Lexus stock and this with a three-inch lift and some skid plates,

this doesn't have extra wheel travel.

So I was tri-potting all over the place.

There are some moments.

Yes, there are some moments in that video where I am genuinely scared.

But it did everything you could imagine it needed to do beyond what you would ever expect it to do,

and then it drove home.

And then more recently, we drove it as a camera vehicle,

while you specifically were thrashing a TRD Pro Tacoma off-road down a fast running trail.

We were doing like a fast blast down a back road with a lot of undulation.

Using this as camera vehicle, chalking this down the road.

The kind of thing where the average person would never buy a cayenne and go do that.

And it was like, bring it.

I can't believe that my own car made the list when I was looking at stuff we shot this year.

And that stuff from this past spring feels two years ago, because we did so much this year.

The Rubikayan, Concord, Fins and Things in Moab.

Doing, in many cases, the hard option.

There's lots of places on the trail where you can like, here's the hard and here's the easy.

It was doing the hard stuff.

It was so impressive.

I'm still impressed.

I have to call it out.

I love that you're nominated your own car.

And you're right.

It was so much fun to have that thing and just doing its thing.

Being a cool cayenne off road.

I am with you.

I have a tie for the car that surprised me most.

Here's, you know, walking around the side of the car off to the front is the Alpine A110.

I thought I would like it just fine.

European lightweight.

No manual, but I thought I'd like it.

And I really fell in love with it.

And the dynamic qualities were so superb and different to experience.

I think how can cars be so different?

This one really stood out.

So this one's on the very lightweight end of things.

2400 pounds.

But also what surprised me is on the very heavy end of things.

Okay.

All right.

That I absolutely loved.

That I thought I would like just fine because who doesn't like Mercedes AMG with a lot of power?

Cool.

Like it.

Don't know if I'd own it.

I could not believe this car.

40 800 pounds.

I'm going to say that again.

48 100 pounds.

But it's the power stat that's even more frightening.

Yeah.

If you had told us this car weighed 3,800 pounds as we drove it, we talked about it.

Yeah.

It seems it does kind of feel like that, you know, that weight seems heavy.

Yeah.

And then we keep rereading the stats.

We keep looking at it going.

How is this possible?

And how does it drive so lightly, so engaging, so interesting?

Why do I want it so much?

And having 1,000 pound feet of torque.

1,800 plus horsepower and 1,000 pound feature.

I mean, who needs that in their sports car?

No one.

Enough to answer.

4,800 pounds sports car.

Yeah.

Like there's no way you could fall in love with a 4,800 pound sports car.

And yet they've built one.

That is so shocking.

I also have an SUV on my list.

Wow.

It is also mine.

I like it.

Good.

But as soon as we drove the new 4Runner, I thought I'd like it just fine.

I thought I liked the Land Cruiser.

Good, you know, good for, you know, good off-roader.

And I thought, okay, 4Runner will just be a little bit less expensive version of the Land Cruiser.

And I fell in love.

So much so.

I bought one.

This is mine.

I loved it.

That is good.

That is a very good one.

Yeah.

It replaced the expedition.

I just thought this is the next thing.

I've never thought of myself as 4Runner people.

I don't know what that means.

I'm not sure.

I just thought, oh my God, to have this.

It is very cool.

And every time I drive it, I really enjoy it.

It's interesting.

It feels light and spry.

But it's not hybrid.

It doesn't have a battery pack.

Yeah, yeah.

Like the motors, all that stuff.

So it's just, it seems like a great mix of new technology, especially interior.

But old school, it doesn't have a start stop button.

It feels just kind of normal, like a normal SUV.

And it's just, it's been awesome so far.

I will continue to do a series.

I might think about doing a light bill.

I don't need to go crazy and, you know, hook it off a cliff or anything.

That's not what they're designed to do anyway.

But what am I going to do for customization?

What do I want out of it?

I think it could be a great platform for ongoing stuff, ongoing driving, ongoing cool adventures.

Oh, keep trying to keep up with you in the Rubikayin.

Yeah.

I just was so impressed with this thing.

And I like it better than the Land Cruiser.

I think it's the better play.

I do too.

And they're so similar, same wheelbase, same engine, same, same, same.

And yet I like this better.

I like the styling better.

I like the rise better.

I like the suspension better.

You bought one.

I like that you can drive it in two-wheel drive mode.

Mm-hmm.

All of the things.

You bought one for the actual real price.

Like the MSRP.

You went out and spent money.

I love it.

That's a great, good for you.

It is really cool.

I think you did a great choice.

I'm going to jump to a car that disappointed me the most.

One of these might be obvious.

The other one might be controversial.

But I'm going to dive in anyway.

The one I'm going to start with.

Just because my expectations are so high and it gets so close.

And that is the Alpha 4C.

It's not the first time we've driven it.

But we drove it this year against the Alpine A110,

which again, most surprising.

And the Elise, which just remains a rock star of a vehicle.

I said it in the piece.

I'm going to say it now for those of you that are Alpha 4C owners.

We drove all these cars stock.

In the stock configuration.

There is stuff you can do to the Alpha.

We've been told many, many times that quote-unquote fixes it.

I have heard by the way.

From people who have done all of the quote fixes.

I have heard people say revolutionary, amazing.

Everything is solved.

It's perfect.

I've also heard other people say it's better.

But the point is it does get better.

But I want to say what I said in the video again.

And that is what depending on what you're coming out of.

This is a revolutionary car.

You're coming out of a big front-engine sports car.

Into this small lightweight mid-engine car.

It feels exotic.

It looks exotic.

It drives very well.

What is so surprising is how much worse it drives than it's two

actual direct competitors in the way they sold it to the public.

So watch that piece.

It's called Let There Be Light.

The Alpha 4C, the Elise like I have, and the A110.

It just, it wasn't just you and me.

We had chance and Ben who had owned the A110 with us.

And everybody got out of the alpha and went,

how is that trailing so badly?

Among these three.

Again, compared to your SUV, compared to your normal sports car,

I got it.

It's very cool.

But put it into that very focused hyper pool of lightweight cars.

And Alpha, it's like they baked the recipe 80%.

And then sold it.

That far, huh?

You know?

So that is why this is the disappointment to me.

The other one for me is probably going to be controversial.

But I am going there.

The 911 GTS hybrid.

Okay.

Really?

I'm disappointed because this is nearly a quarter million dollar car now.

Yeah.

Okay.

We have it with this AMG.

Honestly, this was one of my favorite shoots of the year.

Not my very favorite.

One of my favorite shoots of the year.

We shot it in California.

You can see the AMG lurking in the background of this photo,

which has no business being to your point as powerful, expensive,

or big as it is either.

But this 911 is powerful, expensive, and big too.

Yeah, it is.

And I have to say again, Porsche did something revolutionary.

With their electric hybrid turbo system.

It is so cool.

It is a moonshot engineering marvel.

The problem I have here is the driving experience

and certainly the interior and exterior experience of this

can be bought for a fraction of the price.

Hmm.

And I don't.

I never drove this when we had it and thought

this is a quarter million dollar car.

I understood intellectually that because of the breakthroughs

and the technology and the work that had been done,

I understand intellectually why it costs so much.

But emotionally, no part of me was like quarter million dollar car.

Never once the Mercedes felt like a quarter million dollar car.

That is interesting because I agree.

The Mercedes felt special.

This 911 felt like they had accomplished something.

But then every time I thought of the price, I was like, really?

Yeah.

And I couldn't.

I couldn't justify that price ever.

And it isn't nearly special enough for the price to make sense.

Technology-wise, yes.

But especially, I just, I want this car to wow me emotionally

and it's clinical.

It's incredibly impressive.

Yes.

But I'm disappointed because of that much money.

I just want to be a kid.

I just want to be an excited little kid.

Like, I cannot believe I'm driving this.

It's the most, I cannot believe it.

And I drove this and thought it's a really excellent, powerful 911.

Okay.

Yeah.

Which is crazy to say.

To get better, they're going to have to sloppy them up.

To get more engagement and kind of get sloppier and a little bit dirtier

and just to get driving engagement.

But not engagement.

But just the excitement.

The driving engagement is certainly precise and it wows you

like this car can do this holy crap.

But I bet you 80% of the life of this car, 80% of its usage.

Normal person buys it.

Even a person that comes to track days.

You plan to come to HOD days, okay?

80% of this car's life, you could buy any other 911.

Yeah.

And that's crazy.

So that's why that's on my list.

I know controversial but I'm going there anyway.

So this was not your favorite film or?

No, it's up there.

I really did like that we got to do this some because we will always get

really high in manufacturer stuff back to back.

And I will also say this, I cannot believe I'm saying this.

We've been doing this almost 20 years

and somehow I feel like this year was harder to get cars

than it's ever been, which is crazy.

And part of that was cars that were available.

It was just it was a fight for every single shoot.

So this was a victory.

And thank you to both Porsche and Mercedes

with these comments.

Porsche were probably never give us car again.

But I'm thankful that we did it.

It was really, really cool.

We don't consult before we take on a topic Tuesday.

We don't consult.

But I knew you'd be here with me.

I think the question.

So this is my category for the worst car of the year.

The worst.

One of the disappointed people.

Yeah.

But I guess in thinking this through,

we've been asked a lot,

what cars make you a better driver?

What cars surprised you?

Like, wow, this is amazing.

You're looking for that experience.

Sure.

Other than I love them that wasn't there.

This is the opposite.

And I'm wondering as you get better as a driver,

there are cars that you as a driver leave behind.

Now.

Interesting.

GR86 is an example.

Okay.

You still want that engagement.

And as a powerful fast sports car,

there's many, many others to choose from.

But it's so compelling in terms of price

and, you know, how chuckable it is

and just how engaging and friendly and approachable it is.

That is a huge part of the appeal.

But something like this that you said,

all right, you're coming out of something else.

Your first sports car you'll be, wow.

But so many excellent drivers are coming from something

that was already great.

They're wanting a new experience.

To keep that alpha name, you know, as a premium brand,

it's got to be so good.

It's got to be much better than it ever was.

And I'm thinking, do we leave cars behind

and then the ones that come along like a GR86

were totally willing to go backwards?

Hmm.

Okay.

We need a progression.

We need to get better and better cars,

like wow, this speaks to me more faster, more powerful.

And then one comes along every so often and goes,

oh, but this is just so endearing.

I don't care that it's low power and it's just fun.

This didn't do those things.

Okay.

But it was included in my favorite film of the year

let there be light that was our light weight comparison

that we had the Elise, the Alpine A110 and the 4C

and it was so incredible to see the differences

to experience them back-to-back.

They were magnified like crazy from something I didn't like

to something that I had no idea I would fall in love with

to something that is a standard of light weight engaging

I can't believe they built this kinds of sports cars.

Such a huge dichotomy in between.

So this was my favorite film of the year

and I thought it would be good

but I wasn't expecting it to just shine.

I mean, it was just such a standout in my mind.

It's so much fun.

That is actually one of my top two films of the year as well.

But I'm going to pick another one because I went back through

I started all the way back in January

and I just scrolled through all the films we did.

And I found one that I was like,

you know what?

That's my winner.

Okay.

Let's go there.

And it's this film we did early in the year.

We ended up naming, would you rather?

It is the 360 mode in the Ferrari.

Yeah.

Maya Mira and an original NSX,

a late model original NSX.

And I just thought this was one of those moments

when we did this film where this is the way

you all imagine our job to be all the time.

Okay.

That's good.

This is one of our very favorite roads in perfect weather

and any one of these three cars,

you go up and down that road on that day,

you would have a standout driving day.

You're not disappointed.

It's just a fantastic day behind the wheel.

Yeah.

Any one of these three cars are the kind of cars

that kids put posters on their walls.

A kid in 2025 takes a photo of this car

and cherishes the photo.

That's what these three cars are.

It's good.

We got to drive them back to back.

Perfect road.

Great versions of all three.

Enjoyable versions of all three.

I mean, the fact that one of his mind

is actually not a factor here.

It's amazing, but it's not a factor here.

Any one of these three cars,

it was just a great day.

And we also got to film exactly

what we've always done and done well.

It's a three car comparison.

You and I are in each of these cars.

We're each doing interviews.

We're going to cut a piece together.

It's very comparative.

Very definitive about how do the,

I mean, we're slightly,

you always make the come.

We're slicing the onion and thin.

That's what this shoot was.

We got really specific.

Such fun cars.

So this is my film of the year

because it was just everything came together.

Plus, if you took all the filming out of it,

it was just a great day of driving.

It was a great day.

That's good.

I can't believe we get to do this.

And this is a,

you're right.

It's a perfect example of that.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

That's excellent.

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Or hooked on driving the pre-grid pass

is now on sale from December 15th, 2025

through January 15th, 2026.

Best savings of the year for all regions.

Those credits are good for any track day.

Special events are not included and speaking of special events.

Yes, we must speak of special events.

We decided on Circuit of the Americas for 2026 Coda

and that is May 30th and 31st.

That is a weekend Saturday Sunday, May 3031, 2026 in Austin, Texas.

We're excited to bring hooked on driving back to Coda.

It was such an incredible adventure this year.

And yeah, we're really excited to announce those dates

and registration will be going live very soon.

So continue to watch hooked on driving.com for when that registration goes up.

But we want to get people registered as soon as possible

because there's a question mark about the track and it's going private.

Is what we've been told.

Yeah, what we understand from Circuit of the Americas

is it's going to become like so many other places.

It's going to become a club track where you need to be a member

to get the most opportunity of track time there.

So if you've ever thought, I'll drive Coda someday.

This should be your year.

Again, May 30th and 31st.

There is a really cool Watkins Glenigan event

that's going to happen in our Northeast region.

That's going to be all of July 4th weekend.

So think about that as well.

But hang on.

Stop the presses.

This is the announcement we're all waiting for.

This is the one we're all waiting for.

Yes.

Because we've done it for a little over a decade now.

We have gone to the ring and spa.

We call it our pilgrimage trip based on our original film in 2015

where you and I did the pilgrimage ourselves.

Pilgrimage is happening again this year.

It's going to be two days on spa one day on the ring.

Road tours, some tourist stuff around.

It's August 2nd through the 8th.

Registration is going to open the first week of January.

I want to tell you guys a couple of other things you may not realize

because this is a trip to Europe.

Which means already it's expensive.

I know it's expensive.

But let me put it in some perspective for all of you.

There are other groups that host very cool trips.

I'm not taking anything away from anybody else's trips.

There are a lot of great trips out there that you can do.

But for other groups that will put you on the track

and on a road tour,

their domestic trips where you bring your own car

are more expensive than coming to Europe with us

where the car, fuel, registration, instructor are all provided

and you're getting actual track time not lead follow.

And actual drive time on European roads

you will never see again unless you come with us.

It is expensive, but it is cheaper than other groups, domestic trips.

Which I'm saying it because I discovered this recently

and I can't believe that's true.

So it is worth the bucket list of this trip.

My favorite sentence ever about pilgrimage is

it's the once in a lifetime trip you should take every year.

That's not our term.

It got termed for us, but it's so true.

So again, August two through eight,

registration launching in early January.

So something to think about over Christmas.

Just compile your money.

Exactly.

Look for loose change in the count.

It's going to be slightly more than that.

But we definitely think you should come on this trip with us.

You've heard us talk about about it for now 11 years.

It's straight.

And you've got to come on this great trip with us.

Also, 2026 dates are up at hooked on driving

nationwide Northeast Santi and Cody are, again,

are hosting that incredible July 4th event.

So watch for those dates for the Northeast region,

mid-Atlantic region.

That is Devon and Ryan and Heather there.

Lonnie and Marla in the Midwest.

They're hosting great events in Kansas City at Hedge Hollow

and other tracks there too.

Pacific Northwest.

We've got Jonathan and Bear there.

And of course, we're in California.

So watch all those dates.

Go to hooked on driving.com, find a date near you

and we're looking forward to seeing you on track.

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For our first debate, Mike is in North Carolina.

He is a retired Navy pilot.

Very cool.

Yeah, he doesn't tell us what he flew,

which I'm a little bit bummed about.

But anyway, separate thing.

Maybe he'll write back and tell us.

The pilot geek in me was like,

what'd you fly, man?

What was it?

Because it damage his hearing.

So I hope it was worth it.

That's the thing.

Right.

Well, Mike likes machines that work well and are responsive.

Yeah, his hearing was damaged,

and as a result, vibrations and noises

wreaked havoc in his ears with tenitis

and can be really frustrating.

Sorry to hear that, Mike.

But he loves the driving field.

And looks at his 2022 Miata NDE,

but the vibes in the noise, he said,

especially at highway speeds and long trips,

are unbearable even if he wears earplugs.

Wow.

Whether the top is up or down,

he's tried some sound dampening

and removed the sound too,

but the difference has been not enough to matter, unfortunately.

The more fun cars that he's owned in the past,

include an 89 Mercedes 560 SL.

Okay.

It's classic.

Yeah, for sure.

97 Mercedes E320,

06 Audi A4 manual,

another A4 manual in 2010,

a 2017 BMW 330 iX wagon,

and lots of large SUVs,

and he said,

these were all fine,

mostly quiet and comfortable,

but the performance on the base models that he had

were a bit meager for his liking.

Sure.

So now he's thinking about selling his Miata

for something with a solid roof

and less aggravating to his ears.

He can afford a bit more car now,

so he's looking for sporty but more comfortable,

quiet ride with manual transmission.

He'd like something with car play

and some comfort items like heated seats

and steering wheel.

He calls his minister of finance

the admiral of finance.

She probably has earned that rank well.

She probably has.

She probably marched up through the ranks.

The admiral of finance needs to be taken care of.

Yes.

That's a big notch.

It is.

Yes.

We are going to adhere to the admiral of finance.

There's an award ceremony for that

portal orders have come down.

Yes.

The admiral of finance.

We'll let my getaway with something under 75,000.

Okay.

And he mentions the Acura Integra Type S

that we've talked about a lot.

That might fit the bill,

but they seems to be unicorns around him

and he's not been able to drive one yet.

Even though, yes,

we still think he should drive one.

That's a great idea.

It is.

That's a great one.

Do we think would fit the bill?

I've got good choices for you.

Mike, thank you for writing.

What I've got on screen here is the Toyota Supra

manual transmission,

hardtop, quiet interior.

All of these cars are noisy,

if you ring them out, of course.

But this one struck me because

cruising along,

great, even under hard acceleration.

You're not hearing that much of the engine.

It's still decent and manual transmission.

Love this thing.

It's awesome.

Awesome car.

I'm going to talk about that though.

I cannot get away with not mentioning the Z4 manual.

I don't wonder.

It's also end of an era for this car.

Z4 manual, that M40i,

we absolutely loved.

It was actually $75,000 MSRP.

So you could actually go get one of these

and a special car.

Now, I realize,

with the top down,

it's like your Miata.

You've just bought a bigger,

more expensive Miata,

but it's got a line top.

And so it is quiet at the highway speeds.

Again,

Supra would be the choice.

That's the solid fix roof,

but just bunch of another Z4

is a solid contender too,

because it exists.

It's pretty cool.

And it actually has a different suspension

that we like a lot

that is different enough

from the Supra to differentiate it

and be worth the price.

Moving on to the car

that I think you should buy

is a new M2.

For $75,000,

you can get the great seats,

the carbon package,

all-in,

excellent to drive.

You've got your choice of transmissions,

lots of power,

comfortable, quiet,

lots of power.

Did I mention the power?

The power.

M2 brand new.

Look at you.

I like it.

That's good stuff.

This is high on my consideration list.

But I do have a wild card.

Oh good.

Okay, I'm excited.

Before I turn things over to Todd,

I want you to know about the e-ray.

I thought about the stingray.

But what about the e-ray?

And I know the photo

that I'm showing on screen here

has the top down.

It's the cabriolay.

But with the top up,

I think it's going to be quiet enough.

And you don't have to turn the exhaust on.

I mean, on startup,

it's kind of noisy.

But for the most part,

it's not like this is a thrashy muscle car.

It can do muscle car things.

And you can amp up the noise.

You can change the battles.

But what's cool is you can keep it quiet

and for cruising.

It's a wild card because it's not the manual

that you're wanting.

But I also thought

your retired Navy pilot

and the entire concept of Corvette

since its inception

has been rockets and jets.

Yeah, fighter jets.

Yeah, certainly the current one.

Yeah.

I mean, like it, it's good.

Look at this interior.

You're my area.

I mean, that should appeal to you.

I found this photo of the interior of the e-ray.

And to me,

it looks exactly like the cockpit

of what I think you flew in.

F-18 or I don't know what he flew in.

Who knows?

Yeah.

This is very cockpit-like.

And so I think you would feel very much at home.

And it sort of channels all the gauges and the dials.

And it's got a cool carbon fiber steering wheel.

And it's just really sweet looking

and just has this kind of fighter jet sort of feel to it.

I do like it.

So this is part of my inspiration.

Again, wild car because no manual.

It's got a noisy V8,

but it's not crazy over the top

and leave the top up.

It was always a quiet comfortable car

even in high performance modes.

It's not the noisiest thing ever.

So it's the e-ray.

Go drive a steering array.

But what about an e-ray?

Still a muscle car?

Still got that V8?

Good stuff.

And quite a lot of power, great GT car.

And the interior.

I mean, look at this thing.

It's like Corvette built in F18 or something.

I don't know.

It's very good.

We've had another one of those moments

where you and I did not share commentary.

And yet we overlapped a lot.

Really?

I am going to jump in real quick, Mike,

and say that you mentioned the Integra Type S.

And all I can say to that is yes.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Manual, great to drive.

Not that loud inside.

I want to do a slight pivot

as we talked about this, this accurate.

The problem is that

Tinnitus is super frustrating

and you're going to find,

and I can say this because I have other friends who have it.

I don't have it thankfully.

But you never know person to person.

What are the frequencies that drive you nuts?

So you're going to have to drive stuff.

But in my experience, those friends of mine

with Tinnitus struggle in mid and rear engine cars.

Because of the location of the engine

is so much closer to the cabin.

And right behind your head,

it tends to be more of an issue.

I'd love to say,

came in or 9-11,

but I think all of those

are going to drive you crazy.

So I think you have to be front engine.

I could be wrong,

and you're going to have to try

because in a part of it,

what is the level of sound deadening?

What is the way they plumb to the exhaust?

You have to try these cars out.

And that may be hard.

But I do think the Type S is way way up there.

And I love that you've got on your list.

I have two others.

My first one,

I thought M2 as well,

but I actually wonder about a step down.

The M240.

240?

Step down from the M2

because there's more sound deadening

and they're less worried about exhaust,

but the key thing about BMWs is

they've got so much sound deadening now

that they're pumping the exhaust sound in.

Because you can't hear it.

Exactly.

So what I'm wondering about is

get one of these BMWs

and pull the fuse to kill the speakers

that sends the exhaust sound in.

That's a good idea.

It creates the exhaust noise in the cabin.

Now, or maybe the fake one coming out of the speakers,

maybe that doesn't bother you.

I don't know,

but my point is here,

you've got options.

So the M2,

yes, it's the more aggressive one.

It's the more expensive one

and it is dynamically better.

But I'm wondering about just the M240

and pull that exhaust fuse

and see how quiet that cabin gets

while still being good dynamically.

I wish this looked smaller

and was smaller,

but I cannot deny that

dynamics here are good.

They are.

So the M240,

even though the M2 would be great.

But I wonder about this.

This is a quiet car.

Yeah, it is.

And again,

all the BMWs now are so quiet

that's why they're pumping in it,

fake exhaust,

because they're just so quiet without it.

It's a good point.

So there's that.

And then I also had one other one

that Paul talked about as well,

and that is the manual Supra.

Manual Supra,

I think also pumps some exhaust

and while we're at it,

because again, it's a BMW product.

This remains the best car BMW sells.

I'm saying it again.

This is one of the best

feeling manual transmissions

on the market.

Yeah.

Toyota nailed this

manual transmission.

It is better than the one in the Z4.

If you haven't driven a Supra,

a manual Supra is a great,

great idea.

And this is the same engine

as that M240.

So you've got great power

that B58 engine has proven

to be a workhorse.

I'm just going to take us back

four or five years ago

when there was the announcement

that Toyota was going to put

a BMW straight six

in their Supra

and the world went nuts.

The collective enthusiast mind.

What is BMW thinking?

Jump to now,

that B58 engine

is being discussed

as one of the definitive engines

of this era.

It is frankly,

as weird as it is to say,

the 2JZ of this time.

People are getting crazy power

out of it.

It's a big word.

It is, though.

It's a big word.

Just take like one toe

into the pool

of the internet tuners

and they all love this engine.

Yeah.

So that is what's in the Supra.

But the manual Supra

is a very special car

and I think you should take a serious look at it.

Plus, as we've discussed

on the Consumer Reports

results

for overall best brands.

BMW has moved so far

up the list they are number two.

On the list for

build quality, for reliability,

for the most votes

in the Consumer Reports survey results.

I don't think there's any reason

to not buy a BMW.

That's kind of amazing.

They're excellent cars.

Love it.

Chris needs a luxury road trip vehicle.

It's looking for a luxury

long distance road trip

and daily.

His budget is $80,000 new

or lightly used.

Chris tells us

that he lives in middle America.

Okay.

Not quite sure where that is.

Yeah, there's a swath

that that covers.

Yes.

Big area there

and he says he frequently takes

1000 plus mile road trips.

Those are big trips.

So he's looking

for the most comfortable vehicle

for what he does.

Okay.

No EVs.

It needs to fit him, his wife

and two very large dog,

which are Newfoundlands.

Those are very large dogs.

And luggage.

Okay.

Got it.

He's been looking at the two

RSVs.

He says the X5 seems like

the obvious choice,

but it doesn't speak to him.

It doesn't need to be exciting

to drive,

but because he's got a

981 boxer GTS for that.

Okay.

He comes from a 5th generation

toy to 4Runner,

which has been awesome,

but lacks comfort.

The seats are uncomfortable.

It's loud,

no memory seats,

no adaptive cruise control.

That's why I think

you should get the 6th generation.

Well, let me just say real quick.

The 5th generation 4Runner,

as beloved as they are.

Okay.

Even those of you who own one

and love it

and are going to come to its defense

that I dare say anything against it.

Let me just put this concept out.

You're going to do a thousand miles

of highway

in your 5th gen 4Runner.

Yeah, you don't need that.

That is not the place you want to be.

If what you've asked for is

me, wife,

two huge dogs luggage

and needs to be comfortable.

It's not the 5th gen 4Runner.

Yeah.

There's a lot of things

that does well,

but the thousand mile road trip

like this,

not good for that.

He says hands-free driving

would be a plus,

not ruling out large sedan's

or wagons,

but he needs recommendations

Chris chasing this thousand mile road trip

with huge dogs.

I have the car.

I've got two choices for you.

Chris,

a car and an SUV

to saw the miles away

to be incredibly comfortable

to make you come to the point

in your life where you realize

why didn't I have this car sooner?

It is the Genesis G90.

You will wonder

once you have a ride in this.

Front seat, back seat,

I don't care.

You'll wonder you'll think,

how did I get along?

How did I do road trips

without a car

this insulating comfortable

excellent.

I'm imagining you,

your wife in the front.

I'm imagining your dogs

with the footrest thing up,

huge, I mean,

get some cover craft covers

to lay over the back seats

to protect the very nice

back seats.

All of the dog covers,

yes.

Two gigantic Newfoundlands

who are transporting,

being transported

in luxury,

they never dreamed about.

And all your luggage

in the gigantic trunk.

And everyone is so happy.

Can you imagine,

this is one of those little

like this is looking

at the back.

Uh huh.

This is actually the first car

that came to mind.

And I actually took it

off my list.

Oh, you did?

Only because I couldn't get past

the image of putting a slightly wet

new fee in the back

of a G90.

You stopped at a rest stop.

They found a puddle of water

and used to open the back seat

and you just think,

oh, we're going to do this,

aren't we?

Coat the back seat with blankets

and just protect it.

I was imagining just a slightly damp

because they're about like,

they can be walking mobs.

A slightly damp new fee,

climbing into the back

of your G90.

And I just thought in that moment

you're going to decide wrong car, guys.

Even though this was the first one

that jumped to mind.

So I have to think,

you and I were vibing on this

because it's the right car

in that regard.

But I suppose any car SUV

that you choose,

it doesn't matter

with a wet new fee.

You're going to have two.

It's going to be hard.

Coat the inside with plastic

or something to protect

to defend.

What kind of band is wet new fee?

That's a band name.

Wet new fee plays something.

Anyway, onward.

Sorry.

Wouldn't be Skah.

It might be Polka.

It could be like

a hundred thousand

watts of Polka.

So the way.

Yeah.

So the SUV choice here

for you is the

Acura MDX type S.

Oh, that's good.

You said it doesn't need

to be fun, but I want you

to have a little bit of fun.

With the Genesis,

you're at least getting this luxury

and it does have some good

hands-free driving.

And it's just,

oh, it's just so soothing.

You're going to be so relaxed.

With this,

it's got a motor sports

derived engine.

They are $73,000 brand new.

So I think you could absolutely

could go by brand new.

The third row seats fold flat.

Plenty of space.

And again, these are pretty nice

inside.

So you're going to have

to get the dog blankets

and the coding to protect.

Or you could put them

the very back theoretically.

I mean, back here, yeah.

You fold the seats.

Anyway, moving on.

Yeah.

So brand new.

I think you would love driving it.

They're engaging to drive.

I mean, crazy enough for an SUV.

You'll kind of like it.

Incredibly comfortable for road trips.

Saw the miles away.

Lots of power again.

Imagine the scenario.

You, your wife.

The new fees.

Maybe the new fees are in the second row.

Very bad. Who knows?

Yeah.

Maybe they're in the back row

and then the luggage is in the second row or something.

But you have options.

They're options.

That's the key thing.

So I think Accure NBX.

Because you said the BMWs

really didn't resonate with you.

What about the Accure MDX type S?

Motor sports derived.

So it's comfortable.

Long distance cruiser.

Plenty of space for everything

and everyone.

Very good.

And still fun to drive.

Very, very good.

I like it. Well done.

I'm going to jump in here.

I'm going to talk about, well, let's see here.

I've got a couple things for you, Chris.

First off, I started with a wagon.

And that is the Kia Stinger, my friend.

It's good.

You can get Kia Stingers way under your budget.

Where do the wet new fees go?

You know, in the back.

Or maybe in the back seat.

Okay.

I mean, here's the thing.

No matter what happens here.

I just imagine.

I just imagine a lot of like dog prep going on.

Dog prep is happening.

But Kia Stinger is very fun to drive.

Has a decent hatchback.

Has actual space for luggage.

And you and your wife would be very happy in the front seat.

So I started with a Kia Stinger.

I think that's a very good one.

I moved on to the GV80.

Got into the Genesis brand.

But I got you an SUV that is not the X5.

You could put the dogs in the back seat.

You could put the dogs in the very back.

I don't know what your combination here is.

Again, we're going to have to do dog prep.

But this is the SUV version.

Yeah, that's true.

Of what Paul was thinking about with the G90.

That's true.

Apparently is a GV90 coming.

Super luxurious SUV.

But for right now, the GV80 is the top class one.

It is very good since you're not shopping for dynamics.

You're shopping for luxury and nice place to be for a thousand miles.

This would be very good.

The GV80.

But then I got into something kind of obvious

that I think I'm actually required to talk about.

And that is the Cayenne.

You do like your Porsche already.

You're looking for a thousand miles.

These are great seats.

Good dynamics and actual space in the back.

The second gen Cayenne because they're going to have a first and a second gen.

It's ridiculous.

The second gen Cayenne has far more space in the back seat than the first gen does.

Plus, they figured out how to make the seats like one pole and everything folds down.

You're not standing there holding a headrest going what I do with this.

That's gone.

So that's been solved.

But today is standing there wondering what to do.

Seriously.

We're doing this thing.

But I think the Cayenne and try to get the real Cayenne not the coupe.

But get a Cayenne and I think you would enjoy the drive.

I have done a 700, 800 mile day in my wife's 2017 Cayenne and it was superb.

It's just no problem.

You and me, we had a 2016 Cayenne on our first pilgrimage trip.

It was you and me and Tom and Edgar.

The four of us and gear filled to the brim, doing 150 plus on the Autobahn.

Super comfortable on long days in that Cayenne.

So I have to bring up the Cayenne.

It's like 176.

That was your best.

That was my best.

Everybody got real quiet.

When we broke 150, the whole cabin was just staring at the speed.

So we're doing this.

Aren't we?

We are scanning the rest.

This is all we're doing.

Eyes are real high.

Yeah.

Eyes up people.

Here we go.

All right.

So there's that.

Now I'm going into wagons.

How about a Cadillac wagon?

The CTS wagon.

Now I'm showing the CTS V which is available with a manual which is a super awesome one with the great big engine.

You don't need that.

These are out there.

They don't cost much.

If you like this styling, this is a fantastic form factor.

You don't see very many.

You can get them all wheel drive even if you want it.

I don't know where in the Midwest you're driving.

But this is, I think, a very unique interesting choice even if you don't go with the V.

And you can get, I mean, you have tons of money left over.

So Cadillac CTS wagon, I think that has to be brought up.

Mercedes E-Class.

I'm not going.

I'm just going E-Class.

This is what Mercedes does.

The 450.

Mercedes whole thing is we make a big wagon for you and the family and the dog and the luggage.

That's the whole build sheet.

That's true.

Okay.

That's true.

And the thing about these, well the AMG's too.

But the thing about these Mercedes wagons is there isn't a second buyer in the US.

So they plummet.

They're hard to find.

But they just, they don't hold value.

So what you can get for a year or two old Mercedes would boggle you.

So E-Class wagon and my last one, because I thought, you want to do a thousand mile road trip.

You want some space, but you want to be comfortable.

Well, we got to go Volvo.

Find yourself the V90 cross country and there will, there are not better seats being sold.

And a couple of new fees in the back of a Volvo wagon that just kind of works.

Right?

Isn't that the marketing picture?

That's kind of work.

That's like the photo they're going to use for the marketing material.

The dogs with me in my wife and the brochures.

And the new fees, we're going to take the V90.

But I can't think of a better cross country cruiser with a lot of stuff to carry as far as seats and comfort than a Volvo V90.

They're very hard to find.

The, the aerodynamic roof box on top of one of these is your luggage.

New fees are in the back with the seats folded.

Possibly.

They've got plenty of space with the dog bowl and all.

But even without that, you could put everything in there.

The sweet looking, you and your wife, Chris, will, will actually probably want to sit in these more than your couch.

These are the best seats ever.

They're fantastic.

They will for sure.

So a thousand miles in a Volvo seat.

I'm going to say, yes, where do I sign up?

That's where I ended.

You have inspired me talking about that Cadillac wagon.

Genesis came out with the G90 wing back.

Remember the green concept?

I saw from just these more than a concept.

So what does Cadillac do?

Build the C-T-5V blackwing wagon to compete against it.

The C-T-5V black wagon.

Yes.

Because the other one is called the wing whatever.

Wing back?

Yes.

That would be amazing.

I really, there's a issue.

Already, we want to do that comparison shoot.

Neither of those cars exists.

We want to do that comparison shoot.

I want to own them both.

And I want to win back.

Yes.

That looks awesome.

I do like that a lot.

A quick third debate for Bobby B who writes to us

between trying to choose between two cars.

Bobby is 75 and ready to get a new car, not a used car.

Bobby, thank you so much for writing.

Yep.

Bobby just watched our Genesis versus Lexus LS piece

from a couple of years ago and has been torn between the two.

Bobby feels Lexus will last longer than a Genesis

but loves the ride of the G90.

Would much rather have the G90.

That says to me that Bobby has actually ridden in the G90.

I think that's great.

They still have their Toyota for the last 13 years

and 250,000 miles with no real issues.

Here's the question.

Bobby, here, Bobby, you have posed this correctly.

If our mother was going to buy one,

which would we recommend to her?

That's the right way to put it, Bobby.

Here, I want to unpack it this way.

First off, keep in mind they've stopped selling the Lexus LS.

They still sell the Genesis G90.

But either way, what you haven't told us is

are you buying this car to plan it to be the last car you buy?

I mean, I don't want that for you.

I'd like you to keep buying lots of things.

But is that your head space?

I'm going to drive this for 10, 15 plus years.

If that's your approach, it's got to be the Lexus.

But if you're going to buy this with any consideration in your head,

there might be something after this.

Get the Genesis.

You've heard the story.

My grandfather was 98 and about that.

I know.

Six years extended warranty when he was 98 and about the Lexus,

whatever, the RX 400H, the hybrid 400.

But he had like cars up to something.

I remember his last three cars.

Constantly.

Yeah.

I never liked that feeling like, well, this is the last

I agree.

Insert anything there.

I think it takes the joy out of life.

So let's think positively.

I'm all about the Genesis G90.

I'm so all about it.

It's very good.

Genesis.

So Bobby, thank you for writing.

We appreciate it.

Tom's writing in with the first of a couple of car conclusions.

That's right.

We're doing car conclusions this time.

He's writing it from Kansas City.

He says he traded his wife's Lexus RX 350 for a new Volvo XC60 recharge.

He admits he didn't fully talk to her about it before he did that.

He just traded it in.

Thankfully, she loves the car.

So score.

By the way, I've just seen some of you have probably seen this already.

It's Christmas time.

It's Christmas week next week.

And I've started to see those little posts on Instagram at the place where they're like,

this is that time of year where supposedly middle-income Americans

make a massive financial purchase in buying a car.

They don't talk to their spouse about and present it in the driveway with a bow.

And it's always received well.

It's better if it has the bow.

By the way, Amazon sells those bows.

If you didn't know where to get them, the huge...

But the point being made in all of these little joke posts is the fact that you never see the commercial that has the other side

where the spouse walks out and goes, you did what?

You spent what?

We didn't talk about this.

Now we have to pay for this for six or eight years or 10 or 15 or what.

Are you kidding me?

It's always like, oh my gosh, you got me a car.

And it's never, it's never like Jeff Bezos bought his wife a car.

It's always like person in house bought car with bow.

Spit the fably savings.

Didn't have a conversation.

So we can have the surprise moment.

This is not how we buy cars people.

But there's no car manufacturer that would own up to a commercial like that.

No, of course not.

Well, I shouldn't have bought that car.

That's not the message that we're trying to send.

Tom, to Tom's credit, he bought a car without really talking over his wife.

But he bought it the XC60 Recharge.

She actually loves it.

So after that transaction, he was feeling proud of himself.

So he traded in his Audi RS5 for a new GR86 Haconia edition.

That is that really cool green with the bronze wheels and the tan interior combo.

That is actually a phenomenal one.

Philip was at our track day this like a week ago.

He wanted those having a great time in the A group.

His first track days with hooked on driving and he's having a great time.

That's such a good car.

Anyway, Tom bought one of those Haconia editions and loved it.

He said he banked the difference in financials for another day.

He loves the GR86 never disappointing.

But he's driven it through the best of the driving months.

And he's thinking it's probably time to move on.

So he took our way of looking at things.

He describes it as the everyday driver filters.

Okay, he's asking for a lot.

Handling, comfort, ample room for four people plus a dog.

Hopefully down in the new fee.

And more, one of the low compromise move from the GR86 usability and fun.

But needs more utility.

Sold his GR86 to Carvana for enough that they'll need to sell it at MSRP to make a profit.

How is Carvana surviving?

Their stock was at five bucks like four years ago.

And then it went to 300 plus.

Making me wish that I had bought the stock.

I didn't believe I had post COVID.

Yeah.

And there's still as this proves overpaying for cars.

I don't understand it.

Anyway, he ordered a new Porsche Macon asset arrives in January.

He knows it won't be as much fun as the GR86.

But as we've said before, it is Porsche's hatchback.

He did support Chrono near GTS acceleration upgraded to the 14 way seats.

He's very excited.

He has convinced his minister of finance.

The same person who he's surprised with the Volvo, by the way.

Sure, it's his forever car.

But he also realizes this is 39th car purchase.

So she probably knows better.

But the truth is...

Can't stop at 39.

Come on.

You've got at least around 40.

Exactly.

XC60 recharged for her.

Macon asks for him and he's very happy.

He says if he can keep this one through the new vehicle warranty period, his annual husband performance

review should reflect notable improvement.

Good job, Tom.

That's how we like to hear it.

And yeah, wishing you well on your 40th, 45th.

Yes.

Purchase, keep it going.

Right, it's for number 40.

It's right.

Hope your annual review goes well.

Yes.

Christopher S.

Wrote in from episode 850.

At the time he was debating replacing his 1993NZX twin turbo with a newer dedicated fun car.

His options that he considered were GT350, 997 generation 911 and a Lotus Evora.

I remember this.

He bought none of them.

Okay.

Alright, yeah.

After years of listening and reflecting on the idea of buying a car that fits your lifestyle

right now, not something many years down the road.

He realized he was trying to replace the wrong car.

So it was time to sell his 2022 Toyota 4Runner and get a new daily.

He wasn't camping anymore.

The house is in good shape.

Doesn't need a project.

Truck.

There's no kids currently.

He and his wife.

He works fully remote.

So he's constantly surrounded by people who appreciate fun cars and drive mostly for pleasure

or on a way to a bike ride.

So after watching many reviews, doing drive homework, hunting around on Autotemps.com, he found

the perfect car for him, a lightly used 2025 Cadillac CT4 V Blackwing with the 6-speed

in Drift Metallic.

Drift Metallic.

It's been great driving a stick again.

His gravel bike fits on the back with the seats down and it is simultaneously the most

powerful and comfortable car that he's ever owned.

Sounds like you nailed that.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Those are cool cars.

They're really cool.

You just think, well, it's boring Cadillac and I was not a believer until we drove the

CT4.

I still wanted to drive the CT5.

I agree.

But we just, yeah, what everybody's saying is just, and Cadillac still builds them.

I mean, I cannot believe they build them and I hope they keep building them.

But the wagon, the black wagon, the black wagon, that's so good.

The CT4 or the CT5 V Blackwagon with all the power next to the wing back.

I want to make that comparison tomorrow and neither of those cars exist.

Put it with a Panamera.

That is a compare right there.

I like it.

Or maybe put it with the RX RS6 go big, you know, but come on now.

That would be really, really cool.

The problem, sorry, side rant.

If they make the wing back, what's the over-under on sales?

100?

Like nationwide?

Like they'll sell 100?

I mean, it'd be good.

I'd like to be one of them.

I'm sure it'd be on my budget.

But I just, it looks intriguing and it's the kind of car my wife and I have talked about

getting next, which I think it's amazing she's thinking about fast wagon instead of

an SUV.

I think I love that.

But what is the actual, I don't have it in front of me, but the sales numbers for the RS6

would be interesting to look at because Porsche gets away with it because it's Porsche.

But RS6 is like you want a fast wagon, you are a specific buyer.

Okay, but we've also heard with the new BMW M5 touring that the sales figures, especially

in the US, have surprised BMW in a positive way.

Fair, fair.

It gives me the slightest amount of hope that if Genesis does the wingback, the wingback.

Yeah, the wingback.

Black wagon.

Yeah.

Black wagon.

That's Cadillac.

Okay.

All right.

But if they do the wingback, I have slight hope that buyers that might have considered RS6

and now have another option like maybe M5 touring and then that thing comes out and they

just be like, because it would emotions would take over and you'd just, yeah, yes, do

that.

And then Cadillac would have to have something to compete.

It's all how you spend the story.

I'm actually reading a story right now on road and track where they said that in 2025 for

the first half of 2025, RS6 orders are up 41% over the same period last year.

Now, now that could mean like, you know, we had six cars in the first half of last year

and now we're selling 10.

We don't know what 41% means, but hey, at least there's some level of interest.

I just, I'm fascinated by the fact that these exist.

I hope more of them exist and it was the guy actually at Hyundai Genesis that made the

comment that he thinks the shift is coming where a wagon could sell because there's so

many SUVs.

It's the alt and I hope we're reaching that place.

Now we know what happens.

We'll reach that place.

Everybody will buy wagons.

Everybody will make wagons and then another 10, 15 years we'll go back to SUVs again because

everybody has a wagon.

I mean, the reason, I can't believe I'm saying this.

The reason a whole generation of people didn't buy wagons was the movie vacation.

That was like we've made fun of wagons as a culture enough that now we're going to put

the definitive make fun of it wagon in the vacation movie and collectively a generation

of us who grew up in the back of wagons went wagons are stupid, we're never buying

a wagon again.

Now, you know, 30 plus 40 years since then, we're in a sea of SUVs and the wagons look

like, well, that's actually new and interesting and cool, especially when it looks like the

wing back.

What movie has mocked an SUV like like wagons and not enough.

I mean, the minivan's been made fun of me come on deadpool and Wolverine just did the

Odyssey versus the carnival, which was hysterical.

So I mean, the five SUV egg has not been properly mocked, but we were so awash in SUVs.

There we are.

And there's so much.

I mean, most buyers, they squint, they still don't know even what brand it is.

If you took badges off of every single car in a parking lot, I bet you most people would

have no idea which SUV is which.

And they wouldn't care.

That's another good point.

They wouldn't care.

That's a very good point.

For it's all done out of the powertrain, it does SUV things, find, buy it, it's your

life drives the same.

I just need a vehicle.

Stop bothering me, that SUV is fine.

Let's see, I'm actually finding here, okay, hang on, I'm still looking for RS6 numbers,

but yeah, I really want to have a definitive number if I'm finding it harder to get.

But again, 41% increase, though the A6 only moved 3,600 units in the first half of 2025.

It's not good.

That's not good.

That's bad.

As many supers that it was sold, I think.

Anyway, a little bit more.

All right.

We'll see.

Thank you for being with us for 2025.

We really appreciate it.

We're wishing you a wonderful holiday season.

Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year.

Hope you get downtime, time to spend with your families, time to do something that you

want.

And time to reset yourself.

There are so many cool new cars coming that I feel like we've talked about this COVID

era, that the lack of cars, lack of building and just lack of inventory for what COVID did

to the car industry, just the car industry alone.

We've seen that ripple through car sales and also press car availability.

And now it just, it finally feels like we're getting back on the other side of it because

there's so many cool things being announced coming out worldwide from ever manufacture.

Yeah.

And used car prices have settled back to something resembling reality.

The only thing I still want to rage against is the fact that we've got dealer markup.

Wish that wasn't happening, but there's no way to kill it.

But yes, as you celebrate your holidays, watch the alt Christmas movies like Die Hard.

The movies that take place at Christmas but aren't about Christmas, those are my favorite

movies at the time of year.

Such a great year.

It is.

Because I keep going everywhere and I'm just bombarded by Christmas movies.

My wife has a Christmas music station in the background right now in her car.

Yeah.

So yeah.

Oh, by the way, the other day, the house was mocking me.

I was in the house, okay, we have like sonos speakers throughout the house and they placed

up.

And my wife, she loves me enough that generally, unless we have family coming over, she

doesn't play Christmas music.

We both work at home when I'm around, but I know she plays at the minute and I leave

the house.

I know she does.

Okay.

For sure.

In the kitchen in Christmas music comes on throughout the house on all the sonos.

And I just, I bit my tongue and I just thought my wife just wants to hear Christmas music.

I'm just going to deal.

And a couple minutes later, she haulers out from the office.

Why did you turn that on?

And I said, I thought you turned it on and she would know so the house was just like, he's

in the kitchen.

I can annoy him.

So I had to go over like, or somebody's watching me.

I don't know.

So stop that.

Be like, please, don't just randomly turn on.

I'm struggling with this enough as it is.

But anyway, I wish you much non-Christmas music and Christmas adjacent films.

That's what I wish.

Yes.

Like I said, thank you for being with us.

We're looking forward to a great 2026.

There's so much coming.

Tons coming.

So until then, cheers everyone.

End Of The Year Awards, What Do Navy Pilots Drive, Trying To Replace The Wrong Car | Episode 1,026

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