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Episode 417: 2026 BMW iX xDrive60 Road Trip, Pebble Beach News Roundup

Unnamed Automotive Podcast Aug 31, 2025 64 min

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About this episode

A recent road trip in the 2026 BMW iX xDrive60 highlights the evolving electric vehicle landscape, particularly in charging infrastructure between Montreal and Toronto. The hosts discuss their experiences with charging stations, revealing the challenges of finding reliable options. They also share insights from Pebble Beach, including exciting new concepts from Lexus and Infiniti, while pondering the future of Nissan's X-Terra. The episode wraps up with a look at the current state of luxury automakers and their strategies in a changing market.

Topics: 2026 bmw ix ev road trip charging infrastructure pebble beach news lexus concept infiniti qx65 nissan x-terra luxury automakers electric vehicles

Cars: Acura Integra Acura RDX Acura RSX Acura ZDX Audi Q6 e-tron Audi Q8 e-tron BMW 4 Series BMW i3 BMW i8 (I12) BMW M3 BMW M5 BMW X5 Bristol Bullet Chevrolet Silverado Dodge Charger Dodge Viper Fiat 500e Ford Bronco Ford Explorer Ford F-150 Ford GT Honda Prologue Infiniti Q50 Infiniti QX60 Infiniti QX80 Land Rover Range Rover Lexus LC Lincoln MKT Mazda CX-70 Mazda CX-90 Mercedes-Benz EQE Mercedes-Benz G-Class Mercedes-Benz ML-Class Mercedes-Benz S-Class Mitsubishi Outlander Nissan Armada Nissan Note Nissan Pathfinder Nissan XTerra Porsche Cayenne Volvo EX90 Volvo XC90

Our hosts have plenty of energy and stuff to talk about following Benjamin's road-trip vacation. After Benjamin's discussion of hot dog prices and charitable clowns, this weeks show starts off with a review of the 2026 BMW iX xDrive60. With over 350 miles of range on tap, this EV should have been the perfect chariot for a road trip, but Benjamin did have a few issues along his trip. Additionally, the guys go into a deep discussion about carbon fiber, clamshell hoods, and other premium EVs. Then Sami goes nuts over news following this year's Monterey Car Week and Pebble Beach Concours. From Lexus to Infiniti to Nissan and BMW, there's all kinds of fun news to pour over, and laugh about. Thanks for listening!

Technical Too Afraid to Ask

Calreyn88 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Ford Gt

"...hs with it. And moments before that, I had seen a Ford GT go by. And I feel like that's the most unusual ra..."

Ermell (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Dodge Charger

"...e because, you know, you don't always know if the charger is available, right? So you're paying for the tim..."

Alexander Migl (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Fiat 500e

"..., the last time I had an EV very low was the Fiat 500E, which was always the moment you take it anywhere..."

多多123 (CC BY 4.0)

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Bmw 4

"... mean, look, the i4 and i5 just look like regular BMW 4 and 5 series for their EVs, which is, I guess, th..."

JaayJay (Public domain)

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BMW X5

"...ine. It's a little bit like something between the X5 and the X7. With the hatch open, it's super stran..."

U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Public domain)

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Lincoln Mkt

"...d it looks like, I don't know if you remember the Lincoln MKT. Yes."

Vauxford (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Volvo XC90

"..., which has three rows. This vehicle doesn't. The XC90 is in that price point. The Rivian is in that pri..."

Alexander-93 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Volvo EX90

"...nt. The Rivian is in that price point. I'm sorry? EX90. Yeah, EX90. Sorry. So I feel like it's well pric..."

Dinkun Chen (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Mercedes-Benz Gclass

"And it doesn't feel like an outlier? No, price-wise. I think it fits in there well. Like, I'm not including stuff like the G-Class. I'm not including stuff like the EQS. Those are like, they've pushed past into trying to do their own thing and"

Alexander Migl (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Mercedes-Benz EQE

"... in terms of price. Mercedes is, I mean, maybe an EQE is like similar, but I feel like the EQE is small..."

Frank Schulenburg (CC0)

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BMW i3

"... is that BMW, ever since their i-program with the i3, has made a really big show of incorporating ligh..."

Damian B Oh (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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i8 (I12)

"...heir devoted electric platforms. Yeah. The i3 and i8 both use a lot of carbon fiber reinforced plastic..."

Vauxford (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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BMW M5

"...a lot about the five series, and specifically the M5 about how heavy it is now, because it's a plug-in..."

ArildV (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Dodge Viper

"... i8 is unsustainable, right? Yeah, it's the Dodge Viper of plug-in hybrids. What does that mean?"

Matti Blume (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Lexus Lc

"... weird sounding turbo inline three. It's like the Lexus LC of like plug-in hybrids. Yeah, I'm totally into i..."

Dinkun Chen (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Mercedes-Benz Sclass

"even though it had this carbon core technology, it was like just a little bit lighter than the S-Class, which had no carbon core technology."

UltraTech66 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Ford F150

"remember when Ford made a big deal about going to aluminum for the F-150? Oh, yeah."

LukaCali (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Chevrolet Silverado

"... it just kind of became the same weight as like a Silverado. So they really dialed back"

Alexander-93 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Audi Q8 Etron

"So I will be curious to see how that shakes it. That's Q8 e-tron? No."

Matti Blume (CC BY-SA)

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Audi Q6 Etron

"No. While I'm driving the Q6 e-tron. Oh, OK."

TTTNIS (CC0)

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Nissan Not Nissan

"Okay, in addition to Lexus' news, Nissan, I mean not Nissan, Infinity showed up to the Pebble Beach Monterey,"

Dinkun Chen (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Infiniti QX80

"Typically bring the Pebble Beach is a different QX80, right? QX80 and they did, they brought two."

Dinkun Chen (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Infiniti QX60

"...l, I don't quite get it, somehow slot between the QX60 and the QX80. It basically is a QX60 without the ..."

Bindydad123 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Mazda Cx70

"...-seater SUV with the Mazdas, where they went from CX70 and CX90. I think in this case they're trying to ..."

Ethan Llamas (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Mazda Cx90

"...UV with the Mazdas, where they went from CX70 and CX90. I think in this case they're trying to evoke"

IFCAR (Public domain)

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Acura ZDX

"..., sorry, there was the X6, and then there was the ZDX, which came out a year later. I don't remember ex..."

Dinkun Chen (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Acura RDX

"in the sense that the FX- RDX was a good idea, though. Let me take a look at on..."

IFCAR (Public domain)

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Acura Rsx

"...probably showcase a real product. It's called the Acura RSX. Do you remember that name?"

OWS Photography (CC BY 4.0)

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Acura Integra

"...nostalgia at a level well past what they did with Integra. And ZDX."

Wlb5V (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Honda Prologue

"Yeah. And the prologue is already like being cleared out. So you know th..."

Alexander-93 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Porsche Cayenne

"...25 years ago, when the X5 and the M-Class and the Cayenne first arrived, they had to go off-road."

Bull-Doser (Public domain)

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ML-Class Mclass

"and I say once upon a time, it was like 25 years ago, when the X5 and the M-Class and the Cayenne first arrived, they had to go off-road."

Calreyn88 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Ford Bronco

"... said, really well. I mean, look at Jeep, look at Bronco. You mean SUVs, not EVs."

Alexander-93 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Land Rover Range Rover

"...lly nail those things, right? Land Rover as well, Range Rover and Land Rover. Yeah, but I mean, I'm talking spe..."

Ethan Llamas (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Nissan XTerra

"is another example of heritage that's not really heritage. And that's Nissan talking about bringing back the X-Terra. Yeah, this is good."

EurovisionNim (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Nissan Pathfinder

"that's going to be used for the Frontier, the Pathfinder, the QX60, and the X-Terra. Okay."

Alexander-93 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Ford Explorer

"...nly similar model out there I can think of is the Explorer, which I think had a sort of similar journey,"

Bull-Doser (Public domain)

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Nissan Armada

"...if you look at the Nissan showroom, they have the Armada. The Armada is based on the-"

Unknown authorUnknown author (Public domain)

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Bristol Bullet

"...ke have truck nuts and ridiculous like brodozers. Bullet, bullet antennas. Yeah. And they kind of ruin it ..."

Tino Rossini (CC BY 2.0)

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Infiniti Q50

"...re's a rumor that Infinity is going to revive the Q50 with a manual gearbox. Sammy, does anyone out the..."

Matti Blume (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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BMW M3

"... right? You can buy, a Q50 is the same size as an M3. You can get a manual transmission M3."

TTTNIS (CC0)

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Mitsubishi Outlander

"...eah. I'm going to be talking about the Mitsubishi Outlander, the gas-powered one."

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