Episode 432: 2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2026 Toyota Camry XLE AWD

Hello, and welcome to the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

My name is Sammy Hajj Asad,

and with me as always is my good friend and fellow automotive journalist, Benjamin Hunting.

Say hi to the people, Ben.

Sammy, this is our last episode of 2025 as we record it,

but it's going to be our first episode of 2026 as it's published.

So what do you want to say? You want to say farewell to 2025,

or do you want to say hello 2026?

I mean, neither of them, neither of those years acknowledges my greetings.

So I feel like neither of those things, I guess.

Or if you just do those options just feel so unnatural and out of character to you.

Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, I plan to Irish goodbye 2025.

I was going to announce anything that was happening.

Shout out to the Irish folk who are no doubt listening to this podcast

and who are in Sammy's family.

But you mentioned, but you were the one who brought up the whole year situation

that we found ourselves in.

Yeah, it's just funny that you limbo.

It's funny that this podcast exists in like a liminal state between two years.

I think that's all I wanted to point out.

But people are going to be hearing it in the new year.

Yes. Yes.

But they could also be hearing previous episodes in the new year too.

We can't stop. Or they could be listening to this in 2025.

OK, I tried to pick a date from the future and I picked 2025.

That's OK, 2046.

They could be downloading this into their hollow cube

and watching it on the way to their job inside their self-driving car.

I hope you're not watching it.

I don't know how they did that.

By then, maybe their work, maybe that technology works 2045.

Ben, are we going to do the usual introduction?

That's my good friend, fellow on-road journalist Benjamin Hunting.

You're struggling for it.

He says hi to people, of course, and I give him an opportunity

to plug some of the recent publications he's written for.

Do you want to go through that rigmarole or what?

Hello, 2025 and 2026 listeners.

Greetings, in fact, to both cohorts.

And where can people find your latest work?

They can find it at Motor Trend.

They can find it at Hagerty, driving dot C.A.

and at Inside Hook.

Should we keep these plugs?

Because, like, first of all, as you said,

people could be listening to this in 10 years

and your latest work will not be at those publications.

Well, I think it's a warm.

I think the intro is a warm, familiar blanket.

I think we're starting to see we should not change the intro.

I think that we've strayed pretty far from how we used to introduce things.

So I think it's changing and evolving on its own.

Evolution is good.

It can be.

I've evolved into struggling

at introducing my own publications that I've written for.

But you can find me at driving dot C.A. and auto-trader dot C.A.

I've been working furiously at the end of the year

to get all my stories in and start 2026 with a cleaner slate than I usually do.

And I'm done. So I've only got one I've only got one public one story

outstanding, not that anyone really cares,

but I've only got one story outstanding.

Yeah, how many of your editors are actually listening

are listening right now and like looking down at a spreadsheet and frowning a little bit?

OK, based on the number of downloads we get,

there's a high chance that an editor is listening.

High chance that people are frowning,

that people are frowning.

Anyway, this episode, this last one of the year is promising to be

the first one is promising to set things up on a really good point

because we've got some we've got some classics to talk about in terms of name plates.

I guess you could consider them classics,

like on the large scale history of the automotive agenda.

Yeah, they're not very classic at all.

There's older one of them.

One of them is classic, I think.

The other one I've already forgotten.

I've already forgotten what you're driving.

Why don't you remind me?

I'm driving the 2026 Honda VRV hybrid.

It's not a loaded trim.

It's the part in.

It's not a classic.

It's not the hybrid model.

I don't think so.

I'm struggling with this because I'm driving what is the the range

topping version of it in Canada, which is called the Touring.

But in in the United States, it's called the sport touring.

OK, it's the same thing we ran into.

It's the same thing we ran into two weeks ago with the Odyssey.

Oh, the Odyssey. Yes.

Honda loves to make their their trim levels like weird to to cross borders.

Well, they're exactly the same, just with different names for no reason.

Different names.

So I'm driving the 2026 CRV hybrid.

The specific model I'm driving varies based on where you're looking at it from.

If you're from Canada, I'm driving the touring model.

If you're from the United States, I'm driving the sport touring hybrid.

What if I'm from Europe?

Yeah.

Let's call the touring there, too.

I don't know. I didn't check.

I don't have all my notes in front of me.

Either way, it's the range topping version of the CRV hybrid and CRV in general.

It's really cool to talk about the CRV because I think not really cool.

Sorry, I should really put temper my my my my feelings here.

The CRV, in particular, when it was first introduced with a hybrid powertrain,

there was one really critical response, which was why is this only reserved

for the top trim level?

And now in 2026, at least of the seven trims that are available

for the CRV, four of them are available with hybrids

and they're not all the top trim level model.

So I think that means that Honda has listened.

We were talking. Is that possible?

Well, you were talking earlier about how this is a classic vehicle.

And that made me think that today I was at the vet and when I was parked at the vet,

I was today, I was driving a BMW three series.

And when I came out of the vet, there was a not a CRV,

but a RAV four, first generation RAV four parked beside the three series.

And it was a good, like two feet, if not more shorter than the three series.

And that's what I think.

What I think about like classic for like the CRV and the RAV four,

I think about that era where they were vehicles.

These cute, essentially.

Kind of, yeah, they came out of nowhere to create a new segment

that proved to be very popular.

And then now today, when I think about them,

I just feel like there are more homogenous offering that doesn't.

It doesn't so much fill a white space in the showroom,

but it's not far from that, you know?

No, I mean, if you want to talk about legacy,

it's so crazy to think about how much more effort was put into all of these

crossovers in general, but let's focus on the CRV for now.

In terms of being excited about, as you mentioned,

a kind of new segment, a new way of building these these kinds of vehicles

and encouraging people to make the transition from a car to a car based

like SUV, right? Or more and they try to more like try to convince them

to make the transition from a wagon or a minivan, I think.

Yes. Yeah. Or a hatchback.

There was more there was more effort in

explaining to people through design and packaging that this is

going to fit your lifestyle more than another vehicle.

Today, you're right, the CRV, I have to be blunt, has no exterior design.

It has zero exterior design.

They didn't apply a designer to the exterior of the vehicle

and barely the interior, to be honest.

And and they just sent it out there being like, let's just make a car.

We say it was just excluded at the factory.

It was just done.

Like, that's it.

The machines made it and they were like, yeah, I guess that works.

It does not look like anything memorable.

It does not produce any kind of emotion

when you look at it from any angle, it is a and I think that's really weird

because if I remember correctly, the original CRV or the first or second gen

CRVs had this interesting quality to them.

Maybe I'm just looking through it through that nostalgic

kind of like rose tinted glasses or whatever.

But they were this idea that there's a bit more of like a ruggedness to

crossovers. And now today I'm looking at this thing

and they've like skipped that pretense altogether.

There is no ruggedness here.

Even if there is a trail sport model, it's not that interesting either.

We've got just this thing that looks like a wagon on wheels on on stilts.

Right. I want to say that all of the above

doesn't mean that this isn't a good vehicle, right?

No, no, it's just kind of bland, right?

Like that's what I'm saying.

But bland vehicles make the world go around.

You know, it's it's we don't have to.

Well, we don't have to love vehicles that we commute in.

We don't have to love vehicles that we absolutely have to buy

because they fit into our lifestyles.

Like that's there is space in the world for vehicles that don't generate passion.

And in fact, I would I would say that that is perhaps 90 percent

of vehicles on the market today.

But we know we're talking about I just don't want people to think that

because we're saying these things specifically about the CRB,

that the CRV is somehow bad or different from other SUVs in this class.

OK, you're right.

There are other SUVs in its class that are equally

appliance like in term.

Yeah, but my main issue comes with the CRV in that I believe

that Honda may have phoned in this this model like other, especially,

you know, I talked about the Tucson hybrid last week.

Tucson hybrid when compared to the CRV is more powerful,

is more spacious, is more affordable, at least in Canada.

And those three elements alone are that's a

that's like going down five nothing in the third in the third period.

You know what I mean?

Like that's a hard thing for the CRV to bounce back from.

Which vehicles? I zoned out for a second.

I was just saying that in comparison to something like the the Tucson.

And it's not just the Tucson that that might have the CRV's number here,

but there's a new RAV four that's coming that should be on the on the roads very soon.

There is a hybrid version of the Kia Sportage.

There are what are the other hybrids that are out there right now?

Is that the there's the Mazda 50?

There's the Mazda 650.

I think there's going to be a hybrid version.

Is it going to be a plug in hybrid of the Nissan Rogue or just a plug

or a hybrid version?

There's going to be a plug in hybrid version.

So not not a plug, not a non plug in.

They're taking the only thing that makes the outlander different.

Away from the outlander, the Mitsubishi.

OK, I won't include those.

I won't include the the outlander or the Rogue here.

And I think there's also supposed to be a hybrid version of the Fordster.

So in this case, where there used to be a class of just a few, a handful,

it feels like that is expanding and where the CRV was OK,

being just the alternative to the previous escape and the because I believe

the escape isn't being renewed for 2026, which is crazy.

No, no, but that was another vehicle that was offered with hybrid

and the Bronco sport that I guess is replacing the escape will not.

No, I don't know yet.

You know, it's crazy, right?

You know, what's strange is that what I think about the CRV hybrid

and then I think about the RAV4 hybrid, which I think is it probably

its direct competitor in the minds of a lot of people when they're shopping

is how Toyota decided to make the RAV4 hybrid a high performance model.

And a fuel efficient model, whereas Honda did not do that at all, right?

Honda didn't do really much with with this hybrid.

I'm I'm now seeing why they probably did what they did when they first came out.

I think they were testing the waters to see how popular a hybrid model would be,

even if it was very expensive.

Well, they were very resistant to hybrid technology for a long time.

Yeah, that's not true. Hold on.

Let's not say resistant.

They were they hit they hit the the road with a hybrid before the Prius.

Sure, they had the infant, right?

But that was it.

They didn't have nothing happened for like 20 years.

And then you look at you look at like Ford and Chevrolet and Toyota, obviously.

All these companies invested in hybrid versions of their bread and butter sedans.

And I think when was the first hybrid accord?

Like, was it like 2017 or something?

It was quite a while.

Yeah, it felt like mid 2010s, for sure.

Yeah, whereas you go back to like 2003 or 2004.

Maybe that's a little too early, but at least by 2008,

you had, I think, hybrid versions of we had fusion hybrid.

You had a hybrid hybrid.

Yeah. Yeah.

And there was I'm pretty sure there was a hybrid Malibu or something.

I might be right. I think you're right.

They called it E-assist at the time.

I know it was a mild hybrid, but it was something.

Yeah. And Honda just didn't seem interested in any of that.

And then they kind of came out with not just, you know,

we get the hybrid Civic now, the hybrid Accord,

but we also had the hybrid NSX that nobody asked for, right?

I don't mind the hybrid NSX,

but I totally get why it's not a useful product because they did a full pivot

because they they had a version designed with like a twin turbo V6 or something.

And then they backed away from that and went into this hybrid drivetrain for it.

Now, part of why it was one of the only concept cars

to ever go through a generational refresh while it was still, you know,

in concept form, because they kept messing around with the drivetrain.

Now, while you're on the subject of the other Honda hybrids,

there really is I'm going to double check.

There's two Honda hybrids that are available, right?

Two other Honda hybrids available in the market,

which is the Accord hybrid and the Civic hybrid.

Now, the Civic hybrid is actually really positively reviewed.

Like it's a good vehicle.

I have no serious issues with the with the Civic hybrid.

And I really, other than it being expensive, which is again, Honda's M.O.

lately is just to is to really like push the budget, everyone's budget.

And I was expecting so much of that.

I don't know why I was expecting so much of those experiences

that I had in the in the cars to travel with the CRV as well.

And I don't think I got that.

I don't think I got that in any way or form.

And because of the weight, there's actually a third hybrid

because isn't the this the HRV available as a hybrids hybrid soon?

Am I wrong about that?

I don't know about that.

Let me look it up.

I'm pretty sure it's coming out. I haven't seen one.

I saw that prelude.

Wait, the prelude is a hybrid.

Yes, but we should not speak about the we should not speak about.

OK, there's still officially there's still officially no hybrid version of the HRV.

But you're getting ads for it for some reason.

I've been getting ads for it on Instagram from local dealers

trying to sell me a car that doesn't exist.

I don't know what's going on there.

That should be illegal.

Like, I don't know if this was showed up to buy that.

Like, what do they do?

Did they sell me a CRV hybrid instead?

Like, it's legitimately a local dealer that I'm familiar with.

And they're the or a or a civic hybrid.

Ah, I guess so.

Wherever the most profit is that while that should be illegal.

If this was Europe, that'd be considered illegal.

I'm sure of it.

But, you know, one more thing to talk about Honda and hybrids.

So it's not just that they didn't do anything for a very long time

and kind of drag their feet.

It's also if you look at how they've approached hybrids,

all the vehicles we just discussed are pretty much on the same platform.

Are they not? Yes.

So you're more or less you look at Toyota,

where I guess technically every Toyota is on a TNGA platform.

If I'm on TNGA, you know, derived platform.

But if you look at their their classifications of vehicles,

I think every single vehicle they offer has a hybrid option,

including like the Sienna and the Sienna is obviously hybrid.

But the the I can't remember the Sequoia, I think, is a hybrid now.

Yeah, all their trucks, all their trucks, but even even pass even pass that

the Highlander and the Highlander Max.

Is that what it's called?

Grand Highlander, Grand Highlander.

Those are confusing hybrid and hybrid max.

Yes, those those are hybrids.

If you look at Honda, it's really just restricted to those platform shares.

So you don't see passport with a hybrid.

You don't see Odyssey with a hybrid.

You don't see pilot pilot. Exactly.

So it's all right on a similar platform, I think.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

That's this they've sequestered it.

So like those vehicles are being developed along a separate path, it seems.

Now, we used to think, though, that like hybrids were a stopgap solution before,

you know, well, actually, I don't know if we all used to think that.

I think we thought plug-in hybrids were a stopgap.

But now we see Honda has been investing in electrification.

They have that they they they bought some EVs from GM with the prologue

and they're going to be delivering apparently next year

a couple of cars, the Honda Zero Series, as well as I think the

there's a Sony product that I'm making.

I was waiting for you to bring up the Aphila.

Aphila, of course, with Asimo or PlayStation in it or something like that.

You're not the Asimo operating system, I think.

If you're not familiar with the Aphila, imagine a electric vehicle from four years ago

and then imagine a price from three years from now.

And you'll get an idea as to why no one is going to buy this Sony car,

which was developed.

It's like 90 grand and will feature range that is noncompetitive.

Two hundred and twenty miles of range or something.

It's it's not a good look.

It was developed in partnership with Honda.

I really feel like if you're a company like Sony and you want to bust into the car market,

you have to be really impressive right off the bat and they're not impressive whatsoever.

So I honestly think this is an also ran vehicle.

This is like there's like a lot.

But I was going to say Honda is into this kind of thing where they made

remember all those fuel cell cars they had that nobody wanted?

What was it called? Clarity.

The Clarity Clarity.

There was also clarity.

You also used to be able to buy a natural gas version of the Civic called the GX, I think.

OK, that was something that nobody bought

because you can't get natural gas anywhere.

Experimentation caused them to like

clam up and not make new hybrids or anything like that.

It's weird. It's like every car company has its own little bugaboo that they get obsessed with.

Like Toyota is obsessed with making hydrogen cars that nobody wants.

Honda was obsessed with these, you know, they had this fuel cell car.

They had they had Hyundai has the Nexo that nobody wants, but they keep making it another hydrogen car.

Shout out to the fact that there are no hydrogen stations in the United States

outside of California and Hawaii.

I think this is the only two places where there are commercial hydrogen stations.

So good luck on that road trip.

In Canada, there are some in B.C.

I'm not sure if there are any in Ontario and there's one in Quebec that's in Quebec City.

We reviewed a what's the Toyota version of this vehicle?

The Toyota. I know it, I know it, I know it, I know it.

It was like driving a Mariah.

I got it. Right.

It was like driving a non luxury Lexus.

That's that's the experience I had.

And so you mean like a crown or a crown thing, Nia?

No, like even below that, like, like imagine a yes.

Imagine an ES if an ES wasn't luxurious and also wasn't a Camry.

Like that's kind of how it felt.

But that vehicle, because there were no fueling stations,

I had to refuel it from an 18 wheeler trailer that was in the parking lot of

Toyota's headquarters in Montreal or just on the south shore of Montreal.

And because it was this 18 wheel trailer,

it couldn't generate enough pressure to fill the tank in the right to call it again.

Mariah Mariah couldn't fill in it

because eventually the pressure starts pushing back on the filling system

as you put more hydrogen into an enclosed space.

And so I could only fill it halfway,

which only gave me enough mileage for like 200 kilometers of driving.

So this is before I moved to the country.

If I was living where I live now, I would not have been able to test it

because they would not have been able to drive there and back on a half tank of fuel.

So suffice it to say, don't get obsessed with weird power trains

that nobody wants and can't actually be used in the real world.

That is a danger, I think.

BMW had a string where they were like obsessed with hydrogen, but not really.

And then they were stressed with another form of electrification, but not really.

Like they moved on very quickly.

And Mazda who didn't Mazda Mazda also want to.

But they made gas.

They made every weird gas version of a of a power train.

So I before you can't really fault Mazda for the rotary thing

because at least that was powered by fuel, right?

Like gasoline, you can go in the other one.

The what was it called?

The Sky Act of diesel.

No, the Sky Act of gas one that you went to an event Sky Act of X,

which was sold in Europe, compression, ignition.

Yeah. So that did not take off here either.

But Mazda had a hydrogen vehicle that I actually drove.

They had an RX eight that was converted again.

So this is like this is like the final boss of the go to.

This is like the final boss of like drivetrain horror shows

where it's a rotary engine that also burns hydrogen

and had a switch on the dash and you could move between hydrogen and gas.

And it had a half the horsepower when it was running on hydrogen.

And I drove it on a racetrack in Japan and it was very much not fast.

But it was the first hydrogen vehicle I ever drove.

That was 10 years ago now.

So I liked it when I drove a few hydrogen vehicles.

And I now I think back on it.

They're like, we just got to send those new guys out there

and and let them hear what a hydrogen vehicle is,

because I don't have time to deal with it.

I think the modern equivalent of this is Porsche's gas,

where they're trying to make fake gas down in Patagonia or something.

Have you heard that you've heard about this, right?

Like a bunch of journalists went a bunch of journalists went to South America.

They went to see a plant that I don't think is really producing

industrial quantities of fake gasoline yet.

But it's it's a synthetic gas that can be burned in

a current current gas engines.

Hey, how about we just do batteries?

If we're not going to do gas, why don't we just do electric?

Why do we have to have this weird world where I'm buying boutique gas

that you can drink because somehow it's safe,

but it can also be burned in a gas engine?

That's weird to me.

That's too weird. I don't want it.

It's like the soiling green of gasoline.

Soiling green of people.

Exactly. Sorry. Spoiler alert.

Spoiler alert. What's in this E gas?

I don't know.

Garth, why is the plan have to be so far away?

That's my main concern.

I can't wait for a pleasure to sell like moon branded E gas

that comes from a lunar crater.

It's coming shortly after.

I think that'll be coming very shortly in partnership with Richard Branson.

Oh, finally, he's he's getting on board in the automotive segment now.

Exactly. We're going to get virgin gas.

I forgot to mention.

I remember reading this earlier this year,

but Honda did have a little preview of all of their upcoming

powertrains and like next generation do dads.

And among them is a next generation hybrid platform,

mid-sized platform, sorry, next generation, mid-sized platform,

which I imagine will underpin a couple of their important vehicles.

But it's called the HNGA.

Is a next?

Yes, HNGA.

But more important than that is that they've announced

that they're working on what they call a next generation, large size hybrid system.

I love that they they specified that it's a large size

H.E.V. or hybrid vehicle in the D segment and larger.

I love that they use European segments that we don't have here.

Yeah, I also don't know what that will.

But I imagine that will be for the pilot.

That is my that is my belief because it's going to use.

I think they miss them.

I miss they're going to miss the mark on this because it's going to use a V6 engine

with an X with with the hybrid powertrain.

Do you think that V6 engine is going to be 3.5

liter, Sammy? Yeah, 100 percent, and we'll make the same horsepower.

It's always 280 horsepower.

Yes.

Anyway, it's like it's like Honda has a gentle,

gentle person's agreement with themselves that they're not going to advertise

more than 280 horsepower on any vehicle, any vehicle except the Civic.

I I am saying all this because the I mentioned that the CRV has become

eclipsed by some of the other options in the segment.

I am struggling.

I had to do comparisons between this and the to some that I did.

I had last week and I really struggled to find

a distinctly positive thing to say about the CRV.

It is good. Everyone else is better.

It's not bad, but just everyone else has more power, more space and more features.

And look, what about Broncosport, though?

Do you feel that way about the Broncosport doesn't have a hybrid?

So I can't I can't call it out. All right.

That's one of the major issues I had was that I was expecting really good fuel

efficiency, and of course, we're in the winter and that doesn't happen.

It's expected to get, I would say,

probably 40 to 39 to 40 miles per gallon combined,

which is OK, but everyone else does better.

You know what I mean?

It's still pretty good, though.

It's not bad. Yes.

Like what do you want in the winter?

I did not get that.

Do you want 50 is that what can you get 50 anywhere else 50?

Who can the Prius is not the Prius is not a Prius, which weighs like 50 percent

of what this vehicle weighs like our other vehicles in its class getting 50?

No, absolutely not. OK.

So really, you want that I drove what you want is impossible.

Yes. OK.

I just want a world class automaker

to deliver a world class hybrid crossover for the masses.

And I don't think I'm getting that.

I don't think I'm getting anything special here.

And I think that's my major concern with this with the CRV.

Now, you obviously throughout the context

that it doesn't need to be anything anything special.

But in that case, why do people go to a Honda dealership?

Because it's an ingrained behavior

because you bought Hondas in the past and you're going to buy Hondas in the future.

They have that. But we bought them because they were good at stuff.

We had the reputation for reliability.

It's very much a do as you're told kind of thing.

They're not making the wrong decision to do that.

You know, like it's not like if you buy a Honda and you come home,

you're never going to necessarily you're not necessarily going to regret it.

And I think that that's a win in a world where cars are so expensive.

You're not taking a big swing.

You know what I mean? That's true.

Let me just fire things up.

I'm going to say that this the normal

while the normal CRV starts at around thirty one thousand,

the CRV hybrid starts at around thirty six.

The model I drove.

Yeah, this is US.

The model I drove in particular was four was closer to forty three

or forty four thousand dollars, came with all wheel drive, two hundred four horsepower.

It was not fun to drive.

It had a CVT that I thought was going to be better,

but it was it was very eager to buzz up the gas engine.

It really ruined the experience for me.

And it's not as spacious as I wanted it to be.

Any anything else you want to say about the HRV?

I mean, CRV, I keep doing it. No.

No, no. Well, you know what?

You say HRV.

HRV is a car that makes me very upset.

The CRV does not make me upset.

It's just too bad that it's not as good as the rest of the rest of the class.

But then again, it's worth pointing out that not everyone has a hybrid power train.

And I would love to see some of the the other automakers try.

I mean, I don't know why the escape is is bailing out on this segment.

I don't because they want to make more Bronco sports.

I don't get it either.

But the Bronco sport.

Oh, whatever, because you can't buy a Sasquatch trim escape,

which means you can't increase the price to Sasquatch levels.

I think that that might be what it is.

But you can get a plug in hybrid version of the escape as well.

But they might not be making any money on that.

And who knows how many of them they sell?

How many of those do you see versus the Sasquatches

and the outer banks or grand banks? I don't know.

I don't think it's a shame because I think I Bronco sports.

I either see them and yell, look, a Bronco sport like that.

OK, calm down.

I know it has one.

I'm sorry.

But I usually don't see them like I feel like I don't see them.

He's got the what's the top package, the trade, the offering package.

Didn't you just co-op?

I don't know if it's a Sasquatch.

I feel like no, I feel like Sasquatch.

Outer banks, ultra banks.

Yeah, ultra banks.

No, I think that Sasquatch is something you get like on top of it,

but I could be wrong. I can't remember the exact.

Judge banks.

Judge banks. What's that?

Fresh prince. Oh, wow.

That's a deep. OK.

What are you driving?

I am driving.

I'd be a cool that we haven't talked about in forever.

In fact, actually, that's not true.

We talked about it last year.

Exactly this time last year.

Yeah, it's literally within two days of recording this a year ago.

But in that time, it's been redesigned.

Hasn't it wasn't it 2025 that saw the redesign?

No, I drove the I drove the redesign last year.

OK, so why don't you tell them what it is?

It's a Camry. It's a Toyota Camry.

And we look through our records.

We have not driven a Camry.

You have to go back to like our 28th episode or something like seven years ago

for the last time we talked about a Camry.

So a year apart and then seven years apart.

I don't have a lot to say about this vehicle

because Sammy covered a lot of ground last year,

but it's a couple of things I wanted to bring up.

I drove an XLE all wheel drive,

which in Canada, sorry, XLE all wheel drive hybrid.

In Canada, they're all all wheel drive.

I don't think you can get a hybrid version of the vehicle.

Oh, I'm going to have to correct myself.

There's one front wheel drive version, the very base model.

After that, there are three other trim levels.

They are all all wheel drive.

They vehicle I happen to drive cost around.

Let me double check on my numbers here, but it wasn't it wasn't insane.

It was actually, no, I'm going to take that back.

Forty eight thousand dollars in Canada.

In the US, you're killing yourself, Benjy.

In the US, it's thirty seven thousand with all wheel drive,

which is like a fifteen hundred dollar option, I think.

OK, in the US, you can get obviously more versions of the hybrid

that don't have all the drive because it is optional.

And in fact, there's one more trim level.

It's called Nightshade, which is one of those, I guess it looks.

It's it's it's.

Remember how they locked out everything, right?

No, it's not because every time we talk about these, you know,

the Honda Black Edition, that's not actually black.

Well, this is a nightshade that the version they show on the build site

is like bright red.

So I don't know what's going on.

Someone needs to check on the marketing.

Come to us.

Yeah, they've clearly somebody's clearly said that black trim

goes with other colors than black, I guess.

Somebody needs to check on the marketing departments and make sure they're OK.

What I liked about the vehicle, I thought the interior was really nice

and the XLE had this kind of quilted dashboard and door panels thing going on.

It was like a gray that matched the gray material on the seats.

I liked it. It looked classy.

It was relatively comfortable to drive from a driving perspective.

It's just nice to be in a car and not be up in the air like I am in an SUV

almost all the time.

It's it's a novel experience at this point.

I had a little bit of trouble getting comfortable in the seats.

I found that the seats were bothering my lower back.

I was messing around with the lumbar to try and fix it.

I couldn't really get it to a position where I was, you know, completely at ease.

The the drivetrain itself.

It was you could get noisy at times when it switches from battery

power to gas power.

There's a shock in the sense that you're quiet and then loud.

It's like listening to a grunge band or an alternative band from the 90s

where they get to the chorus and also that's really loud

and you were prepared for that kind of thing because you were like drawn in

by the the emotionality of the quiet acoustic parts.

So it's not I wouldn't call it like it has a CVT

like you were talking about with the Honda.

It didn't really peg the motor all the time.

It did. Sometimes it wasn't as buzzy as I would have perhaps thought.

But because it's contrasted against that quietness of the hybrid system,

it really kind of comes out.

Interesting. The all wheel drive.

I mean, I don't think you need it.

I never really felt like the car was benefiting from it.

It really only kicks in when the front tires are overwhelmed

and we've been having blizzard after blizzard up here.

So it happened occasionally, but really it's tires that are going to determine

whether you can get through the snow and ice more than just the all

wheel drive system in a vehicle like this.

It did give me perhaps a little bit of,

I don't know if it's confidence when I was pulling out to pass the tourists

who are descending upon the ski hill near near where I live.

I didn't have to worry that the car was going to step out of line

when I was passing, but also it doesn't really have enough horsepower

to worry about that anyway.

So like, yeah, it's fine.

It's like a normal amount of horsepower.

I don't remember offhand.

It's in like the 200 range from what I remember.

And it's it's enough to get the job done, but it's not enough to be exciting.

One thing that the winter weather did not like was the safety system.

So the front radar sensor, it gets slushed up real quick.

It turns off your adaptive cruise control, turns off your parking assistance.

You got to have a clean car and a clean car is a rare thing in the winter time.

Oh, yeah. So that's frustrating.

Maybe that's one aspect of driving a car versus an SUV where the sensors are lower.

And you're going to notice that.

Right. That's a good point.

I also found that when the vehicle was clean and I was on the highway,

unlike some of the other car companies out there, Toyota does not really have

a comprehensive self driving quote unquote cruise control system.

They will do lane centering, but like it will pinball you pretty good.

And it will also shoot you over the lines.

If you are a little bit like, let's say the corner is too aggressive,

it's not going to save your bacon.

Like it's going to let you know that planes about you not touching it at all.

Yeah. Yeah.

The only real time you're clearly touching when you're really clearly.

When you really clearly have torque on the wheel.

Yes. The the only time it really takes over from a driving perspective

is at low speeds that has a traffic jam assist thing.

Can't remember the exact speeds.

I want to say it's like below 30 miles an hour.

It might even be below 25.

So like around 40 kilometers an hour, it will steer for you.

It will do stop and go kind of stuff, but that's when it happens.

Like it's not at any other time.

So they're a bit of an outlier when it comes to that, Sammy.

OK, I agree with you on that.

But is that a good thing?

No, I don't think so.

I think it makes them less competitive.

I think that I think if you're going to have lane centering,

it needs to be more refined than what Toyota has or just don't offer it.

That like lane holding, I suppose is the term now, like to to be more.

No, centering should be right.

Like, I don't know why we need to redefine it.

Yeah, I think that not do the the bouncing the pinballing.

Yeah, you need to be you're not competitive and people are going to notice it

and they're going to drive in a friend's car and their friends can be like,

look at this, it's like doing its own steering thing and then they're going to get upset.

So it's not a good look for Toyota.

I personally just turned it off most of the time

because I didn't really know when I could rely on it and when I couldn't.

One last thing I want to say about the car is it had a hard time

keeping the windshield defrosted.

I think that this time of year, you can get a lot of slush in the car

and that puts a lot of moisture in the cabin.

And for whatever reason,

Toyota's HVAC wasn't able to keep it up.

I had to when I usually keep it on the auto setting, Sammy.

And in Toyota, you can mess around and you can keep the fan on auto,

but you can change which vents are working.

So even with the dashboard vent going for defrost, it couldn't keep up.

I had to go to the full defrost setting every once in a while to clear the windshield.

That's not great.

And it's honestly a little bit surprising, but bottom line.

I'm going to actually look up my fuel economy on this vehicle

because I think it was OK for the cold.

I have it here in my little database.

I know it's not fair to ask because, yeah, go ahead.

Well, I got 7.9 liters per 100 kilometers,

and I'm going to try and get that in miles per gallon.

And this is during very, very cold weather.

Yeah, see what I'm saying is I didn't get anything like that in the CRV.

So that's that is 30 miles per gallon.

That's pretty good for, you know, well below freezing, I think.

Overall, it's a good car.

It's fine. It's the drive train is not exciting.

It's not interesting, but I think the car looks good inside and out.

I think that it's nice to drive a car instead of a SUV from time to time.

It's something that I appreciate more and more.

And if I had one other complaint about the car, it's that once again,

Toyota does this weird thing where all of the vehicle settings are in the gauge

cluster and you have to access them through a tiny little controller on the steering wheel.

And you had to somehow figure out what all these acronyms for the safety systems mean.

We talked about this with other Toyota vehicles recently.

I can't remember the last one.

I think it was the Lexus NX had a similar setup.

Meanwhile, the infotainment system on the dashboard is there.

It's big and they don't use it for anything like it's barely used.

It's for your your infotainment.

So like you're you're using it for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

It has its own navigation and it has a few basic settings,

but everything else crammed in the gauge cluster.

Why do you do this Toyota?

That's fair. I think that's a really smart point.

I remember this conversation we had previously and I forget about it.

I think I forget about it every time until I get into a new Toyota.

Their UI, yeah, is an interesting thing because they've updated their infotainment screens

and their operating system on that infotainment screen.

And it's really like it looks nice.

It's fairly responsive, but you're right.

There's no real like car.

There's just like not a lot going on.

Yeah, it's just mainly for like maps or like an advertisement

for you to subscribe to something.

Is that what they do or is that a Lexus thing?

I can't I think that they just probably invested a lot of money

in the gauge cluster setup and they don't want to port it over.

That's the only thing I can think of.

How did it drive because we mentioned TNGA and all that jazz.

And, you know, these days we talk about

crossovers kind of being kind of boring to drive or actually, I mean,

I think crossovers are getting better and better each generation.

In terms of driving enjoyment, it drives much better than any crossover.

No question. OK, it's still that way. Yes. OK, great.

So is there anything else you want to talk about on this episode?

Say, yeah, there was one more thing that I thought we would talk about.

It's either the first episode of 2026 is the last episode of 2025.

And I think it would be really great to talk about some of the

highlights and low lights of this year in terms of the cars we've driven,

or maybe some of the trends that we're getting tired of seeing.

Then I'll start us off with one of the highlights of this year's

cars, one of the cars that I really enjoy driving was the 2025

Range Rover Sport SV.

This is a car that I thought was going to be a huge gimmick,

basically a really overpowered SUV.

And I for whatever reason, something about it really clicked with me.

I had so much fun with it.

It made a ton of great noises, something that I guess I've forgotten about

with all of these EVs that we've been driving over the past year.

And it was really special inside.

It was really high performing.

I felt confident driving it fast, which is not something you can usually say

about a two ton vehicle on public roads.

And in general, it made me happy that a car like this still exists

and that automakers are still putting effort, especially an automaker

like Range Rover is still putting effort into making enjoyable, fun to drive SUVs.

There are really only a couple of vehicles that I jive with,

jive with over this past year, something that I find the longer I do this,

or maybe we're just entering an era where vehicles are not really standing out anymore.

Yeah, I think that's fair, though.

I don't I don't disagree with you.

One of those is the Toyota 4Runner Trail Hunter.

I thought it would be a mess on the road in its most off-road friendly version.

And it was actually very pleasant to drive.

That that surprised me.

I'm glad that the 4Runner has a much better platform now and has joined the 21st century.

And the other vehicle would probably be the Cadillac OPTIQ, which again, was a surprise.

We don't often expect entry level EVs, especially in the luxury segment to be good.

Like sometimes they're just placeholders to try and get you into a more expensive EV.

The OPTIQ is really great.

I think it covers a ton of bases for people who are looking for a comfortable

and stylish and legitimately useful electric crossover

at a price that undercuts most of their competition.

So those two vehicles really stood out to me.

I agree with you, especially on the OPTIQ.

I remember we drove it at the same time and we came away much more positive

than we thought we would.

I think you're right.

Was that an Oops All OPTIQ episode?

Yeah. And I think that's really that says a lot.

A luxury car is supposed to go is supposed to give you is supposed to leave you wanting

for nothing really else.

And the OPTIQ, despite being an entry level version of the luxury EV, did a really good job of that.

And the other thing I want to talk about is that that trail hunter.

I haven't driven the trail hunter, but I do know what you what you mean when you get

into an off-road oriented vehicle and you expect this awful ride on pavement.

And it doesn't give you that.

I think the first car that was like that for me, first truck that was like that for me,

where it's the Colorado ZR2, do you remember that?

Yeah. That was a really sweet ride.

I remember that being really nice on the road.

What about disappointing vehicles?

I'll take the helm on this.

My worst car I drove this year was the Volvo EX90.

It is so bad that I don't think they're going to be selling it in Canada next year.

It was really disappointing to drive, mainly because if it's

its infotainment system or its digital, I don't know, platform, essentially,

not that's not to say it rode poorly.

In fact, I love the ride quality.

I love the powertrain.

The design was pretty good, too, with the exception of this big Lidar hump

on the on the roof of the vehicle, which did not provide any sort of Lidar

like capabilities or assistance.

It didn't do anything.

There was no self driving feature, which is what you expect from Lidar.

That was when I first realized that things might not be going well

for this Volvo EX90.

But then the infotainment, everything is done through this big screen.

And I mean, everything opening the trunk is done through a screen,

changing the mirrors or steering wheel is a process that's initiated

by this infotainment screen.

And then there's other elements of it that really bothered me,

especially the lack of key fob buttons.

That was so strange.

And there was one whole experience, what I had with it, where it would not

open the door for me and I had no idea what to do with this with this car.

It was really frustrating.

And I can't I could not recommend this car to anybody.

And I'm glad to see them taking it off the market.

Hopefully, or at least for Canada, hopefully they can figure out

all of these little glitches and bugs and sort out their infotainment system.

Yeah, I don't want to start out 2026 on a negative note

any any more negative than I've already been.

So I'm going to I'm going to not partake in the worst car aspect of the feature.

I think I'm going to pass. OK, sure. All right.

I think that's it for today. Yes, Ben. Yeah. Yeah.

If people want to reach out, how can they do that?

They can head on over to our website on named automotive podcast dot com.

And while they're there, they can check out all of our previous episodes.

They can see everything we've done.

They can subscribe to us really easily.

I love it when people send us messages, though.

So we have a contact form there.

You fill it out, it lands in our inbox, and we really, really like that.

Additionally, you could just email us the old fashioned way.

It's Benjamin at Benjamin hunting dot com.

And what are you going to be talking about next week, Sammy?

I'm not so sure because, again, we're recording this at like off

like unusual hours, unusual days.

But I do have a Hyundai Palisade

and a Hyundai Ionic 9 to talk about in the near future.

So I think that's going to be coming up soon.

I'm going to be talking about the M340i from BMW, the Jarre edition.

I'm not sure if I'm spelling that or sorry, pronouncing that properly,

but I will do some research on the pronunciation before we record.

Excellent. Three series, always fun to drive.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

All right, thanks for listening, everybody and happy new year.

Episode 432: 2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid, 2026 Toyota Camry XLE AWD

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