Windshield washer fluid is a special liquid that helps clean your car's windshield. It's important for keeping your view clear, especially when driving in bad weather.
Summer formulation is a type of fluid used in cars that works best in warm weather. It's not meant for cold temperatures, so it can freeze and cause problems in winter.
The Toyota BZ is an upcoming electric car from Toyota, set to be released in 2026. It's part of their effort to make more environmentally friendly vehicles.
The Toyota BZ4X is an electric car made by Toyota. It's their first major attempt to sell electric vehicles to regular customers, and it has features that are meant to make driving more eco-friendly.
An electric vehicle, or EV, is a type of car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. This means they can be better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
A kilowatt hour is a way to measure how much energy a battery can store. If a battery has a capacity of 57.7 kWh, it means it can power something that uses one kilowatt for 57.7 hours.
Maximum range is how far an electric car can go before it needs to be charged again. For example, if a car has a maximum range of 314 miles, it means you can drive that far on one charge.
Car
Subaru BZ Woodland
The Subaru BZ Woodland is a type of car made by Subaru that is built for outdoor activities and has special features for driving on rough roads.
The Toyota Prius is a type of car that uses both gas and electricity to run, making it very good for the environment. It has different versions that offer more space or better features, which is why it's often talked about.
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the more powerful the engine is, which usually means better performance.
The Hyundai Kona is a small SUV that looks cool and is fun to drive. It's a good option for people who want a car that is easy to handle and saves on gas.
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a small car that is very cheap to buy and saves a lot of gas. It's a good choice for people who want a simple and reliable car.
0-60 time is how long it takes a car to go from stopped to going really fast, specifically 60 miles per hour. It's a way to measure how quickly a car can speed up.
An EV is a type of car that runs on electricity instead of gas. They can speed up really fast and are better for the environment because they don't pollute as much.
Tesla superchargers are special charging stations for Tesla cars that let you charge your car's battery quickly. They help you drive long distances without worrying about running out of power.
The charging rate is how fast you can charge an electric car's battery. If the rate is higher, it means you can get more power into the battery in less time.
A Level 2 charging port is a type of charger for electric cars that works faster than regular home chargers. It uses a higher voltage to charge the car's battery more quickly.
The Combined Charging Standard is a way to charge electric cars quickly. It allows the car to use both regular and fast charging stations, which helps charge the battery faster.
A trailer hitch is a part of a car that lets you pull a trailer behind it. It's like a hook that connects the car to the trailer so you can carry extra stuff.
A receiver hitch is a part of the trailer hitch that has a square hole where you can attach different tools or accessories for towing. It makes it easier to switch things out depending on what you need to carry.
The throttle is what you push with your foot to make the car go faster. If the throttle feels solid, it means the car responds well when you press down on it.
The Nissan Frontier is a smaller truck that can carry heavy loads and is good for outdoor activities. It's popular for people who need a tough vehicle for work or adventures.
The Toyota Crown is a fancy car that is very comfortable and has a lot of nice features. It's a car that shows how serious Toyota is about making high-quality vehicles.
The Tata Motors Aria is a big vehicle that can be used like a van or an SUV. It's made for families who need a lot of space for passengers and luggage.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a new electric van that looks like the old VW buses. It's designed to be roomy and good for families, while also being good for the environment.
The Nissan Ariya is a new electric SUV that looks nice and has a lot of modern features. It's designed for people who want an eco-friendly car that is also stylish.
The Subaru Solterra is a new electric SUV that can drive in tough conditions. It's made for people who want an eco-friendly car that can still handle outdoor adventures.
Car
BMW M340i xDrive 50 Yarae Edition
The BMW M340i xDrive 50 Yarae Edition is a special version of the M340i, celebrating 50 years of the BMW 3 Series, a popular car model that started in 1975.
The BMW 3 Series is a small luxury car that is known for being fun to drive and very comfortable. It's popular among people who want a nice car that feels sporty.
The Genesis G70 is a fancy car that is comfortable and has a lot of cool features. It's a good choice for people who want a luxury car without spending too much money.
The BMW M3 is a fast and sporty car that is designed for people who love driving. It's known for being powerful and fun to drive, making it a popular choice among car lovers.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a big SUV that can drive on rough roads and is also comfortable for everyday use. It's popular because it can do a lot of different things, like taking families on trips or going off-road.
The Jeep Wagoneer is a big SUV that can drive off-road and is also very comfortable inside. It's made for people who want a luxury vehicle that can handle tough terrain.
The Chrysler Pacifica is a family van that has a lot of room for kids and their stuff. It also comes in a version that can save on gas by using electricity, which is great for families.
The Hudson Hornet is an old car from the 1950s that many people remember for its unique look and speed. It's considered a classic and is loved by car collectors.
The Dodge Hornet is a small SUV that is made to be fun to drive and has a sporty look. It's a good option for people who want a stylish and practical car.
The Dodge Neon is a small car that used to be very popular because it was cheap and easy to drive. Even though it's not made anymore, some people still remember it fondly.
The Chrysler Daytona is a cool-looking car from the 1980s that was made for people who liked fast cars. It's considered a classic now and is remembered by car fans.
The Dodge Charger is a large car that looks sporty and can go really fast. It's popular for people who want a car that feels powerful and has a cool design.
The Fiat 500 is a tiny car that looks cute and is easy to park in the city. It's great for people who want a small vehicle that can get around town easily.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a new electric car that looks really cool and has a lot of space inside. It's made for people who want to drive an eco-friendly vehicle.
The Honda CR-Z is a small car that uses both gas and electricity to save on fuel. It's designed to be sporty and fun to drive while still being good for the environment.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a small SUV that looks nice and is good for everyday driving. It's made for people who want a car that can do a little bit of everything.
The Mitsubishi Outlander is a medium-sized SUV that can fit a family and their things. It also comes in a version that can save gas by using electricity.
The Buick Enclave is a big SUV that is very comfortable and has a lot of space for families. It's a great choice for people who want a nice ride with plenty of room.
The Acura NSX is a fancy sports car that is really fast and has a special engine that uses both gas and electricity. It's a car that many people admire for its looks and performance.
The Hyundai Equus is a fancy car that is very comfortable and has a lot of luxury features. It's made for people who want a high-quality vehicle without spending too much.
The Bentley Azure is a very expensive and fancy car that can have its roof down. It's made for people who want the best of the best in luxury and style.
The Honda HR-V is a small SUV that is easy to drive and has a lot of space inside for stuff. It's a good choice for people who want a practical car that can handle everyday needs.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.
My name is Sammy Hajjassad, and with me as always is my good friend and fellow automotive
journalist, Benjamin Hunting.
Say hi to the people, Ben.
Greetings human listeners.
Greetings to everyone.
If this is the first time you're listening to our podcast, thank you for trying something
new.
I will reiterate, Ben and I are a pair of automotive journalists, but more than that, we're very
good friends.
Isn't that true, Ben?
So Sammy, it's been very, very cold in my neck of the woods over the past week.
I woke up on Monday morning and I had to go outside, and it was minus 19.5 degrees Celsius,
which I think for our American listeners, let me find out what that is.
Minus 3.1 Fahrenheit, which sounds a lot less impressive, but it is.
No, I think I liked it the other way.
In any case.
Yeah, what happened?
I pick up my Pathfinder, which has been sitting in a fleet lot for two weeks because of the
Christmas holidays, and I cleaned it up, starts up right away, which is all you can really
ask of a 23-year-old vehicle, and I'm driving home.
Things are mostly okay until I try to use the windshield washer fluid.
It does not work.
Which is something that most people use in the wintertime because you get so much gunk
all over your windshield.
Yeah, but I was lucky in the sense that on Monday it was too cold for there to be gunk.
You know, when it's too cold and even when there's salt on the road, you can't make slush.
It's just kind of sits there in a layer.
So I get home, I figure, all right, maybe it's frozen or something.
It's very, very cold and normally fluid is good to minus 20 or even minus 40.
The stuff I just bought to replace it earlier that month was good to minus 45.
But when you're driving, depending on where the reservoir is for the vehicle, it can be
exposed to a lot of wind.
So in the Pathfinder, it's at the front and it's just below the fog light.
Theoretically, a lot of air at highway speeds can come up under there and it could enhance
the chilling effect.
And the other thing I learned is that if you let things sit for a really long time, specifically
things that have alcohol in them, that alcohol can evaporate out of the liquid.
So you end up just with water.
But the first thing I did was I contacted the person I bought the truck from and I was like,
hey, did you maybe put summer formulation in because I didn't check before the cold
weather came and his reply was, can you even buy summer formulation anymore?
Like, I'm pretty sure whatever I put in was good to minus 20.
And he told me that when he bought the truck himself, the person, the original owner had
water in it.
Like, oh my God, yeah, that feels like that's like riding.
How cheap do you have to be?
To ride the edge of the knife blade where you're just putting in water instead of fluid,
which costs, I think I paid 250 a gallon for my washing fluid.
Anyway, he tells me he thinks that it was good to minus 20.
And the next day it warmed up to like minus 10.
It still wasn't working.
So I'm starting to think that maybe I have a more serious problem, right?
Maybe because when I pull the lever, I don't hear a sound.
And when I pull, twist the tube on the lever for the rear, I don't hear a sound.
So I'm like, did a fuse go out?
Is it the same fuse for both pumps?
The pumps are side by side, blah, blah, blah.
I try to pour in some of my old fluid, sorry, my colder fluid, the stuff that's
good to minus 45 to see if it would maybe melt what's in there a little bit.
I let it sit, nothing really happens.
Then it gets up to minus three, which is right around freezing.
It's still not working.
And I'm starting to be a little irritated because I can't go inside.
Like you have to take the wheel off.
You have to remove the fender flap.
I'm not doing that when it's cold outside.
You know what I mean?
So in my mind, I'm starting to think, all right, the rest of the winter,
I'm not going to have wiper fluid, which is normally fine for this vehicle
because it just goes from one fleet spot to another.
Most of the time, one lot to the other for a week at a time.
And go like what, like 50 miles at most.
Yeah, like right now I have it for two weeks, which is unusual
because of some trouble that I'm doing.
Oh, yeah.
But but I'm mentally prepared for that.
And then yesterday, it's above zero, just a little bit.
I get in the truck, I pull the fluid thing, it squirts everywhere.
Everything is squirting everywhere is always squirting all the time.
And I'm like, I guess it was frozen.
I don't want to hear how everything has squirted, just in the car, of course.
Sure. And I have to assume that it was frozen.
I have to assume that the liquid, this is the first for me.
I've never had liquid freeze like that in a car.
And I've never had liquid that was supposedly good for cold temperatures free.
So that's how long it hadn't been used.
So now I need to make sure that I'm regularly using it.
That's the bottom line.
I drained it.
Yeah. And by drain, I drove to my gym while holding the lever.
Just spraying it all over everything, squirting it.
Imagine anybody walking on the sidewalk, just getting flashback from this thing.
When I was a young man and I was somewhat anti-social,
I had to pick up only then, only when you were a young man.
I had this F-150 that had a sprayer for the washer fluid
that would shoot three feet over and two feet back from the windshield.
Right. So if you if you were standing by the box of this single cab truck,
it you would get wet and you're you're a joker.
You're so funny.
A friend of mine worked for Clare-All when we were teenagers.
He was a biochemist and one summer he worked as a test engineer.
And what that meant was he would go to the Clare-All plant,
which is actually near where I live now, and they would make batches
of whatever cosmetics were needed to be tested and they would test them.
But the thing is you only need half the batch, half the batch is a control, I guess.
And the other half is in the test.
And so whatever was left over, people who worked at the facility could bring home.
So he was always bringing me like essentially weight label,
weight label cosmetics.
So I would get like, OK, I would he would make special flavors and scents
because he could do that.
And I would have like bubble bath, like the but the the the real reason
I'm bringing this up is because at the time and I don't think this is still
a thing in cosmetics, but there was this product called Body Mist.
Have you ever heard of that? OK.
It's kind of like perfume, but not really.
I guess you spray it and you rock it.
Yeah, you walk into it.
So he would bring me gallon bottles of Body Mist.
I mean, gallons.
And he had this special scent called Celebrate.
That was his favorite. He had made it.
That's what he named it.
It's basically just alcohol and fragrance.
So one night we went to we were in the in the city
and we filled the reservoir of the washer fluid in my pickup truck
with a celebrate Body Mist and we we drove down the sidewalk
of the the clubbing district of Montreal and it's a Broadway street.
So we could be on the left and we would wait till there was like a long line
for a club and we would just hit the switch and douse the line
with this fragrance because you're a joker.
My God, it doesn't get you wet
because it instantly evaporates.
But you stink.
You are you are surrounded in this cloud of like celebratory perfume.
And what made it fun was you would like
waft this perfume over top of the crowd and then I would just stop
and you watch the mirror and all of a sudden everyone is looking everywhere
trying to figure out where this joyful smell has come from.
Sure. But the problem with the strategy
is it also sprays down the side of the pickup.
So for like three weeks afterwards, my it just smelled like
it smelled like I don't I don't even know like a hair salon, I guess,
just like a really aggressive, clean smell.
Anyway, that's my very long story about
washer fluid tying in a pad.
I'm not recommending anybody do this.
Like, I mean, I guess it's it's harmless fun,
because unless you're allergic to alcohol,
you're probably not going to be harmed by this cloud of perfume.
But it was it was it was a funny to do.
I remember moving out of that house years later and finding like eight gallons
of body mist and not knowing what to do with it.
So I think I just left it for the next occupants.
So but either way, though,
your your your pathfinder is now spraying the way it needs to spray.
We're going to. I mean, we'll see.
We'll see how long you have.
What if it's not that it was frozen?
What if the cold was actually affecting the circuit?
I don't know.
You know, very well,
it's going to be it's going to be seven degrees above zero tomorrow.
That's how much of a temperature swing we've had.
Thirty. Yeah, everything melted.
Everything has melted over here.
It's crazy.
And it was such warm weather today.
It caught me off guard and the sun was out.
It was weird. It's like I haven't seen like beautiful warm sun.
And so yeah, I don't I'm not used to the sun.
I'm not prepared to see it.
Ben, but this week we've got some pretty cool cards to talk about.
Some things that we haven't spoken about before or in any, you know,
prolonged depth or enthusiasm.
Specifically, that's the EV that I'm test driving this week,
which is the Toyota 2026 Toyota BZ BZ.
Wait, Sammy.
Yes, this BZ.
Is it possibly related to the busy forks?
The busy forks or the BZ for X,
which was Toyota's first attempt at a at a mainstream full time
EV has been replaced by the busy entirely.
That's because because from what I remember,
the busy forks was completely non competitive.
Is that is that perhaps not accurate enough in describing that vehicle?
I mean, it had a really poor amount of range, power,
and it was super plain inside.
Had you didn't have an ever have a gauge cluster from what I remember?
I think it had a good. Are you for real?
I'm going to double check.
Whatever gauge cluster.
But it was it was either it had one of those pop up HUDs
or it had a gauge cluster that was really, really far towards the windshield.
Yeah, it was really far. Super small.
Yes. Now, this one.
For no reason, right?
Like, I mean, it seems like I have the one I'm the one I'm driving
has a very similar interior, all sorts of weird stuff.
But the bees in general, though, the BZ has made some significant changes
in an attempt to become more competitive.
However, I don't think it's I don't think it's gone far enough,
which is crazy considering they have increased horsepower in some scenarios
by 50 percent, they have increased the side of the the size of battery
by like 10 kilowatt hours or 10 kilowatt hours.
They have increased the speed of DC fast charging significantly.
It's insane to me that they could have done such
an such a they have put so much effort in improving it and yet still
design still made a how do you how do you even say this?
Forgettable and almost now,
like it's now not the worst car in the segment, but it's not far off.
Do you know what I mean?
OK, I want to make sure I've got this straight.
So what you're telling me is that Toyota's EV,
which was already many years late compared to all of its competitors,
has now been redesigned, which means they've had more time than anyone else
to think about all of this stuff and it still doesn't compete.
I don't know what you're saying.
I don't know how to yet kind of.
It's not that it doesn't compete.
It's now like on the board, but like at the back.
You know what I mean? OK, how many other pieces are on the board?
Like literally, it's still not in the top five.
I don't know if it's like it might be 10th
because there's probably only other nine other vehicles to compare it to.
But let me just let me just get the basics out of the way first.
OK, you can get it with front wheel drive and all wheel drive.
In the past, the two models had slightly different
battery sizes. They differed by one kilowatt hour.
This has changed for 2026.
There is only there is.
Sorry, there are two batteries, but there's a very small battery
for like the most entry level model, which is only 57.7 kilowatt hours,
which is even smaller than the outgoing model.
But all the other ones have a basically 75 kilowatt hour battery,
which is pretty big and the maximum range you can get on the BZ
is three hundred and fourteen miles on a front wheel drive entry level model.
How much is the hit for going to all the drive?
It is almost fifth.
Sorry, it's almost.
How do I how do I describe?
You could just give me the number without any math.
How about we try that?
If you get.
So if you get the XLE front wheel drive plus,
which is the most the most capable in terms of range version of the BZ,
you'd get three hundred and fourteen miles.
If you get the all wheel drive version of the XLE, it drops to two eighty eight.
So about what is that in what is that in Fahrenheit miles?
I'm not going that I'm not going there.
How many parsecs to the bushel?
Let's continue this conversation, though.
So the model I had was the limited all wheel drive.
It had it had an ask it had an expected range of two hundred and seventy eight
miles, which is not fantastic.
OK, around four hundred and fifty kilometers.
I never got that much on the on the guesstimator.
But that's because it's been and it has been cold.
And additionally, it seems super, super conservative in terms of like sometimes
it seems like I've driven five kilometers before it even ticks off
like one or two from that's because you're you're always right in the region.
Well, yeah, true, because I do I do a lot of driving in the city.
And I think Evie's really excel in the city.
With that question, yes, I have a question for you, though, about you.
So you're saying this is a hyper uncompetitive product.
Is this the same platform as the trail seeker from Subaru?
No, the Subaru have an equivalent version of this because they did for the BZ.
Yes, it's called the BZ Woodland.
Really? Yeah, there's like it's considered it.
It's considered from what I can tell, they've considered it as a different
vehicle altogether.
OK, I have no further questions that because I was only really curious about it.
It looks very different, actually.
When you look at the trail seeker, their new Evie, the Subaru's Evie.
Yes, the Subaru actually has trail seeker unchartered and Salterra.
All three Evie's and BZ and Toyota will have BZ and BZ Woodland.
No, so you're so Subaru isn't making a BZ Woodland.
That's what I was specifically asking you.
No, I think these I think the trail seeker is the BZ Woodland.
And they're different vehicles.
From the BZ and the and the the BZ Woodland and the BZ.
Are different enough to be considered different vehicles.
Yeah, man. Just trim levels.
Yeah, you've got to see this thing.
So is it like they're making a family of vehicles, like when they did
Prius C and Prius X and Prius V and Prius Y.
And then when it comes to EVs, when it comes to EVs, Toyota is a wild card, man.
I don't know what they're doing.
That's real weird.
I don't know what I don't know how to feel about that.
But let's send you pictures.
I'm going to send you pictures while you're while you're processing this
because it's crazy.
This is the Woodland.
OK, this is this is the BZ.
I guess it has a longer, like longer.
It's bigger, like it's totally bigger.
One looks like an outback.
I doesn't really look like an outback.
I mean, it looks like an outback.
If all you can afford is polygons to render to render your outback.
All right, anyway, let's forget about this.
Come coming back to the to the BZ that I drove.
Although I will say this, I will say this in these press releases
for the BZ, it says for model year 2026, the Toyota BZ bracket,
formerly BZ for X and then you go to the BZ Woodland.
It does not say bracket.
It goes the Toyota BZ Woodland.
No brackets is the electric Toyota.
So yeah, all right.
I do think they're trying to make differentiate them.
I think that's an awful way to differentiate them
by giving them a similar first like yeah, it makes no sense.
But shout out to the Toyota media side,
which I used extensively today and is actually pretty good.
So yeah, the US media side is very nice.
OK, sorry.
The other thing I need to mention, the outgoing BZ for X
had 200 horsepower if you got the front wheel drive model
and 215 if you had the off wheel drive model.
Those two those two outputs
entirely uncompetitive, a really significant issue
when it comes to talking about modern mainstream.
Well, those are Kona levels of power, right?
Yeah, that's where we're at.
Yeah, that's not a Kona size vehicle.
No, today you will unless you're getting the
the the the budget version of the car, which is the exoly front wheel drive.
It has 168 horsepower is I don't think it's a car.
I don't think I don't think that version is a real car.
You really need to lead with that when you were talking about it having
300 some odd miles of range.
Yeah. Oh, no, sorry.
That one does not have 300 miles of range.
This is really confusing.
It's very confusing.
Now, you know, you know, there is a there is a there is a version
of the of the BZ called the excellent XLE front wheel drive,
which feels like like like like it shouldn't be on sale.
I don't know how to tell you that.
It feels like it.
But you say it has a smaller battery and it has a smaller smaller motor.
But you're talking about 168 horsepower now feeling real.
I'm pretty sure those are the numbers for the Ionic five
single motor short range, which, again, is a very hard to find.
Is not like I was not sold in Canada for a while or whatever.
Remember, but it was available in the United States.
And I don't think there's an Ionic six equivalent.
So it was like a very specific.
I don't know exactly why.
Like maybe there was some kind of there's a model that you have to have,
which which squeezes in beneath like a price range or something,
or it qualifies for some type of incentive somewhere.
Maybe.
But all the other versions of the of the BZ come with at least
two hundred and twenty one horsepower with the front wheel drive models.
All come with two hundred and twenty one horsepower.
The all wheel drive models come with three hundred and thirty eight horsepower.
That is a massive increase.
Yes, I also want to say that if you're if you're benchmarking the competition,
maybe don't benchmark their lowest production.
That's right.
I mean, it's brutal.
I mean, I feel like we shouldn't consider this entry level model
and so many can so many weights.
It's just like this low range, low battery, low power.
It's like if you could buy a two cylinder Mitsubishi Mirage.
Exactly. Yeah.
Toyota will Toyota estimates that the front wheel drive version
of the car will do zero to sixty and eight seconds,
which is a figure that they probably shouldn't shouldn't advertise.
But the all wheel drive one does it in four point nine and driving this car.
It actually feels pretty quick and really responsive.
And when acceleration is is involved, but you still don't like it.
Acceleration is only one part of the the the equation here.
And the major issue, of course, is that every EV on the market has tons of
acceleration and they and they just they just poof like right off the line.
They go, it's brilliant.
Another thing to point out is that all of the BZ's come with the NACS style
charging point, the Tesla charger.
And the BZ also has support for Tesla super chargers,
as well as the plug in charge payment process, like payment system.
So you don't even have to use an app or anything for certain chargers.
You just plug it in and it charges whatever is built into the
whatever you signed into the car with or something.
Now, I don't.
And it has a max charging.
It has a max charger of max charging rate of one hundred and fifty kilowatts.
Again, much more competitive than the outgoing model,
which I think was capped at like a hundred and could only fast charge
twice in a day or something like that.
Do you really do you really find?
Yeah, the cap on the number of fast charges is absurd.
But do you really find having payment attached
to being able to just plug in and and charge really all that convenient?
Like we are so accustomed to paying for gas at the pump.
Why is it impossible for us to do that at the charger?
Like I don't see why that's an issue.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I don't know what is the hurdle unless it's all about data
in which you have to get out, use a specific app,
you know, verify the app to your car, tap this charger and then plug it in.
But a lot of the time you can just tap a credit card to the charger as well.
Not all of them.
But yeah, again, this week I had two that I had to use an app to do.
Are you sure you had to use an app or was the app just available
and perhaps had a discount associated with it?
No, I had to use an app that I use charge.
I used a pair of ChargePoint public chargers.
And it's important to point out as well that because I was using these
the and in Canada, there's a lot of how do you just what are they called?
The old level two or the regular level two charging port.
What are they called?
The charging, the non NACS plug.
I can't remember off the top of my head.
Anyways, I had to use this and I had to see the adapter combined charging standard.
And it combined us for fast charging.
I didn't fast charge this yet.
No, but it's the same thing.
It's the same standard.
Yeah.
So I had Toyota includes two adapters as you've discussed in the past,
I think with the Kia EV6.
Super.
Is that the car that you had?
Every every car.
Were you?
And they they politely put it in a an adorable little
case. Was it a velvet case in the glove box?
Was it a velvet case?
Was it like, did it feel like no, it feels upscale
and like a wooden arm rest, a seat box?
No, it wasn't a seat.
I think that's for the woodland version.
They'll probably give it some wood trimming.
It had Velcro on the bottom of it so that it could stick in the arm rest
without like shifting around.
But then when you take this this box out of the arm rest,
the thing that is Velcro to comes with it.
The carpet of the arm rest comes out with it.
Nice. So kind of useless way to go to Yoda.
I got to talk about the interior packaging a little bit.
Really spacious car, lots of space.
I moved some IKEA furniture, assembled IKEA furniture with it.
Wait, what? Assembled?
Yeah, I went on Facebook Marketplace and met some strangers and.
Did you not feel safe spending time in their apartment to disassemble it?
Is that? No, yeah.
You know, like sometimes this was a weird experience.
You drive up to somebody who is expecting you,
but they seem to be in the process of moving out of their home or something.
Yeah. So they've got like a moving truck.
And I'm like, hey, I'm here for the thing.
And they're like, oh, yeah, here and everything is out.
Like everything in their house is out.
And you just take this thing and give them some money for it.
And you're not quite sure what's going on.
But you know, it's cheap deal on furniture.
Are you sure it's their house?
No, absolutely not.
OK. And then you rate it on Facebook afterwards.
Five stars. Really a great time.
The rating thing never works for me.
And never the page never loves.
What do you mean? Just never loves.
Yeah, that means your rating is way too low.
Wow. I want to tell you that this car
has not made any significant strides in terms of interior
packaging of any kind compared to the outgoing model.
My limited all-wheel drive model has, for whatever reason,
two wireless phone chargers.
I guess one for you and one for your passenger.
Are they side by side?
No one really wants to hang out.
Yeah, they're side by side.
That's really weird.
Do you think if I put my
do you think if I if I put
you think if I put my phone across most of them,
I'll get like twice the wireless charging speed.
I think you'll see some.
I think you'll travel through time.
I think that's how it's enough gigawatts to is that what it is?
That's a special feature here.
Yeah, the it's it's clearly for phone charge racing
where you put two phones side by side
and see who can hit 80 percent first.
Or and which will drain the car's battery the fast or burn a hole
through the console because of the heat that's generated.
Speaking of the heat, Sammy, there is one.
One last question.
No, no, I got to talk to you about it.
One last question.
There's no club, but yes.
Is it more disturbing to have
two wireless chargers beside each other on a console
or two toilets beside each other in an open room?
In an open room that is not the bathroom.
I mean, any room is a bathroom if it's a bad situation.
All I'm saying is this is like what's like called like toilets
with threatening or as where people post photos of like
toilets they've encountered that are in unusual.
I learned something new from you every day.
What the heck are you talking about?
Why don't you just answer my question?
Yeah, I mean, I think an obscure number of toilets
in an in an open room will catch me off guard more than
multiple wireless phone chargers. OK.
I mean, I only have one phone.
I should have gotten and I should have just bought another phone
and checked out how it charges two phones because your spouse doesn't have
this seems like a gamble.
It seems like a bluff by Toyota.
Like why don't they just put this?
Why don't you just put the wireless charger in the seat
and then it can be a seat warmer slash wireless charger
and you can keep your phone in your pocket.
I have to talk to you about warming things in this car
because for whatever reason, there's no glove box in this car.
Instead, the area beneath the dash is this warm panel warm.
Yeah, when you when you turn on the heated seats,
it not only see warms the heat warms the seat,
it warms the area underneath the dash of both the driver's seat.
It's actually more along more of like the steering wheel column on the driver's
seat. So it's like a like a thigh warmer, like a knee warmer.
But like, I don't understand how close you have to get your leg
to this panel for it to feel warm.
My wife was my wife a joke.
I'm like, hey, have you noticed there's no armor?
There's no glove box.
And she's like, yeah, that's weird.
And she put her hand there and she's like, wow, that's uncomfortably warm.
Are you sure there's a feature supposed to be like that?
Yeah, it is.
So when you turn off the heated seats, that area cools down.
So you're in this like weird pen.
Your body is in this weird panini press of heated elements,
but only one, only one of them is touching your body, which is the seat.
You know, I'm not sure you're supposed to move your seat
all the way to your squish to the dash so that you can feel that really nice,
nice, warm sandwich press of what's next.
Why didn't they just heat the armrest?
Why don't they just heat the headliner?
That's clearly what they want to do.
Right.
I found this to be.
And the part that's heated on the driver is completely bizarre.
Again, like you said, beneath between your legs.
It's not.
I guess the point is supposed to radiate heat towards you,
but I don't think that's really how heated.
You already have vents there.
It's already you remember there was BMW had like a crotch vent.
Yes.
You remember that and you could like dial it up and down
and it would blow either cold or warm air.
I mean, that feels like BMW.
I thought it was Toyota.
I I'm sure it's more than like a Land Cruiser or something.
What I'm saying is this is a problem that already has a solution
that doesn't involve having to touch the dash.
Like, yeah, I didn't get why don't they heat the infotainment?
Heat the infotainment screen.
Yeah.
Anyway, no question for you.
Top five surfaces in a car you would want to see heated.
Go. Yeah, armrest.
I mean, besides the usual.
Yeah, yeah, besides the usual.
Yeah, armrest, armrest is a great one to to warm up.
I wouldn't mind something that could.
Do you think something like the floor,
like the floorboards, heated floorboards that you're if you have snowy boots?
That's two. That's two.
Keep going. Yeah.
Three more. That's it, man.
No, that's that's so that you can you can keep your your armrest and the floor.
I love you.
OK, three.
You want a heated glove box for, I guess,
often, sometimes I buy one of those prepared rotisserie chickens.
And I'm really terrified.
Love box.
That's a big one.
Fifty lately, you could put a whole like that's like a microwave in there.
They should reply to just add a rotisserie to the glove box.
That would be a solution.
I would love that.
That would be so good.
That's three.
And is this strictly interior?
No.
And it's a touch to any tailgating area.
Like if you wanted to sit
like on a tailgate and have it in like what look at the stars or whatever.
I see a heated heated bed.
So you would rather have that instead of the protractor and ruler
that Ford has on the F one fifties tailgate.
You know, can you imagine you show up to like your SAT exams
with like a Ford tailgate to do your math problems with?
And I spent a hundred thousand dollars on this pickup.
I'm going to use every single piece of it whenever I can.
The you mean like that?
I mean, on the tail, no, I don't know if it's on the tail.
I know that they also have a bunch of measurements on the underside of the arm rest.
Yeah, I'm not talking about those.
I'm talking about the tailgate one.
So that's four. You have one more to do.
One more to go. I got nothing, man.
And I'm running out of I'm running out of I'm running out of places.
What do you think? What about a heated trailer hitch? How about that?
No, what? That sounds dangerous.
It's not dangerous.
The hands get cold, you're hitching up the trailer.
It's a perfect solution.
It sounds like it sounds like a cattle prod almost like it could be dangerous
or branding. No, I'm not think I'm not talking about the ball hitch.
I'm talking about like the receiver.
I'm not saying I'm not saying like heat up the ball hitch
and then back it into a bumper and like slowly sizzle your way through the fiberglass.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm imagining.
All right. So that we let's move past what we were just talking about.
What else do you have to say? In general, this car is like it's still
the range is really like not superb.
The interior design is really not not impressive.
The exterior design they've gotten rid of the black fender flares,
which has improved the design significantly.
And while the starting price is a is like a claimed $35,000,
that's for like this model that no one wants.
So the one I drove, though, starts at $43,000.
That's US. That's US.
And as configured with all wheel drive.
Is closer to 50 grand.
Now, I you say that it's gotten rid of the black fenders.
Sammy, I found them.
Do you know where they are?
They're on the super.
They're on the.
Yes, they are.
So it was a lateral.
Yeah, I want to say like it's driving this car was super like.
It felt like I was not driving a car like it has the steering feels vaguely connected
to the front wheels. The throttle is really solid.
The braking is really good.
The ride quality is fine, but none of it felt stand out or impressive.
But also none of it felt like super comfortable and like reassuring
the way that, you know, really smooth, quiet, cushy car.
It was just like blah, like really meh of a of a car.
So 40 or just around $50,000 in in the US.
Let me get the Canadian pricing if I can.
Yes.
Totally, which is, you know what?
It's it's an impressive.
Glow up from the outgoing model, but it's just not enough for uncompetive.
Yeah, which was super uncompetitive, but.
No, it hasn't it hasn't done anything to to.
You have to do more than just compete in Canada.
This car costs closer to 60 grand.
So it reminds me of when the Nissan Frontier got a new generation
and the Frontier have been on the market for, I don't know,
10 years or something unchanged.
And it was obviously not a competitive vehicle.
People bought it because it was a bit of a throwback to a simpler time
of midsize trucking, but it was more affordable than the competition.
Yeah. And then when they came out with the new one, it wasn't really
it was better as you described, it was better than the old one,
like technologically and whatnot in terms of features.
But it hadn't caught up to the rest of the pack.
You know, it was still yeah, it was still the fourth place or fifth place option.
I mean, when you compare this to and this is really it's really strange
to talk about it like this, because I think about some of Toyota's newest
cars that are confusing, but very good, like the Crown and the Crown Signia.
Those cars are not they're not duds.
They're actually quite good.
They're a little bit on the expensive side.
But they they fill this air between Toyota's mainstream offering
and their luxury offerings.
So you kind of see that positioning as being different than other cars
that you can get that Toyota typically competes with.
But when you see this BZ, I'm looking at it and I'm saying,
what does this do that the that the Ionic five doesn't do?
The Kia EV6 doesn't do the Mustang Mach E doesn't do.
And yeah, the Aria, you know what I mean?
Like those are and we haven't even discussed about the ID for.
So is this also relatively popular?
Do you think that this is just another case of Toyota grudgingly being in the EV segment?
I wish I could say that because it's made such a significant leap
from the last one, which was which did feel like Toyota was like,
well, I guess we've got to make an EV.
Now they're like, I guess we've got to make a competitive EV.
Now they now the next step is like, I have to make a good EV.
Do you know what I mean?
Like they're really like dragging their feet on maybe they'll get any.
It's to say that they can do that.
They can you haven't driven the woodland?
Maybe the woodland is good.
Yeah, I mean, with bigger with a bigger vehicle.
I don't know.
Can I also say it's super strange to see a car have the Subaru X mode button on it.
It just has the X mode button on the on the dash.
Just you can put an X mode if you need to.
Why didn't they just and that is not if they should have called it like T.R.D.
mode or guys. Yeah, no, like in all of their trucks,
they have this multi terrain selector MTS.
I think is the is the acronym they use.
Everyone knows MTS, right?
Everyone's or just call it multi terrain or whatever you need to call it.
And I always talking about MTS.
I hate MTS.
I hate MTS because I think they have they pad out how many modes there are.
There's there's dirt, sand and mud,
which I all feel, which I feel all sound like the same thing.
I think if you have a landowner, that is that is one mode.
Dirt, sand, mud or dirt like grass.
No, no, I'm thinking grass gravel mud.
That's an actual mode for for Land Rover.
Grass gravel mud.
I didn't even think about I don't even think about grass as being a terrain mode.
Yeah. Now, now you got something new to think about.
How tall do you think the grass needs to be in order for it to need a mode?
In my experience, it's not the height of the grass.
It's the wetness of the grass.
Here we go with your with your wetness.
So if you leave a racetrack and you end up on grass,
you no longer have control of your vehicle's velocity.
It is out of your hands entirely because the amount of friction
between rubber tires and grass above a certain speed is essentially zero.
So that's always the it's always you're you're long for the ride at that point.
So and that's what Toyota feels like they're doing.
They're they're along for the ride.
They I really struggle because I find
what is the worst offering in this class?
I think, unfortunately, it's either the Volkswagen ID for and the
and the Nissan Aria besides the VC. Sorry.
And I don't think the area is that bad.
No, I don't think the area is that bad.
It's actually incredibly attractive.
It has, in my opinion, a really unfortunate driving dynamics.
It has a lot of strange vertical motion when I'm driving it.
It like bounces. I don't know.
Maybe it's made for more people in the car than I drive with.
But I don't find the BZ to feel any more than those two cars.
So it feels like it's in this like second tier of EVs,
which I guess is better than being in the third tier,
which it was in before of itself being like or the mysterious
the mysterious fourth tier.
Yeah, I mean, it was it in the Solterra all by itself, somewhere else.
Perfectly acceptable car.
You get this because you are terrified of going to another dealership,
but you need an EV and this is what they got, man.
We're going to be talking about a fourth tier car a little later on in the in the podcast.
So OK, OK, circle.
But let's just let's just jump on to the car that you've been driving,
which is which is a good one.
Actually, I'm a really good one to talk about.
I like I like talking about this car.
Well, I'm not going to say too much about it,
even though you want to talk about it because you're excited about it.
And I got to I got to shut that down before it gets out of control.
But the I drove the 2026 BMW M340 Yarae edition.
Yarae is it's it's intended to.
Sorry, the M340 X drive 50 Yarae edition.
It's intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the three series,
which if you are an old person like me and you're starting to think that 1975
was 50 years ago, that's that's what it was.
That's essentially the the when they released.
I don't know what I don't know how they're doing a 2026 50 years ago.
So from 2026 is technically 51 years,
but I guess the vehicle broke cover at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
So that was when it was introduced.
And then I don't know if I would sail the year after it doesn't matter.
What does matter is that this is a single spec car.
So you can get six different colors,
but everything else is pretty much the same.
So it's fairly well loaded.
You get a nice merino leather interior.
You get M Sport brakes and special wheels and all that kind of stuff.
Mine was in a really beautiful ruby red metallic color, gorgeous dark red.
In any case, what I do want to say about this car,
I'm not saying you have to buy the R edition.
And in fact, you probably can't because there were only a hundred for sale in Canada.
In the United States, I believe there were more.
It started at 75,000 in the US.
I don't have Canadian pricing.
I realized that I can't repeat that again.
How much for how much for a vehicle?
This is not an M vehicle.
It's an M340, so it's 75,000.
That's a lot of money.
Oh, dear, I wish you hadn't told me that right now.
What do you think a regular M340 costs?
Less than that, I think it should cost at most.
No, I'm asking what you think it should cost.
I'm asking what do you think it costs?
I'm guessing 70 grand.
So an M340 X drive, which would be what this is, because it's also all about drive, starts at 64.
So it's again, remember with BMW, if you're going to be adding any kind of options,
your prices are going to go up pretty quickly, right?
And if you're getting an addition of any kind, limited or otherwise.
This has like things like shadow line trim and had all the drivers, assisted stuff.
So I would think that a lot of the a lot of the options that are offered on the regular M340
are bundled into this, kind of making it like a supercar in the sense that it's like a one-stop
shop to get the best of what's available.
I'm not trying to defend the price, but I do think it probably lines up with the feature set.
But I don't want to talk too much about the RA specifically.
What this car did for me was remind me just how good the M340 is in nearly every situation.
Like it is a very comfortable road trip car.
I think it looks pretty good in certain shades.
The interior is comfortable.
I mean, this is essentially a compact luxury car, whatever that means these days.
But you could put four adults in it and they're not going to complain.
It has enough technology to be useful, but not so much that you're going to be irritated by it.
And the parts that are irritating, you can pretty much shut them all off, which is nice.
I had it over the Christmas holidays.
And in my part of town or my part of town, in my part of the world,
there are a ton of tourists.
I've talked about it before, especially in the winter because of the ski hill that's nearby.
So I often get stuck behind people who are doing conservatively 30% of the speed limit.
And it's a twisty mountainous roads, which means I don't always have a passing zone.
So in this car, I could just pass at will anytime I wanted without having to worry that I had enough
power without having to worry whether I was going to have enough traction because of the all-wheel
drive, although I'll get to that in a second because there's one mitigating factor on this car
that does affect traction.
But overall as a package, this is just a super, a super recommendable car.
I really, really like it.
I haven't, it's been two or three years since I've driven one.
And it was a great refresher to kind of reconnect me with all the things I like about
this vehicle.
Would I like it if it had a manual transmission?
Sure, but it doesn't need one to fulfill its purpose.
I mean, it was really a great car to do a ton of miles in over the holidays.
I think that it's probably still the class leader.
I mean, what else are you up against?
The C class, which is fine.
The A4, which I think is the A4 and A5 because it's so they're kind of really fungible these days.
I find that those models have faded in terms of their driving dynamics.
They're just not as interesting as they used to be.
The Genesis, the Lexus is the other one.
Oh yeah, the Genesis.
The Genesis G70 is a really good car.
And I think it is comparable to the BMW with a discount, especially the interior is quite nice.
But you were going to bring up the Lexus.
You're talking about the IS?
Yeah.
That's a car I never think about.
I don't think that car is.
I think it had a generation that went really, really, really bland.
And then I think the latest one has really good driving dynamics.
But the power trains, in my opinion, are a bit lacking with the exception of the V8.
Well, the V8 is.
That's comparable to an M3, I think.
But well, I mean, if it had any supporting chassis modifications, maybe it would be.
But it's just basically an engine in the regular.
From what I understand, I have not driven it inside the regular IS platform.
In any case, I think that this is still the pick of the class.
And it's nice to see a vehicle not mess itself up.
You know, like there's so many pitfalls.
There were times where the three series maybe wasn't as good as it once was.
But right now it's a pretty strong option, Sammy.
That's a bold thing to say.
I can't remember a really flat three series generation.
I think they all had an opportunity to be quite decent.
And I think they pulled it off, no?
I think there are a few versions of the three series in the last 15 years
that were maybe a bit too big and heavy for what they were trying to be.
I don't think they quite pulled it off.
But the there was the biggest problem I have at the car
is the winter tires that were outfitted to it.
Oh, yeah, here we go.
Yeah.
Hit me with this rally.
Sotto zero tires.
Absolute garbage.
The worst tires you can put on your car in the winter.
Very little traction on slippery surfaces.
So I'm OK driving the car like I was talking about passing and feeling confident.
I know how to handle a car in slick conditions.
But if you weren't as comfortable,
you would be a little bit perturbed by how these tires handle.
The worst thing that happened to me with them
was I was traveling about 55 miles per hour on hard pack snow.
And I was taking a corner left hand corner at that speed
and the car just pushed all the way to the outside of the corner.
And I momentarily thought that I might not have enough time to recover
because it was so unexpected because it was a very slight steering adjustment
that I made.
And that happened to me twice on the same journey.
Very cold day, very hard pack snow.
That should never happen on a winter tire.
And in fact, it doesn't happen unless you're using Pirelli Sotto zeros.
I hate these tires.
I think they're horrible.
Sammy, you feel the same way.
Yeah, I absolutely agree with you.
I've driven so many of these.
And BMW, especially on their winter fleet, put these tires on
because I think they fit the profile better than or like they're easier to get
than other tire winter tires.
But they absolutely do not grip to anything.
And and it's really unfortunate.
I've driven some I've driven.
I think my first experience, maybe like 10, 15 years ago with these
were on like an X, no, a five series diesel, which had tons of torque, right?
And it just wasn't going anywhere with these tires on.
It was just like completely gripless and a real waste of the powertrain.
When I when I picked up the car and brought it home, I got out of the vehicle to check
because I thought I was maybe still on all season tires because it is from it was plated on
Ontario and in Quebec, we have a law where between certain dates you have to have winters,
but they don't have such a law in Ontario.
So sometimes cars come through and they still have all seasons on it.
And I looked at the sidewall and I'm like, oh, no, it's Sotto zeros.
That totally explains the really crappy traction that I was experiencing.
So that's how bad it is.
Like in my mind, I was like, these are not winter tires.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
There's another I have mine has Pirelli scorpions on this on this Toyota and they
weren't terrible.
But again, I just they are not my this Pirelli has proven to me that it's not my go to winter
tire.
I think Sotto zeros are designed to be like high performance tires.
And I think they assume that you're on dry pavement and it's just cold.
Like that's and then occasionally you're going to be dealing with snow.
And I think that that is a very weird spec to like prioritize in the winter.
Maybe that works for some people, but it doesn't work for where I live.
Absolutely.
I agree with you.
That's pretty much what we're talking about with the RA.
That's all about the RA.
Go go snag one.
If you want to grab one of the few that are out there and get a very nicely loaded car
with a few badges that you won't see on other M340s, like on the trunk lid and on the
sills, you'll get some nice yard aware.
But there's one last thing I want to talk about this week, Sammy, and that is
some news that dropped today.
We saw it on the drive posted by the drive and that is BMW.
I'm sorry, BMW Chrysler and Jeep are no longer going to be making plug-in hybrids.
Now, that's really important because the Wrangler 4xE and the Grand Cherokee 4xE,
and if I remember correctly, there's also supposed to be a 4xE version of the Grand
Wagoneer coming out soon or was supposed to.
Could be.
And then as well as the Pacifica plug-in hybrid, which has been around for a long time,
but I think it's made even before.
It is really good, really good.
Yeah, before the 4xEs are all going to be saying goodbye now.
They are officially not going to be saying goodbye.
They are discontinued.
2025 was the last model year.
And apparently this is tied into the fact that there's a stop sale on all of these vehicles
right now.
That's our that's our assumption.
I believe there's a stop sale on them, Sammy.
I'm going to double check on this.
Am I incorrect on that?
I don't know where to stop sale.
Yes.
Confirm that an active stop sale remained in place on all 4xE models due to
ongoing recall campaigns, but stop short of addressing their absence for the website.
Yeah.
So the reason the drive is claiming these cars are gone is because you can't build them anymore.
And once they noticed that, they said that they were going to phase them out.
They told they told the drive they were phasing them out in an email for the 2026 model year.
So, yeah, early, we were talking about fourth tier vehicles.
That is him.
When when Sammy and I first saw this news,
my first we were trying to figure out like, you know, which vehicles would be affected.
And we're like, oh, so that's the Grand Cherokee.
It's the Wrangler, it's the Pacifica.
And then I was like, that's that's pretty much all of them, right?
Like they don't have any other ones.
And Sammy's like, you're forgetting the Hornet.
And he's like, yeah, you're right.
The Dodge Hornet is a vehicle that is not mentioned here.
And it's a vehicle that no one thinks about.
No one ever talks about the Hornet.
It is something.
It's a car that I drove once.
Realized wasn't competitive very much in the same way as the BZ that we talked about today.
And just haven't thought about it again.
And it's easy not to think about it because no one buys them.
And I never see them anywhere.
Yeah, you're barely.
If you see them, you know, somebody's getting like a fleet.
Crazy deal.
A loner or a rental.
Like it's crazy that even rental fleets, you don't see these hanging around.
It made me think of another.
So that's I that's at least the tier three car, a car that like
it technically exists, but you don't know anyone who's ever been inside of one.
And then I realized there.
Dodge is kind of the king of this type of vehicle over the past decade,
because there was a compact sedan that Dodge made that I challenge you to think,
go through your mental world at X and see if you know anyone who owned one.
And that's the Dodge Dart, which I think is the ultimate tier four car that I mean,
I drove one one time, but I've never been in one.
I've been in one in my entire life.
No one, no one I know bought one.
I never see them anywhere.
I see more Dodge Neons than I do Dodge darts.
Which is so funny.
Totally.
Calibers at least.
Or calibers.
You see a ton of calibers still.
Yeah, I agree with you entirely.
The dart, I knew somebody who owned one.
Didn't own it when I met them, but they, they owned it for a period.
I think because they worked at a, at an FCA dealer at the time.
And they got a crazy deal on it.
But yeah, a car that always came like near last in every competitive
and competition I ever did with it.
Can you think of any other cars that don't technically exist for the last 10 years?
That don't technically.
And I'm not talking about like Murano cross cabriolet.
I'm talking about like cars that they actually thought they would sell.
Well, I mean, I think the Murano is one of them.
And there's a new generation of the Murano.
I see Murano's all over the place.
The new one?
Well, not the one that went on sale like a few months ago.
No.
Yeah.
It's bizarre to me that I haven't seen any of these on the market.
But I mean, just in general.
And, and I think the Nissan, you mentioned the Nissan Frontier,
but I think the Titan was all.
Oh, Titan is a really good car.
I think that I've seen more Titan XDs than I've seen regular Titans too.
I've just seen more Titans than I've seen darts for sure.
Yeah, that's true.
And especially Hornets.
Yeah, I can't recall.
Actually, I can't recall seeing a Hornet in the wild.
Yeah.
I have not seen a single one of these Dodge Daytonas.
I've seen three or four.
Charger date.
Oh, no way.
Really?
You forget that in Quebec, EVs are 30 percent of the new car mix.
Oh, yeah, that's true.
So we see.
I haven't seen any of them.
It kills me that I haven't seen any.
I don't see Mirages.
I'm going to give you a car that I don't think they expected to sell,
but they didn't.
Honda Clarity.
We talked about this a while ago.
No, I made an EV version of the car.
I mean, an EV and a plug-in hybrid version of the Clarity.
That's that's a compliance car.
I don't think that counts.
I think we got a kind of that's like saying you didn't see a first generation Fiat 500 electric.
Like those are those those are cars that, you know, they exist on a spreadsheet somewhere.
Same with the Hyundai Ionic, the first one.
Yeah, that's a I remember driving that and I see them for sale all the time
on Marketplace, but in the real world, it's very rare to encounter them.
CRZ.
No, I see I see CRZs.
I come across the CRZ.
So interesting.
Mirage sedan.
Does that count?
I said Mirage, any Mirage.
I never see them.
Oh, yeah, OK.
I think that the micro was just much more popular in Quebec than the Mirage.
Everywhere.
Not I mean, everyone in Canada.
I guess a sort of a sort of Mitsubishi's, though, like a lot of their small SUVs,
I don't really maybe I don't notice them.
That might be like the RVR and the Eclipse Cross.
Yeah, like they're kind of background vehicles in a lot of ways.
They're called the Outlander Sport North in the US.
So we really showed our Canadians with that.
I think the problem with smaller SUVs disappearing is because the styling is very
similar from one brand to another in that segment.
And so it can be easy to just not differentiate them when you're in a parking lot.
I think first gen tracks is kind of you don't see those.
Those were not sold.
Oh, you mean the first gen that we got,
not the tracks that was sold for the Mexican rental market?
Remember that?
What?
Talk to me about this.
So I'm pretty sure I don't know if it was called the tracks,
but there was a vehicle that was built just for the rental market and sold in Mexico
and the retail market.
I can't remember what was called that when it was a Chevrolet.
And a few of them started appearing on like when fleet companies would sell at auction.
So you started to see a few of them around.
I can't remember what it was called though.
First generation tracks, that's a good one.
I can't recall seeing those either.
And I liked that vehicle to a point.
Like it wasn't terrible.
The current one is infinitely better.
But significantly better.
Yeah.
I don't see the trailblazer much either, the new one.
Mainly because I think the tracks is just significantly better.
I don't think I can tell them apart.
I think there's a lot of luxury cars we can throw in this.
Do you know any Buick's other than the Invista?
Can you pin point?
I see a lot of enclaves for sure.
What about the Invision?
On Core GX I do see.
What about the Verrano?
That's a good one.
Oh, AKA the Buick Cruise.
Yeah, the Buick Cruise.
Brutal.
Oh, and in following with that, here's the ultimate from the luxury segment.
The Lexus HS250?
Was it the HS?
Oh, yeah.
That was the sedan version of the Prius, I think, in Lexus form.
I see CT 200 Hs, but I never see the HS.
Yeah, that's a great point.
That was a pitiful car.
I like the CT a lot.
The HS was just everything about it.
There's got to be one more on this list that I think is invisible.
I had it on the tip of my tongue now, and I can't remember it.
Tip of the tongue?
Do, does the K900 count?
I don't think so.
I think that like, I think that's meant to be a low volume.
If it's like a halo vehicle, like how many NSXs have you seen?
You know, like it's the same kind of thing.
Okay, but then there was a Hyundai version of that.
Yeah, the Equus.
Called the Azure, maybe?
No, the Equus.
Azure wasn't sold in Canada.
That was a front wheel drive platform.
Well, is that what I'm thinking of?
No, I'm not sure if it was called the Azure, but I know the vehicle you're talking about.
Oh, no, how can I not know this?
I got, I've got a last, one last one, so we can wrap it up with,
that's actually a current vehicle that isn't even on the market yet.
But it doesn't exist.
Azera, yeah, Azera, that's right.
I don't think that was sold in Canada.
I have a vehicle that is, does not exist right now because it's not on sale yet.
Well, once it does go on sale, it won't exist either.
That's the Sony Afila.
Oh yeah, the Sony, a DOA you think?
Virtually guaranteed.
They're legions of PlayStation and Bravia owners into a car.
I think the Bravia owners are shopping elsewhere.
I don't think Afila is really gonna, I don't think that car, I think three examples.
I think that's what we're looking at here.
I think if you invested in Afila dealership, you might want to try to get your money back.
How many EcoSports do you see?
I don't know.
I blank them out.
Maybe the worst car I've driven in the last 10 years.
I think there's been some bad ones.
Really?
What's worse than it?
Give me two that are worse than the EcoSport.
Then the EcoSport.
Yeah, I'm struggling already.
For everyone listening, the last part of this podcast is just me challenging Sammy to make lists.
Off the top of this head.
I think Hornet is there.
I know Hornet is way better in every way.
That's crazy.
EcoSport was designed for a market with standards that are quite different from ours
and built in an era that is not modern.
There's a bunch of cars that are like that though.
Like, I mean, that's what makes the kicks such an important...
Like, it was also a car that was adapted to a different market
than it was originally designed for and it just killed it.
It was so good.
But that and the Outlander Sport and the...
There was also some more like subcompacts that are so bad.
I'm gonna throw the HRV under the bus.
HRV is bad, but it's better than the EcoSport.
Because the EcoSport was like a three cylinder naturally aspirated.
Wasn't it something like that?
Yeah, not naturally aspirated.
Can I also tell you, speaking of invisible cars,
a car that I used to see when we were testing it all the time,
but has disappeared since there, is the Chevy Sonic?
Oh, Sonic's a good...
Where have all the Chevy Sonics gone?
I see them in Montreal from time to time.
I like that car.
I think it was a huge...
It's a great car.
Huge missed opportunity for Chevrolet to make a compact performance car.
If they had put a more powerful turbo engine, that would have been a lot of fun.
And then they disappeared.
All of them.
All of them are gone.
I don't know what happened to them.
Where did they go?
They can't find them anywhere.
I don't know.
It weirded me out because I don't have anyone having one.
The Island of Misfit Cars, I guess.
I don't know.
That's a perfect name for this feature, the Island of Misfit.
Where are all these cars that we don't know where they went?
It's better than Let's Remember Some Cars as a title.
All right.
Well, if you want to remember some stuff...
Kia Cadenza.
Okay, go ahead.
If you want to...
Cadenza, yeah.
Was the other one the Azera?
Cadenza?
Yeah.
If you want to remember some stuff and tell us about it, you can reach out and do that
in a number of ways.
The easiest way is to just go to unnamedautomotivepodcast.com, fill out the form we have on the site,
and click submit.
And it shows up in our inboxes, or you can email us the old-fashioned way.
It's Benjamin at Benjamin Hunting.
And I want to say a shout out to Peter, who reached out to us this past week,
and had some very complimentary things to say about the podcast.
And it's very heartening.
We've had a lot of people reaching out to us over the holidays.
And it honestly feels good to know that you are enjoying the show as much as we enjoy doing it.
And it helps...
Yeah, I don't think we would be doing it if we didn't enjoy it.
What really helps is getting to hear that other people are enjoying it as much as we do.
Like, it blows my mind that people get the love here that me and Ben have for each other
in doing this.
And also a shout out to Vyacheslav for reaching out over Instagram
with some kind words of his own and some suggestions for the show, which I appreciate it.
That's always great to hear what you guys would want to hear us talking about
and how you want to hear us talking about it.
Yeah, we're going to take that into consideration.
Now, Ben, is there something going on next week?
Next week, I am going to a faraway land.
And as a result, we will not be recording.
But when we come back, I am going to be talking about...
I honestly don't know.
Probably what I did in that foreign land,
even though it's not really related to the North American market.
I'm sure some interesting stuff will come out of it.
And I guess that's my teaser for the episode after next week.
And I just got a tour of Sienna that I can't wait to talk to people about.
Oh, that matches our Odyssey talk.
So it's...
I was writing up my Odyssey review recently, actually this week.
And how many times in the Sienna comes up all the time and you're like...
No, the Sienna comes up and I'm like,
it still has 40 cubic feet less cargo space than any other minivan on the market.
And that blows my mind.
That blows my mind.
And we're still here.
It's like, what if minivan, but small?
What about mini minivan?
They didn't get the memo that the mini and minivan did not really...
It's just a name.
Yeah, exactly.
Anyway, thanks everyone for listening.
We'll talk to you when Ben gets back in a week and a half, two weeks.
Bye.
Bye.
About this episode
The episode dives into the 2026 Toyota BZ and BMW M340i Jahre, highlighting their features, performance, and market competitiveness. The hosts, Sammy and Ben, discuss the BZ's improvements over its predecessor, yet express skepticism about its ability to compete with rivals in the EV segment. They also share personal anecdotes about winter driving challenges and the quirks of the vehicles. The M340i Jahre is praised for its comfort and driving dynamics, though the hosts critique the winter tires that hindered performance. The conversation wraps up with a light-hearted discussion on cars that seem to have disappeared from the market.
First Benjamin shares his personal Pathfinder experience in the freezing cold Canadian winter while troubleshooting its windshield wiper woes. Then Sami jumps into action to review the new 2026 Toyota bZ. Not to be confused by the outgoing bZ4X or all-new and completely different bZ Woodland, the bZ gets tons of upgrades from the old Toyota EV. Still, Sami struggles to see the silver lining for such a late entry to the mainstream EV segment.
Then Benjamin has a quick review of the 2026 BMW M340 xDrive 50 Jahre Edition, a special edition of the podcast favorite 3 Series. With fancy equipment and a great powertrain, Benjamin has mostly positive things to say about the new 3, except for its choice of winter rubber.
Finally, the guys discuss some wild news from Stellantis regarding its PHEV vehicles, which gets them thinking about invisible vehicles (or the ones that have wandered off to "the island of misfit cars") Thanks for listening!
