Corvette fans get the headline: the 2027 C8 Grand Sport and Grand Sport X replace the E-Ray, bringing a new 6.7L LS6 V8 (535 hp) plus major aero and braking options, while the GSX adds a front electric motor for 721 total hp and EV-only stealth up to 50 mph. The hosts debate why the Stingray still exists and note GM’s wild “four powerplants in one generation” situation. Elsewhere: Sony/Honda kills its only EV, AC Schnitzer exits due to regulations and market shifts, and Dodge revives the Durango 392. Big listener Q&A covers buying fun commuter cars and bargain EVs, plus track-event updates.
The Corvette GrandSport designation has returned, now applied to the C8 generation! The guys discuss the new 6.7L V8 engine, plus news from around the industry. They debate fun yet responsible cars for Chris in Maryland, who is fighting the mid-life practicality vs. desire. Then, Drew is shopping for his wife (who doesn’t drive much), and is intrigued by all these EVs coming off lease. Should he investigate further? Social media questions ask if we’ve gone backwards with base-level small engines, what kind of car should Subaru build next, and if convertibles increase a driver’s connection with the road, why don’t the guys like them very much?
Audio-only MP3 is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and 10 other platforms.
Look for us on Tuesdays if you’d like to watch us debate, disagree and then go drive again!
00:00 - Intro
00:51 - C8 Corvette Grand Sport + Grand Sport X Announced!
07:17 - The Sony/Honda AFEELA EV Is Dead.
09:13 - AC Schnitzer Is Dead Too. Bummer.
11:20 - Dodge Putting The 392 Back In The Durango!
13:34 - Things CEOs Say!!
15:51 - Is A Mustang Nearly The Fastest Production Car Around The ‘Ring?
18:11 - The Next MX-5 - Will Be Super Lightweight?
20:52 - EDD & HOD Events Nationwide
25:07 - Car Debate #1: The Difference Between Responsible And Enjoyable
43:20 - Car Debate #2: What’s The Deal With All These Used EVs?
56:26 - Car Conclusion #1: Stunting Your Driving Growth?
1:00:29 - Car Conclusion #2: Can You ‘Bucket’ Car Enthusiasts?
1:04:29 - Did You See This? Project Hail Mary
1:06:19 - Audience Questions On Social Media
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to our two YouTube channels. Write to us your Topic Tuesdays, Car Conclusions and those great Car Debates at [email protected] or everydaydriver.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
"Yes, yes.
We are going to talk about Porsche to the end on peak, but not today.
Not today."
Porsche is a German car company that makes sports cars. People talk about it a lot because their cars are built for performance and driving feel.
Porsche is a German automaker best known for sports cars and performance engineering. In enthusiast circles, the brand often comes up when discussing handling, engine character, and build quality.
"but we do have
Porsche through Volvo to cover, which is Porsche Ram Rivian Rolls Royce Saab.
Special request from somebody on YouTube."
Volvo is a car brand from Sweden. It’s especially known for safety features and practical everyday cars.
Volvo is a Swedish automaker known for safety-focused design and family-oriented vehicles. When it’s mentioned alongside performance brands, it usually signals a broader “everyday driver” comparison rather than a pure track discussion.
"which is Porsche Ram Rivian Rolls Royce Saab.
Special request from somebody on YouTube.
I forget your YouTube name, but yeah, thank you."
Rolls-Royce is a luxury car brand known for very high-end, comfortable cars. It’s the kind of brand people associate with top-tier refinement.
Rolls-Royce is a British luxury brand associated with ultra-high-end comfort and craftsmanship. Mentioning it in the same breath as mainstream brands highlights the spectrum of “everyday driver” tastes—from practical to aspirational.
"...swapping over here to the 2027 C8 Corvette Grand Sport and Grand Sport X announced the e-ray is dead..."
That’s a specific version of the Chevrolet Corvette. “C8” is the generation, and “Grand Sport” is the more performance-oriented trim. The 2027 model is the newest year they’re talking about.
This refers to the 2027 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport in the C8 generation. The C8 Corvette is the mid-engine Corvette platform, and “Grand Sport” is a performance-focused trim within the Corvette lineup.
"So a lot of the aero upgrades from the Z06 with a carbon fiber splitter, dive planes, rockers, wing, underbody strikes."
A splitter is a front aero piece that helps the car stay planted. It works by directing air so the car gets more grip, especially at speed.
A carbon fiber splitter is a front aerodynamic extension that helps manage airflow under the car. By shaping the airflow, it can increase downforce and improve stability at higher speeds.
"No interior pictures, but I do have one of the very cool engine cover here. It does look great."
An engine cover is the panel you can see on top of the engine. It’s often styled to look good, and sometimes it also helps with how the engine bay is arranged.
An engine cover is the visible panel over the engine bay that can be purely cosmetic or also help with packaging, airflow, and noise management. The speaker calls it “very cool,” suggesting the design is a notable part of the car’s presentation.
"I mean, this engine sounds great, and GM has had so many problems with their 6.2, they need a new engine to put in a lot of their product."
GM is General Motors, the company that makes the Corvette. They’re talking about GM’s history with engine problems and what that means for future Corvette engines.
GM refers to General Motors, the automaker behind the Corvette. In this segment, the hosts are discussing GM’s engine track record and how that affects Corvette product decisions.
"Totally different power plant. Yes. It makes the car feel very different and I'm imagining this will be kind of even more of the hot rodder kind of muscle car kind of feel..."
“Power plant” just means the car’s main mechanical setup for making power—mostly the engine. They’re saying different engines make the Corvette feel different.
“Power plant” is a general term for the engine and related drivetrain components that make the car move. In this conversation, it’s used to contrast how different Corvette engine setups change the car’s personality.
"imagine this refined base engine now, 6.7 with a manual transmission for the C9."
A manual transmission means you shift gears yourself using a clutch pedal and a stick. They’re hoping the next Corvette can be had with that more engaging setup.
A manual transmission lets the driver select gears using a clutch and gear lever, rather than relying on an automatic. The hosts are hoping the refined base engine will be offered with a manual in the next Corvette generation.
"The Grand Sport is always the swan song of the generation."
It means “the last big thing” before the car gets replaced. Manufacturers often release a special version near the end of a model’s life to keep people interested.
“Swan song of the generation” is a phrase meaning the final major model/trim released near the end of a car’s production cycle. Automakers often use late-cycle variants to refresh interest before a full redesign arrives.
"Honda won't give them the tech and the tools that dastardly Honda.
They just won't give us anything that we want."
Honda is referenced here as the technology and tooling provider (or non-provider) in the Sony Honda Mobility arrangement. The key point is that the speakers claim Honda won’t supply what the joint project needs, affecting the EV’s viability.
"The biggest thing here is this is all marketing press release speak for people don't buy EVs. So we're not going to make one anymore."
EVs are cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline. The hosts are discussing whether people are actually buying them and what that means for future models.
EVs (electric vehicles) are cars powered primarily by electricity stored in a battery. The segment frames EVs as a market that the speaker says they’re not going to pursue further, based on perceived demand and marketing messaging.
"The point is, this is all the parts from AC Schnitzer. And this car, everyone we know that drove it, came away wowed by this M2."
AC Schnitzer is a German company that makes aftermarket upgrades for BMWs. They supply performance parts, and the hosts are talking about their situation and how it affects BMW tuning.
AC Schnitzer is a German aftermarket performance and tuning company known for developing parts for BMWs. In this segment, they’re described as providing the parts used on the featured car, and the discussion shifts to why the company is stopping support.
"On the flip side, due to market forces, Dodge is putting a 392 back in the Durango.
This was dead, by the way."
The Dodge Durango is a big family SUV. Here, they’re saying Dodge is putting a stronger V8 back into it, so it’ll feel more powerful than typical family SUVs.
The Dodge Durango is a midsize three-row SUV from Dodge. In this segment, the speaker is talking about Dodge reintroducing a higher-performance V8 setup in the Durango, which changes how the vehicle feels and competes with other family SUVs.
"Sentient Performance is the new tuning company. So, because they could have tuned that i3, the new BMW i3."
They’re a company that does “tuning,” which usually means tweaking a car’s settings—often through software—to make it drive or perform better.
Sentient Performance is described here as a new tuning company. In the automotive world, “tuning” usually means software calibration and/or hardware changes intended to improve performance or drivability.
"[903.0s] Ferrari has never been accused of not figuring out how to extract dollars."
Ferrari is a famous Italian sports car company. They make very expensive cars, and people really want them, so they can charge a lot for features.
Ferrari is an Italian performance car brand known for high-end pricing and strong demand. In this segment, it’s used to frame how automakers monetize features and design choices.
"We've been to the ring many times. Yeah. Yeah. It's a thing. It's a culture. If you get in with 20 kilometers, maybe 50 kilometers of Nürburgr."
The Nürburgring is a legendary race track in Germany. It’s also surrounded by a whole car community—people travel there just to drive, watch, and talk cars.
The Nürburgring is a famous motorsport venue in Germany, known for its long, challenging track layout and huge enthusiast culture. When people talk about “getting in” within a certain distance of the Nürburgring, they’re usually referring to the region’s car-focused lifestyle and events.
"For all our adventures this year, we've upgraded our cars with brake kits from Powerstop brakes. Powerstop offers reliable, durable upgrade kits for nearly every vehicle on the road..."
Powerstop makes aftermarket brake parts. They sell kits that usually include rotors and pads so your car can stop better and often stay cleaner than the original parts.
Powerstop is an aftermarket brake brand that sells upgrade kits for many vehicles. Their kits typically bundle rotors and pads designed to improve braking performance and reduce brake dust compared with many stock setups.
"For all our adventures this year, we've upgraded our cars with brake kits from Powerstop brakes. Powerstop offers reliable, durable upgrade kits..."
A brake kit is a set of brake parts sold together, usually rotors and pads. It’s a convenient way to upgrade your brakes without guessing what fits.
A brake kit is an aftermarket package—commonly rotors plus pads—sold together for a specific vehicle. Kits are popular because they’re easier to match to your car and can target specific goals like stronger stopping power or less brake dust.
"...go to powerstop.com and fill out their brake finder. You'll be matched to complete kits and components to fit your car..."
A brake finder is an online tool that matches your vehicle (year/make/model) to the correct brake kit components. It helps reduce fitment mistakes and ensures you get parts intended for your specific application.
"...the Pacific Northwest region is running at Portland International Raceway. ... April 4th, they're running at Portland"
Portland International Raceway is a race track in the Portland area. The hosts are saying the event is happening there on April 4th.
Portland International Raceway (PIR) is a motorsports circuit in the Pacific Northwest used for racing and track events. Mentioning the date and location helps listeners understand where the event is happening.
"...at Ridge Motorsports Park out in Shelton, Washington. ... the following weekend, they're out in Shelton at Ridge."
Ridge Motorsports Park is a race track in Washington. They’re saying the next weekend’s event is there in Shelton.
Ridge Motorsports Park is a road course in Shelton, Washington, known for hosting track events and driving experiences. The segment highlights it as the following weekend’s location.
"...they would love to have you and great coaching and a great community, great atmosphere there as well."
Coaching means an experienced person helps you drive better on the track. They’ll point out things like where to brake and how to take corners.
Coaching at a track event typically means an experienced instructor rides along or gives guidance on lines, braking points, and cornering technique. It can accelerate learning and help drivers avoid common mistakes.
"That is spa two days and the ring for an actual track day plus tourist days."
A track day is when you drive your car on a real race track, but in a controlled, non-racing event. It’s a great way to learn how your car behaves at speed with safety rules in place.
A track day is an event where drivers take their cars onto a closed circuit for timed laps or open sessions, usually with coaching and safety rules. It’s different from racing because the focus is on driving experience and learning rather than competition.
"It's perfect for his commute. If we made a list of what does the car need to do to be good for a commute?"
A commute is your everyday drive to work. When people choose a car for commuting, they usually care most about things like comfort, easy driving, and not spending too much on fuel.
A commute is the regular daily trip to work or school, and it strongly shapes what “good” means in a car. For commuters, factors like fuel economy, ease of driving in traffic, cabin comfort, and reliability tend to matter most.
"Every time he thinks he found a great alpha, he wonders if it will be as reliable as what he drives now... I don't care the brand alpha or whatever is going to need some care."
Reliability means how often the car needs repairs and how dependable it is day to day. They’re worried that a more “performance” brand might be less trouble-free than their current car.
Reliability is how consistently a car avoids breakdowns and major repairs over time. Here, it’s the key deciding factor: the buyer wants something fun, but worries that an Alfa/BMW/MINI-style performance choice may not match the dependability of their current Honda.
"I mean, obviously Honda Civic is probably just going to keep running in spite of you, a performance car."
They’re using the Honda Civic as the “reliable one” in the comparison. The point is that it’s likely to keep working with fewer surprises than some sportier cars.
The Honda Civic is being used as the reliability benchmark in the conversation. The speaker suggests it will keep running despite being driven hard, while some performance-oriented brands may require more attention.
"He's still commuting a lot in the Maryland, D.C. Area automatic needs to stay, understand."
Commuting just means your regular daily drive, like to work. If you drive a lot every day, you usually want a car that’s comfortable, reliable, and not expensive to run.
Commuting is the daily driving you do to get to work or school. It matters because it strongly influences what kind of car makes sense—fuel economy, comfort, reliability, and maintenance costs tend to weigh more than outright performance.
"Chris sends us a bit of car history, including an 86 Volvo station wagon with the turbo, you had a black O eight Honda element EX element."
A turbo is a device that helps the engine make more power. It uses the car’s exhaust to “boost” airflow into the engine.
A turbocharger uses exhaust gases to spin a turbine, forcing more air into the engine. That typically increases power and torque compared with a non-turbo engine of similar size.
"And if she already likes BMW and that feel, it's going to be an EV with a lot
of power, fairly decent range."
EV means electric vehicle. Instead of gas, it runs on electricity stored in a battery, which usually gives quick acceleration.
EV stands for electric vehicle—cars powered primarily by an electric motor and a battery instead of a gasoline engine. In this segment, EV is used to frame expectations around acceleration, range, and charging practicality.
"Uh, Bradley J 1983 says, we always say we're not that into a convertible open top. And he says, why is that?"
A convertible is a car where the roof can be lowered or removed. The big difference is you get more open-air driving, plus more wind and noise.
A convertible is a car with a roof that can be removed or folded down, letting you drive “open top.” Enthusiasts often debate whether the open-air experience improves driving feel or just changes comfort and noise levels.
- Intro
- C8 Corvette Grand Sport + Grand Sport X Announced!
- The Sony/Honda AFEELA EV Is Dead.
- AC Schnitzer Is Dead Too. Bummer.
- Dodge Putting The 392 Back In The Durango!
- Things CEOs Say!!
- Is A Mustang Nearly The Fastest Production Car Around The ‘Ring?
- The Next MX-5 - Will Be Super Lightweight?
- EDD & HOD Events Nationwide
- Car Debate #1: The Difference Between Responsible And Enjoyable
- Car Debate #2: What’s The Deal With All These Used EVs?
- Car Conclusion #1: Stunting Your Driving Growth?
- Car Conclusion #2: Can You ‘Bucket’ Car Enthusiasts?
- Did You See This? Project Hail Mary
- Audience Questions On Social Media
Select text to request an explanation
K-Pop Demon Hunter's Haja Boys Breakfast Meal and Huntrix Meal have just dropped at McDonald's.
They're calling this a battle for the fans.
What do you say to that, Rumi?
It's not a battle.
So glad the Haja Boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.
It is an honor to share.
No, it's our honor.
It is our larger honor.
No, really.
Stop.
You can really feel the respect in this battle.
Pick a meal to pick a side.
Hey, participating McDonald's while supplies last.
Hi again, everybody.
We're back.
Happy Tuesday and a little bit of housekeeping up front.
Yes, yes.
We are going to talk about Porsche to the end on peak, but not today.
Not today.
We're not going to do a topic today.
We're going to start spacing out the topic Tuesdays a little further, but we do have
Porsche through Volvo to cover, which is Porsche Ram Rivian Rolls Royce Saab.
Special request from somebody on YouTube.
I forget your YouTube name, but yeah, thank you.
Special request.
It wasn't Daniel.
It wasn't my brother-in-law either.
Toyota Volkswagen and Volvo.
That is coming probably next week, but we realized we couldn't do it this week because there
is so much car news to cover.
There's a ton.
There's so much car news.
And we haven't gotten to car conclusions in a long time, so we're doing all.
Two car debates, two car conclusions, and you guys have buried us with questions, so
there's a lot to cover.
We're going to dive right in.
Interesting.
We actually have Corvette news and Mustang news, but you have the Corvette.
Well, I wore my special Corvette t-shirt because we got the Corvette shirt and swapping over
here to the 2027 C8 Corvette Grand Sport and Grand Sport X announced the e-ray is dead
because the Grand Sport X takes its place.
And no one bought the e-ray because it had E in the name.
Yeah.
I think E should be left to Audi and BMW.
I mean, Audi's taken all the e-tron, BMW's taken all the i, whatever, and just leave
that to the internet.
Can you imagine if Harley-Davidson tried to sell the e-Harley?
It would also, your target audience is not going to buy e anything, but moving on, yes.
It's got a brand new engine, everyone.
It's got the LS6 6.7 liter V8 making 535 horsepower and 520 pound feet of torque, but it's also
that engine is now going in the base stingray.
The Grand Sport also has that, but it's got a lot of cool aero updates.
The magnetic ride control is standard with touring suspension and a new braking package
is now offered.
You get two packages to opt into Z52 sport performance package with stiffer suspension,
summer tires, high performance brakes from the Z06.
And you can also go with the Z52 track performance package with carbon ceramic J57 brakes and
the sport cup to our tires with track focused chassis tuning.
Plus you get Z06 aero.
So a lot of the aero upgrades from the Z06 with a carbon fiber splitter, dive planes,
rockers, wing, underbody strikes.
And now moving to the GSX, that is the electric motor from the ZR1X in the front axle now
making 721 total horsepower with the e-ray.
Yeah, keep going.
So at least it's the X and yeah, the e-ray has gone away.
Although we did have a, I saw a question somewhere on a forum like, what does that do to
the e-ray prices?
They'll keep dropping a little bit, but it doesn't mean like suddenly e-rays are going
to be like $30,000.
That's not what that means.
Yeah, true.
Probably true.
Yeah.
So the GSX has the front axle electric motor here.
Compact battery pack from the ZR1X standard magnetic ride.
And it also offers electric only stealth mode through 50 miles an hour and shuttle mode
for non street use up to 23 miles an hour.
I don't understand what that means, by the way.
Sure.
What non street use are you using all electric?
I don't understand.
You're a gravel driveway.
Okay.
Sure.
Sure.
I'll go with that.
The paddock.
I'll go with that.
Yep.
There you go.
The paddock.
The paddock.
Excellent.
So here it is.
And you know what?
It looks fantastic.
I'm so glad they've done the Grand Sport.
Everybody's been ready for the Grand Sport.
Yeah.
There's no manual.
No manuals indicated.
I think that was more internet talk than actual Corvette was sort of like, uh-huh.
They've talked to the track people.
I still think it happens.
It'll be C9.
It'll be C9.
I think so.
I don't think they were ever going to come up.
Now, do you have any interior pictures?
Because...
No interior pictures, but I do have one of the very cool engine cover here.
It does look great.
It does look really great.
Here's...
Here's...
I have two big headline thoughts here.
First off, awesome.
Yeah.
Because the Grand Sport, and this appears to be in the Grand Sport tradition of the one
that you really should probably buy, like the spec you want.
This is the C9 one.
It takes the good things from the Z06.
It always has.
This is what the...
If you watch our American original film, this is what happens with the Grand Sport.
It takes the good stuff from the Z06 of that era, and it makes it a little more easy going
and not the engine is crazy, and it becomes, kind of for every generation, the perfect
all-rounder.
But then why does the Stingray still exist?
The Stingray and the E-ray should go away.
Just the Grand Sport?
Sure.
Z06, Z01, Z01, X.
Sure, but it's always been...
You could get the base model.
You could get the Grand Sport whatever, and it's always at the end of the life cycle.
But the big observation I have it is, am I correct?
Or have we had a situation where in one generation of the Corvette, there have been four different
power plants?
In one generation, there was the base power plant, the Z06 power plant, the ZR1 power
plant, and now a new one for the Grand Sport.
Okay, that's a good point.
I'm trying to think of another car.
And I'm not talking like a three series.
That's too easy.
I'm not talking like a three series where they just make a chassis and they put lots
of engines in it.
I'm talking about one generation of a performance car with four different engines in one generation.
That's insane.
That's madness.
I mean, this engine sounds great, and GM has had so many problems with their 6.2, they
need a new engine to put in a lot of their product.
Let's make it bigger.
Yeah, exactly.
Everything about this announcement I'm excited about, but I'm just sitting back and going,
how enormous is the blank check at GM for the Corvette product that this is now engine
four, power plant variation four in one generation.
They must be doing very well with the Corvette and every time we're just, what a great car.
It makes me want one again.
It looks great.
Honestly.
I agree.
I want the Grand Sport.
The Z06 is cool and we've driven it and we love it a lot.
You're right.
Totally different power plant.
Yes.
It makes the car feel very different and I'm imagining this will be kind of even more
of the hot rodder kind of muscle car kind of feel, but still very sports car like.
I think this is the right direction.
It'll be the improved version of the base car that we had, which is, I mean, that with
a little bit more is fantastic.
And then imagine this refined base engine now, 6.7 with a manual transmission for the
C9.
Let's hope so.
Which can't come soon enough.
This is already six years old.
I know.
Six years for the C8.
The Grand Sport is always the swan song of the generation.
It comes out in the last couple of years of the generation, which means there's a C9
percolating somewhere.
No, there is.
Yeah.
And if you've seen the interior pictures, they dropped the wall that was very controversial
and they made a flat center console.
It's just a grab handle now for the passenger to.
But the center console is now lower and flatter, which does create space because you know they're
going to use this chassis as the bones for the C9.
Of course.
It creates space and then theoretically put in a manual.
And there was some online pictures of a manual and somebody from GM said, no, no, no, that's
an internet AI creation, which sounds to me like cover speak for it's coming, but just
not yet.
The photo got leaked and that's AI.
Yeah.
It's just not yet.
But the sad thing is we can say it's AI and doesn't matter how convincing it is now.
We can all be like, yeah, I guess it could be.
I'm very encouraged by this.
I want to drive the Grand Sport because that's yeah, more power and zero six gubbins on it.
Yes.
It's always the best out.
It always is a greatest hit.
Yes.
So it's really cool.
Yes.
We like that.
Moving on to some other news from the Sony Honda mobility project that I know you cared
about.
Yes.
They have announced they are killing their only EV, the Afila one and all subsequent
Afila vehicles because they reassess their electrification strategy.
Honda won't give them the tech and the tools that dastardly Honda.
They just won't give us anything that we want.
And the funniest part of this marketing brief was no viable path forward.
Now from here on out, it's Paul editorializing.
It's because the car breaks.
No new ground is unexciting, uninspiring.
It looks boring.
The name sucks.
Yes.
I'm sorry.
Yes.
From the very beginning.
We were not a feeling it.
We made many, many jokes and they were very easy.
The biggest thing here is this is all marketing press release speak for people don't buy
EVs.
So we're not going to make one anymore.
I mean, it's really what it is with a starting price of $89,000.
You too can choose a lucid air purer to start with instead of much better, much better.
This is too expensive.
Yeah.
Uninteresting.
The styling is boring.
And here it's the lifestyle with the family.
We'll imagine any car truck or SUV right here.
You can do all of that.
Yes.
With any car truck.
This is not unique.
Plus it had like maybe just over 300 miles of range.
So it was just like everything else.
Loose it all the way.
No new ground.
Except I saw you could play Astro Bot on the giant screen in there.
Because that's what we care about.
Maybe that was the unique differentiator.
But otherwise, this car is dead and we can move on.
That era is behind us.
Everyone move on.
Good news.
That's behind us.
I'm not surprised.
The marketing spin is so much fun.
Oh, it's crazy.
It's so much fun to read.
We re-evaluated our electrification strategy.
Which is just...
Which was what?
Well, but all that means is, oh look, no one's buying EVs.
What are we doing?
That's what that really means.
What are we doing here?
What is this anyway?
All right.
So other bits of news.
I'm going to now jump in here with AC Schnitzer.
I am showing a picture of the massively tuned AC Schnitzer promo car that our friends at
RSR have right now.
They took the current generation M2 and they put all of the parts on it.
And this thing got faster and more focused and crazy.
There you go.
The boffins.
The boffins.
They're not boffins when they're German.
But anyway, it doesn't matter.
The point is, this is all the parts from AC Schnitzer.
And this car, everyone we know that drove it, came away wowed by this M2.
You had it in Portugal, didn't you?
I had the F87 before this.
Okay, got it.
Yeah.
Generation before, which was not Schnitzer tuned.
It was an RSR build.
Still brilliant.
But everybody we know that drove this came away amazed by this version of this.
And I'm showing it because this company is now dead, or at least will be dead by the
end of the calendar year.
And it's fascinating how everything we're talking about news wise is not only just news,
but it's all affected, I feel like, by market forces and market changes.
And in this case, this is fascinating.
They said there were two major reasons why they're no longer going to continue.
The first one is, the regulations for German parts to be approved are so stringent.
And they were always passing them, but they were so stringent that it was creating a scenario
where their parts are getting to market for BMW products eight to nine months after the
competition, which means there's no market.
By the time you've already made a buying decision, everybody's already decided how they're going
to tune their car and you weren't even considering because you didn't have anything yet.
That's part of it.
And also, because power is the easiest thing to get anymore.
All cars are powerful.
Buy a used EV and blow away everything at the stoplight.
This generation isn't interested in tuning cars.
They've already said that.
They said like the way they stated it in their press release was the current generation is
not as interested as their parents were fascinating.
So this is this company's dying entirely due to market forces.
On the flip side, due to market forces, Dodge is putting a 392 back in the Durango.
This was dead, by the way.
This was dead, dead, dead.
Get your last flat line for a while.
They're bringing it back with a starting price of $50,000 on this, which means loaded out.
It'll be 60 with a 392 V8 in it, which is the personality that you want.
And frankly, as old and that's not even fair as dinosaur like as this chassis is.
This is very old.
Okay.
This is 15, 20 years old as far as development is concerned.
But there's nothing else like it on the market.
And for 60 grand loaded, 50 grand to start.
I don't think they're going to be able to make these fast enough.
I think you're right.
I think you're right.
People want this $60,000 for this.
I think of the other SUVs we've had come through recently for $60,000.
This is more interesting than most of them.
If you're a person that wants any personality in your seven seater, walk right over to Dodge.
I can't believe they've brought this back as part of Dodge's massive pivot for oops.
Let's not go EVs anymore.
As part of that massive pivot, they are doing what Dodge has always done.
Huge engines, people like in old chassis that are tuned.
Well, guess what?
The band's getting back together.
Here we are, the Durango.
Well, shoot, for future tuning companies, it's no longer for electric cars.
It's not even going to be a teenager coding in their mother's basement.
It's going to be called sentient tuning.
It's AI that comes up with the tuning program and you just swipe your credit card
and they email you the code and whatever it is, email you.
It's just, it's currently downloading in the garage.
As soon as it got confirmed, it's now downloading in the garage.
Yes.
You can, well, by the time you go out for Starbucks in 10 minutes, it'll be ready to go.
Yes, for sure.
New tuning company is called Sentient Performance, everyone.
Nice.
They just think of it.
They, you didn't.
The tagline is, tagline is whatever you can think of.
That's the tagline.
Sentient Performance is the new tuning company.
So, because they could have tuned that i3, the new BMW i3.
Can you imagine a Schnitzer tune, one of those, but I don't know, man.
It's not physical.
It would just, they wouldn't need the coders so that have AI do it, but then AI
will already bypass them.
So they're going to be shot down anyway.
Two quick notes where the same thing happened.
I just got to kind of cleanse our palate for a second.
Here's, here's a, I'm going to create a part of this podcast that probably
will never come again, but what I'm calling it is things CEOs say, okay.
Because here's what was said this week.
That's good across all industries, by the way.
I don't care if it's cars or things CEOs say this past week or so, the CEO
Volkswagen and the CEO of Ferrari, said the things you're not supposed to say.
Did you see this?
The CEO of Volkswagen was quoted as saying, he doesn't understand why you'd
put touch sensitive sliders in a car.
Now this is the company that put touch sensitive temperature sliders in a car.
And he said, I don't know why he would do this.
Now he wasn't around when they put him in there, but he's sure around to get him
out.
So I thought that was funny.
The other one was the Ferrari CEO.
Ferrari has never been accused of not figuring out how to extract dollars.
Okay.
They know how to do it.
And this stuff is very expensive and obviously very sought after, but he
admitted in an interview that touch screen controls are 50% cheaper to
create than buttons and knobs.
Things you shouldn't say as a CEO, but at the same time, this, exactly.
This is what we've been arguing since Elon Musk has been trying to sell.
Oh no, the single screen and the minimalism.
That's luxurious.
No, it's cheaper.
It's cheaper.
That's how you pulled it off.
And now all of these cars have gone to that because they were all chasing the
money and we've all gone, what is this thing?
And they're wanting it back.
And here he is at Ferrari.
Well, let's be honest, they're going to make money no matter what.
They're fine.
It's true.
But he acknowledged that they're pivoting because their audience doesn't want
touch screen, even though they're making this new, what Luca Lucy, whatever it is.
Anyway, in spite of that, yeah, whatever, I'm sure we'll mispronounce it to our
graves, but moving on, but he said touch screen controls are 50% cheaper.
Now I'm not sure you should have said that on the record, but in my new
category that I am calling things CEOs say, I love it.
That is part of them.
Now I'm going to come back to photos.
I still can't believe those guys said that.
But anyway, I'm going to come back to photos here real quick.
I'm going to go fully into rumor mill.
I have no confirmation from anything I'm about to say the rumor mill.
By the way, I want to know who this geek is that I'm about to quote, misquote.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
We've been to the ring many times.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a thing.
It's a culture.
If you get, if you get, honestly, if you get in within, I'm going to say 20
kilometers.
Ooh, look at me.
If you get in with 20 kilometers, maybe 50 kilometers of Nürburgr.
Yeah.
All they care about is cars.
Yeah.
I have never been to another place on the planet like this.
This is an entire town infrastructure.
Everything is just about, if you don't like cars, you moved.
Okay.
There is, there, you are not welcome.
Why do you live here?
It is all cars.
All those people still do, but you know, maybe they're into cars.
There are apparently, now, now we know you've all seen YouTube videos, many,
many, many YouTube videos from the same places, the same cutouts.
You've seen all the YouTube crash videos.
But the point is there are spotters watching the ring at all times that are
unpaid spotters that are just excited.
Okay.
Great.
One of these spotters has been watching a new variant of the Mustang GTD do
lapse, slightly different arrow.
Apparently a US versus a European version, just doing laps, doing laps.
So apparently this spotter has video and rudimentary.
They've done their own timing to suggest that this GTD has not only beat the
Corvette, but is the fastest production car behind the AMG one.
They think it ran low six forties.
For reference, the Corvette ran like six 47, 649, I think, depending on the
variant.
Okay.
They think this is running low six forties.
Now we know, we know, uh, Ford said that the race was on and they were going to
keep competing games on.
Yeah.
But I say this, look, I am, I'm a fully acknowledging this is in rumor mill right
now, but it's being reported a lot of places by the Tuesday, this comes out.
There might be confirmation or no words might have come out with true information,
but at the time we're recording this, it is only rumor mill and the suggestion is
that the GTD is back with a new variant that has beat almost everybody, but
certainly beat the Corvette because they want the American ring record.
So that's going on out there.
We took the passenger seat out at like the ride up and seriously, we're good.
Other rumors that are very interesting that I'm very curious about, but it could
almost have been in things.
CEOs say the next Miata.
Well, this has been quoted as I'm showing all the generations right now,
like four generations so far.
Now one of the interesting things about the ND, the fourth gen is it did what no
other car on the planet seems to want to do.
And that is from one generation to the other, it got smaller and lighter.
I think Mazda might be the only one in history to have done that.
We like the, the C generation, the third generation very much because we both fit.
And we like the fourth, but the fourth is definitely smaller and lighter.
Okay, it's about 2,400 to 2,500 pounds, depending upon your variation.
Okay.
The CEO of Mazda has said the next one, which would be, I guess the N.E.
I guess we follow the naming convention.
It's supposedly not going to be hybridized in any way, shape, or form.
And will not be over 2,200 pounds, which is 2 to 300 pounds lighter than the ND.
I hope this rumors true.
I totally agree.
That, that's huge.
It would put it within 200 pounds of my lease.
Things CEOs say.
Yes, it is.
Fantastic news.
Enthusiasts everywhere rejoicing, but that keeps with the Mazda through line.
Just like, I hope so.
I hope no EVs.
They're not even investigating EV technology to try to make it because it
would go against the grain of what the Miata is.
Well, I think what it suggests right now is unless they have some special, I
mean, and I've said no hybrids, but the problem is if you're chasing weight, you
can't also chase batteries.
That's the problem.
So if you're doing, if you're saying 2,200 pounds is the max and that's lighter
than the current Gen, how are you doing that?
Because of modern safety standards.
I mean, look, I love my lease.
It is 1950, just under 2,000 pounds without a driver.
But let's be honest, it passes no modern crash standards.
Okay.
This little thing needs to.
So that is in both the future cars, rumors and things CEO say, I hit all the
boxes on the last one, but there's where we are.
I love it.
Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good.
You can add protein, cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new
protein lattes or matcha.
Try it today at Starbucks.
For all our adventures this year, we've upgraded our cars with brake kits from
Powerstop brakes.
Powerstop offers reliable, durable upgrade kits for nearly every vehicle on the
road from trucks and towing to family road trip car to the commuters and
Canyon carvers go to powerstop.com and fill out their brake finder.
You'll be matched to complete kits and components to fit your car and your
driving needs.
They're drilled and slotted rotors keep brake temperatures low and carbon
fiber ceramic pads give improved stopping power with less brake dust and
Powerstop is a long-term supporter of our show, encouraging our adventures and
yours too.
So join us and thousands of other drivers who've upgraded their stopping
power with Powerstop.
Visit powerstop.com and use their brake finder today right now.
Stop the podcast.
Kicking off April announcements, we've got a lot of cool events starting up for
hooked on driving in April, 2026.
We'll just touch on the first two Saturday, April 4th, the Pacific Northwest
region is running at Portland International Raceway.
A few track cars are available as well.
And then again, Pacific Northwest region running Friday, April 10th and
Saturday, April 11th at Ridge Motorsports Park out in Shelton, Washington.
So April 4th, they're running at Portland and then the following weekend, they're
out in Shelton at Ridge.
We really are busy.
They're very busy and both days they have made a few track cars available for
rental.
I know if you're in that area, they would love to have you and great coaching
and a great community, great atmosphere there as well.
And every other region has an event in April.
So be ready because they're all coming.
Yeah.
Also in May, Saturday, Sunday, May 30th and May 31st.
That is the weekend right after Memorial Day weekend circuit of the
Americas in Austin, Texas on my top five list as well.
It's way up there.
It's a great track.
Really cool.
Yeah.
We've got a ton of people registered.
We would love to have you come out if you're still in the fence.
Come on, because we don't know what's going to happen with Kota.
You've all heard the rumors.
We have two.
We're still not sure, but this is a great chance to get on Kota.
This is your year.
Come to Kota.
You can also register at hooked on driving.com.
Our pilgrimage trip does still have, I think, that lingering single space available.
We would love to have you join us.
That is going to be August 2nd through the night.
And that is Belgium and Germany.
That is spa two days and the ring for an actual track day plus tourist days.
Intersperser.
There's going to be awesome.
And I have to make an announcement, a admission of shock and endorsement.
All these nine of things at once.
I want to thank all of you that are patrons on patreon.com because we,
we definitely benefit any, any, any creator that you support on Patreon.
I guarantee you that is life's blood to them because it's become harder and
harder with YouTube and other things to just survive.
So you guys are very helpful to us and we thank you.
There's benefits for all of our patrons, including our discord.
And we are changing those benefits actually in the coming month.
But thank you to all of you that are patrons.
One of the benefits that our patrons get is early access to sign up for our
adventures, right?
And we always get great activity from that.
It's always very cool.
Many of you are very excited and you want to come, et cetera.
But this is a first.
This is a first.
I would love to tell you those of you that are not patrons that are listening
right now, are Utah adventure is live.
It's happening in September, but it's sold out through our patrons in an hour.
I'm shocked.
I don't, I can't believe that happened.
I was away from my phone.
I was away from my phone.
I was working out.
I was away from my friends at the rock gym.
I picked up my phone and I was like, what has just happened?
And thank you to all of you who were watching the discord.
Thank you.
All of our patrons who have signed up and are coming with us on this Utah adventure.
And of course, yeah, we'd love to have all of you watching and listening on one
of our adventures at some point, but patrons do get first access.
And that's exactly what happened.
I was astonished way faster than I ever thought.
I thought it'd take a weekend or a day or two or every year.
Sign ups, but every year prior, there have been three or four spots left
because the patrons fill it out and then we released it to the public like now.
And there's always a few spaces left.
It filled with almost double the capacity for waitlist.
By the time it was three hours up and the first hour it was like sold out.
I mean, thank you.
And I, we'd love to have you with us.
Also, just a random update just to think about this.
We try to do, give you the overview, one adventure close to us, one adventure in
the U S away from us and a European adventure every year.
So that is all three for this year.
I am wearing the commemorative shirt of our bear tooth past trip, which is not
happening this year.
We will swap that for Utah next year.
We're going to start rotating them out because both of those trips leave from
our backyard here.
This Utah trip has been expanded with a combination of our Utah drive days last
year and our normal Utah trips.
It's expanded by a day or so.
It's going to be literally all our greatest hits road that you have seen us
film on and I'm very excited about everybody coming.
And apparently people are excited too.
So thank you for that.
It's really awesome.
Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash
back with Venmo stash got paid back with the Venmo debit card.
You can instantly access your balance and spend on what you want, like game
day snacks, gear, tickets and more, the more you do, the more cash back you can
earn.
Plus there's no monthly fee or minimum balance.
Sign up now at Venmo.com slash college card.
The Venmo master card is issued by the bank, court bank and a select schools
available Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo dot me slash
stash terms max $100 cash back per month.
Boy, do we have a great car debate.
Number one from Chris who is in the Maryland and DC area.
He is fighting the midlife practicality versus desire.
What a great email here.
Got it.
He's writing to request our recommendation on what would fulfill both his
desire in the practicality of his real life because he's pulled in two
directions right now.
Financially, he could probably afford to buy just about any car between
$35,000 and $60,000 new that is such a wide swath.
Thank you for giving me a lot of money to work with Chris.
And it's great news.
You didn't add those two numbers, by the way, did you?
Oh, that's a good idea.
Cause that would have been, that would make sense to me.
Your budget's $95,000.
Sorry.
I didn't mean to give you the idea, but I kind of figured you do that.
Yeah, exactly.
Chris drives 35 miles each way for his daily commuter Monday through Friday.
And he's currently got a 2025 Honda Civic hatchback sport hybrid.
He says it's enjoyable.
It's fine.
It just lacks something extra special.
Of course, it's also gray.
That's why it's lacking something special.
His wife has a brand new Toyota Grand Highliner Platinum max.
Okay.
And that's great for being the family hauler.
The great time, he said zero to 60 time is great for something so big and heavy.
So it's faster than he expected.
A lot of power.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
It's packed with everything great about Toyota SUV.
She's happy with it.
She loves it.
And Chris thought he would be happy with the Honda Civic to commute in, but it's
left him yearning for something with just a little bit more fun, possibly
something that leans less practical.
Maybe it's a midlife crisis thing.
Maybe he's getting to a financial place where he can make the whimsical odd
decision, maybe, but he acknowledges here.
He's perfectly aware of the fact that the Honda, again, this is the hatchback
sport hybrid.
It's perfect for his commute.
If we made a list of what does the car need to do to be good for a commute?
It does all of it.
I mean, sure.
Yes.
It's gray.
He knows intellectually, he absolutely knows this is the perfect car for what I
need.
He just doesn't like it.
And he's feeling that.
Well, you're listening to this podcast.
He's feeling that reason to drive something fun.
And he has had to contend with this is a new term.
You've heard of the minister of finance.
No, no, no.
In his household, it is the vice admiral high priestess of finance.
That's where we are.
So she has a firm grasp on the finances of the household.
She's also listening now.
So hello, Chris's wife.
But anyway, she wouldn't be thrilled to see him change vehicles after only a year
of ownership, but he could do it because the reality is he's put 17,000, almost 18,000
miles on the Honda in a single year.
So he's driving like crazy.
He does have kids and a dog.
So as a result, it's been helpful to have a hatch, but not completely necessary.
Because again, they do have the big Toyota.
The Toyota also does minor towing of 1500 pound a line pop up camper.
So it really can do all of the life stuff.
So we are replacing his commuter wife works from home.
So the Toyota gets driven really for family stuff only.
Chris has been looking at alphas, BMWs, minis, Miata's things in the wheelhouse
of the everyday driver's show.
We've mentioned at least all of those.
Yes, please.
He's looking at sedans or hatches or small crossovers.
He's looked at a few Volvos.
He would say he's likely most waffling between the alphas, the BMWs and the minis.
He's looking at buying used just to lessen the blow of a quick switch.
Every time Chris thinks he sees a crossover that would work, he thinks maybe it's not fun enough.
Every time he thinks he found a great alpha, he wonder, he wonders if it
will be as reliable as what he drives now.
Hard to say.
Maybe.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously Honda Civic is probably just going to keep running in spite of you,
a performance car.
I don't care the brand alpha or whatever is going to need some care.
He says the itch won't go away.
He wants to make a change soon because this paragraph, Chris, I love that you wrote this.
You get to a point in life sometimes where the daily grind and practicality of life
makes you say to yourself, yes, I'm doing everything right, but I want to do something fun.
But fun doesn't mean wrong.
True, true, true.
We associate I want fun and so that's wrong because I'm doing everything right.
He's driving 70 miles a day working 7 a.m. to 3 30 p.m.
Going home repeating.
He provides a good life for his family, but he wants a little something extra special
that makes it more personally worth it all to him.
I mean, you spend a lot of time in that car.
This was really the impetus for the show.
I remember when I was used to drive commuting on the 405 in that first 300 ZX,
that was not turbo and automatic.
And I still loved whatever driving and I kept looking around all the people that
were hating themselves in a car that they hated.
I mean, this is the reality.
He's been a lot of time in that car and you're weighing and you even brought it up.
Paul, you're weighing Chris the difference between responsible and enjoyable.
They can be intertwined.
You can be responsible in being joy and enjoying yourself.
But the problem is very often what happens is as we lean into being responsible,
we get way down the road and realize I'm having no fun at all.
So we're trying to bring the fun back.
I love this, Chris.
This is good stuff.
Says this is the age in life for future planning, stability and practicality rule.
But there has to be something he had ad that wouldn't crush him financially.
Just a little bit more fun and reliable.
And now he says, maybe I'll stick with the $35,000 40 limit.
He dangles 60.
Yeah, he gave you 60.
He took it right away.
Man, he thinks that's healthy enough to switch over to achieve what he's aiming for.
He's still commuting a lot in the Maryland, D.C.
Area automatic needs to stay, understand.
But besides that, he's open options.
He'd like to buy something with similar mileage as his current vehicle and stay
2023 or newer 2023 model, you're newer with about 20,000 miles.
Is this a bad idea?
No, he says the dad in him is saying yes, but the human side of him says, he needs
to do this for himself.
I am fully in agreement and both can be true.
True.
Like I say to a lot of things, yes, both can be true.
It's not, I'm doing the practicality thing and anything fun, anything resembling
fun is wrong.
If the food tastes good, that means it's unhealthy spit it out.
It's bad for you.
It's not just.
We've all seen that.
Health food and then I can't have the burger and fries.
Can't eat it.
He says he's five foot nine, 200 pounds built like a wrestler.
So he's supposed to theorize this amniotic could probably work, but he's
leaning slightly more practical.
The Julius and the Stelvios are gorgeous.
I love it.
Chris sends us a bit of car history, including an 86 Volvo station wagon with
the turbo, you had a black O eight Honda element EX element.
I know.
First year in the military.
Use 2007 red Volkswagen Jetta sedan, a fun car drove it into the ground because
that's what you do with him.
Well, so he's got a Volkswagen history, big Volkswagen history for sure.
Yeah.
Take one with electrical problems because the fuse panel melted.
Yeah.
Bummer.
He traded it in on a mini Cooper country S all four white with black hood
stripes.
So you've had the mini before country.
Yeah, yeah, cool.
Look at that.
He drove it to a hundred thousand miles, had an engine coolant leak issue.
So he couldn't solve it.
So he traded it in Volkswagen Atlas.
This wife couldn't drive too big.
And then he traded Allison on a cross track and then now the cross tech to the
Honda, I think it's amazing that she didn't like the Atlas and she now drives
the big grand Highlander because it strikes me.
I mean, the Atlas is big, but Grand Highlander is every bit as big as the
Atlas.
That surprises me.
But yeah, cross track to Honda and you're, you're bored.
I hate to say it, but you're bored.
You're bored.
So, all right, we got to see if we can solve this.
Let's do it.
Well, Chris, I noticed that you had mini history and because you had that
engine coolant leak, it seems like you weren't done with many.
Okay.
Seems like you like those.
But here is the Cooper JCW GP.
You remember this car when it came out in 2020, it was $52,000.
But Chris, this has a 302 horsepower turbo engine with an eight-speed
automatic transmission.
The problem is they are not common.
You're going to have to dig.
None might be for sale.
Can he get them for 40?
I'm hoping he dangled 60.
You stayed with 60.
I get it.
You can find that now.
True.
And even if you go down a step to just the John Cooper works mini.
Now I liked them all the way up to the model year 2003.
I think it was the F 56 or the R 56 version.
R 56.
So you mean the model, the first generation ended after oh six.
That was the R 53.
And then I started that was the 50, 20, 23 was 50, 20, 23.
Yes, 20, 23.
And I don't remember what it was, but I know where, where I know what you,
the recent generation is the one that you liked.
Yeah.
Cause I liked it up to 23, but then this is a 2024, which I can't say I loved.
It's a slight variation.
I don't love the ones now.
I don't love this one.
But if you want to go to 2024, you could just find a John Cooper works and
they are right within your budget.
Still lots of power, still finding with automatic.
Like I said, you're not done with many.
So I highly encourage you to go find a mini because I want you to think, Oh yeah.
I'm on my way to work.
I can't wait to drive.
I can't wait to grab the keys and I'm out the door and, you know, kiss everybody.
Goodbye.
And you're on your way down.
What?
Here's the thing with the, the GP version.
When they first were selling, I remember we saw it on a show with the fender,
with the fender, funky fender first was selling this.
I remember thinking way too expensive and I love minis.
I mean, that's been documented.
I remember thinking way too expensive for a mini and who's going to buy these.
And the reality, here's what's crazy.
I have only ever seen two in the wild.
And I'm thrilled to say this.
They were both at different hooked on driving track days.
Oh, it's the only time I've ever seen them.
I'm like, well, okay, so you are clearly the target audience.
I'm glad it showed up, but they're hard to find the GP is a different
beast. They're hard to find.
You might not warm to that idea, but I'm just thinking if we're going to go
mini, let's do really find the ultimate one.
But again, if you want to back that off to just the janky, regular old John Cooper
works, I highly recommend that too.
But you already took it to 100,000 miles.
So I say, yes, go after the mini.
I thought, okay, it's slightly BMW without being a BMW.
What else is BMW without being BMW?
It is the Toyota Supra, the GR Supra.
But wait, I know you dangled 60.
60 is the three liter.
True.
In line six brand new one.
Yeah.
But what if you went and looked at 2021's with the two liter four to save
money because you're commuting.
Again, it's not like I need all the power.
It's a little bit lighter in the front end, which means the handling is actually
a little bit more delicate.
There's a little more information there.
And it's still all of the 2021 two liter turbos that I found were in the
40,000 ish range.
All right.
They were all right in the sweet spot of your budget.
I mean, the budget you pulled me back to the revised the be careful Paul budget.
That's right.
So yeah, 40 to 42,000 with about 20,000 miles on them.
I love this next car for you, Chris.
And that is a pretty new G.R.
Corolla, like 20, 25.
And the reason I'm suggesting that is because you can get the automatic and
get this with the automatic, the G.R.
Corolla core and premium with the automatic and from seven to 15,000 miles
are all about $40,000 on auto tempest.
Awesome.
Yeah, that's great.
That's fantastic.
I enjoyed shopping for this.
Yeah, so the automatic G.R.
Corolla, I think you'd love it like, oh, wait, I'm on my way to work.
I can't wait to jump in my G.R.
Corolla and just listen to the pops and bangs and all the snorty three cylinder
goodness.
And then last car on my list is the 2024 Hyundai Elantra N with dual clutch.
Those start at just under 30, but then I realized weight with your budget.
You could pretty much just go get a new Hyundai Elantra N, but if you don't want
to, you know, depreciation, you don't want to deal with that.
You could just go look for a little bit, save some money.
And all of these would be a joy to drive.
I think you would love it.
And I think it would put that spark back in your commute.
I really do.
Well, again, you and I never talk about what we're going to cover, but we
sometimes align a lot and that'll be true here.
But I want to, Chris, I want to talk about your situation for just a second
because it reminded me of our friend Shane in the DC area, who also has a commute.
And he has told us, and your commute hopefully isn't as bad, but he has told
us that he spends most of his commute at about walking pace.
And for a while, he had a pretty high performance car and he realized that he
just rarely enjoyed it because it needed so much room to run.
You've said you're doing a 35 mile one way commute.
Again, 70 miles in the car a day.
You go early.
I noticed you leave at seven in the morning and you're back at 330.
You're clearly trying to avoid traffic.
That's, that's ahead of the traffic on both cycles, even though I'm sure there's
still plenty because that area's got tons of traffic.
I'm worried about you getting a car more high performance than you can enjoy.
That's my concern.
Sure.
I don't know your commute well enough, but I think that is a concern here.
So I am going to talk through some, get a beast that wants to be let off the
chain and you can't just commuting and, but I, but I am going to start with
the obvious one because Chris, you did already mention it.
So I do have to go there.
You keep mentioning how intrigued you are by the Alpha Julia.
I'm tasking you with driving one.
You need to go drive one because my question for you is.
The, and the one you want, I'm actually showing you a photo of it in green here
and it's spectacular is the quadrifoglio with the, the nice clover leaf on the side.
It is on my personal shortlist.
I don't need a sedan, but I would buy one of these.
I love it.
And in your budget, they're already down in the forties for the quadrifoglio.
It's amazing.
Quads are 40 in the forties.
Chris has 60.
So, and exactly right.
It doesn't want to tell us, but it does have 60 anyway.
So quadrifoglio is the one you want except for commuting.
I think you might be in a situation where you don't like it enough on the commute.
So I want you to drive, hopefully a quadrifoglio and a base engine and then
really have a conversation about, do you like this car enough to sit still in it?
Do you like this car enough to just hang out at it?
You, you talk two or three times and email about how gorgeous they are, how
much they intrigue you.
So I think you absolutely must drive one.
And I actually wonder if one of the sporty setup models of the base engine
might be perfect because there's not so much power that you've got to ring it out.
You don't need that kind of power, but it still got great chassis dynamics.
It still looks really great.
It's a cool place to be.
And it's a nice size dad car.
And it's gorgeous.
So, yeah, you, you must drive one of those.
You have Volkswagen history.
So I have to say, look at both Golf R and GTI.
You have multiple Volkswagen's that you've owned.
These two modern Volkswagen's are excellent.
I don't know that you need to go as high as the Golf R, but you could.
GTI or Golf R, I would recommend driving them both and see which ones you might
like better for the commute.
I think you could probably just go GTI and be very, very happy.
Yeah.
GTI with the DSG, get it with the money you've got very, very easily.
There's something that Shane had mentioned with the high-performance sports car he had.
It was an Audi RS3.
He loved it, but then he kind of downgraded to the GTI and it was more of a knock
around car.
He didn't worry about scrapes and dings and thrashing a wheel, a
carbon wheel, whatever.
And I'm wondering if the same thing for Chris, very possibly, you're less worried
about it and so you tend to just kind of thrash it and drive it a little bit more
and just enjoy, save a little bit of money.
Along these lines, again, you and I are so aligned on this, Paul, I just kept
thinking about what you need, Chris, is a car that in that little squirt of acceleration
that you get, you never got that fast, but it was still fun.
The whole zip chassis just feels like fun and interesting.
And you brought up many and many is a good one there, except the problem is all
the new minis are ugly and big.
So I stayed away from many.
I like where you were, but I stayed away from many because you're talking about
something fairly new and the minis getting worse, getting worse, terrible, worse
and bigger, but so I want you to have a, I mean, the alpha again, drive it to
see, but I kind of think that the place for you to be is a small chassis that is
set up in such a way that even going slowly, it feels like, like it's just
excited, it just wants to do something.
So the GTI might work, but the Elantra in is way up here.
It's way, way, way up here.
And this is the bigger car, but it's still got that feeling that zip, that
swirl, like little lightly, just scrabbling and having fun.
I mean, this is a great car for that.
This also has really good back seats.
There's no hatch, but there's a decent sized trunk has some scaffolding in it.
If you drop the seats, but anyway, it's a performance car.
This car would feel fun all the time.
This DCT, it's just got personality.
And then following the small hatchback personality route, my wild card actually
is the GR Corolla because here's the thing.
This is the least usable of the cars I'm listing.
That's why it's my wild card.
It's snorty.
It's stiffly sprung.
It so suggests it wants to run around fast at all times.
The back seat is smaller than the rest of these we're talking about, but you
have small kids.
Yeah.
The hatch is okay.
I don't know how big your dog is.
So this is the least usable, but probably the best personality of this group.
They've got the giant Grand Highlander for when they do all the kids and the
dog and all that stuff.
I think this would feel fun all the time.
And then if you have an opportunity to ring it out, it would be really surprising
to you.
So I say, check this out.
GR Corolla, I mean, my wild card, because I know this is the most focused of the
group is, but it changes everything.
It's like the best commuter.
It could be.
It could be really cool.
I'm very curious about, you know, what are the streets you're dealing with?
What is the commuter dealing with?
But I want you to have something just this snorty.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.