Make Dad Like Cars, Lots Of Civic, What’s Good At $12K? | Episode 1,030
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Car
Toyota Grand Highlander
The Toyota Grand Highlander is a bigger SUV from Toyota that provides more room and comfort, making it great for families or long trips.
Car
Kia Telluride
The Kia Telluride is a family-friendly SUV that offers a lot of space and features at a good price, making it popular among buyers.
Car
Rivian R1S
The Rivian R1S is a new electric SUV that is built for outdoor adventures and has a lot of space inside, appealing to people who want an eco-friendly vehicle.
Concept
roadster
A roadster is a small, sporty car that usually has two seats and no roof. They are designed for fun driving and are often very fast.
Term
configurator
A configurator is a website tool that lets you choose how you want your car to look and what features it should have before you buy it. You can pick colors and styles.
Company
Longbow Motors
Longbow Motors is a car company that makes electric cars, especially sporty ones called roadsters. They aim to create fun and lightweight vehicles.
Term
two-tone paint
Two-tone paint means the car is painted in two different colors, usually with one color on the top and another on the bottom. It can make the car look more interesting.
Term
EV
An EV, or electric vehicle, runs on electricity instead of gas. This means it doesn't produce exhaust fumes and can be cheaper to drive.
Car
Tesla Cybertruck
Car
BMW F80
Car
Toyota MR2
The Toyota MR2 is a small sports car that has its engine located in the middle, which helps it handle better on the road. It's been loved by car fans for its fun driving experience.
Term
two liter turbo
A two liter turbo engine is one that has a size of two liters and uses a turbocharger to boost its power. This means it can be smaller but still very powerful.
Term
hybrid
A hybrid car uses both a gas engine and an electric motor to run. This helps save fuel and is better for the environment.
Car
Porsche Cayman
Car
Toyota Supra
Car
Honda Prelude
Car
Honda CR-Z
The Honda CR-Z is a small car that uses both a gasoline engine and an electric motor to save fuel. It has a sporty look and is designed to be fun to drive while being eco-friendly.
Car
Honda Crv
The Honda CR-V is a popular small SUV that is known for being reliable and having a lot of space for passengers and cargo. It's a good choice for families.
Term
CVT
CVT means Continuously Variable Transmission, which is a type of automatic transmission that helps the car use fuel more efficiently by changing gears smoothly without the usual steps you feel in regular automatics.
Car
BMW Z4
Car
BMW M2
Car
Cadillac Blackwing
The Cadillac Blackwing is a powerful version of Cadillac cars that focuses on performance. It's designed for those who want a fast and sporty driving experience.
Car
Hyundai Elantra
The Hyundai Elantra N is a sportier version of the regular Elantra. It has a more powerful engine and is designed for better performance and handling.
Car
Lotus Amira
Car
Mazda Mx5 Miata
Car
Porsche Boxster
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche Boxster is a sporty car that many people enjoy driving. Although fewer buyers choose the manual version, it is still a great car for those who love performance.
Term
PDK
PDK is a type of automatic transmission used in Porsche cars. It helps the car change gears quickly, making it faster and more fun to drive.
Car
Subaru Wrx
Car
Nissan Z-car
The Nissan Z-car is a sporty car that many people enjoy. It's known for being fast and fun to drive, and it has a long history of performance.
Car
Nissan Nismo
Nismo is a special part of Nissan that makes faster and sportier versions of their cars. These cars are designed for people who want more performance and excitement.
Car
Porsche 912
The Porsche 912 is a classic car that was made to be less expensive than the famous 911. It has a smaller engine, which means it's lighter and uses less fuel.
Car
Tesla Model
Concept
car culture
Car culture is how people feel about and interact with cars. In some places, like the U.S., it's very popular, with events and clubs, while in others, like China, it might not be as visible or accepted.
Term
modifying cars
Modifying cars means changing them to make them look or perform better, like adding new wheels or changing the engine. Some places have strict rules about what you can change.
Car
Volvo XC60
Car
Toyota Camry
Part
BC racing coilovers
BC Racing coilovers are parts that help improve how a car handles by allowing you to adjust the height of the car's suspension.
Part
intake
An intake is the part of the car that brings air into the engine, and a better intake can help the engine perform better.
Part
intercooler
An intercooler cools the air that goes into the engine, helping it run better and more efficiently.
Part
downpipe
A downpipe is a part of the exhaust system that helps the engine breathe better, which can make the car more powerful.
Car
Mercedes-Benz SL
Car
Mazda Cx5
Car
Honda Odyssey
Car
Genesis G70
Car
Audi Rs3
Car
Cadillac CT4
Car
Cadillac CT5
Car
Honda Civic
Car
Bmw X1
Car
Ford Ranger
Car
Nissan 240SX
Car
Ford Crown
Car
Toyota Crown
Car
Chevrolet Blazer
Car
Volkswagen Caddy
Car
BMW E36
Car
Porsche Cayenne
Car
Audi S5
Car
Hyundai Genesis
Car
Porsche Taycan
Car
Audi Etron
Car
BMW G22
Car
Cadillac XLR
Car
Ferrari F40
LIVE
Hi guys, we're back on the podcast. Happy Tuesday to you. Hope you had a good weekend.
Also hope you saw our latest piece that just dropped since the last podcast. It was a kind
of came together on its own, which was pretty cool. We had Toyota sent us a Grand Highlander
and we wanted to put the Grand Highlander with stuff. We went seeking out the Kia Telluride.
We found a used one of that with a mostly new version of the Rivian R1S. But the reason
we pulled that, if you haven't seen the piece yet, I was just looking around. And those are worth
nothing used. One year old ones are 60 grand and some of them, depending on the spec, are worth 50,
which is right exactly what a Telluride or a Grand Highlander will cost you if you buy one new. So
we thought that's an interesting oddball comparison. Hope you saw that on our original channel.
It's actually playing pretty well. Thank you guys for the comments. We're also getting those
comments where like, I would never buy these, but I liked watching this. That honestly, I consider
that the best compliment. That is a win. I will take that all day long. So thank you guys for
watching. We appreciate you being here with us. We have all of it. News, big topic Tuesday, that is
one of those unsolvable conundrums, which is great. Cool car debates, conclusions, questions. We're
going to dive right in. Yes. Hello to all of you. Thank you for your feedback and your comments.
We did ask for it when we discussed all wheel drive on the last podcast episode and called it
dumb because it's dumb. So thank you for your comments. We really appreciate it. Continue to
share that episode because yeah, it's just so controversial and it was, it was a lot of fun
to discuss. It's a political question. It kind of is. It's so funny. You and I don't do religion or
politics except apparently whether or not all wheel drive is good or what drive train is best is
by as political as we get. Yeah, for sure. Jumping in with some news up front. We have been having
our eyes on longbow motors because this is an EV cool lightweight fun roadster. And I wanted you
to know the configurator is live. If you haven't played with it yet, here we go. I've got longbow
motors pulled up and you can select the roadster or the hard top. I'm kind of a hard top sort of guy
agreed. So they're two tone paint configuration is a bit odd, but there it is very odd. But check
it out. Front paintwork. So over in the right column, you can design with paintwork. So I'm
just going to start with blue. Here's blue. It's much better when it's all blue. I did that earlier.
Yeah. And then you can start the back. Don't do that. Don't do that and do some pretty strange
color combinations. You remember in the 80s when cars were available to tone, at least that was
like the top half of the car and bottom half of the car. This is like diagonally split it.
Yeah, they did. It was almost like the boat bond line, like when the whole meets the upper and
it's kind of that way. So I tried, of course, red and blue. And then I did all solid colors and then
I switched it to blue and red. So there you go. It's just kind of fun to play with. But you know
what? It just speaks to this is coming along. I would love to drive this whenever it comes out.
I think it's really interesting and the styling is pretty cool looking. It's pretty classic and
clean. But those of you that don't remember this is a 2000 pound EV. 2000 pound rear wheel drive
EV EV and I would love for someone to actually succeed and do this. I would love to drive this
because my obsession is lightweight cars. I think weight is the thing that kills it the most.
Of course, this is a configurator just for the exterior. We'll see how long it Paul's lost.
We'll see how long until this is actually a real thing. They're talking about it costing
65-70,000 euros actually. So we'll see what it actually becomes. You're doing two tone green now.
Well, let's see. It's an EV so it's green. So it's all the green. Oh, please stop. All right.
I went over to finalize. Check this out for a Roadster autograph version limited to 100 numbered
examples because why does anybody care? But it costs you an extra 5000 pounds.
Well, this is your reserving. You're reserving. I'm reserving. Yeah. But the Roadster series is
500 pounds. Uh-huh. I don't get that. You're just getting a reservation. This is like the 100
This is the $100 Cybertruck thing. Are you really? Okay. This is the
Cybertruck thing that they did and they're going to use that money to try to make more.
That's what they're going to do. That was auto-populating. Here we go. Driver. You really
are putting in right now. Should I reserve? Live? No, we're not going to pay 5000 euros
to reserve at Roadster. We're not doing that. We'll have that kind of money.
All right. I'll just save my configurations. Yeah, do that. We're not giving them money.
We're not doing that. I mean, I want to drive it and if they make an awesome one,
then I might like buy one, give them money. But let's make it awesome first and let's get to
drive it. That interior is not looking so good. That's because it doesn't exist yet.
You're not rendered very well. Nope. Doesn't exist yet. You can't go in and change your
interior. So anyway, it's news because it's moving along and because I do. I desperately
want a lightweight EV sports car. That seems really cool. And we like to play with configurators
because everybody does. I mean, who among us does not log into the Ferrari and build your
own F80. Okay, fair. Constantly. All right. Change the colors and the graphics.
And I think you do that more than I do. I like doing this with the F80. I like the F80 and that.
All right. I'm going to move on to other things that I don't. I can't actually decide if what I'm
about to talk about is further along or not as far along, but I'm going to dive in anyway.
Did you hear Toyota has officially stated that the MR2 is coming? After their joke tease,
they went, we're doing a mid-engine vehicle. Here it is. And it was that K-Truck Daihatsu. Yep.
Whatever that was. Yeah, whatever that was is exactly true. Yeah. So they have confirmed
that the, I got to get the rest of my notes up here. They have confirmed that the MR2 is actually
coming, which is interesting. It's very, very cool that this is the case. Yes. I am showing the
latest picture that we have, which is this cool orange one. It's actually great looking from
this profile angle. I hope that it shows up. What they're saying so far is two liter turbo,
roughly 400 horsepower. Good recipe so far. I like it. It's good stuff. What they're not saying is
how soon and if it'll be hybrid. The discussion was it's at the beginning of their five stages
of making cars. So that suggests it's a few years away. All right. So four or five years.
Right now. Right now. Well, there's no Cayman. Some outlets are talking about they think this is
going to be slotted in the place in their lineup where the Supra is right now. Now, I think that's
what it has to cost. It has to cost 60 to 80 grand. Yeah, it'll be expensive. Okay. So that is where
the Supra lives right now. When the Supra ends, will this be the car that replaces in the lineup?
I mean, I would be fascinated by this car. I'm very intrigued by it. But I want to go on a little,
little journey real quick to talk about things other than the MR2 and link it back to the MR2
because this relates to what should this car be? I mean, it's final iteration. What? Yeah,
what should it be? Market and all this stuff? Because by the time you see this,
you'll be about 48 hours away from just about everybody but us dropping a video on the new
prelude. As far as US journalists are concerned, when you see this, we will be in the midst of
filming a comparison on the prelude that will come up very shortly thereafter. And of course,
I cannot think of another car with enthusiast interest and enthusiast sad trombone noises
like the prelude. Okay. So many people all around us have just said that cars are relevant. It's
terrible. And nobody's driven it yet. I mean, nobody that we trust. Driven it by virtue of the
spec sheet. They have driven the spec sheet. Cannot drive the spec sheet. So we're very excited
to drive it. We have, we have defended it only because nobody's driven it yet. We've gone,
couldn't this be cool? Yes. And isn't and it doesn't need to be an 86. It's not, I mean,
it suggests that it is, but it doesn't need to be. Okay. Right. But the point I'm making here is,
I would like to see Toyota avoid what's happening with Honda and the prelude. I would like Toyota
to pick a spec for the MR2 where all of us just go, Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't care if it's
hybrid or not. It could be hybrid, could be not hybrid, but it needs to be manual.
Absolutely. 100%. And Honda has proven with their CRV and pardon me, with their CRZ
and with the old insight that you can do hybrid manual. They've proven it.
That's true. They were one of the only ones. Yes. And it worked. Yeah. So
I genuinely don't care if it's hybrid or not. But CVT and no manual is going to be terrible if
they do that. And we know there's people from Toyota that watch this show. And I just, I hope
that Toyota is listening to the market around them. And here's where I'm going.
Motor one asked automakers how many people are actually buying your manuals. So they went through
cars that automakers are making and how many are buying manuals. And so I'm going to run
through this list real quick. But I think it's fascinating. And I'm going to land on stuff that
relates to the MR2. Okay. The BMW M2 50% of buyers are manuals on the M2. That's great. BMW Z4. Now,
this is the last year of building, which is going to really matter for the Z4 because the Z4 manual
has only been out for like 18 months. The Z4 65% manuals. Really? Yes. It's great. The Blackwing
Cadillacs, just about 50-50. I'll take that for that big car. Absolutely. I think that's great.
A lot of people are going to buy those cars. This is already proving the market. We guess.
The Elantra N, which came out as a manual first and then has later followed with a DCT. So keep
that in mind and this stat is still 30% manual. The Amira, which I will admit came out first as
a manual and now you can buy the flappy paddle AMG motor. But the Lotus Amira is 86% take up with
V6 manual, 86% on the Amira. That's fantastic. It's great. Wow. The MX5 Miata, thankfully,
is 70%. 70% of the buyers are manuals, which is great. Porsche Boxster Cayman, 43%, 9-11,
37%. That's not bad. That's still good. That's still lower than I would think for those cars with
all the screaming that ensued when they took the manual away. But keep in mind how many people buy
them. The PDK is brilliant and people buy them to use them as dailies. That's the difference there.
The BRZ, 77% manuals. You're kidding me. Isn't that amazing? And then a quick lesson on what happens
when you make a CVT or only other option, the Subaru WRX. It's available as a CVT or a manual.
87% of buyers are buying a manual in that car. What? But that's fantastic. I'm bringing this all
back around to Toyota. If you're going to make an MR2, you tell sell two cars right now that are
sports cars available in manual. The GR86, 53% of buyers are manual and the Supra, 65%.
All of this to say. Amazing. All of this to say. Toyota and other automakers. I don't want to hear it.
If you are selling a sports car and you say no one buys manuals, this is not Ferrari.
Did they cover the Z-car, the Nissan Z-car? Was that in there? I don't have that on this list.
I'd be curious. I knew there was a lot of take up for that car too, one manual.
And I'm very curious about what the interest is in the Nismo. The Nismo manual.
Because it only is available in base manner right now. But anyway,
sorry, keep going. That's all good. But I mean, this isn't the Ferrari situation.
Where the reason Ferrari stopped making manuals is it was 2% of buyers. 2%.
I mean, I think legitimately you could argue it if it's less than 30%.
But most of the stats I read here are 50 and above. 50 and above. Now this is
dedicated sports car chassis. So I realize you're focused on people that want to drive.
And it is very expensive to make a dedicated sports car chassis. But my point in all of this is
the MR2 they say is coming. It's not like they're debating if they're going to do one.
They say it's coming. So if it's coming, please, please, please Toyota.
Yes. There are buyers make it a manual. I don't care if it's a hybrid.
I'd like it to be hybrid manual. Candidly, a good hybrid manual. Let's do that. Let's make
another one. So there you go. The stats from motor one. I thought we're fascinating and here's
where we are. That's good. I guess we could put it like this. Hey Toyota, hey all of you other
car makers, we have saved the manuals. We did it, everyone. We got there.
My son now has an endangered species manual shirt that I kind of want, except for the fact that
laced on these stats. I mean, you can buy them right now. The new shirt is it's off the endangered
species list. There you go. Saved. We saved it. We did it. There's a market that even speaks to
Ferrari because I wonder if, I mean, Ferrari will build any of their customers, anything if you
throw enough money at them. Notwithstanding. But if Ferrari were to bring back a manual option in
this now car environment, this modern day and age when everybody laments the manuals and wants it,
I wonder if their take up would be above 30%. I do think you're right. If Ferrari made a manual,
they would sell a manual, but I'll give you the one I really hope is listening.
Chevrolet for the Corvette C9. That's great because they have a really good dual clutch now.
It's a really good dual clutch. Don't get rid of it. But make there needs to be a manual option.
Because, you know, I mean, and look, no one believes that internet commenters equal buyers.
No one believes that. True. This is buyer stats. Okay, that I'm reading all the stuff I'm talking
about is buyer stats. But the separate thing is the overwhelming number of comments when we do a
C8 video of will never buy one isn't available in manual. Last real Corvette was a C7. The C9,
another mid-engine, refined manual. Come on now. I also wonder, you know how much crap that Porsche
took for coming out with a manual transmission four cylinder mid-engine car? Sure. Now that it's
Toyota coming out with a two liter four cylinder. Well, it's Toyota and it'll run and Toyota said,
well, this two liter needs to work with hybrid technology, whether it is paired or not. Maybe
it's an option. Sure. Maybe offer two different trim levels. Possibly. Will anybody give Toyota the
same kind of crap? Like, well, you just built a four cylinder. Even the Amira four cylinder is sort
of like, eh, we'll take the six cylinder manual. But the MR2 has been a four cylinder before. That's
the difference. I guess that's the only saving grace. And it's a small and small Japanese sports
cars are able to be four cylinder. That's true. But when it comes to Porsche wise, well, it's
the sounds terrible. People forget the 912. You know, but the 912 was never like a 912, except
for now when 911 prices are crazy and suddenly the 912. Moving on. Good news, everyone. I just got
a confirmation email from Longbow Motors confirming. Happened almost in real time. It did. Yes. I mean,
it's almost like they use an automated system or something. Crazy. Yeah. Thank you for crafting
your dream car. Your bespoke configuration has been securely saved, allowing you to revisit,
refine and share your leisure where whenever inspiration calls, the front paint work is
verdant crest green and I accidentally chose Sherwood Dawn green for the rear. Yes, you did.
And silver black wheels. That's not really my configuration. I need to work hard on this and
resave. I need to go back to it and resave. I'm sure they will take your email again. Confirmation.
They will happily do that. Am I ready to take the next step though and reserve my Longbow?
I think money's an issue. They would like. I mean, this is the Tesla model. They would really
like you to make a reservation so they can spend your money now. Yeah. Warm regards.
Team Longbow. Love it.
Griot's Garage is our official car care partner and one of our very first sponsors for the show.
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from a company that has always supported this show. Our audience can always get at least 10%
off by using the code driver10 at griotsgarage.com. Oh, do we have a topic Tuesday? It is lengthy.
It is fun. And we will not solve it. I'm just I'm calling my shot now. We're not going to solve this.
Somebody's going to get thrown clear. We're going to talk about it. It's going to be crazy.
Fan is writing in Jonathan fans writing in and he is got questions about turning someone
into a car enthusiast. Is it possible? That's where he goes. And then he gives us history.
He loves listening to the podcast. We love that you're with us. He's originally from China recently
in the last recent time moved to Finland. And his younger sister is moving from China to Canada
to go to college. He describes it as no visible car culture in China. That's where he says he
was raised. He learned to drive in China. He said not only is traffic in China terrible,
but modifying cars is essentially illegal to the point that changing from 16 inch factory wheels to
17s is not allowed, let alone wings, body kits, ECU tunes, all of that is out. Also culturally,
I'd never heard this, culturally, there is an underground feeling. If you like cars and do
anything to cars, that results if people like fan become somebody in that culture in China,
you're kind of perceived as being with the wrong crowd, like the bad kid with the wrong crowd.
So he was never really able to get fully into cars in China, but he drove his parents car.
We're talking Civic Volvo XC60 Lexus ES. Now they have a BYDEV. His dad, think about what we're
having culture or tuning all of this stuff's out. So that's how fan was raised. His dad's owned
a Buick, which is very popular in China, a Camry, a Civic, other stuff that he's already mentioned.
But in 2023, he moved to Finland. In 2024, he bought his first car, a 2021 hybrid Yaris. He
chose it because it was small, economical and felt like a perfect A to B tool, except for the fact
that now he started to like it like like driving cars. He always wanted something small. His parents
always bought big SUVs. He realized Finnish roads were great and the traffic was actually usable.
He could like go places. So he wanted to be able to drive manual and have fun. So he bought a 2020
Civic Type R. Well done. First manual loves it, watched countless reviews, couldn't believe it
when he actually was able to buy one. He said it is pretty much amazing. He said he would have gone
for the Civic Si, but it's not available in Europe. He did rent a Civic Si when he traveled to LA
and was amazed with how well it drove. But his 2020 Civic Type R is practically a dream car.
He's done a little bit to it. Wing, people give him thumbs up. He goes to car events. He's embracing
his car person. He's embracing car culture. You see where this is going. Dad's coming for a visit.
Said in a year, he's already put about 36,000 kilometers on the Type R. He agrees with our
philosophy. Drive your fun car. Don't just let it sit. His is stage one tune, BC racing coilovers.
He's planning a downpipe intercooler, an intake to make more powerful, but still daily friendly.
Clearly, these things are legal in Finland. Exactly. His car is his life, his hobby, and the
way he connects with people. And he never plans to sell it ever. Interesting. We'll see if that
holds. But interesting. Yeah. Okay, got it. He's physically healthy. Plants keep driving. Love it.
So one of the best surprises is the social side. Fan writes in China, this would almost never happen.
Here, he says in Finland, kids get excited when they see his car. Strangers give him a thumbs up
or say nice car. And sometimes people even come over to talk about it. Finnish people have a
reputation for being introverted. But when it comes to cars, they open right up. I'm loving the
cultural lessons that are buried in this email. It's really, really cool. I love this. So when
fan wrote to us, his dad and sister came to visit him, showed him the car, they thought it looked
a bit cool because of the wing. But once he showed them the acceleration, he knew they weren't car
people. His dad said it was too loud, even though the fake cabin sound has been removed, and his
sister was scared of the acceleration. Probably never experienced it before. I'm certain that she
hasn't. Yeah. And as you said, fans dad sees a car purely as a tool. He can't understand why
someone would own more than one car or why people would take photos of fans car.
Damn, it's just a car. Civic with a wing. Yep. He's driven manuals for 35 years, some without
synchros, but he couldn't comprehend why a fan would switch from automatic back to manual. He
said to his dad, that's going backwards. He's very pro, full self-driving. He's all about
FSD, full self-driving. When fan told him he worked hard to try to drive his car extra smoothly,
his dad said, why would you make extra effort when an automatic can do it for you?
Thinking about all of this from fans dad's perspective, you see his logic. His logic's
faultless. It's just use a car to get through traffic as a tool. What are you doing, son?
His dad got angry and upset when fan told him he was practicing heel and toe. He thought it was
completely useless and just trying to look cool. He said fans into cars too much because to him
it sounds dangerous even though he's always a very responsible driver. He's that bad kid.
By the way, fan is 33, by the way. I don't want to put that out there. He's not a bad kid at all,
but this is fascinating. I'm enjoying the cultural clash going on here.
Fan's sister just turned 18, doesn't want to drive at all. She's headed to Vancouver for
college and said she'll rely on public transit or friends cars. Which you can do in Vancouver,
I get it. Yeah. She wants to travel to the US, but even then she'd rather take Uber or Waymo
or let friends drive. His dad agrees she shouldn't even drive if she's not interested and they both
figured they'll just wait for full self-driving to become mainstream. I mean, I look at the
progression of fan's dad. I look at mainstream. Yeah, China and that kind of stuff. Mainstream.
I can understand why they don't want to drive, why they want full self-driving. I see how they
got there, but okay. Yeah, it's not like that's happening next week. We'll see. So he asks us
because we've mentioned in our podcast intro before that we think everyone is one great car
from being a car person. Is it possible to get his father and his sister to be car people?
Should he encourage his sister to try for a license? Should he get them in a Miata when they visit?
Should he kind of, I hate to put it this way, force feed them car culture until they go,
oh, I get it. Is this going to work is what he's asking. This is tough and I don't think there's
a straight answer, but I have many thoughts. I'm going to start with your thought that you said,
I can't remember. It's been years now. And that is about cars themselves, a classification of
car turning somebody into an enthusiast, EVs or Teslas for a specific example. Sure. Yeah. The
people who bought Teslas might never have thought, I like cars, but then they bought their Tesla and
realized I like cars, but it's that segment of cars. Yes. Yes. There's life for GM people.
I don't know if you know anyone. My father. Yes. GM cars. I'm into cars, but you're only into GM cars.
I know people that are into Sobs. You have met a couple. Yes. Hello, my family. Yes. Sobs. Yes.
Or I've lost count. It astonishes me that people so not into cars can be so into Sobs. My nephew
is turning into a car guy because he's doing his own wrenching and he's ordered parts from
FCP Euro to keep a sob because FCP Euro has sob parts. Where else are you going to get them?
And he's so overjoyed. He was like, this is great. I can order a new water pump and he's doing the
water pump and oil change and he's taking care of his sob. He's turning. It's so exciting. He's
turning into a car guy. Good. I love it though. It's great. As far as waiting for full self-driving
fan, I still think this is years away and I think this is going to be limited to regions where it
operates best by virtue of weather and cities. Yes, but that's probably how his parents are
going to interact with a car is going to be city areas. You know what? I'm all about full self-driving
too for people that can't drive, specifically my dad. He is no longer able to drive and that alone
will open up so much quality of life for people who cannot drive themselves. It will make accessibility
for so many things that it will change their lives and allow them a higher quality of living.
I am all about it from that standpoint. Well, and I also think about the fact that people,
and it sounds like fans, family is kind of in there, people who are frightened of driving or
considered an extra stressor. And if you know you're a bad driver, the rest of us don't really
want you driving. Well, and also look, if we're talking bumper to bumper traffic, none of us
want to do that driving. That's exactly what the car should do. True. True. Keep going.
But there is a flip side to the autonomous driving, at least as it stands right now.
On January 1st, 2026, an autonomous Waymo taxi took a wrong turn and drove straight
into an active fire scene in Los Angeles. Well, and there was the other thing where there was
a power outage in San Francisco and they all bricked themselves. Yes, they bricked themselves.
Waymos have been caught illegally passing a school bus with the lights flashing,
the stop sign deployed. That was a line of code that got missed. Yikes. Don't do that.
Yeah, true. Yeah. And you see a school bus doing that. And from a recent article from
Financial Times written by John Thornhill, published January 8th, 2026, quoting,
over the past 15 years, industry players have spent more than $100 billion trying and failing
to achieve full level five autonomy, meaning no human intervention required, promise deadlines
have come and gone, a slew of autonomous startups have run out of money, several large car companies
have abandoned the idea completely, and the industry still has not reached its goal. True.
Now, on the counterpoint, I read something this week about Alex Roy and a couple others did do a
full Tesla cannonball run where it was on FSD from start to finish. Yes. Apparently,
there were no interventions. So you've got there was a 90 minute detour I read that
you got the victories and the failures. Well, okay, fine. But as long as the car knew where it
was going, they didn't know where it was going, but the car do. But point is there's progress that's
been made. There's difficulties that are happening. I do see the value of it for fans family. Can we
bring them around? The pursuit of this will never ever stop. And it's going to happen at some point.
I agree. And I welcome that. As a matter of fact, Nvidia just announced their new suite of AI
self driving technology called Alpameo. And I'm not referring to the mountaintop in Peru,
that is 19,511 feet tall. That looks cold. I'm referring to Alpameo. Whoa, the suite of AI.
It's like chat GPT ran into a Nvidia processor and somebody learning to drive and they're teaching
it. There's chat GPT. There's AI. There's everything built into this new suite. And so
Nvidia is very much behind this and still pushing on it. And I like to see there's been there's
been struggles. Let's, uh, let's put it that way. Will society accept human deaths
at all at any level? And up to this point, society has accepted human deaths. That's a good point.
Just a part of what we know is coming. We, well, but hang on though, I'll go one further. Society
has accepted human deaths was human behind the wheel. People die in car wrecks. True. And you
may know people still some guy that was sitting passenger seat or in the back or something.
And well, look, I'm not saying that the, that the full self-driving systems have not had human
deaths. But the point I'm making is in general, we as a culture have mostly accepted people are
going to die while driving cars. We've mostly accepted that and cars have gotten much, much
safer in the last 15, 25 years. They've gotten significantly safer yet again. I'm not even
talking any kind of helpful, full self-driving smart cruising drivers talking drivers behind
the wheel, but yet we accept drivers will be injured and killed every year. What's interesting
is tragic. What happens and what's the acceptance rate of it happening behind the wheel when the
computer is driving? Are we okay with it? Because so far we've kind of been outraged when the
computer does it. Will we get to a place where it just happens in general and the computers are
doing it now? If the humans do it, it's fine. But if the machines do it, the machine shouldn't be
able to kill humans. Yes. And then the flip side, sorry, I'm going down a whole separate
rabbit trail, but there's so few plane crashes comparatively to like volume of numbers, people
that die in cars versus die in plane crashes. There is outrage when a plane goes down. Not
saying there shouldn't be, but I'm just saying there's outrage. But if the number of planes
went down to equal the number of car deaths, can we imagine the outrage? I have been on a flight
where just before the wheels touched Tarmac, just before he graces it on, Captain got on the radio
and said, on the intercom and said, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to I forget where we're going
and we're about to land here and you're about to start the most dangerous part of your journey.
Oh, wow. Yeah. And he touched down and he's like, be safe out there while you're driving.
And everybody was just like, oh my gosh. Interesting point. He was driving at home,
man. That's fascinating. All right. Flying is safe, you know, to your point. Absolutely it is.
Statistically speaking, and he drove that point home for everybody and we're all just sort of going
right. Excited to drive now. I'm headed to the rental car counter now.
It's okay. But fan, thank you for writing this. I'm really intrigued by your commentary and I do
think people can turn into car people. I'm seeing it with my own family right before my very eyes.
That's true. Good point. Yeah. And I never expected my brother-in-law to,
there was some car love. He had a 1950 Mercury named Nina. Okay. And he loved that car. Okay.
It left his life and he raised a family and, you know, is coming back in and loving cars. And I
love that he's rediscovering cars. It just happens to be sobbed. I just can't believe it. Which is
amazing. It is shocking. It really is. Yeah. Any car, any car brand can do that to somebody from
Tesla's to car companies that no longer exist. But the sob community is huge and FCP Euro has
parts. Have you heard? It's crazy. It really is. Also, the experiences that we have in cars and the
longer we do this show, the more road trips that we go on, the more events we have, the more track
days we do. It's about the experiences in those cars and the experience that you associate with
cars. And when you accomplish something, you do a corner right, you have a twisty road and you're
beside the ocean and the breezes in your hair, some kind of experience that really sticks with you,
then you associate it with cars. So I don't want to commoditize experiences. It's just a thing to
get you from this point to this point. What if you're doing that point to that point for the
purposes of fun only? What if that's the only reason? Does that still count? It should, but we're
not commoditizing. Well, I have to get to work. That's it. I have to get to the store. True. I'm
just going for a drive because over here is lunch and then we're going to have a great drive back
and what a great day and we're with friends. And so I want to continually emphasize that whatever
we do as drivers, whatever car that we own, we're not commoditizing that experience. Even though
we use cars sometimes for that purpose, to get us around for that purpose. But then it's also
this incredible freedom. And you said it before, nowhere in the history of mankind has man ever
been offered, humans been offered such freedom that a car provides. Agreed. Agreed. The places
that it takes us, that's the key thing I want to hit on here, fan, is I'm going to show real
quickly. I'm going to show this crazy photo that I found. It's just a massive Chinese intersection
of freeways. And if you can't see it, imagine four to eight lanes in all directions in all four
corners of the compass. What city is this? I don't even know. I pulled up traffic images of
China and I had my pick. There were tons. There's so much stop and go in China and it looks like
the worst photos you've seen of LA, but just all over the country. LA's up there. LA's up there.
Well, I mean, every year, every year, Thanksgiving weekend, they have a traffic
watch cam that is solid lanes like eight each way. And it's it's bright white lights going one way
and bright red tail lights going the other. And it's just gridlock. You don't even see any space.
Fan, this is what your father has experienced. Yeah. I want him to have an automatic with full
self driving. I 100%. I want that for him. I wanted to have it right now. I want all of these people.
I hope. Yes, I hope his BYD has fantastic smart cruise control and almost drives itself because
nobody wants to sit in terrible traffic. I don't know, honestly, that you're going to be able to
make your father or your sister car enthusiasts. But what I do think is possible, what I do think
is possible is to get them to see a glimmer of what you've become attracted to. And when we've
talked about one car away from being a car enthusiast, I think you have to initially
be car curious. Fair. But the big thing here, and you've already touched on it, is you're
going to need to do something with a car that you couldn't do without a car and sitting in traffic
can't be it. And so I'm going to show you another image that is one of my favorite sections of
Bare Tooth Pass. It's just an incredible and that angle is kind of interesting because we
actually stop at this overlook and we actually look down at this lake and it's in our Bare Tooth
Pass piece that we released first of the year. An amazing road. But here's the interesting thing
about Bare Tooth Pass and a lot of other roads in the US and there's roads like this elsewhere.
But I'm thinking about roads in the US. The interesting thing is there are lots of roads
in the world that take you amazing places, overlooks the middle of nowhere, whatever.
Without a car, you would never get there. And there's stats out there about before the
invention of the car and the train. Most people were born, lived and died within 100 mile radius
of wherever they were born. And now we go thousands of miles. And of course we've got
aircraft and a bunch of other things. But do it a weekend. Totally. But cars are very unique
in that unlike planes, I mean, you can go to Alaska and you can talk float planes and crazy
stuff. But most people can have a car experience. Most people in industrialized world can own a
car at some point. And that car can take you somewhere you've never imagined that you never
thought you'd see that you would never hiked to flown to ever. And it's one of my favorite things
when we do these road trips is when you and I get somewhere. And I'm not only amazed that we're
seeing whatever that whatever it is, whatever it is. But I'm amazed that the car brought me here.
That thing I just climbed out of that I also like brought me here.
That is the unique thing of cars. And so fan what I want you to do. I don't want you to
enthusiast car scare your family to try to get them to come around. That's never going to work.
What I would like you to do is figure out places. Look, you said your sister is going to go to
Vancouver. Can you and your dad meet your sister in Vancouver and you rent an interesting car?
Not a fast car. It's not necessary, right? We're in a decent car, something that has that that has
controlled body roll. Fun ish exactly so that it has good dynamics doesn't need to be fast,
and don't even try to drive it fast. But take your father and your sister somewhere you can
only see because you drove there. A fun drive that's not from traffic. Yes, that's not the
center of the Chinese city. Yeah, that's something more like a bear tooth pass where you just you
get to go. I can't believe we're here and we're here because the car brought us here. Yeah,
hopefully a good road to get you there. It has twists and turns and scenery. My wife has the
biggest love hate relationship with this part of the experience. It's in the bear tooth piece.
She starts to get she starts to get so terrified of all the things she can't control. But at the
same time, there is there's almost an equal part of her that cannot believe this cool place she is
and how awesome the scenery is. And those two parts of her it's like watching a live war inside
my wife in the passenger seat. It makes me laugh so hard because she's just worrying with herself.
Okay. But there is something magical about I got here. It's beautiful and the car brought me.
So I'm not sweaty or exhausted or any of these things. I mean, look, bear tooth past you can
bike. I don't want to do that. But you can. Yeah, you just got to experience this in luxury and
comfort and dynamics wise, kind of like a roller coaster, some g force fun. You got to feel the
forces at play while you were protected. Have a cup holder, the air conditioning is blowing or
heated seats or whatever it is. This is the experience that I want you to introduce your
family to because I think that is the place where you could actually have a good experience with
them. But you can't force it and you've got to go slow. And I don't know that your sister,
it makes any sense for her to drive. But these kind of driving experiences are what I want you
to share because I think what you can get them to is not necessarily car love, but car appreciation.
And I'm going to give you a counterpoint without the extreme because I'm sure they exist the
extreme corners of YouTube. Do you know any microwave enthusiasts? They just they're excited
about microwaves. No, I mean, I'm sure they're out there. Somebody's going to send us links. But my
point is there's got to be a rating and reviews. There's not a known part of culture that's just
like excited about microwaves. Yeah. Okay, because ultimately what does it do? It cooks your food
or your refrigerator. Okay, ultimately it keeps your food cold. Yeah. These are appliances. And
if all you're doing is you're using a car to get through a waiting period of your life, which is
what a microwave does. I have raw food. I need cooked food. Okay, it's what your refrigerator does.
I need food that doesn't spoil. Okay, I'll put I mean, you literally used to be like cold sacks.
Okay, yeah, it's all we're talking about appliances are things that manage your waiting.
Hmm. Cars can do that, which they do when they are a commute device, but they can also be a
conduit to fun and experience and your microwave can't do that. That's good. Okay, so I want
to philosophy right now. I'm hoping so. The book of Todd, I don't know the point I'm making is I
want you to actually get some life experience with your family and a car. And I think then they will
see a glimmer of the joy you get. And if you don't become a worse person while you are a person
that loves cars and they've had little glimmers of how a car can do something special, I think they
will appreciate that you love it and why even though I don't know they'll ever be getting in the car
themselves. Fan, I have a question to ask you and only you can answer this and that is the
Chinese culture forbidden part of this, the bad kid part of it, because it was looked down upon,
did that influence you to make you want to do it more? That was, was any part of that?
Is fan a rebel? Well, we know fans are rebel, but how much did that influence your decision?
And the second part is for all of you watching, you showed another road in our last car debate
from Michael number two. I did, yes. And it was just road, no cars, no nothing. It was just scenery
and road. Great squiggle, yeah. Bare tooth highway, just road, no cars while there were a few cars
of the turnouts. But still, there's an opportunity on an episode basis, maybe once in a while to just
show roads. Just doesn't it inspire us? Don't you want to be there and doesn't make you want to
buy a fun car and just take it to wherever the road. Take it to that road. It could be a whole
new section of we're just showing roads. We're just teasing you. That's what our adventure should do.
This is what our adventures are about. This is why I mean, watch our bear tooth piece where we
talked about how to drive, test drive multiple cars on a great road. It's that piece that dropped
the beginning of the year right on January 1st. This is what our adventures are about. We want
to take you to an amazing road like bear tooth, like the Great Ones in Utah. We're going to Laguna
Seca area, Monterey here in May. That trip's already sold out. Thank you guys for that trip,
like that, which is awesome. We just want to take you and have a fun, these experiences we're talking
about. Look, Pacific Coast Highway. We should just so show roads. The Big Sur area Pacific Coast
Highway. Without that road there and a car, how many people would see that? That would be a treacherous
hike to get to sections of it or you take somebody's low flying aircraft and you
stare at it like the coasts of Kauai. It's that kind of thing. This is what the car does.
Fan, thank you for writing. If you've got a topic Tuesday that's combative like all-wheel drive is
dumb or maybe a little bit more controversial in any way, but just we'd love to hear your
topic Tuesdays because we love debating and we love leaving an open-ended and more so to have
your opinions so you can write to us and weigh in on the conversation too. EverydayDriverTV at
gmail.com. Since you're listening to us, you'll end up shopping for your next car very soon.
And when you do, you need autotempest.com. Any car, anywhere at any price,
autotempest searches all the major car listening sites on the web, local or nationwide.
And autotempest has recently added price history for every car listed so you can see how prices
are trending and know if you found a good deal. You can also create search alerts and lists of
saved searches so you can find your perfect spec even easier next time. Search on any device in
your browser or as an app for Apple iOS and Android. New, used or unexpected, autotempest is how we
search for cars. Go to autotempest.com slash everyday so they know we sent you. Autotempest,
all the cars. One search. Hooked on driving and EverydayDriver announcements coming up.
Kota, we're going back to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. We are very excited.
That is May 30th, Saturday and May 31st, Sunday, two day HPDE weekend. We're very excited to return.
We're hoping to do another live podcast from Kota. We'll see. But otherwise, you can sign up right
now hooked on driving.com and register. Register for two days. Going to be great coaching, excellent
food and such a fun time. And if you've never been to Kota, this is your year to come because the
track is superb. It's just so much fun to drive. We will definitely be there and we're looking
forward to seeing you there. So come to Kota. Also, we've got EverydayDriver,
pilgrimage trip coming up in August. That is going to be our best. Look,
we've done this trip for a decade. It's going to be our best one ever. I know already.
Man, I've just been looking back at photos that we've taken over past years.
It's just so much fun. You've got to come on this trip. Come with us. It is a little bit more
expensive from August 2 to August 9. But the reason for that is because it's two full days
on Spa-Francorchamps and a road tour and one full day on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. But
it's also a little bit padded to make it partner friendly, bring your spouse, bring a friend.
But you can also just enjoy yourself. So it's not going to be quite as tight and we've really
wanted to compress it. But people have requested, can you just like make a little breathing room on
either end, which we have done? But that's not the cost thing. The cost thing is, I'm going to put
it this way, 50% more track day. We've got, instead of two track days, it's three. And that's where
the cost comes from because you're in Europe on an F1 track, you have a car, fuel instructor,
lunch, everything's provided. It is all-encompassing, all-inclusive so far. If you compare that to any
other track day or road trip experience in the US, it is on parity, not including flights. We
don't do flights because we don't know where in the world you're coming from. And if you use points
or you upgrade yourself, that is on you. But get yourself there starting in Frankfurt, Germany.
And from there, it is on parity with any other track and road experience.
Yes, domestic-related road experience. And this is three days on two of the best tracks on the
planet and great food, great people. A couple of tourist days. It's going to be spectacular.
I don't think anything comes close. I don't think it does either. Not in our experience or fun. And
we have so much fun every time we come. So we'd love for you to come with us. If you have any
questions at all about that trip, every day driver, TV at Gmail, please write it. Please ask
those questions. There's a bunch of information on our website, everydaydriver.com slash adventures.
There's tons of information there. But I had somebody write me just this week and asked questions
beyond the FAQ. And I was like, bring it. Let's talk about it. And what's even cooler is he signed
up. Awesome. So he's coming. It's going to be great. We also have a lot of hooked-on driving
trips coming up. Our season actually kicks off in the mid-Atlantic region. We just had our first
event of the year just happened in the Pacific Northwest. But at Atlanta Motorsports Park,
on February 21st and 22nd, they're doing an event there with them in Atlantic, which is great.
The first California event is February 28th and March 1st at Laguna Seca Race Track. It's going
to be awesome. We'll be there in May for the Monterey Adventure. This is the first one of the
year. And then back in the Pacific Northwest, March 14th and 15th at the ridge, one of our very
favorite tracks. It's just a great track. So that's happening there. Lots more coming.
Lemon's memory is there. Big time. So go to hookedondriving.com. You can find our whole schedule
or the track days near you with a local region. Since you're listening to us, you'll end up
shopping for your next car very soon. And when you do, you need autotempest.com. Any car,
anywhere at any price, autotempest searches all the major car listening sites on the web, local,
or nationwide. And autotempest has recently added price history for every car listed,
so you can see how prices are trending and know if you found a good deal. You can also
create search alerts and lists of saved searches so you can find your perfect spec even easier
next time. Search on any device in your browser or as an app for Apple iOS and Android. New,
used, or unexpected, autotempest is how we search for cars. Go to autotempest.com
slash everyday so they know we sent you. Autotempest, all the cars. One search.
Aaron writes to us from Toronto. He's a long time listener, first time caller. Aaron,
thank you for writing. Very good. He's been enjoying the content over the last few years and
he's looking forward to the podcast and the odd days he's forced to commute into the office on
the train. Okay. He's in Toronto, as I mentioned, he's used to help his dad move cars around the
province of Ontario as he was and still is a car wholesaler. Okay. Aaron drove everything from a
$50 Ford Escort with a hole in the floor on the way to the junkyard. That's terrifying. Does.
To a $200,000 plus dollar SL 65 AMG, everything in between. So those experiences definitely
influence his passion for cars. Aaron now lives in the suburbs with his wife and two kids both
under five years old. He works from home 85% of the time and occasionally has to walk to the train
and then head into the office. So he doesn't drive for work very frequently. On the other hand,
his wife is a health care professional, spends several days a week on the road visiting patients
in their homes and frequently has to deal with less than ideal parking conditions. So she's
always preferred driving something not too big and with all wheel drive to help with winter
conditions. I see it. Yep. She can't drive manual, has no interest in learning. It's fine. All right.
Aaron and his household, they have presently have four cars. By the way, they have two kids under
five and four cars. I have no leg to stand on, by the way. I have five cars at the house right
now and we almost have a third license driver, but I'm just noting we're car people around here.
That's all I'm saying. Aaron's got a 2019 Mazda CX-5 with the turbo. That's his wife's daily
2015 Honda Odyssey. Aaron's daily driver and the car they often use when they haul the whole family
plus the in-laws. Of course that happens. Aaron's got a 2023 Nd2 Miata six speed manual
soft top, one of his fun cars. And he also has a 997.2 911 Carrera S 2010 Carrera S
six speed manual on that one. Coop also his fun car. And so both the Miata and the 997 are stored
in the winters because he can't bring himself to subject, subject cars to the sloppy brine.
I get it. He's applied on the roads. He's added child seats to the back of the Porsche to give
himself more opportunities to drive it with the kids. But the drives aren't long enough and sometimes
he just hops into the Odyssey. Of course you do. Get the kids in and out easier on that stuff. He
says the Porsche is fairly tight if he jams the whole family in it. And so drives longer than 30
minutes aren't very well tolerated. The reality here is he says he puts maybe a thousand kilometers,
not miles, a thousand kilometers on each of these cars in any calendar year. He loves them both.
He says he adores both the Miata and the 997.2. They're cars that he's always wanted. He loves
thrashing around. They both make him happy. There's a side note here where he talks about
the fact that even though he loves that 911, he actually prefers the Miata because he gets
to floor it everywhere. He gets to feel like he's using it and he feels like the 997 is wasted the
way he normally gets driving. Again, we're talking a thousand kilometers a year, but it's mostly
going slow in traffic, not doing the stuff he wants because he's trying to take the kids with him.
So the 997 doesn't even feel like he's using as well as he would like even though he loves it.
The Miata he feels like he's using, but again, less than a thousand kilometers a year.
Guess which car is going away, everyone? Well, he's offering them both up though,
the Miata and the 997. This is the question. Guess where he's going is not expected.
Yeah, he loves the Miata, but it seems like he's actually considering selling the Porsche before
the Miata. Even though you're right, both are on the table. Is he nuts to consider swapping them out
for a Civic Type R? He drove the FK8 generation so that is the 10th generation,
but the styling was too much. For many of us. You were not alone, Aaron.
The base Civic was too much. It was a lot. It was a lot going on there.
So now he's been gravitating towards the FL5, that is the 11th generation Civic Type R.
He catches himself spending his idle time at night looking up other cars.
Nobody else here does that. He's all alone. You're the only one.
So is he nuts to consider selling the 997.2 for about 80,000 Canadian? He said he used
FL5 Civic Type R seems to be around 60 in Canada, which objectively is crazy because it's above
MSRP, but scarcity and demand and all that stuff. And if a 2026 model year were to be released in
Canada, he thinks dealers would be asking about 70,000 Canadian, which is a lot.
So what should he do? I've got choices for Aaron. I'm excited. Here is the FL5 generation. So this
is the 11th generation. And I love it. It's an amazing car. Yeah. Every time that you see these
cars, Honda always pictures them on tracks. True. They never see them really just driving around.
All the Honda press photos are all track photos. It's a very good one. Every single one you're
like, Oh, that's a run. Nope. That's a track right there. Yep, that is unless the road near
you has FI spec. If they're painting curbing, then your road is cooler than ours. Yeah.
So for that reason, Aaron, as cool as I think they are, I also think you need to drive
the Integra Type S. I see it because this does everything you're talking about without being
the boy race or Civic Type R. True. It's true. The gentleman's. It is more discerning choice.
If you're not doing a lot of tracking, even though people do track these for sure. Yeah.
But we just recently drove one in our road trip test drive piece on Beartooth. Rudy
Mylene were gracious enough to allow us to drive theirs and remind ourselves what a fantastic
car it is for commuting. It's got incredible power. It's a Civic Type R. Just the seats are
brilliant. Everything about it is just so much fun. So I think this has got to be high on your
list to at least drive and experience and just feel the differences in the suspension, the power
delivery, all of that. But I kept going. And what I noticed just recently in the Genesis,
at least the Genesis USA website, the Sport Prestige with the 2.5-liter turbo engine is
no longer available. Really? It is just the Prestige. So of all the flavors. So they're just
doing the V6 now? The 2.5 is still available, but just in a non-sport trim. Oh, I see.
It's base. It's prestige, luxury. Got it. And then you move to the 3.3,
which is where you find sport once again. Do you find sport there for sure? Yes.
So this, I think, is the sweet spot. The Sport Prestige 2.5-liter keeps the price down. Now,
it's not an automatic, but that does mean your wife could drive it. And for your young kids,
it doesn't matter that the back seat is a little bit cramped. Nobody cares.
And what a fun car to drive. Auto-only, but you're right. She could drive it.
Luxury and the sport part really was a little bit disappointing, but maybe there just weren't too
many takers. But used, I bet you could find easily from the price range that you're thinking of,
60K Canadian and under. I think these were $49,000 US, so I think these would be easily in the
sweet spot. So if you're searching for a Genesis G70, my recommendation is the Sport Prestige
just from a year or two back. I also kept going, because if we're going to talk fun
Dadmobiles, the Audi RS3 has got to be on your list. That's a good one. I didn't think of that one.
That's a great one. Just like this car showing a 2025 on screen here. We'll table the all-wheel
drive conversation for purposes of this. Understood. Yes. Debate, but all-wheel drive.
It's got the cool, punchy five-cylinder engine. It makes a different noise. It's fun to drive.
Interesting, different choice, and it's compact. It is. It's surprisingly little in a good way.
In a good way. I'm looking for that thing that Aaron, you identified is just easy to live with,
easy to get into, easy to get the kids in and out of. You don't really have to think about it,
but yet you still want fun. You still want, I want to get out there, but Audi, you don't have to
worry about this all in the brine, and you can just go. But I kept going. I like the compact idea.
I like the G70. I love your Honda and Acura ideas, but I'm going to throw a wild card at you,
Cadillac CT4, the Blackwing, my friend, because also slightly used, let's say 2024,
you could go find one of these and have loads of power, loads of fun, your choice of transmission
options, and what a cool dad car rear wheel drive. So no all wheel drive found here, but
yeah, I think you could really enjoy the CT5, sorry, CT4 Blackwing. We drove that car and
it lived up to the hype, Aaron. It's awesome. It lived up to what I expected a feeling to come away,
not just going, this is GM, this is Cadillac, but this is a genuinely fun, interesting car. There's
something to be found here that makes it enjoyable to drive, but also what a great place to be if
you're just slogging through a giant intersection somewhere. That's my wild card for you, but
otherwise you've got some great choices to go drive and chase. Aaron, I've got a few thoughts
for you. Those are good stuff, Paul. I'm going to jump right in here and let's see. I'm going to
jump up to where you currently are, and that is my favorite generation of the 911, the 997. So this
is 05 to 2012. You've got a 997.2 sweet looking car, which is the refinement. This is my favorite
era of 911. I'm not a big 911 disciple, but this is the one I love. You're putting less than a
thousand kilometers a year on it. You have a Mazda Miata. You're putting less than a thousand
kilometers a year on that. I'm going to go in a tough love mode here. Okay. There is no reason
for you to have this 911. No reason whatsoever. And furthermore, because they're worth so much.
Yeah. Yeah. 911s have stupid pricing. There's no reason for them to be worth anything that
they're worth. They are stupidly priced. So you could get rid of this 911. And you've even said
you don't get to use it like you want. You don't get to use it for things it would be really good
at. So the 997, 911 goes, whatever you get, it goes. I'm also going to say something else to you.
I think the MX-5 can go because you're driving it so little. And here's the other reason I say that.
The 997, you're not getting full use out of it and you're not putting many miles on it. And the
thing about the MX-5 Miata is you can always get one later. That's a great point. They sell so many.
They actually do decrease in value and they stay somewhat normal in pricing used. There's parts,
they're beloved. If you want a Miata later when the kids are bigger or you want a fun car or whatever
it sounds like or even another one of these later in life. Yes, but but they'll be even more priced
themselves out. But that's the key delineation I want to make here is he doesn't feel like he's
using all of the 911. He feels like he loves and uses the Miata all the time when he actually gets
to drive. He gets to ring that car out. You can get rid of both. Free up garage space, free up cost
because you can get a Miata later. I always loved having a Miata. Go get one in five years
or whenever or when the kids are going to get a car and you want to get a fun car. So Miata for
later 911 gets sold now. So you are thinking about the Civic Type R, which is great. We've driven
it multiple times. It's a fantastic car. We love it. Here's a photo that Chance took from one of
our hatchback comparisons a few years back. It's a phenomenal car. I love that you brought up the
Integra Type S because that's a great alt. You would not be disappointed here. You'd love it.
Great manual transmission, fantastic car to be used all the time you could do your errands in
this never think twice in that way that you're this is the reason you take the Honda Odyssey.
It's just easy. This gets a lot of that easy feeling in a car that you as dad are going to
like driving. So I cannot argue this at all. But I'm going to go a few other places. A two series
BMW. Great car that rear wheel drive feel that you're enjoying in the 911 and the Miata is still
evident here. You could still get it with all wheel drive he wants to he could but but my point
here is you could get this rear wheel drive. You could get the M240 I was just looking it up.
You can get that in X drive but you can also just get it in two wheel drive rear wheel drive.
This has usable back seats. Now it's a coupe. You got to teach the kids to open the door and
move the seat and blah, but the seat. Yeah, but it's got actual back seats. It's got decent sized
back seats. The 997. Those are cramped. It didn't it was the 991 and beyond where the 911 got
frankly too big with the seats started to become usable. This has got usable back seats. This
could almost be a four door in space almost little tight. But you're going to stay something
that is rear wheel drive focused and a little smaller. This car is a little big for my taste.
You could go back a generation. I think it's better sized. But this is the current one.
These are excellent. So I want you at least consider it because then you merge the rear
wheel drive with the back seat and the stuff you want with still powerful. Okay.
GR Corolla should be considered. I've got it here with the type R. The problem is that the
GR Corolla has small back seats. It does. That's a cool shot. I love that shoot. But it was very
fun. We were we were way out on Yerba Buena Road, which is a really, really fun road in California
a few years ago. It was really, really good shoot. We had the Golf R. You could do the Golf R. I think
the Golf R is not going to be interesting enough. Yeah, it would work like crazy. But the Corolla,
I would argue the Corolla has a little bit of that happy puppy dog feel about it. And I said
this in the review compared to the type R, which feels like a singular focused thing. It's like
the type R is serious. The GR Corolla is hilarious. So what's your driving style? The problem is I
think the seats might be too small, which led me to the car I don't want you to overlook.
And that is the Elantra N. That's really good. That has the back seat space of the Civic type R.
You can get them for cheaper. You could get it in DCT, which is decent or manual. Yep. I would
argue that the manual is not quite as good as the one in the Civic, which is brilliant. But this
is a superb car. And to the point that what's happened is these cars have started finding
their way onto the hooked on driving track days. And what I love about that is when our coaches
get in them and then our coaches get out of them and go, have you driven the Elantra? And we go,
yes, that car is great. And what's also starts to happen is we move around the country to various
events. We started to see coaches who come up and nudge us and go, hey, do you see my new
track car? And I turn around expecting like a caged thing. Miat or something. And it's an Elantra
N with a dealer tag on it. Like, there you go. So you should at least drive this. It's a different
feel of the same idea as the Civic type R. But I don't want you to overlook it. So I'm landing
here as your last one. But I think the two cars in your garage are thinking about selling. Yes,
sell those. Let's get you a dad car. And if you need a Miata later, you can find a Miata later.
That's true. Aaron, originally, I was just thinking, let the 911 go and keep the Miata. But
where you're at in life with a growing young family, and you still need something, I think
the Miata will continue to sit if you don't sell it. That's my concern. That's my real concern.
You'll keep it, and you'll still have a fun car, and it'll be the fun car in your heart.
Yeah. It'll be the fun car in your memories and the fun car that sits in the garage.
It'll be too bad. So I agree with you. Sell both. Get one of these cool cars. And you've got some
driving homework. But the best part is you get to take the kids and they can try out the back seats
and they can all talk about it as a family and then say, can we all last longer than 30 minutes
in this space? And if so, buy that car. The Elantra and the Civic Type R have got plenty
of back seats. Yeah, they're great. For sure. Yeah. I was thinking the GR Coral is awesome. You
can get it in the automatic. Yes, you can. If you wanted it. But you know, it's back seats are a bit
tight. It's snorty and fun, and it'd be like for a period of growth than the kids. And then you'd
have to like, it's hilarious. That really is its demeanor. It's just hilarious all the time.
Such great choices. Thank you so much, Aaron. Really appreciate it. Write to us every day.
DriverTV at gmail.com, topic Tuesdays, car conclusions and those ever important car debates.
Mike B writes to us with a $12,000 budget. I'm going to do my best. I think I came in under,
like dramatically under, for a weird choice that I forgot about. Oh, I'm excited. Okay, let's go.
Michael, thank you so much. He is first time writer from Vancouver, Washington,
looking to replace two cars with one. Okay. The current garage includes a 2021 BMW X1 that is
his wife's car. Okay. 1990 Miata. All right. 1994 Ranger and a 1990 Nissan 240SX. Okay. The X1 and
the Miata are not going anywhere. Touch it. His wife loves her X1. Yeah, I get it for sure. Well,
the Miata is his daily on days it doesn't rain and his fun car on the weekends. It's the best car
he's ever had the pleasure of driving. He has no plans to get rid of it, which leaves the 240 and
the Ranger on the chopping block. He got that Ranger about a year and a half ago to do beater
truck duty. I don't see dump in here. You said gravel, soil, lumber, wood and hauling all the
stuff. I promise you he went to the dump. Mike was helping rebuild the house. Mike sent that
Ranger to the dump. I guarantee you it went to the dump. Yeah. But he says it's horrible to drive.
He uses it less and less and now it just sits in the side yard and it's an eyesore. It's because
they've done the stuff for the house. It's right. And now the truck has no purpose. And I don't think
he goes to the dump that often. Right. You know, he's not old enough to go to the dump every week.
Anyway, it's a whole thing. Well, that's why you have pickup truck because you only go once a year.
Well, maybe it's a week, but no, but see, but see, there is both my parent, both my father and my
father-in-law reached that place just like that scab. I just like to, you know, they just reached
a place where it was like the event of the week. Well, I got to go to the dump. I'm like, what are
you throwing out? You don't have any that you've downsized like three times. What are you throwing
out? Why are you going to the dump? Anyway, moving on. Mike bought the 240SX last summer
when he was looking for a car to drive over the winter. I like your thinking because, of course,
he was walking around the neighborhood with his wife and newborn baby when he saw the 240.
It was on their regular walk through the neighborhood and one day the owner was out in
the front yard. So of course, what do you do? You strike up a conversation. Sure. He was the
original owner. He bought the car for his wife, but they were getting older, weren't driving it.
It was in good condition for a 35-year-old car, completely stock. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
35-year-old car. Mike's got to be an and his wife are randomly walking around their neighborhood
and find a stock Nissan 240SX. They're all drift cars now. They are. How did you find a stock one?
His neighbor was on the yard, I guess. Yeah, seriously. So Mike thought it'd be fun to drive,
but the old suspension is sloppy and the car feels too big. That's wild. I still think Nissan
needs to come back with a cool 240 or 180 or something. They should, because they could directly
compete with the 86. But anyway, yes. So the original plan was to replace the Ranger with a
K truck, which is a great idea. It's fun. And the 240 with some different fun car, like a Mini,
R53 Mini, or a one-series BMW or something like that. Totally. We would back all those.
But then the more he thought about it and talked to his wife, he realized he didn't need a truck.
Sure. You're done with the house projects and you're not going to the dump that much.
Yeah, keep beating on the joke. Yeah. So Mike wants something that isn't a chore to drive,
something he can use as the winner driver, haul smaller loads for house projects,
and a little bit of a spin here. He wants to take three people camping or into the forest for mushroom
picking. That's the first time we've seen that in an email or hiking. Yeah, or hiking, something
he doesn't mind getting dirty and a little banged up, something he can maintain himself.
He's a technician at a body shop, so he's got mechanical abilities. He prefers German interiors
and good handling and a good looking exterior. Okay. He figures he could get a small trailer to
use if he needs to haul anything larger than dump run stuff. Well, but even the dump run.
Seriously, the average person, the trailer to the dump is fine. I'm sorry, but that's
plenty. Oh, you've had a Ford Crown Victoria. He did. Yes. Wow. He sends his car history and
his wife has a long car history, including a K5 Blazer. A Corrado is in there. Wow. A 1978
Volkswagen Caddy truck. That's the sentence I haven't seen in forever. E36 convertible. She's
had a lot of cool stuff. Yeah. All right. I'm jumping in, Mike, with choices here. And I love
your Cayenne suggestion. You suggested, why don't I just go get a Cayenne version Cayenne? Here's
a 2008, but you've got a 2010 with 170 plus thousand miles on it. It's just running fine. It's your
beater. One wiper beater. We have to get the second wiper fixed, which is quite expensive,
but that's Porsche. But let's see. The dogs love it. The bike gets hauled everywhere. We go to Moab.
I've done back roads in it. I've taken my wife and scared her on the off-road trail. I wasn't
trying to, by the way, in my defense. I was like, this is an off-road trail to a cool picnic. We
had a cool picnic, but there was terror prior. She was like, yes. In her defense, it was the
first time she saw what the new revised Cayenne can do. Oh, okay. It's the first time that we'd
taken the Rubik Cayenne anywhere, and she was convinced we were going to roll off a mountain,
and I was like, we're not. But anyway, moving on. I love the suggestion. You like German interiors,
very German interior, and you can work on it. So any Cayenne 12K and under, yours is worth what,
10K? On a good day. So for 12K, he could find a 100,000 mile Cayenne. Oh, easily. Just the base
motor, just the base Cayenne. It'll do all the things. While you're here, look, I'm just going
to jump real quick while you're here because Mike, this has a beginning, a middle, and an end,
and it's just Cayenne. You already have a BMW X1. You've talked about getting something else.
Look, I have three different shots of taking this thing to Moab. Yes, it still has the sticker. To
this day on the back, this has my other car is also a Cayenne, which is a funny joke bumper
sticker. It says Rubik Cayenne all over the place. It actually says Cayenne on the rear hatch,
three different places, which is me making fun of myself about overbranding cars.
This has got a three inch lift on it. It's not worth anything on a best day, nine or 10 grand.
But here's the thing, you could even go so far. I don't know that you want to do this, but I looked
them up. You can get these manual. The base with the base. Yes, you can get the base base V6 with
the manual. In fact, the first year or so of the second gen, you can find manual up to like 2012,
you can find these with manual base V6. You might have to spend a little bit more money than 12,
like maybe 14, 15. I actually found two of them that were second gen manuals. When I looked at
auto tempest.com slash every day today, I found two second is the first gen. But this is a 2010
there. Look, you want German interiors, you want good build quality ability to tow this tows over
7,000 pounds. I didn't have another recommendation. Don't get another BMW. You have one Porsche,
Cayenne, $12,000. I started here. I ended here. I wanted to interrupt you because you have other
thoughts. This is my only thought. I did sign the form that I said I had to do this. I'm going back
to your pictures because Cayenne is the beginning and the end for me. It's all good. I mean,
you're using it probably for something far more extreme than Mike would ever use his for. Yes.
But here's the thing. He just wants to do probably some light dirt roads and we have a second gen
and it's perfectly great as a daily. Yeah, true. So these are there. Excellent. Yeah. Have we mentioned
how all about Cayenne's we are? I have to stop now. I started at Mazda CX 30 because you can get
these for 12k and under Mike. But then when you threw in, I want to take three people and I want
to go a little bit more off road, maybe a little deeper into the forest and you want to do some
other things. The backseat is a little tight. So I'm going to remind everybody about a car
that you haven't seen for a long time. It's the shoe, the first shoe. Well, I guess this was after
the first shoe. It is the second generation, Infinity FX 37 and FX 50. Those have a lot of
power. The V6 had 320 and the V8 had 390 something like that in the FX 50. Yeah.
Do y'all know how cheap these are now? They almost give away used infinities. They almost do. And
you said you want something you don't have to worry about. You want it to haul people, plenty of
space. It's a car that I don't even know if I can call it a car in SUV. It's the thing that never
knew what it was before everybody was making them. Right. It's like AMC Eagles. They never knew
what they were. Sure. And so they didn't last too long. This never lasted too long. They were
a second generation here. So I'm showing the second generation with slightly updated lights.
But you can get, if you spend $12,000 on an FX anything, you can get the nicest one out there
with low miles and relatively low miles. That's a good find. I like it. You're already a Nissan
enthusiast. Well, owner. But you're right. Making a good point. Making a very good point. These are
so dirt cheap. Go find yourself the 37, the 50. You could go back to the first, the 45 and the
sure. Yeah. And the 35. This was, this was infinity's crazy idea to take essentially the
running gear of the Z car, which they'd already made into a cool coop and make it into a weird SUV
with a long nose. And we all were like, what is that exactly? And now, now it seems like not
aware they forward thinking, but their idea was cooler than everybody else's. Am I a tall car?
Am I a most long SUV? Am I an SUV GT car? What am I? I don't know. But here they are. Super
cheap auto tempest.com slash every day. And it's something you don't have to worry about. You
know, it's just going to run. You can maybe the test is like barely take care of it and see how
long it'll last. But other than that, you've got some great choices here, namely Kynes,
Go Shop Kynes. Sorry. I just, you all expected it. You knew I was going to go there. For sure.
The shot against this is it's not a German car. It's not a German interior, but he does have
Nissan ownership history. Yes. So we'll go with that. There we go. Mike, thank you for writing.
Really appreciate it. Car conclusion number one comes to us from Ahmed. He realized that he wrote
to us two years ago and never sent in his car conclusion. Okay, we love getting them. He wrote
about asking for a fun daily for the Pacific Northwest that can accommodate a car seat for
his one year old. He loved the MR, sorry, the M2, MR2. Got MR2 in the brain. We do. Yeah,
we're quite distracted. Yes. He loved the M2, but being a coupe ruled it out. And we challenged Ahmed
to see if he could make it work. And we steered him away from the Audi S5. Okay. So we did homework.
He tore out an Audi S5, an Alpha Giulia, non quad, Genesis G70. He wanted to drive the M2 in
an M340i, but they weren't available. So he opted for spending a lot of time with many of them at
dealerships. He included the M340i was the best of all worlds. Comfortable daily, good gas mileage,
has a usable interior, and has great speed and driving dynamics. It's everything he really liked
about the M2, but grown up and larger. But then he didn't buy one. Matt Farah talking about the
fact that the Porsche Taycan is worth nothing. There's no second buyer. They've all plummeted.
That got him looking at used Porsche. Seriously, got him looking at used Porsche Taycans. And in
the process, he stumbled across the Audi e-tron, which is the same chassis. He likes the styling
better. I think that is an actual possibility case. We actually love the e-tron that we drove
forever ago. It doesn't have a lot of range, but the thing he discovered, which is true,
we talk about no second buyer for the Taycan. The Audi e-tron wishes it had as much interest
from second buyers as the Taycan is getting. Can nobody wants the e-tron. He found a 22 e-tron
sitting at his local Porsche dealership. And then he kept thinking, nah, and he kept chasing the BMW
M340i. And he chased multiple, and guess what happened? All of them got sold out from Monday
before he got the money together or the PPI or something. They just kept getting sold. And the
e-tron kept sitting there, kept sitting there, probably with price going down. Eventually,
he was like, okay, I'm just going to buy the used e-tron. He bought it back in February of last
year. He's loved it. And he thought he'd keep it for a year, but he's had it for a year and it's
been very good. And he keeps seeing viable M340s and wondering if he should jump, but he's liking
the e-tron in the intermediate time. And I just kind of feel like... Stay where you are. I feel the
same way too. I think it's... Here's the thing. If the e-tron works for your life, and it sounds
like it does, okay? If the e-tron, because my only real concern with it was in like real use,
it had about 200 miles worth of range. Yeah. So if you have enough range and it works for your life,
I think the e-tron is far more interesting than the e340. I mean, pardon me, far more interesting
than the M340i. I like the 340. I see why it would work for you. I think the e-tron is far cooler.
Now you have two kids. That backseat is small at some point. They're going to outgrow it. Maybe
that's when you move to the BMW. But I think for now... I like that. When they're grown and...
When they're going to outgrow that backseat. Yeah. There's a red one in my neighborhood,
and it sounds just wild and wicked. Every time it turns the corner, it's just this
warbly, cool, EV thing. And the styling is actually gorgeous on those things. It's holding up well.
Congratulations on your car. Very cool. Keep it for now. 340s are on the table,
but yeah, I say wait a little bit and the prices on those will come down.
They are going to keep coming down. Not like an e-tron, but they will come down.
Things that don't fall as quickly as an e-tron.
Lots. Most of the cars you can think of right now. Anyway, yes.
Mark D follows up with a car debate we featured back in October 2024.
Since then, he has replaced his wife's aging manual cross-trek with a 2025
GR Corolla. That is a... They bought last spring.
She had wrapped in Nardo Gray and I did look up your Instagram photo, Mark.
And here is the car. It was originally black and she had it wrapped Nardo Gray.
It's amazing that she wanted that color. That really does look cool. I have to admit,
it wasn't the color I expected, but all right. So here's the... It's from Blackout Tinting.
And here is his wife's commenting in there and there's a series of photos doing the whole wrap
process. And yeah, it does turn out to be a pretty unique, but from a cross-trek to this...
To GR Corolla. That is the right direction. I love this. That's very exciting. Obviously,
of course, she loves it clearly and it's a unique gray color. And in the process,
he's placed in order for a 2026 M2 in the perfect Portamao Blue Metallic Silver Wheels
carbon seats roof. You got the big carbon seats. Oh, that was a worthwhile purchase. Those seats
are expensive, but they're really money. Wonderful. He said he's hoping to actually
take it to an HOD day. Maybe we'll see it in person. I love this, Mark. That is a fantastic
two-car garage. Good for you. I'm very excited. You guys gave us lots of good questions. Again,
the photos were from our latest piece, which is on our main channel, which is the Kia Telluride,
the Toyota Grand Highlander and the Rivian R1S Quad, the big boy. That is such a huge truck
and it has got so much power. Anyway, go watch that piece if you haven't yet,
and share it with a friend that we'd really appreciate it. Lots of really good questions.
I'm going to start here with Thomas G22. If money was not an issue, it always is. But if money
were not an issue, would we ever move back to California? Would we move to a different state
or is Park City the place to be? Thomas, I never... If you would have talked to me,
I can't say 10 years ago if I was here, 20, 30 years ago and said,
what about Utah? I'd been like, Utah, what are we talking about? I love living here. I really,
really like this state. I've been very blessed. My family has been very blessed while living here.
I have very few complaints about Park City. There are other places I would move,
but I am in zero rush. If I were in Park City indefinitely, great. I have zero complaints.
There is something special about California, but I will say for California,
have to live somewhere in the middle of nowhere. California has a vibe. It has a temperature.
It has amazing roads everywhere. If I could live somewhere on the PCH, you know what?
Ohio, from Ohio North to Carmel, somewhere in there. I can live anywhere in there in a nice house
and actually have... That's a real estate. He said money, no object. But I'm saying,
near a cool road in a decent house, somewhere between Ohio and Monterey,
I would totally live in that part of California. But I want to be near nothing. I kind of want to
be out because I feel like California is special. I talked to a friend of mine about this this week.
He was like, what is it about California? Because he never really been there. I was like,
there is something subconscious when you hang out in California for a few days. You just get this
longing like, I could live here. It just has a tug and natural gravity about it. It's so bizarre.
But people know this. And as a result, millions upon millions live there and move there and all
pack the same areas. So that's why I think there's an even more special thing about California
when you live near nothing. The right place. So that could be really cool. It's never going to
happen. But there's that. There's sections of Montana that I love for all the same reasons.
There's lots of Montana that I like a lot. Otherwise, I'm quite happy in Utah and would stay here a while.
Preston St. Peter asks us to convince him why he should like Mercedes.
Ooh. Older, newer. He can't understand it. He thinks they're pretty much all ugly.
And he feels like they left fun cars a long time ago. Ooh. Well, fun is, I guess, a
relative term, Preston. Because when you're ensconced in an S-class and you're enjoying
all the power, cool everything, or you're feeling the power of an AMG and you're suddenly realizing,
yeah, this is just, I never want to get out. That's fun. That's kind of the Mercedes thinking
there too. And Mercedes, of course, has their AMG GT school and they train drivers. They're
very competitive in a lot of different classes of racing. They build some incredibly powerful cars
and a lot of buyers get those cars and they are fun to drive. They're not as fun as lightweight
sports cars. I do wish they had manuals, but you also have to think about the market that
they have chosen to swim around in. And that is a very high-end market where the buyers
aren't necessarily looking for something lightweight. They want that door thunk. They want
to be insulated from the rear. They want that solid, wonderful, beautiful feeling. And they're
willing to give up a little bit of steering feel, even though there's a lot of AMG cars that have
very quick, direct, precise styling or steering, sorry. And yeah, they are fun to drive, but they're
not the Neatas, the super light Caimans and that kind of stuff. So considering their market, I think
they do quite well where they're at, but they're clientele. And I think where they have wanted
to go as just a premier provider of some of the best experiences, it's not just fun cars. I mean,
not as a great and all, but when you're doing a road trip, Miata versus Mercedes,
something cool S-Class, I can see that. I can see choosing a Mercedes for that reason. But
styling, I think they're fantastic. I love that Mercedes is designing with surface and reflection
and highlight rather than, and they've just got beautiful, well, swollen surfaces and
just good proportions. I think they're far more beautiful. I've seen some SUVs that I don't really
love that are coming out from Mercedes, but otherwise, I think it's very different than
the current crop of cars that are very line and arc driven. BMW's Neu-Class styling has brought
back surface treatment. Have you noticed? You're a big fan of that. I'm excited to see some for
you. I am a huge fan of Neu-Class because they've been after, they've done a lot of good surface
treatment up to now, but it's been about huge graphics and a lot of lines and things that don't
really resolve. It's just a lot of jarring lines everywhere, whereas surface, I can relate to that
shape. I see beautiful reflection. I see the environment reflected in the car. It's, I think,
far more beautiful approach. Of course, beauty is in the eye, but I think Mercedes does quite well
where they're at, but they're going after the very high end blast-to-palm springs or blast
across a continent in Europe. It's a different kind of fun. It's not just pure sports car,
lightweight magic, catering. It's car as first class airplane seat. That's kind of the thinking,
which is a different animal. Yeah, I see it. MattGara82 has listened to this podcast before
because he's combined two things I love. It's a track daily crush and it's movies.
Oh, dun-dun-dun. I love it. So he's got three. He says the Jaguar CX-75 from the Daniel Craig
movie Spectre driven by Baptista, David Baptista. Actually, he plays the heavy in that movie,
and there's that orange concept Jaguar that is such a great looking car. They missed out building
that. Oh my gosh. So that CX-75, the Cadillac CN from the island. I'm going to show you that one
because all of us are going to forget that car, but that car is cool. Was it forgettable? No.
The Cadillac CN from the island. You and McGregor drives it. It's this thing. That's right. This
was the year 2000. A seven and a half liter V12 was intended for this mid-engine V12 from Cadillac.
Yes, please. That era of styling for Cadillac. I'm a big fan of that. And then the last one,
I'm going to leave the CN up on the screen. But the last one is that big, crazy, long Mercedes
thing that Ben Affleck drove in Justice League. It was in the trailer where they said,
where they said, what is your superpower? And he said, I'm rich, which is one of the worst Batman
lines ever. But anyway, so that. So I'm going to crush the Mercedes. It's obnoxious. And I very
much get the feel in that entire scene that it's paper mache. They just they kind of ease their
way around it. They kind of ease the door open. They kind of, you know, I feel like there's a
there's a PA pushing it from the back just to barely get it off screen. The Mercedes is crushed.
I'm sorry. I want to track the Jaguar and I want to daily this Cadillac.
You know what I'm seeing in this is Corvette C8 proportions. Yes, agreed. And if, you know,
put the styling from the era aside right now, but absolutely. Could Cadillac
bring the CN back or name it something else? Well, they had the XLR that was the Corvette
XLR. But that was the front engine version. But this mid-engine. Yes, they should do a mid-engine
Cadillac. Mid-engine Cadillac of this and take it further than this and do Cadillac styling.
Cadillac who sells a black wing and is about to have an F1 team needs a supercar. I'm kind of
about that. Let's do the C8 for Cadillac. Bring the CN back. I really love this. I would totally
daily this thing. Seven and a half liter V12. That that is I'm all about that. So that one's
very cool. Matt, I appreciate it. Question from George here, Mystic Negro, asking for our least
favorite performance add-on. For instance, his wife's last two cars have had Alcantara trimmed
wheels. You're not supposed to wear lotion with an Alcantara wheel. You're not supposed to touch
an Alcantara steering wheel. You're not. You're supposed to wear gloves. That's really what they
want you to do. The oils and dirt in your fingers and your hands. I get it. His wife is in her AMG
light era. So he's got to go through the whole Alcantara cleaning process semi-regularly.
Any other options that irk us. I'm not annoyed by Alcantara as easily as some people I think.
Some people is me. I mean, look, I got an entire aftermarket steering wheel because I could not
believe that the one I had had an Alcantara wheel. And here's the thing. My problem with Alcantara,
I actually like it if it's not something you regularly touch. Anything I regularly interact
with. I don't want it because dashboard and panels, dashboard, ceiling, door panels. I think it's
great on all of those places. But anything you're regularly interacting with that the thing that
bugs me on all cars and it was why I was annoyed with it with the Amira is I don't want to hang
on to that wheel over time. I just don't like the feel of it. So that the gear shift, etc. So
Alcantara on any surface I'm going to regularly touch is one. But the other one for me, George,
honestly is carbon fiber. That's just carbon fiber black. I was just going to say that I was
look that now they flip the other side of the equation. The Ferrari F40 is carbon fiber and
they talk when you can see the weave through the paint body panels that are made of carbon fiber
body color, colored painted. I'm fine with it. But there's a plague right now in sports cars.
You can do it. You can cover your C8 Corvette with needless carbon fiber look apart panels.
It's in bobs and wings and canards and oh, this piece got replaced for carbon fiber. Stop it.
If it's a carbon fiber piece that's painted to look like the car,
whatever that was a choice on that part is that. But like, did you notice all my carbon fiber
inside and out? Stop. Well, I need the carbon fiber to do something. It's either structural,
yes, or it's a vent that does something. It's not just a decorative thing, but I still looks black
and even carbon wheels. I love the idea of carbon wheels. Yeah, I hate how they look. I'd still
like it to be painted the color of the car. The wheels and themselves, not the wheels, but I'm
saying like all the parts on a car, the wings and stuff. Let's just I don't need to see this
carbon fiber. Don't care. Let's paint it. Let's paint it the color of the car. I was just going
to say all the bits and bobs and stuff that is tacked on because sometimes you never know and
it's that vinyl wrap over the top of an actual fiberglass piece and it's not really carbon fiber.
There's a lot of that too. Yeah, it's just it's kind of a plague. I'll go you one further on
carbon fiber. The worst one is the raw carbon fiber that doesn't have the weave to it like the two
Lamborghini does that. It's just the flakes that they mash together. It looks dirty all the time.
It's like it's like the most fingerprinted piano black permanently. It's what it looks like. Like
what are we doing? That's not raw carbon fiber. You're connected to racing somehow. I'm just not.
One last one for me. Another track daily crush. We haven't seen any in forever and there's two
here. I love it. I got to go with this. Kirk Meyer says track daily crush. You got to be with me on
this. Okay. Maserati Gran Turismo Aston Martin V8 Vantage Mercedes Benz SL 63.
Ooh, that makes it easier. Okay, go because I'd crush the SL 63. The GT 63 I would keep.
If it were GT 63, that makes it harder. I agree with that SL. You can get rid of the SL. Yep. Okay.
What was it Maserati? Maserati Gran Turismo. Let's assume the new one. Let's assume the
I would. Okay. I'll track the Aston. Okay. And I will daily the Maserati. I think you're right.
I think that's the play. That's cool. And I actually agree with you on the GT 63. It was
new GT. That's your daily GT. And then I then I'd crush the Maserati. And I'd still I think
I'd still track the Aston. Yeah, for sure. It's a cool car. Guys, thank you for all your questions.
Thank you for your interaction with the show. Definitely rate and review the podcast and
yeah, interact on YouTube. You can find us on Spotify as well. We're definitely growing in
viewership on Spotify because you can upload videos so it actually strips out the audio. So
you can listen. If you are listening as an audio only file or you can watch the video there and
YouTube, like I said, and we're really appreciative of all your interaction, your comments, and we're
looking forward to next time. As always, cheers, everyone.
About this episode
Exploring the latest automotive news, the hosts dive into comparisons of the Toyota Grand Highlander, Kia Telluride, and Rivian R1S, discussing their unique market positions. They also tackle the upcoming Toyota MR2, debating its potential specs and the importance of manual transmissions in sports cars. A listener's journey from car enthusiast in China to embracing car culture in Finland sparks a discussion on converting non-enthusiasts into car lovers. The episode wraps up with listener car debates, including a track daily crush featuring luxury performance vehicles.
Alfa Romeo Giulia
Audi e-tron
Audi RS 3
Audi S5
BMW 3 Series
BMW 4 Series
BMW M2
BMW M3
BMW X1
BMW Z4
Cadillac CT4
Cadillac CT5
Cadillac XLR
Chevrolet Blazer
Chevrolet Corvette
Ferrari F40
Ford Crown Victoria
Ford Ranger
Genesis G70
Honda Civic
Honda CR-V
Honda CR-Z
Honda Odyssey
Honda Prelude
Hyundai Elantra
Hyundai Genesis
Kia Telluride
Lotus Emira
Maserati GranTurismo
Mazda CX-5
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mercedes-Benz SL
Nissan 240SX
Porsche 911
Porsche Boxster
Porsche Cayenne
Porsche Cayman
Porsche Taycan
Rivian R1S
Subaru WRX
Tesla Cybertruck
Tesla Model Y
Toyota Camry
Toyota Crown
Toyota Grand Highlander
Toyota GR Corolla
Toyota MR2
Toyota Supra
Volkswagen Caddy
Volvo XC60
Original notes
For Topic Tuesday, the guys are asked if you can turn someone into a car enthusiast? Namely, family members. But what about your friends? They help Aron Q in Toronto decide if swapping a 911 for a CTR is a good move. Then, Mike B in Washington wonders what $12k SUV is good for him? Audience questions ask the guys’ thoughts on where they would consider living, what’s their least-favorite performance add-on, and Track/Daily/Crush returns!
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
01:37 - Longbow Motors Configurator Is Live
04:56 - Toyota Officially States The MR2 Is Coming
08:25 - How Many People Are Buying Manuals?
16:09 - Topic Tuesday: Can You Turn Someone Into A Car Enthusiast?
41:59 - EDD Adventures & HOD Track Events
46:08 - Car Debate #1: Swap 911 For CTR?
1:01:36 - Car Debate #2: What’s Good At $12K?
1:11:32 - Car Conclusion #1: Discovering The Audi E-Tron GT
1:15:00 - Car Conclusion #2: A Massive Enthusiast Jump
1:16:16 - 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
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