MORE Cars That Need A Comeback (N-Z), Susceptible To Greatness, Waiting Too Long | Episode 1,014
Everyday Driver Car Debate
MORE Cars That Need A Comeback (N-Z), Susceptible To Greatness, Waiting Too Long | Episode 1,014
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99:28
Car
Mazda Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small sports car that is very popular among driving enthusiasts. It's known for being fun to drive and has been around for many years.
Car
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a sports car that uses a unique type of engine called a rotary engine. It's known for being very light and fun to drive.
Term
FDRX-7
The FDRX-7 is a specific version of the Mazda RX-7 that was made in the 1990s. It's famous for its good looks and fast performance.
Car
Lexus LC 500
Car
Mazda MX-5 Miata
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that is very popular among driving enthusiasts. It's known for being fun to drive and is often praised for its design and performance.
Concept
product strategy realignment
Product strategy realignment is when a company changes its plans about what products to make based on what customers want or what is happening in the market. Porsche is changing how they think about electric cars and regular engines.
Car
Porsche 718
The Porsche 718 is a type of sports car made by Porsche, which includes models like the Boxster and Cayman. They are known for being fun to drive and are now being considered for both regular engines and electric options.
Car
Porsche Cayman
Car
Porsche Macan
The Porsche Macan is a smaller SUV made by Porsche that is known for being stylish and fun to drive. Many people like it, and now they also have an electric version called the Macan EV.
Car
Porsche Macan EV
The Porsche Macan EV is the electric version of the Macan SUV. It is part of Porsche's effort to make more electric cars as more people want them.
Car
Porsche Boxster
The Porsche Boxster is a small sports car that you can drive with the top down. It's designed to be fun to drive and is similar to the Cayman but has a convertible roof.
Car
Porsche 718 Cayman
The Porsche 718 Cayman is a sporty car that has its engine in the middle, making it handle well on the road. It's part of a series of Porsche cars that are designed for driving fun.
Car
Porsche Gt4S
Term
turbo
A turbo is a part of some car engines that helps them produce more power by forcing in extra air. This makes the car faster and more efficient.
Term
thermal runaway
Thermal runaway is when a battery gets too hot and starts a fire that spreads to other batteries. This is a big problem for electric cars because it makes it hard to put out the fire.
Car
Rivian
Rivian is a company that makes electric trucks and SUVs. They are known for their innovative designs and features that cater to outdoor enthusiasts.
Term
battery
The battery in an electric vehicle is what stores the electricity that powers the car. It's like a big rechargeable battery that you might have in your phone, but much larger and designed for cars.
Term
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle is a type of car that runs on electricity instead of gas. It uses batteries to power an electric motor, which makes it different from regular cars that use fuel.
Car
Pontiac Fiero
Car
Cupra Born
Car
Nissan 240SX
The Nissan 240SX is a fun sports car that many people like to modify and use for racing or drifting.
Term
drifting culture
Drifting culture is all about a driving style where cars slide sideways around corners. It's popular in racing and among car fans who enjoy showing off their skills.
Term
sports compact car
A sports compact car is a small car that is designed to be fun to drive and often looks sporty. They are usually lightweight and can be very fast.
Term
front engine, rear wheel drive
Front engine, rear wheel drive means the car's engine is at the front and it powers the back wheels. This setup is common in sports cars because it helps with balance and control while driving.
Term
manual transmission
A manual transmission is a type of car gearbox where you have to change gears yourself using a stick and a pedal. It gives you more control over how the car drives.
Car
Nissan Z
The Nissan Z is a line of sports cars from Nissan that are designed for speed and fun driving. The latest version is just called the Nissan Z and it continues the brand's sporty tradition.
Car
Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra is a popular sports car known for being fast and fun to drive. It has a strong fan base and is often modified for better performance.
Car
Opel Gt
The Opel GT is a sporty car made by the Opel company, recognized for its unique design and fun driving experience.
Car
GR86
The GR86 is a small sports car made by Toyota. It's designed to be fun to drive and has a lightweight build, which helps with handling.
Car
Porsche 914
Company
Canapa Design
Canapa Design is a company that specializes in customizing cars to make them look and perform better.
Term
flat six
A flat-six engine is a type of engine with six cylinders that are laid out flat, which helps the car handle better and gives it a unique sound.
Car
Jaguar Etype
Car
Aston Martin Vantage
The Aston Martin Vantage is a stylish sports car that combines luxury with speed, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Corvette is a famous sports car from Chevrolet that offers great speed and handling, making it a favorite among car lovers.
Car
Porsche 928
Concept
lemon's racing
Lemon's racing is a type of car race where participants use very cheap cars, usually costing around $500. It's all about having fun and being creative with your car, rather than just focusing on speed.
Car
Porsche 944
Car
Chevrolet C/K Scottsdale
The Chevrolet Scottsdale is a type of pickup truck made by Chevrolet in the 1980s. It's known for being tough and useful for carrying things.
Car
Alpine A110
Car
Subaru Outback
Car
Subaru Brat
Car
Suzuki Jimny
Car
Suzuki Samurai
Car
Suzuki SX4
Car
Toyota MR2
Car
Volvo P1800
Car
Toyota Camry
Car
Nissan Altima
Car
Nissan 370Z
Car
BMW E36
Car
Dodge Viper
Car
Dodge Ram
Car
Hyundai Ionic
Car
Jeep Wrangler
Car
Subaru WRX
Car
Toyota Crown
Car
Tesla Model S
Car
Tesla Cybertruck
Car
Tesla Model
Car
Porsches 550
Car
Toyota Tacoma
Car
Toyota T100
Car
Toyota Tundra
Car
Ford Maverick
Car
Volkswagen Bus
Car
Hyundai i20
Car
Hyundai I20N
Car
Mazda 121
Car
Toyota Celica
Car
Mazda Rx8
Car
Volkswagen Golf
Car
Toyota Corolla
Car
Toyota GR Yaris
Car
Lexus Lbx
Car
Toyota Prius
Car
Volkswagen Id3
Car
Acura MDX
Car
Audi RS3
Car
Lucid Air
Car
Honda Passport
Car
Jaguar Fpace Svr
Car
Lexus GX 550
Car
Lotus Amira
Car
Lotus Elise
Car
BMW M240I
Car
Ford Mustang
Car
Land Range Rovers
Car
Audi S7
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It's been a few minutes, and we realized we're really on a podcast, so let's dive in. We started early today, like, hey, we're going to get stuff done, and here it is late, because we got a podcast, and we're excited to be with you guys. We have so much. We got news up front. We are continuing from last time, which I really enjoyed.
Car can I come back? We're going to do the back half of the alphabet, which I realized has got fewer car companies, but back half of the alphabet in through B.
I got doubled up because I wanted extra models from the same car company, so I might have added a few. I love it. That'll be great stuff. We'll talk through that. Of course, we've got car debates. We keep running so long on our topic Tuesday that we don't even get to car conclusions. We'll hopefully get to a couple of those.
You guys have also given us some really good questions. There's a lot of stuff, but I have to ask a favor. Have you seen our Coda Road Trip series? It is now six. That's right. Count them. Six parts. It is on our, this exact same channel.
It's right here. You found us already on YouTube. If you're watching, so it's on the same channel. We have all six parts. Every one of them, you find any one of them, you can find the playlist for all of them, all of them connect.
We went from Utah. Here we were based to Austin, the circuit of the Americas, and then all the way to Knoxville. Great roads. The entire way broken up into six parts.
We drove different cars every time. If you haven't seen it, please watch it. If you've seen it, watch it again.
If you know somebody that might like road trip films, we work so hard on these. We love doing them. I really hope you've watched it.
I hope you will pass it on to friends. We are doing more. We're already, I can't tell you yet, but we're already talking about next year's big road trip films.
Yes. It's already happening. But we were so excited. And I also want to say, we recently had our Bear Tooth Trip.
We don't normally, except for the coat of peace, film during these trips. But the Bear Tooth Trip, we had an opportunity with our sponsor PowerStop,
who just wanted us to do a piece that is about kind of the day in the life. Well, day in the life for us is like sitting here and do a podcast.
So that's not quite as interesting. You're already watching that. Start the engine.
Exactly right. And lots of edit, lots of me in a dark room. So you don't want to watch that.
But we did actually film our Bear Tooth Trip. We're going to share that for PowerStop, actually later in the year. So that's exciting too.
So that's coming up. But we have news. There's news up front, all kinds of mixed news. Yeah, we do.
On a sad note, the father of the Miata Tom Matano has passed at age 77.
And he was so many things to so many people. I love that he was an art center alum, just like I am.
He was also notably the designer of the FDRX 7, which is one of the prettiest cars ever.
That is like they're with E type and Z car. And I think the LC 500 cars that 20, 30 years later still detracted also arts and alumni.
Anyway, okay props to my school. There you go. Good for you. Yeah.
But Tom was an incredible guy, incredible designer, and so gracious with his time.
One of the stories that stood out was simply a blurb and excerpt that I cut out of a magazine 20 years ago.
I can't remember which there's no magazines to cut anything out of now. So what have been 20 years ago? Yeah, keep going.
But I have saved this article. I couldn't find it yet, but it's somewhere in my files. I wanted to dig it up.
But it was all about Tom inspiring his designers, his design team one time.
And I think I've told the story a little bit before, but Tom took his design team to a fashion show.
Something totally out of the ordinary, you would think designers just are prolific and they don't need inspiration.
They just draw stuff. Well, they absolutely do and need to be refreshed constantly by the world around them, by nature, by fashion.
Anything that would influence them to bring a new perspective, to bring a fresh product that would inspire people to buy it.
So he took this design team to a fashion show and asked his designers to view things differently and watch the ladies walk a catwalk and how fabric draped over their bodies.
It was, I mean, it sounds sexual, but it's not, but it was, I thought it was kind of beautiful.
But it's movement and beauty and I get it. It was just the human form and the human figure and how fabric draped and colors and textures and what that did.
You either hated it or you liked it because it's not something that design teams typically do is go to a fashion show.
And I don't exactly remember where it was. I don't think it was Milan or anything super high in, but it was just a totally different perspective that he had.
To everything that he did. And so he's, he created this incredible car that is beloved by millions that simply cannot die.
And he would always remember, he would always sign off email signatures. He would always say always inspired.
And it just, it left things to the future. It left us all looking to what's next. He was always truly inspired by everything around him.
And that's what I got out of this article. I couldn't believe this.
That's really cool. And what a cool guy, what an inspired guy. And he was always being inspired and he got energy from talking to other people.
And it was, if you've met him, you, you will know, but even if you haven't, it's so encouraging and certainly inspiring to hear about this guy that what he did by inspiring people to, I am Miata.
I mean, Tom and the Miata are inextricably linked forever in my mind. So we had a coupe you've got there in the photo.
It's amazing. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, what a great car. Let's hope it lives on forever in his memory. And so many people love it, including Jordan, who we actually just had here recently with his third gen, his NC turbo Miata.
That's fascinating. That test drive is actually coming soon. We haven't had, I should acknowledge we haven't had a lot on test drive in the last two, three months.
Because to be honest, we haven't gotten press cars in the last three months car companies. So exactly. So there's more stuff coming on test drive that actually ramps up in about a week.
And then we have a lot more stuff coming on test drive through the end of the year and into next year. So we've got some changes coming there, but thank you for finding us here.
That channel is test drive videos is our other channel. So that'll be even more focused on doing that. So that's happening as well. But yeah, we're sorry to hear the passing of Tom.
Moving on to the next piece of news here about Porsche. And I'm not really a I told you so kind of a guy, but I will just you're going to have your moment, aren't you?
Try not to relish it too much. But the good news is that Porsche has delayed new EVs because they are calling it the product strategy realignment. And by good news, I mean that they're going to rethink the 718 boxer in Cayman to offer an internal combustion engine, which we're talking about having that engine and all of their cars.
Yeah, look, I welcome what they're doing because on screen, you will see the Macon and the new Macon EV represents 60% of Macon's sold.
Okay, up to the first half of 2025.
Is that because they weren't selling a new one that wasn't EV? Is that why?
Well, I suppose, but I mean, they were selling Macons in general. So 45,000 plus examples of Macon were sold and then almost 60% of those 25 almost 26,000 of those were Macon EVs.
And I'm starting to see him around Park City quite a lot in a few years in turbos, not really a turbo.
I don't think they're attractive, but at the separate conversation, I don't either.
But they are definitely still exploring both. And I think a broad portfolio strategy.
That's what's needed, not every car company adhered to. They either went, stayed where they were or went fully in one direction.
So I think a broader, more comprehensive approach with vehicles in all categories and see what works because the market has clearly informed Porsche.
It's market for sure. Here's what we want. So I love that they're rethinking the EV strategy for the 718 Cayman and Boxster.
Hopefully means more GT4s and keep the manuals around and continue to provide cars that people want.
But I love that they're exploring and people are clearly buying Macon EVs.
They have delayed, I think, the new SUV which is above the Cayman. It's a larger vehicle.
The seven-seater, which was going to be EV only.
It may not be EV only. We'll see.
But they're pushing, they're exploring. That's what we expect car companies to do is continue to explore new technologies.
If they push on the market, make offerings and if they stumble, the market will correct them and that's what happened.
Porsche has done some very cool EV technology. I really like the hybrid technology and their new GTS that they're working their way through kind of the hybridized turbos and that's genius stuff.
So Porsche has always been really a heavy hitter in technology and engineering. I hope that continues.
I want every manufacturer to sell all kinds of cars.
Part of why we're talking about cars that need to come back. We're talking about the cars that don't exist anymore because everybody's making a five-seat egg.
So we'll get to that.
I have one other bit of news that I have to talk about and I'm going to tell you right now I'm going to laugh about this news.
I'm going to make fun of this news because I cannot help myself.
So we're going to talk about a bit of news that you may have read.
I read it three or four places and I cannot believe that what I'm about to talk about exists.
Let me set the scene real quick.
Here's the reality. We've all seen.
Remember when there were phones that were getting broken on airplanes and they were catching fire because lithium batteries are nearly impossible to put out?
Well that carries over to cars and you've heard this already.
One of the biggest problems electric vehicles is the fact that when they catch fire they are nearly impossible to put out because they have all those little...
Imagine like thousands of AAA batteries. It's kind of what we're talking about. They're sitting next to each other.
Well you pierce one of them and it catches fire and then the 10 around it are probably all damaged.
Thermal runaway is the term.
Yeah but they might not all start to catch fire now.
So in some cases literally the way to put out an EV fire is you pick up the car and you drop it into a container of water and just leave it and let it burn out.
For like a year.
It's craziness.
So a burning EV battery pack is a horrifying prospect.
And now we get to Chinese technology that I have to show you and I have it in animated form.
Oh really?
And I'm so excited about this. I can barely stand myself.
I don't know how well this will play.
Oh my gosh.
But a Chinese company demonstrated this past week at a Chinese technology thing.
A ejection battery system where in order to deal with the fire it ejects the battery.
Now let's look at two scenarios here.
Let's look at two scenarios.
The concept here is that the car and I think they used a Rivian as a test vehicle.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what they used.
What's happening on screen here is that literally it is showing in gift forms that is repeating over and over and over.
It is showing an SUV eject what looks like a massive card table out of the side of itself that is the battery getting ejected with force out of the side of the vehicle.
So let's watch this.
I remember.
Yes. So here's the thing.
Let's think about two possible scenarios here.
Your electric vehicle has wound up somewhere that has a fire or the battery might catch fire.
And so you eject the battery out of the side of the car to keep it from catching fire.
This is by the way best case scenario because now all it is is a huge flying projectile.
That's the best case because the worst case is it's already caught fire and you're protecting the people in the car.
And so you eject a flaming battery into traffic.
You eject a flaming projectile the size of a card table literally as big as what we're sitting at.
You eject this wild odd fire away from your vehicle.
You are now safe but now this card table of flame that is getting worse is sitting 20 feet from your car.
Is it under another car? Is it in the brush?
Yes.
Where is that that you can't put out?
This is like a fire delivery system.
I can't even believe this.
This is like the world's worst fire you know the fire starter logs.
It's that at scale with a projectile behind it.
I cannot believe this technology exists.
Now somebody made the comment wouldn't it be cool if you could do battery swaps like this.
And that actually agree with like tone this down and make it a battery swap process that I agree with.
But I cannot believe that somebody has taken this idea.
This is such one note thinking.
Here's the singular note.
Well, if a battery on an electric car catches fire we should get the battery out of the car.
Zero awareness that anything outside the car exists in that scenario.
Because you either launched a projectile that's super heavy because it's batteries that isn't on fire and crushed whatever's next to it.
Or you launched it on fire.
And now it's like a sliding bomb of carnage.
We have solved one problem and made like 20 more.
I'm absolutely astonished but it makes me laugh so hard.
I had to like contain myself when I was reading about this because I could not believe this exists.
Sometimes my faith in humanity is challenged.
This is one of those times.
So with this I can see humanity deciding if this were to make production.
You know there are going to be wars with cars.
There are two cars going off.
This is the new man acting about the flaming battery and each other to see who can destroy the other.
It's EVs plus cannons.
Not only are you carrying a flaming battery but now you're carrying another ejection device
an explosive device in addition to the other explosive devices known as airbags in your car.
What if those explosive devices decide to fail and the flaming battery remains in your car?
What if the explosive device doesn't eject your battery but the explosive device itself?
What if the explosive device itself is what lights your battery on fire?
There's a possibility too.
If this isn't being used as a plot point in the screenplay of the next fast and furious they have missed the bugs.
They're going to be wars of these EVs ejecting their batteries at each other
and one's going to win and you didn't see it coming and you're going to pull a move.
The self ejecting battery pack.
Because you know you're going to rewire it to be a button on the dash or something
and I'm going to eject the battery.
Talk about road rage.
And then I'll limp home on the 12 volts somehow it'll still power my wheels so I'm not dead in the water
or dead in the street or whatever.
Oh, come on.
This is where humanity is going.
We're going to eject fast and furious.
What?
What?
Space Fiero.
This is coming.
This is no big deal if he had space Fiero.
This is like low hanging fruit.
I kind of want to call the podcast done.
I kind of feel like anything we do after that is only going to be let down but we have to come back to topic Tuesday
and more cars we think need to come back doing in through I guess it's V for Volvo.
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Today's top of Tuesday is the continuation of cars that need to come back.
And we realize it's not just brands, it's not just names.
It has to be the name that was the car and that entire car that needs to come back.
And this is business case because I think car companies fell away from doing sports cars.
Toyota accepted.
Most people lean into hybridization and new tech is coming and five seats over SUVs.
Now everybody's bought one maybe two or four and people kind of want fun cars again.
So that's where this was born out of and that is what cars, they don't have to sell in volume like RAV fours.
But they need to get people excited about their brands again and that's my entire head space for the second half of the alphabet.
Starting with and I'm going to go through my list and jump right in here, please.
Starting with Nissan, I thought long and hard.
But I chose the 240 SX because this was the simple recipe that everybody wants.
It's popular of course with drifting culture, tuning culture.
And it had that 2.4 liter engine in it.
People really liked that 1989 to 1992 is when this was built but considered a sports compact car.
And this doesn't have to be the flagship, it doesn't have to be the technology showcase like a new GTR would be.
We think there's one coming back theoretically.
It lasted too long.
This one didn't last long enough but it's just a simple fun sports car.
Front engine, rear wheel drive, manual transmission, that recipe.
The next generation of this could kind of look like anything.
We could use the engine out of the morano to drop into the next generation.
The next gen of this, I actually love the next gen of this but then they killed it after that one.
More rounded gen that came out.
This is the 240, this is the SX.
Both of those were great and then they died.
And they don't have, frankly this is a G86 competitor.
Exactly right.
Whereas the Z is more Supra and it's more even heavier GT car, they could really lightweight things.
They could do hybridization in this if they want.
Let's keep it lightweight, keep it simple, clean, fun.
And bring the fun back to Nissan instead of trying to cater to what everybody thinks everybody's buying.
Even though there are those bread and butter models and those are important but 240 SX is my choice.
And yeah, the subsequent versions of this actually were actually pretty great looking.
And right then the line.
So this is Nissan, what I think they should bring back.
And moving on to the letter O.
Oh okay, who'd you cover?
I covered Opel.
Did you really?
That's gorgeous, I love it.
You remember the 1968 to 1973 Opel GT.
Yeah.
Tiny, lightweight, fun to drive.
Just a little tiny GT.
It was a sports car but just a very small GT car.
It's tiny, yeah.
The version in the back that you think is a Saturn sky, that is also the Opel GT.
I'm not talking about that one.
That's why it's behind and way in the back.
I'm talking about the longer, beautiful, central portion.
But to your point they brought the name back for that.
They did bring the name back.
That was how they sold the Saturn sky in Europe as they sold it as the Opel.
Yeah.
So there is that precedent.
But then in 2016 they dabbled.
Do you remember this?
I don't.
There was the concept Opel GT in 2016 that I thought was superb.
Of course, concept only but it was designed to get your eye looking at shape and proportion.
And a little bit of color.
It's reminiscent of the original.
It's very much so.
This died with the merger of PSA.
And at the time, 10 years ago, sports cars, lightweight, small fun cars, were kind of disappearing from the market.
Yeah.
Toyota accepted the true.
Yeah.
But most manufacturers were leaning into the people movers.
The crossover, the SUV at that point.
That was pretty heavy in car manufacturers thinking.
But this was designed by Mark Adams.
He's still senior designer at Opel.
And I thought the design language on this was so simple and clean, interesting and frankly perfect timing to bring this back for Opel.
You know what this looks like?
It looks like the icon SP from Mazda.
It does.
There's a lot of that feel.
I think the GR86 will continue.
But at least it's currently in the market.
Yeah.
We think that iconic SP is coming back.
Let's hope so, yeah.
More and more people are demanding fun lightweight sports cars because I think we've all had it up to our eyeballs.
With the eggs, the five seat, which one do you want?
They have their place.
Absolutely.
It makes the budget work.
Yes.
It makes the family work.
But I think car manufacturers need to get people excited again.
And Opel had what I feel like is an original concept from 2016 that they could expand upon.
They could take it further and make that Opel brand worldwide.
I think they could bring Opel here easily to North America and have it serviced at GM dealers or something like that.
Yeah.
They're probably a little engine on that.
So they are as a lightweight sports car GT team throughout everything that I'm doing here.
Moving on to Porsche.
Okay.
You might recognize this car.
It is the Griot's Garage, Porsche 914.
I believe built in conjunction with Canapa design.
I fell in love with this car.
I know you did.
This was to me the spawn of the Cayman, the Genesis, the origin of what Cayman's became.
For sure.
This particular car had steel fenders, a two-inch roof chop.
You'll note no door handle.
So it was the solenoid that kicked the door open.
And what I was told was close to a $50,000 paint job, 11-inch rear wheels and a 930 engine.
The engine out of the Porsche 930 dropped in the back of this thing, flat six.
It was superb to drive.
It was so much fun.
I wanted my two inches of headroom back.
I did too.
But I loved what it did to the proportions here.
It looked great, but I really, really wanted that space back.
I miss this car.
I don't know what happened to it.
I think it went back to Canapa for a rebuild or a repainter.
Something happened to it.
But I miss it like crazy.
And thank you, Griot's Garage, for letting us drive that.
It was the same time that we did the Jaguar, the original Jaguar E-Type.
It was such a fun review.
And driving these two cars around, it just seemed like such iconic things to me.
So this particular car, like I said, it looked like no other 914 that I've seen.
And it was just done right.
So I want that to be brought back.
Here it is out on the drive when we were finishing up at night.
And I also found another Golf Leveried 914 at the...
Oh, here's the interior, just simple clean.
It was just all about driving.
The end.
Very simple, but really well done, very, very expensive bill.
Here was that other Golf Leveried 914 that I saw.
I really liked the interior.
Again, you can see the roof has the unmolested...
Tell me, I need this base.
...taller roof line.
But I think Porsche could be so successful in bringing back a smaller lightweight model here.
And this was the interior of that Golf Leveried car.
The other one I'm taking liberties, I'm adding a second one.
And you will not be surprised that I'm asking for Porsche to bring the GT back.
Simply because Mercedes is doing it on a cross-town.
True.
You got the Amalfi, Aston Martin's got the Vantage.
Everybody's kind of doing a GT car.
The Corvette can be a GT car too.
Interesting point.
But the long-nosed front-engine feel that does exist right now.
You're right, there's a good number of those.
So here's just...
Sexy photos of my 928.
I love this car.
I was in this recently.
You drove it recently and you picked me up.
And in spite of the fact, this still needs a few things.
This is an incredible car.
It's a very cool car to ride it.
I mean, everything...
I know it sounds great.
Everything from the way the door opens to the quality of the seats.
It's just a cool car.
And it would be very interesting to know what would Porsche's updated version of that car be.
It would be fascinating.
I think both of those are viable business choices.
Yes, I see it.
Especially in light of their re-figuring their company out.
Every sound.
I think this could be viable.
While I was digging up photos of my 928,
I came across the old lemon's race that you and I did.
And I came across the beloved sports car.
Race car known as Porsche honky.
And I just had to share these photos.
You have to play this.
Completely off topic.
You have to play this to people that can't see it.
So if you know lemon's racing,
it's a mishmash of cars.
Yes.
And the owner of the 944,
I think the story was something like it was crashed in the front end.
And he decided to turn it into a lemon's race car.
Yes.
And simply added the front of a 1983 Scottsdale pickup truck.
So he is old Chevy pickup from the front bumper to the A-pillar.
Look at this thing.
Unabashed.
It's just Chevy pickup.
Chevy.
And then beginning miraculously at the A-pillar,
the fenders jump in like three inches from the fenders
to where the doors start of a 944 that goes to the back end.
By the way, it's not slow on track because there's a V8 in there.
Yeah, Chevy V8.
And you would see the front end of a Chevy Scottsdale pickup
that's too low coming at you hot because this thing was fast.
He was fast, genuinely fast.
They carried speed because it's essentially a 944 with a front end of it.
It's so ridiculous.
Of course you're honky.
Completely ridiculous.
Love this thing.
So I just had to share the photos because I came across them.
I think we've talked about it before,
but I'm not sure if I've actually shown the photos on this thing.
It's completely absurd.
It's baffling.
I mean, it's damaged.
It's beat up.
But who cares?
That's lemon's cars.
So here's the thing.
Somebody has the thinking to go,
I don't have a front end on my 944.
I wonder if a truck would work.
How did you even get there?
Get there.
Because that's the step you have to cut to before you go,
well, let me look into that.
You have to have that idea.
There wasn't even a, well, maybe we should merge it with a vet.
No, no.
Pick up.
That front end will fit just fine,
even if it doesn't, it'll fit.
Just fine.
So there you go.
For sure.
See, Scottsdale, it's just...
It's ridiculous.
It's about as bad as it gets.
But it's very lemons.
I think it's nailed on.
I don't know.
They made it work.
That's what I know.
Fantastic.
All right.
Moving on to Renault from 1996 to 1999,
Renault produced the sport spider that was built by Alpine
and designed by a man named Patrick Likwamal,
whom I have met actually in one of the Autodesk design events.
I had the pleasure of hanging out with him
in another group of designers and Autodesk people.
It was really cool to hear from him at that point in his career.
He had moved on to designing custom yachts
for his very high-end customers.
What did you do?
But he was with Renault for a long time
and he is responsible for the sport spider,
which was a 2,000-pound car.
Wow, I love it.
Powered by a Renault McGahn engine.
Here it is with the Gullwing doors up.
And here is the engine super lightweight,
super impractical, but imagined.
But it's, but it's Renault makes it light.
It's Renault makes it light.
Yes, I see it.
Exactly.
And this thing, actually in race car form
made a 180 horsepower,
148 horsepower in the road-going version
of the Alise early on.
Yes, exactly right.
It was that kind of thinking
and because it was a spider,
you don't put the top on.
You just cover the interior.
Yes, you have the interior cover.
It's going to be fine.
It's going to be fine.
But I think, again, this kind of lightweight sort of thinking
is not directly but kind of distantly related
to the late 60s.
Sure.
Alpine A110 kind of thinking as well.
Sure, yeah.
But this kind of just little project.
And it was just an exploratory thing to build.
I love it.
Something lightweight.
It could be under the Alpine brand.
But again, you're seeing a through line.
Lightweight mid-engine.
I mean, 2,000 pounds.
This thing.
That's crazy.
Powered by a electric drill.
That would, that's my Renault choice.
And then moving on to letter S.
Subaru.
Okay.
Like it.
Needs to bring back the brat.
No one is surprised.
No one's following the podcast is surprised
that Paul would like a new brat.
I want this car.
It'll be bigger.
So it's called the brute now.
I don't know.
I think just brat.
Just bring this thing back.
I ran into a very nice one in Seattle and took photos
and dug these out of the archives.
Wow.
Because the seats were perfect.
They were clean.
This whole thing was clean.
Perfect.
I think it's just being driven around Seattle.
I just love the idea of these seats
that are just their rear piece seats with hand grips.
No seat belts.
This is so.
Drain holes in the seats.
This is so not of this era of car making.
Yes.
It's so far from that.
And what I would like to see.
Actually, what I like to see besides them bringing it back.
How do you under modern crash standards pull off
an homage to the back seats?
I mean, it was the seats that allowed it to be sold here.
Of course, the chicken tax story.
That was a whole, yeah.
It was fantastic.
Ridiculous, yeah.
I want the brat to come back in some form.
And then I actually ran across this image,
which was a photo chop,
done with a front end of a fairly recent Subaru,
some sort of outback,
and then kind of grafting on the back.
So it would be like the future of what it could look like.
I'm not sure it needs to be quite this ugly,
but maybe keeping with the ugly theme
would make it endearing or something.
You could have a somewhat modern Subaru front end
and kind of a brickish back end.
Like we could just, it's just a vision of what could be possible.
It could be possible.
Let's make it maybe slightly better looking
and bring back the brat because it could be a race car.
It could be a track car.
You pick up your brat track car.
That's a lemon's car is what that is.
That's a lemon's car off the show and floor.
Yes, exactly.
Something like that.
That's how they could market and sell it.
Perfect.
So I want the brat to be brought back.
Because it is enthusiast car,
it's a little bit off-road.
It's just a little bit of everything.
And it just brings out it.
I see it.
Attitude that you didn't know was inside you.
It brings out playfulness in Subaru,
which is not something they really have anymore.
They're entirely true.
The BRZ accepted.
Yes.
That's playful and fun.
But everybody knows.
That doesn't really belong there.
That's not really Subaru.
It's just a badge and some color.
I mean, this is a collaboration,
which is why it doesn't match anything else in their lineup.
Yeah.
To get this back in the market,
who does Subaru need to collaborate with
to make it possible?
Maybe Toyota.
And what if Toyota had had another version of this
and...
No, not Australia.
It's a yut.
It's the Hyundai.
It's a Hyundai collaboration for the second gen
of the Santa Cruz.
Here we go.
It comes with the Brat at Subaru
because I'm all about collaborations
with this conversation.
And it becomes the updated Santa Cruz over at Hyundai.
That's good.
That's good.
This is how we're going to bring this car back.
So it's going to happen.
Believe you me.
Also, I'm taking liberties here.
Actually staying on the letter S for Suzuki.
Mm-hmm.
The Jimny.
Got discontinued in 2018.
It's been around since like 1970 or something.
And it was here for like five minutes.
They used to have it here.
Forever. Yeah.
I want the Jimny.
A mini off-roader, a K-car off-roader.
Mm-hmm.
I think this would sell like crazy.
I think it would be beloved.
When you think about the number of the amount of money
on the number of UTVs that are out there that are
essentially just less than car-sized off-roaders,
let's make a mini actually available on the road
and can still off-road off-roader.
I think it's great.
I mean, everything between the Suzuki Samurai
and this could probably go away.
That was cool.
The Samurai was cool.
The Kizashi was good.
The Kizashi was good.
The Kizashi was good.
And the SX-4 was decent.
It wasn't an enthusiast car except for in some trims.
It was decent.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Kizashi was great actually.
The Jimny.
Bring the Jimny back.
Keep this going.
People have turned it into a mini G-wagon.
I think even Bravis got a hold of this.
And turn it into a little mini G-wagon that was way too expensive
and coated in leather.
But nevertheless, keep the Jimny.
Love this thing.
I want to drive one at some point.
Okay.
I want to experience it.
It's good.
Moving to Toyota.
I think the obvious choice here is the MR2.
This is the spider that we had on the $8,000 cheap sports car challenge
that many of you have written to us about.
You found that video.
Many people have watched it.
It still remains.
We went through the COVID era and price is spiked.
And everybody said, no, those cars don't worth that much.
And they weren't.
And then I think now we're back to normal.
So the $8,000 term still kind of applies.
I think we're still.
I think you can start shopping those cars again.
Yeah, for sure.
Here it is.
The MR2 in some form.
Spider, hard top, both mid-engine lightweight fun car.
That's my choice for Toyota.
With V, I chose two different brands.
Because W, X, Y, Z, and not sure what to cover there.
So with V, I started with Volkswagen and the Shraco.
The Shraco or the Carrado.
Okay.
All right, sure.
Allow the Carrado into.
But some sort of cool fun two door.
I'll actually three door hatch.
They could take a page out of Hyundai's book
and do a Veloster N like this.
Or something unique, but something that injects fun
back into the Volkswagen brand.
You remember that Volkswagen, right?
Fun?
Shraco could be fun.
And we've decided that Front Wheel Drive does not mean
that it's not enthusiast car.
True.
It means it drives differently, but the Veloster N proved everything.
Civic Type R.
Civic Type R does it too.
Yes, ST.
They're fun.
This thing needs to be chucked around corners.
It needs to have more than 90 horsepower.
But Shraco, I love the second gen that we are the third gen,
actually, that we never got in North America.
So also moving on to Volvo.
I have decided Volvo needs to bring back some sort of cool fun sports
coupe like the P1800.
I'm showing the cyan build here just because I liked it.
It was like the car needed a multi hundred thousand dollar custom build,
but it's very, very cool.
Yes.
So this car was designed by Swedish gentleman,
Pelle Pederson, who studied under the Italian designer Pietro Frua,
which was a, whose design studio was a subsidiary of Gia at the time.
So Swedish designer on this car, but still influenced by the Italians,
and you can tell it is beautiful, sexy looking, long hood.
I think absolutely Volvo could bring back something like this
that is an appealing sports coupe, again, to inject fun into the brand.
And make people come into the showrooms and like, oh, yeah.
Well, we need one of those, the multi passenger people thing.
Well, everybody's got those.
Let's take that.
And then this.
And one of those.
What is this now?
While I'm here.
How about a fun thing?
That'd be nice.
Yeah.
So the theme is lightweight GT fun through line.
Through and throughout.
GT or mid engine.
I think all of these could be, I think all of these could make a viable business case
to bring back to keep these name plates going.
And I think people would respond positively.
The customers would like this.
Yeah.
This is my thinking for the rest of the list.
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I'm going to start as you did within, and of course that does mean Nissan.
So let's jump over to Nissan, but I went somewhere different than you did.
And that is, I'm sorry everybody, but we desperately need the Nissan Maximum back.
Well, you think so.
We need the Maximum.
Or sports car.
Exactly.
The Ford DSC.
Literally just parked that in and you'll get a bunch of Maximum pictures because when this first came up,
I was showing the one that really made a splash in the US, which is one in the early 90s.
This one on the one right after it.
I knew so many people that had this.
This was a front wheel drive, genuine Ford or with decent space.
It was a Camry competitor from Nissan, but it was the much more fun to drive car in its era.
And I knew so many people that had these, it ran them well over 200,000 miles.
But my vision for the maximum of the future is that the Maximum became irrelevant,
because it in the Altima, I'm not sure why you paid more for the Maximum.
They were both front wheel drive boring CVTs from Nissan.
And one was five to ten grand more than the other.
They tried to do some weird styling things, but ultimately what this needs to be.
If you remember last time, I talked about how infinity needed to use stuff from the 370Z
to make themselves a new G37.
This is the same thinking, but to make a rear wheel drive Maximum.
This is the cheaper three series everybody.
That's what this should be.
Since Maximum has a history of being a driver's car that is a Ford or sedan,
let's actually take the engines and the drive train that help us make a z-car
and while we make infinity on one side, we make a actual four-door.
And it needs to, frankly, be small-ish like late 90s BMW, the E36 era, the E46 early 2000,
needs to be that scale of four-door, a small-ish four-door rear wheel drive,
the 400 horsepower engine from the Z-car.
That's exciting.
And an actual automatic.
I mean, a manual for sure, but an actual automatic.
No CVT.
That would sell cars.
I think this is a much more interesting place to go than Nissan making another GT-R
because as much as the GT-R is cool, the GT-R has, at this point,
no connected tissue to the rest of Nissan's lineup.
We make this super crazy moon shot car that does everything.
By the way, have you seen our CVT SUV?
What?
Yes.
There's nothing.
The Z-car is the only other car and it also is hanging out there like,
what am I doing here?
It doesn't know!
It doesn't know why!
Make a max of a rear wheel drive sedan.
Even if you don't offer a manual, you offer an actual automatic.
I still think this is a victory.
I tried to convince my parents to buy one when these were new.
They were super cool.
And they bought a Buick.
They were super, super cool.
I wanted to sell that.
I had an English teacher in high school who was not at all cool
and knew nothing about cars, but for reasons unknown to us, bought one of these
and she, like, got an extra cool point.
She wasn't cool.
Extra cool point because she had one of these.
And we asked her about it one day and all she could tell us she loved about it was the stereo.
We were like, really?
Not the reason you buy a car, but...
Well, okay.
But anyway, she loved the stereo.
Ford DSC sold me.
I saw that little sticker on the back quarter window.
I saw Ford or sports car and I just wanted it.
I knew.
I agree.
I agreed.
Marketing works.
And also, Ford DSC doesn't say anything about front wheel drive.
Yes.
The Ford or sports car can be an actual rear wheel drive.
This is where I'm going with that.
It's good.
I'm moving on from Nissan to Polestar.
I'm showing a concept from Polestar
because here's my concept with Polestar.
Polestar.
Like this, by the way.
This is a cool looking concept.
I think six.
It's a concept of a two-door essentially two plus two convertible EV from Polestar.
But keep in mind that Polestar is related to Volvo,
which means Geely, which means Lotus.
So follow me here.
Okay.
I think Polestar is uniquely positioned in spite of the fact that Porsche and everybody else is struggling with an EV sports car.
Polestar is uniquely positioned to be the people to crack it.
I think Polestar needs to make a two-seat two-door no more than 3,000 pound EV sports car.
I think they are as a brand uniquely positioned to be there.
We're talking about Volvo interior and switch gear because of Geely.
We're talking about Lotus handling design because Lotus is under Geely.
And Polestar uniquely positioned to do their boxy electric styling and sell an actual,
let's say $70,000, $7080 grand.
This is a direct boxer competitor.
It's not designed to be anything else.
But I think Polestar, they could crack this.
3,000 pounds EV because the problem with EV is not, does it have power?
Loads of power.
Yeah.
The problem is, why did it get so heavy and heavy kills the sports car fun?
So can we pull this off?
I think Polestar is in a unique spot for this.
I would like to see the Polestar EV and it doesn't even need to be this design.
But working other places in the company to make one.
I'm going to come back to this later.
But I think Polestar is key here for successfully building an electric sports car.
This is good.
I like this a lot.
I think it's modern sexy.
I think it's very restrained maybe a bit too much.
But that's the Polestar brand.
That is their brand.
Yes.
They're very boxy and very careful.
Don't do.
That's a curved surface.
Don't have no.
How dare you?
Welcome to Polestar.
Here's your ruler.
I mean, that's where we are.
Yes, for sure.
I'm moving on to Porsche.
I put up the car that killed James Dean.
I'm sorry to say that.
But this is the 550 spider.
Okay.
This car.
I'm showing it to you also because the reason James Dean died is because there's not much to this car.
Even in the 50s, this is zero crash structure.
You hit anything and I'm sorry, but it's a death trap.
But it's super tiny in light.
And the reason I bring it up is because the 550 is in their nomenclature.
You went 914, but 550 and spiders in their nomenclature.
This is their opportunity to make a car below the box.
But I'm going to follow it further.
I'm going to follow it further.
I like collaborations in this whole discussion.
This is their collaboration with Toyota.
And I'm going somewhere else with Toyota.
Toyota gets the MR2 out of this and sells it at 140 grand.
I was wondering.
Okay.
Porsche gets the 550 spider out of this and sells it.
I'm talking loaded.
Loaded out the door at 60.
Okay.
It's above the MR2.
But I'm saying you put all you check all the boxes for all the Porsche stuff and you can't break 60.
I mean, carbon buckets add like 510 grand.
Okay, maybe it hits 70s.
It was all the carbon buckets.
But you see my point.
Yes.
The loaded trim of this is a $60,000 car with a Porsche badge.
Because the problem that Porsche is dealing with right now is they are still an aspirational brand for the every man.
Yes.
But their cars have left that price point.
They have.
But buy.
There they went.
And it's tariffs and it's regulations.
I get it.
But if you look at all the Porsche's now this year, they're all a measurable amount more expensive than they were a year ago.
So Porsche, I think, because they are a brand so many people want.
And this Porsche is also uniquely positioned for this.
You buy your first one because it's all you could afford and now you want to climb the ladder.
That's the whole point of joining a brand.
That was three serious, five serious.
Seven serious.
That was the whole thing.
That was why cars have been set up since the beginning of time.
But I feel like some back other brand by the next don't have that ladder climb successfully anymore.
But I feel like if you could just get somebody over over the crest into Porsche knew for the first time,
then Porsche can have him climb the brand.
The crest.
Oh, very nice.
So so the 550 spider is my Porsche pitch.
And again, collaboration with Toyota to make it happen.
Moving on to Ram.
I know I'm showing a Dodge Viper to talk about Ram.
But I'm using it as a back door in.
Because when I went past Dodge the last time, I thought Dodge is just trucks.
And I kept moving.
True.
And I forgot about the Viper.
Yeah.
And then I hit Ram in the back half of the list.
And of course, that is now the officially only truck brand out of Dodge.
But Ram has the TRX, which is my guilty pleasure truck, which is an enormous truck,
flamboyant enormous truck, with a Hellcat motor in it.
I like the Dodge Viper.
I'm showing a last gen, a third gen Dodge Viper.
It was my favorite version of the Viper.
I wait for them to come down in price.
I love the styling.
They I feel like they nailed the swoopy styling.
These were fantastic to drive.
But let's just admit that the V10 is probably dead.
I'm fine.
It doesn't need a V10.
I don't care about the.
It's been a history.
It is.
But I think that Dodge brings back the Viper puts the Hellcat motor in,
which we're hearing rumors is coming back.
So supercharger noise instead of V10 rumble.
Yeah.
Flamboyant styling.
And keep the long nose, cab at the back, swoopiness that the Viper has always had
because the other thing that will happen to Dodge is they'll get old Corvette owners.
All the people that complain about I want a Corvette that looks that has the long nose.
This isn't a Corvette anymore.
Do a Hellcat with a manual in a new Viper body and a weight money.
You're right.
That's the business case.
Yes.
That's the real thing.
I don't want the C8 to be mid-engine.
This car shouldn't be mid-engine.
This car should be.
Agreed.
Hellcat motor with a manual.
Where's that been all my life?
In the Viper.
I know I backdoored myself in there from Ram.
There, that's fine.
But I realized I'd forgotten it and Ram reminded me of the TRX which had a Hellcat.
And I got myself here an update of the Viper.
Somehow in the back half of the alphabet.
But I'm moving on.
That's okay.
We're inventing the rules as we go.
We are inventing the rules.
It's fine.
Moving on from there.
Rivian, we've all seen the R3 just make it already.
This is the most intriguing of any of their products.
Yes.
This is the Rivian that looks like a little rally car.
It is the smaller one that they haven't offered yet.
They're talking about the R2s about to be here.
This is the R3 which is vaporware at this point.
It's this cool looking concept.
But it looks like a small lifted first-gen rabbit or golf.
It suggests itself to be little.
I suspect this is every bit as big as the Ionic which also looks like it's little.
The Hyundai Ionic and it's actually kind of big.
This is that side.
This feels even slightly larger than the Ionic.
It may be.
It may be just a touch.
But I think go ahead and make the R3 already.
But I have a challenge for you, Rivian.
You are uniquely positioned to make an all-electric actual Wrangler competitor.
And I think the R3 is your way in.
I want the R3 Wrangler eyes to feel like a better way to put it.
Same.
Where's the version where...
Because I mean, of course, they're in a platform share.
Where's the version where removable pieces, removable top.
It folds down and gets more simple because you're going to go just Baja off-road Moab,
your R3 variant.
So it's not just the R3.
I'm looking for an 80% scale Wrangler.
Just slightly smaller than the current Wrangler.
All EV from Rivian.
And I think the R3 might be the way in.
Forget Scout.
Rivian is positioned to do this.
Well, I was wondering what that'll do to Scout to bring a competitor there
to offer something else.
But I think Scout is aiming directly at Rivian all the way down to the styling.
They're aiming at that style.
Sure.
Imagine an 80% scale Wrangler EV with body panels.
Even though they're changing and scouting.
Of course.
Of course.
But I'm just thinking there's a Wrangler competitor in this.
That's pretty good.
And that's where I'm going on Rivian.
Moving on to the smart car.
I am actually showing you a smart car that has been electrically converted
because can we all just acknowledge that the smart car should have been electric?
It just showed it.
Yeah. I agree.
I agree.
It had the worst thing about the smart car.
I actually said this in our original smart car review.
I said that the transmission was so bad.
I think they had an elf behind the seat building the next gear while you use the current one.
The engine and transmission in this car were one of the worst combinations I've ever driven.
Yeah.
That was bad.
It was terrible.
But the concept is this tiny little city vehicle that because they made such a hard structure,
their whole pitch was, was if you tried to, if you pushed a walnut into a stick of butter.
The crash structure of this car was intending to not compress, to use the crash structure
of the larger car it hit to reduce the mass of both cars.
The packaging was good.
Yeah.
The handling was okay.
I am all four small city cars.
The problem with it was the drivetrain was terrible.
Smart car, slightly modernized styling, EV.
And this is the EV commuter it should be.
Well, it doesn't matter how much this weighs.
It's irrelevant.
And it doesn't matter the range on this either.
It just matters.
Charging speed.
And yeah, absolutely.
This was one of these.
It was rear wheel drive.
It had some Mercedes stuff underneath because Mercedes owned the brand at one point.
So the dynamics were okay.
This is a perfect little city car.
Bring back the smart, modernize it, make it EV.
That's where the brand should have been.
The guy that made the swatch watches made the smart car very weird.
Anyway, that was all.
Take the doors off, a couple of golf bags on the back and drive from the city to the,
I, I don't know, moving on from there.
We're scenario going to Subaru.
I am showing a picture of the current impressive.
Okay.
Where is the WRX wagon?
The WRX hatchback.
This impressive becomes also the cross track.
Actually used the people that probably still work at Subaru that know how to make a sporty car.
Offer this in a manual.
And possibly even a real automatic.
But offer this with performance stuff because the thing that the WRX always did,
that nobody else really did, was it was a genuine performance car.
Do it all, take it on a back road.
It's also a hatch.
It was the hatch that really made the WRX unique.
And then they, now they make a WRX or they did.
They made a WRX that, okay, it's a sedan only.
But the thing that was most unique, you took away.
Yeah.
Other people made rally-ish cars.
You made a wagon.
In president.
Wagon.
Well, I think customers have wanted what was good in the past because it worked.
Yes.
Meaning the crossover that, is it an SUV?
A SUV?
Is it a hatchback?
We're not sure what to call it, but here's this blob.
It has the corporate styling on it.
But this is actually more focused and I think that would resonate with customers.
Subaru is getting away with selling wagons in the US and calling them SUVs.
The cross track and the outback are both wagons.
They're wagons.
They're not SUVs.
They're wagons and somehow they've slipped in under the radar and been like,
well, no, actually that's a wagon.
Everybody knows it's a wagon.
The Crown Signia.
That's a wagon.
True.
It's not a weirdly shaped SUV.
There's a term for that.
It's called wagons.
It's called a wagon.
So here's the impressive wagon.
Let's make it a sporty wagon.
Let's bring the WRX wagon back and sell that because nobody else is selling that.
That's Subaru moving on again to Tesla.
You covered Tesla.
I got a picture of the Model S.
And here's why.
When you and I first drove the Model S, I have to admit it.
I was not about electric cars.
It was my first electric car experience.
Tesla announced itself so heavily with the Model S.
And this car, when it was announced, with the exception of the fact that I do not like
to this day, I do not think a minimalist interior equals luxury.
That is marketing only.
And it makes the car cheaper to make.
Okay.
I don't think minimalist is.
This is so nice in here.
No, it's just bland.
But there's nothing to look at.
When the Model S came out, this was potentially the best sedan on the market.
Okay.
Yeah.
It was so far ahead.
And it happened to also be EV.
And I remember when we first drove it, we just kept discovering stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. And even though it wasn't a car for me at the time, and even when the owner at the time was so far out front,
they were having to think about infrastructure issues that didn't exist yet.
All that solved.
But the Model S was like, this was the announcement car.
And the engineers behind this, by the way, moved on to make what's now the lucid.
Right.
Which has completely stolen what the Model S did, which is, have you seen what we can do with electric sedan?
The Model S, you never hear about it anymore.
The only thing you don't hear about less than the Model S is the X.
But the Model S is completely overshadowed by the three in the Y.
Tesla needs to make a new Model S.
With the thing they proved with the Cybertruck is they can design it look like anything they want.
True.
They don't have to adhere to any styling.
The three the S and the Y have all looked about the same.
Let the three in the Y look the same with the Cybertruck die and look like a garbage can in whatever else.
Take the Model S and do totally new styling.
It needs to be styling lead first, where it's one of those cars that the minute you see it,
because I still think the Model S looks great actually.
But when you see the Model S, the next one you see you need to be like, I just want that.
I don't even know who makes it.
I just, that's a gorgeous looking car.
So a gorgeous sedan with an actual luxury interior.
Because the weird thing that the Model S did is it was trying to be, and it wasn't.
It was trying to be almost affordable.
But because it was Tesla's first car, it had to be high priced.
It was.
It was too expensive for the interior.
Get away with the minimalist look on the Y and the three.
Lean into this being a full six figure car.
150 star.
Okay.
But a genuinely luxurious interior.
All of the tech you've learned in 15 years of making cars.
So it is because the Cybertruck for all of its issues has got some major engineering victories going on in it.
So all of your engineers, all the stuff they can do in a new Model S that's really attractive
with a genuinely nice interior where you're aiming.
I'm talking like you're aiming for Bentley and rolls in your interior.
Oh, really?
Because I was going to ask if this, if you were thinking Mercedes S class.
At least S class.
At least.
Because that's huge.
And I don't see the Mercedes or the Tesla Model S being in the same size category.
It's still more compact.
No, it should be.
It should be.
It should be.
I think, but I think Mercedes should be the EQS was huge.
Yeah.
Mercedes should be the bottom of your target.
Okay.
It needs to be like, you get in the interior and you go, this is a Tesla.
It's just opulent.
Embrace that.
Yeah.
Make the Model S a world beater again.
That is because otherwise Tesla is just going to marginally stumble upon here.
And frankly, the Chinese are going to just take it over.
Moving on from Tesla to Toyota briefly.
Now I mentioned the MR2 here only.
It's not actually my primary Toyota one, but I'm showing the MR2 that look like a Ferrari,
the one before the Spyder.
Super cool.
It's such a great looking car.
Yeah.
I'm mentioning it only because we already have it based on my list.
Because Porsche's 550 is also an MR2.
I got both.
True.
True.
So I'm mentioning the MR2 there.
So this is, well, that's hard top.
There was a target.
There was a target version.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it goes back to being essentially a probably a target hardtop shape instead of being the Spyder
like it was before.
And that makes it the Porsche 550 and the MR2, but my primary Toyota.
I was so proud of myself.
And then I had to laugh at myself with my primary Toyota idea because I thought what Toyota really
needs, and I can't believe I missed this, and you're all going to laugh at me and it's
fine.
What Toyota really needs is a truck below the Tacoma because Toyota has the Tacoma which is
getting big.
It's gotten big and the Toyota trucks used to be small, so they need a new T100.
Now I'm aware of the fact that the T100 became the Tundra, but use the T100 brand and make
a new pickup to compete with the Maverick and the Santa Cruz.
So I went looking for somebody that had mocked this up only to discover that Toyota has announced
this.
Potentially coming in 2027 is exactly what I'm talking about.
They don't know what it's called yet.
But Toyota has said, hey, we're going to do a new small pickup to compete with the Santa
Cruz and the Maverick.
Okay.
So apparently I would just late to the party of the announcement and somehow miss this announcement
entirely.
We'll see if it's real.
But Toyota has said 2027, some sort of small pickup is coming from them.
I say the T100 is the name and you are aiming directly at the Santa Cruz and the Maverick.
So it's below the Tacoma.
This needs to be hybrid only.
Yeah.
I mean, the show is a BV only here, but I think I think it's hybrid and it doesn't need the
big power that the Tacomas have got.
It doesn't need it.
It needs 250, maybe 300 horsepower, a decent towing capacity, a bed more usable than
the Santa Cruz, which is only about as big as this table.
So that's not a big bar.
But sell that next to the Maverick and the Santa Cruz.
I want to do that.
Three cars shoot right now.
Let's just do that.
So there's that Toyota, which apparently exists.
And then I would have something hopefully updated with the Ridge line.
And they'll come on.
I thought of something.
But apparently I'm way behind the Toyota product winners.
There's that moving on from Toyota to TVR.
Oh, you covered TVR.
I'm showing the current TVR because there is a rumor that the TVR is going to come back and
that Gordon Murray is involved in the design.
And I'm just going to go ahead and call it the design that I am showing on screen.
It looks like you crossed the worst version of the vantage with a Panos.
This is not an attractive car.
I like that the exhaust exits just behind the front wheels.
Just like the Mercedes McLaren.
I love it.
I'm all for it.
The thing is TVR succeeds when they're nuts.
What Dodge needs for the Viper is nuts.
So TVR needs to partner with Dodge for the next gen Viper.
That brings the TVR crazy quirkiness to Dodge.
Which is going to make that car stand out even more.
And then TVR gets reliable engines and stuff that they've had trouble with in the past.
So what you end up with is you end up with the Viper at a hundred grand.
You end up with the TVR at 150.
Slightly different markets.
Slightly different styles.
So that's the upscale upper.
This is the upscale Viper.
You could go the other route.
I suppose TVR could go cut undercut.
But I think the thing that TVR needs to be is it needs to be the Viper is cool and a little bit nuts.
And the TVR is like the disco version of the Viper like extra nuts.
Extra flamboyant.
But you can use the TVR Hellcat.
You can use the manual.
If the TVR would like to have weird little knobs hidden somewhere and open the doors.
Embrace all that.
But TVR needs a partner.
And TVR brings crazy, which I love.
So should it have more power than a Viper then?
Because if it's another jump in price.
Maybe.
But I don't know that it has to.
We're talking about a Hellcat engine.
I mean, what it happens here is.
Because then what is the compelling version to buy the TVR version?
You just want more luxury and it's more GT focus.
And it's more crazy and they're not making as many.
But I still think they could make their money.
So you get kind of interesting.
You kind of TVR plays like Lotus engineering to the Dodge in this situation.
That's what I'm thinking.
So plus I just don't like this new styling at all.
I think it's unattractive.
And the thing is.
Yeah.
It doesn't seem resolved.
It's a lot of clichés.
It's a 350 and the Chimera and the late 2000s.
Late Aught TVRs when it was owned up in the early 2010s.
It was owned by a crazy Russian billionaire.
Those were the ones I wanted.
Except they made like 20 of them and they don't run.
So that's what I'm trying to say.
Although.
Stellantis has that new straight six.
Because what I loved about TVR was the BMW straight six that they always put in those cars.
That's fair.
And now they've got the straight six.
Okay.
You're selling me another way.
I don't know if it's down market necessarily, but maybe it could be the lighter weight version.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
We're not getting there.
Okay.
Stellantis already has the engine to lend technology.
The long nose.
The Dodge has the hellcat.
The TVR is the lighter weight.
Well, okay.
The RHO engine that when they made the TRX, they made the RHO, which was the straight six turbo, which was still powerful.
You're right.
That's the downgrade.
So the TVR goes below the Viper.
You've done it better.
You've done it right.
Because then you're right.
The Viper needs to be 150 and this needs to be 90.
Yes.
Yeah, you're right.
You're right.
That's the better way.
It's because then you do the straight six turbo.
Yes.
And it has the same chassis as the Viper.
It's not a straight six turbo.
That's interesting.
That's interesting.
The TVR of TVR.
Okay.
We got there.
Took both of us.
But we got there.
So TVR.
Moving on.
Volkswagen.
I have two Volkswagen's.
I'm going to show.
First is the 1980s rabbit.
And the second is the last version of the Volkswagen Fox.
Okay.
They used to have the rabbit and the Fox back when Volkswagen named their cars after animals briefly selling in the US.
My point here is both of these, even though this Fox is quite ugly, early 2000s Fox.
The Fox, when it was originally in the US, was kind of boxy like this early 80s GTI.
That three-door wagon thing they had.
Yep.
The rabbit was great.
And the Fox was this weird little Foxy thing.
Yeah.
What Volkswagen's forgotten how to do is that the cars that people look back lovingly on Volkswagen
were simple and light and cheap.
The bug, the bus, the thing.
The thing.
I was wondering about the thing.
What is that thing?
What Volkswagen used to do so well is there wasn't much car here.
That thinking brought forward is what kind of car.
It's the light and the simple.
Again, Volkswagen.
The people's car.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's go back to what's the bottom of the market for Volkswagen.
They have completely run through every possible variant of a tea named mid-size CUV.
You could possibly come up with.
Yeah.
Can we be done with that already?
Stop.
Yeah.
We need a small little hatchback and I even recommend you a small little sedan.
Front wheel drive, well under 200 horsepower, under 3000 pounds.
Figure out.
I mean, this is German engineering.
I don't believe for a second that Volkswagen doesn't have the talent to do what I'm saying.
Volkswagen has great engineers.
They just only have one platform to do.
Yes.
I know.
Sorry.
I have to do a whole other platform.
That's great.
I mean, Volkswagen even had the up for a while.
Which actually got some good reviews.
Yes.
That tiny little city ended a couple of years ago.
So the point I'm making here is what is the Volkswagen Volkswagen?
What is the actual bottom of the market?
Lightweight.
Simple car that Volkswagen can make.
I'm not saying make another GLI.
Stop it.
Or a bug.
I don't want the ghetto to come back here.
What I'm making here is what is the light car?
What is the low power car that can be an affordable car?
And what you get out of it is you get German precision.
That's the thing.
Volkswagen's missing is the simple people's car.
Simple can be fun.
I maintain fun.
Absolutely.
Yes.
Lightweight is fun.
That's the thing everybody forgets.
Anyway, that's my list.
I hope that resonates with you.
I hope you've got your this has gotten you thinking about what should come back.
And if you have ideas for topic Tuesdays, we're all ears.
We would love to hear about those.
And things that how can we as consumers influence the car industry and let companies know?
What do we want to drive?
What is the future?
Because car companies are trying a bunch of things.
Sometimes they get it right.
Yes.
Sometimes they don't.
This is true.
But there have been some beloved car names obviously in the past that we think should come out.
And maybe they will.
Maybe they're watching.
Maybe something will get through.
I mean, we knew Beaver Teaf got through.
And somebody would check.
Let's do more of that.
No class happened.
Like the right classes.
The Beaver Teaf got.
We're back to cool.
Kidney.
Like, thank you.
It does look cool.
Yes.
Back to cool.
Monsters.
You know, I'm going to go ahead and acknowledge right now that apparently we need a shorter topic Tuesday
to get through car conclusions.
Because it's not going to happen again this time.
But it's okay.
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Since you're listening to us, you'll end up shopping for your next car.
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We've got some updates real quick.
We want to talk about hooked on driving.
There's a lot of really cool track days coming up.
Portland International Raceway is happening Saturday, October 4th.
That's obviously up on our Pacific Northwest region.
Those guys are killing it out there.
Thunder Hill Raceway is doing the three mile course in Northern California on Thursday, October 9th.
Watkins, Glenn, Raceway is doing the guys in the Northeast are doing a throwdown.
Yeah they are.
This is October, Friday, October 10th through Sunday, October 12th.
It's, yes, it's three days of track day.
You can get on track.
But they're also going to have camping, pig roast, band, special prizes, a party on Saturday night.
This is their kind of like October Fest throwdown.
And we're actually going to go.
I'm very excited about it.
Watkins, Glenn, October 10th through 12.
That's going to be a huge one out there.
Ridge Motorsports Park back to the Pacific Northwest on the 17th through 18th.
That's a Friday and Saturday out in Seattle.
And that same weekend doing Saturday and Sunday, Sonoma Raceway in NorCal.
That is October 18th and 19th.
So October is throwing down nationwide.
We're hooked on driving.
Whatever car you've got.
Bring it.
We've got instructors that sit right, seat.
We've got great classes for all kinds of drivers.
We'd love to have you out.
Moving on to Cardbait number one from ENC in Perth, Australia.
Writing to us because a good friend of his who we will call Jason.
Mm hmm.
Got him on.
Got Ian on to the podcast about a year ago.
So Ian, thank you so much.
He says Jason is a problem for him.
So were we apparently.
Yeah.
Jason has his good points because he worships in the oughta, the MX five.
Yes.
But he's a bad influence even though he lives on the other side of the country in Sydney.
They've been shooting the breeze on cars for about 15 years.
I love it.
But then a couple of years ago, Jason called Ian up and said,
you should go down to Hyundai and take an I-20N for a drive.
You'll love it.
A week later, Ian put a deposit on one.
And it's been great going through a few warranty issues.
He also just got a GR-Yaris raves about it which is now causing Ian issues.
Yeah.
Now that he's got the I-20, Jason's raving about the GR-Yaris.
So maybe that's Ian's future.
I want to acknowledge real quickly that if I'm not mistaken, I believe that Perth,
besides being the other end of the continent from Australia,
has the distinction of being the decent size city,
the farthest from any other decent size city on the planet.
There in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah.
If you're a person that watches Aussie Man Reviews on YouTube,
I don't give plugs often but his stuff's hysterical.
And he does all of that from Perth.
Like isolated in the world, he does all that YouTube commentary.
In Ian's discussion here, he's looking for a new car
that can do various things and he's listing off things they do.
And one of the things they do is they drive to the Australian Alps for family ski trips.
Let me just land the geography of this real quick because I looked it up.
I was like, isn't that a log waste?
Oh, yeah.
It's 3,700 kilometers.
It's over 2,000 miles of trip from almost one coast.
The western coast.
I don't know what that is.
It's almost all the way to Sydney.
It's almost all the way to the eastern coast of Australia.
They get the Australian Alps, which yes, there are mountains.
There is skiing.
The mountains are all about 7,000 feet.
So it's not huge.
But they do get snow.
There is skiing, snowboarding, all the kind of stuff.
But I'll tell you right real quick.
It's a person that lives in a ski town.
And was thrilled to move to a ski town.
I like mountain biking and all the mountain stuff.
I would not drive 2,000 miles to ski.
So I applaud you, Ian.
Family vacation in the cars with the kids.
I know.
2,000 mile drive to go skiing.
You want to ski badly, but you live in Perth
and those are the sacrifices.
So we're going to find you a car.
Ian's got a rather varied garage at home.
It's got a superimpresent WRX STI limited edition,
the model year 06.
That hot guy version.
Yeah.
It's not a project car.
And he's owned it since new.
Currently with 180,000 miles on a lot of track time.
Four engines and it's second gear box.
He says four engine second gear box long story.
No, it's not.
It's a superimpresent that you tracked.
That's not long story.
It's just blue engines.
Yeah, moving on.
Well, he says 400 horsepower at the wheels.
Lots of fun.
Yeah, for sure.
Another Subaru.
Forester XTSJ, that's his wife's previous car
that is now the dog chariot.
Two big Harry and sometimes muddy dogs.
Yes, I get it.
The CVT is dying and will completely die at some point in the future.
The fix is worth more than the car.
Doesn't surprise me.
He says they've done the massive road trips in this for the ski holidays.
Perth to the Australian Alps for a ski holiday in a Subaru Forester.
It kills the CVT.
Apparently, that's what it does.
But honestly, I think I'd give up too.
It's 2000 miles to ski.
Anyway, moving on.
Hyundai I-20N, that's the current daily, has had a few track outings.
But a pile of fun and reminded Ian that a small front-wheel drive hatch can be a blast.
Absolutely, yes.
And his wife's new luxury is Landbarge for the family.
Is a Kia Serrento Peeche V, thank you for Sips fuel.
Lots of daily driving can go into EV-only mode.
But they do road trips a couple of times a year, probably to do the ski thing.
Apparently, yeah.
He says the gas mode is important for this being far-perthist.
There's a Perth, which is a far-everything.
Yes.
The history from Ian includes Mazda 121.
A Toyota Celica R-A40 coupe that died.
Ford Laser hatchback that died.
Australia's hard on stuff.
Australia is like the desert-y equivalent of what Alaska is for us.
It's like that untamed wilderness.
It's hard on everything.
It really is.
Mitsubishi Magna TJ, the Diamante.
Remember the Diamante?
Yes.
He traded that Ford-focused CJ.
That was his wife's old car.
And then he has driven and tracked on occasion his parents cars.
A Mazda RX-8.
A Mini Cooper S-Coup, the R-56.
And a Holden V-E-S-S, the V-Redline Commodore.
That's very cool.
I like it.
So the current daily is going away.
And he's looking for what's next.
Ian says his youngest daughter is starting a new school that is about 30 to 40-minute drive.
Okay.
But he covers that as part of his office commute.
And he's working from home only one day a week.
And he says using Ian's budget.
The vague idea is somewhere around the 50 to 60,000 Australian dollars.
That is the benchmark for what we're looking for.
50 to 60 grand started off really well until I went to Australian dollars and saw what the cars cost there.
And things did not go quite as well.
Yeah.
Well, I've still got some options.
I've got some options too, yes.
So Ian's looking for fun.
Small for parking in the city.
Hatchback preferred, but wagon is okay.
Like a five-door for hauling equipment for work.
Like the kids and the single dog trip.
The wife, he says, wife does not want a manual.
He's got the WRX for his manual fix.
Like it.
He's not opposed to EVs.
He says most distances on the PHEV fall within the EV only range.
So he likes that.
Like it.
It will not be tracked.
Okay.
And most likely new as it will be a work financed kind of lease.
Like it.
That's good.
Also with a smiley face emoji con on his email, he says no golf.
There he's just not a fan of Volkswagen.
Okay.
So far include a toy to G.R. Corolla.
No thanks to talking to Jason.
You remember about his G.R. Yaris.
Yep.
For sure.
The Lexus LBX Marizzo R.R.
Also, no thanks in talking to Jason.
That is the Lexus version only offered in Japan.
And I guess Australia.
It is the difference styling, completely different interior version
of the G.R. Corolla offered there.
Japan on Australia.
So same everything.
But just the Lexified version of that.
He thought about the incoming Cooper-born VZ.
But he says the brakes seem a bit weird as an EV option.
And he's looking for opinions and options knowing the limited types of vehicles
they get in Perth.
And he says maybe they get some special editions that you don't get like the I-20N.
We would I would love the I-20N to be available or some variant of it's very great hatch.
I do have choices for you in pulling up the first image here.
And that is the Lexus LBX Marizzo R.R.
I actually like the styling on this.
It's a little bit more substantial, but still very fun.
I think Lexus could.
It actually looks surprisingly kind of flamboyant for Lexus.
Yeah, it could be really cool.
But it has the same sort of Prius shifter.
The different Lexified interior that is on everything else.
But I think this could be successful elsewhere.
They didn't just have to offer it in Japan, but.
Or Australia.
Jason, is it awfully bad influence on our poor friend Ian here?
Of course, we are too.
We're going to keep trying ourselves as well.
This is the I-20N.
I think it's superb.
Really cool looking car.
Lots of fun.
But I do understand.
And you were talking about also the CUPRA born.
And you'll notice the striking resemblance to the Volkswagen ID3,
because that's pretty much what it is.
True.
Yeah, yeah.
No, you don't want Volkswagen product.
But I am going to go there.
And I'm going to try to convince you because CUPRA used to be the performance brand of SEA.
And CUPRA is kind of its own thing.
Even go CUPRA.
CUPRA.
So I think you're OK.
I mean, CUPRA leaned towards the performance version of Volkswagen product.
So the performance engines.
Yes, yes, yes.
That's what CUPRA means.
And either the Leon or the sport tourer, that's what this represents.
And there's seven different variants, trim variants of this.
But even if you keep it low to the 150 brake horsepower,
I think this is a great option for you because of the needs that you mentioned.
And I think it would still be a lot of fun.
And I really like CUPRA products.
I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of Volkswagen stuff either,
but the CUPRA stuff I'm all about actually.
And it did feel like starting to become their own thing.
The fermenter, we had cool experiences with CUPRA in Europe.
So I think this could be interesting for you.
But also I'm going to introduce a mini back into your life.
And I'm showing the John CUPRA works version that I fell in love with.
If I were to buy a mini Ian, this is the one that I would get.
And this was a manual, but I would say, yeah, go get yourself a mini,
get it in auto and be done.
Many CUPRAs are just versatile.
They're fun.
It works for so many things.
And I think you really enjoy having a mini back in your life.
You drove one.
I don't know why this was not on the option list.
It's a good point.
I hadn't thought about that.
But I think you really have nailed it.
He did kind of ignore it in spite of brushing past it as cars are driven.
I've driven it.
Yeah, yeah.
Why not?
I've tracked it.
Let's just get a mini.
I think they're fun.
Excellent stuff.
Well, they've grown in size too.
I mean, they're not so many.
If you get the new one, you're going to not get this great styling,
but beauty in the eye at the boulder, I guess.
No, they're just big and ugly now.
Anyway, moving on.
Ian, you said 50 to 60,000 Australian dollars is the key.
So one of my choices doesn't work,
but my other two will do you budget wise?
It just works.
This is your runabout commuter.
This is your, to some degree, your backup car.
It's not trying to be your fun car.
These just work for all of that.
That would work.
Yeah.
They're out there.
I looked, used ones a couple of your old ones are like 45,000 Australian dollars.
So I mean, this is absolutely in your budget.
I think there's, this is conspicuous if it's overlooked.
That's kind of a feel for what you're asking for.
It's like, Tesla Model Y just does all of that.
So I went to fun.
And that led me to the Hyundai Ionic 5.
The problem is the price.
The new ones are about 120,000 Australian.
The old ones, the used ones a couple of years old are roughly 70 to 80.
So I'm above your budget no matter what I do,
even though I actually think this is your answer.
I would love it if you got one of these.
This is your answer.
It's just, it's out of your budget.
Now, can you convince your job to get you an Ionic 5 in?
I don't know.
He's already a fan of Hyundai.
He knows the Ionic 20.
I know.
He loves it.
Keep the Hyundai.
This is the fast electric fun you're hoping for.
This is Ionic 5 in.
So I'd really do think that's the answer except for the fact I've blown the budget.
So I come back down to earth for budget and I'm very surprised to find.
You said no golf products, but I'm going to go there anyway.
And that is the Cooper Forementor.
We love that this is the golf R in a more interesting suit.
It is fantastic.
Our friend Tom drove us in one around Germany and we did Autobahn speeds.
Honestly, because Tom has no shame and is German.
And he knows where the Autobahn goes to de-restricted.
There is a spot that when you enter the Autobahn,
going the correct direction doesn't work at all directions.
You're entering the Autobahn from the correct direction out of the Frankfurt airport.
By the bottom of the on ramp, you've hit de-restricted.
Tom knew this and he did not apologize for it.
And it was foreign.
It was four big guys in this thing.
And he was at like 200 K before I looked over.
He was flying in that car.
Yeah.
So it was so impressive.
Very like this.
Very like this.
And the four of us had space because it's a golf platform.
So I think the Forementor is a really good option for you.
Yes, available in Australia.
Yes, available under 60K.
Options are out there.
Yes, and QB.
But, yeah.
But no, I think it feels like it's a...
But he brought up the Cooper's, so I went there and I think this actually solves it.
So that's where I went.
I like it.
All right.
Ian, we're doing our best to also be a bad influence on you.
Yes, we are.
But you still have choices.
And it seems like you kind of know what you like, but you've got maybe a little bit more driving homework.
I mean, minis are awesome.
The Cooper's, I love the Leon or the Forementor.
They're very cool.
They're doing good stuff right now.
They really are.
They're doing the flavor that we went out of Volkswagen.
Abs, that's where the fun went.
Yes.
It went over to Cooper.
It left it with to Cooper.
Honestly, here's a question.
I don't know.
Did specific people leave Volkswagen and wind up at Cooper?
Because it feels like...
There was a divide off sale.
There was a Civil War one day and all the people with fun went over to Cooper.
Yeah.
They're all over there.
If you have a debate like Ian's, right to us.
EverydayDriverTV at gmail.com.
Top of Tuesday's car debates, car conclusions.
Send Annie a voice note.
Hey sis.
So, okay, you know that cozy hoodie you always steal from Charlie after your workouts?
Well, I just went to Lululemon and saw they have the same one for women now.
I think it's called Steady State, just throwing the idea out there
since you haven't added your wishlist in the group chat yet.
Plus, I know how much you love matching Charlie.
Anyway, talk later.
I'll see you at Run Club.
Shop Women's Steady State now at Lululemon.com
Car debate number two comes from Andrew Z, who writes to us with a third child arriving
and by the time this email, I think your child is close or maybe already been born.
Yeah.
Andrew, thank you for writing.
He says with the third kid arriving, the integrity best that he owns,
that's at risk of becoming impractical.
He's frustrated that the backseat is not actually a bench.
Why?
That's such a great question.
Why would you take out the middle seat in the integrity rights?
Why?
Yeah.
Okay.
Nothing different because his wife wouldn't know what to do with a third petal if he ever needs to take the kid somewhere in her MDX.
Okay.
So that would strand her.
We don't want to do that.
Correct.
Yeah.
So he will try to drive this until it absolutely doesn't work, but he's been trying to figure out what the good replacement for the integrity best is.
Okay.
Which is hard, because that's a fantastically fun car to drive.
It is great.
I mean, I'm already questioning your need to take all three kiddos in your car when you do have the MDX.
You just need something that might fit up to two.
But the problem is...
And take the MDX when you take it and your wife can drive the problem is she can't drive manual.
So that makes sense.
I guess that's the issue.
I guess that's it.
It's just if he takes all the kids in the car, she can't use the manual.
So that's what makes a problem, which is why he was considering the Audi RS3.
But he acknowledges if the ITS is a bit small, the RS3 is probably a bit small.
And I actually think the integrity is going to have more space than the Audi.
I think the RS3 may be out.
He's also considering the lucid air, which is obviously not where I expected us to go after Audi.
And then while we're doing curveballs, how about a new Honda Passport?
He said he drove because he thought it looks awesome.
I'm only going to discover there's no fun there.
While he's there shopping SUVs, now suddenly Jag F-Pace SVR.
Something we never talked about.
Did see that coming either.
But there that is.
I actually saw one recently on a road trip and was like, I said to my wife, I said,
I've never seen one on the road.
So the F-Pace SVR, he said that was pretty cool, but he's worried about leasing that.
Which brought him to, if you're worried about reliability, where do you wind up?
You end up Lexus.
So he drove the GX-550.
Now, let me hang on.
Integra Type S.
Small.
Fun.
Yeah.
Manual transmission.
Yeah.
Compact.
He landed on the Lexus GX-550.
Full off-road, capable, large, brick-like SUV.
And of the things he's driven so far, he liked the GX the best.
I mean, it's cool.
It's cool, but it's not, we did not, these things are not the right.
If you and I did a review with those two, people would be like, what are you doing?
But it doesn't match.
That's the benchmark for the budget, up to about $75,000.
But then, when Andrew writes, he needs something fun, automatic with its own personality
and not just an A to B appliance.
His two boys, soon to be three years old, are budding car guys.
And his wife, or, graphfully, to herself, has said when you turn 40 years old,
maybe you could get yourself something like a meada for your birthday.
Ah, so fun car incoming.
Yes, but not for two years.
Sure.
So now, Andrew Gawksett over meada, they pass by.
It's less than two years away.
So a fun, possible manual car will be back in the garage soon enough.
But right now, he is in suburban South Jersey outside of Philly with a commute of seven to ten miles daily.
I don't really see you buying a GX 550 for the commute options,
even though it fits all the kids and stuff and everything you might need.
I don't think that's the right choice.
That's a lot of truck for Jersey commute.
Where I went, Andrew, is instead two hot hatches.
Okay, good.
Again, I am trying to justify you if you need all three in the family,
you're taking the MDX.
But if it's just you and one or two,
but it's about what his wife going to drive as well.
Yes, but she would enjoy it.
She would enjoy the trade.
True, okay.
And your two boys are butting car enthusiasts.
And what better car than a Veloster N to zip around?
You can play up the third weird door.
This is a matchbox car.
Come to life.
This is the thing.
This is the door just for you guys.
Yes.
They made you guys a door.
Yes.
It's just the kid door.
So love it.
Yes.
I mean, it's something, it's a completely different flavor than an MDX,
unless it's type S, but even still, completely different fun, interesting,
and again, I'm not relying on any of my choices to take all three kids.
That's not my thinking.
I'm also trying to save you money so you maybe can get them out of sooner.
Because I know it's two years away, but if you see a great one,
I don't want you to have to pass it up because you spend all your money on your car,
taking care of the three kids, and you said fun.
I come back to fun.
And by the way, what budget do you have for a meada?
Because the great thing about a meada is they are available in every budget.
Well, he's got $75,000 allocated after he drove the GX-550.
So if I save him money and maybe spend 30, 25, 30,
I see this.
On any of the hot hatches, you can just plunk down.
It can already be in your garage.
You can start.
It'll be there.
It'll be ready waiting and then it's good.
I'm trying to give it to you now.
Yep.
Now we've got 75 to spend this in a meada.
A lot of our life could happen in two years.
Let's get a car out of meada right now.
No waiting.
No more waiting.
You think we were a bad influence for poor Ian.
Anyway, moving on.
Got it?
The 2026 GR Corolla has been announced with a lot of improvements and upgrades.
Yes.
It's still very interesting and a very viable choice instead of the LBX Lexus
that is not available in the US.
That's totally fine.
True, yeah.
The Corolla, any GR Corolla that is an automatic
tech, fun, you can sell three engine,
weird little snorty thing to your boys.
They would love this thing.
It's just a weird fun little car.
I wonder if his wife could be sold on this though.
This may be a little too hard.
You would only take one drive though.
I mean, they do come automatic.
I will say that in the midst of the improvements of this,
it's also gotten more expensive.
The base version now is 40 grand.
It used to be available in the 30s.
The base version is now 40 grand.
The top version now, not even the Marizo,
the top normal premium version in automatic is $50,000,
which I like this a lot for a Corolla.
But that's also for a Corolla.
I asked for it though.
You did.
When I joined the XSE, I said,
Toyota build one of these and they delivered.
I'm not going to declare it all your fault,
but we are dealing with a $50,000 new Corolla now.
They could be really fun.
They're very fun.
Yeah, really interesting.
So get yourself an automatic GR Corolla,
that's still for whatever reason doesn't work.
I think you mentioned RS3.
This is a little bit more upright.
Definitely plenty of space.
Do a breakstand for your boys
and let that all wheel drive.
Golf R versus RS3.
I get it.
I think the Golf R might be a little bit better choice.
I like this because it's more sporty and fun.
Even though the RS3 is very cool,
but if you can get a slightly used Golf R again,
I'm trying to get you to the Miata now to work past your budget.
I'm not saying new.
I'm showing a new one on screen here,
but I think you should go for a Golf R.
I think that is the safer choice.
But I'm also hearing
you're getting this car, whatever you buy right now.
You're adding the Miata.
This doesn't go away.
Theoretically, the Miata would be an add-on.
Yes.
The Miata is only the add
and then you'd still have this car.
I think you would like the Golf R for a long time,
but maybe when the Miata comes,
then Andrew has a new debate
and gets something completely different.
We'll be here.
Or maybe we'll have to talk about it again for sure.
I'm thinking of hot hatch for you because fun was the first thing in your list.
Very good.
Andrew, I went some similar places
because this obviously inspired us to go new fun places.
But let's see, where did I go first?
First off, I was very struck by the fact that you wound up on Lexus.
The big Lexus SUV.
That was a curveball.
I'm going to circle back to it.
But the first thing I think you need to go for is the Elantra Inn.
It's good.
The reason I say it is because you can get this right now
for 40 grand on the high side.
You're talking about your budget being pushed at $75,000 for the big Lexus.
I think that's probably for the base one you can find.
This is the Elantra Inn.
Now, don't get it in the crazy blue
because your wife's going to like that.
So you just tone it down in one of the other colors.
There's a white.
There's a black.
But you can get this in automatic.
And this can be just car.
The performance seats are thinner, which creates more backseat space.
This actually has genuinely good backseat space.
I could totally see you taking three kids here.
Now, I obviously haven't tested the monster car seats.
But this is a genuine kid car.
There's backseat space in this.
It can be driven normally.
But anytime you have to drive it fun, it is very fun.
Available right now.
Brand new Elantra Inn is the top of my list for you.
So I went sedan over hatch, but Paul and I are in a very similar place.
I want to circle back around to the Lexus discussion.
You started fun cars.
You ended up SUV.
You went Lexus GX.
Now, I like, we've talked about a lot.
I like the Lexus GX more than I like the current Land Cruiser for similar money.
But I don't think you want Land Cruiser or the GX.
Take your money.
Take less of your money and get yourself a brand new or a runner.
And here's why.
They are cheaper than the GX.
You can get them without all of the Super Eye Force Max.
I'm a required by law apparently to say it that way.
The Eye Force Max engine.
Oh, sorry.
Eye Force Max engine is the extra engine with the extra power.
You don't need it.
You just get the quasi base engine which is just the hybrid.
Not the extra madness.
Yeah.
Okay.
You can get this for significantly less than both the Land Cruiser and the GX.
You can get it below that.
You might even be the buyer who buys the rear wheel drive only version.
But the thing I like so much about the four runner is the fact that this is the version of that kind of shared chassis and architecture that they're doing.
That you can buy that will just run to wheel drive.
You can go to four.
But the Land Cruiser and also the GX are all wheel drive all the time.
They've got all that running gear in motion all the time.
They're heavier.
And there's something exciting or more exciting behind the wheel of having a rear wheel drive.
The rear wheel drive truck that you can take to four wheel drive when you need it.
You might not even need the four wheel drive running gear so you can get it even cheaper for a runner.
But I think the four runner is the play here.
If you want a mean looking funded drive SUV from the Toyota lineup.
It's four runner over GX or Land Cruiser.
And I'm stopping there.
It's good.
Andrew, thank you so much for writing to us again.
EverydayDriverTV at gmail.com.
When you're thinking of, you saw a car and you want to drop us a note.
Please do.
Car debates, car conclusions.
Topic Tuesdays, too.
We will get back to car conclusions I swear.
But we keep blowing out our time frame because we keep talking so long on these cool topic Tuesdays.
We're going to do a lot more fun ones there.
I'm going to go to a couple of questions you guys have thrown out.
I really like this one from Zach.
He said, if Paul was forced to own Todd Zimira.
And Todd was forced to own Paul's GT4.
Who would be happier?
What have you come up with?
We had each other's cars.
Who would be happier about it?
Yeah.
Force two.
I actually think, ultimately, you would like the Amira.
I mean, I already love it.
I think of two of us.
I like your GT4 a lot.
It's an awesome, awesome car.
But I think the fact that, and maybe I'm stacking the deck in my answer.
But I think the fact that I have a raw car in my Elise.
If I had the GT4, I'd be like, this is kind of a variant on the same thing.
But I think you would like the Amira very, very much.
I would.
I would.
I would.
Interesting.
I mean, yeah.
I think you'd love the GT4.
But it's not a car focused.
But the Amira is such a great all-arounder track GT.
Drive it all the time.
I don't know.
That's a great question, Zach, or really thought that was cool.
On Facebook, Adrian Lane has never really noticed.
How many cars had rear diffusers?
I think most of them are just to look sporty.
You're onto something here, Adrian.
Seeing his on as 2.0 Julia versus wife's M240i, the Julia's looks a lot more real.
I don't disagree with you.
I do see that.
Yep.
Adrian's question is, what is the most functional rear diffuser on a non-performance car?
Without a lot of wind tunnel testing, where it will never actually really know?
Yes, come on.
But you said sporty, and you're onto something, and that is because designers use that trick
to finish off the rear of a car, and define it in the marketplace.
Especially if it's designed to be positioned like, oh, it's a little bit more towards the sport,
or it's a little bit more towards luxury.
Yeah.
Designers use certain cues, and it doesn't necessarily need to be wind-tested.
Wind tunnel tested.
It's not like...
It looked really good on paper.
Look, it's got streaks.
It kind of does, and designers do that all the time.
But it's not like this needs to suck the car to the ground because you're going track speeds all the time.
We don't need to manage that airflow.
In many cases, they do, and the car...
All the cars are wind tunnel tested anyway, but when you perform CFD on something like a Julia,
it's not like you're looking for max-down force.
You would move up to the Quadrofolio, and that's when designers and engineers really start getting serious
about what the performance benefits are, because that's how the car is sold.
But on something that is just...
Maybe it is just cosmetic, but it evokes that kind of sporty flavor, and that's what sells cars.
To determine which non-sporty car has the best rear diffuser,
oh man, we're going to have to do a lot of wind tunnel testing.
Could I rinse your wind tunnel for a while?
Well, but then what do we come up with?
We determine which one is best, but then we determine it's still non-sporty, and if you want a sporty car,
get the higher sporty model.
So, most of the time, it's cosmetic, it looks cool, but many of them are definitely tested,
and if it does have benefit, that's part of the marketing for the car.
You remember when Toyota's last gen Corolla, I think it was last gen Corolla.
They made an S, and part of the reason it was an S is because they put a little lip spoiler on the back of the truck.
In adhesive, it was still a little front wheel drive car.
There were no real changes, but it has an S badge and red and a lip spoiler.
Aerodynamics are fun.
Yeah, anyway, this fun question as well by playground builders says,
why doesn't Ford make a Ford or Mustang, brand that has a Lincoln and compete with Cadillac?
Lincoln is lost at a long wilderness.
I'm not sure they're coming back.
They have dabbled in many things.
They tried to bring back the continental, which was a cool idea, but the only thing that Lincoln seems to do well,
and they've done it well, is take Ford SUVs and completely remake them.
So the interior is genuinely theirs, and they have a crazy cool-looking SUV,
and that seems to actually have been somewhat successful for them.
Since Ford doesn't really want to sell cars, I can't imagine how badly Lincoln would do with it,
but I am surprised to your point about a Ford or Mustang.
Why doesn't Lincoln sell a Machee?
What's the Lincoln version of the Machee?
Because Lincoln takes Ford vehicles and turns them into lounges.
True.
The Machee is not really a lounger.
It's not, but it's your Ford or Mustang.
The Mustang was designed to be a driver's car.
The Mustang is of the Ford lineup right now.
It is the driver's car.
The current Mustang.
The Machee GT is far more capable than it has any business being,
and I would still tell you by the non-GT because these suspension is better.
True, but Lincoln would be like, whoa.
What do we do with this?
We're a lounge on wheels.
We are a lounge.
Yes, welcome to the lounge.
Lincoln, yes.
You have to drive well.
Now we've got to change seats.
Oh, man, now we've got to change seats.
I mean, by the Machee.
Let me put it to this way, playground builder.
What if Lincoln had a race team?
Then they could get by with making a sporty sedan.
But right now, Lincoln's entire image is just hang out in luxury.
So if they had anything that had any performance in their lineup,
I think the few buyers they've found would be quite confused by it.
Because the buyers that are going there are looking for SUVs and luxurious.
Their seats are good.
Their interiors are nice.
And so you drop that performance sedan on the Lincoln buyer.
They'd be like, what am I doing here?
You're on to something here.
Lexus has a race team.
Yes.
Cadillac has a race team.
Yes.
Genesis is entering the mall.
This is how you change perception when you're a luxury brand.
Where's Lincoln?
But Lincoln, Lincoln racing.
With the Lincoln racing.
You hear Lincoln, you shake logs.
You're drying your eyes from tears of laughter.
Yes.
Then what?
You hear Lincoln, you think log.
Lincoln log cars.
Now racing.
Lincoln lounge.
Yeah, the Lincoln lounge is better.
I like that.
Sure.
They could benefit.
I know they could benefit.
They're just trying to position themselves.
Starting at the back of the grid, Lincoln.
I mean, do you see Lincoln's being tested on the ring?
No.
No.
And you know what, Range Rovers are?
You know what?
Lincoln, good for you.
Because every time we're there and we see some SUV going,
we're rather big.
We're like, really?
Are we here?
It's an S7.
It's a Range Rover.
It's a giant Audi.
It's something he would say to you.
I, inexplicably, now would like to take a Lincoln navigator around the ring.
Just to say we did it.
Full of people.
Oh, absolutely.
Every seat and seat belt are used.
Absolutely.
That's what we're doing.
We will end there.
Thank you so much for all your questions, your interaction.
Really appreciate it.
Thank you for watching.
Thank you for listening.
Spotify, video, Spotify, audio.
And also, you're watching this probably on YouTube as well.
So thank you for watching.
Thank you for listening.
Until next time.
Cheers, everyone.
About this episode
A lively discussion continues about cars that deserve a comeback, focusing on models from Nissan to Volvo. The hosts share their thoughts on various brands and specific models, including the Nissan 240SX and Opel GT, while also reflecting on the legacy of Tom Matano, the Miata's designer. They delve into the latest automotive news, including Porsche's EV strategy and a humorous take on a bizarre battery ejection system for electric vehicles. The episode wraps up with car debates and listener questions, showcasing the hosts' passion for driving and automotive culture.
battery
Canapa Design
drifting culture
EV
FDRX-7
flat six
front engine, rear wheel drive
lemon's racing
manual transmission
product strategy realignment
Acura MDX
Alpine A110
Aston Martin Vantage
Audi RS 3
Audi S7
BMW 2 Series
BMW 3 Series
Chevrolet C/K
Chevrolet Corvette
Cupra Born
Dodge Ram
Dodge Viper
Ford Maverick
Ford Mustang
Honda Civic
Honda Passport
Hyundai i20
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai Santa Cruz
Hyundai Veloster
Jaguar E-Type
Jaguar F-Pace
Jeep Wrangler
Lexus GX
Lexus LC
Lexus LX
Lincoln Navigator
Lotus Elise
Lotus Emira
Lucid Air
Mazda 121/ Revue (Mk.2)
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-8
Mercedes-Benz EQS
Nissan 240SX
Nissan 370Z
Nissan Altima
Nissan Z
Opel GT
Pontiac Fiero
Porsche 550 Spyder
Porsche 914
Porsche 928
Porsche 944
Porsche Boxster
Porsche Cayman
Porsche Macan
Renault Sport Spider
Subaru Brat
Subaru Outback
Subaru WRX
Suzuki Jimny
Suzuki Samurai
Suzuki SX4
Tesla Cybertruck
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model Y
Toyota Camry
Toyota Celica
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Crown
Toyota GR 86
Toyota GR Corolla
Toyota GR Yaris
Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota MR2
Toyota Prius
Toyota Supra
Toyota T100
Toyota Tacoma
Toyota Tundra
Volkswagen Bus
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen ID. Buzz
Volvo P1800
Original notes
The guys continue the second half (N-Z) of their discussion about cars they think OEMs should bring back to the market. They debate fun commuters for Ian, who lives in Perth, Australia and has wildly varied distance needs. Then, Andrew Z. has a young family and needs kid-hauling space, but yearns for a Miata (which is on the horizon). The guys dive into social media questions, which include asking about rear diffusers on non-sporty models; and why doesn’t Ford build a 4dr Mustang branded as a Lincoln?
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
02:12 - Tom Matano, Father Of The Miata, Has Passed
05:54 - Porsche “Product Strategy Realignment!”
08:36 - EV Battery Ejector Concept ????
15:21 - Paul’s List Of Cars (N-Z)
35:13 - Todd’s List Of Cars (N-Z)
1:02:51 - Hooked On Driving October 2025 Events
1:04:00 - Car Debate #1: Don’t Drive It, You’ll Want One
1:16:50 - Car Debate #2: Two More Years Until Miata
1:27:30 - 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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