Nissan LEAF, Ferrari Testarossa, Cadillac Escalade, Volkswagon Taos, and Mike Spinelli Joins Us

Hello, and welcome to the AutoGuide show.

Today, Kyle drives a very important EV.

There's a lot of very powerful cars that just got introduced, and we also drive a couple

SUVs.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

eBay has reinvented car buying.

From click to curb, everything is covered.

But their new Secure Purchase eBay isn't just where you find your car, it's where you buy

it, start to finish, title, financing, registration, delivery, it's all built in.

And eligible vehicle purchases are backed by up to $100,000 in protection.

This is what modern car buying looks like.

Get your next ride on eBay.

eBay, things people love.

Secure Purchase is powered by Carmel Dealer Services, LLC, and eBay subsidiary.

Okay, so starting things off this week, Kyle, you just got back from driving.

What is probably one of the most important EV debuts this year?

Yeah.

Yeah, it is, right?

And it kind of, it's funny because we started the year and we didn't really know anything

about it.

And now we've driven it.

So it was the 2026 Nissan LEAF.

And Mike, you got to look at this when it first debuted and got all the important

information.

And this was my first time even seeing it in person.

I got to say now that my review is live, which you can go read on the website and the video

should be coming very soon.

It's very good.

It's, it's wild.

So Nissan's done this a few times now where it's heavily modified an existing car and

presented it as a new model like the Z or the Pathfinder.

And they've proven really, really impressive, right?

This isn't that.

This is not the old platform.

It is the Arias platform shrunken down.

But like the amount of value in this is kind of wild, right?

So the starting price is $31,000 in the U.S. with destination and you're getting 303 miles

of range, cloth seats, a crossover body as we both agree.

It's just a hatchback.

It has less ride height than or less ground clearance than before.

Yeah.

And it's floored at the ground roof wise too.

So yeah, an interesting definition, but there's also an even more affordable version coming

down.

Yeah.

That's that's the thing.

It's like that's for the 75 kilowatt hour battery pack.

The other one, which they wouldn't give a timeline on, which is very frustrating,

will have a 52 kilowatt hour battery pack and 175 horsepower motor.

So you lose 40 horsepower and a little bit of battery, but my guess is it's still going

to end up with over 200 miles of range.

And if it's $26,000 instead of 30, like that's that's a real good deal for people who are

using a car just for short distance driving, right?

So sadly, they didn't have that $31,000 one here at the first drive.

It was only the Platinum Plus, which is pretty typical for first drives.

We usually drive the top trans.

It's just with a car that's so focused on price.

I was really hoping I'd get to drive the base one, but even in top trim, it's $40,000.

You get a very cool electrochromatic roof.

You get power adjustable driver seat, a head up display, tons of safety equipment as standard.

And it's just, it's a really good, quiet car.

I think that's the thing, right?

As we always talk about EVs being, you know, saving the world and all the green

aspect.

Look, no, it's just, you know, how nice it is to drive a car that's an affordable one

that is really quiet and smooth to drive.

Like this is a part of the segment that are part of the market that is full of noisy

gas engines or droney CVTs.

This has none of that.

And it's just, and calling it a crossover price wise, it's kind of in that category.

Like it's not like an apples to apples price, but it's not far off.

Yeah.

So, so comparing it, I like to compare it to the CRV because the CRV is one of the

best selling SUVs on the market.

Everyone knows it.

It's a known quantity.

This is a little bit smaller.

You do get a little less range than you would with a gas CRV, but it's

way nicer inside.

And the one thing, this is a car that's a great example of that spec sheet

measurements are not everything, right?

And we've both said that numerous times over the years.

So the rear leg room on this officially is under 32 inches.

Sounds tight.

Sounds like coop small.

No, it's fine.

I sat back there.

It's just, it's measured in a way that like the, the carve out of the seat

doesn't really, isn't really taken into account.

So it's actually fine for adults.

I wouldn't want to go cross country on the thing, but I mean, otherwise,

yeah, it's, it's just a really good vehicle.

I know I just keep repeating myself, but I'm really impressed by this.

That's good.

Can't wait to try it myself.

Yeah.

So moving on to good vehicles, we took sort of round two of looking

for our new family car at my household.

And this time we drove the 25th house, something you drove first drive

and I hadn't yet.

We almost bought the 23th house when we bought our cross track

three years ago, but the dual clutch was the deal breaker.

It was just too jerky around the city for what kind of vehicle this was.

So now it's got a nice speed auto and that's completely solved.

And they also gave it more power and updated the styling, which I kind of like.

The front, maybe I'm not sold on, but the rear for sure.

Yeah.

And then inside updated tech, which is pretty much the only downside.

This thing has lots of power.

It handles well.

It gives a good ride.

Like I said, it looks really nice inside and out inside, especially

it looks to a class higher than a lot of its competition.

Rear seat and the cargo area are big for its class.

It's just that Volkswagen infotainment system that we've talked about.

I mean, at least this one has some hard buttons, so yay there.

But it's still confusing in the menu set up.

My wife, who drove it a lot as she'd be the primary driver of this car,

was having issues with the Bluetooth like I do.

I don't like that the climate controls went full touch slide.

It's like they're separate.

Yes, but then they're still touch, which is like kind of defeats the purpose.

Tell me, yeah, yeah.

So, uh, just, just to clarify for listeners and viewers, Mike,

so this is number two, you guys have not made a decision yet.

Um, no, not yet that we did the Corolla Cross hybrid.

Then we did this and then the third one will be another cross track,

but the new one, because it's actually a new generation compared to ours,

even though it's only three years.

It's, uh, I mean, they all look similar, but they are different.

The big difference with the new one is it's, it's more rounded and it's got

the horizontal infotainment, but that's for another day.

But with the terrace, very impressed.

I mean, other than those list, little things there, it's just so easy to drive

and it's just so refined.

Like it's pure Volkswagen where they're in a segment and price wise,

they're competitive, yet their vehicles feel a lot more premium.

It may be missing a thing here or there that gets them to that point,

but overall package, it's just reminds me of the Jenna.

Like, yeah, it's an alternative to a regular compact car.

This is an alternative to a regular compact SUV.

And, and if you were going to get it, would you get it in the green?

I would, but I don't think we would have the family.

I, it's funny though.

We both agreed few cars can pull off green, yet that one does.

Yeah, it looks good.

All right.

Switching gears to something completely different.

Yes.

We reported on this a while ago due to trademarks and rumors and

it's official Ferrari has brought back the test of Rosa, which I mean,

they didn't bring back the old car to like modernize hot rod or something.

It's a name that for a certain age of demographic that's probably now

in their key market of buyers, you know, those in their 50s, 60s,

maybe even 40s that grew up with the Testarosa being their poster car.

The name brings back memories.

I don't think it looks anything like that's Rosa.

That's yeah, that's that's the thing that I was waiting to say is

there's no hint of Testarosa to the shape.

And the fact that they showcased it in a color other than red.

Look, I, I don't want to critique Ferrari for that because I'm glad

that they're embracing other colors.

But for Testarosa, right?

Well, and calling it a color is a bit of a stretch because it's great.

I see what they try to do on the front because Testarosa had

pop up headlights like everything did.

So they try to give it that look with the way the bumpers out.

But that hood's pretty much the only thing that I kind of get.

But even still, like even on the pop up headlights,

they have that very sort of flush. Oops, didn't do that flush

front end with the marker lights and whatnot below.

And they could have given that style here.

They didn't. But regardless of the name,

it is a ridiculously powerful over 1000 horsepower hybrid out there.

That will do zero to 60 and, you know, just over two seconds

because that's what we need and it's going to be mind blowing.

But I mean, if I ever get even like the Coontush, why not?

I, yeah. So so looking at it, I should point out to like the image

that we're using for the video stream, it's it hides that the lower

spoiler jets out in a very like prominent wedge shape, just like the nose.

And so in profile or like any time you rotate the nose around a bit,

you get a little bit more of the 80s feel a little bit.

But like you said, the rest of the car, like the intake on the side

has nothing to do with an old Tester Rosa, the back, nothing like it's.

No, I guess for aero and cooling, but it's.

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's at 50, either.

I can't think of the car that I'm thinking of from Ferrari.

But yeah. And in fairness, if you go to their website,

they do have yellow and red so you can see the more Ferrari colors.

But yeah, so that's, I think, what he's the head on shot.

The only one that kind of somewhat resembles it.

But yeah, otherwise it's, yeah.

Look, I know for what reason you're listening, I know I'm not your target audience.

But I just I have a hard time telling any of the modern

Ferraris part, that's that's the thing, especially the main engine ones.

They've all just kind of blurred together.

And I wish there was more differentiation.

But yeah, arrow and downforce, everything.

You have the ultimate shape, which is one shape.

So yeah, speaking of arrow and downforce.

Yeah, something completely different.

So I drove a couple of weeks ago, the Escalade, the brand.

Well, it's like a refresh 2025 kind of like Escalade platinum four wheel drive.

So this is the sport platform.

Sorry. So basically top line.

It's got everything you could ever want.

And it plus a couple of extra options.

I know this car gets a lot of flak or SUV and I get it.

But it gets flak from people who would never

even consider buying one to begin with.

So it's, you know, it's like a commuter ripping on porches and corvettes.

But it's not your wheelhouse.

What kind of like is done with this vehicle over the decades?

Because it is their bread and butter.

It's always been the number one seller.

It's sort of what kept the brand alive during some low points

in the late nineties early 2000s.

They keep refining it.

It's still you can still feel the truck to it.

It is a body on the frame.

Just like its competitor, Sequoia QX80 navigator.

But we were talking about when they ditched the solid your axle,

the amount of rear seat space you've gained that can actually have

adults in the third row and the refinement to the right.

I mean, if you drive on regular roads, it feels so smooth and premium.

And you wouldn't even remember that it has pickup truck

routes to its general chassis.

You get on some broken dirt or really choppy pavement.

Then you start getting that sort of bounce that just can't.

But like a Range Rover or BMW X7, for instance, won't have.

But they're they're not also workhorses like this.

Like I know the tow ratings are similar, but I'm honestly going to

feel way more comfortable consistently towing 8000 pounds

with an Escalade over an X7 or a Range Rover.

And for their demographic, which are the people who need a work

truck or maybe I should say want a work truck look.

But super fancy.

It's yeah, it's what it's always been.

It's still up there.

Like it costs more than the three main competitors I mentioned,

but it's also got ridiculous technology and they're like the

power open and closed doors, which sound like such a lazy gimmick.

But I totally was using all the time, especially when my son

and wife are getting in and there's sensors so they won't open

the doors and the air ride plus magnet ride.

Like I said, it keeps it fairly composed in corners for what it is.

It's got a massive hood that you can't see anything out front of.

But you know what? So does a QX80 and so does a navigator.

It's just sort of the baby big rig look is still in.

Yeah, I think as someone who lives in the city and so does

rag on these things once in a while, even though I drove

the Escalade IQ recently, I think the thing is like when

you see it being used for something like that, like as

someone doing all their driving in the city, you're just like

that can't be good.

That can't be fun or enjoyable.

It's probably just super stressful, but you're right.

Like if I need a big luxury SUV, like say I go to the cottage

all the time in the summer, the Escalade does a really good job.

Now, and it's closed the gap against the unibodies

while still keeping the truck benefits.

And I think the face looks good.

I'm less sold on 24 inch hallowees.

That's the thing, though.

Like that's the new thing.

I was on their EBS, too.

They're actually from the IQ.

They've taken a couple of things from the IQ and other vehicles,

like the 55 inch pillar to pillar to dash that the car.

So why is 55 inches isn't actually pillar to pillar that to a

bookend it with speakers?

Speaking of which, I had the executive second row, so I had

40 speakers in my vehicle, because there are headrest

speakers everywhere and screens for each middle row

passenger and screens for the passenger front.

But to your point about how to play, it's got like a lot

of people, if you live in a city, even like

suburbia, like this doesn't make sense.

But, you know, I know we've referenced this show too many

times on the EBS on this podcast, but like watch Yellowstone

or watch something based in Texas, like Ram 35 hundreds

and things like this, like that's where they're designed for.

Yep.

Yep, I did not understand the stereotype about Texas,

like specifically San Antonio and trucks and trucks are

like the Camry there.

But if you haven't been, no, it's actually the case.

Like trucks are just everywhere.

And so, yeah, this makes sense.

Yeah, if you live in areas where half the county roads

are not maintained very well, like you need something

that can take the peace.

So anyway, we're getting long on time.

So we'll get to our last story here.

And it's another well known name, but this one

isn't making a comeback.

This one never left.

But it's got more power than ever.

We're talking the 9-11 Turbo S.

The first 700 horsepower production 9-11,

which feels a little funny to say like it's the most

powerful one ever when Corbett's dropping well 50 now.

And the furrier we just talked about is 1,000.

Yeah, so Porsche is the best manufacturer, I think,

in history of performance per pony.

They have always been way down on power

compared to like the key rivals yet on the track.

They do just as well or better.

Yeah, yeah, this thing shaved like 14 seconds

off the previous Turbo S's time on the Nurburgring.

That's more than horsepower.

That's other stuff too.

And so like the Corvette, this is a hybrid.

It's not a hybrid in the same way as the Corvette though.

This is the T hybrid setup that is in the GTS,

except now there's two because of course there are, right?

So that's the thing.

It's the 3.6 liter flat six, but now there are two turbos.

So it's 701 horsepower, 590 pound feet of torque,

quicker to 60 or 62 miles per hour than a Bugatti.

Yeah, and it's a little bit heavier.

It's gained some weight because of course it did,

but it's still four-wheel drive.

It gets the little, the vertical slats

and the front intakes like the GTS.

And then otherwise it's a turbo.

You get the intakes at the rear axle

and it's pretty standard expected stuff, right?

Yeah, the 0-62, like knowing 911 turbos

in the past and S's, you could probably do that 50 times

in a row and the car will be fine.

Porsche has nailed ridiculously fast launches

and consistent and durable ones.

The thing that I like the most about this right up

and I'm hoping I haven't driven this one,

I haven't driven one in a while,

but the direction they're going,

it seems as Porsche realizes like the 911 turbo

was the top dog forever.

It was like, this is the most ridiculous,

powerful performance vehicle.

They realized this because of weight

and four-wheel drive and everyone,

like they're so expensive on every luxury.

This has kind of become the ridiculously fast grand tour

because they know the hardcore sports person,

track person wants the GT3 RS

and it will actually, the GT2, the last one,

will outrun this still.

So I'm happy they're kind of making this

maybe a little softer and about livability,

ridiculous power because that's sort of where it's gone.

So good on them recognizing that

and not trying to be like,

hey, it's got hardcore track stuff

but it weighs 500 pounds more than the GT3.

Yeah, yeah.

I think that's always been the 911 strength, right?

It's there's so many flavors and we make fun of it.

Like, oh, there's two dozen different variations

but they all serve a particular niche.

Yeah, so yeah, like this is like the Corvette E-ray.

Like this is, I don't have the money for either

but this is mine because this is

the everyday livable, ridiculous super car

whereas I don't hit the track

and I have passengers that don't want their kidneys

exploded over the smallest little bump on the road.

So yeah, good on Porsche.

Well, that wraps up the news and reviews

on the AutoGuide show brought to you by eBay Motors.

We are going to take a longer break here

because we have a special guest,

someone who's been doing our job

and in this industry for a long time

and then I will have call them on to talk at four

and then Kyle will be back with me

to talk about what's next.

eBay has reinvented vehicle buying

from click to curb, everything's covered.

It's all thanks to their new secure purchase.

Ever try to buy a car and end up in a parking lot

with a stranger on some blind trust

or spend half the day at a dealership

talking to pushy sales people and signing paperwork

or maybe worst of all wait hours at the DMV

just to transfer the title.

That era is over.

For years eBay has been the go-to

for gear heads collectors and DIYers

because whatever you're into from classics to SUVs

and trucks to imports, eBay's got it.

And now with secure purchase,

eBay isn't just where you find your next ride.

It's where you can buy it, start to finish.

Sellers and titles are verified.

Paperwork is handled by experts

and payments are traceable and digital.

So you know exactly who you're dealing with

and exactly what you're getting.

Plus you can finance, ensure

and register your vehicle all in one place.

No more hours at the dealership.

No more trips to the DMV.

Get your vehicle, plates and paperwork

shipped to your door ready to drive.

And it's all part of one seamless process

designed to feel as easy as buying anything else online.

And eligible vehicles purchased on eBay

are backed by up to $100,000 in purchase protection.

Thinking about selling your ride,

secure purchase makes that simple too

because you know your buyer and their funds are verified.

If you still owe on your car,

the financing payoff is fully integrated

so you're not chasing paperwork

or waiting on checks to clear.

And with secure purchase, you get paid fast

and you're not going to be stuck chasing no shows

or answering the fifth still available messages.

This is what modern car buying looks like.

Skip the DMV, skip the sketchy meetups,

buy it on eBay.

eBay, things people love.

Secure purchase is powered

by Carmel Dealer Services, LLC and eBay subsidiary.

All right, welcome back everyone.

We have a very special guest that many of you may know.

If you could just introduce yourself.

Thanks, Mike.

I'm Mike Spinelli.

I have been an automotive journalist

and content executive, I guess you wanna call it,

for a bunch of years.

I started Jalopnik 21 years ago.

I can't believe it's been that long.

Also co-founded Drive, the YouTube channel

that went to Time Inc.

and did a bunch of stuff we could talk about.

But yeah, just been hanging around for long enough

and you just end up doing stuff if you hang around.

Hanging around is definitely a strategic advantage, I think.

Yeah, well, it's funny because when I started,

I remember I knew who you were

and anyone that was doing this job did

because Jalopnik was sort of at its height at the time

or getting there and we would meet on trips and stuff

and now I feel like I'm the old guy

that's been around for 15 years

whereas I used to be like that young new person

on the trips, hung around, right?

You hang around and you get to see what you're doing.

It's really funny because I was having this conversation

with, I forgot who, but it was when we started out,

Jalopnik was one of the only digital,

well, the only digital first publications

that were on the trips back then.

And so it was all just old, I mean, old guys my age now

were, you know, but they were newspaper guys

and they were like, ah, you bloggers

and you never fact check

and you're always spouting off on your garbage

and this and that and it was funny

is now it's like the creators are coming

and doing a very similar thing that we did back then

and they're looking at us going, yeah, who reads?

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, no, I remember those days, I remember going

on some trips and be like some guy

from some tiny town's local radio station

and be like, this guy's here?

They're like, how's the listeners maybe?

But yeah, times have changed.

Yeah, I think that, but that,

you just said something that's interesting

because I think it's still about relationships, right?

So the reason why those guys were on the trip back then

was they had long standing relationships with PR people

and there is a kind of, I would stop short

of calling it a camaraderie

because if you're doing a job right,

you have that relationship

where you can ask hard questions

and still have a drink afterwards

because I think this is something

that I think a lot of young creators coming up

they don't really understand

and we sort of live in a world where

those kinds of relationships can easily be spun

into something bad and you can easily also,

on the other side, get really too used to

somebody else paying the check when you're doing that.

This is the whole other thing,

but those relationships were the reason

why those guys were still coming

even though their newspapers circulation was dwindling

or they didn't have the audience they used to

but they did have the relationships

and that meant something.

And it still kind of does

and that's why you see sort of a similar thing happening now.

Well, I mean, we're a prime case.

Our viewership went way down just before the COVID period

and of course that's when Kyle started

and he kind of came in at the burned down infrastructure

but he got to know everyone

and then I came back and I knew a lot of people

and because of those relationships

we kept getting access

and now we've kind of built back up.

So yeah, it's important.

It's like, I have a friend who's a sports reporter

and it's the same thing.

Got to ask the questions to the athletes and the managers

but if you burn them they won't let you in the clubhouse

so you need to walk that line.

Yeah, you got to be fair.

I mean, and I think that's the part

of about having a relationship with them

where you can text them when something,

when you've got to deal with the hard thing that happens.

Some people don't ever deal

with the hard thing that happens

and that's then it feels like

they're just sort of there for the ride.

But yeah, I mean, that's the point of those relationships.

I mean, that's, yeah, it's funny.

I mean, we could talk about where journalism has gone, right?

Or how it's changed, but at the end of the day

it comes down to something that we're seeing,

less and less of is that the algorithms

are supporting conflict

and it's very difficult from the PR side

to deliver a productive response to something

when you're just crapping on them all day.

So like there's, there are things

about playing the game that are positive

and there are things that yeah,

can easily turn into you just being a mouthpiece

for what they do.

Yeah, and it's such a unique aspect

of journalism and like the automotive side too, right?

Like we go on these trips

and yeah, an automaker fits the bill.

And so a lot of people ask questions about that.

I've been asked by friends who are unfamiliar with the industry.

Oh, like, do they not like it

when you say something bad about their car?

I'm like, no, the good ones, the good PR people understand.

They understand that all products have weaknesses,

even though every presentation I've been at

till last year calls a car no compromise.

Every car has compromise and that's like part of the plan

and a good PR piece person understands

Yeah, and it's really interesting

because the thing that makes what we do entertaining

is often that car looks like garbage

or that why did they pick this,

why did they do this thing, right?

Which seems so stupid.

They're stupid.

They did this thing, right?

They designed in a flaw.

But I mean, really if you're, you know,

I think that's the problem is that the, you know,

when you're talking about algorithms,

but also what people wanna hear is people wanna hear

because they're car, they're fans of cars

and there are things about cars that they like

and don't like and they wanna bring those things up

to the fore.

Now you as a journalist,

but hanging around with engineers,

which is what you should be doing,

may know exactly why that compromise was made

because it's a cost issue or it's a, you know,

it's a product development issue

or product planning issue in some way that you know,

and I think I've always tried to bring that

into whatever I was doing and that's why, you know,

those of us who sort of have been doing this a long time,

the highlight of those trips is talking to engineers

because I wanna know why they made those decisions

and they're not always forthcoming

because those decisions are a lot of them come

from policies that we don't even, you know,

I mean, like the rake of a windshield

has to be a certain angle because that's policy.

Like there are all kinds of things that are corporate policy.

There are all kinds of things that are, you know,

regulations policy, government stuff.

And then there are, you know,

decisions made over costs and things.

You know, we're looking at tariffs and stuff now.

Costs are, it's even harder to product plan at this point.

But those are the things that are boring about what we do.

So we try to, like, you go to, you know,

you write an article for Jalopnik back in the day

and if you're not, you know,

if we, you gotta be a little bit more spicy than that.

So you could, so I always tried to find a way

to work those realities into the thing

and try to really find out why they made that decision.

And it's, you know, it's the hardest part of this job, I think.

Yeah, I took a hiatus for six years and worked for an OEM

and you get a lot of perspective in there

learning the backend, this politics of, like I said,

the corporate, the head office to the regional offices.

And there's a lot of decisions that are made

and to your point about people want

to read like the spicy articles.

We had Matt Farron many months ago

and he was saying how on his YouTube channel,

if he just kept trashing cars, he'd get tons of views,

but then he wouldn't get the car.

So it's why he's moved on to other ventures

because he's hit that point of what do you do?

And being fair is so important.

I had a vehicle that I was the first person to drive it

fresh off the shipping container.

I noticed there's oil in my driveway.

I contacted the PRF and someone in a factory

somewhere forgot to put a plug in.

It's not something I need to rip on.

That happens to every manufacturer at some point.

But if my infotainment system crashes eight times

during my review, that's going in.

But some people will be like,

this manufacturer is terrible, it leaks oil.

It's like Toyota can do that.

Aston Martin can do that.

Like anything, like some guys

somewhere just didn't pay attention for one minute.

Oh yeah.

And also like if you've, it's about, it's trust anyway.

So if you hang around and they see you every time

that there's a launch and you're there asking questions,

when you ask why they made a decision,

they may be more forthcoming if they know who you are.

And then the other thing is you can certainly make

criticisms of all kinds of things,

ergonomic decisions and all kinds of stuff.

And I know why they may have done it

as a engineering choice, but it doesn't negate

the fact that it's an annoying feature of a car.

I mean, you know, Toyota for years and years

their infotainment was crap.

And like, I know why, you know, like it's the,

I know the sort of the development cycle that they were on

and they weren't at the point where that thing was coming

out, you know, the new stuff was coming out yet.

But, you know, oops, so what?

Like people who buy cars don't care.

Like they, so that's the,

ultimately the thing is like you kind of have to,

you know, even if you know why you still have to call it out.

And also the other thing is that they,

once they know who you are, they ask what you think.

And at the end of a drive, I mean, I've, you know,

we've all, I'm sure had engineers or product planners

or somebody ask like sincerely what we think of the thing.

And they do take those things into account.

If we're not only fair, but we show that we know

the product and we know, you know, the industry

and it's about credibility, you know, ultimately.

But, you know, you, you still have to be spicy.

You just have to, because there's no,

you'll lose your entire, your audiences will just,

they'll just go away.

Cause there's nothing interesting unless, you know,

unless you're doing commodity content that is bottom

of the funnel where like you're about to go to buy

a car and you do some research to, you know,

that kind of stuff.

But what we do is mostly entertainment anyway.

So you got to really find a way to, to be saucy as well.

Yeah, I've always compared it to,

I went to school for graphic design

and I always found graphic design interesting

cause it was like the blend of art and information.

And you have to like, there's a purpose.

And I feel like what we do is entertainment

but also education and there's that blend

and you have to find the right balance all the time.

And every outlet has a different blend.

Yeah.

Oh, you're absolutely right.

And design is a really good metaphor for it because,

you know, design is entertainment as well.

And it's also, it's, it's also conveying information, right?

I mean, there's all kinds of information

that needs to be conveyed.

And the other thing is like,

and sports reporters go through this too.

If you're a fan, it used to be that you couldn't

show that you were a fan of something, right?

Because it was, it made you, you know, it didn't,

you were, it was sort of revealing a bias of some kind.

But now I think people trust you more if you're a fan, right?

So if you're like a fan of Mazda's, let's say,

I just sort of, or whatever, Rotary,

I don't say Mazda Rotary's,

but like there's nothing that you can't really forget

about them.

But like, if you're a fan of a car brand

and you bring that to what you're writing

and, you know, it can really enhance it.

And so I think that's one thing that we've learned

over the years of, you know,

my original journalism professors

would have punched me in the face for that.

Whereas now like the audience wants to know that they're,

they're, you know, they haven't,

they're interacting with somebody who is a human being,

right?

And has, has, as sort of throwing their biases on the table.

Yeah, no, totally.

I mean, people who pretend they don't have biases are lying.

Right.

Yeah. And I think that, but the audience knows that.

And I think that's the interesting thing about now, right?

Is that if you want to argue,

you, there are a million opportunities all day long,

right?

So,

what we're doing is more of having a conversation

with the audience than ever before, right?

Like it used to be, you're up here.

I went to the, you know, I went to journalism school.

I know the training.

I did my reporting.

You want to see my notes?

Oops, you can't see them because you're not allowed.

You know, all of that stuff.

And I think that's where Gawker was an interesting

training ground for me because it wasn't about

traditional journalism and, you know, good or bad.

I think this is probably a whole show in,

in figuring out what their,

their impact on journalism in general.

But what we did was we threw open our notebooks

is the thing that Gawker wanted, right?

It's not what the story is.

It's like what else is the story?

What are the other things about the thing

that you're covering that reporters would talk

to each other about at the bar after the thing, right?

So that's, that, that I think is, is sort of where

the audience has moved to, right?

I mean, they want to know, you know,

they want to, want to, want to get your opinion.

You're a person, right?

Like, where's your notebook?

Show you, show me your notebook.

You know, revealing sources is still a,

a sort of a difficult thing to explain, right?

Not that you don't reveal your sources and stuff.

But anyway, about car stuff, you know,

it's about uncovering things that the audience

maybe didn't, didn't know about the thing

that they're interested in.

But yeah, sorry, I could go, I could just, you know,

wind me up and, and we end up going for 15 minutes.

No, this is, that's, that's what we aim for.

It's a pretty free form conversation here.

Yeah, good.

Yeah.

So I mean, talk about car stuff.

So we were talking just a little bit before we started.

You don't get to drive as many cars as you once did,

driving everything new,

but you still get in a couple every now and then, right?

Once in a while.

Yeah, I mean, although I have to say,

like for the last 18 months, it's been very few

because I've been, I was head of content

at Motorsport Network.

And really a lot of that was about it was business stuff

and it was just getting, getting the company to run.

So I mean, I almost didn't,

I'm trying to think of,

I go to, you know, I went to the New York auto show

and sat in everything and kind of tried to, you know,

but it's, yeah.

So anyway, but we could, let's, let's see.

Let's see what I know.

You guys, I'll follow your lead.

Well, no, I was just going to say

if there's anything like recently

that's really impressed you that you're surprised

about, but it sounds like you haven't gotten it.

Well, no, when it, I mean, to be honest, like I,

well, all right, here's, there are a couple of things.

Here's a visceral one is that I saw a Daytona a chart

what is the charge of Daytona, the, the, the,

it was an electric one.

And so I guess the, the inline six is not coming out yet

or that maybe it'll be soon, but I saw one

and it's very impressive looking on the road.

And I don't know whether I'm revealing my age,

but like I would buy one of those.

Like that's, so if we're talking like, like it,

as far as design goes, it has, it has hit a spot where

if you're, you know, if, if you were originally

dragged into this business by looking at muscle cars

and we're never really satisfied

with the muscle car designs that were out there, right?

The big chunky challenger, you know,

the challenger is a big car, right?

I mean, Mustangs, yeah, okay, sure.

The Camaro was always this sort of big chunk fast.

And I know why, right?

Inside impact and all kinds of other stuff.

But somehow the, the, the charger has found a place

that looks has, it has the,

it has this, the presence on the street

that really, really says something, right?

I, I, I mean, it's not, it's not a car

that I think is particularly influential right now.

I think Stellantis is in a very big, very big hole.

I don't know where, how they're going to get out of it,

but that is a bright spot.

I don't know what, is that like, I think that that it's,

otherwise, you know, I mean, I, Kea,

what Kea is doing with EVs, I think is a really,

really interesting what they're doing with design.

You know, they've always kind of led in design,

but they're really going for it.

You know, the Hyundai Santa Fe,

like I saw one of those, I was like, wow,

that looks like it could be the future

from the 80s perspective, you know?

So it's like, they're all, I don't know.

I mean, I'm, I'm happy seeing, I mean, look,

the electric car thing to me was really exciting.

I don't have a particular dog in the fight right now,

but it's really, I like inline sixes as well,

so it's kind of neat to see that come back.

Anyway, that's my sort of off the top of my head thing.

In terms of technology, I haven't, I don't know.

What's the infotainment system to beat right now?

It's funny, it's probably just the Lantus,

just cause you can, it's maybe cause I'm just familiar,

but it's just, it's simple.

That's what's so nice.

You get all the little buttons at the bottom,

either physical or touch, everything's where you think

it would be.

Yeah, it's still my favorite.

Just quickly before we continue with that

to the vehicles you mentioned, it's funny.

Santa Fe is a favorite of ours here at the show

to drive too, it's just such a good value.

And I've driven two chargers,

four door and two door, both electric.

And I've said a four door inline six,

I can't wait because like, that's a car

that maybe one day down the road,

I might get a nice big family car.

I mean, they're big, very big,

but they are a good car,

like they've done a really good job in the mechanics too.

It's not just, it looks cool, it drives really well.

So yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, the EV1, I went to the big thing

that they did around Woodward Dreamcruise

a few years ago when they announced that

they showed it off, right, for the first time.

And I was just blown away by the looks of it.

It was such a strange moment though

to see all the muscle car people there

and see them react to the, like,

this sort of visceral, oh man, that is really cool.

And they're like, Tim Kaniska's kind of like,

you know, sort of holding court with his like,

you know, muscle, this and that.

But then like them realizing like, oh, wait a minute,

that's an EV and it's this sort of weird vibe

in the crowd where it's like, God, you know,

they had to keep bringing in like,

like pro-touring versions of older Mopar products, right?

To kind of like keep them all excited,

but it was a very weird time.

And I, yeah, I don't know.

I think it's a hard sell still.

And it's proving to be,

but I think once the sixes come,

that car will sell well again,

especially if they keep the pricing is what they mentioned.

Yeah.

Well, moving on to maybe some new or old cars,

this is something we ask a lot of people,

is there a car that you've been after for a long time

or maybe recently now really wanna get a hold of?

Well, you know what's funny?

I've never owned an Aircool 911, right?

And then also I don't see myself as an Aircool 911 guy

because I think it's problem,

the problem now is that,

you know, if you buy an Aircool 911, first of all,

you know, you're paying a, you know,

it's at a level way beyond where we even thought

it was gonna be when we were predicting

and they were gonna go up.

But you sort of have to live the Aircool 911 thing.

You have to live it.

You have to go to Lufthansa Colting.

You have to go to like, you know,

do all the other 911 stuff.

So I feel like it's almost like become

too much of an identity car.

Even though I still want one

and I wanna own one at some point,

I gotta figure out which one and is it like,

can I get a 2.7 liter car, cheaper

and then just live that experience

for a little while and then sell it?

I don't know.

That's just, that's on the list, but I've just,

you know, I've never had one.

That's a good goal to have.

I do know what you mean though about the,

yeah, you're buying into a lifestyle at that point.

I was on an event recently.

It was Rancho Santa Fe, I wanna say.

So just north of San Diego,

we went to the Cars and Coffee on the weekend,

which was a really cool part to include in a launch event.

And someone had an incredible 356 kid car.

And he was telling people

that the Porsche guys wouldn't let them park with them.

It was so nice, it sounded great, didn't matter.

They were like, no, you have to park over there.

Right, right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I saw, it's funny.

I saw one of those in Austin.

I don't know who made the kit.

It was, you know, obviously it, you know,

it's a type four motor, a newer type four motor

under the, would that be a boot or bonnet at that point?

But yeah, you know, you're right.

And it's like the purist always ends up

kind of alienating other people anyway, right?

But Porsche has some purists that are like legendary.

So I don't, I'm not really surprised by that.

But yeah, I mean, you know, and it's,

I think the other car for me is, you know,

I keep having dreams of making a,

like building a, you know, a 308,

like a Ferrari, not a, not a Bertone 308,

a Penafrina 308 that is kind of like who was the guy

who did it with the, he built it for SEMA.

Mike, he, with the Honda motor in it,

did a really nice, really nice,

like almost like a Liberty walk kind of thing with it.

But I, that's kind of where I, my head is right now.

I would love to do like a hot rod 308.

Oh, yeah, it was a few years ago.

Yeah, it was a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Right, right, great, great job.

I, you know, it was a, it was good content

came out of that.

He did a nice job kind of like bringing

everybody along in that build.

Yeah, I mean, that's where my,

my kind of head is at like hot rod and something weird.

Not weird, but like, he's already done that.

But like, I wanted to do a Pinto,

like a really, a really good, but like early Pinto build.

There's a guy, you know, in who races SCCA

who brings his Pinto to Sebring every year.

I always forget, I've taken a million pictures of it.

Purple, and it's cool.

It's like, you know, like the Pinto, I think is,

aside from, you know, obviously the possibility of,

I mean, you know, the explosions and stuff.

But like, that's something where,

that's the other place where my head is.

It's like, would I, would I want it to spend $100,000

on a G-Body 911 or would I want to do something

more interesting?

I think I'm at the, I would like to do more,

something more interesting with that money.

I, you're speaking right to me because same thing as,

I like some old muscle cars

and even the 90s cars now are getting ridiculous.

And like you said, it's a lifestyle.

You got to research where to get the parts

and go to swap meets.

And whereas I'm like, I'd like to LS swap an SVX.

I think that would be a lot.

Oh, someone on the net is K-swapping a Hellcat right now,

which is-

Oh my God.

Well, K-swap, you know, K-swap all the things

is kind of like, I had a third gen MR2

that I really loved and everybody else made fun of me.

Lentlessly for years.

And that was my last thing before I just sold it

and said, I just don't have time for this thing,

but like a K-swap would have been the move, I think,

for that.

But the problem is like, if it had any more power

and if it had limited slip,

I understand why they didn't do limited slip

is because the car would spin in a second.

It would just like, it would spin off throttle.

It would just be crazy.

Anyway, yeah, I think something like that,

a K-swap, something, right?

Something cool.

Yeah, something unusual.

Yeah.

One other thing, I like, it's sort of like,

I wrote a piece for Road and Track a couple of years ago

about no prep drag racing, right?

Which is something that, you know,

it's just outside of what I've been kind of,

I've been around.

I mean, I know, I mean, I grew up with the street racing guys,

but like, that's an interesting crew, right?

Right now, I think.

They're doing interesting stuff.

They're finding ways to make drag racing interesting

to people and legal.

And, you know, the bedding is really fun.

Like, you know, you pull the numbers

out of the Crown Royal bag and you know,

it's like, they've got this whole fun thing.

And I think that they're, that's the thing

is they've really brought a lot of fun back to a thing

that, you know, is illegal,

but people wanna be around stuff.

They wanna be live, I think.

This is sort of segueing into the thing where,

yeah, cars and coffees are great,

but like, I was just in Austin for the WEC race

and it rained, but it was like,

there are a lot of people who go to sports car racing

and not a lot of people who watch it.

So it's like, you've got like the whole live,

the whole live aspect of both motor sports

and cars in general, I think are,

to me, starting to feel more relevant than content

because there's so much content.

And I know that it's a tough thing for us

to kind of come to terms with,

but I feel like people would rather be in front of it

than watching it on YouTube at this point.

Am I, is that way overstatement, but it's, you know.

No, I think there's value there.

Like on one hand, the fact that we now have videos

in our pocket or video cameras in our pocket,

it does make a lot of this more accessible

than it used to be, but I think, yeah,

it's still a barrier, whereas, you know,

like cars are getting not rarer,

but it's becoming more important

to actually have the experience

than to just watch it on your screen.

And I think that's encouraging.

It's always great to see the next generation

taking up stuff that we like.

So we're like, oh, good, it'll survive.

Yeah, but yeah, I agree.

I think doing stuff like that is important.

And I think that's something

that the next generation is very much issuing

is the all digital experience.

They want more real experiences.

Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, it's funny.

It's hard to say, like it's really a lot of it is anecdotal,

but I mean, there were a lot of kids with their parents

at Coda last weekend.

It's great to see that being fans

of small GT teams, like it's really, it's really neat.

I mean, I think that's the thing about the smaller series

while F1 gets a lot of the attention

where like the smaller series,

you can still walk through the paddock

and you can still meet the drivers

and you sort of, you know, you could feel like

you're rooting for a person and a team of people

and not just a brand or something.

Brand has entered the chat as a content person.

My biggest fear, right?

Because, you know, like the impersonal stuff is dying

and it's going to, it's gonna keep doing that, right?

Really things that don't feel connected to people

is just not gonna work.

Anyway, that's, I don't want to go too deep

into media theory and like that's,

it's sort of, that's why I think the car world

is still popping off because it's about the community,

whether it's online or people that you meet

at whatever event you're at is that, you know,

that's, there's so much in all of this stuff that we do,

there's so much of it is about the social part

and whereas with gadgets and stuff,

like you could never see another person

and be a gadget person, but like cars are this big

and you gotta be, you know, you gotta be somewhere

where there are other human beings around.

So anyway, that's like car week,

I didn't go this week, this year in Monterey

but it looked massive, you know, I mean, there's just,

you know, I think that's what's great about the car scene.

Yeah, when people say youth or kids or whatever

are into cars, it's like you're just not looking

at the right spot.

Every generation finds a different thing they like.

I mean, I remember when I was a teen in the 20s,

it was the height of the Nopi and Fast and Furious

and all that and they thought we were ridiculous

putting body kits on cars and went, I mean, we weren't,

but we were super into cars but the guys before us

with their muscle cars were like, what are these kids

doing and then I remember when I hit my 30s

and everyone started dancing cars, I was like,

that's dumb, but that was a whole other thing.

Yeah, yeah, but Nopi is a great example

is that all the hot import nights, all that stuff

really brought people out and it was fun,

it was something to do and I felt like there was a period

in the middle there where a lot of that went away

and everybody was sort of left with online stuff

and then it sort of roared back because like,

they were just tired of being in the house.

I mean, COVID, I think COVID worked in the favor

of car culture because people were able to get out,

be in their cars and then go on a drive

with a bunch of other people and still be separated

in some way but then also get, like when they

were also part of a group too.

So, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's still a fun thing.

It's still a thing that I want to be part of

and I still get a kick out of it.

Yeah, and I think that's why so many of us

still do this, right?

It's like, we just, we love it.

We love so many aspects of it.

Yeah, well, I was gonna say,

we should probably let you get back to your day.

Yeah, this is cool, yeah.

I'm gonna be back for seven hours

and then we'll have you back on for sure

down the road many times.

Yeah, many times.

Hardly any topics.

I know.

This was so much we could talk about.

Yeah, we asked the one question that we asked every guest

and otherwise we just had the conversation

which is like kind of proving the point

that we're getting at with all of this.

Yeah.

Yeah, sorry.

No, that's good.

It's like, yeah, it's a good, yeah, it's funny

because I think, you know,

and I don't even remember what the question was

because we went in so many different directions

but like, yeah, this is the fun part, right?

I mean, this really is the like,

this is why I love talking about cars with people

and that was what everything I've ever done

is was based on that, whether it was Drive

or Jalopnik or anything was about,

you know, talking about cars with people.

And I think that that really ended up being

kind of luckily the best part of doing this

for this long is that you just get to meet so many people.

Yeah, no, I agree.

So just before we let it go,

is there somewhere people can find you these days?

Nope, LinkedIn, I don't know.

We'll see what happens next.

Yeah, I don't know where the balloon's gonna land next.

I mean, I'm working with my buddies at Tension Vector

like I have done on and off for 17 years.

Yeah, we're working on a couple of things

that will probably be out soon.

But yeah, other than that,

I'm just sort of, you know, like just chilling out,

trying not to just eat everything all the time

because that's the problem of being sort of in between jobs.

You sort of are knocking around the house,

sort of looking at the ordering stuff and eating it.

But, you know, hopefully we'll keep that under control.

All right, well, sounds good.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And like I said, I'm definitely happy on again

and I'm sure there's gonna be lots of people out there

looking to get you on their team.

We'll see, yeah, we'll see what's next.

I'll keep you guys posted.

Yeah, great to see you guys again.

Yeah, it's been a while.

Yeah, it was great.

Thanks, Mike.

All right, welcome back.

We once again have Colm joining us to talk at one

and a lot happened in a week as is usually the case

and there's a little bit of controversy.

There's always controversy, which is good.

It's good to have controversy versus no controversy.

This is the, yeah, I was curious even to get your take

on the Oscar giving a spot back to Lando

in the end of the race

and whether or not that was warranted or not.

I have my opinions, but what do you think?

Are you...

I think I get why they did it

because I mean, the team screwed up and they felt bad.

It's not like there's a history that's happening to them.

I can see if this is like the fourth time,

like, okay, let's give a spot back.

But yeah, I mean, I see it from both sides for once,

not for once, but recently Lando

hasn't been in control of the situation.

So he kind of was doing better and then his team messed it up.

I remember this happened to Oscar a while ago,

like way back, maybe even last year.

And they gave the spot back to him

and I remember Lando was not happy

and they didn't know if Lando was going to do it.

I remember too.

And he did it very last minute.

Yeah, there was a long discussion that I remember

between the drivers going back and forth

and I felt like, yeah, this brought back memories of that

as well for me.

So there's a precedent so I get why they did it.

I mean, if they didn't have such a lead driver-wise,

it's almost like they're just throwing Lando a bone.

Like, what are we talking?

Two points difference on a 30-something point lead.

So yeah, I mean, I don't think they needed to do it.

The best part of this whole thing

is seeing all the online memes and stuff after it.

Like my favorite one was something like Oscar,

Lando's broken up with his girlfriend.

So to be fair, you need to break up with yours now.

I was going to break up the exact thing.

I made up the exact.

So I agree.

I think it's silly.

Again, I was looking at it

because I saw it like the radios there

where Max Verstappen's engineer radioed him

and basically told him the whole situation.

And he was like, he would never have given it up.

Like it doesn't matter if he was like, you know,

a hundred points ahead.

He's like, nope, not doing it.

And I do think that it's easier for Oscar to give it back

because he feels, I think, pretty comfortable.

And it's actually kind of a macho move,

but you could also really come to regret that later on.

Like imagine you did that

and then you DNF the next race and Lando wins

and all of a sudden you're behind in the championship.

You'd be like, damn, right?

Yeah, no, I agree.

If this was like a five,

even a 10 point spread when it happened.

Yeah, I mean, if the team, like they messed up,

they shouldn't like,

I know you make mistakes in pit stops.

Maybe you should swap the order of when they came in then

if that was, if you're that concerned about it.

Yeah, but to me, it's like there's jeopardy

in every pit stop.

I just feel like it's a, to me, I honestly think,

I, like, if I was PSG, I would not have wanted to give it back

because I'm like, look, it's not my fault

that it screwed up and it's not even necessarily the team.

It's just the way things worked out.

Like somebody could have put a wheel there

or something else could have happened.

There could have been a safety car.

Who knows, right?

That could have messed the whole thing up.

So it seems pretty weird.

I feel like so far,

the no number one driver strategy is working for McLaren,

but you just feel like it's a ticking time bomb, right?

And somebody will get upset and it won't end well

for one of them.

And one, you know, it's like, I think back to the,

you know, was it Weber and Vettel at Red Bull,

you know, with the controversies there.

So I-

It's been approached.

Yeah, yeah, like it's gonna happen.

I'm just waiting for it.

Maybe it won't even happen this season

because if the Astrid can stay ahead far enough,

then it avoids any problems.

Yeah, they're so dominant this year.

I don't think this year it will happen.

Like you said, unless there's like suddenly

two DNS in the Astrid,

but then that's a different issue.

Like it doesn't have to do with this.

That's Norse takes them out.

But yeah, and like next year,

this could happen doing that.

I also get the small argument

this keeps Norse ahead of first happen

who's winning the race and get gaining points.

And they want to keep him in second,

but there's a decently there too.

But again, second to third isn't a great deal of points.

If it was like Verstappen was second

and Norse was either gonna win or come third,

there's a big difference, but-

Yeah, yeah, they want to get them up there.

So they want to be one too.

And I mean, they've already got the constructors,

which we'll talk about in a second.

That's, I don't think they can pretty much DNF,

double DNF the rest of the races,

they probably still win.

I think they basically,

I think that the stats or something,

they could actually, yeah, do that,

like not show up until like the last race of the season

and still win the championship.

I mean, they could maybe clinch next week already.

Yes, well, that's, I think that's my next slide.

There's a, yeah, so that's,

there they are with their outrageous advantage

of what is it, 617 to 280 points,

which is nuts.

And I think I ran some stats on,

so first of all, I guess it's there,

they can win the championship in Baku.

So, so long as they beat Ferrari by nine points

and assuming Mercedes doesn't have to score them by 12 points

or Red Bull by 33 points.

And then that will be a record winning the championship

with seven races to spare.

That's basically never, it's never happened before.

So, yeah, like I was going to say,

even in Mercedes dominant days,

Ferraris before that Red Bulls recently,

they never had this,

but that's because we just kind of said Red Bull.

McLaren kind of has two number one drivers,

two drivers that could go on any team

be really good.

And it's not like the other teams didn't,

it's just they had a clear one two

and the two, especially in Red Bull, struggled often.

Yeah, and then Ferrari,

the like the clerk's been doing well,

but Hamilton's kind of struggled.

And then, you know, Mercedes, you know,

Antonelli started the season pretty good.

It was been pretty mediocre since then.

So.

Even when Hamilton didn't win

and came second to his teammate,

there was still a good battle with other drivers that year.

It wasn't like the two of them were miles ahead.

And most of Hamilton's wins too.

I mean, when he was dominant,

Botas wasn't always necessarily right there.

So, yeah, this season's crazy.

It's, I wonder at what point too,

I guess first stop is still kind of hanging on,

but I wonder what point too it's clinched

that it's going to be a McLaren champion,

just a matter of who.

Oh, so, so I did the stats.

This is the joys of chat GBT

is that they could do the funny math.

I've, I've glad you brought this up

because I was going to.

So, so here's the only way

for Stappen to wins the championship and not McLaren,

which is like an outrageous idea.

He has to win every race

and Piastri has to collect less than 106 points,

which is roughly 13.25 points per race

or basically fourth or lower.

So for Verzappen to win the championship,

he has to win and every single race

and Piastri has to come fourth or worst

and Lando has to be second or worst.

So I guess he's coming second

and for Stappen's winning.

So, so for that one that we race,

he's going to beat Lando no matter what.

He could, he could if he wins every single race,

but that's basically the distance.

It's kind of a.

So he has to win every race

and Piastri realistically probably needs a DNF one or two

because it's probably going to come second or third

in a lot of those races.

Well, the DNFs, I mean, they matter huge, right?

Like, you know, it's the difference

because like first and second,

it's like eight points, right?

But a DNF that's you're tossing away

more than like three races worth of points.

So yeah, where would Lando be

if he didn't run into Piastri and take himself out?

And if his chassis didn't break two races ago.

I love it.

Nobody buys it.

Like that's, you know, we were talking probably 30 points

at least, if not more, he's lost there.

So yeah, and then we'd have a real controversy

between the two, but you know what?

Piastri wins this year.

Good for him.

And then Lando can try next year.

Like you said, then the number one driver thing

becomes an issue or does it because...

Ah, there you go.

So this is the, yeah, it's funny when we're talking about,

you know, things blowing up,

if things go poorly for one of the drivers,

one of them might want to leave.

And so this is the most substantiated rumor

I've come across in a while

that Ferrari is apparently interested in Piastri

as a Hamilton replacement

when Hamilton's contract runs out.

Like I think...

That's a while still.

Well, no, I think it's just next year.

Like he runs...

Only two years?

I think Hamilton just has a two-year contract.

So he's this year and next year.

And then I think there's an extension, like a possibility,

but I feel like...

That's not gonna happen.

I feel like Hamilton...

The way things are going.

Yeah, if he doesn't do better next year,

he's not gonna want to stick around, right?

And there's nowhere else to go.

So he'll retire and I'm like,

that Ferrari almost has this problem of like,

they can't just hire anybody, right?

They can't just fill a seat.

They can't just like hire a Pierre Gazelle.

Like that just doesn't work.

They need to hire somebody who is

I mean, maybe they don't.

Maybe they could bring in,

like as long as they have the clerk,

they can bring in somebody who's mediocre,

but I think they need a top-tier driver.

Generally they want two top-tier drivers.

And so, you know, they could go...

So this rumor is basically a Italian journalist said

that he understands from inside Ferrari

that they're eyeing Piastri,

but that's like two stages of hearsay.

It's like everyone's saying,

first half is moving.

Maybe Hamilton goes back to Mercedes and Toto

for a reunion then, his career.

Well, they also signed Max

and I don't know where George goes then, but...

Yeah.

Imagine if F1 didn't have a two-car limit,

like it was like NASCAR, Indy,

where the big teams could have as many as they want.

Ferrari would have like five top-tier drivers

that they're just trying to collect

as many points as possible.

Yeah, yeah, maybe that's what they need.

That'd be fun.

Or they could have two teams, like red, but hold on, wait.

Oh, wait, yeah, well, yeah.

All right, final story.

Final story, although I have a little tidbit at the end,

although I don't know if we've talked about it before,

but yes, this is interesting.

This is the going way back to, what is it, oh, eight?

So the, or is it 2010?

I can't remember.

Basically that Felipe Massa is,

he's been fighting and putting together the steps

for a long time to try and sort of have a court look

at the fact that he thinks he should have won

the, yeah, the 2008 championship.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I was just looking at something that,

so yeah, so it was Hamilton won that year,

and it really was Massa actually had it,

and they thought, he and his family thought

they had won the world championship,

and then Hamilton, because of the position he came in,

actually won by just one point.

And it all ties into the fact

that there's Crashgate was that year,

and I guess Hamilton picked up extra points

in Crashgate when he shouldn't,

they think he shouldn't have

because of how the team's finished

and that basically Massa is sort of basically

having a court case to say that the FIA

should have like tossed out some of the points earlier

from some of the other drivers

and that would have jiggered things around

and Massa would end up being world champion.

So he's fighting for it and he's trying to have it still.

So we'll see if that happens.

Apparently there's an actual court date set

in October 28th to 31st,

and there'll be people from the FIA

and Bernie Eccleston will be there

and all kinds of stuff.

So I'm fascinated by what happens here and how it works

because everyone's a sport, like any sport

and maybe the wrong call was made at the time,

but like how do you go back and fix all this?

Are we gonna go back in baseball and football

with instant replay now

and look at all the calls that were wrong

over the last 60 years, 80 years,

and say, oh, no, no, this game changes

and then this playoffs should have changed.

Agreed, I don't think they,

there's no way they overturn this.

Like it's great as a court case,

but I just don't see it happening.

And even if they do overturn it,

like you'd have to say like, okay,

we give you something,

but we're not taking away Hamilton's championship, right?

Like that seems like an unjust situation.

It's not like he was the one doing dirty things.

It was another team.

So yeah, it's like he would really just be like,

he's like, why am I getting screwed here?

So it's interesting.

The only other tidbit of info I had

and I don't know if we discussed this before

that for the Max Verstappen fans out there

that he is in fact racing this weekend

when the podcast goes live,

I said he'll have already raced at the Nürburgring

in a GT3 spec.

I think Porsche Cayman is the idea.

So, because the plan is he has to do this

to get his official ability

to enter the Nürburgring 24 hour race next year.

And I actually, because I've seen some more photos lately

I think you would have theory

that it might be racing a Ford.

And I kind of like that.

I feel like that's a, that would be a Ford thing to do.

And to, yeah.

And I feel like that's a motivating factor here.

So yeah.

Like I said, the insurance and liability is massive.

So Ford could say like, yeah, we'll cover it.

He's racing our car next year.

Well, not our car, but our engine next year.

So we'll cover whatever $10 billion liability for Ford.

Yeah, to have Verstappen in a Mustang GTD

or whatever whipping everybody's butt on the Nürburgring

they would like, you know, that's,

that's worth a lot of pennies.

So yeah, a lot of euros.

So, and while we're writing sports wrong,

just to wrap this up, I guess we should go back

and give him Galarega, his no hitter in Detroit.

That was robbed from, or perfect game.

Sorry, perfect game.

There you go.

And the Sabres can get their 99 stand the cup back

from Brad Hall having his foot in the crease.

So there.

I like, we gave you two more minutes.

You might have a few more of them.

Try to think of some more where it was like terrible calls.

Well, I mean, being a Toronto native,

we did get a high stick from Gretzky

and those, those semi-finals that was, yeah.

There you go.

You could bring like six more next week.

I'm sure you can.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

Well, I'm sure next week we'll have enough F1 to talk about.

Be interesting to see about this,

what you're talking about with the Nürburgring race

and what happens at McLaren, if anything.

Yeah, maybe, maybe we'll have a champion soon.

Yeah, I suspect we will.

Yeah, me too.

All right.

Especially with the way Ferrari's been lately, so.

Cool.

Sounds great.

All right, we'll have a good week

and we'll talk to you later.

Sounds good.

See you, Mike.

Okay, so we're just about to wrap things up here

on the Auto Guide Show brought to you by eBay Motors.

We'll just take a quick look

at what we're doing this week and next week.

So Kyle, we talked about you were driving the Leaf,

not here for a lot of this week.

And now you're back, what are you driving?

So I have two things, one of which was very last minute,

but obviously I would not say no to it.

But first, I'm driving the Ford Maverick XLT Hybrid

all-wheel drive.

Pretty much the ideal Maverick for the new model.

So it was face lifted this year.

I drove it a couple of months back on the launch.

And so this is the mid-level trim.

It's the all-wheel drive hybrid.

So it's what everyone was asking for.

And yeah, it's, I'll save my thoughts for later.

But yeah, I mean, the thing that I've said

since the Maverick debuted,

it's more or less a nut truck for what most people need.

And the other thing, complete opposite end of the spectrum.

We have a Lamborghini Revuelto

parked downstairs right now.

I had to literally measure the speed bumps

around my neighborhood to make sure

that it was okay to bring.

And it costs more than my condo.

It is a thousand and one horsepower.

It is the V12 with three electric motors.

It is a bright neon green.

It's very Lamborghini.

You and I have driven a few Lamborghinis over the years.

And yeah, this is my first non-SUV.

It is wild.

I had to watch a bunch of videos before I got in it

to understand how to operate it.

And yeah, I'm gonna go show it off to my nieces and nephews

and my family over the weekend

because that's what you do with silly cars.

You share the love.

Coolest uncle ever.

So I'm in something not like either of those two.

I am in the BMW 540i Legacy, which is interesting.

As we've said before, it's the only 540i in Canada.

I mean, you have one in the States.

So it's nice because it was like a four cylinder or V8 here.

There's no six in the middle.

So it's nice to have that.

It's Legacy, it's got the throwback blue paint

from the 540i of the 90s.

Other than that, oh, and the badging,

which is kind of cool.

That's the old 540i badge.

Oh nice.

Other than that, there's like no throwback.

Like it's not, it's just paint and badge.

But the 5 Series is such a nice car.

And this engine is probably the best one for it.

The 8's overkill is not like the four cylinders under power,

but you expect some performance.

And this has more than you need.

So far I really enjoy it.

And of course it's 5 Series and it's super smooth.

I just, this isn't a car specific.

This is a BMW specific and even extends their minis.

I hate how they force you into their drive modes

and experiences and you can't customize anything anymore.

It's like, pick this or pick that.

And then within there, there's so little

you can actually change.

Like I liked being able to set up my own personal ones.

Like, oh, personal.

Oh, I can turn stability on and off.

Thanks.

Yeah, cause I was just gonna say,

like the last few BMWs that I drove were M's

and you can customize.

Oh, M's are different, yes.

But yeah, like I never thought about that

with regular ones, you can't.

I can be expressive or sport or commerce.

Yeah, I mean, it looks cool.

And the way that there's ambient lighting

in the screens is really cool.

But yeah, I'll save my rest of my opinion of it later.

Next week, we will be in new vehicles.

Yes.

I think, are you actually in town next week?

No, but I do have a press car lined up

because I travel for a short thing

in the middle of the week.

So I'm gonna drive the Mazda MX-5 Miata

35th anniversary edition.

So it has some unique touches.

And I'm excited because everyone should drive a Miata

on a fairly regular basis in this job

because it is an ultimate pallet cleanser.

And then I'm traveling to California

to drive some Toyota GR products on the track.

Sounds like a boring week.

It's gonna be tough, but I'll power through.

I am trading in my five series for a mini five series,

the BMW mini five door.

So I know it's just the mini five door,

but it's so similar now.

And I've driven the Countryman, the convertible.

I guess I don't have driven the two door,

but the Countryman was the electric one too.

And I've always been a fan of minis.

I don't know if it's my thing in the sense of I buy one,

but I totally get the appeal and I enjoy driving them.

So I'm looking forward to this because this is the,

it's crazy to say this,

but it's one of the few sort of compact four doors left

on the market.

And if you say a five door with a hatchback,

it's very rare.

So yeah, especially its size.

I mean, yeah, there's civics and stuff,

but they're like mid-sized now.

They've grown so much.

So I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like.

I'm excited.

You're our resident mini expert at this point.

It seems to be.

So anyway, that wraps up another episode

of the AutoGuide show.

We will be back next week with more stories,

a ton more reviews and some new guests.

So until then we will see you later.

So long everybody.

eBay has reinvented car buying

from click to curb everything is covered.

Ever tried to buy your car online

and end up in a parking lot

with a stranger on blind trust?

That era is over.

Now with secure purchase,

eBay isn't just where you find your car.

It's where you buy it, start to finish.

Title, financing, registration, delivery.

It's all built in.

This is the modern way to buy your next ride on eBay.

eBay, things people love.

Secure purchase is powered by Carmel Dealer Services,

LLC and eBay subsidiary.

Nissan LEAF, Ferrari Testarossa, Cadillac Escalade, Volkswagon Taos, and Mike Spinelli Joins Us

About this episode

Nissan Leaf

Nissan Pathfinder

Honda Crv

Toyota Corolla Cross

Testarossa Testarosa

Cadillac Escalade

Chevrolet Corvette

Infiniti QX80

Lincoln Navigator

Land Rover Range Rover

Bmw X7

Toyota Camry

Porsche 911

Dodge Challenger

Ford Mustang

Chevrolet Camaro

Dodge Charger

General Motors Ev1

Porsche 356

Challenger Hellcat

Toyota MR2

Ford Mustang GTD

Ford Maverick

Revuelto

BMW 540I

Mazda MX-5 / Miata

Mini Countryman

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from The AutoGuide Show