Nostalgia Is An Illness

Welcome to the universe podcast, my name is Ross Pallett, and I am with my good buddy, Dan

Roth, who is our producer and all-around swell guy.

All-around swell guy, yeah.

That's right.

That's what it says at the top of his resume.

It is, actually, yeah.

So thank you for joining us.

First show of 2026, we are a little behind the buck here, just, you know, have to shake

the jitters out.

Yeah.

You know what it is?

We wanted to give everybody else a chance to get their first stuff out, and then come

back with the quality that we are known for, and we didn't want them to feel inferior.

Exactly.

So, yeah.

It's all in good nature and the good of our hearts.

Yeah.

But, yeah, thank you for joining us, and just to close out, you know, our last go-around,

thank you for everybody that did tune in and listen and watch the episode with Savage

Geese, with Jack and Mark did great.

How about the Savage Geese?

Yeah, they did a good job.

That's a great show.

Yeah.

Good guys, good show.

We have awesome, awesome talk.

It's weird, but the cars we discussed, the GTD and the ZR1 and, you know, the GT3,

they already feel like the last years news, you know, because the automotive industry

moves so quickly, especially at the cutting edge of things.

But here we are.

We're in 2026, and they'll be more shows.

We have some in the vaults that we can turn around, and so if you start to see a show

with like, there's one with Johnny Lieberman that was from a while ago.

I'm sorry, Johnny.

But I'm going to publish that soon.

We talked about cars from last year.

That's okay.

It's not Johnny's fault.

You know, it's a time machine.

That's all.

We're just, we're having fun with temporal relations, which sounds.

Yeah.

Speaking of time machines, the reason that we actually decided to put out this show

ahead of an episode with a very special guest who will be coming in the next

few weeks is our good friend Robbie sent us an Instagram, I believe, I think it was

Instagram, but you published an ad spot, a commercial, if you will, that is, is it

a 15-seconder?

Yeah.

I think it's like a real, and it was real or relevant because the first half

of it or probably the first three quarters of it is just perfectly immaculate

GNX, black GNX, on a podium, spinning, showing all of how awesome the GNX is.

Yeah.

It started off with such promise.

And then the mic drops and it comes, the camera comes out of the TV and it turns

around and it points at the Buick and Vista.

And that's honestly the biggest fault and biggest problem with not just this piece

of media, but with their current lineup is that as much as they're trying, completely

forgettable.

I mean, look, I don't have a problem with the Invista.

I think it's probably fine.

I had one for a week last year and it was exactly that.

It was a Chevy Trax with less space in the back.

It's pretty.

I'm sure the interior is nice ish.

It looks like a Eurus.

I know it does.

It does.

Every time I see the Eurus, I'm like, that's a Lamborghini.

It's also very expensive and it looks like trash.

The Eurus Avenir.

It's fine.

It's it's a it's a good option.

I would cross shop it if I was looking for a vehicle in that in that class.

Thirty two thousand dollars.

Yeah.

I mean, compact SUV range.

Sure.

I had a trip.

If you go on a little drive, you can't I had no problem with the tracks.

I thought it was actually a good vehicle.

But it's it's kind of anonymous.

And so here's the weird thing.

My first reaction to this spot and I'll cut it into the show.

I'll grab it and cut it in so people can see what we're talking about.

But my first reaction was a couple of things, the nostalgia play,

which we can talk about.

But also the when they get to the Invista, it's red.

And it's not stationary.

And there's no it's it's not a special edition.

It's not.

There's no tie in.

It's just we we baited you.

And there's no reason other than this is the only way to get you to look

at our current line up here, coming down the phone.

It reminded me of and I said this in our chat, too.

It reminded me of in cars when Lightning McQueen found all the

like the stuff that's in Doc Hudson stuff like the GNX is Doc Hudson.

And like it's and it's a red and Vista like it's like my young,

my older daughter.

So it's yeah, it's so good.

It's it doesn't it's I mean, it sucks, but it's also it doesn't suck.

It's have you seen Tangent?

Have you seen the Pixar story spine?

Once upon a time there was and every day they until one day and then and then.

And you get to that tracks that actually really does.

That's that's the story.

I haven't seen every Pixar movie, so I can't attest to that.

But yeah, they all follow it.

It's great.

But it's a good movie.

It's it's a good movie.

Yeah, there are moments that are excellent.

There you have the Rascal Flats cover of the Don Cochran song.

And that's that's good.

Their covers in the original, not exactly in my or Tom Cochran.

I'm not going to do politics.

Look, they did a great job on that song.

They did a great job on that song.

There's 20 something years ago.

Anyways, 10 years ago was the regal GS, which was actually good.

And in black was actually kind of right, right?

Like not reminiscent, but had that same kind of mojo.

Yeah, understated like.

You don't know what I'm up to, but I'm going to fuck you up.

Right. But you know, you it was not there at that point.

They the company that's a thing like, you know, like they're like 10 years

line Cadillac, like, yes, nobody give a shit about 2005.

CTSV in 2015.

The CTSV was like it was M5 or CTSV.

All that that thing was a fucking killer weapon.

Yeah.

But this wasn't even a special edition and Vista like it was just

it was just an investor.

Like there was no tie in no reason.

It just it was like OK.

So like and the GNX I get like it's culturally people are more aware

of it because of of the Super Bowl last year and just like that album

and all that like the Kendrick stuff.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right. That was Kendrick.

That was yeah.

Yeah.

But other than that, like there's there's no reason and that bothered me.

So it was on it.

Yeah. And it just and it was a GNX.

And it was 800 GNX is ever or something.

They were that was not.

There's at least 800 in Vista's in in in rental fleets in Massachusetts.

Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe not that's just what you know what I mean.

Yeah.

But it also brought up in conversation.

The catalyst here was that it started a conversation

in our in our universe chat about nostalgia and about what is

and isn't the right place for it.

You know, there were there were some years ago

that Lincoln at the auto show had all of their modern cars

and then there was literally a wall dividing those from a continental

and the cars that the brand would you the cars.

You would say the brand was built upon.

Yeah.

And has this livelihood from and.

You know, it's difficult as somebody who's both a consumer

and quote unquote in the media to try to understand

what this rationale becomes.

I mean, in 2005, that era, the Mustang came back as a retro

futuristic thing after we saw the PT Cruiser and the SSR and the HHR

and all and all that stuff.

And it's it really makes you question what the place of nostalgia

is in the modern automotive market.

Well, so nostalgia is an interesting word.

It's not actually that old of a word.

But it was initially meant to describe a disease like a mental disease.

It's it's two Greek words, sort of mushed together.

Nostos means homecoming.

Algos means pain, grief or distress.

So it's just kind of like, you know, the morbid longing to return to your home

or so it's it's that and it was it was like homesick almost.

Yeah.

And that's really like it came out of armies, sort of like it was

it was that description of people who were in, you know,

in like in the Civil War, it was a kind of a medical diagnosis as well.

It's just like that homesickness, that desire to be home.

And now it's it's gotten it it's gotten sort of translated more now.

It's just like, you know, nostalgia is it's not necessarily.

It's just longing for the past.

It's yeah, it's like, hey, that's that's cool.

But in reality, nostalgia is where schizophrenia and homesickness meet.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, and it's like, it can be really corrosive because

what happens with with memory like the actual like

yeah, the way your brain works, you forget the bad stuff.

You remember the good stuff was like really, really there's recency bias.

And then there's the ability to shove all the shit away

and think about only the good.

And that's why that's why you look fondly upon a car.

That was horrible.

But you you love that's why that's why everybody loves the fucking GNX

when it was a G body.

And let me tell you, G bodies were garbage.

They were the 1970s version of the 1960s car that was sold until almost the 1990s.

Those things, the metric GM chassis, it was such a pain in the ass to work on

because it was like it was the big cars shrunk like three quarters scale.

You couldn't get it.

Anything was like.

And I know people love them and they made a zillion of them.

Just that they're not good cars.

I don't like that the GN and the GNX, like they're they're fun and all that.

And like all the special versions, you know, like the the Monte Carlo

and there was a 442 Olds and stuff as well.

Like fine.

The same thing that they did with the Fox body, though, isn't

the Fox was different.

The was also a scaled down.

The Panther was scaled up. Panther was because the Panther

is like the full frame card.

If you look at like a late 60s Galaxy and a Panther, there's a lot of similarity

in the design, like the fuel tank is even kind of in the same orientation and stuff.

The Fox was different.

That was like Ford deciding they wanted to copy Mercedes involved in the early 70s.

That's unibody and it's got fears and struts and stuff.

Oh, well, obviously, I'm way off base here.

And the thing that they were contemporaries, the Fox, the Fox wasn't great either.

Sort of like I am I'm more fond of the Fox.

But yeah, that that nostalgia for for the cars.

The GNs were cool because they have turbo.

The GNX was cool because it was just ridiculously quick

because it was built by ASC.

And it was like a Stunk Works project.

And they looked they looked badass.

Like, you know, I understand why people like them, but they're just not good cars.

People have a tendency to like things that aren't good.

That is that is true.

That explains so much.

Cold classic movies generally aren't great.

Yeah. Yeah.

We don't can make you can make them good now.

You can make a you buy you can you can get you can L.S.

Swap it, you can go to Detroit Speed and get all the chassis stuff and like.

Yeah, you can make them good.

But there's the maximum motorsports or something.

Yeah, I don't know.

My grandmother had a G body cutlass and I just remember being in the back

of that thing full of cigarette smoke with a window that wouldn't roll down.

So wouldn't have any other way.

You want it the same way today.

But it does also bring up the conversation about how we are about

to have an onslaught of of more retro, you know,

the XTERRA is allegedly coming back, right?

The scout is coming back and in multiple forms

and in a way that is very unlike

everything that it was as its original core.

The Rivian R3 looks basically like

looks like a golf modernized golf or Delta Integrale.

You know, there's a huge, again, for lack of a better word,

a huge nostalgia factor in automotive.

And we zoom out.

The automotive world of selling cars.

It's a business, you know.

Yeah. Oh, I don't have that much of an issue with it.

I think the framing of it is really where it matters, right?

Nostalgia, when you think of it as like, oh, it was a simpler time.

No, your understanding of the time was simpler,

but it was just as complex and different.

Our time is more complex now.

Do we actually have more stuff gone on?

They're different.

If you like, I don't think so.

I think it is always going to feel that way because it's so immediate.

But when you start to dig into stuff that happened in, you know,

different eras and centuries, it gets really complex, really fast.

But we're we're taught history and like, you know, great man wars and,

you know, dates so you don't actually get the whole.

But like, if you get that like, well, come at it with like a sociology approach

or something that could, yeah, everything is complicated all the time.

Nuance, nuance is what makes or breaks it.

We were talking about humanities.

There you go.

I want to stop like that any further.

No, no.

But like, yikes.

I think actually like the scout is great because it's it's like.

I haven't seen one.

Have you seen one in pictures?

Anybody that doesn't work in a plant?

No, but look, nobody's seen a slate either, right?

Like, except for the one that they keep moving around or the one

that was on one hour or something.

Yeah, yeah, it's like, they'll get there.

I they'll they'll come out with some cars.

People will see them.

They'll get in the hands of testers.

I hope that they have all the bugs worked out.

The and there's that thing to like the long running nameplate.

I have no problem with that.

Like, yeah, bring it back.

People know what it is.

People are interested.

You'll get attention.

That doesn't mean you have to make it a replica from a business

perspective. Yes.

Using a storied nameplate is a good idea.

Yeah, the Corolla.

The Corolla has been the Corolla for 50 plus years.

Mustang Machi.

They sold more of them

because of that name than they were probably if they had called it.

The Galaxiesion or yeah, right, you know,

exactly. Well, and they're they're stupid, but just like

American manufacturers are nobody there.

No, I mean, look at this.

Like I did.

I did this exercise a while ago, so like GM and Ford, small cars.

Corvair.

We tried that.

No, besmirched the name Nova.

OK, Nova lasted a while.

Nova lasted the 80s.

And then they brought it back as a as a Corolla, the Nami Novas.

The Shavette, one generation.

Oh, Vega, I forgot Vega, Vega, one generation.

They tried to completely reinvent the automobile.

Yeah, one generation.

And then they were out of Vega because we we fucked that up.

Yeah, so Cavalier, Cobalt, Cruz.

Yeah, why they why they renamed the Cavalier.

Cavalier was around for 25 years until they called it the Cobalt.

That made no sense.

Probably, yeah.

And the Cobalt, I mean, sucked, but it didn't suck.

It sucked less than the Cavalier.

The Cobalt, that was rad.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

That was like the start of the Nürburgring

fascination was like in that era.

Where, oh, yeah, said the front wheel drive Nürburgring record.

Yeah, no, for me until it started to rust.

Which all of them did.

You know, if you see a Cobalt in good condition, ask the owner how.

Yeah, it's that was the funniest thing was they were like, yeah,

this isn't the J body.

It's the the Delta.

It's all new. It's so much different.

It's so much better.

We dissected folks like pushing, used to see how they did stuff.

And then they came out and the first Delta was the Saturn Ion.

And you're like, what is that fucking Studebaker?

What the hell?

Right. Looks like it's made out of recycling bins.

That was so hard of their pitch.

Yeah, it was it was weird.

And it was also on red line.

There you go. Yeah, the HH, HHR SS.

HHR SS panel wagons are going to

they'll be they'll be worth double their original value

by the end of this decade.

Yeah, well, they'll be they'll be like three left.

So yeah, and Ford, Ford did the same thing, right?

Ford, small cars you had as you had

Falcon, which was the compact that lasted until 70.

And then it was Maverick and then Pinto started

one generation of Pinto.

So you got to escort escort lasted a little bit, a couple of generations.

And then, yeah, Focus, which they recently killed.

I think they stopped building it in Europe, too.

Like, yeah, I think they're finally not building any like it's still

the platform is still around, but they've decided to go where the money is.

Yeah, the platform is here as a Maverick.

Yeah, a Maverick and an escape escape getting killed, I think.

Which is hey, at least it's not here as an ego or echo sport anymore.

Right.

But you know, the whole point is, though, like

Corolla has been a Corolla forever, even though obviously

it's been on a bunch of different platforms, like that's a known quantity.

And people know what it is.

And you can trade on the success.

You can trade on the name and the recognition.

It takes so long to build a brand and they do it every fucking time

like we're going to introduce a new model and you're going to have to get over

the first two years of what's that like?

What are you doing?

Even if it's a car that had a bad replica, the Vega, fine.

Then be like, hey, we fixed the Vega.

Oh, no, the new Vegas are great.

Like, see how that works?

Like people have shorthand.

They know what it is.

And then you can the general buying public wants evolution, not revolution.

Yeah. And that's what it comes down to, you know.

So we're a little off track from way off track.

That Buick shit show, you know, I'll be interested to see what what Lincoln

brings, because like you talked about, like they showed the old stuff

when Lincoln was trying to position themselves in a much different way

to their like, they got close.

Here's our fusion with door handles of the Continental.

They had a Continental with that car.

They lost so much money on that car. It doesn't matter.

They're awesome.

I think that ever see them without livery plates.

That that era Continental was like 20s, 15 to 19 something like that.

It was so expensive.

No, I've never seen one without livery plates.

I've seen like two without livery plates, always some corks.

They were good looking cars, though.

And they were like actually nice.

And the ones with suicide doors were coach built.

Yeah, awesome.

That those are the ones that like they they should have mass produced

that and sold them for one hundred and seventy.

Stretch wheelbase like eight inches.

I had no argument.

I like the big swings.

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I mean, what else do we what else do we have

for nostalgia coming, though?

Like we've got we covered the scout, which would be interesting.

Rivian, I think they're like good design is timeless.

Oh, Montero. Right.

Did I read that right there?

There's supposedly spy photos on Montero.

OK, is that like one of the like not for here Mitsubishi's

that is based on I don't know if I could be off base.

Well, after you get Jeff DeWay in here from the inside of his

thirty five year old on tarot.

Yeah, I think I think my son saw one the other day

and he was like, that's cool.

I was like, yeah, yeah.

But the extra is allegedly coming back, which.

Good, good.

I they need it.

I don't have any problem with the frontier.

I think I think that's a good truck.

Good. Yeah, I've spent a lot of time

and put thousands of miles on the current gen frontier.

And I really like it.

Yeah, it's a good it's a good truck.

I like it better for Tacoma, which is also a good truck

that I don't like, but that's not a not a bad truck.

It's I just don't like it.

I also I would probably buy the Tacoma,

but I think I prefer the frontier.

I think my favorite right now is the

James Canyon.

I hate that engine.

Fuck yeah, I have I haven't actually driven one.

I just think it looks great.

I did.

I've had like probably five Canyon Colorado press cars.

And I that engine transmission,

the the way it's calibrated is not good.

And OK, there's other stuff

that I'll tell you about offline

that I should say for the greater public's consumption.

OK, but yeah, we have a excuse me.

We have like 10 to 15 minutes.

So you want to let's talk about press cars then.

Press cars. Yeah.

You had you had a bunch.

I had none. Yeah.

I've had some mileage.

I've had some.

We'll talk about to BMW I7 M70, which is OK.

I7 M70 make of.

Wait, can you see that or not?

Yes, I can.

That's actually I can see it.

It is.

I haven't been doing this riverside thing

for a year and a half now,

and we're still kind of trying to figure it out.

Yeah.

So it's what it.

Yeah, what did you think?

It's a good this is like the trope of tropes

and the cliche of cliches.

It's a good thing.

You don't have to look at it when you drive it.

It's not pretty.

You don't think it's pretty?

No, no, no, no, no, it's imposing.

It OK, yes.

It's a large that I agree with imposing.

I I think that car has presence every seven

series I see is just like it gets my attention.

Definitely has presence.

I don't know if it has staying power.

I mean, it feels it already feels like it.

The styling came and went, honestly.

And inside, I don't have a picture of it that I can share.

But it, you know, it has the the screens on the doors

for you to control everything.

And it's got screens galore in the front.

And this one was like one hundred and ninety four grand

as it was equipped.

And it's electric.

You know, this is an I seven, not a seven series.

And say what you will about

an electric full size sedan or whatnot.

This is the most comfortable car I've ever driven.

OK, why?

The ride quality in spite of the.

In my opinion, I did a lot of wheels.

And let's see if I can do it.

Let's see if I can share my screen in real time.

Absolutely phenomenal.

Because I have it, it's screened.

You know, the roads here are not that there's been so much snow

and so much change in.

Well, when I had this car, there was a lot of change in temperature.

It's just been fucking freezing here lately.

As you know, but I am familiar.

Yeah, but like the the cracks and heaves that come in the pavement

this time of year in this car, you just don't even feel them.

And the what really, really stood out.

Which which actually shocked me, because if you look at the thing,

you think it's kind of like a brick and, you know,

wouldn't have a great coefficient of drag, which would in turn

corroborate a quiet atmosphere.

But it is the quietest, best insulated thing that I have ever spent time in.

It is like the definition of like that, you know, that that

safe or chamber kind of thing when you close the door,

like you are sealed off from the world and it is amazing.

And BMW won't want to hear this, but I can almost guarantee

in about five years, you'll be able to buy one for like 25 grand

because electric stands depreciate terribly and luxury sedans depreciate terribly

and put two and do together.

And this is recipe for setting money on fire.

If you want one instead of least one.

Yeah, especially like high end European luxury sedans that are electric.

But that's all the pain money can buy like 30 percent.

You know, it's it is phenomenally quiet and comfortable.

And I mean, to buy something like this, you have to have kind of no care for

for money because it's not the most practical thing.

You know, it's it doesn't have the best range.

It's not the best.

Were you getting out of range?

Oh, I so I don't know because I was charging it

like at every opportunity I have.

Yeah, just because we have one charger, you know, one.

And I talked about the charger that we have.

We have this great charger from the company called Grizzly Canadian company.

And, you know, we plug my wife's car in overnight.

So I would like drive it and I'd come home and I plug it in

and then move it so she could charge.

So I can't attest to the range.

But yeah, you know, it's hard to say something is worth almost 200 grand

when that's no, it's not going to be worth anywhere near that

after the first two months.

But if you're buying it, you're getting what feels like $200,000 worth of comfort.

OK, well, I mean, that's good.

I struggled with the price.

Dude, me too. I goddamn big number.

Yeah. And it's it's an understated car.

I think it's interesting your comment about the the the styling

because it right like your first glance, you're like, well, that's very modern.

And then you look at, you know, like, actually, it's quite conservative,

which is why I don't think it's ever going to look dated.

But it's it's it's not does it favor in this instance,

because you don't see those gaps between the headlights and the fog lights.

Yeah. OK. Yeah. I can see that.

And like if you strip away sort of the the the nose and the grill,

it could be any sedan from any era back to the front of the car.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, no, I mean, it's great if you don't look at it.

Which is why I preface the whole thing by saying it's the cliche that,

you know, it's great to stare at it.

But honestly, the weirdest thing about it is just the lights

and they're not even that weird.

And they're like the large intakes under the lights for either cooling

or the air bubble around the tires or whatever they do.

And it has like active grill that opens and a lot of that stuff.

Where were the screens on the doors?

I didn't I'm just looking at.

So if you're sitting in the back seats, oh, the back seat.

Yeah, yeah, the back seats, not not in the driver.

No, but it does have the automatic doors,

the power doors for the driver and actually for all four of them,

which were great 80 percent of the time.

The problem is if you're in any proximity of a snowbank or yourself,

if you're positioned like a quarter of an inch too far to the side,

it just won't open, you know.

So gosh, oh, no, open the door.

We made something very complex and expensive and heavy and failure

prone to solve a problem that didn't exist.

Well, they have to figure out what luxury items people like and don't like by doing it.

Let me tell you, I I appreciate luxury.

I will spend more for luxury.

I am I I don't think automatic shit is luxurious.

I just wanted to be human that you can look at it

and you can geek out about the quality of the product, the careful design,

the ease of use, the longevity.

Like that's luxury.

You're not the general buying public.

The general buying public thinks that the more tech.

I don't have to tell you this.

You've lived this life, you know, stuff.

The general buying public thinks that luxury is more.

Why does tech equal like screens and computers either?

Like that's that's not.

It's cheaper.

We've established this.

It is cheaper for an automaker to put a screen in the center

through which you control your radio, your HVAC, all of your vehicles.

This is the plight of the current canyon in Colorado.

Why everybody complained about the headlights getting moved to the center

because they were able to eliminate that switch and save 30 cents per vehicle

and put it in screen.

And guess what?

When you're making three hundred thousand vehicles here

because it's it's left side, right side.

That's a global truck.

That's two parts.

You have to inventory two different harnesses, etc.

Like it compounds when you build four hundred thousand of those a year

or whatever that number is, it's an enormous savings.

And that's why.

The automakers love this era of technology

and why consumers just outside of warranty

when the updates stop flowing through will be absolutely infuriated.

Yeah, I look, I I get that wealthy people are so bored

and out of touch that they buy stupid shit.

You technology is is not a mechanical Turk.

OK, that is a parlor trick designed by a charlatan to extract money from you.

Like that's all that is.

Yeah, I really wonder, I mean, I guess it's just the regular seven series,

right, like what this car could be if it were a little bit more normal.

I don't have any problem with the electric powertrain or anything.

Like, I think that's great.

Except for a second, do you really need to go zero to 60 in three and a half

seconds? I don't think you do.

Well, we just saw Mercedes just debuted the refreshed class

and it has the three different gas engine options.

You know, yeah, that's a lot.

I don't know what the EQS looks.

I don't care.

I don't care what it looks like.

OK, we have to make a car.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Kind of like Lyric V, which is another all electric car.

I think this is the first time I've ever only talked about electric cars.

But yeah, this is it's, you know, it's they're like midsize

SUV in the electric spectrum.

They have the OPTIQ and then Lyric and the this stick.

And that is what we say again about names.

Like let's just make this like Fleetwood and Deville, which I guess those those

names are old now anyway.

But like, come on, guys.

Yeah, Lyric the name was whatever the car itself.

This one, I think was it was in like the 90s.

It's like six hundred and fifteen horsepower.

It weighs like six thousand pounds and it still does zero to 60 in the low threes.

And the big takeaway here, like the tech, the screens, all that stuff

is the same as every other GM product.

Like if you're in a Cadillac, it's a Cadillac

with the way they have the screens and everything laid out.

But versus other companies, electric cars, GM's chassis engineers are

fucking lunatics.

Like this is in a good way, in a good way.

I've had and I don't say this in like a brag aspect or anything.

It's just like statistics.

I've had like almost 200 different cars over the last five years.

And this is the first car that I have ever gotten close to having a crashing.

And that was because I was driving up a hill.

I turned right onto a 90 degree street and I put my foot down

just to see what it would do like under power and it kicked the back end out.

And when almost I probably went like

like 120 degrees towards the curb

and then it went into a tank slapper because I let go of the gas

because the giant steps. Yeah.

And it was it made me shit my pants.

And and then I later found like a snowy parking lot

and turned off traction control.

And this is the first actual electric car that does things in a way

you would expect a conventional car to do.

But because of the immediacy of the electric powertrain, there's

like if you're in a four wheel drive, rear wheel drive based gas vehicle,

you put your foot down, there's a millisecond.

Yeah, yeah, there's no in this.

It's just immediate and it completely caught me off guard.

And I don't know if I was like scared after that.

Yeah, to me, it's a healthy respect, right?

But it's and they like they sell these things to retirees.

Yeah, somebody will get hurt.

And I don't doubt that like a hotter one is coming

and they're probably working on ways to extract weight.

But I also drove this thing, you know,

I probably put a hundred and fifty miles on this car

and like it's calm and quiet and it's buttoned down.

And then like on a back road, no, there's no steering wheel whatsoever.

And yeah, it's dead as far as that goes.

But it's actually really just kind of good to drive.

Yeah. And I was very pleasantly surprised.

I was expecting just, you know,

like sensory deprivation chamber in the way the I7 was,

because that's what the mantra of most electric cars is.

But this this could be like your only car.

It could be your fun car and your daily.

And you could get in a lot of trouble with it.

Yeah, I think from everything I'm hearing, like it's it's a good Cadillac.

You know, it's going to be the I.

I think it looks kind of plasticky.

It's very plastic and the whole front of this plastic.

Yeah, it just like it looks it looks cheap because it's overstyled.

It won't make it any less expensive to repair.

No, I do.

Actually, I love the interior.

I hope they have more colors than black, which I think there's a white or beige.

I mean, it's Cadillac.

There has to be there's Florida color, right?

You're not doing black on the interior of Carolina and Florida.

But like that was the thing was like Cadillac, especially in the XTs,

which this isn't really an XT, but even the ATS and stuff,

like they had one color and it was black.

And like that's that's a huge miss.

I get that it also allows them to undercut some of the other competitors

with sure, you know, we have one color.

We have we have one part for all of those pieces.

And the they had to put the little Cadillac vertical

taillights in as like a reflector element or something in the back.

Like I get what they would do it.

But it was and it the bill.

It's time, guys.

If you look at it, it's dumpy.

There was a detraction in practicality.

There was a choice they made in what the shape of the car was.

And it was style forward.

And that's what they chose.

Yeah, I can say is it as it has an on board zero to 60 timer.

And in the cold.

On a closed course with the professional drivers.

It did with no prep and cold tires.

It did a three point due to 60.

Yeah, just faster than the BMW.

You know, that is a serious.

That, yeah, it really also brings us into a conversation

that we should have another show about how.

How unimportant zero to 60 times are to anybody

except a casual car enthusiast.

Well, it used to be like a metric, just a quick test to show off.

Like, here's how flexible this powertrain is.

You know, here's how wide its power band is.

It can almost like a short drag race, right?

Like you can infer a lot from a drag race.

Like what's the trap speed versus the ET versus, you know,

here's how our newer car is better than the last one.

But it's how yours is better than the competitor.

It's really not.

It's never really been all that useful

other than a short hand.

It's like it's like baseball player stats.

Car and driver had a whole data catalog

at the back of the magazine for a while.

I know, just zero to 60s.

I yeah.

What's your batting average?

Right. A lot of it's it's so like dependent.

I do think cars are way too powerful.

But there's no reason to have to be too powerful.

You could make smaller batteries.

Whole whole bunch of reasons that is just it's ridiculous.

And it's a weird trend.

It's it's more of the like, well, it's an EV.

So it needs to because Tesla's were quick.

Now this needs to be as quick as a Tesla.

And like, guys, it's it's a race.

It's almost a race to the bottom, right?

Like at a certain point, first of all,

you've made a very dangerous product

because you were able to handle it.

But not everybody can do that.

Almost what? Like that again, small sample size.

That's the one car that ever did that to me.

But it's there will be instances

in which that or an 1100 horsepower Rivian.

Why? I mean, it's because it's really

like it's an electric motor.

So it's just OK, you can move that many amps that fast.

Awesome. Like it's it's not like it's not like a combustion engine

where you feel like we've maximized efficiency.

And the only way to make that kind of power in something

that's practical for the road is right, you know,

there's your options are a lot more limited here.

Just you just turn it up to. Yeah.

What do you want?

How far on to the pedal?

We'll leave your foot go.

It's it's cool. Don't get me wrong.

But like what's the average out of curiosity?

Ballpark, the fleet of vehicles that you own,

weight and power.

Average it because my house is probably.

Fifty eight hundred pounds and.

Three hundred horsepower.

Oh, let's see. Three hundred times three divided by three.

Yeah, I would say like it's roughly about three hundred

horsepower at the Ranger that's like three ten, the WK to that's

like two ninety and the four by E, which I think is maybe

a little more that might actually have four or something combined.

Is it really? Yeah, it's quick.

It's faster than the Hemi.

You feel like you've got to you've got to mean it, though.

You've got to put your foot all the way down and it takes off

through seventy five, which is that's right.

It was the same as the five seven and more torque fast.

The five seven is peaking.

Five seven is like you've got to get it going and then you get the torque.

This is like that the four by E is quick.

So I would say and let's see that's

yeah, we're going to come in right around forty two hundred pounds

or something because the four is heavy like that's a weighty sucker.

The WK two is like forty five hundred pounds like that.

And the Ranger is going to be four thousand maybe a little lighter.

But yeah, so and I'm probably around three hundred and fifty five hundred

pounds that three seventy five. That's nice.

That's fine. Yeah. Yeah.

But those are a far cry from.

Six hundred horsepower and six thousand pounds like we're talking about here.

And that's that's the high end of the money spectrum.

You know, I I like unruly cars that that are evil.

But I don't want the rest of my family driving a car that's that evil.

And I don't I don't think normal people should drive them either.

I like them because it, you know, that's my thing.

Right. I'm paying attention.

But if you're just driving like that, that is a terrible idea.

Yeah. Yes. Seriously.

So all right. All right.

Well, do we want to talk about your your car at all?

I have to.

Or you have to run.

Yes. Month clock.

Yeah. Well, well, GX not for a.

I mean, I'm sorry.

Technically not.

No.

But the frame is this.

It's not an insult. The same frame.

You tear your next one.

Yeah, it has double walled glass.

It's leather.

I'm going to put Toyota badges on it this year, I think.

OK, make it real Prado-y.

But yeah, we'll come back to it.

All right. This is good.

I'll get this turned around.

We'll spit it out and we'll have our special episode soon.

Yes. And if anybody wants any guests from the other world, let us know.

We we have some strings we can pull.

Cool. All right.

More. Thanks, everybody.

All right, bud. Thanks.

Peace.

Nostalgia Is An Illness

Golf Gtd

Buick GNX

Chevrolet Trax

Buick Regal GS

Cadillac Ctsv

BMW M5

Ford Mustang

Chrysler PT Cruiser

Chevrolet SSR

Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Mustang Fox Body

Oldsmobile Cutlass

Nissan XTerra

Rivian R3

Toyota Corolla

Chevrolet Corvair

Chevrolet Nova

Saturn Ion

Ford Falcon

Ford Maverick

Ford Pinto

Nissan Frontier

Toyota Tacoma

Dodge Charger

Cadillac Lyric

Cadillac Optiq

Cadillac Fleetwood

Cadillac DeVille

Toyota A90

Ford Ranger

About this episode

Original notes