The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is a very fancy car made by Rolls-Royce a long time ago. It's known for being really luxurious and stylish, often seen as a symbol of wealth.
Car
Ford Flathead V8
The Ford Flathead V8 is a type of engine made by Ford that was popular in older cars. It was one of the first V8 engines and is often used in classic cars and hot rods.
The G-Wagon is a luxury SUV made by Mercedes-Benz. It's known for its square shape and ability to drive off-road, making it popular among celebrities and wealthy individuals.
The Fiat Multipla is a small family car that looks very different from most cars. It has a unique design that some people find unattractive, but it has a lot of space inside for passengers and cargo.
Waymo is a company that makes cars that can drive themselves without a human driver. They are working on technology to make transportation safer and more efficient.
The Mercedes-Benz AMG GT is a fancy sports car that looks sleek and drives really fast. It's made for people who want a mix of luxury and performance in their car.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that looks really cool and drives fast. It's been around for a long time and is loved by many people for its performance and style.
The Porsche 911 Turbo S is a super-fast version of the regular 911 that has a turbo engine, which helps it go even faster. It's a mix of luxury and speed, perfect for people who want the best of both worlds.
The Chevy Silverado ZR2 is a tough pickup truck made for driving on rough terrain. It has special features that help it handle off-road conditions better than regular trucks.
Car
Ferrari Amalfi
The Ferrari Amalfi is a fancy sports car made by Ferrari. It's known for being expensive and stylish, often compared to other sports cars.
The Aston Martin Vanquish is a beautiful luxury car that's really fast and has a powerful engine. It's made for people who want to drive in style while enjoying a thrilling ride.
The Carrera T is a special version of the Porsche 911 that is lighter and designed for people who want a more focused driving experience. It has fewer extra features to keep it simple and sporty.
Bore scoring is when the inside of an engine's cylinder gets scratched or damaged, which can cause the engine to not work properly. It's something to watch out for when buying certain Porsches.
Direct injection is a way of getting fuel into an engine that helps it run better and use less gas. However, it can sometimes cause problems like buildup inside the engine.
The Porsche Cayman is a sporty car that sits lower to the ground and has its engine in the middle, which helps it handle really well. It's a great option for people who want a fun driving experience without spending as much as a 911.
The Porsche classic radio is a new stereo system made for older Porsche cars. It looks like the original radio but has modern features like Bluetooth, so you can play music from your phone.
The Porsche Carrera is a type of sports car made by Porsche, famous for being fast and stylish. It's part of the 911 series, which is one of their most popular models.
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a super-fast version of the 911 made for people who love racing. It's built to be lightweight and handle really well on the track, making it a favorite among serious car fans.
The Metzger engine is a type of powerful engine made by Porsche, known for being very reliable, especially in their turbo cars. It was used in some 911 models.
Turbo lag is the time it takes for a turbocharger to start working after you press the gas pedal. You might feel a little delay before the car speeds up.
Software defined luxury means that the luxury of a car is now more about the technology and software features it has, rather than just how nice the materials inside are. It's about how smart and connected the car is.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a classic American sports car that looks great and goes really fast. It's been around for a long time and is popular because it offers a lot of power for the price.
A manual transmission is when you have to change gears yourself using a stick and a pedal. It can make driving feel more engaging and gives you more control over the car.
An automatic transmission is a type of car gearbox that shifts gears for you, so you don't have to do it yourself. This makes driving easier, especially in traffic.
Analog gauges are the traditional type of car dashboard displays that use needles to show things like speed and fuel level. Some drivers prefer them over digital displays because they find them easier to read.
The Volkswagen Golf GTI is a sporty version of a regular car called the Golf. It's fun to drive and has a lot of space inside, making it a great choice for everyday use.
The Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray is a new version of the Corvette that uses both gas and electricity to go faster and save fuel. It's a modern take on a classic sports car, blending old and new technology.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a rare and super-fast car that many people dream of owning. It's built with high-quality materials and has a really powerful engine, making it special among car lovers.
The Ford GT is a really fast and cool-looking sports car that is inspired by a famous race car from the past. It's built to be super powerful and is a symbol of Ford's racing heritage.
The Lamborghini Countach is a famous supercar that looks really unique and has a lot of power. It's known for its cool design and is a favorite among car fans from the 1980s.
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This is Tom Keen inviting you to join me for the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast.
It's about making you smarter each and every business day.
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and complete coverage of the US market open.
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We do all this live each and every weekday that bring you the best analysis in our daily
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Search for Bloomberg Surveillance on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen.
On the East Coast, listen at lunch and on the West Coast when you wake up.
That's the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast with me, Tom Keen, along with Paul Sweeney and
Lisa Matteo.
Subscribe today wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Hannah Elliott.
And I'm Matt Miller.
This is Hot Pursuit.
Coming up today, Happy New Year.
It's our first episode of 2026.
Yes.
Happy New Year from me as well.
By the time this comes out, I will have gone and been to the fish concert at Madison Square
Garden.
I'm very excited because we're recording before I go.
I'm very excited.
When is that concert again, Matt, for the record?
Well, they play a run of four shows.
So 28, 29, 30, 31.
And every year it's as a tradition.
I go to the New Year's Eve show.
My brothers go to fish concerts all year long, all over the country because they're diehard
fans.
I just go to this one and it's enough to give me my fix for the whole year.
It's just such a blast.
I love that.
That's so cool.
Are you going with anyone in particular?
I'm going to go with my brothers and a bunch of my friends from high school who all come
into town every year for the New Year's Eve run.
And one of my favorite REIT guys, Real Estate Investment Trust, have been very unpopular
this year.
But David Auerbach is a buddy of mine that I go with.
He goes to a ton of shows as well.
So that's my, what's your New Year's thing?
What do you do for New Year's Eve?
For New Year's Eve, I'm going to go to a party with some friends who have a party out
in Pasadena.
But I'm not a big New Year's Eve going out person.
And then New Year's Day, I also have dinner plans, but nothing crazy for New Year's Day.
But I feel like being in LA and you being you, there are always famous people around you.
Like you'll go to a party and like Belle will be there or like Matt Farah is hanging out
or.
You know what?
In the same day, literally a week ago, I actually had lunch with Aaron Bronner from
Bentley, lovely Aaron.
She's great.
Literally on that same day, I saw Billy Gibbons.
I saw from ZZ Top.
Yes.
Yes.
Just like you.
I saw him driving down the street and then who is the NBA Laker guy?
What is his name?
You know, James Goldstein, he looks kind of like a lizard.
He's like 90 years old and he dresses crazy.
Do you know him at all?
No, he's got.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
That's the dude who owns the Big Lebowski house.
Yes.
Yes.
He's actually he's LA famous, but he's quite a fixture.
I also saw him driving his huge white silver cloud rose Rolls Royce, which he
famously drives around town, just cruising with the top off.
It was kind of amazing.
It was one day where I saw like three people.
Anyway, not a great story, but I love the.
I mean, that house from the Big Lebowski, you know, where the dude goes and
everybody's jumping on the trampoline like topless or whatever.
And he has a white Russian.
That was the first alcoholic drink I ever had.
That's a that's such a cool house.
And then Billy Gibbons, I don't know much about ZZ Top, but I know that the
Eliminator, I can't remember if that was the song or the record.
He has this like Flathead, Ford Flathead V8 Coop.
Big Car Guy.
Yeah, he's a he likes big hot rods.
He loves the hot rods when I saw him.
This sounds really crazy, but he was in some one of those cube cars.
It might have been a Nissan Cube.
Oh my goodness.
I don't.
It does anyone else make a cube car?
Yeah, there's a couple.
I mean, there's like they're all kind of famous from TV shows.
The Cube is what Jonah drives in Veep, which I think is hilarious.
And there's the the the Aztec.
Is that in Breaking Bad?
The Breaking Bad car is either a Honda or a Pontiac.
Something like that.
But those are the those are the three like cube cars I can think of.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of any of them for real.
But if they're in good colors, they're pretty fun.
I'm always curious about why people buy them.
I think I always think about if you want enough space.
Then a cube makes the most sense, right?
Like a G-Wagon is a cube, essentially.
Yes, sure.
It's a lot different than famously doesn't have a bunch of leg room.
True, still true.
But there you're up right now that you don't need it.
Yeah, right.
Right. Exactly.
It was in Breaking Bad.
It was a Pontiac Aztec that the guy drives.
And then I can't remember the name of the Honda that has kind of a similar look,
but is also yes.
And then there's the Fiat Dupla.
My wife's favorite car in Europe is the Fiat Dupla,
possibly the ugliest car that has ever been designed.
I have not even heard.
Did they even sell that in the US?
Sorry, it's a multipla, multipla Google Fiat, multipla, not Dupla.
And you'll know. Oh, my goodness.
I can't unsee that.
That is what?
Oh, my gosh.
This what it looks like an alien beetle bug, but not in a good way.
It's got the split level front end and like GM did that with their trucks for a long time.
And it's got those like bulbous headlights under the windshield
that makes it look like an insect kind of.
It's like a minivan and a station wagon push together.
Yeah. On a hard chassis.
It's it's like rivaling Jaguar bad, like that bad.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
That's that's that's the that's the New Year's thing.
Face only a mother can love.
Yes. Happy 2026.
Are you someone who makes resolutions?
No, because I mean, I have made resolutions
and I think everyone sort of does in the back of her or his mind.
But yes, but no one keeps resolutions, right?
No, I don't maybe no.
I know that if I'm making a resolution, it's not going to happen.
Right. You know, LA, it's all about intentions, being intentional,
which somehow feels like less pressure than a resolution.
I think it's all about, you know, you have a faint feeling for something
and you just intend it and then it happens.
Yeah, I that's my way.
All right. So that's our 2026.
And the cool thing, I mean, I don't know if it's cool,
but I listen to a lot of car podcasts, obviously, and people have the lists
and Haggerty has their like, what do they call it, their bull market list?
And yes, I love looking at their their bull market list.
I find it very insightful.
I also do.
But we're not going to because everybody else already has.
But you have a thing you have a thing that you do
where you pick your your best car of the year.
And yes, I know this not only because
not because I know you and because I read your work,
but also because we were talking about it on Bloomberg Radio and Bloomberg TV
all day today since your story just hit the wire.
So we're going to open with that.
We're going to open 2026 with your favorite car that you drove in 2025.
You and I drive a ton.
I'd say, probably together, we probably drive 100 cars a year around.
Yeah. And then we're going to go through some viewer email
because we have a listener email because we have some good ones.
We love hearing from you.
We love the photos.
We love the stories.
We love the jokes and even the criticisms.
Yes. In a weird way.
We we love it.
I frankly, I prefer the criticisms when people,
especially when people are angry and they don't like me.
That's when you're guaranteed to get a response.
How is I feel like I always say this,
but there's nobody who doesn't like you, Matt.
How is this possible?
There are some, you know,
I anchor this TV show on Bloomberg every day and I get, you know,
clients messaging in with, you know, that was stupid or you're totally wrong
or why did they hire you and I'll write back.
Like one guy says, listen, stop trying to be funny all the time.
You know, you're not funny.
This is serious stuff.
Like, why are you making a joke about everything?
And I wrote back and I was like, I guess
because I want people to like me and I've always had like, you know,
this feeling that I want to belong.
And I was pretty honest and open with him.
You know, I use not being sarcastic.
No, actually, genuinely, like I'm going to really answer this guy's question.
Yeah. Why does the class clown funny for obvious reasons?
Right. I want to be accepted.
Everybody wants to be liked.
Exactly. So I told the guy, like I was just I spilled it all, you know.
And now, yeah, now we've been talking.
Now we're like friends.
Oh, my goodness.
You want them over.
So that is which supports my claim that nobody doesn't like you,
which is really one of your gifts.
I'll just say, if you think we suck, please tell us.
Sure. We can take it.
All right, let's get to.
So you've driven so many cars from
hypercars to classic cars to big giant pickup trucks at the King Ranch.
What was of all of those vehicles?
And it's so hard to, you know, because they're all different tools
for different jobs, as you point out.
What was the one that you thought was the best?
Let me tell you something.
Yeah. One of one of the things that people ask me all the time
is what's your favorite car?
And I actually don't.
It's my own issue, but I find that a really difficult question
because, as you know, I really think of cars as tools.
And when you are doing any sort of task, any time you get into a car,
it's for a specific purpose.
And like everybody knows, different tools work best in different scenarios.
So when people ask, what's your favorite car?
It's like, well, give me a scenario and then I will tell you.
So it's and obviously I'm overthinking it, but that's who I am.
I'm someone who thinks about these things all day, every day.
So of course, you're going to get a thoughtful answer.
So when someone says, what's your best, what's the best car?
What's your favorite car?
I have to say, well, for what?
So that's the big caveat to this.
I think, first of all, the most interesting car that I was in for the year
was the Waymo.
And that is because it was it's so different.
And I really believe that this will be the future of transportation for many people.
And Matt, I don't think you've been in a Waymo yet.
Have you?
I have been in a Waymo in Austin, which was a Jag, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you're saying it's not about what car, because Waymo will use,
I think, different.
They have Korean cars also.
But you're saying not the car, but the concept.
Concept. Yeah.
So that doesn't really count.
So other than that, I have to go with what car is the most fun for any given task.
And I do believe that any task can be fun.
In fact, it should be fun.
I don't care if you're going to get groceries or you're going to visit your
in-laws or you are going on a holiday drive or you're commuting or whatever.
Like, hopefully, whatever you're driving for that purpose,
at least makes it a seamless transition.
And at most might even make you look forward to getting back in the vehicle even.
I don't think that's too much to ask.
No. And so and when we come back,
we're going to you're going to name the best car this year,
or in your opinion, what the most fun was.
But it has to be also a new car, like a brand new car,
like a 2025 or 2026 model, because I know that you've done some long road trips.
For example, you drove to Denver and back and in a 991 turbo.
And you obviously you drive to work.
Most days in a role in a Rolls-Royce from the 70s.
Those won't count, right?
It's got to be a new.
We are we are specifically talking about new model year press cars.
These are the press cars that between you and me, we drive every single week
or I will often travel to drive these cars.
These are cars that are new in dealerships for 2025 and in 2026.
All right. So when we come back, Hannah Elliot from Bloomberg Pursuits
and this podcast, Hot Pursuit will tell you what her favorite car,
the most fun new car that she's driven in 2025 or that she had driven in 2025 was.
Plus, we're going to go through our listener email.
I'm Matt Miller with Hannah Elliot. This is Hot Pursuit.
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This is Hot Pursuit.
I'm Matt Miller here with Hannah Elliot and Hannah, I guess here's the big reveal
out of all the all the many cars that you drove, maybe not counting the rest of mods,
definitely not counting the classics. What was the best?
It was from Mercedes, the Mercedes AMG GT 63 SE performance.
It's a hybrid.
It's an all wheel drive.
It's got a backseat over 800 horsepower V8 engine.
I really liked it.
And I want to put it in relief to the 911
because I don't think they don't as we've discussed before, it's not the same car,
but it's a competitor and it's something to be considered in the same sentence
as the as the 911 as the 992.
Over a thousand pound feet of torque on that bad boy.
That's a serious, serious car.
There are five different variants of the AMG GT right now.
So I want to be very specific that I drove the the hybrid as the SE performance
and it does cost around two hundred thousand dollars.
But actually with the performance numbers that it has,
that is most competitive with like a 911 Turbo S, which costs 70,
70 grand more.
So I actually think you get quite a lot of bang for your buck with the Mercedes AMG GT.
Yeah, from sheer numbers, I think it bests a 911 Turbo S by a lot.
In fact, I drove that car in 2025 as well.
I was blown away by it.
And I thought you have to compare it to like really a Koenigsegg or a Bugatti
to get those kind of Lamborghini to get those kind of power and torque numbers.
There's just nothing else out there for.
Well, you could throw a Ferrari in there too.
True, but I've driven a Ferrari in 10 years.
That that is a reoccurring theme in these conversations.
And I hope the Kristen Faraz are listening and will put a little bug in their ear.
I don't know if I would put Koenigsegg and Bugatti in that group,
but I certainly would put Lamborghini and Ferrari in.
And I want to say also, both the 911, the Turbo S and both this AMG GT
were faster than the Ferrari Amalfi that I drove in Portugal earlier this month in December.
So we are talking about a pretty high level of car before you get to the extreme
supercar like Koenigsegg Bugatti.
This is like the highest level of sort of road going car you can get before you get
into track cars or you get into real supercars, in my opinion.
Yeah, I mean, the only reason I was comparing it to those is when I drove that car.
First of all, I drove it for a few days before I saw the actual figures.
And so I was I already had I already loved the car,
but I didn't realize it had that much power.
And as soon as I did, I went to chat GPT and had like a long conversation about
what else is out there that reaches, you know, over a thousand pound feet of torque.
That's just insane.
The Turbo S has 590 pound feet of torque and 700 horsepower.
So this blows that out of the water.
That's the only reason I mentioned the exotics, you know, totally.
I totally get that.
And it's not without like, for instance, this car, the AMG GT,
it's quite a bit heavier than the 911 and it's not as fast in a sprint.
I mean, I'm not going to like hash over a couple of points, you know,
fractions of a second, but it is it's not as fast sprinting and it is quite a bit heavier.
So again, like it's it's not the same driving experience necessarily,
but it's something that's comparable that you could use for all the same uses
that you will find for them for the 911.
It's definitely a livable car.
It's it's yeah, the performance is crazy, but it's also very livable.
And I think sometimes when you have cars that have so much power and so much
torque, they're not actually fun and nice to drive in regular daily driving.
And that was not the case with the AMG GT.
And I think that's another reason why I really liked it.
I wasn't sort of happy to give it back because it felt stressful to drive
and maintain and be careful with and all of these other things that often go
hand in hand with really high powered expensive cars.
True. It is a car that you you could have in your neighborhood.
This is something I think about often without everybody,
without all of your neighbors thinking that you're some kind of jerk, you know,
that without all of your neighbors thinking you're trying to flaunt your wealth.
I mean, yes, it's expensive.
I mean, it is very expensive.
But if you if you don't know a ton about cars and you see that your neighbor
has this Mercedes, you're like, oh, I guess, you know, she's doing well.
But you don't you don't think like, oh, that person must be a Bitcoin billionaire.
Right. No, no.
And that's a good thing.
And you can also, of course, it really comes down to the spec.
And I think we should talk about this desert sand color
that is really, really polarizing and costs.
If I'm remembering right, another almost $14,000 to option.
But some people love the desert sand.
They love these gold wheels that I heard multiple people
compared to Lamborghini wheels, which they meant as a compliment.
So you can also like spec it to be stand out or to be super stealth.
What do you think about that desert sand?
I don't like that color on any.
You know, I bought a Chevy Silverado ZR2 mine in the beautiful blue,
but they did have that same color.
And a lot of people liked it.
The guys on TFL love the desert sand.
I think they got one.
They actually, they did buy a desert sand.
Wow. That's a truck.
That's a truck, a so it makes more sense to have like a desert sand color.
But I didn't like it on the truck.
I don't like it on the Mercedes.
I don't like it's the same color as a hearing aid, you know,
or it's the same color as a girdle.
Like, I don't know.
Justin, the famous driver, endurance driver, made a very comment
that I'm not even going to repeat on on air, but he's in your vein.
Yeah. About he hated it, hated it.
Yeah, I wouldn't like that color.
But the cool thing about this, I mean, if you have the money
because it's it is terribly expensive, 200,000 a is but cheaper than the 9 11.
Right. But that's also the 9 11.
The biggest problem with the 9 11 is how expensive it's become
because that was supposed to be like a sports car, almost not for the everyman,
but a sports car.
That's I know that was attainable.
Yes. A super car that was attainable and it's it's not.
And you know what?
This just I I have to say on a personal note, I've spent a lot of this holiday
vacation working on this book that Magnus and I are doing.
It's it's 20 it's 20 chapters, 20 cars.
And it's about a lot of the early porches that Magnus is owned.
And I am constantly being reminded every day, especially this this month,
as our book deadline approaches, that the like the STRs, the any air short wheel
based air cooled, our inspired sport purpose track car was like eight grand
to buy not new, but back in the day, you could pick them up, used eight grand,
nine grand and everything was interchangeable.
So you could buy it for cheap and interchange all of the components,
all of them from donor cars, from rollers, from cars that had gone off track
and were crashed, but you could still use stuff.
It's a whole other ballgame now.
It's like a completely different environment.
Yeah. And it's it is to exactly to your point.
It's just like a completely different world, how expensive these cars are.
And we did get this great email after this, the Ferrari Amalfi review came out.
Someone emailed me and said, this car is so much more expensive
and looks already outdated compared to the sports cars that are being made in China.
Oh, that's harsh. I know.
I don't know any Chinese made sports cars.
It might not be.
I know. Well, there's a problem.
You can't buy Chinese sports cars in the US and a lot of other places.
So I don't think Ferrari is quite scared yet, but it's an interesting point.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think I saw some some Instagram video
where a guy was saying about Porsche's, you know, the used ones.
It used to be cool to buy an old Porsche for a good deal.
And you were like like you were a car enthusiast that we all admired and respected.
Now, if you buy a nine nine seven two for like a hundred and forty thousand dollars,
you're just like that's not cool at all.
I think his point was you're not you're not a cool car guy if you do that anymore.
You're just a really, really rich person that has endless resources.
And the same is true pretty much for a new nine eleven,
because even a base Carrera is going to run you one hundred and forty grand
before you put any options on it, right?
I mean, I if I think of my favorite car of the year and that I drove
and I drove that Mercedes, I loved it, but I thought it's very expensive.
It has the engine in the front and to me,
there's something more special about having a mid-engine car or an engine in the back.
I drove the Aston Martin vanquish, which I absolutely thought was beautiful,
but it's so exotic and it also is five six hundred thousand dollars.
Like that's silly for me.
The best car I drove this year was the nine eleven Carrera T.
It has everything I need and still has a stick shift and three pedals.
It has not the power of a GT car, but come on,
three hundred eighty horsepower is more than enough for my daily driver.
It doesn't have it when I speck out a Carrera T on the website,
on the configurator, which I do, you know, three or four times a week.
I still get to one hundred sixty if I'm being conservative, one hundred eighty
if I let her rip, like it's still just too expensive for what a Carrera T is
philosophically supposed to be.
And I don't know how Porsche deals with that since they're in a world of hurt
right now as a as a business.
The T I've always thought is the thinking man's nine eleven
because it has everything you need and nothing you don't.
Right. And the nine eleven is, I mean, someone asked me this morning
on radio, what is your favorite car?
And I said the same thing you say, like it's a very difficult question
and it depends on the tool.
But at the end of the day, they were like, look, if you could only have one car,
priced is no issue. You're not allowed to resell it.
It's like your only car. Of course, I'd choose a nine eleven.
Here's kind of why I because I don't disagree with you.
Here's kind of why I said the MG GT.
Part of it is me just being ornery.
It's different because it's different and I don't want to be.
I don't want to have the same car as everyone and I live in quite a bubble.
I live, I go between Hollywood and Beverly Hills and Century City every day.
And I live in a bubble and part of me is just being like, no,
I want to be different and turning up my nose only to be ornery
because because I don't want to have the same car that all the guys going into
the CAA building have.
And I happened to know someone who felt pressure,
who has worked for CAA and felt like he, quote, unquote,
should buy a nine eleven because that was the car he was supposed to have.
And he got it and he did not like it and he gave it back.
Wow.
But that's that's that to me indicates.
You mean he flipped it for a hundred thousand dollar profit?
Well, maybe I don't even I it wasn't a desire.
It was just like a base level nine nine two.
It wasn't like a, you know, an ST or anything.
But he went back to his Tesla.
And to me, though, it was like this guy who's not a car guy at all,
but he somehow was picking up on this pressure that he, quote,
unquote, should have one because of the status or whatever.
And because of whatever money he was making at that time.
But that's kind of where they are now.
And there's a part of me that's just like, I want to buy into it.
No, I get it.
It's all coming up.
We're going to check in with you.
Thanks again for writing our first listener mailbag of 2026 is coming up.
That's up next here on Hot Pursuit.
I'm Carol Masser and I'm Tim Stenevec,
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Welcome back to Hot Pursuit.
I'm Matt Miller with Hannah Elliott.
We are going to dive into our listener mailbag.
We got some pretty good emails, actually, some fascinating stuff.
I started a couple of cool conversations.
I got into a discussion with a dude named Kevin about about.
Well, first, he was talking about the 997.
I'm looking for a 997.
And this has nothing to do with my comment about someone who buys a 997.2
because I'm looking for a 997.1.
Now, explain again why you want the 1.1 rather than .2.
Well, for one thing, it's cheaper, right?
The one, the 997.1 still had the M96 or M97 motor with the intermediate shaft bearing.
It was a revised IMS bearing, so it didn't likely grenade the car the way the 996 did.
But it did have and it does have bore scoring issues as well.
So you have to be careful when you're buying a 997.1
because it could go disastrously wrong, but it also doesn't have to.
It's just, you know, like maybe a tenth of the cars have real problems
or maybe a fifth of the cars have real problems.
OK, this is this is really in the in the woods.
So I don't have to come back for this.
I mean, I'm not familiar with the boring issues of the bore scoring.
So the other the other thing is the 997.2.
That's when they brought in the 981 motor that's in then the 991.1.
And it doesn't even have an intermediate shaft bearing, so there wasn't that problem.
It doesn't have bore scoring issues and its direct injection.
So it offers more power and better efficiency.
That sounds great, but it doesn't because it has direct injection.
It doesn't have the same kind of intake noise and it doesn't have.
As mechanical or analog of feel.
And that I think is a bonus for a cheaper car, you know.
But is it more difficult to maintain power
across the as you're accelerating in and out of corners?
Are you noticing a big shift between like a carbureted injection versus.
It's not. Well, so the 997.1 isn't carbureted,
but it just sprays the fuel in with the air at the beginning at the opening
and it's not direct injection.
So it's yeah, the new motor, the 981 will.
It's not MFI. I know that will have more power
and will pull out of corners probably a little bit.
But I'm not racing this, you know, it's my daily driver.
That's my point. I'm like, I freely admit I cannot tell the difference
between how the fuel is being injected.
I am not. I'm not on that level.
Well, it's not a huge difference, right?
The I think that for the for the Carrera S,
the first half of 997s have three hundred fifty five horsepower
and the second half have three hundred eighty five horsepower.
So it's not a it's not going to change your world.
It's just that the reason people pay a premium for the point two
is that they're less likely to blow up.
They're more reliable engines.
They're going to cost less in maintenance.
But I don't think you should say for the record,
there's probably not a lot of there's not.
There isn't a lot of history of 997.1s blowing up.
This this isn't like on the Internet.
It's a big thing.
OK, that's the caveat.
But in the real world, no, this this is not a they're not likely to explode,
but they could slowly wear out lose power and become a problem.
If there if there's four scoring, that's not a problem
because there's people that do rebuilds.
Of course, when you pay for that rebuild, it then reduces
or or makes up for the premium you pay for the 997 point two.
But you can go to somebody like
in New Jersey, the guy that did Matt Farah's Boxer or or Cayman or whatever.
He he'll rebuild your engine to a four liter.
He'll board out and he'll put nickel sleeves
in the cylinders and then you're good to go.
And it's awesome.
Anyway, the point of Kevin's email is none of that.
It's just that he heard my comment about the Porsche classic radio
because the other thing about a 997 is it's dated technology, right?
In terms of the head unit.
Sure. And the screen and he said, you can put a Porsche classic radio.
That's what he put in one of his.
He has two 997s.
He has a Carrera and a turbo.
He had a great idea from Porsche.
It's an amazing way to make money.
Like you can replace the navigation system with something newer and better
and more capable and more modern looking.
Right. And I thank thank Kevin for the advice.
But I've already decided when slash if I get this vehicle,
I'm going to get rid of the screen navigation screen head unit completely
in the dash and replace it with just an open cubby like a GT3 cubby.
And then you hide the electronics like in the frunk somewhere
and you put in a new amplifier and new speakers.
So yeah, I totally support this intention for you for 2026 and beyond.
Thank you. I I hope that it does happen.
And as someone who's again, main drivers, the radios don't work.
There are many other options that you can have.
And I'm a big fan of the cubby idea.
Yeah. Plus the engine sound better in the West Village.
I need less to listen to to the radio.
And but the other cool thing about this message,
like when this guy, Kevin, messaged me, then I messaged him back
because I was thinking about the turbo also the 997.1 generation
has the last Metzger engine for turbos for the turbos in 997.2.
They went with the 999 one turbo, which is different.
And so I was considering it and I asked him, like,
is there like real turbo lag?
And he said, yeah, you know, when you put the pedal down,
like it it will take a moment and then kick you.
Take a breath. Yeah.
Take a breath. Yeah.
I don't I don't want that.
I want a linear power band.
And so I no longer am considering the turbo.
Good email. Great email.
This is what I live for.
That's why I want people to write to us.
I gain Intel.
I have a fun conversation.
You know, it's something to do.
Well, my daughter is watching the 18th episode of Bluey.
But the interesting thing about the emails we got is this kind of
ties into what Scott wrote to us about.
Scott had a great email.
The subject line is a quick thought on analog cars
and software defined luxury.
And this is great because it actually touches on a couple of pieces
that we've done.
We've we've talked a lot about tech overreach in cars
and how luxury is now being defined a lot by the software and hardware
in the car, especially the software in the car.
Not other things like leather and interior accoutrement, et cetera.
So Scott basically sent us a bullet list of things
that he thinks that we should really pay more attention to
when we're evaluating press cars,
which I think is actually a very point well taken.
Yeah. Well, he says, look, I have a 25 year old Corvette.
He loves it, but he doesn't drive it that much.
It's like a weekend thing, like a fair weather Sunday car.
And he says analog cars are fun toys, not practical transportation.
Most driving today is commuting in dense traffic, even for luxury buyers.
In that world, the ultimate sophistication really is
simplicity and that increasingly comes from good hardware, not more switches.
So I get his his point, but I I disagree on part of this,
which is the analogness of it.
Like I also drive in often bumper to bumper traffic.
I'm commuting from Scarsdale into New York City every morning.
And fortunately, I do that early enough that I have no traffic.
And but going home in the afternoon, I have a ton of traffic.
I nonetheless, I still want three pedals.
Like there's no situation in which I would prefer a PDK to a manual transmission.
And I actually talked with Magnus about this briefly, because, you know,
you guys got that 991 turbo and I was like, I hadn't thought about it
until a few months after, but I they only came with a PDK.
So I messaged him right away.
I was like, Magnus, dude, you bought a PDK car.
And he was like, yeah, well, it's actually great in traffic.
So yeah, so I get it.
I'd still would rather have three pedals and a stick.
Like I'm willing to take the little bit of pain that I have getting on the FDR
or getting on the major Deegan for the fun that I have when it opens up
on the sawmill or when I get on, you know, the Bronx River Parkway,
and I can start to use it again.
I don't want an automatic transmission if I can avoid it.
Now, you can't in a Corvette these days or you can't in the Mercedes AMG GT.
But I would prefer having analog gauges in every scenario.
I would prefer having a handbrake over an electronic parking brake
in every single scenario.
I would prefer having a good manual transmission in every single scenario.
There's no scenario in which I don't want those things to be analog.
What I agree with him on is I want voice commands.
I want if it has this kind of technology, I wanted to understand
when I say call mom, it doesn't call Bob, you know, right?
Or when I say play the Grateful Dead, it knows I mean Channel 23 on Sirius XM.
He points out a driver profile set up.
It's not necessary for me, but I know you can every time you get in the car,
it puts on the station you want, puts your car seat in the position you want.
I get that. But for me, rather, I'd rather have a manual seat as well.
Like when I'm specking my Porsche, I always speck the sport seats
that just have the four position movement and a manual slide front and back.
He says active noise cancellation.
Do you want that? I guess if you're in a Rolls-Royce, yes.
If I'm in a Carrera T, no, I don't want that.
You know, overall software polish, do I want that?
Yeah, I do.
If you're I want a car, if it's got that software, I want it to work well and feel factory.
I don't want it to feel like an aftermarket solution. It doesn't work.
This is a this is a big, big thing that makes I'm thinking of Lotus.
I'm thinking of McLaren, where their
whatever screens they have do feel retrofitted in the car.
They do not feel one with the car.
They feel like these guys built the car and then, you know, stamped on the screen later.
And I do agree that the overall integration of all of this is very important in the car.
But it sounds like you're basically saying you disagree with the premise
that it has to be one or the other, that it has to be analog or modern,
that it has to be a 25 year old car or everything new with a bunch of new tech.
And Matt, you're saying like these these individual bullet points do make sense,
but you could have that and and still have an analog experience.
Yeah, and maybe and I think I'm guessing Scott would probably agree with me.
Maybe we're just talking right past each other because like the 9-11 Carrera T,
the 2025 version, the software is seamless.
It feels factory, the driver profile setup. It's quick.
It's intelligent. The voice commands.
Yes, the car understands everything I'm telling it to lane change.
Assist works perfectly.
It even has you can option like night vision if you want,
but it still has three pedals.
It still has a stick.
It still can be fun whenever you want.
Do I wish it had analog gauges in front of the steering wheel?
Yes. Do I wish it had a handbrake so I could do sick 180 degree turns on a two
lane highway? Yes, I do.
But I think this is that's a car that probably both Scott and I would appreciate.
Yeah, for sure.
And I actually really like Scott's suggestion that we talk more with tier one
suppliers from like Bosch or Denso or whatever.
I actually I'd be interested to talk with even like,
you know, people who are making seats and any anybody who's making major
components, I always find really interesting.
Me too.
Yes, I'd love to talk to people from ZF.
That's a great Harman.
Harman just bought an 80 AS business there.
Yeah, I agree.
I think it's again, this is one of the most this is a very helpful email.
This is the kind of thing that I want people to write to us.
If you have this kind of Intel, if you have this kind of knowledge,
please share it with us.
Right. On that note,
Clarence wrote in, I'm trying to find his email here it is.
So I think it all ties together, right?
Because he it's the same it's the same topic.
You have always had an issue with the Mercedes volume slide
that they had put on the steering wheel, right?
You slide your finger up or down to change the volume.
And you said like, why do that when the knob or the dial, the roller
worked perfectly and Mercedes agree with you and went back to that.
Went back to that and so did Ferrari.
And actually Ferrari has even said on this new Amalfi
with the new steering wheel set up with more buttons,
they are going to now in next year sell that steering wheel
that you can retrofit on any previous Ferraris.
So for instance, our friend, Steve Sario, who owns the Roma
and got the older steering wheel that did have a lot of tiny little screens.
He could go in and buy the new steering wheel and put it on his Roma,
which he likes, which is great.
To your point, I think and to Clarence's point, who wrote in and said
he converted his son's GTI from digital buttons to manual.
They got an aftermarket kid.
It sounds like the guy's 25 and he didn't like the digital stuff either.
So it's not just like it's a bunch of boomers who don't like buttons.
It's humans who don't like or who don't like the screens.
It's human. Yeah.
To be clear, for anyone listening out there, me and Hannah were not actually boomers.
Oh, no, I'm a millennial.
I'm I'm generation golf.
So in this country, in this country, it's Gen X, right?
But in Germany, I'm 50 to in Germany, we're known as generation golf
because people in my generation, when you turned 18 in Germany,
that's the car you got.
It was a goal. I like that.
Actually, like Clarence's kid, essentially.
OK, he has a GTI, but that's a golf.
Yeah, that's a golf.
Yeah, I know. Yeah, that's cool.
So all of these, I think we're all on the same page with pretty much everybody here.
I mean, the theme for sure.
And people are talking.
And I also think it's cool that more car makers or at least more
tier one suppliers are coming out with aftermarket solutions that solve these issues.
Like Kevin pointed out with the PCCM, you can replace the head unit.
Like Clarence, Clarence points out with a steering wheel
that you can replace in the GTI and you can do that with with a Porsche as well.
A 911 steering wheel, you can you can put a 991 steering wheel on a 997
or you can buy kits that make it however you want it.
And and to Scott's point, a lot of these
a lot of these aftermarket replacements, they don't just feel retrofitted.
They can be made fairly factory, but it's getting better and better and better.
And that and by the way, I keep thinking about batteries in the same way, right?
So I love the the Corvette E-Ray, which has a little electric motor in the front
and a tiny little 1.9 kilowatt hour battery.
I always think like battery technology gets better and better every year.
Can I in five years, if I bought that car, can I put
you know, a 20 kilowatt hour battery that's the exact same size and packaging?
Can I replace that?
Or even on an electric car, you know, if I bought like a Hummer
with its giant 210 kilowatt hour battery pack that weighs like 5,000 pounds.
Can I, you know, in 10 years when I can fit 210 kilowatt hours
into like a suitcase size, can I replace that?
I hope you'll be able to retrofit batteries.
There are everyone that has ever I've ever asked about it.
They all say, yeah, sure.
But is that realistic?
Yeah, no, I I hear a lot of like, theoretically, yes, you could.
Theoretically, you could.
Right. I hear a lot of no's.
But do you really?
Yeah. Why?
Because because they didn't build the car with that in mind.
So most manufacturers put the battery somewhere.
We're taking it out and replacing it is a serious
like it's worse than changing timing belts on a
you know, on a Ferrari where you have to take the engine out.
But maybe maybe they're shifting into that direction.
By the way, do you know that Benedetto Vigna, when I the CEO Ferrari,
when I talked to him, he didn't say, but he I feel like wink, wink,
nudge, nudge implied that the stick shift, the manual transmission might come back.
And last week I was listening to Doug Demuro and he says,
Ferrari is not coming back with manual transmissions.
Well, how does he know?
I don't know.
But the reason I say this is that we are going to talk to Doug Demuro next week.
We will ask him about that specifically.
He will be our guest.
Can't wait to talk to him about how he's going to spend all his money.
Yes, he he's made even more money.
And when I was trying to book him for the podcast, he's like, listen,
I'm trying to work as little as possible.
So I was like, that's fantastic, dude.
No, we'll ask him about the Carrera GT.
Can how much further can it appreciate in value?
Does it have an F1 motor in it?
We'll ask him about his Ford GT, which is my favorite car that he owns.
We'll ask him about his new 993 Turbo in Arena Red.
How much?
I don't know where he keeps these cars.
That's what I'll ask him that too.
And who he has taken care of them for him.
We'll ask him that as well.
And he has a Lamborghini Countach that apparently has to keep going back at the shop.
We'll ask him about that.
Someone to manage that.
That's a lot of paperwork.
So that's essentially my tease for next week, meaning that we're done for this week.
Why not?
Yes, you know, we're you know where I'm going next week.
Where? CES.
Oh, my goodness.
So if anybody is going to be in Vegas, this is my let me know.
I will be there.
I will be there most of the week and I will be talking to folks.
Bloomberg's actually doing some pretty great things.
So if you're going to be in CES, come come find me.
Come talk to me because I'll be I'll be I've never been.
I've actually never been.
You're so money and you don't even know it, baby.
That does it for this week's show.
Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot Pursuit on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you listen.
You can also check out my columns and stories on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg business app.
Go there for car reviews, events and stories that you won't find anywhere else.
You can find it all at Bloomberg dot com slash pursuits slash autos.
I'm Matt Miller, along with Hannah Elliott.
We'll be back in your podcast feed again next week.
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About this episode
Kicking off 2026, hosts Hannah Elliott and Matt Miller discuss their favorite cars from 2025, highlighting the Mercedes AMG GT 63 SE Performance as a standout for its impressive power and livability. They delve into the nuances of car preferences, comparing it to the Porsche 911 Turbo S and reflecting on the evolving landscape of luxury cars. The episode also features listener emails discussing analog versus digital features in cars, with insights on the importance of simplicity and user experience in modern vehicles. Expect engaging debates and personal anecdotes from the automotive world.
In our first episode of the new year, Matt Miller and Hannah Elliott talk about the favorite cars they drove in 2025 and what made them so special. Plus, we dig into the mailbag for a handful of super helpful listener emails.
