Paul and Todd kick off with travel plans and then dive into a big mix of news and “peak” car debates. BMW’s refreshed i3/i350X drive EV gets praise for small-car proportions, 800-volt tech, and long-range claims, while the hosts debate aero vs horsepower after BMW’s M3 Touring 24 Hours aero solution. Nissan’s 2027 Z Nismo finally adds a manual with track-focused brake and suspension tweaks. The “peak” segment spans Maserati (late-50s race cars), Mazda (ND3 Miata), McLaren (W1 aero focus and 2020 lineup), Mercedes (W124/W124-era variety), Mini (R53 era), Mitsubishi (Evo 8/Montero/Eclipse era), Nissan (Z32/300ZX), and Polestar (early performance hybrid vision). The listener Q&A ends with buying advice for a Beetle-loving family and a second-car/soul-focused recommendation for a dad whose wife prioritizes longevity and practicality.
The guys forge ahead with their ‘Peak’ car series, and discuss the best eras of brands Maserati through Polestar. They debate cars that are reliable and easy to live with for Steven in New England, who is a VW Beetle enthusiast. Then, Joseph is trying to convince his wife that cars have soul, and don’t just have to be a “crossover safety pod.”
Audio-only MP3 is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and 10 other platforms.
Look for us on Tuesdays if you’d like to watch us debate, disagree and then go drive again!
00:00 - Intro
01:34 - BMW Officially Announces The New i3
07:22 - BMW M3 Touring 24h - No Longer A Joke
10:01 - Nissan Confirms New Z Styling + NISMO Z Details
14:22 - Topic Tuesday: Peak Maserati - Polestar
1:08:41 - EDD & HOD Events March 2026; COTA And Pilgrimage 2026
1:10:40 - Car Debate #1: The Beetle Family
1:20:53 - Car Debate #2: Convincing Your Wife That Cars Have Soul
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to our two YouTube channels. Write to us your Topic Tuesdays, Car Conclusions and those great Car Debates at [email protected] or everydaydriver.com
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"The BMW i3 has been announced and fully revealed. They are calling this the second Neue class model, but technically it's the second generation of the i3,"
The BMW i3 is BMW’s small electric car. When they say it’s been fully revealed, they mean BMW has shown the new version and shared the main details.
The BMW i3 is BMW’s compact electric car. In this segment, the hosts say it’s been fully revealed, which usually means BMW is sharing the updated design, powertrain details, and specs for the next version.
Range is how far the car can go before it needs charging or refueling. More range usually means fewer stops on trips.
“Range” is how far a vehicle can drive on a single charge (for EVs) or a full tank (for gas cars). When someone says “that’s a lot of range,” they’re usually reacting to real-world usability rather than a lab number.
"but I actually think that the lights are too small... If the tail lights were bigger, I think it would balance it better."
Tail lights are the lights on the back of the car. The speaker is saying that if they were bigger, the back of the car would look more balanced.
Tail lights are the rear lamps used for braking, running/position lights, and signaling. In design terms, their size and shape strongly affect perceived proportions—too small can make the rear look “squinting,” while larger lamps can visually widen and balance the rear.
"So check out the interior and you'll notice the instrument panel is not directly in front of the driver."
The instrument panel is the dashboard area with the displays and controls. They’re saying it’s positioned a little off to the side instead of straight in front of the driver.
The instrument panel is the dashboard area that houses the driver’s controls and gauges/displays. The host notes it’s “not directly in front of the driver,” which implies an angled or offset layout—often used to improve ergonomics or reduce glare.
"...above it. Hopefully this doesn't have the Toyota Prius problem where it's either steering wheel or inst..."
The Prius is a car that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. People talk about it a lot because it’s common and has a long history. Here, it’s mentioned as something you hope the speaker doesn’t have the same kind of issue as.
The Toyota Prius is a hybrid-electric compact car known for prioritizing fuel economy over performance. It often comes up in discussions about common “quirks” or recurring issues because it’s been produced in large numbers for many years. In this episode, it’s referenced as a potential problem to avoid.
"[387.9s] So I like that because you don't need to offer an HUD.
[391.3s] Your eyes are just right there so you can drop your eyes"
HUD means a display that shows info on the windshield. Instead of looking down at the dashboard, you can keep your eyes on the road.
HUD stands for “head-up display,” which projects key driving information onto the windshield so you can see it without looking down at the instrument cluster. The debate here is about whether a HUD is necessary or whether the driver’s sightline and display placement can do the job better.
"...ly is, unfortunately. How would BMW redesign the Model 3 interior? I bet you that sentence was said"
The Model 3 is an electric car that runs on batteries instead of gasoline. It has a very simple dashboard with lots of functions controlled through a screen. The episode mentions it in the context of how its interior could be redesigned.
The Tesla Model 3 is an all-electric compact sedan that’s widely discussed for its minimalist, tech-heavy interior and software-driven features. It’s a frequent subject in debates because people compare how different brands would redesign the same concept. In the podcast, it’s brought up in an interior-design discussion.
"it's why they give it to us for press cars. All the brands want to give out a super light interior for press cars."
Press cars are the cars that automakers give to reviewers for media coverage. They’re often set up in a way that looks great in photos and videos.
“Press cars” are vehicles loaned or provided to journalists and influencers for reviews and photos. Brands often choose eye-catching specs—like a light interior—because they photograph well and create a strong first impression.
"They built that we'll be competing in the Nürburgring 24 hours. So that is the name of the car."
The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a race where cars run for a full day at the Nürburgring track. Because it’s so long, the car has to be tough and reliable, not just fast.
The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a famous 24-hour endurance race held at Germany’s Nürburgring circuit. It’s known for punishing conditions and long-duration reliability demands, so cars built for it are engineered for durability as much as speed.
"without any additional [556.1s] drag and also it increases"
Drag is the air resistance that makes the car work harder to go fast. They’re saying their fix improves grip without making the car slower.
Drag is aerodynamic resistance that slows the car down, especially at higher speeds. The speaker emphasizes that the aero solution eliminates lift without adding additional drag, which is important for balancing cornering grip with straight-line speed.
"but it's about aerodynamics. The question that I want to propose to everybody is instead of the future being more power and it's faster in a straight line, what about aerodynamics?"
Aerodynamics is how the car moves through the air. Designers shape the body so it either cuts through air more easily or pushes the tires down for better grip.
Aerodynamics is how air flows around a car and how that affects forces like drag and downforce. In modern car design, aero is used to improve efficiency and stability, especially at speed.
"AutoTempest searches all the major car listing sites on the web, local or nationwide... Go to AutoTempest.com every day so they know we sent you."
AutoTempest is a website/app that searches lots of car listing sites at once. Instead of checking multiple websites, you can find cars in one place.
AutoTempest is an online car-shopping search engine that aggregates listings from many different sites. It’s meant to help you compare prices and availability without manually checking each marketplace.
"AutoTempest has recently added price history for every car listed so you can see how prices are trending and know if you found a good deal."
Price history tracks how a listing’s price changes over time. Seeing whether prices are trending up or down helps you judge if a deal is improving or if you’re likely overpaying.
"Today is technically Maserati through Polestar and I just didn't even look up Polestar. ... we are going to jump in with Maserati first,"
Maserati is an Italian luxury car brand. The episode is starting by talking about Maserati cars first.
Maserati is the Italian luxury automaker known for performance-oriented grand touring cars. In this episode, the hosts frame the discussion as starting with Maserati before moving to Polestar.
"So we are going all the way to P which means next time we're going to cover Porsche, aren't we? We'll start with Porsche for next time."
Porsche is a German brand known for sports cars that drive really well. When people say “peak Porsche,” they usually mean the best or most iconic Porsche models.
Porsche is a German sports-car brand famous for handling-focused engineering and a strong enthusiast following. When a show says it’s going to cover “peak Porsche cars,” it typically means highlighting the most iconic or best-regarded models/eras for daily usability and driving appeal.
"But with the new V6, that Natuno engine that they've pretty much put in everything."
A V6 is an engine with six cylinders. The speaker is saying Maserati is using a new V6 in many of its newer cars.
A V6 is an engine configuration with six cylinders arranged in a “V” shape. In this segment, the speaker says Maserati’s “new V6” is used across the lineup, framing it as a major shift in how the brand powers its modern cars.
"I'd own this car again with the different transmission. Yeah I just the regular six speed"
The transmission is what changes gears so the engine can stay in the right power range. If the transmission is the “right” one for the car, it can make the whole driving experience better.
The transmission is the drivetrain component that transfers power from the engine to the wheels and selects gear ratios. In this segment, the speaker specifically ties transmission choice to whether the Maserati would be a good ownership experience.
"and it'd probably be fine. It's just maintenance was expensive and people just sloughed that off and passed it to the next owner."
Sometimes a car isn’t “broken,” but it costs a lot to keep it healthy. If people skip expensive service, the next owner ends up dealing with the fallout.
The speaker is pointing out that some cars can be mechanically fine, but ownership costs can be high due to expensive maintenance. When owners don’t keep up with costly service, problems can accumulate and get passed along to the next buyer.
A wing is the spoiler on the back of a car. It’s there to push the car down onto the road at speed so it feels more stable and grips better.
A wing (rear spoiler) is an aerodynamic device that can generate downforce to improve traction and stability. On performance cars, the wing’s shape and angle are tuned to balance grip versus drag.
"available this same year was the speed tail at the top alongside the Senna."
The McLaren Speedtail is one of McLaren’s most extreme cars, mentioned here as being available in 2020. The speaker groups it with other top cars to show how wide McLaren’s lineup was.
The McLaren Speedtail is mentioned as a top-of-the-line halo car available in 2020, grouped with the Senna. It’s positioned here as part of McLaren’s “top” offerings, highlighting how the brand offered both entry-level and extreme hypercar-level options at the same time.
"The monster zero ultra. That's the OG. It kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing."
Monster Energy is a popular energy drink brand. The speaker is joking that the “Zero Ultra” idea turned into a whole lineup of flavors.
Monster Energy is an energy drink brand. In the segment, the speaker uses it as a metaphor for how the “Zero Ultra” product line expanded into multiple flavors.
"We're adding FCP Euro as our partners and supporters for both everyday driver and hooked on driving. For nearly 40 years, FCP Euro has been an industry leading supplier of genuine original equipment and OEM parts and performance upgrades for European cars."
FCP Euro is a parts store that specializes in European car brands. They sell replacement parts and some upgrade parts for cars like BMW and Audi.
FCP Euro is an aftermarket parts retailer focused on European cars. They sell genuine OEM parts and also offer performance-related upgrades for brands like BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, and more.
"That means BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mini, Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche and even Saab."
Audi is a German car brand. They’re included to show FCP Euro has parts for Audi models as well.
Audi is another European brand mentioned as part of FCP Euro’s supported lineup. The discussion frames it as evidence that the store stocks OEM and replacement parts across many German makes.
"That means BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mini, Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche and even Saab."
Volkswagen is a major European car brand. The ad is saying FCP Euro can supply parts for Volkswagens too.
Volkswagen is listed among the European marques FCP Euro supplies. It’s part of the ad’s argument that the company covers many popular European brands.
"That means BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mini, Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche and even Saab."
Volvo is a Swedish car brand. The ad includes it to show FCP Euro carries Volvo parts too.
Volvo is named as part of FCP Euro’s European-car parts coverage. In this segment, it’s used to show the retailer supports multiple makes, not just German performance brands.
"including consumables like brake pads, wiper blades and even oil filters."
Wiper blades are the rubber strips that clear rain and debris from your windshield. They eventually wear out and need replacement.
Wiper blades are consumable rubber components that wear from sun, weather, and use. The ad includes them to show the guarantee covers everyday maintenance items beyond major components.
"like brake pads, wiper blades and even oil filters. Buy a replacement, send back the old one and receive a credit for the full amount."
An oil filter cleans the oil as it circulates through the engine. It needs to be replaced regularly during oil changes.
Oil filters remove contaminants from engine oil to help protect engine wear surfaces. The segment mentions oil filters as part of the lifetime replacement guarantee, emphasizing coverage of routine service items.
"I remember reading in the Mercedes brochure from the 90s because I was beginning my Arts Center career..."
Mercedes is a car brand. Here, the host is talking about something Mercedes wrote in an old brochure—how they designed door handles and explained why they were useful.
The speaker references a Mercedes brochure from the 1990s to talk about how the company designed and marketed its door handles. It’s an example of how automakers use safety and usability features as part of the brand story.
"Griot's Garage is our official car care partner and one of our very first sponsors for the show. They don't just make great car care products."
Griot's Garage makes car cleaning and detailing products—things like cleaners and window products. The hosts are saying they use it on road trips and shoots to keep cars looking good.
Griot's Garage is a well-known detailing and car-care brand that makes products for washing, polishing, and cleaning. In the episode, it’s mentioned as the show’s official car-care partner and a sponsor.
Concept
Yubi and Puma
"Do you think
this could be taken and made into
the updated version of the Yubi and Puma
[4059.5s] you remember that"
I’m not fully sure what “Yubi and Puma” refers to here— it sounds like a remembered car name or concept. If you can share more context (what car brand or what year), it would be easier to pin down.
“Yubi and Puma” appears to refer to a specific prior concept or model names the speaker remembers, but it’s not a clearly identifiable, widely documented car name from this transcript alone. It may be a mishearing or a nickname for a concept/vehicle program.
"four doors four seats space Apple CarPlay actually a surprising amount of trunk space good cruise control"
Apple CarPlay lets you connect your iPhone to the car so you can use things like maps and music on the screen. It’s meant to make the car’s infotainment feel more modern and easy to use.
Apple CarPlay is a smartphone-integration system that mirrors compatible iPhone apps onto the car’s infotainment screen. It lets you use navigation, music, calls, and messages through the car’s interface while keeping your phone’s apps in control.
- Intro
- BMW Officially Announces The New i3
- BMW M3 Touring 24h - No Longer A Joke
- Nissan Confirms New Z Styling + NISMO Z Details
- Topic Tuesday: Peak Maserati - Polestar
- EDD & HOD Events March 2026; COTA And Pilgrimage 2026
- Car Debate #1: The Beetle Family
- Car Debate #2: Convincing Your Wife That Cars Have Soul
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Hello again. Happy Tuesday. Paul and I were just this minute talking through our travel plans for this year.
Both those we have booked and still need to book, and we've concluded that I'm already tired.
I'm just, I'm tired. I'm excited, but I'm tired.
We're doing...
Delta app fills up with trip.
Yes.
Start to scroll through all the trips they've booked.
I'm just like, how many of these do I have?
I mean, we're very excited about it. There's some huge content coming later this year.
We have our biggest road trip film ever.
I can't tell you all about it yet, but our biggest road trip film ever is coming, which is going to occupy us.
Let's put it that way for most of June.
Yeah, it is.
And then, and that's just to film it.
So we can't wait to talk about that and many, many other things.
Thank you to all of our patrons, patreon.com, the everyday driver side.
It gets great support there.
Those patrons also have a private discussion group on Discord that gets early access to our trips and these kind of things.
So we're very thankful to those folks because they get to hear a lot of this inside news early and they become great friends.
We're excited about our adventures.
Oh, Utah. I just remembered Utah.
The Utah adventure in September.
We didn't even talk about that.
Yeah, that should go up for registration in the next week.
So here's your warning.
And if you're a patron, you'll get early access to that.
That's going to be our best version of that trip ever as well.
But that's one we didn't even talk about.
Okay, there's a lot, but we're going to dive right in here.
We've got news, lots of cool news.
We've got coming back through peak car.
This is the M's mostly.
Yes, Mizorati is going to get covered.
Yeah, Maserati will work our way through that.
And we've also got a couple of cool car debates, car conclusions, questions from before.
There's a lot.
Let's go.
Let's do it.
Diving in for the first part of the news.
The BMW i3 has been announced and fully revealed.
They are calling this the second Neue class model,
but technically it's the second generation of the i3,
even though it shows you nothing with the i3, the 2015 to 2022.
Nothing like the little bicycle tire i3.
I know you do.
I think you don't want, but this is nothing like that.
It's actually gorgeous.
Yeah, I agree.
I think BMW is back.
The proportions are very BMW.
I want to show you the sketch.
How good the proportions are and how inspiring this car is.
It looks like BMW.
It looks small.
Proportions have gone back to the small three series size,
which is what we've been wanting.
We understand there is a gas powered version coming.
You need to know this is the i350X drive model,
more efficient than the older BMWs with electric motors.
So full electric motors, full all wheel drive on this with 800 volt architecture,
463 brake horsepower, 476 pound feet of torque,
with a 108 kilowatt nickel manganese cobalt battery.
This is not a lithium ion battery.
It gives it a range with 559 miles,
which is the longest range offered in Europe.
It's probably up against Lucid here in terms of range.
Yeah, the Lucids are in the 455 range.
That's a lot of range.
It's small.
It's not necessarily lightweight,
but we're not quite there with EVs yet.
But also it's gorgeous.
It looks great.
They're going to sell a ton of these.
This is exactly what I wanted BMW to produce.
I think they're coming back.
The styling, the Neue class styling is going to reset everything for BMW.
I'm glad you said reset because it feels like a styling reset to me as well.
It feels like, okay, let's start again.
And where they've gone looks really great.
I will say my only issue with this so far actually is in some angles,
the rear treatment does not look good.
But I actually think that all would fix the rear treatment,
and I can't believe I'm saying this,
but I actually think that the lights are too small.
I think it's got too much surface on the back that is just blank surface.
And I know they don't need to,
but I feel like if the tail lights were big,
it feels like the rear is squinting.
Does that make sense?
If the tail lights were bigger, I think it would balance it better.
It's got that box back in that,
and this angle actually isn't bad that you're showing this rear three-quarter,
but some of the angles from the direct rear just aren't working for me.
I like this front end so much more than we had Beaverteef prior.
I really do think they've done a good job of making it look small and very cool.
So I'm very intrigued.
I can't wait to drive this genuinely.
For sure. We shamed BMW.
We did our part in shaming BMW out of the Beaverteef era.
We were in there somewhere, yes.
And you'll notice that this also has flush door handles,
which you've probably read or banned in China at this point.
So clearly not made for the Chinese market.
It's everywhere else in Europe and North America.
I'm waiting to see if they change that.
I think this is still concept-y.
Yeah, I think these photos,
what they'll probably do is that thing that is the new flush handle,
where the handle doesn't pop out,
but there's a little finger hole to get underneath the handle.
That'll probably be that kind of styling.
You're right.
Instead of putting the big arcs on there that they did for a while,
it'll be the stick your fingers in here and hit the touchpad.
So check out the interior and you'll notice the instrument panel
is not directly in front of the driver.
So it is along the top edge.
The base of the windshield right there,
that top edge is all your information along with a screen,
which has now offered up new opportunities for a new steering wheel design.
Check it out.
It's a four spoke and so since nothing,
you don't look through the steering wheel anymore
at your instrument panel.
You're scanning just above it.
Hopefully this doesn't have the Toyota Prius problem
where it's either steering wheel or instrument panel.
One of the other you choose.
So it's a four spoke here with all your pertinent buttons,
steering wheel buttons here,
but it's actually offered up a new steering wheel take.
It's a new design here.
I know that it's working for me, but there it is.
I think it's interesting.
I think it's pretty nice.
I like all the surfaces, all the shapes
because you'll see this trapezoid shape
pulls in what they've established throughout the years,
the decade leading up to this car
and they're incorporating that,
but it's still looking really sharp,
really quite nice and yeah,
all the details there.
So I like that because you don't need to offer an HUD.
Your eyes are just right there so you can drop your eyes
and you're not looking down,
even though we're all trained to do it.
I'm guilty of that as well.
But you're looking through it, it'll work.
Looking through here, it's just right at your
basically your eyesight level.
It's a great call.
A new take on things.
The screen is a little bit large.
It still feels a little bit tacked on
and maybe needs to be more subtle,
but you know what?
It's Model 3 thinking.
It really is, unfortunately.
How would BMW redesign the Model 3 interior?
I bet you that sentence was said
in a meeting.
I bet you it was.
But we'll wait to see what the interior of the
gas version of this looks like.
It'll be quite interesting
and I'm not sure why BMW continues to insist
on a white interior,
so that's why it still feels concept-y,
but they have proven also that they will just
offer that and people buy it
and it's just blinding white interior.
It looks great in photographs,
it's why they give it to us for press cars.
All the brands want to give out a super
light interior for press cars.
Let's be honest, another thing Tesla
has done frankly is a white interior
with some black accents
and I would never buy a white interior,
but look, it makes it feel
inviting and it's not cave-like.
It's the opposite. That's the trick that's
pulled here for sure.
It looks cool.
I agree. We wanted.
I'm excited about this car. I want to drive it.
I'm excited about the gas version.
There is further BMW news
in the form of the
M3 Touring
and BMW is proud
that the April Fool's joke
is actually in existence now.
Fascinating to read about this.
Of course, because it's a wagon, the entire
internet glommed on to their April Fool's
joke like, what if we made a race car
out of the wagon and everybody's like, please do that
and BMW realized
what if we did and so
they've got, we built
it signs all over the car.
They built that we'll be competing in the
Nürburgring 24 hours. So that is the name of the car.
It's the M3 Touring 24 hours.
590 horsepower
up to 590 horsepower
with 517 pound
feet of torque from that three liter inline
six twin power
turbo engine. But the challenges
here, the challenges were challenging because
the
length of the roof
made more air resistance
in both top speed
and high speed cornering.
Also, the roof and rear window
affected the rear wing downforce
in comparison to the M4 GT3
which was actually worse because
it's the Touring. I can see that.
So to solve this, the slawn
neck increases the distance
from that rear window
and the roof line and it eliminates the lift
that is created right at the
trailing edge of the roof, the rear
lip of the roof without any additional
drag and also it increases
downforce by extending it out. But now
it's another benefit because I'm
pretty sure you can open that rear hatch
it's going to be difficult to access
but it's not attached
to the hatch itself.
So it's the swan neck that's bolted
right to the body. They're never building this for anybody
else anyway. This will be one often when we wind up in the
museum. That's exactly what's happening. It's very cool
though. Hashtag they built it and they figured out
the aerodynamics and now it actually makes more
downforce because they've extended
that swan neck out. So this
kind of ties into what we'll get
to with my discussion today and peak cars
but it's about aerodynamics.
The question that I want to propose to everybody
is instead of the
future being more power and it's faster
in a straight line, what about aerodynamics?
What will
Aero continue to do to new cars,
new sports cars? Let's
talk about Aero from here on out, not power.
Let's talk about aerodynamics
for every car that comes out. Okay, fair.
How does that? Aero and weight would be
really fascinating to pursue. What if we
kind of tabled the power discussion
because we've arrived with the ZR1
X at the most
All of the power, all of the power, all of the
Aero, all of the traction. What about
Aero and lack of weight?
Let's start that discussion for future
sports cars.
More news from Nissan.
This is really exciting.
As you know, the
changes for the 2027
Nissan Z
are not just styling
because they have introduced the manual
transmission for the Nismo model.
Hello, missed
opportunity before.
But I'm curious because
by waiting so long, I think
Nissan has extended
the life of the Z and as we know
Nissan builds models
for like 14 straight years, so they've got
to do something. I think
it was probably already in the works.
I think it was part of their plan from the
get go and then everybody screamed and said
us included. Why doesn't the Nismo
have the manual? Well, when the Nismo
came out with the auto only and everybody
said, I know this is a track car
but wouldn't this be better with the manual? We said it as well
and we love the way the Nismo drives.
But the official
Nissan line was
that the bump in power the transmission
can't handle.
I don't mean to rewind and bring it
back up, but so what miracle
occurred now?
That the engine and transmission can now handle
the Nismo
of the car and now the
manual is cool. Earlier it wasn't, but now it's good.
But I'm just glad it's coming.
I'm thrilled it's here.
They have very much
promoted this for track
use. They did for the Nismo anyway.
Yes, they did. But now even more, they're
promoting the manual transmission for track
use because the
new Nismo manual is not just
a manual transmission. They have added
the GTR front brakes
to the car
which has saved 19 pounds
from the previous Nismo
which means they have had to
retune the front suspension for better
and also they've reduced
the steering friction
on the steering rack by
20% for a more fluid
feel. Sounds all good. All
designed for track use.
So suspension retuning, lighter
front end, manual transmission.
This is how the car should have been from
the get-go, but they've
prolonged the life of the Z.
Well, strung it out even more.
Absolutely true. It's news.
Think about when Toyota released the Supra.
Well, they waited a few years until the manual
showed up and it revitalized
that car. And also this is one of those
cars. I still can't believe that Nissan has
successfully actually re-released
the Z car at all and I'm impressed.
I was disappointed when we first drove it.
I was pleasantly thrilled by it
when we drove it in the Nismo form and wanted a manual.
Now this has a manual and they've revised the styling
for the better and they're putting better
parts on it. I mean, this may be one of those
ongoing project cars where they just keep
making it better and by the time this life cycle
finishes, this might be the
car you must go by.
I cannot wait to drive the version. I think that
could happen. I'm very excited. I really am.
These even have a new fuel tank
specifically to maintain consistent
performance during aggressive track
driving. All that's coming out of Nissan's
press release is aggressive
track driving with the Nismo version.
You're totally right. Nissan bring this
to a hooked on driving track day. Completely.
Nismo owners bring this car
to an HOD track day near you
hookedondriving.com. Find a track day near you.
But this is designed for track use.
That's all they're talking about. GTR front brakes.
Why didn't have GTR front brakes from the
very beginning? Well, what's crazy is that
suggests that the braking will be better and then
the weight savings that changes all of the
other things in the front end. That's just, that's great
stuff. I love it. Yes
to all of this. Nissan, great
job. You're doing great. Keep it
up. You're doing great.
We're applauding you. Baby steps.
Baby steps.
Two teams. One cup.
The primetime stage is set for the TGL
presented by SoFi Finals. Los Angeles
Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter Links. Keep
up. It's playoffs. Tune in Monday,
March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2
and Tuesday, March 24th,
7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN
and on the ESPN
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Today is technically
Maserati through Polestar and I just
didn't even look up Polestar.
Polestar is such a, such a, whatever.
I figured you'd have some. I have Polestar.
I figured you'd have it done. I do, I do.
But we are going to jump in with Maserati first,
but let me just give you the headline real quick.
We're talking Maserati, Mazda,
McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Mitsubishi.
Have you got Morgan stuff? I do.
Okay, because I haven't driven enough
Morgan's to really feel like I could speak about it.
Nissan and Polestar. So we are going all the way
to P which means next time we're going to cover
Porsche, aren't we? We'll start
with Porsche for next time. Man, oh man.
Okay, yeah, we'll try to get through the rest of the
time. I've already got them. I'm not the least bit
surprised. Is anyone surprised that Paul already
knows what peak Porsche cars we're going to talk
about? Exactly what to talk about. Yeah.
All right, so dive on in. Okay,
let's start with the Maserati.
One of my favorite, if not my very favorite
joke shirt we've ever made is your
Maserati shirt. It's the best. And it takes
a couple of reads. The thing that's funny
is I've certainly worn that in some situations
with people like, oh, Maserati owner.
He's totally acting like a Maserati owner
and like, look again, look again at this
shirt. Yeah, let's have a different conversation,
shall we? The wilted pickle floor.
Exactly. You think
you know what it says, but you don't. Anyway.
It's all in jest. It's all. I mean,
we're poking fun. Of course we are.
There's a lot to love here.
You might think that I would
have said the bird cage, the type
6061, the bird
cage Maserati. But no, I
am not including that as peak Maserati because
it was slow, it didn't
win and it was ugly. It was kind of a turd.
I mean, everybody's like the bird cage Maserati.
And yes, it was a lightweight chassis with very
delicate thin tubing structure
for the chassis. And that is cool.
But there are cooler Maserati. So I believe
Maserati peaked in 1957
with two cars starting
with the 250FT
to lightweight. This was
the Nurburgring Grand Prix winning
car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio.
This particular car
was at the museum in Germany
that you and I went to last year. That's
the car, the winning
car. Yeah, that museum was unbelievable.
The cool thing about this, and there's a through line
just over 1200 pounds
inline six with 270 brake
horsepower in an offset position
so the drive shaft could run alongside
the driver and therefore mount the seat
even lower in the chassis for
a lower center of gravity. There's nothing
scarier than sharing the cabin with
the open drive shaft. I am
sorry, but that is terrifying.
It's terrifying. Do not have any loose pieces
of clothing. You'll be sucked right in.
That is all bad. Talking about brave
drivers. Oh man. This was an
eight-time championship winning
car in Formula One.
Just over 1200 pounds.
It's unbelievable. And terrifying.
Unbelievable and really,
really scary. Amazing. So the
second car is also
from 1956 to 1958,
but this is the 57
450S. The
dry weight was under
2000 pounds
with a 500 horsepower
4.7 liter V8.
I mean, I'm imagining
just over 2000 pounds
with driver and fluids. I'm imagining
my Elise with over
500 pounds. It currently has
with over 500 horsepower.
You know, right now my car
is stock, which means it has
just under 200 horsepower. So we're more
than doubling. Yeah.
Talk about sure.
Ballsy to drive this thing.
I can't even imagine. And it's pretty.
But also the through
line is lightweight. So Maserati
in its history, in its racing history,
they stopped racing after that. They didn't go
racing anymore after these cars. They tried
there was a V12 in that 250
250F. They tried
all these different configurations and they end up
going away from racing. Of course Ferrari was on the rise
at that point in
racing, but lightweight is
in their history. So I think
they peaked with these two cars
because they were winning cars
or winning race cars.
So I think those two cars peaked for
the late fifties for Maserati
and their current lineup.
All of them are pretty
heavy. Yes, they are. But with
the new V6, that Natuno engine
that they've pretty much put in everything. Yes.
Yes. Stylistically speaking,
the Gran Turismo Trofeo is
so spectacular. It's such a great looking car.
And it drives
so much better than I ever expected.
Yes. Yeah. I kind of want to own one of these
cars, buddy. I kind of
own one of these cars. I agree with you as
these continue to take that
precipitous drop that all Maserati's do.
It's like, what's the point at which you go, yeah, I really
ought to have one. Just think they're pretty. They're
sexy. They have that flavor, that
exotic. Yeah.
Beautiful. They've got power.
Well, and we need to be light. The one
we drove was all wheel drive
and was brilliant in all wheel drive. You
could put four actual people in it
and it drove small and light even though
it was neither of the above. It was very impressed
with this car. Even though the
MC20 has its issues and they are
offering the MC Xtrema
GT2 Stradale.
Sure. Which is their extreme
version of the MC20 and
that same engine, you know, a lot more power.
Yes to this. Yes
to all of their cars in the lineup. Even
their Gricali with the same
engine, the Trofeo version of it.
Yes. To everything.
I want them to think about
light weighting but that peak Maserati
in the late 50s provides the
foundation for everything they need to
do moving forward. I see it. For the next generation
of all these cars and I
hope that we're past the
well unreliability kind of crap. They
have years of that in their history.
Sure. Yeah. But you look back, there's some
iconic Maserati's. They're pretty striking
and pretty beautiful cars.
But their entire lineup I
would say all about.
I would love to own that Gran Turismo
but I love the recipe. That
through line. So peak late 50s
and then now with their current product lineup.
So just wait until they're used and
go nuts. It's going to be terrifying.
But we're also excited. So just as a reminder
I'm doing this a little differently than Paul. Paul
is picking peak cars which is fantastic
and I am thinking about this as like a
traveling time machine thing. Travel back
to me to an individual year
when you could walk into the dealer for
this brand and they had multiple cool
things going on.
Reliability aside. Absolutely.
That doesn't matter. Just like
you can't believe all these cars were sold at the same time.
And I created a task
for my help. I realized that this has been quite
tiring but very fun. So I would dive in
here and I was surprised by where I ended up
for Maserati and that is I wound
up in the year
2010. And I debated going
with current lineup but I went with the year 2010
for a couple of reasons because this is
before
Maserati added
SUVs.
And I like the current lineup.
I'm with you. I like the current lineup a lot
but it is post SUV
transition. And at this time in 2010
you had this is the Quattroporte
after your car.
So this is the refreshed version.
And then they also have the Grand
Turismo in convertible
and coupe. Also this was at that time
when for Maserati
all the engines were related to Ferrari
engines. True.
And you could argue that they sounded
better than Ferraris because of the
packaging and the exhaust. Yeah.
I remember being in LA around this time
period you could A always
tell when a Maserati drove by and B
you just stopped what you were doing.
It didn't even matter.
You just stopped like mid-step and
we're just like oh it's a Maserati driving
by. It's like three blocks away because they were
loud. Yeah. But they were
fantastic. So I mean I have to go
2010 because that was
nothing else sounded like them
and they were such
an alt choice.
People that bought Maserati's were not
considering anything else. Sounded great
turned your head and if you ever got in one you're like
this is really nice. Now this is when they were
most terrifying reliability wise
but the Grand Turismo had
a convertible a four seat convertible
and this crazy coupe with
the really long nose. So cool.
Just a cool car. Such a cab
backward design was incredible and then of course
they continued to rock the only the Italians
the four door the Quattroporte
I will forever
laugh at that name
but you know what I mean your
car proved it to me
that those cars forget the goofy
name. Maserati's doing
something unique and the issues
you had with yours had been ironed out by
here but they still got those cool engines.
I'd own this car again with the different
transmission. Yeah I just the regular six speed
it'd probably be fine and take care of it
and just like any other car
and it'd probably be fine. It's just
maintenance was expensive and people just
sloughed that off and passed it to the next owner.
Yeah I mean as you did as well this was
also right before they reintroduced
totally you were like I have a Maserati order
now this is what we do. This is also
right before they came out with the Ghibli
which is a historic name for Maserati
and they've had it for lots of different generations
but the Ghibli kind of
failed on introduction
and then went away again so I feel
like this was the pure modern
Maserati was these three
in the year 2010. Pure
Maserati. With a Ferrari
anyway I know I'm
it's thin here anyway. I love it.
Alright moving on to Mazda and I guess this
is going to turn into the debate of
which Miata is best? Which Miata
do you prefer? And for me
it is the current one. The ND3
version of all
Mazdas. I'm not going to show the Rotaries
any love. I think that's
an experiment and they tried it and they're known
for it but that's not peak Mazda.
Peak Mazda is the Miata
and peak Miata is the current
ND3. This is a car
that I would own.
Hands down flat out
I would squish my spine to just
just to own it. Just to deal
with it and make the seat mods, carve
the foam out of the seat or something just
to like get my butt down
in there. I totally get it. What a
sweet looking beautiful.
We are all looking forward to
what the next MX5 would be. Of course
we want to know but the proportions
the size, the scale cannot change.
It can't get heavier. It can't get bigger
it can't turn into the 992
911. It can't get fat and heavy
and make room for other models.
No, it's got to stay this
and styling will change
but I think we're at peak
Miata with the ND3
Everything has just
sort of gelled into
the one car
for Mazda. They make great SUVs
and we like SUVs and we like some of the other products
and I like the RX7s and don't get me wrong
the rotors are cool for other people to own
but peak
Mazda
We've said that so many times we got out of the
rotors and you're like oh thank god it's still running
That really does scare us
It does scare us every time we do it. That's true
So there you go. I think this is the car
for me
Of course I'm going to do my
what's the best year thing and this was interesting
to kind of go back and go
when was Mazda selling
a range of stuff
that just could not be denied
and so I went through this for a while
and of course, guess what nobody's surprised
it has a Miata on the list
but I am going to be
places other than just Miata
The 9
Do you remember this car?
929? Yes
They did the 929. The 323
626
and the 929
This was the 929
The year is 1995
They're selling the 929
which was the forgotten attempt
by Mazda to do a luxury
fighter. This was them kind of
trying to do the Lexus LS thing
Are those Lamborghini models on the back behind the car?
They look like it. I'm not sure where this photo
is from but there's that. So the 929
exists. The 626 exists
but let's think about the other stuff being sold
by Mazda. The range of product
in 1995. They're selling
the B-Series truck which was a Ford Ranger
B-Series truck which was actually really cool
and people still love these
and build these out to incredible off-road builds
and I actually think that the Mazda
version looks a little bit better than the Ranger from the time
So the
the B-Series truck
you remember this? The MX-3
I forgot about this car
The MX-3. Now here's a keep in mind
they made the MX-5. Is that a Nissan
Pulsar? Yes
They were making the MX-5
Miata at the time because of course they were
The first gen was still the
big focus of the time but they had
an MX lineup
That's true. Which is this front wheel
drive tiny little hatchback
which believe it or not came with a tiny little
four-cylinder but it also came with a small
V6
naturally aspirated V6 front wheel
drive was available in this
the MX-5 of course and then
the MX-6
Remember this car? This is the Ford
Probe underneath. Yes it's the Ford
Probe sold by Mazda. They told the
MX-6. That's right. This is also
1995 if you can believe it
and of course the RX-7
from the mid 90s
the FD which is
it's one of the more brilliant cars
to look at, to drive, to interact with
I am too big for it
and I'm terrified of the rotary
but it is brilliant to drive
so this is the lineup
of our friends at Mazda
in this year. I cannot believe
the range of stuff they have
and I had totally forgotten about
the MX lineup. I totally
forgot about the MX. The 323 becomes
the current Mazda 3
The 626 became the Mazda 6
which is now dead. The 929
hasn't existed for a while but they had
those three sedans
stepping up in sedans like BMW
Oh man.
They have a little tiny pickup
that was legit
they have an MX lineup
now I wish all the MX lineup
meant rear-wheel drive but okay
the 3, the 5 and the 6
and then the RX-7
is just an icon.
1995 at Mazda was crazy
town and I love it. I'm so
excited about it. It's really cool.
Got about that MX-6
because I went to the auto alliance
plant in southern Detroit
to see the Ford probe
and that car being built. I was like
you can build these two different brands on the same line
and I had a great education about
shared parts and badge engineering
Sure, yeah. Wait, that's a Mazda at the Ford
plant. Wait, it's contract building
you can do that? Okay, shared parts
and I saw the bodies
going on. I saw everything, suspension
all the parts and it was very educational for me
that was crazy. The MX-6
was much better looking than the original
Ford probe. Much better
looking. I totally agree.
Mazda has such a bright future with this
inline 6 for future sedans
and making rear-wheel drive cars
have a long beautiful nose
rear-wheel drive whatever the
keep them MX-5 and then
inline 6 with a larger proportion
GT car like but still Mazda
they've got such a bright future with that engine
to do so many
cool things. I'm really excited.
Yeah, 1995. I had no idea. That was
the throw-down year for me for sure.
That is really good. Moving on
to McLaren
there's been a lot of cars and I love McLarens
and I love so many
different models and they're all great, right?
They're all great.
I will just briefly touch on the
F1 from
1992 to 1998
and then moving to
the future car that
is coming out very shortly. It is their
brand new supercar, the W1
and I
criticized this car in earlier podcasts
and I wasn't too impressed but the more
I've inspected it, the more I've learned about it
I'm really warming to this styling
I'm really excited for this car
it's really grown on me. It doesn't have to be
that half-moon
kind of shape styling everywhere where they're starting
to move away from that for me which is good.
What is McLaren about this?
And it comes back to
this discussion about the Z car
that let's talk about aerodynamics
BMW
the wing for the touring
so this is 1275
horsepower. It's a hybrid.
Sure, of course it is.
With an eight-speed dual clutch transmission
but it has McLaren active long
tail on it so that wing
extends backwards
300 millimeters and extends the working
area of the diffuser
to produce
1000 kilograms
or
2,204 pounds
of downforce
Are we trying to stick to the
ceiling? So horsepower
yeah, it's got a ton of horsepower. Styling, crazy
carbon fiber, everything
great, great, great. A lot of supercars do that
but now
the future is downforce
the future is aero
that's how Porsche is able to
inexplicably make the GT3 RS
faster than the GT3
like it extended the wing up
and it makes more and it's got more
and then Manti takes it even further and
really sticks the car to the car. It's cheat code
every time we drive
we're like this is cheating! How is this possible?
So horsepower cool
obviously you have to have the horsepower
to overcome the drag but still
future sports cars let's make them aerodynamic
and efficient and that will
produce I think beautiful cars
and interesting future sports cars
we have saved the manuals
I keep saying this. Nissan
with the Nismo Z proves that
the manuals are saved. Can we stop talking about saving
the manuals? We don't want
them to go away but you're right. It's kind of like save
the whales. We got over
the scary part and now we feel a little bit better
about ourselves. Parents, teach
your children, teach your sons and daughters to
drive manual transmissions which will also
keep them around. It is a life skill that will keep
these cars around. But
there's future supercars like this
let's talk about aero. This is so
key and
just learning that particular
stat. How that wing deploys
300 millimeters further out
to make a thousand kilograms
of that's craziness it really is.
Pushing on the car to stick it.
I wonder how fast you have to go to get all of that
out of it but that's still in the set. FAST!
FAST!
Note little asterisk in the quarter
must travel extremely fast. You gotta go fast
but still. Fast with a capital letter.
I am I the W1 has really
grown on me. I am really
kind of becoming all about it
and it's not horsepower it's not stats
it's aero.
Kind of getting into aero.
Yeah you are. I've heard that coming up a
lot more with you. It's pretty interesting.
I'm going to jump into McLaren here and
I hate to say
the best era is right now.
I tried to not do that but I think
we drove the Artura a couple
years ago and that was the first
of the new chassis from McLaren
and I feel like the Artura is going to work its way
through their line up and we may get
to a place that I would like travel into
the future in time and find the new peak
from McLaren but I was trying to go like I am
with all of these. When did they have the
super broad line up?
And I landed on 2020.
I mean that might change with their future
SUV whatever that is coming out.
Exactly. If the SUV is good
I can't believe we're doing it but of course they're doing it.
Anyway 2020 they had
this GT car
which was also
built in S and in Spider.
This is the 570.
They had the 570 GT
in S and in Spider. This was their entry level
car. Now the Artura has replaced this.
The Artura is now the entry level but this was their entry level.
This is right after the era that
reintroduced them with the MP412C
which was known to be electronically
plagued and they made variants of that
which was like the 600 and the 675
and they were refining that but then
starting with this 570 it was like
okay we kind of got our feet under us
and you can get an entry level McLaren now
and you can even get it in like GT form
that has slightly different styling as well but anyway
so here's the 570. You also have
the 600 class at the time.
This is the 600LT that I'm showing.
You also in 2020 could buy
a 720S. It was the beginning
of that life cycle of 720S
but weight also
available this same year was the
speed tail at the top
alongside the Senna.
All of these were available
from McLaren in the year 2020.
I'm going to go back through them real quick.
570 if you just
came into McLaren. McLaren is not
Ferrari. If you have the money you can buy a car.
You can just go buy one. Whatever model you want
from McLaren. I would like to buy me.
570 is not enough for me. I'll get a 600LT.
That's not enough. 720S which has been argued
as like the best daily hypercar
ever but about a speed...
I've never even seen one of these in person.
They're out there but the speed tail, the crazy
and this was the three-seater
revisiting the three-seater idea
before Gordon Murray comes back with it on his lineup
so this was this crazy speed tail with all this
aero and look at the weird front wheel
and all this. There's really weird stuff going on.
It's all about aero. They just explore aero.
And then of course the Senna with the see-through doors
for tracking. They explore aero. Aero doesn't
necessarily mean pretty. They're not one and the same.
I mean the Senna is purposeful but I don't
think you can call that car beautiful. I really don't
think you can. No. For purpose.
Yeah. Talk about hitting the apex though.
You can't see the wheel arches but you can look through
your door. Where's
the curving? Oh there it is.
And again kind of like Maserati.
This is before the inevitable SUV.
Assuming that's coming.
In 2020 it feels like they've got a lineup
that not only is it all sports cars but it feels
like their entire lineup would be like
if Porsche only sold variants of the 9-11.
Similar chassis
built out in different ways
2020.
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Right, we've got Mercedes
Benz next.
What is peak Mercedes
to me? There's no 300SL
Gullwing, classic, iconic, but it was also
the thinking behind it. It was that
GT long nose.
The thing that spawned
my other two favorites from
Mercedes, the GT
is one of the prettiest cars
Mercedes has built in
well, since the 54-55
300SL Gullwing. It is peak Mercedes
for how it drives, power.
We love this car, how
energetic, how raw it is, but still
of all the AMG cars.
It is this. I'm showing the green
GTR
version, but we liked the regular
GT, the GTS. And this is
from 2017, I believe,
but that era up to
2020, somewhere
2020, 2021
really think this is such a special car
and I didn't want Mercedes to touch it
and I wasn't too enthusiastic about
the next generation, but I did
realize that Mercedes built
the Porsche 928 that Porsche should
have built. Yeah, you've said that before
and I think you're right. They really did kind of steal
that idea from Porsche. This is the one.
They changed the layout so
you could incorporate two small back seats
that are completely unusable, that's right
in line with the 928 thinking. Yes.
And you would know. It's not
the most dynamic feeling.
It's not dead, but
there's a response that seems
artificial, but it's along the lines of
like, I can't believe technology allows
me as a driver to do the things
I'm doing on this. It's
phenomenally superb to drive. This is really
one of those cars that proves you
can have fun in a car that weighs too
much. This should be
as distant as the GTR and somehow
isn't. Yes. Which is very interesting.
It's surprising. Yeah, it really is. So this is the
e-performance version of the GT
AMG GT 63S
e-performance.
You don't need that version
either. You could step down and still have all the fun.
But anyway, keep going. We never like to judge a car based
on numbers and partly
part of this exercise we are doing so
to demonstrate technology going
into this car, but with this
particular one, they invented fluid. Mercedes
came up with a fluid
to keep
the battery cool
at a consistent temperature
113 degrees
that is located over the
two-speed rear transaxle
so that all of the power from the battery
is available at all
times all at once
whether it's cold outside, hot outside
that fluid keeps the batteries
at 113 degrees
and all of the power can be discharged.
I guess
it is unbelievable. And here it is
in a car you and I
can buy. I mean, we can't afford it, but here it is.
People can buy it. There's no
special form you have to fill out. You just go into
Mercedes dealer with the money and you can have one.
The going was just, oh, the steering wheel tilts
to get in and the goings and the styling
and the inline 6 and the power
and what a crazy, it was
a race car, it was a road car and it kept going
and here it is
peaking in 54, 55
and peaking again right now with this GT 63.
Very good. Mercedes is difficult.
This was hard for me
because I was trying to go, what year do I
land on that just
feels like everything in the lineup feels like
iconic Mercedes.
Because Mercedes has had sprinter vans.
Seriously, they've had ebbs and flows.
And in the early 2000s when this
show really started, we were
felt like that Mercedes was kind of an adult rooms
and they bounced back since as is evidenced
by the stuff you're bringing up here. So I was just
trying to think of, what are the cars
that when I see them, I'm just ingrained for
that is Mercedes. So I had to really think
about this and I landed
on the back end of the very iconic
W124
era. Now, if you don't know the W124
is this car I'm showing on screen now.
I'm in the year 1994
from the mid 80s
to the mid 90s. Mercedes
was making what was essentially the W124
chassis, which then became
the E-Class. And
94 is about the time they started calling
it the E-Class. But this
boxy front end, after this version
they actually separate out
the dual lights on the E-Class. That's the way you tell the E-Class.
But this is before that. I never liked the separated
out E-Class lights. It never worked for me.
This is before that.
It's still a bigger boxy or light. But the crazy
thing about the W124 is it came in
everything. It came in. This is two door
coupe. It came in four door.
It also came in convertible.
It also came in wagon.
And you could get many, at this point
you could get many Mercedes in
manual. You could just tick the box
for manual. So keep in mind, most of the
cars I'm showing here, you could do
a manual option. And many of them also
had a V12 option.
The other reason I landed in 94 is because
I'm sorry, but there is no more
iconic. That looks like an S-Class sedan
from the 1994 Mercedes
S-Class. That is an old
boxy design. And I'll be honest with you, I don't
think they've topped it. This 1994
Mercedes S-Class, to
me, that says Mercedes
big brawling S-Class more than
any other design they've ever hit on. This
is also the era when
BMW does their really cool 7-Series.
Like right after this era.
Late 90s is when Mercedes does, I mean
pardon me, when BMW does their awesome 7
that we like so much. This is the AMG
version I'm showing here. But this boxy S-Class
you could get a V12 in this.
And it's square and it's fine with it.
This is just a really, really cool
S-Class. I like this very much.
And the same era also has the only
era of the SLK I ever liked.
These are cheap by the way.
They are cheap now. But it's boxy.
It's got kind of the front end of that
124 E-Class. This one I'm showing happens
to have a V12 up front.
Sweet.
And I don't know that I'm picking any of these
cars because they are the best thing ever to
drive. But it's just, that just
says Mercedes to me. This is
their lineup. This is before it
gets into all how many 5-seat SUVs
can we sell. SLK
looks like that. The S-Class
rules the world. And we have
all the variants of the 124
soon to be E-Class you could imagine. Again
this one car came in coupe,
sedan, wagon
and convertible.
Oh and I don't have a picture of it here but this is also the area where
the S-Class sold a coupe.
Oh that's right. That's right.
1994
was like Mercedes goes this is exactly
the kind of car we make and nothing
else. And I love it.
I remember reading in the Mercedes
brochure from the 90s because I was beginning
my Arts Center career and I was just
devouring car information more
than I usually did. I remember
reading Mercedes and their take on door
handles. That is the antithesis
of where door handles are today. Okay.
They put all their engineering
into the handles so much so they advertised
it as the handle the fire
department can put a link the chain
through and yank the door off the car
to get your butt out of there in a fire.
Okay. Yeah. Alright.
Let's do that and they're still stylish
and slim and you can pull
the door off the car with that handle
that's cool.
It's like a missed opportunity for
an episode of Incredible Hulk.
Yes.
Modern door handles will snap
like the elastic on the back of your kids
Halloween mask nowadays. Yes for sure.
It feels like snap plastic. That's junk.
Yes. For sure. They feel very fragile
and that is the first interaction with
the car. That is where you first
interact. It tells you a lot.
It tells you all kinds of things. Yes.
So modern handles especially the
retractable handles which I don't like personally.
They feel cheap and flimsy because they have to be
light and they're plastic gears.
And they've got to move and all the things.
Yeah. But Mercedes was like
interesting. Oh.
Oh, Mercedes.
Easy there.
And then just knowing
emergency services
could get to you
just by pulling the door
off the car.
Okay. Badness. Okay. Fantastic.
You don't see that from any
manufacturer these days. Nobody cares that much about handles.
That's true. Let's talk about
Mini. Okay.
This is going to be really easy for me. All right.
I'm not going to dive into the history of the Morris
Mini or the Austin Mini.
I'm going to just go straight for the original Mini.
Okay. Yeah. Which is classic.
So that one, the original Mini and
the R53. I just don't
think modern Minis
get better stylistically, better
to drive. I just don't think they've
topped this
04 R53 Mini Cooper.
The JCW, the Mini Cooper S
don't care. Supercharged
not turbocharging. Agreed. Agreed.
I don't think they've done better. They need to
revisit this. They need to open up Creek
their history book and revisit the
R53 because
that is Mini to me. That is modern
classic, cool, fun,
interesting, great Mini.
You and I are there together. The end.
I just have to pile on to your thinking. The end.
My year for Mini was
2006. I'm showing a base
Mini here. 2006 was the last
year of the R53. Okay.
You could get this base one.
It's just the modern Mini Cooper.
You could get it supercharged with a little
vent in the hood like my son has, which is
really awesome. Plus you get supercharger wine,
which is even better. You also could
get convertible. And this is actually
a supercharged convertible that I'm showing.
And you could get the JCW
version. Sweet looking. They haven't
gone clubman. They haven't done the
countryman yet either. Countryman. This is just
we are doing what
the name suggests on the tin.
We're making a small car.
Mini. It is small.
It's not for everybody. What do we make?
Lots of variants of a very small Mini
car. Yes. This is it. Because
the other thing is, right after they
did this generation, starting in 07,
they had the turbocharged motor.
And that is where Mini gets its
horrible reliability reputation.
Because that second generation was
terrible for reliability.
And they got a little bit bigger. That's when they started adding all the other models.
And I really like the clubman with the
refrigerator doors. Those are cool looking.
But come on now. I was following
one the other day. Because
they're all off the BMW chassis,
the current countryman
is just SUV.
It's not interesting. It's just a brand
Mini. It's ugly. And it's
big. It's big. Yeah. It's every bit
as big. Frankly, it's about as big
as my first gen Cayenne.
Not quite. But it's starting to be
there. Not quite. It's like
modern RAV4 sized.
Think about that. And it's a Mini.
It's in the name. It should be
in the name. But we have to broaden
the lineup and we have to get people what
they want to buy. No, you don't. No, you don't.
But this is the other part of the equation.
Whenever any of us buy a car,
if you buy a new car ever, and I've done this a couple times,
you will be besieged
by, so you bought your car. How do you feel about it?
Surveys. On your phone,
through the mail. We want
feedback. Yes. And the dealer too.
Yes. Absolutely. Yeah.
And invariably in every one of those
questionnaires, there's a
please check boxes for things you'd like more
of. Well, okay, everybody on the
planet, whatever car you buy. Okay.
If it's a car you use a lot,
you could probably do just usability wise
with a little more space.
I'd like a little more space, please. I mean,
I drive a Lotus Elise. I love it. I want it to be small
and tiny, but could I do with a little more space? Yeah, I could.
Every time I'm in a Miata, it's awesome.
I don't really want it to get bigger, but what would I like?
A little more space. So I guarantee
you what happened is those surveys on the Mini
were, I'd like it to be a little bigger and Mini went,
well, okay, see that proves it. But to your
point, we don't have to sound everybody.
Let's just make the car
for the people that want to buy the car
and let it go. BMW makes
all the niche models. They already make all that stuff.
What are we doing with a countryman that's as big
as a RAV4? This is not
Mini. Anyway,
I can't answer that question. I can't answer that question.
But 2006 was the year.
When you think of Mitsubishi, what car do you think?
Quick, go.
Evolution. There's only one.
Yeah. It is the Evo 10. All the other
Evo's are really cool. I like them too.
But the Evo 10, the
end. I see more Mitsubishi's on the street
nowadays. I can't even
tell you what the models are
anymore. I stopped paying attention
after this died. I stopped
paying attention to Mitsubishi because, well, Mitsubishi
died, but then they brought the brand back
and they have all these different
SUVs and I'm just thinking, Mitsubishi.
What are you doing?
Nissan Renault, Mitsubishi.
They've got, Nissan's
doing great things. It could infect
through over to Mitsubishi.
We could still get something.
But first they're going to have to come out with a
new Lancer and a
new small car and then take
your inspiration from BMW. Look, they went smaller with
the new three series and then it's going to be
all those variants, all the performance
variants. And that's what you could do for the next
Mitsubishi Evo. And I think
people would buy it because
everybody's been without. We've all been
without. And Subaru, look at Subaru
creeping back
towards performance with the
WRX. They're like, no, no,
we're never going to make the STI again.
Nobody likes this. Nobody's buying it. Well, maybe
somebody will buy it. And then
everybody kind of wants that performance
WRX and they're kind of creeping back and
make this a far version, make all the versions.
I don't care, but the Evo 10
I have fond memories of us driving that
car against so many things.
All kinds of things. It's the car I've always
wanted to own and never actually did. It's up
there with the, for me, it's up there with the
Julia and the SS and other kind of sedans
I don't need, but I love. It's absolutely up
there for sure. As you've succinctly stated
one time, the interior of the Mitsubishi
Evo is like plastic
Army men melted down to make an instrument panel.
It is so cheap. It's terrible.
But then you start driving
and nobody cares. It's just
so great to drive. You're totally right, yes.
But it's super cheap and stupid and terrible
and now it's really old.
Well, because look, every brand did this and
that is we're going to make our economy car and
but Mitsubishi somehow failed
in the internal interior
transition steps. Okay. Everybody
else seemed to figure out a way while making
a performance version to make the interior.
It's a little nicer. It's it's a little nicer.
This is just.
The $20,000 Lancer.
You just happen to get a bunch of technology
and make it drive brilliant. The interior was
like, this is a cheap car. This is a really
cheap car. But the brilliance. That's what
the Mitsubishi name means is driving
brilliance. Okay. We don't
care about anything else. Even seats. We
don't care. I mean, we care about seats, but
everything else, fine.
It's a bolt of old fabric
from the local fabric
store to cover the interior and we don't care
but man, is it great in the all wheel drive
and. Interesting.
Mitsubishi. Okay. They've had a long
history rally. All the
evos cool. We can argue which
Evo is the best just like we argue which
Miata is the best. Sure. But I think it's the
last one they they peaked.
Mitsubishi peaked. All right. And then we get
eclipse crosses and
I don't even know grand eclipse crosses.
I'm about to frighten you
with the eclipse, actually. You're
going to not know this little bit
of information. I've learned all kinds of stuff doing this.
I really have enjoyed this. I've learned a ton of stuff
in all this research. It really has been very cool.
I keep making my notes
available in a couple places because I keep running back and forth
from photos to this. I mean, there's a lot going on here
but I'm very, very excited about it.
Okay. Here's something I don't think
you knew. I didn't know it
but I'm going to mention it anyway.
And that is I think peak year for
Mitsubishi was 2003
but did you know that
the eclipse was sold
new until 2012?
I think of that car is
dying in like 03 when I was
doing peak Mitsubishi.
But they sold the first. This is the
Diamante, my friend. Oh, that's the Diamante.
What a contrived stupid name.
2003 is my year
which the eclipse was being sold
but I actually thought this was when the eclipse died.
2012, you could still buy
a brand new Mitsubishi eclipse, the soap
looking one. But I'm going to 2003.
Oh, yeah, the nasty eclipse, yeah.
I'm going to 2003. The Diamante was their attempt
to compete with the Lexus of the
world. Not quite. This is like their upper class
Mitsubishi. Should we open the door? Nope.
But it was their attempt.
And honestly, I think
styling wise, I think this came into its
own. At the time, it was a little weird. I think it kind
of came into its own. I think it looks like
what they were aiming for now looking
back at it. Okay, I'm not saying it was
brilliant to drive. This was the first year
that the Evo was available in the US market
was the Evo 8 at this point.
The Lancer Evo 8
really made us all go, oh, this is what
we've been missing. Right. That was available
in 03. The Galant
There's the Galant. Also looked
it looked related to the Diamante and it looked
okay. I'm not saying it drove well but it looked
okay. This is not a great picture. I will
acknowledge that. Okay. But also see how
it has a similar. I mean, they've got a front
end that's kind of working for them. Okay.
The Galant. The Montero.
Everyone I know that has one of
these will not shut up.
I forgot about the Montero. People love
these things. And the people that I know that have
them, they bought them for nothing and
they maintain them for nothing.
And they run in spite of them. What was
the magic? I don't know. The Montero just
seems to run and everyone I know
that has one, even when they
have some weird part they have to chase.
There's no consideration about selling
the Montero. Are you kidding? No, I'm
just going to fix it. I know two or three
people like this. A couple here in Park City
that are just like Montero till the day I die.
That Montero is staying in the garage. What is
going on? So Montero was beloved. Nobody
talks about these. And was available for sale
brand new in 2003. Oh my gosh.
And that is my major
list. Of course, the Eclipse was being
sold in both Coop and Convertible
at the same time.
In O3. They had a
range of stuff. And if I just
stay high points, Evo gets introduced.
Eclipse exists in Coop and Convertible
and this Montero
apparently was like
the pinnacle of Mitsubishi truck making
and they pulled it off in O3.
But that's kind of in line with Mitsubishi.
The styling is eh, the interior
is not great, but they put
all of their engineering into the
materials and the drive train
and it just runs.
It's like bullet proof
components. Apparently there's the bang
around truck. Yeah. Amazing.
Well, I love learning things. I'm
with you. I've learned a ton on this.
The more I learned, the less I know.
The Eclipse was still being sold
new in 2012.
I was gonna. What on earth? I was gonna
talk about the mid 90s, the
late 90s Eclipse. The good one. That was
cool. The door stop. Yeah. Yeah. That was
a cool car. It was cool. Well I also remember
the late 90s when they
they also sold it as an Eagle.
Remember that?
And it was all available all-wheel drive
with the little off-center hump
for the turbo. That was cool. That was very
cool. There was a Plymouth version too.
Yeah, you're right. What was that called?
One point in the late 90s. I happen to know a person
that owned each of the three variants.
Laser? Laser? I forget.
Three different people owned
which version, which trim are we going with?
It was crazy. Yeah. Wild.
Yeah, I love learning new stuff about cars.
Every time we go to Monterey or
some new brand of car that
existed and I've never heard of before.
It's constant but pretty cool.
We've got to go to Morgan. Really quickly
I'm touching on Morgan and
I could make the, I'm not an Ashwood
Frames joke and if you've got to have your car service
the Terminex person
shows up to, you know,
frog your car. But
I don't think any car company
could do a three-wheeler better than
Morgan and their latest iteration
Super 3. I think this
is the three-wheeler to have and
quirky, unique, fun, different.
It's just so different. The flavor is different.
They don't need to make the four
the four-wheeled cars. They don't need to do that anymore.
Just keep making this.
And it's their niche thing and
they're super cool for those people that are into it.
I just, I do think they're pretty
unique and interesting and cool.
They're just a small brand and
let's just do that and I think, I think it works.
Morgan's. I feel like there's an offshoot
of Morgan's. Maybe it's just
in this country. It's not. It's in the UK
and other places too. But I feel like there's an offshoot
in car culture right now
that love for Morgan is some sort
of litmus test. I will admit
I have not driven most of them. Maybe I would
be surprised, but I just, they don't
compel me at all.
No, and I think this is not about driving.
But I'm talking about their four-wheel cars
and the 8s and the Super 8s and that kind of stuff.
I just, I'm not drawn to them
at all. I know people that have driven them
won't stop talking about them. Maybe I just need to drive
one and I'd be revolutionized, but it doesn't connect
with me at all. And because I haven't driven many
I can talk about. Oh yeah, for sure.
Driving helmet and goggles. Absolutely.
You've got to have the World War II look
going. Maybe World War I. Yes, the
leather helmet I'm doing on air quotes
and the scarf because that's going to protect you from a fall.
I think it's just being, yeah, you're
getting out, you're just
having an experience.
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The Nissan's
Let's move on to all the fair ladies
I think the peak car. I went and found
a bunch of photos of your car. Okay, I love it.
This was from my phone when we were on one of our road
trips. I can't remember which trip
this was on. I think it was
going west. Don't know.
I can't remember but I just held my
phone up as Todd was driving. I was in
the 928. I just took a photo of you
and you were just enjoying
yourself. So I think Nissan
absolutely peaked with the
Z32 300 ZX
There's also an internet
argument about are they called fair ladies.
They were only called fair ladies in Japan
but some people say well my
300 Z is a fair lady so
we'll just say all the fair ladies. I love them.
But the 300 ZX
from your era, the late
90s. I love that car. I miss that car.
It's just, it looked like
nothing else on the market
when it arrived. It was alien
spacecraft when it landed in the market.
Everybody went, what is
this now? And it does
what now? And it's fast and great
to drive and fun and beautiful looking
and the styling has held up.
It looks modern and classic
but still kind of in the era
but it's amazing. It is an amazing
cool car. It looks both of its time
and looks like something you could also release
now which is unbelievably hard to do.
Everything that we love about
the Nissan's, the Z car
is manifested. There have been better
Z cars. Good job Nissan.
The new Nismo Z. Have you heard everybody?
Has the manual. GTR brakes.
I mean, good job. But this
was, it was hit after
hit after hit and then Nissan
landed this and just stood back.
I can build off of that. That's good.
Peak Nissan. So here it is again.
That's the third photo. I didn't bring any photos
of my car and you have filled the gap.
I love it. Oh, you're making me miss that car.
Those are such great trips too. We have
a four part series on this
YouTube channel. It was called Cars of the Past.
You bought your 928 and I bought
a 300ZX which we both owned at the
time that we thought of the show
and sold really
before the show got going. So we re-bought them.
We did four trips, one in each direction of the compass
in these cars. Huge trips. Thousands of thousands
of miles. We saw so much great stuff.
That is a fantastic
walk down memory lane. I really love it.
I love this car. That's really cool.
Everything about the styling is just superb.
The interior design was
so bang on. The controls
were right here. I know.
The waterfall instrument panel, that dash
that just dropped away for
a small sports car to have this
really open interior feeling
and the turbo. It had power.
Great to drive on track.
Great to drive on the street. It was
just such a great car. The
Z32. This
is peak Nissan
hands down. You don't have to convince me.
Hands down. But I will start there because
my year overlaps with this car.
You're probably not surprised. Great.
So I'm going to go to the year
1993 for Nissan.
So that is kind of in the middle of
their run of this gorgeous car.
I'm doing a photo that's not my car but here it is still
the twin-turbo 300ZX
the Z32. I do love that car.
But in 1993
they were also selling all
of the following.
The 240SX
that now has been turned into every drift
area if you can possibly imagine. 240SX
was out there. Yes. They had the hard
body pickup. Super cool.
These were incredibly cool in their time. Super
simple. This is what a pickup should be. They were
just simple and it just worked and they were
small. And then they also had this
version, this rounded off version of the
Maxima. This is peak Maxima. I love that
Maxima. The Maxima was never better than
this generation. And I knew a few
people that bought these new in the 90's
and were still driving in the late 2000's.
These things just ran.
And they were cool. They drove well. They did
the four-door sports car. They introduced
the generation before this. But this was the
one that was just seared in my brain.
1993 they were still selling this which is
incredible. The Pathfinder that we all
think of. Yes. With the three vents
in the hood. Yes. And the box
design on it. And also candidly
it. And the little hard body truck.
These panels felt kind of thin.
They did. They felt thin. But
it also felt like because they were. It also
felt like the running gear was just going to run
for a long time. They had kind of
they'd skinned the running gear you needed
was kind of how it felt. But who cares
because it felt like let's just take it somewhere
and bang around. So this version of the Pathfinder
and the Centra
S-E-R. Oh yeah. 1993
at Nissan they were doing
all of this. The same
showroom the same year. You could buy
a Centra S-E-R at the bottom
end. A couple of great trucks
this Maxima killing it
as an actual sedan. The 300
ZX and the 240SX
in 1993. I can't beat that.
When was the 200SX
with the pop-up headlights.
Yeah I remember. Early 90s.
That was 90s as well. Or late 80s.
That was probably 80s. But I just
I can't get over this lineup at that
point. And I wish
I wish here's the thing. I wish Nissan
would come out with another 240SX
to compete with the 86 and allow the Z
to be up there with the Supra. I think
there's a missed opportunity there. Granted I mean I know
Nissan is fighting hard for their own survival
right now and we hope for it. And I'm very
excited about the new Z news. Yes.
But I will always wish
I had my Z car back. It was really
really great. It's so pretty. It's just
timeless. Yeah it's pretty great. I don't
love that thing. I will end
our discussion for today on
Polestar because learning some more
about Polestar and
we continue to hear great things
about the new Polestar models they
have improved the Polestar
too dramatically as they've
found out things and updated
with software and found out things
used the general public as their test
bed and EVs
beta beta beta beta beta.
Because Polestar graduated to its own brand
much like Genesis graduated to its own
brand the very first one that they tried
I thought was
peak Polestar because
it wasn't an SUV.
Yeah true fair. It looked like the
Volvo P1800. Yeah a little bit.
And I thought good point. If this is
what Polestar is going to be. Okay.
Performance. Okay.
Luxury. Power. Great
styling. It was a large car
in a compact way. I can't describe it.
It felt big proportions but
the overall proportions or the overall size
of the car wasn't that big. It looks
big here but it really wasn't.
And that Volvo P1800
kind of look it was like oh yeah
yeah I see it. It's Polestar going like high performance
sports car and then nope
they went SUV route.
Although the Polestar
6 that Roadster version
that they've teased that's coming back
hopefully Polestar does something like that
but just learning about this car is
the peak it's
what every car manufacturer
aspires to build
for their next
cool performance hybrid that
Polestar did in 2020
it's a two door plug in hybrid
with an inline four
both turbo charged
and super charged with two electric motors
on the rear axle. So the engine
drove the front wheels
the electric motors drove the rear wheels
an integrated starter generator
with an eight speed automatic making
600 horsepower
and 738 pound feet of torque
which are super car numbers
in today's era for
I came out with an amazing hot cool sports car
Polestar was doing that and that's why
I thought oh they're going to
every cool generation after this is going to be
cool GT cars or sports cars
they didn't because
they had to sell cars
Polestar one I love the styling
I loved everything and it just set the
tone for Volvos
and Polestar's and the styling
was super. Do you think
this could be taken and made into
the updated version of the Yubi and Puma
you remember that
if you
have some free time maybe you could pop a photo
in the edit of the Yubi and Puma
that was introduced at the LA Auto
show where I think it was a dentist
decided to take the V70
at the time and build
essentially a monster truck around it
and was trying to sell them
yeah I'm just imagining the Polestar Yubi and
Puma that's a bad idea
the first one was too
trying to like end on a positive note
I'm sorry it's cool car
with 600 horsepower yeah okay it's cool
looking I'll give you that but you know couldn't we have
like a other coops with like 700 or
1000 or something cool hey I'm looking
for the lightweight powerful interesting
looking electric sports cars I'm about
that for sure maybe Polestar will do that
maybe they're watching and listening and they'll rethink
their whole I don't know
they gotta sell stuff put SUV
back windows in your cars that's a crazy
idea isn't it yeah I don't need to
drive in a cave let's not do that I mean here's
the thing the poor the poor latest
Jen Camaro
was a cave and it had a back window
did no one learn
we need open we need ports we need open
this is not a submarine
okay don't but it's not about cameras
like I do see a little fish swim by
every time I need to see stuff
oh my gosh you forget about how
great visibility is until you
climb into my son's mini and you go I could
literally see everything
I put him in a truck
recently and it was amazing the things
he could no longer see because of big
pillars and monster mirrors
yeah he's used to his mini
where it's a fishbowl and there's nothing he can't
see which I kind of miss
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we have some cool hooked on driving
events coming up very soon in fact
nationwide you go to hooked on driving.com
you can find our cool track events
literally all over the nation which is very
cool but on the same weekend March
28th 29th that's coming up later this week
that is a Saturday Sunday event at
two different places at once we have
essentially the Midwest
and the West Coast we've got Laguna Seca
that is 103 decibel day if you know anything
about Laguna Seca you want to come to the high db
days if you have a super loud car well this
is this days for you I think it might be
sold out because those go quick they do
that's coming and also hedge hollow
March Madness event in Adrian Missouri
if you haven't heard us talk about hedge hollow it is
a guy's literal private racetrack
that he wasn't putting enough rubber
onto so now he's open
it up to hooked on driving and a few others
and it's a phenomenal track
I heard when you and I went I heard
guys private racetrack and went oh that's nice
and got there was like this is incredible
it has digital flagging exactly
like Kota it's it's long
it has elevation change no expense
was spared it is nice
it is nicer than many like
community tracks we've been to where they spent
money this guy just privately
went I have a blank check I'll build a racetrack
and hooked on driving now drives there so it's coming up this weekend
as well still some space available
for that one hooked on driving dot com and our
two big events we keep talking about for the year
Kota circuit of the Americas
May 30th and 31st that is
almost sold out I'm amazed
I'm grateful for all of you
who are watching that are coming and it's on
your list we of course continue
to say we don't know what's going to happen with the track
in 2027 but this is
your year to come we're going to be there
both days that is March 30th
31st 2026
you can still register at hooked on driving
dot com right now and their
space available in BC and D
groups D is the expert level group
but B and C groups still have all three of
those groups still have space available for both
days it's going to be an incredible
event tons of people coming
it's going to be a party we're going to enjoy
this amazing track it's an incredible place
there's people coming not to drive which is always
very cool it's going to be actually a really great
hangout as well we're hoping to do a podcast on Saturday
evening so that is all still pending but we're planning
on doing it it's going to be a really really cool event
to be at and honestly with all the tracks you know
I've gone to it's top five for me
I really really like Kota and speaking of tracks
that are our favorite Pilgrimage 2026
is happening that is
the Nurburgring and Spa Franco Champs
talk about favorite tracks
every year go back there and just go let's
do more of this and we are
August 2nd through the 9th it's actually a very
spouse friendly trip this year as well with some good
hanging out for tourist days which is going to
be really cool you're going to want to come to this
I think as of this
release I think we have one spot left
and if you want to bring somebody with you maybe
quick like reach out get it quick
this is your shot at it it's going to sell out
I'm very excited about it selling out it's
going to be a fantastic trip we'd love to have you join us
again the Pilgrimage trip you can find
either place everydaydriver.com or hooked
on driving.com but all of the track events
nationwide are hooked on driving.com
hope to see you there
Steven Al is in New England he is in a
beetle family
I didn't think he was serious until I started reading this
and went no no no he legitimately
has the tattoo he loves beetles
he and his wife love Volkswagen
beetles well they
bought during the height of covid
and they're during our cheap
SUV challenge and a 2006 Cayenne
S for
about sixty seven hundred dollars
with a hundred and forty thousand miles
that's a good buy I like it it's good
in four years of ownership they put almost
thirty thousand miles on it but they've
replaced a lot of things like
flex pipe cat assemblies that have gone
bad that they've dumped money into it
its primary use was
winter driving and occasional commuting
for Steven's wife as of
this writing though it's been sitting since
Thanksgiving because it needs a wheel bearing
now and again the driver's side flex pipe
needs to be replaced in order to pass
inspection because the first three years
had that recurring issue you want to get the
they didn't even make them a 07 because they were
making fixes 08 and on is really good money
you want but hey you got it for sixty seven hundred dollars
and it's been kind of good to you all things considered
they've put money into it
fluid changes liquid filled motor mounts air suspension
compressor rebuild but Steven's
ready to see it go
in the fleet is a
2013 beetle TDI
a diesel beetle with a hundred
and two thousand miles that his wife usually
drives daily she would like to prolong the life
of this car she loves it okay
2013 diesel
beetle you just you don't see those
however they got one and they
love it yeah they've also got a two thousand
five one point eight T
manual convertible beetle
that they bought last year with twenty eight thousand
miles on it he's got a two
thousand six Pontiac solstice
manual his wife bought new
she likes to hang on to her cars she does
she likes to buy them and they never leave
which is a bit of a problem he also has a
original night I was waiting for the original
if you're a beetle person he's got a 1973
beetle that is his project
yes talk about what something to sound
like a money pit to me but he loves
him he legitimately has the tattoo
so there's that yeah
his wife only likes cute cars she's had
multiple beetles and tends to grow attached to
cars and wants to keep them a long time yes
when she said that Steven was
correct that they really just need something reliable
for her to drive to work
hmm allowing the car that she truly
loves to live longer the TDI
got it yeah
Steven got excited
he knew that he needed to write to us
to shop to help shop they get snow in
New England so it needs to be all-wheel drive he says
Blizzix on the TDI are nice but
the new car whatever this is will be primarily
used for winter he wants all-wheel drive
he was thinking Mazda 3 he says
SUV preferred he's also
a Volkswagen guy or rather a bug guy
but
there's not much he writes
to celebrate in the Volkswagen world as of late
hmm okay
Tiguan's and Towson
I love Towson
Towson that's terrible
Towson yes
it's bad no matter how you do it
it's all bad the plural of Towson is not good
check consumer reports if you think I'm wrong
he said five years ago would have been easy
let's get a Tiguan but now they're not a
consideration okay Steven would like to keep the budget
near $30,000 that means $35,000
from me leaning towards
yes Mazda CX-50
or Hyundai Tucson or Kia Sportage
he wants a traditional automatic
no CVTs and he said
he would never buy brand new again because he's tired
of wrenching on dailies and not the project
so it's got to be new or one or two years old
yeah he wants to have something
that just runs yeah for sure
he is unsure about the GMC
terrain and the boring Nissan Rogue
driving dynamics is important
but easy to get in and out of
this is important so that truly
rules out very small SUVs like
a Mazda CX-30
is he missing something else or does he
just go get the Mazda
Steven I
love your ideas
the obvious choice for me
is the 2015 to 2019
in the U.S. Mark 7 Golf R
yeah
Volkswagen they're a Beale family
he's got the tattoo
go get yourself a Golf R
don't get
the SUVs but the Golf R
lots of power, all wheel drive, GSG
I see it
I can definitely see that
but then your comment about wrenching on it
it's a little bit older, a lot of them have miles
I understand
I'm gonna work by way there
I thought of the Hyundai Kona N
starting place
RAV4, new one but then I'd want you to get the
GR Sport and that's pushing 50 grand
and they're cool
but no and you said
you want an automatic transmission you don't want a CBT
and then I thought Honda CR-V
hybrid
I'd have to really sell you
and I think you still wouldn't buy one
so I am going to
just recommend
one car, one car only, one car to rule them all
it is not a Volkswagen but
it still starts with the letter V
it is the Volvo XC60
the B5 and I went shopping
for you because
brand new
these are pretty expensive
but every single one, just a few years old
I found under 35,000
so on autotempus.com
enter Volvo V60 and make $35,000
your price cap
every single one
they're practically brand new, I did find 2025
Steven
under 35,000 they all had
19,000 miles on them
for whatever reason
I mean the interior
the seats, easy to get into
it's not too big of an SUV
but it's not too small
great power, mild hybrid
in the B5 gas version
so you still get 26mpg
great power, fun to drive
interesting, entertaining
luxurious but not above
$35,000
the 60 is your car
go drive one, go drive them all
then pick one you're going to buy
and Bob's your uncle
that's it, you've done very very well
and you've actually spared me
talking about the Volvo X60
because it was on my list
and it was actually one of the few I didn't get photos for
because I thought I'd breeze by it and you covered it wonderfully
so that's done, it's very well done
I really like your CX50, I think that's a worthwhile one
but I really, here's the vehicle
I really wanted to have work
I really really wanted it too
the Buick and Vista, remember this
tiny little engine, decent styling
we were pleasantly surprised by it
and the reality is
go load one up
brand new, you won't even hit 35
the problem, it's only available
front wheel drive
I didn't remember that until I started looking around
I really wanted this to work, it doesn't work Steven
front wheel drive only
but this was a surprising little vehicle from Buick
because what I keep coming back to for your discussion is
it just needs to work
it needs to be an all wheel drive
commuter, that is its purpose
and you'll see how that really affects where I'm going
but you did say you're a Volkswagen person
and I have to ask, why not the new Tiguan?
the new Tiguan is different
recently and it's good
it's actually good
now there's been some question marks with this already
from reliability and recalls
but ah, hey
ah, these are available
and you can get them for your budget in all wheel drive
because I went shopping and you could get a deal
on one of these new and be out under 35
so I cannot ignore the Tiguan
sure
then I thought XC60
which thank you for covering
but then I got this idea and that was
you want something recent
all wheel drive and it's a commuter
you're not trying to buy something that your wife will love
it needs to work
that's its purpose, it needs to work
and just be straightforward
and not be something you have to think about
which made me go wait a minute
Steven, why are you not shopping
used EVs
used EV SUVs
I have to go there starting with the Ioniq 5
oh that's good
the Ioniq 5
a couple years old
you have your choice
which one would you like Steven
they're all over the place at AutoTempus.com
put in your budget cap
like you did and look for the Ioniq 5
but the Ioniq 5 has sister cars
that I actually would argue are better
we're talking about the Kia EV6
which I think is one of the best looking
EV SUVs
these are also super cheap
for a fairly recent one
as is the Genesis
GV60
these are under 35
this is the thing you have to understand about these EVs
we've been talking about it
these EVs a couple years old
no one's buying the couple year old ones
and so they're crazy cheap
I went looking at all of these
and with $35,000 in your pocket
it's like which one would you like with what features
all three of these
they share a chassis
but which styling do you like
which interior do you like
this is an EV that's just going to work
and you're not going to think about it
we're not shopping for your forever car
we're shopping for your commuter car
yes please and while I'm here
the Mustang Mach-E
oh really
also available all day long under 35
interesting and actually you don't need to get the GT
don't get the GT
just get an all wheel drive version of this
the suspension is much better if you don't get the GT
these are really
overlooked throw your budget
and get the safari version of this
fine it's super cool
but just as it is
just the base all wheel drive
Mustang Mach-E is very
well executed for what you need
go buy a used EV
be surprised at how much technology
and car you get and the great thing about it is
it will not overlap with anything
that you already have in your garage that you love
all the stuff you love about
the TDI Beetle and the Solstice
and your Beetle project let those
be what they're great at
let this be the commuter run about
and you're done and for your budget
I cannot believe this I keep saying it
but there is no second buyer
for a used EV
and so and they're starting to flood the market
as they come off lease we're starting to enter that era
this is good
to the point literally that I'm going
do I need an EV run about I don't
but I'm just going
you'd get an I3 the first I3
I don't know that any of you would watch it
but there is a part of me that's just going
these are getting cheap for really recent cars
so Steven give that a look
and I think you guys need a commuter EV
and here's the twist
Joseph writes to us he's in his early
30s and needs direction and advice
when it comes to a car
that his wife will end up approving
so his wife's not going to listen
that's where this is going to go
well hopefully she's watching and listening now
Joseph wants us
to convince his wife that
cars have soul
and I think they do
they're currently making do as a one car
house however they're hopefully having their first
kid in the coming year and they will need
a second car sooner or later
his wife has several
requirements for his car it must have four doors
so a child can be in the back
it must have longevity she's fully on the appliance
side of the spectrum and does not
believe in having a car for less than 10 years
unless issues arise
by the way you can keep any car in definitely
just how much money do you want to put into it
but anyway side note
it must not be anywhere close to American
muscle she actively hates
Mustangs, Camaros, anything dodge or things
that may remind her of those
I'm going to
look at those brands but things that remind her
of those brands it really makes me laugh
I don't think so but I'm just going to
walk along the edge of the cliff
to maybe get there
so Joseph asks
what can he get the
he needs the approval factor on where he can begin
to convince her that your everyday car
can in fact have soul
she understands fun cars she liked
his old cars like his first car which was a
Dell soul
she liked his father
C1 Corvette
when they visit
his parents and when it comes to owning
a car she doesn't see why anyone wouldn't want
a Tucson or a RAV4
he's trying to figure out a list of cars
utility first got it
just to start convincing her that your daily
doesn't have to be crossover safety pod
getting you from point A to point B
and due to her longevity
concerns he's got concerns about trying
an Elantra N or a used stinger
or size wise the 86 is out
he is considered cars like the Integra
Type S Civic Si
Giulia Quadrifolia or a Macan as a wild card
interesting okay
Joseph is trying to make sure that when he takes her
to these test drives with him that she
can believe that a daily with soul is achievable
and doesn't have to be reserved for a
third car good news
their budget would be about $50,000
for the car what should
he buy I am going to run
through your first choice here very quickly
I love your accurate Integra
Type S idea this is
superb right at $50,000
go buy something very slightly used
within your budget
gobs of fun interesting
it can be driven normally
it can just be driven like
smoothly quietly and then when you want to rip
it rips
yeah true uh-huh
and then I moved on I thought okay
let's go a little bit more luxury for $50,000
you too can find a
2.5 liter
Sport Prestige
they started it or they ended up
at 49,000 MSRP so slightly
you can find a Genesis G70
2.5 Sport Prestige
these are fun to drive but still
just a luxury nice car
just easy to drive
longevity
but I'm going to give you
a wild card you need to go drive one
I think it will offer
both all these cars that
you have touched on especially the
Accura the Genesis they have dual
personality and that's what I want
for you this has four doors
it's an American car it can do American
muscle but it can also do quiet
comfortable cruising
it is the CT4 V Blackwing
I went and looked
every CT4 Blackwing from
2023 is under $50,000
between 20 and 30,000 miles
they're all under 50 they're
47 to 49k
perfect shape
choose your transmission
autotempest.com every day go get yourself
a CT4 V Blackwing
done
because it'll be fun for you when you want to rip
and you want to do a twisty road
and you want some power and speed
and performance but also drive
it normally it magnifies
everything we love about dual personality
cars this is the car
that on the one hand you
can track these things and Cadillac encourages
you to take this to the track and
drive the wheels off it the V Club
comes to our hooked on driving events regularly
tons of them like 30 will show up between
CT4s and 5s and they fly
rip these things at the track they really do
or take your whole family
and it's a comfortable cruiser it's an American
it's GM it's GM
it's Cadillac
you're just a dad driving a Cadillac
the end
it's all it is
magnifies both my wildcard
is the CT4 V Blackwing
go shop go drive
buy it enjoy
and I wonder
if she drives it
and kind of thinks
huh
this has got something to it
and that something that she would identify
is called soul
I like this this is good
Joseph for you and your wife
I'm going to go
ease our way in here looking at your
email I want to ease our way in because there's a couple
things I noticed in here that I just want to
touch on as kind of mile markers
on how I think to solve this
and I'm actually not going to
recommend anything that you haven't already mentioned
I'm just going to put it in a scenario for you
because I think the key is
in a couple bits of advice
your wife doesn't feel like
fun cars aren't a thing she gets it
she knows that fun cars are a thing
but she's equating
you said it she's equating all fun car
with third car
that you can't have fun as a daily the whole point
of everyday driver the reason there is
we want you to have fun in your car that you drive
every day you also
mention in here that because of our show
I'm thrilled to hear this you guys have started taking
road trips and the last few years
you've done various Utah
national parks
a couple years in a row it doesn't sound like you've done
anything but just visit the parks but you
can't convince your wife to get anything
other than a four by four for these road
trips I don't get the sense
based on your email that you've done this in
the dead of winter or that you've done
this to do all of the off-road trails
you just visited the parks and they're gorgeous
but Paul and I both have
done every major Utah
park in a two-seat
two-door sports car with
track quality
tires on it even if you have to drive slow in the
park it's just fun to be there in that
car okay yeah we've done
our Utah meetup every year does
actual Utah parks
with a string of sports cars
now I'm not going that far for you but the point I'm making
here is you don't need a four by
four to go there but
she equates that trip
with you have to take
the rugged thing and that
really struck me because I think the question
Joseph for you and your wife is
I think you guys need to agree
right now that the way to find this
next car is not a test drive
it's a road trip
you need to rent one of the cars you're talking
about and then take it on a road trip because
the way you're going to connect these two
is to have daily
real-life road trip style
usage with a car that's also
fun because
I will agree with your wife on one point
if all we're getting a car for is
to travel places and to take stuff
this is why we all buy SUVs
it's just go buy
the SUV that has the cup holders and the
features that you need
and go on about your life
but if we're looking for soul then what you have to do
is you have to take the car that you think
I think you both do that you think well I couldn't take a road
trip in that and do the road trip anyway
the one place I failed when my parents
had a Corvette for a couple years is they never
took a road trip I kept going guys
I thought they did not really
they kept not taking a road trip in it
they'd go like a half day
they'd go somewhere get lunch and come back
which was cool but I was like you're doing
like you're doing overnight somewhere take the Corvette
it's the two of you and not much stuff
go they never really did so here's
what I'm going to say four-door cars you've
talked about I specifically went looking
for photos of the cars you're
talking about on road trips
let's start with the Alpha Julia
Quadrifoglio
that's such a great photo that's so great
four-door four-seat fantastic
to drive car but you know what else it has
four doors four seats
space Apple CarPlay
actually a surprising amount of trunk
space good cruise control
interesting sound halfway
decent stereo all the things when the road is
not interesting the Julia does that just fine
you know what else does it
a Macan
that's a great photo
I went looking for road trips
speaks to like I want to be out there
doing that that's a Macan
this is how you do RAV4 shape
but fun get a used Macan
okay
Macan is great for this this is I've said it before
this is Porsche's hatchback that'd be a great road
trip car the two of you guys and even if you
have a little kiddo perfect to do it in the
Macan while we're here what about the type
S in the middle of Utah or Colorado
now here's my question about the type S for
you I am concerned that
your wife is not going to get on board for
a manual transmission
in this role because it's not going to feel
daily enough the type
S is great it's an easy manual to drive
it's a fantastic road trip car
with a shockingly big hatch
that this I would argue
has got more space in the back hatch than
a lot of SUVs yes
and it's wonderfully fantastic car
it'll be a great road trip car if she's
willing to get over the hump of manual I'm not
sure about that and I do have to say the Elantra
in Elantra in with the DCT
I know you're kind of on the edge about it Joseph
but I think this would be a fantastic road
trip car the seats are really good and
because of those great front seats the back
seats have got extra room and it's got a good size trunk
yep so my challenge for you
is one of these cars
that you Joseph are intrigued about that
might matches your criteria
insist and have your wife
come along for the trip insist
that you guys do one of these road trips
in one of those cars because what's
that gonna what that's gonna do is that's gonna merge
whether you decide you're doing it or not
it's gonna merge the reality of the fact that
the fun car can do the life
stuff and then you
can go shop for this car and you can
find something that does all the things you needed
to do this is why we take road trips and sports cars
which I will admit is goofy
it's a little weird how you do road trips
I as much as I've done it
I would recommend that no
one that owns a Lotus Elise take
a multi-thousand mile road trip
I've done it I've enjoyed it we've filmed it
I you can see it on this channel
that we're good at the same time I would recommend
that no one actually
does it because
it's hard and you have to
do it alone this is not a space
so take these fun cars the Julia
Quartfolio would be a fantastic
road trip car and daily I would
do that in a heartbeat I do the base Julia because I love it
that's what you need it's road
trip car and that will make this land
you don't have time today for car conclusions
or audience questions
but keep it coming send us your topic Tuesdays
send us your car debates
send us those car conclusions we love hearing from you guys
everydaydriverTV
at gmail.com don't forget
about the upcoming Utah adventure find a track
day near you at hookedondriving.com
we're looking forward to seeing you in
an event and until next time
cheers everyone
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