Everyday Driver Car Debate Mar 24, 2026

Peak Maserati - Polestar, The Beetle Family, Crossover Safety Pods | Episode 1,038

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97:40

Car

BMW 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.

Concept

range

Range is how far the car can go before it needs charging or refueling. More range usually means fewer stops on trips.

Term

tail lights

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.

Term

instrument panel

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.

Car

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.

Term

HUD

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.

Car

Tesla Model 3

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.

Term

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.

Concept

Nürburgring 24 hours

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.

Term

drag

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.

Term

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.

Company

AutoTempest

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.

Concept

price history

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.

Brand

Maserati

Maserati is an Italian luxury car brand. The episode is starting by talking about Maserati cars first.

Brand

Porsche

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.

Term

V6

A V6 is an engine with six cylinders. The speaker is saying Maserati is using a new V6 in many of its newer cars.

Term

transmission

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.

Concept

maintenance was expensive

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.

Part

wing

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.

Car

McLaren Speedtail

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.

Brand

Monster Energy

Monster Energy is a popular energy drink brand. The speaker is joking that the “Zero Ultra” idea turned into a whole lineup of flavors.

Company

FCP Euro

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.

Brand

Audi

Audi is a German car brand. They’re included to show FCP Euro has parts for Audi models as well.

Brand

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a major European car brand. The ad is saying FCP Euro can supply parts for Volkswagens too.

Brand

Volvo

Volvo is a Swedish car brand. The ad includes it to show FCP Euro carries Volvo parts too.

Part

wiper blades

Wiper blades are the rubber strips that clear rain and debris from your windshield. They eventually wear out and need replacement.

Part

oil filters

An oil filter cleans the oil as it circulates through the engine. It needs to be replaced regularly during oil changes.

Brand

Mercedes

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.

Company

Griot's Garage

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.

Concept

Yubi and Puma

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.

Term

Apple CarPlay

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.

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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

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Since you're listening to us, you'll end up

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unexpected, AutoTempest is how we search

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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

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

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

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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

About this episode

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.

aerodynamics Apple CarPlay Audi Auto Tempest drag FCP Euro Griot's Garage heads up display instrument panel maintenance was expensive

BMW i3 McLaren Speedtail Tesla Model 3 Toyota Prius

Original notes

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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