Porsche 911 T, Nissan Sentra, Dodge Charger Scat Pack, BMW M2 and a New Kia Telluride

Hello, and welcome to The Auto Guide Show.

This week, Kyle drives two German cars.

I drive two cars at complete opposite ends of the spectrum, and we have our first returning

guest.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

eBay has reinvented car buying.

From click to curb, everything is covered.

But their new secure purchase, eBay, isn't just where you find your car, it's where you

buy it, start to finish.

Title, financing, registration, delivery, it's all built in.

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

This is what modern car buying looks like.

Get your next ride on eBay.

eBay, things people love.

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

Okay, so to get started, we have a lot to talk about this week.

And like I said, we have a returning guest that we'll want to have a lot of time to talk

with.

So let's get through this quick.

So we'll start with how the week started.

And that was the 2026 Nissan Sentra first drive that I went on.

And I've spent a lot of time on here because it's not that much different than the

old car.

It's got new styling on the outside, which I mean, I don't mind, especially on

the SR, the SV and SL.

Yeah, I'm not sure.

They're trying to give it the corporate face that the leaf in the Murano half, but

it doesn't work in some spots.

The rear is nice.

The inside, they've done a big update.

They got the sort of single pane double screen thing that everyone's doing that

are digital.

You can customize it.

The switch gear is nice.

They have this cool thing with these center vents and some controls between

them. It looks like a triple vent thing.

So that's all good.

It's much quieter inside.

OK, that's good.

Yeah, the wind noise and engine noise are kept down.

Although we heard myself and the person I was testing with a lot of road noise

and I don't know if it was just the roads we were on.

It's hard to stay without driving something back to back, but we were

surprised, the tire hum, but biggest issues under the hood still.

I mean, cars are too powerful these days.

Yeah, but the two liter with 149 horsepower, especially in this,

the SR that's supposed to be someone's 40, it's just it's like 20 horsepower

short of what I think it needs to be around town.

It's OK.

The CVT is connected to as much improved compared to what Nissan used to have.

But it's not fantastic.

But oh, man, you get on the highway and you punch it and you can count

the miles per hour increasing in real time because it's just you're

just praying it goes up and like you don't have to go crazy.

They don't have to give it like three cylinder turbo to the road or

anything like just the ultimate two five entry engine like that would be

a fine upgrade and I can't imagine it be hard to put in.

But suspension wise, it's always been a good mix of comfort and somewhat

responsive, much more on the comfort side has very skinny tires.

The SR is two fifties.

That's the widest tire you can possibly get on the car.

So that's interesting.

It makes it feel more responsive because there's like no weight to the steering wheel.

Yeah, I mean, it's the same centra, in my opinion,

and not in like it's the same car, but it's the same

same market segment going forward.

This is a tremendous value in the S and the SV.

You get a lot of stuff for the price.

It's even price points that some of those competitors don't even start at.

But when you get to the SR, especially mine, I had a bunch of options

with the SL, you're getting over 30,000 with destination.

And that's putting you sort of the heart of the loaded up competitors

like the Mazda three and the Civic and the Corolla hybrid

that all have now much more upgraded power or hybrids that have more power

and better efficiency. And one side note, this is worse on gas,

even though it's more aerodynamic, which.

I don't know, just to come by.

No, it's actually almost the same as like a handful.

I think the pounds heavier.

It's one mile per gallon worse overall and two on the highway.

So yeah, but I mean, it's not terrible.

It's still 38. It's just that's surprised when

usually a new model is even better than the old one.

But so that's in a nutshell.

It's it's it's a great value proposition, big, compact.

If we still call that tons of space inside, get the SV, get good options.

You get a good price.

It's proven mechanics and as much as I'm kind of ragging on them for it,

it's like, we know what you're getting and it's going to should be reliable.

It's just it's like a mid trim car, I think.

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

Some people just want that, right?

So I mean, and we said in our mega comparison earlier this year

that the center just needed some updates.

And so this seems to solve it.

I'm curious to get behind the wheel.

Yeah, I mean, if they put a hybrid in this in the SL,

that would I think really transform it.

But who knows, maybe one day.

So moving on, Kyle, you drove another 9-11,

but this is one you hadn't driven yet.

Yes, I drove the 9-11 Carrera T,

which is now the only way you can get a manual transmission

in a regular 9-11.

So the GT3 and the Touring still come with one.

But all the other trims, all the Carreras are automatic only,

except this, and this is actually manual only now,

whereas the T before you can get either.

So it is the lightest regular 9-11.

It weighs exactly the same as the

the mid-level GR Corolla trim.

So it's a little over 3,300 pounds,

which is like pretty impressive, right?

Like, I know that that's heavier than cars used to be,

but 3,300 pounds rear drive manual.

Yeah, 388 horsepower.

Like this is all we need from a 9-11.

And I kind of loved it.

That's lighter than like an impressive.

Yeah, 3,300 pounds is fantastic for this day and age

with the safety systems that cars have to carry.

Like that's where a lot of the weight comes from.

People think it's we're just getting bigger, fatter cars.

I mean, we are, but it's because they need 75 airbags

and all the electronic crumpled zones and reinforced steel beams.

And yeah, like cars are safer than ever before,

but there is a trade off to that.

So I say that the 9-11,

the current one is a little bigger than I think people realize.

Every once in a while driving this, you're like, oh, yeah, it's larger.

It still drives very compact for compared to most vehicles on the road.

But, you know, I'm more I'm more of a 718 person.

I just I just am.

This was great.

It's low key because I mean, you get the little stickers on the side,

but you don't have to get those.

There are some questionable options on the T

because of the manual Porsche really tries hard to let people know.

So there's stickers in the rear quarter windows

that have the shift pattern.

And then there's also puddle lights from the side mirrors

when you open the door that has the shift pattern,

which feels a little try hard.

But I mean, maybe people like it.

I don't know.

Well, you know, the people who have the money

they're buying a manual 9-11 brand new.

Maybe that's what they want.

I mean, it's a very small niche demographic.

So this has the base engine from the regular 9-11.

It's 388 horsepower.

Like I said, plenty quick.

You get the manual.

You get a few of the choice options

like the sport suspension, so you get it a little lower.

This one, it was just it was lightly optioned,

which I thought was nice.

It has the nose lift, which I think is necessary.

The base seats, so they're only four way adjustable.

Perfect. Don't need more.

It was it was great.

It was fascinating because I drove this directly

before driving the hybrid GTS, which is a very different beast.

And that thing is super quick.

But this just had a little bit more feel, right?

Because it's lighter and because it doesn't have

ridiculously wide tires, you can have fun at speeds

that wouldn't immediately remove your license.

So, yeah, overall, I thought this was great.

And I mean, it's not a deal

because no, 9-11 is a deal anymore.

But for one hundred and forty

ish thousand dollars as equipped.

It's it's a lot of fun and it's fun in a way

that doesn't feel like it's trying too hard,

which is kind of rare to find these days.

Yeah, it's crazy, though, like just cars in general,

like hundred forty and you're getting a three hundred eighty

horsepower base, basically that all crazy.

Anyway, moving on, neither

you or I drove the new Dodge Charger

Scat pack six pack.

The new Charger with the gas engine.

So you couldn't join us today.

So we won't spend like really any time here.

I read his review.

I can't wait to drive one.

I've always been saying that it's crazy fast,

still even with the gas engine.

If you get the 550 horsepower, it's doing 16 under four seconds.

Yeah, the electric is three three, but three three to three nine.

You're not feeling much difference.

And you're getting probably the visceral sound and whatnot of this engine.

The base engine, I say base is still four twenty five,

still way too much for what this car needs.

That'll probably be well under five seconds.

So Greg said it's it's like a muscle car.

And that's what the Charger's supposed to be.

And it was something I was curious about

and having driven the E.V. twice.

I'm curious to drive this because by putting all of that in line six

in turbo plumbing, you've thrown off the weight balance, probably.

So I didn't find the E.V.

handle that bad.

It's actually first size.

It was kind of nimble, but now that you're putting

probably like 60 percent of the weight on the nose,

I'm sure it's changed how it is.

Mm hmm. Yeah.

So I just wanted to get one when it gets on the fleet.

That's that's what I'm hoping for, too.

I'll just add that I've been looking at a red Greg's review

and I've read a few since it broke just before we recorded this.

And and yeah, I'm I'm just I haven't driven any of them yet.

And I would very much like to.

But I get the feeling that

I'm not going to love it as much as the old Challenger

because the Challenger knew what it was before

and it feels like now it's kind of isn't sure what it wants to be.

Yeah, it's almost sort of like when they first brought out the Charger 300

and it was trying to be sort of a full size premium American car.

And then over time, it slowly morphed more and more into just a big muscle

sedan, which it had its market.

And it's like we're starting again and it's yeah, making its way back.

Like next, there'll be a Hemi and then there'll be a more powerful Hemi.

Anyway, yeah.

Anyway, moving back to something you drove, another high performance German car.

You drove the M2 CS.

Yes. And this is weird, actually, framing it with the 911

that we talked about just a few minutes ago.

The M2 CS is less money, but way more power.

Also rear drive, no manual,

five hundred twenty three horsepower in a two series.

I just I just want everyone to just chew on that for a few seconds.

That's I want them to chew on the Charger

with the same size inline six turbo, which talk to it has more power,

which is also yes, BMW famously known for for high power turbo

charged inline sixes makes less power than the Dodge.

The three liter inline six turbo.

It's crazy, crazy world.

So, yeah, so the one M when it came out what, 15 years ago,

had three hundred thirty five horsepower.

This has five hundred and twenty three.

There are rumors that the two or sorry,

the M2 will have all wheel drive starting next year,

which I'm a little sad about if true, because I don't think it needs it.

If you're getting the little coupe, try and make it different from the M4.

This is different.

This is I drove the M4 CS in the summer.

The M2 CS is just a little bit more wild.

It's you have that tiny wheelbase.

I mean, comparatively tiny.

It's basically just a little square in terms of where the contact patches are.

And it makes this so lively and playful.

I was given a little bit of time with it because I was at a Jack Test Fest.

So I didn't have a ton of time to really get to know it.

And also it was the only one in the country.

So I really didn't want to be the person responsible for putting it in a ditch.

Needless to say, it's more talkative than a regular M2.

So you get more feedback from it.

Still not a ton.

BMW's current steering wheels are just steering in general.

Just feels a little over boosted.

But yeah, it's it redeems the M2, the current generation one,

in my mind, where it is a lot of fun and very interactive.

And it's a lot of money.

It's 100 grand to start, which is nuts for a two series.

But the people who get it will enjoy it.

And the rarity gives it, you know, an added a bit of appeal.

And also it has, you can't see it in the front picture here,

but I highly recommend everyone go look at it because the duct tail

spoiler really makes the proportions much better than the regular M2.

So overall, just a fantastic, excellent car.

BMW continues to make the CS models the best ones available.

All I hear is six cylinder engine, 150 more horsepower.

Still as a duct tail spoiler, like 911 priority versus this, I don't know.

That'd be an interesting comparison, right?

So moving on, this I will spend too much time other than just kind of

plugging for folks to go check out on our YouTube channel.

We have my Lamborghini versus Lamborghini.

Two weeks ago, Kyle talked about driving the Revoltto.

Last week, I talked about driving the Temurario.

This is driving it back to back.

Surprise, surprise. It's the same impressions.

As I kind of covered last week, I'll just briefly recap the 6.5 liter V12

in a tunnel with the windows down is ridiculous.

It sounds amazing.

The turbo in the Temurario with the windows at 10,000 RPM,

it sounds really cool too, but it builds so fast.

And then there's this huge like turbo, not a blow off,

but just releasing the pressure at red line.

It doesn't kind of have the same echo, but they both sound great.

Someone that watched the video pointed out,

imagine when they get aftermarket exhaust for the Temurario

because I've heard them on the Revoltto when it sounds even better.

Yeah, I could see that.

But Temurario definitely more of the trackish

kind of really full boil attack at all times car.

Whereas the Revoltto is just a ridiculously insanely quick

car that you also could probably drive like semi long distance.

I mean, you're not going to go across country or something like that.

But yeah, I mean, I feel like you could so long as you know

that the nose won't catch on anything.

That was that was my experience driving it was like it's weirdly comfortable,

except it has no ground clearance.

And when you drive a dark matte green Revoltto with bronze highlights,

which looked amazing, you got like that sort of brown green combo.

You get attention as you're going through towns.

But then after lunch, when you come back to the Lamborghini factory

and a bright orange Temurario, which just happens to coincide with the schools

getting out, you're a celebrity.

Like there were kids chasing me literally through town with their phones

out trying to get pictures.

And I say that video like even an 85 year old woman working in a field

or a 50 year old guy coming out of an office.

Everybody just stops and looks and smiles at the Lamborghini.

It's part of like that area is like cultural identity.

And we don't have that in Canada or the U.S.

I was going to say, you don't like people don't stop to look at a Corvette.

I mean, maybe they should.

I mean, I guess it depends on what part of the U.S. you're in.

But but yeah, I was I was going to say, like you're in Italy.

Like you are driving the national icon.

One of the two exhaustive fry.

But yeah, like I literally could have probably gone ripping through towns

at three times the speed limit.

I'd be getting smiles and thumbs up here.

You'd have helicopters chasing you

and the SWAT team after you.

Yeah, it's just it's just cool being in a place where they appreciate

the noise, the flash, the coolness of these cars as opposed to just coming down

on them all the time. I mean, you I got that with the Revuelto here.

I had I couldn't go anywhere without people taking pictures

or asking questions or stuff.

But I would encourage you to red line it downtown or they do the launches.

They were asking me to.

But I mean, I'm not going to do that in traffic.

Whereas in Italy, it's like people get mad if you don't.

Like everyone in the car is like, come on, really?

So I'm sorry.

I'd like bands riding me because I wasn't driving fast enough.

And I'm like, I'm already like way above the limit.

I'm not going any faster.

But there it's like, no, go for it.

See, and I had the other thing where I had someone I was trying

to do some filming and I got up on a car.

It was young guys, right?

If a car followed them when they realized what was behind them,

they slowed down to less than half the speed limit

so that they could all hold their phones at the window and take photos.

And I was like, this is really frustrating.

Anyway, oh, well.

So our final story didn't drive this, obviously not yet.

But we have to cover it because it's big news.

The Telluride from Kia finally got its new version.

The Palisade had it last year.

We knew this was coming.

But it's a model year.

There is no 26.

There is a 26 Telluride.

There's the 25 and then there's this thing, the 27,

which is coming out next year.

It'll be one of the first 27, so I guess Kia has that.

But it's interesting.

The Kia Telluride from day one, I had non-carry people all the time

ask me about the Range Rover Kia or the Kia that looks like a Range Rover

because it had that big boxy look.

And I think since then, many companies have gone way more in on the Range Rover

or Land Rover look like look at the Santa Fe and the QX80.

But Kia decided, you know what?

We can do it too.

And from the back, it looks so much like a Range Rover.

Yes, we're still waiting for the front end to load.

Like I'd Kia.

This is the XRT that we see.

So maybe it's like for those who aren't looking and haven't saw it.

The front of the XRT is just a black abyss, the bumper, the grille,

the trim, everything's just a lot of lights, everything.

It's just like the marker of the amber lights and a light strip

on top is like the only thing that's not black.

It looks like, yeah, like it's missing or it's been in not an accident.

It's just like I got the snowshoes chopped off.

But look, I realize that journalists in general,

maybe I'm taking a swing here.

But like, I feel like a lot of journalists praise Korean design lately.

This isn't it.

Like there are a lot of very fascinating, interesting looking Korean designs.

I feel like this is a miss.

Maybe in person, it'll be different.

I didn't love the new Palisade until I saw it in person.

But oh, that's that's that's a face.

It's like they saw the new Outback and thought we can put more black plastic than them.

See, I still am not a huge fan of the Palisade.

And to me, it's kind of like the Palisade until you're right, the first ones.

They were somewhat polarizing, but mostly got positive feedback

and really made an impression and like they stood out.

And it's almost like both companies are like, well, now we've got to go further.

And it's like, do you really do really?

Yeah, yeah, they both took their styling cues and just amped it up.

And like I said, then we both said this is just a.

I don't know what they'll call their GT line or what they'll call the top one.

Maybe when it gets in color to the face, it'll look different.

But right now I like it from the back.

It's just there's an SX premium that they showed a few pictures of.

It's still a lot of black, but at least the bumper is body color.

Yeah, you're right, though.

Like they're kind of leaning into it to see how far they can push it.

Like how to say it is, oh, did you like, did you notice our chrome on the old one?

Well, congratulations, there's chrome everywhere.

And this is like, yeah.

Yeah, I'll say it was like, did you like her headlights

that kind of had those horizontal lines?

Well, now it's going to only be that.

That's all you can see.

And this one had that big kind of detailed grudge is really cool.

And they just said, well, the whole front is going to be that now.

Yeah, so yeah.

Anyway, well, we'll take a break here

on the Autocut show by Ebay Motors, and we will be back with our friend James for

I don't know what we'll talk about.

We'll talk about different things because last time we covered

sort of his journey into the auto industry.

So now we can just talk about cars.

And then after that, I'll have Colin back to talk at one.

And then Kyle and I will wrap up the show and take a look at what's ahead.

eBay has reinvented vehicle buying from click to curb.

Everything's covered.

It's all thanks to their new secure purchase.

Ever try to buy a car and end up in a parking lot with a stranger on some blind trust

or spend half the day at a dealership talking to pushy salespeople and signing paperwork

or maybe worst of all, wait hours at the DMV just to transfer the title.

That era is over for years.

eBay has been the go to for gearheads, collectors and DIYers

because whatever you're into from classics to SUVs and trucks

to imports, eBay's got it.

And now with secure purchase, eBay isn't just where you find your next ride.

It's where you can buy it.

Start to finish.

Sellers and titles are verified.

Paperwork is handled by experts and payments are traceable and digital.

So you know exactly who you're dealing with and exactly what you're getting.

Plus, you can finance, ensure and register your vehicle all in one place.

No more hours at the dealership.

No more trips to the DMV.

Get your vehicle, plates and paperwork shipped to your door ready to drive.

And it's all part of one seamless process designed to feel as easy as buying

anything else online and eligible vehicles purchased on eBay

are backed by up to one hundred thousand dollars and purchase protection.

Thinking about selling your ride, secure purchase makes that simple too

because you know your buyer and their funds are verified.

If you still owe on your car, the financing payoff is fully integrated.

So you're not chasing paperwork or waiting on checks to clear.

And with secure purchase, you get paid fast and you're not going to be stuck

chasing no shows or answering the fifth still available messages.

This is what modern car buying looks like.

Skip the DMV, skip the sketchy meetups, buy it on eBay.

eBay, things people love.

Secure purchase is powered by Carmel, dealer services, LLC and eBay subsidiary.

All right, we are back.

And once again, we have our special guest, James, joining us.

You are our first returning guest.

So hey, honor.

Yes, the first day on the AutoGuide show.

So how how are things going down there?

I know you're in much warmer weather than we are right now.

Oh, well, it actually started raining today.

So everyone in Southern, I just anticipate the the convention and the

winging about the horrible weather and comments of, oh, hopefully this clears

up soon to come any second now and me just to beat my head against a desk.

As someone who grew up in Toronto and feels very much at home in Oregon.

I'm very happy when it's raining.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, we we got our first snow earlier this week.

And oh, kind of unexpected.

They said flurries and actually stayed on the road and the roads were kind of snowing.

And I think in the end in the Toronto area, there's 400 accidents because, you know,

how people are and this wasn't even real snow.

So I can't wait for the first real dumping.

But yeah, I think it caught a lot of people by surprise.

Me included that hadn't quite put their winter tires on yet.

So I mean, it caught most of the press bleeds off guard because most of them

are also not on winters yet.

I mean, at least at least a lot of them are regular cars with all seasons.

Like I'm a Genesis coupe.

I have way too wide purpose built summer tires.

So luckily enough to drive it.

It was parked the whole time.

But there are some high performance cars out there that were probably

loaned at the time.

But well, well, I lived in Portland, Oregon for five years.

And that testing thing was interesting because some cars ended up with winter

tires on them and others did not because strictly in Portland itself,

you don't really need winter tires.

It doesn't snow that often in all seasons.

Fine.

So sometimes they don't put them on it.

So but some companies did put snow tires on the Mercedes, for instance.

Others just left all seasons and then others just just didn't change anything.

They just brought them up from Southern California and I'd get like a BMW with

summer tires.

I have a picture of this.

It's maybe it was a 550 or something.

And it is just parked in front of my house surrounded by a ring of foot snow.

It arrived on like Tuesday and never moved.

There was so much snow on the ground because

they would actually go there would be people who would go cross country skiing

through the neighborhood because there was no effort to plow anything.

So you just so I have a picture of a guy on cross country skis going past a BMW

with winter with summer tires on it.

Yeah, that's a good point to bring up because there's a lot of even Canada

places where they don't get that much snow.

And when there is even just a bit of snow,

it's it stops the city because they don't have the system like where we are.

And like Chicago and Montreal, I mean, they have like an army ready to go

as soon as the snow falls with deisers and sultrers and plows and whatnot.

But you go to a place that doesn't get it and it's like two inches in the city is

done. Yeah, like in Oregon, it was just it just wasn't worth it.

Like he got it like there's no point in putting any money into it.

Maybe like plow the highway, whatever.

But there's but because we're close to the mountains, right?

So people would have studded snow tires on to deal with like going up to

Mount Hood, right?

Which is a strata volcano that you could go up and go ski down.

So that's great.

But then people are driving on studded snow tires in just kind of damp roads,

which I'm pretty sure is not what you want.

I thinking metal has less grip on pavement than rubber.

Otherwise, you'd be driving around in

metal tires, not a tire expert.

I'm just thinking that's correct, though.

And so you just hear them just

go all in town.

And yeah, interesting, interesting place for tires.

Yeah, asphalt loves studded tires, too.

It's getting cheated up by it.

It's funny because it's banned in Ontario.

So the entire province of Ontario can have studded tires because there's no

really need, but I've been places where they're more regular.

Like when you go into town, where it is plowed and whatnot,

the pavement, it just looks like someone's taken like a grinder and sandpaper

to it because years of tire is running on it.

Or there's like channels down the middle of like where the tires go.

And they if you don't redo those quickly, they fill with water.

And so then you have channels of ice.

That's fun.

Well, now the studs are used again.

So it all comes around, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, they're self fulfilling prophecies, the studded tires.

There you go.

So as you've alluded, you're you're somewhere

where it's a little warmer, a little longer.

For those who don't know, you are driving cars as much as Kyle and I am

on a regular basis.

Anything in very recent memory or in 2025 really stuck out to you as a either

a surprise or just something memorable or something that was as good as you

expected.

OK, I just had a Mercedes GLE.

OK, I'm not sure I've ever driven one.

Like including the ML.

I've been doing this for 20 years.

Somehow I've never driven one of these things,

except maybe briefly the one that kind of like danced up and down the current

generation, I might have experienced that, but it might have been anyway.

First time I've ever driven one and no expect.

It was like extremely luxurious and gorgeous.

I loved it.

It had this green color that's a six thousand dollar option, but it's

basically an eleven thousand dollar option because you also have to get the

AMG design package and a summer.

Oh, but it was beautiful.

Also, it had the aromatic suspension, which is a masterpiece.

I have it on the back end of my 2013 E class wagon.

So but, you know, everywhere it does make a huge difference.

Just a lovely car.

I was so I was so surprised by just how much I love this thing

because I had it the week after an E 53 wagon,

which I was a little underwhelmed by.

I really wanted to love it and I didn't.

I don't think the plug in high.

I mean, the both had the plug in hybrid powertrain.

You can accelerate more in the AMG plug in hybrid than you can in that

450 E that you really it's interesting.

The the throttle pedal basically gets cut in half.

There's like a wall that suddenly appears in the throttle travel and you push up

against it, it takes a while and then effort to go through that detent to make

the engine kick on and get like decent acceleration.

Otherwise, it's kind of slow when you're like really trying to take off or

go into the highway, but like, yeah, like luxury SUV,

like definitive luxury, it's beautiful.

The interior Mercedes old interior design,

I'm sorry, is more luxurious and nicer than the hyper screen thing in the in that

E class, just a wall of piano black and screen.

Does no, it just does not look as nice as the last generation with that

beautiful wood and there's those metal vents.

It's just just was nicer.

I I driven ML's previous, but about two years ago, I guess it was when I was at

one of our mid-west automotive media association rallies, they had the GLE

450 and the 53 and I hadn't driven the new ones.

And I can't wait the exact same you did.

I was blown away at how quiet and smooth and luxurious they felt.

And driving them back to back, I was kind of I mean,

that 53 has the six turbo, not the four.

But even then I was like, 450 is all you need.

This is like the perfect combo for this vehicle.

It's so nice.

Kyle, you drove one recently, didn't you?

I drove the CLE convertible.

So it's the three liter inline six turbo mild hybrid.

Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, similar experience where

because it doesn't have a giant screen stretching the whole dashboard,

you actually get some semblance of design that inline six is so smooth.

I think Mercedes is doing really good

proper luxury stuff in the sense that like that's what I want out of one of those

cars, right? I want the smoothest possible experience.

I want it to eliminate any minor annoyances and it did a good job.

And then similar to what James said earlier,

I drove the E 53 sedan in the summer and I wanted to love it and I just didn't.

I just it's just not.

Yeah, it's hard to describe.

And I mean, I literally own an old E class.

I think I like the comfortable one better.

Give me a motor. Cool.

But I don't really need the sporty stuff on that.

I think with the plug in hybrid, at least in the states,

the 450 and the 450 are like the same price.

Isn't it?

And the acceleration is like six tenths of a second in the six's advantage,

whatever. And then I got 60 miles per gallon

from which confirms the MPG from it.

That's with one charge on a 75 mile mixed driving loop,

including driving through the mountains, by the way.

And the 450 period gets 21.

So that's that's worse.

It's good plug in hybrid.

And it's not like a really it's not like you get like a giant stage worth of

batteries in the cargo area. It's basically the same.

Yeah, so anyway, that's not a sexy answer there.

But I like the GLE also the Carrera T 911.

That's sexier. That's brilliant.

That's like the best 911. I love it.

I my review for it just went out this week.

And yeah, it's I titled it the thinking man's GT3.

Yeah, it's just very nice because you can actually get them.

Oh, OK.

Well, it's just so it's like the manual.

Great.

I do not need more power.

Like the idea that there's more power available is kind of bonkers, right?

It's just utterly unnecessary.

And the it was this it was like this electric banana yellow kind of color.

It's a new Cartagena yellow.

Oh, that color. Yeah, it's a new color.

So it's like very now, right?

Very now color.

But the interior has the wood shift knob, which is standard.

And then these black plaid seats, which are so it's this very retro.

And the entire interior design is pretty like old school 911.

So it's like classic interior, very now exterior.

Very cool like that.

So sorry, because I sort of bring something up because you mentioned it.

And it's something I've been thinking about for a while.

Do you think we're at a point where EVs have distorted us so much that even

gas cars are starting to get too fast and too powerful?

Because like we're at a point where it's I don't need more power always.

It was like more power because the six pack

charger with the 550 horsepower to zero to 60 and under four seconds.

And that's not like a super sporty Hellcat special.

It's like, do we need a 3.9 second sedan?

Like, can we do save yourself the money and do it in under five seconds and still be happy?

Yeah, well, I mean, especially given like how if you ever noticed how people accelerate,

like going on to the highway and like everybody's like at 45 by the time

they reach the end of a very long on ramp.

Like, really, you need 3.5 out of a Tesla.

Cool. I had a Mazda two.

So five speed manual, 100 horsepower, slowest car probably available in its time.

And I remember one week I did a little experiment and I punched it off the line

of every stoplight and twice in a week, someone beat me.

So it just proves no one's using the power that they have.

If my little two could accelerate people up to legal speeds.

I mean, I've beaten people off the line in my electric bicycle.

I my my response to that, Mike, is like, we were already doing it before

these became a thing like too much power was a thing for the last 15 years.

I think once the Camry started pushing 300 horsepower,

that's when we probably were to it.

Well, yeah, I remember the last gen in Pala came out and it had 306.

I think in the like LS hub cap rental spec.

And I remember having one it was like 3500 pounds.

And it's like stupid fast for being a big family rental car.

Well, the M5, I really point to that.

So the I guess it was last year's

like Pebble Beach Concorde thing.

And that's where the new M5 touring was revealed.

And that has like 700 horsepower, doesn't it?

Around there, the new M5.

Anyway, it's ridiculous.

So that's that's why we were there to to see the debut of this car.

But as as, you know, it was also the moderating historic races.

The journalists there were given the opportunity to drive some classic M5s.

So myself and two other journalists took the one from the I don't know,

I'm just going to forget the names of these the internal codes.

But let's say they're like a 94 one.

So the second M5, then the classic E39.

So the third generation one and then the fourth generation one, which was the V10.

So we drove those back to back to back.

The one the second gen was like you had to drive it on a door handles to keep up

with the other two, that one felt much older than it was.

The E39 is as magnificent as you have always heard.

And we were on Carmel Valley Road, which is like the spectacular driving road like

world like it's fantastic.

The E39 was like could go on that.

You could really drive it as hard as you could.

The V10, though, was, you know,

it is kind of like from a driver's perspective in many ways.

It is the better car, especially from this rigidity standpoint.

But that V10, I couldn't go faster with that car.

It had more power than the road needed, which is like, there's the demarcation.

This great, brilliant driver's road.

A car from the year 2000 with a V8 was like that's how much power could be

handled by that road anymore from like a couple of years later was too much.

Meanwhile, we're three generations beyond that thing that was too much and now

has 700 horsepower.

So we we're 20 years beyond like too much power at this point.

So almost double the power.

I mean, almost double the weight, but well, yeah.

But still, it was just it was so illustrative of maybe we don't need this much.

And, you know, it's that that Carrera T is also another example of like

that car, I didn't have to drive it that hard on my local mountain roads for it to be great.

I could drive it fairly slowly, which are still like 60 on like a mountain road,

but kind of keep it steady and you have the feels through just everything.

Everything is just so feel some that it's enjoyable no matter how fast you're

driving, you do not need to drive it one hundred and fifty.

It got thrown in jail in order to like get some to make it feel like it's not

just driving itself.

And so, yeah.

It's interesting you say that with those BMWs.

Kyle, you ever driven the V 10 one?

Yeah, so actually the reveal that James is talking about,

you got to drive classics there.

I did the launch for the M5 and the M5 touring in Germany.

It was the same thing brought out all the old M5s.

And I had a similar experience where I drove the second gen M5, the first touring.

And yeah, it actually it felt a little slow, right?

Like you really had to push it.

But then the E39 was glorious and incredible.

The V 10, because we were in Europe, we only got the SMG one.

We didn't get the manual to use.

And that transmission kind of ruined the car for me in the sense that

I never really got the full experience.

It sounded great when you revved it high.

But otherwise, yeah, it felt like we were quickly approaching that point of too much car.

Yeah. Yeah.

So what were you going to ask about that, Mike?

So well, just before I ask just one one quick thing, you guys have both brought

up and it's so true cars from like the early to mid 90s felt so much older

and different than cars like five, six years later, like around 2000.

And I found that when I drove the Lexus, I drove the SC 400 and I was like,

this feels like a really, really slow monster.

And I drove the IS 300, which is only like five years newer.

And it felt so buttoned down.

But anyway, I wasn't doing this job when I got to drive the the Florida horsepower

V8 M5 that you guys are going on about.

I briefly got to drive the V 10 and then I drove the next generation.

And even from that V 10 to the next generation, when we went to turbo V

eights, I was like, this doesn't feel like a driver's car anymore.

Became a big, heavy sledgehammer grand tour.

Like it had all the power I could ever want.

But it wasn't that fun compared to what these older, slightly slower cars were.

So, yeah, I think we've kind of got there.

And complication hasn't improved anything.

I mean, the V 10 added, oh, boy, there's a little button that does something.

I, you know, this was two years ago.

I don't entirely remember.

But like now you get in them and there's all of these settings.

Yes. And like, I don't think it's necessarily better.

I thought I thought it was interesting on the M5 launch.

They talked about, yeah, the the different transmission settings, right?

That are on the little nubby shifter.

There's the three settings about shift speed and aggression.

And we tried all the different settings.

And the most aggressive one actually like it's a thunk.

It feels like you're breaking something in the transmission.

And when we talked to the PR person about it,

he said that was very intentional because they wanted to add drama.

But yeah, like, unless you're on a racetrack,

you don't need to use that setting.

And I was like, so, I mean, in all honesty, why put it there?

Because how many people are ever actually going to track their M5?

Well, no, even like your 911 Carrera T.

Yeah, I'm on a track.

No, it's even suspension settings, right?

So that GLE, and so I was driving it in comfort mode on the highway.

It was a lovely, really, really impressive.

And it wasn't like nautical rebound on bumps or anything.

So but I get to the mountains and immediately this instinct,

I'll put it in sport and drive around.

Oh, this is very capable.

It's not not like sporty at all.

But this is capable of controlled yada, yada.

I then put it in comfort and heave ho, captain.

This is fluffing and floating around over carters.

Like, wow, this is a profound difference.

This is kind of like what you want.

The suspension differences to be.

But then there's so many cars that have like comfort sport.

Then there's like a Sport Plus or a track mode.

I am never pressing that button.

Like even like that 911, I drive, I have great mountain roads.

I'm not engaging Sport Plus.

It's too firm.

It upsets the chassis.

It upsets everything in you.

Like maybe if you are in Germany or on a racetrack, great, press it.

But it's just it's just and that is so common.

I very rarely like engage those firmest track settings.

It's just not or like even like a Civic Type R.

Whatever the hard firmer one is.

No, absolutely not.

So what you guys are saying is you

don't need seven and buttons on your steering wheel.

And also German's obsession, obsession with having boost modes like EV gas.

It doesn't matter.

Every single car now is like, if you push this for 10 seconds,

you get more power.

It's like, just give me the power if I want it.

Like, why do I have to push a button?

Because it's it's great for the gram.

What's next?

We're going to have EVs that make noise and shake when you're doing the

launch mode and make a whole production and light shows.

Oh, wait, where do you have all that?

We have that.

I what I find less impressive are the boost modes where it's like, oh,

we give you 10 extra pound feet or something for 10 seconds.

And I'm just like, OK, like no one's going to notice that.

No, no, no.

Well, what they should do, what they should do, I think is the button should

just it's like if you hit the star on Mario Kart and just like the ambient

lights go nuts and the sound system goes down, down, down, down, down, down.

Like, give me that for 10 seconds.

That would be great.

And the windshields have smears the entire world.

So it looks like it's flying by twice.

Yeah, give me give me the ability to fire a red turtle at the car in front of me.

But is that so much to ask?

I don't think so.

I'm merging at 45 miles an hour.

I feel like there is.

I swear I read a press release.

I probably wrote about something this year where, yeah, there's there's

something that actually integrates all of the ambient lighting and stuff

when you go into a different drive mode.

And I was like, you know what, yeah, like if we're going to make this all

about the feeder of it, go all in.

Yeah, BMW do that.

Oh, I mean, you can change it too.

But yeah, yeah, like it does the animation background.

Yeah. Yeah.

That's what their drive modes are now experiences.

That is so confusing.

The annoying thing.

But they I think they've quickly changed it is for a little bit there.

I think when the new five series launched, if you change drive modes,

it would have an animation come up on the touchscreen.

But then it would just stay on the drive modes.

It wouldn't go back to whatever screen you were at first.

And it was like, this is terrible, but they have since changed that.

So well, speaking of ambient lighting, I do have I have the new

A6 e-tron from Audi.

And so that has the wrap around ambient lighting strip from like all

from the across each front door across the dash.

And so it's just a little strip just underneath the windshield.

And so when you turn on a turn signal,

actually the right in the corner of that strip actually blinks green

with the turn signal.

So you have standard turn signals and you have the I kind of like that.

It's kind of cool, especially how many turn signals are actually hidden

behind the steering wheel for me.

So I have never seen the turn signal in my class from 13.

It might not have them as far as I know.

But it's like kind of a cool thing.

And I'm sure it flashes if I'm about to run into a forage pillar or something.

Yeah, blind spot monitoring just changes color.

Yeah, no, the blind spot monitor is actually is this is the old Audi light

in the the mirror housing, not the mirror itself.

So that was kind of interesting.

The I will say, though, the screen that that interior we were talking about

the E class, like too much screen and you mentioned like how like the design

just you can't do anything with a screen.

And it's so true that that interior is just so screeny.

There's nothing to it.

All the details that Audi used to be so good about is just gone now.

Because there's this huge screen of like so much of that if I'm if you're using

Apple CarPlay, like a quarter of that screen is just Alba Mart.

Yeah, yeah.

And to that point, I think I I appreciate the usefulness of digital

instrument clusters because it can be great to be able to put my navigation

right beside my speedometer, let's say, right?

Like so that my eyes aren't moving far away from the task at hand.

I get it.

But I mean, with the 911 T, actually, that that was my example recently of

you lose a little bit of specialness when you open the car door.

And before anything turns on, it's just you're looking at black.

Like just there's there's nothing there.

It's just a blank screen.

And before, at least you had, you know, the central tack.

And maybe it was a red one because you got the special kit.

And like, I just feel like we're missing a little bit of the experience

when the car isn't on.

Well, also, you know, fancy watches are not, you know, Apple watches.

They're still analog.

They look more expensive.

They are more expensive.

I think we'll go back to something that I don't the end game.

Ultimately, is a 65 inch television that with a steering wheel growing out of it.

So that's just that's ugly and that's not going to happen.

So yeah, I'll one better you on that because I think what they're

trying to do and doesn't work, as we're saying, is they're trying to make it

like the screen lets you personalize how the interior looks.

So like I have the Denali terrain right now when you get in all the screens,

give you the Denali latitude, longitude, and it's kind of cool.

But I think the end game is the entire dash curve.

Everything is just a screen and then you can like make it whatever color

you want or put whatever design you want on it and then your info places.

And I mean, the BMW X three isn't too far off trying to do that already.

True.

Yeah, I just like do these people not live in the real world?

I mean, I don't have kids.

You guys do like would you really want like a pillar to pillar screen

with your kids like kids can't sit up front.

So not yet.

But soon like I just and like what happens if you scratch part of the screen?

I just I don't see how this is practical.

And I mean, there are advantages.

I think the Mustang is a great example where I can put the dials from the older

models on the like I think that's a cool feature.

But I think it's also unique to a Mustang.

I don't think a Corolla buyer is like,

dang, I really want to get ninety four dials.

No, but as a BMW person, I would say like they're they're digital.

They have all digital and they are grossly underutilized and they're bad.

Like it's just like the the speedometer is on the outer

the speedometer and the tacker on the outer reaches like half you can barely see them.

And the middle is like an unmarked map.

Cool. Thank you for that.

And then like why can't you just have

throw us a bone like BMW gauges were iconic and they look pretty much the same

for decades, just give us amber colored like throwback ones.

It's something like Mercedes would probably do.

But like BMW isn't and Porsche is doing it.

And it's just this.

Yeah, it's disappointing.

BMW will do it, but it'll be a subscription model.

Yeah, exactly.

We don't give them, I think, credit for enough things at times.

So I'll call out GMC again with that train.

They really done their screens because the digital driver information I could

put it like four different gauge modes and then I can do native navigation.

And if I have my carplay hooked up, I can also do ways in the in the gauge cluster.

And then the dash screen is huge, but it's low.

And the bottom row of buttons are actual buttons or touch screen.

And you can change those around.

So you like you have the choice what you want to do.

And like it's just well thought out and easy to use.

And it's just like you say, like there's so many companies that don't do that right.

Chrysler is another one that's still

is that there you connects pretty good too.

But GM seems to have taken that idea and put it a step up.

And when I put on home screen, I can have my carplay in ways and still have a box

that has my audio and then to have another box, I could put whatever I want.

Which again, not enough manufacturers do that.

It's like carplay or nothing.

Like, let me let me split the screen up.

So I've had a terrain with that same system.

I loved it because it's the standard GM one is pretty good, right?

So like the general menu, like it's like like a Chevy,

whatever the Chevy version of this of the GMC you're talking about at any given time,

that has the widescreen oriented one.

I like using that.

It's very but the same menu, like the same

general menu layout ethos is the same in the GMC.

It's just like dropped down by it's just extended.

The width is almost the same.

So you just add real estate and instead of just packing in info bar for something,

it kind of spreads everything out.

So it just makes everything easier to find to your point.

Those it still has toggle switches for the climate control, which are nicer pieces

than what's in the Chevy's and much nicer than the touch buttons in the Audi up front.

And it and yeah, I love having like that Apple CarPlay thing.

Yeah, it doesn't take up the whole screen.

It doesn't need to. It's 15 inches. It's a it's a television.

I don't need that. Exactly.

Right. So like I can have the Apple CarPlay

Google Maps up there and see by satellite radio song.

It's it's great.

It was such an example of how to do it well.

And in truest GM form, that means they're going to get rid of it.

So you see it later, CarPlay.

Yeah.

Oh, well, grab your twenty five

trained in all this while you can, I guess.

Yeah, I would say my wife has a has a has a what the hell does she have an optic?

She has a Cadillac optic.

So that is one without Apple CarPlay.

She had a key in Euro for almost three years.

She never used CarPlay once.

So she does not.

I care because I use the Apple

podcast app.

So if I like I start a podcast while walking the dogs,

it would be nice for it to transfer into the car.

And I can't I have to use Bluetooth and then if I then I have to control it

with the phone and that's that's not ideal.

I did not find an MLB app in the Google Play

pod thing.

So that's another thing I have to use from my phone.

So

yeah, so it bothers me a little more, but I'm not like too upset.

But it would not be it would not be something I would

not buy the car for.

It still reads me my messages, my text messages.

That's fine.

Yeah, I think the optic I drove it in the summer and I really enjoy it.

I think I would suggest people get it if they were interested, even without the

CarPlay thing. And now I hear that for twenty six, it's going to be rear drive

as an option. Oh, yeah, that's really cool.

So that's going to be a big difference.

I can tell you right now it's a huge difference and I'm kind of cheesed about it.

It's not just the rear wheel drive, but the fact that this has the so the the,

you know, the Altium system is kind of like different like Lego things that plug

in here and there. And so although it's all wheel drive,

it is kind of more like the equinox that is a front wheel drive.

And it's kind of like a Honda CR-V like you get slippage and the

and the all wheel drive just kind of peters the rear axle just gives you a little power.

Right. This thing feels like a front wheel drive vehicle.

You get some torque steer in it.

And I'm kind of surprised they didn't do

rear drive what they're doing from the get go.

Now, the performance gap is huge.

So the rear wheel drive makes about the same power as the existing all wheel drive.

And then the new all wheel drive is giant.

So from a value perspective, you now kind of have to pay more

if you live in Toronto, right?

Like you kind of have to pay more for even more performance that you don't really need.

So from that perspective, the original was better.

But yeah, getting back to our point about how cars have too much power now.

Yeah. Yeah.

Like I drove, I think it was last winter, maybe it was two winters ago.

I had the Volvo.

It was the XC 40 recharge.

Now it's the X 40, but I had the rear drive version of it in the winter on winter tires.

And it was awesome over the holidays because I got better range.

And honestly, like, what was it?

It's like 290 horsepower or something.

Plenty, plenty.

But the thing is, at least here, it's like $3,000 more to get all wheel drive

and an extra hundred horsepower.

And so people are just going to get it because

all wheel drive has had a very successful marketing campaign for 20 years.

But also it's barely more money, right?

Like if you're paying every month, you're not really going to notice the difference.

And you think you have to get the

better vehicle.

Yeah. Yeah.

But it's also like that with you said it's like three.

Well, I guess we're dealing with Canadian funds here.

But usually like all in the States, at least the all wheel drive is like

1,800 bucks for like an ice vehicle.

Yeah. But but the electric one

send to be three to four or five thousand dollars more because it's adding a hundred

horsepower. Yeah. Yeah.

You're getting a whole other order.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, we could go on about horsepower for ever, but we should really

let you get back to your day, James, and get back to our show.

We need to get Columon and then wrap it up and not have our listeners be

listening to Kyle and I talk for too long.

I know, you know, it's going to be a limit when you're ready to move on.

But thank you again for joining us.

You will probably be our first three time guest down the road because it's

always great talking to you. Yeah, I enjoy coming on.

Yeah, it was a good time.

Thanks so much, James.

You are welcome.

All right. Yeah.

Thank you so much and we will talk to you again soon.

All right. Welcome back.

We once again have Columon joining us for Formula One, which stands for

Ferrari One as the things are going.

It seems like last year, not even last year, it was early this year.

It felt like Red Bull was kind of imploding.

Well, it seems like Ferrari is doing it this year.

They're crazy and straight from the top, as I guess Red Bull did too.

But what a crazy.

I couldn't believe when I saw this news that John Elkin,

the chairman or whatever of Ferrari came out and they're like, first,

I heard these rumors that he said, oh, like the driver should like,

you know, talk less and focus more on driving or whatever.

And I thought that's like a misinterpretation because you see this stuff all

the time, you know, it's it's some Italian, you know, website and that gets

translated to Google translated somewhere and somebody misinterpreted

and that gets blown out, you know, out of proportion.

But as it turns out, no, that's not it.

It didn't get blown up or legitimately just said the driver should focus

Porsche 911 T, Nissan Sentra, Dodge Charger Scat Pack, BMW M2 and a New Kia Telluride

About this episode

Kia Palisade

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from The AutoGuide Show