The Lexus RX might be perfect, and Nik becomes ones step closer to being King.

The Lexus RX might be perfect, and Nik becomes ones step closer to being King. Our Auto Expert · Sep 14, 2022

Annotations will appear as you listen

0:00

82:18

Car

Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce is a brand that makes very expensive and luxurious cars. They are known for their high quality and are often associated with wealth and luxury.

Car

Land Rover

Land Rover is a brand that makes tough, luxury SUVs. They're great for driving off the road and are often used in adventurous settings.

Car

Bmw X5

The BMW X5 is a big, fancy SUV that has a lot of space inside and comes with many high-tech features. It's a popular choice for people who want a comfortable ride with room for passengers and cargo.

Car

The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and stylish sports car that many people love. It's famous for being powerful and fun to drive, and it has been around for a long time, making it a classic choice for car fans.

Car

Acura Integra

The Acura Integra is a small car known for being fun to drive and reliable. It's popular among people who like to customize their cars.

Car

Lexus RX

The Lexus RX is a fancy SUV that is comfortable and has a lot of technology. It's popular with families and people who want a nice vehicle.

Car

Kia EV6 GT

The Kia EV6 GT is a fast electric car that has a lot of cool technology. It's part of Kia's new line of electric vehicles.

Car

Hyundai Genesis

The Hyundai Genesis is a fancy car that feels really nice inside and has lots of cool features. It's a good option for people who want a luxury car without spending too much money.

Car

Ford Bronco

The Ford Bronco is a popular SUV that can handle rough terrain and is great for outdoor adventures. It's known for its strong build and off-road performance.

Term

torque

Torque is a way to measure how strong an engine is when it comes to moving the car. More torque means the car can start moving faster and pull heavier loads.

Term

horsepower

Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. The more horsepower a car has, the faster it can go and the quicker it can accelerate.

Term

zero to sixty

Zero to sixty time tells you how fast a car can go from a complete stop to 60 miles per hour. It's a way to see how quickly a car can speed up.

Car

BMW iX M60

The BMW iX M60 is an electric SUV known for its speed and luxury. It has a powerful electric motor that makes it very fast and comfortable inside.

Car

Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE 53

The AMG GLE 53 is a sporty version of the Mercedes-Benz GLE SUV. It offers a mix of luxury and performance, making it stand out from regular SUVs.

Concept

charging infrastructure

Charging infrastructure is the network of places where you can charge an electric car's battery. It's important for drivers to have easy access to these charging stations.

Term

electric vehicle

An electric vehicle is a type of car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. They are better for the environment because they produce less pollution.

Term

electric division

The electric division is the part of a car company that makes cars that run on electricity, rather than gasoline.

Term

gas division

The gas division is the section of a car company that makes cars that run on gasoline, as opposed to electric cars.

Car

Ford F150

The Ford F-150 is a popular pickup truck that many people use for work and personal use because it's strong and can carry heavy loads.

Car

Ford F-350

The Ford F-350 is a bigger and stronger version of the F-150 truck, made for carrying heavier things and doing tougher jobs.

Car

Ford F-450

The Ford F-450 is the strongest truck in the F-Series lineup, built for the toughest jobs and can carry very heavy loads.

Concept

electrification

Electrification means changing cars so they run on electricity instead of gas. This helps reduce pollution and is better for the environment.

Term

plug-in hybrid

A plug-in hybrid is a car that can use both gasoline and electricity to run. You can charge it at home or at charging stations, which helps save fuel.

Car

Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler is a tough car that can drive on rough roads and trails. It's popular with people who love outdoor adventures because it can handle all kinds of terrain.

Concept

off-roading

Off-roading means driving cars on rough surfaces like dirt or rocks instead of smooth roads. It's popular among adventure seekers who love exploring nature.

Car

Ford Cmax

The Ford C-Max is a small car that can run on both electricity and gas. It's designed to be efficient and is a good option for people who want to save on fuel costs while still having enough space for passengers and cargo.

Term

average cost of a vehicle

The average cost of a vehicle is how much most people pay for a new car. It can change depending on the type of car and its features.

Car

Land Rover Range Rover

The Range Rover is a fancy SUV made by Land Rover that is great for both off-road driving and comfortable rides on the road.

Car

Land Rover Defender

Car

Chevrolet HHR

The Chevrolet HHR is a small car that looks a bit like older cars from the past. It's designed to be practical and has a lot of space inside, making it good for everyday use.

Car

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car that's known for being fast and stylish. It's been around for a long time and is loved by many people who enjoy driving powerful cars.

Brand

Chrysler

Chrysler is a car company that makes different types of vehicles, like cars and SUVs. They have been around for a long time and are known for their family-friendly vehicles.

Brand

Fiat

Fiat is a car company from Italy that makes small and compact cars. They are known for their cute designs and are great for city driving.

Car

Dodge Avenger

The Dodge Avenger is a regular car that was made for a few years. It looks sporty but didn't get the best reviews for how it felt inside, and it's no longer being made.

Brand

Audi

Audi is a car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars. They are known for their stylish designs and high-tech features.

Car

Audi R8

The Audi R8 is a fast and stylish sports car made by Audi. It's known for its great performance and looks, making it a favorite among car lovers.

Car

Honda Civic

The Honda Civic is a small car that many people trust because it's reliable and saves on gas. It's a great choice for everyday driving and is popular with a lot of different drivers.

Car

Kia EV6

The Kia EV6 is a new electric car that doesn't use gas. It's designed to be stylish and has a long battery life, making it a great option for people looking to drive an eco-friendly vehicle.

Car

Kia Soul

The Kia Soul is a small car that looks a bit different because of its boxy shape. It's roomy inside and is a good choice for city driving because it's easy to park and fun to drive.

Car

Lamborghini Huracan

The Lamborghini Huracan is a super-fast sports car that looks really cool. It's made for people who love speed and luxury, and it's one of the best in its class.

Car

Ferrari Romas

The Ferrari Roma is a beautiful sports car that goes really fast. It's designed to be both stylish and powerful, making it a dream car for many people.

Car

Jeep Wagoneer

The Jeep Wagoneer is a big SUV that's great for families and can handle rough roads. It's designed to be comfortable inside while still being tough enough for adventures.

Car

Jeep Recon

Car

Jeep Grand Cherokee

The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a bigger SUV that can handle rough roads but also feels nice inside. It's great for families and people who want a mix of comfort and adventure.

Car

Ford Bronco Sport

The Ford Bronco Sport is a smaller SUV that's built for fun adventures off the road. It has a cool design and modern features, making it a good choice for people who like to explore.

LIVE

Ask him anything. Our auto expert, Nick Miles, has an answer. Direct message your questions

at our auto expert on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Our auto expert, Nick Miles.

Oh, it's locally created and actually celebrated from the northwest to the southeast. This

is the World's Car Radio Show, but has a throttle. We'll feature it on air, online, on smart

phone or on smart speaker. This is our auto expert where two million Americans get their

automotive news daily. We also daily have clapping monkey. It's part of what I do, Nick.

You're clapping monkey. I get a dollar for every clap. Do you know the only part about

the clapping monkey I think is impressive? The symbols? No, there's not a sandwich between

your hand. I already ate it. You did. It's the strange things that go through my head

all the time. Nobody needs to know about, but one of the strange things that went through

my head and if you are living under a rock in the middle of the desert, you will know

this, but we have, I am one step closer to being King of England this year. Like a full

step. A full step closer because Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away and that

means I'm just one step closer. I might be 66 millionth from the throne, but I am one

step closer to being King of England. If there was like an apocalypse, you'd be the one standing

champion. What was that TV show? What was that TV show where they did the, that really,

the guy becomes president of the United States. There was a TV show that did that? Yeah, he

was like the last remaining, everyone was killed. Oh, I know what you're talking about.

Everyone's like shouting at their radio now. Yeah. He was like so far down. He's like an

engineer or something. No, no, he was like a new member of Congress or something. Oh,

he's the secretary of education. Yeah, and then boom. Yeah, that's kind of what would

have to happen if I was going to become King of England, but on a much bigger scale. The

whole country would have to be wiped. That's not even go there. So obviously we have King

Charles III officially proclaimed King of England. He will be crowned in about 18 months. Don't

even get into what it would take for him to be crowned. But one of the weird things that went

through my brain is they have this amazing collection of cars at the Royal households

around the, around the country, around the world, around Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, United

Kingdom, England, all of it, all of it. So I was thinking, do they have to go and re-register them

all? Like this Charles have to like fill out all this paperwork and send them to their British

version of the DMV to take them out of, you know, Arnie Elizabeth's, or his mom's name and

Queen Elizabeth's name and put them into his name. Can you imagine he's online? I've changed

this from a mom. Yeah. He takes a number at the DMV. In England, it's like the Swan, Swansea,

where they do it all in Wales. They have them registered. Do you think he has to like get in

line and re-register them all? Can you imagine being the desk clerk that says kind of see your

ID? Do you imagine the pile? They probably have, I mean, you know, they're especially registered

and they have a guy for that. And there's probably, you know, you probably call somebody

and they cause them up and go, hello. Oh, good morning, sir. Is this the Palace Hall? Yes,

sir. We'd like to re-register everything and then King Charles's name. Yes, sir. We'll do it

immediately. We'll be done in three minutes. And, you know, that's happening. But ultimately,

if he was a commoner, he'd have this massive style of re-register, and it would take like three

days to do it. And everybody in line would be going, come on! Yeah, because I think they do

everything like like Gringold's bank and stamp everything. They probably do. There's goblins in

Swansea in England that physically have to sign every piece of paper and go to Vault 473 and get

it out with the little rail carts, the mining carts. It's funny, but that's probably, that's what went

through my mind to re-register all their Land Rovers and Jaguars and Rolls Royces. The paper

work headache. So I was supposed to go to England on a secret mission in my other job. And the dates

now fall on the date of the funeral. Can't tell you what the mission is, because obviously it's

classified, but they cancelled my mission. They can't, well, yeah, the Queen, the Queen is no

longer. Yeah, but it's gonna fall on the, it's gonna fall on the funeral. So the mission's been

cancelled. I got a text from Mission Control and said, your mission is off. You have to be,

mission will happen again once Her Majesty has been laid to rest. Can you talk about MI6 stuff?

No. I can't. But we can talk about the cars in the Royal Fleet. I mean, you've been researching that

this week. Her limo was insane. That thing, so one of the big things that I took from it, I mean,

I could talk for hours about the Bentley limo that they gave her, but one of the things that

really stood out to me was that in an instant, it can be hermetically sealed in case of biological

warfare. I mean, you can live in that thing pretty much. The tires, good luck trying to break those

or pop them, not even a missile, blast resistant doors, stuff on the inside too. Like, if for some

reason you did make a chink in the armor, there's a whole another, I mean, there's just so much to

it. And these are only things that are publicly available. Right. And that's the thing too,

like if they're letting us know to that degree what it can do, then there's an equal amount that

we have no idea that it can do. Things I can tell you are blood supply, which is carried on board,

oxygen supply, which is carried on board. Oh yeah. Now all those type of things. That's insane. Yep.

And I bet everyone in that car is trained to be able to administer all that stuff.

No. Not everybody. No. At least one. No. Your driver is trained in basic

stuff, but there's also a ceiling between certain compartments in the car. So if someone gets into

the front compartment, they cannot necessarily get into the rear compartment. Yeah. And you have to

know how to open up everything. It's not just like a normal car where you hit a button and the

door opens. Yes. Yeah, there's if you've ever been into stores where you think you can just get

behind the counter and you see a handle and you turn it, it doesn't open the door. Yeah,

it's very much like that. The door handle is not the door handle. Yeah. In a lot of cases.

And the door handles platinum covered in Kevlar. And now that you touched it, you just took poison

on your hand. No, not quite like that, because you don't want anyone dying accidentally. That's

a big thing. But I can tell you about things like the BMW X5 protection division. I mean,

they have a hydrogen version of that vehicle and they blow it up to make sure the hydrogen tank

doesn't explode. So they actually physically put C5 on it and blow it up to make sure that the

hydrogen tank wouldn't explode if there's a bomb under the car. And I have been, let me see how I

phrase this. There is a vehicle post incident that I have had my hands on. No, there is a vehicle

post incident that has been experienced that survived so well that the customer survived

that they repurchased one immediately because they were attacked with the intention of having

their life terminated. And the attackers failed because of the BMW X5 protection.

And so they immediately bought another one. With grenades. With grenades? You mean it,

if you use a grenade. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if it's the same BMW, but I watched a BMW take

AK-47 shots to the windshield. That's fairly mild. Yeah, tic-tac, nothing. Yeah. But the idea is you

don't do it repeatedly. I mean, they will only survive so many. Yeah, he did say that. You need

to get out of the way. Eventually it'll get through. Now I asked when Ford came out with their police

edition, I asked Ford if I could sit in their police edition and have them take a shot at the

window and it would protect me and they wouldn't let me do it. I would have done it. You know,

I know they wouldn't let me do it. I asked to do it. They wouldn't let me sit in the car

and have a sniper take a shot at me. I would have shot at you. I know you would have shot at me

without the Kevlar windshield or whatever. They wouldn't let it happen because you know,

you know who at Ford wouldn't let it happen? The CEO. Lawyers. Come on, lawyers. Lawyers.

Live a little. Yeah, that's what they wanted me to do, live a little.

Just a little. You have a top five today. I got one, one of the, an iconic car, I would say.

Potentially iconic, soon to be iconic. Kind of. It's in the discussions for your hall of fame.

Okay. Oh, wow. That's, it sounds like it's going to get a stamp of approval.

Maybe. Maybe. A maybe stamp of approval. The Acura Integra coming up from automatic Andy.

We also are going to talk to Mike Cadel. He's my pal, my buddy. We agree on

some things and he, we're going to discuss electric, huge news, huge news from G this week.

We're going to make that a feature of the show today. I will say that Lexus have come out with

a new RX. My TV segment will run Monday across multiple TV stations and about 200 markets

digitally about the new Lexus RX. If there is one, this is their bread and butter vehicle,

their SUV, the new Lexus RX, they nailed it. When I say nailed it, they, I'm, I'm, I can only find

one thing that I don't like about this vehicle. They absolutely nailed this vehicle. It's, it's

probably the best vehicle Lexus have ever built. Jeff is going to be here from Kia to talk about

the EV6 GT. I love the EV6 out of the three manufacturers, which are all under the same

umbrella, Lexus, Hyundai and Genesis. The EV6 as the member of that family is probably my favorite

and I've been waiting for the GT version forever. It competes very closely with one of its counterparts.

So there's that. The Jeep news though is probably going to dominate because they rolled out their

electric plan and boy, was it a mouth dropper. If you think he's an automotive intellectual,

you should try his spicy peanut butter chicken. Our auto expert, Nick Miles.

Catch up with those shows. You can also listen to all of our historic radio shows and of course

read insider stories and watch the videos that we all make at our autoexpert.com.

Two million Americans get their automotive news daily. I'm your host Nick Miles along with

automatic Andy and joining us is Mike Caddell on the phone. You've been electrifying. Are you

out on bikes today? Are you with your, with your son getting all muddy and having fun?

Not. We're out. We're not quite on bikes. We are in a Bronco today and checking out some,

we're kind of doing a pre run of some, some back country roads here west of Nashville. So we're

pulled over on, when I say I'm kind of looking at some back country roads, let's, we'll just call it

back country roads, Andy. So that's what we're looking at right now.

He had banjo music.

Bow and Luke Duke. Bow and Luke Duke are going to come around the corner and in a minute,

in the, generally, and you're just going to hear

and it's be like, they're running moonshine. But yeah, guys, it's, you know, it's,

it's been a crazy week. So I, I just want Andy, I want to give this to you. Eight hundred and

eleven pounds feet of torque, six hundred and ten horsepower and a zero to sixty and three

point six seconds as Nick knows, I am very, very skeptical of the infrastructure around

electric vehicles, but I'm not skeptical around the products. The products are great. I was in a

BMW, IXM 60 this week and my son who is said he's not going to say anything on, on the radio is

sitting right next to me listening in and we were in that vehicle and I put it in sport mode

and I hadn't done that yet. And so I turned to my son and I said, watch this. And as I,

I hid it, I didn't have my head or his head back against the headrest and I, it threw me back

so hard, Andy, that I actually had a mildly pinched nerve in my neck because of the force.

Oh man, that's worth the Tylenol though. How's your kid?

Fine. He's either like, he's like, I'm fine. And he's like, man, can you do that again? And I'm

yeah, he's young. He'll be all right. Yeah. It's like, when you get old, you can't do that to

yourself, but kids just bounce. I'm telling you, man, sport mode will change your life. That thing

is delicious. Yeah, it is. And I think, you know, I think what's really interesting about that vehicle

is that it's, it's very easy for an automaker to fall in this cycle of creating a product that,

that has to look electric. And I think that's what's unique about this other than the, the grill,

the, you know, traditional kidney stone. Kidney stone.

That signature kidney, the front grill. I think that's all that kind of says electric on it,

but it's, they're calling it a sport activity vehicle, which I think is also pretty cool.

I, I call Nick right after I was driving, I'm like, look, I really like this vehicle. I don't

think it looks, not tough, but the blue line around everything to kind of show that it's

electric is kind of cool. Like you're a part of the cool kid club. Yeah. The first thing my son

pointed out, he thought, dad, check out this blue line that wraps the vehicle. I think that's pretty,

pretty cool. Yeah. It's little things. I think there is a lot of stuff on that vehicle that's

very cool. The size is kind of strange. Like it's very boxy, but it's sort of, it's bigger than

a lot of their vehicles that are sold today. It's actually longer, taller than most everything.

It's an electric version of the AMG GLE 53 that I'd had the week before. Like they have that same

kind of, Hey, I'm not a crossover. I'm not a sedan. I'm not a sport utility vehicle. I'm kind of this,

this kind of touring, sporty thing. And I, I enjoyed it. You know, the, the, I don't know,

you're talking like you really spent a lot of time in it. So I'm going to direct all my questions

at you. The moonroof, the panorama moonroof on it, did it change colors based on the sun,

the ambient color outside? I thought it did too. I tripped the whole time and like, man,

I either need to sit down and take a nap or this car is amazing. So it has those, it has those

electrical particles in it where if you get that upgrade, it can actually filter the sun out.

But I think you have to have it activated so it can filter the sun out. It doesn't do it

automatically. But if it's on, it'll filter the sun out. Yeah, I hear you, Mike. It was impressive.

It was impressive. What was also impressive was the range. What's unique about that vehicle,

you know, you'll get in some vehicles and when you go from a normal mode to a sport mode to an

eco mode, what happens is you'll see your range deplete on the screen, which I guess is a good

thing. But in that vehicle, it never depleted and I never felt any form of range anxiety.

And that, that was also kind of a testament. You know, I think as we learn more about electric

vehicles, the vehicles themselves are going to get great and better and more efficient and more

cost effective. I posted up on my, one of my social threads this week about my frustration

around the infrastructure here in Nashville. And one of the guys who's over at General Motors,

who runs kind of that division was like, you got to clear your filters so you can see it

on. I did that. And it opened up all these electric places that I can charge. But again,

they weren't high speed and high capacity. And that is like the most critical thing that I just,

every time I'm on, either with you or talking to me, I'm like, you've got to make it readily

available at home, on the road, wherever you're at. That's the biggest problem. You shouldn't

be buying an electric vehicle unless it's, there are an infrastructure systems available at your

work, at your home, or where you plan to travel to. And a lot of people get interested in electric

before they look at infrastructure. And that's a mistake. Correct. Yeah. I had a really good

conversation with Dan Barbosa, who is with Ford Motor Company a week and a half ago,

I was in Detroit, and we were talking about how Ford has divided up its gas division versus

electric division. And it was just really interesting. Dan had said, we've got some news

coming out around the Detroit show. We got off on a trip around trucks. And he said, look,

when it comes to trucks, like whether it's the F-150 all the way up to the 350 and 450, like in

Texas, even places of Tennessee, it really doesn't matter. I guess it's not even geographically

as much anymore. But there are people that need trucks. You're hauling. You're going to need them

always. You're going to need to be able to pull distance and be able to use gas, but to fill up.

And I think what a lot of Americans, a lot of people outside of America forget to remember is

that this is a country that you could fit the entire European continent inside the United States.

America's fastest growing automotive radio show.

Our auto expert, Nick Miles. This is our auto expert radio show. Facebook and Twitter,

Instagram. You can start a conversation with us. Ask us a question, just direct messages

at our auto expert. Our auto expert is where 2 million Americans get their automotive news daily.

All right, Mike still with us. We were talking about his electric excitement with the iX M60.

It's probably more excitement and electricity was the second portion of it. But Jeep have had a

big news conference this week in which they announced a worldwide plan to move, I would say,

slowly into electrification. They're not going to make the huge jump, but are going to make a lot

of their vehicles electric in the next two or three years. I think the biggest news from Jeep

was that they are the number one plug-in hybrid vehicle. They have the number one plug-in hybrid

vehicle in North America with the Wrangler 4 by E. And I know that's a coveted title that

everybody's been chasing for a long time, but it didn't take them more than 18 months to actually

win that title, which is kind of impressive, but just really shows that Americans love the

outdoors and they sort of want to do it in small steps, don't they, Mike?

I agree. Yeah, Jeep is just synonymous with off-roading and adventure. And I think people

are still going to continue to buy their products. When you look at a big automaker, one of the big

three, they have the ability to manufacture at a significantly faster and higher rate than other

automakers. So with the Jeep 4 by E, the majority of Jeeps are actually not used for off-roading

like we're doing today. They're actually used for pavement pounding around town. So if you can

kind of have your cake and eat it too with a plug-in hybrid, you can have electric capability

around town and still the ability to go off-road with some gas support as well. I'm a big, big,

big fan of plug-in hybrids. I would love for automakers instead of going all electric. I would

love for them to go more plug-in first because I just believe that the American psyche around vehicles

were not a very good society at taking mandates and change really fast, right? Hey, you have to

take the COVID vaccine. It doesn't matter whether you agree or not, you have to take it, right? You

got half the population that wants to do it and the other half that's like, why not doing it? It's

kind of the same thing with electric. It's like you have a good percentage of population that

want an electric vehicle and then you have the other half that are like, I will not go into... So

a great happy medium is a plug-in hybrid. I've owned two of them. Of course, I will say C-max,

C-max, C-max three times on air. My Ford C-max was amazing. I loved that vehicle and I think

plug-in hybrids have a great place in the mix with this. There's a little misunderstanding

around California. It was a little electric by 3035. I do think it's kind of an outlandish

political, politically charged statement, but plug-in hybrids are part of that.

I think the other thing that's missed a lot of times is materials-wise plug-in hybrids make so

much more sense too. It will alleviate things like the battery crisis, the amounts of mining

that we all need to do because the size of a battery you can put instead of using a complete

bed vehicle, you could put the size of that battery in four different vehicles. So therefore,

you don't use so much precious metals and so there's a much more ecological

better idea to putting plug-in hybrids on their own and that's sort of Toyota's idea and that has

been Jeep's idea up until now and somewhat other manufacturers as well. So it makes a lot more

sense to move there slowly and it's the same sort of story about the zero accidents by a certain date.

You have great ideas about zero accidents with cars that cause zero accidents, but unfortunately

by in 10 years time, zero accidents are going to be almost impossible because there's still going

to be a bunch of cars on the road that don't have that technology in them and they can hit each other

or hit the zero accident car. So saying zero accident, you've got to presume that every vehicle

is going to be able to avoid every vehicle and you're not accounting for vehicles that aren't

equipped with that or steer into other vehicles that don't have that mechanism in them. So

there's a lot of presumptions there. I agree 100% and you guys know I live really in my life by one

word and that is pragmatic, right? I try and view everything through being putting a pragmatic tone

to everything and so in as much as I do believe blue and love the Ford brand,

I do believe that their strategy around technology, around electric vehicles, around gas vehicles,

is a strong message and I do believe if I just look through my crystal ball, I think Ford will

come out on top. My issue with General Motors is they're going all in, right? We're going to go

all in and you're going to start losing part of your base when you do that and so I think that

with all the pieces of technology, you know, one thing interesting guys is I kind of sit here on

a true back country road watching a squirrel burying an acorn getting ready for winter and I'm

looking at a house that's, you know, it's struggling a bit. I mean I'm really out in the country

is that the average cost of a vehicle right now is between $47,000 and $48,000 per Kelly Blue Book

and I can tell you and people on this road can't afford that, right? If their air conditioning

goes out, they can't afford to fix their air conditioning so I think as far as we look at

vehicles, you know, into the future, we have to be pragmatic in how we offer them up to people

so that we can make them more affordable. These people out here, they not only can't afford to

get their air conditioning fixed but if you do force them into an electric vehicle down the road,

they're not going to be able to charge it, the grid, you know. I'm 300 yards from the 40 freeway

because if I go another 100 yards up this road that I'm on right now, I will lose you in reception.

So we have to just be smart about this and think about the whole as a country. You know, it's not

just LA, it's not just New York, it's not just Chicago, it's not just Miami. I've been and come

from the big city and one thing great about the Nashville, Tennessee areas that it helped me realize

that there is a side of this country that also needs to be represented when it comes to the

auto industry and this is definitely truck community and SUV community here. Yeah and I

think you're absolutely right and those people also have to rely on what we're bringing out

because they're probably not going to have infrastructure for maybe a decade plus where

they live and so they're going to rely on buying a used gas truck that may be five years old in a

decade, in two decades and so they need us to make gas trucks for 15 years because 20 years

because they're going to be driving a one that's going to be made in 15 years time.

So, you know, before we go because I know we're on a short run, can I close out with two quick

things? You've got six minutes. Oh well then I'm going to spend all six minutes on this topic,

not really. I didn't realize I had so much left. My condolences, my British friend,

to the loss of your queen and I would say the world's queen but to take that and turn it into

an automotive story, hats off to Land Rover. You know, I've been watching, there's actually been

four stories that I've seen in mainstream news about the affinity that the royal family has for

Land Rover and I'm really excited. They were counting off the vehicles I was listening to

Fox Business yesterday and Stuart Barney who is on Fox Business is British and he was talking

about, he was reading off the vehicles. It was amazing. It was like Range Rover Valar, Range

Rover Sport, Range Rover HHR, Range Rover and it was like this, Land Rover Defender, Land Rover

Defender 1, Land Rover Defender 60. It was like, oh my goodness, they really do love that brand.

The queen actually had a great affinity to Land Rovers, especially the Defender

and as late as last year, there are pictures of her driving a custom built Defender around her

estates. It's strange to think that the day, I think maybe two days before she passed away,

she worked a full day and a full day for her could be 16 hours and she did that every day

of her life and she, you know, exhausted herself quite regularly but her whole mantra was service

to others and I don't know, we talked at the beginning of the show which she didn't hear,

we were wondering if Charles had to wander down to the British version of the DMV and

re-register all those vehicles in his name. Isn't that true? I followed along with this.

I love the fact that we still have something that we can, like we get to say King Charles,

right? I mean, it's just as fun to say, like moving all the politics and whatever,

I did on the go, like King Charles and it's Prince William and it's just very,

very cool to see all of this. Yesterday it was interesting, they were talking about the queen

and they have, I don't, and I'm going to butcher this, they have Operation Big Ben,

Operation London Bridge and each one of those was a designation for where she would be at

when she passed away. If she was in Scotland, it was one of those and I can't remember what

it was but very interesting. Well, I have in the last minute or so, I'll add a couple of things

in for you here. First of all, if you haven't seen Prince Charles' speech that he made the

day after his mother passed, a lot of people thought he was a bit of a, you know, a piece of

wet celery and when you watch that speech, you will be floored. It was amazing. Yeah,

I mean, it just completely was an amazing speech and he is, he's been training for that job for

73 years. He clearly is ready for it. He is going to be an amazing king. That's the first thing.

You know what? Yeah. Let me just add to that. Let me add to that. What's amazing about it, Nick,

is that he knew his role. He was like, I will never overshadow or overstep my mom, the queen

and that was amazing. Yeah. And the second thing was, of course, we are all consumed with this,

completely consumed with this and so I've been watching tons of videos and finding out what's

going on but the most amazing thing to me is at the point that the queen had passed and the doctor

had decided, you know, okay, you know, she's passed. Her private secretary picks up the phone and says

London Bridge is down and that is then transmitted to the prime minister and she

is given a note that says London Bridge is down and then the news is passed to everybody. The

lights flash in every newsroom in the UK and they are given the news. Wow. The queen has passed

and the phrase is London Bridge is down and that just gave me the chills. That just gave me the

chills. He's putting the fancy back in pants. Our auto expert, Nick Miles. Over 20,000 people

have downloaded our auto expert podcast and many more streamers. Join the happy listeners via

iHeartRadio, Pandora app, Apple podcast, Spotify, ourautoexpert.com and hours of endless fun away

to you. I'm Nick Miles. This is our auto expert radio show. Two million Americans get their

automotive news daily from our auto expert and automatic Andy. Well, he just gets sandwiches.

Yeah, I get pastrami's all the time. So a lot of big news going on this week. You can you can

this week you can really just close your eyes and point and then you can just pick one.

Detroit, the auto show coming up, there is going to be news probably most of it from Jeep.

Is that Motor City? Yeah, Detroit's Motor City. You didn't know that?

Now I do. Now I'm confident. Now you're confident in your actions. All right.

Detroit, where the big three reside, is usually the biggest auto show,

but it's struggled. It really has struggled over the last few years and it's it moved from January

to the summer. COVID got involved and then COVID got kicked out and then they've sort of tried to

get it back in the summer. CES, which is the consumer electronic show in Vegas, was the week

before Detroit and really took a lot of the limelight away because it was starting to do car

stuff and they were losing their budgets to CES and there was a lot of trouble. And so they

moved to the summer and it just didn't just didn't go well. So ultimately what has sort of ended up

happening was they try to kick it off. It got canceled. They did it last year. It was an open

air festival at Bell Isle, which is sort of a portion of Detroit. It just got rained out.

This year they tried to put it on. It just seems not to be going well.

Seems to have hazard lead thrown together. It's not. I mean, automakers are just being very cautious.

I will tell you that solidly there is good product there, but there's not that many big

announcements. I am confident, except for Ford and Jeep. I'll just sort of back that up. Ford

will have the new Mustang. Dodge is going to have a few, aren't they? Well, Dodge don't have any

announcements, but they will have some and Chrysler will have some. So Chrysler have some big

announcements. Jeep made a lot of announcements, but we'll have more. And of course, the new

Mustang is big. It's the biggest selling sports car in the world. So that's going to go on.

But Jeep, I have to tell you, definitely win. Is Fiat going to be there?

I'm sure they will. What's Fiat doing right now? Do you know what they're doing? They do lots of

little cars. They will be apparently going all electric. They should just do that now and be

ahead of the game. Well, here's the deal. It takes a long time to make the switch. I feel like the

last time I heard from Fiat was when they hired Charlie Sheen to do their stuff. It's like me

saying to you, why don't you go with a full body tattoo and you're going, okay, well, why isn't

it done? All right. It takes a while, doesn't it? I see what you mean. Yeah. All right. It's not

something you can just do overnight. No. And then if you want to change it, it takes a while to get

it off as you're about to find out. Yeah, I have a couple I need to get taken on. Yeah, there you go.

So it just, it's a little complicated, but Jeep announced they're going to go with an electric

program that end up in full electrification eventually, but they're going to start as quickly

as early next year in Europe with a new vehicle called the Jeep Avenger.

There's Nick, there's so much. Not Avenger, but Avenger. Nick, there's, there's a lot there that

I need to unpack for the conspiracy theorists. Let's start. Go. So they have, I think it's a bit

cheeky. I don't have answers by the way, but you can start. Yeah. No, I have,

it's a bit cheeky of them to use, to call the car an Avenger. Yeah. And have it exclusively only in

the UK, because we're all about the Avengers here in the United States. Well, first of all,

they had the name Lohang before it was a Marvel. Is it Marvel? Yes. A Marvel deal. Well, my dad had

an Avenger in the seventies. The Avengers were before the seventies. Yeah, he had one in England

in the seventies, a Dodge Avenger, I think it was. It's not fair. And they have the name

copyrighted. They took a page out of the multiverse and I have to give them their flowers for the

production value of that. Flowers. Like respect. Like for, sorry, it was, it was a wrestling guy

term. I didn't understand flowers. Yeah, it was a big, big guy's term. Yeah. So it was being nice.

They use like the multiverse. They did like, like time travel with portals to do their. You lost me,

but go on. To, in the commercial, not the commercial, but the thing where they unveiled

everything and they were talking to the kids, they would walk into the portals and all of a

sudden they were in the Arctic. Is this a magic, the gardening thing? No, it's a Marvel thing.

Okay, go on. And I just think that they did a really good job and I was impressed, but they,

I just feel like they could have incorporated the Avengers a little bit into the Avenger car.

Okay. That's what I would have done. What if Tony Stark came out and said, yeah, I'd buy this car?

I then would have bought that car. He doesn't need to drive Audi's. Yeah, yeah. I wonder if that'll

change now. It might. I wonder if he'll drive a Jeep Avenger. Audi spent a lot of money to get

on the Avenger roster. Yeah. And I know they did millions had to have because it was featured.

Like it wasn't just like, oh, here comes Tony Stark. It was like, oh, here comes Tony Stark and

his tricked out R8 or whatever it was, like super duper. Yeah. It was nice. They made a point to

show like it looked a little commercial. Like when he got out of the car to talk to Captain America,

but yeah, they, I'm sure there was two commas involved. There had to have been because it was

in both of the end game movies. I wonder what that would be like though. Like they'll kind of deal

with that would be like that. Is that someone from marketing and or sales and Audi? No, they have a

placement company that places all those cars in movies. Had to have been to two commas. There's

no way. Yeah. I wonder how much they pay. I wonder if we can get somebody on who does all that

placement in movies to tell us how that works. Well, there was that one movie that unfortunately

flopped that had like the whole, a lot of the movie, the plot point had to do with the, was it

Nissan? Oh, no, the Lexus Moonfall or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, about a Lexus dealer

and everything. Yeah. I think that was a bit over the top. It was. It didn't do very good.

You know what, the Lexus were in that, the superhero movie that had the African American cost.

Oh, Black Panther. Yeah. And I thought Black Panther didn't do well, but apparently it was

the best selling movie of all time. Yeah. That would have been another one because there was a

whole. Lexus were in that too. Yeah. They must have spent a lot of money. I didn't feel like it

did well. You know, like I didn't feel like it was ranked number one, but it was the biggest,

I think it was one of the biggest movies of the year or if not the number one movie of the year.

It's in the top three of Marvel movies. I think it's in the top three of movies, period. Yeah.

Like it's, it was one of the biggest movies in history. Yeah, it was good. And they, the,

it was a good movie, definitely good movie. One of the iconic scenes was all the fight scenes on

top of the cars. Yeah. I mean, it was like five minutes of that. Yeah. No, it was a really good

movie, but I had the impression it didn't do well and I was, I couldn't have been more on.

Strangely enough, we will be talking to Carly Bly from Lexus College. I didn't even know I could

go to a college called Lexus. No, there is, it's, it's where they send all their people to be

edumacated about their Lexus product. She's going to tell us all about that new RX. So,

which we have been deliciously cuddling. It's perfect. The only thing wrong with it is I don't

own it. Well, I've, I've said things like that before. I don't like how when you press the door

handles, it takes a second to unlock. It is a little wonky. Yeah. I got a big thumb.

The thrill of the throttle. Our auto expert, Nick Miles. Locally created, nationally celebrated

from the Northwest to the South East. This is the world's car radio show. It has a throttle

wheel feature it on air online on smartphone or on smart speaker. This is our auto expert

where 2 million Americans get their automotive news daily. I'm your host Nick Miles along with

automatic Andy. So not only did we go to the launch of the new Lexus RX, but shortly afterwards,

which is just weeks, the vehicle arrived in our test fleet and we got the Primo amazing,

wonderful, virtually glorious version, which is the 500H. There are three hybrid versions and one

gas only version. And we ended up with the superb, fabulous 500H F Sport, which is the first sort of

superb F Sport performance version. You brake hard, you accelerate hard, and it still feels

like you're gliding on a piece of air. At the same time, the plug-in hybrid, which would be the third

hybrid version, is going to be a while away. So it comes later, but there's two hybrid versions

at launch. And then there's a gasoline version at launch. And the plug-in hybrid comes sometime

in 2023. But we are grace to have the 500H in our fleet. And I would say it's very hard to find

anything that Lexus did wrong, don't you, Randy? Let me tell you that I don't run for anything,

really. And I ran to this car. I ran. I ran to this car. And I can't, there isn't anything

wrong. It's perfect. The stitching, the seats. When you sit in it, it feels like I'm little spoon,

when you sit in the seats. I've never heard you say that. Yeah, I don't even like being

little spoon. And I'm totally cool with it. And the Mark Levinson system in it. Yeah, sound system.

Nick, you're having a good concert. Oh my goodness, the concerts. I rival Beyoncé.

Really? You do? Yes. I'd like to hear that. Absolutely. We need to put embedded microphones

in it and listen to that. But you know, the person that knows more than we do, which is surprising,

because I didn't know there was anybody that did. Hardly. Yeah, is Carly Bly. She's from the

Lexus College. You went to, you graduated from the University of Missouri, didn't you?

I did. You know what's incredible is that, isn't it mandatory that you have to play banjo there?

Sorry, I'm being funny. No, that was not part of my extracurriculars, Nick. You don't remember that?

No, I must have skipped that. I like the fact that, I mean, I, it's been there that way for a long

time, but I love the fact that Lexus call it Lexus College, because it makes everybody sound

more intelligent than us. Way more going on. Yeah, you've got way more going on than we do,

which actually, to be honest with you, please don't tell any of our two minute listeners,

but that's most people. Lexus did such a good job in this. We are struggling to find things that

are better, you know, that don't work in this vehicle. We always, we always like to pick holes

in anybody's poncho. And this, it's hard. The only thing that we found that wasn't 100% perfect

was we'd like the electronic door handles to be a little faster when you press the button,

but that's about it. I think we couldn't find anything else. The ride is perfect, the interior

is perfect, the seats are perfect, the acceleration is perfect. And we were stomping on the brakes to

see if no, it's just, it's, you guys did, the engineers did such a good job in this vehicle.

It's really good. I love to hear you say that, honestly. We've been playing around with them

a little bit since we had that press event. And it just is a very proud moment for us, right?

This is a vehicle. It's very, very important to our lineup. It is our number one selling vehicle.

It is the core of Lexus. It's our first SUV. And for us, we want to do it right. We want to make

our guests and our consumers continue to love this vehicle because that's what they continue to buy.

But we also want to find new buyers. And, and to your point, we've given them a lot of options

and features and technology and just really, what can I say, hit a home run, hopefully,

you know, that's what I'm hearing you guys say. And that just makes me super happy.

I mean, I'm always about wow factor, right? I don't really so much care about the things that

a lot of automotive journalists care about, because I care more about what gets people

suckered into buying cars, right? I care about what gets people interested in the first place. So,

you know, the first thing is how a car looks from your first impression.

And when you look at that grill, and you look at that hood, which is usually how people are

introduced to a car, it's amazing in pictures, but it's really doesn't help when you see it in

person. It's so much better. The pictures are good, but the in person, it's a whole new vehicle.

It makes you feel completely like you're being introduced to a new brand that is different.

I don't know how to explain it, but the grill doesn't finish and the hood doesn't begin. It

it's very, very spicy. And you know, it's very polarizing. The design is something that I would

say we're very proud of. We look to to your point, Nick, we want something that is polarizing. We

want something that again keeps our current guests in love with the vehicle, like the floating roof,

for example, but something that's also going to attract new buyer. So by changing those design

elements, we're really able to accomplish both of them. But you're right, it is a very, very

different look and it's very polarizing and it's much more upfront. But the nice thing about it

is not only is it design elements, but there are reasons that we do things, right? The hood is

slightly lower, it gives better visibility and the A pillar has been moved back. So all of that

design has a reason for it because it gives the driver better visibility and therefore enhancing

their confidence when they're on the road. So this part didn't help me on the road per se,

but one of the things that wowed me, Carly was in the very back, there's like a plush leather

wrapped cargo strap. So when you haul stuff, it doesn't get like messed up by the strap. There's

like this really nice leather stuffed thing that goes around the strap. I don't know if that was

on purpose. I don't know if that's what just because the one that we got, but that was that

wowed me. I like that a lot. It's the small details. That's one thing I can say is we do it right.

We look at the details. We've got those Takumi's as master craftsmanship in their craft, so the

craftsperson within their craft. And they really pay attention to those minor details that really

make a difference in the guest life and in our lives. I mean, small things I'd mentioned before,

I don't know if the two of you have heard me in our last conversation, but for me, the lock and

lock feature is huge. It's not something that I think everybody realizes in their day to day life

is necessary. But as I sit there the other day, true story, I was out at the barn and I have a

horse up north of us and I had to take all of her winter blankets out getting prepared for

the winter season. And these blankets are not small, right? They have to fit on a large animal.

So you've got two or three blankets that are probably 20 pounds each that you're having to

grab. And as I was sitting there pulling them all out of the trunk, I was sitting there like,

no, no, no, let me think this through. Let me work smarter, not harder. So I've pressed the lock

and lock feature, as I like to call it, grabbed all the blankets and was able to move into the barn

and just know that the hatch is going to close and the vehicle would lock without me having to

drop all the blankets on the ground and then hit the button. And it just, it makes your life easier.

So I don't doubt to your point that that was your wow factor was that small of their strap,

because we do put a lot of thought and the engineers and the designers put so much thought

into what is going to make this guest's life better and easier. And that's where this really

worked hard. I need to ask Andy a question. So hang on a second, Colleen. Andy, what did you

put the strap around before the nice leather piece on that got damaged, that the leather piece

didn't damage? I would have to disrobe and put my shirt around it. And no one wants that.

What's it? Magic the gathering cards. Oh, your magic, the gathering cards have been damaged

by a strap in the past. Yeah, because I'd have to take it down so, so tightly that it'd mess up

the boxes. Okay. And now, now, you know, you know, I don't have to do that with the Lexus F-Sport.

See, okay, now I get it. I was just trying to think of what was it, a birthday cake? Well,

oh, I haven't even thought about the food yet. Yes, Nick. All right, just trying to work it out.

What was being damaged? Yeah, my coveted magic card. Andy's a big magic player. So now I know.

Yeah, Carly, the car is great. It has millions of dollars worth of cards. He doesn't want them

being damaged. Yeah, it's so nice. The brother plays magic the gathering too. He has a collection

that I cannot even imagine the value on. See, Carly, now you know what I'm talking about.

Get back in your chair. Stop. Carly, you get it. You totally get it. I do. Unfortunately,

I totally do. This fastest going downhill. Yeah. The ride in this vehicle, which is probably the

last thing we're going to get to talk about now, we talked about magic. The ride in this vehicle

is unbelievable. Like, I listened to that whole presentation, Carly, and it was like,

yeah, it's going to be the smooth ride. And you know, you're not going to notice so much when

you brake and when you accelerate. Oh my goodness. I thought it was just PR gobbledygook. When I got

in this car and I stomped on it and I braked, it's like riding on a curtain of air. It's amazing.

You guys have done an amazing job. They, again, worked so hard on perfecting it. We talked about,

and I know, I know so many people had the same thought, right? It's like, oh, it's an RX. It'll

be nice. Yeah. But driving current gen compared to the next gen, the Model Year 23, is just

night and day. So think about it, right? We've changed the entire platform. It's on the global

architecture platform. So that's the first part of it. And then changing all of the engine and

the transmission and whatnot, it has made such a difference. And then you look at those four

pillars. We talked about the new chapter of Lexus, which was design, technology, electrification,

and performance. And performance is where this really, really shines because you look at that

philosophy of Lexus driving signature that we've talked about. And Lexus driving signature goes

back to exactly what you're saying, right? Every time a guest or a customer or a person gets in

that vehicle, they know they're driving a Lexus. That's the goal is obviously you'll have an

Lexus badge in the car, right? But the field that the customer and the driver get, they know, wow,

this is similar amongst the line. It's consistent, right? It's enhanced handling, it's linear

connection, all the things that enhance that driver confidence that you're talking about.

See automotive videos. And you can read insider car stories about your next ride,

our auto experts, where two million Americans get their automotive news daily or find it all at

our auto expert.com automatic Andy's here. And he has been driving the 2023 Acura Integra,

a famous name with a famous guy inside with a famous piece of radio review or podcast review

or audio review, depending on how you want to look at it. So we're all on the edge of our seats

trying to find out if this gets automatic Andy's stamp of approval. Andy, why don't you tell us

about the 2023 Acura Integra? Thanks, Nick. I'll take it from here. The one that we had was the

aspect with technology, which is a big long sentence to say we had the fancy one. So they start at

30 grand, but the one that we had was 41. Because of course, we are extra. So here's the deal, Nick,

I really, really wanted one of these when I was 17. And at 40, I still really do want it,

especially this one. So fresh off the production line for the new 2023 models, the Acura Integra

is amazing. My buddy in high school had a year appropriate Acura Integra, we just shortened

it to call it they let's get in the intake, because you know, high school. But there was a

couple things that troubled me. So let's start with the cons. Number one, I really anticipated

this to be quicker in the zero to 60 category, better than seven seconds, but it's kind of a

hot long seven seconds. I can almost do that on foot. And I had an expectation of the zero to

60 time and maybe my expectations are wrong, but I just feel like it could have got down the road

a little bit quicker. If you're over 250 pounds, do not attempt to engage with this vehicle.

That seven seconds zero to 60 time now is in the eights. And adding that much weight to a car

matters, I feel like the other part that I was kind of hoping that we would get that we didn't

that that we didn't and I was a little disappointed was the lack of pop up tail lights,

or headlights and and a coupe version. For a car that reached cult status after being shelved in

2001, I kind of just wanted more. And that's not just to say that this car doesn't have a lot,

it does. But my expectations weren't met. Also, it doesn't have an 8000 RPM red line,

which means you can't do that cool Wang Wang Wang thing. It's a little nostalgia put into it,

namely the 90s throwback, the Integra lettering that's molded into the bumpers, that was sweet,

that looked really, really high tech, laser etched, super fancy. And that the in the manual

transmission. But that may not be enough for long time Integra followers. That little detail is

not going to be worth the price tag. It'll be perfect for their kids, who like their parents

back when you know, Top Gun was originally in the movie theaters. And my last con is that

this is basically a Honda Civic with cooler buttons. I mean, from the car, everything in it

is just a Civic and has different accurate decals. And there are differences. But for the most part,

at the end of the day, it's a it's a souped up Honda Civic, which is still a great car. There's

nothing bad about it. But I just wish that was I don't I don't think accurate is trying to like

pull the wool over your eye. But and I understand why wouldn't be something that they would just

not outright say. But we need to know as a consumer that this is just a fancy pants Civic.

So but that's, you know, those are all kind of subjective. Those are all the things that I

personally didn't like, you may not care that it doesn't get up to 8000 red line or that you

know, the zero to 60 time or that it's basically a Civic. That's that's fine. But for the stuff

that I did like, it looks amazing. The craftsmanship in the details are super beautiful and crazy.

The grill looks like it was cut out of an onyx stone by a red hot laser. The rims are a perfect

match. Whoever picked those out at Acura deserves a donut and a high five.

The colorway options look super good. They got a brick red option and a white choice in addition

to the all black we had the black with the red trim which looked amazing. But it would have been

really cool to see the white one. I like that. The Acura symbol is illuminated and it looks

like it was carved out of carbon fiber. I mean, the car looks tough. It looks like it doesn't

drive down the road. It cuts its way down the road. I really like that. It's zippy. It's got a 1.5

liter VTEC turbo engine. It gives 200 horsepower and the Integra is a is a powerful and agile

competitor. I wish it was a little bit quicker, but it does have a lot of power and it sounds really

cool. I was actually shocked by this one 30 miles a gallon in the city 37 on the highway and 33

combined. That's really, really good for the sport level and the zippiness of this car.

There's four different driving modes which equals four different driving modes in my opinion. You

get sport, comfort, normal and individual. I'm not quite sure the difference between normal and

individual. It kind of felt the same, but let me tell you it is so satisfying to engage in the

sport mode and get it. You know what I mean? I don't think the one we had had left sport mode

that entire time. The audio system. This is where I think they shine a little bit more. The ELS Studio

3D. You get 16 high fidelity surround speakers. There's two overhead and one cargo integrated

subwoofer. You can hear all the notes. If a music producer uses an 808 machine, you can hear all the

eights. It's beautiful. There's more cargo room than you'd get with a trunk. It's 24.3 cubic feet

before you fold the seats flat. There isn't really that much more when you put the seats down. However,

in my own independent research, I noticed that if you took the cargo cover off, you got a whole

another check in size bag. So, does this car get the stamp of approval?

Yes, it does. Young and old Otto Andy would like this. I do, despite there being-

Wait, there's two of you in there?

There, I'm the size.

That makes sense.

Of two, yeah. Now it makes a lot more sense. Despite this being more or less a fancy civic,

to me, it felt genuinely like its own car. But what do I know, Nick? Yes, I would buy one because

it's beautiful. You are automatic Andy.

Yeah. Hey, I've only been driving for three years and I'm an expert. So, I like the car. I mean,

if you just, I just don't want there to be any wool over anyone's eyes. You need to know what

you're getting. Good. I thought it was amazing too. I mean, it's your segment, but I thought they

did a really good job. And I think they made it far enough away from the civic to not make it a

civic. I know they're the same company, Acura and Honda, but I think they pulled it far enough

away from the civic to not make it a civic.

I only think you would really know that if one, you did the research like I did. And two,

if you had a civic and that at the same time, it would be like, oh yeah, there's a whole lot of

similar things.

But I drove them back to back and it didn't feel the same. It doesn't look the same.

You know, they're the same size because, you know, the platform is, you know, there,

but they doesn't feel the same. It doesn't look the same. It doesn't drive the same.

They're similar, but they're not the same.

If they could have got the zero to 60, even in the fives, I'd have been happy with the fives.

The thing is though, you've got to keep the fuel economy down and that means the engine.

That's the thing. I mean, for the 33 and city, 37 highway and 33 combined, that's pretty good.

You know what? That only used to happen with those tiny little cars made in Japan at one time.

Now you're getting out of a family car.

And what kind of family? I'll leave that up to you. It's our kind of family, the automotive,

crazy, dysfunctional family that has a radio show or a podcast, a TV program,

and whatever else we have. What else do we have? Oh, a fleet of tons and tons of cars.

Oh, and you're a really good cook.

Where did that come in?

Sometimes we don't need to drive to get food.

Yeah, that's true. I do do a lot of cooking if I have the time.

You're not afraid of the spice rack. I'll say that.

Whoops. What else aren't I afraid of?

Constructive criticism and making sure that I eat healthy.

Backing a big car into a small space.

You are a professional driver. If for some reason you ever lost your mind,

you could be a NASCAR driver.

What do you mean if I lost my mind?

If you think he's an automotive intellectual, you should try his spicy peanut butter chicken.

Our auto expert, Nick Miles.

This is our auto expert radio show. Our auto experts on Facebook,

Twitter and Instagram. You can start a conversation with us, ask us a car question.

Just direct messages at our auto expert. It's where 2 million Americans get their

automotive news daily. I'm your host, Nick Miles with Automatic Andy.

What are you doing? Are you playing Solitaire on your phone?

No, Nick. I was texting guests.

Oh, you were?

I was working.

You were good.

You caught me working.

You know what I'm doing?

Working.

Looking at pictures of the Kia EV6 GT.

I'm looking at a red one and I've fallen in love.

You have?

Especially with the crazy amount of horsepower.

576.

This is impressive.

We've known about this car for a long time.

In fact, almost as the GT as the EV6 was introduced.

But in true style of anticipation, Kia have kept us waiting.

But not for much longer.

Yeah, you got to let the beat build.

Is it like an intro to a song?

Yeah, you got to let it build up.

And then the crescendo.

And then it happens.

Boom.

You know who the man who's going to tell us all about the happenings?

Tell me.

Jeff. Jeff Gieblinski is from Kia.

He's a guy with all the button pushing and the technology and stuff.

He's an old pal of mine.

We've been around the houses together and he's a journalist.

And he's done that.

We have history.

Have you guys broken bread?

Oh, many times.

A lot of breads.

And we've broken bread, haven't we, Jeff?

It's certainly we've broken bread.

All sorts of and types of bread also.

We've nearly died together in Mexico.

Oh, man.

Yeah.

And there's that story.

We'll share that.

We'll share that one day.

It was an ice cream truck, wasn't it?

I can't remember.

They have to wait seven years.

There's some statutes of limitations, I think.

Yeah, on that one.

Jeff, the EV6 GT, we actually got to see the real thing.

Pebble Beach Concorde Elegance usually reserved for $100,000 supercars.

But now it's been reserved for Kia's supercar, which is, of course, your EV6 GT.

And what a great place to do it, by the way, alongside the Italians and the British sports cars.

You found the perfect place to slot it in.

Yeah, thanks to this.

We're at the lawn at the Quail, which is the exclusive gathering of some of the highest

performance cars in the world.

And there we have the Kia EV6 GT, making its North American debut surrounded by Pagani's.

And the cool thing about it, you talk about a crescendo, I mean, this 576 horsepower,

3.4 seconds, 0 to 60.

Suddenly, you're looking at an electric car that meets or beats all of these other cars

off the line.

And it was the perfect place to show it.

And you guys don't have an accent either.

It's like these, you can't understand half of these other guys because they have these

Italian accents.

And yet, you know, these guys are, Jeff is totally cool.

And these other guys are all wearing suits.

It's probably the same value as their car, which is crazy.

This was quite an amazing thing for you guys.

It was just amazing to have it there and to see it there.

And of course, I really want one.

I really, really want one badly.

For me, it's never a choice.

It's always a must have.

I just have to convince the rest of my family to let me have yet another car in the driveway.

You talked about this for like a week.

Yeah, it's just a great vehicle.

So let's go through some of the details.

So I just don't Google about it the whole time.

It's based on, of course, your award-winning and super successful EV6.

You're a first sort of major play in the electric market.

You have, of course, had electric vehicles before this with the Nero.

But this is kind of the big play for you in the modern electric era, right?

Certainly.

Yeah.

I mean, like you pointed out, Nick, Kia has been making electric cars for over a decade,

starting with the Soul, then into the Nero and EV6 GT,

which we launched earlier this year has been exactly, you put it 100% right.

It's our dedicated full-throated approach to electric cars.

And EV6 GT takes this award-winning platform, which is EGMP,

and it, which is capable of very fast charging, very quiet motors,

the battery density is best in the class, and the GT elevates it to a really new level.

And it's kind of, it's a rocket off the line.

I mean, you feel this kind of instant torque, but without the push

and the kind of shove that you get with some electric cars, I won't name names.

And it's smooth off the line, and it will take you up to 161 miles an hour very quickly.

I love the idea of performance.

And to me, the power is amazing from an electric car,

mostly because there is no transmission.

It's smooth getting there, you know, racing it against things like the Ferrari Roma

or the Lamborghini Huracan Evo.

It just is so much better because they have to switch through gears while,

and they make a horrible roaring sound and, you know, you get jolted around.

If you miss a gear, if you're paddle shifting,

there's no way you can miss a gear in this because you just don't have gears.

So there's a massive advantage already.

Absolutely.

And I mean, we benchmarked supercars as well as the current electric cars.

And so that you could, in theory, have that comparison directly.

It's not just a speed versus speed.

All of a sudden you have advantages with the electronically controlled

suspension and ELSD.

I mean, all of these performance oriented features that bring EV6,

which is a fantastic car to go on a long road trip with.

Suddenly, this is a car you can bring to the drag strip

and smoke everybody who comes there.

So now you've added, which I want to do, by the way.

Now we've added, when you do the drive of this,

can we put it on drag strips with Ferrari Roma's and the Lamborghini Huracan Evo's?

That would be amazing.

Well, I won't give anything away, Nick,

but I think you might have that opportunity to get on the drag strip

and then we'd welcome it because this is the kind of car

that you have to drive to really believe.

When you see it, it has that great stance, 21 inch wheels, neon accents.

But it almost does a disservice to keep it sitting still.

You really have to experience that thrust and see come off the line.

So I would pencil that in.

I also like the fact, by the way, that it's not over ostentatious.

It's not crazy, crazy looking because if you park a Lamborghini somewhere,

it becomes immediately a massive center of attention.

And that's great for 10 minutes.

And when you really want people to pay attention to you,

but when you're running down to the grocery store,

the last thing you need is 25, 15 year olds from the high school

hanging out by your car all the time.

If you want to run in and get some almond milk,

you don't need that every day.

So ultimately, people sort of don't always, unless they know,

they don't always hone in on you.

And a lot of times I like that.

I like to be under the radar just enough unless people know.

So I like that about this.

And then this, you know, you know,

like you can look over and go, oh, wow, that's a GT, by the way.

So it's cool, but most soccer moms don't quite get it.

That's the best thing about it.

You gave it drift mode, Jeff.

So tell me more about drift mode.

Drift mode is incredible.

And in an era when supercars have gotten very easy to drive,

suddenly we've developed something that actually takes

a little bit of talent to get right.

And I can say this, having spent some time drifting a prototype.

And you know, we've all done some drifting exercises in this business.

And I thought I was pretty good.

All of a sudden, because drift mode disconnects most of the front motor power

and sends all the power to the rear.

All of a sudden you're left with this incredible amount of torque available,

basically with the push of a toe, not even the whole foot.

So you get to spin the car and it takes a lot of control to get that drift.

But once you do, it is as shocking of a performance car

as basically anything else that is out there.

And you're making figures of eight.

You're full circles and it's pretty incredible.

I can't wait to see how you do with it.

One of the things is I had recently had the opportunity to do that

in another electric vehicle.

And I decided not to do a video of it because

it's just going to encourage people to do it.

So I think it's a lot of fun, but I always worry about,

you know, some kid 15 year old getting their dad's version of the car

and then me getting emails from the dad going,

why is my car in a ditch?

Because you showed my 15 year old how to drift it.

They're great things to do, amazing things to do,

and I cannot wait to try that.

This, of course, has one of the best things about the EV6 is

you develop something for real world,

which makes an absolute unbelievable difference.

And that is the charge times in this vehicle

because the charging time makes difference to everybody, right?

So you can charge this faster than any other car,

basically on the market in this family of vehicles.

Absolutely.

So if you're, let's say at a drag strip and you're going out all day

and you can show up with a full charge,

spend hours out of the drag strip because,

remember the amount of power you're going to use

is going to get you down the strip and then back.

And you can go charge the car at a 350 kilowatt charger.

It's going to replenish the battery in just about 20 minutes to 80%,

which is pretty incredible.

So it's a great road trip car.

It's a great performance car.

You can do your performance activities on the weekend

and then spend all week and basically just have to charge at once.

That to me is the best real world thing that you can do

with any of the EV6s if you get the good battery.

And that is an absolute slam dunk.

And of course that comes in the GT.

All right.

Last question for you.

When and do we know how much is this available?

Yeah.

So we're hoping to talk about price very soon.

And as far as availability goes,

it's just a couple of months away in the November, December time frame.

So we're very excited to get it out on the road.

And demand for EV6 is so great

that we can't build enough of them fast enough.

So we hope that EV6 GT is just going to continue that demand.

How would we order one?

Do we need to go online?

Do we need to talk to the dealer?

What's the system?

Yeah.

And you should call your local key retailer right now

and let that person know that you are interested in a key at EV6 GT

and to put you on the list.

So you're a priority when you get there.

But Nick, you're always a priority to us.

So we're going to make sure you get it pretty soon.

America's fastest growing automotive radio show.

Our auto expert, Nick Miles.

Over 20,000 people have downloaded our auto expert podcast

and many more streamers.

Join the happy listeners via the Apple podcast app.

Hours of endless fun away to you, I'm Nick Miles.

And this chap next to me, well, that's automatic Andy.

Our auto expert radio show and podcast is listened to by two million Americans.

And I will tell you, every single one of them is in Andy's phone book.

Our auto expert and ourautoexpert.com are your favorite places to go, aren't they, Andy?

I'm going to, I owe all of you a hug.

You do?

Yeah.

I vowed to hug all two million of you.

I'm sorry.

There is a lot of interesting news this week.

The Jeep brand announced a comprehensive plan for its next generation of fully electric

four by vehicles as part of a sustainable transformation to become the leading electrified

SUV brand in the world.

The plan, which is, which actually premiered on their YouTube channel,

calls for the introduction of four electric SUVs in North America and Europe by the end of 2025.

As part of an ongoing comprehensive production plan, 50% of Jeep brand sales in the US will

be fully electric by 2030, while 100% of European sales will be all electric by then.

The plan is in full support of the net zero carbon emissions target set by Stellantis during

the dare forward 2030 long term strategic plan driven by the success of their electric four

by E portfolio in North America and Europe.

They have been designing and developing the most capable and most sustainable Jeep SUVs

to date on that path become basically the leading zero emission SUV brand in the world,

which is actually exciting for them.

This is really a forward thinking strategy to help ensure millions of Jeep fans around the

world continue to have a planet to explore and embrace and protect as they move forward.

Electrification is a great way for them to really make everything, you know,

make all their vehicles still capable and exciting, but also be sustainable and fun in

the future.

Now the brand is showing some first images for their fully electric SUVs.

Those include the new Jeep Recon and all new Wrangler and new Wagoneer.

And they have the Wagoneer S, which is what the Wagoneer is codenamed to be.

And those will arrive in North America, the regions around the world soon.

And the Jeep Avenger will arrive in Europe in the next year or so.

So that is exciting.

They're building upon the success of the Wrangler four by E, which is now listed

as the best selling plug-in hybrid vehicle with PHEV in the United States.

Now I have ordered one of these.

And you told me about it, Nick.

But I can't tell you what I've ordered exactly because it's embargoed.

Did you get the Recon?

No, the Recon's announced.

What I ordered is something coming in the end of the year.

So you got the, oh, I know what you got.

You got the four by four by E.

I got the jiggity.

The jiggity E.

Can't tell you what it's called.

I just, so with the, I have a question about the Recon.

Why I love having options.

Like when I get chicken nuggets, I usually get 10 different sauces.

I might use two.

I might use eight.

I like having the option.

So what I'm getting at is with the Recon, you can take out the window and the doors.

The roof and the doors.

What?

Can't just take the window out.

I thought you could.

Take the doors out.

The windshield folds down.

That's what I meant.

Yeah.

Why would you need that?

You want open air.

You want to eat bugs while you drive.

Why can't I do that in a Bentley?

It's a Bentley.

I just feel like, I mean, I appreciate the option.

But what do you, how come?

A lot of people like the open air.

They want to be able to.

But the door though?

I don't, I've never done that.

You want to scoop up there.

It probably get easier for me to get in.

Maybe.

Is it hard to take the door off?

There's a few bolts.

I don't get it.

They give you all the tools and where the bolts go in a little kit that's under the seat.

You pull it out, ratchet it off, a few bolts, and then they give you a storage bag for the door in the back.

Oh, that was my next question.

What do you do with the doors?

Yeah, there's a storage bag and you can keep them in your garage.

And then they can also give you replacement doors, which are like a tubular piece of metal

with a nut on the bottom so your stuff doesn't fall out.

I'd be afraid I'd come back to my car and someone would put their soda on my front seat.

Right.

You're out in the middle of the wild.

What?

Is it going to be a wild man covered in mud who runs up to your car and puts his soda?

He probably doesn't have a soda.

I'm telling you, what if a bear went through Taco Bell or something?

Well, guess what?

Don't take your doors off then.

You have a choice.

You're American.

You have a choice.

Yeah, I have four choices.

Yeah.

I do, I do like.

Then get a wagon to your ass.

I like all these wagons.

Zero to 60 in 3.5 seconds.

Yeah, it's big and quick and beautiful like me.

Exactly.

Nick, I really like for like 20 feet.

Okay.

It was 25 earlier.

Did you eat something?

Yeah, I have a heavy stomach right now.

Right.

Okay.

Just checking.

Nick, these cars are beautiful.

They are.

Dave did an amazing job.

Ralph Shields, who is the head of design for Atlanta.

Stellantis, Atlanta, for Atlanta and Stellantis.

He's amazing.

The production quality of this rollout is amazing as well.

Yeah.

Everything looks in like 200,000K.

Yes.

Which is your favorite?

I like actually the Avenger.

I like a lot, but it seems like the Avenger is.

It's very cheeky.

Everyone's upset that it's not coming to North America.

There'll probably be a load of protests about that.

I like the grill of the Avenger because it has LED lights and it's just habitually on.

Well, look at the LED lights in their wagon ears.

Yeah, that looks tough.

It actually looks more the size of the Grand Cherokee.

The Avenger has tuned suspension to handle cobble roads though.

Yeah, because they have cobble roads in it.

What do you think about the recon there?

I like the recon because you can take stuff off and it looks like a Lego.

Yeah, I like the squareness of that because it's very Wrangler-esque.

That looks more Land Rover, Range Rover-ish.

That's what I've been waiting for.

The recon.

That's a good one.

Is that the one you're getting?

Yeah, recon.

But that's 2024.

That's years away.

One I'm getting comes in two years.

The one I'm getting comes this year.

I'd get that as soon as it comes available.

You're getting the new cars here?

Yeah.

I want to sit in it.

You were there when I picked my Bronco Sport up.

You got to riding it before my spouse did.

I did?

Oh, I did.

Yeah.

Yeah, we made a cheeky video about it.

Yeah, you remember that?

Yeah, we did.

Did you get hit in the head since then?

Yeah, Nick, I have a big head.

There's a lot of things that go on in there.

Sometimes I have to make room for new stuff.

It's like a conveyor belt.

Stuff comes in and stuff falls off the other end.

Pretty accurate, yeah.

Yeah, car stuff.

That's why you can't drive a manual, isn't it?

I don't know.

There's two brakes, dude.

I don't...

You need to pick one manufacturer.

Yeah.

Well, there's not.

One's a clutch.

Do you know what a clutch is?

No, at this point at 40, I'm not going to know.

Really?

I just...

Is there anyone in podcast land that can teach automatic Andy

to drive a manual vehicle?

Please get hold of us on social media.

Part of the reason is too much concentration,

and I really like having my concerts.

Yeah.

Well, maybe we're going to take the stereos out of all the cars.

That's not funny.

Because when I drive, I have to sing.

You have to sing?

I have to.

It makes me a better driver.

Yep.

It does.

Do we have another hour in the show, please?

Yeah, because I have a lot to say about that.

No, I have a lot to say about you being a better driver.

Oh, look.

The police line's lit up.

I think they want to talk to you.

Oh, good.

How long has this automatic Andy?

This is the police department.

Yeah.

You didn't see me do nothing.

Show me no face, no case, officer.

I can already feel them wanting to get hold of you.

Yeah.

Don't worry about it.

If you see me having a concert in a new Lexus,

mind your business.

Look, there's blue lights in the parking lot.

I know.

They're quick with it.

They're after you.

Fine.

They found you.

Gresham police, I'm sorry.

Why is it Gresham always?

You know it's Gresham coming to give you.

I thought it was Bantucky.

We may not be back next week.

0:00

82:18

Rolls-Royce

About this episode

Original notes