These Are The BEST And WORST Trucks At The 2026 New York Auto Show! | Ep. 325
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Brand
Hyundai
Hyundai is the car company behind the booth and the new concept they’re showing. The segment is basically about what Hyundai is planning to reveal next.
Concept
concept
A concept truck is basically a preview of what a company might build in the future. The final production version usually changes things from the show version.
Concept
EVs
EVs are cars or trucks that run on electricity instead of gasoline. They often look different, and designers may show concepts and styling details before the final production specs are known.
Brand
Ford
Ford is another big truck brand. They’re mentioned here because the concept could influence the kind of midsize pickups brands like Ford build.
Brand
Toyota
Toyota is one of the big truck brands. They’re mentioned here because they could potentially build a pickup based on the same underlying idea/platform.
Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is Ford’s midsize pickup. They’re using it as an example of the kind of truck this concept could turn into.
Concept
renderings
Renderings are computer-generated images that show what a vehicle might look like before it’s built or before final design is locked. They’re especially common for interiors and dashboards on concept vehicles.
Car
Ford Transit Custom
The Ford Transit Custom is a mid-size van made for work and everyday hauling. People compare it to other vans in the same size class because it’s meant to be practical and useful.
Concept
potholes
Potholes are big holes in the road caused by the pavement breaking apart. Cold winters can make them form faster, and they can really shake up your ride.
Brand
Ram
Ram is a truck brand (part of the same company as Chrysler/Stellantis). They’re talking about Ram reintroducing older models and features that fans missed.
Concept
clearance
Clearance means how high the truck sits relative to the ground. More clearance helps it avoid hitting the road/rocks underneath when you go off-road.
Term
20-inch wheel
“20-inch wheel” means the wheel is 20 inches across. Bigger wheels usually go with different tire sizes, which can affect comfort and off-road traction.
Term
winch
A winch is like a heavy-duty pulling tool mounted on the front of a truck. It helps you recover yourself (or others) if you get stuck off-road.
Concept
toy hauler
A toy hauler is a trailer that’s built to haul your toys—like dirt bikes or ATVs—plus gear. They’re using it as an example of what you’d bring on an overlanding trip.
Term
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive powers all four wheels. It helps you get traction on snow, mud, sand, or rough trails.
Concept
fifth wheel
A fifth wheel is a special hitch setup in the bed that connects to a large trailer. It’s often used for big RVs because it feels more stable.
Concept
pixelated mud
They’re talking about a fake-looking mud design, like a printed graphic. They prefer the truck to look like it actually got dirty in real life.
Term
headlamp
Headlamps are the headlights. Car designers often use their shape to help you recognize a model, but here they’re saying the headlights look very similar.
Term
leaf springs
Leaf springs are the stacked metal springs some trucks use under the suspension. They’re built to handle heavy work and bumps, especially when the truck is loaded.
Term
helper spring
A helper spring is an extra spring that only really helps when the truck is carrying a lot of weight. It helps keep the truck from sagging too much or hitting the bump stops.
Term
50 gallons
“50 gallons” is how much fuel the truck can hold. More fuel usually means fewer stops to refuel, which matters a lot for work.
Term
turbocharged engine
A turbocharged engine has a device that squeezes more air into the engine. More air usually means more power, even if the engine is smaller.
Term
four by eight sheet
A four-by-eight sheet is a standard size for materials like plywood or drywall. They’re saying the truck’s cargo space is big enough to fit that kind of material.
Concept
tariffs
Tariffs are extra taxes on imported products. If a truck or van is made in one country and sold in another, those taxes can make it cost more.
Term
ATV side-by-side
A side-by-side is an off-road vehicle you drive on trails—usually with two seats and a roll cage. People often use trucks to haul them to the riding spot.
Brand
Jeep
Jeep is a car brand that’s especially known for off-road vehicles. Here, they’re talking about a Jeep truck they’re checking out at the show.
Term
olive drab wheels
“Olive drab” is a muted military green color. They’re saying the wheels are painted that color to match the truck’s overall look.
Term
steelies
“Steelies” just means the truck has steel wheels instead of fancy alloy wheels. Steel wheels are usually tougher and cost less, but they can be heavier.
Term
aluminum wheels
Aluminum wheels are the lighter, more modern wheel type compared to steel. They can make the truck feel a bit better and are usually easier to live with day to day.
Brand
Chevrolet
Chevrolet is a major car brand under General Motors. They’re about to talk about Chevrolet next.
Brand
Bentley
Bentley is a luxury car brand that makes expensive, high-comfort vehicles. In this segment, they’re wondering why Bentley hasn’t made a pickup truck yet.
LIVE
Welcome to New York City, 2026.
This is the New York Auto Show, and we have several surprises in this podcast, because
well, first of all, I have a couple of friends, so I'm starting with you, Sam.
It's great to see you there, Andre.
Yes, so you and I did a quite nice walk around, I thought, in Detroit.
So I was like, we should really keep doing this, right?
Let's do it again.
And then later in the show, our friend Steven Elmer from Truck King is going to join us as well.
So this is exciting, because I haven't seen Steven in some time.
But we're starting here at the Hyundai booth.
We want to show you the entire floor, basically, of the show.
Tell you the best, and maybe not so best, vehicles and introductions here.
But I think it's a lot of interesting stuff.
And Sam, I did not expect this.
What is this?
This is the Hyundai Boulder concept.
So for the last couple of weeks, Hyundai has been teasing that they were going to show
something really new here at the Auto Show.
And here it is in life.
And this is what they brought.
And I was at dinner last night with a bunch of folks, and we were talking about what is Hyundai going to show.
And basically, it came down to either going to be an off-road SUV, kind of like the Crater concept they showed last year,
or a pickup truck.
Exactly.
Well, it turns out, actually, Jose Munoz, the CEO, did mention the pickup truck before they lifted the lid on this thing.
I thought it was a truck, for sure, when they mentioned it.
Yeah.
And they've confirmed they are going to build a mid-sized body on-frame pickup truck.
But that's not what they showed us today.
They're not ready to show us that yet.
This, I'm assuming, is using the same basic frame architecture as the truck.
But this is a direct shot at the Jeep Wrangler, and the Ford Bronco, the Toyota 4Runner, and the Land Cruiser.
Land Cruiser?
You get into the Land Rover's, Land Cruiser, Land Rover's, they're more premium, more luxury.
These guys are aiming right at the heart of the market, where the big volumes are.
And, you know, even when they build this, I think Jeep is better, they should be scared right now.
And also Ford should take notice.
I think everybody should take notice.
Yeah, everybody, yeah.
So let's describe it really briefly.
So basically, this is a four-door, and it looks like the rear door on this concept is like rear-swinging.
A four-door, pretty much...
And actually, it looks like it can actually swing either way, because there's a label on there, it says pull.
It's on both sides.
So there's actually a hinge on either side.
On the real tailgate, basically.
Yeah, so it's side swings either to the passenger side, or it could swing to the driver side as well.
Yeah, depending on what's more convenient for you, depending on where your parked.
I never understood that, like on the Jeep, you know, because you park it, you parallel park it on the street,
and the door opens to block your way to the sidewalk.
Yeah, I never understood that.
But now, this tries to solve that issue, right?
Yeah, exactly, by swinging both directions.
But it's a wide-body vehicle on 37s, so it's got a...
Well, this is a concept, so it may not translate.
Yeah, most likely, a production version of this will come in different variations.
So this would be equivalent of a Bronco Raptor, or a Wrangler, Rubicon X, or something like that.
And we'll probably see more mainstream models, maybe slightly narrower fenders, not 37-inch tires on there,
that will not be quite so wide.
But like you said, body on frame, solid rear axle, we could see it on this concept if we look down below.
What do you think about this chassis? Do you think it's kind of in-house, or do you think they're partnering with somebody else?
No, I think they're doing this in-house. I mean, Hyundai tends to be pretty vertically integrated.
They tend to do most stuff in-house, whether it's motors, or ADAS systems, or anything else.
They tend to do it all inside.
Well, they have the manufacturing mic, also.
Yeah, I mean, they're huge. One of the things that Munoz commented on in his presentation was that
Hyundai is now the third largest automaker in the world behind Toyota and Volkswagen.
Wow, that's kind of eye-opening.
They've got the capability to do this, and this is definitely a sign that they're moving in that direction.
Yeah, exactly. I love this front-end design. We were talking earlier.
It's kind of reminiscent of some of the Ford Bronco concepts that they did about 20 years ago, like early 2000s.
They did a Bronco concept. In fact, it was silver, very much like this one.
Kind of this matte silver, too, right?
Yeah, very blocky looking in the front. I think this is a cool look.
I like the way that the designer talked about the lights, the soft-pixel design.
So it's not completely square.
Yeah, so on the EVs, on the Ionix, and some of the other models, you've got this pixelated design,
where you've got this array of small pixels. Here you've got big, rounded pixels.
It's a different look to it.
So it's not a super controversial design for a concept. The Tasman is kind of polarizing.
Some people, a lot of people.
It's got a weird mix of elements, too.
But this is, I mean, if they even build a pickup truck on this base,
even everybody, Toyota, Tacoma, Nizatec Norris, all those guys, GM especially, and Ford Ranger.
So this is quite interesting.
And the gladiator.
Absolutely. So we don't have a lot of specs or anything like power trains.
No specs, but my guess is we'll have gas versions, and it wouldn't surprise me if they've already said
they're going to do E-Rabs, extended range EVs.
And so I wouldn't be surprised to see an E-Rab version of this at some point.
And then the other thing, we can't see the interior on this concept.
Oh, they show some crazy renderings.
But they show some renderings that are really cool, very customizable.
Being able to move stuff around on the dashboard.
Like little pods, like little screens that you could slide around.
That's really neat.
Alright, let's keep moving.
So let's kind of step to the side.
I wanted to take your...
I want to talk to Steven with some of the pickup trucks over there.
But I wanted to hear you take on what's happening with a smaller kind of commercial van market.
Because Ram is introducing that Promaster City.
Yeah, they announced the Promaster City a few weeks ago.
And they had a Promaster City before, which was based on a Fiat van design.
But it was a compact van, very similar in size to the former Ford Transit Connect.
But in Europe, they make vans in multiple sizes.
They have compacts, they have mid-sized, and they have the big vans.
Like the big Promaster.
Yeah, the big Promaster here.
The new Promaster City is actually based on their mid-sized van.
It's sold under several brands.
There's the Peugeot Partner and a couple of others.
And the key differentiator here, and I was talking to somebody from Ram earlier,
that really distinguishes this one from the old Promaster City,
is as a cargo van, with the doors closed, you've got eight feet of cargo space
between the tailgate and the back of the seats.
So you can put four by eight sheets of plywood in there, or eight foot long items.
And that was something you couldn't do in the old Promaster City.
Yeah, and maybe that stopped a few people from purchasing it.
But I wanted to hear your thoughts on the fact that everybody left the space.
If you look at several years back, Ford, Nissan, GM, you name it,
like everybody kind of walked away from a smaller compact, or even mid-sized.
Mercedes Metrus disappeared from this market.
Although the postal service uses a lot of them.
Oh yes, the postal service bought a lot of Metrus'.
I stand in my neighborhood all the time.
Yeah, exactly.
And I was kind of scratching my head, and I didn't know why, necessarily.
But I mean, I guess it's good that they're coming back.
Yeah, it's not entirely clear why.
I think probably the length, or certainly for the smaller ones,
is one of the issues that had some potential customers concerned.
For the mid-size, like the Metrus, I think in the case of the Metrus,
that one may have just been a little too expensive for the market.
And there haven't really been any other mid-size vans for a while.
So it'll be interesting to see how they price this one.
Yeah, so I heard the starting price was just around the $40,000,
because that's built in Turkey.
So that's one of the issues, because tariffs won't play some part in this.
Yeah, and that's one of the issues that Ford and Stalantis and others
had to deal with with the old smaller vans,
was that they actually built them up overseas as passenger vans,
which are not subject to the chicken tax.
And then when they got here, then they would pull out the seats,
pull out the windows, put in steel panels.
Reconfigure it.
Yeah, reconfigure it, most of them, at least, as cargo vans.
And they're going to be doing that with this one, too.
Well, there's a passenger version of this that they're talking about,
which has got three rows of seats.
But you know what?
So it's coming what I think production starts at the end of this year.
Yeah, early 2077.
We'll see these.
And I think they'll be first.
I don't think anybody's going to meet them there.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, not right now.
Not on a big way, at least.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Ford perhaps bring in a version of the transit custom,
which is their mid-size van in this class.
Yeah.
So that's one that could come sooner rather than later.
GM doesn't really have anything like that in any of its overseas operations.
So they're kind of left out of this market.
Of course, they're also left out of the full-size European-style van market.
Well, yeah, because Bright Drop became Chevrolet and now was discontinued.
Yeah, that's nothing at all.
But they have that express, my friend.
Yeah, but that's weird.
That thing's almost as old as my adult children.
I think it came out in 96.
Approximately.
It's one year younger than my younger child.
It is aging.
But still, people like that body-on-frame rear-wheel-drive chassis that some of those vans have.
Yeah, they sell a lot of them, mostly as cutaways now.
Yeah, they put shuttle bodies on them for airport shuttles and things like that.
All right, how about this?
I want to meet Stephen.
Okay.
We can talk about some RAM trucks.
And you and I, let's keep walking over there.
Okay.
And we will reconvene momentarily.
Stephen, dude, good to see you.
Nice to see you too, Andre.
I haven't seen you in a few months, I think.
It's been a little while.
At least.
So I wanted to catch up with you, kind of hear from you about what you're doing.
But also, I want to look at the RAM truck booth with you because there's a humongous space here in New York.
Totally.
And they did bring a lot of trucks out for us to see, which is always nice.
So I think people have a misconception about New York City.
I want to set it straight.
Okay.
Because they think it's a big city, small streets, right, that nobody drives a pickup truck here.
Right.
But, you know, I've stayed here a couple of days and I've been coming here for 15 years.
You see, actually, a few TRXs rolling around New York City.
For sure.
And I mean, I feel like here it stands out even more because it's that big truck rolling down that small skinny street.
Yes.
But do you know why?
I was just in the Nuber this morning.
Okay.
And the potholes are the size of, like, swimming pools.
That is true.
Some will know.
That is true.
I don't think it's good here on a good day, but it was a rough winter here in New York City.
So I think it's even worse than normal.
Exactly, because I've had a lot of snow.
So what do you think?
Should we start?
Just, TRX is coming back, dude.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's awesome, man.
I'm so excited to see TRX come back.
I actually think it's also cool they bring an SRT back with it, right?
That was such a good brand.
Everyone knew SRT, so the fact that they brought the truck back, brought it back with even more power,
and they're calling it an SRT and resurrecting the brand behind it.
Yeah, yeah.
It's a good move.
I mean, let's be honest, what's old is new again at Ram, right?
They're bringing everything back that they decided it was a mistake to get rid of,
and this is one of those things.
Yeah, the 5.7 Hemi was the first thing, right, that they're brought back.
And the thing continues, like you nailed it, because I also want to look at the Promester City.
Right?
That's also coming back.
That's also coming back.
Yeah, hilarious, right?
But there's something interesting here, so let's kind of walk around, kind of set the stage.
Yeah, for sure.
Because I believe this blue truck is a common sparwagon.
Right, right, which is also so exciting, and this is the one thing you can't say isn't old,
because they never had this before, and we're finally getting it.
And I know you like me, and we used to work together, so we've been doing this for a long time.
Yeah.
We've been complaining about this since forever.
We're like, Ram, please give us the diesel power wagon.
Now, I will say, after looking at some of the numbers, it's a little interesting, the kind of business case here,
because the diesel power wagon tows, and it has big payload, which was the issue with the power wagon traditionally.
But did you actually know that this truck has the worst off-road numbers out of the rebel and the gas power wagon?
Yes.
And just from a straight off-road perspective, it's actually the worst one to buy,
because it just has worse clearance.
So, you know, I love it.
Don't get me wrong, I love Mia Cummins, but I'm very interested to see who buys it,
and whether or not that's going to kind of muddy the waters a bit with all these off-road heavy duties.
Yeah, I'm glad you brought this up, because I had this kind of argument with Kase on my team,
and like you and I, I mean, with Romans and the TFL team, you know, we kind of launched TFL off-road,
and of course you have the Truck King brand right now, you and your dad are, and your brother also.
Yeah, yeah.
You guys are really doing a great job at Truck King, and I keep watching you guys, and you know, some of the videos you guys are doing.
Appreciate it.
But we've been asking for this, the diesel power wagon, they gave it to us, and Kase is in love with it,
because he wants to use it as a built-up platform.
Sure.
You know, he wants to send it to AEV, and have AEV go to town on it,
but not a lot of people can afford doing any of that, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
So when you talk about the diesel power wagon, like you said, it's in 20s, right?
So it's got a 20-inch wheel.
The tire profile is not very tall.
Right.
It's got a 34-inch diameter overall, which is not bad.
Right.
But nonetheless, I kind of wish they would have stepped it up even higher.
Right.
And also, you're missing a winch on this one.
In the no winch in the front end.
Which was, classically, Ram always said that's why they weren't going to do a diesel power wagon,
because they couldn't fit the winch.
And then finally, someone said, no, just do it.
They'll live without the winch, right?
And if you really want to put an aftermarket winch on there, I'm sure you could, right?
So it's definitely doable.
And like an AEV bumper is one solution that you could do for it.
Exactly.
But like, I think Kase is envisioning, like, this truck built up on 40s, right?
And, you know, doing kind of a proper build-up on it.
Sure.
With a winch and everything like that.
And I think the overlanding thing, you know, power wagons always been a popular platform.
But as I mentioned earlier, the gas power wagon was always neutered with payload and towing.
Especially payload, right?
Terrible payload.
And for an overlander, payload is probably the most important number, right?
Because you want to put stuff in the bed.
You want to build up to it.
You want to add parts.
So this solves that problem.
So this should be a really solid platform.
That's what I got in my head.
You know, you're going to buy a massive 40-foot toy hauler, haul it out into the desert with all your toys.
This is the truck to do that with.
Then not have to worry at all because you've got the lockers.
You have all that off-road know-how, the four-wheel drive.
Yeah, man.
And the frame, you know, the frame that's, you know, factory tested and approved and the suspension.
And triple lockers, like you said, you know, front, center and rear.
It's the real deal.
And I think the payload is around 3,000 pounds, maybe a little bit higher now.
And towing is like 18.5 or something like this.
Right, which is awesome.
So that's kind of what you're talking about.
Your dad's trailer, your fifth wheel.
Yeah.
He could tow his fifth wheel out there.
Yeah, out to some pretty gnarly places with this thing, right?
Except that bed is kind of short, right?
Yeah, true.
Yeah, you're not getting the long bed.
Yeah, well, because this is a power wagon frame, basically, right?
So it's not an eight-foot bed like some of the other trucks.
Yeah, like you can get.
Still, that's one of these things right now where, like, we've been complaining about it for so long.
They finally did it.
I don't want to complain too much more.
And the other big thing on there, we need to drive it.
I need to get behind the wheel.
We got to get it in the rocks.
And that's where you'll really feel the difference, right?
Yeah.
Because I also remember with the Tremor, when Tremor came out to heavy-duty, super-duty,
and I drove gas and diesel back-to-back, I preferred the gas because the front end was a lot lighter.
Mm-hmm.
So that's the only thing I'm sort of worried about here is this going to feel big and sort of heavy,
which isn't sort of great off-road.
But again, I reserve judgment until we drive it.
So, you know, make sure you come back to Truck King and TFL.
Yeah.
Because I'm sure we'll be out there driving it hopefully soon.
Yeah.
We haven't heard, but hopefully soon.
We don't have a date yet, but I'm imagining it like this summer.
Right.
That's what I'm imagining in my head.
And also this summer, I'm imagining you and I will be driving the TRX.
I hope so, man.
I'm jumping the TRX.
I hope.
Because Ram's actually been really good for that.
Every time they bring us out to TRX or RHO events, there's always a jump.
Yes.
Before we get to some of the commercial vehicles, I also wanted to mention RHO a little bit.
Because I think, I mean, it's now in the shadow of the TRX always, right?
Yeah.
But I think when they put that high output straight six twin turbo hurricane engine in
this, I think in my mind, and I want to see if you agree or disagree, they kind of reset
the bar a little bit because you have the really capable, you know, wide body, high clearance
suspension and high travel suspension.
Yeah.
But you also have 540 horsepower.
And if you look at the Ford booth, which is over yonder, we're not quite there yet.
Yeah.
Their V6 twin turbo Raptor is still about 450 horsepower.
Right.
So RHO.
Do you think this is significant because of that?
I think when RHO was being pitched as the top dog, we all looked at it and said, well,
no.
We know Raptor R is out there.
We know everyone else's top dog brands is a little higher.
Now Ram solved that problem, right?
So now they have both.
They have exactly.
They have the Raptor competitor and the Raptor R competitor.
Yeah.
And, you know, we all know these brands are benchmarking, you know, each other constantly.
So obviously that wasn't a coincidence.
I'm sure they had that planned out.
And actually it's funny.
I talked about weight with the power wagon.
I felt the same thing in the RHO.
The first time I got it, I went, you know what?
It actually feels really good handling wise.
Because some of the nose weights disappeared, right?
And that makes a significant difference.
So again, I'm, you know, won't complain about the TRX.
I won over 700 horsepower.
But this package felt much more daily drivable, let's say.
Like it just felt much more a good amount of power for the truck rather than a bonkers super truck.
Right?
This is more livable.
If you're in New York City, RHO is a little bit better on fuel probably.
Yeah.
Sure.
Hey, you could launch this on the pothole all day long.
Yeah.
Probably.
Eat potholes, no problem, right?
Yeah.
No, I like it.
And Ram now has such a fleshed out off-road lineup, you know, with Orlock and Rebel and the back country they just brought out.
And then RHO and TRX.
In their 1500 and also heavy duty space.
Sure, good point.
Yeah, so that's it.
They got the off-road trucks from bottom to top, you know?
I'm really curious because we don't have any news from Ford yet.
But you know they're cooking something for the next generation.
Probably, right?
For sure.
Because they've been cooking for a while and I'm wondering what they're cooking up there
because, you know, 540 horsepower is now kind of the standard right they have to meet.
And also the suspension and all that stuff.
And of all the brands, you know Ford is going to one up them.
Ford won't be second in class.
So I predict the Raptor will have at least 541 horsepower.
Boom.
At least.
Yes.
And this is now 777, right?
Right, which is cool.
Which is kind of a lucky number, you know, here in Vegas.
Right.
And you're gambling.
Yeah, sure.
So I'm wondering once again, what is Ford cooking up?
Right, 800 at least, man.
They got to do it.
I know they have a Ford Performance kit, right?
So where you can do a little bit more aftermarket for the approved stuff.
Right, right.
But it's not quite the same thing.
No.
Yeah, not straight.
It's not straight from the factory.
It's straight from the dealership, but not from the factory.
But one dealership is different from another dealership, you know what I'm saying?
Sure.
So I'm always a little bit wary of, you know, of doing that stuff.
Yeah, and just I think the purchasing process for the consumer is different too.
Like this is just, yeah, I want a TRX, you know what you're getting, whereas that's a
different process of sitting down, picking your different packages, making sure you know
what you're getting.
Yeah.
What do you think about the graphics here?
The fact that they brought back this, we always called it the Dragon's Puke graphic.
And this used to be on the power wagon down the side.
What do you mean like the two tone?
Yeah, not even the two tone, just the whole decals going down the side.
Oh, this part, the rear.
Yeah, the rear quarters here.
I'm not, I probably would not get it personally.
Yeah.
This graphic.
I feel the same way.
But I like the letter.
It's kind of like anime mud up the side of the truck, you know?
But I like the TRX graphic.
Yeah, I agree.
I think I would do that.
But I wouldn't do, you know, you know what you need on this is real mud.
Yeah, I agree.
Not, not pixelated mud.
Every truck looks better dirty, man.
Exactly.
But you've got to look at the TRX badge on the tailgate because that's got to be the coolest
badge on the truck now.
They fixed this, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They really fixed that because.
That's pretty awesome.
Because regular owners were doing that themselves and now it's proper and this is from the factory
now.
Yeah, I like that.
The tram is doing.
However, well, so they painted the tow hooks front and rear and did the badging in red.
And some of the badges, some of the other badges.
But if you look at that RHO front end and this, they're almost identical as far as the
headlamp.
Sure.
You know, in the grill area.
Right.
So there's not a lot of difference.
The same problem I think with the Raptor R.
Yeah, right.
You don't know right away.
Like across the street, you don't know, is that our R?
And it's even the same Raptor badge just with the R, a different color too, right?
So it's the kind of subtle.
So I think I'm always on the fence about that.
If I'm spending that kind of money to get a Raptor R, which is what, $115,000 U.S.?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, 150 in Canada.
150 in Canada.
I would like to be known.
Right.
But some people don't like that, right?
Some people want to fly under the radar.
Right, right.
And that's what I feel like this kind of decal packages.
If you want people to notice you, you get that on the side of your truck.
And if you don't, yeah, just keep it single or two-tone and then you're good to go.
All right, so let's kind of look at the little bit of commercial side of the tram.
Sure, let's change gears over to van.
Although you got to look at this beautiful chassis cap right here.
Oh, man.
Love that.
Love seeing a chassis cap because it just feels like the possibilities are endless, Andre.
You can do anything back there.
So much room for activities.
Yes.
But so there's a chassis cap, which is a crew cap.
This is a 55-hunt.
Let me double-check.
Is it?
Yes, this is a 5,500.
Nice.
So it's got that wide front axle.
Right.
Really nice turning radius for how big this truck is.
Right.
Of course, it's shown in white because that's kind of a commercial thing, right?
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, this is what everyone wants.
I would not recommend somebody to buy this with no bed because this will ride horribly.
Yeah, totally.
You need some weight back there, right?
You need like a custom bed, you know what I'm saying?
Like a flat bed, maybe with a camper on top of it.
Totally.
Or something like that because look at the stack.
Look at this.
So many leaf springs.
Look at this stack.
I mean, that will knock your fillings out for sure.
I love it.
And only still just the one helper spring.
Like all of those springs are active all the time.
Yeah, this is the helper at the top here.
Right, exactly.
And I like the mid-mounted fuel tank because sometimes you can get a larger volume.
They have, I think, up to almost 50 gallons in some of those configurations.
Right.
And you need that much diesel, although diesel is going up in price.
Yeah, that's expensive these days, man.
Yeah, you don't want the big tank.
No, but you do for work.
You avoid the gas station for as long as possible, right?
But this is something else that's coming back.
Yes, absolutely.
Let's check this out.
Yeah, yeah, tell me about it.
I actually missed the event on this when I was traveling.
So, yeah, tell me your thoughts, man.
So, we all remember the Promasta City.
It was kind of a small, compact van, right?
And people enjoyed it.
You know, a lot of businesses bought it.
But now this is way bigger.
Right.
Because do you remember the Mercedes Metris?
Yes.
Actually, in my mind, it's about the same size.
They call it mid-size.
Right.
So it's the wheelbase is larger.
The height is a little bit bigger.
But they kept saying, here's I am standing next to it.
They kept saying it's under seven feet, even with the antenna.
So, like, all garages.
Right.
You know, you could go inside of any garage, commercial garage.
It's got to work in the city.
Or even at home, right?
Yeah.
Your house.
Because real Promasta over there.
It's, yeah, insanely tall.
It's very tall.
And they have different roofs, too.
Yeah, yeah, they have different roofs, exactly.
The power on this is a turbocharged engine.
Yeah.
Pretty small displacement.
Yeah, typical.
About 2,000 pounds of payload and 2,000 pounds towing.
Okay.
So this is not a towing machine.
No.
But yeah, I don't think towing really matters.
Again, payload is the number that this guy really cares about.
Because it's how much, whatever I'm delivering, can I deliver, right?
And this floor in the back, that's really important, is nine feet.
Wow, nice.
Nine feet length.
And over four feet wide, obviously.
Because you have to put a four by eight sheet of material in there.
Of course.
So, and also they have a passenger version with three rows.
But only three rows.
Not four rows that some people were kind of wondering about.
But look at this.
I mean, this is a humongous amount of space.
Right.
Right.
Now, it is front-wheel drive only, is that correct?
Yes.
They did not announce all-wheel drive yet.
No, they did not.
Which is something that feels like maybe people would want.
And I'll be curious to see if they do come out with that.
Although, I wonder if all-wheel drive would then screw up that big, long, flat floor.
If they'd have to raise it or do something, right?
And that's another reason why the big ProMaster van is front-wheel drive, right?
Right, same deal.
Because, same deal, you want to keep that floor down.
Because some delivery services, they're walking it out of those vans all day long.
Yeah, you want the low height.
So, you kind of want the low height on that.
But I heard something else at this launch.
Or around this ProMaster City launch, which I thought was interesting.
You know how the Ford Maverick is really red hot?
Sure.
You know, they sold like 160,000 of them in the U.S. last year.
Somebody told me, because some of the small vans disappeared, you know, the transit connect.
Yeah, mattress.
All of those vans disappeared from our market.
And V200.
The Chevy version of that van.
That the Maverick kind of stepped in that space.
Interesting.
And kind of, that's one of the reasons why it was so popular.
Right.
But now Ram is hoping to kind of come back into it.
Yeah, and I think it's interesting, right?
It's obviously a pretty small pie.
And before it was divided a lot of different ways.
And then everybody got out of this market.
So Ram clearly identified a possibility here going, wait a second, it's not a big pie to begin with.
But if we can have the whole pie, then we're doing good.
So, and this was already being built for Europe.
That's the other thing too, right?
It's not like they had to go clean sheet design here, right?
Unfortunately, it will start like a $39,000 something because that price is pretty high.
People were hoping it's going to be much lower.
A little lower, yeah.
But it's built in Turkey.
Right.
And so, of course there's, you know, all kinds of tariffs.
Right.
All kinds of stuff going on in the world.
So, but they've built, building this engine and this, it has a unique transmission.
It's an 8 speed.
But they've been building this van for other brands.
Right.
At Stalantas for years.
Exactly.
So it's not a brand new design.
Right.
So for them, it feels like, you know, obviously there was some cost involved, but not the cost of having to develop something brand new.
Right.
So it makes a lot of sense.
And I'll say one other thing, Andre, it looks pretty good.
And that's especially when it's parked next to its brother, the ProMaster, which is one of the ugliest vehicles I personally think is on the road.
ProMaster looks like a weird fish from the front end, where this thing actually looks pretty handsome.
It's pretty attractive.
Yeah.
So I don't think most people in the commercial space really care about styling, but if you do care, at least this one looks a little bit better.
But I was talking to Dave Sowers and the team at Ram also.
And they know the space.
Yeah.
They checked all the boxes as far as maintenance.
And the headlamps are a little bit higher.
So if you hit the bumper, the headlamps are not damaged.
Interesting.
So they've checked all the boxes.
And I think they can also get a lift up hatch.
So there's a barn style door, or you can also get a hatch that opens up.
Nice.
Yeah, that's smart too, just depending on what you're delivering, where you're delivering it, you might want a different setup, right?
And also van life people might appreciate this too.
I think so.
That's where I think the all-wheel drive aspect maybe comes into play, where if you really want to go van life and drive on the beach, you're out in the desert, you might want all-wheel drive.
Also, there's not a lot of clearance on this, road clearance on this.
It's really low.
I feel like they kind of have to almost pitch it as that, but I don't feel like that's really the target market here, right?
Yeah.
So what else is going on in the trucking?
Because I know you do kind of power sport stuff as well.
Yeah, yes, sir.
I mean, yeah, the truck reviews keep on rolling out.
We're excited at home right now because winter's finally breaking in southern Ontario.
So like our last two videos, we've finally been able to get back up to our test property and actually put some payload in the back of trucks.
And I'm excited because April's always a great month for us because our off-road trails are just flooded.
That's when we get the most water, the most mud.
So that's coming up too.
Hydro line.
Exactly.
We'll be up to hydro line as soon as we can.
And then, yeah, the power sport stuff.
We've got TK power sports.
I'm excited.
Honda just rolled out a brand new pioneer 1000.
So we're going to go check that out.
So we're busy north of the border, man.
We got lots going on.
Yeah.
And you also do some watercraft, right?
Personal watercraft and wave runners and all that stuff.
Yeah.
I actually bought myself a 1997 wave runner last year, wave runner 700, wave venture 700, sorry, which I've been loving.
And I've been making a bunch of videos on that.
And yeah, man, I love doing that stuff.
And I love trucks too, but it's fun to change it up.
And I feel like those worlds all tie in.
If you own a truck, there's a good chance you want an ATV side-by-side or PWC.
Yeah.
You could tow it or put something in the bed and carry it.
Yeah, man.
Every truck looks way cooler with an ATV in the bed.
Like, that's a fact, you know?
Or also a kayak, maybe.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stop.
No.
I need a motor.
Oh, it needs to make noise.
It needs to make noise.
I'm not the motor.
I need a motor to drive me, you know?
All right, dude, the ball is really great to see you.
Yeah, appreciated, man.
You too?
Yeah, so stay tuned.
We're hoping for more events with these trucks coming up very soon.
Yeah, sounds good.
Take care, everybody.
All right, that was great to see Steven.
But, Sam, let's continue.
We're just walking by the Jeep booth here.
So we just left Ram walking into Jeep.
And actually, this Gladiator, I have on loan from Jeep right now.
Yeah.
I love the color of this, especially the wheels.
You guys have commented on the wheels.
Yes.
The olive drab wheels matching the body.
Yeah, this is the new 2026 Willy's 41 edition,
basically to celebrate 1941,
and kind of the heritage of the Jeep brand as well.
And these wheels are actually aluminum.
Yeah.
They look like steel, right?
Yeah, they do look like steelies, like old school steelies.
Yeah, but actually, if I had the magnet handy,
which, I mean, it's on my shirt right now,
but it is aluminum wheels.
So I think they did a good job.
But this is kind of aging now.
Yes.
And you and I talked about this already in the previous podcast.
And now they can see the boulder, right?
Yeah, well, I think, I don't know.
We didn't really talk about it much with the boulder.
You know, we referenced it a little bit that Jose Munoz said
they are going to build a mid-sized pickup.
And, you know, if they do something like this,
you know, using the styling of the boulder
for a mid-sized pickup truck,
that could be really interesting.
It would be squarely aimed at this almost.
Absolutely, yeah.
Or something like this.
Yeah, a Mojave.
This is a Mojave.
But this is, you know, lifted on 35s.
It looks bigger.
It looks more proportional.
It looks much better.
Yeah.
But, you know, imagine, you know,
if you cut off the back of that boulder
and put a bet on there.
Yeah.
And extend the wheelbase a little bit, right?
Yeah, extend the wheelbase.
And you've got a direct competitor here.
Yeah, exactly.
But I didn't think Kia would be on the map here
for truck-y stuff.
But Kia has several debuts,
which we'll talk about.
I'll talk about in a separate podcast for cars
because they have the new Celtos.
They have the EV3.
But in the corner here in the Kia booth,
they have something very interesting.
Yeah, it is the PV5.
So they first showed these vehicles
at CES a couple of years ago.
Yeah, remember.
And they had the camper van, remember?
Yeah, it was concepts.
Yeah, so, yeah, they had one at CES,
or at SEMA.
Yes.
Done up as a camper van.
Yes.
And now they've got one here
that they've partnered with a company
called Broadability
that does a lot of the wheelchair conversions.
Yes.
And so they've got a wheelchair-accessible
New York City taxi
based on the PV5.
Yeah.
So I think that the PV5 design
is a really interesting design.
Yeah, it's a very modular vehicle.
Yeah.
And Broadability has been,
they've been doing these wheelchair conversions
on a wide variety of vehicles for a long time.
And so it's not surprising
to see them do one on this.
And this is an electric vehicle.
Yeah.
Electric platform.
It's an electric platform.
It's going to be used
for a wide variety of applications.
And it makes sense, you've got the ramp
coming up the back there
from the rear axle.
You can roll right up into there,
lift the ramp inside.
I think this could be a very interesting
next-generation taxi cab
for New York City.
So maybe I'm going to eat my words
because when I said nobody's going to meet
the Promester City in the market,
well, this might meet it.
That's true.
Because you see,
they're about the same height.
Yeah.
So they talked about...
It's a similar size.
Yeah.
And I'm not sure how big the interior is,
but again, because it's a modular design,
it would be pretty easy for Kia
to make a slightly longer wheelbase version
or a shorter wheelbase version.
Yeah.
Or even a chassis cab.
Or a chassis cab.
Yeah.
And in fact, they have shown
different variants like that.
They've shown a chassis cab version
of the PV-5.
Yeah.
So I wouldn't be surprised to see them,
especially if they're going to offer a vehicle
like this, and I don't know what to say,
they haven't really said if they're going to.
But if they were to offer a vehicle like this
in the U.S. as a taxi,
then if you're homologating
in any way for the U.S. market,
might as well offer other commercial applications as well.
Yeah.
Or even the pickup truck version of it, right?
Because they have shown some concepts
with this, with the bed.
But there's still some hurdles, like you said,
because all the homologation, right?
You have to have the safety done,
all those elements, right?
Crash testing.
Yeah.
I know they've been working on a lot of that stuff
to make it legal for U.S. applications.
This is really interesting.
It is all electric.
Mm-hmm.
And they, obviously, the pro-master city
is all not even a hybrid, right?
Yeah, but when you consider the way
most of these types of vehicles are being used,
you know, as a taxi cab.
In a big city.
In a city, it's going fairly low speeds,
you know, so aerodynamics is not an issue.
You know, if you had 150 miles of range,
and we know that Hyundai IKEA EV platforms charge really fast.
So, you know, if you've got, you know,
if you can charge this thing up in 20 minutes,
be back on the road again, you know,
driver stops to have a lunch break, charges it up,
you know, it's pretty cool.
Yeah, I just want to take another closer look,
because we loved, Roman and I did a video
about that camper van conversion
that they did on this platform.
And it was very innovative, right?
Backward facing seats, you know,
different configurations on the inside.
And this is a little bit more traditional, right?
So all the seats are pointing forward.
So it's a little bit more traditional,
but they're still, look at this room.
I mean, there is a ton of space in there.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's the kind of thing that,
you know, fans of the old VW micro bus campers.
Yes.
And also ID bus kind of plays in the same area.
Yeah, this is the kind of thing that they would want.
Yeah.
And also for many different use cases,
not just, you know, commercial taxi service,
but it's also cool how they did not raise the vehicle
to accommodate the wheelchair.
Right, you know, because you've got
independent rear suspension in there,
and the ramp, you know, comes right up
between the rear wheels.
And it seems, it looks seamless, right?
Just kind of...
Yeah, so you roll right up, clamped in, lifts up.
The ramp folds up into place.
Very nice.
Yeah.
All right, well, let's kind of snap our fingers
and let's transfer over to General Motors
and Chevrolet.
All right, sounds good.
All right, Sam, so we're walking through this
luxury section of the other show.
You can see Bentley's, Rolls Royce's.
I mean, any number.
Lotus and even more high-end vehicles
like Koenigsegg and Porsche and the rest.
I have a question for you.
Yeah.
Why hasn't Bentley and Rolls Royce
built a pickup truck?
Because they built SUVs, right?
Mm-hmm.
And pickup trucks are status symbols also.
You know, we saw the TRX, right?
We saw the Raptor R.
Here, here's a question for you.
Bentley pickup truck.
Would you pay $400,000 or $500,000
for a Bentley pickup truck?
It depends.
Well, let's think about...
It depends.
Who buys luxury pickup trucks,
like the big, you know, the high-end,
platinum and, you know, King Ranch pickup trucks?
I would say businessman, because it's also a business.
It could be a tax help for a lot of businesses, right?
They want to be comfortable.
They want to be seen.
Like if you own a company or something like that.
Okay, so you do that.
Okay, you buy your Bentley pickup truck
or your Rolls Royce pickup truck.
Yes.
You roll up to a job site.
Yes.
And customer looks at your Bentley and Rolls Royce
and says, why am I paying you so much?
Okay, no, wrong industry.
Wrong industry.
Let's say you've rolled up to your
five-star Michelin restaurant, right?
Mm-hmm.
And start a symbol, okay?
You know, maybe you own a chain of restaurants.
Anyway.
Yeah.
So I want to hear what some of the listeners...
To be fair, it's only a matter of time
before one of them does.
Okay, so Mercedes kind of toyed with that idea
with the G-wagon, custom G-wagons, right?
So why toy with it?
Just do it, right?
Just fill it out.
Just build a lot of them.
So General Motors has a humongous space here.
And they're celebrating also like many other brands, right?
Mm-hmm.
Stalantas is doing this.
GM is doing this.
They're celebrating 250 years of United States
with some special editions, special editions.
So they have 250 edition here in the heavy duty.
They also have electric.
You got the U250 Silverado EV.
Exactly.
And then there's also the light duty truck.
But there's not a lot of news right now in this space.
Yeah, there's basically nothing new from GM
in the truck space at the moment.
Although, later this year, we do expect to see a bunch of news.
Huge news, huge news.
I mean, you guys have done some stories
on the six-gen small box.
V8 engines, yes.
We saw the Corvette Grand Sport last week,
which is the first application of that next generation
of the small block.
And we're going to see that coming into the trucks.
You know, these trucks are due for a redesign.
And so, you know, we expect to see that
in the second half of this year.
Yeah.
So there is a bunch of news coming.
We're just not quite ready yet.
Yeah, and also there's a lot of rumors about the latest.
Speaking of which, there's the Grand Sport over there.
Ooh, maybe we could take a sneak a little peek at it.
Because there's a lot of news.
I mean, the ZR2 truck, I expect the same engine
to be in something like this, right?
The ZR2 off-roader with that big 6.7 or 6.6.
There's different rumors flowing around.
There's also a lot of rumors of the new Duramax diesel engines.
So we'll just have to wait and see exactly what General Motors does.
Yeah.
Ooh, but this Corvette is hot.
I love this color.
This is a fantastic color.
This blue with the red stripes.
If Roman was here, it would be hard to pull him away from this, I think.
Yeah, and in the previous generations, especially the C6,
I loved driving the supercharged LS9 in the C6 CR1.
Yeah.
But the Grand Sport was really the one that,
that's kind of the sweet spot in terms of performance and price.
And it looks like that's going to be the case with this new one as well.
Yeah.
Really quick.
You know where I am with this?
I mean, of course I love pickup trucks.
This is what I do every day in bigger CVs.
But whenever I get in a sports car, of course I get excited, right?
But what scares me sometimes is because I'm not a professional driver, right?
I get in the car, it has over 500 horsepower, and I do something dumb, and it scares me.
But the car like the Grand Sport is a little bit more balanced in my opinion, right?
It's not, it doesn't have 1250 horsepower.
Right.
The base Grand Sport, you got 535 horsepower.
That's my type of power.
The Grand Sport X, you got 720.
Yeah.
That will scare me.
But that's all-wheel drive though.
Okay.
You know, so it's still the same 535 horsepower V8, and then another 100-some horsepower
from the front axle from an electric motor.
You know, and the nice thing about that is, you know, if you actually like your neighbors
and, you know, you have to leave early somewhere, you can start it up in stealth mode
or if you're coming home late, so you don't have to rumble through the neighborhood.
Yeah.
Have you heard any rumor about a hybrid next-gen pickup trucks?
Because it's kind of missing from the General Motors portfolio right now.
Back in 2024 or so, they started talking about bringing hybrids back to their US lineup.
You know, they have hybrids overseas.
They haven't really done anything overseas though that would be suitable for the pickup trucks.
Okay.
And they've been very quiet about it recently.
And so, you know, I'm not sure where they're at right now, exactly what their plan is
with the hybrid trucks.
Exactly.
Hey Cole, let's take a look at this Bronco RTR for a second, because this is where the
boulder kind of is aiming also, right?
This is kind of a little bit more customized.
RTR is a separate company, but now, like we discussed in our previous podcast as well,
Ford is kind of folding it into their factory a little bit more.
Yeah.
So, RTR has been doing RTR versions of some of the Ford vehicles for a while now in their
facilities.
You know, so they buy them, pre-title, up-fit them with their equipment and send them to
the dealers for delivery to customers.
But, you know, that's an expensive process.
And so, what RTR has done now with this, they're still offering those as kind of a higher-end
version, and they're more customizable.
These are coming, these are being built directly in the Ford factory, so RTR has done some of
the design work on them, and they'll be available directly from the factory.
And they've, you know, this is the first time.
They showed the interior, right?
Yeah, they showed us the RTR a couple of months ago, but we didn't get to see the interior.
Yeah.
So, now you can see, you know, those lime-green-yellow flourishes on the dashboard, on the center
console, on the seatbelts, and everything else.
And, of course, they do, you know, pretty capable suspensions.
So, this is not a wide-body Bronco Raptor.
Right, yeah, it's just based on the Sasquatch.
Yeah, but I like that.
Once again, the Bronco Raptor is just too wide, a little bit ungainly.
Yeah, it's 10 inches wider than a standard Bronco.
So, I mean, if you tried to park it in the city, I mean, this would be a little bit sketchy.
Yeah.
But this is a little bit more manageable, and I don't know if they know it's pricing yet.
Have you heard about pricing?
I have not heard anything on pricing yet on this one.
But it will be a lot cheaper than the RTR built ones, yeah.
Yeah, and the Bronco Raptor, I'm hoping.
Yes, yeah, it should be cheaper than the Raptor.
Yeah, so it's kind of like in between there, kind of between the middle of the range, and
also, but they should take notice of what Hyundai is doing, I think.
Oh, yeah, probably.
I'm sure, earlier, I was over there over at the Hyundai booth, and I was talking to somebody
from GM's competitive intelligence team.
He's checking everything out, and I'm sure Ford and Stellantis have people wandering around
here, gathering the same kind of data.
Well, because everybody was surprised by that announcement.
So, other manufacturers also need to understand this, right, and see what's going on.
So, for this, they announced a partnership with Major League Baseball, so they have this
truck here, and look, it has a miniature...
Miniature Baseball Diamond.
Baseball Diamond Field, right there, right here in their booth.
But they have a little bit of news, which is that vehicle right there.
Yeah, so this year is the 30th anniversary of the launch of the expedition.
Yeah.
Yeah, don't remind me how old I am.
I'll shut up, I'll shut up now.
But yeah, the expedition originally came out as a 1997 model.
Yeah.
And this will be the 2027 model of the year, it's the 30th anniversary, so they've got
a 30th anniversary limited edition.
I mean, they just got a major refresh last year, so it's still pretty new.
Yeah.
But now, adding a few other flourishes to make it distinct.
So, I was reading up on this, so the color, this kind of blue amber, I think they called
it, is basically a dark horse, one of the dark horse Mustang colors.
Yeah.
And you can kind of tell their resemblance a little bit.
Yeah.
But that was supposed to be almost exclusive dark horse, but then they wanted to put it
on this, and this is based on the stealth version, and they call Expedition Stealth as
one of their sporty models, right?
But it's also based on...
You get black oil and wheels and everything.
Yeah.
So, this is, this could be over 80 grand.
Oh, easily, yeah.
That's what we're looking at right now.
I would be surprised if it hits 90.
Yeah.
So, it has unique color, I think unique wheels as well.
There is also badging, check out the badging on the wheels, right there, anniversary edition
30.
I mean, you can't have an anniversary in this business without building a special edition
of some vehicle.
Well, it's interesting because I think you and I were touching on this last time that
some development cycles have shrunk, some extended, for various reasons.
And when you're, I mean, you want to keep it fresh, right?
You want to keep it moving.
Even if you're not going to do a full redesign, you do need to occasionally bring out something,
something distinct that will keep customers interested, keep them coming into your showrooms
and shopping, you know, for whatever's, whatever's new.
And you know, for Expedition this year, 30th anniversary is the thing.
Yeah.
And I was actually thinking back because I did some research on this.
I believe it was 03 or 04, maybe somebody will correct me, maybe you will, where the
Expedition, there was like a second generation-ish.
Yeah.
And they introduced rear independent suspension.
Yeah.
So, it was really early on.
Yeah.
So, the first generation that came out in 97 was really based on F-150, so solid axle,
least ring rear suspension.
And then for the second gen in 2003 or 04, they decided to go, they were one of the first
to go with an independent rear suspension on a vehicle like this because what that does,
not having the rear axle having to move up and down, you can lower that rear floor and
then that third row seat is, get much more comfortable seating position for the passengers
back there.
Yeah.
Cool.
Do you want to peek an inside a little bit?
I know there's somebody else filming there, but they have kind of a new light color interior
on this.
So, it looks actually quite nice as far as the interior contrast and they have a little
bit of, I think, badging also on the inside as far as 30th and edition.
But I think-
Well, they don't want you to forget what you paid extra for.
Exactly.
But you made an excellent point.
Some people say, oh, independent suspensions on trucks is garbage because it's going to
be unstable or when you load it up with a trailer and payload, you know, it's not as
good.
But, you know, it came a long way, I think, and we do a lot of towing tests and a lot
of trucks, even with coil springs in the rear like Rams, they do really well.
Yeah.
No, I mean, you know, these automakers understand what the customers are looking for and, you
know, they are going to take the time to try and engineer these types of systems so
that it still works for the task that people expect them to work for, you know, whether
it's hauling people, hauling cargo, hauling or, you know, towing a trailer, you know,
it still has to do the fundamental job that you expect of a full-size truck or SUV.
And if it can't do that, then, you know-
Yeah, what's the point?
Yeah, what's the point?
So, you know, you got to make sure that an independent suspension still works for that
and it does.
But you get more space on the inside like you said.
Yeah, you get a lot more space.
Yeah, that third row becomes a lot more usable.
And in fact, it's kind of funny.
Everybody switched, you know, GM with the towels and Suburbans and GMC's and-
Toyota went backwards.
Toyota went back to an axle, right?
Although, I think-
Solid axle.
Yeah, I think in their case, it probably had more to do with the fact that the Sequoia-
It was more Tundra related.
Yeah, the Sequoia, you know, was not a huge seller.
And re-engineering an independent rear suspension for a relatively low-volume model like that
didn't make business sense for them.
So, they probably decided, okay, we're going to stick with the Tundra rear axle on this.
Yeah, I probably made the business case a little bit better.
Yeah.
I want to end at Nissan here, since we're here, because, of course, they have the Armada,
they have the Frontier.
But, the rumor mill is swirling about an XTERRA.
Yes.
It's coming.
Have you heard anything?
Well, what do you can say?
What you could say?
It may have been visible at some point in the past.
What?
When I was somewhere that I can't talk about.
Okay.
So, it's a little bit more than a rumor.
No, they have confirmed that they're going to build a new XTERRA.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so, it's coming probably late next year, I think, or 2028, but it is coming.
So, that's going to be another entry into that same marketplace with Boulder or the Bronco
and everything else.
But truck-based, right?
Body and frame.
Yes.
Yeah.
Just like the old XTERRA was.
Yes.
It'll probably be based on maybe an updated version of the Frontier platform, maybe
for the next generation Frontier.
Yeah.
So, the Frontier we're looking at here at the show is their new Pro4X R, and you could see
the R here and the logo on the wheel.
And basically, it's kind of a Roush collaboration, right?
A little bit of a suspension lift, but not any additional power or anything like that.
It's still a V6 underneath the hood.
Yeah.
So, that's interesting.
And I really, gosh, when the XTERRA went away, because, you know, we're in Colorado, right?
Everybody loves those little off-roaders.
Yeah.
I was like, what are you doing?
Why?
When you're going off-road, you're going on trails.
Why?
You don't want something as huge as a full-size truck or a Bronco Raptor.
Yes.
You need something that's a little narrower.
And that XTERRA was a good size.
And they left at the wrong time.
Yeah, they left just before that segment really started taking off.
As they say, timing is everything.
Yes.
And sometimes you just have consistently wrong timing.
All right.
Just like Honda, you know, cancelling all their EVs, right, was gas prices go up.
Yeah, to $5 now a gallon.
So, I think we basically covered basically the entire show this year for 2026 New York City,
except there's a downstairs area for custom vehicles, right, over there.
But I'll hit it in a different podcast for car.
All right.
There's also the Nissan Nismo Z with a manual transmission.
It's right there.
We should cover it in our car podcast.
We absolutely should.
Which is coming up.
Also, check it out at ulcfl.com.
And check out, please, the Will Bearings podcast.
Yeah, absolutely.
Come on over.
We have a lot of fun on that show with Robbie and Nicole.
Yeah.
And we often reference the stuff that these guys are doing.
Yeah, really appreciate it.
I listen to your show every week because you guys are pretty, you know, right there, you know,
I think Sunday or Monday, right?
Usually Sundays, depending on our schedule, sometimes it might come on Monday.
It gets crazy.
Or if there's an embargo, it might hold it till Tuesday, you know.
Because sometimes it gets crazy.
And we're publishing this show a little bit earlier than our regular because it's out of
show season right now, right?
So, we want to be kind of...
If you're in the greater New York area, you want to see what's here, Nancy, is it worthwhile
for me to go down there?
And, you know, I think it is.
This is kind of a way to do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It is because when you saw some of these concepts, I mean, that's pretty interesting.
There's a lot of stuff here.
So, well, thank you, Sam.
Always good to see you.
I appreciate it.
We'll see you next time.
About this episode
Hyundai’s Boulder concept steals the spotlight as the guys predict a body-on-frame, solid-axle mid-size pickup aimed squarely at the Jeep Wrangler/Bronco/4Runner crowd—plus possible EV/extended-range variants and a highly customizable interior concept. The discussion then pivots to Ram’s Promaster City return, focusing on cargo practicality, pricing/tariff realities, and why small vans disappeared. Truck King’s Steven Elmer joins for Ram’s TRX/SRT comeback talk and the new diesel Power Wagon’s off-road tradeoffs. They also cover Kia’s electric PV5 wheelchair-accessible taxi concept, GM’s upcoming truck refresh rumors, Ford’s RTR Bronco pricing expectations, and Nissan’s confirmed new Xterra.
Original notes
( https://www.alltfl.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our content, from news to videos and our podcasts! In this episode, Andre Smirnov hits the floor of the 2026 New York Auto Show to separate the legends from the letdowns. The star of the show is undoubtedly the Hyundai Boulder Concept, a rugged, body-on-frame SUV that confirms a mid-size Hyundai pickup is finally coming to take on the Tacoma and Colorado.
Andre is joined by industry experts Sam Abuelsamid of @WheelBearingsCast and Stephen Elmer of @TruckKing to take a look at the latest offerings from Ram, Ford, GM, and Nissan and talk about upcoming vehicles that get them excited!
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