But for the most part pretty subtle, like, you know,
it could be a car that you can have a kid in
and grow a family with.
And you know, you could put a car seat in the back
and when you want the power it's there.
When you don't, you don't have to push it, right?
So that's what I love about it.
That's a very traditional sedan.
Right.
So something we're not seeing as much of these days.
All right, man.
Okay, I got my next one for you.
In the U.S., I was an expensive toy for the 90s elite,
often seen park next to Porsches and Benzes.
And then I just said as a little parentheses,
it's worth mentioning that I wasn't unveiled in the 90s.
Hmm.
So mostly 90s.
Okay, but wasn't unveiled in the 90s.
And it's a toy for the U.S. elite.
I was a, in the U.S., I was an expensive toy
for the 90s elite, often seen park next to Porsches and Benzes.
Okay, Porsches and Benzes.
So I'm thinking BMW 7 Series wasn't revealed in the 90s though.
One of the 7 Series come out.
All right, go ahead, go ahead, Hintu.
Let's see.
Though I looked like a supercar,
I was actually a luxury grand tourer.
Ooh.
Okay, so no more 7 Series.
A luxury grand tour.
Okay, now this doesn't mean it's European.
Not necessarily, but I wouldn't rule it out.
You said Porsches and Benzes.
Often seen park next to those two.
Okay.
If we go to the Ritz Carlton,
we might see this car parked in the valet
next to some other nice stuff.
Did you say it was a luxury GT car?
I did.
What was it?
I said though I looked like a supercar,
I was actually a luxury GT car grand tourer.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
Okay, so I'm unveiled in the 80s,
but I was through the 90s.
Okay, I'm thinking Acura NSX, right?
That's definitely a luxury brand, right?
Looks like a supercar.
All right, I'm gonna go with Acura NSX.
I got three hints.
No, and it's not the NSX.
The NSX is a supercar.
Okay.
This one, once you hear it,
you'd think it's not a supercar,
but maybe if you saw it back in the day,
you'd be pretty impressed.
Gotcha.
All right, go ahead, Hint 3.
Okay, let's see.
I hope this doesn't give it away.
I was the first car developed using CAD.
Nissan 300ZX?
What?
The Nissan 300ZX was, it was unveiled in 90.
Damn, dude, that's crazy.
That kind of fits luxury grand tourer.
Yeah, it's a grand tourer, it's not a,
I mean, the looks, I guess you could say back then,
could have been supercar worthy.
Okay, so, damn, I wish I had the,
the country of origin.
You have more guesses.
Yeah.
No, I only have one more guess.
Damn, I shouldn't have said NSX.
All right, go ahead, Hint 4.
Okay, despite my looks, this is gonna give it away maybe.
Despite my looks, I was never offered
with a true M badge.
Oh, okay, so it's a beamer.
I was right, I was on track the first time,
then I went to Japanese cars.
Um, it's a grand tour,
I'm thinking grand tours are two doors.
So this has to be a six series.
Got one more, one more guess.
I'm thinking it through.
So the 90, I know the six series,
definitely is on the rated.
So it never got an M badge.
So you had the, what was the name
of the six series back then?
Trying to think of the numbers.
They had the 635 CSI.
It's probably the one most people think of.
Okay, so then it's not a six series.
It's not a six series.
Okay, it's not a six series.
So it's a coupe.
It's not a Z8, obviously that came later.
That's definitely super car.
Holy cow, how am I not getting this?
It's a BMW super car.
Oh, I know.
It's gotta be the 1M, the M1.
Nope.
Oh my God.
It's the BMW 850.
Oh my God.
They made an 850 back then?
V12, you could also get an 840.
Oh, yes.
If you said, if you said BMW 8 series,
I would have given it to you.
Yes.
I'm tripping.
Regardless of whether you gave me the 50 or the 40.
They had the CSI, the CSL or whatever it is.
That wasn't an M car.
Oh my gosh, totally didn't even think.
I thought I stopped that 6 series.
You were close.
You were close.
Yeah, because they had the V12.
You would narrow it down to a large BMW coupe.
Because a 6 series I guess is larger than E30 or whatever.
Yeah, but then the M badge, I was like,
I just watched Jason Kamis' YouTube video
on his 8 series, how he has that CSL or whatever it is.
And it's not an M.
They never made an M8.
Three off.
Yeah, geez.
All right, good one, man.
No one's got one, we've stumped each other.
Going into round three.
Didn't you, oh no, yeah, you didn't guess my first one
and I didn't guess yours either, so.
All right, moving on to number three.
You ready?
Yeah.
All right, my production run began in the late 2000s
and lasted until 2013.
Pretty vague, no.
That's very vague.
No country of origin here.
And ore vehicle type.
Okay, I'm gonna need the next one right away.
But just to confirm, you said like 2009 to 2013.
Yes.
Is that exact?
I said late 2000s.
Okay.
So let me add something here.
My production run began in the late 2000s
and lasted until 2013.
And I only came, the version that I'm specifically
referring to came in a coupe and a convertible.
Well, let me rephrase.
Okay.
The car itself came in a coupe and a convertible,
but I'm gonna get to it eventually with other hints.
The performance version only came in a coupe.
Okay, that should be a pretty good hint.
Yeah, there you go.
So you could get this body style, this chassis
as a coupe or a convertible,
but only the performance model in a coupe.
Correct.
Okay, gotcha.
And I'm thinking late 2000s to early 2010s.
And a convertible in a base model, presumably.
And then a coupe only for the performance model.
And I need to guess the performance model specifically.
This is specifically gonna be that car.
Okay, gotcha.
I'll take the next hint.
My engine was a turbocharged three liter,
straight six producing more than 300 horsepower.
Oh.
So late 2000s to 2013, final year 2013.
Is it a, so you said I'm guessing,
so I'm guessing the performance version.
What comes to mind from an inline six turbo
from that time period is like a BMW 335i.
Is that your guess?
Yeah, that would be my first guess.
No.
It's not a performance version.
That would be the M.
Inline six, not very many people are making inline sixes.
So this can't be that hard.
And that was like the,
and the inline six turbo came in the flagship
performance model or variation.
So they came with a turbo even like, yeah.
So think of it as there's different layers
to the car trims, right?
Obviously there's some, there's a base model,
there's a non-base model,
and then there's even other versions
that are more performance oriented.
So I'm talking about the non-base model,
and then you'll understand like,
it's not just the performance version, right?
There's an upgraded version
that I feel like is the underrated car
because of the fact that it has good performance.
A leader inline six, turbo, not V6.
Yes.
Oh man, it has to be something,
has to be something Japanese, I wanna say.
No, you are on track.
Okay.
All right, I don't want you to get derailed.
Yeah.
Like I did.
Okay.
My first guess was,
oh, is it,
oh, the car I'm thinking of
was only available for like one year.
It's not the one M.
No, I only have one more guess now.
Okay, give me the last hint.
So think of it like this.
You actually have two more hints.
Okay.
Think of it like this.
That was a good guess, right?
Underrated, right?
I guess that you could say the one M,
they only made it for one year
and it's not, it's an M car, right?
It's obviously like really popular,
but you are on track.
Okay.
So I came standard with a six-speed manual
or the optional dual clutch automatic.
So now the one M obviously came,
man.
BMW M2.
Right.
No.
No.
Okay, you stumped me.
No, you are so close, dude.
You're so close.
It has to be a BMW, but a turbo though.
In my last model year of 2013,
a more spirited version of me added 20 horsepower
and some performance upgrades,
the 135 IS or the 135 I.
So pretty much the one M, but not the one M.
Oh.
I guess I could give you half a point there.
I see, I see.
You kind of gave it away earlier
because you said something about one M or M1
and that popped into my head.
Yeah.
Well that would have had an inline six too.
No, exactly.
The one M obviously was the Holy Grail, right?
2013 only.
Maybe a half point.
Yeah, the 135 was in production for those years, right?
08 to I think 13.
But the IS came out with the 20 more horsepower later in 2013.
And not only the more horsepower,
it was like pretty much the M version.
Right, it had a wide body and everything.
Yeah, it had definitely suspension upgrades.
And I think the cool thing about the 135 IS
is it's significantly cheaper than the one M, right?
And you get pretty much the one M like, you know,
dumb down version.
Take it to your tuner and make the same amount of power.
Yeah, you know, so a 135 IS only one year
or even just any 135 high, right?
Like later versions I believe went to a single turbo
from I think it was N54, N55, something like that.
But for the most part like my good friend
who lived in the same apartment complex as me had one
and he had his completely modified with the intake
and all the stuff that, you know,
you wouldn't be able to smog it with.
And he only ran into problems once he had
all the aftermarket things on it.
Like stock, those cars are not too bad.
Like liability wise.
I agree.
You know, a straight six is less, you know, friction
in general.
Less vibration, very balanced.
Exactly, so when you think about the 135,
you know, you have a turbocharged inline six
in a BMW compact car, you know,
that still looks pretty good.
It looks pretty contemporary for a 20,
a car that came out in 08.
Yeah, very.
So, and that's going to be the E82.
Yeah. Right, 135 IS.
So you were super close.
I give you half a point.
Okay, sounds good.
Cause you're pretty much, it was the same car,
it was just the upgraded version.
So.
There was something I just want to say
in regards to inline sixes is I was watching
my favorite YouTuber the other day, Bill at Curious Cars.
And he said that you'd be hard pressed
to find a bad inline six.
Right.
Like even when you think about all manufacturers,
now I'm sure somebody listening
can maybe nitpick like one or two bad engines.
But for the most part, inline sixes
have always been pretty damn good
from every manufacturer.
I mean, you think of Datsun L series,
the four liter inline sixes from the Chrysler products.
Yeah, AMC started.
Yeah, you'd be kind of hard pressed
to find a bad inline six.
So.
Yeah.
Something like a 135.
Even though I'm not a beamer guys,
pretty easy sell for me.
Yup.
All right, man.
Your last one.
All right.
Let's do it.
You know what, it's funny
cause I think this will be
the easiest out of all of them.
Really?
I don't know.
You definitely have this car on your radar.
Okay.
Yeah.
Let's see.
I would say it's underrated too.
All right.
Okay.
My hood or grill, depending on year,
wears a star badge,
which only came on my model,
but I'm not a Mitsubishi.
A star badge.
Wow.
A star badge.
It's been on my radar, huh?
With a star.
I mean Subaru had stars.
Okay.
Go ahead with the second one.
Okay.
I could be purchased as a sedan
or a wagon, no coupe variant offered.
Okay.
A sedan or a wagon.
I was thinking SVX,
but that was only coupe on a star on it.
Hmm.
The not Mercedes, obviously,
not the Mercedes triangle.
A star.
A not Mitsubishi.
Is it time?
Is it time and star motors?
I'll give you a hint.
Yeah.
That doesn't count as one of your four hints.
It's a, this star badge was model specific.
Don't think too much about brand name.
Right.
I got you.
Cause even like Plymouth,
you could say it was a star, right?
Cause that was a five, you know,
or Dodge technically,
they both use the same name.
Yeah, kind of star.
Yeah.
All right.
And what was that last hint you said?
The last one that I said was
I could be purchased as a sedan
or a wagon, no coupe.
Okay.
A sedan or a wagon.
So trying to think of like a car,
like a company that had its own,
like how Mustang has a horse.
The Buick Riata had the R.
So it has like a bespoke logo for that car,
which was a star.
That's correct.
Wow.
And this is an easy,
I hate when you say it's this easy one
cause now it's like more pressure.
All right, go ahead.
Number three.
Okay.
I'm considered to be one of the first
luxury cars from my country,
but I don't wear a luxury badge.
Oh.
Do you didn't give me years, right?
No.
Okay.
I'm gonna throw one out there.
Okay.
Wait.
First luxury car,
you didn't give me any like decade, right?
So what was the first thing you could do?
I mean, you can assume
that I'm not going back to like the 20s.
Yeah, no, I know.
I know.
I got a few in my mind and a Japanese.
Okay.
What was the first year?
I mean the first hint.
I don't know off the top.
First hint, okay.
My hood or grill, depending on the year,
wears a star badge, which only came on my model.
Not a Mitsubishi.
The Hyundai, I'm not gonna guess this
cause the Equus, I'm just thinking it through
had like wings.
It was unique, but it wasn't a star.
It was like, like kind of like this weird like wing.
All right.
So then Toyota had,
was the Cressida and the Crown, were they stars?
And this is US spec?
Yes.
All right.
Go ahead, hint for, fuck it.
My successor, who I'm often mistaken for
was more mass produced and front wheel drive.
So this car was rear wheel drive.
Based on my hint.
My successor.
I put successor in quotes.
Right.
Technically successor, but I would consider it
a step backwards.
It was the mass producer.
Okay.
More mass produced, front wheel drive,
similar profile and look, size.
I'm gonna say Toyota Crown.
Crown?
I'm close.
That's your second guess.
No, that was my first guess.
Oh, it is your first.
Right, yeah.
The Crown because it had the,
it was definitely the first luxury.
All right, then.
But we know it's an American market car.
Was the Crown American?
No, you're right.
You're right.
That's right.
Now, because you said successor
and now that the Crown came out,
I'm thinking, and it wasn't as good.
All right, Toyota Cressida.
You got it.
There it is.
Toyota Cressida.
I was talking it through.
I was like, it's gotta be one of those.
Yeah, yeah.
And I know we got the Cressida.
I thought the one about the Camry would give it away.
That was the car that it looked like.
Yeah.
I was trying to think of the successor,
but then I was thinking,
but it maybe it kept the same name plate.
And that's why I said Crown.
I did say, oh, no, I didn't say anything
about the name changing.
You're right.
I think when I wrote these out earlier,
I had one that mentioned the name change.
So it changed the name plate,
but still was a volume.
It kind of like the Camry sort of like filled in.
Yeah.
The Cressida's place in the Toyota lineup.
Yeah, I gotcha.
Yeah.
The Cressida was essentially,
at least in the US,
the first time a Toyota car came here
as a luxury vehicle.
I would say so.
Like that wasn't Lexus, obviously.
Interesting.
At least one of the first widely successful ones.
I remember seeing that white one.
I think we talked about it on Facebook, right?
Cause that's what made you say it was on my radar.
It was one on Marketplace.
Maybe it wasn't white,
but it wasn't that long ago.
It was on Marketplace.
Nice Cressida that you sent me.
Yeah.
Maybe that's why it rings a bell.
I just feel like I'd never see them.
Like they just didn't produce enough for it
to carry over into the 90s and 2000s.
They were problematic to a lot of people.
I have a friend who owns one that's 2JZ swapped,
2JZ Turbo swapped,
and he said that like the stock Cressida engine,
I don't know my Toyota engine codes,
but he's like they blow head gaskets.
Really?
Like everybody, yeah, they always blow head gaskets
according to some people.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I think it's, I mean on the radar in a sense
that at least the car is unique, right?
So no one's ever talking about them,
but then you see like Toyota badge.
Well, it's gotta be reliable.
It's gotta be somewhat durable of a car
that I can risk buying one.
Cause that those came out in the 80s, right?
Late 80s.
Yeah.
Had to be before the LS 400.
Yes.
Right.
That's what replaced it actually.
That's what would have replaced it, I suppose.
Yeah.
Well, I guess, so I got one point
cause I guessed it on the final hint.
You were the winner.
And you got half a point, right?
Cause technically, you know, the 1M is the 135 on steroids.
Well, you know what, I,
so you said that the 1M was the last year model
of the car you were talking about, right?
And the 135 IS.
Okay.
Both were only 2013.
Yeah.
Gotcha.
Okay.
All right.
Good game.
That was a good one.
Yeah. No, it was good.
It was very, it was really good.
Obviously it would have been great if we had, you know,
a third wheel here.
So unfortunately we thought.
That's all right.
Next time.
Next time.
But yeah, I mean, here's my thought.
When I think of underrated cars,
I feel like it helps us like kind of
broaden our horizon, right?
We start thinking of all these other models
that like existed that are affordable
that we can, you know, on a budget
to be able to get into and have seat time in
and see what a luxury Toyota looked like in the 80s, you know,
or see what it was like owning the police version of,
you know, a very popular taxi car, right?
Or cab, you know, and then you look at like the GSF
and all these other cars
that you think luxury sports sedans
and no one's making luxury sports sedans anymore,
you know, like the Cadillac CT5 Blackwing,
that's probably going to be it.
The IS 500s already,
I think announced it's going to be discontinued.
And like Genesis came out with the,
they had the, I think it was the smaller displacement
two liter Genesis, was it the G70?
Had a stick, right?
Those even came with a manual.
Really?
I didn't know that.
So they were a little bit more sporty, you know?
Another honorable mention is the Kia K900 or K500.
Yeah.
It's a 471 horsepower NAV8 rear wheel drive
from Kia.
Right.
I think it was the,
I don't know if we got the K500.
I know the K900 for sure.
K900, is that what it is?
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of those Genesis is used like the big body ones,
the Korean versions, right?
Cause you even now have like the G90
and you have all these other like luxury models
that now are going after like really upscale like.
BMW or Mercedes, yeah.
They look like Rolls Royces.
The SUVs certainly do.
Yeah.
So what else?
The other one that you mentioned earlier
was the first one, the Volvo.
Oh yeah, the Bertone.
Yeah.
Like I never even knew Bertone designed a Volvo, you know?
So that's awesome.
Kind of out of, a little bit out of character for Volvo.
Yeah, definitely.
And that helps.
When you do your car spotting,
I feel like you're able to see,
wow, like I didn't even know this existed.
You know, it kind of helps you educate yourself.
Totally.
It definitely does.
I recognize most cars,
but there's times where I see a car
where I can't put my finger on it.
Yeah.
Or I guess it confidently and I'm wrong.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's a great way to learn.
Well, another reason for you to, you know,
keep your geo storm restored and looking good
because it's going to turn heads no matter what,
just because of how, you know,
unique and obscure that car is.
So when people see it,
they're going to want to know what the hell is that,
right?
Like I had a guy just now
when I went to the Mexican place next door,
like giving a thumbs up.
And I didn't know he knew what it was,
but he probably never saw it before,
but he was looking at it and he was like, you know,
I don't even know if he spoke English
cause when he ordered in front of me,
he was only speaking in Spanish.
So I don't even know if the Milano wasn't Mexico
or if it was even out here in California
because yeah, it was a US car.
Obviously they sold them all over,
but I feel like only Italians bought them.
You know, I told you for the blog,
like it's one of those cars where people don't know
what they were because no one was buying them
unless you were Italian from, you know,
with maybe an Italian father or grandfather,
you know, that remembers the brand, you know?
So when you think about just underrated cars,
chances are it's probably underrated
because it was obscure, you know, and no one bought them.
So like thinking today,
like what car is today that no one's buying that?
A lot of underdogs.
Yeah, I mean, you could think of,
like I think of the Acura NSX.
I know that's not, you know, a cheap car,
it's expensive still, but the new Acura NSX,
like nobody bought them.
Like when you see one, like even like a car weekly,
I think I only saw one, you know?
And it's a pretty modern car.
It's a great looking car too with that.
I mean, it sticks to kind of what the NSX originally was
and does it in a modern way and looks good doing it.
Yeah.
I don't have any complaints about it.
I imagine in like 10 years from now,
people are gonna be like, that's super underrated.
It will be sought after, guaranteed, yeah.
Cause I don't think they're getting,
they're not getting LFA numbers, right?
They're not that expensive.
No, no, LFAs are like insanely, absurdly expensive.
Yeah, they shot up.
Cause that's another one of those underrated cars,
like at least for the sound, right?
I think the LFA one day is gonna be like F40 status.
Really?
Yeah, yeah.
Honestly, I do.
I think it will be just because every journalist
I've ever heard from, including that gentleman
we took the drive in and the Cadillac Celestic,
who was a stunt driver, he said that the LFA was
probably his favorite car he's ever driven.
Right, I remember that.
And other journalist, I think Jeremy Clarkson
or one of the top gear guys said the same exact thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I don't disagree with the fact
that it could be like F40, like, not an F40 status.
That part I disagree, cause that's millions.
But I could see it being up there,
like hitting high, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Right?
I don't know about millions.
It already is though.
So that's why I'm thinking even possibly millions.
Not anytime soon.
I'm not telling you that a LFA is gonna be worth
a million dollars next year.
But sometime in my lifetime, as long as car enthusiasm,
car enthusiasm is going, I think it'll be,
it'll get really expensive.
Cause there's always a fine line between
low production cars that just, it wasn't that many out there.
So people don't know of them because
they weren't just produced in low numbers.
Yeah, bad marketing or whatever.
Yeah, or just like it was a Ferrari F40, you know,
they only made X amount of them.
But then there's the cars that just didn't sell.
So that's why they weren't produced, you know?
So the NSX hybrid, the one that came out most recently,
that was a car that they just didn't sell, right?
It's not like, you know, Ford came out and said,
well, we're gonna make only 500 Ford GTs, right?
No, like they just didn't sell.
So usually the cars that don't do well,
like the clown shoes, another perfect example.
No one bought a clown shoe because they thought it was ugly.
But now as time has gone on, car enthusiasts
haven't seen that design language ever again.
Long hood and a short little stumpy butt,
like that looks cool now, you know?
So now they're starting to pick up steam
and they're getting double of roadsters.
Same engine, same chassis,
but because it's a clown shoe,
you know, M-Coups are getting way more than the roadsters.
So, yeah, I mean, it's interesting to see
what will be the next like underrated car
that people like didn't buy today, but, you know,
love them or they're super sought after in like 10, 15 years.
So, all right, well, appreciate it.
Mainstay Dillon for being back.
Thanks for having me.
We went 112.
Oh, cool.
Wow, that's great.
Yeah, right?
It goes by really fast.
Until next time on the Analog in Grit podcast.
We'll see you next week.
Peace.
About this episode
A lively discussion on underrated cars takes center stage as hosts Victor and Dillon engage in a fun 'Who Am I?' guessing game. They explore various models, including the Geo Storm and Volvo 780 Bertone, while sharing personal anecdotes and insights about car culture. The episode highlights the importance of appreciating unique vehicles that often fly under the radar, as well as the community aspect of car ownership. Listeners can expect a mix of humor, nostalgia, and valuable automotive knowledge throughout the conversation.
Mainstay Dylan joins the show to discuss some recent events at Analog & Grit. We go face to face in our first ever Who Am I Showdown. Can I dethrone Dylan ? We talk about a few underrated cars that don’t get the love they deserve . What kind of attention did the Geo Storm get at the bougie Rancho Santa Fe cars and coffee?