A center console is the main control-and-storage area between the driver and passenger—typically housing the gear selector (or shifter), cupholders, switches, and sometimes infotainment controls. In this segment, the host is already judging the car’s interior layout by looking at that area.
A Toyota Camry is a regular family-style car, usually a sedan, meant for everyday driving. People talk about it a lot because it’s comfortable and generally dependable. The podcast mention sounds like someone’s personal experience with their own Camry.
Coilovers are suspension parts that let you change how high the car sits and how firm it feels. People upgrade them when they want the car to handle more tightly.
IMS is a part inside some Porsche engines. Some versions can have a bearing problem that, if it fails, can lead to expensive engine damage—so people worry about it when buying or modifying those cars.
Car
Porsche 987
Porsche 987 is the Boxster/Cayman generation from that era. The speaker is saying some versions of it had more problems than others, so you should be cautious about which one you buy.
Term
ball scoring
“Ball scoring” is a kind of wear damage where parts get scratched or grooved. The speaker is saying the new car doesn’t have that same problem.
An electric car runs on electricity stored in a battery. Instead of a gasoline engine, it uses an electric motor, which is why it’s a different kind of car to own and maintain.
The Ferrari Luce is Ferrari’s new electric car. The hosts are saying it’s a big moment because it’s Ferrari moving into EVs, and the news caught a lot of people by surprise.
Some electric cars use more than one motor. With four motors, the car can control power to the wheels very precisely, which helps it grip the road and feel responsive.
The BMW M3 is a sporty BMW that’s made to drive fast and handle well. The podcast is talking about how electric power can be arranged and delivered to the wheels. That’s why the M3 comes up as a performance reference point.
This is the charging speed the car can handle at a fast charger. More kilowatts usually means you can add energy faster, but the exact time still depends on conditions.
“122 kilowatt hours” is the battery capacity, meaning how much electrical energy the EV can store. Larger capacity usually supports longer range, but weight, efficiency, and driving style also strongly affect real-world mileage.
The BMW M5 is a fast, sporty version of a BMW sedan. The discussion mentions it being heavier or lighter than something else, which affects how the car feels when driving. It’s brought up because it’s one of BMW’s well-known performance cars.
Term
Polarcast
Polarcast sounds like the show or segment name where the hosts previously talked about this car. It’s mainly context for where they got their experience from.
Wipers are the blades that clear rain off your windshield. Here, the host is pointing out that the Ferrari Luce uses an unusual wiper layout—two blades positioned at the sides instead of one centered setup.
MPV means a family car built for practicality—lots of space and easy everyday use. The host is saying the Luce’s wiper design looks like something you’d see on that kind of vehicle.
Le Mans is a famous endurance race. The host is using it as a comparison point for race-car windshield wiper placement—basically, how the wipers are positioned for the way those cars are built.
The Lucid Gravity is an electric SUV, meaning it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. The podcast is pointing out that it sits lower, which can help it feel more stable when driving. It’s being mentioned as an example of how Lucid designs an electric SUV.
“Apple car” is a nickname people use for an Apple-made electric car. The host is basically saying the design could look like a generic tech-company EV if it didn’t have Ferrari branding.
Car
FZ93 concept
The FZ93 is an older Ferrari concept car that was made with Zegato. The host is using it as a comparison to explain why the Luce’s design feels familiar in a weird, concept-car way.
The Ferrari F40 is a very famous, older supercar from Ferrari. People often talk about it because it’s known for being intense and special compared to normal cars. The podcast is using it as a reference point for how something new looks or feels.
“Mobility” is a marketing word that basically means “getting from one place to another.” The host thinks it’s a dirty word in car culture because it ignores the fun and personality of cars.
The BMW i8 is a sports car that uses both electricity and gasoline. The podcast is basically saying they think they saw the i8, not the i3. It’s a hybrid, so it can run on electric power and also use a gas engine.
The BMW i3 is a small electric car that runs on a battery instead of gasoline. The podcast is comparing it to another BMW electric model, the i8, based on what someone remembers seeing. The i3 is typically the more practical, everyday-sized EV.
Wraparound bodywork means the car’s outer panels curve and flow around the body in one continuous shape. Here, they’re talking about using that styling idea to make the Luce look more like a coupe.
A rear wing is the spoiler on the back of a car. It’s often used on race cars to help keep the car planted, and here it’s mentioned as a styling cue to make the Luce look more track-like.
GT3 is a type of race category for sports cars. When someone says it looks like a GT3 race car, they usually mean it has the kind of track styling—like big aero parts—associated with that racing class.
They’re quoting a very large power number from the car’s specs. It’s basically how much power the car can put out, but it doesn’t always translate perfectly to how it drives in normal situations.
They’re using the Porsche Cayenne EV as a comparison point. The idea is: if you’re looking at big power numbers on paper, other electric cars can also claim very high horsepower.
They mention the BMW ix3 because it’s an electric BMW that can go a long way on a charge. The point is that it achieves that range without needing a huge battery.
BYD is an electric-car company that’s been talking about very fast charging. They’re brought up here because the host is comparing what BYD claims versus what this new car is actually delivering.
They’re talking about an EV charging claim: how fast it could charge in just a few minutes. The host is saying that would be a big deal because it would require the car to accept a lot of power very quickly.
Drag coefficient is a number that describes how much the air “pushes back” against the car. Lower is better because it helps the car use less energy and travel farther.
Platform sharing is when different cars are built on the same basic “bones.” The host is saying Ferrari is trying not to do that here, so the EV can be designed to fit its goals better.
Formula E is a racing series where the cars are fully electric. It’s used here as an example of how advanced EV technology can be pushed hard and still work.
Torque is the force that makes the car pull. Electric motors can send that force to the wheels very quickly, which helps the car respond smoothly when you’re turning and using the pedals.
A differential is a mechanical part that helps the wheels turn at different speeds, especially when you’re cornering. The host is saying EVs can handle a lot of that with software and motor control instead.
Mechanical switches are real physical buttons you can press. People like them because you can use them by feel without taking your eyes off the road as much.
Love From is the design team behind the cabin layout being described. They’re trying to make the car easier to use while driving by mixing screens with real buttons.
A touchscreen is a screen you control by touching it. In cars, it can be convenient, but it can also pull your attention away from driving if it’s too complicated.
A retro style wheel refers to a steering wheel design that intentionally looks classic rather than purely modern. The host is using it as a design cue that helps the cockpit feel cohesive with the rest of the interior.
“Analog buttons” are real physical buttons you can press or turn. The idea is they’re easier to use while driving because you don’t have to rely only on touchscreens.
A transmission tunnel is a hump/raised section in the floor that’s there to make room for drivetrain parts. The host is saying an EV may not need that same layout, so the pedals can be positioned more freely.
“Battery tech” refers to the engineering behind the EV’s battery system—how the cells are designed, packaged, and managed. The host uses it to argue the Luce is a genuine technology statement, not a rebranded EV built from off-the-shelf parts.
“In-house” in this context means Ferrari develops key EV components itself—specifically the battery technology and electric motors—rather than sourcing them from suppliers. The host contrasts this with the common approach of building an EV by combining a purchased battery/motor package with a company’s existing chassis know-how.
“Off the shelf” describes using commercially available EV components rather than designing everything from scratch. The host contrasts this with Ferrari’s claimed approach of building the Luce as an in-house product from the ground up.
Term
chassis know-how
“Chassis know-how” refers to a manufacturer’s expertise in vehicle structure and dynamics—how the body and suspension are engineered to work together. The host implies that some brands rely on their existing chassis expertise while sourcing EV powertrain parts externally.
This is Luca di Montezemolo, a former top boss at Ferrari. In this segment, they’re talking about his reaction to a Ferrari branding/announcement controversy.
Dino was a Ferrari-related name used for some cars, separate from the main Ferrari badge. They’re using it as an example of how Ferrari could have used a different logo approach.
Concept
impact on their chair price
They’re talking about the company’s stock price dropping after the announcement. It’s basically saying the market reacted negatively.
Enzo Ferrari was the founder of Ferrari. The hosts are saying he personally gave a nickname to the later Ferrari leader they’re discussing.
Person
the man who introduced the paddle shift gearbox
They’re talking about the inventor/driver of paddle shifters. Paddle shifters are the little buttons on the steering wheel that let you change gears without moving a gear stick. The host is saying this person helped bring racing-style tech into Ferrari.
Term
Formula One tech
“Formula One tech” refers to engineering ideas and systems developed for Formula 1 racing that later influence road cars. In this context, the host is tying Ferrari’s performance hardware and control strategies to racing-derived development. It’s a way of saying the tech isn’t just styling—it’s meant to improve how the car drives.
A V8 is a type of engine with eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. People often associate V8s with a particular sound and driving feel. Here, it’s being used as shorthand for wanting the classic Ferrari “engine character” even if the car is electric.
CGI edits are digital mockups made with computer graphics. People are changing the Luce’s design on-screen to see how it would look with different styling. It’s basically a visual “what if” test for the car’s shape.
Powertrain is the car’s “go” system—what makes it move and how that power reaches the wheels. In an electric car, it’s mainly the battery, electric motors, and the drivetrain parts.
The Porsche Taycan is Porsche’s electric performance car. The point of bringing it up is that some EVs can still be enjoyable to drive, not just quick in a straight line.
The RS e-tron GT is Audi’s electric performance car. The host is saying that when they drove it again later, it felt much better than the first time—so EVs can get improved and feel more exciting with the right setup.
Having four motors means the electric car can control power to the wheels very precisely. That can help the car feel more responsive and stable, because it can adjust grip and acceleration wheel-by-wheel.
The host means that many electric cars end up looking a bit awkward because the battery takes up space. They’re saying the Luce’s shape looks too tall and not as sleek as it could be.
Lancia is an Italian car brand the hosts bring up as a hypothetical badge swap for the Ferrari Luce. They frame Lancia as a “technology pioneer” historically, and argue that putting a Lancia badge on an EV could make it feel more credible to enthusiasts.
“Clean sheet design” means the car was designed from the ground up, not built by modifying an older design. For EVs, that can help the car fit the battery and motors more efficiently.
The Lancia Delta is a compact car, and some versions are famous for being very fast. The podcast is talking about special performance versions people love, like rally-style models. It comes up because those high-performance Deltas have a dedicated fan base.
Stellantis is a big car company that owns several car brands. The hosts are basically saying: “Would they really spend all that money on an EV just to slap a Lancia badge on it?”
A company car buyer is someone who gets a car through work (or for work purposes). The hosts are saying that kind of buyer is a different market than the ultra-wealthy tech crowd they think Luce targets.
Fleet emissions means the pollution from a company’s whole set of cars. If companies replace some of their gas cars with EVs, their total emissions go down.
A V8 is a type of engine with eight cylinders. The host is saying that the dramatic sound people associate with a V8 is part of what makes a Ferrari feel special.
The Ford Anglia is an older Ford model from the past. In the podcast, it sounds like it’s being mentioned as part of a story or reference, not because someone is reviewing its performance. It’s a classic car name people recognize.
A Porsche 981 Cayman is a mid-engine Porsche sports car. The host is saying they already have one, and they’re trying to replace two cars with a single option.
If a car sits outside, it gets more exposure to rain and sun. That can wear things out faster, so the host is asking for cars that can handle that situation.
The TVR Griffith 500 is a quirky, old-school British sports car. The host is recommending it as a different option from the usual Porsche choices, and they’re talking about whether it can handle being stored outside.
Term
cover
A car cover is a protective sheet you put over the car when it’s parked outside. It helps keep rain and sun off the paint and interior.
“Miles on the clock” just means the car’s mileage shown on the odometer. It’s one of the first things people look at when judging a used car, though maintenance history matters too.
The 2019 BMW M2 Competition is a small BMW sports car meant for real driving, not just looking fast. They’re suggesting it as a more modern alternative you can live with day-to-day.
They’re talking about which BMW performance engine family the car uses. The claim is that the M2 Competition shares the kind of engine you’d expect from the M4, which makes it feel more like a true M car.
Term
N55
The N55 is a BMW engine used in some performance models. The hosts are saying the M2 Competition feels more like an M car because it’s not just using the N55.
The Honda S2000 is a small, lightweight sports car known for revving very high and feeling very connected to the driver. Here it’s being used as a comparison for the kind of driving feel someone wants.
The BMW 2 Series is a smaller BMW car line. The podcast is talking about a more powerful version (the M240i) and how good it is to drive. It’s mentioned because it’s a compact option for sporty driving.
The BMW M2 CS is a sportier, more performance-focused version of the BMW M2. In this segment they’re excited to drive it because it has a distinctive rear spoiler and a more aggressive setup.
A dovetail spoiler is a shaped rear wing that narrows toward the back, giving the car a specific look. It can also help with stability at speed, not just style.
WLTP is a European testing rule for how cars measure emissions and fuel use. When it came in, many cars had to add extra emissions equipment, which can change exhaust sound and require more work if you want it louder.
A cat-back exhaust is an upgrade that changes the exhaust parts after the catalytic converter. People do it to improve sound (and sometimes performance) while keeping the emissions hardware in place.
The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is a British sports car with a V8 engine and a very distinctive Aston Martin look. Here it’s the speaker’s top pick, and they’re praising its character and styling.
It’s a way of turning regular stereo music or movies into a surround-sound style experience. So instead of just left and right speakers, it tries to make it feel more like multiple speakers are involved.
This is a sportier, more driver-focused version of the Nissan 370Z made by Nismo. The idea is to make it feel more exciting and more “ready to drive hard” than the regular car.
The Nissan 350Z is an older Z-car from Nissan that the host says they recently drove. They’re using it as a reference to explain how the newer 370Z might feel.
The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car, and it’s known for having a unique engine design. The podcast is mentioning it in the context of a driving test and comparisons with other cars. It’s brought up because the RX-8 feels different to drive than many normal cars.
Damping is what controls how the suspension moves—basically how “quickly” the car stops bouncing. If it’s stiffer, the car feels more responsive, especially when you drive hard.
A ducktail spoiler is a small rear spoiler shaped like a short upward “tail.” On performance cars it can help the car stay more stable at speed, and it also looks sporty.
“Roof off” refers to driving with the convertible top removed or down, changing both the cabin experience and the car’s structural behavior. Many cars are designed with extra reinforcement for open-top use, which can affect weight and handling feel.
Car
Zenos E10R
The Zenos E10R is a small, lightweight two-seat sports car. It’s designed to feel like a track car, but the goal is to make it practical enough to use more often than a dedicated weekend-only machine.
A track day is when normal cars get to drive on a race track for practice laps. It’s a fun way to see how a car handles when you push it harder than you would on public roads.
Mechanical grip is how well the tires can hold the road through turns because of the tire and suspension working together. More mechanical grip usually means the car feels more stable and confident in corners.
Semi-slick tires are sport tires with less tread than regular tires. They usually grip the road better, but they can be a bit less comfortable or less effective when it’s cold.
The Lotus 2-Eleven is a very light sports car made to feel quick and agile. The podcast is comparing it to another similar Lotus model, the Exige, which also focuses on driving feel. It comes up because it’s the kind of car people choose for track-style fun.
The Lotus Exige is a small, lightweight sports car made by Lotus. It’s built to feel exciting and connected to the road, which is why the host recommends it as a fun track-day choice.
They’re saying some parts on this car are the same kind used on an older small car called the Metro. It’s a way of saying the car uses off-the-shelf bits.
A supercharger is a device that forces extra air into the engine. More air usually means more power, and they’re arguing whether this car has that setup.
A manual is a car where you change gears yourself using a clutch and a stick. They’re saying this car is the kind of lightweight, engaging setup you’d expect with a manual.
A quick-release steering wheel lets you remove the steering wheel quickly. People do this for easier getting in and out, especially in track-focused cars.
Aircon is the car’s built-in system for cooling the cabin. The host is talking about how fixing it (and keeping it working) makes driving in hot weather much easier.
A “damper” in an HVAC context is a flap or valve that controls airflow direction and temperature mixing inside the cabin. A busted damper can cause the aircon to blow incorrectly or not achieve the desired temperature even if the system is charged.
LED headlights are the newer style of car headlights that use LED bulbs. The host says they’re noticeably brighter and better than older headlight types.
Start/stop is the feature that turns the engine off when you stop, then turns it back on when you go. Some people find it annoying if it turns back on by itself.
A mild hybrid uses a small battery and electric motor to help the engine. It usually can’t run the car by itself, but it can make starts and stops feel less jerky.
Inertia reel seat belts are the seat belts that automatically lock in a crash or sudden stop. They also keep the belt from hanging loose during normal driving.
The Audi S3 is a faster, sportier version of a smaller Audi car. The podcast is talking about someone’s family experience with an older S3 and a specific detail about the car’s safety equipment. It’s mentioned because it’s a real-world performance car people can live with.
An electric parking brake is the “handbrake” controlled by a button instead of a lever. It still locks the car in place, but the feel and operation are different from a normal handbrake.
Electrically adjustable headrests move up/down (or forward/back) using buttons. It’s handy because you can set your head position quickly instead of manually adjusting it.
Ventilated seats are seats with built-in fans that blow air through the seat. They help you stay cooler in hot weather, which can feel better than heated seats when it’s warm.
A double-DIN screen is a common aftermarket car radio/screen size that fits into the dashboard. The host’s point is that many of these are touch-only, and they prefer physical knobs instead.
Touch-sensitive volume buttons are controls you press on a screen or panel without a real dial. The host doesn’t like them because they can be harder to adjust precisely without looking.
A heated windscreen warms the glass so it clears faster in cold weather. If the heating wires get damaged (like by a stone chip), the windscreen won’t defrost properly.
Memory seats let you save your preferred seat setup and then instantly return to it later. That’s especially useful when two people drive the same car and need different positions.
Term
sheen driving position
This is a playful nickname for a particular way of sitting in the car—leaning forward with the steering wheel close and your arms bent. The idea is that it helps match your leg position to how you reach the pedals.
Term
buckety
“Buckety” here refers to a bucket-seat-like posture: the seat base feels more supportive and the seat shape holds you in place. The host prefers a lifted front and lower back to create a more supportive, sporty seating position.
LIVE
Welcome back to The Gassing Station, the podcast that goes sifting through the piss and heads forums
like my co-host Sam Sheehan has been sifting through the classifieds for a Porsche Boxster.
And you found one, right?
Yeah, it didn't take me as long as I thought as well.
I saw a really broke one.
I guess there's a lot of them.
Yeah, I saw a really broke, privately sold one, not from pH.
That was knackered cheap, but knackered, and I thought this is going to take time, money,
brain power, patience.
I can't be bothered with that anymore.
So I found one that's actually in a really good state.
It's a Boxster S. It's a 2001 car, but it's a Y-Redge.
But it's got a private Redge on it, and it comes with a private Redge.
Is it a good private Redge or is it like a Stuart 45?
It's S28POW, which I think stands for prisoner of war, I don't know.
That's what I'm going to call it.
POW block from Super Mario.
Yeah, that's a good one.
Yeah, there's a Lethal Bizzle song for anyone who listened to that,
called POW as well from a long time ago.
But anyway, I don't know what that is.
Yeah, it was a song.
Anyway, it's lovely.
It's silver, black interior, but it's a bit boring because it's just silver, black interior.
So I'm looking already at a center console that's got body painted silver on it,
so it takes a bit of the black out of it.
You're probably thinking, that sounds garish.
They did it from factory.
This car doesn't have it.
So I'm going to do a few optional upgrades that would have been offered by Porsche.
Are you a proper Porsche owner if you haven't done some OEM modifications to your car?
Yeah, because you remember our best mate,
Andreas Preuninger, who I'm desperate to get onto the podcast.
That's basically what he did to his Camry.
Yeah, he did.
So if he can do it, that basically means that it's fair game, right?
Yeah, exactly.
I'm not going to...
My intentions aren't to stick coil overs or anything to turn it into a track car or anything
like that because there is some IMS-related concerns.
Not that this car has it.
This car's oil looks clean and everything, and it's 73,000 miles,
which doesn't necessarily mean it will or won't be a bad car.
But I'm not going to drive it hard.
It's just going to be a nice...
It'll be a daily, but in this job we have press cars, so it won't be used all the time.
It's true.
It's true.
But I mean, the Boxster S of that generation, 986.1,
I think they were the more reliable of them anyway.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Porsche owners.
I think the 987, I think it was the S or one of them, the bigger engine car,
had more, was more susceptible to issues, and then they had ball scoring and stuff,
which this doesn't really have.
So yeah, I think touch word, it'll be safe.
I could be reporting back in a few episodes time going,
oh my God, I have no money left because I'm trying to do an engine replacement,
but I don't think so.
It should be all good.
That's a good excuse to keep...
Stay tuned into the gas station forecast.
Will I be financially ruined?
Speaking of people spending lots of money on things,
we have a massive, huge topic to discuss this week.
We are a little bit late to the party, but annoyingly,
we didn't really know about it beforehand, and it turns out most of the car media didn't know
that Ferrari just dropped its new electric car.
The luce, you have, I guess the benefit of us coming to this a week later,
this was announced the night before our last podcast came out,
which is very Andy Ferrari, thank you.
But I guess the good thing about coming to this a week later is that
we've had some time to digest it, you've had some time to digest it,
and we can come about this, hopefully more in a mature perspective,
but very much from the pH approach.
Do not worry, this is not going to be a, as a lot of people have been putting under
certain videos, we're not doing the job of the PR, basically.
Oh, certainly not.
I mean, I've had to let the anger subside.
Yes, there's been, well, at the time of recording this,
where the story's been up for a few days, there is currently,
while I wrote down 1056 comments, as soon as I wrote that down, another two went up.
So I mean, it is just going on and on and on.
So a quick overview of the car, it is, it has 1050 horsepower from four electric motors.
Those are evolutions of the electric motor in the F80.
Are they, they power each wheel, don't they?
They do, yeah, yeah.
That's quite interesting.
So that is a thing, 062 in 2.5 seconds, which is obviously very fast, very electric car,
194 miles an hour top speed, 800 volt architecture, which means you can benefit from 350 kilowatt
charging or 22 kilowatts at home.
The battery, 122 kilowatt hours, which means a range of around about 330 miles.
That's not massive.
That's not massive.
No, the car is massive, however, to fit that battery in.
Weight, 2.2 tons.
To be fair, that's, it could have been a lot more for the way it could have been a heck of a lot more.
122 kilowatt hours would have made me think 2.67 tons, you know, something like that.
It's a lot lighter than an M5.
Yeah, true.
Yeah.
So it's, it's a, it is a big old beast, but could have been much, much chunkier.
Got active suspension, obviously, to keep all of that weight in check.
Designed by Love, actually.
Oh, no, it's been designed by Love, actually.
Designed by Love from, which is the agency run by Johnny I.
Former design director at Apple.
The reason why all of your Apple products look as good as they do.
And a chap called Mark Neusen, who has also designed some incredible things.
And I think he's got something like the record for the most expensive chair sold at auction.
Something like that.
He knows how to design a good chair.
Nice.
Well, they've now, well, they were approached by Ferrari to lend their ideas in designing this
electric car.
I thought, I wonder what you were about to say there.
I thought you were going to go, it's really very strong.
I'm trying to be, be as balanced and as good journalist as I can be.
So the facts are, I think even for our ego is saying, we know this is a controversial car.
We know that this was going to be a divisive thing.
They explored the idea of doing a supercar.
But they realized it was a dead end.
Just wasn't really going to work.
So they wanted to do something different.
Why?
I don't get that, because that's a first question.
Why?
Why?
There's literally a denser from like China, you know, BYD's premium brand,
which is a supercar electric car.
So it's kind of like, it's a, why doesn't it work?
The thing is, is that there are electric supercars out there.
There's obviously the Yang Wang that we've bought on the Polarcast, the wet Wang.
We've bought that up before.
I'll say in defense of that is I've seen a Yang Wang and I've seen a Yang Wang doing its thing.
And I must say it did not get me interested in the slightest.
It just looks a little bit generic.
This, I don't think does look generic.
So the best way to describe it, if for somehow you haven't seen the new Luce,
it's kind of, it's very much an EV in the sense that the cabin's quite far forward.
There clearly isn't an engine up front or in the middle or whatever.
The wipers.
I would say the wipers.
They've come off of an MPV.
It's quite something of where, yeah.
So you know how in a Le Mans car, the kind of a wiper sticks up right in the middle.
Which is cool.
Which is very cool.
On the Luce, there are two of them and they're at either end of the windscreen.
So they kind of wipe kind of down and then back up.
They remind me, there have definitely been MPVs that have used that.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, there's been a lot of people that have tried to superimpose the front of a multiplier
into it.
Should give you an idea.
I would say the silhouette, and I'm not saying this in the mean way, Ferrari,
is probably similar to that of a Polestar 4.
Yeah.
Does that ring true to you?
Does that make sense?
Yeah, I see that definitely.
And because the 4 is the one with the no rear window, isn't it?
That's right.
So it's sort of coupé-ish.
It's sort of not SUV but high-riding-ish.
It looks bigger in photos than I think it, or it looks taller in photos than potentially it does in person.
It's got a lower center of gravity, I saw, than the Ferrari SUV, the Per Sangui.
I'm going to say it right.
Yeah, yeah, there's some kind of chassis bits that will get into it, but
where to start Sam?
Where to start with this?
Oh my goodness.
Okay, just tell me your initial impression first.
When you first saw it, what was your initial impression?
I actually was shocked and horrified because it didn't look.
I actually thought it was a rendering, a joke rendering, because I was out on the loop on this
and I was on press trips and stuff.
My brain was thinking about other cars and I was doing my classic Instagram scroll,
probably stood in an airport queue and basically was like, what is that?
And then I thought, well, it's probably a rendering.
Some teenagers built, you know, is making AI renderings of cars.
Initially, I thought that has to be a BYD or, I mean, you put forward like,
if it had an Apple badge on it, or if it had like, I was thinking if it was a BYD,
I think it's quite an interesting design.
I quite like that it's different.
No slight on BYD, but I feel like that is a huge insult.
Yeah.
If you said, oh, if it's a BYD, it's fine.
I mean, just in terms of Ferrari.
Because it looks like a tech product, doesn't it?
It doesn't look like a super car or a Ferrari.
It looks like a tech product and a product.
And that's why I can imagine it being quite a well-designed car from one of the big Chinese
manufacturers and it's different to what they're producing.
Like I mentioned the Denso and stuff and a lot of these cars that are coming
out, some of them are really good looking, but they're not massively original.
And this does look different.
They're not offensive.
They're just forgettable.
Yeah.
I think that's it.
Or there are elements that are taken from other cars.
We can go, oh, yeah, well, this has got the back end of that.
Yeah.
It's got this.
This is very much its own thing.
It is different.
Yeah.
And I think, yeah, if you take the badges away from it, then I can go,
that's a smart looking electric vehicle.
Yeah.
And I think if it was the Apple car, you'd go, that looks pretty good.
But it isn't an Apple car.
It is a Ferrari.
And I think my initial impression when looking at it was, well, first of all,
it kind of brought back memories of some really obscure Ferrari concept cars.
Weirdly, the car that came to mind when I first saw it was the FZ93 concept,
which was a concept done in collaboration with Zegato.
I mean, that thing was kind of like a, I don't even know how you describe it,
like an F40 style with a horrifically boaty redesign.
And so my immediate thinking was, this is a properly wacky left field concept.
And then you go, oh, it's the production car.
And I go, right, I'm trying to get my head around what this is in terms of Ferrari.
And I hate to say it.
The first thing that came to my mind was the word mobility.
And it is a dirty, dirty word in the car world because it means moving from point A to point B.
And there's definitely, we definitely need cars like that.
There are some very, very good cars that are good at getting you from point A to point B.
A Ferrari, in my traditional opinion, should not be that car.
No, it's an event.
A Ferrari is an event.
I think also the issue is, and you went through the specs at the start,
I think the issue is none of the specs are astounding.
It's all just, you even said, which is just very EV.
It doesn't do anything.
I mean, we'll get onto obviously getting inside the car in a bit.
But like the, as far as the exterior design goes,
it looks like a handsome car that's come from a brand, and that isn't Ferrari.
A handsome maybe, but yeah, certainly, it's certainly an interesting design.
And some of the design features closer up, you know, like the rear, it looks like,
it kind of reminded me a little bit of the BMW.
Was it the i3 or was it the i8?
That looked like, it was the i8 that looked like it had swallowed a 911.
Yes.
It kind of reminded me of that.
There's like a sort of a Ferrari inside of bodywork.
And I saw a few AI or people have edited a way that surrounding wraparound bodywork
in creating a more coupé silhouette out of the luce design.
And that looks quite good.
Someone slapped a rear wing on it as well, made it like a GT3 race car.
And I was like, okay, so the design elements here are quite cool,
but it's just the shape of it that, that feels a bit like you said mobility.
And then the numbers on the spec sheet, 1050 horsepower, that's a ridiculously massive number,
but you know, there's a 1056 horsepower Cayenne EV out at the moment.
And that's not 600 grand.
And there's a BMW ix3 that does 500 miles a range with a smaller battery.
And it's a bit heavier, I think as well, which is bizarre.
So 800 volt architecture, you know, 350 kilowatt charging,
that's bang on the money for today.
I'd be expecting it to have some, you know, I think it was another, it was BYD,
wasn't it, where they've announced they're basically on the cusp of a five minute or
three minute charge time.
You know, I'd have, if this came out of the gates and they were like, right,
it's move the volt game on, this will charge up in three minutes, you know,
then you could take the angle of like, it's a massive tech step forward,
especially for a European brand.
But it hasn't done that in any of these things.
I think the one thing that when I was really kind of looking into it,
that was going in the back of my head is we've not driven it yet.
That's some of the tech journalists have, and they're not allowed to share at this
moment in time, they've not shared their opinions on it.
And I would obviously take that with a pinch of salt because they're going to not necessarily have,
they're going to come at it from a different angle than potentially we would.
But I think, you know, from what I've read, it's going to be very on the nose,
like a Ferrari, you know, it's meant to drive,
you know, that sense of agility, that urgency from the front end,
which when you look at it from the outside, you don't get that impression because it looks,
it doesn't look sleek, you know, it's extremely, it's got an extremely low
drag coefficient, so it is meant to be very, very slippery,
which you'd expect again from an EV, but it doesn't look like a proper driver's car.
But that's not to say it won't be, you know, I have full belief that Ferrari have engineered
this in a way because it is underneath the whole thing. It's not no platform sharing rubbish or
anything like that. It is a Ferrari designed ground up electric car. So it is almost certainly going
to be feel Ferrari ish to drive. And with four electric motors, I mean, you can do absolute
wizardry with them, you know, Formula E show and not to get too into the boring stuff,
but the stuff that will matter when you're driving it for electric motors means you can,
it won't just be extremely potent and, you know, have massive traction,
but they'll also be able to do stuff when you're turning the wheel and having brake and
accelerator inputs, you know, effectively pure torque factoring without any,
any need for like diffs and stuff like that. It's just pure. They'll be able to make this
thing and probably do insane stuff. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I think that's, that's obviously
something that we've got to have to hold off until we can actually drive it. I think the thing that
is, that I think is, is actually hugely positive is the interior. Oh yeah. Because you look at
the interior and it's the first thing that we saw. And I look at that and I go, that is game
changing potentially a real game changer because obviously it's very Johnny Ive et al.
When you saw the first pictures though, what did you think? I'm talking about last year,
was it last year when they showed the eye because I was super disappointed when I just saw what I
thought like an iPhone and an iPad. And I was like, oh no, it's so bland. Suddenly seeing it in
situ and with the mechanical switches with it, I'm like, okay, now it's kind of getting out.
It looks like, you know, what was so good about when the iPhone came along is that you had
four years and I remember my, I had a phone at school. It was one of my dad's old Sony Ericsson's
that had a number pad at the front and it flipped down and there was an actual physical keyboard
behind it with buttons. And it was like, what a load of faff. And then you had a stylus and then
the iPhone came along and it's just like, why are we doing this? Yeah. Here it's super simple,
just do it like this. And it feels very much like that's been the approach for this cockpit of where,
you know, you look at some EVs now, you look at some cars and you just go, you are going so big
on tech, you have no clue. You have no clue what people are actually doing when they drive a car.
They're so massively distracting. So what the team at Love From have done is they've gone right,
well, let's make it really simple. There is a touchscreen, but it looks all very clear and
very iPad-y in the sense. Yeah. There's a bar below it. So you can actually rest your hand on the bar
and activate parts of the screen without having to hover and, you know, it'd be all difficult.
Exactly. Yeah. But there's loads of physical buttons for shortcuts for all the stuff that
you need. And it does look really smart. I think the wheel as well, because it's the retro style
wheel, it's really nice. And obviously the surrounding interior is, it does have, it all,
it feels matched. I think the issue I have with, I spoke about the Mercs, I've been driving recently,
like with their setup, because it's just like a slab of screen. It kind of just feels like they
went, right, we need big screens, right, big screens. And then there's very little else. Yeah.
This feels like a really cohesive design. And even the stuff like the shape of the seats and the
the door cards are all matched to the other shapes within the car, including the screen. So
it's a very nice interior. But that, like, if I could imagine that interior, which I'm now looking
at on my screen, in a sports car, that would look so at home. It would feel, yeah, a real step forward.
Because even the dials are absolutely beautiful. Yeah. They're really lovely. They are crisp and
clear and traditional, but with a modern twist. The steering wheel, I do kind of wonder if it's
going to look a little outdated, but I think it is. It's clean. Yeah. Something that is a real
departure from Ferrari's current interiors. But yeah, I don't have anything wrong with
Ferrari's current interiors. But I think this kind of just looks really traditional and smart.
You know, people that have sat in it have said, it just feels lovely. Everything is so tactile.
And that for me is the step on so far I've seen with this is it's like, this should now be,
in my opinion, the benchmark for the modern car interior. Yeah. Not necessarily the sports car
interior. But I mean, just for the car itself, just there's analog buttons where you need it.
There's some tech in there for touch screens and stuff so you can access some of your information.
That's fine. Yeah. Just make it like that. Make it clean. Make it simple. And that's also kind
of the way the direction that a lot of design is going at the moment. The kind of stuff really
flashy in your face stuff is actually putting a lot of people understated is the new call,
which is great. And I think from that perspective, the interior, they've smashed it.
Do you know, I've just noticed something interesting and very Italian pedals are offset.
I mean, this photograph, I think it's a picture rather than the rendering because it's the one
Ferrari put out. The throttle pedal, the accelerator pedal, because it's electric,
it's quite to the right. And the brake pedal was to the right of the center of the steering
wheel. Now, it could just be a camera positioning thing, but I think you'd imagine in an EV,
they can put the pedals kind of wherever they want. They don't have to worry about a transmission
tunnel. They don't have to worry about whatever the fuse box having to be tucked down here because
they can't get it in the engine bay. So it seems interesting that it's to the right a little bit.
I wonder if that's going to be... I wonder if that's for the existing Ferrari driver,
whose body is actually deformed and is kind of actually leaning over slightly to meet the pedals.
Although, from what I've heard, or what I've read, they don't expect the Ferrari buyer to be
the person that buys a luce. They're expecting about 80% of buyers to be new to the brand and 20
existing buyers. And that makes sense, yeah. That is kind of what my... When you look at it,
you kind of go, I see what they're doing here. This isn't just Ferrari doing an electric car.
This is, for me, a line in the sand. This is, I would say, an even more bigger deal than it is
already being made out to be because this is Ferrari going, okay, we're not just a supercar
maker anymore. We're not just making performance cars. We're not just a Formula One team. We are
also a tech brand. And we want to go to people that are... They love electric cars. They've got no
real interest in conventional driving or conventional brands. And so we want to capitalize on that,
and we're going to give an electric car to them. I just don't think that that's...
You know, I think that's fine. Do I think that's a direction that Ferrari could go in?
For me, a Ferrari is the kind of car that you dream about, even if you don't like cars. Anyone
who's not into cars, you'll say the Ferrari and they'll go, oh yeah. They'll have an opinion on it.
They'll know what a Ferrari is. You could drive down a street in a red whatever,
and people will go, oh my god, it's a Ferrari. Yeah. You know, I remember being in America,
driving a McLaren, and I got stopped by the police, and they went, nice Ferrari, man.
And it's like, it's not a Ferrari. It's made in Wokin, actually. And I think if you saw this
driving down the street, I think maybe you would turn your head because you go, oh, it's a luce.
Yeah. But would it give you that feeling of being like, that's a Ferrari? Yeah.
Do you know what they could have done? And they wouldn't be the first to do something like this.
I mean, the Chinese brands are doing this, like BYDs on it, with Denso in the opposite direction.
They could have just made an offshoot of Ferrari as a tech brand. And I know that's another big,
I know, I'm sure there are plenty of reasons why they haven't, and maybe that's to do with
share price, et cetera. I don't know, although that's not exactly gone the right way, has it?
But like this car clearly is full of, I'll actually just fact check myself, but they,
you know, the battery tech, the motors, et cetera, it's all in-house. So this is, as you say,
a statement of tech. It's not them going, okay, we're going to buy stuff off the shelf and then
just make an EV using our, you know, chassis know-how, which a lot of other brands would do.
This is, yeah, is an in-house product from the ground up. So there is great reason for them
to do, you know, in terms of long-term tech development, this now, you know, they've got the
knowledge, they've got the hardware to continue building EVs in the future that maybe are more
piston heads relevant. So that's an okay thing. But it's just because it's got the
prancing horse, which reminds me of the Luca Montesemolo's response was, I mean, it's in
Italian, so there's no direct, you know, you can't get an exact, yeah, but it's, you know,
so he was cordoned, cornered, and as you put it, looks like he's just come out of court.
Looks like he's come out of court and lost a massive amount of money in the process,
because he has a, he has the face of a man who's about to break down in tears.
And, you know, essentially said that it doesn't deserve to have the prancing horse on it.
Well, I think, you know, you could, I could so have imagined Ferrari, what could you take,
what elements could you take from, you could have taken away the horse and it could have just been,
I don't know, and it, I don't know, there must be another logo they could have used,
you could have had an F in there or something. They could have done what they did with the
Dino back in the day, you know, where they had an offshoot and it never ran the prancing horse
and became a sort of a side brand. And then this could have been their statement of tech.
And then, you know, one day in the future, they could have, when the world is ready for it,
or if that ever happens, you know, then they could have blended the two. It just feels like a
real shock to the system. And clearly, it's had an impact on their chair price. Well, I mean,
there's, I've lost three pounds on my investment. So he was, unfortunately, I mean, I mean,
the amount that was wiped off was in the billions from that announcement.
Three of those pounds of mine.
You know, but I was thinking, you know, it's obviously like anyone who's
kind of older and of a former, you know, the former head of, of, you know,
Montesemolo hasn't been at the head of Ferrari for 12 years. The whole world has moved on a lot
since then. But this is a man that was known as El Comendatore, the commander. And I think he was
dubbed that by Enzo Ferrari himself. Yeah. So this is a man who was literally chosen as Enzo's
successor. He is the person that transformed Ferrari into the modern, high performance brand
that it is today. High tech, even to be honest, you know, as the man who introduced the paddle
shift gearbox, bought loads of Formula One tech into Ferrari, made Formula, Ferrari the
Formula One powerhouse that it is, or even more so. And so his words do carry some serious weight.
Let's go into the comments. There are literally thousands of them. And surprisingly, not as
you know, I say surprising, you know, pH, we can always, we can always rely on naturally
providing some really good debate. So Woody, the first comment, surprisingly balanced, I would say,
do I want it? No, I don't want a Ferrari EV. Do I appreciate a design that's clean and not
aggressive for once? Absolutely. Fair point. More of this please, but with V8s and less weight
and fewer doors. Yeah, I mean, if this was the, you know, blueprint for some
future Ferrari designs on a completely different body style, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. I know
Flavio Manzoni's had a lot of flat in recent years. I think his designs are looking a heck
of a lot better now, to be honest. And he was involved in this project, but maybe a more
simple design for cars in the future. The worst thing. All of the Ferrari lineup, I think currently
is just too aggressive, everything in their supercar lineup, you know, even the 12-cylinder
and stuff, which is slightly prettier ones, but they're still really, really aggressive,
aren't they? And so this take that this tones that down. As I said at the start, like the
some of the edits, the CGI edits, some people have been not using AI or whatever they're doing
to edit this Luce design into a more, um, a more Ferrari silhouette. It doesn't look bad
as a sports car. When you pill two doors off and maybe take away a little bit of the extra body
work on the rear, it, yeah, it could be better. It's just the shape, isn't it? So I agree with
that. Yeah, absolutely. However, Juan B says, imagine saying to your mates, you've bought a
Ferrari and you pull up in this. I've seen a lot of comments like this. And it's kind of like,
it's obviously meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but you kind of go, it's not, you're not wrong.
But then again, that kind of goes back to something, and I'll bring this up a little bit
later as well is the, it's not designed for you. It's not designed for your, you petrol heads out
there is designed for people that are not interested in cars whatsoever. So if all your mates are in
Silicon Valley and they don't like combustion engines, but they love their Tesla and you turn
up in this, it's like, I guess, wow, this is the pinnacle of mobility.
Horrible word. Um, but yeah, yeah. Well, number nine, uh, this encapsulates the issues for
performance car manufacturers. If they are forced into EV, it just isn't interesting and certainly
not interesting enough to justify the price. The interior is nice. The exterior is pretty standard
EV and the powertrain is going to feel like other EVs just a bit faster. I think that last
point is hard to know until you drive it. I do, I have a lot of faith in Ferrari for making,
for making an EV that feels brilliant to drive. Look at Porsche with the Taycan and the Cayenne,
which is even more physics. I mean, they are fantastic to drive. They're
And I drove an RS e-tron GT recently that felt like it had, was drastically different to the
one I drove when it first came out, a bit driving a heck of a lot better. So you can make EVs that
are good to drive. And if it does have that really kind of pointy Ferrari feel, that's going to help.
Yeah. And it will cover the weight. But, um, but yeah, I suppose, yeah, it's fair that it will
definitely, I have high hopes that it's going to drive really, really well. And I think they are
going to, with the four motors in particular, they're going to have such flexibility to make this
thing drive however they want. You know, they've actually just to end on. And they say EVs are
great in the right situation, but not for staring longingly into your garage or for getting up early
on weekend to go for a blast for no reason other than fun. And in my opinion, that's what a performance
supercar is for. And I'm throwing that water Ferrari is for. Yeah. And so that takes the
off. This is for mobility, isn't it? It is. Yeah. So for says, in a sense, I do admire Ferrari for
actually trying something radically different for their first EV, but I'm not convinced they've
stuck the landing. I like some of the ideas and do think the interior is a great bit of design and
far better than almost any other modern Ferrari. But it suffers from classic EV curse of being too
tall and ungainly. I guess we'll hear how well it drives in due course, but they'll have to be
pretty bloody revolutionary to be worth the extra money versus something like a Taycan.
Comment of the thread, I think. Yeah. Admittedly, I've not read through all 1050 whatever we're on
now. But that is, I think accurate approach to what it is. It's like, do I think they've
stuck the landing? I don't just don't know. The thing is, is that it's just, for me, it's the
effect it has on the brand. Yeah. And also the price thing is true, right? If it was 160 grand,
you would be like, well, at least it's, you know, that's quite a long car. It wouldn't be a Ferrari.
Yeah. But if it was the new entry level car, I mean, I'd have to tell you about the performance,
I presume, with that. It's got to be exclusive and it's got to be desirable. It's just, I don't
think it's desirable for people like us. It's just, but for people who are in the tech world,
I think it is a huge draw. NJJ, if it had a Lancia badge, we'd possibly applaud it for its
clean sheet design slash fresh start. I loved this as well, because I thought exactly the same.
I thought, if you put a Lancia badge on that, it's revolutionary. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's
what Lancia is known for. They are going big on EVs at the moment. And while I would love
twin charged Delta S4s and supercharged O37 recreations, I know that that's not going
to happen. And Lancia was a technology pioneer traditionally. And so maybe something like that
would happen. Could you imagine, however, Stellantis forking out hundreds of millions,
if not billions on developing something like this and then slapping a Lancia badge on it and
go, Hey, remember Lancia? Yeah, it had to have a Ferrari badge. Yeah. And TGOTF slash Dewey says,
Well done Ferrari. That's the best looking bed for a five year old I've seen. Oh, yeah,
that'd be a great bed, wouldn't it? Yeah. Yeah, really would. Yeah. Heated blanket. Yeah. And
I've heard it's very spacious. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard it's very spacious. Look, I think we probably
need to kind of formulate our opinions on this and kind of deliver a final line because
you know, even with this time to digest, as you can probably tell from the last half an hour of
us rambling, there's so much emotion that this drives this kind of stirs and makes you think
like, why Ferrari? I understand. But I also, why? Yeah. Why? I want my three pounds back. So
your closing statement, Sam, on Luce, before we've driven it, it makes me think of the Lotus
Electro, right? Which is apparently they've sold 10,000 of those globally. And obviously,
as we know, the Amiro is struggling, which is a real shame. Yeah. It makes me think of that.
But in the Lotus world, that SUV, as much as it offended the Lotus purists, it wasn't quite so
shocking, I guess, in many ways. And also, it slotted in because of the pricing into a pretty
popular segment. You know, they were a wealthy business owners and company car buyers who were
clearly using it as their choice in that regard. Whereas this slots into a totally different
world. Totally different. And I just don't see how this is going to, outside of your billionaires,
your young tech billionaires, maybe in China in particular, I just don't see how this is going
to have any appeal to anyone. And because even tech lovers, like how many people can afford this?
It's quite interesting, actually, you bring that up because I think of who's the most
prominent billionaire car person that is in tech? Elon Musk. Could you imagine Elon Musk driving
around in something that isn't one of his own cars? No, he wouldn't. It's not going to happen,
is it? Probably not. But there are many billionaires in the world. I'm not convinced on it. I think
it will sell a few and I guess I need to. I did find a report. I couldn't actually access it
because it was on the Economist, but there were suggestions that they have capacity or
they're expecting, I think expecting is the wrong word, probably hoping to sell 9,000 over
four years. But that seems like a massive number. I mean, I had, I did some very, very basic mass
on this and that comes out to well north of 5000000000 pounds, dollars or whatever, in
revenue over four years. Because it's about, it's just shy of two and a half thousand a year.
So it's a heck of a lot. I mean, to find 9,000 people that are going to buy these cars,
but hey, it's going to bring their fleet emissions down. It is really good. So I would be,
it's a similar thing when the iPhone came out. You know, there was a lot of people going,
who's going to buy this? Because it was really expensive. And yeah, I mean, everybody,
bar, select few has an iPhone these days. Maybe we're all going to be driving luches.
I mean, if they, yeah, I think the key difference is that you just, Ferrari,
the jokes I've been seeing is like, are you going to have to buy about five luches before
you get considered for the next supercar Ferrari? I think that's potentially where this might end
people just buy them because they know they want the next big V12.
I think that's it. Well, it's actually an interesting that you bought that up because
I've seen a couple of videos recently from Ferrari where they've had Lewis Hamilton and
Charlotte Clair, the Formula One drivers promoting the F80 and the luche. The thing I find really
interesting about that is I was on a launch a few years ago and there was someone, one of the PR
said, we don't get our Formula One drivers involved with the cars because we don't need
a Formula One endorsement. It's a bit like, I consider it a bit like a watch. A watch doesn't
need to be car related because the bonds that a watch has with a car is, it doesn't need
clarifying. It just is. I think the, and so I think that kind of speaks volumes, but the thing that
I guess I find a bit challenging is it's very easy and I think when you kind of read this kind of
stuff is the line being, it's not for you. It's not for us. That is a, it's a thing that we hear
a lot about electric cars these days and it is something that I believe is not for us. For
I acknowledges that it's not for you. I know that it's not for me, but I still don't think that's
really kind of the best excuse. I kind of think about the Ferrari brand in general and I kind of
feel like anything that comes out of Ferrari should be for me. It should be about passion. It should
be about loving cars. It should be about loving driving and that kind of feeling of when you see
something that you've dreamed of for your whole life. It gives you butterflies and that sitting in
it for the first time is like, I'm in a Ferrari and I don't even think it needs that growl of a
V8 to start up. It just needs to feel special as if you've, you've just walked into something
that has been passed down from heaven itself and as a car lover, the luce doesn't do that to me
yet. Yeah. Yeah. Let's drive it. Maybe we can get going. I think that's it. We need to drive it.
We need to see it in person, but it doesn't have that initial pull. You know, the covers come off
for you. Don't go, whoa, that's just go interesting. Wow. Yeah, exactly. There we go. Emotions running
high and yeah, can't wait to see it. I'd love to be proven wrong and I'd love to, you know, look back
on it and it'd be one of those cars where you go, well, we were wrong about that, weren't we?
Something that we can all relate to a little bit more is a topic from Pride of Anglia and they
see a canal boat. Yeah, I know. This is a real kind of boaty name, but not like a yacht name.
Pride of Anglia. Yeah, exactly. Like your local, your local lake has got like a little
canal boat just digging around in it and they say, afternoon all wondered if the collective
wisdom of piston heads can offer any guidance on my current first world dilemma. I have a 981 base
Cayman, which has been brilliant and also an S2000, which is also superb, but due to limited garage
space, I want to get one car to replace the two. 981 Boxster S or GTS with a bit more money on top
is the obvious choice, but I have also thought about an old shape M4, but aside from this,
I'm struggling to think of any viable alternative. I do love a convertible in the summer, but also
want something I can use all year round, which will be stored outside on the driveway. Has anybody
got any suggestions? Budget would be around £30,000. Right, before you tell me your suggestions,
I'm imposing a Porsche ban on this because the obvious, you know, if you say I want a 981
Boxster S or GTS, that's a pretty good all-rounder, but if you want something genuinely a little bit
different and you go, there could be some other stuff out there, this is kind of what we've
gone with. So we're offering up alternatives, slightly left field. Yeah, what you got, Sam?
Because obviously naturally, because I saw a 996 as well in budget, which is quite nice, but I haven't
gone for that. I've gone for a TVR Griffith 500. I love these cars and this one's in red
and I forgot how brilliant the wheel design was on this. Now, I know this is a car that's supposed
to live outside all year round and I don't know whether these are as, you know, Sivlike as some
other TVRs, but I believe that they're pretty, pretty good. You could get cover for it. I think
it's an absolutely stunning car and it's £25,999. And look, it's a 1998 car, just 33,000 miles on
the clock. So this is a gorgeous car. Oh yeah. Monza red. It looks like the hood's been refurbished
as well. It looks like it's been replaced because that is like absolutely mint. And a proper use
of the word hood there for the top and not the bonnet, just in case you were worried there.
Sorry, yeah. Sam had become American. Yeah, no. No, this looks lovely. It looks gorgeous.
Look at that interior. It's something that I see more and more of TVRs these days of where
they come up for sale and you go, oh God, that's good. Yeah. And the interior is good.
And it's got all the right, you know, ticks all the right boxes when you look in the description
because then you realize, ah, yes, because the ones that don't tick all the right boxes
probably aren't around anymore. Yeah. But the ones that are cared for are so utterly desirable.
Love a Griffith 500, especially in red, and especially one that's in as good condition as
this 25,999. Yeah. I said it's a lot of money, but they hold their value so well, you know.
And this one is honestly mint. I mean, you can see, like, if you just skim across the pictures,
you can see the wheels and mint, tires, they've got a bit of tread on them, exhaust. I mean,
look at the pipes. The pipes are like, they're brand new. It is... Oh, and the pipes on a Griffith
500 are great because they just sagged and they just kind of hang out the back. Yeah. It's almost
like a gun show, isn't it? Yeah, great service history. So honestly, if you've got this cash and
you're thinking, a car that will hold its value and give me plenty of smiles, this is going to be
it, not least because of that V8 sound. So yeah, it's after... Something if you're after something,
a little bit more brutish. Yeah. I think that covers it. It might need a bit of a cover in the
winter, whereas a much more modern alternative, a 2019 BMW M2 competition, I think could live
quite happily on your driveway. So long as you've got a steering wheel lock because, you know...
Would you have one of these over an M4? I like the M2 more. Yeah. I'm an M2 guy. I think these are
perfect size. You can actually drive them properly in the UK. True. Like on B roads, that is. And
being a competition means that it does have the M4 engine as well, so it's a proper M engine versus
the N55. And this is in all black. It's kind of murdered out, but you've got some lovely
wheels. I don't know what they call their wheels BMW, but it's really, really lovely. Oh, look,
it's one previous owner as well. 72,000 miles. So fair play to that owner. Yeah. It has been used,
but if it's a one previous owner car, you know, you've got to assume they've got it from new.
They're going to have probably loved it. Looks in great condition. It's fairly high mileage,
but, you know, it looks absolutely mint. Yeah, yeah. It does look super. This is actually a
really great shout because if you think about what they've got at the moment, yes, the Cayman's
mid-engined, but I mean, it feels like the more natural combination of an S2000 and a Cayman.
It's like, I want to bring those two cars together. What have you got? Something like this. And this
one's a manual as well. Oh, yeah, it's a manual. I didn't even call that out. I just was thinking,
yeah, lovely car, but you're totally right. That's actually one of the main reasons why
this would really fill that box quite nicely. Oh, it's really annoying. That's a really good car.
Yeah. I think if that was my, yeah, that's a really good shout. Yeah. And I just love M2s.
And I think this, I mean, the current, I've not driven the current M2. I've only driven the M240i,
but I don't know, which is brilliant, by the way. But the new M2 comp, I'll be driving one next
month. And I'm really excited to because they've really, it was a CS actually, it's an M2 CS.
It's got the lovely dovetail spoiler on the rear. The design on that has really grown on me,
but I still think I'd prefer this design. I think this looks really, really good. And with the comp,
obviously it was lifted a little bit in terms of chassis and stuff. So it's just a great rounded
car. Absolutely. It does need, I think, a little bit of exhaust work though, to make it sound good.
Yeah, that's true. This is pre when all the massive filters were thrown on everything,
wasn't it? Just, I think. No, it was post. Is that post WLTP? 2019. Yeah. So it will need a little
bit of work. But, you know, you've got 750 quid there in the tank left over from that budget.
Go whack a cat back on it. Yeah, exactly. That said, something that definitely doesn't need help in
the exhaust department is my final choice, which is a 2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. I mean, I've
always loved the V8 Vantage. Delicious. And this one, yeah, just a beautiful car. And I love this
color on this one. It's like a slightly minty, just a bit off green, but silver color, isn't it?
It's gorgeous. I don't know what it's called. I think even, I think even the name of it, I can't
remember fully, which just shows you how the terrible journalism work I'm doing at the moment.
But I think it is called like, like just green or something like that, or like slightly green.
Yeah, it's, but yeah, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing. Shows off those people who can't
really tell if it's a Fisca or in Canon design, Canon is kind of like a little bit of a war over
that. But either way, maybe the prettiest design of the 21st century. Yeah, the most timeless one.
So compact on the road as well. It's like, it's a short wheelbase, you know, compared to other
sports cars. So pretty. This particular car, 69,000 miles away. And it's got a ton of spec on it,
ton of spec, you know, you've got everything from, I mean, the sound system, the 700 watt upgraded
Dolby Pro Logic 2 sound system, that's so of the time. You've got, you know, cruise control,
I don't even know that standard, but certainly you've got, you know, sat nav, cruise control.
And I'm sure you could, if you really want to, if this was to, it doesn't sound like he's going
to be doing many miles. But if you wanted to, you know, you could probably get yourself a nice little,
a little singled in Apple CarPlay in there, something like that. Yeah, exactly. This is,
I think the most important thing, though, is that some of these more affordable V8 advantages
can, can sometimes be a bit tired, a little baggy. This doesn't look, this doesn't look it. This,
this does look like it's been really well looked after, only for previous owners. I think that's
not bad for a car that's 20 years old. 24995. Yeah. That's a good shout, Sam.
I was not as good as my ones, obviously. So this was challenging because, yes, the, the, the obvious
thing was, I just want to Porsche Boxster and then call it a day. But no, we're going to do things a
little bit differently. And the first car is, I was going to say it's my most left field option.
No, the next one is actually, this one's relatively left field, but it's a Nissan
370Z Nismo. I drove a 350Z recently for our sports car triple test that we did with a Honduras 2000
and a Mazda RX8. And I know it's not obviously the same car, but they're, you know, obviously
are connected. The 350Z was genuinely such a treat to drive. It wasn't the most engaging thing in
the world, but it was way more than I was expecting. Really nice mix of being a GT and a sports car.
And I just think if you had something like the Nismo 370Z, which is going to be a little bit more
refined and have a bit more power, 340 versus the 300 that I had in my 350, it's just going to feel
so much more alive. Obviously, the damping is a little bit stiffer as well. And it,
it's got some real theatre to the looks. I think these look absolutely fantastic.
Yeah, very Japanese as well. Very, very much so. It's got those big arches at the back,
little ducktail spoiler. This one is the Pearl White, which I think is absolutely lovely,
red accents on it. It's just a really cool car, very different to what he's had before. But,
you know, my Japanese car, I think this is kind of a nice progression onto that.
It's not a convertible, however. So it's a 25995, 17,000 miles for previous owners.
Really smart. But again, not a convertible. And they did say, oh, I quite like a convertible.
Well, if you like your roof off Pride of Anglia, then I've got a car for you.
Oh, this is silly.
As no, it's not. It's a perfectly good choice.
But given the driveway scenario.
Yeah, true. One car to do two. Maybe this is not the best choice, but it's a Zenos E10R.
If you don't remember what a Zenos E10R is, because they were pretty niche and they went
around for all that long. They were two seater, almost like kind of a closed wheel catering,
really, aren't they?
Yeah. And they kind of, that would be a compliment to the guys when they were doing it,
because I think they were trying to make a more usable and a more
a track day, albeit with no roof year round friendly car. And it's got space.
And have you driven one of these?
Yeah, I have years ago. I'm trying to remember when I drove it.
It was it was very, very track focused. Let me just type in brilliant.
What year was it? It was in 2025.
Was it only a year ago that you drove it?
Oh, yeah, of course it was. I was thinking it was like bloody 2021, but no, it was.
Yeah, it was last year. Wow.
It was really, really cool. The only thing is with this reborn one, because they've come back
with this, is the price has gone up a fair bit. So what you're demonstrating is you can access
very similar and very impressive track day performance. It's not even like catering.
It's more than catering, really, in terms of some of the, I think the mechanical grip
in these is a bit higher because they've got a really modern chassis set up on it.
But yours is under 30K, whereas nowadays, I think they're going for over 100K new.
Wow, that's incredible. And the benefit I have on my one is yours didn't have a windscreen,
but mine does. Yeah, so it's practically the perfect daily.
Yeah, here you go. So the RZ now is about 140 grand as a new car.
Wow. Okay, so this one is a 30 grand. A budget way into a 2900K.
2995. I don't know how they've found another 110,000 pounds.
They did. The new one is being developed forward quite a bit more and they're going to change
the engine and stuff like that. But I mean, that's still an exceptional car for track day drivers.
I think if I was popping down the shops, though, for a bit of Tesco's update,
it might be a little bit chilly in January. You would have popping down to the shops ever.
It's probably got semi-slicks on it. You're being a little bit, you know,
as it got semi-slicks. Just being a bit delicate, Sam. But if that's the case,
I've got you covered because currently, it's not up for auction, it's coming up for auction,
is I think maybe the best car that's not an obvious choice.
Yeah. It is a Series 2 Lotus Exige. I mean, I love these.
Because they are epically fun. They will feel every journey that you take will feel like an event.
I think they have aged superbly along the lines of your V8 Vantage. I think that these have aged
fantastically. Mine's a year older than yours as well, 2005. And you can pop out the center
section as a teatop and let the sun beat down on your head.
And you've got mirrors from a Metro.
Oh, they function as mirrors. At least the engine's not from a Metro.
No. This one being the 1.8-litre Toyota unit.
Yeah. Supercharged.
I don't think this one's supercharged. No, so it's a non-supercharged one with 187 brake horsepower.
But it does have nitron coilovers on it. And it weighs about three kilograms.
And it does weigh barely anything. Obviously, it's going to be a manual.
It's got loads of service history, even a quick-release steering wheel.
Oh, that's so cool.
Getting in and out of it is going to be so easy.
I might be projecting my dreams onto the... No, that's got the wrong name again. Pride of Anglia.
But yeah, this is very much a dream car of mine. I think it's such a fantastic...
Maybe, maybe, definitely lacks the refinement of a Boxster S or GTS.
It's not going to sound quite as evocative, but I still think that these sound like little touring
cars. They are brilliant. I've been on board one and it was great. I'd love to drive it.
I'd love to own it. That's the kind of put forward.
I thought you'd say that. Well, I'm going to put forward my dream.
Dream within maybe one day I could own one car, because obviously it was actually a dream car.
I'd be going for a Ferrari Luce. No, but maybe something prancing horse.
But I'm going to put forward the advantage, because if I had 25k on the side, I would
probably go and buy this car. Amazing. Well, there you go.
Two very different approaches to replacing a Cayman and an S2000. If you like my car or Sam's car,
you can actually vote on it if you're listening to this on Spotify. I'll put up a vote and you
can choose which one you like. Or if you think that we did a rubbish job, you can go onto my
article on the Pissing Heads homepage, click on the thread and pop your suggestions in there.
If you don't live in England or you've stayed in your house for the last two weeks,
it has been freaking roasting hot and my aircon has been on full blast. When I was daily driving
my Fiesta and I was saving up for my now house, I didn't get the aircon. Well, I didn't get it
regassed because I had it regassed by a garage and it ran out almost immediately. So I thought it
had a leak. And so I went a couple of years without getting it fixed because I was like,
I can't really afford to get it sorted. I then had it looked at last year and another garage
were like, we can't find a leak whatsoever. They charged it up. Now it's got an aircon.
But it's got a busted damper. So I'm driving around in the BMW, which has lovely aircon.
But it did get me thinking, oh God, these are all features that I, having not had aircon for a
remember like Goodwood Festival Speed, hot long day in the traffic and then getting into my Fiesta
where it was like a microwave and being like, the only thing I can do is open the windows and
just pray that it cools down a little bit. Going back to aircon, I'm like, this is the best thing
ever. So I found a post by the angry dog that says car features you cannot live without and have spoiled
cars that don't have these features for you. Excluding things like power steering, ABS,
et cetera. I'm talking about modern features that would make it difficult, a difficult decision
to buy a car without. For me, it's LED headlights, DAB radio doesn't really do it for me. There's
a lot, there were a lot of people saying, I've got to have DAB radio. A lot of BBC radio six
listeners. There you go. And aircon. I want to replace my current car. It has LED headlights.
Going from car with Zenon straight into LED on the same night showed how much brighter and how
much more rode the LED headlights lit. I hate them when fitted to other people's cars. Yeah,
they are blinding. Especially if you're in a low car and it's an SUV. Oh, absolutely. But for me,
it's a feature I need on my next car. Same as DAB and AC nowadays with FM having less stations and
the ones I like listening to only being available on DAB. That explains why. Can I put a shot in
FM radio? Yeah, FM radio does still have some, especially if you live in the cities,
you'll get old school... I'm all about the AM. This one's for Dave. Yeah, and then proper old school
garage and stuff like that. If anyone's into that, FM still has some gems. I'm all about AM.
I get up to Harry Benjamin on radio five live. Best F1 commentator there is in my opinion.
But yeah, I mean, when I get signal, so I usually have to listen to it through the app.
But anyway, so he asks, what do you people of PH think? So Harry H says, the ability to decide
which safety features I want without having to reset to default every time I start the car.
Agreed. Yeah. And my one, I would add on top of that is, if you do buy a new car, one that you
can turn everything off with a push of a button. Yeah, it's 100%. And those shout out to Renault
and Alpine, of course, as well, having the... And Ferrari, I think do it too, did they not?
They do. Yeah, probably. I can't remember the latest ones. But yeah, shout out to Renault for
that. And BMW, shout out for taking yours away because you had a button. It was you press and
held the set button, which is obviously the cruise control button on the steering wheel. That
switched off all the ADAS. Now it's on the touchscreen. It pops up on screen for a few
seconds. But if you miss it, then you have to go into the menus. I've got actually a really
annoying thing in my full series of where the start, stop button reset itself after about
about half an hour of driving. Oh, God, I hate it so much. That's interesting. It's the most...
Because there's nothing annoying when you're driving along and then you pull up a junction
or a roundabout and you notice a gap and as soon as you're coming to a stop, it just conks out.
Yeah. And then it's like, right, I want to floor it and go. And then it, you know,
but that little split second, yeah, infuriates me. That's, I'm so glad that stuff has stopped
because most cars are at least mild hybrid now. The start stop thing has kind of gone away,
thankfully, because if you stop the car, the electric's giving you the push anyways,
isn't it? I need to get it like a little chip. Mapped in. I'm sure you can.
So similarly, Kobayashi Maru 86 says, if it's a daily, yeah, I know.
Kobayashi was back in the day, wasn't he? I know. I'm a big Kobayashi fan. Love Kamui.
He says, a button to turn off all the ADAS crap. Heated mirrors, a head unit that does
Android Auto. And of course, there's a lot of shout outs for Aircon. I think that's a given
nowadays. Hazar says, my dad once advised me to look for a car with inertia reel seat belts.
I followed this advice ever since. I'm amazed to find a car that doesn't have inertia reel seat
belts from 1990 onwards. I don't know when inertia reel seat belts came in, but...
I've definitely been in cars recently. My dad's old Elan S3 SE, which didn't come with belts,
but someone added them in. That's, that's just got loose belts. And as he's driving along,
you're like, God damn it. Can you slow down while I try and tighten these up?
I've been in cars where the inertia reel seat belts have well and truly given up.
And, you know, they're just giving up the ghost. They also say auto dimming rear view mirrors.
They just work without any fuss. And whenever I go back into a car without it now, I find
it really annoying. Loski says, I'd prefer a proper handbrake and not electric parking brake.
I know that's not answering the question. Sorry. Oh, the sorry is nice.
True. Yeah. Like, I mean, I love a good handbrake. Try it, man. Electrically adjustable headrests.
This is a proper first world problem. But having had a car with them and now one without them,
I noticed the difference. Yes, you tend not to adjust your headrests much. But if you ever lay
back the seat just to rest when parked, it's handy to be able to adjust them easily. Plus,
most manual headrests seem a right fennel. Never thought about that. Neither have I.
I rarely take a rest in my car. Yeah, I'm usually just like, I need to go. get to my
destination. Or I just have a ton of caffeine. Yes, exactly. Oh, caffeine always solves it.
And Metric Max says, for me, it would have to be an engine. Petrol or diesel would be fine.
That's funny. What have you got to submit? Something that I experienced literally this week
is called ventilated seats. Amazing. Because it's been 39 degrees, 40 degrees I saw on the
dash the other day when I was stuck in traffic. And I had the aircon blowing. But the back of you
is not getting the aircon. But it does now in cars with ventilated seats. So shout out called
ventilated seats. I actually think I'd take those over the heated seats, even though I like heated
seats in the winter. Because once the heating's up, my body temp does go up. But even when the
back is still sweating crazy. My wife's home country is famously exceptionally hot all of the
time. She has a Camry that's 15 years old. And that's the first car I experienced ventilated
seats. They've been doing it that long. I thought it was more recent. Amazing. Well, I guess in
countries of where it's like, because it obviously doesn't have heated seats, but it has ventilated
seats. So it's just you tap a little button, that pops a toggle, you turn it up. So that and full
aircon when you've been I mean, it can be so hot that the walk from a mall to the car. Yeah.
30 odd seconds and you have to get a sweat on the humidity. And that's what we have here in the
UK. Terrific. Yeah. That is a real, a really good feature that you just don't really get. Exactly.
So when you get him, it's really, really useful. Something that we used to get and we took for
granted, but is now very rare, a volume knob. It's just not common anymore. And I'm really sad
about that. I mean, any kind of knobs in a car stop laughing in the back. You know, they're all
being deleted. And some are coming back. I mean, Volkswagen with its recent interior reveals,
brought back some switches and which is brilliant. But there are still many guilty parties out there.
A nice volume knob. And it's fresh in my mind this because with my Boxster, I really want to get a
Porsche. I really want to get a double din screen. All the aftermarket ones are touch sensitive volume
buttons. And I just refuse even if they're really, really good value to get, to have an analog sports
car where I have to go tap to tap, tap to tap to change the volume in a car. Whereas the Porsche
system has a proper knob, knob, proper knob, but it's also 1500. You can do it without looking.
Yeah. Because then if you can actually do the touch ones without looking, but then you'll always
kind of go above where you want to go and then you'll go below where you want to go as a mess.
I just hate them. Mine is really boring. But I was like, what genuinely could I live, could I not
live without now? And Aircon's obvious. And, you know, I think that, you know, having a decent
heated windscreen is obvious as well. My Fiesta is rubbish in the winter. That's a good one.
It's like a mouse coughing. I find it so bad. I thought of the first to put here in screens
as standard on their cars, right? Yep. But then as soon as mine got a stone chip, the heated
element stopped working. So you had it. Yeah. So I've got mine has the element. And it is also
kind of annoying because it's one of the first ones. And so you kind of see this on a bright day.
You see the shimmer of the wire through the windscreen. You get used to it after like a year.
But to start off with, it used to really work now. That's a shame. But the one thing that I
can't live without is memory seats. Because my because I share my car. So because my wife is a
good 20 centimetres shorter than I am. Our driving positions are drastically different.
And I also have a funny thing. I think it was before you and I met. There was a
several people told me of something called the sheen driving position where apparently you have
a slight reputation for having a very racy driving position. I didn't know this. Yes. Yes. There
are so many things I've known that you have the sheen driving position, which is apparently
steering wheel wheel right up to your chest and quite close to the pedals, right? Well,
my legs. I like my legs a bit more stretched, but you can't you can't always achieve that in
cars these days. Precisely. But a steering wheel is the most important kind of quite close to your
arms and nicely bent. Yeah, I have the same driving position. Good. So yes. So my my default
when getting into a car is steering wheel pretty much as close as I can get to my chest because
then I can get a good and that kind of works with my leg placement with the pedals. And I find
that's the best place to do it. I also try and make my seat quite buckety. So I like the kind of
the front of the seat quite lifted and the back to be quite low. Obviously, when my wife gets in
the car, she needs to be much closer. Much closer. Memory seats are a must when I was looking for
my current car. There are so many people that have bought the big engine option and called manual
seats. Why? What are you doing? Stop being cheap. Yeah, buy some freaking memory seats. I do agree.
Actually, the memory seats are quite nice when I've jumped into yeah, like someone I've shared a car
or when you're, you know, you get in in the winter and you're like, I've got a big puffer coat on.
You can have a winter setting and a summer setting because in the summer, you're naturally
sat closer to the back of the seat because you haven't got your big puffer on. Going back to the
steering wheel positioning, by the way, anyone who's currently listening to this in the car,
if it's safe to do so, if you're in traffic ideally or stopped, put your lean your shoulders
against your seat, push back into your seat and put your right or left arm onto the steering wheel
and see if your wrist to just behind the back of your hand falls neatly onto the top of the wheel.
And if it does, then you probably got it set perfectly for this. If it doesn't, if it's too
far away or it's too close, you might need to adjust your wheel. That's a very good point.
Nothing irritates me more than seeing people get into a car and their hands are or arms are
fully outstretched to touch the wheel. Stop or driving a track day like that. Yeah.
Anyway, that's a completely different subject and we will definitely ramble on about it
on another episode. But for now, that has been the Gassing Station podcast. Thank you ever so
much for listening. We, that was quite a fair old ramble about the luce. If you like what you
listen to, please give us a five star review or maybe leave us some nice words. That's it for us.
Sam, anything you want to add? Well, we've got Le Mans coming up. We do. Yes. Very excited.
Le Mans. Yeah, I'm off to Monica as well. Oh my God. Yeah. That's a lot of stuff to talk about
when we get back. Oh, 100%. And on that note, I shall see you next Tuesday.
About this episode
Sam and the hosts kick off with a classifieds hunt for a Porsche Boxster S, then pivot into Porsche reliability/IMS worries and why they’d avoid track-style suspension changes. Ferrari Luce takes over: it’s framed as a ground-up EV with four motors, 1050 hp, 800V charging, and a 122 kWh battery. They debate whether the Luce truly feels “Ferrari,” compare its silhouette and wipers, and argue about brand identity, value, and driving feel. The second half turns to “can’t live without” comfort features and £30k Cayman alternatives.
The biggest car story of the year? Quite possibly. Cam and Sam take a closer look at the new Ferrari Luce, the company’s first-ever EV, and dissect everything from its controversial styling and radical interior to the reaction from the PH community.
Then it's onto a £30k sports car buying challenge, replacing a 981 Porsche Cayman and Honda S2000 with a single car, before debating the car features we simply couldn’t live without. Air conditioning is only the beginning...
🏎️ Sell your car on PistonHeads auctions: https://www.pistonheads.com/sell/auctions
🎟️ Get your Annual Service 2026 tickets: https://www.pistonheads.com/events/annual-service
