What Does a Luxury Car Even Mean These Days?, Driving the Latest & Quickest Mercedes Ever

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I'm Hannah Elliott.

And I'm Matt Miller.

This is Hot Pursuit.

Coming up on today's podcast.

My story just out on what even makes a luxury car these days.

I know there's, at least in my own head, a lot of questions about that.

And later, we're talking Mercedes.

Yeah, there's a lot to talk about, by the way, with Mercedes because we got pictures of the Baby G,

which, you know, you can Google that and make your own decision.

But I think, well, it's interesting to talk about.

And then we got pictures of the G-Wagon Cabriolet.

But you're driving, actually, what I think is the very best Mercedes that you can buy

if you have an unlimited budget.

I might agree with you as much as I love the G-Wagon.

I've been driving the AMG GT63 SE Performance, which is really a mouthful for just,

basically, the new AMG GT.

And of course, the thing to know about this car is it now has a backseat

and an attempt to compete against the 911.

So we can definitely discuss whether that helps or hurts.

Let's talk it.

Let's start, though, with a brand that we almost never talk about,

because it's an easy segue to make.

Toyota is also looking to compete against 911.

Just today or maybe last night, we started to see news break with pictures and details

about Toyota's new GR GT.

That's what they're calling it.

And it's developed by their Gazoo Racing Unit, which is certainly the silliest name of any.

Like, that's their M-Works or their AMG or their MAGMA.

They're calling it Gazoo Racing.

And we can be forgiven for not knowing, and our listeners can, too,

because it doesn't exist in the US.

They don't sell these in the US.

Right. I mean, this GR GT won't be sold until 2027.

So the street going version exactly of the GT3 car that they want to enter,

they want to get into GT racing.

I think Lexus already does it right now with the LFA.

So they're going to do it with this.

To me, it looks gorgeous and a lot like the AMG GT.

I mean, do you think when you look at this thing, it's got a huge long hood

and then a two-seater with a cockpit way out back.

And it's got a big twin turbo V8 in the front as well.

I'm going to strongly disagree and say it certainly didn't call to mind Mercedes at all.

But it does look very Toyota.

It reminds me of the old, older Toyota racers, of course, that we know and love

like Godzilla from back in the day that are really worth a lot of money now.

I don't, you know, it's interesting.

I'm just saying the proportions, Hannah, just the proportions.

Like, you know, the GT, the previous AMG one, before what you're driving and like the SLS.

This is what the proportions remind me of.

I hope the doors don't just open like normal doors.

Please.

Yes. I totally get it.

Yeah. I mean, if we're talking long nose, wow, that's really a long one.

It's like a Corvette, like the Corvette long nose, like the AMG GT long nose for sure.

You know, what I felt driving, it's a different feeling from like a 911,

for instance, which feels very centered.

It certainly feels like a huge protrusion to drive anything in that shape, so to speak.

Yes.

But obviously that's part of Toyota's heritage and it's there for a reason.

I mean, do you like how that car looks?

I like how it looks because at first, I don't like it.

So this is one of those designs, those shapes where it looks like it's the wrong proportions at first.

It reminds me of, there's a car in an old Bugs Bunny episode that just you see the hood pulling

up for so long and then, you know, outsteps the rival to maybe it's Tom and Jerry, outsteps,

you know, Jerry's rival or whatever with a diamond ring for his girl.

And that kind of reminds me of this.

But I also like that Toyota has set up so well for this release.

So, you know, we used to write stories at Bloomberg about how they've missed the boat on EVs

and how could they not have invested in developing EVs.

And they're going to be so far behind when everybody else has developed the best EVs

and Toyota has only gone with hybrids.

And now it looks like they were the smartest kid in class.

They've made so much money and saved so much money that they're the number one most profitable

car maker in the whole world.

And they've been making all of these, you know, fuel efficient vehicles like the Prius,

but everything else, they make it fairly fuel efficient.

So they have really low average or high average fuel economy numbers

and they can afford to put a V8 in this thing.

So now they're going to have 641 horsepower, 627 pound feet.

That's what they say today about a car that's going to be coming out in three years.

But I think it's great.

You know, everyone else is having to scrimp and put out these these sixes.

And no one else has ever been able to do what really what Porsche has done at the flat six

or BMW with the inline six.

So I just think it's fantastic.

It's cool.

I totally agree with you on that.

Anytime an automaker does a car that generates excitement,

I'm all for it.

And I don't even, I honestly don't even care what it looks like as long as it makes people

feel something.

This is going to be, I mean, it looks, it looks awesome.

It looks to me very Toyota.

And I hope they do make it.

Obviously these are just rendering.

So I'm, I'm always very skeptical when an automaker just puts out some pictures

and says this is what it's going to be in a few years from now.

And often that changes.

But I hope they can produce it.

I hope they that it actually looks like what we're look these renderings here.

And yeah, I mean, it is fascinating that everybody is coming out with internal

combustion, especially I'm so sure you saw the news about Trump, you know, going back

on some of the fuel and emissions goals for the U.S. and it's already saved.

Dude, it's already saved, you know, American car makers so much money in the order of billions

of dollars or at least more than a billion dollars a year and savings for Ford, General

Motors and Stellantis because they don't have to buy these carbon credits from Tesla.

Whether you're for or against it, it's given them a little bit more firepower.

And the thing is I'm not sure everyone is going to be able to develop the V8 in, you know,

their more powerful cars.

Obviously Ford has the Mustang.

Obviously, you know, GM has the Corvette and they also had the 6.2 liter V8 somehow

and everything else.

And then Stellantis is bringing back the Hemi, but they all have to be careful because

when a new administration, if a new administration, if we ever have an election again and someone else

is president who feels differently about, you know, climate change and the environment,

they're going to put those CAFI standards right back on and we know that it takes like four,

three, four or five years to develop a car.

So I don't think it's necessarily going to give us a whole bunch more

fire-breathing V8s, but at least it's a break for these car makers for the next,

for the foreseeable future, let's say.

I do agree that this actually could mean really nothing because every time we have

the chance to talk to an auto executive, they all say the problem is the moving target.

If we had a target that we knew was immovable and would be, we'll hit that target,

but they all say it's the moving target that is really difficult.

So I do agree with you that, you know, for people who love internal combustion,

they might be cheering this, but also it may not necessarily mean that we're going to see a

bunch of internal combustion vehicles coming out like this cool new Toyota.

And I have to say for the record, again, I am not against electric vehicles at all.

I think they have a lot of great applications.

Someone yesterday was saying to me, electric vehicles were simply a failure of marketing

and they were marketed wrong.

And I said, well, I totally disagree.

There are a lot of reasons why electric vehicles aren't the prominent and dominant

cars on the road today, but it has really, to my mind, nothing to do with marketing.

And it has to do with a lot of other things.

Yeah, I know, I think, but I think both can both are true, right?

Marketing also wasn't done well.

And you think that?

Yeah, I do because they seem to be only going after initially kind of like the Prius crowd or

it was like a fad for rich people to buy Teslas like a virtue signaling thing.

And yeah, they didn't they didn't start with, hey, these things can be so powerful.

And they didn't start with the big bulky.

Have you seen there was a Ford dealer who took a Bronco?

I guess this is not an electric vehicle.

So that shouldn't there's I have it.

There's a story about Scout, you know, Audi's brand that they're reviving.

And I'm excited about the the EV and apparently Audi is going to make a G class competitor

that Scout will, I guess, design and build.

So you'll get these like butch looking, you know, very masculine bulky EVs that I think Americans

will want and probably could sell well.

I'm not saying the Audi will, but I think the Scout probably will.

So you're saying Audi is planning to launch a large SUV that will appeal like an off-roader

that will appeal to Americans.

Yes.

Well, I mean, build on a Scout platform.

This is the this is the the rumor mill or what I've seen from reading like auto blog

and car scoops and everything that.

So since Volkswagen owns Scout and there's been so much interest in that vehicle,

which initially was planned to be all EV.

And now the most orders are for the EV that has a range extender, the harvest version.

Apparently now Audi is going to get Scout to build them a big butch off-road SUV that obviously

is only going to be going to Starbucks and not off-road, but like the more expensive version.

So it'll be their G-Wagon.

But I'm guessing it will also be an EV like the G-Wagon also EV itself.

The what do you call it the EQG or whatever.

That is a great example of how you can have a big butch off-road SUV.

And I don't know why I continue to use that term, but that that is electric powered.

And the and the electric powertrain is perfect for that kind of vehicle.

I drove that vehicle in Austria and it was great.

Now they haven't sold a ton of them, but in terms of performance, it worked well.

And this goes back to my point about the marketing thing.

I don't think there's any.

I don't think you and I would say that something like the electric G-Wagon

doesn't isn't a good product.

The problem is it's expensive.

And there's not really a network to support it.

And so why would why would consumers aren't dumb?

Why would they spend more money on something that creates more inconvenience in their life?

No matter no matter if it promises that they're going to go to heaven for saving the world.

No, you hit the nail on the head.

That's really what it is.

It's the expense.

That's the problem.

So, of course, the electric G hasn't sold very many because it's like 170,000.

And that's before you put options on it.

Right.

But the cool thing about and that's and that's the case for a lot of these,

you know, the Audi was one of the first out of the gate with an electric SUV with the

e-tron, which was a really great vehicle.

Not a lot of range, but very luxurious to a lot of people and expensive.

Right.

The cool thing about the Scout is that it's supposed to be only 60 grand a start

or maybe 65, which isn't cheap, but it's $100,000 less than the G.

And the other thing we have to remember too is all of those federal incentives

and rebates are have now gone or are disappearing.

A lot of them, which also propped up sales of a lot of these vehicles.

So now that they are leaving or will soon, some already have left,

I think it's going to be very interesting to see how automakers

to your point are able to try to compete on a price on a price point

with something like a big SUV because you're right.

60 grand is not crazy for an SUV.

That's competitive, I would say.

By the way, while we're on price, can I just say it is insane how expensive Porsche's cost

new and used.

I was seeing used prices are so high that I thought, I might as well,

I'd be better off buying a new one, right?

So I go on the website to configure a new 911 with the manual transmission.

And so I click on the manual box and there's only one choice below GT3.

You can't get a manual in the Carrera S.

You can't get a manual in the GTS.

You can't get it in the base.

Obviously, you can only get a manual transmission in the Carrera T,

which we used to laud as like the smart guys Porsche because

okay, it only has 380 horsepower, but it's the cheapest.

And on American roads, what are you going to do with 500 horsepower anyway?

That thing starts at over $150,000.

That's wild.

It's insane.

Yes.

And that, I have to say, goes right into this whole narrative that in September,

according to Kelly Bluebook, the average price of a new car in America today hit

over $50,000 for the first time ever, the average price of a new car.

And the thing driving that rising average are two things, electric vehicles and luxury cars,

like the kind that you're describing right now.

And we know that according to Bloomberg Intelligence, the average price of any vehicle from Porsche

on average, including all the SUVs and everything, is over $115,000.

And that obviously is being pulled up by cars that you're describing, the manual stuff.

Yeah, I don't know why.

Why don't they just make more manuals?

I don't understand why you only offer a manual transmission on one vehicle.

And the answer, I mean, they say it's the take rate and that you would be surprised

how many people don't choose the manual, but your resale value is going to be

so much higher with the manual transmission.

It's got to be consideration even for people who don't know how to drive with three pedals.

It's like, would you buy a 911 and not option the Sport Chrono?

That's the dumbest decision ever because then no one wants to buy it from you in the used market.

I think that Porsche is putting manual transmissions in fewer and fewer cars because

it somehow is more expensive for them to do so.

That's the same reason they're not putting gauges in the dash is because it's more expensive.

It's the same reason they don't have a handbrake with a handle.

It's because it's more expensive.

They're doing all these things to cut costs on a car that costs three times the average new car cost.

It's insane to me. They must be in absolutely dire straits.

I also want to tell everybody who's listened.

Thank you for putting up with these little clicks and pops that you hear

because I have a brand new headset and it's like degassing right now.

I don't know what the deal is, but it's making that noise.

All right. We are going to take a break.

We come back. We'll talk about with so many luxury vehicles on the market,

how do we really separate the best from the rest or the bake from the real?

Because Hannah has a piece on what actually makes a luxury car that's just ahead on hot pursuit.

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Welcome back to hot pursuit from Bloomberg radio.

I'm Matt Miller here with Hannah Elliott and Hannah.

You and I have had a discussion for a long time.

In fact, you've kind of changed my view on this with your kind of base case

for what makes sort of the 35,000 foot view of what makes a luxury car.

What did you write about for a Bloomberg pursuits?

Well, it's something I think about quite a bit because in today's market,

we've got pickup trucks that cost $120,000 and we've got Mercedes that cost $40,000.

And traditionally, you think Mercedes always luxury and pickup trucks non-luxury,

but it's not that simple anymore. And I spoke with probably 10 different automotive executives

about this and how they are defining luxury and how their customers define luxury.

And what I really came away with is that luxury is certainly an ephemeral quality

that is not defined by any one thing. Nobody came back and said to me, luxury is about

performance. Luxury is just about horsepower and sprint times, or luxury is just about

a certain price or a certain popularity. It's a lot more nuanced.

And I think the number one thing people said is luxury is buying into a family of like-minded

individuals where you feel your own personal tastes can be communicated and then seen and enjoyed

among this family. So that was something that Christopher Pagani told me about his clients,

that Christoph Bugatti itemized that Chris Brownwood Ridge at Rolls Royce. They all said

it's about this close bond that when people buy the car, they feel they're buying into a exclusive

family that is welcoming, that sees who they are on a very personal level, and then also reflects

them. Which yeah, that's a little vague, but I thought that was very, very interesting.

Yeah, because your initial concept, and correct me if I'm wrong, is luxury has got to be real.

So real leather, the dash has to be inlaid with real wood, a reduced amount of plastics,

of artificial, right? And ever since you said that, I've been a believer. Now,

whenever I'm trying to judge whether or not something is a luxury car, I want to see if

it has an actual clock rather than something digital. And obviously, automatic is better than

quartz. But none of these executives came back to that, because that's also, you could say,

maybe people are choosing people who would normally buy a luxury product,

not to have leather in their vehicles now. Yeah, that's an interesting point. Some

automakers, like for instance, Volvo don't even offer leather anymore. I would argue the point

about the thing being real still holds, it's one layer. Because in some cars, like for instance,

a Koenigsegg, those certainly are, you could put them in a luxury car category, but a Koenigsegg

is not going to have a bunch of wood trim and lambswool carpeting. A Koenigsegg is

something very different. Even though the people who are in those circles who own and drive and

collect those cars feel they're receiving a luxury experience. So I think the quality of the materials

is one very important layer, it's not the only layer. And now automakers are taking a very

holistic look at a broader definition of what luxury means. For instance, we know that Maserati

has really suffered in terms of residual values and in terms of reliability. And Maserati vehicles

right now are not among the top five options you'd probably want for a car in any given segment.

Even though Maserati is an old brand with a lot of heritage, but I would not consider a Maserati

a luxury purchase at this point because they're falling behind in so many other ways that the

people who buy them are not getting a full luxury experience. Does that make sense?

Yeah, totally. I mean, well, first of all, it's interesting that you think of Koenigsegg

as luxury because I've always drawn a line between sports or performance and luxury. And

even though there are companies that I know of that blur that line like Pagani and Bugatti,

I guess I just don't know enough about Koenigsegg to know if you can actually,

because customizable is also bespoke is something that luxury should be. So you

should be able to pick the materials and the colors. And luxury isn't something that's just

like off the shelf. You know, I'm not going to go and buy a luxury suit without having it at least

tailored. One thing that a lot of automakers told me is that the car needs to be deeply

meaningful on a personal level. And one way that that is communicated is through actually

innovation. And it's being able to have the innovation to create ways for the cars to be

incredibly customized and incredibly bespoke to the buyer. And that applies both to Rolls-Royces,

which have, you know, 100% of the phantom sold are heavily bespoke to the criteria of the customer.

But that also does apply to Koenigseggs, which are hand built on a very slow timeline.

They're extremely rare. And they are built to the exact specifications of the person who is

paying for that car. So I do consider that a luxury. It's a different type. It's a new type.

This is kind of the whole point of the story. Like in this, in this current world,

there is a new definition of luxury. And it's not just about a bunch of wood and

lamb's wool carpets and chrome in a, in a Bentley, it's a, it's a lot bigger than that.

By the way, when you mention Maserati, I think of, you know, things going

wrong and breaking down. And I don't have enough experience with that brand to say that,

you know, that's because of what's happened to me in the past. It's just that I see these

broken down old Maseratis on, you know, on like a Craigslist all the time.

But I wonder if reliability is a part of luxury or not. Because if you think of like the

SZ-bodied Rolls-Royces and Bentley's, they're definitely luxury vehicles, but you can easily

blow a head gasket or have a problem with the hydraulic system and end up with like $40,000

bills. Now maybe it's no big deal to rich people. And so it can still be a luxury product.

But I would like, I would prefer to think of a luxury product as something like the

Mercedes, over-engineered Mercedes-Benz's of the 60s and 70s, where, you know,

they just spent so much to build these things that they don't break down.

Well, certainly there are different rules for non-new cars. I think the piece that I wrote this

week is speaking strictly about new cars, you know, the brand new stuff. In terms of

collectible cars, that's a whole other world. And you're completely right. I think

reliability goes out the window. That's a completely different animal.

Well, the thing is, I think there's a lot of new cars that seem to be engineered only to last the

life of the first lease, you know, in terms of reliability. There are some very expensive

German brands that I suspect engineer cars to work very well for three or four years.

And then everything starts to break and it costs a hell of a lot of money to fix.

And they do that because they know that most people are just swapping in and out of them,

always wanting to have the newest thing. Whereas back in the day, when my grandmother bought a car,

you know, you would buy a Rolls-Royce even though it was a huge outlay if you had the

cash because you knew that you would be driving that same Rolls-Royce or your driver would be

chauffeuring you around in it for decades, right? Yeah. Yeah. I admit, and this is something

we talk about all the time, but I like, I think that mentality is a better mentality. I think it's,

you buy something expecting to own it and keep it for a long time. Now, I am curious about this

theory you have about the purposefully engineered to break thing. Well, I don't know how to say

that in a better way. This is an interesting, is this a conspiracy theory? No, it's not. I don't

think that they engineer these things purposely to break. Like Range Rover or Mercedes like the

air suspensions that all of these very luxurious cars have. They're just complicated systems that

are difficult to make durable. So if you have somebody abusing these things by driving them,

by commuting in them every day in the Northeast or around Chicago or in American places where

the roads are awful, they're just going to need a fix and any kind of fix because they're computerized

with so many specialized microchips and expensive systems that it's just not going to work for

much longer than one or two leases. So I don't think they're doing it on purpose.

I just think when they're faced with a more reliable choice, they realize that's not as

luxurious and they're willing to inflict the costs on the second or third owner.

By the way, I want to thank all of our listeners for putting up with this

annoying clicking that you might be hearing. I have a new headset right now and I believe

it's like degassing or something, but every time I move even a little bit,

it creaks. The NVH on this headset has not been addressed. I need to get some WD-40.

So anyway, thanks for that. Let's move on. Coming up, we're going to talk a little Mercedes.

You'll hear my take on the 2025 Mercedes Benz I've been driving all week.

I'm Hannah Elliott with Matt Miller and you're listening to Hot Pursuit from Bloomberg Radio.

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Welcome back to Hot Pursuit from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Hannah Elliott here with Matt Miller and

let's talk about Mercedes, the AMG GT that I was driving all week. This is the car if you've seen

it on my Instagram that is in the desert sand color, which has gotten a ton of feedback,

both positive and negative. Not a good color. Some people have said it looks like a hearing aid

device and some people have said it looks incredible. I actually like it. I think it's cool.

It's probably not the best color ever for AMG GT, but it's cool because it's different and it stands

out and it's got great wheels. Don't like it. That desert sand color and like everyone's,

everyone has come out with a version of that. I noticed Nathan Hoyt said he thinks it rules

and I respect his opinion. I mean, by the way, the same thing when I got a Chevy Silverado

ZR2 back a few years ago and that color was very hot and popular at the time and I didn't get it

then. I don't get it now. Honestly, it looks like the color of a girdle. It's like the color

of stockings that my grandmother would buy in an egg at the grocery store.

I do agree with the idea that it would make sense perhaps on a G-wagon or some sort of off-road

rig because it is very desert safari-ish. You could say excuse that way. I don't

disagree with you that it could be bad. I think I'm very much swayed by the wheels,

which are these forged split-spoke gold 21-inch rims that someone said to me,

they look like Lamborghini wheels in a good way. They look so cool and I think it just made the

color pop and when I first saw the car, I was not expecting it to be in that color and I was like,

wow, that is different. It's definitely like in LA where everybody has a 911.

If you really want to stand out and get something that's different that will make

people look at you, this is a good option, especially if you get it in this color.

Oh, I would way rather have this car than the 911.

Okay, so let's talk about that.

I also spent a week driving in and first of all, which wheels do you have?

Do you have the Monroney in front of you because I have my configurator open?

Yes, I do.

What's the official name of those wheels? Are they the 10-spoke?

The official name is 21-inch AMG forged split-spoke in gold and they cost an extra $2,900,

which I think is worth it. The suggested retail price of this car is $195,000 and the total

retail on the version that I drove is $221,000. Yeah, I think those...

So it's expensive.

Yeah, and those prices are actually low because I've...

Well, compared to a 911 configurator, yes they are.

I've opened up my configurator. I chose olive green and the wheels you said and I'm already at 217.

So I haven't even picked an option yet other than the color and the wheels.

And we can get back to this because I think the color is massively important.

I used to wonder why they charge so much for different colors

and now that I'm in the market for a used car, I really understand it.

But this car, I want to hear your take because I think it's a far better choice

than almost any 911 you can get. The amount of power, the sheer numbers are mind-blowing.

I can't remember exactly but they're like 824 horsepower and over a thousand pound feet of torque,

right?

Yes, 805 combined horsepower, 1047 pound feet of torque. We should say this is a V8 hybrid

and it's also four-wheel drive. So the dynamics of the car feel very different than driving a 911.

It's heavier. I mean, just straight up it's heavier but it also has over 800 horsepower to your point.

I thought it doesn't feel as fast as the numbers suggest when I was driving it.

Well, there's a reason for that. It's pretty heavy. It weighs over 4,500 pounds.

Well, but it feels incredibly luxurious. I mean, not like complicated and the interior,

I thought was pretty simple but I would say elegant but it feels like a super luxury vehicle.

Yes, absolutely completely. It's the total package to me. It is the total package

and there is a part of me that is... First of all, it drives fabulous. This is the quickest

Mercedes currently that you can buy right now. The numbers, like we say, speak for themselves.

It really handles incredibly. It feels very different to drive than a 911. First of all,

the proportions are different. The nose, like we said before, is longer. It's more stretched out.

It feels bigger. It feels wider. It feels bulkier. So it's not an exact comparison driving wise

but I think it is a really interesting option that somebody should test drive before just diving

into getting a 911 because it's different. It is different and it's a fabulous car.

Well, the motor's in the front for one thing, like every other car in the world. The coolest thing

about the 911 is that the motor is behind you. So all of a sudden you're in like Lamborghini

Ferrari territory without spending that much money and there's... What other rear engine...

What other mid or rear engine car is there? I guess you could say, well, Corvette obviously

and then you've got boxters and stuff. But this, like every other normal car, has an engine in

the front which is why I think it doesn't feel anything like a 911 to begin with. But

I think it's the greatest thing you can get from Mercedes. I mean, it's the most special.

Did you ever drive the GT-R, the AMG GT-R back in like 2017, 2018?

No, I never got to. But I did must over them, drool over them as they were driving.

I think the AMG T was a better looking car in that generation.

I agree. I think the GT-R and I remember I actually pulled this up because I loved it so

much. In 2017, I said that the best car I drove that entire year, the one that I want,

that I will not forget is the GT-R, the AMG GT-R from that specific year.

It looks perfect. It looks so cool. I don't think the new one looks quite as good,

the proportions slightly different. Yeah. Well, the new one, their proportions

make a lot more sense. And this is what I was saying at the top, like the AMG GTs,

and I would take, by the way, a GT-R, a GT-S, a GT-C, I don't care.

Those, when they pulled up, you were like, that doesn't look right at first because the nose is

too long in proportion to the rest of the car. And it's that jarring kind of wakes

you up and you notice it. And then you're like, damn, that looks awesome.

Yeah. I don't think that, I think this one looks too normal in comparison to that. But

obviously, it's going to be a newer, faster, it's going to hold the road better.

And maybe it won't be as special as the AMG GTs and themselves weren't as special as the SLS.

But I just think it's a home run. I mean, it's a slam dunk. This thing is just incredible.

I agree. We should also say, miles per gallon combined is almost 30 miles per gallon, which for a car

with 800 horsepower is pretty incredible. And again, for me, the mileage thing is more about,

I don't want to have to break up my day to stop for gas. And maybe I'm going to hell for this,

but I don't care as much about like miles per gallon. I care about having to stop at the

gas station less. Just the truth. Look, you're going to be able to hit these high numbers with

hybrids. But this is another reason I think hybrids are the way forward. The packaging maybe

isn't right on all of them. But this is why I like, for example, the Corvette E-Ray. You still have

the power, the ferociousness, the brutality of the big V8 behind you. But you have an extra

push or pull in the case of the Corvette, because it's on the front wheels of the battery. And it

just makes it so much quicker. It makes it so much grippier. Obviously, it makes it heavier and more

complex, which is also, which a lot of people could see as a problem. And I'm sure at some

point will become a problem. But yeah, I just think it's a fantastic car. By the way,

when I go on the configurator to build this, to build my own version of a $250,000 car,

there are, I mean, like a hundred different color choices, and I'm not exaggerating.

And I used to wonder like, why would someone pay an extra, you know, when the AMG GT came out,

they offered it an exclusive sunbeam yellow for an extra $10,000. And I thought, who would

pick that? Like, first of all, a yellow car is always a mistake. But also paying an extra

$10,000, I thought it was silly. And why would they charge you for that? But now that I'm looking at

old cars, and everyone for some reason, or the most people have for some reason have chosen black

or white two cars, two colors that I don't want. And then I'm looking at a respray. I realized

that a total paint job done well is going to cost $25,000. So then $10,000 for the sunbeam

yellow doesn't seem too much to me if it were a different color than yellow. So now that Mercedes

is offering like a hundred different sort of PTS style colors. And it's completely worth it, I think,

because you separate your vehicle from every other one on the street. And it gets back to your

point about what really what real luxury is completely this desert sand color. I know some

a lot of people hate it, including you Matt, for reference $6,500 extra to get it painted like that.

Here's one thing on the topic of color that I have never understood. Anytime I'm talking to car

guys, and I do mean guys, and I say what car what car do you have and they nobody says the

color of the car until I ask what color is it? Why is that? That's a good point. Actually,

I was just I was just listening to Doug DeMiro talking about his new his new 993 turbo that he got.

And the other two guys on his podcast, their first question was what color? It is everyone's

first question whenever you say you have a new car. But why don't people just say it like, oh,

it's a red whatever. Yeah, I don't it's a good point. Like if I were Doug, I would have

said, yeah, I got an arena red 993 turbo. You know, but yeah, you're right. But it is the first question

and why it what struck me as funny is he's talking to these two like total car guys, dudes who know

like every vehicle ever made and each trim level and you know, the different specs on different

generations. And they know so much about the car, the vehicle, the engine, the handling,

you know. And yet their first question is what color? It seems so elementary, right? It seems so

basic. Well, colors are emotional, you know, the colors are it makes me feel like a kid. If I see

a cool color, I feel like I did when I was a little girl, you get excited. You know, and this

is this is why I think it's worth it to spend the extra 10 grand. I mean, if you're buying

this car, it's already a $200,000 car to start with. So you might as well sink

10 grand question for you on this car. Would you pay an extra $2,100 for a panorama roof on this car?

So personally, I would. But there's so many people out there who are opposed to sunroofs and

panorama roofs because they're heavier. I don't know if that's the case with this.

I don't know if that's the case with this current technology. But I as a very tall person

in a sports car and you had the same experience. When I pull up to a stoplight, if I'm the first car

at the intersection, if there's a hard top and there's no panorama roof, or if there's a sunroof

and it's closed, I have to lean forward over my steering wheel and look up a lot of times to see

if when the lights going to turn green, right? This is an experience I had in my old 911.

So with my 911, I had the glass roof so I could lean back and look up the roof at this

at the stoplight for it turned green and it was far more comfortable. It's a half for tall guys.

Yes, that's why I need to be able to see through the roof, essentially. And to me, it's worth.

Like I was just configuring a Carrera T on the Porsche website and

you can option the carbon fiber roof, right? It saves 40 pounds. 40 pounds? Do I care about 40 pounds?

I've lost 29 pounds in the last three months. So I'm already saving almost all of that. Thank you

very much. You're doing the work for it for yourself. Exactly. So a lot of people, I think,

are going to choose the carbon fiber roof even though they weigh 250 pounds and they should

just going to die instead. Well, I agree. This car did have a Panorama roof and it had

gobs of headspace, gobs, gobs, gobs. Like I could have worn my tallest hat and been and still had

multiple inches ahead of over my head. So you're whenever you get in this one, Matt,

you're going to love it because it's really, really big in the cabin. And the other thing

I liked about this Panorama roof is the shade for it was just like a normal handle. You just moved

it with your hand. There was no button. There was no switch to hold down while the shade slowly

gets pulled forward automatically. It was literally just you moved the shade with

your hand like a normal thing, which was so much better. And it was another case of probably

lighter, one less thing to break and actually quicker and simpler than trying to put technology

up there to hold a button down to close and open the sunshade. Brilliant. I love things that are

manual. Me too. As you know. It was great. So yeah, good car. Really good car. The fewer

things to break, the better is what I've been thinking about a lot, a lot lately.

Agree. All right. Well, I would guess that's all we have time for this week. Is that right?

Yeah. I want to say thank you to everybody who writes into us. We really appreciate the dialogue.

Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot Pursuit on Apple Spotify and anywhere else you listen.

You can also send us your comments by emailing us at hot pursuit at Bloomberg.net.

Yeah. And we've gotten some pretty awesome emails, I should say lately.

You know that one of my favorite podcasts, and probably my most watched YouTube channel is TFL,

right? The Fast Lane Trucks. And I got an email from Roman who was a guest on our show at one

point. So I thank him for listening. And I also want to tell everybody who's listening,

thank you for putting up with these little clicks and pops that you hear.

I can't hear it at all, Matt. You're loud and clear for me.

Good, good, good, good. All right. We'll keep writing into us at hot pursuit at Bloomberg.net.

And tune back in next week. Same time, same place. I'm Matt Miller. We'll see you again next week.

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