When Were Cars At Their Best, Conflicted About Mustangs, Sold On EVs | Episode 1,034

And we're back and we have a lot because you thought up a topic Tuesday that is both brilliant and difficult

So it's actually gonna spread through multiple episodes. So get ready everybody. We've got a huge topic Tuesday coming

So that's happening. We've got some news up front. Of course car debates

We're gonna get to finally some car conclusions. We've skipped that a couple times. So we're gonna dive right in I have some news

That I feel mixed on I

Just I want to talk about something that I've come across

And I'm gonna show a render that is not our photo, but I'm gonna show this render and that is

What you're looking at here and even if you can't see it

This is think of a digital update of our beloved Alpine a 110

The rumor is it's been recorded reported a few places auto car UK and other places actually one of their renders

That there is a new a 110 coming and it's going to be EV

Alpine knows that the reason we like it so much is because it's light, right? Yes, they do

That's the key thing everyone. That's the key thing. So when I first hear hey, we're taking our sports car. We're making it lighter

I mean, pardon me. We're taking our sports car. We're making it an EV

I think it's going to be nearly twice as heavy. Yeah, and the initial comments from the CEO on this was that it's going to be

Lighter and hopefully coming out before the upcoming EV version of the Cayman, which feels like a pretty low bar

So but but elsewhere else exactly elsewhere in the interview

There was a comment about trying to keep this close to the weight of the outgoing a 110 if they really do that

The discussion in the article was they were going to try to make something that had that kind of weight

That could accomplish three back-to-back laps of the ring and or a 300 mile range

These are the targets what he said is we're gonna do what nobody has done exactly. That's what he's just exactly

So this this is why I feel so mixed on this because if Alpine can really do an EV

Care continuation of this car that drives anything at all like the current one and is anything close to the weight of the current one

I'll do a little happy dance. That would be a huge victory

But to what you've just said, nobody's pulled off anything like that yet

No one everything EV is heavy

Yeah, and the only places and we've talked about a few times on this podcast

The only place is where there's been an announcement of a lightweight EV sports car coming. It's like startup think it's not from a brand

That's replacing a car, right? So I hope look I hope this is real

I've said many many times if somebody would make an EV lightweight car

I say bring it. I'll come back to my lotus Elise that I love

Nothing about that car. I love because of the engine

The engine revs high. It's a manual transmission, but that's not why I drive that car, right? It's not right

It's the lightweight and the interaction, right? So if they can pull this off huge victory

I'm just thinking they're calling a shot here that nobody else has pulled off. I'm I'm just I'm holding out hope

That's where I am Alpine has Renault and Nissan behind it. Yeah

Yeah, Porsche and the Cayman has Volkswagen behind it true

Big companies with a lot of resources true Porsche decided

Not that they couldn't do that, but there were delays

Well, I think it's possible

But there were delays and then the market at least in the US has kind of

Been skeptical. We'll say vanished is another good word. Yes. Yeah, yeah

So they're gonna do what Porsche Volkswagen. I haven't I don't know man bring it if they can yes

Yes, yes, also all the stuff you figured out for the Alpine A110 EV do that for all of Renault's cars and all of Nissan

Fair do that. Yeah more of this. Yes, uh-huh. Do that. I get you. Yeah

There apparently there was a there was an R5 turbo EV that they showed off that many of the European journalists drove

Which was amazing and apparently it's it's that's the moonshot car

They're gonna use some of the stuff this Alpine will look I put this firmly in the will see column

But it's gotten some press of late and I wanted to talk about it because we've been talking about the A110 and just the hope for a

Lightweight EV. I just don't know man. All right. Yeah, we'll see

Other EV related bits of news Volkswagen. Yeah, you know owns the scout brand. Hmm and they're saying give us some time

They're saying it was gonna be late 2026 maybe early 27. Could we have more time now? They're saying I need an extension

They're saying 28 and

I'm very curious about that. I mean we talk about a lot on this podcast because it is so very current

The market is in total turmoil for EVs right now. Yes a very good friend of mine in LA

Just bought a Tesla Model 3. All right

And we were talking with them about it last night. Yeah, because he came to me because you this is what we do for living

He came to me and said, hey, here's what I need to do

Here's my he's got a pretty long commute a few days a week and we had this big conversation

What was right for him and I was like you need an EV for what you're doing

You just need an EV and as we started talking about what to buy

It was like just go get a Tesla Model 3, you know, I mean when you looked at a bolt

He looked at a few other things and there were a few contenders

But he bought this Tesla Model 3 for I think it was two or three grand more than he wanted to spend but not much more

Okay, and he's been very happy with it because it's perfect for his commute. Good, but he and I were talking last night

He got a killer deal on it because it's used

And we were talking about the fact and this is what I think scout is wondering about

The last two or three years they've been all these really really good lease deals for EVs

But that was two or three years ago

Which means they're about to come out of lease and a car coming out of lease now goes to the lot

And they try to sell it to the second buyer and there isn't this is why my friend got such a good deal

You got a great deal on his EV

I think I think honestly his Model 3 with like 40,000 miles was less than 20 grand and he's just commuting EV and it works perfect for him

But the point is the the thing he and I talked about and I think the thing that continues is

Because of the nature of these feeling to so many people like disposable items

There isn't a second buyer for an EV and now the market is heading to a place where a lot of these leases are gonna come out

And these cars are gonna wind up on lots and I don't think we even know what the floor is on a used EV now

This is the time to buy used EV

But there's got to be a lot of buyers like him

Wants to theoretically pay less than 20 20 grand or under yes needs just I'd need a commute vehicle

And he probably only uses it for that. Absolutely. He's got other cars, but it's been great for him. That's the thing

Okay, it's perfect. It's perfect. Yeah, just get that and be done

And I bet you there's a fair amount of those buyers that'll come out of the woodwork for commute

Yeah, and maybe just use it for that purpose only well because it was so cheap

I agree and I think it's going to be a me

We may even wind up except for the fact that it just doesn't get watched

But there's part of it is like we should buy some used EVs

I just I mean if you guys want to see that let us know because we're curious

But I mean, I think there's going to be I think we're going to discover a brand new floor for those cars

I think it's going to shock people how cheap you can get them and into this market wades an expensive new SUV from Scout

When Volkswagen is already having trouble selling their EVs

This thing comes along to compete with Rivian who we know Rivian is struggling in spite of their good products

Yes, so they're saying give us I feel like give us till 2028. They're saying this has to do with with manufacturing

I think it's just they're waiting the market out

I think they also just want more visual time to see how things are going to shake out

You think it's ready to go and ready to go into the market right now

I think they could probably hit their target that I have no I have no reason to know that for sure

But my suspicion is they've pushed it off a bit and I think I think it has a little bit to do with what's going on in the market

Because I heard it was a little bit of funding some factory funding stuff. We're still not sure they have reasons

But I mean you're right. Those are the stated. They're backed by Volkswagen. Yeah. Yeah, but this is still different

I mean it's body on frame EV this is unlike anybody else's offerings in my opinion

So I say bring it. Let's see how it does and maybe buyers are attracted to this

But they did have to add the engine option. So now you got both on board. It's even heavier

Yeah, you've got the generator thing body on frame. So if it's a real truck, nobody really cares how much it weighs

It's just gonna be this thing

I'm very curious about this whole part. I mean the market at large and EV specifically. They're waiting two years

Do you know how quickly the market is moving and how the the industry and regulations are changing specifically for sure

For sure. Yeah, it's crazy

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Have to prepare the audience and thank you and curse you for this topic Tuesday because

This came out of a very organic place. We have been talking about you guys have been asking us about the same concept

That is peak car

Okay, the basic idea being and think of your topic because you got peak everything peak TV peak whatever it is

When we're cars at their best and there's a lot of discussion going on it happens on any of our adventures that we take like is it behind us?

Okay, but then you and I come up with a couple of cars. We're excited about it's one of the questions

We get most often now in person is what are you looking forward to in the next year?

Because a lot of people that are hardcore enthusiasts like us just go well

There's nothing coming and so it's interesting to have that conversation. So the question keeps coming up peak car and

instead of trying to solve that with

When was the moment for cars at large?

You've expanded that out. I love this you've expanded that out to for every brand when was peak car

I know our discussions will have evolved that direction, but I can't take full credit for this

This was my buddy Michael. I got I got in conversation with him. Good. He and I were talking well

He's shopping for a Cadillac. I mean he is all about GM. Good. He takes the engine out of his

69 GTO just for the fun of it. Sure. Why not and he's got an Escalade for his wife

He's got a GTO that he converted to manual transmission. He's into GM like crazy

He knows engines. He love it. So and so he's shopping for a Cadillac

CTSV or maybe a CT5 he wants a sedan kids are growing sure he wants something fast powerful for his new job for a commute

Okay, and he just casually said I think cars have peaked, but I think they're gonna peak again. Hmm went

That's a great topic Tuesday. Yeah, but it can't just be cars in general because then we'll talk about each brand

So we're going to talk about each brand. Yes, and I initially expanded it like today's would brand that the letters would be

A through H and then as soon as I started getting into it

I was like, we're gonna have to back off string this out a little further because there's so many brands

Yeah, and so many cars that I think were the peak and then the big question is

Will those brands peak again?

but with the changes of EPA rules as of February 2026

He was questioning will there be more v8s more v10s more v12s. Yeah, we'll see I'm also wondering if we'll see

manufacturers be more

Specific and deliberate like you're suggesting with Scout when they offer an EV it's going to be

Really well thought out because right now. I feel like any startup could figure they could go to a some

Supplier sure. Yeah, we need a platform. We need a body design

Yeah, we need a flat-floor battery and it'll just get 300 miles range

It'll charge 10 to 80 percent in 30 minutes and just like everything else and we'll just kick it out there

It'll sell right? It's gonna be skateboard co, but with no vowels in it at all

The only vowel is gonna be the o and in the co SK SK T

CO

SKT

BRD

dot co

Skateboard co will sell you. Yeah, that's what it's gonna happen. It's gonna be that anyway the

So I actually really like this because we're gonna go through I'm gonna tell you the rules. I gave myself

To try to figure this out because there's so much now

We're getting into so much brand history, and I'm not going to claim to be an expert. I'm sure I've done some of this wrong

There was a lot of research involved, but I tried to go okay if I'm gonna decide peak car for a brand

It's going to be what was the year or small swath of three or four years where they were selling?

Multiple really cool things in their lineup at the exact same time

Okay, that doesn't mean they couldn't come back, but I was trying to find like for each brand that I was coming across

What's a year that if you jump to that year you can go well?

There's that and there's this and there's that and there. Oh my gosh

There's a lot of cool stuff here, okay, and that that kind of

Convergence that hasn't really happened at another time and this was crazy because I am all over the map on

Timeframes we're gonna go Acura, which I actually I admit I saved Acura, Talhonda

But I did I got I will cover Acura Acura to dodge and it's still gonna take forever

It's four letters. I'm gonna take forever. Yes. I couldn't believe this. I was researching it

What I love about this is there will be disagreements and that's what makes for the perfect topic Tuesday

Absolutely. Yes. Here's what we think is peak car for each brand. Yep. Yep

Here it is will they peak again? Hmm. Have they peaked multiple times can will manual transmissions be more prolific?

Well, we see really curated and carefully thought-out EV offerings, so they're not all the same and there is yeah

Good differentiation for technology and that is a really

You know a great refined thing will there be more hypercars?

Well, we see even more gluts of high-end super duper. Whatever. These are the questions. I love it

So dive in where you going? I am starting with Acura and I did go by decade the Acura NSX first generation

This is a 1995 Acura NSX T with Targa Roof. It is brilliant. I think we can all agree that the

Middle 90s the 90s up to

2000 which allows me to barely include the s2000 because it was introduced as a model year 2000 in

1999 so technically speaking this does fit in here the mid 1990s for Acura and also the current

2020s are also a peak. So here was from the the 1990s era. This is the 1998

Integritype R so beloved car. Yeah, for sure and then moving on to current lineup from Integritype S

MDX Type S and TLX Type S. I think Acura is a renaissance. I think they're peaking again

I think they're currently peaking you know what? I think I agree with you on that

This is I think fantastic all of those cars are excellent all three of those you're right right now walking into an Acura dealership

I can't believe I'm saying this you might be at a peak. We actually currently are driving the new Acura MDX Type S

We've driven it before. Yeah, the current version is priced at almost seventy eight thousand dollars

But it is fully loaded. The engine is special. Everything about it is special. I I love the MDX Type S

I want to recommend them to everyone. Yes, just get that three row with that engine get the type S

Get the type S anything. I think they're in a resident renaissance again. I think they're currently peaking good. I love it

It's unknown as to how long these manufacturers can stay at their peak. How long can they sustain this?

Maybe a decade, but people are hungry for more more models and technology changes and so new things come out

So I think we're in a great time with Acura, but we'll see if they can hang on to it just like any car company

Moving on to Alfa Romeo with a unique style. I think in the mid-80s and the late

2000s I do have a notable exception with the 2013 disco valante. I think it is special

It is special. Yeah, beautiful. I just want to look at this car from every angle. I just want to keep looking at it

It is really cool. It's so special. Yeah, also the

1981 Alfetta GTV6 my neighbor in in my neighborhood a guy in my neighbor had had one of these and

I could not believe it. It was parked in the driveway

I mean, these aren't the best performance car ever

They were just beloved by everyone and I think this is a representative example of alpha styling and a car that everybody loves

Okay, all right. Sure. Also from that era is the

1988 alpha 75 1.8 turbo

This car is also beloved. These have been raced like crazy. Yeah, as a matter of fact Ron Simons

I was thinking that built a business and campaigned alphas

Like great. I mean he still has two of them from his

Original school his original driving school. It was the alpha 75 experience and he brought people to the ring in their alphas

And that's the beginning of what is now RSR. It's crazy. Yeah, this is that car

He is obsessive about Italian cars, particularly alphas. This was a beloved car

Also, the RZ really stuck out to me from 1989 alpha RZ

Style that I had never seen before. I didn't know you could make a car that looked like this

I've never driven one. I don't know how they drive. I think they're not the greatest ever, but I don't care

It's good stuff. It's very good stuff. And then lastly is the 2007

8c competizione. There was the regular 8c with a carbon fiber

Instrument panel and then they added the competizione and I I love this car. I think it's so beautiful. Okay. I know Clarkson

Kind of ended up not liking it. Yeah, I think I need to drive and have a go to determine

Well, but he also completely panned the BMW Z8 and it has had a renaissance

Where people can't buy those fast enough and they dipped for a while and now they've climbed way back up

So it's all relative. Yeah, moving on to Aston Martin. I

Love the current vantage. Okay. All right. I think it's so special. I

Really want to like the F1 team a lot more. I mean all the pieces are there

I want to like more I see it. Yep warming to the F1 team

But this is an exception because I don't think that was the peak also

I am showing an Aston Martin one seven seven. This is my guilty pleasure cars. I'll say I just love the style

I love the physical imposing presence of this car. I've only seen them at car shows. I've never seen one driving around

Yeah, I heard the transmission ended up not being that great. Yeah, but who cares

Under the hood and what a beautiful sculptural huge amazing GT car

So Vantage one seven seven are the exceptions and the James Bond effect is where I think Aston has peaked

They have good products. They have cool cars, but they're not at a peak

They've just kind of been going along. All right, and they bring out a new the DB 12

So like okay, it's another car to separate wealthy people from their money

Okay

Okay, sure. Oh

You see a DB five and you just melt. Yeah, they're very cool beautiful stylish worth so much continuation cars. I

What a piece. Yeah, I see it. I love it. Good. So I think they peaked way back in the 1960s

Moving on to Audi. I think Audi peaked in the 1980s and 2000s first of all with the 1985 Sport Quattro shown here

Also in the 2000s the 1988 to 2003 Audi TT the original

Yeah, I was in school design school at this time and everybody was like you can design a car that looks like that

Yeah, this started for me the era of

Disappearing bumpers. There was not a separate bumper shape. Yeah, it was hidden behind this

And I know it was a golf chassis underneath and you know TT's are down well not sold in North America North America anymore

But still what a fantastic design

Everybody was saying baseball stitched leather everybody everybody people that it didn't even know what that meant

And then also from the 2000s the original the type 42 are eight first generation

2012 manual transmission V8 with the side blade. Love the side blade. Yeah

Beautiful car. I think of all the R8s. The original is the best. Hmm. I like how it drives

I think this is

Audi peak right here. Okay, they're doing some cool things. We just heard about the new RS 5

Yeah, the new RS 5 wagon wagon available in the wagon with with EV and the the six-cylinder in it

I think it's getting like 600 and something horsepower. It's not it's not gonna be slow

RS 6 they've written other RS cars, you know good stuff

But I think the peak for Audi again is that Sport Quattro TT and R8 for BMW

I'm going to just suggest one car and one car only and it is the Z8 really, okay

4.9 liter V8 all right and 400 horsepower that came out of the M5. Yeah

Yeah, it was an homage to the 507 and when it came out it instantly looked old and new and it still looks old and new

That's good. That's very good timeless. Yeah, sure manual transmission front engine classic Roadster

I think this is peak BMW right here. Wow. Okay. All right from here on

I mean you don't see kidney grills even though the shapes are there sure

Yeah, none of that you just see beautiful gorgeous car design. Yeah, that's excellent one car only for BMW very good

Wow, move it on to Bentley. I think Bentley peaked a hundred years ago

They also make cars to separate wealthy people from their money. They do. Yeah, and they are successful at that

But what I'm showing on screen is the 1929 four and a half liter supercharged team car also known as the blower Bentley

This thing was a winning race machine and a hundred plus years later. They are so sought-after. They're so expensive

Yeah, I would love to drive one of these. They're just crazy engineering and so much thought into this

Bentley has peaked despite what Travis Pastrana is currently doing Bentley and

Jumping the Continental, but you think the Continental the two-door. Yeah

Yeah, it looks the same as it has for like 20 years now 20 years

Yeah, it's just slightly refined. It's become their 9-11. They just they make that car and they've changed some of the lines on it

That's what it is. Yeah, okay. Yeah, but

Peek Bentley

Everybody thinks blower Bentley back. Yeah, okay. All right. Sure. Yeah

On to Bugatti spend a little bit of time here on Bugatti. Okay, because I think Bugatti has bookends currently

Okay, they peaked when almost when the company was founded and they have peaked again with the Tourbillon

Oh, interesting. Okay. All right ends for Bugatti because this car the type 35

I don't know if you're aware, but built from 1924 to 1930 with a straight eight engine

I got to see one of these at Sotheby's in Beverly Hills being raced in a back alley. I've told the story so crazy

The straight eight engine sounds like nothing else

superb engine so one of the most successful racing cars of all time this thing dominated

Grand Prix road rallies hill climbs it achieved approximately

2,500 victories in its time. Mm-hmm. That's unsurpassed and unheard of by any modern car the type 35

I'm fascinated with this car and after that experience. Here's an unrestored version here after that experience

I actually produced some artwork so for my last term at Art Center

I did we're kind of an homage painting so this is my artwork actually and I painted a type 35

Just because I wanted to explore the car. I just wanted to paint and draw and so I drew a bunch of them

And this this was the painting that I ended up with and then for the bookends moving on here to the current Tourbillon

Are you aware that it is a v16 built by Cosworth?

So from the type 35 straight eight they have two of them in a V

Excellent point. This is the line. That's great. Okay. I see who straight hates Wow. Yeah, okay in a car

Yeah, all right. It's not a p-51. It's not

Good. Yes, it's not an airplane. Here is that v16. Yes, I think the design is striking

I think it's an amazing car the interiors better

Love for the Veyron love for the sheer on but the Tourbillon

I like the the refinements to the design and those are W 16s. This is a v16

Cosworth again two straight eights. It harkens back to the original racing car from Bugatti. Hadn't thought about that

That's good. I like that a lot. Yeah, now. We're gonna move on to Buick. Okay

I won't spend too much time because you're all going to laugh. Hopefully we're gonna do it, right? Okay, because

Buick peaked in

1987 with a car called the GNX

Which had a quoted 276 horsepower at the time from a 3.8 liter six-cylinder turbocharged engine

Yep, but they really wanted more out of it the guys working on the car wanted something extra special

Yeah, and so the output of the GNX is even though it stated at 276

the actual output is apparently closer to 300 and it was the

fastest production car in 1987 so and it's a Buick

And it's a Buick. Yeah

So this car was also

Tweaked by ASC McLaren. So that was a partnership between American Center of Corporation and McLaren engines

That company tweaked the suspension slightly and the transmission. So it does have a slight through line a little bit more power

They only built

547 of them

This is the peak of Buick. Have you been to the Buick website?

I mean, don't do it because you'll fall asleep instantly. I

Don't know that Buick will ever peak again. This was Buick's peak despite its long history

Hmm. I know it. You know it and Kendrick Lamar knows it

Very nice. Very nice

Moving on to Cadillac the tail fin era, of course

This is the peak tail fins in 1959 with the Coupe de Ville, but also currently

It's a little bit of two decades here

One of my favorites is the 2011

CTSV sport wagon this thing is awesome. This is one of the cars. This is the conversation my buddy Michael

Yeah, we're having he's like I'm looking for wagons. I was like you should get a sport wagon from 2011 and get the manual and he's like well

Maybe we'll see a little bit older. And so I also told him about the Q interface. I said, well if you buy those cars

That's stupid Q system. Yeah, we hate and he's like, oh, I'll take that out. I'll replace the whole thing

Of course, sure you will. Of course. Yeah, got it

So he's you know, no reservations and buying one of these either. So that is one of my favorites here and I think

Cadillac peaked with the tail fin era. I think they're currently peaking. We're moving on to the 2016

CTSV which again from Cadillac not Chevy Cadillac people are thinking well

Let's stuff a Corvette engine in a Cadillac and sell it. Okay. There it is. Yeah, sure

This is also one of the cars Michael's looking at. Yeah, and then moving on to modern cars the Escalade v

Of course SUV with almost 700 horsepower that starts in sport mode in your garage

Sounds pretty good to me and the CT4 v and CT5 v black wings

Sedans with absurd horsepower great handling and a manual transmission all from Cadillac from Cadillac

Yeah, they are currently peaking and they have a new F1 team

Cadillac is doing it right. I see it. I see it. Can they hang on to this peak?

Question yeah, yeah, yeah, I hope so, you know because they're currently powered by Ferrari engines for the one team for the opening season

Yeah, two more here Chevrolet. I only picked Corvettes because I am in love with the

1990 ZR1

C4 Corvette yep, yep, three inches wider you can tell on the back so if you're looking if you don't not quite sure

It's a little bit wider. Yeah, and it's an engine

Designed by Lotus built by Mercury marine stuffed into a vet. It's a completely bizarre engine such a hot rod so cool

Corvette ZR1 and the current Corvette ZR1. Okay, especially the X. All right. What's next after this? Sure

Yeah, what are we gonna do? Is it just yeah, yeah, crazy or styling if that's possible and more power and we okay?

All right. Yeah, are they entering like we're gonna build a tour beyond for $300,000. It's gonna have 11 radiators

Yeah oil that you can't afford

The tires wear out in 12 minutes, but that's okay because the gas will run out in 10. There you go. Perfect or something

You know, there's all the Bugatti. Yeah, yeah things that everybody love to repeat

So these two from Corvette and finally last on the list is Dodge when I say Dodge

The peak of Dodge it would be Hellcat anything Hellcat anything from Dodge is at their peak

Do I think they'll peak again? Well now that Stellantis has new leadership in charge

I'm excited that Hemmys are coming back and they're doing more power

Yeah, yeah, we're in a bit of a floaty like we're not sure what we're doing

And so let's get rid of the people who don't know what they're doing and actually put car enthusiasts back in charge

That seemed to work for them all the Hellcats. They were selling a lot. They were so this was a good

It's really good. Yep. Significantly certainly. Yes, can Dodge peak again

I think they have potential because this is in their history

beyond that

No more this fratsonic stuff and I did well. Yeah, we'll stop there

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That's good and and I'm gonna warn all of us there will be some repeats

But at the same time again as Paul and I always talk about we never share our lists prior

We come with this cold. Yeah, so it's interesting to see where we've aligned here a couple of things

I want to say on this is just as we go into this

I want to put you guys in my headspace and my headspace like a better way to put it is let's all time travel together

I'm gonna come up with years or little swaths of years where if you walked into a

Car dealer for that brand in that year

You'd be spoiled for choice. So I'm just gonna jump us around through time

You just walk into the dealer at that time with money to buy anything and you're just like I'm not sure which one

I was trying to find it's really good here in that regard. So we're gonna time travel here

We're gonna go first for me for Alfa Romeo

in the late 1960s

Alpha was selling all of the following cars at the same time

the SS

the GTA

the junior

the spider and

The 33 stradalee that's really all being sold in the late 1960s by Alfa Romeo

I

Seriously don't know what to pick. I mean, I'll probably go 33 stradalee

But but but the reality is seriously every one of those cars is interesting great-looking iconic

I'm not picking them because I think they'll be the best thing there's the 1960s, but they're not gonna be terrible to drive

I love your dealership approach. That's that was walking. I can get my head around and well

Yes, all of that is being made right now. Yeah, I I can't even believe this list

GTA the junior the spider, which of course is iconic. Everybody thinks that that was the graduate

I'll be honest because of the graduate

I think this car was the only thing alpha was selling at the time

But all of the rest of these are there at the same time. I had a buddy in high school ahead of GTA

Oh, really? Yes that I for years. I've been confused as which one he had but it specifically was a GTA of this era

Which is amazing car?

The junior come on. I mean that is Alfa Romeo in the late 1960s all of that is available that

Boggles my mind. So now we're gonna jump because we're gonna go Aston Martin next. Yep. Yep. It's 2009 2010

Okay, and Aston Martin is selling the DB 9. Okay the vantage the DBS the 1 7 7 and the repeat

All at the same time go get yourself a v8 vantage with a manual

Go get yourself a 1 7 7

Four doors. How about a repeat sir? The repeat was

So cool. I wish they'd do something like that. It's it's it was cool and misguided all at the same time

They're very good. They're they're worth nothing. Yeah, but also

DB 9 or DBS how James Bond would you like to go with your v12 sir DBS is sweet and you rarely ever see them

It's like the revised DB 9. I mean my my favorite of this era

I mean, I know you like the 1 7 7 I do too

But it's the unobtainium that pushes it off the table for me because I love the v8 vantage

I mean in love with this car and would still love to have it really held up

Yes, the v8 vantage with the manual and I'm just talking the v8 good-looking car

No, I mean, I know the v12 existed but just a v8 with a manual

Yeah, but I wonder if 12 is gonna be heavier front-end. That's that's characteristics over and over and over, you know destroyed

2009-2010 all of these are available from Aston Martin

That is an astonishing list. It really is amazing. Good moving on to Audi in

2006

2006 you could walk into your Audi dealer and get all of the following the a3 hatch

Okay, how about the a8? I think this is peak a8. This is the Volkswagen faton era of a8

That's true. Although. I love the a8s before this the one slightly you you and I swap on this because you like the one prior

This is my favorite a8 by far. This is the the fate in there a thousand pounds lighter

So if you had this exactly exactly right have your fate and again much lighter much lighter love it and the interiors on these are

Gorgeous and they work. This is also when Audi was nailing it in interior

Think about this 2006 that a8 is available. The r8 is available. Yes. Yes at this same time as is the RS4 and

The Audi TT and a cool TT. It's the revision, but who cares?

This is 06 at Audi TT RS4

All right a8 and a3 hatch and the other thing I like about this is

All of these have a little bit of their own personality. I feel like after this all the Audi's became same car

You have no idea which one you're looking at. It's an a6. It's an a8. It's an a4

I don't even know anymore all of these have personality the a3 is a cool little hatch

The a8 I felt like was winning the big sedan war at that point

Yeah, yeah in spite of the fate and existing love it still was winning the r8 was like what is Audi doing?

They did what now? I mean even even with the partnership with Lamborghini. Everybody was still like Audi did which

That's an Audi

The RS4 in spite of being still a car with the engine out in front of the front axle

Was a genuine you should buy this maybe instead of the m3 discussion like that discussion existed and these are so much fun

They're very cool. It's the r8 engine in that thing

Exactly and and the TT and the TT that is

2006 at your local Audi dealer. I like it. I like the dealership and your thing

I walk in to go buy a car. I had to get my brain around it. That's good. That's how I that's how I did it BMW in

1990 which doesn't feel that long ago until you see the cars. I'm about to list in

1990 BMW was selling all of the following again. This is 15 years ahead of where we just were for Audi

We've gone back in time the seven series at BMW in 1990. I feel like was the peak of the seven series

You do that was the long nose

Chiseled-looking seven series. Yeah, that was a fantastic car from BMW

They were selling the e30 m3 still in 1990

Isn't that interesting to think about those cars?

I want to be where they add dealerships that was still inside the model run was

1990 was still inside the model run of the e30 original m3. Isn't that crazy?

Difficult to wrap my head around yeah, this is the m5 the e34 before the e39 and I kind of like these better

I love this car. I think six cylinder styling wise they look better to me than the e39

So that e34 existed at the time and

The z1

Think about the z1 in a dealership next to the e30 m3 next to the seven series

Although they didn't sell too many of these. It's kind of a specialty European specialty car

But those three cars from the same brand at BMW at the same time

Again, I realize I keep coming back to a swath of stuff that has its own personality

It's also with the dealership at the same time loads of personality for all of these cars and the z1

Again with the e30 with the seven series all of the dealership at the same time welcome to 1990 at BMW

That's my peak beyond that. I mean look the e46 is after this

B39 is after this after this car. Yeah, the e90 BMW v8 that we like is after this

But I don't feel like there's that swath of interesting personality after this era

Do you think BMW will peak again? I think the potential is there?

I think they have been on a slide since this era. I do too. I think the potential is coming again

There's real potential with the noya class styling. I think could be cool. Yeah. Yeah, I agree gonna move on to Bentley

Bentley in

1930 had the blower which you showed. Yeah, they had the speed six which I'm showing now and they had the 8-liter

Oh, and Bentley in 1930 was doing something that this is the thing

I love about thinking about this that nobody else was doing where you could buy their car to be the most luxurious car being sold and

Be done. You could also buy their car to be the fastest car being sold and be done. It's the same company

That's all they make stuff that is blindingly fast that could be a race car

Most of these were turned into race cars or you bought it to be luxurious and we snobby and

Both are equally valid most luxury. Yes, both are equally valid

That was 1930 at Bentley and the reality is when you think about Bentley now the problem that I have the reason

I don't come past this era is because Bentley was ruling both of those classes at the time and now

Bentley creates a car that is an alt to other people's cars

I'm not saying that they're bad because they make interesting stuff that it still is great. I'm curious. Yes

But you buy them because you didn't get the obvious

Whereas here it was like the king is Bentley

Do you want it for luxury? Do you want it for speed 1930 Bentley 8 liter in that crazy? Oh, yeah

Yeah, yeah, I made one of these forget what he called it, but but it raced a train and one

I mean there was the crazy the blue train. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right. So I mean, that's this era

Which is just unbelievable

Moving on from Bentley to Bugatti

And I think there's one peak and I have to go straight to the Veyron. Really? I think that is peak Bugatti and here's why

Yes, they had history. That's a lot of them. That was a big celebration of the 30th anniversary

Whatever it is or 20th anniversary that just happened at Yaw come. Yeah, seriously bring your

The the reason I'm saying the Veyron is because Bugatti had history, but then the brand goes away and

For decades, nobody's heard anything about Bugatti. True

There's the the EB 110 that pops up in the 90s, right? But generally it's just a it's a non thing

Okay, it's a it's a it's a big historic name that doesn't really have anything. Yeah, and then this drops and when this dropped

It was the king of everything it was the most expensive

It was the largest engine it was the king of luxury drive it across country

Oh, by the way, it's the fastest car on the planet

Oh, by the way, it does 0 to 60 faster than any sports car you want to put with it

It was all of those things true good one vehicle. That's great. That's great. Yeah, I don't think it was attractive day one

I don't think it's aged that well, but this was an atom bomb on the market

I've grown to really like this. I didn't like it when it came out. I'm skeptical, but I've grown to like this

I mean it had I think it has aged well only because we know what it is. That's for me

That's I'm speaking for me personally. I don't think it is an objectively attractive car

I think the sheeran's more attractive than this

I think the tourbillon is more attractive again as they've refined this but now they're refining the moonshot

This was the moonshot

Interesting this was the car literally it's like this was the car that when it came out

It's bring all competitors. You want to talk luxury we can talk luxury you want to talk speed we can talk speed

You want to talk zero to 60? I got you there, too

Everybody memorized stats about this car because they were so mind-bending. Yes

Like can you believe the tires were out and the engine will cost this total services?

$27,000 to get it oil change. This is why youtubers are still buying this car

Because at the time it came out

Nothing could touch it in any conversation and Bugatti is known now for this

They're known for I hate to say it this way. What's the new version of the Veyron?

It was the sheeran now. It's the tourbillon if you have two extra Bugatti's laying around that you'd like us to do a

Series with right to every day driver TV at gmail.com to lend us your Bugatti's or give them to us

We'd take your Bugatti's to be on sheeran's will take your extra Bugatti's

We're bored and have the garage space for Bugatti's that's fine, but that that's why I win here

Buick was interesting to think about

Isn't it though, but I found I found a group. I found my dealership group

Okay, I'm excited the mid 1960s 6566

I'll show a bunch of cars at once the Le Sabre that is the Riviera GS

Oh, yeah, there's also the Wildcat which I had totally forgotten existed

Mmm, and there's the big guy that the Le Sabre again being shown

The reason I'm showing all of these is because there's an interesting thing that happens in the mid 60s

Imagine a W knocked over all of them have a W grill

They have a peak on either corner and a peak in the middle like you took a W

And you knocked it for this shape right here shape of the bumper is a W laying on its side

Okay, and Buick comes into its own here, and they all look like nothing else on the market

They all have personality of their own we're talking cars with the same basic grill, but at different sizes

So this is interesting for Buick what the tail fin era was for Cadillac about a decade later

Okay, and I'm not claiming these are the best-driving cars, but I'm just saying for this brief period of time

Buick stands out. They don't look like anybody else

They don't just look like briefest period of time

Seriously, they don't just look like cars that are also rands by GM and this Riviera GS

Keeps getting hot-rodded by people because it's just mean looking it is mean looking

They're really cool if you look the Riviera GS up on just Google anything you'll find so many cool builds of this car

I've tried to find one that looked like a nicely restored close to stock because a lot of them are nowhere near stock

Yeah, but they're just angry with these opening vents here for the lights and stuff. Yeah, they're very cool

But it's this W front-end that I think that was the iconic moment for Buick where you could walk in in the mid-60s

And they all had that look and they all looked mean and it's which cars for you moving on

Don't go to the Buick website. Don't go now. I'm going to be highly disappointed, but I'll but I'll save you

I'll save you. Here's where we go

Cadillac, okay, I think Cadillac is peaking right now. Yes, and the first car I have up here is the questionable one

But there's a reason for it. I've got the celestic up

Okay

We've made jokes that all the IQs are all Eek at the end of all of them. So the celestic we've made that joke here, but

Cadillac decides in this market era to make a halo car to make a Bentley competing halo car

Yeah, to make a Rolls-Royce competitor at three hundred plus thousand dollars

Every one of these is bespoke for the person that called them you get to go

You get to do all the Rolls-Royce stuff you get to go to the place you get to pick your materials

Exactly, but that's crazy

What on earth is Cadillac doing and then they make it a wagon that I think has questionable styling and they make it EV

Yes, but that is again Bugatti style moonshot thinking fair okay with the celestic

But at the same time we have

The CT4 and CT5 blackwing. Yeah, you just sit musing in our time travel event here

You're saying I'd like to buy a great engine

Great dynamic manual transmission four-door sedan well at certain times of our time travel

You could find lots of options, but right now right now. Yes, you walk over to Cadillac of all places

Chevy doesn't even want to take your call

You'd think you would have nothing we can show you a nice blazer. This doesn't look like the blazer

So Cadillac right now will sell you a CT4 or CT5 blackwing and we know the CT5 is continuing which is craziness

And at the same time we have the escalate V

The escalate is the car in the early 2000s that separated Cadillac from its old man status

Yes, it separated it out it to become the hip thing to have was an escalate

But now with the V

This has the personality

From the CT5 and CT4 blackwing, but in a big family hauler a giant box

What is it doing there? But yet it exists

I can't believe this and also in the showroom at the same time is the Lyric

Hmm, okay, which look the Lyric is not like everybody run out and drive one and buy one

But at the same time when you and I drove it, there's nothing wrong here. We were actually pretty impressed

It's an excellent execution of a five-seat EV

That feels like this is crazy to say a value for money

66 $67,000 someone there this should be 80 based on what everybody else charges for EVs in the market now

Let's be honest. It's a dressed-up Honda prologue. It's a dressed-up blazer. It's the same chassis

Yep, but the point I'm making here is what a breadth of product at Cadillac right now

I mean, I wish it didn't end up looking like that

I would have loved the celestic to look anything but that but I agree

This is where we're at so but this but I here's the thing I suspect not everybody's perfect, right?

I'm looking forward to seeing a celestic in person because I suspect it has presence for days

I suspect when you see one in person even if you don't love the styling

You just can't help but look

Fair fair because I think I don't get the styling

I think it's crazy looking but but let me put it this way compare this to the crazy Jaguar that they launched the type double zero

This is a beauty. Oh, yes one of these for every day of the week

So again, I cannot believe that this is where we are with Cadillac and of all people to make the sedan that you want and the

SUV that you want it's Cadillac and then to your point from earlier and we have an F1 team if you if you had said

What us brand is going to be launching an F1 team in?

2026 you'd go a long way down that list before you got Cadillac. You might even hit Buick prior

I mean honestly if you just guessed oh, you just guessed like what brand makes sense

You wouldn't think Cadillac and they're going F1

So I got to say Cadillac is peaking right now and now I got to go to Chevy and the best era for Chevy

Was 1990 let me just paint a picture. This is a blazer. This is a blazer

This is the K5 blazer that we actually look like this is what the blazer really looks like

But it's 1990 and in your local Chevy dealer. Okay is the K5 blazer

But also the ZR1 Corvette. Yes, that you thought up also the Beretta

Oh my gosh, which is Beretta, which is here's the thing

Objectively not a great car in its time period. Oh my gosh, that's a Chevy

I haven't seen one of those for years. They were used as I can't believe it

But they were used as pace cars and for NASCAR for the year

They were like the Daytona 500 pace car. But here's the thing in execution in that's got a lot of good greenhouse

It's actually decent looking. It came in lots of colors. You could get it in a manual

This was a small interesting looking

Commuter car cool man Chevrolet. Yeah that they got sued for separate thing. But you know still cool the Beretta and in its time

Super cool car when I was growing I was growing up at this time period. Okay, it's it's it's 1990 91, right?

I'm in high school

I was at a high school where I was the poor kid at this high school and I was still okay

But I was the poor kid

I knew kids with money that were clambering to have one of these

The Beretta was a thing in spite of not aging that well and Chevy having name problems. Come on the Beretta in its time

And the Caprice classic was still being sold. I gotta say it

This is awesome. The Caprice

Was being sold by Chevy

As was the full-size classic suburban. I love these suburbans. They're crazy, but they're great. So cool

So think about this. This is your Chevy dealer in 1990 91

The Suburban the Caprice classic the Beretta

The Corvette zr1 with that crazy Lotus engine and a k5 blazer. This is Chevy doing Chevy

This is exactly what you want them to be selling. Yes, and it's a long time from now right now

1991 feels a long way away

But they were nailing it

In that era whereas Cadillac has got it nailed now

Chevy had it then and the problem with Chevy right now is they don't have any breadth

They don't know it's the Corvette and a bunch of suvs. It's like Corvette and bland. That's all they make

It's because buyers and they buy suvs and so it's changed car companies to discontinue sedans and and the closest you get

To cars is a Malibu which is a rental car or the bolt which is a perfectly acceptable EV

But nobody's buying it for its looks

Okay, this was

All of these cars you bought because they said something and they looked a little bit different and they were good

Yeah, so anyway, so there's Chevrolet cool looking suburban. It is a cool looking suburban and i'm going to end at dodge

who

Has just recently peaked as you brought up the dodge peak is the hellcat era

When they finally just through caution to the wind or through budgets to the wind

I'm not sure which one it was but they just said, you know that hellcat plant is cranking out engines

Let's put it in everything and i'm going to go a little bit away from dodge here because i have to go the full breadth of this

I have a charger on screen. Okay, but then you've got the the derango srt which had a hellcat

Okay, you also have the rubicon wrangler, which had a 392 not quite the hellcat

But this was right big v8 you wanted in the wrangler still on sale though still on sale

Yeah, yeah, you also had the jeep track hawk right which got the himmy and the trx

Okay, this is only a few short years ago 2021 is when you can walk into a dealer

That's crazy and you can get all of these with a hellcat at the same time

trx

Absolute a raptor stomping pickup that I still want for reasons of big no sense to me

The jeep track hawk which shouldn't have been as good as it was and it was very good

The wrangler with the 392 not quite hellcat but super super close yourself off a cliff. Yeah, that is asking for trouble

The derango with a hellcat motor because we needed a three and the charger or challenger. That looks so good. It looks great, doesn't it?

This is dodge somehow after decades

Completely distilling down who their buyer is and what their buyer wants and then they leave it

And and let's be honest. It's not just dodge having a weird day and descending bad memos. They were chasing regulation

So they killed a hellcat motor

And they say we're going to go all ev and they figure out how to make an ev make a muscle car style sound

And then the market changes on them and their buyers don't show up and this is where they need to be

It was so it was so recently. Yes all of these cars feel brand new and they're like three or four years old

So dodge's peak is just behind us make them look good

And they look cool charger any

Holds anything to this. Well, I think this looks so much better

I think the problem with the current charger styling which I actually kind of like is that it feels like it's 25% bigger than it should be

If that car was 25 smaller somehow that styling would be perfect all of these. Yes. Yes, but anyway

But dodge does it that's their market and they nailed it. So that's my list getting us through dodge

And the crazy thing is we've only gotten to dodge. This might be two or three episodes

It's gonna take a while. This is gonna take a while

I guess the question I want to leave with all of you watching. Thank you so much

Will innovation stagnate if we go back to what works? That's the biggest question on my mind

Innovation is the entire point. We need to iterate and innovate to continue offering great new product

And kind of stumble into it. I think dodge

kind of stumbled into the

Well, we got this hellcat engine and it was probably slated for just the charger and challenger to begin with

And then they realized

You know what we could do and people love this engine. This will sell cars

Yes, so I don't think that was originally part of the plan even though it's now become the hellcat era

But for all of these car companies, whether they've peaked whether they're currently peaking

They still need to innovate. They still need to push forward and they will

And they might not continue doing what works. They want to go on to the next thing that works

But can they but if we just keep doing what works

Does that get boring? Is that stagnation in the market? Does that mean?

Well, yeah, it's cool. I mean thanks for building s2000s for the last 40 years, but

Yes, there's other sports cars that are now better or something. I'd say that is

That's a great example because the I'll go another one and that is the 2jz from toyota

What never ceases to make me laugh is the number of times in comments when you get anywhere

You don't have to get close you get anywhere in the ballpark

Of somebody bringing up a 2jz like you just whispered toyota somewhere and somebody over there's like 2jz

You know what'd make it better? Is exactly people make the comment about why doesn't toyota just bring the 2jz back?

And the answer is regulations have changed

So there's innovation that's required by regulation and and we've seen in this whole ev hybrid weirdness era

that regulation is like on a rubber band

And things keep changing and but the consumer isn't changing as fast as regulation

Which is what's really interesting right now

But their innovation almost gets forced on these companies

Because of of whatever you want to think of all the regulations force it rapidly changing

So as a result when I makes me laugh every time in the comments

And he's like well, why doesn't toyota just start building the 2jz again? I'm like because that era is gone

I'm sorry, but it's gone. But anyway, but we have the b58 now, which is also very cool. Okay. Leave a comment

We'd love to hear from you. Yeah, right to us your topic tuesdays everyday driver tv at gmail.com

And don't forget about the bogates if you have a extra extra bogates. We are now accepting preferably two like

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February 28th to march 1st hooked on driving is going to laguna seca for a 92 decibel day

You can find registration hooked on driving right now

Also march 14th and 15th ridge motorsports park pacific northwest is holding a two day event

Going to be fantastic. We love ridge motorsports. It's a great track one of our very great tracks. It's so cool

Also sonoma raceway on march 19th is the california sonoma raceway kickoff

So march 19th go there and also if you're in the midwest the ozark spring speed fest march 21st and 22nd

At ozark's international raceway that is coming your way. We would love to see you there

We've heard great things and lots of technical conversation around ozark international raceway

Yeah, people really like that track. I'm excited to see it hooked on driving for all those events

But the big event for 2026 is

circuit of the americas in austin texas

May 30th through 31st. That is a saturday sunday in austin texas. We will be there sign ups are happening

Plan to come. We don't know what's going to happen with

track rentals

For 2027 and beyond. We've been told that it's going to a club only model. We've been told that

Clubs like us will no longer be able to we just don't know. We just don't know

But nevertheless, we think 2026 is your year. So coda registration

May 30th may 31st saturday sunday pick your run group and come on out

trailer car drive there

Rent a car you've got to do whatever because it's a really cool track and finally pilgrimage 2026

Spots are going fast

I had a conversation with a person just earlier today who called with like a couple of last questions before they signed up

So and and they were like am i too late and I was like well not right now, but you're getting close

So the spots are going fast. It's going to be an amazing year. That is august 2nd through the 9th

We're going to be in germany. We're going to be in belgium. There are tourist days. There's road tour days

There's two days of driving on spa and an actual track day on the ring

Which is rare and very special and the way frankly that you want to drive the ring

So that's you've got to come with us. It's going to be a great great trip

It is not a cheap trip until you start comparing other trips

And then it's about the same and you're in europe with instructors helmets all inclusive rented car gas

It's all included. It's going to be awesome. So again, that's in august signups are available now

Signups are available for a little bit longer unless it sells out and it is getting close true

Hooked on driving dot com every day driver dot com slash adventures for all of these events plus the us

utah adventure in september

We'd love to see you at all of them any of them

Looking forward to having you

Kevin k writes to us feeling conflicted

He's written before asking us about driving roads in utah when he was on his honeymoon eight years ago

So we gave him some suggestions

But now on to his dilemma because he's got a 2013 shelby gt 500 with suspension mods bolt-on smaller

Pulley larger heat exchanger the crossover pipe for performance mufflers cold air intake a bunch of stuff

Produced 675 horsepower and 660 pound feet of torque to the wheels

He also had excuse me. He had that car. He also had a 2019

GT 350 which he left stock

He sold the gt 500 because he needed a truck he had that he clearly he built it out to his perfects back

He loved it the day he sold it

But he needed a truck so he sold the gt 500 kept that stock gt 350

And he figured he just the reason he sold it also was because he realized it got too precious

Like he'd open the garage. This is his description. He'd open the garage

And look out and there were clouds in the sky. So he'd take something else. I read that sentence

I bolded it. Kevin

He wouldn't take the car out if there were clouds clouds

I mean that that may be actually the cleanest definition we've ever seen for too precious with a car

I mean, I guess, you know storm clouds, but still because it means it's gonna rain, but then you know what?

I'll give you a tiny

Pass because that means more work to keep it clean

But your car's not made of sugar and the whole point is to drive your car

Yes, but he said the last couple years of ownership maybe in the last two years total

He may have put a thousand miles on it. So he realized not only does he need a truck

But he's not driving this and he's getting more and more precious with us

So he sold the gt 500 even though he loved it. He kept the gt 350 and vowed to drive it more

But realized he actually preferred the gt 500

So since he had that gt 500 that he sold and they realized he enjoyed driving it more than his gt 350

He still had he said, I know what the solve is. I'll buy a newer gt 500

So he bought a 2021

Cycling through gt 350 is exactly and he said even though he wasn't expecting economy car fuel economy

He realized that in 75 miles he'd go through half a tank

But he does admit he was going 85 to 90. So that's part of it. I have to say there you go

But still but he realized that he wasn't going to road trip that car

So now he needs something fun and fast that he could take on road trips

So after a year of ownership

He was debating about selling that gt 500 and getting maybe

A 2018 2019 aston martin vantage love it as a choice or a similar year 2021 lc 500 lexus

He was looking around. They were both on either side of 80 000 dollars

He bought the lc 500 and this is where this coal car debate gets weird for me because he says it's been an absolute dream to drive

Perfect on highway cruising effortless. He's taken on two road trips so far. He couldn't be happier

He just wanted to keep going. It was comfortable. It was fast. It was fun. He loves it

And then a car debate follows

This is where i'm confused. There's there's no but there's no and as a result

I need something he's just like I have found the perfect car for my needs and he follows with so what should I buy

The only thing I can extrapolate is that he wants a manual transmission again. That's all I can get

That's it because there's absolutely nothing in this email about and therefore it's just like so guys landed on lc 500

Perfect. Kevin, you've got your car. Uh-huh. We're good. I mean we're happy to help you

But I just thought it was funny because the email just kind of

Never actually closes the and therefore I'll get rid of the lc 500. It's like this car is great. Perfect. No issues

No notes done great. By the way, let's buy something else. So I here's the things here's here's the thing

I can't figure out and I'm going to assume and it's a big assumption

I'm going to assume that the lc 500 must be staying

Because you think I think it must be because keep in mind he used to have two big mustangs at once

I'm kind of wondering if the lc 500 is staying because there's no comment here about it needs to go

There's nothing and a reason he wants it to go. He's just

Wants to get a different experience. And so I kind of think it may be staying

He's not clear

That's the only way I made this make sense in my brain though

Kevin preferably wants a v8 or a v10 or v12

This is the guy who complains about 75 miles and you've sucked up half a tank of gas and let's get a v12

Let's get a v12 and go 90. We're teasing you Kevin. It's it's fine. That's what we would do though. Absolutely

I mean, yes is the answer. He won't discount a good six cylinder. Secondly any Camaro a challenger. Those are non starters

He's driven both even the Camaro ss as good as they are he couldn't wait

To turn the car back into the rental company. He hated it claustrophobic. We get it sight lines are terrible

It's not for everyone. We get him. He said the challenger hell cat even though being really fast

He felt like he was driving bloated roadkill

That here's look in its defense the challenger hell cat's because it is it drives much better than it should

It is it is really it is you're up to notch one

Incredibly athletic for a car as big as it is but at the same time it is one of those cars where

You never ignore the fact that it's big. You're constantly aware that it is enormous and very powerful

Here's the reason I think Kevin is selling Lexus

Okay, because his sentence that he's looking for more for a GT car. You already have a GT car

This is why I don't I yeah overlap more for a GT car. He's done track days

He's you know very fun, but he's had lumbar and cervical surgery

So those days are over for Kevin

So we can't get something super hardcore and it sounds like because I was reading through all these and it sounded like

You know, you've had heavy cars you own a heavy car

You keep wanting to buy heavy cars, but you need something more comfortable

and GT car like because of health reasons

So I definitely understand that Kevin

He wants a fun fast great sounding GT car that can handle back roads and mountain driving with ease

Like the million dollar highway love it and most important for the search. He can stretch his budget to 80 000 dollars

So i'm thinking he would sell the lc 500 because he's got he's got the like the perfect GT car

He has a car that has it legitimately. I can't overstress this in this email. It's very clear

He has nothing about the lc 500. He wishes was different

Which is why part of me is just thinking this is an add-on car

Because he really wants something with a manual and he wants something that is a little more GT car than some of the hardcore stuff

So i'm kind of reading this is an overlap car

Because i'm really struggling with why are we getting rid of the lc 500?

I mean if you do

The first car that popped to my mind Kevin

Is this the 2018 mercedes amg gts. Here's one in bright yellow. It is a fantastic car

GT car. I mean it's it's in the name

You want a GT car? Yes, this is called the GT and it's brilliant to drive and these are 80 000 dollars and under

My recommendation is that you go buy one from florida because i found you one there with 7200 miles for 82 000 dollars

So right in the sweet spot. Love this thing. They're great. Gorgeous. They're fantastic

It's a GT car because it says it on the back of the

Trunk lane it's in the name it's on the tin

but

I think there's a better car for you because you do say you want to go back to a manual

And of all the GT cars that are out there you want a new experience by the way kevin. I think you shouldn't

Run home to mama and get another Mustang. Do not get another Mustang. You've had mustangs. You've had them modified

You've had the 350 you've had the 500 you've two five hundreds

You know what they drive like well, he said because he liked that original 2013 2014 GT 500 so much

Should he just buy one again and I agree. I think let's let's get something. It's totally new no more Mustang. Yep

so

Welcome to your new Audi r8

You can get a v8. You can get a v10. You can get either engine with a manual transmission

I say drive it. These are also not made of sugar and so you can drive it in the rain

Go put the miles on these things now caveat. Yes, you will have to look on Audi r8 forums

There are issues for each different engine configuration and model years

Some cars have more issues than others but every car has its own quirks and issues and foibles

Stuff to pay attention to stuff to maintain

But apparently the r8 v8 was easier to get to for what was the faton engine problem that you had

I had some weird problem on the faton and it's the same engine as the r8 and I remember our mechanic saying

If you just had the r8, we could get to it with our hands and I was like, well, I don't have the r8

We've got to figure it out the faton. Anyway, so yeah

Another reason to buy the r8, but I'm sure the trade-off was there's some other plug that was right on top of the faton

That is now buried in this car. But anyway, yeah, that's Volkswagen get one with the side blade. Don't get

v8 v10 manual transmission

It can do the gt car thing you can wind it out to its

8250 rpm red line for the v8. It sounds great gt car fast

You want something that will handle great mountain roads. It can cruise on the highway

I say r8 is the sweet spot my friend. You might have to spend a bit more

But if you drive it more and you love it more and the car isn't sitting

Isn't that worth it?

All right, that's very good. That's very good. Well, I'm gonna have some overlap with you

I have to say but I've got I've got three for you. Kevin. Let's see. We're talking about $80,000 v8 or above ideally manual

Which is interesting. I

I'm gonna assume that the lc 500 is staying. It's completely baked. It's baked my noodle

I just I don't understand why we would get rid of it if you like it so much

But I'm gonna start the exact same place you ended paul and that is why not get an Audi r8

I love these things. There's your manual. There's your gt car get the first gen. Yes. Yes. Yes

There's there's really no reason to not get this. I also think whether it stays or not

This is a fantastic place to go whether whether the lc 500 stays next to this in the garage or it this is the replacement

Still very good together. Those look great together. That also justifies two different platforms. Yes front engine mid engine

Manual automatic auto. Yep, exactly totally agree. So I'm gonna keep on from the r8. I've got another one for you and that is

Get yourself a v advantage

Just here's the thing this is as close as I can get you to the lc 500 experience with a manual

This is kind of an lc 500 now. It's going to be quirkier. The lc 500 is at lexus

It's just going to keep running

But this has an interesting v8. You said you really like the v8 in your lc 500. This has an interesting v8

You can get it in manual

And they are timeless now the lc 500 is also timeless

Yeah, that is a car that in 25 years are going to be going. That's a gorgeous car

That's the same thing already happening with these early aston martin vanages

So I have to say that this with a manual would be a great great choice

But then I started thinking, okay, whether the lc 500 stays or not

You keep coming back to the gt 500 Mustang

So i'm wondering if what you're missing what you're actually wanting in spite of wanting to lean gt

Is big v8 muscle car. That's what you're missing

But you need it to gt and you need it to be manual

So I have my actual gt 500 alt and that is the the c7

Corvette Grand Sport. That's a sweet looking car. It's a great looking car

They made it in a really awesome maroon really late and it's almost purple and it's great looking but

But again the c7 late model Grand Sport Corvette is

If I had to find the middle ground between the Mustang gt 500 and the lc 500 it's this car

That's like the dead center point between the two

That's good. So I think of what you're wanting is that more muscle car american v8 feel with a manual. This is where you go

So i'm going to leave you here with this as the genuine gt 500

competitor because again, you've owned

Two

Let's not get one a third time

Let's move on to something new and this is the one that gets you closest. So there's where i'm landed

Kevin enjoy the drive enjoy the search use auto tempest.com slash every day

So they know we sent you and we're looking forward to hearing what you end up buying that doesn't have Mustang on the badge

Look forward to hearing from you

Jason z in michigan is sold on evs

He would like an ev for his next daily

He currently owns a 2017 Honda Accord EXL in mint condition since brand new and he's in grand haven met michigan

So lots of snow in the winter and some sun in the summer

He wants to stick with a sedan preferably around putting 17,000 miles a year on one

So he needs city and highway driving for not too long of a commute, but he does need both

He is currently looking at the Polestar too. He likes the looks of it

He's read a lot about the ride and knows they had issues early with the suspension being rough

The problem is the nearest dealership is 150 miles away more than 150

All right, yep

Jason plans to buy fairly soon. He's been reading to avoid the 2023 and 2024 models due to software problems

And jason doesn't like teslas. So those are out

His budget for a used ev is 30 grand. He could buy new but he doesn't want a car payment

Okay, three questions for us when you buy a car specifically an ev even if the dealer is 150 miles away or more

And knowing no one else in his area can work on the vehicle. Would you buy that car?

Okay, have you heard any?

Cars any specific years to avoid or do you just go with the best buy with the lowest miles?

Okay, and what are other suggestions? He needs a back seat

He doesn't love the looks of the Ioniq six from hunday

And he's like I said, we'll charge level two in his own garage and looking to buy fairly soon

Okay

Well, we just talked about this jason. We're bringing up again. I would say

See how 2026 plays out

Because I think the crazy ev deals are coming in hot. I think you're right

I think between now and the end of this summer

We are going to see astonishing you and I I guarantee you're going to be on auto tempest going

Should we get this car for the laugh? We're going to be having those conversations by the end of the summer

Evs that were 70 80 grand new are going to be 20. This is i'm calling it now

And maybe spawns a new series, but will who knows will you watch it? Will the series be watched?

Is it worth it? Also? I'm going to add to if you're giving us two bugattis

I'm going to add an astin martin

V8 vantage manual for him because I think you need to have one at some point. I do keep bringing it out

You're right. I do. I think you bring it up more for you than for anybody possibly that I'm very intrigued by them

Yes, I think you need that's very funny. You have an extra vantage laying around

So so jason, I think you're shopping at the right time, but I also don't want to rush you

I I think watch the next six months of ev used prices because I think a deal is coming your way

So I want you I want you to think about it that way as far as servicing an ev

You're going to have to dig into forums and because of what an ev is because it's a an early buyer kind of world

Those buyers have talked a lot about their cars a lot

You can find a conversation on reddit or a forum or a facebook group or somewhere where they have talked

My new show about any car you want to buy and I'm not going to begin to know and be an expert on this

So you can find the place where they have talked about the car you want with the specs you want in the year you want

And you can find exactly like the month to avoid if you want to get crazy. It's out there the info is out there

I wouldn't worry about having an ev

Where the dealer was a long way away with one major caveat is the software known to work

Because if the software works

Evies are simpler the car is going to work

It's just about is the software known to work

Do the updates and patches actually solve things because those are all over the air anyway

So it doesn't matter where your location is if the software is known to work and not be buggy and cause weird gremlins

The car is going to work

The number of times it's going to need something else is going to be minimal ideally

So that's my big question. It's going to come back to software software software

So let's talk about cars for you real quickly. I'm going to jump in where you started

Which is the pull star two and as I've already said

If this intrigues you and you're worried about is there a dealer near me? I say, how's the software?

How's the update? How's the customer service on that? Yeah, and jason you have mentioned model years to avoid you're finding those

I've also read avoid anything up to 2023 because of

Suspension issues software issues and also charging not happening. They it won't charge past 40 percent now

I don't know if those things have been resolved. I

On the old cars on the newer models

Yes, and of course you have Polestar two three and fours to go look at but it's outside of your budget

So you need to shop really carefully when you're going for the Polestar two, but it is possible

So that is an option, but while we're at 30 grand you have to look at

the bmw i4

That when we drove this give me some overlap here

We've got a test drive coming on this but

Sorry, we got a test drive already out on this in spite of the fact this has the beaver teeth

Which I don't love when we drove this we talked about the fact that if you're a commuter

This makes a lot more sense than an m3. It's m3 kind of power. It's actually surprisingly good dynamics

These were pretty expensive new, but they've dropped like stones. They're going to keep dropping people are there's no second buyer for it

But it is an excellent ev

Yeah, so the i4 from bmw and then I went looking I had just a wild card idea

So I went looking. Okay. I just thought is it possible

Your budget is $30,000 and again this I've also keep thinking about what's the next six months like your budget's $30,000

You know what the bottom of the market is at $30,000 $30,000 like I'll already push

35

Is the floor of what I really think you want?

the lucid air

$35,000 is the floor for these cars right now and if you have 40 to 45

You have nationwide choice now my question is my question for you jason my question about this this purchase

Where are these in six months because they're already the floor is already 35

They're only going down. These are excellent. These are really really good and their software updates have been very good

I know jason finnski bought one of these after he had a tesla. He had a lot of

Unkind experiences and things to share with with lucid

But then they came back with fixes patches solved his problems

So they are listening and they are solving and when you and I drove one in our ice cream run thing

We've struggled with the one pedal driving

And we reported that back to lucid

And they were already at the time in the process of a fix because others had complained similarly

So even that is getting resolved. So I have no reasons to not get a lucid and these are phenomenal

This is the fantastic better than tesla tesla alt

And it's above your budget

But it's so close to being in your budget and they're dropping so fast a part of me just goes

Do you wait for six months and just look and see what happens to lucid's because lucid air is close

It's very close

I am so laughing because

We don't share list. We don't compare

I'm gonna start in on hunday jason. You mentioned you don't like the Ioniq six

Do you like the Ioniq five?

Because these are 30 000 and under all day long true very low miles go get yourself a five

It doesn't have to be the end although I prefer the end

I think these are great and I do think they're kind of like right between a suv and a

Hot hatch. It's a really good size and that plenty of space. I think this is a strong consideration for you

Also, if you're going to consider one of those you might as well go look at genesis

Which is on the same platform for the genesis gv 60

These are also well priced not too much more just 30 35 somewhere in there

We really liked this though really like the gv 60 plus you have boost mode on the steering wheel and that's always

Fun to punch the button at least it does actually go a little faster to dv

I think these are far better looking than the hunday. So if you're looking at the five

You've got to look at the gv 60 and these are really great

uh, really cool cars

And the i4 is also on my list

We really liked it. It was fun to drive. I guarantee there's no second buyer

Yeah, there's just no second buyer at all. So many of those were cheap

Like 30 and under it's crazy if you want to double your budget

You knew ix 3 sorry

I love that you just breeze your way into that conversation. Anyway, yeah

Onward $60,000 is where the ix 3 starts and the reason I suggest the ix 3 and potentially i3

Which has not actually been released in any official photos yet is because of the styling is so much better

And you know what? I'm so encouraged by bmw and how much effort they have put into their evs

And how good they are truly becoming and I think they will only get better

I don't want you to go get an i4 and really like it and then be like

I could have I know you don't want to lease. I know you don't want a car payment, but

If we're talking this much money and if we're talking tech, I think that car will be in your life longer

I think 30 000 and under will be some of these older evs and tech has changed so quickly

I wonder if it'll be a one or two year experiment before you're looking around and some of these other cheap ones come out

Or just something else and you're willing to to pay more

This is merely just so you know the ix 3

I think the styling is so well done and really sets bmw on a great new path

Styling across their entire product lineup

The i3 is coming shortly and this will have similar styling. You've probably seen the spy photos as well

But I just wanted to put that out there not to mean i'm doubling your budget, but just to

But I but I do see why you're doing it. I get it and I also have lucid air

Do you really okay the cheapest one I could find that was 49 000 dollars. Where did you find the 35?

I was an auto tempest looking nationwide. Okay, and I found some in the mid 30s

But you're right. The the the meat of these is mid 40s. It's mid 40s, right? Which is above his budget 49

I was definitely 49 000 dollars. They were 79 80. Yeah, exactly. They were 80 to 130. Yeah. Yeah, but again if they're 40 now

45 now, where are they in a year from now?

That's incredible. I that astonishes me and these are great for the money all of the evs either of us have named

I like the lucid the best. I really could see you driving one of these

There's entertainment. There's I guess in the driving experience

There's still some fun and enthusiasm to be had of course

They're quick, but I also think the tech is forward-looking enough that it's not going to feel old if you buy one of these used

But you're right all the used one of these are gonna flood the market even more and

I'll bet you these get even cheaper, which is I I think a year from now. They're gonna astonish us

I bet you I honestly I wouldn't be surprised if before 20 27

There are lucids in the 20 000 dollar range. It might be 28 29, but I bet you they're coming down that fast

My sister and brother-in-law were recently they were ubering somewhere in Seattle

and their driver had an error

Jason and that driver had 100 000 miles. It was pretty new and he already had 100 000 miles on his it was like

Yep, no problems. Just works just runs felt brand new

I think the lucid air you should seriously look at. I mean again, I know

Money is a thing. You don't want payments. Yes, but if money is only sort of a thing and you can

If you decide you're not that scared of payments, I understand. Yeah, I get it

Lucid air I think

I think the

satisfaction and ownership and driving pleasure would exceed

The extra amount that you spent on it. Okay, it's not like you're just spending more and well, did I get more?

Do I like it? Sure? I think sure is it's exponential in how much more you would like it. That's my point

So what I also think is funny is you and I pretty much duplicated ourselves right there and never had a conversation about this

Which is really great. Amazing crazy. All right. Everyday driver tv at gmail.com topic Tuesdays car conclusions and car debates like these

A couple of car conclusions for you. We're going to start here with Collin writing it from Indiana

He had a Lincoln

mkz

Which was the follow-up car for the Lincoln Zephyr, which we did a review of

Pretty much at the dawn of the show. I had a friend in town and he rented a Lincoln Zephyr

And while he was busy for the day, we took the Zephyr and we reviewed it and we weren't very kind

But he had a Lincoln mkz that was given to him from his dad as a college car and he had it for a while

And then it was replaced by his 1991 dodge dakota single cab long bed

But he had the the Lincoln for many years until it was totaled by a guy in a pickup

He replaced it with a 2001 lexus ls 430. He said it was unbelievably reliable and it was even maroon

So it's kind of a perfect description for his lexus ls

But he realized at some point he was going to need to replace it for better fuel economy

He was looking at manual corolla

Went and took a look at it and found himself a 2009 corolla xrs with the five-speed manual bought it with

220,000 miles on it drove it happily

Until 250,000 miles when I needed a valve cover gasket, which probably was going to cost more than the car was worth

So he got rid of that at six foot two

His driver's seat was already encroaching on the back seats where he now had a sun and so when they were going to have

More more going on in life

It was time to move on from that and his wife had one rule

no manual

Room for kids in the back seat

He had taught her on the corolla. She said never again. So

After listening to us for years, he had his list of requirements rear wheel drive automatic large back seats

Sedan or wagon in a good color his list you have been listening was

The genesis g70 sedan we like that

The kiosk stinger we like that the three series we like that the buick regal tour x you have been listening to this show

I don't like it as much as you like it. No, but still but i'm saying did anyone but us even talk about that wagon

No, and I totally forgot about the x and he drove the tour x that was not picked by the way

The alpha julia was on the you know, it wasn't the alpha julia was on there as was the golf alt track sport wagon

And he started driving through that list

He drove the tour x first

And decided it was fine

but then

He was gonna go drive a julia, but before he got to the julia. He drove a stinger and he fell in love

Yes, he paid 25 000 plus tax

And got a 2018 kiosk stinger gt1 rear wheel drive in red. He said red is the best color for the stinger

I agree with that. He loves the car. This is his first nice car purchase

Thanks to his minister of finance his lovely wife pushing him to get what he wants what they want in a car

All the power has led him to several daily triples on his commute

Nicely done very good. And he can say he's never ever been able to breathe on triple digits

Before in some of his cars. That's so great. Colin. Thank you for writing. Really appreciate it. That's awesome

tom writes to us tom c. He's got the one dollar car conclusion

He had a rear brake line blow on his one dollar

2003 u con d'nali. He got it with over 200 000 miles

Which forced him to get a new car sooner rather than later. Okay

He's already looking seriously planning to buy something

Inna's wife recently moved to a new town home in a two-car garage wouldn't fit her glc 63

And a new u conner tahoe. He wanted both cars to be garaged

So he's looking at lightly used lexus gx's mercedes gle 580s and 63s

Porsche cayenne's defender 110s

One 10 v 8s

What's interesting about all of those is they are only like 15 20 percent at most smaller than the tahoe

So he's just just down a little bit in suv size and then we can get them both in the garage

That's the that's the target $1.03 u con d'nali. Yeah a one dollar car

Well, now he has money

You put into it. It's all gonna cost more than that may as well throw the car away exactly right

But he actually has real money to spend here

He had somewhere in the range of 80 to 90 thousand dollars to spend to get himself something and he ended up finding a lightly used

cpo 2025 lander over

110 p 500 with

4,000 miles at the local dealer

Now keep this in mind

4,000 miles on it. It is a loaded

Barely one-year-old defender cpo

It was a

107 thousand dollar msrp

With 4,000 miles on it. He got it for 85 thousand dollars and he is thrilled. I would be thrilled as well

It's no one dollar u con, but that's still a deal. That's a good deal. Yeah. Yeah lightly used 2025. That's brand new

It's great. It's perfect brilliant. Tom. Well done. Well bought. I mean the one dollar car was well bought and then you threw it away

And they both fit in the garage the defender will fit in the garage next to her glc 63

So that's a bonus as well guys. Thank you for all your questions

Really appreciate it right to us on social media too for all your imminent social media audience questions

We love it and like I said all your topic tuesdays. Those are great that this will continue. I'm thinking maybe just

letter f

For next time ferrari fiat and ford. That's gonna be a lot. It's gonna be a lot

We'll get through it. We promise that there will be more this year than just this series

But it's gonna take a bit. It is gonna take a bit. Maybe just okay. Maybe f and g

F through we'll get there. What we're gonna take some time. We're gonna ease our way

Maybe we go all the way to h because you were trying to go to h this time and it was just way too far

Yeah, anyway, it's gonna be good. Looking forward to next time as always cheers everyone

You

When Were Cars At Their Best, Conflicted About Mustangs, Sold On EVs | Episode 1,034

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