Jeep Wagoneer S and Mazda Miata updates | Autoblog Podcast 817
Welcome back to the Autoblog podcast I’m Greg mlei we’ve got an awesome show for you this week breaking news as of today Formula 1 has rejected the US entry that is involving Ed Drey and General Motors uh we have some opinions about that let’s put it that way and they are not
Mild uh there’s an electric Jeep Wagoner looks pretty good looks pretty Sleek we’ll talk about that some updates to the Miata General Motors is going back to hybrids this is interesting and there’s a new rivan coming up next month uh we’ll talk about what we’ve been driving which includes an update of our
Long-term WRX it’s a lot of flood I’ve been driving that through the snow the electrified Genesis gv70 the Kia ev9 we also will spend your money and we have an update from an old friend who writes in with uh with an update so let’s get right into it senior editor for all
Things electric John Snyder joins me today how you doing man I’m doing quite well uh you know we just got dumped on with snow which has made driving fun um so yeah I’m I’m doing great it is snowy it is close to 40 degrees though just
Took the dog through a walk in the woods and it was mty as you say cool do I do like you know when you know when it starts to get slushy and and you if you still got like my my road still has sort of a layer of compacted snow almost ice
Underneath that slush so you can really you know get the tail out and and get some slush spraying up on the windows it’s fun it’s a lot of fun and we’ll talk about that about how I’m doing it in the WRX don’t let me forget it’s what
The WRX was like three different ways you can approach the snow like the actual snow the slush and then just the ice that’s pretty good at all of them so all right so we’re recording this on Wednesday about noonish little afternoon and this morning uh Formula 1 has
Rejected uh Michael and drey’s bid uh to join the grid uh they were looking to get in there um 2025 or 2026 and they basically have said come talk to us again uh three years four years from now down the road that’s 2028 when GM which supported the team has an
Engine built now they came out pretty uh in a very strongly worded statement I would say uh Formula 1 said that they think uh the in the entrance would not be competitive uh they don’t think the applicant would be competitive participant so they basically repeated themselves and uh they think it would be
Here’s a this is wow damaging to The Prestige of standing of the championship now okay yeah so I think that’s you know when this this dropped stories on Auto blog we have an opinion piece uh coming later today so by the time the podcast drops which usually is on Friday all the
Stuff will be out there but I really think this is arrogant and short-sided by Formula 1 I think would the andity team probably been competitive in its first year of course not expansion teams in any sport usually aren’t um and I think frankly the better move
Would have been to get out of the grid you know after that new car launches in 26 like I don’t really know if being on there in 25 would have been the best move but I don’t think it would have been this Injustice this indignant outrage the way the fia the way formula
One has sort of responded now look everybody life is hard you know you get strong takes you know maybe some of this was boilerplate l language but I mean what are they thinking big picture it’s just it really seemed like a missed opportunity you want to expanded the
Richest Market one of the largest TV markets you know you don’t think GM might have done something like I don’t know buy a Super Bowl head it seems very shortsighted and Petty almost you know it almost seemed anti-American the way they responded so well yeah I mean with
With you know more races and more hype um you know in America America around f one it would make sense to bring in some more uh American identity and um let them compete uh just let let them show what they can do um and like you said yeah they might
Suck if they suck they suck but uh I mean it it’s GNA draw more interest to the program and you know draw more draw more fans um and it could could make for interesting racing just I I don’t I don’t like the way FIA comes off
In this I mean it’s it’s sort of on brand for them but um and maybe it’s just me from my American standpoint but still I I I just think it would be good for the sport yeah no I agree and I mean it’s I’m not saying Hey give us a team because you
Want TV ratings like I get that but I do think this was an opportunity for the sport to grow globally and obviously a very you know uh great opportunity here in this market um and they’re also totally assuming that the adrenity team was going to get out there and suck like
To me they’re getting way ahead of it you know Sports and F1 in particular is littered with all sorts of different you know startups that have done well so I mean they do lay that out their case they’re like well historically new manufacturers don’t do well at first
Fair but not always you know again it just seemed very shortsighted uh parochial uh Petty I don’t know yeah yeah I agree with you those are those a good word for it so this would have taken F1 to from 10 teams to 11 um you know they did pass
Sort of an initial like technical check earlier this always did seem frankly a little shaky that was just my read off right even when they announced it um but it seemed like things were progressing so the fact that they you know Formula 1 the FIA has come out so strongly
Today to me I think it’s it’s a it is a slap in the face and it’s I also I think it’s frustrating you know I mean I’m not saying I would have rooted for andred you know but it’s just it’s a common sense thing um if you’re trying to grow
Your sport and grow The Branding um and I think they’re jumping leaping hurdling to conclusions to make their argument which it sounds like they said this wasn’t involving the other teams yeah right uh get real like that’s worth the paper this thing is printed on so you know well it just you
Know if 28 2028 comes around and and Drey does join then um with you know GM uh powert train um this makes me more likely to root for them and hope to like you know Dominate and put them in their place just to you know just as a slap back on this
But yeah no I I I’m with you there like I there’s a lot of drivers I like uh you know I’m I’m half Italian so I like Ferrari you know kind of like alpha romero a little bit but I want to talk about a team that struggled for you know
Quite a while it just really seemed like they went got selective here about like assuming things weren’t going to go well so yeah yeah I mean we’ll say kind of a frustrating day Twitter is just Twitter SLX is just broken right now uh if you’re on it looking at you know the
Outrage from different parts of the racing Community um you know I mean they have every right to you know not let whoever want into their Club if you will it’s it reminds me a little bit of I’m a pretty big football fan and there’s like conference expansion and there’s all
These like teams you schools you would not think of are now in like other conferences like the University of Washington is going to play in the Big 10 which kind of makes my head explode right and and Oregon which I’m excited about both those teams I watching them
And and actually really like both those teams so it’ll be fun to to see it but but yeah I I I see what you’re referring to there but I think it’s a good thing you know yeah yeah and well for what I’m also saying here too is I think
Washington and Oregon and UCLA and USC joining the Big 10 is a great thing I think it’s really good for the conference as a big 10 grad you know and I think that’s sort of what could have happened here with you know Formula 1 you know
Yeah so it goes all right so head over to Auto blog by the time uh again you’re listening to this we’ll have uh have some you know opinions up there uh rot test Zack Palmer has thoughts uh go check those out over the weekend all right so let’s transition
Over to some sheet metal the electric Wagoner uh just sort of parachuted out of the sky um earlier this week looks pretty good A little different than I thought it would look it’s um it’s pretty Sleek it uh it honestly looks a little bit like a trail like a Chevy
Blazer or even a Lexus yeah yeah different than I thought it would definitely does have that Blazer Vibe it looks more um Grand Cherokee than wagon year which is good yeah I think this looks a lot better um yeah I think it actually looks really good um it does
Have that sort of uh those Blazer muscles um you know those bulging fenders and whatnot um and uh I really I really like that what you can see of the face that that front lighting um looks really slick but it still looks uh you know the grill looks like maybe a little
Bit small for a Jeep maybe a little bit understated uh but you know I’ll I’ll wait until I see it in the flesh but I think U you know from the profile and these these interior shots uh it looks looks really nice I’m really pleased with how this looks yeah the interior I
Think is uh could be something very impressive uh jeep has done a pretty good job with their Interiors in recent years so uh in some ways they’ve been more consistent than the exteriors where we’ve been you know they’ve been had more polarizing design I think in the
Last probably decade or so than perhaps Jeeps used to be so yeah this one’s aggressive I could see a lot of people perhaps not liking it um it’s a little tough I know we say this all the time because of the press photos but it’s like a dark Jeep they showed so cliche
But I think I kind of need to see it in real life first but it’s definitely a little more Street looking than than sort of the off-road vibe that a lot of the other Jeeps give off regardless of how off-road they are it looks fast so as opposed to like off-road capable but
Perhaps it’ll be both 600 horsepower yeah it’ll be fun that’s for sure yeah no this is going to be cool as the uh I always have liked Jeep massagers they’re always quite good so yeah we’ll see and uh you know I like the the Macintosh audio system you can
Sort of see that on display they’ve got the uh uh little uh equalizer needle display sort of things going on in there you can see it from sort of a distance um so yeah it’ll be it’ll be you it’s sticking with the sort of more upscale jeep has gone especially with like the
Wagon your name um in terms of Interiors so it’ll it’ll continue with that route too but yeah um definitely looks looks like a hoot all right let’s talk Miata uh the MX5 gets a lot of updates uh it’s interesting because I can see both of these these especially the Miata being
Shown at the Chicago Auto Show uh which apparently they won’t be uh as Auto shows have continued to decline I was at a auto show party celebrating the Miatas reveal I forget what anniversary it was but it was 10 15 15 years ago so do the
Math and the original Miata was shown at the Chicago Auto Show way back in whatever that was late 80s early 90s so um and this is the exact kind of thing you would show there I think it’s like get a cool car with some updates and
This is um you know this is not a new generation but it’s part an update of this current generation the ND as we call it uh Zack Palmer calls it the nd3 which I think is a pretty good way to put it out there in his write up which
You can check out on there uh some chassis updates um you know different things with the you know the um like stability control a lot of Under the Skin stuff here uh tweak the brakes a little bit try to again make the car handle better there’s some styling
Changes but I don’t really see them from the pictures apparently there’s new LED lights um we’ll see I haven’t driven the Miata in probably two years at least yeah it’s been it’s been a while but man if if they can make it even better driving you know I I always worry about
When when an automaker messes with a good thing but but um Mazda tends to really uh do really good job of incrementally uh improving their driving dynamics of their vehicles and um yeah so Maza says is going to have smoother steering with uh a more defined on
Center feeling which I I don’t mind that um and then in in maz’s words greater precision as the front tires are loaded up under hard cornering sounds perfect for a little Roadster um you know that’s that we always already sort of uh appreciate it’s it’s handling um yeah if
You can improve things incrementally here and there yeah do it uh andaz has always sort of followed a sort of uh gram strategy where they you know they look closely at the details to see what they can improve bit by bit where they can take out some weight where they
Can you know improve the the handling um and so yeah uh I think these these little improvements might not um strike you uh after just coming out of you know the pre refresh but um you know if you go back you to the beginning of the generation or last generation
Um if you could do like a vertical tasting of of of Miatas I’m sure it would um come through in that sort of Drive yeah can’t wait to drive this one hopefully uh get through our Fleet here just in time for summer when some of the
Slushing snow melts so uh it’ll be a fun one it will be all right so it was earnings season uh last week and this week and GM announced their earnings um they made money uh too long don’t read um but not as much as they did before
And one of the things though that they mentioned that caught our attention is CEO Mary bar mentioned that they will um begin investing in hybrids again which is something that they moved away from is they went um Allin on the all electric field I think you kind of got
To pick pick your battles and things like the Chevy Volt you know went by the wayside but um Bar says that a plug-in hybrid um perhaps several are in the offer uh are going to be in the hopper coming up and I think this is a pretty
Good move I think it’s a good interim play and I think they’re also you know definitely hedging their bets in the event of you know some upheaval in the political and economic spaces for sure yeah there’s definitely some hedging going on especially with some of the difficulty they’ve had just producing
EVS yeah um automakers in general you know have been sort of complaining um and and dealers have been complaining too I don’t know if that’s the fault of just consumers don’t want EVS or dealers just aren’t uh trying hard enough to sell them aren’t you know educating themselves on
The product enough I don’t know um but uh I think uh plugin hybrid you know regardless of of the motivations with behind putting out uh more plugin hybrids I think it’s a good thing if if it means you’ll sell more of those than uh and fewer uh pure internal combustion
Vehicles uh the more miles and this is what Toyota’s been saying all along in their EV hybrid strategy the more miles you can you can get out there in the world on electric power the better whether it’s you know coming from a hybrids battery or an
EV um you know if if if you’re going to get five people into plug-in hybrids where you’d only get one into an EV you know it’s uh and you could still maybe get that one into an EV that that makes a lot more sense just from a an
Emissions and Fleet standpoint and um you know decarbonization so I think uh regardless of what their motive is behind it I think it’s a it’s a good move overall yeah I agree I I’ve looked at this uh there’s a story on the Free Press about this Detroit Free Press with
Bob Lutz maximum Bob unveiling the original V concept he’s still kicking he had his 90th birthday I think uh over the summer and it showed up on some social feeds and a lot of a lot of people famous car people were at it and uh here he is back
In 2007 unveiling it um looking rather Dapper and I was at that reveal I remember I was um yeah man I remember that it was uh I ended up writing about the actual like reveal of the production vault which was in the fall of 2008 so like a year plus
Later and a lot of people said wow boy this really kind of lost its Mojo uh in route to production because you look at this concept and yeah it’s got 17 years old I can’t believe that um but and then you look at what the
Volt kind of became and it was you know definitely a little a little more homely if you will um so uh it just was the volt concept was cool and you think they could bring back the volt the only bad part of it would be confusing with the
Bolt it’s the only downside to it but a volt plug don’t want to go through that all over again but I I think I think I don’t know if they bring back the Vault um you know in the format that it was I think you just have to build something a
Little bigger now but um I mean I remember when the when the Vault went away and how badly we lamented it we love that thing and we’re sad to see it Go and U yes they were moving on to their uh Bev strategy but um it was sad to see them
Leave such a great car like the Vault behind when they were Pioneers um in plugin hybrid technology so I’m glad to see GM stepping back into that for sure uh they were one of the first to do it they did it uh really well and um you know
They’ve they’ve had a ton of experience since then with electrification General so yeah I will be looking forward to to driving a plug-in hybrid um I don’t know anything the the new Camaro might be a good yeah candidate for it yeah I think um lost in some of the
Noise that surrounds electric vehicles or staying only gas is the vast sort of different options that lie in between from hybrids to plugin hybrids um that can be very useful for a lot of different people I drove the Prius uh it was about six weeks ago now I guess
Really enjoyed it I could see how that could work for a lot of different people and um you know I spent my entire uh holiday vacation basically in electrics which is great loved it had some challenges with the charging which is to be expected um but I can see how some
People like we all have only so much like the situations that we try to navigate through life and we all have probably just so much bandwidth for problem solving and troubleshooting and perhaps your car isn’t something you have time to like troubleshoot you just want to like gas it up then maybe charge
It up and then not think about it for a week so that’s where a hybrid can be brilliant so I think the move would probably be for them not to rebuild the bolt but make a Blazer hybrid or Equinox hybrid or Camaro hybrid yeah something like that it’s also
Plug and hybrids are a better um solution for a lot of uh single car households too they need something that’s going to do all the roles that they can be efficient around town and then um you know drive across the country on a long road trip to go see
The family or whatever um without having to really worry about it you know someone like me uh my household we have a gas car my my second car would be a an EV and and probably will be here soon we’ve talked about that previously um I think the last time
I was on the podcast we talked about that but um but yeah if it were just you know a single person or a onear household especially if you’re sort of rural um you might be tough to to get by on EV I mean probably not as tough as You’
Think but definitely tough enough that make you think twice about buying one yeah no it’s It’s Tricky uh and then there’s also I think you face um not just with EVS like understanding charging and things like that which you know even for us as car journalists it
Takes a little bit to figure out you know I don’t want to go to this level two charger and then think I’m going to get you know fast charging capability like there’s a educational curve and with hybrids it’s a little bit the same way because I think one of the
Challenges about the old vault is I don’t think people necessarily used it the right way you know like they’d let it run down and then forget about it or and this is perhaps the case for plug-in hybrids RIT large is you know people just didn’t really use them exactly the
Right way which is more on the manufacturers to sort of educate if you will yeah um but that’s there’s a trickiness and that’s where you see things like again the Prius you know you could get a regular regular hybrid or go with the prime which gives you like what
30 miles or so or more of electric range plug in and you just pick which kind of Prius do you want and I think that’d be a great model for General Motors to follow agreed yeah yeah I mean a lot of people I feel like end up using their
Plug-in hybrids just as regular hybrids that don’t plug them in as often as they they like maybe the garage is full maybe you know it’s just cold they don’t want to deal with the unraveling the the charging cable or you know they live in an apartment that don’t don’t have a
Good spot to plug it in that sort of thing I found when I would be driving the different Jeep 4 by E that I could really get some efficiency out of those you know you I don’t have a charger but I could sometimes use a trickle charger
Or I would go to like the mall where there’d be like a bank of chargers you’re at the mall for a few hours you get something to eat I mean you’re not going to necessarily top yourself off but it’s just all that feeds into it and next thing you know you’re not even
Filling the Jeep up hardly ever so and that’s another benefit about having the actual plug rather than a regular hybrid lots of times you get uh premium parking spots lots of times they’ll have EV spots right by the door you just plug in and and you know
There you are you’re taking advantage of of the electricity and and Tak advantage of the excellent parking I forget where I was but I had a hybrid excuse me an all electric car and I just you know I was I think I had just turned the EV in
And something else was coming through the Press Fleet and I remember thinking oh my gosh look at these rows of like free Chargers and we had to go all the way up to the top of this parking structure and I’m like wow that’s that’s what was I thinking here so so it goes
All right so staying with EVS let’s talk about what appears to be the rs2 uh this is a smaller SUV um we’re going to get a worldwide product launch as our headline says uh coming out on March uh 7th so about six weeks from now you know
Rivan currently has two vehicles the r1s and the r1t uh they’re both fairly good siiz vehicles the truck and the SUV both quite interesting to drive uh we know very little about what this thing will be um but the CEO RJ scaring has has been teasing this on social media uh for
A while so you can see those out there and then the most recent kind of teaser is kind of a squared off you know car truck SUV thing it’s an SUV with you know wrapping over it it looks like he’s talking to the designer so um you know
This this will be interesting I think uh they’re going to do it in uh the at the South Coast theater it sounds like uh lagona Beach so if you’re in the area sounds like that’s that’s going on yeah I would love to see rivan come out with more products um man I have
Been seeing rivian all over the place not just here in Michigan when I when I travel anywhere in in the United States I see them everywhere um and and you know staying in Arizona with with my uh sister-in-law brother-in-law brother-in-law was like what do you think this rifing company I’m like oh
You’re starting to see those too huh and so and sure enough you know we went driving around there there’s rivan at the at the Starbucks rivan at the at the movie theater you it’s pretty cool to see um but uh but yeah I I I’ll be excited to see more products especially
Uh with little bit lower price tags um seeing as there’s an R2 coming out uh as an SUV probably I know could be the r2s would make sense um boy I sure hope they come out with an r2t oh man that would be neat that uh I
Mean that’s right into the segment that uh where it’s red hot you know I imagine the r1t isn’t huge I would say it’s like it’s not like a midsize truck but I would say it’s like in between a Silverado and a Colorado without getting out the the rulers if you will but just
From a rough silhouette and also like Mission what you know that the r1t does it kind of slots right in there which to me is the perfect size it’s a really yeah you know really interesting truck um I’m excited for this I think this is
Going to be cool I do too yeah looking forward to seeing it I’m I’m looking forward to seeing how much they change the styling from the from the r1s um I imagine that they won’t just make a smaller carbon copy even though from from this sort of photo of it under
Wraps it does kind of look like that same uh boxy shape very much um I hope they give it enough of its own identity that the R1 s owners still feel like they’ve got something special cool all right so come back to us on March 7th we we’ll have the story
Should be cool I think um rivan have been among the more interesting Vehicles I’ve driven in the last couple years they really stand out uh just that like sometimes you drive a cool car you don’t even remember it which sounds cliche but it’s also like the job you take notes
You’re on to the next one but I can honestly remember like vividly the r1t and the r1s both times and um they’re pretty cool I think I remember the first time seeing one in on the road you know it was a it was a prototype I I live
Kind of right down the road from their head quarters yeah and so coming in out of Van Arbor every once in a while I’d see an r1t prototype go by and yeah that stuck with me and I Still Point them out even even when I start seeing you know
Multiple in a day in places that aren’t Michigan I’m still I’m pointing them out because they’re they’re cool so hot take right now their two vehicle lineup is better than Tesla’s like four five vehicle lineup would you agree or disagree I don’t think um think they’ve got enough of the the bases covered
Um when they have they have uh something affordable you know then then let’s talk Fair yeah it’s a good way to put it my the point I’m trying to make perhaps a straw man argument here is that you got a trucky guy an SUV people like those and they make they’re more expensive
Than small sedans uh sure true and if you took the badge off what do you think most Americans would rather drive uh boxy crossover a small crossover or small sedan so yeah just you know I don’t know it’s interesting and like you I see a lot of them and people ask me
About them they’re almost like the Tesla alternative like yeah I’ve thought about electrics I’ve thought about Tesla I don’t know how I feel about what the CEO says and does and everything he’s doing these days but this rivan company they’ve got this boxy SUV it looks kind
Of cool so it’s that’s literally the thought process people say to me and and then they say something like well I don’t know if I drive enough to spend you know whatever the sticker price is on like an entry level one which is not cheap it’s like 6070 so
Yeah all right so that’s rivan let’s talk about Kia and the ev9 which you drove out in California I drove it in metro Detroit about a month ago well what did you think I thought it was great yeah um yeah it uh it translates really well from from the Palisade in
Terms of of the what it serves you know it’s a it’s a practical three row SUV that isn’t necessarily off-road um and uh is actually comfortable in all three rows um but it also happens to be you know a a very quick uh high mileage Eevee um
With some really neat styling and then they they took a lot of things a lot of thinking I think from from like the KIA Carnival um with those reclining seats I know you can get those in like the ev6 and Hyundai five but to have those in
The in the second row uh Captain’s chairs and have those uh really cozy VIP lounge seats is what they were calling the carnival here they call them um relaxing comfort seats um that’s a really nice thing it’s sort of like a a almost like a minivan with um you know doors that
Don’t slide open um and maybe a little little taller uh definitely feels spacious like a minivan on the inside uh the third row U you know not quite as wide as a minivan’s third row only seats two in the third row but boy you’ve got
Tons of headro tons of leg room I I was able to I I I set the the driver seat in my driving position I’m six foot tall for reference set the second row seat in a comfortable position behind that and then was able to get in the third row
And feel very comfortable behind that um so that was that was really cool uh lots of neat little features like um in the upper trims there’s a little drawer that pulls out from the rear of the center console that can you know it’s pull it
Out it’s like a shelf and then you push that top part back and then it’s like this nice little cubby um that’ be a great place to stash things uh that I wish we had that in our Palisade where we could put wipes and fruit snacks things for the kids that they’re always
Asking for um but yeah just also you really good to drive I only drove the the top GT line um which is really quick and it definitely you know surprisingly quick for for how big it is um a lot of the useful Tech um from from
The other uh Hyundai Kia models uh the safety Tech uh the the rear view digital rear view camera which is great if if you’re going to load it up all the way with with cargo and kids um the you know blind spot monitor uh camera view which
Is also really helpful um things like that uh no like AR head up to playay uh so little bit fewer gimmicks they do still have a fingerprint sensor um that you can use um to load up your driver profile if you’ve got different people driving it or um as a
Way if you put it on valet mode and want to take it off valet mode you can use your fingerprint to to take it off of valet mode that sort of thing um phone is key uh you know the the the digital digital key the the latest version of
That where you can text someone uh a key if if you know like hey I need you to stop by my work and pick up the car and take it in whatever here I’m GNA text text you the key and then you can revoke it at any time um lot a
Little convenient things like that um very well thought out um I think it looks cool too uh looks looks different um uh kind of boxy U which I like uh surprisingly aerodynamic for how boxy it is but um yeah I liked it quite a bit uh you know
It’s they they could have gone cheaper with it um but then they wouldn’t have had left in all the standard content that they they have they just they just pack this in the base models they have lots of lots of uh good safety and convenience content in it and I don’t
Think they want to um water that down so it does you know start a little higher but um but still it’s it’s compared to like the r1s or or um you know the the model X or the Mercedes uh eqs SUV it’s it’s a quite the bargain and it still feels
Quite premium yeah I agree with you I I think it’s creative I think the design is very uh uh it’s cool for lack of a better way to put it it’s you know it’s it definitely gets that kind of boxiness uh that element to make people feel like they’re
Driving something special different all the metrics the range you know line up I like the interior I thought the interior you did a very good job of explaining all the different features I just thought it was a nice place to spend time too yeah like the materials were
Cool uh it was pretty big in there uh and just having a mainstream three row SUV that’s all electric I think is amazing major achievement yeah and they all from from the base level on up have that synthetic leather um interior which is very nice um yeah definitely a good place to spend
Time especially if you can turn on the massaging seat uh the I I think only you can only get the massaging seat in the driver driver seat uh but you can get heated and ventilated second row um yeah if if you’re waiting on a charge and
It’s a you know it’s got the 800 volt architecture so it it also charges very quickly um you know 10 to 80% in in 24 minutes on the on the big battery models so uh 24 minutes perfect amount of time to you know turn on the the heated seat
Recline it pull your lunch out of that little drawer and eat it and then get back on your way yeah I uh I can’t wait to spend more time in this uh especially given the you know the pure range be a good summer road trip vehicle because you can
Definitely plan ahead to where you might be um within reason so it’s obviously can charge quickly um yeah would you consider that Kia and Hyundai had never really made three row SUVs not only have they made them you own one they are making electric ones that’s remarkable
Yeah yeah for sure and it’s it’s something I would consider uh replacing the Palisade with um if you know it would be my wife’s uh daily driver um and she uses it to get up north quite a bit so with with full of kids and dogs SO waiting waiting at
The um charger is not an ideal situation in that case but you know if you have 300 four miles of range I think it is uh our Cottage four hours away is 250 miles um but that’s all highway driving and that’d be you know good weather you you
May have to stop once um along the way just to be safe um which isn’t wouldn’t be too bad we usually do that anyway on our way up to stuff get everyone something to eat um or or to pick up things that we don’t have at the cottage
Some some groceries or whatnot that’s where yeah go ahead but you know I would rather have my EV be my smaller Get Around Town Car you know mostly but if I’m doing if I was going to do a two EV household be perfect Yeah well yeah
There you go you’re g go all EV to EV household it’s I think that’s where the beauty of like the route you described where like you know where you’re going you know where like your charger is you know where your backup charger is you know there might be one it’s say grocery
Store like that’s where a you know a large EV can be very beneficial because it’s you know you’re very familiar with the terrain so yeah yeah would definitely work for 99% of what we need to do with it and and not be too much of a pain all right well
I guess I mean Hyundai motorco is really getting into EVS obviously as we all know so let’s talk about another one this is the electrified Genesis g70 gv7 gv70 yeah I actually drove this a gosh it was almost a year ago now I can’t believe it
Um but you drove it more recently so what did you think yeah it’s in my driveway right now um I’ve been driving it in in all the snow and uh been using the snow mode which is great it is it keeps it really stable you can put it in
Something else and and you know it’ll it’ll play a little bit and then the traction control will kick in but with the the snow mode and distributing the the the power between the front and rear axles it just does a very good job of keeping things nice and stable but um
Really nice looking vehicle really attractive uh you know when I drop the kids off at school people are commenting asking what is that is that you know um it’s a Genna says oh yeah I forgot that that’s a thing uh is it electric yeah but there’s a there’s a gas one too
Um and but yeah it looks cool uh very comfortable inside uh you know take the Kia ev9 and Elevate that a little bit with with uh some nice materials uh more detail and design um and uh yeah very comfortable the second row you know it’s a little
Smaller than I expected it to be with a front facing child seat behind me um my my daughter is uh you know kicking the seats for sure um her if she’s wearing boots her feet are getting stuck so I’m always moving my my seat up a little bit um to accommodate for
Her um Parenthood yeah but uh you know you you you take a little of that but you get a little more in in cargo room there’s a really nice big flat load floor um put on a lot of stuff in there uh pretty deep um yeah I loaded it up
With groceries it was was pretty great um and then yeah it’s it’s again this is another one that’s surprisingly quick you can uh get on the put in sport mode put on the gas or not the gas the accelerator gotta get used to not calling it the gas um and man this thing
Just shoots off like my kids kept asking me to do it again and again uh you know if you’re doing it through a corner you get a little wheel spin um not too much stays stable but it just feels really fun um so smooth and quiet just really
Really really nice it took me a while to find the charging port on it uh it’s it’s hidden behind uh part of the the panel where the grill would be um and it Blends in perfectly you know you’re looking for the cutout like you would a
Like a fuel flap on on a normal car or you know where the charge P it is on most DVS and this is you know tucked up completely blended into the into the grill so it took a little bit to find that then I had the thing where um I
Went out to to take the kids to school and I couldn’t get the charger to unplug I had to go in through the menu and it was set on um and no matter what I did with unplugging unlocking the car turning it on nothing would get to
Release go into the menu and turn off the the thing that says locked while charging and then interesting yeah did you hear about my story with the gv60 yeah yeah yeah same thing and that you know wasted like 10 minutes of my morning just fooling around trying to do
That while getting the kids in the car and like just trying to get out of there having to go to the menu and but once it’s turned off I a know how to do it and B never have to do it again yeah man I don’t know why they have that
Feature it is infuriating did you know it was turned on like initially or did you know it engaged no no it was that that’s just how it was set from the previous uh you know when they when they dropped it off so I turned it off and it
Stays off once you turn it off until you turn it back on again I wish I mean most EVS you just hit the unlock button and it unlocks it which that makes sense to me that makes perfect sense super frustrating it was a real pain it seems to happen with across the Hyundai
Motorco EVS yeah but I mean that was that and finding the charge for it were were two little you know beginner problems that um you know once I knew about them it won’t be a problem again and uh other than that yeah really love driving it really love driving it
Um it feels very executive very luxurious um it’s nice it’s nice the kids love it too Wally loves having you know heated seats in the back too everybody kids all always love the heated seats they really do it’s um uh my son like the massaging seats in
Different cars too I’m like dude you got to get in your car you can’t just sit there getting a hot stone massage while we ride around like this isn’t how this works man but uh yeah yeah not for a couple more years anyway until you’re out of that booster
Indeed indeed yeah Wally just got out of his booster this past summer which is um it’s a milestone been great for him because he he gets to enjoy the luxuries of the car and great for us because we don’t have to tote uh a booster seat
Around and now while he can sit in whatever seat he wants without having to drag that seat from you know the second row to the third row or whatever yeah it’s a good move yeah you’re getting old man you’re getting old yeah not so bad
All right so I guess I should talk about the WRX that’s what I’m still driving can’t wait to hear about it man it is so I have a long-term update it went up again uh on Friday so if you’re listening to this on the weekend this
Story went up uh ours is bright orange it’s uh it’s definitely a lot of fun to drive I I’ve talked about this a couple times now on the show and it’s uh you I think it sort of lives up to the hype in the like the mission the legend of what
It uh what it should be if you will um it’s you know I it’s intense that’s the word I’m looking forward it’s been intense for the last few weeks it’s just been an absolute tractor through the snow that’s been great it’s fun like driving in the snow with a
Stick shift too because it’s so rare uh you know drop it in second gear and fish tail around corners um the the only rough thing is it’s it’s very it’s a pretty low to the ground car so you can plow through the snow you can plow over the top of the
Snow but it’s really rough when like you’re kind of sinking into the slush and then like literally the slush is going around the car it’s so low um definitely I was like am I going to high side this thing on some of these different slush mountains uh so there’s
There’s that uh boxer 4 the turbo it’s everything you know you remember it’s coarse as hell it’s the whole thing is really loud yeah for all I was convinced I was getting a headache um from driving the car um I think I just have a headache which is a different set of
Issues but um it’s been a lot of fun man and I like the I always kind of prefer the WRX to the STI I feel like the STI is just a little bit too much for me for more than just like driving it for a morning so I’ve been really liking it
Agreed I I feel the same way about the WRX and the STI um I can’t wait to get in this one I haven’t driven this this one yet um you’re WRX owner formerly yeah I had my 04 WRX that I bought new I had it for over a
Decade uh well over a decade uh and man I miss miss that car so much mostly because of how fun it was to drive in the snow and um you know I I think about you know I could get another WRX someday and have but it wouldn’t be the same you
Know with all the new modern stability te Tech and stuff maybe it wouldn’t you know be so rambunctious in the snow as the other one but then I I I drove an Outback a couple weeks ago in the snow and it was you know that thing came to life as soon
As the the pavement got slippery um in a in a really good way um so even these modern Subarus are are still fun in the snow is it’s great to hear um but yeah I’m really looking forward to to driving um the new one this is the
First time in a in a while that I’ve um sort of considered the a modern you know a contemporary WRX as something I might prefer prefer to um you know that first gem um so yeah looking forward to to getting in it and U it’s nice that it’s
Orange people can see you in the snow oh man it’s bright orange people see it coming um and that’s I think that’s a good thing you know the other option was blue where which had that very Subaru blue yeah um rally blue but I honestly
I’m glad we got the orange I don’t know I have no regrets on that yeah I feel like yeah the blue is very common um and man I I wish they bring back that uh that yellow they used to have that was that was great maybe they maybe they
Have and I just missed it but um they used to have that really fun bright yellow on the WRX back in the day sort of like sort of like the rivan yellow on the the rivan yellow is is something it’s a similar yellow to that
I like that quite a bit but I I went with the blue um just because it it was the Super thing to do the very WRX thing to do okay okay yeah it’s I was looking back at my sort of history with the WRX we had a long termer you might remember
This I think you might have been freelancing here at the time a long termer back at like 15ish um that was a good one we put a fair amount of miles on it got rear ended on 696 uh it took some hits it had those gold Sparco Wheels yeah we still have
Those Wheels did you know that I do I do we put them we ended up putting those on the uh our longterm Forester a couple years ago because they happen to fit they barely fit they looked good though um that was a great car and when I was
Actually at Auto week we we had an STI which was my first sort of indoctrination into like what an STI what a WRX could be and that man that thing would grip your head off you know that was that was really something it was an STI the thing that I
Didn’t like about it was yeah you would get tired yeah uh over a long drive you know I drove one down to hacking Hills a few years ago and and just those three four hours of driving on the highway that you know even in the highest gear
It’s still you know droning at fairly high RPMs and it’s loud and it’s a lot of vibration it’s like like when you’re boating you you just get tired Ju Just from just from this the sound and and the and the vibration of it and the STI
Is the same way um really fun on a track though really fun on a track or or uh you know on a dirt track too if you can get it sort of I’ve driven some in on I think in 2011 um took one on they built this big
Mud track on the side of this hill man for us and got to drive that around that was that was pretty cool and yeah uh like you said good in the snow I did the Subaru winter Driving Experience a few years back oh cool um in the WRX the STI
And the BRZ all with st studded tires on them out on this frozen lake um I still think the wrs WRX was the best I mean that the BRZ was was really fun on on ST tires on the ice but the WRX was still just I mean it’s just so well balanced it’s
Just yeah just combines takes the best of of you know all the worlds and and just puts it there in front front of you and and doesn’t you know sap your energy from you in the process now the uh they said a year ago over a year ago that they were not going
To develop an STI again so we’ll we’ll see if perhaps down the road that somehow changes but for now the WRX you could go with like the GT or the TR which news editor Jo Stockdale drove uh in Sicily so and then there there are the the companies like uh Pro Drive that
Byron wron drove there uh basically what would be an STI um and you can you could probably buy a WRX and mod it yourself with with enough cash and turn it into basically an STI but I think the the package that it is um as it stands is just very sort of a
Sweet spot you can definitely to your point turn up the wick on a WRX and get pretty close to perhaps what an STI would be in the day and age um to me the intensity of the STI was just the way all of the elements of it from like the
Seats to the the the way the transmission the shifts were tight uh the clutch was super heavy which of course it is in the Rex um the huge Wing like it was just all of it made driving it like a total workout yeah whereas the Rex you can it’s a workout you’re tired
It’s not comfortable but you can breathe a little bit you know yeah yeah it’s still a little rough around the edges I I haven’t you know driven this one yet but if if it’s anything like previous ones there’s you’re GNA get some thrash through the yeah the transmission and uh
That’s a good way to put in some thrash yeah um but it’s it’s all it’s all in good fun it’s nothing too extreme all right so let’s have some good fun and spend some money Mone that’s podcast autoblog.com we’d love to answer your questions if you have a mailbag question
Let’s do that too so first an update from Shan and Fort Collins Colorado Greg this is for you and Zach after listening to my questions about the lc500 I ordered a 2024 Coupe today I went with yeah the cloudburst gray with a black red interior that sounds great uh
Dynamic pack Dynamic handling pack as well as the heads up display uh Mark Le it’s an audio dash cam he went with every box except the dog first aid kit nothing get dogs I just don’t have one so good purchase glad to hear we can
Help you out all right and then we have a new question so let’s let’s get into that friend of Auto blog drives a Cadillac XTS uh that was bought used for $25,000 had it for years but it’s time to go needs that same kind of car for
The nature of uh his job uh basically he says there’s no big cat sedans anymore which is true uh he drove the xt6 which is the crossover found it boring wants to stick with the sedan uh he drove the ct5 and said it was too small uh the
Writer is an executive uh in a large company in the midwest the parking place is highly visible which means having a domestic car uh would be better for public relations is basically uh the question put for us so what we’re trying to do is find a large domestic sedan or
Something that I guess you know could be um in place of that yeah flies a little under the radar compared to Z Germans Yeah so basically if you rolled up in a seven series that might raise some eyebrows so um I went hard on the ct5 because I think that’s the closest thing
You could get Yeah couple other options here but I don’t want to take all the options because there’s only like two or three what do you think um well he mentioned the Volvo S90 I I like that uh it’s already like I mean not already it’s it’s starting to
Feel pretty old you know it needs it needs an update um but I mean if you’re buying used um yeah yeah it’s certainly fine um I I I quite like the S90 actually um let’s see there’s the I mean the Genesis G80 or g90 um a little bit
Flying under the radar not as flashy so there’s that uh mentioned the he drove the uh xt6 uh found in for um and wants to sck with a sedan although if you did want to dabble back into uh crossover area the Lincoln Aviator would be a good
That’s a really good one a sort of fun alternative to to the XD saes um and finally if you want to go electric and American and big sedan Tesla Model S that’s true there’s a there’s a ton of them out there you get a ton of range um
You know no one’s gonna look funny at you for for uh you know not buying something made in America when you when you live in the midwest I mean that’s that’s a thing yeah I don’t know if anyone if everyone everywhere realizes that but especially like here in
Michigan that that’s a thing you feel really sort of out of place in certain places um driving a for vehicle like up up north we’re up north in the Palisade everything else is domestic we are the only forign car in the in the parking lot of the Tom’s grocery
Um yeah I had that same experience in the Hyundai Palisade myself when we had the long termer so but Tesla you know it’s true made right here in the darn Us Bay and uh liked by uh people of all Stripes so I think um yeah I think well
A little bit of an update before we had a chance to even read this on the air uh the writer went out and got uh an xt6 so we already we now know the answer to the question um which you know that’s I I think the thing about Cadillac is it is
A Cadillac you know and that definitely uh carries a certain gravitas um you know I think a ct6 would have been great the ct5 is what I would have done frankly if you want to go sedan you can still get all-wheel drive it’s not as big as you
Know perhaps this like the ct6 which nominally competed with the seven series you do get like especially in a domestic leaning area but really anywhere Kev does still have that brand Halo so I think that’ll work I think the xt6 is you know going to do the job just fine
Outside of the sedan segment to your point the Lincoln are really good I think that would have worked a used Continental was one other option that kind of came to mind and I think they’re hard to find but that’s a great car too uh it was only briefly in the Press
Fleet it was only briefly produced it seemed like um yeah it’s a small field but you’ve got some options um and for once we actually have like an epilog as we you know discuss it in real time so yeah we always gotta wait a while to get an answer if we get an
Answer at all so yeah that was cool love love hearing back um always love hearing what people get and uh man yeah that that lc500 um Sean you’re gonna love that yeah it that’s going to be great that was just uh I believe it was just
Last week uh last week or two weeks ago so that’s glad to see it worked out that is such a great car it’s going to be it’s a collector’s car at this point it isime man it is Sublime it just drives so well it’s a rocket all right well if you enjoy the
Autoblog podcast that’s five stars on Apple podcast Spotify wherever you get the show please send us your spend my monies at podcast autoblog.com thanks for hanging out this week John and thanks yeah always a pleasure be safe out there see you next Week
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. In the news, F1 snubs Michael Andretti, Jeep shows off the electric Wagoneer S, Mazda reveals the updated 2024 Miata, Mary Barra talks about future plug-in hybrids, and Rivian is set to reveal a new global product. In reviews this week, we’ve been driving the new Kia EV9, the Genesis Electrified GV70 and our long-term WRX. We also get a Spend My Money update, and help someone pick a replacement for a Cadillac CTS.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
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