In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. Zac recently went down to Tennessee to drive a prototype of the 2025 Ford Bronco Sport Sasquatch. Meanwhile the two also spent time in the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV, 2024 Mercedes-AMG GLA 35 and 2024 Lexus LS 500h out of the fleet in Michigan. In the news, Rivian deals with a fire at its Normal, Illinois plant; Formula 1 comes back strong, and Volkswagen prices the ID.Buzz. Lastly, the two debate what old, executive sedan you should buy in a Spend My Money segment.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
TranscriptWelcome back to the Oor podcast.
I'm Greg mcleary.
We have an awesome show for you this week, we're gonna talk about the Ford Bronco Sports Sasquatch.
Uh Bit of a surprise and delight.
Uh You know, uh Road Test editor Zach Palmer drove it down in Tennessee.
Uh So we're gonna talk about that.
We both have spent some time in the GMC Hummer EV three X.
It's big, it's electric, there is a bit to unpack there.
We talk about the Mercedes GL A 35 and the Lexus Ls 500 H News with this week is a fire at the Rivian factory.
Uh some F one notes, news and notes and the Volkswagen ID buzz price.
It's a little bit higher than you think.
We will spend some money at the end of the show.
Stick around for that.
It's a good one.
So with that, let's bring in Road Test editor Zach Palmer.
How's it going?
How's it going?
It's going pretty well pretty well.
It is hot, summer is not giving up without a fight.
It is, I believe close to 90 it was close to 90 yesterday.
Um Yeah, I've got a little bit of a sunburn here because I was out, out in the sun all weekend.
Got a little bit of golf in on Sunday and I forgot to wear sunscreen.
So I'm looking a little bit toasty.
Uh, but that's ok.
I am.
Uh, I got a similar amount of sun this weekend.
I went down to the, uh, Ann Arbor Lazy River.
Huron River, uh, floated about a little bit.
Uh, yeah.
No, I guess we're doing a similar last throws of summer thing here.
Getting a little bit of sun end.
Did you do the, is it the tube sort of float down the Huron?
Is that what you did?
Exactly.
It all the way down there.
Ah, it's just like a nice little 3 to 4 hour float, I'd say.
And, oh, yeah.
No, just pack the, uh, man, it was, it was a Mercedes, uh, SUVGLC that I had, um, I know that you guys talked about that in a previous podcast.
But, uh, but, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was good a little, uh, Ann Arbor vacation, I guess, an hour away from home.
And, uh, good time in the summer.
I actually did something similar early.
We did tubing through the sort of rapids part of it where you kind of go over the, they're almost like rocks.
It's almost like shoals, I would say, kind of bumpy and then it's much shorter.
Uh, but tubing on the Heron River, it's a good time.
So hi comes highly recommended from both of us.
It sounds like indeed, it's good.
You definitely want to come prepared with your, like whatever life jacket you might want and then make sure you have a fully inflated, uh, you know, good tube.
We were using like basically like kids beach toys and that's a little bit bumpy.
You wanna like if you can even consider renting them?
Uh, so check it out.
All right, we got some cool cars to talk about this week.
The Bronco Sports Sasquatch, you went down to, uh, Tennessee and you got to drive a prototype, uh, which, uh, is a pretty cool little thing.
It definitely takes the Bronco sport, which for everybody out there who maybe get confused.
Uh, this is the smaller, very squared off version of the bigger Bronco.
Uh, we knew this was gonna happen when they basically teased the Bronco itself about five years ago even farther back.
Uh We knew the Bronco sport was always gonna be a thing.
I think it's struggled part of the pun to gain traction as much as the Bronco has.
It really has been in the shadow of its sort of older brother, larger brother.
Um, be for obvious reasons.
The Bronco is restyled like a, you know, like the icon that it was in the sixties going forward.
This has definitely been something that his fell somewhere between that and just like a Ford escape.
Uh, almost competitor.
But now reports, you know, now we think the escape is about to go away.
So it's gonna clear out some space for the Bronco sport and it appears to be better.
So, uh, tell me about this thing.
Yeah, Bronco Sport, Sasquatch is the big news for 2025.
This is effectively the mid cycle refresh for the Broncos sport.
Neither the big Bronco nor the Bronco sport have really received any sort of notable updates since they were revealed.
Of course, we had the Bronco Raptor, which was a pretty big deal model that came out.
But this is another big deal for the Bronco sport lineup.
I would say the one that I got to drive specifically was, was that Sasquatch model, which was a prototype.
Uh It was on Ford's Bronco off Rodeo Trail actually.
So this is a, uh and one of their off rodeo properties, they have a number of them around the country.
This was the one that is in Marysville, Tennessee.
It is still under construction actually.
So I was only allowed to go on like a small little portion of it.
It is hours and hours of trails.
But uh if you read my story, you'll see that I only drove for about 20 minutes or so.
And you know, that's obviously enough to get, you know, a little bit of an idea, but it's not a uh a true first drive.
Uh The, the likes that we normally do, but that is also an understandable limitation when you're looking at a prototype vehicle, regardless.
There's a lot of stuff on air that definitely makes it, you know, more serious of, of, of an off Roader.
Uh You get Billstein rear shocks that have even a piggyback reservoirs, which is pretty sweet.
It's, that's uh almost some, some desert running type things.
But uh no, that's just, you know, it's, it's there to help make the uh impacts less extreme when you do land back down on earth.
Uh If you are getting a little bit of air going over obstacles, uh the ground clearance is, is a tiny bit more because of that.
It has, has uh some, some different springs, has a lot more underbody protection, this big, big, big brush guard up front with some uh steel bash plates.
Uh And then of course, the tires are upgraded.
It has these new Goodyear uh territory, all terrains which have a much blocker tread and uh they also has, has some new wheels to uh for that new rubbers rep and yeah, like it, it looks the part like it looks like a much, much more aggressive Bronco sport.
Of course, it's still like a unibody crossover type thing.
Like if, if you're doing like true real off roading, you're still gonna want like the big Bronco, but this is almost, you know, trying to split the difference, you know, there is, we're getting more and more of these, these sorts of vehicles out there, like the cross track wilderness.
You know, it's a very weirdly serious small crossover that can go off road.
And, you know, if, if, if you're off camping, if it's a tough to get to trail, you just feel a little bit more confident going out there.
And that's sort of the idea with this Bronco sports Sasquatch package, uh, you can get it on both the Badlands and the outer banks trims, which is also a little bit surprising that they're offering it on, on the outer banks because that means you can get this package with either the 2 L, four cylinder or the 1.5 L three cylinder.
Uh and it also brings the fancy torque vectoring rear diff to the outer banks model while that was previously a Badlands exclusive.
So, you know, a number of uh changes in here to make the Bronco Sport better.
Uh I think I I honestly, one of the, one of the biggest changes is the interior, uh a new screen, new uh cluster as well.
It's much, much improved over like the pretty dated sync three software that the previous one was, was running and it's just a lot more modern and I, I wouldn't even say nicer inside, but just more up to date with the rest of the Ford lineup and like what you would expect for a crossover that you're gonna be paying premium money for because the Bronco sport is not a cheap SUV at all.
It hasn't been from the start.
And while Ford did not reveal pricing for this new Sasquatch, uh, you, you, you definitely should expect it to be expensive and without a doubt, the most expensive of, of the whole lineup, uh honestly, even probably intruding on like the big Bronco prices for like a base or like a big Ben.
And I would, I would guess so.
Yeah, that was, that was my experience with the, with, with, with the Broncos sport.
Um, they did the actual off, off roading of it.
Like, is, is, is it better, like, um, I mean, I'd say sure, just, just from all of the specs that you get like it should be better, um, you know, are people gonna really push this thing to its absolute limits?
I would also guess.
No.
Uh, but they are, they are definitely higher now.
I, and I would say mostly thanks to the new tires and the, uh, and the, the new Billstein shocks back there, which I hope honestly helped the on road, uh, ride as well.
Like I feel like they have, have the potential to do that, but we just have to wait and see honestly because I just drove it on some rocks and mud.
But, uh, but yeah, that's, that's, that's Bronco sport.
Yeah.
No, that's cool.
I think these are, uh, critical updates for the Bronco, I think.
Adding the Sasquatch package gives a little bit of a halo to the Bronco sport line.
Kind of lets, um, you know, if, say you're gonna buy a Bronco sport, this lets you get perhaps a little more excited about it than if, hey, I just, I couldn't get the actual Bronco or I didn't want it or couldn't afford it.
This, I think makes it a little more of an enthusiast off Roaders thing, whether you actually go ahead and get that Sasquatch package or not.
Um, yeah, I've, I've done some off roading in that part of the world.
I did a Volkswagen Atlas first drive.
I drove a prototype in Southeastern Tennessee to not quite there.
Uh But yeah, it was, it was kind of cool.
It's a nice hilly part of the country to do, um, do some drives.
I think Mercedes used to do trips in that part of the world as well.
Um, no, that's cool.
I think, um, you know, kind of searching through what everybody's officially said.
I don't know for, it's officially said the escapes gone, but I have a lot of reports out there that it will be.
And if you kind of look at the sales volume, it's like, ok, so second quarter, 2024 you've got escape at about call it 38,000, then you've got Bronco Sport at like 28,000.
Uh, and then the Bronco itself is at like 26,000.
Uh Bronco uh still looking healthy.
Um But it's just, it's kind of like, like take the big Bronco out of the equation.
It's kind of like, it sure looks kind of like the escape of the Bronco sport, which are each down, escapes down 13% Bronco sports down 15%.
Um Sure seems like they're kind of cannibalizing each other.
So I think this refresh with kind of like a fun model in there to get people excited uh with the likely pending demise of the escape ergo.
Uh the Bronco Sport is gonna be a bit healthier.
So, uh and I still think it's a pretty cool looking little crossover like you see him on the road, especially some of those like throwback models which with like the different paint schemes, I mean, I, I think it'd be a fun thing to drive.
It's the right little crossover for a lot of people.
Uh And Ford's got kind of a large batch of things in the segment, you know.
So, and they also have basically, we, we think the edge is gonna go away as well.
So they're kind of sort of clearing some space out here and I think that'll give the Bronco Sport room to run and uh maybe pick up some, pick up some sales volume.
So uh I think it would be fun off road too.
Like I've driven the Jeep Cherokee off road, uh like the Trail Hawk edition, things like that at different jeep events and it's smaller, it fits pretty well in tight spaces.
Like there's a lot to like about a smaller off Roader, even something that does slot below, you know, say the Wrangler or the Bronco, that type of thing.
I mean, I was just in a gladiator and love it, you know, talk about off roaders like this was the Mojave X trim off Roaders that ride great on road.
That's it right there.
But that thing off road would be tough, you know, because it's pretty big.
So I, I like, I like what they're doing with the Bronco sport.
I can't wait to drive one.
It is, it is weirdly fun to wheel off road.
Like you don't have that sort of invincibility feeling like you're doing a, in, in like a big Bronco because it's like, all right, if I like, slide down this embankment right now, I don't have like a rock rail.
That's, that's, that's gonna save the door.
It's like, no, the door is gone.
Uh But like if, if you're driving over, uh like directly over like a rock or something like that, you have a really great camera system that you can see.
HD.
Uh you have some, some really great tire path indicators as well.
Uh And then of course, that really squared off design gives you a great look at like where are the actual corners of the vehicle?
Because it's just like you're saying, it is not a big vehicle at all.
Uh, it's not the greatest turning radius, I would say.
Like, I, I did have to do a little three point turn a couple times because the trail is just that, that tight.
Even with that small of a car, it could not do it.
Um, but like all of those bash plates and skid plates under, like, it gives you a lot more confidence than you would have.
And I don't know, something like a Rav four or, you know, like a, or like a Ford Escape, I suppose, uh, to just, you know, send it down a trail where, you know, uh, maybe you'd be a little sketched out otherwise.
So there's, there's some other like, cool little features like Ford added these grab handles, uh for like off roading.
So they're, they're sort of like what the, uh, Porsche Cayenne has right there in the center console, um, to, for like a passenger to grab on to, they added au switches for people that want to add accessories, uh, out there, which is, you know, sort of a very big Bronco move.
And they also added these really sweet, uh, tie bar straps in the fenders where you can, uh, tie things that you secure to the roof down onto.
Um, you know, so just like small little things that make, you know, maybe you're going camping, doing some light off roading work.
Uh, just a little bit better, I think for 2025 beyond the actual, just like off-road driving thing that you get with the Sasquatch.
So damn cool.
Check out Zach's full story, uh, on our site.
Uh, he's got the full rundown with what the Sasquatch is, how it drives and also all of the changes for the new, uh, model year of the Bronco sport.
So, I guess what's the opposite of a small off Roader that you could fit in different places?
I would say that's the 2024 Hummer ev three X.
Uh we both drove this thing.
It's a lot of fun.
It's everything about this thing is monstrous sticker.
100 and $5000.
It's enormous.
I was looking at some of the specs, I believe it's four inches wider than a Tahoe.
So just kind of wrap your brain around that.
Um And it's, yeah, it's just, it's a beast.
Um What uh let's see, it says it offers 3 to 14 miles of driving range.
Um I had a bit of a charging adventure this weekend which we could get into.
Uh, but generally speaking, I liked it.
I, I can't wait to hear what you think.
I think it, it's like driving a transformer, which I believe it actually is in one of the movies.
I think the Hummer plays a transformer.
Uh, you know, it gets, gets tons of stairs.
This one was a shade of supernova metallic which is just like a nice shade of blue.
Um And the inside was lunar Horizon which actually, I don't know if you noticed this, there was some very nice kind of like almost bronzed accents on the, the vents.
So that was cool.
It, it had that kind of lunar vibe to it.
Um You know, I crab walked with it.
That's cool.
Uh It's a little challenging.
I kind of forgot about that.
Lots of like surprise and delight functions like when you brought it over just we figured out how to open the rear, swing out door with the push of the button.
If you walk up to it, the grill lights up, which I think is just outstanding.
Uh I don't know.
I will say this is the weekend war on.
I was liking it a little bit less.
Like it's, it is huge, you know, and it, it's a bit of work to drive in a way that honestly, like the gladiator that I drove a few weeks back, it didn't get old.
I kept wanting to drive it more.
So.
Uh what's your take on this thing?
Yeah, this is, this is a complicated vehicle.
I think that's sort of, that's, I have somewhat of a complicated take on it.
Um I think end of story, like I ended up really liking it, like over, like over my like four or five days of driving it.
Uh And I, you know, I, I ended up liking it a lot more than I liked it just from like, uh specs and like a, like an on paper sort of perspective because you, you get into this thing and you start to realize, like, what it's, what it's really about is, like, all right, you are the king of the road.
It's, it's all about design.
You know, it's, it's, it's not necessarily even that utilitarian inside.
Like, it's huge, but you want to load up anything into the cargo area, it's like way high off the ground and it's, and it's, it's, it honestly like, versus a lot of other suvs and crossovers, it's, it's not that tall of a space or that great of a space.
Um It's just so, so white, like when you try to get in and out of it, you know, it has these, these nice big grab handles but, you know, it's, it's, it's just a chore, I guess to use like most of the time honestly.
Um and driving it like that, uh Just like you were saying about the Gladiator, uh you kind of have to like, pay attention like 100% of the time when you are driving it because it is so dang wide and like, if you like, you, you can't just like, mindlessly change the radio or, or, or adjust the song or something like that because if you do stop paying attention for like the smallest of a second to like where you are, like what you're doing with the steering wheel, you will be out of the lane of wherever, of wherever lane you're in and just, you know, merging into wherever.
Um, that is one thing that is one place where Super cruise, I think honestly helped a lot.
Um, when I was on the highway, uh, I, I drove this thing to Ann Arbor and back, uh, from, from my place in, in Oak Park.
So that was, uh, that, that was about like 45 miles of highway use right there.
And I use Super Cruise like the whole time and, you know, I had to interrupt it once or twice because I was, I was going by a big semi truck and this thing is wide and so is, so is a semi truck and you just get kind of close and a little bit, a little bit uncomfy.
I would say you just wanna move over in the lane.
But, you know, for the most part, you can remove.
I think a lot of that stress of like this is such a big vehicle and this is such a hassle uh by doing that on the highway.
So Super Cruise is like, I think a really, really necessary thing that, that, that this car has and thankfully it works well, you know, works like an Escalade, works like, you know, any of the other big GM trucks that have it, um, which is, which is really sweet.
Um, downsides on the highway.
It's like crazy noisy, uh, those, those mirrors and the block shape of it.
Like it is, it, like, you have to turn the radio up because it's just playing loud in there like that with, with the altering tires and, you know, there's, there's, there's no engine or anything like that.
It's just wind and road noise.
Um, so I wanna say it's the greatest highway cruiser.
It's also not that efficient either, you know, just like any other big truck.
Um, you know, you'll, you'll get between like 1.5 and, uh, two miles per kilowatt hour, which is not a great efficiency number for any kind of an EV, I mean, it's a Hummer.
Right.
Exactly.
You know, it, it drinks electrons like a Hummer just like the old old gasoline hummers, drink gas.
Um, so, you know, those, those are some, some downsides.
Um, now every time I would hit the gas on this thing, like, it's just plain hilarious watching the hood rise up like a bow on a boat almost like it's, it's just like this slow rise all the way to the top and, you know, if, if, if you look at the, uh, at the camera rearview mirror while that happens, you'll see it just pointing directly at the ground as, as the whole thing just squats like crazy.
Uh, it's, it's just hilarious in, in, in those ways and for those reasons, like, I really like it because it's, it has these sort of like super truck vibes and that it's like so stupid fast from this three motor uh EV system.
Um So yeah, I didn't take it off road where it's uh you know, it might, you know, obviously show a lot of its advantages for why someone would actually buy one of these.
Um But uh you know, you, you, you, you can still have a lot of fun with it on road.
I, I took all of the infinity panel roof, uh roof panels off and you know, it, you drive it around, it kind of feels like a convertible.
Um It, it, it gets rid of the sort of confining feeling that you get when, when those panels are are on.
It's almost, it's almost has like, it's strangely poor visibility honestly with all of those panels on and like sometimes I was craning my neck to see the lights.
Uh You can't really see that well out, out the back or to the sides and it's just this like huge vehicle and it's like, why can't I see out of this?
It's, it's kind of weird but you know, you can, you can take those off and just like any other convertible boom, super great visibility.
Um So like so many like pluses and minuses to this thing.
Um But like, I, I don't know, like II I ended up really enjoying it.
Like I would, I want to commute in it as like my everyday car.
Like, oh, it's an EB, just buy it and commute.
No, I don't think so.
It's, it's, it's, it's a bit much for, for everyday driving but it's, it's a sweet, like, 2nd, 3rd car or something like that to just go have fun in.
I'd say is, I guess sort of where I landed on it.
Yeah, I, I'd agree with that.
I, uh, I should mention I actually undersold the price.
It's 100 and 7000 $610.
I left at the destination charge.
Uh, so it gets even more expensive.
I'd agree with you.
A couple points that struck, struck with me resonated with me with the roof on.
It is like, I like that kind of like army sort of humvee feel with, like, your high up, but it's like a chopped roof.
Like, it's cool.
It's fun.
But to your point as the weekend wore on with me, it started to bug me.
It was a little bit claustrophobic when you had that roof on.
Um, the interior is wide as hell, but surprisingly kind of tight.
Like the back row I thought was a little tight, uh, as far as just like getting in and out of and like, because you really gotta climb up into it.
So there's not a huge landing area for humans.
I didn't even try to put my dog in there.
Um, there's that, you know, and also the, yeah, I mean, like those mirrors.
It's like their truck mirrors.
It's really hard.
Like the blind spots are unbelievable.
It points, you know.
Um, but, you know, again, I mean, it's got like a switch where you can roll down the back window, you know, like a forerunner, other old school off Roaders.
It's hard not to like its charm but also not be super annoyed by all the things we've laid out and also, like, I found the switches to be pretty annoying.
Like I would start the car and all the seat coolers were on like, ok. Yeah, it's 90 that's fine.
Great.
But also that's a real pain literally.
I mean, because then you have to turn it off and like if you hit the seat switch buttons in particular, you hit one button, it takes you to another button that lights up, then you have to manually turn those down and you know, deal breaker, of course not.
But that was just a little example of how I found like just the interface to be kind of annoying.
Uh But I mean, the, the seat maps, the seat, the floor maps are topographic maps.
You know, the infotainment is cool when you look at all the different like things it tells you about the vehicle.
Yeah, I don't know.
I, I tend to think you'd be better off if you wanted a large electric vehicle to look at like just the Silverado EV or something, you know, this is, this is a luxury good in the same fashion that like the Glanda wagon is there for people who wanna spend some money and have something that's different.
So, I, yeah, it does give sort of g wagon vibes and that, you know, doesn't make much sense for many people to like own and use this car.
No, but is it like cool as hell?
Yes.
Um It is.
Uh iii, I don't know if you saw any, any sort of lag and just annoyance with, with the infotainment system.
But like, like whenever I was going through things, I was like, why, why is this thing so slow and laggy?
Like this is, this is supposed to be like G MS latest and Greatest.
Uh It's, it's, it's not the one that doesn't have Carplay and and Android Auto, but uh it was just like strangely slow in moving through all of the screens, both, both on the infotainment screen itself and on the instrument cluster.
And uh I mean, just similar like weird, weird quality things like the materials on the interior.
I don't really feel like 100 $7000 car.
I wouldn't say like, I, I would expect, you know, more leather, like, like a Denali um to keep the GMC uh reference going, I suppose.
But, you know, I, I think they're going more for like this ruggedized plastic feel, which I'm not necessarily a fan of like, I enjoyed the colors.
I enjoyed the cool textures on, like the speakers and, but it just, yeah, it, it fell short of the $107,000 you know, smell test for, for an interior of this size and this, this caliber of, of a vehicle, at least, at least for me.
Yeah, I, I wouldn't disagree with that.
I think I kind of gave it a break just because, hey, it's the Hummer and I sort of like, we know it's expensive and we know it's got that off-road vibe.
So, uh, I don't know.
Uh, I did see a guy in a bright red H two who gave me like some sort of wave and I'm thinking, oh, man, I don't know.
This is, this is kind of weird.
Um, but it was fun.
I liked it, it was a fun weekend with it.
Um, yeah, I'm just, I'm just so very, so, very conflicted about the car.
I think there's, there's, there's so many things that I do really love about it, you know, just from like, uh, I don't know, like a car enthusiast perspective that, like, I'm glad this thing exists as, as it is because it's, it's so rad, but at the same time it, it just flawed in all of, all of these different ways and, you know, you can sort of pick apart a car like that but at the end of the day, like, it's, it's a car to have fun.
Like that's, that, that feels like it's, it's, it's mission and it's, and its purpose and it's not like here to try and save the world of all these gas guzzlers or anything like that.
It's, it's, it's here to make EVs fun and engaging for people.
And I feel like in, in that way it sort of accomplishes its, its mission.
Could it do it in, like, you know, and just not have some of the downsides, I think also.
Yes.
But, uh, now it's, uh, it's just a, a strange proposition out there and hopefully GMC continues to make them for a while yet because it's always, always fun seeing them on the road, I did say, or I did find that I actually preferred the, um, the, uh, the SUV variant to the truck, which I did a prototype drive of that just three years ago at this point.
And then of course, we had it for, uh, tech of the year a couple of years ago and I, we actually had the truck a few times now.
I just kind of like the SU va little bit better.
I thought I like the truck more at the start.
I go back and forth with all these off roaders.
I like the truck.
Better do I like the SUV, better if you've been listening to the show, you know, I'm really, you know, warm on the Gladiator right now.
Um, but I don't know, I just kind of found, I like how it looks a little bit better.
Uh, that's the Hummer ev versus the Hummer, uh, super truck.
We'll call it so super truck.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, let's, uh, we're really kind of bouncing all over the spectrum here.
We'll go to the Mercedes GL A 35 which, uh, uh, we both did spend some time in.
So, uh, tell me what you think of this thing.
GL A 35 the smallest, uh you know, sort of silliest am G product, I suppose out there.
Uh but also really charming.
I think I, I was a fan of it.
I honestly, I ended up liking it more than I and then I thought I was going to like it, you know, it, it not in like the same way as, as, as the Hummer, but, you know, I, I guess I, I sort of arrived to my liking it in, in the same way as I arrived to liking the Hummer, uh which is just driving it and, you know, not really thinking about, oh, it's, it's, it's the 35 it has, it has a four cylinder.
Oh, you know, why does this, why does this thing deserve the AM G badge?
Like, no, you just drive and it's actually like a lot of fun.
Um So it, it, it, it has the uh 2 L turbo four cylinder, just, just 302 horsepower.
But the eight speed DC T which I think uh is really key to it being so fun because super, super close ratio gears really, really snappy responses from, from those paddles.
And uh you know, it just, it makes like everyday driving all that much more entertaining because you know, whether you're going up to Trader Joe's uh you know, or actually going out to like a really cool back, like you can just have fun with those 100% of the time.
Listen to the turbo whooshing.
Uh the exhaust snap, pop will crack on this thing.
And you know, it, it, it has, it has the power train I think to back up that AM G name because it's just plain fun to use.
Um The looks too, this thing had the AM G aerodynamics package on it, which was really, I mean, honestly a bit silly at first blush like it has this huge wing, it has a splitter has flicks, uh like it, it has a somewhat sizable diffuser back there.
Like that's, that's all very silly.
I like this little sort of egg blob looking gl A but honestly, like it turned a lot of heads and I thought it was kind of cool and, you know, pretty much like a boy racer style thing.
Uh you know, for this uh $70,000 car, which I guess, yeah, that, that, that's also something that we should talk about.
Th this thing uh as tested $73,460 which just kind of blew my mind honestly for how expensive uh they could make this because this is, I mean, for all intents and purposes, this car is about the size of like a Hyundai Kona.
I would say, you know, if, if, if, if you just want to put it into size perspective, does it, you know, should a Hyundai Kona size Mercedes with, with, you know, this, this level of performance cost $73,000.
Uh That's a very tough sell for me honestly.
Uh And that's, that's honestly what, what hurts this car the most for me and like what I recommend someone go buy this as, as they're like, do it all singular performance car.
That's, that's tough.
But uh I mean, it just, it just does so many things, you know, good and still like am Gide um that I, I can't really hate it.
I can't really dislike it because I just had a ball driving it.
Um I know that you drove it for a while too.
I, I don't know if, if, if, if you ended up feeling the same way about it being so fun, but it's like a little Mercedes hot hatch that, you know, is a lot more expensive than most hot hatches you would get out there.
Yeah, I, as far as the execution, it's a riot man.
It's a bloody riot.
I had so much fun driving it.
I think it looks cool.
Uh it, it feels like an AM G. I mean, I was at the very tail end of like when the 6.36 0.2 uh AM G, you know, motor was like, all anybody could possibly fathom.
Uh, and then to arrive at this, I think is actually, I think it's cool.
I think it's good.
It really spreads out the notion of what am G is in a good way.
Uh, but I mean, for me, it's just like, what do you, why would you spend 70 grand on this thing?
You know, like, look at how much eclass you could get for 70 grand, you know, but if I would say this, if this is how you want to have fun, more power to you.
I had a great time with it.
I mean, I just, it's, it's gotta be like the thing is it doesn't need to be a third car.
You certainly could daily drive this thing for a variety of things.
So it's just the use case kind of like makes my head explode beyond that.
It's a nice product.
It's good execution.
If you're an enthusiast, I dare you to get behind the wheel and not like it.
It's, it's cool.
Yeah, and like I, I feel like I should also just uh shout out the seats on, on the, we had to like they're for all intents and purposes like super aggressive bucket seats that I would expect in something like an AM GGT or like a super, like dead serious AM G performance car and Mercedes trucks.
Them in this, in this little GL a 35 you know, you obviously have to pay for them.
Uh, you know, it's, it's, it's about a uh $3250 package to be exact.
But like if, if I was buying it, I would, I would definitely expect those seats and like it, it just, you know, ramps up the whole atmosphere of, of the car which, you know, maybe it doesn't look like it on, on the badge.
But this car has a lot of atmosphere and is, is honestly more fun than most enthusiasts might, might think.
It is from 1st, 1st look, 100% 100%.
So let's uh go.
We'll just keep boomerang, boomeranging around the car segment here to the Lexus Ls 500 H. I have not driven an LS in quite some time.
So I'm very curious, what do you think of this thing?
LS 500 H. Yeah.
So I was, I was in the same boat as you like, I had not driven an LS for a very, very long time.
Uh This, this of course, being the hybrid.
So it has the uh naturally aspirated V six and a pair of electric motors uh to motivate you onward.
Uh This one was also, it was a, a very, like just understated spec like a silver outside with this sort of white and black two tone inside.
But, you know, I, I think like the whole, the whole mantra for this car honestly is just like, you gotta take life easy, just take it real, real easy because it, it doesn't like pretend to be a sports car or try and have like super great handling, like, say a BMW seven series or even an S class, you know, might be, you know, interesting and, or fun to drive.
Now, this thing is just about driving, slow riding, so, so beautifully, uh, super quiet inside, you know, it's, it's not like a racket hybrid system or any or anything like that, you know, it's, it's very, very quiet and understated and like every, every single move that it makes like, even when you do try and put it like everything into the sport plus mode, like there's some, some added, you know, sort of pumped in noise into the cabin, but like, doesn't really feel like it wants to do anything sporty.
I guess it just rides like a, like a pillow across pretty much any of these terrible Michigan roads that, of course we have and you know, that that interior is, is, is pretty, I think it's starting to be a little dated though.
I, I will note that Lexus updated it with its, the, uh the latest Toyota Lexus Infotainment system uh here recently that, uh which is a huge, huge improvement because now you have wireless Carplay, wireless Android Auto.
Um And uh you know, one of the things that I will point out with this car is that, so it is the first car I've driven that uh has a lighter on it.
Um which is I, I know, I, I feel like that's a somewhat little known fact honestly about the LS is that you can, can get this advanced drive system on it which has wider sensors, front, rear and on the uh front fenders as as well.
And uh it's, it's this, it's this teammate advanced drive system.
It works pretty much similar thing is like super cruise um or blue cruise.
Uh It has a little driver monitor that watches you and only works on roads that are mapped.
So, you know, II I tried it out and I'd say that it is the, you know, most heavily Nanni system of all of them out there.
Uh like it, whatever leeway, you know, that some, some system like uh super cruise or blue cruise gives you uh Lexus does not, uh it starts chirping at you straight away and it is very, very communicative uh when it, it goes on and off.
Uh there's, there's a little voice orator that comes over and basically tells you exactly what it's doing at all at like every single time it kicks on and off, which gets a little bit old honestly.
But, you know, I understand that's, it's a very Lexus and or Toyota thing to do, uh, be like, really, really over communicate about what is going on with this hands free system, um, when it is on and it's working, it works really nicely, honestly.
Iii I wouldn't say that it's like better than something like the super cruise of blue cruise.
Um, but, uh, and, you know, I don't know if I should or shouldn't expect that because of the liar, but it, it does work well and it, it works as, as, as it's advertised, you just have to, you know, really, really pay rapt attention to the road.
Um So that it, it, it does in fact know that you are watching.
So there's that and then I also hopped into the back seat, of course, because it's probably one of the most comfortable places to be, you know, it, it had, had the uh executive package back there.
So it had the nice big center console, you can only in the rear seat back, listen to the Mark Levinson audio system, which honestly is like one of the best in the game and especially when you're in an LS, it has like the top, top tier system of, of all of them in there.
Uh It's just like this, this little, you know, iii I know that Lincoln and, and, and some other brands like, like advertise a sort of nature Escape and just really, really re rejuvenating and just nice and like this is this is honestly like one of the best experiences out there, I think just based on the comfort of, of the seat, the sound, uh the refinement of, of the ride, um, you know, don't leave the Lexus Ls out of, out of the picture, I suppose, especially if you want something with really good fuel economy because like there's obviously the plugins from, from the seven series and the, um, and the, uh s class, but this is a somewhat unique proposition out there, especially with, with the uh hybrid powertrain.
I like that hybrid element as well.
And I actually like how this thing looks.
I think it's um the LS hasn't design has not necessarily been its calling card for much of its career.
I like how this new one looks.
So where would you put it with, say, like uh comparable S class seven series, et cetera?
You, you have it ahead of anything in there.
I might be surprised that, you know, I would sort of put it on a similar level as like a Genesis G 90 as this is the budget pick I'd say because like, you can get a lot of the features that are in like an S class or, or a seven series, but it's gonna be like 10 $20,000 less than those options honestly, which is, which is pretty great.
Um Obviously, if you do want like the latest and greatest as, as far as the tech, like A seven series has auto opening and closing doors.
Uh The, the S class has, you know, some really, really crazy air suspension.
Uh like all, all of those things are without a doubt, like more cutting edge on like the Germans, but just like a back to basics, take it easy.
Don't really care about driving dynamics from like a sporty perspective.
Go get the Lexus Ls because like, it's, it's also just probably like from a longevity standpoint.
I mean, look at like the original Lexus Ls.
People still really want those and they're worth money.
Um So I, I mean, there's, there's no guarantee that the modern one will be just as reliable.
Obviously, that'll take years, but just from a reputational standpoint, um the Lexus Ls has, has a lot going for it there and I feel like a lot of people may or may not forget that it exists, you know, when you have these, these really like, uh just way, way at the top echelon seven series and class out there that, you know, have, have all the crazy fancy tech on them.
Maybe you don't need some of that.
Maybe you can save 10 or 15,000 and enjoy the Lexus, which is a joy in its own, right?
All right.
Sounds good.
So let's run through some news, busy week in the car world.
Uh a lot to talk about here, dealers choice.
Uh Let's go with the riveted fire.
Uh This is uh happened over the weekend uh at their factory in Illinois.
Uh nobody injured, first of all, but, uh you know, multiple vehicles were damaged.
Uh The cause of the fire is not known, uh in Rivian.
According to our reporting here through Reuters, we don't have the number and type of vehicles damaged.
Uh, but I mean, it was a fair amount if you look at some of the pictures out there, uh, You can see that there was a pretty big fire.
Uh So obviously this is when you see things happen, uh like this to start ups, which I don't think I would really call Rivian a true start up anymore.
Some of their vehicles are now in like they're even their second generation.
I don't know if I'd really call that for the R one S the R one T but they have gotten to the point where they've done significant facelifts.
Uh This is definitely a bit of a uh stubbing their toe at the very least.
And, you know, Rivian and I believe it was Volkswagen announced a software deal earlier this year where Rivian is gonna provide uh you know, some, you know, technical elements to Volkswagen, whereas Volkswagen is gonna basically give Rivian money to stay in business, uh which I think is critical.
So, uh I think, I, I think that's a great deal for Volkswagen for starters for Rivian.
I don't know.
I mean, I guess you get to live to fight another day, but you're also giving away your secret sauce.
So when long story short, when you start to see things like that, you'll get, get a little nervous when you see things like this, you got even more nervous because we, again, we don't know what caused the fire, but it's never good luck when you're an electric vehicle maker and there's a big fire at your factory.
So, uh, do you have a take on this?
Yeah, I, that's, I feel like we gotta wait for like some, some sort of hard, hard facts to come out of this because II I, the most important part of it is like, all right, why did the fire start?
You know, what, what, what sort of, uh, you know, was, is, was there some ev that has some sort of battery malfunction?
You know, what, what exactly was it?
And we don't really know that yet.
I think that when that comes out then we can, you know, start to have, you know, some, some harder discussions about, hey, like, what's, what's going on here or maybe it was some freak thing and there's, there's really nothing to see honestly.
Um, I feel like it could go either way.
But yeah, obviously like fire at Rivian Factory.
Not a great headline.
Like that's, that's not good for the, for anything, any, any part of the company.
Um, but I, you know, I wait and see, you know, what, what's, what's the cause, what's, what's going on and, you know, hopefully we can, we can deduce some, some more things and maybe it's, it's, it's less of a five o'clock fire alarm, uh, as a, as, as, as, as it may have actually been.
Um, so to speak.
It's, again, it's, it's a bad look, you know, like, I mean, there was, I believe somebody was unfortunately killed at the Gladiator Factory, uh, couple weeks ago, uh in Toledo and certainly tragic and obviously, you know, people want want answers but at the same time, nobody sort of thinks, hey, Jeep, can't make Jeeps anymore, you know, when you're or Rivian and things like this happen, you know, again that those questions raised some pretty big questions.
So we'll see.
Um, you know, I, I think that's, you know, take a cautious wait and see attitude but obviously not the kind of headlines Rivian wants to be making.
Uh, no, not at all.
Not at all.
Uh, so on a more fun note, did you watch the, uh, Dutch Grand Prix this weekend?
I sure did watch both qualify and the Grand Prix.
Yeah, it was not bad.
I saw a little bit of, uh, a little bit of the race itself.
I always, that's a fun, uh, circuit to see on TV.
It's, I think it's pretty photogenic race.
Um, I don't know, you think Max has reason to be nervous?
Things are getting a little a little bit different than they looked a couple months back.
Yeah, I think Max has great reason to be nervous and, uh, Red Bull especially, uh, honestly, II, I think that the chances of Red Bull winning, winning the construction, winning the constructors at this point are somewhat low.
Uh, to be honest with, uh, Sergio performing at, at, at the level that he is, uh, I mean, obviously Sergio had a somewhat OK race here in, uh Zandor, but it's gonna take some serious heroics by Max, I think to really get Red Bull, uh, over the top of mclaren at this point because I think the, the gap is only about 30 points after this weekend, which, you know, that's, that's only gonna be a few races I think before mclaren is right on top of and probably passing Red Bull.
And that is assuming that Max is able to keep getting first or second or third in like every single race.
Um, and then the gap in the, in, in the drivers championship, of course, uh, that's, you know, it's, it's, it's bigger right now.
I, I wanna say it's about 7075 points.
So, you know, if, if Max goes and gets second place, like, like he did in Zandor here and is, is able to beat Oscar and maybe charging Ferrari or, I mean, obviously Mercedes has had a lot of success here recently too, at least heading into the summer break.
They were nowhere in, uh, Zandor.
But, um, II, I think that Red Bull and Max are, are definitely on, on the back foot here and need to figure some things out and find, find some sort of update to give them some pace because, yeah, Lando Norris winning by 22 seconds.
Uh, is, is not a good sign.
I don't think they, especially when it's, it's Max and that Red Bull and like he can't, he can't do any better than that.
Um, that's, that's, that's a bit of a yikes moment.
I don't know that Max admitted as much after the race too is like, yeah, like, we, we have a problem, we have to work on it.
And, uh, yeah, so I, without a doubt, I think that his, I mean, what felt like a very sealed up drivers championship at, at the start of this year is, uh, far from sealed.
And I, like, I'm, I'm excited, like, well, we could have a race all the way to the end here, you know, sort of the way that Max and Lewis went at it, uh, like a few years ago, you know, it could really come down to the last race, which, that's, that's the best thing that could possibly happen in F one, I think.
And if, if it actually comes down to the, that last race and all of the excitement.
Oh, yeah.
No, I, I agree with you.
It's, it's nice to have F one still sort of relevant in the fall, uh, especially in the United States.
Uh, obviously it's relevant globally, but like just this weekend college football is coming back and I'm pretty excited about that.
Then the NFL is the week after and you see other sort of summer sports, you know, like golf, for example, like they wrap up pretty quick into September with, you know, the there sort of playoff and I think f one, uh, you know, with the pandemic, uh, Americans kind of really got into it.
It was just like a form of entertainment that was still there.
And I think that momentum is still there though.
It's maybe slowed a little bit.
Uh, but it's still, I think growing the United States and a, you know, competitive sort of cap to the season would, would be good because it keeps people watching.
Uh, there is still another race in the United States at Kota.
Uh, and this weekend's a big race at Monza.
That's one of my favorite on the calendar.
It's, I mean, it's tricky because it's like the last official weekend, the summer, the weather is nice.
You wanna be outside but there's all this football Monza on there, you know, a lot of great sports.
So, um, you know, I will find some time to, if nothing else I'll probably record Monza like the race itself and then watch it like late Sunday night, you know, as I'm kind of vegging out, but I, I think it'll be a good one because Ferrari always shows up whenever the Monza race happens and like to have them up there challenging mclaren and, uh, Red Bull, I get, it should be a good one, I think.
And there's, there's always a lot of passing too.
There's, there's, there's enough straightaways that can use, use DRS and just start passing each other left and right.
So, yeah, it, it should definitely be a good race.
And, uh, no, I guess weirdly, I, I could say, I hope that Red Bull is a little bit more competitive with, uh, mclaren, just pretty much the opposite of what I feel like most fans have been hoping at the start of the season.
But, yeah, it wouldn't, www would be nicer to have like a two second gap instead of a 22 2nd gap at the end.
Yeah.
And, yeah, that's another good reason to get up early, you know, get that.
That's where the, like being on eastern time like we are, you know, football hasn't started so you can catch some qualifying and things like that.
So little morning television exactly before college game day.
So, uh, this is kind of weird news.
The ID buzz is not cheap.
I think it's even more expensive than we thought it might be.
Uh, I like, I like this kind of quirky thing, you know, I've, we've been hit the build up to, this has been so long I saw like the concept, I think when I was in my early twenties, I was at Pebble Beach when they rolled out.
I don't know what version, this was the production prototype, you know, August of 2017 edition Buzz.
But I was there when they did some sort of thing around that we've seen so many different versions of it, of it.
Uh But now we're finally getting the pricing and to me, 61 5 is, I don't know, I get what they're trying to do here.
They don't want to make it like this cheap thing.
They definitely want to give it an aura like it's something to be desired and I think it's gonna have that, but I think you could have done that and caught it maybe like 48 somewhere like that because I don't look at this and think that it really merits that high of a price tag when you look at the range and even some of the basic things like they're really paying for like, or the consumers are re really paying because they want the rebirth of a cultural icon.
I don't know, I don't think, think this icon resonated as deeply as say, like, hey, I don't know the return of a Mustang or something.
So I think they ever priced it.
What do you think?
Yeah.
You know, you're really paying for that cool factor I think is what it, what it really comes down to because it's, it's priced way over.
Like, if you wanna look at the minivan, uh, competitive set, it's nowhere close to any of those at its, at its price like 61 5 to start is, it's, it's a tough price to justify.
I'd say, you know, if, if the range was more like 300 to 350 miles, I'd be like, ok, you know, maybe we have somewhere to work from here.
Uh, that's, that's, that's a lot more acceptable, especially I think on like a road trip style vehicle, but at 231 or 234 miles, uh, just, just sort of depending whether you get the rear drive or the ow drive one that is a tough number to swallow, I think.
And most of Americans, I know that I've, I, I've talked to a lot of O ems about this and that, like Americans want that number to start with a three, for, for range.
You know, whether or not they actually need that amount of range or not is an entirely separate story.
But, you know, when you're paying a premium price tag like this, that, you know, uh, a van that'll go up into the $70,000 range after options, you know, that, that is, is tough to justify, I think, to have that level of range.
And, yeah, I mean, I will, it sell, I think that they'll sell to the really, really committed and faithful right at the start, you know, maybe like a year or two, they'll have, you know, some pretty strong demand.
But after that, you know, if, if they're not gonna get like a big, big tax credit, you know, if, if, if rules don't change or if they don't just lower the price drastically, like, I'm afraid that this thing is, is destined for pretty, pretty slow sales honestly.
At, at that, at that price tag, you just, you can't really justify that much money with that much range and performance.
Um So and that like one other small thing that sort of um upset me when, when they did this is that the base Pro S uh you can only get uh just like the, the base colors for it.
So uh you, you can't get any of the cool like cherry red, energetic orange, my green, uh the blue, like you, you have to step up to the higher, more expensive one to get that color.
And it's like, hey, like, obviously a lot of people might want this car because of that cool color option that they might really be into.
And it's just, and it just feels like a somewhat anti consumer nudge from Volkswagen.
They're like, well, hey, if you want that color, uh you better go buy the like three or $4000 more expensive trim and then you can pay more for that color on top of that.
Um which is, uh that's, it's, it's, it's just another small little frustrating thing about it.
So, you know, am I still really excited?
It's here?
Yes, I am.
But the price definitely puts a damper on things.
I think uh I will say this.
I think probably at the start there will be a bit of buzz, forgive me, uh surrounding the launch.
I think, I think a lot of people, there'll be a fair amount of people who are truly excited and I think there will be like the first year will probably be pretty good.
But I mean, after that, I think everybody is gonna get one is gonna have one at that point.
And that's where I think to your point, it will probably lose momentum and it'll be tough to see this thing as a significant volume seller as the years roll on.
I, I can't wait to drive it.
I think this looks awesome.
Uh Very excited about the notion of it, but I think they, they missed the mark by about 10 grand unless there's some sort of, you know, incentives or something on here that I'm missing.
Um Yeah, I don't know.
I think they missed the mark by, you know, again, at least 10 grand.
So yeah, uh should we spend some money?
Let's spend some money.
All right.
So this comes from Reddit to our cars thread, we like to dip into there every now and then.
Um if you.
You're on Reddit.
Uh Hey, please feel free to share auto blog stories.
Get us up in that conversation as well.
Uh So here's uh the writer asks, is having an old school luxury car.
Is your first car?
Practical?
I'll be commuting a lot, but it'll be in short increments five miles 3 to 4 times a day.
And I want something I can always look forward to getting in.
Uh the writer listed several options including a 1989 BMW seven series.
This is a 750 Il with the V freaking 12 and a 2000 Jaguar XJ eight.
The budget's around 20 grand.
So, well, I there's a couple things to unpack here.
Uh First of all, what I think is having either of these two specific specifically for maybe you or me would be probably fine.
It's like a third car you go into it.
You would embrace the probably 4 to 6 months of the year when you could drive these things without worrying too much about everything going on.
You know, that you've got to set aside part of your 401k for maintenance and you move on with your life and you have fun with it because I would have fun with either of these cars.
Uh for a first car.
I, I think they're probably gonna be, I wouldn't say undrivable but more challenging to drive than a conventional, you know, first car might be.
And I think the way to solve that would be to uh get into say autotrader or auto blog or you know, any of the car sites out there where you can search, put in 20 grand kind of pick the brand that offers a fair amount of enthusiast models and see what you could get.
So, what I came up with is uh looking at some of these listings.
The, these just happen to be on Auto Trader 2017 BMW X three.
It's the X drive 28 I for 17 grand.
That's got 69,000 miles on it.
I almost feel like I should make a call on that.
That seems like a decent deal.
Overall.
Seems like a responsible vehicle.
Um That's pretty well to like well rounded and can be handled by a younger driver.
Uh or, and this is where I think is apparent, you kind of step in.
You could look at like a 2015 BMW uh three series depending on the number of miles that could be anywhere from 10 to 20.
Uh There's things like the X two out there and that just happens to go down the, like the BMW rabbit hole.
You can do the same exercise with ad with jaguars, uh et cetera.
I like for what it's worth.
I personally, if it were my son or, you know, daughter or something, I would lean like crossover and I would lean older as in like 5 to 8 years old.
But not super old just because you want a car that's still relatively common on the road, easy to service and isn't gonna stress them out now.
I don't know, maybe this guy is like a hardcore enthusiast knows how to wrench on old European cars and, you know, it would be fine.
You know, the commute is certainly short enough.
But, I mean, kids take their cars and who knows where they go.
So I would lean a little more cautious, get something like from the 2015 forward.
Sounds like the budget.
Is there plenty of room for a first car that's for sure.
Um And I would think something more cautious like a crossover like an X three or, you know, Honda Civic, Honda crv.
Get that to me that's more like something you give or have your kid buy for a first car.
Uh So I guess my answer is great idea for enthusiasts for like a third car.
Who knows what they're getting into for first car?
I would say no.
And I would recommend going with something a bit newer and a bit more drivable and, you know, ostensibly safer.
So, what do you think?
So, I don't think I would go as, as new as you.
Um I would definitely say no to the suggested vehicles.
Ok. Um Like this, the V 12 BMW, uh the XJ eight.
those are some really wild choices uh to get as your first car.
They might cost you, you know, $10,000 brand new, but you should probably set aside another $20,000 over the next like 3 to 5 years to maintain them and to actually keep them on the road in full running condition, especially that V 12.
Uh, that's, that's an absolutely wild choice to make.
I feel, uh, if you're just getting into a car, um, where I will take this, uh, because I seems to be into old cars and whatnot.
Um is I'd say get like a Lexus uh LS just like I was talking about earlier in the show of the same vintage.
So get like the original Lexus Ls 400 or even, you know, you, you have $20,000.
So you'll be able to afford more than like the original one.
You could probably even get one from the uh from the early to mid two thousands honestly.
Um And uh just basically buy as much Lexus Ls as you can.
Uh you seem to be a big fan of the giant boat uh sedans and this is a giant boat of a sedan and it will definitely be a lot cheaper to maintain in service than the German and or British solutions that are proposed.
Uh You know, it's gonna drive a lot like those.
It's gonna have a nice big Silky V eight in it.
Uh It's gonna have all of the features cooled, heated everything, power, everything, a great audio system, uh, you're just gonna like driving it, I think, and, you know, if it's, if it's to commute, you know, I don't, does the handling, uh, really matter all that much if you're just driving it a few miles a day, unless you're driving it on like the tail of the dragon or something like that, then those few miles and, you know, just enjoy your big boat of a sedan.
And, uh, yeah, II I think that you can buy a lot of Lexus Ls for that money and probably be just as happy if not happier than uh if you own like an S class or a seven series of the same vintage because honestly, you'd probably be driving it more often than it's sitting in shops waiting for parts.
Um and paying a lot more money for those for, for all of those parts too.
So, yeah, I'd, I, I'd go uh on an old Lexus Ls, however, just like, look at all the, all of the generations, you know, see which one you like the most.
I'm, I'm a personal fan of like the original from, from 1990 to 94.
Um But like all of them are, you know, just as, just as good of a choice, I think honestly.
So, yeah, yeah, I, I think that's a pretty uh reasonable response, proportional responses they would say in the West Wing.
So, um yeah, I think uh be interesting to see where this lands, maybe I'll check out this thread in a few days.
See what, see what breaks loose.
So, uh, well, it's, uh, the final weekend of summer.
Uh, not, uh, as far as the actual seasons go, but as far as most people treat it, what do you recommend people either eat or drink for this final weekend, man.
So, I had a pretty, uh, life changing chicken sandwich experience the other day.
Uh, if you're in Michigan, at least go check out Saffron Detroit.
Um, I, I don't know if, if you've ever had it, uh, it's, it's, it's in the city, uh, Detroit, but as like the best, best chicken sandwich I've ever had, like, without a doubt, it's a, it's, it's, it's a Moroccan chicken sandwich and it is crazy, crazy good.
Uh, as far as what to drink.
Um, what did I, ah, I, I've been doing, uh, line of Kugel and Oberon's honestly recently just trying to live out like the, the end of the summer vibes as best I can.
So, yeah, a little, a little summer shandy and, you know, just enjoying Oberon because, you know, as in, in case you guys needed a reminder about it, uh, Bell's doesn't make it all year round.
Uh, they only only make it in the, uh, spring and summer.
So soon as we hit the, uh, throws of fall and winter you'll no longer be able to get Oberon.
So go enjoy it while you still can.
All right.
So I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna follow your lead.
I'll give you two restaurant recommendations since you mentioned Detroit.
I was at Mud's Deli, uh, set on their patio, had the roast beef sandwich with kind of like a uh, mayon mayonnaise kind of aioli thing.
Very good.
Um Great place to spend.
Sort of a nice transitional day, hot, coolish and uh, yeah, it's a great recommendation if you're in Detroit, you know, whether it's the Grand Prix or the Auto Show, things like that.
Um, and then as far as drinking, I've actually, I've been getting into the N A stuff.
Uh, I tried the, um, uh, it's like the wild run IP A from the athletic brewing.
Uh, it tastes exactly the same as a normal IP A so, um, it's a nice way if I just wanna try to have like a, you know, maybe it's in the middle of the week, you're just trying to get through things.
You don't wanna, like, necessarily cloud up your mind or your vision or, you know, all those things and it's, it's a useful tool because it tastes the same.
So I've been kind of into that at least, um, you know, when I wanted, you know, drink a beer but not actually drink a beer.
So it's pretty good stuff.
I think it's a good beer on the job kind of beer almost, you know.
There you go.
No, it's 3 p.m. All right.
Sure.
Let me go try one of these.
For me.
It's almost like a nine o'clock beer at night, at night.
Not a breakfast beer, but like, hey, been doing all this other stuff.
You get to that point of the night.
Do I really wanna start, you know, putting things into my system that I may not feel good?
Uh Hey, isn't that a beer tastes the same?
You know, that's it.
All right.
And that's it for this week's episode of the Auto Blog podcast.
Thanks for hanging out Zach.
Shout out to our producer, Eric Meyer who makes us sound good.
If you ever spend my money, that's podcast, auto blog.com.
Be safe out there and we'll see you next week.
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