In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd for a tight episode sure to make your holiday travel that much more vehicularly simulating. They start off with some updates on their recent drives. Greg has been in the 2024 Range Rover Velar and the 2024 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV. Meanwhile, Byron just got the long-term 2023 Subaru WRX back from the shop with a pile of STI accessories installed — including a boomy new exhaust system! After that, it's on to news. The big items this week are the latest from Rivian, Volvo's EX30 launch drama and the return of an old-school automotive video game franchise: Crazy Taxi! After that, it's time to spend your money — with a twist!

Transcript

Welcome back to the auto blog podcast.

I'm Greg Migliori.

We've got an awesome show for you this week.

Happy Fourth of July week.

We're to talk about all sorts of things.

I've been driving the Mercedes Eqesuv, the Range Rover Velar and we have an update on our Subaru WRX.

It has some ST I accessories installed, which I can't wait to sample myself, news departments kind of all over the place.

Our associate editor Byron Hurd has been uh up at close and personal with some Rivian crazy taxi is back and we'll talk about the latest in.

What is going on with the Volvo ex 30.

When is that gonna get on sale?

We will spend your money.

It's kind of a mail bag question and it's a fun one.

So with that, let's bring in associate editor Byron Hurd.

Welcome to the show.

Hello.

Hello.

It's good to be here.

All right.

All right.

It is a holiday week.

Uh What do you do?

You grill on the Fourth of July?

What do you do?

We're gonna probably go up to uh the lake house this week.

Um They, you know, I, I was told before I move to Michigan.

They basically give you a lake house when you move here.

I haven't gotten mine yet, but I started dating someone who has one and that's just as good.

Right.

So we're gonna go spend some time with her family up there, I think.

Sounds good.

Sounds good.

By the time you listen to this, we will be back.

But we're gonna spend some time in the up.

We're gonna do some tent camping.

So that will be, you know, kind of, kind of rugged.

We're gonna take the long term, uh, Mazda CX 90.

Uh, so next week I'll have a upper peninsula test is what I'm going to, uh, frame this up as, uh, my upper peninsula tests in the past have included our long term Toyota Sienna, a Chevy Tahoe in some sort of, I think it was like police back or something.

That was a memorable one.

I got a speeding ticket, that one and a few other ones.

The Chrysler Pacifica went up there, uh, the Hyundai Palisade went up there.

So the Mazda Cx nineties got some big tires to fill.

We're gonna see how this thing can handle it.

So, uh, it should be fun.

Hopefully, I don't get too many mosquito bites, but everybody's going family dog.

Uh, you know, they'll be back and, you know, time to kind of rest up on the weekend.

So nice with that.

Let's talk about what we've been driving.

Um, I just literally got out of the Mercedes EQE 350 plus.

This is the crossover uh for Mercedes that rounds out the electric side of its portfolio and uh it comes in at $86,750 for that, you get 307 miles of range.

Uh interior is the thing that really struck me as well as many well equipped Mercedes.

This one had like a champagne kind of leather set up, uh darker seats.

Uh It's got the big Mercedes screen in the middle, some really chill blue ambient lighting, just a beautiful space to spend time.

The Mercedes sort of personal assistant.

Uh Hey Mercedes as you can yell out um for whatever reason you may want to takes care of everything you do.

So that's kind of cool.

Um Some other specs 288 horsepower, 417 feet of torque, cargo hold is reasonable.

Uh I didn't have any like reason to give it my full on like, you know, dad's tests with groceries, uh soccer, golf clubs, stuff like that.

Uh Just because I've only had it for about a week.

Uh excuse me for one night.

Uh Zach Palmer, a road test editor will be putting it through its paces uh for the rest uh the rest of its time with us and then I'll be getting into that long term, the Mazda.

So uh I like this a lot, I think it could be the right vehicle for a lot of people looking to get into an EV with an established brand.

I don't think it gets much more established than Mercedes, which has been around since 1886.

Uh in some form.

Uh I think their electrical setup, I think there's a fair degree of competence there.

Um They, I think they've done a lot of good things on the software side as well.

You see that kind of comes through with the, you know, the infotainment and also the under the skin stuff.

So I really liked it.

I think Mercedes has kind of divided the line up into like two sides.

Uh The electrics look a lot different than the gas cars or the hybrids.

Uh That's the one thing I would probably knock the EQE for a little bit.

Is it kind of looks like a blob?

Uh It's ok.

I don't think it's offensive.

It's kind of futuristic but, you know, it's, it's not very Mercedes other than the huge like star on the grill.

So, uh have you driven any electric Mercedes recently?

I have driven, I think two different variants of the EQESUV at this point.

Um I drove, I wanna say the AM G last year and I think I've also driven the EQE 450 if I'm recalling correctly off the top of my head.

Um But yeah, my, my thoughts align pretty well with yours.

Uh The, the interior really outshines the exterior on these, the, the, the exterior styling leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

But, um, I mean, you know, typical Mercedes is a wonderful place to be inside.

Very good ride.

Um, maybe not the best handling vehicles in the world, but I mean, they're heavy and they're geared toward comfort, luxury experiences and even the AM G, you know, is not meant to be a true, you know, outright driver's car, but a high performance luxury vehicle.

So, you know, they suit their mission.

Um, I just wish they looked a little better.

Yeah, it's definitely, uh, I, I think that's something they're gonna have to evolve.

They're gonna kind of have to figure out, hey, for this first batch, uh, they went different.

They said, hey, we're gonna make these look, uh, very much electric in identity and I think they'll have to figure out do they want to stay with that?

Do they wanna say, hey, maybe we make these look a little more traditional.

I mean, to look at study in contrast is BMW, you look at what they have and, uh, it's, I, I think their core audience prefers their approach but I suspect more like new EV adopters might prefer Mercedes.

Uh So that's how I would kinda kind of track it.

Uh, it, it's well regarded too according to basically everybody else who test these things.

People seem to really like the EQE.

Um Yeah, so, uh with that.

Let's uh move on to the range rover var.

Uh I drove the dynamic se version in.

I don't know if I'm saying this right.

Verisign blue uh with an Ebony interior.

So beautiful SUV, I'm working on a five points sort of story five thoughts.

Uh As far as you know, my take on this thing, it uh I think this one unlike, it's the exact opposite of the EQE outside is beautiful inside, is a little pedestrian uh, in the infotainment is just passable.

So literally flip the, the deck here.

Uh I really like how it looks.

I've driven a few different vars over the years, including the high powered one as well as this one, which is a hybrid with the uh the straight six.

So I think that's uh uh it's a turbo and I think it's uh yeah, it's a pretty gutsy, might be over selling it, but it's an engine with some, you know, some grunt to.

It sounds ok.

It's got a good eight speed automatic transmission.

This one did get the full on dad treatment.

It had golf clubs, groceries, fishing poles because it's that time of the year.

We went fishing a couple times last weekend and it had one of those kind of rubber mats in the back, which I personally like that when you're gonna put like a slimy fishing pole in the back of like a, you know, SUV, that cost about $81,000.

It's nice to have a little bit of a barrier there.

So I like it.

I, this is like a, I'd say a milk warm, milk warm.

That's not the right lukewarm taste.

Milk toast taste.

Uh Take is I like it better than the uh jaguar F Pace.

They share the same platform.

I think this one just has more character.

I like the F Pace a lot of great memories in it.

We even had a long term.

It was kind of like a dark blue purple one.

Curvy looks like a jaguar.

But to me, this one does a very good job of being a land rover.

It looks sleek.

I think it, I think it's a reasonable alternative to a range rover.

If you wanna spend a little less money, you don't need quite as big a vehicle.

Um, I was in uh a very nice side of town, uh, last weekend, uh in Birmingham and I parked next to another range rover and, uh that driver was in the regular one and I thought, you know what my var looks a little bit smaller, but I don't feel any less significant.

This is a good looking, uh SUV and nothing to be ashamed of.

Uh, which again brings together the evoke is not what I think you want to try to buy as a range rover buyer.

I think you could reasonably say, I think I like the var a little bit more.

I like the styling.

I don't need all the space boom.

Let's go here.

I don't need the range rover or the powerful range rover sport.

The evoke that's like the Ford escort of range rovers.

So, uh I would not go down that road.

Um So have you been in a var lately?

No, it's been a while.

I had one, I, I think for maybe a night or two in a similar kind of handoff situation to what you're describing.

But I have driven the range rover sport with both the ph that we do get here and the ph that we don't get here along with the standard I six, I believe it's an I six.

But II, I, in either case, I, I'm familiar with the power train and I 100% agree with your take on this versus the evoke.

The evoke does not inspire me to put it mildly.

Uh The, the var I think is, is a much more interesting kind of entry point.

And to your point about the, the sport, I, I 100% agree.

I think it's, you know, kind of two forks off the same road if you will like, you know, you're going for either the, the performance or you're going for the style and the Vars style.

So, yeah, it's, it's very well rounded.

Uh going inside this one has, it's a very dark interior which normally I like, but it also had the kind of offsetting effect of making some of the materials I think look a little cheaper than they actually are because there's a fair amount of leather, perforated leather, but it all just kind of, you know, blends together in a very British austere fashion.

This is Py Pro seven is what they call their infotainment.

It's fine.

I in my review, I currently have this kind of like solid middle of the pack.

It's land rover says 80% of functions can be accomplished with like two touches or less.

Uh I would agree with that except the touch screen is a little hard to actually get it to register.

Like I find myself kind of punching at it to like get the seat heaters off because it was oddly cold this weekend.

It was like a British weekend.

So the seat heaters on, it's like 62 degrees.

I don't care if it's almost July, but then I couldn't get them off and then the sun was coming out and I'm like, it's getting a little too roasty toasty.

So I found the screen to have a little bit of a, you know, like it was a bad haptic handshake is how I put it.

Uh but workable most of the time better than say some of the Toyota Lexus Acura versions, not as good as uh you know, Mercedes, for example, you know, Mercedes is not super easy, but you do pick up on it and it's colorful this just was a little less usable.

So, I mean, I guess you don't really buy a jaguar or a land rover for the infotainment.

But, you know, that was part of it, you know, again, it was very much the juxtaposition of this versus the EQE that I had driven basically back to back.

Um, I did like that 3 L. Uh I believe it's in, in genum.

I think that's how they say it.

Uh It's a mild hybrid turbo.

Uh I think it's a step up because the lower levels of this, you could get a 2 L, four cylinder.

I think that's a turbo.

I don't think you want to do that if you could help it, I think pay more finance, it do what you gotta do, take a slightly worse lease deal, get the straight six.

It's powerful.

I think it's solid.

Um You know, I don't think it, it's not crazy like when you put it in the sport or dynamic mode, you're not gonna notice much, but it's, you know, it's got enough.

It's, it's almost like rolls Royce would say it's adequately powered with just a little bit more.

So I like that as well.

Um Yeah, I mean, I think that's it.

I also wrote in my review that is the kids say this has the risk factor.

Tons of charisma.

I mean, you would, you, you pull up in a land rover or I guess technically a range rover I mean, nobody's gonna say you don't look cool.

You know, it's, uh, it's definitely a good looking, uh, vehicle, this jaguar, that's a big part of their calling cards, I think is the, the cool factor they bring to, like, their owners frankly.

You know, I mean, and it covers up some of the other, the gremlins that they also offer and that's how they've always been.

So, yeah, that are, and like to your point about like going back to the whole style thing, like the, the infotainment, like while the functionality has, you know, issues, it's beautiful.

Like they've done a great job with like the backgrounds and the graphics, but it's almost like it, it's kind of like you're looking at a presentation of an infotainment concept rather than a fully functioning infotainment system.

And I think that's where like, like when you look at like the Mercedes and books, graphics, like they're a little more simplified, a little more high contrast, it's a little more functional but still very pretty, not as pretty as what you get in a Jaguar land rover, but it works better and it's a lot easier to work with just because it's like you can, you can identify the elements of the interface a little more easily.

Like it's just, it's a more a functionality oriented experience.

Yeah, I, I for what it's worth, I don't hate the infotainment.

Like I said, it's, it's middle of the pack.

There's some that I would be offensive to the point of like, yeah, I don't think I want to buy that or recommend that vehicle, but in this case, I thought, you know what, it's, it's reasonable, you know, it's, it's solid.

It's probably not why you buy this thing.

Um, agreed cool vehicle though.

I, I remember when they launched the Bear and thought, well, how are they gonna position this?

And right now I think, I still think it's weird the way they have sort of pulled back on the land rover overarching branding and made range rover defender.

And then Discovery I like from, you know, colloquially, I think that's how range rover and land rover owners further their vehicles, take the defender, take the discovery.

I I don't think Discovery is strong enough to stand on its own as a sub, a sub brand.

Um Range rover always just from the way you would pronounce, it has a bit of overlap in defender.

Sure Wrangler, but also a Wrangler is the epitome of Jeep.

And I feel like defender is also uh the epitome of land rover.

So I I don't quite get this branding exercise.

I think it, it does no harm to leave a land rover badge on these vehicles and it only helps.

So I think you're, you're trying a little too hard here to make it something that it doesn't need to be.

So, but it's a nice range rover to be proper.

So tell me about our Wrx.

What did you lift it?

You threw like a diff on it.

What, what I, I could do for it in a couple months here.

So, what's it gonna look like with all this stuff?

I actually won our class at Pike's Peak.

I forgot to tell you guys.

It's been, uh, it's been a busy couple of weeks but your expense reports are gonna show up for that one.

Yeah.

Yeah, they'll, they'll be slightly higher than my typical trip to, to Los Angeles or what have you.

But, uh, but yeah, I expect those coming shortly.

But yeah, so, uh I actually I got a surprise message from Zach Palmer last week saying, hey, uh Subaru wants to pick up the Wrx because we're gonna put some ST I accessories on it.

Can we come get it tomorrow?

And I said, of course, yeah, because I mean, the biggest gripes I've had about that car, the exhaust has been one of them.

Like, it just doesn't really sound like much of anything like it's, it's verbally like a boxer should be, but there's not really any volume to it.

There's not any base to it.

It's just kind of there and, uh, just like little things like that, that, you know, take a car that's like a nine out of 10 and get a little closer to a 10, right?

Um, but the exhaust was the big one and that was one of the three items we got.

So we got the ST I accessory exhaust.

We got the ST I accessory short shift kit and we got an ST I front strut tower brace, which I, I didn't even notice the first time I opened the hood, it's tucked so neatly up behind the intercooler and everything.

There's a tiny little black piece of plastic on it with the cherry blossom ST I logo kind of hidden up under the, the, the cow like there and that, that was it.

So the second time when Zach told me it was there, I went back, I was like, oh yeah, sure.

There it is.

That's not a stock piece.

That's actually an accessory.

So um first impressions, the exhaust sounds significantly better.

Uh nice deep tone, a little raspier when you get on it.

Um It, it really just livens it up quite a bit, pretty much everything I was asking for before.

So uh good news there.

We'll have some uh exhaust clips so you guys can hear before and after.

If you'd like to check that out, we're gonna run that this week.

So that might actually be live by the time you're listening to this.

So uh give that a look and a listen if you have a chance.

Um The short shift kit does exactly what you expect honestly that this wasn't something I really had a gripe about with the, the wrx.

I thought the, the shift throws were fine, you know, maybe not anything to write home about.

But, uh, so they're a little tighter now.

A little, not, not really any notch here.

It's pretty much the same feel as stock which I really appreciate.

Like, you know, it's, it's always nice when it doesn't, you know, degrade the, the, the feel of it or the comfort level of it when you're getting a performance upgrade, which is kind of is.

And I mean, the Struck Towers, I mean, that's, that's a tough one to really uh to make a comparison on given how little time I've had with the car since everything's been installed.

And also the fact that every street in my vicinity is currently being ripped up by Wayne County for a much needed repairs.

So the ride quality and you know, the kind of the the role feel of it are gonna take a slightly longer test drive to really feel out.

So, uh hopefully we'll get all that into the update so you guys can check that out.

I'm very excited to, you know, sample the short throw, uh ch and kit that because that when I think back to my time in like the old ST I, that's definitely one of its calling cards.

Uh It has a degree of challenge to operating the machine, which I think is cool.

Uh It just takes me back 1015 years.

So can't wait to try that out.

Uh Have you gotten any sort of, you know, have people asked you about some of these changes, just kind of looking at it or looking in it?

Uh, I, I've had the neighbor come over and ask about the sound because it is quite a bit louder when it starts not objectionably loud or anything like that.

We're not talking about like, you need good neighbor mode on a, on a coyote 5 L or something like that.

It's, it's more subdued than that.

Um But when I was out there getting the sound clips, my neighbors came around going.

What did you do to that thing?

So, uh, so there, there's a little bit of bark to go with the bite and, uh, but honestly, like I was expecting, like when Zach told me a bunch of ST I accessories, I expected, you know, branded stuff like an ST I shift knob and an ST I steering wheel sticker and like all that kind of stuff.

But we, none of that.

We went for straight function over form pretty much top to bottom.

Um We're not getting any power out of the cat back exhaust.

I don't think, I mean, there might be one or two horses getting freed by that, but I wouldn't count on it actually being a power outer, but the short throw and the, the strut tower brace should both actually improve the way the car drives.

So, um, looking forward to a little longer term drive with that and we're gonna get it into everybody else's hands here soon so that everyone else can sample it too.

So that, uh, that should be good.

Later on in the summer, we're planning a, a roundtable where we're, uh, gonna discuss, uh, sort of the midway point to our feelings on the WRX.

So this gives us even more to talk about.

So I'm looking forward to that.

That will be, uh, likely to be a video and we'll cut that in some way into the podcast, perhaps a special episode or a segment.

Uh, but a vehicle like this where we're all driving it, uh You know, we'll, we'll play top gear, we'll hang out, we'll talk about it and see how it goes.

So, all right.

So that is our uh review section.

Let's move on to uh the new section, which is kind of random this week.

Uh You spent some time seeing the new Rivian up close though.

So you saw them, what do you think?

I man, uh I gotta tell you the, the R two, the R three and the R three X are really impressive in person.

The, the R two, which is the smaller version of the R one s, so it's gonna be their new kind of, I hesitate to call it a compact SUV, but leaning in that direction, a much smaller SUV than the R one S uh that one they had effectively complete.

We were actually able to sit in it, play around with the interior.

Um And it really is a scaled down version of the R one.

It, it has the, the same kind of feel to the materials that you can tell that they're not quite as fancy as what you get in the R one s, but it's probably gonna cost, I don't know, half to two thirds as much.

So it should be a little bit cheaper.

right?

Uh But the packaging seems good.

Uh, back seat room seems excellent.

And you still have that, that feeling of it being SUV, like, especially, you know, that it helps that you got that battery skateboard underneath which kind of lifts the whole body up a bit, kind of puts you on top of the chassis and that kind of leans into that SUV feeling a bit.

So that looks really promising, especially as kind of a not full volume play, but more of a volume play than they are ones.

Um, and then looking at the R three and the R three X, we, we weren't allowed to, to get as hands on with those because they weren't as complete as the R two, but they're, they're the fun cars.

So they're, you know, they're, they're for us, they're not for the core audience really.

So you can understand them, you know, being a slightly lower priority than the stuff that they plan to actually sell a lot of and make a lot of money on.

But the R three X especially in person looks insanely cool.

I mean, just looking at it with the, the nay tires on it and the slight lift to it, it just looks like a really angry old golf synchro or something like that.

Just like, you know, a VW golf R reimagined as an all wheel drive off road monster.

Instead of the, like the more on road, more composed version that we actually get from VW.

I mean, granted they've been rallying the RS since R was a thing and even back to the synchro days, like that's nothing new for them.

But the Golf R that we get are not marketed as rally cars.

Really, they're marketed as, you know, an upscale hot hatch and this is just like the rough and tumble, let's go off road, let's, you know, it, it, it, the vibe it gave me was very similar to that 911 to car.

It was just like this is a car that you can do anything with.

So really psyched for that out of the, out of everything that's coming, that's, that's way up at the top of my list.

But I was generally pretty impressed by just how complete these cars look.

They're, they're not planning to put the R two or R three or R three X into production until 2026 I believe or at least late 2025 as a 2026 model.

So we're still more than a year away from these being production models and they already look like production models.

So that's a, a great start.

And, uh, makes me really optimistic about what we'll see from these ones.

We actually get a chance to drive.

The R three X is I think on my short list of things as the twenties roll on that.

If I needed a car, it would be something I would look at, especially if it's priced, right.

Um How, I mean, just compare it in size, like to a car.

We all know how big would you say the R three X si it's, it's pretty much like compact hatchback.

I mean, you're, you're talking golf or velocity or, you know, pick poison Mazda three.

But yeah, it really feels like it's right in that wheel.

It's like, you know, we, we walk up to it, it's, it's, it's shorter than I am by a, by a decent amount.

I'm 57.

So it's, you know, it's not a big, you know, Wrangler high type thing or anything close to it.

It's, it's very much low to the ground and then also, you know, lift it up so you get that kind of feeling of it, of it being kind of chopped down and like a somewhat narrow greenhouse, but not as aggressively so as styling dictated over the past 10 years or so.

So like the, the final version of it, honestly should look pretty much exactly like the concept, like looking at it in person.

There was nothing on there that went, oh, that's never gonna make production.

It, it looks like they could just build it as it sits.

And I'm really hoping they do because, I mean, we're talking about a 0 to 60 three seconds, all wheel drive, all terrain set up.

And, I mean, obviously they can put different tire and suspension packages on these.

So the fact that this one is off Roady doesn't mean they can't do one that's more like the golf r and intended to be kind of a more upscale premium on road hot, hot hatch.

So, yeah, um I, I'm, I'm psyched, you know, Rivian really needs to keep getting this product message out because they had a rough first quarter financially.

Uh kind of a rough start to the year.

They recently did this tie up with Volkswagen where it's software uh for cash in simple terms, Volkswagen invest $5 billion review says here you go.

Here's some of our expertise in software defied V and you know, this allows Volkswagen to really catch up.

And part of that kind of like we would probably used to call this like the oily bits only.

That's not how it is because it's electric uh in the software space where despite their size, they haven't been able to match what smaller companies have been doing.

So I think it's a, it's a win, win for both.

But that will, you know, again, give Rivian some, some cash to get to 2026 when this next wave of vehicles which we all think look really amazing come out.

But that's only like, you know, one of like three phases because then you've got the affordable mass market vehicle which is coming after these R two R three Rx, uh which will compete in that, you know, entry level area.

They didn't name pricing $25,000.

It's like with Tesla, the Jeep Renegade Ford GM, everybody throws that term around.

I, I don't honestly know if Orian will be cheap but it will be an affordable mass market vehicle.

So that's like their four stage plan.

Uh with the first two being the R one S and the R one T and you know, the Amazon vans uh in the first round, those vehicles were just uh refreshed as well.

So a lot going on with Rivian, it's gonna be interesting to see uh how things play out and how, um you know how they're staying power.

I think they have the money, they have the time now.

Uh Is it enough?

Yeah, great.

And, and just looking at the VW tie up too, like there, we've been speculating about it and others have like VW has scout which is being treated kind of like a start up within the VW group.

So they kind of do their own thing.

Relative to the rest of the, you know, VW, Audi Lamborghini, et cetera.

So, you know, we're looking at this as you know, Volkswagen is investing $5 billion in someone who's essentially building already competitors to this brand that they want to get off the ground in the US.

And they've insisted time and time again that there is no ice safety valve for scout, it will be an electric brand period and given everything that's happening in the electric space right now, it's really hard to see how they scale a fresh brand like that up without some sort of overlap somewhere.

And they've also been insisting that these are gonna be on their own platform.

The scouts will.

So, you know, you're looking at this company that's kind of doing what's Vivian's already done only they're playing with much bigger financial stakes and at least they have the money to throw at it and fail.

But at the same time, it's really hard to look at this agreement and not see an opportunity for scale between two companies that want to do essentially the same thing with the same parts.

And the only thing that's really kind of a sticking point is the scout keeps insisting.

Well, we're gonna have these are gonna be a special body on frame truck platform and strictly speaking, Rivian trucks and suvs are body on frame kind of like the way the old XJ Jeep Cherokee body on frame, like it's a unibody that sits on the skateboard chassis, the chassis is essentially the frame.

So if you're being super pedantic about it, nothing that Scout has said conflicts with the notion of them doing some sort of production partnership with Rivian down the road.

So we could see Scout based Volkswagens or, or scout based Rivian or Rivian based Scoutss that has not been ruled out, but neither company is talking about it.

They've said, you know, our operations, our production are remaining independent.

We're building our own vehicles for the duration.

JV.

We haven't said anything more than that.

So it's, we're kind of in a weird holding area with that aspect of this whole thing, but it just kind of feels like it almost has to happen like it, it's just, you can't, you know, Volkswagen just can't leave that kind of scale on the table and Rivian can't afford to leave that kind of scale on the table.

So it seems like it's almost inevitable, but we don't have any real clear signposts yet.

I think you really, that's a great way to sum it up.

I just, it does seem a touch like is good as the defined, you know, the nuanced points you lay out.

Are it also if I'm either scout especially or Rivian, it does feel like you're propping up a competitor, you know, regardless of where you land on that sort of, you know, platform.

Like what is what I mean?

I gotta believe I would cross shop rated scout.

So it feels kind of like you're gonna help out a competitor.

And then does it become a zero sub game?

I don't know.

Uh you were one of the only people to actually get a comment out of uh scout though.

So comment, comment, but it, but we we an email was sent and an email was received that actually did happen.

And um and yeah, to their credit, I mean, this is something that has been in the works for a while and the the Rivian deal would have been ongoing in the background while we were out at Scout, checking out the groundbreaking in South Carolina earlier this year.

So back then obviously they were talking about it, but it was in the background, at least at VW group, not necessarily with Scout itself.

So, you know, when we were getting those comments from Ceo Scott Keogh of Scout saying, you know, we're, we're, this is a, this is a BEV brand, this is our body on frame goal.

Like, you know, this is what we're doing, what we're doing.

All these negotiations were theoretically already ongoing, just not in that room.

So, all right, so hard fade over to Crazy Taxi, um which I guess could be the word for the EV space right now.

Um It's coming back.

Uh You might remember the old Sega game from the late nineties.

Uh I remember playing this a little bit.

It was like, I believe, first launched in the arcades also, I was not quite arca at that point.

So I, for me, more of the Sega stuff was like NHL 94.

You know, I, for me, at this point, I had probably moved past the real video game.

It was more like dorm stuff.

Uh, so this specific one I kind of missed, although I do remember it, like if you look at the pictures, you'll immediately remember what this game was.

Um, did you play this at all?

Oh, yeah.

Uh I, in fact, I think I actually have a copy of Crazy Taxi that does not belong to me now that I'm thinking you better return that.

Well, so I, you know, I owned a Dreamcast console, my brother and I had, well, I say I owned it.

My parents bought us one because I was 10, you know, but, uh, but we had a dreamcast and my friend had one too and we would trade games from time to time, you know.

So I, you know, hand off Soul Calibur and he'd give me Crazy Taxi.

And I'm pretty sure that actually where those two landed, I'm pretty sure he still has my copy of Soulcalibur and I still have this copy of Crazy Taxi, but I still have my dreamcast and he doesn't.

So I'm winning here so I could go play some Crazy Taxi tonight if I would like.

But this, this looks pretty impressive.

They're gonna go for like an open world thing with the multiplayer and there's going to be police now, which I think is very interesting because that was one of the things as a kid where I was like, I mean, you couldn't kill people in Crazy Taxi.

It was a family game, like, no matter what you did, the people would always jump out of your way magically, you could never run anybody over, but you're driving like a complete tool in that game.

And it's like, you know, the cops really probably should be doing something about this.

So I think that could add a fun mechanic to it where you, you know, you can be fast but you also shouldn't get caught.

So, uh it'll be fun.

I mean, it's, it's, it's good, friendly, you know, entertainment for everybody.

It doesn't have the stigma of like a grand theft auto or something like that where it's like, oh yeah, we have to go murder somebody after this now.

You just go, have a good time, get somebody to their destination as quickly as possible.

And with the notion of multiplayer now, it actually makes a lot of sense because you should be competing with other cab drivers for your fares, right?

It's not like you just go out and, you know, automatically get every fare and make all the money.

So uh it's an interesting twist but one that actually feels like it fits and it could make a kind of classic arcade game, a little more modern.

So I'm kind of psyched.

I think it'll be fun.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's, we're seeing more and more of these sort of video games from the eighties nineties, two thousands return on new platforms.

Some of them are enhanced, some of them are ex extremely retro.

So I think that's kind of a kind of a cool thing at this, uh, at this point because the whether you're more on the geriatric millennial side of things like me or right in the millennial scope or even some Gen Xers.

Um the 30 ish year old video games are definitely, you know, they have a soft spot in the hearts of a lot of people who also either still have them or have money to spend.

Uh So, I mean, that's probably why the Rx three from Rivian looks how it does 100%.

All right.

So let's talk about the Volvo Ex 30.

Yeah, it is delayed.

So what uh what do you think of this?

This seems like quite a mess.

Uh So Jonathan Ramsey has written up the latest for us on this and there might be even something new by the time you hear this.

So check back on uh auto blog.com, but just looking at this like he compares it to kind of the Chevy Blazer ev situation like where customers are having cars that are straight up bricked or at least not functioning entirely while being driven, having to be stopped and restarted and stuff like that.

So it's messy and I mean, this was the a car that we were expecting.

Well, we thought might arrive in late 2023 and Volvo didn't really do anything to dissuade us of that notion.

So, uh obviously that didn't happen and it's obviously not here now and we're hearing, it's probably gonna be next year at this point.

And so like all the issues that are happening, we're hearing about this from Europe where it is on sale.

So I, I guess we can just kind of be thankful that Europe is sort of acting as the beta test for this and then hopefully we'll get a full, fully fledged working cheap ev out of this.

So that's, I guess the upside for uh for American consumers who might have to wait.

But I mean, hopefully it means you're waiting for a complete product.

So they are always very aggressive about price and some of the early reviews are that it's a pretty solid vehicle, but I think the Blazer is an apt analogy.

It just, it seems like maybe they, maybe they were a little too aggressive on the roll out like nobody said they had to hit that sort of deadline to get it out.

Um Europe seems to be taking the brunt of whatever challenges this, you know, technical challenges they're facing with it.

Uh You know, a lot of people are pretty excited about it though.

It just like what it could mean.

It's, you know, priced competitively.

It uh it looks pretty good.

Uh But it's also fairly basic.

So uh I'm kind of curious what the execution will look like.

I tend to think it'll be a very niche product in America because I feel like Volvo doesn't have quite the like crossover brand value to really get people into it at a value play.

I think they're always gonna kind of look at something like this is relatively narrow in scope.

Um So we'll see, I mean, I, I guess vehicles like this, you start to, the more they kind of get delayed, you start to wonder.

Well, when, when is this ever gonna actually happen?

Yeah, it's not in the Mazda Diesel territory uh yet, which took forever but, and then didn't last.

But, um, you know, it's, it's, it's on that same road.

It needs to make a turn.

Yes, agreed.

All right, let's spend some money.

Justin writes.

Hey, I just heard your podcast about the all new Santa Fe.

I also agree with you guys and love the new design.

Just curious.

Do you guys think they would offer accessories like the concept version if they would, I would definitely be interested uh for purchasing.

Have a great day.

Well, hey, Justin, thank you for writing.

Uh just more like a theoretical spending my money.

I guess if they were to do this, then he might spend his money.

Um, I don't think that they will do this actually, uh, would be my guess.

I think we've seen the X RT off Road version and that's kind of what it is.

And Hyundai and Kia are, don't have a really deep, you know, portfolio of off roading goods and things like that.

But that concept was really cool that they showed us last year.

So, I mean, what do you think?

I, I think it kind of reads to me like Hyundai kind of soliciting bids for a partner to do accessories, right?

Like this is like why these are the things they would like to do and they set the car up.

So that, I mean, it has those little, the little things on the the sea pillars are there where they mounted all the stuff.

So like the most of the system seems like it made its way to production.

So I think like Hyundai would love to do something like this because branded merchandise is basically free money.

And we there's been stories this past week, I think it's both Ford and GM how much money they're making on just merch and licensing versus actually producing vehicles.

So this strikes me as something that they would really like to do, um whether a partner comes out and says, hey, we want to do these with you because that's, you know, that's how it works most of these spaces you look at Jeep and uh and Bronco, both of them have big partnerships.

GM two with and I mean, and like all of them basically work with American expedition vehicles to some degree or another.

A ev builds parts for virtually anything you can take off road.

And they have official partnerships with a lot of the manufacturers Hyundai, of course, doesn't play in the hardcore off roading space.

So they would need somebody, you know, who wants to come along and produce accessories for a car like this and, and, and do it O A in partnership and I think they would love to find someone to do that.

I just don't think they have a dance partner yet.

Yeah, I mean, if you look at that original X RT concept, uh which uh uh came out last August uh almost a year ago.

Uh That was really cool.

It was really jacked up, the tires were big.

Uh the whole like vehicle had a different vibe to it.

Like they did some things.

Uh you know, I would say even to like the sheet metal that make it look different.

I actually can't even tell that it's just, it's such a different vibe the way the vehicle, the, the ride height is different.

It's, yeah, those are definitely different aftermarket feather flares as I look closer.

Um So I mean, it's tough to do all that from the factory and then try to like you know, unless you have that aftermarket partner.

And frankly, to me that was just a concept vehicle to kind of drum up uh in off road Halo.

So I guess, sorry to disappoint you, Justin.

But uh the best you can do is just the X RT trim, which we did drive, we liked it, but it doesn't take it quite as far as you probably would like it to, I guess.

Yeah.

And I did reach out to Joel Stockdale who was the, the auto blog editor who drove the X RT and the rest of the Santa Fe lineup when, when Hyundai launched it earlier this year.

And he said they didn't bring up anything about that during any of the product presentations.

And usually, you know, if, if you're gonna launch with branded accessories, you want to tell people about it because you would love for people to go and order cars with them installed.

So clearly not something that's a priority for them immediately.

But of course, that doesn't take it off the table entirely.

So.

All right, sounds good.

Well, that's all the time.

We have this week short tight show.

We hope you all have a great holiday weekend.

If you're listening to this after, you know, the Fourth of July, hey, that's what the podcast is here.

We're here to help you grill and walk your dog and clean the house, whatever you might do after the holidays.

Uh said this year, spend my money.

So that's podcast blog.com.

If you like the show, please like share and subscribe.

Give us five stars on Apple podcasts.

Wherever you get the show, shout out to our producer, Eric Meyer for making us sound good or at least we try to sound good.

Be safe out there.

Thanks for hanging out this week, Byron and we will see you next week.

More Autoblog Videos

Monterey Car Week recap, 2025 Lincoln Navigator and more | Autoblog Podcast #845

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. They look back on Monterey Car Week, and pick their favorite highlights from the event, including the new Lincoln Navigator, the Ruf Rodeo, Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept and more. In the news, Ford has …

Driving the 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe and Ford Explorer | Autoblog Podcast #844

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. John recently attended the launch of both the 2025 Genesis GV80 Coupe and the 2025 Ford Explorer. In the fleet, we've been driving the Jeep Gladiator, BMW 5 Series and Chrysler Pacifica …

BMW M5 and Aston Martin Valiant lead big reveal week | Autoblog Podcast #838

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by News Editor Joel Stocksdale. They cover a big week of news and reveals including the BMW M5, Aston Martin Valiant and VW Jetta. They also talk about VW's investment in Rivian, some never-before-seen GM concepts, and the future …

Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato and GMC Acadia driven | Autoblog Podcast #837

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. They're both jazzed after driving the off-road-ish and totally sublime Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato. John recently drove the new GMC Acadia, Greg spent some time in the Toyota Camry, and they also discuss …

Celebrating 20 years and comparing mainstream EVs | Autoblog Podcast #836

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. It's hard to believe, but Autoblog launched in June 2004, and that means we're celebrating our 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, our editors singled out the 20 …

2024 Porsche 911 Dakar driven | Autoblog Podcast #835

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd for a packed and fast-paced episode headlined by an absolute superstar: the 2024 Porsche 911 Dakar. Autoblog's Detroit contingent has spent the week with the off-road 911 and boy, do they have thoughts. From …

Chevy Silverado EV RST and Equinox EV driven | Autoblog Podcast #834

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor John Beltz Snyder. Greg is fresh off first drives to the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV RST and Chevy Equinox EV. John and Greg took turns driving a 2024 Porsche 718 Boxster Style Edition, and Greg spent …

The Civic goes hybrid, driving the Nissan Z Nismo and more | Autoblog Podcast #833

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. They discuss the refreshed 2025 Honda Civic and its new hybrid powertrain, a possible Ford Maverick sport truck, rumblings of a new Mitsubishi Delica, the continued growth of hybrid sales, the UAW's loss …