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No Soap Please

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Wheel Bearings
No Soap Please
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Nicole is still cruising European rivers so it’s just the boys this week. Robbie drove the Range Rover Sport and used a Ford Transit to get his bands to Salt Lake City for a couple of shows (hence why there was no episode last week). Sam has been driving the Subaru CrossTrek Wilderness. In the news, VW workers in Tennessee join the UAW, and Mercedes-Benz is voting next. Toyota launches a 6th gen 4Runner. Sam sees the BMW Vision Neue Klasse X in person and talks with Designworks CEO Julia de Bono. Kia is testing the EV3 and it may sticker for under $35,000. GM launches its vehicle to home charging products. Alfa Romeo unveils its first EV as the Milano and almost immediately changes the name. Back in the 1980s, Porsche was developing a Miata competitor before the Mazda launched. Maserati shows off the… Read More »No Soap Please

Faster Than Magma

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Faster Than Magma
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This week, friend of the show Perry Stern is filling in for Robbie and he’s been driving the Mercedes-AMG GLB. Nicole tries out the latest variant of Honda’s pickup truck the off-road-ish Ridgeline Trailsport and Sam has the Acura TLX Type-S. Perry went to the New York for the Auto Show this week and gives us a rundown on what he saw including the new Genesis Neolun concept and the GV60 Magma performance model. Kia also unveiled the new entry level K4 sedan and teased an upcoming hatchback version. Hyundai showed off mid-cycle refreshes for the Tucson and Santa Cruz that look a bit more truckish and bring back the buttons on the center stack. Nissan also unveiled a new version of the Kicks and the Infiniti QX80. Instead of New York, Nicole went to Moab for the Easter Jeep Safari and got to try… Read More »Faster Than Magma

Jumping Raptors

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Jumping Raptors
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While Robbie is off doing some late winter snow boarding, Nicole and Sam are holding down the fort. Nicole has been driving Buick’s new entry level model, the Envista and the Hyundai Palisade. Meanwhile Sam had the new Toyota Prius Limited AWD and the very pricey Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV. Nicole gives a preview of the concepts coming up at this year’s Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. We’ve got a first drive review of the blocky new Hyundai Santa Fe with some more rigorous off-roading than the last Hyundai SUV we tried. We also drive the new Ford Ranger and Ranger Raptor. The New York Auto Show is coming up this week and none of us will be there so of course there are some interesting vehicle launches. Nissan has both ends of its product lineup covered with a second-generation Kicks crossover and an all-new Infiniti… Read More »Jumping Raptors

What’s Happening at Jeep

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What's Happening at Jeep
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This week Robbie got to spend some time with something really fast, the new McLaren 750s. Meanwhile, Nicole and Sam had some more pedestrian rides. Nicole got a few days with the Volkswagen ID.7 as well as the Jeep Hornet PHEV. Sam had the Toyota Crown Platinum. In the news, we’ve got first drive reports on the updated 2025 Ram 1500, now powered only by six-cylinder engines and the Honda Prologue, the brand’s firsrt purpose-built EV for North America. Sam also talks with Prologue chief engineer John Hwang. Jeep’s new CEO provide’s an update on the SUV brand’s plans and we get a first look at the upcoming Wagoneer S and Recon electric SUVs. Ineos is developing an electric off-roader as well called the Fusilier. The soon to arrive US-built Kia EV9 may not have full tax credit eligibility at launch. Waymo’s expansion plans in… Read More »What’s Happening at Jeep

Testing Tires

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Testing Tires
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Robbie is back from Colorado where he attended the Bridgestone winter driving school and spent time with the Toyota Rav4 and 4Runner in the snow. He also rented a Ford Transit van to move ping-pong tables and drove a Kia Carnival. Nicole has been spending time in the psuedo off-road Honda Passport Trailsport and Sam had the Audi Q8 e-Tron Sportback Launch edition. In the news, GM is expanding the driving domain of Super Cruise and has priced the Chevy Equinox EV which might eventually go on sale when the software issues are fixed. As more vehicles start to use Tesla Superchargers, Kyle Connor is finding there are interoperability issues. The multi-automaker DC fast charging network is now operational and called Ionna. Being made of stainless steel doesn’t make Cybertrucks corrosion proof and Stellantis won’t be buying any more EV credits from Tesla. Shell has… Read More »Testing Tires

Killing Unused Features

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Killing Unused Features
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Robbie is off visiting some family this week, but even with just Nicole and Sam it’s a long episode. Sam has been burning up the gas in a Ford F-250 XL 4×4 while Nicole has a much more reasonably sized Subaru Outback. Nicole and Sam were both in Chicago this week and talk about the future of auto shows. While in Chicago we saw a bunch of stuff including mid-cycle updates for the Kia K5 sedan and Carnival minivan (sorry, I meant MPV). Parking large or heavy vehicles in Paris will soon be much more expensive. A majority of workers at VW’s Chatanooga factory have signed up to join the UAW and an official vote may be coming soon. Americans are loosing trust in automated vehicles and companies like Cruise and Tesla have only themselves to blame. We saw the Cybertruck and Sam has some… Read More »Killing Unused Features

Dealers be Dealering

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Dealers be Dealering
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This week, Nicole has the Mazda CX-50 in a disappointing color, Robbie has the Range Rover Velar in one of the 8 available non-colors and Sam is driving the Chevrolet Trailblazer in Cacti Green. In the news, Jeep teases the upcoming Wagoneer S EV with too much power. Stellantis also launches the Ram Promaster EV and confirms the STLA Large EV platform will also support hybrid powertrains. JerryRigEverything tries towing with the Cybertruck and comes up short. For some reason, BMW has decided to put some humanoid robots into the Spartanburg assembly plant, what could go wrong? Mazda has launched a development program for a new rotary sports car, will it ever be built? Ford and Lincoln are launching an all-new infotainment system based on Android with a 48-inch full-width screen. Sam also spoke with friend of the show, Andrey Smirnov for an episode of… Read More »Dealers be Dealering

Tell Me A Dinosaur Story

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Tell Me A Dinosaur Story
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Sam and Robbie survived another year of CES and have lots to discuss. Sam has been driving the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid since returning. Nicole has had the Hyundai Tucson and Robbie got to ride the Honda Motocompacto at CES. At CES, large language models have been integrated into cars with VW using ChatGPT, BMW using one from Amazon and Mercedes-Benz working with Nvidia. Fisker joins Vinfast in ditching direct sales as it signs up dealers and Sam chats with Henrik Fisker about it. Honda’s new concepts preview its upcoming Series 0 EVs coming in 2026. There was lidar news from Hesai, Robosense, Aeva and Luminar. Intel is jumping back into the automotive chip business. Eaton has developed an EV charger that fits in your circuit breaker panel. Supernal and Xpeng are still trying to make personal aviation a thing. Android Auto is getting battery… Read More »Tell Me A Dinosaur Story

Strategic Crown Vic Reserve

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Strategic Crown Vic Reserve
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This week Robbie and his wife are visiting New York for the holidays and Nicole and her hubbie are hitting the Christmas markets along their European river cruise route. Fortunately, Stephanie Brinley is back to join Sam. Steph has been driving the Nissan Leaf SV+ while Sam spent time in the Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss and the Kia EV9. Stephanie and Sam both got to drive the new Chevrolet Blazer EV and share their thoughts good and otherwise on the vehicle and the new Carplay-free infotainment system. Cadillac also dropped the first images of its fourth electric SUV, the three-row Vistiq coming as a 2026 model. The Los Angeles County Sherrif’s department was such a fan of the Ford Crown Victoria that when production ended 11 years ago, they ordered a stockpile and they still have hundreds in service. Tesla had a big recall this… Read More »Strategic Crown Vic Reserve

Are We Ready To Swap?

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Are We Ready To Swap?
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Tanya joins us again this week as Nicole’s European Christmas vacation continues. She spent time with the Toyota Sequoia and the Honda Civic sedan. Meanwhile Sam spent a week with the updated BMW X5 eDrive50 that went 45 miles on a charge of the new larger battery pack. In the news, friend of the show Jamie Kitman shared his first driving impressions of the Fisker Ocean and concluded, that it’s not yet fully baked. Stellantis is winding down production of the Chrysler 300 and partnering with Ample to test battery module swapping for a fleet of 500es in a car sharing service in Madrid. Once batteries reach the end of their life, they need to be recycled and Toyota is partnering with Cirba to develop a collection and distribution system for hybrid and electric vehicle batteries to go to recycling centers. Honda has teased the… Read More »Are We Ready To Swap?