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This week Sam is driving the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Tributo Italiano and Nicole has the Acura RDX SH-AWD A-Spec. Nicole also had her first major technical issue with her Jeep Wagoneer S. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Toyota is publicly demoing its new sports car and upcoming GT3 race car while Hyundai has the Ioniq 6 N. Mazda shows off the new third generation CX-5, now with a touchscreen. Dodge trademarks the name Charger Outlaw. Subaru teases its next EV called Uncharted. Nissan is delaying s...
After some hiccups getting the recording started, Nicole told us about the latest Genesis GV70 and Robbie almost had a chance to save a wedding with the Ford F-150 Lightning. Sam enjoyed cruising in the Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack which both really loud and not loud enough. Sam tried out BlueCruise 1.5 and its auto lane changing while driving to Ohio to buy a used EV. He and his wife came back to Michigan with a lightly used Kia EV6. Make sure to check out the No Pain, No Gain series on TFL....
This week Nicole has been tackling the notoriously smooth New England pavement in the Hyundai Ioniq 5N while Robbie had the Alfa Romeo Tonale PHEV and Sam trecked across Michigan in the Mini Countryman SE ALL4. This week Sam visited two plants for the production of lithium iron phosphate batteries, Ford's BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, MI and the LG Energy Solution plant in Holland, MI. Ford revealed the new Explorer Tremor and AMG has a concept for its upcoming EV, the GT XX. Tesla sort of ...
Robbie has family commitments today so Perry Stern is sitting in with Nicole and Sam. Perry's been driving the McLaren 750S in Volcano Yellow and Cadillac Escalade. Nicole had the new gas powered Chevy Equinox and Sam had the new 2025 Mini Cooper S 4-door. In the news we discuss Audi's latest attempt to reinvent the steering wheel stalk and BMW's new flax fiber composites. Most of China's auto plants are barely producing any vehicles and Congress is trying to gut fuel economy, emissions standard...
The crew reviews several large SUVs including the redesigned Nissan Murano, BMW X5 PHEV, Lincoln Navigator, and Nissan Armada. They discuss the big news around the all-new 2026 Nissan Leaf and the incredibly powerful Corvette ZR1X. Additionally, they cover GM's production shift, the wild pricing of the Mustang GTD, recent EV consumer surveys, and significant legislative actions impacting EV and autonomous vehicle regulations.
Nicole is back and to tell us what sorts of pies she shared with her husband at the Julian Pie Company last week and talk about the Kia K4 that turned up in her driveway for the third time as well as the Toyota 4Runner. Robbie did some G-Turns in the Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ technology. Sam had the Nissan Murano Platinum and Honda Passport Trailsport. Porsche has built a road legal version of the 963 race car for Roger Penske and Tim Kuniskis has restored the Hemi V8 to its rightful place in t...
Nicole is trekking to the Julian Pie Company with her husband so it's mostly just Robbie and Sam. Robbie gives a preview of the electric Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen and Sam reviews the 2025 Cadillac Escalade Platinum. In the news, Stellantis picks Antonio Fillosa as its new CEO and cancels a smart cockpit deal with Amazon. The Dodge Durango is back for another year with Hellcat power and we get our first look at the new Jeep Cherokee. Tesla FSD still doesn't stop for school buses. SAE has published an...
Nicole and Sam returned from Texas without picking up any measels. Nicole spent quality time with the Toyota Grand Highlander while Sam drove the Kia K5 GT, and Robbie spent another week without driving anything. While in Texas for Toyota's HQ Confidential event, we saw the new 2026 all hybrid Rav4 and Lexus RZ 550e F-Sport with fake shifting along with a bunch of other stuff. The week before, we drove the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and the Cadillac Vistiq for the first time. Nissan has a cute new Micra EV...
This week Sam has been driving the 2025 Cadillac Lyriq and supercharging it with the Lectron Vortex adapter. Nicole had the Subaru Forester Hybrid and Robbie rented a Toyota Camry Hybrid while covering the Formula SAE competition in Michigan. Nicole also went on the first drive of the 2026 Ford Expedition and Sam had a first ride in the 2026 Hummer EV. Toyota announced 3 updated or new EVs for its lineup while Stellantis delayed the Ram 1500 Ramcharger. Aston Martin is finally launcing Carplay U...
We've got a bit of a shorter show today because it was Nicole's turn to catch a trip and she accidently stopped the recording. Robbie went to Austria to ride the Can-Am Origin and Pulse electric motorcycles. Nicole drove the updated 2025.5 Volvo XC90 and Sam had the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek with its non-recovery hooks. The 2026 Corvette looses its wall of buttons and gains a fabulous new color. Jeep launched the new Compass in Europe, but who knows when or if we will get it in North America thank...
This week Robbie has the Chevrolet Silverado EV LT and Nicole shares her Portugese airport blackout adventure. Sam drives the Ford F250 XL and the Chevrolet Equinox LT. Akio Toyoda loves cool cars and doesn't think electric sports cars fit the bill. More than 28,000 GM V8s failed before GM recalled them. Who are the most influential people in automotive history? Toyota is sort of hooking up with Waymo. The VW ID Buzz is getting recalled because the 3rd seats are too roomy and there are new charg...
This week Nicole had a Mustang GT convertible with the California Special package but New Hampshire spring weather only allowed her to put down the top once. Sam had the cheapest car currently available in America, the 2025 Nissan Versa SR. Robbie went to the unveiling of the Slate truck and we have thoughts. Ford is countering with an even more expensive Super Duty pickup. Nicole and Sam drove the 2026 Lincoln Navigator and we have more thoughts.Cadillac is bringing an Optiq-V. Audi is launchin...
This week, Nicole tells us about driving the Toyota Land Cruiser and BMW M235 while Sam has the BMW i4 M50. Nicole has flown across the country 4 times in the last week to drive the Lucid Gravity in California, some Cupras in Florida, a Lincoln back in Calfornia and visit the New York Auto Show. We've got lots of news from New York including the 3 Subarus, the 2026 Solterra, Trailseeker and Outback. Kia had the EV4 sedan and K4 hatchback, Hyundai showed us the new 2026 Palisade and Genesis showe...
This week Nicole is trecking back and forth and back and forth again across the US so Chad Kirchner joins us again. Sam had the GMC Canyon AT4X AEV edition and it's a mixed bag. Chad and Sam both got to see this year's Easter Jeep Safari concepts before they got shipped to Moab. We have the first image of the secretive Slate electric truck and a prototype electric truck from Kia. GM's new UK design studio has an interesting new electric Corvette concept. Jeep seems to be working on a new high pe...
This week in the garage Nicole has the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5, Robbie has the Ford e-Transit and Sam has the Corvette Stingray 3LT. Sam and Nicole both drove the 2026 Honda Passport in Puerto Rico last week and have thoughts. Sam also interviewed chief engineer Todd Hemertt. Nicole tells us about climbing Davis Dam in the 2025 Ram HD. Somehow Aptera is still trying to get its little solar and electric three-wheeler to production and an initial road trip yields dissapointing efficiency numbers. Res...
Robbie is back from Japan where he drove the best selling EV in that country, the Nissan Sakura. Nicole is back to discuss the Lexus GX, and Nissan Frontier and Armada Pro-4X models. Sam took the Ram 1500 RHO to Ikea and found it challenging to park. In the news, GMC is bringing lower priced versions of the Sierra EV for the 2026 model year and Electrify America is piloting new Alpitronic chargers with J3400 cables. Robbie discusses some of what he saw in Japan (more to come in the near future) ...
Robbie and Nicole are both traveling this week so Stephanie Brinley from S&P Global Mobility and Jeff Gilbert from WWJ radio in Detroit are stepping in with Sam. Stephanie and Jeff both got to drive the new Cadillac Optiq and Escalade IQ and Jeff also moved stuff with the Chevrolet Suburban. Sam drove the Lincoln Nautilus and BMW X5M Competition. In the news we discuss BYD's 1MW charging announcement and the CATL/NIO battery swapping partnership and which is a better solution. There are repo...
While Nicole spends the weekend at Disney World, Perry Stern has stepped in to join Robbie and Sam with the Audi RS6 Avant. Robbie spent some more time with the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 to do some charging tests with its new NACS/J3400 charging port and Sam went hands-free in the 2025 Ford Explorer and Lexus LS500h with Teammate. Nissan's CEO is stepping aside which may reopen the opportunity for a Honda merger. Ford has shipped 140,000 free NACS adapters to owners and is now offering its Lectron-bu...
Robbie is under the weather this week so Nicole shares her thoughts on the 2025 Ford Explorer ST and then Sam discusses the Acura ZDX Type-S. While we get to drive new cars every week sometimes we also buy some for ourselves. This week, Nicole finally took delivery of her new Jeep Wagoneer S and tells us about the buying experience. Honda has some performance and range upgrades to the 2025 Prologue but holds the line on pricing. Buyers of the EREV version of the new Scout trucks and SUVs might b...
This week Nicole has been driving the new GMC Acadia AT4 while Sam had the Mazda CX-50 Hybrid featuring a Toyota hybrid powertrain. This week Ram held a technical deep dive on the new EREV Ramcharger pickup and we've got details. Mercedes-Benz is testing an EQS with semi-solid state batteries from Factorial Energy and Sam has a conversation with Factorial CEO Siyu Huang. Polestar is trying to attract Tesla owners with up to $20,000 in savings on a Polestar 3. Ford has a new plan to cover deducti...
This week, Sam has driven the Genesis GV80 Coupe while Nicole had the 2025 Chevrolet Traverse. Nicole, Robbie and Sam all had a chance to drive the updated the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 including the off-roady XRT model. In the news this week, the General Services Administration has decided that federal government facilities don't need EV charging facilities and it will decomission 8,000 chargers over the next several weeks. There's a new Chevrolet Spark EV, but it's not coming to America. Kia has sh...
This week all three of our crew were in Palm Springs at various times to drive a new car that we'll discuss next week. We did however discuss the Temu mid-century modern hotel with Ritz-Carlton prices that we stayed at. At home Sam drove the Toyota Crown Signia and Nicole had the Subaru Solterra. Volvo announced a Cross Country edition of the EX30 this week. Sam took his wife to Palm Springs and rented a Polestar2 from Hertz and charged it at the Rivian outpost near Joshua Tree. Honda and Nissan...
Nicole is back after driving both the Hyundai Palisade and Kia K4 GT-Line turbo. Sam did some truck stuff with Hyundai's trucklet, the 2025 Santa Cruz and Robbie has some tire feedback. Ford has confirmed its plans to offer extened range EV powertrains in large trucks and SUVs. Someone has developed a wide-body kit for the already wide new Dodge Charger Daytona, and VW has teased a new $21,000 EV that will be revealed next month. Nissan apparently doesn't want to just be a subsidiary of Honda an...
This weekend Nicole is visiting her daughters and Robbie is taking care of a family medical emergency, so Sam is joined by Perry Stern and Stephanie Brinley. Stephanie has been driving a Toyota GR Corolla on winter tires and Perry has the new GMC Terrain. Sam drove a Honda Ridgeline Trailsport to Ohio to visit Honda's new EV hub. In the news, is there a chance that GM could sell a rebadged version of Hyundai's Korean Staria minivan? Kia is sending its more affordable EV5 electric crossover to Ca...
This week, Nicole has been driving the refreshed 2025 Hyundai Tucson in the New Hampshire cold while Robbie enjoyed some unseasonably warm bay area weather with the Mercedes-Benz CLE Cabriolet. Sam was pleasantly surprised with the efficiency and value of the new VW Jetta. In the news, Nicole and Sam have a first drive report on the new Jeep Wagoneer S EV. Ram confirms a midsize pickup will be built in Belvidere, Ill. in 2027 and Cadillac launches its first electric V model, the Lyriq-V. The new...
This week as we prepare for our next round of driving new cars, Nicole tells us about driving the Hyundai Ioniq6, Robbie fills in the details on the BMW Z4 and Sam has the Chevrolet Blazer EV LT. Sam had an opportunity this week for a local drive of the new Nissan Murano and Armada. Acura releases an image and name for its new electric crossover coupe. There's disscussion of what engine Scout will use as a range extender. VW plans to bring its Cupra brand to America in partnership with Penske. T...
We're all back from CES in one piece. Nicole finally got to swap out the Buick Enclave and got a Land Rover Defender 110 while Sam discusses the GMC Sierra EV and how good it is to be able to pre-condition the cabin of an EV on cold winter mornings. Robby has a manual transmission BMW Z4 that he's barely driven yet. At CES Sam and Nicole got a briefing from Faraday X and learned very little and have little more confidence than we had 8 years ago when we first saw the FF91. Honda showed us protot...
This week, all 3 members of our crew are in Las Vegas from CES recording from separate hotel rooms with terrible wifi. Nicole finished her stint with the Buick Envoy, Robbie had the Land Rover Defender 130 and Sam had the new Infiniti QX80. In the news Faraday Future is still not dead somehow and it's going to be unveiling new lower cost EVs at CES that we'll see and talk more about next week. Over at TFL, our pal Andre has been re-engining his Soviet era Buhanka van with an LS V8 and chroniclin...
For the final show of 2024, Nicole shares more on her ongoing experience hauling her family around in the new Buick Enclave. Robbie and his wife drove their Hyundai Ioniq 5 to southern California and he tells us about their charging experience. Sam had the new Nissan Kicks and Kia K4 GT-Line. In the news, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi have signed an MOU that may end up with them merging by 2026. Our friends at TFL had some speculation on the upcoming Ram 1500 Ramcharger and Sam offers a rebuttal....
We're catching up on some reviews this week with Nicole starting a 3 week stint in the Buick Enclave and Sam driving the Chevy Equinox EV and Rivian R1S. Last week Sam participated in Operation Frodo, where 20 journalists transported rescue beagles from Nebraska to the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, he drove the Kia Carnival and Genesis GV70. The amazing Jean Jennings passed this week after battling Alzheimers for several years. Friend of the show Tommy Mica leased a Fiat 500e for no monthly ...
