In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. This week, they've been driving the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing, Kia Seltos and Autoblog's long-term WRX (which has a CD player). They discuss the Chrysler Halcyon concept and what it means for a possible 300 successor. Stellantis has adopted Tesla's NACS charging standard, and there are new rumors of an electric successor to the Kia Stinger. Finally, they take to Reddit to pick out a fun crossover in this week's "Spend My Money" segment.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
Transcript[THEME MUSIC]
[ENGINE REVS]
GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to "The Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore. We've got an awesome show for you this week. We're going to talk Cadillac. We're going to talk Kia Seltos. We're going to talk about our long-term Subaru WRX. It's really good in the snow. It did snow this morning. We got some news to talk about including Tesla, and Chrysler's possible 300 successor, and maybe a successor to the Kia Stinger, reborn perhaps as the Kia EV8. We will spend your money. So let's bring in Senior Editor for all things electric and perhaps electric slash pivot back to plug-in hybrid, John Snyder.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Hey, how's it going?
GREG MIGLIORE: Be a really long title.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
[LAUGHS]
We should make that official.
GREG MIGLIORE: We'll have to get all sorts of new business cards. But yeah, a lot going on here in the car business. Yeah, I am definitely-- I'm ready to go. I skipped lunch but I had a Starbucks espresso shot from my in-house espresso maker. So I'm feeling definitely wired, ready to go. And I've pivoted back to some afternoon French roast, also from Starbucks.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I had an apple with some peanut butter and a homemade snicker doodle cookie. And I'm having some tea.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, this sounds like a pretty caffeinated, healthyish podcast, which is the opposite of the Super Bowl, where I ate nonstop dips. We had-- what did we have? I think we had fajitas, which was good. Did you watch any of the car commercials? Any of those look pretty good to you?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I wasn't paying close attention to the Super Bowl this year. We were trying to get the kids to bed.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, it's at a bad time for--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I watched the first half. But I was in and out, cooking, cleaning, baths, that sort of stuff. And I didn't really-- I guess I was kind of rooting for the 49ers. But I didn't really care that much about either the teams. I wish I had stayed up and watched the overtime. But we ended up, once the kids were in bed, catching up on "Masters of the Air," which is--
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, excellent.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, a really good show. I'm loving it.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, and it's by the same person as "Band of Brothers," right?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yep, yep, yep. It's Amblin Entertainment. And yeah, it follows the flying fortresses around World War II. It's really, really suspenseful and good and intense and neat, some good up-and-coming actors too, I feel like.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, no, that's true. Yeah, Apple-- it's Apple TV+ or whatever they call it. We need-- I think we're going to drop Netflix or Peacock and then cycle into one of those. That's usually what we do. We have Hulu, then we drop that. Then you cycle in to the other ones.
And right now, Big Ten basketball is on Peacock for a fair amount of games. So I need to keep that for a little bit, at least until tournament season. So we'll see there. Yeah. We'll see. But let's talk about this Cadillac you've been driving. You have the CT4-V Blackwing, which associate editor, Byron Hurd, has one in his long-term fleet, as in he owns one.
I think it's a really compelling car. I tend to like the 5 just a little bit more because it's-- I just like the fact that it's a little bit more of a larger, almost 5-series competitor. I like that in a sports sedan. I also have always liked the e-class and the 5 series. It is a really interesting car, though. What did you do with it?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: This is my first Blackwing I've driven.
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, wow. OK.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. So I just drove it around a lot, any excuse I could get to take it out and drive it. It was fantastic. Manual transmission was really good, really, really grippy. I had pretty good weather for it. So that was nice. But man, it is just a really well-balanced car between performance and comfort.
I felt like I had plenty of power, never too much that it wanted to take a bite out of me-- and yeah, it just works with you very well. It sort of makes you feel a little heroic, kind of like the-- it reminded me a little bit of the 1 series M coupe in that way, just one of those high-performing cars that's also really easy to manage and easy to drive hard without feeling like you're putting your life or anyone else's at danger, and yeah, generally just very attractive.
This one was in a fire-truck red-- beautiful color. And then this one has the actual Blackwing lettering on the badges, which Byron was a little jealous of. He came by and we swapped cars so he could get some time in this one to compare it to his. But yeah, he was saying the same thing, like, man, I can't wait for you to get in the 5 and see what that's like. So that's a whole other beast. But yeah, very, very fine car. I liked it quite a bit.
GREG MIGLIORE: But I think is interesting about the 4 versus the 5 is they're-- not slightly. They are different animals. With the Blackwing, in the 5, you know you can get as big as that 6.2-liter, hand-built, supercharged V8. What I like about the 4, and not just the Blackwing, is I think it's a good successor to the ATS. It's really almost like a chassis-first car, if you will. To me, it's not about the raw power. It's about the handling.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's another one of those things where it's not too crazy loud or anything. But it does sound really good when you're down shifting through the gears. When you've got a long run off, it just does this really comforting and slightly pulse raising constant burble. It's not snarly and crackly. It's just burble, burble, burble, burble, burble, burble, burble. And it's not too loud or obnoxious. It just sounds really good. It's really fun.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. What did you do with your Blackwing?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I took the kids all over the place in it. Whenever I was going anywhere, the kids wanted to be in it. They both really loved it too, which is really neat. They thought it was really sweet. But I just drove it around some of the back roads. I'm right on the edge of Ann Arbor, just a hop over the city line.
So just drive out toward North Territorial and there's all sorts of neat, little, curvy back roads out there. And yeah, so I just spent a lot of time doing that. And it just plays along really nicely. And then and then when I was shuttling the kids around and whatnot, it was also perfectly good for that-- decent amount of room in the back for the kids.
Lola wasn't kicking the back of my seat too much. And yeah, so I was just out there enjoying it, testing the limits of the grip on launch and that sort of thing. And just yeah, really impressed with it, just really well nailed-down car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I've said this before, not just on the podcast, but in general. I really like the design, the aesthetics, of the CT4 and the CT5. I think it's-- it's still very demonstrative. And it has a deep character. But it also feels very American. It feels very authentic for Cadillac.
And I think it's just a more attractive look than some of the even-more angular Cadillacs from the previous generation. So I really like the looks of what they've done with these two sedans. I think it's-- they're very compelling. I think there's no reason not to buy one of these if you're bench marking it against a Mercedes or a BMW or an Audi.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, and still very familiar as a Cadillac, very unique to Cadillac design style without aping any other cars out there, which I like. And it doesn't overdo anything either. It's classy--
I wouldn't quite say conservative because it does look you muscular and stuff. But it's not out there at all. I would feel just as comfortable pulling up to the opera in this as I would pulling up to a cars and coffee.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think it fits in nicely with-- I've used this example before where I think it's a nice throwback to the early '60s Cadillac designs, sort of that almost like-- you get past the very over-the-top fins of the '50s. But it's before you got those just total land barges of the '70s.
The Eldorado comes to mind. In the early '60s, things like the Coupe de Ville, I think really-- it's a good look for Cadillac. And this is-- stay with me here-- I think it's almost the spiritual successor to that age of Cadillac design, which I think is-- I believe it was-- it was post Harley Earl. You're more into the Bill Mitchell era at that point.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: OK, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So-- so you like the car.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yes.
GREG MIGLIORE: We had a discussion before about trying to get an American luxury car-- you were on the podcast for this-- for a friend of Autoblog, who was looking to get a sedan. And we're like, well, CT5 is about it. And then we came up with a Volvo, I think S90, which is Scandinavian. You mentioned the Teslas. I threw out the CT5 and the Lincoln Continental, which I thought spoke to a larger challenge of, Where is American luxury right now?
And since we're talking Caddies, I don't know. I think Cadillac's in the transition period. I saw an electric Escalade on the road last weekend. And I was struck by how-- it must have been a prototype-- how different it looked than the gasoline-powered one. I thought it looked pretty good. And then you've got the Celestiq, which is just enormous. But it's so striking. And I really think that's such a good play for them, to go so aggressively with such a halo car.
But the LYRIQ has been a slow roll. We're just finally seeing them getting out, into personal fleets. So-- what do you think about Cadillac, as opposed to, say, the Germans, Lincoln? I don't know. What do you think?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: They definitely seem to really have their own American identity. They don't-- they're not trying to copy the Germans, not trying to go head to head with them. They're trying to just create their own identity. And it definitely works here, like you were saying, American luxury-- American luxury, American performance, this is something I'd point to. A lot of the Cadillac vehicles, even the LYRIQ, is really, really fun to drive.
GREG MIGLIORE: It is. It really is. It's a great interior, I think.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Oh, my god, the interior is beautiful. The design, the attention to detail in it, it's pretty amazing. But yeah, I think they're maybe in a bit of a transition period, of course, as they're making more EVs.
But what they're doing on both sides of that transition, the internal combustion and the EV, I think they're both getting them both right, apart from maybe some of the electrical and software problems that they're having with the LYRIQ, then means the same thing with GM that we're seeing with a Blazer EV and whatnot. I think, that was dogging the LYRIQ's launch from the get go.
So if they can get those gremlins figured out, I think very compelling, as an answer to something that is aspirational without being too far out of reach and without being obnoxious-- pretty much all their vehicles, the Celestiq being the outlier there, but just because it's multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars and very eye-catching design.
But yeah, for the rest of their stable, I think yeah, very much capturing that sort of zeitgeist and pleased with how they're straddling both sides of that fence.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think there's some new daylight for them, as well. As CEO Mary Barra of GM mentioned, that they're going to make more hybrids, and ostensibly plug-in hybrids too. So I think there's a number of vehicles that could be retrofitted with a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid power train. And you could get some more mileage out of that. And frankly, the CT4 and 5, I, think would be ripe for that if they were to go down that road.
Riswick, our West Coast and features guy, wrote a column about GM's fits and starts with EVs over the years. And one of the things he mentioned was going back to the ELR, which was the Cadillac Volt. So I think Cadillac could do a good-- they could cherry pick some of these hybrid tech, off the parts bin, out of the store room here, see what might be lurking in the store room at Warren or something, and augment their lineup. And it could add some sales. And I think it could be good for enthusiasts of all stripes.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I agree. Yeah, the more options they put out there, the better. There's still lots of people that don't want anything to do with the battery. And then there's lots of people that do want a battery. And some people just can't make the EV thing work for their lifestyle yet.
And plug-in hybrids bridge that gap, get more electric miles on the road, and bring down the cost of ownership and provide a more compelling and dynamic and also smoother and comfortable ride, if they do it right, blending the internal combustion and the electric power seamlessly, which I think GM can pull that off.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think it's definitely an opportunity for them. And yeah, don't forget the VISTIQ is out there, as well.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
I'm looking around and seeing some spy shots for that. Different blogs are out there, covering it. Yeah, so--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it will be interesting too.
[LAUGHS]
GREG MIGLIORE: It will be. Yeah. Actually, I like their naming scheme, like LYRIQ, VISTIQ, I think it's Celestiq. They sound, again, like 1920s cruise ships. But hey, I think it sounds good. Everything doesn't have to have a letter and a number. So I think this is kind of cool. Go for it, right?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And yeah, the IQ at the end, but it being part of an actual word, is a lot better than EQ, number, letter, number, that sort of thing. It makes them a little more memorable but also cohesive with IQ. And when you buy a vehicle that IQ is the common denominator, it makes you feel smart.
GREG MIGLIORE: That is a great way to put it. That's a really good way to put it. All right, well tell me about this Kia Seltos you've been in. How did that go?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It's good. I've had it-- I got it on Monday. And I've been driving around. The one I'm in is the SX Turbo all wheel drive. And the sticker on this one is $33,000. It feels like a really great car for that price. You get a lot of content, a lot of comfort.
The '24, it feels-- definitely powerful. It definitely doesn't feel slow at all. And the conventional automatic transmission is great-- like a lot of Kias, packed with content from even the lower trims. So this one has a lot of that stuff baked in, a nice audio system, really good driver-assist tech. And yeah, it's quite comfortable.
It's funny. I just got out of the Genesis GV70, the electrified GV70. And that always-- that looks and feels and drives bigger to me than the Seltos. The Seltos actually has more room in the second row, which my kids are enjoying, and I'm enjoying being able to sit in whatever comfortable seating position I want, without having to move the seat for them, to make sure their legs aren't squished.
But yeah, it's a really compelling vehicle in that small, SUV space, a really good value. Also, if you're buying it, you get that great five-year warranty, which is always something that you don't necessarily think about when you're deciding on the cars you like.
But when you go down to buy it, that's something that makes-- can help make the decision. And yeah, I'm really quite enjoying it. Our video producer, Amr, has one.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's true.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And driving the S7, thinking about him, and been raving about-- he loves his. And I've been driving this. I'm like, yeah, OK. I'm happy for Amr. This is a great car. It's pretty compact. But still, like I said, there's a decent amount of room for passengers.
Cargo space is a little limited. I've been having to-- when we pack up for karate, I have to stick the bow staffs over the headrests, that sort of thing. And it'll just be me and Wally going skiing this weekend, so I can put down one side of the seats. I'll be curious to see how well the skis fit even then because that cargo area is kind of smallish.
It's not-- it's not too terribly small. I'm thinking about in terms of putting longer things in it compared to the GV70, that sacrificed second-row space for-- had really good cargo space. This gives a little bit more of that room to the passengers. But I think for most use cases, luggage, groceries, things like that, normal things that you put in your car on a day-to-day basis, yeah, the cargo area is actually pretty well shaped and decently sized.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I liked it when I drove it. I think it really exemplifies the things Kia does well. You get a lot of value, interesting design on the outside, very solid interior, and it affects the feeling of-- just a good value. You get a little more bang for your buck, if you will.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, for sure. This, $33,000, I've got ventilated front seats, the power liftgate, the power sunroof, digital key, if I cared to set that up, which if I-- next car I own, I'd really like to be able to use my [INAUDIBLE] as a key. I use the app for our Palisade all the time to lock and unlock it when Kat's like, you got to run out to the car and get Lola's diaper bag or whatever.
And I never remember to grab the keys from her. So I walk out and I tap a button on my phone and I'm in the car. Yeah. If I could do that and drive it too, that'd be great. Yeah, so things like that, lots of nice leather, the Syntex seating is really convincing, really comfortable.
But then you get the leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob and things like that. Yeah, and just the regular Highway Driving Assist-- suite of driving-assist technology is really good. This isn't the Highway Driving Assist 2 yet, which is even more advanced. But Highway Driving Assist 1 is excellent. So yeah, really good bang for your buck with this.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a good name too. I think speaking of names, I think Seltos-- I don't know why it reminds me of Alka-Seltzer, just the name, but like a seltzer water. I don't know.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, I remember, like a combination of seltzer and Mentos or something.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes. Well, that would be an interesting drink now, wouldn't it?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: If it doesn't fizz up like Mentos and Coke--
GREG MIGLIORE: Maybe drop some-- I don't know, some gin in there. Could give it a different vibe-- or tequila. Probably not tequila. All right, let's talk about this [INAUDIBLE].
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Mint and tequila can go together.
GREG MIGLIORE: Mint and tequila-- l didn't think of that. I was joking. But I-- clearly wrong. That could work. I tend to think gin and then maybe a garnish of some lime could be good-- winter cooler, nice transition as you get into the little bit longer days of spring. Yeah. All right, so we talked about the REx--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --our long termer?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yes. The more we talk about this throughout the workday, as everyone's chiming in about it, the more I just can't wait to drive this-- our long termer, this generation. Gosh, it's the first one that has me excited since the '04 that I owned.
GREG MIGLIORE: You had the bug-eyed ones, right?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I had the blob-eye. They made the blob-eye-- They made the blob-eye for two years, gave it a little face lift with the blob-eye for two years, and then changed it some more with the '06.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, OK.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: '05, they changed it. Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, that would be-- I think that car-- you have the Volkswagen Beetle though. But if you're looking to just have like a fun thing in the garage--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Oh, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --that would be a fun one to still have around. But-- wouldn't take up too much space either. So what I'm going to talk about this week is a little-- I don't know-- a little trite. But it's a CD player. I post one up on Friday. Check it out. This is your first review of a CD player in a car since 2011. I don't know.
It was a $375 option. So we went ahead and checked that box. And I had a blast with it during my three-plus weeks in the car. I put all my old CDs in my Case Logic CD sleeve. And I just rolled around with them. And the CD player's right in the center console.
So I actually liked it better than having it installed in the dash like you might remember different aftermarket ones would get done. So that was pretty cool. And I'm just listening to the Counting Crows, all those old albums from the '90s and early 2000s.
It's really a great pleasure to listen to an album all the way through. And I don't really do that anymore. But in a car, you can. You can do it anywhere, of course. But you just don't. And I don't know, for $375, I think I would check that box on this car. I think it'd probably be worth it. It's a little bit of a splurge.
But it adds something. I also wonder if the novelty would wear off, and I would just be driving around with a bunch of CDs, listening to satellite radio and sports, and NPR, maybe. But I don't know. It was fun. I really enjoyed it.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I keep thinking I'm done with CDs. But I still have some laying around, a lot of them from high school. And when I do have the occasional car with a CD player in it, every once in a while, I'll bust some of those out and play them in the car, and listen to albums that I forgot I loved for 20 years or whatever.
I don't think I would-- I don't think I would check that options box. But it is fun to go back and listen to those things I otherwise wouldn't. And then once I've listened to them on CD, I just download them on my phone--
[LAUGHS]
--just start streaming those albums. But it is a way to rediscover some old favorites.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, no, part of me feels like it's probably the nostalgia thing. But hey, it's-- it works, especially in this car too because it's a manual transmission. It's the Subaru WRX, which in itself, makes history come alive, I think. Half of the car is the legend, if you will.
And then also, you've got to-- it's just an old-school thing to drive. It's a sports sedan that's stiff as all hell. And again, it's a manual. The engine's a little coarse. It's loudish. I've definitely driven louder things. But it's a loudish. And this, to me, just adds to the vibe. It's a nice soundtrack for it.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. [LAUGHS]
GREG MIGLIORE: A big thing I'm going to want to hear from you is if you think this is a worthy successor when you get into it. I kind of thought you might be up next. I guess it's-- where did it go? It went from Zac to me to-- I think it's a Joel's house. I think news editor, Joel Stocksdale has it. So he cut in front of the line, I guess.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, well, it's going to be a little bit because I'm getting our soon-to-be long termer, the CX-90. So that's coming to me--
GREG MIGLIORE: It'd be a good one.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --within the next week. So I'll be checking that out for a while before I-- doing all the family-type reviews in that before I start doing the historical comparison in the WRX. But I can't wait, man. I can't wait. It would've been nice to get it with some snow because jeez Louise, that's the thing I miss the most about my WRX, was just, driving it in the snow was the most fun thing in the world.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a tank. It really is. The Blizzaks, just total champions. I had it for probably the time we had the most snow this year, which was late January, early February. So it was really good in that. And it also made me think, if I were to look at this as a daily driver-- now I would probably never get a REx as a daily driver just for my station in life and the different things I need to do. And there's certain press cars you get in and you're like, yeah, it's awesome. But I couldn't make this a daily driver for-- here's the reason.
But driving this thing in the winter-- which you knew it would be just an absolute trucker-- but also, actually doing it made me think, oh, yeah, I could do this. I really could because daily driving in the snow with a manual-transmission car that's low to the ground-- I discovered how harsh it could be.
And I was like, yeah, but it's still not that bad. And I think it's worth that trade off for, what, the three weeks that we get snow in winter now. And then you get this awesome sports sedan in the summer. But I do think the Blizzaks help, obviously.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. Oh man. Just sounds like fun.
GREG MIGLIORE: And the orange color is awesome too. I really like that. I'm glad we got that. The blue, which I think is-- honestly, it's probably a nicer look, maybe get those sparkle gold wheels which don't fit on this one. But it's a great aesthetic too, very Subaru-Rally inspired.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I feel like everyone's going to have the blue though.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I like the orange a lot. It's really-- it's another Subaru vibe. So check out that story. Let me know if you are driving around with your CDs and like a newer car, how that's still working out for you. I'm curious. It was a little bit of a trip back in time for my final week here, in the WRX. Palmer took it on Monday. And we'll see if I get another month or two in it before it goes back at the end of-- I've spent two months in it-- tend to go.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: All right.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, so let's talk some news. Chrysler has a EV concept. This is the successor to the Airflow. This is the-- they call it the Halcyon. You think I'm saying that right? Is it pronounced like the word? Or I don't know if they have a special bespoke pronunciation. How do you think they say this?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Halcyon.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK, so we'll go with that. We'll say the word as it's pronounced. With car companies, it's never a given, especially with concepts. You remember the Chiron, for a long time, people thought it was pronounced the "Kyron"-- from Bugatti? And I don't know where that came from. But I feel like half the car journalism mispronounced it for like a year until somebody else said it's that. And I still don't really know what it is.
So for me, I think this is interesting that they're continuing the conversation on this front. Chrysler knows how to make great designs. If anything, I think their merger with you know Peugeot, PSA, Citroen, to create this Stellantis, monster of a company, has helped the design department. I think it looks really good. So I don't know. For me, it's just, they got to do another 300. And this allows us to think that they're going to.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. It would replace-- if they did make an electric sedan-- it would be a good replacement for the 300. I don't think anyone's going to mistake this design. This is definitely not inspired by that, in terms of design at all, but in terms of where it fits in the lineup-- which would be the other thing in the lineup-- then yeah, it fits.
I do like the design. It's not-- doesn't look typically Chrysler to me. But you it does go along with some of the concepts they've been showing us. So yeah, I like it. I don't know that-- I don't know. It does look kind of exotic. So I think that might have its draw to it. But people just-- I don't see people looking at this and going, that's a Chrysler.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. Well, let's segue. We'll bounce through some news here. Tesla won the charging wars.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: You think so? I don't know. Or is it just an armistice? I don't know.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I don't think it's--
GREG MIGLIORE: Peace for 20 years? Hard to say.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It's like, if you can't beat them, join them. They have the better charging standard. It's more approachable. It's easier to use. It's had more testing, real-world testing. And yeah, I think it's definitely a good thing, especially for people who are maybe intimidated by those big, clunky CCS plugs and those thick-gauge cables that are so easy to trip over and hard to maneuver around your car when you're trying to plug it in.
The Teslas are a dream compared to those, to use. So it makes it feel a little bit more like plugging in an appliance than having to plug in some giant machine. And yeah, there's already infrastructure all over the country with which it's compatible.
And if Tesla continues to build more, and now every automaker that is adopting this is committing to building more chargers with the standard, I think that's great. Yeah, having one standard across the US and having it be the superior standard is wonderful.
The only drawback is for-- Europe is sticking with CCS, as far as I can tell. So it just makes it a little more complicated if you're building cars and exporting them for various markets. Yeah, it would be nice to see a global charging standard.
And I feel like that would have been CCS, just because so many other parts of the world use it. But I'm glad that the US is using this because it's better. It's just better. And I would rather use that. I would rather have the [INAUDIBLE] standard on my EV when I buy it.
It might-- I hope it doesn't you deter people from adopting EVs now. But I could see it doing that, people not wanting to buy something that just has a CCS plug, that you're going to have to buy an adapter for in a couple of years. Same thing with the way CHAdeMO was a couple of years ago. Now at least there's an adapter for that to CCS.
But yeah, I feel like I would consider wait-- holding off on my purchase for a couple of years until it's actually you more mainstream production, and all the different automakers that have committed to using it. Or I would go out and buy a Tesla instead, which there's other cars I would rather have. But I want to have the right charging standard.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, you got to give Tesla a lot of credit because they really looked at the-- they looked at the electric car as a whole situation.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, the ecosystem.
GREG MIGLIORE: And they thought far ahead. Yeah, no, other companies should have thought that way.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, they were thinking more about the product rather than necessarily the whole life-- living with the product. So that's one-- that's a huge advantage for Tesla, that they've had all along, is they just built a ton of infrastructure right away. And it actually works. So huge advantage for Tesla.
GREG MIGLIORE: No, I think it'll be a revenue provider for years to come for them, as well as-- the deals they've struck with Ford was the first one-- and the way they shaped their business model. And they were there first. And they were-- they had the foresight to see where this was going to go. It seemed like the other automakers just assumed it would be like, you build a car and you don't worry about the gas station.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, exactly.
GREG MIGLIORE: And when you're trying to change consumers, it doesn't really work that way. So-- cool. Well, speaking of EVs, the Kia EV8, this could be the long-awaited successor to the Kia Stinger, which we really liked. We had a long-term one, I think it was a GT. We had a lot of fun with that.
That was a beast of a car. I can't believe they did that. It really was a shooting star, lasted for a few years. I remember the concept car they showed at the Detroit Auto Show. We did videos on it. And again, it was Halley's comet. It was in and out and it's gone. But now, makes all the sense in the world to bring back it as an electric, guys.
This is a little speculative. We're seeing stuff from Korean car blog, which we translated. So it's a little bit of a-- you definitely-- this isn't for sure, 100% happening. But report's out there. And you know you mentioned-- we talked about the Seltos earlier. And I think Kia has done a really good job of getting into all sorts of segments, creating value, and creating identity.
And I think the Stinger, at its best, did that. So I think if they were to come back with something electric, it could work. And the EVA would be a great name. I don't quite I get-- is it going to be a sedan? Because what are they going to do, make a really big sedan put it on top of the EV6 and some of the other stuff we're seeing? So I have questions on that front. But generally, I think they should do this. It would be a nice brand halo for them if they do it as described.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. I would-- thinking about the Stinger, it did have that longer wheelbase. It was a little longer than the Genesis G70, at least, and plenty of room. You could get a good skateboard chassis under that. And yeah, I think it would be a good candidate for electric power.
The I4 that they offer was a little harsh. But the twin-turbo V6 was really nice and smooth. I feel like that translates pretty well to the electric field, just good power across the rev range in our long termer. And then if you want something a little-- an entry-level version with less power, I would rather have a very smooth electric motor than the 2.5T that they offered.
And yeah, if they can keep it low enough to the ground and still make it comfortable-- you have to fit a battery pack under where people are going to sit, which could make a little more sense in a GT sedan like this, where you might want to be in a little bit more of a race-car position than an upright position, that you would in a cross over.
But like in the EV9 and some other-- Kia Niro, things like that, you're sort of-- your legs are-- your knees are pretty high up, just because you're sitting on top of that battery pack and they don't have a lot of room to go lower with the floor.
So if they can manage to make that comfortable-- and with an EV, you can-- I suppose you could use that space, where there would be an internal-combustion engine in the front, move the front seats forward, take advantage of that room, and give more leg room to the rear passengers and have them all just in that little bit more sporty, reclined, pilot position. And it would work quite well.
But yeah, would love to see an electric Kia GT sedan. I loved the Stinger so much. My brother-in-law just bought one a couple months ago.
GREG MIGLIORE: Really?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Which one did he get?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: He got the GT1 with the V6. And it's gray. But it's not a metallic gray. It's a flat gray.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I can picture that. It's a good look.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Not a matte, but just that flat color. But yeah, it looks great. And he loves it. He had a Ford Taurus SHO that was starting to finally fall apart. And before that, he had an Acura RSX. So I like his style. I like his lineage of vehicles.
[LAUGHS]
I think the Stinger's a great one for him. They've got-- my older nephew has now graduated high school. But they still have another boy who they have to tote around, who's getting quite big. He's, I think, 11 years old now, in fifth grade, and getting huge. So he's got to fit in back.
GREG MIGLIORE: A little bit of a non sequitur here. We were talking about the show last week because it was a pretty prominent reveal at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show. And just-- the SHO was top of mind. And one sold, the 1990-- let's see-- it sold for about $4,000. $4,001, which-- it's a pretty beat-up car, to be honest.
I think it's just a tired, 34-year-old car in gray. But this was on Hagerty. And yeah, I don't know. If he decides he wants to get one back, this had the 3-liter V6 with the manual. So you really-- this was an interesting car. Hagerty says it did 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds, which is really quick for the '90s.
And this had the Yamaha 3-liter, dual-overhead cam. Oh, my gosh. The actual mileage, though, is listed at 152,680. Holy cow. That would be a lot on that power train, in that-- just chassis and everything about it.
So I don't know. You said the word Taurus SHO so got in my head. I like how your brother-in-law thinks though. Those wouldn't be exactly the cars I would get. But I could see myself doing it. I would be more like, '96 Chevy Impala or something. I could go down that road, but just end up in a few different spots. Same idea, though.
All right, should we spend some money? Let's see. This comes from Reddit's r/cars thread. If you would like to get into the mailbag or spend some money, that's podcast@autoblog.com.
This writer comes to us from the mid-Atlantic region near DC. "Looking for about a thousand-dollar a month lease payment, looking for a new vehicle, a luxury crossover. The must haves are a comfortable ride that handles more like a car than an SUV, excellent sound system, good driver assistance technologies to make long drives easy, and just some basic luxury features like heated seats, the steering, and remote start."
So I assume he wants the car to have steering. I don't quite know what that means. Automatic transmission, daily driver, looked at the Macan, the RX550 BMW iX, X4, Audi Q5, GLC 330, F-Pace, Genesis GV70, Mach-E Cadillac LYRIQ, currently drives a Hyundai Sonata, open to an EV as long as the range is around 300 miles, which does narrow the field a bit. There's a lot to unpack with here.
Yeah, at first blush-- and I'd have to double check-- I think the Macan is a nice play here. You'll enjoy it. It's a Porsche. You're going to pay for it. But whenever I drive the Macan or Cayenne, I come away feeling like Porsche does probably the best job of making their crossovers feel like they're sports cars. So lots of good stuff on this list. But a Porsche Macan lease, if you can find one, I think, could be a lot of fun.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, the Macan was my first thought too. You don't get quite the things like the-- the driver-assistance tech and like some of those basic luxury features are not standard in Porsche. And you're going to have to option for those, which you can probably do and still hopefully meet your lease budget. But yeah, if you're looking for a good-handling car, that's the one.
And also, I believe you can get the Burmester sound system in that, which is excellent. I think the standard is Bose, maybe. No.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds right.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: No, Bose is the second one up. There's three different ones. So that would be a great one. I was considering picking the Mercedes but I'm not sure if the Burmester-- I think the Burmester system's available in the GLC. But I'm not sure. But I think-- yeah, for one that drives well, that's the one.
I would also potentially consider the BMW iX.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes, that's a good car, good crossover.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: You can get good range in that. Some of the tech is a little frustrating to use. But it's excellent to drive. And yeah, you can get, I think, up to 324 miles of range and that.
Other ones I thought of from this list, the GV70-- but again, that drives a little bit more like an actual SUV than a car-- and then the LYRIQ-- it straddles the line, maybe a little bit leaning more towards SUV in terms of the way it drives, but definitely going to feel really good sitting in it. It feels very luxurious. And hopefully you don't get any of those electronic gremlins.
But it depends on what what's more important to you. If the driver assist system is more important to you, then yeah, the BMW or Genesis would be good. If the driving like a car is more important to you, BMW or Porsche Macan.
GREG MIGLIORE: Couple other ones that I-- I kind of like the GV80 , which according to TrueCar, you can lease for $766. And if you want all of the stuff on the buffet here, Genesis is usually there for you. They have-- much like Kia and Hyundai, they're good values. You get a lot of stuff. So you could definitely load those up and probably get a little bit of a better deal.
And then when it came to electrics, the Mach-E, I think, would be a lot of fun. And since you're already looking at a luxury crossover, you're probably willing to pay more, which means you could get a pretty nice Mach E. So that's tempting.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, you can get it with the BlueCruise too, which is--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --surprisingly good to use, which would be quite nice. And you can get Super Cruise in the LYRIQ too.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes, yeah. They added that for--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Mach-e, you might have a little more budget for upgrading to the options you want too.
GREG MIGLIORE: I generally liked-- whenever I've driven Super Cruise, I've liked it. I haven't spent as much time in BlueCruise. So that is irrespective of nothing. I personally haven't driven it. But I liked Super Cruise when I drove it. I drove it in, I think, an Escalade, for Cadillac specifically.
And I really like the LYRIQ too. I tend to think-- we could go down this rabbit hole for hours. But mach-e versus LYRIQ, as far as domestic EVs, they happen to be on the list here of cross-shopping. That would be a really tough call for me.
I think-- I don't know. I feel like just this morning, I'm leaning Cadillac. But I don't know totally why. If a mach-e was in my driveway, I'd be thrilled and excited to drive it. But I don't know. I felt the LYRIQ just had a little extra mojo to it. It felt a little more like-- more like an expensive Cadillac EV, whereas the mach-e felt like a really nice Ford electric vehicle, is a crossover that also happened to be called a Mustang. So--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, the LYRIQ definitely feels more expensive than it is, by kind of a lot.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: But yeah, mach-e, I think, is-- that's just really, really fun. It's really fun to drive, especially for 0-to-60 rips and that sort of thing. It maybe doesn't have-- it handles more like a muscle car than other sports cars. But if that's what you're into, then yeah. It's a little soft, a little floaty, does weird things in the corners. But it's fun.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, well, that's the whole point too.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Cool.
GREG MIGLIORE: Any winter-- as we even segue into spring-- drink recommendations?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Let's see. What have I had lately? Oh, what did I have recently? I haven't been drinking much lately. But IO had something ordered something the other day that was something I hadn't had in a long time. Oh, Pacifico.
[LAUGHS]
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I'm sorry, not Pacifico, it was Sol, like Pacifico, competitor, Sol Mexican beer with a lime in it.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a nice one.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Really got me in the mood for vacation.
[LAUGHS]
GREG MIGLIORE: That's not spring. That's summer, right there. That's beach beer.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It was-- we went to a Mexican restaurant and I was like, oh, I haven't had that forever. I don't see Sol around very much. I remember seeing it the one time I was in Mexico. And so yeah, I ordered it. And I was like, oh, man, this is good. It's nothing crazy special. But when was the last time you had just a Mexican beer with a lime in it, from the bottle?
GREG MIGLIORE: That's true. That's a really good way to put it.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It sort of felt like July in the winter, a little bit, which lifted my spirits quite a bit.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think that's the whole point of having a drink like that, is it can be very situational.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: I like it. I like it. Now I kind of want to try that, actually.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I feel a little too bogged down in winter to bog myself down with heavy beers right now.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a good way to look at it. That's a good way to look at it. Let's see, I played golf last week when it was 63 degrees. And I then had got a sixer of Heineken Zero, which is the non-alcoholic one, just work that in every now and then throw a change up. And that was light and good.
Then I have the opposite of that, Guinness, downstairs in the fridge, which-- it's February 15. I'm already trying to position towards spring. But it's not. It's snowing. So the Guinness, I think, will serve me for another good six weeks, get through Saint Patrick's Day, and at that point, yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Guinness is good any time of year, man.
GREG MIGLIORE: It is.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: When you want something heavy, you know you can trick yourself into thinking it's heavy. When you want something light and drinkable, it's surprisingly drinkable. It's smooth, not too thick and full bodied. It's just a good all arounder
GREG MIGLIORE: No it's-- in fact, I think-- I don't think I'm going to have to shovel tonight because the sun seems to be doing a pretty good job and we didn't end up getting that much. But I may have to reward myself, even if I just scrape the driveway, with a Guinness because you said it perfectly. It looks like this big, heavy, dark beer. But it's one of the most drinkable beers out there, with a nice, foamy head. And there's an ad-- they were doing ads, I think, during the height of like COVID and lockdown. And the tagline was, until we meet again, because nobody was really going to bars.
And Joe Montana, the old 49ers quarterback, the Notre Dame quarterback, was doing that line. He called it-- I think he characterized it as velvety and light on its feet. And then the other guy at the bar goes, yeah, just like you. And then some other guy goes, who was that guy? Because you know Joe Montana is like 65 at this point. But--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, I feel like that dry-style Irish stout--
[THEME MUSIC]
--there's never a bad time for it, but not a bad time of year for it.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's never a bad time for "The Autoblog Podcast." And if you enjoy the show, please give us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get the show. Be safe out there. And we'll see you next week.
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