In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. In the news, F1 snubs Michael Andretti, Jeep shows off the electric Wagoneer S, Mazda reveals the updated 2024 Miata, Mary Barra talks about future plug-in hybrids, and Rivian is set to reveal a new global product. In reviews this week, we've been driving the new Kia EV9, the Genesis Electrified GV70 and our long-term WRX. We also get a Spend My Money update, and help someone pick a replacement for a Cadillac CTS.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to the "Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore. We've got an awesome show for you this week. Breaking news as of today, Formula One has rejected the US entry that is involving Andretti and General Motors. We have some opinions about that. Let's put it that way. And they are not mild.
There is an electric Jeep Wagoneer. It looks pretty good, looks pretty sleek. We'll talk about that. Some updates to the Miata. General Motors is going back to hybrids. This is interesting. And there's a new Rivian coming up next month.
We'll talk about what we've been driving, which includes an update of our long-term WRX-- it's a lot of fun. I've been driving that through the snow-- the electrified Genesis GV70, and the Kia EV9. We also will spend your money. And we have an update from an old friend who writes in with an update.
So let's get ready to do it. Senior editor for all things electric, John Snyder, joins me today. How are you doing, man?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I'm doing quite well. You know, we just got dumped on with snow, which has made driving fun. So yeah, I'm doing great.
GREG MIGLIORE: It is snowy. It is close to 40 degrees, though. She took the--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yes, it's melted--
GREG MIGLIORE: --dog through a walk--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --quickly.
GREG MIGLIORE: --in the woods. And it was melty, as you say. Yeah, cool.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Do-- I do like-- you know, when-- you know, when it starts to get slushy. And if you've still got-- like, my road still has sort of a layer of compacted snow, almost ice underneath that slush. So you can really get the tail out and get some slush spraying up on the windows. It's fun.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a lot of fun. And we'll talk about that, about how I'm doing it in the WRX. Don't let me forget. It's-- with the WRX, there's like three different ways you can approach the snow like the actual snow, the slush, and then just the ice. And that's pretty good at all of them, so.
All right. So we're recording this on Wednesday about noon-ish, this afternoon. And this morning, Formula One has rejected Michael Andretti's bid to join the grid. They were looking to get in there in 2025 or 2026. And they basically have said, come talk to us again three years, four years from now down the road. That's 2028 when GM, which supported the team, has an engine built.
Now they came out pretty-- at a very strongly worded statement, I would say. Formula One said that they think the entrance would not be competitive. They don't think the applicant would be a competitive participant. So they basically repeated themselves. And they think it would be-- here is a-- this is wow, "damaging to the prestige and standing of the championship."
Now, OK, yeah. So I think that's-- you know, with this dropped, the stories on "Autoblog," we have an opinion piece coming later today. So by the time the podcast drops, which usually is on Friday, all this stuff will be out there.
But I really think this is arrogant and shortsighted by Formula One. I think-- would the Andretti team have probably been competitive in its first year? Of course not. Expansion teams at any sport usually aren't.
And I think, frankly, the better move would have been to get out of the grid, you know, after that new car launches in '26. Like, I don't really know if being on there in '25 would have been the best move. But I don't think it would have been this injustice, this indignant outrage the way the FIA, the Formula One has sort of responded.
Now, look, everybody, life is hard. You know, you get strong takes. You know, maybe some of this was boilerplate language. But I mean, what are they thinking? Big picture? It's just that it really seemed like a missed opportunity.
You want to expand the richest market? But what are the largest TV markets? You know, you don't think GM might have done something like-- I don't know-- buy a Super Bowl ad? It just seems very short sighted and petty, almost. You know, it almost seemed anti-American the way they responded, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Well, yeah. I mean, with, you know, more races and more hype in America around F1, it would make sense to bring in some more American identity and let them compete. Just let them show what they can do.
And like you said, yeah, they might suck. If they suck, they suck. But I mean, it's going to draw more interest to the program and draw more fans. And it could make for interesting racing. I don't know. Just-- I don't like the way FIA comes off in this. I mean, it's sort of on brand for them. But-- and maybe it's just me from my American standpoint. But still, I just think it would be good for the sport.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. No, I agree. And I mean, it's-- I'm not saying, hey, give us a team because you want TV ratings. Like, I get that. But I do think this was an opportunity for the sport to grow globally and, obviously, a very, you know, great opportunity here in this market.
And they're also totally assuming that the Andretti team was going to get out there and suck. Like, to me, they're getting way ahead of it. You know--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --sports and F1 in particular is littered with all sorts of different stat-ups that have done well, so. I mean, they do lay that out in their case. They're like, well, historically, new manufacturers don't do well at first. Fare, but not always, you know? Again, it just-- it seemed very short sighted, parochial, petty. I don't know.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. That's a good word for it.
GREG MIGLIORE: So this would have taken F1 to-- from 10 teams to 11. You know, they did pass sort of an initial, like, technical check earlier. This always did seem, frankly, a little shaky. That was just my read off right even when they announced it.
But it seemed like things were progressing. So the fact that they-- you know, Formula 1, the FIA has come out so strongly today, to me, I think it's-- it is a slap in the face. And it's-- I-- also, I think it's frustrating, you know?
I mean, I'm not saying I would have rooted for Andretti, you know? But it's just-- it's a common sense thing if you're trying to grow your sport and grow the branding. And I think they're jumping, leaping, hurtling to conclusions--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --to make their argument, which it sounds like they said this wasn't involving the other teams. Yeah, right. Get real. Like, that's worth the paper this thing is printed on. So, you know?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Well, it just-- you know, if 2028 comes around and Andretti does join then with, you know, GM powertrain, it makes me more likely to root for them And hope to, like, you know, dominate and put them in their place just to-- yeah, this is a slap back on this. But I don't know.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. No, I-- I'm with you there. Like, I-- there's a lot of drivers I like. You know, I'm half Italian. So I like Ferrari, you know? Kind of like the Alfa Romeo a little bit. But you want to talk about a team that struggled for, you know, quite a while.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Oh, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: It just really seemed like they got selective here about, like, assuming things weren't going to go well, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I mean, we'll see. Kind of a frustrating day. Twitter is just-- Twitter/X is just broken right now if you're on it looking at, you know, the outrage from different parts of the racing community. You know, I mean, they have every right to not let whoever they want into their club, if you will.
It reminds me a little bit of-- I'm a pretty big football fan. And there's, like, conference expansion. And there's all these, like, teams you-- schools you would not think of are now in, like, other conferences. Like, the University of Washington is going to play in the Big Ten--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, and--
GREG MIGLIORE: --which kind of makes my head explode, right?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And Oregon, which I'm excited about. Both those teams, like--
GREG MIGLIORE: Me, too.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I was watching them and--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --actually really like both those teams. So it'll be fun to see it. But yeah, I see what you're referring to there. But I think it's a good thing, you know?
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. yeah. Well, for what I'm also saying here too is I think Washington and Oregon and UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten is a great thing. I think it's really good for the conference as a Big Ten grad, you know? And I think that's sort of what could have happened here with, you know, Formula One, you know?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: But so it goes. All right, so head over to "Autoblog." By the time, again, you're listening to this, we'll have some opinions up there. Road Test Zac Palmer has thoughts. Go check those out over the weekend.
All right, so let's transition over to some sheet metal, the electric Wagoneer just sort of parachuted out of the sky earlier this week. Looks pretty good. A little different than I thought it would look. It's pretty sleek. It honestly looks a little bit like a Chevy Blazer or even a Lexus.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Different than I thought it would.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Definitely does have that Blazer vibe. It looks more Grand Cherokee than Wagoneer, which is good.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I think this looks a lot better. Yeah, I think it actually looks really good. It does have that sort of those Blazer muscles, you know, those bulging fenders and whatnot. And I really like that. What you can see of the face, that front lighting looks really slick.
But it still looks-- you know, the grill looks like maybe a little bit small for a Jeep maybe, a little bit understated. But, you know, I'll wait until I see it in the flesh. But I think, you know, from the profile and these interior shots, it looks really nice. I'm really pleased with how this looks.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, the interior, I think, is-- could be something very impressive. Jeep has done a pretty good job with their interiors in recent years. So in some ways, they've been more consistent than the exteriors, where we've been-- you know, they've been-- had more polarizing design, I think, in the last probably decade or so than perhaps Jeeps used to be, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: This one's aggressive. I could see a lot of people perhaps not liking it. It's a little tough. I know we say this all the time because of the press photos. But it's like a dark--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --Jeep they showed. So cliché. But I think I kind of need to see it in real life first, but.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It's definitely a little more street looking than sort of of the off-road vibe that a lot of the other Jeeps give off regardless--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --of how off roady they are.
GREG MIGLIORE: It looks fast. So--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: As opposed to, like, off-road capable. But perhaps it'll be both. 600 horsepower.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it'll be fun. That's for sure.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. No, this is going to be cool as the-- I always have liked Jeep massagers. They're always quite good. So yeah, we'll see.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And, you know, I like the McIntosh audio system [INAUDIBLE]. You can sort of see that on display. They've got the, well, equalizer needle display sort of things going on in there. You can see it from sort of a distance.
So yeah, it'll be-- it's sticking with the sort of more upscale Jeep has gone, especially with like the Wagoneer name in terms of interiors. So it'll continue with that route too. But yeah, definitely looks like a hoot.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, let's talk Miata. The MX5 gets a lot of updates. It's interesting because I can see both of these-- especially the Miata being shown at the Chicago Auto Show, which apparently they won't be as auto shows have continued to decline.
I was at auto show party celebrating the Miata's reveal. I forget what anniversary it was. But it was 10, 15 years ago. So do the math. And the original Miata was shown at the Chicago Auto Show way back in whatever that was, late '80s, early '90s.
So-- and this is the exact kind of thing you would show there, I think. It's like a cool car with some updates. And this is-- you know, this is not a new generation. But it's an update of this current generation the ND, as we call it. Zac Palmer calls it the ND3, which I think is a pretty good way to put it out there in his write-up, which you can check out on there.
Some chassis updates, you know different things with know the stability control, a lot of under the skin stuff here. Tweak the brakes a little bit, try to, again, make the car handle better. There's some styling changes. But I don't really see them from the pictures. Apparently, there's new LED lights. We'll see. I haven't driven the Miata in probably two years, at least.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's been a while. But man, if they can make it even better driving, you know? I always worry about when an automaker messes with a good thing. But Mazda tends to really do a really good job of incrementally improving their driving dynamics with their vehicles.
And yeah, so Mazda says it's going to have smoother steering with a more defined on-center feeling, which I don't mind that. And then in Mazda's words, greater precision as the front tires are loaded up under hard cornering. Sounds perfect for a little roadster. You know, that's the-- we already sort of appreciate its handling.
You know, if you can improve things incrementally here and there, yeah, do it. And Mazda is always sort of followed a sort of gram strategy where they look closely at the details to see what they can improve bit by bit, where they can take out some weight, where they can improve the handling.
And so yeah, I think these-- these little improvements might not strike you after just coming out of, you know, the pre-refresh. But, you know, if you go back into the beginning of the generation or last generation, if you could do like a vertical tasting of Miatas, I'm sure it would come through in that sort of drive.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, can't wait to drive this one. Hopefully, it get through our fleet here just in time for summer when some of the slush and snow melts. So it'll be a fun one. It will be.
All right, so it was earnings season last week and this week. And GM announced their earnings. They made money-- too long to read-- but not as much as they did before. And one of the things, though, that they mentioned that caught our attention is CEO Mary Barra mentioned that they will begin investing in hybrids again, which is something that they moved away from as they went all in on the all-electric field.
I think you kind of got to pick your battles. And things like the Chevy Volt, you know, went by the wayside. But Barra says that a plug-in hybrid perhaps several are in the offer, are going to be in the hopper coming up.
And I think this is a pretty good move I think it's a good interim play. And I think they're also definitely hedging their bets in the event--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --of, you know, some upheaval in the political and economic spaces.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: For sure. Yeah, there's definitely some hedging going on, especially with some of the difficulty they've had just producing EVs.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Automakers in general, you know, have been sort of complaining. And dealers have been complaining too. I don't know if that's the fault of just consumers don't want EVs or dealers just aren't trying hard enough to sell them, aren't educating themselves on the product enough. I don't know.
But I think a plug-in hybrid, you know, regardless of the motivations behind putting out or plug-in hybrids, I think it's a good thing if it means you'll sell more of those than-- and fewer pure internal combustion vehicles. The more miles-- and this is what Toyota's been saying all along in their EV/hybrid strategy, the more miles you can get out there in the world on electric power, the better, whether it's, you know, coming from a hybrids battery or an EV.
You know, if you're going to get five people into plug-in hybrids where you'd only get one into an EV, you know, it's-- and you can still maybe get that one into an EV. That makes a lot more sense just from a-- an emissions and fleet standpoint and, you know, decarbonization. So I think regardless of what their motive is behind it, I think it's a good move overall.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I agree. I'm looking at this. There's a story in the "Free Press" about this, "Detroit Free Press" with Bob Lutz, "Maximum" Bob unveiling--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --the original Volt concept. He's still kicking. He had his 90th birthday, I think, over the summer. And it showed up on some social feeds. And a lot of people, famous car people were at it. And here he is back in 2007 unveiling it, looking rather dapper. And I was at that reveal.
I remember. I was-- yeah, man, I remember that. It was-- I ended up writing about the actual, like, reveal of the production Volt, which was in the fall of 2008. So like a year plus later. And a lot of people said, wow, boy, this really kind of lost its mojo en route to production because you look at this concept.
And yeah, it's got 17 years old. I can't believe that. But then you look at what the Volt kind of became. And it was, you know, definitely a little more homely, if you will. So it was-- the Volt concept was cool. And you think they could bring back the Volt? The only bad part of it would be confusing with the Bolt. That's the--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --only downside to it. But--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: [INAUDIBLE]
GREG MIGLIORE: --a Volt plug-in hybrid--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I mean, I want to go through that all over again. But--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I think-- I don't know if they bring back the Volt in the format that it was. I think--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --you just have to build something a little bigger now. But I mean, I remember when the Volt went away and how badly we lamented it. We loved that thing. And--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --we're sad to see it go. And yes, they were moving on to their Bev strategy. But it was sad to see them leave such a great car like the Volt behind when they were pioneers in plug-in hybrid technology.
So I'm glad to see GM stepping back into that, for sure. They were one of the first to do it. They did it really well. And, you know, they've had a ton of experience since then with electrification in general. So yeah, I will be looking forward to driving a plug-in hybrid-- I don't know-- anything. The new Camaro might be a good--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --candidate for it.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I think lost in some of the noise that surrounds electric vehicles or staying only gas is the vast sort of different options that lie in between from hybrids to plug-in hybrids that can be very useful for a lot of different people. I drove the Prius. It was about six weeks ago now, I guess. Really enjoyed it. I can see how that could work for a lot of different people.
And, you know, I spent my entire holiday vacation, basically, in electrics, which was great. Loved it. Had some challenges with the charging, which is to be expected. But I can see how some people-- like, we all have only so much, like, the situations that we try to navigate through life. And we all have probably just so much bandwidth for problem solving and troubleshooting.
And perhaps your car isn't something you have time to, like, troubleshoot. You just want to, like, gas it up, then maybe charge it up, and then not think about it for a week. So that's where a hybrid can be brilliant.
So I think the move would probably be for them not to rebuild the Volt but make a Blazer hybrid or Equinox hybrid or Camaro hybrid--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --something like that.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: There's also-- plug-in hybrids are a better solution for a lot of single-car households too.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: They need something that's going to do all the roles that they can be efficient around town. And then you drive across the country on a long road trip to go see the family or whatever without having to really worry about it.
You know, someone like me, my household, we have a gas car. My second car would be a-- an EV and probably will be here soon. We've talked about that previously. I think the last time I was on the podcast, we talked a bit about that.
But yeah, if it were just, you know, a single person or a one-car household, especially if you're sort of rural, yeah, that might be tough to get by on EV. I mean, probably not as tough as you'd think, but definitely tough enough to make you think twice about buying one.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: No, it's tricky. And then there's also, I think, you face, not just with EVs, like understanding charging and things like that, which, you know, even for us as car journalists, it takes a little bit to figure out-- you know, I don't want to go to this level 2 charger and then think I'm going to get fast charging capability.
Like, there's a educational curve. And with hybrids, it's a little bit the same way because I think one of the challenges about the old Volt is I don't think people necessarily used it the right way, you know? Like, they'd let it run down and then forget about it or-- and this is perhaps the case for plug-in hybrids writ large is, you know, people just didn't really use them exactly the right way, which is more on the manufacturers to sort of educate, if you will.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: But that's-- there's a trickiness. And that's where you see things like, again, the Prius. You know, you could get a regular hybrid or go with the prime, which gives you like, what, 30 miles or so or more of electric range plug-in. And you just pick which kind of Prius do you want. And I think that'd be a great model for General Motors to follow.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Agreed, yeah. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people feel like end up using their plug-in hybrids just as regular hybrids. They don't plug them in as--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --often as they like. Maybe the garage is full. Maybe, you know, it's just cold, and they don't want to deal with the unraveling, the charging cable. Or, you know, they live in an apartment that don't have a good spot to plug it in, that sort of thing.
GREG MIGLIORE: I found when I would be driving the different Jeep 4xes that I could really get some efficiency out of those. You know, you-- I don't have a charger. But I could sometimes use a trickle charger. Or I would go to like the mall where there'd be like a bank of chargers.
At the mall for a few hours, you get something to eat. I mean, you're not going to necessarily top yourself off. But it's just all that feeds into it. And next thing you know, you're not even filling the Jeep up hardly ever.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And that's another benefit about having the actual plug rather than a regular hybrid. Lots of times, you get the premium parking spots. A lot of times, they'll have--
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --EV spots right by the door.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: You just plug in. And, you know, there you are. You're taking advantage of the electricity and take advantage of the excellent parking.
GREG MIGLIORE: I forget where I was. But I had a hybrid-- excuse me, an all-electric car. And I just-- you know, I think I had just turned the EV in. And something else is coming from the press fleet. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, look at these rows of like free chargers. And we had to go all the way up to the top of this parking structure. And I'm like, wow, that's-- what was I thinking here? So it goes.
All right. So staying with EVs, let's talk about what appears to be the RS2. This is a smaller SUV. We're going to get a worldwide product launch as our headline says coming out on March 7th. So about six weeks from now.
You know, Rivian currently has two vehicles-- the R1S and the R1T. They're both fairly good-sized vehicles-- the truck and the SUV. Both quite interesting to drive. We know very little about what this thing will be.
But the CEO, RJ Scaringe, has been teasing this on social media for a while. So you can see those out there. And then the most recent kind of teaser is kind of a squared off, you know, car, truck, SUV thing. It's an SUV with, you know, wrapping over it. It looks like he's talking to the designer.
So yeah, this'll be interesting. I think they're going to do it in the South Coast Theater, it sounds like, Laguna Beach. So if you're in the area, sounds like that's what's going on.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, I'd love to see Rivian come out with more products. Man, I have been seeing Rivians all over the place, not just here in Michigan, but when I travel anywhere in the United States. I see them everywhere.
And, you know, staying in Arizona with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, my brother-in-law was like, what do you think of this Rivian company? I'm like, oh, you're starting to see those too, huh? And so-- and sure enough, you know, we went driving around. There's Rivians at the Starbucks, Rivians at the movie theater. You know, it's pretty cool to see.
But yeah, I'll be excited to see more products, especially with a little bit lower price tags. Seeing as there's an R2 coming out as an SUV-- probably could be the R2S would make sense-- boy, I sure hope they've come out with an R2T.
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, man.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: That would be neat.
GREG MIGLIORE: That-- I mean that's right into the segment that-- where it's red hot. You know--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --I imagine the R1T isn't huge.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: No.
GREG MIGLIORE: I would say it's like-- it's not like a midsize truck. But I would say it's like in between a Silverado and a Colorado without--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --getting out the rulers, if you will. But just from a rough silhouette and also like mission, what-- you know, that the R1T does. It kind of slots right in there, which to me is the perfect size. It's a really--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --you know, really interesting truck. I'm excited for this. I think this is going to be cool.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I do too. Yeah. Looking forward to seeing-- I'm looking forward to seeing how much they changed the styling from the R1S. I imagine that they won't just make a smaller carbon copy. Even though from this sort of photo of it under wraps, it does kind of look like that same boxy shape very much. I hope they give it enough of its own identity that the R1S owners still feel like they've got something special.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. All right, so come back to us on March 7th. We'll have the story. Should be cool. I think Rivians have been among the more interesting vehicles I've driven in the last couple of years. They really stand out, just that-- like, sometimes you drive a cool car. You don't even remember it, which sounds cliche.
But it's also, like, the job, you take notes. You're on to the next one. But I can honestly remember, like, vividly the R1T and the R1S both times. And they're pretty cool. I think--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I remember the first time seeing one in-- on the road. You know, it was a prototype. I live kind-- right down the road from their headquarters.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And so coming in and out of Ann Arbor every once in a while, I'd see an R1T prototype go by. And yeah, that stuck with me. And I still point them out even when I start seeing, you know, multiple in a day in places that aren't Michigan. I'm still pointing them out because they're cool.
GREG MIGLIORE: So hot take. Right now their two-vehicle lineup is better than Tesla's, like, four-, five-vehicle lineup. Would you agree or disagree?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I don't think-- I don't think they've got enough of the bases covered. When they have something affordable, you know--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, fair.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --then let's talk.
GREG MIGLIORE: Fair. Yeah, it's a good way to put it. My-- the point I'm trying to make, perhaps a straw man argument here, is that you got a truck. You got an SUV. People like those. And they make them--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Sure.
GREG MIGLIORE: --more expensive than small sedans.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: True. True.
GREG MIGLIORE: And if you took the badge off, what do you think most Americans would rather drive?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Boxy crossover or a small crossover or a small sedan? So--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --just--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Point taken.
GREG MIGLIORE: --you know? I don't know. It's interesting. And like you, I see a lot of them. And people ask me about them. They're almost like the Tesla alternative. Like, yeah, I've thought about electrics. I've thought about Tesla.
I don't know how I feel about what their CEO says and does and everything he's doing these days. But this Rivian company, they've got this boxy SUV. It looks kind of cool. So it's-- that's literally the thought process people say to me. And then they say something like, well, I don't know if I drive enough to spend, you know, whatever the sticker price is on like an entry level one, which is not--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --cheap It's like 60, 70, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, so that's Rivian. Let's talk about Kia and the EV9, which you drove out in California. I drove it in Metro Detroit about a month ago. Well, what did you think?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I thought it was great.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it translates really well from the Palisade in terms of the-- what it serves. You know, it's a practical three-row SUV that isn't necessarily off roady and is actually comfortable in all three rows. But it also happens to be a very quick, high-mileage EV with some really neat styling.
And then they took a lot of things, a lot of thinking, I think, from like the Kia Carnival with those reclining seats. I know you can get those in like the EV6 and Hyundai IONIQ 5. But to have those in the second row, captains chairs, and have those really cozy, VIP lounge seats is what they were calling the Carnival-- here, they call them relaxing, comfort seats-- that's a really nice thing.
It's sort of like a-- almost like a minivan with, you know, doors that don't slide open. And maybe a little taller. Definitely feels spacious like a minivan on the inside. The third row, you know, not quite as wide as a minivan's third row. Only seats two in the third row.
But boy, you've got tons of headroom, tons of legroom. I was able to-- I set the driver's seat in my driving position. I'm 6 foot tall for reference. Set the second row seat in a comfortable position behind that and then was able to get in the third row and feel very comfortable behind that.
So that was really cool. Lots of neat, little features like in the upper trims, there's a little drawer that pulls out from the rear of the center console that can-- you know, it's-- pull it out. It's like a shelf. And then you push that top part back.
And then it's like this nice, little cubby. That'd be a great place to stash things that I wish we had that in our Palisade, where we could put wipes and fruit snacks, things for the kids that they're always asking for.
But yeah, it just also-- you know, really good to drive. I only drove the top GT line, which is really quick. And it definitely, you know, surprisingly quick for how big it is. A lot of the useful tech from the other Hyundai Kia models-- the safety tech, the rear view-- digital rear view camera, which is great if you're going to load it up all the way with cargo and kids; the, you know, blind spot monitor camera view, which is also really helpful, things like that.
No, like, Ar head-up display. So a little bit fewer gimmicks. They do still have a fingerprint sensor that you can use to load up your driver profile if you've got different people driving it or as a way if you put it on valet mode and want to take it off valet mode. You can use your fingerprint to take it off of valet mode, that sort of thing.
Phone is key. You know, the digital key, the latest version of that where you can text someone a key if, you know-- like, hey, I need you to stop by my work and pick up the car and take it in, whatever. You're here. I'm going to text you the key. And then you can revoke it at any time.
So that's a little convenient things like that. Very well thought out. I think it looks cool too. It looks different, kind of boxy, which I like. Surprisingly aerodynamic for how boxy. It is. But yeah, I liked it quite a bit. You know, it's-- they could have gone cheaper with it.
But then they wouldn't have left in all the standard content that they had. They just packed this-- and the base models, they have lots of good safety and convenience content in it. And I don't think they want to water that down. So it does, you know, start a little higher.
But still, it's-- compared to, like, the R1S or, you know, the Model X or the Mercedes EQS SUV, it's quite the bargain. And it still feels quite premium.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's creative. I think the design is very-- it's cool for lack of a better way to put it. It's-- you know, it definitely gets that kind of boxiness, that element to make people feel like they're driving something special at different-- all the metrics, the range, you know, line up.
I like the interior. I thought the interior-- you did a very good job of explaining all the different features. I just thought it was a nice place to spend time too.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Like, the materials were cool. It was pretty big in there. And just having a mainstream three-row SUV that's all electric, I think, is a major achievement.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, and they all from the base level on up have that synthetic leather interior, which is very nice. Yeah, definitely a good place to spend time, especially if you can turn on the massaging seat that was-- I think only-- you can only get the massaging seat in the driver's seat. But you can get heated and ventilated second row.
Yeah, if you're waiting on a charge-- and it's a-- you know, it's got the 800-volt architecture. So it also charges very quickly, 10% to 80% in 24 minutes on the big battery models. So 24 minutes, perfect amount of time to, you know, turn on the heated seat, recline it, pull your lunch out of that little drawer, and eat it, and then get back on your way.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I can't wait to spend more time on this, especially given the-- you know, the pure range. Would be a good summer road trip vehicle because you can definitely plan ahead to where you might be within reason. So it's, obviously, can charge quickly. Yeah, would you consider that Kia and Hyundai had never really made three-row SUVs? Not only have they made them. You own one. They are making electric ones. That's remarkable.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And it's something I would consider replacing the Palisade with. If-- you know, it would be my wife's daily driver. And she uses it to get up North quite a bit. So with full of kids and dogs-- so waiting at the charger is not an ideal situation in that case.
But, you know, if you have 300, [? 400 ?] miles of range. I think it is-- our cottage four hours away is 250 miles. But that's all highway driving. And that'd be good weather. It may have to stop once along the way, just to be safe, which is-- wouldn't be too bad. We usually do that, anyway, on our way up to stop and--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, that's true.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --get everyone something to eat or to pick up things that we don't have at the cottage, some groceries or whatnot.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's where-- yeah, go ahead.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: But, you know, I would rather have my EV be my smaller, get-around town car, you know, mostly. But if I'm doing-- if I was going to do a two-EV household, I'd be perfect.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, well, yeah, there you go. You're going to go all EV, two-EV household. It's-- I think that's where the beauty of-- like, the route you described where, like, you know where you're going. You know where, like, your charger is. You know where your backup charger is. You know there might be one at, say, a grocery store. Like, that's where, you know, a large EV can be very beneficial because you're very familiar with the terrain, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, yeah, it definitely work for 99% of what we need to do with it and not be too much of a pain.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, well, I guess-- I mean, Hyundai Motor Co is really getting into EVs, obviously, as we all know. So let's talk about another one. This is the electrified Genesis G70.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: GV70.
GREG MIGLIORE: GV70. Yeah, I actually drove this-- gosh, it was almost a year ago now. I can't believe it. But you drove it more recently. So what did you think?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's in my driveway right now. I've been driving it in all this snow and been using the snow mode, which is great.
GREG MIGLIORE: It is.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It keeps it really stable. You can put it in something else. And, you know, it'll play a little bit. And then the traction control will kick in. But with the snow mode and distributing the power between the front and rear axles, it just does a very good job of keeping things nice and stable.
But really nice-looking vehicle, really attractive. You know, when I dropped the kids off at school, people are commenting, asking, what is that? Is that-- you know? It's a Genesis. Oh, yeah, I forgot that that's a thing. And is it electric? Yeah, but there's a gas one too.
And-- but yeah, it looks cool, very comfortable inside. You know, take the Kia EV9 and elevate that a little bit with some nice materials, more detail in the design and, yeah, very comfortable.
The second row, you know, it's a little smaller than I expected it to be. With a front-facing child seat behind me-- my daughter is, you know, kicking the seats, for sure. Her-- if she's wearing boots, her feet are getting stuck. So I'm always moving my seat up a little bit to accommodate for her.
GREG MIGLIORE: Parenthood.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. But, you know, you take a little of that. But you get a little more in cargo room. There's a really nice, big, flat load floor. Put a lot of stuff in there. Pretty deep. Yeah, I loaded it up with groceries. It was pretty great.
And then yeah, it's-- again, this is another one that's surprisingly quick. You can get on-- put it in sport mode, put on the gas-- or not the gas, the accelerator. Got to get used to not calling it the gas.
And man, this thing just shoots off. My kids kept asking me to do it again and again. You know, if you're doing it through a corner, you get a little wheelspin, not too much, stays stable. But it just feels really fun. So smooth and quiet. Just really, really, really nice.
It took me a while to find the charging port on it. It's hidden behind part of the panel where the grill would be. And it blends in perfectly. You're looking for the cutout like you would like a fuel flap on a normal car or, you know, the-- where the charge port is on most TVs. And this is tucked up, completely blended into the grill.
So it took a little bit to find that. And I had the thing where I went out to take the kids to school. And I couldn't get the charger to unplug. I had to go in through the menu. And it was set on.
And no matter what I did with unplugging, unlocking the car, turning it on, nothing would get to release. You go into the menu and turn off the thing that says, Locked while charging. And then--
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, interesting.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Did you hear about my story with the GV60?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, yep.
GREG MIGLIORE: Same thing.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And that, you know, wasted, like, 10 minutes of my morning just fooling around, trying to do that while getting the kids in the car and, like, just trying to get out of there, having to go into the menu, and-- but once it's turned off, I, A, know how to do it, and, B, never have to do it again. It's--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. Oh, man. I don't know why they have that feature. It is infuriating. Did you know it was turned on, like, initially? Or did you know it engaged?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: No. No, it was--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. [INAUDIBLE].
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: That's just how it was set from the previous-- you know, when they dropped it off. So I turned it off. And it stays off--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --once you turn it off until you turn it back on again. I wish-- I mean, most EVs, you just hit the unlock button, and that's--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --it, which that makes sense to me. That makes perfect sense. But--
GREG MIGLIORE: Super frustrating. It was a real pain. And it seems to happen with-- across the Hyundai Motor Co--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --EVs.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, but I mean, it was that and finding the charge for it were two little, you know, beginner problems that, you know, once I knew about them, it won't be a problem again. And other than that, yeah, really love driving it. Really love driving it.
It feels very executive, very luxurious. It's nice. It's nice. The kids love it too. Wally loves having heated seats in the back too.
GREG MIGLIORE: Everybody. Kids always love the heated seats. They really do.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's-- my son liked the massaging seats in different cars too.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Like, dude, you got to get your car seat. You can't just sit there getting a hot stone massage while we ride around. Like, this isn't how this works, man. But yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And for a couple more years, anyway, until you're out of that booster.
GREG MIGLIORE: Indeed. Indeed.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, Wally just got out of his booster this past summer, which is--
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a milestone.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Been great for him because he gets to enjoy the luxuries of the car and great for us because we don't have to tote a booster seat around. And now Wally can sit in whatever seat he wants without having to drag that seat from, you know, the second row to the third row or whatever.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, that's a good move. Yeah, you're getting old, man. You're getting old.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's not so bad.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, so I guess I should talk about the WRX. That's what I'm still driving.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Can't wait to hear about it, man.
GREG MIGLIORE: It is-- so I have a long-term update. It went up, again, on Friday. So if you're listening to this on the weekend, this story went up.
Ours is bright orange. It's definitely a lot of fun to drive. I've talked about this a couple times now on the show. And it's-- you, know I think it sort of lives up to the hype in the-- like, the mission, the legend of what it should be, if you will. It's-- you know, I-- it's intense. That's the word I'm looking for. It's been intense for the last few weeks. It's just been an absolute tractor through the snow. That's been great.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Oh, yes.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's fun, like, driving in the snow with a stick shift too because it's so rare.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: You know, drop it in second gear and fishtail around corners. The only rough thing is it's very-- it's a pretty low to the ground car. So you can plow through the snow. You can plow over the top of the snow.
But it's really rough when, like, you're kind of sinking into the slush. And then, like, literally, the slush is going around the car--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --because it's so low. Definitely, I was like, am I got a high side this thing on some of these different slush mountains? So there's that. Boxer 4, the turbo. It's everything. You know, you remember it's coarse as hell. It's-- the whole thing is really loud.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: For all I was convinced I was getting a headache from driving the car. I think I just have a headache, which is a different set of issues. But it's been a lot of fun, man. And I like the-- I've always kind of preferred the WRX to the STI. I feel like the STI--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Same.
GREG MIGLIORE: --is just a little bit too much for me for more than just like driving it for a morning. So I've been really liking it.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Agreed. I've feel the same way about the WRX and the STI. I can't wait to get in this one. I haven't driven this one yet.
GREG MIGLIORE: Your WRX own or formerly?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, I had my '04 WRX that I bought new. I had it for over a decade-- well over a decade. And man, I miss-- missed that car so much, mostly because of how fun it was to drive in the snow.
And, you know, I think about, you know, I could get another WRX someday and have-- but it wouldn't be the same, you know, in the-- with all the new modern stability tech and stuff. Maybe it wouldn't be so rambunctious in the snow as the other one.
But then I drove an Outback a couple weeks ago in the snow. And it was-- you know, that thing came to life as soon as the pavement got slippery in a really good way. So even these modern Subarus are still fun in the snow is great to hear.
But yeah, I'm really looking forward to driving the new one. This is the first time in a while that I've sort of considered the-- a modern-- you know, a contemporary WRX as something I might prefer to, you know, that first gen. So yeah, looking forward to getting in it. And it's nice that it's orange. People can see it in the snow.
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, man. It's bright orange. People see it coming. And that's-- I think that's a good thing. You know, the other option was blue, which had that very Subaru blue.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, rally blue.
GREG MIGLIORE: But I--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: But--
GREG MIGLIORE: Honestly, I'm glad we got the orange. I don't know. I have no regrets on that.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, I feel like, yeah, the blue is very common. And man, I wish they'd bring back that yellow they used to have. That was great. Maybe they have. And I just missed it. But they used to have that really fun, bright yellow on the WRX back in the day. So we're like-- sort of like the Rivian yellow on the--
GREG MIGLIORE: A Rivian yellow is something.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's a similar yellow to that. I like that quite a bit. But I went with the blue, just because it was the Subaru thing to do, the very WRX thing to do.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK, OK. Yeah, it's-- I was looking back at my sort of history with the WRX. We had a long termer. You might remember this. I think you might have been freelancing here at the time. A long termer back at like 15-ish.
That was a good one. We put a fair amount of miles on, it got rear ended on 696. It took some hits. It had those gold sparkle wheels.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: We still have those wheels. Did you know that?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I do I do. Well, we put them-- we ended up putting those on the-- on our long-term Forester a couple of years ago--
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, right. yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --because they happen to fit.
GREG MIGLIORE: They barely fit. They looked good, though. That was a great car. And when I was actually at "Autoweek," we had an STI, which was my first sort of indoctrination into like what an STI, what a WRX could be. And that-- man, that thing would rip your head off, you know? That was really something.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It was-- an STI, the thing that I didn't like about it was, yeah, you would get tired--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --over a long drive. I drove one down to Hocking Hills a few years ago. And just, those three, four hours of driving on the highway that, you know, even in the highest gear, it's still, you know, droning at fairly high RPMs. And it's loud. And it's a lot of vibration.
And it's like when you're boating, you just get tired just from the sound and the vibration of it. And the STI is the same way. Really fun on a track, though. Really fun on a track or, you know, on a dirt track too if you can get it sort of off-- I've driven some in 2011. Took one on-- they built this big mud track on the side of this hill--
GREG MIGLIORE: Man.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --for us and got to drive that around. That was pretty cool. And yeah, like you said, good in the snow. I did the Subaru Winter driving experience a few years back--
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, cool.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --in the WRX, the STI, and the BRZ all with the--
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, wow.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --studded tires on them out on this frozen lake. Like, I still think WRS-- WRX was the best. I mean, the BRZ was really fun on set of tires on the ice. But the WRX was still just-- I mean, it's just so well balanced. It's just-- yeah, just combines-- takes the best of all the worlds and just puts it there in front of you and doesn't, you know, sap your energy from you in the process.
GREG MIGLIORE: Now the-- they said a year ago, over a year ago that they were not going to develop an STI again. So we'll see if perhaps down the road, that somehow changes. But for now, the WRX. you could go with like the GT or the TR, which News Editor--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --Joel Stocksdale drove in Sicily, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And then there are the companies like Prodrive that Byron [? Rutten ?] drove there, basically, what would be an STI. And you can probably buy a WRX and mod it yourself--
GREG MIGLIORE: You could.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --with enough cash and turn it into basically an STI. But I think the package that it is as it stands is just very sort of a sweet spot.
GREG MIGLIORE: You can definitely, to your point, turn up the wick on a WRX and get pretty close to perhaps what an STI would be in this day and--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --age. To me, the intensity of the STI was just the way all of the elements of it from like the seats to the way the transmission-- the shifts were tight. The clutch was super heavy, which, of course, it is in the Rex. The huge wing-- like it was just all of it made driving it, like, a total workout.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Whereas the Rex, you can-- it's a workout. You're tired. It's not comfortable. But--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --you can breathe a little bit, you know?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. It's still a little rough around the edges. I haven't, you know, driven this one yet. But if it's anything like previous ones, there's-- you're going to get some thrush through the--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --transmission and--
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a good way to put it some thrush,
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. But it's all in good fun. And it's nothing too extreme.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, so let's have some good fun and spend some money. That's podcast@autoblog.com. We'd love to answer your questions. If you have a mailbag question, let's do that too.
So first, an update from Sean in Fort Collins, Colorado. Greg, this is for you and Zac. "After listening to my questions about the LC 500, I ordered a 2024 Coop today. Went with this." Yeah. "The cloudburst gray with a black red interior." That sounds great.
"Dynamic handling pack as well as the heads-up display. Mark Levinson audio, dash cam. He went with every box, except the dog first aid kit. Nothing against dogs. I just don't have one." So good purchase. Glad to hear we can help you out.
All right, and then we have a new question. So let's get into that. A friend of Autoblog drives a Cadillac XTS that was bought, used, for $25,000. Had it for years. But it's time to go. It needs that same kind of car for the nature of his job. Basically says there's no big Cadillac sedans anymore, which is true. He drove the XT6, which is the crossover, found it boring, wants to stick with the sedan. Drove the CT5 and said it was too small.
The writer is an executive at a large company in the Midwest. The parking place is highly visible, which means having a domestic car would be better for public relations is basically the question put for us. So what we're trying to do is find a large domestic sedan or something that I guess, you know, could be in place of that.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, flies a little under the radar compared to the Germans.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. So basically, if you rolled up in a 7 series, that might raise some eyebrows. So I went hard on the CT5 because I think that's the closest thing you could get.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: A couple other options here. But I don't want to take all the options because there's only like two or three. What do you think?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: We mentioned the Volvo S90. I like that. It's already, like-- I mean-- not already, it's starting to feel pretty old, you know? It needs an update. But I mean, if you're buying used--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --yeah, it's certainly fine. I quite like the S90, actually. Let's see. There's the Genesis G80 or G90. A little bit flying under the radar, not as flashy. So there's that. Mentioned the-- he drove the XT6, found it boring and wants to stick with the sedan. Although if you did want to dabble back into crossover area, the Lincoln Aviator would be a good--
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a really good one.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: A sort of fun alternative to the XT6. And finally, if you want to go electric and American and big sedan, Tesla Model S.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's true.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: There's a ton of them out there. You get a ton of range. You know, no one's going to look funny at you for not buying something made in America when you live in the Midwest. I mean, that's a thing.
I don't know if anyone-- if everyone everywhere realizes that, but especially like here in Michigan, that that's a thing. You feel really sort of out of place in certain places driving a foreign vehicle. Like, up North where we're up North in the Palisade, everything else is domestic. We are the only foreign car in the parking lot of the Tom's Grocery.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I had that same experience on the Palisade myself when we had the long termer, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: But the Tesla, you know?
GREG MIGLIORE: It's true.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Made right here in the darn US of A and liked by people of all stripes, so.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think-- yeah, I think-- well, a little bit of an update. Before we had a chance to even read this on the air, the writer went out and got an XT6. So we now know the answer to the question, which, you know, that's-- I think the thing about a Cadillac is it is a Cadillac, you know?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yes.
GREG MIGLIORE: And that definitely carries a certain gravitas. You know, I think a CT6 would have been great. The CT5 is what I would have done, frankly--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: --if you want to go sedan. You still get all-wheel drive. It's not as big as, you know, perhaps the-- like the CT6, which nominally competed with the 7 series. You do get-- like, especially in a domestic leaning area, but really anywhere, Cadillac does still have that brand halo.
So I think that'll work. I think the XT6 is, you know, going to do the job just fine. Outside of the sedan segment, to your point, the Lincolns are really good. I think that would have worked. A used Continental was one other option that kind of came to mind. And I think they're hard to find. But that's a great car too. It was only briefly in the press fleet. It was only briefly produced, it seemed like.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So it's a small field. But you've got some options. And for once, we actually have like an epilogue as we discuss it in real time, so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, we always got to wait a while to get an answer if we get an answer at all, so.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, that was cool.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Love hearing back. Always love hearing what people get. And man, yeah, that LC 500, Sean, you're going to love that.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, it-- that's going to be great. That was just-- I believe that was just last week-- last week or two weeks ago. So that's-- glad to see it worked out. That is such a great car. It's going to be--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Oh.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a collector's car at this point.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It is. It's sublime--
GREG MIGLIORE: Modern collectible.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: --man. It is sublime. It just drives so well. It's a rocket.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right. Well, if you enjoy the "Autoblog Podcast," that's five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get the show. Please send us your Spend My Moneys at podcast@autoblog.com. Thanks for hanging out this week, John. And--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, thanks for having me.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, always a pleasure. Be safe out there. See you next week.
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In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. The Tesla Model 3 Performance has been revealed, and we discuss Tesla's first-quarter results. Mercedes unveiled its G 580 with EQ Technology. A VW factory voted to join the UAW. The Ford Mustang celebrated …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. The two kick things off with a loaded review section, starting with the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq Sport 3 then moving along to the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy. After that, they dig into …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd, who joins us fresh from the floor at the 2024 New York Auto Show. They start with an overview of the show and this year's big debuts, then pivot to other news for talk …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. In the news, BMW revealed the Neue Klasse X EV, Jeep Wrangler drops the V8, Ford Mustang gets a 810-horsepower supercharger kit and Shell leans into EV charging. We look back on the life …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd. They start off discussing a couple of vehicles they've both driven — the 2024 Ford Maverick Tremor and the 2024 Volvo C40 Recharge 2WD. From there, they pivot to Byron's first drive of the …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by News Editor Joel Stocksdale. They lead off with the 2024 Dodge Charger reveal, followed by various EV startup news including the reported death of the Apple Car; rumors of a tie-up between Fisker and Nissan; and when we'll finally …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. Joel shares his experience checking out the Tesla Cybertruck in Chicago. James leads a discussion concerning GM's track record with the Ultium EV roll-out and the company's history with …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd. They start out talking about Scout's new facility in South Carolina and what Volkswagen Group wants to do with its new truck and SUV brand. From there, they briefly revisit the General Motors F1 …
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 …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick. We kick off the week by reviewing cars we've been driving, including the new Lexus GX, Land Rover Defender 130 Outbound, Jaguar F-Pace, Hyundai Kona and our long-term Subaru WRX. Next, we break down …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Electric, John Beltz Snyder. In the news, F1 snubs Michael Andretti, Jeep shows off the electric Wagoneer S, Mazda reveals the updated 2024 Miata, Mary Barra talks about future plug-in hybrids, and Rivian is set to …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by News Editor Joel Stocksdale, and they cover a wide range of topics. They discuss refreshed models from GM and VW including the new Blackwing Cadillacs, the Chevy Equinox, and the GTI. They also talk about the upcoming Jeep …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. They kick things off with a roundup of the week's news, and of course the first photos of a pre-production electric Dodge Charger Daytona are the first topic. After that, the pair chat …
