Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
"> 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 the Lucid Air lineup, as Zac just returned from a week at Lucid HQ driving all of the Air models. They wrap up the review section by digging into what they think of our long-term Mazda CX-90 PHEV's powertrain. This week's news includes discussion about Ford's 60th Anniversary Mustang, the Tesla Cybertruck's accelerator pedal issues and GM's move away from the Renaissance Center. Lastly, the two spend a listener's money.Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
"> 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 the Lucid Air lineup, as Zac just returned from a week at Lucid HQ driving all of the Air models. They wrap up the review section by digging into what they think of our long-term Mazda CX-90 PHEV's powertrain. This week's news includes discussion about Ford's 60th Anniversary Mustang, the Tesla Cybertruck's accelerator pedal issues and GM's move away from the Renaissance Center. Lastly, the two spend a listener's money.Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
">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 the Lucid Air lineup, as Zac just returned from a week at Lucid HQ driving all of the Air models. They wrap up the review section by digging into what they think of our long-term Mazda CX-90 PHEV's powertrain. This week's news includes discussion about Ford's 60th Anniversary Mustang, the Tesla Cybertruck's accelerator pedal issues and GM's move away from the Renaissance Center. Lastly, the two spend a listener's money.
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 have an outstanding show for you this week. Plenty of things to talk about. Road Test Editor Zac Palmer has been driving the Cadillac LYRIQ. Lot to unpack there. He and I have both been driving the Hyundai Santa Fe-- this is the new one-- and the Mazda CX-90. He's also just returning from a trip out West to test drive and check out the Lucid headquarters, as well as some of their products. Got some news out of Mustang. Cybertruck. And General Motors moves its headquarters about a mile into the city. The city center. We'll spend your money. With that, Zac, what's going on?
ZAC PALMER: Hey, hey. Definitely excited for this show. Lots of EVs, plug-in hybrids, full ice. So I think we're hitting the full gamut here. So, yeah--
GREG MIGLIORE: Let's do it.
ZAC PALMER: --if you're into it, we're probably going to talk about it.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. Sounds good. So let's lead off with the Cadillac LYRIQ. You recently drove this. You had a road test that went up this week. There's some very nice pictures of it. This is one of the more interesting vehicles that I drove back in the fall of 2022. I was very excited to drive it. It was up for North American-- I think it was Utility Vehicle of the Year. It really is a tweener vehicle. So I tested it a NACTOY event. I really enjoyed it. I really liked it. I'm curious, what do you think?
ZAC PALMER: You know, I really liked it too. But I did not love it is--
GREG MIGLIORE: How come?
ZAC PALMER: --wheres I ended up standing on it. So there was definitely a lot of hype for this thing, and I had been super, super hyped to drive it for a long while. And it is very impressive in a lot of ways. The one that really just takes your breath away is, as soon as it showed up in my driveway, I was hopping into the interior. It is stunning in there. And it's not only stunning, but it's also very usable and practical. It has buttons and knobs and switches and really great materials.
One of the first things that shocked me was when I looked at the sticker and this was an $83,000 LYRIQ, which is about as expensive of a LYRIQ as you can get. But when you take a step back, it genuinely looks like an $80,000 interior, I think, from just the really cool colors that you get. You get some little patches of red and burgundy in the storage trays. Just some small things that somebody like Cadillac would pay attention to. And if you have, then, something like a Tesla Model Y, you're not getting anything like that at all. It's just boring, drab minimalism.
So interior-- really, really good. Driving it was where I sort of just liked it and did not love it, I'd say. First thing that was a little weird was the steering ratio, I thought. The thing has super, super slow steering, almost to the point where it feels like a Cadillac from the mid-2000s or early 2010s. It does not feel like a sporty, agile thing, like, say, a Genesis GV60 or any number.
Honestly, just most modern vehicles have very quick steering, whereas this LYRIQ you have to put in a ton of block to get going, which you do get used to, and I did ultimately like at highway speeds and when you're really pushing it. But just around town, in the parking lot, around the driveway, it just was a bit tiresome and didn't quite feel as modern as it should.
Another point that I liked but did not love was the suspension tuning and just the general ride. You know, it rides like a mid-size crossover. It does not give you any sort of Cadillac plushness, nor does it give you that super-sharp razor edge performance that we've seen from a lot of other Cadillac vehicles out there like CT4 and CT5. It just kind of straddles this middle ground of, it's neither super luxurious nor is it very sporty. It doesn't really seem to pick a way-- either which way. And yeah, from the steering to the interior, I almost just want it to be like this big Mercedes-like plush, luxury thing. But it just wasn't that.
So those are the bits that I was, eh, this is OK. This is not great. This is not really calling out to me as this segment leader that is really leading the way. But beyond that, the actual EV performance was really solid. And the fact that you can get the all wheel drive, which this one was, without much of a range penalty versus the rear wheel drive one, which is not that common honestly. And you still get 500 horsepower. That is really, really good.
And I really should mention, just like, man, this thing does look the part. I feel like I've been seeing a lot of them out on the roads here out in Michigan. They all look fantastic. Mine, I think, looked better than most because it was in this really beautiful red paint, and it was combined with a nice light beige interior. It's just a really airy, vibrant, look at me sort of spec, and I loved it. You get a lot of the cool appearance extras like the blacked-out wheels, blacked-out trim and whatnot with the sport trim that mine was. And I think it's definitely a great way to go if you're looking at spec-ing one out. So yeah, end of day, like. Did not love.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think that's a fair assessment. I think I am very enthusiastic about the raw power and the design inside and out. And again, it's been a while since I've driven one. I was in love with the chassis tuning like you said as well. It seemed like they needed a little bit more of a mission. I think, to riff on what you said, is it sporty or is it just going to be this big comforter on wheels?
It seemed like they kind of ended up somewhere in the middle of that, which was a little incongruent then with-- I mean, they're all pretty powerful. All the LYRIQs are pretty powerful models. So you have this like luxurious hot rod that the chassis didn't quite have an identity or didn't quite fit. I don't think I was perhaps as offended by it as you are. And maybe that's a strong word, but I was a little more just kind of like, meh. You know, it was OK. It didn't totally put me off.
And it's weird because Cadillac and Chevy and General Motors-- their chassis tuning has just been among the best in the industry for the last 10 years. So I think this is a case of, they'll probably get it right for the refresh. They'll figure out how they want this crossover to drive and what that will mean to the rest of the vehicle's identity.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah. And I think a lot of it has to do with the general context of this segment, too. So I've driven most of the other things here, and if you look at like the EQE SUV, it rides better. And I would also argue it handles better than the LYRIQ. Same thing with like a BMW iX. It rides significantly better and it also handles better than this LYRIQ. The GV60-- maybe a little smaller than this thing, but definitely handles better. Probably rides about the same. So it's weird because, like you said, GM normally does nail this, and they're normally top of the segment as far as ride and handling balance.
But one thing I will point out, it does not have any sort of adaptive damper system at all on it, unlike most of Cadillac's SUVs that are at least optional. It would be super if they do the Mag Ride system at it, or maybe even want the air suspension route, I think that there's things that they can do here. But it's just a fully passive suspension system that doesn't do anything special for me. Whereas other cars in this segment for a similar price, I think just-- they perform better. So that's kind of where I land there.
GREG MIGLIORE: One thing too, despite the suspension setup, I do think its looks are so attractive, especially in real life, that I would still consider this among the competitive set that you just mentioned. Just frankly, again, design is subjective, but I like how this thing looks probably more than the Genesis.
Mercedes EQE-- that's a tough one. We could go down that rabbit hole. That's just a very polarizing look perhaps among Mercedes customers. I happen to like it, but I think I like the Cadillac a little bit more. And then you look at some of the BMWs. So I think from a design perspective, that's where this thing really cuts through the clutter. It's a really unique look, too. There's not too many cars that just have that sort of-- I mean, what would you even call it? Like, a boat tail kind of hatch going on in the back? I think it's very cool.
ZAC PALMER: It really is. And, you know, you're 100% right there. You buy this thing for the design. It is so gorgeous to look at in your driveway. Like people look at you when you're driving it around because it's so pretty. And honestly, you feel just as much of a star on the inside because that beautiful design just kind of translates in there. And it's not just like a bunch of GM parts bin stuff. Like, this is legit. All bespoke parts, knobs, buttons. Everything is new and fresh, and it feels that way. So yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. I like, too, the interior is a bit of a step-- It's a step forward away from some of the almost cliched Cadillac interiors. Cadillac interiors have been getting better for the last 10 years, but there were different points where I felt like, OK, the colors are a little bit much. The shapes are a little bit severe. It's nicer than they were, but this still is maybe a little bit much. And I think you saw that in some of their sedans.
For me, this interior is a new identity for Cadillac in a good way. It's fresh. It's airy. It has that mid-century modern but also futuristic vibe to it, and I really like that. So I think this is-- I'm not going to say it's the best Cadillac interior ever, because of course it's not. But it's a very good pathway for Cadillac to just make better and better interiors.
So we actually have the luxury this week of every car in the road test segment, you and I have both driven. Some of them very far apart, but some of them were literally minutes apart. So that brings us to the Hyundai Santa Fe. We traded that on Friday. I just literally came home from doing a school pickup. Handed you the keys. It's this copper-bronze type thing. This is, of course, the new version of the Santa Fe. So take whatever you thought about it and throw that out the window.
They took a big risk here by taking what was basically a pretty straight out of central casting Hyundai crossover and making it like-- I've heard all sorts of different comparisons. The rebirth of the Ford Flex. It looks like a stretched out Subaru Forester. There's so many things going on here, but it is definitely a design statement.
And the interior is totally different. It's different than even some other Hyundais I think, aside from-- I mean, you do get the standard infotainment and stuff. But I liked it. I thought it was-- after seeing this in pictures-- and it's been almost a year, I kind of thought, wow, they really went for it. And then they didn't even have to because the Santa Fe sells so well for them. But now I see why. What do you think?
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, this is a complete turnabout face for the Santa Fe, honestly. I mean, it went from this very anonymous looking and feeling thing that was just extremely inoffensive to, like, one of the boldest designs in the segment. Just like you, I got a number of comments over the weekend, like, is it a range rover? What is this front end? They're going full boxy style, strong, tough SUV. And yeah, it turned heads. It shocked people. You know, they're like, that's a Hyundai? Yes, that is in fact a Hyundai.
So it has that initial shock presence value to it, which is just really cool, honestly. It doesn't really like skew toward any other Hyundai design out there at all right now, at least on the outside. It does its own thing. And it honestly backs it up with a really rocking interior, too. Like, there's just so many cool little things, like when you hop inside and you see that the air vents sort of mimic the front headlight design. Just the super unique buttons and steering wheel design. And it has a super-long curved display right in front of you that almost looks like something that belongs on a BMW-- their big BMW curved display.
There's a huge amount of shock value with all of it, and there's also a huge amount of utility here, too. I was messing around with the second row and getting into the third row. So those rear seats, at least in the fully loaded Calligraphy model that we had-- they're part electric, part manual. They're super quick to move back and forth. So you can actually hop into this third row, which is a huge benefit for the Santa Fe now. It is three rows only. And so that was super cool.
Also it has a super trick center console that you can open from the front or the rear. And there's even a secret compartment down there where you can hide things from kids if you don't want them to see things down there.
GREG MIGLIORE: My kid found that right away. He was all through there.
ZAC PALMER: Good for him. Oh, man. And there's also weird features on it, too, like the UVC cleaner in the upper center console. It's almost like a second glove box that opens sort of truck-like and having this upper storage there. But it's so funny. It feels very much a COVID-designed car, because what cars have a de-germifier in them? And that's its main purpose. There's a whole button on that center stack. So you just throw your phone in there, close it up, and press the button and wait for 10 minutes.
I did it. I threw my phone and wallet in there and I was like, all right, yeah, let me de-germify my wallet and phone. I did not lick my phone afterwards to try and see if it was cleaned but--
GREG MIGLIORE: You woke up sick the next day.
ZAC PALMER: I woke up with COVID the next day.
GREG MIGLIORE: Shouldn't have licked your phone, man. That was the problem.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, apparently. No, just fun features like that all throughout the car. And, hey, it drives really well, too. Ours had the-- it was not the hybrid. Just the regular 2.5 liter turbo with, with the eight-speed dual clutch. I thought it was super smooth. Very, very comfortable. Doesn't really portend or pretend to have any kind of handling chops. It is very much just like a family truckster that can move people around in comfort. And it's pretty quiet inside.
I should also mention just the really, really great visibility everywhere. That's a huge benefit, I think, of the boxy design. Super tall windows. Super tall windshield. Also a massive rear window you can see out so easily. It has that digital rear view camera mirror, but I didn't really feel like I needed to use it throughout the whole weekend that I was driving it. I was like, you know what? I can honestly see better through the actual glass. And that's not always the case. When manufacturers throw those mirrors on there, it's because you can't see out the rear window, et cetera, et cetera.
So yeah, honestly, I give massive, massive props to Hyundai for this car. I think that so far they've nailed it, and I really-- I can't wait to drive the hybrid too, because this with really good fuel economy I think would be a real winner.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I agree. I think the powertrain is just fine. Nothing wrong with it. Doesn't offend me. But I mean, if you look at just where this thing competes, the starting MSRP for the calligraphy trim is $46,500. I mean, like you, I had multiple people ask me if it was a Range Rover. Another guy just assumed it was electric because electric cars look different. You get a lot of stuff and you get a premium-looking vehicle. So that sense, it's a tremendous deal.
I love that center console. I mean, speaking of COVID areas, you can put-- it reminded me of when people used to roll around with huge containers of gloves and masks and sanitizer. I mean, I still throw a huge thing of sanitizer in my cars because the world's kind of gross. So I guess I didn't maybe need to, though, knowing that it would sanitize my phone for me. I didn't do that feature. So that's cool.
But I mean, Hyundais and Kias-- because the Kia EV9 had a somewhat similar setup with that center console. It's like this double-decker thing. The second row, the passenger's there. The captain's chair. You can pull stuff out. And you get that because Hyundai and Kia have really decided, hey, we're going to do stalks for our-- you know, the print, parking reverse, drive neutral. You don't have these big shifters in the middle of these vehicles anymore, and I think it's a good thing.
At times, I think if I own the vehicles, I would learn pretty quick which way-- up is forward, down is back, all that stuff. Testing them for a week, it's easy to get confused. You're in reverse, then you hit the button and you're like, I'm still going in reverse. But the trade-off of having all that space for sanitizer, purses, phones. I had a soccer ball, I think it was either in this one-- a small soccer ball-- in this one or the EV9. I've spent a lot of time in Hyundai Motor Co. vehicles lately. But really, very good at being an SUV, especially one that is such a good value.
There's something else I'd call it, too-- is I really like the interior, too. It had that kind of green balsa wood-type accents. I don't quite know what to call it. You don't see green in vehicles very much, especially Hyundais. Thought that was creative. Outside of like a Jeep or something. That was very creative use of materials and a nice color scheme. Yeah, I mean, I liked it.
ZAC PALMER: It was-- it was beautiful, that dark olivey green with the cream-white combo. I'm not sure that I would want to live with the cream seats and accents everywhere. But going so far as to make the plastic green all throughout the interior-- it's just such a well done package, especially with that matte goldish bronze exterior. You can make a really, really cool looking spec of this car if you want, which has honestly been like a Hyundai and Kia mainstay over the past two or three years. They just keep providing people with awesome interior color options.
I know you can get the Tucson in a blue. Most Genesises you can get in green over green or red over red. And also blue interiors in those, too. There's just some really cool options. If you spend some time on the online builder, you can get some really cool specs going.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I'll be curious, too-- final thought here-- what this design portends for Hyundai design more broadly speaking. Because if you go to their website, you can see the 2023 Santa Fe hybrid is basically how the Santa Fe has looked for the last six years or so. Nice looking vehicle. I always have honestly liked the Santa Fe. You see the Tucson. And then boom, the 2024 Santa Fe is, again, like a bronzed rebirth of the Ford Flex. Does not fit in this group, and that's great.
I actually think car companies should do this all the time. You do not have to have every car look exactly the same in your lineup, but it's just a slightly different size. I think it's a gutsy play if they were to do this. You know, it certainly isn't going to work in every single segment, but I don't know what they do next. So we'll see. But right now, it's the odd duck.
ZAC PALMER: I'm 100% with you. We don't need a family look. We don't need a crest, a shield over every single front end of every single car. No, just make unique cars. Honestly, that's a lot of what made cars look super cool back in the '60s, '70s, '50s, and before. They were unique, every single one of them. All of their designs changed all of the time. And it wasn't just like, all right, the C-class looks just like an E-class, but smaller, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, more unique designs, especially from Hyundai and Kia, because they just keep killing it with every single one they put out.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. Sounds good. All right, let's shift gears. Why don't we go to Lucid first, and then we'll wrap things up with our long-termer. That's the CX-90. You went out to California, you visited their headquarters, you drove some of their vehicles. Just give me a big snapshot of what it was like to go be on the ground with Lucid for about 48 hours.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, man. So I got out there straight into the fact-- sorry, not the factory, but the headquarters in Newark, California. Got to meet the CEO, Peter Rawlinson. He is one of the most enthusiastic CEOs of any car company that I've ever met. The dude is so passionate about electric motors. Battery technology.
It's sort of funny-- one little anecdote from our time there. So we were about to walk out the door. The whole tour is over. We saw the design studio. we saw where they do the Arrow. We saw their thinking rooms. And like, all right, it's time to go to dinner. We got to leave. And then Peter is like, no, no, no, no. You got to come see this. You got to come see this. And brings us into this little dark conference room where they have every single electric motor for the Air and also all of the competitive electric motors. So they had one out of like a Model S Plaid. The BMWs. The Bolts. Like, everything out there.
And he starts going into, like, gross detail about like every single aspect of these motors. What's good. What's bad. All of all of these copper windings, these inverters, these staters. He spent like 30 minutes just going into very, very deep detail about all of these things. And he was so, so passionate about it and so good at explaining everything. There were about 10 or 15 of us there. Blew all of our minds, honestly, at how much Lucid is doing.
And it really does shock you when you look at the size of their electric motors and how they're doing things and why their vehicle is so efficient. And when you look at all of these little things that they're doing, you understand why their car has 516 miles of EPA-rated range and others don't-- because they are masters of electric motor efficiency. And that just goes into all of their cars and just kind of speaks to their ethos about how they do things. They're very, very passionate about efficiency and quiet luxury. And their headquarters is small, but it's cool that they have a few different cars in their design studio.
And yeah, that was the first night. And then the second day is what I'll mostly be writing about here-- is I got to drive all of the Airs. So which of the Airs have you driven?
GREG MIGLIORE: So I have driven the Lucid Air Dream Performance.
ZAC PALMER: What a name. Yeah, gotcha. So that was a launch model. I didn't actually get to drive that one because they don't make it anymore, but I got to drive the Base Pure; the Touring, which is the next step up, which is the dual motor; the Grand Touring, which is also a dual motor but with more power; and I also got to drive the Sapphire, which is the tri-motor crazy high horsepower one that goes 0 to 60 in 1.89 seconds.
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Yeah, it's fast. I guess that's probably a decent place to start, because my big takeaway with that one is, all right, hey, it's fast. I'd also driven a Tesla Model S Plaid about a year before. Also crazy, crazy fast. They're very, very close on the actual numbers scale. The Model S Plaid was a little scary because it didn't really have the suspension, the brakes that you would expect from a supercar or a hypercar that can actually accelerate that quickly. Most of the times when you have cars that quick, they're also very track-capable, and they have everything around it that makes it feel secure.
Model S Plaid really wasn't that. It felt like this very muscle car type of American way of doing things like a Challenger Hellcat. And all right, yeah, it can do it. It's not exactly super capable any other things, whereas the Lucid Air Sapphire was the complete package. It has the suspension, it has the brakes, it has the seats, it has the chassis, it has the balance. Everything about it, like the wheels, the tires-- everything about it was there.
And you start to understand why the car starts at $250,000 versus the Model S Plaid is around the $100,000 mark. It's because the Lucid that you're buying is a complete car in that it will absolutely tear up a track. It will make any sort of a back road feel easy to drive. The tri-motor torque vectoring pretty much makes it like a cheat code going around any corner. Just slam the gas and-- sorry, not gas, the throttle pedal, and away you go. It is truly a complete and total package of a performance sedan in the way that-- like an M5 Competition or like an E63 S sedan is a total package.
So there's no cheaping out anywhere. It is a well and truly designed high, high performance sedan. I know that Lucid likes to Bill it like a supercar. It's not a supercar. I mean, it's still very obviously a four door sedan that's heavy. You sit in a normal sedan driving position. So there's all of that, but all of the performance is there to back up that 1.89 seconds. And my god, it is fast. I launched it a few times, and honestly, if you ever drive one, the first time that you go foot to the floor, it will floor you emotionally. Physically. Just absolutely destroy your senses for what speed is. So yeah, Sapphire-- crazy.
But honestly, my favorite thing of driving all of them was driving the rear wheel drive Pure. Just like the most basic-- and I shouldn't even say basic because the Pure still has 430 horsepower. It goes 0 to 60 and 4.5 seconds. So this is a very, very quick sports sedan that has all the speed in the world that you would ever want on the street. On the road. And where all of the Lucid's-- they're very good handling cars. I think that the Pure is the best.
It has a lot of weight taken off the front end. It has unique suspension and chassis tuning. On account of that, it feels far pointier than any of the other Lucids. Having the power come from the rear wheels as opposed to some helping from the front I think helps a lot in terms of not necessarily feeling the rotation, but just having the correct weight balance that feels more natural for that chassis and the car itself.
Also, Lucid said that the actual adaptive dampers and the chassis tuning itself is unique on the Pure versus the Touring and Grand Touring. They've made some updates to it that they learned from the Sapphire that aren't quite applied to the Touring and Grand Touring yet. So that's another reason why the Pure just feels, I guess, for lack of a better word, pure as far as handling and driving on everyday duties goes.
So yeah, my big takeaway honestly from driving all of them was, you don't need to spend nearly $100,000 on an all wheel drive Touring or Grand Touring to get all of the really, really high performance and fun. You can spend $70,000, $75,000 on the Pure and get a really rocking sports sedan that is plenty fast, has all the luxuries of the Touring or Grand Touring, has Lucid's great software, charging, range, all that stuff. And it's actually a reasonable price. So that's my quick summary of the trip out to San Francisco driving the Lucids.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I mean, I would dovetail with your thoughts. My drive on the-- again, the launch model of the Air Dream Performance was very memorable. Mine had at the time-- they rated at exactly a 1,111 horsepower, and it had 471 miles of range. It was really crazy. I mean, it was this insanely powerful car.
I'm thinking that must be the most powerful car I've ever driven at that point. I'd have to double check how much some of the Hummers actually top out at. And afforded 71 miles of range. You just foot to the floor, and away you go. It was this beautiful fall day where it was kind of warm driving up and down Woodward. Very memorable.
The interior, the exterior, I think, were spot on. Reminds me a little bit of the Cadillac LYRIQ with that kind of mid-century modern, light, airy, optimistic feel. Beautiful color palette. I was very impressed with the product, especially given at the time-- I can't believe this was the fall of 2021. Time really flies, right? That this was their first product. And then obviously you've been able to get behind the wheel of some of the subsequent ones. I think they've done a lot in a short period of time.
And I think also what's interesting is, to your point, you don't have to spend crazy six figure money. You can spend about $70 grand and get a very nice vehicle. Now, I don't know quite what the distribution model is. How many they've actually sold. Maybe you have a little better sense of their business case. But there's always some level of risk with buying what I would call one of these newer startups. Even if they're not startups, I think they move into the boutique automaker phase, which is what Tesla was in until even just a few years ago, and now they're mainstream.
You see companies like Fisker that just does not appear like it's going to make it. Yet these guys kind of are somewhere in the middle where they're on the way up with, like, Rivian. It's almost like drinking a craft beer, you know? It's something that's different, but it's going to be smaller. And the stakes are much smaller for buying a craft beer versus a five figure luxury sedan. But I think from a product perspective, that's the mindset. You're getting something different. Perhaps it's special to you and it has its own identity.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah. No, from their actual business standpoint, Peter Rawlinson was pretty frank with us in that he said that their big issue right now is just lack of volume and that they have these obviously very expensive cars that, well, not everybody can afford. So that's one reason why they came out with the Pure that starts at about $70,000 in hopes of really increasing their volume. And I think that when the Gravity comes out, their SUV, which I also got to poke around with inside of their studio-- when that comes out, that'll definitely help the volume a lot just because it's an SUV. And that is still, without a doubt, the hottest market out there.
So yeah, that should definitely help them out. They obviously are still getting infusions of cash from their Saudi investors. They got just got another billion dollars, I believe, a week before I showed up. So I don't think they necessarily have a cash flow issue right now. But no, they're definitely on the march to more volume. I want to say last year, they teased that they're coming out with a mid-sized model as well. And that'll more directly compete with something like a Tesla Model Y. Mustang Mach-E. Just something in that 50-ish-thousand dollar range that will definitely capture more of the market. Obviously the problem is, they need it. They could use it right now. So it's just sort of a hurry up and wait to see how the actual business case of Lucid continues to go.
GREG MIGLIORE: To your point, unlike, say, Fisker or Lordstown or even Rivian, Lucid does have the luxury of time because they have so much money on their hands, which makes it a little bit different. Ultimately, they do need the product to catch on though, with some sort of a mainstream scalable audience. So, yeah. Cool cars, though.
Let's talk about-- I think this is also a pretty cool car in a different way-- the Mazda CX-90. You and I traded the Santa Fe again on Friday. Got one three-row SUV in exchange for another. Seemed like a fair trade. And it's a very nice long-termer. It's been in the fleet for a while now. You spent more time in it than I did. I'm just still kind of getting my initial feel for it. I like it. There's a lot to unpack here. Why don't you just remind everybody, though, which one that we have signed up for.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, so we have the plug-in hybrid and the premium plus trim. So that is the highest trim package for the plug-in hybrid version of it. Now the plug-in hybrid does not have the new inline Six that the gasoline-only versions have. Instead, it has the 2.5 liter naturally aspirated four cylinder that we are already very familiar with from many Mazdas before. And that is joined by a single electric motor that is integrated into the transmission.
And it is an eight speed clutch transmission. It's not a torque converter, which I know that I mentioned to you when I dropped it off. And it sounds like you already have thoughts in it too, from when we were chatting in our meeting earlier this week. So yeah, that's the version we have. It has a 17.8 kilowatt hour battery which, on a full charge, is good for about 26 miles of electric-only driving. So pretty respectable range numbers.
Power numbers are pretty good too. It is quick when you give it the full boot. But yeah, that's what we have. And yeah, I guess I'm curious about your initial thoughts on it here for the past week.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, my initial thoughts honestly are, in some ways I think maybe I wish we had the straight six just because that's such a sweet engine. And to me, that's a Mazda that happens to be a three-row crossover. This feels a little bit like a Franken-car at the moment. So you've got that Mazda steering, which I like, mostly. I'll get to more of that in a minute. Powertrain is just kind of weird to me. The transmission is weird.
Like I said, I'd still try to get used to it. Especially after your first drive of the day, you get in there and maybe it's taken a minute to get everything-- all the fluids going through and warm up. I mean, the gearing is weird. It just-- it's weird. It feels like it's holding and then building up revs almost unnecessarily. It kind of feels like I'm in a boat, which is not the vibe I think Mazda ever wants to have, even for a large crossover. And then even as you're working up the band, it still has this almost laborious feel. It's obviously different than any Mazda I've felt. So right now I'm not loving that vibe. What did you think of it?
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, man. So the best way that I think I've been able to sum it up so far is that it very much feels like a gen 1 plug-in hybrid powertrain attempt. And it feels like maybe how plug-in hybrid powertrains felt 10 years ago when they were just coming online in that it is not smooth shifting. It is not smooth on the handover to the gas engine. There are vibrations and noises coming from the powertrain that are not refined and should not be there, I don't think, for a $60,000 Mazda.
And the eight speed transmission-- it will do the occasional smooth shift. But most of the time, honestly, you will feel like every single one of the shifts, which I would rather not feel in a three-row crossover. Even on the highway, like if you're on like adaptive cruise control, it slows down a little and then needs to speed back up. And it shifts from, like, eight down to six. You'll get a solid jolt through the chassis. And I'm like, hmm, I didn't really want to feel that jolt on the highway at all.
So honestly, it feels like it needs a little more time in the cooker-- is where I sort of landed on that. And I wish that I could say that driving it around in all-electric mode was better. But it honestly feels a lot the same because the electric motor is integrated into the transmission. So even when you're driving in full electric mode, you will feel every single shift.
And frankly, the electric motor is not all that powerful. So I would find myself just getting roasted off the line by, like, Ford Focuses and basically anybody else and you know hurried Michigan metro Detroit traffic when I tried to drive in electric mode. You can eventually get up to highway speed in it, but it can be a little stressful trying to get up to like 70-plus miles per hour on under full electric.
So yeah, those are sort of the bad of the powertrain. The good is that the chassis is fantastic. Like, I really, really do like hustling this thing more than any other three-row crossover out there, which is a very Mazda characteristic thing to be. And how you started this whole thing, I just wish it had the inline six. Because I think that that is really where this chassis and platform is meant to be at this point. I think the plug-in just needs more work.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think a lot of car companies, to your point, when it's a gen 1 sort of application with a hybrid or a plug-in, it takes them a while to get it right. I don't think Mazda really has the core competency in this area to be crushing this out of the park. I mean, if this were like a GM or a Volkswagen or somebody, I think they'd probably have a better powertrain setup. Or Ford. Mazda just doesn't have that.
I feel like it's interesting because I almost-- I want to tell people, hey, get a plug-in hybrid. It might work better for you than a true EV or a hybrid. This one-- it also reminds me a little bit of some of those Volvos that had the plug-in powertrains that were a little uneven because they had so much going on with those complicated engines. Was it like the T8 or whatever their code name for it was?
ZAC PALMER: The super and turbocharged ones, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. And it's a hybrid. You got a lot going on there, Volvo. So this reminded me a little bit of that. And also for 323 horsepower, it does not feel like that. And that's where I feel like the eight speed is doing this thing no favors.
ZAC PALMER: Honestly, a lot of it could be the transmission in why it's as rough to drive as it is, because it does feel like a single or dual clutch transmission in a lot of ways. And the shifts are abrupt, sharp, and yeah, it's just not-- I mean, maybe in something sportier than this. But this is very clearly Mazda's first plug-in hybrid attempt.
I mean, this is flat-out their first plug-in hybrid that they've ever made, I guess, other than the CX-60 which is in Europe, which was launched with the same exact powertrain about a year before this one. But yeah, guess we'll see how the year goes on as it gets broken in. I don't know if things will improve any. But yeah, there's certainly some strong and some very weak notes so far.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I think it's a great looking crossover. Well proportioned. It looks sporty. I like the steering. To me, and I thought this when I drove the straight-six last fall-- I was like, is this what I want, or would I'd rather just get more of a truly comfortable three-row crossover and then try to get a sports car-- get a Miata? Part of me feels like at times, it's a little weird to drive because the steering is so direct and precise. I'll ask myself, this is fun for sure. Is this what I really want, though, in this car?
I try to think of a similar comparison. One is not coming to mind where it's like, it's more intense than it needs to be or something. It's like, your kid has a music class. Instead of getting them like a recorder-- those plastic wooden flute-like things, you're like, here's an electric guitar. Like, maybe that's not needed. I don't know. I don't want to sound like I'm taking a dark view of this thing, because I'm not. I really do like it. It's a good vehicle. I'm glad we're going to get a year to really dive into it deeply. Initial impressions are mixed, obviously, so we'll see how the rest of it goes.
ZAC PALMER: I actually wrote a whole long-term update about that steering that you mentioned there about, you know, does it really need sports car steering? Because that's honestly what it is. And in the end, I was just chiding Mazda. Like, maybe we go away from the one size fits all steering for a car like this. Because Mazda is very adamant that they don't change steering feel when you change drive modes. So maybe give it this steering in sport mode and then in normal mode, give it a normal steering.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a good solution. I like that. I would also say, too-- I mean, what are they trying to do with this vehicle? Are they trying to bring in new customers or make a vehicle for their own customers? Because that's where perhaps you have a different mission for how you tune this thing.
ZAC PALMER: Exactly. Exactly.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. I suppose we should do a disclaimer. The Hyundai Santa Fe did not get Zac sick, in case anybody out there is wondering. Full disclaimer, the Hyundai Santa Fe did not offer him any illness, so feel free to sanitize your phones using it. And there we go.
Let's talk about some news. We're recording this on the day the Ford Mustang turns 60. So if you are listening to us perhaps over the weekend, head back. We got lots of great Mustang coverage. There is a special anniversary package. Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski is down in North Carolina for the 60th birthday party. It's pretty cool. So check out all of our coverage.
I think this special edition is kind of cool. It reminds me very much of the 50th. It was either 50th or the 45th. You know, a white paint scheme with some of the red trim, which harks back to the 1960s version. The original one. They always like to trace that lineage back to the '64 World's Fair in New York. Cool-looking package.
Just thinking at a high level, it's been a minute since I've driven a Mustang. Now that the weather is getting better, I'm looking forward to hopefully getting one of those in the fleet. I don't even care which one. Just a GT with the performance pack. The Dark Horse would be cool. So yeah, do you have a memorable Mustang experience, Zac?
ZAC PALMER: Memorable Mustang experience. I have so many memorable Mustang experiences, honestly. Man, I mean, my number one is probably still-- so before I did this, back when I had just graduated from high school and was going into college, I took a job test driving for Roush, actually, back when Ford-- so this was about 2014, 2015, and Ford was developing the new independent rear suspension Mustang. So very, very cool stuff going on at Ford at the time.
And Roush had a contract with Ford where basically all of the test drivers would hop into a pre-production Ford model and drive it for about eight hours, come back, report problems. We'd test the infotainment. Test everything within the car. Now I drove all of the different Mustangs, but the most special one that I hopped into was the Shelby GT350.
Now at 17 years old, this car made an extreme impression on me. As soon as I got in it and started driving it, it quickly became my attainable dream car, and honestly sort of still is. Even after having driven all of the cars that we're so lucky to drive with this job, I can still hop into a GT350. I wish that I had one. But you can still happen to one and say, yep, I want this car really, really badly.
That engine is magic. Transmission is just as good. Everything about it amazing. And I got to drive that car when it was still in pre-production form back in 2015. Flat plane crank. Going crazy. Everybody looking at me on the highway like, what is this thing? Why does it sound like that? Blah, blah, blah. And yeah, man, that was special. And I don't think that I can top that as far as Mustang moments.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a good one. That's a good one. I'll go back one generation before for the GT-- let's see, the GT 500 looking at that 2012, 2013 where it had the 5.8 liter V8 with 662 horsepower. Six speed manual. So basically, probably around the same time you were testing the next generation, I was actually still at "Autoweek" at the time driving that GT 500. What a rocket ship. I remember I took it to a Tigers game and people were just like, dude, what is that thing?
And this is Detroit where everybody knows every Mustang. But that car just had such an aura. It was so special and it was so raw. You know, you go back to that time period where Ford's still-- the chassis wasn't quite as, I would say-- refined isn't the right word. But the Mustang was pretty raw 10 years ago. You know this, especially with the six speed manual and all that horsepower coming out of that V8. So that was very memorable.
I actually, at a reveal a couple of years before that for this generation of Mustang but when they were just revealing the car in a theater in LA, I got to interview Carroll Shelby. That was kind of cool. He was still alive back then talking about the different Shelby models. Mustang's a very ubiquitous car. I think almost everybody has a story. You know, grew up with one. Somebody's aunt or uncle had one.
I remember I got one way back. This is over 10, 15 years ago. I was quite the young pup. And I took my grandmother for a ride in the 2000, I think it was the Eight Mustang convertible. Just a V6. Cool car. It was just that first generation where they went back to the throwback body style, which I think everybody-- it was very well received after the late '90s, early 2000s model that-- it's got its fans, but I feel like going way retro was-- not way retro, but going retro was the right move. And they've been able to riff on it ever since.
She loved it. It was a very memorable fall drive again in that thing with the top down. So a lot of good memories in Mustangs. I've never driven, like, a '60s Mustang. That's on my bucket list. I don't know. Driving a gen 1 would be very cool, I think. I would like to do that.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, same. I think weirdly-- I'm trying to think back-- the oldest Mustang that I've ever driven is a 2015 Mustang. So I can't even say that I've driven a Mustang that didn't have independent rear suspension.
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, wow. OK.
ZAC PALMER: So, yeah, I got--
GREG MIGLIORE: You got to try the live rear axle, man. You got to go back.
ZAC PALMER: I know. I got to drive the real Mustang.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, yeah. Blasphemy.
ZAC PALMER: One that isn't a sports car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, there you go. All right, so check out all of our Mustang coverage. We've got a lot of it. Let's go back. We'll close up the news section here. Well, no, we got a couple more things. The Cybertruck. As always, Tesla seems to be in the news this week. There's a video that claims that the accelerator pedal was stuck.
NHTSA, of course, is very interested. This made the-- rocketed around the internet earlier this week. I'll be curious to see where NHTSA lands on this. It seems like they must have a division-- a regulatory division devoted to just what's up with Tesla. Or if not, maybe they need to, because it seems like Tesla's pulling up a lot of their billable hours. What do you think of this? Where do you think this one's going to land? I don't know. To me, this is kind of weird, but not surprising.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, I mean, any time you come out with the words "unintended acceleration," I think that lights up a light bulb in anybody's head, especially-- I mean, I feel like with all of the coverage that Toyota had years and years ago about that, I feel like I don't know if they're ever going to disassociate from that. But any time that that's involved is a scary time and something that you do not want to be in the news for.
What the actual problem is here the video seems to suggest what the issue is. Hopefully we get some sort of answer if the NHTSA is looking into it. I know that Tesla hasn't come out and said, hey, this is an issue. This is what it is. It would be really great if we got some clarity, I guess, on exactly what's going on. Because right now it's like a bunch of internet videos. Supposed stop sales.
I don't know. It just feels quite mysterious right now. And if I was a Cybertruck owner, I would feel, I don't know, just a little hesitant about it. Just like, hey, what's going on with the accelerator pedal down there? I've seen a lot of reports. Tesla hasn't said anything officially. I really want to hear about it because it's such a safety issue. If your accelerator pedal is going to be held down without you actually doing so and without your knowledge, that's obviously a big problem. So yeah, I guess wait and see what ultimately transpires here. But it obviously doesn't look good on the surface and from the videos that are floating around right now for the Cybertruck.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, ask Toyota about unintended acceleration and how the government takes to that. So we shall see. All right. General Motors is moving its headquarters about a mile farther for into the central part of downtown Detroit. A little insidery here, but honestly, this is our top clicker for like the whole week. Everybody seems to really care about this. I'm not quite sure why. But I think it's-- I mean, if you're not from Michigan or the Detroit area, GM is housed in this iconic skyscraper called the RenCen. If you've ever watched any sporting event televised in Detroit, it's like the glass towers that always, like, hover over the city. It's got the GM logo at the top. They've been there since about 1996. They actually own the place.
But it's not their first headquarters, obviously. They've been around for 110 years. They have an arguably more iconic building that was called the GM Building designed by Albert Kahn in the New Center area, part of Detroit, which is sort of just North of downtown. And they actually had, I think, another headquarters even before that. So some people are a little, I would say, questioning the move. But I think what it boils down to is, they just need less space.
I mean, if you live in Michigan, you probably know somebody who works in the RenCen at some point and it's kind of a ghost town. I read, I think in the "Detroit Free Press" that it's like 2.5 million square feet. And the floors that GM is going to take in this new tower, which we should probably get into a little bit, is like 50,000 square feet. So it's very clear that hybrid work, return to office, all of that stuff-- GM just doesn't need this massive office tower.
They're going to move into a Dan Gilbert building. He's like a gazillionaire. He owns the Cleveland Cavaliers. This huge mortgage company. That's why you may know him. And he's building what will be the tallest building in Detroit and thus Michigan, and among the tallest in the Midwest. And I guess the country, actually. It's going to be a very tall building. GM moves into that, and that's the long and short of it.
I think if I were like a GM worker, and I know many, it's a slightly better location. There's more bars and restaurants. You're a little closer to like Comerica Park. Places to do fun things. The RenCen is very much a self-contained office structure. A huge part of it-- the most iconic part is actually not GM's. It's a Marriott Hotel. A lot of people don't know that. That's what the tallest building is. And then you've got the river, and then you've got Canada.
So it's like basically you park, you go in, you work, and then you leave. Is it pretty easy to just cross the street and get right into a part of downtown? Yes, but you've got to descend from whatever floor you're on and then navigate what is really a labyrinth of just hallways and plazas and things. It's a little bit confusing to be in there. Whenever GM used to do press conferences there, it was like you basically had to tack on an extra 45 minutes from when you left your car to get wherever you were going in the RenCen.
There's a beautiful river walk, but I think that is just status quo. I don't think GM needs to be there for the river walk to be a success or not. So, I mean, that's kind of my take on it. The only, I would say, downside for GM is that they do lose that signage. Like I said, every shot, every Lions playoff game, they would pan to the big tower of the RenCen with the GM logo over it. And I mean, that's an iconic shot. I would presume whoever ends up using that building isn't necessarily going to keep that.
So we'll see. I think it would make sense for them to get some sort of signage in this new building called the Hudson's Tower, which is-- if you're really old, you might remember there was a Hudson's department store. That's what GM and Gilbert are building upon-- the former site. At one time, it was the tallest department store in the world. So a lot of Detroit history here, let's put it that way. What do you think of all this?
ZAC PALMER: You know, it's certainly going to be sad to not see the big GM atop the RenCen because that's just been like a mainstay, I feel like, my entire life. I grew up, was raised in Michigan. When you look across the way from Belle Isle-- just like you said, all those shots and all of the sports games, obviously people pan to the RenCen because it's the biggest, grandest building in the Detroit skyline. So that is certainly just going to make me like a little sad and miss that GM won't be there.
Is it probably a smart business move for GM? Yeah, without a doubt. There's no need to have that giant labyrinth of halls. And it really is wild. I know that the first time I went there when I was an intern at "Autoweek," I got lost.
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, you have to get lost. It's
ZAC PALMER: Like, really lost. I did not know what I was walking into when I walked in there. So, yeah, it's like a part of me is sad that it just won't be anymore. I still have to get to the top floor bar in that place. I know that way at the top there's this cool restaurant and bar that you can hang out in. And it was always neat when you're pulling in, showing people Michigan for the first time and going to Detroit like, yeah, that's the GM world headquarters right there. Here it is. It's the biggest building. We do cars here in Michigan. And now it just sort of won't be. So yeah, that's sort of where I land. Just a little sad about the news, even if it is probably a smart thing to do.
GREG MIGLIORE: Smart business move. I mean, they're staying in the city, which I think is a positive thing. Now they still own the RenCen. They did buy it and they have not said what they're going to do with it. That's where Dan Gilbert, who also is a real estate magnate, comes in. We'll see what he does with it. My sense is, given his business savvy, he's probably going to do more with it than whatever GM was going to do with it. So that could be a good thing.
Maybe they redevelop it. Apartments would make a ton of sense, although then you got to put plumbing in every unit. That's tricky. They've got one hotel. There's already a surplus of office space in the city, as well as everywhere in the world, because how many people are working hybrid or more? So there's that.
Some fun trivia, though. GM tried to move to the Tech Center in Warren during their bankruptcy in 2009-ish, but the government said, no, we're giving you all of this bailout money. You're not selling your office tower. You're not doing that. Different sites have reported that. And also, as much as some people say, hey, I can't believe GM would be anywhere else, well, they've only been at the RenCen since '96. And Henry Ford, II built the place, or at least was the guy behind it.
So it's one of those things where, OK, you can see where they have an attachment to it. But they've had other-- they had a headquarters that was just as iconic. The Ford chairman built the place. I think it's reasonable for them to think, yeah, we don't have to stay here forever. So change could be good for GM. We'll see what they do with it. And this also gives them an elegant solution to probably ship some of their, you know, legal communications people out to Warren and then have some of the executives. And there's two floors, apparently, of the Hudson's Building. So we'll see.
I guess we've kind of run long here. If you're still listening to this, perhaps you do care this much about GM's headquarters. And We hope you do. So thanks for listening. If you are, let's spend some money. Let's do that. This is a good one. We have-- Gary in Wisconsin writes, I have a 2006 Ford Mustang GT that is aging out and I'm going to replace it at some point. I live in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I'm not actually sure how to say Eau Claire. Is it "oh" Claire? I think that's what it is.
ZAC PALMER: I'm pretty sure it's--
GREG MIGLIORE: I'm pretty sure it is. And I drive the Mustang year round with the help of snow tires. I love it. I also have a C4 Corvette convertible for summer drives, and my wife has a Mazda 3 that we use for longer trips for the fuel mileage. We have no kids, and the Mustang is used mostly for driving to school-- as a teacher, not a student. In daily transportation, that's less than 20 miles a day.
I'm sure I would be a perfect candidate for a used electric vehicle. And I've been leaning towards a Mach-E. I have concerns about all the buyback cars I've seen online. I have a budget of about $25,000 for something lightly used and hopefully less than five years old. Is there anything else that is kind of sporty that I should consider?
Gary, thank you for writing. If you're a Wisconsin Badgers fan or a Packers fan, we won't hold that against you. But there's a bit to unpack here. Zac, I will kick it over to you for some high-level thoughts here and we can riff on this.
ZAC PALMER: Man, I got too many ideas, probably, just because you left it wide open. So $25,000. Something lightly used and fun. If you want to stick to electric, and it looks like you're only going to need about 20 miles a day, maybe look at something like a Mini Cooper SE. You don't have--
GREG MIGLIORE: Creative.
ZAC PALMER: You don't need practicality. You got the Mazda 3 if you do need something practical. The Mini Cooper SE is loads of fun. It's quite cheap. You can get a really nice one for under that budget, and it's definitely less than five years old. I would really, really consider that. Oh, and it'll also be a lot better than your Mustang in snow, especially when you put it on winter tires. So that's probably my top rec for something electric.
However, you are replacing a Mustang GT, so maybe you want something that is also just as fun as that. Go get a Subaru BRZ if we want to just like forget electric and just have fun. You can get an almost-new BRZ, or if you want the Toyota, you can get the GR86 for right around $25,000 all day long. And it's honestly probably going to be just as practical as your Mustang. You have almost unusable back seat just like the Mustang. A small trunk just like the Mustang. So yeah, BRZ. And it'll probably even be better in the snow than your Mustang, too, if you put the right tires on it. So yeah, Mini Cooper SE for electric. BRZ or GR86 for gas. That's it.
GREG MIGLIORE: I like it. I like it. That's pretty creative. I wouldn't have seen the Mini. That's kind of a deep cut. But I think given the enthusiast nature of their family, I think that makes a lot of sense. So those are good ones, I think. It's very tough to find a Mach-E in this $25,000 price range. I would see if you could find-- like, take some miles. And I would definitely consider a Mach-E for the electric, though, if you can find one perhaps maybe in the $30,000 range.
It hasn't been out that long, so the used car market isn't super saturated. There's not a ton of choices. I like that because, again, you already have a Mustang. You get a little bit of a crossover. It is nominally a crossover capability. I like how it looks. I like the interior. Being in Wisconsin, I would probably go with all wheel drive, although clearly you're doing just fine with a rear wheel drive Mustang on snows. So I think that's something I would look at.
I think I would maybe put the sports and electric together and maybe find a vehicle that's a little bit of both, I think. So yeah, I think there's a lot of choices there. And I'm curious to know a little more about this Corvette that you drive in summer. I think that sounds kind of good as well.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah. No, same. I mean, you've got a great garage there with the C4. Mazda 3. I also have a Mazda 3 in our garage. Great little hatchback. So yeah, no, I mean, just keep the sportiness going. And also to your point, Greg, if you want to cross over with more practicality, Mach-E-- and I have seen ID.4s actually drop into the $25,000 range, too. I mean, you can get one of those with rear wheel drive.
I still have not driven an ID.4, but I know that all of us that have, have really liked the way that they drive in that they sort of drive like a European focused Volkswagen as opposed to a more Americanized one that is floatier and just more comfy. So, yeah. Wow, so many options.
GREG MIGLIORE: Some people actually like the ID.4 dynamics better than the Mustang, especially in the lower trims. They think that chassis setup is just a little bit better. I believe John Snyder was-- our Senior Editor for All Things Electric was among those, although I guess I'm putting words in his mouth. I did find a Mach-E Select for $27,000, so that's not too much over the price range. When you're looking for used Mach-Es, they tend to be more-- even into the $40s, which you might as well just buy new at that point. But definitely well into the 30s. So there's a number out there.
But this one for 14,000 miles on the clock, too-- that's not bad. It's definitely something that is maybe not directly within the $25,000 budget, but it would be a fun car. Be practical. And I think there'd be a lot to like there. I like the Mach-E. I see more and more of them. Again, John Snyder-- we'll namedrop him again-- I think is looking at buying one. So, pretty cool.
Well, that's all the time we have this week. Thank you for listening. If you have Spend My Moneys, that's podcast@autoblog.com. If you enjoy the show, please give us five stars on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get the show. It helps us get the word out. Shout-out to our producer, Eric Meyer. Thanks again for listening. We'll 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 John Beltz Snyder. John's been driving the new Chevy Traverse and the BMW X5 M Competition, and Greg gives his first impressions from behind the wheel of the new Fiat 500e. They discuss Tesla's abandonment of …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian for a look at the business side of recent automotive news. They cover the demise of the Chevy Malibu (again), BMW's aversion to building a pickup, Tesla's Supercharger situation (and the company's broader headcount …
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd for a gasoline-powered installment. They lead off by diving into the Tesla layoff news from this week before leaving electrification behind for a bit to talk about not one, but two production V12 unveilings. …
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 …
