Honda and Chrysler EV news, and talking with GM's charging ecosystem boss | Autoblog Podcast #781

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. They're excited about the news of the possibility of an electric sports car being revealed for Honda's 75th anniversary, as well as the completely revamped — redesigned and renamed — Chrysler Airflow. They've been driving the Bentley Bentayga EWB, Range Rover, Toyota GR Corolla and the refreshed Buick Encore GX. We listen to a interview Greg conducted with GM's EV charging boss, Hoss Hassani. Finally, a reader is looking to help his in-laws choose an SUV, possibly a hybrid or EV, to replace a BMX X3.

Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to "The Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore. We got an awesome show for you today. We're going to talk about what the Chrysler Airflow concept is, perhaps, becoming. And it won't be called Airflow, at least we don't think so.

Will there be an electric S-2000? Well, I don't know. That's a pretty big teaser. Stick around and see how we're going to riff on that one. We've been driving a lot of cool things like the Bentley Bentayga, Range Rover, and the GR Corolla-- maybe a few other things we'll try to get to.

Later in the show, I talked to Hoss Hassani. He's the Vice President of EV Charging and the Ecosystem for General Motors. We'll catch up with him and hear about all things on the grid with GM. Finally, we will spend some money. So with that, I'm going to bring in senior editor for all things electric John Snyder. How are you, man?

JOHN SNYDER: I'm doing great. This is beautiful weather for driving something like an S-2000-- kind of crisp, and cool, and sunny, hasn't gotten humid yet. It's like perfect.

GREG MIGLIORE: I put my flowers in a couple of days ago-- like, I go through these, like, spring, like, chores that I kind of like to do. But I think that I probably should have gone with the mulch first, because we had, like, almost a frost last night. Now, they look fine--

JOHN SNYDER: I know, it got really cold.

GREG MIGLIORE: It was cold.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Yeah, I woke up and it was 55 degrees in my house this morning. I was like, oh my god. I actually turned the heat on, which don't tell my wife.

GREG MIGLIORE: No, no, same. I had the heat on. And I, like, literally-- it actually kicked on, because the morning, like, backyard when the dog decided to go out, it was, like, 36 degrees. So yeah, man, it's just-- who knows? Permafrost, if you will.

JOHN SNYDER: But yeah, but now, I mean, it's already in the 50s and going to be up in the mid 60s. Perfect.

GREG MIGLIORE: Going to be a good day. Clear skies. Yeah, it's a good time to drive something sporty. So let's see, what do we want to kick off first with? Airflow or EV sports car from Honda? Dealer's choice. What do you think, flip a coin?

JOHN SNYDER: Let's go with the Honda EV.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, yeah, that's cool. So I'm intrigued by this. This is the concept that we all really knew and loved. And the subhead is prelude coming back. What do you think they're doing here?

JOHN SNYDER: I don't know, to be honest. You know, we saw the S-2000 when Honda had its 50th anniversary. And we're coming up-- I mean, this year is the 75th anniversary.

So it could be-- it could be something this year. But who knows, they might wait for till the 80th anniversary for something big if they don't have something quite ready. Some of that is based on whether-- they've kind of committed to solid state batteries.

And that's not going to be ready for a few more years. So maybe we'll see something this year and sort of previewing something for five years down the road. But you know, Tom Gardner, Honda's European VP, has said, you know, basically, watch this space, referencing how the S-2000 came along for the 50th anniversary. I'm intrigued.

GREG MIGLIORE: Very much. Very much. Like, I like that the tea leaves are kind of being strewn for the S-2000. Because another theory is maybe they go more with, like, somewhat of a practical route like the Prelude, which great name, great history.

But I would argue with just, like, the Civic SI, and the Civic Type R, and the Integra, Honda Motor Co. broad strokes has covered that space.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. I mean, that would be the safe move. And I'm sure they could do something to make the car sort of different than those-- give it its own flavor that someone who wants a Civic SI-- you know, this is going to feel different, like a completely different thing.

But I would love to see them take the risk and do a droptop. I saw someone driving down the road in a convertible the other day with the top down. And I just feel like that's something I don't see nearly as much as I did 10 years ago, even.

And the same with hot hatches-- we'll get to that later. But I mean, there's these formats that I've loved and have seemed to have just gone by the wayside as we go toward bigger vehicles. So if we're going to get something sporty, why not take that risk and go with a convertible?

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. No, I agree. And I think when you look at what would really be, like, the image booster, I think S-2000 really goes into that bucket, because it's such an iconic car.

JOHN SNYDER: Oh, man. That was such a great car. The shift-- I mean, that's the thing is it'd be tough to sort of recreate that feeling.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. Especially in an EV.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, because the shifting and that super high revving engine-- it was just screaming at you. It was just the coolest sound. But I think give us a droptop, and give it really good handling, and some sportiness, and maybe throw in some trick feature that we haven't thought of yet, and it'll stick out. It'll be nice.

GREG MIGLIORE: That is still-- I remember a couple of very vivid press loans pretty early in my automotive journalism career too, because it's been gone for a while. But just that manual transmission. It was so light. I remember one guy thought it was, like, an MG or something. This guy I worked with who wasn't with-- it was Autoweek at the time, but he worked for, like-- I think it was Crain's Detroit Business.

He's like, wow, that's a really nice MG you're driving. I'm like, no, no, no. This is S-2000. It was the CR, the club racer. I mean, I remember it had, like, a sticky reverse gear. And I lived in an apartment at the time, so I just stuck it in neutral and pushed it, like, to the middle of the parking lot and drove forward, because it was so light.

JOHN SNYDER: Small enough to do that.

GREG MIGLIORE: But yeah, I mean, really a lot of fun. And you know, it just-- curb weight was 2,800 pounds, a little bit under that. Yeah, I'm reading a "Car & Driver" review here written by the late Tony Swann.

JOHN SNYDER: Ah yeah.

GREG MIGLIORE: So you know, it takes me back about 15 years here. But to me, that is the only-- if you're looking at Prelude, safe play. Could do it. You've already got the Integra back on the Acura side of things. Prelude makes a lot of sense for Honda.

The only downside to S-2000 is it is a little bit of a niche thing. But how do you get that manual in there? Or do you somehow maybe do it like an electric, a hybrid thing. Honda has been-- we are thinking it's an electric. So you know, I don't know.

This is one of those things where maybe you just-- and it wouldn't be very life. You know, that's the other thing is, like, if it's electric, you got batteries. That's going to be heavy. You're going to have a tough time, you know, slapping an S-2000 name on something that might weigh 3,600 pounds or 4,000 pounds. Whoa. But I don't know. I'm with you. I hope they do throw it on that side of the ledger.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. If you keep it low enough to the ground and just-- it might not be light, but keep that center of gravity low with the battery down there, and give it some good handling chops, and I think that'll fit the formula.

GREG MIGLIORE: All right. Well, let's talk about the formula. We've got "Motor Trend." Speaking of great writers, Alecia Poeltl, the "Motor Trend" Detroit Bureau Chief, has a scoop on--

JOHN SNYDER: She's great.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, she's great. She actually interviewed me for a job at Ward's Automotive, like, 17 years ago when I had no business really doing any sort of automotive job, let's put it that way, right out of school. But good scoop here-- she spoke to Ralph Giles, who's the VP of Design for Stellantis.

This is a little bit of a different direction, let's put it that way. Check out the story. We kind of have our own take on there on our site, let's put it that way. But yeah, it's going to look different.

It's not going to look like this sort of Airflow. It probably won't-- it won't have the Airflow name. Which is really-- I don't know, I don't-- that goes back to the 30s. I'm not sure that has a lot of relevance in this day and age.

But it also sounds kind of good and there's not that many good car names out there. So I don't know, I wouldn't have minded seeing that name work. So we'll see.

JOHN SNYDER: It's fitting for an EV when you're thinking about efficiency and stuff. But yeah, I mean, you can find something more exciting. And yeah, that seems to be the route they're going.

Chris Fewell says that she wanted a statement that had literally zero to do with anything that you've seen today, even the Airflow concept. So it sounds like whatever is coming is going to set the tone for design and just the feel of the Chrysler brand going forward. And that's going to be sort of the first step in sort of a big change over there. So it'll be interesting to see.

But yeah, the Airflow-- I like it. I like the Airflow as it is. But yeah, if you want to remake your brand, sure. Yeah. Start over.

GREG MIGLIORE: They're also kind of, in the last week or two, we've heard, like, sort of rumblings about an electric 300, which makes sense because, you know, Dodge is already looking at some sort of electric successor for the Charger and Challenger-- very murky in exactly what's going to happen, how that's going to work, et cetera.

But it would make sense just given that the Charger, the 300, and the Challenger are all siblings, essentially, on that ancient LX platform. But it makes sense that a new generation of cars might share some underpinnings. You know, the 300 seems to be a little bit more of a wild card.

Like, it may be positioned differently than how it has been in the past. We'll see. You know, and this-- the way they're suggesting it is it's like a new to Chrysler name. So probably not the 300-- not the Airflow either. Yeah, so I guess we'll see.

So that's a new section. Let's talk about a car we've both been driving, the Bentley Bentayga. This is really something. The sticker was about $253, I want to say, maybe more-- I'll have to look at that. Maybe $265.

It was expensive. And you drove it over to my house. Thanks. We did a bit of a car swap. You were able to get a good 60 miles on it-- 50, 60 miles, somewhere in there. Yeah, and, you know, then I spent a little more time in it driving it around for a week. What did you think?

JOHN SNYDER: You know, it didn't-- driving it, let's say, it didn't blow my socks off the way some other Bentleys have. This is more of a car that I would want to be driven in-- sort of has that limousine sort of quality. It's a really nice interior. With the extended wheelbase, you've got a lot of space.

So my kids were living in the lap of luxury. But yeah, it's not the driver's focused Bentley some of the other ones are, especially when you get something like 12 cylinders under the hood or something. This is a V8. But that being said, very, very nice. Very comfortable.

The craftsmanship-- Bentley's craftsmanship is just really outstanding, top notch. The attention to detail, the way the leather is sewn together. Every seam is beautiful. It's really impressive stuff-- all the materials, the design, very opulent without being ostentatious.

I mean, it is a little ostentatious, but it doesn't make you feel sick to your stomach, like you're eating something too sweet. It just makes you feel good. But yeah, it's definitely a good car to be seen in. People definitely take notice of you going down the road.

Yeah, I like some of the other-- the sedans. Those are more my style-- just something more driver focused. Because when Bentley does something that's driver focused, they can do a surprisingly good job with something so big and heavy.

But it wasn't-- that's not to say it was bad to drive. It wasn't bad to drive at all. It's just not quite as exciting as some of the others.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. I mean, it's a Bentayga so it's like their SUV. It's the 4 liter twin turbo V8, 542 horsepower. It's a torquey thing with 568 pound feet of torque. That's 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds, if you're wondering.

It's almost the after show here, because the real thing is you sit in the back seat, you put down the veneer picnic tables, you've got all the different lighting-- yeah, I mean, my kid was super spoiled for preschool dropoff. And that's what you're sitting back there like, business class, first class, however you want to put it-- I went out there one night because I was like, you know what?

Kind of like you, I was just like, OK, yeah, it's sort of a big V8 SUV-- more interesting than, like, an Explorer, or a Tahoe, or something-- or, like, a Pathfinder. But nonetheless, still kind of like a fancy SUV. So I went out there and made a cheese plate, and sat in the back seat, and just kind of hung out for a little bit. It's not bad.

JOHN SNYDER: Did you have your grey poupon?

GREG MIGLIORE: You know, did I? I do have grey poupon in the house. I don't think I took it out with me to the car, though. But it was pretty good. I had some Gruyere, had the LED lights going. And did you sit in those seats? They're airline spec, as they say.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Yeah, they're very comfortable. Yeah, very luxurious, very executive, I will say.

GREG MIGLIORE: They contour to you at up to 177 different pressure changes, which is not bad. I did that and I did the massage, which was good. And then-- oh, I forgot, this is funny-- the next day before the car was going back, I went out and just did some meetings from the backseat.

And then the car fleet guys showed up and were knocking on the door. And I'm like, oh, hey, didn't realize you guys were going to be here at this point. So it was a little awkward, but, you know, it was fine. But yeah, I mean, that's kind of the story is, like, you buy this if you want that first class experience.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. And one thing about driving it, I will say, it is quick. It's quite powerful.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.

JOHN SNYDER: But it's just-- the acceleration is so smooth and the ride going down the road is so smooth that it feels very not dramatic, even when you're doing 0 to 60 in 4.5 seconds, which is very quick-- which is just so undramatic. Very drama free, that you almost don't feel like you're going as fast as you are.

And that's true of other Bentleys too. I mean, they just-- they smooth out all the bumps and seams, not just in the interior but also in the drive and in the acceleration. It's just all very smooth.

GREG MIGLIORE: I thought it was a little loud on the expressway, for what it's worth. I don't know if you experienced that. But I was a little surprised. I was coming down, speaking of Chrysler, coming down 75 sort of like the northern suburbs and my thought was, man, even if you're like the Queen of England, like, you still-- you're in your Bentley, it's still loud in rush hour in Detroit, like, at 75.

But I was a little surprised. I heard some air noise coming in there, I was like, mm, this isn't-- like, it's not obnoxious, but I'm like, this is not the quietest thing I've ever ridden in. So I don't know, but there was that.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, this one, I don't think-- it's Mercedes and I think Rolls Royce that offers up, like, silver flutes. So I don't have any of those.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, there was no, like, little refrigerator or anything in this one.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. I don't know. I mean, this is a weird comparison, but this is also, like, the job. If I were looking in this segment, I kind of like the Rolls-Royce Cullinan more if I was looking just for, like, pure luxury SUV, like, insane luxury SUV, let me put it that wa. And If I want something driver focused, I might even step down, save a little bit of money, do the Aston Martin DBX or the Lambo Urus.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.

GREG MIGLIORE: Like, if I owned a hedge fund, that would be my competitive set, you know?

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Yeah. I think I agree with you, for sure. I would definitely go the more driver focused route. Even, you know, like, a Mercedes-Maybach, the GLS. It's still pretty fun to drive and also really, really nice to sit in. And you do have the little wine fridge back there for you.

GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, I forgot about the wine fridge. Of course. Got to do it, right? Yeah. I thought about bringing a glass of wine out, because it's like 9 o'clock. I'm like, I'm definitely not going anywhere tonight, you know?

Sip some wine. But I was like, you know what, I don't want to get this on the seats. You never know. There's, like, some crushed, like, material or something back there. I'm like, eh. That'd be really hard to explain.

Like, no, really, I was sitting in my driveway, you know? And we had this, like, kind of bubbly red wine probably still left over from, like, Easter or something. And I was like, this would stain until the end of time. There's no way this would ever come out.

It was the color of this, like, yahoo purple hoodie I'm wearing. And it's pretty good. So speaking of British SUVs, I spent the week in the Range Rover. This is the SE trim-- the regular Range Rover, not the Sport. I feel like the Sport is almost so ubiquitous.

Long wheelbase, seated seven. It was gold, which was, like, kind of like a matte gold.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.

GREG MIGLIORE: So it's a little tricky when you're walking up to the car and it's like, which one is yours? The gold Range Rover. Like, oh my gosh. That feels pretentious. But I almost feel the need to say, it's not my car.

But I always think the Range Rover is a really interesting spot in the segment. You know, this one came in at $153 total. And it had a lot of stuff on it-- like the SV trim, which is the big wheels. Like, every single, like, head up display and, like, other-- like, the paint was $2,000, the leather seats, the interior upgrade. There's, like, a million-- like, the sound system-- like, a million different, like, $15 to $2,000 upgrades that kind of got it up there.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.

GREG MIGLIORE: But 523 horsepower, another 4.4 liter twin turbo 8 cylinder. It's a lot of fun to drive. If I was looking to spend six figures on an SUV in this segment-- and this is a big one too. This is a long wheelbase. Yeah, this one I would strongly consider.

It's like-- the steering, I think, in Range Rovers is really, really good. It's one of those fields where it doesn't feel like you're driving such a big SUV. I like how they look and they sound. I think that's kind of cool.

I really liked it. I think there's probably-- if you look at Mercedes, or BMW, or Audi, or, like, you want to spend this money, you can talk Escalator, Navigator-- you can get a little bit more space, you can maybe get an overall quality and reliability that might be a little stronger than what Land Rover can offer you. But I mean, if you're going to drop $153 on an SUV, you've probably got the money to take it to a dealer every now and then.

So I really enjoyed driving it. I think it does convey-- I think Range Rover does the best job of being, like, large and functional to a point, but also kind of actually sort of sporty, that I don't necessarily get from, like, the Germans-- or the Americans. Because the Americans will build you squared off battleships on wheels.

You know, and the Germans are somewhere like, we're sporty. But it's still like-- like, I don't think an X7 is very sporty to drive. So you know, I think if you want something, like, that is legitimately sporty and has that British character, I really like the Range Rover.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. And sort of in that price point, you can do a lot of personalization too. You can really sort of make it your own. And it already stands out. You don't really see a lot of these on the road, but you can really make it yours.

And yeah, you get that sportiness, that utility, that ruggedness, and just the feeling of driving a Range Rover. You know, they're very smooth and comfortable, but also very capable.

So it's kind of-- it makes you feel good. It makes you feel like you can tackle what comes your way in one of these things and that you can do it in style.

GREG MIGLIORE: You know, this one had-- speaking of fun options, it had the tailgate event suite. So what that means is the tailgate opens up. And it's a clam shell, of course, because it's a Range Rover.

And then you can stand up kind of like-- a lawn chair isn't the right thing, but it gives you, like, a hard back to sit on. And it folds up. And then there's some leather cushions.

Now, is this worth the, I want to say, $2 grand? I would not say so. But it's super cool. Yeah, 1950 on your Monroney. I don't know about that. You can just sit on the tailgate as it is.

But it's cool. I mean, it strikes me almost like, you know, you're like hunting with the retriever with, you know, the, like, I don't know, the powder shotgun somewhere in Scotland. Like, that's what you would use this for while you're wearing some tartan and sipping a whiskey before you go on the stalking route. I would be like, hey, Big Ten football game, we're going to sit on this--

JOHN SNYDER: Absolutely.

GREG MIGLIORE: Drink some Labatt or something. But it's fun. I mean, it's just-- it's a cool little option. And it's very nicely done is, I guess, what I'm trying to get to. So kind of cool there.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. I haven't driven a Range Rover in a while.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.

JOHN SNYDER: But this one-- I would be excited to. I mean, I really like the way it looks. I really do. Even with some of those funky paint colors-- some of those paint colors are really neat too. That sort of matte red you can get--

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. The gold is subtle, but you don't see it because it's like there's a lot of goldish, tan ish, yellow, silvery cars. But the matte red, like, they'll see you coming in that thing.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. And I just think all the accents are done so well-- all the little pieces of exterior trim.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.

JOHN SNYDER: It all just comes together really nicely.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. I agree. And you could get into a Range Rover cheaper. This is a little more expensive. Like, if you just want the look, and the drive character, they have some lower level engines that are still pretty good. Like, you can get into one.

And you're still rolling around in a Range Rover. You know, nothing wrong with that. So real quick, what do you think of-- I think it was last week, Land Rover kind of announced that the Land Rover brand was going to step back. It would be, like, Range Rover Defender and, I think, Discovery. I like I talked to Riswick about this, our West Coast editor, who's like, yeah, I know everybody always calls them the Defender of the Range Rover.

I would argue that's true. And I always call this the Range Rover. But I think Land Rover selling itself short here. I think Land Rover still has a lot of brand recognition.

I think the Land Rover Defender-- like, to me, it's, like, just saying "Defender" in the United States, people are like, OK, what is that? A security system? Is that, like, my new Comcast upgrade for the yard? Like, what is that?

So I don't know, I think Land Rover still has a little bit more equity than, perhaps, they're giving it credit for. So I kind of think that's a bad move. What do you think?

JOHN SNYDER: I agree with you. Yeah, 100%. I mean, at least here in America, I think the Land Rover name evokes something still.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. Evoke.

JOHN SNYDER: And it's something positive. It's an idea of luxury and ruggedness, capability, which the American dream, really, in a British car. So yeah, I don't know. That's my thought on it.

GREG MIGLIORE: So you've been in the GR Corolla. I was in one last fall but it's been a minute. So what did you think of this thing?

JOHN SNYDER: It's awesome.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah?

JOHN SNYDER: It's such a joy. I miss hot hatches. I feel like they're sort of a dying breed. And we've had a couple new contenders lately, like some of the Hyundai N-line stuff. But yeah, this thing is just pure, simple fun.

It's a Corolla, you know? But this was the Morizo, so it had the carbon fiber roof. This had the rear seat delete-- no rear seat. Just a very project focused sort of hot hatch.

Really great to drive. It's fun to shift. You know, it's got-- you can dial the all wheel drive between-- shift it between front and rear, from 60/40 to-- 40/60 to 30/70. So I was playing with that a lot, just blasting it around corners.

It's got a great big handbrake, you know, blocking your access to the cup holders. This thing is about the driving 100%. And it rewards every little turn, every shift.

Fun car. And yeah, now I think Byron has it, and then it's going to Zach. So it's making its way around the staff a little bit. But yeah, just a fun car.

It sort of reminds you what Toyota and a lot of these car companies can do when they want to make something fun, because it really is fun. And the fact that it's based on a Corolla, your typical just sort of a budget commuter car, and taking that and elevating it to something super sporty-- it's just a great formula. I love it.

GREG MIGLIORE: I got to give Toyota credit with a lot of their kind of, like, super niche-- like the Toyota 40th 4Runner. Like, these are really, like, going hard to the base of, like, Toyota enthusiasts.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.

GREG MIGLIORE: Like, I'm so tempted like run over to Zach's house and just drive this thing for a minute. I couldn't, like, put it on my, like, sort of dance card for the week, because I have to do, like, preschool pickup. And you got to have a back seat.

Like, you really can't be like, you know, tuck and roll, dude. Get in the back and hold on to something. But I mean, this, to me, seems like maybe, like, the closest to, like, the Mazda Speed 3 of a decade ago just in, like, true focused purpose that you just don't see in, like, commodity cars that go sporty anymore. It seems like they're always, in some ways, commodity car dressed up as sporty car.

Whereas, like, the Speed 3 and kind of like what you're saying about this one, it seems like sportiness first, which is awesome. I applaud it.

JOHN SNYDER: 100%. Yeah. And in lieu of a rear seat, there's a bar that goes across the back. And there was one latch tether for the back tether.

So if you wanted to put a car seat in the front passenger seat, if you had a long enough tether, you could connect it to that little thing. It was the weirdest little detail. I was like, what is that doing here? Oh, I suppose you could put a car seat in there and tether it way back there like a harness.

GREG MIGLIORE: It's funny, because, like, I mean, I don't think-- like, I wouldn't put a five-year-old in the front seat of a car, especially this car. If he was like 7 or 8 and we're only going a mile or two, it's like, well, wait, wait, it's probably going to be fine. But you know, I don't know.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, I put Wally in the front seat to--

GREG MIGLIORE: He's big. He's like adult size.

JOHN SNYDER: He is. He's huge. But just took him around the corner to our karate dojo-- our karate instructor's a shop teacher at Pioneer High school, but he's a big Toyota-- he's a big Toyota guy. He's got a last gen Sienna that he has supercharged and airbag suspension. It's really cool. It's really funny.

GREG MIGLIORE: Is it, like, lowered or something?

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, adjustables.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, got to do it.

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. It's just a sweet custom minivan. But I brought this-- but he'd been hoping to get a circuit edition allocated. But they just-- there's so few of them. He had been able to get an application for the core, the base model.

But he's like, if I'm going to buy something that's going to depreciate, I want it to be the one I want. But anyway, I drove-- I brought this over by, and he was just totally geeked. And like, you know, he's a Toyota guy-- he takes his car-- he's got a Tundra too that he takes to shows. And you just see how excited he was that there's something like this again.

GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.

JOHN SNYDER: And you know, he was pointing out all these little details that he loved about it-- just little things that you might not notice unless you're a fan of the brand. So it was just kind of-- it was kind of cool. And just good on Toyota for making this-- for their fans and for-- I'm sure they'll attract new fans with this car too.

GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, for sure. So let's close things out with the 2024 Encore GX. What was that like? I honestly have not driven a Buick in, man, like, probably three years. I mean, it probably hasn't been that long. But I mean, it's been a long time since I have driven a Buick.

And that's probably something, like, they should be a little more aggressive about getting the Buicks into the press fleet. But what did you think of this thing?

JOHN SNYDER: It's sort of a funny little thing. It's the Encore, so it's their small thing. It's the GX. It's just a slightly bit bigger. It's the '24-- the 2024. So it's facelifted. And I think the facelift actually looks great.

And it's the Avenir, which is new to the Encore. So it's their special highest trim level. It's not elevated quite to the Avenir status of an Enclave. It's not quite that nice. The materials aren't quite that nice. But I mean, the design is-- there's still a lot of nice materials.