Monterey Car Week recap, 2025 Lincoln Navigator and more | Autoblog Podcast #845

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. They look back on Monterey Car Week, and pick their favorite highlights from the event, including the new Lincoln Navigator, the Ruf Rodeo, Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept and more. In the news, Ford has abandoned its three-row EV in a pivot to hybrid. Our hosts review recent cars in the fleet, like the Mercedes GLC Coupe, long-term Mazda CX-90 and the three-wheel Can-Am Ryker. They also compare the Jeep Gladiator with the Wrangler.

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

Video Transcript

Welcome back to the auto blog podcast.

I'm Greg mcleary.

We have a great show for you this week we're gonna talk Pebble Beach.

Lots of cool things happening out there on the west coast.

It's a beautiful time of year to be out at Pebble.

Uh Many cool concepts and some production vehicles as well.

Like the new Lincoln Navigator debuted uh in Monterey.

Uh We'll also talk some news, uh a lot going on in the car world, some news out of Ford.

Uh They're gonna reallocate uh nearly $2 billion of resources away from evs to hybrids and other types of vehicles.

It's a bit of a pivot as they try to sort of uh make sense of the, the rest of the 20 twenties.

Uh We will talk uh car reviews, of course, lots of cool things to talk about, including the Mercedes GLC, uh our long term Mazda CX 90 the Can Am Riker.

We'll see what else we might get to.

So with that, I will welcome in uh our senior editor for all things consumer Jeremy Kors Newy, how are you doing?

I'm doing pretty darn good Greg.

Coming to you.

Uh on a somewhat on off vacation in uh Traverse City Michigan area.

So, uh usually I'm down couple hours south of you and right now I'm a couple hours north of you.

That sounds great.

Seems like the beauty of technology allows us to get together.

Sounds great.

Sounds great.

Have you had any uh good Trevor City wines yet?

Um We haven't.

Yeah, we, we went, actually to Leena County, we went to Black Star Farms.

Um That was pretty interesting.

We went to a place called Bobby Vineyards which was uh um I think all sparkling.

Um That was interesting and uh yeah, we're gonna hit Mission Peninsula.

Um I think in a couple days.

That sounds awesome.

That sounds awesome.

All right.

So let's jump right in Pebble Beach, which is frankly, a lot of people think Trevor City is a little bit like Pebble Beach.

The climate in Trevor City isn't quite as cool as Pebble often is this time of year.

It's usually pretty summery up there.

Uh But, you know, wine Peninsula to both beautiful places to hang out.

Little, little bit of a car thread in Traverse City.

Much more so in Monterey.

Uh But let's talk about what stood out from uh Monterey.

Uh lots of cool things from Cadillac, Acura Lincoln I mentioned off the top.

Uh You throw one at me though.

What, what did you like from the field?

Um I, you know, I I'll start with the Navigator.

That's good.

Um, I think that's an interesting vehicle for a lot of reasons.

Um One, I think when most of us think of um, ultra luxurious uh sport utility vehicles, we initially think Cadillac, um even though the Navigator uh really came on strong, um, after it was first launched.

Um, but, you know, nowadays the Navigator I think is every bit as luxurious, um, kind of exclusive, so to speak, um, as the uh they escalate.

Um And I really think that um the Navigator kind of captures the, the uh Lincoln like ethos better than um than, than the other models in Lincoln's lineup.

Um It's, it's very American like that's what American buyers want right now is a big luxury uh SUV.

Um They do it a little bit differently than Cadillac Cadillacs.

Uh uh you know, a bunch of V eight engines.

Um They, uh they don't do, they're not doing the in line six diesel anymore, so they're all V eight engines.

Um And sometimes even uh massively supercharged V eight engines in the uh uh if you got a V badge on it, um leg goes a different route with the uh 3.5 L uh ecoboost V six, but they still make a ton of hour.

Um And yeah, it, it, to me, it, it stands out as true American luxury.

Um I, the first thing I thought when I looked at the uh 2025 Navigator is like, well, that looks like a Lincoln Navigator.

But if you look a little bit closer, you see, you start seeing the detailing, that's really interesting.

Um You know, it's got the kind of traditional big front grill, a really neat light bar um that uh connects the lights and runs through the Lincoln emblem up front um in the back, the, the lighting is interesting too.

Um You know, it's kind of like, I think of Lincoln is doing is, is having like a very unique style um throughout the years and I think that this Navigator is really sticking to that.

Um, but the, the big deals the interior um for those of you who are listening along, um, find yourself some, some pictures and, and take a look at it.

Uh, what they're doing with screens is super duper interesting.

Um that it basically runs, um, nearly the entire width of the dash sits way out front of the driver.

Um, but with modern technology that doesn't really matter.

Um, it's, it's what they refer to as the Lincoln digital experience.

Um, pretty cool looking, um, looks high tech, looks luxurious.

Um, I'm, I'm pretty big fan of that and, and Lincoln's the rest of the interior, um, Lincoln's been doing the best seats in the business for quite some time now.

Um, and uh, yeah, all that, all that traditional American luxury you're gonna find in this car.

Yeah, it's a, it's a really nice interior uh I like the grill.

I like the uh the tweaks they did inside and out.

Uh I've honestly, for the last probably 67 years, preferred the interior of the Navigator to the escalade.

Uh I just, I like the mid century modern vibe.

I like the different sorts of color schemes and materials you could get so uh really good looking vehicle.

Uh I think the, uh you know, the Americans are still sort of uh leading in this large truck based truck like uh SUV segment.

So totally, it's looking sharp.

Uh I will throw, I'll go a little bit of a deep cut here.

I'm gonna throw the, uh, the rough rodeo.

Is it rodeo or rodeo?

You think?

What do you think?

It's, uh, I don't know, it, is it, is it rough or ruth it might be.

It's roof, I think you're right.

It's roof, roof rodeo.

Let's, let's just go.

Uh That sounds good.

Yeah, complete, you know, non conventional.

I think it's cool.

It's a off-road based uh uh Porsche.

It reminds me a bit of like the, uh, the night love of the car that I uh I drove earlier this year.

Uh It's just like fun stuff.

This isn't like super serious, uh out of uh out of Pebble, but they showed it there and I think it looks really awesome.

Uh I also drove the Lambeau Uan Strato, uh, this summer.

It's been a great summer as far as cars, uh, but this fits right in there if maybe, you know, the 911, the car or the Lambeau are just a little too, uh, I don't know, buttoned down.

Is that the right way?

Uh, this one's obviously more retro, if you look at the interior, it's, uh, it's, it's pretty wild.

It's definitely a throwback, which I think looks really cool, uh, cantera leather and some, uh, you know, if you look at the leather, it's very much like kind of western style which, you know, gives you that kind of rodeo theme.

It's just really cool.

I think if you're more of a throwback, um you know, Porsche person, this is, this is pretty sweet.

So yeah, for sure.

I like it.

I like it a lot.

It's cool.

I think it's neat that these um super a super exclusive performance vehicles are adopting um an off road like presence, it's super unexpected.

Um Well, I mean, it, it was super unexpected until we started seeing it now.

It's like, oh, ok, they can do off road too.

Um One thing uh when I see I didn't get this on the um the, you know, the, the real Porsche um edition like the, the ones that look like they're gonna go on to car this uh Rodeo Rodeo, however you say it.

Um it, it, it gives me um it gives me off-road Volkswagen beetle vibes in a really positive way.

Um You know, the older nine elevens really had that, um, you know, kind of upright windshield, um, sloped, rear, uh, rear glass look and they were really big over there like rear haunches.

Um, the, the nine eleven's gone, gone away from that.

Um, but, uh, you know, these, this one looks more like a 9649 11, um, which gives me, gives me real retro Porsche, retro retro Volkswagen vibes.

Um, in, in, like I said, in a really neat way.

Yeah.

Really?

Cool.

Really cool.

I like that one.

We've had a lot of, uh cool coverage of roofs, we'll say over the years.

I think you're right.

It is roof.

Um Yeah, which you think of those Cadillac, uh Cadillac news, the Opulent Velocity previews, the, uh, you know, it could be the three series.

I wouldn't say it closely previews the three, the V series, um V series, that three series.

Uh but it's a pretty wild looking concept.

Um It's very into like uh central casting as far as, uh, you know, Cadillac doing a concept car that, you know, hey, good luck ever seeing something on the road that looks like this.

But, um, yeah, opulent Velocity, I think it's, and I think it's good for Cadillac to have uh a presence on Monterey to, you know, get in front of, you know, future, you know, collectors, buyers, future collectors, uh and really keep them, uh, you know, keep their, their sort of name out there.

On the coast, which I think is how they want to build their brand but pretty wild looking thing.

Yeah, for sure.

Um, I don't, I, I can't say that I love the look of this thing.

Um, I think, I think it's, you know, opulent velocity, um, that, you know, it's, it definitely looks opulent.

Um, it velocity.

Sure.

It looks like it's fast.

It's really low slung.

Um, I, I don't, I mean, I, I liked the, you know, previous Cadillac, uh, concepts that they've shown us more more recently.

Um, then the opulent, uh, velocity.

Um, what was the name of the, uh, was it the Soleil?

Is that how you say that?

Um, the one that they showed that was the, uh, electric convertible.

Yeah, it was the Soleil which, uh, is basically, uh, you know, it's a beautiful vehicle that I saw about a month ago at the tech center.

Uh, just absolutely gorgeous.

Uh, I, and that's more of the Cadillac design.

I, I tend to like the same.

That's, yeah, that's why I brought it up like I look at that, that Soleil and I'm like, wow, that, that immediately reads, you know, American luxury car to me, whereas this opulent velocity, um, it, it, it looks more like an exercise like a future vision, um, that, you know, I kind of like the current one that they're doing a little bit better than, than what maybe this looks like.

But, you know, a lot of times, um Cadillac will show us a crazy concept that has no bearing towards production.

Um We'll see where this one leads.

Cadillac has a history of, of making these, these concepts that a lot of people are like.

Oh, that's cool.

That's cool.

That's cool.

And then, then you never even hear about them.

Um, later we'll see where this one goes.

We'll see if opulent velocity is something that, uh, makes inroads in Cadillac styling in the future or has anything to do with future production cars?

All right.

How would you pull one more here off the deck?

Uh Tell me, what do you think here from Pebble?

Let's talk about the Lamborghini.

Let's, let's, let's do that.

Yeah.

How do you say this Temerario?

You think?

I think so?

Ish.

Yeah.

Um our headline kind of hits the high points it's revealed with a twin turbo V eight hybrid that spins to 10,000 R PM.

Um That sounds pretty awesome.

It sounds pretty amazing.

Um Keep in mind that uh the, this is the, the successor to um the what you would refer to as like the entry level Lamborghini line.

Uh So the other cap per Khan, however, you want to say that I it's a tongue twister for me.

I always have a hard time saying that um with the V 10 engine, this will be replacing that.

So it loses two cylinders.

It's a V eight.

Now, um it gains uh power to the front axle through um axial flux motors, liquid cooled.

Um actually oil cooled uh which is pretty neat allows them to be really small uh but powerful.

Um It is a 4 L V eight engine.

Um If you, I I don't, I can't confirm this, but my guess is that um some of that engine architecture would be shared with uh other vehicles under the Volkswagen Group, expansive portfolio, um eight speed dual clutch transmission, all of that's really cool.

Um We brought out that uh the uh the power train design and layout um mimics the uh Acura NSX.

That is what like nearly a decade old at this point.

Um But you know, it, you can make the joke there if you wanted to.

The Lamborghini is finally catching up with the modern performance.

But I think that would be doing, doing the, the older Hurrican a disservice because that was a sweet V I'm I'm actually sad to see it go.

Um But yeah, this is exciting.

Um It's not all lollipops and rainbows for me though.

It's a, that's a phrase that my wife likes to like loves to use.

Um It's uh it, it doesn't stand out really like looking at a drive by like it doesn't like it, it reads Lamborghini but it, it not in like a in your face kind of way which is like what you expect or what I had come to expect out of out of Lamborghini designs, like one of them goes by and you're like, wow, look at that wet shaped thing with the huge spoilers and you know, and all that, like our, our lead image shows one in green with some red accents.

That's pretty cool.

But then there's an one in kind of like a, a lighter metallic blue and you know, squint a little bit and you could say, or you could, you might guess that that comes from any number of European.

Um, you know, luxury super car makers.

It doesn't instantly say it's like scream at me.

Wow, this is, this is a car with a raging bull on the hood.

Yeah.

Well, if you're gonna do Lambeau, I'm gonna throw out a Porsche 50 years of the 911 turbo.

Uh This is a tasty looking one, I think.

Uh, you know, it's definitely Porsche usually has something cool up its sleeve uh for Pebble Beach.

And, uh, you know, this is, this is pretty sleek looking, I think it's, uh, you know, it, it salutes the original, uh, you know, 911 turbo.

They're gonna make get this 1974.

That's 1974.

They got that idea.

Yeah, exactly.

Right.

What a great, great idea.

Anthracite Gray uh Turbo 50 emblem on the engine cover.

Um, it's, it's a pretty sleek looking vehicle, uh mainly like style things.

You get some center locking wheels that I always like that uh on Porsches when they kind of play with the wheels a lot.

Uh And you can order things like the heritage design package as well, which if I were going to do this, I think I might uh that's kind of a nice, I really think that era of Porsche design um you know, captured a zeitgeist uh of clean forward looking design back in that time, 5060 years ago when frankly American design was starting to taper off in other German brands like Mercedes and BMW.

It was a little um confusing as to what they were doing.

Uh Plus you can buy a watch if you'd like.

Uh there is a uh chronograph 911 turbo 50 years, that's for people who actually um buy the 911 turbo model, which hey, if you're gonna do it, you might as well get the watch too.

And the second one is a chronograph 1, 50 years of 911, uh which basically anybody can buy, although that one is also limited to 500 both really good looking watches.

You should check it out.

Some of the watch sites have uh you know, dove into them, um sleek looking and watch it.

Very cool.

So, yeah, I know the vintage guy we talked about two different Porsches today.

Um the the roof.

Um And then this new modern one, let's be super clear, the, the new modern Porsches, especially like the 911 Turbo s like, like what we're talking about here, this 50th anniversary edition is just an epically amazing car.

Like he, there's, there's nothing to complain about from behind the wheel.

Um I am more of a vintage kind of guy.

Um So I saw in one weekend, um you know, two different, two different automakers kind of celebrate the, the history of Porsche, not automakers, so to speak because they're, you know, they're both porches, But, um, the roof one speaks to me in a way that the 50th anniversary just kind of doesn't.

Um, we mentioned, uh, um, other, uh, you know, the Mustang, um, this is Mustang 60th anniversary year, similar feelings, um, about the Mustang 60th as I have to the Porsche 50th.

Um, like we're, we're doing kind of throwbacks and nod towards, towards the past, but it really just reminds me that the past is, is so cool.

You know, when you're looking back, there's a reason that these cars have been popular for so long.

Um, I really like the, I don't know, uh, instead of buying a new one that nodded towards the past, I'd buy a new one because it's great.

And then if I wanted an old one, I'd buy an old one too.

Like, you know, people who are talk, we're talking about people who are buying 50th anniversary Porsches, um, are, are not light in the pocketbook, so to speak.

Um, so, yeah, I, I mean, I think it's cool.

Um But I, I mean, that roof, like I said earlier, that that's the one that, that stands out to me is something, you know, really cool that, that we saw at De All right.

Sounds good.

Well, that's Pebble Beach.

I encourage you to check out all of our coverage.

Uh There was even a story about the original Ford probe from 1979 Ford probe concept that actually burned a senior editor for all things West Coast and features James Rizzi actually saw it from an Uber.

Uh lots of cool things uh uh about what actually won the Conor.

Um So check out all our coverage or went out for the probe.

Yeah, what can I say?

Um I'm surprised honestly, it doesn't happen more at events like this just because you got a lot of old technology.

It just, it happens, right?

Something goes wrong, you know, it's, it's confined in the back of a trailer somewhere.

There's really no easy way to put a fire like that out on the side of the road.

So, yeah, it is kind of surprising that it doesn't happen.

I actually, that reminds me of the time when I was probably 16, maybe 17 years old, I took a uh um a, I don't know, sixties Volkswagen beetle out because I was thinking about buying it.

Um The, the guy seemed like he knew what he was doing.

He had done some work on it, but whatever that thing was, was leaking gas and no one knew it and I took it out.

Yeah, I caught on fire on my test drive.

I did not end up buying it.

Um, he was very, yeah, I was, I was nervous that, you know, I was gonna get in trouble over it but I think he was nervous that he sent, um, someone out in a car.

Um, that was, that was dangerous.

I, the only thing that I lost was a suit jacket that I beat on the engine with to, uh, put the fire out and I did get the fire out.

Thank God after I shut the car off.

Um, but yeah, things, you know, everyone goes crazy over E DS.

They catch fire.

Well, and gas cars catch fire too.

Sometimes gasoline flammable.

Right.

No purpose.

Yeah, that it has no other purpose.

All right.

Well, let's segue over to the new segment.

Big news out of Ford.

Yeah.

Right.

There's no easy fate on that one.

but you did as good as you could do.

Yeah.

All right, Ford cancels electric three row SUV.

And is going to make more hybrids.

Uh, the, also the next generation lightning, uh, gets delayed.

Um, they're looking at doing some other things.

Uh, but I mean, to me this, uh, basically comes right down to, um, you know, they're trying to reallocate the resources towards hybrids and they need to, uh, you know, I think, try to be practical because Ford, uh, you know, here's how I look at Ford's EV strategy with the lightning and the mach E, they were very aggressive.

I mean, hell with the C max energy.

Uh, remember some of those things, the, what was that?

The B max?

No, I might be mixing up my, that's European, I think it was C max energy and the C max hybrid I think.

Were the two.

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, they were, and they even looked at doing a focus hybrid.

I can't remember if or focus ev battery electric, a focus hybrid, which was, which was, it had a, a terrible battery uh mounting in the trunk that made it not a very good family car but I digress.

Uh So do I, but all this throat clearing means for when they do evs or hybrids, they really go big, you know, specifically talking about the two kind of book ends, the maki and the lightning, you know, they really went into it.

Uh But I think they also are trying to figure out well, there's just so much uncertainty.

Do they really want to invest in like a bespoke platform for the lightning on the current one is really good, in my opinion, they can probably play that one a little more conservative and punt it down the field a couple of years and not really lose too much.

I don't think people expect brand new trucks.

Evs or otherwise, uh, as quickly as perhaps other parts of the market.

And, you know, I think they're just, you know, it's, the obvious hybrids are cheaper and easier for most consumers in the near term.

That's what they're trying to do.

They're trying to play sort of small ball in the near term.

I think this could be short sighted, depending on a variety of factors, especially, you know, you look at the political climate, uh things could change as far as infrastructure and you know, that that could definitely be problematic as well.

The three row ev that to me is the big thing here because that's a product.

It isn't, it's not delayed, it's not something that exists and we're pushing it farther away, like with the lightning, like this is a big deal vehicle that at least for the moment is now not going to happen right away.

And it's, there's a lot of opportunity there.

You look at like the EV nine.

Hyundai's similarly working on a three row electric.

That's about it.

There's not that many like affordable three row evs Ford could have jumped in there and that could have been like their third, you know, platform plank if you will.

So what do you think of all this?

Well, it's interesting, there's a lot of aspects to consider with it.

Um One that, that we haven't touched on yet is that is not free for Ford to do to, to give it um they quote will take a special non cash charge of about $400 million for the write down of certain products, specific manufacturing assets for the previously planned all elected three year suvs, that's a $400 million hit right there.

And they go on to say that they could result in additional expenses and cash expenditures of $1.5 billion.

Um That is, that's even the 400 million that they're taking right now is a big hit.

So you have to imagine, um if they're willing to take that kind of hit and the potential for even, you know, much larger one, you can, you, you have to assume that, that they, that their plans and projection about potential sales and potential profitability has changed drastically in the couple of years since they made that initial announcement.

Um And you, you're also right, you mentioned politics.

I'm not going to get into that at all.

Um But as everyone who's listening to this knows this is an election year in the United States with the presidency and we don't know, um you know, as, as we're, as we're reporting this um the headlines that I've seen, it's about this 50 fifties it could be um which, which uh nominee um ends up in, in the White House.

Um So are they just trying to get out of uh out out in front of um you know, the changing political climate?

Did they want to make sure that that wasn't gonna play into or factor into their decision making.

Um I don't know, just conjecture but it, it, you know, it is interesting timing.

Um It was just a couple months ago that they, uh uh they said they were postponing the three row Electric SUV.

Now, it's just officially, you know, the project's officially canceled.

Um You also mentioned um the, uh the lightning, um you know, earlier, we were talking about this um the uh the next generation lightning um that will run um presumably as they said on its own platform instead of a modified um gas powered F series platform, um also delayed and who knows what's gonna happen with the um uh electric mid size pickup that uh they've been ruminating for uh several years uh kind of publicly.

So lots of change um in Ford Strategy, I I don't think that making more hybrids is a bad idea.

I do think that completely canceling the three year SUV is an interesting move that I would not have counted on happening.

Yeah.

Well, I'll, I'll take it a step farther.

I think that is the wrong move.

I just, I feel like this was Ford's EVs have been very good and I think you look at General Motors particularly via its, its Chevy and Cadillac brands.

They have been really ruling out some very good competitive e the products.

And I mean, it does illustrate the point that capital is not limitless.

So, uh you know, Jim Farley, the Ford's CEO has been, he's a very practical CEO, I think he did a great job of sort of selling evs to the street, you know, back, you know, early part of this decade, uh and ruling them out and advocating for them.

And I think he still believes that, but I think he also probably is looking at hybrids, especially in the three row side of things is that they're gonna sell more of them in the rest of the decade than if they rolled out one sort of Moonshot three row electric vehicle.

So I even don't know, sorry, go ahead.

Uh say from a business case perspective, like from cold business, it does make sense, you know, like if you're gonna say, what do I think I'm gonna sell more of in more profitably in the next 5 to 10 years.

Yeah.

Take your bet on, you know, play the field with a few three row or a few hybrids versus one ev, but strategically and from a product perspective again, I think, I think it's a missed opportunity and some of that maybe you can't calculate.

Yeah.

Um, you know, the, uh conspiracy theorists and, or General Motors fans uh might say that they're um they canceled it because they just realized that they weren't going to be edited enough.

That's, you know, I don't know.

Um, you know, is it, are they not able to capture the um uh the scale necessary to bring battery costs down like General Motors trying to do with it all.

TM.

Or did they say man, General Motors having a really hard time with this?

Tm.

Um You know, we don't have any additional scale than they could potentially have.

So maybe we were a little bit early on this.

Who knows?

I don't know.

Um I can tell you though that they will have more clarity on their electric electrification plans in the first half of 2025.

So if this is a topic you're super interested in, wait six months.

That's true.

I think that's very true.

I think frankly, a lot of automakers will probably have, you know, yeah, more clarity uh once you get through the election cycle.

So, uh let's talk about a car that's uh well, it's a light hybrid.

This is the 2024 GLC 300.

It's a format, a coup which will lead off our review section with.

I just had a really nice uh mid-afternoon drive, uh kind of reached the stopping point in the morning and just for the purposes of this show for your volition, Jeremy.

I wanted to get some good impressions of driving it.

Um And I like it.

I the coop is not super practical from a visibility standpoint and if you need to put like upright things in the back, but there's plenty of room back there.

It's a very spacious hatchback.

My kid got in the back and laid down and there's so I'm telling you there's plenty of room back there if you like how this things look, I wouldn't dissuade you from buying it.

Just know that on your like sort of annual trip to Lowe's for a new sink or a new toilet or whatever you need to fit back there.

You might have to take your other car, but you look good placing toilets yearly Greg.

Uh No, no, no, no.

Although there is one that I do need to upgrade, uh come to think of it and that would probably fit in this thing.

You just have to kind of angle it in, right.

That's the, yeah, that's, that's what I was gonna say is um you know, I, I own a early nineties suburban which is about as uh square a box as, as you're ever gonna find and the squarer a box, the more efficient the use of space is.

So, you know, that's if you're wondering why we harp on these um crossover groups as much as we do.

It's because you're taking something that was supposed to give you greater um usability and flexibility and you're taking that away in the name of style.

So, you know, that's, that's why that matters.

Um You mentioned, uh you know, your, your son was able to lay down in it.

That means floor space is pretty good.

It's the, it's the measurement upward from there that's gonna take a hit with the uh fast back roof line.

Yeah.

Now it's, you know, once you're inside it's a very nice interior.

Um, it's uh it's got this sort of uh uh metal weave trim and a metal weave console uh that, you know, comes standard with this AM G black leather.

The outside is a beautiful shade of blue, kind of looks like a great lake perhaps.

Uh It's loaded with uh I think a fair amount of screens, not too much.

Uh but they're big and they're colorful, especially the I really like the Mercedes navigation set up where you can see like the top, you know, the like down to the detail of the roads.

Um You know, again, it's a good looking car, 19 inch AM G uh five spoke wheels with black accents, um driver assistance night package, which is kind of sweet.

Um You know, in general, very nice.

Again, you get like a 11.9 inch center touch screen and 12.3 inch digital uh instrument cluster.

So you're very well informed in a colorful way.

I queued up kind of that like sort of massage they have, it's not like a full on massage, but that's a really comfy way.

It was a little bit chilly this morning, had the panoramic sunroof open.

Uh I like how it looks.

Uh I think Mercedes styling is uh it's creased uh and it makes a I just think it looks better than BMW S and Audi.

I think they use creases better in segments.

It's not absolute like there are some BMW S and Audis.

I like better than Mercedes for sure.

But this one looks good to me.

Uh, in this one also, I'll close with 2 L in line four cylinder with a mild hybrid.

You get 255 horsepower, 295 pound feet of torque.

Uh It works with the nine, the nine speed uh automatic.

It's a pretty good around town driver.

You know, it's, as you can imagine with uh with a turbo, there's just a little bit of lag and, you know, the hybrids trying to sort things out but it's not, it's not a problem at all.

Uh then boom away you go.

It's quick.

I went up and down Woodward.

Um Let's see, I saw uh an Acura Integra a spec which is kind of cool.

Um, you know, beautiful interior I think right now if you're looking to spend your money on a truly good value, it's tough to beat Mercedes because you get a lot of good quality things that being said out the door.

This 167 it's a lot of money for something in this segment.

You know, I feel like if you're gonna pay for that kind of money, I feel like you nice is great, but I do think you need a slightly bigger vehicle even though this one could accomplish a lot of stuff.

You know what I mean?

Like, people don't need as big of a vehicle as they think they do.

This one is solid.

I would, you know, include the GLC is like an editor's pick if we were rating it.

I think it's, uh, it's very competitive in the segment.

Um, so I liked it a lot.

I'm gonna probably drive it more today.

Awesome.

So, tell me, uh why don't we go with uh our long term or the CX 90?

Tell me about it.

I was in it a few weeks back.

Uh You are in it currently.

What's uh what's going on with it?

You know what it is?

Quite a mixed bag.

I have to say.

Um There's a, there's a lot that I really like about this car um and well, crossover or whatever.

Um a lot that I really like about it.

Um I'll start with some good points.

It is very attractive.

Um It does not look like every other uh vehicle on the road which um has long been a um kind of like the classification crossover replication of uh American cars.

Um This one stands out um bold in your face real um nice kind of uh um demure styling sort of um it, it just, it, it's a good looking vehicle.

Um And I think it's gonna look good for a long time actually, when I look at the um the older.

Cx nine, my sister in law had one for several years and that car still looks fresh to me.

Um And I think this uh CX nine would be uh similar.

So that's good.

I like the uh interior, the driving position is really nice.

Um I like the uh the, the feel of the materials, it feels classy, um feel wall, like a premium uh experience um inside.

Um I like the uh Android Auto um which I've been using.

I'm not um in, I'm not in the apple ecosystem besides my laptop.

Um So I use Android and it works well wirelessly.

Um One small demerit to that is uh I have a Samsung phone and when I set it on the wireless charger, it charges for about 10 minutes and then the phone gets so hot um that it stops charging.

Um And that is not enough to run Android Auto for a long time.

Uh wirelessly, um You will run out of the or at least I am running out of battery power on that.

Um Never had another wireless charger.

Uh do that get my phone that hot.

Um But a small concession, I plugged it into a USB C um of which it has two in the center console and uh moved along with that night and it was fine.

Um It's pretty roomy.

Uh Ours has captain's chairs in the middle.

Um The third row for my purposes is folded.

Uh and, and not in use.

Um, but for adults in it pretty good, um, plenty of space for all of my belongings for a two week vacation, um, in Michigan.

So, um, I like that about it.

I'm getting pretty good gas mileage out of it.

Um, between 24 and 26 MPG so far.

Um, after a couple of, uh, tanks run through it and that brings me to the negatives.

Um, I, I just, it feels like first generation hybrid technology.

Now, ours is a plug in.

Um, it is a 2.5 L four cylinder engine naturally aspirated, um, an eight speed automatic transmission.

Um, it makes a total of 323 horsepower and 369 pound feet of torque, which sounds pretty good and when you floor it from a stop, it feels pretty good.

Um, the problem is in normal, uh, part throttle driving, um, it can't make up its mind if it wants to give you electric power, gas power.

Uh, what combination of the two, it sometimes will just start in EV mode, but then you feel like you're going super slow and so you give it a little bit, um, you know, just AAA smooth little press of your foot to kick it down a little bit and whoosh the gas engine kicks on, um, not particularly seamlessly and suddenly everyone's neck snap back in the car and you're like, where How did that happen?

Why?

Um, so yeah, I think it needs some, some reprogramming um, to make the driving position or not driving position, but the driving experience a little bit smoother, um, putting it into some sport modes actually helps a little bit.

It, it'll, it makes it a little bit more aggressive.

Um, but you shouldn't have to do that.

It should work in the normal default mode much better than it does.

Um, so that, that's been my main complaint with it.

Um, secondary to that is while I like the firm ride, I don't get the firm steering.

Um, it, I don't know why it is as, uh, sporty feeling as it is.

We're, we're talking about a three row crossover here and I get that, um, that, you know, that, that Mazda's, um, kind of claim to fame is their sporting drive, sporty driving dynamics.

And I'm an ex Mazda owner.

Um, and one of my most often recommended cars, I've got my mother in law one, that when she asked for advice as a Mazda three love it.

So, so great.

But it, I think what bugs me about the CX 90 is how artificially firm it feels.

Um, the steering specifically.

Um, if it were, if it were firm steering because it's got huge contact patches on the ground, if it was firm steering because, you know, they weren't feeding you a bunch of, um, uh, you know, electronic power or something to go along with it.

I would cut it a little bit more slack but it just, it, it kind of feels too video gamey.

Um, like it's pushing back on me when I'm trying to, uh, um, to steer it and ultimately it makes it, um, it makes me overcorrect sometimes when I'm, when I'm just trying to meander down a highway.

Um, and it just, it, I guess it just feels out of place.

So those things about them, I think the, the things that I'm complaining about can be fixed, I think that they're all probably software.

I think the hardware in and of itself is probably pretty darn good.

Um It needs some reprogramming.

Um I would be hopeful that, um you know, Mazda would iii I haven't read, I, I don't want to, um I didn't want to read all of our coverage on the vehicle.

Um, you know, go back and reread it all.

Um I wanted to form my own opinions.

Um And now that I have them, I, I look back and realize that, yeah, we've made these, we've made these statements before.

I have to assume that um other auto reviewers have, I have to assume that um owners might be giving you some feedback.

So, um I, I'm hoping that uh you know, e either in future model years or through some uh TSB uh software reprogramming, um They can smooth out some of those kinks um because the the vehicle itself, all the actual hardware, um, the hard parts are, are really good.

I mean, honestly, I, there's, I've nothing to add.

That's exactly what I've written, what I've said on the podcast.

I agree with you completely.

I think, uh, I, for what it's worth, I would like to see them, try to sort this out a little bit because I think this hybrid variant, you know, as Ford would say, as we just discussed, something like this has a lot of potential.

They have a three row SUV, that's a plug in hybrid.

Hey, Ford doesn't have that yet and they're about to spend billions of dollars to try to get one.

So I think if I'm Mazda, I don't give up on that.

I think I try to sort it out.

Um, you know, I, I kind of wonder if it is a little bit more than just software because there's some quirks to this stuff that I wonder how much you can help.

But I think it could definitely go a long way.

Steering is very divisive, I think.

Um, I like it.

I don't think it would totally persuade me dissuade me from buying it, but at the same time, you just said it, is this what I really want in this vehicle, you know, with the straight six though, it's a fun thing to do.

I spent some time with that last fall and that's kind of the right combination and frankly, that's probably the right version you get until they get this all sorted.

Yeah, I cannot in good conscience recommend the hybrid in its current state.

The one that we're driving, um, a lot that I like about it and I, I am a um electron pusher, so to speak.

I drive an electric car and, um, you know, I think, I think plug in hybrids make a lot of sense for a lot of the population.

Maybe not this version of this one.

If you're looking at CX 90 I would say check out the straight six model, you're probably gonna get a better ownership experience out of that.

Sounds good.

Well, let's uh I'll see what we have time for here, but let's jump over to the Ken M Reker.

That is just, we don't talk about stuff like that very much.

Uh You spent some time with it.

I know we were talking the other day and it had recently been picked up.

Uh It's nice time of year, maybe a little hot for it even.

But what did you do with this thing?

Maybe?

Tell everybody what is a Can Am Reicher for people who don't know.

Yeah.

Sure.

Sure.

Sure.

So there's two relatively popular, um, three wheeled motorcycles in the United States.

Um One of them is the Polaris Slingshot, which we've tested several times and blog.

You can go back and uh plug that into Google and see what we've written about.

It.

Um, that one is very car.

Like you use a steering wheel, you sit in like a normal seat with a seat back.

Um, it's got a radio like it feels like a car even though it's got two wheels up front and one in the back like a motorcycle.

Um, the Can Am Reker is the other one.

it's still two wheels in the front, one in the back, but you use a handlebar to steer it.

You sit on a saddle, not a seat is very much a motorcycle ish experience, whereas the Slingshot is like an automotive experience.

So, um, so hopefully that helps kind of put in, into, into your mind what we're talking about here.

Um, the one that I had is, is known as the Riper rally.

Um, and you know, you, you, you hear, um, you know, the, the word rally and you might, you might start thinking like, oh, is this like a, um, you know, kind of off-road variant or something like that?

Um, not, not really if I'm honest, um, there's not like it's still got normal.

Um, normally treaded tires.

Um, they say that you can explore new playgrounds on the road, on the dirt or anywhere that you like.

Um, you know, I'm not gonna say that you can't ride this down dirt roads.

Um, but it didn't really, like, I didn't get any additional, um, like, wow, this is really like an off road kind of thing.

Um, so, yeah, I wouldn't, I don't think you would wanna, like, immediately, like, jump on this and think like, ok, yeah, I'm gonna, um, I'm gonna take this thing off road all the time.

Um, not really, not really, it's, it's dick, in my opinion.

Um, that said it is a pretty fun vehicle on the road.

Um, very interesting.

At first I was really thrown off by how, um, how aggressively it wants to follow, grooves in the road.

Um, you know, I, I think kind of the combination of relatively thin front tires, um, and, uh, a much thicker contact patch in, in the rear.

Um, it's something that I'll just say that you have to get used to it.

Um, I didn't, I didn't dislike it but I was like, oh, I wasn't expecting, um, moving on from that.

It does not give you that like, wow, this vehicle is super vast feeling that you get from a lot of two wheeled motorcycles.

Um, which maybe it is a little surprising because it is, you know, nearly, um, it's, it's, it's nearly a liter of displacement.

I think it's 900.

Um, and it's a, it's a rota engine.

Um, I'll just say that they definitely tuned it for torque.

Um, so right off the bat when you really, uh, you know, give it the gas from a, from a standing start, um, it'll spin the back tire up.

Um, you know, it's quite entertaining but it really, that, like that rush of acceleration really starts tapering her off, ta tapering off around 4045 miles an hour.

Um, and it's still plenty plenty powerful but not quick.

Like you'd expect a motorcycle to be, um, it is an automatic transmission, um, that probably has something to do with the, uh, um, you know, lack of, of high end power as well.

Um, and obviously it's gonna weigh more than a typical two wheel motorcycle two.

I don't, I don't have to wait directly in front of me here to look at it.

Um, but obviously two wheels up front, a lot more suspension components.

Um It's got a pretty thick hefty chassis too.

It, it's definitely not light.

Um, but to that, to that point, it does have a reverse gear, um, which is pleasant.

That's, that's really nice.

You can back the thing up, you don't gotta push it.

Um, and I think it's pretty comfortable also.

Uh, the relation the seat to the saddle to the foot pegs.

Um, it worked really well for me partially because, um, the handlebar placement slides forward and back, um, with a little lever.

Um, and then we'll lock into place.

Um, and yeah, once you figure out how to use it, if it works pretty well.

There, there is a learning curve.

Um, the key doesn't, uh, uh, you know, go into it, ignition, it like clicks into place.

Um There's a parking brake on the left hand side.

Um, that, you know, you're not typically used to in a motorcycle, um, a forward and back, you know, uh forward and reverse lever.

Um, that sometimes that I could get to work with my foot.

Other times I had to reach out with my hand to use.

Um, and then little, little, um, works like you have to actually turn the throttle backwards once before you can start the engine.

Um, I don't know why they decided to do that other than, you know, it's potentially a, um, anti-theft, you know, deterrent.

I don't know.

Um, but yeah, I, I enjoyed it.

I thought, I think it's fun.

I think the best thing about it is it gives people with, um, mobility, um, you know, with issues with, with balancing a two wheeler.

Um, it gives them the experience of the motorcycle without the necessity to, to balance it at lights, um, at low speeds.

Um, it's got a reverse gear so you don't gotta put your feet down and back that they have.

Um, like those are all, those are all benefits that, um, that will allow more people to, you know, kind of enjoy the motorcycling experience that otherwise might not be able to.

Um, and for that I give it an a, um, if you are a, an experienced motorcyclist, um, and you're, you're used to the way a motorcycle feels reacts, um, you know, goes down the road it's, it's gonna be a pretty steep learning curve and if, if you don't have any of the issues that, um, that would make you gravitate towards the three wheeler.

Um I think you're probably gonna be happier, happier sticking uh with something with two wheels.

Uh um, but again, this is the kind of thing that, you know, whether it's your cup of tea or not.

Um Probably it's a good thing that it exists and it's a good thing that it's available to writers, um to kind of ex you know, expand the marketplace, bring, bring new people into the world.

All right, that sounds good.

Now, if you were in the market for something like this, is this something you would, you know, consider, would this be in your top five, just based purely on, you know, how you would use it?

What do you think?

Well, there's not a lot of vehicles that it competes directly with.

Um, you know, like in, in the three, in the three wheeled non half, you know, in, let me start over in the field of motorcycles that you don't have to balance.

So three wheels, um typically is what we're talking about here.

You've got something like the riker, which is what we're talking about.

It feels very motorcycle.

Um Then you've got the slingshot which feels more like a car.

Um I, I'll tell you if, if you, here's, here's a way to illustrate the difference between the Slingshot and the Riker, when a group of Harley's rides back on the Riker, they wave at you when they ride past in the Polaris, they shake their head.

Um And, and that's, that, that's just been my experience.

Um I'm not, I'm not saying that to be funny.

That was legitimately true.

Um So I think the Rikers is a little bit more accepted in the motorcycling community.

Your only other real options are something like a trike, which Harley Davidson will sell you.

Um And there's many kits that uh you know, you can, you can get a um Honda Gold Wing converted into a trike.

And really the only other option is a sidebar.

Um You know, which we've tested those at link to on, on auto blog.

I, I love myself a year.

Um But that's just a very different um extreme uh uh take on the three wheeled experience.

So, um I, I think would I buy it?

No, but, but that's because, um you know, I already ride two wheelers and I've got, you know, a, a ton of experience um doing so I would however, recommend it to riders.

Um I've got a real good friend um who uh has a muscular problem um and he couldn't balance a two wheeler, but he could ride this.

Um And you know that in and of itself right there makes me glad that something like that exists and it's out there.

Um So is it in the top three.

Yeah, because there's really only three choices.

Um, but yeah, I, I would do, I would do something like a riker, um, three wheel 22 up front before I would do a trike with two wheels out back.

Um, I've, I've ridden some trikes and it's not for me.

Uh, the reverse trike with the two wheels up front is much, um, you know, much more interesting to me.

Um, but, you know, it's not, this is not a vehicle that's actually marketed to me specifically.

So I'm looking at it from the standpoint of, of who I would recommend it to and I can think of people to recommend it to.

So, um, so yeah, I think it's, I think it's cool.

I think it i, it's neat that it exists and the, the most fun thing about it is when you, when you hit the gas right from a stop it, it shoots forward like you go from 0 to 30 really quickly with a cloud of smoke behind you.

Um, that, that is actually quite fun.

Yeah.

No, that does sound like a blast.

And, you know, these things seem like, um, I'm not a motorcycle person, I'm not a three wheel person.

I, I could see myself getting the three wheel element at some point.

Uh But they're all about having fun.

You know, they're really, uh, and I think you kind of illustrate just how, how enjoyable they can be.

So, uh let me close things out with the fun one.

I just drove the Gladiator.

Uh Mojave X.

Uh We talked about it a couple weeks ago on the show.

So much fun.

But, you know, I don't know.

You tell me, I'd like to.

This is almost like a quasi spend our money.

If you were in the market for a vehicle, would you go with a gladiator or a Wrangler?

That is a really great question.

And I think my answer would be the, the Gladiator mojave specifically.

Um I have test driven regular gladiators.

I've test driven the uh Mojave.

Um I did the uh most recent um uh Wrangler uh launch drive as well and the Wrangler keeps getting better and better.

Um But for me, the killer app of the Gladiator is the pickup truck bed, which opens up a whole new set of possibilities that a Wrangler just isn't really designed for.

Um you know, Americans love pickup trucks for reasons because they're useful.

Um I find a lot of use for a pickup truck myself.

Um And it's still basically a Wrangler with the truck bed, so you get the benefit of being able to take the top off the doors off if that's your kind of thing.

Um And you know, modern modern Wranglers and the Gladiator now have pretty decent interiors, um you know, plenty of room inside.

Um And of course, epically good four wheel drive system and lots of grounds there.

So um yeah, I would go, I'd go Gladiator specifically the Mohave if it were me.

Um But I do understand why someone would choose a, a Wrangler if you really are an off Roader, it is a better platform for, for scaling over rocks than the uh than the gladiator is.

But um yeah, the, I love the mojave.

I love the suspension.

I love the gliding over, um you know, big, big bumps at speed kind of thing.

Um And, you know, it still, it's got solid accents still for over rocks too.

So, yeah, that's my thing.

I, I don't know if I get the Mojave.

Uh but to your point, the suspension makes it just even just driving around town.

It's really a nice daily driver.

Um I tend to think I would land on the Gladiator as well.

Probably not the Rubicon because I mean, I wouldn't necessarily use it for that serious off roading, uh save a little bit of money but maybe try to get one of the more like the kind of cool other packages that Jeep always seems to be offering.

Um, you know, so that's probably how I would spec it.

And the reason being for the Gladiator is not so much that I need a truck.

It's because I like how it drives a little better than the Wrangler.

I feel like in the Wrangler you still get, they've refined it a bit, but you still get that kind of a fair amount of lean and roll just in all sorts of situations.

Uh The gladiator to me just kind of uh it's, it's longer, it has a longer wheelbase and to me that smooths things out, senior editor for all things.

Electric John Snyder and I were riffing at it and that was kind of his thought as well is just, it's a little bit longer and that helps, you know, it just helps, spreads it out.

So that's kind of how I would do it.

I'd get the, I don't know if I get the roll up, but I would get a tunnel cover because at that point you, you just have a nice SUV, with a different sort of, you know, geometry.

So that's kind of how I'm leaving right now.

So we'll see.

Yeah, I mean, I'd be a little bit jealous.

I, uh, if you, if, if, if you were to, uh, park a gladiator in your driveway, Greg, I'd, uh, I feel, I feel left out, you know, I, I've always loved those things.

Would you go with the, um, standard 6 ft or, uh, do you think you do the eight speed automatic?

If you were in the market, I would do the eight speed.

Uh, I just, the Jeep six speed is a lot of work and for like, have I done it, have I done it off road?

Yes.

Is it awesome?

Yes.

Do I wanna drive that every day for the rest of my life that I own that truck.

Honestly.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a $2500 option.

I just looked, looked it up to do the, uh, eight speed and, um, you know, one nice thing about that eight speed is it's a very good reliable transmission.

Um, but it's a proven, a proven item at this point.

Um, I do wish that there were more options than just the 36 B six though.

Um, you know, I know that they've said that other things are coming.

Um, but as of right now, if you're ordering a Gladiator Mojave Mojave X Rubicon, what have you, um, you are going to get that six cylinder, um, engine that I, I mean, it's fine.

It's a fine engine but we're ready for, we're ready for more, I think.

Sounds good.

Any beer recommendations either to close out summer or look ahead to fall.

It's August.

We're recording this on the 21st can kind of go either way.

It's been a little cool lately, especially this morning temps in the low fifties.

Uh, I've got a good one but I'll let you go first.

I've been, I've been drinking some Saga Talks.

Um, good beer.

Yeah.

Yeah, they've got, they've got some, some, some pretty good options.

Um, I can't think of the name of it right now but, uh, um, I was drinking one of their hazy IP A s, um, I got some, uh, um, you know, I'm, I'm up in Michigan.

I'm, I'm an Ohio guy but I'm up in Michigan right now.

So I've got some m 40 threes in the, uh, um, refrigerator right now and they're doing this fun thing where they're taking their, uh, kind of traditional hazy IP.

A and they're, um, adding a fruit to it.

Um, I saw Blood Orange.

Uh, my wife really likes the strawberry.

Um, I've got, uh, a grapefruit right now in the fridge.

Um, that, uh, yeah, I, I enjoyed that quite a bit.

Um, I sat on the beach, uh, uh, I can't think of the name of the beach but it's right outside of, uh, Leland.

Um, which is, uh, affectionately known as Fishtown.

Um, there's a really great beach directly south of there.

I was, yeah, I was sitting on the beach, cracked open a, uh, um, an M 43 grapefruit.

Um, and that was, uh, that was a nice experience.

So, yeah, I'm, I'm kind of doing Michigan beers while I'm traveling through Michigan.

What about you?

Bell's Amber Ale.

I had one when I was up in the up, it was, temperatures were in the low sixties.

I was wearing a hoodie.

I was like, you know what, it's fall y'all or so, I'm gonna call it and it was tasty.

It's, uh, uh, first one of the year or at least this, you know, sort of heading in the fall part.

Hopefully, you know, it'll still be pretty nice for another month, at least let's be real.

But on a cool night it's a nice transitional beer at this point in amber ale.

And then for me, I will drink those.

I mean, to me right up until spring that's, you know, I think that's a very good chili beer.

It actually hits a little better kind of in like October and November.

But, uh, you know, my wife got me a sixer and I was like, this is tasty.

It's chilly enough.

So, why not?

Yeah.

No.

Yeah, I, I wouldn't be hating on that at a, at a 60 degree hoodie day.

Um, have you ever been, you've been up in the up, I know.

Have you been to Black?

I think it's Black Rocks Brewery.

Um, I wanna say it's in Marquette.

Have you been there?

I haven't, but you're like the sixth person to tell me I should go there.

So I, I need to go there and it's, yeah, it's a great experience.

It's, um, it's just outside the little, um, downtown of Marquette and kind of like closer to the neighborhood areas.

Um, and they've got just a really nice outdoor area, um, oddly decorated with skis if I'm remembering correctly.

I don't know exactly what that was all about, but, uh, really good beers there as well.

Um, I think their flagship that I think it's, I don't remember 51 K or something like that they call it uh or five K I, yeah, if, if you're listening and, and you feel the need to correct us, let us know exactly what that is.

But um that's along the lines of um, of like a fall beer to me as well.

Kind of ambery f um Yeah, next time you're up in the up, you should definitely uh take a trip over to Marte and stop there.

I will do so.

It's definitely on the list.

And like I said, you're, you're not the first.

So it comes highly recommended.

So that's all the time we have this week.

Uh Please send us your, spend my money.

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That's podcast at Auto blog.com.

If you enjoy the show, five stars on Apple Podcast, Spotify, hate wherever you get the auto blog podcast, be safe out there and we'll see you next week I ever.