2023 Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon and Ford Maverick Tremor | Autoblog Podcast #741
In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. In the news, GM has revealed the 2023 Chevy Colorado and teased the 2023 GMC Canyon. The Chevy Silverado EV has surpassed 100,000 reservations. A new Mustang will be revealed in Detroit next month. Sebastian Vettel will retire from F1 following this season. Also, the 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor has been revealed. Our hosts talk about old muscle cars, and how they weren't as fast as we thought. We've been driving the Lexus LC500 Convertible and the turbocharged Mazda3 Hatchback. Jeremy just got home from driving a new electric UTV from Polaris. Finally, we reach into the mailbag to help a listener decide on a used van.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
Video Transcript
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GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to "The Autoblog Podcast". I'm Greg Migliore. We've got a great show for you. There's a new Chevy Colorado. There's going to be a new GMC Canyon. Lots of EV reservations for the Silverado EV, and hey, there's a new Mustang. Some other things going on in the news world that we will get to. Plus, we will talk about how muscle cars were not as fast as you might have thought they were. The passage of time has perhaps given us some new perspective. I'm Greg Migliore. Joining me today is Jeremy Korzeniewski, our senior editor for all things consumer. What's up?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Just-- just chilling out. It's going to be nearly 90 degrees in Columbus, Ohio, today. So I'm enjoying some air-conditioned comfort inside.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. I had to relocate to a darker, cooler part of the house. It's so hot here already. I could not do the podcast from my sun room slash studio. So, yeah, I drove the Lexus LC500, the convertible. You drove the Polaris. Which Polaris did you drive? The new one obviously.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, it's brand new for this year. It's Polaris' first-ever electric utility vehicle. It's the Polaris Ranger XP Kinetic. Kinetic being the word that means it's the electric one.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. I spent some time in the Mazda3 Turbo Hatch automatic. But, hey, that's OK. A lot of fun to drive. We're also going to spend your money. So with that, let's just jump into the news' section. Chevy Colorado, 2023, revealed last week. Important truck for Chevy, for General Motors, of course.
I would say the thing that surprised me a little bit, although not really, is that they did kind of prune some of the engine lineup. No more V6s. The diesel is gone. I got to believe the take rate was quite small. Looks a little bit tougher, a little bit cooler, I think. Maybe a little bit more like a Silverado. So, yeah, I think it's-- it's going to be strong for them, incremental changes. What do you think?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I think it's good. I like the look, just like what you said. They are following Ford's playbook with the Ranger and going a turbocharged four cylinder only, automatic transmission only obviously. I like the ecoboost in the Ford Ranger. I have driven the Chevy Silverado with the 2.7-liter turbocharged four cylinder, and I think it's perfectly adequate engine in the larger Silverado. So I think it will probably be greater than adequate in the Colorado.
GREG MIGLIORE: Interior seems like a pretty big upgrade too, looking at some of the pictures. It looks like-- how can I put this? Kind of like a good Camaro interior. Like we tend to sort of like rag on the Camaro at times, but I feel like there's kind of those-- like, you see it in the vents and the long dashboard. Looks kind of sporty, but you know, still in a trucky sort of sense. So I think that'll be a win for them too.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, you know what? I think GM has made such an about face with the interiors or their pickup trucks. It's actually pretty impressive what they've done. The overall look of it between the Colorado and the larger full-size trucks, the Silverado and the Sierra. There's definitely a family resemblance. It's definitely got the long and low wide kind of format with a landscape-oriented infotainment screen, and it's all really well integrated.
I really like the circular vents, AC vents and HVAC vents and the two ends of the dash. I really like the way that the button layout looks. Everything looks neat and tidy and easy to use. That's a criticism that I've had in some pickup trucks is in an effort to make them look blocky and trucky, they make them less usable because they end up putting knobs and buttons so far away from the driver that you got to make a big, long reach. It does not look like it's going to be an issue on the Colorado. So overall, without having driven it, I like what I see.
GREG MIGLIORE: We know all of the trims that are going to be available. Before, they kind of naturally with launching the truck, you know, it was sort of more like, hey, here comes the ZR2. Here comes the Trail Boss, but they've already put down their cards. It's going to be a complete lineup over time, of course. But I mean, it looks like a very wide-ranging portfolio too, which I think is where they have to be with this truck, because you know, you're going for a lot of different buyers in the mid-sized truck segment.
You've got people who, basically, this is their truck, and you can use it for a ton of stuff that you need to do with a pickup, and then you've got the people who are just kind of like, well, I want a truck, and that's where, frankly, this is like more like the right-sized truck for them. For me, this would be the right-sized truck. So we'll see.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, yeah, Trail Boss is new for this new model year. It follows the Silverado Trail Boss which is kind of like a off-road-ish version. It sits a little below the Z71, I think, but has a two-inch suspension lift, has the 310-horsepower engine and four-wheel drive. It looks pretty good. I like the way that that Trail Boss looks in the Silverado and now in the Colorado.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's true. I've always liked how the Colorado-- like, it's had the ZR2 for quite some time. Like, it's an off-road truck if you want it to be, and because of its size, it can be quite capable, like a Swiss army knife. You can take it a lot of different places. So that's the thing I've always liked about it as well. Whereas, Silverado is a very large truck. So we might as well talk about the Canyon. We're going to see a new one August 11th. That is coming up quite quickly upon us.
Probably next week we'll get to it in the podcast. If not, at some point in the late summer here. Heck, by the time you're listening to this, you may even already have seen it. Who knows? Just seeing a teaser shot. We don't really know a ton about it. I think you can definitely expect similar powertrain line ups, relatively similar plays as far as the trim breakdown. Like what they've done with the Canyon, they'll probably continue to do. Not a ton new there, but we'll see.
My other thought, I'll lob this back at you is, I've often thought the Canyon is a very nice truck, but it doesn't have a ton of attitude. I always thought, give me the Colorado. If I'm going to pick one, I just like how the Colorado looks. It came out with that off-road gear like really early on and made it part of its identity. I'm just curious if GMC is going to give the Canyon a little bit more attitude this time around. We'll see. The picture's-- like, the half of it we can see-- looks pretty good.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: We'll see.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, you know, I think they've been trying to add a little bit of attitude with the AT4 and AT4X brands, and then, of course, they-- in people's minds, at least-- they basically got the market cornered with the luxury Denali versions that they always do. But I think-- I think you're right. Historically, I tend to like the GMC styling a little bit better than I like the Chevy styling.
Chevy has, in their full-size trucks, some more creasing in the body work that I don't particularly care for. I mean, I still think the Silverado is a good-looking truck, but I think the Sierra is a little bit more plain, and I like it a little bit better. We'll see when it comes to Canyon Colorado. If the styling mirrors the full-sized trucks, I'll probably prefer the GMC, but it's so hard to say. The little teaser that we've got, it looks like, you know, the basic styling, the basic attitude of the truck is going to be pretty similar to the Colorado.
There's going to be detail changing, I think, probably lighting elements and grill elements and things like that. I'm guessing this is probably either an AT4 or AT4x that they're teasing based on the suspension, the tow hooks, and the bumper guard. I mean, it looks like it's going to be pretty aggressive, looks pretty bold, but I mean, we're not going to have very long to wait and see.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I drove the AT4 a couple of years ago sort of when-- when it came out, if you will, and I-- very nice, was not just blown away by it. It didn't have the attitude, even though it had a lot of the running gear of its sort of Chevy sibling, very nice truck though. Everybody really liked it in my family. So speaking of General Motors trucks, Silverado.
Electric vehicle, as they call it. Silverado EV, 150,000 reservations already. It's a pretty impressive number, and it-- you know, they're going to need to start to really bank a lot of these because it's a little bit of a longer rollout than the Ford F-150 Lightning. So pretty big sign of like interest for the new electric Chevy Silverado.
You know, I think this is-- what you're seeing is Chevy, in particular, but also GM's electric-vehicle strategy is really starting to come together. You're seeing the pieces start to roll out in the mid 20s here. So, yeah, I mean, I think the kind of hook here is Mary Barra, the CEO, said a few weeks ago, maybe Chevy is going to sell more EVs than Tesla.
And you know, some people are like, OK, yeah, sure, but I mean, when you look at it, they will have the Silverado, which is a very high-volume vehicle for Chevy and for GM, Equinox, and the new electric Blazer. So I mean, that's three high-volume vehicles that just move a ton of metal. So I mean, I think, you know, history may prove her right. GM knows how to do scale.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I think the dividing line-- it's probably going to take a little bit of time, but the dividing line that's going to separate GM and even Ford from Tesla is their ability to truly mass produce things, and especially, it's going to-- I think what really the tipping point's going to be is when these full-sized trucks are available in quantities where people aren't waiting for them for two years for their order to come in.
I mean, it's going to take-- if you're a Tesla fan, you know, know that I'm not knocking the company. I mean, I guess I am a little bit, but I mean, with good intentions. It's going to take Tesla longer to ramp up deliveries of the Cybertruck than it is going to take General Motors to ramp up deliveries of the Silverado EV and for Ford to get to a point where you can literally just put an order in for a Lightning and get one. Tesla is going to have a huge amount of demand for the Cybertruck they're just not going to be able to fulfill.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: And it's going to take-- it's going to take the established Detroit automakers less time to get to that point than Tesla, and I think that'll probably be the tipping point, in my opinion.
GREG MIGLIORE: These are really bread-and-butter segments too that Chevy is going after. We're talking, like, midsize crossovers. Two of them basically are, the Blazer and the Equinox in some ways compete with each other, and full-size pickup trucks. I mean, those three vehicles alone, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I mean, I would guess the Blazer, Equinox, and Silverado outsell everything Tesla does right now like the ICE versions.
So if you could tap into that base if you're Chevy, pull off some customers who maybe are trading in their ICE models and going electric, you know, you've got that built-in sort of like almost a home-field advantage because you just have so many existing customers. Now, the real differentiator too to me is going to be, can you convert some new people who just are like, well, this is gorgeous. I want this Blazer. Look at it. So we'll see.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, there's also the-- there's two other things to consider. One, Tesla is ramping up globally.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: They've got the plant in Germany now that's pumping out vehicles. They've got a plant in China that's pumping out vehicles, and they're making these inroads across a global market where, basically, US based here.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sure.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: We do-- we dabble with a writer here and there in Europe, but we tend to look at things in a very US-centric way, and I think here in the States, at least, we're going to see things change quicker than we are globally because the US companies are really, right now, focusing on this American market with the crossovers that you were just talking about. The full-size trucks that we have been discussing.
Those are all going to do really, really well in the United States. Full-size trucks, American full-size trucks don't really play outside of the American market. So I think that coming online will volt General Motors and probably Ford past Tesla here in the United States, but I think it'll take longer globally for GM and Ford to sell more electric vehicles in other countries than Tesla that already has a little bit of an established footprint.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, very fair point. So that's how we shift gears here. Literally, we'll shift them manually. Hashtag, save the manuals. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford tweeted out last week that the new Mustang-- the Mustang. Not the Mach-E, the Mustang-- two doors, large engine. Apparently, a manual transmission .
He threw the hashtag on his tweet will be revealed in about a month's time at the Detroit Auto Show. The reborn Detroit Auto Show in downtown Detroit. Give us a follow. We're going to cover it obsessively as we always do. So I mean, this is interesting. We don't-- we've seen some spy shots. What we can tell is it looks traditional like we would expect it would. My kind of take away here is, this is going to be sort of like you look at-- we're going electric, right, with a lot of the strategies companies are investing heavily.
There still are going to be some more niche cars and products that are going to stay Ice, if you will, for a while, maybe until they just are done. I think you put the Mustang is a near term just traditional play. I could be totally wrong. Maybe in a month, they're like, hey, here's the electric Mustang coupe that you've all been asking for, but I could see them keeping this car fairly traditional for a little bit. What do you think?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I mean, I expect this will probably be the last major Mustang redesign in what we consider traditional Mustang terms. How long are they going to keep V-8 engines? They are at least for now. We know that some of the powertrains are going to be carryover. I'm expecting to see four-cylinder ecoboosts, which I mean, that sounded sacrilegious with Mustang just a few short years ago.
They're going to have a hybrid Mustang too. We know that's coming. Will it be all-wheel drive? We don't know, but it's possible. So I mean, the evolution is already happening. The downsizing of engines, the changing of architecture. So I think, yeah, this will probably be the last major traditional fully-gasoline fueled Mustang that we're going to see. How long will it last is another question.
Think of it this way, Stellantis Dodge, they have been the slowest-moving American brand to switch from superchargers and hellcats over to electrification. And the most recent statements from Stellantis slash Dodge are that the next-generation Challenger Mustang competitor is going to be fully electric. That kind of puts into perspective where performance vehicles like this are going.
Ford's going to have to follow suit, and with not just the Mustang Mach-E four door, crossover-styled EV, which I think is fine. But they're going to have to play ball with a fully-electric Mustang. It's going to come sooner rather than later, but I think you're right. I think Ford is going to-- they're going to play both sides of this.
I mean, they even divided their company into two parts, a traditional legacy, gasoline-powered brand, and then the new EV brand all under the Ford umbrella. So I expect they're probably going to keep-- they're going to keep this Mustang around. It's going to continue to be burning gasoline and tires in equal measure for at least the next several years, but it's not going to last forever.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I agree, and it's interesting too when you mentioned like the ecoboost four cylinder how a few years ago, we were like, whoa, what are they doing here. I ended up really liking that application of that power plant in the Mustang. I think it was fun. It was different. It gave it a different kind of energy, and I would like--
To me, a Mustang is always a rear-wheel-drive muscle car, pony car, but if they threw one at me with all-wheel drive, maybe some light hybridization, sure. I'd be interested in that. I think as we rethink transportation, if you want to get that traditional V-8 rear-wheel-drive pony car while you can, please do. But I mean, I wouldn't begrudge them for trying some new plays here. I mean, that sounds like a lot of fun to me to drive, an all-wheel-drive Mustang? Sign me up for that.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, yeah, and Ford, even more so than Dodge or Chevrolet, Ford has kind of stretched the boundaries of its kind of performance-oriented coupe before. They tried to replace the Mustang. I mean, look at Mustang history. It started out not as a particularly high-performance vehicle in the mid 1960s. It morphed into that, but they went-- they went Mustang II in the 1970s.
They followed the times. We look back at it now with derision, but at the time, it was the right car for the marketplace at the time. In the 1980s, they played with it. they had the 5.0s. But they also had the SVO, which was the turbocharged four cylinder, and then they came out with the Probe, which was initially designed to be the next-generation Mustang.
Front-wheel drive, downsized four-cylinder turbo engines and then V-6s, and it didn't happen to, at the time, to replace the Mustang, but Ford has shown a willingness to push the boundaries with performance coupes in the past. I don't know what they've got up their sleeves, but all-wheel drive I think is coming. I think hybridisation is coming, and eventually, I mean, I'd be shocked if there wasn't a fully-electric Mustang coupe to do battle against whatever the next electrified Dodge Challenger is going to be like.
And there's rumors that Chevy is going to follow suit with a Camaro. There were rumors like a year ago that there might be a electrified-crossover Camaro to compete against the Mach-e. Wouldn't surprise me. It also wouldn't surprise me if there were a Ultium-based, GM Ultium-based fully-electric Camaro coupe in the works too. So it's a very interesting transitional time to be an automotive enthusiast, but I mean, I look forward to finding out what product planners are currently working on. I think we'll find out in the next four, five, six years.
GREG MIGLIORE: I agree with you as far as the evolution of the Mustang. It started out as not, in the '60s, like a crazy performance machine. It was certainly as capable as those cars were in the early to mid '60s, but then really, the muscle-car era, like the real sweet spot, late '60s into the early '70s. That's when you started seeing like the Mach-1s and the Shelbys, and it really kind of roided up. Mustang II kind of came back down.
The '80s were a little bit in between, and then now, this new sort of throwback generation that's back being this very high performance machine. It'd be interesting to see how Chevy answers too. There was a story on MotorTrend a few days ago about how it might be like a four-door thing. It might not even be called the Camaro. To me, that's also a very interesting play because Dodge and Ford now have sort of tipped their hand a little bit with the Challenger and the Mustang. You know, the Camaro, we really don't know. It feels like that product line has lost a bit of momentum in the last few years.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: And they've killed it before.
GREG MIGLIORE: They have. That's absolutely right. They replaced it with the Monte Carlo there in the '90s. So I would say, in some ways, that could be an OK move, like academically, theoretically. Kill it and then bring it back and make it better. Don't just kind of string it along, and the car is good right now too. It's a performance sports coupe, but it's probably almost too sporty for the segment. It's like, you know, I don't know. We'll see.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's too focused, which is like-- automotive enthusiasts who actually drive one, especially if they're lucky enough to drive one on the racetrack, rave about it.
GREG MIGLIORE: This is the car-- yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, the handling is so good. The powertrain is so good. I mean, it's hard to see out of. There's not a lot of-- excuse me. Not a lot of room inside it, especially if you're wearing a helmet. You know, every right-hand turn you're going to be bouncing into the window with your helmet, but it's such a good dynamically-sound platform, but it's like that's its ace in the hole is racetrack prowess and just being so good to drive under 9/10, 10/10 driving.
That's not necessarily what the public is looking for. You know, they want that get up and go when they get on the throttle, but they don't want to have the compromises of a great track car in everyday life. So, yeah, I mean, Chevy, has it lost its way with the Camaro? I don't know. It depends on-- like, sales wise? Yeah, it's not setting any sales records. It's three out of three in American performance cars or performance coupes, but you know, I think Camaro as a name still has a lot of relevance.
GREG MIGLIORE: Oh, definitely.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: And in the same way that Ford capitalized on its electric crossover by putting it under the Mustang brand, I think there's-- I think fewer people will be irritated about Camaro at this point because Ford already broke that-- broke the water on that. Yeah, I mean, I think it's probably common. I don't think we've seen the last Camaro. Will it be-- will it be a trim package on something?
I don't know. I think if they want to chase sales, they're probably better off going with a Malibu with maybe a Chevelle SS option along the lines of the Mach-e. Call it a Malibu, make it a performance oriented, kind of aggressive electric performance vehicle with four doors. Make an SS version. Make the top line one. Change it from Malibu to Chevelle. I mean, there's so much that they can do to play with in their history and storied nameplates, but I don't think we've seen the last of Camaro.
GREG MIGLIORE: Agreed. I don't think we've seen the last of it, and I think electrification could even be the secret sauce with it too if they do make it almost like a Tesla Roadster fighter. You know, who knows? Spitballing here but--
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Anything's possible.
GREG MIGLIORE: You know, if they ever did want to go with like crossover sedan thing, you've got the Impala. You've got Caprice, which I don't think they dust that one off, but Chevy and General Motors have a lot of names that you could use for different segments. I don't think they need to like MotorTrend and a few other sites were reporting this. I don't think you need to change what Camaro is. You can keep it what it is but change like some of its mission, if that makes sense.
Speaking of names, Sebastian Vettel, one of the greatest drivers of this generation or any generation is retiring. Looks like he's about 35 years old, kind of leaving after kind of like going out with an Aston Martin team that hasn't done a whole lot. I think sixth place is about the best he's done over there. You know, I think it's-- one, this just makes me feel old that Sebastian Vettel is retiring.
You know, I met him in 2013. I did a-- when he was driving for Red Bull just at the real heyday at the Austin Grand Prix, US Grand Prix, and he was doing promotional drives with some journalists to show off their-- their like steering. Their kind of like bi-wire steering thing. Really cool guy. You know, wouldn't pretend to say I know him, but that was my brush with this legend, if you will.
Definitely is going to go down as one of the greatest drivers. He had four titles with Red Bull. I didn't know this. He hasn't actually won a race since 2019 when he did spend some time with Ferrari, which is last time he was really probably at his peak. You know, frankly, I'm glad Lewis Hamilton is still sticking around because he's sort of my generation of drivers that I started to really get back into the sport into my 20s.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: And Fernando Alonso.
GREG MIGLIORE: And Alonso. Alonso is even older.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, this is all very interesting to me. Vettel, he's clearly, clearly one of the most talented drivers in the Formula One paddock, but I think, you know, what you're seeing is he-- he won when he had the right car against the right competition, and when he was young and really going after it. A lot of stars have to align for even the most talented drivers to win a Formula One Championship. He won four of them, and it was four in a row, wasn't it?
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, '10 to '13.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, so you know, he could stick around, but he's probably not going to get that number-one seat on a winning team at his current age. Hamilton is locked in with Mercedes, and I mean, kudos to Mercedes for sticking with their winning driver, and kudos to Lewis too for not jumping ship. I've seen it happen before.
Drivers who are getting up in age, they want to take on a new challenge. I think Vettel did that at Ferrari, and it didn't work out. In MotoGP terms, you know, Valentino Rossi was still battling for championships with Yamaha when he jumped ship to Ducati, and it made sense. They were just like-- they're like the Ferrari of MotoGP and didn't really have any success, and then he went back to Yamaha.
I mean, he still was winning a race here and there, but he was never fully competitive again, and that kind of is what happened with Vettel, jumped ship, didn't really work out, moved on from there. And you know, I think it's pretty difficult for drivers like that when they've-- when they've tasted that kind of success. They know they've got the talent to do it but are not going to get the seat and the opportunity again when it's a young person's sport. I don't blame him for retiring.
You know, he's got a young family. He's 35 years old. He certainly doesn't need any additional money, and he's probably going to continue to be around the sport. It'll free him up to do some other things that he probably wants to do in Motorsports. Take a flyer on a few other races. I mean, who knows. He could do some endurance racing. A lot of ex-F1 drivers end up circling Le Mans for 24 hours. You know, his career is not over. He's just retiring from F1.
GREG MIGLIORE: Alonso's 41, if you want to feel old. I didn't realize he was 41. I think that's a good move to slot him in there because he's-- I mean, you see this in other sports too, where it's like the name. You know, you sign like the 38-year-old left fielder who hit 40 home runs three years ago, but it sells tickets if you will. So I mean--
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: And he can still-- I mean, Alonso's still got the talent.
GREG MIGLIORE: He's talented. Yeah, definitely.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, and he's still fit enough to do it. I mean, Vettel is too, but Alonso's taken a different-- different route. He's long been considered one of the most-- Alonso, I mean-- one of the most talented drivers in Formula One. He's proved his talent outside of Formula One doing many other different kind of racing series, and he's been great in all of them, and Vettel could do the same. I mean, who knows. He could unret-- Vettel could unretire and come back like Alonso did after a little while.
But, yeah, I don't-- like I said a minute ago, I think it totally makes sense for him to take this route. More power to him. More power to spending time with your family while you can, enjoying your relative youth, and same to Alonso. He wants to spend his 40s still circling racetracks with kids half or less his age, more power to him too. I mean, everybody-- once you've hit that certain pinnacle, and you've got that name recognition and the level of respect from the Formula One paddock or whatever race series you're in, the seat's probably there for you.
I think Vettel could have-- he could have continued on, just made a decision not to. I think he's one of the most interesting drivers in Formula One right now. A lot of people didn't like him when he was winning every race with Red Bull, but they like him now that he's not-- not seen as the target, doesn't have a target on his back, and they're seeing him as the person that he is. He's got a bigger fan base now, I think, probably than he did then. So, yeah, we haven't heard the last of Sebastian Vettel. He's going to continue being-- being a name, being in racing circles, a household name even. So I look forward to finding out what the future holds.
GREG MIGLIORE: I bet he comes back in a couple of years. He's only 35. I think it's a great move to retire. I mean, if I were him, and I were an amazing F1 driver who's accomplished all he's done, I would retire, call it a day. It's a dangerous sport. It's not like in baseball where you play till you're 45, and it's not dangerous. I think there's definitely an element. You know, maybe go out-- go out while you're still credible, but I bet you he comes back. I bet you a seat opens up. Somebody needs a name. Somebody throws some money at him. I'll bet you a beer that he comes back.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Oh, I'm not going to take that bet, but I'll take-- I'll buy my own beer, and we can talk about it.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, sounds good. Ford Maverick. This is the tremor that we're going to see. We can kind of cover this kind of quickly here, but we're starting to see the proliferation of the Maverick lineup. This one looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait to drive this one, maybe take it up to Hollyoaks here in northern Oakland County, and you know, Maverick could be a very nice little off-road truck it's a great size. So this is probably just the start of things to come for the Maverick, even though off roading isn't really its true mission, but I like it. I like it a lot.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, it's cool. I think they did all the things that they had to do. Our subhead on the story says it's like a Bronco Sport Badlands with a bed. That's a great way to describe it. It's got the 250 horse. I think it's 250 horse, isn't it? The two-liter turbocharged four cylinder?
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds right, yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: All-wheel drive, ground clearance up from 8.6 to 9.4, shockingly good approach angle all the way from 21.6 to 30.7 degrees. That's cool. The breakover and departure angles are slightly improved as well. It's not like an off-road pickup truck, so to speak, but it is the pickup truck that looks like it can go off road. That's good enough for a lot of buyers, and those who do take it off road will find that it has more capability than other Maverick models. So pretty cool. I like it.
GREG MIGLIORE: I can't wait to drive it. Let's go back in time. You did a piece recently about how muscle cars, with the benefit of hindsight, were not actually as fast as we thought they were. Now, you can obviously look at 0 to 60 times, look at the way the horsepower has changed over the years. We count it differently than we did back then. Slowest electric crossover can get to 60 in like four seconds. Not slowest, but you know what I mean. That's not--
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: That's not uncommon.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's not uncommon. So pull back the sepia-toned film here. What do you mean by this opinion piece?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Well, OK, there's a couple of things that I should point out here. One, I don't think it really matters how fast muscle cars were because they're still cool no matter what. Growing up, they were-- these were the cars that I had on my bedroom walls, and I would scour through the classified ads. And if you're wondering how old I am, a little older than Fernando Alonso.
But yeah, I mean, I grew up with these things. Loved them. I loved the sound of the burbling V8. I love the idea that you can just put your foot to the floor at almost any speed, any legal speed, and see a little puff of smoke from your rear tires. And you know, they're about nostalgia just as much as anything else.
Now, in the 1980s, they were lauded for their performance capabilities because nothing coming out new from any real automakers that you could afford-- I mean, there were Lamborghinis and there were Ferraris back then that were still relatively fast, but your typical Mustang, Camaro, Trans-Am of the 1980s, you could line them up on a drag strip and lose to a 1965, 1966 GTO or '69 or '70 Chevelle, whatever.
They were still faster. It's just not the case anymore. It started churning in the 1990s. I remember going to the all-Pontiac Nationals. I grew up in a Pontiac-dominated, family for what it's worth. I remember going to the all-Pontiac Nationals and seeing '95, '96, '97 Trans-Ams, especially the SLP Fire Hawks with the ram air hoods and all that. They were turning 13-second flat quarter miles and handily outperforming those cars that I thought were untouchable in the 1980s.
And at the time, I was like, wow, we finally have gotten on par with my dad's cars, so to speak, with my generation cars. Well, now, we've blown past that. Like, we're no-- the example that I use. We've got a long-term Kia EV6 that will smoke any Pontiac GTO that ever rolled off the factory line in the quarter mile, and it's not even a special electric vehicle. It's just an electric vehicle. It's a nice one, but it's mainstream.
Your typical Ford-- excuse me, Toyota Camry with the V6 has more than 300 horsepower. There are a lot of really cool muscle cars that if you put them on a dyno, regardless of what their factory claim was, it would have less horsepower than a four-door Toyota Camry now. And, again, I think it's important to point out that it doesn't really matter that much, but I don't think we can consider their performance legendary anymore.
You know, it was very good for the time. It went down from there. It's gone up, and we've surpassed it. And in a day and age where just your basic, old electric Kia is outperforming the legendary muscle car nameplates of the 1960s and 70s. I think it's fair now to say maybe they weren't as fast as we thought they were. We thought like, oh, we've hit this level that they can't go any faster because of physics. Well, no, that's not true.
You could slap a set of slicks on a '69 Chevelle, and it's still not going to outrun the Kia in a drag race. So, yeah, I mean, I think I started-- I've started thinking of performances in generational terms. I think the fastest cars of the 1960s and 1970s are still awesome. The fastest cars of the 1980s are now collectible and legitimately collectible.
Were they as fast as the '60s, '70s muscle cars? No, but I mean, they're still-- they're still cars to aspire to own. Same in the 1990s and right up down until today. I think those cars will always be cool, but they're just-- you just have to take-- be realistic about how fast things were versus how fast they currently are.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think it took a while, and that's what made the sheen of these legendary cars grow is we did have the malaise years where performance did, in fact, dip, which made these things just-- their aura grew. The legend grew, but it's a lot like sports from the '60s and '70s. You know, quarterback, and great quarterback, Joe Namath Johnny Unitas, to really go back in time.
Those guys wouldn't even make the team on the NFL right now, on a team right now, you know? It's just like arm strength's better. People are in better shape. In the car world, the technology has changed. It's been interesting to sort of-- a good piece, sort of reflect through the ages, through some time. Yeah, I mean, history is great. You know, but sometimes, at some point, it does become history, and that's fine too.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I mean, it's a pretty cool thought that your average car right now has so much performance that you could legitimately take it to the dragstrip and have a blast. I'd love to take our Kia EV6. I mean, hey, maybe it's a future feature for Autoblog, taking our Kia to the dragstrip and seeing how fast and seeing if we can improve our times throughout various techniques and all that. You know, it's a 14 something second car in the quarter mile, and I bet maybe even better than that. And the 0 to 60, which is like the real seat of your pants feeling of these all wheel drive electric instant torque vehicles is just, I mean, it's something else. It's truly stupendous.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, should we talk about what we've been driving?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I think we should.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, let's do it. Well, I think a car whose legend will grow over time is the Lexus LC 500. This is the-- I actually have the convertible version. Sticker was over-- was over $112,000. So not cheap. Of course, this is the V8 traditional muscle coupe convertible. You know, it's a dying breed. It's been a while since I drove a car with that much power, 471 from a five-liter V8 all over the front axles.
It was almost old school. You know, there was no turbocharging, no electrification, and it was all there for me. About a week ago, I drove around right as the sun was going down, which is just the sublime time to drive. Such a thing, especially this time of year. It's a collectible at this point. I think it handles. I don't know if I'd say it handles well, but it handles good for the segment, if you will. It's a large, semi comfortable, GT-style luxury car. It did have a very small back seat.
The coupe gives you a little bit more, but because it's a retractable roof, you give up even more space. Thought about putting a car seat back there, just decided not to do it. Beautiful. It's everything as an enthusiast that makes you interested in certain segments. Breathtaking styling, raw V8 power, gorgeous interior. This to me is a future collectible. A lot of fun to drive.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I love the LC. I actually have not driven the convertible. I've driven the hardtop several times, and I mean, it's just-- it's such a great car. I love everything about it. I tend to like convertibles in general. So I probably would-- if I were in the market and had that kind of disposable income, a convertible is probably what I would be more intrigued by. But yeah, I agree with everything you're saying. Traditional V8 front engine, rear-drive sports coupe. All kinds of luxury, and I mean, Lexus reliability. So I don't know what's not to like. I think it's just a great vehicle.
GREG MIGLIORE: Color was infrared, which is just a beautiful shade of red and has the 10-speed automatic, which you know, honestly, yeah, I love manual transmission. But for a good-sized car, expensive car, hey, it was a very good, smooth-shifting transmission. In some ways, it added to the luxurious experience. It just made everything smooth, if you will.
One thing I think too is kind of odd to say, but the styling dates to the early part of the last decade, and when you look at it, I'm kind of like, oh, yeah, I remember when Lexus was really styling up their cars this way. Granted, it's a very niche segment, but I mean, it's kind of weird to remember just how important this car was for Lexus and Toyota as a company almost 10 years ago.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's been around a while. Sometimes we forget that this car is aging.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It still looks great.
GREG MIGLIORE: It does look great.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I mean, I think it is kind of odd, like, you could park a Lexus LC next to the new Lexus LX 600. I think that's what it's called, right? The big, honkin' SUV. The SUV is objectively ugly in my opinion, and the LC is the exact opposite, objectively pretty. Interesting that 10 years ago, whatever it was. That's the number-- I didn't look it up, but they came out with this car.
That was kind of like the pinnacle of their styling at the time, and in my own personal view, it's really gone downhill since then. The grilles keep getting bigger and bigger and more noticeable and more noticeable and in your face and not to their betterment. But, yeah, I mean, I'm happy. This is a car that I'm never going to own, but I'm happy it exists, and I feel similar about the LS. It's also got the big V8 engine, beautiful interior, and really attractive demure almost styling, and it's something I really appreciate.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, we'll shift gears to something that is stupendous value, I think, for enthusiasts. That's the Mazda 3. Mine had the 2.5-liter turbo. You can't get the manual with that, but the automatic was fine. I get 250 horsepower, and 320 pound feet of torque. It was pretty peppy to use that cliche.
You add in the all-wheel drive. Mazda calls it I-Active, which sure. It's all-wheel drive, but it's a fun car to drive. It looks gorgeous. I had the kind of grayish carbon appearance. Good, good car. It's been probably a year at least maybe two since I've driven the 3, and it-- if you're an enthusiast, and you get a smaller car, and you like hatches.
I mean, this is still a spectacular value in the segment. It's a style play, handles brilliantly. It was fun for me to actually interact with the car after driving the LC 500, which is more like navigating and operating a luxury item. You know, it's a little more yacht like in all areas. It was fun to actually engage with a vehicle. So have you driven the 3 lately?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Gosh, I don't think I've driven-- I think it was about a year and a half ago. I had one for a week-long loan, and I remember coming on the podcast and just raving about how just good and solid of a vehicle it is. It handles really well. The steering is good. The ride is good. The efficiency is good. It's got enough space to be a solid daily driver.
It's one of those vehicles that reminds you how good basic transportation is and can be. Everybody wants to buy crossovers, and I don't-- I'm not begrudging that, but you get into something like a Mazda 3 hatchback, and you're like, man, this car's got great utility. It can store a lot of things. It's so much more efficient than a vehicle that was five inches higher and less aerodynamic. It's just a really good car.
GREG MIGLIORE: So let's transition over to the Polaris. This is their electric off roader. You got to test drive it up in Wisconsin. I imagine it's a beautiful time of the year with that. You got to spend a few hours with it then you got to go to Road America, which just sounds like a pretty nice summer day in the Midwest, the upper Midwest. What did you think of it?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's really cool. So this thing has-- full write up coming, but it's got a drive train that is basically developed by Zero Motorcycles, the electric motorcycle company out of California. Pretty much the biggest name in electric motorcycling. I mean, now, Harley-Davidson and Ducati and all these other companies are getting to electrification, but Zero's been around for a really long time, and they've got a really solid powertrain figured out. It works really well.
It's got air-cooled batteries, which is the simpler the better when it comes to utility vehicles. So air-cooled batteries make sense in that kind of application. It's got something-- I'd have to look it up again, but it's something like 100 horsepower and 140 pound feet of torque. Something like that, and you know, it's fast and has all kinds of utility. If I were to say one thing about it, it is pretty darn expensive.
It starts at around $30,000, and there's an ultimate version that has twice the battery capacity that costs another $5,000 on top of that. So starting price $24,999 with 45 miles of range from a nearly 15 kilowatt lithium ion battery, and then there's the ultimate, which is $29,999, so $1 shy of $30,000. It's got a second battery, so just shy of 30 kilowatt hours, and a range of-- they're saying like 80 miles.
I just looked it up. It's 110 horsepower, 140 pound feet of torque, and like all electric vehicles, that torque is right there. It's very quick vehicle. Tow rating of 2,500 pounds, and a payload rating of 1,250 pounds, which is actually better than any of the gas-powered Polaris Ranger utility vehicles. I think, you know, someone might ask like, OK, you can already get like amazing performance out of these side-by-side utility vehicles with the gasoline engine.
Why would you pay extra for the electric, and I think there's a couple of points that you might not have considered. One, a lot of times when you're doing things off road, silence is really important. These gas-powered models have big, loud exhausts. Let's just say you can't sneak up on something in your gas-powered side by side.
You can sneak up on something in an electric side by side. So let's say you're a hunter, and you're trying to make your way through the woods to set up your spot, and you're not scaring everything away. Also, it's a two seater, two seatbelts, and you can have a conversation while you're driving down your back 40. A lot of people buy these utility vehicles for their farms, for their ranches.
If you're wealthy enough to be able to spend $30,000 on something like that, the quietness is really nice. You're not going to be disturbing what neighbor he may have. You're not going to be sending the birds flying away from the trees. It's just a much more serene experience. Also, reliability is probably going to be really good. It's a very-- electric-drive trains don't have a lot of moving parts that are going to require a bunch of maintenance. No oil changes. No spark plugs. No starter motor. No alternator. All those things are just built into the battery pack, and it's a really nicely done package.
I do have a couple areas of improvement. Number one, it is really expensive. I wish that they could figure out a way to lower that cost of entry and maybe that's something that can happen in future versions. This is just the initial launch. Also, there's really no electrified power take off right now. So a lot of the electric trucks you're seeing right now, one of their killer features is that you can charge things using them.
You can run tools. You can even use some as generators. They store a whole bunch of energy capacity in their batteries, and you have access to that. You do not in this Polaris, and I think that's a really big area of improvement, potential improvement, and something that maybe buyers would pay for even if it was like an after-- not after market, but accessory catalog purchase. For an extra $500, you can get this little thing that plugs into this accessory port, and it gives you a bunch of 110 outlets that you can use this thing for backup power. But overall, I was really impressed by it, and I hope it does well in the market.
GREG MIGLIORE: You've driven a number of fun things that, like three wheelers, things like that, motorcycles even, sort of like things you look for if it's-- you really want to spend your dispendible income on something that's-- dispensable income, that's fine. You know, like, not even like sort of daily transportation. So I mean, do you think you would spend money on this versus, say, like an older, used sports car or like maybe a really cool motorcycle. Because for this price, you got some options. You can put a hot tub in your backyard. I mean, like, there's a lot of different ways you can seek enjoyment with this sort of amount of money.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I mean, us automotive journalists look at $30,000 as a whole lot of money, and we start looking at alternatives, and what you can do with that money. And I mean, I think a lot of-- a big percentage of buyers are going to do that. However, Polaris and other brands-- you know, Yamaha is a big player, Honda is a big player, Kawasaki, even John Deere plays in these markets.
They all offer less expensive gasoline-powered models. I think the UTV ranges start in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. This is twice that. But you know, there's a lot of people who've got the money to spend. They've got a big ranch. They spend their days-- they've already made their money. They spend their days cutting down trees and moving logs and just enjoying the fruits of their labor, and this gives them another option to do those kinds of things.
There's a lot of people that can buy this and a motorcycle, buy this and a Miata, and great. I think that's well done. You know, I alluded to this in my improvements. It is expensive. I wish that they could come out with one that maybe is a lower-spec model that would give people the silent operation and doesn't have to have 110 horsepower or 140 pound feet of torque. You can have half that and still offer 40 miles of range. Could it be $10,000, $12,000 cheaper?
Would that open it up to a lot more potential buyers? Yes, yes, and yes, and I think that would be more useful than what this is. But as the initial launch product, I think it's good enough to stand on its own as a desirable vehicle, especially when you consider some of their other models. They are $24,000, $25,000, $26,000, $27,000. People are already spending that kind of money on gas-powered versions.
How many are going to choose to go the electric route? I don't know. I don't even know how many Polaris wants to sell, but I think good job being the first ones to do it and good job making a nice product and being wise with your development dollars, putting it into the platform, and just buying the ready-to-go technology from Zero, I think, was actually a really smart play. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens to these things on the EU'S market though.
I don't think that-- these aren't going to like-- I think they're not going to be really great at retaining their value. A used side by side, who knows what people did with it, how they abused it, blah, blah, blah. I think if this is going to work for you, it's going to be the best vehicle for you. Give it to three years, see how much it costs to pick up a used one, and yeah, I mean, I hope that the market continues to grow in these electrified, off-road vehicles.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's cool. I think the way it's positioned with all this capability, it's kind of like a luxury item given where it sits in the market. I think it's cool that it exists and that there's a place for it. You know, for me, this is a little more than I would need, and you know, my family does have some land at the very far tip of the UP, and cool, this thing would be awesome. But also, if I was looking like, well, what do I really want to use it for? How much do I want to use? That's where it's like you start to maybe get a little overly practical here. But for what it is, it's brilliant. It sounds brilliant anyway.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's also a little bit of a kill to two birds with one stone proposition because it's extremely useful to a lot of people, but it's also very fun and very fast. We did some pretty legit off roading with these things, climbing big old hills, bounding over borders. I don't think I ever got mine airborne, but I saw some air under tires while we were driving these things. They're not just utility vehicles. They're also a blast to ride and drive, and we've seen people spend $10,000 on just fun things that don't have any utility. So there is a little bit of a double play here.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. Sounds good. Well, we're talking about money. Should we spend some?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I mean, better spend someone else's than my own.
GREG MIGLIORE: There we go. All right, this is one, comes to us from Ivor. He has written in the past. . He actually was looking for something that was kind of cheap and cheerful, ended up with a Kia Soul with a 1.6-liter diesel. Ivor writes to us from-- I forget exactly where, but it's somewhere a diesel Kia Soul is available.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Somewhere in Europe?
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, somewhere in Europe. He loves it. So glad we could help. I remember going through that question. It was a lot of fun. Anyways, he follows a sort of a van life, I would say, kind of travel blog called Travel Beans and was wondering if we would just do a spend my money about buying advice for a van.
Apparently, the people in this series had some issues with their van in the US and looks like-- and he's just kind of estimating here. They have about an $8,000 budget, and yeah, that's kind of a fun-- he wants to spend somebody else's money. So hey, why not? Let's all get into the game. Got a couple of different options here, but I will tee off with you, Jeremy.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Well, $8,000 is not a lot of money to spend in today's market on basically anything. What they got, I'm looking-- I'm looking at their videos right now that he sent us. It looks like a van-based RV of some sort. It looks like maybe-- I don't know if this is like late 1970s to mid '80s, something like that. I would not expect a great deal of reliability out of a vehicle like that.
You know, first of all, we're talking '70s, '80s van technology to start off with. We're also talking about several decades worth of aging that's happened from when it was new. The fact that they had issues and problems with this does not sound surprising to me in the slightest bit. So for $8,000, I would rather have something significantly-- if you're not planning on doing a bunch of home maintenance, and you're planning on driving this thing all over the place, I don't think you really are going to do very well with an $8,000 budget.
So my recommendation is to think smaller, maybe just get-- maybe get a conversion van. Maybe something from the later '90s, early 2000s. GMC and Chevy were making-- what is it-- the express? We rag on those things for being super old school, old technology. But it would be a much more reliable choice than some-- let's say even mid 80s RV conversion.
If you really need to go the RV route, and your budget is $8,000, you maybe can pick up a used pickup truck in the $6,000 range. I wouldn't expect to find much there either but just get a bare-bones F150, F250 that's not rusted all out and spend your last $1,000 or $2,000 on a trailer that you can slowly refurbish. And I think you're going to come out ahead when it comes to maintenance costs on that because you're dealing with a well-known known of a pickup truck.
And as long as you've got decent axles and brakes on the camper trailer you're pulling behind you, then it's serviceable and roadworthy. And you can take your time doing things like replacing interior components, make sure there's no leaks in the sink, that you're comfortable sleeping on whatever bed it is.
I have a little bit of experience in this, having owned a vintage Volkswagen camper van. A vehicle that I absolutely did not buy for its reliability, and there were many times where it broke down on the side of the road. Several times for fuel pumps. A couple of times where like just it wouldn't want to start, and it turns out the wiring was just a little bit old.
And you know, I think you're going-- at this dollar amount, you're going to have to expect not to have the greatest ownership experience. If it were me, and I were giving someone under $10,000 with a budget of less than $10,000 advice. I do not think that I would go the RV path. I think I'd go the used truck or van path pulling a camper is probably a better choice.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I agree with you. I have one very precise answer to this question than just some kind of more like meta thoughts on-- let's see, the website is-- where did this website go? The website is thevancamper.com. There is a gorgeous 1979 Dodge camper van Coachman edition for $13,000. It has a 360 V8 with 87,000 miles on it. I don't know if that's a new one or what that is. It sounds too good to be true. The pictures look like something out of an LL Bean catalog or Eddie Bauer or something.
If you think '70s, like just the colors, the scheme, the headlights, this is it. That's still almost like double your budget. So I think to me that just speaks to like how tricky it is to find something for $8,000 or in that area. But, hey, check it out, Google it, it's a really beautiful van camper. I mean, I don't-- other than just researching it for the purposes of this question, I have no idea what the situation is, but it seems to be almost underpriced for the vintage aura it provides. So that's out there, check that out.
Otherwise, you kind of got to look like-- for this-- like this like realistic price point, and what you probably want to do with it, you're looking at like a 20-year-old Chevy Express or GMC Safari or Ford E150, that type of thing. Looking also at Van Camper, never heard of the site until 20 minutes ago, you can find stuff like that. Like, here's like an Express, 3,500 no less for $8,000 almost exactly with 172,000 miles. Now, that's a lot of miles on anything.
That's an old vehicle, but I mean, again, like the YouTube series we're looking at, this really needs to be the primary like home and transportation. If you're just looking to go up North like a couple of times in the summer, $8,000 maybe you're handy, and you can kind of ranch and get it roadworthy for those like two or three big weekends. You know, you can get something for like-- it's about 20 years old.
You're going to be looking at it over 150,000 miles most of the time, but you can grab one of those sort of old domestic vans and probably still have some money to outfit it quite nicely. They're large. They'll give you some space, and then my third lesser choice is just I always like the Transit Connect. I thought they did a good job bringing that to the United States. Some of the older ones, like 2011-ish, somewhere in there. I'm seeing a listing. This thing is just beat up. It's already rusty.
I don't think I would-- I would not buy this, but that's sort of like the other option you're looking at like in that $10,000 range. You'll get fewer miles on it. Like some of these are more like in the 70,000 miles, but yeah, 10 years old, $10,000-ish. 70,000, 80,000 miles. That's sort of like your smaller, more boring, but it's also a newer vehicle. You know, that's one where you could get into something that if you're willing to live with some dents and rust, mechanically, that might have a little more miles to go. Let's put it that way.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I did a little bit of looking while you were talking. Even just to get like an E-Series van or a Chevy Express van, you're going to take up most of that $8,000 budget just to bring one home, and we're talking something that's got probably over 100,000 miles on it. I'd be more comfortable doing that than spending the full $8,000 on an RV though.
I can speak from some level of experience that any time you've got something that's like, OK, it's based on a van, but it's going to have, like-- the brakes you're going to be different. The wheels and tire things are going to be different. It's going to be a whole bunch of little, itty-bitty things that go wrong with it that the parts are not going to be easily found, easily available.
I think at that price range, combining the drivability of it and the livability of it is going to be really difficult. I think you probably are better off going in two pieces with a van that can pull a tow behind. I think it's probably the safer route at this dollar amount, or try to save up a little bit more money. I know that that's terrible. That's not helpful, but I think if you could double that budget, you'd have so many more decent options.
GREG MIGLIORE: I do like your kind of find the old pickup truck option, and even that, that's going to be tight for $8,000. You know, Toyota Tacomas are expensive. So we could leave it there. Good catching up with you, Jeremy. I think we've covered a lot. What do you drink in this final month of summer? It's August.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Well, so early in the summer I was really going with heavy IPAs, and hazies and cloudies. I got a little bit burned out on them. So I'm drinking-- I'm drinking some hefeweizens. I'm drinking some pale ales, some kind of easier drinking but still flavorful beers when it's so hot outside and humid. Sometimes, a real heavy, overly-hopped beer can just feel like a little bit too much. So I've dialed it back a little bit in the dog days of summer to some lighter beer but still flavorful options. How about you?
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. Sounds good. Hefeweizen, we're-- what-- six weeks out from Octoberfest. So that is just around the corner, and Octoberfest will be on the shelves here from Sam Adams relatively soon. I know some people love that, still working my way through a case of Heineken that I've had for a while, and I do have some Space Force. It's a hazy.
I think it's a tangerine IPA. I mentioned that on the show before. It's really nice just on the patio after a day's work. It's kind of light, fairly moderate ABV, IPA style. It's good to have like one then maybe switch to like more like a lawnmower beer, or do it the other way. Have the Coors Light or the Heineken, and then blast off with the Space Force.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: There you go.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, if you enjoy the show, five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Send us your Spend My Money at podcast@autoblog.com. Shout out to our producer, Eric Meyer. The theme song is done by one of his groups, and it's called Skyway Traffic. We will let Skyway Traffic take us out. Be safe out there. We'll see you next time.
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