Speaker 1: Pushkin. I love the idea of this big engine presence,
Speaker 1: like a big V eight or even a V twelve
Speaker 1: in a sedan that you can just haul ass in,
Speaker 1: all right, for the dignified hooligan, exactly exactly, so we
Speaker 1: know what we're looking for. We're looking for a car,
Speaker 1: the most dignified car for the biggest hooligan. I'm ready.
Speaker 1: On this season of Car Show, we're putting cars in
Speaker 1: four brackets to the test, all in the pursuit of
Speaker 1: crowning a winner of our very own Car of the
Speaker 1: Year contest and hopefully helping you decide how to spend
Speaker 1: your hard earned money. This episode is about my favorite
Speaker 1: segment of all sports sedans. I've driven about two hundred
Speaker 1: cars this year, and four sports sedans stood out, some
Speaker 1: because they were great, one because it was a little disappointing.
Speaker 1: Those four cars are the Audi RS three, the Cadillac
Speaker 1: CT five V Black Wing, the Honda Civic Type R,
Speaker 1: and the Undilantra N. I've enlisted Alanna Share to help
Speaker 1: me rank them. Alana is a hot rodder and muscle
Speaker 1: car freak from back in the day, and she's currently
Speaker 1: senior editor and a columnist for Car and driver. Together,
Speaker 1: we'll decide which will pass through the gauntlet to the
Speaker 1: final round. I'm Eddie Alterman, and this is car show,
Speaker 1: So creamy, so good. The brakes are insane and so
Speaker 1: easy to modulate. They just haul this thing down without drama.
Speaker 1: It's wonderful. Before we start talking about the cars, i'd
Speaker 1: like to get your take on what you think a
Speaker 1: great sport sedan should be. Oh, I mean sports sedan.
Speaker 1: When you first think about it is kind of you're like, no, what, No,
Speaker 1: sedans they're not Sporty sedans are for families. Sedans are
Speaker 1: for people who need to look important and go stately,
Speaker 1: or maybe for people who just like to fill the
Speaker 1: backseat of their car with all their luggage or their
Speaker 1: groceries or something. You know, some people don't like trunks.
Speaker 1: I'm fine, I understand that, you know, you just want
Speaker 1: to be close to your stuff. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: Then they started making fast forward doors, right, and they're
Speaker 1: always sleepers. I do like a sleeper, you know, even
Speaker 1: in the muscle car days. You know, if you think
Speaker 1: about it, like the way that muscle cars even started
Speaker 1: was with the engine from a sedan that they they
Speaker 1: and would put into a smaller two door car or
Speaker 1: a sportier car. So really, sports sedans are the perform
Speaker 1: min's car. They're they're under the radar performance, right, They're
Speaker 1: the car that, you know, a middle aged person could
Speaker 1: drive respectively and not attract the attention of the cops.
Speaker 1: But you know, get on the highway, put the hammer down,
Speaker 1: or take an off ramp, a highway off ramp like
Speaker 1: a complete lunatic and you know, go back to being
Speaker 1: you know, a respectable Burger by day and Batman by night. Right,
Speaker 1: And it's that great incongruity of formal envelope, you know,
Speaker 1: like a formal sedan shape with just a huge stunkin
Speaker 1: engine in it. And I feel like these cars are
Speaker 1: sort of do it all. You know, the original BMW
Speaker 1: M fives are sort of like four door nine to elevens.
Speaker 1: You know, they gave you everything in a great package. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do you feel like M five started the true sportiness
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm thinking sort of, you know, I
Speaker 1: went way back and went to kind of like the
Speaker 1: muscle and in the big car, but those were not
Speaker 1: good handling cars, right, like a Cadillac or a big
Speaker 1: Mercedes that was not a car you wanted to take
Speaker 1: a corner in no like the six point nine Mercedes. Yes,
Speaker 1: tons of motor, but not truly kind of track focused
Speaker 1: four door. You know you think that, Well, this car
Speaker 1: is bigger than a two door. It's not a coup
Speaker 1: it's not as low to the ground, it's got a
Speaker 1: lot of extra mass. Why are we bothering making it sporty?
Speaker 1: But comfort and performance really are great bedfellows. They really
Speaker 1: do go together like chocolate and peanut butter. And I
Speaker 1: love a car like this. This is my personal favorite category.
Speaker 1: And I think we're sort of at the end of
Speaker 1: the traditional big engine kind of midsize sports stand. I
Speaker 1: think they're all in the future going to be electric
Speaker 1: powered and they'll be very, very quick, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about these cars, and we're going to
Speaker 1: go in alphabetical order. The first one that i'd like
Speaker 1: to talk to you about is the Audi RS three.
Speaker 1: Now RS three means it is the A three body
Speaker 1: with not just the S Performance Kit, it's the RS
Speaker 1: Performance Kit, and it's gigantically powerful. The Audi RS three's
Speaker 1: natural predators are the BMW M two coupe and the
Speaker 1: Mercedes AMG CLA forty five. It's a sixty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: nugget with a thrumbing five cylinder engine making four hundred
Speaker 1: and one horse power, and it's all wheel drive system
Speaker 1: has a drift mode that helps you pull off lurid
Speaker 1: frame filling power slides. So the first time that I
Speaker 1: drove one, first of all, the one that we drove
Speaker 1: was like bright spring green, like it was just like
Speaker 1: fluorescent green, like highlighter green. I was like an Audi
Speaker 1: really kind of surprised me a little bit. And I
Speaker 1: knew on paper what it was supposed to be, but
Speaker 1: I hadn't ever been in one. And I like the
Speaker 1: fact that it's kind of like the more and more three,
Speaker 1: Like you know S three is like more and then
Speaker 1: the RS is more and more. So that's promising. And
Speaker 1: it was ridiculously fast, I mean, like because it didn't
Speaker 1: hold anything back. You know, sometimes you'll get in a
Speaker 1: very powerful car, but it has like a little bit
Speaker 1: of a pause, not like a turboline, just like a
Speaker 1: little bit of a drivetrain, cushioned protected a little And
Speaker 1: Audie was just like, no, you can have it all
Speaker 1: you want it, all of it's it's on you man.
Speaker 1: You made the decision. So that was startling and delightful
Speaker 1: because it doesn't look like it's something that's going to
Speaker 1: do that, even in bright bright green. I was like,
Speaker 1: but it's pretty wide, slow to the ground. It looks mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't have like crazy wings or really that
Speaker 1: many slats or openings or anything like. It's you know,
Speaker 1: if you got it in silver, no one who didn't
Speaker 1: know would know, right right, But you know, I drove
Speaker 1: that thing and I was like, you very impressed with
Speaker 1: the speed. I thought it was insanely quick and it
Speaker 1: looked great, and I like the fact that it was small.
Speaker 1: I didn't like the fact that you couldn't get a
Speaker 1: manual transmission in it. And I didn't like how sort
Speaker 1: of cold it was to the touch. I mean, this
Speaker 1: thing was like colder than a polar bear's ass. It
Speaker 1: was just like, you know, very very inert feeling in
Speaker 1: a way like mechanical, robotic, not a lot of feedback.
Speaker 1: And you know, if we're talking about sports and ants,
Speaker 1: they should have some elements of a sports car. They
Speaker 1: should have that sensitivity and that feedback and really be
Speaker 1: rewarding to all the senses like a sports car is.
Speaker 1: They should give you something. This one was just sort
Speaker 1: of like not a very willing partner. I don't know
Speaker 1: what's your take on that. I totally know what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. It's not even that it's unwilling. It's that
Speaker 1: it didn't care one way or the other. Right, Like
Speaker 1: it's like, you want to go, we can go. You
Speaker 1: don't want to go. We don't have to go. What
Speaker 1: do you want for? What do you want for dinner?
Speaker 1: I don't know what do you want? You know? And
Speaker 1: also this is a small quibble, but you know, keeping
Speaker 1: with my relationship metaphor, you know, when you like somebody
Speaker 1: but they have one super irritating small habit, like like
Speaker 1: they just chew too loudly or something, and eventually you're like,
Speaker 1: I can't I can't live with this person, Like we
Speaker 1: have to break up. The brakes on that car were
Speaker 1: I just like, I just hate the way they feel.
Speaker 1: It's not that it didn't stop, they just every time
Speaker 1: I hit the brakes. That was like, yeah, so talk
Speaker 1: more about that. I felt the same way. They were unpredictable.
Speaker 1: And really, anyone who knows me and knows my background
Speaker 1: might be right now yelling at this podcast, like Alana
Speaker 1: you have no right to talk about breaks. You drive
Speaker 1: cars that don't even currently have working breaks, and you're
Speaker 1: still driving and I'm like, yes, that's true, and it
Speaker 1: pulls to the side, but it does it the same
Speaker 1: every time, so I know what I know what to expect.
Speaker 1: Like with the Audi is like a little bite, then
Speaker 1: it was soft again, then it was really soft, then
Speaker 1: it like hit. I want like linear breaking that is
Speaker 1: the same all the way through the Audie breaks almost
Speaker 1: felt like electric car brakes, which is my pet peeve
Speaker 1: about electric cars. Breaks are your pet peeve about electric cars? Interesting, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you said something about consistency. I feel like what I
Speaker 1: want from breaks is exactly the same every single time.
Speaker 1: They can be kind of bad every time, but if
Speaker 1: they're bad in the same way, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: It's true. Like a sports car, sports dan should be predictable,
Speaker 1: and I also think the responses should be very linear.
Speaker 1: That gives you a lot of predictability. Like you know
Speaker 1: when you turn the steering wheel, how much steering you're
Speaker 1: gonna get, how much turning you're going to get when
Speaker 1: you hit the brakes. You want to know how much
Speaker 1: breaking force you're gonna get. You don't want to have
Speaker 1: to get because when things get busy, you want to
Speaker 1: be thinking, you want to just be. You want to
Speaker 1: be in a flow state, right, and this Audia I
Speaker 1: just couldn't get in a flow state. And yeah, it's
Speaker 1: got this super cool five cylinder engine. But I got
Speaker 1: out of this car and into the GR Corolla, and
Speaker 1: the GR Corolla just had this incredible brap and burble
Speaker 1: and this voice that I thought that the RS three
Speaker 1: would have, but it really didn't. You know, it just
Speaker 1: sounded sort of but sewing machine like, Yeah, but tons
Speaker 1: of pull. A lot of great things about this car.
Speaker 1: That's kind of why it's on the semi final list,
Speaker 1: but it sounds like a hive of bees, and it
Speaker 1: just didn't work for me. It's a it's a fairly
Speaker 1: large amount of money for something that doesn't love you
Speaker 1: back exactly. Not a lot of soul. The next guy
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about soul out the Wazoo. This
Speaker 1: one comes from the home of soul and motile, Cadillac
Speaker 1: CT five V Black Wing. Now, the CT five V
Speaker 1: Black Wing didn't come out in twenty twenty two. It's
Speaker 1: technically in its second model year, but I drove it
Speaker 1: this year and this is my show, so it's magically
Speaker 1: eligible for our Car of the Year award. The CT
Speaker 1: five V Black Wing has rapier like handling, incredible ride, sophistication,
Speaker 1: and the mother of all engines, a supercharged six hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty eight horsepower six point two leader V eight.
Speaker 1: So this car just hits all my buttons, you know,
Speaker 1: not just that it's from Detroit, but Cadillac has been
Speaker 1: on this mission for a very very long time with
Speaker 1: the performance cars, to outdo BMW, to build a better
Speaker 1: M five or a better M three. And they've done it.
Speaker 1: They've outdone the original kind of M division masters with
Speaker 1: this car. It is just so full, it's so brimming
Speaker 1: with feedback. It's so alive to the touch, it is
Speaker 1: so predictable. It just goes exactly where you want to
Speaker 1: put it. And it's fun at thirty miles an hour,
Speaker 1: doesn't You don't have to be honking on it to
Speaker 1: really enjoy it. Tell me about this car and how
Speaker 1: you reacted to it. So I've been very lucky to
Speaker 1: have multiple different goes in in the Cadillac CT as
Speaker 1: B five. I always say CTS that is five five black.
Speaker 1: See this is my big complaint about this car. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think you can get zero to sixty
Speaker 1: in it quicker than you could say its full name.
Speaker 1: But CT five Black I also like the CT four
Speaker 1: Black Wing. But my first drive in it was pouring
Speaker 1: rain in an arbor in Michigan, like pouring and I'm
Speaker 1: from California. I don't understand rain. I was like, what
Speaker 1: do I do. I'm in this like manual car with
Speaker 1: six hundred plus horse power. I'm gonna die. And the
Speaker 1: car was just like, You're fine, it's okay. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna like trundle along. I'm a big old tires. I
Speaker 1: will stay in the lane, like, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get you home. Um. So I was kind
Speaker 1: of immediately like, whoa, you're so friendly, What a nice
Speaker 1: pal you are. And then on a dry day, you know,
Speaker 1: we got to take them on track and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're vicious and I love you, and you know this
Speaker 1: it really does anything. I had the chance to drive
Speaker 1: it on track and uh, we were joking about how
Speaker 1: much torque it has and I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I bet you could start this car dead stop from
Speaker 1: fourth and then do a whole lap never shifting, and
Speaker 1: we did. I think you could do it in fifth,
Speaker 1: but we didn't want to try. Just a tidal wave
Speaker 1: of torque from this car. And it just it's so
Speaker 1: instantaneously responsive. The engine just loves to come off the throttle.
Speaker 1: It's just so so there for you all the time.
Speaker 1: And that applies to the steering, that applies to the brakes,
Speaker 1: and Cadillac has gone way out on the ass and
Speaker 1: toe and keeps tuning and tuning until there's nothing left
Speaker 1: that's wrong with the car. It's just honing and honing.
Speaker 1: And I talked to one of the chassis engineers and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, this car has electric power steering.
Speaker 1: It does not have hydraulic power steering. And a lot
Speaker 1: of cars with electric power steering don't have any road feel.
Speaker 1: You can't feel the texture of the road, and I
Speaker 1: would say most of them. And it's a huge pet
Speaker 1: peeva mind that. You know, a car that should be
Speaker 1: really sporting, performance oriented doesn't give you tactile feedback through
Speaker 1: the wheel. And he said, we really really worked on
Speaker 1: all those transitional phases of steering inputs to give you
Speaker 1: that feedback, and that's why that car feels so alive
Speaker 1: and feels so good, and it's so big, but it
Speaker 1: just totally shrinks around you. It's super comfortable. It's really
Speaker 1: a Cadillac in every way, super smooth, but man, it
Speaker 1: just goes and goes and goes and just never wants
Speaker 1: to give up. Yeah. Oh, you're talking about the steering feedback.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that is kind of amazing
Speaker 1: about that car is you can tell what's happening at
Speaker 1: the tires, but it's not jittering under your hand, because
Speaker 1: you know, you get in like a hyper car or
Speaker 1: a real sports car, and you know you could you
Speaker 1: could tell not just where the ruts are, but where
Speaker 1: like each pebble is and how big it is and
Speaker 1: maybe what color it is from, like how much everything
Speaker 1: is moving around and you're kind of can it can
Speaker 1: be exhausting if you're doing it as a daily driver,
Speaker 1: and it would be inappropriate for a Cadillac to be
Speaker 1: that hyperactive. And it's not, you know, like it's still
Speaker 1: like you said, it's still a comfortable car, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, it always sounds rowdy, but not It's not
Speaker 1: a muscle car, even though it hangs with the muscle cars.
Speaker 1: You know much better manners. Yeah, incredible, impeccable manners. Knows
Speaker 1: which fork to use, and it's got those trick dampers
Speaker 1: that really work wanders on the car's ride. It also
Speaker 1: has a usable back seat, which I know is you know,
Speaker 1: maybe an afterthought in this conversation, but since we are
Speaker 1: talking about sedans, you can have four people in that
Speaker 1: car and they will they will all be reasonably comfortable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's true. You can take it to the opera. It's
Speaker 1: like what Fairy Porsche Is said about the nine to eleven.
Speaker 1: You can take it to the East African Safari Rally,
Speaker 1: and you can take it to the opera. I don't
Speaker 1: want to sit in the back of a nine to eleven,
Speaker 1: No one does. Those are seats for insurance purposes only
Speaker 1: and some groceries. After the break, more sports sedans with
Speaker 1: our guest Alana Share. Okay, So moving on from a
Speaker 1: car that you know has a whole myth around it
Speaker 1: to another one that has a whole myth around it.
Speaker 1: The Honda Civic Type are the new for twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: Civic Type are just loves to attack corners and on ramps.
Speaker 1: It's three fifteen horsepower turbocharged four banger sends power through
Speaker 1: one of the greatest manual transmissions ever made. The Type
Speaker 1: R costs forty four thousand dollars, but good luck prying
Speaker 1: it out of the dealer's hands for that price. The
Speaker 1: one I drove, I think you drove the same one
Speaker 1: was white with a full red and black interior, red carpets. Oh.
Speaker 1: It was insane, and I think really really beautiful, And
Speaker 1: I just love the way this corresponded. It felt so
Speaker 1: kind of cheerful. What was your take on the Civic Type. Well,
Speaker 1: it's funny because we started off by saying that we
Speaker 1: felt like a perfect sport sedan was like for the
Speaker 1: dignified hooligan, and if you think about the previous Type are,
Speaker 1: there was nothing dignified about it. It was all hooligan.
Speaker 1: M I kind of loved it because I enjoy a
Speaker 1: certain kind of rudeness in design, where people are like
Speaker 1: I remember once that I was in a parking lot
Speaker 1: and it wasn't a Type AR. I think it was
Speaker 1: a WRX or something, but there's some something with a
Speaker 1: big wing in the parking lot and this older couple
Speaker 1: walked by and the husband was like, Oh, that spoiler,
Speaker 1: and the wife was like, why is it called a
Speaker 1: spoiler because it spoils the look of the car. I
Speaker 1: always think about it. I like them, but I always
Speaker 1: think about what they must look like to people who
Speaker 1: don't understand, you know, the tradition or the point of them.
Speaker 1: It must just be very confusing. So anyway, now, the
Speaker 1: type bar is definitely dignified. I mean, you know, from
Speaker 1: the front, you're like, oh yeah, classy car looks good,
Speaker 1: and then in the back it's just enough to be like,
Speaker 1: what's going on here? It does have that big spoiler
Speaker 1: on the back looks more like a tall rack than
Speaker 1: an aero device, right, But it's a bit of a mullet.
Speaker 1: It's business upfront, party in the back. They couldn't resist.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's very functional. I'm sure it's great, but
Speaker 1: I would I would take that off. You're gonna look
Speaker 1: really silly driving around in your super Bird with no
Speaker 1: wing on the pond the back. Sure, I thought the
Speaker 1: shifter in this car was incredible. I'm just gonna say that.
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say that. You know, if you
Speaker 1: have not for some reason been won over to a
Speaker 1: manual transmission, this is just a delight to drive. It's
Speaker 1: so easy, so easy. The shifts are very short and
Speaker 1: very positive. You have that beautiful metal shift nab that's
Speaker 1: just really rewarding to touch, and it just feels great.
Speaker 1: They have automatic rev matching, so you can downshift and
Speaker 1: look like a superstar in this car. You don't need
Speaker 1: to heal and toe and it just makes you incredibly smooth.
Speaker 1: And this whole thing to me felt like the essence
Speaker 1: of Honda, which was, you know, this idea of man maximum,
Speaker 1: machine minimum. So it's very driving focus. You know, that's
Speaker 1: their sort of philosophy. It's sort of outdated gender wise, however,
Speaker 1: the idea, the idea is that the vehicle should serve
Speaker 1: the person rather than the other way around. And I
Speaker 1: felt like, instead of just sort of driving this car,
Speaker 1: you sort of plug into it and it's supernatural, super fluid,
Speaker 1: really floats beautifully and you know, I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: forty three grand or something like that, I think it's
Speaker 1: worth it, especially when the average transaction price of a
Speaker 1: car is like forty eight thousand dollars. Yeah, I am
Speaker 1: a little bit disappointed in the price, I have to say,
Speaker 1: because I kind of always wanted this to be a
Speaker 1: car that you know, younger people could have, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and before it was a car that really only younger
Speaker 1: people would have wanted to have been seen in Great Point.
Speaker 1: But now, you know, now it is so much more adult.
Speaker 1: It will have a much more mature audience, which means
Speaker 1: that there are going to be more people who can
Speaker 1: afford it, even as the price keeps going up. And
Speaker 1: you know that's uh, it's good for Honda, it's you know,
Speaker 1: good for grown ups. But you know, won't somebody think
Speaker 1: of the kids? Well, you know, speaking of the kids,
Speaker 1: I was looking at used versions of the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one and earlier Civic type our and those things are
Speaker 1: going for fifty thousand dollars. So I have to imagine
Speaker 1: there's going to be some dealer price gouging on this thing.
Speaker 1: And you know, the forty three or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: I mean, the average transaction price might be higher than that.
Speaker 1: And we're just in a weird time, you know, because
Speaker 1: of the supply shortages. It's driving the cost of everything up.
Speaker 1: Hopefully it abates in twenty twenty three, but you know,
Speaker 1: I think if you get one at forty four, you're winning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think there's going to be
Speaker 1: regrets from people who buy them. Yeah, no, I think
Speaker 1: they're going to be totally satisfied. I love the thing.
Speaker 1: Um you know, there is a car out there, however,
Speaker 1: that sort of does with the Civic type R does,
Speaker 1: but much more cheaply. And this thing was the surprise
Speaker 1: of the year for me. The Day Elantra N. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Unda Elantra N. This thing is no joke. It's
Speaker 1: a road gripping, corner eating monster. Even if it's two
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six horsepower turbo four is less than
Speaker 1: half the engine in the black one. The Hyundai Elantra N. Okay,
Speaker 1: you think Elantra Okay, that's a rental car. Elantra N.
Speaker 1: Totally different. Ball Wax. This is a car that I've
Speaker 1: driven a lot. I just drove it on road and
Speaker 1: tracks Hudson Quatracento rally and the Ferraris could not get
Speaker 1: away from me in this thing. I was hounding them.
Speaker 1: It has so much driver feedback. You know exactly how
Speaker 1: to place this car. The power band is terrific. There's
Speaker 1: power sort of everywhere. The steering is great, the brakes
Speaker 1: are great. It's just so faithful. This car is like
Speaker 1: a trainer jet for guys who are going to be flying,
Speaker 1: you know, F thirty five. It's like reminds me of
Speaker 1: you know, Backlund I was growing up cars like the
Speaker 1: Nissan Sentra se are that we're sort of like your
Speaker 1: first step on the enthusiast performance ladder. Did you get
Speaker 1: some time in this thing? Absolutely yeah, I've I've done
Speaker 1: a couple of couple of stints in this car and
Speaker 1: it's hilarious. It's like, so if if the Audie that
Speaker 1: we talked about in the beginning is maybe a little
Speaker 1: too dignified and a little not Bouliganish enough, this one
Speaker 1: is edging up on not dignified enough because I mean it,
Speaker 1: you know, it burbles and farts. It has this like
Speaker 1: sound mode. In fact, I believe that it was the
Speaker 1: Elantra end right now, or might be a a lost end.
Speaker 1: But like currently in California there's a lawsuit going on
Speaker 1: because somebody got a noise ticket in a stock end
Speaker 1: car because it's so loud in its sport mode like
Speaker 1: it's it's so they were accused of having a modified
Speaker 1: car because it sounds like it is totally hot rotted.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. The sounds are great, this little induction flutter,
Speaker 1: you know when when you're on the gas and the
Speaker 1: noise on the outside is loud and barky, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of crazy. But it's comfortable. I think
Speaker 1: you can get four people in it pretty comfortably. And
Speaker 1: the driving positions great. The seats are really well bolstered.
Speaker 1: I love driving it. I was. I found it sort
Speaker 1: of addictive. Yeah, I liked it a lot too. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, I bring home a lot of cars. And
Speaker 1: my husband, who's also into cars, but he likes classic cars.
Speaker 1: He hates them all. He was like, doesn't it doesn't
Speaker 1: it'll be like, oh, here's a McLaren seven six five,
Speaker 1: Do you want to take it around the block? No,
Speaker 1: Like he just like does why not? Doesn't get why
Speaker 1: is just no interest in it? He does. He thinks
Speaker 1: they're boring and he doesn't like all of the stuff.
Speaker 1: He doesn't like all of these screens, he doesn't like
Speaker 1: the the electronics that are doing things, you know, rear
Speaker 1: wheel steer and you know, stop starting all of that.
Speaker 1: He's just like, it's in the way, it's it's impure.
Speaker 1: But there are a couple full of cars that he
Speaker 1: has liked over the years that I've brought home, and
Speaker 1: the Elantra End was one of them. And I think
Speaker 1: it was just because it's just like a stick there
Speaker 1: wasn't really doing anything for you. You just had to
Speaker 1: do your own thing, and that was one where he
Speaker 1: was happy to drive it. So sticks in my memory
Speaker 1: as being like, oh, well, this car is good enough
Speaker 1: that it'll win over somebody who, you know, only normally
Speaker 1: likes things from like nineteen thirty. And I'm really kind
Speaker 1: of glad that they've They've focused a lot of this
Speaker 1: attention on the smaller cars. You know, this sort of
Speaker 1: compact size really works with the power it. I just
Speaker 1: like a smaller car. I think cars have gotten too big,
Speaker 1: and this one feels just exactly right, big enough inside
Speaker 1: for a family. It's it's a little bit like what
Speaker 1: we were talking about with the Honda, you know, really
Speaker 1: kind of roomy and airy inside. Honda more so. But
Speaker 1: they don't need to be much bigger than this. They
Speaker 1: they really don't. And I'm I'm just a super fan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, all four of the cars in our lineup
Speaker 1: are really great size wise, and you don't really realize
Speaker 1: it if you're used to driving a big truck or
Speaker 1: if you've been driving an suv. But when you get
Speaker 1: into a sedan and you pull into a parking spot
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, there's space on either side inside
Speaker 1: the lines, Like I can get in and out of
Speaker 1: this car. I'm not touching the close to touching the
Speaker 1: other person's car. I didn't have to spend I didn't
Speaker 1: have to like rearrange the car a couple of times
Speaker 1: to get it into this parking spot. And you're like, oh, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: everything's too big. We should be smaller, right, And I
Speaker 1: feel like you could get to watch ends side by
Speaker 1: side in one of those Costco parking lot spaces. You
Speaker 1: know that they're designed for, you know, school buses and
Speaker 1: big rigs. Yeah, you could park get at a Trader Joe's.
Speaker 1: And that's saying something totally. So what's the best sports
Speaker 1: adan of twenty twenty two? You'll find out after the break. Okay,
Speaker 1: time to rank them. As a reminder, we've got the Audi,
Speaker 1: the Cadillac, the Honda, and the Hyundai. Getting back to
Speaker 1: this lineup and and thinking about how we want to
Speaker 1: rank them, I think we're both pretty clear on um
Speaker 1: what number four is. I think the Audie takes the
Speaker 1: last spot here just because it doesn't it doesn't return
Speaker 1: the kind of love that you expect. It doesn't love
Speaker 1: you back. Yeah, you know, it's it's working, it's working
Speaker 1: for you, it's paid help, and it leaves at the
Speaker 1: end of the day and never thinks about you. It's impressive, no,
Speaker 1: no question. It really does, you know, do what it
Speaker 1: says it's going to do. And it gets around a
Speaker 1: racetrack really quickly. It's incredibly quick, and it really sticks
Speaker 1: to the road. But it's just robotic, you know, it's
Speaker 1: a drum machine versus a real drummer. I keep coming
Speaker 1: back to this analogy, but it really just lacks that feel.
Speaker 1: But so yeah, I think Audie R S three doesn't
Speaker 1: doesn't do what you wanted to do. I think the
Speaker 1: S three actually provides more tectility and feedback than the
Speaker 1: RS three. But I just think it's it's four out
Speaker 1: of four here. Yeah, somebody has to come in last, somebody,
Speaker 1: And they're all really great cars, and my third spot,
Speaker 1: even though I love this car, irrationally goes to the
Speaker 1: Elantra end because if we're talking about dignified hooliganism. This
Speaker 1: ain't it. And it's really silly looking, yeah, it is,
Speaker 1: especially in that blue you know that. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can you can love it. It's kind of it's lovable,
Speaker 1: but it's not pretty. It's not a pretty car. And
Speaker 1: you know, the Honda Civic Type R just has those
Speaker 1: tiny degrees of refinement above and beyond this car that
Speaker 1: that to me, put it above the Elantra and the
Speaker 1: Civic Type R has that wonderful kind of fluidity. And
Speaker 1: you know, with the the Elantra N, you're you're in
Speaker 1: a bit of a wrestling match. You know, you're punching
Speaker 1: it in the face and it's kicking you in the shins,
Speaker 1: and you're just like back and forth with this car
Speaker 1: and you're rumbling with it, whereas the Civic Type R
Speaker 1: is so much more elegant and fluid and it just
Speaker 1: flows from corner corner and you're not you know, you're
Speaker 1: not muscling it in the same way. Even though I
Speaker 1: love the elantraand um and it is fluid, but it's
Speaker 1: not doesn't have that same degree of refinement as I do.
Speaker 1: Feel like the price difference is reflected in kind of
Speaker 1: the the finish work and the fineness of input as
Speaker 1: well in those two cars, you know, I mean, the
Speaker 1: the Alantra End gets high points for being it's like
Speaker 1: mid thirties or something. Yeah, start, yeah, So it's like
Speaker 1: truly an affordable car. You get a lot for your money. Um,
Speaker 1: but if you pay you know a little more, you
Speaker 1: pay ten more or whatever, and you move into the Civic.
Speaker 1: It's definitely kind of a cleaner experience. It feels like
Speaker 1: just sort of a higher class of car, you know.
Speaker 1: I think they're both worth the money, but you know,
Speaker 1: the type is more expensive and justifiably so. And that's
Speaker 1: my second pick. I don't know, do you agree or
Speaker 1: would you put that first? I agree that those are
Speaker 1: the two middle cars. They're very close for me, if
Speaker 1: it I might swap them, just purely on trying to push,
Speaker 1: you know, like how much you get for how little
Speaker 1: money in the Elantra. But then you're so right about
Speaker 1: the dignified like if we're really talking sports sedan, I mean,
Speaker 1: the Elantra End is more like a like a you know,
Speaker 1: hot hatch with that extra doors so right exactly, so
Speaker 1: that leaves you know, like my favorite car ever, the
Speaker 1: CT five v black Wing from Cadillac, and I do
Speaker 1: think this is like the last of of the holdouts.
Speaker 1: You know, it's got this gigantic six point two Leader
Speaker 1: V eight supercharged and it's so responsive, it's so it's magical.
Speaker 1: It's just magical. I don't know how they did it.
Speaker 1: It feels like an animal, feels like you're riding a cheetah.
Speaker 1: And all of its tricks are brilliant tricks. You know,
Speaker 1: you can like flat shift it. You know, it also
Speaker 1: has rev match, like it has like a burnout mode.
Speaker 1: It makes you like you are a genius at driving,
Speaker 1: even if you're only okay. And if you are good
Speaker 1: at driving, then it's just a perfect partner. That's such
Speaker 1: a good point because great cars all do the same thing.
Speaker 1: They make you a better driver, they make you more
Speaker 1: in tune with the machine, they make you more conscious
Speaker 1: of your environment. It's so silky smooth, and it's like
Speaker 1: it just matches whatever mood you're in, and it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, it might be the last
Speaker 1: of the greats. I certainly think it's the best sports
Speaker 1: n ever created. I think it's better than anything BMW
Speaker 1: or Mercedes or Audie have ever done. Oh, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of fanboys having a heart attack right now,
Speaker 1: I know, but man, I just think it's so darn good.
Speaker 1: I really can't find anything to fault on that car.
Speaker 1: You might not like the styling, you might not like
Speaker 1: some of the interior applications, but holy smokes, it's just
Speaker 1: so good. They just like make life worth living. This car,
Speaker 1: to me, is one of those things. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I put it up there with coltranees
Speaker 1: a Love Supreme. I think it's flawless. I don't think
Speaker 1: there's any way to better it. It's just it's magical.
Speaker 1: And somehow they have all you know, they've got all
Speaker 1: the same stuff as everybody else, but they just applied
Speaker 1: it a little bit better. They applied it differently. They
Speaker 1: made the car more alive. And I think we got
Speaker 1: to give it to Cadillac. Yeah, if for no other
Speaker 1: reason to give it the award, we won't get another
Speaker 1: chance to write. You know, all the other cars in
Speaker 1: this list, they're smaller engines. There's a lot of turbos involved.
Speaker 1: We're going to see that combination first, you know, years
Speaker 1: to come. But a big V eight with a supercharger.
Speaker 1: This is it man, right? You know it's not. It's
Speaker 1: a hard sell to a lot of people and especially regulators.
Speaker 1: So that's a terrific point. Like the big V eight
Speaker 1: rear drive sedans with a stick, say goodbye to him, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: or buy one better yet, say say bye to them
Speaker 1: and purchase one. So the most expensive car at eighty
Speaker 1: seventh grand gets it, and I think eighty seventh grand
Speaker 1: is a small price to pay for this kind of
Speaker 1: happiness And what could be more joyful than driving the
Speaker 1: CT five V black Wing in southern California, which is
Speaker 1: where we're going to take you now with my producer
Speaker 1: Sam Dingman. Remember how last season I did a whole
Speaker 1: episode on the bmw M five and how it was
Speaker 1: the king of sports sedans, never to be tompled. Well,
Speaker 1: I may have been wrong about that. So the first
Speaker 1: thing to remember about this car, Sam, is that it's
Speaker 1: really blue. This may be the bluest car I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: It's the bluest blue. It does emphasize the shape in
Speaker 1: a cool way. You can see all these bone lines
Speaker 1: and the flares of the rear and it makes a
Speaker 1: statement for sure. Yeah, this is to me the pinnacle
Speaker 1: of the sport sedan. I mean, Candillac has been chasing
Speaker 1: this idea. They wanted to be the American BMW for
Speaker 1: so long, and they've finally done it, and it's just
Speaker 1: a wonder to behold. Let's take it out on the road.
Speaker 1: Let's do it so pretty muted startup song, you can't
Speaker 1: really hear the engine, sort of faint, more HVAC noise
Speaker 1: than any thing. So standard transmission, nice small wheeld, a
Speaker 1: ton of intimidating buttons. Now let's get no one here.
Speaker 1: Listen to that hum. That's a nice home. That's good,
Speaker 1: and I'll show you that's pretty sweet sounding, right, and
Speaker 1: pretty instantaneous. This thing already feels so light and alive,
Speaker 1: and even at thirty five miles an hour, there's like
Speaker 1: real feedback and not just from the engine, real feedback
Speaker 1: from the chassis visits electric power steering, but it's um.
Speaker 1: They've tuned it so that there is really progressive waiting.
Speaker 1: It feels really predictable. The car feels really small, drives
Speaker 1: really small. It doesn't feel like a big honking beast
Speaker 1: on the road. It feels really like tight and you
Speaker 1: know they've taken the best aspects of the great sports
Speaker 1: of ends, re real drive, lightweight, big V eight engine,
Speaker 1: manual transmission, and really just worked it the powers of media.
Speaker 1: The torque is crazy. There's so much down low. It's
Speaker 1: just got so much kick, so much grunt, and it's
Speaker 1: like perfectly meted out by the throttle pedal. The throttle
Speaker 1: pedal is so sensitive, it is so adjustable. The pedals
Speaker 1: feel so good. They are just like micrometer fine. You know,
Speaker 1: they're really highly highly sensitive. It's very easy to keep speed,
Speaker 1: but you don't pay any kind of penalty for it.
Speaker 1: It will speed. I mean the ride is incredible. I
Speaker 1: mean everything is natural and it responds exactly the way
Speaker 1: you think it will respond, and it does feel very
Speaker 1: I would say, you know. Alive Car Show is written
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Eddie Alterman. It's produced by Emily
Speaker 1: Rossteg and Jacob Smith. Our editor is Karen Shakerjee. Original
Speaker 1: music and mastering by Ben Tolliday. Our executive producer is
Speaker 1: Mia Loebell. Our show art was designed by Sean Karney
Speaker 1: and airbrushed by Greg la Fever. Special thanks to Sam Dingman,
Speaker 1: producer extraordinaire. We really had to twist his arm to
Speaker 1: get him in the passenger seat. Our patron saints, as
Speaker 1: always are we, Tom Allad and Justine Lange. Car Show
Speaker 1: is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you have this
Speaker 1: show and others from Pushkin Industries, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus.
Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content
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