December 7, 2022 • 40 mins
Eddie is joined by hot rodder, muscle car enthusiast, and Car and Driver Senior Editor Elana Scherr to weigh in this week’s contestants: the Audi RS3, Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, Hyundai Elantra N, and the Honda Civic Type R. Then Eddie takes the winner out for a drive in Southern California.
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin. I love the idea of this big engine presence,
like a big V eight or even a V twelve
in a sedan that you can just haul ass in,
all right, for the dignified hooligan, exactly exactly, so we
know what we're looking for. We're looking for a car,
(00:38):
the most dignified car for the biggest hooligan. I'm ready.
On this season of Car Show, we're putting cars in
four brackets to the test, all in the pursuit of
crowning a winner of our very own Car of the
Year contest and hopefully helping you decide how to spend
your hard earned money. This episode is about my favorite
(01:00):
segment of all sports sedans. I've driven about two hundred
cars this year, and four sports sedans stood out, some
because they were great, one because it was a little disappointing.
Those four cars are the Audi RS three, the Cadillac
CT five V Black Wing, the Honda Civic Type R,
(01:22):
and the Undilantra N. I've enlisted Alanna Share to help
me rank them. Alana is a hot rodder and muscle
car freak from back in the day, and she's currently
senior editor and a columnist for Car and driver. Together,
we'll decide which will pass through the gauntlet to the
final round. I'm Eddie Alterman, and this is car show,
(01:48):
So creamy, so good. The brakes are insane and so
easy to modulate. They just haul this thing down without drama.
It's wonderful. Before we start talking about the cars, i'd
(02:13):
like to get your take on what you think a
great sport sedan should be. Oh, I mean sports sedan.
When you first think about it is kind of you're like, no, what, No,
sedans they're not Sporty sedans are for families. Sedans are
for people who need to look important and go stately,
(02:33):
or maybe for people who just like to fill the
backseat of their car with all their luggage or their
groceries or something. You know, some people don't like trunks.
I'm fine, I understand that, you know, you just want
to be close to your stuff. But I don't know.
Then they started making fast forward doors, right, and they're
always sleepers. I do like a sleeper, you know, even
in the muscle car days. You know, if you think
(02:53):
about it, like the way that muscle cars even started
was with the engine from a sedan that they they
and would put into a smaller two door car or
a sportier car. So really, sports sedans are the perform
min's car. They're they're under the radar performance, right, They're
(03:14):
the car that, you know, a middle aged person could
drive respectively and not attract the attention of the cops.
But you know, get on the highway, put the hammer down,
or take an off ramp, a highway off ramp like
a complete lunatic and you know, go back to being
you know, a respectable Burger by day and Batman by night. Right,
(03:37):
And it's that great incongruity of formal envelope, you know,
like a formal sedan shape with just a huge stunkin
engine in it. And I feel like these cars are
sort of do it all. You know, the original BMW
M fives are sort of like four door nine to elevens.
(03:58):
You know, they gave you everything in a great package. Yeah,
do you feel like M five started the true sportiness
because you know, I'm thinking sort of, you know, I
went way back and went to kind of like the
muscle and in the big car, but those were not
good handling cars, right, like a Cadillac or a big
Mercedes that was not a car you wanted to take
a corner in no like the six point nine Mercedes. Yes,
(04:20):
tons of motor, but not truly kind of track focused
four door. You know you think that, Well, this car
is bigger than a two door. It's not a coup
it's not as low to the ground, it's got a
lot of extra mass. Why are we bothering making it sporty?
But comfort and performance really are great bedfellows. They really
(04:41):
do go together like chocolate and peanut butter. And I
love a car like this. This is my personal favorite category.
And I think we're sort of at the end of
the traditional big engine kind of midsize sports stand. I
think they're all in the future going to be electric
powered and they'll be very, very quick, don't get me wrong.
(05:05):
So let's talk about these cars, and we're going to
go in alphabetical order. The first one that i'd like
to talk to you about is the Audi RS three.
Now RS three means it is the A three body
with not just the S Performance Kit, it's the RS
(05:25):
Performance Kit, and it's gigantically powerful. The Audi RS three's
natural predators are the BMW M two coupe and the
Mercedes AMG CLA forty five. It's a sixty thousand dollars
nugget with a thrumbing five cylinder engine making four hundred
and one horse power, and it's all wheel drive system
(05:48):
has a drift mode that helps you pull off lurid
frame filling power slides. So the first time that I
drove one, first of all, the one that we drove
was like bright spring green, like it was just like
fluorescent green, like highlighter green. I was like an Audi
really kind of surprised me a little bit. And I
(06:11):
knew on paper what it was supposed to be, but
I hadn't ever been in one. And I like the
fact that it's kind of like the more and more three,
Like you know S three is like more and then
the RS is more and more. So that's promising. And
it was ridiculously fast, I mean, like because it didn't
(06:32):
hold anything back. You know, sometimes you'll get in a
very powerful car, but it has like a little bit
of a pause, not like a turboline, just like a
little bit of a drivetrain, cushioned protected a little And
Audie was just like, no, you can have it all
you want it, all of it's it's on you man.
You made the decision. So that was startling and delightful
(06:54):
because it doesn't look like it's something that's going to
do that, even in bright bright green. I was like,
but it's pretty wide, slow to the ground. It looks mean, yeah,
but it doesn't have like crazy wings or really that
many slats or openings or anything like. It's you know,
if you got it in silver, no one who didn't
know would know, right right, But you know, I drove
(07:15):
that thing and I was like, you very impressed with
the speed. I thought it was insanely quick and it
looked great, and I like the fact that it was small.
I didn't like the fact that you couldn't get a
manual transmission in it. And I didn't like how sort
of cold it was to the touch. I mean, this
thing was like colder than a polar bear's ass. It
(07:37):
was just like, you know, very very inert feeling in
a way like mechanical, robotic, not a lot of feedback.
And you know, if we're talking about sports and ants,
they should have some elements of a sports car. They
should have that sensitivity and that feedback and really be
rewarding to all the senses like a sports car is.
(07:59):
They should give you something. This one was just sort
of like not a very willing partner. I don't know
what's your take on that. I totally know what you're
talking about. It's not even that it's unwilling. It's that
it didn't care one way or the other. Right, Like
it's like, you want to go, we can go. You
don't want to go. We don't have to go. What
(08:19):
do you want for? What do you want for dinner?
I don't know what do you want? You know? And
also this is a small quibble, but you know, keeping
with my relationship metaphor, you know, when you like somebody
but they have one super irritating small habit, like like
they just chew too loudly or something, and eventually you're like,
I can't I can't live with this person, Like we
(08:42):
have to break up. The brakes on that car were
I just like, I just hate the way they feel.
It's not that it didn't stop, they just every time
I hit the brakes. That was like, yeah, so talk
more about that. I felt the same way. They were unpredictable.
And really, anyone who knows me and knows my background
(09:03):
might be right now yelling at this podcast, like Alana
you have no right to talk about breaks. You drive
cars that don't even currently have working breaks, and you're
still driving and I'm like, yes, that's true, and it
pulls to the side, but it does it the same
every time, so I know what I know what to expect.
Like with the Audi is like a little bite, then
it was soft again, then it was really soft, then
(09:24):
it like hit. I want like linear breaking that is
the same all the way through the Audie breaks almost
felt like electric car brakes, which is my pet peeve
about electric cars. Breaks are your pet peeve about electric cars? Interesting, Yeah,
you said something about consistency. I feel like what I
want from breaks is exactly the same every single time.
(09:45):
They can be kind of bad every time, but if
they're bad in the same way, I'm okay with that.
It's true. Like a sports car, sports dan should be predictable,
and I also think the responses should be very linear.
That gives you a lot of predictability. Like you know
when you turn the steering wheel, how much steering you're
gonna get, how much turning you're going to get when
you hit the brakes. You want to know how much
(10:06):
breaking force you're gonna get. You don't want to have
to get because when things get busy, you want to
be thinking, you want to just be. You want to
be in a flow state, right, and this Audia I
just couldn't get in a flow state. And yeah, it's
got this super cool five cylinder engine. But I got
out of this car and into the GR Corolla, and
(10:27):
the GR Corolla just had this incredible brap and burble
and this voice that I thought that the RS three
would have, but it really didn't. You know, it just
sounded sort of but sewing machine like, Yeah, but tons
of pull. A lot of great things about this car.
That's kind of why it's on the semi final list,
(10:49):
but it sounds like a hive of bees, and it
just didn't work for me. It's a it's a fairly
large amount of money for something that doesn't love you
back exactly. Not a lot of soul. The next guy
we're going to talk about soul out the Wazoo. This
one comes from the home of soul and motile, Cadillac
(11:11):
CT five V Black Wing. Now, the CT five V
Black Wing didn't come out in twenty twenty two. It's
technically in its second model year, but I drove it
this year and this is my show, so it's magically
eligible for our Car of the Year award. The CT
(11:34):
five V Black Wing has rapier like handling, incredible ride, sophistication,
and the mother of all engines, a supercharged six hundred
and sixty eight horsepower six point two leader V eight.
(11:57):
So this car just hits all my buttons, you know,
not just that it's from Detroit, but Cadillac has been
on this mission for a very very long time with
the performance cars, to outdo BMW, to build a better
M five or a better M three. And they've done it.
They've outdone the original kind of M division masters with
(12:21):
this car. It is just so full, it's so brimming
with feedback. It's so alive to the touch, it is
so predictable. It just goes exactly where you want to
put it. And it's fun at thirty miles an hour,
doesn't You don't have to be honking on it to
really enjoy it. Tell me about this car and how
you reacted to it. So I've been very lucky to
(12:44):
have multiple different goes in in the Cadillac CT as
B five. I always say CTS that is five five black.
See this is my big complaint about this car. Um.
You know, I think you can get zero to sixty
in it quicker than you could say its full name.
(13:07):
But CT five Black I also like the CT four
Black Wing. But my first drive in it was pouring
rain in an arbor in Michigan, like pouring and I'm
from California. I don't understand rain. I was like, what
do I do. I'm in this like manual car with
six hundred plus horse power. I'm gonna die. And the
car was just like, You're fine, it's okay. I'm just
(13:30):
gonna like trundle along. I'm a big old tires. I
will stay in the lane, like, don't worry about it.
We're gonna get you home. Um. So I was kind
of immediately like, whoa, you're so friendly, What a nice
pal you are. And then on a dry day, you know,
we got to take them on track and I was like, oh,
you're vicious and I love you, and you know this
(13:53):
it really does anything. I had the chance to drive
it on track and uh, we were joking about how
much torque it has and I was like, you know,
I bet you could start this car dead stop from
fourth and then do a whole lap never shifting, and
we did. I think you could do it in fifth,
but we didn't want to try. Just a tidal wave
(14:13):
of torque from this car. And it just it's so
instantaneously responsive. The engine just loves to come off the throttle.
It's just so so there for you all the time.
And that applies to the steering, that applies to the brakes,
and Cadillac has gone way out on the ass and
toe and keeps tuning and tuning until there's nothing left
(14:36):
that's wrong with the car. It's just honing and honing.
And I talked to one of the chassis engineers and
he said, you know, this car has electric power steering.
It does not have hydraulic power steering. And a lot
of cars with electric power steering don't have any road feel.
You can't feel the texture of the road, and I
would say most of them. And it's a huge pet
peeva mind that. You know, a car that should be
(14:59):
really sporting, performance oriented doesn't give you tactile feedback through
the wheel. And he said, we really really worked on
all those transitional phases of steering inputs to give you
that feedback, and that's why that car feels so alive
and feels so good, and it's so big, but it
just totally shrinks around you. It's super comfortable. It's really
(15:21):
a Cadillac in every way, super smooth, but man, it
just goes and goes and goes and just never wants
to give up. Yeah. Oh, you're talking about the steering feedback.
And one of the things that is kind of amazing
about that car is you can tell what's happening at
the tires, but it's not jittering under your hand, because
you know, you get in like a hyper car or
(15:41):
a real sports car, and you know you could you
could tell not just where the ruts are, but where
like each pebble is and how big it is and
maybe what color it is from, like how much everything
is moving around and you're kind of can it can
be exhausting if you're doing it as a daily driver,
and it would be inappropriate for a Cadillac to be
that hyperactive. And it's not, you know, like it's still
(16:05):
like you said, it's still a comfortable car, you know.
I mean, it always sounds rowdy, but not It's not
a muscle car, even though it hangs with the muscle cars.
You know much better manners. Yeah, incredible, impeccable manners. Knows
which fork to use, and it's got those trick dampers
that really work wanders on the car's ride. It also
(16:27):
has a usable back seat, which I know is you know,
maybe an afterthought in this conversation, but since we are
talking about sedans, you can have four people in that
car and they will they will all be reasonably comfortable. Yeah,
it's true. You can take it to the opera. It's
like what Fairy Porsche Is said about the nine to eleven.
You can take it to the East African Safari Rally,
(16:50):
and you can take it to the opera. I don't
want to sit in the back of a nine to eleven,
No one does. Those are seats for insurance purposes only
and some groceries. After the break, more sports sedans with
our guest Alana Share. Okay, So moving on from a
(17:20):
car that you know has a whole myth around it
to another one that has a whole myth around it.
The Honda Civic Type are the new for twenty twenty three.
Civic Type are just loves to attack corners and on ramps.
It's three fifteen horsepower turbocharged four banger sends power through
one of the greatest manual transmissions ever made. The Type
(17:43):
R costs forty four thousand dollars, but good luck prying
it out of the dealer's hands for that price. The
one I drove, I think you drove the same one
was white with a full red and black interior, red carpets. Oh.
It was insane, and I think really really beautiful, And
I just love the way this corresponded. It felt so
(18:06):
kind of cheerful. What was your take on the Civic Type. Well,
it's funny because we started off by saying that we
felt like a perfect sport sedan was like for the
dignified hooligan, and if you think about the previous Type are,
there was nothing dignified about it. It was all hooligan.
M I kind of loved it because I enjoy a
(18:28):
certain kind of rudeness in design, where people are like
I remember once that I was in a parking lot
and it wasn't a Type AR. I think it was
a WRX or something, but there's some something with a
big wing in the parking lot and this older couple
walked by and the husband was like, Oh, that spoiler,
and the wife was like, why is it called a
(18:49):
spoiler because it spoils the look of the car. I
always think about it. I like them, but I always
think about what they must look like to people who
don't understand, you know, the tradition or the point of them.
It must just be very confusing. So anyway, now, the
type bar is definitely dignified. I mean, you know, from
(19:10):
the front, you're like, oh yeah, classy car looks good,
and then in the back it's just enough to be like,
what's going on here? It does have that big spoiler
on the back looks more like a tall rack than
an aero device, right, But it's a bit of a mullet.
It's business upfront, party in the back. They couldn't resist.
(19:32):
I'm sure it's very functional. I'm sure it's great, but
I would I would take that off. You're gonna look
really silly driving around in your super Bird with no
wing on the pond the back. Sure, I thought the
shifter in this car was incredible. I'm just gonna say that.
I was just gonna say that. You know, if you
(19:53):
have not for some reason been won over to a
manual transmission, this is just a delight to drive. It's
so easy, so easy. The shifts are very short and
very positive. You have that beautiful metal shift nab that's
just really rewarding to touch, and it just feels great.
(20:15):
They have automatic rev matching, so you can downshift and
look like a superstar in this car. You don't need
to heal and toe and it just makes you incredibly smooth.
And this whole thing to me felt like the essence
of Honda, which was, you know, this idea of man maximum,
(20:36):
machine minimum. So it's very driving focus. You know, that's
their sort of philosophy. It's sort of outdated gender wise, however,
the idea, the idea is that the vehicle should serve
the person rather than the other way around. And I
felt like, instead of just sort of driving this car,
you sort of plug into it and it's supernatural, super fluid,
(20:58):
really floats beautifully and you know, I don't know, it's
forty three grand or something like that, I think it's
worth it, especially when the average transaction price of a
car is like forty eight thousand dollars. Yeah, I am
a little bit disappointed in the price, I have to say,
because I kind of always wanted this to be a
car that you know, younger people could have, um, you know,
(21:25):
and before it was a car that really only younger
people would have wanted to have been seen in Great Point.
But now, you know, now it is so much more adult.
It will have a much more mature audience, which means
that there are going to be more people who can
afford it, even as the price keeps going up. And
(21:46):
you know that's uh, it's good for Honda, it's you know,
good for grown ups. But you know, won't somebody think
of the kids? Well, you know, speaking of the kids,
I was looking at used versions of the twenty twenty
one and earlier Civic type our and those things are
(22:06):
going for fifty thousand dollars. So I have to imagine
there's going to be some dealer price gouging on this thing.
And you know, the forty three or whatever it is,
I mean, the average transaction price might be higher than that.
And we're just in a weird time, you know, because
of the supply shortages. It's driving the cost of everything up.
(22:28):
Hopefully it abates in twenty twenty three, but you know,
I think if you get one at forty four, you're winning. Yeah,
I don't think. I don't think there's going to be
regrets from people who buy them. Yeah, no, I think
they're going to be totally satisfied. I love the thing.
Um you know, there is a car out there, however,
(22:49):
that sort of does with the Civic type R does,
but much more cheaply. And this thing was the surprise
of the year for me. The Day Elantra N. Yes,
the Unda Elantra N. This thing is no joke. It's
(23:09):
a road gripping, corner eating monster. Even if it's two
hundred and seventy six horsepower turbo four is less than
half the engine in the black one. The Hyundai Elantra N. Okay,
you think Elantra Okay, that's a rental car. Elantra N.
(23:31):
Totally different. Ball Wax. This is a car that I've
driven a lot. I just drove it on road and
tracks Hudson Quatracento rally and the Ferraris could not get
away from me in this thing. I was hounding them.
It has so much driver feedback. You know exactly how
to place this car. The power band is terrific. There's
power sort of everywhere. The steering is great, the brakes
(23:53):
are great. It's just so faithful. This car is like
a trainer jet for guys who are going to be flying,
you know, F thirty five. It's like reminds me of
you know, Backlund I was growing up cars like the
Nissan Sentra se are that we're sort of like your
first step on the enthusiast performance ladder. Did you get
(24:16):
some time in this thing? Absolutely yeah, I've I've done
a couple of couple of stints in this car and
it's hilarious. It's like, so if if the Audie that
we talked about in the beginning is maybe a little
too dignified and a little not Bouliganish enough, this one
is edging up on not dignified enough because I mean it,
(24:39):
you know, it burbles and farts. It has this like
sound mode. In fact, I believe that it was the
Elantra end right now, or might be a a lost end.
But like currently in California there's a lawsuit going on
because somebody got a noise ticket in a stock end
car because it's so loud in its sport mode like
it's it's so they were accused of having a modified
(25:00):
car because it sounds like it is totally hot rotted.
It's ridiculous. The sounds are great, this little induction flutter,
you know when when you're on the gas and the
noise on the outside is loud and barky, and you know,
it's it's kind of crazy. But it's comfortable. I think
(25:21):
you can get four people in it pretty comfortably. And
the driving positions great. The seats are really well bolstered.
I love driving it. I was. I found it sort
of addictive. Yeah, I liked it a lot too. And so,
you know, I bring home a lot of cars. And
my husband, who's also into cars, but he likes classic cars.
He hates them all. He was like, doesn't it doesn't
it'll be like, oh, here's a McLaren seven six five,
(25:42):
Do you want to take it around the block? No,
Like he just like does why not? Doesn't get why
is just no interest in it? He does. He thinks
they're boring and he doesn't like all of the stuff.
He doesn't like all of these screens, he doesn't like
the the electronics that are doing things, you know, rear
wheel steer and you know, stop starting all of that.
(26:04):
He's just like, it's in the way, it's it's impure.
But there are a couple full of cars that he
has liked over the years that I've brought home, and
the Elantra End was one of them. And I think
it was just because it's just like a stick there
wasn't really doing anything for you. You just had to
do your own thing, and that was one where he
was happy to drive it. So sticks in my memory
(26:26):
as being like, oh, well, this car is good enough
that it'll win over somebody who, you know, only normally
likes things from like nineteen thirty. And I'm really kind
of glad that they've They've focused a lot of this
attention on the smaller cars. You know, this sort of
compact size really works with the power it. I just
(26:52):
like a smaller car. I think cars have gotten too big,
and this one feels just exactly right, big enough inside
for a family. It's it's a little bit like what
we were talking about with the Honda, you know, really
kind of roomy and airy inside. Honda more so. But
they don't need to be much bigger than this. They
they really don't. And I'm I'm just a super fan. Yeah,
(27:13):
I mean, all four of the cars in our lineup
are really great size wise, and you don't really realize
it if you're used to driving a big truck or
if you've been driving an suv. But when you get
into a sedan and you pull into a parking spot
and you're like, oh, there's space on either side inside
the lines, Like I can get in and out of
(27:35):
this car. I'm not touching the close to touching the
other person's car. I didn't have to spend I didn't
have to like rearrange the car a couple of times
to get it into this parking spot. And you're like, oh, right, yeah,
everything's too big. We should be smaller, right, And I
feel like you could get to watch ends side by
side in one of those Costco parking lot spaces. You
(27:56):
know that they're designed for, you know, school buses and
big rigs. Yeah, you could park get at a Trader Joe's.
And that's saying something totally. So what's the best sports
adan of twenty twenty two? You'll find out after the break. Okay,
(28:23):
time to rank them. As a reminder, we've got the Audi,
the Cadillac, the Honda, and the Hyundai. Getting back to
(28:43):
this lineup and and thinking about how we want to
rank them, I think we're both pretty clear on um
what number four is. I think the Audie takes the
last spot here just because it doesn't it doesn't return
the kind of love that you expect. It doesn't love
(29:04):
you back. Yeah, you know, it's it's working, it's working
for you, it's paid help, and it leaves at the
end of the day and never thinks about you. It's impressive, no,
no question. It really does, you know, do what it
says it's going to do. And it gets around a
racetrack really quickly. It's incredibly quick, and it really sticks
(29:25):
to the road. But it's just robotic, you know, it's
a drum machine versus a real drummer. I keep coming
back to this analogy, but it really just lacks that feel.
But so yeah, I think Audie R S three doesn't
doesn't do what you wanted to do. I think the
S three actually provides more tectility and feedback than the
(29:46):
RS three. But I just think it's it's four out
of four here. Yeah, somebody has to come in last, somebody,
And they're all really great cars, and my third spot,
even though I love this car, irrationally goes to the
Elantra end because if we're talking about dignified hooliganism. This
(30:09):
ain't it. And it's really silly looking, yeah, it is,
especially in that blue you know that. I mean, you
can you can love it. It's kind of it's lovable,
but it's not pretty. It's not a pretty car. And
you know, the Honda Civic Type R just has those
tiny degrees of refinement above and beyond this car that
(30:33):
that to me, put it above the Elantra and the
Civic Type R has that wonderful kind of fluidity. And
you know, with the the Elantra N, you're you're in
a bit of a wrestling match. You know, you're punching
it in the face and it's kicking you in the shins,
and you're just like back and forth with this car
(30:54):
and you're rumbling with it, whereas the Civic Type R
is so much more elegant and fluid and it just
flows from corner corner and you're not you know, you're
not muscling it in the same way. Even though I
love the elantraand um and it is fluid, but it's
not doesn't have that same degree of refinement as I do.
Feel like the price difference is reflected in kind of
(31:16):
the the finish work and the fineness of input as
well in those two cars, you know, I mean, the
the Alantra End gets high points for being it's like
mid thirties or something. Yeah, start, yeah, So it's like
truly an affordable car. You get a lot for your money. Um,
but if you pay you know a little more, you
(31:38):
pay ten more or whatever, and you move into the Civic.
It's definitely kind of a cleaner experience. It feels like
just sort of a higher class of car, you know.
I think they're both worth the money, but you know,
the type is more expensive and justifiably so. And that's
my second pick. I don't know, do you agree or
(31:59):
would you put that first? I agree that those are
the two middle cars. They're very close for me, if
it I might swap them, just purely on trying to push,
you know, like how much you get for how little
money in the Elantra. But then you're so right about
the dignified like if we're really talking sports sedan, I mean,
(32:22):
the Elantra End is more like a like a you know,
hot hatch with that extra doors so right exactly, so
that leaves you know, like my favorite car ever, the
(32:42):
CT five v black Wing from Cadillac, and I do
think this is like the last of of the holdouts.
You know, it's got this gigantic six point two Leader
V eight supercharged and it's so responsive, it's so it's magical.
(33:04):
It's just magical. I don't know how they did it.
It feels like an animal, feels like you're riding a cheetah.
And all of its tricks are brilliant tricks. You know,
you can like flat shift it. You know, it also
has rev match, like it has like a burnout mode.
It makes you like you are a genius at driving,
(33:25):
even if you're only okay. And if you are good
at driving, then it's just a perfect partner. That's such
a good point because great cars all do the same thing.
They make you a better driver, they make you more
in tune with the machine, they make you more conscious
of your environment. It's so silky smooth, and it's like
(33:46):
it just matches whatever mood you're in, and it's phenomenal.
And I think, you know, it might be the last
of the greats. I certainly think it's the best sports
n ever created. I think it's better than anything BMW
or Mercedes or Audie have ever done. Oh, there are
a lot of fanboys having a heart attack right now,
I know, but man, I just think it's so darn good.
(34:08):
I really can't find anything to fault on that car.
You might not like the styling, you might not like
some of the interior applications, but holy smokes, it's just
so good. They just like make life worth living. This car,
to me, is one of those things. It's like, you know,
(34:28):
I don't know. I put it up there with coltranees
a Love Supreme. I think it's flawless. I don't think
there's any way to better it. It's just it's magical.
And somehow they have all you know, they've got all
the same stuff as everybody else, but they just applied
it a little bit better. They applied it differently. They
(34:49):
made the car more alive. And I think we got
to give it to Cadillac. Yeah, if for no other
reason to give it the award, we won't get another
chance to write. You know, all the other cars in
this list, they're smaller engines. There's a lot of turbos involved.
We're going to see that combination first, you know, years
(35:10):
to come. But a big V eight with a supercharger.
This is it man, right? You know it's not. It's
a hard sell to a lot of people and especially regulators.
So that's a terrific point. Like the big V eight
rear drive sedans with a stick, say goodbye to him, unfortunately,
(35:32):
or buy one better yet, say say bye to them
and purchase one. So the most expensive car at eighty
seventh grand gets it, and I think eighty seventh grand
is a small price to pay for this kind of
happiness And what could be more joyful than driving the
(35:52):
CT five V black Wing in southern California, which is
where we're going to take you now with my producer
Sam Dingman. Remember how last season I did a whole
episode on the bmw M five and how it was
the king of sports sedans, never to be tompled. Well,
I may have been wrong about that. So the first
(36:15):
thing to remember about this car, Sam, is that it's
really blue. This may be the bluest car I've ever seen.
It's the bluest blue. It does emphasize the shape in
a cool way. You can see all these bone lines
and the flares of the rear and it makes a
statement for sure. Yeah, this is to me the pinnacle
(36:39):
of the sport sedan. I mean, Candillac has been chasing
this idea. They wanted to be the American BMW for
so long, and they've finally done it, and it's just
a wonder to behold. Let's take it out on the road.
Let's do it so pretty muted startup song, you can't
(37:03):
really hear the engine, sort of faint, more HVAC noise
than any thing. So standard transmission, nice small wheeld, a
ton of intimidating buttons. Now let's get no one here.
(37:25):
Listen to that hum. That's a nice home. That's good,
and I'll show you that's pretty sweet sounding, right, and
pretty instantaneous. This thing already feels so light and alive,
(37:47):
and even at thirty five miles an hour, there's like
real feedback and not just from the engine, real feedback
from the chassis visits electric power steering, but it's um.
They've tuned it so that there is really progressive waiting.
(38:08):
It feels really predictable. The car feels really small, drives
really small. It doesn't feel like a big honking beast
on the road. It feels really like tight and you
know they've taken the best aspects of the great sports
of ends, re real drive, lightweight, big V eight engine,
(38:30):
manual transmission, and really just worked it the powers of media.
The torque is crazy. There's so much down low. It's
just got so much kick, so much grunt, and it's
like perfectly meted out by the throttle pedal. The throttle
pedal is so sensitive, it is so adjustable. The pedals
(38:54):
feel so good. They are just like micrometer fine. You know,
they're really highly highly sensitive. It's very easy to keep speed,
but you don't pay any kind of penalty for it.
It will speed. I mean the ride is incredible. I
mean everything is natural and it responds exactly the way
(39:15):
you think it will respond, and it does feel very
I would say, you know. Alive Car Show is written
and hosted by me Eddie Alterman. It's produced by Emily
(39:36):
Rossteg and Jacob Smith. Our editor is Karen Shakerjee. Original
music and mastering by Ben Tolliday. Our executive producer is
Mia Loebell. Our show art was designed by Sean Karney
and airbrushed by Greg la Fever. Special thanks to Sam Dingman,
producer extraordinaire. We really had to twist his arm to
(39:59):
get him in the passenger seat. Our patron saints, as
always are we, Tom Allad and Justine Lange. Car Show
is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you have this
show and others from Pushkin Industries, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus.
Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content
(40:21):
and uninterrupted listening for just four ninety nine a month.
Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions, Define more
Pushkin podcasts. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to podcasts.
Pushkin. I love the idea of this big engine presence,
like a big V eight or even a V twelve
in a sedan that you can just haul ass in,
all right, for the dignified hooligan, exactly exactly, so we
know what we're looking for. We're looking for a car,
(00:38):
the most dignified car for the biggest hooligan. I'm ready.
On this season of Car Show, we're putting cars in
four brackets to the test, all in the pursuit of
crowning a winner of our very own Car of the
Year contest and hopefully helping you decide how to spend
your hard earned money. This episode is about my favorite
(01:00):
segment of all sports sedans. I've driven about two hundred
cars this year, and four sports sedans stood out, some
because they were great, one because it was a little disappointing.
Those four cars are the Audi RS three, the Cadillac
CT five V Black Wing, the Honda Civic Type R,
(01:22):
and the Undilantra N. I've enlisted Alanna Share to help
me rank them. Alana is a hot rodder and muscle
car freak from back in the day, and she's currently
senior editor and a columnist for Car and driver. Together,
we'll decide which will pass through the gauntlet to the
final round. I'm Eddie Alterman, and this is car show,
(01:48):
So creamy, so good. The brakes are insane and so
easy to modulate. They just haul this thing down without drama.
It's wonderful. Before we start talking about the cars, i'd
(02:13):
like to get your take on what you think a
great sport sedan should be. Oh, I mean sports sedan.
When you first think about it is kind of you're like, no, what, No,
sedans they're not Sporty sedans are for families. Sedans are
for people who need to look important and go stately,
(02:33):
or maybe for people who just like to fill the
backseat of their car with all their luggage or their
groceries or something. You know, some people don't like trunks.
I'm fine, I understand that, you know, you just want
to be close to your stuff. But I don't know.
Then they started making fast forward doors, right, and they're
always sleepers. I do like a sleeper, you know, even
in the muscle car days. You know, if you think
(02:53):
about it, like the way that muscle cars even started
was with the engine from a sedan that they they
and would put into a smaller two door car or
a sportier car. So really, sports sedans are the perform
min's car. They're they're under the radar performance, right, They're
(03:14):
the car that, you know, a middle aged person could
drive respectively and not attract the attention of the cops.
But you know, get on the highway, put the hammer down,
or take an off ramp, a highway off ramp like
a complete lunatic and you know, go back to being
you know, a respectable Burger by day and Batman by night. Right,
(03:37):
And it's that great incongruity of formal envelope, you know,
like a formal sedan shape with just a huge stunkin
engine in it. And I feel like these cars are
sort of do it all. You know, the original BMW
M fives are sort of like four door nine to elevens.
(03:58):
You know, they gave you everything in a great package. Yeah,
do you feel like M five started the true sportiness
because you know, I'm thinking sort of, you know, I
went way back and went to kind of like the
muscle and in the big car, but those were not
good handling cars, right, like a Cadillac or a big
Mercedes that was not a car you wanted to take
a corner in no like the six point nine Mercedes. Yes,
(04:20):
tons of motor, but not truly kind of track focused
four door. You know you think that, Well, this car
is bigger than a two door. It's not a coup
it's not as low to the ground, it's got a
lot of extra mass. Why are we bothering making it sporty?
But comfort and performance really are great bedfellows. They really
(04:41):
do go together like chocolate and peanut butter. And I
love a car like this. This is my personal favorite category.
And I think we're sort of at the end of
the traditional big engine kind of midsize sports stand. I
think they're all in the future going to be electric
powered and they'll be very, very quick, don't get me wrong.
(05:05):
So let's talk about these cars, and we're going to
go in alphabetical order. The first one that i'd like
to talk to you about is the Audi RS three.
Now RS three means it is the A three body
with not just the S Performance Kit, it's the RS
(05:25):
Performance Kit, and it's gigantically powerful. The Audi RS three's
natural predators are the BMW M two coupe and the
Mercedes AMG CLA forty five. It's a sixty thousand dollars
nugget with a thrumbing five cylinder engine making four hundred
and one horse power, and it's all wheel drive system
(05:48):
has a drift mode that helps you pull off lurid
frame filling power slides. So the first time that I
drove one, first of all, the one that we drove
was like bright spring green, like it was just like
fluorescent green, like highlighter green. I was like an Audi
really kind of surprised me a little bit. And I
(06:11):
knew on paper what it was supposed to be, but
I hadn't ever been in one. And I like the
fact that it's kind of like the more and more three,
Like you know S three is like more and then
the RS is more and more. So that's promising. And
it was ridiculously fast, I mean, like because it didn't
(06:32):
hold anything back. You know, sometimes you'll get in a
very powerful car, but it has like a little bit
of a pause, not like a turboline, just like a
little bit of a drivetrain, cushioned protected a little And
Audie was just like, no, you can have it all
you want it, all of it's it's on you man.
You made the decision. So that was startling and delightful
(06:54):
because it doesn't look like it's something that's going to
do that, even in bright bright green. I was like,
but it's pretty wide, slow to the ground. It looks mean, yeah,
but it doesn't have like crazy wings or really that
many slats or openings or anything like. It's you know,
if you got it in silver, no one who didn't
know would know, right right, But you know, I drove
(07:15):
that thing and I was like, you very impressed with
the speed. I thought it was insanely quick and it
looked great, and I like the fact that it was small.
I didn't like the fact that you couldn't get a
manual transmission in it. And I didn't like how sort
of cold it was to the touch. I mean, this
thing was like colder than a polar bear's ass. It
(07:37):
was just like, you know, very very inert feeling in
a way like mechanical, robotic, not a lot of feedback.
And you know, if we're talking about sports and ants,
they should have some elements of a sports car. They
should have that sensitivity and that feedback and really be
rewarding to all the senses like a sports car is.
(07:59):
They should give you something. This one was just sort
of like not a very willing partner. I don't know
what's your take on that. I totally know what you're
talking about. It's not even that it's unwilling. It's that
it didn't care one way or the other. Right, Like
it's like, you want to go, we can go. You
don't want to go. We don't have to go. What
(08:19):
do you want for? What do you want for dinner?
I don't know what do you want? You know? And
also this is a small quibble, but you know, keeping
with my relationship metaphor, you know, when you like somebody
but they have one super irritating small habit, like like
they just chew too loudly or something, and eventually you're like,
I can't I can't live with this person, Like we
(08:42):
have to break up. The brakes on that car were
I just like, I just hate the way they feel.
It's not that it didn't stop, they just every time
I hit the brakes. That was like, yeah, so talk
more about that. I felt the same way. They were unpredictable.
And really, anyone who knows me and knows my background
(09:03):
might be right now yelling at this podcast, like Alana
you have no right to talk about breaks. You drive
cars that don't even currently have working breaks, and you're
still driving and I'm like, yes, that's true, and it
pulls to the side, but it does it the same
every time, so I know what I know what to expect.
Like with the Audi is like a little bite, then
it was soft again, then it was really soft, then
(09:24):
it like hit. I want like linear breaking that is
the same all the way through the Audie breaks almost
felt like electric car brakes, which is my pet peeve
about electric cars. Breaks are your pet peeve about electric cars? Interesting, Yeah,
you said something about consistency. I feel like what I
want from breaks is exactly the same every single time.
(09:45):
They can be kind of bad every time, but if
they're bad in the same way, I'm okay with that.
It's true. Like a sports car, sports dan should be predictable,
and I also think the responses should be very linear.
That gives you a lot of predictability. Like you know
when you turn the steering wheel, how much steering you're
gonna get, how much turning you're going to get when
you hit the brakes. You want to know how much
(10:06):
breaking force you're gonna get. You don't want to have
to get because when things get busy, you want to
be thinking, you want to just be. You want to
be in a flow state, right, and this Audia I
just couldn't get in a flow state. And yeah, it's
got this super cool five cylinder engine. But I got
out of this car and into the GR Corolla, and
(10:27):
the GR Corolla just had this incredible brap and burble
and this voice that I thought that the RS three
would have, but it really didn't. You know, it just
sounded sort of but sewing machine like, Yeah, but tons
of pull. A lot of great things about this car.
That's kind of why it's on the semi final list,
(10:49):
but it sounds like a hive of bees, and it
just didn't work for me. It's a it's a fairly
large amount of money for something that doesn't love you
back exactly. Not a lot of soul. The next guy
we're going to talk about soul out the Wazoo. This
one comes from the home of soul and motile, Cadillac
(11:11):
CT five V Black Wing. Now, the CT five V
Black Wing didn't come out in twenty twenty two. It's
technically in its second model year, but I drove it
this year and this is my show, so it's magically
eligible for our Car of the Year award. The CT
(11:34):
five V Black Wing has rapier like handling, incredible ride, sophistication,
and the mother of all engines, a supercharged six hundred
and sixty eight horsepower six point two leader V eight.
(11:57):
So this car just hits all my buttons, you know,
not just that it's from Detroit, but Cadillac has been
on this mission for a very very long time with
the performance cars, to outdo BMW, to build a better
M five or a better M three. And they've done it.
They've outdone the original kind of M division masters with
(12:21):
this car. It is just so full, it's so brimming
with feedback. It's so alive to the touch, it is
so predictable. It just goes exactly where you want to
put it. And it's fun at thirty miles an hour,
doesn't You don't have to be honking on it to
really enjoy it. Tell me about this car and how
you reacted to it. So I've been very lucky to
(12:44):
have multiple different goes in in the Cadillac CT as
B five. I always say CTS that is five five black.
See this is my big complaint about this car. Um.
You know, I think you can get zero to sixty
in it quicker than you could say its full name.
(13:07):
But CT five Black I also like the CT four
Black Wing. But my first drive in it was pouring
rain in an arbor in Michigan, like pouring and I'm
from California. I don't understand rain. I was like, what
do I do. I'm in this like manual car with
six hundred plus horse power. I'm gonna die. And the
car was just like, You're fine, it's okay. I'm just
(13:30):
gonna like trundle along. I'm a big old tires. I
will stay in the lane, like, don't worry about it.
We're gonna get you home. Um. So I was kind
of immediately like, whoa, you're so friendly, What a nice
pal you are. And then on a dry day, you know,
we got to take them on track and I was like, oh,
you're vicious and I love you, and you know this
(13:53):
it really does anything. I had the chance to drive
it on track and uh, we were joking about how
much torque it has and I was like, you know,
I bet you could start this car dead stop from
fourth and then do a whole lap never shifting, and
we did. I think you could do it in fifth,
but we didn't want to try. Just a tidal wave
(14:13):
of torque from this car. And it just it's so
instantaneously responsive. The engine just loves to come off the throttle.
It's just so so there for you all the time.
And that applies to the steering, that applies to the brakes,
and Cadillac has gone way out on the ass and
toe and keeps tuning and tuning until there's nothing left
(14:36):
that's wrong with the car. It's just honing and honing.
And I talked to one of the chassis engineers and
he said, you know, this car has electric power steering.
It does not have hydraulic power steering. And a lot
of cars with electric power steering don't have any road feel.
You can't feel the texture of the road, and I
would say most of them. And it's a huge pet
peeva mind that. You know, a car that should be
(14:59):
really sporting, performance oriented doesn't give you tactile feedback through
the wheel. And he said, we really really worked on
all those transitional phases of steering inputs to give you
that feedback, and that's why that car feels so alive
and feels so good, and it's so big, but it
just totally shrinks around you. It's super comfortable. It's really
(15:21):
a Cadillac in every way, super smooth, but man, it
just goes and goes and goes and just never wants
to give up. Yeah. Oh, you're talking about the steering feedback.
And one of the things that is kind of amazing
about that car is you can tell what's happening at
the tires, but it's not jittering under your hand, because
you know, you get in like a hyper car or
(15:41):
a real sports car, and you know you could you
could tell not just where the ruts are, but where
like each pebble is and how big it is and
maybe what color it is from, like how much everything
is moving around and you're kind of can it can
be exhausting if you're doing it as a daily driver,
and it would be inappropriate for a Cadillac to be
that hyperactive. And it's not, you know, like it's still
(16:05):
like you said, it's still a comfortable car, you know.
I mean, it always sounds rowdy, but not It's not
a muscle car, even though it hangs with the muscle cars.
You know much better manners. Yeah, incredible, impeccable manners. Knows
which fork to use, and it's got those trick dampers
that really work wanders on the car's ride. It also
(16:27):
has a usable back seat, which I know is you know,
maybe an afterthought in this conversation, but since we are
talking about sedans, you can have four people in that
car and they will they will all be reasonably comfortable. Yeah,
it's true. You can take it to the opera. It's
like what Fairy Porsche Is said about the nine to eleven.
You can take it to the East African Safari Rally,
(16:50):
and you can take it to the opera. I don't
want to sit in the back of a nine to eleven,
No one does. Those are seats for insurance purposes only
and some groceries. After the break, more sports sedans with
our guest Alana Share. Okay, So moving on from a
(17:20):
car that you know has a whole myth around it
to another one that has a whole myth around it.
The Honda Civic Type are the new for twenty twenty three.
Civic Type are just loves to attack corners and on ramps.
It's three fifteen horsepower turbocharged four banger sends power through
one of the greatest manual transmissions ever made. The Type
(17:43):
R costs forty four thousand dollars, but good luck prying
it out of the dealer's hands for that price. The
one I drove, I think you drove the same one
was white with a full red and black interior, red carpets. Oh.
It was insane, and I think really really beautiful, And
I just love the way this corresponded. It felt so
(18:06):
kind of cheerful. What was your take on the Civic Type. Well,
it's funny because we started off by saying that we
felt like a perfect sport sedan was like for the
dignified hooligan, and if you think about the previous Type are,
there was nothing dignified about it. It was all hooligan.
M I kind of loved it because I enjoy a
(18:28):
certain kind of rudeness in design, where people are like
I remember once that I was in a parking lot
and it wasn't a Type AR. I think it was
a WRX or something, but there's some something with a
big wing in the parking lot and this older couple
walked by and the husband was like, Oh, that spoiler,
and the wife was like, why is it called a
(18:49):
spoiler because it spoils the look of the car. I
always think about it. I like them, but I always
think about what they must look like to people who
don't understand, you know, the tradition or the point of them.
It must just be very confusing. So anyway, now, the
type bar is definitely dignified. I mean, you know, from
(19:10):
the front, you're like, oh yeah, classy car looks good,
and then in the back it's just enough to be like,
what's going on here? It does have that big spoiler
on the back looks more like a tall rack than
an aero device, right, But it's a bit of a mullet.
It's business upfront, party in the back. They couldn't resist.
(19:32):
I'm sure it's very functional. I'm sure it's great, but
I would I would take that off. You're gonna look
really silly driving around in your super Bird with no
wing on the pond the back. Sure, I thought the
shifter in this car was incredible. I'm just gonna say that.
I was just gonna say that. You know, if you
(19:53):
have not for some reason been won over to a
manual transmission, this is just a delight to drive. It's
so easy, so easy. The shifts are very short and
very positive. You have that beautiful metal shift nab that's
just really rewarding to touch, and it just feels great.
(20:15):
They have automatic rev matching, so you can downshift and
look like a superstar in this car. You don't need
to heal and toe and it just makes you incredibly smooth.
And this whole thing to me felt like the essence
of Honda, which was, you know, this idea of man maximum,
(20:36):
machine minimum. So it's very driving focus. You know, that's
their sort of philosophy. It's sort of outdated gender wise, however,
the idea, the idea is that the vehicle should serve
the person rather than the other way around. And I
felt like, instead of just sort of driving this car,
you sort of plug into it and it's supernatural, super fluid,
(20:58):
really floats beautifully and you know, I don't know, it's
forty three grand or something like that, I think it's
worth it, especially when the average transaction price of a
car is like forty eight thousand dollars. Yeah, I am
a little bit disappointed in the price, I have to say,
because I kind of always wanted this to be a
car that you know, younger people could have, um, you know,
(21:25):
and before it was a car that really only younger
people would have wanted to have been seen in Great Point.
But now, you know, now it is so much more adult.
It will have a much more mature audience, which means
that there are going to be more people who can
afford it, even as the price keeps going up. And
(21:46):
you know that's uh, it's good for Honda, it's you know,
good for grown ups. But you know, won't somebody think
of the kids? Well, you know, speaking of the kids,
I was looking at used versions of the twenty twenty
one and earlier Civic type our and those things are
(22:06):
going for fifty thousand dollars. So I have to imagine
there's going to be some dealer price gouging on this thing.
And you know, the forty three or whatever it is,
I mean, the average transaction price might be higher than that.
And we're just in a weird time, you know, because
of the supply shortages. It's driving the cost of everything up.
(22:28):
Hopefully it abates in twenty twenty three, but you know,
I think if you get one at forty four, you're winning. Yeah,
I don't think. I don't think there's going to be
regrets from people who buy them. Yeah, no, I think
they're going to be totally satisfied. I love the thing.
Um you know, there is a car out there, however,
(22:49):
that sort of does with the Civic type R does,
but much more cheaply. And this thing was the surprise
of the year for me. The Day Elantra N. Yes,
the Unda Elantra N. This thing is no joke. It's
(23:09):
a road gripping, corner eating monster. Even if it's two
hundred and seventy six horsepower turbo four is less than
half the engine in the black one. The Hyundai Elantra N. Okay,
you think Elantra Okay, that's a rental car. Elantra N.
(23:31):
Totally different. Ball Wax. This is a car that I've
driven a lot. I just drove it on road and
tracks Hudson Quatracento rally and the Ferraris could not get
away from me in this thing. I was hounding them.
It has so much driver feedback. You know exactly how
to place this car. The power band is terrific. There's
power sort of everywhere. The steering is great, the brakes
(23:53):
are great. It's just so faithful. This car is like
a trainer jet for guys who are going to be flying,
you know, F thirty five. It's like reminds me of
you know, Backlund I was growing up cars like the
Nissan Sentra se are that we're sort of like your
first step on the enthusiast performance ladder. Did you get
(24:16):
some time in this thing? Absolutely yeah, I've I've done
a couple of couple of stints in this car and
it's hilarious. It's like, so if if the Audie that
we talked about in the beginning is maybe a little
too dignified and a little not Bouliganish enough, this one
is edging up on not dignified enough because I mean it,
(24:39):
you know, it burbles and farts. It has this like
sound mode. In fact, I believe that it was the
Elantra end right now, or might be a a lost end.
But like currently in California there's a lawsuit going on
because somebody got a noise ticket in a stock end
car because it's so loud in its sport mode like
it's it's so they were accused of having a modified
(25:00):
car because it sounds like it is totally hot rotted.
It's ridiculous. The sounds are great, this little induction flutter,
you know when when you're on the gas and the
noise on the outside is loud and barky, and you know,
it's it's kind of crazy. But it's comfortable. I think
(25:21):
you can get four people in it pretty comfortably. And
the driving positions great. The seats are really well bolstered.
I love driving it. I was. I found it sort
of addictive. Yeah, I liked it a lot too. And so,
you know, I bring home a lot of cars. And
my husband, who's also into cars, but he likes classic cars.
He hates them all. He was like, doesn't it doesn't
it'll be like, oh, here's a McLaren seven six five,
(25:42):
Do you want to take it around the block? No,
Like he just like does why not? Doesn't get why
is just no interest in it? He does. He thinks
they're boring and he doesn't like all of the stuff.
He doesn't like all of these screens, he doesn't like
the the electronics that are doing things, you know, rear
wheel steer and you know, stop starting all of that.
(26:04):
He's just like, it's in the way, it's it's impure.
But there are a couple full of cars that he
has liked over the years that I've brought home, and
the Elantra End was one of them. And I think
it was just because it's just like a stick there
wasn't really doing anything for you. You just had to
do your own thing, and that was one where he
was happy to drive it. So sticks in my memory
(26:26):
as being like, oh, well, this car is good enough
that it'll win over somebody who, you know, only normally
likes things from like nineteen thirty. And I'm really kind
of glad that they've They've focused a lot of this
attention on the smaller cars. You know, this sort of
compact size really works with the power it. I just
(26:52):
like a smaller car. I think cars have gotten too big,
and this one feels just exactly right, big enough inside
for a family. It's it's a little bit like what
we were talking about with the Honda, you know, really
kind of roomy and airy inside. Honda more so. But
they don't need to be much bigger than this. They
they really don't. And I'm I'm just a super fan. Yeah,
(27:13):
I mean, all four of the cars in our lineup
are really great size wise, and you don't really realize
it if you're used to driving a big truck or
if you've been driving an suv. But when you get
into a sedan and you pull into a parking spot
and you're like, oh, there's space on either side inside
the lines, Like I can get in and out of
(27:35):
this car. I'm not touching the close to touching the
other person's car. I didn't have to spend I didn't
have to like rearrange the car a couple of times
to get it into this parking spot. And you're like, oh, right, yeah,
everything's too big. We should be smaller, right, And I
feel like you could get to watch ends side by
side in one of those Costco parking lot spaces. You
(27:56):
know that they're designed for, you know, school buses and
big rigs. Yeah, you could park get at a Trader Joe's.
And that's saying something totally. So what's the best sports
adan of twenty twenty two? You'll find out after the break. Okay,
(28:23):
time to rank them. As a reminder, we've got the Audi,
the Cadillac, the Honda, and the Hyundai. Getting back to
(28:43):
this lineup and and thinking about how we want to
rank them, I think we're both pretty clear on um
what number four is. I think the Audie takes the
last spot here just because it doesn't it doesn't return
the kind of love that you expect. It doesn't love
(29:04):
you back. Yeah, you know, it's it's working, it's working
for you, it's paid help, and it leaves at the
end of the day and never thinks about you. It's impressive, no,
no question. It really does, you know, do what it
says it's going to do. And it gets around a
racetrack really quickly. It's incredibly quick, and it really sticks
(29:25):
to the road. But it's just robotic, you know, it's
a drum machine versus a real drummer. I keep coming
back to this analogy, but it really just lacks that feel.
But so yeah, I think Audie R S three doesn't
doesn't do what you wanted to do. I think the
S three actually provides more tectility and feedback than the
(29:46):
RS three. But I just think it's it's four out
of four here. Yeah, somebody has to come in last, somebody,
And they're all really great cars, and my third spot,
even though I love this car, irrationally goes to the
Elantra end because if we're talking about dignified hooliganism. This
(30:09):
ain't it. And it's really silly looking, yeah, it is,
especially in that blue you know that. I mean, you
can you can love it. It's kind of it's lovable,
but it's not pretty. It's not a pretty car. And
you know, the Honda Civic Type R just has those
tiny degrees of refinement above and beyond this car that
(30:33):
that to me, put it above the Elantra and the
Civic Type R has that wonderful kind of fluidity. And
you know, with the the Elantra N, you're you're in
a bit of a wrestling match. You know, you're punching
it in the face and it's kicking you in the shins,
and you're just like back and forth with this car
(30:54):
and you're rumbling with it, whereas the Civic Type R
is so much more elegant and fluid and it just
flows from corner corner and you're not you know, you're
not muscling it in the same way. Even though I
love the elantraand um and it is fluid, but it's
not doesn't have that same degree of refinement as I do.
Feel like the price difference is reflected in kind of
(31:16):
the the finish work and the fineness of input as
well in those two cars, you know, I mean, the
the Alantra End gets high points for being it's like
mid thirties or something. Yeah, start, yeah, So it's like
truly an affordable car. You get a lot for your money. Um,
but if you pay you know a little more, you
(31:38):
pay ten more or whatever, and you move into the Civic.
It's definitely kind of a cleaner experience. It feels like
just sort of a higher class of car, you know.
I think they're both worth the money, but you know,
the type is more expensive and justifiably so. And that's
my second pick. I don't know, do you agree or
(31:59):
would you put that first? I agree that those are
the two middle cars. They're very close for me, if
it I might swap them, just purely on trying to push,
you know, like how much you get for how little
money in the Elantra. But then you're so right about
the dignified like if we're really talking sports sedan, I mean,
(32:22):
the Elantra End is more like a like a you know,
hot hatch with that extra doors so right exactly, so
that leaves you know, like my favorite car ever, the
(32:42):
CT five v black Wing from Cadillac, and I do
think this is like the last of of the holdouts.
You know, it's got this gigantic six point two Leader
V eight supercharged and it's so responsive, it's so it's magical.
(33:04):
It's just magical. I don't know how they did it.
It feels like an animal, feels like you're riding a cheetah.
And all of its tricks are brilliant tricks. You know,
you can like flat shift it. You know, it also
has rev match, like it has like a burnout mode.
It makes you like you are a genius at driving,
(33:25):
even if you're only okay. And if you are good
at driving, then it's just a perfect partner. That's such
a good point because great cars all do the same thing.
They make you a better driver, they make you more
in tune with the machine, they make you more conscious
of your environment. It's so silky smooth, and it's like
(33:46):
it just matches whatever mood you're in, and it's phenomenal.
And I think, you know, it might be the last
of the greats. I certainly think it's the best sports
n ever created. I think it's better than anything BMW
or Mercedes or Audie have ever done. Oh, there are
a lot of fanboys having a heart attack right now,
I know, but man, I just think it's so darn good.
(34:08):
I really can't find anything to fault on that car.
You might not like the styling, you might not like
some of the interior applications, but holy smokes, it's just
so good. They just like make life worth living. This car,
to me, is one of those things. It's like, you know,
(34:28):
I don't know. I put it up there with coltranees
a Love Supreme. I think it's flawless. I don't think
there's any way to better it. It's just it's magical.
And somehow they have all you know, they've got all
the same stuff as everybody else, but they just applied
it a little bit better. They applied it differently. They
(34:49):
made the car more alive. And I think we got
to give it to Cadillac. Yeah, if for no other
reason to give it the award, we won't get another
chance to write. You know, all the other cars in
this list, they're smaller engines. There's a lot of turbos involved.
We're going to see that combination first, you know, years
(35:10):
to come. But a big V eight with a supercharger.
This is it man, right? You know it's not. It's
a hard sell to a lot of people and especially regulators.
So that's a terrific point. Like the big V eight
rear drive sedans with a stick, say goodbye to him, unfortunately,
(35:32):
or buy one better yet, say say bye to them
and purchase one. So the most expensive car at eighty
seventh grand gets it, and I think eighty seventh grand
is a small price to pay for this kind of
happiness And what could be more joyful than driving the
(35:52):
CT five V black Wing in southern California, which is
where we're going to take you now with my producer
Sam Dingman. Remember how last season I did a whole
episode on the bmw M five and how it was
the king of sports sedans, never to be tompled. Well,
I may have been wrong about that. So the first
(36:15):
thing to remember about this car, Sam, is that it's
really blue. This may be the bluest car I've ever seen.
It's the bluest blue. It does emphasize the shape in
a cool way. You can see all these bone lines
and the flares of the rear and it makes a
statement for sure. Yeah, this is to me the pinnacle
(36:39):
of the sport sedan. I mean, Candillac has been chasing
this idea. They wanted to be the American BMW for
so long, and they've finally done it, and it's just
a wonder to behold. Let's take it out on the road.
Let's do it so pretty muted startup song, you can't
(37:03):
really hear the engine, sort of faint, more HVAC noise
than any thing. So standard transmission, nice small wheeld, a
ton of intimidating buttons. Now let's get no one here.
(37:25):
Listen to that hum. That's a nice home. That's good,
and I'll show you that's pretty sweet sounding, right, and
pretty instantaneous. This thing already feels so light and alive,
(37:47):
and even at thirty five miles an hour, there's like
real feedback and not just from the engine, real feedback
from the chassis visits electric power steering, but it's um.
They've tuned it so that there is really progressive waiting.
(38:08):
It feels really predictable. The car feels really small, drives
really small. It doesn't feel like a big honking beast
on the road. It feels really like tight and you
know they've taken the best aspects of the great sports
of ends, re real drive, lightweight, big V eight engine,
(38:30):
manual transmission, and really just worked it the powers of media.
The torque is crazy. There's so much down low. It's
just got so much kick, so much grunt, and it's
like perfectly meted out by the throttle pedal. The throttle
pedal is so sensitive, it is so adjustable. The pedals
(38:54):
feel so good. They are just like micrometer fine. You know,
they're really highly highly sensitive. It's very easy to keep speed,
but you don't pay any kind of penalty for it.
It will speed. I mean the ride is incredible. I
mean everything is natural and it responds exactly the way
(39:15):
you think it will respond, and it does feel very
I would say, you know. Alive Car Show is written
and hosted by me Eddie Alterman. It's produced by Emily
(39:36):
Rossteg and Jacob Smith. Our editor is Karen Shakerjee. Original
music and mastering by Ben Tolliday. Our executive producer is
Mia Loebell. Our show art was designed by Sean Karney
and airbrushed by Greg la Fever. Special thanks to Sam Dingman,
producer extraordinaire. We really had to twist his arm to
(39:59):
get him in the passenger seat. Our patron saints, as
always are we, Tom Allad and Justine Lange. Car Show
is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you have this
show and others from Pushkin Industries, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus.
Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content
(40:21):
and uninterrupted listening for just four ninety nine a month.
Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions, Define more
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