Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
"> the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick. They start the show by talking about the cars they've been driving. James took a road trip to Oregon in a Honda Pilot TrailSport, bringing along a Gazelle Ultimate 380+ e-bike. James also fell in love with an Alfa Romeo Giulia Lusso, while Greg enjoyed an executive experience in the new BMW 760i. Next, they discuss which car they'd buy in 1985 with a budget of $18,000, as well as their pick for a contemporary pickup truck for $50,000. They also interview Tyson Hugie, who purchased a 2006 Acura TSX from James and restored it. Finally, they open the mailbag for an update from a listener about a previous Spend My Money segment.Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
"> the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick. They start the show by talking about the cars they've been driving. James took a road trip to Oregon in a Honda Pilot TrailSport, bringing along a Gazelle Ultimate 380+ e-bike. James also fell in love with an Alfa Romeo Giulia Lusso, while Greg enjoyed an executive experience in the new BMW 760i. Next, they discuss which car they'd buy in 1985 with a budget of $18,000, as well as their pick for a contemporary pickup truck for $50,000. They also interview Tyson Hugie, who purchased a 2006 Acura TSX from James and restored it. Finally, they open the mailbag for an update from a listener about a previous Spend My Money segment.Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
">In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor James Riswick. They start the show by talking about the cars they've been driving. James took a road trip to Oregon in a Honda Pilot TrailSport, bringing along a Gazelle Ultimate 380+ e-bike. James also fell in love with an Alfa Romeo Giulia Lusso, while Greg enjoyed an executive experience in the new BMW 760i. Next, they discuss which car they'd buy in 1985 with a budget of $18,000, as well as their pick for a contemporary pickup truck for $50,000. They also interview Tyson Hugie, who purchased a 2006 Acura TSX from James and restored it. Finally, they open the mailbag for an update from a listener about a previous Spend My Money segment.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to "The Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore. We have a great show for you this week We've been driving a lot of interesting things like the Honda Pilot Trailsport and the Alfa Romeo Giulia Lusso. That's a nice version of it. I've been in the BMW 760i.
And we're going to talk about the selling off of a long beloved Acura TSX that belongs to West Coast Editor James Riswick. So with that, I will bring him in. It's been a minute. How are you, man?
JAMES RISWICK: I'm doing good. Dude, it's a fun week with cars around here. I've had a lot of fun blue cars. I traded a pair of boxer engines this morning-- very different vintages. I have a Subaru WRX that went away, and now I have a Porsche GT4. So-- both blue.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a pretty good--
JAMES RISWICK: Both blue.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a good day at the office, right?
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah. Yeah. So it's going to be-- it's going to be a fun week with that one.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds good. Sounds good. And then later on in the show, we'll have an interview with the-- definitely the Acura enthusiast who has bought your 2006 TSX. It's a good interview. We're going to put that at the end so you guys can listen to the whole thing-- interesting backstory there. You want to give, like, the dime tour real quick so people know what to stick around for?
JAMES RISWICK: Sure. So I sold my car 16 years ago. And just like anytime any of us sell a car, I never heard from it again until Christmas Eve of last year. And then you'll hear the rest of the story later on in the show.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, I like it. I like it. Sounds good. We do have an update on spending other people's money. This comes from Jacob at Episode 734, so we'll get that in there. And we'll talk about some of the different features that we've had on the site.
What would you drive back in '85, and what truck would you get for $50 grand? Those are a couple that we've been doing. We hope you guys enjoy the series. They are a lot of fun to talk about, a lot of fun to write about.
So with that, let's transition to the Trailsport. And sounds like there's an e-bike involved in here. So do tell. This sounds like a vacation, maybe, or something.
JAMES RISWICK: It was a vacation, but it was a multifaceted review product as well built into it. So you know, a lot of these big family vehicles, and actually just SUVs in general, have these what I would call outdoor adventuring trim levels. Honda has Trailsport. Kia has X-line and X-pro.
Toyota has-- I mean, they, of course, have their TRD-- TRD offroad, which would be like what the Toyota RAV4 has. Like, they all have these kind of offroad adventurey trim levels, usually with, like, macho tires on them and varying degrees of actual added capability. Well, so one of the newest ones is the Honda Pilot Trailsport.
And it has-- it actually does have a little more capability than the normal Pilot. It isn't just some black trim on it like you get with, like, the Hyundai Palisade. It does have those all terrain tires on it. So I decided to take a outdoor adventurey family vacation with this thing.
That included I got a-- I got an electric bike from Royal Dutch Gazelle. This is not, like, a mountain bike. This is more like a-- kind of like a commuter bike, really.
But you know, its tires are appropriate enough to handle some mild, you know, like, dirt trail kind of thing if I had to. But it was-- I could put my son's bike carrier onto it and just use it-- I was going to Bend, Oregon, which is very much a bike capital of Oregon, which itself is a bike capital of the country.
Very cool spot. And it's a very big outdoor, adventurey place to go. And then for the bike, because it weighs 55 pounds, you cannot put an electric bike on any old bike rack. They are not designed for it.
I even talked to Yakima about this, and they said, like, yeah, if you're-- let's say that you have a bike rack that is rated for 100 pounds, it actually does matter that it is-- say each bike needs to be 50. You cannot just go, well, the bike weighs 60. That's less-- it doesn't actually work like that.
There's actually components-- like, individual component strength. So you do need something that's special for that. And so for that, I got a Stage 2-- it's called a Stage 2 in that it's a stage, and then there's two slots for two e-bikes. It's a much thicker, stronger, heavier piece that goes into your trailer hitch, which the Pilot Trailsport comes standard with.
So it all came together. These are the elements I went on the outdoor family vacation with. The Pilot Trailsport also has raised roof rails as opposed to the flush ones that you need to get, you know, specially fitted clamps to. And they're not that great. Or even worse, there's ones that are just, like, screws on the side of fake rails.
No, these are real ones. And I could put my, again, Yakima-- I lived 15 minutes away from the Yakima headquarters before. So I'm kind of a Yakima guy. But the Yakima roof rails onto it. I had it with me.
I was ready to put a kayak on the Trailsport and have one hell of a great outdoor family adventure photo with everything. But as it turns out, the road to the lake and all Lakes in Bend, outside Bend, were still closed due to snow. It was going to be opening two days after I left.
And only, like, a week and a half earlier, there was still 5 feet of snow on the side of the road in points. Because this is, like, Mount Bachelor is over-- it's approaching, like, 9,000 feet up there. So you know, that part was cut short.
Didn't get the full outdoor family adventure. But I will say that that Pilot is great for it. It really is. The added elements of Trailsport-- the hitch, the roof rack-- like, that stuff really did come into its own because I was able to utilize it with gear.
But the Pilot by itself, there's a lot of elements that really make a difference. First, interior storage-- the old one was kind of like this and the new one is great. Like, the cup holders, like, work for tons of large bottles. It's fantastic. Lots of-- you know, the big flat surface in the front where your phone can be, or you can just plug it in elsewhere and you can just use it for sunglasses or the sandwich you just bought while you're-- like, you're still driving-- and the big bins in terms of storage in the trunk.
So the Pilot-- the big news for the Pilot, the new Pilot, was that most versions have a middle seat in the second row that folds up and comes out of the car. OK, that itself is rare-- or, actually, it's the only midsize three row SUV that has this. It's something that's been in the Honda Odyssey for at least a generation now. But now, they've got it small enough so it can go into the Pilot. The Acura MDX has the same thing, by the way.
But the Pilot is special because that seat can fit in the Pilot, in behind the lowered-- behind the third row seat. So there's a-- a lot of these three row SUVs have a compartment back there, storage underneath. This one is so big it can fit that seat. Pretty cool.
The only trim level that doesn't have it, however, or at least the one that it cannot have it, is the trailsport. That's because all terrain tires are too thick that it actually raises that under-floor enough that the seat no longer fits. Therefore, the Trailsport does not have that middle seat.
Nevertheless, that space underneath is still there. It's not as big. It's still really big. I was able to fit two Coleman camp chairs completely under the seat line. So I could put two-- and still have leftover room for, actually, a smaller camp chair.
So three camp chairs back there all the time. I could put the car seat or I could put a stroller on it. I could put a little bike on top of them. So they just stayed there for when we needed them, but the rest of the cargo area was completely open, which meant that I could still raise the part of the third row. My parents were visiting us up there, so, like, the third row was up and down at points while we still maintained space.
Really, like, that amount of versatility is fantastic. About a month earlier, I had the Kia Telluride, also with its X-Pro outdoor adventurey trim level. Honestly, you don't gain as much with that. In fact, you lose something. That thing does have the all terrain tires, but the ride was notably hampered compared to what it is in the Trailsport.
There is some degradation. I haven't driven the regular Pilot, but it's pretty obvious what it is. It is not as big of a loss as you get with the Telluride. And just-- the amount of, like, really great functionality that the Pilot has, I'd have a hard time not picking the Pilot now instead, because I think it looks good too.
I mean, I had the kind of Robin-- I don't know the exact name, it's a kind of a silly name-- but this kind of Robin's egg blue color. I had so many people coming up and, like, complimenting me on the color. Like, I've never seen anything like that before.
I mean, this is kind of a-- it could be a boring family vehicle and it does not look like that. So I think Honda did a really good job. It was a good demonstration of the car. And you know, I was happy to have it with me, because it was like-- you know, I think we-- a lot of people drive around in their three row family crossovers with one or two kids and don't really take much advantage of it.
And we're all guilty of it. But in this case, like, fully used it. Absolutely every element of it, and it passed big time. Really good. If there's one negative, I think it could probably use a bit more power if you were routinely driving around stratovolcanoes like Mount Shasta in order to get up to Bend.
I needed to put it into Sport mode just to make sure that the transmission was in the right gear, not necessarily because I wanted to drive sporty. That's really my only qualm with it. Good car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sounds like you like the Pilot a little bit.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: I haven't driven the offroad version. I did drive-- this is a mouthful-- the Telluride SX Prestige X-Pro V-6 all wheel drive a few weeks ago. And I had kind of a similar impression with you where I was like, you do get some things, but you do-- there are some tradeoffs.
And I haven't driven the Pilot as outfitted as you have. But generally speaking, I do like the Pilot. And I think they've-- like, Honda specifically has done a nice job of upgrading the design, making it more contemporary. Really, it's across their SUV lineup.
But you know, based on what you're saying, I think I would probably lean towards the Pilot versus the Telluride in this trim specifically. My sort of takeaway on the Telluride, as much as I really like it, was this isn't really necessary. I'm not really getting-- it was more like the Telluride was kind of, like, wearing an offroader sort of outfit versus actually giving you something tangible. But yeah, there's a lot of choices in that space now.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: I can see that Robin's egg blue you talk about too. It's in the press photos. That is a nice color.
JAMES RISWICK: It's cool. I mean, I do wonder, like, if this thing was just gray, would it be as-- because it looked good. And it has, like, that gloss black trim, which actually matched the bike rack that was on the thing.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's nice.
JAMES RISWICK: And the bike was complimentary too. Had I had my usual bike, which is a bright green thing, they just would have clashed. And it would not have been as fashionable.
So that story is coming soon. And it'll be, like, lots of the photos of all the elements in question. My bike review's coming, actually, first, of all of the elements.
GREG MIGLIORE: I was going to say, I can't tell if you lived in Eddie Bauer or Patagonia ad or you starred in the press photos. I mean, that's kind of how it sounds.
JAMES RISWICK: Well, you know, like, if you're going to advertise all these things, right, like, let's actually see what they're actually good for if you can actually do it.
GREG MIGLIORE: So I guess by that thought process, for the Alfa Romeo Giulia Lusso, you must have, what, sipped a nice digestif after driving this thing along rustic Tuscan roads or something, or at least went down to Napa? I don't know, what'd you do with that thing? The pictures look pretty great.
JAMES RISWICK: I live in Southern California, so it can look like anywhere here. So sure. Absolutely, I drove it in Italy. No, this is my first real time with the Giulia.
I briefly-- actually, I briefly did drive it in Southern Italy, which sounds more glamorous than it is. Because Southern-- like, the heel of Italy is very flat. So it was not, like, that dynamic-- it's not the most romantic area of Italy. Lovely, but not-- anyway.
And then I very briefly drove the Quadrifoglio on a very wet track in Michigan. So this was my first, like, really, like, extensive thing with the Giulia. I didn't really think much about it beforehand. It's wonderful.
It's a wonderful car. It's been out for quite a while at this point. And the Lusso trim is the middle one. So this is-- everything above the Lusso are the sport trim-- the Veloce, the Estrema, and the Quadrifoglio. And so the Lusso, so it does not have the sport seats.
It does not have those big, chunky, beautiful shift paddles. But then the rest of the car is still totally sporty. The steering is magnificent. The handling, ditto.
The ride is, I would say, well damped. But it's like, no, we're sporty. If you didn't like this-- like, a firm ride like this, you should have bought something else. So it's like-- it's this weird car because on the one hand, it's unapologetically sporty.
It's like, this is what the car is. And then they're like, well, we're going to shortchange you in sportiness. By giving you these seats, it will have you sliding around and not have these big flappy paddles. And by the way, we'll very obviously leave a gap-- a noticeable larger than normal gap between the turn signal stalks and the wheel, which is weird.
So it seemed like every Alfa should just have those two elements. It was kind of irritating and disappointing. Again, it seems like you're shortchanging them. Because otherwise, the rest of the car is fantastic. I had-- speaking of colors, Alfa Rosso.
It is-- oh my goodness. It is sexy. And it is-- but it's also-- it's, like, red yet classy. And part of it it's because it's an Alfa Romeo. And it just goes together.
Like, Alfa Romeo, red. Like, it is-- the interior was tan. Those sportier trim levels, you cannot get tan in it. Not a big tan interior, but in this car, it really did. It looked good.
This was just-- it's sporty. It's classy. Like, what you led off with-- like, that image of, like, having an espresso while sitting in a cafe next to your hot Italian car, that's what this is. I very much like this car.
It-- I was impressed. You know, I had no problem with-- you know, the things against Alfa Romeo, you know, like, all the buttons and everything were beautifully made. Everything's, like, of a high quality. Everything worked.
The infotainment system, fine. Fine. It's easier to-- it's a touch screen with a knob. So the redundant controls, you can do either-- if you only use Apple CarPlay, fine. No complaints.
If you use the radio like I do, no complaints. As opposed to, like, the newfangled BMW system that I want to, like, take a hammer to every time I get to because it's annoyed me so much, or Mercedes that just overwhelms you with the amount of things you can do-- yeah, it looks pretty, but is it really functional? No.
I had no-- the ADAS stuff worked really well. It's from Bosch. So I was really impressed with-- I liked it far more than I expected. And, honestly, if I wanted to spend that much-- there's no way I would buy this. I would get, like, an Audi A4 instead of this.
I wouldn't get a BMW 3-Series. Genesis G70-- nope. If I wanted a sports sedan today, I would-- acknowledging that if it had a manual, I'd be-- I would go out and buy one right now. But you know, it's-- I was really surprised at just how fun it was, how characterful it was, and, actually, how well executed it was. I wasn't expecting that latter bit. I liked it a lot more than I thought it would.
GREG MIGLIORE: I'm actually surprised you liked the infotainment, because most people get into it and say, well, they really should have just used the Uconnect from the rest of the Stellantis portfolio. But, hey, I mean, you're a discerning critic. So you know, must have some merits, if you will.
JAMES RISWICK: I've heard people have issues with the latest Uconnect. Like, there are some hiccups with it that weren't there in the previous one. So I mean, Uconnect-- let's just say that's not the case. Uconnect's-- but so is this. I have no problem with this.
When there's, like, the redundancy-- I mean, yeah, does it look dated? Sure. But I'm most interested in, does it work? Honestly, I don't care. So, you know, I-- you could live with it for a while.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: So I'm a big fan of the car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. Honestly, this is on a list of things that I would really enjoy having show up in my driveway this summer. It's that time of year. The paint is gorgeous. Alfa does a great job of getting the design details right on things like this.
You know, like, look at the wheels, I mean, the grill. It's, like, all the things they sort of said they were going to do when they were coming back to, like, the US market, they actually delivered, I think, 115% on the design side of it-- you know, especially for this car.
So they do a good job of just translating that 113 years of Alfa history into a sport sedan that you could just buy. You know, and to your point, it's an Italian car. It's red.
I mean, they are 37 years older than Ferrari. Like, they can still pull it off without faking it, you know, where sometimes I feel like I get in luxury and sporting, luxury of all stripes and you're like, oh, man this car just feels a little bit like they're faking it, you know? Whereas Alfa really doesn't have to.
I think the Stelvio might be a bit of a different setup as far as just the market. They're going for. And you know, it just it's a crossover. They have less to work with in that segment. But no, I agree with you. Can't wait to drive this thing.
Speaking of BMW infotainment, I drove the 760, which, oh my gosh. My son, I think, served-- like, summed it up perfectly yesterday. We were going to pick up a pizza and he said something to the effect of, dad, this car just does too much stuff.
He's five. And I was like-- I mean, you know, first of all, it's the 760. So twin turbo V8, it's the flagship. You know, BMW decided to use the same design language as-- with the 7-Series is with, like, the i7 electric.
So you sort of split it, if you will. Like, both look-- the electric car looks a little more mundane, perhaps, than it could. But the regular car looks-- the gas powered car-- does have more of a futuristic look than you might expect from, like, the traditional 7-Series, especially with the grille and the headlights.
I mean, yeah, motor is great. The four wheel steering is nice, makes it pretty easy to handle. But oh my goodness, there's just so much stuff going on with the screen.
It's baffling. It's confusing at times. You can figure it out, and I think after a week or so of driving it, what I would do is I would do, like, the shortcut. I would just stick it in a mode and go to, like, expressive mode or something, which would put up this kind of psychedelic, like, screens. But it would put all the shades down and give me a nice massage.
And that worked out pretty good. So there's a lot going on there, let me put it that way. Mine cost $149 was the suggested retail price-- so not cheap.
JAMES RISWICK: Did you have-- did you have, like, the all blacked out sinister version?
GREG MIGLIORE: No, this is more like-- it was gray. So it was pretty mundane in that sense. It did have, like, like the grille pieces, and there was that type of piano black, if that's what it actually is, trim in the front. But it was fairly generic, if you will, in that sense. It had the executive package with crystal headlights. It had the screen-- the flat screen that comes out of the roof.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Which is wild. This car needed, like, an Amazon subscription to really do anything with it. So my kid was just kind of watching, like, the map, if you will-- or I think that's what we served up for him. Either way, it's a really big screen. I don't know-- in some ways-- I went on the launch of the 7-Series, this was back in, like, '13-- no, '14, '15, somewhere in there, and it was in Monticello at the racetrack, one of, I think, the more interesting racetracks in the Northeast-- Northease-- Northeast. I can say it.
And they actually had us do some track time on there. And they were like, no, this is-- we still believe this is a BMW. It's just a little bit bigger. I don't know. Just this and the S-class, they really feel like they're becoming, like, tech laden limousines, which is fine.
Maybe that's what they've always been. But maybe I'm getting old, but I like that older 7-Series a little bit more than this. It was a little more fun to drive. This, there was just so much going on.
It's, like, a light show inside. The trim is gorgeous. But yeah, man, there's a lot going on. You've driven the 7-Series?
JAMES RISWICK: No, I haven't. No, because I've now-- it's funny, I go to a lot of these press events, but I drive a lot. So I do see the parking lots of other people who have driven. And that's been-- I think somebody has driven that sinister all black 7-Series to an event every single time.
And it really-- it stands out. I mean, you know, that's part of the appeal for some folks. I don't get it. The grille thing-- yes, it's enormous, but then there's, like, just weird stuff in it.
Like, part of-- I don't know if it's, like, some ADAS stuff, but the new 5-Series, the i5-- like, the grille is weird, but then there's just, like, weird geometric-- it's weird. It just looks like there's stuff that's behind it that they, like, didn't cover with a panel or thing.
I don't-- I do not get them. I've talked to some other car designers, and they also don't really get it. I had one car designer from a car company who knows some BMW designers and they said, quote, "they think they're God's gift to design." Like OK.
GREG MIGLIORE: You know what's interesting--
JAMES RISWICK: I was like, I'm going to write that down.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a good quote. It's interesting-- that has been my take on a lot of really expensive things I've driven lately. Like, I somewhat paraphrased that in my Bentayga review. I was like-- like, it's almost like they feel like that needs to be part of the price tag is just this design that we've invented and you, the consumer, will embrace it because it's expensive and it doesn't look like anything else.
Whereas, you know, I don't know, Alfa Romeo is not quite that expensive and it's much more timeless design, you know? And you know, it might be a lot to say BMW has lost its way with design, because they're-- I mean, they're going for it. And I feel like some of their cars look great and some of them are, like, you know, what is going on here?
JAMES RISWICK: I don't get it. I saw the new M2 the other day, I'm-- if you futz enough with your kidney grille, you'll end up with a Pontiac. And the M2, especially in red, looks like a Pontiac, because it looks very plasticky, which is very later Pontiac.
But the design itself just reminds me of, like, an early '70s GTO or something like that. Like, it doesn't look like a BMW. It looks like a Pontiac. So with all due respect to Pontiac, are you going for that, BMW?
GREG MIGLIORE: Half a century old Pontiac design-- I don't know. I mean, it's-- to show you how polarizing their design is, though-- I like the M2. I think it's-- when I look at that, I see almost, like-- like, it's angular but it's also kind of, like, bulging.
Like, it reminds me almost of like some of the '80s, like, Lancias or something. Like, it really is in the eye of the beholder. You sort of see what you want to see there. And you like it or you don't. But then there's other BMWs where I'm like, what are they doing here?
JAMES RISWICK: It really comes down to the face of the thing. And for, like, at least a decade now, the faces of their cars are not coherent with the rest of the car. It looks like somebody's in charge of the front, and then there's everybody else is doing the rest. But then they just glob on the front.
I will say the 7-Series is a little more coherent with the rest of the car, as is, like, the x7, for that matter. But yeah, it always comes back to us griping about BMW design, I suppose.
GREG MIGLIORE: I mean, BMW design, Miata.
JAMES RISWICK: You know what, though? Once upon a time, people were-- in the Chris Bangle era were griping about BMW design-- the crazy 7-Series, the crazier 5-Series, the swoopier one. People complained about and they were like, no, we're doing this. And then a generation later, all of that went away. And those cars, I don't think, have aged very well. So we'll see if history repeats itself-- and if everything in 15 years looks like a Pontiac.
GREG MIGLIORE: Well, that would be the ultimate revenge for Pontiac, right?
[JAMES LAUGHS]
JAMES RISWICK: Yep.
GREG MIGLIORE: So speaking of things from a long time ago, let's talk about what our staff would drive back in 1985. Now, you kind of came up with an interesting parameter here adjusting for inflation. This is-- I thought the list was pretty interesting-- a lot of different things on here.
You know, it's very '80s. What do you think? You think-- who's on the mark here? What do you think here?
JAMES RISWICK: So the key thing is-- so the original time we did this was here's $50,000, what car would you buy? And you had to use all $50,000. You can't, like, spend $30 and then blow the rest of it on an ATV or something. You needed to spend everything. So that was the thing.
But then we wanted to see, well, how much was $50,000 back in 1985? And as it turns out, that's $18,000. OK, well, how much car could you buy for that?
And this is kind of an exercise in inflation. And so $18 wasn't-- so you really couldn't buy many, like, import luxury cars. Like, even a-- what did I say? And even-- like, the only Cadillac you could buy was a Cimarron. So luxury cars have actually, if anything, gotten cheaper after all this time.
The only BMW you could buy for $50,000-- the equivalent of $15,000 was a base 3-Series, which is what John Snyder, picked by the way. But you know, today, you can buy multiple BMW for less than $50,000-- not many of them, but you can, including a 3-Series.
You know, I picked-- my choice was a Volvo 240 GL wagon-- so the big boxy wagon thing. I figured I'll go for the family vehicle I would want back then. But Volvo wasn't entirely a luxury brand then. You know, it was expensive because it was better made than a old Cutlass cruiser. But you know, it wasn't, like, filled with leather-- like the Volvo we know of today.
So that's why, like, that range of luxury car-- like, you might be able to get, like, into a Saab, maybe-- just things like that. But most American cars, those are way cheaper. You would not be able to get up to $18,000 even if you tried to go nuts with options.
So some of the cars that we chose here-- Jeremy picked an Alfa Romeo GTV6. That's a very cool car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Beautiful car.
JAMES RISWICK: Byron chose-- oh, no, Zac Palmer picked a Ford Mustang SVO, which is, like, top of the line Mustang. So there you go.
GREG MIGLIORE: I like it.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, it's interesting that Volvo-- I could totally picture you driving that in 1985. That just seems like exactly what you would have in your garage.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah. I mean, I would have-- well, just like now, I have, like, a Kia Niro EV and then I also have-- well, all of the cars, but then also my little sports car. It would be the same. Like, you have sensible family vehicle and then something fun.
I don't know what that something fun would be, but-- you know, in '85. What would you pick? You didn't weigh in on this one, because, you know, you're busy doing things.
GREG MIGLIORE: Too busy doing expense reports and signing everybody's, like, travel receipts and all that stuff. That's why I, unfortunately, don't get to weigh in on these as much. But the Mustang-- the fox body Mustang, I almost certainly would have picked that.
I think that's-- that's just a car I've been kind of really liking lately. There's, like, you know, it's summer cruising season in Michigan. So there's no shortages of Mustangs. I like that one.
I think the FJ Cruiser that Greg tossed on there is pretty creative. The Alfa is definitely a deep cut, that's for sure. Going from the back of the deck there, so lots of good stuff here. It's funny-- when I was in grad school, a guy who-- we had this, like, random old guy who lived in the-- like, it was, essentially, like, student housing.
It wasn't student housing, but it was across the street from campus. And it was, like, 20 Michigan State students and one random dude. And I literally must have dinged this Volvo wagon, because that's what he drove, of course-- it's a college campus, there's always the random dude driving a Volvo wagon.
I used to bum into it all the time. It was, like, always an accident. But I used to remember it. And I was like, oh god, I hit that thing again or, oh, I bumped into it.
And I had a Chevy Lumina that was just-- you could have rammed something with that thing and you wouldn't have even really cared. But I was always afraid this guy was going to, like, sue me for my student loans or whatever. But I don't know.
So that's my take on those-- that era of Volvo wagon. What do you think-- $50,000 truck? This is definitely a little less quirky, a little more probably SEO.
JAMES RISWICK: Well, but-- so here's the thing with $50,000 truck. OK, that sounds easy enough. Yeah, good luck finding a $50,000 truck. If you want to know why the average-- so you hear this a lot-- like, the average new car price is $50,000. Oh my god, how is anyone ever going to afford a car?
Well, the thing is, it's the problem with calculating something by average. Because, go try and buy a full size truck with a crew cab, not the base engine, and any equipment. Good luck getting that under $50,000. And when you consider the top four selling vehicles are all full size truck, by a gigantic country mile-- we're talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of trucks versus the next best car or SUV-- that means that there's a hell of a lot of vehicles that are being sold for way more than $50,000, which completely throws the idea of average out of whack.
But what can you buy for $50,000? And as I said, like, only one of us bought an actual-- chose an actual full size truck. And Greg Raisa, but he picked, like, the regular bit-- the regular cab one. And so you can get that with lots of equipment. You can get the extended cab with decent equipment.
You can get a crew cab base engine with some equipment on it. But it's definitely not-- which I think what most people would end up doing if they had to. But, like, no V8, no turbo V6.
So they're not that appealing. So what most of us did were-- most of us were playing in the mid-size category. I got a GMC Canyon AT4 with that sports bar package-- kind of this Marty McFly looking truck. It's cool. This is a cool looking truck.
I was excited about that one more than like the kind of V6 powered kind of XLT RAM I was looking at-- not XLT, the Longhorn. Byron picked a Jeep Gladiator Willis. Very cool looking truck. Zac Palmer went absolutely nuts on the Honda Configurator to buy-- to somehow make a Ridgeline $50 grand. John Snyder also picked a Colorado-- picked a Colorado, but he picked the ZR2.
Whereas I went for, like, the lower level, but then optioned it up with a whole bunch of stuff. And Joel went nuts with a Nissan Frontier. I just knew-- he loves that truck so much. I was interested to see just how he could possibly put all the-- let's see, he put sliding bed extender, bed step, and handle, outdoor Bluetooth Speaker, rubber floor mats, illuminated door sills, partridge, pear tree, et cetera, to get it up to $50 grand. But my favorite one, and I did not see this coming, was Jeremy, who picked a Ram 2500 Tradesman.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: So so although it's hard to buy a full size truck, it's even harder to buy a heavy duty, but he managed it. And he got the Tradesman. I've driven a Tradesman. It's actually not that stripped out, right?
It's not like totally vinyl everywhere. But he got it for just a little-- just right at our line. And he still managed to get it in orange. So that's fun.
And it had the 8 foot bed. So it kind of goes to show you can, in fact, by a variety of trucks for $50,000. But don't count on getting, like, one of, like, the really desirable V8 or big turbo V6 if we're talking Ford, or hybrid, or, you know, any of the ones that kind of are brochure fodder. Don't count on one of those for $50 grand.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. I, like, probably would have leaned Gladiator myself. With a second choice-- this is interesting. I'm experiencing more dissonance than I would have thought. I would have-- I generally like the Colorado better than the Canyon.
I just feel like that Chevy offroad vibe really comes through. When I look at the trims, I don't think I'd do ZR2. Like, if I were really going to spend this money, I think I'd probably take your approach and take a lower trim and then just load it up with everything I could get-- stop short of $50.
But it's funny-- when I look at the design aesthetics, I almost like the Canyon more-- some of the different, like, offroady trims short of the full on one, because, again, when I take the ZR2 off the table, I look down I'm like, oh, these look a little more generic. Whereas for almost, like, the first time in my career, I'm looking at the Canyon thinking, oh, this is kind of the better-- the more offroady truck from an aesthetic perspective, if you will.
Mechanically, they're all very similar. I don't think I'd get those-- the "Back to the Future" rails that you're going for. But I'd probably get most of the other stuff.
JAMES RISWICK: That's honestly the only reason I got the Canyon.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK.
JAMES RISWICK: So you can get that. You can actually get that on the Colorado. However, you have to get, like, a whole bunch of other stuff. Well, the bar-- you also have to get the big light thing on top of it.
And then together, that costs almost $3 grand to get that on the Canyon. However, on the Colorado if you want that, you have to get all this other, other, other, other stuff. And it ends up, like, being a $59,000 truck just for that stupid bar on the back. So assuming that I wanted that truck, that was the thing, the key element that put it over the design top for me, I needed to get the Canyon. Otherwise, I would have probably gone with the ZR2.
GREG MIGLIORE: Interesting.
JAMES RISWICK: Not that I've driven it. I haven't driven that. I've driven all the other Colorados.
GREG MIGLIORE: I kind of like the AT4 four wheel drive without the extra, like, you know, wing things, if you will. I kind of like that. You could even get-- the Denali puts you at $53, so you can't do that.
But that's a lot of truck if you want that. But again, this is my, like, second one. I would do Gladiator. And I also feel like I'm going to really like the new Ranger. So I'd probably slide that into second place once I drive it.
I always kind of liked the old Ranger better than, really, almost anybody outside of-- I feel like a lot of the Autoblog alumni, people who have come and gone over the years, we had, like, a Ranger coalition. That's why it won our midsize test. But I don't know. I kind of like the old school vibe.
JAMES RISWICK: I like the Ranger. I mean, it-- it's a modern truck frame and underpinnings with an old truck blopped on top of it. And it's the old truck on top of it that's kind of-- that makes it seem more dated than the actual driving experience and all its capabilities.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's hard to justify, like, when you're rationally trying to spend that kind of money for stuff when you look at it and you're like, OK, well, we know the GM trucks are newer. We know even the Jeep is newer and a lot of the things that we care about are newer.
So it goes. All right, so check these out. We have a few more of these coming up. We got lots of features. We have opinions. You know, we throw out our Autoblog Garage video series. We try to throw some retro stuff at you, this including.
Yeah, I mean, Mr. Features Man, we got quite the features calendar these days. So let's talk about-- all right, so before we get to your feature here about selling your TSX, we have an update.
This is spending my money, Jacob writes, from Episode 734. Hello, just a quick update from me. Not long after I wrote in last year, I had some major unexpected expenses come up, so I wasn't able to buy anything. I spent the last little while saving up again, improving credit-- trying to decide again this year.
Still looking for the Focus ST. I took your advice and started looking at GTIs. Honestly, I fell in love with them. I got-- and I almost got one, except it got snatched up before I had a chance to pull the trigger.
I decided I would just look for both and just buy whichever one came up as a good deal first. OK, kind of throw the dice and see what happens. My improved financial situation, and car prices having slightly fallen, have helped. And this week, Jacob ended up closing on a fully loaded and well cared for 2016 Focus ST, even came in $1,200 under budget.
Pretty happy with it. Just thought I'd keep you guys updated. So that's podcast@autoblog.com if you want us to spend your money or if you have an update-- you're one of probably in the hundreds of people we've helped over the years at this point, please get them in. Please give us an update. We'd love to hear from you. So with that, let's talk about your sort of car-selling experience. A much loved 2006 Acura TSX. Tell us about it, James.
JAMES RISWICK: Sure. So right now, I'm looking out my window at something that has passed through a time machine. In my driveway is a 2006 Acura TSX in Arctic blue. It's an electric-- deep electric blue. Beautiful paint job.
And this is the car that I owned in 2006 and 2007. And it's in my driveway for the next couple of hours until I will return it to its current owner. And the story is-- so I ordered this car in early 2006-- I ordered it. I ordered an Acura. No one really orders Acuras.
But I did so because I wanted the combination of Arctic blue. Like today, everybody wanted a gray car, or white, or black. And I wanted Arctic blue. So I needed to order it. But even more so, I wanted it with a six speed manual transmission, because, you know, you're listening to this podcast, you know.
I also wanted navigation. Not because I needed navigation, but because it actually increased the audio system functionality for this newfangled thing that I really like called satellite radio. So it did all these things. So I wanted to order this car. I got this car.
And about a year-- a little more than a year later and after only 5,600 miles driven, I got my dream job as an automotive journalist. I was not going to need a daily driver anymore. I was going to be driving all of the cars now.
And so this car was just going to sit in the garage. It was going to collect dust and depreciation. And you know, I didn't-- I wasn't, like, in love with this car. I didn't have enough time to really bond with it, honestly.
So I wasn't-- it was just going-- it wasn't going to be collectible. You know, no one in 16 years was going to, like, buy it as a collector item, certainly, or, like, even restore it. No, that would be nuts. That would never happen.
So I sold it to somebody who lived in Utah. And he came and he picked it up. And I-- he was very excited about the car. And I never heard from the car again, until Christmas Eve of this year when I got an Instagram message from someone named Tyson Hugie.
And he had just bought my TSX from all of those years ago from the exact same person who bought it from me, who loved the car for about 185-- or about 182,000 miles on it. He took tremendous care of it mechanically. The interior looked tremendous. But the Utah sun had done a number on not very good Honda paint.
So Tyson did what he does. And he restored it. Why would anybody do this? How would he do this? Well, I will now let him tell the story in this interview I did with him while sitting in the TSX while we both just happened to be attending the Acura Integra Type S launch.
- Long story short, I'm going to summarize it-- I'm an Acura brand aficionado. They call me an Acura addict. I've been a fan of Honda and Acura products since the late '90s. I got my driver license and promptly sought out an '89 Prelude.
So whenever I come across or learn of a particularly rare model, it kind of stays with me for a long time. So fast forward, roughly, to 2011. Acura threw a big red carpet party for me when I rolled half a million miles in a Legend.
I then sort of started collecting cars. And my brother had a classmate who was a friend of mine from southern Utah, a year younger than I was. And I knew as of about 2013 that he had a blue 2006 TSX six speed manual. And that car always sort of was one that I had on my checklist-- just in the back of my mind. Like, how cool is that color? Because you just never see them.
Anyway, he and I met up in 2013 in his driveway in Cedar City, Utah. I was driving my red '92 NSX back from Salt Lake to Phoenix, where I live. And I stopped at his house.
He had a Black Integra GSR, this TSX, and there was my red NSX in his driveway for a photo shoot. This car still looked pretty darn nice. I mean, it was only, what, seven years old at the time.
But the following decade or so wasn't as friendly to it. My friend ended up replacing the car with an EV a few years ago. The TSX was relegated to side parking at his house.
And the sun in southern Utah was not friendly to it. This paint got absolutely destroyed. I don't think the car was actively exercised as much, so, obviously, that also contributes to some deterioration.
So I was kind of after Chance, my friend, to just let me give this car a good home. You know, I know you're sentimentally attached to it, but I'll fix it up. And I'll do it justice, because I know how rare it was.
So finally pried the car out of his hands in December of last year, and we agreed on a price that was maybe a little bit too much for a car that needed a full restoration, but I also recognized how special the car was. It made the 400 mile trip from Utah to Phoenix flawlessly. And I kind of started doing things just via prioritization after that.
So obviously, I wanted the mechanical bits to be reliable before I spent a dime on paint. So tires, brakes, fluids-- those were some of the first things that we looked at. Beyond that, I started just saving up, you know, a few pennies here and there to do the exterior bodywork.
So have a great shop in Phoenix that worked on the car for about maybe 2, 2.5 months. And we kept it the original Arctic blue. I sourced an uber rare Accord Euro R body kit, which is really kind of subtle but it's definitely upgraded. So other than that, the car is 100% as James drove it off the showroom floor 2006.
So 189,000 miles, I rolled yesterday. I drove it out from Phoenix for the Acura Integra Integra Type S press event. And it's the second longest trip I've ever taken in the car, and it didn't skip a beat. So, you know, I think this car has, easily, another 200k left in it.
It might not have great infotainment or rocket-like acceleration, but this K24, you know, Japanese built platform with the manual is one of Honda's most crowning achievements. I mean, if they could sell this car as the Accord in Europe, which they did, you know they had a lot of faith in it because that nameplate carries so much weight. So that's kind of it.
JAMES RISWICK: This was a "Car and Driver" 10 best when it came out. That was a reason I got it at the time. So tell me about some of the other cars.
Because, obviously, like, restoring a 2006 Acura TLX is not something that-- or even just, like, just generally cars from that era you would do. So, like, what are some of-- have you restored other cars? What are they?
- It's funny you ask, because there was a story about me a few years ago that says, this guy's car fetish is so weird. It's actually-- no, his fetish is so normal it's actually weird-- or something to that effect. Like, AKA, I like to restore and preserve cars that most people wouldn't bat an eye at.
So I love my NSX, but not everybody cares enough about an '06 TSX to spend twice what you spent on the car on paint work. Like, that is just financially stupid. But you know what? I'll never see another one of these in Arctic blue, six speed, with the navigation system.
I mean, I knew full well this car was a rare spec to begin with. And I think there's always some heartstrings being tugged at that this car deserved better than to eventually just end up on Craigslist sold to some college kid who would run it into the ground, you know? And just to give you a scope, I also have a 2002 RSX that's currently getting the same treatment, a Type S.
I got it from my neighbor, Susan, who's 75. She beat up every corner of the exterior, so that's getting an overhaul. But yeah, that's kind of the name of the game. Last year, I restored a '95 Legend coupe that was dilapidated and sitting in a driveway for three years. And now, it's a showpiece.
So every car I kind of take through this process. The crowning achievement for me is when it can sit on the showroom-- the literal showroom floor. So I have a good relationship with the general manager at Acura of Tempe, Arizona, Todd. And he lets me-- I go open the doors for myself, I know where my key's in his drawer.
And I swap-- literally Sunday morning, I picked this car up out of the showroom floor, took it home, and drove it here to California the next day. So it had sat on the showroom floor for four weeks. And the funny part is now that I've had this rotating display at the dealer for so long, they made me start putting a "not for sale" picture on the dash.
Because all these cars evoke so much nostalgia. And everybody who's bringing in an MDX, or a DLX, or whatever for service, they'll look at this car and be like, oh my gosh. Like, I had a first gen TSX. And the car's just kind of special that way, you know? It has-- they sold so many of them that it was something that is relatable for a lot of people. So yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: So I believe I saw a photo of it. I know you've had it, but do you still have a, like, aquamarine Acura Vigor?
- Oh, that one's gone. It was Arcadia green. Yeah, so that was a cool car. Five cylinder, five speed manual-- I'm a manual snob. That was a rare spec. Pretty clean car already when I got it, and I sold it on Bring a Trailer to a collector in Seattle area who still drives it and talks about it.
So my thing is, you know, I can't keep them all. This is kind of catch and release for me. So I can at least take pride in knowing that I might have saved this car from, you know, a worse life.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
- And I enjoy it. I have fun with it. And then sometimes I keep them. Sometimes I let them go. The Vigor was one I kept it for five years-- love that car.
The challenge on that one that I don't have with the TSX, Vigor parts are just unobtanium. Yeah, like, you need a clutch slave cylinder for a Vigor. You're going to fabricate one.
JAMES RISWICK: Unlike this, this is a European Accord. The Vigor was a bonkers wackadoo car. Like, look it up-- like, five cylinder, but then there is-- what's going through the whole cylinder block on that?
- It was longitudinally mounted.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah. It's a longitudinally mounted Honda engine. What?
- Front wheel drive. It was the weirdest car ever. It had great noises.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: My father owned one. He had one. They largely got it because it had heated seats. And we were Canadian. And that was, like, whiz bang amazing things. And it was a nice car.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: But that was an--
- Important car too, because it bridged the gap. Because you have to remember Acura's early days was Integra, Legend, NSX. They needed something to fill that price point.
So the Vigor, and if you watch some of the promotional videos, they literally say in between 4 cylinders and six is 5. That's where we did it.
JAMES RISWICK: Well, the Vigor became the TL. So, really, the Vigor is the original Acura TL and TLX.
- That's a good point, yeah, because it slotted right there. And you raise a good point. A lot of people mistakenly think Legend became TL. But the Legend was the flagship, later became RL, RLX, and now is defunct as of a couple of years ago.
JAMES RISWICK: So, really, if any-- well, we are both here to drive the Integra Type S. I don't think-- should we just start like lobbying for them to rename the vigor? Because they should do that.
- How funny would that be?
JAMES RISWICK: That'd be great. And rename the RDX the Legend. Whatever.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: The ZDX. The ZDX-- they're bringing that crazy thing back. Call that thing the Legend.
- No, don't do that.
JAMES RISWICK: No.
- Yeah, but it is fun. And you know, this event-- I was talking to Jonathan Rivers from the Acura product planning team, and the cool thing about bringing the name back is that they're seeing 70% of the people who bought an Integra in the last year since it went on sale have come from other brands. So what I would like to know is, are these people-- have they left the brand and they're coming back? Or are they just conquests, as you call it, like, from another luxury automaker or what have you? It'd be very interesting to see the analysis there.
JAMES RISWICK: I would not be surprised if it's people coming back. Because after this car-- so I owned this car. I loved it. But when the next one came out, I was then, like, reviewing cars. And the second generation TSX was a big dropoff.
It didn't look as good. The steering, especially, it was-- they switched to EPS. And it was not good at all.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: Just the entire car was just softer. It was bigger. It was less enjoyable to drive. It was available in a wagon. You could get that one.
- TSX sport wagon.
JAMES RISWICK: There was-- this car, actually, there was a wagon version. We didn't get it.
- Right.
JAMES RISWICK: But besides that, it just wasn't as interesting.
- Yeah, even with some of the Acura team last night, we kind of lovingly refer to that 2009 to '12, '13 era as some dark ages. You know, the design language was polarizing. There wasn't a lot of performance driven effort.
And so-- and the same could be said about the TL, right? So the third gen TL, '04 to '08 TL is just an iconic car, even today. The Type S, you know, and then in '09, things kind of went a little sideways in the same way.
JAMES RISWICK: More like drop. Drop. Look at the TL was, like, the best selling luxury car. Like, that-- and then its predecessor was also, like, the best selling luxury car. And then the robo beak came out and it plummeted.
It just went into the ground. And not coincidentally, Acura kind of did too. It took a long time--
- It was a detour, for sure. And actually, I have to give a teeny bit of credit-- I drove my friend Brian's 2012 TL all wheel drive manual, six speed. It's a super capable and fun car. But people just couldn't get past how it looked.
And so were prices to pay. You know, Acura, I think-- now, they have a completely new leadership team as of within the last few years. John Ikeda actually came from a design background.
So it was a really unique fit for a design guy to be promoted to senior leadership. And, honestly, based on what we're seeing the brand roll out right now, it's a pretty solid move. I mean, he's launched, you know, now NSX Type S, MDX Type S, TLX-- all this stuff is performance oriented.
They're back big time into racing efforts. And so we'll see what the future holds. It's tough to be-- and this question was pitched to John in a podcast, Jonny Lieberman, the other day-- as a performance brand how do you embrace electrification? Because isn't electrification largely about autonomy and not driving your own car? So they have their work cut out for them in the next few years to embrace what Acura has called precision crafted performance and still stay on the cutting edge of new product development.
JAMES RISWICK: So here's a question. So the car that we are driving, not the Type S, but the regular Integra, is that car, the way it is, does it, in fact, have more in common spiritually with this car than the original-- than the last car called Integra?
- I kind of think it does. I really do. And if you look at the succession-- I mean, this was the entry level sedan to the lineup. That car is the entry-- I mean, on paper, it is the Integra, right?
JAMES RISWICK: They're similar. I mean, this is similar-- I mean, they're-- well, the Civic-- the Civic based Integra today is bigger than this car. Definitely bigger back seat.
- You have to consider too-- I mean, if this was an Accord in Europe, but European cars traditionally are smaller--
JAMES RISWICK: Way smaller.
- So if you look at it through that lens, but I totally agree with you. I think this car, paired up with, you know, the Integra of today, they're catering to the same market, you know? You're looking for someone who's-- it's a gateway car to the brand.
If you're lucky, they come in, they love this car, they love the Integra, they move up to the TLX, to whatever beyond that. And this car, I think, achieved that for a lot of people. I mean, you were, I think you said, in your early 20s when you bought it.
So maybe not yet a family man, you wanted something fun to drive-- didn't need a minivan yet or whatever. I mean, what compelled you to order this you at that time in your life?
JAMES RISWICK: Well, two things. One, I was working for Acura of Santa Monica. So I was selling these things. And I enjoyed it. I liked it.
As I said, I was not reviewing cars at the time. So-- I guess I was sort of. Not well or for anybody important. And then it was, like, "Car and Driver" 10 best. It was, like, a big car. It was fun to drive.
And the other thing is I was and continue to be a spoiled only child. And so for this and that, my parents said, well, we're worried about the car that you have dying and causing you more money, so we're going to help you buy this one.
And I'm like, well, I'm not going to say "no" to that. So I got the car. And I enjoyed it. But I only drove it for, like, 5,500 miles or so, because I then got my dream job at Edmunds. And I was then going to be driving all of the cars.
- Right.
JAMES RISWICK: So it just was sitting in the Edmunds parking garage gathering dust and depreciation.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: And again, I didn't have it-- I didn't-- like, I wasn't, like, in love with the car, didn't really have sentimental value. It was an Acura TSX. Like, this is not going to be, like--
- A future collectible. Right.
JAMES RISWICK: It's not going to be-- no one is ever going to get this car and restore it, for instance, someday. That's never going to happen.
- Who would think?
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah. So I sold it.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: And Chance bought it-- so the person you bought it from is the person I sold it too.
- It's only a three owner car, which is also kind of weird, especially because his was the longest duration. Because, like you said, yours was short lived. I think the record showed literally one oil change under you.
JAMES RISWICK: Oh, I did 5,600 miles or something.
- And then yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: So I ordered this car, one, because I knew you could-- like, who orders an Acura, right? Like, the number of builds possible is tiny. But number of builds that a dealer is going to order is even tinier than that.
It's mostly just, like, gray-- it's kind of the same. This was, like, 2006, but dealers were really just buying gray, white, and black.
- Totally common colors. Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: And then-- so I wanted Arctic blue. I actually went back and forth between Arctic blue and the lighter blue. But this was ultimately cooler. But then, like, manual. Good luck finding a manual that a dealer's ordering.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: So I ordered it. And I ordered-- and I waited, like, three to four months for the car. So I had Arctic blue. And then the navigation system-- we were talking about earlier, this has the navigation system. Honestly, I didn't care as much about the navigation system as I did with the better audio interface.
So specifically-- specifically because of satellite radio-- and here, it has the six radio presets on the bottom. And then it shows you the name of-- basically what satellite radio is.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: And this was, like, a big thing in the year 2006.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: So that was why I wanted the navigation system with the big touchscreen. Honestly, this is a big touchscreen.
- It is.
JAMES RISWICK: It just dawned on me that this is kind of an enormous touchscreen for the era. Like, this is-- it's probably about 7 inches or something. Which is, like, kind of-- which is what the base Accord touchscreen is today.
- Right. Yeah, I mean, in its day-- and this same interface, if I'm not mistaken, I think it was also carried into the third gen TL, which would make sense. It was the same era.
JAMES RISWICK: In everything. The buttons were a little different along the bottom, but--
- And I've never used this little joystick thing.
JAMES RISWICK: It's just to scan around the map.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: Because they didn't have swiping, and pinching, and all that. But this has a-- so it has the premium sound system. This is before Elliot Scheiner. It has a six disk CD changer.
- In-dash.
JAMES RISWICK: In-dash. It has an aux jack, which was, like, huge because you could plug in your iPod.
- Should we show the book?
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah. And to this very day, like, I had to remember that I was driving a car from '06. So I needed to, like, bring my little adapter that I have for my Z3, the car that replaced this. So I'll be able to listen to my phone or what have you.
- There's your voice control.
JAMES RISWICK: So this is voice controls. So you can actually program the navigation system relatively very easy. You just have-- you just have to press the button. There's no, like, "hey, Acura," business.
- Right. Concierge.
JAMES RISWICK: So yeah, you have this little book here. And then you go with your voice control and you just have to memorize what--
- Commands.
JAMES RISWICK: What the commands are. So you have to be like-- I'm not going to go through this because if I narf it, it's not going to be great. But it's basically, like, you click, like, destination. And then you can say, like--
- Ojai Valley.
JAMES RISWICK: Ojai Valley-- yeah, Ojai, California. Ojai-- well, no, you can't say. There's no search. You will need the address.
- You actually need the numbers.
JAMES RISWICK: I believe you do. So, like, you could just-- like, OK, so, like, District of Columbia, Washington, 1600 Pennsylvania-- or might even have to do, like, Pennsylvania Avenue, 1600. But, like, it makes sense once you know it.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: And this was, like, way good because everything else was garbage for, like, years. So, like, it was a pretty good-- actually, subsequent ones were worse.
- Well--
JAMES RISWICK: Like, the last-- the Civic touch screen wasn't good.
- I don't use any of them.
JAMES RISWICK: It was like easier to use. The graphics are like Nintendo. but otherwise, it's really some cool materials in here. I love the volume control has this kind of, like, record, like, etching in it. And then the shift knob has the real metal shifter on it. And if you look at what's in the Type S--
- I think it's got a wrap around it just like this, but it's a little different.
JAMES RISWICK: But it's, like, of the same-- the idea. And it's real metal. And it gets hot-- like, really hot and really cold. I used to bring-- I had a baseball batter's glove--
- Just to have.
JAMES RISWICK: In the car so I wouldn't have the shift pattern etched in my hand, like--
- Branded.
JAMES RISWICK: Branded, like Marv from "Home Alone."
- Yeah. Forehead.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
- And the funny thing about-- speaking of the XM, so the brain for this is actually, I believe, DVD driven. It's in the trunk.
JAMES RISWICK: Yeah.
- Underneath the rear speaker. So I haven't touched it. Somehow, it is still working here. But where did I get to my nav map guide? So I mean, like you said, in its day, this was probably pretty cutting edge. But by today's standards, you know, it's pretty--
JAMES RISWICK: Well, of course. The nice thing, though, it's not so bad. Like, some of these things-- like, a BMW navigation system from-- like, you don't want that, because it, like, hampers the functionality of everything else. But since I bought this for the functionality of everything else, it's kind of OK.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: But you know, this-- I mean, I'm eager to drive it.
- Yeah. I hope you have some fun with it. Rev the hell out of it. It's got almost 200,000 miles, but you wouldn't know it on the road.
JAMES RISWICK: Rev line goes to 7,000 RPM. And I got to be-- I got to be perfectly honest, one of the other reason why I wasn't too sad about-- I didn't like driving it all that much. I didn't like driving it all that much.
This was the car that I realized how much I like torque, because I was coming from a VR6 Volkswagen and I didn't realize that I liked torque as much-- and the high strung engine-- high strung engine. I don't think-- I kind of realized it wasn't for me. Also, it was a little difficult to drive smoothly.
- I can agree with that. I had the clutch replaced for some of those same reasons. I felt like-- and I'm a great manual driver, but I just felt like something was a little bit off. So it's improved, but you'll have to let me know what you think.
JAMES RISWICK: It's the flywheel or something. But what was worse was the TL. The TL of that era was very difficult to drive smoothly.
- I think it's torque steer issue combined with a lot of things.
JAMES RISWICK: Not even that. No, I mean, like, mundane clutch letup stuff. So yeah. So I hope you enjoyed this little journey with us for his new car and my old car.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: This really is, like, a crazy thing, because being reunited with an old automotive friend, like, 16 years later is, like, the stuff that, like, they make, like, classic car shows.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: Out of.
- My classic car.
JAMES RISWICK: So-- and I didn't have to pay for it to enjoy this "Back to the Future" moment here. So thanks so much for joining me here in my car. And thank you for doing this.
- Yeah, no, this has been fun.
JAMES RISWICK: This is amazing.
- And this was in the works for a long time. And I knew that, you know, this car had some special backstory. And what you shared about ordering it, even-- I don't know if Chance, who I bought the car from, knew that. So really cool backstory.
You know, I saw the window sticker back here at $30 grand. And it'd be interesting to know how many of these cars that you know were sold back in that era are still around. That was sort of a big deal for the brand.
It was a volume seller. The brand was celebrating 20 year anniversary, so there was a lot-- there was a lot on the line. And the fact that this still is a reliable daily driver, you know, this many years later speaks to how well it was engineered.
And you know, some people would argue they might even rather have this than a brand new car because it was a fraction of the price. And if it ain't broke, you know, why replace it?
JAMES RISWICK: Especially when someone's going to restore it, because, like, it does look like a brand new car. And you know, honestly, the interior is, like-- yeah, the interior is not as, like-- the driver's seat isn't as tight as it used to be, but there's only a little bit of wear.
- Wear on the bolster there. I mean, the-- I'm surprised the perforator leather held up, because these are notorious for getting frayed.
JAMES RISWICK: Just leather in general.
- Yeah.
JAMES RISWICK: It's a reason not to buy leather in a car you're going to hold on for a while. But, like, Chance did-- I often say, like, the exterior-- like, the exterior paint on this was rough. But that's often, like, you can tell, like, how-- you look inside a car, like, to see how nice someone-- because you can see a car, and paint looks bad and, looks kind of, like, worn.
But it's clean, and then you look inside, and it's meticulous. And you're like, that person cares about their car. Doesn't matter-- - They may just not have a garage.
JAMES RISWICK: Or they don't have a lot of money to buy the nicest car, but they're caring for it. You always, like, applaud that person.
- Yeah, agreed. And that was the whole point was-- because he plenty of times could have let the car go for you a college kid to drive to school or whatever. But he intentionally held out, wanted it to go to a good home. So here we are.
I don't know if it's a long term car for me. If anybody out there, particularly is in love with it, '06 blue TSX, talk to me. But I like that, you know, this car could have a happy ending in this sort of way.
And what better place to show it to James than next to brand new blue 2024 Integra Type S cars? The stars couldn't have aligned better for that.
JAMES RISWICK: Absolutely. They're even, like, similar colors.
- Yeah, they are dang close.
JAMES RISWICK: All right, well, thank you so much for this. And yeah. So this was my car, and now it's his car.
- All right. Have fun with it.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, thanks, guys. That is a very interesting backstory. Definitely please get it in the comments. Let us know if you have any sort of long lost cars that maybe came back to you, sort of in ghostly fashion. James, been good hanging out with you this week. Do you have any summer drink recommendations?
JAMES RISWICK: Summer drink-- well, I did-- well, as I just said, I came back from Oregon. So there was a lot of beer that was in the Trailsport coming home. I was stashing it places like it was 1925, just to make sure it got-- fit all in the car.
So I used to live in Oregon, got used to the beer, and it's not the same in Southern California. So I came back with a lot. So that's what-- I'll be emptying a fridge over the course of the summer.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, that sounds good. I like Oregon beer. If you have any summer beer recommendations, that's podcast@autoblog.com. If you enjoy the show, please give us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get the show. Be safe out there, and we'll see you next week.
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