In the uncertain year of 2025, sometimes the best thing to do is wait. Wait until tariffs threats are paused; wait to push out a new electrified model since nobody knows what EV credits will look like in the near future; wait to buy a used car because if what you’re driving ain’t broke, you might as well hang onto it. While automakers themselves waiting on future plans will leave us with older new cars than we may be used to, that strategy is getting us at least another year of being able to buy a brand new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango Hellcat, and that feels like something worth celebrating.
Meanwhile, Tesla probably hasn’t been given the amount of CEO time it deserves, and because of slipping sales and profits, it could start to look like a bit of a meme stock. I mean, it’s always had a difficult-to-justify sky-high market cap, but what’s actually stopping the mask of fundamentals from coming off?
At the same time, the next hiccup in the silly trade war could relate to magnets. No big deal, until you realize they’re in your wheel speed sensors, transmission, throttle body, and dozens of other places. Oh, and Ford’s built another unhinged Mach-E.
All this coming up on today’s edition of The Morning Dump.
America’s Last Hemi Muscle Car Is An SUV
In the aftermath of former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’ gross misreading of the North American market, things aren’t looking too rosy at Dodge. The Challenger is dead, the Charger is currently an electric vehicle with a six-cylinder model coming later, the Hornet is an Alfa Romeo, but the Durango? It’s the last torchbearer of the Hemi that isn’t a heavy duty truck, and we were all wrong when we predicted that 2024 would be its last model year.
Not only is the Dodge Durango rolling into 2026 firing on all eight cylinders, Dodge is actually giving it some new wheel options and expanding availability of the 5.7-liter Hemi V8. Beneath the Tow & Go package that bundles a bunch of SRT styling and chassis goodies with the R/T’s 5.7-liter V8 sits a new Durango R/T Blacktop Redline package that fills an appearance and price niche. With SRT-style spoilers, 20-inch wheels, and enough black-and-red accenting to make that one scene kid you went to middle school with jealous, and the Blacktop Redline package is also available on the V6 Durango for angsty frugal types.
More interestingly, the Durango SRT Hellcat is still on. Like Kenny from “South Park,” Dodge has repeatedly tried to kill it off, first by making it a one-model-year-only proposition, then with “Last Call” editions, but it’s sticking around for 2026, more than a decade after this 700-plus-horsepower monster of a V8 debuted in the Challenger and Charger.
Of course, details on the top trim are sparse for now, but we can tell you that the V8 Durango will cost $51,990 for the 2026 model year, and that actually seems like a fair deal. It’s nice three-row crossover money, but isn’t the power of a V8 Durango a luxury all its own?
Could Tesla Become A Meme Stock?
Throughout talk of Tesla’s 2025 sales slide and what’s next for the company, there’s one thought that isn’t leaving my head. Even if Elon Musk sticks around forever as CEO, and even if hypothetically no new retail product comes down the pipeline, so long as the company doesn’t declare insolvency it’s going to be sticking around in a considerable capacity, even with cooling consumer sentiment especially strong internationally.
Up in Canada, J.D. Power reports that only 13 percent of EV shoppers would consider a Tesla, compared to 29 percent last year as per Automotive News. Given Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration, which has threatened to annex Canada, it’s not exactly surprising that Canadians aren’t incredibly warm toward the brand.
Of course, price hikes certainly don’t help, but changing public sentiment has opened doors for other manufacturers. The big winner on brand perception according to the study is Hyundai, but we’ll have to see how that’s reflected in sales reports once more recent figures drop.
At the same time, there’s a good chance that Tesla will continue to be beaten out in China. The brand sold roughly 58,000 EVs over there in April according to registration data, and while we don’t have an official figure for May yet, BYD just posted 204,369 EVs sold domestically that month. That’s quite a delta to close. Moving on to a smaller market, Reuters reports that Tesla’s sales last month in Sweden fell 53.7 percent year-over-year. Granted, Sweden’s not a massive market (and in some countries Tesla sales are up), but Sweden isn’t exactly a one-off.
Anyway, Tesla’s stock is up 20 percent over the past month despite flagging international sales and sentiment, and an aging lineup. So what gives? Well, news of Musk stepping away from DOGE and early robotaxi regulatory approval likely play a role, but as much as Wall Street analysts like to go on about fundamentals, at some point, certain stocks are vibe-based. Think GameStop and Bed Bath and Beyond for extreme examples. Over roughly the past decade-and-a-half, Tesla built so much hype that just about everyone bought in. Pension funds, ETFs, normal people with Fidelity accounts — we’re talking more than 3.2 billion outstanding shares. That’s serious circulation, which means a lot of people have a lot to lose. Common sense dictates that the earlier shareholders sell, the less they lose, as the balance of supply and demand tips quickly during a sell-off, but nobody wants to fold yet because the stock itself has become uncomfortably load-bearing.
Thus, we’ve ended up in this position where Tesla’s market cap is divorced from what an automaker Tesla’s size with an aging lineup typically boasts, but nobody bats an eye. At this point, it’s pretty obvious Tesla is the closest thing Musk has to his own memecoin, valued not for what it actually stands for, but the dream it represents. Of course, I could be wrong and the Robotaxi gamble might actually work, but consumer demand for privately owned autonomous vehicles is generally untested, so nobody really knows how that will shake out if the tech comes to fruition.
Magnets. How Do They Work?
We are, what, three months? Five months? One hundred and eleventy months into this trade war, and when it comes to how impulsive salvos might affect the automotive industry, we may want to keep an eye out for a new potential issue. See, there’s a small chance the next hiccup in new car supply might not be falling vehicle exports or hyperinflation, but magnets. Yes, magnets.
As Reuters reports, China processes more than 90 percent rare earth magnets on, um, Earth, and now that the country’s administration has placed vastly strengthened export restrictions on minerals as part of the ongoing trade war, Western companies that build car parts that use these magnets could be up a certain type of creek without means of propulsion.
“Without reliable access to these elements and magnets, automotive suppliers will be unable to produce critical automotive components, including automatic transmissions, throttle bodies, alternators, various motors, sensors, seat belts, speakers, lights, motors, power steering, and cameras,” the Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrote the Trump administration.
Both Alliance CEO John Bozzella and MEMA CEO Bill Long told Reuters the situation was not resolved and remained a concern. They expressed gratitude for the Trump administration’s high-level engagement to prevent disruption to U.S. auto production and the supply chain.
The dissonance of that last paragraph might be amusing, but it seems like it may be working. On Friday, China agreed to lift mineral export restrictions to U.S. companies, although we still don’t quite know how fast that will happen or if it’s already too late to avoid interruptions at American suppliers and assembly plants. Bosch already stated that its suppliers are bogged down, but that’s only one example, and total impact on new vehicle production is unclear.
Even The Race Cars Are Crossovers Now
Alright, that’s enough doom and gloom, time to pivot toward something lighter. For the past four years, Ford has sold an electric crossover called the Mustang Mach-E and it’s good. Sure, it might not be class-leading on specs, but it’s overall an excellent car. The one pictured above isn’t quite like any Mach-E you’ll find on a showroom floor though. It’s made for one thing and one thing only: The mountain.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado is one of the all-time greats, stretching 12.42 miles over a 4,720-foot climb. It’s a mesmerizing, restrictions-lax place for automakers to test prototype technologies and racers to soar, and as you’d expect from the elevation change, fast EVs excel here. Thus, Ford’s built a fully race car Mach-E that only bears a passing resemblance to the crossover you and I could buy, instead following in the footsteps of mental one-offs like the SuperVan 4.2 and F-150 Lightning SuperTruck. While the camouflage isn’t off yet, expect to see more soon, as racing legend Romain Dumas takes it up the mountain later this month. Doesn’t it just look cool?
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Today, I’m not listening to a song, but rather, a collection of unhinged producer tags courtesy of DJ Smokey.
The Big Question
With news of the Durango sticking around in its current form for another model year, what’s another car you reckon probably doesn’t need replacing just yet?
Top graphic credit: Dodge
Non-Sequitur Mini Screed:
Max Verstappen is an asshole, has always been one, and will always remain one. He is the reason I stopped watching F1 and everything he does confirms the correctness of my assessment and my decision.
Max VerCrashen is an asshole? Who would guess?
I did. 🙂 Years before most people.
In 4 years, I have definitely grown to see the events of 2021 in a much different light, that’s for sure.
Besides, now is a great time for hate-watching him in F1. He’s getting beaten by an Aussie and a Brit in faster cars, and he’s one penalty point from a race ban (3 come July, not like the FIA has the stones to ban him).
“If what you’re driving ain’t broke, you might as well hang onto.”
Something few Dodge Durango owners will experience.
Another good reason for keeping the Durango around is for government fleet sales. Although it may not be many police departments’ first choice, it is both affordable and available, unlike Ford’s Explorer-based police-spec option, which seems to be back-ordered for over a year.
Plenty of ’em out there, even if not as ubiquitous as the Explorer.
CHP just got a bunch of ‘stealth’ Durangos. No roof light bars and silver on grey or dark grey on black CHP logos.
Hopefully Stellantis has sorted out the oil cooler issues on the police-package Durangos (Durangoes?) … https://wsbt.com/news/local/defective-dodge-durangos-patrol-vehicles-worth-millions-to-indiana-state-police-sidelined-fleet-suv-oil-coolers-isp-troopers-hemi-chrysler
The magnet thing is particularly hilarious(?) because it was an example of Trump getting completely outmaneuvered on the tariff thing. I don’t know the current status, but at one point China banned export of the raw magnets, but did allow export if they were installed in a component. Solution: Build more parts in China so you can get your magnets. Doesn’t matter how big the tariffs are if it’s the only way to get the parts you need.
Jeep Gladiator. It’s good enough.
I’m hearing this in Harrison Ford’s voice…
Then I did it right. 🙂
Thank fuck there’s no magnets in electric motors. Cause that would really suck, what with all the Hybrids and PHEVs that nearly every manufacturer is selling.
I’m sure they’re powered by Beef Tallow or Goya Beans or something. I dunno how physics works South of Canada.
After a few years of Linda McMahon as head of the Department of Education, we won’t know either.
Don’t make me hit you with a folding chair.
WHAT!?!
WHAT?!?
https://youtu.be/eJ62hs7ordg?si=FOFlYHa-ytLsuCel
Electric motors run on vibes. Mostly alternating vibes, but sometimes thoughts and prayers too.
Don’t forget butterfly kisses and unicorn farts.
I’m pretty sure those get counted as DEI or something. Or they will by tomorrow.
There are 4 types of electric motors currently used in BEVs:
They all have advantages and drawbacks. If rare-earth magnets suddenly become unobtainable, the industry will switch to types 1 & 2. Telsa has already said the rare-earth restrictions are not a big problem for their cars, but are a big issue for their robots (which require small powerful motors).
Inductions motors have no magnets, but they usually are paired with a permeant magnet motor for the main drive unit. Hybrids typically use AC induction motors which do not require the magnets.
A couple that desperately needs product would be dumb to discontinue an elderly product that’s still moving in respectable numbers without a direct replacement ready in the wings.
Of course, Stellantis has done exactly that in the past, but maybe they’re finally learning from mistakes now?
I hate Tesla more than most, but relative sales in China are pretty meaningless. Tesla is no more going to outsell BYD ever again than BMW is going to ever outsell Chevrolet. They are a premium brand at this point, and will have premium brand relative sales now that mainstream makers are all building EVs that are just as good or better. The question is can they make premium brand profits going forward, and the jury is very much still out on that.
Tesla’s stock price, of course, continues to be completely nonsensical. Those left holding it when the inevitable collapse happens will get screwed. Of course, the problem is nobody has a crystal ball to tell them when that will be. Of course, other than in the sense of Tesla needing to issue additional stock (and the all-important exec compensation), the price doesn’t actually affect them much.
Which is basically anyone with a 401k, thanks to their inclusion in the S&P 500. As a regular person it would be very hard to have an investment mix that doesn’t include Tesla. You’d have to hold no major index funds, and good luck with that investment strategy.
The whole point of an index fund is that you aren’t especially exposed by any one stock. And I sure wouldn’t want ALL of my money in the tech-heavy S&P 500 – and I don’t.
Thank you. Some actual analysis would be useful, i.e. what exactly does Tesla compete against in China (and other places). Just like a Chevy Spark doesn’t compete with a BMW X3 or even a Chevy Equinox for that matter, neither does the BYD Seagull compete with any Tesla (or any BMW EV or any Ford EV for that matter but maybe the Dacia Spring or other things that the average American reader has never heard of). That doesn’t mean it would be well advised for Tesla (or anyone?) to jump into the $10k Seagull market anytime soon.
I have no doubt that Tesla could be selling more cars than they are for various reasons but the blanket “news” here on Autopian (and others to be fair) regarding Tesla’s drop in sales leaves a lot of information out. The headlines can be just as sensational while actually providing discerning readers a more nuanced analysis. Perhaps as a way to set the Autopian apart?
Context matters.
Tesla Stock: Currently 338.07 and a P/E of 186.08
52-wk high – $488.54
52-wk low – $167.42
It already is, and multiple board members have sold 9-figures worth of stock within the past few weeks, despite their “growth ushering” rideshare and robo-taxi platforms. I’m absolutely certain that execs and higher-ups at Tesla are cashing out on what they see as a last-resort stock bump with Musk being dumped from the government. The market saw his return as a good thing, but the two things the stock price does not reflect is that
1: Musk didn’t really chose to leave, he was forced out
2: He’s become and increasingly unstable, drug dependent wildcard compared to even 12 months ago
The writing is on the wall for Tesla as it currently is. I doubt it will go insolvent anytime soon, even within the next decade, but I do think there is a significant stock, staff, and sentiment retraction due once Musk inevitably implodes. It has long been argued that a bet on Tesla is a bet on Musk and his other companies, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that’s a worse and worse bet.
By forced out, I assume you mean the 130-day cap that is always in effect for consultants (or whatever they call them).
It’s a bit of that, but also there is some clear division within the Trump camp and cabinet, Elon is claiming his 5 year old son hit him, causing a black eye, but reports from within the white house late last week were that he got into a physical altercation with Scott Bessent who actually punched Musk in the face. There’s been a growing amount of discontent for musk in the past month as he has continued to talk a big game, but deliver less and less, all while being visibly high as a kite at public events. He was going to be out of this DOGE role at 130 days regardless, but there seems to be a more total split happening.
Maybe, maybe not. I don’t follow all the mimosa gossip like that. Either way, it was always gonna be May 31st.
I don’t really follow all the small drama of politics either, this is stuff that’s been coming up frequently enough in the podcasts I follow, namely NPRs First Up and NTYs The Daily. It’s at least being raised by enough people within the WH that it’s more than just a theory, and there is at least real pushback and negative sentiment towards Elon from within to make the end of May separation wider reaching than it has to be.
Clearly this is inaccurate, as Elon is a physically superior specimen who was prepared to utterly destroy Mark Zuckerberg in hand-to-hand combat not two years ago.
I’m curious about how things got to that point. Was it strictly business, or did he get excited enough to make it personal? I’m not thrilled with Bessent, but I can’t help but relish the idea of him clocking Elon.
But this kind of gossip was the only way we got information the last time. They’ve had experience and are better at suppressing it, but there’s only so much one can do when various players start ginning up book deals.
The reports I saw was down to Bessent calling out elon for being wildly under the 2 Trillion target, Elon got upset, and somehow it came to blows. No clue how/when/if it would be validated, but Elon has a habit of letting his ego get the best of him even on twitter threads, so it seems plausible.
I heard it was a shoving match – but that certainly could have been the cover story.
That shiner is pretty impressive coming from milquetoast Bessent. I guess we know which gay has been hitting the gym and which Nazi has been hitting the drugs.
I wondered if ol’ Elon got overheated and cracked open the “M” word from his days in the Transvaal.
“…he has continued to talk a big game, but deliver less and less” – the fish rots from the head down
Sort of, I think that was really just a fortunate excuse. Like Trump couldn’t find some way to keep him there if he wanted. Or just ignore it altogether, that seems to work just fine for him.
I don’t even know what you typed is supposed to mean, lol.
You guys are looking way too deep into it. This same sort of “consulting” gig has been done by every administration since the days of big-screen sized radio was a luxury.
It was an in and out job. That’s it. It’s not General Hospital.
I firmly believe that schadenfreude is a toxic emotion, but it’s 2025 and joy is where you find it. I found it last week in Elon’s blank, shiner-enhanced glassy-eyed stare as Trump & Co. “politely” ushered him out of the administration like an exasperated hostess trying to escort a drunk out of the bar at a Cheesecake Factory.
Our local PD just switched their fleet to Durangos since the Charger is gone. Are cop fleets keeping the Durango alive?
CHP recently bought 400 of them
The Durango has some of the steepest depreciation I’ve seen this side of Infiniti.
Current Gen Nissan Leaf. Give them NACS, but otherwise keep them the same. Maybe offer a Panel van version/conversion.
the leaf is a perfectly cromulent vehicle
0-60 in a calender
It’s faster than any other car I’ve driven by far in terms of acceleration.
The standard battery version does 0-60 in 7.4sec, which the Plus model (bigger battery and bit more power) does it in 6.5sec.
Considering a Civic hybrid is 6.2sec, a Prius is 7.2sec, and Hyundai Kona is 7.8, I’d say the Leaf is on par for the segment.
My wife’s Leaf doesn’t hold a candle to my Mach-E GT, but I’ve never felt like Leaf was dangerously low on power either. I HAVE felt that way about plenty of rental gas CUVs.
This is Durango-adjacent, but I still think the WK Grand Cherokee was better than the current WL for an average buyer.
I’ve driving the new one a few times and there’s very little I feel like was actually improved that required an all-new car. I know that’s weird to say about a car that was basically unchanged for over a decade but I wouldn’t be sad if the car world went back to the old mantra of a year-over-year incremental improvement approach; not this semi-mandatory 4/5-year full replacement cycle. I feel like the current approach makes carbuying harder, especially when you know a new model is around the corner. Harder on dealers and harder on consumers.
Completely agree about the WK vs the WL. I had a 2014 that I loved and for a long time assumed I would move to a WL next. When I finally test drove one I was so disappointed.
Completely agree. I thought the WK was a really nice design that is still aging well. The WL to me was a disappointment and a step back as soon as it came out.
Question for the hive mind…
Last week I drove past the abandoned Kmart parking lot that serves as overflow parking for the nearby Tesla store. The fenced-in area is crammed full of vehicles, and outside the fence is crammed full 5 deep all the way around. If my guess is close, there must be 1000 vehicles parked on that lot. Summer is coming, and the Las Vegas sun and heat aren’t kind to cars parked outdoors.
So here’s my question… at what point does Tesla have to quit building cars? For a Big 3 manufacturer with a UAW contract, shutting down the lines is an expensive proposition, but why doesn’t Tesla just send line workers home for a month? And who is going to buy a “new” Tesla that’s been parked outdoors for 6-12 months?
I’ve been saying for years now that Tesla will likely stop making cars and become an energy company. I’ll be sad if NUMMI closes…again.
No joke, for almost a decade I’ve been waiting for them to shut down this complex carmaking thing, and just focus on batteries. That was before I knew that their battery was NOT a vertically integrated piece of IP, but rather a contract deal (mostly Panasonic, IIRC). So that fact might be the reason…one well-timed piece of industrial espionage and they might have no competitive advantage.
That was the only logic I had for the stock price.
I was mainly talking about the supercharger network and the fact that most car OEM’s are going to a Tesla-style plug.
Makes sense (even though that’s more recent news, but really underscores that it’s time to get out of the car biz….or just let the products age even more and see how many people are still willing to line up for fully-amortized, high-margin vehicles that have changed very little)
There is zero money to be made in the charging network. The only value of the network was that it helped sell cars. Retail charging has a higher per-mile cost than gas, and charging at home is a lot less. Nobody wants to use retail chargers as anything but a last resort. Raise the price of charging higher so it can actually make money, and you immediately push people to charge at home. Or, since all the incentives and mandates are going away, they just don’t buy EVs.
The charger network is a complete dead end for generating revenue.
The entire industry walked into the NACS trap like lemmings. For the next few years, every auto company except Tesla is going to be building money-losing chargers that will mostly be used by Teslas.
I don’t think anyone will be building many chargers. There isn’t much point, no matter the shape of the plug.
Definitely fewer, but every dollar the legacy companies invest in chargers will benefit Tesla.
The benefit will be minor if anything. There is no licensing fee, and there isn’t any money in charging.
What I mean is that Tesla will benefit from averted costs. They’ve got a couple million cars on the road that they need to support with a charging network. GM has, what, a few dozen thousand?
Every plug GM pays for is one that Tesla doesn’t.
But GM doesn’t need to build many, if any, chargers since they can use Tesla’s. Everyone else is getting the benefit of the Tesla network, but doesn’t need to waste money building it out. The network doesn’t make meaningful amounts of money for Tesla, and Tesla still needs to maintain it.
At the same time, Tesla sales are declining, and all the other EV brands can leverage the Tesla network. Tesla’s most significant differentiator has been eliminated, and they have gained nothing from it.
The special irony is that Tesla wouldn’t exist without the carbon credits from other car makers and every non Tesla EV sold (in part because they can still use Tesla chargers) reduces Tesla’s income.
Musk is a complete idiot, just a lucky one. Tesla’s existence is primarily that of a meme stock. They have no other viable business. They don’t make money selling cars or charging.
I’m sure GM sees it as a big head-start in the number of chargers available to their customers, but if this meant GM didn’t have to build many, if any chargers, we wouldn’t be reading 50 times a day about the woeful state of EV charging infrastructure.
Zero disagreement that Tesla is a meme stock first, second, and third, with carmaking operations clocking in somewhere around 50th priority. Somehow keeping that house of cards standing seems to be Melon’s only true talent.
I think the narrative about charging infrastructure is vastly overblown. It is a perceived issue, but not a real one. The fact that retail charging is more per mile than gas means it will never be a popular option for people who own EVs.
The car makers know this and are happy that Tesla spent all the money to kick things off. The rest of the EV makers have no incentive to do anything but the minimum since any new chargers will be available to everyone, not just their customers.
I don’t exactly disagree… I occasionally consider picking up an electric commuter (well, actually I don’t because I enjoy driving with 3 pedals too much, but I think about getting my wife one when the time comes) and I don’t plan to ever charge it outside my garage. The survey results speak for themselves, though, and I’m one of just a handful of people I know who has a garage to park in with available 240V.
They do a fair amount of R&D and Pilot operations at NUMMI, in addition to producing the Model S and X there, so I doubt they would ever close it entirely. They also produce batteries there, though obviously not at the scale of the Gigafactories.
Tesla Energy is going through a huge boom at the moment. Grid scale batteries are very high margin. I suspect the Powerwall is high margin also.
They did idle the Cybertruck factory and sent workers home for a few weeks in May.
I assume for the cars that are already built and sitting there (there’s a dead Sears parking lot in my area filled with them), eventually they can lower the price to the point where a buyer is found. Tesla’s margins are better than most automakers, so they have a substantial amount they can absorb and still break even at least. I’m sure more than few are just dumped at a loss as tax write offs though.
Maybe the allegedly forthcoming $25k Tesla is just a Model Y that’s been sitting in an abandoned parking lot for 2 years! 🙂
Entirely possible, honestly. I saw a huge number of last generation Model Ys on the lot then suddenly the new one came out with some substantial improvements. I wondered what they had to do to move those older ones.
It’s June now, there’s gotta be enough parking cleared off by the end of August for Spirit Halloween’s customers and employees.
ND Miata, it just got its second update, and it’s still the perfect formula. Just give us some more colors please.
Bring on the British Racing Green, Montego Blue, and Yellow!
If they brought back Montego Blue, I’d make a terrible financial decision and buy the first one my local dealer can get. I love the color on my 94 M
You have a 94 M? I have a 94 M! I am the owner of the 1994 M Edition FB page!
I didn’t know there was a Facebook Group!
“1994 Mazda Miata M-Edition Owners Club”
Yep, Soul Red is beautiful, but it needs other fun colors. Every other Miata has had a full spectrum of fun colors. Also, I really believe bright colors help with safety when driving these small cars. You want a color that gets noticed, because it’s easy to be missed when the tops of some tires are at eye level. That’s a big reason why I have a Winning Blue NC and a Soul Red ND.
As much as I love my Merlot Mica ’95M, I do wish it were a bit more visible, especially at night.
It could use better steering, but otherwise agreed. I adore the ND, and have driven a few, but the uncommunicative, overly boosted EPAS rack is the lowest point of the car.
It has been a long time since I have driven one, but the last time was after driving my MK7 GTI, so I thought it was great for an EPAS Rack. I need to drive another to benchmark it to my Type R since it has a good rack for EPAS. Hard to beat the De-powered rack of my NA Miata though.
I’ve never driven a manual steering NA, but owned a powered-rack ’90, and jumping between it and my dads ND2 Club, the steering wasn’t even close. That and the exhaust were the only place’s my NA stood a chance in the comparison game with how rough mine was. The ND really is a slightly more soulful exhaust and better steering rack away from perfection.
NA Miata steering isn’t steering, it’s more like telepathy. It’s just so damn good.
IMO the ND sounds better than the NA/NB. Especially if you put the GWR muffler on the ND
I was more going stock for stock, my NA6 had a wonderfully talkative stock exhaust that had the right amount of rasp at the high end, while the ND2 stock exhaust seems more muted, but I have heard some great aftermarket exhausts on the ND. Either way, aftermarket exhausts do a ton to wake up the noise on any miata.
I also haven’t driven a NA or NB, but the steering feel of the NC is spectacular. The ND is not as good.
I have yet to drive an NB or NC, but funny enough they’re both candidates for my next fun car purchase, so time will tell how I feel about them, and what I end up buying. I’d prefer an ND1, but my budget may push me into an NC1 6-Speed. I’m also just very curious about the NC in general, being the black sheep of the Miata lineage.
Don’t bother with an NC1, get the NC2/3 for the 7800 rev limiter.
I’ve had my 2006 NC1 for about a year now and I’m enjoying it so much. I have a 5-speed car. I think the 6-speed got some stronger forks in later versions. The 5-speed has nearly the same final gearing, so there’s not much drivability difference between the two. There are certainly some improvements in the later cars. I’m not seeing much price difference between NC1’s and NC2’s lately. Pricing seems more dependent on miles and condition. Don’t worry too much about options, as the wiring is there and most are easy to add. The non-Bose radio is easier to upgrade. I added cruise control and radio buttons by swapping the steering wheel. Intermittent wipers by swapping the stalk with one from a junkyard Mazda6. Fog lights by changing the stalk and adding the fog lights. The wiring is even there for heated seats if you swap the seats and add the control buttons. The only thing I wish I had was keyless entry (and mostly for the ability to pop the trunk.). But the key and manual locks is simple and there is at least a button inside to open the trunk (which you can also disable with a button in the trunk).
The NC isn’t as good, I have tons of seat time in my dad’s 2015 Club back-to-back with my NA. The NC only feels like a Miata if you haven’t driven any other generations recently. It’s still better than most though.
Yeah, I’m sure the NA is great. I’ve only ridden in them. It’s legendary for a reason. I just wanted something a little more modern and dependable, because after the MGB, I just wanted something that would start every time. I’ve had my fill of wrenching on it. I did enjoy it for a while. I know the NA’s/NB’s are dependable too, but they are also just going to have more age related issues.
Did the lawsuit from MY2021 owners over the first time Dodge said they were joking about dropping the Hellcat get settled yet, or is it still ongoing?
The Dodge Charger and Challenger didn’t need replacing and especially didn’t need to be replaced by a quarter baked BEV and straight 6 model that’s basically vaporware
Wasn’t there a boring regulatory reason why they actually did need replacing? Something to do with safety.
Which doesn’t mean they couldn’t have put their whole ass into it.
I think it was that the body dies had physically worn out.
Considering that all of modern die design is digital and thus is easily reproducible (a far cry from even the 1980s where adjustments were done to existing dies with a mobile hydraulic press), that seems like something that wouldn’t be much of a problem. Dies are expensive, but at least you’d be remaking what already exists.
Unless they did a stupid and didn’t keep the original CAD files. Which they might’ve, considering they’ve gone through three restructurings since 2009.
“With news of the Durango sticking around in its current form for another model year, what’s another car you reckon probably doesn’t need replacing just yet?”
I’m afraid I need to argue the premise of the question – the Durango needed replacement several years ago. Just because Stellantis likes to keep vehicles around well past their prime isn’t an admission that they don’t need replacement.
The Durango doesn’t surprise me at all. That’s a solid platform that I’ve casually shopped and admired since inception — almost all the good stuff about the WK2 Grand Cherokee (which ran for 87 years), but with more cargo and passenger capability for most buyers who only use it on road.
I used to call it the spiritual successor to the Magnum, but it does the role a lot better. I have to give them credit for nailing the 3-row crossover timing and formula (the old Pacifica crossover was too early, too ugly, and too forgotten in the Daimler era).
In fact, the only reason we have a minivan and not a Durango is that my wife was originally the primary driver and she didn’t like the “unrefined” sounds of the Pentastar or HEMI (fair enough). 6200-7200# towing from a unibody vehicle is still impressive.
Tesla stock was in meme territory long before the term ‘meme stock’ existed. If the P/E ratio were to ever dip into a normal range, Musk would probably be ejected. If Musk left Tesla, the stock would dive hard. That’s probably the biggest reason why Musk is still around. No one wants their TSLA stock to take a huge hit. The large shareholders don’t seem to care that Musk is toxic to the brand and supported those who wished EVs never existed.
This is 100% accurate.
100% and technically are the only two accurates there are.
100%. This is why Tesla had a person on stage dancing like a robot and talks about robots, AI, robo-taxis more than actually making cars. The CyberTruck needed to be a success to stop the terminal decline of Tesla. It flopped and Elon went on an anti-marketing campaign by going full MAGA.
Let’s not forget that the Tesla Board is doing a 9-figure sell off of their own holdings. Those in the company recognize that the stock is wildly inflated, sales are slowing, and Musk is proving to be an increasingly unreliable, ketamine fueled liability.
Please keep making the LC500 just as it is for a few more years, thanks.
As far as I’m concerned they can and should make it forever
Yes. I’m 5 years from the planned early retirement and that car its onne of the few on the list of ‘only new car purchase I will ever make” when I retire.
If that means current LC500 owners will jettison their lightly used, well maintained examples to flood the used market…then yes, more LC500s please.
Here is what I learned while contemplating Tow Pigs this year. I considered a TRX because it covered two areas of itch, and I only am towing a bit over 7000 lbs regularly. But after looking at one at a dealer who got it from a chiefs player, the amount of inner wheel wear at 17k miles was alarming, the dealer guy assumed I was stupid and tried to explain it away as a side effect of the vehicle weight, but it really just made it an aha moment for me in that I probably don’t want a 2 year old hot rod truck just getting ready to get out of warranty since most have been hooned to death by PO’s. Sadly the prices never really came down much either.
So, I briefly considered an Durango powered by the 392. I did not realize they made them still and with a tow package, the things could haul about the same as the TRX. The most surprising AHA moment on the Durango is that how similar they are to a minivan in side these days. I went a different route in the end, but I certainly can see a Challenger/Charger family seeing the benefit of the perceived performance with even more family truckster space and capability.
If you need something that can haul a family around but isn’t soul crushing the options are surprisingly slim if you don’t want a German luxury car. The Durango is basically a 1 of 1 product…a crossover from a non luxury brand that’s big enough for a family and also offers V8 engines. While Stellantis deserves plenty of the shit we give them they still have this corner of the market all to themselves, so I don’t blame them for continuing to roll with this ancient beast that’s somehow still vaguely appealing.
I’m gonna need a bigger car in a few years, don’t want to deal with luxury ownership costs, and would still like some level of fun and driver engagement. I don’t think I’d ever pull the trigger, but I’ve seen a few interestingly spec’d Durangos with the 5.7 that I find appealing. They’re overpriced at MSRP, but I’m 100% sure a dealership will play ball with you on one.
Edit: speaking of which, why the fuck can’t we get a cool engine in the Grand Cherokee anymore? The 5.7 fits, which I assume means the hurricane could work. And yet apparently they’re getting rid of rhe V6 for a turbo 4 and that’ll be that. Swung and a miss!
good question, I think they want you to step up to the Grand Wagoneer to get the Hurricane six in 400 hp form. I still think that the grand wagoneer should not really be a jeep, but honestly if they just changed the body a bit and offered the Erev, the basic six, and the 6.4 in top tier form, that would probably be a decent Ramcharger/Chrysler Alpine competitor for the higher end sport utility, but I think that might eat into the Durango and Jeep sales and thus nobody is willing to play.
I mean it’s always the endgame to get us into the biggest, least efficient, most expensive vehicle possible but it’s hard to overstate how massive that damn thing is. The Durango is big and goofy looking but you can own one in a city. A Wagoneer might as well have its own zip code…although I’m sure they’d love to sell me a similarly conspicuously oversized hurricane powered RAM 1500 on a 120 month loan at 11% APR that they won’t offer on Jeeps….
Edit: That being said the Wagoneer is a guilty pleasure car of mine. I do think they look really cool and as a 90s kid there’s a certain nostalgia to massive body on frame SUVs since they were the default family car where I was growing up. But I could never reconcile owning anything that huge and wasteful.
That’s a mouthful.
Already was one.
New vehicle registrations for Tesla were down almost 90% in Q1 2025 vs Q4 2024 in Quebec.
We have gone full in for electric vehicles here in Quebec, we’re near 30% of new car sales being EV or plug in hybrid.
The market did not retract, just Tesla.
I drive by one of the larger Tesla dealers on Montreal every day. 4 out of 5 days, there hasn’t been anyone on the showroom for months now.
The Equinox is now the best selling EV here, and I think Hyundai/Kia are second using my eyeball-ometer while driving.
I wish I lived in a province which took EV adoption seriously, at least partially because the dealer trades are all going to Quebec and BC so they’re pretty thin on the ground here. And since you’ve clearly got a ton of people trading Teslas in for something else, that supply is going to be thin for a while.
Quebec is the land of abundant renewable electricity, so it’s an obvious outcome.
That makes me happy, people voting with their purchases and probably making far more change quietly than all of the grandstanding fools combined.
This is the way
The last time I saw anyone in the parking lot of my local Tesla dealership, it was a crowd holding up signs that said to boycott Tesla.
“Become” a meme stock?