Then Sami tries his hardest to not talk about the 2025 Honda HR-V, by first discussing the history of the Fit subcompact, and the era of Honda when it wasn't afraid of doing things it's own way. The new HR-V is lacking any personality, while being worse than many of its rivals in key specs like fuel economy and pricing. Sami asks what's the point?

The guys finish up by discussing lease-friendly EVs to answer a listener question.

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Following that, Sami gives a quick review of the 2024 Kia Sorento SX X-Line, a known crossover with mild updates for this year. However, while this Sorento coasts its way to its retirement off the media press fleet, Sami has noticed a few concerning QA issues. Don't miss what he finds about this so-called family car! Thanks for listening!

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• Like what you hear? Tip us at Ko-Fi — Send a dollar our way using Ko-Fi to help support the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

Then Sami chimes in with a review of TWO Honda Civics. First up is the manual-only 2025 Civic Si, which gets a few mild updates this year to ensure no one forgets about this sport-compact staple. Sami has a lot to say about whether the Si is still worth talking about these days, and if it's gone too far from the usual gameplan of being a cheap fun car. Then he discusses the 2025 Civic Hatchback Hybrid, which has plenty of torque along with incredibly low fuel consumption, making it a jack of all trades. But it does carry a steep price tag in some regions, which turns him off entirely.

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• Like what you hear? Tip us at Ko-Fi — Send a dollar our way using Ko-Fi to help support the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

The pair then chat about the new 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL Class, and ponder about its journey from flagship roadster to the also-ran status it's heading towards. With all-wheel-drive, rear seats, a soft top, and AMG development, it sounds more and more like a 911 wannabe than a true SL, which was a sought-after classicfor decades.

Then the car talk shifts to another icon, but this time of the late '90s and early 00s: Hummer. Benjamin theorizes that the Hummer nameplate could have survived if other automakers jumped into the same market it was competing in, and describes three 2000s-era concepts that never came to fruition: the Dodge Power Wagon, Ford Equator and the Hummer HX/H4.

Finally, the pair discuss some ugly news coming out of Rivian and tackle the challenges presented by allegations regarding its toxic bro culture.

Links:

• Life Outside the Boys Club: Why I Spoke Up About Rivian’s Toxic Bro Culture (and Got Fired) — Rivian publicly boasts about its culture, so it was a crushing blow when I joined the company and almost immediately experienced a toxic bro culture that marginalizes women and contributes to the company making mistakes. I raised concerns to HR about the gender discrimination from my manager, the “boys club” culture, and the impact it was having on me, my team, and the company. Two days later, my boss fired me.
• Could these ill-fated 2000s concepts have ensured Hummer’s survival? — With big back in style, we started to wonder: How might Hummer have survived the market collapse?
• 4 cars that couldn’t save their doomed brands — Which brands had a secret star backstage that could have staved off bankruptcy and prevented a backslide into oblivion, had executives only stuck it out a bit longer?
• Like what you hear? Tip us at Ko-Fi — Send a dollar our way using Ko-Fi to help support the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

Sami then talks compact car rankings, with the always popular 2022 Toyota Corolla and the less lower-profile 2022 Nissan Sentra going head to head before he explains where they among the best in the segment. Finally, the conversation takes an abrupt shift north to talk about the new 2022 Toyota Tundra redesign.

Links:

• Like what you hear? Tip us at Ko-Fi — Send a dollar our way using Ko-Fi to help support the Unnamed Automotive Podcast.

The pair wrap things up by running through the five greatest driving video games from the 1980s, expressing their consternation over Toyota's sudden power bump for the 2021 Supra, and then answering a listener question about the Mini Cooper S transmission.

Links:

• Code 45 - Benjamin's graphic novel! — The Kickstarter campaign for Benjamin's graphic novel, Code 45, starts March 3! Click the link to find out more.

Links:

• Roland Gumpert Nathalie — This weeks episode is brought to you by the new electric Roland Gumpert Nathalie.

Links:

• 2019 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA GLI: STILL NOT-QUITE-GTI PERFORMANCE, BUT FOR LESS MONEY — The redesigned Jetta GLI swapped its somewhat bloated NCS platform for the very same MQB architecture underpinnings as the Golf GTI. On top of that, it also boasts an identical drivetrain to the GTI, with no more handicapping of horsepower between the two sides of the same compact performance coin.

Links:

• 2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review — “Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out.