The Drivecast – Details, episodes & analysis

For our very first episode, we're taking a hard look at Volvo. The Swedish company once known for quirky wagons and safety innovations is in trouble after dumping billions of dollars into an early, all-in bet on electric vehicles five years ago that led to a mess of software issues and production problems, tanking reliability and dragging its global sales to dangerous lows. Last year, then-CEO Jim Rowan warned of "turbulent" times ahead for Volvo as tariffs scrambled its manufacturing plans—shortly before Volvo's Chinese parent company Geely replaced him with Hakan Samuelsson, who led the company through the boom years of the 2010s before retiring in 2022. Classic move to bring back the old guy. Samuelsson knows he has to nail this turnaround, and the first car launching under his watch is the Volvo EX60, a midsize electric SUV that represents everything Volvo is trying to get right—new platform, new motor+battery combo, new software stack, new everything. And Joel was on the ground in Sweden for the reveal event last week, where he grilled Samuelsson and the rest of the executive team to find out if Volvo's really learned from its mistakes, or if the company is doomed to repeat them. Check out all our exclusive stories mentioned in this episode: 2027 Volvo EX60 Feels Like a No-Brainer for EV Newbs With 400-Mile Range and Reasonable Price Tag Volvo CEO Says, ‘Good Luck, the Rest of You’ Legacy Automakers Volvo EX60 Debuting Next-Gen Infotainment System With Google Gemini AI Assistant Volvo Is Updating Five-Year-Old Cars With AI Volvo Keeping Apple CarPlay, Refuses to ‘Force You To Something’ Volvo Proposes 100-Mile Plug-in Hybrids as a ‘Bridge’ for Drivers with EV Range Anxiety Volvo Is Not Done With Wagons After All Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're rolling out The Drive Awards, aka the Slashies, our annual celebration of the very best new cars and trucks on sale right now. We're running through the winners, the losers, the almost-got-it-rights—and we're peeling back the curtain to explain our picks and how exactly The Drive runs a comprehensive car review operation. Every year, we review well over a hundred new cars and trucks to see if the promises car companies are making actually bear out in the real world. Next, we take the top-scoring models in our six main categories that best represent where the market is today and subject them to a staff-wide debate to make our picks. And finally, we put the winners of each category through one more round of voting to determine who gets the ultimate prize: Car of the Year. This episode is special for another reason: The Drive's entire editorial team will be joining Joel and Kyle round-robin style as we walk through our thinking and methodology for each category. Get to know these names and voices, because you're going to be hearing from them a lot in the future. Without further ado, these are your 2026 winners of The Drive Awards, with links to the full stories explaining each pick on thedrive.com. Best Truck: Rivian R1T Quad Best Value: Honda Civic Hybrid Best SUV: Land Rover Defender Octa Best Performance Car: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Best EV: Nissan Leaf Best Hybrid: Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid Car of the Year: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:53 BTS of The Drive Awards 09:47 Best Truck with Joel Feder 17:24 Best Value with Andrew Collins 22:57 Best SUV with Caleb Jacobs 30:17 Best Performance Car with Byron Hurd 37:59 Best EV with Cyril Soliman 45:28 Best Hybrid with Adam Ismail 52:13 Car of the Year with Kyle Cheromcha 01:01:21 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ferrari's first electric car is a massive gamble for a company steeped in heritage. So is tapping the designer of the iPhone to create a revolutionary new interior and make a statement about the place of screens in cars today. This week, the automaker revealed the cabin of the Ferrari Luce designed by LoveFrom, the firm founded by Jony Ive, the former head of design at Apple, and his partner Marc Newson. It's a retro-modern centerpiece that's very much Ferrari meets the Apple Car: restrained simplicity, aluminum and glass everywhere, lots of squircles, and clever touches like a pivoting center screen that looks like a giant Apple Watch. Critically, there's also an emphasis on physical controls like buttons and toggles for all key functions. Ive and Newson have never worked on a production car before, so it tracks that the Luce's interior is like nothing else we've seen before. That's by design, because Ferrari can't act like its first EV is just business as usual. There's a lot on the line, and not just for Ferrari. Ive is very open about how he thinks the auto industry learned the wrong lesson from his work at Apple. Giant screens in cars might feel like "the future," but they aren't the answer to designing a functional interior; in fact, routing critical controls through a screen you can't operate by feel while driving is dangerous. The unintended consequences of his creations are one of the reasons why Ive left Apple in 2019, and why he and Newson felt compelled to take on the Luce project. So can two legendary designers and automotive outsiders show the car industry the error of its ways? Electric Ferrari Luce’s Interior Revealed: When Apple Meets Ferrari Why ‘Luce’ Is the Perfect Name for the First Electric Ferrari iPhone Creator Jony Ive Slams Tesla-Style Touchscreens: ‘Easy and Lazy’ Here’s Why the Ferrari Luce’s Interior Has No Carbon Fiber 00:00 Intro 02:49 The Apple Ferrari? 13:08 Steering wheel 19:05 Gauge cluster 24:52 Center screen 28:16 Why glass and aluminum? 33:31 Lessons for the industry 40:12 Ive's regrets about screens 46:11 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No, really. A Tesla Model S just drove itself 3,081 miles from Los Angeles to New York City with zero accidents and zero human intervention for the first time. Was it just another stunt, or a watershed moment for self-driving tech? Today we're taking you inside the Tesla FSD Cannonball Run, as its organizer and wheelman Alex Roy named it after the famous cross-country speed record challenge. Joel is joined by Alex and The Drive editor Byron Hurd, who broke the news of the run in an exclusive story late last month, to dive into the planning, the challenges, the surprises, and the significance of a car actually driving itself across the US. In the middle of a brutal winter, no less. Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology has been a flash point since it launched in limited public beta tests in 2020. Its capabilities on surface streets and highways have since reached incredible heights through successive software updates—but it's also been plagued by unpredictable errors, dangerous glitches, its involvement in multiple fatal crashes, and an ongoing federal probe. Adding to the controversy is Tesla's reliance on cheaper cameras to help the car "see" instead of the lidar-based systems used by other major automakers. Also, despite the name it still requires the driver to look at the road ahead and be ready to take over. But as Alex and his co-pilots Warren Ahner and Paul Pham showed, for all its faults Tesla FSD is still the most advanced semi-autonomous driving technology on the market today. And while it's taking longer than predicted, the leap from here to an actual self-driving car might be smaller than we think. A Tesla Actually Drove Itself from Los Angeles to New York: Exclusive 00:00 Intro 04:20 Alex Roy has a plan 10:50 How it came together 24:19 Winter is coming 37:15 What it really means for drivers 52:31 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeep is in trouble. The rugged American icon finds itself struggling to dig out from mountain of problems: plummeting quality, skyrocketing prices, and confusing strategic shifts that alienated its most loyal fans. Now, with a new CEO in town, Jeep is trying to smash the reset button. This week, Kyle and Joel are joined by The Drive’s senior editor and resident truck expert Caleb Jacobs to explain how a company known for trail-rated trucks got lost in the wilderness, whether it can recapture its old-school magic in today’s challenging environment, and if its move to bring back the Jeep Cherokee SUV as Toyota-fighting hybrid crossover is a step in the right direction, or too little too late. Building and selling new cars at a price that makes sense for consumers is hard enough right now, but Jeep faces an even bigger obstacle: its parent company Stellantis, the multinational conglomerate with 14 brands across multiple continents under its umbrella. Many of Jeep’s biggest stumbles—spending billions to launch a half-finished electric SUV, an ambitious plug-in hybrid push that ended in a rash of battery fires and recalls, raising MSRPs to reposition itself as a luxury brand, and relentless cost cutting to pay for all of that—came from Stellantis’ European focus and top-down decision-making structure.  To get back on track, Jeep needs to get back to basics, and new CEO Bob Broderdorf is promising a new golden era for the brand that starts with listening to what American buyers actually want from it. Jeep knows mistakes were made. The big question is whether it’s actually capable of doing what’s necessary to correct them. Stories mentioned in today's episode: 2026 Jeep Cherokee First Drive Review: Is This the Anti-XJ? 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee First Drive Review: The Four-Cylinder Is Punchy But Imperfect All Jeep and Chrysler Plug-In Hybrid Models Are Officially Dead: Exclusive Jeep Teases V8 Grand Cherokee Return: ‘Stay Tuned’ Jeep VP Says ‘You Can Imagine What Is Coming’ About SRT Trackhawk Return What Happened to All the Off-Road Grand Cherokees? Jeep’s Sales VP Explains 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S Review: Unfortunately Unfinished 00:00 Intro 3:08 How Jeep lost the trail 17:48 New look Cherokee? 26:18 Grand plans 39:50 Lineup cleanup 57:49 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rivian just green lit its own internal performance division, dubbed the Rivian Adventure Department or RAD for short, to move from skunkworks to something larger than one-off passion projects and software development. The usage of the word "yes" landed Rivian here, but now that we have RAD there's a laundry list of questions. This week, Kyle and Joel break down the history of events that formed RAD as a skunkworks operation to where we are today, what it means, what's to come, and what's realistic. The startup automaker is burning through cash as it inches towards launching the smaller, less expensive, more mainstream R2 electric SUV in the coming months. Will it arrive on time and as promised? And what's Rivian doing to tackle its low its reliability score from Consumer Reports and long service wait times? Joel spent time with various executives ranging from founder and CEO RJ Scaringe to VP of Engineering and Quality, Brian Gase, along with R1 Chief Engineer Luke Lynch to get answers to burning questions and decipher the past, present, and future. Stories mentioned in today's episode: BMW Has M, Mercedes Has AMG, and Now Rivian Has RAD Rivian’s RAD Tuner Is Like An Equalizer For Your EV’s Powertrain 2026 Rivian R2 Arrives With 300-Plus Mile Range, Eyes-Off Driving, 0-60 Under 3 Seconds 2026 Rivian R1T Quad First Drive Review: When Too Much Is Just Enough Rivian’s Slick RAD Tuner Could Come To Other Performance Models We’re at Pikes Peak Following the First-Ever Rivian R1T Race Attempt Rivian Adds Soft Sand Mode with Low Regen and High Power Settings Rivian’s Kick Turn Takes the 360-Degree Tank Turn to a Whole New Level: Actually Useful 2025 Rivian R1S First Drive Review: Cutting-Edge Again 00:00 Intro 7:10 How RAD went from skunkworks to official division 11:13 RAD Tuner 25:43 Liveries, paint colors, and limited edition drops 30:11 The R2 36:56 Will Rivian give us buttons and knobs? 41:05 Rivian's service times, quality, and customer satisfaction 50:10 One more thing! 51:22 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

General Motors just did something unprecedented. It brought a car back from the dead—with the promise of killing it again. Today, we're diving into the life, death, and temporary revival of the $29,000 Chevrolet Bolt—the cheapest EV you can buy in America—and how its saga represents a lot that's gone wrong in the new car market is today. The Bolt was GM's first modern electric car when it was launched in 2017, beating the Tesla Model 3 to production. For a time was the only EV under $50,000 with over 200 miles of range, and owners adored their little oddball hatchbacks. But in 2023, GM announced it was killing the Bolt to focus on building full-size electric pickups and SUVs, part of a massive plan to make an all-EV lineup by 2035. People were furious . The media (hi) was incredulous. Why would GM just kill a popular, affordable EV with sales at an all-time high? After a few months of heavy criticism, GM reversed course and promised it would find a way to put the Bolt back into production. It was an unprecedented move, but three years and a lot of work later, the car is back, basically the same price, better than ever. Trouble is, it's a completely different world now. EV sales have plateaued, no one is buying those expensive electric pickups, the federal tax credit is gone, and the Bolt is now the cheapest electric car you can buy in this country. Other automakers are prepping their own affordable EVs to compete. And yet, GM is getting ready to kill the Bolt again in just 18 months. What is going on here? Joel and Kyle get into it all after Kyle spent a day test-driving the new-old Chevy Bolt and pressing the car's engineering team for answers. [Thanks to the National Corvette Museum for sponsoring today's episode! Enter here (https://bit.ly/4uBefxU) for your chance to win a '65 Corvette. Entries close April 26, 2026 at 2:00 PM CT. This is your shot – don’t let it pass.] Stories mentioned in today's episode: 2027 Chevrolet Bolt First Drive Review: Back from the Dead and Better Than Ever 00:00 Intro 04:07 Bolt's rise and fall 12:11 Who killed the Bolt? 24:30 The resurrection 30:16 The new Bolt's promise 43:44 Uncertain future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ah, Montana. Big Sky Country, the Last Best Place, and... Land of Tax Evasion? This week, we're diving into the controversy around the Montana license plate loophole. A quirk of Montana law allows non-residents to buy and register cars there without ever setting foot in the state, and it's been heavily used by wealthy people around the country to avoid paying their own state's sales taxes and registration fees on expensive cars—saving tens of thousands of dollars in the process. As a result, Montana has twice as many registered cars as actual people living in the state. And those other states are getting sick of losing millions of dollars in revenue to Montana. This month, California charged 14 people with tax evasion, money laundering, and conspiracy over using the loophole, pushing an open secret into the national spotlight, with the promise of more enforcement to come. It's turning into a real mess. The Drive's editor-in-chief Kyle Cheromcha and executive editor Andrew Collins are breaking down how exactly the Montana trick works, what happened in California, and why this loophole is so hard to close for the rest of the country. Thanks to the National Corvette Museum for sponsoring today's episode! Enter here (https://bit.ly/4uBefxU) for your chance to win a '65 Corvette. Entries close April 26, 2026 at 2:00 PM CT. This is your shot – don’t let it pass. Link to the California case charging document: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Complaint_Redacted_1.pdf Stories mentioned in today's episode: California Is Done With Rich Guys Registering Their Exotic Cars in Montana YouTuber WhistlinDiesel Arrested for Allegedly Evading Sales Tax on Ferrari F8 Tributo Why the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon is a Secret Tax Write-Off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The secret is out: Toyota is planning to build a crazy Baja-blasting version of the Tundra pickup. Does it stand a chance against the Ford F-150 Raptor? And why are we so obsessed with uber off-road trucks in America anyways? We've been on top of this story since 2022, when a source tipped us off that the model was in development. Things went quiet for a while, but earlier this month we uncovered a trademark filing from Toyota for the name "TRD Hammer," and another source confirmed the name would be used for a high-speed, desert-runner pickup to compete with the Ford Raptor and the Ram TRX, plus a few more key specs. This week, Kyle and Joel are spilling the details our reporting uncovered, explaining how we tracked the story over four years, and breaking down the complex reasons why factory off-road pickups and SUVs have become more outrageous—and more popular—than ever before. Plus, what it means for the multibillion-dollar aftermarket industry that's seeing automakers take a bite out of their business. Stories mentioned in today's episode: A Raptor-Fighting Toyota Tundra Desert Truck Is In Development: Source Looks Like the Toyota Tundra Raptor Rival Has a Name: TRD Hammer Toyota’s Tundra TRD Hammer Targets V6 F-150 Raptor With Hybrid Power and 37-inch tires Why a simple new truck has to cost over $70,000 in 2025 (YouTube) 2026 Ford Mustang Raptor Rumor Sounds Too Crazy To Be True … or Is It? 00:00 Intro 02:10 The battle heats up 05:19 How Ford made the market 08:23 Toyota's secret revealed 25:55 Why GM is MIA 30:25 Why the off-road business is booming 45:17 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With gas topping $4 a gallon this week amid the war with Iran, the EPA announced a plan to lower prices and stretch America's fuel supply by cutting more of it with ethanol. Will it work? Probably not. And as Joel, Kyle, and Andrew explain, it could actually ruin your car's engine. Ethanol is an alcohol made from corn, and it's commonly added to gasoline as an oxygenator that helps it burn more cleanly and raises the octane rating. We used to use lead, but... that didn't work out. But there are downsides: it's less energy dense than uncut gasoline, so the more ethanol you add, the less efficient your car's engine runs. It's also a solvent, so it will eat away at rubber seals, hoses, and plastics in engines not designed for it. And it degrades quicker in higher temperatures, creating more smog during the summer. Normally, a gallon of gas is about 10% ethanol, 90% gasoline by liquid volume. E15 gas, which is 15% ethanol, is sold in a number of states during the cooler months as "88 octane", and it's a bit cheaper—because you're literally buying less gas and more ethanol per gallon. Oil companies are typically banned from selling it from June to September because of the smog issue, but the EPA is now waiving the rule to encourage refineries to make more E15. But if your car was made before 2001, even that 5% bump in ethanol content can really screw up your engine. E15 gas will also damage smaller two-stroke engines in motorcycles, lawn mowers, and boats. And even if you have a newer car, there's still a risk that comes with opting for cheaper 88 octane—especially if your car requires premium fuel. Stories mentioned in today's episode: The Feds Plan To Start Diluting Gasoline This May: Explained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices