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Let's talk about cars instead of the election | Autoblog Podcast #492

This week's episode was recorded on Tuesday, before the election results came out. So David Gluckman and Mike Austin talk about cars instead. Maybe it will be a nice break for you. Topics include the BMW M3, Volvo S90, Honda's quirky satellite radio DVR, hatchbacks, and wagons. And of course the Miata. The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want questionable buying advice of your very own, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. And please send trivia questions! You'll get the honor of stumping your fellow listeners, and we'll thank you too. Autoblog Podcast #492 The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Topics and stories we mention 2017 BMW M3 Competition 2017 Volvo S90 2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata Hatchbacks... Wagons! Rundown Intro - 00:00 What we've been driving - 3:40 Listener questions - 30:22 Total Duration: 39:55 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show on iTunes Podcasts BMW Mazda Volvo Hatchback Wagon volvo s90

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Renderings may show upcoming BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe

We've already shown you spy images of the latest member of the BMW Gran Coupe family, the 4 Series Gran Coupe. Following the trend of the larger 6 Series Gran Coupe, the 4 Series variant grafts a spare set of doors onto its two-door body.
Now, the f30post forum has come up with what it says are patent drawings of the new 4GC (originally from Chinese site Autohome.com), giving a glimpse of what the coupe-sedan-thingy looks like without its camo in the way. What we're seeing is seemingly a mix of the 3 Series GT (noticeable around the rear window) with the larger Gran Coupe styling, while retaining the current 4 Series front end.
We can't say it looks great, but as these are merely renderings, it's far too early for us to come to a final conclusion on the overall look of the 4 Series Gran Coupe. Have a look up top at the patent images. We've also included our spy photos of the new Gran Coupe below. Let us know what you think of the latest niche product from BMW down in Comments.