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Monterey Car Week recap, 2025 Lincoln Navigator and more | Autoblog Podcast #845

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. They look back on Monterey Car Week, and pick their favorite highlights from the event, including the new Lincoln Navigator, the Ruf Rodeo, Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept and more. In the news, Ford has abandoned its three-row EV in a pivot to hybrid. Our hosts review recent cars in the fleet, like the Mercedes GLC Coupe, long-term Mazda CX-90 and the three-wheel Can-Am Ryker. They also compare the Jeep Gladiator with the Wrangler. Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com. Autoblog Podcast #845 Get The Podcast Apple Podcasts – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes Spotify – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast on Spotify RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Monterey Car Week recap 2025 Lincoln Navigator Ruf Rodeo Cadillac Opulent Velocity concept Lamborghini Temerario Porsche 911 Turbo 50 Years Ford-Ghia Probe I prototype burns to a crisp Ford cancels electric three-row SUV, pivots to hybrid Cars we're driving 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 Coupe 2024 Mazda CX-90 PHEV long-term update 2025 Can-Am Ryker 2024 Jeep Gladiator vs. Wrangler Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on Apple Podcasts Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video:  Corvette ZR1, Honda Civic Type R and Mercedes-AMG SL 63 | Autoblog Podcast 843 This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Sorry, rotary fans, Mazda's RX Vision probably won't happen

Mazda is doing a lot of things the right way in this age of beige-ness. It just crammed a turbocharged inline-four into the improved CX-9, a bold move unto itself, and one that should also be heartening for Mazdaspeed fans. Wouldn't that engine make for a swell Mazdaspeed3 or Mazdaspeed6? There's a reasonable ray of hope there, but not necessarily a guarantee. The RX Vision, though, is a pipe dream. Mazda is smart to keep the rotary dream alive. It's smart to keep developing it in back rooms and to keep the idea on the public's mind. Credit where credit's due: Mazda has solved some of the stickiest issues the rotary engine has, through savvy engineering and perseverance. We've seen promising patent filings for the Skyactiv-R engine, which is supposed to be found in the RX Vision concept. Mazda uses every opportunity to remind us that development is continuing and that the company would love to bring a rotary-powered sportscar to production. I believe it. But the RX Vision is just a design study. And there are some harsh realities about rotary engine emissions and fuel economy standards that are difficult for modern piston engines to achieve without expensive componentry. Emissions and fuel economy are both bugbears of the rotary, in case you've forgotten. And that explains Mazda's interest in running rotaries on hydrogen, but down that road lie infrastructure challenges as daunting as making a gasoline-powered rotary burn as clean as one of Mazda's Skyactiv piston engines. All this is meant to put Mazda's recent comments to Top Gear in context. Mazda's design director, Kevin Rice, spoke to TG at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa D'Este, and was waving Mazda's rotary flag quite enthusiastically. "In the back rooms at Mazda, we're still developing it," Rice said, "and when the world's ready to buy another rotary, we'll be ready to provide it." I'd like that to be a comforting statement, but given the realities of fuel economy and emissions regulations and Mazda's position in the market, it seems like a hollow platitude. "When the world's ready" is just another way of saying "when we solve the fundamental issues with this engine layout, and there's an unambiguous market study that shows we can build these cars and make a profit, we'll consider it." That seems like a lot of "ifs". Perhaps Mazda does have a clean-burning, efficient, cheap-to-produce rotary running on an engine dyno in Hiroshima, and it's prepping an RX-9 for the next auto show.

Mazda patent shows rotary placement in complex AWD hybrid layout

If we were playing alt-powertrain Bingo, a recent Mazda patent application filed in Japan would be one or two letters from victory. What's exciting about the patent, discovered by Japanese outlet T's Media via Motor Trend, is that while it makes a case for an internal combustion engine of any configuration, one of the drawings showing a rotary engine. The wild bit is that the whole powertrain comprises the ICE, a transaxle, two tiny in-wheel electric motors turning the front wheels, a third electric motor in the driveline, a capacitor, a lithium-ion battery, and three inverters. Motor Trend parsed the mechanics, and the way it reads, Doc Brown couldn't have done a better job. The rotary engine at the front turns the rear wheels, but not directly. Instead of a flywheel on back of the engine, the drawing shows a 25-kW electric motor and an inverter, then a driveshaft running to the transaxle. Along the axis of the transmission tunnel in a normal car, between the inverter and the transaxle, lies a 3.5-kWh battery running at 48 volts. MT writes that the electric motor can add its output to the ICE output to drive the rear wheels, or the e-motor can turn the rear axle on its own. Up front, two inverters and a double-layer capacitor join the ICE in the engine bay. The capacitor and tiny hub motors in the front wheels run at 120 volts, a higher voltage than the rest of the electrical system, so that the small in-wheel motors can generate the same torque as a larger motor running at a lower voltage. The AWD system acts on-demand. Given the signal, the capacitors discharge their energy to the wheel motors, and recover energy from braking. When the capacitors are at full charge, they send excess regen energy to the lithium-ion battery; conversely, the battery can recharge the capacitors when they're low and the front hub motors need power. The patent explains that the ICE works with the rear e-motor to drive the rear wheels at low speeds, the front motors called on to "generate an output only when a large output is required in the high vehicle speed range." The rather complicated system is focused on providing the benefits of a hybrid system and all-wheel drive, but at lower weight than one would expect. A rotary serves due to its compactness, but one of the drawings shows an engine with a V layout. Hub motors get dinged for adding unsprung weight, hence the small motors here.