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With the 2023 Mazda MX-5 Miata, driving is the thing. And as we roadtested the Miata this week, it struck us that all the fun to be had from driving a Miata might be lost in the inexorable shift from gasoline-fueled cars to EVs. The whole prospect made us sad because the current Miata is such a hoot to drive. With its 181-horsepower four-cylinder engine and the six-speed manual transmission, the little sports car is just about the perfect way to have fun behind the wheel. No, we admit it isn’t especially practical. And no, it isn’t even all the fuel-efficient. But isn’t the joy it provides worth it?
At some point, we wonder, what in the world are we doing to ourselves? Battery electrics can be interesting to drive, but the fun they provide is nothing like the exhilaration a pre-dawn blast in a Miata provides. We know that firsthand. And we’ll tell you more in this episode.
This week, our other road test is of a vehicle filled with pleasant practicality — the 2023 Toyota Sienna minivan. Now all-hybrid all the time, the Sienna has vaulted toward the top of the minivan charts with its appealing combination of fuel economy, interior space, versatile seating, and big cargo space. For a long family vaca, it is hard to find a better choice, as co-host Chris Teague discovered.
Our guest for you this week has a lot to say about the current and future state of the Toyota lineup. Michael Tripp is Vice President of Vehicle Marketing & Communications at Toyota North America. Host Jack Nerad sat down with him at a recent driving event in Southern California to talk about two brand new Toyota vehicles and where Toyota is going in this ever-complicated global market. He had some very interesting things to say that aren’t the typical auto industry line regarding the future of transport.
In the news, Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and several other brands has offered buyouts to more than 33,000 workers in the United States. That’s never a good sign.
In the we-didn’t-see-this-coming department, something common to virtually all new cars turns out to be something that might kill you. We’ll have the potentially life-saving details on that coming up. And the U.S. Postal Service is having trouble getting a big delivery — the delivery of its all-new mail truck. Or should we say 50,000 all-new mail trucks? We’ll tell all about that snafu in this episode.
America on the Road is brought to you by Driving Today.com, Mercury Insurance, YourTestDriver.com, and EMLandsea.com , the publisher of Nerad’s latest book, Dance in the Dark.
