In Wheel Time Car Talk

Exploring the 2025 Toyota Camry, Six Ultra Rare Pickups, and the Range Rover Evoque!

• In Wheel Time Car Talk • Season 2024 • Episode 318

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Unlock the secrets behind the sleek new profiles of the 2025 Toyota Camry XLE and Land Rover Range Rover Evoque in our latest episode. Are you ready to discover how Toyota's redesigned front grille and subtle side styling elevate the Camry's appeal? Or how a hybrid engine with 232 horsepower offers a balance of performance and efficiency, clocking in at a remarkable 46 miles per gallon? We paint a vivid picture of the Camry experience, critiquing its quilted interior trim and seating while applauding its standout ride quality and competitive pricing. 

Switch gears with us as we explore the luxury world of the 2025 Range Rover Evoque Dynamic SE. Is this the SUV that marries style with substance? With its 2.0 turbo engine, impressive towing capacity, and a feature-rich interior, this Evoque promises not just a ride, but an experience. We compare it against the likes of the Audi A3 and Volvo XC40, highlighting its off-road prowess and global manufacturing credentials. 

Plus, Jeff and Mike bring an exciting segment that showcases ultra-rare pickups with fascinating stories. Tune in to find out what makes these vehicles stand out in the crowded world of luxury automobiles.

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Speaker 1:

Time now for this hour's car review. I got a chance to drive the 2025 Toyota Camry. It comes in these trim levels the LE, the SE, the XLE and the XSE. I had the XLE, all-wheel drive. This is a midsize sedan. You know about the Camry it's been around forever. Five seats, including the driver, completely redesigned for 2025.

Speaker 1:

New front grille is really good looking Still kind of overpowering, but better than it was with the outgoing model. They've done some design redesign work within the grille space itself and made it kind of look different. So you've got the outsides and then you've got the insides, so it looks kind of like a two-part grille. Anyway, it's better looking. Side styling creates a subtle but nice appearance. Rear trunk lid has a bit of a bustle. Look to it. All right, but who doesn't like a little booty at times? Hey, hey, exhaust is two outlets, but they're all on one side. Yeah, so it's got dual exhaust. So it's a European look. It's a European look. Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

What I liked about it? The overall look. It's an A-plus in my book. What? What I liked about it? The overall look. It's an A-plus in my book. What could use improvement? Nothing.

Speaker 1:

Interior highlights integrated infotainment system. The screen itself is built into the dash. Imagine that Yay, odd quilted trim on the door and the dash. It's weird looking, it doesn't seem to fit, but hey, maybe you'll like it. That wasn't my cup of tea. Instrument cluster can get some getting used to, but you'll get there. Lots of cubbies throughout the cabin. Trunk room is average size. Traffic jam assist can take control of the vehicle under 25 miles an hour. Now, I did not try it because I didn't go under 25. I didn't sample it, but I understand it works really well. So if you're in a parking lot on the Southwest Freeway, hit the button and it basically will ease up behind the car, behind you. Stop, put the brakes on so you don't have to sit there and jack with it and run the thing about walking at your cell phone and running into the back of another car and you see it every day.

Speaker 2:

Does it help you explain your words to the other drivers?

Speaker 1:

No, it doesn't help that. What I like? The 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment. It's very nice. What could use improvement? Seating is a little firm but you know my bony rear end. It needs a little bit more padding. I guess you could buy that in the aftermarket Drive train. All 25 Camrys are now hybrids. It comes with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid engine 232 horsepower, believe it or not, combined with the electricity, cvt transmission, 46 miles per gallon in the city, 46 on the highway, for a combined of 46. I got 41.7 over 330 miles. But I liked plenty of usable power in this. It does not feel like a clunker, like a straight four-cylinder engine. This thing feels like a V8. Kid you not? What could use improvement? The engine can be noisy when floored, but how often do you floor a Camry? Sorry, you just don't Ride and handling. What I liked was everything Ride quality is well-sorted. Nothing could use improvement there. Now here's the pricing on this $28,400 is the base trim price, base model price $34,925. Price is tested 41,748, because it's all gussied up.

Speaker 3:

Gussied up, gussied up. Is this the hybrid? Did you say?

Speaker 1:

hybrid. They're all hybrids. All the Camrys are hybrids. Now. That's why I rented it to go across the country. Yeah, great, I know it's truly amazing. And then I tell somebody it's hybrid. Oh, I don't know what a version is $28,295.

Speaker 1:

Their hybrid version is $34,703. So that's right there up against them. So I guess Honda Accord would be the only hybrid in the bunch. Kia K5, gasoline motor $26,990, but no hybrid is offered. And the Hyundai Sonata, which is akin to the K5, it's a gasoline motor. It's $26,600. That's my review of the 2025 Toyota Camry. All right, I really liked it. When I knew that I was going to get the Camry, I thought the Camry, all right, I really liked it. When I knew that I was going to get the Camry, I thought the.

Speaker 2:

Camry.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, really.

Speaker 1:

I hope you get it because I think that you're going to be really impressed. I'm shocked actually. Yeah, you think of the Camry as a four-cylinder. In earlier days it was a V6. You don't need all of that and it is a little pricey, but 41 to 46 miles per gallon.

Speaker 3:

Hello, I'm all over that. And you've got Toyota quality behind it.

Speaker 1:

That's exactly right. So, all right, let's see where are we. You know what I would really like for you to do, because this is kind of a different kind of a show out here, live, and we're going to have guests in and out. How about you doing your six ultra-rare pickups right here?

Speaker 2:

Are you prepared to do that? Yeah, I am. Mike's going to help me out with that.

Speaker 3:

We're going to go to a video. Hey, Mars.

Speaker 1:

All right Ultra-rare pickups. Jeff has a feature on that.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so these are unique. There's more than six, but there's probably 17, 18, 20 of them. But a few things are as iconic as a pickup truck, which have long-married practicality with personality. We're diving into the six right now limited edition or under-the-radar pickups, each with a unique story design feature that sets it apart. So the number one that I picked, in no particular order in life, but it's a Chevrolet Corvair Rampside. The pickup truck was built from 1961 to 65, and it was built on a Corvair van platform, which wasn't your typical pickup.

Speaker 1:

God help us all.

Speaker 2:

It's distinctive design allowed seating up to nine and included a ramp for easy loading in case you have a large mother-in-law. The next one we have is a Studebaker.

Speaker 1:

Coupe Express. The Studebaker Coupe was built from 1937 to 1939. That is a nice-looking car.

Speaker 2:

The mixed coupe that's how they pronounce it now, Mike, not coupe. Coupe styling with pickup functionality, embodying Art Deco elegance, with a 3.6-liter in six packing, 90 donkey hauling horsepower. The next one we have is a GMC Indy 500 official pickup truck. In 1977, GMC released a limited edition pickup to celebrate its role with the IndyCar racing.

Speaker 2:

Known for its standout white and gold decals, the Indy 500 official truck became a collector's item, especially among motorsports enthusiasts. The next one we have a little early is a Dodge 100 Swepside. It's a D100, actually Dodge styling response to the Chevy Cameo. The D100 Swepside from 57 to 59 featured a design elements borrowed from a Dodge two-door wagon with engine options like a 230 cubic inch inline six and a 350 cubic inch V8 was the most powerful and it was eye-catching also. The next one we have is a Studebaker Champ. Studebaker Champ was built 60 to 64, brought car-like comfort to a light-duty pickup drawing on the Studebaker LARC's components. The last one we have again it's another Dodge. It's a D100 Dude. Don's like that one, a Dude.

Speaker 1:

It's a Dude, was that?

Speaker 2:

on the side of it that said Dude. No, it had a C-stripe decal. The Dodge D100 Dude was built from 70 to 71, one year only, but built for flair I 70 to 71, one year only, but built for flair.

Speaker 1:

I'm sorry. If I were going to go buy a pickup truck it wouldn't be called Dude, You'd buy the.

Speaker 2:

Dudette, there you go, all right, thanks for playing.

Speaker 1:

You bet we're going to take a break. When we come back we're going to talk to Bill Prokrobik. The In Real Time Car Talk show is available 24-7 through the Odyssey radio app. Just look for In Real Time Car Talk, and podcasts are ready for you from your favorite, all right time. Now for this hour's car review. Mr Morris has sat down long enough for him to do a Land Rover Range Rover Evoque. Oh boy, I think they need a title of something longer.

Speaker 3:

Well, they do, because when you go out there and you look at Land Rover and you look on the Internet on their webpage, then it breaks it down into like smaller groups. It's almost like a different company within it.

Speaker 1:

But anyway, these are British people. They do that sort of weird stuff.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, they do. So we're talking about the 2025 Range Rover Evoque. Dynamic SE is the full official title. All right, now this vehicle, the Range Rover Evoque, comes in two trim levels P250S or P250 Dynamic SE. The P250 relates to the powertrain. Mechanically, these vehicles are the same. We were driving the Dynamic SE small luxury SUV, five passenger. There is no third row in this, so outside you're going to find a lot of things you expect, like LED lighting all the way around. We had the automatic leveling headlights, which I really think are cool, had the heated side mirrors. We had a power lift gate. We had a moon roof. We had uh, we were rolling on some 19 inch gloss black wheels.

Speaker 2:

All right, now one thing this had.

Speaker 3:

That I thought was kind of unusual for us. I had the cold climate package. Now this included heated windshield, heated washer jets, headlight power washers, and that's where you find the heated rear seats is in this package, in this option package, wow. So it comes factory with the front heated seats, but you've got to get this cold climate package to get the rear heated seats. Leather upholstery throughout.

Speaker 3:

Had 11.4-inch touchscreen up front for the infotainment system. Now it was pretty reactive but unfortunately they put a lot of stuff in it and you got to drill down into it a couple of places. That I don't think is necessary but to you just got to get used to. It got a heads-up display, got 3d surround camera on it, interactive driver display. It had a meridian sound system, a premium sound system with 400 watts and 12 speakers. So it would nice. It would fill that cabin up with some nice sound. Cool.

Speaker 3:

Now it has a 2.0 turbo on it which is standard engine across both trim levels 246 horsepower, 269 pound-feet of torque, nine-speed automatic. This thing will actually tow 3,968 pounds, which kind of surprised me. Towed 3,968 pounds, which kind of surprised me. The EPA says on premium fuel fuel recommended the city you get 20 highway you should get about 27 combined. Look for 22. Now. I drove 252 miles in this car and I got 21 miles to the gallon across the time. I had it got selectable drive. You can get the off-road or you can get into the selectable drive mode out on the highway. It's really compliant. I was really impressed with how well and how quiet this little vehicle was out on the highway. Of course, around town it's pretty nimble, easy to drive, get around in parking lots. It's not a race car. You're not going to get out and race, but it'll keep up with anybody else that's out there if you got plenty of time to get up there and catch up with them.

Speaker 3:

Now, the base model price on this car to me was surprising at $49,900. The interior is kind of very British, if you want to call it that, and the outside of it looks very stylish Pip-pip and cheerio. Yes, the base trim price that we were driving is $54,900. Now, as tested, got a few little things on it, $61,765. So it gets up there with the rest of them. However, if you go across and look at something like an Audi A3, it's going to start at $39,495. The Volvo XC40 is going to start at $40,000. And even the Buick Envision Sport Touring that I recently had starts at $40,000. So you get into that small luxury vehicle. It kind of depends on what you're looking for and what you want. And of course Land Rover is known for their off-road capabilities, so you have to kind of look at it. But it's a very surprising vehicle to be driving.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's a big difference from the base price up to what you had when you were driving. Yes, the features on that are features on a lot of the new cars nowadays at the heads up and all that and the seats and absolutely amazing.

Speaker 3:

So it kind of depends. You know it's an import. What can you say? Yep, is it made in the, the uk? I thought it was. I didn't really look to see where it was actually built do you have the monroney there?

Speaker 1:

I'm looking here they got it. Let me see it.

Speaker 3:

He's got it. Let me see it. He's got it. You can probably find it. I never looked for that. I know it's made all over the place Parts here, parts there, us.

Speaker 1:

Canadian parts 9%. Major sources of foreign parts content United Kingdom 54%.

Speaker 2:

Germany 15%.

Speaker 1:

Assembly Point Hailwood, the UK Country of origin engine UK Transmission USA. Hailwood you say so, it's a global vehicle.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think almost all of them are that nowadays. I mean, well, there's a few of the Americans. I guess the big three aren't.

Speaker 1:

The only thing it's not wearing a sombrero, so there's no assembly in Mexico or anything like that.

Speaker 2:

We'll have to see what we can do about that?

People on this episode

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Don Armstrong

Host
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Jeff Dziekan

Co-host
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Michael Marrs

Co-host