Best In Class

Japanese kei-jidōsha, or "kei" cars are micro cars sold only in Japan, and just about the cutest branch of the automotive industry. These diminutive rides feature all the tech and safety of a normal passenger car, but in a bite-sized wrapper. With these forbidden fruits increasingly being imported onto our shores under the 25-year rule, it is the duty of Best in Class to inform you our listening audience which kei car is the very best.

While the 70's produced icons, and the 80's had some hits, the 90's were perhaps the golden era of concept cars. Designers had figured out the perfect ratio of fantastic to realistic, plastic molding technology meant new shapes were possible, and OEMs were flush with cash. But which of these works of art was the best?

Liv is a recent convert to the automotive lifestyle, having only fallen into it a year ago. It's been a whirlwind year so far with offroading, mechanical adventures, Cars&Coffee events, and a cross-country trek. This week Steve and Adam catch up with her to see how her first year as an enthusiast has gone, what she has learned, and what she wants to do next.

Toyota is revealing the new 4Runner today, so on this episode Best in Class we look back at the SUV's past and decide when generation was its very best example. Somewhere in there Steve also brings up his 308, but that's typical.

 

The Steve of a decade ago was a different person. He took fancy trips. He drove interesting cars. And he wore shoes. This is the story of Steve's epic European road trip when 10 years ago he watched F1 in person, drove his dream cars, and lived the continental lifestyle.

We all have to die sometime, so why not go out with some style? But do you shove off this mortal coil in your dream car? Or your first car? Or maybe your enemy's car to take it with you? All valid options. Buckle up, because this is going to be a dark episode!

The Broadmoor International Pikes Peak Hill Climb, presented by Gran Turismo - or as we call it Pikes Peak - is an utterly fascinating, utterly terrifying, and utterly American race that takes place every year up a Colorado mountain. If you've never experienced The Race to the Clouds, we're here to tell you just how special it is.

Kit cars inhabit an interesting place in the automotive lifestyle - often ridiculed, sometimes longed for, but never ever respected. Are there any good kit cars out there? Is it worth building your own car? And what do you do with all those leftover bolts? To help us answer these questions, we've enlisted kit car owner Diego to tell us what's what.

We're back with another one of our window shopping episodes where we trawl the local (and not so local) car ads to find the best car you can buy this week for a paltry $15k. We even brought Warren on so we could hear his rediculous idea, and boy was it a doozy!

You got yourself a BMW 5-Series. Congratulations. Shame you didn't work just a little bit harder so you could afford the big boy 7-Series. Oh well, someone has to file all that paperwork and fill out the PowerPoint slides. But at least you bought the right 5-Series by following Best in Class's recommendations, right?