APRIL 10, 2024

The original - and still our favorite - Autoextremist logo. 

The AE Quote of the Century: Everybody loves The High-Octane Truth. Until they don't. -WG 

(Corvette)

A new Corvette ZR1 is arriving this summer. Watch the tease video here.

(Toyota images)

"The instant name recognition that 4Runner has built over the past four decades is undeniable," so say Toyota PR minions. And they're right. The all-new 2025 Toyota 4Runner stays true to its original concept, "as an extremely capable, dynamic, and durable off-roader and will continue to provide owners a window to bigger worlds," according to the manufacturer. The all-new, sixth generation 4Runner introduces a new look and adds new technology, premium materials, options, and safety. The 2025 4Runner will be built in Toyota Motor Corporation’s Tahara plant in Japan and will arrive in the U.S. in the fall of 2024. The high hard ones:

• Standard i-FORCE turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine produces 278HP, 317 lb.-ft. of torque.
• Available i-FORCE MAX hybrid powertrain produces up to 326HP, 465 lb.-ft. of torque.
• All-new Trailhunter is a Toyota built overlanding rig available with the latest integrated off-road equipment from ARB®, Old Man Emu® and RIGID Industries®.
• Standard power rear window with an available power liftgate.
• A Platinum premium grade is now offered for the first time.
• Available 14-inch touchscreen displays latest Toyota Audio Multimedia.
• Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 standard on all models.

(Buick images)

Editor-in-Chief's Note: This is the new 2025 Buick Enclave. Buick operatives are touting the fact that Super Cruise hands-free driver assistance technology is standard across all models; the standard 30-inch-diagonal premium ultra-wide display (this passes for a big deal in the industry right now); and the fact that "Today’s Enclave is the latest vehicle to launch with Buick’s new design ethos that started with the Wildcat EV concept, and provides even more premium finishes and amenities..." according to Buick PR minions. It arrives at dealerships late this summer. The new Enclave may be better in all respects, but its design doesn't reinforce Buick's new ad theme "Exceptional by Design" to me in the least. In fact, any traces of the Wildcat concept - which was stunning - are nowhere to be found. I'm underwhelmed, because I expected so much better. Oh well, when it comes to the state of the auto industry right now, it looks like we're going to have to learn to live with disappointment. -PMD

 

Editor-in-Chief's Note: So, after 45 years - more or less - of continuous running, the car show that was once known as the Meadowbrook Concours (at Oakland University) in Rochester, Michigan, and then moved to Plymouth, Michigan, at the St. John's golf course, and which was then bought by Hagerty and renamed The Detroit Concours and moved downtown Detroit for 2022 and 2023, has been cancelled for 2024. Hagerty, which was once known as a collector car insurance company, but now refers to itself as an "automotive lifestyle" brand, announced the decision late last week. Hagerty has been on a scorched-earth mission in recent years to accumulate the rights to every car event worth looking at, and the Detroit Concours was to be another notable "lifestyle" arrow in its quiver. Except that it was a nonstarter almost from the get-go, as Hagerty operatives totally miscalculated the show's fleeting status as a prestige event. The first year's attendance was dismal, and the second year's attendance was laughable, so Hagerty wisely admitted that it wasn't working and pulled the plug on this year's event. Some allowed Hagerty the built-in excuse that it hitched its star to the new Detroit Auto Show, which was moved to the fall, and which turned out to be an unmitigated disaster and is now being moved back to its original January date, but I'm not going to do that. And there are hints that the concours event will return in 2025, but I wouldn't count on it. Hagerty blew it when it moved the show to Detroit and it only has itself to blame, because though Detroit is and always will be The Motor City, the appetite for a high falutin' concours auto show within the city limits is slim... and none. Hagerty's moves in the auto show concours world are starting to get some serious blowback, and it is much deserved. There is a very strong whiff of arrogance emanating from Hagerty headquarters in Traverse City, and unfortunately for the minions up there, they appear to be unable to see it. Hagerty operatives fancy themselves as having their fingers on the pulse of enthusiast car culture, but, this just in: They don't. As for me, a Detroit "concours" event will not be missed. It grew to be beyond tedious years ago. -PMD

(Mille Miglia 2024 images)

The list of cars accepted for the 2024 edition of the 1000 Miglia is now officially public. Thirty-three nations will be represented, but Italy will still be the country with the largest number of competitors, and there will be 71 cars that take part in the historic 1000 Miglia race. Fifty Alfa Romeos, including a rare block of 6C 1750s and three 8Cs, 31 Porsches, 27 Jaguars, 25 Mercedes Benz, 21 Ferraris and 17 Bugattis will start from Brescia on June 11 and return on Saturday, June 15, after covering the more than 2000 km of the route, which will have its usual half-way point in Rome on the evening of Thursday, June 13. The five-leg format has been confirmed, and the race will repeat the anti-clockwise direction as in 2021. Turin, Viareggio, Rome and Bologna will be the leg finishes before returning to Brescia. Also, this year, the historic cars of the Red Arrow will be preceded by the 1000 Miglia Green and the Ferrari Tribute 1000 Miglia. Also returning will be the 1000 Miglia Experience, the event reserved for modern supercars and hyper-cars, now in its third year. The cars accepted for the 1000 Miglia 2024, as a guarantee of excellence and authenticity, are all registered in accordance with the regulations of the Registro 1000 Miglia. The list is available on the official website 1000miglia.it.

The AE Song of the Week:

I am unwritten
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, yeah
I break tradition
Sometimes my tries, are outside the lines, oh yeah-yeah-yeah
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes
But I can't live that way, no, no

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Yeah, yeah
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, yeah, here we go
Mmm, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah
Oh yeah, mmm

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
hey!

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten, yeah, mmm
The rest is still unwritten

Whoa, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh

The rest is still unwritten

"Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield from the album "Unwritten" (2005).* Written by Danielle A. Brisebois, Natasha Anne Bedingfield, Wayne Steven Jr Rodrigues. Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind. Watch the Official Music Video (as featured in "Anyone But You") here.  

*"Unwritten" is about living life to the fullest, not planning everything because you never know what may happen. Each day is a blank page and it is up to you to fill it. The song conveys the idea of keeping our eyes open for all the possibilities in our life. "Unwritten" was used as the theme song to the MTV show The Hills, which ran from 2006-2010. Joe Cuello, MTV's Vice President of Music Integration explained to Rolling Stone magazine why this song was chosen: "The song really reflected the feel of the show and we wanted to help push the career of artists like Natasha to make sure that everyone was really aware when they were watching the show who it was sung by. We tried to dovetail it all together so we featured her music video over the end credits. For us, that's a really incredible promotional tool. We see a huge response from that in terms of online and in sales. It's really gratifying years later to see that it's so inextricably tied to our show." Natasha Bedingfield told Seventeen magazine that this song is about "just not worrying." She explained: "I really started to have dreams for myself when I was 17, but I was always afraid people were going to laugh at me. I finally just said, 'Alright. I'm going to write songs, even if they're bad. I'm just going to keep writing until I get good.'" Natasha Bedingfield's bother Daniel Bedingfield had a string of hits at the start of the '00, and in every interview, he'd big-up his sister. His constant praising led to Natasha being whisked off to LA to work with songwriting gurus. Top stuff for her career, but it meant missing her little brother Joshua's 14th birthday. So, she did what any pop star would do - penned a song for him. "Unwritten was written with a 14-year-old in mind," Bedingfield told The Guardian. "At that age, you're desperate to be taken seriously, but at the same time everyone is asking what you're going to do. There's this huge pressure to map out your future." "Unwritten" was the most-played song on US radio in 2006. (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts.com)

Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG