V8 Roadtrip, PHEVs Over EVs: The Best Automotive Videos on YouTube This Week

A Hyundai Santa Cruz with beefy off road tires and a two inch lift is something I didn’t think I’d ever see. But Ben Hardy went to check one out at Murdock Hyundai of Lindon, Utah. It’s a unique build done up by the dealer. Unfortunately it’ll cost whoever is going to buy it. The dealer started with a Santa Cruz SEL Premium with the turbo engine, which stickers for $39,290. But with the add-ons, the dealer is expecting someone to drop $42,579 for it. A lot of money for not quite a lot of “truck.”

Richard Hammond has some spare time on his hands. The cancellation of The Grand Tour means he can focus on doing content for Drive Tribe, which isn’t a bad thing. Currently Hammond is is traversing the UK’s beautiful Lake District on a V8 road trip. It consists of an imported Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody that was originally black but they wrapped blue, and an X308 (1997-2003) Jaguar XJR piloted by Hammond. It’s a fantastic video.

LegitStreetCars has been daily driving a Tesla Model S for the last few years. EVs are quick, but nothing beats the exhaust burble of a V8. Which is probably what led him to drop $30,000 on Hoovie’s Garage CTS-V Wagon. While cool, Hoovie’s picked it up for a song because of its questionable history. It had 67,000 miles and a salvage title when he bought it.

For the last few months, Aging Wheels has been working on a project that is pretty bonkers. He’s taken a first generation Ford Escape and is converting it into an EV with 900 horsepower. This latest upload shows him performing random installation of parts. It was supposed to be about him installing the batteries but they hadn’t come in yet. It should be a hell of a build when it’s finished.

If you’re unfamiliar with Just Rolled In, you shouldn’t be. It highlights often horrid examples of disrepair on vehicles. From a stolen Ford pickup whose thief drove it so long the wheel and its hub fell off to a poorly installed Jeep lift kit, theres some scary stuff.

For reasons that still escape me, Jeff Dunham is one of the highest paid comedians in the world. That wealth has allowed him to own a rather rare, and depending on who you talk to, unknown car in the Bricklin SV-1. Dunham lets Jay Leno’s Garage check out this gull-winged V8 powered blast from the past.

Donut Media has some interesting takes on some cars they think are boring but are also fun to drive. Apparently they’re looking for something cheap to buy and wanted an old Nissan 350Z. But they’re so old now that nearly all of the cheap ones are full of mods, have salvage titles, or both. They have some cars that you would expect on a list like this, like the Honda Fit and sixth gen Honda Civic. But there are a few unexpected choices like the Volvo S80 or first gen Toyota Sequoia.

Vampire Robot has a great collection of videos showcasing daily life from decades prior. One interesting video I came across this week was a video taken down in Florida by a local news station. The station was at a local car lot getting footage of sales people trying to sell cars. It’s interesting in that you get to see just how cheap cars were back then and some of the hold school sales tactics sales people would use. And this sales guy is almost a poster-child of an old car salesman. From the unbuttoned shirt with gold chains and taco meat chest hair showing, to the big aviator sunglasses, the guy screams sketchy car lot.

We need more plug-in hybrids. The argument in favor of them is pretty strong. While I wont get into that here, I’ll let The Smoking Tire do it for me. Matt Farah and Zack Klapman highlight why some plug-in hybrid models may be better than some EVs equipped with longer range batteries.

Not much is better than a good ol’ fashioned MotorWeek retro review. The long running televised auto magazine’s latest entry in its retro review playlist is an excellent review of the the first irritation of what would become a performance icon, the 2006 Dodge Charger SRT-8. A big 6.4 liter V8 and 425 horsepower was wild in the mid 2000s.

In case you missed it:

• These Are Your Dream Daily-Drivers
• Study Explores How Long Electric Vehicle Batteries Really Last
• Fordlandia: Henry Ford’s Abandoned Company Town in the Amazon Rainforest