Quick Spin

The Subaru BRZ and its Toyota sibling made waves in the early 2010s. Subaru’s sports coupe bucked the growing crossover trend by simply being what it is: a rear-driven and front-engine sports coupe with an affordable price tag. After nearly a decade on Subaru dealership lots, the folks in charge decided it was time to roll out its replacement. The ’22 Subaru BRZ didn’t deviate from its original formula and just fixed what needed fixing. The big draw is the BRZ’s new engine. While Subaru stuck with the beloved boxer, the 2.0-liter mill is gone. In its place is a larger 2.4-liter four-cylinder. The larger engine and revised tuning help fix some of the previous BRZ’s biggest problems and drastically increases the BRZ’s drivability. The 2.4-liter boxer sends 228 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels by way of a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic.

On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Subaru BRZ and puts it through its paces. Wren walks you around the new BRZ before climbing in and highlighting the new BRZ’s interior. Later, Wren takes you on a live recorded drive review of Subaru’s new sports coupe. Adding more insight, Autoweek’s west coast editor Mark Vaughn talks with Wren about the BRZ’s price, competition and more. Closing the show, the two talk about what makes the 2022 Subaru BRZ special

Electric cars are coming. Or more accurately, they’re here. Audi’s e-tron crossover helped push the company’s EV efforts, but the stylish e-tron GT turns the Audi EV portfolio into something you’d be excited to see at your local Cars and Coffee. The Audi e-tron GT comes standard with a pair of electric motors that drive the front and rear axle. These permanent magnet motors supply 496 hp and 464 lb-ft of torque to the wheels, which help this EV sedan sprint to 60 from a dead stop in 3.9 seconds. Those figures increase in RS trim to 590 hp and 612 lb-ft of torque, which shrinks the 60 mph time to 3.1 seconds. Powering the e-tron GT’s motors is a 93 kWh battery pack that can feed these motors for 238 EPA-estimated miles.

On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Audi e-tron GT and puts it through its paces. Wren walks you around the e-tron GT and highlights the car’s features and styling before climbing into the interior to explain how it feels. Wren also takes you along for a live recorded drive review. Adding to this, Wren talks with Autoweek’s Patrick Carone about the e-tron GT. The two talk about the car’s performance, its features and its direction. The pair also discuss how normal the e-tron GT feels. Closing the show, the two talk about what makes the e-tron GT special.

Bentley isn’t known for being an environmentally or economically conscious purchase: it’s a luxury purchase. Bentley also has a long history of performance behind its names, which means there’s an understanding that your Bentley will not only whisk you away in style, it’ll do so in a hurry. Well, the times are changing, and Bentley is ushering electrified powertrains into its portfolio. Part of this push is a hybrid powertrain-equipped Flying Spur. The company’s flagship sedan now features a 2.9-liter V6 that mates to a hybrid system and sends 536 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque to the wheels. Admittedly, that’s down slightly in power from the V8, but you see an increase in fuel efficiency of 2 mpg combined over that V8. That means the Flying Spur Hybrid sees a 19 mpg combined.

On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid and puts it through its paces. Wren shows you around the Flying Spur and highlights its styling and features before taking you along for a drive review. Wren chats with west coast editor Mark Vaughn about the Flying Spur and expands on these segments. The two chat about the hybrid powertrain, the electrification of Bentley and more. Closing the show, the two break down what makes this Flying Spur special.

The Lamborghini Aventador has finally reached the end of the road. Launching in 2011, the Aventador jumped to the top of Lamborghini’s lineup and has provided the bones for some of the company’s most outlandish machines. Though the days for the V12-powered Lamborghini seem to be numbered and the Aventador is going by the wayside. Sending the Aventador off in style, Lamborghini is unleashing the LP 780-4. While that shows its horsepower in CV, the power figure becomes 769 hp in SAE. That power comes from a 6.5-liter, naturally aspirated V12. That V12’s power travels through a seven-speed automatic and through the all-wheel-drive system.

In this episode of Quick Spin, Mark Vaughn puts the final Aventador through its paces. Vaughn walks you around the LP 780-4 and highlights some of its styling features before taking you inside to describe the interior. Vaughn then takes you out on a live drive review of this Lamborghini. Expanding on his thoughts, Vaughn chats about the 2022 Lamborghini Aventador LP780-4 with host Wesley Wren. The pair talk about the Aventador’s history, Lamborghini’s future and more. Closing the show, the two discuss what makes the 2022 Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae special.

The Bentley Bentayga is one of the stars of the luxury crossover and SUV space. Bentley’s beloved crossover joined the lineup in 2015 and saw its first serious overhaul in 2020. While Bentley’s 12-cylinder-powered Bentayga Speed offers the most brutal performance in the lineup, the folks at Bentley recently introduced the Bentayga S. This S-variant of the Bentayga offers more performance than the base model without the price tag associated with the Speed. Powering this Bentley is a 4.0-liter turbocharged V8 that sends 542 hp through an eight-speed transmission to all four wheels by way of an all-wheel-drive system. The Bentayga S also sports special bodywork and badging to remind folks that you’re driving the performance version while it's sitting still.

On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Bentley Bentayga S and puts it through its paces. Wren takes you on a walkaround of the latest Bentayga to show off the revised styling, its luxurious interior appointments and more. Wren also takes you along on a live-recorded drive review to let you know how the Bentayga S feels on the road. Adding to these segments, Wren chats with Autoweek’s west coast editor Mark Vaughn. The two talk about the Bentayga, luxury crossovers and more. Closing the show, the two break down what makes the Bentley Bentayga S special.

Even though Volkswagen and Audi are moving quickly to battery-electric propulsion, it’s not cutting the fun internal combustion machines out of the lineup immediately. One of Audi’s more interesting powertrains sits under the hood of its entry-level sedan: the A3. Well, not exactly the A3. Audi’s RS 3 takes the bones of its entry-level luxury sedan and stuffs a 401 hp five-cylinder engine under the hood. Audi tasks a seven-speed automatic to manage that power and send it to the Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Aggressive bodywork covers the RS 3’s wider track width and helps funnel air to the right places. Despite the push for performance, the RS 3 still offers the luxurious appointments you’d expect from a high-priced Audi.

On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek’s Mark Vaughn hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Audi RS 3 and brings you along for the ride. Vaughn walks around the RS 3 and highlights its design and features before climbing into the cockpit to take you along for a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Vaughn chats with host Wesley Wren about the Audi RS 3, the five-cylinder engine and the RS 3’s competition. Closing the show, the pair talk about what makes the Audi RS 3 special.

Small cars are out. Cladding and ground clearance is in. Small crossovers are chipping away at the once-beloved hatchback market and are shoving some hot hatchbacks out of the US market. Naturally, automakers will look at the changing tides and try to respond. While performance crossovers are far from new, the Hyundai Kona N takes a look at the small crossover and the future of the hot hatchback. Based on Hyundai’s popular Kona, the 2022 Hyundai Kona N takes the pedestrian crossover and turns it into an over-the-top fun machine. Borrowing the performance parts from the Hyundai Veloster N, the Kona N sports a 2.0-liter turbocharged I4 that sends 276 hp and 289 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed automatic transmission. That power travels exclusively to the front wheels.

On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Kona N to put it through its paces. Wren takes you around the hopped-up Hyundai and highlights the features and styling before taking you along for a live-recorded drive review. Adding to this, Wren chats with Autoweek’s west coast editor Mark Vaughn about Hyundai’s Kona, hot hatchbacks and more. Closing the show, the two talk about what makes this Hyundai Kona N special.

Volkswagen is looking at the growing demand for electrification, and the shrinking demand for small cars in the United States, and decide to keep the Golf from hitting the U.S. shores. Even though America doesn’t get the Golf, Volkswagen did bring over the eighth-generation VW Golf GTI and Golf R. The latest Golf R doesn’t reset its established formula: it’s still an all-wheel-drive hot hatch with plenty of power on tap. Powering this 2022 VW Golf R is a 2.0-liter turbocharged I4 that makes 315 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque. That power travels through either a six-speed manual transmission or a seven-speed automatic before hitting the all-wheel-drive system.

In this episode of Quick Spin, Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Volkswagen Golf R and puts it through its paces. Wren walks you around the VW Golf R to highlight its quirks and features and climbs into the interior to relay the design and ergonomics. Wren also takes you along for a live drive review where he talks about the Golf R’s driving dynamics. Adding to these segments, Wren chats with Autoweek’s west coast editor Mark Vaughn about the Volkswagen Golf, the Golf R and the Golf R’s steep price. Closing the show, the pair discuss what makes the Golf R special.

The reborn Toyota Supra faces stiff competition from all sides as the higher-end sport coupe market is only getting fiercer with time. Competition from Nissan with the latest Z, Chevrolet’s Corvette and the machines from BMW might make Toyota’s Supra a harder choice to make for some, but that doesn’t erase that it is fun. The Toyota Supra took a small 20-year hiatus from the production line when its fourth generation wrapped in 1998. During its time offline, the Supra name became synonymous with Toyota performance thanks to movies like The Fast and the Furious, video games like Gran Turismo, and countless ultra-high performance Supra examples in real life. This latest Supra builds on that legacy and sticks with inline-six power. Even though it uses a BMW heart, this 3.0-liter I6 sends 382 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed transmission and to the rear wheels.

On this episode of Quick Spin, West Coast editor Mark Vaughn jumps behind the wheel of the latest Toyota Supra and takes you along for the ride. Vaughn walks around the Supra and explains its features and styling decisions and climbs into the interior to discuss what he’s seeing in the cabin. Afterward, Vaughn takes you along for a real-time drive review. Adding to these segments, Vaughn chats with host Wesley Wren about the Toyota Supra’s history, its position in the current sports car space and its BMW bones. Closing the show, the two talk about what makes this 2022 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 special.

While the Toyota Tacoma dominates the midsize truck world, its full-size stablemate faces stiffer competition. Toyota’s Tundra launched in 2000, with the second-generation kicking off in 2007. Now entering its third generation, it’s not hard to see that the previous-generation Tundra might have been getting old despite some updates along the way. This new Tundra ditches the V8 engine and replaces it with a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6. This turbocharged V6 is also available with an optional hybrid powertrain that adds some extra oomph to the V6. In base trim, the new V6 sends 389 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers jump to 437 hp and 583 lb-ft of torque in the hybrid trim. Both engines feed a 10-speed automatic transmission, which travels through the four-wheel-drive system before hitting the wheels.

In this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2022 Toyota Tundra Capstone to put it through its paces. Wren takes you on a walkaround of the latest Toyota full-size pickup and highlights its styling, features and specs. Wren also takes you along for the ride in a live drive review where he talks about how the 2022 Tundra feels when taking it out on the road. Adding to these segments, Wren chats with Autoweek’s west coast editor Mark Vaughn about the Toyota Tundra, pickup trucks and the luxury truck space. Closing the show, the two talk about what makes the new Toyota Tundra special.