We quickly review the fastest cars you can buy for less than $35,000: the 2024 Ford Mustang EcoBoost High-Performance Pack, 2024 Subaru Impreza WRX tS 6MT, 2025 Mazda3 Turbo AWD, 2024 Volkswagen Golf GTI 380 S manual, 2025 Hyundai Elantra N 6MT, 2025 Mini Cooper S and 2024 Toyota GR86 Trueno 6MT (and Subaru BRZ twin). Plus 3 of the quickest – and most expensive – new GT cars on sale today: the 2025 McLaren GTS, 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63, and 2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed.

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On this episode of the Carmudgeon Show, Jason vows to go on an all-expenses-paid trip to Lake Tahoe on Hagerty’s dime to properly evaluate the van, Jynah’s, grip in the snow (now that it’s wearing a set of Vredestein Wintrac Pro tires).

Then the boys dive into Gran Turismo – no, not the classic Playstation racing simulators – but rather attaining and maintaining high speeds over extended durations. More specifically, the “Old Man GT” episode of Cammisa’s Ultimate Drag Race Replay, which features some of the quickest, most expensive, and impractical 4-wheeled jewelry money can buy: the McLaren GTS, Mercedes-AMG GT63, and Bentley Continental GT Speed. 

While discussing the new AMG GT63 (which no longer rides on underpinnings from the Dodge Viper lineage like its predecessors, the gullwing-door SLS AMG and the previous AMG GT, but now shares its platform and drivetrain with the SL line), Derek shares a nugget from his vintage Mercedes literature which shows SL buyers in the 1990s had significantly more money to spend than S-Class-buying plebes. And Jason theorizes that SEC owners likely had even more still. 

Speaking of the Mercedes, Jason laments that the new SL63’s posterior profile looks suspiciously Porsche 911-y, but the duplicative flattery appears to date all the way back to the Porsche 356 and the contemporary Mercedes-Benz W198 300 SL Gullwing.  

In other news, Motor Trend Video is dead, and Jason is deeply empathetic. 

After the mourning, we delve into the next drag race episode: cars under $35,000! This episode pits the latest crop of cheap speed against one another in bracketed races with nearly every drivetrain orientation: naturally aspirated, turbocharged, front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, manual, automatic, DCT, and so on. Unabashed boosted 4-cylinder noises assault the senses and appease the Abarth gods.

Our first race pits the front-wheel drive cars against one another: the Hyundai Elantra N races the Mk8 Volkswagen GTI and the new F66 Mini Cooper S – which is completely overlooked by enthusiasts in 2024 (and is too cutesy for its own good), yet somehow manages to be effortlessly quick and best the OG hot hatch GTI. 

Then, the second race includes the rear- and all-wheel drive cars: the rwd Ford Mustang EcoBoost races the rwd Toyota GR86, the awd Subaru WRX and the surprisingly quick Mazda 3 Turbo AWD. 

And all Jason wants for Christmas is a GR86/FR-S/BRZ hatchback with a K24. 

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