Quick Spin

Porsche was no stranger to large, grand tourers when the company showed off the 989 concept. Still, that saloon was just one of a string of sedan-based concepts, or custom pieces from the company. It wasn’t until Porsche pushed the Panamera into production that Porsche fans saw easier access to the rear seat of a sedan. Panamera formally joined the Porsche family in 2009 and has been successful enough to enter three generations. This third-gen Panamera joined the lineup in 2024 and brought along a series of updates. While the shell itself isn’t dimensionally a departure from the past, the styling is tweaked inside and out.On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek executive editor Tom Murphy hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Porsche Panamera and puts it through its paces. Murphy takes you on a guided tour of the 2025 Porsche Panamera, highlighting some of his favorite features. Later, Murphy takes you along for a live drive review of the third-generation Porsche Panamera. Adding to these segments, Murphy chats with host Wesley Wren about the 2025 Porsche Panamera, its position in the sales charts, and what it represents for the company. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Porsche Panamera special.

Subaru’s Solterra joined the Subie lineup in 2022 for the 2023 model year after making its debut at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show. Sharing the bones with the Toyota bZ4X, the Solterra offered Subaru shoppers a battery-electric option. While the Solterra is gearing up for a major overhaul for 2026, the 2025 Solterra still packs effectively the same powertrain as its launch edition. That means there’s a 72.8-kWh battery pack underneath, which feeds a pair of electric motors. Together, those electric motors send 215 hp and 249 lb-ft of torque to the wheels. For 2025, the folks at Subaru slashed the Solterra’s price and brought the starting price to $39,915.On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek executive editor Tom Murphy hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Subaru Solterra and puts it through its paces. Murphy takes you on a guided tour of the ’25 Solterra and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Murphy takes you along for a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Murphy chats with host Wesley Wren about the 2025 Solterra, its spot in the market, and Subaru’s future in the battery-electric space. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Subaru Solterra special.

Mazda rolled its beloved MX-5 onto U.S. roadways just over 35 years ago. The most recent iteration rolled into the public eye a decade ago and launched formally for the 2016 model year. Over the last decade, this so-called ND-generation Miata has gone through some update cycles and added more features and power. The most recent update also gave the Maita a new steering rack and some updates to the interior. That said, the main design and philosophy of this fourth-generation Miata haven’t changed too much from its launch almost a decade ago. The revised powertrain does add some welcome extra oomph, making 181 hp from a 2.0-liter I4 since the ND’s first overhaul for 2019. You can row your own gears through a six-speed manual transmission, or a six-speed automatic can be tasked with the gear selection duties. On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the 2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata and puts it through its paces. Wren takes you on a guided tour of the MX-5 Miata and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Wren takes you along on a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Wren chats with Autoweek’s Patrick Carone about the Mazda Miata, where this generation sits, and what could happen to the Miata in the future. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata special. 

Audi’s hopped-up entry-level sedan saw a slight overhaul for the 2025 model year. Launching as a 2022 model year vehicle, the latest generation S3 sees updated styling and extra oomph. The 2025 Audi S3 packs a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder under the hood that sends 328 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque through the seven-speed automatic transmission. That power then travels through the standard Quattro all-wheel-drive system before making its way to the wheels. That’s a 22 hp bump over the previous model year, with the peak torque staying the same. On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Audi S3 and puts it through its paces. Wren takes you on a guided tour of the updated S3 and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Wren takes you along for a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Wren chats with Autoweek’s Patrick Carone about the Audi S3, how it stacks up with the competitive set, and more. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Audi S3 special.

It was no secret that Lamborghini was going to launch a crossover – the bigger question was when the company would want to cash in on a second row of seats. Well, the answer came in 2017 with the 2018 Lamborghini Urus. While not the company’s first SUV, it does take center stage as the first people mover from the brand in decades. Expanding on the Urus, the company recently launched the Urus SE, which adds a plug-in hybrid powertrain to the mix. This Urus PHEV packs a 4.0-liter turbocharged V8 that works with a hybrid system to make a combined 789 hp. This hybrid system also uses a 21.8-kWh battery pack, which allows about 30 miles of electric-only propulsion. On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek’s Mark Vaughn hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Lamborghini Urus SE and puts it through its paces. Vaughn takes you on a guided tour of the Lambo crossover and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Vaughn takes you along for a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Vaughn chats with host Wesley Wren about the Lamborghini Urus, about this plug-in hybrid, and about the greater high-performance crossover landscape. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Lamborghini Urus special.

Toyota’s popular Highlander has celebrated 25 years in Toyota showrooms this year, but the bigger story might be its stretched sibling. The aptly named Toyota Grand Highlander joined the family-hauling rotation in 2023. Still riding on the same TNGA-K underpinnings as the standard Highlander, this Grand model stretched the wheelbase and shell to live up to the prefix. This larger shell adds more space, almost across the board, with extra space at the rear cargo hold taking center stage. Powering the Toyota Grand Highlander is either a turbocharged 2.4-liter I4, a 2.5-liter hybrid powertrain, or the Hybrid Max powertrain that blends a turbocharged 2.4-liter I4 with a hybrid system to net 362 combined horsepower. On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek’s Patrick Carone hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Toyota Grand Highlander hybrid and puts it through its paces. Carone takes you on a guided tour of the Grand Highlander and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Carone takes you along on a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Carone chats with host Wesley Wren about the 2025 Toyota Grand Highlander. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the Grand Highlander special.

Formerly flying under the GLK banner, Mercedes-Benz shook up its crossover and SUV lineup to better coordinate with its current line of coupes and sedans. That meant the GLK essentially became the GLC-Class in 2015. Mercedes-Benz launched the current, second-generation GLC-Class crossover in 2022. This updated GLC-Class added a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and a soon-to-be-released battery-electric variant to the GLC’s option sheet. In PHEV guise, the GLC 350e packs a turbocharged 2.0-liter I4 under the hood and pairs it with a permanently synchronized electric motor for a combined system output of 313 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque. On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek’s Tom Murphy hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e and puts it through its paces. Murphy takes you on a guided tour of the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Murphy takes you along on a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Murphy chats with host Wesley Wren about the Mercedes crossover, where it stands in the marketplace, and more. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e special.

Somehow, someway, the BMW X5 launched a quarter of a century ago. Through four generations of Sports Activity Vehicle, as the brand likes to call it, the X5 has helped push midsize luxury crossovers into the high-demand segment we see today. Celebrating those 25 years, BMW added a limited-edition Silver Anniversary Edition to its lineup. This special edition X5 adds air suspension, a set of 20-inch aluminum wheels that can be wrapped in all-terrain rubber, and a locking rear differential. This special-edition X5 is built on the bones of the ’25 BMW X5 xDrive40i, which means it packs a turbocharged 3.0-liter I6 under the hood that sends 375 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed automatic transmission before hitting the xDrive all-wheel-drive system. On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek’s Patrick Carone hops behind the wheel of the 2025 BMW xDrive40i Silver Anniversary Edition and puts it through its paces. Carone takes you on a guided tour of the Silver Anniversary Edition X5 and highlights some of its special features before taking you along on a live drive review. Alongside these segments, Carone chats with host Wesley Wren about the BMW X5, this special edition, and more. Closing the show, the pair breaks down why the 2025 BMW X5 Silver Anniversary Edition is special.

Lotus is making a massive push for its battery-electric powertrains, with the vast majority of its lineup eschewing internal combustion. That said, there is still one ICE-powered Lotus in the portfolio that carries the name Emira. Taking what the brand has learned from its Elise, Exige, and Evora, the Emira sticks with the brand’s sports car ethos. Powering the Emira is either a supercharged 3.5-liter V6 or a turbocharged 2.0-liter I4. Despite the difference in cylinders, both engines advertise 400 hp. That said, if you want to row your own gears, you’ll have to look at V6.On this episode of Quick Spin, Autoweek’s Mark Vaughn hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Lotus Emira and puts it through its paces. Vaughn takes you on a guided tour of the Lotus Emira and highlights some of his favorite features. Later, Vaughn takes you along for a live drive review of this Lotus. Adding to these segments, Vaughn chats with host Wesley Wren about the Lotus Emira, Lotus’s electric endeavors, and more. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the Emira special. 

Volvo’s current XC90 launched almost a decade ago and was a pivotal piece of the brand’s U.S. offerings. Unsurprisingly, the large, three-row crossover performed well for Volvo over the last decade. Despite the brand’s pivot into electric vehicles, Volvo has given the second-generation XC90 another facelift to keep it relevant to customers. This extensive overhaul swaps sheet metal and interior pieces to give the XC90’s relatively old bones a new, albeit familiar, look. Powering the updated XC90 is the same array of hybrid powertrains, with the B5 and B6 models opting for the mild-hybrid-assisted 2.0-liter I4 that generates 247 hp and 295 hp, respectively. Topping the chart is the plug-in hybrid T8 variant, that throws 455 hp to the wheels.On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren and Autoweek executive editor Tom Murphy put the 2025 Volvo XC90 T8 through its paces. Wren takes you on a guided tour of the updated Volvo XC90 and highlights some of the new design elements and features. Later, Wren takes you along for a live drive review. Adding to these segments, Wren chats with Murphy about their experiences in different versions of the updated XC90, how the refreshed Volvo is performing in the marketplace, and more. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Volvo XC90 special.