MAMA SPRING RALLY Mud and Motoring in Wisconsin

MAMA SPRING RALLY
Mud and Motoring in Wisconsin
By Steve Purdy, Senior Editor
TheAutoChannel.com

2025 MAMA Spring Rally Elkhart Lake, WI

Spring in Wisconsin, as many of our readers know, is the time and place for the Chicago-based Midwest Auto Media Association to gather its members with enough cars to keep them entertained for a couple days at the famous Road America race track and the nearby village of Elkhart Lake. Jaded journos, like me, have the option of experiencing eighty cars and light trucks on the race track, the twisty, scenic country roads, or on two sloppy-when-wet, off-road courses at the edge of the property. Spokespeople from the car makers come along to butter us all up.

We’ve become rather like a big family over the past three or four decades.

Surprises greet us each year at the MAMA Spring Rally, one of the best auto media events in the country. For example: Mercedes and Audi were absent this year but Rolls-Royce sent two cars; General Motors only sent a few vehicles – a GMC, a Buick, a Chevy, and a couple Cadillacs – but they sent no staff; the presentation of a preproduction version of the VW-backed rebirth of the Scout brand, a body-on-frame electric pickup, sort of an homage to the original International Scout; and, we’re seeing our first EV version of the Dodge Charger, a profound sacrilege in the view of some.

This year, I wanted to focus on the electrics and the electrified. Consumers are not yet convinced of the efficacy of the move toward electrification, but the government is and they have convinced, or coerced, or cajoled, the automakers into moving the needle that direction. The result is, we’re seeing here in Wisconsin, a lot of mighty compelling electrified options.

I’m not sure they’ll be selling in big numbers any time soon. As a self-proclaimed pundit, I’ll contend that electric cars, trucks, and other things vehicular, have a niche, or many niches, and those are growing, to be sure. The rate at which that increase happens, we believe, varies and has nearly plateaued at the moment.

A few examples of these compelling Evs:

Cadillac’s new Optiq, smaller than Lyriq, but closely akin, shares size and some styling ques with the XT4, but it’s a generation-and-a-half more sophisticated. Like many other luxury vehicles, Optiq features a beautiful, coarsely-woven fabric as trim material. But, the best thing about it is, unlike the usual barely-audible whine of most electrics, it makes a subtle, low grumbling noise when we get after it, like a motor working. It’s also fast and fun.

Polestar, the high-end electric cousin of Volvo (both under Chinese ownership), makes a small, simple but elegant sedan. Like many of the others there is no need for a ‘Start/Stop’ button. The car just senses when you get in or out with the fob. And, like many of the others, you only need one pedal to go and to stop. Just letting off the go-pedal engages the regeneration function in varying intensities even bringing the car to a full stop. The Polestar 3 is the most unembellished of its genre.

Lucid was at the cutting edge of fully-electric luxury sedans just a few years ago. Many others have now entered the luxury EV space. I recall being stunned by the futuristic edge it had when first presented here. Getting into it today gives me a different perspective: it’s still fast, futuristic, artful, but I don’t recall it being so low to the ground with such a low roofline. It’s a major challenge for anyone like me with a less-than-bendable spine to fold into the driver’s seat. I couldn’t duck enough to get in easily.

Volvo offers an EX90 full-electric and an XC90 plug-in hybrid - full-size, three-row crossovers that feel a bit small for the class. (I’ve not researched the volumes and dimensions). The PHEV XC90 can run on electrons for maybe 35 miles if you want it to. Then you just plug in for another load of those little buggers. If your typical daily drive is less than that, you’ll seldom or never need gas. The EX90 EV claims a range of about 300 miles (grain-of-salt included). The simple interior reflects a minimalist Scandinavian design aesthetic and will certainly take some getting used to.

The coolest EV of them all, is the VW ID Buzz, a modern interpretation of the quirky and lovable VW Bus of the 1960s. It has no engineering in common with its progenitor, only the retro styling. In my view, and that of my closest confidants, the ID Buzz is as lovable as the old one but way more practical as a full-electric, three-row crossover - as roomy, versatile, and functional as a soccer-mom van, with a bubbly personality.

Among the most impressive EVs are the trucks GM brought: a GMC Sierra EV pickup and an Escalade IQ luxury SUV. Think about what it takes to create a 9,000-pound truck that can do zero to 60 in 5 seconds. Breathtaking! Both feel disconcertingly squirmy on full throttle, sort of an undulating torque-steer in both directions. One colleague speculated that the Escalade at 150-grand is chasing Rolls-Royce. These amazing brutes are on a dedicated EV platform barely related to their ICE cousins. With huge batteries both have a range of around 500 miles and with adjustable regenerative braking we don’t need the brake pedal most of the time.

Our friends at Subaru presented the details of the new hybrid iteration of the popular Forrester crossover. As they pour on the tech they’re keeping the essence of the brand – full-time all-wheel drive and a boxer engine configuration. Personally, I miss the early days when Subaru styling and design were a bit quirky.

Carved into the woods and meadows at the southeast quadrant of the Road America property they’ve developed a couple muddy, rocky, undulating off-road tracks. A steady rain had soaked them for two full days by the time we dedicated journalists swarmed out there to play in that mud. The glacial soils in this part of Wisconsin turn to a thick, brown pudding punctuated by chunks of igneous rock when permeated with spring rains. A generous clay content in the soil means the more you stir it up the more slippery and dense it becomes. My plan was to start out with the most agile and capable off-roader and challenge the tougher route through the woods – a Jeep Wrangler on the Blue Course.

In four-wheel low, we (just me and the Wrangler) crept around a tight 90-degree twist to get onto the sloppy trail. Bouncing, and jouncing, and squirming, and wallowing we got through without even scraping a skid plate on the rocks that ominously stood all through the track looking as if we could get high-centered on one. The mud got deeper and the rocks more challenging as the rain continued to fall.

So how ‘bout the Green course for the less capable?

To experience the track with smaller rocks, I hopped into the plain-Jane, unenhanced Bronco. Green Course vehicles are the more mundane, with less ground clearance, less robust all-wheel drive systems, and less knobby tires. The Bronco did fine but just in front of me a BMW struggled and struggled to slog around a bend where the two trails meet and the mud is extra deep and thick. I don’t know if the problem was the tires or an inexperienced driver. The technique to getting through this mud and goo, by the way, is way different, and a bit counter intuitive much of the time, something you’re likely to acquire only with experience and a bit of instruction.

My final run was back through the Blue course in the biggest, most cumbersome of them all – the RAM RHO pickup. It felt like driving a bus through the course. On five occasions, beginning with the first sharp turn, a tree to go sharply around, I had to point the RAM drastically off the trail, trusting the muddy rut to push it sideways back into the line in order to miss the next obstacle while I gently goosed the throttle just enough to slide the back end wide of the tree. Essentially, I had to slip the brute sideways between trees and rocks. What a hoot!

If I tried to describe all the discoveries at Spring Rally you’d be reading here all day. I’ll just note a few trends we saw there.

Interior materials are trending toward high style and design with an artful execution while maintaining ever increasing functionality. We see many “floating” dash panels with instruments, entertainment, HVAC and features we never dreamed of, seeming to float above the dash. The new Lincoln Navigator, for example, features a full-width instrument panel and multi-function screen pushed way forward to the base of the windshield leaving such a broad dash surface you could lay out your entire picnic lunch out on it.

The importance of EV powertrain acoustics is beginning to be discovered by some automakers. As reported earlier, the Cadillac Optiq’s sound has been enhanced by the acoustic engineers with a subtle but gratifying grumble. The best acoustic enhancement, though, is in BMW’s iX xDrive 45 performance EV crossover. It makes a complex harmonic howl on full throttle; an artificial but musical sound like a symphony orchestra simulating the increasing whine of a turbine, volume increasing with speed. It was such an amazing sound I had to experience it over and over again on the back roads around the track. It was so much fun, I caught myself laughing out loud every time I put my foot in it.

So, let’s hear fewer complaints about cars all looking alike, or being forced into EVs against our will, or the astronomical costs. Cars and light trucks have never been so accessible, so durable and we’ve never had so many choices. If you look closely you’ll find plenty of design diversity as well.