If You Want to Space Jam, Here Are the Perfect Rides for Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny

In case anyone needs a reminder, the partner Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated comedy short film series was made between 1931 and 1969 by Warner Bros. They have become quite iconic ever since, mainly thanks to the universal appeal of the cast of characters, which included the legendary Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Marvin the Martian, Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzales, Silvester the Cat and Tweety, or Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, plus Yosemite Sam, among many others.

And I am telling you all this because this week's automotive novelties forced me - or at least my childhood imagination - to assign them some rides. I know, I know, some folks have more serious stuff to do, but let us be frank – sometimes, the automakers lend their vehicles to a little bit of innocent irony. So, without further ado, let us discuss the heroes I selected as my favorites of the past week – from a wacky perspective. Or from a Space Jam idea where the animated characters would come into our world instead of famous basketball players landing in theirs for an epic court game.

Anyway, we should start lightly with the 2024 Kia Seltos. The refreshed subcompact crossover SUV was invented by the expansive South Korean automaker not long ago, in mid-2019, as a way to further emphasize the company's desire to be part of the CUV hype – alongside models like the smaller Stonic, Soul, and Sonet or the bigger Niro, Sportage, Sorento, and Telluride. It has remained a go-between, treading the calmer waters below the popular Sportage, ever since – and might have represented a hard sell against the modern looks of its larger sibling if not for the recent facelift.

Now the 2024 Seltos is also available in the United States from a starting MSRP of $24,390, which is neither too small nor too big – just the right size for someone without a large family but with a cat and a bird as pets, for example. You know where I'm going with this, wink, wink, Granny – but that does not mean it's solely a vehicle for people like the animated Emma Webster old lady. Instead, it is more suited for the folks who are intrepid but also do not want to stand out in every crowd, so maybe the Sportage would be a bit too much for them.

I like that it does not think it should go after the 2024 Kia EV6 GT – which was just crowned as the 2023 World Performance Car of the Year – but can still keep up with the pace of modern crossovers if you select the 1.6-liter turbo mill with 195 ponies. Another advantage would be that even if you want the absolute cheapest 2024 Seltos LX with the 2.0-liter four-pot and 146 hp, you would still get standard all-wheel drive. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is quite rare, indeed, in the subcompact crossover SUV genre! The dreadful thing is that you still must churn out around $30k (with destination) if you want the slightly more rugged new X-Line trim so that you can pose as an urban adventurer.

Moving on, I became enamored all over again with Honda and Acura's fifth-generation Integra. The North American iteration, sold under the posher banner, might be a glorified Honda Civic Si acting as the successor to the bland and forgettable Acura ILX sedan. Yes, it could also be a tardive five-door liftback trying to escape the fate of passenger cars going the way of the dodo because of CUVs, SUVs, and trucks! But that is all attributable to the 'normal' $31,300 premium sport compact sedan. On the other hand, Acura just showed us the first images and revealed the initial juicy details about the 2024 Acura Integra Type S, a sibling to the FL5-generation Honda Civic Type R Hot Hatch.

And while some detractors will say it's only marginally more powerful than its brother when packing 320 hp, they should also remember that the engine can churn out 325 ponies in European and Japanese Civic Type R variants without too much engineering fuss. So, maybe, just maybe, they will think about adding a high-performance flagship on top of that to end the bad word of mouth. If not, no worries, as the aftermarket realm will be more than happy to take the widebody Integra Type S and tune it beyond belief to make it a proper monster with a six-speed stick shift!

That way, it could efficiently act as Bugs Bunny's ride. And I am using its likeness because this ride too seems feeble and puny at first, then suddenly you find out that it can easily outsmart you on nothing but carrots and the occasional "What's up, doc?" Anyway, that brings us to the last chapter of our wacky cars-for-animated-characters discussion, which is something you may never unsee – just like it probably will happen to me.

From now on, every time I check out a 738-horsepower plug-in hybrid full-size BMW XM Label Red crossover SUV, I will only think about the fact that its front end resembles Porky Pig's character more than it should and will not stop laughing aloud for a couple of minutes, or so. Seriously. I do not know about you, but I think some of BMW's designers were too long in the relaxation room watching Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies… So, for the moment, "Th-Th-The, Th-Th... That's all, folks!"