Cool Cars with Chris: Car Talk, Driving Tips & Auto Life Oct 13, 2025

004 | We Both Failed Our Driving Tests?! + Dream 3-Car Garages (Ford vs Infiniti)

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Lamborghini Gallardo

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On today's episode of Cool Cards with Chris,

we have Courage returning back to the show, better than ever.

Hi to man for this guy.

And we're talking about how both of us, ironically,

both have failed our driver's license test.

Yes, you'll hear that story, plus you'll hear our picks

for the three best cars we would choose

if we got to fill our personal garage. Let's go.

Courage and Chris and Cars is officially the CCC. Check that out.

CCC Club. I take it.

In the house. How you doing, Nate Courage?

I'm doing good, man. I'm doing awesome.

This is fantastic. Our first podcast recording.

Are you nervous?

No, not too much.

Becoming beforehand, it was a little bit,

okay, I got to make sure I'm on my game and talk like a person,

but now I'm feeling good about it.

That's fantastic. So I like cars. You love cars.

What guy really doesn't love cars?

I don't know. I don't want to know that person, but cars are great.

Let me ask you this.

What age were you held for you when you got your driver's license?

Because some people get it older, younger. How old are you?

So I guess you can say my learner's permit, I guess,

the word you're actually able to drive is you had to be in the car with someone right at 16.

It was like, it was the goal when I turned 16 to get that.

And I can probably say this now because that's your limitation.

But my parents let me drive around with it.

Like I drove myself to school.

Like I went out with my friends and everything.

Like my dad drove me to school every once in a while.

He drove with me and drove the car back.

But that was when I got that, it was like my ticket to kind of start getting behind the

wheel more. So I would say like around 16 was where I was,

was a citizen driving on the road of the Bay Area.

And you had your driver's license at 16 then?

Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. I had mine too, also at 16.

But let me tell you, I did not get studied very well for the test

because I failed the written test three times.

And then I had to take it a fourth time, come back another day and reschedule and

take it a fourth time. I finally passed it for the permit.

And I didn't do a ton of like behind the wheel training.

I did some a little bit here and there, but not a lot, I think.

And so when it came time to actually do the actual test, I failed that too.

I failed my driver's license test.

So what got me on the driver's license test, what actually failed me was,

of course, I was super nervous.

You're 16 years old.

Someone's grading you and judging you while you're trying to drive.

You're trying to figure out how to use the car and you're trying to figure out,

remember all the different rules and what to do and how to do it and all that kind of stuff.

Not only that, but there was a section where we were driving down a road

and as you have two lanes, they kind of like merge into one lane

and they have that sign that says this lane's ending, merging to the one to your left.

And I didn't do anything.

I just kept on cruising straight and I didn't even like, look, I didn't even signal.

I didn't even like acknowledge there was a car coming or anything.

And so because of that, she failed me.

It was an automatic.

Yeah.

She says, I was like, as you were saying that, trying to figure out like,

yeah, what would be like, what's the rule?

I guess, like we kind of know now, but like, what were they expecting you to do?

But it's just funny.

Well, I think when it comes to driving, because I've had to do this again

for my commercial license and had to do the same kind of deal.

But with the commercial license, there's so many more tests you have to do.

There's like, if I remember correctly, it's been a while,

but I think there was like three different phases before you even get into the truck

to do the actual driving test, you know, like pass each phase.

And so it kind of goes in stages.

And so when I finally got to the driving portion, I was very nervous too.

And I think they actually marked me down in the driving portion

because I was going too slow.

And I was always figuring that slower is better than going too fast

because if you're speeding in a truck, that's bad.

So I was going a little slower than the speed limit, I guess, maybe,

and he kind of marked me down for that.

But I think as you're new, and I remember when I was training to be a driver,

they were teaching us, you know, don't speed and, you know,

keep control over the weight and that kind of stuff.

But yeah, I failed my actual driving, my regular car license.

Well, you'll be glad to hear that I did.

I actually failed my first driving test, my physical driving test as well.

Oh, what'd you get?

What'd you fail for?

So mine was a no-turn-on-red sign.

There was a corner we came up to, and I still, to this day,

hold to the fact that it was not a very well-placed sign.

There was a tree.

It was kind of just angled at this way where,

as literally as I was inching forward, I saw the sign.

But it's just too late at that point to just stop in the intersection

so you just have to go.

And I just, in the corner of my eye, saw the lady.

She was like, because she let us know, there's certain things

that if you do that, that's a mark, but it's not an automatic bell.

But I knew when she started writing that that one was going to be the automatic bell.

So my first one was off of a no-turn-on-red sign, basically.

No way.

Yeah.

So now I'm really particular about when I see those.

And I get extra frustrated at people that honk at you at a no-turn-on-red.

Yeah, that's the thing.

It literally says it right there, a no-turn-on-red.

But what gets me is the, if someone's sitting on a green light

and I like to give them the honk or whatever they get mad about that,

because they're on their phone, it's still illegal, as far as I know, to use your phone,

like physically be using your phone while you're driving.

Right?

Yeah.

I think it is.

It is.

Yeah.

I mean, I still claim, and to be, yeah, it definitely still is.

So for somebody to get mad about you letting them know that they're

one doing something wrong and holding up traffic is just pretty funny.

Dude, but they get so mad though.

They get so pissed.

Like nobody likes being told what to do.

No.

And nobody likes being told, like especially if they're doing something wrong

and they know they're doing something wrong,

but they're mad about something anyways, you know, they're pissed off too.

And so, I mean, being out there driving, you see a lot of the crazies.

You see a lot of people doing all kinds of crazy things.

But the one thing I do see a lot is the cell phone stuff.

If you're stuck in traffic, I would almost guarantee that like almost every other car

around you in that traffic jam is on their phone, hands on their phone,

just looking at their stuff.

Every time it is the law.

But I mean, I don't know how many cops are given tickets for that stuff.

Maybe they are.

Maybe they're not.

But maybe people have really evolved.

That could be it too.

People have evolved to where they know how to kind of split, how to catch cops

in there, see a cop and put the phone down or whatever to catch them, that kind of stuff.

But there are idiots out there too.

Idiots with anything.

Yeah, too bad.

But I imagine that was probably another byproduct of COVID though, too.

If I'm going to pull somebody over, it's going to be for something.

If it's a phone thing, I'm probably not going to do it.

And it's probably gotten to the point where they're letting that slide a lot more than

they were in the past.

But at the end of the day.

Well, it depends too.

I think if you're stuck in a traffic jam on a major freeway and you've got five lanes

across and everyone's stuck and everybody's in traffic, what are they going to do?

Unless you happen to be right next to them.

Yeah.

I've seen a lot of videos on Instagram.

Instagram is kind of my go-to for all these short form videos.

I see these ones where these guys are taunting cops and all these cop videos or cops are like,

you know, arresting people or pulling people over or a lot of the ones where the guys will

have the cameras mounted on the car and they'll like do this whole like video where the cops

kind of next to them or following them or whatever.

And then they'll rev their engine to kind of taunt the cop and the cop will chase them or

whatever. I don't know.

Just like it's all content.

There was a guy in New York City.

I don't know if you remember this probably a year or two ago that had this whole channel

chasing cops or chasing.

Do you remember what I'm talking about?

Was it the black Corvette, the ghost Corvette?

I don't remember what kind of car it was.

But it was like filmed in the DGI like 360 cam kind of style.

Yeah.

And they were just cops are chasing them.

He was dodging, you know, running out chasing cops or running around chasing or whatever.

I thought they actually caught the guy.

Yeah.

Because it sounds like that because I think it might have been that guy because it was,

yeah, he was just known.

And it was this whole like lore about like this dude with this just like blacked out.

I think it was a Corvette.

It might have been something else.

But it was, yeah, it was a whole lore of this guy like, you know,

where he would hang out and like what were his routes and all of these things.

And yeah, that was his whole premise.

Just for content, just for views for clicks for whatever.

So people do crazy things for clicks and, you know, I mean cars, I mean, I love cars, dude.

And far as cars go, you were mentioning earlier about if you had to choose

a three car garage, you had to fill it with three separate kind of cars.

What kind of cars would they be and why?

Yeah.

And particularly I wanted to kind of limit it to a single brand of cars.

Oh, single.

So basically you're saying all Hyundai's, all Ford's, all Chevy's, all Toyotas.

Yeah.

Interesting.

So I thought it would be an interesting question because it brings in the question of what company

has kind of made a decent range of cars that people can pick and build like a,

their ideal garage from.

So that was where, that was where I was kind of going with that one.

I wanted to see if we kind of see what your stance was on that.

Well, I guess it kind of depends.

I've kind of been a Ford guy, I guess.

I've also been a Nissan guy myself too.

So I've kind of, those are two, two companies I've really have purchased vehicles from,

I've owned vehicles from.

I'm trying to think about owning anything else.

Yeah.

Because I have two in mind.

So I'd be curious to like what you're to and then obviously whether the three cars

in that, in that realm that would fit that where, where like one sports car,

you know, ideally two-door sports car, one, I'd say either SUV or truck, you know,

maybe you don't need a full-on three-year-old SUV, but a truck or something that's like

heavy duty.

And then just like what would be the daily?

Like just, I'm getting in to just go grab some groceries and things.

Like what would that be?

And so I'm curious.

Well, did they all have to be the same brand?

That ideally, yeah.

Because I mean, you can maybe jump brands if they're like under the same umbrella,

if you wanted to.

Well, I mean, I know, I know Fords.

I've driven, I drive a Ford F-150 pickup and I know the Ford lineup fairly well.

So I guess staying with Ford by itself, shout out to Ford, possibly a sponsor,

maybe, maybe not, we'll see.

But anyways, Ford.

Jim Farley is a cool guy.

So he might actually do something like that.

Yeah.

I got him a, I got a speed dial.

Let me call him up real quick.

Hang on.

Oh, no, but, but I guess to stay with the lineup, I guess I've always loved the

Shelby Mustangs, of course.

Yeah.

A big Shelby guy.

I've been to the Shelby place in Vegas a few times.

Oh, nice.

You've been there?

The one in Vegas?

I haven't, no.

Oh gosh.

They have a museum and they've all the cars and the races and they've got like a,

like a museum.

We go in there and see all the cars, like a car show.

And then you go behind, they have a tour where you actually see them building

all the performance stuff on the cars in the back.

We went back there too.

Not just cars, but they do trucks too, of course, and Broncos and all I'm sure

now too.

But I would say, gosh, I mean, I love the problem with the garage though.

I found this out having a lifted truck is that trucks barely fit in the garage.

They won't kin the garage.

I know this firsthand because my other truck was, which was an F-150 crew cab.

It was, I called it Silver Bullet because it was, they called it the chrome and tow package.

It was all chromed out with chrome rims and grill and chrome.

All that has all towed for towing and stuff, but it wasn't lifted or anything.

It had like the normal two-wheel drive.

And so it barely fit in my garage in my old house.

In fact, it barely fit.

I had to get the thing within three inches of the back wall to get the door to close.

To be able to close, yeah.

And I had this whole like system.

I got this like radar system thing I bought at Home Depot, like that went in your garage.

It helped you like stop, like you got close enough kind of a thing.

And there's a lot of times I kind of hit the wall, but whatever didn't go too bad.

But anyways, I think barely fit and barely fit by the height.

I actually had to get a smaller like antenna because the antenna was getting

clipped in the ceiling and stuff.

So I had to go with those smaller nubbier like antennas for the thing.

So that's for the F-150, which it can fit barely.

Yeah.

Now, now that is a great truck.

I mean, it is great because what I love about my Ford F-150 and why I love it,

the other one too was that if you've been in other like crew cab full-size trucks,

they all kind of are similar, but a lot of them are all kind of different.

They all have their quirks that are a little different.

One of the F-150 is that it's been a big seller for so many years.

It's very popular truck.

People love it or they hate it, whatever.

It's never perfect.

In fact, my other F-150 did need a whole new engine replaced,

which was covered in warranty.

Oh, wow, during warranty.

Yeah.

It was about 40,000 miles.

It kept blowing oil, oil could disappearing or whatever.

And then so they did a microscopic check and they said the oil was going

through the piston rings.

I think it was.

So they got a whole new block or whatever.

Ford took care of it.

But that being said, that's fine.

But the one thing I do love about the F-150, the crew cab anyways,

is that in the back section, the back seats in the very back where you sit,

they fold up and out of the way and the actual back seat area is completely flat.

If you look at the other trucks, the Chevys, the Toyotas, the whatever,

and look at all the other companies, full-size trucks like that, their back seat section

has got that hump for the differential that kind of like divides between the

two passengers in the back seat.

There's a hump in the middle.

But F-150, the Ford, people at Ford have figured out a way that they've kind of

redesigned the frame so that it's flat like a cargo van back there,

completely flat all the way across.

And I absolutely love that because the seats go up.

It's completely flat.

It's like an entire like cargo section in the back seat back there,

which you can stack boxes, totes, whatever you want,

lay it flat, slide it across.

It's great for that kind of stuff.

Now, as far as like my sports car, I guess I'm sticking with Ford,

probably Mustang, Shelby, or even the Shelby GT350.

That's a good one.

Those, I love those ones too.

Or even a really nicely equipped like 5.0 or like maybe Roush makes

the ones too, speaking of Roush, my truck is a Roush.

So Roush Mustang, 5.0, those are great too.

You could go later gen versus like some of the elders.

And it doesn't have to be super specific, but like just, yeah,

like do you feel like you'd be more on like the later gen

cap Mustangs versus like the, you know, say pre-2005,

like redesigned ones, like the 90s, anything of that sort.

You're talking like Foxbody now?

Foxbody or like the Cobra, like the, was it, I can't remember them by

like Essen, whatever they were, but the, the one after that,

which was more of like the bubbly shaped, like, you know, Cobra.

Yeah, the nose looks like a bullet in front of a bullet.

Yeah. Yeah, I liked that model when it came out.

And I liked the one right after that.

It was kind of took that same design and like chiseled it out a little bit.

I kind of like that design.

That was one of my favorites when it came out.

And then of course, when the 05 Mustang came out,

it had that like iconic flashback design.

And that's when the retro design happened with the Camaro

and with the Challenger.

And so that was like a big thing back in the mid 2000s,

was like super popular.

And so I kind of, I kind of dug that too.

I really liked that, that whole thing too.

And then, but like the thing we got from me was that

like when the Nissan Z came out, the 350Z came out,

and even the 370 came out, it was like pushing horsepower

numbers that were, that were doing better than the V8 Mustang.

And I was like, holy crap, I got a V6.

It's pushing out better numbers than a V8 Mustang than a V8.

And I'm like, that's crazy.

Wow.

So, but, but sticking with Ford, I would say probably,

probably something newer, I would say, just because I like the 5.0 platform,

the new 5.0, because I have the 5.0 in my truck,

so I'm familiar with the platform.

So the new 5.0 would probably be anything, probably 2012, 13-ish.

Well, the new design in 2015.

So let's just say the new design,

but then that was the newer design now.

Now that I have a brand new one, this came out, new, new, new design.

I keep you, you know.

But anything in that realm of kind of that, like later,

later 5.0, yeah, like 2015 and up, that's kind of,

that's kind of the camp of it sounds like.

Yeah, those 5.0 engines, I've watched a YouTuber on it recently

and they were talking about like, it's one of the best V8s you can buy.

It's most reliable.

It's got tons of potential.

People are swearing they can get 1000 horsepower of that thing,

turbos and whatever, but that it's built very well.

It gets lots of power for considerably how small it is.

It's a V8, it's 5.0, but compared to like Chevy's 5.3 or whatever,

it gets fairly good power out of it.

Four dodges in there, there's six twos.

Like, I mean, you know, those are just monsters,

but it does fairly well for what it is.

And it's supposed to be fairly reliable knock on wood.

But I mean, as far as the SUV goes, I mean, I like the Bronco.

I've always loved, I wanted a Bronco.

Broncos are big too.

They barely fit in the garage.

If you get like a Raptor version.

Yeah, if you get a Raptor, that's pretty tough.

Dude, I saw like four of them like last week, four Raptors.

I thought one today, a Raptor Broncos driving on the neighborhood.

I thought they were like unicorns, but now I'm seeing them a lot.

When they first came out, I was looking about online for Raptor Broncos

and they were like 30, 50 grand over sticker prices.

So, but people love those though.

I mean, they, you know, they, they love the Raptor just with the F-150.

And they, you know, I mean, still older first gen Raptors

are still like holding some pretty solid values.

They are. I was looking at them.

I was looking for those.

Yeah. They're like, even gen ones are like, I mean, it depends on the mileage.

It depends on the year and mileage.

I mean, even with a lot of miles,

it's still going to get you like 20 grand probably.

Yeah. You would think at this point that you could probably get,

you know, get one of those floating around the 10s or something,

but like people, people love those.

And they've, they've just kept it going with the, you know, with the Bronco Raptor.

And I even saw a Ranger Raptor.

Yes. Yeah, me too.

In Vegas. Yeah. So they just got that ticket.

Yeah. Just throw a Raptor on it and do some things.

But they do more than just throw them.

I, yeah, that's true.

The full on suspension is, is upgraded.

And, and they, they really put some engineering into those Raptors,

especially like the Bronco.

And I heard that the Bronco Raptor,

it's actually just as wide as the full size F-150 Raptor, like wheel to wheel.

Okay. Well, so if you took them side by side, so far as like parking goes,

like that's the thing, my truck, it's kind of wide with the tires and everything.

So I know like parking is an issue when you drive anything big like that.

And I can like an imagine, you know, especially in the city.

So, but that's kind of like, I love the rural drive, power performance, fun kind of cars.

I mean, I, there's a place for minivans.

There's a place for like, you know, sedans and things like that.

And I get that or whatever.

Yeah.

EVs or hybrids or whatever.

And I get that.

I mean, I guess I, I guess I would, if I was like an Uber driver, maybe or something.

Or if I had, I had to commute forever in a day to work every day or something or some,

or maybe if I hated cars.

If I just hated life.

And I was like, I just need something to give me somewhere.

I think those are solid choices though.

I think we talked about this before too, is I feel like we kind of represent

some slightly different camps on, on car choices, which is not a bad thing at all.

Like I think all in all, like I think that's, that's how I like,

that's how I like meeting people is, you know, we might have a difference in maybe

what we gravitate to.

But at the end of the day, we got a common interest in cars.

And I feel like we're maybe on that side of things where, you know, I'm,

I'm maybe a little bit more on the smaller, like, you know, not EVs, but, you know,

the smaller, the four cylinder V six, you know, cars, you know, all will drive,

maybe front wheel drive.

I do love rear wheel drive cars.

So I don't, I don't want to say that I don't enjoy those.

I love rear wheel drive cars.

But, but I, but I also kind of drift to that camp of front wheel drive

because it's been pretty interesting what they've been able to do with those,

those small displacement, two liter, two and a half liter turbo cars over the last,

you know, decade or so, just the amount of power and amount of handling they can pull

out of those.

But yeah, I think it's always cool to kind of have folks, they have kind of slightly

different camps on the cars that they gravitate to.

So what is your, what is your three?

Yeah.

No, I mean, mine really funny enough, it would, it would be a kind of camp

between Nissan and Infinity to be totally honest.

Same thing.

So yeah.

And I decided to just, you know, be true to the topic.

And if I chose one stick with it, but Infinity will probably be my one, my brand.

And in terms of cars, I would choose the, my, my two door or my fun sports car

would actually be the, the G 37, the G 37 S particularly.

Okay.

That same as the 370, right?

Well, same as 370, they did make a special version

that I think was either a one or two year option though.

And it was a, it was an IPL version.

It came in like this purple kind of iridescent color.

And it actually had some power upgrades that were a little bit over the stock,

like the stock G 37s and the, in the, what do you call it, the 370.

And so those, they're, they're kind of unicorns because you can never find them.

Even though coincidentally, the guy that works across the street at the bank

that's right across the street from my house has one.

But outside of that, I like never see him.

And so they made it in a six B manual and they made a convertible, convertible version too.

So that would be my choice is like the two door fun sports car.

Cause I just feel like it would have that unique story,

kind of unicorn like, and, and those things move.

I mean, you had a 370, so you know, but they're, they're fun cars.

They're quick cars and they're also comfortable cars that you can see yourself

driving a lot in the Infinity versions, like the plush version of Z.

So the Z was harsh and it was tight and the suspension was tight

and it was low. You know, like practically sit your butt on the ground,

like just to get in there and all of that.

Where I'm imagining the Infinity version is more like a sedan car.

A little bit, a little bit plushier for sure.

But yeah, that'll be the two door car for me.

The daily, weirdly enough, would still be an SUV,

even though I was toying between this because they, there's,

this is kind of two fold.

They have, they had the Q 70, which they actually called the Q 56

at a certain point before Infinity kind of lost their mind

and went in different directions with naming and all that.

But the Q 50, the Q X 56 was basically that sort of,

that it was the SUV crossover that they had,

but they put the big, the big like our mod of like V8 in it.

The 5.6.

Yeah. Yeah.

So they, they had a, and this was actually the sedan version they had.

It was the, it was the, I'm forgetting it now.

I'm blanking on it, but they had a sedan version that had that

5.6 liter V8 in it.

And I drove one of those a few years ago and that thing was just

absolutely ridiculous.

Like it, they had like 430 horsepower.

But it's not like really a long, like suburban, right?

No.

Because suburban are like, I just like that,

but they're like very long, like a bus.

No, they're actually pretty short wheelbase.

Like a Tahoe, I guess.

I would say even shorter than that.

Okay.

Yeah.

The Q X's were, they, they were on the,

they had basically the same underpinnings as like the Z and the 370 and all of those.

Okay.

But they, but they just had the SUV body over it.

And so they were, that's like unicorn too.

I like never ever see those.

Like the, the later gen with the 5 liter V8 that they actually switched to,

they only made that V8 for that car.

And it was an SUV.

It had paddle shifters and things like that.

Paddle shifters and SUV like that size.

Paddle shifters.

Yeah.

It had downs, they had the downshift rev matching and everything.

I gotta show your picture.

Cause I think it, I think when you see it,

you'll realize like these are actually a little smaller than, than you expect.

But that would be-

What I think of, when you say that, what I think of is the Nissan had the Murano.

And then infinity had like a version of the Murano,

which kind of like Murano, but it was like infinity version of it.

Oh, that was different.

Yeah.

That was, cause yeah, the Murano was, yeah, kind of that weird, like the,

those were a little bit different.

But it was about the same size as that though.

Okay.

It was, it was, it was kind of the same size as like the Murano,

but it had a big V8 in it and it was all a drive.

So, it was back when Nissan was kind of just willing to take some risks and do some things.

Nissan was really killing it.

That's the year I had my Nissan Frontier bought it, 2005, brand new.

And I specifically told the, told the dealership, I want it to be single,

I want to be crew cab or a king cab, stick shift and the big V6.

And so that's what I got and I lost you there.

But with Nissan, I remember there were some, there were some years like during that whole

like mid 2000s where I think the Nissan was really killing it.

And that's when I bought my truck in, and I wanted this, Z was doing great.

Nissan has some great years, a lot of great cars came out.

They had to change the maximum.

They had the new Frontier.

They had a new Titan truck was, was killing it.

And which is a complete total gas hog, by the way.

If you get those new, those Titans ones back then, I was looking at,

the funny thing is before I bought the man for 150, I was looking at Titans back then.

And, and I was like, man, these Titans are getting horrible gas mileage.

I look at the numbers compared to anything else.

Like they're horrible gas mileage.

And everybody's got them.

I guess everybody loves them.

I don't know.

But, but now Nissan, I don't know.

They're, I don't know.

It's a weird, both Nissan and Infinity is a weird place that they're in right now.

But they, they had a heyday really between that, like early 2000s to like mid 2015s timeframe,

where they, they just were, they were willing to do stuff.

And they were actually kind of hitting the mark on a lot of different things, you know.

And, and yeah, I mean, that was, I was, I'm definitely going to send you a picture though,

because I was actually, that's why that kind of happened.

I screwed, I looked over to see if I can find a picture of these,

but like the design of these were always like so quirky back then,

like the FX 50 and the, I had an FX 45, which was the first generation.

And then they switched it to the Q70 where they had a VA version,

but they didn't designate it differently as the V6 version that still had the same V6 as the Z did.

But then that's just when they went off the rails and they stopped making the VA version after

like two years.

And, and they, they stopped in that crossover segment really at the time where they should

have kept going because that was the time when the Urus came out.

And the, the Cayenne, the Cayenne really continued to be popular throughout that.

And like everybody had a kind of smaller crossover SUV,

but then Infinity said, yeah, we're done with this segment.

We're just going to do other things.

And I just don't know why it's funny.

And like, you know, you drive, you drive a Hyundai and Hyundai,

I think they've got like, how many SUVs in their lineup?

They, yeah.

They have a lot.

Yeah.

It's like, it's like how many, I mean, it's easier to point out how many cars they have,

a little SUVs they have.

I mean, I think it's all SUVs and cars.

Well, they had a truck, they had that one truck they have.

It's like an SUV truck thing was like Santa Cruz.

The Santa for, yeah, the Santa, yeah, Santa Cruz.

Yep.

And I saw that it's supposed to be the competitor to the Ford Maverick,

which is like a front wheel drive.

Oh, I never really even put those together actually, but that's a good point.

Well, it is the straight competitor.

The front wheel, their front wheel drive, quote, trucks and trucks,

trucks supposed to be rural drive, but their front wheel drive trucks, both of them,

designed to get around town for like, you know, grocery getter can park in downtown,

that kind of stuff, hauling here and there, like hauling in the bed if you want to.

Throw a bicycle back there, whatever.

Maybe that's about it kind of a thing.

But, but, you know, I mean, Hyundai, you know, they've got a lot of cool SUVs.

And I think they really, they doubled down and Kia too, same company,

but they doubled down a lot of the SUV lineup because they realized

sometime around the mid 2000s, I'm guessing, maybe even earlier,

everybody started switching to SUVs, like many vans are at the door and nobody wants those.

And it's all SUV, SUV, everything.

And then they're like, well, we'll just make a bunch of different front wheel drive SUVs,

different, like probably keep the same frame and some same chassis for like a bunch of milk

carryover. And they're just slap on different, a different body on with different,

you know, bells and whistles or whatever.

Yeah. And I mean, that's, that's honestly what Nissan was doing before.

They, they, they gotten that down of kind of coming up with like a base frame

and just building off of that, just building a couple of different models off of that.

And yeah, Hyundai's definitely, they, they leaned into that as well.

And I heard something that they're planning to kind of start doing

like a body on frame truck.

Yeah, SUV version of it too.

Yeah. I mean, that's going to be pretty cool.

I don't see why not. I mean, might as well, I guess, if you can, you can, but

so you're sticking with infinity.

What would be the truck would be the four would be the Nissan frontier would be the, the Titan.

So I would end up, so that's why I kind of pose this as either truck or SUV

with my kind of situation. Me, I want that third row.

And so I would probably actually lean more on the, the SUV kind of laying on that.

But you can, you know, about the QX 80s, right? The, the basically the Armada, the infinity version

of that, those, those things are like, they're bulletproof.

They got a big old VA like with 400 horsepower.

They got, they're all will drive in like the, the limited models actually have like

locking diffs and some other things too.

So you can actually kind of take that on some light.

You know, the ground clearance isn't really there, but you can take it off

roading a little bit and get to some, you know, kind of challenging, challenging spaces

and they're cheap. They like, I mean, you can find like 2015, 2016 QX 80s for probably like in the

like high 10s, like, you know, getting close. Like if you want a really nice one,

you can probably pay about 20 or 25, but you can find some pretty well kept ones,

maybe like higher mileage because people drive them a lot.

Road trips, I'm assuming, you know, a lot of like highway miles for sure.

Right.

But you can find them for really decent prices and, and they're going to run forever.

Like that, those, similar to like kind of the four V eights and the five liter and everything,

they, the Nissan has been using those V eights for so long and they're in like the Nissan

Patrol, which I mean, people use those out in like these crazy remote places to go to

all these like different, you know, play that those engines have to be reliable.

And so that to me is like the perfect, like I need this to like haul people around in,

maybe go off road and occasionally and not just like break the bank and need like a huge

six figure SUV. I, that would be my choice for sure. But if I needed a truck, I'd probably

have to break the rule and probably go like, you know, say, say a Tundra or something.

Even the Tacomas are expensive too. Like I was looking up Tacomas, Tacomas had

Costco last weekend, they have them on display sometimes. And it was like a four wheel drive

crew cab. I mean, nothing crazy fancy. I think, I don't know their model lineup,

but it seemed like a middle of the road model lineup version. And I think it was still like

55 grand. Yeah. So, I mean, that wasn't even their full size. We're talking the midsize

truck here. And I mean, they do hold their value though. We try to find a used Toyota

Tacoma or used Toyota pickup truck. They're usually are pretty high, even with high mileage.

Dude, I saw one at Christopher. I saw one that was like early nineties Toyota pickup truck

and it had like 280,000 miles. The guy wants to, wants five grand for it.

To mention if you, well, yeah.

You know, like, like, you're getting to the point where you're at least probably

going to have to do a pretty big reveal on that. Well, I don't know. They said

those motors run forever. Every, you know, praises those engines for running forever.

And I was kind of wondering if there's any kind of like conspiracy theory about how car manufacturers

like time when engines fail so that they can have you buy another one.

German cars. I'll just say those are just like electronics and turnt singles and sensors

galore. Yeah. Let's say never buy a BMW with over like 60,000 or never buy one

with 100,000 on it. Yeah. Unless, unless you're really into that kind of thing.

Well, that's what I'm saying. Like you got to really be invested in it because I mean,

I know guys like with the, you know, like the E39 BMW and fives, like that's like kind of one

of the like holster poster cars for a lot of people, but like the sedan, the M5 of that

generation. Right. And I know some guys, yeah, with like 150, 100, you know, close to 200,000

miles on those, but they have put a lot of money, sweat and tears into keeping that car on the road,

just because they love it. Like they're just, they're invested in it. But if it's like, if you

even have a semblance of like, I don't want to be spending every dime I have on my car, then

don't do it. I knew a guy I work with who bought a BMW and it was an M, it was an, it was an

M package. It wasn't even like the M version. It was like an M badge one or something they

did. I don't know. So basically it was like had like an M appearance, but it wasn't an M,

but it was a five series. And so he got, he thought it was great. Loved it, but I'm like,

where's your car? I was in the shop. Where's your car? I was in the shop. Where's your car?

It's in the shop. Really. Eventually I think he's got rid of the thing and they traded it.

He was complaining so much. I think he got rid of the thing, but at first he's

all excited. It was a used BMW with about like 30,000 miles on or whatever, maybe

more than that. I don't know. But, but yeah, I mean, that's what I hear about

used BMWs is or Mercedes probably the same problem too. Is that, you know, these German cars or

I mean, so many technology, you had so much technology to a car. There's so many little

things that, you know, go wrong and more things to break and more issues you're going to have.

And I used to watch some YouTube car guys that were complaining about those different cars,

you know, they say, never buy used Porsche, never buy used BMW, never buy used Mercedes,

never buy used Audi, you know, those things. I feel like it's, yeah, like you said,

there's definitely some ones to steer away from. If it's like, if it's, if you're looking for some

level of reliability, you know, I feel like sometimes as like when you're, again, when you're

really into certain cars and, you know, again, if that's, if that's, if you know that it's

going to be a project and you're willing to take that on and you, and honestly, if you know

somebody that can really help you through it, like that, I wouldn't shy people away from

it. Like I, I mean, I would love to have like an E35 or what do you call it, the AMG?

Oh, well, I love, yeah. I mean, all the C63s, like the E63 wagon, like, you know, all those

AMGs, like they, they take the cake for a lot of things. But, you know, I just have to kind of go,

if I were to ever go down that road, it would just, you would have to know that

this isn't going to be easy. It's not going to be your daily driver either too.

I think most people who buy that say buy like a second or third hand, you know, BMW, for example,

you know, it's got maybe 50 to 80,000 miles on it and they pick it up for 10 grand.

And like, I got a BMW for 10 grand. Yeah. It's been like, you know, check this out, ladies,

I got a BMW and you're like pushing it, you know, or, or whatever, you know,

something happens or whatever. And I think that's a thing is that, because my son was

looking at cars, he's in the age where he's looking to buy his first car and you're looking

at cars and he's looking at BMWs. Oh, these are like 10 grand. Wow. Yeah. But there's a reason.

There's a reason. Yeah. But, but yeah, I mean, that's, that's kind of why I lean towards that,

that Nissan camp. But just, you know, I know that those, those three would be, you know,

if you got them in the right, you know, the right state, obviously, you, you be,

you know, you be in some decent reliability. They wouldn't cost you that much. I mean,

that would be like a, you know, probably 40 grand, you know, option to say to go out,

if you were to buy like nice versions of those three cars, like you could probably do that for

under 40 grand. Like, which is crazy to think that like you can barely buy a new car for 40 grand

these days. Right. At least something decent. I mean, most cars are, I mean, I mean,

my car was 40, like, pretty much, pretty much out the door. The end was 40, like, you know,

with taxes and everything. And so, you know,

That's not bad. That's not bad. I mean, I thought, yeah, I thought they're like,

well, yeah, I think the taxes, they're like 30, I think you're 36.

Yeah. Like 36, 36 MSRP when I was looking at it. And yeah, out the door. Yeah. It was like,

right. And so, I mean, for, you know, that's for like a fun car, but still like does a lot

of things. That's it. That's it. Your car, your car is literally like, it's the ultimate

grocery getter. Yeah. I mean, you can do it.

I can still take it to the track.

Yes. You can do all that stuff. You can't really do that with like a sports, a two door,

like a, you know, Porsche or something like that. I mean, yeah, maybe a Cayenne or a Macon.

Yeah. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. That's why I made those kind of cars for those kinds of things.

And the, like my Z, like, I remember going to Costco, my Z and I'd be shopping on Costco

and have my Z in the parking lot. I realized, Oh crap, I can't buy all this stuff.

There's certain things I can't buy. I'm like, how am I going to fit this in

the car? How am I going to fit it in the car? You know, I mean, as long as it was just by

myself, I can use the passenger seat to put stuff on and in the back and stuff like that.

But in my, in my Z, it had a, from the previous owner, they put that sound system in the, in the

my Z. So it had like a speaker box in the back of the car, like a subwoofer in the back.

So it took up a good chunk of it. That just took away everything.

It took it all, but it took a good chunk of the space to take it up.

Yeah. And it was just fine, whatever, but the, but you go to Costco and buy stuff and,

and things of that sort. So, so it is tricky. You have to really know your use case.

When you buy a car, and I think having a car that can kind of fit multiple purposes like your car,

that you can, you can drive it, fun stick shift, you know, throw the gears around and you can really

race it and do fun stuff. At the same time, you can go to Costco, go on a road trip, you know,

do, do whatever you got to do. And it kind of, you know, fits both, both worlds, I guess.

And I think it's kind of cool that it does that.

Yeah. There's, there's not a, there's done, there's not a lot that really kind of do that

well. And I mean, just, just crazy to think that Hyundai is, is, is the culprit to pulling,

pulling that together. But yeah, I mean, I will say though, on a Costco run, there are limits in

terms if we're getting paper towels, like toilet paper and another big box situation,

that's usually the limit of where we're like, okay, like anything else needs to be small items.

Like there's a certain SUVs where you can just throw all of that stuff in there and you

not even worry about it. But you know, even I've thrown stuff in the back of my truck. I don't

like doing it, but I've obviously water bottles, not a problem, but like, but I've come almost

kind of like debating whether or not, if I get one of those like covers that go over the top of

the bed, not the one that goes like a shell, but there's this one, I think it's like a tonneau

cover, just a tonneau cover. Yeah. It kind of goes over the back to where you kind of have

the almost like a trunk space in the back there. I even thought about that or whatever.

I thought about doing a lot of things. I've been getting a shell a long time ago with my

other truck and I thought I was doing, I always think it's other stuff, but the first thing

I did get from my truck was I got a bed cover, a bed liner for it because the new Ford F 150s are

made out of aluminum and the beds are made out of aluminum too. And so I'm imagining that if you

drop anything big in there, we'll just go right through or put a hole in there or maybe,

you know, dense or whatever. So I did get a cover for, I mean, I did get a bed liner

and first thing I got on that truck and haven't really hauled anything heavy in the back.

And I think it popped my truck, but I mean, it is what it is. They say a lot of people buy like

off-road raptors and things like that, like just take them to the store and back, you know,

I mean, through the Starbucks drive-thru. That's it.

I saw something recently just on that note of this guy was like, he was in his and it could

like, I mean, everybody says like things on social media or stage, but this had to be

real was he was behind this, this Jeep is like a Jeep Wrangler and he's in like a, in a Gallardo,

like like the O8, like Gallardo and he's got one of those 360 cams on the back, but they're

out of light and this Jeep's like kind of waiting and not going. And you can see on the side,

like there's construction signs and it's one of those like intersections where they were

repaving. So they had taken out like a good chunk of the pavement and it's like a little

bit of dirt, but you have to kind of travel over the dirt to get to the other side of the

intersection and it is paved again. And dude in the Jeep is like waiting there and like the guy in

the Lamborghini is kind of waiting like, what's going on here? And he backs up and the dude in

the Jeep turns around and goes the other way because of the construction that's going on.

And this guy in the Lamborghini was just ready to just blaze through this in his like lowered

Lamborghini and you're in your lifted Jeep Wrangler and you're not going to go over this

like small little indent in the road over here just because it's going to get your Jeep dirty.

Like I feel like a lot of times that ends up kind of being the folks that get them.

Like not to say anything bad about them, but you know, they're not really putting it to use is what.

Yeah. I mean, honestly, God like my truck's four wheel drive and I think I've taken it four

wheel drive twice. Yeah. You know, that's more than that's twice more than probably a lot

of folks that are getting new Jeeps now. Yeah. You know, and and I did it the first

time. It felt weird though. I mean, so the first time we did it, we put it and it was like this

one little area for a wedding we were working at and it had like, it was colder time of year,

kind of muddy, a little bit, not muddy, but kind of dirt. And so it was down this little trail

path area inside this farm area, I guess, and it like climbed back up to the main road.

And I'm like, this is kind of like a lot of not saying mud, but I guess it was kind of mud.

I'm like, let me just see if I can put this thing in four wheel drive, see what it does.

I put it in the low, low four wheel drive. There's the four wheel drive high,

and there's four wheel drive low, which you have to be locked flat,

either put it in neutral, I think, or something to lock it. And it does this,

you hear it move, like it's got a transformer under the truck here. I mean, these gears like

move or whatever. And then when you go, it's, it's all the torque, all the power pushing

it to all the wheels at the same time. And it, but it's really low. It's like for crawling

over rocks and like hills and stuff. And so I'm doing that. And the whole thing feels

like it's grabbing at all different weird angles and stuff as I'm trying to like

steer up the little hill or whatever. And it was probably overkill. I didn't need that,

but I wanted to see what I could do. I mean, because I never actually used four wheel drive.

So I was like, I'm going to use it this time, you know, and excuse you. Yeah. So,

so did it like stop it, put it back in park where you can like undo the lockers or whatever. But

four wheel drive high, I guess you can flip it on at any speed and it will just flip on or

whatever. And it works too. I've done that like in the rain and stuff, but that's pretty

much all my four wheel driving. I've done my truck for the most part, you know,

and it does have a rear differential lock too. So I can lock the whole thing or whatever. I haven't

messed with that too much either. There's a lot of things, a lot of gadgets on my truck

that I haven't really like, like messed with really, you know, they're nice features to have.

Like I've got a, I've got a, I've got a safe in my truck in the center console.

Like a full on safe with a, with a code and everything.

Yeah. Metal safe. Never use it.

Well, I think I put, you know, you go to the dealership and they give you all the paperwork.

I think the paperwork for the dealership was in there. That's about it.

Like I know that safe in there. Well, I don't, I mean, I guess I had a ton of cash or something

or whatever valuables or jewels or whatever. You can throw it in the safe there and lock

it up. If you were in Texas, you could use it for a gun set. And yeah, it's a total gun

safe is what a gun is. Yeah. It's exactly what it's for. But I don't really use it.

It takes up the entire console. Like the console, it's called a console vault,

and it's built into the center console. So the top console comes up about two inches or whatever

in the safes right there. So you have a little bit of space above the console, but we open the little

top lid where your armrest is at, open that up. And that's where the console vault is at.

And it's got the safe and the standard, you know, four digit code or whatever it is,

you click and turns like a locker combination thing. And inside there, you can put whatever you

want. Yeah. No, that's what they, they kind of had an idea in mind of who they were marketing for

having that, but you found a different use for it, which is, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't use

for anything. I just threw in whatever junk paperwork they gave me and threw it in there.

And that's where it's been ever since I bought the truck. But I mean, I thought it was kind

of a cool thing, but that was a cool thing. The reason about my truck was that another

cool thing I really got sold on was the fact that I have a complete and total sunroof moonroof from,

from back to front. A lot of cars aren't doing like any form of sunroof. Now I've,

I've started to notice like, which is the kind of a point to that is I've noticed like they'll,

they'll do a glass roof or something of that sort. But like sunroofs are really becoming

just kind of a thing of the past for a lot of cars. Well, it's a glass,

I have these skylight sunroof that moves back. And then I have the,

the cover that moves back and opens up because literally it's like open, like open air.

Like, yeah, I can do that. And I can do the entire like glass roof thing too,

which is kind of cool during like rainy days, but not so much during sunny days. And I rarely,

rarely use it. Yeah. I, you know, all these little gadgets are there. Cool at first,

when you first get the car. Oh, this is so cool. Does this, does that?

Like after a while, I'm like, yeah, well, you know, I mean, that was fun.

You find the things that you really use a lot. And then you,

you have the other things that are just like a,

like the one chance where you might have a chance to use it kind of thing.

Definitely. Yeah. Well, like the four wheel drive, for example,

like I use it once and then like, you know, if I need it, I have it.

I can tow stuff with my truck. Great. If I may have towed,

like once with my truck, really, that's only, you know, so, I mean,

I know a lot of people buy trucks like mine and they literally go to Starbucks

and back with them. And that's like, that's it. Yeah. And that's all they really,

but they have them. I'd look at it as an option. You may not need it today,

but there's a day where you're going to wish you had that feature.

And I ended up people say, oh, people like features. You buy a car,

have all the features, but if you don't use them, you don't use them.

But I've come from having like a Ford Ranger with like literally nothing horsepower

and trying to haul anything with that thing. I'm like, gosh,

wish I had a bigger engine. I wish I had a bigger engine.

I wish I had a bigger truck. I wish I had this.

You know, it's kind of like going from that into something more you could,

if you had to tow something, I can, or haul something you can. It's all about options.

Encourage. I know we're getting late here and I know you got stuff to do

and I appreciate you stopping by today and talking shop

and your three cars you want for your cool garage.

Yeah, absolutely, man. This is fun.

This is fantastic. So until next time, thank you so much for listening

and we will catch you later.

About this episode

Chris and Courage share their humorous stories of failing their driving tests and dive into a lively discussion about their dream three-car garages, each sticking to a single brand. Chris leans towards Ford with a Shelby Mustang, F-150, and Bronco, appreciating their practicality and performance, while Courage favors Infiniti and Nissan models like the G37 and QX SUVs for their unique blend of comfort and power. They also touch on driving habits, vehicle features, and the realities of owning trucks and sports cars, making for an engaging and relatable car talk.

BMW 5 Series BMW 6 Series BMW M5 Bristol Bullet Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Corvette Dodge Challenger Ford Bronco Ford F 100 Ford F-150 Ford Maverick Ford Mustang Ford Ranger Hyundai Santa Cruz Infiniti Q50 Infiniti Q70 Jeep Wrangler Lamborghini Gallardo Lamborghini Urus Nissan Armada Nissan Frontier Nissan Murano Nissan Z Porsche Cayenne Toyota Tacoma Toyota Tundra

Original notes

Buckle up — because this one’s equal parts hilarious and horsepower. Chris and Courage share the real stories behind their failed driving tests (yes, more than once!) before building their ultimate 3-car garages — with one big twist: they can only pick from a single car brand.

Chris goes all-in on Ford, dreaming up a Shelby-powered garage full of trucks and muscle cars, while Courage flexes with a sleeper-spec Infiniti lineup. The two debate used BMW headaches, underrated V8 SUVs, and whether anyone actually needs 4WD.

If you love car talk with personality, this one’s for you.

Highlights:

Real stories from failed driver’s tests 🚦
Building dream 3-car garages (Ford vs Infiniti showdown)
The rise & fall of Nissan’s golden era
Underrated performance SUVs & luxury sleepers
Why 4WD gets used twice a year
BMW buyer beware talk — what to avoid

🎙️ Hosted by Chris Smith & Courage
📍 More at coolcarswithchris.com

00:00 – 🎙️ Intro: Courage Returns & Why Driver's Tests Still Haunt Us
00:40 – 😬 First-Time Pod Guest Nerves & Car Guy Talk
01:12 – 🚗 Getting Our Licenses at 16 (Sort Of…)
02:12 – ❌ Chris Bombs the Written & Driving Test
04:22 – ❌ Courage’s “No Turn on Red” Fail
06:13 – 📵 Phone Use on the Road & Traffic Frustrations
07:42 – 📸 IG Car Clips, Cop Chases & Ghost Corvette Lore
09:05 – 🚘 The 3-Car Garage Challenge: One Brand Only
10:27 – 🛻 Chris Builds His Ford Dream Team (F-150, Shelby, Bronco)
14:31 – 🧱 The Garage Problem: Big Trucks, Small Spaces
19:49 – 🧠 Courage's Infiniti Picks (G37S, Q70 V8, QX80)
25:25 – 📉 The Rise & Fall of Nissan + Underrated Infiniti Era
29:02 – 🚙 SUV Invasion: Santa Cruz, Maverick & Hyundai’s Strategy
33:07 – ⚠️ BMW Buyer Beware: Used Euro Car Warnings
35:35 – 💸 Would You Pay $40K for 3 Cars? We Would.
37:16 – 🏎️ Grocery Getters That Could Smoke You
39:00 – 🔒 Hidden Truck Features: Safes, Sunroofs & Stuff We Never Use
42:07 – 🌲 Chris Finally Uses 4WD… Twice
45:51 – 🌐 Wrap-Up & Visit coolcarswithchris.com

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