992: Slate Truck, Cash Extraction Devices, Test Drive Tourism

do it. You notice my co-host is here

this time. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, there he

is. All right, here we go. I'm here.

875. It is podcast

875. You realize this year is the 10th

year anniversary of us doing this

podcast. We started and I think it was

like Augustish of 2014.

It's never good to look back in

retrospect. I think it can be. I think

it can be great. I just was looking back

to the last live podcast that I was on

and I was wearing the same shirt. Good

news, I've done laundry since then.

Well, the good news is you actually

still like Porsches and no one's

shocked. So, that's happening as well. I

like Maseratis. That's That's very true.

If you haven't seen all of our Maserati

content, there is actually most of the

Maserati stuff is out now, but there is

one more coming and that is the MC20

test drive where we're riding the car

together. That's coming this Sunday. But

you've probably seen our B Italian

Maserati Fiat 124 piece on the main

channel. Not a comparison. Not a

comparison. And then we also did the

Gracali and the GT on test drive as

well. Of course, test drives are

continuing to be right here on this

channel every Sunday. We do some POVs.

It just depends on the car and what we

have for schedule. Those are continuing

weekly. And then our main channel is

right now about every 3 weeks. We got a

big piece something like that. We We're

in this depends on car availability.

Yes. You guys have to also know that

this quarter of the year, the first

quarter of the year is the hardest

quarter for us to get anything done for

the main channel. Yeah. Because

everything dries up as far as car

availability, like after Thanksgiving

and then we get dumped on for snow, so

we can't shoot anything here. So,

getting something in enough time to

really feed this part of the year is

hard. I wish I could tell you guys all

of the stuff we have going on for the

second half of the year that we are so

excited about, but it's get we're

getting there. Uh, lots of good

questions. Before we get into those, hi

guys. Thank you as always for joining us

on a live podcast. We should do a couple

of announcements. We should because you

and I now um we have that thing called

Hooked on Driving where we're trying to

get you guys on track and we hope you'll

join us. There are three big events,

three big two-day events coming up for

Hooked on Driving. We want to really

promote anytime any one of our

franchises or the home office in NorCal

is doing a two-day event. If you're in

Southern California, two days at Willow

Springs, the 2nd and 3rd of March, that

is this coming weekend. There probably

is still space available. Our franchisee

David down there in the southwest region

has got that event going on. Two full

days at Willow. I've heard I've heard I

can't confirm it's been repaved, which

it needed to be repaved. The ring's

getting repaved. That's all new. Lots of

stuff's getting repaved. There's also

Virginia International Raceway VIR. That

is the VIR season opener March 7th and

8th, 2024. So, thanks to our franchises

there. They are actually collaboration,

the North and the South. Well, I guess

Mike and Mona who do the northeast and

Steve who does the southeast are all

working together on B. It's gonna be a

very cool couple of days. Yeah, that

will be a great event. And then there's

Laguna Secika coming up March 9th and

10th. That is a two-day event with 103

decel sound limit and including garage

rentals. And Todd and I are coming out

for the event. We're coming out. We're

excited. It's going to be very

interesting. It'll be our first actual

attendance at an event as new owners,

which is very exciting. We want to see

everybody, see how it runs. So, if

you're in the area, if you're local,

we'd love to see you come out. But we

are going to do this and continue

announcing various events around the

country as we get to things. We've got

some travel to do on the East Coast and

go out and see our friends out there,

our franchises. We need to get around

the country and go to various events.

So, we'll keep you posted via the

podcast, of course, social media as

well. But before right, before we jump

into our today's

questions, good news everyone. Oh, no.

The McLaren Arturus Spider has been

announced. We just got the press

release. Y it is being revealed as

McLaren's first ever higherformance

hybrid convertible adding a thrilling

new dimension to the Artura and McLaren

supercar range which basically what you

guys need to understand by Paul sharing

this is he's already on the phone with

our McLaren contact trying to figure

when we can get one that's really what

that means that's why he's announcing it

cuz he really is completely distracted

at this point they've bumped the power

20 brake horsepower so it is now making

690 brake horsepower but for everyone

who owns the coupe McLaren will provide

free of charge that 20 horsepower bump

to your coupe. So, it it will match the

new Spider, which is a one-piece

retractable panel, and it actually looks

really good. I'm not a convertible guy

very much, but it looks really good. A

good hard top convertible is awesome.

And basically, it's all just software

anyway, right? So, we're going to have

that happen. Yeah. Mhm. I think you

should jump into questions. Thank you

guys for posting up. We've got some on

social media, which we need to get to

and then I say ask away all your car

questions. James Cardi on X actually

asked Elantre in or GR86 which then he

gave the rest of the discussion and it

becomes really obvious. He said this is

just about which one is more fun. He

doesn't need a car with utility. He can

use his fiance's Corolla. If you're just

buying for fun GR86 I mean I love the

Elantre in but get rear wheel drive get

lighter. That just go with that. That

that's the easy answer there. Bella B

1029 on Instagram says, "Maybe a topic

Tuesday, but what are cars that we find

ourselves suggesting older generations

of like 911s or M3s or minis?" Yes, is

the answer to all of those. I was going

to say there's a good list, good start,

I really do feel like, especially now

that we're observing HOD track days and

HOD attendees, those cars are becoming

more and more valuable to keep running,

but those are going to be turned into

track cars or the dualpurpose kind of

thing. But everybody wants the manual

transmission. Although I have been

seeing news articles, I can't pinpoint a

particular article right now, but I've

been seeing news about manual

transmissions and how customers are

continuing to buy manuals and that is

making OEMs wake up and say, "Okay,

clearly this hashtags save the manuals

thing kind of worked and you guys aren't

done buying manuals. So, we'll keep

doing a few things and I'd like to see

all of our manufacturers continue to

investigate because it does add such a

dimension." I mean, the Artura Spider is

not, which is kind of a Will it be? But

if it were McLaren, I bet you your sales

would go up. That's very funny. I mean,

this is the thing, and I'm gonna keep

beating on it, and we've said it

forever. The only way manufacturers keep

making us these kind of cars is we have

to buy them new. We all, and I'm

pointing the finger at myself, we all

like to rage online about make more

manuals, but we're only buying used

cars. If nobody's buying a new manual,

then the manufacturers can't see the

benefit of those development dollars.

I'm glad that it's happening at least a

little bit. That's something we have to

keep doing. Uh, somebody's asking about

this fellowship in the Nurburgring

shirt. I love it. And shout out to the

fan who actually made it for me and hand

it to me at a meetup uh in the East

Coast. It was awesome. I was totally

unexpected. I do love it. I wear it

every now and then. It's just a blending

of the parts of my life and it makes me

laugh and unfortunately it's not one

that we sell. If that fan would like to

send us the art with the approval to

make it, we will make more. But I'm not

going to make that assumption until that

happens. I was just traveling after some

business travel that you and I had. We

were doing some winter driving in GR

Corollas. I stopped to celebrate my

dad's birthday. He's currently watching.

I love him very much. So, happy

birthday, Dad. I got to on the same trip

my brother-in-law's Saab 95. Oh, this is

his new one. The wagon. Oh, no. Yeah.

The the Saab collection continues. Yes.

Goodness. Mhm. And he let me drive it.

He's put brand new tires on it, which is

fantastic. And it's actually really well

well sorted. It turned 122,000 miles.

This is the one he bought in Anchorage

from an owner up there. Had it shipped

down the coast and took delivery not too

long ago. He is thrilled and it's just

he he let me kind of get into it and and

so we did and I don't know why everyone

doesn't love wagons. It's just a cool

wagon. So wagons are cool. I do like it

a lot. He found a really really clean

one. It is red. It is the right spec. As

much as we make fun of your

brother-in-law for his Saab love. It is

the right car. He did find something

very cool. Did you outdrive him in it

though? Did you drive it to the point

where he was like, "Well, I haven't

driven it like that yet." I'm not sure.

He didn't mention anything. Probably.

But got to get outside on Instagram

asks, "How do you know when it's time to

let go of your beloved sports car that

doesn't get driven enough?" And Daniel,

my brother-in-law, were talking about

this very thing on the recent drive,

actually today and talking about, "Well,

what about my nephew's Saab 95?" N,

sorry, 93. No, Daniel says the 93. And I

was going to say, I thought it was the

other way around. It is the other way

around. I'm not quite used to the Saab

nomenclature. Still working on the five

is bigger than the three. The five is

the older one. just got them. I just got

the three. Yeah. 1997 car. In insane.

Yes. But now he doesn't want to let go

of any of them. And I said, you don't

have to what you and I have talked

about. You don't have to dislike that

car to get rid of it. Maybe something

comes back in your life at some point,

but you don't have to really be done

with it to get rid of it. So, got to get

outside. I know that you're recognizing

it's not getting driven enough. And

that's a bummer. Changes happen in our

lives. Time has to be reallocated to new

activities. We totally get that.

However, if it's not being driven and

you don't foresee a point where your

current activities will end to go back

to driving your sports car, it's okay to

sell it. Maybe something will come back

into your life. But most of all, look at

it as an opportunity to bring something

new into your life when you are ready

again. Do you see Beaker's Garage? Only

you can answer this question. The 981

Cayman with sports seats. What's the

best way to improve seat comfort for a

cross-country trip? I don't feel like

you've had issues, but what are your

thoughts? I actually haven't. We've done

uh quite a few road trips. I've taken it

on our Utah Adventure quite a lot, and

I've always been great. They're the base

seats. They're the sport seats, but

they're the base for the GTS. I suppose

a small pillow in your lumbar. That's

the first thing that goes. It's not

lateral support. It's always lumbar and

your mid to lower back. So, just take a

small pillow and jam it down in there.

But, another good thing is to do a

rolledup t-shirt or if if you've got a

hoodie, you can take your hoodie off and

jam it down back there. And uh it

definitely eases the loins. So here's

why billionaires wear hoodies. They're

having lumbar issues in their really

high-end car with the crazy doors and so

they take the hoodie off and they fix

the lumbar maybe. But they can afford to

just have the seats redone. They can

just or get rid of the car and get a car

with something with different seats. I

totally agree with that. That's

excellent. Good point. Jorge asks if we

can please pronounce Porsche as if it

were Versace. Porsace. That was what

that's what Nick did on the video we

released today when we did Price of Fun.

Nick just walked around and did these

all these little snippets and that was

my favorite one by far. I had to post

the day because we were talking about

questions and us making up answers. We

were making jokes about that. Uh Minty

has said, "Hey, howdy guys. Hello back."

He says, "Recently got a job as a

salesman for Chevy. Wondering what we

think about the Chevy lineup if anything

stands out to us. I think the Blazer in

RS trim is better than we expected it to

be." Mhm. The Camaro, it's too bad it's

going away. Mhm. The Corvette is great

across the board. Full stop. Doesn't

matter what trim you get. They need a T.

They need a lightweight T. Stingray.

That would be nice. Uh, and the um, you

know what? Nobody out Suburban's the

Suburban.

That's just the just Suburban. Suburb.

And honestly, I think the two real

things that are the jewels and the crown

of Chevrolet across the board are the

vet and the Suburban. They just they

kill both those areas, right? just wipe

away all the other brands and it's the

Suburban company and the vet company. I

actually saw my first Fisker Ocean on

the road driving back from the airport

today, but I thought it was a Buick. I

was coming up, is that a Bu Fisker

Ocean? There's one. It was clearly a

test drive and I was I I kept my speed

around a corner. I was driving the

Expedition, by the way. Oh, man. Okay.

Yeah. Kept my speed and that thing needs

momentum, but he saw me coming and just

Here's down. I was like, great. Thank

you for, you know, yeah, having power.

I've got to keep my momentum. Nobody

expects the fact that you and that

expedition are going to be that good

around corners. In fact, here's a

related question. Club racer, thank you,

man. He says, can we weigh in our

feelings about the C8? We'll be sad to

see it go. It's still around. It's

actually around through a big road trip

coming later this year. We'll be sad to

see it go. It didn't place well in the

price of fund piece. He doesn't feel

like we recommend it much. What is the

use case for it? There's been a lot of

really good questions about the C8. uh

in relation to our price of fund piece

because I want to come back to the price

of fund video which is on our main

channel right now. It's it literally

it's the $30,000 GR86 to the $300,000

McLaren Artura. It's five cars in there.

And I want to also reiterate those five

cars are not the definitive five most

fun cars. They were five cars

representing price points. You could do

that entire piece with five different

cars. But the C8 didn't do great there

because that was a piece focused on

driving involvement and fun. And many

people in the comments have pointed out

that the C8 is probably the most

versatile car there. And I think that

can be argued along with and honestly

the Carrera T even isn't even the 911

you'd have for the most versatile. You'd

have other 911s. Yeah, true. The C8 is

is approachable. It is financially

somewhat attainable and it is shocking.

Watch our 2,000mi piece with the C8 and

the Lotus Elise. This is a car that

anytime either one of us drove the C8,

we were just

like, this is so great. It's a great

place to be. Honestly, if you have a C8,

and we've met some people like this in

Mount Rushmore. If you have a C8 and

you're not taking it on road trips, you

have missed one of the best things about

that car. I feel like everybody that

buys a C8 should put thousands of miles

a year on it just going new places. You

can daily it. Absolutely. You can take

it to a track. It it it is un It may be

the most versatile near supercar made

and I would take it and never think

twice about it compared to a lot of

other supercars. But that is just

designed to be the perfect crosscountry

road trip. If you were in Nebraska,

which we've done doing 100 for the next

two hours. Yeah. Or you wind up on

Million-Dollar Highway in Colorado in a

C8, you're very happy in both equations.

That's hard. That's really hard. You

know, every time journalists ask us,

other people, friends, they always say,

"So, you've got a C8. What do you think

of that car?" And it always seems like a

loaded question, but there's we can have

full confidence in going in and just

saying, "It's fantastic. It's great to

drive." No, it's not the most hardcore

dialed sports car you'll ever get in,

but on the other hand, you can be very

comfortable on the road trips that we've

done and prove that it's such a

versatile car. You're right. Oliver C

says where he is a slightly used Integra

manual is the same price as the

equivalent Civic SI for the same money

as the Integra the obvious choice. You

know what we found and been told and

that is if Civic SI aren't available

because they are the kind of the hot

choice. The Integra might be available

for the same price or just might be

available to buy and that does make it

compelling. It is good although I do

like the seats in the Civic SI better. I

think I do prefer the Honda styling but

the Integra is really solid.

We got a question here. Adam's asking

about the new Prius. Would it get as

much attention if it weren't called a

Prius, meaning a different car to

contrast from prior marketing? Here's

the thing. I think if it were a

completely different car that did the

same thing with a different badge, I

think it actually might sell a little

better because it wouldn't carry the

baggage. The problem the Prius is having

now, and and even your question

acknowledges it, is we're trying to get

over the baggage that car has, but it's

just a good-look car that works. It's

not the nicest interior. It's not the

most comfortable seats, but it gets

great gas mileage and it looks good and

it's not that expensive. That car is a

victory. I think the Prius badge makes

in some cases it get more press than it

would otherwise, but I think saleswise

there are people that would that will

never consider or buy that car because

it says Prius on it. And that's too bad.

Jorge Porto says, "Here's to the

brotherhood of the Jorgees." All his

friends automatically assume it's him.

Force Multiplier. All of our friends who

are named Jorge Jorge. Thank you guys

for being with us. Jorge Jorge Porto, we

met him in LA uh back in November for

just prior to the LA Auto Show. It was

really cool to meet him and uh hopefully

see him at uh various events coming up

as well. Got a question from Shadow

Sniper

9513. Says, "Hey guys, I work at a BMW

dealership as a product specialist. What

do we think about the new

X2?" I think

it's certainly evolutionary, but that is

a that is a crutch. That is a a way out.

of saying the BMW styling theme. I think

they're taking a hard look at, but

they're trying to certainly apply it to

every shape and size of every vehicle

they make, and it's not always

successful. There are some surfaces of

this that I do feel like it's

successful, and that is because SUVs

that are boxy and square just kind of

seem more expensive and luxurious. That

has now been the theme of the new Kia

and Hyundai's that we're seeing, more

squared off kinds of shapes. I do

appreciate what's going on and that has

always been sort of the Range Rover look

and that has said more expensive. It's

just a a box. I mean, it's a Rolls-Royce

Cullinin. The Cullinin looks a little

too soft. So, maybe the Cullinin will

crispen things up a little bit now, you

know, since they're owned by BMW anyway.

So, maybe we'll get a new look out of

them. But I am curious to to discover

that the X2 is the only SUV of BMW's

SUVs globally that is not built at the

southern uh South Carolina factory. It

is actually built in Germany, but every

other BMW SUV that you see on the planet

comes from South Carolina, which is

amazing. So yeah, it's built in I

believe it's Munich at one of the Munich

factories right there. But I mean I mean

it's fine. I think it's it's certainly

evolutionary and it's they're they're

really leaning into that styling element

and if they continue to do so they will

really make it theirs but I don't feel

like it instantly screams BMW. It says

luxurious but I don't know that it just

says that's a B I guess a BMW to the T.

Anyway, I'm curious to drive it for

sure. Dan is saying he test drove a

Fiesta ST finally over the weekend. Such

a fun little car. He has a daily family

car which is a new Ford Ranger. He's

debating whether to buy the Fiesta ST

for a fun car or keep saving for the

Elise or Cayman. My guess is that the

Fiesta ST is probably costing you a

quarter what an Elise or Cayman is. So

my question for you is, of course, it's

us, so we're saying buy all the cars,

but could you have a Fiesta ST and keep

saving for the Elise and Cayman? It's

not like the Fiesta is even half what a

Elise or Cayman are. So I'm thinking I

mean, why not get a Fiesta ST now? It's

probably 10 grand on the high side. You

know what I mean? And Caymans are 30 to

30 to 40 depending upon which one you

want. And the leases are every bit of 40

right now. That's a very different car.

The mid-enine cars are worth saving for,

worth stretching for. But I wonder if

you bought a Fiesta ST now and kept it

for 5 years. What's it going to lose?

Couple grand. I mean, you're probably

going to get most of what you buy it for

back out of it because those cars have

kind of bottomed out. So, I think that

is a safe place to buy, drive, keep your

money in, and then jump later. Minty's

got a question that I'm mulling over.

Minty, thanks for the question. We have

talked about the less than fun time that

we had at the dealership when we bought

the

GR86. The question is, is there anything

that we feel a dealership can do to make

the experience better for the consumer?

As I was walking through that

dealership, I saw a plethora of lounges.

There were various lounges scattered

throughout the dealership because it's

of course huge, but different themes,

different lounges with different chairs.

They had an espresso bar. There were

baristas inside the dealership. So, what

does that tell you? You're a captive

audience there and they know you're

going to be stuck there. It's about

valuing us, the customer, our time. Not

that I don't want you to have a

comfortable place to sit or be able to

get grab a snack or a coffee, but it

just seems like a Vegas lounge. I mean,

what's next? There's going to be a a

stage show and you know, you're going to

just never leave. No clocks on the walls

coming up on the main stage. Yeah.

All the moving sidewalks go toward the

coffee bar. Seriously. So, it's about

valuing the customer's time and making

it so efficient to get the customer back

out the door, whether they're buying a

car, whether they're in service. I know

sometimes waiting is inevitable, but

still making things to value time. So,

it's, you know, we're putting it back in

your hands and think they they really

respected my time. I want to go back for

whatever the the need. That's a great

point because I I want I want to clarify

that we worked with Mark Miller Toyota

here in Salt Lake and honestly, they

were one of the best dealers to work

with. I've ever worked with. They were

superb. So I don't I don't want to give

the impression we had a bad dealer

experience. No problemic. No, no, no.

The problem was in spite of kind of

being fasttracked and treated well, we

were still there half the day. And that

comes back to your point. You would

think in the modern world, aren't there

things that we can do digitally online

or preload or whatever to just speed the

process? Because I've been at dealers.

Can you rent a car? Yes. Just show me

the license. Booping. Here's the keys.

But thanks for renting. dealers with

others and with actually my own family

at one point where the kids have timed

out. You don't want to be anywhere when

the kids time out. I don't care where it

is. So just how fast can we move

through? I mean we don't need a ball pit

in the dealership. We don't need Maybe

for the adults actually. You just you're

so frazzled. I'm going to get the ball.

Just Just give me a minute. Why can't it

be like a resurface out of the ball?

We're gonna sit at a dealership. Grady

saying, "Z4 manual or super manual if

you're indifferent to the top down

experience."

If you don't need top down, I say Supra.

I think so. I think it's I think it's

the more interesting looking car on its

own. But if you need top down, I do

think that the the I thank God that the

Z4 has gotten the manual now because I

couldn't believe they hadn't done it

already. So, I think it's good that it's

going to have it. Sunny asks about the

Subaru rumor. They're going to reveal a

new Outback generation at the New York

Auto Show next month. Do we think they

might not be a new generation, a new

generation legacy since it's not in

Japan and doesn't sell well here? Well,

it'll I I feel like it's just going to

be another refresh at this point. I

don't know. I have not dug into the

Subaru press release quite yet, but it's

uh it's going to take a lot for Subaru

to make a big splash and wow everybody

with the new something that isn't just

well, it's all-wheel drive. It can go

off-road. It can carry your stuff and

it's well priced and turbocharged and

it's got a good screen. So, beyond that,

what's really compelling? We're buying

styling. That's what we're buying.

Right. G Markx is saying, uh, he loves

the channel. Thank you so much. He's

thinking about buying a manual BRZ as a

second fun car. Now that they've updated

it with the 2.4 L motor, the current

engine, should he only get that and not

one of the outdated models with the 2 L?

G marks, you're going to have to ask

yourself what you're expecting from

power. If you are a person who you've

never really had a powerful car, the

first generation, you can get them

affordably. They drive wonderfully. I

think you would thoroughly enjoy it. I

would definitely advise the tune. It's a

very simple tune that kind of kills the

torque dip, which is the real thing that

makes you feel that car is underpowered.

I did the tune. Chance did the tune. We

both had our first generations. It helps

a lot. If you're not a person who is

coming from a muscle car, something with

400 plus horsepower, you're going to

like the first gen just just fine. If

you're a person where power equals fun

to you, the first generation is probably

only going to disappoint you and then

you're going to start tuning it. And

almost across the board, the people that

tune the first gen for more power

eventually broke the motor and at that

point get the second gen. Did we talk

about the Z4 manual yet? Yes, we did

from Brad. That's fantastic. Yeah, I saw

Well, I saw it. I mean, Grady's talking

about about that or the Supra. I don't

know if Brad's question I suppose. I was

Yeah, I was seeing uh any excitement for

that Z4 manual. Justin is applauding me

and also shaking his head at me because

he is a fellow lease owner and he saw me

post the thing of taking it through the

touchless car wash. By the way, I was

that was brave of you, by the way.

Stupid, brave. There's an equivalency

there. Anyway, I've owned the car for

seven years and I've taken it through a

touchless car wash twice total because

the first time was so traumatic and was

just done as a test right after I got

the car and I had the soft top on. This

time I had the hard top on and we'd

taken it actually through a lot of snow

and I really wanted to get it all

blasted because of the snow and salt

that have been on it a little more so

than I could do with my own uh my own

pressure washer. So that's why I took

the risk. I also thought let's see how

bad the uh hard top leaks. Guess what?

Just as bad. Uh it's not something I do

regularly. I haven't seen any gremlins

since then. Uh I was cautious and it's a

kind of a one-time thing for the laugh.

And of course then I post on Instagram

and get to look like an idiot which is

fun. That happened. More HOD questions.

Ryan Stamp is asking about the HOD deal.

Who had more anxiety between the two of

us during the purchasing process? Or did

we take turns? We took turns. I feel

like when you were uh on edge then I had

to to come to the rescue and when I was

just fed up with things. It was quite a

learning experience. That was 10 months

of negotiations and investigations. And

I it's something that neither you or I

have done uh in our past. Is you mean we

just don't go around buying companies?

No, it was actually the the due

diligence period was really revealing

and it changed perceptions about what we

were getting and what we were buying and

and of course we we always had ideas up

front but then as you find out things

and what's possible and then you know to

to grow the brand and uh certainly grow

the the availability of track days it uh

it just informed us a lot. So there

there was constant pivoting and there

was certainly a lot of stress, but I'm

so thrilled that we're doing this and

thank you guys for your support of HOD.

We definitely want to grow. We

definitely want to get more people on

track and what a great venue to do it.

It's it's a business that runs and we've

got great people and great franchises

already in place for that. So yeah, it's

really good. In fact, Jorge is asking us

as a follow-up. He said he's got two

young girls interested in having

advanced driver education for them as

they approach driving age beyond what he

can do. He's seen that in Europe.

There's not many opportunities here.

There's a few. I think if I'm not wrong,

I think Ty Rack does one on the East

Coast at their thing. I think they

partner with somebody. I think so. I

think they Southbend Indiana. I know

that our local track UMC here used to do

one. In fact, need to look into it again

because my son's about a year from

needing that. But he's asking is if this

a hooked on driving opportunity and my

short answer is yes. I think it would be

great to have a standardized hooked on

driving sponsored you're a young driver

get you driving at the limits thing.

Now, setting that up is a whole

different animal, but it's definitely

one of those things we've talked about

for sure. Our friend Derek Miller,

Derek, hello. He had a salesman text him

today with a fully customizable

allocation for a car that he wasn't

shopping for. Oh, no. Okay, yeah, I got

it. Why is it so hard to say no when he

wasn't even shopping for it? Because

salespeople know this and they go back

through their rolodex and think, "Ah, I

haven't talked to this person in a long

time. Let me just give them a call." And

if you're a great customer, they'll, you

know, you'll be kind of towards the top

and say, "Wonder if they're interested."

There's two things going on here, Derek.

First off, the reason it's hard to say

no is because you get to hear that thing

that especially if you've ever bought a

used car, you you get to go like, "Wait,

wait, wait." Exactly. Like I want it.

You're thinking of me like like that

one. Exactly. I've never thought about a

Camry, but if I could make my Camry then

maybe and I'm not taking a slight of the

Camry, it's just a car I'd never buy.

That's what part of it. The other thing

is if you get up into the higher levels

of cars, Porsche is known for this,

Ferrari is known for this, the sales

people go back through their rolodex and

they find people they know have the

liquidity or or have shown with regular

purchases either way that they will buy

a car. The salesman is literally

thinking about selling it the second

time and they will call the person the

first time. That's crazy. And guide them

on how to spec it. Ferrari does this to

auction your car. Well, Porsche does it

too. So that then when that person sells

it in six months or a year or sometimes

they encourage them to do that as a

money-making way, then they can get a

car back they can sell easier. They're

thinking of customer number two, not

you. That they're thinking of their

commission on the back side of the

second customer. the person that gave us

the GT2 RS when we drove it against the

Porsche 959 for that comparison film. He

told us that he was called by Porsche of

Salt Lake City. Said, "Hey, this other

owner dropped out. I know you've made

noises about this car. What do you

think?" And suddenly he found himself on

the hook for a $350,000 car. But then he

did sell it. And I think he even made

money and they're even more expensive

now. So, you know, everybody made money

in the deal, but it's because it's GT2

RS. Elliot Manning is following up on

the Lotus Extravaganza in the in the car

wash. Yes. I don't know why people

thought that was a brush wash. It was

just a touch. The brushes would have

been like, "Oh, yes. Seriously, I would

have been like fighting them all,

slapping you in the face." Yeah. No. So,

it was touchless. But he said he's

assuming the high pressure water was the

problem. You're exactly right, Elliot.

In fact, the way I normally watch that

car, watch our 2,000mi road trip piece

because I walk you through it. Even

using my own pressure washer, I do not

aim it right at the seam of the roof and

the top of the window because I know the

water's going to go through. I mean, you

can spray around it, but don't fire at

it. Of course, that thing's

indiscriminate, so it ends up with water

on the inside. Doug Joseph, thank you

for jumping on. Thank you for uh for

your questions. Much appreciated. I'm

jumping back to Instagram from a friend

Akam in Germany who was asking, "Why is

the same engine in the Fiat 500 aart a

hoot, the little dragon, Todd, you

called it that, and celebrated for its

sound?" Well, in the not much heavier

124, he had that that impression that in

our recent Italian review, it did not

receive a lot of love. This does nothing

better than a Miata. Akam personally

prefers mid-range turbo punch in daily

driving, but that 124 is used 5,000 more

than the ND Miata, which is not

justified. It's a slightly different

engine, AAM. But you're right.

Ultimately, it comes down to how does it

make power and how does it make me feel

when I'm driving the car. I feel like

it's the exhaust that I really do. Sound

is such a sales thing and will always

continue to be, but sound that's

available now and the way the car was

originally conceived. Because you could

also argue, well, you can add an exhaust

to any car and make it sound

differently. Yes, but now you're

suddenly doing R&D work to develop your

own sound. You're spending money and

what if it's not quite right? Well, they

tuned it specifically just like that to

give it a certain personality and that

sells or, you know, doesn't sell. It

doesn't appeal to some customers, but I

think sound is is the key. Same engine,

but they can tune it slightly

differently, get a few more horsepower,

and it sounds different. It's a

different car, right? It does seem like

it. And you know, when we first drove

that car, you actually liked the 124 for

the same thing he's talking about, that

mid-range power, but as I said in our

124 uh MC20 piece, the best part of that

car are the Miata Bones. I think it's

definitely the case. Damon KB on

Instagram says in is Infiniti the best

used car brand?

I have never heard that. Now, there is

just so much that's better at the same

price point, but unless you get luxury

for the same price as Nissan or even

cheaper than the comparable Honda and

Toyota products, not to mention Lexus,

Acura, and the Germans. I mean,

ultimately, you have to decide what is

your priority. And it is a descending

order. Is it value first and you got

something that feels luxurious? Then it

is it reliability? Then is it the

company behind that name plate? and then

in descending order all the fun things

that we want out of a car. I think

that's where certainly Infiniti could

shine. I do like Acura and certainly

Lexus is up there, but personally I'm

willing to move more towards the Euro

cars that have the fun driving kind of

built in. I mean, I I gravitate towards

that that direction because I'm willing

to put up with some of the all right, it

needs this, it needs this, the

maintenance, the fixes, the You're a

Maserati owner. I understand. I've been

a Maserati owner. Okay. So, resets

everything. Philip is saying, "In a

money, no object situation, would we

rather take our car to a dealership or

an independent mechanic for any and all

maintenance?" Now, Philip, this is a I'm

kind of ducking this question by saying

this. Where is the place where I feel

like I'm going to get the most personal

service from the guy that's actually

going to do the work? If I were going to

a dealer and that dealer had a front

pacing person who was like the tech for

that car and I could meet that person

and I felt confident with them that oh

yeah I know these cars and that kind of

thing. I have no problem going to the

dealer and I'll pay dealer prices for

that guy. If I'm going to independent

mechanic, he specializes in that car and

I get that same feeling from him. I get

to meet him, shake his hand and he gets

to say, "Hey, I'm going to work on this

car and I know these things." I want to

I want to be able to talk to the tech

and I feel like that's harder at a

dealer than an independent mechanic.

That's the thing that gives me

confidence. Great questions in here.

Great stuff. Beaker's Garage recently

had a TYON base as a loaner from the

dealer. He thought it was good for an

EV, but missed his flat six after a day.

Our thoughts on the TYON compared to

other EVs. We've not specifically driven

a TYON. We have driven the Audi Ron GT,

which is pretty much going to be the

same driving experience. there there

will be slight differences in how power

is delivered and that kind of thing, but

for the most part, you know, it's very

solid, but we're still at the beginning

of modern EVs and what they will do and

what the capability will will and can

be. And I'm talking about weight, and

they still just feel so neutral to me,

just too too neutral, I suppose. Well,

yeah, they've got a they've got a a

sterileness about them in general that I

look forward to somebody actually

creating something that doesn't feel

that way, but it'll be fascinating to

see what happens. T Wh Wayan says,

"Please tell us how to reduce the

crippling road noise in the GR86

switching from the stock stock PS4 tires

to PL did absolutely nothing." Um, I

hate to say this, but uh that is a loud

car and always will be. I mean, unless

you want to take the time to put more

sound deadening in it, the cost of the

car and the weight savings are the

reason it's loud. I submit to you the

Fiesta ST louder. I submit to you the

Miata louder. I submit to you the Lotus

Elise lots louder because I'm talking

about cars that are now cheaper or or

lighter than the GR86. Also, you're down

there low between the wheel wells that

brings noise into the cabin. That is a

loud car. Remember when we drove it as a

support vehicle? In fact, Derek helped

us when we did our East Coast trip.

anytime I rode in that, it had more road

noise than my 300 ZX that I was taking

on the same trip, which I thought was

fascinating. And the 300 ZX was actually

a little bit softer ride, too. But the

300ZX was a more expensive car designed

to be more of a GT car than the GR86,

which is designed to be more involving.

Granted, with the Elise as my reference

point, I'm the wrong guy to ask. Why

shouldn't Boonddock St. Ryan sell his

Fiesta ST and start importing and

selling Japanese K cars into Canada to

make it a better place? You can't think

of any good

reasons. We can't tell you, but we know

somebody who can. And that is our friend

Adam at sodtomoto in Seattle. Look up

sodomto.com and he can tell you because

he actually imports a lot of cars into

the US from Canada, but he sells a lot

of K cars that he brings over from

Japan. And you can ask him about the ins

and outs and pitfalls or maybe no

pitfalls of sourcing and buying. We do

know that that Autozam A1 windshield is

about $3,000 to replace. So, just know

that going in. The parts and the

scarcity of such for all the these rare

cool cars might be harder and you're

gonna have to let your customers know

that or maybe not. Adrien H is saying,

"Like the 86 or the Supra or even the

Fiata from our recent video, what brands

would we most like to see unite to make

a new fun car?" I think we said this

before, but I have to circle back to it.

Toyota has proven that they are doing

collaborations. So, where is Toyota and

Porsche making a new MR2?

A $40,000ish

MR2 to be sold as a Toyota underneath

the Porsche offerings of the Boxster.

It's going to need to be 200 horsepower.

So, it's probably what the D-tuned flat

motor from Porsche with some Toyota

stuff in it. I'm just thinking that

would be a cool car. Got a question on

Instagram from 614 MX5 asking, "When we

talk about driver engagement from manual

transmission cars, are we talking about

the physical act of pressing in the

clutch and shifting and then releasing

the clutch? Or are we talking about

listening and feeling for when to

upshift and when to downshift for

maximum fun? And if it's the latter,

don't shiftable automatics or dual

clutch transmissions provide that level

involvement?" I do get some of that out

of my dual clutch. I do when I drive it

in manual mode. But I think it's the

feeling of feeling where the cog is

going to well, first of all, the

synchro, but then the cog going into

gear. And it's about control. I I think

that all of us would probably rather fly

the airplane than be a passenger if we

could. There's certainly a segment of us

that very much feel that way. I just

would like to fly the plane. I think

it's fun. I'm not a control freak thing.

I just think I'd like to do it. But same

thing with cars. We like to have that

much more dominance over this machine.

We want to be in control over the

machine and I think that's much of it.

But understanding and feeling all the

quirks about that car because manual

transmissions make each individual car

different. Not that series because the

clutch wear is different. The clutch uh

or the gearbox wear is different.

Everything about that car wears

differently. It's not, you know, it's

cookie cutter new. It's all the same

when they're new, but when different

cars get driven differently. This one's

kind of beat on. It's rattly and not

great. This is the same exact car, same

mileage, and it how come it feels so

good now? That manual transmission makes

that car have its own distinct

personality. I think that's what we love

discovering. That is good. The other

thing I'm going to add to that is, think

about this for a minute. Think about

driving a really good PDK, dual clutch,

whatever. You can sit there and drive

that car very hard and never move your

limbs. True. You can do this. Yeah. But

that your your lower body won't move at

all because all it's moving is seriously

you don't have to move your limbs. And

with a manual transmission, your right

hand's always moving for the stick. Your

left foot and both your both your legs

are moving. There is I know it's a

cliche, but there is a dance going on

when you drive a manual that is not

duplicated by any dual clutch because

you can sit there much more still. Now,

if you're on a racetrack, that's better

because you're still in the car and

focused on what you're doing. And so,

these other things that remove your

balance in the car can be disruptive.

But if I'm driving for fun, I want that

dance. It's it's enjoyable. It's not

quite rider active, but almost because

you're almost sliding around in your

seat when your limbs I mean, your your

weight's changing. You're right. When

you're just driving an automatic or a

dual clutch, you're you're locked down.

You're not your body's not moving. But

when we're doing this with our limbs,

you're right. Suddenly becomes rider

active. That's

great. Let's see. Kay and Meg's dad

says, "Sarching for next fan manual fun

car. Past experiences include an E46

sedan. Cool car, 987.2 base Cayman, and

a first gen BRZ." He says he knows that

Miata is always the answer. He's looking

at an NC, which is the third gen, along

with a second gen GR86, maybe even a

WRX. But his question is, he's not even

looking at frontwheel drive candidates.

So, is he overlooking a whole fun

segment of the market by not looking at

frontwheel drive candidates? Uh, okay.

First, KMG's dad, you need to drive a

couple of the front-wheel drive

standouts. Go drive a Fiesta ST. You can

find them for so cheap. Go drive one. Go

drive a Mini Cooper. Preferably the John

Cooper works, but drive a Mini Cooper S

with a manual. drive a Civic Type R if

you can because I want you to understand

how really great they are. Now, let me

turn it the other way. I had a Mini

Cooper for a year and loved driving it,

but I realized while owning it that I

just don't like front-wheel drive

enough. There was nothing wrong with it.

Spa was a great car. He was fantastic in

the winter and and you know, I learned

to use under steer in the snow to my

benefit, which was also riotously funny.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. The

supercharger wine in that car was

amazing. You talk about sound, that was

great, but I just realized, you know, I

just prefer the way a a rearwheel drive

car gets unsettled and the way the

weight moves around because of rear

wheel drive. So, that's why I prefer it.

But, you need to drive those front-wheel

drive standouts to get a sense of it. I

don't think you're in the wrong for

wanting rear wheel drive prim primarily.

I think based on the stuff you've owned,

I think you're going to find the WRX to

be a little bit muted for the fun you're

hoping to have. I like the other stuff

on your list. Great questions here. Joel

T on Facebook asks us both when we come

when it comes to our own car

progression, what is next? Knows that we

love the Elise for Todd and Cayman GTS

for me. What's

next? Can we can we go up the I mean,

here's here's the debate. Look, the

there are things up the ladder of cost

that would be great to have, but you

know, money is a real thing. You know,

money is a thing. And I have said before

that your your lineage of cars

throughout your life doesn't have to be

the next dollar amount tier higher. It

doesn't always have to be this ascending

till finally we own Artura spiders and

we're good with 700. Yeah. 690 brake

horsepower, whatever. I'm not saying

that. We do. It makes it easier having

access to the cars that we drive. I will

say that because it when when we miss a

car, suddenly it comes back around where

we get to drive an 86 again or we get to

revisit simply by virtue of thinking

another comparison to put it in or a new

version of it or something like that.

But when it comes to personal cars, you

heard me making noise about selling that

Cayman GTS and I have backed off that

because it's I love it so much. There's

versions of the Cayman that are

empirically better, but it's going to

take more money to do it. And that's my

personal problem. I can't quite get

there yet. But the Corvette has done a

lot to to help uh alleviate that itch,

but I still really love my Cayman GTS. I

still look at it as a long-termer, but I

would like to have a GT4 RS. But

actually, I've really been jonesing for

That's right. It's on your shirt. The

shirt. keep wearing this shirt trying to

like you're just telling the universe

car you'd like. I got it. That's very

good. Look, I'd love to step up have an

Amir. That would be amazing. I'd love to

have an Amira. I But I want a GT3

manual. That's what I want. GT3 manual.

Just new GT3. I'll tell you this right

now. For me, I think an Amir is the

upper level car I'd ever own. I don't

know that I'd own a 200 I mean, let's

say I could afford a two or $300,000

$400,000 million dollar car. I'm not

sure I'd buy one because then I lose

manual. And you do get in a car, you

have to just because of what it is, you

have to think about it more when you

drive it. And one of the things I loved

about that price of fun piece besides

all of the fun cars, even compared to

the Lotus, the thing I liked about the

G86 was it was just like, I'm just going

to get in this and drive it. I'm going

to drive it as hard as I possibly want.

I'm not going to worry about it because

it was a $30,000 Toyota product. I would

have a GR86 again tomorrow instantly.

I'd have a Miata for the same reason I

don't fit. I'd have to, you know, sit

there like this the whole time. But and

there is something really satisfying

about that. And I and I, you know, I may

keep that elite if I can. I'll keep that

Elise indefinitely because nothing comes

back and really replaces that. But you

and I are spoiled because we do get into

so much stuff. And then the show, this

this is such a weird thing that we do.

The show encourages us to buy cars. The

G86, the C8, the crazy sedans, the crazy

sports cars. It encourages us to do that

because if if we hit the the the target

right, we can actually have that make us

money for a time period. And so it makes

sense to pay to have those cars. But

that's a weird way to live. I we'll see

where this goes.

Barbara Peterson says, "There's nothing

better than the per perfect shift based

on sound and feel." Agreed. You're

right. Agreed. There's a perfect lap out

there, Barbara. There's a perfect shift,

too. Can you Can you see it? Can you

envision the perfect shift? And you just

It's so great. Smile. It's so great.

Great. Uh track daily crush from Matt.

Piano black, CVTs or EVs?

Well, that's a that's a quite a

threesome. Piano black CVTs or EVs?

Track daily crush. Uh you know what? I'm

going to daily the EV. I'm not even

going to question that. I'll daily the

EV. That's fine. Um CVTs are improving

slowly. There's some CVTs that are sort

of like, okay, can can we tune a CVT for

track use and then I'll track the CVT?

So, it's theoretically if it's tuned

right, it's constant power. Constant

power and then we get to crush piano

black. We need to crush piano black. But

if we can put a lot of power, there's

need needs to be some OEM that figures

out how to put a lot of power through a

CVT, then I might

consider driving. We'll we'll see.

Church Petrol says, "The first F1 race

of the year is this weekend." You're

right. My rain is coming up March 2nd,

2024. Any predictions for the upcoming

season? I think Red Bull's going to be

dominant again. Max is going to win.

It's not even a prediction. It's just

like, "Yeah, moving on. Get used to Max

doing more winning, but I do predict

some surprise from a back marker. A

midpack to a back marker. kind of

surprising with with some success level

of success. It might not be sustained

for the whole season, but maybe for half

the year, a third of the year, something

like, "Wow, we never saw this coming.

Combination of car and the driver is

really coming up." I'm I'm hoping for a

mid pack to back marker doing well.

Marco sending in a super chat. Thank you

for that, man. He says, "Uh, he drives a

Mark 7.5 Golf R." Okay. Is it worth

upgrading to the new Mark 8? No, it is

not. I I'm sorry. It's just I I like I

like the Mark 8 Golf R. I do. The thing

is you step into

Volkswagen is starting to do things

to not make the interior as nice and

save themselves some money. And then

they went with this now constantly

changing touchscreen interface on the

Golf R. Like on on the GTI you can get

it without some of it. the Golf R, the

only way it comes is with that very

annoying, irritating interface that

actually Volkswagen is kind of backing

off on. I think that the 85 or the nine

is going to be worth the upgrade based

on what they're learning with the eight.

Okay, so a 75 was a real high watermark

for the interior interaction on those

cars. I like the eight because of what

they've done with the cool diffs and

that kind of stuff. That is cool, but

you're talking about 10 grand more. And

I think what you're going to realize

daily is the interface you like less.

And since you're going to use that so

much, that car is designed to be a

daily. I don't think it's worth the

jump. Some question I wanted to address

in here. Oh, premiumness. Dawson

Johannes said, "At what price point do

we stop feeling the premiumness of the

dollars you're spending? Is there one?"

Yes, it's called a Tesla. As soon as you

get in, you think, "Huh, this doesn't

feel premium for the dollars I spent."

But that's because of the minimalist

interior. But it's not because of the

style. Well, it's because the materials

that are used in construction, we've

noticed that they're getting better.

They continue to improve. Absolutely.

Every car manufacturer is. But I do

think that Tesla set the example and

modeled for other car manufacturers that

we can just do a few straight lines and

and really do things completely

differently, but they forgot about all

the build quality in all the switches

and stuff that's in there, all the

little tactile things. I think that was

forgotten. And so not having a lot of

things to touch makes it feel stark and

cheap and there's there's nothing to

interact with except the wheel and even

that's going away. So I there there's

other examples. I feel like uh Genesis

is a great example of retaining the

premium quality feel. That GV60 EV that

we drove Yeah. felt very premium. It was

fantastic. And that was because there's

a lot of little surprise and delight

things. a lot of things that you could

call unnecessary, but that makes it part

of the experience and you feel like,

"Oh, I'm getting getting my money's

worth." The shift knob entertains me.

It's the eye of Sauron and it looked at

me. A little frightened now, worried

about that breaking later. Like breaks

halfway. It's like looking giving you

side eye. It's all bad. But all the

tactility, all the switches, everything

in there continues that Genesis theme of

beautiful. We like the fine tactility of

things. And that's why I like watches so

much because it's this delicate thing

that's still robust and it was put

together by humans and it was it's such

fine craftsmanship in such a small size

on your wrist that you can take with

you. So that's my thing. Uh my son is

sending me difficult questions. Oh, is

he? Track daily crush from my son. Lotus

Elise Jag Eype Nissan 300ZX. Track daily

crush. You're on your own.

Ow. This is This is going to hurt. This

is going to hurt, son. I'm telling you

right now. Look, the track car obviously

is the Lotus Elise. It is. I love the E

type desperately. I would love to have

one. It's not a daily. The 300ZX is a

daily, which means, I can't believe I'm

saying this, that lease gets tracked.

The 300ZX gets dyed. Eype gets crushed.

That's a special occasion car. Wow. It's

not a daily and it's not a track car.

It's a It's a But it's the world's most

beautiful car. Gorgeous. It's very fun

to drive. It is one of those cars like

the RX7. When I drove it, I was glad to

finish driving it and it didn't break. I

loved driving it. I was thrilled to get

out of it and nothing was broken. And

that's not what you want for a daily.

Chris Austman, so good to see you, too.

I ran into him at the Denver airport. I

I looked over as I was on the moving

sidewalks. If you've ever been through

DIA, was on the moving sidewalks and I

saw Chris and just yelled his name.

That's funny. Chris is going with us on

the pilgrimage trip in June. So, we are

very much looking forward to that. That

was really cool. Speaking of that, yeah,

Fellowship of the Ring, folks, I I want

to mention a couple things. Our

pilgrimage trip is happening over

Father's Day, and it sold out within

like 24 hours, which was amazing. Thank

you guys. But because of Hooked on

Driving, we are going more than once

this year. There is a trip that actually

was was kind of sold right around the

time we bought the company of Hooked on

Driving that is happening last couple of

days of April, first couple of days of

May. It's two days on each track and you

know you know somebody. So even though

technically registration on that trip

has closed, it's going to be an amazing

trip with a ton of good track time. If

you'd like to go to the ring and spa

then late April, early May, write us an

email everyday driver atgmail. Let us

know you'd like to go. We can get you on

the inside track. There's a couple of

spaces left. We'd love to fill that trip

too. So if you're still It's kind of

closed, but it's kind of officially you

know people. So let us know. That'd be

very good. Yeah, you do know people.

Let's see. Good questions, John. Okay,

here's a quick quick question. Difficult

question, John. He doesn't understand

what people mean when they say good

steering feel, and he wants to learn.

Okay, awesome. What is an accessible car

easy to find on Turo or popular that

exemplifies good steering feel? You need

to find

something. Okay, first off, there's a

misunderstanding that a hydraulic

steering rack always means good steering

feel. That's not always the case. The

300 ZX, I love driving it. The steering

feels okay, but it's not amazing. You

need to find early 2000s hydraulic

steering from various companies. BMW is

a great one. If you can find an E46 BMW,

that's good steering feel. If you can

find a early 2000s 911 or even a Cayman.

Yeah. 987.

The one the early Cayman's and the 987

Boxster. The Cayman R is superb. Now,

the Cayman's I find vary based on how

hard you're driving them, the tires that

are fitted. But every true every early

2000s BMW, if you driven the E46s and

even the 5 series actually had really

good steering feel that early 2000s 911

or or Cayman Boxster, that works as

well. That the 997s are wonderful.

That's late 2000s. Um, also Miatas are

good.

Early Miatas now, you got to go before

they go away from hydraulic steering. A

little bit tire dependent there as well.

And then I'm wondering, I mean, the

sharper and finer you go, tires really

add pressure, but but you need to be

able to feel when when you go over stuff

in the road, I want you to feel that you

went over stuff in the road. I want you

to feel this is this is actually what

the description is. Steering feel is as

I'm turning it, I am aware that there's

a mechanical linkage. And I know that

sounds weird, but but and I'm sorry,

this is a cliche as well, but this is

where the riflebolt concept comes in for

for uh shifters. Okay? Drives like it's

on rails. stop. But but but the whole

reality of a rifle bolt or or think of

anything mechanic mechanical or or metal

that slid beside itself that you've

worked with, you can feel that in good

steering feel. Of course, the Lotus

Elise is way up there, but finding one

of those on Turo is next to impossible,

but that's a possibility as well. Josiah

Vanassel, thank you for the question.

and he loves the show and says, "Is the

upgrade to a

986S worth the price over the base

version?" More specifically on an 03 or

4S with versus a cheaper and older

version, he's owned a 350Z now daily CBR

500R and a roommate has the

S2000. You know, you could always turbo

the motor or do some sort of chip tune

or upgrade, but there's more to the S

than just that. True. Typically, it's

got a different transmission with

another gear and a bunch of other stuff.

Yeah. Yeah. I I do feel like the S has

always been differentiated in in

Porsche's's mind as really truly the

sport version. And they do there's a

bigger jump between base and S than

there is S to GTS. It's slightly

different. And then, you know what I

mean? I feel like that base to S is

needs to remain significant because that

has been bread and butter kind of

thinking for Porsche forever since the

early since the late60s actually early

'7s there's always been the S which is

sort of like oh oh you've got the S the

911 S aha that's what you want so I do

feel like it's worth your money I do

feel like it's worth investigating if

you can get a good deal if you're

comfortable and and you can pull it off

I do say it's worth it and uh I I mean,

it's coming from a Porsche guy. There's

another question about 911s from Joel T

on Facebook who says, uh, sorry, uh,

Eddie Murphy, my apologies, Eddie Murphy

says, when did the 911, what generation

did it become the bench benchmark for

journalists. The year was

1968, the year after the 911 came out.

It became instantly 64, but anyway, 64,

sorry. 64 what I Yeah. Yeah. 63 by 64.

It was like, no, I actually I'm next

year. I think when it really started to

embed itself completely was probably the

mid 80s when I think other cars started

to splinter and I feel like the 911

really was solidifying itself in the US

with the turbo and the big whale tail. I

think in that era it got so it cuz

here's the other thing that happened in

the 80s with the turbo they became the

widow maker and it was like the dividing

line for can you drive or not. So if you

loved the 911 it was cuz you knew how to

drive. Many journalists not. Yeah.

Exactly. Still to this day, not. But I

think that started to split it and

started to make people think that it was

it was even better than it really is.

See, let's see. There's a lot of good

stuff, man. This hour has shot by.

Uh oh. Boondoc St. Ryan. Why are popup

headlights on sports cars dangerous to

pedestrians, but truck hoods at high eye

level are

not? My friend Ryan, you're you're my

now my buddy. We're We're here, man.

We're here. I have a real problem with

pedestrian crash standards. I think they

are ruining cars. I'm going to say it

again. Look, I don't want anybody hit by

a car, but stay out of the street. I,

you know, and let's It's easy. Let's

create pedestrian walkways. Let's create

pedestrianon streets. You can walk up

and down. I I know that in Park City,

I'm going to get thrown eggs thrown at

me, but Park City, every now and then,

Main Street is pedestrians only, and

every time it is, I'm like, "This is all

the street should be." Main Street Park

City should just be pedestrians only all

the time. There's no reason to have cars

on that road. So, let's make more

pedestrian only streets. Let's make

better crosswalks. Let's make better

signaling. And let's make cars that can

have slanted hood and pop-up headlights

because I'm sorry, you and I were

driving some GM truck recently and I

stopped at the hood and the hood was

here. I am a big person. It's enormous.

If you are in a pickup line, you will

not see kids. The pop-up headlights is

the least of our worries. But the

problem with pedestrian crash standards

is they're just trying this is this is

the solve. We're trying to make air

between where the hood is and where the

hard engine is. And that's what's

ruining front ends of cars because this

is the thing that's going to save us

all. The truck that's mowing us down.

That's fine because at least it's got

air between the hood. If you happen to

get up on the hood, you'll be okay.

What's that uh the new Miata concept or

sorry, Mazda MX9 concept that I just

saw? Doesn't that have like slight

pop-up headlights? I thought it was just

they're bringing back just because it's

cool. I mean, we don't need pop-up

headlights, but they are really cool,

and it's cool for some part of the car

to articulate. The Pagani Hay red, you

know, it articulates, and it's cool for

something to happen. I think that sells

cars. I I think we're coming back around

to this. Yeah, it's like clothing

styles. It's We're We're coming back

around to

things. Let's see. We've got Oh, man. So

many good things. I'm gonna run back

over here to other questions from

earlier. Let's see. Ted Adam Green says,

"A buddy of his just bought a 2019

Nissan 370Z manual with rev match." Ted

saying, "Can we explain this? He's never

had a manual with rev match. He doesn't

understand why his buddy considered that

a must have." Now, the Nissan Z actually

pioneered Rev Match really, really well.

They had one of the first that was

offered to the general public.

Particular works, very well. Yeah. Yeah.

The the benefit of this, Ted, is it is

it takes it makes a manual transmission

more easy to daily because the

frustrating thing about a manual if if

you're doing that commute kind of drone

driving where you're not really thinking

is easily slotting the gear and doing

the blip and that kind of stuff can be

like I'm just I'm not in the groove of

it. Now, I like learning the heel toe

and getting good at that. And I screw it

up a lot to this day. I screw up heel

toe all the time. And so there is

something satisfying. I'll tell you this

on track I actually like a manual with

rev match because then it it I still get

the manual but it always is going to

slot that gear really quickly. There's

there's an extra layer of accessibility

there. Now the other thing about the

Zcard most of them is you can turn it

off which is really nice and you can

pick your moment when having it just

easily slot is

helpful. Starting to wrap up as we get

to the top of the hour. Back to coffee.

Jordan Schiffer says, "Is my new gadget

academia the insert car of espresso

machines?" I'm thinking it's it's a

do-it-all car, but it's got to be fast

because I was looking for great fast

espresso. And it does the steam wand and

milk jug. As I told you before, it's got

to be something like the Mercedes

uh GLE 63. It's It's fast. It can do the

sports car thing. It's on You can take

it on track. You shouldn't, but you can.

And it's really fast and it's versatile.

Maybe it's a Maybe it's a Cayenne GTS

because it can do everything. It can go

off-road. Oh my gosh. It can go high

speed on track. We can go over dunes. We

you you could do some high performance

kind of driving with a Cayenne, a GTS.

Maybe it's the GT, the Cayenne GT with

that the back window. You know what I'm

talking about?

Wow. Uh Steve, yes, we have purchased

Hooked on Driving. If you haven't heard

our earlier podcast, it is the company

that does high performance driving

events around the nation. In fact,

generally around the coasts. We're

working on stuff in the middle of the

country. That's one of our projects. So,

we are now the parent company of Hooked

on Driving. Now, anywhere you go, if

you've never heard of Everyday Driver,

Hooked on Driving will continue as

you've known it. We just have some

things we want to refine. We want to

make it grow further. We love that it is

a company we already respected running

great track days and we want to make it

grow. So, it is the same company.

Your questions are making me laugh. This

is great. Uh, let's see. There was a

question up here, by the way, talking

about uh Anthony says, "If you offered

me a singerized Eype that's overall

gorgeous, but it has a diesel, a CVT,

and piano black, would I take it?" I

don't think that's a singerized E type.

No one would pick that. No one would

decide that's what we're doing. So,

there we go. Oh, James Drake is

considering an Integra Type S as the

only vehicle, but lives in the St. Paul,

Minneapolis area. Yes. Would we drive

one in the winter or is he nuts? Yes,

drive one in the in the winter.

Absolutely. Redestin Winrak Pro and

you're done. They're excellent. They're

so good. Uh, Zach is asking about our

July or September trips. Are you asking

which one? You may need to put more

comments in there about which one to

take. The July trip is our Utah

Adventure. It is some of the best roads

in Utah. Honestly, twothirds, we haven't

even opened the registration yet, but

twothirds of every year is people that

came the year before. So, clearly, it's

a fun drive. We we go down south of here

for a full day and then we do this great

loop of some of the best roads in Utah.

And every time we do them, we we love

them. That's a great trip. The September

trip, also not open for registration

yet, is the road, the Beartooth Highway

Road. We're going to drive up there.

It's going to be great through Jackson

Hole, etc. But it's the Beartooth

Highway Road that was the starring road

of our best road ever video that is

currently up with the Lotus and the uh

C8. So, both of those are going to be

awesome. They're very different trips,

but uh whichever one you can make as far

as schedules concerned when they go

live, you're going to sign up quick

because I think they're going to go

fast. We are wrapping up for this

podcast. Thank you guys for all your

questions. If we didn't get to it, save

it for the next podcast episode. We'll

do our best, but please support our

sponsors. They support our show and make

what we do possible. And we only want

the best partners and sponsors.

Absolutely. So, don't forget 10% off

your order with the code driver 10 for

Go's Garage. And go to Power Stop for

all your brake upgrade needs and battery

tender. All three of my cars and all of

your cars are all on battery tenders.

You got the the wicked one that's I got

I got I didn't even know they made this.

It's really cool. It's a five bank.

Yeah. That cuz I have cars in a barn.

There's a five bank. And so it's one big

bank in the corner with all the lights

on one and then you just have wires

running off and I can glance in the door

and know that everybody's doing fine.

It's the greatest thing. I didn't even

know they made it. It's really cool.

Brilliant. Yes. Of course. Power clear

wipers and all the cars. One search. Our

friends at autotempest.com. Don't forget

them when you're searching for what's

next. We really appreciate all your

questions. We really appreciate your

support of the show and of Hooked on

Driving and we're going to update you

with more Hooked on Driving kinds of

stuff. And we're again, reminder, we're

going to be at Laguna Secikka March 9th

and 10th, 2024. So, we'd love to see you

if you're local to the area or even if

you, you know, you're flying out and

passing through. I mean, our hope is to

have a lot of really cool track days.

And I want to reiterate, you know, we're

so excited to have this company as a new

part of what we do, but this does not

mean we become a group that is just

about take your car to the racetrack.

Not at all. I am well aware that

sometimes, depending on where you live

in this country, it is becoming a

draconian police force that won't let

you have any fun. Well, that's what the

track is for in some of those areas.

We're spoiled out west. We got a lot of

great roads. We get to open it up on all

of these fun road trips. So, there is

that possibility as well. But, but the

reality is with modern sports cars and

especially you get really good tires,

you will never find the edges of your

car on a public road. And if you do,

it's probably reached a place where it

could go very very wrong. So, it's why I

like tracking so much. Remember, we are

doing multiple Europe trips and we're

probably at a track near you. So, we're

excited about that. We'll talk about

that and everything else going forward.

And I wish I'm sorry that I can't. I

wish I could tell you some of the shoots

we have coming up cuz I was looking at

the calendar today and wanting it to be

summer so badly because we've got these

great shoots coming. Winter's cool. It's

fun to drive in winter. But right but

right now we're in this little like gasp

kind of a black hole of I want to shoot

something really cool and it's snowing

outside and I'm like, "Oh, summer needs

to come. It's coming." Yeah. Thank you

all for your support. We really

appreciate it. Good nights and cheers

everyone.

992: Slate Truck, Cash Extraction Devices, Test Drive Tourism

About this episode

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Everyday Driver Car Debate