AI vs. Cars, Marvel Comics To Cars, Blocked By Nostalgia | Episode 1,016

Ford BlueCruise hands-free highway driving takes the work out of being behind the wheel,

allowing you to relax and reconnect while also staying in control.

Enjoy the drive in BlueCruise-enabled vehicles like the F-150 Explorer and Mustang Mach-E.

Available feature on equipped vehicles, terms applied, does not replace safe driving.

Ford.com

Greo's Garage is our official car care partner and one of the first ever sponsors of our show.

They don't just make great car care products, they want you to get out and drive.

Greo's is a family owned company and they've been a part of every one of our road trips.

We always take speed shine on every shoot, helping us spot clean cars in a moment's notice.

Greo's foaming glass cleaner is the quickest and best way we've ever found to get windows clean before a big day of driving.

Greo's is always releasing new and improved products like their updated wash bucket too.

Plus all of Greo's liquid products are 100% guaranteed and made right here in the US.

The Greo's folks are always happy to answer any questions you have and make sure you get the right product and the right results.

So get the best quality car care products out there from a company that has always supported this show.

Our audience can always get at least 10% off by using the code driver10 at greo'sgarage.com.

Speaking of price, did you see the Tesla announcement this week?

I did.

I'm going to step to the side real quick and acknowledge the elephant in the room.

The elephant in the room is the fact that Tesla forever has promised things

and many of them have either not come out, not been as promised, not come out on the timeframe they said.

That is the pattern with the company.

But one thing they have said forever is we're going to make cheaper cars.

We're going to make cheaper versions of our cars available.

So what happened there is there became this term of the Model 2, the cheaper car under the Model 3.

The Model 2 is going to come blah blah.

Lots of speculation has happened since they've said that forever ago and there's no way to know with Tesla what's really coming out

even though huge things get promised.

So this has been the pattern.

So they've announced the base versions, they're calling them the standard versions.

The Model Y and the Model 3 standard, which means base.

And that actually means it's like cloth interior and apparently the actual roofs of the cars are still glass,

but they're covered now.

You can't have an opening panoramic sunroof.

Simple dampers versus adaptable dampers.

There's a few other things going on here.

I would like to think, maybe I'm alone.

I would like to think that affordable electric car means under 30 grand.

These are mid to high 30s.

It's my understanding this new standard Model Y isn't even mid.

It starts at 39.

Fair.

That's not really if maybe it's affordable for EVs.

You changed the first number.

You got in in the threes, but I mean Tesla's been talking about a $35,000 or under electric car forever.

They're not alone.

Everybody's been talking about that's been the holy grail is the under $30,000 actual electric car.

China is the only ones really doing it.

This standard version is cheaper versions.

It's essentially decontented versions of cars they already sell.

You might agree that these cars to be affordable for EVs to be affordable in this day and age,

you have to decontent them to be able to offer them at a low enough price where you're still making some profit

and you can turn these things out.

This does tie into our AI generated discussion of which I'm going to rant.

We're going to have fun there.

Quite a lot because all those things, the decontented things aside, they have taken away the character of this car.

They've now decontented the design.

Okay.

All right, keep going.

To my eye, this looks like what Jeremy Clarkson described years ago on a Top Gear episode.

This just looks like you ordered 18 yards of car and I could not agree more.

It is a phone on wheels even more than it ever was because I think at this price level,

I don't know that you're an enthusiast that buys this,

but I know there are enthusiasts who have their track car or their fun performance car

who just buy something less expensive to do the commute.

So there is absolutely that market, but this doesn't appeal to me as an enthusiast.

I don't want this other than the price and everything that Tesla's claiming,

the interactions, the interface, and this thing just works,

but it's just nameless, faceless, bad-less car.

It is Billy Idol's Eyes Without a Face song come to life.

That's excellent.

I'm going to attack this another route and I see if maybe I'm going to hit on what you've thought of.

Nameless, faceless.

If there weren't a Tesla badge on this, this looks like car.

18 yards of car.

AI generated car, which we're coming back to.

Yes, it does.

But here's a thought that I'm having,

and let me see if this kind of resonates with what you're talking about.

Tesla has been sold to this point on being space age, futuristic, and cutting edge,

and now they're about to be selling cars that are going to have things that are missing on them

that you had on your old, beat-down, 20-year-old gasoline car that was apparently from the past.

That is a problem.

That is a perception problem because you can't claim to be cutting edge

if the car I just got out of had stuff this does not.

That is an issue.

Now, I realize the concept here is to compete with China who is doing cars at crazy prices

because of incentives and all kinds of weirdness going on in China.

But this is a big thing.

This is the first time Tesla is going to be at a place where it's like,

oh, but yeah, this car doesn't come with that.

Well, clearly, look, they're selling lifestyle now.

Of course they are.

This can go off-road.

Well, actually, out in the middle.

It can go on grass.

It could go efficiently on grass.

By the lake.

By the lake that is probably the corner of somebody's yard,

by the way, that looks landscape.

It does look landscape.

We just drove out the back 40 and we stopped by the lake

and we pulled out our picnic stuff that we just packed in our nice kitchen.

All these photos are from Tesla.

These are all the press-generated photos.

It doesn't look compelling.

It doesn't look compelling to drive.

It doesn't look fun.

It doesn't look interesting.

I am going to tie a ribbon on this with the AI discussion.

So remember the way this looks because on the front of this,

they have gotten rid of the front light bar that travels all the way across.

Same thing with the rear of these cars.

They have gotten rid of the rear light bar.

You can't see it very well on this photo,

but they've gotten rid of a few things.

But the glass roof is still intact on this.

They just covered it up because clearly it was cheaper to just keep making that

than stamp a new panel and weld that in.

So are all the actual features of all the higher-performance cars

the rear-wheel drive only not withstanding and of course the battery.

But are there other features that are just turned off?

They just built them that way and they still exist.

Tesla's done that forever.

Theoretically, you could turn them on or hack them on or some way.

They're still in here.

The glass roof is still there.

So people are going to tear out that headliner and buy a different headliner

to expose the glass roof.

Hey, look, I got more for my money.

I think all those features, many of them are just turned off in the standard models.

That's something that they've done forever is up-charge to get your heated seats.

We heard this forever ago.

Tesla made every single one of their cars with heated seats on all four.

And then the ones where you didn't buy heated seats is just they didn't turn them on.

What does this wire go to?

Exactly right.

What does this plug into?

This is craziness.

Look, I'll give you a piece of actual consumer buying advice right now.

If you would like to get a more affordable Tesla, buy a used one.

These are going to plummet.

If anybody even buys these, these are going to drop like stones

and the current ones are dropping quickly.

But the real value in EVs is a two-year-old pick your brand.

That's the way to get a cheap EV.

It's not by a standard version from Tesla.

Yeah, but two years on, these will be the cheapest EVs.

We were talking about $5,000 cars in the last episode.

These are going to be nothing.

I mean, that actually would make it compelling if these are $20,000 or $15,000,

still with fairly low miles and still fairly new.

That is actually compelling.

So by making the standard, they're just creating a new used car market for themselves.

Right?

You talking about price leads me into our AI discussion

because I have to set the scene that got you and I talking about this.

I was sent a video in the last week.

I was sent it with very little explanation.

I was just sent a video and the headline was about the Tesla Model 2.

Now, we've just talked about the Model Y and Model 3 standard.

It was about the Model 2, which, again, doesn't exist.

But this was a week ago.

And I mean, years ago, people were theorizing what we think the Model 2 is going to be like.

It's been a point of discussion.

I get that.

It's been all over Reddit because everybody thought that's what the new, cheap Tesla was going to be.

Well, it's not the Model 2 clearly.

But a week ago, somebody sent me a video.

And the title of the video was something about a less than $11,000 Model Y from Tesla is here.

And it's amazing.

And I was like, what?

Because you and I, you know, we're not Tesla fans.

I want to be as honest as I can about Tesla Pro and Com.

We've driven all their cars.

There's been a lot of very impressive stuff with their cars.

But I feel like you and I are kind of paying attention to car news.

And I was like, what is this video?

Model 2 is out.

It's less than $11,000.

What's going on?

I was like, what on earth?

So I followed up and I watched this video.

And the more I watched it, the more I got horrified.

And that got you and I talking about AI.

And that brings us to this whole discussion, which is kind of AI versus car reviews versus

if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

And we're coming back around all of that because AI has changed this model massively.

And I'm going to show a photo here that I just kind of want to start the discussion with.

And that is one of the many shots out of this video.

I took very careful screenshots because I don't want to promote this brand that does this.

Because there's brands online that do this.

But if you can't see it, I'm going to explain it to you.

This is...

Does that say Terler?

Terler on the front.

It says two different things.

It does.

Tesla on the nose of this three quarter.

This is a AI generated three quarter shot that looks like it's something.

And this was a motion shot.

Looks like it's something out of your typical car show.

Like the press days of a car show.

There's people walking around in the background.

This is actually a full motion shot if you see it on the video.

People walking around in the background, there's a slight camera move.

It's a three quarter of the shot that looks like a new four door that looks kind of like Tesla's design language.

Kind of looks like it.

But on the hood is one word that's almost Tesla, but isn't.

I think it's T-E-C-L-N.

And then below the light bar, what would be four inches away if it was a real car, is a completely different word.

Which appears to be T-E-R-L-E-R.

So neither of those words are Tesla, but if you're not paying attention, but loving it one further.

If you're watching this on your phone, is this big enough for you to even know?

And I'm going to go to a couple of other screenshots out of this same video.

The one I'm showing right now is a screenshot of what looks an awful lot like a Tesla Model Y, rolling down an assembly line.

This was a motion shot.

There's a guy standing in front of it wearing coveralls.

He backs out of the way.

When he backs out of the way, he doesn't do it normally.

There's a weird motion about him.

But the back of this car, the word on it is gibberish.

It's utter, it's not even readable.

It's utter gibberish.

The point I'm making here is, if you're watching this on a screen, that's how I watch most of my stuff on an actual laptop or bigger.

If you're watching a video like that, you can tell quickly.

If you're watching it on your phone, this can get you.

The point I'm making here is this video, the more I watch it, the more it horrified me because the entire video was a lie.

The fact that this car existed, the fact that it was the Model 2, the fact that it had been announced, the pricing.

Look, I'm a geek and I dug in.

I watched the whole video.

The VO was badly written.

It was read by a standardized voiceover AI thing.

There's lots of places now you can go and you can actually put a script in and go,

I'd like an American male roughly 30.

It was that voice.

But the thing is, every five minutes in this 20-something minute video, the stats of the car changed.

It was 300-something horsepower five minutes ago and now it's like 450.

None of this matters because this is just somebody on YouTube wanting to get you to watch

and this video had hundreds of thousands of views.

And what makes me worried is, when do we get to a place where car reviews, you have no idea what's true anymore.

This had out-of-context quotes from Elon Musk.

They would show a picture of Elon Musk standing still.

Or maybe even sometimes it was even in motion like from one of his reveals, but none of his audio.

The voiceover would tell you, Elon said this while we show you Elon.

Then it would cut to some out-of-context sentence like, and we think it's a great car.

Well, that could be, he said about anything.

That's like, you remember the old movie posters where it was like the actual quote was,

this is not the best movie I've ever seen, this is the worst movie I've ever seen.

And the quote is like dot dot dot best movie I've ever seen on the poster.

It's that kind of stuff.

Totally out of context.

It's that kind of stuff.

They would use a real quote from Elon after they would set it up with the AI voice.

This entire video with hundreds of thousands of views was AI generated and wrong.

What I was struck by is the fact that it was sent to me as this person that sent it to us was just amazed.

And then the secondary thing is I just kept imagining watching this on your phone and going,

ah, this is where the industry is now.

Horrifying.

N-V-P-P-L-A-E in the, in the plure?

In the play.

That is, that is not a real thing.

Oh, by the way, for those of you that would like a laugh, I do have one more still from this video that I will show you that was insidious.

Insidious.

Okay.

Here is the model to still frame.

I'm going to describe it to you.

Oh my gosh.

It's the model to with Jay Leno, but it's not Jay Leno.

That is not Jay.

It is an AI created Jay Leno that, that if you think about, but imagine this at a thumbnail on your phone, you'd buy it because it's a gray haired guy in all denim leaning over a car.

And so you just assume at phone size, you assume this is Jay Leno.

If you click it to anything bigger and you watch it for even a frame, you go, that's not Jay.

But he's also leaning over a car that doesn't exist.

On one level, I'm excited about the fact that you and I go actual places and film real things.

I'm very encouraged by that.

But from an industry perspective, I'm alarmed.

I'm alarmed.

I'm going to switch us briefly to music.

Okay.

AI is now being used to create music.

You probably knew this, but it's never been manifested more succinctly for me than a band called the Velvet Sundown.

So you're going to look on Spotify now.

They've got two albums and I think half a million followers at least.

I've listened to the music.

You know what?

It's decent.

It's kind of folksy and rock and indie and kind of good.

And then I went searching for the Velvet Sundown on the internet and there's tons of band photos.

This is the band.

This is the Velvet Sundown.

None of these people exist.

Of course not.

The music doesn't exist.

It's a little too perfect.

That's the key of AI.

It's just a little bit too...

There's no sharp or flat.

The beat is perfect.

It is synthesizer, drum machine, perfect.

Of course it is.

But it sounds as if the lead singer is just kind of singing a little bit.

But every note is pitch perfect.

But more importantly, are we all okay with that?

Because clearly listeners are okay with that.

You know what?

Some of the songs are like pretty decent.

But you can also tell that this music bears the hallmarks of a music creation app called SUNO.

SUNO.

Just go to suno.com and you too can create any song about any subject.

There's no more milk in the fridge.

Let's create a song about no more milk in the fridge.

Who forgot to buy the milk?

The milk is too light.

That's the title.

There's no more milk.

We are now singing on the podcast.

That's how far it's gone.

This could happen.

Oh for sure.

Here's the thing.

One of you is going to send us this song.

One of you is going to create it and send it to Paul.

And I guarantee you right now that when it comes across, I'm going to make Paul listen to it.

And I'm going to go do something else.

You worked at a radio station.

Oh man, yep.

So here it is.

The Velvet Sundown.

And this is the tip of the spear.

The tip of the iceberg, I should say.

And we are identifying the tip of the iceberg, also AI, not only in videos and music.

We've talked about Jason Statham.

There's trailers, movie trailers put together with tons of his action movies.

Like, wait, that was from like The Beekeeper or some other movie.

I've seen that clip before.

That's not of a new movie of him doing some action scenes in a new movie coming out.

It's just, and now there's AI trailer.

Of course.

Generators.

Absolutely.

So let's bring this back to Kars.

There was an announcement this week from Vitori in conjunction with the Hallow Design House,

Pininfarina.

They are admitting AI usage in the design of their new Vitori.

Turbio.

The turbo?

Turbio.

It's the turbo.

It is the turbo.

Like it's the your billions from Bugatti.

This is the turbo.

This looks like everything and nothing, doesn't it?

It absolutely does.

This is a hypercar that will have a 6.8 liter V12 hybrid making 1100 horsepower.

And, yes, Pininfarina admitted, yes, some AI was used in the iterative process to make

this car.

So I was fascinated and I went digging.

Yes, you're right.

It looks like everything and nothing.

You can pick out design cues from almost everything in the past, which is the whole point, what

AI does.

That's exactly what it does.

AI scans the entire world of art and design and music to create something that, you know

what, actually looks pretty good.

Look at this thing.

It's actually pretty interesting looking and beautiful.

But right now, despite the hype that you will see and going to vittori.com, they have a small

office in Palo Alto that is just a business office.

They are in conjunction with 3D printing and industrial additives.

Tal Technica is supposed to be building the engine.

They're in conjunction with another designer who absolutely is a respected designer, has

definitely some chops as a designer, but then Pininfarina, I believe is the one going

to be building this.

The car industry is littered.

I mean, well, littered.

It's built upon the successes and failures of individuals who wanted to build a car.

This is the latest iteration of this from John DeLorean to Malcolm Bricklin to Elon Musk,

the Dodge Brothers, Lewis Chevrolet.

They're all named after people.

Cool.

This is the latest iteration, so it's an AI thing, but it doesn't exist.

And vittori doesn't stop there because vittori is the car company.

But not only are they going to be building hypercars, only 50 of these don't exist.

That will sit in somebody's garage once they exist.

They'll happily take your money right now.

Of course they will.

They're going to be moving into EV tolls in the future and private eJets.

I am not kidding.

Of course they are.

And this company founded by, I believe it's Armando and Carlos Cruz.

I absolutely admire and respect the.

Please say gumption.

We respect your gumption.

Good on you.

They're individuality and wanting to do this.

Nicely done.

And wanting to be successful and create a car company.

But don't you think you've bitten off a little bit more than you can chew right now by predicting

EV tolls are next and then private eJets?

I don't even know what an eJet is.

I admire what they're doing and wanting to push forward.

Except this doesn't exist.

It's just cool renderings right now.

There's no timeline.

There's no factory to my knowledge.

Well, I guess pen and farina would be the factory.

Yeah.

It's how technical building the engine and it's how technical is a long running, widely

respected builder designer and builder of engines, but a new hybrid system V12 specifically

to pull the dollars out of the rich people who can afford to buy these.

But I questioned the use of AI to develop something that's going to appeal at this level.

AI, I think.

Can it be used for mundane objects and low priced, low cost objects?

At the highest level.

I submit to you a buddy of mine, Mike Jelenick, who I worked with at Autodesk and he's a incredible

designer.

He's a professor.

I believe he's in Czechia.

And he just put up a quote on his LinkedIn page that he is still a bit of a skeptic.

I'm quoting him right now.

Mike, how are you doing?

Not because he doesn't see the potential because he worries about ethics, copyright and the

quiet, flattening effect that you get when everything is trained on the same data set.

AI tools are definitely getting better, faster and more accessible as we're seeing, but also

more average and creativity rarely happens in the average.

That's very good.

So here's what Mike keeps asking his students and himself, which AI dares to be weird.

What model doesn't just predict what you want, but helps you discover something you didn't

expect.

Some AI tools simply amplify or amplify your intent.

Others dilute it.

And here, I couldn't agree more in this sense because at Vatori.com, they claim to, we didn't

want to just build another hypercar.

We wanted to reimagine the future of transportation or however it's worded.

They're doing it.

Nobody's done it right yet.

But we have figured it out.

And the way this car will drive, nobody's really made a great car to drive.

Ferrari, McLaren, you guys.

Good efforts.

Koenigsegg, Horatio, Pagani.

Big pat on the head.

You know, participation award for you guys, but we're going to do it so much better and

it doesn't exist.

They're ready to take your money now.

There's no real bones behind this car.

And yet it looks like, as you said, everything and nothing will it sell?

Maybe I wish them all success, but I also question, did the world need the Vatori?

No.

Did this push the automotive world forward with new innovation, new ways of building

things, something that many people can afford and experience?

No, you've just built yet another hypercar that appeals to the rich people that can afford

it.

And like you said, it'll go in a collection, maybe make an appearance at a cars and coffee,

get sold, get auctioned.

What did this do to push the car world forward?

I cannot answer that question.

And then that leads us to our own use of AI and our thumbnails.

Yes, it does.

There's been lots of discussion in the last five years or so about how social media, how

we consume things on our phone.

I'm as guilty as everybody listening, okay?

How we consume things on our phone.

YouTube is the perfect example.

TikTok, pick your outlet.

What they're worried about is time on platform.

They want to keep you engaged, okay?

This applies to all media now, from the news you watch at night to the things you flip

past on your phone.

All they want you to do is keep coming back.

So what happens with all of these algorithms and all the way up to people deciding the

news you see, okay?

The concept is universal.

The concept is just, if I tell you a variation of what you already believe, if I show you

something that already makes you warm and fuzzy, you'll stay.

It's please, please, please like me.

It's please like me, from your newscasters to your TikTok feed to your Instagram feed,

because all that they care about is time on platform, because ultimately the thing behind

that is, we're supported by advertisers who want your eyeballs.

So this is now, I'm baking your news, but it's so true.

Look, look, you and I are benefiting from all of you that are listening, okay?

Time on platform with us so that we can talk about sponsors.

So the sponsors will pay us so we can pay our mortgages.

Let's be perfectly upfront.

That is the way media has always been.

We're currently showing Powerstop on the screen behind us, okay?

We love Griots.

We love Wrettestein.

All of these partners that we have, Auto Tempest, this is how the show survives.

And they back us.

This is how media's been since the dawn of media, by the way.

Anytime somebody goes, we're going to do media without advertising.

I go, I'm waiting on you.

I'm waiting for you to come around.

You're going to come around eventually.

Even Netflix is like, we could show ads.

Totally.

We could totally show.

Amazon's like, would you like to go ad free?

Seriously.

The point I'm making here is all entertainment media has always been supported by advertising.

But now we're being entertained across the board, phone, TV, internet, whatever.

And what I want you to do is please, please, please like me and don't go away so that you stay here with me.

So that means I'm going to either feed you stuff you'd like to hear or I'm going to say something that keeps you from being angry.

Okay.

So this brings me back to and leaving.

Yes.

Yeah.

This brings me back to the new Tesla Model 2 is revolutionary and it's under $11,000.

I could lie to you about that.

And if you watch the entire 15 minute video, I got to put ads in front of you because you're looking for a super cheap EV that's going to be cutting edge.

And I told you that's what this is.

The problem I'm worried about for automotive journalism is the fact that forever, you and I've joked about this forever, what automotive journalists have done for the last...

Okay.

Since the dawn of the internet, I'll just stay there since the dawn of the internet.

The car makers have put out a press release that says, here's our, our version.

Toyota's internal written version that through it went through a lot of drafts.

Pick your brand.

Here's our written version of all the stats you need to know about this car.

And a website person takes that and puts it into their own words and publishes it as an article on the web.

Or, stands in front of a car at a car launch.

We go to these with the information that they just read or were just shown in a presentation and they do their version of it.

There are more folks doing these two jobs than I can count.

But, how much longer?

Because now you can spit all of those stats into AI.

You could go auto blog 10 years ago was a force to be reckoned with in automotive media.

You're right.

Okay.

15 years ago they were the tops.

Yeah.

2010 was like auto blog is the first destination.

People's careers were being launched from auto blog early in the 2000s.

Yes.

You could run auto blog now with a guy and they may already be headed there.

Okay.

You could run it with a guy, a person who all they're doing is pulling down the press things, throwing them a chat GPT and posting them as articles.

Every hour.

And then you get to the $10,000, $11,000 Tesla Model 2, which doesn't exist with a fake Jay Leno standing over it.

And we watch on our phones and go, oh, isn't that cool?

Tesla Model 2 is coming.

Hey, look, you and I are battling an interesting place here because essentially, let's be honest, those folks are getting views.

We're not getting because they're spending time on platform hearing about the new $11,000 vaporware Model 2.

And I'm not even coming down on Tesla.

I'm just saying that's what that channel does.

Do you remember the illustrator named Mark Sternberger, who always used to illustrate with colored pencils, ink, mixed media in automotive magazines?

It was always Sternberger who illustrated the next.

When they did concept with sketches.

And it was all sketches.

Yeah.

You probably remember this and seeing in your magazines.

It was always Mark Sternberger.

He had a very unique way, almost architectural letter type signature on all of his illustrations.

Awesome stuff.

Mark was actually an instructor of mine at Art Center.

My mom met him and I met his kids.

They're great illustrators.

Toshi, his son was Art Center grad, I believe, as well.

And Mark was just the greatest guy, but that job is no more.

And those concepts are always now presented with ads.

It used to just be, remember, here's the concept.

That's the difference and using AI as the tool to generate that.

And this mainly applies to cars, but any product that can have a press release generated about stats.

And then here's the photos or the actual product.

Here it is to just spit that back out and regurgitate that across some news website.

Investigative journalism, I think will still be around a long time.

There's still a lot to do on the actual news side from politics to world events to weather.

There's still necessary journalism needing to be done there, but anything like a car and then spy shots.

Because spy shots and illustrations have been done for the longest time.

But now it's getting us all excited about some unauthorized thing that is a fake Elon Musk or a Jay Leno.

And this is all fake. It's not real. And you've just wasted your time, except ads got put in front of your eyes.

So how do you know what is AI? How do you know where the line is?

I don't think you and I are going to define where the line is, unfortunately.

But I do think it's going to, I mean, our industry is going to be gutted by this.

The automotive journalism industry is going to be gutted by this.

And I'm excited that you and I do things and we go somewhere really weird to come back.

I'm excited that you and I do some things like road trips and stuff where we physically went somewhere

and are showing you the fact that we actually did it. I think there's value there now.

I don't know how much value, because let me put it to you this way.

One of my favorite films ever is Lawrence of Arabia.

Lawrence of Arabia is amazing.

I like Lawrence of the Arabia too.

That was part two, wasn't it?

Lawrence of the Arabia.

Yeah, exactly. Lawrence of Arabia is an amazing movie, shot on 70mm.

But there's huge like 100 plus person battle scenes in this, like guys on camels versus guys on horses.

And there's crazy stuff.

And you have to think about the fact that this was shot in a desert in the 1960s with a 70mm camera.

And everything you just saw, captured, happened.

They had to put it on in the middle of nowhere to do it, to get it on camera.

And now we watch an Avengers movie where it was two people in green screen.

Avatar. As cool as the Avatar movies are.

None of that ever existed.

He was in a flight suit.

He's got dots all over him.

He's hanging from the ceiling in front of a blue screen.

And it looks like he's swimming with a whale that has three fins or whatever.

The point I'm making here is we watch the spectacle of what can be done with the digital AI creations.

Because it's spectacle and it's super perfect.

Look at influencers.

There's this Tilly Norwood person that's freaking Hollywood out because she's the new actress that is freaking Hollywood out.

Because the company that created her is claiming that she's about to get a really big agent.

And all the agents of the town are going, not me, not me.

So that's going on.

Like they don't want to touch that?

Exactly, because all of their clients will leave.

If they take on an AI-created generator, then anybody they have that is legit will leave.

They will find the door.

So while the company is saying, we're going to get an agent for our AI-generated cute little girl,

that's holding a Starbucks in this ad, or we'll talk to you on the news.

I mean, these things exist.

And she's super perfect.

She's like, she's an AI-generated brown-haired, brown-eyed girl.

She just looks perfectly normal and fine.

And that's the problem is she looks real enough.

But now you've got a company going, oh, we're going to get her an agent.

And all the agents are going, no, no, not me, not me.

Because then all their big clients will leave.

But how much value do those big clients still have if we're paying attention to somebody who almost looks like Jay Leno?

I'm trying to connect the dots here.

This is weird, but I like that you and I are doing real things with cars.

I hope that still has value.

But the big point I want to make, and we could keep going,

I think you've got other stuff, but the big point I want to make about AI leads me to an interesting thought.

Remember the early 2000s?

It feels like days ago now.

The early 2000s, what was happening with the internet was all of us on the globe have a universal source of knowledge.

If you'd like to, my son's never known a world where it was like,

well, if you'd like to answer that question, you need to go to the library.

Remember that?

Remember like, mom?

What is Angola?

I don't know. Go to the library.

And now what do we do?

I will tell you right now.

I just said Tilly Norwood and half of you were looking her up on the internet and you found it instantly.

You have a picture of her in front of you.

Those constant source of knowledge, the early 2000s, we all had a base of knowledge.

And the reality was there were no more bar fights, theoretically,

because you could get into an argument at the bar about is this true or this true

and somebody could pull up a phone and be like, well, the internet says this.

And you close the discussion.

We used to be able to go back and forth for hours with your buddies about are you right or am I right?

That's all gone.

Are you saying you missed bar fights?

No, because you just look it up on the internet and go, here's the answer.

But now with AI, we've reached a place where I'm wondering when the cultural snapback happens.

Because there's been rumblings about, well, these things on the internet aren't true.

When's the snapback happens to when all of us are going?

If it's on the internet, it probably isn't true.

And then what's our source of knowledge then?

AI is creating a world where you have to suspect that what you're being shown,

never existed, doesn't exist, isn't true, which is a shift on the cultural perception of the internet at large.

It's also getting so good that we won't know in the future.

Absolutely.

Because now we can determine the lettering on the back of a car, the front of a car.

Okay, that's goofy.

There's tells if you know where to look.

And if you're in the industry and you're in the car, yeah, I know that that doesn't exist.

And yeah, I know what Jay Leno looks like.

And that's not that person.

There's little tells, but it's getting so good that we're not going to be able to tell anymore.

But then at what point do we not care if it is or not?

Are you saying we're just going to go back to steampunk even though steampunk has already happened

and we've already steampunked ourselves and it was cool and it, you know, everybody went steampunk and, you know,

single speed bicycles and, you know, the whole deal.

And then are we going to just go back to what is the next steampunk?

Where is the, the, the lash back front, what some sort of lash?

What is the, what is the thing that we do back to the real thing, which is why I love the road trips.

And still the genuine nature of does this car make me happy?

Does it make do I like driving it?

Is that Tilly?

I'm just showing you Tilly Norwood sitting in front of AI posters in the background that don't exist either.

She's cute.

She's very, that just looks like your standard video called brown-haired brown-eyed girl with a cute smile waving at the camera.

None of what you're seeing in that image is real.

None of it. Zero.

Insane.

And then there are, it's funny because there are tells on some of it and there are not tells on others.

And we are headed toward, I have no idea what's true anymore.

And then I really do ask the question, what becomes our source of knowledge at that point if the internet is something we all suspect?

And I do think we're getting there.

We're getting to a place where people at large are like, oh, you saw that online?

Well, that can't be true.

That's true.

Which is weird.

There is a distinction in my mind between information and knowledge.

And knowledge is somebody that has experience in their particular field and they've been doing it.

You're a filmmaker.

You've done it.

You know, we've driven a lot of cars.

Yeah.

Experience on track.

That is knowledge that can be shared, that can be taught.

That's something we have learned.

But then there's information.

That is, I don't know much about that industry, but I can tell you all about biathlon or steeple chase.

I can tell you all this information.

I just looked this up.

And I know because I read a quick AI generated blurb from Wikipedia that has summarized it so quickly.

I just spit that information back at you.

We're all doing it.

You look at anything online right now and here's the AI summary of the 60 articles to follow.

So here's, I mentioned the AI thumbnails.

Back to that brief.

Oh, yes.

Sorry, yes.

We do use those because I have found it.

It's suddenly a very quick and easy way to generate a compelling, interesting, colorful image.

And do we want you to click?

Yeah.

Yeah, I do.

You'll notice on those thumbnails that my head is a little bit misshapen and Todd looks different practically every time.

I look different every single time, yes?

And I can put into AI and I can say, here's the subject matter of what we're talking about.

What will AI generate for an AI discussion about AI?

I have no idea.

It's a really good question.

I haven't made the thumbnail.

It's just going to make an infinite, infinite loop of mirrors on the back.

But, but, you know, let's go, let's go further.

Let's go one further.

Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room here.

The reality is that when we took this podcast video, we just did what we've always done, which was just straight thumbnail.

Yes.

That's of the actual video that you're watching.

And we got multiple comments, what we're like, guys, these thumbnails are terrible.

You really ought to update your thumbnails.

And we're looking around and watching the obvious choices, Mr. Beast.

But everybody on the planet making AI thumbnails, much more clickable.

And because all we're talking about is scrolling through YouTube on your phone or on your computer.

And what are the thumbnails that compel you?

And nine times out of 10, they're super busy, super saturated, aren't real.

So we ran a test.

We ran a straight up test about an AI thumbnail versus a standard thumbnail.

And guess what?

The AI thumbnail for the podcast gets more notice and engagement.

It gets more impressions and it gets more clicks.

Now, conversely, we also ran a couple on a couple of our videos.

And the split was almost 50-50.

It was almost dead 50-50 on the actual image versus the AI image.

So the minute it got close to 50-50, I was like, screw it, we're not doing AI.

If it had been way toward AI, on the car comparison, on the actual films,

I would probably want to cave then too because we want you to find it and watch

and you're just scrolling your home screen on YouTube.

But the fact was 50-50 was like, thank God, we're staying with real images.

But for this podcast, it needs to be, I hate to say it, but it needs to be hyper real

for you to notice and to click.

And that's why we're doing AI thumbnails kind of grudgingly.

But it all comes back into where's the line?

I don't know where the line is.

We're just, this is us talking.

I've got no idea.

We're just headed toward if it's too good to be true, it isn't true.

We're back to that.

My mom taught me that when I was little.

My grandmother used to say that to me.

If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

And I was like, what?

And now here I am as a much older adult and she's long gone and I'm going,

huh, we're back there, huh?

Is that where we are?

I want to be excited by concepts coming out.

I want to see that car companies are doing cool stuff

and there's rumors and spy shots and all that stuff.

I mean, sometimes there's missteps and.

Oh yeah.

I wish a car company weren't going down that path, but whatever.

I want to be excited and that makes money that keeps engagement

and that's what show cars on the stands at car shows are all about.

Yes, for sure.

Concept cars.

It gets us excited about what's next.

But I'm also to the place where, yeah, maybe you and I should

maybe not believe anything on the internet.

I mean, Abraham Lincoln said, don't believe anything on the internet.

He did say that a couple of times.

So, yeah, he was way ahead of his time.

He was at his time.

He knew.

So maybe we're at that place now and you have to use even

more discretion, but then there is a place where is it music?

Is it cool movie trailer?

Was I entertained and do I mind the ads?

I mean, that's what's going on currently, but it still does come

back to does a car make you happy?

Do you like driving it?

I guess we're just going to have to wait and ignore every

concept and until it's in a showroom, I don't believe it exists

because there's no model two or one or there will never be you

and I 16, at least on our own channel.

Maybe somebody else will do it walking around a car that does

not exist.

That's not something we're going to do.

We're not going to do that.

We're going to drive actual cars that really exist.

We can really open the door.

We can really sit in the seat.

We can really drive it.

Somebody's going to create an AI version just despite us.

I know it's going to happen, but here's where we are.

Somebody ran out of milk in the fridge.

You're desperate to make that song work.

This is on your latest album.

The latest Paul Schmucker album is going to have.

We're out of milk coming soon.

I need milk for my coffee, whatever.

Coca Cola for everyone.

Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you.

We're adding FCP Euro as our partners and supporters

for both everyday driver and hooked on driving.

For nearly 40 years, FCP Euro has been an industry leading

supplier of genuine original equipment and OEM parts

and performance upgrades for European cars.

That means BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Mini, Mercedes,

Volvo, Porsche and even Saab.

Paul, you have to call your brother-in-law and tell him

FCP Euro is the place because as I just said, even Saab.

We're putting it in the ad.

Anyway.

They offer a lifetime replacement guarantee on everything,

including consumables like brake pads, wiper blades

and even oil filters.

Buy a replacement, send back the old one

and receive a credit for the full amount.

For your Saab!

Plus, FCP Euro offers free economy shipping on orders

over $49 and a 90-day hassle-free return policy

for new, unused and uninstalled parts.

So visit FCP Euro today for more than 300,000 parts

ready to ship for your European car and your Saab.

FCP Euro dot com.

Hooked on driving announcements and updates

for the rest of October 2025 and into November,

a lot of stuff is going on.

You think the season is winding down,

but there's still some great weather and great driving

events to be had.

Starting out with the Ridge Motorsports Park

that's out in Seattle.

Actually Shelton Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18.

This is a closing weekend for Pacific Northwest.

Then Sonoma Raceway in Northern California,

Saturday, October 18, Sunday, October 19.

That same weekend, the 18th and 19th of October,

Saturday, Sunday is Hedge Hollow Raceway in Adrian,

Missouri.

It's in the Midwest region.

And then Laguna Seca, which is a 92 decibel day in NorCal.

Saturday, November 1st and Sunday, November 2nd.

Notice these are all weekends.

Many of them are all weekends in here.

NJMP, that's New Jersey Motorsports Park

Lightning Track in the Northeast.

Also Saturday, November 1st, Sunday, November 2.

Pitt Race in Pennsylvania is closing, we just found out.

Yes, that's just got announced this past week.

It's never been some big historic track

with huge races on it, but it's been a

beloved local track.

And it is selling to a developer.

Whoever owns it was given one of those offers

that was so high, they said, and we're none.

Pitt Race in Northeast, Saturday, November 8

and Sunday, November 9, and Hooked on Driving

has the distinction of being the last ever track dates

on that track.

Fascinating.

I hope you get to go.

If you're in that area, you like Pitt at all,

you should go.

You should totally go.

Thunder Hill Raceway, 3 mile in NorCal,

Saturday, November 15th and Sunday, November 16th.

Then moving out to the Mid-Atlantic,

VIR, Virginia International Raceway,

November 29 and November 30.

That's a Saturday, Sunday after Thanksgiving.

So Thanksgiving weekend, are you sick of,

well, anything about the weekend?

Yes, probably.

Getting your car, come out to VIR.

We have not been to this track.

We've heard amazing things.

Only great things.

Incredible facility, but Hooked on Driving,

that is the 30th, sorry, 29th and 30th,

Saturday, Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, 2025.

And lastly, just to start tempting you,

thinking about 2026, we are going back

to Spain and Portugal.

That is April 24 to 29, 2026,

Circuit de Sevilla and Porta Mal, race track.

So now two countries, Spain and Portugal,

short drive in between.

It's going to be an incredible trip,

and we have just announced it.

We have just actually put it up on its feet.

It is partnered with our good partners, RSR,

over in Europe, which means we're talking

about this being all inclusive.

This is a day in Seville on the track,

a day in Seville playing tourist,

a couple days at Porta Mal, which is in Portugal

with that really cool track, and actually staying on the beach.

This is a really cool trip to come to drive

and to bring your partner, because even if they don't drive,

this is a very cool trip.

A lot of people, when they do trips like this with us,

they will tack on a larger Europe piece to it.

But it's Spain and Portugal.

In late April of next year,

that's going to be really epic.

I'm very excited about it.

So that is something that is just now happening.

You can sign up now on the Hooked On Driving website.

We'll be promoting it more as we get closer,

but that just happens.

We thought we had to talk about it.

It's really cool.

Come to a track day near you, hookedondriving.com.

Since you're listening to us, you'll end up shopping for your next car.

And when you do, you need autotempest.com.

And autotempest has recently added price history for every car listed,

so you can see how prices are trending and know if you've found a good deal.

You can also create search alerts and lists of saved searches,

so you can find your perfect spec even easier the next time.

Into a couple of car debates.

I like that we're still having firsts on this podcast.

Things that have not happened before.

Good.

Fred's writing in.

He is converting comics to cars.

And I thought, what on earth are we talking about?

But Fred has a lifelong comic book collection that he has acquired since the 1960s.

Wow.

He has some very rare, very valuable Marvel comics.

He is going to sell his entire comic collection to buy a great sports car

because that is what he's into now in his life.

And this comic collection is going to give him a budget.

This is just from the comics between 90 and $100,000.

That's incredible.

I just, I am boggled by this.

Fred, thank you for writing.

Really appreciate it.

He is currently got a 2017 BMW 4 Series convertible and his daily is a BMW X2.

So already a BMW garage.

BMW enthusiast.

Fred was planning on a Cayman.

But new ones, he says, are no longer internal combustion.

He loves the big rear ends of 911s.

Me too.

But at $140,000 out of his price range.

Well, $140,000 is being, that's a little light.

Yeah, that's like, yeah, Porsche will have a conversation with you,

but you better bring more money.

Remember the new GTS, Fred, is 206,000.

It starts at 174, so if we're talking.

The base 911s are around 140,

but the minute you like sneeze in that direction with any extras, it's way above.

Yeah.

Fred says no need for a boxer with the 430i convertible, which is like new.

And he loves the Corvette, but it feels a little flashy.

But he says a new one is right in his price range and it's stunning.

That's a very interesting sentence.

We'll come back to that.

Fred prefers new or used or, well, not used, new or very new,

I suppose because he doesn't own a toolbox.

Okay.

He loves resale value, so the right color and combo,

the right color and trim is important.

What should he consider to convert his entire Marvel comic book collection

into a sports car?

I have three choices for you.

And since you can't buy the fantastic car or the shields flying car

or the Punisher's battle van,

I have excellent references.

I like it.

You can't buy that.

Well, you actually can buy the Batmobile, the Tumblr.

There's a few of them being sold in LA right now.

Somebody's making the Tumblr from the Christopher Nolan movies.

You can buy that.

Tumblr would be cool.

There's how to directly convert comics to cars.

You buy a Tumblr.

That's what you do.

All right, Fred, I understand you don't own a toolbox

and you need new or something close to,

but even a slightly used boxer is still probably going to be under warranty.

I think you should consider the Boxster GTS.

You could consider a Cayman 2,

but I think this car is going to drive differently than your 430i.

You considered it briefly.

It's on your radar.

I understand.

Maybe that causes you to sell the 430i and replace it with...

I see it.

We'll see it.

But anyway, at least worth a drive to confirm.

Don't just put them both in convertible camps.

I agree with that.

Yeah.

Because you're needing a different engine placement, I think.

But if that's totally out, you mentioned Corvette.

And the Z06, you're going to have to push on the budget a little bit,

but you already got 9,200 to work with.

They have settled.

Prices on these have settled to a reasonable market price.

And the Z06, we just drove one of those against an Alpine A110.

It's incredible to drive.

It's a really fantastic car to drive.

Great GT car.

Loads of power.

It does feel Euro to me.

The way it revs, the way the engine makes power.

What a fantastic car.

We liked our Stingray a lot.

The Stingray that we had for the show.

We did pretty much every comparison we could think of.

And it's now gone.

But we're excited for the next owner.

A lot of happy miles driving that.

Great condition.

But here, yeah, it's flashy.

But when you tell people you converted comics into a car,

they're like, well, this is a comic book car.

That's a good point.

That's a very good point.

It looks like it came straight off the pages of a comic book.

Earlier Marvel movies, I forget which one it was.

I think it was a Captain America movie.

One of them, somebody, a couple of more driving the brand new C8

because it looks like a car that belongs to a comic book.

There it is right there.

Especially in bright, crazy orange.

Crazy orange.

Crazy orange metallic, I think, is the name of that color.

It could work.

Two BMWs.

And what is this thing that looks like it's out of a comic book?

Let me tell you.

Yes, it is.

As a matter of fact, but if we're going to do the comic book thing.

Oh, very nice.

Because I know you said new or very new.

Audi R8s are not that.

They're not.

But you did say resale value.

OK.

Of any of the R8s, it is this one, the first gen, the R8 manual with the side

laid Tony Stark's car.

You're driving Tony Stark's car and you can do some sort of cool license plate

that ties your collection into transmogrifying that into Tony Stark's R8.

Marvel comics into Marvel Star's cool car.

There's tons of jets and flying things and throughout the history of the Marvel

universe, there's tons of vehicles.

But in my mind, the Marvel universe, well, that's Avengers.

I mean, Tony Stark.

Love it.

It's his R8.

It's that first R8.

Very good.

The 4.2 V8 manual gated transmission.

They don't make them like they used to.

Very cool.

The original R8.

And this, I think, will always be welcomed at your local Audi dealer for service.

You find a good one, spend the money.

You'll find low miles.

But resale value, my friend, resale value.

That's where this is currently at.

And I think in the future, people will always want the gated manual V8 R8.

And we're done.

That's very good.

I really do like where you went.

I've got a few things for you here.

I want to talk about, well, I'm going to jump in kind of where you did, Paul.

And that is, I am going to talk about Porsche for a second.

I'm going to talk about the Cayman specifically because you didn't bring it up as something

you wanted.

But Fred, you mentioned liking the Cayman, but worried about no internal combustion engine

or liking the 911.

And then a similar sentence, you said, you're worried about the Corvette because it's too

flashy.

Are these cars not flashy?

I mean, they're not comic book crazy.

But if you're driving, if you're worried about flashy and you're driving anything with a

Porsche badge, you're still being flashy.

I think we could probably go away from worrying about something being flashy.

These Caymans and 911s are still flashy cars.

Okay.

So I don't want to walk away from that.

The other thing I want to say here real quick, Fred, I'm not going to go too far into this

rant because many of you have heard it before, but please don't buy a car.

Any of you for what it will be worth when you sell it because then you won't treat it

right.

You won't drive it.

You won't do fun adventures with it because you're always worried about, oh, yeah, see,

but I'm taking value out of the car.

You will paralyze yourself.

And the thing I'm worried about for you specifically, Fred, in this conversation is you were going

from an appreciating asset, your comic collection to a depreciating asset, any car you purchase.

That's a really great point.

Please don't put on this car that it has to go up in value.

Except the fact that when you buy it tomorrow, it's worthless and the day after it's worthless

again, but you're getting enjoyment out of it.

I'm not saying you didn't get enjoyment out of comics, but comics other than in kind of

a brainway.

They don't take you places.

They take you places in your mind, but they don't actually take you places.

There are real adventures you can have with these cars, but it means they will get damaged

in the same way that you take a good hiking pair of hiking boots and you go out in the

wilderness.

Your boots are dirty.

Okay.

It took you somewhere you had an adventure, but guess what?

The boots are beat up now.

This is an appreciating asset.

Please don't worry about what it will be worth later.

I'm starting at the Cayman because you mentioned it and kind of walked away and I think it's

a great thought.

So did you, Paul.

I have to bring up the Amira.

He's got $90,000.

That's actually perfect, isn't it?

It's a flashy.

I like the amount of comic connections you made to this, but the Amira is out there.

I feel like I'd be remiss to not bring it up.

The four cylinders, you could probably get brand new right now for the low 90s because

the four cylinders are around and they're trying to give discounts to get those to move.

The six cylinder manuals seem to be holding value around a hundred, but the four cylinders,

some of them new at actual dealers with no miles are like 93.

So an Amira is a brand new car.

Now I know many of you are also screaming at me.

He doesn't own a toolbox.

I'm telling him to buy a new Lotus product, which will bound to have some recalls and some

stuff wrong with it.

Mine has been no exception.

But I drove mine over here today.

I drive mine a lot.

It starts, it runs.

I love it.

I've taken it cross country.

I have almost 16,000 miles on it in just over a year.

Do you really?

I'm very proud of that.

That's awesome.

Car is awesome.

So I can't ignore this.

It might not be for you, but this feels like a car you sold comic books for, doesn't it?

This is a cool car.

And look, yeah, the Porsches were flashy.

They are.

Whether you want to believe it or not, they are flashy.

The Corvette is flashy.

This is flashy.

Let's just embrace it.

We're buying a good sports car.

Fred, you can write a AI generated coffee house song.

My car is too flashy.

Paul's making an entire album of AI over here.

I'm horrified.

People won't stop looking at me.

I have other thoughts for you, though.

And I'm going to head toward BMW because I think you need to get rid of your four series

and buy yourself a manual transmission Z4.

You are a BMW fan.

You've said in this right up here, you're looking for your first dedicated real sports

car to own, but you have BMW history and you like them.

I like the four series a lot.

The four series is that rare convertible can actually fit four people and no matter which

engine you got, it feels powerful.

It's also big.

The Z4 is not.

The Z4 is, frankly, the better focused sports car convertible from your four series.

Sell your four series.

Buy the Z4 brand new.

Find the one with the manual transmission.

I pronounce it as the Schlotter package.

That's the mispronunciation, but it's fun to say.

Buy that one.

It is the best version of this car.

The Z4 manual.

Be happy.

You're going to have money left over because you sold the four series and then you bought

this.

You're going to have money left over so now you don't have to worry as much about depreciating

asset.

But I also think these are going to hang on to some value because there's not very many

of these.

And I think it's going to be one of those cars that in 10 years is going to bounce because

people are going to be like, these were really great.

And there's no manuals.

And I think they're going to bounce.

That's a really great choice, too.

That's right in the sweet spot of his budget.

He doesn't spend all the comic book collection money.

No, he doesn't.

And he's still in BMW world, which he likes.

Now, if you want to walk away from BMW world because I love people having various kinds

of models in their garage, of course, Supra.

Supra is the best sports car BMW builds.

I'm going to stand by that.

That in manual is fantastic.

Get yourself a Supra.

Those are in the mid 50s right now, maybe 60 if you buy a brand new, which is really cool.

So you can do that.

I'm going to head into wildcard land.

The R8 was my first wildcard.

You mentioned it.

You covered it very well, Paul.

I think that is a real option here.

The problem is that your budget, you're buying ones that are roughly 10 years old so that

may scare you a bit, but they are very, very cool.

But resell.

He keeps saying resell.

The manual transmission is going to be awesome.

I love those early ones.

I would totally own one.

I do have the Corvette in here.

I have the R shows Corvette.

I'm actually showing on screen here because we put it with that R8 and this you cannot deny it.

It's that thing you and I always talk about, Paul.

The person writes us and says, I've always wanted X and then they walk away and they

ask about a bunch of other cars.

The Corvette is interesting to you.

You think it's stunning.

You would love to have one.

It's in your budget.

You think it'll be reliable.

Why are we not driving Corvettes?

I think the Corvette has to be on there, but I have one you didn't bring up that I actually

think should be in this conversation that I think is a totally different driving experience,

visual experience that you really look into.

And that is the Lexus LC 500.

Do you?

This is the car I think a lot of first-time Corvette buyers think they're buying because

a lot of Corvette buyers, first-time Corvette buyers later in life.

They're looking for their definitive sports car that can do everything.

They can go get groceries in it.

They can take it cross-country.

They can drive it what is to them fast, but they're never going to go track it.

And they bought a Corvette for that.

You need an LC 500 for that.

It's better at all of the things I just mentioned because the thing it's not good at is taking it to the track.

But it's better at everything else.

So LC 500, this is a gorgeous car that is a timeless design.

I'm not going to talk about resale, but I think these are going to be beloved indefinitely.

And with $90,000, you have choice.

You have choice of these cars.

They've been around long enough.

There's enough amount there.

Find one in the color.

I'm showing a yellow one that we had a while back.

Find one in the color.

Drive this car.

Love this car.

That's my last one.

You killed it on this.

I tried.

That was fantastic.

That was really good stuff.

Excellent.

Well done.

Fred, you've got some amazing choices.

I mean, I love the Z4.

I love that connection, but I also kind of want you to have something that's not a BMW.

That's exactly why I brought it up.

It's the right.

I love it, but let's move on to some other brand.

I liked the Amira.

The Amira seems like the sweet spot.

It's so different.

It's such a different choice.

Fred, thank you for writing, wishing you all success to get the most out of your comic

book collection, the most money that you possibly can, and then transmogrify that right into

some cool sports car.

Write us a car conclusion.

Let us know.

Matthew's writing in from the Midwest.

He is struggling with nostalgia.

Cars that are given to you are always.

I feel like it's always a problem.

I got given this car and now what do I do?

He's 28.

Just bought a house with his fiancee in the Midwest.

She's connecting to cars as well, which compounds the problem.

He had a 1966 Mustang project and his quote here.

I have to read it after learning many life lessons.

He swore to never restore a car again.

Project cars.

You start.

You start super happy with a plan.

You end tired, overspent and ready for the car to be jettisoned.

That's where you end up.

You have done it.

You have done it as well.

We know many, many people that have done it.

I know that sometimes it turns out well, but I am.

I am sorry, Matthew.

That is the situation here.

Went on to drive his dad's old 2008 Honda Element through high school and college.

Was in Oregon for a time.

Now he has a job working as an EV engineer.

So he doesn't want an EV because he doesn't want to mix work and hobbies.

It's interesting how he thinks about owning an EV would be like work.

Connective to the EV space.

Yes, exactly.

Fascinating.

So he has a 2016 Golf Sport Wagon S.

That is very rare.

Had it for the past six years, put more than 100,000 miles on it.

Loves it for being a mix of modern and software.

And it has treated him very well except for a cracked water pump.

But that got a class action lawsuit.

So that worked out.

He moved out west.

Now this is the only sentence here that I'm confused by.

He wanted to try something JDM.

I'm like, didn't you have a Honda Element?

But anyway, had a Honda Accord for a time.

But he sold that to buy a 1978 MGB for a great price.

That sounds terrible to me.

But for him, it's been very reliable and fun to work on.

It's classic enough, but it's not that 66 project car.

It actually runs, shifts great, looks great.

He thinks it's awesome to be in.

His wife actually loves it as well.

And around that time, his dad gifted him a 1979 C10 short bed pickup that his dad bought new.

So now the garage is the Sport Wagon, the 1978 MGB, the 1979 C10, and his wife's fiance's

2018 Chevy Cruze.

His fiance is emotionally attached to all of the above.

Forget what Matthew said about never restoring another car because he went to war on the rust on the C10 short bed.

So he's now been restoring the pickup truck to the last two years of rust repair.

Learned nothing.

Got it.

Exactly.

You've learned nothing.

The C10 is now about to be paint ready.

So that's a bit of a restoration going on.

And he says the MGB just isn't made for the Midwest.

There's only four gears, lack of good driving roads.

It's not the right tool for the job, except his fiance, like you said, is she loves it.

It's emotionally attached.

He loves the wagon, wants something more comfortable for his six foot three all leg build, he says,

and be able to fit passengers more comfortably in the back seat.

Okay.

He wants something he can dominate interstate 80 for a cannonball run from Iowa back home to New Jersey.

Okay.

So not fun driving.

We're sawing miles.

The MGB'd be perfect.

It's perfect.

What about the C10?

We're done.

Awesome.

Just take the 1979 C10.

Let's do that.

That's fine.

Awesome.

Matthew's thinking along the lines of the E-Class, the W212 Mercedes or a Lexus ES350.

Okay.

Lexus ES350.

All right.

At the same time, he's never owned a driver's car for a daily.

The MGB is his only experience with a sports car.

Interesting.

What should he do?

If he sells the wagon in the MGB, he thinks he could have about 20 grand to buy something

used.

If he waits another year or two, he could swing higher to about the 30 to $40,000 price range.

He only has a two car garage.

He needs half of that for house projects.

So he's renting a garage and swapping the MGB and C10 based on his current needs for whatever

the list is to do on the house at the moment.

Matthew, stuff needs to go here.

This is not news to you.

It's why you wrote in.

Stuff needs to go.

The biggest question I have is the wild card for me here is that C10.

I really, you mentioned comment here.

You don't know if it can go.

I'm going to say something difficult.

Paint it and sell it.

Say something difficult.

Does your dad want it back?

He gave it to you.

Does he want it back?

It's ready for paint.

Does he want it back?

That's good because I think you have to be really candid here.

You've put major work in to be able to get it painted to chase the rust to make it better

than it was.

But I think the question is for your dad.

Dad, do you want it back or I'm going to sell it?

I appreciate your dad's generosity.

He gave you the Honda Element before.

I love that you have restored this.

But unless he wants it back, this is your albatross, man.

I don't get the sense that you love it or that you love driving it.

But you've had it given to you.

You've made it nicer.

And now you feel like I can't sell this.

Can I?

That's actually in your email.

You're like, I don't think I can sell this.

I don't think it's allowed is the sense.

I mean, it's just house projects right now.

So it's probably just home improvement store back and forth.

Yeah.

And I think the C10 needs to not be something you need to worry about.

And I wonder, a part of me wonders, did dad gift it to you because you had house projects?

Was it going to be the pickup to do stuff?

And you felt like I want to make this nicer?

Maybe, but I think really that needs to go.

The C10, which is going to be hard.

I'm wiping out your garage, by the way.

Your wife, your fiance is already very mad at me.

But anyway, but let's see if we can solve the daily.

But I'm just putting the C10 out there and going,

I think some hard conversations need to happen there.

I like that.

Matthew, your fiance is now listening.

And if she's never heard this before,

I want her to hear it again.

And that is, you don't have to dislike a car to sell it.

You don't have to hate it.

You don't have to be completely done with it to sell it.

And I think that's where you are.

And you have a great perspective on that C10.

Because if we sell the MGB, the golf, sport wagon and the C10, that ups your budget.

But you also said you might wait.

What if I wait and spend 30 to 40 and down the road?

I say, don't wait because you don't know what your needs are and what your wants are.

And something in the next year or something down the road,

you're just, oh, well, those are now within a price range.

And I really want one of those.

And I want to get something now.

And then later on, you see something totally different.

Something's going to change about the situation that I think you need to be open to.

It's not like, well, in two years, I'll have more money.

And then in six years, I'll have a supercar.

And in 10, no, 15 years, I'll have a hypercar.

Life doesn't really work out like that.

Life will break the curveballs.

The life I had planned for myself at the age of 25 versus the life that I have now nearly twice that old,

they are not the same.

And it's also not a line.

It's not like, well, we just took a turn and went to know it's like we did a weird squiggle and we got lost in the woods for a time.

And now we're here.

Matthew, the cannonball run thing just resonated.

You never know what word's going to stick out in our minds for recommendations.

But the starting place, forget something now.

Sell the C10, don't sell the C10, but at least 18 grand can get you a shorty 40.

A year 2000 BMW 740i is what I'm showing on screen.

These are timeless. They're so good looking still.

Always love these. They're just cool.

You don't need the IL because then your friends, well, all your friends will be in the backseat.

Maybe it's not a commentary on how many friends you have.

I'm just saying it's huge.

It's massive.

There's a lot of space back there.

You don't need all that space.

Just the shorty, the 740i.

Very early 2000s.

The E38 generation, I believe.

These are spectacular cars.

So cool. You find a good one.

I did find a good one for you with only 75,000 miles for 18.9.

Whoa.

I think that's the sweet spot because cannonball run.

I love it.

It's not a sports car.

It takes care of the cannonball run part of your email.

And the other thing that takes care of that is Alexis ISF.

Amazingly, I found one 2009.

I think it's 2009 ISF with 156,000 miles for just under 19.

No, it was 20 grand.

Okay.

So that's a lot.

I want to go in far away.

That is cannonball run.

Love it.

Comfortable, fast, great to be in.

But I'm not sure that's really what you want.

I think that might happen one time per year.

Like we've got the idyllic trip in mind.

Sure.

And we do it at the holidays.

Yeah, for sure.

Just happens one time.

So don't buy a car for the one time trip.

I pick up trucks.

Instead, get yourself a Fiesta ST for half the price.

Sell all the cars, save the money.

This thing has a hatch, which is great for hauling lumber and cabinets and toilet paper

and house stuff.

Stuff in the back.

Yeah, for sure.

It's surprisingly spacious.

It's fun to drive.

The only problem with this is the Midwest part of your email.

And that is you're going to have to deliberately seek out fun roads to drive this and go experience

the magic of an ST.

But for half of that price, 10 grand will get you a pretty nice one.

12 grand will get you a spotless one.

Yeah, that's true.

The SST, you will cackle.

You won't believe how cool and fun it is to drive.

But in a straight line all the time, I mean, you'll find an on-ramp.

Find an on-ramp.

The road trip is going to be hard in this, but the rest of it's going to be great.

Road trip will be harder.

See, it's for me one of the other.

It's trade-offs.

Yeah, I get it.

Except for one last choice.

And that is something I can't ignore, and that is the Alpha Julia.

I think that is the trade-off between handling fun on a curvy road and still comfortable enough

for the road trip.

The Julia is to be considered, but the problem is the good ones are outside of your budget

right now, but I say do not wait because you have wants and needs now, and those are going

to change later.

I love where you went.

I know no one will be surprised by that, but I have to jump in and go right quickly to

the second car on my list that I think is the best choice is the Alpha Julia.

I'm the guy that is always the prophet of the Alpha Julia, but I am backing your play

here.

And actually, but I'm going to disagree with you on one place, and that is according to

the simplest, with $22,000 or less, you have choices.

Oh, well, even better news.

There's a lot of them.

I am amazed at how inexpensive these are.

There are a lot of them available between $18,000 and $22,000.

Various trims.

That's good news.

Of course, you're not getting a quadrifoglio, but these are the TI's and the things with

the sport trim and various other trims.

You could get an all-wheel drive or not.

The Alpha Julia, it looks good.

It drives well.

It will feel like a sports car to you.

This is a fantastic chassis.

And when you want to go cross-country, you're fine.

You can take actual people in the backseat.

The other cars I thought about initially were the BMW 2 Series and the BMW 4 Series, but

I'm not sure the backseat space is good enough.

That brought me to another one that I'm not sure it's good enough, and that is the Genesis

G70.

This is a car you want to drive daily and can't believe how luxurious and dynamic it is.

How much are these used, though?

You can get them.

Really?

You're going to get the 2.0-liter four-cylinder for this kind of money, which is not a great

engine, but it's OK.

This is still a fantastic chassis.

The problem is the back seats on this are probably too tight.

That's my concern.

The back seats on this are a little bit tight.

The Julia has a little bit better back seats, so that's probably the better choice of those

two.

And then I went kind of where you did.

I thought, OK, those are the cars that I feel like blend.

I've had fun daily, but if I just have to saw miles, I'm glad to be in them.

But if we're talking fun daily, then I think we wind up at hatchbacks, because the problem

is the space that he's needing and the usability that he's needing makes it hard to do real

sports cars.

Yeah.

So I can't ignore the GTI.

I can't.

Just GTI.

That's good.

You live in the Midwest.

You have normal life stuff to do, and then you're going to do a big cross-country road

trip, and you're probably going to haul some lumber.

And the GTI does all of that and says, yes, please, going to have another.

It's just this is a solid car.

I know that sometimes we come down and some people think we're haters on the GTI, but

the truth is this is never as fun as I want it to be ever.

Yeah.

When you and I are driving and we're just talking about fun, the GTI is always not quite as

fun as whatever else we brought in Hatchback World.

But it's like a car you own is an only car.

This is one of those top 10 cars.

Sure.

Because it's just it does everything.

It's like a lot of the Lexus product.

There's everything at like an eight.

It does nothing at a 10, but everything in an eight.

And I have things I was contrasted this way.

The Lotus Elise.

I talk about potentially too much.

It has a few things it does that speak to me very highly because they're handling and

information and those are at like a 12 on a 10 scale.

But then as far as like, I'd like to use this today.

It's like a two.

Okay.

It's just it's not good for like normal usage.

This is an eight across the board.

Can't ignore the GTI while I'm here.

The Elantra N.

That's good.

$20,000 used one of these Elantra N all day long.

And the thing is the backseat space is enormous on these and it's not a big car.

Great to drive.

And while I'm there, another car that is those same categories is the Civic Si, the

current four door Civic Si.

You get it in a manual.

This is fun at any speed driving it in any way, commuting, road tripping, whatever.

This is a great daily with enormous that backseat space.

This is like Honda had a portal to another dimension.

I don't understand when you open the backseat back door of this car.

Why it has that much space?

It has potentially more backseat space than the Genesis G 70.

They're recommended or the Alpha Julia.

And it's a significantly smaller car.

You did fantastic.

Honda's like working with a different ruler.

I don't know what goes on there.

But anyway, so those are my thoughts for you.

Hopefully one of them resonates.

I mean, Matthew, the only thing on the Elantra N is it's got that X cross brace on

the rear seat.

So when you fold the rear seats down, it's got that rear shock tower.

Just long lumber.

So long lumber, no cabinets or any.

I mean, you can make it work, but yeah.

Well, you just rent the U-Haul for the day.

That's what I do.

You rent the pickup when you need it.

Or have the stuff delivered or something.

That works too.

Yeah.

Just saying.

Matthew, thank you for writing.

Really appreciate it.

Write to us every day driver TV topic Tuesday's car conclusions and car debates.

Our first car conclusion comes to us from Jay writing about the five year old new car.

Love it.

Jay, thank you for being a patron.

He says since he was four years old, he loved trucks, which transitioned into cars as he

got older.

We talked about comic book collections from way past.

Jay's got all of his Tonka toys, his matchbox, dinky and corgi toys from his youth.

I love that.

That's amazing.

Just can't get rid of him.

In addition, he's got only two automatics.

He's had only two automatics in his driving life.

And the first number of his age begins with a seven.

Whoa.

Long time car enthusiast.

Yes.

And only two automatics in his history of ownership.

That's impressive.

I love it.

Good for you.

He'd been planning on replacing the 2005 Subaru Legacy GT manual, but after he retired towards

the end of the year, he says it was the most fun car that he's ever had.

Cobb, everything, exhaust, power stop rotors and pads, the fun stuff.

He's built this thing out.

It was incredible.

He bought it in 2008.

He loved it.

He had it forever.

He thought he was going to keep it until it retired.

But alas, the turbo gave out on him and it was so much money to put back into it.

He's decided to give it a Viking funeral.

Would you please take it off a cliff on fire?

Record that as probably at this point, just a short and it'll go viral.

Ride of the Valkyries.

Yes.

I'm sure you could license that song for one of those shorts.

That'd be perfect.

He says being a car guy hasn't made looking for a replacement any easier.

It goes back and forth.

He decided to not go Subaru again because he's only owned three Subaru's since 1982

and he's not a fan of the CVT even though the Subaru is the prettiest of the ugly queens.

It's like the pug dogs where they're so ugly they came back around to cute.

You're just like, cute.

That's just, it's terrible.

And then you're kind of like, well, baby.

Yeah.

J-Note narrowed his focus to Mazda or Mini.

He was drawn to them because of having real automatics.

He would buy a Miata in a heartbeat, but they're just difficult for him to enter and exit.

I like it.

Yeah, I get it.

Ten years of various orthopedic surgeries over the past.

Well, over several years, but he considers that a sign of a well spent youth.

Good.

I love that.

That's good.

Yeah.

It's like, I've got a lot of wrinkles.

It's just, I have a happy life.

You know, smile.

I don't know if you saw this.

It's been on the news this past week.

So Dick Van Dyke is 99.

He turns 100 in December.

Seriously.

And he recently gave an interview and he said in the interview, this quote's been everywhere.

He said in an interview, he said, wouldn't it be funny if I didn't make it at this point?

He's like, I'm two months away.

What if I don't make it?

Cause everybody was like, how, what's it like to be a hundred?

He's like, yeah, I've been talking about myself being a hundred.

He's like, technically I'm two months away.

Wouldn't it be funny if I didn't make it?

That's just what I like.

Oh my gosh.

What I like is folks, and this, you're here as well, Jay.

What I like is people with a lot of years behind them with a great sense of humor about

it and lots of years ahead.

That just amazes me.

I love that.

That's amazing.

Well, maybe not in Dick Van Dyke's case.

Maybe not.

Who knows?

Maybe.

Well, he said he looked at a CX-30, thought, okay, maybe he looked at Mazda CX-50.

He's not opposed to CX-5.

He'd always wanted to drive a Mini though.

So he went out and drove one and thought it was a complete hoot.

Love it.

He could get in and out easily.

And so now it narrowed focus on Mazda or Mini.

He was going to drive a Cooper S.

It sounds like it hasn't gotten around to that.

But then a revelation occurred.

He rode in a 2013 BMW X1 with a gentleman he had retired with.

First criteria was getting into it.

Okay.

And then he'd been in a few vehicles, but because the door cut, the cut line is shaped,

he has to contort a bit to enter and exit.

So he could get into this one just fine.

Yeah, there was no issue there.

It worked out great.

Yeah.

Then he sat in it, fell in love with the seat.

We've always said BMWs make the best seats.

Yeah, they're great.

Confirmed by Jay.

And then he says he searched out a few on dealer websites.

He said he had a dealer in Denver that had four certified pre-owned X1s.

There was another outlier on there.

And he wasn't going to click on it because it was a model year 2020.

He thought, yeah, it's probably too old.

Yeah.

He was considering maybe something two or three years old, but he looked at it anyway.

And it was almost brand new, 9,300 miles, 9,300 miles on the odometer in five years.

In five years.

2020 model.

Good grief.

Thought I can't be right.

But he went to the dealership the next day.

Sure enough.

It was 9,300 miles.

Was driven 900 miles last year.

And the only service has been a yearly oil change at the dealership.

It was now being sold at.

He said, this one's mine.

He bought it the next day.

He is thrilled with it.

It's not white, black, silver, or gray.

It's jucaro beige metallic.

Love it.

Everyone comments on the color apparently, but he says so much fun.

Nothing like buying a five year old new car.

And he's always loved BMWs, but have shied away from them because he bought a 1974 2002 brand

new that turned out to be a lemon.

Okay.

But then he had the engine rebuilt under warranty.

But with this one, he can put his 51 year old feud with BMW to rest.

I love it.

Long live Bimmer.

Daniel S writes to us about buying dead cars.

The reason here is because he says he feels like he keeps buying a car.

And then right after he goes, I really like this.

The manufacturer goes, yeah, we're done.

We're not making that anymore.

Daniel is a pilot.

He's a pilot of a Pilatus PC 12.

Those are really nice.

They are really fast.

He's gotten upgraded to captain at the company he flies for.

Love it.

He said on episode 902, he asked our advisor about replacing his 2016 Mazda 6.

Well, he got a great deal on a used 2021 Acura TLX A spec all wheel drive in blue with black interior.

Exactly what he wanted.

Love it.

After several months with a car, including a thousand mile road trip to tail of the dragon.

We know what that's like.

That's awesome.

He's determined that his decision was a net positive, but not without sacrifices.

Interior is much quieter, better seats, car play, more amenities.

But that comes at the cost of less headroom, rear seat room and trunk space.

True.

Well, we, hey, we were way out front on rear seat room on that car.

So you cannot blame us for being surprised by rear seat room because it is poor for a car that large.

The car is awesome, but rear seats are not good.

Look, he says the TLX is faster.

It's got better brakes, higher limits with help of wider tires.

The super handling all wheel drive.

It is super.

It's quite super.

Sharp and quick steering.

He says the price that he pays now is premium fuel, a three to four mile per hour or mile

per gallon decrease.

And then sacrificing the heavy direct Mazda steering that felt good through engineering

rather than through software.

Sure, I get that.

Yeah.

He gave the Mazda one last hoon around Dominion Raceway before trading it in.

He said it still wanted to play at 112,000 miles.

The chassis was still responsive.

But then the Acura with 90 extra horsepower is super fun on the dragon.

He says feeling the all wheel drive throw power around and neutralize understeer mid corner

was exhilarating.

I'm sure it was very cool.

I mean, again, super handling all wheel drive isn't just a badge on the back.

It's very good.

Yeah, it is.

He said, but what is it with him and buying dead cars?

Yeah.

It's the six.

We're done.

TLX.

We're done.

That's funny.

There could be something in the through line.

Well, they're they're dead because they didn't sell, but that might mean that they're really

good and they're overlooked.

Well, we keep talking about the Kia Stinger dead.

I mean, the Alfa Romeo Giulia going away.

I just the problem is there are solid cars out there.

But the the biggest problem here, Daniel, is just the fact that you like buying sedans

that can be performance sedans.

And that is an area that the entire industry is walking away from.

And they're dying across the board.

And it's too bad, but we love good sedans.

I mean, I'm buying a Cayman.

I bought a Cayman.

It's a dead car.

I guess.

There you go.

We'll see what happens with the next one.

I don't know.

Daniel, I've done it too, I guess.

I mean, but they're really good.

I've owned a Lotus Elise for a decade.

They haven't made it.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

Moving on.

I guess we all do it.

Apparently the entire Lotus brand may be in trouble, which is like only the 50th time.

That's been the case.

So yeah, we're all there with you, Daniel.

Buy the fun stuff.

That's the key thing.

We love having that.

Guys, thank you for all your questions.

Really appreciate it.

I'm glad we got the car conclusions, but we'll continue with social media questions and post

up for questions.

Things that are on your mind.

Industry news.

In the meantime, really appreciate you writing to us every day, driver TV at gmail.com for

all those cool topic Tuesdays, car conclusions, car debates.

And you know what's going to happen?

We're going to be besieged at that email address with AI generated things.

And I'm going to make a plea again.

Please, we do read every email.

Please don't craft your email via chat GPT.

Yes, that's a good point because we are spending actual human time to read said email and spend

human time to write back.

So we actually love hearing from you guys, but let's just all be AI careful.

That's, that's my big, the more, you know, thing to leave you on for this episode.

Let's just be AI careful.

We're all going to get, we're all going to get completely fooled at some point.

My day is coming.

I'm going to pass something on and be like, yeah, that's fake.

It's coming for sure.

Well, this is not fake.

Until next time, cheers everyone.

AI vs. Cars, Marvel Comics To Cars, Blocked By Nostalgia | Episode 1,016

About this episode

Vitori

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Everyday Driver Car Debate