Ask Us Anything: Part 3 — The Carmudgeon Show with Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 195

Did we do the intro? This episode is brought to you by Diet Coke. You know that moment when you just need to hit pause and refresh. An ice cold Diet Coke isn't just a break. It's your chance to catch your breath and save for a moment that's all about you. Always refreshing, still the same great taste. Diet Coke, make time for you time.

You have a computer. Amazing. I have coffee. We have the technology. You had coffee. I'm Scott now. This week on this episode of The Carmage & Show, presented by Jason Camisa and Derek Tam Hiphon Scott, we discuss the answers to questions posed in response to ask me anything. For all of 16 seconds, we asked people to provide us with questions. Not more than one single profane question. Good point.

We really disappointed in all of you. You, you, you, all of you. Terrible. Great questions, but yeah. We have a lot of ground to cover. Discuss those in the coming hours, hour, and change. Anyway, that's what's ahead in addition to the clap. I said there was nothing profane. And Derek held the clap. Well, it was not directly. Nevermind. On we go.

We're ready to go away. We go. We're recording. Yeah. I'm going to try something new this week. What is it? I'm going to be quiet. That's absurd. Yeah, so people sign up for the Carmage & Show is a part of the Agority Podcast network. I am not Derek Tam Hiphon Scott and he is not Jason Spacecomisa.

Okay. Now that we've got Matt out of the way, we can talk about how this episode of the Carmage & Show is sponsored by Viper Industrial, whose products include these chairs.

Creepers. This chair. This chair. And these chairs. Not Creeper.

Which is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It's a family owned company, started by two brothers that are car guys.

The products are reinvented. They reinvented the shop chair and now attacking every other product that sucks in the shop.

They make like a, I have a sucky smoke generator. Just smoke test. I wonder if they'll make Viper smoke testers.

I feel like a smoke machine is always kind of a somewhat casually engineered device. Maybe it's just the budget point at which I have.

Yes, because you go to horrible freight. Yeah, get it there. Anyway, the Viper line includes chairs, stools, Creepers, fans, and a tool cart. And even wheel dollars are coming this summer.

They are proudly made in the United States and are used by the best in the business, allegedly, because we are using them.

We will go into the same place. Industrial grade materials and real materials, minimal plastic. It's all pretty good stuff.

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You'll be entered in the chance to win the GT4 plus $15,000 in cash. Full rules and details at ViperIndustrial.com. That's V-Y-P-E-R-I-N-D-U-S-E-R-I-L. Sorry.

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Stop it. Go to ViperIndustrial.com. Use the coupon code CarMugin.

That's the part I was trying to get to. To say $50.

$50. I'll give you $50 if you get my laptop.

You need your laptop. We fucked up. Did we? Yeah.

We asked people for AMA questions and our request posts were live on the Insta's for about 36 minutes.

And the final page count of questions is 54 pages long. We had to delete our posts.

Oh, can you remove that, please? Sure. Surely. Don't call me Shirley.

Also, can we talk about the fact that your mom's car is in the background?

Derrick Jova's mom's car is in the background.

She's going on a set. She got new Michelin's and one of them has a leak.

And she was going on a long trip. And she said, can I just leave my car with you and take one of yours?

And I said sure.

Would you give her the C-43?

Oh, that's a perfect mom. I actually literally gave my mom my C-43.

Oh, yeah. That's what one does.

Let's see how many speeding tickets your mom gets in it.

Yes. She's good at talking her way out of tickets. Have we talked about this before?

No.

Oh, she got pulled over going 120 miles an hour and got out of it.

That's good.

And another time she got pulled over, she was, she had just harvested an eyeball from a cadaver.

And she told the officer about that. And that also got her out of a ticket because she was like, do you want to see it?

Like Asian mom doctor and Brooklyn Italian mom, look, I just pulled somebody's fucking eyeball out.

I got to get out of here.

Like the guy's on my ass.

Yeah.

I don't think that's something my mom would have gotten out of.

The eyeball.

She did have eyeballs in the car.

Maming.

Inucleation.

That's called.

Okay.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

It's somewhere in between.

Anyway, okay. So we're just going to start.

Let's answer the questions.

And as fast as we can, I don't even know how many we've decided to answer.

Many we have not.

If you did answer questions, ask questions and we're not answering them.

Either we just didn't think it was going to fit in this episode or we thought it was either we thought it was so bad.

It wasn't worth answering or we thought it was so good that we have to do an entire episode about it.

So this is the mediocre question.

These are the relatively part of the velcro.

To define sort of reasonably expedient questions.

Yeah, the ones that would take us 45 minutes to answer will just do a whole episode.

And there were some great, great questions.

God forbid, tomorrow your car collection gets wiped.

Starting from scratch, what's the first car you would get as a one car solution to enjoy reliably until all the insurance checks come through?

Could be a year from now.

Okay, I take exception for this.

I had a claim recently with Haggerty and within one hour of the appraisal getting done, which was all within two days of me starting this whole process, the money was in my account.

Not everybody ensures with Haggerty.

Well, they shouldn't.

Yes, that was easy.

That's my answer.

What's the first car you get as a solution to the whichever one I find the first?

I'll be buying immediately.

But it's just reliably.

And it's one car.

Mark one GT out of the two liter 16 miles well.

Yeah.

I probably buy a W202.

See, I like my C43 as a one car solution.

But if you needed a GTI or GT86.

Okay.

Mark one GTi.

Have you ever owned a car so dull you couldn't care what happened to it?

That's a great question.

This is your Corolla, isn't it?

I mean, you enjoyed the drama.

It was not real.

The drama of the lemon of the lemon.

No, but I still care what happened to it.

It was still my sales trend.

Yeah, here my Suzu pop.

Oh, really?

Suzu pop, I just, it was 300 bucks.

Uh-huh.

But you didn't care what happened to it afterwards.

You didn't, well, what if the person who bought it for like wanted to use it?

I'd never heard from him.

Demolition Derby or something.

I would be disappointed.

Okay.

I don't think I would have not sold it to him.

I don't know.

I don't know, but I didn't care.

I couldn't care what happened to it.

I would park it anywhere.

Yeah.

I just didn't care.

I've never had a car like that.

Anything I've ever released was like that.

My first e-golf.

Yeah.

I've never owned a car like that.

Even my e-golf I cared about.

I care about my cars too much.

That's a problem.

Okay.

If you asked a suspension expert to fix your C43, what would you ask to make it right?

I would make low impact harshness decrease.

That's it.

Low impact harshness.

Low speed impact harshness decrease.

Yeah.

Thoughts on the A124.

That is the convertible version of the 124 Mercedes.

Yeah.

Spectacular.

You think it's spectacular?

I hate it.

Beautiful.

Oh, I hate it.

Oh, let's fight.

The car was supposed to never supposed to be convertible.

There's all these engineering workarounds and the thing is a big rattly trap.

And it has the same hydraulics roof problems as a 129 and it seats four and it weighs as much

as the sun.

Two suns.

Yeah.

And it's uglier than a 129.

So why would you never, there's no reason why any one should buy a convertible 124.

Fucking, I don't know four people.

For those other people who have friends, find somebody who needs a 4C convertible.

What else are they going to buy?

Volvo C fucking 70?

Okay.

It's better than a C70.

Yeah.

It's the best 4C convertible you can buy.

The only 4C convertible you can buy.

Tough.

End of story.

Okay.

How do you stop yourself getting a Mustang?

How do you stop yourself getting too attached to a car?

I fucking don't.

Clearly.

I've had one for 28 years, one for two.

No.

My answer's easy.

So it becomes valuable enough that you'd rather have something else for the same amount

of money or you find something else that you need to have and you need to sell it for

space or money reasons.

That's okay.

I can't.

That's the solution.

Okay.

We love one, the R129 and 850 CSI, but not the base E31 or 928.

What is the special sauce for big goops?

I like the 928 actually.

I know.

I like it.

I think it's cool enough.

It's interesting.

Somebody left a tire inflator overnight by mistake.

Okay.

I know.

It's not the base car that that's the problem.

I think cars should have probably about the E31, E31, yeah, but it were big goops.

I think big goops are wonderful so long as I have a very clear identity and know what

they are and what they should be.

The problem with the E31 was it looked like a sports car and then they made it.

It's the size of a small nation.

How does it, but it's a sports car.

It looks like a sports car and drives like a seven series, just not as well, like not

as good.

What's the point?

If it's going to look like that, it'd light your fucking hair on fire and it didn't.

That was the problem.

Okay.

So it didn't catch the check that it rode.

Right.

You can have a big Bentley and if it drives like a big Bentley and there's nothing wrong

with it.

If it drove like a Corolla, it would be an issue.

What are the criteria for a fun car in a place without fun roads, i.e. Florida?

You know, like there's no reason to have a Miata or an Elise in Florida.

I believe, right?

Is there a reason to have a car like that in Florida?

I don't think there's actually a reason to live in a place that doesn't have fun roads.

There's no reason to live.

That's my answer.

Kill yourself.

Oh no, sorry.

Move.

That's much easier.

Okay.

We got a lot of questions about this particular subject and I have no idea why.

I think there were three or four people who said, what is your one car solution in New York

or what are you commuting in New York?

You know what you commuting in New York?

A fucking one way bus ticket out of there.

That's the only thing I would commute in New York.

Get out of that hellhole.

I'm from New York.

I can say that.

Get the fuck out of there.

There's no reason to be there.

If you're into cars, you shouldn't live in a city like New York.

Yeah.

I mean, I think that's fundamentally the answer.

Why, like, what do you do with it?

You're not driving into work and because there's no parking at work and there's no parking

at home.

We'll drive 45 minutes to get to the sawmill so you can have a curve.

I'm sorry.

It's just not the...

You don't live in New York if you're...

Yeah.

How many people ask us these questions, clearly?

I don't know.

A lot of people are clearly upset.

People are living in New York and want a car, but I think you don't want a car if you

live in New York.

Prioritize the thing.

And then if you drive somewhere and you're in fucking New Jersey, they won't...

What?

No, just got some good roads.

Upstate New York is some good roads.

It's all fine.

Cars are too important to me.

I could never live in New York.

Yes.

I feel the same way.

So we can't...

It needs to rearrange your life.

What if I didn't?

Commute New York City would be a Range Rover.

No.

Too big.

It would be a Raptor.

It would be a wrong car for all items.

Or bottles.

Or taxis.

Yeah.

Pedestrians.

Whatever.

Okay.

Any weird niche corner of automotive history need exploring?

I think the pre-war era, generally, there's so many crazy stories of people like Wild West

Cowboys shit that just nobody knows about today.

And anytime I go down, like some reason for that I'll be researching there, I'll just be

like, I'm sorry.

I read stuff and I'm like, this happens.

Like this sounds like somebody just bathed the shit up.

It's totally wild.

So there's a lot, like in Britain, there was all this crazy shit going down.

So I think, like, anytime I spend, have an occasion to spend time learning about, like,

particularly the pre-war era, especially in the United Kingdom, like, people just making

shit out of shit and driving around and runways and doing events from here to there and all

this shit, you're just like, this is insane.

I can't believe this actually happened.

So many, many weird niche corners of automotive history that you're talking about.

That's one of my favorite things about what I do is getting to go to those places, having

a reason to go to those places.

This question made me laugh.

You and Jason are runners up for Pope.

Choose your Pope mobile.

GMAT50.

So I can be in the middle and I can have my entourage to my side.

My bitches and moes, whatever, I don't understand.

I don't know what they're called in the Catholic world, but a bitch and a hoe and I'm done.

Okay.

But you're not on display.

It's got a windshield.

Okay.

What the fuck?

I probably shouldn't say those words.

You're the blessed Pope.

You too much you want.

That's fair.

If I were the Pope, I'd do what I want.

Okay.

So then it's whatever car you most desperately want.

No.

You need three seats.

The T-33 only seats too.

T-50 it is.

There you go.

Okay.

I don't know that I have an answer.

I just immediately went to the G because I think it's so damn cool.

G-I-G.

The G-Pope, the G-Wagon Pope, that mobile that actually was a thing.

What are the right amount of buttons to have in a car?

It's on what functions the car has.

One button for every function.

I think the idea is everything you use continually and all of the fine tuning shit should be in

a screen.

So for example, climate control should have temperature up down, fan up down, and maybe

an AC on off seat heaters.

Everything else in terms of like, I don't have a problem with touch screens having a change

distribution of warm air on your seat heaters so that your ass is 98 degrees but your back

is 94.

That level of customizability should be there.

But you also need a row of macro buttons, all of BMW's early iDrive, right where you

have six or eight buttons across.

One is like navigate to home, not that I'd ever use in navigation system.

One is, you know, it could be an audio setting or a radio station, just macro buttons that

let you sort of favorite things.

But primary controls that you use all the time should have a button and that's it.

Okay.

If neither of you could work in the auto industry, what else would you be doing?

Would we be doing?

Huh.

Okay.

Do you have an answer?

I don't understand the question.

And I refuse to answer it.

I don't know.

I'd be, I'd probably, no, I don't know.

I used to work in aerospace.

I think it would be fun to be an attorney.

Why some more people can hate you?

I have a lot of great.

You don't want to go to law school.

But you would like it.

Yeah.

I think I would get value out of that.

I think structuring arguments and words would be fun.

I love to argue.

It's my favorite.

Second favorite, past time, after cutting people off.

It's acceptable to arrive at a funeral in a convertible with the roof down.

Depends whether you like the person who died or not and respect them.

Depends on whether the person was cool or not.

I mean, yeah.

Never like sort of just fabulously light-hearted and had a great sense of humor.

And then that would be like a perfect way too.

I mean, still, if you have like a six foot black, like, you know, veil, it should be flying

behind the car at Princess Grace style and get like wrapped in a wheel and strangled

you or something.

I don't know.

I have no problem with that.

My funeral find.

Go ahead.

If it's a sunny day, why not?

Has Jason ever ridden a motorcycle?

Is he willing to try?

Yes, I have.

Yes, I was willing to try.

I can't be trusted.

I can be able to be trusted on a bicycle, which is powered by my own lack of power.

Yeah, I'd ride another motorcycle.

I just, it's too much temptation.

I don't want to do it too.

It's too easy to do death-defying things too quickly.

Yes.

And some people have more self-control than others.

Some people have no flinch reflux.

I have a pretty strong flinch reflux.

Well, I don't have a bunch of one.

That's what I'm talking about.

It's on a bike.

I think people who are just wired, like me, that you're just jumpy.

It's just not a good thing.

So yes, I'm willing to try.

Yes, I've ridden a motorcycle.

But every time I've ridden a motorcycle, I've done things that I've immediately regretted.

So I've called it.

I sort of do that too.

You're just like, oh, this is the, I know you hate Davidi Davis, but there was this quote.

He wrote about the 500E when it first came out where he said, like he sat up at 3am.

And he was like, you were insane.

I can't believe you just did all that stuff.

Like you could have, like you're an idiot, like motorcycles definitely create those moments.

Yeah, and I once hit the rev limiter coming down a hill on one of those little bikes that

are only knee height.

They're only like knee height.

They're like literally a meter long, three feet long, you know, micro bikes or whatever.

Many bikes, yeah.

Many whatever.

And it came down around the neighborhood and I came down this huge hill and I hit the

limiter and I didn't know no concept of whatever my friends just put me on it.

I was in shorts and flip flops and came down the hill.

And then light turned, turned yellow and I'm like, yeah, I should probably stop not realizing

it didn't have a front brake.

And so I locked up the rear and slid probably a quarter mile down this hill through the intersection.

It was, it was still yellow, but through this intersection sort of sideways, like whatever

pitched it sideways because I felt like I was on a bicycle and then just kind of came

back in laughing, lit a cigarette and everyone was, this is back in the day when I smoked

it.

Everyone was like, are you fucking dumb?

That limiter is 92 miles an hour.

Whoa.

But it happened so fast that it was just down a little hill.

Yeah, no 35s.

No, I can't be trusted.

This is why I don't go motorcycles.

How do you tell minute differences in car handling?

I think you drive it at the limit.

Yeah.

Yeah, mostly.

Honestly, you drive it normally.

You can tell a lot of the handling comprises ride, handling comprises a lot of stuff.

How it reacts initially, like does this car want to go straight ahead, doesn't want

to track.

Pay attention.

The answer is pay attention.

Music off, sit properly in your seat, pitch your hands at 9 and 3 with a very light touch

on the wheel, and just pay attention to every little thing it does on a straight away,

on a bump, on a camber change, and then gradually build your speeds up until you're at 8, 9,

10, 11, 12, 10s, and then watch what it does, and then fuck with it.

Yeah.

My favorite thing to do on a press launch was it would be to have a pro driver on the

passenger seat, and you got like three laps to evaluate a car.

And I would say to them, I'd just turn around and they're like, I'm going to do all

of this shit that you're not going to understand.

And they're going to be like, you have to be smooth, you have to bullshit.

I want to know, what does this car do if I turn in, and I'm understeering, and I stab

the pedal, or just drag brake, and I get it sideways.

And so I just try all of these different things to provoke every different response.

And that takes a lot of concentration with no one in the car, and no stereo, and you know,

pay attention.

You need to do to turn your consciousness up fully to be fully aware of what's happening.

Exactly.

So, line of coke and some Iowasca or something.

EGOL for replacement for Jason.

If I knew the answer to that, I would have one.

If there was an answer to that.

I mean, this person, when they asked the question, and I omitted this part, said besides

the R3, the Rivian R3, which is coming.

The R3 would be amazing.

The only other car that I'd consider, and I don't really, the buddy might just bought,

a new Fiat 500D, and it's so fucking beautiful, like it's genuinely gorgeous.

Yeah, they have styled everything about that car.

And I don't normally care for that kind of, but it's so beautiful that it's almost enough

and he's, by the way, for leasing it for $41 a month.

That's part of the beauty of it.

That's part of the beauty.

But I, I want a four door.

I really would like a more useful one.

There's a half-there heating fiat motif in the block letters anywhere on the car.

It does.

I've seen some in Europe that have that, that repeating block, it was on the convertible

top and the entire upholstery of the entire convertible top had that just repeating fiat

block.

And also, like the turn signals have an Italian flag, and there's every detail, it's fucking

wow, but I want a four door.

Yeah.

Perfect city car, but opinions on GLI, after having spoken so fondly and so extensively

about the GTI, what do you think of GLI?

GLI is mechanically identical.

So Jetta GLI depends on what generation.

Current.

Yes.

But like the one that was, Mark Seven was a PQ35, was an earlier car.

Yes.

But it's like the US only Jetta.

Right.

But the, well, the current Jetta is also US only, or US and China only, but the idea behind

a Jetta GLI is that it is a Volkswagen GTI, it's a golf GTI with a longer wheelbase.

The current GTI is mechanically identical to a golf, but A, you can still get a manual

with it.

It's got huge wheelbase stretch, so the backseat is enormous with an enormous trunk, and

it's cheaper than the GTI.

So it's a hell of a value, and what you lose is the build quality of a Mark Seven, right?

It goes to like market plus in terms of badness, of build quality.

It's just crappy interior materials, but you get the same, fundamentally the same driving

experience, if the 95% is good, thumbs up.

If you live in a place where you could have a big sedan and you want a sedan, absolutely

it's a hell of a bargain.

Opinions on classic minis.

Very entertaining.

Big fan.

I love the way they look, driven one with way too much power, hated it.

Oh, you drove one that had an engine like a heart transplant though.

Oh, yeah, and three heart transplants, because it actually put 267 horsepower to the wheels

or something, it was fucking terrifying.

No, no, no, no.

You just need one with like a little bit of extra driving position on the steering angle

like.

I think it's fit.

I think they're fun.

They're so cute.

They don't have to be fun.

And maybe that would like it.

What would be, what will become a hot commodity in the next 10 years?

Hmm.

Don't I know?

Crystal Balls.

I think the GT350R.

That's a car that has conceptually not been replaced.

Yeah.

Right?

If there's just any car where you think, oh, that didn't really replace that with anything

that did the same thing or that was meaningfully lost something, you have to look for.

If you want to know what's going to be hot in 10 years, think about cars that you,

they don't make anymore.

And there's not like a replacement or something conceptually similar to that.

And I think that's true of the GT350R.

I think any car.

Any naturally aspirated with a manual.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, that's going to be a very original answer, obviously, but it's true.

Okay.

You're up.

Take on the NB.

Doesn't look as good as NA.

Doesn't drive as good as NA.

Worth less than $1,000.

It's still a Miata.

So Miata.

Sure.

Great.

Fine.

Yeah.

I mean, if you want to like a cheap track car.

Worst of the bunch.

Yes.

Worst of the bunch, but it's still the most cars.

Yep.

Best first daily Mercedes for someone in their 20s prioritizing reliable slash wagon.

If you wanted to be reliable, I would say the least expensive Mercedes to own as they

get old are probably the 2.10 and 2.02.

And then if you don't mind the air suspension and the 2.11 E-class, you know, the 2.02 didn't

come as a wagon here.

So yeah, I would say that you probably, if you're okay with air suspension, you get

a 2.11.

And if you don't want it, then you get a 2.10.

Anything with a single cam engine, because those engines are really simple and robust.

The three valve cars, basically.

What is unique about SoCal versus NorCal car culture?

The only California is pretty varied, because so, you know, I tend to be on the north side

of the city, on the south side of the city, it's much more similar to Southern California.

So the South Bay.

And there's a lot more money, modern exotics.

Yeah.

And where I am, we just don't have them.

So what I love about Northern California is sort of North Bay, sort of Marin County Sonoma

car culture, is that you have a ton of variation from American muscle to classic pickup trucks,

to little European stuff, to JDM stuff, and everything in between with no emphasis on

I spent more than you.

Yes.

It's like a sort of cars for the sake of cars as opposed to flexing, right?

And you know, there will be a Bugatti at cars and coffee, but the Bugatti will be a 1930s

Bugatti.

Yes.

And there will be, you know, there's kind of all of this obscure shit that you just don't

see.

There's a lot of obscure stuff.

And some of it can be fucking double-digit millions of dollars.

And then other stuff is just sort of $5 a shit heap that has a crown around it.

And yeah, I love that.

There's really heavy, like even now, this is expanding into the vintage car world in

SoCal.

Like, you go to SoCal events and there's this really heavy, like, a lot of big cars that

are old, that are expensive, and you're just like, wow, this is like, very impressive.

But it has that sort of LA conspicuous display of well-thing even among old cars and obviously

among new cars as well.

It's a life style city, right?

It's like, I am in the lifestyle of classic car ownership where I find here people just

own the classic cars.

And they work on themselves and they're, you know, different.

Will Alfa survive in the USA?

No, let's.

Yeah.

Done.

Next question.

Cadillac CT5-V blackwing or RS6 is a one car solution.

That just depends on whether you need wagon and four-wheel drive.

Oh, and you can tolerate the idea of a turbocharged automatic.

I love that RS6 ever, and we just all want today and so I can't do my sound effect.

There we go.

Fluids came out.

I think it's so beautiful, but I would have a blackwing because manual.

Yeah.

Thoughts on cyclists.

No, I'm just kidding.

When I'm a cyclist, I was just going to say that I thought we should have just timed

it and said, fuck him at the same time.

I just rode today.

Yeah.

I mean, when I'm a cyclist, it's a double standard.

You know what I did as a cyclist?

I stayed on the bike path.

I stayed the fuck away from cars because you know what hurts a lot getting hit by a car.

You're not going to win.

Trust me.

I totaled the camera with my bare body.

The camera was gone in a junkyard.

I was in physical therapy for years.

Not worth it.

Stay the fuck away.

Yeah.

I mean, I would also say try and maybe use the edge of the road rather than the entire lane

as a bicyclist is probably one of the-

Don't be entitled.

Yeah.

Okay.

No, I'll say the word that I want there.

Don't be entitled.

Is Leno's law going to affect pre-1990s, the pre-1990s car market?

No.

Because it's stuck in purgatory.

Well, it's in limbo right now doing some sort of weird-

I think it's going to get stuck.

Yeah.

So I don't think it's going to happen.

So-

Favourite non-sacco Mercedes.

Is there such a thing that the W198, the 300SL, the original 300SL?

All right.

It's old.

And also the 500K and the 540K and the 600 and the 6.3 and the-

6.9?

Yeah.

It's actually my favourite S-Class.

I know that there's like three people on the planet for whom that's true, but at the

116 is my favourite S-Class.

Okay.

Our 928's the next big p-car thing.

That means Porsche.

Big for sure.

Big.

Definitely big and heavy.

I don't think so.

Those cars have-

Well, everything else has gone up in value in Porsche Land 928.

A few like special 928 have.

I just think that they don't experience-

The combination of how expensive they are to live with and-

That they experientially are so much less like fizzy and alive than a 911.

I think that-

And less recognisable and iconic.

I just don't think so.

They're going to continue to be like all trans-axle Porsche's sort of forgotten.

I would have a 944 S2 10 times before I'd have a 928.

Really?

Yep.

I would have a 928.

You're weird.

Our car is just moving to motorcycles due to nanny and slash price.

I don't think so.

I think if anyone is going to be into motorcycles,

they're already going to go there and they already are there.

Motorcycle people and car people certainly have overlap,

but there's a lot of car people who would never motorcycle and the opposite's due as well.

I think that could be different geographically, but I don't see that here.

I see here people are moving to EVs and from EVs, they're moving to public transit in the city like San Francisco.

This person has an S2000 and is trading for something with back seats.

Should they get an E90 M3 or a 996?

If you want back seats, you don't get a 996 because a 996 has...

Yeah, I was going to say whether the things you're putting in your back seats have legs or not

because if people in the back seats have legs, I would say the 996 has not the answer.

Yeah.

Same.

Tips for driving in Germany as a Californian slash American.

Learns a rules.

Yeah, that's a very German answer.

There are a lot of them and people follow all of them and to drive successfully in Germany and safely,

you need to understand what the rules are.

So do your homework.

Yeah, don't pass on the right.

Ever.

Ever, ever.

Ever be over all the way to the right all the time, no matter what.

Yes, unless you're overtaking.

You are as far right as you possibly can be.

And remember when you are driving very quickly, keep your eyes up because you will.

Situational awareness.

Well, you have to look far away.

I mean, you're thinking, oh, I'll have time to stop, but we're just not used to the closing speeds that you have on all of months.

So build up to the speed slowly, but learn those rules.

Yes, and adhere to them.

What forbidden hot hatches would you want to drive?

All of them.

Yes.

I mean, do we have forbidden woods?

All of the renewals.

We didn't get any.

Yeah, all the Renault sport stuff.

Clio.

Well, I don't think that counts as a hatch if it's been engine.

Right, yours.

Okay.

All right.

That's the stuff that I've driven.

Well, I'm Megan RS and the Clio and the Clio Williams and, you know, the Pujot 205 GTI or Rally, I have driven.

And that's really actual.

I've driven a GTI or 205 GTI.

I've driven a, you said something else.

Sure.

All of them.

But the ones, it's the, the Renault stuff.

Yeah.

I have the Ford stuff I've experienced.

I don't have much Ford experience.

I have no Ford experience, actually.

Other than the ones that were sold here.

Okay.

What air-cooled 911 would you choose if they all had 3.6s?

I think this person is under the mistaken impression that the 3.6 is the best engine.

And I don't think that that's really true.

And that's why I wanted to include it as a question of answer.

Because I don't, I think that throwing a 3.6 in a 911 is not really the answer.

My favorite 911s are the high-riving short stroke ones.

And so that's like a 2.9 that was built out of a 2.7 or you could do 3.2 short stroke.

But I would, I would just say don't put a 3.6 in every 911.

Air-cooled 911.

It's the wrong answer.

It destroys the character of a 70s car to have a modern fuel-injected engine in my opinion.

But a lot of people mix and match pieces and we'll do whatever to whatever.

Why does the US only get high trim cars and engines?

Like we don't get the 3.20 in the 3.18 anymore and this sort of stripper models.

The US is a fascinating market.

And I think the fundamental of it is we are spoiled rotten.

And there's no bigger reminder of this than we'll be fighting about something

and some of the comments are like, you guys have no idea.

Like you have my, the biggest engine that I could afford was a 0.003 liter, 1 cylinder, blah, blah, blah.

We are spoiled rotten in this country and we sort of have an expectation that everyone deserves a V8.

I think a lot of that comes from reasonable fuel prices.

Fuel used to be very cheap here.

It still is around the world in people.

American fuel was like $4 or $5 a gallon in Europe.

It was a dollar a gallon here.

It's literally a quarter of the price.

I mean, it's still, I mean, where it's expensive here on the West Coast but back east, it's in the chance.

It's under $3 a gallon.

And so I think we have cheap fuel and Americans as a whole and please don't anyone get offended.

We were all taught if you try even, even if you don't succeed, you deserve successes.

And so I think everyone is like, I deserve a full-size luxury car with a V8, 400 horsepower and an automatic.

Oh, he did end-cool seats. Oh, and this and that and everything.

He did steering wheel.

And we're just, no one is willing to compromise.

I mean, my favorite thing is to go to Germany and see six guys pile into a polo on the way to something.

And Americans are like, we can't fit.

Well, we need a third row to get one kid in the back seat because God forbid anyone should have to actually scrunch themselves.

We're just, we're just...

Space is very abundant here and I think that's reflected.

Our built environment is large.

And also, they would fuel was cheap enough that you would only want to sell, especially for premium brands.

The most expensive ones, the biggest engine ones.

And so they've realized that Americans were willing to pay for it.

So they would sell only those.

Especially for imported luxury brands.

The other thing is cars here are cheaper than they are in the rest of the world.

So typically you'd look at price parity between USD and GBP.

So if a car was 30,000 pounds in the UK, it would be 30,000 dollars here.

And so they're going to sell the high level stuff because the other stuff, the base stuff they would just lose the European car company selling stuff here would lose money on them.

So that's another part of it.

But we're willing to pay it because we're spoiled.

If you had to...

Is this me or you?

Yes, go for it.

If you had to race each other using any of the cars you own, which are you choosing and who would win?

On a road?

Or is this paved?

Paved.

I mean, it's a paved road.

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I was going to say my dirt car because I can go over anything.

Oh, yeah, no.

I would assume this is a paved road and this could be either a straight line drag race or like a twisty back road race.

You would have to be in the 850 CSI.

I could also do Beatrice because I don't care.

I mean, it's not that I don't care, but Beatrice isn't going to scrape it.

The CSI was my fastest car in a straight line.

But we all know the fastest car in the world is a rental car.

And the second fastest car is a salvage title, a 30 with race suspension on it.

And no paint.

Beatrice.

So, what's yours?

What are you taking?

I don't know, I guess.

Yeah, the GTI because it's cheap.

It's basically free.

So, our shipping is interesting.

Yeah.

Interesting.

We both choose a shipbox.

Always choose a shipbox.

That's the lesson.

Do you own model cars?

If yes, which one?

Oh.

Two numerous to count.

I have dozens of them.

I have four or five, five of them.

I have cars that are the models of my own cars.

And they're just sort of simply put on my, just subtly put on my mantle.

I don't want my house to turn into a garage.

So, I have a display case.

Every time I want a car, it's by the real fucking thing.

It's the real problem.

Porter.

OK.

Thoughts on collectors paying a premium price for certain colors.

I mean, a car, we often talk about how a car is an extension of yourself as an expression of your viewpoint.

And if it's this thing that's really important emotionally to you, you want to get exactly the one you want.

That looks exactly the way you want it to.

That stands out as much as possible.

So I think it makes perfect sense.

I used to be puzzled by certain cars and not like that nobody wanted.

I went back and read an article from 20 years ago when they were like,

oh yeah, the Ruby Stone 964 RS is, we can't sell them because they're too loud.

And now everyone's like, oh my god, it's Ruby Stone and they freak out and they were willing to pay.

I mean, I think that there's a sort of mainstreaming of that stuff.

And people all having the same damn car, basically, when it comes to Porsche 911 Land.

And so you have to stand out on the basis of color.

Sure, that's a skeptical reading of it.

But you should have the car you want that makes you feel the way you want.

And if it costs more money to do it and you can afford it, then there you go.

How about it?

I don't typically notice color.

So I will drive a car.

Yeah, but I'm on Dean Red 190 Cosworth.

You would ship myself over.

Yeah, I mean, but the sea, I was going to say.

So the beat, my requirements for Honda Beat was zebra interior.

I did not care about the exterior color.

I thought, please, no silver because I have 70% of my cars are silver or smoke silver or some variant thereof.

So I want it with a white one.

I really don't care often, but the CSI, I bought that specific one because of the blue with blue interior.

So it's even for someone like me.

Even Jason Camisa.

Yeah, but although interior is more important because part of that car was the blue and the two-tone blue interior.

My Cosworth, I would not have without the, without the plastic.

I wanted it, it smokes over because I had the only other car available, color available on my previous one.

So I would have gone either way, but I really, I preferred smoke silver, but I had to have the plug off.

So I think of more of an interior color person, but yeah, I don't blame me.

Any specific car in which you would prefer a diesel engine over gasoline?

I'm very curious about L322 Range Rovers with the big V8 diesel.

I think in that kind of vehicle could be kind of cool to just have all that massive torque.

I mean, my immediate response to that was cayenne.

So cayenne was the one that both went to Suves.

Right.

Well, the real answer is any daily driver where the engine isn't the star.

I'd prefer diesel because I'd recommend a diesel, if we really had too many of them, because they're a match for U.S. driving style better.

But a cayenne is all-road diesel, V6 diesel, V3O.

But I think the cayenne is a perfect example of a car that's actually better with a diesel because the gas engines were not spectacular and they were the wrong fit.

There were nothing wrong with them, but they were wrong fit for a car.

And when you got a cayenne diesel, it road well at like 16-inch wheels.

I don't remember how they're big side walls at road well.

So yeah.

Best M-light to BMW.

So this is like the ZHP-335-IS.

The 535-IS.

Let's do it on the count of three.

One, two, three.

ZHP.

ZHP, yeah.

All right, we're done.

What's the furthest you'd have to go back in time to take each of your fastest cars and win first overall at the 24 hours of limo.

So my fastest car is the 9-11.

So that's probably the 1960s.

Probably the late 50s.

Or at least, yeah.

I mean, I was thinking you'd have to go back to them.

It is the horse-drawn buggy.

I mean, they were still pretty fast in the 50s.

But I guess my 850 would probably be similar.

Five seconds to 60.

I'm so limited to 150, though.

That without a limiter at 175, that would be, if I could delimit that car.

I think the braking you'd make it up.

Do you have tires too?

You'd have the modern tires?

That would really braking performance, right?

The rejecting heat from braking was a big deal.

Yeah.

Okay.

What is the weight limit of a true driver's car?

There was none.

Yeah.

That wasn't always true, but I think it is true now.

Thank you, Lucid.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I didn't even think about that.

I was thinking, I'm not allowed to talk about this until next week.

But Corvette 0.1 could be a driver's car.

I mean, to me, a driver's car has got to be a manual.

But, you know, we used to think it was 2500 pounds,

and it was a 3,000, and it's 3,500.

I think it's really about how well the car is tuned.

Yeah.

And a lot of this has to do with modern technology,

and magnetoreological dampers and tire technology.

Yeah.

Go drive a 3600 pound Ferrari 296.

I will say, despite the fact that it's a hybrid twin turbo automatic car,

it is a true driver's car.

And, yeah, there is no real limit.

Favorite race tracks you've both driven

and faces favorite races you've attended or participated in?

Is there lemons for you?

Easy for me.

I mean, the races I've attended, the only ones that I have that participated in

were lemons races, and 100%.

I mean, that is the right way to race.

Yeah.

I have done lemons, and I've done SCCA.

I liked lemons more.

It was more hilarious.

Yeah.

SCCA is more serious.

You know, I'm not a serious race car driver,

and so to be, you know, in the lemons environment was more hilarious.

Favorite race tracks I've driven?

That'd be gratin raceway in Western Michigan.

Stupid.

This is dumb.

And again, I'm not a serious.

I would not want to race there,

but to do a track day,

whether there's a jump that basically your car's airborne past pit out.

It's just stupid thing.

Yeah.

I, the Ridge in Washington, I quite enjoy.

Attended would be good wood, for sure.

Oh, yeah.

Middle Ohio is amazing.

Sonoma's incredible.

Laguna's good.

Yeah, but no.

Okay.

Hear me out.

Cadillac, we've talked about this.

Cadillac should build a Grandsport version of the CT5V blackling

with an NAV8 manual, shorter gearing,

and one through five, and it's all six.

Why won't they do that, given the popularity of the five blackling?

You say it's popular, I say it's not.

Remember that everything that a car company has to do,

has to develop, and then homologate and certify,

needs to pay for that development process.

And when you start to look at low volume cars,

like something like a blackwing,

you're talking tens of thousands of dollars

in an amortized production and homologation costs.

They wouldn't, it wouldn't be possible.

The car would be $100,000 more than it should be,

just to pay for its own development.

And they had to go for the big horsepower,

supercharged 700 horsepower one because that was possible,

and that was the version that would sell the best

because people buy on the basis of numbers that are printed

and 700 horsepower, I gotta get it.

And also, I love the idea of an naturally aspirated V8,

but the shorter gearing winds up in CO2 slash fuel economy problems.

I mean, it's just, it's that cascading regulatory.

You skipped one, which is,

a golf is the best all-rounder, change my mind.

No, not changing your mind.

You've stated a axiom.

It's correct.

Okay.

Next.

What has your combined century long experience been

on the under-appreciated first generation Audi R8

particularly gated V10 examples?

My understanding is the V8 is actually better to drive.

I've never driven a V10.

V10s are, the engine is amazing in terms of noise.

I like the V8's response far better.

The V8 gated R8 other than some limit understeer

and dead steering.

Dead steering is the bigger issue is magic.

That's a really great car to drive.

Not fun, not as talkative or communicative

or interesting as a 9-11, 9-7.

But given the way it looks and the way that engine sounds

and responds, it's a fabulous experience.

I much prefer the R8 gated 6-speed V8 to any of the other variants.

The V10s are impossible to control.

They like to swap ends.

That sucks some of the fun out of it.

From inside the car, they sound a little bit better

but they're much lazier to respond.

Give me the V8.

The V8 is a naturally aspirated high revving thing.

It really highlights how far cars have fallen

in the last few, in the last couple of decades,

I guess 15 years even, when you drive that.

I drove one recently and I was really surprised

by how it felt kind of special, especially the engine.

Do Jason's atrocities against Subaru Outbacks

only apply to new ones or or do older enthusiasts own ones

get a pass?

The Subaru Slander hurts my feeling sometimes,

but I understand.

Okay, the Subaru Slander is us having fun.

Please, no one get offended by that.

Also, you didn't design your car,

so you shouldn't hate me for pointing out its flaws.

No, this is very much a regional thing.

I think we've realized it's a real thing in Northern California

where we live every fucking time I'm held up by someone

there's a Subaru in front of the car.

It's an outback or a car or a cross track or whatever.

There's always a fucking Subaru around it

but it is definitely a regional thing.

My hatred for those cars is actually my hatred

for the people who choose to buy them.

Oh, so you actually hate the person who's written in,

not actually.

I hate all people.

Yeah, so remember it's a regional thing,

but yeah, enthusiasts own anything gets a pass.

I definitely give a mental thumbs up to an STI if I see it.

And by the way, any BRZ gets a thumbs up from me,

except an automatic one.

Unless it got any updates on it,

because I have no left leg.

But yeah, no.

Really, I mean, this is mostly us joking,

so please don't get your feelings hurt.

But yeah, enthusiasts own anything.

An enthusiast owned Camry gets my thumbs up.

I feel like the proportion of Subaru's

that are enthusiast cars out there has gone down

compared to 20 years ago.

It was much more of like a sort of quirky performance

all-wheel drive, rally, derivative sort of solution

20 years ago when in the beginning of the STI

first driving in the United States.

And now I feel like the majority of people

who own those cars are boomers who have legacy outbacks

or young people who are,

I'm adventurous, I need an all-wheel drive car

to go to Tahoe three times a year and four-wheel drive

because my active lifestyle requires it for transporting

granola or whatever it is.

It's just not, you know,

they're not enthusiasts' choices for the show room anymore.

No.

Nothing with a CVT will ever,

here's a controversial statement.

Nothing with a CVT has ever been an enthusiast's choice.

Period.

There you have it.

How can Mitsubishi be transformed

to become a cool brand again?

Focus on air conditioners.

Next.

I see what you did because cool and air conditioners,

that way.

Well, and also their automotive offerings

are so beyond the help that they should just continue

them.

They're cool cars.

It's that simple, man.

Yeah.

Oh, we talked about this already.

This is another European hatchback question.

We'll skip past that.

Do you think any other car companies might adopt

GMAT50's clutched e-pass system

that deactivates power steering above a certain speed?

I hope we get a 911 with it one day.

I hope that too.

It seems like a very good idea.

I've experienced that system.

Actually, I think the first time I ever experienced a system

like that was in a bunch of old cars,

because the Ferrari Daytona has famously heavy steering,

and they would do the same exact thing

where it deactivates a 25 miles an hour,

and you can retrofit it into all manner of vintage cars.

Is it clutched, though,

so it fully fly wheels and deactivates,

or is it constantly connected?

I don't know.

I've never looked at the guts of one,

but it feels like an unassisted car

when this system disengages above a certain speed.

It's indistinguishable at speed.

I would absolutely love for 911 to get it out.

And you don't change the hardware.

This just starts off with steering.

Yeah, the problem is if it doesn't actually physically declutch,

you still have the inertial mass of the motor,

absorbing steering feel.

And so I don't know.

I hope that we get a 911 with it too.

I suspect the technology loving Germans

who no longer love driving will say,

well, then we cannot lane keep assist,

and it won't happen.

But I wish it would.

So where do each of you draw the line

on modifying your vehicles?

After listening to a few automotive podcasts,

I've noticed some of them are against modifying cars at all,

but we know each of you have made some tasteful changes

to your cars.

I've made some distasteful changes to my cars.

And then undone them subsequently.

Some?

Not others.

But some cars I don't feel the need to modify the Mercedes,

for example, my Cosworth 2.16.

I have not modified anything of it.

I put an aux audio in,

because I feel like that car came out of the factory perfect,

or near with its own clear identity that nothing stood out.

All of my other cars that are modified

have been modified to be a plus version of themselves.

Yes.

You maintain the ethos of the original car,

and this is one of the things that were some questions in here,

which we may get to on restomans.

And I think the fundamental question is,

are you preserving the original ethos of the car

or are you trying to turn it into something that's not?

There's no reason to slam a seven series or an S-class

and make it ride like shit.

You're basically fundamentally removing one of the best parts of the car

for what?

I mean, I get all the question all the time.

Why know M50 in my 325 I wagon?

So I could put a 24 valve straight six in the E30.

And it all comes down to,

if I get into an M50 swapped E30,

the second I hear the starter, I'm confused.

Because E30 sound a certain way.

M20s have a very distinct start-up sound.

And that goes away when you have a different engine.

And the M50, the twin-cam motors make amazing noises,

but it's completely different sound.

And I want my E30 to feel like my E30.

And if anyone's from listening from metric mechanic,

a company, I think Minnesota,

they make like 3.1 liter M20s with 200 something horsepower.

That's what I want.

I want the car to look and feel no different,

but be more of yourself.

It's the same car turned up to 12 over 14 times.

And or undo what the product planners

or the legislators required at the time,

like the exhaust on the 850 CSI, right?

Somebody decided that a V12 should be silent.

Well, I decided they were fucking wrong.

And I unfucked it.

But I'm not changing the character of the car.

How come you guys don't do track days as much anymore?

How do you know how much track days I do?

You know how much track days I do.

I don't have time.

But that's...

If you do...

You also drive on track a lot for work.

Yeah.

It's very different.

I find myself very out of practice

when I go to do like consecutive laps.

I'm like, ooh, I forgot.

This is a different talent.

Rather than Anthony Esposito screaming on the radio.

All right, come around.

Turn three, crossed upside way, stop,

turn around and come back the other way,

which is, you know, something you don't typically do on track days

unless you want to get yourself kicked out.

Counter-correct, slow.

What are your favorite Japanese sports cars?

Were you guys ever into the Japanese tuner scene?

What were your ideal New York car?

I'm going to get another one with the New York.

So we're not going to do that part.

The ideal New York City car is a bus ticket out of there.

Were you ever into the Japanese tuner scene?

No.

No, I wasn't.

I was exposed to it peripherally.

And now I've studied it sort of retrospectively

as relate specifically to like some of the more expensive cars

like Skyline GTRs and NSXs.

I feel like...

Favorite Japanese sports cars.

Japanese sports cars.

Yes, but that's the exception,

because the remainder of them are contradictions in terms.

Japanese cars tend to...

Japanese car companies tend to prioritize

an ease of control and fundamental goodness.

And I feel like that's the opposite of what I want in a sports car.

So Honda S800.

Yeah, I was just going to ask if you had driven an S800

or your impression of it.

I love it.

I think it's fun.

But like an S2000 is a perfect example of a Japanese sports car

that is a contradiction in and of itself.

It doesn't do any of the things I want from a sports car.

NSX is actually...

Sorry.

NSX is the perfect example.

It's so good that it forged me to tears.

So they lack spiciness?

Yeah.

I was going to say Toyota 2000 GT.

2000 GT is magic until you drive a Z.

Z.

Yeah.

All right.

My favorite Japanese sports car all the time is a early Z.

240 Z.

Yeah.

I like the Hakao.

Also.

Haka is fun.

Not a sports car, but I like it.

If you were given the keys to an Acura.

To the Acura brand.

What steps would you take to bring it back to the glory days of 90s and early 2000s?

First step.

Fire everyone, including the design team.

Yeah.

Second step.

Make good cars.

Differentiate yourself from the Honda's upon which you're based.

And not just by like making it look luxury and lifestyle.

And fucking it up with cheap plastics that are supposed to look expensive.

When the interior of the Civic looks and feels more expensive than the interior of the Acura,

you know that everyone needs to be fired.

Hmm.

Easy.

Done.

Yeah.

Step one.

Fire everyone.

Start over.

All right.

Which Toyota Camry generation is the best?

This is the 1992.

It's kind of, I mean, I think it's the best looking.

Current camera is amazing.

Is it?

Every generation of camera, it's been amazing.

And it's something that a lot of automotive journalists don't want to admit.

I'm sorry to say, if you run into an automotive journalist who's like, I hate Camry's,

well, they're just not doing their job.

Objectively, the cars are amazing.

And they do exactly what the customers want them to do.

Exactly what the customers want them to do.

Reliably for 300 million miles.

What's coming up soon on Hagerty?

I want more drag race replays and lap battles.

You're going to see more drag race replays.

So the way we did this module this year inside baseball,

we decided to do a bunch of revelations first.

So that we could sit out the winter because filming on location

when it's 400 below zero with 90 mile an hour winds or a billion degrees

are both miserable.

So we thought winter and summer will try to buy us in here in the studio

to revelations and spring and fall will be out on the road.

So we've just done a bunch of ultimate drag race replays.

And in icons, lap battle we're working on.

lap battle was a huge lift.

There's a lot of graphics in that show.

And it was a lot to duty.

The biggest problem was getting the car companies on board

because they don't want to lose.

They don't want to lose.

And it doesn't matter how many times you tell them

this is about describing what happens.

By the way, we can always go get a lap time.

But you give it to lightning lap for car driver.

And even car driver folks have told me they have a hard time getting cars

because all the car companies don't want their cars to be strong.

They're just filled with paper pushers who just want to protect their fucking jobs

and they don't want to take any risk, which sucks.

There would be far more interesting content.

But I can't do something like a lap battle with a privately owned car.

We it's too much wear on the car.

We'd be buying somebody brakes and tires.

And you know, it's just too much of a risk.

But yeah, more stuff coming.

What is the best non-MBMW powertrain for the first BMW

purchase except B58?

I'm talking about 320i, 330i, 330i, 335i, 540i.

Okay.

If you for performance reliability cost.

Yeah.

M54.

Last of the naturally aspirated.

Simple motors.

Yeah.

So this is used in the 530i and the 330i, E46 and E39.

The early E90s, the naturally aspirated E90s stuff.

So like the 330i, they're fine also.

But no V8, I would not accept any BMW V8 under any circumstance.

I would also not accept any BMW 4-cylinder.

So it would have to be a straight, straight six.

And I feel like M54 and M55 are.

And M54, yeah.

They're for M54 and M54.

There you go.

Okay.

What is one of the biggest giveaways when you see a modified car and talk to the owner

that they have no idea why they did what they did?

Especially in social media age when builds can often be...

I don't even have to talk to them.

You don't talk to them.

You just look at the car.

Well, is it slammed to the ground?

Yeah.

If it's too low or if the wheels are too big.

If the wheels are pointlessly large, those things usually go together.

Yeah.

If it's stanced or cambered or whatever else.

Do you think with the tariffs and all that nonsense that we will see less new car buyers

and more people considering used, thus pumping the used car market up

and creating used car scarcity?

Yes.

It's a simple supply and demand.

Okay.

Why do you guys like the Miata over the S2000?

Because it's fun to drive and the S2000 isn't.

What if somebody thinks the S2000 is fun to drive?

They don't have a perspective.

So that's a little harsh.

But it's also true.

The S2000 is beautiful.

It's fantastically overweight, but it's beautiful.

It has a terrible driving position, wretched.

I would go so far as to say.

It has terrible steering.

It has poorly, the AP1 anyway, has poorly tuned suspension that loves to snap sideways

with no warning.

And because it has first-gen e-pass, you don't feel the sideways, you don't feel the yaw.

And so plus the driving position doesn't help.

People just spin them all the time.

And then on top of that, it's geared so long that you at speed

look at any trip computer I've said this before.

And the average speed any car goes just like 26 miles an hour.

Well, under 28 or 30 miles an hour, you're out of VTEC in first gear,

because first gear gets you to about 270 miles an hour.

So really, really long first gear.

And so the speeds that matter the most to most cars in most circumstances

are zero to 25 or 30.

And it's a dog there.

And it's the only four-cylinder Honda engine that doesn't sound good.

That's maybe a little bit.

All of this is maybe a little bit harsh.

But so you get into S2000 and the control waiting is not good.

The steering feedback is not good.

The gearing is too long and the engine doesn't sound right.

Then you get into a Miata.

And you're sitting perfectly in the car.

It weighs almost 50% more than the Miata.

The shifters even better in the Miata.

The engine is really zippy and revy and responsive.

And the car wants to turn and it wants to just play.

One is playful and the other one is numb.

Yeah.

And that's why.

Okay, what's your favorite sandwich?

Why is that bold?

I don't know.

Somebody asked the question.

What's your favorite sandwich?

A pastrami rubin.

Benny's Brooklyn Rubin from Zingerman's deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

It's a pastrami rubin that's fucking out of this world.

Okay.

What about you?

I don't know.

Whatever what I'm currently eating.

The one that is inside of my stomach at this moment.

What are your guys thoughts on the 500 Abarth?

Oh, look at that.

There it is.

Isn't it cute?

It's so good.

I don't want.

I would too.

It has just all, I mean, objectively not good.

Like the shifter is not good and you feel like you're sitting kind of a pie and all that stuff.

But it just has so much charm and personality and character and it's so fun and it makes you smile.

And it just, all of, there's a sense of occasion to it even though it's like a cheap sort of disposable car that makes it feel just interesting.

It is one of the very few modern cars.

And it's not old now.

But I mean, it's one of the very few modern cars that has charm.

And if you ever want to know what people are talking about when they're talking about personality,

that is the perfect car to send someone to go drive.

Just drive it.

Because like you said, objectively, it's not particularly good.

Don't crash in one.

They're in the terrible crash ratings.

They just, they don't do anything particularly well except put a smile on your face.

Yeah.

The noises that it makes just the way it makes you fit there.

It is the spiritual successor to a, it's an Italian Mark II GTI.

Is what it really feels like.

And they're spectacular for that.

Yeah, this is my factor.

How rusty is the Rover?

As a Canadian enthusiast, I'd love to know.

Surprisingly unrusty.

Yeah.

So that car's worst rust spots are a couple of rust colored stains in the paint at the base of the windshield.

Yeah.

There's no rust underneath.

I think pulling the windscreen out would be illuminating.

Probably.

But don't do it.

It's suicidal.

Yes.

It's a suicide mission.

No structural rust whatsoever.

No bubbling visible really anywhere.

No, and actually you guys might learn at some point that I've done some modifications.

Some modifications we're not what I was talking about.

The Rover currently does not have an engine in it.

And I was very happy to see that when we pull the motor out, the engine compartment has

like some rust color staining from like where the battery lives.

No, nothing spectacular.

And by the way, pulling the engine, not one two exhaust studs broke and you'd fully expect that.

But a 45 year old car that lived in Canada, its whole life, to not break a single bolt.

Not one.

Amazing.

BMW E34 versus E39 comparison.

I have to say this to shit on my friend who likes the E34.

There is no comparison.

Okay.

Next question.

No, we can't do that.

I like the E34.

I do too.

I like the E39.

They bet her car.

I think it's a little bit cost cut in some of the interior stuff.

But it does it for door panels always fall off.

Nothing falls off of E39.

Yeah.

There are E39s probably that high.

Impressive compared to E36s.

Well, they figured out how to make non-biodegradable materials.

That was all an eco push.

E39 is the high water mark for BMW.

I think a six cylinder E38 for me personally.

It's the same car.

I know.

So I like the E38.

Sure.

Either way, the E34 is lovely, but no contest.

M5 notwithstanding because then you get the S38.

Yeah, I probably take the E34.

When you were young, we're still young.

Since you two are young and are just now getting into cars,

do you ever worry that you won't have to do?

When you were young and just getting cars,

do you ever worry you wouldn't get to experience enough of them?

I'm a young enthusiast in Switzerland.

And between the increasingly strict regulations and higher costs,

I feel like I just can't live out the car dream to the extent I'd like to.

Unless you're wealthier or in the industry, it feels out of reach.

In my position, what would you do and how far would you go

to make that dream happen?

The reality is that cars are expensive.

And getting to experience them is expensive.

And I hate the fact that the thing that most interests me

and that I most desire to do happens to be something that's very expensive.

It would be much easier to be into knitting, for example, or something like that.

I assume knitting is less expensive than cars.

I've never knit before, but my assumption is it costs less than cars.

But I hate that the thing that most excites me is so expensive.

But I guess at least I'm not into yachts.

I would say this is something that I wasn't worried about when I was young.

But I did put myself in places where I was allowed the opportunity

to experience cars that I would never be able to afford.

I mean, the first real expensive car that I drove was a 750 IL.

It was an 88 750 IL that I drove in 94.

And that was just out of the realm of possibilities of what I could ever afford.

So my advice is be patient, right?

Because the opportunities do come with time.

If you can sit there, you have to do something like that.

No, you have to position yourself, right?

Switzerland is a wonderful country.

It's a beautiful country.

There's also a lot of car content in Switzerland.

It's a huge amount of car.

But Switzerland especially is very wealthy in Switzerland's car community.

And Switzerland's cars are expensive.

I would place, if it's not important.

Go buy cars in Italy.

I moved to California, which was the furthest place in the United States

away from all of the people that I loved and all the places that I knew.

And it was because of my cars.

I just couldn't do the Midwest anymore.

I couldn't do the roads.

I couldn't do the, especially once I was Michigan.

I just didn't, that was not a match.

The roads plus my cars.

Pittsburgh was a wonderful place to live, great roads and whatnot.

But the climate just wasn't conducive to the cars.

And the cars that were in the car community there weren't a match for me.

So I picked up and moved 5,000 kilometers away to a place that is a parking spot

where I put it this way.

When I left Motor China, I had a moment of panic.

And I spent the night like freaking out.

Like, oh my god, do you have no fucking job?

What are you doing, whatever?

And I did the math.

And for the price that I would be able to fire sell my house for,

I could go back into western Pennsylvania and buy my old house

and the other six houses on the street.

And demolish them all and build a new house with a garage

and have huge amounts of money left over.

So I moved to a place that is orders of,

I mean, you couldn't buy a parking spot in San Francisco

for what my gorgeous little 1100 square foot house was worth

in sort of the outside of Pittsburgh.

And I did that for my car.

So how far would you go to make that dream happen?

I, there you have it, 3,000 miles away

and 10 to 20 X that cost of living.

That's how far I would go.

So how does this person live out the car dream

to the extent that they would like to move?

It's a very weird notion for a Swiss person.

I know, but it's a weird notion for an East Coast person

to wind up on the West Coast too.

I mean, this place is full of people like you.

Right?

Nice, friendly, well-mannered people.

We don't talk like this.

This is, yeah, it's how far.

I mean, I moved away from my sister in North America.

Yeah, I mean, you could move to Spain,

you could move to Spain where things are very cheap, comparatively.

No, I'm talking for this person in Switzerland.

But there's no car community in Spain, is there?

I bet there is.

I'm not sure there is.

I mean, there is, but I've not seen Italy then.

Italy is a lot less expensive, it's not that far away

and things are a lot less expensive than Switzerland.

And you're dealing with the chaos, right?

You're dealing with bureaucracy.

But we're certainly dealing with that in California.

You choose.

It all depends on how important that really is to you.

I'm not saying move to California, but for me,

that was the right choice.

Because this is the intersection of climate roads

and car culture that just worked for me.

So this question again, what do you think about people

who buy low and made horsepower lightweight cars

meant for twisties, but live in Texas or New Mexico

and never take them out?

Well, that's a value.

Hey.

Many people have many different cars for many different reasons.

We have friends.

You and I both know this couple that have an exige in Nevada.

Fucker you doing an exige in on flat, straight roads, whatever.

Takes all sorts.

No problem.

Right, whatever.

People buy cars for different reasons.

Some because the way they look, some because the way they sound.

Some for the one corner that they have.

I don't know.

I don't understand.

I don't understand it either, but again,

I was willing to uproot myself and move 3000 miles away

to find roads that match.

Do you think that the generation will fondly and passionately

look back on the current crop?

Did I miss one?

You're looking.

What page are you on?

I don't know.

This is 150 million to say.

Yeah, this was the next either way.

Do you think that...

I lost it now.

The current generation will fondly and passionately look back

on the current crop of mostly numb synthetic screen packed vehicle offerings,

let's say from 2020 onward,

in the same way we all do for cars of our youth.

It depends what happens in the future.

If they become more insular and more boring and more lame than yes.

If they don't, then no.

But I could see cars continually getting more, I mean, I wouldn't, fuel-injected cars came out in the 1980s and plastics started being used.

Everyone was like, these cars aren't real cars. They're just made of plastic and they have electronics and computers in them.

Like, there's always some group of, this is like people saying, nobody wants to work anymore.

I saw this, you know, meme from the other day that was literally, went back to the 1920s and there was like a newspaper clipping from every decade since the 1920s saying people don't want to work anymore, right?

There's just always, because no one ever wants to work, that's why.

Yes, but anymore, that's the mistaken part, which is that nobody ever wanted to work in the first place.

Point is that cars continue to get more insular, to get more plastic-y, to get more synthetic, to get more synthesized, and less like real.

You know, I'm sure that in the 1960s, when cars had chokes and stuff and electric starters, people were like,

you don't even have to crank your own car to start it anymore. These cars aren't really cars.

You can't start that.

Yeah, so I think that this continually happens and that the march of progress will make cars more, like they'll be like,

wow, you used to have to drive that car. It's a car you drive yourself.

And I could see that happening with cars of today, totally in decades.

I can also see a little bit of the screen-based stuff being a turn off, right?

We look back at CRT screens in the 1980s cars as a novelty, as a fun novelty.

Like we would all gravitate to an Oldsmobile Trofeo with a screen screen in it.

But at the end of the day, we don't, I don't look back on, I don't long for anything but the form factor of an iPhone 5 or 3.

They were small little, but I don't give a shit about it because at the end of the day, it's a screen and the software defines what's on it.

And so I think we have made a swap with where cars have gone to the virtual and it's just a matter of what's on the screen.

And I've seen now so many people with early iDrive cars or whatever else replacing the screen with an aftermarket Android thing and whatever.

And just to make it functional, it could be that we're at the point right now, 2020-ish, where now they just become a lost generation.

I think most of what's on the road right now will be a lost generation of cars.

Because it's just not that good.

Well, yeah, and the question to ask also is how many cars do you that are currently on sale?

Do you, dear reader, lost after?

Right. And I suspect no matter what your age, it's probably not that many.

Not too many kids right now are like, mom, I just saw noonies on rogue.

In the same way that maybe we did when we saw Infinity FX for the first time, right?

Yeah, I mean, when the FX came out, it was hot, amazing.

Are we in the Golden Gate Bridge one?

Yes.

Is this me or you know, whatever.

If Jason Gimese and Derek Tamscott were told to show up at the Golden Gate Bridge with a car that costs under $20,000.

And all you know is that you'd be driving all day for a week, but didn't know where you're going.

What cars would you each show up in?

Probably at Mark 7 GTI.

I had to show up my Shorako.

Really?

100%.

That's my adventure, that's my everywhere car.

If somebody thinks I'm taking an off road, the answer is fuck you.

No, I'm not destroying it, but I'll go anywhere in that car.

Yeah, I mean, if I had to do that in a car, I would do it in a 911.

You'd be showing up in your own, 911, probably, yeah.

It was one of your own cars.

If I had to show up in somebody else's modern and who knows.

But yeah, what were your first impressions of throttle haste?

Throttle house.

My first impression was a giggle when it said car reviews evolved.

And I watched the first episode, laughed my ass off at whatever stupid

stupid as a compliment, by the way, whatever stupid skit that they did.

And then I was like, wait a second, car reviews evolved.

They're literally copying our ignition series from Motor Trend.

Like the shots were knockoffs of our shots.

Like this is not car reviews evolved.

This is head-to-head slash ignition with two really funny guys doing it,

who needed a lot more experience in training and perspective.

But they made me laugh.

And so it was, yeah, that was my first impression.

And then we all became friends.

Jason, what manufacturer has been most upset about a car review?

It's two manufacturers with the same PR head.

A guy named Mo Makuzi.

Definitely not Joe Makuzi, who pinned me up against a car at an auto show

because I gave in a five car, 500 horsepower sports sedan, Comparo.

The Audi RS7 was one point behind the BMW M5 comp.

And I gave it second place.

And he pinned me up against that car and said,

we're not a second place car company.

And I was like, then stop making second place cars.

Motherfucker also get off me.

At which point his staff pulled him off of me.

We went in the back room at a screaming match.

And I'm like, you stupid fuck.

I literally just gave fifth dead fucking last to a Porsche.

Panamera.

And I was like, I walked over and I explained to them.

And they're really up like they were like, oh, fuck why?

And I'm like, well, it was it was the slowest.

It was this, this, this, and this.

And it cost twice as much as everything else.

It just was kind of outdone.

And then they're like, well, it is last year.

Okay, we understand.

They were upset, but they were thanks for the heads up.

We'll tell our bosses and whatever else.

And then this guy pushes me up against the car.

Same guy.

Somebody wrote a headline for my initial C8 review.

Good C8 Corvette when I wrote Good Not.

I wrote the article.

And they're the headline on runetract.com was 20,

whatever was 2017 Corvette C8 Good Not Great.

Apparently he threw something at one of the PR people

and then banned me from all GM press loans for four and a half years.

Because I called, I didn't even write the headline.

I called the car good.

Yeah, he's no longer in this business.

Hope he's not on this planet Earth.

Do you know the type of car the horn is from

in the Car Magic Show intro?

We could ask our good buddy Luca to find out

to figure out where he got that from, but no idea.

I bet it's not a real, I don't know, maybe it is.

What is the socks and sandals equivalent of car configurations?

Like the type of accessories slash color combos

that instantly make the car look tacky,

something that just screams that the owner has no taste and style.

I'd say like all black, everything.

What?

All black?

Oh, you mean like black wheels and black dark tint and, you know,

stupid aftermarket shit.

I have to say Roso, of course, so.

So Roso, so far, like just a red Ferrari.

Yeah, I agree.

It's not that there's no taste.

Come on, you can do better than that.

Yeah.

But the problem is that these people have always want,

yeah, screams first Ferrari.

I was just going to say if it's someone who's always wanted Ferrari

and they're going to buy their first Ferrari,

it's going to be red.

I was absolutely mind blown when I started getting into

selling more modern cars instead of old ones

because in old Ferrari land, you don't want a red car.

You know, you want a blue one, you want a silver one

with a red interior or something elegant and tasteful

and original and unique.

And then I was like, oh God, this 458th red,

the guy who would sold new Ferrari forever and ever.

He was like, oh no, red's good, red's easy to sell.

And I was like, what?

Like that blew my mind.

The, when I told one of the people who work in Maronello

at Ferrari HQ that I bought at GT4, I sent the picture of the car

and the response came back, thank fuck, it's not red.

It was made me laugh.

I printed that email and put it in the car's file.

Thank fuck, it's not red.

Are you and anyway fans of Swedish bricks?

Could the 200, 700, 900 ever get an icons episode?

Yeah.

Sincerely a long-term watcher and 940 turbo five speed owner.

I dream of a 1997 40 turbo intercooler wagon in red

with the egg-crate grill on high-dress.

So red's okay for Volvo wagons?

Yes.

If it's a boring car then red is good

and if it's a cool car then red is bad.

That's the rule.

Oh, excuse me.

Like without for a mayo.

I like, for out for a mayo sedans, I like red.

Yeah.

And for Volvo's and Mercedes sedans, I like red.

Okay.

Yes, I'm fan of Swedish brick.

279 could get an icons episode?

Probably more likely a revelation.

Are those two and seven the same?

I thought seven was like a big ground-breaking novel thing for Volvo

and that the two and 900 was.

The 900 was an evolution of the 700.

So it's 7-9.

But a Swedish brick episode, I could do a revelation.

Yeah, it's a revelation.

But a turbo brick episode, be fun.

What is the best cause worth?

Oh, did I skip that one?

Yeah, 190 or Sierra.

Well, I own one of them.

One of them has the best motor.

The Mercedes has the engine and the chassis is a 9

but the chassis on the Sierra is a 10.

So, but the interior is a 10 on the Mercedes by comparison.

The Mercedes wins on engine, interior,

build quality, ride quality,

overall inherent quality of construction

and the Sierra wins on chassis.

There you go.

So, I can't decide.

Should we call it?

We're almost, I think we're at an hour and 10.

We probably have one more.

Ever considered upgrading the horns on any of the cars you've owned?

Yes, always air horns.

I love the sound of air horns.

Yeah, air horns.

I think that's just a magnificent car noise.

So, we have

like an hour and 15 minutes or so

and we've gone through about half of just the questions

that we chose to answer.

And Doug, here we have the Lemo Emo in its natural habitat,

helping people customize their car insurance

and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

Fascinating.

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

Uh, Lemo, is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

Cut the camera.

They see us.

Only pay for what you need at Liberty Mutual.com.

Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty

Savings very underwritten by Liberty Mutual and Churns Company

and Philly, it's exclusive to Massachusetts.

For on this episode,

and so I guess we'll probably do another episode

in the near future.

I feel good someday.

It's easy.

We don't have to do any research or homework.

We just spend some time for some of these longer ones we should.

Oh, no, some of these questions are great

in their episode fodder.

I mean, yeah, we'll definitely hang on to that

and do more of this.

But not next week.

Next week, we have a special discussion.

Discussion about this subject matter.

So, thank you for the questions.

Keep them coming or don't until we have too many.

And we'll see you next week.

Alrighty.

Thanks for watching.

Ask Us Anything: Part 3 — The Carmudgeon Show with Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 195

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