In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show Jan 19, 2024

Behind the Wheel of the North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards: Insights and Automotive Evolutions

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Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30 minute mini version of the In Wheel Time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11am, central, anywhere, podcasting and streaming worldwide.

It's the In Wheel Time car talk show just ahead.

Author and award winning automotive journalist, jack Nehred joins us to talk about the winners of NACTOY, the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards.

Conrad's going to have the In Wheel Time car clinic and we'll have this week's automotive news Howdy, along with Mike out of this World, mars King, conrad DeLong.

We always need more.

Jeff Zeek and I'm Don Armstrong.

Thanks for joining us this morning and live from LA Hollywood.

We're just going to say Hollywood because everybody else from Hollywood.

It's not in Hollywood, it's Hollywood.

Jack, the Hollywood Jack, jack, good morning to you, sir.

Yeah, well, I first lived in Burbank and Johnny Carson came from beautiful downtown Burbank, but they called it Hollywood.

So you're 100% right.

Yeah, wow, first time I've been there.

Did you ever?

go to the.

Tonight Show.

I did.

Actually I wrote some material for a comedian who was on the Tonight Show, so that was kind of cool, Very cool.

Yeah, that was way back in the day.

Well, I will tell you, In the 80s Is Lenny Bruce Rodney Dangerfield?

Yeah, I did write for Rodney Dangerfield actually Did you.

Yeah, that was not, but you can't get any respect.

He was not the comic that I went and saw.

Yeah, no respect for him.

I still don't, yeah, so how are you?

Yeah, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

How are things out there in LA this morning?

A little shelly.

Actually, we had about 44 degrees when I got up with the dog at four in the morning, and I think it's up to maybe 45 or 50 right now.

Oh wow, so it's chilly out there.

What's going on?

Yeah, a little cool here.

Yeah, yeah, exactly I hear you're yearning for single digits, though, or something like that the wind chill factor is, on Monday, supposed to be in the single digits, and somebody will turn all the electricity off.

When that happens, each one of us has a single digit.

That's when the electrical grid fails when we need it the most, that's another story unto itself.

We could have a whole another show Just on weather.

Talk about the weather and the grid.

Anyway, that's not what we talked to you this morning about.

Congratulations on another successful year in the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, and we thought we'd get your take on it.

And how many awards are there?

How many categories are there, jack?

There are three big categories actually.

There's car of the year, truck of the year and then utility of the year, which is our newest category.

I think we added it about 10 years or so ago and we added it because sport utility vehicles were lumped in with trucks typically and they're very different animals right, so it kind of didn't make sense to have one or the other, so we decided to have both.

Although many of those used to be based on, for the most part, car chassis, car bits underneath them.

Well, and some had truck chassis too.

That's right.

So there were passenger vehicles.

Trucks meant to tote stuff typically, Although there's plenty of people who are using them just as passenger cars these days.

But sport utility is meant to haul people mostly, and so two different tasks, so we decided to switch it off.

Were there any runner-ups or just three awards car, truck and utility.

There were nine finalists, three in each category, so there were essentially two runners up in each category.

I got you and then the winner.

Well, I mean just the three that are nominated for each category.

That's bragging rights in itself.

Yeah, I think so.

It's kind of like an Oscar nomination, right.

I mean it's great to win the Oscar, but if you were nominated, that means you're being recognized by a lot of folks as top notch, and so being one of the top three in either of these, in any of these categories, is a terrific honor.

How many people voted for these winners?

Our jury consists of 50 members.

We keep it to 50.

They're from mostly from the United States.

We have about half a dozen or so who are from Canada Obviously there are a much smaller country in terms of population than we are and all auto experts from different kind of different fields.

There's some enthusiast writers, some industry writers, some people like me who are in bragging.

I'm a broadcast media in addition to writing.

So a nice combination of folks.

Yeah, well, that's good, and so does everybody.

Have a vote per category.

They have the same sway.

Let's put it that way.

The way we do it is we, depending on what level we're at, whether we're voting for finalists or semi-finalists we have a different procedure where you can you get X number of, essentially, votes you can apportion to various cars.

So in the finals I could have apportioned 10 points to my top car or split up that 10 points, you know.

In any way, I wanted you know 631, something like that.

Yeah, did you do that?

Have you ever?

Have you ever taken that?

Did you ever take your whole 10 points and say that's the one and that's?

how you're stuffing the ballots I have.

And when I thought one absolutely deserves to be the car of the year would be the winner, I would give them all of my 10 points.

This time around it was a little more nuanced, so I spread the points around a little bit.

And what do you mean by nuanced?

Well, I think when you look at, say, the car of the year field, okay, you had the Hyundai Ionic 6, which happened to be World Car of the Year last year.

You have the Honda Accord, which is a really really good car.

Maybe not particularly exciting, but they've done a marvelous job with that car, especially at the price.

And then you had the winner, the Toyota Prius at Prius Prime, which are undoubtedly the best hybrids and plug-in hybrids as cars ever.

So you really have a nice combination and you know, personally I really like both the Accord and the Prius and so I split my votes mostly between those two vehicles.

Interesting, interesting.

And when you really had your eye set on the winner, how did that play out with all of the other journalists?

Did they kind of go along?

Not that they knew what your vote was, but did?

They kind of feel the same way.

I think a lot of times.

Yes, I think a couple years ago the mid-engine Chevy Corvette was our car of the year and a little bit of you know off the beaten track for us, because we typically choose vehicles that are very mainstream, that are every person kind of cars, as opposed to a Corvette.

Corvette is kind of borderline there.

I mean, it is incredible value for what you pay for it, but it's a more expensive car than the typical person is going to pay for.

Yeah, and you, I assume, and I would do the same thing, I would assume that you would go for probably the biggest seller car, at least you know what is it.

That really strikes me as an overall value and really a good looking pack Like a Camry or something like an Accord or something like that, that more people would buy than, say, for instance, a Corvette.

Yeah, that figures into it pretty significantly, and you see that I mean Prius is a pretty high volume car.

Certainly the Corvette is a very high volume car.

Another thing that's important too is we like to pick vehicles that we believe are going to be the segment leader, and that really came into play on Truck of the Year, where we chose the Ford Super Duty.

The other contenders are good vehicles.

There were two Chevys actually the Chevy Silverado EV and the Chevy Colorado, which is, you know, a really good mid-sized truck, but to our mind, or to my mind anyway, the Ford Super Duty is the segment leader.

It is the segment leading heavy duty truck, whereas Colorado's good, but I don't know that it's better than the upcoming Toyota Tacoma, for example, or some of the others in the segment.

So has Nactoy had any consideration about having a maybe a subcategory for the EVs?

Because in what I'm seeing in your nine finalists, the three per category, there's an intermingling of EVs and actually in the utility vehicle of the year, all three of them were EVs.

Right.

I mean we consider EVs and we've considered having separate categories, but our thinking was number one we want to keep it very tight.

You know you could name 10, 12 vehicles, something of the year, but that would diminish the value of, I think, the car of the year.

I agree with you.

I agree with you totally, yes, wholeheartedly, because so?

And we Well go ahead, don no, I'm just going to say because in the end it's a vehicle that gets you from point A to point B, no matter what engine you choose.

And to me, at least at this point in my life, when I look at all of the vehicles out there, you know you may like the EV, you may like the plug-in, jeff likes the gasoline motor and I like the gasoline motor.

So you know there's parity in that to me.

Yeah, and we feel that vehicles have to compete against one another.

Evs have to compete against gasoline cars and have to compete against hybrids.

And you know some vehicles the Hyundai Kona, for example, comes in a couple of different flavors.

Right, and that works to their advantage.

The fact that the Prius is both available as a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid, I think worked, is its advantage and probably was the deciding factor.

Interesting, yes, and that would be kind of like.

Let me think about that for a minute.

So there's the plug-in hybrid and the true hybrid and I'm going, I'm thinking I'm going to go with the hybrid myself At this point in my life.

That's what I'm going to go with because of the ease of getting the battery charged.

And the distance.

Yeah, Like a real, real, real, real, real, real real, real, real, and I'm sure that those kind of factors play into the voting as well, Jeff oh absolutely Absolutely.

The good thing about a plug-in hybrid is you can operate it as an electric vehicle until the battery is spent, and then you have that gasoline motor essentially as your lifeboat to save you.

When that's gone, a lot of people can get by probably operating it as an electric vehicle for around town errands or fairly short commutes, that kind of thing at Infinitum right.

But then when they want to go to Grandma's house in West Texas or something like that, it's a whole different thing.

And yet they don't have the issues they would have if they had a pure EV.

Yeah Well, and you know, and where you are out in California, I know that there's a lot more support, technically speaking, with chargers.

They're much more plentiful out there.

So if you get caught a little bit short on your charge on your plug-in hybrid or your plug-in electric, you know you can find a place that you can plug it in and get charged, whereas if you're going between here and San Antonio, say that the charging network, just the infrastructure, isn't quite there yet and could be a problem if you're going to go on from San Antonio, as you mentioned, to West Texas.

Yeah, I could be very difficult and you know the technology keeps changing.

We have a lot of charges out here, but a lot of them are level-2 chargers.

They're not fast chargers.

And now the trend of course is the fast charging.

Nobody wants to sit at a charger for hours and hours to leave their vehicle on it on a charger for a long period of time.

I, it's owner, us enough to be.

I think this is a sit at a charger for half an hour At a fast charger to get top and that's where I am right now.

You know, I just can't imagine myself having a choice of going.

Let's see, I can get a car that basically gets 40 miles per gallon of gasoline and I can put all of that little bit of gasoline in there and go from here to San Antonio and still have gas left over, and it with a five-minute fill up, as opposed to Three stops between Houston and San Antonio just to get there to keep it charged.

There's an hour and a half out of my life plus money, because if you stop, you're gonna stop with a buckies.

You know money, even worse, a Walmart another thing, jack.

You know it seems like Hyundai, the Hyundai Kia sisterhood, has made great inroads and Nactoy, you know with what is it?

Five of them.

Four of them of the nine were nominated.

Yeah, they think they just build really good vehicles.

I mean, they're engineering stuff that that looks great.

That is a high value, high quality.

It seems like their reliability is quite high, so they've really come a long, long way.

But you know, jack it.

To that end, let's talk for just a minute about Asian cars, because obviously that is one.

Those are Korean and as opposed to Japanese, I think that the Japanese, even though it's an Asian car.

I think that the Japanese cars seem to have a little bit more quality to them, do you?

well, it depends on how you measure quality, and you know I talked to the people at JD power a lot and they measure quality by essentially by lack of problem, right, yeah, and?

And they also Look at reliability by lack of problems are just over a longer period of time.

Some of those problems are just, they're not anything mechanical or technical, something really that's gone wrong.

They revolve around people not being not understanding how to use something.

Infotainment systems are key, and then you have issues with Connecting Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

You guys probably all experienced that.

Anybody who does car testing has had.

Oh yes that's with Apple CarPlay.

Oh, that kind of thing yes.

That's counted as a problem.

That's not necessarily.

It's not gonna strand you by the side of the road correct.

But it is irritating.

Yeah, you can't discount the nut behind the loose nut behind the wheel.

True enough.

Absolutely, and you're speaking to one right here.

Five of us on this panel.

That's it.

So, jack, what is the car of the year?

The car of the year is the Toyota Prius.

The Toyota Prius, the non plug-in Toyota Prius.

Well, actually both in prime, yeah, both of them Prius and prime.

Got you Okay, and the truck is the Chevy heavy-duty, no Ford.

Ford.

Super Duty.

Ford.

Super Duty Gotcha, that'd be the 250 250, 350 250 on up, yeah on, and the utility.

The utility is the key EV9, the first you know kind of affordable three-row electric vehicle.

I don't know.

I don't believe that I've had an EV9.

Have you had one of those bars?

Yeah, you haven't.

You need to turn your microphone on good, good looking car.

I've seen them.

I've seen it.

Yeah, I've not have you driven?

Obviously, if you've driven it, jack, what do you think I have driven it.

There's absolutely a ton to like about it.

In fact, that it's a three-row is really a breakthrough.

It's essentially on the same platform as the EV6.

It's taller, it's about the same length, but they wedge in a third row.

That's a fairly reasonable third row, I think.

When the third row is being used, it doesn't have a ton of cargo space behind the third row.

It is certainly not the equivalent of a full-size conventional SUV Three-row SUV, but it's absolutely a step in that direction and I think it's going to be very, very important and and Kia looks at it as their flagship of their EV line.

The way that they look at the telluride is the flagship of their gasoline line, yeah, and did it feel heavy?

It actually feels pretty good, I think they.

The saving grace, as you guys know, with electrics is the instant torque, right, yeah, right.

So they are heavy, there's no doubt about it.

I mean there's, you know, at least a thousand pounds of battery.

I've got to believe, under the floorboards there and you kind of feel that.

But I think I've maybe come to terms with that a little bit and I think they're doing a better job of making that less obtrusive.

Jack, it's always great to talk to you.

We thank you so much for joining us today.

Enjoy that warm, warm California sunshine today just for us.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

I'll try and get outside All right, Well, and so what are we going to talk to you next?

Well, as soon as you want me.

I always enjoy talking to you guys, so it's a real pleasure for me.

I'll do it any time, thank, you, jack.

We appreciate.

You have a great day and we'll talk to you again soon.

Sounds terrific.

You guys have a great day.

Thanks you too.

Thank you.

Conrad's car clinic.

Oh boy, what is the clinic today?

We'll talk about what makes gasoline good or bad.

Okay, varnish is bad.

Well, varnish is the result of the gasoline not burning properly.

But we're all familiar with different octane ratings of gasoline.

When you pull up to the gas pump you can choose 87, 89, 92, 93 fuel, and all those different octane ratings are available at most gas stations.

The higher the octane rating is often referred to as premium fuel is all about controlling detonation in the engine.

Premium fuel does not necessarily burn cleaner than a regular fuel and premium fuel is purely about octane.

So the value of it.

You've got to look at what your manufacturer requirement is for the octane reading for the vehicle that you drive.

So if it's a high compression engine, turbocharger, supercharged engine, most probable it's going to call for a premium fuel because they want to control detonation in those engines.

That spark knock can be pretty damaging to an engine.

So the quality of gasoline the average cost of a new car today is somewhere around $48,000, not counting for the EVs With a price point nearing $50,000,.

It only makes sense that you do everything possible to take good care of your vehicle.

That includes filling the tank with a high quality gasoline.

The worst gasoline brands in the nation are non-top-tier fuel.

You got to remember top-tier fuels were something that were come around in about 1995 when Audi, bmw, gm, honda, toyota and Volkswagen all went to the fuel industry, the gasoline industry, and said, look, we need a fuel that has a higher content of deposit cleaning agents to keep the injectors, combustion chambers and intake systems clean.

So those manufacturers, those fuel manufacturers, came out with what's called top-tier and there's a list for top-tier fuels and I'm going to post it on our social media Valero.

Exxon Shell yeah.

Valero, exxon, shell, texaco, let's see Costco, Costco, diamond, shamrock, gull, marathon, mobile, phillips 66, arco 76, citgo.

Those are all top-tier fuels.

Citgo's Venezuelan yeah.

You know it's interesting.

If I may just jump in here to say to you, there was a fueling station called the Fuel Depot that I used to get fuel at is down off of Main Street and the guy had pulled the truck in there and he just finished and I didn't really care if it got dirt in the fuel system or not, but at any rate I asked him.

I said because there's no label on the side of the tanker.

I said so where'd you get the fuel?

Oh, over in Pasadena.

I said no, no, no, no.

What brand of fuel is it?

Oh, I can't tell you that.

I said come on, man, of course you can.

It was Conoco.

It was Conoco Fuel.

Now that's got additives in it.

Yep, conoco was a top-tier brand, so it was a top-tier brand, but they didn't advertise that on the Fuel Depot place.

No, you didn't know that you were buying Conoco Fuel.

And Sam's Club does the same thing.

Sam's Club may be buying fuel and Kroger's may be buying fuel from different vendors, so kind of the top-tier kind of comes in and goes out but it's not considered top-tier fuel.

Well, you were talking about the Costco fuel.

You mentioned it.

Costco doesn't do their own refining.

No, no, no, but they're the vendor who provides them with their fuel is always a top tier fuel provider.

Okay, okay.

So you gotta think you know a lot of those are, you know, a station, an independent station.

They buy their fuel from whoever their fuel right, what are?

Buckeys is Buckeys, isn't.

Well, buckeys wasn't on the list at all.

Beaver nuggets, you know, and my point too is your car calls for a certain octane rating.

Get that octane rating If you want longevity without having issues with the car.

Get a top tier fuel.

You know, and all of that relates back to you know, the better you take care of your car, the longer it's gonna last.

You know, those who are not top tier fuels are BP is not top tier, which surprised me.

I figured BP would be.

Circle K is not Speedway, amco is not, loves is not Murphy's Pilot J Safeway and Sam's Club is intermittently top tier but not consistently top tier Interesting.

I didn't know that so there's a reason why that fuel is slightly cheaper than what you see at the shell right.

What you see at the shell on Texacra.

Water is the antidote Is that the fuel truly is cheaper because they don't have the higher content of deposit cleaning agents.

Well, I have to tell you that I filled up the Corvette last weekend All right With the 93 octane Exxon 50 bucks, $50.

Welcome to my world.

It's been costing me about 60 bucks to fill the Yukon up.

Oh my, gosh.

Well, you know I'm buying big expensive fuel at the for the Corvette, so you know, at baby that thing, you need an Oklahoma credit card.

That's a siphon.

It's a siphon, oh gosh.

But yeah, top tier fuels do make a difference and I highly recommend, if you're going longevity on your vehicles, to use top tier fuels.

May cost you a little bit in the short run, but it'll save you money in the long run.

Hertz Global Holdings plans to sell a third of its US electric vehicle fleet and reinvest in gasoline powered cars due to weak demand for the battery powered options.

The sales of 20,000 EVs began last month and will continue over the course of 2024.

The retail giant said Thursday in a regulatory filing Hertz expects a record to record, rather a non-cash charge in its fourth quarter results of $245 million related to incremental net depreciation expense.

That's how much they're losing.

The company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs into the purchase of internal combustion engine vehicles to meet customer demand.

Hertz said the company expects this action to better balance supply against expected demand of EVs.

Hertz shares were down 4.2%

to $8.95

when the market closed Thursday.

The stock declined 32% last year.

Can I add something to that?

They're mainly 21 and 22 models and they're high mileage, that's the main thing.

They're above 50,000 in less than a month.

On the EVs.

They're high mileage EVs and they're 21, 22.

And you gotta think people don't treat rent cars well.

No.

Are you?

serious, surely you just.

Who sent the video?

What do?

you guys send to me I sent you the video.

That was just hilarious.

During the week I sent Conrad some videos of people that have misused their cars.

I like the ones where they weld things, poorly welded things, to the engine block, suspension parts, exhaust systems.

It's like how do you even think of stuff like that?

I'll go all the way back to 1965 or 66, when Hertz was selling the Shelby.

We have the Mushanks.

The Shelby GT350H and people had rented for the day.

Take it home, pull the 306 horsepower 289 out, put a regular one in, send it back to Hertz.

Genius it was.

Yes, by the way, we didn't get chance to get to himming silk cars round up, but I got one for Jeff here in 1968.

Chrysler Town in Country wagon.

There it is.

Guess how much that that beauty went for with the wood.

Wood siding, wood vinyl 10,878 dollars.

I was thinking like 14, but that's that's here's one for you, Jeff A 41 Cadillac 62 red convertible.

Look at that beauty, it's gorgeous 36,700.

A 41.

Unusual convertible.

Because they were very, very few, 41 built have you been watching the Meekum.

I watched maybe 10 minutes of it.

There was a 69 Corvette convertible and it went for $400,000.

Why?

Well, there was also a well, I think that was a custom.

There was also a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass that went for $100,000.

And you look at those and I just saw that run by last year.

Who last Meekum by the way, and I have a car for Mars.

Oh yay, this one's for you, Mars.

It's a 1983 Chrysler LaBaron.

Oh gosh.

With Corinthian leather?

No, but it's got wood siding on it and it's still in the crate.

No, it's a convertible and it sold for $7,500.

That's for you.

We're going to wrap up today's in wheel time car talk show right after a quick break, we'll be right back.

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Well, that's it for this week's In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.

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We hope you'll join us for another live award-winning production of the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show next Saturday, january 20th, on all of our In-Wheel Time Car Talk Outlets.

Have a great weekend.

Stay warm out there.

The Arctic Blast blows in on tomorrow.

Yeah Go, texans, keep

listening and we'll see you soon.

About this episode

Jack Nehred, an automotive journalist, shares insights on the North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY) awards, discussing the winners and the voting process. The Toyota Prius Prime takes home Car of the Year, while the Ford Super Duty is recognized as Truck of the Year, and the Kia EV9 wins in the utility category. The conversation also touches on the evolving landscape of electric vehicles and the importance of quality gasoline. Additionally, the panel debates the merits of hybrid versus electric options and the impact of vehicle choices on consumer preferences.

Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet Silverado EV Chrysler Town & Country Dodge Charger Ford Mustang Ford Super Duty Lariat Tremor Honda Accord Hyundai Ioniq 5 Hyundai Kona Kia EV6 Kia EV9 Oldsmobile Cutlass Toyota Camry Toyota Prius Toyota Tacoma

Original notes

Discover the inside track on the most prestigious automotive accolades with our special guest, the renowned Jack Nerad, as he takes us behind the scenes of the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. Peel back the curtain on what makes a vehicle stand out to the judges, and get Jack's unique take, drawn from his multifaceted career including writing for Rodney Dangerfield. We also cast a spotlight on an unexpected cold snap in LA, hinting at the larger narrative of electrical grid challenges that could become more than just a one-off punchline.

Shift gears with us as we debate whether electric vehicles should go head-to-head with their gas-guzzling cousins or if they deserve their own podium in automotive competitions. From the versatile Hyundai Kona to the trusty Prius, we navigate the complexities of today's diverse vehicle landscape and charging infrastructures, while also celebrating the impressive ascent of Korean car brands. The conversation takes a turn into the nitty-gritty of infotainment systems and their surprising influence on a car's quality score.

Rev up your automotive know-how as we unravel the myths of octane ratings and the true importance of using the right fuel for your car's health and longevity. We'll also explore how top-tier gasoline came to be and why your vehicle will thank you for choosing it. Before we sign off, we'll discuss Hertz Global Holdings' electrifying decision to reallocate its fleet and what it means for the future of EV adoption.

Join us next time, and until then, stay warm out there, especially our friends in Texas facing down the Arctic Blast.

Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!

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Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Podcast and check out our live multiplatform broadcast every Saturday, 10a - 12nCT simulcasting on Audacy, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.

In Wheel Time Podcast can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:

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In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show

In Wheel Time Podcast | Automotive talk with Don Armstrong, Michael Marrs, and Jeff Dziekan

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