Car Keys with Robin Leech and Jay de Marcken – February 23, 2026

He is Robin Leach. He is Jada Markin. This is Car Keys.

Hi to our listeners for this week's version of Car Keys with Robin Leach and Jada Markin. This

show has been broadcast during Blizzard Calvin, a major snowstorm

that's hit the Northeast and our listing area as well as many other places along the coast.

But here it is and it's got us all

at our speakers for the show because we can't go out and drive according to the governor's recommendations.

It seems wise.

Personally, and it's my opinion only for our listeners, I like this kind of weather to go out and drive.

I don't like it after they or as they put salt and grime underneath on the road

which gets covered up by the snow and turns into can turn into a Vaseline like substance over which you have to drive.

You have to drive if you're out driving and that Vaseline substance can be very similar to

aquaplaning on heavy wet roads that have

puddles or sheets of water on them

which also caused tires like this this Vaseline like substance under the snow that's blowing on top of it

into

losing contact the tread of the tires and the tires themselves leading direct contact to our pavements.

Be it as it may,

that's what

blizzards do in the wintertime and hurricane force rains do in the summertime.

In both instances, drivers not familiar with this type of situation and or do not have tires with good treads on it

should either stay off the roads completely during these times or they should drive very carefully

and we go into driving carefully on this show often for many reasons, but this is

in a blizzard like this

many of us have seen

major news stories over this winter

of pile up pile ups on

major roads like I-95

I-84

and

similar roads that are spread out across the country and

frequently

seem to have major pile ups during storms like this.

And what do you think the cost of that is?

What?

What are the causes of those pile ups?

Oh gosh, I don't know.

Oh, I do. It's great for the body shops, but most of them are probably total or many of the vehicles are probably declared total

so all of that

when they're insured and many of them if not all of them are

have caused insurance

prices to go up or rates to go up on cars as I have just learned in getting my renewal

for

ensuring my vehicles. In some cases, I think my insurance rates have doubled

not only have they gone to six months

terms before renewal instead of

a while back they were annually

they've gone

up major

amounts of dollars over what I thought I was paying a couple of years back and maybe even last year.

So

watch your insurance rates listeners or check your insurance rates and check your insurance coverage because

these cars not only are they

are they the new ones the recent ones and I would say in the under you know last five years and less

become much more

technology loaded

all of the technology loading

gives potential cause for

repair needs if your cars are in a physical

damage accident

not to mention I don't know what happens

when they fail after warranties are up

Jay, do you have any comments?

No, but I want to come back to the snow driving for just a second. Yeah, good. I mean

I was driving in the snow last night and

we had a fairly sound vehicle in the snow that has a snow mode and we can discuss

discuss what snow mode actually does in a vehicle. Yes, we can. It doesn't do much.

Well, it changes the way

the electronics function

Well, it adjusts the transmission settings too from a stopped position usually

upping the transmission

level from maybe first gear to a second gear when you have a transmission that has

you know multi speeds in them

CVTs don't I don't know the CVTs have a snow mode in them, but they don't have a stepped

transmission gearing so

they are just push your accelerator and go. Jay, continue.

So I just want to remind people that you know even though we've

our generation and the few behind us have grown up and always lived with ABS

I think people are still surprised when the ABS actually kicks in and last night I got to a stop sign

and hit the brakes and the ABS kicked in and it took a long time for the car to come to a stop but

my point is if you encounter that that pulsation

feel in the in the brake pedal

keep your foot planted in the

don't take your foot off and it I think after all these years for some of us it's still a

natural reaction to get off the foot get off the the pedal the brake pedal

And as you think something's wrong

You think something's wrong think things are falling apart

You think you you know if you're really old school

You think you can pump the brakes and be more efficient than ABS you can't

That's the short version

Modern ABS is the same technology the same tools as traction control and basically the electronics

apply either brakes

Or if it's power

you know power to each wheel individually and and you know and and can

Apply the pressure or release pressure, you know x amount of times per second and

Individually on each wheel so the human the human brain can't follow that

And and we certainly have you know when we push on the brake pedal we aren't we're only applying

pressure to all four

Corners equally so well

You have to trust ABS it just and and I know that in snow conditions in you know the first generations would completely

Give up or not function because it would just keep releasing the pressure

On the brakes. That's not true anymore. You still have pretty long

stopping distances, but the ABS ABS does work

quite well

Um to your point to your point jada to briefly sort of interrupt is the distances to bring the car to a halt are

Increased I would say five to ten fold over what you would be

Stop be able to stop in distance wise if you had a dry pavement under your tires when you had to break hard

but you and and we have some steep hills on some of the town roads around here as well as a couple of the state roads

And if you ever have to come to a stop before you're going to enter an intersection highway

That's uh at the bottom of a steep hill like we have on wells hill in one of our towns around here

You do not want to

Wait until you're just about at the bottom to apply brakes in a snow road covered a snow covered road condition for sure

um

my uh kind of hill mary uh

Situation if you're going down a hill and you're picking up speed and there's absolutely nothing you can do and that's happened to me

Not recently but a few years back going down a steep hill

Like the one you mentioned

If you're close to the side of the road

Put two wheels in the in in the snow bank on the side before your car gains too much speed

You're much better off going in the ditch at five or ten miles an hour

Then picking up speed and then going off in in you know in a way that you have no control of

Uh, but that's my two cents. Okay. Well, I agree to that but you need to a couple of things come to mind as you're doing that first of all

uh

I do not know and many people do not know exactly what is in that ditch you're talking about because the ditches are not

Are not I you know, they're not

Funny story the same every road you do but it is an emergency. It is a good emergency advice

Comment of jays

Funny story to get to a stop

Funny story. I hope my this friend of mine is not listening

But he's got a tesla y that he parked on the side of the road to go hiking

um

And not too far from here and the car just it was a a deep

Uh, you couldn't see how deep the ditch was and it was certainly more than waist high and the car just slid into a ditch

and um

He called me and I came over to help him out. This was in the in the last snowstorm we had

And I thought I almost had it out and then of course I just made matters worse

And we had to call a local tow company to get the car out but

um, but again all that at

Very low speed is better than

impact at high speed

so

Back to what happens on highways. I think that

And you see it time and time again and I I see a lot of videos about about this

These crashes on highways often involve commercial vehicles trucks buses

Vehicles that seem to have a lot of grip because they have weight and they seem stable

Uh, physics are physics and and you know once you have to slow those masses down

They just won't stop

and

So my advice on highways

Uh, whether it's a snowstorm whether in the summer it's a torrential rains is

Get off the highways because you may be able to come to stop but that that 80 000 pound commercial vehicle coming behind you may not

and it's just gonna

Squish you like a bug

But anyway, that's my always very positive outlook on life

Okay, other comments about storm driving come to mind and one of them

Was a safety thing. I had a couple of

Blades on my windshield wipers in one of my cars that are that I have just since replaced but before I've replaced them

I I need to say when you're driving in a storm

If you're tailgating a vehicle be it a

Track the trailer truck throwing up a lot of debris from the rear while

mainly spray debris from the tires and or

Other cars that are doing the same thing

You really need to have good wiper blades to keep a clear vision ahead

But the first thing I think any driver should do is to break back off

Being so close that the spray from vehicle in front of you actually contacts the

Wind shield of your car before it gets to the ground behind the vehicle

That's ahead of you

And in a storm like the blizzard conditions were more about the wind of the snow that fall

That was going on according to some weather people on the on the stations

Then it was the actual amount of snow that was falling out of the sky

In in in that case the the blizzard condition does affect your your your visibility

capability and in the distance that you can see

Things ahead of you or around you even as you are driving down the road. So

Maybe double or tripling your distance behind the vehicle that you might want to pass when you are

wanting to get by it, but just

Trebling that distance

That you follow behind the vehicle can can I give you a another safety edge of being able to avoid a potential problem?

Should something the vehicle in front of you do something crazy?

And you can't really see what's going on because you're trying to quite the spray

Grime off your windshield as fast as it's hitting it

No take on that

All that good advice on days like today

The best thing you can do is just not get on the roads and obviously people seem to be listening because i'm on the main drag of one

Of our local towns and things are pretty quiet outside

Um

But moving on from the storm, uh, there's always light after the storm. Um

I wanted to discuss a few things. I don't know if you got this, uh

Message robin from uh one of our listeners

Who is seems to be launching a

kit truck company

Did you did you read that I read your thing on and I didn't read what was going on uh continue

You well actually it's

Uh, this person seems to be passionate enough about the concept of a kit truck to

Have started a small company. I guess a small company

Uh, and I guess the idea is to market, uh, uh trucks in in a kit form to which you can

Add your own engine and transmission and so forth and so on the idea is to keep a very simple and basic vehicle on the road

You know, which is something that we all know is disappearing

Quite rapidly. I'm talking about simple vehicles

um, I I've always been a little uh skeptical

When it came to car kit car companies and actually you you're you're a better place than anybody

Yeah, uh, you I mean and and uh, you had a a kit car if I recall correctly, right?

Uh, and I call it kit car one of those small boutique manufacturers

I think they can take on the world by creating or or, uh, you know dreaming a concept and building a vehicle to

Match that dream and then they build a few hundred of them and then they go down in place

If you're talking about the bricklin, that's the only car I could think you're thinking about. Yes

I haven't had any other car like that. That was not actually a kit car

But in your definition, it was I thought you were thinking he was going to supply components

And you the bias components were going to assemble it in your driveway on a weekend

Uh, what a situation

I think that is the concept and and and I'm I'm even more skeptical of that to be quite honest

And you know, you you can bypass all the safety regulations. There there's a whole space

Regulatory space for for these concepts or not concept vehicles, but really yeah kit vehicles

You know, they're great if you can put this vehicle together and if you can make one work fine

I'm just skeptical you can turn this into a business because I don't think there's

There are enough people out there

um

To make it a viable business. I also think there are safety concerns that are quite legitimate

I mean, it's one thing to have a few vehicle oddball vehicles on the road

it's another

trying to produce a

somewhat mass vehicle

in and and

Kind of omitting all the safety features that come with the new vehicles, but that's my personal take on it

All right. Well, I'm personal take on this. It is a nice idea. It's a good dream. I don't think it has any

profit

Potential in it. Uh, I don't know. What do you start with a frame? Who puts a frame together or do you get a frame?

I don't know just go there. I've been to I long time ago

I went to assembly plants and watch the automotive the automotive

Assembly system go in which is was a great fun thing to do when I was a kid

Because you know, you really but it's an incredible situation. I mean you've got springs you've got

Uh, you know interiors you've got dashboards. You've got windshields. You've got frames doors frames

You know all these things j. I don't know how the guy thinks he's really going to do it

But maybe if he's got the money to lose money, uh, he can do it and maybe you know

What 110 thousands or less fewer it's like the lottery winning the the powerball

The number number of people wanting to get do this in there

You know, there's been kit airplanes put together by airplane enthusiasts over the years

And I think it's something that if you want to build your own car just to have the satisfaction of doing it

Okay, go do it with this guy. But what's that cheap pickup?

What's the status of the cheap pickup that was coming almost like a kit truck that we talked about in the past?

What? Yeah, I know we're I was thinking about the the vehicle, uh, as we were about as close to something

I might want to buy if I were in the mood of buying anything at all in the truck the slate

The slate right it's been very quiet in the news lately. I don't know whether it's going anywhere or not

Um, but in any event, I'm sure the prices are with tariffs on imported

Possible imported parts that they might be needing to build it. Maybe it's all u.s. Uh construction

Um, is it's probably going up as as we're waiting for the first slate to actually be available to purchase

But I don't I haven't seen anything about it in the news in several months

No, neither have I but uh, I'm sure they're working on it. You know how new cycles are

Yeah, let's move on to some of the lists of things you were talking about you talked about cars that are available with manual transmissions

There are a few and it's very refreshing to see

Actually, I think toyota is one of the the makers that has a manual transmission

I'm not sure it's not in the corolla that that special corolla that's meant to be a really high performance corolla

Might even have a manual transmission to it. But I think it does. Yes

Yeah, there there are a few cars. I mean the the the list uh gets smaller and smaller every year

um, and

usually

find actually ironically, uh, all the uh sports, uh cars now have, uh, you know,

automatic uh transmissions

Well, I think the Mustang has a manual transmission, I believe somewhere in its lineup

But I don't think the Miata does or the mx-5. I guess I should call it

Absolutely the mx-5 is will be the last car to have a manual transmission. The day doesn't have a manual transmission. The car is dead

um

But but you know sport, you know, like the german manufacturers bmw Porsche

uh, both of these manufacturers

basically, uh

Produced manual transmissions for the u.s. Market, which is kind of bizarre because in europe

I would say the say still overwhelmingly the majority of cars are still manual transmissions every day

Quote-unquote normal cars

The high-end cars and the sports cars are pretty much all automatic or or um, you know automated

Uh, manually shifted automatic transmissions and very rapid

uh, uh, eight speed seven speed eight speed transmissions

um

Porsche and and and the bmw both keep making the manuals on really, uh

Requested by the u.s. Market

um, you see more 9 11's here with uh manual transmissions

You see more m sport model bmw's here with manual transmissions than you do in europe

I think in bmw's case. You can't even get the manuals in the in in the m

model line

Well, as you say in europe, but but you say in europe

The manual transmissions are all over the place because when my wife and i were recently in italy

That's exactly what we had as a rental car and it was so fun to drive

And I believe it was a six speed manual. It was a fiat and uh, it was also not only that it was a hybrid

Which surprised me because I didn't know what the hybrids could come in in manual transmissions

and uh, so

europe has

You know, I applaud europe for keeping those vehicles those types of vehicles available for the public

Uh, I presume that they are cheaper than automatic transmissions

But is art aren't sometimes manual transmissions in american cars more expensive now

I I um, I honestly don't know

um

Oftentimes, I think it's like a no-cost uh option

um

So another thing I wanted I read about I thought was interesting. Um, and and where I fully embrace, uh electrification is

Uh electric school buses. There's a school school district here in connect connecticut brandford

um, that had that is starting a

I think the 20 25 27 school buses

Um, that will be fully electric. Yes. And when you think about it, I mean those I I just think that you know school buses

Uh

Postal delivery vehicles

Those are the types of vehicles vehicles that run every day, but run for a limited time

limited miles in an urban area

Limited number of miles. It makes just and it just makes so much sense

You know school buses, you know drive in the morning

Then you put them back at the depot you plug them up

Go back in in the afternoon put them back overnight

You know plug them up again. It makes so much sense. I mean, obviously the logistics of it

the infrastructure is um is is

Is it's a huge uh endeavor. I'm sure yes

Well, it is it is for a number of reasons to uh insert some comments on that first of all

They these vehicles you're talking about are probably ideal for battery assembly situations because they've got the structure underneath the whole enough batteries to

To complete their circuit on a daily basis twice a day in many cases

Maybe with charging in between the morning and afternoon circuits

Um, I've I've been waiting to see some electric

School buses in our broadcast area and I have yet to see one an all-star transportation

Um, uh, I you know, we know that the pickup truck electric future was was uh, maybe okay

Uh for non-commercialized use with occasional filling of the pickup bed with maybe some wood or some lightweight

Things that they had to bring from the store home depot or something because the range didn't change

but then there was a that uh newsworthy item of one of the magazines taking a a

forward lightning pickup putting hitching on a

10 000 pound trailer and going up a hill and saying that at 75 miles they had to find a charging station when the

You know the the rating on the sticker for

Non-commercial use which was not not mentioned is non-commercial use was maybe 240 miles between changes

You know that kind of thing the small vehicles don't do well. What I don't think that's the issue at all

I think it's a big issue. It is not. I mean that's my that's my opinion

That's your opinion. So the listeners can make their choice, but forward stop their electric lightning pickup. So

That may be for another reason

Yeah, I think that's a little uh, short-sighted to be quite honest. Um, uh, especially

um

It may be short-sighted jay, but those who want to get the lighting can go out and get a lightning before it

It disappears from the from the uh

The assembly line. Yes. Well, yeah, it's it's disappeared from the assembly line now. You have to look for

Dealers that have one or two or more on their lot that they're trying to get rid of

All right, and I've said it I can go on we can go back and forth on this a million times

But that's right. I I drive a diesel vehicle that gets 30 miles to the gallon

Which and and 600 miles range if I attach my trailer to it

I will get exactly half of that and that's the exact same situation with with uh electric vehicles. So

Of course range goes down and and and consumption

Goes up when you're towing a vehicle. I just think the market is not ready for electric vehicles. Uh,

Especially in the pickup truck segment segments

Well commercials, I mean

Let's face it a lot of pickup trucks don't drive all that many miles. They could very well be running

so

A little bit like school buses

And back to the school buses by the way, um, there's a company out there called zoom. I was just reading about it

They contract with school districts to provide a

You know all around uh integrated

solutions to

Uh

What electrified moving children? Yeah. Yeah, and it goes it's it's bigger than that

Um, and I don't have much to say about it because it takes a little bit of reading

But yeah part of it is supplying electric vehicles that are made actually as far as I can tell right now by two companies that seem to have

Chinese origins

So, you know board back to Chinese electric vehicles that are going to flood the the north american

market in the decades to come but that's just my personal

Uh, uh vision of that's a good personal opinion. So, um

So so until the electric

Vehicles come back into vogue for people. There are people that are getting them. We've talked often and on

Show after show about how if you don't drive more than uh, what a hundred miles a day or 200 miles a day

You can pretty do well do with electric car without a whole lot of hassle

And and and concern about uh, where you're going to get your electric power to recharge it because it's probably going to be in your

driveway or in your garage or in you know, one of the commercial parking spaces like uh, stop and shop has uh, the the uh

Tesla chargers there

You can have an electric vehicle and and I do not know anything about what did cost to charge an electric vehicle

Which I have been trying to find out but I think the charging rates vary

From location to location when they're not on your on your own in your own driveway

And I do not know how much less expensive it is

Uh, I mean gas fluctuates in price all the time. Whereas maybe electricity doesn't so

The electric vehicle is perfectly acceptable for a certain market of of users

As we have as I have just stated and we have stated in the past

Right Jay

Yes, um

Going going beyond beyond us and our times. What are millenials driving? I thought that was an interesting question

And the most popular cars millenials are driving because that's really

Who are who is going to be buying cars in the next couple decades, right? And as I was going down the list

I was surprised to see

You know Ford and GM pickup trucks

Uh, and then a bunch of cars, but no SUVs

Uh, you know, and you're looking at the list and you have Nissan Altima's

Hyundai Elantra's

Honda Accords Honda Civics

and our brands going to be

Toyota Camry's

So and I was like, huh?

Does that mean that in the next 10 20 years SUVs are just going to disappear and we're going to come back to cars

Or are millenials as they start?

Uh, you doubt it

Well, I doubt it only because of the utility value of of families with kids

I agree and all that that that the sedansis don't not have a capacity situation capable of handling

That for uh travel outside of just general day-to-days use

Yeah, I think you're right. I think once the millenials have two kids, they'll start buying suburban again

Well, they're already buying suburban and and let me tell you these uh, these large the larger versions of the

Escalades the Cadillac Escalades

That are on the road are huge today and and you see a lot of them and you drive into our local ski area J

and you see

GM

products

Ford you know expeditions and that

So yes, they're still buying these but it was interesting whatever

poll you were reading about

The millenials purchasing the cars you listed is interesting, but uh, that's fine for probably

two to three, you know non child

Families and professional people that just need a car to go from a to z, you know a to b every day and back

Yeah, did you I saw locally a week or two ago?

The new Cadillac Escalade IQ. So the electrified version of the Escalade, which is a totally different vehicle than the Escalade

It's a pretty

imposing vehicle

um

And I think it's a great vehicle. It's just

You know, it's just huge

Um, and not very uh energy efficient

Um, even though the range is something like 500 miles or so

It's just not efficient

And not and costly to operate and back to your point of the cost of

Of energy electric energy

I don't know the numbers but but yeah

If the vehicle is not efficient the area has charging ports and and I've been noting on the weekends that they are

Very often there are six of them. I believe they are all in use so though the other day

I was up. I went through the parking lot in the afternoon over this

A weekend before the blizzard hit and noticed that there were only three vehicles charging at the six ports

But I don't know whether they are level. I assume they're level two or better

I I think if you plan on charging your car at a ski resort

You better count on getting there very very literally because back

You're you're lucky to find a parking spot in in the back of the parking lot

Uh after eight o'clock in the morning. So, uh, finding one of those six, uh,

You should not guarantee that you can get catch one of those if you're going to uh in electric car

You're going to go to any ski area

No, you might want to think, uh

Yeah, we're winding up yet. Um

Yeah, you want to wind up with some things

Well, uh, I think we've covered all of our safety tips with the driving

I think you and I are going to go to the new york auto show. Uh, yeah, I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, and I'll be able to see what the

manufacturers are giving

Uh, the auto show to show although I understand that mainly it's dealers that bring their cars dealers from around the area

Usually supply the cars for the auto show. I thought that the manufacturers did

But I was told by one dealership at you know, who did supply vehicles

And I don't remember the make that that was the way they filled the auto show halls

With vehicles not the manufacturers themselves

Although they may have that wouldn't be surprising dealers dealerships have so many cars sitting on the lot that i'm sure it's not

And all those cars are floorplanned anyway, so the manufacturers still own the car so they can just say hey

Bring huge cars

Yeah, um

It'll be interesting on the auto show in a later show when we've been there and

And let the let's just know what is hot on auto show floors these days as opposed to what's on the road

Or in in comparison to what's on the road. Did you go to the auto show last year? I did

Yeah, and uh, there was a there was a bigger electric

There was quite a large electric performance floor on the lower level

and it was uh

You were able to get in line and I did not want to do it and get in with a demo driver

And all manufacturers that had electric cars or many manufacturers all shared that one

Course around the floor on the lower level. Well, we'll talk more about the auto show and and what goes on there in a later show

And until then this is car keys with jay demarkin and robin leach

Car keys with robin leach and jay demarkin is produced at the facilities of w h d d 91.9 f m

robin hood radio dot com sharing connecticut

Car Keys with Robin Leech and Jay de Marcken – February 23, 2026

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