Aquaplaning is when your car's tires can't grip the road because there's too much water on it. This can make your car slide and be hard to control, especially during heavy rain.
Tread depth is how deep the grooves are in your tires. Deeper grooves help your tires grip the road better, especially when it's wet, so it's important to check them regularly.
The Chevrolet Bolt is a type of electric car that you can charge instead of using gas. It's known for being budget-friendly and has a good driving range on a single charge.
The Audi Q5 is a luxury SUV that offers a comfortable ride and many high-tech features. It's designed for people who want a stylish and practical vehicle.
The Chevy Equinox is a compact SUV made by Chevrolet. It's popular for its roomy interior and is a good choice for families or anyone needing extra space in a vehicle.
The Ford Bronco Sport is a smaller SUV that looks tough and is great for outdoor adventures. It’s designed for people who like to go off the beaten path while still having enough space for friends and gear.
The Ford Explorer is a large family-friendly vehicle that can carry many passengers and their stuff. It's known for being comfortable and practical, and there are even versions that use less fuel or run on electricity.
The Ford Crown Victoria is a large car that many police departments used for years because it was tough and spacious. Many officers miss it because it was so reliable and comfortable for patrol duties.
A hybrid car uses both a regular gas engine and an electric motor to run. This helps save fuel and is better for the environment, but it can make the car more complicated to fix.
Stellantis is a big car company that makes many different brands of cars, like Jeep and Dodge. It was created when two companies combined to make more vehicles together.
A V8 Hemi is a powerful engine made by Chrysler. It has a unique shape that helps it run better and is often found in fast cars, making it popular with car fans.
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that offers a sporty driving experience while still being able to carry passengers and cargo. It's like having a sports car that can also be used for everyday activities like grocery shopping.
The dashboard is the part of the car in front of the driver that shows important information like speed and fuel level, and has buttons and screens to control the car's features.
The Mazda 5 is a small van that has sliding doors and can fit several people comfortably. It's a good option for families who need space but don't want a big vehicle.
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He is Robin Leach, he is Jada Markin, this is Car Keys.
The wind is strong, but the wind brings to my mind in this show that we need to talk about
driving, when we are driving through these storms or in these storms, things to watch
out for, especially not only just in the daytime but in the evening dusk time, dusk is heading
towards dark, with respect to trees that are along our highways, since they can drop branches,
they can drop the entire trunk of the tree on the road and make it a very dangerous situation.
There's not much one can say about preventing anything from happening to you as a driver
when you're driving on the road with this kind of thing happening, except hopefully you
are not speeding excessively at any time, no matter how fast you want to get somewhere,
especially as it gets darker and the visibility becomes much more difficult.
Trees do not show up very effectively on roads when they're falling, especially branches
that are dark brown and they just are visible.
Well, I think in this area that is the main concern with wind, right, we're not driving
on highways, we're driving on smaller roads, but yeah, the risk is that of trees falling
across the road.
Yeah, it's not a risk of flooding roads in most areas unless they are depressed, you
know, low areas where there might be stream beds that are overflowing and bridges
that you're crossing.
But you're right, I think it's mostly fallout from tree branches and stuff that we have
to deal with.
But things can be different on the highways, I can recall a couple instances, and you
know, not so smart me, it happened to me twice, driving up and down I-95 years and
years ago, there is this big bridge over one of the bodies of water somewhere around
Maryland, Haver to Grace.
It's a high bridge over, I can't even remember what it was.
I don't know, the Potomac River maybe?
Who knows?
Who knows?
But it's high up in the air and the first time I went over it, this was in the late
90s, I had a rental car and I thought, well you know, this is a good spot, nobody's
going to catch me here, I'm just going to mash it and go as fast as I can across
this bridge.
Well, I got hit by a sidewind at ungodly speeds and it scared the living crap out
of me because the car moved like three, four feet one way and then the other.
Well, that's a good point.
And then it happened to me again at more reasonable speeds but towing a trailer over
the same bridge.
High winds are something that, yes, in open road situations, that's where
their high wind effect is going to take place and we have known that in some
states, tractor trailers are known to blow over, Colorado, one of the passes.
And on bridges like you were on, you are basically naked to the forces of wind from
the standpoint of there is no wall or anything that's going to diminish the
wind's effect on you if it's a crosswind and gusts.
Around here the wind gets likely to affect the tree conditions more hopefully
than the car or vehicle conditions because of the protection that trees give
to road sides but conversely, they're the ones that get affected by a strong
gust of wind.
They may break branches or even hold trunk trees off out of their anchored
positions whether it's a tree itself that's anchoring the branches or
whether it's the ground which is anchoring the tree.
So the best thing one can do is not do what Jay just suggested to try to
see how fast you get across a bridge maybe or even down a road.
And the other thing that does happen with these storms, if the rain suddenly
turns into a rain burst, a cloud burst, they can become very, very susceptible
to aquaplaning very quickly which goes to a heart of many times that I've
said in this show about check your tread depth but that won't even be
enough to keep you from hydroplaning in extreme cloud bursts of rain which
can come at any time when you're in a rainy condition.
Enough on that Jay or do you have one more thing?
Well if you're like me and have to tackle the roads going in and out of
New York City today, keep in mind that parkways like the hot shore,
the sawmill, get easily flooded when it starts pouring and now you have to
start escaping, you know, getting off and using all the side roads.
Well I did look at my weather map for this week's show and it did say there
was flooding predicted in New York City so your point is well taken if
anybody who listens to this show today or in another storm situation is going
to where that condition can happen.
Fortunately our rivers around here were almost at dry levels, none go to dry
levels but they're the water levels are so low that it's highly unlikely that
the Housatonic for example is going to brim fill up to where it might go
across Route 7 south of Kent which it's been known to do in the past and I
don't think we're going to see even the small stream such as the one that goes
through Canaan or through the Gulf course necessarily coming up and flood
going over its banks during the storm this northeastern storm which is I
think leaving us mostly out of the torrential rain situation which has
been going on coastal wise.
Enough on that I've been looking at you know we've been talking about
small pickup trucks the slate is one that are maybe coming together to be
available to us pickup truck owners that are going to be somewhat lessened what
you have to pay for the standard pickup trucks that are produced by the Big
Three and some of the imports producing things like the Toyota Tacoma the
Nissan I can't remember what it is Frontier I think it is and the like
there's one now that I hadn't heard about or if I'd heard about I hadn't
paid attention to I was reading an article about something that's named a
Telo T-E-L-O and it was a test drive of one and this is a tie they it's
apparently they titled is the tiny truck but they sit there and talk about
its possibility of having a three row version like a Rivian and all that
but the point is if you have a tiny truck is there any need for a theoretical
500 horsepower power rating for such a truck my answer direct is no I think
that it could apply to some of these thousand horsepower electric vehicles
to but that's another topic for maybe later on this show or later show so
read the article about this vehicle I didn't even I'm reading it I have it
on my laptop as I'm doing the show and it the articles in Motor Trend Magazine
and they've got a lot of suggestions about the dashboard and and everybody
ergonomics of it the question is what's it going to cost by the time it gets to
the market and I don't even know what that time skip timing is but you know
we may be flooded with all these alternative pickups truck makers showing
up and some will fail and some will make it maybe but I don't this 500 horsepower
is the thing I'm focusing on because I can't imagine you need 500 horsepower
even if it bed were loaded with cement maybe that's when you'd need it but then
you probably would go about two miles before it need recharging especially if
you're going uphill enough on that Jay well you have a road rage thing
right I want to stay on the yeah I'll get to that eventually the whole
electric industry you know is is up in the air now with it is indeed the legacy
manufacturers both in this country and in Europe who are scrambling with new
regulations and change of regulations and tax laws and changing tax laws that
obviously affect the the market quite a bit you know again which which are the
manufacturers that are doing well and which are the ones that are not and I was
just reading an opinion by this guy Peter de Lorenzo who writes column I call
the auto extremist and he's been doing that for quite some time now and he's a
doom and gloom sarcastic no excuse type of guy I kind of tend to like him for
those reasons although I do don't agree with him join with him but he's got a
very gloom view of the auto industry in this country the last column I read he
doesn't expand much on on GM although I do think GM has an interesting
portfolio of product including some great electric vehicles we talked about
that did indeed Cadillac was one right the lyric Cadillac but even now there's
this whole thing about that you know my favorite of them all that the Chevy
Bolt right coming back it looks very much like the the the old version that
came out in 2017 so it's a bit sleeper by now in in in in terms of EVs and and I
know I'm going on the sidetrack here but that the bolt seems to have great
qualities it's going to be the most affordable EV on the market starting
price anyway and I forget what it is is $29,000 I think it's going to be
it's going to undercut the Nissan Leaf a bit and the biggest critic was that it
didn't seem to be very much different from the old one which in itself is not
necessarily a bad thing it's still I agree with you there sometimes the
first versions are the best or as good as they can get before they start
diminishing and we talked about just to interrupt you briefly what I
consider to be a serious error in the newest version of the Audi Q5 in terms
of interior design and and you know a lot of people like the older cars for other
reasons and then continuing continuing technology progress but going back to your
bolt question I agree the bolt was good when it came out well remember when
it's like six seven years ago at least and it was it was a cool little car then
and I think it still is a cool little car I agree with you but GM has other
interesting electric vehicles you know they have the Chevy Equinox yes they do
and they're very happy with that are absolutely I think beautiful and and
great vehicles the Vistik and the obvious you know the problem is I can't
remember all these names right but but yet this guy D Lorenzo seems seems
skeptical as to GM and certainly Ford and he actually bashes the CEO of Ford
Jim Farley who seems not to have been able to fix the problems Ford has had
over the last decade and that has been mainly bringing you know new product
to market without having you know a bunch of free calls of problems with the cars
when they get out and recall yes so I don't know where Ford is going I think
their EV strategy is kind of nowhere to be seen I mean there's the Mach E and
there is a Bronco Sport in China and what else is there for electric
oh and the and the and the lightning now f-150 lightning which I think is a pretty
cool vehicle well they did they not have an Explorer plug-in hybrid or something
or hybrid Explorer in Europe and or no in Europe they have they re-batched and
that's the ID for I talked about it last week like an ID for yeah the ID for
that's re-batch and Explorer and it actually looks very cool well I
understand just to digress back to the Explorer that the Connecticut State
Police were had explorers that had a mild hybrid factor I use factor because I
don't know what else to say aspect to them and they weren't very happy with
them and I'm not sure why that was the case but I don't think it made it to
the public's ability to buy whatever version the state police were
allegedly having with their explorers but there was some kind of hybrid version
that they seemed to have in their fleet of vehicles and a couple and I read an
article and I can't remember where it was or when it was that they were you
know helping that police forces are like yellow cabs in New York they're still
mourning the Crown Vic that is true and and and we can laugh about the Crown
Vic but you know and they they love the vehicle because they were very
easy to work on they were very simple and part of it and that was that but the
world has evolved from the Crown Vic and but yes I can see where complex cars
like like hybrids I mean you're adding a degree of complexity to the vehicle
you're having a you know ice power train I see a power train and and then
you're adding an electric powertrain I've always said that's my beef with with
hybrids that you're doubling the doubling the source of problems but well back
yeah going back to your discussion about the electric car vehicle future and
the bed and where it's going and the questions that everybody seems to be
having including your critical your critic you know it seems like every
week or every month the manufacturers one manufacturer another is changing their
plans going forward Jeep was going to have a plug-in hybrid platiator they've
now canceled it well here's here's the thing with and let me finish with the
with this character because he is a character you know his take on
Stellantis was that they have no idea what they're doing and they did and
now that just shoehorned you know shoehorning V8 Hemi's in everything
back into their wheels and that's right that's a very short-term strategy if I
if I can see it so I you know well I think it's short-term strategy and
probably wrong at certain levels and and maybe good because there's some
enthusiasts in Stellantis that just thinks that's the only way they're
going to be able to sell anything to the young buyers coming up they still love
to have these loud raucous ICE engines driving vehicles as opposed to the
silent and sometimes small you know electric noise built-in that are every
bit as fast as or faster than the ICE engines but nowhere near as fun to
drive from the same point of audibility and visibility and and then their own
desires so moving on to the other manufacturers we still have in this
country we have now we have you know we obviously know all about Tesla and
Rivian and I was I was actually reading in an interview of Rivian CEO whose name I
forget but it it went on to you know to to it was an optimistic view I mean we
know this guy has said that you know that the problem they have is is the
Chinese manufacturers and I think that is the big problem for the auto industry
in general both American and European manufacturers that you know the Chinese
are inundating a bunch of markets with which less expensive products and which
are excellent too right but they're but but but but very good quality and you know
and high-tech cars there was one point with the in the Rivian interview where
the interviewer asked this guy and I'm gonna find his name because now I feel
like a little not knowing his name plug in Google why you're talking that's
what I'm doing I'm we'll get to it anyway the question was about carplay and it
ought it's all about the software that controls car and all the the apps you
have and use in the car and and this guy was adamant that Rivian should pursue
their own infotainment system and and system that controls the cars and and
aggregates all the different apps because they will be using you know they'll have
YouTube and messaging apps but they want to control the presentation and and in
the aggregation of that's a word of all the different apps and not have an
Apple CarPlay be the packaging of it all and I I initially had a bit of a
problem with that and and then I have to say okay well they're they're
building their own universe I get that and if it if it is as good as an Apple
CarPlay you know so be it and if we want to drive a Rivian maybe we should learn
their systems and how their overall software operates but all that to the
point that a lot of what goes into cars now is software and we can lament
that till the end of time but that is the new reality and that's even the reality
and when you look at you know sports car manufacturers like Porsche and I've just
started reading about the new Porsche Cayenne it has a pretty much a you
know the entire dash is all glass and the passenger the front passenger has
it has their own screen and with a bunch of apps I can I guess they can
control I haven't looked too much into it but you will also be happy to know to to
fit to see Robin that they're gonna have buttons are coming back not
necessarily dialed I see a lot of buttons on that dashboard and a pad to
rest your wrist on so you can actually control those so we're seeing
manufacturers like Porsche incorporating you know futuristic and new
technology and and yet not or coming back to what we know has worked in the past
well to your point about a dash wide glass panel whether we have two separate
screens and either end of it for the passenger versus the driver that is one
of the issues that I am you know fortunately for the manufacturers I'm
not going to be around to be critical of those kind of thing that much longer
probably in life but still there's a lot of time to go by where older people are
going to be out wanting to buy new cars and there's a lot of grumbling on the
street by us older people about this new technology stuff and even including
the designs of these glass panels that are going wide I think Lincoln or the
Lincoln line of cars has got large panels and as I said in an earlier show the Q5
new Q5 has a large glass panel replacing the pop-up panels that I think are
adequate and less distracting visual wise even though it's distracting enough
these pen the pop-ups because you've got to take your eyes off the road despite
the fact that there's voice control capability remembering that and using
that and knowing what words to use to get get use the voice to get to where you
want to go by touching a glass panel is aggravating to me and I don't know
whether it's aggravating to you because you're young and high tech Jay but
I'm younger and and maybe a little more height but I'm not consider myself
high-tech so it makes me reflect on something else I just read about
performance car sales going down and yes sports car sales are down across the
board whether it's not so much Porsche they seem to be stable but Chevy in the
Corvette you know BMW M cars Toyota and Subaru's little sports cars
even MX 5 Mazda's overall over the last decade or so sales have gone down and
last this year or last 24 relative to 23 you know overall across the board sales
of sports car performance cars were down and and you go like huh well it kind of
makes sense right I mean every car out there now is a performance car every
little you know every every electric car in the market it has better straight
line performance and then pretty much any single one of the well quote-unquote
and sports cars and and to your point less need for if there ever was a need
for a sports car or performance car that need is negated by by by the fact
that every car is a sports is a performance car not a sports car but
performance car well and then the other thing is that you know the roads are the
roadways are less and less of an appropriate place to drive in a spirited
way that way that's the reality road rage you said a road I don't know I was
not I wasn't talking yet about road rage but I did encounter a little road
rage incident this weekend in our in our area and you know you travel on the
highways and I think there's a psychological effect right if you don't
if you don't know the people or if you're not known you tend to do more
bonehead moves and and and be more aggressive because it's not like you
have to face the person in in in in face-to-face after you get into a an art
quote-unquote an argument with them on on the road sadly there's a lot way too
much road rage going on on on highways but I encountered this really right here
in in our town and I was a little disturbed by it I you know pulled
out of my driveway it was yesterday and you know there was traffic so
admittedly I had to I had to pull off you know a lot in front of somebody and I
was in I was in my sports car so I accelerated accelerated briskly and
got away from them but then they got back on my tail and they were tailgating
me and eventually I let them by and I thought okay you know they're angry
with me I'm sorry move over no harm done but then I I noticed they were
aggressively driving behind other drivers passing him on double yellow lines and I
followed them all the way to the Sharon one of the Sharon stores and had you know
brief chat that you know try to be reasonable and it was a young person
and I actually recognize the person I know exactly who it is I just don't
know how to deal with that you know I don't like reporting people I won't
report them but I wish you know you know you do hope that it's an isolated
incident and that we don't see more of that well I've often I've often had Jay
I'll bring mine up to look through the listing group here because I I'm taught
you know I travel some of the same road you do on a regular basis and the
two that come to mind a route 22 which has some nice passing zones and then you
get on 684 going south and we know what the situation is on that road but I get
I do admit to getting irritated when people are not going even the speed
limits that are posted on 22 either because they're on their phone or for
whatever reason they're going maybe as much as five miles below the speed limit
and I've had the same kind of thing you had but in terms of when I go by them all
of a sudden they decide they want to speed up and it's like I don't know why
but I've had the same situation and other without the same result that you
had seeing the person continuing to go pat not only past you finally when
you let him go but he just kept he or she or they just kept going around people
you know without any appreciation for double yellow line limitations or whatever
else but just the idea of going by somebody slowly you know my I say to
myself you know if you were going to go 62 I wouldn't have had to do that so
why do you want to go 62 after I passed you and instead of pulling away
from you I find you tailgating me you know that kind of attitude that's minor
road rage but it's it's it's a thought about the way people drive and what
they do the other thing about pulling out of a driveway J in our town as you
say sometimes it takes a while to get out of the driveway my office and in the
main street of Lakeville is the example because the cars come from two
directions that I'm right in the middle and you get one direction clear
and then the other direction's got traffic coming and you can't necessarily get
in the same lane and but I noticed that some people seem to like to speed up
when they're when you try to pull out in front of them or okay here's a little
trick here's a little trick I know exactly what you mean right but yep
the words road rage of some kind it's annoying it's rude yeah and we're
not the rude ones if you were like me and you'd stop in the Brewster at
Dunkin Donuts once in a while yeah and let's not even get into the conversation
whether we prefer Dunkin Donuts we're not advertising but if you if you if you
pull into that if you have to cross that section of 22 where the red rooster
is and where Dunkin Donuts is if you have to cross traffic so if you're
coming out of one of those driveways and have to make a left turn you
could be sitting there for a very very very long time so the simple trick is
to make the right turn go a couple of driveways down and turn around to the
left cross the street go into that parking lot on the left come back out
make a right and go back on your on your way on your route yeah okay well that
yeah I'd follow that there's a gas station right there too just north of
where yeah 34 and snoco I think it is or whatever it is I see cars waiting to
get on that during the rush hours I would never get gas there for the
exact reason you just said you'd never turn off to go to the right red rooster
try to get back on because they could sit forever because nobody gives them a gap
they don't slow down to let the person waiting to get on the road
to go the same route they that's the other thing right I mean if I if I'm
driving down there and there's a line of cars and I see somebody trying to get
out you know I I slow down and let them out
yeah I've done that numerous times on 22 whether trying to get on to go the
same way to get through a light or whatever
that's sort of a nice thing we could suggest to listeners don't be
annoying when you're in on the road and somebody is trying maybe to get in the
lane be nice and and let them get in
because all right gentlemen it's time to say goodbye
okay well listeners I hope you've enjoyed us
this show will continue with other topics like this baby in the coming
shows and until the next show we are car keys with jay demarkin robin leech
car keys with robin leech and jay demarkin is produced at the facilities
of whdd 91.9 fm robinhoodradio.com sharing connect again
About this episode
Driving in stormy weather poses unique challenges, and Robin Leach and Jay de Marcken share their experiences and tips for navigating hazardous conditions. They discuss the dangers of falling tree branches, aquaplaning, and the importance of maintaining safe speeds. The conversation shifts to the evolving pickup truck market, highlighting new models like the Telo and the relevance of horsepower in smaller trucks. They also touch on the current state of electric vehicles and road rage incidents, emphasizing the need for courteous driving behavior.
