MartiniWorks Podcast Jan 9, 2026

Cars To AVOID In 2026!

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63:17

Car

Nissan 240

The Nissan 240 is a type of sports car that many people like to modify and race. It's known for being fun to drive and easy to work on.

Car

BMW M2

The BMW M2 is a fast and sporty car made by BMW. It's designed for people who love to drive and want a car that feels exciting on the road.

Term

V12 engine

A V12 engine is a type of car engine that has twelve cylinders, which helps it produce a lot of power and run very smoothly.

Car

Toyota Century

The Toyota Century is a high-end car made by Toyota that has a powerful V12 engine. It's known for being very comfortable and is often used by important people in Japan.

Car

Honda S2000

The Honda S2000 is a small sports car that is fun to drive and has a powerful engine. It's popular among car lovers because of how it handles on the road.

Term

A CV axle is a part of a car that helps transfer power from the engine to the wheels. It allows the wheels to move up and down while still getting power, which is important for driving smoothly, especially when turning.

Car

Aston Martin V12S

Aston Martin V12 cars are high-end sports cars that have a powerful 12-cylinder engine. They are known for being very luxurious and fast, often associated with James Bond movies.

Car

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is a famous British car brand that makes luxury sports cars. They are known for their stylish designs and powerful engines, often seen in movies like James Bond.

Brand

Rolls Royce

Rolls Royce is another famous British car brand that makes very luxurious cars. They are known for their high-quality craftsmanship and comfort.

Car

Ferrari Ff

The Ferrari FF is a fancy sports car that can also be used for longer trips because it has more space. People mention it as a more affordable option compared to other super expensive cars like Aston Martins.

Company

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer is a website where people can buy and sell special cars through auctions. It's a popular place for car enthusiasts to find unique vehicles.

Term

low miles

'Low miles' means the car hasn't been driven much, which usually means it's in better condition and worth more money.

Car

Aston Martin V12 Vantage

The Aston Martin V12 Vantage is a fancy sports car with a powerful engine. It has a long front and special doors that open in a unique way, making it stand out.

Concept

modified

'Modified' means that someone has changed parts of the car to make it look or perform better, usually to fit their personal style.

Part

pilot bearing

A pilot bearing helps keep the parts of the car's engine and transmission lined up correctly. It makes sure everything works smoothly when you shift gears.

Term

K24

The K24 is a type of engine made by Honda. It's known for being powerful and fuel-efficient, and it's found in several Honda cars.

Part

pilot bushing

A pilot bushing is a small part that helps keep the engine and transmission lined up properly. It makes sure everything turns smoothly when you change gears.

Part

NOx sensor

A NOx sensor checks for harmful gases in the car's exhaust. It helps the engine run better and produce less pollution.

Car

Lamborghini Diablos

The Lamborghini Diablo is a really cool and fast sports car that looks amazing. People talk about it because it’s one of the classic supercars that many car fans admire.

Car

Mazda RX-7 (FD)

The Mazda RX-7 (FD) is a sports car famous for its unique rotary engine, which is different from regular engines. It's loved by many for its speed and handling.

Car

GR86

The GR86 is a sporty car made by Toyota that is fun to drive. It's designed for people who enjoy a more engaging driving experience.

Car

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that has been around for many years. It's known for being fast and stylish, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.

Car

Bmw X3

The BMW X3 is a luxury SUV that provides a comfortable ride and plenty of space. It's a good choice for families or anyone who needs more room in a vehicle.

Company

Continental

Continental is a company that makes tires and other parts for cars. They are known for making high-quality products that help improve vehicle performance.

Car

Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4

The Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 is a fast sports car from the 1990s that has a powerful engine and special features like all-wheel drive. It's considered a cool car by enthusiasts.

Term

V6 twin turbo

A V6 twin turbo engine has six cylinders shaped like a V and uses two turbochargers to boost its power. This makes the engine more powerful and efficient.

Car

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (Evo)

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, or Evo, is a sporty car that was designed for racing. It has a lot of power and great handling, making it popular among car fans.

Car

Nissan GT-R

The Nissan GT-R is a fast sports car that is famous for its speed and technology. It's often seen in racing and is loved by car enthusiasts.

Car

Subaru WRX STI

The Subaru WRX STI is a fast car that is built for racing. It has a powerful engine and is known for its ability to handle well on different types of roads.

Car

Toyota Supra

The Toyota Supra is a fast and stylish sports car that many people love. The Mark V version, which came out in 2020, is popular, but some people think you should be careful about buying that specific year because it might have some issues.

Car

Honda That Honda

The Honda That's is a small car that’s practical and good for everyday use. Someone mentioned wishing they had chosen a different car instead because they think the other car is more exciting.

Car

Welcome back to the Martini Works podcast, where we talk about cars,

sometimes food, what music are cars, different crazy stuff.

Sometimes we have Alex, sometimes we don't.

Anyways, by the time this comes out, it's Friday, so it will be 2026

officially. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Actually, this will be the week after.

Oh, that's right, because we're filming this.

This will be Tuesday and Friday.

Happy Post New Year!

I don't think we said Happy New Year in the last podcast, so.

We might have missed it.

I apologize.

We're getting to it now.

Yeah.

But that brings up New Year's resolutions.

You won't see me for three weeks now.

I've done two podcasts in a row.

I got to take a break.

It's a rare, well, podcast and a half.

Anyway, that's true.

That's OK.

I'm so sorry.

I ditched you guys last week.

We had an emergency with the old wifey.

We had to go to the yard, which not even let's just get this out of the way.

I just I need to vent and I have a microphone.

Therefore, I can vent and people must approve of my opinion.

ERs suck.

All right.

Yeah, and I know you're not there to have a good time.

I know you're not usually there to like, you know, enjoy it.

I get that.

I understand.

But you think there'd be a little bit more pep in the step around

an emergency room being an emergency room, you know,

you go in there, you got this terrible thing happening.

And they're like, all right, we're going to run some tests

and we'll be right back.

We just got to pull some blood.

OK, sitting there, waiting, waiting, waiting, hour later.

OK, we're ready to do that blood test now.

I'm like, I don't hear anybody dying for you to be taking this long.

What is going on?

Right. So then it was like two hours after that to finally get the test.

Then there was another hour.

There was three hour wait.

I didn't leave there until like two o'clock.

And it wasn't for me, guys, just to be clear, it's for my way.

But I was like, I thought an emergency room was supposed to be like.

Not anymore.

Not 2026, baby.

No, I want everyone thinks that everything is an emergency.

To be fair, that I did notice that there was a lot of people in that area

that I don't quite think needed to be the urgent care of the main issues.

Emergency room should require an urgent care check before unless you are dying.

I feel like that is like a thing because that's what we did.

I didn't. Urgent cares are awesome, by the way.

I didn't really use those for the longest time until I got old

and realized how expensive everything is. Urgent care, easy.

75 bucks go in, they look at you two through this and they're like, oh, that's.

That is fucked.

Why would I become a doctor if I can just work from home?

Yes, we need more doctors.

That's the problem here.

Fair enough. Everybody can just make dance videos on TikToks and make a career.

We are not here to complain about medical urgency.

We are here to start talking about 2026 because, ladies and gentlemen,

I'll be honest, when I started 2025,

I remember very, very clearly being like, man,

that whole tariff conversation kind of scary.

And at the end of 2025, I'm like, fuck them tariffs, man.

That sucked.

And I look at 2026 and I'm like, honestly, I'm feeling a little hopeful.

I'm feeling optimistic.

In the last podcast, you're saying everyone's going to get their car repossessed.

Not what you're saying.

Yeah, but I'm not getting that car repossessed.

Somebody else's.

And I'm going to get a discount on an M2.

I'm stoked, man.

God damn.

Like I see the price of these cars going down and my confidence is going up.

I love the used car market.

I used to hate the used car market.

2020, Alex, it sucked.

Are you buying a new car in 2026, son?

I mean, that's a given.

I mean, there's got to be one.

And what would it be?

Is this like a realistic purchase or can it be like anything?

No, I want a realistic.

We're talking about resolution, right?

Yeah.

What are you thinking of getting in 2026?

Like what would I love on the radar?

I want realistic.

Like I'm going to hold you to it once you say it.

Really?

Oh, damn.

Yeah.

OK, I'll tell you guys.

This is like for real.

Yeah, I know.

I'll tell you guys.

OK, spill the beans.

But it's a pretty tall.

OK.

It's a pretty tall one.

All right.

I would, quite frankly, really enjoy a vehicle that has a V12 in it.

What the fuck?

Of any of any variety?

Well, if we're talking realistic, I can't just pick my go to.

I really want my dream like realistic dream car to own in the next couple of years.

I would love a Ferrari like FF.

You're getting an FF in 2026?

No.

Oh, that's what you just said.

No, I'm going to get a V12 car.

I would love to have a V12 car in 2026.

What would fall within that?

Like what?

Aston has an affordable V12.

That's affordable V12.

Aston.

Aston has an afford that.

BMW.

You're losing me.

BMW has a V12.

Yeah.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty well Toyota Century is a V12.

OK.

So if I need a cop out, I'll go by a, you know, $16,000 century.

I would love to see.

I still love to see it, honestly.

I would still be really sick.

And I love that idea.

I think that's on sick.

I don't want to be negative Nancy, but man, when you got to replace the spark plugs,

I don't come crying.

There's like, have I ever cylinder to let?

Let me just be clear.

I don't think I've ever complained about any terrible decision I have made around my cars.

Yeah, I own it.

I have.

That's fair.

I ask for too much, too fast, out of platforms that probably shouldn't have the thing that I want to have.

I get it.

I'm the problem.

It's not the car.

The Honda did not ask to be in the position the Honda is in.

The S2000 would not be that way if I would have just left it alone.

Well, you kind of got that in shambles.

Yeah, that was a $10,000 Honda.

But that's besides the point.

Yeah, Toyota Century, by the way, let me be clear.

If you want to just be a clear baller in 2026, don't get a fast car.

Don't get a mean looking car.

Don't get anything besides a 1999 Toyota Century.

I do like those cars a lot.

I saw one when I was at PRI last month parking at a steakhouse in the middle of winter.

It was snowing.

And that thing looked like it belonged in front of that brick neon lit steakhouse building.

It was the coolest car.

Everybody was like, what is that?

What is that?

I can't believe what that is.

I'm like, holy shit, that's a Century.

That's the coolest freaking thing in the world.

Did you go to the steakhouse?

Huh?

Did you go to the steakhouse?

No, I went to a taco place next door.

All that aura.

And he's like, I'm going to go to the taco place.

Yeah, I don't want to go to the steakhouse.

Obviously, you know, the Century guy has good taste.

Brother, I'm a man.

I'm on a strict budget to afford a V12 budget.

Yeah, and the Aston Martin affordable V12 budget.

I'm going to prove it to you guys.

Hold on.

He's penny pinching.

I want to over you.

V, hold on.

I'm going to type it in.

Oh god, I typed in CV.

Now things I'm talking about CV axles, which are bad experiences.

V12, Aston Martin, V12s or CV axles?

Martin.

I've never owned an Aston Martin.

I don't think I ever will.

Gotcha.

I know my dreams are tall.

It's not a dream.

We said realistic.

That's what you're getting in 2026.

And we're holding you to it.

Everyone in this podcast.

I could also get.

They're going to bring it up.

Well, no, Bentley doesn't have a V12.

Yeah, they're going to hold.

I don't know what to do with the podcast, Will.

Are you in your luxury era?

Are you trying to go big baller luxury status?

You can get one of those new Aston's with a V12 for 80.

That's expensive, but could be fun.

Especially with all the repos happening.

I honestly don't know a lot about Aston.

Like I don't know about reliability.

I don't know about modifications, tunability.

All I know is it's got a cool tail light.

They look good.

They look sleek.

They do.

I think I think the new Aston's look great.

Like I honestly, I don't.

Do you guys think if Aston Martin wasn't the sponsor for like the James Bond movies,

do you think there's a better car that would fit the James Bond?

It's tough because I would immediately start to like think of like Rolls Royce.

So British, but then it's like, yeah, those aren't like you need a sports car.

Yeah, it needs like a luxury like the suit and tie.

But you can still kick someone's ass.

Why did anyone let me or maybe yeah, yeah, like the F type or something wild.

But maybe guys, I have to fix myself before the podcast community does.

OK, what would you do?

The Ferrari FF is more budget than the V12 Aston.

How much are they?

Yeah, you can get a V12 Ferrari FF for like a hundred.

OK, if you look at the Aston was 80, I was apparently mistaken.

Oh, oh, God, bring a trailer.

Has the moth is going for.

Well, these are all really low miles.

Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, two hundred and seven thousand dollars.

Twenty twenty seven thousand dollars.

The Aston's. Yeah.

The one that I want is the V12.

It's a vantage.

Yep. Late twenty tens.

They had that super long nose.

The doors kind of go up kind of funky.

Yeah, that would look good modified.

That's what I'm saying.

It would look like subtle mods.

It kind of gives me that kind of gives me vibes of your Ferrari now.

Honestly, it looks a little chunkier.

Yeah, like the way it's like really kind of like round it.

Yeah, we're filled out.

I could see it, but like a V12 sounds cool when you straight pipe them,

you know, and I just would really I think it'd be kind of cool.

Is this yes, but a boy has to dream.

Everybody's got to have a dream.

No, not dream realistic.

What you're buying in twenty twenty six.

Well, I don't know if I am.

What have it changed my mind?

You got to manifest it.

I'm manifesting my cars not being broke.

OK, that's a good one.

That's a good start.

Yeah, I like that one.

We're on a good path for that.

We're taking steps.

Yes. Yes.

We have the wiring specialties for the S 2000.

It's just every single time Jackson and I work on it

because I don't know my ass for my elbow with with the engine internal bits.

Right. Sure.

He sends me a message like, Hey, by the way, we need to get a

what is it, a harmonic pulley?

What did he say?

You get a harmonica for the fucking thing.

Yep.

What's the play music?

I know what you're talking about.

Yeah, harmonic.

And then he's like Valencer.

And then he said, you also need to go buy a pilot bearing.

Yeah. OK.

You need a pilot and a harmonica?

OK, K 24 pilot bearing.

Go out on the Internet.

Ten thousand different options.

Of course, you can't just enter in two thousand one hundred two thousand

because that's not what it is.

I'm like, OK, I got to go check and make sure that the engine is the right engine.

So it's a JDM K 24 a TSX sick.

Go out there.

Nothing is popping up for this engine.

Because then you have to know, is it an RBB one and RBB two and RBB three?

Are two D two?

Are you going to know the difference between the two?

Then I'm like, OK, I'm trying to find it.

I found it, you know, and then I'm like, one option is eight dollars.

OK, I like that.

The other option is eighty two dollars.

That's one is a pilot bushing.

Sure. The other is a pilot bearing.

OK, you said you need a pilot bearing.

So then I messes Jackson because I don't know again my ass from my elbow.

Which one do I need?

And he goes bushing.

I just call it a bearing because it has a bearing.

This motherfucker does not have a bearing.

There is no bearing.

This is a wedding ring for for my engine.

There is no bearing on that.

I swear to God, every single time I go to work on this car,

it's like answering a puzzle in Italian and only knowing English.

And it's an Honda.

It's literally supposed to be the simple one.

But it's like once you start going into this, there's nothing simple

because everything on the K 24, everybody's made it so difficult.

It's like they've unintentionally gate kept how easy it could be to work on it

because then we need a nox sensor.

I can do that. I know what a nox sensor does. Easy enough.

Nox sensor K 24.

One wire, two wire.

Why the fuck are there two different versions?

Because they made that engine for fucking ever forever.

Right. So I'm like, well, let's go check.

Let's go look. They put it in everything.

Let's go look. So I go in there.

One easy. I can do that.

Go back, just double check my message to wiring specialties

because they built the whole wiring.

You should run a two wire. Oh, well, there you go.

Why are you giving me options?

I don't want you to give me options.

I just want you to tell me what to do.

Don't give me the freedom when it comes to building cars

because they always end up broken.

You know what I mean?

We need less freedom when it comes to building our cars

when we don't know what we're doing.

We need to put Alex in a box.

Have you guys ever had the buffet at Flying J restaurant?

No, I've not. No, why would I?

Because I only had it when I was a kid and it was phenomenal.

You were a child at a gas station.

That's why I'm asking because I needed to know

was it good when I was a child or is it good now?

I don't know. No, not a chance, not a chance.

There are things that I had as a child

that I thought were incredible cosmic brownies that are discussed.

I also have changed.

I can almost guarantee they're weird.

They're almost like they're not good.

And they're like they're all made in easy bake ovens or something.

When I was a kid, I used to count calories

and that was when you were a kid.

Yeah, my brother called me fat and a suck up

for like a majority of my upbringing.

And so when I was like 13, I had a full on complex, full on.

I counted calories pretty much I still to this day

still keep an eye on caloric intake

because he called me fat and a suck up

like three times a day for like seven years.

This podcast getting a little deep.

Yeah, a little asshole.

Anyway, let's talk about something else.

Yeah, like Dakota's resolutions for this year.

You know what I did for calories?

OK, I see how many can I hit in a day?

I still live by that.

Did you win today?

Record. We're working.

I don't it's not too bad.

In case you guys are wondering, if you're listening in on this,

it's obvious we filmed this a week and a half ago.

It's New Year's Eve.

And so for we so for the last for the last dinner for the last

doing for the last lunch before the boys went on break,

we got tacos from a place called Diablos Tacos here in the Fox.

Oh, it's so good.

Very good.

The the cook told Brent that she loved him,

which was wrong language on accident.

We had to use a translator to order the tacos

because they don't speak English.

That's a good taco. It's going to be really good.

And she was typing in the translator

what she was going to say back to Brent,

and she accidentally said, I love you and she showed it.

And she quick changed it.

And then she gave us a free taco

because she accidentally said, I love you on the translator.

So after we just got done watching the top of Weck crashes of 2025

in our in our kitchen area and we just got done eating four tacos a piece

plus a burrito, Dakota then just immediately goes to the donuts

and has a donut as a snack.

No, I didn't.

Oh, it was Brent.

Brent did that.

He's like, nope, I'm very good.

I had my donut before the taco.

Yeah, order of operations.

Yeah, breakfast, then lunch.

Yeah, dinner's going to be fucking wild,

which is crazy to think about because when this video goes live,

you guys at this time right now will likely either be having

like a like a fried chicken and rice plate, if you're basic,

or traditional Japanese expo food at Tokyo.

Oh, they have good expo food because expo food in the United States

is very hit or miss and mostly miss.

Yeah, nine times out of 10, it's a miss.

They're there.

There it's a it's a hit because you're not used to it.

I don't know if it's in relativity to normal Japanese food.

As long as it hit it, man, it's all I care about.

But there's two lines at the expo.

There's two.

There is I'm I'm I'm a safe little weenie whiny baby boy,

which has all the basic foods like a hamburger and chicken with rice

and like all the easy stuff, right?

Then on the right and the much less busy line is the traditional

Japanese food offering, which is like squid and cold fish

and like cold soup and all this like different stuff.

A little bit more traditional.

And so when I was with Suzuki and we were walking through the halls,

we only had like 20 minutes to eat and the line around the whole

like place was really busy.

Yeah, because everybody wanted the hamburger, hamburger, chicken, chicken on rice.

And so you like very politely asked was like,

is it OK if we have tradition, Japanese food?

I'm like, Suzuki, whatever you want, brother, I'm with you.

And he's like, OK, OK, OK.

So you go through the line.

I had no idea what I ordered, but it was it ended up being octopus.

Fried octopus with rice and then like a cold soup.

Was it good? Just decent.

Hmm. OK.

Anyway, Gels, what are you looking at for 2026?

What are some New Year's resolutions, whether it's between your car

or events you'd like to see or events you'd like to be in?

Yeah, I think it's a it kind of boils down to just getting a car ready to go again.

Oh, my God, Lord, the 240 obviously would be the the focus.

But, you know, there's always hopefully the potential to pick up something.

What are you getting? I'm holding you to it.

I I don't know if it's going to be this year.

I'd love if it was this year.

Say it. Manifest, say it.

But I I would really hope this year would be the year to get the FDR,

except oh, I was in the goal for a long, long time.

I'd love to make it happen.

I think I'd be sick.

And then like with that, it's just like I kind of fell out of love with

like like events last year and like going because I didn't have something to bring.

So it was like right. It was it was there.

And I was like dope to be there.

But it's just like fuck me. I wish I had my it is cool when you have your own.

Yeah. So it was always like a nice thing.

And it's like it's been like that for years, you know, ever since I got into cars

and like the last like year or so is like kind of a bummer.

So, yeah, I get you know, having having a car to take up the U.S.

air and drift the 240 and having a car to take the shows, whether it be the 240

or something new, I'm looking I'm looking forward to getting back into that again.

Maybe when we go to Japan, you'll see an FD and it's just going to like solidify it in you.

And it'll cause a fire.

Zihuahua and you will Zihuahua.

It will make this hell yeah.

NFS. Zihuahua. Let's go.

Dakota.

Um, hmm, for me, I'm thinking right now, I have so much trouble thinking in the future.

Yeah, I'm always like hard to day in tomorrow and that's about it.

But for 2026, I think I'd like to really get back into photography.

And I mean that in the sense because like I did a lot of photography in 2025,

but I didn't create a lot of photography in 2025.

I used to always go out like constantly and even in my free time

and I would try new stuff, whether it was like putting a steel wool in a whisk

and attaching that to a dog leash and lighting it on fire and whipping it

and doing like long exposures to even like a couple of years ago,

going out and shooting the northern lights and trying long exposures

and even like, you know, taking multiple photos and layering them and put them all together.

Like learning and expanding that skill.

I feel like in 2025, I just did what I knew and I'd really like to expand

in 2026 and keep pushing, try out some new stuff and dive back into that.

Oh yeah. I like that. Yeah, it is fun.

I think that's one thing that I was doing.

I did a PFM video with the PFM just like a week ago

and I didn't even film it.

I had Greg film it because we were running back and back and back on meetings.

And but I took the video, then I turned it into a real

and posted it and I had a lot of fun doing it.

And I was like, man, that was really fun.

I'd really like to do stuff like that every once in a while.

I'm like, you dip shit, you can whenever you want, but you just like don't.

It's so true.

Like just getting out there and creating a little bit would be super fun.

But that being said, what we don't want to create

and what I don't want to spend my time engineering are tires.

OK. And that's why we recommend continental tire.

Yeah, I trust them to do that more of me.

Yeah, the official partner of the Martiniwars podcast,

which if you guys and girls are wondering,

you're going to want to keep an eye out

on the Unbox channel and the main channel over the next week

because Continental actually has a big announcement

that they're making on a brand new tire that we got our hands on

that we're doing a review on that's actually pretty pretty sick.

The technology that they managed to throw into this thing

and we got a chance to actually learn about how it's made, why it's made

and we're going to be throwing it on a couple of different cars.

We're putting it on a Ford Mustang, we're putting on the GR86

and we're putting on a BMW X3.

So Continental makes some incredible tires.

They've got factories all across the world,

of course, right here in the United States as well.

And they've been a fantastic partner for us over the months and years.

So if you're looking for tires and you want to package them with wheels

at a discount and get them shipped right to your door, nice and easy.

You can do that over at martiniwars.com.

We'll see you in a second.

There are some incredible cars in the world today.

There are there are more options for people to go out and enjoy their passion.

Different makes and genres and driving styles that are just

there's something for everyone, but there are still cars I would never own.

Never buy, never want to modify, especially jumping in to 2026.

And that is what I want to spend today talking with you to about is what are

cars that people should probably not jump into in 2026, which, by the way,

if you're just jumping in, welcome martiniwars, modricarmartiniwars.com,

wheel and tire packages at an extreme discount, getting mounted, balanced,

shipped right to your door.

So all you got to do is throw them on or if you need performance parts,

we have pretty much every rare and awesome supplier on the website that we trust.

We don't sell everything.

We only sell the stuff that we believe in.

You can go check that out whenever you're bored.

Dakota, why don't you start us off?

What do you think is a car in 2026 that just might not be one to snag?

And why? All right.

It's a may a little bit of a cop out.

It hurts to say it's painful.

It's going to kind of be a blanket statement across a few years here.

I'm going with any entry level Volkswagen or BMW from like 2000 to 2016.

Damn. Wait. Oh, shit.

I know what I said. Oh, my God.

I stand by it.

It's like millions of cars, brother.

I was like, oh, listen, I was in like 2006.

I'm just trying to protect you guys.

Dakota's like trying to protect you guys.

Dakota's like the Thanos of the cars.

Like I'm going to make half your options disappear.

What I just said was every vehicle that every 16 to 19 year old is driving

and modifying, you do not want their problems that they're getting rid of.

You know, when they go to sell that car, they're selling it

because it barely runs and they can't get to work or school.

So they have to sell it because their parents are making them.

And now it's going to become your problem.

Any car from that range has been used, abused.

Their modifications are horrendous.

They're patched together.

They made the car worse and these cars are rusty

and they just are not cars that you should be getting into in 2026.

You you're better in that.

You deserve better.

Gels, what do you got?

I'm going to say just because kind of the same thing, it hurts to it.

But the 3000 GT VR fours, man, they're cool cars.

They are kind of a nightmare.

Not only just like mechanical wise, just like with stuff that can go wrong.

But again, they're older.

There was a lot of like new tech in those cars when they came out.

And it's just they're kind of an odd platform.

They're the aftermarket support was there at the beginning.

It's not really there so much anymore.

And then working on them, especially when you have the V six twin turbo under

that hood, it's a big hood.

Yeah, but it's a big engine and there is no room for activity in that engine bay.

We actually had a shop teacher in high school that had a first gen VR four

three thousand GT.

That's kind of bad, and it was super dope.

And he did something to it and we got to like work on it.

And that was a fucking nightmare.

Yeah, like getting all you guys had little hands.

That's why you had you guys.

Still not enough.

I like I said, I love those cars.

I think they're super dope.

But yeah, as like something to get into in 2026, it's like every year that goes on.

It's like kind of falling out a little bit.

It's like it's it's got to be it's got to be like a passion project.

If you want to get into one of there is something so iconic about the VR four

platform, because when it was released, when it was competing against, you know,

the RX sevens and the GTRs and the evos and the WRX STIs and all of that,

it was a super competitive car.

But the problem was, in case anybody is ever interested in knowing this is when

Mitsubishi released the VR four, they released it at like the top of its

tolerance, like when you got it from the factory.

That was where it could go.

Not where you could get it to.

But like that was where the manufacturers like we are already pushing it

as it is. It's kind of how the RX eight was too.

Yeah, yeah, it's like you're already at the top.

Whereas some of these other cars like the STI and the RX and the GTR, especially

room for improvement, the potential was insane on those cars.

And so you can actually see it wasn't, it didn't really have much to do with the

bankruptcy or the financial issues.

It was just the sheer reliability because the early generations had all of the

technology and then every year after that, they removed something like this

broke. We don't actually everyone hated this.

Nobody likes the four wheel steering.

So we're going to get rid of that.

We're going to get rid of that adaptive electronic suspension thing.

We're going to get rid of the active arrow in the front and rear because nobody

really wants that.

We're going to keep the power plant the same and we're going to make everything

more static.

And by the end of it, I think they actually had like a better car and

everything in the beginning was cool.

It's just, yeah.

To be honest, those cars are still expensive.

Yeah, like the prices have held on those.

It seems like I would probably say a car to stay away from in 2026.

I'm going to kind of pick some weird ones if that's OK.

Yeah, I'm going to start off with the G Series 9 11.

Well, you had one of those.

I did. Oh, I did.

Yeah, I have seen more people snag the pre nine, six, four, nine, 11 recently as

they've gotten a little bit older because P cars are a little bit iconic

in their own way and people want them.

Like a lot of people see a Porsche as, you know, what I would think of the

Datsun is like just this iconic car that you have to own.

But nine, six, fours are very expensive.

Nine, nine threes are even worse off.

And so what you're left with is the previous generation called the G Series.

And they usually have impact bumpers.

You'll usually see them with a whale tail, big old tail on it.

It's got like that rubber grommet that goes all the way around the back.

And they're cool cars.

It's on sick.

But a lot of people don't know that they're not terrific to drive.

They're not a fantastic driving experience right out of the gate.

They're very different than what you're used to.

Why? Just the way everything is geared.

Like I remember Lars getting in and I asked him to move my G Series

Appleton takeover and to get him to get it in reverse and to move the car around.

He like stalled it three times.

Like you couldn't figure out how the clutch felt.

It's a very different driving experience.

And I think a lot of people fall in love with how the car looks

without ever trying to drive it first.

And a lot of people are taken back.

I have friends that own them.

They own the the verts because they're a little bit more affordable than the hard

tops and they're down and under maintenance more than they're up.

Like the headset issues.

If you don't get them fixed, it's like a $15,000 job.

And anytime you want to do something, you're pretty much dropping the motor.

And the G Series, they don't have coilovers.

They have torsion bars.

And so learning if you want to lower the car, you have to do it through torsion

keys and torsion bar stuff.

And you know, if you want wheels, you're really limited in what you can get

because it's five by one 30.

So you're spending a lot of money on wheels and on the tires.

So it's just like a it's a car people buy when they want to own an old 9 11.

But it's almost the wrong one to buy because it's almost too problematic.

The reason that it's at the price that it's at.

Yeah. Yeah.

Like the reason the nine six four sits at the price it does now is because of

collectability, but also daily drivability.

A lot of people love it out by then.

Yeah, you can really enjoy that car.

So if you're looking to get one, obviously, you know, do your due diligence,

but the G Series can be a little tricky.

I have a hot take.

So I'm giving you a warning.

Don't come at me.

I can't believe I'm saying it myself.

Oh my God.

The Mark five Toyota Supra.

Don't pick it up in 20.

You can't say that.

Why are you trying to buy all of them?

Hear me out.

Okay.

So this is mind games.

This is like when I put Tane as a tier four suspension.

I'm back now.

Um, I'm in your dreams or memories.

We'll see how that ages.

Anyways, finally is not out yet.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Hear me out.

Hear me out real quick.

So I'm still lurking.

Hi, Johnny.

I'm still lurking in the Facebook pages for the Mark five Supras.

And I'm still seeing all the posts and stuff.

And well, the Mark five Supra has been out for a minute and it's

starting to get some miles on it, right?

And I'm seeing multiple posts of people hitting over 100,000 miles on these

Supras already, which is pretty wild.

Shout out to them.

They're driving the piss out of it, but I'm starting to see these issues pop up

consistently now for multiple different people.

It's not just like one idiot that didn't take care of his car.

I'm seeing multiple posts of, um, starting issues after a hundred thousand

miles where the car tries to start up and it just turns off right away.

And it's acting weird, uh, to rough idols.

So once it does get started up, up to tempo, it's kind of bouncing around

between revs and acting a little funky.

And I'm seeing more and more of these issues starting to pop up with them.

So I think hold out a little bit.

If you see that $35,000 Supra are just ditching them.

That seems like a dream car for 35 K.

It might be a nightmare in disguise and they might be having some issues with it.

Or I'm just completely lying and I want to buy one again and I want the prices

to drop.

So I'll let you guys decide that for 20 toys.

That's interesting.

I suppose.

Yeah, it, it's always interesting when that time comes around for like a newer

car that was like super hyped and like everyone was excited for and honestly did

really well in the initial start once they've been out for what, six years now.

Yeah.

Um, you know, when they get some miles on them, what, what's really

going to come about that?

So yeah, we'll see if it's interesting consistent, but I, like I said, I'm

selling the page, I get hit with those notification.

I read them.

I'm interesting to see these day after day kind of start rolling through.

So we'll see the longevity of them and how those cars do after a hundred K.

Gotcha.

My biggest mistake was investing in that Honda S 2000 instead of getting a

Mark 5 Supra.

Yeah, you should have fantastic cars.

They're fucking amazing.

If you can get a Mark 5 Supra and it's at like 30,000 miles of 40,000 50, do it.

Don't even question it.

That's fine.

That you can hop into a 26.

80.

Probably not.

Okay.

No, you could do that.

Um, I have another.

Don't.

I have another one.

This is going to be probably less controversial.

I think people have been thinking this, but I'm just going to say it so that

I can say set it first.

Okay.

The Acura TLX, the new one, the new TLX.

Yeah.

Why is that?

It's an Acura.

It's a Honda.

How can this be on this list?

I want you guys to bear with me for 30 seconds as I elevate or pitch this to you.

The TLX is probably the most gorgeous Acura ever made.

In my opinion, that car in today's language is gorgeous.

It is beautiful to look at.

All right.

Now it was everything that I think people wanted outside of maybe some power

train things.

This car was the ultimate, Hey, I like enthusiast cars, but I need a daily

driver and Acura made this car.

It was fantastic.

And then last year they said, we're done making it.

We're not making it anymore.

Discontinued, done, killed, over, capiche.

Keeps happening.

And the TLX is not a cheap car, but it's an enthusiast car, right?

And they look good.

I think they look incredible.

And you're not talking about the Integra, right?

No.

Type S.

The TLX.

Okay, the TLX type S.

Yeah.

The fact that that is no longer being made makes me sad, but I don't think

people should buy it because it's not getting made anymore, because I think

it's going to run into issues and support's going to go down and mechanic

work is going to go down and parts are going to go up, which goes into my third

one.

I'm jumping.

Don't buy the Honda Prelude.

The new one.

Yeah.

Damn.

Yeah.

The price point.

It doesn't make fucking sense at all.

Any sense, even without any sort of dealer markups, like you put that thing

just out, it just does.

I feel like 2020 has somehow twisted dealer's perceptions that they can just

charge whatever they want for a car.

It makes no sense for that car to be more expensive than a Nissan Z.

And for a Nissan Z to be Nissan Z prices makes no sense.

It's like everyone was like, your car was worth 30, now it's worth 50.

Well, then mine's worth 55.

And then somebody goes like, mine's 70.

It's like, no, it doesn't work like that.

They're all like pushing the limits.

Yeah.

Oh, hi.

They can go.

I'm seeing, I'm seeing Preludes go anywhere from 42 to 55.

That is disgusting.

I think they're supposed to be a low 30s car, but even at a low 30s car, it's

like $28,000 car.

Yeah.

That's a $27,000 car all day.

Yeah.

This is starting at 42,000.

That's so dumb.

I hate that.

And people are like, well, just wait for the, the, the Type S or whatever the

freak.

No, because then it's going to be fucking 80 grand.

Yeah.

I remember when the Focus RS hit the States and it was 40 K MSRP.

And I thought, damn, that's a lot of money.

Yeah.

And that was years and years ago when obviously the prices and stuff were a

little bit different.

Holy shit.

And now it's like a Preludes $40,000 CVT and 200 horsepower.

And with, yeah.

And I'm not trying to justify this.

Like hear me say this, going back to our first time we were talking about our

dreams for 2026, like when you put an $80,000 car on a platform, that's a lot

of money, no questions about it.

It's a lot of money.

But when you put in a 10 year old or a 15 year old car, that's 70,000 or

$80,000 next to a 70 or $80,000 car from like 2022, 2020, it makes no sense.

Yeah.

It makes no sense.

It's a completely different like bracket.

The parts, the products, the brand, the performance, like the money is, it's

like you're using monopoly money for one car and you're using real dollars for

another car.

Like they just don't even make sense.

If it was like a Prelude type R or something like that, that I feel like

would make more sense at like the 40 to 50 K price range, but a base model

Preludes starting at 42,000.

Why is the base model Preludes audience for that?

Like more expensive than an FK8 right now.

Yeah.

Why the fuck would you not just go get an FK8?

Like, yeah, that's crazy.

I think they're just, I think these platforms are just trying to take as

much money as they can in the moment that they feel like they can't do it anymore.

They're going to just drop the prices.

I just don't understand Hamas move with that car.

December to remember sales event.

That's what's going to hit and they'll be 20 K.

But yeah, well, here's the real kicker of all of it.

I just don't really like the Prelude to begin with.

So you can't really charge a premium on a car that everyone's like, eh,

that thing's kind of weird.

Yeah.

And doesn't do justice to the old Prelude.

Some cars should demand the premium.

You know, like there are cars out there that I think like when the FL5 type R

came out, proper, it was more expensive.

People were a little upset about the price, but those people were like wrong.

They were just mad that it was more money, right?

Objectively a better car, got more mature, had all the right bits and

pieces and all the right places.

And anyone that I know that owns a type R has said that they love it.

They've owned, they went from an FK8 to an FL5.

That was properly well done.

Whatever the hell, whoever's running the price op for the Prelude, fire them and

go find somebody else because it just doesn't make sense.

It's such a weird thing.

Yeah.

I don't see that car doing very well in 20, 26 in general.

At least not in the US market for the price point it's at.

Maybe it's cheaper somewhere else.

Yeah, maybe.

Even again, though, it's just like nothing about that car is exciting.

Nothing's appealing.

No.

It looks like a weird wedge.

It gets me hyped.

Yeah.

It's like missing just enough to be sharp in any corner.

Yeah, it just looks generic as hell.

It looks symmetrical front and rear and it fucks me.

Do you have any other ones?

Yeah, coming from someone who owns an S13, don't go buy an S13 right now.

Damn, you just crushed a lot of dreams.

I know.

I'm sorry.

They're really cool cars.

I like them.

They're really the ones that you probably should get into are way too

expensive for what the car is.

And the ones that you can probably get into for a good price, you definitely

shouldn't get into because there's going to be so many things wrong with it.

You have to find a deal and the deal can't come from your friend.

That's the secret to buying an S chassis because otherwise you're

over, you're getting overcharged or the car that your friend's giving you is a piece of shit.

And I mean this with all due respect.

I've never seen an S chassis car that I know that a friend has that sold to another

friend or there was not some sort of catastrophic immediately upon buying.

Yeah, it just happens.

And then they're like, oh, that's just how it is.

It's like I said, I think I think they're fun cars, but it's just like I look back

on it and it's like the S13 like 240SX was always like these starter shit box

car in all of like the racing games.

I think back to like Need for Speed like pro street.

I'm pretty sure there wasn't a Mark III Supra.

There's a lot of racing games though where those either Mark III Supra is

but there was like that game specifically is like that like S 13 was like the car

you started with and it's like that was always meant to be like, oh, yeah,

this is the $500 car, but it was still like it was still like properly like decent,

you know, and that was back in like, fuck, 2006, like 2007.

I give up.

I'm walking uphill both ways to work.

Yeah.

So I mean, as much as I love the S 13 and S chassis in general, honestly,

you'd probably be better off like trying to source like an S 14 or even shit,

like save up an important S 15 at this point.

Damn, it's that bad, huh?

Like you'd say rather than go out and get an S 13, just bite the bullet,

save up and get an S 15.

Honestly, yeah, because at least you'll get something that can have like an SR 20 in it.

I love that.

I tell, I tell that to some people that I tell that to people that like rent

these executive rentals in 2025, like these super nice rentals that were built

in the last year and they are just absolute shit boxes that don't even have

like central heat and they're paying like $3,400 a month.

It's like, bro, just go buy a house.

Just go buy a house at this point.

I just find a piece of land, go get yourself a trailer, go get yourself a double

wide, fill that thing on a five acre lot and just call it good.

Because how much money you're spending on that is insane.

Anyway, that being said, you guys have to let us know what cars you think just

ain't going to make the cut in 2026.

And if you need car parts for that car or maybe a better car, you can hit us up

over at martiniworks.com where we help people modify their car the right way.

And if you just think we're becoming old ground on buzz, I'm sure you'll let us know.

Yeah, I honestly prove me wrong.

I'd love to be proven wrong.

Jelsie, the outro.

The outro, which leads us to the next sponsor of the podcast.

Fortune auto.

I'm going to be a psychic reader.

I'm going to tell you your fortune auto.

You're going to get 500 series coilovers.

That's what's happening in 2026.

Holy crap, because they fricking slap.

You can upgrade them if you want.

You can get Swift Springs.

I could see that in the crystal ball too.

Fortune auto 500s are like the best of the best.

I feel like if you're going to get your, you're probably not going to get them as

your first coilovers because they are kind of pricey.

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They are fantastic how they feel no matter if you're going to slam your car,

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Any car I've gotten in the last 10 years, I have put on fortune autos and I'm

not even joking.

So that was well before we even started the podcast and getting to go and tour

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brand and why we picked them to be a sponsor for the Martini Works podcast.

So if you guys are interested, head on over to Martini Works.

Look at fortune auto selection.

See if they make them for your car.

If you need any help at all, picking out a set, Chris, Hanby, those guys that work

on the computers to talk to you guys are more than happy to help you pick out a

set for what you need and we'll talk to you guys in the next segment.

I know, predict the end of stranger things.

No, spoiler.

It doesn't matter.

By the time this comes out, everyone knows.

So I know, I guess we'll see if I'm right.

Yeah.

So this is what's going to happen.

It's not a spoiler.

I don't know what happens, Alex.

So this is what's going to happen.

It hasn't even come out yet.

All right.

So they, they all go looking.

They're going forever and they're walking in the upside down.

And what they do is they finally find Nemo and they bring them back to his dad.

And it's been a Pixar movie this whole time.

Yeah.

Damn.

Yep.

That would be quite the twist.

It's not a twist.

That's what's going to happen.

They finally find Nemo so they can stop making those movies of finding them.

They found them and it's over.

I can't wait.

We'll be right back.

Breaking news.

Britney Spears made another crash out dance video on Instagram.

And I had to go down an entire rabbit hole of what the heck is going.

Do you follow Britney Spears?

No, but like I just because every quarter or so it just like comes across my feed.

It's just like a random.

The rhythms are good, Alex.

You place that brick.

Yep.

Sometimes I do look at my feed and like something just is the word ostentatious

just comes across and I'm like they're testing you like this.

You're you're Britney.

Tacious.

I gave you one Britney Spears video you watched for two seconds too long and

they're like get this dude loves Britney steamroll.

Hey, we got like a bunch more of those right.

All right.

So let's talk about a couple of wins of 2025.

Some breaking news wins over the year.

I think it's important.

So let's start off with first the Ford Mustang, taking the first car to from

America to break seven minutes at German's famous Nurburgring.

Yes, 815 horsepower GTD, heavy engineering lift.

Obviously the car was pretty insane.

Immediately thereafter, Chevy responded with a six minute and 50 second from the

1064 horsepower Corvette ZR1 and a 649 from the 1250 horsepower ZR1 X.

Jesus Christ.

That happened in 2025.

Really cool story though when you think about.

I love that kind of like rival.

Yeah.

100% I think that should so cool.

And I don't know if maybe it's just like just us with like, and I say it like America.

Right.

But I feel like Americans do competition well.

Like does that make sense?

I feel like Americans in terms of brands love competition and they make it like a

marketing stunt and it just gets me every time.

It reminds me like the old days when Audi and BMW had beef.

Well, the more people you can get that was like back in the 2000s.

Like you remember that they don't really do it anymore.

They don't do it anymore.

It's because it is like if you get people behind your brand to root for you,

they're going to fuck with your brand more make a team.

It's kind of like a it's kind of like a football team.

Yeah, a loser of 2025.

According to car and driver, Hemi.

What?

Just Hemi.

Is this about takeovers?

No, just talking about how it didn't really hit no matter what they did.

They tried to bring it back.

It didn't really work and nobody really thinks that Ram is going to actually

stay around. Another loser.

I think Ram will be fine.

The Charger Daytona.

Is this about takeovers?

The Electric Charger Daytona, specifically.

They tried that for a year like bring in the gas engine back.

Not a not a clear winner, unfortunately, with 2025.

But a clear winner that I never thought we'd actually be talking about for 2025.

Internal combustion vehicles.

That's about takeovers.

Coming back.

Oh, if you guys remember, when we started the podcast or like I should say,

when we when we started 2025, there was like we were coming off the cuff of tons

of EV mandate.

It's like we literally stopped doing breaking news because it was just always

only it was all EVs.

So many pledges from company saying by 2030, we will be 100 percent

we are going all in on EV.

So many companies are saying that.

And now that's just not true.

Like I do think I will say this.

I think the push towards electric vehicles back in the past and the recent

change over the last year or so, I think has led it towards so much development

in performance cars because of hybrid technology.

Oh, yeah. Performance hybrid technology, which I think is the best way to go about it.

You introduce a single motor or dual electric motor onto an internal combustion

engine and you have literally the best of both worlds.

It's why the the ZR1 and the ZR1X were only had a split time difference,

even with the 250 horsepower change of like a second, two seconds

because of the weight of having the the electric motors as part of it.

Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool.

Another winner that they'll say is more 200 horsepower or 200 mile per hour cars.

There's more 200 mile per hour cars pretty much now than ever before.

Both American Missiles hit 200 miles per hour with ease and even cars

like the Lucid Air Sapphire.

It's kind of terrifying to think about because these aren't like modified,

like high performance race cars that are hitting 200 miles an hour.

200 miles an hour.

These cars you can go buy.

You'll get a lease for one of these cars.

That is crazy.

You can rent one of these cars and fucking Turro.

Like that is crazy to think about.

Yeah.

Yeah, the Turro ones can.

That's real scary.

She's in other cheese, Louise in other satyr news.

Oh, God, come on.

The inventor behind the arrow signalling which side to refuel a car.

The guy who invented that died.

No, W that guy.

What's his name? Put some respect on it.

James Molen.

That was a good W invention.

There are a few cars that don't have that.

And I hate it because sometimes I don't know what's wrong with my brain.

Sometimes I'll still look at that.

Like I'll drive the same car for two years and I'll be like, wait,

which side's the gas cap on?

And I look at the arrow.

You know what?

Fuck the other day.

So my BMW, it's got mostly like that like tan like interior.

Yeah, like that like beige interior.

But like the dashboard and stuff is the top is black.

And like we were just driving.

We were driving home for Christmas.

And then he's like, do you change your steering wheel?

I was like, what?

So, yeah, wasn't your steering wheel always tan?

And it fucked with me because I'm like, was it?

Like, like I didn't change it, but I feel like you're right.

You forgot what color your steering wheel.

She like brought it up.

Well, she was like, did you change your steering wheel?

I was like, no.

Yeah, I'm just like, I swear it was always tan.

I was like, maybe I can't iconic.

I'm gonna be a hundred percent with you.

I can't honestly answer that question.

I don't know.

That's a crazy one.

I was like, did Johnny switch my steering wheel?

He detailed it.

They gave you a drop.

Your car for detailing grabs one else's.

Maybe that's that baby effect that where the baby gets mixed up in the hospital.

Your car got mixed up at the detailer.

Whoops.

That'd be crazy.

You think that ever happened?

No, there's two makes and models at a detailer.

And then they both come in and get a detail and they actually give the

I feel like it's got to have happened somewhere.

Yeah, it has to have.

And now they're just driving each other's cars and they don't even know.

That would be crazy if they never found out.

Yeah.

I just don't think that's happened.

Switched. Switched it.

I love how convinced you are about this, but no, I don't think that that's happened.

Or if you went to a dealership,

and you're looking at cars and get in the wrong car and drive away.

That's theft.

Sometimes you leave your auto like they have your same car.

You were looking to upgrade. Oh, all right, we have one.

What design or engineering flaw is mildly inconvenient in your vehicle?

The fucking cup holders in the BMW, dude, the 90 cup holders

were the worst fucking invention ever created.

Not only are they like insanely fragile and break all the time.

It's incredible that mine haven't because anytime Alex gets in my car and goes somewhere,

he tries like cross his legs or something and he fucking projectiles.

Whatever drink is in those couple.

But to be fair, it's like the passenger one comes out over this knee

and then the driver one comes right out over this.

It's over both knees. Fucked.

I got wild knees too.

That's the problem. I'm like moving all over every time I have been

in Gels's car with a liquid, it has spilled.

Somebody said.

The on the CT five V black wing, opening the trunk when it's wet,

the gutter is not deep enough to catch all the water that slides down the deck lid

as it swings open and pours onto the rear window.

All the water spills into the trunk every time instead of the drain.

That's annoying. Does it hurt anything? No.

Is it annoying? Definitely.

Yeah, that's the that is one of those just like over sites of like you can't be

really mad at it because it's like that's a really weird thing to think about.

But at the same time, it's like every are every other car seems to have it be just fine.

Yeah, our outback refuses to remember the volume level independently

between the radio and Android auto.

Oh, every time I turn on the ignition, whatever radio station it was on

starts blaring while Android audio is loading.

There's there's some things like Apple CarPlay.

I've noticed it's like the the type R.

It's like if you turn the if you're like turning the volume down,

but like your GPS says something, you'll accidentally like turn down the GPS volume

specifically in the carplay.

And the but the music volume will say the same.

And also what the hell happened to the volume of GPS?

And you can't like turn it up until it like says something weird.

I even it's really weird.

Yeah, this is one I've actually heard of before.

It has to do with throttle mapping.

It's pretty popular on a lot of cars right now.

So all Subaru's from high performance STIs to regular

cross tracks have a huge throttle mapping issue I want to throw rocks at.

To make the car feel fast, 20 percent throttle sends the car to the moon.

But then you feel no difference with 70 percent throttle, 100 percent

throttle or anything in between.

And everyone hates sitting passenger because it makes them jolt around

and makes them want to throw up.

God forbid you drive a manual car because when you press the gas pedal,

you either get nothing from the pedal, dead zone install, or you shoot to

three KPM and start shredding the clutch with 10 percent throttle.

Yeah, that's annoying. It should be linear.

It shouldn't be like exponential like that. That's weird.

I always thought the GRD6 had that a little bit too.

A little bit past 60 percent, 70 percent.

It just kind of all felt the same.

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like a lot of cars do have that.

Multiple cars.

The sun visors do not cover the full length of the door window and moved over.

It seems the sun is always coming in through that gap.

These are like weird and oddly specific.

Those are the ones that piss you off.

My E36 left the factory with a hole in the roof.

That's insane. They tried to fill it in with a movable panel, but that never worked.

They're all pissed.

I like to talk about the sun.

Oh my God, I feel so sorry.

That makes more sense.

My Taycan has air suspension and surround cameras.

If you lift the chassis, you can't get to the surround cameras anymore

because when you get to them through the parking assistance screen,

it's disabled when the chassis is lifted.

Come back to the E36 thing.

I will say my 36.

I think the the sunroof on the E36 might be one of the best designed sunroof.

Why?

There was something about it where like the way it was designed,

you could have that fucker open, like popped up.

How you just kind of like pop it up or whatever.

You can have that like open in a downpour.

No water we get in.

That's sick.

I don't know what it was, but I like I accidentally left it popped open

and like it rained. I'm like, oh my fucking God, I go out.

There is not a drop in the car.

That's impressive.

What the hell they do to this?

So this guy, great, great response.

2012 Jetta two point slow.

It's so fucking slow and the automatic doesn't help at all.

One hundred and fifteen horsepower in a three thousand pound car has to be criminal.

I once had five people in the car and genuinely thought

I wasn't going to get to 60 miles an hour.

Then he goes 2016 Jeep Patriot five speed manual transmission.

All of it.

The entire goddamn car is an inconvenient design.

Then goes 2013 Passat two and a half.

The only way to pause, play or skip tracks without reaching for my phone

is to use the voice commands that usually never work.

And somebody goes, stop buying terrible vehicles.

That's crazy.

Oh, the 2023 WX stock signal stock returns to center immediately.

There's no delay for it.

And the 23 models specifically.

So when you go to click it down, it immediately clicks back.

So you have to hold it.

Oh, that's horrible.

So I'm assuming not a car.

So I said, no, no cars are like that.

You turn and then it clicks back once it.

So when you're in a 2023, you have to hold it down.

As you as you're going and then it goes right back to.

Yeah, but doesn't that trigger the turn signal then?

It's like my BMW does.

Ew, it doesn't like stay.

It's just like you do it and it triggers the turn signal

and then it electronically like disables it once like we move it.

Hmm, it's not just like a timer.

No, I do know BMWs have the thing where you can tap it and go.

See, mine doesn't mine doesn't do the three,

which I think is weird.

It's just a quick little.

But it's like it goes.

It does give you like a tactile like click, but it doesn't stay there.

It like it clicks to let you know that it's on.

And then it like goes back to where it was.

OK, so we'll finish it up with this.

OK, what is you said one mildly infuriating thing about your BMW?

Dakota, do you have anything in any of your cars

that you just find mildly irritating that you put up with?

Yeah, the forerunner has horrible, horrible cup holders, too.

So they're huge, they're massive.

And apparently, like from the factory, they come with rubber inserts.

But when you put a drink in them because they're rubber,

it like sticks to your drink and they just pull out.

So they're always missing and they're always gone.

So then it just leaves the giant hole.

So I put any drink and it's just like sloshing around in there.

And then the the rev finding there, the RPM finding when it's in cruise control

on the highway is the most horrific thing I've ever seen.

Constantly shifting.

Yeah, it's trying to find the slightest incline.

The slightest turn.

Constantly, it's horrible.

When I had the Supra, I took a leaf blower to my taillights

for five minutes after a car wash to get all the water out of the crevices.

I backed out, drove away, went and looked, just pouring water out of the taillights.

So every time you came out of the car wash,

it would just pour out of the taillights, looking like they're crying.

So you always had streaks every time your car was always dirty.

There was never a time when it was actually clean

because it'd be like the next day and water would still be trickling out

of like those crevices that are in there.

Remember that? Yeah.

All my cars are perfect.

I know. I know.

That's why I didn't ask you.

Yeah, some.

Give me one in the Ferrari.

What's one quirk?

I don't want to be an aftermarket thing.

I want to be like the canvas way.

Yeah, yeah, from the factory.

This thing is annoying with the Ferrari.

Other than five by 108.

That is kind of that is actually really a pain in the butt.

The car has a natural battery draw to it.

That's insane.

That is because the OEM radio

has some sort of issue where it just continuously draws power.

That's a really annoying issue.

And it's like fast.

And it is it is a good amount of draw.

And so it has to be on a trickle charger,

regardless of where or when it is,

because it will run out of juice in a week.

Like the best battery we could throw in it will last no longer than like two weeks.

That's such a terrible.

And the solution is, is you have to take the entire radio out,

take the boards out of the radio and like re-solder a certain thing

that just, I don't know, whether to put a JBL in there.

Honestly, we're at right now.

So I would say that's that's the mildly infuriating thing.

My least favorite part of the Ferrari is that fucking alarm

that would always go off when the battery died.

Yeah, you never want those things to go out.

The coolest thing though is if you listen to the alarm loud enough,

it starts like reverberating and it's like,

and that's when you know you've been in that noise too long.

That's how you know.

Remember at Walmart, when they would have all the lobsters,

the decks, no, the radio decks,

and you could go press the button and there'd be speakers.

Did you guys ever run up, crank the volume, turn on a speaker and then run away?

No, I wasn't going to hood them.

Oh, I thought that was a cannon.

Well, with that being said, we hope you enjoyed this week's Martini Works podcast.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you need car parts, don't forget to modify your car

at martiniworks.com.

We have new brands on the website right now.

We're getting even more brands on the website.

We're really excited because we're super, super close to having Forge Line

wheels on the site, which is a really great motorsports wheel brand.

And in addition to that, we're working on Swift Springs as well.

So not just as an upsell for your fortune autos, for instance,

but also just as a standalone spring that you can buy if you just need a set

of lowering springs. So we're adding new stuff every single day.

If you have a car that you're looking to get a shout out on Instagram as well,

don't forget, we do have the build threads.

You can add your build thread right to the website.

It takes you less than five minutes and then usually we'll do a shout out right

on Instagram, which is a really cool way for us to kind of just get the word out

about really cool builds that are happening in the community.

So if you're willing to do that, maybe you're bored, go ahead out, go do that.

Get it done. We'd love to see it.

And of course, thank you so much for listening to the Martini Works podcast.

Gels, take it away.

Yeah, of course, with our last sponsor, which of course is Melco Automotive,

our trusted detailing product for MartiniWorks.com.

You guys have heard us talk about it before,

but when we were setting out to offer detailing products for you guys and gals,

we wanted to get you something good.

And Melco is the one that we landed on after testing literally dozens of different ones.

It seemed like every day Alex was coming to my desk, hey, smell this.

Hey, try this. Hey, what do you think of this?

Hey, taste this.

Hey, taste this. I did taste a lot of quick detailers.

I tell you, Melco tastes the best.

Don't drink it. Don't taste it.

Don't taste it.

It does kind of smell the best, though.

Let us do the decompletely.

Yeah, like if you ever need a little splash of cologne for your date,

but you forgot, just put that on because you were nervous when you were back

at your house, but you're nice polo on.

Just head on out to the trunk of your car before you walk into Applebee's.

Throw on some cherry flash.

Throw on some cherry flash right underneath the neck.

Crack up one of those like blueberry like the waxes.

Smells like blueberries to me.

Yeah, and then you're good to go.

Quick wax your thighs so you don't.

Yes, make sure you do that.

Anyway, they do make some fantastic detailing products,

and we've made it really easy for you for looking for just a quick detail kit

for some car shows, microfibers, that kind of stuff.

You're looking for the full loadout with wheel cleaners, tire cleaners,

interior stuff, waxes, polishes.

We have all that available in kits built specifically for you guys over at

martiniworks.com.

And of course, we can't thank Melco enough for sponsoring the podcast.

Couldn't do it without them.

That's all I got.

Happy 2026.

Meow.

Bye.

0:00

63:17

Cars To AVOID In 2026!

Aston Martin V12S

Aston Martin

K24

Honda That Honda

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