Hellcat is a name Dodge uses for its high-performance cars. The hosts mean there was a time when a lot of Dodge models were built around that kind of power.
Stellantis is a big car company that makes lots of different brands. Here, they’re talking about how the company might create a new brand for a minivan.
A suspension lift raises the car up. That usually helps it handle rough ground better because there’s more space between the road and the bottom of the car.
This means the vehicle has an air system built in to run the suspension. Instead of only fixed suspension settings, it can use compressed air to change how the suspension sits.
Clearance is how much space there is between the ground and the bottom of the vehicle. More clearance helps you avoid hitting the ground when the terrain gets bumpy.
Bigger tires usually help a vehicle handle rough ground better. They can also make the car look more rugged, which is what the speaker is pointing out.
A solid axle is a heavy-duty axle design where the wheels are connected together. That can help the tires stay in contact with bumpy ground when you go off-road.
They’re talking about the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and how Chrysler gets lots of sales by supplying rental companies. Rental fleets buy cars in big numbers, so that can strongly affect a brand’s success.
The Rubicon is the Wrangler’s “go off-road” version. The idea is that if you want to tackle harder trails, you’d pick the Rubicon rather than a more road-oriented Wrangler.
They’re using the Chevrolet Silverado as an example of how some trucks’ engine placement can take up space inside the cabin. It’s a “this feels similar” analogy about interior room.
Term
off-road side of things
“Off-road” means driving on rough or unpaved terrain. The speaker is saying the van idea should be more trail-capable, not just a normal road vehicle.
Moab is a well-known off-roading area in Utah. People go there to drive on tough trails, so it’s a natural place to imagine a vehicle built for trails.
Term
back seat and back door
This is a practical usability point: rear-seat access and rear-door opening shape how easy it is to get people in and out and to load gear. The speaker argues that the Wrangler’s rear area is hard to navigate, making a minivan-style layout more convenient.
The Dodge Ram is a full-size pickup truck. The podcast is talking about whether Ram would offer a vehicle that matches a certain chassis or platform idea. In short, it’s being mentioned as the pickup counterpart in that discussion.
Term
RHO version
“RHO version” sounds like a special trim or themed version name. In this clip, they don’t explain what it means, but they’re describing a more rugged take on the minivan.
A “Desert Runner” is an off-road setup meant for driving across desert terrain. It’s more about handling sand and rough roads than climbing over rocks.
This is the idea of making a minivan feel more like an SUV. Instead of just being a family hauler, it would look tougher and sit higher, so it feels more rugged.
Overlanding means taking a trip far away and being able to camp or handle rough roads along the way. It’s more about carrying gear and traveling independently than about racing.
Captain’s chairs are separate seats instead of one big bench seat. They’re common in family vans because they feel more comfortable and make it easier for passengers to get in and out.
“Sliders” means sliding doors. Instead of opening like a normal door, they slide sideways, which is handy for getting in and out—especially in crowded parking spots.
A Tahoe is a large SUV from Chevrolet. They’re using it as an example of what “normal” SUV doors look like, then saying this vehicle uses sliding doors instead.
Term
ruggedness
“Ruggedness” means the car seems built for tougher conditions, like rough roads or bad weather. They’re saying you’d get some of that tough character without giving up the usefulness of a van.
Term
utility
“Utility” here means the practical stuff—like room for passengers and cargo and being easy to live with day to day.
“Pandora’s box” is a saying that means “once you open this, things can get messy or unpredictable.” They’re using it as a metaphor for taking on a new idea.
Griot’s Garage is a brand/company that sells products to clean and restore cars. They’re sponsoring the show and saying their products help keep cars looking good.
“Touchless” car cleaning refers to washing methods that rely on chemical cleaners and water pressure rather than heavy hand scrubbing. The goal is to reduce contact with the paint to lower scratch risk.
The Honda CR-V is another compact SUV that comes up in the reliability comparison. The discussion is less about technical differences and more about how brand loyalty affects the argument.
A “reliability conversation” is basically a discussion about which cars are less likely to break down. In this episode, they’re saying it’s hard to judge because different people drive and maintain cars differently.
The Toyota 4Runner is a rugged SUV that’s built to handle rough roads. Here, the discussion is basically: is the newer version of its engine as dependable as the older, proven Toyota engines?
A four-cylinder engine has four cylinders that burn fuel to make power. Some people worry that a smaller engine won’t last as long, but the hosts argue four-cylinders can still be very reliable.
A “turbo four” is a small four-cylinder engine that uses a turbo to make more power. Because it’s working harder than a non-turbo engine, some people wonder if it will last as long.
“Fourth gen” just means the Tacoma generation that came after the previous redesign. They’re using it to argue the engine has already been in real trucks for a while.
“Naturally aspirated” means the engine doesn’t use a turbo to force air in—it just breathes normally. They’re talking about an eight-cylinder engine that they believe has a strong reputation for lasting a long time.
The B58 is a BMW engine design. People like it because it’s powerful for its size and there’s a lot of aftermarket tuning available, and it’s often considered tough enough to handle upgrades.
The 2JZ is a Toyota engine that became famous with car enthusiasts. People say “2JZ of our time” when they mean a newer engine that’s also great for making big power and upgrades.
The MINI Cooper is a small car. In this story, it’s used as the example of a car that people assume will be less reliable than a Toyota, even when the mileage isn’t that different.
They’re talking about how people’s opinions about car brands affect how they judge reliability. Even if two cars have similar mileage, the brand reputation can make one feel safer than the other.
Car
Lexus
Lexus is Toyota’s luxury brand. They’re saying Toyota’s reputation for doing things well wasn’t random—it was influenced by what people learned from Lexus.
They’re talking about the Toyota RAV4, a compact SUV. The girlfriend thought it was bigger than she wanted, and her views on hybrids/EVs changed after trying other cars.
A hybrid uses a gas engine and an electric motor together. The point here is that she didn’t want that at first, but later she became willing to consider it.
The Ford Maverick is mentioned as Mike’s road-trip vehicle. It’s used to contrast with the girlfriend’s decision-making process and to show that different people prioritize different needs (space, practicality, and comfort for trips).
The Toyota Corolla is presented as the girlfriend’s likely next choice instead of the larger RAV4. The hosts frame it as a better fit for her needs as a commuter car, and they connect the decision to Toyota’s reliability reputation.
A “commuter car” is a vehicle chosen mainly for daily driving—typically short trips, errands, and regular work travel. In this segment, it explains why the girlfriend is moving away from a larger SUV toward a smaller, easier-to-live-with option like the Corolla.
The Honda Civic is brought up as the natural alternative to the Toyota Corolla. The hosts use it to highlight a recurring theme: brand loyalty and perception can block cross-shopping even when the cars are in the same “commuter” category.
The chassis is the car’s main structure. If someone says one car has a better chassis, they mean the body is built in a way that helps the car feel more stable and handle more confidently.
A recall is when a manufacturer asks owners to bring vehicles in for a fix because of a safety or defect issue. In this segment, recalls are used as evidence that even major brands like Toyota can have significant reliability problems.
“Twin turbo” means the engine uses two turbochargers to help it make more power. They’re mentioning it because that specific turbocharged engine is part of a recall.
Car
Toyota V35A i-Force V6
This is a specific Toyota engine used in certain trucks. The episode says there’s been a recall affecting a lot of vehicles, and the problem may be broader than originally thought.
The Toyota Tundra is Toyota’s big pickup truck. They’re warning that some recent model years (2023–2025) may be affected by serious reliability issues connected to an engine recall.
Naturally aspirated means the engine doesn’t use a turbo or supercharger to force air in. They’re saying older naturally aspirated V6s are being replaced by turbocharged engines.
This is a smaller four-cylinder engine that uses a turbo to make more power. They’re saying automakers are moving toward this kind of setup because of modern rules and technology.
They’re talking about Mercedes as a car brand and how it changed over time. The point is that even big companies can reinvent themselves and become more appealing to enthusiasts.
The speaker contrasts models that are consistently trouble-free (“just run”) with models that don’t. This reinforces their core point: brand-level guidance is limited, and model-level history matters for reliability.
They mean a particular car model that seems to have more trouble than the rest. Even if a brand has good cars overall, one model can still be the “troublemaker.”
GM is General Motors, the big automaker behind brands like Chevrolet and GMC. The speaker is saying their family stuck with GM because an earlier GM experience went well.
The Jaguar E-type is a famous classic Jaguar sports car. Here it’s mentioned as an example of a car that was always having problems and wouldn’t run reliably.
This is a Toyota factory in Indiana that’s more about manufacturing know-how and new materials than flashy cars. The point is that tours can show how modern cars are made behind the scenes.
Additive manufacturing is basically 3D printing. Instead of cutting or molding a part from a block, you build it up layer by layer, which can help factories make new designs faster.
The “factory floor” is the part of a factory where the work actually happens—where cars and parts are built. They’re saying new tech ideas eventually make their way into that real production process.
Automated processes are the parts of making cars that are done by machines. The hosts are pointing out that even with automation, people still do a lot of the work.
A warranty is the guarantee that if something breaks for a certain period, the company will pay to fix it. If a lot of things need warranty repairs, it usually means the car isn’t as reliable as it should be.
A factory tour is when you visit a plant where cars are built. The hosts think seeing the process in person helps you understand why some cars are more dependable than others.
The production process is the way a car gets built—from making parts to putting everything together. If a company changes how it builds cars to save money, it can change how reliable the final product is.
The Toyota GR Corolla is a sporty version of the Corolla, made for drivers who want more excitement. The podcast is saying not everyone chooses cars like this because they’re more specialized. It’s mentioned as an option for people who specifically want a performance hatchback.
A V12 is an engine with 12 cylinders arranged in two rows. It usually sounds great and feels smooth, but it can be more expensive to maintain than simpler engines.
The Ferrari 812 Superfast is a very high-end sports car. It’s known for having a V12 engine, and the podcast is talking about how much they like that V12 sound and feel. It comes up because it’s one of the most extreme versions of a V12 Ferrari.
They’re comparing the Ferrari to a 2009 Mazda 3, which is a normal, everyday kind of car. The idea is that not everyone can afford a super-expensive performance car.
“On track” means driving the car on a race course instead of normal streets. Some cars are fine for commuting but struggle when you push them hard for longer.
Consumer Reports is a car review organization that looks at how cars do in real life, not just in tests. They also ask people who actually own the cars about problems they’ve had.
Concept
surveys from people that have bought brand new cars
These are questionnaires where people who bought new cars share what happened after owning them. The hosts are saying this kind of data is more useful than random opinions online.
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Hey, happy Tuesday. We're back with more podcasts.
We're doing all the things, the news, the little bit of a topic happening up front, talking about reliability.
We've got car debates, conclusions. You guys have got questions.
There's a ton of stuff we're going to dive right in, but I am very curious to see where this reliability thing goes.
But I think you have news first.
I've been doing a little bit of thinking because Stellantis recently announced they are shifting their focus to core brands.
Jeep, Ram, Pujo, and Fiat.
You'll notice that does not include Dodge or Chrysler.
Not that those brands are going away, but I thought, what if they did?
Would we miss Dodge and Chrysler?
I mean, we'd miss the Hellcat everything, but we kind of had that era.
All those Hellcats, all the cars with all the Dodges, all the Charger, Challenger, we had that era.
And I don't think they got better for the next generation.
I think they got worse.
So I feel like we've kind of done the Challenger, Charger, the Dodge era.
What if Dodge went away?
All Chrysler makes are minivans.
See, that's the thing. Chrysler can go away and it doesn't matter.
Chrysler can go away, but they sell a lot of minivans.
And Stellantis needs a brand under which to make a minivan.
Do they not?
Well, they have already been toying with this idea.
I noticed when you and I went to SEMA November 2025, because there at the Mopar booth was the Grizzly Peak concept.
And here it is, the Grizzly Bear.
They invented a new Grizzly logo and they took a Pacifica.
They jacked it up two and a half inches and mostly it's...
There's not really a lot of off-road goodies on here.
Is it the Rubusifica?
That's pretty good. That's pretty interesting.
Check this out.
Grizzly Peak concept, you can see it's got the suspension lift.
It's actually a matte finish paint color, but mostly it's the awning, the racks, the lighting, the wheels.
They put in the first aid kit, the quarter window molly panels.
They did the molly panels on the lift gate and they did the onboard air suspension.
It's not really like we made this really off-road worthy.
Two and a half inches of more clearance and 31 inch tires.
Those are the big off-roading look.
But they've been playing with it.
So here it is, sliding doors, minivans, sliding doors, both sides.
A little bit lifted and it kind of attracted me.
Just the concept, not the Pacifica itself.
I was just a little bit intrigued and it was just kind of sitting here a little bit ignored.
People were kind of looking at it.
Here's the orange seat belts.
Here's the molly panels on the rear quarter windows.
But other than that, the interior was pretty much stock.
The seats were finished in a different color.
So nothing really bespoke to this off-road concept.
So up top, they had the rack, the lighting, the off-road.
They get unstuck boards from under your tires, that kind of thing.
So I thought, huh, if Chrysler went away, one of their brands needs to build a minivan.
Who could it be?
What if Jeep built a minivan?
And friends, I have turned to AI once again.
I was only kidding about the Rubusifica, but apparently...
Here it is.
Oh, you've done it.
Here's my first attempt.
Okay.
The Rubusifica?
Rubusifica, right?
Yeah, that's what I'm going with.
So you've got...
Okay, for those that can't see it, you've put the 7-slat Jeep grille on the front of a Pacifica minivan
with a lift and the beefy look of a Wrangler suspension on it.
And it doesn't look terrible, honestly.
It's not terrible.
It's like a Cherokee front.
Yeah, yeah.
With a minivan side, just slab minivan sides.
But sliding doors on both sides, but it's got solid axles front and rear.
It's body on frame, and it's shown here at Sunset in Moab, okay?
Not bad.
But the thing is, the only part of it, because I love this idea, the only part of this you've overlooked is,
Chrysler has survived by essentially selling Pacificas to every possible rental car fleet at every airport in the world.
That's true.
That's where they sell them.
That's true.
But they could do, you know, how Wranglers have the Rubicon at the top end for the most off-road.
And then you also have the base version of the Jeep, which is still...
It's more of an on-road.
It can do some off-road stuff, but you really want a Rubicon or something to really tackle the tough stuff.
I kept going, my friends.
You did keep going.
That looks like you crossed it with a Hummer.
Now, notice the stubby hood.
The stubby hood length.
So that means the engine would be dropped down a little bit further and back.
Kind of like those old Chevy Silverados that were an Astro where it kind of intrudes in the cabin a little bit.
For sure, yeah.
The AI didn't quite do the sliding side doors shown here.
It's actually the cargo van doors like the Savannah van.
But just imagine that as a sliding door with a stubbier front end and sliding doors on both sides.
This got me thinking because this actually could be pretty useful.
And this for Jeep, the minivan version would just be more on the off-road side of things.
I kept going.
Oh my gosh.
And then AI did make the sliding doors.
It's sliding doors on both sides, a stubbier hood.
And now this started to really make sense to me as a product that is a van but has Jeep Rubicon capabilities.
It's a little, like I said, the hood is not as long.
The engine, it's a little more lifted.
I mean, it's starting to get things right here to the point where I thought,
why aren't Stellantis product planners starting to play around with AI
and going to the design team and saying, oh, I'm sure they are.
I'm sure they are.
Maybe they are.
Somewhere there is a designer throwing his photo across the room at the very mention of this podcast because he's had that meeting.
I kept going.
You did keep going.
Showing those sliding doors perched on a rock slab at Moab at Sunset.
But this kind of was the culmination of my Jeep minivan idea.
And this sort of starts to make sense.
It's easier to get it out of than the four-door Wrangler.
The back seat and back door is really difficult to navigate.
It's tiny.
It's almost unusable.
And we see a lot of four-door Wranglers around Moab.
So this has easy access for gear.
I mean, I don't know what you're going to have to do structurally to make this really rigid.
A lot.
So it weighs a lot, but it's got a lot of power.
And here's where we keep the giant engines going.
This has a little bit longer hood, a little bit different styling here.
But this is, I guess that's eight bars instead of the traditional Jeep 7, but whatever.
You did have fun.
I got to give you credit for all these Moab dusk photos of all the various versions.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but you were selling me on the idea of the Jeep Pacifica.
Because you're right, it's got a land somewhere.
Moab Pacifica, I like that a lot.
But if we've got that chassis, Ram also needs a product too.
That maybe isn't quite as hardcore, but also makes sense.
Like you wouldn't believe it's the RHO version of the Ram minivan sliding doors here.
You can see IAI because I put double handles on it.
But look at this.
This is more like Desert Runner.
It's not the rock crawler, but this product.
And I've got one final image here that where AI really nailed it for me.
Look at the sliding doors.
They got the handles right.
I think they got the attitude and positioning.
And this is the RHO version.
So now imagine this not quite as lifted and still a little bit more spacious, but with better looking than Pacifica styling.
Ram front end.
Take the caravan name from Dodgeback.
They could be the Ram caravan and the Jeep Pacifica.
So then I got to think of a product planner should be just playing around with AI typing in ideas and saying hey design team.
What about this? We could really use this product because this makes weirdly all kinds of sense for me for Ram.
The trucks are very necessary.
But this is like the...
It's like a mullet.
Oh no.
Because the kids need to be transported and that's where the party is in the back.
The kids are going crazy and the party's back there with the screens.
It's the birthday party in the back end back here, but this is still very truck like and very business like.
And you could use it for your gear and the off-roading.
You can take the whole family Desert Runner and it's a Ram and it doesn't look as weak sauce as the Pacifica.
It looks beefy and burly.
It's RHO.
I cannot believe.
I'm saying this, but I actually think you're tapping into something that I really wonder if it's going to surface.
And that is the SUV-ification of the minivan.
Where you take the minivan and you make the off-roading version.
I'm wondering if this catches the public's interest.
Because as we've said before, there is nothing that outminivans the minivan.
The usability cannot be beat.
But you don't like the feel.
And people are buying SUVs because they want ride height and rugged feel attitude.
If you gave a minivan ride height and rugged feel attitude, have we created the ultimate why are they everywhere product?
I'm wondering if you maybe have tapped into something here that I don't know that I really want on earth.
This feels like a Pandora's box moment to me, but good on you.
I mean, isn't that kind of interesting? You can see it for families.
It makes more sense that I want it to.
Instead of the Sprinter Van life, I think couples on Instagram could do this kind of minivan life.
Overlanding, but it's ram truck more aggressive.
It's not tippy Sprinter Van.
We're not sure if it's going to make it.
No, this is going to make it. This is going to conquer everything it comes in contact with.
I did not expect you to spend this much time on just really selling us on the SUV minivan.
The Rugged Van.
The Rugged Van. The more I look at this, the more I'm kind of all about.
I mean, it's not for me, but I'm kind of all about it because seven people in this or maybe six captain's chairs or just the four people,
but just tons of interior space in the back for your gear, luggage.
This is kind of the new product.
Is it not?
Somewhere a designer is crying and somewhere a marketing person is cheering.
I'm just putting it out there. Both of those things are happening right now.
Car companies have to sell product. You have to sell.
I mean, this is why Stellantis is pairing back and focusing on core brands.
But what do the core brands need to do? They need to do something interesting and it needs to be not just styling.
It needs to be a new segment that really catches fire with the public interest and it's a truck, but it's a minivan.
So it's still SUV, but now it means sports utility van.
Yeah, that's where we're headed.
And instead of SUV doors like a Tahoe, it's got the sliders.
It's the sliding doors.
I get it.
I don't know if that means the entire show will rock and probably need some strengthening to do what it's showing.
Yes.
I'm kind of all about it.
Weirdly.
I don't know why you have actually leaned this far into a new market segment,
but it would probably sell because it is the merging of the utility that everybody feels like they need and the ruggedness that they can't get from a van.
You got me.
You got me.
And then you know how we were all wishing Chrysler dumped the Hellcat motor into the Pacifica and they didn't?
This is where it goes.
This is where it goes.
You're right.
The RHL could go in there all day long.
I do like that.
All right.
Okay.
Well.
Okay.
You've got a Pandora's box.
Am I selling?
Am I selling?
Yeah.
Am I?
Is it working?
Here's the thing.
I think you're selling somebody.
You're making me frightened.
I just have to admit it.
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For our topic, we're talking about reliability, which is a massive unsolvable dilemma.
Mike writes in here writing about he and his girlfriend and the big struggle is his girlfriend grew up with a dad who worked as an engineer in the automotive marketing space
and he visited pretty much all of the car plants and he believed wholeheartedly to his core it was Toyota out front and everybody else battling for like fourth place and below.
Okay, Toyota rules.
All right.
So he has this struggle trying to get his girlfriend to consider anything that's not Toyota.
It's like even like let's have a conversation about RAV4 versus CRV.
Well RAV4 wins because it's Toyota.
This is the ongoing struggle for him.
So he's coming to us and going, how do you have reliability conversations in general?
And how do we get past this Toyota rules all perception that she has or is she correct?
That's part of the question as well.
Mike, I really appreciate your writing because I am now a forerunner owner and I didn't buy the forerunner with any thought of reliability in my mind.
I mean, I guess it was lingering back there thinking, all right, I've got a Toyota and I'm probably going to run fine.
But many of the YouTube comments on the films that I've released so far have been about the four cylinder engine.
Everybody's wondering, well, how's a turbo four going to last?
This is probably just going to crumble into dust.
And I'm thinking, well, that's Toyota you're writing about.
Toyota's massive experience and so far the engines have been out for quite a while in the Tacoma, in the fourth gen Tacoma.
And when that came out, I was massively impressed with that, made lots of power, lots of torque.
Four cylinders can be fantastic for reliability.
But everybody was questioning it because it was new and everybody kind of ignored that it was Toyota.
So Mike is writing, his girlfriend clearly deeply values her father's experience.
But I didn't walk in to the Toyota dealer and I didn't think I want to get a new forerunner because reliability above all else.
I was attracted to the space, the styling, what it could do.
We'd been to many press launches and it just flat out impressed me off road.
And then, oh, yeah, it'll probably be reliable, but there is a question mark.
It's a brand new engine, not really tested.
I mean, has been out for a few years so tested and tried, but not the V6 that will run for a million miles.
The naturally aspirated eight that was in the Tundra prior.
I mean, those are the beloved engines are known forever.
But honestly, though, these are the same pitchforks that came out when they put a straight six BMW engine in the Supra.
Thank you.
Okay.
Yes.
And that B58 has now over time been proven to be, I hate to say it this way, but I've said it before, the 2JZ of our time.
Everything you put in is brilliant.
Oh, look at all the power in the tuning that it does.
Yeah.
People are really loving that B58 engine and its variance.
And Toyota does, here's the thing, Toyota does have this perception.
I mean, the top gear guys tried to kill the Toyota Hilux and were unsuccessful.
Right.
Okay.
Even into my own life, my son's two best friends.
Okay.
My son's 16.
He has a car.
His two best friends, both of their parents bought them 300,000 mile four runners.
Individually, these two families for their sons bought each of them.
Actually, I'll take it back.
One of them's only got 275,000.
Both of them bought essentially 300,000 mile four runners for their 16 year olds, which means they weren't expensive cars.
Yeah.
We're in Park City.
They're off-roaders or that kind of stuff.
But what's hysterical is both of these friends look at my son's 160,000 mile, half as much mileage, mini Cooper and look at it like a ticking time bomb.
So perception exists.
It does exist.
And these parents are just like at one of them, especially these parents are just convinced that Toyota above all else.
So Toyota, and here's the thing, Toyota didn't build this reputation in a vacuum.
No.
This is a reputation that is tried and true and well worn and all the way up through the early 2000s.
Toyota was building this reputation against vanilla automobiles, meaning vanilla automobiles.
But look at how well they run and on the back of all everything that we learned about Lexus.
So Toyota built this for real in the modern time.
It's not like they're way out front of everybody else.
They're still at the top.
And I want to talk to this specifically, but they're not way out front of everybody else.
Mike's girlfriend originally looked at a forerunner, realized they were much bigger than she thought.
She moved on to the RAV4 and was totally against hybrid and electrification because of her dad's opinions.
Then learned that Toyota no longer sells a gas only RAV.
So she's grown to accept hybrids, no EVs at this point.
And Mike has struggled to get her to even consider a CRV, let alone any other brand.
And it took her to riding in a friend's 2024 CRV to get her to realize it was a nice car and so she likes hybrids now.
So there's been a little bit of, you know, we've tried some things and there's other cars out there and she's starting to try things and a little bit more open mind and I like that.
Mike says he's got a Ford Maverick for all the road trips and outsidey things, but that's a battle he's not yet ready for.
But she's now considering a Corolla instead of the RAV4 because the RAV4 would still be a bit of a too big of a car for her needs.
And he doesn't commute so she can only use his if more space is needed.
So he's trying to battle Honda perception because Mike writes he's consulted other his mechanic cousins.
Matter of fact, he's worked at a Honda dealership who considers Toyota and Honda to be pretty much parody when it comes to reliability.
Yeah, it sounds like what's happened here is that as Mike's girlfriend's kind of narrowed down the kind of car she wants, she's landed on Corolla because she thinks an SUV probably is too big and she wants a commuter car.
So Mike has the obvious question.
If you're looking at Corolla, you should look at Civic, but we're right back to the battle again where, hang on, I can't look at Civic because that's a Honda, not a Toyota.
The Corolla must be better and he brings to us and you know what, I'm actually going to go with you on this, Mike.
He thinks the current Civic is better than the Corolla and I actually think it is as well.
I like the current Corolla. I like it in all forms. We have praised it in all forms.
But if you told me right now, Civic or Corolla, I will pick the Civic because I think it has a better chassis.
A senior reporter at Torque News, Mike, just a little bit of research about the twin turbo 3.4 liter Toyota V6 that has been recalled massively.
Denis Fleerle, he is a senior reporter at Torque News.
He said, in quote, when a recall for 100,000 trucks expands to include another 127,000 units for that V35A i-Force V6, the twin turbo V6, he says the problem is no longer contained.
So if you're looking at a used 2023 to 2025 Tundra, you're looking at a vehicle that might be part of the most significant reliability crisis in Toyota's modern history.
That is from Denis or Dennis. I'm not sure how you pronounce his first name.
That's in quotes. He said that he's looking at a reliability problem.
Don't get us started on the Takata airbag recall, but the point is, even somebody as vaunted as Toyota has recall issues and problems.
Toyota's dealing with a big one right now, but every manufacturer's got the worst engines they've ever built and the standout engines and the ones they've...
GM's going through that with the 5.3 liter and the 6.2 liter truck engines right now.
GM, who the one thing they've always done well is make V8s and now all of a sudden has no idea how to make a V8 that runs.
What is going on? What is happening?
But the point is, Mike and Mike's girlfriend welcome to the conversation.
Every car manufacturer has issues and has had issues in their past because cars always have to move forward.
The 2JZ engine is no longer built. The naturally aspirated V6 is no longer built.
So they went to the turbocharged inline 4 and so modern technologies, better manufacturing processes, hopefully.
Not leaving a lot of debris in the engine.
Well, obviously they're still in trouble, but they're always looking forward.
They're chasing all of the regulations as well, which is why the 2JZ is not coming back.
There's regulations on emissions and that kind of stuff that they're chasing, which means the tech is changing.
And when we first started doing this job, we were all like Mercedes and we watched over the next decade.
The whole Mercedes brand changed and became much more interesting.
And in the same decade, we watched Toyota go from, well, they make Camrys and Priuses to being an enthusiast brand.
And Ford went from an enthusiast car in every part of the lineup to now we only make trucks.
So about every, here's the thing I have to keep in mind.
About every decade, almost every car maker has shifted personality.
They've shifted reliability. And the other thing that's hard about reliability is, while brands can be a guide,
and I want to go to consumer reports stuff in a minute, you almost have to look into models.
Because every models, I mean, pardon me, every brand seems to have their models that just run and their models that just can't get right.
And I'm talking every brand, let alone the fact that every brand gets recalls.
Every brand seems to have like their problem child car where they're just like,
it doesn't matter what we do, this one doesn't run.
And the other one that just runs in spite of you.
Here's the one thing, Mike, you have backed your way into so many issues.
There's relationship stuff here. There's family stuff here. There's car stuff here.
So be careful and be respectful.
And Mike's girlfriend, we hear you.
What I also find interesting, my family is this way. I think yours is this way.
Well, sobs. My son's friends' families are this way.
What happens is, when you're growing up, I feel like every family does this,
when a family is growing up, the last thing you want is a car that doesn't run.
Whatever your family is, when you hit on a car that just seemed to always run,
then that becomes the car your family buys.
That's the family brand.
We just buy that car or a car adjacent to that car.
My dad with GM, this is exactly how I grew up.
There was no considering anything else.
I mean, we're just buying a GM because his dad had had great experience with GMs
and the few times that his father had bought a car that wasn't a GM, it was a money pit.
And the one time my dad did it, it was a Jaguar E-type, which of course was constantly not running.
So GM was what we bought.
And it may be Toyota or Honda or whatever, but I guarantee you, if we started digging into
car people's family history, every car person, whether their parent was a car person or not,
they can tell you what the brand was growing up.
You find that car that works and that's your brand.
This is a little bit of a dangerous part to wade into, Mike.
Dragons live here, but that is where is a car built?
And what does that mean for the brand?
Oh, sure.
For example, still to my knowledge, every BMW SUV on the planet is built in South Carolina
with exception of the new X4 that is also built in Eastern Europe, I believe.
I don't think that's changed so far, but that means every BMW SUV in Europe wasn't built there.
True.
It was built in the States.
Very good point.
Accords are built in Ohio.
Yes.
Yes.
Volkswagen's are built in Tennessee.
Mercedes-Benz is built in Alabama.
Yeah.
Toyota trucks, with the exception of my four-winner was actually built in Japan, but they make
Tacomas.
Two Tacoma plants in Mexico, lots of car manufacturing in Canada.
Well, there's the big Toyota truck plant in San Antonio too.
San Antonio truck plant.
Does that factor in?
It may or may not.
That's good.
That's good.
But Mike, I've got some ideas, three ideas and a question to leave you with for how to
approach this, because I love that your girlfriend rode in a Honda CR-V and kind of went, wow,
I kind of like this, and actually maybe there is something to it.
And I know this interests probably all of us more than it might interest her, but what
about a factory tour somewhere?
I mean, go to Europe.
I mean, all the sports car manufacturers Ferrari, well, Ferrari doesn't put Lamborghini
and Pagani, all the cool, the fun stuff.
We all want to go to the factory tour, but what about something that is non-glamorous?
Here's the Toyota Indiana Technology Factory.
If you want to set up a tour, just email these guys.
They'd be happy to take you through this facility to show them advanced materials, what they're
thinking about an additive manufacturing, how that trickles down to the factory floor.
I'll bet you almost, if you requested almost any one of the factories in the US, in North
America probably, you could probably set up a tour just to see that cars are built largely
for the most part by humans.
There's a lot of automated processes.
But for the most part, it's normal people, men and women, young and old, clipping wiring
harnesses in, installing with the right tools so they don't hurt themselves, instrument
panels go in, doors get hung, seats go in.
It's normal people assembling these things.
So would that help make the connection that, okay, so what is the reliability thing that
your girlfriend is holding onto?
What does that mean?
Because every car manufacturer doesn't want to build crap.
That actually exists.
They have to warranty that crap.
That's part of the problem.
There are some factories that are better than others.
So go to a Toyota factory, but go to pick another car brand and go see a truck factory
and how those are built.
It's something all the enthusiasts want to go do is a factory tour.
Yeah, I want to go see machines and robots and humans and put all this cool stuff together.
At least gets the conversation going between reliability and seeing how cars are built,
seeing what goes into the process.
Because also, reliability changes among car manufacturers.
That does for sure.
Yeah.
They're always looking how to save money, how they can do it in subframes and seven different
blocks instead of, you know, it just depends on the manufacturer.
How can they make it more efficient, leaner, less expensive, more profit?
So they're always taking profit out of the production process.
So how does a car company do that?
You should go see it for your own eyes.
I think that would be really interesting.
My second idea here is to discuss endurance racing because racing improves the breed, right?
And endurance racing is the ultimate test of man and machine.
Sure.
Will the machines last?
And I offer up the BMW that won last year's ADEC 24 Hours of Nurburgring.
Now, it's a race car, so you can argue that most of these parts are designed for the track
and they're not on production cars.
But still, do we all think BMWs are reliable?
We'll get a variety of answers.
In Europe, probably is like, yeah, absolutely.
I aspire to own a BMW.
Somewhere else, older BMWs like, ooh, watch out for all the things that go wrong with BMWs.
But here they are as the endurance winner.
That means the car lasted the longest.
It was the fastest and lasted.
That's pretty impressive from a brand that many people, I would say, generalize BMW with like, ooh,
they're lease mobiles, so don't buy BMWs.
For sure.
For sure.
You know, they'll break or they'll cost you a lot of money.
And then finally, idea number three is the idea of fun tied to reliability because we've got
Corollas and Civics over here.
Yeah.
Fun enough.
And there's varieties of those two cars that are great fun, but not everybody can afford
them and not, you know, you don't want a GR Corolla or a Civic Type R.
Not everybody buys those models.
It's the boring stuff.
Compare that against a howling V12.
By the way, the Ferrari 12 Cylinder has really grown on me.
I like it more and more.
The more I study this car, the more I read about it.
I really do kind of dig everything about it.
And here is that V12 out of this car.
I mean, expensive V12 to maintain.
Insane, yeah.
Lots of fun.
I'll bet you it's a lot of fun to drive a Ferrari 12 Cylinder.
I'm just guessing.
I have not driven one.
Probably a decent day at the office.
That's way over here.
Move the slider back and forth from Ferrari 12 Cylinder, the 12 Cylinder howling one of
these at almost 7000 RPM.
Like, ooh, that sounds pretty great.
Move that all the way over to a 2009 Mazda 3.
Where's the slider from?
I'm willing to pay for that all the way back over to here to like, I know this is going
to be very reliable, but this really doesn't sound too great.
And it's not that fast and it's not going to be great on track, but it's going to get
me around and it's kind of boring, but it works.
So the question that I want to leave you with Mike and your girlfriend is what does reliability
mean?
Is it just spending the least amount of money for the greatest distance only you can move
the slider back and forth?
Sure.
Yeah.
I spend more money and I got to maintain it more and I don't get as great distance,
but I got a lot more fun where I slide it all the way over here.
Yes.
I spent nothing lasts a long time.
It's pretty underpowered and pretty boring.
Well, or it just, it doesn't have any excitement or soul, but I never have to think about it.
And there is absolutely a market for that.
There's no question there's a market for that.
Mike, you've got so much to unpack here, you and your girlfriend.
But, but I'm going to, I'm going to talk about consumer reports specifically because, you
know, they're a friend of the show, but they do the kind of research that Paul and I don't
want to do, but is incredibly valuable.
They actually buy cars that are not loaned to them.
They buy them and put them through testing, but they specifically, they actually do surveys
of people that have bought and owned cars.
This is like organized Reddit for car reviews.
Okay.
Because how many times are we all winding up on Reddit going, well, the 10 people said
this.
Yeah, but majority right there.
Exactly right.
But, but they actually do compile a lot of surveys from people that have bought brand
new cars.
If you've ever bought a brand new car, you probably have ended up getting the surveys that actually
feed to consumer reports.
What I recommend you do is actually go into consumer reports, pay the money if you need
to and actually look up the cars you guys are comparing and see how close the ratings
are.
Because I think you'll surprise yourself with this RAV4 versus this CR-V and I bet you
if you went even further, there'd be some years when they swap.
Like the RAV4 was better in this year and the CR-V then surpassed it in this other year
because even among models like, well, don't buy a 2015 because of the reason.
And I can't keep track of any of this, nor do I want to.
They can though.
But they have all this data.
So I want to show you a couple things real quick.
But pick a car brand.
I don't care.
Pick a price point and pick a model.
Whatever you landed on will go 100,000 miles.
Doesn't mean it won't take maintenance.
But the days of being like, whoa, 90,000 miles, that's ready for the dump.
Better send the horse to the glue factory.
Pick the craziest not reliable car you can think of and you can get it to 100,000 miles.
Okay?
Some of the brands you're like, I would never buy one of those.
I promise you 100,000 miles on that car.
Whatever it is.
And again, I'm not saying nothing will go wrong and I'm not saying you won't put money
into it because you need to maintain your cars.
But the reason my son has a super high-mile mini and the reason I had one before comes
down to one thing.
How was it treated?
If you treat it well, the worst car you can think of bought new will go 100K.
And the best car you can think of, take a Toyota Hilux, okay?
And treat it terribly from day one.
It's going to look pretty raddy at 100 grand, even though it's probably still running.
I get it.
So it's not just about, well, that brand always runs longer.
What car is it?
How did you treat it?
How did you maintain it?
Are you nice to it?
Did you ever wash it?
Has it had an oil change?
Ever?
And this is why the cars that are cared for really, really well do a surprising number
of miles.
Those are the ones that are the standouts.
I promise you 50,000 miles now is like and.
Okay?
And 50,000 is the place where most of the warranties are falling off.
Any car you can think of, 50,000, 60,000 miles, that warranty is gone now.
Whatever you can think of.
100,000 miles is like, yeah, my car's got a lot of mileage on it.
But I don't think any of us should be thinking about, if we're just talking about, I like
to buy cars and keep them.
Then unless it's just rolled over 100,001, you shouldn't have even thought about it yet.
And look, we are people that buy cars for fun.
I am saying buy a car for fun.
But if you're a person who buys a car just to keep a car, then buy a car and plan for,
I do 10,000 miles a year, I'm going to have this car 10 years, 100,000 miles, then we'll
think about it.
Yeah?
That should be your battle plan.
They all last that long.
But let's look at consumer reports just real quickly.
I'm going to show you a couple things here that I find kind of fascinating.
I've got two different years of consumer reports here.
This is 2015 models, and I have 2026 models.
This is brand reliability.
And I'm going to read you the top four.
In 2015, the top four in order from the top were Lexus at the top, then Toyota, then Mazda,
then Honda.
This is around the time when your girlfriend's father got out of the industry.
Lexus at the top, Toyota in second, then Mazda, then Honda.
I'm going to jump to 2026.
Toyota at the top, Subaru in second, coming up from the middle of the pack, by the way.
Lexus in third, Honda still at fourth.
And the difference between Toyota and Honda here in this is number of problems per hundred
cars, essentially is how they do it.
I could be getting that slightly wrong.
It's minuscule.
There's very little difference between the Honda and the Toyota on this list in both
places.
And what's also fascinating, I kind of prefer this.
In 2015, they also showed you best and worst cars for the brand.
For Honda, their worst model in 2015 was the Odyssey for reliability, and their best one
was the Civic.
That's great.
Pretty interesting.
And I'm going to jump down here real quick.
Porsche happened to be on the list in 2015.
They were at number nine.
Their worst model for reliability was the 911, and their best was the Cayman.
And I just sold the 2015 Cayman.
You did.
You just sold that Cayman.
Which is pretty interesting.
So it's interesting to watch these guys jump around.
Also, in 2015, Subaru was at number seven.
In 2026, they're number two.
Okay?
So brands change over a decade.
I think Consumer Reports is your tactic here to find places when cars are closer than
you think, and also say this, they're within a few points of each other.
It's a wash because the difference is now going to be how do you take care of it?
Absolutely.
If they're close, they're equivalent.
What is your ownership experience going to be like?
If they're way apart, like, unfortunately Jeep is at the bottom of both of these lists.
Okay?
Well, you know, as soon as they come out with a Jeep Wrangler, Rubicon, Minivan.
Sorry, Jeep Minivan.
There you go.
Yes.
Ruba, Rubasifika.
There you go.
Then their sales and the reliability, they're going to be like Subaru and Rubasifika.
Look, I'll say that reliability does matter in this regard.
Two other points here real quick.
Jeeps near at the bottom of both of these lists.
So what that means is you can't buy a forerunner and a Wrangler and expect them to have the
same reliability trajectory.
The Jeep's probably going to be more problematic.
That's what the data says.
Okay?
But the other thing that's interesting, and this is harder to find, but it's the reason
I pulled both of these up, the market in general is becoming more reliable in mass.
Okay?
The number of problems in the worst brands is less now than it was 10 years ago.
Now that doesn't mean the best brands, they're getting better too.
Okay?
Sure.
But the point I'm making here is, if you bought a car from 2015, it's bound to be more
reliable than a car from 1995.
And I'm not talking about because one's older than the other.
I'm talking about the technology is creating cars that run better for longer time.
So that's a reality as well.
Newer cars are typically more reliable in mass than older cars, but dig into the data
because that is the place you can get really nerdy and probably put your girlfriend to
sleep already.
But the point I'm making here is you can find how close some of these brands are.
Honda, Mazda, I think they're consideration things.
And clearly based on 2026 number, Subaru as well.
And this is a great point because this is empirical evidence from actual owners.
This is real world testing.
Exactly right.
This reports opinions.
This is all the survey data that they've collected from everybody who's owned this.
So I think that's a great, great thing to lean on.
Mike, thank you for writing.
The debate shall continue because perception matters, of course.
Of course.
But Consumer Reports is an excellent source to rely on.
And then hopefully the idea is go to a car factory.
If you drive some other things and you think it's fun, but it's not a Toyota, is it valid?
Yeah.
Well, that is how long are you guys going to own cars?
Four years.
If you're going to own a car four or five years, and the average right now is like 12.
Okay.
So I mean, all right, whatever.
But it's because the financing costs.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
But if you guys said, okay, we're going to own a car for four or five years.
Buy what you like because pretty much anything, if you bought it with low mileage can run
you four or five years.
I mean, take care of it.
That's the key thing we keep hitting on.
But I hope there's a great conversation here.
Tread carefully, Mike, but it's very good.
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Expedia.
Hey you.
What you doing?
Scrolling.
I'm sorry.
Doom scrolling.
Looking at other people's vacations.
Miami.
San Diego.
Cancun.
Okay.
What about you?
What places will you go?
Expedia is the one place you go to go places.
Your trip can earn rewards which you can use towards your next eligible stay.
Soon people will be doom scrolling you.
You'll be that friend's friend, but with rewards.
What are you waiting for?
Expedia.
The one place you go to go places.
Terms apply.
Coming up Saturday, May 16th and Sunday, May 17th is the hooked on driving Laguna Seca
summer adventure and you and I will be there.
We will.
And there will be a cars and coffee and we're inviting absolutely everyone to come on out.
Please do.
It's gonna be great.
Saturday morning.
Come on out.
May 16th to Laguna and sign the waiver and get into the paddock.
Come find us.
We will be floating around.
Also coming up that same weekend.
May 16th.
May 17th.
That's Saturday Sunday.
The Shenandoah circuit out at Summit Point racetrack in West Virginia.
We have been there.
That's where the Toyota Supra GR Supra was launched.
Where the launch was.
It was great.
On that Shenandoah circuit.
Oregon Raceway Park is Saturday, May 23rd, Sunday, May 24th.
That is Memorial Day weekend in the U.S.
The weekend after and ORP is in Grass Valley, Oregon.
We've heard great things about it.
And like we said on the last podcast episode, one day you can go one direction.
The other day you can go the other direction.
Saturday they go one way, Sunday they go the other which is really, really cool.
I'm excited to go out to that event.
We won't actually be at that one but I want to see that track sometime soon.
And we are almost done talking about Circuit of the Americas because we've almost reached
that event.
It's going to be huge.
It's going to be huge.
Yeah.
That is going to be May 30th and 31st.
That's the weekend after Memorial Day weekend obviously in Austin, Texas.
Circuit of the Americas Saturday, Sunday.
We are almost completely sold out.
And we still have people that are going to come and hang out because why not.
Also, by the way, if you've ever been to Kota and you've never been into the tower.
We've heard a lot of people that said they've never been in the tower.
We are going to have the tower open for drivers and for people that are spectators.
You need to see the track from the tower.
It is very, very cool.
It's super cool.
I'll just, since I was there last year.
You've done it.
You won't do it again.
Done there.
Done it.
I'll just, you know, wait for your reaction when you come back down.
You'll tell me how cool it is and I'll just see you then there.
It's cool.
I may have to go up in it again because it is an awesome, awesome place to see the track.
It's very iconic.
So we'll have that capability as well.
We would love to see you if you just want to come out and hang out with us for the day.
But many, many of you are going to be on track.
If you're going to be on track and you see us, stop us and say hello.
We love that.
We love that you're coming to these events.
So you can find all of this stuff at hookedondriving.com plus a bunch of stuff.
I mean, every month we've got so many events this year.
Maya D in Minnesota writes to us.
Really appreciate it, Maya.
Thank you for writing.
This is good.
She and her fiance are looking for a new vehicle to replace their 2012 Toyota Tacoma that pairs nicely with Maya's 2009 RAV4 V6.
I believe that car's name is Nala.
She says it's named Nala.
Yes, they have named the car.
But it is staying.
It's very much staying.
It has a name.
It's part of the family.
That one's there.
They've used the Tacoma for rooftop camping, road trips across the Northeast, kayaking with friends, moving into their first home together.
Nala's been good to them, but now they don't have as many valid uses for a truck.
Adventures in kayak trips will still happen, but they know the use of an extended bed.
They're dwindling in their future.
Nala, on the other hand, is here to stay until she's ready to part ways.
So Nala stays.
Nala, the RAV4 V6 stays.
The 2012 Toyota Tacoma, which is unnamed.
I noticed that.
I noticed that as well.
They're distancing themselves from the Toyota because they've had memories.
Yes, they are.
It is now the truck with no name.
So the taco is going, and the RAV4 is staying, but that means they have to try to figure out how to replace this Tacoma to match their current life.
Maya says for the Tacoma replacement, they love SUVs, the way of the USA.
It is.
Until they start selling the sports utility van.
It's going to happen.
Okay, yeah.
Come on, Stellantis.
Okay.
Make this truck.
Maya loves being higher off the ground to have more visibility.
She says she's shorter, but she also got into an accident late high school due to low visibility in a Toyota matrix, and she shall avoid low cars for the time being.
Okay.
On the other hand, her fiance is six foot one.
He needs the leg room wants extra space in the back.
Three rows is not completely out of the question.
And they've heard from every young parent, you'll want the extra row because a family might be around the corner.
I heard that too.
We bought a seven-seater.
We did realize we were only going to have one kid and went, why do we have this big car?
But a grandparents is how it worked.
But anyway, we had to move on.
They're in Minnesota.
Winters are long.
Summers are spent outside.
So a gently used vehicle is in their path unless I can convince you, Maya.
Okay.
All right.
One with over 30 miles to the gallon is a huge win.
Might be able to sell them here.
Yep.
They both work remotely as of now and use the vehicle for all the stuff.
Yep.
They've test driven a variety of used vehicles, including a Mercedes GLE, BMW X7 and X5, Cayenne's
GV70 Genesis, and most recently a Lexus NX350H, which made it to the top of Maya's list with its hybrid
capability, so 38 miles gallon.
Very good.
Very, very good.
Yeah.
And she writes, Toyota's longevity and reliability, of course.
Yes.
That definitely ties it right background.
She is also interested in driving a 2022 Lexus RX450H since it's the last year they made
one with the V6.
But it's still a hybrid.
She does want something with extra power.
Acceleration is her favorite.
She didn't get the feels from the two liter engine in the 350H.
I'm not surprised.
And Maya, you said you've got a Honda Rebel to have fun and get her acceleration fix.
That's pretty cool.
They are pretty sure they can get about $17,000 for the Tacoma.
Their budget cap is $45,000 and they would like to at least have a moon roof if they
come near that price.
Well, that's me you're talking about, so you're going to come near that price.
That price and beyond.
There's a big discussion going on on Discord right now about Ron on Discord who went in
to buy a GR86 and came out with an M4.
GR86 M4.
It happens.
It's gorgeous.
It happens.
We're all kind of laughing and people have asked you to take a victory lap because here
it is like in photos.
If you become a patron, not only are you supporting the show and we thank you and we're changing
our Patreon situation, actually our options are actually changing in the month of May.
So keep that in mind.
But if you become a patron, you get on our Discord and you can be a part of these fantastic
conversations that happen where people are just going, I am proof of what Paul is saying.
Yes.
Very, very funny.
By the way, as a separate section, we are getting lots of car conclusions again.
Thank you for writing.
But I'm almost tempted to start an entirely separate podcast section called All the GR86s
that we've sold because there's so many pouring in.
I bought a GR86.
I discovered this car.
You guys said blank about it and I kind of believed you, but then I drove it and the
world turned color and the grass is green and the sky is blue and oh my gosh.
I heard the angels singing.
It's not that good, but it is very, very good.
Yeah.
But I thought you were going to say we need to have a blown budget section where people
just write car debates where it's just like budget was because that's the thing.
When you guys send your conclusions in, very rarely do you acknowledge what your budget
was supposed to be.
That's true.
It would be funny if you're like, my budget was this and I spent X.
The problem is it's only going to encourage this guy across from me.
Yes.
And I wouldn't do it out of shame.
Not to shame you.
No, no, no.
Just to prove that this is what happens.
And not to just do a victory lap every podcast.
Maybe.
They're not that common, but it does occur.
Yeah.
Anyway.
Okay, back to Maya's story.
They plan to have a couple of kids in the next few years.
They've taken up bicycling and continued to do road trips with their vehicles, all of
the U.S. as long as they can.
What are they missing?
What should Maya and her fiance test drive that's in their price and priority range?
Something maybe more fun.
They're fully open to our thoughts and ideas.
I'm jumping right in with ideas here.
All right.
Maya, starting him out on a non Toyota product.
I know non Lexus.
It's weird.
Although I'm glad you've test driven a lot of stuff so far.
And I'm glad that you've identified.
You like the Lexus, but I think you like it just because of fuel economy.
She talked about the one she drove.
She didn't like the power and she wants to go for the older one with more power.
So the miles per gallon and we know the Lexus build quality that will hold for sure.
On screen.
I am showing Hyundai's brand new Palisade in the XRT Pro trim level.
This is for the lightest of light off-roading, but I think it's a segment that you guys are
perfect for because it's about road tripping.
It's about all the stuff.
And yes, it has the third row, but for now, leave it down and use this for the off-road
adventure thing that you guys like to do, especially bicycling.
And I'll bet you you could fit your bicycles in here.
If you have a security issue and you want to park somewhere, you could probably take
them apart and maybe fit them in there, but otherwise get a roof rack or a hitch rack
for one of these.
And the XRT Pro edition, just enough off-roading.
It's not a rock crawler.
True.
And it's not just fire roads.
I mean, a Corolla can go up a fire road.
Yes.
It won't like it too well, but it can.
This is just a step above that.
And for the new Palisade, we really like how it drives.
You can get it as a hybrid.
And the hybrid setup has 329 horsepower, 339 pound feet of torque and gets between 30
and 31 MPG.
Plus you get three rows.
You get something I wouldn't call it fun to drive, but it is entertaining.
I mean, it's not a sports car, but that's not what you're buying here.
You're not shopping for one.
And I know you know that, but I think it's more fun to drive than Alexis.
I think it's more fun to drive than any of the Lexus that she's named.
All right.
Sure.
Also, at the same time, Kia has also introduced the X-Line and X-Pro trims on the new Telluride.
This is shown in a gorgeous green color.
And I bet you you mistook it for a Range-E.
When it first popped up, did you think Range Rover?
There's a lot of Range Rover elements in it for sure.
This and the Palisade both have got a lot of that in it.
I think these are gorgeous.
Again, shown outdoors and just in the right setting that I think you guys are perfect for.
Three rows, but plenty of cargo space for adventures.
And then, lo and behold, you've still got a third row.
And I suggest both of these brand new because of your mention about a family in the future.
But for right now, this is new.
They're not used.
So you're going to be spending close to 50 for sure.
Absolutely.
No question.
But having it longer for the adventures that you guys do, I think justifies buying new,
getting the warranty, getting it exactly how you want and having it longer term.
Because you guys seem like you're a couple that wants the vehicles for a little bit longer term.
They're part of your life.
When you name a vehicle, it's part of the family.
It's part of your life.
That means you've got it for a long time and you refer to your car as the name.
It's Nala.
Well, Nala's sticking around.
Start thinking of names for your new Palisade XRT Pro or your Telluride X-Line or X-Pro trim level here.
They're 50.
You can get them in lower trim levels.
Not the cool, slightly off-road versions, but I'm so impressed with the Telluride and the Palisade.
You need to drive these.
You need to inspect them.
Take one for a drive.
Let us know what color you get.
So you're staying right there.
I'm staying right there.
I think that's excellent.
And not only do I think it's excellent, but Maya, you're going to laugh at me and us because my first recommendation,
not my only recommendation, but my first recommendation for you is also the brand new Kia Telluride, the Turbo Hybrid.
I'm actually showing it right here off of the Kia website.
As you said, 329 horsepower.
It is turbocharged hybrid, so it actually moves this thing really well.
We recently drove it.
We were very impressed.
We're talking low 30s miles per gallon, seven seats.
Feels very nice.
Now, downsides, you can see it here in the corner.
It says starting MSRP, 46.5.
That is already above your budget, and we're just getting started.
And the one you want is probably 55.
So Paul's point, if this is a long-term play, I think this starts to make a lot of sense.
And you are buying brand new, and he already said it.
I mean, you and I are just agreeing here.
You get to go get the one you want your way and keep it for a while.
I think because this is hybrid in the miles per gallon, and it's just now come out.
So that means, think about this, the first five years of ownership, you have the latest one.
I mean, this just came out, and I literally just saw my first one in the wild with a dealer tag on it yesterday.
Okay, so they're starting to sell them.
They're out there, but you're on the front end of it.
If you buy this, I think this is a great contender.
Now, I left this because it's seven-seater world, and you wanted to do used, and you're worried about fun.
I went other places. I've got two other ideas for you.
My first thought is you have a 2009 RAV4.
That's an older RAV4.
The 2024, that is the end of the last generation, RAV4 Prime was the best version of the prior RAV4.
You know, they've just released the brand new one.
These primes were in the low 50s. You couldn't get them. They were nowhere.
I'm showing one on screen right now, 26,000 miles for $45,000.
This has the power that you want, that you don't have right now.
It also has plug-in capability, so you're a little bit future-proofed.
These drive well, this was by far, we drove every version of the prior RAV4.
This was by far our favorite RAV4 of the prior gen.
Yeah, for sure.
$45,000, I've gotten you a barely two-year-old 26,000-mile Toyota RAV4 Prime,
and this was not the only one I found on autotempus.com.
There were quite a few, so I'm talking the generation that just finished RAV4 Prime.
You'd have two RAV4s in the garage, which I don't love.
I don't love that, but this really does kind of modernize and future-proof your needs right now.
Right, this one, we did like this a lot.
When we drove the Prime, we were sort of, you're pretty amazed.
Yes, very impressive, so I really think that's a consideration.
But my favorite for you is my wild card.
Now, I will admit, it fails in miles per gallon.
It's only going to get you in the 20s.
Sounds like it's fun, though.
But it's fun to drive.
It's not common, it's seven seats, it's luxurious.
You'll enjoy driving it, looking at it, being in it, road tripping it.
You could take it on adventures, but you could also do a family with it.
I am talking about the Acura MDX Type-S, the performance version of the Acura MDX.
The one in front of us right now is a gorgeous blue 45,000 miles for 44 grand.
This is so much car for the money.
I didn't know these were $44,000.
And I'm telling you right now, Maya, this is more fun to drive than that Kia Telluride or the Palisade.
This is fun to drive levels like the Porsche Cayenne and the X5 and the X7,
but it doesn't have that price point or those maintenance costs.
And it's seven seats, which is the problem with the Cayenne.
This is a seven-seater if you need it.
But we talked about this as being almost Cayenne quality in driving fun.
But yet it is Acura, it's seven seats, it's great to be in.
MDX Type-S Maya is my absolute favorite for you.
It's wild card because it's not on your radar.
It's not a German performance brand because look, the X5 and X7 are very, very good.
They're also expensive. They're going to be more expensive to maintain.
This is a lot of car for the money.
It's going to run well.
That engine in it is excellent.
I am a huge fan of these. They are overlooked.
And I think it's great for now.
You can class this up and you can also take it on a back road.
These are so cool. I hope you'll consider it.
The only thing that is a strike against it is that 20-ish miles per gallon combined,
which is not good compared to these others,
but you get everything else out of it with the MDX.
I am in wholehearted agreement with you. I think you did very well.
Maya, we just recently had a brand new 2026 MDX Type-S.
And the MSRP was $78,000.
The one we had had a few years ago was fully loaded at $73,000.
So I did not know that these are this low.
Otherwise, I would have suggested this too.
They're not on people's radar. That's the thing.
From a used car perspective, these are not on people's radar.
And the Type-S is excellent. Very good.
The normal MDX is fine. The Type-S is please go by.
Yes. I like this so much.
If I'd known, I didn't even check.
Well, MDX must be 60, 70 still and they're way out there.
$44,000. This has 45,000 miles on it,
which is the same starting price for a discussion in Kia and Hyundai Land.
And you walk away with a blue Type-S. Yes, please.
As you were. Switch that thinking.
Maya, you got to drive this.
Tell us what color of the MDX that you get.
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For our next car debate,
it's from Brea writing in from Virginia Beach.
And I just, I want to ease my way into this conversation
for a minute.
I just want to ease our way in before we even get to the car debate.
Because there's a couple things in the first couple paragraphs
that I really want to stop on.
And I need to just kind of exhale and inhale
and just kind of breathe my way through it.
Because it is 2026 now, my friend.
You and I have been doing this a long time.
Just to put this in perspective,
for those of you who are listening and watching,
we first seriously talked about doing this show
in 2006.
And we did test filming with our own cars at the end of 2006.
That does mean 20 years ago this year.
The first things we ever posted on YouTube
were in the middle of the year 2007.
We were test shooting our cars in Los Angeles in 2006.
20 years ago this year.
On the bright side, we've got a 20th anniversary coming right up.
We do. That's crazy.
So along the, and a lot of times I overlook that reality.
But Brea here has been following us for a while.
And there's a sentence in paragraph one where he says,
I've been watching every day driver since I was 13.
And I think, cool, that's awesome.
Thank you. I love that you found us when you were young
and you liked the show and you've kind of grown with the show
and that kind of stuff.
And then the beginning of the next paragraph is,
my wife and I.
And I had to just stop and take a minute.
I was like, I'm sorry, sir.
My wife and I.
So he has been following for, here's the math.
He's been following for 13 years.
He is a 26 year old with a new wife.
But just the progression with my little brain
between younger than my son currently,
since I was 13, followed by the sentence,
my wife and I.
And I just, I did, I had to just sit for a minute
and reset myself and then go,
cool, we've been doing this a while.
Let's talk cars. Yeah.
It did kind of hit me as well.
But you know what? This is what happens.
And age ain't nothing but a number, right?
I can't believe we've done this this long.
And I'm very, very blessed and thankful you guys are with us.
But I just, it was one of those moments when I went,
huh, there's a touchstone.
Yeah, there it is.
So Breyer, thank you for writing.
I had to select your email
because it's one of those things where
people who have listened and watched a long time
might know what we're going to say.
And so I have to kind of do an end run.
I have to think, okay, here's what I would probably say.
And then what else would I say?
What are some other outliers that we haven't thought of yet?
So it made it very difficult.
And I appreciate your email so much.
Yenna's wife are looking for a new car.
They're having a tough time finding something
within their budget of $25,000.
They're in Virginia Beach and are currently driving
a 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti
that we might have recommended once or twice.
We talked about it a couple of times.
Breyer's driving history in order includes
a 1963 GMC truck,
1993 Lexus EX300,
97 Camry, 2010 Chrysler 200,
2019 Hyundai Elantra,
and now the Giulia.
It's his first rear-wheel-drive car.
And his wife's first car
ever.
I did notice that.
Not just their first car.
Her first car ownership experience.
Full stop. Amazing.
And coincidentally,
the only car that he's ever heard her say
that she likes.
This brings him
to the problem they love the Giulia.
But it's got little gremlins that pop up now and then,
and the latest gremlin is the last straw.
So we'll start with him.
His choices are the easiest.
He'll drive anything he would be happy stripping.
He'd be happy stripping down a car to a frame
and see just to see how light he can make it.
He's learned.
Light, by the way.
Light is the answer.
He's learned.
He quite likes rear-wheel-drive
and would prefer to stay in one.
On the other hand, his wife is much more picky.
And she's looking for something that looks beautiful
when she walks up to it.
She likes the interior of the Giulia
because it's a place she looks forward to being in.
She likes the zoom in dynamic mode
and would like for their next car to not be sleepy.
His recommendation was that
they upgrade to a newer Giulia.
Because, yes, they might not be done with it.
For sure, yeah.
But they've had a hard time finding
someone to even change the oil
or let alone to do any work on it.
Breher naturally thought of G70s, A3s,
three-series BMWs.
He's not a fan of the Beaver Teeth
or the Tom Selleck Mustaches.
I guess I don't know what the Tom Selleck...
I don't know which one that's supposed to be,
but, okay, the Mustaches are out, too.
All right, good to know.
All right, we'll see.
She's not open to owning a manual transmission car.
We're going to touch on some BMWs here, Breher,
and I'm hoping none of them are the Tom Selleck Mustache.
I guess I haven't really heard that.
I'm not familiar.
I guess it's all in black on the grille,
so a 2021 BMW 330i for $25,500.
Only 33,000 miles,
but it does look a little bit Mustache-ish.
You can get a 330i that's pretty new.
It's only five years old.
33,000 miles for $25,500.
I bet you they'd take 25 grand right now,
and you'd be rocking a great handling rear-wheel drive
BMW that we really like.
It's a great car to own and drive.
This was my starting place, Breher.
Why does it have to be a four-door?
Why does it have to just be the sedan?
Could it be a two-door?
And I want you to stay in rear-wheel drive.
There's no SUVs on the list.
There's no front-wheel drive cars on the list.
Got a few all-wheel drives in here.
Moving on to the 2020 BMW 230X drive.
You could get this rear-wheel drive or X drive shown,
but for $25,676, this only has 9,000 miles on it.
Who didn't drive this?
I agree.
9,500 miles on a 2020.
What has it done for the past six years?
What's wrong with it? I agree.
Somebody bought this as their special drive car
and then just decided to not drive it.
Continuing on with BMW themed here, a 2022 BMW 530i X drive.
You can get the X drive.
You can get just rear-wheel drive.
But just know that recent five series are under $25,000,
and this one only has 82,000 miles on it.
These drive really well.
They're very spacious.
Great place to be.
And you know what?
They are striking.
It's not the Beaver T5 series.
This is where I stopped with five series and the four series.
I didn't go further because this is still very classy.
And for $25,000, nobody's going to look at this
and think, wow, you paid $25,000, $23,000, $4,000, whatever.
Nobody's going to think that.
They're going to think you paid $60,000, $70,000, $80,000.
And that perception, now you're going to have to live with that.
But on the other hand, they're going to be like, rare, wow.
Things are going well.
Good on you, man.
Love the car.
We've got the BMWs out of the way, right?
I just had to get it out of my system.
OK.
I decided to move on to Lexus.
Did you know a 2016 Lexus IS350 base is also $25,000?
Fairly low miles with 85,000 miles on this,
and it looks to be in great shape.
A consideration, what else from Lexus would be interesting?
How about an RC?
A 2018 Lexus RC 300 F Sport, only 65,000 miles.
I searched for a good color.
That's pretty cool, yeah.
$25,000.
This is getting kind of interesting.
I think now we're starting to really talk about something
that's going to be good long term.
It's going to drive well.
It's going to be a very nice place to be.
And you know what?
You don't see RCs around very much.
Striking, cool looking car.
Yeah, they can be pretty cool, yeah.
But I think I found something for your consideration, sir.
Now, this was on Cars and Bids as of this podcast episode,
just a couple of hours before we started recording.
They're a little bit harder to find.
But what about a 2016 Cadillac ATS-V Coupe,
464 horsepower, twin turbo V6, the Riccaros in the front.
This is striking.
You don't see them around.
It's not a four door, but it's still got four seats.
The high bid was at $20,550, two hours before the bid ended.
So I can't imagine this would go much higher than about $25,000.
Yeah, we'd have to see what it was after the fact.
I'll have to check.
Probably in that range.
I hear that, yeah.
Not a lot of these available out there.
So you're going to have to search far and wide.
But this, stylish, lots of power.
This is the era of the Cadillacs where they really came to life
and we really like the V-Series Cadillacs.
It's a unique choice.
It is.
It is.
I think this could be your next car, my friend.
But again, you're going to have to search far and wide.
This was a bid car, so not sure what it ended up at.
I think it's right in the sweet spot of $25,000.
That's cool.
I did not expect you to be at ATS, but I do like that.
I've, yeah, that's kind of, I wonder what the final bid was on that.
We'll have to find it.
All of you are looking for it right now as well.
We appreciate that.
Rare, let's talk about something for you and your wife.
Wife.
All right, sorry.
I'm still settling in on that.
But you know what?
Thank you for being with us.
And I love that we've been able to do this for this long
and we plan to do it for a lot longer.
So it's very, very exciting.
The stuff we have coming up this year,
it's been a little bit of a quiet.
I was talking to Chance about this this week,
because he and I are debating edits, right?
He's been editing behind the scenes yet.
It's all our stuff.
He shoots on all our stuff.
And we got a lot of travel coming, a lot of big shoots coming.
And he was like, this has kind of been the calm before the storm.
I mean, he feels it too.
We've all, you know, we've got the stuff that's coming out.
And thank you guys for being with us.
But the big stuff is all the second half of the year.
And oh my gosh, can't wait to share it.
But rare.
All right, let's talk about a car to replace the Julia,
which is hard for me because I like that Julia a lot.
But I understand you also didn't say what your issues have been.
You said the last gremlin was the last straw.
Be kind of curious to hear what was it?
We've known a lot of people that have had those.
And yeah, they've had their little issues,
but they've also had a lot of fun with it.
You guys have as well.
But let's replace that Julia, but keeping it rear wheel drive,
not manual transmission, but still needs to have some like unique stylish fun.
All the stuff you talked about was in that I have to and then a wild card
that kind of excites me and I will admit the ones I'm going to show
are all a little bit above your budget because I was trying to find a decent
example near your budget.
But all of these, if you've really got 25 grand to spend,
you can have conversations or it might be just barely like a couple thousand
above where you want to be.
So I think these are all close enough.
I want to have a real conversation with the one of the ones is the one
you actually already brought up rare.
And that is the Genesis G 70 sedan, specifically the one with the 3.3 liter
turbo engine.
You can get these in all wheel drive as well.
But these are these are good looking.
The handling is excellent.
This to me is the closest I have as a direct Alpha Julia Alt.
One of those cars that is better than people think looks better than they think.
And you just ought to go buy one and drive it.
I mean, everybody that gets one of these is very impressed.
I mean, obviously look, the three series is an obvious competitor to the Julia,
but I think the Genesis is the one people don't think of.
You did think of it, Brayer.
So I applaud you.
This one happens to be 45,000 miles, three years old and $35,000.
I'm 10 grand above your budget, but I'm just showing you an example here.
There were ones cheaper than this.
Of course, you can step down as well in the engine down to the four cylinder.
They made a two liter, which we didn't like.
They also now offer a 300 horsepower 25, which is excellent.
So that's good as well.
And those obviously are coming down in price as well.
But if you can get this 3.3 liter v6, this is the place to be.
I do really like these.
Then you've got two series out of it, which I like.
There's a lot of good two series, Brayer, but I just went looking and I went,
can we go as mad as an M2?
Did you find an M2?
I've got a 2018 in a crazy green.
I can't tell if this is painted or wrapped, but this is like the green you see on Lamborghinis.
All right.
This one has 59,000 miles.
It's a 2018 M2 base for 429.
Now that is above your budget.
That's okay.
No question.
I mean, who might have said anything about budget?
Yes.
But I was just like this.
This is a very representative M2.
Fairly low miles, interesting color, which keeps the prices high.
Okay.
But while looking at M2s, look at the other end of the spectrum here.
This is a 2016 for 23.3.
It has 145,000 miles on it, which is why it's that much cheaper.
Okay.
There we go.
Okay.
But I just want to show you that the range exists.
So what's your comfort level for mileage is M2 better than the M235?
The M235, M240 are excellent, but this is full bore M2 now.
And what's crazy is, and I don't know that this is the car for you guys, but kind of
like with 911s, the M cars in convertible plummet.
If you want to find an M car in your budget, it's just the M2 convertible.
It's crazy.
And a lot of, here's the other thing.
Some of them are then billed as the M235 convertible that they listed as an M2.
I found a lot of that as well.
So M235, M40 is definitely in your budget.
Maybe you could even get to an M2, but watch your mileage, see what that happens.
But as I also said, every car is going to run 100 grand.
It's got 145,000 miles on it, which is why it's cheaper.
And I bet you just take care of that car.
It'll go 200,000 miles.
Oh, sure.
That M2?
Absolutely.
So right there it is 24,000.
But then I have a wild card for you because I don't think you see it coming.
And they're out there at a range of your budget to just above.
Okay.
How about an Infinity Q50 Redsport 400 rear wheel drive?
A lot of horsepower.
It's the engine in the current Z-Card.
This one I'm showing here right now is 30,900.
Okay.
This is a 50,000 mile really nice 2020 four door luxury sedan.
You're not going to see very many of it's got a great engine.
It's got a good chassis.
Admittedly, some of the tech in the interior feels old.
But these are miles.
Yes.
50,000 miles.
This has got all the life left in it.
Oh, yeah.
Great engine.
You can also find these in the Q60, which is the two door coupe, which tend to be a little
cheaper on resale.
There seem to be more and more available than the Q50s.
It's interesting.
But I'm specifically showing you the Q50 four door.
Wanted you to look at this again, $31,000 right here and I bet you didn't plan for it.
This is a unique choice.
And I was trying to go something else unique, but get you away from the Italian craziness
a little bit.
I prefer the Giulia to this, but these are overlooked.
So there you go.
Infinity Q50 Red Sport.
I don't know the last time I recommended that car, but I think it's perfect right here.
It's been a while.
Breyer, thank you so much for writing.
Really appreciate it.
Really appreciate you following and watching the show.
And you've got great choices now.
You've got more driving homework and let us know what you end up buying and hopefully
you get into something that you absolutely love.
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We're going to jump through car conclusions to did you see this section?
We've got a couple of conclusions we want to cover the next time.
But we're going to do did you see this and then some cool audience questions
because you guys had a lot of really good questions today.
A couple of them that may be a bit controversial.
Let's get into it.
This did you see this involves speed, trains, airplanes and cars.
OK.
I want to introduce you to the world first plane landing and take off
from a moving train in Turkey.
Oh, have you seen this?
It's Red Bull, isn't it?
It's Red Bull.
Yeah.
Pilot Dario Costa flying a Zivco Edge 540 aerobatic plane in conjunction with Rematch.
The reason being is to land an airplane on top of a moving train at stall speeds.
He had to account for wind buffeting.
Yes.
The wake turbulence generated by the train.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah. A disappearing target on approach.
OK. And a 50 second long operational window in which to land and take off again.
All right. All right.
Trains going 87 kph.
So that means he's got to drop to stall speed almost to drop the plane
onto the top of a boxcar.
But to do the testing, Rematch was involved because they drove a Navara R
backwards at 140 kilometers an hour to simulate the train's wake turbulence.
So Dario could understand what would be involved before he lands on the train.
I am so confused about that is the chain of events that led to Hirasawa testing this.
What?
By the way, the reason Rematch is because they hold the world record for driving
in reverse at 275 kilometers an hour in one of those cars.
The next time I need to go backwards quickly, I don't want to buy.
What? Yeah.
So 140 kph backwards was was barely trying.
Yeah, still daunting.
But this photo in the video, you've got to look this up.
The behind the scenes is on the Rematch YouTube site.
And then the Red Bull actually has the the actual plane landing.
But they do have all of the the shots.
So here it is.
The the rematch is driving backwards to just create turbulence like the boxcar
wake turbulence like a train.
Crazy. So he can land because again, when he lands,
he can't see where he's landing anymore.
Yeah, which is so fascinating.
So check this out.
I hadn't thought about the fact that the train is creating so much wake of its
own over the top of the boxcar.
That's crazy.
So here's a shot from the accomplishment.
Now, if you're not familiar with Dario Costa,
he is a Red Bull athlete, incredible pilot.
This is not just the first time he's done this.
He is one airshow competitions.
Of course, yeah.
And he most notably flew a plane through a tunnel.
Nobody's ever done that before.
It was longest distance and flying the plane through the tunnel.
I mean, yeah, everything could have gone wrong.
Yeah, yeah.
And so now the latest stunt is landing on top of a moving train.
He did it successfully.
Here's landing and then taking off again.
Absolutely phenomenal to watch the video.
And the behind the scenes was super cool, too, because rematch actually,
the factory created one of those seats.
They did the foam, the body scan and created the seats around him.
Sure.
So it's not just a park bench that he's sitting in the airplane,
even though it's an aerobatic airplane, the seat was not up to the task.
Interesting.
And so they did like an F1 style seat around him so he could feel every
tiny motion of the plane to set it down and the wake turbulence.
Phenomenal.
And they came alongside him to do this.
So I am totally into this.
I had no idea.
It was just fascinating.
So here he is landing on the plane, taking off.
You've got to watch the video.
I have to pause on Red Bull for a second.
Here's a company that sells a drink.
All right.
This is the Coca-Cola of sports drinks and the fact that they are known for this.
I mean, they, here's the thing in 2012 was the year that YouTube did its big
original content push.
And that's when Drive Channel and a lot of others came out of there.
Red Bull remains probably the best success story of that year where YouTube
threw money at all of these channels to do seven day a week content.
And YouTube started doing craziness and created a brand for themselves.
I mean, the crazy thing about Red Bull, if you go to their channel at any point
now, every one of their productions was expensive.
Oh, yeah, everything they do is expensive.
They, they clear, I mean, if you look at the credits on any one of their videos,
their credits is more people than we've hired ever.
More people than some like small independent films that come to Sundance.
It's like, yeah, there's credits.
Okay.
There's a lot of people going on.
So that is very expensive.
That means they're losing money on every single one of their YouTube videos
and they don't care.
They have all these sponsored athletes.
But I feel like Red Bulls reached a place now or put it another way.
They're athletes have reached a place now where what they're doing for their next
video is exactly the kind of stuff you do as a teenager when you sit around and
you go, you'll be cool.
What if we landed a plane on a train?
What if we, there was a guy that did this recently.
What if, what if I tried to jump my BMX over two trains going opposite
directions with opposite direction boxcars and I went through the gap in the middle?
They've done that.
Yeah, done it.
It's all of that kind of teenage thinking for sure we could do.
And Red Bulls like, I've got to check for that.
It's crazy.
They're setting world records.
I'm, I'm totally with you.
It's, it's amazing.
And why would you put money behind this?
Yes.
On the other hand, the fact that they're doing it and it's pushing a human
accomplishment to do it and we all get to see it and nobody died.
You know, Dario is risking his life, especially for the tunnel flying.
And for this, I am so.
Suddenly all about this Dario is an incredible pilot.
He was part of the stunt team for the dead reckoning mission impossible.
Oh, sure.
Of course he was flying to that.
He's done, uh, he's slalomed between the mass of moving sailboats.
You name it.
The guy has done, I mean, phenomenal pilot.
He's won the Bob Hoover awards.
I mean, this guy has accolades, incredible pilots.
I love that somewhere in the discussion of this, somebody is, what about a
rematch going backwards?
I just, I can't even believe that these pieces came together.
I love that you shared it.
That's awesome.
Starting off with great audience questions.
I'm going to start one right here that is about track driving.
DJ Big Teets just started driving on track recently and his brain can't really
keep up with everything that's going on.
That is totally normal.
He said he was fumbling his shifts.
You have a manual transmission car fumbling his shifts so badly that his
inputs were suffering.
And so he was having trouble steering the car properly and doing gas properly
because he was worried about shifting.
And finally it got better when his instructor said, okay, stop it.
I'm taking your gears away.
We're going into fourth.
He was at NJMP.
We're going into fourth.
We're leaving it in fourth.
And then he was able to absorb what he was supposed to do and actually got better.
How should he go about getting better at manual shifting on track?
First off, I don't know if you were at one of our hooked on driving events.
I hope that you were.
We just had one in NJMP, but please come to one of our events because our
instructors will help you immensely.
But you have already started the right direction and it's crazy.
This is sound because we all love manual transmissions and I like a manual on track,
but I am perfectly happy to have a really great auto on track because the one
thing you need to think about the least is your shifting.
And on surface streets, it's the thing you think about the most because the
least you have to do on most surface streets is figure out which way to point
the car.
You're almost on autopilot.
And so you got to figure out what gear is perfect.
And this corner needs to be second.
You're thinking about that a lot more.
The brain has shifted the other way on track.
So find a gear or maybe two at most that you can do every track in.
Find the places where you can shift the least and worry about eyes and line
because here's the flip side.
DJ, I guarantee you, you subconsciously know how to shift that car very well.
You've done it plenty.
It's just you're not allowed to be in that subconscious place because you're
having to think about so many other things.
And now you've gotten distracted by the shifter.
So I want you to just play on track, shifting as little as possible.
My son just had his first track day.
He was in a manual transmission and I told him going out.
It was like, I want you to find a gear and stay in it.
That's good.
Yeah.
And his instructor was right behind me on that.
Like we're going to find and they ended up finding because the way the track
was kind of slow.
They found one place you needed to shift every lap.
But otherwise it was just, I'm in third.
Okay, which is great.
Yeah.
And like the Nurburgring, if you drive that in a manual transmission, it's
almost entirely a third gear track.
There's one place you need second.
There's one place you might need fourth.
I have many complaints about the gearing and the Cayman because that's where
it's developed.
Is it third and fourth track?
They just set it up to be like as few gears as possible.
So you are exactly the right place.
What I want you to do is figure out all those fundamentals.
And as you start to understand, especially where your eyes need to be,
you're going to have brain power to go, Oh, I can shift here.
That's good.
Got some other hypothetical questions on Instagram from the Bruce B.
Your friend with the 747 cargo plane called.
I have a friend with a 747 cargo plane.
I like this idea.
This is a really cool idea.
Which three tracks around the world?
Are you taking your personal cars to who that's fun?
The one that instantly popped to mind, Bruce, is Suzuka.
OK, I want to drive that track a lot.
All right, I would also like to drive Barcelona or Monza.
One of those two tracks.
And you know what?
I really want to drive Monaco.
I don't know how to make that happen, but I want to drive my personal car.
All the fences are closed off.
And it's really the F1 version really actually drive the street circuit.
Because years ago, you and I were battling each other on the streets.
The Monaco circuit in our modded wagon, me and the A4 Avant.
Yeah, yeah, long ago.
And we totally had modded them in the game.
Yeah, for sure.
Ski tires and the Grand Treismo from forever ago.
Yeah, and then we battle each other.
Yeah, also in the leases, I think, too.
Oh, yeah, for sure.
And you do corners and be like, how did you do that corner?
And I do corners and be like, how are you that fast?
You're absolutely right.
Like we trade off and watch each other's ghost car laps through Monaco.
And I've just I've been there, you've been there.
I just I want to go drive Monaco in my personal car.
That would be a huge, huge highlight.
That's cool. I like that.
I had I'm struggling with this, but I think I'm getting there because I'm
trying to think about tracks that intrigue me.
But I do have to say, you're not going to be surprised, but I have to say it.
The top of the list for me would be the ring.
OK, I would love to have a personal car experience on the ring.
I mean, I love the ring.
It's my favorite track anyway.
And I like I like mountain roads so much anyway.
It's the reason I like the ring.
But I haven't ever had my car on the ring.
There's something there that would be really, really cool.
So that would have to happen.
I think that one's on there.
Monaco's good.
But you know, the one that intrigues me is Baku with the really tight corner
by the castle. Oh, yeah, because it's a street circuit.
That's got that corner.
You don't hit that corner that's got some really tight places,
but also some speed is like the front straight, the longest front straights.
True. Baku'd be really cool.
I like that one as well, as I'm pondering it.
That'd be a really fun one.
The circuit in Brazil that they do always strikes me as really cool looking.
Sao Paulo, you're talking.
I think it's the Sao Paulo one that's got all the it's got the surprising
elevation change over the course of the track.
And it's got the the the multiple corners that look the same.
I think it that intrigues me because the elevation is kind of odd.
I forget the name of the track off the top of my head now.
I feel bad about it, but that one's intriguing as well.
But since we've gotten the seven forty seven, I'm going to throw up.
There's a lot I'm going to say.
There is that guy that built the private track in the mountains of Japan.
Oh, Magari Gawa track.
Let's go there. Let's go there.
You know, so that's Baku and the ring and the private track in Japan.
If we're seven forty sevening, I think those are my three.
Zuzuka's already there.
It's not too far away.
So you would we're saving fuel.
Look at us. Look at us.
We're actually combining more than one car.
There you go.
We'll take at least two, three, four people.
Yeah. One more hypothetical.
This was hard, but I think I have the answer that you might not expect.
OK. Lucas Five F. You see this question?
I did. I was wondering if you can tackle this.
So Lucas Five F is throwing out a hypothetical to both Paul and I.
He has a Paul version and a top version.
I'll read mine.
He said, What I rather have my novel Paperfather
become internationally successful under any publisher of my choosing.
Wow. OK.
Be recognized by other notable writers worldwide.
That's a whole other level with all the interviews and press that comes with it.
Or this is like the the Faustian discussion here.
Have a chance to make our own fully budgeted
ten million dollar car film alongside each other.
Ten million dollars worth of car budget we get to make a film.
That's a lot of money.
Which would I do?
Do you want to read your version or should I answer?
I'll read my version. OK. All right. Go.
Would I rather have an internationally desired watch company of my choice?
Invite me to design and name a unique watch that ends up becoming a smash hit
with me receiving royalties with all the interviews and press that comes with it.
Or be offered the chance.
The same thing to make my own ten million dollar ten million dollar budget
provided car film alongside you.
OK. I'm going to dive in on this.
I'm going to be tacky for a minute, but I'm going to I'm going to unpack this fully.
There's two ways that this ten million dollars goes.
OK. If we did a grand tour style big road trip film.
All right. Ten million would go a long way
because we do those road trip films with very little crew.
So we could do something enormous like travel the globe, which would be very cool for a million.
Yeah. And and we have more than enough budget.
We could buy some cool cars that would be very cool.
OK. But that would be hyper niche audience wise.
But then the flip side is if we made a theatrical film, ten million is not nearly enough.
OK. OK. OK. As much as I like movies and I do.
The problem with a movie is they're almost an island.
You make a movie and you may never make another.
So many people in Hollywood that were members of the DGA.
They were the director's Guild Association members.
They had directed a film and they were and they were like handyman.
You think you made a film and you know.
I mean, there's the folks you've heard of the Nolans of the Spielbergs that have a career.
But most people are fighting to ever make another movie again.
And if we made a ten million dollar funded movie,
I think that might be the one shot deal.
Thank you guys for playing the concept of having my novel be read by millions
to the point that other authors like it and it gets whatever accolades.
I would probably always have an audience for any other novel I wrote.
And I would probably always be able to live on that coattails of that novel a little bit.
And I would hopefully write more and I'm still working on another one.
Hopefully would write others that were good, that people liked as much as paper father.
Let's just hope that that's the case.
But there would be so much more opportunity
from that novel situation than there would be from the film.
And because of that reason, I have to say the novel.
Interesting. For the watch company in that sounds amazing,
but it also sounds like a one time deal to me.
Interesting. OK.
Whereas making a film, I don't have the headspace.
I don't come from filmmaking.
I'm being cynical. I admit.
I just see 10 million bucks and I think, like you said,
buying a couple of cars and getting to travel the world
and going to get some cool life experience.
Yeah. And oh, by the way, watch it or don't.
That is fair.
That intrigues me far more than getting a watch
because I just want to wear the watch.
I just want to own a cool watch or a lot of cool watches and know about them.
And but the experience, I think, would be far more interesting and fun than.
OK, here's the finished product.
It's the most amazing film you've ever seen or it's terrible.
Don't care. Don't care.
OK, I'll make here's the thing because I stand by my my my answer,
but I'm going to give you a hybrid version.
Here's my hybrid version.
You and I buy a couple of cool cars for less than a million combined.
We spend four million doing the production, traveling around the world
and the post we have five million left over that we get to split.
Now that's the version I'm doing. That's interesting.
That's the version I'm doing.
But anyway, now, Lucas, it's a fantastic what if question.
It had cars. It had no cars.
I had everything I laughed. I cried.
Thank you. That was very good.
Guys, thank you for all your questions.
Write to us every day, driver TV at gmail.com.
Topic Tuesdays, car conclusions.
What was the new segment that we came up with?
Blown the budget.
Blown the budget segment.
Write to us. Do it with like numbers.
What were you considering?
What was like the max?
How far above did you go?
Yeah. And then like, I squeak by with 10 grand more and you're happy.
That's what I want to hear. It happens.
It happens.
Thanks, CEO.
Say how many GR 86s we've sold up to now.
The weird Tesla wraps.
We got a lot of stuff going into that.
Did you see this section now?
But I love it. It's great stuff.
As always, we're looking forward to next time.
Thank you guys. Cheers.
About this episode
The hosts bounce from Stellantis brand strategy and an AI-imagined off-road minivan into a long, nuanced reliability debate, arguing that reputation, model year, and ownership habits matter as much as badges. They compare Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and GM, then help listeners shop everything from rugged family SUVs to rear-wheel-drive sedans and performance wildcards. The back half widens into track advice, dream circuits, and a playful discussion of how they’d spend a huge creative budget.
Car manufacturer stereotypes exist for a reason - many people would say Japanese cars are more reliable than European cars, but that’s not always the case. What does reliability mean to you? The guys debate for Maya and her fiancé who are into outdoor activities but may have kids in the future. Then, Briar in Virginia Beach has been listening and following the show since he was 13! Now married, he loves RWD cars and asks the guys what he and his wife should buy next. Also, have you seen Red Bull athlete Dario Costa’s latest piloting adventure?
Audio-only MP3 is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and 10 other platforms.
Look for us on Tuesdays if you’d like to watch us debate, disagree and then go drive again!
0:00 - Intro
0:18 - Stellantis Is “Re-Focusing.” How About A Jeep Or RAM Minivan?
12:13 - Topic Tuesday: What Does ‘Reliable’ Mean To You?
38:18 - Car Debate #1: All The Outdoor Activities, Plus Kids In The Future
55:33 - Car Debate #2: Listening Since Age 13
1:10:30 - Did You See This? Speed, Trains, Airplanes and Cars
1:16:59 - Audience Questions On Social Media
Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to our two YouTube channels. Write to us your Topic Tuesdays, Car Conclusions and those great Car Debates at [email protected] or everydaydriver.com
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