Driven: Totem SuperGT, the 670HP Carbon Alfa Clone
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Car
Mazda MX-5 Miata
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that's fun to drive. It's light and has great handling, making it a favorite for people who love driving.
Car
Aston Martin Vantage Roadster
The Aston Martin Vantage Roadster is a fancy sports car that you can drive with the top down. It's known for being powerful and stylish.
Part
carbon monocoque
A carbon monocoque is a strong and light part of a car that holds everything together. It's made from a special material called carbon fiber, which helps the car go faster and handle better.
Car
Alfa Romeo GTV
The Alfa Romeo GTV is a stylish sports car that many people admire for its looks and how it drives. It's a two-door car that's part of Alfa Romeo's history.
Car
Datsun 510S
Term
sequential turbo V6
A sequential turbo V6 engine has two turbochargers that help the engine produce more power. One turbo kicks in at lower speeds, and the other helps at higher speeds, making the car faster overall.
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Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a famous sports car made by Porsche in the late '80s. It was really fast and had some cool technology for its time, like all-wheel drive and turbo power.
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Hellcat horsepower
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Pagani
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Term
damper
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Car
Porsche 911
Term
flywheel
A flywheel helps keep the engine running smoothly by storing energy. It makes it easier for the engine to speed up and respond when you press the gas pedal.
Term
gated gearbox
A gated gearbox is a special kind of manual transmission that helps drivers shift gears more accurately, but it might take a bit longer to change gears compared to other systems.
Term
V6 engine
A V6 engine is a type of car engine that has six cylinders arranged in a V shape. It's known for being powerful while still being relatively efficient, but it can sometimes shake or vibrate when running at certain speeds.
Concept
mid-range vibrations
Mid-range vibrations are the shakes that happen in an engine when it's running at certain speeds. This can make the ride feel less smooth and might affect how well the engine works.
Term
turbo sound
Turbo sound is the noise you hear from a turbocharger, which helps engines produce more power. It can be a sign that the turbo is working well.
Term
exhaust sound
Exhaust sound is the noise that comes out of a car's exhaust pipe. It can tell you a lot about how powerful the engine is and how it runs.
Term
build quality
Build quality is how well a car is made. It includes the materials used and how everything fits together, which affects how long the car lasts and how good it feels to use.
Part
shock tuning
Shock tuning is about adjusting the parts of the car that help it absorb bumps and keep the ride smooth. It makes the car handle better and feel more comfortable when driving.
Term
dead pedal
A dead pedal is a footrest for your left foot in a car, usually found in cars with manual transmissions. It helps you feel more comfortable while driving by giving your foot a place to rest.
Part
Subelt seat
A Subelt seat is a type of car seat made for racing and performance driving. It's designed to hold you in place better when you're driving fast, making it safer and more comfortable.
Part
coilovers
Coilovers are special parts of a car's suspension that help control how the car rides and handles. They can be adjusted to make the car sit higher or lower, which can help with performance.
Term
Pilot Sport Cup 2
Pilot Sport Cup 2 is a type of tire made for fast cars. It helps the car grip the road better, especially when driving quickly or on a racetrack.
Term
final drive
Final drive is a part of the car that helps decide how fast the wheels turn compared to the engine. Changing it can make the car accelerate faster or go faster overall.
Term
steering shaft
The steering shaft is the part that connects your steering wheel to the system that turns the wheels. When you turn the wheel, this part helps make that happen.
Term
steering rack
The steering rack helps you steer the car. When you turn the steering wheel, it moves this part, which then turns the wheels in the direction you want to go.
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Volvo P1800
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Ferrari 250 GTO
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LIVE
What up everybody? Welcome to the Smogentire Podcast, Matt Farrer here, and today's episode is, as always, brought to you by Off the Record. Listen, if you get pulled over, if you get ticketed for a moving violation, it is your right to fight that. And you should, but you should get help. Use Off the Record, right? Don't plead guilty, get Off the Record. Go to Off the Record.com slash TST. Off the Record will connect you with a qualified attorney in the jurisdiction.
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through Off the Record. Do it now, and on with the show. All right, folks, on today's episode of the podcast, Zach and I are back in studio, and we had a hell of a morning up on the mountain driving the Totem GT Super, which is kind of like an alpha, if you give an alpha, a whole bunch of acid. Also, we give some thoughts on the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster that we're driving this week.
And Chrysler has teased us with an over landing van that makes me slightly aroused all this and more on today's episode of the Smoking Tire podcast.
This is no, I should have just done a minute of straight silence like Andy Kaufman. Hi. Hello. Hello. All right. Now we have to transition brain into show. It's show cars. These are cars. Hello. My brain is a little jelly right now because it was buzzed for six and a half hours this morning.
Meaning shaking it was shaking not to shake a rato which they serve at blue bottle. Now I just learned it's coming. I told everybody it's coming. Be ready. If you don't know about the shake a rato, you better acts somebody.
But that's an Italian thing and we spent all morning in another Italian thing. We did. And boy, oh boy, oh boy. Yeah, that is. Wow. That is a lot.
I'll jump ahead. There was someone asked a question today that they said after watching all the Monterey car week stuff. Are we at peak reimagination at this point?
And I just think it's fine that today we drove another reimagination. Another reimagination. But I'm here for it when it's done this well. And I think the attention is this good. I support it. I really do.
And we know like I'm real mad. There's too many hypercars and income and diva, diva, diva. But like this stuff I think inspires me and other people.
I think this is a little different because this is like actual like artisanal kind of thing. This is like a little shop making a small number of cars. And we're talking about the automobile totem.
This is the Alfa Romeo thing. Automobili totem GT super, which is.
I mean, it's best described as an Alfa Romeo restomod, though there's like fuck. There's no alpha in this. There's none. There's the amount of alpha in this is so comically small.
The badge, maybe, and they may, they remake those. It is a carbon monocock. It looks vaguely like a GTV. It's a modernized GTV style GTA, GTV, you know, the two door two box alpha that everybody loves.
That everyone pretty much universally agrees is a great looking car. Like find a person that's like, nah, the GTV doesn't look good. Like doesn't exist.
I bet even the 2002's and 510's back in the day that we're chasing them around like Laguna, we're like, fuck, it's pretty.
It's a good look car. It's a good thing to chase car. Yeah, so it's it's that right, but it's all carbon carbon monocock carbon body carbon a lot of fucking things.
Carbon window trim. Carbon window trim. It weighs. Yeah, it weighs something under 3,000 pounds, but we don't know exactly how much it weighs.
I mean, 500 of those pounds is leather. Yeah, there's the the interiors insane. If you scroll on the my Instagram is photos of it. It's wide and it's low.
And it's it's got those tear that teardrop rear end that looks so great. And then the interiors this leather and houndstooth and billet and metal and has a Ferrari like they try to not share parts like they did their best to share no parts.
So it has its own engine like it has its own sequential turbo V6 that's not in anything else. And it's fucking mental actually it's one of the crazier engines.
I think I've driven recently now that I think of it, but with an actual Graziano Ferrari Transaxle from a 550 50 50 weight. Yeah, low wide and it it looks like it's pretty fast.
If you look at it, you go, that looks pretty quick. It's like way faster than you think it's going to be. Like it's weird that something that's like $600,000 and looks like this could be like a sleeper. But the fucking thing. I mean, it pulls like, you know,
well, because I think this the shape of these has always been it's beautiful, but like cute like those cars back then in the 2002's the 510's they're small. They're known for having these high revving N.A. engines, not a ton of power because that was just the time. I mean, for the time they were fast, but you know modern standards 200 horsepower is not a lot.
Yeah, but so I think this still looks like I mean, it's got jewelry and it's so like luxurious looking inside. And then if you said it was 300 horsepower and go, yeah, okay, cool, you know, it's got. If you said 400, everyone go, that's sure. Yeah, that would just that would still double what the original one had, you know, it probably would be N.A.
With like ITB or something and you know, it would sound kind of awesome like that by the way. Well, if it it looked it had an S 54 and it, you know, it would also be sick. Yeah, you know, but this engine is a 2.8 liter V6 sequential turbos.
There's crazy looking air box that has windows into the ITBs.
And then this, you know, it's it's got three drive modes, which are very distinct, 350, 450 and 670 horsepower. And the 671, you know, and like the Porsche 959, if you saw that video we made, there's first turbo and then there's second turbo and they are not the same.
First turbo is zero to 4,000. Second turbo is 4,000 to red line. And second turbo in full kill mode is bananas, bananas.
It's fun chasing you because it squats. Yeah, it shoots tons of stuff out the exhaust, not like a problematic amount. Like it's just, you know, there's fuel and carbon and it just goes.
So there's, and you know what, it's geared fucking short. It's geared great, geared really short. It's geared for back roads, you know, but on the highway and the speedometer didn't quite work yet.
So I don't actually know how fast we were going. I literally couldn't tell you no fucking clue. And I, my guess is, you know, at a normal highway speed, the same speed is all the other cars. It's called 70.
You're turning like 4,000 RPM in top gear. Like it's not exactly a relaxed GT experience. And what's funny is with this much power, you could easily, I mean, maybe other clients might opt for a tall six might opt for a longer final drive or a longer six gear. I don't know what, what level of customization customization the gear ratios are.
But even if it had a substantially longer final drive, it would still be insanely fucking fast. Yeah, because the 550 gear box, that car has tall gear. But these back in the day, the GTVs had shorter during that's like part of what separated them, you know, for the sporting cars and the track cars. Yeah, but this thing, dude, when you put it in, when you drop a gear to fifth on the highway.
First off, you don't, the idea that you need to get drop a gear in the highways laughable because if you roll into it in top gear, the acceleration is shocking, shocking.
You like, you can't believe how hard it's pulling in sixth gear. Part of that is the short gearing, but also.
It says Hellcat horsepower and it weighs a thousand pounds less and it has probably shorter gearing. Yeah, I mean, just think about that. This basically, you know, 30 horsepower shy.
Yeah, it has Hellcat horsepower and it's a tiny car. Dude, I, my friend Mike was in town from out of town. He's like the best and he loves cars. He loves motorcycles, but he doesn't really know about like fast.
The way that we do. And I fucking dropped, dropped the hammer in fifth gear on the highway and he looked over at me and he went, what the fuck?
Because you're in a tiny little Alfa Romeo that isn't, and you're pulling like a McLaren. Yeah, like what the fuck indeed. It's absolutely bananas how fast this car is.
Almost, it's like almost dangerous. It almost feels out of character for the car. Like I drove it around in middle power most of the time.
Which is lovely for 50 years. Real nice. Yeah, fast. Yeah, fast. And it shot out of corners and it was, it was fantastic.
That's only first turbo. I think I think the way I don't know how they do that, but I think it doesn't really fire the second turbo the same way.
I don't know, but I mean, and that felt like a rowdy kind of thing for this. And the fact that there's like, you know, ours goes to 11 and it adds 200 plus horsepower.
Yeah, it's so crazy. Yeah, the little flick of the switch on the steering wheels. I mean, look, if the picture still has this picture been up the entire time.
I'm back. And now I'm back. Okay, but this interior like the designer of that, like the outside is beautiful. But when you're sitting in this car, and I spent all morning sitting in this car,
that is a fucking place to be. Yep. That's, that is the V place to be. You have the sort of jewelry of almost a pegani, not quite pegani, but like there's less metal, but I actually think that's fine. Yeah, yeah. No, pegani is a steam punk.
Yeah, this is a spiker. It's like we put metal underneath the dash. Yeah, yeah. This is the perfect balance of bright work leather, houndstooth and visible carbon weave.
Yeah.
And the steering wheel is great. The little buttons, the knobs. So on the left is the start button. And then the middle to on either side of the six o'clock spoke are the knobs to adjust the the shocks.
Five modes for each front and rear. I feel like that's an opportunity for the driver to like really fuck that up.
At least it's only five, and it's not under the car because some, you know, did you play and you find a setting that you liked? No, I mean, I said it felt too soft. We can get to that. But I was like, oh, I'll switch it to full hard. And it was already there. And I definitely didn't want to be softer on the section of road I was on. So I did not play with it. Yeah.
I found it to be in middle, caught three on each. It was really good on the highway. I tried full soft. And it was really bouncy. Like you just had no damper. It just I guess it just turns the damper off entirely or mostly off.
And I was like, okay, not that. And then full hard on the canyon was pretty good. Like I don't think I got to stiff. Sorry. No, no. I don't think I was too stiff. Yeah, I was actually shocked like that it has those five settings. But five almost felt like where the middle could be. And it would have been totally appropriate for Canyon driving.
There's still a lot of dive, a lot of pitch. Yeah. And I mean, we'll talk about there's a little too much in some ways. Yeah. But you know, gated Ferrari gearbox very nice.
The engine, I mean, on top of making a bunch of power, it sounds and feels like the kind of engine you would normally find in like a prototype race car. It just it the way it fires, the way it idols at 1400 RPM.
It has it feels like it doesn't have a flywheel at all. I mean, it revs up like a bike or like the 911 ST. And in the same way where you it has no inertia of its own.
Like like when you're cruising around and you and you're up shifting, you know, with a gated gearbox, you don't really shift that fast.
Yeah, you know, even you can shift fast if you're really trying to violently rip it. But most of the time it's like click, click, click, click. It's like a flow. It's like that's the thing. And it has so little flywheel that you have to feather it in between up shifts.
Otherwise, it the engine just completely dies. And it's like jerky. But when it like, if you don't feather it right, it sounds almost like the engine turns off. And it's like,
yeah, it sounds like it's doing an auto stop start because it drops rev so fast it just goes away crazy stuff. I got to say I was very impressed with how the engine sounds, how good it sounds for a 90 degree V6.
It's a 2.8 liter. And as we've said, the smaller the V6, usually the better it sounds. But you know, 90 degree V6, it's still not easy to make it sound good or interesting. And from in the car and outside the car, two distinct sounds.
Yeah, very distinct. I think the outside the car sound is a little more consistent. And the inside the car sound.
The engine sounds really smooth, but then there's a point in the middle from like four to six thousand rpm where it gets a little like vibrate.
It shakes something and that shakes something. And then it goes kind of away at the top again. Like whatever happens in that middle there is like the V6 curse.
Like you just can't. There's no way to build a V6 that can escape the curse of the mid range vibrations.
I think it's like this is why planes shouldn't be made out of carbon fibers. Like eventually it cracks them apart. I'm not going to say this car is going to fall apart.
No, there is a there's a funny vibration that happens in like a Zeus fitting is letting go and somewhere in the armrest.
But yeah, I was just it sounds like you get some turbo sound, but not huge wastegate inside the car. From outside when you went by during the drive by, it sounds like a really small NA engine.
I don't hear versus like the roof we drove, which is a lot of trouble last week. When you're coming towards me, it was just air.
It's just that's all I heard. And then you go past and I hear exhaust sound, but this thing coming and going.
Yeah, it had great intake and a great like really tight like precise like engine word to it.
It tight is it feels mean, especially like this company is like brand new. This is their first product.
And this is one of their first cars. I think the key says nine on it. I think that's probably what it is. The ninth car.
Like pretty shockingly well made for a company's ninth car. I mean we've seen personally companies that have made more cars than this that really claimed to give a fuck about build quality, but like they don't get near this.
It true. So I don't know if they are not as obsessed as this CEO and in their team. Or if it's a supplier thing like I'm not sure.
Yeah, it's like it's all their own switches and they make their own steering wheel and they may like they're almost apologetic about the fact that they have to use a Ferrari gearbox.
Like you a Ferrari gearbox. We couldn't make our own gear box like that's like a future Conex.
That's a future Christian von Conex where he want you want to make everything. And you're you're fairly new and you go sorry we had to use our gearbox in the whole world goes that's fine.
Everyone does that. Well, the dude so the dude Ricardo who started this company was at Alfa Romeo during the solantis time.
And like it made him depressed and he left and build this instead started a company and built this and did such a good job of it.
That Alfa Romeo does not give two shits that their name is on this. It's like nicer than anything they're making right now.
What do you mean the minivan switch is going to go into sports car? What why?
So I mean just really really fucking cool. Okay, but and I got an asterisk on it this morning I talked to Ricardo on the phone.
And he said look every one of these things is Taylor made to the client. These are these are these.
This is supposed to be a Taylor made program. So so he says this car has not been delivered to the client yet.
And so what happens is it gets delivered to the client and then we come to the client and we drive with them.
And we asked them how they like to drive and what they you know and we set the car up for them.
He said everything in the car is the default setting. He said but the alignment the shock tuning all the differential.
He said all of these things the throttle response. He said they fine tune to the customer after they take delivery which is where this car is going after us.
He also said the customer personally requested this car doesn't have a dead pedal which is a weird request. I heart a dead pedal.
And Myers-Manks now makes a fucking dead pedal because of me.
And but it was fine. It wasn't actually something in this car that I found problematic but he wanted to point out that.
I like the pedal box on both sides had a lot of room. It was very open. It was leather and then there's just three pedals there.
It's a little okay. So points against point against number one on the highway with the windows closed.
There's a lot of wind noise like leaking wind noise like it's it's a fabulous thing with the windows down on PCA Trinocanian.
But like it's comfortable enough the seat which is a subelt seat like it's basically a Ferrari seat.
It's like the supplier for the Piro songway seat just like putting this on instead of it. It's that same seat which is great.
It's super comfortable super roomy the seating position fabulous but it's real loud on the highway tire noise high revs wind noise.
And so even though it looks like the kind of thing I'd want to like hop in and go to fucking wine country.
I would not want to do that drive which is a bomber. That's number one. Would you like to deliver number two?
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I already texted Ricardo about it by the way okay so well there's a lot of tire of yeah a lot of tire of like a surprising amount front and rear when you came considering the photo is is accurate to the ride height of the car like it's not like this thing is like super
dropped I mean there's definitely a couple inches of of dead cat space on that front wheel above the front tire please don't use that term.
I learned that from Daniel but there's a lot of yeah there's a couple inches of space between the tire and the fender lip and it was weird like you know there were some compressions on this road but nothing drastic I was just
talking in a car that costs this much and has suspension that is very expensive it did it will have a problem to on compressions it rubbed in hard constant radius corners and it rubbed front tires and back tires because you came back once and I said oh I can see the line on the rear
tire here's what's rubbing you're like why I heard in the front and I think honestly like this has the same coil over supplier as the T 50 which we know is sprung kind of soft which is what made it float
over all of the imperfections and roads so maybe these tires are just like you know a tiny bit too wide maybe I mean the better the rear tires when you look at them
it looks like as it comes up in the travel is just going to hit the fender it just you go is it was hitting on the outer I didn't actually on the outer side so and it looks like it's going to hit
and sometimes cars will fool you where you go there's no way that fits and the arc of travel is fine I think it's just a tiny bit too wide
if I want to be too stiff where then it doesn't have that wonderful though yeah I don't want it to not have the ride I'd rather give up the grip the section yeah
and these are pilot sport cup twos yeah they're sticky I think you make this car into rally spec well some narrower tires you know some all seasons a couple extra inches on the ride quality
fucking tarmac rally spec this would be the jam of jams yeah that's a lot of power for tarmac rally well no you do you detune it you would you would add
to 50 I do I would detune it and lengthen the final drive like a little bit and it would be glory us you geared out second gear to like 60 mm-hmm
what a second gear go to now fucking nothing this car the first three years are so short in this car I don't I didn't go to red line in all three first is like nothing first is like 12 I could use a small shift light I'm not going to lie to you
it was 7500 and it's so smooth it does I got close and it didn't seem bothered yeah and I think you can opt for an even more powerful engine that goes like 8500 so maybe it's they have a fucking more powerful version
one thing I did you know they did have a crazy power can on this yeah it comes with if you get the the one we saw it quail the super light carbon like crazy
racy one that looks like a gunther version of that like a gunther works version of this which looks crazy but I'm glad we were driving the one we were
driving so my yeah because we I remember seeing the other one at motorlux yeah and I me notice respect like I kind of walk past it and I was like
it's just too much because I think the shape of the stock cars original cars is like one of the best yeah but this blue one this is the jail great they just they did it just
perfect to the other one they had it quail was the one had it had suck to me and even better interior than this one because it had this
wild red instead of this houndstooth it had this red with flowers pattern and then the gear shift knob was like no Marano glass from Venice
like that glass thing I got brought back from Venice from Italy it's that but with a flower inside of it and it's the fucking
shift it's awesome that's like what a hitman the job was so sick that's what that is yeah Tommy the flowers come exactly like the highest paid hitman come back for one more job
yeah yeah yeah it's a fucking guy richy character it is yeah yeah it was unreal I was like I have a photo of it somewhere but it's a crazy
but so we talk about the second no the other bad thing the other bad thing yeah so you know they make their own steering rack
and they make their own steering shaft and they in this video I saw with Henry Catchpole which is a cool video worth worth checking out
there's actually not a lot of coverage of this car not many people have driven it at all and so we're it's very not privileged that we get to do it
but in researching you know about the car there wasn't all that much so the Henry's videos really cool it's got a video with
an interview with Ricardo and he shows all these different parts and they're bragging about one of the things they make
themselves is the steering okay but the steering is kind of weird yes and so tell me if I'm accurately
describing this from five degrees or so from center either direction if you turn it to sort of go through
a little bit of a bend in the road and then it doesn't self center from there it stays in that five
degrees until you actively tug it back to center and if you have to go from five degrees
right to five degrees left or from five degrees left to five degrees right you have to do a really hard
tug to tug it past center and then if you're going from center to five degrees
right to ten degrees right to fifteen to twenty to twenty five the amount of direction
change is not constant in that input yeah it's basically like there's a multiplier in when you turn the
wheel from zero to five degrees the front of the car moves more than you were expected it is the
inverse of a progress of any other progressive rack I think I've experienced but then once you're
at that five degrees and beyond it's a little bit more steady state yeah and so it's like it's very
reactive right off center most cars aren't but also with that magnification thing and then it slows down
and then on top of that it doesn't self center yeah so the closest comparison I can make
is two cars one is a home built drift car I drove once that had an angle kit on it and it's like
that but it doesn't have the angle or when I first got the Safari 911 back from Lee
Keane and I had them put BF Goodrich KO2s on it which I got for free from somewhere and they were
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a lot of work they have really square sidewalls and they made the the wheel
I don't know if they made the wheel but the steering did that on that car eventually when I put
the blizzac snow tires on it it kind of went away so it might be a wheel and tire size or
things set up I don't know but those are that's the only other cars I've driven that have felt
like this well another one that was close we talked about but it's worse yeah it's the cyan
racing p-1800 reimagination thing also a carbon fiber car and we drove that car and it had
some of the worst steering I've ever experienced at any price point and I got home and I was so
bothered by it because my dad used to have a p-1800 I was like what's going on here and it
turned out the p-1800 has like almost zero caster to the steering and that means it self-centered
very little and so we were up here driving this thing today we're going oh maybe it doesn't have
a much caster yeah now I admit we are not chassis engineers if someone's listening and you said
and you want to chime in in the comments like is this an alignment thing does it have too much
toe out maybe and like a like drift cars have toe out and so does it have too much toe out or can
you adjust the caster on this it was just strange that I thought the sensations coming through the
steering wheel once you're in a corner were pretty good like not the most communicative thing in
the world but like on par with any decent e-pass system sure this is assisted but it was that mid
off center thing that was just strange and I don't know if it does it it was a little disconcerting
and and it also happened a couple of times when I was just cruising you know I was just cruising
and you know kind of one hand on the wheel a little more relaxed and the wheels you know
the front caught something in the road and it got a big jerk like a big direction change
and just you know I the front tires aren't that wide I don't think I don't think they're wider than
like a 255 or 265 there's certainly not anything that would cause a problem and again to go back
to what Ricardo said on the phone you know this car hasn't been set up yet so this might have
a very wonky alignment in it that could be causing a problem I also found that the alignment
of the car did seem to change during compressions you know yeah so not like on the bump stop
but it just like if you did a compression like you'd have you would have to adjust for for that
it would turn in harder when compressed it was you know I chased you for a car to car in the
asked advantage in the convertible we have right now and I got in that and I just felt
immediately more comfortable at speed because it had none of these things I mean it's a bigger
car it's like it's a modern car all that stuff just to compare yeah well the Alphos insanely fast
in a straight line but it's actually there both both cars are 670 horsepower interestingly enough
the Alphaways the Alphaways a lot less yeah but in the corners you can go way quicker in the
Aston than you can in in this particular car as it's as it's setup true and the last thing is the
brake pedal is quite soft and I never quite in Henry's video in Henry drove this car he said the
brake pedal was soft but then it eventually did bite enough now he might be being kind or he might
not have been breaking in down hills or it's maybe not as hot I don't know but I never quite
found enough brake even though for the level of you know if you put the thing on kill mode
you're get your entering corners hot yeah and so it was different when there wasn't enough
brake for kill mode there's enough brake for medium 450 horsepower mode and I also wanted a
firmer pedal because like you said earlier I forgot if you said it to this microphone or just
to me outside when you press the pedal down hard enough to slow for the corner your foot is too
far down to effectively heel toe yeah which is mildly annoying there were a couple of times where
I nailed it but I had to really angle my knee yeah and it was just a little uncomfortable so I think
if you could move the pedal bite up and as a lot of great sports cars do it's almost like when
you break gently you're too high above the gas pedal to heel toe right but when you're breaking
when you're driving fast it lands right there yeah so this one you're breaking your your
brake foot is too low let's call it like I didn't notice this problem until we got to the canyon
when I was puttering around town this morning because I still drive like that always it was fine
there's only when I started having to hit the pedal hard so it must have been on moderate car
week setting yeah but I asked them you know in my punch list for the manks as well I asked them
to do the same thing with the brake pedal this this car clearly has enough hardware to slow down
it's not that but the pedal is too low and I can't get my foot back here the right way as I
bring the pedal up have the bite come up like two more inches so at medium but breaking I'm it's
firm yeah yeah I hope it's adjustable it's got big big brembo's on it well they've really got all
the like like we've just spent a few minutes criticizing this thing in ways that like could be
considered like mission critical but none of those issues are not repairable like this isn't a
piece of junk this is an amazing piece of fucking artwork yes um that just needs like a proper
I think setup to drive right I hope I hope it I hope they can just move some bolts and adjust some
things yeah and that would be great um but like it looks amazing it sounds amazing it's comfortable
it rides good it it behaved itself I mean the air it has the same electric air conditioner I think
is the roof CTR's which like sort of sucks yeah even Ricardo was like with the best one you can buy
and it's not very good yeah it's not so we really didn't have much AC but you know 600,000
220,000 euros plus whatever the phone can tariff is oh right because that's a hundred percent
built in Italy yeah yeah and the only thing it's not as the battery yeah like an ECU or something like
that um and it's a really really I can really see the appeal versus you know a quote mainstream exotic
you know if you've already had a mainstream exotic and you go you know these are getting more
computerized more electronic and I don't know if I'm into it anymore like this is that this is
going to be the shit like this is this is like an opportunity if you're for people for new companies
like chimera you know people that are reimagining but also maybe people that are that are building
something new new-ish well also I mean you know singer led the charge at least in the modern era for
this and a lot of companies have followed suit with 9.11 yeah there are so many reimaginings of 9.11s
and it's nice to see something for like the Italian crowd and I know that Alphaholics is out
there like there's a couple companies that do there's a company that has made the 355 what's their
name escaping me evoluto evoluto like I like that it's happening because you know we we love these
cars and some of them the performance isn't up to modern standards or you just you want to have
something that's different from the other ones that are around and I just think this I think this
is a exceptionally well done homage or tribute to something like this and to to change the design
of this car I think is such like a delicate thing you know it's like diffusing a nuclear bomb it's
like well you get well you get a line wrong yeah people are going to get real mad but they did a
great job yeah it doesn't have a bad angle for sure and it sounds crazy and people seem to really
dig it those who understand what it is but it also you know if people if people don't really know
what it is it's not necessarily you know super obnoxious and in your face you know people if you're
for there's not not everybody wants to as I learned when we were at singer because I was like
you know I'm I'm guessing because people you know want to spend their money without
showing off to the world that they've got money because maybe they feel a little guilty about it
or maybe they're not flashy people or whatever but but you know a lot of people are not comfortable
driving around in a mainstream exotic and so and so they there's talking about you know
they say you Matt Farrah you you can tell the difference between an 87 Carrera and a singer turbo
from half a mile away most people who do not distinguish the two really true and so if they get a
dark blue or a black or a silver one you know they can just drive that around you know pretty
invisibly yeah and I think this car is sort of the same in that regard I mean it's definitely
a little louder and a little more styled than the singer turbo it doesn't doesn't blend
as well but you know you get it in a subtle color and it's not like a scream and yellow you know
Rivuelto you know yeah it's a good point it's definitely classy very classy very classy but
this color is good too the color combo is great yeah I really really like it I mean I totally
get it I hope that the things that that we don't like about it can be fixed because the rest of it
is like very full of promise I mean I'd you know what I'd like to see him do the fucking alpha the
spider like his like that was like 2000 yeah like the 80s 70s and 80s out I mean if he did
if he did this styling and powertrain treatment to the spider that would be crazy because they're
even smaller that's like you know maybe you do like have them do the four cylinder version of
this engine or something I would like them to do that and I wanted to happen after Thomas and
James a throwhouse have been doing like five seasons Amazon and I want to see Thomas drive it
and watch him try not to buy one because he has he has an original one yeah and I just want to watch
his brain like him like this is the fight this is financial it would be I mean this is this is one
of those cars I posted this picture on Instagram and the texts I got within 10 minutes I got texts
from three very wealthy friends that are like is it the shit is it the shit should I should I
and I was like well you know you better you know wait and see if they can fix a couple things but like
but like you know this is kind of the shit it's kind of where it's at yeah it's drivable art but I
think once you get to a certain price point and when you're this close dynamically that we want to
try and help them refine that and make it perfect no like this dude has talked about wanting to
make a perfect car like he's openly been like I want to make a perfect car so like okay here's
what you could do to this to make it a perfect car those are not big things like those are very
those are pretty small things I hope so I hope I as long as it's not I think the problem with two
of them are very small ride height and or wheel size so it doesn't rub yeah and and the and win noise
yeah I know that's easier said than done but it's but that's a solvable problem with enough caulking
you can fix that problem that's a solvable problem yeah if you cared about it maybe you don't if
you do the other one might be a little harder but it's not like terminal hopefully it's a pickup
point yeah hopefully just someone who's very smart with suspensions will be able to fix that
it's just not me I can just tell you what's broken not how to fix it yeah not bro I don't want to
say broken it's just like not ain't right yeah not for six hundred yeah not for six and for for
150 you know if that's what you want to do if you're trying to do like a little a little budget version
of it I'll put up with a few things but not not for six hundred better be better be yes but nevertheless
I mean fine nice job nice job that's all right it's been a day our weekend it's been a weekend we've
had a week yeah two cars in a week that are like here's a carbon tub you know yeah like
tenium yeah that you'll never see yeah next week's here's another one well and yeah here's the
craziest possible version of the thing you've already you know tried yeah because remember we drove
that out the the GTV at that velocity that was a good time it was yeah that was I think that was
probably the most fun car I drove that day I think I drove I got a ride in the 250 GTO but I did
no I know I think that's the only car I drove that day so I'm like well that was it but it was fun
and I was excited it was more fun than the then the Mustang definitely more fun than the Mustang yeah
I was yeah it was and it was more fun than the minis and it was yeah it was that was most fun so
you I think the Mustang you drove they ran at the Laguna sake of vintage trans and races like this
past car week probably so it's just crazy watching real corkscrew would you a real part
Ellie Jones car I know would you have wanted to you know be in that race or like that that's not
even fun to drive even at that kind of speed I mean I really would have needed a lot more practice
with that car that car was really hard to drive and you have you'd have to be really comfortable like
going to first gear in hair pins which is not something I'm used to at all yeah because that car
had absolutely no balls below five it was five thousand to eight thousand RPM is what it had
in four gears and fucking no brakes and no power steering it just like it was it was a lot it was
yeah it was a lot it was a real handful it's fast right it was come overturned one in Laguna it had
no brakes terrible brakes um so I I don't know if it was for me the alpha out I would I'd
fucking dice it up in one of them for sure it's funny that fitting for this conversation I think
this past weekend Maas and Jensen raced an alpha yeah and then also Harris was at Silverstone
racing his friends crazy built 66 Mustang race cars all going backwards they have told yeah they
aren't but they have totally different sounds and they're probably different you know there's some
overlap like the old car thing but one is big V8 and one is tiny in line four good time um
oh I have to I had to tell you a kind of an awesome story it's been it's gonna be a little bit
of a name drop but I have to tie it's too funny so I took Mike oh well I wanted to show them all
the California things I'm tired because it's been a fucking weekend so Friday he came up with us
to shoot the roof and then we had a barbecue in the afternoon Saturday we got motorcycles he rented
one and I got the BMW R-90 R-12-90 boy and we went motorcycle in you know six hours of
motorcycle and then went to went to Korean barbecue and then it was awesome and then last night
yesterday Sunday we fucking did took the pink car up to Malibu I showed him all the spots
um showed him we the road we were on this morning I've I went out there real early with him and I
fucking hit it in that car and he was like I can't believe that you actually built the perfect
machine like the perfect tool for this activity like he understood he was like this is the perfect
thing for this thing cool I was like yes um but we went to uh old place and uh Tommy and Jeff
shout out to tradecraft farms old sponsor gong boys uh we're there um with Ryan Friedman
Ryan Friedman motor cars shout out to him car dealer from Florida I think but he was in town
and they're with fucking Adam Levine from maroon five right and I don't notice at first because
I'm distracted because there's a roof RT-12 right there and I'm like oh shit and I remember Tommy
from tradecraft telling me that he had bought some old roof and I didn't know what it was
and I thought it was his and it was parked kind of fucking Fakata and it was real busy
and I see Tommy and I go hey I'm rolling around there's no parking I go hey Tommy what up you're
fucking parking like a dick bag over here there's no room for the rest of us and I fucking zip out
and have to go park across the street in the fucking loser lot right so I walk back and Tommy comes
up to me he goes you know that's not my car that's that's fucking Adam Levine's new car he just bought
it from Ryan he parked it like that I was like oops I love it you know I walk up I say hello
it's juice myself you know whatever and Adam is there with his wife whose name is Bahati Prince
Lou who is a victorious secret angel and she is as expected let's just say that and she goes
are you the one with the pink car and I go yes I am and she goes that is awesome and I go you see
you see and I look at Adam and I go you bought the wrong color my friend because his shit's black
and she wants to know all about the color and and later but we later gone to Jeff
text me he's like yo dude your shit is the right color he's like I saw that happen and that is
a bunch of dudes bunch of dudes bunch of dudes supermodel and she's like was that you
Bravo Farah may I remind you that was a free color you right that's the funny thing it's like no
I don't want to pass it but what you've done is you've injected a little bit of like the Morgan
manx energy which is very disarming in a color form you distilled it and then you put it on a sports
car because your car could be most people would be like I'm gonna get it like carbon gray yeah yeah
look tactical because like I need to know my car fox you got to go the other way and the girls
are like I love it they don't give a shit about the engine no you can't see it's not it looks good
and then I look and check the date codes on Adam Levine's tires I was like you got to replace
these two the rears this year he's like who's this guy get this guy out of here no he was cool he was
actually he they were I respect to Adam Levine and Bajadi Prinsley they were absolutely lovely
and we fucking bullshit it for a little bit they were all right and he was a fucking he's a
fucking jokester we then went down to to scots to get breakfast and they rolled up and Adam Levine
walks to the porch and fucking rolls up to me he goes big fan bro and I'm like oh
shit that's a good joke that's a good good you told me like oh I do YouTube shit and no
someone else someone else did someone else did but like it's pretty funny all right it was it
was it was it was it was a fun he was doing a good bit yeah it was good and I got Mike to eat
uh pluots which is important he was like what the fuck is this which is important science
yeah yeah you're you're 13% does get e-things here in California oh right yeah yeah I'm gonna
pull out in the east coast yeah it's not the same thing um should we talk about do you want to
talk about the van do you want to talk about the uh the aston I mean you you had a little go in it
do you do you care um the only different like I drove the coupe on the launch yeah yeah so this
feels great it's comfortable on all those things but uh I hate the cruise control controls
oh the little like the roly thing feels under sprung so I feel like I'm overspinning it but it
also doesn't react as quickly as I spin it the scrawly wheel the scrawly wheel to go you know
62 64 it's like it takes two clicks for each miles per hour but then jumps five oh oh and but
I didn't use it at all yet I have to try it okay I didn't use it when I drove in Spain yeah
because we're on the track and stuff so that's that's my only interaction sure but otherwise
it's a very comfortable very fast very planted car the i the vantage roadsters are always
excellent they're always like a little better than the coups because they come out later and they
get some updates and stuff like that like the suspension tuning on this is really good it's fast
very it's really really fast crazy fast too hard-placed little sucks hard-placed the trunk is good though
trunk is good for a convertible and the top goes up and down in seven seconds which means you can
put the top up and down like all the time like a convertible top that's clunky and takes forever
means you'll use it less yeah like you can put this down up and down multiple times on the same drive
which I think is great for a convertible top if you live in Florida where it rains and it doesn't rain
and it rains yeah but fantastic car yeah there there that's it's a good one I like it I like it
better than I liked the vanquish even though the vanquish is like prettier and faster
I just I think the the vantage a little more compact you get the same amount of really usable space
in a smaller package it doesn't scrape everywhere and I think the ride is a little better of the
vantage and it's a hundred and fifty thousand dollars less it's like it's a lot of car yeah
ton of car yeah that's what I would say about it no so that's that's fun and I'll do I'm
gonna do an Instagram review of the vantage and I have we have a video review of the vanquish
coming this week next week next week next week yeah um you want to talk about the van yeah
I'm I'm I saw this yesterday I'm I'm on board I don't know about you Clapman but Chrysler
is doing an lifted overlandy Pacifica and I'm fucking down I'm in they did a concept so
are they gonna make it I think that's the question but I am here for it um it's also awake as
Chrysler sells two cars right now they both Pacificas it's like hybrid and the Pacifica hybrid
yes so now they have the Pacifica overland um so they have a third model let's call it it's just
high Pacifica it's not hybrids I like that yeah I'm pro Pacifica as long as it's not a hybrid
the the hybrids have been really rough yes they've been not good but I the ones we've the new
Pacificas that we've rented from Enterprise have been awesome the gas ones um and I really like
the idea of a slightly lifted Pacifica outback like I don't really want to go super overlandy on
it but I like ground clearance I that's a fun vibe to me I agree I think minivan camping in a minivan
especially when you put a bunch of stuff in people in it the ground clearance drops real quick
mm-hmm and then getting into that campground it's basically a car for instance if you have a
Previa right it's gonna be problematic come get a bunker did it uh that's what it sounds like
come get a bunker to put that on a tee here so this makes a lot of sense they're really comfortable cars
the seating I mean they're much I think they're more luxurious than like an outback or something
it's not gonna all shout out to the outback wilderness an excellence vehicle
road great MMI system bad okay sure yeah seats good ride rate value good value good I saw a fully
lifted outback wilderness with like kidded out uh at in Malibu yesterday and I was I was into it
it was cool think it works yeah it does I see the lifted cross tracks a lot and then I'm on board yeah
I mean I know they go 12 miles per hour because they don't have enough horsepower yeah and just
trying to get those wheels rolling all that stuff Tacoma owners you know what I'm talking about
put a turbo on that car Subaru that's crazy um but what is the back can I see the badge up close please
what's the is it a bear it's a bear it's a bear I think it's a bear yeah um it's kind of a sad bear
you got to step back a little bit it's got this rollout tent I mean I imagine these are accessories
and it's not gonna come with all that but I do like the black lower bumper with the yellow fogs
like that's pretty fun I'd like to see if there's like a skid plate you know it on and anything that
actually like maybe protects the undersides um but like I'm down right yeah I'm gonna do it
I like the I like the I like the light off-roading because so many activities only require a few
extra inches of ground clearance so you don't need a Wrangler right and I know Wrangler could do more
but there's plenty of people that could use this for their entire life with their kids and they'd
be more comfortable and they would be you know it's quieter on the road and it would get better gas
miles than driving a Wrangler which they go maybe I'll offer it one day and they don't think it
toes and mine's max the van yeah I don't know what's the Pacifica story I have no idea I'll look
yeah there you go sleeping sleeping bags in the back at the interior I think could use something
I need I need I need some gimmicks that orange seat belts safety orange
that way hunters don't shoot them okay orange seat belts but I need I need some more oh come on
you're not really doing white seats are you Christ? white seats on an off-road vehicle is incredibly
bold that's what are I mean dude you just you're just gonna climb in this thing like dirty it's not
like diapers show you dirt yeah I feel like this is what are you doing weird that's very strange and the
orange we we before we bought our RAV4 my wife and I we bought we went and looked at the Subaru
dealership and I think Forrester and you get in there and it was a lot of like orange and black
so I'm guessing that's what Chrysler is doing but you don't have to there are other colors that might
look better I don't hate orange seat belts but I mean a white a white seat and it's just it's not
even like the whole seat is white it's just the part you're sitting on it's only the uppers the
lowers are all black like the second it gets to the part that's not touching your dirty hiking pants
yeah it becomes black you should do the willy walk and they go strike that yeah make the lowers white
if you need them yeah that's not good uh specific a tow rating is 3600 pounds oh no shit I
could tow the max flat tow the max what do you mean the max is 1500 pounds I could tow it on the
trailer way 1200 oh okay yeah all right great hell yeah it's not a Bentley but you know what is
I do Pacific is great we drove it from Houston to Dallas I'm in the back seat plenty of leg room
I got a plug I'm running my laptop and stuff big Pacific you know I yeah production vehicle
yeah production production vehicle next next once the once the uh the tie cons up I'm gonna be like
Hannah or guess what here's here's gonna be our newest tax game be so fun and people go oh you guys
having kids and you go no just just love comfort just love and manage yes we already have one van and
nobody sits in the back of it so it's me and Hannah sitting on top of the front wheels just bounce
out just bounce the road bouncing down the road yeah front heavy it's a lot like driving a boat
on like very lightly choppy seas it is yeah it is yeah yeah oh and the bow rider though
in the Texas quail rigs when I got to do the bow riding that's really glorious did the suspension
soak up or you like shaking all over the place no no they they go the right speed they know they
know how it is you're in like a you know like a chair out of like a like a cigarette boat you've
got a cooler you grab a beer someone else is driving it's great to the seat have a spring like a
cigarette boat like darn though some of those oh yeah something like the the real serious ones
do have like hydraulics or indoor suspension this is not a suspended seat but yeah you're you're
out on the bow it's all right um we go to the people yeah patreon.com slash the smoking tire
podcast is where you ask us questions for the podcast it's where you get the show early it's where
you get an extra show every month it's where you get the show without ads it's where you get all
kind of things uh over there as well as you get the satisfaction of keeping the lights on your
favorite car podcast uh let's go to some of those questions bad gardener says I currently have a
100 series Lexus LX 470 uh when I decide to get rid of it uh what depreciated luxury SUV should I
go with European brands I really like the 2012 Range Rover it's like the last one before that new
body style it was the Ford based engine that those were like a really good year for Range Rovers um
Clarkson drives one in Clarkson's farm I mean time I see one I look at there yeah they're nice
knobs lots of knobs yeah there might be some kind of car play retrofit screen system you can get um
I'd rather I'd rather a low mile 2012 than a lot of later ones yeah domesticated Jaguar S XJS
is it cool to put transformers emblems on our cars never the answer is no I'll just say if you
really like transformers sure but be prepared to be made fun of yeah by people you shouldn't
design your life around what people think but it's you know it's a little childish I guess I mean
I wouldn't come up to you out of nowhere and laugh in your face but since yet since you asked
right no it's not cool it's lame it's also lame to put your Instagram handle on your car it's also
lame to put any reference to fucking Batman if you have a Lamborghini like stop what I'd also be
curious like if they have an XJS they don't like the name is funny but why do you want to put
a transformers emblem on it now unless you own a car from transformers like you have the beetle
is it better or worse if it's a yellow Camaro right it's tough better because I guess that car
is in the in the movie also made a transformers version right I mean I think I think it's better
if it's a yellow Camaro if you actually have a car in the color combo from the movie and it's
part of a whole like thing that's a little better than just like having it on your fucking hellcat
right if you're doing it for the lulls I guess sure I don't know yeah I mean unless if your car
transforms from a car into a half a car when you smash into a telephone pole then it's really every
car transforms from a car into a submarine think about it think about it ask your buyer max
mobile pretty good not bad comparing but comparing your riding ability to your driving ability what
car best represents your pace on a motorcycle similarly if you raced yourself into me out of
versus the top of the line Ducati which would win that's okay wait comparing your riding ability to
drive what car best represents your pace I mean yeah I don't go very fast on motorcycles although I
go fat I think I go faster than I think I do like I think I don't go very fast but Mike who had
never been up the mountain and rides like a lot of dirt bikes and has like a lot of motorcycle
experience was like wow you're going quick so like I don't know but I also like got past a bunch by
like people really on sport bikes so like I'm not going that fast I would say it's easier to answer
the second question honestly I don't really know how to answer the first question but like
if I raced if I was in a meana versus the top of the line Ducati who would win on a tight road
definitely the meana sure yeah definitely the meana I could I could go I could go a lot quicker
in a car than I can go on bike a lot quicker yeah but on like a big like road America something
has big straightaways yeah I mean but I don't I'd be I would be I don't know I mean on a track I
maybe I would hit 120 or 130 on a bike or something but I've never ridden over over like 110 on a
bike before ever but that speed lures you in Matt it does it does it actually it scares me lose you
know straight line speed straight line speed scares me on a bike I don't I'm not that interested in it
but that's why I said like road America any of those those tracks that have like huge straight
aways where you can rip and then slow down real early yeah and then I would go 10 miles around
an hour around the corner be out it would catch me and then I drove real fast again yeah no I don't
I don't ride motorcycles to go fast I don't seek out I try to improve my skills every time I ride
but I don't try to improve my skills by pushing the pace harder I just I enjoy myself
hmm live axle rows pretty good I like that money low object daily commuting on West LA
a Bentley 911 Dakar or something else I would say I mean a Bentley GT speed hybrid is about as good
a commuter car as exists anywhere on the planet if you have the means right I was gonna say that
or it's the electric rolls oh this yeah but that's just so big it would be like annoying in traffic
a Bentley is big but not so big that you're like a rolling roadblock and like a Bentley if you
got a Bentley in a darker color like not everybody would stare at you if you're in an electric
rolls rise everybody is staring at you but also well money no object has to be Bentley for most
reasonable people the best daily imaginable is like a 911 career yes like just good at everything
true but that commute that you saw unless at some hours I hate you want electric an electric
vehicle that has really good radar cruise control sure semi autonomous sure that made that too I mean
look if you're by yourself if I actually had to commute in the city if I had a real job with a real
commute I I wouldn't be able to do anything except a motorcycle I would fucking hang myself I if I
had to sit in that kind of traffic like no way you know that might be good for most of the seasons
here I would go electric motorcycle sure for money no object yeah like not even a live wire like one
of the little like smaller ones for lane splitting like like the pulse that I had like that would
that would rip for commuting that'd be great um Craig S recently took a trip to L.A.
and noticed a lot of tire squealing noises on the freeways do you know why this is the concrete
groove yeah the grooved concrete makes all kind of noises oh it does it's musical it kind of is
yeah yeah it's it's musical my accurate NS and and different tires make different sounds my
accurate NSX um has like really sticky like R compound like track day tires because that was
basically all that was available and man are those susceptible to that shit I think stuff is
broken yeah you know and I and I when it when it goes over the grooved concrete to the paint to the
dotted line it's just like oh yeah fuck concrete socks it's not my favorite Curtis Bowman says
what other cars outside of the AMG talking about the SL55 we had did a video of last week
better better best cars for for an auto to manual swap and then throws out the first gen
the Lexus ISF oh good choice good choice I think yeah yeah I wonder how that engine would do
made it to a manual gearbox I feel you'd be pretty good if you put it neutral and rev it up it
revs pretty free yeah it's a good feeling yeah right yeah it's a five liter V8 yeah and good one
that's the choice uh let's see other great cars only available with a manual Lexus LFA in
the Lexus family but I don't know where you'd put the shifter does 63 AMG like 507 so many of
like any of the early 2000 things he's basically I know that's what you drove um I mean all like all
the BMW 850s like just a bunch of them a bunch of them are not worth saving as autos that would be
worth saving as manuals alpha 4c alpha 4c yeah if you could do it yeah for sure
um e38 the mw7 series sporty shorties um it's cool yeah
raw V wants to know if my mom wants to sell her f type not to you uh I don't think so she hasn't
mentioned it I'll tell her I'll tell her someone's interested give me a number throw out a number
raw V I can't go in there and go do you want to sell she's gonna go she's gonna go what's the
number she's not an idiot she needs a number your mom drives a stick that's a user name that's
not uh an insult that raw V threw up my mom almost bought a taicon gts sport to reasonable but went
ionic fat 5n um uh the taicon fake taicon facelift added power and range and active ride but I'm
struggling with the value proposition of a new one versus the half priced old ones will the
values of the new ones sink the same way or hold a bit higher as they offer a lot more
I mean I there's no reason to think there's no evidence that that a new EV will not depreciate
quickly there's no evidence to support that what which EV has had the magic feature that holds
its depreciation better than other EVs I just where I don't there's no evidence of that happening
plus the active magic ride is amazing but it's very complicated so was the air ride on the
house but you know we don't know how reliable that system will be well but it's going to be
warrantied I mean even if he's talking to him he's talking about CPO at a minimum right all right by
the way John Harper's CPO deal camera photographer John Harper he came out with us this morning
to film the alpha and he got a 26 this is like 60 bought it six months ago but it's a 2016 it's
like eight years old when he bought it a cayenne hybrid with s hybrid with like 80,000 something
miles on it and it came with the CPO warranty a three year limited mile warranty which is pretty
awesome so you know a CPO warranty on a on its tycon with active ride is going to be a pretty cool
thing because that kind of stuff just like air suspension those aren't wear items that that is
expected to work properly the entire time yeah I said that when I got the CPO on mine I was like
what about the air suspension they're like nope it's like it is expected to operate perfectly and if
it's not it's covered under warranty it's not a wear item okay but I would as you said
there's no way to assume that just because the new car has new cool stuff that it's going to
depreciate a slow at rate no so I'd rather go get a used one that has a CPO you'll save yourself
like 80,000 dollars probably yeah tens of thousands of dollars for sure yeah I mean and you look
I think active ride is a $7,500 option so it might add 2500 or 3000 to the price of a used one
down the road like they don't depreciate slower but if they have a higher MSRP you know a
proportion of that will end up in the used one later right so the first owner will get like some
of their money back for active ride but not most of it loose loose scunt loves Matt's hot dog knob
if you formed a dune buggy gang ala cunts what might you call it a manks gang so if people don't
know what cunts is I don't the kuntosh union oh right right right I don't know I don't have a union
and matter of fact it's like the opposite of the union they told me that the manks is ready to come
back it's fixed it's all done they've done my they've done my notes to the best of their ability
and they said it'll be ready to come back right after it's photo shoot and I was like hold up
what photo shoot and so there's the opposite thing so instead of cunts maybe it's like suckers
you got the air cucks yes it's the opposite speed yellow led better pretty good
if you were the CEO of Porsche for a day what three things would you have the company do immediately
stop paying so much money uh what three things would I do immediately
I would tell every dealer I would I would make every dealer investigate
people who flipped their GT cars remove them from the allocations list and give their allocations
to new people who have been waiting that's number one uh number two is I would have better
wheel options for the macon electric because the wheel options for macon electric suck and number
three I would execute the downloadable car simulation pack for the upcoming for all Porsche EVs
so you could replicate the power and torque curves power to weight ratios gear ratios and engine
sounds of vintage Porsche's in your electric Porsche jacking off the record exceptional frankly
exceptional everything about that is great uh has it feel knowing that so many of your fans make
an active effort to bring smiles to your face with their user names good it feels great so fun
thanks for asking um do you know what this is this a real thing it is a real filling idling says
have you seen the stark var yet it feels like this successor to the something something uh it's
an electric enduro motorcycle that looks you know like a like a dirt bike um I don't really uh yeah
it looks like a dirt bike it seems to have a chain drive uh it has a little display screen that
looks pretty rugged I mean it does look cool whoa look at that uh that handlebar controller on your
left hand grip with those buttons is awesome looking it is it looks like a vionny halter watch oh
the fuck look at the go up the the the the caption for this photo is the buttons next to the grip could
be better so I get maybe they don't work as well as they look there you know it looks like a dirt bike
yeah it's pretty cool I mean this is the kind of thing like if I had one of Ali's range energy
you know trailers not the semi one but the recreational one the 200 kilowatts you tow it tow that
three or four of those dirt bikes out to the desert for the weekend and then you just recharge
you know you get five charges of five dirt bikes and you charge it off that the whole weekend that
could be fun yeah that'd be cool yeah yeah yeah Farah does that what does that mean does that mean
like Gat Farah oh is that that no the YATT Gat Farah I'm not sure unsure uh do we think the reef oh
wait oh did that read that that was very similar to the I think I'm sorry to talk about it three
range um disrespectfully agree says do you think companies like BMW get more leeway with polarizing
designs since they are a desirable brand um personally I don't think BMW has any good designs but
there's a lot of people who would still buy one because it's a BMW I do think brand gets you a lot
of the way I also think that people who have already owned BMWs are more likely to just get another
one even if it does like look kind of weird um I also have been around people that very much like
the designs of most of the new BMWs I mean I friend a friend of mine who's not that in the cars has
one of the iXs really and thinks it's awesome wow so I think also I don't uh I don't know everything so
BMW does seem to get more uh they get a lot of shit because their design language seems to change
every five years but the critics seem to care more than the actual customer they're selling a lot
of cars I keep pulling up the numbers in their sales I think are up every year for the last couple
of years so what the fuck do we know we don't know shit yeah yeah huh John had to see you next Tuesday
that's pretty funny that's good uh you're given a stock clean 240 sx and 50k to build it
what direction do each of you take it I think there's a sequential box you can get for like eight
grand uh I would use that start there and I mean drift car but one that I could also set up for grip
uh you know with some some small changes that is possible so it wouldn't be like full angle kit
I would want something I could do both because they're quick on track when you set them up for road
course yeah yeah I think I would set up to be a like a gravel rally type setup you know I'd
really want to to feel some weight transfer slide it around have a have a nice tight diff
have you seen the greatest uh s15 in the world no is it that pretty much oh wow that's a full like
trophy truck it looks like atoms it looks like atoms card it does this is like a full trophy truck
they just put an s16 truck with a with a fucking s15 body on it yeah approved love it yeah
that's a little more that's a little more than 50 grand too no like basically I would want uh you
know like eight nine inches of ground clearance a good a good diff you know I'd want to be able to
like rip it up fire something you could do the Colorado hill climb in yeah that yeah fantastic
yeah yeah nice turbo engines reliable more horsepower LS LS LS it's not that that car wouldn't be
about the engine it would just the engine would be a a way to go fast in that car I got other cars
that sound cool I don't need to put some weird thing in there that sounds crazy no I was thinking
for the altitude but now I'm remembering there are people that run like old V8 gravel machine gun
cars at Colorado the Jeff drives a GT3 huh Jeff drives a GT3 yeah I know it's naturally aspirated sure
yeah turbo maintain more power yeah it's all right with with the wheel spin there's a dirt you know
yeah you know 800 horsepower is not gonna do for it kuntosh update engine land engine lands the
28th that's in what couple days two days three days three days engine lands and then it goes to
Damien at Franco's European sports cars the engine does and then I wait until Damien which has
a it's a very small shop until he has room for my car and then the car goes over and then he
goes to work so you know hopefully soon in the meantime like boy we have shit to do so whatever
you think this is a 2026 I won't know I won't know what we really what I really need to do is once I
get everything over there something is missing I just don't know what it is yet you know what I mean
like that's going to be the thing hopefully like because we have so many parts and so many bits
and so many fucking everything that we collected from Donnie's like but there's just no way that we
have everything there's there's not it's not possible that we have everything so it's just like
is the thing that's missing going to be findable or expensive there's no such thing as cheap
there it's a cheap doesn't the bolts are 15 dollars each there's no such thing as cheap
it's it's insanity but we but I thought that we already have all the expensive shit it's just like
what's missing and is that expensive I bought new tabs for my dash to like put the trim back in yeah
and they charge 4.95 a piece for these tiny pieces of plastic yeah very upsetting and also it also
does remain to be seen I didn't get photos of the engine and gearbox in the crate like I
didn't I don't know how they were loaded meaning I don't know if the engine and gearbox were
together if they are then that means I also have a new clutch and new flywheel like in there but
if there are if they're separate I sent them my clutch and flywheel like I don't I sent them a
whole bunch of things to that you know that was like use you know use if you need blah blah blah so
I'm not sure what of that is coming back and how like so I can't make an estimate in just like
I bet if Damien did nothing else but put my car back together he could probably have it back
together in two or three weeks probably if everything's there I mean if one guy does nothing else
sure probably yeah it's just you know putting parts together but like something's missing and we
don't know what so can't wait to find out um brab brab buster rhymes so good that's pretty good man
I like that after watching and listening to the coverage of car week I'm hoping we've reached
peak reimagining I'm tired of retro future 80s and 90 cars what's your opinion it's it's very
tough because you cannot build of a brand new it's very hard for a company to come out of nowhere
and build a car from scratch that they can legally sell in America and you're up to the to the
public that's just like very very hard to do and so if you're a new company it sort of makes more
sense to start with these existing vins especially like pre-76 like beetles or alphas or whatever
that that you can then essentially build whatever the fuck you want and there's a place like
California can't say wait a minute it doesn't meet smog it doesn't meet this it doesn't meet that
so like I understand why they're saying that but the mainstream OEMs are not giving us the real
quote drivers cars that we are seeking a lot in a lot of the ways and and these small boutique
outfits have stepped up to fill that gap and it's just so much easier if they start with a
based on something I'm not I want to see more of it I'm gonna go the other way I want to see more
of it I want to see somebody really do somehow you know reimagine a car that really surprises me
this the alpha gtv is it's a beautiful but predictable right like that that makes sense that
they would do that the the p 1800 was a great example of surprise and surprise and delight
yeah the steering wasn't very good but the execution of the construction and a lot of other
things about that car were real rad that's very true and it was out of left field because I we
never we I rarely see p 1800s yeah at any car vent I saw one in car week yeah and you never see
them modified it's just you and you see E30s and you see this and then all the time 2002's I'm
for it because it's really just the end of the road for modification and I'm all about people
customizing their cars and seeing how they can push any car in whatever direction they want the
reimagining thing is just a tournament you know it's it's money no object usually and it's how far
do you want to take this kind of idea so I like that I mean look 10 years ago 15 years ago this was
just called pro touring that's so it wasn't called reimagining it was called it was called pro touring
and now we just don't like muscle cars anymore we like cars from the 80s and we're pro touring those
cars it's just a new word for the same fucking thing yeah so it's not going to stop it's just
going to keep moving forward yeah and like you know we'll see where it ends up but but that's what
this is this is the same shit on a trademark this idea for Thaddeus because he every week we talk
on the phone he goes someone should really singer the E36 M3 and I'm like I don't have any money
and he's like someone should do it and then so the best case scenario is not that good for that
car it depends on what you want it depends on how much you want to charge and who wants that who wants
that you're better off doing an E30 or an E46 or an E28 M5 I think everyone I think people really
like the way the E36 looks I think they're insane oh well I like it okay but it has so many
problems that we hate you got to fix all of those yeah also from Lou Skunt loves Matt's hot dog
knob well the Evie Boxster came and be a fantastic car that's doomed to flop oh that's a tough one
maybe maybe it's a good point yeah maybe I'll tell you what though if they can't move them
if they're on lots and they can't move them at the right price I am I'm a customer right like
the charger EV right now is discounted what 40 thousand dollars some huge number yeah if they do
that with this at the right price I have porches attention on dynamics and stuff it might drive
really good my tycon is at service right now getting the battery module recall done it's a software
thing as apparently it was a kind of a big deal but it's a software thing it's not hardware and also
they're replacing the other bit of windows so they replace the drivers window seal the look because
they're frameless so the seals at the bottom it was this some I don't know why but it was leaving a
sticky residue on the bottom of the window all right they replaced it it's never done again passenger
one so they replaced that cars there and okay fine but when I was down there I just a little
walks you around see what's what a lot of macon electrics so something tells me that that you know
those will be a buyer's market pretty soon there's going to be cash on the hood for those and
good good I don't regret my decision I see I'm starting to see a lot of macon electrics around
and I'm like shit that thing 20,000 extra dollars for that versus what I've got I'm in the money
all day um tyme oh wait uh well I think tyme has questioned reveals an answer which is the
Dodge charger EV is such a dud what EV maker could create a stylish two-door performance GT
in the muscle car EV formula I just think muscle cars and EVs are diametrically opposed
I totally agree muscle cars aren't even about going fast they're about making noise that's
the point of a muscle car I would almost want to ask anyone under the age of 30 like you could
hold a hundred of them and say do you know what a muscle car is yeah see what their answers are
because if you weren't exposed to 60s cars and nowadays like you know mustangs and
Camaros are kind of called pony cars sometimes we're general performance cars they're more well
rounded so I just think that term is locked to an era and an like an attitude and a sound
and an engines basically yeah yeah I don't think you can do it yeah
everything clean but the ash tray is one of the best hip hop lines ever written
mystical big truck driver one of the greatest hip hop songs ever written and uh it should be played
at maximum volume whenever you are driving a G wagon um I just went from a seven cedar that toes
from needing a seven cedar that toes to a needing a six cedar that doesn't toe what would you
daily if you had to be able to occasionally seat six what's it I mean six three rows it's any
uh I mean a lot of cars have three rows but like I we don't drive them very often yeah I think
that's why I'm like I don't I mean Durango Hellcat that's a three row they're pretty they are pretty
fun uh uh uh uh at escalade pocket toe with escalade corvette uh what do you call it's escalade v
escalade v uh escalade corvette it's a great yeah what about um I mean it's old but a Mercedes R63
yes so it's six yeah really oh man those are cool yeah they look like oh they look like a wagon
that got some way b's yeah what else is cool with the third row um oh Volvo like XC9
40 turbo or something the old one oh an old face yeah I was gonna say XC90s XC90s are lovely that's
C6 yeah uh long wheelbase Range Rover think how they tell tell you what I do just keep that
warranty silence of the Lambo I like it I think they've used that before uh favorite cover car from
From the Tuner magazine era, do you have a favorite tuner car, the specific tuner
car that you remember, Zach?
I only really remember one.
I mean, two, but one is the roof yellow bird, and that doesn't count here.
I don't remember any of them from the main magazines.
I know they did stories occasionally, and I subscribe to Euro Tuner for a while, but my brain
has just blended them all together, like, you know, gummy bears left in the shop.
Sure.
I mean, a couple, the two that come to mind are the top secret Supra that had the twin
turbo Toyota Century V12 in it.
That's pretty...
The gold one?
The gold one.
Yeah.
That one was amazing.
I remember we saw it at the Audrain.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, so that one, and then with the first time I saw the Brabus Rocket, which was where
they put the V12 twin turbo into an E-class, and I was like, oh, they are not fucking
around.
That is a...
They saw...
And then Jason...
What's the guy's name?
From fifth gear.
Played out.
Played out.
He drove the Brabus Rocket when I think they put it in a CLS.
Right.
And I saw...
I remember seeing that video on the internet, and I was like, I don't know what this car
is, but I am following Brabus everywhere on Facebook for a long time, because that was
so cool.
You know, they do a bunch of different stuff, they do boats, and they do Rolls Royces
and shit.
They are set up at Car Week, was like kind of insane.
How have me become back?
How have you become back?
Wants to know, can you each run through a top three list of your favorite, Bantam weight
cars?
Like, ultralight stuff?
Sure.
The Gordon Murray Rocket.
I think it's super cool.
The light car company has that one day.
Caterham.
Sure.
Any of them.
And...
How do we...
What else makes it really light?
I mean, that's too heavy.
Are we saying that?
We're saying sub-2000.
No, I mean, there's no, it's just Bantam weight, light weight cars.
For me, it's that Alpine, the modern one, but it's light by modern standards.
You know, the, the, the manks, which is just fucking hilarious.
And...
Hmm.
If we can count Alpine, I will add that, that'll be the third.
Yeah.
I think you can.
And...
Hmm.
Oh, the 1985 Porsche 911 Club Sport prototype that I drove, that was 20, it was 1100
kilograms, and 240 horsepower, and I thought it had 350 horsepower, and it was fucking nasty.
That was, that was aces.
Um, nice cam says, what's the most you'd spend on a watch if you knew it was guaranteed
to not lose more than 5% value but has a chance to increase a value?
I mean, it's not like, it's more about what's the most expensive watch I'd feel comfortable
wearing outside.
And I, and I don't, I think that number is like, this is going to sound like an asshole
but like 40 or $50,000.
But like, I'd buy a Grand Saco Cotto if I was rolling in it, and I, and that's 350,000.
And if I had enough where I could spend that and it didn't matter, or you wouldn't lose
the money, I would, I would buy a Grand Saco Cotto absolutely for 350 ran, or a fucking
MB and F or something, um, if I had the money, but like, how much would I spend is more
of a function of like, I'd rat in like, how much would you spend versus like, what would
I actually wear out of the house?
Like, I wouldn't, I can't walk out of the house, the $100,000 watch on, that's, that's just
I couldn't do it.
Have the money or not.
And I was the fucking auction, name drop incoming when I was a good thing with Seinfeld.
Everybody looked at that Ferrari 250 GT California Ferris Bueller fucking, and I was like,
that's the shit.
He's like, that is the shit.
I was like, why don't you have something like that?
And he's like, I, I, I can't be, I can't pull up to the curb and get out of that.
Wow.
Yeah.
The porches are more stealthy.
It's a real if you know, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, even a dope one is like, it's not that like he's like, everybody knows what
that is.
That is in the zeitgeist being an expensive car.
Yeah.
And all anyone knows about it is that it's insanely expensive.
He's like, doesn't matter how it drives.
He's like, that's it.
So I get it.
Two more.
And then we're calling it because I got my trainer this afternoon.
Okay.
Christian says, how much quality is there in a Christopher ward watch?
A lot.
They, they make a, they make a very nice watch.
Their prices are a little above what you would get for a micro brand watch.
That is a, that is a high quality product.
Okay.
Wait.
Let's do this.
This one's for helping a teenager back up to your ass and gas.
My young son is newly qualified to drive on a manual license.
I don't know what a manual license is, but let's assume it means he can drive stick.
I have the opportunity to help him into a new car as his current one has an issue that's
expensive.
He's paying it all back, but over time initially the offer was to get him into a practical
and economical EV, but instead he wants to drive a manual while they are available new.
Am I over indulging him to help him into a Miata over an EV?
I'm possibly letting my own enthusiasm get in the way of a practical life lesson.
What is the life lesson that he's supposed to learn that you're preventing him from if
he gets a Miata?
Is there a supposed to be a life lesson that I'm missing?
Yeah, I don't know actually, unless he's learning a lesson on his current car that he has
to pay for to fix, and then you help him get into a new-ish Miata, is that teaching him
the wrong thing?
Well, no, look, there's an argument to be made as a parent, and I'm not a parent, but
like, okay, fix the old car versus get a new car.
That's one argument.
But if you're willing to, if you're already willing to indulge that he's going to be getting
a new car of some kind, now it's just a matter of the car that you want him to have or
the car that he wants, but it seems like you kind of are willing to get him the car
that he wants, but you're concerned that somehow that's the wrong thing for reasons.
I don't think there's anything wrong with a teenager driving a Miata.
In fact, I think that's probably a totally okay thing, as long as the teenager understands
that this is a small car that doesn't fit much.
I think that, and it's real drive, and I think my pro, I mean, support of this because
it could get your kid into cars if an already driving a Miata, it's a great way to expose
someone to handling balance, and all these fun things we love about driving, that it's
away from horsepower, it's not about that stuff.
It's like they might learn the nuances of driving, you could eventually turn into a race
car with your son, you could have a great relationship, and this could be the foundation
of a great automotive relationship with you guys.
The danger, I think, is that it's a small car that's real drive, you can turn traction
off, and so do you know your son, is your son a responsible person, and they're not
going to do that shit, or are they going to go out there and try to FD this thing and hurt
themselves.
In that regard, I think a boring EV is a more responsible thing, it's a lot harder to
get into, let's call it dynamic driving trouble, although they tend to be really fast.
I don't know, all EVs are fast, the EV, the practical boring EV might have double the
horsepower of the fucking Miata.
That's true.
I think it's easy to have an accident in an EV because they're so fast, it's easier
to have a crash because Miata makes you go watch this.
I don't know, I think if your teenager is enthusiastic enough about driving, that they're
talking about getting a Miata while they still can, I don't see any problem indulging
that, and if you're talking about a, I assume you're talking about a, maybe a lightly
used Miata, not a brand new one, these are fairly flat investments, if you buy a decent
Miata and you take good care of it, and they decide they don't actually want it in six
months or a year, you can probably get most of your money back.
That's probably not an expensive lesson to learn, you know?
All right, that's our show today.
We have more shows coming, I'm not traveling for two whole weeks, yay.
So, I'm not traveling for, actually, that's not even true, I'm traveling in like eight
days actually, but I thought it was two weeks, but then I was like, no, it's not Friday,
it's definitely now Monday.
But lots more shows coming, thank you to our patrons for all your support and your
great questions.
Do all the like in and all the subscribing, we'll have a Aston Martin Vanquish review
up this week, we'll have the SSC Tautara video up next week, and then I think this alpha
probably after that.
So thank you all for supporting the smoking tire and we will see you later, bye.
About this episode
Zach and Matt dive into their exhilarating experience driving the Totem SuperGT, a striking Alfa Romeo-inspired restomod boasting a 670HP turbocharged V6. They discuss its lightweight carbon construction, luxurious interior, and impressive performance that rivals modern hypercars. The conversation also touches on the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster and Chrysler's intriguing overlanding van concept. With humor and insightful critiques, they explore the balance between nostalgia and innovation in automotive design, while contemplating the future of reimagined classics.
build quality
carbon monocoque
coilovers
damper
dead pedal
exhaust sound
final drive
flywheel
gated gearbox
Hellcat horsepower
Alfa Romeo GTV
Aston Martin Vanquish
BMW 3 Series
BMW 5 Series
BMW 7 Series
BMW M3
BMW M5
BMW New Class
Cadillac Escalade
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Corvette
Chrysler Pacifica
Datsun 510
Dodge Charger
Ferrari 250 GT
Ferrari 250 GTO
Ford Mustang
Jaguar XJ-S
Jeep Wrangler
Lamborghini Countach
Land Rover Range Rover
Lexus LFA
Lexus LX
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Pontiac GTO
Porsche 911
Porsche 959
Porsche Boxster
Porsche Cayenne
Subaru Outback
Toyota Century
Toyota Previa
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Supra
Volvo 850
Volvo P1800
Volvo XC90
Original notes
Matt Farah and Zack Klapman tell of their drive in the incredible, carbon-fiber-constructed piece of unobtanium that is the Totem SuperGT. It's an homage to the legendary Alfa GTV/A cars. Does it do the original justice? Is it overpriced?
Plus, Chrysler might make an off-road minivan.
Patreon questions include:
- Should my teenager get a Miata or an EV?
- Have we hit peak "reimagine"?
- You're CEO of Porsche for a day: what would you change?
- What is the ultimate commuter car?
- Can I put a Transformers sticker on my car?
- Top 3 ultra-light cars
- Why tires squeal on some freeways
- What to do after my luxury SUV finally dies
- Manual swap dream list
- Will the new Taycan depreciate less than the older ones?
- And more!
Recorded August 25, 2025
Show Notes:
DeleteMe
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Want your question answered? Want to watch the live stream, get ad-free podcasts, or exclusive podcasts? Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thesmokingtirepodcast
Use Off The Record! and ALWAYS fight your tickets! Enter code TST10 for a 10% discount on your first case on the Off The Record app, or go to http://www.offtherecord.com/TST.
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The Smoking Tire
Zack Klapman, Matt Farah
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101:28