In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show Aug 25, 2025

Durango Diaries: Road Tripping with 710 Horsepower

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Welcome to another in-wheel-time podcast, a 30-minute mini-version of the in-wheel-time car show that airs live every Saturday morning, 8 to 11 a.m.c. Welcome to the award-winning in-wheel-time car talk show coming up. We hope to talk to author noted automotive journalist wayward traveler in talk show host from the left coast, and Ryan didn't. It's Jackney Red, hopeful. Later, Jeff has what your car's color says about you.

And Mars has different hurricane evacuation destinations. Howdy along with Mike out of this world, Mars. We always need more Jeff Zekin, Chief Engineer David Ainsley, who's with us this morning, and I am Don Armstrong. So glad that you could join us and we thank you very much for that. If you wonder what Mars is doing down there, he's trying to get these zoom to work, and apparently it's not working. So Jack is going to be delayed just a little bit. Well, hopefully he on the phone with David Ainsley will be able

to bring it all together, and we're going to do the deed. Is that okay? I guess if I say that, do the deed, because it has many different connotations. Well, do the deeds are dundered cheap. Listen to you. Did you ever play that song? Yeah, I think we did a long time ago, a little rock and roll days. So while we wait for the connection to Jackney Red, then we are going to do a little thing that I've been saving forever and ever.

We're going to move the studio in the next couple of weeks. And in the meantime, I am cleaning out things like, what am I doing with that? I thought I threw that out years ago. Well, apparently I didn't get a guy. I am a guy. And so there's been a lot of expulsion here at the homestead. So exfoliation. Yeah, Mr. Mars, we don't need that. Thank you.

So this is a thing that I've been hanging on to. Sweating the details. Six steps to deep clean your car's carpet. Have you ever done that? Have you ever cleaned it without taking it out? No, no, never. I've never deep cleaned it. I've never gotten it that dirty. Well, I haven't either. I'm very fastidious about my carpet, because even these new cars that I drive all the time, they'll have like 3, 4,000 miles on them. And you get, I'm going to smell like dirt. Yeah.

You can't handle that. It's like going into your house because the way I look at it, your car is a direct reflection of you and your cleanliness at your house. That's my take on it. Now there's a going, it is not okay. Well, that's just my take. If it smells bad, your house probably smells. Don't eat it if it smells bad. Ever.

And stop biting your fingernail. There you go. So the first thing you need paintbrush. Oh, what did you do, Mars? Who did? Jack did. Jack. Oh, my God. Jack, you're with us. Can you hear us? Can you hear us? I don't think you can hear us, Mars. Well, he's. No, you can't hear us. It was all just a figment of our imaginations.

Never mind. So to continue on, you need a paintbrush. Any old paintbrush will do as long as it doesn't have paint on it. And actually, I prefer those that that are shorter bristles, not too long of bristles.

Yeah. Okay. And if you have one, you feel like dabbing. Well, yeah. But the stiffer ones get the dust and stuff out of there. Many great shop vacuums. You're going to need to shop vac. And I've got one that I've had quite some time. It is a wet dry vac. I think that one is from the lows. You can buy them fairly cheap. If you get a home depot model or whatever. And they're fine. Yeah. And they're fine.

It has to be blower. It's lightweight, strong on wheels cost about a hundred bucks and does the job better than much price of your vacuums car accessory kit soft bristle hose attachment.

Yeah. Okay. It'll be your favorite tool getting the dust off your dash and console vacuum attachment kit like that doesn't cost much. If it doesn't come with the vacuum, whatever.

The time that you'll pay for the $25 or so that you'll spend on Amazon, well worth it. Small brush, large brush, shampoo poo. Gotta have some shampoo poo. Yeah, you got to what kind?

Strong options available. You should always keep a quality interior cleaner handy. And I've got one over there and it's and I can never remember the name of it. It's over there in that box. Jeff, if you want to go dig around it.

No, that's quite all right. Well, I can dig around it. Did you want? Would you like to do this? I'm not putting my hand. It's called tough stuff. That's what tough stuff. And you can buy it everywhere. It's been on the market forever. And I learned about this stuff long time ago when I was working at Richardson Chevrolet, we used it over there to do spot cleaning on new cars carpet. Okay. And it works great. You also use it on a poultry as well. All purpose concentrate from the wires. One of them as well. Concentrates are great because you can decide how strong

you'd like each bottle to be. I always keep a couple of bottles already mixed at different strengths plus concentrates cheaper than individual bottles, though a gallon of the stronger stuff may last you 100 years. A couple of other interior cleaners that this person likes, McGuire citrus power cleaning plus stoner power clean. That'd be for me. Yeah, stoner. The second is just for plastics, but it's great because it adds UV protection. And

satin finish. You don't have to go overboard. Don't overthink it. You just don't have to do that. Well, you asked me, I've been thinking I think what I've done in the past, you hang up to

floor mat and you take a power washer. Oh gosh, floor mats. That's a whole other story. You know what I do. Floor mats. They're so easy. Okay. You just get some regular laundry detergent. Get a hose. Hang them up, as you say. Yeah. And get the nozzle on the hose and just blast it. Well, I'm, we're on the fence. Take it off the fence. Put it down on the ground. Take you just

to regular broom, whatever you got in the house. Yeah. And get you a little laundry detergent. Sprinkle it on there and get you a good

suds going. Yeah. Hang it back upon the fence and rinse it off and let it dry on the fence. I would just rinse it and let it drip. Yep, because you don't really need to, they

weren't that dirty to the deep, deep clean scrub. Yep. But so far as the carpet, I've never actually cleaned the actual carpet, carpet. So you're also going to need some old towels.

Do not need to be microfiber because remember we're working on the carpet right now. Remove everything out of the car. And if you're worried about

getting anything wet, put a plastic bag over it. Sorry. Talk, talk, talk, talk. Hello, Jack. Can you hear it? We can, we can hear Jack, but he can't hear us. Now I can hear you guys now. Hey,

Marley is, is, is Ainsley still on the phone with you? We love you, David. Thank you. Why don't you come up here and take Mars place. It'd be a whole lot easier. Are you talking to Jack?

Jack, come on up. Yeah. I hear you guys. Well, we can hear you too. And it's good to be with you. Yeah, we can hear you. Let's go to Jack. And so yeah, it's, it's great to have you with us. And so can you hear us?

Now he can't hear us. Uh-oh, because Mars was over there fiddling with something and messed it all up, but whatever the case may be. So back to the back to, okay, so back to the cleaning of the car, remove everything, um, actually cover up stuff that you don't want to get wet.

Um, you're going to stir up a lot of dirt and a lot of dust, but you got to get the vacuum out and vacuum up all the dirt first vacuum number one, um, then you're going to do the shampoo on the carpet.

Uh, you don't need a big machine to shampoo your carpet. Good cleaner brush and towels. The Hoover spotless portable carpet cleaner repository spot cleaner. That's one of them.

Bistle makes a bunch of stuff. You can also go in rent one over at Home Depot. Yeah, yeah, the grocery store grocery store, whatever the case may be. The small handheld cleaners are decent, but don't expect them to do all the work.

Most of the time still end up needing to use some effort and the towels.

Then once you get finished, make sure that you rinse all of the soap suds that you've put on there out of it.

And then you're going to rinse it nice, vacuum it, drive back, drive, and then open the doors and get the fan going.

Unless you've got a better idea. No, no, I'm just that we get a dealership. I'm never forget when we have floods. We had floods back then too. The dealership, they'd bring cars in, take the seats out, take all of the carpets out, including the juke underneath the carpets and hang them up.

It looked like a bad laundry day at the Armstrong house. And that's another thing mentioned the juke because if you get that juke soaked, it will it will rot over period.

That's right. And you can you can buy juke, but it's expensive. And it's all is ground up rags glued together basically. And not only that, but if you leave the moisture in there, it's going to rot right on through. Can you hear us Jack?

I can. Oh God. Mars, don't touch it. Get your hands off of it. Keep them in the air. The entire interview with Jack.

We're the entire show. Jack, I'm sorry. We know. Wait, wait, wait, wait. It was you guys. It was probably as much as much me if not all me here. So I apologize. Okay. Well, now we're going to blame it all on Mars.

We always do. So why are we going to change now? Jack, it's good to see you and glad to talk to you forever limited time that we've gotten. And we apologize for the technical pleasure.

We understand that you've made some sort of trip across America for 2025.

It was crazy. Yeah, we did the Made in America tour through the Upper Midwest, starting in Chicago, Milwaukee, Upper Peninsula, Michigan,

through Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and then back to Chicago. Oh my God. The ball parks and national parks along the way in a Dodge, Durango, SRT,

LCAT.

Who went with you? You got there quickly. My lovely wife went with me. She did the great planning for it. And she was your navigator.

She was a great navigator. She is the greatest travel agent of all time. She really sets up things beautifully.

And we, as I said, went to all these ball parks and saw all kinds of baseball games. Of course, I'm a huge baseball fan. And

visited a lot of interesting things. Rock and roll hall of fame, the pro football hall of fame, Greenfield Village in Detroit. Yeah.

So very, very cool. Did you, um, did you manage to make any personal appearances at great big venues? Jack,

knee rad is in the audience, ladies and gentlemen, throwing out the first pitch somewhere.

Hardly, hardly. Um, we could have arranged that for as everyone else was. Well, and so tell me about the, the trip with the Dodge, Durango, SRT,

LCAT. Well, you might think that's crazy, right? At 710 horsepower, you think that would be very temperamental vehicle. Um,

but it wasn't at all. It was just terrific. I mean, this is a three row six passenger SUV that just happens

to have 710 horsepower and goes here to 60 and three and a half seconds. Is it all wheel drive? All wheel drive. Uh, it has so many, um,

electronic aids to launch and all kinds of track stuff. Uh, that it's just crazy. I mean, the vehicle is so much smarter than I

am. I just can't describe it. Um, and yet it was a very docile vehicle. You know, obviously we cruise that, you know,

70 or 80, depending on what the speed limits were in the various places had a great time. Of course, when you have 710 horsepower,

it's great on those two lanes when you need to do a pass real quick. No doubt you can do a pass really quick. Yeah. Uh, when you have that kind of

horse, two questions. Did you like the tires at any time? And the second night, and I think with all wheel drive and the launch control,

you're unlikely to do that. Unless you really try to do that. Unless you throw the launch control off. Now, I got to ask you,

what about the gas mileage? Uh, a lot of people ask me about that. And I think, uh, we got something like 16 miles per gallon,

really, which I think is pretty darn good. Yeah. For 710 horsepower. Yeah. Absolutely. And I assume that it's probably at 70, 80 miles an

hour, it's cruising at about, I don't know, 1,800 RPM. Yeah. It's not running. It's not turning a lot when it's, uh,

when you're going that fast because there's, there's a lot left there. I think it has like an 180 or 200 mile an hour

speedometer. I think the top speed is something over 150 miles an hour or something like that. So, so you can, uh,

I was going to say you can validate that then, right? Yeah. Yeah. Not personally. Uh, not the time around.

Well, so, uh, the purpose of this trip with that vehicle, I mean, did you write some big long article about it?

What we did was we did reports every day. There are YouTube shorts each day of, uh, of the trip. So I mean,

if you want to recount our trip, you can go to the, our YouTube channel, the American on the road YouTube

channel and see that. I'm in the process of putting together, uh, kind of a lengthy compilation of all the

video that we collected, uh, over the course. This took us about two weeks. Uh, we were kind of at the, at the

mercy of the baseball schedule, because we want to see baseball games in each of those major league baseball games in

each of those towns. So it took us a while, but, uh, I think our longest days were about 500 miles each. And it was so easy.

It was just such an easy cruise in that vehicle. And you'd think that a race car like that, it would be really stiff, but

my recollection is no, it's not. It's not. It's real comfortable. Uh, my wife did not like the rumble so

much. I kind of like the, just the, uh, the overall, uh, noise, yeah, really noise, but the real sound, yeah, that the

vehicle makes because it is that kind of vehicle. But, uh, you know, that's the only, uh, possible complaint. Great, great

seats inside. It has, uh, really supportive seats. Like I say, we did a couple 500 mile days with just like falling off a

log. It was so easy. Six, uh, 600, um, no, sorry, six speed automatic transmission. I think, uh, if I, if I

have a memory serves, it's a 10 speed, but I could be wrong on that. I was thinking eight. I thought that it might

be an eight speed. It might be an eight speed. It's not a six speed. I know that. Yeah. I think it's the same one they put in

all the health cats or the, or the big ones. Yeah, it would be the same one that they put in all the health

cats, which is, that's probably an eight speed. You're right. Well, you know, I, I read somewhere that, uh, one of the

first bring it back moves is to update the Durango. And they are going to really push that thing. Yeah, it's

interesting. We came back to news that, uh, all Durango is going forward in 2026. They're going to be the eights. They

have dropped the V6, which I think is. Yes, that's a great way. You're not the only one who said clapping for

that. And, uh, I think it's just a great thing. I think, uh, this is such a cool vehicle. I mean, it's got

kind of old bones, right? It's not the newest vehicle right there. Yeah. But it is just so darn good. Uh, and with

this V8 power, and you can get very, now various levels of V8 power, uh, for not very much money, I think you

can get easily get into an V8 powered version of the Durango for, you know, $49,000 or something like

that, uh, which in these days is not bad. Uh, I, I think it's a great option for a lot of people these

days. And you know, you never hear about Durango's being recalled. Just had to say that. But it's true.

Yeah. And with all the recalls that we have rarely, I, I don't even recall a recall for the Dodge

Durango. I just think it's a solid vehicle. And, you know, there's so many people jack, and I think

you'll agree with me that say, Oh, we need to update it. We need to update it. Well, maybe you can,

you know, reform some body panels to make it change a little bit on the looks part. But if the bones

are good, go for it, man. I agree. I mean, uh, big manufacturers, right? Mercedes Benz changes

its vehicles every eight or nine years, right? Because, uh, those have pretty good bones. Uh, so why not

kind of stick with something that works well that the factories know how to build that the

workers know how to build. And it has tried and true power plants, you know, has tried and true

engines. I think it's a terrific thing. And Jack, if I go ahead, no, you go ahead.

Well, I was just going to say, if I were to buy one, I'm not sure that I would buy the SRT

Hellcat. But in some ways, it's such a bargain. I mean, you can get into this thing for around

$80,000 just kind of all in with that kind of horsepower and with the tech that's in this thing.

I mean, and this is a vehicle you can have fun with in so many ways for so many years. I just think

it's a terrific bargain on the way around. And then you go and compare that to a forward expedition

or suburban, yeah, the GMC, the GMC, the big boys there, the, the, the value, like you say, that

you're getting for the cost. I mean, those guys are going to run you up totally loaded like that.

They're going to be up over a hundred. Yeah, I saw one in the Cadillac yesterday for 90.

Exactly. And the dealership. I think that to me, it's a little bit smaller than that big suburban.

Oh, yeah. And it makes it a lot easier to drive around town.

Well, Jack, one of the things that I didn't want to mention to you, you and I both drive new cars

every week as test vehicles. And there's so many of them. I'm driving one right now that'll go

on name for this moment anyway. It's a four cylinder and it's underpowered. And the whole idea

behind this, I'm positive, although I haven't read that, is the fact that they want gas mileage.

Okay, well, that's fine. So what happens is you got a four cylinder. It's turbocharged. Okay,

so you get a 250 horsepower, but it's not enough for a great big SUV. And so they try to save more

fuel by having it shift too early. And it goes from first to third and you're wanting the thing to

move forward. But now you've got to put more throttle into it. Then it starts down shifting.

And it's just an absolute nightmare to me. Do you feel the same way?

I run into that. Absolutely. And you know, a lot of these vehicles are built to the regulations and

built to the fuel economy test more so than they are built to serve the consumer who's going to

drive them for the next five years, right? And I think we see that all the time. And I'm really

concerned about all these turbocharged engines that we see out there. I think, you know,

that's a problem waiting to happen in several years because I just don't believe those engines

are going to be easy to service in the same way that a conventional engine would be over time.

And I think you guys know about me. I mean, I keep a vehicle for a long, long time.

And I like that. And I want to be able to do that. And I have some concerns about these.

Well, and you noted me clapping when you said the V8 is back. And I will tell you and I know

that I'm old. I get that. But there is nothing like V8 power. Now, the one that you drove is

supercharged. I get that. But a regular V8 engine, you can't go wrong with it. It's proven

technology. You never hear it. Well, can't say never. GM has had some problems with some of

their V8s. But I will say that you never hear of any engine problems with a standard Hemi that

is naturally aspirated and fuel injected. It's decent gas mileage for a V8. You got power when you

need it right there at your right foot. Right. And I think you guys know that I have a 2000 Chevy

Tahoe. We just had to move my daughter from one place to another 200 miles away. And that's

what we took. A 25 year old V8 power, 5.3 liter V8 ran like a top, just terrific 25 years later.

And I think that exactly proves what you're talking about. Jack, it's great to talk to you as

always, America on the road, Jack knee rad and all of his novels that he's got out there. We invite

you to delve into Jack's world. And it's great to talk to you, Jack. Thanks so much for

that's a pleasure being patient with us this morning. I think it was me and thanks for being

patient with me. And I look forward to talking to you guys again. Absolutely. Take care.

Jack knee rad, ladies and gentlemen. We're kind of running behind. So I think that what we're

going to do is take a break here. And we're going to see if we can squeeze in Jeff's car culture.

Okay. All right. That's coming up next. And also we're going to have, I think we're going to try

to get in Mars hurricane destinations. If I'll shut up, we're going to go to the break. And I think

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Apple are Android and will-time podcasts can be found everywhere on the stream and through

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weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture and Mike's driving destinations

all on in-wheel time. Check us out on SiriusXM Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or while you're shopping on

Amazon through Amazon Music. InwheelTime.com has a list and we know you love lists.

I love lists especially when you can hear them. Time now for Jeff's car culture. What your cars color

says about you? You betcha, and here we go. So this first one, even though it's just the

whole shot there, Mike, copper. If you've got a copper vehicle, you're not afraid of getting

your hands dirty. Hard work and character. Leave that alone. Here we go. Next one is red,

passionate adventure. Drivers who are drawn to red cars have fiery passion and won't hesitate

to fight for what they believe in. They get personally invested in things but they crave most

is adventure. Fast rides, pulse pounding experiences and exciting encounters are what makes

life worth living when you have a red car. Next one is black, Don. Mysterious and sophisticated.

That's me, baby. Black car drivers like to keep themselves, keep two

themselves and don't reveal too much. They like to retain some mystique. These drivers are

perfectionists and won't leave a job unfinished unless it's a margarita glass. If they leave it at

all, their elegance is sophisticated and can capture a room. Next one we have a practical planter

would be a white vehicle. Just like their favorite color, white car lovers keep things neat and

tidy. That'd be Kathy. Yep, maybe two extremes. You're happy when things are simple and your

practicality means that when it comes to group outings, everyone looks to you for the best plan.

Absolutely. Okay, then we got a blue one. Blue is common collected, Mike. Like the blue ocean.

You're too serene and cool on the surface. You generally like to take life as it comes,

but underneath that surface are unexpected currents. You're probably a far deep thinker

and you let it on and you to let on and you can't resist the challenge of a good competition.

And then we got green. Green is the environmental protector. That's a good shot of that little car.

I drive that. What else would a green car driver be but more passionate about the environment?

Yep, everybody knows that. You're always doing your best to make sure that you're being

sustainable and you're probably love the great outdoors too.

The next one we have is one of these. You're a yellow beam of sunshine. How about that?

Your car yellow car drivers are as bright as their vehicles. Happy, optimistic. When life gives you

lemons, you make lemonade. You're socially active and the life of every party, Michael,

just like you. Bobby Spark, but there you go. It's to be expected though because you love to make

people laugh and you share in their sunshine. And then we got one purple. For those that are

purple people, the artistic expression. Purple lovers have real bearing on what they draw attention

to and having to seek it out. They're just so good at expressing themselves. They have impeccable

taste whether it's in friendship, music or art. So you'll never have a hard time finding subjects

to discuss. I've painted the front door of my old house with a purple door.

Brown, salt to the earth. I like this car. Oh, look at that. Brown's your favorite color. You're

down to earth. You treat everyone the same way. My God, it's so healing, professional standings

and it works for you. I like it. People love your honesty. Thank you. Would you buy and drive

that? I drive the car. Kathy had a brown car. She did. You're a dependable person who enjoys

the quiet evenings instead of loud parties. You're the last one to take off from the start stop

side. I drive that car. I would. I would. Perfect. No, I'm sorry. No. Brown and green though.

You know, Chevrolet made a lot of trucks and taos and suburban that color and it was like

that brown. Yeah, like why? My cut list is brown. It was chestnut brown. It was a Cadillac

GM was really big into that brown. It was a nice car. It was really sweet. Flat,

ugly brown. It's dirt brown. It was like a root beer. What'd you call it? Dirt brown.

Oh, dirt brown. That's a duck brown. No, no, no. That was the duck yellow. That was the yellow.

Depending on what end of the duck you're looking at. That's jerk.

There you go. Your car color tells us a lot about you. Yeah, it does. Yeah,

you know, my dad bought a beige Chevrolet celebrity. My sister had a beige Camaro.

I had a champagne is what it was called a champagne Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Coupe de Ville.

There you go. With a matching vinyl top on it. Man, it was bad to the boat. I got a tear in my eye

with that. I bet you did. Okay. Are we doing Michaels? No, we're not. He's going to have to wait.

I'll make a note to try to get him in after all of his shenanigans earlier today

that has put us in heart failure. And don't say that. He gets your blood going. It's blood

circulating stuff. Okay. All right. Well, the in-wheel time car talk show maybe will continue

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That's it for this podcast episode of the in-wheel-time car show. I'm Don Armstrong.

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About this episode

A lively discussion unfolds as the hosts welcome automotive journalist Jack Nerad, who shares insights from his recent road trip across America in a Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. With 710 horsepower, the SUV proved to be both powerful and surprisingly comfortable for long drives. The conversation touches on the vehicle's performance, gas mileage, and the merits of V8 engines. Additionally, the hosts delve into car cleaning tips and what different car colors say about their owners, making for an engaging mix of automotive advice and personal anecdotes.

Cadillac Coupe De Ville Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Suburban Chevrolet Tahoe Dodge Challenger Ford Expedition Nissan Juke

Original notes

Jack Nerad takes us on a thrilling ride through America's heartland in a monstrous 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. This wasn't just any road trip – it was the "Made in America Tour" meticulously planned by Jack's wife, combining their love of baseball with an exploration of America's cultural landmarks. From Chicago to Milwaukee, through Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and back, they visited major league ballparks, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Greenfield Village.

What surprised Jack most was how the beast beneath the hood became a gentle giant on the highway. Despite having enough power to launch this three-row SUV from 0-60 in just 3.5 seconds, the Durango proved remarkably docile and comfortable, even during 500-mile days. The vehicle's sophisticated electronic aids and all-wheel drive system made handling effortless, while still returning a respectable 16 miles per gallon – impressive efficiency for something with supercar-level horsepower.

The conversation shifts to exciting news about Dodge's commitment to V8 power, with all future Durangos (from 2026) dropping V6 options entirely. This sparked a passionate discussion about the reliability and driving experience of naturally aspirated V8 engines compared to the increasingly common turbocharged four-cylinders many manufacturers have adopted. Jack notes that while many companies chase fuel efficiency through complex engineering, there's something to be said for sticking with proven technology that provides both performance and longevity. His own 25-year-old Chevy Tahoe with its trusty V8 still runs flawlessly – a testament to the durability of these powerplants.

Follow Jack's complete Made in America Tour through daily video updates on the America on the Road YouTube channel, where you can experience this remarkable journey through America's automotive and cultural landscape.

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