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119:17
Concept
market price
They’re talking about what the car is worth right now in the real buying market. It’s basically the price you’d expect to pay if you were shopping for one.
Car
Nissan R32
The R32 is a specific older generation of the Nissan Skyline GT-R. They’re using it as a reference point to say their car is quicker than that classic GT-R.
Term
boost curve
A “boost curve” is how the turbo’s extra pressure ramps up as you rev the engine. It changes the feel of acceleration—whether power arrives early or later.
Term
engine
They’re talking about the engine’s personality—how it makes power and how it feels when you drive it.
Car
Nissan Gtr
“GT-R” is Nissan’s high-performance sports car. They’re saying the GT-R was designed with a particular focus, while this other car feels different.
Car
Acura Legend
They’re comparing the seat to the kind you’d find in an Acura Legend. The point is that the seat feels comfortable and “luxury-like.”
Term
third gear
A car’s transmission has different gears. Saying it’s great in third gear means the car pulls hard when you’re driving in that gear.
Car
Lotus Carlton
The Lotus Carlton is a special, rare performance sedan made by Lotus. It’s based on a regular family car, but tuned to be much faster and more exciting to drive.
Part
intercooler
An intercooler cools the air that a turbo compresses before it goes into the engine. Cooler air helps the engine make more power and run more safely.
Term
air to air
“Air-to-air” means the intercooler uses outside air to cool the turbocharged air. It’s like a small radiator that helps the engine breathe better.
Concept
fastest sedan in the world
They’re saying this car was one of the quickest sedans back in 1992. It’s a brag about how fast it was compared with other sedans at the time.
Concept
only made 950 of them
They’re saying only a small number of these cars were built. That rarity is part of why it feels special and hard to find.
Term
supercharged V8
A supercharged V8 is an engine with eight cylinders that has a device that pushes extra air into the engine. That extra air helps the engine make more power.
Car
Dodge Durango Hellcat
This is a super-powerful Dodge Durango SUV. The “Hellcat” name means it has a very strong engine, so it’s meant to be fast, not just practical.
Term
Hellcat jailbreak
They’re referring to a specific Hellcat version with extra options. Think of it like a “special package” that changes the look and sometimes the equipment compared to a standard Hellcat.
Term
Destroyer
“Destroyer” is the name Dodge uses for a particular paint color. They’re basically debating whether the name fits the shade.
Car
Challenger Hellcat
The Challenger is a muscle car, meaning it’s built for strong performance and a sporty feel. The podcast is saying it still feels like a current, relevant model. It comes up in a discussion about performance cars that keep their appeal over time.
Car
Dodge Charger
They’re talking about a Dodge Charger, which is a sporty Dodge car. They’re saying the color on the Charger is the same as the one on the Hellcat Durango.
Term
Battleship Grey
“Battleship Grey” is a gray paint color description. They’re saying the “Destroyer” color is basically this kind of muted military-looking gray.
Topic
Fast and Furious
Fast and Furious is a movie franchise about cars. They’re saying a sponsorship/partnership started there.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is a famous car brand that also competes in racing. They’re using it as an example of a high-end dream workplace for engineers.
Brand
Rivian
Rivian makes electric vehicles. The hosts are just comparing it to other places engineers might want to work.
Concept
HPD day
“HPD day” sounds like a driving event where you get time to drive cars on a track. The goal is to use your limited track time well by getting lots of laps.
Term
seat time
“Seat time” means how long you get to drive the car. On a track, more seat time usually helps you get better faster.
Topic
Road Atlanta
Road Atlanta is a well-known race track in the U.S. They’re saying they’ve driven a similar car there before.
Term
UConnect
Uconnect is the dashboard screen and software in certain Dodge/Chrysler vehicles. It controls things like navigation, media, and phone features, and the hosts are judging how easy it feels to use.
Brand
Ford Sync
Ford Sync is Ford’s infotainment and connectivity platform, including voice control, smartphone integration, and the touchscreen interface. Here, it’s referenced as the system that eventually caught up to Uconnect’s usability.
Term
adaptive radar cruise control
Adaptive radar cruise control is cruise control that “reads” the traffic ahead. If the car in front slows down, your car can slow down too while still keeping your chosen following distance.
Term
non-adaptive cruise control
Non-adaptive cruise control holds a fixed speed set by the driver, without automatically responding to the car ahead. If traffic slows, you typically have to brake or disengage cruise.
Term
radar sensor
Radar sensors are the car’s “distance detectors” that help it notice cars and obstacles ahead. If something covers or interferes with the sensor, the cruise feature may stop working.
Term
CEL sensor error
CEL usually means the car’s warning light is on for an engine or emissions-related problem. Even if the issue is minor, it can sometimes cause other features (like cruise control) to shut off temporarily.
Term
adaptive cruise disabled
“Adaptive cruise disabled” means the car decided it’s not safe to use that feature right now. After the problem goes away, it may start working again.
Term
manual cruise button
The manual cruise button is for regular cruise control that holds a steady speed. If the car has a sensor problem, it might not let you use cruise at all, or it might only allow the simpler mode.
Term
regular cruise
Regular cruise control just keeps your speed steady. If the car detects a problem, it can sometimes turn off cruise control completely until the issue is resolved.
Term
hit the brakes
“Hit the brakes” just means when the driver starts braking hard. On a track, the timing of that moment is a big part of how fast you can go.
Term
front straight
A “front straight” is the long straightaway on the track where cars go fast before slowing down for the next turn. The faster you go down it, the more important braking becomes.
Concept
stop way earlier
“Stop way earlier” is track driving language for braking earlier and/or braking sooner to manage speed into a corner. It usually reflects differences in braking performance, grip, and how quickly the car can slow down safely.
Concept
orientation basics
“Orientation basics” refers to getting a passenger up to speed on track layout and driving cues—where to brake, where the corners are, and what lines to follow. It’s common when someone hasn’t been on that circuit in years.
Concept
through the corners
“Through the corners” describes the driving phase where the car is turning and maintaining traction. On track, this is where differences in tires, suspension, and driver technique show up most.
Concept
straightaway
A “straightaway” is the section of track where the cars go mostly straight at high speed before braking for the next corner. It’s often where top speed and acceleration differences are most noticeable.
Concept
gapping
“Gaping/gapping” means pulling away from another car by creating a growing time or distance gap. It’s a common racing term for showing that one vehicle is faster through a section or on straights.
Term
cornering speed
Cornering speed is the speed you can go through a turn without losing traction. Higher cornering speed usually means better grip and better handling.
Term
three-row vehicle
A “three-row vehicle” is typically a family-oriented SUV or minivan layout with seating for up to seven or eight people. The hosts are framing the handling and braking expectations around the added weight and size that come with this body style.
Part
extra all seasonies
“All-season” tires are designed to work across a wide range of temperatures and weather, but they’re typically not as grippy as dedicated performance tires. The hosts note this car had extra all-season tires, which likely contributed to less sporty grip compared to the Trackhawk.
Term
fluid boiled
When brake fluid “boils,” it means it reached its boiling point and formed vapor bubbles. Vapor compresses more than liquid, which reduces braking effectiveness and causes brake fade during repeated hard stops.
Part
Brembo four-wheel disc
This means the car uses disc brakes on all four wheels, and Brembo is the brake brand. They’re saying the brakes didn’t hold up well during repeated hard stops.
Part
10 pistons
Those pistons are part of the brake caliper that squeeze the brake pads against the rotors. More pistons usually means stronger clamping and better stopping performance when you brake hard multiple times.
Term
beast brakes
“Beast brakes” just means the car has upgraded brakes built for hard driving. The idea is they can stop strongly again and again without getting weak.
Car
Lamborghini Urus
The Lamborghini Urus is a luxury SUV that’s built to be very fast and capable. In the podcast, they’re comparing brake strength to what you’d expect from an Urus. That’s why it’s used as a reference point for performance.
Term
pit
A “pit” is the area at a race track where cars enter to service during a session (or where teams stage for driver changes, adjustments, or repairs). The mention of pulling out of the pit indicates they’re describing track driving in a structured, timed environment.
Term
turn one
“Turn one” means the first corner on the track. Braking for turn one is where you really test how strong the brakes are.
Brand
Aura Frames
Aura Frames is a company that makes digital picture frames. You can send photos and videos to the frame remotely, even after it’s already at someone’s home.
Company
Wirecutter
Wirecutter is a website that reviews products and tells people what it thinks is best. They’re being cited here to say Aura Frames is a top pick.
Brand
Carver Mat frame
Carver Mat frame is a particular digital picture frame product being promoted. The hosts say there’s a discount available for it.
Company
Delete Me
Delete Me is a service that helps people remove their personal information online. The hosts mention it as a sponsor and say it’s easy to use.
Term
temperature cycling
Temperature cycling means the brakes get hot, then cool down, over and over. If the parts aren’t built for that, the braking can feel weaker or inconsistent after repeated stops.
Term
metallurgy
Metallurgy means the type and quality of the metal used in the brake parts. Some metals handle heat better, so the brakes keep working strongly even after lots of hard stops.
Term
pace lap
A pace lap is a slower, controlled lap before the race really starts. It helps everyone get lined up and ready, and it can also help warm things up.
Term
hot rod
A “hot rod” is a car that’s set up to feel fast and fun to drive. Here, they mean the Durango feels more aggressive than you’d expect for a family vehicle.
Concept
track days
“Track days” are events where drivers take their cars to a closed circuit to push them hard in a controlled environment. The speaker is saying the Durango isn’t the best choice if your goal is repeated, serious track use.
Car
Genesis crossover
They’re comparing the Durango’s cost to a Genesis luxury SUV-style vehicle. A “crossover” is basically a family-friendly SUV that drives more like a regular car.
Car
Hyundai Genesis
The Hyundai Genesis is a more upscale Hyundai vehicle line. The podcast is talking about a very powerful version, described as having around 700 horsepower. It comes up because it shows Genesis can be built for high performance, not just comfort.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a number that describes how powerful the engine is. Higher horsepower usually means the car can accelerate more strongly.
Term
three rows
“Three rows” means there’s seating in the front, middle, and back. It’s how you get a bigger family-friendly SUV that can carry more people.
Term
tow
To “tow” means pulling something behind the car, like a trailer. They’re saying this SUV can do that too.
Term
gas mileage
Gas mileage tells you how far the car can go on a gallon of gas. They’re saying it gets worse when you’re stuck in traffic.
Concept
in traffic
Driving “in traffic” usually means frequent stops and slow speeds, which can reduce fuel economy compared with steady highway driving. The speaker uses it to explain why their mileage dropped.
Term
EPA cycle
The EPA cycle is a standardized fuel-economy test that the government uses to estimate how many miles a car can go on a gallon. Your real results can be different, especially if you drive faster than the test assumes.
Term
100 octane
Octane is basically how “hard to ignite” the gasoline is. Higher octane helps prevent the engine from pinging/knocking, especially when the engine is working hard.
Term
cumulative for the trip was like 12-4
They’re talking about the overall gas mileage for the entire drive, not just one stretch. The “12-4” number is their combined average for the trip.
Term
USB-A
USB-A is a common type of charging/data port with a rectangular plug. If your phone or device uses a different connector, you’ll likely need an adapter.
Term
track mode
Track mode is a car setting meant for driving harder on a track. It usually makes the car feel tighter and more responsive, especially the suspension and driving controls.
Term
first sport mode for suspension
Sport mode is a selectable drive setting that alters how the car responds, and in this case it’s being used to control suspension behavior. “First sport mode” suggests there are multiple levels, with the lowest level still changing damping/firmness compared to normal driving.
Term
curb
A curb is the raised edge along the side of the road. On a track, touching or riding over curbs can make the car bounce or feel unstable, so drivers pay attention to which curbs are safe.
Term
big line
A “line” is the route a driver chooses through a turn. A “big line” usually means going wider through the corner instead of turning in tightly.
Topic
WRL
WRL is mentioned as a racing group/series, and the speaker says someone is a commentator for it. The episode segment doesn’t explain what WRL is, so it’s worth clarifying for new listeners.
Term
cut a tire
“Cut a tire” means you damage the tire, usually by scraping it against a sharp edge. If it happens, the tire can lose pressure or fail.
Topic
Road America
Road America is a famous race track. The way the curbs are built there can change how the car behaves when you go wide or touch the edge of the track.
Term
grip
Grip is how well the tires can stick to the track. If you’re on a different surface—like curb material or grass—the car may slide more, so grip drops.
Topic
exit of 14
They’re talking about a specific spot on the track/road—“exit 14”—where they like to take a certain driving path. It’s basically a location reference for how they drive.
Term
fuel economy
Fuel economy is just how far the car can go on a tank of gas. If it’s bad, you’ll spend more money on gas and stop more often.
Car
Dodge Durango RT
The Dodge Durango RT is a version of the Durango SUV. In this segment, they’re saying the RT can tow more because it can be set up with suspension and towing options that keep the vehicle more level when you’re pulling a trailer.
Term
self-leveling suspension
Self-leveling suspension is a suspension system that automatically keeps the SUV from sagging when you’re towing or carrying a lot of weight. It helps the car stay more level and stable instead of squatting down.
Term
track mileage
They’re using “track mileage” to mean “this feels like hard driving,” not just normal highway miles. The idea is that towing can wear things out faster because it’s such a heavy workload.
Car
TRX
“TRX” is the name of a very powerful Ram pickup. They’re wondering how it feels when towing, because they’ve been talking about how towing can make trucks ride poorly.
Car
F-150 Raptor
The Ford F-150 is a large pickup truck used for work and everyday hauling. The podcast is talking about towing and how the ride felt “soft,” which made towing less ideal. It comes up because pickups are judged heavily by how they handle when loaded.
Car
Raptor
“Raptor” is a Ford pickup model known for off-road capability. They’re saying that when they towed with one, it felt too soft and didn’t handle the trailer weight well.
Term
squat
Squat is when the back of the vehicle sinks down when you’re pulling something heavy. In this segment, they’re saying too much squat made towing feel bad.
Car
Durango RT
The Dodge Durango RT is a sportier version of the Durango SUV. Here they’re saying it could work well for towing, particularly if it has suspension that helps keep the vehicle level when you hook up a trailer.
Car
Porsche Macan
The Porsche Macan GTS is a sportier Macan SUV. In this story, it’s being used as the towing vehicle because it has the right towing equipment and can handle the job.
Term
air suspension
Air suspension uses air-filled springs to control how high the car sits. When you tow, it can help keep the vehicle level and ride smoother.
Car
Chevy Colorado
The Chevrolet Colorado is a midsize pickup truck. Here it’s brought up as the replacement towing vehicle that didn’t work out as well as the earlier setup.
Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger Raptor is a tougher, sportier version of the Ranger pickup. They’re comparing its “feel” to the Hellcat, saying it doesn’t seem to push as hard as you’d expect.
Term
extraneous radar
Extraneous radar is “unrelated” radar that still gets picked up by the detector. It can make the device beep or alert even when there’s no real enforcement nearby.
Brand
Valentine too
Valentine is a radar detector brand. The host is saying their detector was going off constantly, even when they didn’t think there was a real reason.
Term
KA
KA is a specific radar frequency that some speed-detection systems use. The host is wondering if roadside sensors are transmitting on that frequency and causing the detector to alert.
Term
KA radar detectors
Police radar systems can transmit on different radio frequencies. “KA” is one of those frequencies, and a KA radar detector is designed to alert you when it detects that specific type of radar signal.
Term
PSI
PSI means how much air pressure is in the tires. Changing it can affect how the tires feel and how quickly they wear out, especially when you drive hard.
Term
carousel
A “carousel” is a section of the track with a particular set of turns. They’re saying that part of the course makes the tires work harder and wear faster.
Term
lap times
Lap time is just the clock time for one full lap around the track. If the tires wear out, the car usually can’t grip as well, so lap times tend to get worse.
LIVE
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Doug texted me, he was like,
why didn't you let me do this one?
I would've loved to drive this fucking thing.
I drove it, it's so fast.
How many watchers go, oh man, Dave will get market price.
A thousand is what you need to get market price, basically.
It's a cool car, good color.
The stance is great.
It is so fast.
Really?
Yes.
Wow.
It is, I drive it.
Like Skyline fast?
Yeah, yeah, basically.
It's kind of similar, right?
I think this is, no,
this is faster than a stock Skyline.
I think, then like an R32,
this is faster than R32.
Without the teeth and the pull out.
This feels,
but it's definitely, it's in that family.
It's absolutely, it's the twin term.
It's more like an Aussie hot rod,
like one of those fast Falcons or something.
But yeah, but it's like,
but basically that is the vibe.
It's absolutely, the boost curve and shit like that
is very Skyline-y.
It's that kind of engine,
but put into a normal car, right?
Whereas the GT-R is like, that was the focus.
I mean, it seems like it handles nicely
and it rides well and has decent enough brakes.
It's a 92, so you know,
it's not like they're gonna be great,
but the seats are fabulous.
Seats look like an Acura Legend seat,
something like that.
But man, when you fucking roll into this thing
in third gear, fucking goos.
So, talking about the Lotus Carlton,
that my head of Concierge, I guess is really,
I don't wanna mis-title him,
but he's selling it on a brand trailer.
It's his personal car.
Is this little intercooler here right before the engine?
That's cool.
A little air to air?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So this was the fastest sedan in the world in the 92.
They only made 950 of them.
Wow.
Fucking real, real quick, this thing.
Cool.
It was a treat to have a go at it.
Yeah.
It's very rad.
This one's lived in California for a long time.
Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the program.
It's only 10 a.m. here in LA,
but I've already had like a four hour work day.
Really?
Yeah, no wife this morning.
So you're just focused.
Yeah, murdered her last night and now I'm free.
Right, isn't that the move?
Yeah, I reckon everyone just, you know,
if you really want to be productive,
life hack, new Silicon Valley life hack.
Strip away distractions.
Yeah, Peter Thiel says.
Yeah.
Peter Thiel got.
Yeah, if you, it's always the Scientology guy.
This is his wife.
Elron Hubbard?
No, no, no, no, Miss Kavage.
Oh, David Miss Kavage.
Miss Kavage, yeah.
This is new productivity hack from David Miss Kavage.
Make your wife disappear.
He kills his wife?
She hasn't been seen or heard from in a, really?
I did not know that.
Yeah, it's shady.
Have you seen the thing, the TikTok slash Instagram thing
of the kids who are running into the Scientology buildings
for sport?
Yeah, that's nuts.
That seems like one way to die.
Hello, they talking about these kids, the kids today,
like they're hopeless.
Are you fucking kidding me?
That's so dope.
People listening, they're speed running,
filming and just running through a building
to see how far in they can get, right?
Yeah, but it's a Scientology building.
Which is great.
But what if they have armed security?
What are the rules for that?
They don't.
They're gonna shoot kids on video?
I don't think they are.
That's a good point.
I don't think they are.
All right.
Use that below 18.
David Miss Kavage didn't shoot his wife,
at least publicly and on video.
She's just gone.
She has not been seen in public since 2007?
Habibi, that's a long time.
Even like Richard Simmons was seen a couple of times.
Yeah.
This is two decades?
Yeah, ladies never gone to a Whole Foods.
Like, come on, dude.
Yeah, so.
Just saying.
That's chilling.
I'm just saying.
I wouldn't speed run that building.
Look what they do.
Resolves the world's problems.
Especially, yeah.
Although I run, right now I'm rooting for the Pope
because it's like, he's saying the right things
and he's a battle with a certain person.
And he was probably at the same Pearl Jam show
I was at back in Frigley Field in 16.
Yeah, Leo's all right.
Chicago dog, he went to the concert.
By the standards of Pope, Leo's all right.
You know, the entity in general and whatever.
We'll talk about something else.
Right.
Where and how do we get on that one?
Let's go to Durango.
You want to talk to Durango?
Sure.
Because cars are coming back from the dead
with giant supercharged V8s that go.
So obviously for people listening,
we went racing this weekend,
but we're going to save all the stories
of the racing for next week
because we're going to have Matteo Seiderman
and Tommy Kendall on the show.
Yeah, that's like better.
Yeah, so that's the teaser
and that's why we're not talking about it right now.
Don't give away what you can sell.
Maybe we could sell it here also.
Teasing, yeah, yeah.
No, don't give away what you can sell
is Jeff Goldblum, The Great White Hype.
I haven't watched that in a long time.
Dude.
You reference it a lot though.
It's a rewatch annual.
It doesn't, it ages like a fine wine.
Like a Merlo Broham.
It ages, which is also from The Great White Hype.
You must watch that film at least once every two years.
It remains current.
So we got a Dodge Durango Hellcat jailbreak
in Destroyer.
That's the same color I had in the charger.
Destroyer, it's Battleship Grey.
Yep, that makes sense.
I was writing, I'm writing about the charger
that we talked about last show or last week
or whenever it was.
Dodge has, they have good whimsical names for color
and I think Destroyer is the best name I've heard
for this drab-ass fucking color.
I agree, it's shorter than Battleship Grey
and also it's Destroyer, which is like rrrr.
And that's what they do.
It's not as good as Bluedacris,
which is what I was supposed to get for the charger.
That's fantastic.
Bluedacris is good.
Wow, because they sponsor Fast and Furious.
That's where the partnership began.
The Dodge color lab is probably like working
in the Taco Bell Experimental Kitchen.
Yes, yeah, yeah.
It's Doritos Blue Cool Ranch.
Right, like if you're an engineer,
the dream is to like maybe work at Ferrari, right?
Or Rivian, right?
Like the pin, or if you're into like Formula One,
maybe you want to like work at McLaren or something.
And if you're in the color lab, like Dodge,
if your job is paints, like Dodge is it, baby.
Well, the naming, the room full of people
that just come up with the names is like marijuana,
lots of gas station snacks that are crazy colors and names
and just a notepad, just go for it.
Maybe they cross over with the Taco Bell people.
It's the same brand.
They might share an office.
Same 22 year old just like.
Yeah.
Bluedacris, fuck.
Life hack.
Here's a life hack, people.
Start a fast food research agency.
AI cannot tell you if something tastes good.
Okay, fast food research agency,
you'll be able to make weird shit and eat it all day
for sport and money.
Yeah, so this is a 700 plus horsepower,
three row SUV that they've been building
in basically this car, it goes back to like 2016,
I think when this thing came out.
So it's not a new vehicle.
And the reason we got it is because we had three of us,
Mizzak and TK, tall people, lots of luggage.
And we had to do both a two hour transit each way
to and from Chicago to Road America
as well as run, I wanted a practice car for the HPD day
because I knew I would get limited seat time
in the race car and all laps are good laps.
So I was like, I had done the track hawk
at Road Atlanta in back in 2019.
And I was like, yeah, this thing can handle some track work.
And Dodge was a good sport about that.
They are good sports.
They know how to have a good time.
Yeah, so it was as I remembered it.
We picked it up at the airport,
and it was very much old hat.
I didn't take enough pictures of it, I mean, if I'm honest,
but it's everyone's seen one.
Everyone knows.
It's a great Rango, people listen.
Great Rango, some racing stripes, hood scoop, that's it.
Yeah, and it's got, having gone out of the new charger
and back to this car, I actually appreciated
quite a few things about the way they did it before.
I thought the UI was actually a little better
in the old car than in the brand new.
This is UConnect, right?
This was, I think they had the best UI for years
until Ford Sync caught up,
but it wasn't until Ford Sync V5 or something
that they finally were more even.
Yeah, I thought the seats are very nice
and very comfortable and all that stuff.
The old school cruise control controls are hilarious.
They still, they have on this steering wheel
a button for the adaptive radar cruise control,
which works well, and then maybe an inch away.
The next button.
A button that looks very, very similar
for the non-adaptive cruise control.
Like, I usually, like, you can,
if you have adaptive cruise control in a car,
you can then go into a menu somewhere and turn that off.
Like, you can toggle it off in a secondary menu.
It is wild that they have a physical button for Matt,
because I, do you know of people that toggle between these?
Well, when we saw it, I think,
I don't know if people had toggled between them,
but when you pointed this out,
I think the Hyundai we recently had,
or the Kia also had this,
and Volvo has a weird thing,
but Volvo, like, hides it in the same button.
Like, you tap it a couple times to get adaptive and regular.
I've seen that one.
But the double button, it's not just Dodge,
and I wonder if they get their hardware
from the same supplier, because I think, I agree,
it is nonsense, very confusing,
and I find myself tapping the wrong one.
I mean, it's a journalist problem, but like,
you know, it just doesn't make sense to have both.
I don't know, man.
I think people confuse the gas and the fucking brake.
I think if you are expecting adaptive cruise control
and don't hit that button,
you could have a problematic situation on your hands.
But on the way up, didn't the radar sensor get covered?
And so we actually had to switch two guns from missiles?
I mean, that's funny.
Not exactly.
It was a...
Check, it was a CEL sensor error that happened.
And I was like, that what we were about to be,
because it said, you know,
sensor error, adaptive cruise disabled,
some lights set up.
And then for a moment, I was like,
well, this is the perfect situation, I guess.
Dodge is sending me a sign of this is why I put
the manual cruise button right next to it.
It's a backup.
Cannot use, it didn't work.
With the CEL up, the regular cruise didn't work either.
Now, after we stopped somewhere
for whatever 10 minutes and turned the car back on,
the errors went away, they didn't come back.
So it's just some stupid bullshit, who knows what was.
But anyway, that's a weird thing.
But like, in general, this one is like,
because it was a jailbreak and somehow
this is a special paint scheme and whatnot,
this one was like 90,000 bucks,
but effectively you can go on Dodge lots right now.
And these are low to mid 70s, right?
To really buy one of these in a non-special color
that underneath is the same car.
They're really fucking fast.
How did you notice, Zach, in the race car
and how at what speed you hit the brakes
on the front straight of Road America?
I think it was 130 something.
130 something?
In the Durango, it was 135, okay?
And in the race car, I'm hitting the brakes
at about the three and a half board.
The Durango, there isn't a board,
but it would be a seven or an eight, okay?
So the speed.
And you began using more boards
as the week went on, the weekend went on.
So we'll talk about that.
Well, yeah, forget the race car for a minute.
I don't wanna get too much with you,
but just as a comparison,
I had to stop way earlier in the Durango
than the race car, like hundreds of feet earlier.
And I saw speeds that I believe were higher
in the Durango than I saw in the race car most of the time.
I swear you hit 150 on the straight.
I really think when I rode right seat with you.
In the Durango? Yeah.
No? 150? I thought you did.
I mean, this thing.
No. I remember, I thought,
I'm pretty sure I saw 135 on the front straight.
I don't think I ever saw 150.
When we went out for the HPD stuff and like, you know,
you were giving me orientation basics.
I hadn't been here in 10 years, you know,
through the corners in the back section,
we're getting caught by like a GTO car,
which was like the most powerful car that was there.
Yeah. The straightaway shows up
and you started gapping this thing.
I couldn't catch you.
I did gap race cars.
You just started pulling away. It's so funny.
There were multiple race cars that I,
oh, the prototype car.
Oh, forget about it.
There was a prototype race car
that I gapped on the front straight.
It was very funny.
Yeah, those have 200 horsepower or something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The difference in cornering speed is 60 miles an hour
or something, but the handling of this thing
is for a three-row vehicle appropriate, right?
The balance is actually pretty, pretty decent.
The steering is like pretty communicative.
It does not have enough brakes.
The trackhawk has better brakes, had better brakes.
It costs more money than the Durango.
It always did, but it had, it had beefier brakes.
It also had, I think, better tires.
This had some like extra, extra all seasonies,
like Scorpion Zero, something or other SUV tires.
They were not particularly sporty tires.
But yeah, the brakes, the fluid boiled
on about the second stop.
So Dodge list the brakes as just Brembo four-wheel disc.
And I think you were saying that the trackhawk
has like 10 pistons.
The trackhawk had the beast brakes.
It had, it was like not quite Urus level brakes,
but it was serious, serious business.
It was a big deal when the trackhawk brakes
came back to the regular Hellcats.
They were the biggest brakes ever put
in an American car at the time or something like that.
And the Durango, to make it sit below the trackhawk
in the, when it first fucking came out,
the trackhawk's gone, but when it first came out,
it was below it in the hierarchy.
And in part of the way, it had that,
was the brakes weren't as good.
So that's why, it's actually kind of why,
in hindsight, Jeep was a little more justified.
I thought the word trackhawk was sort of stupid,
but like it was more like ready for the track.
Like it really was.
This thing felt ready.
I mean, I went out with you in the first session.
You did many more sessions, but then I got in it,
you know, five hours later with Tato,
just so he could show me some stuff
cause the race cars having problems.
He pulls out of pit, he brakes for turn one
and the whole truck goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
and shakes.
Like these brakes withstand, you know, breaking force.
It was like, I don't know, fiberboard in a hurricane
or something like that.
It was so, it was so warped.
It was, it was not great.
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For the breaks, the breaks are not up to the task
of running.
The temperature cycling I think, yeah.
Truly like you didn't do anything.
It's like they needed the 10 piston
and whatever the metallurgy was in the trackhawk
is what we needed because you were being a trackhawk.
Yeah, and I tried as hard as I could
to be as easy as I could on the breaks
because this is a big SUV.
But it didn't take very many stops further to go
boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And it was like, well, then it stayed that way.
Do you have a little video I shot?
We used the trackhawk, excuse me, the Durango
to pace the, to pace the start of the race,
which was a pretty cool visual actually.
He was kind of on it as we came by.
Made a great sound.
It sounds so good.
The guy who was driving it for the pace lap,
his name was Trucker, which is a great name.
And he came back from running those pace laps
just like, dude, what the fuck is this thing?
You didn't know what it was.
It is a ride.
It's a true hot rod.
I would not recommend the Durango
for actually running track days.
But if you never took it on a racetrack,
you would find it to be a fairly dynamic
and certainly fun family hauler
that was essentially the same price
as the Genesis crossover I had.
But it's like 700 horsepower and three rows
and can tow some stuff and all that.
It's like a, I don't know, it's some sort of weird party.
Like I think the regular RT has enough power
for most things.
Our gas mileage, I think we topped out at 16,
but at times we were down to like 11 when we were in traffic.
Well, we had ongoing bets going.
So when we first got in the car,
Me, Zach, and Tommy, prices right rules,
we all bet that it would be somewhere around 12.
And, but we didn't, we thought that was just gonna be
for our drive to the track, the two hours,
which ultimately we got around 16.
We left the Detroit airport, we got, excuse me,
we left the Chicago airport, got straight on the highway
and drove two hours.
And we ended up getting around 16 miles a gallon
for like a pure highway drive, which is bad,
but like better than you'd think.
The EPA rated it at 16, I think we got 16.4.
Which, I mean, considering we were definitely going faster
than you'd go in the EPA cycle.
I bet 11 for the record, yeah.
And then, and then when we started lapping it,
it, the average was like two, like on the track,
it was getting two, which is unreal.
Two is amazing because,
Road America's four miles.
So two is two gallons a lap, which is,
which is fucking awesome.
So much gas to burn.
Even our race car, it was like, I think probably.
Oh, the car's pretty efficient.
I think our car, our race car was probably getting like
eight or nine miles a gallon, which is probably like two
laps, two and a half, two and a quarter laps a gallon.
But famously Clarkson, when he reviewed the 4GT got four
at like track speed, this was half that.
Because it's also about twice as heavy.
Absolutely incredible amount of consumption.
But I took a photo of the gas pump.
Dude, I mean, if you're from California,
you're so spoiled because the race track at the track,
91 was 575, up the road here, it's 699.
So I'm like, hell yeah, brother, fucking fill her up.
Let's burn some more, whatever.
Yeah, instead of driving, you know,
with the nearest station outside the track was like
a couple of miles away and it was like 480, you know,
so you wouldn't save all that much.
And in case you're wondering,
100 octane here was 12.
So it's not like, you know, it's not like,
oh, everything was, you know, it's like,
no, no, it's just, that's so anyway.
So we burned lots of gas and then on the way back,
we got the same, you know, mileage.
And so our cumulative for the trip was like 12-4.
I think you win.
I think I won.
I was 11, Tommy was 11-5 and then you were like 12-2.
I think I was 12-1.
Yeah, so I was actually closest, but it's,
you'd be spending so much money
on fucking fuel driving this thing around.
Yeah.
Couple of funny things I know,
cause I rode in the back most of the time
cause you guys are taller than me.
Backseat's very comfortable.
USB ports are still USB-A,
they didn't cross over to see yet,
so you can bring your adapter.
The ride in this thing is not great in the backseat.
Hang on, the one in the front is a C.
That makes sense.
The ones in the back.
Kept the ones in the back and said, hey, save a few bucks.
But I, you know, is it the tracky version,
so it should be stiff?
Yes, I guess.
But in the back, even over some smaller,
like just little concrete junctions,
it was like good, good, good, good, good.
Kind of bouncy.
The ride wasn't great and in track mode,
the ride was like brutally bad.
Like I had, even when I went on the track,
I put it in first sport mode for suspension
and then actually back to comfort.
Oh really?
Yeah.
Use more curb.
Yeah.
Take a big line.
Go over the gray curb, we're not supposed to touch.
Well, oh dude, so Ryan, the commentator for WRL,
shout out to him.
Me and him were doing the radio
and I apparently referred to them as planter boxes
and he's like, I like that, we're keeping that.
So I guess now they're called planter boxes.
But I like driving on those.
You're not supposed to drive on those?
Well, the inside gray curbing is where most of them,
Tato was like, don't touch that or it could cut a tire.
And there's the outside gray curbing,
which is very ripply and is okay.
It just like bounces you around a lot,
which I explored many times.
I mean like when there's like...
Oh, and you're talking about the gray
where the grass is growing.
Yeah.
Now that's pretty smooth.
Yeah, that's okay.
They had a word for it that wasn't as good,
like grass creed or something like that.
They called it grass creed.
And I was like, no, no, no.
If you're gonna call it, if you're gonna do that,
it needs to be lawn creed
because that sounds like concrete.
Yes.
And then I was like, but I like to call it...
It is called grass creed.
Yeah, that's stupid.
That should be lawn creed.
These people don't ever think about naming stuff.
And I liked planter boxes though.
I thought we thought that was better.
But that is better.
There's these weird extra curbing at Road America.
So you could take a fucking big wide line,
but it's like cinder blocks
with grass growing through them.
So you can drive on them,
but it's like 60% grip of the track,
but it's way better than the vibratey curbing.
So basically, if you've got some fucking cojones,
you just go straddle the vibratey curbing
and drive on the fucking planter box a bit.
And then it's fucking nicey nice.
And then come back across.
Then it's a nicey nice.
I like to do that, especially on the exit of 14.
Took a nice line there.
Oh yeah, I did that, yeah.
Exit of 14, yeah.
I didn't do it in the kink
because I didn't have that kind of balls.
No, when Tommy did it, remember once,
and he's like, I touched the dirt once
and I did not want to touch it again.
No, thank you.
But man, it's, despite the fuel economy being such shit,
I still think this thing at like nine years old
or whatever this is, is a pretty good value for money still.
I like the Durango a lot.
I mean, I think almost any spec,
it's like choose your fuel mileage engine.
Choose the efficiency level you want.
It's like a character in a video game.
And then looks nice.
Held a lot of luggage, you know.
Held a ton of stuff.
Yeah.
And if you got like just a regular RT,
I think the towing rating on those is pretty damn good.
Well, so the RT, because I looked at,
this is part of our consideration package for towing,
the RT has a higher towing rating than the Hellcat
because of the self-leveling suspension
and like the tow package option.
With the sport suspension,
it just like can't handle as much weight
and it's not self-leveling.
So the Hellcat can tow like 5,000 pounds
and the RT tows 8,000 pounds.
Imagine the mileage, like you're getting track mileage
while towing something on the highway.
That was terrible.
There's gotta be someone who tows with a fucking TRX
and can tell us what, I bet it's just terrible.
And also, well towing with your Raptor back in the day
was bad because it was so soft.
Now maybe the TRX has a better leveling system
or something, but having that much squat,
I did not enjoy it.
No, I didn't.
It's something to Vegas.
It made the steering suck.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was not fun.
The, yeah, the regular, the regular Durango RT
with the self-leveling would probably be a pretty good,
pretty good tow rig actually.
I just, who was I just talking to?
Oh, Ryan from Sacramento who said he used to tow his race car
which is a track car, which is a Cayman GT4 RS
with a fucking Macan with a tow package on it.
Like it was a Macan GTS with a tune with a tow package.
And he said like, it would tow just fine.
It was great.
It had air suspension, like no big deal.
Open trailer, not fancy.
And he said it was about 4,500 pounds.
No problem.
And he's like, and then I got rid of that
and I got a Chevy Colorado.
And he's like, and it sucks.
Yeah, it's a forebanger.
Yeah.
He's like, even though like the horsepower and torque say
it should be fine and the tow rating is fine,
he's like, it is the weasiest motherfucker, you know,
that is like a totally different scenario.
He's like, yeah.
I got to have fun with that truck,
but and I know the numbers are similar,
but the Colorado, the Bison one like versus
the Ranger Raptor, just having more cylinders.
It just feels more responsive.
It just, one engine is trying its hardest.
And I think the Ford engine is like,
oh, I could put a couple more plates on the bar.
Just cause it can, doesn't mean it wants to.
But the Durango is the opposite.
The Hellcat is the opposite.
It's like, I have about three times the horsepower
you would need for any given task, pretty much.
Yeah.
A lot of radar bouncing around in Wisconsin.
A lot of extraneous radar.
My Valentine too was going batshit out there constantly
for pretty much no real reason.
I wonder if they have sensors along the highway
for something that are using KA.
Like KA's gotten so cheap that they use it for that
instead of X.
Maybe we have to start researching if the
effectiveness of KA radar detectors are somehow declining.
One of our patrons in the chat said they used to tow
their race car with a McConning at 20 miles per gallon
while towing.
Imagine thinking you need a super duty
for something like that, you know?
It just depends on, you know, one single car trailer open,
you can make do.
And then once you start adding tires, toolboxes
and stuff like that, you need a super duty.
Yeah, not well, there's stuff in between.
Thanks, Dodge, letting us warp your rotors a little bit.
Other than that, we took pretty good care of it.
The tires like did not exhibit much wear at all.
We probably could have dropped PSI a few, you know,
but like whatever.
I think I wonder if this track seems like it's hard on brakes
but not that hard on tires.
It's a lot of long straights and sweepers
and a heavy braking zone.
And then, you know.
Yeah, the carousel's hard on tires.
That's probably really about it.
Yeah, no, I mean, the tires didn't really seem to go,
you know, either in the Durango or throughout the race,
really, until the very, you know,
I'm sure that there's a difference in lap times,
but it's like, it's not like the car
became a sloppy piece of shit.
Yeah, yeah, the tires fell off, I think, pretty smoothly.
We'll talk about, I know Tommy brought up some differences
between his lap times and Tato's,
because he's like, his ideas are impossible
when you're the fourth driver on these tires.
That's why you put the experienced driver at the end.
Very true.
All right, so that's that.
Shout out to Dodge for letting us burn fucking all the gas.
Sorry about your brakes.
I got an update from Matt Quick,
Quick Classics down in Tennessee,
that my cars, because there are two of them, have arrived.
Guys, taking a break from the action
because support is coming in fast, like Jim Farley,
the CEO of Ford, who's now got a podcast.
And you're always asking me what I'm listening to
when not recording this show.
And right now, it's this,
the new season of Drive with Jim Farley.
In it, the Ford CEO talks to some of his favorite people
about what they're driving
and what drives them to succeed.
Like Formula One driver Daniel Ricardo.
Listen, there's a well-worn trope about racing drivers
not being interesting to listen to.
But if there is one that is interesting to listen to,
it is Daniel Ricardo.
I think this guy's takes on stuff and life are great.
And look, Jim is a racing driver also.
I personally raced against him like two months ago.
And for me, a CEO that drives race cars on the weekends
is about the pinnacle of CEOdom
when it comes to car companies.
So the two of them together obviously have a lot of things
to discuss on Drive with Jim Farley,
which you can get on your podcast app.
Very easy to find, Drive with Jim Farley, check it out.
Here's the first and only photo I have
of our E55 donor car.
And as you can see, it's like the perfect donor car.
It's a very much an example of the crash isn't that bad.
It got sideswiped and like sort of like crunched
by like a semi truck.
So the suspension on the left side is messed up,
but like the powertrain is like totally untouched.
And the body on the left side is like gouged.
And I think the drivers and passenger doors may not open.
But again, who fucking cares?
It's very much like, it's very much a complete
and not that bad E55.
Nice, I hopped up because I thought the windshield
had a hole in it, but it's just the building, you know.
Oh yeah, no, no, the glass is,
I don't know about the driver's side window,
but the fucking rest of the glass is in there.
And then you can see on this other like fairly, look,
when you're transporting two shitters,
you do not spend money on the transport.
I'll fucking go enclosed on the way home,
but on the way there, fucking gas is expensive.
Look at the difference between your fenders
and then the outer edge of your wheel.
Yeah, yeah.
Two or three inches.
We see this sometimes, someone like,
they could afford the fenders to bolt it on
and they're driving around,
but they haven't bought like the wheels yet
or they haven't bought the spacers yet.
And it just looks weird.
Or when I did drifting in my car
and I put the narrow wheels on the back,
it looked like I'd been hit from both sides by a truck.
That looks hilarious.
I've seen people put wide bodies in their car
and then no wheels and it looks really straight.
That E46, that was one of the race cars,
had wider front fenders than an E46 M3.
It looked like a drift car,
but it was out there running laps.
The white and red one, yeah.
Wide spread in the skill set of the drivers in that car.
Wide spread, one guy was like insanely fast
and someone else was like, what the fuck are you doing?
So yeah, you can see the metal fab
and the primer that they did on those.
And Matt said, you know, like Sean said,
I think he said it when he was here last week,
like why even bother sending brand new bumpers
across the country twice when he's just gonna
unbolt them to put the powertrain in.
So no bumpers, no lower rockers on the car.
And then we'll put all that stuff on when it comes back,
but the new fenders are made of metal.
So they're on there.
But fucking stoked, that's gonna be,
this car's gonna be real cool.
It's gonna be really cool.
I think you'll keep it for a while.
I hope so, because I'm sort of like pivoting towards,
like I've got the Porsche, that's a keeper obviously,
Kuntas, keeper obviously.
Between those two, that really covers
your weekend dynamic sporting needs completely.
And then there's like the Manx for the perfect day,
fucking bullsh-running around here.
And then I think Hannah probably wants to keep,
she likes the Taycan actually,
but if we eventually get this Cayenne,
she'd probably roll that.
And this is the daily cruiser.
This is like a combination, I think,
of the Taycan and the Manx.
You know, there's whimsy in it and it's got style
and it's custom made and all that shit,
but you could drive it 50 miles.
Whereas the Manx, like you're not gonna drive
the Manx to Burbank probably, unless,
like for an errand, you're not.
No, you're right.
You would take this.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I would not drive, no.
But the Manx is getting picked up tomorrow.
Almost all cars are,
almost, I could if I wanted,
I could have all cars in service at one time right now.
Cause we need to get this.
You need a ride.
Yeah, no.
Here's the list.
So this car is going to Nashville.
Lamborghini obviously mid-reassembly, who the fuck knows.
The Taycan has a recall that it needs to get done,
which is probably for some stupid software bullshit.
It seemed non-urgent.
But also, when we're going,
when I'm pulling like into my driveway
or a real like kind of articulation,
the suspension is a little creaky, just a little bit.
And I've tried like power washing it all out in there
just to see if it was like mad dusty or whatever.
That didn't do it.
And Calvin said that you can,
it's possible to get like dried out pushing and I guess
they squirt grease in them or copper grease or whatever.
Yeah, so he said they could just do that.
So I got to get that done.
But like NBD, the Porsche,
they have Mitch thinks he has this,
maybe this thing for the cooling system
that I'm talking about.
But also did I,
have we talked about the gear indicator light thing?
Yeah.
So the gear indicator light thing,
I was waiting to get ahold of Rick Deman
to get the exact ratios he put in
so they could program them correctly with Mitch's tune.
Because the gear indicator thing only came up
after Mitch did the 91 tune.
But is the indicator not,
does it not react just off of where the shifter's positioned?
No.
I'm guessing it does not.
Okay.
Because it should, it seems like it should,
but it does not because when I put the car into fourth gear,
the indicator on the dash is getting confused
and going like four, three, four, three, four, three.
And it's only for fourth gear.
Don't really know why, no other gear is affected.
But I've noticed that when I'm in fourth gear
in the canyons and I do a hard excel to a big lift,
there's a bit of a, a bit of like,
like a bit of a stumble before it settles into D-cell.
Whereas with any other gear when that CEL,
cause by the way, if I'm going through gears,
the CEL will come on in fourth and when the things,
but then I'll put in fifth, the CEL will go away.
Like it goes and comes and goes and comes and goes and comes.
Which gears were changed?
Two, three, four?
Two through five.
Two through five.
Yeah.
So, but only fourth is affecting this thing.
And any other gear goes away.
So if I, let's say I go in third gear
and I do an accelerate, a big lift, perfectly smooth.
But in fourth, when the CEO comes on,
and so I would like that addressed.
So I haven't done anything about it just yet,
but they're working on that and they're going to have that.
The Manx is getting picked up tomorrow
to get all those upgrades in time for summer.
The front mount, the cooling system, the new tune.
They don't need to service it
because they just serviced it from before Ice Race.
And I drove it nine miles.
And then nut and bolt the whole thing
cause after a thousand miles, you gotta nut and bolt it.
Cause it's, you know, it's a fucking fiberglass thing
on the thing.
And there's a cup recently, particularly after Ice Race,
there's a couple of squeaks, a couple of new squeaks.
And then fix my horn, my horn spring
that flew across the starting line
that ejected right before my Ice Race laps,
which is a clip of on Instagram.
It's pretty funny.
So that's getting that.
And then, yeah, that's, that's,
that could be pretty much everything right now.
One of our patrons says that there's a speed sensor
that tells you what gear you're in.
So it's an issue, I guess you've had before.
So maybe there's a sensor that's having wonky.
Yeah.
And that's what talks to it.
Cause I was like, well, you know, maybe there's switches,
if there's six switches where the shifter hits it
and it's like, I'm in one, I'm in two, I'm in three,
but that would add complication.
There is a hard sensor that plugs into the gearbox
that can get like grime in it sometimes.
And so they, you know, they blow it out
like a Nintendo cartridge.
They checked that and that wasn't the problem.
Oh, okay.
So, but Tim believes the issue is related
to the programming of the ratios in, in the tune.
And I don't, I don't really know, but Rick,
well this don't put them all in for service
at the same time.
No, no.
And also like there's Hannah's cars, you know,
the power was fine.
So, and the, and the Delica pays for itself every day,
we're working properly.
Nice.
But, but, uh, all the, like all the fun cars
could be in service at once right now,
if I really wanted to.
I don't, so that would be stupid.
What else do we have?
Oh, uh,
A, I just, I just took a Waymo ride
to go home to get the Taycan.
And it, A, it took a fucking weird route.
Instead of taking its normal like pretty direct route,
it took a, it took a roundy bout route
all the way around there, which I thought was very odd.
And then tried to turn right into my neighborhood
and got like sort of boxed out by this car.
And the Waymo, they were both going the speed limit.
And this BMW was X5 was at our rear three quarter.
There was room.
The Waymo could have gone, but it wasn't,
I guess, enough of a gap for the car to be comfortable.
And it didn't want to speed.
There was enough, a couple hundred yards.
There was, there was a little bit of room to get there
before as we're approaching the necessary intersection.
And a regular human would have either goose the throttle
for a half a second and gone up
or drop down to like 25 miles an hour and ducked behind.
Right, get the draft, yeah.
The Waymo did neither.
The Waymo maintained its 35 miles an hour.
It did not move over until, and then until after
the intersection, that X5 goose the throttle to scoot up
and then it just moved over and made the next right.
But by then that was like kind of far out of the way,
which, I mean, I suppose it didn't do anything
that was unsafe.
It did not make an unsafe move and it did not
exceed the speed limit and it did not dramatically dip
below the speed limit.
But at the same time, like, I feel like it should have,
if it's not gonna speed, I feel like it's appropriate
to drop to slow down and duck behind.
It was an odd choice.
It made a very odd choice.
I have a related story, so I took a cab from the airport
and I'll tell you what human drivers do.
So, and we both flew in, I don't know if you did
like the curbside pickup, I went to the cab line.
Our flight home from, you should just tell our flight home
from Road America story, cause it is pretty fucking funny.
Okay, I will, it's, cause it starts with the flight there.
We get to the airport to fly there and I go,
I think we're on different flights.
And you go, what?
You're like, why would we do that?
Which is a valid question.
And I pull it up and I go, well, I fly through whatever,
whatever city, you go, yeah, me too.
And I go, oh, huh.
Not sure why I thought that.
Happens to me all the time.
I'm used to this conversation with my brain.
So we have the race.
Too Minneapolis.
Too Minneapolis, like we fly there together,
we're on the same flight, we're like two seats apart,
blah, blah, blah.
Flight back, we, we, you know, are like,
you look at your flight and it's taken off at 710
and I look, I'm like, oh yeah, it's 705 close enough,
you're probably rounding up.
And we go to the lounge and that says like,
oh, your gate's M7.
And I look at my thing and it says M9 and I go,
oh, app's not updating.
People know where we're headed.
So we hang out for a couple hours,
we go to the gate, we're sitting there.
And then when did I, how did I figure it out?
Because I had, there was a, they had a,
like a 10 minute like boarding delay
for the flight to Salt Lake City.
And you were like, and you were like,
you were like, we are going through Minneapolis.
And I was like, I was like, what are you talking about?
So we go through Salt Lake.
And yeah.
And I looked, I was like, no man,
we're going through Minneapolis.
And you're like, no, we're going through Salt Lake.
We're going through Salt Lake and we're at a gate saying,
you know, this flight departs for Salt Lake
and your phone just says Minneapolis.
And we're like, what the fuck?
And I realized my flight was, my return flight was 710
and your flight was like 708, you know,
but to a different fucking city.
Yeah, that's when I was like,
we are on different flights on the way home.
And I'm at the wrong gate right now.
And I literally stood up and I was like, fuck.
I said, fuck.
And I just ran away.
Just fully God.
And thank God the gate was two gates away
and not like different terminal.
And I ran up and there I'm boarding group six out of eight.
And I was just like laughing, holy shit.
And then we, I land and I'm,
I sit at the back of the plane and I don't get upgraded.
I'm at 27 takes me a while to get off the plane.
Like everyone around my area is sitting
cause the European egress has landed in America.
People go row by row from front to back
and people are more respectful.
Remember it used to just be like people would rush.
So I'm just like chilling.
I finally walk off.
I walk off.
I look to my left.
You're walking off the plane.
To the minute, to the minute, to the door.
Oh my God.
To the minute.
Yeah, fucking crazy.
Oh, human driver.
So I get a cab and I'm like, man, what's going on today?
There's like more traffic.
Cabline is devoid of cars, which is rare.
And the guy says, oh, they're doing construction
on three different roads by LAX.
Everyone has to go out one way.
It's just like it's a pan the ass.
And so we're kind of following the route
and meandering towards where everyone converges.
And all of a sudden we look ahead
and there's all these, those yellow vertical cones.
So it's like a block off a lane.
Two have been knocked down
and a car drives through that gap and he just follows.
And he goes, he's like, somebody knocked these over
earlier and I'm like, hey man, go for the gap.
And he just like him and all, I love it that like nature
finds a way and the cab drivers always find a way.
Look to the cab driver.
The way Mo would not have done that.
But everyone's like, oh, there's the wall has a hole in it.
Yeah.
I love the adventure of the yellow cab home from LAX.
So for LAX, for those, this is a little inside baseball,
sorry, but LAX has in order to help try to alleviate traffic
within the LAX terminal area, they've moved all the taxis
but also the Ubers and everything else to like a side area.
And you have to either walk or take a shuttle
to the side area.
Oh, Zach has pulled up the side area.
It's called LAXIT, which is actually a very good name.
But like zoom out of it.
So it's just zoom out a second.
So it's like the terminals look like a fucking NASCAR track.
That's where they should have the fucking LA Grand Prix.
Do the LA Grand Prix around LAX, we fucking crazy.
If the world falls apart, you and I are doing that.
Yes, dude, for sure.
Yeah.
So that looks like a NASCAR track.
And it's bigger than it looks in a fucking photo obviously.
But then there's outside of it.
So you have to walk or take the shuttle.
I like to walk.
I walk.
And then you either are calling an Uber or a Lyft to there
or you're grabbing a yellow cab and there are tons of them.
And it's just easier, they're just right there.
And so I like the adventure because I live close
and the cab drivers don't like that.
So you have to like sort of negotiate this
like you're in fucking Calcutta or something.
And that's okay, man.
You know, I got extra cab.
I got to take care of you, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And it's a fun bit of negotiation
that reminds you you live in a fucking society.
I mean, ever since I just get in, I go, I live close,
but I'll take care of you.
And I've never gotten, no one's ever gotten mad
with what I've tipped.
This guy was like, you said it, you did it.
I appreciate it.
Yes, he was Russian, so I'm doing his voice.
You got to pre-diffuse that situation.
Then you're good.
But I've had that, before I learned that technique,
I had a guy get real mad that he had waited
for 30 minutes or 40 minutes to get a ride
and they're only going fucking this few miles
and what the fuck.
And the guy drove like he was so mad.
He wanted to get pretty.
Oh, he beat the shit out this Prius.
So hard, it was wild.
This guy, I asked him on the way, I was like,
how do you feel about the cab versus Uber thing?
And he said he drives for both.
And he's like, if you drive a cab, you are,
you know, do you background checks?
They do all these things, you're licensed by the city,
the same as a school bus driver.
Yeah, commercial insurance too.
All that stuff.
And the commercial insurance is expensive.
But he said with Uber, if they give you a really long drive,
like, hey, here's a new fare, it's really long
and you accept it and then it cancels it,
if you then don't do the short rides, they hand you,
they'll stop scheduling you long rides.
Like they punish you.
Like he had a ride, it was like $100, it could be 40 minutes.
And he's like, okay.
And he drove all the way to wherever
and then they canceled it on him.
And then they started giving him these really short routes.
Like it's almost like a fishing lure.
So then what he does, he's like, when they do that,
I stop accepting all of their rides.
I just stopped driving for them for three days.
They start giving you good rides again.
To come back.
They go like, yeah, they will be back.
This dude is 4D chess.
He is.
This is the move.
This is canceling your serious subscription
just to wait him out.
I'm out of order?
You're out of order.
Yeah, I was impressed.
That's fucking respect.
Yeah, I fucked that.
I'm not playing your game.
You fucking, you come to me when you've got a good offer.
He figured it out.
Yeah.
That's a move.
I love it.
I love that shit.
That's great.
You see the new that BRZ rally car?
No, but I won't.
It's got a turbo and all little drive
in a sequential gearbox.
It's probably, is it probably just like a Vermont sports car?
It's not.
It's probably not Subaru.
But like, okay, looks badass.
Hey, Subaru, get at me.
Yeah, we have the training.
This is where fucking,
this is what they're gonna do for, what's his name?
David Higgins to set some new Isle of Man record in.
Right?
Or to give rides.
The rally spec Z.
I mean, I am fucking ready for this.
Lighter than current WRX based cars?
Wow, same specs.
That's a good combination.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, it's for the All Japan Rally Championship.
Yeah.
But I want to drive.
Wow.
Turbo motor.
That's awesome.
Look at the ground clearance.
Dude, that would be so fun.
Big, big tall fenders.
But this one, this one in the photos
has more like a tarmac setup rally wheels right there.
Motor looks beefy.
Lots of them.
I think they say it's, you know,
they say it's 280 horsepower or whatever,
but it's, that's more than sufficient.
Look at that.
It looks great.
Not yet.
Yeah, no, they've only,
this is just this set of photos.
Yeah, that'll be cool.
We will never get this.
No, no one will ever get it.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's for the one race
that doesn't happen on this continent.
It would be so, it would be so nice
to have a turbo charged.
I don't care if it's less balanced,
but yes, a turbo BRZ would be rad.
Yes.
I feel like, I feel like they could develop that
and probably sell a bunch of them
for less than it would cost them
to develop an all new car.
I don't, they know people want it.
I say that knowing nothing about what it costs
to develop a new car.
There has to be a reason they don't do it
and maybe it's cafe averages or something.
They know everybody wants it
and how good it would be.
Like they're not dumb, but come on.
Do something.
Sell a bad EV and it bounces with this.
What if they just put like a fucking GR Corolla
three cylinder in that?
Sure.
300 horsepower, you know what I mean?
Sure.
Why not?
I gotta tell you, if you're out there
and you own a BRZ, don't put a catalyst exhaust
on your car, because one of the race cars
had the Skip Barber car.
That's one of the worst sounding vehicles
I've ever heard in my life.
That was terrible.
And while on the subject, if you have an inline six BMW
and you put a catalyst exhaust on it,
you sound like a 350Z.
Yeah.
Those race cars sounded like shit.
The E36.
That one and two of the E46s,
it was the loudest, most 350Z sound, dude.
Very farty.
So much farty.
Extremely farty.
Just all Brussels sprouts and beans.
Yeah.
What race cars sounded like really good?
Well, the AMG GT.
The AMG was me.
Oh, the bus thing.
Yeah.
The wheelhouse Mustang sounded rad.
The Corvette could have sounded good.
It needs a little work to sound good.
Yeah.
It's just too quiet.
It had an aftermarket exhaust,
but it was really quiet.
I talked to the guys about that car.
There was a so.
TC Klein's C8 Corvette.
Yeah, it was a C8 Corvette,
which was based on a street car
that was turned into a race car,
which was pretty fucking cool, actually.
And because of balance of power for WRL,
it effectively had to be,
they had to cut the throttle by a third.
Like they said, for the class we were in,
it's 10 horsepower at the wheels per,
wait, 2,800 pounds, 280 horsepower.
So yeah, 10 to one.
And so that's what it was for us.
So whatever it was for them, it's still 10 to one.
So they had to cut the throttle output by a bunch
in order you can get to that number however you want.
So whether it's cutting fuel, whether it's cutting revs,
whether it's cutting throttle position,
like however you wanna do it,
cause they just strap your car on a chassis dyno
and they just check the output.
They don't really give a shit how you get there.
So these guys, I thought they were cutting revs,
but they weren't.
They were cutting throttle pressure.
So basically the car never went faster
than like two thirds throttle.
Yeah, I think they said they pulled timing.
So if they pushed it past that cut point,
it just didn't do anything.
It just stayed there.
Yeah, it just stayed there.
So like it would keep going up in revs
until the normal red line,
but it wouldn't add any like power.
So it was very, so our little two series BMW
was dead even with it in the straightaways,
but then it became a 2020 Corvette
with suspension and AP racing brakes and a cage.
And it was breaking 50 meters later than us.
It was cornering faster than us.
We did not have much of a chance.
Very true.
But I mean, actually that was the car that,
whatever, ultimately knocked us off podium in race one
because we had a mechanical
and we might have beat it otherwise, but.
That car looks huge.
When you're behind it in traffic,
like we're in a modern car, but it's a smaller one,
but it's around E46s, 36s.
I could not believe the size of the ass on the C8
compared to other older cars.
And with the big wing on it and stuff,
it didn't, the Mustangs too were really big.
That's true.
They're gigantic.
We'll get back to the race next episode.
Let's go to the people.
Let's go to the fucking people out there in Patreon.com
slash the smoking tire podcast
where you can get the show live,
get the show early, get the show extra,
get access to exclusive collabs
and special edition moistenedizing that we do,
such as the Brozen Ferry Metallic Canyon from Notice
that is coming out very, very shortly.
We will have news of this watch very, very soon.
I just, I want to wait until the watches are in hand
and assembled that way when you order them,
you're going to get one quick.
Oh, speaking of watches, I bought a watch.
You know, there's a company called MBNF
that's like, they make crazy shit.
Like, what if a watch was more like a dog?
Starting at like $80,000 all the way up to millions of dollars.
Never probably going to have something like that.
But the guy who started at Max Booster
started a subdivision of that company called Mad Designs
that is avant-garde watchmaking at a lower price point.
It's like m.a.d.
Yeah, Mad Editions, that's it, sorry.
And so they have a new, they've got,
they had this watch that had the rotor on the front
and you have to enter lotteries to get them.
They, you know, they're more affordable.
This watch was like $4,000 instead of, you know, whatever.
So they have a new watch that they've been doing.
It's not this one, is there more on the,
go to the, no, that's MBNF, sorry, go back to Mad Editions.
It's the two, it's the new one.
Keep going, scroll down.
Is it, that one, the Mad 2.
So it has these two, these two dials
and then you see the little dots around the outside.
Those are on the winding rotor, which spin around the back.
So there's like this like crazy loom light show.
They spin constantly, like quickly.
As you're moving your, yeah.
As you're moving your wrist, it spins.
It's pretty neat, right?
That's pretty cool.
So this is like 3,000 bucks.
So they've done four lotteries so far to get watches.
I've entered all four and lost.
So they've just have a new version of the Mad 2
called the Mad 2 Redemption,
which is exclusively for people
that have entered four lotteries and lost.
That's okay.
If you've entered four and not gotten to win one,
then they invite you to buy this one.
And it's a special color of that and on the back,
it says something like persistence is key
on the back of it.
So I had lost all the raffles
and I was invited to buy the Redemption,
which is the red dial version of this Mad 2 and I bought it.
Where, don't want to have a picture.
Of it?
Go type Mad 2 Redemption
and there were a couple news stories about it.
Yeah, that's it.
It's very red.
It's that one.
Oh, yeah.
I think it's the same pictures they were using.
They may have just shown it on the other side.
Oh, all right, cool.
So red dial, black disc.
Very excited, it's very thin.
Nice.
One of the other ones looked really thick.
Yeah, well the Mad 1 is super thick.
The one with that rotor on top.
And I really wanted one of those
and our buddy Jared at Neighborhood Watch Club
had one for sale and I tried it on
and it was like wearing a fucking
Abraham Lincoln top hat on my wrist.
I was like, I can't wear that motherfucker.
This is much thinner.
It's cool little piece.
Very cool.
Little logo is cool.
Yeah, not insanely expensive, but I love Max Booster.
It is, yeah, totally, totally.
But it's cool.
I love Max Booster and I will never probably
be able to afford a real MB&F
and so this is where we're at.
And it says delivery April to December of 2026.
That's what it says.
So it'll show up eventually.
This year.
My credit card was billed.
So it will show up eventually this year.
But like, and I'm happy to wait, I don't mind.
Max Booster has a track record of delivering
the products that he's selling to people, so it's okay.
But I don't want our customers with the Canyon to wait.
So we're waiting till all the watches are ready.
That way when we launch it,
you actually get the thing you paid for quickly.
Got it.
This is important to me.
So, to the people, to the people.
Christian says, do you guys cringe
when you see base model sports cars
park with their spoilers up?
I wouldn't say cringe, I would say chuckle.
I chuckle, yeah.
It's a little silly, but I get it, they're excited.
It's got a wing, you don't want to show it off.
I've also seen recently a bunch of folks who park
and pop their hood in order to ostensibly cool
their engines in cars that absolutely do not need that.
Not at a car show?
Not at a car show.
They just park.
After like, yeah, after like a drive, yeah, yeah.
Like maybe a group drive.
And for the record, and I want to say,
I'm not talking about Abbey who comes on the road
and track drives, who was doing that,
but he had a Ferrari 355 and he was ripping it.
That's fine, them shits run hot.
I'm talking about a regular modern car.
It's a modern car, will it cool it quicker?
Sure, but does it need that?
No, I mean, at press drives, we do track stuff
and they never pop those, they just cycle people in and out.
Yeah, but the spoiler up, yeah.
I drove my spider and put the spoiler up.
The last time I went up the crest
and when I got to Newcombe's,
I got out of the car forgetting that it was up
and I felt like a real loser and got back in the car
and put it down.
Open wide throttle, DDS says,
what do you think of the new LS7 base C8
and LS7, Grand Sport, Grand Sport X, et cetera?
What is that going to do to the quote,
dot one C8 markets?
Corvettes depreciate.
I mean, all Corvettes depreciate in the short term,
except the manual transmission ZR1 from 2019,
but that's for a very specific set of circumstances.
All C8s depreciate.
So, if a flood of people go to trade in their base C8
for a Grand Sport or trade in their Z06 for a Grand Sport,
there may be more on the market
and the price of the used ones may go down.
Wait, are they putting an LS7 in the base C8?
I'm trying to find the story.
The word is that eventually the refresh,
there will be an LS7 in the base C8.
That's the word.
I don't know if it's confirmed yet,
but for now it's gonna be Grand Sport and Grand Sport X,
which has the electric all the drive
and then the word is the refresh,
that will be the base motor.
Okay.
Unconfirmed.
Yeah, I don't know if it'll speed up depreciation that much,
but the current, the base engine's awesome.
I think it's amazing.
Works great, put power into it, put mods into it,
but yeah, the LS7 does have the lore
and it's an impressive engine, of course.
I was talking to Serge at the race about what would be,
because I was like, why have you guys not
fucking joined Willow Springs yet?
And we were talking about what would be the perfect,
you know, like weekend track toy.
And I was like, right now, dude, a 5,000 mile Z06
is like game on for your weekend track playing.
I mean, you cannot do better
than something like that for a hundred grand.
That car is so fast.
It is.
And I wonder, you know, because Tato races Super Traffio,
rear-wheel drive made engine, big power car.
The Z06 ones, I think faster than the Super Traffio.
The Z06.
I'm excuse me, the Z06 I think is faster than the Super Traffio.
Right, but it's like, at least it's similar.
Yeah.
No, he said they were similar.
He said like, and dynamically they were kind of similar.
That would be a good training tool, big, great car.
Tato was also saying that like used Super Traffios
are really cheap.
That's nuts.
Like a Gallardo Super Traffio.
Like that would be a, that'd be a good time for a track toy.
Co-ed naked 969.
I haven't heard the term co-ed naked in 20 years.
I don't remember if it was it from...
Oh, you don't?
Oh, it was for a few years, there was a whole theme
of like T-shirts.
There was like fake events that was like co-ed naked volleyball.
It was like right along the same times
as the bar hats and the circle hats.
Oh, right.
That were in favor.
I haven't heard, but I haven't thought about co-ed naked
in fucking forever.
I bet you could go on Etsy and get some vintage co-ed naked shit.
There's a website co-ednaked.com selling, you know,
90s themed shirts, but they're remade.
Co-ed naked billiards.
Yeah, okay.
I definitely had at least, at least, and there's a slight,
like it's like co-ed naked billiards,
and then there's like a joke.
Yeah, co-ed naked lacrosse, rough, tough, and in the buff.
Oh, that's the one I had.
That's absolutely it.
Yeah, cause I was, I was lacrosse, man.
God damn, I did have that lacrosse shirt.
Yo, fucking email me that link.
We're bringing it back, baby.
Hannah's gone, like, I'm gonna bring this shirt.
You're bringing it back?
I'm ordering it for her.
God, when I was a kid, I like fought my parents
to get one of those dumb Big Johnson shirts.
That was like the least classy, and I think I wore it once.
Like an asshole, but now looking back,
like those are just like gross boomer jokes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And like huge, like on, and for people listening,
it would be like Big Johnson crawfish,
like pinch the back, lick the head.
It's like it's all really overt sexual shit.
I used to, one of my first jobs
when I was doing graphic design at the firm
in New York City was to not to do
like gross boomer joke versions of it,
but it was like to come up with fake events
to make t-shirts for.
Like the shit you see at Target.
Like, you know, some down home fishing tournament,
whatever the bullshit, you know,
events that are on these shirts.
Like, yeah, dude, co-ed naked lacrosse.
I fucking had that.
Wow.
Haven't thought about that in a minute.
Let's go back to, when your name is too good,
it sends us on a totally decent.
T-tangent.
You can time travel once to a car related event.
Where do you go and why is it the
Monaco Grand Prix 1988?
Yeah.
How about, that's a good one.
How about the Nurburgring for that, the one,
how about I am, I have the job I have now,
but it is 1984, and I have been invited by Mercedes
to attend the 190E 2.516 Global Launch Program
at the Nurburgring, where they will be holding
an exhibition race featuring Nicky Lauda,
the F1 grid, and a young rookie called Ayrton Senna,
who might do something impressive.
Now, then you, they'd put you in the car at the back,
you think?
Like, were there journalist drivers too?
Oh yeah, no, I'm riding right seat.
Oh, there you go.
Yeah, that would be cool.
This is a Jeff Day program, I'm riding right seat.
Yeah.
I think I would choose Monaco,
but in the 70s instead of the 80s.
Uh-huh.
Or like.
Pre-AIDS.
Yeah, Pre-AIDS.
You'll want to be there.
Pre-AIDS, yeah, like, yeah, Watkins Glen, you know, 69.
That's just nuts.
Yeah, yeah.
What do they call it, the pit, whatever it is?
Yeah.
The brains I had went to my head, says,
could a Taycan rear wheel drive or 4S be a good enough
replacement for a Cayman on good curvy roads?
Yes.
I mean, assuming you obviously don't mind, you know,
the lack of fizz of an electric car,
dynamically steering, ride, handling, fuck to the yeah.
Particularly the rear drive.
The rear drive car is the super, super, super,
sleeper secret, because it feels just like a car.
And I think not only is the visibility out the front
really good, but like you see the little pontoon fender,
so it's a good visual.
It feels very much like a sports car.
Yeah, you know, put on the soundtrack of an engine.
Quadrifoli O-Face, I bought a 4,600 mile 2021 E63 wagon
to replace my Maserati Trafeo, okay.
I don't like having cars out of warranty,
and I've never bought a five year old car before.
It has one year of CPO left, but I'm having trouble
justifying buying more warranty when I'm gonna tune it
and it doesn't have air suspension.
Am I taking a risk?
Well, if you're gonna tune it, you would mess
with your powertrain warranty potentially,
and if it doesn't have air suspension,
that's the other really big one on one of those cars
that could be expensive.
I mean, is it risky?
Yeah, but it's just math.
Like it is just math.
Like you're probably not gonna blow something up
that's like $40,000.
You might break something's three or $4,000.
Is that gonna really fuck you up?
I don't know, I would refer to the forums
and see like, is there a weak link,
especially with the tune that is known for braking,
or are they known for handling it no problem
and running fine for 20, 30,000 miles.
So I would do that.
I mean, I've owned some cars out of warranty,
and so far it's been all right.
I have to fix something once in a while,
but it's not been that bad.
I don't think I'd wanna own an EV out of warranty
because it's still questions surrounding,
what happens if something goes wrong with the battery
and what that might cost to fix.
And there's just to me, there are some uncertainties
that I'm not personally comfortable with.
Somebody might be, but I'm not.
But like, it's not like an AMG E63
is like a horribly unreliable car.
They're not known for being pieces of shit.
They're known for having some expensive maintenance needs.
Like, I'd be more concerned
with your brake replacement costs.
Dude, if that car has like ceramics on it,
like brakes could be $20,000.
And even when, remember, I was selling that guy's E63,
and the buyers were bitching
about how much brake life was left and this and that.
And your amounts and stuff.
Dude, and I went to the dealer
to find out what a replacement cost was
on a steel set of brakes.
And it was like 10 Gs.
That was crazy.
So like, I'd be more concerned about that
than I would be about something breaking
that is unexpected.
I'd be like, cause that AMG brakes,
I was truly shocked by the cost of
because those cars don't seem to me
like they are quote exotic.
And those are exotic car brake prices.
So that was very surprising.
Darian Lux says, Slayer famously did their earliest tours
in a Camaro hauling a trailer.
Can you get a photo of that?
What are some other inappropriate vehicles and setups
for going on tour that would command the most street cred?
Street cred and going on tour.
I mean, you have to be like,
if you want street cred and tour,
like you kind of have to be like broke, right?
Isn't that, it doesn't have to be like shitty.
Yeah.
Like you have to have a pretty shitty vehicle.
So it would have to be like, you know,
old school, really terrible vans.
That's, I feel like, I feel like a van,
like a rolling heavy van from the 70s or 80s
is your sort of ultimate touring band street cred, right?
Yeah, those are rad bands.
We saw a couple in Charlotte, man.
They just, they got a good stance.
They look fun.
Or if you like, I mean, if you were like a punk band,
if you're like a three piece punk band,
you'd have to go like an old, like an ex U-Haul truck
where you're just sitting three across
and like you're somehow living in that box.
I think like an LTD wagon from back in the day would be cool
with like an exhaust on it, shove everything
and someone can lay across the back.
I cannot find a-
No photos, huh?
Slayer's Camaro?
I can't find a photo of it.
There's an interview where they talk about it,
but they started touring 84.
Tom Arias Camaro was telling a U-Haul trailer.
All right.
Duffel Shuffle Retirement Club says,
what travel destination has the best food?
Because I sure as hell know it's not Wisconsin.
Shout out to Duffel Shuffle Retirement Club,
who we met at the race this weekend.
And-
We won't spell his name, we won't dox him.
Yeah, but lovely chap, nice to meet him.
We met a few nice fans at the race this weekend.
Yeah, we did.
Wisconsin people, very Wisconsin of you.
Loved your cheese, loved your sausage.
Sergio had a fucking butcher in Sheboygan.
That's delivered the bomb steaks.
And boy, if you need someone on the grill,
normally I'm happy to grill,
but we had a fucking Argentinian.
I was like, that's all you, homie.
And he did not disappoint.
Did not superb.
I mean, what travel destination,
I mean, dude, fucking Italy, Japan.
Yeah.
I think New York is amazing.
I also think LA has some of the best,
most diverse, high quality food of anywhere on earth.
Totally.
Spain, I mean, it's not diverse,
but I eat very well every time I go to Spain.
New Zealand, it's kind of limited menu,
but everything has grown there for the most part.
It's really fresh and delicious.
Yeah.
Holy macaroni.
Just watched Zach's 2019 video on the Miata RF.
Right now, 2026 pricing for the same car
is 43 to 45,000 out the door.
Is it still a worthy proposition?
No, the soft top is substantially cheaper, isn't it?
It's in the middle 30s, isn't it?
I forget what the last one was that we drove.
The last one we drove was a Grand Touring, I think, right?
Middle 30s.
Yeah, it's middle 30s.
I mean, dude, for 40, I would rather get the soft top
if I want a hard top coupe,
I'd rather get a GR86 for 10,000, 15,000 less dollars.
Not a lot of justification for an RF Miata
for that much money when you could have the BRZ or the 86.
With the updated engine and stuff, that's way better.
Yeah.
Harlequin E63 AMG, opinion on the decision
for McLaren to start making golf clubs
and sponsoring Justin Rose.
Is McLaren making golf clubs?
I'd say the question is, are they making them
or are they white labeling them
and launching off of their F1 success?
You just give it a quake.
This is the first time I've heard, have I forgotten
to talk today?
Did it?
You forget to talk, forgot how.
Did you, you fucked up yesterday?
Oh yeah.
I felt, yesterday I was, I was hurt.
Sick, I felt so exhausted.
We got home at one in the morning
after what was effectively a 22 hour day.
And I was just, and then all yesterday
I had so much catch up work to do.
I was like, go, go, go, go, go.
And then at eight, I was like, oh, there's the wall.
And just fucking done.
And I slept and woke up and woke up at 5.30 AM
and I'm fucking crazy, still a little wonky.
Okay, McLaren irons, look at this.
Okay.
The late way, okay, I just, okay, I've had the opportunity.
I mean, it does seem like, it does seem like
these are made at least sort of by McLaren.
Pro short heel towing, McLaren papaya speed mark logo.
It top level designers at McLaren Golf,
who is a designer at Honda, MacGolf.
Okay, I mean, this is McLaren Golf.
It has?
Well, joining designers at McLaren Golf,
so I guess they've been around for a little bit.
We got to call, dude, we got to call McLaren
and get a press loan, share some clubs.
Let's fucking go.
All right.
I would try some McLaren irons.
You think they make the carbon shafts?
Probably.
Maybe, I don't know.
Roe, roe, roe, you're Bo Bachman.
Some people say that cars are, wait.
Some people say that cars that are hated new
or struggle to sell when now will be valuable in the future
like the Ford GT was back in the day.
What car now fits that mold for the future?
Maserati MC20s?
Probably, yeah.
For sure.
Not hated, but they'll be rare, they'll be pretty.
I mean, probably a lot of the M cars,
the designs are controversial,
but if eventually we're more electrified,
people will always look to like,
what was the last really fast thing that was fun?
Maybe, see, well.
I mean, there's, there are,
cars that are hated.
What do people despise or not buy right now?
Well, it's always the things that,
like hatches have gone away
and we all finally look back at them.
So small cars, the more and more we get more crossovers
and larger vehicles will probably look back like that.
Specifically. Nismo Zs,
they don't sell a lot of those.
They'll probably be valuable.
They usually hold, they hold value really well.
I think in this fuel economy,
maybe Hellcats and stuff,
if there's still whatever Hellcat-powered thing.
Maybe some EVs, maybe the Rimac-Nivera, maybe.
Lucids. Lucids.
Those don't, those are struggling.
Maybe, that'll be weird, but maybe.
Paul says,
wait.
Oh, are there aesthetic car designs that are,
that are, okay.
I think the wording of the question is weird,
so I need to change the wording
to something a little less weird,
but I know what you mean.
Are there any brand cues in styling
that you really don't like?
For example, the grille shape of 2020 10 infinities,
which is that like oval grille shape.
I know what you mean.
Such as like the mouth of Aston Martin or whatever.
Aesthetic design's common between a given,
I don't like what most of the Hyundai,
Kia, Genesis brands are doing
with the front of their electric vehicles,
where they're all sort of froggy and fishy,
except for the Ioniq 5,
which has got its own sort of that,
not steampunk,
eight-bit sort of aesthetic.
But all the rest of them, the Genesis and that,
like the froggy front of the EVs I don't love,
I really don't like a lot of what,
like going on across Ferrari's entire lineup right now.
Yeah, well, 296 is fine.
I think what I don't like,
I think Kia does it where they split the small headlights
up top and a big light down below,
where it looks like a giant fog light
and it separates the headlight design.
I just think that looks really weird on pretty much anything.
I don't like on Nissan's SUVs that blacked out C-pillar,
the floating roof design.
Yeah, that was a weird choice and they keep doing it.
Yeah, makes the roof look like the roof line of a boat
over like a center,
it looks like a center console's roof
or like a flybridge roof.
I still don't love McLaren's headlight intake design,
but it's distinct and the cars are amazing.
Like it's just when I look at it,
especially with the lights off,
I just go, it's weird pocket, it's kind of strange.
I just prefer like the smoother shapes of other things,
but the cars are so good that I will let it pass.
Every other week, I gots to buy new Vogue's,
was an M113K ever considered for the Mercedes project,
why or why not?
That's the super charged V8 that you got
for the 2004 E55 that everybody loves to modify and tune.
No, because it's just so much more power
than I would ever fucking need.
I mean, the odds that my Mercedes will see full throttle
at 400 horsepower, more than a handful of times
in its life are very small.
It's a cruiser, so.
And it's gonna feel fast.
Yeah, so.
This is a car that came with a 220 horsepower in line six.
Going to a 400 horsepower V8 and a five speed auto
is going to be with a different diff ratio as well.
It's going to be, this is going to be a monster,
you know, at the 20 to 80.
This will be a very fast car.
By the standards of does this feel fast or not?
Yes, it will feel fast.
It'll pull like a vet.
From my understanding about talking with Schaunt
and Matt Quick, the cost of a donor and the complexity,
because it's a different chassis of vehicle.
That's now a 201 or whatever it is, W2.
It's the next gen of car.
The electronics and integrating the electronics
from that gen into this are much more complicated.
It's way more involved.
It's way more expensive.
And the benefit would not be something that I am seeking.
So a lot of people on the internet were like,
fucking supercharger or bust.
But like, no, it's not, that's not needed.
Keel and Toe says, do you think the uptick in values
of early 2000s and 2010s mid-engine V8 Ferraris
is a sign that collectors don't like Ferraris.
Current hybrid lineup and prefer NA V8 engines?
Yes, I do think that.
And I just saw a thing from the intercooler
that values of F8s with higher miles
are higher than 296s with lower miles.
Yeah, the V8 twin-turbo people want that.
Yeah, they don't want to deal with the hybrid
and they do want to deal with more cylinders
and non-hybridized speed.
Expectant widowmaker, my wife needs a commuter.
Three days a week, 30-ish miles, two days, 50 miles.
That's easy, any car would cover.
Currently has an Audi A4, which she likes.
What would be a better option than a cheap lease
on the new Audi electric coupe looking to upgrade?
Must be new, no SUVs or crossovers.
All right, so electric coupes or sedans?
Well, it sounds like you're mostly in the right place here.
I mean, I don't recommend Tesla's to people,
but like a Model 3, maybe.
Machi?
No, that's probably considered a crossover.
That's a crossover.
I mean, the gen, I just...
BMW, what's it called?
Is the new i3, that's not out yet.
The new class at all?
But looking to upgrade in 12 months,
maybe this new BMW that's coming out, the new i3.
I mean, there's no...
All these cars are small crossovers.
There's not a lot of electric sedans.
Right, Hyundai canceled the IONIQ 5
unless you want to jump to the end, which is expensive.
I mean, if there's a leftover IONIQ 6 somewhere,
they'll be giving that motherfucker away.
They look weird, but drive nice.
I feel like we're missing something besides Tesla.
It's a little crossover-y,
but I really liked that Genesis GV60.
It's not gonna be as cheap as the cheapest Audi one,
but I thought it was great.
Yeah, but if you say it's gotta be a sedan,
like there just aren't that many.
Yeah, especially with EV.
If you switch to gas, there's a few more,
but there's still a lot of time.
I mean, how about a Prius?
Like Prius would be like rad.
I mean, they're very comfortable.
They look nice.
Throw some rims on it.
And if she wants to be more premium,
you could look at Lexus.
You could go ES, ES hybrid.
That's a really nice car.
Yeah.
It's bigger than the A4, but...
There's a...
If you do the Prius plug-in,
you'd get like 38 miles of EV.
So most of those three days a week,
you're driving EV only.
And then the two days, 50 miles.
Like that's...
You know what I mean?
You're still mostly EV there.
Very true.
I would check out the Prius, honestly.
They're fucking giving them shits away.
I read an article that now that basically all of Toyota's
hybrid is just fully...
Our Toyota's lineup is hybridized.
The Prius is like, why are we getting a Prius?
Instead of just a hybrid cam.
You know, because a hybrid Camry
is not much more expensive than a Prius.
And it's a bigger, more comfortable vehicle.
And you know, bless you.
And it gets like, you know, 40 miles a gallon or 45
instead of like 52.
53 city, 50 highway.
For the Camry?
Yeah.
Wow.
Look at that.
That's wild.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I can understand why not many people
want to get a Prius.
But I think the Prius looks good.
It does look cool.
Looks good on rims.
Go Mifune, live in the Upper West.
I'm looking for a sub 30K weekend car.
I plan on doing a beginner's track school.
Eventually get some laps at Road America.
Would I be missing out on some fun with a Miata or 86?
Or should I get a nicest vet I can find for the money?
If you're a beginner, I would not get a Corvette.
Like that's a great track car.
You can grow with for forever, basically.
But as your first foray into this on a track
that has this much speed, I would 100% not buy a Corvette
if you're going to do track stuff in it.
Yeah, I mean, 30K, fortunately, is a good budget.
It's not like you said 10.
You know, 10 in today's money is not getting you very far.
But 30, dude, the world's Mustangs and Camaros
are your fucking oyster right here.
30 is all the money in the world for a used Mustang
and some suspension and brake parts and tires eventually.
Or you get a used GT that has the track pack one or two,
and they probably have fallen down in the 30s.
You might be able to find a boss,
three or two, maybe, with high miles on it.
330 CI, we talk about a lot.
You could probably find a Camaro SS 1LE for 30s.
Such a good car.
That would be great.
It's also really pretty fast.
It is pretty fast.
They have the Camaro, the V6 with the handling pit.
Candling pit.
V6 1LE rare, that's pretty good.
Probably pretty cheap.
But if you don't, I mean, Road America is very, very fast.
And so on the one hand, it's more fun
when you've got some horsepower.
On the other hand, as a beginner,
your consequences there can be very, very high
if you start to push it in a really big power car.
And I also think you'll learn more from a slower car
and those lessons apply to a faster car, of course.
A GR86 or something, look into the whole,
the mods with the oil draw issue,
but that would be such a great car.
Yeah.
Stan Gable did nothing wrong.
What would it take to change the public perception
of the Corvette being kind of white trash?
Many years.
I mean, I think it's, look, they gotta sell a lot of them.
And I think if there's just a proliferation of something,
it's just gonna attract a label.
And like, they're great cars,
but they're bought by so many people
and there's such a stereotype behind them
at this point after decades.
Like, how do you get away from that?
I don't, I think the C8 has done a lot
to break up some of the trashiness.
The kind of people I see driving C8s
are not monolithic at all, particularly in this city.
I see old people, I see young people,
I see men and women, I see young black men driving C8s
all the time around this area.
I see Asian people in LA driving C8s,
particularly high spec ones in the Beverly Hills area.
I think more people are buying Corvettes now
because of the C8 than definitely
would have bought a car in the past.
And I think for the most part,
GM has not turned off their core audience
with the car either.
I think a lot of those old guys
that would have had the C6 or C7 are rolling into C8s.
And a lot of the people who come on our road
and track events bring C8s.
And now that Z06 has been out for a couple of years,
now that our most recent event in the desert,
we had two ZR1s, two Z06s, and two base cars.
So I think people are getting high specification cars
and a fucking full carbon ZR1 track pack,
like that ain't trashy, that's an exotic car.
But now it's an exotic car,
because before they were very fast
and they kept up with a lot of exotics,
but they didn't look exotic.
And now it does look like an exotic car
and obviously it keeps up.
I don't know, let us know in the comments
if in your area outside of LA,
if the ownership is as diverse.
Yeah, Chris P. Bacon says,
just sold my C5 Z06 and used the money
as a down payment for a new GTI, couldn't be happier.
Also drove the new M2 and M3 and wasn't blown away
by the interior quality,
considering they're more than double the price of the GTI.
At what price point do you start getting diminishing returns
on interior build quality?
Good question.
I think there's not much, for most European brands,
you hit about 50 grand and then it really stalls
until you hit about 100 to 150 grand maybe.
At least, maybe even more.
Because I think these days,
I think suppliers have figured out,
Hyundai's a great example.
You can get a lot of similar looking buttons
and controls in those cars.
They figured out how to make quilted,
leather-ish door cards that look like something
out of a Bentley, essentially.
So I think you have this gap
where everything looks really nice.
And then at 50, you have to jump to 200
where suddenly the hardware you touch, like in the Aston,
the wheels feel a little bit more solid
and the resistance on the buttons
is just a little bit more perfect
and not as lightweight and flinty, that kind of stuff.
But I think there's a huge jump you need on the spend
to make a difference.
The Honda Civic Si, I think,
has a lot of the same materials you'd find in a BMW M3.
And in order to go up to that,
you might have to get a $180,000 Alpina something-something
with the next level materials or something, right?
Porsche is an interesting one
because I actually think the Cayman and the 911,
they're screwed together just as tight.
The quality is pretty consistent.
So the materials will get nicer
as you go up and up the food chain.
But even when I drive a base 911,
even though it's rubberized on the top,
the quality is really tight.
So I'm not as bothered by it.
It's a really premium rubber.
But then there's a really, when you go from like 100
to like 400, when you go to Bentley,
then it's like, okay, now here we go.
And it's truly exotic materials.
And there's like no plastic.
And even the quote, piano black is the higher quality.
It's not just black plastic.
It's like actually the piano black.
Or like the ceramic white they use in the Range Rover
is just like things that you do not see in other cars.
But in general, like a Volkswagen,
like a loaded up GTI will have approximately
the fit and finish level of a $80,000 or $100,000 car.
It's a pretty flat curve in that range.
And plus when you add the screens in these days,
that makes your center stack looks as nice
or nearly as nice as something from an Audi
or a more expensive car
because it's delivering you crispy information.
Occasionally you'll have a surprise and delight
like Volvo's wool or something where you go,
oh, this is a material that goes above and beyond
what I'm paying for here.
You know, a particularly well sculpted seat,
a thing that's wrapped in leather
or suede that is a normally wrapped in leather,
that kind of thing.
But like most of the time it's pretty flat up to the exotics.
Sigs inside, I wanna take my dog camping soon
because the girls I date are only interested
in glamping or luxury hotels.
Uh-oh, this is a Zach question.
What essentials do you recommend for camping
out of your vehicle for a weekend at a national park,
especially with a dog?
Perfect for Zach, I'm going to Pete, take it away.
I mean, first of all, I see it.
Here's dog camp.
Well, I had a bar mitzvah, but not genetically,
but first of all, I think you might end up
eventually changing the choice of the girls you date
because then you can do the things together.
There are plenty of women out there
that really like camping with a dog.
But that, notwithstanding,
maybe your girlfriend, wife doesn't wanna camp.
I don't see the benefit to sleeping off the ground
on rooftop tent.
And I've talked to a lot of people that do it.
I'd say half of them regret doing it.
Yeah, you can park your car and once you level it,
like you have this sturdy platform,
if you have to get up in the middle of the night
to go to the bathroom, you have to go down the stairs
and getting the dog in there.
Depends on the dog you have,
depends on the stairs you have for that rooftop
or truck bed tent.
So that, I think, is a huge point against the rooftop tent.
Also, if you wanna drive somewhere
and leave camp behind, you can't.
Now, if you wanna camp in the vehicle,
SUV or something like that,
things to pay attention to,
it's the same thing as when you sleep in a tent,
is you're gonna have air going under the car.
Sometimes the air underneath you can get very cold
and that cold air will go through the body of the car
into the thing you're sleeping on.
So you need to have some sort of like ground mat
or blanket between your sleeping pad and the car.
Also true if you're sleeping in a tent,
but the earth tends to be a little warmer
than the air moving around it.
So those are all things to keep in mind.
Nothing wrong with the tent.
Our dog, we slept with a tent.
If the dog wants to go out and bark at something,
you just unzip it and it just gets to go.
So I don't really see advantages
to camping in the vehicle,
except it's like bare proof and more weather proof.
So that's my thought.
Perfect timing.
You solved their problem, Zach?
I think so.
Great.
I told them to break up with their significant other.
Martin Sight says, 10 years ago
when I was in engineering school,
all the automakers who talked to us at the major focus
was advancing materials to make things thinner and lighter
in pursuit of better fuel economy.
Somehow cars are elephants compared to 10 years ago.
Being that a design cycle is nearly that time span
and they changed their mind on what's important.
And how quickly could we see turnarounds
on automotive trends?
I mean, well, you can, here's how you,
I mean, you can, we just saw it, right?
The Tesla Model S came out in 2012
by, you know, 2017 or 18,
several other major automakers announced,
you know, plans to build EVs.
And then by 2020, 2021,
many, almost all mainstream automakers
came out with the least one EV, 2022, even more.
And then it was like, then it was like, oh, by 2030,
maybe there's the mandate.
So they all was like pivot to EVs.
And then now you have Trump throwing all that in the garbage
and now everyone running away from it.
So over the course of 15 years,
we've seen a swing and then a swing back.
So that's the turnaround time, right?
Seven, eight years to make plans and then break them.
It seems like they've also had so much success
with engine efficiency and aerodynamic efficiency
that they're getting the MPG,
they're hitting the goals that they need to hit
so they don't really need to make the cars lighter.
And if people are always gonna ask for more creature comfort,
more gadgets, more stuff, they'll go, all right,
well, we can provide the customer with what they want
and we hit the MPG targets,
we don't need to make the cars lighter.
Only we give a shit.
Only journalists drivers really care
that the cars are getting heavier.
Right, everyone else only cares about features.
Big Ben says, I'm doing my first track day in my F80
in June, an HPD event.
I need to provide my own helmet.
Someone getting into hopefully more track days.
What do you recommend as a helmet?
Open or full face, opinion about your criteria,
about other brands, et cetera.
Okay, so for the only reason,
the only reason that I even own an open face helmet
is because I have a camera pointed at my face
when I'm on the race track.
Outside of that, I don't really see a good reason
to wear an open face helmet.
A closed face helmet, even in a car with airbags
will protect you more than an open face helmet will.
So mine is just for television.
I have no other, or for YouTube or whatever the fuck,
there's no other reason for it.
Full face is good.
The most important thing is not necessarily the brand
because any of the top brands are gonna be good,
but is the fit.
I mean, really it's the fit.
Once you, I wouldn't buy the cheapest helmet they sell,
I would go up a little bit from that,
but you also don't need to go out
and get a $2,000 custom made anything.
You really want a good fit, and so if possible,
even if you have to drive an hour from home or something,
I would try to find somewhere where you can try helmets on.
Yeah.
There's also, I think, some kits or maybe some shops
where they will kind of measure the shape of your head
because, so different manufacturers are kind of known
for making helmets with slightly different shape,
like oval shape, square shape,
and I didn't think about this at all
till I started researching helmets,
and my helmet, if I don't shove it down perfectly,
like puts pressure on the front of my head
a little bit in a weird spot,
because I think it's slightly the wrong shape.
So find a way to do that,
and that will help inform you
which brands you should start with,
and then if you can put it on and leave it on for 20 minutes,
you know, that will inform you on size and shape.
So that's the first one.
I mean, if you can go somewhere to try one on in person,
if not, you know, maybe you need to look for a retailer
that has a pretty solid return policy,
and maybe you need to order three or four helmets
and try them on and send them back.
Sometimes if the manufacturer that makes the helmet
also makes motorcycle helmets,
you can go to the motorcycle shop,
try on their motorcycle helmets,
and get a sense of how that brand's helmets fit your head,
and then you can go from there.
Great point.
But yeah, I mean, and with brands,
like there's the big ones.
There's Bell, there's Zamp, there's Arai,
there's, what do you use?
Racing, no, Bell.
Bell, yeah.
My racing helmet is from a company called Impact
that I'd never even heard of before,
so, and I love my helmet.
Mine is custom made, and actually,
as I just found out, it expires.
Well, but in Impact, I think you said it was started
by the guy that started Simpson Racing, right?
Yeah, it was started by Bill Simpson.
Yeah, that's pretty good.
Simpson is another good brand, yeah.
So, and the other thing is, I don't like,
personally, I don't like tinted visors.
I don't ever drive with a visor down,
and if I, so I wear sunglasses inside my helmet.
On the opposing side, I swapped a tinted visor this weekend,
and I loved it, but that's because whatever is
with my helmet shape, and also the glasses I was using,
they were fitting weird and putting pressure.
So, if you do that, like, make sure the glasses,
like, you do wrap around your head,
and really hide back there.
My helmet wasn't crazy expensive,
another thing is weight.
Look at the weight of the helmets,
because when I bought my Bell,
I could have spent $200 more or something
for the entry carbon, but it weighed more
than the one I got, and I'm pretty sure the store owner
was like, it's because it's carbon
on the outside of plastic.
Yeah, like, sometimes the entry-level carbon helmets
aren't carbon.
It's like aesthetic carbon.
It's a bullshit carbon.
You gotta jump to, like, $1,500 to $2,000
for a lighter helmet, because, you know,
weight will matter, but how much
does it matter to your wallet?
Yeah.
And I have some vents on the top.
I think that's important for anybody.
They don't have to be complicated, expensive things,
but, like, venting the heat out of the helmet
is very handy.
Yeah, when you're, I mean,
it doesn't matter so much for track days.
If you're in the car, your visor will probably be open anyway.
But, like, dude, when you're doing an endurance race,
and you're doing a driver change,
and you have to have your visor down,
and you're breathing hard, and it's hot,
and you're trying to, like, do your fucking harnesses
that are gonna keep you alive, and you can't see,
those things matter.
Trying to find the tiny fuel reset button.
Black button on a black dashboard.
The fuel reset button.
Yeah, these things matter.
Wheat City Night Court, the Ferrari F80
is starting to hit the streets in various colors.
Have you changed your opinions on the design
since the initial announcement?
No, ugly car.
That's an ugly car.
And actually, I saw, I've seen more photos of the Testarosa.
That's gotten worse in other colors.
Can you notice D's nuts?
This is great.
Um...
That flows pretty well.
Oh, sorry, that's...
Oh.
Tappin' Z's nuts.
Sorry, some other nuts.
I don't have a budget for PPF.
What are some ways I can protect my paint
and current condition?
Ceramic coating is a lot cheaper than PPF
and offers some protection.
Not from rocks or impact,
but from bug splats and things like that.
And also just like washing your car a lot.
Just keeping your car generally very clean.
There's some good waxes out there too, right?
That'll prevent it, protect it against
like little sand blasts and things.
Yeah, I mean wax was the thing for 50 years
and it does work, for sure.
And coatings work too.
I mean, ceramic coatings, ammo reflex, we like.
You can do ammo reflex at home by yourself.
You don't need to go to a professional to do it.
Larry has a great video on it.
You can just follow his tips and do it yourself
without messing stuff up.
So I have ammo reflex on my cars.
Okay, don't judge an engine by its valve cover.
I'm looking at Turro, a C8 Corvette for a vacation.
How tight do we need to pack?
In order to fit our bags in the C8
or is there plenty of room?
So, okay, you got your frunk and you got your trunk.
I assume the C8 is not going to be an E-ray or a Z06.
Assume it's a regular, can you just,
like I think for the trunk, it's not,
the trunk is very roomy, but so your frunk
can hold one roll aboard.
Oh look, there's, can hold one roll aboard, okay?
In the frunk or a pair of backpacks, right?
And maybe a pair of backpacks and a purse.
And then in the back, the shape of it is a little odd.
So that's someone's, that's a specific luggage set
to fit the C8.
So you want to be a baller?
You order the $1360 Roadster bag
and then you have her Royal Highnesses
fitted luggage for the rear.
Outside of that, your roll aboard
is not going to fit in the trunk.
So when I took the C8 E-ray on my scouting trip,
I had to bring soft-sided luggage.
And I mean like duffels.
I brought two duffels.
Yeah, this is a totally common away roller board
and they put it in the middle,
but I think if you tried to flank,
you can't fit two of these end to end, right?
No, no, you could fit one in the middle
standing up on its end.
So my recommendation, but it is a pretty big trunk
if once you bend the bag in there.
So you got to go big duffels, that's your only move.
But there is, once you shape it in there,
then you're all right.
See this person, midenginecorvetteforum.com
has a good photo here of a three duffel solution
that I like.
Yeah, and it looks like Autoblog
did a luggage test with one.
So I would refer to that and then you can inform
your partner how much or how little they need to bring.
TLDR, you can fit a lot.
You just have to get the right flexibility
in the shape of your bag.
These are the last three.
Okay, last three.
Zach's sandwich-based humor.
The affordable sport compact segment is essentially dead.
And when viewed from today's eyes,
what do you consider the sport compact champ
from 2000 to 2010?
Civic SI probably.
The 2000 Civic SI was the jam.
Also the like 2004 R32 Volkswagen.
Was the jam.
That was a cooler car.
Handling-wise, I think it would get destroyed by the Civic,
but yeah, it was a cooler car.
Remember the Focus ZX3?
That was a pretty rad thing.
I liked the RSX type S a lot.
I thought that was a great car.
Oh, when did they stop making?
No, RSX took over for the Integra, nevermind.
I'd go Civic SI for the Champ.
Yeah, still raced all the time.
Yeah.
Oh wow, a lot's happening here.
Okay, Explorer I Hardly Newer.
I noticed a trend with automotive journalism recently.
Okay, notice a trend with automotive journalism recently
to take what Nissan is doing lately
and add an asterisk to anything they do.
IE, the Z is an older platform that's been updated.
Therefore, it's a lesser car
because it's not modern enough.
Although the same journalists complain
that sports cars are too tech-focused and overly complex
and a more old-school vehicle is what we desire, et cetera.
The Armada Nismo is called silly,
and I haven't seen the inside of that vehicle.
I haven't called it anything aside.
Even though almost every German luxury automaker
does basically the same thing.
From my perspective, there's a double standard for Nissan
who are making an effort to get away
from big, ultimate energy,
and they're not getting enough credit.
This truck.
Let's see the, that's a crazy-looking vehicle.
So the Armada Nismo.
Imagine getting one in a Nismo Armada,
but can we see the inside?
What do we have to go on here?
Yeah.
I mean, it looks like, yeah,
kind of the same as everything else.
Red seats, red, you know.
Yeah, it's whatever.
I don't know.
Kind of like Japan.
Like Japan seems to be go,
if it's a sporty, sporty car, we do the red seat.
Civic Type R, Armada Nismo.
Ferrari does it too.
It's like, it's the color of the passion.
I mean, oh, so the question is the existence
of the Armada Nismo is silly,
even though there's a G63 and we don't think,
I think that, we call those silly.
I think that's the question.
The question is like, why do,
it seems like people give Nissan unfair criteria.
We go, hey, the new Z is an old, refreshed car.
It's not a new thing.
That's not great.
And then we drive brand new cars and we go,
I wish they were more like the old way.
Yeah, so here's what I think what is going on.
And by the way, if you go look at my review of the Z,
I wrote about it favorably because of its trueness
to being a Nissan and not being platform-shared
or too similar to other cars.
I think I said the Supra was objectively a better car
that performed better,
but the Nissan has a more unique character to it
and it was very much reflective of the values of the brand.
So I said that, and you can probably go read that
on rodentrack.com.
What these folks want is it's not that it's not modern enough.
It's that they're saying it's a bit lipstick
on an older platform.
They want a new chassis that's analog,
a new lightweight analog chassis.
Like for instance, like when Mazda came out with the ND,
that's what the, they want Nissan to be doing
what Mazda is doing with the Miata,
which is where you are doing entirely new platforms
and chassis and stuff every, whatever, six to 10 years.
And to have those values of being an analog,
lightweight, engaging sports car that's not too complex.
The complaint of the Z is that the basic platform
goes all the way back to 2003,
which is a different thing that's happening.
Well, because then you, with a new platform,
you get more rigidity.
They usually can improve, you know,
hard points or things that might have led
to complaints about the cars.
It also means when you're comparing apples to apples,
you go, well, this car B over here from this company
is a whole new thing.
It's totally rethought, re-engineered.
I get newer materials, I get newer, newer thoughts,
whereas the other one, you know, the Nismo, you go,
well, it's better, but it's still an old thing.
So for my money, what do I want?
And then I think, oh, I had another thought
that I forgot about, oh, and then, you know,
the complaints about the old cars still, you know,
can remain, because you go, okay, well,
the thing's kind of heavy, the engine design
is a little bit old, they added turbos to it,
but they're not changing some of the fundamental complaints.
Yeah, I think, I can see why you think like that,
but I don't think that you think the journalists
are saying exactly what they're saying.
I think they're not saying that it's not,
they're saying that the platform isn't modern enough,
not that the idea of a rear drive stick shift sports car
needs to be somehow more techie.
Like, I think McLaren's a good example,
price point's different, obviously,
but it's a carbon tub thing,
it's made with more modern materials
than for I still use aluminum
for a lot of their unibodies and chassis,
so it's made with very modern materials,
but then they go, the steering's gonna be old,
it's gonna be hydraulic, the dynamics are gonna be compliant,
kind of an older style, they take all the best
of the old sports car attributes,
and then they use the most modern materials
to make those attributes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sarong Singh, I'm looking to make my next car purchase,
it'll be a daily commuter,
but need some space for hobbies, outdoor stuff,
fishing, kayaking, camping, surfing, et cetera,
from New Jersey, I've always wanted a last gen Lexus GX,
but I can't stop looking at used Rivian R1s,
any reason I shouldn't get the Rivian.
Sure, two of them, one, doesn't EV fit your lifestyle?
I mean, you're doing all these activities with an EV,
is that gonna work?
Maybe it is, maybe it's not,
I don't know how far you have to go to do those things.
Right, and how long do you camp for?
Are you gonna drain the battery and then be stuck
in the middle of, I don't know,
Northern New Jersey away from a charger?
Right, also, are you aware of the fact
that Rivians are just about the least reliable vehicles
being sold today?
I mean, literally, they're at the very bottom of the,
and people love their Rivians,
and I've driven press Rivians,
and I go, I know why people like these,
my friend Brad has lemoned two of them and has a third.
Like, they love them.
I had a question on the Driver's Test Show,
Consumer Reports said that Rivians
were one of the least reliable cars in the,
like in the United States right now,
but the driver satisfaction was the highest.
Yeah, it's inverse, it's crazy.
They got it, people are hooked,
they're in the club and they wanna stay, yeah, it's inverse.
So, you know, at least if you were to buy a used one
and you have a great warranty and blah, blah, blah,
maybe you could avoid some of these issues,
but you're talking about buying a used one,
my concern would be that it's problematic.
So, you know, make sure your warranty is intact
and very, very long and very comprehensive,
and you know, that you factor that in
when spending one of these, when it's used,
when spending money on one of these,
you may have some issues that need addressing
and they may or may not be covered under a warranty
and man, these things break a lot.
So, that's it.
Thanks folks, long show today.
Had a lot of talking to do, must have been all the caffeine.
Don't forget, we're giving away a Porsche,
hit the link in our show notes, 997 Turbo S,
the drawing is happening in August,
still have plenty of time to enter,
it is very straightforward, there's a charitable component.
If you win, you get 75,000 bucks
that covers the federal taxes,
and this car is a brand new 991, excuse me, 992.1 Turbo S
in ice gray with an amazingly optioned up interior,
all the luxury features, rear wiper, glass roof,
super, super, super fucking fast car,
and you can buy it, buy it, buy it,
you can't turn to win it.
Wow, I think I need another day of rest
before we do another show, fucking hell.
That's it folks, thank you for listening,
we appreciate you all, thanks to our patrons
for asking such good questions,
and we'll see you next time, bye.
About this episode
A big chunk of the conversation is spent on the Dodge Durango Hellcat, from its 700-plus-horsepower three-row packaging to track-day reality, where the hosts praise the absurd speed but complain about weak brakes and awful fuel use. From there, the show wanders through Waymo versus taxi behavior at LAX, a rideshare driver’s tactics, and a grab bag of listener questions covering BRZ rally builds, Corvette value, Mercedes swap complexity, Rivian reliability, and practical track-day advice.
100 octane
10 pistons
20 to 80
50 meters later
91 tune
adaptive cruise disabled
adaptive radar cruise control
aerodynamic efficiency
aftermarket exhaust
air suspension
Acura Integra
Acura Legend
Acura RSX
Audi A4
BMW 3 Series
BMW 6 Series
BMW 7 Series
BMW i3
BMW M2
BMW M3
BMW X5
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Colorado
Chevrolet Corvette
Dodge Challenger
Dodge Charger
Dodge Durango
Ferrari 296
Ferrari F355
Ferrari F80
Ferrari Testarossa
Ford Explorer
Ford F-150
Ford Focus
Ford GT
Ford Mustang
Ford Ranger
Genesis GV60
Honda Civic
Honda Fit EV
Hyundai Genesis
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai Ioniq 6
Lamborghini Gallardo
Lamborghini Urus
Land Rover Range Rover
Lexus ES
Lexus GX
Lotus Carlton
Maserati MC20
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mercedes-Benz 190E
Mercedes-Benz AMG GT
Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Mitsubishi Delica
Nissan Armada
Nissan GT-R
Nissan Skyline
Nissan Z
Porsche 911
Porsche Cayenne
Porsche Cayman
Porsche Macan
Porsche Taycan
Ram TRX
Rivian R1S
Subaru BRZ
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model Y
Tesla Semi
Toyota Camry
Toyota GR 86
Toyota GR Corolla
Toyota Prius
Toyota Supra
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen R32
Volkswagen up! GTI
Original notes
Matt Farah and Zack Klapman took the new 2026 Durango Hellcat Jailbreak on a road course, where it did some things; they briefly touch on a weekend racing cars; a rare Lotus sedan is for sale; Mercedes project update; taxi vs Waymo; and tasteless t-shirts.
Patreon questions include:
- Base cars parked with spoilers at attention
- What an LS7 C8 will do to values
- Time travel to one car event, go!
- Taycan RWD: fun enough?
- Risky to own this out of warranty?
- Travel destination with the best food
- Are Miata RFs worth the money?
- Yay/nay: McLaren golf clubs
- Cars no one likes that will be popular later?
- Design trends we don't like
- And more!
Recorded April 29, 2026
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The Smoking Tire
Zack Klapman, Matt Farah
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