'Car of the Year' is a title given to the best new car each year. It looks at things like how well the car drives, how safe it is, and how new and exciting it is.
The Volkswagen Bus is a classic van that people love for its fun shape and roomy inside. It's often associated with road trips and has a lot of fans who appreciate its history and style.
Retail price is the price you pay for something when you buy it from a store or dealership. For cars, it's usually the price listed by the manufacturer or dealer.
MSRP means the price that the car company suggests you should pay for a car. It's like a starting point for how much a car should cost, but you might find it cheaper or more expensive at a dealership.
The ID. Buzz is a new electric van from Volkswagen that looks like the old VW buses but uses modern electric technology. It's designed to be eco-friendly and fun to drive.
Utilitarian means something is made to be useful and practical, not just to look good. In cars, it means they are designed to do their job well, like carrying people or cargo.
Fuel economy regulations are rules that set how efficient cars need to be in terms of fuel usage. They help make cars use less gas and produce less pollution.
Turbocharged means the car has a special device that helps the engine produce more power without using a lot more fuel. It makes smaller engines work harder and faster.
A plug-in hybrid is a type of car that can run on both gas and electricity. You can charge it by plugging it in, which helps save fuel and reduce emissions.
The Jeep Compass is a small SUV that can drive on different types of roads, including rough ones. It's a good option for people who want a car that can be used in the city but also go on fun trips to nature.
Cars today have many computers inside that help control different parts of the car. This can make it harder to find problems when something goes wrong.
A sports seat is a type of car seat that gives extra support, especially during fast driving. The speaker had a problem with theirs that was draining the car's battery.
Range anxiety is the worry that an electric car will run out of battery before you can charge it. Now, people are also worried about how long the battery will last.
The Rolls-Royce Dawn is a fancy car that you can take the roof off of, making it perfect for sunny days. It's known for being very luxurious and comfortable, and many people admire it for its beauty and high price.
The Hyundai i10 is a small car that's great for driving around the city. It's easy to park and doesn't use too much gas, making it a good choice for people who want a simple and affordable vehicle.
Gulf Coast Auto Shield is a business that helps keep your car looking new. They provide services like special coatings and films to protect your car's paint and windows.
Ceramic coating is a special liquid that you put on your car's surface to protect it from dirt and sunlight. It helps keep your car shiny and makes washing it easier.
Paint protection film is a clear covering you can put on your car to protect it from scratches and damage. It helps keep your car looking good for a longer time.
Nanosuramic window tint is a special film you can put on your car windows to keep the inside cooler and protect against harmful sunlight. It helps you see clearly while blocking heat.
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Welcome to another in-wheel-time podcast. Well, do we have for the judge? Yes, sir. Here's Jack. What he looks like? Kind of scary, isn't it? Wait a minute. I see him now. Oh, he looks like he's got a new hip. Oh, it's all. Exactly. I'm kind of leaning over the left. So is your hips, Jack. Two little torque in action. Yeah. Too much Texas, too step, Jack. I think there's too much running, too much baseball. You know, I could play in baseball.
It's just a couple of years ago. Oh, wow. Yeah. Is it really? Yeah. What were you, were you like a club team? Some of the men's teams, you know, kind of my whole life. I played for the time. I was three years old until I was into my seventies. Really? Wow. That's, I didn't know that there's still hope for me. Yeah, there is. There you go. Yeah. Very little, but there's some patient zero over here. Well, Jack, are you feeling okay?
Can you walk? I can kind of walk. Yeah, it's, it's not so bad. I mean, right now I kind of forget about when I'm sitting down when I go to walk. It's kind of stiff and. But, you know, it's better. It's going to be a lot better. Was it like you said, you were kind of you went in in the morning. You got out in the afternoon. Yeah, I got there at seven in the morning and was back home by five, too, a lot of long work day. It was harder on my wife because I was a sleeper about two hours.
Oh, you got a nap. She didn't. She didn't. Yeah. Yeah. The drugs must be really good out there in California. There's plenty of them, I think. There's no doubt about it. Let me interject something. Jack, you sent us your latest book. One of your books. My wife did read it. She enjoyed it. She won't tell me the ending because she says I have to read it. So great. Appreciate that. I think I should be doing that and I appreciate it. Yeah. Well, John, let's talk about cars. Shall we understand that the Detroit Auto shows next up?
On the on the big list of places to go. And they've actually got a few more people that are showing displays. That's good news. Yeah, I think they have something like 40 brands. I think it was the latest I saw in communications with them. We at North American car. The are excited about the Detroit show because we announce our a car of the year. Sport utility of the year and truck of the year. Basically, the first thing that happens at the Detroit Auto show. So it's a pretty exciting time for us. Does that actually happen before the doors open to the public?
Yeah, it does. They have a media day. Yeah. And it kind of kicks off the media day. Do you want me to come and we'll wheel you around there? I'm not certain I'm going to go. I just given the fact that I'm not sure about getting out on airplane too much time, but maybe we'll see. Yeah. Well, so let's talk about the ID bus that Volkswagen has just said, we're not bringing it to the US next year. We only saw it.
$1,200. I mean, it's one of those things where you know, money means so much. I have people don't grasp. And I even a lot of car journalists don't grasp, you know, how important the retail price of these things is. And you know, that was a cool vehicle. I think a lot of us like a lot of things about it. There's something's about it. Many of us don't like to kind of irritating. But it's just too darn expensive. Right. I mean, it's just that's that's the bottom line with that thing. It's cool. But.
You know, $70, $80,000 for that thing. I'm not sure anybody's going to step up to that or very many. No, it's not very utilitarian. I just got out of a Ford Expedition Max. And that thing was $80,000 actually a little bit more than that. But it's much more utilitarian than ID buses. Yeah, absolutely true. Absolutely true. I mean, the prices of things are just kind of blowing me away. I was I was in Dallas and Fort Worth last weekend. Actually, my middle daughter got
married in Fort Worth, and we were driving around in Alexis, Alex 600 terrific vehicle, but also an MSRP of $120,000. So like I say, a terrific vehicle. But wow, that's a lot of money. If you can afford it, great. But for the most of us, I don't think that it's really, it's really some place to go to with, you know, 120 grand. That's a lot of money. Yeah, telling me. Yeah. Yeah. And my thing is what, what happened?
To the bargain vehicles? There aren't any. And I think maybe we're going to see some now that we've changed the exhaust emission regulations and the fuel economy regulations, because that was what was really pushing prices up is the car companies had to, you know, turn summer salts to make that work. To get to the fuel economy requirements that they were supposed to make. And so they have all these exotic type of cars, you know, turbo charge high, you know, plug in hybrids and stuff like that. I mean,
think of the complications of those kinds of power trains. It's just every complication adds cost, right? So I think we're going to get much more affordable cars or at least level things off a little bit as we go forward here. Let's hope. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I have a feeling that there's going to be a number of car companies that are going to go belly up because of the prices that are being charged for vehicles. I mean, they can't sell enough of them to support
the company itself, because they're so high price that drives people out. You get up there to 50, 60, 70, 80,000 dollar range, the upper end of the cars these days. And you go, well, wait just a minute. If I thought I'm going to spend $50,000 on that car, I can go over here and spend $45,000 and get a lot more content on this car over there. And just a nice one.
The $5,000 thing when it gets down to it, I think that that could be a real deal breaker, don't you? Absolutely. I think the smart money for a lot of people is in two or three year old cars coming off at least, right? I mean, they've got a lot of useful life in them and they're significantly less expensive than a new one. And your neighbor won't know the difference, right? And everything's not going to see the odometer.
So I think that's where the smart money is going these days. Well, that's where we were with the whole public thing. People we couldn't afford it, couldn't find anything new to buy that we could afford. So we went to use. And there was a big deficit in finding cars that were coming off at least because everybody was snapping them up. You think that that's going to happen again?
Well, I think we're coming out of that whole valley of car production that was COVID caused, right? I mean, there was a big drop in cars that were produced three or four years ago in the midst of COVID, because they shut down factories and then let car companies make cars. And we're still coming out of that. And so that affects the supply of these late model used cars.
And that's where a lot of the smart money goes. So it drives the prices up there because there's relatively few of them, comparatively.
Well, let's talk just a minute shift gears about the tariff thing that apparently is going to be reviewed again. And now we're going to throw in the USMC thing.
Is that what it is? The Mexico, Canada, green, the tariffs and all of that. That's going to be up in the year and that's coming up pretty quickly here in January I understand.
Yeah, I think that and I think it's likely that instead of making it a trilateral, you know, a deal between Mexico, Canada and us, we would make separate deals. The United States would make separate deals with Mexico and Canada.
Maybe those are easier to negotiate. I think in a lot of ways, this has been good for American manufacturing. We've certainly seen a lot more investment here. We've seen production shift from Canada, say for things like the cheap compass back to Illinois.
So that's interesting. The other countries are not real wild about it. But I think Americans, given a choice, would like to buy cars made by Americans in America.
I agree. And I think that it gives us a little, as far as American cars are concerned, a little bit of an advantage because the way that the market seems to me today,
what's offered by European, Asian and American vehicles, we've reached kind of a plateau where everything is kind of on an even keel.
You don't find really bad cars anymore. If you do, they get called out and they don't sell and they stop making them. But that's rare these days.
Well, it's because they have so many recalls. Well, they don't have those anymore.
There are some American car makers that do have a problem recalls and I think it's hurting their sales. But I think that that too will even itself out eventually.
But that goes back into the manufacturer's process is not necessarily the quality of the tools or the material that they're using for parts.
I mean, if you got a bad process that lets things slip through and your quality checks aren't there, then you're going to have to change that.
Yeah, I think the complication of cars too. I mean, I'm concerned, I don't know that anybody else talks about this, but I'm concerned about all the turbocharged cars that are going into the market these days.
They're likely to have less longevity than the typical normally aspirated car or truck. And they manufacturers are essentially forced to do that by fuel economy regulations that have since been rescinded.
But there's a ton of them out there and we're seeing a lot of hybrids. Most hybrids are fairly bulletproof, but you see some issues with them too.
Again, the more complicated I think the drivetrain is, the more potential problems you have.
Well, and to that point, my brothers got a ram truck, turbo diesel, 150,000, 60,000 miles on it, whatever, whatever.
And it started having a problem, it took it to the dealership where he always had it serviced problem with the turbo.
Well, they can't fix it. They have to replace it. You know, $6,000 to go in there and replace the turbo and it comes as a kit and all this other stuff because they can't fix it.
They just take it off and put a new one on it. And you take even a regular level, even if you don't have the turbocharger, you've got 10 or 12, maybe even 20 different computer systems running on the car.
Where in the world you start looking? Yeah, I mean, I've had some electrical problems in a very old vehicle I've had for a long time and just tracking down, you know, where is the power going, right?
I mean, to the point where I have it on a trickle charger a lot of times these days just to get around.
I could certainly relate to that. I had a problem with my old 2001 for that and I wouldn't hold a charge. I mean, the most I could go is a week of it sitting around, but by then it would barely start.
And I thought, okay, I've had enough of this. I'm going to crack this down as it turns out after spending several thousand dollars, it turned out to be the seat, the driver's seat called a sports seat in 2001.
I mean, it had some sort of short in it somewhere and it was draining the battery. My answer was, get rid of the seats. So obviously it went, I bought me a pair of Corbos, they're absolutely great, they're cloth, they look good, they fit good, solve all the problems.
Yeah, so I mean, there are there are issues that come up on an old car. I understand that, but I think that there are other ways around that. If I had a turbocharger problem and it was going to cost me five thousand dollars, I would definitely start looking around and see what the alternative alternatives would be when it came to buying an alternative diesel vehicle.
We have a lot of, you know, just very exotic powertrain vehicles out there that are going to be used cars that I don't think the typical use car buyer is going to want to have, right? I mean electric vehicles number one.
Sure.
Who lives in a apartment building in a city wants to have an electric car. I mean, you have to use public charging to charge it. It's just not a good situation at all for those people.
And those are the kind of people who buy used vehicles and older used vehicles. So I don't know what's going to happen with all of those. The more exotic cars, let me do those folks want cars with turbocharged engines, do they want hybrids?
Well, in regards to the EVs, the biggest question I get out of people when they start thinking about buying one because that's what they hear on the news is how much is it going to cost me to replace the battery if the battery goes bad in a year or two after I bought it?
Yeah. You know, it used to be range anxiety. No, it's battery longevity anxiety. It seems to me that's what's going to hold that back.
Well, for my issues, it was all about the charger plug that apparently now everything is going to be Tesla charger plug.
I get a vehicle. I'm not going to tell you which one. Jack, you probably already know that file on your face. I get a vehicle. Then the usual dawn Armstrong 110 volt charger is not in the vehicle.
What is it? It is a plug that goes on the plug to be able to adapt to where I need what all you that this will do it wait. No, it won't because it doesn't use a fast charger.
It uses a level two charger. Okay, well, where do I go for that? No, you can't go there. It looks like shell recharge, right? Can't use that because it doesn't match up.
It was an absolute again nightmare trying to find a charging for this thing. No, I'm good on the electrics. Give me a hybrid or give me a gasoline motor. I'm good.
Five minutes at the gasoline stop and I've got 400 miles on the range anxiety meter on my gasoline powered car. It's great. So, Jack, are you going to have a good Christmas, my friend?
I'm hoping so. I'm not going to do too much running around. My daughters are coming into town, so that's great. Like I say, one of them just got married.
So, her husband is coming too. They're very cool. They're flying back from the Dominican Republic, probably as we speak. They're flying into four words. So, you know, we will see them a little later, later this week, this coming week.
We offer you a speedy recovery, my friend. Thank you. Hey, when, when, when should you be back painless and ready to go?
They say that I can play tennis and that kind of stuff in three months or so. I'm thinking maybe I can accelerate that a little bit. I go out in the backyard and swing the bat pretty much every day. So, I'm going to miss that for the next two or three months, but we'll see what happens.
Well, it's always a pleasure to talk to you, Jack. We love to talk to you guys. I appreciate it. Always go back and get in a relaxed position somewhere and turn on the TV for me.
Yeah, we got some hot TV watch today. Oh, yeah. All right. Jack, we'll talk to you again. Happy New Year, my friend. Happy New Year, Merry Christmas to all you guys.
And I really enjoy talking to you every time. So, thank you. Thank you, Jack. Merry Christmas. Yeah.
Hey, just a head of Jeff's Park culture. Things you're not allowed to do in an RV or you shouldn't. Plus, Mars has last minute road trips at Christmas after this break on the in-wheel time car talk show.
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Next week we're going to do a best job so everybody can take a break from each other before we kill each other.
Because there's something coming up next week. Christmas. That's why.
You'll be off Christmas.
Thank you.
Time-out for Jeff's car culture, fun things that could be against the law while driving your RV.
That's right, an RV living and travel or booming like never before.
According to the recreational vehicle industry association, there is one out there.
There are now more than 11 million households in the United States with an RV.
There's at least tens of thousands more people to the open road each year.
RVing is free, adventurous and comfortable.
Yet there are a variety of rules to keep the traveler and the local community safe from you and them and clean as well.
Here we go.
Driving an overweight RV is wrong, it's against the law. You'll have a weight limit to prevent any accidents.
Based on recent weigh station inspections at RV rallies, more than 85% of the RVs exceeded gross vehicle weight capacity recommendations.
Just overloaded too much stuff in them.
The risk of overloading can be summed up in the fact that overloading compromises braking, handling, and tire safety which increases the chances of accidents.
The overweight vehicles are heavily penalized by most states we find in our prohibit from traveling further until their fault is...
That reminds me of the island of Lucy movie The Long Long Pover.
Where she loaded up all the rocks.
Yeah, that was out recently too.
Using the bathroom while the RV is moving although it may not seem like a significant issue.
Using the restroom or walking around an RV in motion maybe against the law and most states.
There are differences in laws depending on where one lives but there are many mainly concerned relative to safety.
Since any time and one may be in the vehicle with a bubbly stop or hit a road bump might result in injuries.
Yeah, it's splash content.
The whole state belting up and sitting will be required when the car is moving on the road.
So you've got to see belt on that door.
belt itself, strap yourself.
Alrighty, and don't eat burritos before you go.
No, the next one is a parking your RV or RV.
No, that would be for me.
That would be for me.
But don't arms walk your RV wagon.
A residential street or driveway.
Many local ordinances prohibit the overnight parking of RVs on residential curbs or even in driveways.
Now, my stepfather had a win-of-bag on a parking drive with weird parents because it was allowed.
In other cities, parking in RV in front of your house or in a street or driveway can result in fines or even to owing.
Specific neighborhoods require permits limiting the parking duration.
These regulations aim to control neighborhood congestion and preserve the neighborhood aesthetics.
Although we prefer to park near home, RV owners should review existing laws and consider alternatives like RV parks or storage areas.
There's a lot of those around.
Driving with the propane on.
Don't do that.
Another subject is a lot of controversy is towing or RVing.
Your RV with propane tanks on.
It is permitted in most states, but certain states impose restrictions in specific conditions, such as time after operation.
You're the risk of fire explosions such safety advocates on warnings of the dangers posed by propane leaks or accidents.
If you've got a leak in the RV, you can die. You can use a fixate yourself.
Keeping that off is a good thing for the RVers.
Next one.
Are you doing helium?
That's why I said it.
Or other type of gases.
Well, strap yourself into the mode there.
Yeah.
A propane docking is prohibited in many areas.
What is boom docking?
Over night camping without hookups or unmarked areas is becoming increasingly common.
So you take your creeper van or whatever, you just park in somebody's house overnight.
That's called boom docking.
It restricted areas and privately owned lands.
It's against the law.
National Forest and Forest Services declared that dispersing camp camping and specific regulations at the time of restrictions.
Violators risk fines and a forest removal.
By adhering to these regulations, the natural spaces can be maintained.
And no tensions with the locals or landowners can be created.
So always know where you're going to park it.
Don't just pull up somewhere and throw your chair out there and flesh it to the mode and all that stuff.
Yeah, a lot of people used to, while they were traveling, used Walmart or came out parking lots overnight.
Yeah, exactly.
I think some folks still do.
Ignoring seat belt laws for passengers, even though being inside an RV may resemble being at home and a household on wheels, seat belts are required.
This also includes items like seat belts on the couches or benches while they have been installed.
All the gray matter in the vehicle and the containers don't just leave the valves open and continue to drive down the road.
So if there's a lot of stuff, be careful.
You will get caught and then we'll find you.
You're talking about all the weight RVs.
Well, in some cases, if you've got your mother lying there at all.
Yeah, it didn't count though.
Yeah.
So we're doing the drag racing tour.
We've got, you know, obviously a great big huge tractor trailer rig.
Oh, yeah.
We've got two cars in it, five engines.
It's loaded to the absolute tilt.
And it always was 10,000 pounds all through the weight.
And I don't know how many thousands of dollars they had to spend on tickets.
Because you know, you see these truckers and stations along the highway and all the truckers are over there,
because they've got to get weight.
Yeah.
Well, they got caught.
Wow, wow.
I'm doing with the car hauler.
It was major and it was a major problem, but it's just the way that it was.
That turns out.
What are you doing for the holidays?
We're hosting.
The kids are coming over for breakfast and to do.
On Christmas morning.
Yeah, the gift opening.
And then.
Lauren highly and bailed over Jenny's.
They're going to do that stuff at Jenny's and then they're all coming back in the evening.
Everybody's coming over in the evening for.
We're doing I think we're doing a taco bar.
Taco bar.
I'm not bar and game plan and charge.
Well, there'll probably be shots involved, but, you know, it's mainly the taco bar.
Oh, they're good tomorrow.
That's it.
How about you, Michael?
Yeah, kind of the same thing.
We have a couple of family things.
One starts next Monday night and then we have another one and then another one and then.
Christmas morning.
Everybody pretty well stays home and.
We do our own little thing and then they all come over for Christmas dinner that afternoon.
Hopefully.
Shots.
Like not too much on the shots, you know, too many still kids, but.
You know, it's in the top arms.
Do I?
No.
Do you do shots?
No.
Oh, no.
Not, not since I was 12.
But the, you know, it's kind of like the five or six days of Merry Christmas.
You know, my mother's name is Mary.
So we kind of go with her.
There you go.
That's cool.
Yeah.
Is she excited?
Very, very because we got, she's a great grandmother now and we had, for Thanksgiving.
Her first great-grandchild came into town three months old.
So she got to see that and.
Oh, wonderful.
Very happy for that.
Did the three-month-old drive itself there?
No, no.
His mom and dad came with him.
They didn't feel like he was good enough to come from Kansas by himself when his first initial trip.
That's good.
That's good.
Jesus.
The whole place.
Yeah.
Toto.
The guy behind the curtain.
They know attention to that man behind the curtain.
Exactly.
All right.
Well, why don't we take a quick break here?
It's time to do that.
The in-wheel time car talk.
And we'll continue right after this quick break.
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That's it for this podcast episode of the in-wheel-time car show. I'm Don Armstrong.
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About this episode
The discussion revolves around the rising prices of vehicles, particularly the Volkswagen ID Bus and luxury models like the Lexus LX 600. The hosts express concerns about affordability in the automotive market and the impact of complex powertrains on reliability. They also touch on the upcoming Detroit Auto Show and the significance of used cars as a more economical option. The conversation includes personal anecdotes about vehicle issues and the challenges of electric vehicle ownership, highlighting the importance of practicality in car buying decisions.
Prices keep climbing, patience keeps thinning, and the smartest car on the lot might be the one that’s two or three years old. We sit down to explore why a crowd-pleaser like the VW ID. Buzz is slipping from the U.S. launch calendar, how an $80,000 price tag changes the conversation, and where EVs still struggle to deliver everyday convenience for people without home charging. From the Detroit Auto Show preview to the North American Car, Utility, and Truck of the Year buzz, we connect the headlines to real buyer decisions.
Our take on affordability gets practical fast: a $5,000 difference can flip a purchase when the competing vehicle offers more features or utility. We break down why late-model off-lease cars remain the sweet spot, even as the market feels the aftershocks of COVID-era production cuts. Then we zoom out to tariffs and USMCA dynamics shaping what gets built in the U.S., and why the playing field among American, European, and Asian brands feels more level than ever. With fewer true lemons on sale, lifetime cost and ownership experience become the real story.
Reliability and complexity take center stage as we examine turbo longevity, hybrid durability, and the sticker shock of modern repairs, like a $6,000 turbo swap. On the EV front, the pain points are clear: battery longevity anxiety, charging standards and adapters, and the simple truth that the five-minute gas stop still fits many lives better than public chargers. We round things out with a quick, candid guide to RV laws most people ignore, from weight limits and seatbelts to boondocking and propane safety.
If you care about getting the best value for your money, understanding how policy nudges production, and choosing tech that won’t bite you later, you’ll find this conversation timely and useful. Tap follow, share the show with a friend who’s car shopping, and leave a quick review telling us your best recent buy and why it worked for you.
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