OEM stands for “original equipment manufacturer.” It means the company that makes the car (or its main parts) for the factory, not an aftermarket company.
Badge engineering means one car is basically reused and sold under different brand names. So even if it looks different on the outside, it may drive and be built very similarly underneath.
“U.S. market” just means the version of the car lineup that was sold for customers in the United States. The hosts are saying they’re talking about what U.S. buyers could get, not what’s sold in other countries.
The Suzuki Swift 5-door is a small hatchback with four or five seats and easier rear access than a 3-door. The podcast is referring to older Swift models rather than newer ones.
The Plymouth Fury is an older, full-size American car. People often talk about it as a classic from the muscle-car era, especially when they’re discussing a particular car they found or bought.
A turbo four-cylinder is an engine with four cylinders that uses a turbo to make more power. The turbo helps the engine feel stronger without needing a bigger engine.
An intercooler pipe is part of the turbo system that carries boosted air around. The hosts are pointing out that a particular car had an unusual/modded intercooler pipe.
Skinny tires are narrower tires than what you’d see on many modern cars. They can make the car feel more nimble and efficient, though they may not grip as hard as wider tires.
Manual steering means there’s little or no power help for turning the wheel. It usually makes the steering feel more connected to the road, especially in a light car.
The Alfa Romeo Spider is a classic sports car that’s made as a roadster. The podcast is talking about a 1962 example, which is an older, collectible version.
Hot hatches are small hatchback cars that have been tuned to feel more sporty and quick. They’re basically the “fun” performance versions of regular compact hatchbacks.
Concept
convertible trucks
“Convertible trucks” are trucks that you can drive with the top open, like a convertible. The idea is rare because most trucks are designed with a fixed roof for strength and safety.
The Suzuki Samurai is a small SUV that was built for off-road driving. The podcast is clarifying that they meant one Suzuki model name instead of another similar one.
Geo was a car brand (owned by General Motors) that sold certain models under a different badge. The hosts are saying the Isuzu Amigo doesn’t have a direct twin sold as a Geo, and that the Geo version would be part of the same “time period” vibe.
“Four by four” means the car can drive all four wheels, which helps it grip better on rough or slippery ground. It’s often mentioned for off-road versions.
A salvage title means the car was badly damaged at some point and an insurance company wrote it off. It can be a bargain, but you should be extra careful about how well it was repaired and what it costs to insure.
The Renault Wind is a small car that can be driven with the top down. The podcast is comparing it to another convertible and focusing on that open-air feature.
Body-on-frame means the car’s body sits on a separate metal frame underneath. It’s a common setup for trucks and many SUVs, and it’s often chosen for durability and towing.
The Jeep Wrangler is a classic off-road SUV that’s known for being able to remove the roof and doors. In this segment, it’s used as an example of a fun SUV that’s still huge in four-door form.
The Ford Bronco is an SUV known for off-road capability and a more adventurous vibe than most regular family SUVs. Here it’s mentioned as one of the few newer SUVs that still feels “fun.”
The Cadillac Escalade is a big luxury SUV with four doors. It’s designed to be comfortable and spacious, and it’s often mentioned because it’s one of the most recognizable large SUVs.
The Nissan Kicks is a small crossover meant more for everyday city driving than serious off-roading. It’s mentioned here because the hosts feel there aren’t many truly fun, smaller options anymore.
The Lexus GX is a rugged SUV that uses a traditional frame underneath, which helps it handle rougher roads. The hosts mention it as one of the few examples of this kind of SUV still doing well.
The Ford F-150 is a large pickup truck. It can be used for work or everyday driving, and the podcast is mentioning it while talking about how different trucks behave.
The Tesla Semi is an electric truck meant for hauling cargo. It’s built for long-distance driving, not for carrying passengers.
Concept
SUV "people mover" peak
They’re talking about when SUVs were at their biggest and most family-focused. The joke is that today’s SUVs might look like that on the outside, but they’re not always as big or tall as the classic “people mover” ones.
The Chevrolet Tracker is a compact SUV. The podcast is talking about how it compares in size to other SUVs, especially the difference between weight and overall dimensions.
Wheelbase is the distance between the front and rear wheels (through the axles). It helps determine whether a car feels more stable on the highway or more maneuverable in tight spaces.
The Lucid Gravity is an electric SUV. It’s designed to be a large, family-sized vehicle, and the conversation mentions how heavy it is compared with other big trucks and SUVs.
Rebadging is when two different brands sell basically the same car, just with different badges and branding. Sometimes the cars are nearly identical; other times there are small changes.
The Nissan Frontier is a pickup truck with a bed for carrying things. People talk about it when discussing truck styling and different trim options.
Term
SMOD
“SMOD” is an acronym the hosts mention, but they don’t explain what it means in this clip. Without more context, it’s hard to say what they’re referring to.
The Geo Metro is a tiny, budget-friendly car that was sold in the U.S. The hosts are using it as an example of a Suzuki-related model that mattered a lot, even if they don’t rate it as the highest quality.
Car
Honda Rodeo
The Honda Rodeo is an older Honda SUV. The hosts are basically saying that Honda’s version and a closely related version from another brand were sold side-by-side and lasted a long time.
Sound deadening refers to materials and design choices used to reduce cabin noise by absorbing or blocking sound vibrations. The hosts mention “sound deadening” in the context of differences between similar models, implying one version had more noise insulation than another.
The Honda Prelude is a Honda car that was made to feel sporty to drive. It’s usually a two-door coupe, and people talk about it when they discuss older Honda performance models.
The Honda Odyssey is a minivan made for families. It’s built to make it easy to get in and out and to fit people and luggage.
Concept
reverse badge engineering
Badge engineering is when one company sells a car that’s basically the same as another company’s car, just with different badges. “Reverse” badge engineering means the naming/branding relationship is flipped compared to what you might expect.
The Honda Passport is Honda’s SUV, and in this conversation it’s brought up as a standout for being more “SUV-like” than most other Hondas. They also mention it sold well.
The Acura SLX is a nicer, Acura-branded version of an SUV that shares a lot with the Isuzu Trooper. People talk about it because it was Acura trying to sell a more premium off-road-ish SUV.
Brand
Azuzu
“Azuzu” is a playful nickname for Isuzu, used by the hosts while comparing which brand did better on design and overall coolness. It’s a brand reference, not a separate model.
The Suzuki Reno is a Suzuki model that was sold in the U.S. in the early 2000s. It’s the kind of car people bring up when comparing how different brands reused the same basic design.
The Suzuki Verona is a sedan Suzuki sold in the U.S. a while back. People mention it because it shares the same basic design as other cars sold under different names.
An SUV is a bigger, higher-riding vehicle meant for carrying people and stuff. It’s often built to handle rougher roads too, not just smooth city driving.
The Nissan Xterra SE is an older Nissan SUV that was built to handle rough roads. Here, they’re talking about a specific 2002 version and debating which engine/trim it has and how heavy it is.
A “facelift” is when a car gets refreshed partway through its model run. “Post facelift” just means it’s the newer, updated version after that refresh.
A supercharger is a device that forces extra air into the engine so it can make more power. They’re debating whether this Xterra is the one with that added boost.
Term
square headlight deal
This is a reference to a specific exterior lighting design—headlights with a more squared-off shape—used to distinguish between model-year styling updates. The hosts are using the headlight shape as a quick visual clue for which Xterra version they mean.
The Toyota Land Cruiser 100 series is a particular generation of the Land Cruiser. They’re saying it moved away from a solid front axle to a different suspension setup (IFS).
A solid front axle connects both front wheels with one rigid bar. It can work great off-road because the wheels stay more “in sync” over bumps, but it may ride less smoothly on pavement.
IFS means the front wheels can move independently. That usually makes the ride smoother and handling nicer on regular roads, but some off-road fans prefer solid axles for certain trail situations.
The Nissan Pathfinder is an SUV that Nissan has made for many years. Over time, its design changed, including how the body is built, which can change how it drives and rides.
They’re explaining the Xterra name as a reference to racing/competition at the time. The point is that the branding matches the vehicle’s “go do stuff” off-road vibe.
The neutral safety switch is a safety sensor that stops the car from starting unless the shifter is in the right position. If it’s acting up, the car may refuse to start even though everything else seems okay.
A solder iron is a heated tool used to join wires with melted solder. It helps make a solid electrical connection, but you have to be careful not to burn the surrounding plastic.
Heat shrink wrap is a plastic sleeve you heat so it tightens around a wire connection. It helps keep the connection insulated and protected from water.
Term
bump out
“Bump out” means getting unstuck by rocking the car and using a little momentum, instead of just spinning tires. It’s a common off-road recovery idea.
A bump stop is a hard limit that prevents the suspension from compressing too far. “Bump stop your way out” means using that full-compression situation to help the car reposition when it’s stuck.
Valve covers are the top covers on an engine that protect the parts under them and help keep oil from leaking. If a listing includes all the bolts, it means you can usually bolt it on without hunting down missing hardware.
These are sensors that watch your tire air pressure. If you change the tire pressures, the car may need a reset so it knows what “normal” pressure is again.
Fuel economy means how far the car can go on a given amount of gas. They’re talking about how the car’s MPG changes depending on whether you drive more in the city or more on the highway.
The Cadillac CTS is a luxury sedan, meaning it’s a car for comfortable everyday driving with a more upscale interior. The podcast is talking about how it feels in terms of speed or acceleration.
Term
VVTI
VVT-i is a system that helps the engine open its valves at the best times depending on how fast you’re driving. That can make the car feel more responsive.
LIVE
In a world with entirely too many shows about cars, this is another Pointless Automotive
Podcast.
Welcome back to another Pointless Automotive Podcast, APA Podcast.
For those of you in the know, and you all are because you're here, I'm going to tell
me how you're doing this weekend, man.
I'm good.
Yeah, I have no other adjectives.
That's good.
That's great.
I'm good.
Big and true.
I'm doing okay too.
We're just happy to be back doing this.
We didn't start to love, you know, clearly.
I do that.
I hate, but.
What?
That's how I conquer life.
Everybody's like, why haven't you died already?
And I'm like, oh, you're fueling my will to live.
Exactly.
But seriously though, this is, we both do this for fun, you know, it's hard to put the huge
monetary gains.
Certainly not for profit.
Behind us that we make on the side doing this, but no, we love this.
We love that you guys are here for it.
And today, I got it.
I think it's going to be a good one.
I got this feeling.
This is going to be a fun conversation, dude.
Around these parts, we've been known to do automotive grudge matches where we're taking
OEM, pit it against another OEM, usually logically, right?
Like usually like their rivals in the marketplace or whatever.
Today guys, this is going to be a fun one.
And I know, and Frank mentioned this earlier, and I agree.
We've been a little Suzuki heavy, but who gives a fuck?
Suzuki's cool.
So we're going to be Suzuki heavy again.
One side of the fight card.
The other side of the fight card is a Suzu.
Oh.
Has Joe, Joe Azuzu, has he been hitting the weights, speed bagging, getting a heavy bag
in?
You know, he's been Joe Azuzu.
He would tell us the trainer, oh, he would tell us Joe Azuzu would tell us he has not
even been in a gym for 20 years, because Joe Azuzu always told lies, but he's really
secretly jacked as all fuck.
Yeah.
He's actually, he's been, he's been, he's been cycling for like years.
He's just absolutely jacked.
Right.
About to broide rage on some Suzuki.
But anyway, two, the reason I thought this would be a good matchup, my man, is to kind
of underrated, I guess, underappreciated Japanese brands that never got a strong foothold in
the States.
But they kind of competed though.
It's really, it's really complex.
It's so short-lived.
It's so complex and so badge engineered, which we'll talk about.
But you know, honestly, they didn't have long lives here.
I wish they both did.
They did do some very good stuff while they were here and we were talking about US market
only.
So don't be coming at me with your new Suzuki Swift from 2023, or your new Azuzu.
It was Schirmer R, Speck, whatever.
Yeah.
All right.
So these are, these are going to be fun, dude, and I always like to break these down
in cool categories.
So let's just stop.
Let's stop fucking around, dude.
And, man, and find out, sporty sub-compacts.
Man.
Yeah.
Here's where we're going with this one, buddy.
Impulse Azuzu, Impulse RS versus the Suzuki Swift GTI, or later GT.
Man.
Yeah.
This is tough.
I want to hear your thought process.
I like how you, I like, you did not beat around the fucking bush.
You just like, full haymakers right off the, right off the dinner bell.
More rainies.
Excellent.
By the way, I've been drinking.
Last weekend, this week, I picked up from Seller Maker.
This is Sound and Fury, and it's got a, I thought it was going to be a Plymouth Fury,
but it's a non-descript, I think it's supposed to be an ultimobile based on the grill, but
we'll never know.
Golly, I, it's a tough one.
Here's where I'm at.
Okay.
I have, I have zero minutes of seat time in either of these cars.
Oh.
I like the styling and the gravitas of Azuzu in this matchup.
You've got a turbo four cylinder 1.6 all wheel drive, and it's just what a sleek looking
machine.
Yeah.
Yep.
I really desperately wish there was a storm variant of this, but there wasn't, and that's
We talked about that, yeah.
Wow, this, the, I've, so from that, from that perspective, and it's a much more substantial
machine, I'm, I'm leaning impulse, but I bet you, if I drove them back to you, you'd
go back to back.
I would giggle a whole lot more in the sprint, or sprint, sorry, sorry.
You're right though.
You're not wrong.
In the swift.
Yeah.
You are not wrong.
So I, I think if, if both of them were side, if I had each one side by side, stare me in
the face.
How cool would that be?
First off.
Right.
Yeah.
That would be whatever the opposite of a rocket of hard places.
Um, I, I'll limp in a wet place.
And so, if they were both in like perfect spec, like money isn't a thing, right?
Just pick one.
Golly.
This is, this is maybe the, I mean, this is the hardest of all of these.
Really hard.
There's some good ones coming up.
I've been, here's the thing.
I've been searching more for the swift than I have for the impulse.
And so based on that, I'm going to go swift, but I'm not happy about it.
Okay.
Bear.
It's, it's like one A, one B.
Yeah.
Cause both are exceptionally hard cars to find in today's market.
We can all agree on that.
We've got on one hand a 1.6 turbo, all wheel drive making 160 ponies.
The other one we got a hot.
Like a little front wheel drive, perfect proportions, lighter weight, hundred horsepower, screamer
of a little, a little motor.
You like yours?
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
Um, I've driven both.
Uh, have you?
Yes.
And famously, I think I've told the story multiple times.
I know you've talked about the RS, the clapped rusty RS.
And I drove a Swiss GTI that was really rough to, um, bad cluster or all that.
Yeah.
That was, that was bad.
Um, but the impulse RS, I think is the car I'd pick out of this matchup just because
I like that it's got a little bit of a rally, uh, heritage to it in a way.
Uh, it is definitely modeled after like that period.
Correct.
Like all wheel drive system.
Uh, it's really like an ST 165 in the power output category.
It's small.
It, they do look 160 horsepower.
Yeah.
160.
Yeah.
Out of that 1.6 turbo.
And they do look good.
I love the headlights, how they're kind of like closed, but open a little bit more.
Yeah.
It's just, it's so everything about that car, the proportions are great.
The interior is absolute shit, but so is the Swift.
So it's great.
Um, but the Swift on the other hand, very cool too.
Like a screaming engine, a big block for the Swift, if you will, uh, it's a hundred and
it's a hundred and 10.
I don't think it's, I think it's just right at a hundred for that motor.
Yeah.
So there is a disparity there, but there's also a weight disparity.
The impulse adds a couple more pounds.
Yeah.
Well, it's, but the impulse RS is by no stretch a heavy car in today's standards.
Right.
No, what is it?
What is it?
Like 26?
I'd say 25, 26.
Yeah.
For sure.
Cause it's pretty small.
The impulse is a small car, but that's probably still 900 pounds lighter.
Right.
Right.
But it's wild.
Both are great.
I would, I would absolutely love to have both these cars, but I got to give it to the,
I think it's even a little rarer too, uh, getting an Suzu impulse RS today.
I bet you knew it was rarer today.
Dude, I have not seen an impulse RS for sale and trust me, as someone that religiously
hunts for them, since I passed on that one with the Mountain Dew can welded in as an
intercooler pipe.
Yeah.
Honestly, they're the same, but the Swift, I mean, there's that one that's been on marketplace
forever.
I've seen a few Swift GT GTIs pop up.
So whereas impulse RS is absolute, absolute zero.
So, uh, winner on this one for me is going to be a, the Suzu impulse.
All right.
Please keep, uh, keep score along at home.
What did you say again?
Did you go?
I went swift.
I lean swift, but not, not by much.
And here's, here's the, the older I get, the more, the more I appreciate lightness.
Okay.
The more things I drive and I drive a lot of things in my line of work.
The ones that I'm all, the ones that I come away the most impressed of are the lightest
ones.
It doesn't matter how much power.
It's fair.
It doesn't matter how well it was built.
Doesn't matter how good of an example it is.
If it's really light, manual steering, skinny tires, and I get behind the wheel, like I
just, I was just today, I drove a, a one owner, 1962 Alpha spider.
Okay.
1300.
Yeah.
Simpler times.
Pretty.
Yeah.
What a delightful little thing.
Fun little thing.
Manual steering, but like, it doesn't matter because the tires are real skinny and it weighs
nothing.
And it's, that's kind of how my sprint is, although very different car than a 62 Alpha
spider, decidedly so.
But like, I love my little, my super little sprint so much.
And to think that like, I can have the Swift version, which is a, a busier, more frantic
thing with more power and a little bit more build quality substantial mass to it.
And so I, I just, maybe I've been, maybe I've been, um, Colin Chapman Pilled, but like,
I just, I don't know, that big Sigma energy, like, I'm getting like, I'm getting lightweight
bogged into, into, uh, wanting the, the slip.
I'm, I'm with you.
I deep, deep passionate thoughts about hot hatches.
I've been like that for a while, but the impulse RS is just, I think it's a very cool
thing.
Like I don't, like sticky suspension brakes.
I think the impulse RS would absolutely kill the driving rallies we go on.
Could you imagine that?
Oh, just do the Swift with two though, Swift with two, but God, the impulse RS, the all
wheel drive, it's just made for that kind of stuff.
So yeah, you can't lose, but it's a tough choice.
I'm, I'm surprised we split the difference there.
Uh, cool.
Um, I got another fun one.
Oh, it's an, it's an underserved segment, convertible trucks.
Oh, sure.
Okay.
Completely under seven.
So in this case, let me more, my friend, let's go into it, a Suzu Amigo versus Suzuki
sidekick, Frank, what do you got here?
I'm glad you said sidekick and not samurai.
Yeah.
Too much of a doubt in time between the time and, and mass proportion.
Yeah, there still is one.
Let's be brutally honest between an Amigo and a sidekick.
No, there is a big, I think that's part of the overarching theme here is, is this
is you have, you have like the, this is like Manny Pacquiao versus, uh, I don't,
I don't want to say like Evander Holyfield or someone like a true heavyweight, but
this is a, a manufacturer that in Suzuki, that kind of leaned into like the compact,
subcompact, lightweight end of the spectrum where is Zuzu had much more meat on the
bone, right?
Truck centric, if you will.
Yeah.
Like they, they were a lot of V sixes and like, and, and just a lot of heft and full
frame and, you know, Bud Light versus Bud Heavy.
Okay.
So, um, Suzuki is Lotus.
Got it.
Yeah.
Essentially incredible bumper sticker.
Suzuki is.
We don't, we don't.
Okay.
Fucking love it.
Here's the thing.
We don't have merch, but if and when we have merch, there's going to be a
T-shirt that says Suzuki is Lotus.
Can we do one of those anamorphs cover where the Suzuki?
Some more morphs, morphs.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Call them Chapman into, uh, I don't know who like the Suzuki equivalent is.
Some Japanese man, I'm sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Um, it's two Japanese Colin Chapman.
Um, oh man, that would, that would not be good.
That's, that's, that's, that took a racist twist.
Yeah.
God damn it.
Um, it's so inviting.
It is.
Is it?
Um, no.
Yeah, man.
So, um, man, I sidekicks are so good.
I, ah, dude, these are both again.
I don't want to see these matchups.
These are so good, dude, these matchups.
Um, I think I have to.
I think I have to go sidekick.
Hmm.
Okay.
Uh, like the styling and the vibe is so much more period centric and iconic.
The early Amigo is nice and boxy too, man.
It is, but it doesn't.
It says Amigo in the best font ever.
No, I get it.
I get it.
But it doesn't, I think part of it is that there's not a geo equivalent.
True.
Like geo, we're, we're big geo honks here.
Big geo energy.
Exactly.
Um, gosh, should I have the geo logo like on my headstone?
Um, I've only owned one geo.
So no, that's fair.
Um, I, I think it's.
Gosh, like the color palette was better.
Mm hmm.
They're a little bit more boxy and a little bit more splash, graphically.
And, and there's the geo variant.
It's, it's more emblematic of the time.
Okay.
Then the Amigo, I've never driven an Amigo.
Dude, I have never driven an Amigo, but I spent years in one as a child.
Cause my, I've driven plenty of rodeos.
Yeah, of course.
My father was an infinite amount of shit boxes and he owned a trooper and an Amigo
at one point.
So I've gotten to be a passenger in both of those.
I've owned my own trooper, which was amazing.
Uh, but yeah, obviously I have a geo tracker, like literally right now.
Um, I like what you said.
And I think I agree.
I think the Suzuki sidekick, what you said, I mean, I want to, I want to fight
you on this hill, but honestly, I think that I think it's Suzuki sidekick because
I think it is the cooler vehicle.
The size is right.
There's nothing else like it.
The Amigo is kind of like a mid-sized four by four at the time with the roof
chopped off, still infinitely cool, right?
But, uh, I think the sidekick takes it on personality and just a cool overall vehicle.
I love the name scheme here.
Amigo and sidekick.
It's so, it's like a buddy comedy.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like, here's the, you know, the, the reliant Robin, like I'm trying to
think of other, um, other like names for like the, like the, the plucky, the
plucky sidekick.
No, it's, you can't go around though, because they're both cool.
The Amigos are super cool vehicles.
I actually, my father had the, the refresh one where they kind of rounded
it off a little bit, but it looked, I thought it looked cool because it was on
bigger tires, it was the four by four.
And it looks, it looks like a budget via cross, which is a weird statement, but
I stand, I stand by it because the via cross is kind of expensive for a clean
one nowadays.
Please, please tell me that's going to enter the, enter the arena, the via cross.
Oh, it should.
Um, I actually didn't pick one for that yet.
Um, I saw a couple salvage title ones.
We'll talk about that later.
Um, but it's a, no, I think, I think you can't go wrong with either one.
The Amigo is super fun.
I do like the earlier ones because they are super boxy, but you get a really
powerful v six with the second, second gen.
I don't know if they call it a gen or refresh.
I don't, I'm not read up on that.
I think it's got to be Jen.
I feel like there's a lot of changes.
It's a Jen.
I like the, the wind.
It's like, and both can be convertible.
I think that's super cool.
We don't have as many playful fun trucks like these guys anymore, uh, which is a
fucking shame.
Well, it's weird because we're like, we are in the, um, we're, we're in the body.
Like body on frame.
It's just like, we're in, we're in peak SUV.
I think we are in body and there are playful, there are playful SUVs named one
playful, quote unquote, playful SUV Bronco on the market, Bronco Wrangler.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
But they're not bad.
They're not bad.
There's, they're huge.
Like a four door like Wrangler is a fucking Escalade, essentially.
Um, right.
Well, same for four door Broncos, Broncos is massive.
Uh, but just like there are no, like you can't like Nissan kicks.
Like there's like nothing.
There are no, like, I'm going to juke this car, I'm kidding, but, uh, body on
frame, we, uh, body of frames hot right now, dude, we got, we got the GX, uh, is
doing well, all that kind of stuff.
We have the, that new, what was the new, was it a Hyundai that just got, they
did the like reveal.
Oh, the trailer or whatever.
Yeah.
The crustacean.
It's, um, the crustacean, the crustacean.
It looks, it looks cool.
I think that styles coming back, like the Broncos, the perfect example that retro,
retro body on frame style, but you're right.
Nothing small and playful.
And I think, I think there's a spot for it, dude.
I think with fuel prices right now, cause even the thing, like the, uh, even
the Bronco and the Wrangler, unless you're getting like the base, base, base,
two door soft top in each.
Yeah.
Pricey.
Those are the own, well, those are the only like fun and playful ones.
All the other ones are like, Oh, I'm going to get like the, the fucking
call of duty edition or the, the, the, the Sasquatch edition or like the, the, the,
the, the thick Johnson edition or just like whatever, like there's like, it's
all like, like tough and like there's nothing fun and playful anymore.
It's like, I mean, whatever.
That's a reoccurring theme here, theme here on the pod.
Right.
But like we're in like peak SUV and there are no two door convertible RAV force.
That's, that's, see, that's fair.
Um, I do think, I do think the Bronco Raptor fucking likes to fuck around and
find out.
I think that's a purpose.
Oh, it's fun.
That's, but it's cool.
$90,000.
Absolutely prohibitively priced, but, and it's like super masculine, but so good.
It's like, yeah, it's great.
It's a great, great dick.
It's a good looking dick.
It's a, it's a glistening in the moonlight.
It's like, it's like that buddy you have that always pulls his shit out at parties,
but it's like, right, not bad.
No one's offended.
It's like, you, everybody stops.
We, we bask in the glory of his Johnson and then we continue who we carry on with
our lives.
Um, it's a good looking dick.
Dude, the Bronco Raptor, that should be the, that's a good looking dick.
This is like my picture of a Bronco Raptor.
It's a good looking dick.
Honestly though, we're on a roll here, dude.
Yeah, it would have to be a flesh tone.
Oh, yeah.
Um, and then we hit, we do like, and we, we would print like 25.
We would do like a run of like 250 t-shirts and sign them 25.
Every 25 is like a different flesh tone, right?
So from like pale, like semi-translucent, like you can see like the spider veins.
I feel targeted all the way to like BBC, like heavily melanated and everything in
between like this.
Okay, great.
I don't, but here we are topping.
Yeah, agreed.
I think we all agreed too.
Like there's no mini trucks.
There's nothing to, to engage in shirts, slate, but whatever, dude.
Um, God, what if, what if, what if you get a drop top slate, like roof off?
I know they do like, like they have like the back like thing that like you can do
like a, like a semi whatever, but no, I want like, I want a, I want, I want, I
want cheap, fun shit and we're in the peak of SUV, but we're not in the peak of SUV.
We're in the perceived peak of SUV, but it's weren't like tall people mover peak.
Right.
And I know for safety reasons, we'll probably never see a sidekick sized vehicle again.
Like I was looking at the tracker the other night, but we were looking at the tracker.
I'm like, they're, they'll never fucking make this again.
But like, here's the thing, like a lot of the concept, if you have the, let's say
you have the current mini, which is the current mini.
Not as many as it used to be.
Sure.
Not as many, but forgettable.
But if that was like SUV, it's still way bigger than a tracker by weight.
It is, but by dimension, no, I dimensional.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Look at the wheelbase of a new mini.
I guarantee it's like a two foot different.
I'm going to look it up.
Okay.
What I'm saying is like, I got at least a foot.
Let's be honest.
There's at least a foot of wheelbase.
I wish I had at least the smallest one.
Look at the mini.
You need a brock a raptor.
I feel like if I got a Bronco Raptor, I would just fucking never follow road
patterns 98.2 for the who the the current mini.
Okay.
And look at the 98 to the first, first gen track 1994 ish.
Yes, tracker wheelbase thinking.
Oh, 86 six.
So yeah, that's that's that's yeah, that's the and a genuine straight proper foot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There we go.
I can eyeball I can eyeball a wheelbase from five miles up.
Exactly.
That's a that's a that's a nice looking wheelbase bro.
Now put it away.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's that my thought is in the 90s.
There were a lot of the like the the clutching of the pearls about
SUVs and flipping over and in this and that.
But I think with like current safety nanny tech, like you can nanny tech
the shit out of a car or a truck, a small thing and make it work.
Yeah.
The only problem is that like the other cars and trucks around it are like a
whatever a 7800 pound
GMC 2500 or a lucid gravity, which has its own gravity or whatever.
Like the stuff is heavy and big now.
I'm just I don't know I'm rocker raptorish.
But yeah, no, I agree.
So you who did you pick?
You picked Suzuki.
We agreed.
Yeah. Sidekick.
Take that one for doing it.
Good one.
OK, here's a here's a fun category.
Oh boy, what have we got?
Best rebadging ever.
Both these companies.
So both of these companies famous for getting.
Yes, for getting that one for getting rebadged.
I'm going to say some things.
I picked some standouts to help to help the conversation.
Trooper from a Suzu Acura SLX.
Yeah, we have the rodeo Honda Passport.
We have the impulse GeoStorm.
There's a theme.
Now we'll go to Suzuki.
We had the Swift becoming a Geo Metro.
We had the Equator, which yes, fucking great.
Did you see the comment on our video on YouTube?
Yeah, big, big Equator fans were the guy was like, I just saw an Equator
and I like literally stopped and like that is so cool.
Oh, my God.
Is that a fucking Equator, which is a Nissan Frontier spoiler?
And the sidekick is the GeoTrak.
Got this.
And they got to look after the SMOD.
Yeah, they absolutely should.
So I left some off there.
There's obviously more.
Who did the best?
Who had the highest quality, most impactful rebadging?
Would you say would it be a Suzu or Suzuki?
So those are two different questions.
I don't know.
I think most impactful is different than best quality.
Oh, I don't.
I don't.
Maybe, maybe.
Not I think the out of all of this.
The most impactful.
Is the Geo Metro.
OK, I think the most impactful badge in your engineer job here out of all
of this impactful.
Is the Geo Metro, which is a Suzuki product.
OK, certainly.
The Geo Metro deserves zero stars in the quality product, which is
that's being somewhat unfair.
Yeah, because it's like for what it is and what it was.
It was it.
It was a very well made shipbox.
Those XFI model owners.
Yes, like there's raising the high gas prices right now.
I was saying, but you but you're not going to point at that.
Be like, wow, this is like an all world quality product.
I would say is Suzu in something like the SLX.
Is a much higher quality product, but far less impactful.
Oh, I counterpoint to that.
Honda's first truck, their first SUV, the passport,
the rodeo, the Suzu rodeo, Acura, their first truck.
Yeah, their first SUV.
Yes, the Trooper.
I would argue that we've heard of Honda and Acura.
Sure, we know of them, but their first their first offerings for these trucks,
both the Suzu products, both Suzu products also for sale at the exact same
time with the Suzu badges, mind you.
And still, both of those have soldiered on for a very long time.
The passports still around.
So I would say that's a pretty big impact.
I 100 percent agree on quality.
I think both of those trucks are fucking standouts
when it comes to like reliability and overall truck success.
Yeah. Yeah, the passports a good, a good product.
I mean, it's it's a pretty thinly veiled.
Rodeo like it's there's it was a badge.
It was literally a flap, tail lamps, grill, slightly different grill.
Yeah. Steering wheel cover.
The S.O.X. had a grill in leather.
That's yeah, let's be honest.
That was even and I think they're like 12 percent more sound deadening or something.
Sure. Any sound deadening.
Right. But yeah.
Geospectrum not withstanding, I think one year.
I think.
Like I don't I'm trying to figure this out because I did it best.
Who did it best?
I best is so relative.
I.
I think I'm going to say Suzuki simply because the Geo Metro.
In my opinion.
Was and is a more impactful thing on the market place.
OK. And in the the orals and anals of time.
Mm hmm.
They asked him out of time.
But of course.
But of course.
It's hard to make an academic there.
To be clear.
No.
So like I just I think it has more gravity toss in this like the passport.
Well, here's the thing.
You're talking about the passport.
You know the Honda Passport is their first SUV and the passport name it carried over.
And now they have the current.
Which is good luck on the past.
My God.
That was not the first standard bearer of the passport.
You know what the first standard bearer of the passport was.
Hmm.
This.
My 1980 Honda C 70 passport right here.
This was the original Honda Passport.
And so like it's a recycled name that the name has no.
Whatever.
Hey, they did better than Prelude did for Honda.
Right.
Exactly.
Although you know what the original Honda Odyssey.
It was a quad.
It was like a quad with a cage.
Yeah.
A Honda Odyssey.
It was like 1981 Honda Odyssey or whatever it was.
And then they've recycled it for the minivan.
By the way, you did not mention the Suzuki or the Azuzu Oasis, which is the reverse badge engineer.
So there's a few.
There's quite a few I left out.
I tried to hit the success ones on this one.
I did.
I'm going Suzuki.
I'm going a Suzuki on this because I do think the impact.
I don't think Honda nor Acura by default would have had any offerings in the four wheel drive truck segment for a while.
Sure.
And I think there wasn't anything for a long time afterwards either.
Right.
Because they did the ridge line, which is still unibody.
It's unibody.
The Honda Honda has never had an in-house body on frame vehicle.
Isn't that wild except for the passport, which was a huge sales success for them too.
The SLX not as much.
They didn't make as many.
And I think it was like, again, so thinly veiled that even at the time.
And it's like, it's like $3,200 more than this, like, whatever.
You can get a trooper with leather on the second gen.
Yeah.
But I like, I actually want to say that I do want an Acura SLX so hard, dude.
That's on my list.
Yeah.
And I would not kick a old passport out of bed.
I kind of like how they look.
They're very unique.
Great size, great form factor for an off-roader.
Honestly.
And I looked really hard at these.
Storm.
We are not talking about storm.
And storm is...
It's on there.
I put that as...
You did.
No, you mentioned it, but we didn't have any discourse about it.
And it's a...
Cool freaking car.
Gosh.
GSI, baby.
Again, the bright, just the optimism of the era came through in that car.
And it could only exist, like, design-wise, 90s.
Like, the way that car looks.
Yeah.
I'll give it to Azuzu on that one.
Fair.
Best badge engineering.
Fair.
Let's see.
What you got?
What you got, bro?
I kind of didn't get a category for this one.
I picked just overall, like, cool vehicles.
And I'll show you some of the brand wins, if you will, whether they're cool or just successful.
Sure.
I think Azuzu, you can't mention the Azuzu brand without, like we already said, Trooper
and Rodeos.
I think, God, they sold so many.
They did so well for a company that wasn't as well-renowned.
The Impulse and Stylus, I think, are two successful things for Azuzu.
I like them.
I think that's Stylus RS.
Yeah.
I would rock the hell out of those.
And one of my weird Azuzus that I almost bought once and just didn't get there in time was
the iMark RS Turbo.
Yeah.
I think as far as boxy hatches go that are obscure, that's kind of like, that's for me.
So you have your Swift GTI, which I love.
I love the Swift GTI.
But I put, if it came down to that and an iMark RS Turbo, I'm going iMark RS Turbo.
Those things to me, the boxiness, the early turbo interaction, I like how they look.
By the way, real quick, can I throw a flag?
Uh-oh.
What's the flag?
Let's hear it.
We didn't mention the Sprint Turbo in the badge engineer.
Yeah.
Absolutely could have done that.
Yeah.
That'll cult this action.
I only fucking, it's like, there's one like 16 feet away over here.
We kind of had an entire episode on the badge engineering one though, to be fair.
There's like so much.
Yes.
Yeah.
There's a lot of, and a lot of it is like ditch digging.
By that, I mean, it was just like the amount of uncovering to figure out some of the details
on some of this badge engineering politics is really wild.
But no, overall cool factor vehicles.
Yeah.
Let me do the sidekick.
The sidekick for Suzuki, the Samurai, I think is an unmistakable, cool Suzuki product.
Yeah.
I put that on there.
I like the SX4.
Just going to say it.
Sure.
Impulse RS, which we talked about.
Yes.
So I think between a Suzu.
You missed one.
What do we miss?
Via cross.
Oh, for a Suzu.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So and Suzuki had some other stuff too.
Like there's obviously a Suzuki Reno.
We could get now just.
No, just kidding.
Obviously.
Obviously.
Okay.
Let's spend 45 minutes on the Verona.
Oh God, dude.
But seriously though, a Suzu, Suzuki, cool and impactful and reliable and just overall
good vehicles.
Who had it best as Suzu or Suzuki?
This is golly.
This is because I think.
Who had the better library?
Reflexively, I want to say Suzuki, but I know that's wrong because I think back about
the via craw like.
Yeah.
The via cross.
The impulse in all guys, badge engineer versions and everything aside or included, I should
say the trooper was like a really good product.
The rodeo was a competent product and I mean that positively.
Yeah.
Versus Suzuki.
Like.
I love a tractor sidekick.
Those are really cool.
Samurai's on.
I love they can memorize are great.
I love the, the Swift Metro, all of that.
But then you go back to a Suzu and you've got the yeah, you've got the impulse and you've
got the storm.
I'm are you can get an I mark diesel.
Yeah.
Sure.
Which is fun.
We haven't even talked about the pickup truck.
Mm hmm.
That that is Suzu put out there between the.
The ombre, if you will.
The ombre and the was it the pup.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The P up.
I think body of work slash.
Celebrate the entire collection.
Celebrate the entire collection and a level of cool coolness.
I think as much as I cherry picked a lot of Suzuki earlier, I think, I think it's got
to go a Zuzu.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
To match.
And part of the two is like, I think is Zuzu's misses were less horrific.
Fair.
That is Zuzu's misses.
And I don't mean misses as in like, somehow, like Joe is Joe's wife.
Yeah.
I mean, like, like swing and swing and swing and a full whiff of.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
I'm with you on that.
I actually thought a Suzu one overall.
Yeah.
Yeah.
For their their breath of library, like you could get just imagine your driveway.
Imagine.
Imagine for a minute, if you will an impulse RS impulse RS.
Well, we can have that in the background impulse RS parked next to a via cross.
Yeah.
Versus.
What do we do on the other side?
I think you have a samurai parked next to a.
Swift.
Swift GTI.
Oh, both.
Okay.
So they're both here.
And that's kind of what I said earlier is I think it boils down to like lightweight
versus heavyweight.
Still.
Yeah.
But God talk about just good looking, good personality, like cars that resonate with
us.
Both of these automakers.
Yeah.
Fucking swings and hits, dude.
So I think it's time to tally.
All the categories.
So the first one, sporty sub count cat subcomplex.
We were divided.
I said a Suzu.
You said Suzuki on that one.
I have one for Suzu.
You go versus sidekick.
I put Suzuki and did you put the same?
Yeah.
You did.
You did sidekick.
Best rebadging effort.
I said a Suzu.
You said Suzuki.
So good.
You got plenty of fingers there.
I'm glad to see that.
I'm going to run out.
You weren't too overzealous on the fourth of July.
Brandon.
Brandon fingers going to show up.
And we're going to cancel real quick.
Right behind that microphone.
Hopefully 11th and 12th.
I have more questions than I started with.
Brandon wins overall.
I said a Suzu.
And I think you did too.
So I think.
Wow.
Fuck it.
That you can't pick a better ending than that.
That's right.
A draw.
If you will.
A draw.
Dude, honestly, I really do love both these automakers for what
they put out.
And maybe it's a product of the time period, which it probably
is 80s and 90s.
We're talking about.
Let's be honest.
The bulk of these cars.
I think it's funny because I.
Now that I'm thinking more about it.
And where these two brands are now.
Right.
Yeah.
Which is.
As far as.
Passenger vehicles.
They're out of the North American market.
Sure.
But.
I mentioned earlier is like Suzuki's the lightweight.
Isuzu's the heavyweight.
Isuzu now in North America.
They sell fucking box trucks.
Right.
Yep.
Suzuki sells motorcycles.
Correct.
So they both like went like extreme.
Yeah.
Into their.
That's fair.
Their knowledge.
Spaces.
And yeah, I don't know.
That means nothing.
But it's just it's an observation.
And they really did have short windows.
I know Suzuki dragged on way longer than they probably should
have here in the States.
But they left.
Because.
Baby.
They left this.
Fuck.
They left this with some good little like nuggets of cool car
history that are still accessible.
They're getting harder and harder to harvest.
Let's be honest, especially the performance variance we're
talking about.
But if you can find them, they usually are pretty cheap.
And the fun factor is through the roof.
I actually I fucking love everything I've owned for both of
these brands and I've owned a few examples.
Absolutely loved them.
They just stayed with me.
Is really impactful.
Awesome experiences of car ownership.
So some good stuff.
Yeah, dude.
As soon as you and Suzuki.
A draw.
It's a good.
That's a great grudge match.
It's.
Should we rock, paper, scissors?
No, that's not fair.
No, I don't know.
I don't know.
April.
Yeah.
Oh, wait.
The toy.
Yeah.
Very enthusiastic about that.
Oh, is Suzuki the winner in this contest?
Get fucked.
Fuck.
I need glasses.
That's what it says.
Yeah.
So get glasses.
GG.
Get good.
Most likely they sent the Suzuki.
So there's therapy.
You know what?
Most likely there's some room for some doubt there.
I don't know.
Yeah.
You could sneak a humbray in there if you want.
Exactly.
A humbray.
So good.
Good.
I love these.
I'll own more.
Asus and more Suzuki's.
You probably will too.
What would you?
What would you?
Snap your fingers?
What do you?
What are you getting?
What's your next one?
Oh, it's either impulse RS or I mark RS.
Terrible.
I'm.
I think I was swift.
I'm going to swift GT.
A cleaner.
Yeah.
A clean.
A clean.
Yeah.
Stock or.
Cappuccino, which was not involved in this.
Oh, you dirty son of a bitch.
Not involved in this or.
Shame.
Give me a storm.
Ooh.
A good storm.
Yeah.
Yellow or teal?
Yellow, teal, pink.
Honestly, blue and red doesn't matter.
I don't care.
All the colors are good.
Black even.
They look good in black.
I don't like black cars.
But they look good in black.
I love them in yellow.
I think yellow is the color on the storm.
You can't.
You kind of can't go wrong.
You can't.
Okay.
Yeah.
Let's let's do our automotive print at quiz game show.
Oh my.
Oh, I think we deserve this.
I'm not ready.
I think you are.
It's a little bit of a softball pitch for you, buddy.
Oh, good.
I need it.
Okay.
This is what I need for my weekend of my life.
Well, he's pulling up the softball material.
Let me describe what the hell we're doing for the uninitiated.
This is our print ad quiz game.
Still has a terrible name.
And the way this works is into today's episode.
Chadwick has found a print advertisement from the 80s, 90s,
till around the mid 2000s.
And he's going to read the copy from this ad.
He's going to redact out the, the make and model anything
super overly identifying.
And then it will be incumbent upon me and you,
if you're playing along at home to determine the make model
and approximate year of the vehicle described in this
advertisement.
I get 10 minutes.
I get three guesses, three guesses.
And I can ask for hints in between here and there.
I won't need them except I will.
I'm ready.
Please play along.
This is fun.
Chadwick, what do you got for me?
All right, my man, you got this.
It's a two page spread.
You deserve the best.
We are a three quarter angle elevated of the driver's side
of the vehicle.
Kind of a cool angle showing casing something on the roof
of the vehicle, which we'll talk about in a second.
Wow.
It says you're a body actually wrapped in a carpet.
It's a corpse.
It's a corpse.
It's a corpse.
Christmas corpse.
Your ride is here, introducing the new blank.
And I'm going to have to zoom in because the font is horrible.
Oh yeah.
We love it.
It'll be a lot of squinting and questionable reading.
The.
Okay.
The blank wasn't invented in the pristine confines of the
design studio.
It was born on muddy trailheads, remote beaches and icy mountain
passes.
Places where people who do stuff do their stuff.
I love.
I love the simplicity.
It's really good.
I love this.
Cool.
What we also discovered at these locales were piles of duct
tape, bungee cords, human excrement and all manner of make,
shift devices.
These people were using to better equip vehicles that were
ill equipped.
That writing I don't like to meet their demands.
Enter the blank.
It's an SUV that actually lives up to its billing as a sport
period utility period vehicle.
Period.
Period.
The proof.
How about its exterior gear basket?
It's heavy duty aluminum roof rack.
It's available.
Interior bike rack.
It's integrated first aid kit.
Optional.
Seat covers.
Not to mention shift on the fly.
Four wheel drive and a torque rich V6 that can tow torque
rich.
Wow.
That's quite.
Hi.
My name is Torque.
Torque rich.
5000 LBs.
The new blank is here.
Hellions of the world.
Rejoice.
Hellions?
Hellions.
This is controversial.
Frank, you got 10 tests.
10 seconds to tell me what vehicle we're talking about today,
my man.
I'm going to say this is a post facelift.
So I'm going to say 2002 Nissan XTERRA SE.
I'm trying to remember if the supercharged one was one with
5000 pounds.
I'm going to say, yeah, just SE.
I'm going to give it to you.
This is the original.
Okay.
So 2000.
Square headlight deal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, look at the font.
That's so 2000.
It's so good.
It's so much like, I don't know, attitude and.
Yeah.
Exactly.
The word attitude should be written somewhere.
Dude.
I'm going to say something right now.
And it's not just because we're newly.
I wanted XTERRA.
XTERRA boys.
We are XTERRA boys now.
This truck really did come out at a time when we're getting away
from off roady, like purpose built kind of utility focused
trucks and making softer SUVs, if you will.
And the XTERRA was like.
Absolutely dude.
Yeah.
I mean, it's funny.
You like, you compared to now, which it's only.
You think it's like not.
Yeah.
But like in that period, I think you're right.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Cause it went from like solid, like even the Land Cruiser went
from solid front axle to the 100 series, which was like, I remember
when that truck came out, it was like, oh, you don't want that.
It's got a IFS.
Like you don't want that like independent.
No.
And traditional, traditional body and frames were going that
way.
Like Pathfinder would eventually go to, you know, unibody design.
But the XTERRA was like, fuck it.
And it's not too big, but it's big enough.
It's totally off road capable.
And it was really built for like purpose.
It was built to be out there fucking about cheap and liable.
But the thing is the design matched the, the, the objective,
right?
Like they made it look like they had the boxy flared fenders.
It had the roof rack already from the factory.
The interior could be fucking literally hosed out.
Yeah.
It was named the XTERRA, which was a race.
Like a, like an Iron Man triathlon, whatever competitor at the time.
So I think this ad hits that I think, and this vehicle was super
successful for Nissan at the time.
Cool.
Saw two generations.
The third gen coming up in a couple of years probably.
Right.
Could be fucking epic.
Should we get, now that we're, now that we're XTERRA boys,
we're pretty, we're pretty serious.
Should we, should we get like some sort of like Nissan,
uh, I don't know, rep as a guess on the pod to talk about the XTERRA?
Cause we do have like, honestly, I think we have the two top trims,
right?
For each gen.
We do.
Yeah.
The off road was the best.
I mean, second gen, you could get a pro four X, but that was just the off road
renamed.
So yeah.
Yeah.
We have the, we have the two.
Look at us.
We're XTERRA elitist.
And we are.
I know.
And we've, we've spent like $7,500 combined.
Yes.
That's the best part.
Yeah.
Exactly.
We're like, we're big dick in it over here for $0.
You could definitely find nicer examples of what we purchased,
but still you can get a really nice one for like double what we paid.
Right.
So like the best one.
And I love how our pitch to like the brass at Nissan to like have their like head of
design for the new XTERRA to come on our pod is that we like talk about how like cheap
and shitty they are, but good, but shitty, but good and $0.
And don't spend money ever on anything new.
Like it's just,
Right.
Exactly.
But maybe we get the guy to design the original.
Oh, that'd be kind of killer.
Although here's the thing.
They shuttered the Southern California design studio.
True.
Yeah.
This was a built, the XTERRA was built in California.
I think it was like their, their first fully designed built and like set up.
Freaking killer.
Northern USA built.
Yeah.
The XTERRA is a win across the board, but good job.
That was a softball one.
We had not done an XTERRA yet.
And to be XTERRA boys, we can't be fucking around without talking about the proper one
there.
No.
First gen pride.
Yeah.
First gen.
First gen supremacist.
Oh.
But.
Yeah.
UNVQ.
Yeah.
Right.
Have you, have you been, have you been making progress on project cars?
Dude, I have.
So annoyingly, we did just shoot the tracker for its listing and it, it decided to not start
on me again, which is a, a wonderful thing to do.
And I'm trying to really talk about how cool this tracker is and trust me, it's really
good.
The neutral safety switch again.
No.
So we're, we'll get into that.
So, but I hadn't done the neutral safety switch fix yet, which is, um, I should have
done a long time ago because I could have easily been straighted somewhere because when
that switch does totally fail and becomes more of less of an intermittent problem and more
of an, I'm always a problem.
Yeah.
You're fucking dead in the water.
There's nothing you can do.
Unless you got wire splices and a fusible link on hand.
Yes.
So for a dollar 75 worth of parts, I got a fusible link, cut it.
And there's two wires that connect to the old one.
I could have replaced the unit, but it's like, it's like 80 something dollars.
It's a pain in the dick.
And the aftermarket ones apparently are not perfect.
So again, where's this fusible link?
It's not to the neutral safety switch.
Is it?
It is to the neutral.
It is.
Okay.
Yeah.
So there's two wires going into your natural safe safety switch where the clutch like
physically touches a pressure button on this vehicle.
It's not electronic, like a modern vehicle, but you, I'm going to tell you right now,
Frank, that the manual calls for dash out and there's a very good reason for that because
it is up there.
So to get to the wires, which is still like, it took me an hour to do this job.
You have to remove the speaker cover.
You have to remove the speaker.
You have to remove the under steering wheel column, like plastic down there and you can
wedge one hand up through there and the other one over here and concede through the speaker
where your hands are.
Nice.
I'm talking, dude, stripping the wires.
I was using the very end of the wire stripper in the, you know, just picture me.
Yeah.
I'm acting it out.
If you guys are watching on YouTube, thank you.
I'm up there and I'm trying not to like, I don't know.
I've been there and like, I just like boiling with rage.
Dude, my arms are sliced up because it's all plastic and rusted and crusty metal back there.
You know how it is behind a dash.
And I'm trying not to strip like five other important wires that would fucking boat anchor
the car.
Yep.
Absolute nightmare.
Trying to get my solder iron in there.
I'm like shivering and like dude and put it into perspective.
You're down low in a horrible position.
Yeah.
What a nightmare scenario.
So the fusible links are really good way to go.
Put the heat shrink wrap on it too.
Made it all professional.
It probably, if it was in the open, would have taken me like five minutes, but because
of the position, an hour.
But dude, the other day I shot the review, did a bunch of stuff.
I've started and stopped it like 40 times.
No issue.
So they just go bad.
So yeah, you know, honestly, the right fix you could say is, oh, go buy another safety
switch, but the aftermarket ones are hit or miss.
Some people report those not working.
And the last thing you want to do is have like a failing new part after doing that dash
out job to replace the switch.
There's no way I could have gotten it without pulling a lot of shit down.
So I'm happy.
It just, it's, you know, I mean, there's people like, there's people that will, not that
somebody's taking your specific tracker, like deep off road, but that's a mod that people
do off road is like neutral safety switch delete.
So if you get yourself in a pickle, you can bump out.
You can, you can bump stop your way out.
And it's, dude, it's not going to leave you stranded ever again.
Cause now it's just a direct turn and start kind of thing.
So a huge fix.
That was a pain in the ass when that started happened and it started increasing in frequency,
which means the switch was going to totally fail.
And like I said, you'd be, you'd be dead.
There's nothing that was literally dead.
Yeah.
When your car breaks down, there's like a couple of things you can do sometimes.
Usually there's something you can do to fix it.
There's no way you're resolving that issue without like some kind of crazy improvised device.
I mean, you could cut the wires and put them together, but it might be risky.
I don't know.
But anyway, that was my PCP, the tracker and start and stop perfectly.
Um, okay.
Boy, what have I done?
Okay.
So, um, two things.
First off, if you're paying attention, um, I famously have not been on the rally yet.
So I have no new, we were, oh yeah.
Curtin.
We're, we're going behind the curtain.
I talked last week and last week, your time, my time, an hour and a half ago, um, about
that was very near the barracuda on the GWA rally.
That has not happened yet.
Yeah.
Other things have happened.
I will report on that when it goes or I won't because I will be dead on the side of the road.
In lieu of my demise, I do have other things I've worked on this week.
Two things.
The focus behind me.
I'm still trying to figure out the one God.
Dude.
So I found somebody.
I mess it.
I found multiple people selling valve covers with all the bolts intact on eBay or some of
the bolts intact.
Like some of them are there.
Some of them are not.
Okay.
I messaged a bunch of them.
One guy replied and was like, yeah, cool.
I'll sell you one bolt.
20 bucks shipped sick.
He's like, all right, cool.
Yeah.
Give me like a day to make like a custom listing and I'll send you a link and you just buy
it like cool.
Hell yes.
Let me know when you have it.
That was one week ago.
Cricket sense.
I'm like, I get 40 for this thing.
I desperately want this thing out of my car.
I might just end up spending like $110 and get a whole fucking valve cover.
Seal one bolt off of it off of eBay and then just put it back.
Like I just, it's so frustrating.
I'll get you.
I know it's, but it's going to take years.
Lots of transactions and stuff.
Yeah.
So we'll see on that front.
The other front is, okay.
Do you remember right after I put all the brand new set of four PILUS board all seasons on
my daily, the CT 2008.
CT, yeah, yeah.
And I was like, man, like I got the new set of tires.
They're way stickier.
They're great.
Oh, your bad fuel economy.
I was like, dude, I feel like I've lost like almost 10%.
Like I've dropped like three ish miles a gallon.
Okay.
I went from like 40, 41 to like 38.
That is a lot more than 10% my friend.
No, I mean, 10% of 40 would be four miles a gallon.
Oh, how would you get 38 from, oh, you weren't at like 44.
I was like 40, 41 and I'm at like 38 and a half.
Sorry.
My CT was like 34.
My bad dude.
I drive like a normal human being.
I don't.
So I think I figured it out because I was like, there's no way just the tires air them
up, dude.
No, I didn't crank them up.
I just, it's like 50% user error.
Okay.
The entire time I've had this car, I've always had an eco.
Oh, I never use that.
What?
Use normal is the best fuel economy.
It's been proven on that.
No.
100%.
I've averaged 44 miles per gallon.
I'm both my CTs always in normal.
Here's the thing though.
I've been driving.
I was driving and I was like, why am I like 38, 38 and a half?
And I realized when they like reset the tire pressure monitors and all that shit, because
I always kept it an eco that they like whatever, like, I don't know if the battery disconnected
or whatever it was now in normal.
Oh, and I was getting like 38 and a half.
I was like, oh, shit.
This is like this past week.
So I've now put it back to eco.
And now I'm getting, I'm now at like almost 40.
I'm like 41 and a half.
My God.
Should I go and get like 40 takes?
I've never, I've always used normal and then sport if I need to accelerate.
No, I never sport is stupid.
I've never.
Oh, shit, dude.
It is, I tested it quarter mile or zero 60 time.
Run quarter miles in this car.
You pick up a whole second.
It's not needed.
Dude, attackometer appears, Frank.
I know.
And you know, you know where the red line is.
You know what?
Dead ass.
This is how I realized it.
I was driving this fucking car.
Yeah.
And no, I broke it.
I broke my back.
No, I, um, I was thinking was like, you know what?
I feel like this car is like a stupid low red line.
Like it's, it doesn't have a red line, but yeah.
I mean, it kind of does.
Kind of.
So I was like, and I was like, well, like if I put it in a sport, it gives me
attack and I can see.
So I put it in a sport and I look, it was like, oh yeah, it's 5500 RPM, which
is like for an economy car or whatever.
But like for a four cylinder, that's low.
Oh yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, it is low.
Cool.
I put it back and I flip it and I was like, wait, I'm in normal.
I'm never in normal.
And then I flip it to eco and the eco, it just says eco mode, little green icon.
I was like, I don't think that's been on.
Eco mode.
I tried it a couple of times.
I found it to be too anemic.
Not that the car is anemic in general in power output.
I always, dude, normal.
99% of the time and I averaged 44 on both of my CTs.
In eco, in eco for me.
Like I find that it's more aggressive in going into just like EV mode where it's
only running the, just off of the fucking EV motor and battery.
And also a little bit more aggressive in when it kicks the motor off when
you're just coasting or like recharging.
I think aggressive is definitely the most appropriate term to talk about.
A hybrid car kicking into a legend.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
So I don't know.
I don't know.
I, I, I should probably do some like internet deep diving and like getting,
getting the CT forums or whatever.
But like, I don't know.
You're not ready for that, bro.
No.
But like anecdotal, anecdotally, I switched it over to that and I've gotten
all my mileage back.
Dude, it's a placebo.
I've gotten that like, I don't, I don't think it is because I've been like
trying.
Not like hypermiling, trying, but just like trying, trying.
And, and now it's back.
Dude, I had a quarter of a tank of gas when I went to sell mine and it had
44.6 and that's mixed driving conditions.
And that was normal.
I should mix.
I should mix.
Actually mixed is better.
Like, city, city is better with that car.
I'm like, I'm like almost all highway and all of this on both ends of it.
Um, and yeah, I went from like roughly two months of or yeah, probably
close to two months of averaging 38 and a half.
Okay.
To now two tanks of averaging probably 41 and a half.
Okay.
Still admirable.
All right.
Let's shut this out.
We've gone into Lex's CT fuel economy.
Talk hard.
I'm sorry.
Shut it down.
Let's go home.
Take us home, daddy.
Oh gosh.
Um, just keep showing up.
Honestly, just just just appear here.
Um, tell your friends, maybe one day we'll have an overlanding get together.
I don't know.
Um, sweet.
If you want to support us beyond all of that, please, we would love it.
Uh, head to, um, patreon.com slash APA pod.
That's APA P O D.
Um, or just like harass us digitally online.
We have an Instagram.
We never post to it.
Um, but you can send us a message there and like two weeks later we'll reply.
So do that.
Um, if you want to stalk me beyond this, don't like stalk me here, but also
I'm at the photographer's garage.
Chadwick, how about you?
If people want to stalk you outside of this dog and pony show.
Yeah, you want to do that.
You want to finish up with Frank's quality photos and come see some real
shit.
Um, and literally, literally shitty stuff.
Auto obscure garage, mostly on YouTube, uh, rescues, restorations, reviews,
XTERRA content is pretty heavy right now.
Check it out.
Tracker review coming soon.
That'll be kind of a fun one.
Is it the slowest?
Yeah.
And that too.
Is it, is the, uh, tracker, the slowest vehicle I've ever tested.
Tune in and find out TBD.
Ooh, what would be, what would be like, um, without like, uh, fully showing
behind the, uh, Kimono, what, what other cars would be in the running for
some absolute slugs?
Uh, the Metro convertibles pretty slow.
Uh, the Suzu trooper is incredibly slow.
Uh, Lexus CTs, two of those are in pretty fucking slow cars.
Uh, as far as other slow stuff.
What?
No, the, the LX was quicker.
The Land Cruiser was the slowest cause it had a bunch of gear on it.
Uh, the LX was a little faster.
The GX was a lightning bolt.
I think that's a properly quick with that fucking VVTI 47 in that, in that
vehicle.
Um, yeah.
So tune in there.
Maybe it's the slowest.
Maybe not, but we'll find out.
That's right.
All right.
Get out of here guys.
As I always take care, we'll see you soon in a week.
Maybe goodbye friends later.
Bye.
About this episode
The hosts turn an Isuzu-vs-Suzuki grudge match into a tour of compact oddballs, from the light, rare Suzuki Swift GTI and Sidekick to the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive Isuzu Impulse RS and boxier truck-based SUVs. They also dig into badge engineering, noting how Suzuki’s Geo Metro and Isuzu’s Rodeo/Trooper lineage spread through other brands. After calling the matchup a draw, they pivot to a Nissan Xterra ad quiz, then close with project-car wrenching and a Lexus CT fuel-economy chat.
Two highly under appreciated Japanese auto makers square off this installment of Automotive Grudge Match. Does Isuzu have the edge with its larger off-roader offerings does Suzuki's pint-sized and highly unique cars capture the win?
