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Ever wonder if the dealership experience
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when buying a Porsche is any different than, say,
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buying a Chevy, a Honda, or even a Lexus?
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Well, I never thought that I'd be able to tell you first hand,
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but good fortune has come my way.
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I'm now the proud owner of a certified pre-owned 2021 Porsche
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Taycan 4S, and I documented the entire process,
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start to finish, so you can live through me.
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I'm kind of a geek that way.
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I've already done a video about my search for the car,
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but in a nutshell, CPO Taycans off lease
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are a screaming deal, and the only way
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I could ever get into one of these,
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even then it's a stretch financially for me,
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but hey, my advice has always been buy the car you love,
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and this is the vehicle I've adored for years.
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About the car from Porsche, Ontario,
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no, not in Canada, in California,
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just outside of Los Angeles,
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it would have been less expensive for me
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to have it shipped to Seattle,
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but I wanted to do this story about the delivery experience,
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and I was curious if the process was anything special.
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Personally, I don't care about fancy dealerships,
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I'm all about the car and hope to never return.
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Years of packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,
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plus general frugality has led to this splurge.
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My brother works for Alaska Airlines,
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and he gave me a standby ticket,
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so my flight to Ontario International
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early in the morning is on the cheap if I can get on.
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Last night there were no seats available,
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but I came to the airport this morning anyways,
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I've packed light, all my clothes and video gear
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for documenting the drive back to Seattle
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Flying standby is not for the faint of heart,
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but my persistence pays off.
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A larger plane was switched in, I get the green light,
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I'm on my way to California.
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Being cheap like this is why I can afford
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an expensive car park.
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Here's a plug for Alaska Airlines,
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and not just because my brother works there,
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this is an excellent airline with great service.
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Try their fruit and cheese tray,
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it's a bargain at 12 bucks, no PBJ this morning.
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And after all that worry, I have the whole road myself.
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Ontario is about an hour east of Los Angeles,
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if traffic is good, and it never is.
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What a great day for picking up a Porsche.
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I ride about cars, but I don't buy them often.
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I'm as excited and nervous as anyone would be.
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This is a little bit surreal,
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and not to be overly dramatic, a little intimidating.
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I mean, I just bought a very expensive car
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over the internet, 1200 miles away.
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Not something I do every day.
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This is a good test of the Porsche's CPO program,
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I was going to cab or Uber to the showroom
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some three miles away.
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My salesman, Jose Hernandez,
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insisted on picking me up.
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Jose, yeah, good to finally meet you in person.
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Points there for service.
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When I was arranging this purchase over email and the phone,
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I got the impression that he really knew EVs,
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something not all salespeople demonstrate.
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Turns out Jose walks the talk,
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he owns a couple electric vehicles,
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just bought one for his daughter,
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so we chatted about that on the way to the showroom.
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As a pragmatic Minnesota raised boy,
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I always look at temples like this
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as adding cost to the vehicle,
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but I'm also a big fan of architecture
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and Porsche dealerships, they certainly have a sleek vibe.
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Now, I'll admit, walking in through the door,
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my overwhelming thought is,
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oh, I'm one of those people now,
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like suddenly I'm a rich entitled guy,
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if I'm stereotyping.
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The reality is there's plenty of ordinary people like me
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that just love good design and engineering,
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never judge a person over the car they drive.
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And then after four months of searching,
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my car in person for the first time in a glass jewel box.
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Nice drama, it has presence.
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You know, it was worth taking the time
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to pick this up at the showroom
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rather than watch it being offloaded
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from a transport in a mall parking lot.
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There's theater happening here.
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Yeah, it's a very expensive ticket,
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but this is a car I have always admired
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to think this is mine, is pretty damn cool.
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Here's what attracted me to this particular 4S.
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Carrera White Metallic Paint and Mission E-Wheels
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is delivery I watched Porsche launch Tycon in back in 2019.
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The original owner specced this incredibly well.
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Upgraded Olia Leather, Bermister Audio
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that pairs well to the acoustically laminated glass.
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The upgraded headlights and rear lightband are in ice blue.
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It has the Sport Design package
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with larger air intakes, side sills,
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and rear fascia treatment, I love that little winglet.
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The performance package adds Sport Chrono,
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rear axle steering, dynamic chassis control,
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and torque vectoring to name a few
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of the functional technologies,
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and powered charge ports so vandals can't rip the tours off.
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Sadly, people do that kind of crap.
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The only thing that I would have liked
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is a heated steering wheel
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and maybe black window trim instead of aluminum,
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but hey, I'm 99% there.
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This was originally ordered debadged
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and then turbo S badging added?
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Both the dealership and I insisted those be removed.
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And if you ever do go out on the road
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and you need to take your cable with you,
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that's what these are for.
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Jose walked me around the car to inspect it.
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He had originally pointed out a small chip on the front.
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I knew that going in.
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I'll fix it then when I can afford protective film.
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That'll go on the nose and side view mirrors.
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I have expel on my ELR.
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Nearly all of the paperwork was done beforehand.
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That was all smooth and professional,
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no upselling what you would expect from Porsche.
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And while I was there, Jose showed me what it would be like
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if I wanted to spec out my next Porsche
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exactly to my liking, you know, a new one.
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There are paint samples that you can walk out
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into the sun to make sure they're exactly
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what you want, shift knobs, sill plates,
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all sorts of materials for the interior.
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So that's my interior, huh?
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Makes a guy want to make a whole lot more money.
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Also, I had to get a souvenir,
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not that the car isn't enough.
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Porsche has great swag.
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Being a hoodie guy, I picked this out.
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As for the rest of the afternoon,
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the car was pulled out in dramatic fashion
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to top off the battery for my trip home.
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I plan on doing a lot of distance in this car,
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and so I made sure I got the Performance Plus battery pack,
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And yes, I am aware that repairs will be expensive, duh.
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CPO adds two years of warranty
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to the three months left on the car that I bought.
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I'm very familiar with Taycan.
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I've driven just about every flavor,
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but Jose went through the basics with the interface
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and set up my Porsche account that's tied to an app.
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There are different levels of service.
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The basic connectivity for emergencies
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and such is free for the next seven years.
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I don't plan on moving up to the next level,
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but if you folks want to chip in
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and pay the $350 for service,
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I'm happy to test it out.
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Frankly, right now I'm car rich, finance poor.
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A family friend, Dylan,
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who's also a car enthusiast and EV owner,
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knew I was picking the car up.
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He lives in the LA area and came to check it out.
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Kind of fun to share the excitement with someone.
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Wrapping up, I don't buy cars on a regular basis,
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but I have to believe the whole Porsche delivery process
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is extremely elevated.
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I'm glad I came down.
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It's a great memory.
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I will stress, don't buy a vehicle for special treatment.
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It's most important to get the right car
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because you'll seldom return to where you bought it from,
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at least hopefully.
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But yeah, I got the VIP treatment that one might expect.
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I feel very fortunate to get a magnificent car like this.
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I'm the kid that got everything he wanted for Christmas
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and is a little bit overstimulated.
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Hope you can live vicariously through my video.
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All right, time to head back to Seattle.
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That's gonna be a separate video.
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Now, I have done long distance travel in EVs before,
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but 1200 miles, that's new to even me.
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Super fast charge speed should help.
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It'll be a great adventure.
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If you wanna see that, remember,
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subscribe to the channel, click notifications,
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follow me on social media, and if you have a question,
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leave it in the comments, okay?
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All right, but that's Driven, I'm Tom Volk.
