Everyday Driver Car Debate Mar 17, 2026

It’s Really Jakub, Fat-Shaming Cars, Best Looking Hatch Of All Time | Episode 1,037

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Term

EV

An EV is a car or van that runs only on electricity, not gas. It’s better for the environment and usually quieter when you drive it.

Concept

electric vehicle (EV)

An electric vehicle is a car that runs on electricity from batteries instead of gas. It doesn't make pollution from the exhaust like regular cars.

Car

internal combustion engine (ICE)

An internal combustion engine is the usual kind of car engine that burns gas to make the car go.

Concept

hybrid vehicle

A hybrid car uses both gas and electricity to run. This helps save fuel and pollutes less.

Car

Porsche Cayman

The Porsche Cayman is a sporty car made by Porsche that has its engine in the middle of the car. This helps it drive very well and handle corners nicely.

Car

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4

The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is a special, faster version of the Cayman made for racing and track driving. It is popular among people who like to race or drive fast on tracks.

Term

GT4 class racing is a type of car racing where the cars look like regular sports cars you can buy, but they are changed a bit to race on tracks. It's a popular way for people to race without spending too much money.

Term

weight

Weight means how heavy a car is. Lighter cars usually drive better and faster, so car makers try to keep cars light.

Company

FCP Euro

FCP Euro is a company that sells real parts for European cars like BMW, Audi, and Porsche. They promise to replace parts for free if they fail, which helps keep your car running well.

Brand

Saab

Saab is a car brand from Sweden that made cars known for being safe and different. They don't make new cars anymore, but many people still drive and love them.

Car

Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG wagon

The E55 AMG wagon is a fast and sporty Mercedes station wagon. It has a strong engine and can carry a lot of stuff, making it both practical and fun to drive.

Car

Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG

The E55 AMG is a fast and sporty version of a Mercedes car that has a big, powerful engine with a supercharger, making it quicker and more fun to drive than regular models.

Car

Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG wagon

The E63 AMG wagon is a fast and sporty Mercedes station wagon that can carry a family but also go really fast because of its strong engine.

Term

supercharger

A supercharger is a part that helps the engine get more air so it can make more power and go faster, and it works right away when you press the gas.

Term

leaks

Leaks mean fluids like oil or water are dripping from the car because some seals or parts are old or worn out. It can be messy and cause problems if not fixed.

Term

rear main seal

The rear main seal is a part that stops oil from leaking out of the back of the engine. If it leaks, oil can drip and cause problems.

Term

input shaft seal

This seal stops the transmission fluid from leaking out where the transmission connects to the engine. If it leaks, the car might lose fluid and have problems shifting.

Term

oil filter housing gasket

This gasket is a seal that stops oil from leaking where the oil filter attaches to the engine. If it wears out, oil can drip and make a mess.

Car

Ford F-150

The Ford F-150 is a big truck that many people use for work or to carry family and stuff. It's very popular and can do a lot of different jobs.

Term

V8 engine

A V8 engine is a type of car engine with eight parts that help it make power. It is strong and makes cars go fast and sound cool.

Term

V12 engine

A V12 engine is a very powerful engine with twelve parts that help it make power. It is found in very fancy and fast cars.

Term

V10 engine

A V10 engine is a powerful car engine with ten parts that help it make power. It is usually in very fast and special cars.

Car

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio is a fast and stylish car from Italy. It looks cool and drives well but might need some extra care to keep it running.

Car

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is a fancy and fast car from England. It looks great but can be tricky and expensive to keep in good shape.

Term

manual transmission

A manual transmission is a type of car where the driver changes gears by hand. It can make driving more fun but needs more effort.

Term

V8

A V8 engine is a type of car engine that has eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. This makes the car powerful and fast.

Term

LS3

The LS3 is a type of big engine made by Chevrolet that gives cars a lot of power and makes them go fast.

Car

Cadillac CTS-V Wagon

This is a fast Cadillac car that has a wagon shape, meaning it has more space in the back for things. It's powerful and practical but can be expensive.

Car

Cadillac CTS-V Coupe

This is a fast Cadillac car with two doors. It looks very bold and cool, and it has a strong engine that makes it quick.

Term

supercharged

A supercharged engine has a special device that pushes more air into the engine, making the car more powerful and faster.

LIVE

Hey guys, welcome back. You'll notice that the audio is good from the outset this time.

We apologize for backup audio issues last time, but we are here. We are ready for a

great podcast. Instead of big card debates this time, we have a special guest coming

up. You've probably already heard about it. Jacob from the Straight Pipes will be joining

us for a live card debate. We don't often have guests and we rarely do live card debates.

Well, we also don't know. He has not given us any information in advance of what he's

looking for. So I'm excited about hearing what his debate is. So it's live ideas. We

don't know. No idea where it's going. Apparently sold everything and wants to buy something

different and we'll get the full story. He's sold some stuff. Apparently that's a YouTube

plague right now. But anyway, so we're going to dive into other things. First off, you

had the van news. Van news. I never have van news. Rarely does anybody have van news,

but Mercedes does. It is the new VLE Grand LeMousine. I want to start off by saying Mercedes

has claimed this is not a van. I point out that it's already in your acronym. V. VLE.

This is the VLE series. You're already calling it a van with the letter V. Doesn't that have

slidey side doors? And it does have slidey side doors. Okay. So I think it's a van. The

rest of the world thinks it's a van. Yes. But what I find most interesting is they're

calling it a Grand LeMousine. So much so they had to make a top 10 list of why it's a Grand

LeMousine and the benefits to sell the world on the van. I mean, we already know it's a

luxurious van. See the slidey side doors? Slidey side doors, nice back seats. And it's

got the beautiful seats and the amenities and the AI-powered M-Buck system and all of the

upgrades and it's going to be the optimal transport, not just high-end hotels, shuttling

their guests from airport to hotel, but they have wanted to, they have seen a market here.

They obviously kind of already own that market. And they want to be the go-to van.

Okay. Yeah. All right. I won't read all of these to you. I don't want to inundate you with van news,

but we do think it's very cool. It's an EV, by the way, a full EV van with an 800-volt charging

system, highly flexible seating for up to eight people. Not only do they mention the manual roll

and go, they mention the remote seat ballet. I'm sorry? Yes. It is in their... What? What?

They're top 10 reasons the new VLE redefines the Grand LeMousine. Sure. The newly developed seats,

the M-Bucks experience, superior ride, more than 700 kilometers of range, apparently,

on this 800-volt technology, interior or extraordinary, interior experience, extraordinary.

And I'm all about it. Sure. Here we go. Here's the instrument panel. I also thought that Mercedes

was one of the first car companies to admit that glass screens do not define luxury. But here

they are in their most luxurious Grand LeMousine, putting a giant screen across the front. I don't

understand how you can legitimately even build this and say it's not a van. Everything about

the center console is a van. It's a van. Everything about this is a van. It's a van. I guess it's

because Volkswagen didn't do well with the ID buzz. They thought they would say this isn't a van.

Look, we've said it before. Nothing out mini vans, mini van. If you're going to transport a bunch of

people, make it van-shaped. And people love vans. Vans are cool. Just van. Just embrace the van.

Even if they're not cool, that is what transports about people. Come with us on our pilgrimage

trip. We take you around in a van, not because it's the best car to drive on the Autobahn,

but because that's how you transport lots of people. It's a van. We're fighting upstream here.

Big time. Mercedes isn't being honest with themselves. It's a van. It's a luxurious van.

Like, hey, everybody, we made the world's most luxurious van. Buy it. It's going to be awesome.

Everybody's like, sweet, cool, new EV van. And that's the big news. It's the first letter

of the name of the van. Couldn't agree with you more. The van. Yes. Also, if it's supposed to be

that thing for hotels, this makes all the sense in the world. Yeah. And what will guests say?

Hey, we'll take the van. Yes. We'll pick you up. And what do we watch for?

Watch for the grand limousine at the airport. What is that? Hello, sir. We'll pick you up

in the van. Yeah. Would you like to schedule the van? You know what we have? We have a van for you.

There you go. If you need to go to the airport, we have a van. Glad we fixed that. If you want

to read the entire list for yourself, go to the Mercedes news portal and you can read how

the VLA is a true shapeshifter. What is going on? The marketing speak is just it's endlessly fun.

A new era of distinctive design. I can't stop. Please stop. Please stop. I want to move on.

In fact, I'm going to force you to stop me moving on. Here's my bit of news. Porsche news.

This is not our photo. This is actually a photo you'll see quite branded with motor one because

I read this on motor one, even though it was mentioned other places. So apparently the new CEO

of Porsche has driven the electric update of the Cayman, the electric 718 and said it's very,

very good. The reason I bring this up is because I feel like every week right now,

there is some bit of news about what Porsche is going to do. And literally on the same day,

on the same day, I have read article one that said here is how much money Porsche is losing this

year while they write down all of their EV investments. And on another article on the

same day, here's how much the current Porsche CEO thinks the new 718 Cayman is actually great in

EV form. Here's how much money we lost. Here's how great our new upcoming products are that lost

us all the money. Could both of those things be true? Theoretically. But what I find fascinating

is, look, a new Cayman Boxster of some point is coming. It's probably going to have multiple

drivetrains. I don't think Porsche is going to take all of that engineering and just put it in the

garbage. I think electric, whatever they've learned here is going to exist in cars. But clearly

what's not going to exist is the conversation that was going on for a while. And we've talked

about it now as you won't go too far. But the fact that Porsche was just kind of going to go

on all electric lineup, except for upper levels of the 911. Clearly that's not happening anymore.

And you and I have said for the longest time, and I think you actually were the first to say it,

and that is we want all the manufacturers to make all the things. Yeah, just create options,

create choice. There's nothing wrong with an EV. There's nothing wrong with a hybrid. There's

nothing wrong with an ICE. Let's just they've all got pros and cons. Let's have all of the above

available. But I'm very curious. Look, I will I will say it as much as I don't want an electric

Cayman. I can't wait to drive one. I'm excited to drive one. I think Porsche will probably do it

very, very well. Is that something that I would go, I really want? No, but I'll drive one on a

heartbeat. But when they said that's the only Cayman version we'll sell, I agree. That was the

mistake. I agree. Investment professionals tell us all diversify your portfolio. That's all we hear

when you're investing. Diversify your portfolio. Have a little bit of investment over here,

a little bit over here. And that's what we recommend. All these car manufacturers just

a little bit over here, a little bit over here. We just make all the things, make all the things.

Well, then yes, we look forward to it. You know what, when they come out with it,

make a gas powered GT4 because that's been very popular. And it's very good and it exists in

GT4 class racing and companies, you know, teams will want to buy that and individuals want to

buy it and really is a great track car and make it all. Yes, bring it all. Here's here's my big,

my big thing for all manufacturers. I just want to put it out there. I know

no one's listening to what I'm about to say. Let's worry about weight again. Yes, I don't care who

you are, I don't care what you make. Stress the scale. Okay, I'm not fat shaming people. I'm fat

shaming cars. Okay, all right. Let me read you more about the van. No more about the van. Unmatched

comfort and versatility. Let's please move on to Jacob, our friend up in Canada from Straight

Papes and we'll get him on the call now.

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So visit FCP Euro today for more than 300,000 parts ready to ship for your European car and

your Saab. FCP Euro.com. So here he is, Jacob from Straight Papes. It's really Jacob or that's the

other thing that happens, right? That's the other way you go by it. Okay, so you guys already know

him. You've probably already watched Jacob and Yuri's work with Straight Papes, but we heard

that Jacob is selling everything and has no idea what to get. Both you and I were like,

now wait a minute, this is what we do. So Jacob, thanks for joining us. Yeah, welcome, man.

Thanks for reaching out. And funny enough, I did have one of my subscribers say that I should

be on the show for this. So here I am. Even better. I love that. Thanks for being with us.

When was the last time we saw you in person? I think it was SEMA in Vegas two or three years ago.

Sounds right. I think it was even longer than that, but it was SEMA in Vegas. Okay, COVID,

I blocked out memories of COVID. Maybe it was before. Exactly. I can't remember.

Glad to have you on. Yeah, I definitely don't see you guys enough. For sure. For sure. We're here

to hear the story about, explain to everybody watching how you came to decide to sell everything

and what's the current update to your fleet and what are you looking for? We want to hear it all.

Apparently, by the way, this is the thing you and I missed. Apparently, we missed the memo.

The memo that came around early this year was all YouTubers are supposed to sell everything.

I guess. And so it's the running joke. I didn't get that memo. Not everybody is,

but apparently that was the running joke. So anyway, join us, Jacob, and tell us what the story is.

Okay, so you guys know how YouTube and thumbnails work, so sold everything. I didn't actually,

I didn't, I didn't sell everything, but you know, buying a car on YouTube is very exciting. Selling

a car isn't. So I had sold cars over the last year and I was like, you know what, I didn't really

explain why I sold all these cars and I'm like, I'll just make one video explaining why I sold

or got rid of a bunch of cars at the same time because I got rid of my E55 AMG wagon and everyone

was shocked and I don't blame them because I kind of expected to keep that car for a while

and that's kind of what spurred this whole thing. So we can start off with the E55 if you guys want.

So I imported that car from Japan. It was left hand drive. I sought it out. It was, you know,

one of my dream cars, again, YouTube thumbnail, but genuinely dream car, the attainable version

of that because when I started doing this whole car review YouTube thing, Yuri and I got to drive a,

I think it was a 2018 E63 AMG wagon. I was like, holy crap. I didn't even know this existed. I'm

like, this is it. This is the top. Like, how does it get better than this? And so when my son was

born, I got Mercedes to actually give me a loaner E63 wagon for a month so I could like take them

home from the hospital. I love it. And then I was like, you know what, now it's time to buy one. Well,

turns out I don't have $200,000. So what I do have is $20,000 or $25,000. See, this is actual

YouTube map here. This is how it actually works. Keep going. Exactly. So what can I get that's a

Mercedes AMG wagon for $20,000, $25,000, $30,000. And so I was looking at the E63s, but they sort of

have like head bolt issues in that generation that I was looking at. I was like, I don't really want

to get into that with the 6.2 naturally aspirated, although it sounds really good. Did my research

and turns out the E55 with the 5.4 supercharge is very reliable and takes the modifications well,

which I did not do too many because I was terrified of the German reliability stuff.

And so I found that car and imported it from Japan, owned it for I think three years and

I would say it was nearly flawless. Like never gave me an issue starting, no check engine lights.

The not flawless part is that it had leaks as any old German car would. And I spent thousands of

dollars at the Mercedes dealer and European service department fixing the leaks because I'm

one of those people that can't live with a little bit of, you know, a little puddle under the car.

Sure. And I could have left it as most people do, but you know, oh, the rear main seal is leaking.

Well, it turns out, let's do the input shaft on the transmission. Let's do the like literally

every single gasket. We did the oil filter housing gasket. We did everything.

Did it get solved? But did no more leaks? It got solved. No more leaks.

I just want to hear good news, good news at least a few days.

And so because I did all that stuff, I was like, yeah, I'll just keep this car for, you know,

forever for a long time because now I've solved all the issues, right? A friend of a friend is

like, Hey, I watched Jacob's video. I didn't know this at the time. And I'm interested in

buying one of those. My friend, Hey, is your car for sale? I'm like,

Yeah. Well, no, but you have a price in mind. Yeah, that's money. You got exactly key. Yeah.

Yeah. So I genuinely did not intend to sell that vehicle. It's not like I bought it and I sold it

for YouTube. It's not that I promise. It's just like, Hey, I got this offer and I literally told

the guy sent me an offer. I can't refuse. He did that. Wow. And I didn't refuse. Okay. And that's

it. All right. Good for you. So but what's in your garage now? And I guess also if I'm understanding

correctly, it's that Mercedes leaving that creates the vacuum. Exactly. Which is going to be the

vehicle that we'll talk about replacing. So currently, I've got Terminator Cobra. Love it.

Excellent. Black one. This is what you and I don't have. We don't have really good die cast

versions of our own cars. We need props. I missed opportunity. Sorry. I have a bunch more at the

side if you can't see, but I tried to buy all my old cars that I've owned, not all of them,

but like the ones that really stand out on eBay, like the die cast version. Love it. That's a great

idea. We've got demonstration models. Yeah, I totally didn't do this. And then I got a C5 Corvette

as my drift car track car. Got it. Do the colors match? Yes. What's currently in the garage? The

colors are true. This is close enough. Okay. Mine is that old man Champagne beige, like that

pewter. This is like a nice silver. Pewter. Pewter is the perfect descriptive word there.

Excellent. Like it. Got it. Yeah. It will not be pewter. Spoiler alert. I will be wrapping that

car within the next, I need 20 degrees of Celsius temperature. Understood. Okay. Before that car

gets wrapped. Okay. But those two in the garage, that's the fun cars. And then the daily currently

is 2018 F-150 five liter Coyote. And that's it. Sure. Okay. So has the Mercedes left?

Yes. Wow. As of I think two weeks ago. I'm sorry, but I do understand the story. Thank you. I do

say you don't have to hate a car to be done with it. You just have to like the dollars coming in,

I guess. Yeah. Yes. I like that. I had my fun with it. And I feel like, Hey, you know what? It's

time to move on. Life's short. Let's let's get something else. Very cool. So, so this what we're

replacing needs to be kind of the family hauler and still be fun. Am I right? To some degree,

because I can continue to use the F-150 as the family hauler in the daily.

Would I like something closer to the E 55 that I can still daily? Yes. But it doesn't necessarily

need to be. I'm definitely leaning more towards some sort of sports car, but it must be a four-seater.

Does not have to be a four door, if you get what I'm saying. Yeah, totally. So what are we dealing

with budget wise? I'm thinking I want to keep it under 50 to 60,000 Canadian dollars. So it's

probably like 30 grand US. I don't really know. I don't know what the conversion is right now.

It's not good. Yeah. Okay. So let's just say 40 grand US and we're probably stretching that when we

get to like the upper 60. But like if we can keep it around 30 to 40 us. Okay. Are there any brands

that are off the table? You hate no go 100% no. You are opposed to any brands. I mean,

this is the thing with all of us who drive these cars. I mean, Jacob, you and your

area have driven so many cars and I know there's cars that you'd be like, yeah, I really like it.

I would never own it. What are what cars are those? And then what cars have you driven that like,

man, if only these were, you know, I'll wait three years from now to the price,

you know, you drive it new and then at three years from now, five years from now, I think

I could actually add that to the garage. Are there any of those floating around your mind?

But let's start with the car brands that you hate. No go.

I'm going to say that it's not brand specific. It's engine specific. Because all right,

a couple years ago, I have decided that I love V8s. And I don't really need any other

engine in my life anymore, because I just love V8s. Okay, so it can be a V8, it could be a V10,

it could be a V12, but we're getting a little crazy with the 10s and 12s. So I would like to

keep it to a V8, nothing less. Okay, nothing less. That clarifies a lot because because where my brain

went was what are your feelings on the Alpha Giulia Quadrifoglio love, but I again, I kind of want

this to be slightly more of a daily or at least the ability to be a daily and I'd be terrified

of the reliability of that vehicle. Okay, and see, I was instantly thinking the first generation M2.

What about the M2? Four seats, two doors, sports car, but not a V8.

Interesting. Again, not a V8. It drives really well. I'm not a big BMW guy. I'm not a hater.

I respect them. I just don't really feel like I want to own one. If you know what I mean.

I did consider at one point and it still may be on the table, E60 M5.

Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. E60 M5 is okay, but the Alpha Giulia Quadrifoglio is out?

That's try to explain cylinders. Remember, we can go up. We can't go down. Okay, fair. All right.

I'll give you the free pass because you'll trade reliability for cylinders. Okay, I'm with you.

So my next car was the E90 M3 going back because that's in the budget. It's a V8,

but it's a BMW. It's four doors, four seats, manual. I'm going to say that's on the table.

Okay. And you could get it. You could get the 90, it's a 92. That's the two-door, right? 92 is the

two-door. Yeah, you could do that or just the, I love the E90. I love the proportions. I love with

the four doors due to the car. I love that car and it's really thirsty and it's right in line with

your V8 love. Yeah, and apparently I've heard they're fairly reliable. I do know some people and

that seems to be a pretty hot car on YouTube right now. Like I know a bunch of guys are buying

those and stuff, so it could be a good choice. It's a great engine with, I guess I want to say it

this way, it's a great engine with known issues. If you solve the known issues, then it should be

great. You know what I mean? So yeah, I would say that's on the table. Just like you did with the

Mercedes E55, solve the known issues, chase the leaks, give the Mercedes dealer most of your money

and we're good. Okay, all right. So I'm going to go elsewhere a little more high end and that is

because it's a car that kind of lives in my brain as a, huh, except I feel like everybody else is

buying them and that is the V8 Vantage, the older Aston. Ooh, interesting. Hadn't considered it,

I don't know if that would be in the price range and slightly nervous about the exoticness of that

car and the reliability. Certainly. I mean, I know that the price range, like the bottom of the

price range in the US is this 30 to 40 grand, but the question becomes what's the life of

the car you're buying? What's its history been, right? And so what does that mean for its future?

But just that's one of those cars that every now and then I'm just randomly searching auto

tempest going, should I? No, I can't. I can't. I just do that. It's just one of those cars for me.

And there's a dilemma with vehicles like that where if they were offered in manual, I almost feel

like I have to find it in manual. Not necessarily true, but again, because this is going to be more

of a daily, so I'm kind of more okay to being automatic and I might also have my wife be able

to drive this car as well. And she doesn't enjoy driving manual transmission. She can, but she just

doesn't like it. So not exactly like needs to be manual or needs to be auto, but like in my head,

because I've driven that car in auto and it wasn't good. So I feel like you would have to get that

car manual. Better in manual, for sure. By the way, what does your wife drive? That is currently

a secret that hasn't been revealed because it was just updated a month ago. Okay, all right. So I

can tell you guys after this call. Okay, I don't want to, yeah, don't want to scoop anything. So

this takes my brain to V8 F type. No back seats. True. True. Sorry. Yeah, no back seats.

Yeah. Yeah. I guess I failed twice there, didn't I? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's right. Sorry. I thought

the Aston for some reason. No, the V9 does. The Vantage does not. Sorry. I got off. That's not

wrong, but he's got the pickup. True for the family haul. Yes, but he's got but he's got the cars

that don't actually take four people already in the garage. So we're trying to be in four people.

That's why, yeah, the Cobra does and I do genuinely drive my son to school in it in the summer, but

that's why I want a car like that, that I can take my wife and son in. Totally understand.

Okay, Jacob, Lexus IS 500. Oh, okay. V8 driven that car. Four doors, four seats. The interface sucks,

but the V8 is superb. We like the V8. Probably reliable. They're not new, so the price has come

down. I'm suggesting this without knowing the prices and having not looked, but I would imagine

it's a squeeze somewhere into your budget. So IS 500. So let's just talk about Lexus in general

right now because that's a good one. I've owned an ISF and I feel like the IS 500 is a worse version

of that. I can see that. Okay. I can see how you got there. All right. Because it's F light. You

know what I mean? Sure. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's F. I guess the color around the F wasn't there or

something. It was F without the purple or something. Without the good badge. That's funny.

Yeah. The engine, obviously great. No issues there. The car is a little bit on the boring side.

Again, it's going to be totally reliable, which is fantastic. I love that aspect of it.

However, two cars that come to mind that are potentially on the list, an RCF and a GSF.

Interesting. Okay. I like the RCF, but they're all-wheel drive and it's got that

dumb hump right in the... The RCF is rear wheel. Oh, the RCF is rear. You get it both. We had an

all-wheel drive when we both liked IS. That's what I was thinking. The non-F. Okay. If that's

a rear-wheel drive, then fine. That solves that issue. Yeah. It's got both of them have the five

liter V8. Same engine. Yep. They're both on the list. Boring in comparison to the ISF.

I would say they're equivalent, although the GSF is... I would prefer that, but there are zero

ever for sale and the ones that are for sale go really quickly if they're clean and if they're

not, they still go fairly quickly even with high claims and they're still pretty expensive.

That would be the upper portion of my budget for sure. RCF's probably about 10 grand cheaper and

much more readily available. How far out of your budget are the early LC500s?

Very far. Okay. Just curious. Love that car. Love that car. That's a future. We're going to

wait for that one to come down a little. Because I feel like here in the US, we're seeing them around

50, aren't we? 50 US. 50,000 US. That's kind of the floor of those and I start to feel like

more people are going, wait a minute. They're at that price now. That's why I asked. Okay.

So I'm going to spin the other way back towards your BMW recommendation and a car that apparently

I'm contractually obligated to mention. You know where I'm going. I know exactly. The Chevy SS.

Thank you. Okay. Again, here's a funny one. I know I'm wearing a Texas shirt. We never got the Chevy

SS in Canada. Okay. So you can't find them here. But what's the option to come down and take one

back? Is it even an option? I believe I can do that. I have never seen an SS locally. I've seen

them in the States and I was like, oh, wow, this is a great car. But I've never driven one. Don't

feel like I really need to because the idea of it already everything works. It's LS3 manual or

can be had manual. Yeah, that's that would be on the list if I can find one. Because here's the

thing that the way they are in the you have to get MagnaRide. The way they are in the US, the

manuals are in the 30s all day long. I'm sorry. The autos are in the 30s all day long. The manuals

started about 40 and go up. So that's that's range of the budget for the manual. Yeah. And here's

the thing. We've driven them both. It's a very solid car in an auto. It's more interesting in the

manual for sure. So we've certainly had people on the podcast before where that car just it fits.

Plus, they don't want manual. We're like, well, Chevy SS and you're done. It is the better car in

the manual. But man, it's still good either way. All right. If we're going there, Pontiac GTO,

because those are cheaper. You're a lot older now. You already has one. That's right. He does.

That's right. I totally forgot that. We can't own the same car. Of course you can't. Yeah,

completely. And and he did one burnout in it and broke his diff from like, I don't I don't want

anything to do with that car. Yeah, I see that. I see that. So I feel like our front runners

right now are very similar. We're talking the E 90 series BMW and the Chevy SS. Have you ever

owned a BMW, by the way? No, never. Is there bias that exists where it shouldn't? Possibly.

Okay, possibly. I mean, that is I will give you I will give you props, Paul, because that is a

legendary VA. I would very, very good VA. Those have got Oh, wait, was that the first year for

the 90 somewhere in there? It's somewhere. And they've got to have come down now. High miles,

you're going to have to do the balancing act of high miles versus what's the maintenance. You don't

want to repeat unless you do want to repeat the Mercedes activity like everything you did with

that car. We're just going to do it for BMW. It's going to go down the block down the block to your

BMW dealer. Yeah, I think I think I remember I've definitely looked at those cars previously. They

have like throttle actuators and rod bearings and all that stuff. Those are the things you're hitting

the list. There you go. But that's the thing. It's one of those engines where if you solve the known

stuff or you maintain the known stuff, they just run. So and that makes sense. And I would

also agree with you guys that it would definitely be more reliable than the E 60.

The E 60 frightens me. I mean, I love it's fascinating. Jacob, we had a listener who wrote

to us with a 200,000 mile plus E 60 M five that he drove regularly. And it probably was great

because he drove it so much. But that's not everybody. He did maintain it, but it looked

pristine. He sent us photos. And so it's one of those things. It's like our 53 mini. They run

until they don't. Yeah, I think I did. Did you guys review a red manual?

We had a white car. The E 60 that we drove was a white one. Yeah, never mind. I thought I saw

your video on one years ago. I thought it was red. Maybe it was white. Well, we've driven. I mean,

if we're talking 60, it was only the white one. We've driven the the E 90 every possible variant

you can imagine. So there's been all the colors. So yeah. Alright, so you're wearing a Texas shirt.

You've got two of the three American car manufacturers. How do you feel about the

Stellentarians and Dodge and anything Hellcat powered? What's your opinions on those?

Absolutely love. Okay, so those might be the only thing they are very easily stolen. And

there's a lot of thefts around here of those cars and the insurance rates of those are

astronomical. Interesting, huh? Yeah, I didn't expect that. Yeah, it's a really bad thing. It's

like they it's really easy to duplicate the keys or whatever it is. And so everyone's got these

crazy immobilizers. But yeah, I'm a little frightened of owning one because of the theft.

Interesting. I'm always fascinated by the variants. I get it. I totally get it. I mean,

because yeah, you know, we've been looking forward to those dropping to about $25,000.

Looking forward or terrified, new 16 year old drivers everywhere can suddenly afford them and

you imagine my son in a Hellcat. My son just turned 16. Can you imagine my son in a Hellcat?

He comes home. By the way, I'm in trouble at home. I have to side note this. I'm in trouble at

home because the other night he comes home all triumphant from school. We have an off ramp for

our house where you happen to exit between the off ramp of the freeway and the next light.

If there's no one with you, there'll be no one with you for like a half mile. So if there's no

police officers, no other traffic, you are alone for a half mile. So that's the place you can go

fast. And he knows this. I'm his father. I'm a bad influence. I've shown it to him. He comes home

the other night. All excited. He walks in the door and he says triumphantly. It's like 9 30

at night. My wife and I are already tired. He walks in. He goes to point to my wife and goes,

you're gonna be mad at me, but you're gonna be proud of me. We're like, what is this? He goes,

I just got my first daily triple in the mini on the off ramp. But I was like, Oh, my God, we have

kind of encouraged that with the shirts and the day. So that I had to be proud at my wife,

definitely was angry. And the next morning she was like, I cannot believe you didn't come down

on him. And I was like, I was playing my role because I mean, I've showed him and I was proud.

But you're 16, you've been driving five minutes. You know what I mean? So Hellcats, you love,

but they're out because of all the reasons. Yeah. Yeah. At least for now, like hopefully things

improve. But yeah, at least for now. Okay. All right. So I love that story. I mean, I'm still

in trouble. I'm going to be his proud uncle. Just do it away from my wife. Just be proud with him

quietly. So if she's around, I'll be like, what are you thinking? And privately I can be like,

I'm going to have to be a little more, what are you thinking with him? Because he's my son. So

we got to be, I got to be careful. Anyway, all right, he drives the R 53 mini. That is part of

the fun there. And that it's, and it's running and it has lots of miles, but good for him. Those

are great cars. I like the Chevy SS idea a lot simply because you don't have any experience with

that you haven't driven it. And you would be one of one, right? In Toronto, where you're at,

I guess, becomes unique in Canada. Yeah, generally. And I've always wanted to import a car from the

States. I've imported one from Japan. I just want to know what the process is. Like that's, I find

that intriguing. So like that, that is definitely on the list. You have to search nationwide and

that when you start Chevy SS people, we have to, you have to search the entire US, but we do find

a good range of them. And what's funny is it's one of those cars that you'll relate to this. It's

one of those cars like the Corvette, where the people that are realistic, you can get a good

deal from them. And then there's some guy with one that he's just convinced that it's just one

auction away from making setting him up for life. And you're like, it's a nice car, buddy, but no,

I'm sorry, you know, it's not a GNX. It's not a, well, it's not, it's, it's, it's a Chevy SS. It's

a really cool car, but $70,000 for your manual Chevy SS is right out. Yeah. You know, so yeah.

So I went to the Chevy Blazer, uh, EV SS launch in, uh, uh, it was at the 10 tenths

motor car, at least that's where it started. Yeah. Yeah. And so Chevy was, you know,

very proud SS heritage. They had like SS models. They had a Chevy SS on the floor with like

nine miles on it or something. I was like, I was just blown away. I'm like looking at the

sticker price. I just, I asked everybody there. I'm like, can I just buy this right here while

we're here? Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Before it shows up. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Also, by the way,

Chevy, that's the, the best way to make your journalists very disappointed in your new product

is show that product next to your new EV Blazer. Yes. I agree with you. That doesn't help. They

didn't think that through. That doesn't help at all. No. It's like when, I mean, it's like when

Jaguar put the, the E type next to the F type and I was like, that car better be good. It better,

it better, you know, better be good. Yeah. Anyway, yeah. Marketing people thought that

would be a good idea and they didn't quite think it through. I was just going to say,

Jacob, you could be the proxy for Todd because Todd's wanted an SS as you do the importation

process and live with it and drive it and maybe monitor, don't or add the voxel badges and,

you know, turn it into a thing. Then you could like, Hey Todd, so here's the updates with

the car and whatever I'm doing with it. And it's the one kind of car I don't need to own.

And it's, I just bring up the Chevy SS and the Alpha Giulia Quadrifoglio. I just,

I'm a broken record. I know I am, but I don't need those cars. I don't need them in my life,

but they're cool. Plus it would look great because we always call it the four door Corvette. Chevy

called it the four door Corvette and it would look pretty great next to your actual Corvette.

You're right. And you're not wrong about any of this stuff. And may I suggest something that's

been on my list that is adjacent to this? Please. Cadillac, CTSV. I wondered, I wondered if one of

us was going to get there. Okay. So the problem is that the wagon, the wagon's the one you want

and it is out of your budget. Yeah. The wagon is 100% out because of that. But stay with me,

the coupe, because it looks so wild these days. Sure. I didn't like it when it came out.

But now because it's so ridiculous looking, I kind of really like it.

You know, I see, I see on that. Yeah. And it's not something that you see all the time anyway.

The supercharged ones, I think they're 2011 possibly.

Something in that range. The V2s I call them. Yeah, they're boxy. They're angry. You just

don't see them. Yeah, that's interesting. I see that. Yeah. Yeah. So also, you know, sedan,

that would be the practical reasonable choice. But coupe just because it has back seats and it's my

two-seater, it's like I get my C606 back that I sold in this fire sale.

And so now I get to fit my family in it. Yeah, I get that. I totally get that.

One slight drawback that is solvable and that is the Q system, that old Cadillac nasty haptic

Q system on this. It was so, you know this, it's so nasty. And I've got a buddy actually who's looking

for one of these Cadillacs. And I suggested the Black Wings and he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He even looked at the Black Wing engine powered CT6 that was short lived for 2019 and they built

a small handful of those. Then that engine graduated and is now in the Black Wings. But

yeah, he's like, yeah, I don't care about the Q system. I'm going to rip it out and install

something completely different. So that could be, I mean, if it really bugs you, or you could just

learn to live with it. Tear out the interior that he buys it. That's terrifying.

Because you may, you may be surprised by this, but I actually don't really care about the interiors.

I buy cars for engines. Okay. Hey, I mean, you know, that's how we, that's a C60.

I told you we got there. True. That's exactly how we got there. Because we're chasing an engine.

Everything doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. But and that car is brilliant. That V10 is brilliant

when it runs. Brilliant. It's just terrifying. You know what, we have another story. There was a guy

that wrote us, this was not that long ago, the guy that wrote us, that lives if memory serves,

I think it was either San Diego or LA. And he and his girlfriend bought an E60 in Northern

California. And his headspace legitimately was, we're going to fly up and drive it home and hope

it works. That was, wasn't that the high mileage one? Maybe it was the same guy. But, but he's

enough of a mechanic. He was like, let's just give it a shot, which I was like, that is the

perfect owner for that car. The let's just give it a shot headspace. I don't know if that's you,

Jacob, but I just, but he's also just driven it and it runs. I would love to do that. Like, that's

one of my like dream type things to do. But just with the time wise and things, I just,

maybe one day, but with a young son, like, I don't want to spend an extra day finding a

mechanic in the middle of, I don't know, wherever, Idaho. Totally. I get that. I totally get that.

You have to wait until he's like 12 and 14. And then it's a father-son trip where he's excited

to be there. That's, that's the key because I've done that. That's pretty awesome. That's good.

Then if you wait until then, Hellcats will be super cheap.

True. Then you could go to Florida for the world's worst Hellcat. And that is absolutely a video

because the cheap Hellcat out of Florida, I don't think you want. World's worst Hellcat. We bought

it for eight grand and it runs and holy crap. Me and my son took it home. We're making up content

right now as we sit here. We're all doing it together. It's good. So have we, have we covered,

have we accomplished anything here yet? Yeah. No, the BMW is on the list. It wasn't before.

It is. Okay. And I just asked because, you know, there's always the, well, I wouldn't

actually own it. Good to drive. Good for other people to own. And I feel that way about a lot

of cars, but actually project yourself owning it. Could you, could you do it?

I think I could because I love the way BMWs drive. Like I fully will admit that they drive better

than Mercedes equivalents, like a, you know, three series drives better than a C class.

Depending on the model generations and stuff, I would prefer the engines that were in a lot of

the Mercedes, especially the naturally aspirated V8s, but you know, you got a high revving V8

and the BMW, that's pretty cool, which is very cool. All right, I'm going to be stupid for a

minute. Are we ready? How far back do you have to go Jacob before the Maserati Gran Turismo

enters your budget? Oh, it's on the list. Is it? What? I wondered. Yeah. What? Yeah.

You're seeing. I love, okay. That's an engine though. See, he's chasing engines. It's an engine.

Yeah. That's the only good part of that car. No, two things. The styling. The styling,

yeah, the styling is great. Two things. I think it's a, thank you for bringing that car up because

I think it's the best sounding crossplane crank V8 ever. I think you're probably right.

Hands down. I agree. Yeah. Okay. Good. Thank you. And, and I do think it's one of the best looking

coupes ever as well. So wait a minute. So why aren't, so why not that car then? If we're going

to be that stupid. No, it's, it's, look, it's high up on that list. Okay. Which is pretty crazy and

people, when they commented, you know, you should get not a single person commented that car, which

is also makes me think I'm like, oh, that's probably a good car to get. Yeah. I am a little

bit scared of the maintenance. I've done a lot, a lot of research and apparently they're not that

bad. Oh, if you get, oh, you're okay. Paul, Paul, as the I bought a cheap Maserati owner, you have

the experience. You get to chime in here. I had the Neiman Marcus edition, which I love the paint

and the leather was the polterona frow leather and it was just, it was the smell. It was just so good.

Anyway, but the transmission after that, I think it was a ZF. They graduated. Yes, it is. And it's

the ZF six speed. Yes, the six speed. And those I've never read any issues because with the car

that I had, the mechanic was like, yeah, the engine is the best part of your car. Like, okay,

well, that's actually good news. The starting procedure was cringe inducing and horrifying,

but the thing ran and the handling on that car, despite having the longer wheelbase

than Todd's faten at the time, the handling was actually that was your, that was your

Quattroporte and it was great. If you haven't seen this video, Jacob, I will scare you now just in

case you start test driving these Maserati's and it does this. There was a two step terror process

every time he started this car. He would hit the start button. And it would already think think

just long enough that you'd be like, that's not going to go is it and then it would spin and it

would spin too long. Yeah, it would just you're like, hmm, this isn't going to fire is and then

it would fire. So you had like two moments of sheer terror and then the car was started and

then the engine sounded so brilliant. Two moments and this is really Italian. It ran in. It ran

in spite of you. Yes. But the GT, yeah, that is a Gran Turismo. That is a solid. I didn't think

you'd take that bait as well. I was because I see all the pieces. I see how we get there for you.

And it's not a YouTube car like nobody wants this car. So like values of them are actually like

pretty okay. Like the obviously it's a Maserati holds no value in exactly from you to use. But

like no, no YouTuber wants them. So the only person which obviously I'll give a shout out,

I'm sure there's others, but like Matt Armstrong basically started his channel rebuilding one.

Sure. But obviously, I don't want to go to those links or anything like that. I want a nice one

and I've looked at nice ones. And so an MC is where I would really want to be. And that is the

upper range of that budget for sure. There were no real engine changes or just some styling changes.

Because we never got the MC Stradale, like the real MC Stradale. But the MC is definitely

on the list. This is exciting. I think the styling is still really quite nice. Some real

nice subtleties on that car and the V8 is great. It sounds great. It's a V8 that makes you ache.

Yes. For the noise, just like the Jag, just like the Aston. It just hits you.

Jacob's got a great engine throughline here. Now, once we land it on that track, I see it. I do,

for sure. Plus Cadillacs. Like I said. There's a throughline there.

That's why those two right now and honestly, they're all pretty,

but I would say the Maserati and the CTS-V are top because those are the ones I had in my head

already. Okay. Genuine question here because what we do on this show is we give people drive

homework. Will you drive all of these before or will you just pick one from afar and just sniper

shot it? Good question. I told you briefly through text. Once I land on a car, typically ones that

I've bought that I own, I haven't actually driven before I buy them. Our job is to review cars and

drive everything. For some reason, when I buy cars, I just, yeah, I'll take that one and I'll buy it

online and never having driven that car or sat in it ever. But it shows up and you go, huh.

Yeah. And somehow it's actually worked out really well. That's awesome. I love it. I did that with

my faten and it was simultaneously amazing and terrifying to buy a car that way. I pulled it

off the truck. There it is. That's the one I bought. Yeah. So I would like to drive them this time.

I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say yes. Okay. All right. All right. Well, look, I hope you keep us

very informed. I know you'll keep your audience informed, but I hope you keep us very informed

where you land because this is fascinating. We don't do very many live car debates, but it's

awesome to have you on to do it and we're thrilled that you could join us and we caught you just in

that area of where am I going? And we had some similar thoughts. We did. We did. I love that

aligned. I love that you suggested Maserati. I love that you're thinking Maserati. You can learn a

few Italian words and sing an aria and include that in your next video. I don't know that we

all do it in Maserati quite like you do, but I do understand. It's right here. I'll get there.

I'll definitely need the... If I go to the BMW route, I have to paint the M straights in the

grille, right? Of course. If I get the Maserati route, I have to do the Italian flag in the

grille, right? Yes. See? I mean, it's meant to be. It's perfect. I love it. It's great stuff.

This is great. Well, thank you guys. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. It's good

to catch up with you guys as well. Absolutely. Thanks for being on, man. Really cool.

Tons of announcements coming up for both everyday driver and hooked on driving starting with HOD

March 21st and 22nd. That is a week in Saturday, Sunday, Ozark Spring Speed Fest at Ozark's

International Raceway. So Todd and I will be there. We're going to go check out Ozark's

International Raceway. We've heard it's cool. We've heard it's amazing, very technical, very

demanding on drivers, but also really rewarding. And it's a four mile long track. I'm actually

really excited to go there. Yeah. That's March 21, 22. Then coming up March 28, 29. Also a Saturday

Sunday at Laguna Seca. That is a 103 decibel day. So we expect a great crowd there. Go to

hooked on driving right now to hookedondriving.com to register for that. Also with the Midwest

region for hooked on driving is Hedge Hollow. That is the March Madness kickoff. It's out in

Adrian, Missouri. And so you can go to hookedondriving.com to find the March 28, 29 event at

Hedge Hollow, which is also great track. We were there last June. Yeah, that is that guy's private

racetrack. Yeah, for sure, which is amazing that he's opened it up to hooked on driving and a few

others. So that'll be really cool. That'll be happening. You and I won't be there, but chance

will be. Chance is going to be on a photography adventure actually all weekend there. So it'll

be really cool. Also, it is still coming. And there's actually not overselling. There's only a

little bit of space left. I'm shocked by how much our Coda event is selling out. It's almost

sold out May 30 and 31. That is the weekend after Memorial Day. Obviously, Austin, Texas,

come get on circuit of the Americas with us. It's going to be a fantastic couple of days.

We're figuring out we're probably going to do a podcast while we're there. We're going to be on

track some. There's a lot of cool cars coming. There's a lot of people coming. I'm kind of

astounded by the scale of this event. It's gonna be so much fun. So please come. We'd love to

have you there even if you just want to come and just be on the property and watch and say hello.

We'd love that. It happened a lot last year. We welcome it. Again, podcast probably Saturday night.

And I think we're down to one space on pilgrimage. I didn't look this morning. I didn't look this

morning, but I think we're down to one space on pilgrimage. So if you want to go and we might,

if you want to go and bring a spouse, you might be able to make that work. But as far as like car

available, I think it's one space left. So please reach out. There will be a wait list for that.

It looks like and that's amazing to me. August 2nd through 9th of this year. It is our most expanded

pilgrimage trip. Cool tourist days on either end. Thrive day in the middle for road tour through the

wine country of Germany. First time I heard that I was like the what? But there's a really nice.

It's very wheezing. It's technically more white wine. Do not order the red wine in Germany. It's

a little sour. I wouldn't order any above. It's not my thing, but it is a very cool region. I have

to admit, so it'll be very cool. We're going to go to burn Castle Cues and two days at Spa. One

day at the ring, you need to come with us. It's going to be a phenomenal trip. Since you're listening

to us, you'll end up shopping for your next car. And when you do, you need autotempest.com.

Any car, anywhere at any price. Autotempest searches all the major car listing sites on the

web, local or nationwide. And Autotempest has recently added price history for every car listed

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Autotempest is how we search for cars. Go to autotempest.com slash every day so they know we

sent you. Autotempest, all the cars, one search. So we're going to jump straight into car conclusions

now since we had a really great talk with Jacob. That was great to have him on. Yeah, that was

really cool. I hope he tells us what's up. Well, then we can do a car conclusion for him. That's

actually true. Keep us updated because I want to know, you want to know, everybody's going to

want to know what he ends up getting. And there'll be a cool video on it, I'm sure, as well, which

will be great. Jumping right in, Calvin L writes to us, he has appreciated our coverage of the new

Prelude. I felt like we kind of over covered it for a while there. Possibly. Much discussion and

it continues here with Calvin's car conclusion. Well, he was one of the people who was excited

when the Prelude was announced, but the release product has been disappointing. So his 2023 Acura

Integra A-spec manual is the perfect example. He gives us all the reasons why he loves it.

All the reasons why he thinks it's superior to the Prelude. Well, superior, yes. I mean, first

word, of course, is the fantastic six speed. It's a non hybrid. It's the actual turbo motor,

SI suspension. He said he's gotten as high as 38 miles to the gallon out of that car.

That's impressive. Which is honestly, it's only five or six less than the Prelude's probably

going to get, which is kind of amazing. He thinks it looks better than the Prelude.

Four door actual hatchback with enough rear seat headroom for people. That's crazy. What's that

about? So he feels like all of that, including the fact that he got, you can get this Prelude for

about 38, maybe 40 grand and he doesn't think anybody's going to sell the Prelude for that.

Isn't that sad? Markups on the Prelude. Talk about a car that doesn't need markups.

Yeah. I mean, any car doesn't need markup, but all cars do not need markups. Yes. You're right.

Across the board, it should not exist. Cars should not need markups. But as far as cars that

are already suffering, like kick it when it's down, we're going to mark it up to 60 grand.

No, seriously, I'm putting it out there right now. For all of the ups and downs of the Prelude,

I'm going to tell you right now, if you paid 60 grand for the Prelude, you made the wrong decision.

Wrong call. Funny, Calvin, because I thought that was your fun car, but he writes the current

fun car is a dramatic departure from his previous Mustangs R53 Mini. I just associate R53 with

Mini. I just need to get R53 on my t-shirts at all times. Yes. Since fall 2024, he's owned a 2005

Ram SRT10 regular cab. That means it's got the Tremac T56. He says it's a ridiculous vehicle

that's only fun for straight line pulls because it's the Viper V10 engine in a 5500 pound truck.

Wearing the truck. He says it looks cool. Gets a lot of thumbs up in Columbus, Ohio,

where Calvin is. It's also a mid 2000s Mopar product, which means only 60,000 miles parts are

wearing out. He had the transmission in and out to replace the slave cylinder, which broke because

it's plastic because it's Mopar. Plastic slave cylinder, all the transmission. Sure. That's

going to be great. It's going to be fine. Yeah. At least it's simple. He writes. So that's the

fun car. It's such a strange. The car conclusion is the truck. The Integra, like, well, that's your

fun. Wait, no, that's just the daily. That's actually not the conclusion. That's the argument

against the prelude because we got to talk about the truck. I love that, Calvin. Thanks for that.

Colin C writes to us who has been a patron and has been on many trips with us. Actually,

we had a few of our Utah adventures for sure. Yeah. Thank you for writing, Colin. Yeah. In 2019,

he bought his wife a Volkswagen Passat TDI. Okay. They love that great MPG. But then they visited

the in-laws on a trip from Ohio to Southern Utah and on the drive down, the car slowly started

to overheat. He didn't think of anything of it because of the heater core failure. He says it's

common failure for Passat TDIs of the time. But you know what? Just keep driving. They traveled.

Here's the thing. He mentions later that they traveled in this Passat with enough tools to do

the known things on the... This is you and your family. I applaud the boldness here, by the way.

Anyway. Just take the tools. So when he arrived in Southern Utah, he took it to a Volkswagen

dealership in St. George. It was diagnosed as the thermostat and the head gasket failure.

Doing the repairs would cost $6,000. Sourcing a replacement engine would cost over eight grand.

And so they decided to limp back home. So wait a minute. So you have a thermostat issue and a

failed head gasket. You know what we're going to do? We're going to drive back to Ohio in this

car. You limped it home. I am kind of astonished that that worked. But bravo. Okay. Once they got

back home, the overheating Passat, they got it through the Rockies. That's amazing. They bought

a 2023 Volkswagen Arteon in Kingfisher Blue Metallic with 7,000 miles and they paid $33,000. MSRP was

50 grand. That's a really, really good buy. You said you found an auto tempest. Your wife had

always kind of liked them. You found a great version. The Arteon's cool, actually. Well,

now the Arteon is side by side with the Saab 9.3 Turbo X wagon in the garage.

Oh, we're selling. How are we selling Saabs? How is this a thing that's happening?

I don't know. It's unbelievable. Yeah, I know. FCP Euro has Saab parts. I still can't believe it,

but it's true. Great news. Colin wasn't expecting to buy two cars in 2025, but that was the year

of cars. So he's driving the Saab 9.3 Turbo X wagon daily and he's trying to sell his O3

BMW Z4 manual to fund the restoration of the Saab. His Z4 is in really good shape. If you want a Z4,

you should buy Collins because it's really good. And then now they've got the Arteon, which is cool.

Colin, Europe got the wagon Arteon. And whenever I saw that, I went, oh, that's the one that we

see them and they look great. That's what Volkswagen should have brought to the US to make the Arteon

palatable to the US market. That one in the G70 wagon. We see both of them every time we go to

Europe. Again, space to the left. Every time we go to Europe, we see the G70 Genesis wagon and the

Arteon wagon. And we also see the base, what is it, the CLA Mercedes wagon? All three of those,

I'm like, why on earth aren't they selling those in the US? They're so cool. I think that model

would have lasted longer because the Arteon kind of came and went, but you got one. And you know

what? They were decent. It just never came to the forefront of my mind when we were recommending

sedans all the time. But for the price you paid versus what it was new and was only 7,000 miles,

you got a new car for almost half price. Well-bought. Well done. If you've got a car conclusion,

write to us every day driver TV at gmail.com. We love the topic Tuesdays. We love the car

car debates, but we love the car conclusions too. And I'm looking forward to Jacobs.

It's gonna be very cool. All right, Jacob. Listener had a quick question for you over here on

Instagram. Damn it, Patton. Andrew said he would love to hear any tips from Jacob being a newer

father. So Andrew is also a newer father. He's got a six month old. What is the best way to

introduce them to cars and anything that you would like to share, Jacob, in terms of I wish I

had known it at the time with an infant? Hot wheels. It's good. We're not a sponsor plug or

anything like that, but hot wheels. My son would just play with them. That's it. It's just

playing with hot wheels. He loved it and revving engines. So I've got some pretty loud engines

around here and the eights. I wouldn't rev them to red line or anything like that. But you know,

just a couple blips here and there and just see how he would react. So I've got some like,

you know, very precious videos, like selfie recording of him in my lap. And I would just

rev like whatever press car I would have in the driveway or my personal cars and just see his

reaction. I love it. Like does he does he smile? Was he crying? Did he get scared? He got scared

a couple times. Sure. Yeah. But he also had a pretty big smile a couple times. So he definitely

smiled more than he cried. So I'm going to say that he's probably going to be a car person.

I love it. That's really cool. Excellent. That's great. Can we extrapolate then that anybody with

a six month old then should buy a V8 powered something to then introduce them? Yes. This

is a pro tip. Yes. Over here. Yes. Right. Straight pipe, whatever V8 you get is perfect.

That's bound to be good for everyone's hearing, especially the infants. Yes. Excellent. Excellent

advice. Yes. No, no, your muffs just, yeah, you'll get used to it. If nothing else,

people really ought to get their parroting advice from us. I mean, clearly, I've proven that over

and over and over. Yes. Oh, good. And I do want to say monster trucks as well. My son is obsessed

with monster trucks. There you go. Yep. Who doesn't like crushing cars, right? Perfect.

With my son, we went straight from construction equipment to monster trucks. That was the

transition. We eventually wound our way to small cars, but we started big. We worked there. We

it all makes sense. The paths. I love it. Fantastic. I love it. That's very cool. Well,

thanks again. Thank you. All right. Back to more good questions from you guys. I'm going to start

with this one from the Bruce B. He sent it to us a couple of ways. He's got a friend that drives

around 25,000 miles a year at least and regularly does a 300 to 350 mile round trip in a day.

So would we tell him to get one of those upcoming EV deals we've been talking about or

should he just keep his 30 miles per gallon RAV four? Think you're doing 300 mile round trips

in a day. Here's here's my actual thought on this, Bruce. First off, is your friend prepared and

willing to actually set up a decent charger in their house, like actually wire up, spend the

money, get a good charger in the house? Because that is key. I actually just helped a friend of

mine who's not a car guy, but he just got a Tesla Model three used. Got a pretty good deal on it.

But what's interesting is it's perfect for his commute. He's got a huge Los Angeles commute of

a little over 100 miles. But here's the thing. We all know we've all heard enough Tesla press to know

that 100 miles should be no big deal. Okay. But he barely makes it from his house to work

because one of the directions of his commute is almost entirely uphill. So as a result,

his used model three has just enough range to get him safely to work going the uphill route.

And then of course, going downhill, he's got extra. So I'm just going to read in here, Bruce,

whereas I'm assuming right now that if you're saying 300 to 350 mile round trip, that means

that we're talking 150 to 180 miles one way. Most any EV you can get will do that distance

one way no problem. Okay. But now you need to charge your on that end. Because what's going

to happen here is if he really wants to pull off a 350 mile round trip, he needs to probably get

an EV that has a 400 mile range. Unless he wants to charge somewhere in the middle. So the best

thing here is you go that 150 miles to wherever you are at the other end and you charge it there

and you hop in at the end of the day and you charge it at home and you can go back and forth,

never buy gas again. I love it for that. There's going to be some planning going on here.

But again, EV deals coming off lease are coming and I think it is a commuter solve.

On Facebook, Preston St. Peter asks me what I think is the best looking hatchback of all time

and what makes a good looking hatch? I just googled it to make sure that I agree with myself.

I think it's the Renault R5 turbo. That is a cool looking hat. And I think it's hips. Preston,

I think it's the really wide fender arches on a hatch make it look so awesome. You know,

that's true of the clown shoe BMW too. That's true. The Z3 BMW has hips as well. And it works.

That's what makes it this squatty thing. I always love the R5 turbo because the engines

in the back and other things going on there. I love that thing. And then now with Renault's

new R5 turbo, that turbo 3E, which is spectacular looking, same thing, those boxy

fenders in the back. It's the hatch with the boxes, more fenders, more wider. That's what

makes it look so good. Fenders make it better. Dammi's writing in, he's been with us forever.

Thank you, man. He said, excluding the obvious choices he's making hard on us, like the 86

and the Miata, what do we think are the most underrated back road driving sports car experiences

available on the used market right now? So the cars that are good for a back road that are getting

overlooked, real bargain, but they get forgotten. Keep in mind, Dammi, we kind of did this with

our $8,000 car piece. But I'm going to bring up two. One is a Z3 BMW. They are cheap and they

are great. But the other one is the Toyota MR2 Spyder of the early 2000s. That is a fantastic

car to drive. And I feel like it is always forgotten. They aren't worth anything. You

can get them cheap. They run and the dynamics are really good. They're a little goofy looking

inside now, but they drive really well. I'm a big fan of those. That's good. Let's see.

Jorge M asks on Facebook, enthusiast logic question. It is the panic over gas prices

edition question. Is now the perfect time to buy a gas guzzling sporty car?

Anytime is the perfect time to buy a gas guzzling sporty car. Anytime.

Doesn't matter. Get it. Yes. Get the V8. Terrible, but very funny. Jacob's going to get a V8.

Yes. We know he is. I thought it was interesting how he's just, he's about engines, an engine note,

and the rest of the car follows that. It's fascinating. That's huge.

I brought up the Julia's Choice. I brought up the Julia's Choice. And he was like, yeah, but.

And the M2. Yeah, but he had to get over the hump into V8. But then somehow the V10 BMW doesn't

scare him. That doesn't terrify him. What a superb engine. All right, okay. All right, man.

All right, man. History, sound, red line. Very cool. All right. Daniel also writes in with a

question. He said, living in Michigan and having a daily driver of an F-150, he was thinking today,

if you drive a normal, if you drive a normal car or a lower than normal car, how do you address

roadkill on the road? Do you just accept that you're going to have to go over it? Okay, Daniel.

All right. I have done this both ways. I went over a rock once in the Amirah that I thought was

low enough. And I was wrong. And there is, there is really nothing more horrifying than the sound

of a rock connecting with the underbelly of your car more than once as it tries to exit out the

back. Luckily, the Amirah is fine. It has the plates on the bottom, a couple of dents in that,

but it's okay. It just, it sounded horrific. I thought this, yeah, what have I done? We were

in the middle of nowhere too. But anyway, the answer, if you encounter roadkill or something

that you aren't certain, and I mean like 150% certain it is low enough, your car will go over

it. If you're not that certain, you got to go around it. And if that means you have to slow

down and or stop to let off oncoming traffic get by you so you can go around it, you have to turn

your hazards and do that. The answer is never just run over it. The only, the only, the only

round if you can, the only time that's okay is because you got so surprised by it, you have zero

other option. But if there is any option on a low car, you've got to slow down, go around.

And you also have to do it with potholes. Yes, absolutely. On Facebook, Ralph C asks for the

type of car jack to use with a C8 Corvette and a 718 Cayman. He would like to be able to take

his wheels off occasionally on his own to thoroughly clean the rims, wheel wells and brake

calipers. That's fantastic. I love that you do. He's just worried about damage if he doesn't use

the proper jack. You need to know always Ralph, and this is for everyone, look at your owner's

manual for where the jack points are. Do not look under and feel for a bolt and just assume

specifically because the C8 Corvette jack points are really far in board. The Cayman is as well,

but especially on the rear. And so what you have to do is get a jack that has the low lift point.

So it's way down, but it also is an extender. So you can get all the way to the back.

Anytime you jack a car, use jack stands. I don't care. Yeah, people have said, well,

pin the jack, just use jack stands. Please use jack stands. That is just a hard and fast rule.

But on the C8 Corvette, those jack points that you think are the jack points, those are merely the

shipping tie down bolt locations for when the cars are shipped. And that's just a tie down.

And people think that that is the correct place. That rear on the C8 Corvette, it's

yeah, at least my forearm length in board from the rocker all the way to getting under there. And

most jacks don't have the capability to accommodate that. So you have to really be careful, really

make sure that that particular bolt, you'll, you'll think it's one and it's a large

bolt right there. That is not it. It's further underneath. So really be careful, look at it.

And yeah, for the Cayman as well, they're far in board because you don't want to catch the rocker

or the hem, the seam of where the pan, you know, the chassis is built.

Great way to dent something using that. You can see people just don't care and they just

go for it and it doesn't even matter if you use a jack pad. So you got to find those points,

use absolutely the pad. What's interesting on the Amira is we discovered the center gravity

jack point that allows you to jack the whole side of the car up and then use,

because those are also way in board, use the jack stands to support both front and rear,

but the actual jack point is right at the balance of the car. You can use the rear

one to get the whole side of the car. So it gets the whole side of the car and then jack,

you know, the jack stays as well. Yeah, pretty nice. Yeah, definitely read your owner's menu

so you know exactly where on any car. Don't just assume and don't do it on the seam on that hem,

the welded hem right there. Don't even do that. So yeah, and be careful, use jack stands anytime

you're jacking a car. So you just, you know, you just, there's no problem.

I have a question that I'm going to respond to from Kirk, but I actually brought photos

because I think we have to talk it through. Okay, his question is, which nose is the worst

stylistically and why? Now for those of you listening, we'll have to explain what we're doing,

but we've got the current M3, the 2006 SLK Mercedes, which I know is close to your heart,

and the 2002 Firebird W6S6. The current M3, which is as beaver-teethed as you can get.

It is. It is full. I mean, I even like it in this green, but it is amazing beaver-teeth

everybody. There they are. We also have the 2006 SLK with the F1 front end. I love that nose,

that F1 inspired. That's what he's asking about. Yeah. And then we have the big crazy Firebird

that is vented. Let's just put it that way. There are many, many vents. The nostrils. There's

lots of nostrils. This photo is actually of Jay Leno's car from his garage. Huge, huge quad

nostrils on the hood. Quad nostrils on the hood. I mean, like pigs, pigs don't have anything on

this car. And then it's got extra little things that look like vents down by the fog lights.

And the actual, I actually didn't purposely bring a photo with the lights popped up because

somehow it gets worse. Oh really? The lights popped up. It's just like there's way too many

boxy shapes on the nose. So anyway, those three, I'm going to actually come here in defense of

the Mercedes because I agree that this nose is odd, but it is very much the nose that carried

through all of their sports car lineup all the way up to their F1 cars in this era. Yeah. It kind

of came from the F1 car that kind of weird teardrop center shape with the logo on it. And it carries

over into the, they did the SLR at this time, had the same nose. Yes, that's right. Down to this.

Because of that through line, I think this nose works. I think independent of that,

it's questionable. But of the three, it is my favorite. It's very much of the time. Oh, look,

it's got the air scarf in the seats. Yes, it does. Look at that air scarf. It's just a term you don't

hear enough. Yeah. This was the baby SLR. Yes, absolutely. And it made you feel, you know,

if you're buying this, like somehow I've got a piece of the SLR and I can't afford one, but

somehow it's parody and I'm right there with SLR buyers. You were right there, buddy.

You know, I was there. You were right there. But yeah, I agree with you. And you know,

very much of the time period, I love that was F1 inspired and it was a look, they've moved on,

but I appreciate it. And I'm going to say in second place is actually the Firebird.

This is a ridiculous front end. But in its time, and because of what it is, it's just

we shoved the biggest engine. This is hot rod thinking that we shoved the biggest engine

possible. So we just got to cut holes in the hood. I mean, that's the thinking. Okay, so in that

regard, I actually think as as obnoxious as this Firebird front end is, and it is obnoxious,

it works because you understand what's happened. You go, Oh, big old engine, the hood didn't fit

any more the engine. So big, you got to have a lot of cooling. I get it. So that means the worst

is the BMW because the BMW I 100% believe look, it's got you can actually see in this photo,

the louvers that open and close the point here being, it didn't need to have nostrils this big

for cooling. This was a stylistic choice. Yes, more than it was a cooling choice. You could have

accomplished all the cooling this car does with a different front end design. So in that regard,

I don't excuse it. And I think beaver teeth loses. And I hate to say it because every other angle

on this car works. Yeah, this nose is just please make it stop. Cool car.

Thank you guys for all your questions. We really appreciate it right to us every day driver TV

at gmail.com. Drop us a line, drop us questions. Please remember to rate and review the podcast

and one last time for all of the events that are going on this year. We'd love to see you

every day driver dot com slash adventures and hooked on driving calm for a track day event near

you. We'd love to see you there until next time. Cheers, everyone.

About this episode

Jakub from Straight Pipes joins the hosts for a live car debate about selling his cars and searching for a new V8-powered four-seater under $60K CAD. They discuss Mercedes' new electric luxury van, Porsche's electric Cayman, and the importance of engine choice over brand loyalty. The conversation covers potential replacements like the BMW E90 M3, Chevy SS, Lexus IS 500, and Maserati Gran Turismo. Listener questions touch on EV range for long commutes, best hatchbacks, underrated sports cars, and jack usage for exotic cars. The episode blends car culture, personal stories, and practical advice with upcoming events and listener interactions.

EV FCP Euro GT4 class racing hybrid vehicle input shaft seal internal combustion engine (ICE) leaks LS3 manual transmission oil filter housing gasket

Alfa Romeo Giulia Aston Martin V8 Vantage Cadillac CTS-V Ford F-150 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG Porsche Boxster Porsche Cayman

Original notes

Jakub from The Straight Pipes is selling everything! He’s in need of a Car Debate, so the guys interview him and discuss possible choices. For Car Conclusions, they reveal what listeners bought - some unexpected cars! Then, social media questions ask for the best way to introduce toddlers to cars, what is the best-looking hatchback of all time, and what are the most underrated and inexpensive ‘back-road-driving’ car choices? Audio-only MP3 is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and 10 other platforms. Look for us on Tuesdays if you’d like to watch us debate, disagree and then go drive again! 00:00 - Intro 00:42 - News: Mercedes-Benz Introduces…A Van! 4:32 - News: Porsche’s EV Cayman/Boxster Still Alive? 8:44 - Topic Tuesday: It’s Really Jakub! A Live Car Debate 44:38 - EDD & HOD Events: March 2026 47:21 - Car Conclusion #1: An Engine Wearing A Truck 51:00 - Car Conclusion #2: Buying More Cars Than You Thought 54:14 - Audience Questions On Social Media Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to our two YouTube channels. Write to us your Topic Tuesdays, Car Conclusions and those great Car Debates at [email protected] or everydaydriver.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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