James Pumphrey's Cool Cars for 2026

What's the model of this? What's this called? What is that called? My Sheffield. That is

the new Sheffield SCR Chrono. SCR Chrono. Yes, it's good. One was a Mecca Quartz and

that is the automatic. It's a real Swiss watch. Yeah, I had the Swiss movement. I had to

wind it. You wound it? Isn't it nice? It's great action. What a nice way to start the

It also makes me nervous because I imagine all the stuff inside there and you can kind

of feel it. Well, when Jay Turkbuss of Sheffield sent me the prototype, he said the case size

and the movement in there isn't quite right yet. It will be in the production watches,

so be careful when you wind it. Now, I always wear the prototypes of my designs and I'm not

wearing that one today, but every time I wind it, I get nervous. You don't have to get nervous on

that one. It's nice the way it clicks and goes, right? It's nice. We could have really sold

that watch for a lot of money. I think there's one or two left at SheffieldWatches.com. You

can buy. Hello, everybody. Start the new year with a new watch. This watch you're going to love

and I don't know that we're going to make that again. I think we just made 50 because they were

a little more expensive. We just made 50 and I've given them to my friends who've helped us out

this year. Cameron, you're getting one and Johnny and Sacramento. Mike sent this to me with a nice

note that I hung on my refrigerator. It's been a good year. I wrote you a nice thank you note

on my stationery. Do you know why I did that? Why? Because your whole channel, Speed, is about

etiquettes and guys that I knew you would appreciate it. Yeah, I did. I knew you would

appreciate that. It was very intentional. I really liked it. That's nice that you brought it up.

Years ago, David Letterman would send little gifts and he'd write those notes. Jerry writes those

notes and his son likes it. It really has impact. It really does. You'll never get another one

from anybody. But the first one's really good. I hope I set a nice example. I hope my wife is

watching this show because you never send thank you notes. You never do it. Well, I did. I did

a one. All right. I did one. Well, anyway, I'm excited to have you here. I'm excited to be talking

to everybody here. It's New Year's Eve special. Zuckerman was here but said, I'm going to Mexico.

You're disappointed. I said, we're doing a show with Zuckerman. He was all excited. I was really

excited. It's been a while since I've got to do one with him and the show. He's on the lamb.

I could tell he was hot this morning. He texted me. He goes, let's do the show quick because I

got to go. I go, you know what? I don't want to feel like I'm rushing. Just go to Mexico. Just go.

Thank you. And then he took off, right? When he camera, when he was here, was he a little up?

He was ready to go to Mexico. He was ready to go to Mexico. He was out here.

I mean, he's usually such a calm guy. No. Not before that. Not if he's got something to do.

Yeah. Yeah. And he had something to do and I know his family wants him down there. So I said,

go. Go and enjoy yourself. We'll do this. I've got a Bentley Bentayga Speed. Oh, yeah. Speed.

Two E's that we're going to talk about. But first, let's talk about you. What's going on?

What did you do for the holidays? Not much.

This is just so overrated. Yeah. I felt like this year more than any other year. It's just like,

collectively, we were like, I'm done. It seems like we're done with religion.

That's one thing. Collectively, the world is like, okay, we know enough.

And we also seem to be getting tired of holidays. Enough. Yeah. Right? Am I wrong about that? Or

did you guys feel that? This need to have this big holiday celebration? No, I didn't feel the

need. My power went up for about six hours on Christmas Eve. Oh, that's nice. And so I woke up

at like 4 a.m. and it was all back on Christmas morning and it made me put a lot of things in a

perspective. I was like, a little bit more jolly. Yes. Knowing what I was like to not have power.

Yeah, that is nice. It was a mess here. We had giant storms. It's so funny to feel those calls,

too, because the media is reporting it's everybody's dying. Mudslides, people, the trees are falling,

cars, there's the Tesla, completely it's constant mud and you're completely fine.

Yeah, totally fine. It's not happening to you. I don't know who it happened to.

It barely rained at my house. It did? Yeah. Wow. Barely. No, it was a downpour. We were,

but it was just rain. It wasn't a big deal. But I did get to put this Bentley through its paces,

which was really nice. But New Year's Eve, what do you do? It's right now. It's New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve. Well, tomorrow, if it's New Year's Eve, tomorrow I'm going to Dakar,

Dakar, depending on who you ask. I'm really looking forward to that. I have about 48 hours

of travel ahead of me. And what's going on there? I'm going with Tudor watches, which is exciting

for me. And yeah, it's a big, the desert race. So I've made a bunch of videos about it. So this

is the Dakar. Yeah, the Dakar. Wow. Let's pull up some of that. Let's see what you're going to be

doing. What do you do? Are you driving? I'm not. I will have, apparently I'll have access to a

Land Rover Discovery to drive around. But yeah, I was talking to my mom about it and she was like,

you know what, is that the race from the beginning of wide world of sports?

So historic race. So, so Tudor's sending you. Or not a Discovery Defender. The Defender, right.

So you're going to be in something like that. Yeah. Blasting around. Yeah. And as a journalist,

I'm going with other, I'm the only internet guy going and there's, there's a reporter from

Popeye magazine, which is this Japanese magazine that was a huge influence for speed when we

started. So I'm excited to meet that guy. I think there's somebody from the elegance,

a French like fashion magazine. So really rubbing certain rub elbows with the kind of people that

want to rub elbows. Oh, yeah, this is a big deal. Yeah. So to go to this race, like we're seeing

now where it, where it goes, right? How many stages there are over? How many days? I'll be

there for like five. But how many days is the race? I have no idea. Probably something like that.

When, what do you, what do they do? Are they just going to shuttle you around to different

points during the race or different base camps or think so? How does that work? I know I'll be

sleeping in a luxurious tent. Oh, you will. Yeah. I think there's going to be some sort of luxurious

tent situation. That's funny. And when, wow, well, this is such a famous old race. Yeah.

Margaret Thatcher's son was racing in Dakar and got lost for like days. And it was a huge

international news story. This is way back in the day. It's always the kid of the great person

that screws up. Did they find him? Yeah. He was lost. He just like got lost. Like they thought he

got like kidnapped. I see. And it was a huge news story, but they found him like four or five

days later and he was just chilling. He was like, yeah, I got lost. I bet you if we were to Google

a picture of Margaret Thatcher's son, you're going to see the face of a moron. Oh yeah. That's

my guess. Let's do it just for fun. Mark Thatcher. What is that? It might be Mark Thatcher. He might

be around. Yeah. Sir, there he is. Got lost in Dakar. He looked like he was probably 10 fingers

into a bottle of PIMS or something. If that's even a phrase. 10 fingers into a bottle. Look,

got lost. I haven't really. What does this guy do? What did he do? Oh, look, it says he was born

by Caesarean section. That's a little too much information. God, why would you put that in

his Wikipedia page? This is to get off Wikipedia. I hate. What is that? For why? He was convicted

to a four-year suspended prison sentence. For territorial Guinea coup attempt.

This guy. Wow. Son, could you just stay in town and maybe study political science and maybe,

you know, I'll get you whatever you need. Yeah. Now, mom, I'm going to Dakar and I'm going to get

lost in the desert. Then I'm going to fund a coup. Then I'm going to fund a coup and embarrass you.

What does it say? Click on the story of Margaret Thatcher's son. Did he go missing?

Let's see if this is even true. Now there's a movie about it. Oh my gosh. In the Netflix

biopic. This is what I'm going to be watching tonight. Anyway, whatever. Whatever, Mark Thatcher.

Yeah. So hopefully, you know what? I was going to say hopefully I don't go missing, but if I do,

it'll be an adventure. It's going to be cool. Why? I love this for you because I love the site

and Tudor is one of my favorite brands. I collect those watches. I think they're

one of the cooler ones. They are. Why? Why are they so cool? I think there's a certain aspect of like

in the know that a Tudor suggests. Like they're owned by Rolex, owned by. And I think there's,

I don't know, we're kind of in like this weird like monoculture type thing and everybody knows

everything and it's hard to know the cool thing. And I think there's a certain level of like

not obviousness about Tudor and their history and motorsport. It's really funny. Like if Rolex

weren't there, you might call Tudor a luxury brand, a luxury sport watch brand. But because Rolex is

there, they're more approachable. They're humble. They're like, oh, you know, it used to be, oh,

you can't afford a Rolex. You get a Tudor, right? I've always loved them for that reason. Like

it's easy to kind of get away with it. I feel like these days, you know, if you wear a Rolex for

yourself, that's fine. You've achieved something. You've got a beautiful watch. I get that. But if

you're the type of person that thinks anybody's going to care about that, you know, unless you're

around the other watch guys and you're wearing something very specific, usually a Rolex puts

people off. Yeah. You know, I have a bunch and I've owned many of them. I can count, you know,

the number of times on this hand when someone's even commented on it. If it was a vintage watch or

6263 or something, maybe, but new white Daytona. Yeah. One. Yeah. Andreas Pruniger said, oh,

I love that watch. You know why? He was wearing it. And I was wearing it. The rest, you catch

people clocking it. Yeah. Like you'll be wearing it and you'll forget and you walk up and say,

hello to someone. They go like this. They go like that for a second and you see them clock it,

but then they don't comment on it. They clock it to like judge you. I don't know. Yeah. It's a

really interesting moment and it always scares me a little bit. You're looking at the size of your

arms. Like, okay. Can I take this guy? You clock the watch, but you didn't comment on it, which

means either you didn't like it or you did, but you're not saying it, which is also weird. But

now I'm in a weird. I observed too much. Nice ruin. The curse of the Canadian.

Yeah. I just described myself to a T, didn't I? Yeah. I think of all the lot. I observe a lot,

I see a lot, and then I think too much about a lot of it, but it is comedy, right? Yeah, exactly.

What is, you know, now that you have that watch, do you keep nice watches? Do you care about watches?

I would like to start caring about watches. I think I've liked cars forever. I like clothes.

Watches are similarly priced to cars in a lot of ways. They are. And I think I'm following the

natural progression of like car guide to middle-aged watch guy. Right. So I think that's my next

thing. It's very like, it's, I've known I wanted to get into it, but it is sort of an overwhelming

concept because I got to learn all these like new numbers and letters. Right. I mean, learning

car numbers and letters for decades now. And so like, I think I'm finally ready to like start

learning all the reference numbers and stuff. Cause like, if I want, if I get into something,

I want to like know about all the stuff. Right. Right. Reference numbers. Yeah.

That's what I want. How do you, how would you recommend a person enjoy a watch? A guy enjoy

a watch? Like, cause I hear, you're always like, well, what watch did you pair with the car?

Right. And I, and I always write back, I go, I don't do things like that necessarily. I might

have like a photo shoot, but I'm not, I don't think that way. Yeah. It's sort of like matching

your shoes to your hat. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you enjoy a watch? Like, well, this,

that opening was not like on purpose. We were lit. Spike gave me this and I am very excited

about it. I don't know. I'd say like the same way you enjoy a car, like in my very limited

watch enjoyable experience. Yeah. I think it's like an appreciation of the mechanisms

and an appreciation of the decisions that went into making the whole, you know, like I really

like the color again.

It is now, but this one's just right here. I really like yours. I like the color of the dial

of this watch. And I imagine there is like a lot of like comparing whites. And so as a fan of

different colored cars, like Wimbledon white is like a great Ford color. Yeah. Yeah. And so like,

I like imagining the process and appreciating all of the tiny decisions that went into like a whole.

Yeah. Yeah. And then it has to function too. And I think that's what makes it so similar to cars

where like ultimately, if it sucks, it has to suck in a romantic way. Right. Right. Right.

And so like then you appreciate it for like that. Well, that's good. Yeah. All right.

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Back to the show. Well, as you know, when you come on, I love to talk about speed channel

speed channel is on fire right now. I was looking at your numbers. I'm so proud. Thank you. Just

cranking millions and hundreds of thousands. I like the new look of the thumbnails, especially

that one stuff nobody teaches you. Look at that. You know, I was going to send that to our guys

and go, look at what this guy's doing. Look at how he's not pandering to the YouTube audience.

Yeah. We had our last meeting of the year and I told the team I was like,

I want to continue to dare people not to watch our videos.

Yes. That's exactly right. Yeah. That's exactly right. Well, it looks like it's having the opposite

effect. People are watching a ton of your stuff. But let's talk about the car content. Cool cars

for cool guys in 2026. Premise being these are cool cars guys can buy next year. Right?

Yeah. Just like sort of like a trend report, I'd say. Like here's what I think is hitting.

Here's what I think is cool moving in 2026. And this is advice for someone who wants a cool car

because you feel like every guy, you say it in the video, I care about this, I care about that,

but I don't care about my car. You should care about your car. You should care about your car.

So why don't you just, you know, folks can go to YouTube and watch the whole video,

but why don't you give me three cars, one of each price point starting with the most expensive car.

Most expensive, cool car, I'd say is like a sub $100,000 Ferrari is very cool. These guys right

here. There's quite a few of them. I think when I was growing up, Ferrari was like this

other echelon of car that like not everyone, nobody could participate in. And for various

reasons that sort of like flopped a little bit. I think they made up more cars than they ever

made in the early 2000s. So they're just more available. And I also think that like

with Porsche, I think Porsches are cool, but they're, it's known that they're cool.

And the market reflects that. Right. And so it's hard to find a sub $100,000 cool Porsche

right these days. And because of that, like you can, you can also get into a Ferrari for like

60, 70, 80 grand. But do you, when you look at these cars, like, have you looked at the

maintenance? You know, what I do when I look at this market of Ferrari, like I agree with you,

these are great cars to look at for under a hundred grand. I immediately go to Ferrari

chat forum for each model and look up the maintenance issues. You know, does the engine

need to come out? What, you know, what kind of money are you spending for a yearly maintenance on

them? And then, you know, you find that some of these guys make you get expensive really fast.

So which of these, you know, are you like recommending that don't have that issue maintenance

issue? I mean, here's the thing. Okay. To drive an old cool car. Yeah. Part of the hobby is it's,

it needs maintenance. Yes. Like it's, it's one, it's two decades old. Any of these,

whether it's cheap or expensive. Right. And two, like, if you, if you don't want to fix your car,

then buy a Prius or a Tesla, like it's just, it's, but there's a difference between fixing a car

and $30,000 fix. I mean, my buddy, Vin Anachi, he has a great YouTube channel. He bought a 350,

360 about two years ago, and he says it's the most reliable car he's ever owned. And so I think he

has reported that some of the maintenance stuff is a little overblown. He works on his own cars.

Yeah. But he, he's like, there's nothing more complicated about this car than another car.

No, it's just if you're not doing the work yourself. Right. My experience with Ferrari has

been just that too, that you spend a little longer sorting them. But once you get them right,

they're right for a long time. Yeah. But you have to do that work. You know, and that, that's a,

that's a Dino. I had a 365 GTC. There was a year of grinding, check writing. Yeah. And then it's

good. And it paid off. Then the Dino, yeah, the Dino, I got my money out of it. I had it for 12

years and it worked. Once I got it right, it worked for that full 12 years. So, you know,

I like that. All right. Mid, mid tier. What are you recommending for the guy who wants a cool car

from 2026? Oh, mid tier, I'd say, I like the V8 Audi S4s. V8 Audi S4s. So these are cheap. These

E90 M3s were sort of criticized for a long time and saying like they weren't real M3s. People

hated that they had a V8 and that's completely 180. And now everyone's like, oh, like, they're one

of the best years of M3. And so I think this was like a time in German sport saloons where they

were like, let's make everything V8. And I think that the Audi S4, again, maintenance scares people

a little bit. I don't know. This one for some, you know, Audi maintenance doesn't scare me as

much as Ferrari maintenance. Even if it was the same check, I'd still go, ah, it's somehow it's

more digestible. The timing chain in this thing is, oh yeah, that's better. Mentoriously insane.

Well, we'll get in and do that first. Yeah. But I think these will gain appreciation.

Yeah. This is a great recommendation. And it's funny. It's like just seeing that 350 horsepower

V8 spec makes it attractive to me right now. Totally. It's really fascinating what this

big jump to all electric, leaping too far into our, the way we think about these cars.

And then so many of the cars being reduced to V6s and then V4s and inline fours,

what suddenly that little V in that little eight does, right? I'd say like, yeah, like electric.

He gets you excited. Like even like naturally aspirated is exciting. Yeah, it is. And it

tastes changed and they continue to change. And suddenly we're at a time where, look, the Audi

S4 V8, super attractive. Totally. I would drive that. That's a great recommendation. And I also

think like electric cars being so fast has sort of pushed us to like not care as much about

ultimate performance and more about the experience. And I think the driving experience of a

naturally aspirated V8 is pretty good. Okay. And at the entry level, something really affordable.

We don't have a lot of money to spend, but we want a cool car for 2026.

E34 BMW five series. Really? Yeah. We can afford that? We can. I mean, there's so many of them.

So what are we paying for this?

Depends on what engine you want. They're all good. I mean, you can get a really nice one for less

than 10 grand. Really? Yeah. Okay. I'm not saying like M5, but you can get like a 540i or something

like that, which has a V8. And I think with five series specifically, everyone compares the top

of the line. So like everyone's comparing the M5. And I think the E34 kind of doesn't necessarily

get dragged, but it gets a little overlooked because the M5 is a six cylinder, but they also

had a V8, which is pretty cool. And they look very similar. Let's go to this point in your video

here where you talk about Porsche. You want to play this clip? Okay. Do you like watching

yourself or is it a problem? I don't mind. I'm just waiting for the comments. Well, let's just talk

about it. Hot take. Porsches aren't cool anymore. Not in 2026 or not. Porsches used to dominate

the affordable exotic market. And I know a bunch of you guys in the comments are gonna be like,

exotic. It's expensive. If you already have an old Porsche, it's cool. But if you buy a 993

base Carrera for $130,000, it's not cool. Okay, that's good. What's wrong with this? I feel like

that's accurate. I think people have an issue with it if they fail to see the nuance in what I'm

saying. There is nuance. I mean, I looked at a 993 C2S. It's a car I've wanted to buy for a long

time and I went to the price. I wish it was $130,000. It was over $200,000. That's a lot of money

for what you're doing. What the hell is that? Why is that so high? And it is absolutely true.

I bought, I think my first Vintage 911 was a 73911T with 12,000 original miles.

All original car, $16,000. That's very cool. That was expensive. But Jerry's like, no,

buy that. And then I bought a 911 S, Conda Green, 1970, 6,000 original miles,

shock marks on the engine. They said, but it's going to cost you $50,000. And that really,

I was shocked. We were shocked. That's a lot of money for an old 911. And then from there,

things have gotten crazy. Early 911s are coming down right now. That's a place, but you're right.

I think you're right. And there is some nuance in what you're saying, but there's a lot of stuff

that's suddenly decreasing in value rapidly. That if you wanted a cool car, that's a Porsche,

go into the 60s. Look in the 60s and look in the 70s right now. And I think you're going to be

surprised because those two segments, those two decades aren't moving. And look,

like that's how it works. Now, those are cool again. Yeah. I mean, at a certain point, like,

and obviously I love Porsches and Porsches are, they are cool, obviously, but like at a certain

point, if you're, I mean, if you have it, like go ahead or whatever, but like at a certain point,

if you're getting, being taken advantage of is not cool. And at a certain point, you're like a

sucker and you're kind of missing the point. It's, I think it's similar to like everyone's talking

about the sneaker market, like just like dropped out or whatever. Yeah. So like reselling sneakers,

like, isn't a thing anymore. It just ended? I guess, like in the past few years. You know,

wasn't it like two months ago, that guy was arrested in Hollywood for all the fake sneakers?

And it seems like right at that moment, everything just ended. Yeah. So it's like beanie babies.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Suddenly everybody went, these are just dumb sneakers. Yeah. At a certain

point, you got to look at a thing and be like, you know what, I don't think it's worth that.

And you stand up for yourself. Yes. Standing up for yourself is cool. Wow. I'm happy that

happened. That seems like a good correction. Yeah. Because we just wear these dumb things.

Yeah. Wow. What else needs to be corrected? Do you think that's overpriced? Oh, I do want to

say I just watched Modern Romance and he drives a Porsche in that movie. Yeah. That's a really good

looking car. Yeah, he's got a nine to it. See, that's cool. Oh man. It got me thinking like,

maybe I'll rethink my stance. Wow. Really cool looking. That's beautiful. Look at that.

Albert Brooks. I saw Albert Brooks in Beverly Hills when I first moved out to LA. I was going

to see my agent. I think he might have been going to and I pulled up next to him. I don't know him

and I see him and he's, you know, like a hero of mine. And you know, I'm a comedy writer at

point and he's, I roll the window. He looks over and I roll the, I go, hey, roll your window.

I go, Mr. Brooks, I'm a huge fan. My name's Spike. I'm a writer on sign. Oh, hey, Spike. Nice to

meet you. I see you're driving the Chrysler 300 there. Oh Lord. He goes, that's right. I go,

that's a weird choice, isn't it? It's like kind of a taxi cab car. Yeah. And he goes, and then the

light changes and he drives home. Just see your hero and just talk trash. I didn't get to finish.

What car were you driving? A 911. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of a taxi cab car, huh?

I get nervous and I say the wrong shit and I realized as I was stepping into it, I had done

the wrong and said the wrong thing. And he was just like, what an asshole. And I was like, oh,

shit. And I figured I could still recover. Like I knew where I was and I tipped him off balance,

but he just took off. And then I go to Park at CAA and he's right there in the thing and he's

looking at me, but he's not looking in a friendly way. Now I'm afraid. Yeah, I do that. I just ruin

things for myself. Interesting instinct. Yeah. Well, I have that. That's the first time I've

thought of that story in 20 years. Jesus Christ. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made fun of your car,

Albert Brooks. Albert Brooks. Albert Brooks, I'm so sorry. You have great taste in cars. You have

great proven taste in cars. It's really awesome. You know, it's funny we're talking about this

because I have this story flag to talk about and it's a Haggerty story. The collector car market

has shifted to newer cars. Younger buyers are collecting newer cars according to a new report

from Haggerty. Also, according to Spike First and two years ago, Pebble Beach, Spikes Car Radio

podcast, where I noticed the same thing. There was no excitement about old cars that everything has

shifted to these new cars. So, you know, that's a really interesting stat right there. You know,

what does that mean though? I mean, because when you're shifting to new cars, aren't you shifting

to a higher price point that the younger generation like Cal newer, they're saying baby boomers now

age 61 to 79 drove mostly drove most auction demand from 1960s to the 80s as they pursued their

postwar cars from their childhood seeking 40s, 1950s models during their own economic prosperity.

They liked exaggerated styling, bold, shiny chrome, big V8 engines. We seem to like those now.

But enthusiasts that are driving the market now cars being sold at auction has moved up to 1984,

more than a decade newer than most popular model year just five years ago.

Top 10 auction sales of 2025. These are just numbers, but it's what I've noticed the 90s,

the 80s, the 90s and the 2000s are jamming right now. I mean, I feel like this happens

like every few years. Like there was a time, you know, 15 or 20 years ago when

muscle cars were selling for over $200,000 and then, you know, you just buy what you wanted

when you were a kid. Right. Exactly right. Yeah. So all of us are just like, once we have money,

we want to buy the things that we couldn't get when we were we want to buy the poster on our wall.

So right. Or the wallpaper on our iPhone. Right. There's no more posters. Yeah. James,

it's over. Here's a lovely Christmas story, James. California mom uses her G-Wagon to ram

getaway car of suspected burglars. Did you see this story? I saw the video without context.

The mother in the G-Wagon raced back home where surveillance video captured what happened next.

Apparently there was a robbery in progress. She had left the house to do some shopping. She left

grandma and the kids there. The alarm goes off. Some guys are trying to break into the house

and she does this with her G-Wagon. She races back. There are the guys and boom right into the

white and smash. And look, they're out of here. They go wild instinct. Moments later, three suspects

run from the sedan and disappear into the neighborhood. I gotta give this woman props.

This is one of the best uses for G-Wagon I've ever seen. What they're built for. This is what

they're built for. I don't understand why you crashed into your own house. Yeah. Why you didn't

just stop there. Can I play it for a second? Like what is she? They're the guys. They're trying to

get in the car. Blammo. What does that make you like? And then they run. Most likely a stolen car

on their part. Does it say what happened? They found some ID in the car. She actually

helped the case a lot because they ended up bolting right away and they found a bunch of

their identification in the car. Here's what's a little interesting about it. Zuckerman could

comment it on a little better. Oh, somebody had a Lamborghini Urus back there. That's a nice

neighborhood here. Let's smash that into the car next. That's a new G-Wagon. Yeah. When you watch

these stories and you see someone who's like armed and there's an armed intruder or something,

if you shoot them when they're leaving, if you're not in a clear and present danger,

the liability is on you, right? Like I wonder in this situation, these guys are scrammed. They're

leaving. They're no longer a danger to her or her family. Totally. That was my instinct was like,

I don't know if I would hit the fleeing criminals with my car. But play it one more time. Does the guy

with the arrow, does he get hurt? Does he get thrown? Well, he puts the one guy in the

he just gets bumped. Okay. What's your insurance? Does insurance cover that?

That's an expensive G-Wagon. What do you say when you call up? I was in an accident. What happened?

I was in an on purpose. How much stuff did they steal? I don't think they got anything. I think

this all fell apart. This is a principle. It is. Couldn't do that in a Prius. You couldn't do that in

a Prius. You couldn't do that in a Tesla. No, but I get the feeling insurance is going to screw her.

Oh, yeah. I think she's paying for her own G-Wagon. Definitely. I think and I think it's worth it.

And by the way, Mercedes, if you'd like to step up and help this woman, you can help her hook her up.

Hook her up with a new G-Wagon. Hook her up so she can smash. Make her a brand ambassador. That's

right. We're sick. Listen, we're sick of celebrities. Okay. This is a real salt of the earth woman

in Beverly Hills who is protecting her family. I understand her panic, too. You're away from

your house. I have a lot of security at my house. People are always trying to kill me. And I've been

out to dinner. They're not. But I've been out to dinner when that security is triggered and

bends someone in the driveway and you're not sure what they're doing. And you do feel panic.

And that's with nobody home. So now with your kids and grandma, that's brave. It is hard to ram

a car into something like to overcome the instinct to not hit stuff with a car. Here's the thing in

LA. It's a very big place and it takes the police a very big space of time to show up. It always does.

My record once was two hours. You do feel like you need to take an action. And then in that moment,

you realize she didn't. She's not trained to take the proper action. She just decides,

I'm hysterical. My family's being threatened and they might kill them. So those must be the guys.

I'm going to take them out. Those must be the guys. Those must be the guys. Judge Jerry execution.

Yes. I think Mercedes should run this as their Super Bowl commercial. No context.

All right. Why don't we talk about this Bentley Bentayga speed that I brought here just for you?

I think I'm getting this next month. That's fantastic. I love that. Now you're getting

some big time press cars. Some press cars. I like Bentley's. I love Bentley. And I'm always happy

in them. And this car was dropped off right as the rain began. Oh, perfect. And it was perfect.

Yeah. Because I got to see, I knew it was going to be a sport luxury SUV and how that would perform.

And I could go fast in it. And boy, does it go fast. But I got to see it perform in rain and mud.

And I bet you if I off-roaded this, it would perform there too. This is a really great contraption.

You know, I can tell you that when I'm driving these Bentley's and we get a lot of them,

I'm headed to a Bentley. I don't know when. I hope that it's a retirement vehicle. But I really love

what's happened to this company. They've really come up since the Volkswagen group has taken over.

I suspect there's a lot of Porsche technology underneath that I'm feeling in a difference.

And everything works right. And it really drives right on the monitor here. It's reflecting a

little blue. This is a GM blue it's called, but it's really kind of a greenish blue. Let me get

my stats here on the car. Okay, specced out this car, $420,000. Very, very expensive four liter

twin turbo V8, 641 horsepower, which brings it to 60 in the low threes. And what we have here is the

new kind of a new idea for the Bentayga speed. It is the most powerful Bentayga ever built

sport luxury that delivers, they say, urban driving, whatever that means. And this car was

headed towards an electric platform. And then Bentley, like a lot of manufacturers said, you

know what, we're going to slow that down. They punted their decision. Yeah, they slowed it down.

They said, it's good. It's going to happen. But let's let's just remake the car for Bentley fans

and make it ice. And and what they did is they switched it from a W 12 to a V eight, which

you know, there is something special about that W 12 and you do feel it when you drive this,

you know, because you drive the other Bentley's like the flying spur and

you go, well, this doesn't necessarily feel like those things as an SUV. It feels more agile.

And it feels it has a lighter driving feeling. You know, it's not lighter. But I frequently

say on the show, it feels lighter. It's engineered lightness. And people like, it's not light, man.

It's like, yeah, I know. But it's driving feeling is engineered lightness. And

you know, what I what I learned about this car is I can use it everywhere in my life

without exception. Yeah, without exception. I have used this everywhere, which I and here's my only

like those rear tailings are cool. Everything about it is fantastic. I mean, I don't think

I do the Aegean blue. But again, these these cars are highly customizable. I got lost for an hour

making one just for fun. But in the price tag is ridiculous. So, you know, again, like,

I can't recommend it enough. I just don't again know who it's for like, it's an obscene amount of

money for a beautiful thing. But it is a beautiful thing to drive. You know, for the first time,

it's got 23 inch wheels, which you think, all right, well, that's pretty big. I wonder how

that's going to affect things. I think it just makes the car look great. I didn't I didn't feel

like that was any sort of problem. You know, Bentley is all about comfort. So I was wondering

how are they going to make that sort of performance engine and suspension to an SUV that you're

driving around town. They do it quite well. It's not it doesn't you don't get in this and go,

oh, I'm super comfortable and taken care of you get in it and you go, I'm very comfortable enough

and watch how fast I can go. That's the thing that makes I think Bentley so cool is like, yeah,

it is super luxurious and super comfortable. But like, they're really fast. They're really fast.

Really fast. And, you know, like I said, like the rain's coming down. I've got family in town.

I've got errands. I'm running every day in the storm. I great car for family in town. Yeah,

look at this taxi and everybody around. This one just has the, you know, the four seats. It

doesn't have the five seat configuration in there. You know, you just get so happy that

you're getting into it. The seat heats up just perfectly. Everything, all of those, see all

the buttons, buttons, by the way, ergonomic design, everything's where you reach for it. I didn't

have to look once at a manual to kind of figure it out. When I wanted to destroy people on the road

just jams because I think like not everybody knows that Bentley's are so fast. Yeah. So like,

I've had Bentley's a number of times and I love when someone's like tailgating you because they

don't like that you're driving a really nice car. And then you just drop the hammer and leave them.

And it just goes. So, you know, it's one of those everything mobiles. It would not surprise me

if I see this car in, you know, Guy Ritchie's next season of The Gentleman. You know what I mean?

Theo James will be driving this because it is so perfectly refined and beautiful and fast and you

can't fuck with it. And you could, you can get it into the mud and do whatever you want with it.

It really goes, you know, it's got a little downhill button there for real off-roading and

and you're just like, holy shit. You know, but again, it's like, I don't know who it's, I guess

that's the perfect usage is Guy Ritchie. Yeah. Give it to Guy Ritchie, have him in the farmland,

out in the muck being chased by someone and shooting and going fast. And that's what this

thing is here. It's really an incredible thing. And look, the wireless charger for once. This is

the second car. And this is a good sign the second car where it works all the time. Oh, nice.

It doesn't bounce off. It doesn't stop charging. It doesn't just make your phone hot. It doesn't

just make the phone hot. But yeah, I can't, Luke from Bentley, thank you for sending this. He goes,

you know, you know, because it's the holidays, you're going to have to keep it an extra week or

so. And I said, oh, okay. He goes, I apologize. Oh, well, I'll do my best soldier through this.

But can't say enough great things about it. It's another lovely car from Bentley.

They're on our, they're on our good list. Yeah, Santa, Santa spikes. Happy list. Bentley,

you're doing a fantastic job. You've done a fantastic job with this guy. It's good looking.

It's good looking. If you could, I guess the price is part of the fun for some people. They want

to pay for this. They want to pay for the $5,000 hotel room. Go ahead. You deserve it. You made

your money stealing it by this thing. There you go. Bentley been taken speed and we're going to

drive it. I'm going to let James take it around the block because it's the same name as his hit

YouTube channel without a knee. They should, when you get this, you should have a little

extra E put in right there. I should do it and not tell him. Yeah, just put it on the side. Yeah.

All right. Before we go, I asked some of the viewers, some of the listeners for their New Year's

resolutions. All right. I said automotive or otherwise. I know that's a very easy premise.

I'm not sure what we're going to get here. Yeah, it could be automotive or honestly,

otherwise. We're fine with otherwise as well. We'll go to our friends. What are we doing?

Ranking these? I don't know. We can comment on them. Don't waste your time. What I like about

resolutions is I'm always looking for something that maybe I might try. Oh, yeah. Right? I don't

know about you, but like, do you make a resolution or are you just constantly in motion trying to

improve yourself? I'm trying to set goals just to give my life some structure and I have-

So for the year? Yeah, yeah. And so I've read recently too, like it is helpful to do it at

like a milestone that everyone shares. Okay. New Year's resolutions. That's good. Not dumb.

Officially endorsed. I like that. I usually just am always trying to improve myself,

but that leads to a very unhappy life. Yeah. Self-awareness does not lead to happiness

necessarily. It doesn't, right. No. TikTok is teaching me that. I think that's Duffsky-Fsky.

I think there's like a thing. Marcus Aurelius. I like the philosophers. It's good.

I read one the other day. I was like, the horrible thing is happening to you. Just let it happen.

You're still you. It's a separate thing. And I went, wow, that's a really interesting idea.

All right, JT, I'm going to start to go fund me for a vintage Bronco and a GLP subscription.

No, that's a bad resolution. That's a bad resolution. There's not even a resolution.

I think he's just trying to be funny. Nick Burton, I survived a divorce last year

and retained all the Volkswagen's. Excellent. Oh, good. Very good, Nick. Yeah, I can't believe

she didn't come after all those Volkswagen's. I hope to double down the weekly drives and

make up for a lot of cruising I missed last year. No more killing independent Nick.

So he's setting the tone for a new- This is the same divorce guy?

This is the same divorce guy. Yeah, he's kept his Volkswagen's. He's got a nice little picture

of him here. And he's going to enjoy them now without wife or ex-wife interference.

Yeah, I think that's a good resolution. Alex is saying my resolution is to get sport tires.

I have all season tires now, but looking to upgrade this year,

I put performance brakes on my car. With that, I think that's like a planned purchase.

I think a resolution has to require multiple actions and some behavior. But

if you're going to, Alex, remember, Redstone, the official tire partner of Spikes Car Radio,

challenge Astrodale Lama. It's a good name. It is. Fewer parking lots with coffee and talk

of deviated stitching, more back roads with buddies and walkies. I like that. That's a very

good walkie talkie use with your friends. It's the most fun. It really is. It's one of my favorite

things about shooting big videos. We all just agree that we're going to pretend to be like

army guys for a day. That's really good. You're right. No, when my kids were little,

my boys were little, and they said we want walkie-talkies, I go, it's odd. And I just started

buying walkie-talkies. And then these aren't good enough. Let's get the ones that go a half mile

away. We've got a giant chest of drawers full of walkie-talkies that I still want to use.

Maybe that's going to be my resolution. I'm going to take one resolution from one of these guys.

Weekend drives with walkie-talkies. That's close now. That's close to being the top.

Because we took the other resolution and we added walkie-talkies. That's right. That's important.

Porsches to consistently drive to the edge of my 100 mile towing limit without fear in my 66912

now that I have AAA premiere. It's a good one. Getting out of his comfort zone with a tow truck.

I hope he's getting paid by AAA. AAA is one of those funny companies that every six months,

you're almost cutting your car in half. And then right as you're about to do that,

your car breaks down and they come in the driveway. It's one of the only things

that exists in the world that I think costs less than it should.

Yeah. And it's amazing. The DMV stuff is just tremendous.

Yeah. It's the DMV and then it's the perfect amount of times my car breaks to get towed every year.

It's perfect. Yeah. It's great. So I've learned not to cancel it every year. It keeps me optimistic

in the world as long as AAA exists. And you know what? Don't sleep on the discounts.

That's right. Yeah. Hotels. Lots of them. Yeah. You feel a little geriatric typing it in but

comes through. Not geriatric to save money. Mike Garoi finished the suspension on my Toyota MR2

and take it for a spin on the Dragon. I like that. That's a goal. It's more of a goal than a resolution.

I think resolution is what? Self-improvement? Maybe. Okay. Some of these are just what they

want to do and what they want to achieve. I get it. KHTV garage. I've always wanted the 912

since I was a teenager. It's a goal every year and a Hoyer Monaco. Do you guys have any car

unfulfilled dreams from way back? Yes. Really? Tons. Yeah. That's why I do this.

You're going to get all of them. This is going to be really fun to watch it happen.

Yes. I appreciate that. Just give me one that you're going to buy.

That I want to buy? Someday. I mean, I really want to own a Porsche, an air-cold Porsche.

Really? Yeah. Like which one? Like 964, 993 for sure. We'll make that happen.

We can easily make that happen. Morris Salamance can get to work on that for you.

They're really nice. That's a good idea. It's a good one. You have to send it out and get it

chipped up to make it just right. We know the guys to do that. All right, here we go.

Finally, Sotho Cam says, finally sell the car I've owned for 14 years.

All right. Well, go ahead. Can you work? Why hasn't he sold it?

Is it? McClay, these are all things that everybody's been holding off, I guess. Full

maintenance of my car. That's okay. McLaren MG, to finish all the fabrication of components,

to fit the Marshall Supercharger to my 1933 MG J2. That's a cool one.

Finally get it done. I imagine that guy wearing a top hat. I would bet you he's Australian.

I think he is. Sean Walker Media, keep enjoying the shit out of my first sports car. I want to do

at least one winter lapping track day and a full track day in the summer. The rest of it is enjoying

the drives. Enjoying the drives. That's a resolution. Enjoying the drives is a real

resolution and that will really make a big difference in your life. Win my local SCCADS

autocross class in my Golf R. Cameron, you won't be winning it in your Golf R. I enjoy my Golf.

Yeah. Do you have any resolutions? I haven't thought about it, honestly. Give me, give

a few more and I'll pick one of these. Okay. MW Bu 11 to buy my first Japanese car

and more German cars. I like that. That's a good one. Marissa Mussoni. I would like to be,

I would like the honor of being named Maggot of the Year. Really? All right. Maggot of the Year.

Hey Marina, congratulations. You're a Maggot. 3M Manual MM just wants to own a car. I get it.

That's good. That's a good goal. That is a good goal. Nick Kliss 02. Nick Kliss, I get it.

$5,000 to $8,000 classic driver. It was budget for a motorcycle, but I'm going to be on the same

roads. Might as well be a classic, right? 2026 is the year. What are we doing for $5,000 to $8,000?

$5,000 to $8,000? Yeah. What do you get? You can get a decent E30 for that much. Oh, Miata.

He said a classic driver. I mean, a Miata is a good idea. A good one. A vintage Volkswagen

Beetle is a good idea. I don't know how old you are or what he's talking about. I think you're

going for like, you want it. It's not going to be fast. It's probably not going to be reliable.

Right. You want it to smell weird and make a lot of noise. Yes. I think that's what you're looking

for. Jim Ralph wants the GT3 at MSRP. Sorry. Yes, sorry. Not happening, buddy. More like a New

Year's plate dream. More family road trips for Proctor JR 19. That's a good one. Yeah.

Why is that good? Why does that... Because that's an experience. It's an experience and you're

sharing it with your family. That's right. It's also the most selfless. That's right. It's the

first one to involve other people. So maybe you guys should think about that. Doug Ross,

drive faster, take more chances and teach my niece how to drive a manual. Very good. Yeah.

Yeah. I just did that with young James first and we took the 79 525 out BMW and we drove around

the neighborhood doing laps and it's good. It is good. It's good. Yeah. Because there's always a

moment where someone says, hey, do they drive manual? And then the kid goes, yes. And they look

at you and they go, you raise that kid. It's one of the things on our 42 things list. Is it? Yeah.

And it's not just because it's a better driving experience. You should know how to drive a manual

just in case someone asks you to move a car and you don't... So you don't have to be like,

oh, I don't know how. You should know how to do a number of things. Yeah. So even if you

don't care about cars, you should learn how to operate. I'm not going to tell the story again

because I told it once, but when we were shooting on Frosted at Netflix, we had a vintage Jaguar

with a manual gearbox and five minutes of sunset left. And we said, does anybody drive a manual

and an extra, an old man extra raised his hand and money shot it. Yeah. We had done 10 takes.

Money shots at perfect. Yeah. And that's an experience that guy wouldn't have. And the

shots in the movie. Yeah. And I'm the only one who tells the story. But Jerry and I were like,

that was the greatest moment. And we went over to the guy, we're like, you are an American hero,

an American film hero. Yeah. That's like the best... We wish we could put you up for... He was just a

guy. He's just an old guy who wanted to make some money on just standing around in a ballroom.

Yeah. And because he knew how to drive a manual transmission, he went from being a guy standing

in a ballroom to a hero. Yeah. Well, there it is. We'll just end on that. That guy's a hero. I wish

I had taken him. Shout out to that guy. Shout out to the... He may not even be alive yet. He was a

really old. He had gray hair and he was just making a little extra money. He went out on top.

And there's... And at the time we're on the street in Altadena in front of this country club and it's

a big set up and there are semis out there and there's hundreds of people running around.

Does anybody drive a manual? And I'm looking across the... Is there a doctor on the plane?

This little guy goes, I love that. And I go... The director goes, not Jerry, the cinematographer

and the stage, somebody, the first AD. Spike, we don't have time. We got time on the producer,

but I don't know exactly where I fall in this hierarchy. But I go, we got time. Just trust me.

He goes, he's not going to do it. Jerry goes, he'll do it. It was so good. And they go, get over

here. And the guy's like, me? We're like, yes. We're helping him across the street. We put him

in this old Jaguar that was really old, 60s Jaguar, hard to drive. And he nails it. Yeah,

that guy... Imagine the phone calls that guy made when he went home that night. I don't think any

of his friends are alive. No. He goes back to his single room apartment, sits down. Since then.

Well, James, thank you so much for coming on and doing our New Year's Eve show.

Thank you for having me. I feel like we should do something to celebrate

because it's New Year's Eve. What do you want us to do, Jeremy? Okay. Why don't we put on our glasses?

You know, these really worked up until 2009. And then what do we have to do with this stuff?

These twist on the bottom. All right. On the count of three, we'll wish you all a happy New Year

and twist the bottom and hopefully something will happen. Are you ready?

Happy New Year, everybody. Happy New Year. One, two, three.

All right. That was louder than I anticipated. And way messier. Yeah. If you're a Patreon subscriber,

stick around. We're going to drive the speed. He's going to drive the speed. Speed your speed.

James Pumphrey's Cool Cars for 2026

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