Koenigsegg Record; RTR Spec 3 Review

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Hi podcast people. Matt here, Zach here. We are doing a road show today. We're out of the

office and this is our auto reply. We're driving a 911 out to Utah for a video thing that you

guys are going to see real soon. Don't want to give too much away just yet, but if you are watching

the video and you're like, hey, they're in a nicely specged 911, you'd be right. We are. We are.

And if you hear flat six engine in the background, well, your eyes and ears are not lying to you

folks. So we're leaving Barstow right now heading towards Las Vegas, which we're going to drive

through and then to Utah. But first we're going to go to this pizza place in Vegas that Thad,

our friend Thaddeus keeps talking about called double zero pies. I think it's called. So we're

going to, we're just going to roll this on our way to Vegas. What do we got today? Well, Zach,

mostly Zach, but some of I have has been driving the RTR Mustang. Oh, yeah.

You want to talk about that? You want to start there? Yeah, let's start there.

So RTR Von Gittin Jr, right? Ready to rock. He's basically becoming the Carol Shelby or

Jack Roush of our generation. Like, you know, pretty much when he's got like, he's won some

things, not road racing, but he's won some things. He's the, he's that for our generation. So

put his name on it, but he also improves the cars. So we drove the spec three. There's three

levels. One, two, three. First one is appearance, mostly a little suspension, no power upgrades.

Second one is like even more of both of those things. This has 810 horsepower. Yeah, this one

has a Whipple on it. It has a three liter Whipple, which is bigger than the blower that came on the

GT 500 in 2022. Yeah. So it does make a little more power. It makes a little bit more torque,

but it's manual, but this one's manual. Yeah. However, it's not the Tremac.

It's because it's based on the Mustang GT. So it's just the normal Getrag. It does feel better

than the GT Trans felt in years past, but I did not see anything in the spec sheet that said RTR

changes anything with the shifting. So that might just be that Ford has refined that transmission

after getting sued in a class action thing. So the shifter felt pretty good.

When I went to drive the stock Mustang performance pack when it came out, you know,

whatever it was two years ago, I did remark that the shifter was improved in that car from

previous ones. So I don't know. They've definitely changed the knob. It has the metal knob. It does.

And the metal knob is a different weight from the stock knob, which does moving. You're moving

a weight around. So I don't know if anyone out there has ever changed their shifter

to an aftermarket one. And you could, you can, I'm talking just about the knob, not the mechanism.

If you make the knob lighter or heavier, or if you make the length of the shifter,

rod, shaft, taller or shorter, you can really change the feel of the shifting action. Sure.

Without changing anything mechanical, right? I remember back in the day, Rob Feretti was

unhappy with any of the offerings of short throw shifters for his C5 Corvette. He didn't

like any of them. So he took a stock shifter and just cut it down two inches. Yeah. And so he had

this very tiny little, almost like a, like a BMW 1M little shifter, right? Right. A little,

a little stubby shifter, almost like that in his Corvette. And it really felt nice. Well,

but it also probably increased the effort needed to move it, because the lever has gotten shorter.

Right. But not as much as if it's a real bolt action. Right. I had one of those. I had a

Hurst or a Billet Pro or one of those, you know, ones you buy from like JEGS. And it was really

and Rob's was much more slick, like almost like a factory feel, but a little heavier and a

physically shorter throw. I guess he didn't change the other mechanism. So it was factory,

but it just required more effort because it had shorter throws. Right. And so if you,

if your car came from the factory with like a heavier shift knob and you put a lighter shift

knob on it, it might actually increase the feeling of resistance going through the gears,

because you don't have the weight of the knob. Once you get that weight moving, it helps you the

rest of the way. Yeah. And conversely, if you put a heavy shift knob where there was not one before,

it may actually make your shift action easier because the inertia of the knob will help you

go through the thing. It's a funky thing. It is a weird thing because, you know, the heavier thing,

an object that rests will remain at rest. Right. But once you start pressing on it,

it can help it kind of get out of those locks. Yeah. Yeah. What was funny about the RTR shifter

is that it's kind of asymmetrical, you know, for people listening at,

it looks like a hot air balloon. Yeah. But one side of it, the side that faces you is flat and

has RTR etched in it, which looks cool. But I kept wanting that flat side to be on the far side

for my fingers to like press on. The only time I recognized its benefit was pushing from like two

to three or four to three, like pushing forward. But I just kept, but, you know, if it was on the

other side, I couldn't see the RTR etching. Right. It was just a weird little thing.

Um, pros. I thought the car, I took the car to the canyons. I filmed it. I thought the

shock tuning, which they have their own RTR tactical performance coilover suspension. I mean,

it's filled with tiny guns, tiny guns inside the shocks. The recoil is incredible. Recoil is good.

Recoil also a good video starring BJ Baldwin jumping trucks flying through the air. I don't

think damping was good. Response was nice. But on the highway, going, you know, driving all the bad

highways on the 405, it actually still rode pretty well. I thought they found the balance

perfectly. And then, yeah, and it has new adjustable sway bars too, which were also set up well. So

in the corners, it dove in pretty quick. It, it didn't lean that much. There was enough where I

could tell that, you know, I could feel the G forces and see them in the hood. But it was a

really good balance of stiff bars and like medium suspension. I didn't drive it in the canyons. I

drove it around town. I drove it on the highway. I had been traveling, so I just didn't have the

time to go up there. But I thought it was a pretty good balance between ride and handling and body

control. Actually, it was nice. It was sort of like, to me, it was like, if the dark horse

is the M5, then this is like the Alpina. Yes. Yeah, well put. Where it effectively achieves a

similar thing. But it actually, it's a little more pleasant on the everyday. Yeah. It also had,

if you noticed, huge sidewall. Yeah. The rear tires were so thick. Like I kept reading the

section number over and over and like, is that right? Is that like, it looks like a 50.

It looks like a drag tire in the back. It's so thick. It's not like a dumb 21 inch wheel

with rubber bands on it. So that probably contributes to the comfort. I think it's a 20,

right? It's a 20 inch wheel. Yeah. With just so much sidewall. I mean, the thing looked rad.

It had little lip spoiler on it. It's got like a whole new front fascia. It's got all these vents

and intakes and things. And there's under body aero. It does look good. But I think also kind

of like an Alpina, it's pretty subtle. Yes. Like you wouldn't necessarily, if it didn't say RTR,

like across the windshield, I don't think you necessarily would know how it was different

from a regular, like my one thing about it is it's, it's, I actually have very few notes for

how it drives. I think that JR and his team have basically made a Mustang GT drive as good as you

can make a Mustang GT drive. Yeah. Pretty much. Pretty much. I mean, short of having MagRide in

like the Mach 1 or something like that. And when we've driven the Track Pack 2 GTs, those tend to

be stiffer and too stiff for around town. Yeah. Like I want, I want this as a road car, not a track

car, which I think is great. But it's really expensive. It's super expensive. And I need to do

the math on this before my video goes up. But we, it's $107,000, which is crazy. This one, the one

that we have. This one, because the package is like 30 grand or something like that. And then,

and this thing had heated cool seats. It had like every single option. I would not get this package

on any car that didn't have bucket seats, by the way. The seats are, the seats are so bad.

To see a six-figure price tag in a performance car with those seats is like brutally bad.

Well, you're just, I mean, I'm, I'm moving around. Like I'm, I had to brace myself with my legs. And

this is a problem with so many Fords I've driven with it. Anything that doesn't have rickaros.

Yeah. The Ford seats, these seats are honestly like in some ways worse than the ones in your

Maki. Like the shape of them and stuff. And they, the bolstering is almost equal.

Yeah. So it's very, very pointless.

What was I headed? But for that, for that kind of money, to have the basic seats and to have

styling that is, I think, attractive and tasteful, but actually rather subtle.

You know, it's not as like in your face. And it, and not a lot has changed for something that,

that is six figures. And I saw a GT500. I might have actually seen one of your customer's cars

when I was out with this thing. So I got a good look at this like baby blue metallic GT500. And

it does stand out because of the taller wing in the back and the front fascia. Now I really like

the way the lips, whether it looks on this car, I think it's a good looking car. But to your point,

it's a real like, if you know, you know, bro, if anyone sees you on the highway, they'll probably

just think you put a wing on the trunk of your GT. And because like the front fascia subtle,

the LEDs around the intakes, like you need to know Mustangs to know that this isn't just the GT

with some stuff stuck onto it. And you definitely won't guess that it costs that much money. So

to go back to the math, one, there's an, I mean, inflation is a huge part of it. And our dollar

has devalued, I think 40% in like three years is part of it. So if this car was 60 grand,

which is what the Mach 1 cost that like four years ago when we drove it,

I'd go, wow, that's a pretty good bargain. You're getting a really strong car,

riots great tons of power for what a Mach 1 fully loaded cost. But I think, you know,

it's either inflation plus profit plus whatever, $107,000 is so much money for something that

doesn't say isn't as collectible that maybe as a GT 500, doesn't have, if you want the manual great,

but if you want like the performance of that transmission. Yeah, the GT 500 also has a lot

of differences that can justify its price tag. Forge internals, I believe. Yeah, it has a different

engine block, different engine on top, it's got the supercharger, it's got the Tremac auto,

you know, dual clutch, which say what you want, but that's obvious that that's clearly an extremely

premium upgrade that someone, some people might prefer manual and I get it, but like,

you could see why a dual clutch costs more. Yeah, you're at for that for over six figures,

you're also talking about carbon fiber wheels, which are very expensive. And you're definitely

getting bucket seats, you're definitely getting uniquely trimmed interior in terms of the Alcatara

and the suede and stuff like that. Yeah. So like, I think like, and I mean, yes, that Shelby is now

out of production, right? So you're not getting that's the thing when I, you know, look, I tried

to look at like the new cars today for a hundred grand, but the speed is still pretty competitive.

I mean, you can get a fully loaded like BMW competition like X Drive. Yeah. When we drove

a few years ago was like 92,000 bucks. Yes, it has less horsepower. I would guarantee it's

faster around a racetrack if you're looking for that kind of thing. There's just, there are fewer

fun $100,000 cars now, which is a weird thing to say, but like Porsche, you know, the 718 and

the Cayman, all you can get is the GT4 RS. The C63 has a terrible engine. Yeah. So, you know,

there's less fun cars all around, but this is just so much money for, you know, what effectively to

most people will just look like a GT that has a blower on it. Yeah. Now, like there's a lot like,

I think it has a character that is sort of unique in the space right now.

Front engine, rear drive, huge power, manual gearbox, you know, real throaty engine sound.

The cold start is amazing on this car. Oh, yeah. This cold start is seriously,

in the top few I've heard, I mean, it's got the right tone, the right volume, the right anger,

it's the right like snap and bark. It's really, really nice. It's great. And it's got the adjustable

exhaust. So, once it's cold started, I was able to hit the button and, you know, throw it into

quiet mode. Like from an experience perspective, because I feel like I've been very critical,

I had a blast. Yeah. Our road well sounded great, did burnouts. Like it talked to so many parts of

my car youth and my car present that it's really hard to find these days. And I think they've done,

like, if I had to choose which one I would prefer, if I'm a huge Mustang guy,

and I'm thinking I want a stick shift Mustang to drive daily for the next couple of years,

I'd get an RTR over a dark horse. Yeah, I would. Like I totally would. I would too. It rode better.

It had the same steering problem the dark horse has. Which is no feel. Which is no feel. But it

didn't tramline like the dark horse. Right. It didn't tramline and the tires were a little bit

softer and, I don't know, it still had plenty of grip. I had plenty of fun in the canyons that I

don't think would be really surpassed that much by the dark horse. And the dark horse comes with

all the compromises when you drive to the canyons. Yeah. As well as, well, it's gonna say price premium,

but I guess that's not really true. The dark horse I drove was 74 grand, so it's not like that was

cheap. Yeah. I will say like the, I think, ooh, we need to pause show. Folks, we got to take a quick

break for ad vertus mints, but this one, boy, I couldn't be happier with this one. Brooklyn,

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code tire and now back to the show. Pardon the interruption you guys. We had to take an ad sales

phone call and stop the show. But I remember what we were talking about. I was going to say I used

to really get down on Mustang GT based aftermarket performance packages that would advertise like

over 700 horsepower but the cars never really felt that fast. In the case of this RTR,

I mean look, the GTD is 815 horsepower so I have a pretty direct, but I'll say it's not so much that

this car accelerates like the GTD because it doesn't have the gearbox, it doesn't have the super

sticky rear tires. It's definitely more tail happy and turns tire into smoke more sore than

spins but it has that wildness that you want that you don't actually get from the GTD. The GTD is

very planted. It's very serious. It is a GTD Porsche in a way. When I drive a Porsche, I never

think I'm going to do a burnout in this or try to slide it here or whatever. This is built by a

drifter, not a racer. Although it's not the same as 800 Porsche horsepower or 800 Ferrari or

McLaren horsepower, when you put your foot down, it feels really fast and when you're just cruising

around, the blower doesn't seem to get in the way of anything. What I noticed is that it doesn't

feel, I mean I was at altitude, it was 80 degrees so there was some compromise being there but part

of that lack of feel of speed is like there's a squat to the suspension, a squat to the tire, the

seat is kind of soft. I think all of that absorbs the acceleration a little bit versus a McLaren.

The seat back is very thin but also power away. When the engine is behind you, it doesn't have

such an accentuated squat. You get it, you know what I mean? Right and also there's a big power to

weight difference. Yes, this has 750 s power or more actually but it weighs 3,900 pounds. It weighs

600 pounds more than a McLaren. Transmission is different so like some of that is more drivetrain

loss also. Yeah, it's definitely less. Well, there's a longer distance for that power to go till it

gets to the back wheels but so I'm driving this thing and I'm going, I don't know if it feels

like 800 horsepower and I look down at the speedometer and I go, well that's certainly increasing

at a rate that I think surpassed some of the other cars we've driven that didn't feel like they had

the power advertised, you know, that were based on the Mustang platform. It's not so much that in the

past I've thought they didn't, I thought that, I'm sure that that mo, that seven whatever number was

correct at the crank, I just never thought it made it out the tires. I thought it lost a lot

in between engines. This one, it seems better. It seems better. It seems more efficient. Like

the GTD and the GT500 before it seemed with that Tremac dual clutch to have less drivetrain loss

than the Getrag based GT ones. Yeah, maybe someone has to throw one on a dyno or just

look at like, I don't know what a Mustang GT makes on a dyno. Make it look real quick. Well,

we'll see what happens. I think we're going to do this story for Road and Track. The next volume

of Road and Track, the theme is numbers. So it's about data. It's about things like that.

So one of the stories that I submitted for a proposal was a dyno tasting. Oh, great. Where we

take one car, some stock car, and bring it to four different types of dinos to see how they out.

That's a good idea. The only one we wouldn't do is take the engine out of the car and put

it on an engine dyno. That's a little too invasive. So this is Mustang Forum from two years ago. They

put a 2024 GT convertible, but they put it on a dyno stock car and it made 408 to the wheels.

It's pretty good. That was the 45 advertised, right? Yeah. So it lost 20%, a little bit less.

15%. 15%. That's about like, usually if you lose, like a really good car might be 8 to 10% and a really

bad one might be 15 to 20%. Yeah. So someone else had a Mach 1 they dynoed. It made 409 to the tire.

Oh, yeah. So that's kind of what they're losing. So 15%. So 10% 80 minus 120. So the RTR might

be 18%. That's 160. Oh, 15% once again. 15% be like, yeah. Yeah. So it's probably 600 of the tires.

I mean, it fucking, it goes. Yeah. Six plus to a tire. Yeah. It's fast. I mean, it feels like a

fast car. It's a good time. It looks rad. Yeah. It is very expensive, but I'm going to do the math

in the video. I don't think that is RTR and Ford trying to price gouge people. I think that is

literally just our spending power has gone down so much. Yeah. Since the last time we drove like a

brand new regular GT or Mach 1. Well, the GT that I drove on the launch two years ago was over 60.

It's like 63. Right. That's a, that was a fully loaded like PP2 or whatever, right? Yeah. And then

dark horse, you know, the press car dark horse I drove was 74. So this has more that, you know,

it's got more than that. It's got more than all that stuff, but it's just when you start to talk

about really expensive Mustangs, particularly now that the Corvette is mid-engined, particularly

now that the Z06 has come down, there's no more ADM for Z06's. And it is not, I mean,

look, money's real. I get it. But like, it's not a huge gap to go from 107 to like 125 to get into

a Z06. Like if you're already spending 107, a Z06 at 125 is like, you're almost, you're like, it's

a huge difference in car. Well, and also, you could get a fully option Z51, which is very good.

You get performance back, all that stuff. For under 100. Under 100. And that's a lot of car.

Yeah. Different vibe, different look, Ford versus Chevy, of course. But, but yeah, that's like if

money's real. But if the, if money's not real, and we're just asking the question, did Vaughn

Gittin Jr. and his team do a very good job? I think they did. They did. They did do a very good job.

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tire. That's T-R-U-E-W-E-R-K.com and code tire. Now back to the show. Oh, and I do have to address

potential hasn't happened yet. Potential upcoming conflict of interest and part of the reason that

Zach did the video. RTR starting in January, hasn't now starting January, they're going to be storing

two press vehicles for a few months at WCCS. So I haven't yet, but in a couple of months, I will be

slightly benefiting financially from RTR storing their press cars. So there is a conflict of

journalistic integrity there. Hasn't happened yet, but eventually. Well, I mean, I'm not benefiting

from that. And so I drove the car. That's what I'm saying. That's why you did the video, right?

And my feelings, you know, have similar feelings about the car. So I mean, I have given honest

feelings as of you, but for anyone who wants to discredit my honest feelings, here is some ammunition.

I mean, you know, it's, you know, as we talked about on the previous show, like

sometimes you can get accused of saying, well, you're not going to be honest about the car. You're

not going to, you're not going to give a negative review of a car or be critical of a car because

of your relationships with the people that are getting you those cars, right? I think in a lot

of cases, if I have a better relationship with the people getting us the cars, I'm more likely

to bring something up. I think, I think in our line of work, we want the cars to be better.

Like it's very satisfying to me to be critical of a car and then drive the next one and it's better,

right? That's enormously satisfied. So an opportunity to be critical of a car and say that

criticism to someone that you like and respect is a good thing, you know, and you're not just

going to blow smoke up someone's ass because they've flown you somewhere. Like maybe somebody worked,

but I wouldn't. I would be like, you do not. I'm happy to be here, man, but like, let's talk about

the steering, you know, let's talk about this or that or whatever, you know, and maybe this is

something that could be changed or maybe there's a reason it's the way that I don't like, but you

know, that's why I was especially vocal to Hyundai about the steering and drift mode because I'm

like, this is just programming. Yeah, I know it's not the box because I drove it in normal mode and

it felt different. So why did you do this? I prefer it this way. Maybe they'll change that because

all it takes is but I don't know where it's sure Ford steering and I still have commented on it many

times. Like I know it's the tuning plus the box plus the system. For sure. You need to fix that.

Yeah, for sure. But anyway, it's a really cool car and we have that's the spec three. Yep. So we

have a spec five coming. The spec five wasn't even on the list. It wasn't even on the list. That's

their new thing that that looks vaguely like a GTD. Whoa. And I don't know the price yet, but it's

like this this motor manual gearbox, but it has this like pretty aggressive body package on it.

Oh, yeah, it's like kind of GTD-ish, right? Especially in the front fender, the back of it

is like, well, it doesn't lack an open. Yeah, yeah, like the back, it keeps its trunk and stuff.

Like a GTD has no trunk. Yeah. So this this keeps its trunk, but but we're going to get to drive that

and I will I will I will give an honest review of that as well. But they I think by then they'll

be actually paying my business to jeez that that'll make our 70 horsepower different intercoolers.

Good times. Good times. Oh, and it's wide bodied. Yeah, composite wide body in front fenders,

bumper, blah, blah, blah, carbon fiber. Jeez. Did you try that drift handbrake?

I didn't try to drift with it. No, I need to go try it. JR said I have to try it. I didn't really

when we had the dark horse, I like couldn't quite like get it. It wasn't like acting right. But

well, I also know how to we should also ask him, you know, the dark horse had really sticky tires

on it. And at a certain point, like this is why drifters have hydraulic handbrakes because the

clamping force needed for tires that big and sticky is more than the ebrake. So I don't know.

They chose the tire that they chose apparently for this car and I didn't go quick enough to get

it to move around really. But apparently they chose this tire because if you set it to like 32 psi,

you can get like five degrees of oversteer coming out of every corner. And if you set it to 27 psi,

it can be super sticky. Oh, very cool. Yeah, I think it was Nitto. Yeah, they're Nitto's. Yeah,

okay. Yeah, I don't remember which ones. I don't either. Neat car though. Cool. Did you see that

Koenigsegg with their Sardare Spear beat the Zinger 21c by a few tenths around Laguna. I did

not see that. Yeah, they went out around and they beat him around Laguna months after Zinger. Yeah,

like we did it. Yeah. Dude, they're but they're running like low 24s at Laguna. That's so fast.

I think I'm going to get it wrong. I think the Zinger did like a 24-6 and Koenigsegg did a 24-1

or 24-2. It was moving. I haven't seen the in-car video yet, but that's pretty amazing that they

went out and got it back. The Koenigsegg does have like 400 more horsepower. I think the Sardare

Spear is like 1600. 1603. So it's got 300. And with a nine-speed transmission,

all to the rear wheels. Yeah. Good Lord. I mean, the downforce must be crazy. On a track like Laguna,

you're not using much in those front motors on the Zinger anyway. That's true. Right? Those die

off around like 80 miles an hour. It ran a 124.16. That's nuts. That's so nuts. That's so fast.

My fastest driving time ever around that track is like a 34.5. Like I'm like 10 seconds off that.

It's my quickest lap ever then. Let's see. The Jesko last year ran a 124.86. Yeah. So the Zinger

was about a second slower. The Zinger did a 124.6 and then he went out again and did a 124.4, I

think. This says 125.4. Sorry. That was a 2021. Yeah. And he went out again and then he did a

24.6 or 24.4. They got beat. That's so fast to do it. That's really fucking crazy. The Zinger did a

124.7. Yeah. Like respect. Super fast. What else did I? Oh, speaking of this, I forgot. Did you see

that? So I got sent the story like a bunch. Tremac has made their DCT gearbox for the Corvette and

the GT500. So they've made a gearbox that's the same dimensions and same mounting points,

but it's a manual. Whoa. So it, in theory, opens up the door for manual conversions of

C8 Corvettes. Whoa. And also, in theory, but like, I mean, the interior, the interior and the

programming is a whole different story. But in theory, there is now a manual that fits there.

But also, I think this gearbox could be used for other stuff. Kit cars, you know, if you wanted to

do some kind of manual build on like a Gallardo or maybe a Ferrari or something like that,

I feel like maybe it could be used for that down the road. That's very cool. That's kind of neat.

That's very appealing. But like a bunch of people sent it to me and they were like,

manual C8's incoming. And I was like, whoa, I mean, that, I just don't know if it works like that.

So, well, SEMA next year, you'll see some, whether or not they work, remains to be seen,

because you got to get the computer to talk to the transmission. Right. And that's a whole

ball of wax. Plus like the console, I think the parking brake is there. You got the hockey puck.

Yeah. You have to cut that open and move that controller. But someone will do it for sure.

Yeah. But I thought that was kind of fun. And then the other thing is I wanted to talk about,

are we just announced our next road and track experiences event. It's going to be in April.

It's going to be a really good one. It's going to be Vegas with Las Vegas Motor Speedway outfield

as the track day, the good one, the road course. Then we're going to go Valley of Fire, Zion.

Well, we're going to stay at like a glamping place in Zion with these cool like tent cabin

things that rad. And then from there to Sedona, and then from there to Scottsdale,

ending in Scottsdale. That's awesome. That's going to be a really, really fun one. It's going to be

in April. I'm doing the scout for it in December, as soon as we sign our deals with the hotels.

And it'll be really, really fun. You know, great weather. It's going to be beautiful. And the roads

are going to be fun. It's going to be really nice. I'm super stoked. Zion is a drive for convertibles.

Yeah. I mean, the Mount, the, the whatever buttresses, mountains and things above you,

like that is so worth looking up at. Yeah. And it's like it's high desert. So there's going to be

those, you know, straight open desert run sections, but there's also, because it's mountains, a few

like pretty cool tight technical sections. I'm down with it. I think it's going to be fun.

We have great food. And anyway, that's going to be coming up in April. So we have, we have four

events next year, 2026. And so that's the first one. I'll announce them as they become final.

But if you want to come drive with me, Vegas, Zion, Sedona, Scottsdale is going to be the,

the route. It's going to be very, very cool. Should we go to the people or do we have,

do you have anything else? Do I have anything else on my notebook? I forget. I'm driving,

so I don't want to be too notebooky. Koenigsegg.

No, that's pretty much it. All right. Yeah. Temple of the Dodge.

Of course. Patreon. We love our patrons. Do you have an extra battery in your pocket for the

time lapse? Yes. Let's do that again. Of course, if you want to join the Patreon, what you get is

live stream where it exists. You get to ask questions for the show, which we're about to get to.

You get to get the show early. You get to get the show without ads. You get to get extra show

once a month. You get to get access to exclusive merch, collabs and brand collabs that we do.

And a whole bunch more. Patreon.com slash the smoke entire podcast with the GoPro in the

background. Oh, that's the bad battery, isn't it? That battery has 14%. I might as well run it into

the ground. It's okay. This is the good one. But why is this in video mode though? Well,

because it's automatic. It's set to one button video. Sorry. Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay,

let's try that again. This is BTS now. This is on the podcast. There you go. Extra Patreon. BTS is

me, me doing this while driving and answering questions on Patreon. This is the glamorous work

of automotive journalism. All right. I have 14% battery. Time lapsed. I put a bad one in a

pocket. Oh boy. And then for our pocket. Do better with your batteries. Wow, where is this cut?

We're in the desert. And so the Valentine two is probably good for like eight to 10 miles.

That's reading Nebraska. It's so far away, but it's just one beat every once in a while. Yeah.

So let's see what the people have to say. All right. User temple of the do of the Dodge says

there are Jubilee clips and banjo bolts. What are some other goofy names for car parts that you

know? Oh, shit. I think strut tower is kind of funny if you imagine it walking like in a fashion

show. Yeah, because like how often is the word strut used outside of the car world that's used

for a form of walking or a method of walking? Yeah, that's pretty good. Oh, wait, a fun I

this is one I should have thought of last night and really written down. So I think the word

vinegar is kind of weird, which covers the the gauge pod. Oh, it's tough. This is a tough one.

Weird sounding names. Huh. I don't know. I only had one. Yeah, that's sure I've taken parts off

that have weird names, but I know what they were. I just knew I needed them off.

Huh. Man, that is a really, really challenging. What what is a funny named car part?

Oh, what's the toggle toggle is kind of fun.

Manitino. Isn't there something that's like the master gear or well, there's like the master and

slave cylinders. There's that's that problem. That's it. Problematically. That's the one.

Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Slate. We can probably get rid of master and slave cylinder. I think

primary primary. Just do that. Just do the bedroom thing. Whatever they did for bedrooms.

Oh, is that the cop? Looks like cop. That definitely cop a mile ahead on the right. Maybe.

Yeah, that's the one. Yep, there it is. So let's see. The Karma Rivera.

What's up? Karma Rivera says Johnny likes the new Karma Rivera. Would we ever review it? No.

Why I reviewed that car when it came out in 2010. Go watch that. It was called a Fisker Karma.

It's the same car. Same car. Yeah. All right. Two girls, one cup, two are. Oh, that's very good.

When we do when you guys do Peacody. That's performance car of the year. Do you try to

ensure every car has the same tires or do you take what the manufacturer recommends is best for that

car? No, you have it has the tires that the car comes with from the factory. Almost every sports

car now is developed with a unique tire with a tire that's developed for that car. Occasionally,

you'll get a boutique car company like Zinger, for instance, or SSC where they go, oh, we pride

ourselves on using an off the rack tire, which is usually just code for we didn't want to have

the manufacturer develop a tire for us, which is fine. No, and then some manufacturers like,

for instance, the Honda Civic Type R was one was available with a very sticky tire and then also

a road tire. And they would send us the sticky tire for the road, the track work, and then the

regular tire for the road driving. And that would be okay for us. We, I mean,

as long as the tire is can be got ordered or, you know, comes on the car from the factory.

That's how we want to do it. And the tests from you guys and other magazines will always mention

the tires because sometimes two cars that are direct competitors, if the only car that was

shipped to you had all seasons, which is the other car has like super track summer tires,

that's mentioned because it's a valid point. It's important, you know, for the lap time.

I mean, the manufacturers know exactly what we're doing with the cars. So they either send us

just the super sticky tires, and they'll send us a couple of sets of those because a lot of people

driving, or they'll send us the sticky ones for the track and then the less sticky ones for the road

and we'll swap them over. Ferrari sent like seven sets of tires. But we, we did find like, for instance,

back to the Honda Civic Type R in 2022 or 22, I think it was 22, maybe 23, whatever. The Civic

Type R beat the Elantra N around the track by almost the exact amount that could be contributed

to a cup tire versus a road tire. The Elantra N had like PS4Ss, the Civic Type had cup twos,

and it was like three quarters of a second to lap difference. Those two cars are the same speed.

Amazing. Which was, that was why, that was what really took the Civic Type R off of that pedestal

for me was actually the fucking Elantra is like $12,000 less, has better seats, and is actually

just as fast. And no one's talking about it, whereas everyone's like fucking all over this,

all over the Civic Type R, which does it has a better shifter and better pedals. Looks better.

And looks better, but, but otherwise, for the price difference, that it was like 35% more

expensive. Yeah, that's a lot. It matters at that price point. Anyway, yeah.

Question. Lucid Gravity Bong says. Oh, I love it. Some great names. Are there any modern turbo cars

that give the feel of quote, building boost like the turbo cars of the 2000s? Feels like they're

linear now, and he wants more of a surge the way you got back in the day. I totally,

there are not a lot of turbo cars that do that kind of surge. I mean, this is not really relatable,

but like the totem did that. And I think I commented it felt like an old turbo car. Oh, that did

have to like build and build and build and build. But newer stuff. Most new turbo cars

are really going for a flat torque curve. Yeah, they're trying to, they're doing that on purpose.

I would say this, the manual transmission Supra has a has a good, a good build. Yeah.

I would say the, oh,

let's see. Oh, you know what did? The flat six motorsports 911T.

Aftermarket packages tend to put that back in because people want that. And actually,

I mean, the regular 911T did because the gearing is really tall for the power. So it definitely

had like a build, build, build, build. Subaru's are really flat now. Volkswagen products are really

flat. Audi products are really flat. BMW is trying to get as instant as it can. Porsche V8s,

they're going for flat. Yeah, nobody's really doing it. You know who's doing it? Well,

it's not, it's buried beneath some other technology, but that Mercedes 53 engine

has enough build, but it also has a mild hybrid. Maybe like Vanquish, a new one.

Yeah, I mean, the 400 grand. Right, but good will to V12. So the power's up top,

plus a turbocharger. Yeah. And I think the thing is that all these companies know that

if the earlier boost hits the quicker zero to 60 time, the quicker your car, the better easier

is to sell to be your competitor. So now they've all had that same kind of arms race. Totally,

totally. The good thing is you can almost always tune that back in in the aftermarket.

If you have a turbo car and you get a tune, you can, you can, especially if you get a

pro tune, they can make it like that. Yeah, you can say here's the kind of power curve I want

for what I'm doing. That's true. But I do love older turbo cars for that reason. I think it's

fun. Yeah. I like the, I like waiting for the occasion. I'm sure. Disrespectfully agree. I like

that name. It says, I can't afford a CTSV. Is the alpha chassis good enough for the V6 to be fun

and engaging option? The alpha or male? No, no, I think alpha chassis. Oh, a regular CTS. Oh,

I would get, I would not get a regular CTS. Get an ATSV. Yeah. If you're, if you want, if you're

going to get a V6 alpha chassis anyway, yeah, get the ATSV or get a CT4 V black wing. I mean,

the answer is like, yes, I think in the corners and the steering and the braking is all very good

balanced, car's talkative and stuff. The engine just sounds meh. All right. Sorry,

we had an overheating camera, you guys, is the perils of filming in the car. But now we've

activated our dash vest. See, if this was water cooled, not air cooled, it wouldn't overheat.

Dude, it would be crazy if we could come up with some kind of like liquid cooled battery system for

a GoPro. That'd be very easy. Well, it would be easier to have like a gel jacket for the camera.

Like a cold one. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's no nothing better than a center vent that can

blow cold air on it. Oh, yeah. That's right. The gear is better than that, for sure. All right.

Well, we were saying about the black wing, honestly, about the, about the Cadillacs,

I didn't love this CTS, CT5 V sport, right. But Johnny said that it was because I drove

the all wheel drive one. But if I had driven the rear wheel drive one, it would have been fine.

I have no evidence to support that, but like. So this person meant said CTS V. So I'm wondering

if they're looking at the last one. Oh, that's the older one. No, forget it. Skip it. Yeah. I would

go for ATS V at that price. For sure. One last question. And then I have to pee says,

considering your attitude, personality and style, what is one car that you could choose as a

representation of yourself? What? I mean, I think my pink spider is a pretty good explanation,

representation myself. Is that there's a contrast between what you see, the first,

the contrast between your first impression and what's underneath.

But at the same time, it's like, it's a car that is like also just the right car for the occasion.

Right. You know, and it's got aggression, but practicality, a little bit of custom touch,

but not too in your face. Yeah, I would say it's loud. But the thing that makes the noise is smart.

It's louder backed up by some kind of performance. Right. Yeah, exactly. Have I turned my heated

steering wheel on? No, I haven't. Hidden button. That's funny. We have not reviewed the Defender

Okta. That was a question. No, I just saw one parked on the street, though. Oh, really?

It's one I've seen. Yeah. It looks nice. It's a very nice looking. The shape works. It looks

so good, actually, that looking at regular ones afterward, they look kind of lame.

It's such a fucking Jamal Hamedi production, that car.

Everything about it says Jamal. Dustin Bateman says, he listened to us describe all the time

and cost and everything goes into making a video. Have we ever thought about doing a behind the

scenes video showing the whole process from planning, travel, behind the scenes, filming,

final product? That might emphasize the effort put into this review, although it has its own

production costs. No, I mean, I see where the question comes. That was the speedometer camp.

I see where the question comes from. But, A, I don't think it would be received well.

I think it would come off as a little like, whoa is me, look how hard I work.

Well, it sounds like a, I think the way you could do it, it sounds like a vlog.

You're like, hey, we got invited to this thing, and now if you're going to see me walking on the

plane, and then you're going to see me sitting in a nice seat, and then you're going to see us

walking into a building, you know. I've put elements of that in the certain videos,

like where being on a press launch was part of the story. The Aston DB12 and the

Spyder RS press launches come to mind, where I've included elements of like, and going to

Morocco for Dakar, where I've included the elements of the travel, and particularly in Dakar where

we went, we had to go to a different country for a day, on the way, like that kind of stuff, but like

the other bit isn't like exciting, like I'm choosing which flight to take, I'm doing this,

like that's just not very exciting. I don't think it would make good content, and if I,

if just telling you guys on the podcast, here's what the process is, I think is

as good as making a video of it, you know. I mean, maybe we'll do it as a BTS Patreon video.

BTS Patreon, maybe, but yeah. Rollex LT Lariat King Ranch, I love that name.

Today's their birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday. What are the best car-related gifts for

10, 100, 1,000, and $10,000? For $10, the best car-related gift is something

like Hot Wheels versions of someone's car. Yep, that's exactly right. You know, a fairly entry-level

model version, or a cool vintage poster of someone's car, or maybe a thrift shop t-shirt.

10 millimeter socket is a meme gift. Yeah, I think $100, you can get someone a good tool.

Dude, $100 is an awesome, you can get like anything we've advertised from Fantic,

any of those battery-powered blowers, tire gauge things, like the air compressor, emergency road

side kit, those, that's your $100 right there. Or how much is a AAA membership per year? I think

it's like, if someone doesn't have that, that's a great, that's a great $100 or something.

A thousand bucks, I'd go with experience, I would say, I'd go with two things. Either you could do

a driving school, like a one-day something, or tint. If you live in a hot place, ceramic tint

expensive, I mean, it's half of that, but like doing your whole car with ceramic tint, if you

live in a very sunny area, will change your life and is literally probably healthier for your skin.

Yeah, but for a thousand, there's a lot. You could, if you're in a major city that has this

type of thing, you could get someone like a supercar driving experience. You could take them on a

multi-day road trip and pay for it. You could take them to a destination that's not too far away,

maybe it doesn't require flights. You can usually do drift schools for that price.

Road course schools tend to be more expensive than that now, but you could do a drift school for

a single day. You could do a Porsche Experience center day for like $600-700. That's pretty cool.

You could also get someone like an amazing, super high-level detail on their car,

yeah, like a polish or whatever. You might be able to, at the lower end, get someone to set

wheels, someone who's set of tires, they needed it, that kind of thing. And 10 grand.

10 Gs? Well, you could really customize somebody's car. You could start, you could get them some

very high-end parts. You could get wheels, tires, coilovers. Yeah, you could get someone a super

charger, a turbo kit. You could do a proper racing school. You could get your SCCA license.

Yeah, you could do a zero-to-competition license at Spring Mountain for that, I think.

Or you could buy a car. You could also buy a fun car. You could take somebody to the Nürburgring.

That's about what that would cost, to fly to, to trip for two to the Nürburgring,

including like five laps in a rented, you know, rate-prepped car. That's probably 10 Gs.

And that would be awesome, like if you got it, that's a no-regrets way to blow 10 Gs if you got it.

Oh, another thing you could do with a thousand to go back is you could get a shitty car and do

an all-cars thing. Fuck yeah. You could do a gambler-type situation. Like disposable car that

you do an off-road camping road trip with. You could probably get away with that for a G.

All right, yellow lead footer says. Oh, that's very good. Given the choice, would you choose the

higher horsepower 2026 Carrera S or the old-school manual of the Carrera T?

I would personally, now he says old-school manual. Am I to take that as being the seven speed?

The new Carrera T has a six-speed, but he says old-school manual.

Yeah, but the new T is priced very close to the Carrera. The S is more expensive.

I would rather have a manual T than a automatic S because I could make the horsepower back very

easily with any number of reliable brand name packages. There's no way I'm going to manual

swap an S. That's true. And the seven speed. Look at you, my boy. Look at you with a good hiding spot.

Not good enough for Uncle Matt. The cop for people listening, cop hiding around a blind,

great hiding spot. And I'm going to put the alert up here. I'm a good citizen of the road tripping

world. And now I have a tail gopher. So a big car is blocking, so now I can go fast again.

I also think the 911 T just has character to it. We're driving a, I don't know,

its job. But to me, it just has like walking up to it. I just don't feel like it's a,

feel like it's a special. Well, I just road tripped an S. I just did a thousand miles on an S a month

ago. It was a fabulous car. Absolutely fabulous car. But the only real ways in which it was better

than the T was the extra power. Other than that, you can make a T virtually identical to an S.

I would take, if budget allowed, a six speed T with the 600 horsepower package from flat six.

It's not the 700 horsepower package, the 600 horsepower package, which has a little less

turbo lag, a little more usability every day, but where the bottom end is going to be not even

stressed out. What was the MSRP of the SU drove? It was expensive. The new SI drove was fully loaded.

It wasn't PTS, but it had extended leather 18 ways, all the luxury options, and it was like 180.

Oh, yeah. So expensive. So the new T is starts like 137. Yeah, you can get that and you can get

the horsepower. You're good to go. I would even take the T if it was the seven speed. I'd rather

have the six speed if money allowed, but I would still go with the T even if it had to be a seven

speed. All right, Quadrifoglio Face says, I'm eyeing a Taycan, but it's got the lame 14 way

seats. Do you think I can put a single 18 way driver's seat in there? Not worth it. Not worth it.

And 14 ways are pretty good, dude. It's not like the base four ways. Like a 14 way versus an 18 way.

It's different, but it's not like, it's not hugely different. I would wager and you should email

a Porsche tech, but I would wager that the computer would get confused and that would probably cause

a problem. And then you have two seats in your driveway that don't work. Dude, it's just whatever

it would cost you to get a seat that matches aesthetically. Now you've got whatever that costs

to get it to fit, get it to work, whatever. Those extra like four ways are, I don't know,

I tell you, I don't know what four ways they are. I couldn't tell you in which specific

adjustable measurements. Is it bolstering? Is it independent bolstering? It might be

independent. Yeah, because I think the 14 ways have, they have lean, obviously, forward, back,

up, down, and lumbar. I think it's the bolster. That's fine. Yeah, it's fine. I think the bolster is

only, well, yeah, it's fine. Is that a cop with a customer on the right? It is. I really think

that you've got my truck. Yeah, I really think that if you've got 14 ways, if you sit in them,

if they're comfortable for you, I can't see the math working out on swapping out a single seat.

I think we've been asked this before, the lottery ladder, like you win the lottery, how do you buy

cars that are progressively faster? I swear we answered this question a few months ago.

Basically, this person's like, if I won the lottery, I'd buy a GR86, then an A110, then a 911

ST, then a 750S, then an F40. Oh, okay. So you're just, the car's getting more expensive and

progressively faster. Sure. That's a good list. I think we answered that. Oh, is this frozen?

My screen's frozen. Otto Bon Jovi. Since we both grew up in other parts of the country and ended

up in California wrong, I was born in California, do you ever see yourself retiring somewhere else?

Yes. Or splitting time somewhere else in retirement like your dad does.

Well, look, I personally don't see myself ever retiring. The goal is to have work be optional

and fulfilling, right? To have financial security so you could at any point say,

fuck it and go off and do whatever. But my long-term plan is to have something

that keeps me engaged with the community forever. The shops do that. There's always customers

coming and going. There's always events to go to. There's always new people to meet,

interesting car collectors. And I can hang out at the shops as much or as little as I want.

I mean, once the shops are built, once they're open, once they're running,

it's not a lot of workload for me to manage them. And I only need to be in a day and a

half a week. And I can be out here doing this with you all the time, which is fabulous. So I could

do that pretty much indefinitely. Having said that, if I'm not creating content in Los Angeles,

which Los Angeles gives us so much from a content perspective, I would happily move somewhere else

and come to LA a few days a month to work, to see my friends and then go back to wherever my

preferred place to live would be. Same because it's a really expensive city.

Sarah and I have definitely talked about long-term retiring in two places because I love snow and

she loves humidity and tropical water. And we have discussed a lot about how we would retire

in two places like that and just split time because we enjoy activities in each of those

climates. For us, splitting time would be fun. My parents do it. They do a month. They bounce

back and forth between their two homes about every six weeks, which that actually sounds

fucking great. I mean, it really does sound nice. And they have tons of friends in both places,

which is great. With the cats, you can't do that. You could bring Tucker or whatever.

Like when you have four cats, that is not a reasonable thing to do. And Anne and I have also

said that there's nowhere we like enough that's easy enough and convenient enough to get to

from LA where it's like I'd want a vacation home somewhere that I could go to a lot.

I'd rather either just have one house and take vacations or maybe a boat one day or

something that's based here and we could go places or something like that. But when you

have the cats, those really long periods of travel is limiting. Yeah. I mean, we're talking

for us like 20 years now and that is if there's no anchor keeping us in Los Angeles.

But we're always going to have cats. There's no way we're not going to have cats. We're not going

to be like, and when our current cats die, we're never going to get it. That's true.

All right. Carl's Mazda ball soup says, how does the 19 compare to a modern ZR1?

Oh, that's interesting. Well, it's very different.

ZR1 is a naturally aspirated, excuse me, that's not true. It's not hybrid rear drive.

It's pretty raw. Whereas the 918, the overwhelming sensations of that car are how settled it is.

And how technological it is. The 918 sounds better. The engine is one of the best sounding V8s

I've ever heard in my life. The ZR1 sounds cool. It sounds like they tried to do a Ferrari

488 kind of sound and succeeded. But because it's turbocharged, a lot of the very best sounds

don't come into the cabin. The ZR1 is probably quicker in a straight line and feels it. But the

918 has that sort of starship enterprise level of acceleration where it's a no drama, no wheel spin,

just go. Whereas the ZR1 is fighting its own traction control system a little bit.

The ZR1 is much more like a McLaren 750 than a 918. The 918 is separate from those other

rear drive twin turbo supercar experiences. The 918 is much more similar to the Temerario,

actually, or the Rufuelto than to the ZR1. Or NSX. Or the R. It's more like the NSX,

but with an engine that actually sounds good. Let's see.

Ghost of Matt's sunken Porsche. We kind of addressed that. This is about the walls at

streets of Willow. I think they're temporary. They're working on it. People have complained about

the tire walls at streets of Willow now are dangerous for motorcycles. So I think the question

is, are they going to make it safer for motorcycles? I have heard yes. I have heard that right now

this is the short term plan. They've been working on it for like a few months. But yes, in the long

term they know motorcycling is a big part of the enthusiast group that attends Willow Springs.

And so they're going to change that. Yeah, I hadn't asked them ever about motorcycles specifically.

Maybe that's an oversight on my part. Well, Corey did. Our friend Corey

works with them and has raced motorcycles. And he has said yes, there is a longer term plan

that involves moving the walls and making it safe for motorcycles. Yeah, the current

renovated streets of Willow is the immediate emergency short term. This is very dangerous.

Improve it by as much as we can without getting special permits. Because there's a line

when you're doing renovations where it's like, below this, you don't need a permit. So they

do like, let's do this, what we can do right now while we're applying for our bigger permits.

So I think that's part of it. Let's see. My hamstrings, dude. Oh, this is going to be tough.

I'm going to have to major stretching this afternoon. And I mean, walking will probably

make them feel better. It's probably hot tub as well. Leg day really fucked me up.

Hamstrings are hard. Jared asked, can we talk about how we logistically formulate thoughts

for car reviews? Do we have a set of basic questions we always look to answer,

take notes of what stands out, create an outline, etc. Do you have a real process?

I mean, I have things like I always, I always just go, okay, I'm gonna write down all the specs.

And then I'm going to write down changes from what, you know, whatever the car came from.

So I gather a lot of info. That's all. I guess my process is I gather info. I gather a bunch of facts,

drive the car, write pros and cons. And then I try to come up with like a thesis for the car

at the top of the video that I'm going to try to talk about and, you know, get to some sort of,

in my experience with myself, a wandering conclusion at the end. I usually change the

voiceover later. Yeah, I mean, I really, I kind of do, I do something similar, you know, I study the

specs, right, the press sheet, and the process of not just reading the spec sheet, but I have a

very specific like format I use when I copy the specs into my notebook. And the act of copying it

over and writing it down puts it mostly in my head. The handwriting. Yeah, definitely. So doing

that, writing it down, comparing it to the old one, okay, it has more power, more torque, power

bends wider, okay, but the weight has gone up, okay, but it's then it's got this, this, and this.

And then it's really, I kind of, the flow of the video happens in the flow of what I'm feeling.

How do I, how does it feel pulling out of this driveway? How does it feel accelerating to speed?

How does it feel breaking and turning into the first corner? Like, and then that really just

kind of comes out in the video and it, when you do enough of them, it naturally leads from one

thing to the next. Yeah, yeah. I mean, as you're assessing those pieces as you interact with those

pieces. Yeah, with writing is different. Writing, you need to find something out in the real world

that's outside the car or a thing from history or a thing from pop culture to connect it to,

to tie it together, open your thought in the beginning and then talk about the car and go

back to the end. That's a little harder than trying to do that in real time and video.

So, hopefully there's a police see us somewhere. Alright, Tim A says, do we see a future where

Porsche creates a 911 on a carbon tub chassis the way roof does? I mean, eventually, maybe.

I think, you know, the hard thing for them is that the 911 has to be a T and a Turbo S and a

GG3 RS. So, and you know, they make a lot of them, they mass produce them. So, to mass produce that

many carbon tubs would probably be cost prohibitive, but I could see them doing, you know,

how do you make the special editions more special? Yeah. And they could say, all right, now the new

GT5 RS we'll call it, or the new ST is a carbon tub car. And it's, or they, you know, call it the

911, like 911 K did, like this is now going to be 700 grand, but it is so different from all the

other ones below it in that way. I could see that happening. I think they'll have a halo car above the

911 that is a carbon tub car, but I think they're more likely to use like 3D printed parts from

Zinger and stuff like that in 911s than they are to use. That will happen before. Yeah. Carbon

tub will happen for sure. And now with their new financial troubles and their profit dropping by

90% or whatever, I don't think they'll have a halo car, or at least they want to announce one for

quite a while. Joe Manchin's Glickenhouse Boat says, what gear select knob control stick in, wait,

what, oh, what gear knob or shifter or whatever do we love in cars and which ones do we hate?

Like he hates the Prius shifter, even though the rest of the car is great. Oh, the 19, you hated the

little, the little, well, I didn't, the little, the little razor one, it was just old, like you'd

have to manually release the parking brake every time. That's stupid. I'm used to, it's basically

this shifter here. I'm used to that. I mean, manual shifters like the Ferrari 360 and 430,

like any Ferrari gated shifter is great. Civic Type R, the Honda, the entire Honda shifter from

S2000 to Civic Type R. Even NSXs though, back in the day where I thought those were great. Yeah,

my NSX is pretty good. I like old school Hurst shifters, you know, on a good like

motorsport transmission, they feel great. The GT3's six speed is really good. 911 T1's pretty

good. The six speed one is fine. The new one's six speed is fine. BMW shifters are

gotten better, but I would just say there's more like, I just feel like there's more rubber

separating you from the action because they're trying to make it a more comfortable experience,

I guess, than something like, you know, Corvette, back with the six speeds, they had a lot of feel,

but they were hard to move. It's like this, it's, it's the, I don't know, it's the heaviest weight

shifter. It's the weight of it and the notchiness of it. So you know where your hand is and where

the gear is. I do appreciate that, but the weight would be, it was annoying. What about

the 0406 4GT shifter, which is one of my favorite shifters of all time. I've not driven one of

so beautiful, so beautiful to use. It's never, never been, never been topped, I think since.

And that's a lot of good ones. What about bad ones? I don't, I still don't like the Ford Hockey

Puck. I know that it keeps like the cow, and you know, it works on the monkey for me, but when I

get in a Mustang, that especially when I have like a lot of power and then I just spin this wheel

that always feels like it's lost some teeth in the gear, even when it's brand new, there is something

so unsatisfying about the action of just turning that thing.

I really don't like PRNDL four buttons across the...

Completely agree. I really don't like that.

Like Lincoln did that, yeah, buttons on the dash is not very good.

In terms of manual shifters, I mean, there's a bunch that just don't feel very good. I think we

drove that, that the Subaru WRX shifter stinks.

The current one? Oh yeah, that was pretty good.

It's not, not fun, which is surprising because like the GR86 shifter is pretty good.

Yeah, yeah.

The regular Super, you said the shifter was not good, but then once they did the

GR edition, they had improved it a lot.

Wait, what? No, no.

The manual Supra? Oh, no, the manual Supra shifter is better.

Oh, sorry.

So what I said is that shifter, considering it's a BMW powertrain,

the Supra shifter feels nicer to me than most modern BMW.

Right, that's what it was. They tweaked that a little bit.

The Z4 version of it, I think, is only average.

It's fine. The Z4 shifter is nice when you're driving it 6, 7 tenths.

When you're really ripping it, it's not that great.

Uh, yeah, that's so.

John Hennessey, you next Tuesday, that is funny.

This person's 23, they just moved out to San Diego, I think, on their own job,

or sorry, on their own with a job.

Their parents were always boring and pragmatic with cars,

so he wants to give them a middle finger, lovingly, and buy something that is the most

23 year old daily driver possible.

They want some enthusiast cred and some speed,

but at least a few safety and daily driver comforts.

They're thinking for 20 grand of a C506, but would love to hear other options.

Um, 20 grand of C506.

I think the most 23 year old San Diego car ever is a BMW 335 with a super verbal too.

That is very true.

Yeah.

That's so San Diego.

It's very, yeah, or like a clapped out, um, F80 and 3.

Yeah.

Actually, those are more expensive than that.

That's probably going to be over 20, but like a one, a one,

one 35i or a, or like that, or two 35i.

Yeah.

Super verbal tune.

Or we'll get you there.

The high mileage convertible E90.

Here at E92 or E93, I guess it's called.

If you want Corvettes like C506's are, they're just really old now.

And they were built like shit when they were new.

So like the good thing about them is the powertrain is very robust.

And they're very fast for what they are.

They're light.

And if you want to turn a lap time, big brakes, sticky tires, and a set of coilovers.

And you're, you're right there and you're like almost running like 911 GT3 lap time.

But like they're also rattly shit boxes.

And I say this as someone who has.

They are.

What is, uh, what do Camaro SSS cost now?

Like 5th gen?

Yeah, I mean that's, they're under 20 for sure.

That's a lot.

You might even be able to get a 6th gen car.

Yeah, 6th gen.

Like that's a, that's a pretty good car.

A little more livable than a C5 for sure.

More comfortable trunk.

Or actually smaller trunk, but it has a back seat.

Yeah.

Or get a Slam G35 if you have a person.

Totally.

All right.

The rainbow shakes shroom.

I can't see the whole name.

Oh, nope.

I still can't.

Jerry Seinfeld said he prefers the 918 to the Carrera GT, which surprised, uh, which

was surprising to Spike and Doug DeMiro.

How do you feel about that?

That's interesting.

I don't, as far as I know, Jerry doesn't like crazy cars.

Like he doesn't like cars that are known for being like ragged.

Yeah.

He's a little more, you know, uh, so I think he,

probably likes that he can use his 918 a lot and it's a little more like normal.

Uh, that does surprise, but he's not, he doesn't think about cars the same way that

I do.

He thinks about them a little differently.

So, yeah.

Education through Lancia Delta says, I'm trying to decide between a Focus ST and a 2011

plus Mustang.

My daily drive consists of about 30 minutes of interstate cruising at 75 miles per hour.

Is the Focus's engine comfortable for that long, or should I stick to the Mustang?

They're about the same price in my area.

Interesting.

I mean, it's more like, do you want a front wheel drive car or rear wheel drive car?

This is, these are hugely different experiences.

Like neither engine should have a problem cruising on the highway.

No, it's fine.

Focus ST, it's like 240 horsepower.

Like you can definitely go down the highway just fine in one of those.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah.

Um, it might, well, gas mileage might be the same.

I don't know off the top of the head.

But it's more just like a front engine Mustang is a very specific driving experience.

And a front wheel drive hatchback is a very, that's okay, we don't need that one anymore.

It's a very different kind of driving experience.

The Focus will feel a little more European.

Whereas the Mustang is very much, you know, it'll handle okay,

but it's very much a muscle car vibe.

Yeah.

I think if I was getting a straight commuter car, it's very much what you want.

The Mustang is going to be a little more vibration because of the engine.

And, you know, the hood's very tall.

In the 2011, there's the visibility is better than the new ones.

But there's a little more vibration to it.

So that might bother you.

But like, there's such different cars.

You just have to drive them both and decide what you want.

Yeah.

Interesting comparison.

Would we take a brand new GLC 63 with the hybrid or slightly used X3M?

X3M.

Yeah, the 63 hybrid four banger is just not working for me.

If can you, I don't know if you can get a GLC 53 with the six cylinder.

I don't know if you can.

I haven't looked.

If you can, that's the one.

Yeah.

How do we know when it's time to...

Oh, this is from Miku Miku.

How do we know when it's time to move on from a car?

I've had it for almost 10 years, done every model under the sun,

and I've done all kinds of adventures with it.

I have sentimental attachment, but I want something new.

So what do you do?

I mean, I've never, not never, but I've very rarely been

sentimentally attached to a car in a way that would keep me from selling it if I was over it.

Like, if you do the things and you're like...

When I'm going through my car journey, I eventually just get to a point where I don't

really feel like driving that today.

And then I don't really feel like driving that this week.

And then I don't really feel like driving it this month.

And once I look at it not being driven for a month or two, I go,

guess I'm over it.

And then I sell it and I really never think about it again.

I couldn't tell you...

There's a car where...

There's a couple cars in my history where I was like,

ah, the trade I made there wasn't great.

Maybe I should have held on to that for a little longer.

But it's not like, I need to go back and find that car now and get it back.

I don't have any regrets.

I think this person, like, look, you've modded it, you've done it,

and you say you've done all kinds of adventures with it.

Those are the things I want to do with the car.

And I haven't sold my car because I haven't done all the adventures I want to do yet.

But if you have had all the memories, you've done all the things,

I would say have a friend with a great camera, take cool pictures of it,

print a poster so that you always have a great,

like, picture poster of the car, and then move on.

And then when people say, oh, what car is that?

You go, oh, that's this thing.

I did this with it.

I did, like, you can tell the stories,

but you don't need to have it in the garage.

Like, you can use the money or the time or whatever to do new things,

make new adventures, have new experiences.

Because it seems like you've done it.

That's true.

I have pictures of a couple of my older cars hanging around the office.

After a while, that's as good as having the real thing.

Yeah, it primes the story and the memories, and that's what you're doing.

Johnny Evie Gearbermann.

That's funny.

Lucid air purers are now $33,000.

How much of a bargain is that?

A fucking bargain.

That's like a no-brainer level bargain.

Yeah, that's pretty amazing.

I mean, assuming that the service network of some kind will exist,

although I used to worry about that,

and now that I see people driving,

this grisker oceans around,

like, someone out there will figure out a way to fix anything,

and you can pay them to keep it going.

So, that's an amazing car for that money.

$33,000, dude, that's a ton of cars.

Yeah.

I mean, it legitimately does feel like a six-figure car.

Not a deep six-figure car, but a six-figure car nonetheless.

Yeah, it looks like a spaceship inside and outside.

Let's see.

Emmett Fitzhume.

Is there a good reason I shouldn't get a 996 C4

and turn it into a safari-style car?

The roads where I live suck, and I'd like to take it skiing.

I think that's awesome.

Yeah, I mean, there's not like...

There's no reason to not do that.

There are reasons to not buy a 996.

You probably already know what they are,

you know, but, like, if you...

There isn't a reason other than money

to not make your car ready for winter.

This is interesting.

What is our Mount Rushmore of corny car culture behavior?

Some examples.

This is from Shep, an Instagram handle sticker on your car.

That's up there.

Fake up badging.

Buying your own, quote, sponsorship stickers

and putting them on your car as if you're sponsored.

That's hilarious.

Portion nerds who'd rather discuss paint-to-sample colors

on their GT3 than lap times and camber angles.

All right.

So basically, what is the top worst behavior in our opinion?

I mean, there's the Ferrari guy who put his window sticker on

his fucking laffer on his whatever SP3 is pretty up there.

Instagram handle on your car, pretty up there.

That's pretty bad.

Intentionally installing a fire tune

and then just making fire like at traffic lights is pretty bad.

Or, I mean, the gunshot tune, which is what it's called

for BMWs and other cars is terrible.

I think make up badging is pretty bad.

That's one of the worst and funniest.

I don't see it as much anymore.

I think if you get a exotic car and you get the most track-focused version,

like Ferrari, Fiorano, or GT3 RS,

or anything where you've added all the wings and stuff

and your mileage remains so low, it's clear you don't go to the track.

Right.

That should be up there.

Like you are cosplaying to the nth degree.

Yeah, the Porsche guy is talking about paint and disamble colors

does not bother me the way it bothers other people.

I don't think they can help themselves.

And the fact is you can get one of those cars in basically any color you want.

And that makes it interesting and unique compared to other cars.

And so I think that that's totally fine.

I don't, I'm not that offended by that.

Yeah.

Especially because people ask me about the color of my shit all the time.

So I'm not going to throw stones in a glass house.

Yeah.

No, fake up badging is pretty bad

because the only people who notice are the people who know it's fake.

You're not fooling anybody.

I would add driving a G-Wagon and saying it's a commercial vehicle

when it's probably not.

That would be up there.

Or dude, how about just straight up registering your car in Montana,

even if it could legally be registered in California.

Why did I forget that?

Yeah, that can be.

And you can afford it.

And you're like, well, I want to save the money.

Just open tax evasion.

And go move there.

Is my fucking mind.

Yeah.

Definitely.

That's the top panic stop at the disc brakes.

That's funny.

That's pretty good.

I'm starting to see on occasion,

Australian Ford Falcon XR6 and XR8 listings on cars and bids and bring a trailer.

I've been intrigued by them,

but they seem irrelevant when the Pontiac G8 and Chevy SS are available.

For a similar experience, have we had any experience with those cars?

Never have.

But I absolutely understand the appeal of just wanting to drive something that's different.

And I think if you wanted to get a mostly normal, you know, a high performance sedan that is

mostly normal, it's a fucking Ford, you know,

but something you could bring to a car show or cars and coffee that people go,

I haven't, I've never seen one of those before.

They have the turbocharged six cylinder engines.

They're pretty cool.

Like, yeah, they're strong too.

Yeah.

And so there is something to be said for just for being different, you know,

and it's not like they're shit boxes.

Like I don't know anything about them.

I've never driven them, but they seem different.

Interesting.

And if you wanted a sedan that you could put your family in that, you know,

it's going to be weird in America, but you know, isn't like a complete fucking wild card.

There you go.

Yeah.

That's pretty cool.

Matt's missing missing Kuntas part.

Leave cars for a moment.

What's the silliest disagreement you've ever had with your wives?

Do you have one?

I do.

We have like a running thing.

So I, I oftentimes my reaction to being like, not criticized, but like corrected about something

is I'm just averse to it for reasons we don't need to get into.

But I always almost always recognize that my wife is right.

Like, like, I'll say we should do something and she goes, what if we do it this way?

And I'm, and I'll just say, and now we have the joke is I'll say, no.

And she goes, is that because it's a worse idea or because you just don't want to do it?

And I go, because I just don't want to do it.

You are right.

That is smarter.

We should do it that way.

But for a moment, I'm going to say no.

And then we crack up and we do it like every week.

That's pretty funny.

This has taken the H to the hoe.

Okay.

Um, like, I don't have, like I'll say like, okay, let's carry our stuff down to the car.

It should go, well, why don't we wait a minute and then we'll wait till the groceries get here

because we need that in the car also.

And I go, no.

Well, so the main silly, Hannah doesn't know the value of her own time.

And I do.

And I know the value of my time because it's all I have, right?

And so Hannah will spend a lot of time and energy doing things that, that don't return

any value, monetary or otherwise.

So she'll, you know, she'll buy some very cheap thing and then it doesn't like it.

And she'll go all, have to go all the way back to the store to return it.

And she'll have spent a half hour doing this to get like $6 back on a, on a, whatever,

when it was, you know, $100 of her time that she spent doing this.

And so I regularly have to remind her of what her hourly rate is and, and she doesn't,

she'll waste all kinds of time.

So, so that's the main, the main one.

She doesn't want to know.

She gets satisfaction in returning the thing.

Yeah.

It's part of her, whatever process.

Or like her, her selling things for very low money on, on Facebook or something like that.

Yeah.

That always makes me laugh.

Last two, perfect timing.

We've got eight minutes.

All right.

Heavy Gravy says, given all the discussion around press events, what was the best press

event with the worst car and the worst press event with the best car?

These are really easy.

The worst press event with the best car, ironically Spain, the worst press event is

the one with bad seat time.

Like, I know it's hard for people to believe this, but I don't really give a

shit what hotel we're at or where we are.

It makes no difference for the video and it makes no difference for me other than

the novelty of saying I've been to a new place.

Like we're not on vacation.

We're there to work.

It's nice that a hotel is nice, but I don't give a fuck.

What I care about is, is the seat time good?

Do I get to experience the car in a variety of ways?

Do I have enough opportunity to create content that's going to be good?

You know, et cetera, right?

So, it's hard for me to say best for the worst car because it's been a very long

time since I've been on a press launch for what could be considered a bad car.

Right, I mean there's not many bad cars anymore.

Well, we're not going to the new Corolla launch or whatever.

We're going, you know, with respect to Toyota, but like the stuff we're going on is like fairly

high end. So like there was a, there was a Lotus event that was like, oh no, that's the

one. I went on the Lotus Electri launch, which was a cool event in Norway.

And you know, you get to see a new place and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And the car was like, had tech that didn't work because it's just like Volvo.

They had this radar that eventually will happen.

The mirrors that we can't get in the United States, but I had to experience them there anyway.

And the car is, you know, a 6,000 pound electric Lotus that looks weird and it looks like Timu

or Urus. Yeah.

And now they're not even around here anymore and they're very expensive.

So that was, that was the worst car in a good event.

I went to, and also a Lotus one was the Vora GT, which was a gingerman.

And it was like a holiday in Subway sandwiches and like seven hours of track time.

Like I'll take that all day. That's a great thing.

That's like, that to me is like, is like peak awesome.

Like don't care about the food. Give me all the track time.

So, and then worst event for best car.

I mean, I think that's that one.

That's probably it. Yeah.

Best event for worst cars is really hard.

I can't recall going on a great event for like a, we went to fucking,

dude, we get, remember Vegas, Mandarin Oriental, full day at Spring Mountain.

Yeah.

It was for the, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe and the,

The 3.6 and the 2.0.

And the Audantra or something.

Yeah.

We were driven out there in the Genesis where they called that then.

It was a Hyundai Sonata and Genesis Coupe.

And neither of those cars were bad, but that was a pretty big money launch

with a lot of track time and nice hotels for a whatever car.

Yeah, that was fun.

All the journalists left the track early and there's a line of cars.

It was us.

And we literally would like do two laps, pull in, get out,

walk to two other cars and then drew laps.

And yeah, that was great.

That was cool.

And John Traffich are coming out with this.

But I also, you know, I went to Spain once.

I talked about, I talk about this a lot,

being the worst press launch I ever went on.

Fucking 15 hours of flying to Spain for eight, six or eight.

I don't remember.

It doesn't really matter.

I think maybe six laps around a wet racetrack lead follow in an Audi R8 GT

with an embargo that was either on Thanksgiving day or the 4th of July.

So it was just like, just like punch in the face after punch in the face.

Yeah, it was challenging.

There were a couple of years where a lot of the embargoes were like midnight on Thanksgiving.

It was like, because, you know, it doesn't matter to the rest of the world.

To fucking Germany.

But, you know, the largest car market in the world.

Thanksgiving at 3pm.

Get the fuck out of here, dude.

Yeah, that, yeah.

You crazy?

They've done it a few times.

So that was, that was, you know, nothing wrong with an R8 GT.

That's a lovely car, but like to fly that far.

I mean, that's two hours of air travel for every lap of racetrack.

That's awful.

You know, like the funny one is this trip to South Korea, the first car I drove,

which I drove for eight hours.

No, eight, nine and a half hours.

The Nexo, the hydrogen car, like comfortable radar, like all the functionality was good.

And they've got these new screens for mirrors, but you don't want to own one here.

You can't drive it in any other state other than California.

So like in some ways, that's a bad car.

That's the most fucking whatever car ever.

Like it's not like it's so exciting to drive.

Yeah.

But I mean, it's the same as, you know, any regular Maki or anything else.

Oh, for sure.

Yeah, for sure.

Just feels like an EV.

Yeah.

I mean, there's, and there's launches.

I mean, there's a lot of these mommy bloggers and like, not even just mommy bloggers, like,

a lot of journalists that are like, our friends have young kids and will get invited on launches.

Like, I think the Minivan Hawaii.

Bring your whole family to Hawaii and take them on this trip in this Minivan, which for

me would have been stupid and boring.

But for them is like, you know, a pretty good time.

When I've heard a lot of those, they offer activities out, like driving is not the thing.

So it's like, yeah, just tell us what you want to do while you're here.

Yeah.

But to fly a long way, have no seat time and have the car be something that's nice but iterative.

Like, R8s are great.

They're great cars.

But by the end of the R8 production run, nobody gave a fuck.

Oh, this is the performance.

Oh, this is the GT.

Like, nobody cared.

So, so it was like a bunch of like things that were against that.

The MC, the MC 20 Stradale plan before it was changed on the ground for us, thankfully,

by someone, a com media was like, you get three laps in the car.

Yeah, that's terrible.

And that's it.

We flew to Spain and they really fought for us when we got a couple of sessions,

but the plan and other people had to adhere to that.

I feel bad for them was they flew to Spain and they drove for six minutes.

Yeah.

Which car, sorry, which car was it?

MC 20 Stradale.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's no good.

You can't have people flying that far to drive so little.

Well, it just, I mean, it's not, it's just not a good use of that person's time,

but it's also not a great way to demonstrate the abilities of the car.

And in this case, it's a car with all the arrow, downforce, quicker this, bigger brakes,

that like it's the track version of the MC 20.

You should let people get to know it because this is meant for driving on a track.

So why, why not let them drive it on track for more than five minutes

so that they can actually get to know the thing?

Oh, and that was in a Skari too, right?

That track is too complicated to learn it in the fucking three laps.

You cannot learn that track.

It's complicated in six laps.

There's like 19 corners there.

That's crazy.

And elevation and a lot of the turns are blind.

Yeah, that's tough.

That's, so that's, I mean, the, you know, I went to a pretty country and, you know,

top line item, stayed in a nice hotel, drove a nice car, but the people that really give a

shit about this job, and there's a lot of us, there's a lot of us.

More that more people do this job that really give a shit about doing it than, than don't, you know?

They, they want, they want the seat time.

They don't, they don't really give a fuck about it.

There's a couple of them old school guys that are on permanent vacation.

Yeah.

Admittedly, they're, they're still out there.

But look, what got us into this job is driving.

Yeah.

Because when we read the magazines, I can't remember ever reading like the hotel was,

like no one ever described the environment they were brought to.

It was about, here's the car, how's it drive?

So that's what we wanted to do, and that's what excites us.

Well, and the audience doesn't give a shit.

The audience doesn't care where you've reviewed the car.

You go where you have to go to drive the car.

It makes absolutely no difference.

But there's a, there's just a very clear, like I understand that, that most people

can go on fancy vacations right now and maybe never will.

And it's, it does seem like you're going on a fancy vacation because you're going on a

curated experience.

You know who's on the kind of a fancy vacation?

The fucking manufacturer executives that get to sit there for two weeks.

Yeah, but they, they, they're working.

They're working.

They are.

Not taken away from, but like, you know as well as I do that a lot of these destinations are chosen

because the executives want to go there.

Sure.

Like remember like, oh wait, do I go left here?

Remember like the decade of Tenerife where like every, somebody at Porsche was fucking somebody

in Tenerife.

It was a joke.

Yeah, it was a joke.

It, you know, allegedly someone, we're like, someone has to have a mistress here because

this is just too many visits to the same place.

We're going down there.

So you turn left then right?

Left then right, yeah.

Um, you know, these folks have to go like, they got to keep picking places on earth that fit

these criteria of driving and accessing all these things.

There's only so many places, but anytime I talk to those folks, they, on week two,

like they're tired.

They've eaten the same thing.

They've had the same conversations.

They, they're getting up early.

They're going to bed late.

It's, it's kind of, it's a grind for them.

Yeah.

And I mean, it's just, it's just that, and you know what?

Fancy hotels can still have terrible bedding.

Bro.

It doesn't breathe and you're sweating your face off and in Europe, the air conditioning

does not cool the room enough.

Dude, you're not wrong.

I've stayed in hotels that had great restaurants, you know, really,

really nice lobbies, a good bar and all that stuff.

And then the bed sucks.

Oh man.

Bedding is made of like a grocery bag.

And just, you know, immediately it's not, plastic.

It's not breathing.

Yeah.

It's still, you know, we do this job voluntarily.

We love it, but it's sometimes.

Can I say the density of restaurants

per square foot?

Per 100 feet on this strip mall is record holding.

Real serious.

Well, here we go.

We're going to try the double zero artisanal pizza and bar at 1030 in the morning.

Breakfast pies, baby.

All right.

Thanks for our, so our patrons.

Shut up.

Thank you to our patrons for asking such good questions today.

You know, we like to do shows in the, in the studio where possible, but we got to drive

these on what you're going to do.

And we'll see you guys back in studio next time.

Thank you so much.

See you later.

Koenigsegg Record; RTR Spec 3 Review

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