The Dodge Power Wagon is a tough pickup truck that has been around for a long time, originally made for the military. It's built to handle rough terrain and heavy loads, making it a favorite for people who need a strong and reliable truck for work or off-roading. People talk about it because it's a classic and known for its strength.
Ferrari is a famous Italian car brand that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are well-known for their racing cars and have a long history in motorsports.
The Honda Accord is a slightly larger car than the Civic, known for being comfortable and having a lot of space inside. It's also been popular for many years.
The Bugatti Veyron is a super-fast and very expensive car that many people dream of owning. It's famous for being one of the fastest cars you can buy and is often seen as a symbol of luxury and wealth. People talk about it because it's not just a car; it's a piece of art and technology.
Car
Lexus RX450H+
The Lexus RX450H+ is a luxury hybrid SUV, meaning it uses both a gasoline engine and electric power to improve fuel efficiency. It's known for its comfort and high-end features.
Car
Lexus RX350
The Lexus RX350 is a luxury SUV that offers a comfortable ride and plenty of space inside. It's a good choice for families or anyone who wants a nice vehicle to drive.
Trim levels are the different versions of a car that come with various features and options. They help buyers pick the one that has the things they want, like better technology or luxury features.
A PHEV is a car that can use both gas and electricity to run. You can plug it in to charge the battery, and it can drive on electricity for a while before switching to gas.
When a car is redesigned, it means that the company has made big changes to how it looks and works. This can make the car better in many ways, like being more comfortable or stylish.
An infotainment screen is a screen in your car that shows you things like maps, music, and other information. It helps you control different features without needing a lot of buttons.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that can run on electricity and gasoline. You can charge it by plugging it in, and it can drive a certain distance using just electricity.
A CVT is a special kind of automatic transmission that helps the car use fuel more efficiently. It changes gears smoothly without the usual 'shifting' you feel in other cars.
The Hyundai Santa Fe is a midsize SUV that has a lot of space and features, making it a good choice for families.
LIVE
Mr. Mars. Yes, sir. We've kind of stretched this out just for you. Well, I appreciate
that. Yeah. For so you can do the complete and full driving destinations. Cool. Well,
I want to disclaimer here on this very first one. Oh, God, here we go. Out that, you know,
we're not encouraging anybody to go road racing or anything like that, but a lot of people
do enjoy driving and they do enjoy the way their car handles in some driving situations,
such as FM 170 River Road. This is down in the Big Bend State Park. Now, this is a 30
mile drive that runs between Lajitas and Presidio. But again, this is the Big Bend State Park,
not the Big Bend National Park, which is across the highway. This is the biggest park inside
the state of Texas, 311,000 acres. Got a lot of desert scenery, long sight lines,
which is important, minimal traffic. So it's great for focused driving, but be careful.
There's not a lot of fuel and there's definitely no place to charge your EV down in that part
of the world. Another place you might want to go to, but it's a little further up north is the
Polydural Canyon Loop. Now, this is up in the panhandle. It's got sweeping canyon views and
red rock backdrops. Now, what this does though, it actually drops you down into what's considered
the Grand Canyon of Texas. A lot of smooth curves, elevation changes, and you get up against the wall
of the canyon. Really nice and it's perfect for a scenic drive. It's only 16 miles long,
but it takes between 60 and 90 minutes to actually make this drive. And you may have heard of this
Polydural Canyon because of that's where you're going to also find the Texas Outdoor Musical
amphitheater. I know a lot of people have gone up there to see that musical and they've never
taken this road to drive down into the canyon stuff where I think you might enjoy that as well.
Then you get a little bit closer to home. We can go to the devil's backbone run, which is
rural route 32. Now, this goes between Wimberley and Blanco and it runs a scenic ridge line down
through the hill country. And I've been on part of this through the rolling hills and the curves.
Got some nice tight bends to go along with the big views on it. And so it's got a lot of flowers
during the spring and it's got an elevated driving experience because of the way the road is laid
out. And this is also considered the most haunted road in Texas. If you want to go hunting for
ghosts. Then we get a little bit even closer. Inks Lake. This is near Burnett and it goes through
a lot of the granite that's up there in that part of the world alongside Inks Lake and it's
actually was created as a shortcut, basically, to go from one highway to another and to get to
the lake once they did that. And it's short. It's only 15.5 miles, but there is 400 foot
elevation changes inside this little parkway run. The next one would be on Park Road 37. Now,
this is Medina Lake. Now, this is up north of San Antonio. Been up there several times and this
is considered the Nuremberg of Texas. So it's short. It's got very sharp curves, quick elevation
shifts, and there's not much shoulders. You're actually on the highway 16 coming out of San
Antonio headed up towards Bandera whenever you can cut across on this. Then we get to the one
that we are closest to and the one that we're most, you hear the most about. And this is Twisted
Sisters in the Texas Hill Country. Now, this place is legendary and it was originally called Three
Sisters. But because of the curves and the motorcycles and things that go up there on the
switchbacks, the blind crest, they've changed it to the Twisted Sisters is what it's more commonly
called now. Long sweepers through the ranch land limestone cliffs. Now, I will say that between
2010 and 2024, there were 259 reported accidents on this road. 249 were listed as driver cause.
191 left the roadway. 167 involved speeding. Now, this is very popular. Motorcycles out there on
the weekend. They tell me that there's a lot of them if you're in your car and you want to experience
this roadway, you ought to go during the week if possible. But those are a few of the places in
Texas that you can go around and have a little more driver experience in your car if you would
like to. Where is Twisted Sisters? It's north of Wimberley. I'm trying to, and my mind went
blank. I'm flipping back around here to it. And you can go up through there in green. You go up
through green and you can find it up through that way. So, north of Austin? Yeah, kind of north.
Yeah, north and west. Yeah, it's west of Austin in Wimberley and stuff. So, it's a 100 mile loop.
So, it's one of the bigger ones. You're probably on some of it, not the actual road, but that
type of road when you go up to Wimberley because there's a lot of that switchback and up in the
mountains. Yes. Yeah. So, get up into the hill country. There's a lot of places that you can do it.
And my blue bonnets are coming out. I'm hearing that West Texas has got some blue bonnets already
blooming. Yeah, they got a lot of water, a lot of rain this year. So, we've got a lot of moisture
in the ground. So, that helps the blue bonnet crop among other things. Yeah, unfortunately,
we had a freeze around these parts. And I don't know, it may delay the blooming of the blue
bonnets out here. But, I will tell you that they're close by the Houston area. Yeah. And within an
hour's drive, you can have a whole fields of blue bonnets and that's something else. Maybe that
would be an idea for your next driving destination. The blue bonnet run. Don't pick them. Yeah. It's
a lot of places. Yeah, people will go out in the park on the side of the shoulder where they can
and they'll go out in the hill and take pictures of the kids and stuff. And if it's private property,
you better ask permission. Exactly. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of. We're hard guys. We're
asked permission. You ask for forgiveness. Well, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. You have to fence in
the bulls riding. Yeah, that's the problem. You got to kind of look and see what's on the other
side of that fence first. All right. Careful.
He's not the only one that has problems this morning. So do I because because I wound up
telling everybody that we're going to talk about Jeff's power wagons. No, that's not what we're
going to talk about. In this section, we're going to talk about products made by famous car brands,
Jeffrey. Yes, Mike, if you're ready, let's get going. Famous car brands, most people know Ferrari,
supercars, Honda for reliability, but car companies don't always stay in their lane over the decades.
Many automotive giants have ventured into surprising territories, some logical, some completely
baffling. The results range from generally useful to question really bizarre. So here we go. Check
out that Ford tractor there. That looks pretty good. Ford made tractors too. The next one we have
is Porsche kitchen knives. The precision engineering that goes into a 911 apparently translates into
cutlery. Porsche designs created a line of kitchen knives with the same attention to detail that
they apply to their vehicles. Hey, something for you to give Kathy on this Valentine's Day,
some Porsche knives. There you go. She probably want the Porsche, not the knives. These aren't cheap
stamped blades. They feature Damascus steel ergonomic handles in the price tags rival professional
chef equipment. You can slice tomatoes with the same brand you used to carve the canyon roads.
Oh, I like I didn't write it, but that was good. That's a good one. The next one we have Michael
is Honda aircraft. Honda spent decades developing the Honda jet, a small business aircraft that
entered service in 2015. The project started in the 80s when most people still associated
Honda exclusively with civics and accords. The jet features engines mounted above the wings in
unusual configuration. Honda claims improves efficiency and cabin space. They moved from
highway commutes to commercial flight with the same methodical approach. They apply in everything
else. I see those frequently at the airport. Yep. Those are cool airplanes. Like Michael,
the next one BMW bicycles. BMW produces high end bicycles that carry the same badge as their cars.
McLaren also makes bicycles and McLaren bike is $13,000. Check that out. The cruise bike line
includes models with minimalistic frames, integrated lighting and design cues borrowed from their
motorcycle division. Some versions cost more than used cars. The brand positioning makes sense with
both products promise premium German engineering, professional transportation, just a bit of
different things for power sources. All right. Next what we got is a Prusho pepper mill. Long
before Prusho became known for hatchbacks and sedans. Wait a minute. What are those things coming
out of that? Those are peppers. Those are pepper seeds. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I have to tell you,
I had a little trouble figuring out what that was myself. Oh, it's Prusho pepper. It looked like
some sort of an infection or something. Well, put some ointment on it. The company manufactured
tool and kitchen equipment. So there you go. They've been making pepper mills since 1874 and
these grinders still carry the lion logo. You see it right there in that picture. The mechanism uses
hardened steel that Prusho claims last generations restaurants worldwide rely on these for seasoning.
The car division came later. The pepper mills were the first Toyota sewing machines 1924
Sachi Toyota Toyota with a DA not TA invented an automatic loom that revolutionized textile
manufacturing. His son later founded what became a Toyota Motor Corporation, but the family business
started in fabric, not engines. Toyota still manufactures industrial sewing machines through
Toyota Industries Corporation. The connection makes more sense when you remember the company's
routes and precision manufacturing just applied to the different materials. Mercedes Benz surf
boards. Have you heard of them? I've never have Mercedes Benz partnered with Garrett McNamara,
a big wave surfer to create limited edition surfboards. The boards featured carbon fiber
construction designs inspired by their AMG performance line. Only 30 were made, which signed
by McNamara. The collaboration felt like an odd stretch. What do German luxury cars have to do
with Hawaiian waves? Marketing team probably had the answer. And the last one like is Bugatti
furniture. Bugatti doesn't just make the world's fastest production cars. The brand also produces
carbon fiber furniture that costs more than some vehicles. They make a pool table that weighs 1800
pounds and uses the same materials as the hyper cars. You can buy chairs and a foosball table,
all carrying the price tags that match exclusively. The furniture serves as a garage art for those
people that already have a Veyron. I'll take the Veyron. Thank you. You bet. So they make other
stuff. Good. All right. Well, Mr. Morris, if it's okay with you, we're going to take driving
destinations and we're going to move that into our next segment. So those that are listening on a
podcast, they'll just go right on to the next podcast to hear your driving destinations.
If that's okay with you. It works really well for me. Does it?
All right. Time now for this hour's car review. Had a chance to drive the Lexus RX450H+. I've told
the story a bit jillion times. I really had no experience with Lexus until, well, this has probably
the 1980s, early 2000s. You own one. I did. It was an RX350 and it was the original RX
and absolutely loved that thing. Anyway, this is not that. This is the brand new 2026 Lexus
RX450H+. So here are the trim levels. 350, 350H hybrid, 350 F sport, 350 H F sport, 350 luxury,
350 H luxury, 450 H premium, 500 H F sport and the 450 H plus, which is what I had.
So I had the top of the line. Nanny, nanny boo boo. This is a PHEV. That's a hybrid.
Five seats. Exterior changes from last model year. Well, it was completely redesigned in 2023.
So it's really this design is only three years old. Exterior features include the oversized
Lexus grille with squinty, high mounted headlights, aero windshield, really laid back,
upswept and side sculpting on it. Really looks good with some very nice wheels. It doesn't make
any difference which trim level that you choose. There's going to be a wheel for that car specifically.
Bustle butt rear with built in sunshade over the glass back there. This is a very unique looking
vehicle and that's part of the reason that I like it. It doesn't look like all the other SUVs out
there. Overall design gets high marks. What could use improvement? Nothing. Keep it coming.
Interior highlights. High Zoot design that leans toward the minimalist look. In other words,
you're not going to find a lot of buttons and switches in this standalone instrument cluster
and a great big infotainment screen. Non cluttered center console read minimalist.
Awesome upholstery and comfortable seating. Cargo, well that area back there behind the
second row of seats, bigger than you think. But I like, again, high marks for design and materials
with that Mark Levenson sound system. It is top notch. What could use improvement?
I like to see some instrument controls like a volume knob. That would have been nice because
what you wind up having to do is look at the screen which takes your eyes off the road which
most people have their eyes off the road and into their phones. I think that a few more buttons
would have been nice for some of the functions but that's just me. Engine, 2.5 liter four cylinder
plug-in hybrid of 304 combined horsepower, CVT transmission, tow rating, believe it or not,
3,500 pounds which is a lot. A miles per gallon city. Well, it's 85 miles per gallon electric,
35 for the gas only. Did I plug it in? I did not. So in my gasoline heyday
that I had this car for the week, I got 31.3 miles per gallon over 405.4 miles. What I liked
about it, it has enough power that leaves you satisfied. That sounds almost kind of like
get the full hybrid version unless you only travel 35 miles per charge a day.
That would be my suggestion. Good looking car. It is and they also have the gasoline,
strictly gasoline version of it as well. What I liked about it, I liked all of it. What could
use improvement? Nothing on this top of the line trim. So how much base trim price? 73.310. This
is top of the line now. Price is tested 78.569. If you just want to get in one, it starts at 50,525
dollars. Competitors, Mercedes-Benz GLE 450E 72.5, BMW X5 76.375. Or how about this? The Acura MDX
Type S non-hybrid is 77.3. Wow. Expensive. Next week I'm going to review the Hyundai Santa Fe,
and I think that you'll really enjoy that. So tune in for that. Hey, if you'd like to know.
About this episode
Exploring the thrill of driving, this episode highlights some of Texas's best scenic routes, including the famous Twisted Sisters and the Polydural Canyon Loop. The hosts share personal experiences and driving tips for each location, emphasizing the beauty and challenges of these roads. Additionally, they delve into the surprising products made by automotive brands, from Porsche kitchen knives to Bugatti furniture, showcasing how car companies have ventured into unexpected markets. The episode wraps up with a review of the 2026 Lexus RX 450h Plus, detailing its features and performance.
Want a drive that actually feels like driving? We chart Texas routes that reward focus and finesse—FM 170 along Big Bend Ranch State Park with vast desert sight lines, the short-but-epic Palo Duro descent into red rock, Devil’s Backbone across Hill Country ridges, the razor-tight Park Road 37 by Medina Lake, and the legendary Twisted Sisters with its switchbacks, blind crests, and breathtaking ranchland vistas. You’ll get practical advice on when to go, what to watch, and how to prep so the only surprise is the view around the next bend.
Then we flip the script and explore the wild side of automotive branding. Porsche’s chef-level knives, Honda’s quietly brilliant HondaJet, BMW and McLaren’s high-end bicycles, Peugeot’s heritage pepper mills, Toyota’s loom-to-engine lineage, Mercedes’ limited surfboards, and Bugatti’s carbon fiber furniture show how engineering DNA travels from test tracks to kitchens, oceans, and living rooms. We dig into why these products make strategic sense—and where they’re pure theater for the superfan.
To ground it all, we share a hands-on review of the Lexus RX 450h Plus. The PHEV powertrain delivers smooth, satisfying acceleration and real-world efficiency, wrapped in a distinctive design that stands out from copycat SUVs. Inside, the minimalist cabin feels premium and calm, though we still want a few more physical controls for eyes-up driving. With up to 3,500 pounds of towing capacity, thoughtful packaging, and that excellent Mark Levinson sound, the RX 450h Plus competes credibly with the GLE and X5—especially if your routine fits the electric range sweet spot.
If you’re mapping a Hill Country loop, chasing bluebonnets, or just curious why a car brand would build a pepper mill, this episode brings the roads, the rationale, and the road test. Enjoyed the ride? Follow, rate, and share the show with a friend who needs a new route or a new knife—then tell us which Texas road is calling your name.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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