Midsommar-iverse

Hi everyone. Hi. Welcome back to the Hooniverse podcast. I'm Dross Ballot. I'm here with

Chris Tracy and Bill Kaluski. This is episode 374 of the Hooniverse podcast and we are continuing

with our ongoing shenanigans under the careful watch of Mr. Gluckr and Dan Roth and we're

back. So we're recording today, it's July 24th and in our news, we don't feel really

as the devil's suffering over nothing really all that exciting happening. Jeep and Stalantis

are continuing to go further down the shitter, for lack of a better phrase, recalls and gladiator

themselves dying repeatedly. It's really sad isn't it? It's sad but it's not unsurprising

because $70,000 gladiators are only so easy to sell. Much harder to sell as it turns out

have been the Acura TLX and LC500H Lexus and then the every Defender 90 that doesn't have a V8

so all those are dead as of today. So let's say a few things about the Acura and the Lexus,

the Japanese luxury brands. The TLX, maybe you can put a picture of it up close. One of

the best looking sedans on the market, especially in the Carpass Club. Because it doesn't look

like a front wheel drive based sedan, it looks like a traditional... It's not, it's a Ford sedan.

Yeah, but it's a front wheel drive architecture with all wheel drive and it's just kind of long.

They're awesome. Handling all wheel drive. I'm just saying, it looks really good.

That looks fantastic. We have all SUVs in our household and every time I sit on them.

That's what I wanted to say about that. I'm not a... There you go. Nice. Chris's computer's working,

everybody listening just left. Just imagine a very sexy looking sports sedan that isn't

actually a sports sedan. It is. I think the problems with the TLX, at least in this generation,

have been that the backseat is almost unusable for anybody over like 5'8". Can confirm.

And they've got to be like 55, 60 grand still. And there's only 355 horsepower or something

like that, which is not... We're in a world of 400 horsepower cars. That's what you need.

So, it's dead. Goodbye. Sorry, Acura. Another one off the list, but at least they have the

color matched grille for the Integra for next year. So Camille has left the building, by the way,

for anybody watching and listening. Sounds about right.

What just happened? Oh, he's having technological difficulties too. So that's par for the course.

Okay, moving on. TLX is dead. And then also Defender 90 returns in V8 only for the upcoming

model year, which, got to say, the V8 Defender 90 is one of the best things I've ever driven.

It's like old school muscle car. It has nowhere near enough chassis for the motor.

And you floor it from a standstill, and it feels like it's trying to rip the front tires

out from under you. It's great. I love those things. But it turns out they can't sell the

turbocharged four-cylinder ones. And then, I think, could be wrong, but there was a three-liter

inline six was available in the D90. Yeah. So...

We've only dropped the four-cylinder all together quite some time ago. I can't keep up anymore.

Yeah, right? Yeah, well, it's a good thing we're on a car park.

Yeah. So the thing about that is we were all like, oh, no, they can't buy the cheap ones.

But like, who was buying the cheap ones? Nobody.

I wanted to buy the cheap ones, but the cheap ones were too expensive for me.

Right. The cheap ones were still $65,000, and then by the time you buy one out of warranty,

you're going to spend 10% of that every year just on keeping the car alive.

So, OK. I have an interesting feedback. Hold on, hold on. My friend has a D90.

About the Defender? Or about the Lexus?

Let's stick with the Defender. He's got a Defender 110 V8. OK?

He drives a lot, so he's out of warranty. But he can extend the warranty because he's smart.

He's like, this thing is going to crap out on me. I'm wicked smart.

I'm going to get extended warranty because I drive a lot. And he did.

And you know what happened? His headlight went out. So it's not a problem.

He goes back to the dealership. Hey, my headlight went out. You guys fix it.

It's under warranty. And they're like, nope, we can't do that because it's a wear and tear item.

It's like a light bulb. So it's not under your warranty.

But we have to replace the whole assembly. How much is the whole assembly?

$3,300. Chris?

It's higher. It's got to be like $6,000.

$46,000. I lose.

And then you have to, you can't just buy one of eBay because there's three different types.

Of course, the V8 has the most expensive ones. Then you have to have it programmed with the vehicle, of course.

What? Yes. It's a headlight.

But they have like all the, yeah, I don't know.

I remember living that when I was doing stuff with Volvo.

But yeah, that's crazy. $4,600 for a headlight assembly is just, I mean, a highway robbery.

If I ever decide to buy one of those, just remind me of this and or kick me really hard in my...

How about both? We can do both of those.

That's just, that's horrible.

Yeah, that's horrible. So anyways...

We can move on.

Hold on, I'm going to make one joke about the Defender.

Can we still get the CarMax warranty? The Doug figured out with all...

Yeah, the Doug warranty. Can we still do that?

I don't know if you can get that on Land Rover products specifically.

I'm pretty sure Doug killed it for all of us.

And it also doesn't cover that.

It should at that price.

Right. God damn.

Okay.

All right, sorry. LC 500.

LC 500. The V8, LC 500 thankfully sticks around.

No, not the V8. The hybrid.

Yeah, the hybrid dies. The V8 sticks around.

So I have interesting thing about the hybrid because I know this kind of shit and nobody else does.

Actually, Robbie told me about it, Robbie the Graph, because he's into weird stuff like Ryan.

This is our cake and pie.

Yes, so the hybrid has the same size fuel tank as the V8.

Okay.

But because it's so much more efficient, the thing can go like 700 or 800 miles in one tank.

And it is potentially the vehicle with the highest range on the market.

It's close to 800 miles.

I would challenge that for highest range.

Are you challenging Robbie?

Robbie, text me. Robbie the Graph.

You can't. He's out of the country.

Is he? Where is he?

In Europe.

Sorry, for a later date once he gets back.

Okay, well, enjoy your vacation, Robbie.

Yeah, no, I've seen, I mean, just theoretically, like, you know, a diesel Silverado, the 1500 diesel, has a 33 gallon gas tank and at 30 miles per gallon.

You know, I don't know.

We're walking on car.

Okay.

Fair enough. Fair enough. Fair enough.

So fair enough.

Point of order. I did some quick Googling, as I normally do in these situations.

Yeah.

So, and Google is now treating me to the AI overview, so all of us could be completely heinous and wrong.

So, Google saying 644 for the LC 500H, Silverado diesel range is 648.

So, four miles difference, which anybody who's decent at hypermiling could handle on their own.

Okay.

And this is where diesels are like, we miss them so dearly, because do you guys remember when they were doing the A8 TDI?

Yeah.

Which have like a theoretical range of almost 900 miles or something, which it's just, at that point, it's bragging rights.

It's not actually beneficial.

You know, you're only sticking out those extra four hours in the seat to say you did that many miles between Philips for bragging rights.

And that's it.

I know, like, that's a luxury sedan.

You're forgetting the Ford Excursion family hauler with its diesel and 44 gallon tank that had a theoretical range of 792 miles.

Dude, when my dad bought his 2007 Duramax, it had like a stupid gas tank because he had, it was optioned a really weird way.

So, it had like a 20-something gallon gas tank.

So, we got rid of it and put one of those Titan tanks in, which was like, I think it was like 67 gallons or something.

Jesus.

And the Duramax would do like low 20s on the freeway.

And the theoretical range was like almost 1000 miles or 1100 miles or something like that.

And it was, you know.

Is that right?

You don't ever need to.

No.

For an apocalypse vehicle, that's actually important.

For an apocalypse vehicle.

Yep.

I'm sorry.

I have to go back in.

Is it thunderstorming there too?

There's the apocalypse outside, yeah.

No, no, not, I don't think he's getting a storm.

Okay.

I had a topic for us to discuss, but I think, given our time constraints tonight, we can probably glance over it just because the three of us have so much other actual good stuff to talk about since we haven't recorded in about a month.

It's been a hot minute.

Yep.

Six weeks or thereabouts.

So we will save the absolute nerdery of tires for a later show.

And we're going to talk about stuff we've driven and stuff we've done and seen and gone and experienced since we last recorded.

So I know we were joking last time about not talking about our Lexus GX based adventures and doings, but I really want to kick it off because I was on the verge of selling mine and came back full circle.

I had some very kind folks at Toyo and Wheel Pros send some stuff over and Chris, I will text you a picture.

I was like, I'm just, I'm sneaking out.

I'm doing what I used to do all the other time.

We used to do this to guests all the time.

They talk about their old car.

Was it like Tanner Fowles had like a 2003 Mitsubishi Evo and I found purple photos of it online.

I don't think that was Tanner.

I think that was a different guy.

Oh God, who was that?

We don't need to bore the people with how long ago that was.

That's like good three to four years ago.

Coming five, dude.

Yeah, very good slew thing as always.

The GX to GX things.

GX to GX things.

So it's got 255, 80, 17, Toyo, Open Country, RT trails on it now and pro comp wheels and took a wheeling with my friend Mike and his son.

And it did awesome.

And it kind of restored my excitement in the vehicle.

And you know, quote unquote, car people will joke like if you haven't, if you're falling out of love with the car that you've loved,

like people will joke, you know, put a new exhaust on it or do something like that or take it to a track day.

And it'll buy you more time so you don't get time, you know, you don't have to.

I don't know if this is have to, but you don't have like an enthusiast disease obligation to get rid of it and go and wheeling with the truck to adjust that.

I spent quite a lot of time on the winch and had a great day and GX adventures are back in business.

So if you're telling me that you spent a lot of time on the winch, maybe the tires aren't as good as you say they are.

No, the tires honestly did great.

It was a ground clearance problem a couple times and just like.

Which mud?

You're getting ready to address the ground clearance issue or is it going to keep it at the same height?

It's going to do a little bit for it.

So yeah, we can talk about this now or later, but Elka sent suspension over for me to put on and test and it should do like an extra inch of ground clearance in the front,

but the backs can keep it the same.

And then the remote reservoir?

Yeah, the remote reservoir is really just going to help with like comfort.

But yeah, it shouldn't help with ground clearance that much.

It'll help with compliance and keeping tires on the ground ideally.

But yeah, winch still works.

Winching's fun.

You got synthetic line on there, right?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

How old you're lying?

2021.

2021?

Is he getting a little old, a little frayed there in this photo?

No.

And I'm about to share it.

Does it look like it's frayed?

I don't know.

I don't know how clear it's going to come across in the image here.

It looks a little weird to me.

I don't know, but I'm not a winch guy.

No, it's fine.

I'm not a recovery safety guy.

It's going to be inspected thoroughly after you mentioned that.

I'll tell you that.

It's my normal eyes that don't see weird things.

You don't look at that from the driver's seat when you're winching.

Correct.

You are 100% correct.

But as you're posting the photos to your accounts, we should probably be examining.

Yeah, so actually the last time that I used the winch and had to like spool it back on

the right way, myself was at night and I used a press card as the land anchor and didn't

look at it.

So I'll look at it.

Anyways, moving on.

Who's next?

Everybody did GX stuff.

Mine is very boring.

So I'm in the middle of kid sports season as well.

So like I've lived out of the GX all summer long, taking my kid to club baseball stuff.

My oldest is in the process of doing college football recruiting.

And so normally it's like a couple hours here, three and a half hours over there.

Like the other day he went eight and a half hours away for one of these camps.

And so we, yeah, he and I, well, it was towards the Denver area.

So being located in Kansas City, myself, the kids are all pretty much used to bombing out

to the mountains and back.

So, but going out one day, spending the night doing the camp in the morning, getting back

in the GX and bombing home the next day was a little out of our normal routine.

Super windy both days, which is normal, normal for the, the great planes.

Spent half the day with like the, or most of the day with the like steering wheel actually

like tilted and not like, oh, here comes a gust.

Let me turn into it.

No, it was like just constant wind.

So it was just, is that like drastically more so than the input you would have had to give

like the Sequoia or yeah.

I mean, well, weight, aerodynamics based.

So I think it's a little bit of both.

The Sequoia has, well, I shouldn't say both, maybe neither.

The Sequoia is heavier, but it has over boosted power steering.

And so like the actual input that I have to apply to it doesn't take the same load on

like me personally where the GX is steering is not as boosted.

And so like, um, like if you've ever, like you had driven a VH4 runner, like that's a,

you have a GX too.

Like, you know, it's heavy.

The Sequoia feels very much.

Yeah.

The Sequoia very much feels like a suburban or a truck or something like that.

Like it is a very, you can do the one finger steering in the Sequoia.

You're not doing that in the GX.

So my upper body's in more shape now, I guess.

So I was, I had 17 hours plus.

Well, one day it was to the left and the next day we were going the other way.

So it was to the right.

Like it was literally wind out of the south the whole time.

So it worked out.

But now I don't think you want me to jump to the, I'll talk to the other thing later.

That's a very winded way of saying I drove somewhere.

My Lexus, my fancy Toyota did well.

But it, so I've had a V8 forerunner in the past.

I have the GX now.

It, both of those vehicles on that drive do the same thing that when you're like,

Oh crap, allegedly I need to get around this person.

So I'll just blip the throttle and it gets to a speed that is probably not recommended,

but it gets there very quickly and you pass whoever you need to pass and you're right

back down to the, the legal limit, right?

Like it's, it is so good at doing that.

Um, and so like my biggest frustration was passing people who weren't on cruise control.

And so I'd be, I'd be at my five over that Kansas allows.

Um, just pegged at that all day long and I'd be creeping up on somebody and then they'd

accelerate and be like, like depending on hills or gullies or whatever.

And I'd be like, dude, I was catching you.

And then there, there was one, there was a great F 150 that he and I like for 25, 30

minutes, I'd close up on him and then he'd like slide in front of me and go around to

semi.

I'm like, dude, just wait, just let me go.

I'm going to be taking the rest of the day.

Hope you don't, you know, get off at the same exit as them.

You know, we did for one fuel stuff.

I got off and then five minutes later he got off behind me.

I wouldn't have any smile.

We were good.

Like I wasn't being a dick.

Like we're good.

Like we're.

Yeah.

That changes once you have a trailer because then people are a hundred percent like a little

yeah.

Speaking of trailers, I don't trailer much, but it's a story that I'm going to get to

later, but I went to Watkins Glen two weeks ago and I went with my friend and he had a

gooseneck 40 foot trailer, a really long one.

We were on the ramp 3500 and he was driving and it's a six hour drive to here and he's

like, Oh, I'm fine.

I'm fine.

I'm fine until he wasn't.

He was tired.

He started falling asleep.

I'm like, Oh, let's switch.

He's like, when was the last thing you trailer?

It's something I'm like, you know, seven, eight years ago once.

So I have no experience.

I can go in a straight line.

It's on the highway.

I'm like, how difficult could it be?

And it wasn't.

It was the easiest thing I've ever done.

Yes, it was long.

And you know, I just kept that in the back of my mind, but it cruise that 70 75 had no

issues with actually found it extremely easy and surprisingly.

So that was my big toeing experience.

That's a, I mean, that's a fucking load.

That's not nothing, you know,

Yes.

So, so there were two race cars in it, you know, but a thousand pound of crap.

We calculated that we were probably about 18, 19,000 pounds.

That's the race.

Those are genetic.

You don't need to send you a video.

But we had two of these genetic race cars and a ton of stuff in it.

The trailer was actually just behind that.

I had a cool picture of the truck.

I can send it to you, but it was a good weekend.

That looks fun.

That.

Yeah.

Dude, I can go through that into that.

Make sure he's paid up on his insurance premium.

Just chucking people behind the wheel of that.

What's the genetic cost now?

We talked about this a long time.

So this is, this is a Geneta G.

G55 GTA.

So it's a, it's a spec racer.

And I think it's about 150 grand.

So I basically, I spent a long weekend with them.

We left Thursday morning at like five in the morning.

We got back around one in the game on Sunday, early Monday.

They had one of their six seasonal races at Watkins Glen,

which was three races are qualifying and,

and a whole bunch of practices.

So he was there supporting his clients cars.

I think we're supporting.

So it's a Geneta serious racing.

Geneta sex specs.

Geneta sex.

I'd have sex with it.

It's sexy, but it's a spec race just for these cars.

And it was really competitive and,

and, and, you know, a lot of fun.

They had a field of about 20 or 21 cars or something like that.

I always wonder there's so many different specs here is like,

there's Geneta and there's Miata and there's Ferrari and there,

you know, BRZ at one point and all these other things.

How do you decide that that's what you're going to do?

It's actually very simple.

I had the same questions over the weekend and spoke a lot with a lot of people over this.

So spec Miata, you basically don't have a chance of being competitive because

there you go.

That's, that's my friend there.

Actually, that's where I was driving with because spec Miata are built to spec

and people who build these cars go to like every detail of every gram of everything.

And then they raise, they know these cars to really, to really know,

to really be competitive and spec Miata.

You have to be a nut job, but basically.

If you've ever watched the last like five or 10 laps of a spec Miata race,

especially down on like Daytona, it's frigging madness.

Is it there?

Yes.

There's a documentary about spec Miata racing, I think.

Is there?

I'll Google it.

Basically, you want no part of it.

So, so that gets removed.

Ferrari challenge, you probably really financially kept out on it quite instantly.

And the same goes with a lot of other cars.

So they developed a series where everybody's got an identical car.

So, you know, it's not like an E46 spec or whatever where you build up your own car.

You have a factory sealed motor.

Everybody's got the same suspension setups and the car,

every car gets, there's a genetic red before every race doing tech inspection.

So it's pretty much, you know, impossible to cheat at that point.

Okay.

That makes a lot more.

Yeah.

It's like a middle ground between an entry level specs.

Yeah.

And you know, gentlemen driver like air type deal.

Yeah.

Every race car you build that's based on a street car, you have some kind of a compromise.

The crumple zones, suspension mounting points, that sort of stuff.

This was built to be a race car from the beginning.

So, for instance, all the bodywork is clipped on that the hood comes off with four-hook pins.

The whole back shell of it has, you know, just snaps on it.

Same thing with sides.

One guy went as first into a wall.

They had the car, you know, it would have totaled an E46 or something or an E36 or even a Miata.

In the back, they just unbolted the support chassis from the cage, bolted in a new one

because Geneta was there with a truck full of parts.

They had enough parts, they said, to build two cars that they brought with them.

And they had it for six hours.

Yeah.

That's, there is no such thing.

Don't get me started.

The amount of money I saw just floating around over there.

I mean, a million-dollar truck and trailer set-ups.

It's just a dozen.

I can't believe it.

So, the Miata spec series documentary is called First to the Finish and it follows three ladies pursuing their dreams.

Filmed over the MX-5 Cup Championship in 24 season.

I will have to check it out.

It's on prime.

First to the finish.

Unless you boycotted that and then, so it's probably somewhere else.

Everything's on the internet if you look for it.

Okay.

Where do we want to go here?

Chris, I know one of your other Colorado adventures.

You drove a, not a Jeep Jeep wagon here and I drove one a few years ago.

I quite liked it actually and I booked another one for a trip in a couple weeks.

So, I want to hear about your experience with it.

So, I drove, the Sequoia needed work when it came time for our family trip out to Colorado.

We always kind of go around the Fourth of July because that's when high school sports kind of go a dead week around here.

So, I drove a Wagoneer L out to the small town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

It's like south-centrally located.

Weirdly, it feels like...

And I don't mean this as a slight to Pagosa because I really like the area.

But it feels like knockoff glacier.

Like it's kind of more flat but the same kind of style of mountains around the valley area.

And still lots of ponderosa pines around and things like that.

But to get out there, I drove, I think it was a 24 Wagoneer L.

It had the hurricane engine and literally the same...

So, I don't know what it is about this drive to this place because we leave I-70.

I think we're on the I-70 only for like four and a half hours and then we get off I-70.

And then you're on just like two lane highways all the way out to Colorado to get here and back.

You go over two passes. I think the highest elevation you get is a little over 10,000 feet.

But, had all four kids in it, had all of our stuff in the back.

I'll tell you the thing I don't like about it right now, rear glass doesn't open.

So, if you got a big family and you've had big SUVs in the back, you know that lift gate comes up.

Cool, we get all the big stuff in, slam the lift gate down, open the glass.

Now we get to stuff the rest of stuff into the back.

Yeah, you get to actually use the space that an SUV provides.

Yeah, you have to, with the Wagoneer L, you have to like, and I'm assuming with the regular Wagoneer 2,

you got to, and Greg, with the Grand Wagoneer, you got to position yourself ahead of time

and then slam it down real quick.

And then you got to crawl in the back seat, get second row captain out of the way,

and then stuff over the top through the inside.

So, that's a little negative to it.

But, we were talking earlier about range and things like that.

I think I saw like 680 miles after a fill-up with one.

That's pretty good.

I think we were headed down at that point because Kansas is a ramp to Colorado.

So, the trip out, everything was in the 500s.

The trip home, I was seeing close to 700 miles of range on a fuel tank.

Definitely like the elevation, the Huracan engine.

Oh my gosh, yes.

The turbos were amazing at elevation.

It's a twin turbo, right?

It's not a single turbo.

It's a twin turbo 6.

Twin turbo straight 6, a 9-6.

For reference, when I tested a 2022 Wagoneer Series 2, I averaged 14.1 miles per gallon.

So, for you to see a range of over 6, it must have done quite a bit better.

I took a photo.

I got a scroll through my Google post, but I have...

I was like...

I had trip meter B was like just going the whole time.

Like I started it when we left the house.

Total trip, 19.8.

That's pretty good.

For all family...

Fully loaded family, 1700 miles.

That's going up.

No trailer.

No, no, no.

I didn't trailer the side-by-side out from Kansas.

I picked that up out there.

But that's included in your total trip mileage, isn't it?

Yeah, that was part of it.

Yeah, so that's pretty good.

I mean, that was only like...

Side-by-side.

Four miles.

Like I would pick you up a rental place and we went up to the mountain and then got the

side-by-side down and went...

But then...

Sorry, that was that.

On the way home, 21.6 on the way home coming down on elevation.

Also pretty good.

And that was over 11 hours, 780 miles.

I wonder what the public reception of the hurricane engine has been.

I mean, I know in the Rams, obviously the public reception has been what led them to bring

the V8 back.

So not good is the answer.

But I wonder what if the wagon of your owners even care if it's a hurricane now and not

a heavy...

They don't.

I drove the Ram 1500 with the hurricane engine.

My one takeaway from it was if I didn't know what was under the hood, I wouldn't know if

it's a V8 or an online six, given the occasional whistle or so.

Yeah.

Yeah, I drove a Baron.

I had a Ram 1500 with the hurricane too, but I thought it was great.

Yeah.

The only thing that was lacking versus the heavy was the sound, which...

But it still gives you a little bit of noise.

Nothing, nothing.

The 6.4 and the 5.7, even with the 8-speed transmission, they got horrible gas mileage,

even in the Grand Cherokee.

Terrible.

Just terrible.

They were really bad on gas.

Yeah.

And the ironic thing is the 2500 with the Cummins, I get better gas mileage when I test those

things than I do with any of the 1500s by like a pretty good margin.

And those that you talk about sound, oh my God.

You look at the GM pickups, with the same overhead valve V8 engine, same configuration,

right?

With the 10-speed transmission, they're substantially much more fuel efficient.

I don't know if I would say substantially.

No more fuel efficient.

Maybe not substantially.

I don't know.

We're splitting hairs here.

I mean, none of them are good.

You know?

Like, it's 19.8 or 21 in a wagon here, for that trip is respectable, loaded down the

way it was.

And it brought me back to like, it rode, like I used to have an 03 Yukon XL, right?

Like that long wheelbase, 6.2 V8.

GM's 800s will always and forever be like the best riding, simplest push, you know?

But I was lucky to maybe see 600 go on a range.

But I had to be going downhill and like coaxing it to 19.

That was hard to do in that truck.

And this thing, I didn't baby anything.

I wasn't like lifting coat.

Like I drove it and I will say that allegedly I was very close to triple digits trying to

pass somebody in the mountains.

Now, Giant Plain Valley area allegedly could see for miles.

Like, wasn't risking anyone.

And it didn't, it is a rental truck.

This wasn't a press truck that I was like gifted.

It had 39,000 miles on it when I started the trip.

It ended at 41.

Like, it has seen some stuff.

And it acted like nothing was wrong.

Which is why when you were like, oh, Chris fell in love with the way.

And I was like, did it fall in love or was it falling lust?

Cause it like, it was a...

That's fair.

It was kind of a one trip thing.

Cause I think if I had to live with it and had to deal with like the reliability issues

that have been fairly well documented on those trucks, I would be ready to shoot myself

in the foot over it.

Probably.

And I mean, the sticker on it was probably 70 something.

I built three online since I got back.

And it was always in the high 70s to the low 80s.

Yeah.

That's, that's how you know, you thought about it more than.

And after the actual sale price would be significantly lower these days.

That is true.

That's true.

We can hope.

But then again, we were after our discussion the other day and I was like, what will drive

the highway for me?

We were talking about blue cruiser, super cruise.

I built an expedition max.

Again, I'm looking at $84,000 because I wanted the massaging seats.

So don't go home, you know.

So here's an interesting thing.

I mentioned that, that I told that trailer that was a Ram 3500.

So it's my friend's truck.

He's got 90,000 miles on it.

You wouldn't know it.

So he's thinking, hey, I'm thinking about a Ford F450.

And I'm like, well, yeah, it's probably more capable, but I kind of took a deep dive into

researching on what the hell makes the F450 special.

And it's the axles in a thing.

The front axle?

Yeah.

It's wider.

Wide axles.

This thing's got a turning radius of like 30 feet for a duly crooked pickup truck, which

is pretty amazing.

And you get bigger brakes.

You do?

Yeah.

So I may, well, I shouldn't say I may or may not.

I have a brother-in-law who runs a moving company and he's got an F250, which we have

modified a number of ways.

Like he went from helper springs to full airbags in the back.

He tows, I think his trailer is only 30 feet.

It's definitely not a gooseneck.

He's a bumper pull.

And so we've been looking at like, how do we get him more stable?

And so you can go to a 350 with a dual axle and it's basically all of the same

componentry as a 250.

You just get the wider axle in the back.

When you get to the 450, you do get bigger brakes.

You get the higher output diesel or turbo diesel.

Well, it's the same engine.

You have an option for the more powerful engine.

Yeah, but it's standard.

The 450 is always the higher output.

They won't let you do the lower output six, seven.

I mean, maybe you can say the four guy.

I was configuring it with both engines.

Okay.

Well, that might just be Ford's configurators messed up because every time I look at it,

it was like all the 450s come with a higher output.

We won't talk about Slays configuring.

25 or something.

What'd you say, Camille?

The 24 versus 25.

That, absolutely.

Now, and I'll tell you right now, I'm looking at used stuff too.

I'm looking at like 20s to 20.

I think it was like 21 to 23 was the window we were looking at.

This was opening up.

But I had a point to it.

So I didn't have to cut you off.

Hold on.

So I'm like, let me look at the 450, which I know now too much about.

But here's the thing.

He's like, I can get 50 grand for my ram, whatever.

And I can go by an equivalent one for about 70 grand because even though the MSRP on it's like 90,

they're just throwing them out.

Oh, yeah.

The F-150.

If you can find the one you want, you're paying MSRP, which is about 100.

Yeah.

You're paying the MSRP level.

So he's like, is it worth the 30 grand more?

It depends how much he tows.

I mean, is it 90,000 miles over two years or is it 90,000 miles over 10 years?

It's probably 70,000 miles with a trailer attached to it.

And this is a 2020 model year.

So you do the math.

OK.

So that's a lot of towing.

Yeah, that's enough towing that if you have the money, like why wouldn't you?

So I will tell you that in our discussions.

It's to the point where we're like if, because he was starting to say like, well,

I could just go get this one over here.

It's much cheaper, but it's not fully capable.

I'm like, listen, man, bite the bullet now.

If it's going to allow you to do more trips and it's going to be more reliable.

I was like, get it with a warranty.

Because it's that 10 speed.

That's the same 10 speed in all of them.

Like the transmission seems to be the weakest link in those trucks,

whether it's a 250, 350, 450.

The Rams, I think have transmission issues too.

I didn't look at Rams very often because he sends a lean forward.

I shouldn't.

I should speak to that if I don't actually know it.

I can report that next time.

But it's the same transmission because it's the same drivetrain.

And you have to be 350 and 450.

It's just a difference in axles.

And just I think the high output.

Yeah, which when I was when I was configuring the Expedition Max the other day,

it was like once you went up to get the fancy seats,

you had to go with the high output engine.

I was like, I don't want the high output engine.

I want the regular output engine with the seats.

Right.

Because I don't want the extra things that can go wrong with it.

The 35v6 is fine.

I don't need the higher output.

Yeah, they had the same thing for the hurricane engine though.

There was a standard output and a high output version of the hurricane engine.

Yeah, I don't want the high output.

I just want the standard output.

So what you should look at if you're looking at the high trim levels of the Expedition,

you should go look at the Lincoln Navigator because it can get you about the same thing

for about the same money and or plus or minus some things.

Probably depreciate quicker too.

Do they make a Max in the Navigator?

Oh, yeah.

We think only Max.

Yes, the Max length.

They definitely do.

Yes.

Do they call it the Max?

What do they call it when it's bigger in the Lincoln?

I'm going to go on their website and find out for us.

I think this is the first time in the podcast history that anybody has talked about the

long long base Lincoln Navigator.

Leave it to the kid in the Ridge County in the middle of the U.S. to start talking about.

Yeah, that's funny.

We won't talk about the fact that my 40, mid 40 year old ass just referred to myself as

a kid.

Okay, let's move through other stuff quickly because Camille turns into a pumpkin in 10

minutes.

It's just like the wagon here.

It's an L.

It's just an L?

Yeah, it's an L for the long one.

Navigator L.

I have my Greater Ismo Racing League at 10 o'clock.

Okay.

Dude, did you go to bed?

This is young.

The shortest basis navigator starts at $99,000.

What?

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know why I'm keeping this information myself when I have a screen share

function, but yeah.

It's like that's crazy.

$103.

$169.

I feel like that $5 for five bucks under $100,000.

That's almost insulting because anybody spending that much money, like, first of all, I don't

care about five bucks.

Second of all, with taxes over.

Third of all, isn't it kind of like a dick measuring contest at that point?

They want it to be more expensive?

Well, you just get the L version, then you start at $102,000.

There you go.

So we'll see L in the top trim is $119,000.

I've done zero research on this, so.

Appearance back.

I will say the navigators, the way the backrest on the seats can adjust independently.

The top and the bottom is pretty amazing.

Yeah.

Was it like 30, 32-way moving seats or something like that?

It's crazy.

The problem with those seats is as comfortable as they are, as cool as they look, it took

me about 15 minutes to get comfortable and then to adjust everything in my perfect space.

Dude.

Okay, so I have a Range Rover Sport SV Edition 2 or something right now, and I thought that,

like, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with the seats in these things.

You know, in the loner that's parked out front, and usually to make a seat more comfortable,

when it has adjustable bolsters, you move the bolsters out so that you have more width

for your back to sit flat against the backrest.

The only way that this is comfortable is if the bolsters come in so they are, like, flush

against each other.

Like, the most counter-intuitive thing I could have possibly, you know, imagine, leave it

to them to make.

What year is this Range Rover?

It's a 2025 Sport SV Edition 2.

Yeah, I have it on my list.

It's a $206,000 Range Rover with 625 horsepower.

Yeah, I won that.

I won that cost year to day.

You did win that, I guess, in that test.

Suck a dick.

Yeah, I just, I thought I had completely, like, lost my sensibility about how to set a seat

and then turns out the buttons go the opposite way, or the cushions have to move the opposite

way.

So, more on that thing after I drive it a little more.

I posted a review on the universe of the Canyon 84X AEV, which was very conflicting.

Suspension's amazing.

Like, that multi-matic suspension is really, truly, for a mid-sized truck, it's just so

good.

And the size of the truck's good, and the truck looks great.

And the fact that it's, that it drives so well and so buttoned down and, like, you would

never know it's on 35-inch tires with that much armor, and, you know, that approach angle

and everything, like, straight from the factory.

It's amazing that that's where this is landed.

So, let's get to the point.

What didn't you like about it?

So, we can have a fight about it.

Okay.

So, because I had the same car about a year ago.

Okay.

And I've had the, you know, Colorado's ER2 and a bunch of others like this.

What didn't I like?

I think the engine is severely under-taxed, and I continue to say it's the slowest 300-horsepower

vehicle I've ever driven.

You're wrong?

Is that...

I probably am.

I won't deny that.

But it feels...

Do the gearing?

Possibly.

I don't...

Okay.

I think it's very...

You're wrong.

The engine is fine.

Okay.

The gearing is fine, too.

I actually told with it.

I told one of those janettas on an aluminum...

I also told with the Colorado's ER2, and it sucked.

Right, but that's not this.

It was fine.

It was great.

It pulled it and accelerated.

It had no issues with it.

I don't know what you're on about over there.

The engine is fine.

I disagree.

I thought it was just hunting for gears, and it just...

Did you put regular gas in it or something?

I mean, I think it costs for regular.

But what did you...

I didn't fill it up.

I didn't fill it up with what was in the tank when it got here.

Whatever the fleet brought it with.

Yeah, which...

I had the same experience with two different trucks with the same engine and the same setup.

So, just my experience.

Maybe we feel differently.

I don't know.

I had that 2.7 when it first came out in the Silverado.

They also had a normal output and high output version of that.

But it sucked.

Three outputs.

It was horrible.

I actually got a check engine line in for most of the time I had it.

It was coming and going.

But that engine in Colorado was a completely different...

It had a completely different feel about it, different output, different everything.

And it wasn't bad at all.

But then I compared it apples to a Ford Ranger, which was an XLT model with a 2.3.

And I'm very familiar with the 2.3 because I have it in my own car.

And that GM engine was significantly more flexible and smoother than a Ford.

Interesting.

Okay.

Comparatively, yes.

I can see where you feel it is better based on a comparative, like, cross-section here.

I still think, like, big picture zoomed out.

It's just not the ideal engine for the application.

And, I mean, I got the gas mileage.

It was terrible too.

You know, because it's 35-inch tires with a turbo 4 that's trying to maximize fuel economy.

And it just...

You can't get the best of both worlds when that's the reality.

I don't even talk about fuel economy when I'm driving.

I become like this.

Because if I was concerned about fuel economy, I wouldn't have bought that.

No, I probably wouldn't have either.

But, I mean, like, my Lexus gets five miles per gallon better than I got neither the ZR2

or the Canyon.

What do you get in a Lexus?

I still get, like, 18.

Dude, what happened to mine?

Your tires are drastically heavier.

I specifically sought out narrow, light tires for gas mileage purposes.

So, anyway.

So, I didn't like that about the Canyon.

And I don't have a problem with the fact that they moved the headlight switch to the center screen

the way every other journalist who went on the first wave, you know, thought it was the end of the world.

But, because those controls are in the center screen, there's, like, no other buttons.

So, the whole interior just feels cheap.

And, like, yeah, it has the toggle switches for HVAC and, you know, the locking diffs and all that stuff.

But, like, below the belt line is just cheap hard plastic, which is the same as, like, a $30,000 truck.

And this one was $70,000.

And, also, white leather in an off-road truck.

And not just in this picture on the, you know, on the dash and the door cards, but also on the seatbacks.

White leather in an off-road pickup is freaking stupid.

Okay. Let me tell you the biggest gripe I had with that Chevy.

It was $67,000 with that AEV package and everything on it, which is quite a lot.

Fine. But that $67,000 didn't get me one thing that really pissed me off.

When I'm driving, I like my sunroof open, I like my windows open.

And in pickup trucks, I love that slide rear window open, except it's manual in that thing.

But because it's a five-cup model, you can't reach out and just close the door because you can't reach it.

You actually have to stop, get out, and slide it closed because it's not powered.

I'm 95% sure the Canyon has a power rear window.

Huh?

I think the Canyon's rear window is powered.

It's not.

No.

I think I have a video of my daughter with her head through the window and me closing in on her head.

So it wasn't in 2024?

Yeah, it might have been like a value-added thing over time.

It was fully loaded, unless they made a mid-year change or something.

That's what annoyed me.

I'm going to pull the window sticker up because that's one of the things that would theoretically say on the window sticker.

Theoretically.

They're not going to say what's not on it in the car.

They won't.

Yeah.

This truck doesn't have.

Chris, you can't ask your AI friend about this?

I am.

It's just a sliding rear window on that one.

The question was, does the GMC Canyon have a power sliding rear window?

And then it just says it also has a sliding rear window.

That's not an answer.

I want the powered version.

Because it's that powered.

It is powered in the current one.

Like in the 25?

Yeah.

Oh, GMC's website.

It's not an answer.

No.

Man, now you guys are...

Nothing is devastating like self-doubt.

I mean, we can't go back to that next time where we're having this...

No, there's one of those toggles which is next to the HVAC stuff.

No, that one's all windows up at the same time or all windows up if I remember correctly.

Excluding the rear window.

Alright, hold on a second.

Yeah, maybe...

Can we give you a hint about the Japanese background music or something?

Yeah, the Japanese background music is incoming.

I placed tools.

Tools large.

Size large, yeah.

Well, I found the picture of my daughter in the bed of the truck, but not the alleged video of it.

You know, be opening and closing it.

Which now I'm wondering if it was a different truck.

No.

So, the toggles underneath look like rear diff, front drift, the auto start stop, hazards, link keep assist.

And then I think Camille's right, the far right one is like all the windows down, all the windows up.

And then there's one...

Again, I can share and I'm just describing this as I talk.

I can't tell what this button is right here.

I think that is trailer.

Is that trailer mode?

I think so.

But the switch would be on the overhead by like the sunroof.

Okay, well that's not what you said.

I know, well like...

What the...

It has a sunroof?

Yes.

Yeah.

Alright, on the sunroof...

We're running out of time.

We're taking ten minutes.

Yeah, Camille, you drive anything exciting while we're...

Kia K4, actually I had two Kia K4s.

I have one of those two.

Why did you have two of them?

Identical color, identical everything except one is turbo and one isn't.

So, you would think that that would make the turbo a sneaker, right?

No, it's not because the non-turbo one is kind of just slow and the turbo one is just like normal car fast.

I haven't really, you know, got it on the highway yet or anything like that.

But I thought they gave me this name car twice.

But no.

That's fine.

There's no badges on it.

I'm like, I had to open the hood to verify.

There's a turbo sign on it.

I had a GT line turbo a few weeks ago.

That's what this is.

Yeah, it was a car.

It's exactly what...

It's a beige mid-section then.

It was fine.

I don't like the back styling, but there's nothing amazing to say about it.

But there's also nothing bad for me to say about it.

It is definitely a polarizing design from a few angles.

Like, if you look at the rear three-quarters, it's not...

I should have a video of it.

If it's not a Honeybrush, it's definitely my YouTube channel, the non-turbo one.

If you guys have a desire for whatever reason to get my opinion on it.

This damn TikTok goes right to the switches and then cuts.

I will...

How are you so stubborn?

I don't think it's powered.

It's big.

I found it so annoying.

So, there's three switches that I can see up there, Russ.

One is, obviously, interior lamps, door on off.

And then there's the two, which would be for the sunroof, all the back, and then the tilt up and down.

I don't see a third switch up there.

Wow.

Okay.

Yeah, I don't concede yet.

I will send a text to the Fleet Guys tomorrow and that is confirmed.

Because I will not give up without a fight.

Fleet Guys, just send me a canyon so I can figure this out instead of me having to Google everything.

No, actually, Fleet Guys are doing me some real solids.

I have a video review of that track on my YouTube channel, and I mentioned specifically that because it pissed me off that much.

Okay, well, there you go.

But again, it was a 2024, but I don't think GM does, like, you know, annual changes.

They do decontending, if anything.

Yeah.

Yeah, so...

Okay.

Anything else we want to discuss before we wrap?

We've been all over the place tonight.

I want to talk about more about my Watkins weekend, but it will be a longer story because there's much more to say.

So I'm going to prepare something for next time for it.

Okay.

I got some interesting things on it.

I'm going to try to write an article about it.

I'm going to see if I can give it to someone other than Hooniverse so we can get a little bit more ice.

Fine.

Cool.

We'll see where it goes.

Yeah.

And we'll try to not make it, you know, a month and a half between...

They have air jacks, too.

And I sent you...

They have air jacks?

Yes.

Cool.

I need air jacks in all my cars now.

I didn't know I could live without it.

How long would your air jacks be for the 470?

It could be, like, 17 feet long to get it off.

Oh, my God.

I just want them, okay?

Leave me alone.

Don't judge me.

Don't bring logic into this.

Here's the thing.

They're not actually air.

They use a different gas.

Does he say nitrogen?

Because air is 78% nitrogen.

No, no, it was...

I don't remember, but it was stronger than air because you have to put in so much of it to lift up a lot of weight.

I'm just imagining a 470 with, like, the pistons in the seats because they have to have the same length as the car.

Oh, man.

Air jacks in my cars.

It's the coolest thing ever.

I didn't realize that air jacks.

That makes them about 100 times cooler.

Yeah.

Just goes to show that we are all children at heart.

Car do cool thing.

Car be happy.

It says most of them are powered by nitrogen tanks.

Nitrogen.

Thank you.

Because nitrogen without the oxygen element is more stable and has minimal danger, like nitrogen by itself is not flammable.

Minimal danger for the, you know, race cars.

But that's like when they put nitrogen in your tires so the air is more stable in your tire.

Like, you're 80% there already.

Just leave it alone.

Well, you get creative off-stead gaps.

I have to fix my high-lift jack.

I've been saying this for probably three years now.

I need to get one.

I've been saying that for two years.

Just buy a high-lift extreme and call it and then use it properly.

No, because I don't have anywhere to keep it.

No, I'm just going to get, I sent you a picture of it.

It's like a bottle jack, but it's got like a built-in jack stand in it.

That's what I'm going to get.

Yeah, there you go.

So you get the air valve.

So you get the nitrogen or whatever the hell this is, tanks over here on the left and you just connect it and it goes poosh.

And then you make it safe.

You have like a little stand bracket anything that you put around this and then you can drop it on that and you have it on jack stands.

Oh, that's pretty cool.

Yeah.

All right.

I got to go race.

Okay.

Well, follow Camille on where do you want to be followed anymore?

I kind of gave up on fucking social media.

I saw it 220 some viewers now and I tried to put I decided that I'm going to post everything I do with it with regarding cars on there.

So I got a bike wreck the other day that went in.

I got a few videos from there from the race.

I spent all I didn't talk about my Lexus experience.

I watched it for the first time in a year, but mothers send me all kinds of.

Product like to do it with it looks so much better.

Holy crap.

So I'm going to have a big video about this and I'll write it out.

It's going to be great.

Cool.

Didn't you just Texas the photo that I did?

I did.

Tell me what worked because the paint on mine is jacked.

So my problem is I don't really watch cars.

So anything would have worked for me.

Anything would have made a substantial difference.

Three hours polishing it and doing what after how I was doing it.

There was like a downpour by like thunderstorms and everything.

But that gave me the choice to see how the water beads and and it was great.

Yeah, that's my that's my piece of crap with the product.

Like PTSD and I like it looks exactly like my truck used to look even though

it's a, you know, much worse generation older.

So fine.

No, I'll send you a picture of the paint on mine.

It's just all trail rash to myself.

Happy about it.

So OK, follow Camille or don't follow Camille.

And he's going to go get smoked in in probably GT something racing.

Bye.

Chris, would you like to be followed or are you also not looking for it?

I'm good.

You're good.

Go read stuff on universe.

Yeah.

Follow Chris on this show because he's he's doing this show with us.

We're very, very happy about that.

And yeah, I'm also again, not Jeff Lucker.

So follow me.

And I prefer if you just read my shit on universe.

And that's it.

Thanks for listening.

Yeah.

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