The Fiat 500 is a small car designed mainly for city driving. It’s easy to spot because of its compact, rounded look. In the podcast, someone sees a particular Fiat 500 and reacts strongly because it’s unexpected or special-looking.
The smart 42 is a very tiny city car meant for easy parking in small spaces. The hosts are comparing it to other small cars, and one key point is that you can’t get it with a manual transmission.
The Toyota IQ is a tiny car that tries to fit people and luggage efficiently. The hosts discuss it as an alternative to the smart, especially for how practical it is for everyday trips.
The Peugeot iOn is an electric car meant for city driving. Instead of using gasoline, it runs on electricity from a battery. The podcast mentions it because it fits a budget and because people aren’t always sure how to say its name.
A "manual" means you change gears yourself using a clutch and shifter. The host is saying it doesn’t matter much for city driving, where you’re stopping and starting a lot.
The Saab 9-3 is a regular-sized car made by Saab. The “Viggen” version is a more performance-focused version of the 9-3. In the podcast, it’s recalled as the car used for a prom, making it part of a personal memory.
The Audi R8 Spyder is a fancy, high-performance supercar with a convertible roof. The host says it’s not very comfortable for legs, which is why they ended up with leg ache during the event.
They’re talking about a Volkswagen Beetle—an old, famous car with a very recognizable shape. In this story it’s the “Blue Bug” they used to take someone around.
Car
Vauxhall Cavalier Cabrio
This is a Vauxhall Cavalier convertible. The host is saying it wasn’t the sporty version, but it still looked really cool and retro with the roof down.
This is a BMW M3 from the E36 generation. The “3 liter” part means it has a 3.0-liter engine, and that’s part of what makes the E36 M3 famous with car fans.
The BMW 3 Series is a sporty, mid-size car line made by BMW. The E36 M3 is a high-performance version of that model, built for driving feel and power. In the podcast, it’s mentioned as the car used for a trip to an event.
A micro switch is a little sensor/electrical switch. If it wears out, it can make the car’s window or door controls act weird—like not closing all the way.
Car
Hillman Avenger
The Hillman Avenger is an older British car that people often worked on themselves. Here it’s mentioned because it had rust on a suspension mounting point, which is the kind of problem you’d expect on an older car.
Leaf springs are part of the suspension, and the hangers are the metal brackets that hold them in place. If the hangers rust through, the suspension can get loose or start making noise, so you may need to repair or weld them.
A quick fix is a temporary workaround to keep a car going. It’s usually meant to solve the problem just long enough to get home or to a proper repair shop.
The exhaust system carries the engine’s fumes out of the car. If it comes loose, it can fall off or hang down, and you may need to secure it just to drive safely.
The Chevrolet Chevette is an older, small Chevrolet. Here it’s just the car the host’s mum drove, and it’s part of a story about improvising a roadside fix.
A jubilee clip is a clamp with a screw that tightens around a pipe. People use them to hold parts together—like exhaust or hoses—when something has come loose.
The Ford Excursion is a very large SUV meant for carrying lots of people and gear. It’s commonly used for long trips and events because it has a lot of space. In the podcast, it’s mentioned as the kind of car that gets used for those outings.
The alternator is what keeps the car’s battery charged and powers the electronics while you drive. If it stops working, the car can start dying because the battery isn’t being recharged.
The Mazda MX-5 is a small, fun roadster that’s built to be easy and enjoyable to drive. Here, the point is that the owner feels people treat their MX-5 more aggressively than other cars.
A “barn find” is an old car that’s been sitting unused for a long time and gets found later. People like them because they can be interesting and original, but they usually need work to get running again.
Term
algal
They’re basically saying the car looks like it’s been sitting outside or unused for a long time and has gotten really dirty or covered in growth. That’s common with cars found after storage.
“Pop-up lights” are headlights that sit tucked into the car’s front and then lift up when you switch them on. On some classic sports cars, like the early Mazda MX-5, that’s a signature look. It’s mostly about style and the car’s character.
MGF is a small British roadster (a two-seat open-top car). The host mentions it as another example of a car people might enjoy, similar to the Mazda MX-5. They’re using it to compare how different roadsters feel and how people react to them.
Term
secondhand ones
“Secondhand” just means used. The idea is that if there are lots of used examples, more people can afford them and get into the hobby.
This is a Porsche electric car (the Taycan) but in a wagon-like shape. It’s meant to be both quick and a bit more practical, and it tends to draw a lot of looks.
LIVE
I'm Richard Porter. I'm Johnny Smith. And this is on the other side of things, the Smith and Sniff
spinoff in which we answer your questions. It's a Friday, unless you're listening to this on a
different day. So here we are answering listeners' questions to hello at smithandsniff.com. I was
going to kick off with a very straightforward one from a listener called Nick, who says,
hello, you pair of ball joint dust covers that no longer prevent the ingress of dirt.
So specific. So MOT test eccentric as well. Yes. That's definitely MOT terminology. Nick
says I was training a guy the other day and a loud car went past. He looked and said,
that's a Fiat 500 R-Browth. I nearly wet myself. He's mangling off the mark. What's the worst
mangling of a car name you've ever heard? Oh, gosh, there was there were two people that have
recently referred to BMW Alpiners as Alpines and does really annoy me because you're like,
no, you're crossing the streams now because it's that's an entirely other brand. Well,
two other brands. It's obviously the audio equipment Alpine. And then you've got Alpine,
who in in in British would be Alpine. So you're like, come on, the waters have become murky
so quickly here. Just don't do it. Please My wife had a great one the other day.
She for some reason was asking me about BYD. Yes. Chinese car manufacturer. Yes. And but then
she for some reason she didn't I presume then she didn't think they were called BYD because
she didn't say BYD. She said, what's about what's going on with that Chinese car company?
You know, what they call build your own. No, not build. I suppose the D does look a bit like an
O and the cars used to say build your dreams on them before they realized that was shit and got rid
of it. But yes, but yeah, build your own. I thought that's that's a different concept. But if she
may be confusing it with bring your own where you have to take a bottle of wine to a restaurant.
Of course. Blast your drains. Yeah. And never put butter down
the drains ever. Oh no, don't do that. Never do that. Or lard. Don't put lard down there.
There was a reverse one of these where my parents went on a holiday to Cyprus.
And instead of recalling the people who live on Cyprus Cypriots, my dad kept calling them
citrons, which was very confusing. But it's sort of stuck with me now in my head I sort of
conflate the team. Right, I'm going to dive into a story, not a story, a question. It could be
story. I don't think it is. Okay, this is from a chap called Michael Michael Harper. Hello,
don't suppose you'll ever read this out. Well, you're wrong, Michael, because we will. Yeah.
If all goes well, I will be in the market for a small second car. And by small, I mean
really small, because we have an XC40 Volvo as a family car. And I want a second car that can
park in very tight spots on the streets. The obvious choice is a smart 42 but then
piston heads featured a Toyota IQ as a shed of the week. And my head was turned. All I'll do
with the car is use it to take the dog for a walk, me to an evening class, and perhaps my 16 year
old daughter to college and horse riding. Caveats are that I'm six foot five, and I have to be
comfortable with a budget of 4000 quid, potentially six if it was worth it. Which one of you two,
which one of these two would you go for? Or do you have any other suggestions? CMTMB Michael.
Well, we've talked about IQs before, because I'm a massive IQ fan. I'm also a smart 42 fan.
So I think they've got their pluses and they've got their minuses. The smart is a more interestingly
constructed car. The both of them steer have interesting steering feel. But you cannot buy
smart with a Manuel gearbox if that was a consideration. So the IQ gets a Manuel and the
IQ carries more than two people, doesn't it? Yes. Does it carry three or four? I feel like it carries
three realistic people. Realistically, yes, because it's got that scooped away dashboard on the passenger
side in the front. So the idea being that the front seat passenger can move their seat further
forward to allow leg room behind. But yeah, I think then behind the driver is not really much
going on. Unless the driver is very small. And obviously, that's not the case here. Yeah. Six
foot five. I think they're both great cars and trying to think if there's anything which gets
close to that. I think you would struggle to find one because I'm just looking here and there aren't
any, but it's a random one. But the Mitsubishi i. Oh, very narrow. It's not as small, but it is
very narrow. It is very narrow. Yeah. Yeah, I saw one the other day. Quite amusing to drive,
did you? Well, because there's IMEVs out there. Yeah. I would throw that in as well. If you
consider going electric, it sounds like it's going to be a sort of short distance local use car. So
an EV would be fine. But those IMEVs, or there's the Peugeot Citroen equivalents, I mean, they're
within budget. That's right. The Peugeot Ion. Isn't it the Ion? Yeah. Yeah, or Lyon as I called it.
Lyon. Ion like a Xion. Lyon and Xion. That's all of that. Exactly that. Yeah. So I'd think about
this because if you don't want the electric option, then try and track down a Mitsubishi i.
I don't know how they hold up because there was one used to live near where I lived in London
and it had gone a bit flaky on the arches. I would throw in a micro car, an Aix-en,
Ligier micro car MC1. If you want to have an appalling driving experience
for you to feel like life's just not worth it, drive one of those. And especially if you're an
atomizer by the diesel version. Do you want the smoothness of a single cylinder dumper truck
but in a badly made plastic car? Well, then get an AX whatever they are. AX MC1 micro. AX deodorant
or something. Honestly, they are dog mud. Absolute mud. I mean, I would, for what it's worth, I would
go IQ. I think just feel like, apart from the fact that you've got that little bit of extra practicality
if you need it. Take somebody else in the back but also the option of a manual box might be nice
for a little car zipping around. I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe that's not a requirement. Have
you got the three cylinder or the four cylinder engines in the IQ, haven't you? I think they're
all fours but they're one liter or 1.3. So the one liter is not massively powerful but maybe it
doesn't need to be in this context but then there's the option of 1.3 which is quite peppy
from memory. So yeah, I can't think of anything else that sort of fits that bill of being very,
very small unless you start getting into imported K-car stuff. Yes. Which you could. Gray import.
Of course. Of course. I very much consider that. K-cars, I speak from experience, are very small.
So no parking worries there. We get a K-van. We've talked about them many times. Yeah.
Potentially you've got a mystery machine, a shrunken Scooby-Doo mystery machine especially
and if you've got a dog, you'll just look like a strange cartoon character. I'm going to go with,
I'm going to go with the Smart 4 II and I'm going to go with the second generation. I think I like
the second gen overall the best and I don't care about a manual because of what kind of city,
urban work it will do. So that's what I would say and you'll get plenty of
second gen smarts for four grand. Plenty of good examples. Yeah. Go and do that then, Michael.
See if we care. I have a question here from another Michael but this Michael signs himself
as Michael from America. Oh, Hi, Mike. Mike America. He says,
morning you lovely pair of petrol station meat pies. He says he's piggybacking off a question
that was posed on Jalopnik, the American car website about what car you took to the prom
and his question is what car did you take to the prom but actually is prom an event in the UK
as it is here in America? If not a school dance then what about the best car for a first date?
For my junior prom I used my mother's LS 400 finished in a pearl white with 10 seats while
senior prom was my gray Saab 93 Viggen. What a time to be alive. Oh, great pair of cars.
Michael from America. The prom wasn't a thing here but somehow now it is. Yes.
Yeah, I can quite explain why. It is a thing now. I'm wondering whether Michael from America
is Michael McDonald. Oh, I mean he's a Michael from America. He is a Michael from America.
Michael from America has got great car tastes as we said the pearl white LS 400 Lexus. Oh,
yes please. Yes please, captain. Baller, yeah. Yeah, I mean I never did a prom. I'm sure you
didn't do a prom. It predates us. No, we had a Leavers disco. Yes. I might have even been called
the Leavers ball or somebody wasn't a ball. Basically he sort of hired a room in a local
hotel and everybody got a bit drunk whilst wearing smart clothes. That's right. That's exactly what
it was. And both my niece and nephew, my nephews and niece had proms and I supplied cars for the
three of those. One of them was a borrowed Audi R8 Spyder and we had to sit in an enormous amount
of holding traffic because they were doing like photos in front of the hotel when the
people, the kids were getting out the cars and all that for jazzle. So I got chronic leg ache
because anyone who has an R8 Roadster will tell you there's no leg room. It's just a pathetic
leg room car for a German car. They're terrible for tall people aren't they? Terrible. So that
annoyed me and it actually made me not want to drive one again. Then I supplied my Dodge for my
nephews. I supplied my Beetle for my niece because she really wanted to ride in the
Blue Bug and then a friend's son wanted the Dodge so we did that in the Dodge and I remember
mostly it's supercars. There's a lot of borrowed supercars. Really? Yeah, loads. But one of the
best ones I saw which is when I dropped my niece off with the Beetle and she was quite nervous so
I was hanging back with her and just chatting to her and waiting for her friends to turn up
is I told you a whole gang of other friends of hers rocked up in a Cavalier convertible.
Oh yes. You mentioned this on the podcast. Yeah. That's right. It was either a silver or
gunmetal metallic with the roof down and you just went that's so cool. It wasn't a sporting model
at all. It was just a Vauxhall Cavalier Cabrio and I was like yeah, so retro. Loved it.
Fair enough. Yeah, I didn't have a prompt. I didn't take a car. Probably someone's parents
dropped us off and then we all got quite drunk. I seem to remember that we were kind of drinking
Southern comfort at some point which I wouldn't do now revolting but yeah and then I stole
a curtain tie back from the hotel and tied it around my head like a bandana, ran across a motorway
and fell over on a golf course so it was a hell of a night. Is that genuinely what you did? Yeah.
You fool. Yeah. I know. I do slightly. I mean, God, if my parents had known they'd be horrified
about the well all of it theft and then run across a motorway just because it was I kind of remember
how just need to get from one side of the motorway to the other but never never run across a motorway.
Viewers listening. No, I know. I'm not proud of that. Anyway, that's a good one though. I'm sure
there's been some great problem vehicles. Yeah, I bet. I mean, that's the thing. I don't know when
it started becoming a thing here. It sort of feels like it's in the last 10, 15 years maybe?
Maybe more. Yeah, it has. I mean, it's definitely a 21st century phenomenon in this country prior
to that. No. Leave us disco at most. Yes. Right. This is a letter from Tony. Hi, you pair of 4D gel
number plates. On the way to Shedfest 2026 in my BMW E36 3 liter M3. Nice car, Tony.
The driver's window wouldn't close fully when I shut the door due to a worn micro switch.
Very annoying wind noise on the on the ride up. I had to think of a quick fix. Ah,
the spare corn plaster I had for my little toe worked to treat. Peel the back off, stick it on
the switch, sorted. It did remind me of my first car fix when I bought a in brackets Johnny cover
your ears two door yellow Hillman Avenger for £20 in 1987. I was 17 ish 20 pounds £20. That car
would have been like 10 years old and a two door. One of the front leaf spring hangers was corroded
needing a repair. Luckily, my mate had an arc welder, so we began to weld the corrosion.
So the next day when I rode to his house on my rally burner with my Blues Brothers shades on,
for my mate to open the door looking like Eric Astrada from Chips. We had a brief
conversation on why it felt like someone had poured sand in our eyes and we should have worn a mask.
Oh, no, archive. Anyway, we decided to tie the hanger with a rope instead, bonnet up
around the slam panel. This lasted approximately five miles. When judging a right hand bend,
the passenger wheel decided to turn right. Oh dear, the scrap man picked it up and gave me
25 quid. I was a fiver up on what I paid for the car. Any quick fixes that you guys have ever done
or seen that haven't quite worked? Cheers Tony Evans head of quality control at Land Rover.
Only joking. I'm a bin man. I don't know if he is a bin man either.
There's so much to unpack here, isn't there? There's an awful lot. I mean,
he decides that the trying to tie the broken hanger to the cross man. I know.
Well, we can see he's explained how that panned out. So quick fixes that didn't work.
Exactly. Well, I've told the story about my friend Blair who had a maestro that
decided he would jump a local humpback bridge in increments of about 10 miles an hour, I think,
and that ended with the entire exhaust system coming off the car and he needed to drive home
that night quite a long way. So we used his belt and maybe one of our belts to climb under the car
and lash it on as best as we could. And he drove home with just basically leather belts
holding the exhaust system up. And I think he got home, but it got very, very slack.
He said towards the end. It's like a like a bullbag in a sauna, but the full exhaust system.
So yeah, that wasn't a great fix. I've done some really idiotic things when I was 17 because I
just didn't understand how to mend it. And there weren't YouTube tutorials like there are now,
which are very useful, I have to say. Yes, you just have to ask your dad or a mate's dad or
your brother or your brother's mate who might have some engineering evidence. But yeah, I've
done some I've done some quite bad things like gluing things which are never going to hold with glue.
Yeah, I've definitely done that. I've seen people hold a ball joint in that's broken
with lots and lots of jubilee clips that we've undone. And then yeah, and tied them around and
then around the other way, then around the other, you know, like five jubilee clips holding a ball
joint in. No, I know it's awful. It's really not good. I'm missing bodges on the road. Like when
we were kids, it might have been a kid of the 80s thing or probably before that the 60s and the 70s
when when when poor people were genuinely poor. And there was no credit. And you just lashed a
car up a bit to keep it on the road, didn't you? Well, I think there were sort of more obvious
bodywork lash ups weren't there because cars just rotted more. And there was I suppose also more
simple construction of cars, things like bumpers just being, you know, bars that were kind of
mounted to metalwork. So there's a lot of bodgery there or they were just missing and sort of
the car kind of looked a bit naked. It did, didn't it? Not deliberately, it's just because things
had come off. That's right. Nothing like what it is now really. Well, so I was going to say that
when I was a kid, now I don't remember why this was, but one day we drove as in, I don't think,
I don't know where my brother was at this point, but it was me and my mum and some elderly relative.
We drove to Leicester, which is quite a distance from where we were, just below Manchester,
and in my mum's voxel Chevette. And while we were there, the exhaust blew
in some way or other. And my mum rang my dad at his office from a phone box because this was the
early 80s. And he said get some chewing gum and you can plug the hole with gum. No. And we weren't
allowed chewing gum in our house. Right. This was very exciting. And I remember standing next to
my mum's light blue Chevette with my mum and an elderly relative of some sort, all furiously chewing
like two or three sticks of Wrigley's at once to create this massive. Oh, did you get a lot of
jaw? No, no, I was having a great time because we were normally allowed gum. It's felt this is
like contraband. So I then created this sort of big wad of gum that she plugged the hole in the
exhaust with. And I think it sort of worked. But I would imagine it would just all melted and
fallen out again. I don't know. It seems like a weird thing to do. But my dad was an engineer.
He sort of he was generally good at this stuff. And I don't know why we didn't just drive home
with the blowing exhaust. I suppose it was probably quite loud and embarrassing. But
it's a long drive back from Leicester. And I don't remember the exhaust making a lot of noise.
So maybe the gum worked. Well, yeah, yeah, I mean, all you do the Eagle Quest trick
can have something beer soft, soft drink, slit it open, shroud the hole in the exhaust,
jubilee clip jubilee clip. That's why my dad used to always carry a jubilee clip.
Because it was like anything you said, you carry a screwdriver, jubilee clip.
Yeah, you just never know. Do you? You just never know. Just never know. Huh. You just never know.
Yeah, you just never know. Do you? Just never know. Huh. No, it's great. I miss all that stuff.
I really miss all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. When you when you go to a classic car show,
or you're in a car club that is quite active with driving to events or excursions, road trips,
it happens on on route. And I used to quite enjoyed some people I could tell were really
into that stuff. They'd want to pull over and help and find the solution that their problem
solved was like my brother of like, how can we get this thing moving again? Yes, how can we make
it? So because I've broken down at shows before I've, I've taken the alternator off my dodge when
I was drunk because I was at a festival. Can't exactly remember. All I know is that I had some
tools and we were there all weekend drinking. So I thought, I'll just do it over the course of
several days, just nice and slow. And it was actually fun because it wasn't raining or anything.
So I just, yeah, maybe a bit of malware was involved in that. But I did get an adult to
check my work first. So it's all fine. I know.
Let's move on. I've got a question here from a listener called Joe who is entitled,
why does my MX five get so much abuse? He says, hello, you lovely pair of car flutes.
I've been listening to the podcast loads recently on my commute. Don't worry, Johnny,
I do have a question. I've got a mark three MX five in winning blue that I've used as a
daily for the past two years. I absolutely love it. It's great fun and makes every drive enjoyable.
However, I've noticed I get far more negative reaction than in any other car I've owned,
shouting, tailgating and the odd bit of genuinely aggressive behavior. I've even had people
shout abuse and call me names just for driving it, which has started to knock my confidence and
sometimes makes me hesitant to take it out. I'm 32. No kids just trying to enjoy my time on the
road. Is this something Richard ever experiences in the Honda beat? And has Johnny ever had similar?
Or is there something about small convertibles that triggers people?
Have you experienced this sort of thing? And how did you not let it get to you? We'd love to hear
your thoughts. CMTNB Joe. That's awful. I feel a bit sad for him really. It's just uncalled for
behavior, isn't it? It's a long time since I've driven an MX five. In fact, I keep thinking that
I should ask to borrow one because I've heard the latest updates has made it even better. And
my friends at Evo took one on their car of the year last time and it scored really,
really highly against some real big hitting powerful competition. I'd like to do the same.
I keep meaning to book an MX five just because I haven't driven one for eons.
My worry is that I will drive the latest MX five and then I will just want the latest MX
five and then it'll become a pest in my brain. I did a barn find the other week and the person
that was helping tried to get his friend's car to fire up who'd written to me. He said,
Oh, one of my neighbors has got an MX five that's been sat there. It's really algal.
And it's a yellow one. It's a gen two. Is that NB? Yes. The yellow edition, which I think was
called the Arizona or something. I can't remember when it was Phoenix. And I went, Oh, that's my
favorite one. He went, Well, it's really algefied. He took it off the road about eight years ago.
And it doesn't look rusty. But he said, Oh, let me have it for for a thousand quid. I was like,
Oh, I wonder if it's if it's not rusty, that might be really good. And I keep sitting there going,
Oh, should I, should I shan't I probably shouldn't know maybe this will make Joe feel
better and strange kind of way. But I was driving along the other day with my lad in the passenger
seat and he's 12 and a Mark one MX five went past the opposite way. And my boy got really excited
about this. And I was like, I didn't know that you liked those news. They're so cool.
He clearly knows about them from like games or the internet or I don't actually know what, but
but when I we talked about it some more, it's the mark one particularly. And I appreciate
Joe's as a mark three, but but the mark one, particularly because of the pop up lights.
It's interesting that certainly if you're a 12 year old, you think MX fives are quite cool,
apparently, I didn't realize that. So that's that's quite good. But I don't know. I've driven the
MX fives a lot over the years. And I'd never experienced that. And I don't think I've had that
in like MGFs or any other sort of, you know, said threes, fours, whatever.
No, I don't get it in the beat. I mean, the beat because it's a bit of a curio that the
the worst I've ever had is waiting at some traffic lights for people to cross and this woman with
her kids in a town near here, looked at my car and then turn to her kids in a very West country
way went, Oh my God, look at that car. It's so tiny. And I had the roof down. So obviously,
I could hear every word. It is a fact. That's a fact. Well, it is. That's a thing. Yeah,
that's not an insult. She wasn't going look at that guy in that tiny car. What a prick. That
would have been more hurtful. But she was just stating fact it is so tiny. So yeah, fair enough.
Yeah, I don't know. I've saddened by that. What I find is I find very much so it depends on the
time of day. If you're stuck in the rush hour, zero, there's a zero tolerance to whatever you
drive in the rush hour. So if I'm driving a classic car in the rush hour, nobody wants nobody
has time for you. Nobody gives a shit. Everyone will cut you up. Never let you out of junctions.
It's almost like people see red mist and it's like I've got to get to work and I will trample
on skulls to do that. And it's it's quite stressful when you're in an old car, because you're trying
to navigate more things and obviously the cars usually a bit slower or you feel a bit more
vulnerable. And that that is annoying. Because you go come on, just give me a bit of a break.
I get an impression, a little window into what it might be like to be an old person
walking through town when everyone else might be younger than you. And you're swimming. You're
a slower swimmer than everybody else. So yeah, everything just feels a little bit more stressful.
But I feel, yeah, I think it's a real shame that people are like that. I mean, I think
MX-5s are really popular for loads of reasons with young people. It's mostly the gaming fraternity,
but also the fact that you can modify them so well and personalize them on so many different
levels. You can make them look totally different with some key mods. And that yeah, that people
weren't doing that as much 20 years ago with MX-5s. They still had this stigma of being sneered out
by people who weren't quite, they didn't quite understand them. But now they've the floodgates
have opened. There's so many secondhand ones. They're a real drive car that you people under
21 can actually stand a chance of living with. So that's great. It's when I borrow supercars that
I get most of the worst things said to me, historically. Yes, I that's true. I think that
like I was, I haven't talked about it yet in the podcast, I will soon, but I recently borrowed a
Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo, which is a terrific car. And it got a lot of attention. And most of
it seemed to be positive. But I think in a car like that, because it was quite striking looking
thing. And you could see people, I hadn't quite appreciated how much actually people sort of
double take, but you are conscious that it is also in inverted commas a flash car. And there's
going to be some people who are not going to like it. And so I sort of find that sometimes if I think
that people are going to think I'm a flash get I kind of try and drive in an extra considerate way
to confound their expectations of me being a prick. I think that's the issue. But people are,
people can be quite nasty. I think people should just be a little bit more considerate and understand
that an old car or a small car can't do the things that a new car can do. And just bear that in
mind. Like people at tailgate learner drivers, you're being a bastard. You're
And one day someone's going to come up behind you. Well, you're at a dinner party and they're
going to pull your trousers down because they think it's funny and your pants will come down too.
And people will laugh at you. Okay, that's a fact.
A salutary lesson in what can happen if you tailgate a learner driver there.
Okay, well, anyway, we should we should wrap this up. If you've got a question for us, it's
hello at smithandsniff.com. Put Otis Otter on the start of your subject line. It just helps us to
find questions in amongst all the other emails that we receive. We'll be back doing this next
Friday, normal show on Monday. Until then, goodbye. Bye now, everybody. Live, laugh, love.
Pseco o'clock.
Exactly.
About this episode
Hosts field listener questions, trading mispronounced car names and brand mix-ups, then pivot into “tiny car” choices for tight city parking—smart fortwo vs Toyota iQ, plus EV microcar alternatives. The conversation turns personal with prom-car stories and borrowed vehicles, including an Audi R8 Spyder leg-room complaint and a Shedfest 2026 BMW E36 M3. Later, they swap roadside “bodge” repair tales (from door micro-switches to exhaust fixes with gum) and discuss why MX-5s attract more attention, especially with pop-up headlights winning over younger fans.
In this episode of the Smith and Sniff second show, Jonny and Richard answer audience questions about mangled car names, Smart ForTwo v Toyota iQ v something else, prom cars, quick fixes that didn’t quite work, and a listener wonders why his MX-5 gets so much abuse.
