Full Throttle Talk Mar 18, 2026

The $20K Car Challenge, America’s New Hypercar, and Why the Lexus LC500 Deserved Better

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Car

Audi R8

The Audi R8 is a fast and fancy car that looks like a racecar but you can drive it on normal roads. It has a strong engine and is fun to drive.

Concept

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer is a website where people can buy and sell special cars by bidding on them, kind of like an online auction for cars that car lovers like.

Car

Lotus Amira

The Lotus Emira is a new sports car made by Lotus that is light and built to drive well. It is one of the last new cars from Lotus with a regular gas engine.

Car

Lotus Elise

The Lotus Elise is a small sports car made by Lotus, a British car company. It's very fun to drive but can be hard to get into or sit in if you're tall because it's quite small inside.

Part

A quick release steering wheel is a special steering wheel you can take off quickly, which helps you get in and out of the car easier. But if your car has airbags, you usually can't use one without turning off the airbags.

Term

factory airbag

A factory airbag is the airbag that comes with the car when it is made. It helps keep you safe if you crash.

Part

seat bottom

The seat bottom is the part of the seat you sit on. In some cars, the shape can press on your legs and make them go numb.

Concept

seat slider

A seat slider lets you move the seat closer or farther from the pedals and steering wheel so you can sit comfortably.

Car

Audi S5

The Audi S5 is a faster and sportier version of a regular Audi car called the A5. It has a stronger engine and better parts to make it drive better.

Term

massage seat

A massage seat is a special car seat that can gently move or vibrate to help you feel relaxed while you drive.

Company

Bringing a Trailer

Bringing a Trailer is a website where people buy and sell special cars, often classic or rare ones. It helps car lovers find and buy cars safely.

Concept

carbon fiber body

A carbon fiber body means the car's outside panels are made from a very light and strong material called carbon fiber. This helps the car be faster and easier to handle.

Part

supercharger

A supercharger helps the car's engine make more power by pushing extra air into it, which helps it burn more fuel and go faster.

Part

limited-slip differential

A limited-slip differential helps the car's wheels get power better so they don't spin too much, which makes the car handle better and go faster around corners.

Part

rear subframe brace

A rear subframe brace is a part added to make the back part of the car's frame stronger, which helps the car handle better when driving.

Term

unsprung weight

Unsprung weight is the weight of parts like wheels and brakes that aren't held up by the car's springs. Making these parts lighter helps the car drive smoother and handle better.

Part

uprights

Uprights are parts that hold the wheels in place and connect them to the car's suspension. Making them lighter helps the car turn and drive better.

Term

Helmholtz chamber

A Helmholtz chamber is a special part in the car's exhaust that helps stop annoying humming sounds inside the car, making the ride quieter and more comfortable.

Car

Pontiac Fiero

The Pontiac Fiero is an old sports car made by Pontiac that has its engine in the middle of the car. It was unusual for its time but had some problems.

Car

Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car made by Porsche. It has a unique design and is very popular among car fans.

Term

hypercar

A hypercar is a super fast and very expensive car that uses the newest technology. Only a few are made because they are special and rare.

Concept

halo car

A halo car is a special, fancy car that a company makes to show how good they are. It might not make money, but it helps people like the brand more.

Concept

acoustic tuning

Acoustic tuning means making the car's engine and exhaust sound better or more special by changing how the sounds come out.

Car

Porsche 911 Carrera S (991.2)

The Porsche 911 Carrera S (991.2) is a sporty car from Porsche with a turbocharged engine. It is known for being fast and precise but sounds different from older versions.

Term

turbocharger

A turbocharger is a part that helps a car's engine make more power by pushing extra air into it. This can make the car faster but can also change how the engine sounds.

Concept

grand tour

A grand tour car is one that is good for long trips. It is comfortable and fast, so you can drive far without getting tired.

Term

GR products

GR products are special sporty cars made by Toyota. They are designed to be fun to drive and have better performance than regular cars.

Car

Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon

The 1994 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon is a bigger luxury car with lots of space for passengers and stuff. It's known for being strong and lasting a long time.

Term

asymmetric side view mirrors

Asymmetric side view mirrors mean the mirrors on the left and right sides of the car are shaped differently to help the driver see better and make the car more aerodynamic.

Concept

Formula One

Formula One is a type of car racing where the fastest and most advanced cars race on tracks all around the world. It's like the top level of car racing.

Brand

Honda

Honda is a company from Japan that makes cars and engines. They also make special engines for very fast race cars.

LIVE

But you guys had an interesting week this week. Blair went to see Shenu and bought Shenu's rather

famous 111RS Lotus Elise, which is arguably the coolest Lotus Elise on plant earth. So congratulations

Blair and congratulations Shenu. And Shenu, are you feeling a little bit more, are you going to

build another one? Are you feeling sad? Oh yeah. No, no, no, listen, I have to build another one.

That was my favorite, you know, 111RS. And I couldn't be happier that it went to Blair. That's

honestly, you know, one thing that makes me feel good about the whole thing and you know,

giving up that car to another cool guy. So this is awesome.

Welcome to Full Throttle Talk, the podcast where horsepower meets conversation from supercars

to classic legends, high revving tech to motorsport mayhem. We covered all straight from the driver's

seat, whether you're a gear head eraser or just love the thrill of the open road, you're in the

right place. Buckle up, hit the gas, and let's go full throttle into today's episode. That is

awesome. And so Blair, your big consideration when deciding whether, so tell the story. I mean,

you basically flew blind into see Shenu and Temecula. Go ahead. Well, listen, anybody who's

been listening to this podcast now for a few weeks knows that I got prescribed by the good

car doctors of Shenu and Temecula. That's right. To go buy a Lotus and I'm a very compliant patient,

you know, and Shenu certainly had no ulterior motive with this at all, being the king of Lotus

in this country. So yeah, you guys were really kind of in sync with where my head was at. Trying to

replace the Audi R8 became a fairly stressful task because I wanted to get it right. I wanted to

have a new experience and, you know, I'm a perseverator when it comes to, you know, consuming

information and making this decision. So the way this came to be was, you know, Shenu on the last

podcast mentioned that this 111 RS that had become fairly internet famous recently and

set, which I will say it's sad that it took some of this YouTube kind of promotion in order for

this car to come to light because it's so spectacular. But he said he was going to run this thing

through Bring a Trailer and it just, and I had just made a guy an offer on a Lotus Amira. We just

couldn't agree financially. I think he was wanting too much for, you know, a high mileage Amira.

So Shenu and I were talking a couple of weekends ago and I asked him what it would take or what

he's hoping to get out of that car and he threw out a number and I said, well, maybe I should just

buy it Shenu. And the incredible guy that Shenu is, he says, oh man, if you're considering buying

this, he made me an offer. He gave me a number that was less than what he was hoping to get the

car for to his credit. And I said, well, now I just feel like I have to do this. So that's really

how this thing originated. You know what? I'm being seen. Shenu has been laying the trap for

weeks here on the show. I'm not that good, guys. No, no, I know. Well, I mean, I want to know,

did you, obviously the big question was you, and clearly the answer is yes, but the first time you

sat in the thing, or trying to sit in the thing, worrying about your size because you're tall,

and, you know, tell us about that experience. I mean, that's what the audience wants to know.

I think he was racked with anxiety when he walked into the shop. He was. He talked about that for

three weeks in a row. I want to get one. I just don't know if I'll fit, but you did fit at least

once. Yeah. Well, it's interesting because there's a lot of resources on YouTube and online about

tall guys fitting in lotus elitists. I am 6'2". Now, Shenu and I were laughing that a lot of

guys say they're 6'2", 6'3". I'm just without shoes, a smidge under 6'2", and I weigh 225

pounds, and I like to think it's a relatively fit 225, but it's still 225 pounds. And I am not.

It's funny, a physical therapist told me like a year ago, because I have SI joint problems

to make this even worse. He said, Blair, you're the stiffest guy I've ever worked on in 20 years,

so I am not flexible. And so I was genuinely scared about this, watching YouTube videos about

guys getting in and out of these things. So I found a local guy. It was actually Todd from

Everyday Driver. Yeah. He's a big lotus guy, and I know his photographer really well. He's done

my bringing trailer photography. And there's no lotus elitists for sale in Utah right now. There's

always at least one or two of these things. I had a major panic about, can I get in and out of this

car? So their photographer, Chance, set me up with Todd. He was very gracious to let me come. I said,

I don't want to drive his car or drive your car, Todd. I just want to see if I can get in and out.

So we met in Park City, and he's about my height. So he showed me how he gets in and out. So that

really dispelled, but I had already booked a flight to come see Shenoo on Thursday. So

that dispelled some of my concerns, just getting in and out.

Did you have to roll the top? What kind of origami was necessary?

No, honestly, no. I usually get in because of my back problems. I usually turn sideways like an

old man and get my butt on the seat, and then turn and get into any car. That's just not possible

with this thing. Otherwise, you got to fold yourself to not hit your head on the roof.

But no, I just put my right foot down in. He said, get it all the way up into the footwell.

And then the nice thing about the Elise is the door seal, which makes this difficult,

also really aids, because then you can kind of sit on the sill and just slide in. And

like I say, I'm not limber, but I try to be somewhat athletic. I can still move a little bit.

So yeah, so I got in. And once you're in, it's actually not bad at all. And then getting out

is a little bit of a chore, but using the steering wheel and such a new you had. You had a quick

release on the steering wheel, right? No, no, this car still got the factory airbag in it.

And if you go to a quick release, you got to basically have to defeat the airbag. And I'm

a big proponent of keeping airbags in place on a street car. That makes sense. Yeah.

Did you lower the seat in his? So is this seat? That seat is actually, it's one of our what we

call our big boy seats. So it sits just a little bit lower than the stock seat. And the seat bottom

is actually is like formed to be more comfortable for broader guys. And that seat has saved quite a

few of our clients from selling their cars, because the stock seats are pretty notorious for

for killing blood circulation in people's legs. The side of the seat bottom kind of cuts off the

circulation and makes people's legs go numb. And so people get rid of these cars that are bigger.

But this seat is wonderfully comfortable for those folks. And we designed it specifically for them.

It still fits on the factory slider. So you can slide it forward and backwards. And that's why a

guy short as me can use that exact seat, because I can pull the seat forward to the point where I

can reach the pedals. But then, you know, a guy's tall as Blair can have the seat all the way back

and also be comfortable. You just referred to yourself as short. How tall are you? I'm five

three. Okay, yeah, you're short. I'm five eight. You're only you are only five three. I did notice

like, Oh, yeah, she knew she knew it was a little short, but she knew I'm not bragging.

Five eight is still short, brother, because five nine eight eight is average. Yeah, no.

Okay, now he's picking on me. But the my point is you and I are ideally heightened for race car

drivers. Yes. Yeah, exactly. That's how we live life. That's how I voice and air travel to you

know, I never am uncomfortable on a plane. So that's true. And well, it's funny. This sucks.

But so the funny thing about this seat is my angst. So my angst was quelled about getting

in and out of the car. But then I just had I had more panic set in about being comfortable in the

seat. And I have funny story. I have such a terrible history with seats and cars. Like I said,

my SI joint and I'm in the car a lot. It makes it hard to find a seat that works for me. I mean,

as an example, I flew to Vegas years ago to buy an Audi s five. It was a cool green color. My

boy and I went to use as a daily driver. And we flew down there, got it home. It was the prestige

trim, had a massage seat. I like German seats. They usually do them right. I sold that car after

nine days. For some reason, the seats were killing my my low back and hip. So that that gives you

an example of how high maintenance I am with my seats. So I had a total panic. And I'm like,

there is no way this little carbon bucket that Matt Farah also didn't get square with there.

There was no way this thing was going to work for me. And so that's when I showed up. It was

really fun to meet Shenu. You can see in this picture, you know, we had what ended up being

a really great day together. It was so fun to pull up to his office. And but I wasn't a state of

panic. I was talking to my buddy and my wife, you know, right before I got to his office.

And and I'm like, I don't have to buy this car. Keep reminding me. I don't have to buy this car.

Let me ask some more questions. So this are you messaging you on WhatsApp too, by the way,

as far as the as far as the car goes, this car has not had a single part of it that hasn't been

touched. And I want Shenu to talk about that because that's what really impressed me. By the way,

you should know that I had our also considered buying that car from Shenu. You didn't know that

that I had. And the reason I didn't is, frankly, I didn't want to bring it to Puerto Rico. It would

not be a happy car in Puerto Rico. You know, the way he's got it set up. And there's a lot of just,

you know, normal road things times about 15 donkeys on the way to school. And, you know,

there's some wild horses and, you know, normal stuff that you guys experience all the time in

Utah and Southern California, I'm sure. But so Shenu, this thing from stem to stern basically

is a bit of every, there's no untouched surface on this, including the exterior of this thing.

You remove the front turn signal lights, you put in brake suspension, walk us through from

stem to stern, all the things that have been changed. Yeah, I mean, pretty much anything

that can wear out, you know, has been either replaced or reconditioned, right? So the suspension,

you know, brandy shocks, right? Wishbone bushes, ball joints, the brakes, the calipers, we refresh

the calipers so we don't replace the calipers, but they get completely refreshed and rebuilt.

You know, the shifter mechanism is our system. The engine gets completely rebuilt.

Okay, I'm going to talk, every time you say something, I think it's cool. It's probably,

if it's cool to me, it's cool to somebody else too. So the shifter mechanism, I saw this thing,

and it does look beautiful. It looks like a work of art. It looks like one of those things you see

in a Pagani. Oh, Blair's kind of a picture of it. So talk about that. What did you change? Because

the normal shifter mechanism of that thing is out of a Toyota diesel truck, if I remember

correctly, and it's a cable shifter, right? No, I mean, it's a bespoke shifter from Lotus,

but it's just not very good. Some of them are actually okay, if I'm honest, but they generally

wear out over time. And so it's the one part of the, well, there's a couple of things on the Lotus,

at least that are a little bit of a disappointment. The shifter can be, you know, probably about 25%

of the cars knew they're kind of a, they're a bit of a disappointment. And part of it is because

it's cable actuated, which is always an issue. Okay. And so we improve that. This is actually our

second generation shifter. Our first generation was also very well received. And we came with a

second generation a few years ago. I'm going to interrupt you again. Sorry. Yeah. Cables as in

literal cables, and then you're replaced with, you're replacing with rods. That's where, with the

different, no, no, no. So we still replace with cables, but our cables are much higher quality

with a lot less what's called backlash. So there's less slop in the system. Okay. So when you move

the lever, it's actuating the linkage at the gearbox. Okay. So it's just a much better system.

You know, again, we can spend more money than Lotus can, you know, in the aftermarket. So we can

specify a much better product. And so as a result, the shift action from the beginning to the end,

we had, we addressed pretty much every part of that. And it makes it significantly better.

So the shift cables in the OEM one, would they stretch out or what would cause?

Yeah, I mean, yep, they're, they're also a little bit sloppier just from the get go. But then one

of the problems that they have is they break and they'll, they'll separate at this one joint. And

that'll cause the car to be essentially unshiftable. So yeah, that's, that's, there's really a couple

three things Olivia stranded on this car. One is the radiator, which of course we replace on the

car, the shifter cables. And then there's these toe link, you know, toe links in the rear that

are known to shear off. Generally speaking, those are the three things that if you address those

things, you're not likely to be stranded with, with the Lotus. And so yeah, they're, they're,

you know, we, again, gearbox gets rebuilt, new wheels, new tires, new exhaust. I mean, we,

we end up going through the car in a pretty thorough manner. So you end up with something

that's just elevated. What about transmission gearing? So in, like in the case of, of Blair's car,

we put the stronger third and fourth gears that are available. But more importantly,

we put an OS geek and limited slip differential. That thing is the cat's meow. I mean, it is simply

the coolest drive line in improvement we've ever offered on the car. It allows you to get on to

the power sooner. It's just a night and day difference over stock, which is either an open

diff or the tourism type LSTs that they put in from the factory. So anyways, yeah, that, that car,

we, we, it's got all, it's got all the tricks. I love that thing. It just, it performs so well.

So someone would upgrade, let's, let's go through all of it, right? So you had the,

obviously the brakes. I know you had a hot rod motor in it, which is really cool that you did

that, not just hit the easy button going with the Honda motor. Yeah. Well, I mean, the irony is the

Honda motor is not the easy way to go. And it doesn't deliver, frankly, a great street experience.

So, you know, the mountain engine, well, we, we have mountain building us our motors and they go

through the engine, forged pistons, you know, better springs for the valves, you know, we,

we had, they, they balance every rotating, you know, component down to about a half a

gram, which is, which is like F one spec. So way that engine spins, it spins like a Honda.

So that's what I tell people, there's really no reason to put a Honda, just get one of these,

you know, one of our built motors, it spins like a Honda and it sounds great. It's,

it's stronger. It doesn't inherently make more power. Okay. So you have to tune the car to

actually make more power. And this car has got our Katana 275 Supercharger kit on it.

So it's making about 275 horsepower and so significantly more than stock. And so

a more drivable car, certainly one that is far more responsive as well.

That's awesome. So if someone in this, you, did you read the body on this one? Like I said,

I know the turn signals in the front were gone. Right. We deleted that. And then there's a few

things that we took care of, but we did, it was not a complete repaint on this car.

Generally speaking, what we're doing with the cars is more about the mechanicals,

but customer wants everything repainted. We certainly have done that too.

But generally, most people that are getting these cars, we've done eight now, they're driving them,

they're enjoying the cars, they are hammering them in the canyons, they're taking it to the track,

they're having fun with the cars. So the cosmetic side of it seems to be, at least for our clients,

so far has been a little bit less important to them. So, you know, that, that saves a lot of

money because painting cars nowadays is really expensive, especially in Southern California.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, so the, the core on this car there, did you guys see that red one that

sold on bringing trailer for with 8,000 miles that sold? I, that sold for pretty decent money.

I thought almost 50 grand, I think 40 something, 40, I think so. Yeah. So from if someone,

when someone wants to contact you about building one of these, you know,

ridiculously perfect sports cars from, you know, if they're doing all the same things that Blair's

car has, what would that cost? About 115, you know, again, base, you know, based on, yeah,

for that one, 115. Right. Got it. And so what could somebody do if they wanted to go absolutely

crazy and they, and let's just say the body and whatnot's in really good shape. They don't want

to put any money in bodywork. That's it. You're done. Yeah. No, I mean, you know, you're saying

if they don't want to do the bodywork, if it doesn't need it, because under a hundred grand,

under a hundred grand. Well, it's cause she knew you and I were looking around the world and we

found like guys that are making these things all carbon fiber and whatnot. And then you look,

you look to see what they're doing mechanically and it wasn't really, it was the same as what

you're doing, if not frankly less. And no, it's less. I mean, none of them have developed the

car to the level that we have. And I'm not just saying that, you know, I agree. Okay.

The parts that are on our cars, we've developed and we developed them to work together and we're

not just buying parts from from some other supplier and putting them on a car. I mean,

even the nitrons that are in the car, we developed the valving and the spring rates on that. So

the car is tuned by us, developed by us with components that we've designed that we get

sourced. So it's a much more bespoke, integrated solution than frankly any other Lotus company

out there. And the weight savings of all carbon fiber body over the composite body on these cars

isn't that great anyway. But my point is, is that yeah, I mean, there's, there is some savings to

be had. I mean, even like, yeah, so Blair's car with, with all fluids in it was just over 2000

pounds. That's incredible. Honestly. Full tank of fuel, everything. So is that like, what's,

factory would that have weighed? So from the factory again, it's, you know, the numbers are

pretty, they fluctuate quite a bit right around 2000 pounds too. I mean, it's, it's, I don't know

that, you know, we didn't save much with this car because we've added things and we took things out.

Well, supercharger, better quality suspension, I'm sure you did a lot in the torque, the limited

slip and all things like that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so, you know, we added things like our rear subframe

brace, that's added weight, but we take weight out of the important places like unsprung weight.

That car has a well over 20 pounds of unsprung weight savings versus stock and that's the

significant thing that you can feel wheels, the wheels, the brakes, you know, the even the

suspension is lighter. Okay. So, you know, shocks are you only use about 50% of the weight savings

from from shocks, but all those components are lighter. So we've, we've, we've saved significant

unsprung weight on the car. You miss it? I think you do. Yeah. Listen, man, I've had a dozen of

these cars and that we've gone through different iterations. Like actually right behind me is

our newest thing that, why does this not work? It was working. You just hold it closer. Oh,

there it is. There it is. Yeah, just hold your hand closer. There you go. There it is. So,

I don't know. Like what, what am I not, I'm telling you, dude, it's just got to hold your hand

closer. Oh yeah. Maybe there's, there's some side of, side of it here. So that what's behind me

is some new uprights that we've developed based off of our racing uprights. So there's another,

almost 10 pounds of unsprung weight savings that we can gain from, from those. So I'll be putting

those on the next car that we do. I'm probably actually going to just, well, you know, for us,

are these cars are always development, you know, cars. So we're always testing new things. And so

that'll be the next thing. You know, there's only so much unsprung weight you can find.

The uprights are that next opportunity for us for a street car. So that's the, that'll be

the next thing that we're going to do. So I'm pretty excited about that. Well, having done a

million car projects, I can, in my humble opinion, you're pricing this very well. And, and if you

look at to see what the other, mostly the guys that are modifying over in England are modifying

S ones. And, you know, I'll say it again, if you guys are interested in having the ultimate

street Lotus, I can't imagine why you wouldn't do business with Mr. Shenu. So there we go.

All right. You guys want to go out? You guys want to ask? So by the way,

in case we didn't mention it, this is full throttle talk that we are celebrating the

incredible handover of the 111 RS from Shenu to Mr. Blair. All right. So guys, let's move on.

And we'll bring back in more story. You know what? Before we do, I want to do,

I want to know what that was like driving that thing back from Temecula, California.

Can you share one story about like when you, when you finally, when you actually felt it for what

it was, was there a little sort of moment of enlightenment where you go, Oh my gosh, this

is truly different. Are you still waiting for that? No, it didn't take long. And fortunately,

right when I got to Shenu's shop, and you can see it behind me, like,

Shenu is the real deal. And his shop is so cool. It's amazing that more people don't know about

what they're doing down there. But the seat was comfortable to my earlier point. I was, I was

floored by that. But then that's when the excitement started. Like, I think I'm really going to be

able to make this work. So Shenu has a great twisty road, right? Five minutes above his office,

his shop. So honestly, when we jumped in that car, and he said, okay, let's go up to this twisty road,

it hit immediately. It doesn't take long to realize this thing is different. This is a

very special car. And I knew immediately, that's exactly what I wanted. But yeah, it's, it is a,

it's very aggressive. It's raw. But in all the right ways, you know, the suspension is compliant.

And, you know, it just ripping this thing. And I think that my favorite thing about this car,

perhaps, is that it still acts very much as a naturally aspirated car. It is very linear. I

expected way more shove of torque in the lower RPM range. And that's really not, you have to wrap

this thing out. And once you get it on second cam, and it switches over, it's just the thing starts

to pull. It's making insane noises. And it, it pulls hard all the way up to 8,200 RPMs. And

I said, okay, Shenu, we're, we're, he said, no, keep driving. I'm like, no, we're done. Let's go

to the bank. We're like immediately, I knew this is the car I had to have. And so yeah, that was

the moment, honestly. Now driving it. What's the red line? What's the red line on this thing? I

was like, okay, we're done. It was fun to be at his shop. And then, you know, I got a picture behind

me about the, the drive to Las Vegas where I've got family and I was going to spend the night.

And just the cockpit of this car, it is so fun to be in and driving 10 hours home to Salt Lake

is not really the use case for this car. It got fairly punishing and was exhausting. And, but it

was, I mean, I love this type of experience. And to do it in this car, it was spectacular.

So yeah, the, the, the moment I knew was five minutes from Shenu's office. And maybe even

before that you get in it and you take off and there's just this texture and a raw aggressive

kind of taught feeling of this thing. And the shifter that Shenu described spectacular.

It's very mechanical, but not too, it's not super heavy. And first gear is like literally

in my right knee, which is just the ergonomics. It's right next to the steering wheel,

which I love, you know, you're, you're not hunting for this thing. I don't have to

lunge to get up to first, third, fifth. How far, how far is your hand, your right hand

from the top of the shifter? Like, can you? Oh, you're talking just, just beyond the,

like the width of my palm. That's incredible. It is right there. And like, so all of that,

the stuff that we love to get in a car and just, you feel like a racing driver, you know, the,

the old school kind that are ship rowing their own gears and then it's, it's driving Nirvana.

When you want driving raw, aggressive, snorty, I mean, this thing, he tuned the exhaust as well

to really open up when you get on it. So yeah, I mean, it makes some of the lotus kind of drive

train noise or whatever, you know, when you're, when you're at the lower rev range, but once you

get on it, it screams the exhaust. I don't know, Shanu, if it has a valve that opens up above

5,000 or something, how'd you tune it? It's got what's called a Helmholtz chamber in it. And so

it's just a mechanical chamber that filters out drone. So the lower frequencies that cause, you

know, that in cabin kind of humming and droning that you'll get particularly on these four cylinder

engines. So it filters that out. It's all mechanical. It's pretty cool, very, very cool, but it allows

the car to scream at the higher RPMs. So it has a bit of a higher pitch, which I prefer, you know,

more sport bike, more F one style of sound. Well, the new luxury is definitely lightness. And to

your, what you started out by saying is that you're surprised more people don't know about it.

I think that we're going to see in the very near future, that whole things, you know, swing back

around. And it's similar to where our next segment is that we're about to talk about. The reality of

this is when everything's fast, when everything's expensive, when everything's a flex and people

want to differentiate themselves, you know, they're going to definitely discover lotuses. And I,

you know, I, how many, they sold, what, 3,000, 4,000 of these things? Was it globally or how

many leases S twos did they make? Total, I somewhere in the neighborhood, I think 14,000.

Is it really? Oh, my gosh. That's incredible. Don't you think? Honestly.

Yeah. I mean, you know, they sold 7,000, 7,000 of those here in the States.

I had no idea. I had no idea they did that many. Well, I mean, hell, you could,

what's the cheapest you've ever seen one? Oh, the cheapest lotus?

Yeah. I mean, in rough condition. Yeah. Yeah. 15 grand.

Okay. So someone could buy a 15 grand, at least assuming, well, actually, it's an

bit tough nowadays. I think you're probably looking 20 to 25 for a rough one.

How long was the bonded chassis guaranteed for? Because at the time, wasn't that new technology

where there, they didn't know how long the glue would last described? Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean,

actually in the mid nineties, when they launched this car at the Society of Automotive Engineers

show in Detroit, it's like auto industry trade show. I was there and the manufacturer of the

chassis was there. And so I asked them, I said, Hey, how long is this chassis going to last?

You know, I had worked at Fiero where we were, you know, where we were welding the space frames

together, right? And here was a chassis that's extruded aluminum that's being glued together

and riveted. So I was pretty skeptical that this was going to last very long. Of course,

I'm enamored with it because it's so light and cool, very innovative. And he said, look, we think

it's going to last 100,000 miles, but we're honestly not sure. And so yeah. But look, they're

lasting. We've got people to 300,000 miles on these chassis and no issues, no issues at all. So

I think, you know, again, these are a lot of the advantages of lightweight. They don't stress

components like the heavier cars do. And so things last much, much longer. You know, I was

joking around with Blair that, you know, he'll get, you know, he'll probably get 50 track days out

of those road, the brake rotors that are on that car. Because it doesn't weigh anything.

Yeah. I mean, it just, it doesn't weigh anything and the car just, things just hold up.

Yeah. And so have any manufacturers copied Lotus with the, you know, adhered alloy structures?

Is anyone else doing that? No one is doing it that hasn't worked with Lotus, right? So Aston has

used it, you know, courtesy Lotus, you know, Lotus, of course, have continued to use it on the

Avorra and now the Amira. So it hasn't been used as much as people would like. It's, you know,

it's a technique. It's a construction that works on pretty low volume cars. But there are certain

limitations to it, of course, with it too. So that must be why, because it has to mostly be,

how much hand work is necessary for this? Probably quite a bit. Oh, that explains why we're not

seeing more mass adoption. All right. You guys want to skip over automotive news unless you guys

have got really good things, because I think we discovered the most automotive news that's most

important for full throttle talk. Well, I mean, you know, with all the Porsche talk, you guys saw

the announcement this past week, right, about loaded about Porsche's operating profit falling

like 90 some percent. I did. And I read that was pretty significant, I thought. And so I want to

make kind of a crazy prediction if you guys are ready to go. It's, this is outrageous. Okay. But

I'm going to say it here first. I predict Porsche to address their profit issue are going to move

some production to the United States. Now, hear me out. Hear me out. They cite tariffs as being a

big, big issue. Okay. They cite that they're going to be building a three row SUV. Okay. These are

two things that, you know, building a SUV at Volkswagen's factory in Tennessee could address.

And, you know, when you look at 60 percent of Porsches that are sold are SUVs. You know, SUVs

are supporting that company. You know, we see all the sexiness of the GT 911s and blah, blah, blah,

but it's an SUV company that is now making sports cars on the side. So that's my crazy

prediction that they're going to move some production, you know, for SUVs here to the States

to help, you know, correct this, this profit, you know, fall that they're facing right now.

Makes total sense. And do you think a Porsche SUV buyer would care that it's not made in Europe?

Nope. I don't think so. I mean, those Cayans are made in Slovenia or Slovakia or some, some plays

they're not made in Germany. Nope. And well, they've been making BMWs and, you know, Spartanberg

forever. So it doesn't, I don't think it really matters. And how many, what, what percent of these

cars are actually made by Germans versus machines that happen to be in German, making Germany,

making German cars, you know, I mean, they're all made by bots at this point. Anyway, I'm sure you're

right. We did a, I wrote an article about that very topic, maybe six months ago, maybe 12 months

ago for full throttle talk, the newsletter. And the consensus was what you just said was most

likely to happen. We had a lot of responses to it, but everyone insisted that they would never

bring the 911 production over to any place other than Germany. And I, you know, I would agree with

that. Yeah, there's no reason for them to, they can continue to produce those in Germany, very,

very cost effectively. They've got enough margin, the volume is low, you know, relatively low.

Did you hear the story that they're supposedly contemplating a hypercar again?

Yeah. Do you think that's again, that's just halo, right? There's no money to be made in that,

you know, it's just 918 for our GT. I just, I don't see why they're bothering with that,

to be honest with you. Tim, to me, it feels like right up your alley. This is the Ferrari,

the Ferrariization of Porsche. And because I think they are, I mean, from what I've understood,

it's, it is a little different than what Shanu thinks is I think they are trying to

grab money, you know, they're trying to make a bunch of these things more upmarket,

sell them for a ton, make ridiculous profits on these cars. It's like a quick shot in the arm

financially. And I wish we were getting news that they were going the other way with this,

you know, going more downmarket, but they're going to do the opposite.

I'm not really sure. The thing is guys, there's no money in these hypercars, but there is a lot

of sexiness. Okay. The halo benefit of doing a, you know, a car like that, that, that enhancing the

brand and just reinforcing that these guys, you know, they come from sports cars. So I think

that's money well spent in my opinion, you know, they don't have an F1 team, right? So here's a

smart place to spend some money, build a halo car that gets people excited. You're not going to make

any real money on that, but so what, you know, you're making plenty of money on your SUVs. So

prove to the, to the sports car enthusiasts that are within the community that you're still a sports

car company, you know, and that's why I think they should do it. And I think, I think if they

don't, they're going to make a big mistake. Yep. Makes total sense. What about you Blair,

automotive news? What do you got? Well, motor one announced 2027, the cars that are dying.

And most of them were uninteresting and I couldn't have cared less. There was one car that makes me

sad to see on that list. And that is the Lexus LC 500. Have you guys driven one of those just

before we start waxing poetic about the death of a Toyota? Okay, neither one of you guys have

driven it? I haven't. Well, before you mourn its passing, I'll suggest you drive one and then decide

whether or not you're actually going to miss it. What do you think? Have you, have you driven one?

Yeah, we had one as we stayed at a hotel in San Francisco, I forget it was an old military base

you guys might remember what it is. It was right underneath the San Francisco bridge. And any event,

when you were staying there, you could know what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. That same guy

that owns the post ranch in Big Sur owns that place. And any event, Toyota Lexus has a deal with

his hotel so you can basically have one of those cars for free while you're there. And so we did

and it was like, it was a convertible. And the engine was awesome. It was really nice. Just all

the things. But it was not a great car. Nothing really. No. No, so it's, it's funny that there's

a lot of, a lot of guys who disagree and differ with that, you know, who are reviewing cars.

I can't stand that grill. What was that alien movie or with the mouth, the gaping mouth,

you know, that's the predator. You just can't stand in front of that.

Yeah. I think Lexus has screwed that up big time. But you know where I got very interested in this

LC 500 is I listened to a podcast by Malcolm Gladwell and he's a big car guy, which you never

necessarily need 34 and five. He has an E 34 and five. Oh, nice. I didn't realize that. Yeah.

I know, right? Doesn't make sense. He is a big car guy and he did a whole segment.

Like Lexus flew him over there to really show him the science behind the acoustics

and all of the resonance tuning that they were doing with this vibrator V8 with love and respect.

You lost me at science. Malcolm Gladwell and acoustics tuning. This is sports car podcast.

It is all part of it, though, Tim. Yeah. Listen to this.

It tells you who the Lexus is geared towards, right? Have you driven a nine? Well,

have you driven a Carrera S post turbocharger 991.2? Yes. And we rented one actually through Toro.

It was that was turbo, not the NA dot one. It was turbo. It was 992 actually. Oh,

and what kind of sounds does that car make? I actually thought that car was pretty damn nice.

Truthfully, I was surprised. I liked it. That was a nice car. I'd rather have that than that,

Lexus. Well, what about an LFA? Have you listened to an LFA? That sounds incredible.

Exactly. So they spent a lot of time tuning that. Yeah.

She knows into music. I grew up playing music. I paid for my college was music, actually.

Really? That's awesome, man.

Yeah. I was on a full tuition cello scholarship, but nobody'd all make sense now.

My mom really cracked that whip growing up, but good for her. Good for her. So for me,

I was interested in the tuning of the sound of this car makes. And for me, the 992, 991.2,

they've become more GT cars to me. I mean, they still have a very precise front end.

They feel really taught, you know, so they do have shades of like, you can drive those cars

really hard, which I do respect and appreciate. But to me, the, the once they went turbo, they lost

all sound character. To your point, Claire, to your point, if you're comparing GT cars to GT cars,

their, that Lexus is just ridiculously good for sure. Yeah. For a grand tour,

which is where I put most of the turbocharged 911s in the grand touring category,

with the capability to do more. And I totally get that, but nobody's using them for that.

A new 992 Carrera S, you are about a hundred grand more than what you would get a well option LC

500 for. And I have heard them and made me so interested. Is that true? Did you say a hundred

thousand dollars? Yes, you can get one of these hundred thousand more than that.

A Carrera S, most of those are just over 200,000 bucks. These are just over a hundred thousand

and, and they don't make any sound. Now we're like, we're in. Well, that's, that's the point is

I got to change the front end though. I got to change the front end. I cannot live with that

front end. I don't disagree in that regard. I've never, but if you get by the front front end,

these things, in my opinion, the coupes, I'm not a big convertible fan of this car,

but the coupes look spectacular. I think it's a classic case of Lexus brand just doesn't,

has they've never figured out how to attract younger buyers. And which is why this thing

hasn't been a big sales success, but I'm always just underwhelmed by the turbocharged 911s.

They don't make sound for me. It's like it's lacking in the experience department.

Well, when I hear one of these things rip by, I just, I think it's fantastic.

It was a boomer car basically, and they haven't, they haven't basically rebranded it for a younger

audience and they've tried, but that's where they've missed. And if they were to do that, I mean,

you guys look at all the GR products that TR, the Toyota is coming out with. Have you guys,

we need to talk about that maybe on the next show. Yeah, I actually have a GR Yaris in my

background here. I should put that up right now. Well, but she knew, are you aware of all the new

GR products that are coming out? Supposedly? Yeah. MR2. I mean, what the hell? Talk about

enthusiast cars priced right. If there's a brand for us to be excited about that's, you know,

still producing cars, who's better than Toyota? Honestly, and who would have said that two years

ago, but that car is amazing. You know, you can't get that in the United States. You can only get

the Corolla of itself. That's an awesome car. Well, that's an interesting point because they

are coming out with that GR GT, which is going to be a $300,000 like track focus super. I have

a theory about Toyota and you guys check me on this other than brand, which is a big deal.

But other than brand, I bet you we're going to see Toyota with these GR products fill the gap

that used to be frankly Porsche's gap in the lower end price ranges because everything's gotten too

expensive. I'll bet you you're going to see Toyota, they're going to start being seen in a different

light in the next probably two to three years because of these GR products. So speaking of which,

let me ask you guys this. And I'm not like everyone assumes because I'm so mesmerized by

the zero one, then I'm a Corvette guy. I've had one Corvette in 2004. Yeah, just admit it.

You're a Corvette guy. You look like a Corvette guy. I heard that. All right. So that's good

that we're at the point now where we could start picking on each other because I always pay my

debts. All right. So okay, you got me off track. All right. So this is the zero one. I honestly

don't understand how the world reshuffles the deck. And I say this all the time. And I know I'm

not wrong about this. I know enough about marketing and business. I don't get how you have a zero one

X for example, that's now faster than cars that cost millions of dollars without that having

some sort of adversarial effect on those halo brands. I just don't get it. And the Zora, which is

going to be above the zero one X gosh knows what GM is going to do with that damn thing. Who knows

1300, 1400 horsepower active arrow. So you're looking at something that's going to be faster

than the Europeans everywhere, not just in a straight line because the Porsche guys will say,

oh, it's only fast in a straight line Corvette's always been faster than Porsche in a straight

line. Now it's faster than the Porsche says, and it's passed a faster than these absolute peak cars.

I don't understand how that the world's going to like, let me just put it this way. You know that

they're going to overproduce these damn things. And they're going to depreciate like sons of bitches.

Okay. And you know, during the last year, they're going to start doing 0% financing on these things

for 72 months. You know, so you're going to see zero ones that are going out the door with $20,000

discounts and 0% financing. I mean, maybe I'm overstating it. That means the everyday guy

can now have a hypercar. Exactly. Okay. It's going to destroy the aura and

cachet of the hypercar segment. You know, when you make it available to everyone,

it's just not that exotic or sexy anymore. Do you know about synthetic diamonds?

Yes. Oh, yeah. Lab grown. Yeah. Lab grown diamonds. So you guys, do you guys know the whole

diamond market was basically fake, right? In essence, De Beers was controlling the diamond

market. Right. Way back in the late 70s, early 80s. I forget the company GE made synthetic

diamonds and they went into a lab grown diamonds. They went into an agreement with De Beers that

they wouldn't make jewelry diamonds. All right. And then that's the backstory with that. I only

know that because they were doing that in Columbus, Ohio, where we're from. All right. So

fast forward now that you can get a lab grown diamond and it is a diamond and it's indistinguishable.

The only way they can actually tell a lab grown diamond from a real diamond is a lab grown diamonds

have no defects and the real ones do. And so now they're making lab grown diamonds with defects

so that they're indistinguishable. How many of the diamonds that are in the marketplace right

now being sold as mined diamonds are actually lab grown diamonds. This is the same thing that's

happening with these hypercars in my opinion. Does that make sense to know? Yeah, 100%. And

that's what I'm that's exactly to is my point is when you bring it down and you make it available

to the masses, then it's not quite as exotic or sexy anymore. And you know, there's plenty of

parallels, you know, all over the place. I mean, look, sushi used to be a pretty exotic thing.

Now I can go to the grocery store here and to make a tucky and buy, you know,

sushi at the grocery store. I mean, well, that was not, you know, something that you could

have done 25 years ago, 30 years ago. Just for the record, I'm not sure I'd be jamming with

some Temecula sushi. Where the hell did that come in from? We're not that far from the ocean,

brother. I mean, really, you know, you can ship things pretty quickly now. All I know is

I think Tim needs to buy a ZR one X. This is, I kind of want to stop hearing him talk about it

until one's in his garage. And he could tell us if it's as awesome as he keeps hyping it up to be.

And I'm going to buy him the Jean shorts and the white tennis shoes and white socks to go with

the outfit. This is where the whole conversation goes wrong. It's nice to know that Shnees got

that rough edge to him early in the morning, by the way. This is where the conversation goes right,

Tim. You've been so intrigued and, you know, mesmerized by the ZR one. I think it's just

time. Just go go experiences and let us know where my heart is on all of it. Where I truly

was mesmerized by it. Interested in it is what Chinoo and I were just talking about. The very

fact you're taking something that was originally only reserved for the hyper car elite. I can

finally afford a trillion dollar car. Now those guys are going to be able to have that same experience.

And I don't honestly know other than contrived brand awareness, how these other manufacturers

are going to compete. I just don't. What are you going to do? Better designs, better materials.

I don't know beyond that. And if I could say something controversial, did you see the new

Jason Camisa drag race video where he drag races that with the Lucid air sapphire? Yeah.

That like the world's fastest accelerating car. The controversial statement is I think the ZR

one X looks pretty awesome. Yep. I do too. You know what? By the way, who's doing better videos

than Jason Camisa and Howard? Holy crap. I know they're killing it. They are absolutely killing

it. But Jason in particular with the two, you guys know that he's got like a real honest guide. I

think he's a biologist or some kind of crazy super smart, you know, nice brilliant. Yeah.

Like Chinoo, not like you and me Blair. All right, let's move on. I know we don't have a lot of

time, but let's you guys have time for segment three. I saw it. I'm ignoring you. Okay, good.

I want to make sure you saw it. Yeah. And why and why are you sure Tim? While you had that on

your computer, I don't know. And those of you guys are playing on the audio version are he's

showing a picture of a bunch of very handsome gentlemen and some cutoff shorts in front of

I think two or C. Well, and you heard it on last week's podcast or whatever. Chinoo is buying a

CO6. This is grand tour. Yeah. So have you heard one of those with the tuned exhaust?

By the way, holy crap. Just crazy. Okay. Yeah, even stock, they sound good. All right, this

or that. All right, let's go. Did you guys all do your homework? Chinoo, of course, we did. We did

and you always have to throw the monkey wrench in to screw things up. I'm like, oh yeah. Well,

it's because you guys, oh, if I don't, you guys cheat. Okay. So this or that most fun car for less

than $20,000. And here are the rules. And I had to rewrite these like three times. No EVs has to

be your one car daily and fun. And you occasionally call your 230 pound great master. And of course,

his name is Matt. I was going to put in there that he gets carsick too, but I decided not to

because you guys are just gone with washout pickup trucks. So I removed it. Okay. So Chinoo, you go

first. Oh, damn. I didn't even think of that. Go for it. Okay. So 20,000 buying an old Cayenne

and I'm fixing it up for off-road use. And the dog can sit in the back in comfort and he'll be

perfectly happy. Alternatively, I'm thinking, and I could be 100% wrong about this, but maybe one of

the old Scion FRS's, you know, or BRZ Subaru's, you know, take the backseat out of thing and

open the hatch and the dog can jump in the back. But I think for under 20 grand that you don't

have too many options that can take, take an animal that weighs more than myself.

I was going to say it weighs more than you. And you think you're putting that little,

that big guy in the back, one of those little hatchbacks?

I hope so. I, you know, that's why those are my two options. I'm thinking the BRZ would work,

but if not, the Cayenne's my backup. Okay. Well, if you do the Cayenne and you're dealing with

something that's going to be, I guess we're not worrying about whether or not, you know, you and

that will ever get to go, you know, arrive where you left to leave to because it's old

in the lots of miles, but we'll move on. That's true. All right, Blair.

20 grand. That's a tough, that's a tough number to kind of achieve.

We'll go back and vote for you in a second. So Blair, what are your two?

So I'm, I'm taking a curveball a little bit from throwing a curveball from where she knew

was at. See this car behind me? It's a 2016 Chevy SS. Oh, I drove one of these recently.

You know, I'm always looking for the next daily driver. I commute a lot that is fun to drive.

And, and I've been very curious about these. I had driven an automatic transmission years ago,

and I just barely drove the manual transmission version. This car is known as the Ford or Corvette.

And it's funny, my buddy wanted to hear a report of how this car was when I drove it recently.

And what I said was exactly fitting for this two car challenge is said this is the car,

this is the type of car that's great for the guy who's not able to have two cars.

So if you can only have one car, the Chevy SS makes a ton of sense. So that has the

zero six motor in it from the C six, correct? No, it doesn't have that seven liter motor in it.

This, I think it's from the standard Corvette, not because the C six zero six, I know how to

four twenty seven seven liter, this is not that with 500 horse things is standard Corvette motor.

But it is really good to drive and suspension is tight. You can you can hustle one of these on

a background. It's comfortable. It's spacious. You know, it does look like a Chevy Malibu. Yes.

Honestly, I think you guys all did terrible on this challenge. All right. So what's your other

what's your other car? I just put effort into this. That is not that that is not true whatsoever.

Chevy SS go drive one of these things. You can I rack my brain for at least two minutes on this

assignment. You need to learn how to use AI is ask the question. Go ahead. 2016. Oh,

seventy five thousand miles can be had for twenty grand. Now, I have not a good choice.

I have not driven a Focus RS, but I have driven the ST and I've driven the Fiesta ST a bunch.

And these are snorty little hatchbacks that have way more character than like a GTI or a Golf R.

So in in I think it's boost blue. I think is that what Ford calls it? Or is that that might

be the Honda Civic Type R blue? But anyways, Focus RS makes pops, bangs, burbles, fairly small,

but a decent size backseat manual. Tell me why I'm wrong with that, Tim. No, I think you're right

with that. And you've got four doors, which by the way, I you're going to you guys might have me

on that one particular point now that I'm reminding myself my challenges. All right, so hold on.

We'll vote on that. So my two choices were I went honest to God feedback on this car. You guys

tell me what you honestly think. And then I'll tell you why I'm extra curious about this one.

All right, 2013. Okay, Fiat 500 Abarth. All right, and I think me and Matt would have a good old

time in that. Now, the only problem is, is that Matt would probably, first of all, there would be no

backseat. And I'd probably have to remove the passenger seat. And that would probably have

said on his butt and his head would go out the sunroof. Okay, but there you go. So there's that

I'm having a hard time that you followed your own rule set there with

like, you're not going to take your wife. You're not going to take your daughter. It's just you

and the dog for the rest of your life. And the Fiat 500, bro, me and Matt are buddies.

We hang. All right. Okay, can you get it for under 20 grand and Abarth?

Just cool your jets, son, we're getting there. Yeah, you can. Okay, so okay, there you go.

There's the other one. You guys remember these cars in the 90s? Oh, yes. Those things were built

like frickin tanks. We're looking at a 300 CE Cabriolet, which honestly, guys, those,

I had a car cleaning detailing shop when I was in college, well, high school in college. And the

difference between how those cars were made in the S classes were also in the SLs from the same

generation and frankly, the 190s was ridiculous compared to everything else. Those are so well

made those cars. Absolute. Yeah, you're 100% right. I think that was the last generation of

Mercedes that were over engineered. We had a wagon of that era. So same interior,

you know, same tail lights, you know, it was a 94 E 320 wagon estate car. It was awesome.

They still use those things in the not so nice parts of Europe as taxis. And they'll have over

a million miles on not the Cabriolets, but obviously the 300 ease. Of course, there are their

230 ease and just crazy small displacement motors. All right. So you know, what's kind of cool on

those cars is the side view mirrors are asymmetric. So the driver side mirror is different from the

passenger side. I didn't know that. Yeah. That's a high nerd fact. 100%. Yes. Well, so this,

so we have the Fiat 500. Now this one in particular, because the newer versions of these cars have

those big screens that instantly date the interior. I know my picture is not the greatest,

but yeah. So there's that. Okay. Or there's that. So we'll start with Shenu. All right.

So Blair, you and I get to choose the car that would be best for Shenu and Matt

between the Cayenne and I don't remember if the other one was, what would you vote for?

This, the, the BRZ GT 86, whatever. Exactly. I mean, I think I'm the only one who actually

followed the rules. So for that reason, I got to go with Shenu because he can actually fit

like his wife and a dog in the backseat. And so I got to go with the Overland Cayenne build.

Okay. So you read something into the rules. You said most fun car for less than 20,000 rules,

no EVs, has to be your one car daily and fun. I didn't say you had a family.

Okay. Well, maybe I'm not the most sympathetic dog guy, but a Saint Bernard or whatever you

said, a mastiff. It's not going to be comfortable in anything but Shenu's Cayenne Overland.

So I got to go with that. I think I said the funny, I actually went to chat GPT and asked

what the biggest, heaviest dog was. I actually researched it. All right. I agree with, and

there's a company in, where are they? You're, oh, North Carolina that's doing a hot ride

version of those Cayenne's. And I've seen those. There's really well built Euro wise.

I don't know if you know that guy. All right. So I would vote for his Cayenne for sure.

Would that be your choice ultimately, Shenu? Yeah, I would take that. I think it just gives

me all the practicality I would need, but I can tell you one thing. There's no world I would

ever live in where an animal is going to affect my hobby. So anyways, but that was a fun, fun

challenge regardless. So did you guys know that the original Cayenne's Porsche was so worried

about whether they'd be received that they over engineered those things and they D engine,

they D decontented the newer versions, you know, so yeah, did you read about that from

an engineering perspective? You know, I could believe that to be the case. Oftentimes, you

know, look, they, they were really, really facing a lot of backlash by introducing that.

You know, I remember that clearly if people were just up in arms, you know, and same thing with

the X five, you know, just the enthusiasts were all up in arms that these companies were coming

out with SUVs. But in the end, it turned their fortune. So it's like, do you remember the original

new minis and how those cars were those are 53s or something? I don't remember all the nomenclature

and how those clamshell we did too. I had a mini Cooper works or the Cooper works one.

Those cars really, really beautiful little cars. And then the newer ones, something that just

happened to them. They just didn't, they were clearly not made by the same engineers.

You know, are you guys following formula one this year? Are you guys following formula one?

Yeah. Did you hear about what's happening with the Aston Martin? How basically the guys can't

drive more than a dozen laps because the power unit is causing the whole car to shake so bad.

It's killing their nerve endings in their hands. Did you hear that? Oh, no. It's a Honda motor. And

so the why did that happen? Because Honda who was making brilliant engines before their engineers

when they thought the Honda F one project was over all went different places. And so the guys

that supposedly built this new Honda motor for the Aston Martin for this season, who don't have

the same expertise. And you can see that when you lose your core group of engineers that make a

unicorn product, the next version of it's never the same. All right, let's go to Blair. So Blair,

your two choices were the Chevy SS, which is a serious car, despite what Tim said, and the Focus RS.

By the way, I'll tell you, so your Chevy SS, I believe that was based on a Holden from Australia.

Yeah, Holden Commodore. All right, there you go. Okay, so there that's high

nerd knowledge that refutes your claim that I didn't care about it. Well,

the reason I chose these cars, because I actually had a couple of German wagons, old European wagons

first selected, because I'm always thinking about making one of those my next daily drivers.

If I'm going to have a do it all car, I have to have some sporting intentions. I have to have a car

that go on a back road. And I think both these can do that one with a little more comfort and less

character than the other. But so it's either the Chevy SS or the Focus RS, both 2016.

All right, what would you choose for him? The RS is would be my choice. I'm bummed that I completely

forgot about that car, because I think that's the perfect tool for this job. Well, we are proving

that you can get a hell of a lot of cool cars for less than frickin 20 grand, which nobody really

talks about. And I agree completely, that would be a brilliant car. And not to get geeked up about

it, but the amount of cool, very well done aftermarket stuff for that thing is off the charts,

too. Well, and I think they suffer a little bit from reliability concerns. I think it was a head

gasket or something on these RS's that that went on the 2.3 motor. But it's like any car like my

E46 M3 address some of the scary stuff. This I think this traded for like 17 or 16 grand,

with 78,000 miles, put five grand into it to make it reliable. And just the value for money is

incredibly high. Definitely, definitely. All right. So with my choices, what would you guys

choose for me and Matt? The Fiat or the Benz? You know, I think the Fiat, if you can actually

get it for 20 grand, would be my choice. Okay. I think you can get those used for 20 grand all

day. And I mean, that Mercedes is beautiful. I hear the engineering on those. In fact,

I feel like that's one of the next things I really want to start to discover is older Mercedes.

I hear they are fantastic to drive. I have limited experience with that.

But I got to have some sporting intention if it's a jack of all trades. I don't know if they're

fantastic to drive. I think that's overstating it, honestly.

If nothing else, that convertible E320 is beautiful, but I got to go with the Fiat as well.

And poor Max is going to be uncomfortable. But to Shenu's point, I don't care that much about my dog.

Good to know you guys are cat people. It doesn't surprise me, both you are cat people.

All right. So I would choose the Fiat too. And that Fiat right now, and I'm like,

Oh, was this podcast come out? Okay. Yeah, I will say this. This Fiat is right now on bring a

trailer. It's got 4,000 miles and we're the high bidder. Oh, sweet. At 12.5. Do you work on these

things, Shenu? We haven't, but I actually had a mechanic who was, you know, very capable on it,

but it can't be that hard. All right. The auction will be over by the time the show comes out. So

the car is in Vegas. And I was thinking actually, if we end up getting this, I might ship it to you

and just have to go through it because 4,000 miles, you know, it had the oil change last year.

But yeah, I've always wanted one of these. When we were in Italy, maybe three or four times ago,

in those cars, these things first came out the, how they looked and sounded blasting around the

narrow streets with a tall cobblestone building or the cobblestone and the tall stone buildings was,

it's changed me forever. You know, they made a version of that for, there was a Ferrari

Tributo version. Did you guys know that? Yeah. They've really tuned that thing to be snorty.

It pops, bangs, it's a rowdy little exhaust. There's no muffler. By the way, I'm bringing a trailer

right now. It's at 12.5. And I think Shenu, to your point about pricing, I think that'll end up

probably around 15. Wow. That's a sweet deal. For that little mileage car. Yeah. Well, I've been

watching this for years and there's been other lower miles ones that have gone up and I always

backed off around mid or around that point, but you know, this one being 4,000 miles and it looks

like it's perfect. I might go a little higher than that, but without the screen, you said,

which, which I didn't know they made them with or without a screen. So you said, I mean, a screen.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So the early ones didn't have the big ugly nav screen. It's too slow and laggy.

You know, so this one just has a little stupid digital readout. And so it makes it so that's

classic. All right. Well, I know you guys have to go off and do things for today. I think we

can wrap it up here. Do you guys have any ideas or topics for the following week? I keep on promising.

We're going to get to comments from the listeners and the viewers and we'll have to do maybe a whole

show dedicated to that because we have a lot of great enthusiastic responses. Oh, we are opening

up a swag storage. You guys see that? I set you a link for the other ones. Yeah. So we're going to

do that. And we have to come up with some, you know, I think we should come up with some designs.

It says, has things other than the logo, but we'll work on that. And any other topics you

guys have top of mind? I mean, I'm Blair. I'm hoping we get a weekly report from you as you

progress in your love affair with this Elise. The Elise is going to be awesome. And I think we

got to do some BMW talk in upcoming podcasts. But you know, as a final shot to this or a parting

shot, what Shenu's doing is spectacular. And I'm excited to report on that. I've got a picture

up behind me of his, his, you know, client waiting area in his office. I mean, this is like

Car Guy Central. I'm so glad that, you know, I've found Shenu. We had a great day together.

And what he's doing down there is just it's, it's four drivers, you know, and that, and that is

apparent the second you meet him, you see their shop. I'm going to be evangelizing, trying to

funnel business over to Shenu because he would never do it himself. He's such a humble, nice guy,

non self-promoting type guy. So if I've got to be his front man, I'm going to be it.

Well, it's appreciated Blair. And when you come across somebody that's, I mean, we're kissing

Shenu's butt right now and he's going to hit him. But, but when you, when you come ahead is expanding

here, we're living in a world of everything's fake. And you have fake experts, you have fake

opinions, you have people that are just bloviating about things. They really have no experience

around just all this BS. And when you come across somebody that's not full of shit, that actually

has the chops to back up what they have to say. Their opinions aren't just something they just

heard on Instagram. You can frickin tell. You can tell the difference between authentic and smart.

And, but if you only come across and come in contact with people that are just sort of acting

like their experts and you never come across someone like Shenu, then you don't know the

difference. And unfortunately that's what's a lot. That's what's influencing automotive

mostly right now are people that have opinions, but don't have really an experience to back it up.

And I talked about this before with you guys, like when someone's talking about steering feel,

but they've only driven each steering that's electronic or brake feel, but they've only driven

brake by wire, all these things they don't really, I mean, God bless them, but I don't really think

that's where I'm going to be going to, to hear somebody describe an analog driving experience

who's never actually driven an analog car. And when you get into it, a lot of them don't even

know they've driven, not driven an analog car before. They literally don't know that the thing

that the raxing poetic about is completely a simulated driving experience. Shenu, you look

like you're deep into a thought. Now, Tim, listen, I'm hoping that your prediction from a couple

pods ago about, you know, the Ferraris of the world focusing on lightweight and feel. They're

going to. Yeah. Yeah, it's got to it just makes so much sense. I've been thinking about that ever

since and I've got my fingers crossed. Where would you go? Honestly, your automotive, you've got this

Corvette. Oh gosh, Tim, talking about Corvette again, but you got the Corvette again that's

completely, you know, that USP unique selling proposition is gone. Right. If you're, you're

an automotive, you know, you're an expert, no bullshit one. Where are you going to go? If

you're Ferrari or Porsche, you're just going to basically make more leather wallets and fancy

t-shirts and $300 tennis shoes. I mean, what are you going to do? Honestly? Yeah, exactly. And

you're 100% right. I mean, when, when, when every car has the exact same, you know, performance

level, then you got to find something else to differentiate. What is it going to be if it's

not lightness? What else can it be? No, seriously. Yeah. Don't just agree. What else could it be

if it's not lightness? I can't think of a single thing. Yeah, there isn't. I mean, because that,

that's going to translate to feel. And I think ultimately that's what we're all going to want

is that feel again. And so I really think enthusiasts at least. What are you thinking,

Blair? You clearly are the leading edge of that, my friend. So you're, I mean, what are you thinking

as we are just talking? Well, I feel like I've been enlightened this week, truly. You know,

I used to think my Cayman GT4 was a lightweight car at the 3,000, 3,100 pounds. And then I,

and then I go meet my buddy, Shanu, and get him a 2,000-pound Elise that is hardcore.

He's bidding. He's bid from the forbidden fruit now. So he screwed it.

But what I was going to say though, too, is I know a lot of guys with three or four cars,

you know, very fortunate. I consider myself to be equally as fortunate.

But stop buying Porsche 911s for your fourth car. Buy them for your second car, fine. Or your first.

Because they're a lot more usable. They're more comfortable than this. But when I see guys stacking

up their garage full of Porsches, it's like you cannot believe the difference in experience

of this 111 RS compared to even a Cayman GT4. But you're speaking to an enthusiast,

and I don't think most of the buyers that are, that are stacking those cars are enthusiasts.

They're collectors. And they're also, I mean, their motivations are different than yours.

Truly. And you know, the beautiful, the beautiful thing about the car you bought from Shanu

is that you can grow into that car. You won't grow out of that car. You won't get bored of it.

The depth and breadth of the experiences you're going to have in that thing are extraordinary.

No, you will not be having learned the different settings for your massage seats and all this other

crap. But the reality of it is, is that the experiences you're going to have are completely

on a different spectrum than everything you've experienced before. I would be shocked if you

ever sold that. I'm the guy who always sells his cars. And I could see it happening, you know,

that's what I wanted. I wanted an enlightening experience. And so far, after a few days, I

know there's the, you know, you're riding the recency bias and the honeymoon period, whatever.

But I had to drive that thing 11 hours. I hate terrible traffic in Southern California, too.

Shanu and I were yacking too long and having a good time, which was totally worth it, by the way.

But I put that car through the absolute worst use case for that car. And I'm like,

horrible. The funny thing is too, is I got home and we took the roof off right away.

There you go.

Shanu said, in the three years since he built it, he never took the roof off that car. And I'm

like, Shanu, what are you doing? This thing, the weather was beautiful. We ripped that roof off

and got the kids in it. And like, this is wild. But when you showed up, he had it up on a left.

I saw your video. He had it up on a left. He took all the wheels and tires off. You could see,

I was, that car is all original paint, Shanu. It's not, you know, like the front was repainted.

But it's super freaking clean. I was really surprised. It's not full of rock.

Okay. Yeah. It's, it looks clean from six feet away. But as you get close, you know,

you'll see the patina. I mean, the car is a driver. We drove that thing. So it's chipped up.

It's got scratches on it. Blair just put up a picture of a Carrera, too, right?

Yes. So this, this is a nice four-car RS. This car, the 111 RS reminded me of two cars after,

you know, driving it for 12 hours home and beyond the nine, six, four RS because of that

seam welded chassis. It has that, but this is even more just taut and tight and like stiff.

But it reminded me of that from the nine, six, four RS and an alpha four C only this is way more

sorted and like driver focus without all the turbo lag and without the funky transmission and

for the next show because I don't want, I know you're the one that has to go.

Can you bring a comparison? I'm genuinely curious about what you just said. Not the four C because

let's just leave that one out because it's a manual, but comparing that your new Lotus to that

nine 11 RS, the nine 64 RS, I would love to make that comparison because in my mind,

that's probably the last lightweight Porsche or Porsche made. And I'm, I was, I'm working on

themes for future podcasts. And I'm wondering if the real, you know,

if I were in the market right now to buy a super lightweight car, I would compare an

Elise to like a long hood nine 11, a nine 11 S. The thing that would lean me back towards the

Elise truthfully is the ownership experience of the Porsche is not something necessarily that I'm

really looking forward to having, you know, again, because I already have four, four Porsches

because it's more expensive. It's more time consuming. Frankly, it's a little bit more

snooty truthfully. I like the Lotus people. They're very chill. So yes, well, I'd love to

well as a T up for that. This very car, I took this picture just the other day when I got the

Lotus home. That's my buddy's car. He drove this nine 64 RS over to my house to drive the Lotus.

And then after I let him drive the, the Elise for 20, 30 minutes, and he loved it, by the way,

we jumped, I jumped in the nine 64 and got to drive that. So I literally just drove them back

to back and it was an enlightening experience. It was very fun. So I'd be happy to share more

about that. Well, you're talking about $100,000 in those things, especially in Rubystone, that's

250, 350. Yeah, exactly. That is nuts. So let's just leave them as a cliffhanger. The question is,

this was there that much difference in driving experience will set aside collectible built,

you know, values and all the rest of it. So that'll be where we pick up next week. How about that?

I love it. Good. All right, you guys have a fantastic week. And yeah, if you have any other

show ideas, listeners, Shanu Blair, make sure you guys let us know message us over on Instagram.

Yeah. And thanks for still listening and watching and allowing us to nerd out with all of you for

an hour every week. Thank you very much. Have a fantastic week. We'll talk with you guys next

week on full throttle talk. See you guys. Have a good week. All right. See you. Bye. See you guys.

About this episode

The hosts celebrate Blair's purchase of a meticulously rebuilt Lotus Elise 111RS from Shenu, highlighting the car's extensive upgrades, lightweight design, and thrilling driving experience. They discuss the challenges of fitting a tall driver into the Elise, the bespoke improvements like the shifter and suspension, and the car's raw, analog feel. The conversation shifts to automotive industry news, including Porsche's profit issues and potential U.S. production, the rumored Porsche hypercar, and the impending discontinuation of the Lexus LC500, praised for its sound and character. The episode concludes with a fun $20K car challenge, debating practical and fun daily drivers under that budget, and teasing future comparisons between lightweight sports cars.

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Original notes

This week on Full Throttle Talk, Tim Harris, Blair Smith, and Shinoo Mapleton dive into one of the most fun debates we've had yet. If you had just $20,000 to buy one car that must serve as your daily driver AND your fun car, what would you choose? There are rules. No EVs. It has to be your only car. And occasionally you need to haul around your 230-lb Great Mastiff named Matt. Good luck with that. But before we get there, we tackle some major automotive news — including rumors that GM may be preparing an American hypercar capable of 1,300–1,400 horsepower. If the speculation proves true, Corvette could soon be competing directly with the Ferrari F80, McLaren W1, and Lamborghini Revuelto. Yes… really. We also look at a strange automotive mystery: Why didn’t more people buy the Lexus LC500? It’s beautiful, sounds incredible, and was often $100,000 cheaper than a Porsche 911, yet the market largely ignored it. Plus: • What we each did in cars this week • The cars quietly dying by 2027 • The best enthusiast cars under $20k • Listener questions and commentary If you love cars, car culture, and the business of enthusiasm, this is the show for you. Buckle up. Don’t just listen — stay ahead of the conversation. 👉 Get the best insights, debates, and behind-the-scenes takes delivered straight to you:Subscribe now at FullThrottleTalk.com

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