The 80bhp Ami, cut us some slack!

Security and compliance done wrong is a giant headache.

Security and compliance done right, that's Vanta.

Vanta helps you earn trust and speed up growth, no spreadsheets required.

For startups low on time and resources, Vanta becomes your first security hire,

using AI and automation to get you compliant fast and unblock big deals.

For enterprises, Vanta is your AI-powered hub for compliance and risk,

bringing together data from across your businesses and automating workflows

so you can prove trust at any moment.

Vanta scales with you at every stage.

That's why top companies from startups like Cursor to enterprises like Snowflake choose Vanta.

Do security and compliance right.

Get started today at vanta.com slash TED Audio.

ACAS powers the world's best podcast.

Here's a show that we recommend.

Hi, I'm Cara Berry, host of Everyone's Business But Mine.

Think of me as your new friend and fellow busybody as I talk about everything

under the pop culture sun from the best way to detect a celebrity breakup or pregnancy,

to recapping your favorite reality TV shows from the Housewives Cinematic Universe,

Welcome to Plassville, Kardashians and so much more.

So check out Everyone's Business But Mine airing multiple times a week everywhere you listen to podcasts.

ACAS helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere.

ACAS.com

Hello and welcome to the AutoCard podcast, My Week in Cars with Priya.

Morning, Stephen.

So you can choose up to £100 off of the extras.

If you choose more than £100 worth of extras, you get £100 off.

That's the short of it.

Anderson-ed.com or Search Anderson for more.

Fantastic.

And they are the proud sponsors of this podcast and we're very grateful to them.

We are.

AutoCard at haymarket.com is how you can write to us.

Actually, Steve and I are going to do a letters special on Saturday in three days' time.

Three days' time? Where's it? There's to Friday, Saturday?

Well, we'll have a load of your letters.

So do write to us at autocard at haymarket.com.

If you market podcast, we'll see it better.

But we try to see what we can.

Who should we hear from first?

Let's hear from Neil Osborne, who says, I wrote something the other day, Steve,

why I love V8s in the magazine.

Neil Osborne writes to say, at the very moment I was reading your thoughts on the great sound of the V8,

I heard my wife setting off in her AMG C63.

An OAP, now she probably doesn't need 500 horsepower.

It does have the performance back just to go shopping,

but she loves the noise as much as I do and it's one of the reasons we've had it for 15 years.

Brilliant.

Excellent story.

Could have done with a sound file.

Yeah, exactly.

Jeff Richardson, meanwhile, says, here in Windermere, the approaching rumble of a V8

supplies the brief foreboring of an approaching Range Rover

and prompts an immediate leap for sanctuary.

I'll hear you next time.

Thanks, Jeff.

I've always admired the A2, so Audi A2, says Jeff.

Me too, because I like small cars.

Talked me about a small car, Steve, a Citroen AMI with a horsepower increase.

Well, a Citroen AMI is a pretty cheerless car, as you know, with a, you know,

it's governed to 27 miles an hour and not very relevant in the UK, so...

It's a shame, isn't it?

Because it's a cool thing and an interesting thing.

Yeah, it looks nice.

It looks great and, yeah, but I just...

But the rule, the purpose, which is to get French kids driving, doesn't apply here.

So anyway, there's a few around, and a friend of mine lives in a village where a bloke owns one

and he's decided to kick out the 8-horsepower engine and replace it with an 80-horsepower EV engine,

which we had a bit of an argument in the office about the percentage increase,

but the fact of the matter is it's a 10-times power increase.

Yeah, because I saw your original copy, which suggested a certain number.

Yeah.

And then I saw the sub-copy, which suggested it was 900%.

Yeah, we were trying to decide if it was 900% or 1,000%.

And the bloke involved in this, the engineer, is a guy called Julian Fack,

who's far better known as a sporting trials champion.

He's won the British Championship, which is akin to the World Championship,

nine times in his career and still competes.

Have you tried or seen one of his trials cars?

I have, yeah. I've been driven around by him in it.

It wasn't a pretty sight with him and me in the car.

They're so small, aren't they?

They're also unbelievable. I don't know what they weigh.

Julian, do you let us know, because he's a reader and listener, I think so.

Yeah, I think, I mean, motorcycle weight, isn't it really? Not much more.

But he's an absolute expert and the best people can do miracle things.

Anyway, the thing is, he's also a really good engineer and he likes thorny problems.

So creating a subframe that fits in the front of this AMI without changing any of the bodywork.

But suddenly, with 80 horsepower instead of 8, it's something that he's just achieved.

And he did send me a video of this thing on a rolling road.

And the problem they had on the rolling road was wheel spin.

Oh, crikey. So it's still front wheel drive?

Yeah, yeah, it's just, he's configured it so that if anybody happened to want to,

they could unbolt it all and just bung the original powertrain back in.

Oh, amazing.

But road tests have not, or official road testing has not begun yet.

So we'll hear about it, but it just, the original idea was to build this standard looking car

and show it at car shows pulling, you know, ridiculous amounts of wheel spin,

which I believe it's already doing.

It will do.

I did see one online the other day, a video of one that had been slammed and had big wheels on it.

And it looked pretty good, I've got to say.

It looked pretty good, but this will look standard, will it?

It will, yeah.

Standard rubber, you see, I think that might be.

Yeah, that might be problematic, might it?

Yeah.

Can we, do you think we could go and have a look at some?

Yeah, yeah, I said to him, what's next?

And he's gone a bit quiet because he has one of these people with four other projects are going at the same time.

But the engine is motor, sorry, is out of a Barcelona built motocrosser called a Stark Vag.

Okay.

Designed in Scanduigia, Sweden, I think.

Very, very light.

I had a look at it myself.

And, you know, it looks like not much to it.

Oh, crunchy.

Must have astounding performance.

And in the car, it just looks like a little steel or a little aluminium box.

Yeah.

So it's still chain driven, isn't it?

So the motor is not on the wheel as it is on some electric bikes?

No, he's got, he's configured it so there's a slightly, well, very compact chain drive into the existing system.

Oh, on the AMI?

Yeah, I gather it uses a Citroen C3 diff or something like that.

Oh, really?

It's quite clever.

Yeah.

And, you know, he's not a bloke that messes around.

He's done lots and lots of these amazing but slightly obscure engineering projects.

Yeah.

And this is more of the same.

I think it needs a story.

I think it does, doesn't it?

Yeah, I reckon.

Yeah, I was hoping he'd send me a picture of the wheel spin, but all we got was the wheel spinning on this rolling road.

What's the, what does that do to the legal status of this car?

Well, it has achieved an MOT.

So it's all fine.

Well, yeah, there's long as somebody will ensure it, I suppose.

Yeah, I suppose it's no longer, you can no longer drive it on a, on the provisional license or whatever that you could to drive it.

Isn't, isn't the same as some quadricycles that you could have them on a lower grade driving license in some European countries, but maybe that doesn't apply in the UK?

Yeah.

I think, I don't think that does apply in the UK.

No, maybe it doesn't.

So you just need a full driving license to do it.

Listen, apologies if you can hear.

Is that a leaf blower?

I think it's a leaf blower, yeah.

I don't know if you can hear it or not.

So sorry if you, if you can, we're in the basement.

It's the local council swinging into action.

Well, it's that or it might be, it might be us, mightn't it?

It might be our staff doing a bit of a cleanup sweep up job in the car park and outside.

I don't know.

We've got, there is a, we're in the, we're in the, the automotive storeroom, which is in the basement.

Actually, there's some tidy looking cars outside today.

Have you seen a couple of AMG GT is there?

And a Bentley of sorts.

Yeah, somebody must be doing a big wheel.

Yeah, there must be something going on.

Something to look forward to?

Oh, make big wheels are not a good idea at the minute, are they?

Actually, I might do my column on that next week.

I had a drive over to Gloucester yesterday and I took the back route on the way over and it was miserable.

Really?

Because it was just, yeah, just.

What were you in?

No, a three, an old three series BMW.

Oh, the one.

And it was just, you know, I just.

Yeah, I've been driving around in the Raptor, yours.

Yeah, that was the, the former prior long term.

And, and honestly, I feel you feel superior every hundred yards every time the car goes bonk through a through a bump.

You just think I'm doing better than everyone else.

Yeah, no, I just had to sort of pick my way across a lot of the back roads.

And it's and I came back on the came back on the A420 and the A40 just because it would be easier than I'm because I wouldn't not see any potholes in the dark.

Somebody told me that the problem is that repairs don't work in the wet.

So you can, your men can come along and shovel a load of tar into a kind of a canyon like pothole.

But if it's all wet in there, it's no use.

Oh, and because it's rain every day, because it's rained every day this year so far.

That is not a, okay, that's not helpful, is it?

Actually, let's talk driving in the wet because that is also in your column this week with motorsport vision to make a feature of it.

Do they?

They do.

Yeah, as you know, I'm full of admiration for Jonathan Palmer and his henchmen.

And, you know, true to their reputation for resourcefulness, they sent out a press release saying, don't worry if you're, if you're, you know, the day that you're about to spend with us is teaming wet because all that does is put another layer of skill on what you're going to learn.

And, you know, driving in the wet is a, is a thing everyone has to do.

Driving quickly in the wet is what, you know, the very best racing drivers can do better than others.

So come and learn from us.

And I just admire the resourcefulness of it.

I'm also intimidated by the wet.

So I quite like the idea of being taught to how to do it.

And it, and it, you know, if you like to occasionally hang a tail somewhere discreetly in your car, it can be good for that too.

Do they have a, do they have an off season so to speak at motorsport vision?

Not really well, a bit, but not, but I mean, they're well underway now and here we are in Feb and I think they probably, I can remember some sort of a press release that said, you know, end of the year and that I'm sure that was the back end of November.

So they, I think they probably just get it, just have a few weeks to, you know, clean out the coffee machine and, you know, sweep up a bit.

Yeah.

And if they are running a new vehicle, I suppose they get a bit of prep done for running a new kind of car, don't they?

Yeah.

So Bedford Auto Drone, if you see any, if you can, if you, listen, if you have not seen a photograph of the big, well, I suppose it was a big hangover, wasn't it?

In which they prep all of the cars that they use.

It does look great, doesn't it?

It's just amazing.

It's, there's so many cars in there.

Load of, oh, last time I looked probably a load of cater rooms, a load of BMWs of some kind.

I guess they're into the Hyundai Ioniq 5Ns they use quite a lot.

Also, you've got seven McLaren Arturus, don't forget.

Oh, of course.

So you can go up there and, you know, if you want to.

And single seaters?

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, those, those things that look like Le Mans cars that are called JP1 with a, with a, with an three liter V6 in the back.

Yeah.

And then there's, but, you know, the, the star of the show is, I think he's got seven McLaren Arturus.

I would have been, I'd love to have been fly on the wall when that deal was done.

Yeah.

Because I, JP is a pretty, pretty celebrated negotiator of anything.

Yes.

And it must have been interesting chat.

Yes.

I also.

Love to be that good.

Yeah, no.

Yeah, quite.

Right.

It's funny, isn't it?

There are a couple of ex drivers that we've spoken to who enjoy the business side of things as much as they ever enjoy driving.

I think in those Le Mans-ish looking JP1 things that they're dual control, but not just in, in some dual controls, the instructor gets a break.

But I have a feeling in the JP1, don't they get an accelerator as well?

And then they can go, we, we know that this person can go around this corner at X speed, but their confidence is not letting them.

So the instructor can bury the throttle or keep the throttle pinned.

So, so there's somebody thinking, I'll come off the throttle and turn in here and the instructor won't let them because that is the best way to get them to learn.

They can get around the corner that fast.

Don't you love it?

I think I'm sure I've read that somewhere.

Well, I can remember in the days when I had an aerial atom going up there and being lent and an instructor with my son, actually my number one son.

And I just remember the thing this bloke said most sitting next to us was flat, flat here.

Oh, really?

And you, you do learn stuff.

The trouble is, as soon as he got out, I still didn't have the, what, knots for it.

No, I'm the same.

Oh, you're not the same though.

No, I'm a bit.

I think people say a lot of not novice race drivers, but yeah, as people start to explore it, they'll turn into slow corners too fast and fast corners too slow.

Yeah.

And I think it's the bravery and the fast stuff that is, because it all happens very quickly, doesn't it?

It does.

And grip levels these days, even that atom, which was an atom of three, so not the best.

But still, we've turned into an atom of three and a half and got a lot better, but.

Oh, did you?

You upgraded it when you had it?

Well, I took it, I took it back.

Simon and I have been mates for 30 years.

I took it back from servicing.

Aerial motor company.

The boss.

And I was expecting to get a kind of grease and oil change and there it was upgraded.

Which was extremely nice of him.

That's very good.

That is very good.

I went karting in the wet the other day with the babies over at Daytona and Milton Keynes,

just in their high carts.

And in the wet, they just, you're just still on slicks.

So it's a very different experience to what it would be on the dry.

But it was good fun nonetheless.

But and also a big, it shows you how much difference the, what they, you know, what some people call the

karting line, don't they?

In the, when it's, when it's wet, if you stay off the racing line and drive around the outside

of the corner, you can, you can sort of search for a bit because in the dry, they lay so

much rubber down that when it gets wet, that just becomes super slippery like a slick, like

an ice rink.

So you could, if you drive around the outside where there's less rubber laying down, you

can find bits of extra grip, but I never found the best bits all the way, all the way around.

It must be scary going from one to the other though.

Yeah.

Because you can go from quite grippy to no grip at all.

Yeah.

Well, not quite grippy, but not very grippy to absolutely not very grippy at all.

How did you get on?

Did you teach him a lesson?

No, no, no, I, it was about even with my lad.

Oh, pretty good.

That's all right.

Is he lighter than you?

Yeah, it's lighter than me.

Yeah.

He's 22 courses.

Yeah.

He's about 15 kilos lighter than me.

I got a marketing email from Daytona the other day because I suppose I'm on their database

and my date of birth is on their database.

And it said, new series this year, Masters for Older and Heavier Drivers.

I was like, okay, that's the stage of life I've reached now, is it?

Thanks very much.

Just pointing it out.

Very kind.

Tell me about the Jeep Wrangler 4XE, Steve.

Well, you and I both have got a bit of a weakness for the Wrangler.

We both, I mean, you ran one, I ran one.

Really liked it.

Always loved the styling, you know, and, oh, it's everything, you know, sort of American

simplicity and optimism of the thing.

And they built a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid and called the 4XE or 4 by E or whatever you

want to call it.

Oh, yeah.

And it got killed.

Read the other day by Stellantis.

They've decided not to proceed with quite a lot of their electrified cars, and this

is one.

Oh, really?

So it's dead.

And I regret that.

He never actually made it to the UK, but I think it had some prospects.

Yeah.

And I thought it was, for a time, it was the best-selling Wrangler in the States.

It was.

It was indeed.

And I wonder, you know, there's a bit of stuff online which you can't trust, but you

do wonder whether if you, if you kill what was America's best-selling Wrangler model,

what does it mean for the actual whole car?

That would be a disaster to me.

It's like, it's the icon.

All the other stuff just fits around it.

Yeah.

Because they sell, well, I thought they sold 200,000 a year of them, generally.

Yeah.

I did see, I did, after you wrote that, I saw a thing online that said that they have

just reduced the price of the cheapest V8 by $10,000.

Wow.

Yeah.

The five, the Hemi is back, isn't it?

They were going to kill the Hemi.

Oh, were they?

That's one of the, this guy, the boss of Stellantis, as well as killing, you know, a lot of the

electrified cars has brought back the Hemi, 5.7 Hemi.

Interesting.

So I think it'll go through the Chrysler Jeep and Dodge range, which I can't bring myself

to say is all bad.

No.

I wonder if there's a reaction to the way politics and etc. are moving in the States.

Anyway, hasn't stopped start just been, there was a news story around last week where stop

start in the United States has not been, it's not been banned.

But I think, I think it's, yeah, you don't have to have it in new cars anymore.

Yeah.

And yeah, there's lots of, there's lots of retreats from, from previously, previous, quite

difficult targets.

And yes, I think, you know, it's now quite easy to have a new Hemi.

But you do wonder what is ahead because Trump, President Trump is only going to be around

for another, not quite three years.

Yeah.

Unless he makes good his, his threat and stays.

He stays for longer.

But yeah, this is, it feels like the sort of thing that could be overturned quite quickly.

Yeah.

So I can't believe that manufacturers weren't sort of stay on course.

And I did see some figures that predicted for more or less similar increase in EV sales

into 27 and eight in automotive news.

It was some statistics company and they just don't believe that the, you know, the direction

of travel will stop.

But, but it's a slow direction.

It's a slow increase now.

I think even in 28, they're only predicting 30% EV sales.

Whereas we have, you know, we're supposed to, if we stay on the course that's set, we're

supposed to be, you know, 90 or 80.

Yeah.

It's supposed to be a lot more by then, aren't we?

Yeah.

And more than the EU by then, aren't we as well?

Yeah.

Right.

That's.

Yeah.

There's so much.

You can see why, you know, car company bosses tear their hair out and you can see why they,

you know, we've been through such a lot of resignations and people getting the bullet

because it must be a job.

It's almost a job you can't do.

Yeah.

I don't know how you do, especially in the mainstream market with legislation changing

so quickly plus also new competitors from elsewhere arriving so quickly producing cars

at a price you can't make.

I was reading a bit of Bump though today that said, you know, in 22, Mercedes-Benz decided

that they would go back to building cars that were somewhat more expensive and desirable

and prestigious and all the rest of it.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah.

Slightly fewer of them and a bit more pricey.

And the S class.

So, but suddenly that has proved to be, it sort of worked, but they're a bit scared about

the prospect of it because the Chinese and Asian demand for S classes isn't what it was.

Interesting.

So suddenly this week they've said, actually, we're going to produce a sort of youth image

bargain basement A class.

They cancelled the A class and now the A class is coming back.

And to have to make those sorts of cataclysmic changes with all of the, you know, the billions

it takes to develop new cars, just terrifying really, isn't it?

Yeah.

But luckily the demand for new cars more or less plods on.

It would be terrible if it stopped.

Don't.

I mean, it would for the, it's funny, isn't it?

Why do we feel so differently about that than we do about toasters?

If demand for toasters dried up, wouldn't we all be thinking, well, that's good news

because toasters must be built better.

Yeah.

Everybody's keeping a toaster and what's wrong with that?

But it sort of seems.

I think it's about the gestation, you know, four years and two billion dollars.

Yeah.

And, and, you know, the thing that we've learned, haven't we, is that every time we

bleed about some, not liking somebody's door handle and they make a decision to

change it if they do, it's, it's at least a year and, you know, a few billion to

change it.

Yeah.

Have we, have we talked about the Chinese banning kid in door handles?

No, not really.

Have you seen that?

I have.

Yeah.

I don't, I, I'm not exactly clear on why it is, but I presume that it's about

people being trapped in cars and they can't be, all the, you know, the thing finishes

upside down in a ditch or a river or something.

And rescuers want to open the doors and they can't.

Yeah, that's my, because the, yeah.

And because the handle may be hidden somewhere or may not be poking out.

They don't know where it is.

And I think I don't, I'm all right with it.

Actually, I'm okay with that.

I'm all right with having.

Door handles.

Mandated proper door handles.

Yeah.

And yeah, they're inoffensive, aren't they?

Yeah.

I mean, I suppose they are, I suppose they stick out and you don't want that from aerodynamic

efficiency.

And I suppose if every bit of drag coefficient plus frontal area counts, I could see why you

might want them hidden away.

But I mean, there's got to be a weight disadvantage because you've got to have them sticking out

when you, with a little electric motor.

But I just think it's, for me, something else to go wrong.

Yeah.

I don't mind having a proper door handle.

I'm okay with that.

Also, I do think they're easier to operate because a lot of the hidden door handles, you

have to, you have to touch one bit with your thumb and then out comes the main bit and

then you pull it open.

Whereas.

Yeah.

With a modern manual door handle, you just grab it and pull.

Yeah.

Like a steering wheel, mate.

It seems for me that something that does not need re-emitic.

No.

I think I'm absolutely fine with it.

And sorry, designers, but yeah.

You can keep your tillers and whatever those things are called, joysticks.

Yeah.

Let's take a quick commercial break to say that this podcast is brought to you by our

sponsors Anderson.

If you visit Anderson-EV.com, you will find their full range of designer premium chargers.

Somebody sent me a photograph over the weekend, actually, of Buckmore Park carting track where

there was a big Anderson banner by the trackside, which I thought was quite cool.

There's a link between Anderson, the boss of Anderson, you know, David Martel.

I believe his daughter, no, his son is married to the daughter of John Surty's who owned

Buckmore Park.

Oh.

So there's a sort of friendly link.

But I'm sure there's some sort of knowing them, most of them both.

I would think there's probably some sort of clever commercial type as well.

I would think so.

I like Buckmore Park.

Great track.

Great super.

I always look at it and think what a fantastic thing to do with a bit of otherwise useless

ground, because it's right beside an extremely noisy motorway.

And there's a lot of sort of rocks and stuff around the back, a former quarry, I think.

It's pretty steeply banked, isn't it, in places?

So you'd be pretty hopeless for building, you know, Tesco or something.

Yeah.

And yet it makes a perfect, it makes a really proper cart track.

Yeah.

I was racing there the weekend that England won the Rugby World Cup.

Wow.

Somebody had a TV on in the pits as we were racing around.

And that was, it was great circuit, really good, really good circuit.

There should be more, I think, scrambler tracks, cart tracks next to motorways.

Yeah.

Because what else are you going to do with that, other than another warehouse?

What are you going to do with that?

Oh, I agree.

That's all I had.

Yeah.

It just seems an ideal place for, and you know, we're in my other hat, airfields as well.

Oh, yeah.

You know that little airfield called Popham that they're about to shut beside the A303,

which is sort of west of London.

That seems perfect for me beside a really, really busy arterial road.

I think they're going to try and put houses on it.

Oh, really?

So where is that?

How far down is that?

Oh, I suppose it would be 50 miles out of town.

You go past, you head off down the M3.

Yeah.

And the road splits into the M3, which takes you to Southampton, or the A303, which goes

further west.

And on the A303, I think a total distance of about 50 miles out of London, just to the

right, is this lovely little grass airfield where I have landed a few times.

Ah, is it just, you can see a little sort of green, hangary type of, yeah, yeah, yeah,

pretty little place.

Looks great.

Yeah, it's great.

And, you know, nobody's, it's problem is it's not a big earner.

And, you know, I'm sure whoever owns it is struggling to turn a pound note, whereas some

developer comes along and says, well, if we put 5,000 houses on here, you'll walk away

with 30 million quid, you know.

Yeah.

It's sort of, it's difficult to maintain your principles.

Yes, I would think so.

Yeah.

That seems to be happening quite a lot around my way, to the detriment of the local roads.

But there we go.

Anyway, Anderson has a design upgrade event, which offers up to 100 pounds off of all premium

design options.

So if you visit Anderson-EV.com also, if you do and go to the products page, you can request

them to send you a swatch of colors and finishes.

Yeah.

That proper upmarket one as well.

Really nice.

Yeah, really nice thing.

So, and we're good to part two of the podcast.

You can write to us at autocartataymarket.com as, what shall I do?

Actually, I've saved that for, I've saved that for the Saturday podcast.

Maybe we'll do more correspondence on Saturday rather than now.

Okay.

We'll do that instead.

Have you been in the archive this week, Steve?

No, don't think so.

I have.

Why have I been in the archive this week?

Themagazineshop.com forward slash auto.

Ferrari stuff.

I was looking up.

I wasn't looking up Ferrari stuff.

I was looking up.

Blimey.

I don't know, but it's 131 years.

This year of AutoCart Archive and it's all available in there.

You can subscribe.

There's various subscription offers, print and digital, print only and digital only, which

gives you access to the full AutoCart Archive.

Actually, I was in there.

I now remember because I was, I mean, just for something recent, but I was trying to dig

out our original test review of the Genesis GV60, which is a car I like.

Yeah.

I like the GV60.

It's a sort of high-ish, it's an SUV, isn't it?

But it's not a full, full-fat 4x4.

No, no.

It's an unusually nice looking thing for a big, wide car and they're around.

Genesis seem to be content to grow slowly Hyundai's prestige brand, but I've always

liked the car and it's, I just happened to be looking in AutoTrader as you happen to

do occasionally and there they were for between 20 and 25 and I thought 25, good price for

that thing.

I had one for a while as a long-termer and I really enjoyed it.

I love the interior.

They're particularly expert at interiors.

I just wondered how old they are, sorry, how far back they go.

We were pretty positive about it.

I remember Elia, we'll pray at our reviewer, one of them, talking particularly about the

two-wheel drive one, quite good value, still good performance, better handling because

of the rear-wheel drive and generally good news and I read that again.

Actually, on the good value point, I was listening to Johnny Smith and Richard Porter's pod this

morning, Smith and Sniff and Richard were saying that there is an Alpine A110 for sale

under 30 grand.

Wow.

First one he's seen for under 30.

Gosh.

It's pretty good, isn't it?

Yeah.

I think it starts to look like value, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Because I think, I always think that second-hand Alpenes get a bit of competition from very

healthy Mazur MX-5s.

Oh, interesting.

I mean, they're completely different cars, but there's having owned both one after another.

I just remember the MX-5 quite fondly even in the days of my Alpine.

So I can see, yeah, I can see, well, I mean, they do the same sort of thing, don't they?

We ran them both of them at Prescott.

We did track days in both of them and one was a bit, you know, the Alpenes a bit quicker

and a bit more sophisticated and I just, there's a lot to like about it, but you know, if you

can't afford an Alpine, seems to me 15 grand spent on a very nice MX-5 is a pretty good

place to put your money.

Or even five grand.

Yeah.

Or do what Jack Harrison, our photographer, has done.

Have you seen his Toyota MR2?

No.

I've seen Pic.

Yeah.

Mark III MR2 cost not very much.

Yeah.

And I think he loves it.

I really like those.

I think they're cool.

I think they're great to drive.

And indestructible because it's a Toyota, I know that.

Yeah.

I don't know if, I think mechanically indestructible, but I wonder if they do get a bit of corrosion

here and there, but you don't see, you don't see very many, do you, these days?

No.

But I do like them.

I always remember whinging about that thing because there was nowhere to put anything at

all.

No.

It was just a tiny space behind the seats, wasn't there?

And that's it.

But we had a photographer, do you remember Luke, who he arrived at our place with one

and he'd been using it as photographer's wagon, which I think, yeah, you know, a one

seater, you know, with all his clobber in the passenger footwear, that is the thing about

being a photographer is that if you get out of your car to go and buy a sandwich and you

leave all of your stuff and visible in the passenger seat, that is a slightly risky

business, isn't it?

Yeah, that's right.

It's a great way of staying thin.

If they're hidden in the, yeah, if they're hidden in the, in the boot of a saloon, you're

a bit better off.

Yeah.

I think.

Yeah, a lot.

You cannot drive EVs uneconomically, can you, Stephen?

Well, I can, but only when pressed.

The thing I find, it's happening to me with this Ford Capri that I have, is that the WLTP

range imprints itself on the inside of my skull.

And, and I tend to start driving the car in order to deliver that range.

And I find that nowadays it's not that hard to do as long as you, as long as you're reasonably

careful, you don't have to drive like an oik, but you're an idiot, but you, I just find that

I am, I like to preserve range.

It's, it's, it's silly because these cars can really go for it now, can't they?

The Capri has got, you know, a pretty good, nicely tied down suspension, quite big fat

wheels.

Hmm.

You know, it'll do a roundabout really well, especially I've got the two wheel drive, rear

wheel drive version.

So that'll.

Oh, okay.

That'll even, you know, in a wet, it'll even do a little bit of over steering if you ask

nicely.

Nice.

And, but I just don't seem to be able to, well, put it this, I drive a lot from Gloucestershire

to London and, you know, it's a hundred mile journey and I always find that I arrive with

it showing 3.5 or 3.7 or something miles per kilowatt hour, which delivers a WLTP range.

Yeah.

It's just a bit silly, but there you are.

I think that's all right, mate.

I mean, you've got to get your motoring enjoyment where you can these days, and isn't, you

know, trying to eke out what you can, some form of, I don't like the word gamification,

but you know, there's some pleasure to be had from trying it.

Yeah.

Do you remember when the Prius first came out and we were driving those a bit more than

we do now?

We used to make a strenuous efforts to do, you know, that had all those bar graphs and

it would show you what you'd done previously and I found myself competing with myself a

lot.

Yeah.

I don't believe in silliness, you know, you know, going deliberately, stupidly slowly,

but I think I often find myself watching people in, usually in out east, usually RS, something

or other doing, you know, accelerating wildly up hills where, and then coming to a line

of traffic where I catch them up anyway and thinking, you know, you've just, you've just

sort of used a month's supply of power for somebody's house.

Yeah.

I did try once in a former job to drive from John O'Grace to Land's End on a single tank

of fuel in a Prius.

Wow.

It didn't work.

How far do you get?

Paul O'Kill in Somerset is Paul O'Kill or Devon.

It's on the, it's near Linton and, yeah, near Linton and Linnmouth.

Yeah.

So literally going up that hill is where it conked eventually, but I thought that was

not bad going.

No.

That was in, I don't know, 2003, 2004, I think maybe.

So it would have been the second.

Did it actually run out?

Yeah.

Yes, actually literally run out.

So you had to stop and...

Yeah, we had a can of fuel in the boot ready to pour it in and some instructions on what

to do in case it, I think it started back up fine, but some instructions on what to do.

I mean, the worst bit of it, of course, is that you have to drive to John O'Grace in

the first place and then back from near Lansing when you're done.

Yeah, nobody thinks about that feeling.

Yeah.

It's actually quite a long way.

Before you even start, it's quite a long journey.

And then once you've finished, it's also quite a long journey, but so I think we had

some sense of humor failures on the way, but it was, but it was, I, and it also became,

I don't know at what point it became evident we weren't going to do it.

That's the other thing is you go.

Because it's, it's not bad going to get as far as Linton, Limbeth.

I think it's pretty good going, isn't it really?

Very good.

But it's not, but it's, yeah, but at some point it was obviously apparent where we're

not going to make it all the way.

Yeah.

But I think from memory, actually coming off the motorway was helpful because you think,

oh, we're not going to make it at all.

So there's a good of up and down.

Yeah.

But then when you get some up and downery, you go, oh, actually, maybe we will get it.

If it carries on like this all the way into Cornwall, maybe we will.

But I think I'm not sure that road along the top is the best way to go into Cornwall,

but it seemed like the best idea to get off the motorway at the time, I think, because

I didn't want to, we didn't want to run out of fuel on the motorway.

I think that was the thing.

I was outraged on behalf of the latest Prius the other day because there was a, we've got

one, haven't we, I'm trying to think who's driving it.

Will.

Will Rimmel is driving it, yeah.

Really nice looking car.

Yeah, great looking car, I think.

And there was some stuff in the Daily Telegraph, which was clearly written by somebody who

hadn't been in a modern one, really taking it to pieces and it just doesn't deserve it.

It's a really good looking, refined, comfortable, roomy, economical, beautifully built car.

Yeah.

Bit of a, I think it's sort of costly-ish now, I think.

But yes, it's from memory, there were, the Godfather of electric cars sucks the joy

out of driving.

That's what it, that's the headline.

Well, I don't think that's true, it's a really nice, smooth, I don't think that's fair.

Financial columnist and author, not somebody, not our, not our friend Andrew English, who

is the Telegraph.

I don't think he'd write that.

No, I don't think that's right, either.

So, yeah, I think they were just around, because weren't they just under the premium

car tax bracket, or one version of the MISM, the other one maybe isn't, I think, from memory.

But I don't know if that's still true.

But I've always thought that'd be a nice wagon to drive around for a while, you know, I'd

drive a jealous of all will.

Yeah, yeah, I think there's, I mean, I'd be very happy if that was my long term at the

minute, I think.

And their styling is, you know, they do a good job these days, Twitter, I think.

Yeah, I think that's a, I think it's a good looking car without obviously being a Toyota,

isn't it?

Yeah.

I think there's a, you're not much of a gamer, I know, Steve.

No, no, no.

There's a game called Grand Theft Auto, and the Prius looks to me like it would just fit

in there as this kind of, you know, sporty sedan kind of thing, you know, semi sporty

sedan.

You know, it's just, it's that slightly anonymous, but also quite rake-ish and, you know, doesn't

scream Toyota doesn't, but it's very slick.

Is that a game you play?

I have played it, mate, yeah.

My excuse for knowing is that I have had teenage children in the past few years, but

I'm aware of it as a game.

Well, I mean, I don't think even somebody like me, a real Luddite, you can't knock it

because the level at which this stuff is designed and made to work and...

The gaming stuff.

Oh, it's extraordinary.

And in fact, the, it's not much further on to say, the thing with the game is it's all

about immersion in it.

It tries to, it's into the driving games, try to not Grand Theft Auto necessarily, but

you know, the actual proper Assetto Corsa and the simulator games, they try to immerse

the driver in the thing.

That's not a million miles away from what manufacturers do.

The difference with manufacturers when they're developing cars is that they don't

worry so much if the engineer behind the wheel is not so immersed in it as long as

they're getting the right feedback.

Yes.

So the driver in the loop simulators, I think some manufacturers are lopping one or

two stages of prototype out of their production process, you know.

So, and we did a, this would have been, I don't know, five, six, maybe more years.

Oh, crikey, yeah, more years ago, maybe when Ford had the latest simulator that was made

by the company that is based just up near Hethel, his name escapes me, but you know

who I mean, but they just bought one and they were saying, the great thing is we're

using it for Ford racing in Charlottesville, Charlotte or Charlottesville, one of the two.

They were using it for tuning their racing cars and they were saying, the great thing

is that we can go to the Nurburgring in the morning, we can go to somewhere else in the

afternoon, we can take the drivers with us.

This would have cost us $100,000 to do for real and it's just, we can do it all in a

day and we can just pile through that sort of stuff.

And there was one driver in there who would have been racing in NASCAR that weekend and

he was just pounding round just to learn the track and to get an idea of tire wear and

stuff.

He was just pounding round and round and round and round in one of their simulators as well.

They're great, they've become an essential force.

I don't think they make great, the problem is they don't make brilliant magazine features

so we don't, I don't think, I don't think, tell us otherwise, listen, they don't make

for fantastic reading about, really, but they're, they're a good thing.

Yeah.

I might do a letter actually, Steve.

Go on, mate.

A few months ago, let's just call him Matthew because he hasn't yet told his partner about

one of the cars he has since ordered.

He wrote to us to say, if you remember, I don't even remember this, he's recently sold

his Porsche 987 Spyder and his wife drove an Audi A3 Saloon with one toddler.

It was big enough, but with another child on the way, we're likely to have to consider

something bigger.

Ideally, I'd not like to spend more than the value of the current car, which is probably

25,000 pound, happily to spend less.

As long as it's not dull or boring, I have considered an L322 Range Rover with a restless

incidentals plus a fun car.

Do you remember talking about that?

Yeah, I do, I do.

And we said, why don't you get an L322 and a fun car and guess what he's done, Steve?

Ha!

I just want to let you both know that I've taken the plunge, says Matthew, and as of

this week, put down a deposit on a 2012 4.4-litre TD V8 Range Rover Vogue from respected L322

dealer in the North Cotswolds.

And I have placed an order for a Morgan Super 3.

Wow, fantastic!

How good is that?

Anyway, he wrote me this a few weeks ago, very much hoping to pick up the L322 early next

month and see if I can get it to coincide with a trip to the factory in Malvern to see

my car in build.

Anyway, I wrote back to him this morning and he says, to update you, I got the full set

of Christmas tree warning lights on the dash of the L322 within three days of picking it

up.

But the next time I drove it, they had all miraculously disappeared.

Needless to say, I've ordered an OBD2 reader.

The Super 3 is in build and I'm off to see it on the production line on Wednesday.

Yes, yes, happy to have this read out on the pod, but I still need to tell my wife that

I've ordered the Morgan.

So maybe don't mention my surname.

Excellent.

This is brilliant.

Actually, I sympathize with this completely because the steering committee who does not

hear our pods very often is going off to, she's a university type, as you probably know,

and she's about to take a bunch of students on a field trip for a week.

And I've got various motorcycle actions planned for that week.

Because the great thing about motorbikes is, is that you tend to find in your other half,

if they're not particularly into motorbikes, then they'll say, oh, I thought we had a blue

one.

And you say, no, no, always ready.

I, yeah, I reckon that's true.

I reckon I, yeah, I did.

I suspect that's true.

Yeah.

Well, I reckon I could probably get away with moving quite a lot of things around before

anybody noticed.

Yeah.

I reckon my son who would visit once every three weeks would be the first person to notice

anything happening at all.

He'd go, why is that?

Is that a work car?

No.

Well.

No, it's not.

Actually, I've just, I'm cock-a-hoop because the, my Peugeot 205, the X-Rally car, which

is being done up, is, and is now in build, it's proceeded.

We've just had, I showed you, a photograph of it with, with the white wheels, they're

back from the powder coaters, and they look absolutely great.

What a terrific decision I, I believe we've made.

Yeah.

It was on white wheels already, was it?

No, it was the 309.

It was the car that we were trying to recreate that was on white.

White wheels, and that was not my decision, but this one has been, and I think it's going

to be really good.

Yeah.

I can't wait.

Oh, the boys are, there's a, there's been a, a sort of gathering parts together phase

because it needs lots of things like, you know, new pedal box and, you know, I'm going

to go for a, for a powered hub on the steering and a few things.

Okay.

But all that stuff's arriving, I think the build phase is about to begin.

It's exciting.

That is exciting.

It is.

That is really exciting.

And Neil, the, who's doing the job, sent me a picture of the car on white wheels just

to juice me up.

Well, I think it looked really good, mate.

You showed me, and I think it looks great.

We'll put a picture out on some of the socials, shall we, on Wednesday, to coincide with this

coming up.

Tell me about Steve, that's your versus pro drive, I mean, not versus pro drive, but there's

some success they've had at the Dakar.

Yeah, they will.

They won the Dakar rally, didn't they?

Yeah.

And, you know, with Sebastian Loeb and friends.

And the car was, as I understand it, engineered and driven by, and built by pro drive, using

expertise that they'd already accumulated from their previous car.

Do you remember that car called the Hunter BR1 that was Bahraini sponsored thing?

I think I, you had to go in it.

I had the misfortune to drive it around London, central London, if I remember.

And beach and places, I went, didn't I?

Yeah, we got into it, God, that's right.

We drove it around, it was the park opposite the Royal Albert Hall.

They pulled up in a trailer, they pulled up in a trailer there, got it out, and I drove

it around London for a photo shoot, but it was so loud.

And visibility was so bad, but it was, and we went from a few places in and around London

to do, it was, it was, it certainly stopped the traffic.

I'm sure it did.

Yeah.

And it was, and it was exciting.

Pics were lovely.

Pics were, pics were fantastic.

Yeah.

It was one of those, I mean, it's great to, it's great to do, but it was one of those

jobs that I was glad at the end when you just put it back in its trailer and away it goes.

And you go, I'm glad I'm, I'm pleased that that is.

Yeah, we pulled it off.

That's done.

Yeah.

Well, the thing is, I think that that project was the absolute antithesis of this one, the

thatcher one.

I went to ProDrive a couple of times while it was being built and they, you know, they

kind of, you know, waved at a thing in the corner, but you weren't allowed to go and

look at it really.

And, and it just seemed to me that given that ProDriver won the Dakar, which has been their

long-term objective for the first time in this car, which they conceived and built and

for that matter ran, they, they could have been allowed a little bit more, you know,

bunting and shouting.

But I guess that's the way life goes in, in the, in the consult, in the sort of, you

know, the engine, motorsport engineering business.

Lots of things are done by people who don't get the credit.

Yeah.

And it just, it just seemed a, seemed a shame because I liked them all up there.

Yeah.

Do they get, are they interesting to know how much they're allowed to shout about it?

Isn't it really what the contract says?

I think, I think there's a line that credits them.

Of, you know, I think it might have been, it says something like built in partnership

with ProDriver, which to my mind, I could be wrong here and make somebody else sort

of, you know, give me a clip in the ear for it, but it just seems to me that it was a

lot more than in partnership.

Yes, I would have thought so.

How much does it look like a DATSIA?

That is the question.

I've just pulled it up here.

Does not look loads like a DATSIA, does it?

The DATSIA Sand Winners.

A low-environmental impact car.

I don't know.

Is this the same thing?

Sand.

Well, maybe it's called the Sand Rider.

Sand Rider, yeah.

Such a sustainable fuel made from over 80% biomass, but also new technical features

to adapt to the needs and the performance of the drivers.

A team for the win.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, great.

It's good for a DATSIA, isn't it?

Yeah, I keep some separate from Renault, doesn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

It's really interesting to know how they quantify success in these things,

transmitting to more road car sales.

I bet it must have gone down a storm in Romania, where DATSIA was born and comes from.

Yeah.

So, I mean, I'm sure it's beneficial, but I was just thinking about all those guys

that sweated and toiled and they probably got a pat on the back and then move on.

And then move on, move on to the next one.

Yeah.

Let's finish briefly talking about my column from last week.

Not a good week in my family's stakes, mate, because three penalty-charged notices

arrived in reasonably short order.

One, four...

Three different folks, or...?

Oh, yeah, three different folks.

Three different folks.

Oh, they're three.

Are they three?

Well, no, two different folks, actually, but three different things.

Yeah.

One for inadvertently straying into an Oxford bus lane.

Late night and Friday night, no buses in sight on the pictures, no traffic around,

raining late after work, sign not visible, you know, not visible, 70 quid, please.

Another one, trying to deliver a piano into Dundee City Centre, which has a low emissions zone.

Oh, thank God, eh?

Yeah, 70 quid, by the way.

No, it's 60 quid, actually, but 30 quid if you pay it quickly.

And there's no...

If you're in a non-compliant car, you know, like if I come into London in my Land Rover or Audi,

you pay to come in, there is none of that with Dundee, it's just a fine.

You cannot bring a car in if it's not Euro...

What number is it?

Five, probably.

Four, five, six, five, I think.

Anyway, it's just a fine, straight away.

And another one for missing out on Oxford's new congestion charge, 70 quid.

Same day as the bus lane.

Got it.

Different car, different person, same day as the bus lane.

And it was just like...

And then there's a yellow box in Kingston upon Thames, which a freedom of information request

showed had raked in £450,000 in fines in eight months last year, right?

If a road is so hard to comply with that it's taking £2,000 of fines a day,

that must be badly designed, mustn't it?

It cannot be a well-designed bit of road if it's generating £2,000 of fines a day.

Yeah, the law that applies to it must be wrong.

So, Kingston Council had an extraordinary meeting in January to discuss it,

and during the minutes of that meeting, one of the councillors said, something that they

should have probably left unsaid, because in the written minutes it says,

while the raising of revenue from enforcement is not the objective, there is a financial

implication to the council if there is a change to the current arrangement.

The council needs to be mindful of the impact this would have on the revenue income streams

that help balance the budget.

Ergo, this road is badly designed, and they will leave it badly designed,

because it fleeces the motorist.

That is a shame.

That is shocking, isn't it?

How can you say that?

These same people will stand up in a minute and say,

vote for us, we've got your best interest at home.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And in a time when the National Centre for Social Research found in 2024,

that's trust and confidence in Britain's system of government is at a record low.

Well, I wonder why, when you see things like that.

And when politicians think that perhaps they are being unfairly

harshly treated for minor indiscretions, bear in mind that you're sending people 70 quid fines

because they don't see a sign for two seconds, and then wonder why you are being treated with

the same contempt that you are treating the public by.

The lack of redress is such a drag, isn't it?

Gosh, that's a bit of a ratty.

I can imagine as well.

I can imagine it must have really made you spoil at the time.

It's the yellow box thing, is it?

Well, so it is 200 pound notes, that.

Yeah, it's the, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, if you've got it immediately, you can pay less.

But if you don't have it, if you don't have it straight away,

and if you don't have the Oxford congestion charge within 28 days,

because you're a low income earner or whatever, and you just go,

then it goes up to 105 quid, and then the initial letter,

the initial letter you get includes,

the warrant authorizes a certificated bailiff to seize and sell goods belonging to you,

and the value of the outstanding amount, plus the cost of executing the warrant.

Just like this is just the first I've heard of it, what the fuck's that about?

But it just, anyway, the box junction thing is a problem.

There's actually, there's a very good bloke on Instagram called yellow box guru.

If you do get a yellow box junction, fine, look him up.

And he is very clear on the difference between what the highway code says and what the law says.

And there are times when you will appeal, and the council will say no,

because the highway code says this, yeah, but actually the road laws say something different

to what the highway code says. And in terms of entering a box when it's not clear or whatever,

you can successfully appeal a lot more.

Oh, well done, Mr. Seller.

Successfully than people else.

Yeah, I might write a bit more about him at another time.

Anyway, that was a jolly note to bring this podcast into it.

But that was my column last week.

Glad you just, the yellow box stuff.

Congratulations for remaining cheery today.

Well, I mean, if it's raising 2,000 quid in fines a day is broken, isn't it?

And saying, oh, sorry, we need the money.

I'm sorry, that's not how this stuff is supposed to work.

Well, especially since that's not the idea.

Blokker has said somewhere at the beginning of his utterance,

while raising money is not the objective.

Sounds like it is, mate.

Sounds a lot like it is to me.

Anyway, Steve and I will be back on Saturday with more of your letters.

We've got some bloke who thinks the Peugeot three and nine was always rubbish.

The Volkswagen, oh yeah, when was Pete Carr the Volkswagen up?

We've got some stuff on weight.

Would you be happier in a high end I-20 or a BMW I-5?

I've run both in the past.

I know I ran an I-5 recently, which is why he's written to me about that.

And much more besides, you can write to us autocartathaymarket.com.

And Steve and I will hopefully get on to it another time.

We're about to record the other podcast in a minute.

So anything you send in the next few days will not make into Saturday's pod.

But do write to us.

And it will be in one soon.

It's amazing.

The thing we've learned, even before the pod, but especially now,

is that people have got such interesting points of view that we're constantly confronted with

thoughts that we didn't have ourselves.

Yeah, 100%.

Yes, in fact, I've been credited on Smith and Sniff's podcast with,

you know that car advert thing?

Well, it doesn't bother me.

That was Richard's being very kind about saying it was us who came up with it.

But actually, it was one of our letter writers who came in.

It was Bill Geisen who came up with that idea in the first place.

He wrote in with the letter.

So thanks for that, Bill.

Yeah, so our Saturday bonus podcasts, some of them will be interviews.

In the weeks when we don't have an interview,

Steve and or I will talk to somebody either from the magazine or read out some letters.

So basically, we'll try and have two pods a week more regularly.

Sounds great.

Effectively.

So our thanks to Anderson, Anderson-EV.com,

the premium home charger company.

They'll look after you.

Seven-year warranty, very highly rated on Trustpilot.

UK designed engineered great team of people to look after you.

Full concierge service, which Steve has not yet availed himself of

to see if he should change tariff.

Maybe one day I'll sit down up here and say I've done it.

Maybe one day.

Thanks, Steve.

Cheers, mate.

See you next week.

Vanta becomes your first security hire.

Using AI and automation to get you compliant fast and unblock big deals.

For enterprises, Vanta is your AI-powered hub for compliance and risk,

bringing together data from across your businesses and automating workflows

so you can prove trust at any moment.

Vanta scales with you at every stage.

That's why top companies from startups like Cursor to enterprises like Snowflake choose Vanta.

Do security and compliance right.

Get started today at vanta.com slash TED audio.

ACAS powers the world's best podcasts.

Here's a show that we recommend.

Galactic year 6967, 420, 42, 800, 85.

The war for the spark rages on, yet one last hope remains.

Four ancient warriors are about to take to the stars and take the galaxy by storm.

Hey, so here's what you're going to do.

You're going to go to HTTPS.

They added that.

Colon.

Yeah, I'm going to check on that.

God, no, don't we all.

I wish I were dead.

Colon, slash.

Dungeons and Daddies presents Grand Cars and Galaxies,

an improvised actual place,

senior star citizen space opera adventure.

Coming February 10th to our solar system.

The 80bhp Ami, cut us some slack!

About this episode

Citroën AMI

Citroën C3

Ford Raptor

Jeep 4xe

Porsche 987 Spyder

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from My week in cars: the Autocar podcast