An EV, or Electric Vehicle, runs on electricity instead of gasoline. This means it doesn't produce exhaust emissions and is often better for the environment.
A PHEV, or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, uses both electricity and gasoline. You can charge it like an electric car, but it also has a gas engine for longer trips.
A hybrid car uses both a gas engine and an electric motor to save fuel. It can switch between the two or use both at the same time for better efficiency.
An electric vehicle, or EV, is a car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. This means it doesn't produce exhaust fumes and can be cheaper to drive since electricity is often less expensive than gas.
The Ford F-150 is a popular truck that can be used for work or personal use. It comes in different types, including a hybrid that uses both gas and electricity to run.
Twin turbochargers are two devices that help an engine get more power by forcing more air into it. This makes the engine run better and faster.
Car
Ford EcoBoost
The Ford EcoBoost is a type of engine that uses turbochargers to give more power while using less fuel. The 3.5-liter V6 version is popular for its good performance.
The Chevrolet Silverado is a big truck that people often use for work or towing things. It’s popular because it can handle tough jobs and has a strong engine, making it a favorite among truck lovers.
Cylinder deactivation is a feature that lets an engine turn off some of its cylinders when not much power is needed. This helps save fuel, but older versions had problems.
A V8 engine has eight cylinders that help it produce a lot of power. It's shaped like a 'V' and is often used in trucks and sports cars because it can make them go fast.
The Ford Maverick Hybrid is a small truck that uses both gas and electricity to run, making it very efficient. It can go a long way on just a little gas, which is great for saving money.
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes many different types of cars, including some that are very efficient and environmentally friendly.
Electric vehicles are cars that run only on electricity, so they don't use gas at all. This makes them cleaner for the environment since they don't produce exhaust fumes.
The Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spider is a fancy sports car that looks really cool and can go super fast. It's a convertible, so you can drive it with the top down.
When you trade in your old car, the dealership gives you money off the price of a new car based on how much your old car is worth. It's a way to make buying a new car cheaper.
Transmission trouble means there are problems with the part of the car that helps it change gears. If it's not working right, the car might not drive smoothly or could have trouble going into gear.
The Toyota Tundra is a large truck that people use for heavy-duty tasks and off-roading. Some models have had problems with their engines, which means some owners have had to replace them more often than expected.
General Motors is a big American car company that owns several brands like Chevrolet and Cadillac. Some of their cars have had engine and transmission problems.
A flange is a flat piece that helps hold parts together. In a radiator, it connects the radiator to the car and keeps everything sealed so that coolant doesn't leak.
LIVE
Hey, folks, welcome to another edition of My Car Guru.
I was just looking at the top episodes of all time.
I can track this for the podcast.
I can't really judge how many people listen to the radio program on this radio station.
They try to tell you, well, I guess they make educated guesses and say, you have an
audience of this size, probably.
You just don't know, but with the podcast, it's different.
Everything on the internet can be measured.
So I wanted to see what the top episodes of all time were.
And the top five, the first, the most popular was one called EV versus PHEV versus hybrid.
Here is all you need to know about all this electric car stuff.
So I guess that was really popular because people just didn't really understand the big
deal.
You know, what's the deal with EVs and, for example, what the heck is a PHEV, a plug-in
hybrid electric vehicle?
That's what it is.
That is a car that has a gasoline engine.
It has a battery and it has an electric motor.
And it's one that you have to plug in to be able to utilize, get the full utilization of
the electric motor and the battery because basically what it does, it gives you about 25 to 45 miles
of battery-only range and then the engine kicks on.
And those have sold fair.
What has really sold is just the hybrid and that would be a vehicle with a gasoline
engine, a smaller battery and an electric motor that assists in the motivation of the
vehicle down the road.
My F-150 is a hybrid.
We probably sell 30% of the F-150s that we sell are hybrids.
At least that's the case here at Gateway Ford in Greenville, Tennessee.
We do pretty well with what they call the power boost.
The fuel economy difference isn't that great.
If you take just a regular EcoBoost, which is a 3.5-liter V6 engine with twin turbochargers
that gives it about a 400 or so horsepower.
It's a powerful engine.
It does really good.
Ford decided to go that route as opposed to General Motors with the Silverado went
with a V8 engine and decided to use a technology that was a miserable failure back when it first
came out with it.
I don't know.
I'm thinking in the 80s and basically it's cylinder deactivation.
The Cadillac was one of the pioneers in this.
They called it the V864 engine.
So it was a V8 engine that it would shut off two cylinders or run on six and then
shut off two more and run on four.
You know, if you didn't have much throttle and need to go very fast and then as soon as
you hit the gas, it's supposed to go back to the V8, but they had a problem.
The technology just wasn't very good and those engines were failing left and right, but they
kind of perfected it and went back with it in the Silverado.
And so they've been pretty successful with it.
They haven't been able to overtake Ford, but yeah, the Hybrid is a good option
for somebody that wants to extend their mileage.
Our Maverick Hybrid, for example, it'll get 45 miles to gallon on the highway, whereas just
the regular Maverick, that's not a hybrid, will get about 32 miles per gallon.
So that's a pretty significant difference.
At $2.50 a gallon, it's not as big of a deal as it was when it was 450 a gallon.
But there has been a mad rush to buy hybrids over the last year or so and it has benefited
those dealers that I mentioned, including Hyundai.
They have done pretty well with their hybrids, but yeah, electric vehicles have kind of lost
their luster because of the loss of the $7,500 additional motivation by the federal government.
Second most popular show was if you hit these four targets when buying a new or
used car, you will always get a great deal.
Now these four targets are explained in detail in the MyCarGuru guidebook, which is free.
It's 32 pages long.
A lot more things are explained than just that, but these are basically, this is about
a negotiation philosophy that I have that you do not let the dealership dictate how
this vehicle is going to be bought by you.
You dictate it and you use the four targets as your guidepost.
In other words, you negotiate the selling price separately from the trade value, separately
from the terms of the loan, and separately from what products are sold to you or attempted
to be sold to you in the finance office.
You separate those four things, negotiate them separately.
You'll get a much better deal and I go into great detail as to how that happens.
So that was the second most popular.
I just wonder if the guy that listens in Luxembourg, that's over in Europe somewhere.
I think it's just north of France and just maybe west of Germany, a little country,
real small.
I just went in, I wanted to see what cars would be for selling Luxembourg.
I was just curious because there's this guy that has, somebody has downloaded a bunch
of my episodes that lives in this little town in Luxembourg and I just wanted to see
what the market looked like there and there's car dealerships.
I pulled up this one that sells, is a used car dealer and he had, of course, everything's
in euros as far as price, like here's an Audi RS6 Avant, four liter, V8 bi-turbo, that's
64,900 euros.
It's got 61,000 kilometers on it and it runs on petrol.
That's what it says right here.
Or you could buy, I scrolled on down and here's a Lamborghini Huracan that's, yeah,
it's an Evo Spider.
That's at 324,900 euro.
So this particular dealer, he sells pretty high in stuff, but if you're negotiating in
Luxembourg and you're going into this particular dealership, you can still use the four targets
because we're all humans and it is a negotiation.
He may say that, well, that's the price and I'm sticking with it and even in Luxembourg,
you do have the freedom to get out of there, jump in your car and leave.
So that's what a lot of people do.
The third most popular show was Freak Your Mechanic Out, listen and learn the basics
of how your car engine actually works.
This is where I can get a little bit into the weeds on some of my programs.
I don't remember what number episode this was.
This was back in December 27th of 2022 when I did this episode.
But yeah, when I start talking about mechanical stuff, how it works, you know, what are the
things really that a car owner needs to know?
Let's say that you go into a shop, your engine's making a funny knocking noise
and you go into the shop and, you know, they tell you, well, you want the good
news or the bad news and you say, well, just go ahead and give me the bad news.
You need a new engine.
So, you know, it would be nice to be able to have somebody that you could take in
there and say, would you please explain to this mechanic friend of mine what's
wrong with my engine and why do I need to spend that much money on a brand
new engine?
You know, are there any other options?
These would be nice things to know.
But a lot of people, they just don't have anybody that knows anything about cars.
And so that's why I'm here.
I do get a lot of messages from people all over the country that listen to the
program and they send me inquiries about, usually it's about buying cars,
though. Quite honestly, it's the most frequent topic is, you know, what
vehicle should I buy?
What should I get for my trade-in?
You know, how do I handle this particular situation?
I do get some where folks are concerned about a repair.
More often, it's transmission trouble.
More than anything, then engine trouble.
You know, engines are pretty reliable, for the most part.
There are some companies that have a lot of engine problems like, well,
Toyota had a huge problem with their Toyota Tundras.
They're replacing engines left and right.
Hyundai and Kia had a bunch of problems with theirs.
Ford had a few issues, General Motors as well.
But usually it's transmissions.
And, you know, that's just one of those major components of your vehicle
that most people don't think about maintaining.
You know, you pull into the Jiffy Lube place to get your oil changed
and you do nothing to your transmission.
And it's been 60,000 miles.
And then you wonder why, you know, if it's a CVT, it goes out at 75,000 miles.
And you've got to have a new one.
It's because you should have changed the oil and the filter on that thing
at 30,000 miles.
Check your owner's manual for goodness sake.
It's not that hard.
Okay, I'll take my first break.
I'll be back in just a minute.
All right, this is a different kind of a show where, well,
I am talking about the popularity of certain episodes.
And I just really find it interesting that the one about EVs and electric vehicles
is the number one downloaded of all time.
Because I guess it says something about the people that listen to podcasts
because maybe they're just, I don't know, more interested in the latest technology.
Maybe they're techno geeks like I am.
Okay, so the fourth most downloaded show in the history of my car,
now I have about 500, a little over 500 episodes out there.
I know that's just ridiculous, isn't it?
How could somebody talk about cars and car related things for 500 shows
of 23 minutes a piece?
I don't know, but it's been done.
And I guess the only way to find out is just to go to the podcast
and listen to some of them.
The fourth most popular podcast was What Women Want
and Why Men Need to Listen, Comprehend and Respond Accordingly,
especially when it comes to major purchases.
You know, I guess one of my major points,
I haven't listened to this one in a while,
one of my major points was the difference between men and women
and how men justify these major purchases.
It's almost comical.
Honey, we really need to get that four wheeler.
It'll make such a difference when I go deer hunting.
I won't have to walk near as much, but don't you need to exercise?
Well, yes, I do need to exercise, but I really need this
just so I don't sprain my ankle walking through the woods.
You know, they'll do anything to justify a boat,
a camper, a motorcycle.
What else, what have I tried to do?
I had to justify my first tractor.
And you know, what she doesn't know about,
you don't have to justify.
So I learned that one pretty early on.
I'm not that, that devious though, but occasionally,
I have been a little bit devious
like my last set of golf clubs.
Okay, what women want?
That was June 10th of 2025.
And it was popular.
It went to, it went to Canada.
Let's see, United States was the bulk of it.
Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa,
Singapore, India and Sweden.
The most popular download place was a little place
called Fall Branch, Tennessee.
Yep.
And then Woodland Park, Colorado, St. Louis, Missouri,
Dandridge, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia.
So it's just fun.
It's fun for me to go back and see where these go,
because it just amazes me the power of the internet.
And the fifth most popular show was
what is the most important thing you can learn
about how to do and especially in moments of highest stress?
Now that one was August 8th, 2024.
I don't know exactly what I was going through at that time.
Maybe it was what somebody else was going through around me.
I try to maintain my cool.
It used to be a lot harder when I was younger
as I've aged, I've tempered,
and also I have all these young people working around me
that I have to set an example of coolness
in the heat of battle.
You know, I see over the years
I've seen a lot of customers lose their cool
over an automotive related thing.
You know, it's not fun when you take your vehicle
into the shop for a problem.
You don't know what it's gonna cost.
It ends up being more than you thought probably.
And it's a disruption to your lifestyle.
I mean, I don't guess it's any different
than having to go to the doctor
except if you have to drop your car and leave it
and it ends up, the repair takes longer
and then it goes over a weekend
and you don't have anything else to drive.
I mean, it's a tough thing.
It really is.
And when somebody starts to lose it,
then the service advisors are supposed to let me know
or let my nephew Max or Abby know
so that we can go in and calm things down.
You know, even if we have done everything right,
it still doesn't mean it's not gonna be
an upsetting experience for the customer.
And this is where employees sometimes get defensive.
Well, I didn't do it.
It was the mechanic, you know, that type of argument
where you go to the drive-through
and you order something
and they put the wrong sandwich in your bag.
And I know it's not that big of an inconvenience
but it's still, with the pace of our lives and everything,
it can tick you off and you go back around
and you have to wait in line again,
you finally get up to the window
and say, they gave me the wrong sandwich.
Well, it wasn't my fault.
You know, blame the people in the kitchen.
That doesn't go over real well.
I appreciate an employee that takes ownership of a problem.
Like they did it at Ecklers.
You ever heard of Ecklers?
It's a parts warehouse.
They sell a lot of stuff for vintage cars.
I had to order a new radiator for my 1957 Chevrolet.
So I did it online.
Radiator came in yesterday.
And I went up to the shop for the unveiling.
We opened the box and the entire flange
that goes all the way down the side of the radiator,
the left side of the radiator was bent.
It was bent in.
It was actually welded on incorrectly.
And I said, don't go on it.
You know, and I was really wanting to drive that vehicle.
This upcoming weekend and I'm not going to be able to now.
And so, but I've got other cars.
So I called Ecklers.
They saw the customer hotline.
So I dialed the number.
I had to push a few buttons to get to a human being.
But when I got to the human being,
they were so pleasant, apologetic.
They sent me a link so that I could take pictures of it.
They made the whole process much easier.
I mean, this, I said, this is going to be great.
So he said, somebody will be contacting you
within the next 24 hours.
Well, he was great, but he didn't keep his promise
because it's been more than 24 hours
and I haven't heard anything.
And so now I'm going to have to call him back.
I do have a case number.
So, you know, this is a little hiccup
and I'm not going to go off on them.
You know, I'm never going to do that.
I want, I need the radiator.
That's what I want.
You know, when your car breaks down
and it's in the shop, you know,
you going off like a bottle rocket
probably isn't going to help matters anything.
But sitting down with a service manager
and getting a clear understanding
of what's going on, that will help.
So, you know, these are things that we can learn
or hopefully that we learn over time
in moments of highest stress is just keeping our cool.
So occasionally I will do shows like that.
I had a guy come in the other day, he says,
you know, that's one of the reasons I listen to you
because you don't talk about cars all the time.
You talk about life.
And the fact of the matter is I have learned
a whole lot of life lessons in the car business
and just dealing with people, employees, vendors,
you know, people selling me stuff, buying things,
building buildings, you know,
taking big risks as far as expanding business,
getting burned several times,
learning some painful lessons,
but also just the interactions with the other human beings
that I get to encounter.
It's just a wonderful thing, a great opportunity.
You know, something that I didn't really embrace that much
until my dad passed away.
And I mean, that was his whole purpose for existence
I think was making other people smile
and solving problems when he could for other people.
And you know, that's a heck of a legacy
to live up to and one that I work on every day.
Well, I'll be back in just one minute.
So a couple of final things.
If you have some subject that you would like me to deal with
on a global basis, I can do it.
Just send me a text message 423-552-2020
and tell me what you want me to talk about.
But if you need some one-on-one counseling,
you can lay on my virtual couch right here
in my virtual office.
And we can solve your problem directly
calling the same number 423-552-2020.
And then if you want the My Car Guru guidebook,
you know what to do.
Just send me your email address
and I'll send you one, a PDF of it.
And just like the lady that came in here
just a little while ago from just outside of,
well, she lives really close to Irwin, Tennessee
in between Irwin and Johnson City.
And she said, I want a copy of the My Car Guru guidebook
and I drove all the way down here to get it.
So I printed one out for her and took it out
and we had the nicest conversation.
And she's gonna pass it on to her family members.
And that's what you need to do.
Because it's the people that are in the market
for a car or having car trouble.
They don't know what to do.
They think they have a lemon,
but they're not sure
and they don't know what to do about it if they do.
Then the My Car Guru guidebook has step-by-step processes
to go through to be able to solve those issues.
And you don't even really need to talk to me.
But if you want to, you can.
423-552-2020 or my email address is Lenny Lawson,
2020 at gmail.com and that's how you get to me.
And one more thing, don't ignore the roles,
the very important roles that you play in life,
the things that you should be doing within those roles
often get pushed aside because of our very full to-do lists.
I went through this for many years.
When I would open my planner,
I would start writing down all the things
that I need to get done this week.
And nowhere on that planner was when my kids were young,
playing outside with my kids,
reading a book to them when they go to bed,
taking my wife on a date,
going to Bible study.
The really important things in life
often get pushed aside because of a busy, busy to-do list.
Just remember, nobody on their death bed ever says,
dog on it, I wish I'd spent more time at work.
Keep that in mind this week and I'll see you next time.
About this episode
Exploring the top five episodes of The My Car Guru Podcast reveals insights into electric vehicles, negotiation tactics for car buying, and understanding car mechanics. The most popular episode discusses the differences between EVs, PHEVs, and hybrids, while another emphasizes negotiation strategies to secure better deals. The host shares personal anecdotes, including a humorous look at how men and women approach major purchases. With over 500 episodes, the podcast blends automotive knowledge with life lessons, making it a unique resource for both car buyers and enthusiasts.
