Coilovers are aftermarket suspension parts that you can adjust. With HKS coilovers, you can usually change how low the car sits and how firm it feels. People buy them to make the car handle better and look right.
Fitment just means whether a part will work on your exact car. It covers things like whether it clears other parts and mounts correctly. If the fitment isn’t right, the part may rub or not install properly.
A “V8 twin turbo” is a V8 engine with two turbochargers. The turbos cram extra air into the engine so it can make more power, especially when you accelerate.
Turbochargers are devices that use the engine’s exhaust to spin a compressor. That pushes more air into the engine, helping it make more power when you press the gas.
An eight-speed transmission is a gearbox with eight different gear ratios. It helps the car choose the best gear so the engine and motors can stay in the “right” range for quick response.
A power curve is a graph of how strong the car feels at different engine speeds. With turbo and electric assist, the car can deliver strong pull more smoothly instead of waiting for the engine to reach a certain RPM.
The Lamborghini Aventador is a very high-end Lamborghini supercar. The hosts are saying it can be hard to drive smoothly and confidently, especially compared to more “everyday” supercars.
The Lamborghini Huracan is another Lamborghini supercar. The point being made is that early versions could feel a bit difficult to drive well, even if they’re still fun.
The Renault R8 is an older small car. The podcast is mentioning it because of how it affects your view while driving, especially blind spots. So it’s being remembered for a specific driving/visibility trait.
The Audi R8 is a supercar from Audi. The host’s point is that it’s generally easier to drive and live with than some older Lamborghinis, especially in terms of visibility and day-to-day usability.
Electric motors are the parts that use electricity to make the car move. In a hybrid, they can help the gas engine so the car feels stronger, especially at low speeds.
The BMW M5 is a fast, performance version of a regular BMW sedan. It’s made to be powerful but also usable day to day. People talk about it because modern versions include a lot of technology and electronics, not just engine power.
The Volkswagen Golf is a small hatchback car. The podcast is talking about a special “20th anniversary” version of the GTI, which is the sportier Golf. Special editions like that are often remembered because they’re limited and have unique details.
“New old stock” (often shortened to NOS) means a vehicle or part that was produced in the past but never sold or used, so it’s still effectively new. It matters to enthusiasts because it can combine older styling/trim with the condition of a fresh item, but availability is limited and pricing can be high.
Corsa mode is a “sporty/aggressive” driving setting. It usually makes the car respond faster when you press the gas. The speaker is saying the Lamborghini feels especially punchy in that mode.
Term
Strata mode
Strata mode appears to be another selectable driving mode on the car, likely tuned for a different balance of comfort vs. responsiveness. The speaker groups it with Corsa mode as part of the car’s mode system and says the car feels aggressive in both. Without more context, the exact calibration (throttle mapping, shift logic, steering feel) can’t be confirmed from the transcript alone.
EV mode is when the car runs on electricity instead of using the gas engine. The goal is usually to make driving quieter and smoother. In this case, it sounds like the engine stopped completely while they cruised.
When they say the turbos “spool,” they mean the turbo has to spin up and start forcing more air into the engine. That takes a moment, so the car has to coordinate everything so you don’t feel a big lag.
RPM is a measure of how fast the engine is spinning. If the car is running on electricity, the gas engine may not be spinning, so it can feel like there’s “no engine” and the RPM display drops away.
The Mazda CX-70 is a larger SUV meant for everyday driving and family use. The podcast is talking about how it feels when you drive—specifically how the engine revs or responds. It’s basically about the driving “feel,” not just the specs.
This is when the car shuts off the gas engine even though you’re still rolling. It saves fuel, and it turns back on when you accelerate or need more power.
“ECSO 2” is the name of a particular tire. They’re saying it grips well for fun driving and track events, but it’s also usable for normal street driving.
Term
DWSO 6
“DWSO 6” sounds like a specific tire model name. Different tire models are built for different driving conditions, so the name tells you what kind of tire it is.
Time attack is when drivers try to get the quickest lap time on a track. Tires matter a lot because you’re pushing hard repeatedly, not just cruising around.
“Treadwear” is a tire rating (often from standardized tests) that roughly indicates how long the tire’s tread is expected to last under specific conditions. A “super slick compound” is formulated for maximum grip with less tread pattern, typically trading durability and street comfort for performance—so the hosts are arguing you don’t always need that extreme setup.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom is a very expensive luxury car. It’s designed to feel extremely comfortable and quiet. The podcast is making a joke about the name and how it sounds.
The 1997 Toyota Prius was one of the first widely sold hybrid cars. It uses both a gas engine and an electric motor together, which is why it became a big deal for fuel economy.
The Mazda Miata (MX-5) is a small two-seat roadster. It’s built to feel light and easy to drive, with handling that’s meant to be fun. The podcast is talking about the newer ND generation from around 2015.
Concept
NA
“NA” usually means the engine is naturally aspirated, meaning it doesn’t use a turbocharger. Power comes from the engine itself rather than forced air from a turbo.
Term
trunk release in the fuse box
A car’s trunk release can be controlled by electrical parts and protected by fuses. If the keys are locked inside, people sometimes try to trigger the release by accessing the fuse box.
The Honda Integra Type R is a special, track-minded version of the Integra. People like it because it’s fun and responsive to drive, not just fast on paper.
The Acura Integra is a compact car made by Acura. The Type R version is the sportier, performance-focused model. The podcast is referencing the DC5 generation of the Type R.
The Nissan Fairlady Z from 1969 is one of the first Japanese sports cars that really impressed people outside Japan. It helped build the reputation of the “Z” line as a fun, real-world usable sports car.
“Top five” just means a list where only five cars can be considered the best. When people argue about it, it’s usually because they disagree on which cars should make that final group.
The Toyota GR Yaris is a sporty version of the Yaris. It’s made to be quick and fun to drive, with a focus on handling. The podcast is saying they’d choose it over another car in their list.
The Datsun 240Z is an older Japanese sports car that became a legend for being fun and stylish. The hosts are comparing newer hype (the GR Yaris) to this classic.
The Honda S2000 is a Honda roadster known for revving very high and feeling really sharp to drive. People love it because the engine is naturally aspirated and the car feels light and fun.
A “four cylinder” engine has four combustion chambers. Here, they’re talking about how this particular four-cylinder engine feels exciting and revs freely.
The Lexus LS 400 is a Japanese luxury car that’s known for being smooth and well-built. It’s often included in top lists because it was a big deal for how good a Japanese luxury sedan could be.
The Nissan GT-R (R35) is a super-fast Japanese sports car. People love it because it grips the road well (all-wheel drive) and it’s known for being brutally quick.
The Toyota 2000GT is a classic sports car from Toyota. The podcast is highlighting it as an iconic model that many car fans recognize. It’s remembered for being a special, high-status vintage Toyota.
Yamaha is a Japanese brand best known for motorcycles, but here it’s being credited with helping with the car’s interior materials. The point is that the wood trim was treated so it wouldn’t warp from heat.
Term
side compartment of the car on the behind the front wheel
They’re talking about a hidden storage space near the front wheel area. It’s like a built-in compartment where you can stash small items.
Homologation is a racing rule that says the car has to be built in enough numbers for regular buyers. That way, the race car is based on something that actually exists on the road.
The Skyline comes in different generations, and the R33 is one of them. The hosts are guessing which generation matches what they’re talking about, because different years/generations can have different equipment.
The Toyota Celica GT4 is a special Celica version that’s tied to rally racing. The hosts bring it up as a comparison while they’re trying to identify the right Skyline.
The Nissan Leaf was one of the first electric cars that lots of people could actually buy. The hosts are basically saying it was important for EV history, but it wasn’t as refined as newer electric cars.
“Mass produced” just means the car was made in big numbers for regular customers. The point here is that the Leaf helped bring electric cars to the mainstream, not just to a niche market.
“Rapid charge” means charging an EV faster than usual. The hosts are saying early EVs were held back by charging speed, and the Leaf was one of the early examples that supported faster charging.
EV means electric vehicle. It’s a car that runs on electricity stored in a battery, and the discussion here is about early EV problems like range and charging speed.
The Honda Civic is a small, everyday car. A Civic Type R is the high-performance version, made to be quicker and more fun to drive. The podcast is referencing a specific newer Type R generation.
Front-wheel drive means the front wheels do the work of both steering and moving the car. The hosts mention it because it affects how the car feels to drive, especially in a sporty “driver’s car” context.
The Nissan GT-R is a very fast sports car. The R35 is the generation being mentioned. In the podcast, they’re comparing it to other cars and deciding it doesn’t belong at the very top of their list.
A transaxle is basically the car’s gearbox plus the final drive/differential in one unit. It’s common on cars where the engine is closer to the middle or rear.
“EVO” is short for Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. It’s a fast, rally-inspired car that’s famous with car fans, especially because it’s built to grip well and accelerate hard.
The Toyota Supra is a famous Japanese sports car. The “Mark IV” generation mentioned here is the 1990s version that car people love because it’s quick and has a huge parts and tuning community.
The Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32) is a famous Japanese sports car. People love it because it was quick and capable, and it helped make the GT-R name legendary.
The Mazda MX-5 is a small, fun-to-drive roadster. It’s known for being light and nimble, and in this discussion they’re calling out a specific MX-5 generation.
Car
Mazda Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small, lightweight sports car that’s built to be fun to drive. Here, the hosts are saying it’s a better pick than some bigger-name Japanese sports cars.
The Honda NSX is a famous Japanese supercar with a mid-engine layout. Here, the hosts are arguing about whether it’s still the best deal compared with other options, even though they agree it looks amazing.
Term
dollar value
“Dollar value” means whether a car is worth the money. They’re saying the NSX might be amazing, but it may not be the best deal compared to other sports cars right now.
The Acura NSX is a famous Japanese supercar. It’s mid-engine, meaning the engine sits near the middle of the car for balance. Here, they’re comparing it to other cars you could buy for similar money.
The Ferrari 360 is an Italian mid-engine supercar (the engine sits behind the front seats) that became a benchmark for “entry-level” Ferrari ownership. In this segment, it’s mentioned as an alternative purchase relative to the Acura NSX price point.
The Honda Beat is a small Japanese sports car. It’s famous for being light and playful, and they’re suggesting it as a likely pick for their “best Japanese cars” list.
“K car route” means they’re thinking about kei cars—tiny Japanese cars designed to fit strict rules. They’re usually efficient and cheap to run, not big fast sports cars.
The Toyota Camry is a regular, everyday family sedan. It’s usually chosen for comfort and practicality rather than being a sports car. In the podcast, it’s brought up as a mainstream option in their car list.
The Renault Twingo is a small car made for city driving. It’s meant to be easy to park and drive around tight streets. The podcast mentions it as an odd or surprising pick.
The Nissan 350Z is a sports car coupe. The podcast is talking about it as part of a list of Nissan performance cars. It’s brought up because it’s a well-known Z-car that many enthusiasts like.
Concept
engineering and development time
This phrase means how long it takes to design and perfect a new car before it’s built. Spending more time usually costs more money, but it can help the final product turn out better.
The Nissan Z is a sports car line that’s been around for a long time. Here, they’re saying the newest/best version they’re talking about is the best one in the Z family.
A six-speed manual is a car where you choose gears yourself using a clutch. The hosts are basically saying some versions of these cars are great with a manual.
The Nissan 300 ZX is a famous Japanese sports car that enthusiasts still talk about. Here they mention it’s naturally aspirated, which means it doesn’t use a turbo to make boost.
The Mazda RX-7 is a well-known Japanese sports car with a unique engine design. The speaker is basically saying it’s an iconic “JDM” car and comparing its style to the Supra.
“JDM” means Japanese-market cars and the fan culture around them. Saying it’s a “JDM legend” means it’s a really famous, respected car among enthusiasts.
Spring rates are how stiff the suspension springs are. Stiffer springs usually help the car feel more controlled in corners, but they can make the ride feel bumpier.
Fortune Auto is a company that makes aftermarket car suspension parts. People use their products to tune how the car handles, and the hosts say they’re enthusiast-focused.
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is an older classic car. The podcast is specifically talking about a 1969 model. People bring it up because it has a unique vintage design and is considered a collectible classic.
A wide body means the car’s fenders are widened. That lets you run bigger tires and wheels, which can help with grip and clearance—especially for drifting.
Drifting is when a driver makes the car slide through a turn with the rear end out. It takes special tuning so the car stays controllable while it’s sideways.
Cantilever suspension is a type of car suspension where the wheel’s movement is handled by a lever arm. It’s used to help engineers tune how the car grips and rides, especially on track-focused builds.
A rotisserie is a workshop stand that holds a car by its body so it can be rotated for easier access during restoration or fabrication. It’s commonly used when doing extensive bodywork, chassis work, or welding where you need to reach all sides.
An inline 6 is an engine with six cylinders lined up in a row. It usually runs smoothly, and here the speaker suggests it’s been turbocharged for extra power.
This is an aftermarket add-on for a Mazda RX-8. “Wisefab” is the company that makes the kit, and it’s meant to change the rear of the car—usually for looks and sometimes for how the car handles airflow.
Coil packs are part of the ignition system. They create the electrical spark that lights the fuel in the engine, and their layout can hint at how the engine is built.
ECU Masters makes aftermarket engine computers. If the car is running on it, the owner is using a custom-tunable computer to manage things like fuel and spark for performance mods.
The Honda Civic Type R is the sporty, track-oriented version of the Civic. In this discussion, it’s the car the GTI is supposedly faster than around the Nürburgring.
They’re talking about a racing video game/simulator that uses a version of the Nürburgring track. It’s a way to practice and learn, but it won’t feel exactly like driving a real car.
They mean which wheels the car’s power goes to (front, rear, or all-wheel drive). That choice changes how the car grips and turns, so it can feel totally different on the same track.
A “clutch kick” is when you quickly slip/engage the clutch to make the car lurch and spin the tires. It can create a sideways feel, especially on front-wheel-drive cars.
Here, “torque” means the engine’s twisting force that pushes the car forward. If it comes on hard, the tires can lose grip and the car can start to slide.
They mean the car slides sideways while still moving forward. That can happen when the tires lose grip and the driver is trying to control the slide.
Concept
dump a skiddle
They’re using slang for starting a skid—basically making the tires lose grip so the car slides. The point is that the car can suddenly move in a wild way when traction breaks.
A “crown” is the road’s slight hump in the middle for drainage. When you’re driving hard, that shape can change how much grip each side of the tires has.
A skid pad is a special flat section of pavement made for practicing controlled sliding. It helps drivers learn how the car behaves when the tires lose grip.
Concept
rezoned
Rezoning is a change to local land-use rules that can restrict what activities are allowed on a property. In this context, it likely affected whether drift events could continue at that location.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is an electric van-style vehicle. The podcast is talking about finding a rare replacement part for it. That’s a practical ownership topic for less common EV models.
A midwing is a wing piece that sits in the middle of a spoiler setup. It’s meant to help the car’s airflow at the back, and they’re excited because this specific one is hard to find.
A body panel is an outer part of the car’s body, like the fender or hatch. The host is talking about how the paint colors are supposed to vary across those outer pieces.
A “counterfeit” part is a fake that’s being sold like it’s the real branded item. The host is saying they checked details to make sure the part was authentic.
“OEM plus” means upgrades that look like they belong on the car from the factory. The goal is to improve the car without making it look like a cheap aftermarket hack.
LIVE
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Martini Works podcast.
I'm a new host.
My name is Alex Martini.
I'm so happy to be here for the first time ever, actually.
We're sitting in chairs now.
Our studio's in shambles.
So here's, I'm going to, everybody that's listening in,
I just want to share a fun fact with you.
I love grass and I love earthy, warm kind of design in my stuff.
So when we go, we're just going to pray that everything is going well over there.
If you guys don't know, we're packing up for the season opener.
There's a point to the story.
I swear.
So we have the season opener.
We did have the season opener, which meant Martini Works brought their whole booth.
But we don't have like a booth in storage and a booth, you know, in a nice little pallet.
The booth is our shop.
The booth is the shop, right?
Whenever we go to a car show, we bring the shop.
Yeah, which not ideal, which includes the couches that we typically are sitting on
for the Martini Works podcast.
So we don't want to say thank you so much for tuning back in.
And if you guys and gals are looking for car parts, be sure to mod your car with your friends at martiniworks.com.
We have a whole bunch of new stuff that's going live on the website.
We have the new Apex wheels that you can actually pre-order, say 15% on right now.
That's crazy.
They'll get shipped out in June.
So you can save a bunch of money right now if you're interested to get something new from those guys.
We're working on HKS coilovers.
There's a lot of stuff that they have in their catalog, but because it's on Japanese,
nobody knows how to get fitment for it.
So we've been spending a long time on that.
Yeah, we love Japanese parts.
We don't like working with Japanese parts because like, dude, nothing has been updated in like 30 years for some reason.
And they're old school, dude, there's just no information about stuff.
We really do it for the love of the game because there's no real money in the Japanese brands either.
And they're impossible to work with.
But they're sick.
But they're sick.
Yep.
I don't know how they figured to market that around.
I just know that like their name carries so much weight that don't matter.
It's kind of like sushi, like, I'm going to eat it.
It's not going to fill me up, but it's going to be really good.
Yeah, exactly.
And I don't know how to make it right, but maybe it was so.
The amount of times that I have had sushi and then not even an hour and a half later,
I've had to have like a second dinner is insane.
You really got to eat a lot of sushi.
You do. That's why the unlimited sushi stuff is just bad.
I don't think it's that good.
What?
You got to go.
Yeah, I got to go the right spots.
Unlimited stuff.
Unlimited.
Anything.
No.
Is not good.
Stop.
No.
That is the most bullshit statement.
I guys, I just believe it.
Unlimited data.
Yeah.
It's not unlimited.
They throttle it.
I don't care.
It's the same thing with sushi places that are unlimited because
oh, it's unlimited.
It's unlimited.
It's unlimited.
Here's here's a shitty little cucumber roll that has nothing in it.
Oh, here's some.
Sashimi psych the person next to you already took it because they're the fat ass that's
30 plates in.
No, you got to, you got to come with us.
You got to roll.
Dude, no.
I've, I've, I've been to all you can eat sushi many a times.
Yeah.
And I've been to every time.
And it was decent.
We, we found, I agree though, some places you go, it's complete shit and it's just
like a scam.
But if you find the right spots, it's, it's a deal to send back and I were at, uh, we're
in Mexico, which is one of the reasons that we were, I was gone from the podcast for a
while.
Um, before we jump into today's subject, uh, and we're down there for IVF.
So my, my wife and I were doing IVF.
Um, it's been an incredibly difficult journey, but we're trying to keep our head up the best
that we can.
So we're staying at this resort cause it actually started out with like the points that we had
and the promotions.
It was actually cheaper to, to go there than to like get an Airbnb and, and we go out and
we're like, do we do our walk, which is next to the water and it's just like a daily thing
that we do.
It's 85 degrees outside.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Perfect time to drink alcohol, except we're not drinking alcohol because we're doing IVF.
We're walking and I'm like, oh, there's sushi cause like, you know, they have these like
unlimited places.
You know, they're like, they have a sushi.
I'm like, that looks really, wait a minute.
Mexican sushi.
How, how long that been sitting out there and it was sitting outside, like non refrigerated
like on top of this thing and it looked really good, but I didn't eat it.
No, that was probably a really good call.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's not only would you not have been able to drink, you probably wouldn't have been
able to stop pooping either.
I know.
It always makes me worried when I see something as like particular as sushi less than three
feet away from like chicken tenders, you know, like I feel like the range is too wide.
I know.
It's too wide.
Right.
Sorry.
Dakota, what are we talking about in the first segment today?
Well, you besides going to Mexico, you're out dabbling with some Lamborghinis.
So I'd love to hear about that.
Yeah.
Like a new Lamborghini, right?
New, new Lamborghini.
It was really cool.
We spent 24 hours out there.
Where?
Just California.
Where at California?
Monterey.
I love that place.
That place ain't real.
It's so good.
No.
That's my favorite place I've been to in California, California has a lot of interesting things
about it, but the prettiest thing about it is the further north you go, the better everything
gets.
100%.
And I remember even like getting out of the airport onto the highway and like they had
like the trees kind of come over the concrete barriers and like the vines are like, it's
just pretty.
Like it looks like it was built into nature.
Not like it just got destroyed, you know, in that area up there is beautiful.
Yeah.
So we landed.
I almost didn't make it.
Like I canceled Delta.
Thank you.
But we made it there.
Had dinner with the Lamborghini Squadra Corsa team because they're releasing the Tamarario
for their GT3 configuration for this year.
They know what you drive, right?
They know your car is.
I try not to think about what car.
What car would you, what do you classify as his car?
Like what's a car he drives?
Okay.
Oh.
No.
Like the old bears packer rivalry.
Yeah.
So we got down there, had dinner.
Then the next day they gave us the keys to this Tamarario, which was like this matte blue
with peanut butter interior.
It took me a second to realize that that wasn't like wrapped.
Like that's gorgeous.
It was so pretty.
It was my favorite spec off because obviously they have a bunch of them for all the people
that are driving them.
They're like yellow and orange and like the super bright green.
Yellow is cool.
Yellow is cool.
But the matte blue because the whole weekend was really foggy and rainy.
It was, it was a whole mood.
It was a vibe.
Yeah.
So Greg and I went, we got to go see the GT3 race or the Super Traffaio race and then
we watched a little bit of the GT3 qualifying at Laguna.
I got to take the Tamarario out on Laguna too.
That's insane.
So the Tamarario, so that's like the Huracan replacement?
Yeah.
V8 twin turbo, correct?
Yeah.
Big John.
That's fucking crazy.
On Laguna.
How was it?
Insane.
Like the concept of fast has changed.
Like there's three electric motors in that car plus two turbochargers plus a V8 engine
plus an eight speed transmission.
Okay.
Yeah.
Anytime you need power at any point of the driving experience, it's like there.
You know how like a power curve is like, you know, like it does that gradual thing or
like sometimes it does this little like that.
Yeah.
It just feels like it's this the whole time.
Like just all the way up and it just stays there.
Because even when you shift, you know, usually like, bah, bah, bah, bah.
It's like a little bit of a, yeah.
No.
Because the electric motors are like spinning the difference.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
So it was very, very fun, stupid fast and very comfortable, which you'd be like, well,
no, I mean, it's a 400,000 dollar car.
I get it.
Holy fuck.
But if you've driven older Lamborghinis before, even like the Aventador, for instance,
that thing is insanely difficult to drive and get it right and see and turn.
And it's just not an easy car to drive.
The, the Huracan up until like the early generations, they were kind of tricky to drive to the,
the, the Gallardo's were a little bit of had a lot of blind spots.
That's why a lot of people like the R8 so much.
Yeah.
Because the R8s were just a little bit more of an easy day to drive it, but it was very
fun.
So Tamarario.
Tamarario.
Lamborghini Tamarario.
And don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure it means unruly.
That's kind of sick.
Yeah.
It's like one of the old bull names.
Damn.
So, I think, so they dropped the V10 that pissed off a lot of people.
I can imagine it did, but they put in a twin turbo V8 with electric motors.
So hybrid.
Honestly, I'm about it.
It looks sick.
I was watching some of the videos and stuff that Greg was showing me and it looks like
a fucking insane car.
The front end is very menacing and the back end is super cool.
You know how electric cars are hybrid power electric cars?
They like, they always have a lot of weight.
And even when they're, you're trying like the batteries in the moment.
Yeah.
And you know how like everybody's trying to hide it.
Yeah.
Like not trying to dog on the guy, but right.
But like you put more and more systems into a car like the M5, no matter how much power
it has, the power itself is really cool, but you can feel the weight.
Like you can feel it kind of fight.
Yeah.
I could not tell that that Tamararia was more than 3000 pounds.
Damn.
It just did not feel heavy.
And I don't know how much it actually weighs, but it felt really good, really fun on its
feet.
And it was just, it was a super fun thing to do.
So yeah, Greg and I got to go LARP in a Lamborghini for 24 hours.
And then we came home and did the Formula One watch party here.
Yeah.
Which was fun.
Yeah.
Greg passed out on the couch.
Greg slept on the couch.
Yeah.
He was super tired.
He took a shower on the, in the.
What do you think?
You selling that 430 and picking up a Lambo or what?
I touched my side mirror, my 430.
Yeah.
What the fuck happened there?
And the whole thing fell apart.
I'm not going to lie.
I, I thought that was, was a Waffles incident.
I had Waffles written all over it.
I'm, I'm, I'm going to be honest with you, I would not be surprised if a cat caused.
Yeah.
The damage because they usually stand.
They'll put their two front paws on the side mirrors to like say like, oh, what's
that?
You sent the photo or you posted it on your story.
The mirror is just hanging there.
And then there's a cat prints like all, I'm like that, that was a cat.
Yeah.
Cat sat on that mirror or jumped up on it and it just.
Like your whole side mirror just fell off.
Yeah.
That's, did you fix it?
In progress currently.
Okay.
So no, got it.
Um, I, I don't know how to explain this.
There's a lot of really cool cars in the world.
Uh, and there's a lot of new ones that I think are really sick and neat.
I love the Temurario.
I would drive it every single day.
Okay.
I don't, I don't know if, if there's a new car that like I would go out
and spend money on right now though.
I mean, that's, that's hotter percent fair.
Like even if you, even if you had the money, I'm trying to think it was still your money,
right?
It wasn't unlimited.
Right.
Is there like a car that you'd be like, man, I don't care about depreciation.
I don't care about anything.
This is the car that I want right now, but it has to be a new car.
Like a new wish car.
Like is there one that you're like, man, if I had unlimited money, I'd get that.
But not for the sake that it was, that you have unlimited money, but because you want
it.
And it has to be new.
Yeah.
I would get a brand new 20th anniversary mark for GTI that got lost and was found and they're
like, it was in the back of a dealership.
They didn't realize they had it.
That's why I'd probably go.
You're banking on the new old stock mark for 20th anniversary.
Yeah.
If money wasn't, I would pay that MSRP of 13 K. I swear to God, I'd do it.
This guy, this guy.
It's tough right now.
I mean, realistically, maybe a manual mark five super, like a final addition would be
kind of sick or the new M three and four.
I still do absolutely love those cars.
The M twos have really been growing on me.
I think those are sick.
I would probably go that route.
If I was looking for like a performance car that I would like want to drive the piss
out of every single day, I'd probably go that route with it.
Man, that's tough.
When you put the unlimited factor in it, it's like, man, you're unlimited.
Thank you.
Like a Chinese buffet.
Yeah.
Like, oh man, now I'm hungry.
I haven't been to a Chinese buffet in a long time.
Let's go.
I can take it.
I know a spot.
Yep.
All for me to get one plate every time.
Every time.
I know.
I feel like it would be like some sort of super car or something.
Yeah.
But like what?
What would it be?
I would lean probably towards a Lamborghini, honestly.
Oh, then you'd like the Tamarario.
I bet I would.
It was very comfortable.
Yeah.
It was very, very comfortable.
And how's the room in there?
That's good.
That's the big part.
I'm going to say something that is going to upset you both maybe because I did something
with the Tamarario that everybody I think on the internet would frown upon.
We were coming back from Highway 1.
Okay.
And the car is very aggressive when you're in the Corsa mode and the Strata mode and
all that sort of stuff.
And I'm like, man, like Greg is looking at the camera and he's moving back and forth
and he's kind of getting a little like motion sickness.
I'm like, let's just reset.
Let's just reset, but we have to get back because we have to be at the track by 1230.
I put the Lamborghini in EV mode to quiet all the noise.
It's a full EV mode?
Yeah.
I turned it all the way to EV mode and the whole thing shut down, the whole motor shut down.
And I was just cruising at 60 miles an hour heading home and it was so nice.
It's crazy to me that a Lamborghini has that feature.
I wouldn't have expected that.
Yeah.
I was like driving like I clicked it and I was like...
That's crazy.
And that was the whole thing.
The coolest thing is when we got into...
I know, know.
Okay.
But it was nice.
One because it quieted everything up and then Greg stopped getting sick because the car
wasn't doing that.
If you're insanely overstimulated, I bet that was a nice...
It was.
It was like a sensory room.
It was like a $400,000 sensory room with wheels.
But then I turned it back on because you can turn it back on while you're driving.
And it sounds exactly like a hypercar bump start in the pits.
Oh, that's cool.
So you go and you change it over.
It's like...
Because it's like getting the engine up the revs and stuff.
And it's so cool because when you think about it, it's like, how does it do that?
How do you go from something?
Let's say it's going 40 miles an hour, full EV to strata or sport where the IC engine has
to turn on, the turbos have to spool, yet there's no change in driving experience.
You know what I mean?
Like you go...
It's got to be...
And all of a sudden it's just like...
And nothing changes, no jaggedness.
It has to be something insane with the transmission that's connected.
Well, it's cool, but my mom's previous did the same thing.
Yeah.
I was just going to say I rented 25 mile an hour under, full EV.
You go over 30, gas engine.
When I rented the...
Couldn't feel it.
When I rented the new Prius, it would go into EV mode like on the highway.
Oh, that's right.
And that freaked me out.
Yeah, that freaked me out because it did.
It just kind of went...
I don't like it's making a lot of noise anyway, but all of a sudden it was just like there
was no RPM.
Mazda, my CX-70 does that too.
I don't know how it works, frankly.
It seems a little bit too sophisticated for me, but I'll have cruise control on and we'll
be cruising.
And there are times where I'm off the gas and it's slowing down or I'm going to a stop.
And I'm pretty sure the engine turns off while the vehicle is still moving.
Sure.
And if let's say I'm going to a stop and I'm like, oh, the light turns green and I press
the gas again, it turns back on.
But there's nothing signifying that on the dash outside of maybe this eye icon, but I
don't know what it is.
And I didn't even notice it until Lars called it out one time.
He's like, why does the pedal have a little delay?
Oh.
Because the engine turns off and the engine turns back on and it goes.
It's almost like that fucking auto stop thing at the lights.
I hate that.
Yeah, I don't like that.
That is such an annoying thing.
Yeah, having that in my super was the worst.
Yeah, because you can't actually permanently turn it off every time you get in it.
Yeah, it doesn't have memory.
It should have memory.
Yeah.
Anyway, we got an event coming up tomorrow.
We're filming this one a little bit ahead of time, so typically we would cover this
event, but we're getting ready, like Alex said, for the season opener, which is happening
tomorrow at the time of filming this.
Really excited.
We talked about it a little bit in the last episode, but Alex, anything you're looking
forward to this one?
This is a big one.
I am excited to see everyone.
That's what I'm most excited for.
We've hosted it for 12 years.
That's crazy.
So now I'm just old.
One of my really good friends, his name is Octavian.
He's Moldovan.
He came to me and he called me on the phone and he's like, brother, I'm bringing my son.
Hell yeah.
He's just trialed.
Can he see cars that you bring?
And I was like, of course.
And he's like, good.
He's watched you for years.
And I'm like, how old is he?
And he goes 12.
I'm like, holy shit.
So it's like there's people becoming teenagers that this event has been as long as.
It's been in existence as long as.
It started as just a way to get people together in Wisconsin.
At the start of the year.
Just to get people.
Anytime somebody makes it, the only thing I'm really, I put a little feather in my hat
on is the whole term of season opener for car shows in the Midwest started with the
Wisconsin car and these clubs season opener because we coined it that in a frozen ass
parking lot.
It was like me.
It was these two twins.
They'd be five S fours.
I can't remember their names.
Michael Shaw, Herbert Burke, Sam Butler, like all these like people from just different
parts of Todd Bistat was there.
And we're like, we should host a season opener, like a start, you know?
And then that was, that's what the name became.
And I know there's obviously people in calling things season openers for years.
But in the car world up here, that was like the first time it was named that way.
And I remember that was huge.
Everyone's like, hell yeah, we all have cabin fever.
Get me the fuck out of here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then it would snow because we used to host it in April.
Yeah.
Dude, it was crazy.
I remember the first one that I volunteered for back in the day.
It was like, okay, yeah, like you're going to be in charge of parking cars in this area.
I'm like sick.
I was really looking forward to it.
It showed up and it literally was like a blizzard.
Like we got like a foot of snow.
But dude, the turnout was still insane.
Yeah, everyone still came.
We were like pushing like stance cars like out of snow banks because like everyone had like fucking like summer tires all season.
Like people were like, fuck it, we're here season openers.
I think Mike Arvi was there because I think he was wearing like a t-shirt and shorts.
And I was like, that's crazy.
Mariah Nettler was working that one.
I remember Lars Vogler was helping with that.
That was one of the first times like I got six.
The next day I got really sick.
I remember like we got done.
We came back.
We were living in Green Bay at the time.
So it was about two hour drive, I think.
And Maggie and I got back and we're like, oh, really hungry.
So we stopped at like this Mexican restaurant that we would go to.
And dude, I'm just sitting there and I'm like still like completely bundled up.
And I'm just like, we were inside for like an hour.
And I'm like, dude, I am still like froze.
Like I am like chilled to the bone.
Like it was a cold, lazy.
If you're trying to host a car show in Wisconsin, wait.
Do it in May because April is very hit or miss and most time it's miss.
May can be risky.
Something that I thought was really funny though.
This year we got 24 inches of snow at the early April.
I think it was late March, early April.
If we would have hosted the season opener where we used to host it,
which was the second weekend of April, we would have had like 18 inches of snow.
Yeah, it would have been in.
Oh my God.
Horrible.
Absolutely horrible.
And that's why it's called the season opener folks.
Cause for the, it's still freezes in the morning, still kills all the flowers.
And then by the midday it's 60.
So.
Yep.
Still supposed to be like.
Weather's looking good for this one.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
65.
65.
Show up.
I keep telling people to like show up.
This is already.
Yeah.
This is already.
I'm really glad you showed up.
Thank you for coming.
That means the world.
We're gonna take a small break, but not before talking about one of our partners
in the martini works podcast continental tire.
We're very, very excited to continue our incredible relationship with the
guys and gals.
They make incredible tires.
The DWSO 6 ECSO 2.
There's actually a beautiful $110 rebate right now on martiniworks.com.
If you pick up a set of tires and they are, that's actually a really good deal
cause you just get a little Visa card back and you can use it for whatever you want.
Like fuel cause fuel is really expensive right now.
Sure.
But extreme contact sport of two is an absolutely fantastic tire.
We run it on Becca's M4.
I drove it at grid life for some time attack stuff.
It's super, super well.
Then we drove it home on the same set of tires, which I know everybody's like, how can you
do that?
It's like, well, you don't always need a 200 treadwear super slick compound.
Sometimes you just need something that can grip up, have some fun and go home.
And the ECSO 2 does a great job at that.
And it's an absolutely fantastic value.
So if you're looking to pick up some tires, you can pick up continental tires on martiniworks.com.
We're super proud to have a continued partnership with those guys.
And if you need a little bit of a kicker to close the door on a deal, $110 rebate.
Great thing to have right now, especially when every dollar counts.
And remember, if you're picking up car parts on martiniworks.com, you can check out with
Catapult.
You can save 2% up to $70 as our way of just giving back to you guys and gals so that
you can spend more money on your car and your car hobby.
So thank you, Conti, for being a sponsor of the Martiniworks podcast.
And we'll talk to you in a minute.
I guess we never came clean about our outfits, but it's fun fit Friday today.
If you're watching us.
Well, Alex didn't participate for whatever reason.
That's unknown to us.
I did not participate because I had to film a commercial this morning and they said that
I needed to wear non-branded items that were simple in color.
And I forgot about the fun shirt Friday.
We have you your own dedicated clothes or extra moments just like this.
That is true.
I should just buy like seven of them.
Yeah.
So that way you can participate in fun fit.
I got one 70% of the other people forget that you're listening and I watch it.
I have my Godzilla shirt from Japan that I got at the Godzilla store.
And then I have my plain shirt that my dad got me.
I wear the EAA.
It's a Grumman shirt.
You got the Wildcat on there.
What is this?
What is it?
That's a believe that's a hell diver.
It's a I know that video game.
Sky Raider.
Sky Raider.
Yeah.
There you go.
Okay.
It does say that.
That's crazy.
And what do you got on yours?
You have planes too.
You got planes too.
Mine's a more Hawaiian.
Yeah.
A little Hawaiian vibe.
Pearl Harbor.
Let's see what we got.
We got the Thunder Chief.
I think we got the F4 Phantom.
That's fucked.
F4 Phantom.
Oh, I got a Sky Raider too.
You got a Huey helicopter.
I got a Sky Raider too.
Sky Raider shirts.
Yeah.
It's become a thing now.
Like we go to EAA and they have some fantastic like actual Hawaiian shirts.
My favorite thing and I get matching ones every year.
We're going to.
My favorite thing is like it doesn't like line up on the seams.
So it's just like.
No.
Anyway.
It's fun shirt.
Sorry.
It's not made by Lamborghini.
Anyway, let's get into the topic today that I want to discuss which is an article I found
from Top Gear themselves.
And it is the top 50 Japanese cars of all time.
However, we're not going to go through all 50.
Well, let me just start it.
I was going to start at 20, but we got to start at 21.
Okay.
And we'll start going through because I'm curious on your guys thoughts because I just
scrubbed through this very briefly.
I didn't look at it intensely.
And every time I look, I'm like, oh, all right, let's see what they're thinking here.
So are these like in order?
Yeah.
Okay.
Going from.
Top 21 of all time.
Yeah.
So 21.
I won't make you guys guess for everyone, but we're starting at 21.
Just throw a car out there.
Let's see if you get it.
Japanese car.
Suzuki Cappuccino.
Okay.
I was going to say like the Honda Acti.
Okay.
Neither of those vehicles are anywhere around it.
It is the 1997 Toyota Prius.
Not the first hybrid car, but the one that took the technology mainstream, marrying a
1.5 liter engine to a 40 horsepower electric motor.
That's what we were just talking about.
Just like the Lamborghini.
The Prius has been around since 97.
Yes.
I think the one that we had in the United States was the second generation.
That's right.
Yeah.
Forgot about that.
So yeah.
Okay.
Well, I'm not super happy about it, but we can keep moving.
Yeah.
But I mean, it was revolutionary.
It was.
It's what kept Toyota in business in the recession.
I'd say 21 is a good spot for a Prius.
All right.
20.
We have the Mazda MX-5, the ND, okay, the 2015 era.
What?
What's that thing up?
Just wait.
You don't know where the good one is going to be.
Well, but here's the thing.
Okay.
Never mind.
Keep going.
The MX-5 has never missed a beat.
Every iteration has refined the recipe.
Oh my God.
It's almost like it should be higher up.
If they put the fucking NA above the ND after they just dropped that paragraph.
Yeah.
You're right.
That doesn't make any sense.
Every generation is better than the last, which is why the NA is the third.
All right.
19.
This is starting to make a little more sense.
Okay.
We got the FD Mazda RX-7.
19.
That's kind of low, honestly.
I kind of expect it to be up there.
I'm a little mad at that.
Well, because they probably thought about reliability and maintenance.
Yeah.
I don't know.
As we get more into this, we'll see if we agree with that.
Number 18.
This is kind of a cool one.
I'm glad it's on the list.
The Toyota Sentry.
Oh, that's cool.
Get in two specifically.
All right.
Hell yeah.
Hell yeah.
I'd probably put that further up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you guys didn't know, that has a V12 in it.
We actually got to drive one of these.
Joe's locked the keys in one of them.
He did.
There's a small amount of panic that day.
In the trunk specifically.
There is no way to get into the trunk.
We literally had a hot wire, the trunk release in the fuse box to get the fucking keys out
of the trunk.
That was the wildest thing I think we've ever, like I ever watched somebody else do so casually.
Yeah.
Yeah.
100%.
Number 17.
We have the Honda Integra Type R.
The DC5?
DC2.
DC2.
Sorry.
Okay.
This list is pretty strong so far.
I think we're still so low though.
And I feel like these are something.
There's 50 cars on this list, guys.
There's 50 cars.
Alex, what do you think of one of those?
The Nissan Fairlady Z, 1969.
The first Japanese sports car to attract international appreciation.
The Z felt every bit as special as contemporary MGs and triumphs and offered the added bonus
of actually working properly most of the time.
Called it.
I would argue that the Z is like top five.
Not biased, but.
Whoa.
Damn.
Well, we can't put every car in the top five.
Well, I've just put 16 through 21 in the top five.
That's the best thing about top five is only five stars.
All right.
Number 15, we have the Toyota GR Yaris.
Wow.
Don't have any experience in that.
Wait, what?
Why?
New one.
So?
Because this, it says this angry little nugget showed up and rocked our world.
I mean, they do love the Yaris over there.
But wait, wait.
Hold on.
Yeah.
You're going to put the GR Yaris.
Over the FDR.
Over the FDR 7 and the Datsun 240Z.
And the Honda Integra Type R.
Those are all heaters.
That's true.
That's where maybe that's going to be one of those cars in like 20 years.
It's not even that old.
That's why I said in 20 years, we're going to look at it and be like, dude, that car was
actually really fucking sick.
I did hear.
I did hear from a friend of mine just this weekend, this past weekend, actually, when
I asked him, I was like, what's one of your favorite cars you've ever driven?
He said the GR Yaris and he was a professional race car driver.
Yeah.
Okay.
So maybe it's something about those cars.
We don't got them.
So we don't know.
We'll keep moving.
Number 14, Honda S2000.
Agreed.
I think this should be higher up personally.
I think the Honda S2000 was a game changer.
I feel like the Honda S2000 is the third best car ever made by Honda.
Okay.
To find a sweeter, revier, more eager four cylinder, you need to go to a super bike shop
for that.
I hate the way they talk.
Yeah.
It is pretty good.
It reads very cheesy AI.
Yeah.
Probably.
Is there any M dashes in there?
Yeah.
All right.
Lexus LS 400 number 13, that's pretty high up.
That's pretty far.
I love an S2000.
Above an FD.
Yeah.
Hear me out.
I love the LS 400.
It's an odd place for it.
I agree.
I think that should be way further down.
I think it does have space in the top 50.
Yeah.
100%.
But not in the top 15.
No way.
No way.
Number 12, R35 Nissan GTR.
Good car.
Okay.
Good car.
I feel like that's a reasonable place.
Honestly, I felt like that's 2000 was reasonable place too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
R35 is a good car.
Good car.
Number 11, the Toyota 2000 GT.
Iconic.
It is iconic.
Gorgeous cars.
I don't know a lot about them to be honest.
I know a lot about them.
They're old and expensive.
Did you know that the wood grain interior is from Yamaha and the reason that the wood
doesn't warp is because of a special compound that Yamaha did on the dash for the heat?
Interesting.
Hold up.
You also know that there's also a side compartment of the car on the behind the front wheel?
That's cool.
Yeah.
You can throw stuff in there.
It's pretty sick.
There was only 351.
Yeah.
They're in 2000 GT.
I feel like we should set a homologation requirement for this list because that is
the rarest of the hard luck.
All right.
Number 10.
I need you guys to guess.
Number 10.
All right.
So we're coming in.
Top 10.
Top 10.
This is where the heaters lie.
I feel like another skyline has got to be in there somewhere.
Which generation?
Because they're going for the specific heaters.
I'm going to say R33.
Okay.
Toyota Celica GT4.
Okay.
Oh, that's a good point.
You were close, but no cigar.
Number 10.
We have the Nissan Leaf.
Nissan paid for this article.
They had to.
This shit's engagement for me.
There's no way they put this shit.
They had to.
Number 10.
Based off of fucking what?
No, the Leaf was iconic and good in its own way.
Stop justifying this.
I'm not justifying.
This shouldn't be a top 50 car.
What is their explanation?
Yeah, let's read the blurb.
As the first ever mass produced electric car, the Leaf was understandably a tad crude.
Range was better measured in meters and miles.
Battery degradation was catastrophic in the design while there wasn't one.
But we had to start somewhere and if it wasn't for this frumpy lump showing up so ahead of
its time, we'd still be waiting on the 300 plus mile rapid charge EVs.
So their explanations, we had to start somewhere.
We know it sucks.
We're going to put it as number 10 on the best Japanese car of all time.
They're putting it.
They're putting it out there because it was one of the first rapid charge EVs.
It was the first rapid charge EVs.
They were literally saying, yeah, this sucked.
There's they're saying.
They're saying it as if no other company would have been able to make what the Nissan Leaf
became.
That's not true.
That's not true.
That's not true because, okay, here's the thing with the Nissan Leaf because I know
a ridiculous amount of stupid information about this car.
You drove one for a week.
I know, but I had to learn about this.
The weirdest thing with the Nissan Leaf will always be like it was this super cool car
that was successful and could have been more successful than the Prius and could have
just innovated and have had more technology and have gotten better as like a normal car.
But it was like six years too late on everything it ever needed to do.
So what's good about it?
Nothing.
You said it was a super cool car.
It was a super cool car.
So then why did it beat the Prius on this?
I'm not defending this.
I would make an entire YouTube video reorganizing this.
Yeah, honestly.
That's what we're doing.
All right.
Number nine.
Let's see if we can get back on track.
I don't even know anymore.
FL-5 Honda Civic Type R.
OK.
The greatest front wheel drive driver's car ever made under $100,000.
I would not put it.
According to the last podcast.
These are engagement bait.
Yeah.
I would not put that car up in front of the R35 GT-R.
No.
I agree with that.
I agree.
I think the FL-5 is a great car.
I love it.
But yeah, that this is no.
No.
We're in weird territory.
That train guy making those lists.
Number eight.
I love that dude.
But is he making this list?
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6.
6 is a weight.
It would be fair though.
5.
Is it a V?
I didn't.
It's VI.
Wait.
It's VI?
That's 6.
It is 6.
OK.
I didn't think about it.
I was like, wait, what's 4?
4 is IV.
Roman numerals don't make no fucking sense.
We shouldn't be using them anymore.
They're not even here.
I would say that that's a good ranking.
Because the 4 is when they rotated the engine and the transaxle and all that stuff.
And then 5 is when they put the big brakes on it.
And then the 6 is when they upgraded the turbine wheel.
The 6 and a half had a Tommy TME edition.
Tommy Mike and an edition.
It was really cool as red.
It was really hot looking.
Yeah.
It specifically says that.
The Tommy Mike and an edition.
It's not his name.
It's an EVO.
I don't know how to pronounce that.
I'm sorry.
Number 7.
Wow.
Subaru Impreza 22B STI.
They're putting the Subaru in front of the EVO.
Yeah.
They put Subaru in front of the EVO.
I would have switched those.
I would have switched those.
Yeah.
The Mitsubishi is really good.
The 22B had a lot of rally heritage and stuff too.
I guess so did the EVO.
They all did.
I mean.
I mean the TME edition is literally four consecutive years
of Mitsubishi winning.
Number 6.
All right.
We're getting there.
Getting into serious JDM fanboy territory.
We have the Mark IV Toyota Supra.
OK.
Sure.
Sure.
Yep.
Kind of surprising that higher up.
Yeah.
Given this list.
It's like the number one is going to be the R34 GTR
or the Toyota Supra.
All right.
Well, number 5.
What do you guys think?
R34 GTR.
That's exactly what it is.
Every gamer's dream car.
The top five just different versions of the Skyline.
Number 4 is the R32 Nissan Skyline GTR.
You got to be kidding.
OK.
No.
Yeah.
Why would they?
What the hell?
Number 3.
From out of left field, we have the Mazda MX-5.
Oh, there we are.
We are the NA.
Bro, you literally called it.
We fucking called it.
We have iterated off of every.
It's the best one.
It's always improved in itself.
It's going to be.
But it's worse than the first one or second.
First.
I don't know.
OK.
Sure.
I think that's pretty crazy.
Love a good Miata, though.
Yeah.
Sure.
So we are labeling the Miata as better than the R34,
the Mark IV Supra, the R35, the 22B.
Miata.
Way better.
All right.
Number 2.
Honda NSX.
Honestly, I would put.
I would almost put the S2000 over the NSX.
I might challenge everybody's perception on the NSX.
It is a gorgeous car.
Beautiful car.
Super cool car.
It's also not that fantastic of a sports car for dollar value
nowadays.
Nowadays.
It's tough.
Obviously.
I don't know how to say that without being a dick.
Iconic.
One of the most gorgeous cars ever made.
It's really neat.
Engines right behind you.
Beautiful styling.
A lot of race design.
You know what you could get with $120,000 on NSX?
A Ferrari 360.
Big supercar guy, no.
For the price, brother.
Come on.
Number 1.
I need you guys to dig deep.
I need you to take what you learned from this top 21 list that we've read
and think about what they would put here.
And whoever gets it right, I am giving a crisp George Washington $1 bill.
Can we have two guesses?
Sure.
Because I don't think you guys are going to get it.
OK.
Which is maybe a hint in itself.
OK.
So I'll go first.
OK.
Oh.
The AutoZam easy one.
That's a good guess.
I was going to put the Honda Beat.
Yeah.
I was going to say it's going to be some fun.
You guys aren't digging into this list.
You're not thinking like the list.
OK.
OK.
So I went like the K car route.
But now I'm going to go like.
R33 GTR.
It's newer than 2005.
I take it back.
It's newer than 2005.
Fuck.
I was going to say Camry.
The Nissan Z.
That's thinking like the list.
I mean, OK, so it's a little more like.
It just it doesn't make sense.
I don't think it should be number one.
It's a cool fucking car.
Really cool.
It should not be number one Japanese car of all time.
Later than 2005.
2010 specifically.
Oh.
Oh, all right.
We haven't mentioned this brand.
OK.
Hold on.
It's coming to me.
I just know it.
I haven't mentioned this brand at all.
Nope.
It's going to be something stupid like a Renault Twingo.
Oh, no.
Japanese.
Oh, thank God.
Well, the list was really confusing me.
2010.
Is it like an infinity something?
It is.
Nissan 350Z.
We talked about Nissan the whole list.
The Lexus LFA.
Again, super cool car.
We all love the LFA, but what the fuck?
Top Gear.
After them boys.
I've completely forgot this was Top Gear.
Yeah.
This is Top Gear.
Oh my God.
They're just looking for.
Oh, that makes this on their article.
I don't know.
That makes this so much work.
I completely forgot this was.
I thought there was some random.
No, this is Top Gear.
Yeah, article.
This isn't even like some weird.
This is just Top Gear.com.
I'm convinced that Lexus lost so much money
engineering the LFA because of its,
if it's insanely long engineering and development time
that Lexus still pays media companies to talk about the LFA
so that people will finally.
Why would they benefit from that though?
They're all being sold like secondhand.
Because they just want to make sure
that the investment was worth it.
It took them 10 years to engineer the car.
The branding of it.
Yeah.
They're like, we just got to make sure
the LFA is top of the list.
Somebody's like, yeah, but like, is it that good?
Well, no, no, it is.
It is.
We just don't really know what we're going to do with the car.
Alex hates the LFA.
No, I like it.
I like it.
I think it's cool.
I got to see a couple in person.
We could see one at Riverside which was crazy.
I remember seeing it at the Chicago Auto Show way back,
which was neat.
I think the LFA GG3 is the coolest LFA.
Because they used to run them on the Nürburgring
and they sound really sick.
That shit should be at like.
I'm just so glad they put the Miata in the right spot.
Especially the ND.
That was cool.
I'd be like saying, they'd be like, oh my god.
It's the same thing as I mean like, the 400,
the Nissan Z is the best iteration of the Z platform.
And it took an iteration of iteration twin-turbo 400
or six-speed manual.
We're putting it in the 40th tier.
In the 10th tier.
Because you can't beat the original.
We've got a naturally aspirated 300 ZX.
Yep.
100%.
It was just all rage baiting, I think,
because what the fuck is that list?
I'm reorganizing the list.
And you guys should too.
So let us know in the comments.
What car, we'll simplify.
What are the top three cars ever made?
Nissan Leaf Toyota Prius and Lexus LFA.
And you're not allowed to use the Mark IV Super
because that's just a cop-up.
That's a really good car though.
It is a good car.
They're kind of, I think like exterior-wise,
the Super leaves a little bit to be desired.
I get why you're saying that,
but I don't know, I really like.
Like in stock form.
In stock form, yeah.
I think it deserves modification.
It needs modifications.
In stock, when lowered with wheels, you can get by.
I think it is a good looking car.
I get it though it's bland,
but I kind of like the round bubbly,
bland cars a little bit.
I always look at the Mark IV Supra and the FDRX-7
and tell myself that the RX-7 is a squished downed
version of the Supra.
The FDRX-7's bone stock do look kind of...
Yeah, depending on the year of them too.
But you get a few modifications.
It's JDM legend.
It is.
They absolutely look killer.
But that leads us to the next sponsor,
Martini Works Podcast.
Fortune Auto, baby.
You need some coilovers head on over to Martini Works.
Look at Fortune Auto and see if you can get yourself a set
because you're going to love them puppies.
They ride absolutely fantastic.
Whether you're doing a show build, track build,
daily driver setup, Fortune Auto can make coilovers
exactly for what you need,
but also their off-the-shelf options are fantastic
in order to get some sentia.
Use them for years and then get them rebuilt.
They will disassemble them all by hand.
Get them back to spec and you'll get them
and they'll feel brand new again.
You can also upgrade to Swift Springs
or do anything like that.
We can change your spring rates.
Fortune Auto is a really dope company.
They make really good stuff.
They have a bunch of enthusiasts that work over there
and we like working with them.
So thank you to Fortune Auto for sponsoring the Martini Works
podcast. We'll be back with some breaking news.
Bill Threads been going a little crazy this last week.
So thank you all for submitting your vehicles in here.
We got an absolutely wild one for Alex
hoping to perform an essential something.
You're going to have to take a look at this.
You're going to want to see this.
It's crazy.
Talking about some crazy cars that we never heard of, maybe.
1969 Volkswagen Carmen Ghia, but not just any Carmen Ghia.
This is a full on like custom metal wide body drift
build Carmen Ghia.
This thing is absolutely fucking insane.
Going through the photos of this, it looks like it gets down.
She rips engine is in there.
So this started out as a COVID passion project
that I wanted to use to develop my skills for just over time.
I've done every process from farm design to composites
for the body, the even machining and making my own intake.
Now that it's done, I think he meant frame design.
It might auto correct it.
Now that it's done, we are developing better driving habits
on track and learning how to progress the chassis to be
more than just a cruiser.
Just building something like this for drifting and just
be like, yeah, we'll figure it out is fucking insane to me.
It's on a rotisserie and it's got cantilever suspension.
Yeah, every single part of this has been somewhat like
there's one photo like the entire firewall is just like gone
and they had to like redo the entire thing.
I don't know exactly what engine is in it, but in one of the pictures
it looks like probably like an inline 6?
5 maybe? I don't know.
Something inline 6 with a big old turbo on it
and it looks absolutely rowdy.
I thought it was a metal wide body.
I think it is fiberglass now that I'm looking more closely at it.
It's got a Wisefab rear RX 8 kit on it.
That is fucking insane.
And actually, now that I'm looking at the coil packs here,
I don't think it's an inline 6.
No, it is a V6.
It's not a V6 either.
Slant 6?
Like a W.
Do they call them?
They're like offset.
You see how the coil packs are?
Yeah, chat help.
Oh, yeah.
Don't know exactly what that is, but it looks absolutely wild.
Cantilever suspension, angle kit, all sort of stuff.
62 millimeter turbo sitting on ECU Masters for...
This is so cool.
Yeah, dude, this thing is just absolutely fucking rowdy
and I love to see stuff like this.
That's cool.
Thank you for adding it.
That is so rad.
And if you guys want to see it, we'll put it in the link or in the description,
but if you have a car and you haven't added it to the build threads,
please do so.
Yeah.
Because we love seeing cool stuff.
We love seeing your projects and we got some new updates.
We're now, when you make updates to your existing profile,
if you already have a build thread out there,
we'll actually share that so then you can kind of like keep your build up to date
as you keep making changes to it.
So like down here, it actually says when Hawaii started doing the build
and then as he makes updates, it'll update that section.
So super, super cool.
S tier for sure.
Yeah, I think it's sick.
The gas pedal?
I don't know if you saw it.
Yeah, it's like a foot.
It's like the bottom of a shoe.
Yeah, I did see that.
That's kind of sick.
I will would clutch pedal, brake pedal and like a foot.
Like a bottom of a red wing boot or something.
Yeah.
That's neat.
Yeah.
So that is our build thread of the week.
So if you want yours featured on our socials or possibly even on the podcast,
make sure to add your car over to the Martini Works build threads.
But we got some breaking news.
Yeah.
Keep it on the Volkswagen train.
Yay.
Dude, I invested in Volkswagen at a good time, baby.
They're running the world.
Yeah.
Fastest around the Nurburgring in a front wheel drive production car is now
claimed by the Volkswagen GTI beating out the Honda Civic Type R.
They did it.
The 50th anniversary GTI has been released and they're shitting on people.
The Green L has been dominated by Volkswagen yet again.
Yeah.
Okay, wait, hold on.
Didn't Volkswagen just sell like a good chunk of its stake in some companies too?
Or is that Porsche?
I thought Volkswagen wasn't doing the same.
Same, same, same.
They're all the same.
They might not be doing well as a company, but their cars are doing great on the track.
That's fair.
Yeah.
It's a good looking car.
It was like a, what was it, seven minutes?
I can't remember the seconds on it, but it's like it was moving.
Oh, seven minutes and 44 seconds, I think.
You really do have to cook to get that.
The driver was absolutely ecstatic when he got out of the car, as he should be.
Yeah.
I guarantee you he was pushing that thing to the absolute limits.
And I would assume, so I've done the ring on the Sim.
And actually, Ben has a ton of experience running on the Sim on the ring,
but that track one is like insanely difficult in real wheel drive configuration.
I have never even attempted to drive a front wheel drive car on the Sim on that track.
I imagine it's got to feel completely different.
The front wheel drive car is just the best.
Oh, careful.
Careful.
I do miss me a good front wheel drive SRT4 clutch kick.
You know, just like, I get a bunch of torque here.
Like you're going to go into the curb.
You just crab walk sideways.
That's what it's all about.
That is what it's all about.
When you see, when you have a crown on a road, right?
And it's, it's pitched and you dump a skiddle and the whole car, like you're looking out to,
you know, you're looking straight, the whole car just does this.
Yeah.
That's, that's livin' man.
That's livin'.
You shift the second, it gets a little more swirly.
And it's just making the angriest piss off noises.
And then you got the long shifter on the skiddle.
Yeah.
It's like.
Yeah.
That's a good time.
Didn't come with a muffler.
Anyways, what else?
What other news we got, Geoffrey?
So that's some really cool news.
I have some not so great news.
Surprise.
I'm sorry.
And I'm sorry it's not so great news, but it is news and it is local news.
And I think deserves to be talked about a little bit.
Because this was, when this comes out, it was a couple weeks ago.
So maybe not as breaking, but drift GLD.
Drift, you know, area down in the Milwaukee area at the Great Lakes Dragway is no more
longer allowed to drift at the Great Lakes Dragway.
Which is so lame.
Which is awful.
That sucks.
They were a fantastic group.
I say were like, they are a fantastic group.
Essentially what they did, they did drift nights pretty much like almost every day
throughout the week.
All the time.
All the time until they literally couldn't do anymore until like the weather, like it
literally snowed.
So it was like any time during the week, like after hours, you could go for like a really
decent price and go drifting.
Their whole thing was like, yeah, we want to be like a skate park for drift cars.
The coolest thing about it, if you guys don't know GLD, is that by all definitions, that
area should not really be that fun.
Because it's got like a little access road.
And then it's just a skid pad.
It's just a chunk.
They made such good use of it.
Yeah.
It was just a chunk of asphalt that was covered up with some concrete barriers.
And I went there a couple times.
And the community at GLD is by far one of the most exciting and awesome groups to hang
out with.
And when apparently GLD was purchased and that's what ended up causing this whole thing
to get rezoned or something like that.
Yeah.
So the property itself, it was under a sale essentially.
So it was like pending sales up for sale.
And there was a whole bunch of stuff with like zoning permits and the whole lawyer side of
things and like the town and things like that with like the new buyer coming in.
And it sounds like like the new buyer is still like a great dude.
It was just like for the sale to go through and all the legal shit with it because of
the drifting that was being held there.
It was holding up the sale of the property is what it sounds like.
So unfortunately they had to make the decision of well then we can't have you here at least
as of right now.
It's such a crazy thing to me because that also comes right off of the piggyback of Tony
Evers choosing to not protect race tracks in Wisconsin from noise complaint ordinances
if development starts encroaching on local tracks.
Which the whole point of the legislation was to say hey if we have a race track here and
in the future you build a housing development nearby you do not get like right a first refusal
to complain about the noise because we were here first.
That got struck down because Tony Evers said well we want to allow local jurisdiction to
decide if that's an issue or not.
And it's like calm on.
Well they're always going to decide it's an issue.
That's the whole point of the bill.
Yeah.
Yeah and then they're like well because drifting is loud.
And then drifting is like have you been to GLD before?
Have you seen you know what they do there?
It's such a bummer like these tracks the problem right now I think that a lot of people don't
realize is there's a lot less tracks than you actually think.
And they get shut down so much faster because land has gotten so much more expensive so
quickly for people to come in buy it tear it down.
Not trying to like feed the fear machine but it's like they get turned into data centers.
They get turned into warehouse spaces.
They get turned into like all of this shit.
And then you're left doing what?
I'm not trying to fault.
I don't want to ever excuse the behavior.
But it's like you're like pushing people out to do dumb shit on the street because there's
no place to do it.
And at the same time too it's like yeah there might be tracks but like track days are expensive.
Like and that was like one of the great things about like GLD and stuff too.
It was like a very like approachable way to get into it.
I mean I have friends and like we know people that like you know learned how to slide a car
there and like got a ton of seat time for not a ton of money because it was like an affordable
option to go do and it was happening so often that it was like oh it's not like a once a
month event or something like that.
It was like dude I can go like after work for a couple hours for you know not a ton of money
and go get some seat time in.
I think that was a really really cool thing especially for like you know you talk about
like grass roots and stuff like that.
Like getting involved in like the hobby and the sport.
It's just a real bummer.
I'm sorry for anyone that was affected by that.
That sucks.
Yeah absolutely.
Got some more not good news.
No no no no.
At the time of recording this news is a little bit late but I think it's important that we
mention and just talk about it briefly that Kyle from 1320 video passed away recently.
Never had the opportunity to meet Kyle unfortunately but from everything I've seen from everyone
the endless amounts of posts about him it seems like he's a very well liked individual
and obviously left an impression on a ton of people and if you don't know 1320 video
I don't know if you're a car enthusiast because they are one of the ones that first really
took automotive media by storm.
I feel like every one of our Facebook pages probably just had 1320 video liked at some
point.
You don't even remember liking it you just you've always had it because again they were
the ones that really took off social media you know.
I mean it's kind of the grounds of what we do so just to take a second to show respect
for that and sorry for the loss of 1320 team their friends and family because obviously
lost a very important and well liked individual in the community.
He was like I mean that whole that whole chapter was I think one of the many many reasons that
so many people got started making you know like YouTube content and learned about that.
It was inspirational.
I remember watching 1320 when I was young and in college and I went to a 1320 event one
time back and way back when when I was in Texas it's just it's such a sad moment because
it was such an influential person that did so much for so many people and when he hung
out with other people he had that energy for him like for them to which was always so cool
like he always wanted to kind of bolster people up and I mean look at Cletus McFarland I mean
that's what really launched his career you know and Cletus might have you know gone a
different route he's obviously a huge internet person but he started at 1320 here which I
think that's absolutely crazy to think about too because now he's one of the pillar automotive
giants so it just really goes to show how much it paved the way for automotive enthusiasts
making content.
It was groundbreaking.
Yeah 100%.
Oh man.
Some heavy stuff some not so good stuff but the good news is it's warmer
out it's summer out we got happier times ahead we got to host early birds like we talked about
we have the season opener that will be concluded and then we have more shows and ventures on
the way.
I don't know about you guys but personally I've been really excited about summer and driving
and getting into cars and modifying I've been I'll really say here quick first we'll get
some good news I bought a super rare part for my Volkswagen I did some hunting I got
a made in Germany Zender midwing so it goes on the hatch of the spoilers very hard to find
but I found one and I got it shipped from Taiwan and I was so fucking scared that customers
was going to break it because it was stuck in customs for a month.
Oh my God.
But I finally got it so I'm super excited to get that all sanded down painted up get it
on the Harlequin.
What color will it be painted.
That's such a good fucking question I have no idea I've seen it there is another Harlequin
out there that has it and what they did is they matched it to the base color base color
yeah so I've seen other wings and hatch wings on those two and sometimes they'll do the
same color as the hatch like right now my top spoiler that's the same color as the hatch
but that was done after normally they come black yeah and it makes sense because normally
you think well with the Harlequin every body panel that touches is supposed to be different
right but Volkswagen didn't even fully follow that rule because if you look at the the front
fenders to the grill right those colors match so if you do that and then you match the rear
it kind of makes sense it's like some symmetrical in a way like the license plate insert there
was just technically like a panel that's the same color as a hatch so yeah so it's yeah
they have figured out I don't know I'll probably end up doing base color I think that's what
I'm leaning but it's just been I've been having a ball just fucking scouring forums and looking
for parts and dude it pissed me off so much I'm looking for wings and an old old old VW
thread came up and one was for sale and it said it was for sale in Appleton Wisconsin
and he wanted like a hundred bucks and I'm like oh my god are you kidding me someone
had one on their mark three back in the early okay Appleton Wisconsin but I pulled up that
old thread and I was like like why can't they be right now I missed it there was one crazy
though one on eBay and I had to go through and made sure it had all the official stamping
and stuff so it's not a counterfeit one and what was the brand Zender Zender it's an old
you know German they worked with manufacturers to essentially make OEM plus parts and body
kits and pieces and I do believe they do some stuff today but it's kind of under a little
like Zender GMB H or something I don't know but that's super cool though there's some lower to it
excited to see that yeah so I'm excited to get into more car stuff this year remember to jump in
and mod your car with your friends and martini works of course don't forget to check in on your
friends as well there's no better time to check in and ask them how they're doing and make sure
that their life is going well then then wrenching and screaming at car parts not doing what you're
supposed to do that's what makes the heart grow fonder with your friends and with that being
said we want to thank you guys for listening in please don't forget that we'd like to thank our
final sponsor martini works podcast motegi racing wheels for being a part of this journey we actually
just threw the kojans and chrome on the s15 for the season opener which is now is already concluded
but I'm very very excited and very thankful to have the motegi racing wheels team support
not only just with the car but just in terms of the energy and the excitement that they're trying
to bring to the community they're super well involved invested I know
they've been working with with drivers that some have big followings and some have very small
followings and they're they're kind of doing it for the love of the game and we love seeing that
because the world has become very much a tit for tat trade kind of place where it's like we're
constantly looking for big influencers to make big posts that are just selling product when you
see brands supporting people that just authentically care about the sport that they're in that means
a lot to me personally it means a lot to us and motegi does that so if you're really going to
pick up a set of wheels you want to pair it up with your continental tires you want to save
$110 rebate and you want to get 2% back on your cart and you want to get the bundled savings of
putting wheels and tires together so that all you have to do is install them on your car when you
get them at your house look no further than martiniworks.com we're happy to help you out if
you have questions on fitment you can reach out to us on the website you're gonna be talking to
Zach or Carissa we'd be happy to help you out so thank you so much for listening in and of course
we will see you next week bye have a good weekend
About this episode
The MartiniWorks Podcast kicks off with season-opener car-show logistics and sponsor talk, then dives into Japanese-car rankings from a Top Gear article. The hosts debate entries like the 1997 Toyota Prius, Mazda MX-5 ND, FD RX-7, Honda Integra Type R (DC2), Nissan Leaf, and GR Yaris, arguing about reliability, rarity, and what “best” even means. Between list reactions, they also share hybrid powertrain impressions, EV-mode behavior, and a bunch of off-topic supercar/drivability banter.
We have a BUNCH of May sales going on for car parts! Shop here https://martiniworks.com/Could it be? Our beloved Top Gear has made a list of Top 50 Japanese cars and its... questionable at best. Today Alex, Gels, and Dakota sit down to discuss this and more on the MartiniWorks Podcast! #cars #podcast #automotive Take a look at the article and be the judge.. https://www.topgear.com/car-news/list/50-best-japanese-cars-all-timePick up our Coffee here! https://martiniworks.com/products/other/show-merchA HUGE thank you to Continental, Motegi, and Fortune Auto for being the official tire, wheel, and suspension of the MartiniWorks Podcast! Let us know if you need a set of tires or coilovers.Shop Continental tires here https://martiniworks.com/products/wheels-tires/tires?brands=continentalShop Motegi wheels here https://martiniworks.com/aftermarket-car-parts-brands/wheels/motegiShop Fortune Auto suspension here https://martiniworks.com/products/suspension/coilovers?brands=fortune-autoCheck out the main channel! @MartiniWorksOfficialWe also have an unboxing channel @MartiniWorksUnboxedFollow Alex @alexmartini__Follow Dakota @dakotastoneeFollow Gels @akagels
