The Ford Bronco is a type of SUV that people like to use for off-road driving and outdoor fun. It is strong and can be modified with extra parts to make it better for adventures.
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both gas and electricity to save fuel and help the environment. Newer versions are lighter, which helps them use less gas and drive better.
The Ford Mustang is a famous fast car from America. People are excited about a new version coming in 2026, but the company hasn’t shared many details yet.
The Honda Prelude is a fun, sporty car that was made a while ago. Because many people like it, sometimes sellers ask for more money than usual when selling one.
The Honda Civic is a small, reliable car that many people use every day. There's a sporty version called the Type R that is faster and handles better, which people often talk about.
The Honda S2000 is a small, sporty car with a roof you can open. It’s fun to drive because it has a special engine and a stick-shift that many people like.
The Honda CR-Z is a small car that uses both gas and electricity to save fuel. It was made to be sporty but didn’t become as popular as some other cars.
The Porsche 911 is a famous fast sports car that looks unique and drives really well. The Turbo S version is one of the fastest and is often used to compare other fast cars.
G-force is how hard you feel pushed when a car speeds up or slows down. If it's more than 1 G, you feel heavier than usual, like being pushed back in your seat.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast sports car from America that is cheaper than many other super-fast cars. New versions can cost a lot but are very powerful.
Aston Martin makes fancy and fast cars from Britain. They are famous for being in James Bond movies.
LIVE
Welcome to the Avants Podcast. I'm Dan. I'm Nick. We're warm in the house, sitting on the couch.
I mean, you have created a wonderful environment in the garage. It never hurts to sit and record
a beautiful podcast next to a German supercar. I appreciate that.
In big recliners. It's a little cold and didn't want to heat the whole shop. Of course,
we've got puppy distractions. Yeah, I'm lucky. I didn't just be like,
oh, what podcast? Just give me the new puppy and let me play with that. That's, yeah.
There's a new puppy running around. Jackpot Potato.
Dio is still here. He's king. He's the number one.
Dio is king. Jackpot Potato is, she's a new miniature Australian shepherd.
She's mini. Okay.
But not toy though. Okay.
So people think mini Aussie, they think like Kota, the famous Kota, the mini Aussie.
You know, the miniature Aussie is like 30 to 40 pounds. Okay.
Fully grown and she's adorable and pretty, really smart. Really smart.
So because they need a lot of space and they have a lot of energy and I mean, we have. Yeah.
And we got, you know, giant property. This is the right place to be. Yeah.
Yeah. But wanted something. This is, you know, really, really smart, really sweet. And Aussies
are just great dogs for that. So we, we found the perfect little pup and picked her up and
we're very happy to have her. So glad for that. Like I said, you know,
and I'm, you know, she's very, it's funny because you guys have been telling me stories,
but she was very calm and we had, you know, poor Theo's gotta be with us, which I'm glad.
So I wish, I wish we could record video record sometimes. I mean, I guess we could, but
so when Nick came in today, he sat down on the couch and Theo was not inside.
Theo came inside and smelled his shoes. Soon as he realized it was Nick,
he rocketed across this house. Like Nick was holding cheese.
And just, I wasn't okay. I didn't have change. Okay.
Nick did not have any food deprived Theo with, but he just launched onto his lap on the couch
and immediately rolled over like, love me. Which is not common for Theo. He has a few
favorite people and Nick is one of them and it's very cute. One of Theo's favorite people,
or one of the people that loves Theo more than anything is Lola and I get home and I
get the riot act. Like I get fully sniffed and then she walks away from me like,
how dare you. So yeah, but how's life? It's as usual, very busy, but it's not bad.
Yeah. Not a whole lot of car projects going on right now for me, which is,
there's a bunch of stuff I'm behind on. We've got a bunch of parts for the Bronco to install
still. The ARB onboard compressor, the DD8 mount, the ProCal tune, a few other odds and ends.
I think I'm going to remove some of the lights that we're not using. Simple. I'm always a big
fan of like, if you don't need it, if you don't need it and you're not using it, take it off because
you're just adding an atmospheric application. So there's anything that won't get repurposed of
to be fair, but I will be taking some of those off. And there's a few projects I need to do
on the grom and the monkey. So I'm going to get back into that mode. You have activated me
on that now because I was like, Oh yeah. Remember when we fixed the monkey headlight
Yeah. It's still, and the problem is we put that really nice black tape on it.
So I forgot that it was there because it blended in and then you started, and by the way,
that headlight that you showed us today is cheaper than the OEM replacement
for the actual monkey. So yeah, there's a lot of designs too.
Yeah. It's Chimera is the company that makes them, but they use Baja Design's parts.
They also have one for a KC highlights round as well. So you have some options there,
but modding bikes is just as fun as modding cars. And with the monkeys, it's in the groms and
the trail 125 is all these, all those bikes are the same platform, more or less same engine,
a lot of sit crossover parts. So there's endless modifications. And it's,
it's so fun to have those little tinkering projects.
Well, I'm going to have to get our hive mind together on my grom because
I figured something out. I put the bike up on the stand. And when it's up on the stand
and running, it shifts perfectly. But with my weight on the bike, it doesn't want to shift
down. I've got issues. I don't know if I've got shift fork issues or what.
I did everything by the book. I mean, I had notes. I did.
Everything is back together. Correct.
Well, it could just be under load. So when you're on the stand, you're not under load.
Yeah. So that's what I'm saying. Under load, it doesn't want to shift down.
So, okay, we'll take a look at it, get the monkey hive mind together and figure it out.
But, and I did figure out that while tinkering with it that, and I had never done this
before. If one of those does, I just, if I put it on its side, I can take the cover off without
draining the oil because I just didn't want to change sides. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Just like a bike when you're a kid, just put it on its side.
Yeah, that's different. Yeah, that's totally different. I wanted to, a quick little thing
that came up in a video and we're going to kind of use it as the Carter automotive tip of the
week. And it's not something that I have thought about. And obviously with, with our trucks
and stuff like that, but only like 9% of cars these days come with full size spares.
Yeah, almost none. 34% or 46% come with safe space savers spares and 34% come with
compressors and sealant. And the article that I was reading, a lot of people,
one didn't know that they're not being told that, especially a lot of people that are
buying the new Prius. I mean, that was part of the, the weight savings, things like that. But
people that I don't want to say are lacking in knowledge of how changing a tire are
then even more confused when they pull out a compressor and sealant because
obviously it's, it's a little bit less work because you don't have to pull the tire off,
you don't have to jack the car up, things like that. But a lot of people aren't aware of that.
So if anything, this is a PSA to go out, check your car, see what type of spare you have,
and then prepare yourself if something would happen. Yeah, watch some YouTube,
especially if you don't, you know, the worst thing you can do is break down and
then not have access to the internet or phone service. So this will get you by
another thing you should be aware of those when you add sealant to a tire,
like slime or whatever. A lot of places will not repair that tire afterwards. It is a ton of work
to pull all that sealant out. And the reason they don't is, is valid.
To fix the puncture and you have all that slime in there, they need to get good adhesion for
the patch inside of the tire. So I would say if you are in a situation where you,
you don't, you have a compressor and you have sealant, you are better off using a plug most
of the time. They're far more permanent. You can do it yourself. And truly, if you follow the directions
on using a plug, they are, I think, arguably a better fix than the sealant. They're not going to
fix it either way. But you know, look at, investigate it a little bit. I have used plugs and tires
reliably for years. My S4, my white one, when I had it, I actually had a plug in one of those
tires 45,000 miles. Wow. Never had a problem. It was just like, why fix it? It was totally sealed.
It was, you know, it didn't make a noise. If it ain't broke. Yeah. And if you install a plug
correctly, they can be fine. And if you have a high speed tire, don't do this. This is, this
was my commuter. This is, you don't want to, even if you had a patch, like if you have high
performance tires, it's not a good idea. You can, you can like a patch is a better
seal for a high performance tire because of the weight. And you, but you don't want to throw a
plug either way. A plug is pretty much permanent anyway, because they're coated in like tar. And
once they heat up and bond to the tire, they're not going anywhere. Yeah. Anyway,
know your options. But that is a really good call out though, that a lot of cars don't come
with full spare tires. I hadn't thought about it. Obviously, a lot of the trucks and stuff
like that, we have full, I have a full size spare that matches the stock rims on the
truck that came with it. So, which was kind of nice. So I was laughing. I was, there was a
big video put out today. And I don't know, remember who put it out, but it was a,
Max Verstappen and a couple of other people were test driving a bunch of Ford vehicles and testing.
And in the video, they had the new 2026 Mustang Dark Horse SC. Well, the problem is,
Ford hasn't released that car yet. And so the video is obviously getting a ton of traction.
I think Ford has now released it as of today. They put out another press release.
And I don't want this to be too Ford heavy, but you and I are definitely in love. If you
don't know, Ford is now, and the super duty line is now in bed with AEV. Yeah. Yeah.
So the, the AEV support on my GMC was not great. They really didn't have a lot of the things I
wanted. The AEV F 250 is not a factory. You don't buy it from Ford. You buy it from an
AEV dealer or you take your F 250 to AEV and they do it. That is a better way to go for
AEV because it's not like AEV doesn't make great stuff. Their products are fantastic. They
know how to build the vehicle. I was, it just seemed like a marketing gimmick with the GMC
to add it to their parts. This is the opposite. This is like 40 inch tires, the big bumpers,
all the AEV parts. It's only a four inch lift, but 40s on that thing.
But I mean, the vehicle is huge as it is. But it's about $35,000.
It makes you waver. Like that's the first time I've wavered. Like after looking at the
Range Rover, I walked down. I was like, boy, I want that. Not surprising. Obviously, someday the
Range Rover will go down the road because we want to get something to tow. I want to tow an
Airstream and that just won't do it. But that would be a kind of nice option. But then you
start, I went and instantly like after it got introduced in the chat, I'm on Ford,
an F-250 trying to figure out what $150,000. I think this is before tax. I could do it for
around 120. I think maybe even less because I think I could take some of the creature comforts out.
Now that being said, if I'm going to travel the country, there's going to need to be some
creature comforts because there's somebody else in the car with me and that's probably not
going to go over well. I'd be like, I'll take cloth seats. I don't need heaters.
Yeah. So the way I configured mine is I did an F-250 Platinum. And then I was like, well,
I don't need a tremor because that's the only thing I don't need. I got basically a fully loaded
Platinum without the tremor package. I didn't realize how much the tremor packages were.
Well, I kind of got to weigh it out too because there are some options you can't get if you
don't get the tremor. But I was like, okay, F-250 diesel, obviously high output diesel,
Platinum package with everything. Yeah, because they put it on the 6.7 liter.
Yeah. You'd have to with 40s. I mean, well, you didn't have to, but you could, you know,
enjoy your seven miles to the gallon if you go with the gas motor. But I think it's a great
platform. It looks amazing. The size of that cannot be overstated though. My GMC next to my
Raptor, it made my Raptor look small. And that was on 35s. So add 40-inch tires.
Yeah. I mean, it's a pipe dream. But it's the first truck that I wanted to put on the vision board
and really kind of go for. So I'm kind of interested about that.
Oh dude, I'm right there with you. It's funny because when I was towing back the R8, I was like,
man, I love this Raptor. And it tows the R8 just fine. But I've got a sway control hitch on it.
I've got overload, not springs. I've got, what do you call them? The airbags? No, the rubber
things. Bump stops. And I realized on the way back, I'm like, I need to get airbags. If I'm going to
do this again, it's going to have to be airbags, which is not bad. I mean, it's only like 700 bucks
I can install on myself. It's pretty straightforward. But you never, you can never replace a vehicle
that's designed to tow. True. And like the GMC pulled the trailer like it wasn't even back
there. You didn't even know the thing was back there. It was like, I mean, notice the
mileage hit from the drag. But it, but other than that, it was like, what?
Well, we were talking about in the chat, remember? Yeah. And the fact that you can't have Raptor
suspension Raptor fun with a towing vehicle. It just, they don't, it doesn't mix. Yeah. And so
I could do, having the towing platform though, the three-quarter ton platform,
the longer wheelbase, man, talk about a dream setup. Talk about a splurge though.
That's, yeah. That's a pretty big pink, pink move, I gotta say. Yeah.
You got that pulling the trailer with the R8 in the back, a couple of motorcycles in the bed.
Well, like, I was talking to Kate about that and she's like, was that something you want?
I was like, yeah, but the issue is like, that is, that not only is that a splurge, that's,
that's a, I'm pretty good with retirement splurge because you can't just put the package on
and put it into the loan. Like you have to go out and come up with an extra $35,000
to put that on the truck. So. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It's a big expense.
Yeah. Really big expense. I'm like, I'll install the wheels and tires myself.
Don't you worry. I'll replace the badges on the side that say, that's good. Yeah.
Absolutely. I mean, I think it's really cool. Obviously, there's a lot of really neat stuff
that it's actually coming out at the Detroit Auto Show. Go figure. Yeah. So we'll have a
little bit more updates as things kind of hit the market, obviously, but
the dark horse thing was kind of funny to me. Yeah. I don't know if it was on purpose
or not. Like when you got Max for sapping driving it for you, it's a pretty good advertisement.
Exactly. If you don't know, you know, Red Bull is using Ford engines next year and
I'm excited for next year for F1. Yeah, me too. Between Audi and Cadillac and all that. Ford.
Yeah. I didn't know Cadillac was running a Ferrari engine, so that's interesting.
It is interesting. Yeah. Huh. Who knows? Maybe they'll finally,
Ferrari will do some good then. I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, we got a voicemail,
which is a message. She's got a voicemail. We got a text message. We got mail.
Yeah. We got mail. Yeah. Okay. We got mail. Yeah. This one comes from Juan Nereis,
which you know him and his wife Amanda. They come to the off-road events. They're really
big in the car community. They met via, so they met via the Prelude Club. Oh.
Which I did not know. He said, he said, seeing as we met in the Northwest Prelude Club, I was
like, oh, that's awesome. So regarding looks, he said, yes, it's extremely decisive. I
actually like the way it looks as well. Yeah. And Amanda despises it. I think it's a decent
looking car, but I don't like the car itself. Well, apparently, there's huge dealer markups too.
That's exactly what he was saying. Yeah. Because the reason this thing really isn't
selling is because dealers are being really stupid with the markups.
Interesting. On a Prelude. Now,
he was saying it's those cult cars that's begging to have a similar setup to the Civic Type R.
He totally agreed with us on that, or even one of the Honda 6-cylinder engines,
which would be even cooler. Although, typically historically Prelude,
Preludes haven't always been light cars. They've never happened. They had four-wheel steering.
They've always had Honda's cool tech in them. I forgot about the four-wheel steering.
And the mid-80s cars are my favorite. That's what my sister-in-law actually had when she met
my brother, a really nice white SI. And a couple of people in a Vonse have them, of course.
Now we want Nick's old hers to Victoria. So that one's still around. Love that car.
So, but he was just saying, you know, all this stuff Honda is so well known for.
It's just begging for, he goes, he thinks it's begging for a rear-wheel drive and a manual. I'm
like, that's the S2000. So I don't necessarily agree with that. But I understand where he's
coming from. It should be a fun performance car. And right now it's a fun commuter car.
And that's cool, but it's too safe. And I agree with this is what he was saying.
It's frustrating to see them be so conservative and safe with their new platforms.
Totally agree. They do it in the motorcycle industry too. They're motorcycles.
Now are extremely safe. As far as, they're not taking a lot of chances like the Yamaha M1R.
Or Ducati or anything like that. They're not really doing that. They're going the safe right now.
I'm a huge fan, obviously, of the monkey in the grumb. But the performance
bugs aren't really, they're not taking the risk that we would like to see them take.
But Honda's never really been known for that. CRX successor. Thank you for pointing
this out. It's the CRZ. Could not think of the time to show. It was like, run it.
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah. If I'd just gone one more letter, I would have had it.
That's so weird. And that is his daily driver. Actually, I didn't know that. He said fuel efficient
little car. He goes, but that's just a great little daily driver. And it is. I actually like
this looks of the CRZ as well. I actually think it was a really good looking successor to the
CRX. Again, they missed the mark. I think the CRZ should have been just like the CRX had
two models too. You had the base CRX, then you had the SI. And I want to see more of
that Honda. Like, give me that I want a CRX type R because like the really compact ones.
And you've got Toyota supposedly, they keep hinting at the new MR2 that's supposed to come
out too. I think maybe even this Friday. Well, they kind of tricked us and they brought
up those K trucks, which by the way, looked awesome. Amazing. Yeah. I want those.
The way things are going, we might end up getting them here sooner than later.
Okay. I will say it. I might sign up for one of those because of the commute back to
the office. That thing would be so useful. And if they're cheap enough,
they're doing it right in one spot. Exactly. They're awesome.
But yeah, and this will lead us into our next topic. I'm also all about domestic car
manufacturers having horsepower wars. Farley, CEO Ford, it seems like he is all in as well.
What he's doing with the Mustang. I want to see some friendly competition all in 90s Japanese
motorcycle manufacturers competing like they used to. The BUSA, ZX11, the Fireblade,
bring on all those horsepower wards like remember that? Yeah, then you had the ZX14.
You had Honda actually started that though. They had the CBR1100XX, the Blackbird.
And then you had the Hayabusa, which blew everything away. How are we still alive?
And then the ZX14. And I want to see, I mean, this will bring us into our next topic.
We're sort of getting there because if you think Dodge is going to take this lying down
with the new ZR1X coming out, I mean, Dodge has always been the one,
they're going back. Like we talked about last time with the new TRX. You know there's a car around
the corner because that's Dodge's MO. They're going to be like, here's our 1,000 horsepower
Viper replacement, which I really want to see. Here's what the part that somebody brought up to
me. They're calling it the SRT TRX, which means SRT is back. And if you don't remember,
what is it? Late 90s, early 2000s, SRT4. The Neon SRT4. Great car.
Then you had the SRT truck with the Viper engine in it. And it was a manual, which was stupid.
And then there was the Viper. Did Peter Gleason have one?
Yes, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. He said everything.
Yeah, I think. Yes, it was a great taste in cars.
So, I mean, this is kind of your subject because you're the past Chevy guy.
It seems that you, Chevrolet now owns the best 0-60 on the planet.
1.68 seconds. That seems insane.
On a prep track. Don't mind you. That's what Dodge was doing the same thing when they were the
Demon and all that. But yeah, 0-60 in 1.68 seconds. And that is launch mode and punch it.
I mean, Bugatti's like 2. Koenigsegg and Rimac were like 1.8, 1.9.
Yep. The only thing that even comes close is a Tesla Plaid.
And so, which just is cool. Don't get me wrong, but not nearly as exciting because you don't
have the big V8 grumble and the turbos and everything else. So, shout out to them.
They're cool. Cool for Tesla for doing it. I want to see more of that. But
the quarter mile though, 8.675. This car is illegal to drive on a drag strip.
Just think about it. This car had been in the original Fast and the Furious. It would've won
everything. Nobody needs a 10-second car. You need an 8-second car.
Yeah. 8.6, what is it? 8.675, which is just... And the car they used was not the full
attack package. So, you're not even getting... This is without MagRide and everything. The
car is no spoiler. It's literally off the showroom floor with tires.
I want to know, and that would be interesting, and we may be asked, Brian, or anybody else that
works for Chevy. I want to know when that came out, how many phone calls you got the next day
of people going, I'd like to change my order. Going, I wanted the ZR1, but now I want the
X. I mean, I think a lot of people want the X, but... Yep. The person next to me is going to
try and order one. Yeah. So, this did the other thing like... Again, we... I'm not
sitting next to him, just so we're clear. No. It's Theo. Yeah, it's Theo. Theo, he doesn't have
a very good place to sit. We found that out, unfortunately, but we'll work it out. Custom
seat will be made for you, buddy. Yeah, I get that. I mean, that makes sense.
But the part people don't think... I don't think understand... If you haven't driven
anything even close to that fast, a 10-second car is insanely fast. That's 911 Turbo S
territory, and that's in the high 10s. And the feeling of that is hard to describe
if you've never felt it. The most accessible way to do that, go find something you work with
and go get a Tesla Model S. It doesn't even have to be a Plaid. If you're anywhere near us,
somebody's got a Tesla Model S and they'll be happy to go do a 0-60 run for you.
Until you've felt that kind of speed, it's almost impossible to understand just how fast
that is. I've done it in the Plaid, in the back seat, with four people, and it's still...
Nuts. Yeah. Yeah. But this is 1.75 Gs going forward. The pressure against your chest for
that, that's like a jet. Every time I think of that speed, I think of Clarkston on the runway
that time, was the Arial Atom with his cheeks were all the way back? Yeah. Exactly. Oh, here it is.
The Rhymac-Navera R, I was trying to find it. Did it 1.66 seconds, 0-60 in a 7.9 quarter,
which is the fastest... That's all electric, too. All electric. And then the Pininfarina
Batista 1.79 seconds, 0-60, 8.55 in the quarter. Yeah, but this is the fastest naturally aspirated
slash hybrid, because the Rhymac is completely electric. Yeah. So there's a nice little list
here. The Koenig-Jesco is 8.77 in the quarter, 0-60 in 2.4. But I mean, the thing is though,
starting MSRP, 209,700 for a Corvette 0-1X. The next one in line, if you want to...
Close to 10% of... Well, not even... It's less than 10%.
Yep. Because the yes goes like 2 to 3, sometimes 4.
Yes. The next closest one on the list is a surprise, but sort of. The Lucid Air Sapphire
does a quarter mile on 8.95 and is 0-60 of 1.89 seconds, which is saying a lot.
That's good for Lucid. If you've watched the most recent Engineering Explained,
I was... We're sidetracking a little bit, but this is a good topic. This is going back to another
topic about why you should air your grievances with a car company. We were talking about this
with the Koenig-Jesco, so they can make improvements. People seem to shy away from that.
This is why you shouldn't. Engineering Explained made a whole video about his
issues he's had with his Lucid Air. And Lucid's engineering team, he was very...
If you've watched any of his videos, he's very tactful. He's not one of those YouTubers that's
going being overly dramatic. He's an engineer, so he was very...
He's a team that has been engineering himself for a long time.
Yeah, why this doesn't work, why this should work. The engineering team came back, made a
bunch of improvements, and made a bunch of updates, not just with him across the whole line
based on his video. They've been working hand in hand to improve that, which
for a brand new company, shout out to Lucid for doing this. They're a very expensive brand.
The Air is 200 plus, 2 to 250 is what they're optioned at, but they came back and they're
basically fixing everything on his car as they should, not just under warranty, but they're also
doing engineering work with him to fix all of the Lucids. So shout out to them, but this is
why you should air your grievances in a tactful way. You can say anything you want,
depending on how you say it. Exactly. So that's the next closest car on the list,
and it's $249,000 for the Sapphire edition. But then the next closest car on the list
in price is $2.2 million. What a deal for the pen and terrain of Batista.
Yeah, I don't know about that one. It's just cool to see America's back kicking ass.
Will many people who own that car ever do that? Probably not. There will be a handful
that will do that, but... That's a dangerous run. That kind of speed, I think, people
quickly don't realize how much you can lose control. I've been to the drag strip enough
times and seen mishaps happen of just, you know, like missing traction, like you go the track
surface changes midway down, you're putting down so much power. The accidents are going
to happen in Safeway parking lots when they're going to a beauty salon. Nobody will be killed,
but, you know, their new balances will come untied. It happens. Wraps around the pedals and you
just don't know what to do. And then they won't know where the door handle releases.
Well, that's a Corvette thing. That's not just the ZR1X, but yeah. You know, it's so funny.
It's talking about the media and door handles. Interesting transition. Well, maybe laugh because
there's the same... We've talked about this in the past. People get trapped in cars,
they burn, they don't know what to do. We told people in the past go look for your
door handles are. They're talking about banning the door handles and how they release on the
Tesla's and which may be... Banning them and how they release.
They want to change how doors are open from the outside as well.
Okay. And so I'm going to get into why I'm bringing this up in a second.
I'm just going to call out every media outlet for being just lying assholes about this.
You know who designed that door handle? Nissan. It's a GTR door handle and that's
how it's repurposed for the Tesla. It is. And that desk door handle's been... That was the first
mainstream. Other cars have had this design forever, but because there's all this Elon hate,
deservedly or not, it doesn't matter. This is just media bias that's pissing me off because I'm
like, oh, you guys aren't going to call out that every GTR since 2009 has had this. You're not
going to call the other cars that have this. You're just going to pick on the one car you
hate at the moment. I'm like, no, use some objective bias here. This is not a new design.
People are just dumber. I mean, somebody, I'm going to remain nameless that said,
looked at me in the same face and he said, we should have let him continue eating Tidepods.
It would have solved a lot of issues, right? So I didn't, I never knew that that it was this,
I mean, same one. You said, you say it and I'm like, oh, that all of a sudden you see it.
Yeah. And I, you know what, I never had a problem with the narrow handles on my GTR
even when it was cold. They worked just fine because I know how they work.
They still popped up when it was cold. Yeah, good for you.
You just put, you can do the same. Sometimes they don't do that when you get old.
Well, see the thing is, is they auto pop on the Tesla or you push the back of the door handle in
and they come out. Oh, okay. It's both. Fair enough. The Tesla has both. It just goes a little pop
when you walk up or you can push on the back and it comes out. But Nissan's don't auto pop.
Oh, okay.
They either work. Is Nissan actually finally done making GTRs or?
Yes. In fact, they're talking about launching an R36 already.
That's good. There's a lot of backlash to the company about trying to do something
electric, which is good. Toyota has kind of proven. Electric or hybrid?
Electric. Now they're going hybrid. That's the rumors they're going back to hybrid.
There was an electric version, which everyone loudly told them,
like your company is already burning to the ground, maybe not take a chance on something
electric that you want. That's not Godzilla. That's a small lizard.
Yeah, exactly. And so now they're talking about doing a hybrid one, which is fine.
I kind of fully expected that as long as, especially if they follow the Corvette and,
you know, we will drive by us 90, you know, 90, 10 with 10% hybrid,
you've got a great combo there. Not like GTRs lightweight anyway.
I can think of no better hold my beer situation than what Chevy has done.
Yeah. It's just like, we can do it. We can make it faster and we can make it cheaper.
And, you know, they will sell so many of those cars.
Well, it's, you know, it's good that these things keep coming because you've got,
you know, you've got the new Lexus or Toyota actually, technically.
You've got the... Oh, that thing. Yeah.
Which doesn't really appeal to me in the same way, but it's...
But I think that'll turn into the LFA.
Yeah, which will be, they're talking about a full, full electric version of that
supercar, which is whatever. But either way, I'm, you're seeing companies come back to that,
oh, we need to make performance cars because, hey, guess what? People are buying them.
Yeah.
And that's great.
We didn't shame them enough. They still want performance cars.
Yeah.
So you can't do that.
Honda, step it back up, bring us into NSX.
The Type-S is amazing. It's one of my favorite cars. The new one.
I like the old one just as much, but I mean, the new NSX is fantastic.
The Type-S is amazing.
So I get some peer pressure and I'm going to use these terms lightly because I don't want to
like call anybody out. So I have a neighbor who is freshly on the market, I'll say,
an older gentleman. And him and I have talked about it, but his garage is
very quickly filling with the things that his past partner wouldn't allow.
Yeah, that happens, including R1s, KTM, things like that, which there, and he's two doors down.
And him and I were kind of chips in the night, but he came over, I was washing the truck and
he saw the monkeys and we were talking about that. And he's like, you got to get a big bike.
And I was like, no, I was like, I can't do it anymore. I said, I just, I, I,
mentally, I'm still a 12 year old. And yeah, I get that every day.
And just so we're clear, this man is a really good rider. He is riding an R1,
like I have seen him ride it pretty much every day, including in the rain.
Oh, miserable.
Yeah. But I don't think he's going far, but which is kind of interesting. So we had the,
we had kind of, you know, and he's older than me, but it was an interesting like to go,
I just talking to him, I said, I just can't, I said, I know at my age,
I would keep both tires on the ground. That's the one thing I know that I would do safer.
I know you wouldn't, but well, and some of that comes down to the fact that I've never
really mastered the wheelie. Well, you don't have to master it when you have enough power.
I know. I remember I owned a Hayabusa for a day and a half.
So, right. So you just rev it through second and you can just
come right up every time. The first two, but it goes backwards and first.
I can't, I just can't, I told him, I said, I just, in mentally my mind, I have shut off that
side. I said, I will probably end up owning another dual sport in my life just because, or,
or maybe even like, you know, like one of the Africa twins, I think that'd be kind of fun.
Just for something adventurous off-road a little bit. He was, I forgot right here at KTM,
he bought, but he just, it was an older one because he had some wiring issues. Imagine that.
Shocking. Wiring and he was, he was testing it in the back 40 up behind the North Fork and
things like that. But it was just, I haven't had that conversation a while because around all
of us, we kind of go, oh yeah, we're not going to do that. We know we can't do that.
I'm going to stick to the monkeys and, you know, it was, it was a little,
it was a peer pressure situation. I was like, wow, maybe I should, you know,
and that got, that got shut down really quick by the mind, the voices in my head that said,
you can't do that. If I, you know, if when I move somewhere warmer,
I will probably reconsider that. I'm not even considering it at all up here anymore. It's
just, it's, the riding season is just too short. It's easy to justify in such a small
bike, but you know, our CRFs were, you know, they started the cost of the modified monkey.
Yeah. They started the, and then that's, that's the problem for me is like, and I have
a short riding window and, you know, we leave to go ride because it's so bad here. I mean,
it's not that you can't ride here, you're around. I used to do it. I just
do not, I'm not going back to get soaking wet and having to clean my bike.
It's not fun. No. Even on a small bike, it takes hours to clean it.
You can't hear your motorcycle over your chattering teeth.
Yeah. And your chattering bones.
What do you think is the, the toy that's still out there for you?
The, I don't mean the reasonable one. Like what is that one that saw that?
For me, it'll always be the BAC mono or set or until the next BAC mono comes along.
It's funny you say that because I've been following somebody in Europe that just got
one and then the Steve Hamilton collection just took one and it's the new KTM crossbow,
but with the, with the canopy that yeah. And I think, and again, not, not even in my price
point, but it at $500,000, that's a hell of a deal because you get that. I think it's the
RS three engine and it's, I mean, and then you can crank a big turbo onto it. I mean,
and it's, I was just, in fact, they just released the video today, Tim Bright y'all.
That would be my, that's my, my, my track. Cause I think that would be something that
I could take and I could go to the back roads and be fun, but I could also, you know,
knowing me, I would drive it to QFC and just to be able to, you know,
leave the canopy open like I'm Batman.
Yeah. I mean, BAC mono will always be yours.
Yeah.
But you're a loner. So you want to drive alone.
No, I'd be the slow one. If somebody next to me gets a zero one X.
That's true. That's true. I mean, Theo, step up your game, get a job, get a Corvette.
Theo, your social media is not making us nearly enough money.
Yeah. What's up with that? Come on.
I'll take more pictures of your feet.
I need to trim them.
I have, I have questions. The word more means you've taken photos of this.
He has very cute paws.
I didn't say he hasn't. I just, you know, did you sign a consent?
Paw photos? Yeah. Yeah, I think that only paws.
That has to be a thing, right? I don't want to search it, but that has to be a thing.
Some weird furry thing, I'm sure. Yes, I'm calling you weird furries.
It's interesting because the priorities have changed.
Like I do, I would want something comfortable.
Like I, I, I like the idea of a big luxury car.
Like I think I would own a Bentley Continental.
Oh, I think I would. I think just that.
I mean, for something like long, fun road trips, I wouldn't want to convert it,
but I think that would be kind of the W12. I think that'd be fun.
What a perfect transition. Okay.
Did you, did you see what they did at Dirtfish this last week?
You know, I had seen some photos. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking at,
or should I be praying for whoever has to detail those?
So our friends at Bentley decide.
Maybe that's why it's in my mind, actually. Okay.
Yeah. So I shout out to Jason Tang.
He was down there, took a bunch of photos.
Bentley stepped up.
They took out the Bataga, the, what's their convertible?
Continental.
Yeah, the Continental, excuse me.
And the Continental.
And they took them on the Dirtfish course.
And the whole thing, they rallied these things in the gravel, in the dirt,
in the rain, in the mud.
And it looked like so much fun.
And it was, the whole point was that these cars are not just
old boats that go cruising at low speed.
These cars can perform and they do.
And they railed on these things.
And I came, I was driving actually, and I saw a couple of cars out there
and I was like, that's weird.
Like I just saw them sitting there.
I didn't see them driving the course.
I was like, man, that'd be fun.
I love it when people use their cars.
That's the whole point.
Go drive.
I mean, that's probably on the extreme edge.
But the fact, I mean, like we have been on some rallies with some Bentley's.
Or is it Rolls-Royce?
Rolls-Royce.
Yeah, Rolls-Royce.
Was it Rolls-Royce?
Rolls-Royce.
Wraith?
Wraith hard top.
I think, no, it wasn't.
It was Rolls-Royce Wraith drop top.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I mean, and Blake drove the living hell out of that car.
Well, when he was up my butt in the Maserati in the corners,
yeah, he was driving the crap out of that car.
Yeah.
So anyway, these cars can perform.
It was really cool to see Bentley do that of all brands
who you don't expect to be like, yeah, we're going to take these on a rally course.
That was not it.
There's a great shot he got of the beautiful wool floor mats with all the dirt on them.
I mean, these are press cars.
I hope they're covered in stack.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, that's the only thing I saw.
And I think that is why the Bentley is on my mind.
I didn't think about it because I did see Jason's photos and he did a great job, by the way.
But I mean, I was looking down the side thinking,
I mean, I think I was thinking what I've done to the side of my truck in the rocks.
I can't imagine what the side of the Bentley looks like.
I think that should be the question we leave for the audience in the show,
is what unconventional things have you done with your cars?
Like, I mean, I'm not, you know, you overlanders are built for it.
Track guys are built for it.
I want to know what things have you converted your Viper to off-road?
Have you converted, you know, have you taken your VET off-road?
I mean, Miata is a popular one.
We've seen Miata's off-road in the course.
I want to know what our listeners are doing.
Like, I mean, I feel like my favorite to do is use my cars.
So mine get thousands of miles and go everywhere.
But that's, you know, it seems within the realm of reasonable.
I've camped out of my Z06, both of them, and my GTR.
I'm seeing more and more social media wise people that have bought the
Strato and have bought the 911.
The car?
The car and are beating the absolute piss out of them off-road.
Good job.
I mean, you know, you got that guy in England that jumped his.
He's the first guy, Mark, I forgot his name.
But I mean, you know, those cars, like Lamborghini says,
they built that car to be off-road.
They built that car to be to do those things.
I mean, it will do it on the road.
And Porsche, I mean, has such a history in that that it's just, I mean,
why not?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
They called the car for a reason.
Yeah.
That's what the 99 was built for.
Yeah.
I would have loved to have seen that car in the day.
Yeah.
Not back there.
Yeah.
So I want to see the, I want you to respond to this podcast with
what is the your car in an unusual place,
something you regularly do with your car people wouldn't expect.
Maybe you've just got 75,000 miles on your Ferrari,
which we only know a couple people that have done that.
Yeah.
Like I would love to see more of that.
Who's really using their stuff?
It doesn't have to be mean beating on it.
Like you're very well taken care of cars with tons of miles on them.
Well, you look at William Howard.
Yeah, William Howard.
He has that 458.
I forgot how many.
100,000.
Yeah, he had 100,000 miles on that car.
Yeah.
Which is amazing to me.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
Brian Elich.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, that's a different type.
He uses everything to an extent.
Yeah.
To an extreme, I mean, which more power to him.
But.
I really, so he, everybody in this group,
or everybody that listens to this locally knows Brian.
Yeah.
And we have a group.
We obviously hang out with him.
Court ordered.
But last Friday, he came in the group and he said,
hey guys, this is Mr. Chevy.
He goes, I was looking at a Bronco Raptor
and I thought he was punking us.
I really did.
Like I just happened,
Kate and I happened to go to dinner with him that night
with Annie and grab pizza.
Even Kate was like, you're screwing with us.
Like you don't drive for it.
And he's like, I just think,
I think he might come to the dark side eventually.
Well, I mean, you know.
Who knows?
I was, I told John of the same thing.
I was like, you were going to believe
who was talking about a Bronco Raptor.
Right?
Yeah.
He's like, there's, he goes, there's nothing better.
It has been cold,
but I don't know if hell has frozen over.
So, yeah.
Brian loves all cars.
He just works for Chevy
and Chevy's got some great options.
So I don't blame him.
Yeah.
I agree.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cool.
All right.
Well.
What do we got coming up?
Well, we will be at the...
Well, this will come out afterwards.
This is, yeah.
There's an Aston Martin event coming out this weekend
if you guys aren't paying to the events.
They have guest MCs.
If you're there, you'll have to know who they are.
Yeah, those guys.
Those guys.
People who do anything.
Yeah.
Now.
Okay.
So it'll be, the word will be out with them,
but Dan and I are going to go and MC
that we love working with Avonce
and especially Park Place.
And I love Aston Martin.
So it's a really looking forward to doing that.
I mean, we got a bunch of events coming up, I think.
Yeah.
So March, we got Avonce Off-Road Women's Day.
Yeah.
Which we never miss.
Yeah.
One of our favorite events.
I think I maybe missed it once because I was gone,
but that's always such a great time.
The women are more fun on the course.
Sorry guys, but they just are.
They drive hard too.
Women in the industry is coming up March 19th.
And then, man, there's so much more.
Portland's got the Hot Wheels Exchange
at the Protek Automotive.
That's the 17th.
I so wanted to go to the one here.
I just couldn't do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But they've got a SIM social.
We've got Phoenix and Scottsdale, Track Days,
Art House Collective.
That looks so cool.
It's car week down there in Arizona.
Yep.
It's coming up.
Is it right now?
It's real soon.
Yeah.
I know our friends at Park Place are down there,
actually, at the auctions.
Yeah, it has to be.
It's this weekend.
I think it's this weekend.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Southern California, FCP Euro,
Sunday Motoring Meet at Robinson Helicopter,
which that would be so cool.
So Cal gets all the cool events.
That's on the menu, too, with the KTM Crossbow.
I want to rob it in R44, because why not?
And the one we're all jealous of,
the Avants at BBI Autosports Meetup and Shop Tour.
Big shout out to Tim.
He's doing a partnership with our friend,
John Clevin, S-Tech Automotive, of course.
We love our friends at S-Tech.
And BBI, of course, being the premier
Porsche shop, the tuner out there.
Well, he's been on this show twice.
Have you had him on now?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Avants pit stop at the Long Beach Grand Prix
coming up in April.
Planned for that.
That's going to be...
They're going to launch the calendar
for San Diego here pretty soon.
Yeah.
That'll be good.
Yeah.
So what else?
Oh, yeah.
There's a bunch of stuff in Arizona, though.
I want to talk about before we go.
The Automotive Trust destination dinner,
that's January 21st.
And then January 23rd is the Avants pit stop
at the Arizona Car Week.
Okay.
So if you're down there for Car Week,
look for that.
I mean, we have an Avants Scottsdale,
Phoenix chapter.
So...
Go see Nicole.
Say hi.
Yeah, go see Nicole.
Great support down there.
Great crew down there.
Lots of cool stuff.
And she's killing it down there.
So, yeah.
The Northwest doesn't get all the love.
We've got plenty of other chapters
with plenty of stuff going on.
So no matter where you are,
I hope you go check that out.
Excellent.
All right.
Well, as always,
for this episode of the Avants podcast,
I'm Nick.
And I'm Dan.
And don't just get there.
Enjoy the drive.
About this episode
Dan and Nick chat casually about life with their new miniature Australian shepherd puppy and share updates on various vehicle projects, including Bronco modifications and motorcycle repairs. They dive into practical automotive advice about spare tires, sealants, and tire plugs, highlighting common misconceptions and maintenance tips. The conversation shifts to exciting new truck releases, especially Ford's partnership with AEV for the Super Duty line, sparking enthusiasm for heavy-duty off-road builds and towing capabilities. The hosts balance technical insights with personal anecdotes, making for an engaging and informative discussion.
We love it when our audience gives us feedback about a topic, so we want to hear how you have used your car for maybe more than its originally intended purpose. The big stories are always fun, but we would love to see and share some of your moments of your car being used to it's fullest. Camping out of your supercar? Towing your track bike with your track car? Converted your Smart car into a tank? Used your Hilux to help overthrow annoying government regime? Let us know in the comments, or send us a voicemail or text message!
