The Miata is a small two-seat convertible made by Mazda. It’s built to be fun to drive and easy to maneuver. Like most cars, its wheels use bearings that can wear out with age and mileage.
The Wrangler is a Jeep SUV designed for off-road driving. It can handle rough terrain better than many regular cars. Because it often goes on bumpy roads, the parts that support the wheels—like wheel bearings—can wear out faster.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E GT is an electric SUV. The host is talking about how you change driving settings (“drive modes”) and how the car makes you use the screen instead of simple buttons.
The Mustang GTD is a high-performance version of the Ford Mustang. It’s built to be faster and more focused on driving performance. If you drive it hard or put a lot of load on it, parts like wheel bearings can wear out sooner.
Drive modes are different settings for how the car feels and responds. For example, one mode might make it more responsive or more relaxed, and the host is saying this car makes you do extra steps to change them.
The Ford Mustang is Ford’s iconic sports coupe/convertible line, and in this context it’s used as a comparison point for body style and market positioning. The host contrasts the Mach-E’s two-door variant with the Mustang’s sedan/coupe alternatives, implying Ford’s product strategy around different silhouettes.
Car
Ford Mach-E
The Ford Mach-E is an electric Ford crossover. The host is saying that for a newer model year, Ford changed the heating system to a heat pump, and that change takes up space in the front—so the front storage area (the frunk) got smaller.
A heat pump is a heating system that transfers heat instead of just making it. In an electric car, it can be more efficient, but it may take up space and affect how much room you have in the front storage area.
CCS charging is the standard fast-charging plug many EVs use. The host is saying this car can fast-charge, but its top charging speed is 150 kW, which feels slower compared with newer EVs that can charge faster.
150 kilowatts is how fast the car can charge at a fast charger at its best. The host feels that 150 kW doesn’t impress as much anymore because some newer EVs can charge faster.
The Ford E-Transit is Ford’s electric version of the Transit van platform. In this segment, it’s mentioned as part of Ford’s early EV lineup that the host says didn’t get continuous improvement after launch.
The Toyota bZ4X is Toyota’s battery-electric crossover, referenced here as a contrast to Ford’s early EV strategy. The host credits Toyota with ongoing improvement over time, using the bZ4X as an example of “continuous improvement.”
The Solterra is an electric SUV. It’s made for everyday driving, just like other SUVs, but it runs on electricity. It still has wheel bearings that can wear out as you drive more.
Term
four hundred volt electrical systems
This means the car’s battery and electronics run on about 400 volts. That can make the car move and charge power more efficiently, which often helps with faster charging.
Kilowatts are a measure of how much charging power the charger can deliver. “Two hundred kilowatts” means the car can potentially charge pretty quickly when conditions are right.
The ID. Buzz is an electric van made by Volkswagen. It’s meant to be a modern version of a classic-style van. Even though it’s electric, it still has wheel bearings that can wear out over time.
Some EVs use a higher-voltage battery system, like 800 volts instead of 400. That can help the car charge faster because the electrical system can handle power more efficiently.
AC charging is the common kind of charging you might do at home or at many public stations. It usually takes longer than fast DC charging, because the car has to convert the power internally.
Eleven kilowatts is how strong the charging power is. On AC charging, more kilowatts usually means you can add energy faster, as long as both the station and the car support it.
The Ford Maverick is a small pickup truck. In this part of the show, they’re talking about how the seats adjust and how that affects your driving position.
Torque vectoring is a system that helps control how power is split to the wheels. The goal is to make the car feel more stable and predictable when accelerating or changing direction.
Term
will clearance
Wheel clearance is how much space there is around your tires. If you add bigger wheels or tires and clearance is too tight, the tire can rub and cause problems.
A wireless charging pad is an in-car surface that charges a compatible smartphone without plugging in a cable. It typically uses inductive charging and is often paired with a specific phone position or tray.
The Cybertruck is an electric pickup truck made by Tesla. It uses electricity instead of gasoline. Even though it’s electric, it still has wheel bearings that can wear out like on any car.
The Chevrolet Silverado EV is GM’s electric version of the Silverado pickup. The hosts mention it because they say GM has had more fleet sales with electric work trucks.
This truck uses a 10-speed automatic gearbox. More gears can help the engine run in a better “sweet spot,” which can make the truck smoother and sometimes more efficient.
The F-100 is a pickup truck model from Ford. It’s an older truck compared with many modern pickups. Like other trucks, its wheel bearings can wear out as the vehicle ages and gets driven.
PowerBoost is Ford’s hybrid system for this truck. It pairs a gas engine with an electric motor, so the truck can feel strong and sometimes get better fuel economy than a non-hybrid.
The Ram 1500 is another popular big pickup. They’re comparing how Ram sells different cab styles and how the regular cab option has largely disappeared.
The Lucid Air is an electric luxury sedan. It’s designed for comfortable driving, including on highways. Like any car, it has wheel bearings that can eventually wear out.
A hard trifold tonneau cover is a rigid cover for the truck bed that folds in three sections. It helps keep stuff protected, and it can cost a lot more than basic covers.
FX4 is an off-road option package for the F-150. It usually adds tougher tires and protection underneath so the truck can handle dirt roads and rough terrain better.
The Pro Access tailgate is a special tailgate design that can open in sections. That means you can reach into the bed without lowering the whole tailgate—handy when you’re towing.
BlueCruise is Ford’s driver-assist feature that can help with steering while you’re driving. Here they’re saying newer software can do more things automatically, like lane changes.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is Ford’s electric SUV. They mention it because it has a newer version of the same driver-assist system they’re testing on the F-150.
An OTA update is a software update that gets sent to your car wirelessly. Instead of going to a shop, the car can get new features or improvements over the internet.
Lane changing is when the car moves into another lane. They’re saying some versions only do it when you signal, while newer versions can do it on their own.
Payload is how much stuff (people and cargo) the truck can carry. They compare payload numbers between two Ford trucks to show the difference in capacity.
Term
Monroni
The Monroney is the sticker on a car that shows the official price breakdown. They’re using it to talk about the truck’s listed price and fees.
Silverado and Sierra are GM’s big pickup trucks. They’re talking about whether the newer ones will let you plug in and power tools like the electric versions can.
The Ford F-150 Lightning is Ford’s electric version of the F-150 pickup. The big deal is that it can power things like tools using outlets built into the truck.
“Ten speed” means the truck has a gearbox with ten gear ratios. That can affect how smooth it feels when the truck switches between electric and hybrid driving.
“Hybrid mode” is when the vehicle is using its hybrid setup—electric power and another power source together. They’re saying the switch between modes can feel a little jerky at low speeds.
A clutch is a connection inside the drivetrain that helps the vehicle switch power delivery. If it engages abruptly, you can feel it as a shift or bump.
Auto leveling is a feature that helps a vehicle sit level when the ground isn’t flat. They’re saying if you use it too many times back-to-back, the system can overheat and limit how fast you can drive.
Term
cookie table
They’re talking about a fold-out table in the back seat area. You press a button and it folds down into the console, then you unfold it when you want it.
The EV6 is an electric Kia. Because it’s electric, it can feel different from a gas car—there may not be a typical “start/stop” button, and you have to shut it down the right way. The host is describing how the car can stay “on” if you forget the off step.
Start Inhibit is a safety/anti-theft feature that stops the car from starting. The idea here is that an app can “lock out” starting, even if someone gets into the car with the key.
FordPass is Ford’s phone app for your car. In this case, it’s used to control whether the car is allowed to start.
Term
remote
Here, “remote” means controlling the car from far away using a connection (like the internet). The worry is that if the wrong person has access, they might be able to shut the car down without touching it.
A network connection is the vehicle’s ability to communicate with external systems (typically via cellular/Wi‑Fi) for app control and telematics. The segment discusses disabling that connection as a way to prevent remote control—framing it as a potential workaround for someone trying to avoid being stopped.
The Kona EV is Hyundai’s electric version of the Kona. The host is sharing their experience with a tracking feature on their car and why they didn’t want to pay extra for it.
A tracker is a feature that can report where your car is. The host is saying they were offered extra tracking, but the car’s own app already lets you see the location.
Hyundai’s app is the phone app for your Hyundai. The host is saying you can already check the car’s location through the app, so they didn’t see the need to pay extra.
The Tracker is a small SUV made by Chevrolet. It’s meant for practical everyday driving. Like other vehicles, it has wheel bearings that can wear out with age and mileage.
This is a feature meant to help when a car gets stolen. It can alert the right people and, in some systems, can even help stop the car from being driven remotely.
The 3 Series is a compact luxury car made by BMW. It’s designed to feel sporty and comfortable. Like other cars, it has wheel bearings that can wear out and cause noise or vibration.
Car
BMW M340i X Drive
The BMW M340i X Drive is a sporty BMW sedan with all-wheel drive. It’s meant to feel fast and planted in everyday driving, not just on a track.
Munich is a major city in Germany and a common reference point for BMW-related logistics and delivery. The speaker mentions picking up the car in Munich before it’s shipped to the U.S.
A moonroof is like a sunroof, but it’s made of glass. That means you can look up through it when it’s open or even when it’s closed, depending on the design.
A sunroof is a part of the car’s roof that can open so you get more light and fresh air. Usually it’s not meant to be a clear window the whole time—it's more like a panel that opens up.
A “range-extended” EV uses an additional energy source—typically a small engine/generator—to recharge the battery and extend driving range. It’s different from a pure battery-electric vehicle because it can keep going even when the battery is low.
They’re imagining bringing back the Volkswagen “Thing” but updated for modern times. The original was Beetle-based and had a rugged, odd-looking body—here they’re talking about making it electric.
The Volkswagen Beetle is a small car with a very recognizable shape. It’s an older design that many people still talk about. Over time, the wheel bearings on older cars can wear out and cause noise or vibration.
Corrugated metal is sheet metal with a wavy/ridged shape. They’re describing the original “Thing” as having that kind of rugged, old-school body style.
A four-speed manual is a car with a stick shift and four forward gears. You use the clutch to change gears, and it’s an older-style transmission.
Car
Fiat Tapolino
The Fiat Tapolino is a very small two-seat car, and in this discussion it’s described as electric. It’s the kind of vehicle meant for short, easy driving.
Horse is a company formed by Renault and Geely to work on car technology. Here, they’re the ones behind a hybrid powertrain concept that uses a newer type of electric motor.
An axial flux motor is a type of electric motor. It’s designed so the motor can potentially fit more power into the same size compared with the more common motor layout.
A range-extender hybrid is an electric car with a backup system that helps it go farther. When the battery runs low, the extra system kicks in to keep you moving.
A radial flux motor is a common kind of electric motor. They’re using it as a comparison point to argue that an axial flux motor can be more powerful for the same size.
“Halos” here are physical knobs/dials built into the steering wheel. They let you scroll menus and make selections with your thumbs, with feedback so you don’t have to look as much.
Haptic actuators are parts that create physical feedback—like a click or vibration. Here they help the steering-wheel dials feel like they’re stepping through options.
A digital key means you can use your phone to unlock and start the car instead of carrying a key fob. The segment also explains there are backup ways to get into the car if your phone battery is dead.
Ultra wide band is a wireless signal that helps the car figure out where your phone is more precisely. That can make unlocking work more reliably when you’re standing near the car.
NFC is a short-range wireless connection. Here it’s mentioned as a backup way to unlock/start the car if your phone battery is too low for the normal digital-key method.
Highway assist is a set of driver-help features that can take some of the work off you on highways. They’re saying it can be hands-free and that it’s planned to improve over time.
Point-to-point means the car can help drive from where you start to where you want to go, not just assist on a highway. They also mention it can be enabled on current cars with an update.
Lidar is a sensor that uses lasers to “see” the road and objects around the car in 3D. They’re saying it’s part of the hardware plan for advanced driving features.
LIVE
Sam Abuelsamid (00:01)
This is episode four hundred and sixty two of wheel bearings. I am Sam Abuelsamid from Telemetry.
Roberto Baldwin (00:09)
And I am Roberto Baldwin from SAE International.
Sam Abuelsamid (00:12)
Almost like you forgot who you were for a second, Nern.
Nicole Wakelin (00:15)
I remembered who I was. I just wasn't sure. I just was just being me. I'm gonna just choose to be me. I am Nicole Wakeland. That's it. Just Nicole Wakeland of the Wheel Bearings Podcast.
all right. well did you drive anything this week, Nicole?
Nicole Wakelin (00:32)
Did not. I did not get a car because it was our New England Motor Press Association's ragtop ramble. And because I couldn't attend, they did not give me a car this week. That was my that was my yeah.
That was my you're not coming, you don't get a car this week. Okay, fine. It's cool. We do it is a cool thing because you drive from Massachusetts up to Maine and you have lobster and clam chowder and blueberry pie and this beautiful, I think it's called the Colony Hotel, and you just look out over the water.
Nicole Wakelin (01:04)
We do all the New England things, yes. There yeah, pie, blueberry pie 'cause you're in Maine, lobster 'cause you're in New England, clam chowder 'cause you're in New England. yeah.
Nicole Wakelin (01:16)
The I mean the idea is for it to be convertibles, but of course there's fewer and fewer of those, and not everyone has one. So if an OEM has a convertible, generally we'll have it.
even if it's just like for a couple of days for the ramble, if it's something that's not normally in our fleet, sometimes they'll give us something for that. Exactly. But then it's just other cars and they try to give us something fun, you know, we tend but we had we we we've had some like, you know, SUVs and very non summer outdoorsy in the air cars.
Nicole Wakelin (01:47)
They're always new. They're always new ones. It's the OEMs. It's not our cars. It's it's the OEM cars, whatever the
get a so you g you got a Miata, you got the the Hummer the Wrangler
Nicole Wakelin (01:58)
There was a BMW isn't there a BMW Trangler's
Nicole Wakelin (02:02)
Broadcoast? Probably. Mm-hmm. I didn't go. I don't know what was there this year. I have no idea. But I was at the PSL chose drive, which was lovely.
Roberto Baldwin (02:04)
Mercedes, the the BMW something.
Sam Abuelsamid (02:16)
But you can't talk about that one yet, right?
Nicole Wakelin (02:18)
I cannot talk about that one yet. That is embargoed until the twenty first, which is Monday.
Roberto Baldwin (02:24)
a KSL toast like six months ago? I must have drove it. Embargled.
Nicole Wakelin (02:28)
Tuesday, it's embargoed till embargled. It's embargled.
Sam Abuelsamid (02:35)
all right. Well, Robbie, what about you?
Roberto Baldwin (02:38)
I drove the Mustang Mach E GT. and there so the Mustang Mach E GT is a very fun car to drive. but it was also very like for every like really cool thing about the Mustang GT Mach E GT, there's something just weird or infuriating. and so driving it, really like to drive it.
Roberto Baldwin (03:05)
Don't like the fact that I gotta go into the screen to change the drive modes though. You gotta hit the but there's a p little picture of the car, so it's like one button to get to that screen. But you still gotta go into the screen and then go and then click something else, versus just a button somewhere that says drive modes and you you can just toggle through things. So I don't I d I didn't like that. No. it's it's it's quick, it's all looked
button that just says drive mode, it's right on the steering wheel. You can just use your thumb.
Roberto Baldwin (03:31)
It's right on the steering wheel. We have the same thing
on the yeah, it's just bloop, bloop, bloop, easy peasy. I don't I I don't it's it's for especially for a car that's supposed to be, you know, for a a like fun enthusiast car, like that that just that it just seems I don't know. It just bonkers that that's where they decided to put it. I do like the little tiny dash cluster that they have behind the behind the wheel.
But then like you look to the right and there's the bat giant flat screen, it's like you're ordering from McDonald's.
Roberto Baldwin (04:06)
And you're like, okay, there's a big giant screen. I do like the giant, you know, volume control. And if you tap the if you tap one of the you know the the climate controls, then you can use that to turn the the your heat up and down.
But it's like two taps to like do that. Or you just just keep tapping on the climate control to go, you know, hotter or colder. Which I'm just like, I guess sure you did this cool. It's just there's too many things in the screen.
It's it's what it comes down to. It's just there's too many things in the screen.
I don't like the idea that I had to explain to to people how to open a door. You should never have to explain to people how to open a door in a car.
should be the most basic of things. Everyone should know how to get out. You shouldn't have to be
Roberto Baldwin (04:47)
Yeah, get in or out. Like getting out is fine.
Getting in and they have the little button and that little teeny tiny little ledge that you that you that you Yeah, you you grab your little fing your finger your fingies. yeah, so so it's like it's I don't the seat's a little too high for me, but they you know, they want it to be an SUV. They don't want to to fight too much with the Mustang, the the the sedan, or the coupe, if you if it's the two door.
Nicole Wakelin (04:53)
Yeah. Little little little like just like for your pink. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Roberto Baldwin (05:15)
Overall, I I like the car. I don't like the way like okay A few months ago Ford said, Hey, you know the giant frunk that we're offering everybody? You know the one we filled full of shrimp that one time So we're gonna take that away because people aren't using it. So we're gonna take it away and if you want it you gotta pay a little extra. It's a it's an option now. So you get a frunk, but you don't get the giant one anymore. Well guess I got?
Sam Abuelsamid (05:45)
You have one without the frunk?
Nicole Wakelin (05:46)
tiny frog there's two different
Roberto Baldwin (05:47)
I got the tiny frunk that I can't even I
so for for model year twenty six, they they finally replaced the HVAC system in the Mach E with a heat pump system and a apparently it it takes up more room in the front. So they took that space away from the frunk. So the frunk is now like half the size it was, half the volume it was.
Roberto Baldwin (06:11)
god, no, it's not it's not half. It's like a ten percent of the volume it was in the one I had. I couldn't stick my backpack. My backpack that I shove under seats on airplanes constantly. I couldn't put it in there and close the the hood. It's that small. It's just like it's completely I was just I was so angry. I was like, 'cause we I had to go somewhere and I took my work computer with me because I you know, in case something happens, I need to do some work. and
Roberto Baldwin (06:39)
As we're you so every time I get out of the car, I take my backpack with me. I don't leave my backpack in the car 'cause that's dumb. That's how you get your back that's how you get your gear stolen.
Period. People s people look in, they see a backpack. crime of opportunity. So we get back to the car and I'm like, I'll just put it in the frunk and then I open it and I'm like, here's this tiny little frunk.
So I took my and I couldn't close the hood. I'm just like I kept trying, and I'm just like, What's I was What's going on? I'm like, it's I can't close the hood. She's like
Roberto Baldwin (07:07)
well this used to f you the well this thing used to be huge and now it's not. And so I stuck it in the the back of the car. So that that that's annoying. it's still it's still even though, you know, Ford is the first to like, you know, support Knacks as a as an automaker, this one still has C C S. It still has, you know, C C S charging, which fine, whatever, that's not a big deal. it only charges up to hundred and fifty kilowatts, which I feel like they
Could have up I don't know, they could have done something. Especially if they're like, we did the heat pump, we took away your fronk, but we're like nah It just feels like because Ford has sort of pulled back on EVs, they've sort of left this like really good car in a lot of instances kind of like Yeah, we're just gonna do a couple of little things.
is the fundamental problem that Ford had with that first batch of EVs they did with the Mach E, the Lightning, the E Transit, is they were all you know, pretty solid when they launched, but they they did literally nothing with them for the next four or five years. They they didn't do you know, the continuous improvement. I mean look at what Toyota did with the B Z four X and you know, and the Soltera.
Roberto Baldwin (08:06)
Yeah. I like the mo it's fun to drive. It's Yeah.
Sam Abuelsamid (08:23)
They were they were bad and they made them good.
Roberto Baldwin (08:26)
Really yeah, no, it's it is it is it is unfortunate because it feels like this car has been left to sort of like languish. And it is again a very fun car to drive. Like it is very solid. You can you know that this is this is this is a fun enthusiast car. And and then I'm just like there's just like all these little things. I'm just like just like give it some love. Come on. This is a good c this is a good EV that needs
Roberto Baldwin (08:53)
some love as it as it ages. And I don't think Ford is going to do that for a while. Which when it came out, you're like, cool, awesome. Hundred fifty kilowatt charging. Yeah, that's great. Now it's hard to justify, you know, that's that you know, that sort of charging speed when like everything else is up to it, you know, is coming in at two hundred. It's it it it's just like okay, all right, fine.
that's on cars with four hundred volt electrical systems like the Maquis. They're doing two hundred kilowatts.
two hundred. They're they're they're maxing it out. I mean if if the ID buzz, which we all were like, What? two hundred? Okay, fine. The ID buzz. And we're like, All right. Which by the way, I still love the ID buzz.
I I'm just waiting for something to like the market the f I don't know what has to happen for those to to either they need to do eight hundred volts or the real or the the prices for the used ones need to go down.
A couple of years, fingers crossed, get an ID buzz like thirty five. anyway
Sam Abuelsamid (09:52)
That would be your garage, you have the Ionic five, the slate and the I D buzz.
That's too many cars. I can't have that many car. I probably just gotta get to sleep. unless the the the Kia van with the Pv five comes here. Then I'm like, forget it. Game over. Pv five. Anyway, so it gets ten hours I'm sorry. Not ten hours as me. It's two hundred fifty five miles of range. I unfortunately this week was was bonkers. A lot of crazy shit happened. I'm saying the S word, I'm sorry. I don't know, maybe you can beep it. I don't know how that works.
of a lot of crazy stuff happened. It's got 255 miles range. I didn't have a chance to do the my mileage run, which I'm kinda bummed about. I got home last night at like 1 a.m. and I was like, my gosh, I did I didn't do the mileage run. no. Sam's gonna be so angry at me. So later Sam's gonna hit me. so if if yeah. it had you know AC charging, eleven kilowatts. That's great. That you know, they they I hit it out of the park when it first came out with that.
That's that's awesome. comfortable seats. The seats are comfortable for me. I I like I th I still think they're they're sitting too high, but again I feel like they they did that just to to give you more of that SUV feel. every time I get in the car I'm always constantly pushing down on the button. I'm like lower, lower, lower.
Sam Abuelsamid (11:11)
Yeah, my my my biggest my biggest
complaint about the mocky seats and they I think they have similar seat setup in the in the Maverick is they when you raise and lower the seat the it's not it doesn't it doesn't lift the whole thing up. It's actually like pivoted from the front. So if you raise it up you you end up kinda tilting the seat cushion forward. You know, so you you can't you can't adjust the front and back.
You know, it the the front never the front part never moves, just the back.
Roberto Baldwin (11:41)
Yeah, it's a it's it's not like
an elevator, it's more like a dump truck. And it's dumping you it's dump it's dumping you into the steering wheel. Yeah, no, I I again I I I I it's real it's a it's a really fun car to drive. And you get it and you feel it feels solid. It feels planted, it feel like you stomp on the the accelerator and you can feel it's like I got this.
Roberto Baldwin (12:08)
and I felt like when I the first drive I did with this vehicle, whenever I would stop and take off, you would, you know, because the way, you know, cars work, or physics, like the front end would lift a little and you get some s some squealing.
I haven't gotten that this week on this. I don't know if they they did something with it. it was one of the first things I told like, Hey, it it it lifts, you guys, you know, something with you know do something with the suspension.
So maybe they've done that or they've adjusted the the the torque vectoring in that instance. So the it it doesn't matter. End of the day, it's a fun car to drive, but it's just feels like Ford has sort of like left it to languish, which is really unfortunate because when you're paying at the base price, fifty fifty three thousand three hundred ninety five dollars, and then by the time, you know, with the mocky rally, that's a forty two, you know, forty three hundred dollar
equipment. And it looks cool. It's got those weird wheels. which I don't know the name of bec I can't remember the name because Ford's media site is trash. I can't even f I can't even find the tech specs for it. I go to you know I any other automaker I'm like, I need tech specs on you know a Kia E V nine or I need Tex Specs on
Like the you I half the time I go to look for t stuff on Ford site and I can't find it on the media site. Us who need to access that all the time. And I'm digging around on the consumer site saying they must tell the consumer how much horsepower this has. I'm like, why am I having to dig through and pretend to build a car to find this?
if if anyone if anyone from Ford Communications is listening to this, let me just repeat FromThe Road dot com sucks.
It's not it's not for it's not a media site. It's a it's a you're like you're writing, you know, you're writing your little blog posts. Cool. Have Ford from the road. You know, have that, send it out to, you know, people who buy the cars, enthusiasts, whatever. We still need a media site, like a place to like get information, or we're gonna be hassling you a lot.
like making like this is a really first world problem, but literally where you can get information on other automakers in about five minutes, you have everything you need, every detail, every color, every trim, every price, every package. And half an hour later, you're still trying to find specs in a Ford vehicle. It's incredibly frustrating.
Yeah, I need to know like what's the what's the the the you know the the will clearance on a your or the the clearance on a car, go to Subaru site, go to Mercedes site, go to Kia site, go to it's boom, find it within like a few minutes, easy peasy limit squeezy.
Here it's just like, hey, you wanna hear about how we drove across country in a machine? No. I don't care. That's not that that is not helpful to me at all. Your stories about doing things, cool, but it's not helping it doesn't help me because I have a job to do
And that job is to give people correct information about vehicles so they can make choices that are extremely expensive. Like I think we one of the things we we we do is we give people a yes or no, you know, we we either we allow them to
Roberto Baldwin (15:18)
Yes. Shoju s th which is a lot of money and for some people that'll be the largest purchase they ever make in their lifetime. And if I can't give them like all the information
Because I have to sit there and search and then I have to email somebody and then I have to do this. And they're like, hey, what's this? it's it's very it's it's very frustrating because I just want to give people information. By the way, the frunk is a five hundred dollar option.
So you're paying five hundred bucks now for a tiny little frunk now.
a tiny tiny little frunk. Anyway, so yeah, so it I feel like, you know, that's that's a very nickel and dimey thing for Ford to do, to be honest. To take something that was big, add something, but don't adjust the packaging, make it very small, but also charge you money, five hundred dollars. Which is a car payment. One extra car payment for a tiny frunk that you can put a laptop in. Like I like you know, the Bionic 5 has about the same size frunk.
It's good for putting a cable in. That's about it. But I'm not getting charged from it. It did it wasn't huge like, you know, three years ago. It's it's like, okay, we don't have a we don't really have a frunk. As far as we're, you know, when the onic.
and Kia don't do? They don't charge you five hundred bucks for this, you know, little mail slot that you can stick your charging cable in.
So anyway, it had a wireless charging pad, which I know people love. it's got rubberized, it's got little edges, so that's nice. phone has a key, regenerative braking, blah blah blah. yeah, that's the Mustang Maki. It's a fun card to drive. There's a lot of things that that i I wish had been updated, especially considering where everyone else's EVs have have evolved to. That's my Ford Machie. you guys wanna
Guess the destination fee on this overall sixty wait, it's even more than that. Sixty two thousand six hundred fifteen dollar car that I drove. Or I
Roberto Baldwin (17:22)
Sam was closer. $2,045. I yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (17:31)
Where is it made? Guala, Mexico. If I mean it better come with tacos. That's all I'm saying. If you're gonna if you're gonna charge me that much. I I just want tacos. I mean I just want tacos anyway, but I would be nice if like your car came with
Nicole Wakelin (17:49)
All things being equal tacos, but
Roberto Baldwin (17:56)
Yeah. Just like a little here's your y it's a Visa card but it says Tacos only on it.
get like you go to a sandwich spot, they're like, nah man, this is for tacos. It says right here, tacos. Get out of here. Maybe you can get a torta. Maybe. But you're supposed to get tacos. Anyway, yeah. Mustangucky. Fun car that s just needs a little just some love. Just some hug or something. Just come out for it.
Nicole Wakelin (18:07)
It's a taco car, we're sandwiches. Unless you want a ta sandwich, get out.
Sam Abuelsamid (18:27)
Well, you know, maybe you know, they're just gonna keep the current Mach E going for another few years and then make a a successor model based on the universal EV platform.
Roberto Baldwin (18:40)
I would ho I th yeah, I feel like they're they're they're such they're just holding for everything 'cause they've pulled back and they're like, Well, what do we do? And they're like, let's just
TVs, not just Ford, is just so strange because everyone like rushed to go and it's sort of as if not everyone really had a strategy. It was just, what's your strategy? Build one. Like it's like we must have one. Build one. Put it out there. And then they put a few out there and went, wait a minute. This strategy is not a strategy. We have to think about this.
Roberto Baldwin (19:07)
out we had some bad ideas. And there are e you know, that you know, I think I I I I I feel like I'm a I'm a I'm a Hyundai Kia fanboy, but they had a real strategy. And
Nicole Wakelin (19:17)
They did. They were an exception.
They actually had a strategy. They actually had a plan. And it's okay, that's how you should do it. So the people who kind of didn't are now struggling to find a plan. They're paying the price by having vehicles that they have to decide whether or not they want to even keep them in production. They have to decide if they change They have to decide if they just in this case, like let them languish, you know.
Roberto Baldwin (19:42)
Which is again, just I mean it's it's I feel yeah, I feel like Ford Ford saw the Cybertruck and were like, Yeah, crazy with the F one fifty. They expected way more people to buy it. Big truck people are not really E V people for the most part. I think they didn't do a very good job selling these to Fleets because I see a lot of Silverados and Vivians in Fleets, but not a lot of f F one fifty lightnings, which is weird because it is
companies here. A couple of like paving companies have like fleets of Rivians because you'll see them paving and land companies, fleets of Rivians, because you'll see them at someone's house and it's two or three rivians. I've like these small local companies, not giant companies, and and it's not an F-150. It's never an I there's one person in our neighborhood who owns a lightning and uh-huh.
Sam Abuelsamid (20:34)
Yeah, I mean I I actually see a fair number of them around here. Of course, you know, we also have, you know, a lot of people who work for Ford, you know, that probably got them, you know, on employee discount and everything.
so that, you know, that certainly helps. But you know, you see you see a fair number of them around, but yeah, you're you're right, they're rarely they're rarely in commercial use. It's you it's almost always consumers that are driving them.
Sam Abuelsamid (21:02)
GM did sell a lot more of those to a lot more of the Silverado EV work trucks, to fleets.
Roberto Baldwin (21:10)
Yeah. And and the f the F one fifty lightning is the same body as the regular F one fifty, so all the stuff that you put on your F one fifty you could put on the Lightning. Anyway, I that I I I'm gonna digress and let Sam talk about his vehicle this week.
Sam Abuelsamid (21:24)
okay. Well, I I had the twenty twenty twenty twenty twenty six Ford F one fifty let's see, four by four super crew Lariat power boost with ten speed automatic transmission. so lots lots of name. and
Sam Abuelsamid (21:49)
Almost everyone that has seen this thing immediately comments, you know, and you know, that's a really nice shade of black. when in fact it is not black. It's antimatter blue, which is an almost black shade of blue.
Nicole Wakelin (22:03)
But what color's almost black. It's not quite black. It's
was like midnight blue, so it just looked black unless you saw like a shimmer in the sun then you'd see blue flecks.
Sam Abuelsamid (22:15)
Yeah, my my wife saw it and said, Yeah, yeah, well it's too bad it's black. Wish it was another color. It's like, well no, actually look look, stand over here and see the sun hitting those angles. And and you'll see it's it is in fact blue. it so anyway, you know, the power boost, that's that's Ford's truck hybrid system. this is not
Nicole Wakelin (22:22)
Not black. Tilt your head sideways.
Roberto Baldwin (22:30)
I don't believe you. You're a liar. Get out of my house, witch.
Sam Abuelsamid (22:45)
quite the mo it it has apart from the Raptor R, it has the most torque of any F one fifty. almost the most powerful. so they have the three point five liter high output eco boost four hundred and fifty horsepower only five hundred and ten foot pounds of torque. The the power boost four hundred and thirty horsepower, five hundred and seventy foot pounds of torque. it will tow
in four by four mode up to eleven thousand six hundred pounds. it's you know, it's a crew cab, which is the way the vast, vast majority of F one fifties are sold now. you know, when when we were at the unveiling of the Ram fifteen hundred Ramble rumble bees back in May. Yeah it was May. you know Tim Coniskus talked about, you know
he was asked, you know, why they didn't do a regular cab version of the Rumble Bee like they like they've done in the past, with their their sport trucks. And he said Nobody buys nobody buys the single cabs, the regular cabs. Because and he he yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (23:57)
Well, especially on an enthusiast vehicle like that. Like I see a lot of
F one fifty work vehicles that are single cabs and and and Toyota tundras that are single cabs, but those are all like almost ninety percent of them are just like you know, they're landscapers, they're fleet trucks or whatever.
Sam Abuelsamid (24:12)
And even those increasingly are extended cabs or crew cabs. yeah, these days, like Ram does not even even offer a regular cab version of the fifteen hundred anymore. they haven't they haven't since they dropped the Ram Classic a couple of years ago. So you know, they're like extended cab and and crew cab only. Ford does offer a single cab version, but I don't think you can get the hybrid in the regular cab. so
Lots of power in this thing. yeah. Unlike the the Tundra, which is, you know, similar sized vehicle, similar output. I think the Tundra has slightly more power, and a little bit less torque, but it also weighs like nine hundred pounds more than an F one fifty. you know, 'cause steel body as opposed to aluminum. Yep. so the the
Sam Abuelsamid (25:13)
you know, the this actually gets, you know, not not exceptional, but decent fuel economy. it's rated at twenty-three city and twenty f or twenty-two city, twenty-four highway, twenty-three combined. and I've been averaging about twenty two this week, with a lot of highway driving. and, you know, air conditioning turned on because it was hot, or very smoky, and so kept the kept the AC on.
and recirculating the air to keep the keep the hot smoky air on the outside of the truck. it you know, as as trucks go, you know, it's a good truck. It's like five and a half foot bed, which is, you know, fairly standard. I think the Ram crew cab, Ram fifteen hundred crew cabs like five foot seven. the the silver autos are like five foot eight. So it's you know shorter but it's it's fine.
This one had the same type of hard trifold tonneau cover on it that was on the Maverick that I was driving last week, which is quite expensive. It's like fourteen hundred dollars. this I know.
Roberto Baldwin (26:23)
Hano covers are so pricey.
Roberto Baldwin (26:27)
Plastic that folds and locks. no they're more. They're more you know, they're more complicated than that. But not much. But not much.
this one this one also had the the FX4 package. So it's a four by four, had the FX4 package, which gets you some little more all terrainy tires, and some skid plates on the bottom. it had the bed utility package with a whole bunch of tie down stuff, which is like eighteen hundred and forty five dollars. it had the
the pro access tailgate, which is that new tailgate they launched a couple of years ago, where the middle half, so it's split, you know, a quarter, half, a quarter. And so you can open it like a regular tailgate.
And by the way, it's a power tailgate. So you press the button and it slowly lowers down. And when you want to close the tailgate, just kind of give it a little tap from underneath and it lifts itself up and closes it.
And then this pro tailgate, the middle section of the tailgate is hinged sideways.
So if you have a trailer hooked up, you can kinda open that up at an angle and still get some access to your bed without having to unhook the tra unhook the the trailer to op to drop fully drop down the tailgate. It's it's kind of a neat idea, but it's you know, it's also fairly expensive. It's what where is it here? seven hundred and forty five bucks for that.
cheaper than when you accidentally you don't think about it and you open the tailgate and then the your tailgate hits whatever you're ha hauling and then you've now you a big old giant dent in your tailgate? Is it cheaper than a new tailgate?
Sam Abuelsamid (28:08)
If if you're well, if if you're willing to just drive around with a dent in your tailgate, which, you know, if you look at a lot of trucks, that's exactly the way they're driving around. It it's it's not it's not
Roberto Baldwin (28:16)
Yeah, you seen it. You seen the you the tailgate dip. You're like, And I can't get mad at that person because I almost
I almost did that when I was in when when I worked for the so I learned how to like drive trailers and back in it and hook up and all this when I worked for the schools. I was worked for the for the Ag Barn for the and so I worked on a farm. I worked on a school farm with an and it was mostly just animals. It was more of a ranch, I guess. but like every once in a while it goes open and I'm like, wait to get like hay out or, you know
farm stuff out of the back and then I realize like I'm gonna break the tailgate and my boss is gonna yell at me. The only thing that stopped me from ruining the tailgate was getting yelled at by my boss.
Yeah. So, you know, if you can if you can live with a little dent in your tailgate, not the end of the world. Save you seven hundred and forty five bucks. this one also had Blue Cruise on it. so I was doing my usual testing 'cause it the F one fifty doesn't yet have the latest version, the latest version one point five of Blue Cruise that's on the Mach E. it's the some of the newer F one fifties like this one have version one point four.
Some of the older ones still haven't gotten updated to one point four. Ford just announced I think this past week that they're actually gonna start shipping out an OTA update for some older F one fifties to bring them up to one point four.
So one point four definitely works a lot better than the the last version of Blue Cruise that I tried on an F one fifty. You know, the the curves were traditionally Blue Cruise has given up and said, put your hands back on the wheel, it works fine on those now.
It'll do lane changing when you tap the turn signal stock, but it it won't do a lane change on its own, which is something that's in one point five. Again, that's fine.
the Maki did all that stuff. I'm I've at this point in I think like hands free to me is just like it's good when I have to eat like food while I'm driving. But I'm you know, but it's Yeah.
Sam Abuelsamid (30:12)
Yeah. If you gotta eat some tacos while you're on a road trip.
Nicole Wakelin (30:16)
I am forced to eat food while I'm driving. I like the
it's the f it's like I wanna eat something and I want a little extra help while I'm doing it. That's that's all it is. The rest of the time like I just have my hands on the wheel and it tried to get out it it actually tried to get out of the way of someone who was coming up behind me.
I was in the left lane and I was just like, Whoa, what's happening? It 'cause I I wasn't used to that. I was used to like only trying to overtake and so I stopped it, but then I moved over anyway because I'm a good person.
Sam Abuelsamid (30:41)
Yeah. Well that's good. That's good to hear.
Roberto Baldwin (30:44)
I'm okay person. I don't know if I'm a good
Sam Abuelsamid (30:50)
so payload on this thing, seventeen hundred and forty pounds. For reference, that little maverick I had last week, fifteen hundred pound payload. So you only get two hundred and forty pounds more for going from a maverick to an F one fifty.
Sam Abuelsamid (31:10)
think so. Fifteen or fourteen. Yeah.
Yeah, it's fifteen fifty. No, wait, fifteen hundred. Around fifteen fifty and two thousand pounds yeah. Yeah. So fifteen hundred pounds for the slate, I'm all
Total total price on the Monroni on this thing, which is not the price you would pay now if you went to the dealer and ordered one of these, but the price on the Monroni is eighty two thousand two hundred and ten dollars.
The the the base price of this truck was for you know the Lariat hybrid sixty three thousand three hundred and sixty bucks. or no, sorry, that would be just a base Larry with the the two point the two point seven liter. with the the hybrid eighty two thousand two hundred and ten dollars. So nineteen thousand dollars in in options and destination fees. Wanna take a guess at the destination fee listed on the Monroni?
Twenty four thousand. No, twenty four hundred, sorry, not twenty four thousand.
Nicole Wakelin (32:22)
I feel like I can bet anything and I'll win. 24,000. I'm gonna go twenty-three. I'm gonna go twenty-three thousand.
actually twenty five ninety five on this one. But it but if you order one today, you will pay twenty seven ninety five. Yeah.
not an inexpensive truck. But, you know, it gets gets a reasonable fuel economy for for a big full size truck. Yeah, so Yeah. It
Roberto Baldwin (32:51)
And it's got that power thing in the back, which I think is great. I think it's genius to
have that, you know, that that the ability to like run all your tools without having to drag a gener. You know, you usually typically have like a Honda generator you're you're hauling around. You don't need that.
seven seven point two kilowatt pro power on board. It's got the two forty volt outlet on there. so you can, you know, power your power your MIG welder off of that and and the sorted other stuff. so you know, that and that's one of the advantages and that's that's an advantage that they're still gonna have over the new Silverado and Sierra that's launching this fall. you know, those are not gonna have any kind of power export feature, which, you know, I thought was
Kinda kinda nuts when they you know, I asked about that and said, Mm, nope, no, we're not doing that. 'Cause they they actually offer on the the electric trucks, they have I think it's ten point two kilowatt ten point two kilowatt output. you know, which is even more than the the lightning did. but not on the gas trucks. So so
Roberto Baldwin (33:56)
I hooked up a saw to the F one fifty E Transit. And for the F one fifty Lightning, we did a review of it a couple of years ago for when I was in Gadget. We did a we took a T V and Nintendo Switch and in the middle of a field we played Mario Kart. There's a video of it somewhere. Look on Ingadget's YouTube channel.
Yeah. One one other detail about this truck, the the ten speed with the the hybrid system in there. at low speeds sometimes when you're maneuvering, it does feel a little clunky. when it's when it's engaging, when it's going between electric and hybrid mode. You can you can feel the clutch, you know, engaging and so not always the smoothest transition between hybrid and and electric mode.
but you know, it's not it's not terrible but you know, compared to a lot of other hybrids like especially the the Maverick. You know, the Maverick is completely seamless. this one, not so much.
Roberto Baldwin (34:58)
Lot of s lot of weight. It's got so much weight it has to drag, so yeah. Yeah, the heavier cars with the with the hybrids, like a fun thing I like to do is just tap on the like come to stop and just sort of tap on the accelerator and you can feel them like they'll like gurgle a little bit 'cause they don't know what's happening.
Like what's what what is this idiot doing? What is this man? Please, sir, please. No one drives like this. I'm like, I'm just doing a test, man. It's like w when we had the Rivian R two when it has the auto leveling, so if you're camping
Roberto Baldwin (35:28)
it or when we sorry we auto leveled it so many times that we we wore out we overheated the whole system. And so you can only drive like twenty miles an hour when it's in that when when it's in auto level until it like but we had had to go up and down like twelve times for video. And then I went and then I was doing drive bys for video and the car was like, No man, you gotta let this thing cool down.
Roberto Baldwin (35:54)
And we didn't really there was no point in putting it in the 'cause that's not that that is an in a a weird extreme edge case, so it's not really something no one's going to obule auto level their Rivian fifteen times, ten times in a row, and then go drive drive on a windy road.
we do stuff to cars that like the c it'll it'll confuse the car or do something to it. But we can't it's it's such an insane edge case we're 'cause we're doing testing again and again and again and again and again that it
that with like tech stuff they're like well you wouldn't do it this many times you've now confused the system because you have done this 18 times the normal human would do this once every like you know every couple of months you have over it's like what do you want from me you know yeah
Yeah. It's it's it's yeah. Sometimes we do some stuff that like we don't really write about or talk about to be honest, because it doesn't it's not fair to the car because the car was just like it the car's keeping you safe and it's also like, What are you doing?
And you know, it's not it's not relevant that any any normal human being would never be doing this kind of stuff.
Roberto Baldwin (36:56)
Yeah, they would yeah. It's always like weird, weird things that we're we're we're doing testing and especially for video because you wanna do it again and again. And cause we wanted like all the we wanted a wide shot, we wanted a medium shot, we wanted shots at the wheels, we want to shot the front wheels, we want to shot the back wheels, we want a shot with this, we want a shot with that, and then by the time we get all these different shots going up and down and up and down and up and down, I'm like, I'm gonna drive off.
And the car is like, Nah, dude. You gotta drive slow now.
Sam Abuelsamid (37:24)
Gotta wait for the pump to cool down.
Nicole Wakelin (37:26)
You have caused me problems. Sorry.
Roberto Baldwin (37:26)
Yeah, exactly. Well what are
Sam Abuelsamid (37:29)
yeah, one a good thing about this truck though, lots and lots of rear seat room. Huge rear seat. so you know, it's like it's like riding in a limo. So and it also has a cookie table.
Nicole Wakelin (37:45)
Which is the most important aspect of any vehicle for these people? Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Sam Abuelsamid (37:48)
Well that's why I ended with that. Yeah, that's the conclusion. Yeah.
the old school like hammer like like like shifter. it doesn't need to have that. They just the people like it. And it folds down so you can get the cookie table. So
press press a button, folds itself down into the console, then you fold out the cookie table.
Roberto Baldwin (38:10)
If you stop the car and it's not in park, if you turn it off, it'll automatically move to the park position. On its own. I mean you shouldn't do that. Yeah. I I did it once accident.
They I know people who like will turn their car they'll leave it in park and then they'll just turn the car off. Or not I'm sorry, in drive and they'll just turn especially with EVs or like, it doesn't matter.
And they'll turn the car off. So I accidentally I'm like, ha and then one day I actually did it and I watched it go click click click click click. But in the olden days you like if you had an automatic and you were in drive
Sam Abuelsamid (38:17)
I hadn't noticed that. I'll have to try I'll have to go try that.
Nicole Wakelin (38:20)
He's like things you shouldn't do, but
Roberto Baldwin (38:39)
If you tried to the car wouldn't turn off. You're like, What's going on? and you had a
Nicole Wakelin (38:42)
Yeah, you're like what did I
you're like, I've been sitting here so long, I forgot. Yeah.
Sam Abuelsamid (38:48)
Yeah, some sometimes in E Vs like like like like in our our E V six, yeah. Because it's so quiet. I yeah, and you know, some EVs you drive, they don't have a stop start button. You just get in and press your foot on the brake and put it in here. and then and then you get out. you know, the E V six you do actually have to shut it down. Sometimes, you know, I have I have pulled into the garage with the car, hit the park button and it got out, it's like
Sam Abuelsamid (39:17)
Why is everything still on? It's like, shit, forgot to hit the off button.
Sam Abuelsamid (39:25)
all right. So that's the F one fifty Power Boosts, hybrid, Lariat, four by four, FX four. too much stuff, too many names. let's move on. well let's let's stick with Ford for a minute. so Ford has has a new patent that called Start for something called they're calling Start Inhibit. they have not yet implemented this on
any of their vehicles. But what it does is it allows you to use your Ford Pass app as an inhibitor to prevent the car from starting. Even if somebody gets into the car with the key, you they can't start it, because you've disabled it through the through the app. which, you know, might be good, you know, if you have teenage drivers.
that you don't want them going off for a ride in your car. You know, they might grab the key out of the drawer or off the wall or wherever you store your keys, you know, or out of your pocket or your purse. and you know, if you turn on the start inhibit, they're not going anywhere. downside of this, potentially, is if nefarious folks were to get into Ford's back end systems, they could potentially disable
Roberto Baldwin (40:53)
It's like a so my my issue with this with this is that it's probably you're you this if you are in an abusive relationship and you decide to leave that abusive relationship and you leave in this vehicle, the person who is the abuser can stop if you stop for food or for for gas or whatever, that person can turn off your car remotely. So you have to go in and you can go in and you you
Nicole Wakelin (40:55)
No big deal. Our all the cars don't work.
Sam Abuelsamid (41:19)
If if yeah, if they're still on your account.
Roberto Baldwin (41:23)
Yeah. Which they they likely they are. Bruce relationships really typically the person who sort of takes over everything is very you know, invasive into your life. there is a way to turn off the network connection, but the person who is in this relationship typically they're it's a high stress situation, you're like this I I'm leaving. Meanwhile, a criminal is going to do a lot of research and they're going to like say,
I can get into this car, I can go in and go here, here, here, four buttons, turn off network connection, boom, no one can stop me. I'm king of the Fords. so I I I it's yeah. I think for like fleets, okay, you're gonna fire a guy like while he's on his lunch break, dude. You're fired. I'm taking off in the car. No you're not But I see this like I I I I think there's there's
Roberto Baldwin (42:21)
I don't I yeah, I don't I I mean I see why why people think this, you know, people will be like, this is a great idea. I see the the the the the the the very real downside of someone trying to to to yeah, a very controlling situation. So that's my that's my two cents about this. I think it's and also if you're when we bought we bought a what did we buy? I don't know. We bought a car. And the per they
it was we got our Kona EV. And they're like, we have a tracker in the car. I'm like, I'm not paying for that. I was like, no, no, it'll track the car. And I'm like, what do I care? It's a it's a it's not a classic car.
If it gets stolen, you know whose problem that is? That's the insurance problem. That's insurance's problem. That's not my problem. I don't care. They're like, but I'm like, no, I'm not paying. So we they kept trying to talk it.
They got down to from like $1,700 to like $150, and I was like, no. But at the end of the day, it's a Kona electric.
Roberto Baldwin (43:16)
It's a new car. It's not you know, it's it's it's not a classic car. It's not worth millions that I need to put a tracker on it. And that also the Hyundai app also tracks the car.
We'll tell you where the car's at if you really want to know. But yeah, for you know, it's a new truck. You know, if you have your tools in there, I c I understand. But you also have insurance. yeah. It's it's I mean cool.
Yeah, you you can you can track your your it's it's to me it's almost like
security theater in in some in some way. Like, hey, you can stop the car and I'm like o Okay. But also with the Ford app you could probably find the car like I can with the Hyundai app. I don't own a Ford, so I don't know. So you could just be like, hey police go there. And then you
I mean GM launched this in OnStar in two thousand eight. You know, the stolen vehicle recovery where if your car is stolen, you can, you know, call the cops and say, Hey, my car's stolen and then call OnStar and they can basically shut down the car remotely. They've had this for almost twenty years.
Yeah. So it's it's it's I you know, I always think of the al the the the the unintended consequences of stuff like this. And the unintended consequences typically are are you know, people and and it's more likely that it's that's you know, there's there's you know, abusive relationships where people are trying to leave versus like someone stole your F one fifty.
Sam Abuelsamid (44:42)
speaking of buying new cars. Yeah. Speaking of buying new cars, I almost forgot to ask Nicole what the status of her car shopping journey was.
Roberto Baldwin (44:43)
Downer Robbie just bringing everyone down again.
I have chosen a vehicle. I am buying, I have bought, purchased, it's being made, a BMW M340i X Drive. So I have this 40 little BMW stay, and I've actually always wanted a BMW. I don't know why I just didn't start there to begin with. but I finally
Nicole Wakelin (45:19)
Yeah, it was Do you know what? I actually just I had to call them Jeep or their customer service line because I they will not stent stop sending me notifications. It's deleted. I deleted my account. I deleted the app. I deleted everything.
Roberto Baldwin (45:19)
No you Yeah, yeah, what have an electric jeep?
Nicole Wakelin (45:35)
But somehow I'm getting notifications every time someone charges it. And I'm like, this has got to stop. So I called and like, somewhere you still have it linked to me. Guys, like, let look.
yeah. Wait, hold on. First I have to activate your account again. Then I can go in and remove this one spot where your email is. So then I have like five emails. Your account's been activated. Your account has had an email removed.
Your account has been deactivated. Your account. I'm like, my God. So I think I'm finally done with the Jeep. But I did buy the what?
you would get an email every time wh wherever this vehicle is now out in the space. Did it tell you where the car was when it would charge or just say car charging?
I think I could have clicked on it, but because my account is technically deleted, it doesn't take you anywhere. I know there's some logic right there. But so it would be and it would be like multiple charging started, charging stop, charging started, charging stop, charging started, charging stop.
I get probably half a dozen notifications of it stopping and starting at a time and then I wouldn't hear anything for a couple of weeks. And then half a dozen notifications and then I wouldn't hear anything.
Roberto Baldwin (46:19)
okay. But the the d the delete man.
Nicole Wakelin (46:40)
But I think I finally got rid of that and I finally have my BMW is all ordered and ready to go and does not have a plug. It just has you put the thing in the tank and you fill it up with gas and that's it. And I'm very happy about it. I had a fabulous test drive when I went down to the other dealership and the guys were really nice and I can't wait for my but it's gonna be a little bit 'cause they're actually like
taking one in production and giving me exactly the color and exactly the things that I want. So I don't think I'll have it till probably September. I'm guessing September. I'm slated for the thirty fifth week of production, which I think is like the end of August or something. So I'm or middle of August.
did you wait, where is it built? Where's the is it built in Germany?
about doing the pickup in Munich and drive around and then
Nicole Wakelin (47:33)
I mean I could, but then I have to get it over to the US. Don't you have to get it I
Roberto Baldwin (47:37)
No, they they they take care of all the whole thing is taken care of. There's a whole like system they have set up.
Nicole Wakelin (47:44)
Yeah, nah. I just wanted to come to the US. No, I love Germany, but I just wanted to come. I just I just wanted to come to my house. I want it to be here. I want a big red bow. I don't even know if BMW does red bows and no one's giving it to me as a gift. I'm buying it for me. It's my own gift. But which I'm happy about. But yeah, so I and it's blue.
Roberto Baldwin (47:46)
Like I've been to Germany. It's Germany's less exciting for us. That's sad. No, we like Germany. We're like, nah, that's fine. I don't need to go to Germany.
Nicole Wakelin (48:13)
It's portama portemau, I think is how they say it. Portemau blue and it has it's portemau blue and it has a Tacora red is the interior, which is kind of like a dark red. And it has red bright calipers because duh. So yeah, so I'm very excited about my new BMW that I've always wanted. Yay!
Sam Abuelsamid (48:14)
Yeah, Portomal Blue. That's a great color.
Nicole Wakelin (48:38)
Yeah, so I'm thinking sometime in September it will get
Sam Abuelsamid (48:41)
Yeah, 'cause it's gonna take a few weeks to
Nicole Wakelin (48:45)
Exactly. I'll have it in time for fall to take it in a nice little drive through New England with the roof, little sunroof open, moon roof, whatever, and the cool fall weather and the leaves blowing around and me going zoom zoom zoom.
what is the difference between sunroof and moonroof? I've been an automotive journalist for a very long time. I've been a car enthusiast for a very long time. I've never actually thought about until just now. Like what is the difference?
strangely enough, typically a sunroof refers to a panel in your roof that can extr move back and open up, but it's a solid panel. And a moon roof is a glass panel. So you can see through it.
Nicole Wakelin (49:26)
A sunroof traditional I'm Googling. A sunroof traditionally refers to an opaque metal or fabric panel that can be popped up, slid open, or removed. A moonroof is a special type of sunroof. This is like every bourbon is a whiskey, but every whiskey's not a bourbon, is or or however it goes. because a moonroof is technically a type of sunroof. But it cannot be but slid back or tilted open and it's made of glass.
Roberto Baldwin (49:50)
spells moon. all right. Look at all the things we've learned today. at and and and and then at in the chat Adam Jacowenko said I have a mock E and yes the Ford app shows you real time where the vehicle is. I mostly use it to remember where I parked. Yeah, that's that's the that that is that is a real problem for us when we have cars. We're like, wait, what did I drive today?
Nicole Wakelin (49:51)
So that's not good enough. It's a moon roof. Look at
I my problem is always at the airport because not only do I not remember what car I parked at the airport, I have fifty two different places that I have parked. So now I have to take a picture of the car. and then I take a picture of the nearest post. I'm like, You're looking for this car at this post.
a little picture of the number, the the car and then the the the parking space number, 'cause the parking space number is based on it's based on the what what floor it is or the place I park. What?
We don't get parking space numbers. You just get a post that says like six AA or seven AA.
It's like it's like and there's seven AA through KK, which is one elevator, and then seven like L L to this is a different elevator. And then if you're on the highest floors, you gotta go to a further elevator and then you still have to go up and there's the AA and KK and Logan Airport is the most complicated parking.
song to myself about the floor as I'm walking to the elevator and then I'll remember later.
a little song to myself, I remember a lot of things. So if you ever see me just walking along humming to myself
Nicole Wakelin (51:15)
Any song or are you singing
a song about the parking garage or just any random song?
Roberto Baldwin (51:20)
It's just a little like I'm on level five. Level five. And then I just get no thing.
So if you ever see me walking to an elevator in a parking garage
and my little head's bopping back and forth well, my giant head is bopping back and forth, you know that I'm remembering where I parked.
Sam Abuelsamid (51:39)
This this is one one of the nice things about living here in in the Detroit area, a lot of the times when I'm traveling, I get that coordinated with when I'm swapping cars. And so usually I just leave the car at Quick Park, which is one of the park off off airport parking facilities here at Detroit Metro Airport where where the fleets keep all their you know, have their cars for people that are coming in or going. And so I leave the car at Quick Park, they have
Sam Abuelsamid (52:09)
Or they have an area up at the front for the press cars. and then when I come back, I just walk into the office, grab a set of keys out of the out of the drawer. they used to ask us for ID and you know, they would hand us the keys. Now they just have in the office there. You just walk in and grab grab the envelope with your keys. and wal you know, walk out and the car's right there and you know, don't have to remember anything.
Roberto Baldwin (52:37)
They they they moved like companies here in the Bay Area, like where it and I haven't done a swap at an airport in like a couple of years at this point. And the new company, I did it like I was like the first person to swap.
And I got yeah, it's like way, way, way off the airport. And now and the person was like, Wait, what? Like they was so new when I did it last time and it was like eleven PM, midnight, one o'clock in the morning.
We just come back from I think Japan, when I was getting the car, and it was just like
Roberto Baldwin (53:07)
forget it. So now I just drive my own car. I take Bart. I'm like I have a car swap while I'm gone in LA this week. And I'm just like, you know what? But they're bringing me two cars next week and I'm just like, I'm not even gonna like 'cause I was like, maybe I should do a car swap and now I'm like, No. That's because they have to come to my house anyway for at least one of the cars, so they might as well drop
Nice. all right, let's let's carry on. so do you do you guys remember the VW thing?
one the other day I saw one in California and he was driving along in we were near Marina Del Rey. He was driving along in a little VW thing and it was fabulous. These two kind of youngest guys and the car went like three miles an hour. Barely drove. It was hilarious, but it was really cool.
Sam Abuelsamid (54:03)
That's there's somebody in my neighborhood that's got one. an orange one. so on the Autopian, somebody who writes there called the Bishop has an article. how it's titled, How I'd Redeem Volkswagen with a revived range extended thing. And
the Macalope from like Mac Life? Where like I'm gonna say mean things but I'm not gonna put my name on it.
Nicole Wakelin (54:32)
A name on because I I can't stand by the courage of my convictions. Okay. Yeah.
bishop, Sam? Alright, 'cause now I feel like bad if we're calling out Sam.
Sam Abuelsamid (54:37)
Well, I mean it it may no, I am not the bishop. but
Sam Abuelsamid (54:44)
actually actually speaking of that, there used to be back in the day there used to be somebody who posted on Facebook and and some automotive media groups, that went by the name Otto Blopnik. and you know it was O T T O Blopnik, you know, and it was
The the stories were written very much in the vibe of Jalopnik. and you know, kind of yeah kind of snarky and but it w the they were all parodies. and you know, so yeah, he would sp who th they, whoever whoever this person was, we never did find out who Otto Blopnik was, whether it was male or female or otherwise. but they w they would po they would write these stories and actually
referring to real people you know, in automotive media or PR, you know, but have a a a modified version of their name. and you know, the stor the the posts were hysterical. Yeah. And the thing is some of them actually referenced real behind the scenes stuff that was going on you know, without specifically naming and one time while I was working at Ford
I was actually asked if I was Otto Blopnik because there was stuff in there that that I knew about that it was was published and it was it I swear it was not me. I could not write funny stuff like that. That I can't write in that style. and that's what I told them. I wish I was, but no, it's not me. I have no idea who it was. Never did find out who it is. I I have had some ideas about who it might be. But clearly people in the industry
Nicole Wakelin (56:13)
they seem like it could be fam related.
Sam Abuelsamid (56:35)
We're feeding information to whoever this person was. Yeah. So if you know Otto, or you know, or who Otto was, you know, send us an email at feedback at wheelbearings.media. And you know, we we won't we won't out them publicly, but I'd love to know. anyway.
Nicole Wakelin (56:38)
Whoever it was Otto Blacknica. Mm-hmm.
to figure I I'm not going to do this. I'm like, hold on, I'll do it. Give me a second And then I'm like no, that I don't need to dox people. That when
Sam Abuelsamid (57:10)
So anyway, enough of that diversion into Facebook history. Otto you know has some pretty cool renderings here of a revived VW thing. So for those that don't know what the thing was, it was i it was based on a Beetle, Beetle chassis. Had kind of a corrugated metal body to it. and you know, was designed, you know, it it came out, you know, after
people started making dune buggies based on beatles. And it was slow. it was kind of goofy looking. But you know, it was it was fun and and people have a a hankering for it. and so the bishop, you know, gives a an idea of, you know, reviving the thing but doing it as an E Rev. and, you know, maybe it could be done using parts from Scout.
Nicole Wakelin (58:07)
That could work. Is it gonna have more than the
forty six horsepower of the original and something a little more robust than a four speed manual?
Sam Abuelsamid (58:15)
yeah, I I think it would be a a
little more a little more powerful than the original thing.
Roberto Baldwin (58:24)
I don't think any is fair, yeah. If they couldn't get the if let's to be honest, they couldn't get the the samba right. They just this would like, Hey we're gonna do this and then they get a lot of people excited, then they make them wait eight years and then they'd bring it out with with technology it's five years old.
Sam Abuelsamid (58:42)
No, I mean it it probably won't happen, but let us know if you think you'd like to see it happen
Nicole Wakelin (58:48)
I think it'd be cool. I mean I I I doubt but I think it would be lovely.
Sam Abuelsamid (58:56)
Yeah. so last week we talked about the Fiat Tapolino officially coming to the US market. and this week there was a story about a Barth possibly creating a their own version of the Tapolino. with a little more power. 'Cause remember the Tapolino is this tiny little two seat car. Well, actually not even really a car. it's it's electric.
Sam Abuelsamid (59:25)
only has a nineteen mile an hour top speed. and
and the this abarth topolino that they're saying might might get built. you know, kinda has the look of an abarth. but and and it has a higher top speed of all the way up to twenty five miles an hour.
Roberto Baldwin (59:51)
Well that's the regular one. You can get twenty five in the regular one too. It's a free f no, you can get the free kit. Like it's they have a for free. You can con there's a conversion to make it twenty five, but it won't be available I think until twenty twenty seven. So yeah, that's this is less it just looks cooler, I guess.
Sam Abuelsamid (59:55)
No, I think it's only nineteen.
Roberto Baldwin (1:00:13)
And this is a this is a that's a that's not an ad the actual car, it's just somebody went on chat GPT and Yeah, that's not what it'll look Yeah.
Nicole Wakelin (1:00:19)
Just came up with an idea. Yeah. It
Sam Abuelsamid (1:00:26)
all right, let's see. so I know one of the things people complain about with the Polestar Four was the absence of a rear window, which was the least of my complaints with the Polestar Four. But now, apparently they're they're working on a version of the Polestar Four with a rear window, but it's you know, the autocar is calling it the Polestar Four SUV, but it's it's a wagon. Yeah, it's just a long roof version of the Polestar Four.
Nicole Wakelin (1:00:53)
It's a wagon. It's a wagon. Yep. Yeah. We'll ever see it.
Roberto Baldwin (1:00:54)
Yeah. Man. We're never getting this thing.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:01:00)
No. We're not getting any pole stars.
Roberto Baldwin (1:01:04)
Yeah, when I get in there though. Yeah, it looks cool.
Nicole Wakelin (1:01:06)
No Polestar. Do you know anybody who's bought one? I know
Sam Abuelsamid (1:01:06)
It's a shame because I actually like this one.
Nicole Wakelin (1:01:09)
people who were trying to buy actively because they were at such a discount now and Volvo's still around and Pulestar is technically still around. It's just not around here. Do you know anyone who's purchased one since the announcement of its imminent USMI?
Sam Abuelsamid (1:01:25)
Yeah, I think they're knocking like twenty five grand off.
Nicole Wakelin (1:01:25)
I know some people who have been trying and haven't
Nicole Wakelin (1:01:27)
been able to get one. They can't even get one. It's like they're in such high demand. Like demand we could have used a few months back, probably is what they're all thinking. But
Sam Abuelsamid (1:01:37)
Yeah, but then then Polestar would have lost would have been losing even more money and had more incentive to get out of the US market.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:01:46)
and then there's a a company called Horse, which is a joint venture between Renault and Geely. so you know a few years ago, Renault combined all of their their various powertrain units into one subsidiar into one business unit. Geely did the same thing over in between China and Sweden, with Volvo and and
Sam Abuelsamid (1:02:14)
all of their other brands combine those into one and now that then they created a joint venture between those two called horse, horse powertrain. And they have shown a a new range extender hybrid powertrain that is the first of this type to use an axial flux motor. so, you know, there are some vehicles on the road with axial flux motors, they're relatively new. It's a basically it's a different format of the electric motor.
And it's much more power dense, makes makes a lot more power. so the AMG G T four door E V that I think did you you drove it, right, Robbie? Or you talked about it? you you rode in it.
Roberto Baldwin (1:02:56)
They let me sit in it. I didn't get to drive it. They let me
drive they drove me around in it and then unfortunately like most of the video of me sitting in it got just disappeared into the ether. Like they it was yeah, and so the only part so they they yeah, there's a video of me when we were doing a burnout, but there's like a l a a big chunk of video of me in the car talking with the driver and we're driving around and it does it's it feels really nice. And but it's it's gone. It's lost.
Roberto Baldwin (1:03:25)
Lost in in the universe. I don't know we don't know what happened to it. Sai anyway, yeah, it's fun car.
Acc according to Horse, the axial flux motor makes sixty three percent more power than a radial flux motor of the same size, meaning a total of a hundred and forty one horsepower, which is pretty good for for a hybrid.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:03:48)
Yeah. we will of course not see this anytime in the foreseeable future. well actually, you know what? We we might because you know, Geely's using the gonna use these things as well. something like this could end up in a future Volvo, possibly.
Nicole Wakelin (1:04:11)
All I can see is that it's called a D20 and I want it to be a die. Like you roll a D20. Like like the nerd me is like, it's a D20. I know.
Roberto Baldwin (1:04:16)
Just roll it. R roll for
Sam Abuelsamid (1:04:24)
all right. We have also previously talked about some of the the China only Volkswagen E V models that they revealed last year, and are starting to build now. and some of you know, these are these have been developed in partnership with some Chinese OEMs, including Xiaopung. and they have a model three sized mid size
Sam Abuelsamid (1:04:53)
Smaller mid-sized sedan called the Unix O seven that is using Xiaopung's electrical architecture and some other components and some software from those guys. Currently only available in China. But apparently Volkswagen is thinking about building at least a couple of these models in Germany for sale in Europe, which would be interesting because you know they also have their partnership.
with Rivian for you know they have their joint venture with Rivian for Rivian's software and electronic architecture. And that's going that's supposed to be going into like thirty different Volkswagen models, Volkswagen group models, by like twenty thirty or twenty thirty one, starting with the the ID polo and some other models next year. And if they start
building these Xiaopung based E Vs in Europe. I wonder what that would potentially mean for their relationship with Rivian.
Roberto Baldwin (1:06:00)
I mean they paid Raven a lot of I think they're just throwing everything at the wall. They're just gonna try whatever they can. They're partnering with everyone because they've you know it's really s you know, it's hard to make EVs, which they you know, especially software, which I think, you know, when we all drove the ID four, the first six months the software was just absolute trash.
And, you know, it got better, but it wasn't, you know. So I think it you know Volkswagen needs help.
Roberto Baldwin (1:06:26)
That's all there is to it. And if they can if it's this is how they can at least, you know, get their cars in the f in the folks' hands, you know, whether it's via Terivian or via the via Xiaopung, that's good for Volkswagen because at the end of the day they can say, You bought a Volkswagen and now you maybe you'll buy another Volkswagen later on. Fingers crossed.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:06:55)
well speaking of Rivian, I had a chance to drive the R two this week.
time. We only had about an hour with the car, but we spent actually spent more time than that at Rivian's Tech Center here in Plymouth talking with the various engineers, including Wasim Ben Said, who's the chief software officer for Rivian and also the co CEO of that aforementioned Rivian Volkswagen Joint Venture. and I got I got a demo from Wasim of the new
UI in the R2, which has been changed quite a bit from the R one. you know the software the software is updated but the the big thing they changed functionally is the halos on the steering wheel. So the R one has these little rollers and then toggle switches that allow you to control some of the stuff from the steering wheel.
But the R two has what they're calling these halos. So it looks like big round dials embedded in the steering wheel spokes. and at first, you know, it seemed like kind of a goofy idea. But when they explain how these things work, it's actually really neat. It actually works really well. So the the halos, you know, you can rotate them with your thumbs, you know, so the edges are knurled. And so you can scroll up and down through lists, you know, and you can have
stuff on the on the the instrument cluster. So the the R two has the same ten inch display in front of the driver and a fifteen inch center stack display. but then with the halos you can roll roll them up and down and they have haptic actuators in them. So when you're going through lists it actually clicks as you go through each one. So you don't y you know, so you n y you have more some yeah.
Yep. and then also you can press in, like press press forward on either of the halos with your thumbs, as a click. And then you can also pull back on the halos with your fingertips. You know, so it's like using a paddle shifter. so again, you know, depending on what you're doing, what mode you're in, it can you know go either you go either direction and then you can also push in or pull out on the edges of the halo.
so it's like a rocker, you know, to to you know, to do different things, you know. So if you wanna if there's something in the instrument cluster, you know, you wanna go to a sub menu, you can just pull or push, you know, as needed. it it it's kind of complicated to explain, but it works really well. And I'm gonna drop a video in here that I did with Wasim. and then you guys can watch that.
Wassym Bensaid (1:10:04)
And then we will walk customers through some of the main functions. Digital key, the car comes with digital key similar to the R1 Gen 2. This is what we introduced last year. It's a native OS digital key, so you have it from directly from your wallet, for example, on the iPhone or or on Android. You can also
uses ultra ultra wide band. Okay. and then it also has backups with total energy and then it has also a backup with NFC with up to five hours in case the battery ducks. the native support for Apple Watch as well comes with the with the solution.
Then getting situated, let's do this later. and then okay, one of the moments which are really some of the playful moments is finding a name for the R two. let's call it R two D two.
And then the same name will be replicated in the mobile app. And then some of the new features that we have introduced with the R2. So this is the highway assist similar features to what we have today on the R one Gen two. So it's
hands-free and then by starting end of year it will be able to do point to point. Okay. And then beginning of next year we will start having the new hardware with our in-house chip, the wrap and then the lidar which will be capable of doing ISA.
the point-to-point capability is going to be on the current hardware. So if somebody buys one today, they'll get that point-to-point capability. Okay. Correct.
Wassym Bensaid (1:12:04)
Correct. driver display so
Later, and then I'll show you that manually. Okay, so some of the really the new controls that we are introducing here is the halo wheels. So this is really a way for us to add more physical controls to the car, but then without necessarily cluttering the entire interface. So what
The way to think about it is it's a haptic wheel which is really software defined. So the menus change based on the context. So in this case, for example, here I'm changing the fan and actually you can touch it, you will see that you get that flick.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:12:57)
Yeah, you get that click.
Wassym Bensaid (1:13:01)
And then if I am basically in temperature, you can touch it again and you will see that the the detent is different. And it's really like it's it's that like that tactile feedback, but then also the fact that you have a configurable detent which adds some playfulness and then also the variability of the different functions. Similarly, here I can have volume and then if I click here
I can push from the back, it's like a pedal shifter, and then I can switch drive mode. And you see here I have switched to sport. Similarly I can switch to conserve
directly by one click using these buttons and then similarly here I can switch menus and then I can go from music, I can go to the energy widget. It gives you a lot of flexibility to access menus directly from the UI.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:14:02)
Yeah, I think that I think that's a really interesting approach to the hardware. you know, that's remains software defined but gives you that that tactile feeling. Exactly. And I you know, as and I think it's probably easier yeah, we'll we'll find out when we drive it, but seems like it should be easier to use while you're driving without looking at it compared to having even, you know, buttons on the steering wheel. One hundred percent.
Wassym Bensaid (1:14:25)
Yeah. One hundred percent. I mean that's exactly the idea of like really the solution that we try to propose here, which is exactly like reduce that cognitive load, make the features easily accessible with just one tab, but then at the same time add playfulness and added tactic feedback which is configurable, flexible and really adds more enjoyment to the overall experience.
similarly some of the really some of the new features that we have in the UI is a redesign and the guiding principle there is make it easier to access, make it more convenient. So the menu bar or
On our one was a horizontal menu bar, now it's vertical menu bar, make it closer to the driver. And then we're introducing these flexible floating panels. So this is a panel that I have here as a driver, but then you have the same as a passenger, and actually I can send it to you. And this gives control to both the driver and the passenger so that they enjoy the experience and
This menu auto configures automatically. If you're in drive it goes to music. If you're in park, it goes to what we call quick controls and that gives you access directly so that you can configure things like for example the opening the front here or opening the the tailgate.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:15:59)
Yeah. Or or is it just it automatically comes up when you're stationary?
comes up. But then if you're let's say you're driving and you want to access the mirrors you can do it from here. Yeah. You still have that possibility but then the automatic function is like that's we try to remove one click to make it easier for you.
So yeah then dif you know if it tap the mirror, is the control then through one of the halos or okay, that's just a f
Wassym Bensaid (1:16:34)
This is this is in this case to fold the mirrors, but then if I want to like in this case
Sam Abuelsamid (1:16:43)
okay. So it's a couple a couple of taps first and then and then you adjust with the hail.
Wassym Bensaid (1:16:48)
So you're absolutely right, you adjust with the halos and then like if same thing if I want to adjust the steering wheel it's with the
the reason I asked particularly for the mirrors, less so for the steering wheel adjustment. you know, if you're on a long drive, sometimes you know you're shifting your body around, you maybe want to adjust your mirrors while you're driving. And so having easy access to that, you know, without having too many taps on the screen especially, I think is is important.
Some of the really other simplifications that we have done to the UI is the new settings menu, which is a contextual menu. So like here I have access to the overall configuration, updates, drivers and keys. But then if I go for example to music and then I tap settings, then the music settings come up. And this is really a way like a
That same spirit to reduce the number of tabs to make it like much more accessible for and much easier to access for for drivers. it's like settings has been one of the pain points in our current UI, the old UI. Like sometimes you have to search three, four, or five menus so that you get to the to the feature that you would like to use. all the features that we currently have on the R1, whether it's
the energy app here with like really accurate wrench prediction telling you exactly where your energy is going, charging performance, things like gear guard
With the sentry mode, with the incident cam or dash cam, all of those features are available on the R2. and then here if I go back to music, we have native integration with Spotify, with Audible, Apple Music, Tidal, and then we are also introducing iHeart digital radio as part of the overall package.
have to rotate here. Yeah, okay. Just give me one minute. Yes. and then same thing similar to what we have with the R1. we have an integrated trip planner. So if I if I look for like let's say a destination here, I want to go to Detroit.
Basically the car will automatically calculate the best route for me, it will calculate the best chargers and then it will include our charger reliability score, which is really guiding the customers towards stations that are highly rated based on the data that we collect from the field.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:19:37)
So you're getting telemetry data from from customers and developing that charging score. And then for the the routing, figuring out where to charge, you're I I assume you're also utilizing technology from a better route planner, which you acquired several years ago.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:20:08)
Probably gotta say Chicago, Illinois.
There you go. Okay, alright. so yes, so it's it's the ABRP route planner, which is directly natively integrated here with our own in-house charging score. So you see here it selected a Tesla which is a charger rated A, and it selected another Tesla which is rated B. And we configure the route planner in a way where it only picks up stations which are A and B, everything below. it's not included.
And like the whole idea is we only want to guide customers through chargers. So we want to remove that entire ink side.
And I and I'm presuming that between here and Chicago there are no Rivian adventure stations, which is why they're not showing up on here.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:21:12)
Alright, so hopefully that gives you a little better idea of how the how the halos work. but driving this car, you know, the the halo the halos give actually give you a lot more physical input than you get with the R one.
So even though you know they've got you know when you look at the inside of the R2, it looks much like the R2, like everything's embedded in the touch screen. There's actually a lot more physical control than you have in the R one with thanks to those halos.
And it's still not perfect. I still wish they would
Roberto Baldwin (1:21:45)
It's still not something
I can just like reach over and grab. I got now I gotta learn a whole new interface for things that are still happening on screen, which means I still have to look down to see what's happening.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:21:55)
But it's on the screen that's in front of you. Rat rather than over on the side. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:21:58)
Yeah, but it's still not I I'm not looking at the road. Again, I can drive my
BRZ and if I want to change the temperature I don't have to look and make sure that I'm tapping exactly where I need to do.
yeah, but the thing is that the temperature like I think it's for the the right halo, the temperature is the default. And so you don't have to look at it. You can just scroll it up and down without looking at it. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:22:16)
Okay, so that makes bo Okay, so that's better.
It's still, you know. Learn a whole new interface. We're we're we're we're we're go we're going super clever because we didn't want to put a couple of knobs on the car.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:22:28)
Yeah. But but like I said, a after
after driving it for an hour, it actually f feels like it works. I'm gonna hopefully be getting one of these fairly soon, to spend more time with it. But after an hour in the car, it you know, it came pretty naturally, pretty quickly. unfortunately you still have the software controlled vents. Still a bad idea. I I know.
I just I just w what are we doing? Why are we being clever at the the expense of things working? It's like it's like the doors. Like I shouldn't have to explain how doors work to people. I shouldn't have to when someone gets in the car and they're like, I need the and they're looking for the vent control, I shouldn't have to say, Okay, so you need to go into here and then you go here and then you move your finger around and the vents will move around and they're like, that's cool and then ten minutes later like, Okay, this is annoying because I wanna change the vents together.
to that again if I want to adjust the vents? Yeah.
don't th there's so many things in cars that we just don't have to explain, and now we do. We shouldn't have to explain. I should explain have to explain how to get in the car, how to get out of the car, how to adjust the vents, how to turn the radio up and down.
It just none of this should be that hard. This is all such a it's go ahead.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:23:43)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. they did do a lot of good stuff though with with the R two. you know, they did a lot to make it, you know, much more affordable to build, much much more cost effective to build.
So hopefully they can, you know, at least break even, if not, you know, make money on this thing before long. you know, like one one interesting example is on the front wheel arches, yeah, they've got this little thing here, you know, it says Rivian on there, it's backlit.
They had on the on the R one, they had the turn signal repeaters were on the leading edge of the wheel arch. And so they had to run wires to that and have a bulb in there, and you know that and then they also had a turn signal repeater in the mirror housing. And they got rid of both of those. So the one on the that's on the leading edge of the wheel arch is just a reflector. they got rid of the one that's in the mirror because you the one that's
Down below now, you can see it from all over, from the front, from the side, from the back. and so they just have this one there. So they really simplified stuff like that. Also, you know, in the structure, let's see, where is it here? They so for the for the rear structure, they're using castings, but it's not just one big casting like Tesla uses or like what Ford is gonna be using on the Universal EV.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:25:11)
The casting is actually made up of three parts that are bolted together. And so, you know, if you have a a crash, you know, because there's three sections that they can easily unbolt and bolt in a new one, makes it a lot easier to repair. They can still do if they need to, they can still do the you know, do the cut and and adhesive bonding. But this approach is is actually even easier. And because the castings themselves are a lot smaller, you don't need these big
Sam Abuelsamid (1:25:41)
enormous die casting machines. You can have much smaller machines that are much more cost effective. and so you know a lot of stuff that they did that according to Rivian, they took fifty percent out of the bill of materials cost and manufacturing cost of the R two compared to the R one. So it costs half as much to build. It does not, by the way, cost half as much to buy, but it cost half as much to build. and
gotta make money. I think they did a lot of s like you know, we when the when they refreshed the R ones, I mean they did a lot of this this sort of work to make it more cost effective to build the vehicle, which is like yay. You know it'd also be cost effective if you put just manual little controls on the vents. It just seems like it that'd be cheaper. I'm just saying. I don't know why you want we don't wanna do that.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:26:33)
They they also changed the the front the the suspension so they got rid of the air springs. Now it's got steel coil springs all around, struts in the front instead of a multi link or a control arm front suspension, so that's cheaper.
they got a structural battery pack, so there's big hole where the floor pan should be in the body in white. so you know, again, took a lot of cost out of there. But you know what they kept? They got a ten cubic foot frunk.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:27:02)
You can actually put a put a backpack with your laptop in and assorted other stuff.
I was just like, I'll just put my backpack up here. And I like, I can't close this. I was just like, what are we doing? I'm like, it's again, if you don't have a frunk on your V or if you have a tiny one, and it's always gonna be tiny, fine, whatever, it's fine. I was very excited at when I went to the to the slate thing, how big the frunk was, because it's I'd seen the videos of like, yeah, whatever. And they're like, you can put like two two carry-ons and a backpack in there, and I'm like,
Roberto Baldwin (1:27:32)
my, there's so much room in here. I could I could put a guitar that's my my thing. I could put a guitar amp in here. That was like my big thing. I'm like, it's yeah. It's great if you have it. If you don't, then you're like, all right, fine. But then to have it and be like, psych. Take it away like Lucy with the football. That's sad.
Nicole Wakelin (1:27:51)
Like Lucy with the football.
of course, they also have lots of accessories. They've they've got a new version of the camp kitchen now. so instead of sliding out of the gear tunnel, which 'cause there is no gear tunnel on the SUV, they have this thing now, which is like a it's it's a big tray with two inductive burners in it. There's a drawer, there's a a prep surface on there to prep your food. and it now only costs fourteen hundred dollars.
Roberto Baldwin (1:28:19)
That's better than five thousand, but not as cheap as like a cheap hibachi you can just buy at the sti. Yeah, like what are the two poles? Like what's what's going on?
Nicole Wakelin (1:28:23)
Where does it where does it go? Does it just in the
Sam Abuelsamid (1:28:30)
You can put it in your cargo area in the back.
Nicole Wakelin (1:28:32)
So does it just like latch in there with those two poles?
Sam Abuelsamid (1:28:36)
yeah, I'm I can't remember what the deal with the poles was. I can't remember that. But there's a big yeah, there's a lot of cargo space. So you got like twenty seven cubic feet behind the seats and then with the seats folded down, I think it's like seventy nine cubic feet. It's it's big. Yeah, there's a lot a lot of space in the back. you know, it's only a two row. you know, this thing is about the about l little just slightly
Roberto Baldwin (1:28:36)
What's the deal with the poles? What's the deal with the he can't remember. Alright, there's a lot of room back there though. That's nice.
Nicole Wakelin (1:28:38)
Yeah, but the deal with the polls, Sam. What's the deal with those poles? It
Sam Abuelsamid (1:29:03)
more than a Toyota RAV4 in terms of size. It you know it's it falls in between a RAV4 and a C R V size wise. so it's a it's a good size. It's a nice size. It's like six almost sixteen inches shorter than a ra than an R one S. and but you know they're launching with the the R two performance only so that's what they're delivering now. This fall they're gonna launch the R two premium and then
Sam Abuelsamid (1:29:31)
Next spring they will launch the s R two standard. and so the R two performance and the premium are three hundred and thirty miles of range. and then there will be a a version of the standard with a slightly smaller battery with like two hundred and seventy ish miles of range. the the the R two premium or the R two performance five hundred or six hundred and fifty six horsepower, which is
Sam Abuelsamid (1:30:01)
way more than you need. you know, if you if you absol if you don't absolutely need one right now, just wait for wait for the premium. it's like four hundred and thirty, which is still a lot. and it's actually really nice to drive. I actually enjoy driving this a lot more than driving the R one. Because the R one has always felt kind of stiff, the suspension, the ride quality was never great. And the R two is much more comfortable ride.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:30:28)
even on the you know, even with the performance with the twenty two inch wheels. you know, the steel spring suspension is much better than the the airsprings on the R one. it's like nine point six inches of ground clearance, which again, you know, probably not gonna, you know, take on the Rubicon trail, but you know, not many of us do that. You know, for for most people, nine point six is gonna be way more than you ever need.
Roberto Baldwin (1:30:53)
Yeah. I mean at forty four for the starting price with the for the standard. I mean two hundred and seventy five miles of range, rear wheel drive, that's gonna be that's a good I mean that's a good price for I think Rivian. I like to call Rivian the Patagonia of E Vs because it's very like, you know, fancy outdoors outdoorsy stuff.
Roberto Baldwin (1:31:14)
And the problem with the R one and the R two besot beyond like everything being in the screen was the price. I'm like, these are cool, no way in hell I could ever afford one. So
Sam Abuelsamid (1:31:24)
even in the even in the R two standard, you know, we didn't get to drive the R two standard, but they had had one in the in the design studio with the interior that's gonna be on that one.
The interior's still really nice. You know, so you know, and the premium and the and the performance you get wood trim, get birch veneer trim on the dashboard and on the doors. On the R on the standard, it's a fabric trim on there, but you still get, you know, the same Advantex faux leather stuff.
everywhere. and it still feels qu really you know, even you know, at that forty five thousand, actually like forty six ish with destination and everything, it's it still feels way more premium than Teslas that cost twice as much.
Roberto Baldwin (1:32:08)
Yeah. And the rear window slides down so you can put your surfboard back there, which I'm like big fan of. I need to start surfing again.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:32:14)
Yeah, so yeah, the you can drop down the rear window and then there's a wiper on the for the rear window as well, which is embedded in the top surface of the tailgate. so yeah, I don't have a picture of it here, but it's it's a pretty pretty cool design. so you know, this this vehicle looks really promising. you know, as as long as they can build and and not mess up too much, you know, I think it'll it'll do okay.
Yeah. I think I know I I know a lot I'm a lot of people are excited about the R three, which is we don't even have a timeline really yet, sort of kind of. But this looks Yeah, but I think, you know, at forty five again for a starting it's forty six. So fifty thousand for for this is is a good
Nicole Wakelin (1:32:51)
Any timeline for that one yet? Yeah.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:32:53)
Probably more like twenty twenty eight.
the performance with the launch package, which is basically loaded, it's got everything on it. It's like sixty grand. all in. Yeah, including destination. So so
Roberto Baldwin (1:33:10)
Yeah. So yeah. And it's got a light
the the flashlight comes standard on the premium and the performance. not on the s it's not on the standard. you can also swap that with a portable battery pack that can also serve as a hand warmer. So it f fits into the same slot in the back edge of the door. Yeah, so you get like a cylindrical hand warmer.
Roberto Baldwin (1:33:39)
Does it have electric doors?
Sam Abuelsamid (1:33:42)
the it yes, it has electromechanical latches. I know.
What are we doing people? Just just mechanical doors. Just I I I don't wanna explain okay, hit the button, it'll let you out.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:34:06)
all right, let's let's carry on.
all getting excited. I'm like, okay, you know, this stuff, and then I'm like the doors. I'm like,
Sam Abuelsamid (1:34:13)
Yeah, there there's there's
Sam Abuelsamid (1:34:14)
there's just a a there're fewer of the annoyances that were on the R one, but there's still some there. So they're moving in the right direction.
Roberto Baldwin (1:34:20)
There's still some. They're d they're g they're d
Yeah, they'll get there, hopefully. They'll like one day they'll be like, we're just gonna make a mechanical door and then a lot of people get angry. They're like, But our brand And then everyone else be all, Yeah, but I don't wanna explain to someone how to get in and out of my car
Sam Abuelsamid (1:34:39)
Volvo is apparently planning to bring back sedans and wagons to their US lineup, which they discontinued just a couple of years ago. new sixty series, but they're gonna be electric.
Ooh. See a a Volvo wagon, elect an electric wagon makes so much sense. Because it's a long, there's a lot of space in there. But but is anyone is anyone gonna buy it besides people like me? I mean the V sixty and the V ninety, like were out I love those cars. I really like them. And then the my cousin bought one. My cu my apparently all my cousins are good car people. Like my cu one of my cousins bought the
That's it. I don't know how is anyone gonna buy it
Roberto Baldwin (1:35:23)
The other one that works at Mercedes, he bought an Odyssey. Like the one that w has a ranch. He's has he's got a he has a super duty F two fifty, but he has a ranch with trailers and stuff that he has to use. And but he also has like a B Z for like for just cruising around town.
the V sixty is one of my f it's I think it's my favorite Volvo of the past decade was the V sixty. It's just the right size. The V ninety was a little big for my for my for my needs. But the V sixty was a great size, enormously roomy on the inside, drove fantastic. But yeah, they'll they'll be bringing bringing back the the sixty series sedan and wagon in the neck by twenty twenty eight is what they're saying.
Roberto Baldwin (1:35:45)
such a great car. It's a little you know, for the family.
Alright, well hopefully the kids now are excited about wagons. If you're if you're an adult and you have children or a parent, I guess if you're an adult and you have children, you're a parent, guardian, whatever, teach your kids that the wagons are good. That's that's your only job really. I mean you can teach how to drive a manual as well. That's another important thing to teach them. but teach that wagons are good.
lose Nicole? okay, your your your picture's gone. It's just a big N.
I see my feet. I'm like, wait, no, I'm here. I didn't say anything at that moment. I'm here. Hi, Robbie. I don't know why you can't see me. I'm here. Really I'm just a N.
Roberto Baldwin (1:36:42)
I don't okay. Maybe it's my computer bec All right.
Roberto Baldwin (1:36:53)
Who knows? Technology. If we
Yeah. Nissan has apparently given up on the Ultima though.
Nicole Wakelin (1:37:06)
I I mean like sad, but okay fine. I'm not that sad. I can't pretend I'm that sad, it's just an ultima.
they're apparently gonna focus on the centra instead, which is more affordable. Which, you know, is actually fine. Yeah, it's I think that yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:37:21)
Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:37:29)
There's th th the Ultima doesn't need to be t the Ultima's like it's like it's like the the the the Malibu. Like why does that it it's just it's a car that you just you ju you end up stuck with when you get a rental car. Those are the two
you're the last one in line and they say, Here you go and you go out and the last car sitting there on the lot is a Malibu.
Nicole Wakelin (1:37:47)
Like, okay. Yes, this is what I'm driving.
Roberto Baldwin (1:37:51)
You're driving an Ultima or a Malibu and you're just like, well If I got here earlier I could have got a Sonata.
Nicole Wakelin (1:38:00)
But no, I was too slow. They couldn't get the plane up to the gate.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:38:04)
Yeah, so far this year Ultima sales are down thirty two percent compared to last year. and so they're gonna focus on the Sentra instead. And you know, you can get a decently equipped Centra for under twenty five grand. So
Roberto Baldwin (1:38:20)
Nissan makes a good inexpensive car. If you're looking for a a a a first car or a second car or a car for your kid or whatever, or you just need an ex inexpensive car, man, check out those Nissans. They're gonna they'll surprise ya. Nissan, they'll surprise ya. That's I don't know if that's their what they want to do with their with their marketing budget. Nissan, it's better than you think
Sam Abuelsamid (1:38:31)
Yeah. They're they're not bad at all.
That's not what they're going for, but that's what they got.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:38:45)
Yeah. let's see. north of the border, well actually if you go to Detroit, it's actually south from Detroit, but yeah. Anyway, in Canada, you know, we you talked previously about them doing a trade deal with China earlier this year which would allow Chinese companies to bring in up to forty nine thousand E Vs a year into Canada. and then, you know
Roberto Baldwin (1:38:55)
Which is bonkers if you Yeah.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:39:14)
longer term they want to get them to start building cars in Canada. because, you know, they realize that under US current US trade policies, you know, eventually all of the US automakers are just gonna pull up stakes and just move their production to the States. so some of the first Chinese E Vs coming to Canada, you know, Cherry, BYD, they've both said they're gonna do it, and Dongfeng
this week has also been showing off what they plan to launch in Canada. So they're they've got a they've got a site set up for Dongfeng Canada, which has six models, three of which are plug-in hybrids, three are EVs, and you know, part of that deal with China is that half of those forty nine thousand a year that they're allowed to import have to be priced under thirty five thousand dollars Canadian, which is about twenty five thousand US. and so
that Dongfeng is showing are sub thirty five thousand Canadian cars. there's the Box O one EV, the Vigo EV, and then there's the E Prime double O seven, I think is how you say it. Which is a midsized sedan. the the the Box O one is a little hatchback about the size of a Hyundai venue.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:40:40)
The Vigo is almost the same size, almost identical in size to a Nissan Kicks, and then the the sedan is a little bit larger. But the Box O one and the Vigo are are gonna be you know sub twenty five thousand dollars US with up to four hundred and thirty kilometers, so about two hundred and seventy ish miles of range for the box and the Vigo's about just shy of three hundred miles.
of range. Pretty pretty decent looking little cars.
Roberto Baldwin (1:41:14)
It looks like they're the but it's also like very Japanese where there's no buttons inside.
way a lot of Chinese stuff is. Yeah. Well these these are Chinese cars, so you would expect them to be kind of Chinese like. That's there's the Box O one. you know, pretty pretty basic but you know, cheap and I think Canadians will go for And then there's the
Roberto Baldwin (1:41:21)
I'm sorry, Chinese, not Japanese. No, I that
Nicole Wakelin (1:41:23)
It does look good though. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole Wakelin (1:41:37)
seven. That will get me to buy an electric. Danny. Danny. Look at the lights. Look at the lights on that exactly. That is a key one. Star map lighting. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:41:38)
Hey here's the the Vigo, aka the Hyundai. The Kia. This is the Kia Vigo.
Yeah. It it does it does have a very current generation Kia vibe to it.
have a very Kia. The Kia Vigo. They I'm looking at this the the pay on Jalopnik and one of them is the E Pi double O seven.
I saw that E Pi double O seven. That's the one that comes equipped with like the you know, the cow chops that go shooting out the back and the oil slit. Thank you for the sound effect. Exactly. That's exactly what I
Hero 2 looks cool. And the Volhe all these cards are pretty cool. There's like there's like a there's like a photo.
Nicole Wakelin (1:42:18)
I know, they do look good.
yeah, the Hero is a plug in hybrid. five hundred and five kilowatts, so about almost about six hundred and fifty, six hundred and seventy horsepower. about eight hundred miles of combined range.
Roberto Baldwin (1:42:37)
Cool. sorry. I was out late watching music.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:42:37)
Yeah, yeah. And there's also the E Prime double O eight,
Roberto Baldwin (1:42:46)
The vo Yeah, that looks cool. Yeah. Can is getting some The Voyagerim.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:42:49)
And the Voya Dream, which is, you know, more of a luxury minivan
like the you know, Toyota Alfard and Nissan El Grand and things like that.
the so the the Canadians are gonna get to get some get some decent cheap Chinese E Vs. but what they won't be able to do, if some US politicians have their way is drive them across the Gordy Hal Bridge, which is finally gonna open.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:43:24)
Yes, Gord Gordy Howe is a Canadian born hockey player who became famous
playing for the Detroit Red Wings. so they call him Mr. Hockey. At at one point in the nineteen eighties, Gordy and two of his sons were all playing for the Detroit Red Wings simultaneously. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Gord Gordy Howe played professionally until he was like
Roberto Baldwin (1:43:43)
that's sweet. You get carpool to work.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:43:52)
I think he played his last professional game when he was like sixty, sixty one. He played across four decades. Yeah.
I am fift well hell, what year is this? I'm fifty two in the idea of getting on a hockey rink. I mean I would do it, but not professionally. Like I can still do a lot of the things I did when I was in my twenties, but I'm also taking some Advil at the at the end of the day.
So the the Gordy Hell Bridge, you know, they they pretty much finished the bridge about a year ago and then they've been going through, you know, various commissioning activities and it was they had finally scheduled an opening for it a month ago. And somebody in Washington decided, No, we don't want the bridge to open. because that person had gotten like several million dollar donation campaign donations
From a guy named Matty Maroon. the Maroon family owns a trucking business and a sort of other stuff. They also happen to own the Ambassador Bridge, which is the existing bridge between Detroit and Windsor. And for the last twenty five ish years, the Maroon family fought tooth and nail to prevent a second bridge from being built between Detroit and Windsor.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:45:12)
Yeah, 'cause they own the bridge and so they had a monopoly on the tolls. Yeah, the only other way to get between Detroit and Windsor was through the tunnel. And trucks can't go through the tunnel. Yeah. And so, the the the Ambassador Bridge, you know, is privately owned and they charge like for trucks, for heavy trucks, they charge a toll of twenty seven dollars per axle. Which is outrageous per axle.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:45:42)
They the Gordy How Bridge is was is planning to charge I think like six fifty per axle. And so the Maroons were pissed about this. So they made a big donation to the guy in Washington and so he said, Nope, we're not gonna allow you to open that bridge until you give us a better deal.
And part of the part of the the issue with the bridge is th for years, you know, they went back and forth. They could not come up with a deal to have the US and Canada jointly pay for the bridge.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:46:11)
And so finally Canada just said, Fine, we'll pay for the whole thing. We'll pay for it. And so so Can Canada paid, you know, like six and a half billion dollars US a Canadian, so about four and a half billion US dollars to build this bridge and to build the the the stuff on either side, you know, the the toll plazas and the the customs facilities and everything on both sides of the bridge. And
Roberto Baldwin (1:46:17)
But we get all the money? Because duh.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:46:38)
you know, part of the deal with that that they finally struck was Canada will pay for the bridge, they will collect the tolls, use that to pay use d use that to pay off the the debt, you know, on the bridge and the maintenance costs for the bridge. And then once the bridge is paid for, then they would split the tolls with the US or actually with Michigan, fifty fifty. Seems a reasonable
I I wouldn't even give that 'cause they don't wanna pay. I mean pfft my bridge, I'll do what I want. Talk to the rich people down the street who are charging you twenty seven bucks per axle.
Seem seems like a seems like a very reasonable deal. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:47:14)
No, it's a that's a really great deal for Michigan.
They don't have to do anything and then in like whatever, you know, decades they start getting money from this bridge.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:47:21)
Right. well, Trump wanted fifty percent of the tolls right up front. Which, you know, considering they paid nothing for this bridge is insane. So apparently the deal that they've finally struck was that the US will get fifty percent of the profits from the tolls. So, you know, whatever whatever they collect every year, you know, they will they will pay
Roberto Baldwin (1:47:29)
They didn't do anything.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:47:49)
you know, pay the debts, pay the maintenance costs, anything that's left over, the US will get fifty percent of that.
Nicole Wakelin (1:47:59)
The US. I think it's just the US.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:48:00)
according to the Canadians, there there's there's conflicting story here about exactly
where the money's going. The the Canadians are saying that the money will go to a economic development fund for the state of Michigan.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:48:14)
We'll we'll see how that ultimately
plays out, who actually gets them the check every year. but so now the the bridge is now scheduled to open on july twenty seventh, which is a a week just a week or just over a week from now. A week from tomorrow.
Roberto Baldwin (1:48:30)
Well, I I'm glad that the people you know, competition. And that's how you know You can't be a company and be like, No, we don't want competition. I mean that's essentially how tech companies work. They just buy up small companies that are doing something cool and then just kill it. And they're like, Ha ha, you're stuck on Instagram
The Ambassador Bridge is a hundred years old and the Maroons have not spent very much money to maintain it.
Nicole Wakelin (1:48:55)
Yeah. They're making bank.
Roberto Baldwin (1:48:55)
Where they're getting all that money.
Roberto Baldwin (1:48:59)
Man, they are no wonder they're so a well, here you go. Well but now we got the Gordie Howe. I'm a sixty year old man playing hockey, so I'm pretty pretty rat. International bridge.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:49:14)
and then GM, which is one of the in partners in Iona. Have you used an Iona charger yet, Robbie?
Roberto Baldwin (1:49:23)
No, there's one in the city and there's one in Marin and I have both on things to do. Maybe I'll do it today. But like they had a they had a deal like over like the holiday weekend. It was cheaper to charge at the Iona spots than it was to charge off peak. And I was just like, I s take the car over there. But I just Yeah. Then th well we pay a lot. Remember our my off peak is thirty five cents per kilowatt hour. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. so they were charging thirty one.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:49:40)
You mean that like off peak at home? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Ooh.
Roberto Baldwin (1:49:52)
Yeah, well it's fine. You know. I still love California. Even though, you know, it's like Disneyland. You know, you you gotta pay a lot, but once you're inside it's a party. so yeah, I wanna try it out. I gotta go over to either to Marin or into the city. I think probably that Marin's probably the better deal. There's a music festival in Oakland this weekend, so
yeah, so I I I'll have to take a road trip one of these days down to Ohio. There's a few of them in Ohio. I was hoping when I did Operation Frodo that I might be able to use one. They're they're building one in Gary, Indiana. but it's not open yet. So so they went they started opening Iona stations a little over a year ago. They've got a hundred and twenty two locations now, with eleven hundred and sixty six chargers. They're they're planning on getting to thirty thousand chargers by the
Roberto Baldwin (1:50:30)
Scary Indiana, not Louisiana. I watched the music man a lot as a kid, I don't know why.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:50:46)
By 2030. 400 kilowatt chargers. They've got CCS and NAX charging connectors. and so GM recently announced something called Energy Pass, which is their their app, you know, that's built in it's built into their the GM apps. and you know, like Ford Pass, you can set up your payment information in there and then go to a bunch of different chargers and you know just
plug in and and it'll charge your charge whatever payment method you put in there. And so their GM is now doing a thing for GM EV drivers. if you use Energy Pass, you'll get a ten percent discount on your charging with Iona. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (1:51:33)
what it costs now. I'm gonna look it up. Instead of paying attention to what y'all talking about.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:51:42)
Yeah, they yeah, I mean a lot most of the Iana chargers and char ch locations, you know, they're they're setting them up with wow.
Roberto Baldwin (1:51:48)
wow, there's like three in the city now. There's one well
now there's there's one in the city, there's one in DC, Daily City, there's one in Pacifica, there's one in San Rafael, there's one way out in Pittsburgh, one in at n one in Altm Alt Altamont. Let me see. Opening Soon is the ones I think some of are open soon. But I think the two that are are one the one in San Rafael is open, I know. It's thirty nine cents per kilowatt hour, which is way cheaper than
Sam Abuelsamid (1:52:00)
Are they all open or coming soon?
Roberto Baldwin (1:52:17)
than both Tesla and EA and probably I I'm assuming probably EV go as well. That's a pretty that's a pretty good deal. At some point we're gonna you know when you're driving down the freeway and it tells you how much the you know a gas station will help, gas is fourteen dollars a gallon or whatever, we're gonna start seeing stuff like that for for EV charging.
Because you'll be driving you're like, well, well I'm gonna go over to this place. Because the first person who does it pro who does it or the first company that does it is going to make everyone else do it.
Because they're gonna be like, Hey, come here, it costs this much as opposed to like I guess it's this much? I don't know.
else, just start putting up signs so we can at least find the chargers.
Roberto Baldwin (1:52:55)
Yeah, that's another th yeah. Sometimes it's just like it they'll they'll be like a little city like in California, they'll have like at the on on the signs they'll tell you like what's at the stop. Like there's food and there's lodging and they'll say like gas and then they'll have like a little E V one with the little lightning bolt. but you don't know who it is, it's just like well okay.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:53:14)
Could be an old twenty five kilowatt charge point unit or something.
and then last story is there's a new class action lawsuit in California filed by a Ford I think a Mach E owner. yeah, but this doesn't really have anything to do specifically with the Mach E. it's he's suing Ford to get a refund because you know earlier this year the Supreme Court said that the way that the Trump administration imposed
Nicole Wakelin (1:53:35)
We're back to the macroe.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:53:51)
A bunch of the tariffs was illegal and they had to give that money back. and of course, you know, tariffs are not paid by the comp the countries that are exporting stuff, they're paying by whoever is importing the stuff into a country. in this case, Ford, you know, but other automakers as well. And you know, then they typically pass along some or all of those costs to their customers, which is one of the reasons why a lot of prices have gone up this year.
anyway, with those tariffs going away, they have now set up a process for companies to apply for refunds on the tariffs they paid. And so this Ford owner in in San Diego is suing Ford to get Jason Bullock suing to get his cut of the tariff refunds that are that Ford is gonna be getting back.
that Costco's like, Yeah, we're gonna give people b our members back our money. We'll figure it out. We're working on it And then you're like everyone else is like, damn you Costco and your five dollar chicken
Sam Abuelsamid (1:55:02)
And they make great chick those those rotisserie chickens are fantastic for five bucks.
Nicole Wakelin (1:55:02)
Weird out Costco, their little thing is is closed.
You can't get you can't get any hot dogs or drinks or whatever. They're like redoing it. It's this giant white curtain. I know, I thought it was some people and it's normally like mobbed with people. And this morning, big white curtain. I thought, some people are gonna be sad when they come in and they can't get their Costco hot dog today.
It's a dollar fifty. It's just a p I love Costco. We we got a Costco. We finally got one. We were using like if you get a gift card so here's a fun thing. If you get a gift card from somebody, you can go to Costco with the Costco gift card as a non member.
And like a manager has to come over and hit a button or whatever. And so like we would get a gift card from like people for for Christmas or whatever and we go to Costco. And then we started doing is just having people give us gift cards so we could go to Costco.
And then finally I'm like, you what? We go to Costco and
We we go to Costco enough and I like the five dollar chicken and I was able to buy a giant sack of quinoa the other day, for like a nickel. so we just g finally got a Costco account. But if you're like, you know, me and my wife or just two of us and maybe Costco doesn't quite make sense, just have one of your Costco member friends give you a gift card and you can use that. There you go. That's my Costco hack and then you can
Sam Abuelsamid (1:56:14)
gift cards at places other than Costco?
Nicole Wakelin (1:56:17)
Yeah, you can buy them on the can't you buy them like you know the racks at like the grocery store, the checkout at Target? Yeah, don't
Sam Abuelsamid (1:56:22)
Yeah, they have gift cards for everything.
know, I haven't looked. So if you could yeah, if you could find a Costco gift card at the rack for like Ride Aid and Walgreens, they they always have like or or other places. yeah, get a Costco gift card and they just go to Costco.
could even no directly through Costco, I guess. you can get it through the Costco shop page or any and you have to have a membership to buy them. Okay, so I guess if you had no if you're there, you have to you have to have a membership to buy one though. So only if I'm down
Roberto Baldwin (1:56:50)
Sorry, I I derailed this entire conversation about a man suing Ford for his tariff money for Costco.
Roberto Baldwin (1:56:58)
they don't have the chili. Do you have chili still at your Costco? They had the big tub of chili that we liked and then the last few s the last few times we've gone it's been gone. They they don't have it anymore.
Nicole Wakelin (1:57:01)
I don't know if it's a chili. I never get the what? It's the at the like at the
Nicole Wakelin (1:57:08)
like regular food or at the like the the hot dog food, like the quick
like over like near the all the pre pre prepackaged food.
I've never I haven't looked. I'll look for you, Rob.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:57:17)
We I mean we we just I mean chili's so easy
Roberto Baldwin (1:57:21)
Yeah, but it was like it was good chili.
Nicole Wakelin (1:57:21)
But if anything is before you buy
it, it's yummy, like, hey, look, it's all ready for me, I'll just grab a spoon, blah blah blah.
Yeah. Anyway anyway, Costco chicken. This guy wants his Costco chicken back from Ford is what it we're back to there we go, that's a segue back to where we're going.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:57:38)
yeah, I mean it it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out, you know, and how they work out how if assuming, you know, if Ford loses, how do they figure out how much people get back? Because they didn't pass along all of the tariff costs. The automakers they spread it out and they they also you know, they they
Roberto Baldwin (1:57:54)
'Cause they spread it out.
Sam Abuelsamid (1:58:01)
you know, they ate some of the cost. because, you know, they they weren't sure how long this is gonna last. So some of it they absorbed and you know, in their profit margins. but yeah, they you know, so there were th there were cars that were built, you know, in in the US, but you know, they they kinda averaged out that it's kind of like they do with the destination charges.
They average it out and spread it across all the vehicles regardless of where they're built. And so, this one's gonna be an interesting to watch. Interesting one to watch to see how this plays out.
Roberto Baldwin (1:58:30)
I mean there's an a accountant that knows exactly how much v of each card got it in a tariff. They just you know. Now they gotta like, how do we do this?
Nicole Wakelin (1:58:41)
Gonna be a lot to figure out. Somebody can figure it out, but it's gonna be a yeah. It's really good.
Roberto Baldwin (1:58:43)
There's a person with like really good with numbers who's like, I got this And they're like, Don't tell anybody you know
All right. Let's let's answer some listener emails. first up, John wrote in the stuff regarding a couple of recent topics. PHEVs. We may be the exception, but we own a Coursera PHEV and love the car. Bought it after review by Sam a while ago. It's my wife's car. She was working from home and is now retired, but she does the majority of her driving locally and mostly drives the cars in EV around town. Yes, I'm the one who typically plugs it in.
But I'm also the one who typically fills the gas tank too. But the car is great for us as we also have an alternative to our Bev Lightning if we want to use it for a road trip with fewer stops. Also, when we have been loaned an ICE Corsair when ours was in for service, there's a very noticeable difference in the pickup of the car, and the PHEV is much more quick. It may not be the best for everyone, but there's an absolute use case for us and a great choice.
The only thing I wish is that it had a bit more range than the twenty five to thirty miles on electricity. fifty miles would have been more ideal. Stop hating on the PHEVs.
Roberto Baldwin (1:59:57)
might I I yeah. I like PH E Vs. I P heavs, I just don't think people are plugging them in as much as they should. my brother has his he talks to me all the time about his vault. Really I just like you know, I just plug it in, I got enough to get to work and back and I'm like, yeah, 'cause that's what it's for. I think I think P heavs are are are
Roberto Baldwin (2:00:21)
I th I know a lot of people who really do hate like in the auto mode like journalists who think P hevs are stupid or dumb. This get a biv. I'm like i it that's I mean, I sure I just don't think they don't they don't sell as much as people thought they would. They don't do as well as as people had had thought they would.
a lot of like I've had arguments, which John has not seen over dinners with people who say anyone who buys a P have a stupid. I'm like, no, they're not. There's a use case for every vehicle, and there's nothing wrong with it. Well, it's not an efficient thing to have a gas engine and the electric. And it but it works for people. It it is more right. But I I think for the right people, they're great if you plug them in and use them. I think we've complained about
I mean it's not efficient to have a gas engine period if you really want to get down to it.
Nicole Wakelin (2:01:01)
you know, or not complain, but said the unfortunate side of it is not everybody plugs them in. And if you're not gonna plug in, then it's silly to buy one. Like why are you buying one and paying the extra cost and having all that without plugging in and but if you buy it and use it and plug it in, good for you. I have I have one, I use it, I plug it in. I get free charging when I'm at the airport with that thing.
if you're if you're gonna buy it and never plug it in and just use it as a hybrid, just buy the hybrid because 'cause you're not dragging around an extra several hundred pounds of battery. But if you if you do plug it in, you know, that whether it's twenty five, thirty, fifty miles a day that you get, you know, that is a lot cheaper than putting gas in that vehicle.
Roberto Baldwin (2:01:29)
Yeah, if you're never gonna plug it in. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (2:01:42)
Exact that's money in your pocket, yo. You can use for five dollar Costco chicken.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:01:46)
Exactly. You can buy a lot of chickens with the money the gas money that you'll save. okay, continuing on, regarding Ford not putting capacitor touch in the steering wheel, I absolutely feel the pain.
My blue cruise on the Lightning expired a month ago and I'm not paying forward another fifty dollars a month or five hundred dollars a year for the privilege of using equipment already built into my truck.
at maybe twenty dollars a month I may cave in as I drive ninety miles a day back and forth to work each day, mostly on the highway. Wow, that's
Sam Abuelsamid (2:02:14)
That's lot that's a lot of miles to be doing with with a with a lightning. I do use it frequently but also did not ever use it in any bad weather conditions anyway. And I hate the subscription model that we're being th are being forced upon into. cars are expensive enough without an additional fifty dollars a month that goes on forever.
Roberto Baldwin (2:02:33)
Fifty dollars is too much. I think he's twenty dollars feels like a a more reasonable yeah, fifty dollars is
like somewhere there's a bean counter who's done the break even point on that for what's the best dollar amount to charge people to get people to do it. But fifty feels high to me.
Roberto Baldwin (2:02:49)
twenty is like a magic number for for a lot. Nineteen ninety nine is like this weird like mag I could do twenty.
Nicole Wakelin (2:02:51)
Right. So you're like, sure, right?
y you can get a a an on star plan for about twenty to twenty five bucks, that will allow you to keep using supercruise.
Roberto Baldwin (2:03:04)
what are we do I again, I just feel like Ford is nickel and diming. Like I s I again Ford engineers making great products and then everyone above is just like, Hey, let's make everyone mad
back to the point, without blue cruise the adaptive cruise control is annoying and constantly nagging when my hands are on the wheel in long straight areas of the highway. I timed it. At seventy miles an hour I go about three tenths of a mile or every fifteen seconds or so before the nagging starts. yeah, I don't I don't think it's usually quite that quick for me, but I've started to think that it's a secret plan to get us to buy blue crews so we can avoid the idiotic wheel wagging
Sam Abuelsamid (2:03:43)
We have to do on straight parts of the drive. I wonder what the uptake on s Blue Crews is at that price and how many like me just refuse to pay forward fifty bucks a month. Yeah.
Nicole Wakelin (2:03:44)
We have likely. I love that.
Roberto Baldwin (2:03:52)
Fifty bucks is too much.
too much. I don't think I do that. Fifty bucks a month. No thank you. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Roberto Baldwin (2:03:56)
Man. Too much. It's too much. We we agree.
Roberto Baldwin (2:04:02)
John, you're on the right side of of history. Fifty dollars is too much, Ruc. Twenty dollars. Twenty dollars.
Nicole Wakelin (2:04:03)
We agree with you. Yeah. You are the inside of history. You are inside, my friend. Yeah.
and then to our longtime listener, Chuck Goolsby, who's been with us since very early on. my wife is my wife is a veterinarian and has a twenty sixteen F-150 that she uses to tow a horse trailer for work. It's a nice truck, three and a half liter eco boost, king ranch, so kind of luxurious inside. Makes a great dog hauler as well with a generous back seat that we have lined with a cover. The trailer control system's awesome when it works, which often in strong sunlight it doesn't.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:04:40)
but about a year and a half ago the rear camera just stopped working entirely with a blank screen. So far backing up and of course so for backing up and of course the camera based trailer control system, it doesn't work at all anymore.
I checked the NITSA website app and you guys have mentioned many times and both reported our issue and noted many others are reporting the same. But no recall or acknowledgement from Ford on the subject.
Until last week. We received a letter from Ford dated June twenty twenty sixth.
Finally acknowledging the problem with F 150, failing backup cameras, and saying that we can have it replaced by our local Ford dealer under warranty under customer satisfaction program 25 and 17. Sadly, the lone Ford dealer in our town, and Chuck lives somewhere in central Oregon. sadly, the loan Ford dealer in our town is no longer an authorized Ford dealer. So they said they couldn't do it. There are two other Ford dealers in the region, both about a forty-five to sixty minute drive away.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:05:37)
So I called one to schedule the rap repair appointment. He said, Yep, we can perform that repair. But not until February.
do they not have the cameras? Did they like what is
Nicole Wakelin (2:05:56)
Read the rest of it 'cause this gets worse.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:05:59)
So eight months in the future. For repair, the letter says the time needed for this repair is less than one half day. the service manager did say that he can repair it right away, but we will have to pay and request a refund later. What? How would love to hear your thoughts on this? Keep up the great work.
Roberto Baldwin (2:06:17)
So they have the they have the capability. They just don't wanna They're gonna get paid either way. What are you doing?
Yeah, what the heck is up with that? I I've never heard of that before. Like if it's a warranty repair, yeah.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:06:26)
Neither have I. I'm gonna reach out to Ford and see if I can
Nicole Wakelin (2:06:33)
How I was thinking they were saying they were so busy. Literally I had it not scrolled all the way down on my computer and I was like, what do you mean they want to may charge you for it halfway through when you were reading? That's crazy.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:06:44)
Yeah. I mean th this is this is a recall and there there should not be any charging for it, period.
Nicole Wakelin (2:06:51)
There should be no charging for the recall and the only thing that should be holding it up is either a a part is not available yet, a fix isn't available, or your dealer can't get you in. Not like, well, we repair it now if you'll pay for it, but you're gonna have to wait for a refund until February. What? I don't understand the logic there.
Roberto Baldwin (2:07:05)
That's that's that's I don't underst
I do that does does it take a little while for the Ford to send them the money and they don't I don't I don't know. They're still getting money. You get the money. You're gil you're you're still yeah, I don't this is this is just shenanigans. Chuck Chuck you're dealing with shenanigans. You your wife's veterinarian megatruck shenanigans. They're they're they're they're doing some shenanigans.
Nicole Wakelin (2:07:14)
But still that's the dealer should be this.
This is shenanigans. You're right, Robbie. Shenanigans. Shenanigans Chuck.
There yeah, I would definitely just damn call forward. I want to see Ford this week. Ford, what's going on? Are you gonna be there? Are we gonna see you a Ford Flash? Okay, we'll just up one side down the other. Ford, what's going on? Yeah, sneak people around for you, Chuck. See what we can find out.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:07:35)
I I will I will check in with Ford and see what they have to say about this 'cause yeah, that's right. I forgot. That's yeah, we that on Wednesday. Yeah, I'll be there.
We'll we'll go smack Mike and say what's going on here.
a Costco near the Ford place you can get a chicken.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:07:56)
There there is a Costco between between here and there. The Costco is right on my way to to Michigan Speedway.
Nicole Wakelin (2:08:01)
Is a collection. I feel like we need to go for a Costco runs.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:08:08)
all right. And then finally from Juan T, he's got a response on our discussion last week on Flock. so hi Sam and the rest of the crew, listen to your shows and enjoy the content. So I'm giving you some feedback. My intent is for education and not necessarily criticism. So the Flock is Flock system is what is in terms of a tool for law enforcement. It can work very well, and it is not a perfect system. It's obviously used for other commercial purposes.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:08:33)
In regards to the unfortunate incident involving your friend outside of Minneapolis, I hope to give you a little clarity. Let me start by saying I'm a career law enforcement patrol supervisor with thirty-four years of experience, retiring soon.
I'm not going to get into the mistakes of inputting the wrong information into Flock, license plate characters. I'm listen I'm specifically going to address why there were four officers around your friend and the notion of overkill, no pun intended.
unfortunately for law enforcement, when they respond to this type of call,
Sam Abuelsamid (2:09:03)
You stated as a simple stolen tag, it's possi it's actually possible that the car is stolen. Therefore, it's actually viewed as a felony in progress, Grand Theft Auto. There are specific policies that govern how to proceed to this type of call along with police tactics.
I can guarantee you that almost any almost always there will be a strong police presence, meaning that you will see more than one or two officers. Like I said, police and tactics govern this for officers and civilian safety.
This may sound foreign to the average person, but that's the way it works. What may be perceived as an overreaction is actually proper procedure. I'm not diminishing the massive inconvenience this caused the poor man and his wife, which I'm sure sucked at the time.
That being said, unfortunately, this is how police will work this type of call. Unfortunately for the police, the bad guys we deal with always lie to us and we have to work out th through our interrogation and investigations the real truth.
Though these officers were working on the information they had at the time.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:10:00)
and what they believed was necessary. They eventually figured out during their investigation at the cost of a major hassle for your friend and his wife. In short, I get it from your perspective as well as your as your friends, but I hope you can also get it get it by me sharing a little behind the scenes information. Keep up the great work.
Nicole Wakelin (2:10:18)
I wasn't here when you guys chatted about this, so I didn't hear the whole conversation. But I mean, I get it. I I actually totally follow what he's saying because they don't know.
I mean, police officers get shot just because they pulled someone over and the guy's a bad guy and they don't know it, and they get shot when they think they're just gonna issue a speeding ticket. So I understand that they what they know, what the cops knew, was stolen tags.
They don't know that they're not stolen tags, they don't know if
You know, Joel is a career criminal ready to just shoot and run. Like they really don't know. And when you watch, did you watch the I don't know if the video from the police perspective was up when you guys first covered this?
Did was it up when you guys when you watch the video of them, especially like I thought that even initially I'm like, Yeah, but they don't know who you are. They don't know if you're a bad guy or not.
When you watch the video, there are four, but they're not like screaming at guns drawn, down the like they're actually pretty chill.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:10:56)
No, it wasn't up it wasn't live yet.
Nicole Wakelin (2:11:13)
The cops. They're kinda like, can you get out of the car? Can you come towards me? Joel is all like good, responsible, you know, not arguing with him. So it does I think seem like overkill unless you think that we know who he is. We know it's a mistake. The cops have no idea who is inside that car or what he's gonna do, you know?
Sam Abuelsamid (2:11:32)
Yeah, I I I agree with that. Yeah, and Juan, we appreciate you writing to us and and giving us that perspective. I will add one other thing to this though. you know, Joel and his wife are white. If this had happened to one of our friends whose skin tone is a different color, this could have gone very you know, very differently.
I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna argue with you. You have no idea. It may have gone differently, it may not have. I'm not gonna just let you say just because it could have been someone of color in that car that they would have pulled out a gun and shot You don't know that. That is just
Nicole Wakelin (2:12:12)
I don't even think if you not every mm see, I'm gonna disagree, guys. I I you think of the number of people that have been pulled over and not every black person, pe person of color, I I'm not trying to insult anybody by phrasing, is going to suddenly be in trouble because they're they're they're not white. I just feel like that's an unfair way to characterize anything that happened with us and it actually doesn't have anything to do with this traffic stop.
I I mean historically you can look at the data based on, you know, people being pulled over who are white versus people who are being pulled over as person of color. if you just look at the the data is it's the data. I I mean I'm not gonna I'm not gonna argue about the data of and and and
Nicole Wakelin (2:12:51)
I'm I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not gonna argue that maybe
either, but just because a black person got pulled over his weird as opposed to a white person in this car, there is no way that you would have known.
that would have it would have changed, but I'm saying like historically it's it's a far more terrifying situation for some a person of color to be pulled over than it is for a white person to p be pulled
Nicole Wakelin (2:13:11)
that might be true, but that does not change what these officers did or how they reacted. You have no idea how these specific officers would have reacted and it may have been exactly the same thing if somebody of color had been pulled over this. That's just not fair to say these officers would have done something different.
Roberto Baldwin (2:13:24)
No, I'm not I'm not saying it was these officers. I'm saying that that
that if you look at historical data. And at the end of the day, the problem isn't that the officers came out, they did their job. They weren't, you know, they weren't aggressive, they didn't like beat up Joel, they didn't do anything.
They did everything they were supposed to do, they followed the their procedures. But at the end of the day, they did all that because we're using technology that's not ready. It's not ready for prime time.
That is the that is the biggest issue for me, is flock should not be doing any of this. First of all, we don't we shouldn't live in a surveillance state.
Nicole Wakelin (2:13:46)
I'll give you that. 100%. I'll give you that. The clock thing that it would clock allowing that.
Roberto Baldwin (2:13:54)
Second of all, even we're living in a surveillance state and the surveillance is flawed and it's deeply flawed. And it this you know, this could have happened with a different officer's in a different state, with a different person, with different things. You know, it's happening it's been happening in LA a l a lot where just regular people are getting pulled over and and because flock has been making mistakes.
Nicole Wakelin (2:14:12)
It pulled over another journalist too. after after this originally, and you guys talked about everything. It pulled over Tim Esterdal, who lives in Nebraska and runs pickup truck talk plus SUV and another site called We Talk Cars.
It pulled over somebody pulled over Tim there. The exact same thing required some time to explain it. In fact, Tim was even like, No, wait, look, look, look. He pulled up the drive story apparently. He was like, This is a thing.
He I forget what it's Tim. I had it up so I would have it.
Roberto Baldwin (2:14:35)
Wait, was it a Range Rover? Was it another JLR?
Nicole Wakelin (2:14:42)
yeah, a range of a sport that JLR loaned him to review. And his plate numbers was 3408 DTM. So different two middle numbers, but still the 34 DTM. and I guess no padded, but he took about an hour and he was let go. So exact same thing happened. That that that so you're right. 100% about flock not, about if there if the stuff is imported wrong and about the number being.
Because it's the weird OEM plate with a little wee digits in the middle causing problems. That shouldn't be.
that the system hasn't even been updated, even though they've been that that Flock story you know, J Joel's story went pretty really wide, you know, pretty pretty quickly. And there's follow up stories and there's stories from four four media and some other places that have also talked about this thing. And the fact that it went really wide and Flock still didn't update their system. They
after we ran the story, he heard from someone at Flock and they were concerned about it. multiple phone calls with Flock's chief communications officer. and he says Flo i I don't see anything like looking through this, he explained that even if the 10 was normal size, Flock would still have flagged it as a match because that's how they've set it up according to law enforcement's request.
Sometimes partial plates are all they have to go on at first. so it's the partial plate thing. my god. Then anybody who had the first Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (2:16:05)
But but they know that there's an that they
already know there's an issue. That's the crazy part. It's like there was a nationally like like a a national story that is a known issue with this particular license plate and they still did not update their system. It just shows the their their inability to do anything correctly.
Sam. I just put the link to the in case anybody's curious, I put the link in our sh personal show notes. You can stick it in the show notes. That has the extra stuff where the stuff about Tim getting pulled over and also what Flock officially said, which is absolutely no more comforting than not knowing what Flock said. Like, well, the partial number. so yeah, it it just doesn't sound like and I think.
Nicole Wakelin (2:16:48)
I th I heard something about Flock getting booted from some place recently too.
here in Michigan, Westland, which is about twenty miles east of us here, this week decided to cancel their contract with Flock. and there are other communities and we mentioned this a little bit last week, you know, that a lot of communities are either n r deciding not to renew their can their contracts with Flock or if they if they can't get out of them early, they're actually going out and putting garbage bags over the cameras. Yeah.
Roberto Baldwin (2:17:18)
So they're just covering up the cameras.
So they're th they're like, Well, we can't get out of our contract, but
Sam Abuelsamid (2:17:20)
So they're you know, they're not and and you know, we said this
last week, you know, do not you know, do not go out and vandalize stuff. You know, you don't own this stuff. Don't don't go don't go commit vandalism. Yeah, at at least. but you know, talk you know, talk to your local officials, you know, if this is something you don't want in your community and you know, see what can be done.
Roberto Baldwin (2:17:29)
You're gonna go to jail. You're gonna have four cops at your house.
I've been pulled out of cars before from the from the car dark driver, please get out the car. I get out.
I've never gotten called out of a car. I've had come over and be mad at me for going too fast, but I've never had them called me out of a car.
called out of a car before. it's yeah, it's not great. But but again, at the end of the day, this is really the the biggest issue with this is is flock and its inability to to to essentially do the thing it's supposed to do correctly. And also we probably shouldn't have flock cameras everywhere. The idea that we're you know, this surveillance state wherever you go, everything about you is being tracked and and and people are determining who you are and the kind of person you are.
Roberto Baldwin (2:18:25)
based on this data is is is insane.
Sam Abuelsamid (2:18:29)
And you know, other other stuff has been coming out in recent weeks about Flock. I four four four four has had a lot of coverage about this. where, you know, they're not they're not just tracking the license plates, but they're also identifying any bumper stickers you might have on the vehicle. I mean they they're really narrowing down a lot of information. They're
Roberto Baldwin (2:18:35)
Yeah, they've been doing it for a while.
how often you drive, where you're going, where you're shopping. Yeah, no. It's it's a it's it's not great.
you know, thank you for for writing in, you know, like I said, with your perspective, you know, we reali we realize, you know, it's it's not an easy job. you know, and and most most officers are doing the right thing. but
No. My d my uncle was a cop. Yeah, no. I th it's yeah. I my
uncle was a cop for for years and, you know, I understand that like, hey, we gotta block this person in because there's a flight risk because it is a stolen car. we gotta, you know, call this person out because if they're you know, if they're stealing cars there's you know, there there is a possibility this person might be armed. And so you wanna, you know, you wanna stay safe and that, you know, and and also the safety of people around as well.
Roberto Baldwin (2:19:35)
Yeah, because if that person
takes off, now you've created a an entirely new like issue. Yeah, like it like yeah. That's what helicopters are.
Nicole Wakelin (2:19:38)
Even more hazardous thing. Yeah.
one for sending that and a thank you for thirty four years of being in law enforcement. Thank you, my friend.
anybody else that wants to share their thoughts, feedback at wheelbearings.media.
You can sit you can listen to me w complain about privacy for like the seven thousandth time. I'm s
Sam Abuelsamid (2:20:06)
all right. thank you everybody and we will talk to you next time. Bye.
Nicole Wakelin (2:20:09)
We'll see you next week. Bye
About this episode
Sunroofs and moonroofs get clarified, then the conversation drifts into how modern car tech changes daily life—from EV charging and frunk tradeoffs to software-controlled controls and subscription driver-assist. Hosts critique Ford’s Mach-E drive-mode UI and frunk pricing, compare charging power and charger reliability scoring, and debate connected-car security risks like app-based “Start Inhibit.” The show also covers hybrid behavior, towing/power options on the F-150 PowerBoost, and real-world camera/telematics controversies.
This week Robbie has been driving the Ford Mustang Mach-e GT and Sam had the Ford F-150 Lariat PowerBoost Hybrid
There's lots of news including a Ford patent that could immobilize cars, a proposal for a VW Thing revival as an EREV and an Abarth version of the Fiat Topolino. A wagon version of the Polestar 4 has been spotted testing with a rear window and Volvo is planning to bring sedans and wagons back to the US. Horse has a range extender system with an axial flux motor and VW is considering building its China developed EVs in Germany.
Sam drove the Rivian R2 and got a demo of the new interface from Wassym Bensaid. The Nissan Altima is dead in America and the Gordie Howe bridge is finally opening but Dongfeng EVs may not be allowed to cross it. GM is offering a discount to its customers for using the Ionna charging network and we have a bunch of listener mail.
