Cheaper Cybertruck, Lexus TX Review, Japanese Micro Cars for America

Summary

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Car Stuff Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Cheaper Cybertruck, Lexus TX Review, Japanese Micro Cars for America
Date: February 23, 2026
Hosts: Tom Appel & Brendan Appel (in for Jill Ciminillo)
Guest: Zach Pradel (Shooting Cars)

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Overview

This episode dives into three main topics: the surprising new entry-level Tesla Cybertruck, a first-hand review of the new Lexus TX three-row SUV, and a special look at Japanese "Kei" micro cars and their potential (or lack thereof) in the U.S. market. Tying all this together are conversations about the ongoing shifts in the auto industry, nostalgia for older vehicles, practical concerns about fuel economy, and why Americans cling to—or reject—certain automotive trends. The episode maintains a friendly, conversational, and often humorous tone, rich with car-culture references and real-world insights from driving and reviewing new vehicles.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Engine Downsizing – Nostalgia vs. Progress

Timestamps: 01:15–09:54

• Tom describes driving the new Chevy Traverse (now with a turbo 2.4L I4 replacing the classic V6) and notes increased engine noise and unusual power delivery.
• Brendan laments the loss of V6/V8 engines, pointing out the reduction in driving character and minimal real-world fuel economy gains:

  “They’re faster, they’re more fuel efficient, but they’re not a better driving experience for the most part.” (05:59)

• Discussion about old-school, large-displacement V8s and the effortless torque they delivered.
• Both agree new technology brings reliability and longevity, but at the cost of some automotive “soul.”

Notable Moment:
The hosts swap stories about noisy classic cars and the fleeting thrill of hearing a high-lobe-cam V8 at a car show (03:09–04:22).

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2. The Cheaper Tesla Cybertruck – What’s the Catch?

Timestamps: 09:54–13:47

• Tom summarizes Tesla’s bizarre announcement of a new, stripped-down Cybertruck for $59,990 (down from ~$80k), available for a "test run" of 10 days.
• Missing features for the lower price: loses air suspension, ventilated seats, premium audio, some towing capacity, rear seat screen, and 120V outlet.

  “Tesla’s business model: pissing people off.” – Brendan (10:47)

• Potential impact on existing Cybertruck owners and resale values.
• Tesla’s Austin plant is “wildly under-delivering”—capacity for 500,000 trucks, sold ~20,000 (12:06–12:32).
• Brendan: The Cybertruck drives exceptionally well despite its looks, according to current owners (11:22), but Tesla really needs something more like Ford’s Maverick:

  “They need a maverick-sized truck, and it doesn't need to look like it came out of 8 bits.” (12:32)

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3. Ford’s “Model T Moment” and Low-Voltage EVs

Timestamps: 12:50–14:15

• Ford’s “Model T Moment” EV: talked about as a small, $30K, 48-volt electric pickup—an unusual move in an industry standardized at 400–800 volts.
• Potential new battery tech might explain the low voltage; the hosts are skeptical but intrigued by how it plays out.

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4. Extended-Range Plug-In Hybrids – Volt Origins

Timestamps: 14:15–16:06

• Brief history of the Chevrolet Volt, its misunderstood range-extender setup, and attempts to educate both public and media (i.e., Bob Lutz vs. Letterman) on its unique plug-in/generator format.
• Extended-range format continues in some upcoming trucks (Ram Rev, etc.).

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5. Lexus TX Three-Row SUV – Detailed Review

Timestamps: 16:10–23:10

• Tom reviews the new Lexus TX, an extended-wheelbase, three-row version of the RX.
  • Available as TX350 (2.4L turbo), TX500 (turbo hybrid), and 550h+ (plug-in, $80k+).
  • “It is quieter, it is roomier, and it is shockingly, shockingly refined on the highway…I can't believe the quality of the ride.” (17:24)
  • Handles cold well, gets 20 mpg (non-hybrid) in tough winter driving.
  • “Lexuses aren’t fun to drive...unless it’s a car that is specifically fun to drive.” (20:22)

The LC Coupe Eulogy

• Brief tribute to the discontinued Lexus LC:
  • “That is the one car I will miss, of all the ones that recently died.” – Brendan (21:36)
  • “I used to call it the poor man’s Ferrari, but it was really the smart man’s Ferrari.” – Tom (22:02)

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6. Nostalgia vs. Today’s Trends

Timestamps: 23:47–25:55

• Social media chat: Tom (@CarGuyTom) is active on BlueSky, Twitter/X.
• Flare-side vs. step-side truck nostalgia and how those features originated for practical purposes.

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7. Special Guest: Zach Pradel – Japanese Kei Cars for America?

Timestamps: 25:55–41:29

What are Kei Cars?

• Kei (“K”) cars: Ultra-small Japanese cars, limited to 660cc engines, get special tax and parking breaks in Japan.
• “You’re talking about your throaty V8s...these are 0.7-liter or smaller engines.” – Zach (25:57)
• Americans have rejected tiny cars before (Geo Metro, Chevy Spark, Scion iA, etc.).

Why Consider Kei Cars for the U.S.?

• Trump administration suggested importing them for affordability (≈$10,000 new in Japan).
• Pros: Cheap, easy to park, good for congested cities like Tokyo (where gas, registration is expensive and space is at a premium).
• Cons: Lack of performance, required safety and size compromises, major regulatory exemption hurdles.

Notable Quotes:

“Every single one [modern kei cars], except for the Honda S660, I fit in better than my own Mazda 3.” – Zach (37:13)
“Lawnmowers are more powerful than those.” – Brendan (30:54)

Would they sell in America?

• Highly unlikely. Americans prefer bigger, faster, plus better second-hand options at equal price (used Lexus GS350, etc.).
• Even with safety upgrades, regulations would make them larger, heavier, and more expensive.

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8. Car Quiz, 1990s Edition

Timestamps: 42:01–51:18

• Lighthearted trivia about 1990s car models (Ford Fairmont, Chevy Malibu, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Altima, etc.).
• Mix of friendly ribbing, auto trivia, and nostalgia.
• Brief detour into global Denny’s and nostalgic U.S. brands thriving in Japan (Mr. Donut, Big Boy).

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9. Industry Updates & Final Thoughts

Timestamps: 52:00–55:36

• Polestar reboot confusion: New line-up, discounts, and pricing ambiguity.
• Growing threat from BYD (Chinese automaker entry into Asia, possibly the U.S.).
• Final sign-off with encouragement to check out the hosts’ and guest’s channels.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the loss of V8s:

  “The thing about a V8 is you don’t have to dip in to get going, that extra torque that it has is just not being able, not having to get the engine really going to just move the vehicle—that relax thing...” – Tom (07:33)

• On Tesla’s business model:

  “Yeah. Tesla’s business model: pissing people off.” – Brendan (10:47)

• On the Lexus TX ride:

  “It’s right up there with something like a Bentley or a Rolls…the ride quality.” – Tom (18:03)

• On the practicality of Kei cars:

  “For the American roads, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. They’re extremely charming cars… but man, are they lacking in the power department.” – Zach (31:10)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Engine Downsizing Discussion: 01:15–09:54
• Cheaper Cybertruck Segment: 09:54–13:47
• Ford’s New 48-Volt EV Discussion: 12:50–14:15
• Lexus TX Review: 16:10–23:10
• Kei Cars Deep Dive (w/ Zach): 25:55–41:29
• 1990s Car Quiz & Fast Food Tangents: 42:01–51:18
• Polestar/Industry Wrap-Up: 52:00–55:36

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How to Find More

• Consumer Guide Automotive: consumerguide.com
• Shooting Cars (Zach Pradel): YouTube – "Shooting Cars"
• Sons of Speed / We Are Motor Driven: wearemotordriven.com
• Tom Appel on Social Media: @CarGuyTom (BlueSky, Twitter/X)

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This episode is ideal for listeners who want critical car news, reviews, pop culture, and some hearty nostalgia—with a dose of industry skepticism and humor. Even if you missed the show, you’ll finish this summary with a clear sense of the latest industry shifts and debates among real car experts.

Transcript

[A]

Whether you drive a car, need a car, or just occasionally bum a ride with friends, you've come to the right place. Join Jill and Tom as they break down everything that's going on in the auto world. New car reviews, shopping tips, driving green electric cars, classic cars, and plenty of great guests. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.

[B]

All right. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast. I'm Tom Appel, publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive. Thank you for joining us today. When you have a chance chance, check us [e-mail] that's consumerguide.com my reviews are there. Fun old stuff is there. And sometimes I do serious stuff. I just wrote a piece called what is a Catalytic Converter? Just in case you're wondering what your neighbors just had stolen from their vehicle. In studio today is Brendan Appel in for Jill. Brendan, how are you? I'm great, Tom. How are you? You are one of the leaders over at of Sons of Speed.

[C]

Yes, it's me and my friend Paul Harold. And we concentrate everything that is soulful about a car. So if you want to kind of know what, what it's like to drive it and maybe drive it at its limits, that'd be us.

[B]

Funny you should mention driving it at its limits. I was just doing the opposite, the very opposite. I just got into the Chevrolet Traverse, which was redesigned last year, and one of the interesting things I've heard from people, including Jill, who's. I don't know what she's doing today.

[C]

Yeah, she's probably getting her nails done.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Or just sleeping late. I would do that really, really late. But the Traverse went from a V6, a very nice General Motors 3.6 liter V6, to a turbocharged 2.4 liter. Four.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

More power. But people are complaining about the power delivery.

[C]

Is it peaky?

[B]

That's what I'm hearing. The shifts are a little aggressive that you can hear the engine. So I drove here and I've only 1.8 miles on this thing, but I tried to drive it as slow as I possibly could and try to feel the shifts. So far, all I'm getting is I can hear the engine.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

It doesn't sound bad, but I'm hearing more engine than I'd expect to.

[C]

Yeah. You know, one of the things that growing up, I always appreciated more than. I don't want to hear the engine necessarily. I want to hear the exhaust.

[B]

Right.

[C]

I want to hear a nice V8 exhaust on top of that and something with a little bit of like that, you know, and what we get nowadays is no exhaust sound because of a lot of drive by turbos. Well, turbos and drive by noise regulations. Thank you, California. And so basically, except for the Mustang and a few other vehicles, you really don't get any meaningful exhaust noise. What that does though is that the noise that is created now is that you're hearing is coming more and more from the engine. And unless it's got a supercharger. Yeah, you're probably. There's just. There's not a lot of good noise that comes out from under the hood itself.

[B]

I am, and I'm sure I lose points in your eyes for saying this, but I find the Mustang exhaust obnoxious.

[C]

Yeah. It kind of depends on your age. I've noticed that the older I get.

[B]

Thank you. I'm old.

[C]

I know. And you know, it's not just you, but you know, it's like the older I get, the more I kind of just. I get that. I totally understand that. But when I was younger we would go to car shows and, and not only car shows, but just those drive in meets. They used to have one at Fluke's in Niles here every Friday and Saturday night. And the best part of that was just standing there and watching the, especially the Mopars come through with just like high lobe cams and just the, the little that, that beat in the, in the exhaust and you would just, it put a smile on your face.

[B]

Why?

[C]

I don't know. It just did.

[B]

I was at Superdawg once and, and there was like half of a car show there. I think it was a car show ended and people went to Superdog afterwards. But it was the evening and, and one of the cars that came in C2 Corvette had to be a 427. I didn't hear it come in, but I heard it start after it had been parked.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Holy cow. The cult Richter scale. It was crazy. But it was engine, it was exhaust and it was just throbbing and that was, that's real. You know that that was a 427, right?

[C]

And this is what. If you ever go to a race, if you go to a racetrack and you go to a real race, 90% of what you're feeling and experiencing in that moment is going to be the sound and like another 8% is going to be the smell and then like 2% is going to be just watching what's going on. But it's like the sound is so important and I feel like if I ever went to a Formula E race where it was just silent it would, I don't know what that would be like. We like watching a silent movie. Now.

[B]

I've never watched a Formula E race, but for people who don't know, those are electric cars.

[C]

Right.

[B]

And they don't make noise. No. At all.

[C]

And that's like, you know, go to, go to an actual race, even go to a drag race or something. Just something with like a very high horsepower, loud exhaust vehicle. And you will see what I mean in that it is so integral to the experience itself that removing that one element is basically removing all sensory of that event.

[B]

So to take this full circle, the traverse is coughing up a little bit of that.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I don't know, it seems like a very nice car. Again, I've only put two miles on it.

[C]

The problem is that the whole industry's gone away from the six. Except I guess now the Ram has that had or I guess still has the Hurricane Inline 6. And they put it in some other stuff at Stellantis. But the very smooth, nice six cylinders that we've all grown up with, if you're of a certain age, they're all going away. Even these nice V6s. That 3.8 has been around forever. The 3800 as they used to call it, what just a great engine. And now everything has got to be turbocharged and smaller and peak year and it's. Yeah, they're faster, yeah, they're more fuel efficient, but they're not a better driving experience for the most part.

[B]

I am not seeing the massive fuel economy gains that you would expect. And part of that probably is because you drive a little harder to compensate. Right. You want to get into the torque and most of these engines feel good. And later on I want to talk about the Lexus tx, which is the long wheelbase three row version of the very popular RX that's now powered by a 2.4 liter four cylinder turbo as well. 275 horsepower doesn't sound great on paper, but it feels good. But it's not the V6 and it's getting better and better each year. I don't know if they're making little tweaks to it, but still. And I'm not seeing the huge fuel economy.

[C]

No. And even the Ram, you know, in my. I bought as you know, a Ram last year with the inline six and I'm averaging right now in the frigid weather. You know, that doesn't just affect EVs.

[B]

Right.

[C]

12.9, 13 miles a gallon I was getting if I drove a TRX. Really nice I'd probably get about 10 or 11. So I'm not that far off. And I'm not driving a trx. I'm driving just a normal high output, you know, hurricane engine. So I'm not seeing it. You see it's very, I don't know why it's so affected by the cold weather, but it is. And that happened also last year. So it's definitely a pattern. In the better weather I'd probably get about 15. So in the city.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So yeah, I'm not seeing a huge savings on the fuel economy either. And the thing about a V8 is that you don't have to dip in to get going. It's that extra torque that it has that was so nice is just not being able, not having to get the engine really going to just move the

[B]

vehicle, that relax thing. And there's a lot of people who will never ever experience this. And I hardly experience this, but back when there were 500 cubic inch Cadillacs and 460 cubic inch Fords and Lincolns. Yeah. Just creep off idle. You had all the power in the world. You just had these monster engines.

[C]

We used to call it breathing on the throttle would just get that thing going. Right. It's so much inherent torque and those, I call those the good old days. I just, there's something about those engines that really made driving just easy. And then you go to a high revving, high horsepower so to speak, in the higher RPM range. Smaller engines and you really got to wring them out to get anywhere with them. And a lot of people will say yeah, but driving a slow car fast is more fun than driving a fast car slow. True, but it's also a lot more work.

[B]

Yeah, and that's the thing about getting old too, right. I mean I loved my Volkswagen Scirocco. I had a Sunbird with a five speed manual. Before that I had a Ranger with a five speed that was totally useless in snow. You just kept trying somehow I'll take off and forth but. But whatever. But yeah, automatics. At some point my wife was very, very disappointed. She was very scared to tell me that when we bought our last car that she didn't want stick anymore.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And we bought a, a Crosstrek, a Subaru Crosstrek.

[C]

It's a great vehicle.

[B]

It's a great vehicle and we love it. We still have it because she stopped working away from the office. So our 10 year old car now has like 60,000 miles on it.

[C]

Right. Well, and that's, you know, back in the day you know, you had these great engines and these. We have a lot of nostalgia for them. But a 10 year old car, even if it had 50,000 miles, probably had so much rust in it that it was basically gone. And even a 50,000 mile car started to feel a little tired in all the components. So while we act nostalgic for the old days, there are some really good benefits to the new vehicles too.

[B]

Speaking of the old days, do you remember. This is a terrible segue, but I want to talk about the cybertruck here for a moment and I don't know if you saw the cybertruck news.

[C]

Maybe I didn't. I heard maybe. Are they trying to build a smaller one now or something?

[B]

A much cheaper one?

[C]

Oh, well, that would be helpful.

[B]

And the news here is a bit confusing and unclear, but Elon Musk introduced this vehicle and said that it's only available for 10 days. Okay. Which doesn't make any sense. And there was a clarification, I think later that they're going to see what happens after 10 days to make a decision about what to do. But basically the old dual motor version, which was the popular version, was 79,990 bucks to start with all wheel drive. And they did try briefly a cheaper rear wheel drive version that was 10 grand less. Well, if you bought one of those, you're really pissed off now.

[C]

Oh, well, this is Tesla's business model.

[B]

Yeah. Pissing people off. But there's a new base, all wheel drive, dual motor for 59,990. Okay, 60 grand.

[D]

All right.

[B]

This is going to kill resale values of existing vehicles.

[C]

Well, yeah, another Tesla staple.

[B]

It's starting to seem like a deal. But you lose a bunch of stuff.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

To do this, you lose the air suspension, the ventilated seats, the leather, some towing capacity. I don't know why the rear seat screen, you go to a cheaper audio system, you lose active noise cancellation and you lose the in cabin 120 volt outlet. But you are saving 20 grand.

[C]

Yeah. So the thing about the cybertruck is everyone loves to hate the way it looks. And I don't disagree. But the one thing I will tell you from people who have one that I've talked to is that they love the way it drives, which is seemingly counterintuitive. And this is coming from somebody who owned a Model S plaid and a cybertruck and said they'd rather drive the Cybertruck. It just drives better. And I don't know why that is. I've never driven one Personally. But if, if it does drive that well and they can get people in to maybe look at them and take a test drive at 59,000 that they wouldn't have at 70,000 or 79,000.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Maybe that's going to help deliver sales.

[B]

They may have to move to this and they may be in a position where they actually have to lose a little money on these because the factory is so underutilized. That plant that they built in Austin, Texas was set up to deliver 500,000 vehicles a year. Half of those were supposed to be cybertrucks. Last year it looks like they sold and the numbers are a little unclear because Tesla doesn't break them out, but it looks like they sold about 20,000 of these. Wow. So they are wildly under delivering these things.

[C]

You know what they really need is they need a maverick size truck and it doesn't need to look like it came out of 8 bits. Polygon NES graphics from 1984.

[B]

We'll see how that goes. Right. Because Ford just announced more about their Model T moment vehicle.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

And there's some interesting things we know about that now. It's going to be a 48 volt system.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Which is way down because I think your average EV is right around 400 volts.

[C]

Right.

[B]

And your advanced ones with the faster charging are 800 volts.

[C]

Right.

[B]

So we'll see where this goes. But they're still talking about a 30 grand subcompact pickup truck that's electric.

[C]

Are they thinking 48 volts in conjunction with new battery technology that works better than that?

[B]

I have not heard that, but possibly.

[C]

Yeah. Because that would be a really weird modification to what basically has come a standard 400 to 800 volt system. But if they figured out a way to get that to work with some of the new battery technology that we've been waiting for for like ever. It seems maybe that's it. But otherwise maybe they just don't want to have people saying I need to put a battery charger. No, just plug this in the hole. I'm sure that's not going to charge any faster.

[B]

Yeah. 48 volt is a little complicated relative to fast DC. Fast charging too. You're going to have to invert that way down.

[C]

It's so odd. I don't know. We'll probably hear more about that though.

[B]

Yeah. I'm glad they're still pushing ahead with this. I still think they're kind of doing this on the fly too. If you remember when the Chevrolet volt came out 2000 I think they had it at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

I think everyone at General Motors was like, oh, crap, we gotta build this. Like, the response was really positive.

[C]

Right.

[B]

And even though a lot of people didn't get it, people who did get it, liked it and wrote about it, and they were pretty like, ah, we gotta build this.

[C]

I remember the. Do you remember the commercials that they ran for the Volt? And it had the surrounded why are you at a gas station?

[D]

Kind of thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I thought that was electric. It was basically a guy showing up at a gas station and every. Everybody's like, why is that here? I thought that ran on and they were trying to use that commercial to explain the range extender. And I understood it, but I hope that helped. But I don't know, because the Volt's not around anymore. But it was a great idea and their scout is going to be using that. I don't know if the Stellantis is still doing the rev. What are they? That truck that they were going to be.

[B]

Oh, what's going to come out is going to be the extended range truck. The EV is dead.

[C]

The EV is dead.

[B]

And then they change the names. I'm afraid to even see say it now.

[C]

Right, exactly. That's why it's not coming to mind, because it's changed so much.

[B]

But the extended Range, I believe, was the Ram Rev.

[C]

Ram Rev. So Voltram Charger, I think you're whatever one it is. But the Volt is the one that launched that technology. And you're right, it took. You know, the idea of it was so tremendous that they actually had to build it, and then they had to try to educate the public on what it was.

[B]

Well, famously, David Letterman didn't get it, and Bob Lutz, who was head of marketing at General Motors, ended up being a guest on Letterman to try to clear the air. Because Letterman was just ripping on it like it's an electric vehicle that goes 40 miles. What's the point?

[C]

Right.

[B]

And what was the point? If that's what you think it is, and that's what everyone thought it was.

[C]

Right. And for those of you who don't know, what it was was it was a gas generator that charged the batteries that ran the car. So the gas engine was only connected to a generator. It wasn't connected to the wheels of the car.

[B]

And it was very efficient.

[C]

And you could plug it in, too, I believe. At least now you can with the new systems.

[B]

But yeah.

[C]

All right.

[B]

Yep, There you go. All right, I've got A new review up. I want to talk about this car real quickly.

[C]

Okay, what is it?

[B]

Have you driven the Grand Highlander?

[C]

No, actually I have not because there's

[B]

a Lexus analog for that and that is the Lexus TX.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Available is 350, 500 and 550H plus.

[C]

Apparently it ate both the LS and the LC. It did, because both of those cars are gone.

[B]

Those are gone. But the TX is interesting for a couple of reasons. It is a long wheelbase version of the rx.

[C]

Right.

[B]

So it's a three row version. Three rows are suddenly very hot again in the us.

[C]

How that just is up and down.

[B]

It's cyclical because I remember people not worrying about three rows for a while and now they're really hot.

[C]

I'll tell you what happened in my house is that we didn't want three rows because we didn't want to drive everyone else's kids. So we were specifically looking for two rows so we didn't get stuck driving, doing the carpools.

[B]

But the funny thing here is, right, the Highlander's going away, the Toyota Highlander, and that's becoming electric only. And the Grand Highlander is going to kind of take its place. But that's not happening at Lexus. The RX very much like the Highlander mechanically and dimensionally. It didn't suffer any decline in sales when the TX went on sale. It's still like this crazy hot, more than 100,000 unit thing. I don't know how Lexus does it, but the RX is also a really

[C]

nice vehicle and it's just got such a following from the day it came out and it's been a leader in its segment since day one.

[B]

So here's the thing, the tx, longer wheelbase, longer overall, a little bit wider. It is better for all of those things. It's a little less sexy looking. Right? It is big. Yes. You know, so the dimensions kind of weigh it down a little bit, but wow, what a nice car. Everything that the RX is, this is more, it is quieter, it is roomier and it is shockingly, shockingly refined on the highway. I can't believe the quality of the ride. Wow. It's, it's right up there with something like a Bentley or a roll believe the ride quality.

[C]

But, well, that's good because Lexus really is, had been known for that quality of ride and just providing you a luxury experience at a, essentially a discount price. And then, you know, you had Genesis come along, kind of steal that thunder

[B]

for a while, a little bit and, and, and Genesis owns the interior, right?

[C]

Yes.

[B]

The Lexus interior is, is arguably made me more refined and a little bit more restrained.

[C]

Right.

[B]

But it also is less classy. I mean, you gotta hand it to Genesis.

[C]

You do. But if Lexus is coming back now with a ride that rivals those cars that you're speaking of, that's awesome.

[B]

Yeah. So I drove a full boat luxury. So there's a TX350, that's a 2.4 turbo. There's the 500 which is a 2.4 turbo hybrid. And then there's the plug in hybrid, the 550H plus which is stupid money. It's like over 80 grand. I don't know why anyone would do

[C]

that, especially since it's the limitations of plug in hybrids that we've talked about many times.

[B]

But one of the funny things about this is so you have 275 horsepower out of the base engine. I think it's 303. It's a lot of power out of the. I'm just going to skip notes here.

[C]

A lot. Quick or not.

[B]

What's that?

[C]

Does the hybrid add a lot of horsepower or not?

[B]

It does, yeah. To 360 something.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

I don't know why I can't find this.

[C]

And then what kind of fuel economy are you seeing difference wise between.

[B]

I drove this during the really nasty

[C]

cold and you had the non hybrid, right?

[B]

I had the non hybrid. And that was 366 horsepower for the hybrid. Yeah. But I actually moved a bunch of people around with this car. I did a little highway drive. It was very, very, very cold and I got exactly 20 miles per gallon.

[C]

How did the heated seats work?

[B]

Well.

[C]

Yeah, you don't know how much you need those until the weather that we.

[B]

I find that I need heated steering wheel the most. I don't wear gloves.

[C]

I love the heated steering wheel.

[B]

Yeah. And that's just great.

[C]

I love leveled heated steering wheels because in the Ram you got three levels. But if I take it in and I get a loaner, they give me a Grand Cherokee that has one level which is the surface of the sun.

[B]

Okay. Levels of heat.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Where like you can have it on for about a minute before it just heats to levels that will melt your skin and you got to turn it off. So.

[B]

Well, the cheap bastards at Lexus only give you one level.

[C]

Well, maybe it's. Maybe they've nailed the level. So you don't need the three.

[B]

It was good.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

It was good. Yeah. But I love this vehicle and I've Said this before and I'll say it again. Lexuses aren't fun to drive.

[C]

They are very much besides the lc. Yes, that was fun to drive.

[B]

Yeah. Unless it's a car that is specifically fun to drive. An isf, something like that.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Those are crazy cars.

[D]

Right.

[B]

None of their crossovers. There's the line in the sand.

[C]

There is the line in the sand. And I just, you know, I haven't been here since they killed the lc. Let me just, you know, play some taps for it because, man, was that such a great, great car. If you want one, and I strongly suggest it, you probably do. You just don't know it yet, man. Beautiful. Sounds great. Just such a great car.

[B]

I am going to remind us what the LC was.

[C]

The LC, it was a luxury coupe. So it was a two door, long hood, short deck, drove fantastic. Had a 472 horsepower V8. That sounded amazing.

[B]

And if you didn't know about cars and you looked at this, you'd be like, Ferrari.

[C]

Right, Right. It looks like a. It looks like a Ferrari, like a GT cruiser that Ferrari would have made. It came in some crazy colors, including like copper and they had some really nice interiors. We have a bunch of videos on our, on our channel, which is at. We are motor driven. If you look on YouTube and.

[B]

Okay, we'll link to those. Yeah.

[C]

And there's also. We did a couple on TikTok long forms that it's. We just had such a love affair with this car. The convertible made it even better. Even though it took away a lot of structural rigidity, it didn't matter because now then you could hear the exhaust even better. I have this great video. Just driving through the hills of Galena in that thing and I had so much fun. That is the one car I will miss that of all of the ones that recently died.

[B]

I used to call it the poor man's Ferrari, but it was really the smart man's Ferrari. If you were just looking for a car that had that presence and yet was more drivable and you could get an $80 oil change for. Right.

[C]

And they'd probably feed you breakfast while you were doing it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Because the dealer experience at lexus is top nine.

[B]

And they never sold well because they're 100.

[C]

They got up to 100 plus thousand dollars.

[B]

Yeah. It's a lot of money for a Lexus buyer or an average buyer.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Or if you were thinking about a Corvette, it's a lot of money.

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

So the thing about it is I think that they are Going to be very collectible.

[C]

Yes, I totally agree with that.

[B]

And now that we know that the number has been capped.

[C]

Exactly. And I know that they're coming with some sort of LFA replacement that may or may not be sold through Lexus directly, but that's going to be even more expensive. So this, that's sort of near supercar price, but not quite. You know, it was sort of an affordable 911 convertible competitor. I mean, compared to that car, it was a bargain. Right. But it was just such a fun car to drive and such. It sounded great and looked great and it's going to be sorely missed.

[B]

Yeah, that's a shame. My review of the TX is live now.

[C]

Excellent.

[B]

And people can check that out. And it'[e-mail] we will link to your videos of the LC.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And we're going to take a break. When we come back, we talked to Zach Prattle of shooting cars.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Stick around.

[A]

Questions or comments, Drop us a [e-mail] that's carstuffsumerguide.com. Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.

[B]

And we're back. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast. I'm Tom. He is Brendan, sitting in for Jill this week. Thanks for doing that.

[C]

Oh, my pleasure.

[B]

You're in studio. And we have. We have tapped the donut box.

[C]

Yes, we have. And I have a very nice blueberry something or other.

[B]

Smells so good. Oh, gosh.

[C]

It's like, you know, it's like that candle. It does. It smells amazing. Hey, Tom, by the way, are you on social media at all?

[B]

You made that so easy for me. I am Car guy Tom. I am on Twitter X and on Blue Sky. For whatever reason, Blue sky has come alive for car people. So if you want to check out Blue sky, just try to find some of the people I've been chatting with. And you want to get into those conversations, but it's all of a sudden just exploding.

[C]

I will say that Tom is one of the more entertaining people to even follow on any of those platforms because he actually uses them and asks interesting questions and puts interesting things. So I appreciate it.

[B]

People seem to enjoy it. And over the weekend I saw a Ford Ranger flare side. Wow. You don't see those very often, but the flare side is kind of cool. It's a good look, Very nostalgic look. What people forget about the flare side is that its roots go back to, like, people sitting on the side of the truck, standing on the side of the truck by the bed and taking things like cones and putting them down on the road while the vehicle is driving. And it was literally a step side because you could step there.

[C]

Right. It had some function to it that everybody was like, that looks cool too. And that's.

[B]

Yeah. And that function got lost years and years ago. But the flare side and the step side stuck around forever.

[C]

OSHA killed that probably.

[B]

Yeah, it was me. It's not actually safe. All right, in studio with us for, I think the third time, Zach Brattle. Zach, how are you?

[D]

I'm good, how are you?

[B]

I am good. You are the host and creator of Shooting Cars. One of my favorite things on the Internet because one of the things you do is drive other people's cars.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Which is awesome.

[D]

Cars, new cars, whatever it is.

[B]

Yeah. And you do nice videos. They're fun to watch and they're tidy. They're about 10 minutes each. Yeah. So we were going to talk. We were talking online before we. I'm sorry, not online, pre online. We were talking and one of the things you're going to help us understand today is the K car.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And it's pronounced K car, I believe.

[D]

Yes. It is spelled Kei. It comes from the Japanese translation. So Kei cars are a classification of car in Japan where they are under a certain length, width and height Restraint. It's like 2 meters tall. I think it's like 11ft long is the. The maximum. And they have to have 660cc engines or smaller. So you guys are talking about your throaty V8s that sound. These are 0.7 liter or smaller engines

[B]

and they're generally three or four cylinders,

[D]

three or four cylinder. There's only a handful of four cylinder and not a lot of them are turbo.

[B]

Oh, really?

[D]

Some are. Some for sure are. But not every one of them is turbo. And so basically in Japan, these small cars carry a lot of benefits. Right. So like there are certain small car parking spots that are oftentimes close to the door. In Japan, if you want to buy a car before you can even buy a car, you have to call your local police station and they have to come out, measure your parking spot to then allow you to buy. Like if you want to buy a big pickup truck, they gotta come out and measure your parking pad at your house to make sure that you can fit the certain car. With Kei cars, you don't have to do that because they're so small you can park them in your pocket. So insurance is cheaper. Registration is about 500 bucks a year. Where normal cars like a Toyota Crown in Japan would be like $3,000 a year to register. Wow. Every single year.

[B]

Wow.

[D]

So they carry a ton of benefits and they've been in the news recently because President Trump said that he wanted to bring K cars into America. Right. So a brand new car, we're looking at like 1.6 million yen, which works out to about $10,000.

[C]

Oh, very cool.

[D]

So now you start saying, oh, maybe I could do with a little bit less for a ten grand brand new car.

[C]

Well, now, Smart tried this.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Through Mercedes Benz many years ago.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

It didn't really work all that great out. But maybe, maybe I'm always up for a new challenge as a society and see if we can maybe find a use for these vehicles.

[B]

Yeah. Americans. And I don't want to talk about your trip to Japan because you just got back from Japan, which is so cool. But just a quick point about that. Americans rejected the Fiesta, the Scion IA, which I think was a Mazda 2. Work with me here, if you remember.

[D]

So that was even smaller. The yaris was the Mazda 2. The IA, I believe, was even smaller.

[B]

Yeah, but Americans didn't buy these things. Also, Chevy had the Sonic and Spark.

[C]

Yeah. The Spark was so tiny.

[D]

You're missing what I thought of when I thought of small cars that failed. The Geo Metro three cylinder. Come on.

[C]

My dad got a speeding ticket in that vehicle going 80 miles an hour down an entrance ramp that should be

[D]

framed in your house, I swear to God.

[C]

And his. You know, this is in Virginia where they love to give speeding tickets. But the cop comes to the window. My dad goes, are you sure this thing could do 80 miles an hour? If it wasn't downhill, it wouldn't have done it.

[B]

Those were interesting periods of time. Right. Because the Metro was around for a while and it was sold as a Geo and as a Chevy. Correct. And there was a Subaru Justy just before that.

[C]

Oh, my gosh, you are really scraping the bottom of the well there.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And in Canada there was the Firefly, which was based on the Metro here. And these vehicles were around for a while and they always have a couple of years of sales and then they disappear. There's no contiguous movement in the small car thing.

[D]

And.

[C]

Right.

[B]

I'm like, I think the only one I can remember that was truly small, that sold in volume and maybe people just thought it was safe. But the, the Chevette, Right. That had a long run, but it was really cheap, too.

[D]

I think most of those cars were bought by people with speech impediments. That wanted a Corvette.

[C]

Right.

[D]

I walked into the dealer and they're like, oh, Chevette, here you go.

[C]

No, I think it was young guys who wanted to pick up girls and they would say, oh, I've got my yellow Vet outside. And. Except it was the Chevette.

[D]

I will say my mom and dad's first date was in a Chevette.

[B]

Wow.

[D]

And she called it the Flintstone mobile for obvious reasons.

[B]

My. When I worked at a gas station in the 80s, our parts supplier, Colfax Auto Parts, had a fleet. And by fleet I mean four or five Chevettes. The only glass on it was the windshield. And they didn't. They just left them outside. They just let them get wet. They were just vinyl four speeds, no equipment whatsoever. But the windows being out allowed them to stick exhaust parts through the car and deliver them. And they never. When the mufflers fell off, they left the mufflers off and they made the greatest noise. They sounded almost sporty. But they ran and no. 1. The thing about the Chevette was, I think once you owned one, you just didn't care about it. You didn't really matter what happened to it.

[C]

No. Yeah, you lost a lot of that worry that you got a door ding or a wheel scrape or something like that.

[B]

So to bring this back around to some point that I think I was. What's that?

[D]

Well, so those cars all have above a liter engine.

[B]

Yes.

[D]

We're talking 660cc's now.

[C]

We're talking turbochargers you said.

[D]

Right. I've driven.

[C]

Lawnmowers are more powerful than those.

[D]

There was an old car, the Honda today. I mean, it looked like a shoebox. I want one dearly. I drove a carbureted one. I believe it was a 91 or 92 carbureted, three cylinder, about 45 horsepower.

[C]

Okay.

[D]

It's, you know, for the American roads. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. They're extremely charming cars. They come in pink, some of them have eyelashes on them. They're. They're cute, they're adorable. They're these little cars, but man, are they lacking in the power department.

[B]

So I. As for the idea that the current administration might want to support bringing these here, this, I suppose because of affordability issues would do, you know. Are you aware that there would be similar concessions for owners of these vehicles?

[D]

I just knowing the American buyer. So when I was in Japan last week, I actually rented a couple of modern kei cars. I'm like everything that we get here in the states is 25 years old because we have those import laws, right? So I've driven a bunch of 90s K cars, but no airbags, no traction control, all are manual, all that. So I rented a few new ones. I drove a Nissan, let me Nissan Days, Rooks, Highway Star.

[B]

Oh sure, yeah.

[D]

You know, really rolls off the tongue with that one. It was a poster of my bedroom. One 660cc turbo 3 cylinder CVT. But it had 4 airbags, it had traction control, it had, you know, Apple CarPlay and things like that.

[B]

So what did that car cost?

[D]

So that car new was the one point. So that, that was what I based it off of. And that works out to I think ten and a half thousand. Let's throw a two thousand dollar, you know, import fee onto it. You're looking at a 12 grand brand new car. We haven't seen that since what, the early 2000s?

[B]

No, I think the cheapest you can do now if you can find one, is a base level Chevy Trax with no options. And I think you're 24. Is that like the cheapest car you can buy in the US?

[D]

I thought that they were like 21 or 22, but there's been some price

[B]

increases related to tariffs.

[C]

Sure, $1300 destination charge, right?

[D]

So on paper these K cars look great. And in Japan everyone drives one. Everyone drives one. You go downtown Tokyo, it's all Kei cars.

[C]

Talk about how congested a city like Tokyo is and how that's almost required

[D]

people wise spatially, Tokyo is the most congested city in the world. I mean there's 41 million people in Tokyo, which is insane. There's like 14 different downtowns. Because I told, I asked my translator, I'm like, can we go to downtown Tokyo? And he's like, which one? I'm like, I've never been asked that question. So the, the congestion, the parking is a nightmare in Tokyo if you want to own a car. So I rented my entire trip. I had a Toyota Corolla Touring, which is the wagon version of the Corolla.

[B]

That's cool.

[C]

Kind of large for there, right?

[D]

So that was the thing. I was like, oh, I'll get a Corolla. Sensible, you know, and I'm like jamming it down these streets where like I have to fold in the mirrors to get through here. And so now a Toyota Corolla's big. So these K cars like in Tokyo, and their highest speed limits that I hit was 80 kilometers an hour.

[C]

Oh, that's nothing.

[D]

Which, you know, I'm cruising at 80

[C]

and I'm like 47 miles an hour.

[D]

It's something like that. Like the highways. I saw one 120 zone, it's like

[B]

48, we're at 49 miles per hour.

[D]

Something about that. So these K cars are perfect. They go about 50. You know, the streets are tight, the parking's tight, they're cheaper, they're easy to drive because you're not looking over a long hood, you're looking over about a foot and a half.

[C]

This reminds me of my trip that I took about a year ago to Italy and I rented a three series wagon. And I hated every minute of it that I was in Italy because the streets were so narrow and the traffic was so high and the number of mopeds around you was so crazy that I couldn't believe I was longing and pining for like a Fiat 500, but like an old, old one like from the movie Cars, little tiny guy. Because that's all you could really maneuver around. I mean, I smacked mirrors with a car just going, you know, in a city, side by side. So yeah, these cars make sense in these uber congested places. And you know, that's, that's where they're made for. But also with, with the, as you said, the expense, I mean, if you had to pay $3,000 a year to register your crown, that's, I mean, there's places like South Carolina, there's a couple states that do this. Virginia, they have like a vehicle tax every year and it's based on the value of, of the car, which is weird because you could have like a $5 million 1971 Hemi Cuda convertible that they'll tax it like a dollar.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

The original sale price was $3,400.

[C]

Yeah, but same thing, you know, where it's, you buy a new car, you buy an expensive car. Now you're paying for it every year. Like you bought a house and now you have to pay property tax on it. So it makes a whole lot of sense when you've got people, you know, they've those hotels or those condos that you're basically sleeping in a big drawer.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Because it's so congested. When you have a place that's that congested, this makes perfect sense.

[D]

Yeah. And you know, it kind of defeats a lot of the secondhand market too, because here in the states, if we look at $12,000. Right, $12,000 for a brand new car, you could do that. Or you could buy a 10 year old Lexus GS350. Which? 3 and a half liter V6, heated seats, heated steering wheel, reliable. You could do that here.

[B]

And we have reasonably affordable gas here too, right?

[D]

Which I didn't notice too much of a difference between gas prices. Premium premiums through the roof there. But filling up my Corolla ended up translating to about 35 bucks for a tank.

[B]

Oh.

[D]

Which compared to here is not bad. It's the same ballpark.

[B]

So let's talk about the inside of the Kei car. Now. You are larger than the average Japanese.

[D]

Thousand percent, yeah.

[B]

And I'm way larger.

[C]

Dude, that boy solid.

[B]

Did you fit okay in the car? Were you comfortable?

[D]

Every single one. Except for the Honda S660. I adore the Honda S660 tremendously. It's basically I said in my video, it's a shrunken nsx, right? It's a rear mid engine, three cylinder turbo. But it's really cool targa top. The one that I had was red of course. So like every nsx, it's a joy to drive. You get all these boost noises. There's a tiny little about the size of a dinner plate window that you can lower in the back and you just get straight boost noises through your ear. I had to drive with the window down so I could fit my shoulder out. I was more so wearing the car as opposed to driving it. Every other Kei car that I've driven with the Suzuki Cappuccino is in the same ballpark as that. And the old Autozam AZ1, the bigger ones, the vans, the Nissan Days Rooks, Highway Star that flows off the tongue, that was super spacious because they use every single millimeter for the interior. I mean the doors are paper thin. I mean you sneeze on them, you'll blow a hole in the door. But they use that space really, really well. And driving the Nissan K car, it was way more spacious than I would ever need it to be. I fit in the back seat of that car way better than I do my own Mazda 3 here in the states.

[B]

So one of the things I'm hearing here, we're running out of time in this segment. But the Kei cars to come to the US at an affordable price would need a bunch of exceptions. There would have to be a bunch of federal laws because you're not going to get side impact protection. Protection. If the doors are thin, you probably don't have rollover protection, you probably don't have all the air airbag protection.

[D]

There would have to be serious benefits monetarily from the government of like hey, you don't have to register these, or you don't have to pay to register them or something like that. Or there are some K cars that in some other markets they'll throw a 1 liter into it. So for non Japan, Indonesia, you know, the Middle east, they'll throw a 1 liter, 1.5 liter into it. It helps out a little bit. But you're still dealing with this car. The size of this table.

[C]

How much do they weigh?

[D]

Not a whole lot because there's not a whole lot in them.

[C]

Right.

[D]

So we're talking like 2,000, £3,000, even that much? Yeah, but I mean, well, modern ones have the airbags, they have the ABs, they have the traction control and the computers and all that stuff, but they're still small.

[B]

One of the things about price that's so interesting too is Jill and I had this conversation about zeekr. She had some Zeek at the LA auto show and, and zeekr sold in Mexico sell for almost twice as much as they do in China. Interesting. So Chinese car to, to make money, to meet certain whatever requirements you need. And Mexico is an easy market. Right. It's way easier than bringing the car into the US but still the prices went way, way up. So it'd be interesting to see what could happen with the K card. But I think there's a bunch that has to happen. And it, it may be that no matter what they do, they're gonna have to make some concessions into the design of the vehicle. So we wouldn't see anything until they redesign these things anyway. So next generation of these things.

[D]

But you're saying fun to drive, fun to drive. They're cute, they're adorable, they're great for in town areas. I got it on the highway. My Nissan had a CVT and it was mind numbing. I just flipped to the floor and it just sat there and I got up to 60km an hour and I sat there.

[B]

Are they reasonably quick around town?

[D]

Yeah, like, and, and you know, there are some other cars. The S660 was really quick. The Jimny was decent enough. Those obviously had manual transmissions. That helped out tremendously. I mean driving a CVTK car is, is not great, but around town they're punchy, they're fun. It's just the highways, which we have a lot of here in the States fall flat on its face.

[B]

So you mentioned the Jimny. That's, that's a Suzuki.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

And then lot of these are Daihatsu's.

[D]

Lot of Daihatsu, which is owned by Toyota. So essentially Toyota Just shrugs off their Kei cars to die Hotsu. Honda makes them. Honda nbox is one of the.

[B]

That was a big one, right?

[D]

Yeah, that's one of the top selling Kei cars. They're everywhere. And Mazda has some, but they're really just rebadged Suzuki's.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Interesting. Yeah. We just ran out of time for this segment, but, but tell us how we can check out your videos.

[D]

Yeah. YouTube shooting cars. If there's a car that you're interested in, just type it in after shooting cars and I'm sure I have a video on it.

[B]

And remind us later, reach out to us when you start putting up the videos of the vehicles you drove in Japan so we can share those.

[D]

Gotcha.

[B]

All right. And then you're sticking around for the quiz.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Excellent. We're going to take a break and when we come back, it's quiz time. It's quiz time.

[A]

Questions or comments? Drop us a line at car [e-mail] that's car [e-mail]. Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.

[B]

And we're back. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast. I am Tom, he is Brendan, and he is Zach. Zach Prattle of Shooting Cars. Thanks for sticking around. Real quick, how can we get a hold of you guys and your stuff?

[C]

Check us [e-mail] or sonsofspeed.com they'll get you to the same place and from there you can check out all our

[B]

stuff and then your. Your. Your excellent podcast is on hiatus, but coming back soon.

[C]

Coming back soon. We should have some new episodes in the next several weeks. But yeah, we are looking forward to it. We have a great time at the Weird Motor Driven Podcast and a lot of our stuff is timeless. So if you haven't heard of all the episodes, don't think that. Oh, I can't listen to that one. It's been, you know, it's been out for two months. Trust me, it's still going to be entertaining and fun and informative.

[B]

Absolutely. And how can we keep track of your stuff? Zach?

[D]

Just YouTube shooting cars. Like I said earlier, if you have a certain car in mind, type it in. After shooting cars, I'm sure I probably have a video of it.

[B]

Excellent. All right, it's quiz time, guys. I hope you're ready.

[C]

Ready.

[B]

Today's topic is this kind of topical the 90s. Oh, geez. Okay, I'm going to give you a car model and you have to tell me if it existed in the 90s.

[C]

Oh, I should Be good at this. Cuz I started driving in 91.

[D]

I wasn't born till the very end of the 90s, so this is a little pre my time.

[B]

This would be easier for me, I think. All right, Zach, you start. You are a guest. The Ford Fairmont. Was there a Ford Fairmont available in the 90s?

[D]

I don't believe so.

[B]

No, there was not. You guys both get a point. The Fairmont was around from 78 to 83, after which 75 different things were. Were built on that car and called other things like the Granada.

[D]

Was that ever on the Fox platform?

[B]

That was the Fox platform.

[D]

That was the Fox platform.

[C]

That was sedan.

[B]

Yeah, it 78. So that was same year as the Mustang.

[C]

Yeah, Mustang too.

[D]

Mercury marquee. I've driven one of those in wagon format.

[B]

The marquee was Fox body and the. The. The awful Thunderbird that was around for a couple years. All right, you both have a point. Brendan, Zach, Point, Point. Okay, good. Number two, this goes to you, Brendan. The Malibu. Was there a Chevrolet Malibu in the 90s?

[C]

Well, that's a fun question because it started in the 60s and it picked up again.

[B]

Yeah, it was a trim level on the Chevelle for a while. And the Chevy. Was it on the Chevy Tutu? Anyway. But yes, it was around the 60s.

[C]

It was around in the 60s and then it. It had. Do they still make the Malibu or did they just kill it for finally, like, for the 10th time?

[B]

I'm always stunned to learn that it's still around, but I think it's actually dead.

[C]

Yeah, it's actually a good car.

[B]

It was.

[C]

So if you get a chance to rent one.

[B]

My daughter just rented one.

[C]

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, don't shy away. It's a decent rental. The question is whether when it came back, if it was at the tail end of the 90s or if they didn't do that until the 2000s. And I'm gonna say, yes, it was a 90s.

[D]

I'm gonna go, no, but I'm feeling like I might get a technicality of like a 99. They brought it back or canceled it in 91.

[B]

Oh, they brought it back in 97.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I'm trying to remember. That was the really, really ugly one.

[D]

They heard I was coming into this world and they're like, we need to get him out for this kid.

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

All right, Brendan gets a point. There we go. Zach, this question goes to you. Chrysler LeBaron?

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Was there a Chrysler LeBaron?

[C]

Oh, absolutely.

[B]

Yes, there was.

[D]

I've Done so many of them.

[C]

Such a good looking car too.

[D]

None of the wing windows work on them. Fun fact. None of them.

[C]

All break after like 20 years.

[D]

Every single one of them.

[B]

The thing about that too is that at some point, like up until 77, Chrysler only sold big cars.

[D]

Right.

[B]

That was all they ever sold. New Yorkers, Newports, Imperials, when those were branded Chrysler. Yep. And then in 77, all of a sudden they're like, crap, we probably need to downsize like everyone else. And the lebarons came out and then lots of them came out.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And being a K cars. Yeah, exactly.

[C]

American k car. The mid-90s had the LeBaron TC for Maserati. Yes.

[B]

That was so weird for a bunch of reasons.

[C]

It was very weird.

[D]

I almost filmed one, but the belt snapped and never got it fixed. Just sold it.

[B]

When that came out, it came out with a Lotus head.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I guess it was actually not Lotus, but I think it was built by Lotus. But it was considered a Maserati head on the four cylinder, 2.2 turbo.

[C]

Such a Frankenstein.

[B]

Yeah. It was ridiculous. And that engine turned out to be hyper unreliable. And I think there were fires.

[D]

Well, neit. Was it Isuzu Impulse had handling by Lotus down the side.

[B]

Yes, it did.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I was wanting to get a handling by Lotus sticker and put it on my Ranger. But the thing about that was you could buy a. A Chrysler TC by Maserati, a Mitsubishi engine. The 3 liter V6 was in there. So that was really international.

[D]

Is that the most automakers on one car?

[C]

Right.

[D]

That's gotta be.

[C]

It's got it. It's gotta be.

[B]

The only thing that gets weirder are Polestars.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Cuz you got Chinese designs built in Korea. Scandinavian, Swedish company built in Korea by a French company.

[C]

Right, right.

[B]

Because Renault owns that factory. That's right. In the US Was.

[D]

And disliked by Americans.

[B]

Yeah. Overlooked by Americans. All right, Brendan, the RAV4, was there a RAV4 in the 90s? Toyota's Rev4, the best selling vehicle.

[D]

Another one of those fringe ones, huh?

[C]

Exactly. I'm gonna say yes, yes, yes.

[B]

1996. Okay. All right.

[C]

I would have put it a little bit later.

[B]

You're going for a streak here. Yeah. All right, then finally this one goes back to you, Zach. The Nissan Altima. Was there a Nissan altima in the 90s?

[D]

No, I don't think so. I can't picture one if there was no.

[C]

Oh, gosh. The Maxima was like the 90s Nissan sedan to have.

[D]

And you had one Sentra, there's the Ser. And all that stuff. Towards the end of the 90s, I

[C]

think the Ultima came in to replace something or fill a need in later. So I'm gonna say no.

[B]

You both said no.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

It was. Ultimate kick was in 1993.

[C]

No way.

[B]

Really? Yeah. And there was a funny story there, and I. And I tried to get the story today, and I've never gotten the story straight, but for a year or two, Nissan was required to put Stanza stickers on the Ultimas because they didn't file the name correctly or something.

[C]

Weird.

[B]

So I think on your.

[C]

Oh, yeah, I remember that.

[D]

I remember the Stanza. I cannot picture a 90s Altima.

[B]

Yeah. 1993. All right.

[D]

Yeah, I know.

[C]

If you got a 90s Ultima and you want Zach to review it. Yeah. Shooting cars.

[B]

Brendan wins. What? We go to the bonus question, because that's what we do.

[C]

All right, well, this is a payback because Zach totally cleaned my clock last time, so.

[B]

Yeah. All right, one and one. You're a big fan of Denny's, right? He runs over my hammies.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Give me a grand slam.

[D]

Denny's huge in Japan.

[B]

Really?

[D]

Oh, really huge. Everywhere you look, there's a Denny's.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[D]

Wild.

[B]

You know what else is huge there? And this is just a little part of my history. My mother used to work at Mr. Donut.

[D]

I was going to tell you about Mr. Donut. I discovered it in Japan, and it was amazing.

[B]

They're dead in the US And.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Everywhere in Japan.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

I went almost every day.

[C]

It's Japan. Just, like, picking up our. Our foregone nostalgia. And then we could just go there to, like, relive some stuff.

[D]

A thousand percent.

[B]

I was watching a restaurant review, one of the shorts. There's a guy called. I think he calls this his site, Japan Eats. Okay. Fantastic stuff. And they're just short reviews of Japanese restaurants and his American take on them. But he's at a restaurant in the background, there's a bunch of Big Boy paraphernalia.

[C]

Oh, my gosh. That's awesome.

[B]

You know the Big Boy box? Yeah.

[C]

Big Boy never went away as Courtney. If you've seen Austin Power, you know, the Big Boy never truly went away.

[B]

There was an organization, I think, in the 80s called the fraternity for the Freedom of Corporate Mascots that was stealing Big Boys. God love it. All right, Denny's in Mexico. Anyone want to guess how many Denny's there are worldwide?

[C]

Ooh, I'm gonna say it's 8. Hundred thirty.

[D]

Oh, I'm. I was way off. I'm gonna say 5,000.

[B]

You're closer. And in ballpark, it's 1400 globally.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

1200 in the US and 15 in Mexico. In Mexico.

[C]

Mexico.

[B]

If we all chip in, we can just buy the Mexican.

[C]

We could. Especially when you do the conversion with the pesos.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

All right, Brendan, I need you to tell me which of the following is not on the menu on Denny's in Mexico. Are you right?

[C]

I am.

[B]

Ready? The Flaming Five Pepper Burger. Wild Alaska Salmon. The Loaded Veggie Omelette. They spell omelette weird there, by the way. Or the Spicy Tuna Melt Club.

[C]

I wouldn't think that Alaska salmon would be.

[B]

It's a long trip.

[C]

It is a long trip. Although the whales do it every year. And I saw the very first whales in Cabo in October of this past year that I was on a tour boat. We were snorkeling, and I said, hey. I said to the captain, you seen any whales? And he goes, no, not yet. And then seconds later, one just jumped right out in front of the boat, like, did a nice breach. And so they make it down from Alaska. I don't know. Maybe. I don't think the salmon do, though. I'm gonna say the salmon.

[B]

The salmon's the fake.

[C]

I'm going with that one.

[B]

All right, Zach. The Flaming Five Pepper burger, the Wild Alaska salmon, the Loaded Veggie omelet, or the Spicy tuna melt club.

[D]

I'm gonna go with the burger. The first one is the fake. Is the fake. Just because I would think one of the fish would be fake, but if there's two on there, there's gotta be one that's real.

[B]

Good point.

[D]

I'm going with burger. I think that's a. It's a red herring.

[B]

Turns out that the wild Alaska salmon. Red herring. Thank you. Wild Wild Alaska salmon is real.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Loaded Veggie Omelette is real, and the Flaming 5 Pepper Burger is real. The Spicy Tuna Melt club is the fake.

[D]

The one I probably want to try the most.

[C]

I know.

[B]

All right, I'm signing this for you, Brendan. Here you go.

[C]

Thank you very much. That's going right in my trophy room.

[B]

So I got a weird email.

[D]

Is that what you call your shredders?

[B]

I got a strange email from Polestar, and I didn't understand it because it seemed like they were sort of. Of rebooting what they want people to think Polestar is.

[D]

I think I might have gotten this

[B]

email, but one of the interesting things about Polestar Was towards the end of last year, massive rebates. They were actually doing those discounts off the purchase price. So they cash rebates, but I don't know what's going on there. And if they're rebooting and if they're trying to get more dealers signed up, but they had a bad launch and. And they've got this list of vehicles here that they're sort of focusing on now and it's a little strange. But the Polestar 2, this isn't a

[D]

quiz question where one of them's fake, right? No, no, no.

[B]

This is just news. Well, first of all, if you can keep your Polestars one through seven straight, God bless you.

[C]

Oh, yeah, this number, it's very confusing.

[B]

But the Polestar one, which wasn't even electric, it was a plug in hybrid, that's gone. But that was a high performance vehicle. The Polestar 2 was a really good looking small Corolla sized four door hatchback. Yeah. That was discontinued, but I guess that's coming back. Okay, not mentioned here at all. Which is weird is the Polestar 3, which I think is their volume car. It's a mid size crossover.

[C]

Is that the one that we drove at the rail? I can't remember if it was a two or a three. We drove.

[D]

I believe it was a three.

[C]

Was it a three? Right.

[B]

It's a very thin car.

[C]

We love that thing. Because you know what it was? It was a Volvo EX90, right. Shrunk down to a more manageable size for those who don't need all that room. And it drove really well.

[B]

Yeah. And then I just drove the four

[D]

that has no rear window, right?

[B]

That's correct.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

That was the weird thing you said about that.

[B]

And that's a weird car because it's sort of a compact crossover, but it's low.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

It's almost like it's the coupe version of one.

[C]

What if manufacturers did this thing where they didn't do the crossover and they just built the car lower to the ground and then they had, I don't say four doors and five seats and

[D]

a box at the front, box at the back, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Triple box design.

[C]

We call it something like a sedan.

[B]

I don't know. Because here's what's really weird about all of this. The. What is it? It's the Polestar 5, I think is supposed to be a grand touring vehicle. And the more I read about it, I think it's like a Porsche Panamera.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

There's no market for that.

[D]

So you, you Drove the four.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

What was the price tag on that?

[B]

It was surprisingly affordable with a lot of stuff. It was under 70.

[D]

The three that we had was 97.

[B]

No, this was. This was affordable. And you didn't. You know what? I might be wrong. It might have been 84 loaded.

[D]

Even still, I mean, that's more affordable than 3. The 3 was 97.

[C]

That's the thing. It costs the same as the Volvo Ex.

[D]

Right. I love driving it. Adored it. Great for 97. I can't in just tell my friend to go spend $97,000 on that car.

[B]

Also, they're doing these weird discounts which suggest to you that you should not buy one at retail.

[D]

Interesting.

[B]

Yeah, I think. Why would you. Why wouldn't you just wait then?

[D]

Yeah, that's.

[B]

That was a thing that happened to the US when we were really reliant on. When Detroit was really relied on rebates to sell stuff, everyone just stopped buying stuff until they saw a grand or two grand on the hood, which I

[D]

got to tell you, Polestar should be very glad that BYD is not in our market right now. I sat in a couple BYDs in Japan. They're just slowly trickling into Japan. I went to a BYD dealer in a shopping mall. By the way, they also had a Jeep Avenger there.

[B]

Oh, that's a weird car. We need to talk about it the

[D]

other day, but BYD is going to eat the lunch of pretty much any electric automaker that there is.

[B]

So interesting. Guess what? We did.

[C]

Oh, boy. We ran out of time.

[B]

We did. Yeah. A lot of good. Lot of good talking. A lot of good talking. Thank you very much for filling in.

[C]

My pleasure.

[B]

Big thanks to Zach Prattle of shooting Cars. We appreciate you being here. Thanks to producer Randy and the good folks here at Talk Sound. Let's talk more about cars again next week. Next week.

[A]

Remember to check us [e-mail] the Car Stuff Podcast is produced by JTurn Media. To advertise on the show, please drop us a line at [e-mail].