
Reviewing the Ferrari Roma Spider; the Corvette ZR1X is unveiled; a hint at our drive in the Meyers Manx radial; why Lotus is struggling; a new ultra-light stunner; and we answer a WHOLE bunch of questions. Funniest tire names Replace my E30 track car with? The stunning, ultra-light Shoreline coupe What car would we co-own? Who most needs a halo car? A car book we disagree with Best normal commuter Brick & mortar vs media businesses Why Lotus is struggling The best BMW since the E39 M5? 3 cars or 1 awesome car? The lamest warranty claim we've had And more! Recorded June 17, 2025 DeleteMe Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://www.joindeleteme.com/TIRE and use promo code TIRE at checkout. Car Gurus Buy or sell your next car today with Car Gurus at https://www.cargurus.com. Go to https://www.cargurus.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal. New merch! Grab a shirt or hoodie and support us! https://thesmokingtireshop.com/ Use Off The Reco...
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Matt Farah
What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. This is Matt Farah and we are, as always, brought to you today by off the Record. I love off the Record because they are looking out for me and they are looking out for you every day. When we are on the highway together, presumably we might do one or two things that go slightly outside what's printed on the signs. And when that happens and you get caught, don't plead guilty. Because it's not just about paying that fine and moving on. These things follow you. Your insurance, potentially your employment, who knows what else. You don't want points on your record. That's why off the Record is called what they're called. They send a qualified attorney to fight any moving violation you might get. And as a result, almost all of the time, off the Record keeps those points from your record. All you have to to do is go to offtherecord.com TST and upload a photo or a scan of the ticket along with a brief description of what happened and where it happened. Off the Record will then connect you with a qualified attorney who will fight that ticket for you. You don't have to go back and go to court. In fact, you don't have to do anything and win. The best case of scenario, you just get a text or an email a couple months later that say, hey, by the way, that thing that you've forgotten about, it's gone. Now, occasionally it's not quite that good, but usually in my experience, the resulting text or follow up email is good news. So go to offtherecord.comtst to get 10% off all legal services booked through off the record. That's offtherecord.com TST 10% off from everything at off the Record. Now let's get on with today's show. All right, folks, on this episode of the podcast, I experienced some road rage karma. We've got a new Corvette with a very boring name. We review the Ferrari Roma and give some hints as to what my Myers Manx drives like. And we have some incredibly thoughtful questions from our patrons. It's the Smoking Tire podcast. Me and Zach are in studio. Let's go. Right, so hi everybody. Podcast. Just talking about nothing. Things. Things are happening, things are going on. I'm about to leave on a four day road trip with the roads and the tracks doing a little root scout. Zach didn't frame his fucking camera right before the show.
Zach Klapman
How do I frame it from here?
Matt Farah
I don't know. Usually you do that before I sit down and we got big news.01x just dropped. Dropped like a fat fucking post burrito deuce right on us. Everyone seemed to know about it.
Zach Klapman
Creating that's a heart attack grill creation, not us.
Matt Farah
It is the most fucking murrican shit ever. We can talk about that. We can talk about the Alpine A110, which is basically the opposite of that, and why that is awesome and makes me so fucking angry. But first, a couple of fun little anecdotes for you, Zach. I have some fun ones for you. I saw, I witnessed a road rage karma complete. A complete movie, a vignette of life in which a road rage karma was fucking whoop right in front of me. It was unbelievable. And it's such a great thing if you ever get to witness one of these in person. Hannah and I on Sunday were driving up the pch, which is now open in the Spider, and apparently I was like an hour or two ahead of you, who was about to do the same thing with your wife later in the Alpine. And PCH is open, right? And pretty much fully open, but there's a really strict 35 mile an hour speed limit on it right now in the damage section, which people are adhering to, people in LA are pretty much like, okay, we didn't have it, you know, now it's a privilege. We understand. You can see it's a fucking wasteland. It's a hazard.
Zach Klapman
And before the speed limit there was whatever and people regularly went 15 to 20 over and like crashed and everything. And now people are speeding.
Matt Farah
I wrote a whole column about that for road and track, like. And so now the speed limit is like 35 and people are doing like 40, which is actually probably the speed they should be doing on that road anyway. But. And there's a lot of enforcement, there's heavy CHP on the road. They're all fucking over, particularly on a Sunday, right? Lots of surfers, but there's not much else. So even with the low speed limit, there's not much to stop for anymore. So it does actually move. It takes you almost exactly the same amount of time as it would have before, even though you're not going, I guess, as fast. So anyway, I'm in a group of cars that's doing 40 from, you know, light to light, but they're a few miles between lights. And I can see in the rear view there's a white like work truck. It's a pickup, a 1500, but with some kind of like scaffolding thing on the bed. Like, I can see them doing the Just wild maneuver. Wild, impatient maneuver.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
And I don't want to judge what's happening in that person's life. Maybe they really were late for work. And speeding in and of itself, in my opinion, is not necessarily a moral crime. But this dude then made a shoulder pass, like in a. And I was like, whoa, look at that. And now he's behind us. Now it's between lights, and everyone's doing the 40, but we're spread out a little more. No one's really going anywhere. And he really does a couple aggressive moves to get through the pack. And at the front of the pack is a cyclist. And so everyone's using kind of some caution to go around the cyclist. Whatever. I don't know if the truck doesn't see the cyclist or doesn't give a fuck, but the final move is a dive bomb that goes on as the guy in the right lane is passing the cyclist.
Zach Klapman
Sorry, dive bomb. Like, where is truck man going?
Matt Farah
He's going from left lane to right lane. Right. As the car in the right lane is slowing and inching over to get by a cyclist.
Zach Klapman
Got it.
Matt Farah
Okay. So this guy does the dive bomb across to the right lane just as the cycle pass is happening. I'm like, what the fuck? And I'm car number two. So he had dive bombed. He's in front of me, car one, and dive bombs across. I realize it's very difficult to tell stories like this on, off, I hope you're following me. But this dude dive bombed on a cyclist in front of me. And I was like, motherfucker, that's crazy. And then once he's through, he's ripping. He's gone.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
And I'm like, God, that's just. All right, you know, that's. That's just, like, real dangerous and, like, antisocial to, like, what's clearly going on around here. Two miles up the road, he's pulled over on the side of the road with a fucking CHP getting himself a ticket. And, God, did it feel nice to see that. Like, just did. Just, you know, this guy was being a fucking shitbag. Of course. What was he doing as the CHP was standing next to him filming the cop. So I can't wait to see his side of the video on social media.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, that's true. You could testify against him for. I mean, it wasn't. You weren't there for that infraction that he.
Matt Farah
And the cop has to treat that person like a fucking human. I'm sure. Of course, the cops. You dragged the guy out of the car and beat the shit out of him. But, like, it was fucking nice to see. Fucking a little bit of karma there. It was a good feeling.
Zach Klapman
I saw the opposite of that the other day. I was going to Costco and I was in. Like, there's a. There's a lane where you go straight and there's a lane to the right that turns. Right.
Matt Farah
What's the opposite of that? Okay, A cop runs over a homeless guy in a wheelchair and then gets elected sheriff before speaking at cpac. Running for senator in Nevada while living in California and getting elected president.
Zach Klapman
I guess it's not exactly the opposite of that. No, that was very good. That's a great example. It was just someone. You saw someone doing something and then immediately getting in trouble for the thing. And I watched someone make an illegal right in front of a police officer that I was sitting next to. And the person just continued on their way. And I was like, what's the situational awareness training that goes on here? Because.
Matt Farah
Yeah, no, the guy's playing Words with Friends. What are you gonna do?
Zach Klapman
Probably it was just. Yeah, no one cares.
Matt Farah
Oh, man. And so the road rage karma was awesome. And so that was fun. And then also Hannah and I went to Mumford and Sons, which is a very white thing to say. And it was a very white thing to see. Just a sea of whites. But it was at the Hollywood bowl, which, if you're gonna see like British folk rock, it's a great place to see it. The sound is fantastic at that place. And at one point they did like a microphones off thing and wow. People can sing there without microphones. Like, that's pretty cool. But even within that, I saw something so white that I felt uncomfortable. And it was a guy like five seats down from us and we're like. Not that it matters. We're like halfway up, whatever, right? In one of their more like well.
Zach Klapman
Known songs, I'll wait for you.
Matt Farah
I think it might have been I will Wait, but it's whatever. They're about to go into a banjo solo, as happens with Mumford and Sons. And one would hope that they do go into many banjo solos. A guy gets up. I mean, we're standing. I think we're probably standing. But the guy in a move that would be like, appropriate at, like, the action would be like at a Motorhead concert, the guy goes banjo solo, like with that level of vigor and like devil horns.
Zach Klapman
I love it.
Matt Farah
And I was like, hannah, Hannah, Hannah. That was. Did you see it? And she's like, I stopped you just. I know. That was the whitest thing that could happen on this planet.
Zach Klapman
Now that's great. That guy, he's. He's a banjo player or enthusiast. He was definitely a couple beers, a couple IPAs.
Matt Farah
Picture the guy going, lammy is gone.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Screams banjo solo at the Hollywood.
Zach Klapman
There are deep nerds about everything, my friend. And you know, rock on with the banjo solo.
Matt Farah
Oh my God.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Funniest way he's been waiting for that time, bro. He plays Waiting.
Matt Farah
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
He plucks. He plucks.
Matt Farah
Shout out to their. Their new banjo player. I don't know if you recall what happened to their original.
Zach Klapman
I have zero idea.
Matt Farah
Their original banjo player right at the peak of COVID started posting like mad right wingy shit on Twitter. They got like a lot of heat and self ejected ripcorded from the band.
Zach Klapman
I mean, look, the Venn diagram between banjo.
Matt Farah
Didn't get kicked out, ejected himself. And now they have a. They have. There are now three instead of a four. And actually I felt a little bad because the stage set that, you know, at the Hollywood bowl, it was the three original members wearing like white linen shirts at the front of the band and then like, you know, studio guys basically backing them, right? And there was like a studio drummer, this studio banjo person, and some studio horns and they're all in like all black. And like the banjo's really important to this band. But this. I felt bad for this guy who was stuck in the back in black.
Zach Klapman
Not ready yet.
Matt Farah
He's not od.
Zach Klapman
But he's ready.
Matt Farah
But he, yeah, he could play a mean motherfucking banjo. I would argue better than ex banjo player Winston.
Zach Klapman
Well, when Metallica found their new bassist, the guy from Suicidal Tendencies. Yeah, in between there. Did they just have session based bassists that were like. Did they tour at all?
Matt Farah
No, they did not tour in between. Jason Newstead and Rob Trujillo. Okay, no Rob Trujillo.
Zach Klapman
Fucking rich. He's awesome. Yeah, he's so good.
Matt Farah
Yeah. But yeah, the guy.
Zach Klapman
You know what's funny is because I used. I listened to Suicidal Tendencies in high school and even then in my era of like west coast punk, I was like, this is aggressive and fast. And then when, when I watched that like Building the Monster or whatever where they hire. They hire Rob for it and I was like, oh, wow. Like he's probably toning down his skills for Metallica. Like, Metallica is like this biggest heavy metal band.
Matt Farah
There's a clip that goes around Instagram all the time where it is what is supposedly his audition. He plays battery with his fingers.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Which is like not a thing that people do.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. But he did because he grew up.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
He's so good.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Rob rules. They were fucking amazing when I saw them last year. One more funny anecdote. I got an email from a guy shout out to Rob, who listens to the show and is an engineer at Apple and works on the Mac Pro. And he loved my story about the life of my trash can Mac and said that there's some people at Apple who are still there who worked on the trash can Mac and they heard the story about my ode to the trash can Mac and said, mad respect. It is a workhorse. You're using it. You're using it properly. They said they got a big laugh when I told them. I air gunned out fucking glass out of the fans and it still works. That's pretty awesome. But yeah, they said that's. It's. They said. And he did have a suggestion. He said an old trash can Mac is uniquely set up to run a big video wall. Like he said you could run a 3 by 2 grid of giant 4K TVs natively out of that as one display. Whoa. So he said if you can think of any reason to do that, you could do that.
Zach Klapman
Let's take a corner of the basement and just make it the simulator. Cor.
Matt Farah
Yeah. The funny thing is it doesn't have like a very good video card, but just in terms of like monitor out. He said it's capable of that.
Zach Klapman
Oh, okay. So it's just, I mean, it has.
Matt Farah
A good video card for 2013, but like, it probably would like, you know, it's probably great for like this. Not for, you know, playing video games.
Zach Klapman
Not for running it. Okay.
Matt Farah
Yeah. But thank you to those guys for designing such a nice product. Okay, so I drove the Ferrari Roma. We never talked about that on the show. We can talk about that. The video's up, the ZR1X is out. We can talk about that. We could talk about the Alpine if you want. What do you think, Zach? Guys, we gotta take a quick break from the action because support today is incoming from Deleteme. I've been talking about Delete me for months now and they've actually, they have kept their word because Delete me does all the hard work of getting your personal information from data broker websites, which is where most like spam, text assaults, fake calls, marketing stuff, spam, emails, phishing, a lot of that comes from data broker websites. Right. And so what Delete Me does is you tell them what your data is, which I know does sound a little counterintuitive, but they go to work on every data broker website out there finding and making automatic like deletion requests to take down your information. Because these sites do have to do that request. And so Delete my. Delete Me then once a month or so sends you personalized privacy reports showing what they found, where they found it and what was removed. All right, they did this with me. I gave them my old addresses, my old phone numbers and email addresses, the contact info for like my parents and my family members, places I used to work, things like that. And man, did they send me. The first report was like huge. It was 1500 things that were deleted and the next report a month later was like 500 and the two after that have been like 300. So I guess that's the amount that comes up every month. But it's ongoing, it's not a one time thing. Delete Me is working for me all the time, monitoring and removing the personal information that, that I don't want out there. And you can do it too. It's very easy. Take control of your data and keep your private life private. By signing up for Delete Me now, a special discount for our listeners. You can get 20% off your delete me plan when you go join deleteme.com tire and then use promo code tire at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com Tire and enter code Tire at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com Tire CodeTire. We are also brought to you today by Cargurus. And Cargurus has one basic mission. Okay. Making car buying decisions smarter, easier and more transparent. Right? Because buying a car is hard. You never know where to look. You never know what's real and what's fake. You have ads that seem like they're designed to make you second guess guess yourself. Is this the best price? The right choice? Where is it? With car gurus, you don't have to wonder. They have the most inventory of new and used cars, so you can find the best deal. And with with unbiased deal ratings, price drop alerts and in depth vehicle reviews, you'll make a decision you can feel great about. Because a big deal should never feel like a big risk. The way it works is that Cargurus connects you with trusted dealerships when you're ready, ensuring a transparent and hassle free buying process. They have over 4 million listings, meaning Cargurus has more listings than any other major online automotive marketplace in the US So you can find the best deal. Cargurus gives you the control to shop how you want to shop with the tools, information and data driven deal ratings that you need. And it's no wonder that similar web estimated traffic data shows Cargurus is the number one most visited car shopping site. So you can buy your sell your next car today with CarGurus over@cargurus.com. that's right. Go to CarGurus.com to make sure that your big deal is the best detail. That's C-A-R G U R U S.com cargurus.com and now back to the show.
Zach Klapman
That's a lot of stuff. Well, let's, let's do Roma first, because that was because I was there a week ago.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
And then maybe we'll see if we save Alpine maybe for the next time. Because there's also a story I want to talk about. I need to read more about it before Toyota is being sued by hydrogen people.
Matt Farah
Oh, yeah, I saw that.
Zach Klapman
Is something worth talking about.
Matt Farah
I saw that show. Yeah. Maybe we have hydrogen Brian on to talk about it.
Zach Klapman
Oh, that'd be interesting.
Matt Farah
He's got five hydrogen Toyotas.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. And then we need someone from the anti hydrogen, you know, side for it. Like a Hindenburg family survivor member or something. Yes.
Matt Farah
Yeah, yeah. And on the other side of that, we've got Sara Hindenburg. Okay, The Ferrari Roma. We've got this thing. Okay. The Ferrari Roma takes the Miata formula to its conclusion. You have a front mid engine sports car. It's the last actual way, really. Actually second to last way. Because the GTC4 Lusso does still technically exist.
Zach Klapman
I think they still sell it.
Matt Farah
Does it still exist? Now that's a question I should have thought of before this. Does the lusso still exist in new.
Zach Klapman
Car form still on Ferrari's website?
Matt Farah
It is. Okay, cool. So it's really just this and the Lusso with the 3.99 liter V8 engine, which is a good engine. Very, very nice. And this car is really interesting because unlike the Aston Vantage, unlike the Mercedes sl, it clearly wasn't designed to really be a convertible from the beginning. They sort of did that later and I don't know why they didn't do them together or if they did. There's like a lot of stuff that went wrong.
Zach Klapman
I imagine it's the latter because, you know the product planners, when they're built, I mean, nowadays, like they're designing A Ferrari. It's a GT Ferrari. They know people want a top down version. Like I'm sure the sales numbers for that are pretty good. But I know what you're gonna get to in terms of these weird compromises they made. And it does. It's funny. It's like either they didn't plan for it or they said eh. Yeah, probably eh.
Matt Farah
Which is okay because here's what I mean. And I even wrote on Instagram and I said in the video, it's a great Ferrari. Not in this post, in the other post. Whatever, it's a great Ferrari, but it's not a very good car. And what I mean by it being a great Ferrari, I mean it rides, handles, turns in sounds, goes, stops beautifully. It's. Fuck, it's so fast, but actually looking over the fenders when you're sitting in it, it's, it's got a lot of what you get from a Miata. And I don't mean that in a bad way. It's that traditional front rear roadster, but with a mostly mid engine neutral handling balance.
Zach Klapman
And you're sitting real far back, kind of right near the rear axle.
Matt Farah
Yeah, you're sitting. Everything is between the two axles. So it rotates really, really nicely around the driver in a way that very few front engine cars will do. And it does it without rear steer. It does it without a lot of super fancy schmancy technology besides good weight distribution and geometries. Now it has mag ride. That's great. Those are good shocks. And the difference between comfort and sport is like right on. It's Ferrari. They'll nail. I'm not concerned with Ferrari shock tuning really ever. But when I say it's a bad car, look at it, it looks like a GT car, right? More or less. So I need to be able to take this thing away on a weekend somewhere. And the fact that it has rear seats removes a lot of the usability of what could be a nice parcel shelf. And where the, if you open. I don't have a photo of it handy, but in the video I certainly show it. The trunk is cut in half by where the top has to go. So you really can't fit anything in the trunk either.
Zach Klapman
And in that shot it reminds me of the Portofino I drove in Italy and the California before that. The California had that very tall trunk. And here they may have just hidden it better or they've found a way to package a little better. But basically you have a shelf. Like if you open the trunk and look in it, it looks like there's a giant CD changer where the top goes and you can't put anything above there. And then you can only put things below it. Which as you showed was only two fists tall.
Matt Farah
Yeah, like you can't fit a one single rolling suitcase. Which for like, for some weird super specialized mid engine cars. Like, okay, fine, I need the fitted luggage or I have to make some compromises. But like, this is supposed to be the normal one. Like, don't tell me that a 296 has like better usability and trunk space than this. If so, why would I buy this? Like, it drives great, but like, it's not like roomier in the front. It's not faster than the mid engine offering. And the convertible mechanism is not as good as the convertible offering. And this was $450,000. So it's not like it's some value proposition versus a mid engine car, I.
Zach Klapman
Guess real quick it does start 100 grand cheaper than a 296 or 50 grand cheaper than a 296, but with.
Matt Farah
Options you can wash out. This car has $170,000 in options on it. Not that everybody's going to get that, but with a Ferrari, 50 grand in base price to be washed out with one or two options. And then it's hard to see in this photo, but there's three quarter windows in this car that don't go down all the way. You can see there's a little bump there. And so with the top down, it looks like the windows aren't all the way down. Like that is such a crazy oversight to me. For a company that only in theory makes pretty cars, like, that's crazy, do.
Zach Klapman
You think, I was gonna say, do you think it's to stop air from going around your neck or something? But it sticks up. It's so small. It's like an inch, an inch and a half. So not that that can't affect aerodynamics, but like, it does look like a packaging compromise that does looks like a. You know, the window can only go so far into that wheel well area and that's kind of what they have.
Matt Farah
And look old Ferraris all the time. One of the things, very few things I didn't like about my 328 was that the window didn't go all the way, way down. When I wanted to drive around my elbow on the window, there was like an inch of glass at the bottom. I was like, well, this sucks, but you know, it's Ferrari, so whatever. But I did not think in 20, 25, that, that would be a thing that they would make a car where the, where the window doesn't go all the way down. A convertible where the window doesn't go all the way down. Like, that's wild.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's the, it's the rear window, but it is very strange looking because it upsets the smooth shape. Yeah, that's the thing. Go ahead.
Matt Farah
And so, you know, if you're really shopping for a front engine, rear drive, you know, car, the V8 Vantage, or it's not a V8 Vantage, it's just called the Vantage. I'm sorry. The Vantage Roadster is a better convertible for sure. You know, a Ferrari engine and gearbox is an amazing draw. And with this engine at the front of the car and a long exhaust going at the back of the car, it's a very awesome and unique sound. The gearbox is amazing, the ride and handling is amazing. Like it is a Ferrari. You're not going to forget you're in a Ferrari. But it's like the Vantage Roadster. The top mechanism is better, that doesn't have that bustle, but it goes down in seven seconds. This is 14 seconds. Aston doesn't even attempt a rear seat, which is a much better solution to this problem. It opens up space that can just be used in such better ways. You can fit luggage in the Aston better, I think. The ride and handling is six and one half dozen. They both turn in fast, rotate great. They both have great brakes, they both have great ride. The Aston is much, much more usable. The UI is so much better. Ferraris are misery to drive with. They just. Everything is stupid with them. The screen like froze up a couple times. It's just. That stinks.
Zach Klapman
And then all the haptic stuff, of course, is still there.
Matt Farah
And to a certain extent, I will put up with some stuff to drive a Ferrari, but what I don't want to do is put up with some stuff to drive the normal Ferrari that can't then do normal stuff.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's the weight of the compromises, pros and cons on the teeter totter scale. Like if you want to deal with, if you want to deal with the haptic stuff, capacitive stuff in a Ferrari, we'll do the 296 because then it looks like a supercar, feels like a supercar and does, you know, a lot of the things this does, does it just as well?
Matt Farah
Yeah, like this, this, this is a well executed driving experience. It's great. And you're going, of course it is. It's A fucking Ferrari. How bad could it be? Like, I've driven bad ones. Like they're out there. It's great to drive and it's great to drive with the top down. And it's actually pretty nice to drive with the top up also. Although I do think the top looks a little weird when it's up. It looks like it's sitting. The back part is sitting on top of the bodywork. It doesn't get tucked under the bodywork the way that some other cars do. But it just, it's really weird to me that this is supposed to be the normal one and it doesn't do normal Ferrari things very well.
Zach Klapman
Oh, I see what you mean. Here's a.
Matt Farah
See if you can get a photo of it with the top up.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, there's one right there.
Matt Farah
So. So right there. Is there another one where it. Maybe it's looking from the rear a little more maybe.
Zach Klapman
But I think those pentastar wheels look cool. On this one right here I see like the back of the soft top almost like a gap, like a half inch gap between that and the body work.
Matt Farah
So. Yeah, so in that gap is actually the third brake light. So it's weird. It's like it was sort of intentionally designed that way.
Zach Klapman
Oh yeah, it's right here.
Matt Farah
But the result isn't that good. It just sits on top of it. The Aston, it tucks underneath and it's a much tighter, cleaner look.
Zach Klapman
I think, you know, it'd be. So the in this picture is from Motor Trend, but the top is black, the third brake light housing is black. And then the car is like this, I don't know, metallic, whatever. So that's why it makes it look like a weird gap between the two body panels. Maybe it's.
Matt Farah
Dude, in the one that I had, the paint was this gorgeous metallic matte bronzy green thing and the top was a dark colored top. So it wasn't exactly the same. But it wasn't a hyper contrast either. And it looks weird.
Zach Klapman
No, no. I'm wondering if the top was like a tan or red, would it be better? Because it would, it would be more obvious that it's a brake light housing and not the top.
Matt Farah
It's not, it's not great. It's just that kind of bothers me. So look, I did love driving this thing. It drives awesome. You're going to have a real nice day on the mountain if you got one of these things. It's fast and it is a very, very pleasant motoring experience. But man, I'd really like to be able to carry a few more things. It's a kind of thing you want to hop in with your significant other and go away for a weekend. And it really doesn't. There's so many cars that are less annoying to do that with. So the video's up and you can see how fast it is in the video and how great it sounds and there's a whole lot more. But yeah, it's probably not the Ferrari I would want if I was going. If I wanted a convertible roadster. The cream of the crop right now is the Vantage roadster. That thing is fucking titties. Titties. Or you know, less interesting but unquestionably effective would be, you know, a 911 turbo convertible. But.
Zach Klapman
And you know, I just looked up the length. The Roma is actually longer by 6 inches than the Vantage. Like so. The packaging of the Vantage is just clever.
Matt Farah
The back seat wastes all this space.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's all.
Matt Farah
You get rid of that. It solves so many problems. You can put the roof there, you can put a parcel shelf there. You can get a little more legroom because believe it or not, I'm like an inch inch short.
Zach Klapman
You should ask Ferrari how many of their customers actually say they use the back seat for humans versus backpacks.
Matt Farah
I think there's some kind of axe or something implications with a four seat insurance with a four seat car. But if you want a four seat Ferrari, get a loose. If they're still making a lusso. Get that. That's the. That's the four seat Ferrari to have got a hatchback. You got real rear seats.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Them's the jam. Zur1x.
Zach Klapman
Zurix.
Matt Farah
Zir1x.
Zach Klapman
Ask your doctor about Zerx.
Matt Farah
Ask your doctor. We should make another fake.
Zach Klapman
We should. That was fun.
Matt Farah
Fake medicine commercial. That was good. Yeah. Just saw it this morning. Corvette. GM continues, specifically Chevrolet continues to come up with thoroughly uninspiring names for their stuff. They can't help themselves. The only thing Mopar does well is naming shit fun names. They had one going. This was gonna be Zora for like how many years? And that would have been nice.
Zach Klapman
It would have been great. And it would have attached to something in their history, which that's what every car company does to some degree is attach a new product or thing to history. And sometimes the connection is so thin that you could see through it. But this would have been a good one.
Matt Farah
Would have been a good one.
Zach Klapman
Zora.
Matt Farah
They had a bunch of other. They had Blue Devil. They were kicking that around for a while.
Zach Klapman
Look how much Runway they've gotten with the Jake skull thing. Yeah, it's everywhere. And people think it's cool and tough. Yeah, why not? Zora would have been good.
Matt Farah
Yeah.01x stinks at using X as an all wheel drive. Not the car. The car looks pretty insane.
Zach Klapman
I'm sure it's good.
Matt Farah
I'm just saying, gm, their whole history has been weird nomenclature stuff. That doesn't sound cool.
Zach Klapman
Well, this is very BMW. It's the ZR1X. So it's, you know, X drive, all wheel drive, extreme, whatever.
Matt Farah
All wheel drive is tired. It's tired.
Zach Klapman
Honestly, I just say it's BMW's game. So it's a lot of people. Let it be their game.
Matt Farah
Yeah, it's a lot of people's game. But it is mostly identified as a BMW thing. But having said that, we did expect this car. The E Ray front axle. It's now been updated a little bit. But it's the E Ray front axle compared with the ZR1 back half, 1250 horsepower. You know, first they came for the supercars and I didn't say anything because I didn't have a supercar. And then they came for the hypercars. I didn't say anything because I had a hypercar. Then they came for the hypercars and.
Zach Klapman
There was no one to speak for me because the car.
Matt Farah
What is Manny co spin gonna do other than say not guilty, your honor.
Zach Klapman
Oh, I just started seeing that on.
Matt Farah
See that on ballerbusters.
Zach Klapman
I've just started following it.
Matt Farah
Oh, God. Manny Kospis.
Zach Klapman
If someone on YouTube is selling you a course and telling you that they're rich from something else, they might not be. Because why would they need to sell you the course? The goodness of their heart. No, they just want to make more money.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Be very cautious.
Matt Farah
You know, this is going to be a psycho death missile. Obviously the speed at which the car will have exited the road. Your honor will be extraordinary.
Zach Klapman
It looks cool, man. I like this front hood frunk thing with like, like the pass through for the radiator is rad. I like the little winglets on the back rear fenders. Yeah, they look cool.
Matt Farah
Yep. I like the top. The top mount intakes there. Those are a good time. No, all of this seems like a very good time. You know what got me really thinking about though? Z06s are about to get cheap.
Zach Klapman
Good point. Yeah, they're amazing.
Matt Farah
Yeah, that's a fantastic. You could already get a very low mile Z06 for like a hundred you the Z06s especially because now with ZR1 and this all these guys.
Zach Klapman
Speaking of usable drop top Ferraris, the Z06 which sounds like a Ferrari feels like a Ferrari has a bigger trunk.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
And cost nothing.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Look like one. Of course.
Matt Farah
But does this ZR one go no trunk. Does it eliminate Frunk? It seems like it might eliminate from.
Zach Klapman
It looks like eliminates Frunk, but it.
Matt Farah
Looks like it has some rear. Probably. Yeah. It's got a rear truck.
Zach Klapman
Let me see if there's difference.
Matt Farah
Yeah, look, I mean it looks like they. It looks like it's probably the same as ZR1 at the rear.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I'd imagine.
Matt Farah
Yeah. There is some trunk there in ZR1. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. But it's got a pass through radiator in the front like GT3RS and Ford GT.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Dude, it looks awesome. I mean I don't know about you but I think the meaner they some cars look better. Like cleaner.
Zach Klapman
Sure.
Matt Farah
Right. Like you could argue that like the original like Huracan was a cleaner design or the original Aventador was a cleaner. Yeah. Right. But I actually think the C8 looks better when they start tacking more on it. I think it goes the other way.
Zach Klapman
Because it seems like it was always designed to do that. And it seems like they tamed it down for the first one.
Matt Farah
Right.
Zach Klapman
And it's. But it's so angular and big in some places that when they start widening the fenders and adding wings it actually balances out that stuff.
Matt Farah
Yeah. And the like those top mount scoops fill in an otherwise like empty pane of body, you know. And the more and more aggressive like side scoops make it sort of more Lamborghini and McLaren.
Zach Klapman
Like in stock form the Z51 kind of looks like a Mansory like 488. So you might as well just go all the way with it, you know. Like they took a smooth shape and made it real sharky and aggressive.
Matt Farah
Yeah. But I mean I'm pretty stoked. What it's not to be stoked about. It's insanely fucking powerful and it says 0 to 60 in like 2 seconds. And you know, it's probably 250 miles an hour or something.
Zach Klapman
Quarter miles and like nines.
Matt Farah
Yeah. I don't know who's going to be able to use that but. All right, here we go.
Zach Klapman
I mean that's never been important for selling cars though.
Matt Farah
No, it has not.
Zach Klapman
It'll be very cool to test how the front wheel drive like balances out. Like does it do what the NSX did where it really tames it gives you perfect steering, all that stuff.
Matt Farah
As you can see we happen to have stopped on this thing here. This graph of the front motor. It's one motor. The NSX was two motors.
Zach Klapman
That is definitely more.
Matt Farah
And there is a huge difference in between the let's call magicness of the front end of an NSX or a 918Spyder and the E Ray. The E Ray, it's not as good at the front like it's better than not having anything but it's limited into what it can do in terms of the torque vectoring and you have to change how you drive to make it effective more so than you do with the nsx.
Zach Klapman
But is the E Ray, is there a clutch activated like ELSD system up there that distributes power? It still won't be as precise as two motors.
Matt Farah
There is, but it's. It's not. It can't. No, it can't break. It can't underdrive one and overdrive the other one, right?
Zach Klapman
Yeah, yeah.
Matt Farah
It can't do it. It has one power output with a, with an actual differential and then it has brake vectoring. So it doesn't, it doesn't do true.
Zach Klapman
Right. It gets close but it's not as good. Like the reason that the lucid is so good is because of the motor control or most electric cars.
Matt Farah
Even when I went on the launch for the E Ray they were much more about. It was very, it was a choice and it was, I can think the more probably typically American choice. They were more concerned with getting the power down off the line on a launch as well as confidence in bad weather driving. There was much more that than it was. We want to create magical steering and so that's a choice. That's fine. And so actually above a relatively low number, the E motor is doing almost nothing.
Zach Klapman
I was just about to ask that question.
Matt Farah
It was really. It helps you pull out of hairpins, it helps you get off the line and it does do a bit of torque filling in the gear changes. But above like regular highway speeds, it's doing almost nothing.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. So for track work or something. Once you're out of that corner.
Matt Farah
Yeah. If you're Cornering at above 60 or 70 miles an hour, which is like any medium or high speed bend and anything but a hairpin, the E motor's not really doing anything.
Zach Klapman
And at that point it should feel very similar to a ZR1 because those are real drive only, same engine, et cetera, et cetera. A little different weight.
Matt Farah
Okay. Yeah. I mean the E Ray, when you're pulling it above a certain speed, I don't want to say it's not doing anything. I think that's not fair. I think it's not doing much handling wise at higher speeds because I think the E Ray does. If you were to do a 60 to 120 acceleration versus a stingray, the E Ray is noticeably quicker. So it is doing something. It's just not doing the magic steering.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Matt Farah
But. But it is there. It's. This thing is going to be pretty wild, but yet above 70 or 80 miles an hour, it'll probably feel more like a ZR1 one. Yeah. Which we haven't had to try yet. Gotten to try yet. I said had one to try yet. But like this is. Corvette's gonna. Corvette. That's what they do. They take the. They take the. The top thing and they basically match it in, you know, performance numbers for, you know, a third or quarter of the price. Right.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
So if this is gonna be, you know, 270 or 300 grand and it's competing against a Koenigsegg or something like. All right.
Zach Klapman
It's competing against things that have two commas. Yeah, like that's right. That's it. Pretty much competition with this power and because Corvette is Corvette and they have a racing background like the dynamics and everything will also be.
Matt Farah
Maybe they would say SF90. There's an argument that SF90 and that's for sure, you know, that's probably accurate.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
I bet this will destroy SF90s in any possible racing competition.
Zach Klapman
What is it? I want to. What does SF90 weigh? I haven't.
Matt Farah
Oh, it's heavy. They're like three, 800 pounds. That's a heavy car.
Zach Klapman
Typically ranges to 39, 37. Yeah, yeah.
Matt Farah
They are the heavy car. Wow. So yeah, that's sort of what's happening in our little world.
Zach Klapman
All right, well, we do have a lot of questions from folks. We can save the A10 and yeah.
Matt Farah
We should save that until we. Because the videos next week. Right, let's.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I think it's two weeks because you said July with.
Matt Farah
Maybe we'll give them a thing. But no is the June 25th. So it has to go up. It has to go up. June 25th. There was something else in July. No. Did I not put that on the calendar?
Zach Klapman
I think I. Nope, you did.
Matt Farah
I did. You just read it wrong.
Zach Klapman
Look man, yesterday you were like nevermind, it's July. Oh, that was a different thing.
Matt Farah
No, that was yesterday. That was me. Yeah. Yeah, I thought I had a shoot this morning, but it was a. It was next month.
Zach Klapman
Happens to me all the time.
Matt Farah
I. It's gonna be a fun one. But honestly, I was glad I didn't have to go up there again today. Two days in a row is a long couple of mornings.
Zach Klapman
Anyone who is waiting for us to talk about a manual swapped sl, because I did put that in the description, that's next month.
Matt Farah
You're gonna be until July. Sorry, patrons, we're going to take it to the Patreon. Of course, if you're watching live, it's now open for the Patreon pre sale for the Green Notice Canyon. By the time this goes up on Thursday, that watch will be available to the public. We have sold approximately half of the sellable units to the patrons, so there's still plenty of green watches to buy. If you are not a patron, don't worry, you'll probably be able to get one if you go on the, on the first day for sure. But very excited to have this one out in the world. It's very beautiful, the forest Green Notice Canyon. There's only going to be one left after this and that's going to be the Tahitian Black Pearl. And there will only be 50. And 12 of them have been called, have been allocated to my friends. They want, they want. My friends who have seen me wearing the prototype are like that, that's the one I want, that one.
Zach Klapman
They get allocations because they bought smaller versions before.
Matt Farah
We have no, we have seven or eight allocations for people who want all five and who have been. If you, if you are buying all five, you will get all five. And then the rest of them are my friends who have seen it and have none of them, but are like, yeah, but if you know me in person, you have certain privileges. Hellcat, of course, sorry. If you want to ask questions for the show, if you want to get the live stream, if you want to get the show before everybody else, even if it's not live, if you want to get exclusive early access to things like the Notice Canyon and other collabs. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast, also an extra podcast every month. Hellcat Brown Eye says, what are your favorite ridiculously named cheapo tires? My favorite is the Hangover Mudder Trucker. I didn't know before right now, before this moment, that ridiculously named cheapo tires was a thing. I mean, we've seen some like weird Chinese shit at sema.
Zach Klapman
I reckon that's what they're talking about. And it's always called, like, the super performance. Whatever the hell.
Matt Farah
I've never remembered one of the tires. You go around and you go, these guys seem to have a surprisingly large amount of money to not hire one native English speaker to come up with their written materials. That's all that I remember from seeing the Chinese tire section, it seems.
Zach Klapman
Well, a very, very quick Google. There's names like Triangle Tire Company. Seems like a rolling issue. Doublecoin, Linglong Tire. We know about that one. And those are like the big Triangle Tire Company.
Matt Farah
You shouldn't be calling shit Triangle. You have to know why. Google Triangle Shirtwaist factory and that will tell you everything you need to know. Is that what you were thinking or were you thinking you shouldn't call something that's round a Triangle shirt.
Zach Klapman
That's what I was thinking.
Matt Farah
I was thinking about people burning alive in a factory.
Zach Klapman
I'm not aware of that story.
Matt Farah
Oh, Triangle shirtwave Factory is one of the main incidents that inspired, like, workplace safety regulations and what led to, like, osha because the Triangle Shirtwaist factor.
Zach Klapman
Oh, you mean like clamping down on small business? Is that what you mean?
Matt Farah
Not letting them.
Zach Klapman
Not letting them earn, not letting these mom and pop businesses.
Matt Farah
So at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, they were concerned about workers stealing shirts. And so they.
Zach Klapman
Shirts are delicious, to be fair.
Matt Farah
Yes. They're so tasty. And so in order to prevent workers from stealing shirts, they locked all the fire exits. What you won't believe, Zach, what happened next? Well, there was a fire and everybody died. And so now that's a crime to do that.
Zach Klapman
I'm aghast for people listening. I am literally staring aghast.
Matt Farah
Yeah. So when people are like, deregulate, like, that's why we have regulations.
Zach Klapman
I saw a great.
Matt Farah
So many fucking people died.
Zach Klapman
A great response on Reddit was like, every. Every OSHA law is like written in blood.
Matt Farah
Written in blood. Yeah, yeah, I took the osha. I'm OSHA certified. So many OSHA regulations are literally written.
Zach Klapman
In blood, and yet all of the doorknobs here are covered in razor blades. Matt, why.
Matt Farah
Slow car Slow wants to put in a request for a carbon fiber or meteorite dial notice. Canyon, you know, we have a lot of requests for alternative dials. We did think about meteorite Carbon doesn't look right. You can Google photos of watches that have carbon fiber dials. There's a reason that, like, no good watch company does that. Meteorite dials are really expensive. But if you Don't. I actually have a watch with a meteorite dial and it's pretty cool. But if you're not that much, if you're not a super space nerd, it doesn't mean much. I think the Black Pearl means more to me and being a. Yeah, I don't know. It's a good. It's a good suggestion. We're probably not going to do it, but thanks for the enthusiasm. All right. Lot of words incoming, but I think we need them all. True. Twerk says. I've been driving a lightly modded E30 for the last five years. Weekend drives plus occasional time trials. I'm passing it to my son. Good dad. I've never owned a Porsche or mid engine car and I'm looking at Caymans number one. I'm used to the cost of keeping an old BMW running. Is the Porsche tax that much worse? Two, how big is the difference in steering feel between the early cars and the E Pass in the newer ones? I'm more interested in feel than outright speed. So two answers for you. One, the Porsche tax in terms of the cost of parts and stuff is not that much worse than an old BMW. What you're gonna find if you're maintaining it yourself is accessing shit with home tools. And a home lift or jack stands is gonna be very challenging. In a Cayman. Shit's hard to get to.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
They drop the engine for like a lot.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Cause all you really have access to from the top are the ports for like oil and coolant, right?
Matt Farah
Yeah. And I think you can do plugs and wires and stuff without dropping the engine. But, like, I think you have to take off a lot of stuff.
Zach Klapman
Probably whatever under tray is there. But that' that's not too bad.
Matt Farah
And I just. That's what I've heard. I don't wrench on these, but I don't think the parts are that more expensive. I don't think the consumables are that more expensive. But I think getting the stuff can take a lot of time and energy.
Zach Klapman
The only story I have is my friend Derek's GT4. The wiring got eaten by mice and they had to take the engine out to replace all the engine wiring because a lot of the wiring's on the top of the engine.
Matt Farah
So.
Zach Klapman
So I would definitely do Truetruerk. Great name. I would do your homework on what you might need to. What might break using it for autocross and how easy it is to access those things.
Matt Farah
Yeah. And with the steering and the hydraulic steering and the E pass I am not a hydraulic steering purist and I think there's some great systems that are hydraulic and some great systems that are electric and I don't really give a shit as long as it feels nice. And I don't think that the newer steering in Boxsters and Caymans is worse than the old steering. I think Cayman's steering has gotten progressively better regardless of what's running the pump. Right.
Zach Klapman
I've only driven the modern Caymans and I think their E Pass is great. So I'm not sure how it would compare to the old system.
Matt Farah
I mean, look, an old Cayman, it steers great, but it. I wouldn't seek out that steering versus buying the new car. If you're going to go buy one, I would buy the newest, nicest one you can afford. I wouldn't go, nah, I'm going to get an 02 instead of an 09 because the steering was better in 02. I'm making up those years, but whatever.
Zach Klapman
I would also look at the ratios because EPAS systems sometimes are much quicker than the old hydraulic systems. I'm sure there's exceptions, but if you're doing autocross continuing to do that, that the quick rack will be so helpful.
Matt Farah
Well, he says I'm more interested in feel than outright speed. But I just, I don't think the feel. I think the feel is great in a modern. In a newer Cayman, I don't think you should avoid that E Pass system. There's some that are like bad, but Porsches are not bad. Mini Finney. Thoughts? What is that? Thoughts on the new Shoreline LM coupe.
Zach Klapman
What are you so real quick. BMW motorcycle, inline six, revs to ten and it weighs 1400 pounds, costs 500 grand.
Matt Farah
And I'm out.
Zach Klapman
It looks awesome.
Matt Farah
Oh, God damn. Look at that. It looks like Ferrari P3.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, kind of.
Matt Farah
Alpha Tipo, Alpha 33 Stradale.
Zach Klapman
I think it looks better than the Alpha. The Alpha is very bunched up.
Matt Farah
God damn.
Zach Klapman
Awesome.
Matt Farah
Oh, there's more photos or more angles of it. This looks. Yeah, this looks like a Le Mans racer from the 60s. I see some elements of Porsche 908 in there as well. It looks fabulous.
Zach Klapman
It's stunning.
Matt Farah
Okay. This interior looks like a low back buck. It looks like if you cut the shoulder bits off of Guntherwerks seats and I see a lot of exposed sort of aluminum milled of metal. I kind of like where they're going with this. I hope it works in practice. It looks like a tubular frame construction with some sort of carbon back structure. Maybe Well, I can see why they're charging so much. I would love to have a go in one and that I have been saying for years now that I'd love to see a lightweight sports car with a BMW inline six in it.
Zach Klapman
In this graphic without the body, it looks like a Sierra car and it's got a motorcycle engine. And then you, you know, the body goes across it and it's just a really gorgeous car.
Matt Farah
Yeah, good for them. Where are they based? Do we have that? Looks good. The engine looks good.
Zach Klapman
Slams it over the engine.
Matt Farah
Oh, yeah. Okay. I mean, I've always thought this engine would be great for a Miata swap or a Lotus swap.
Zach Klapman
Oh, yeah, that sounds rad.
Matt Farah
It sounds like half of an old Formula One V12.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Yeah, sounds rad.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's great.
Matt Farah
I'm on board. Where. Where do you live? Where do you work? Can you go up to the top? Is there about us or what's the contact us? Where the. Are they?
Zach Klapman
Probably contact.
Matt Farah
Where. Where are you? Where are you?
Zach Klapman
We don't know if they're copyright, but that's a Cali plate, right?
Matt Farah
Right. That is a California plate.
Zach Klapman
They're here somewhere. You can find them on Instagram.
Matt Farah
Get at me.
Zach Klapman
Oh, here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
Matt Farah
Okay, cool.
Zach Klapman
Or LinkedIn.
Matt Farah
Instagram. Whatever. Cool. Wow. All right. What do we think about this? Looks promising. Would 10 out of 10 would have a go in Santa Monica?
Zach Klapman
Fucking.
Matt Farah
These guys are in our backyard. Ever seen this shit before?
Zach Klapman
No.
Matt Farah
What are we doing? Do we follow?
Zach Klapman
I'm guessing they have one and it's gonna get debuted at Monterey, so they probably aren't driving it around much where they are very careful.
Matt Farah
What a coincidence because I have something that'll be debuted in Monterey also.
Zach Klapman
This is. Look how. Look how tiny it is next to human beings.
Matt Farah
Wow.
Zach Klapman
It is waist height.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Looks awesome. That's super cool.
Matt Farah
Okay, I'm in. The game. You know we forgot to talk about is the we that you drove the radial Max.
Zach Klapman
Oh, we definitely talk about that.
Matt Farah
You want to save it or.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, we should. Well, we're already at an hour, so I think we should save it and we'll do it. We'll do Alpine and Manx next time.
Matt Farah
It'll be ultra light day.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Radio Manx. Very good. I have some. We have some. Yeah. It's very. I have been thinking about that paint about my. The paint for that Manx all week, man, I hope. Damn, is it so pretty.
Zach Klapman
The A7 footage did showed it the texture underneath. Yeah, the Jack gel. That's really cool.
Matt Farah
That's fucking nice. I can't wait to drive that thing. It's gonna be such a good time. I mean, I'm making Hannah a poncho. I'm getting basically a Pendleton wool blanket and I'm having like a head hole cut in it so she just could just drape it over herself and sit in a little poncho.
Zach Klapman
Great. Yeah. When it's chilly and foggy in Santa Monica, Monterey. Yeah. Great. That's a good idea.
Matt Farah
Enrico Palazzo, what would be the most likely car for the two of you to plan? Z company car.
Zach Klapman
Well, on the one end of the spectrum it would be drift car. The other end would be like, you want a 550 Maranello. We talk about them a lot.
Matt Farah
Yeah, I think we'd probably, it would probably be some type of motorsport focused car. I don't think either of us wants to like split.
Zach Klapman
No.
Matt Farah
Like, I don't need another car that bad and I don't think you want another car that you. That isn't like fully yours. Right.
Zach Klapman
Well, I also think that we attend to cars differently and if we get a race car, we're treating it the same.
Matt Farah
Yeah, yeah.
Zach Klapman
But if we get a really expensive fancy car, I think it's a little different. There's overlap there.
Matt Farah
That's true. I think that's true. Yeah, we are. I mean, we're gonna have a car together for a minute soon because we are doing another car giveaway.
Zach Klapman
Oh, that's right.
Matt Farah
The car is being built. I was emailed this morning. Should we talk about it yet or not till the car's here.
Zach Klapman
Here it's going to be. We could hint at it. It's very fast.
Matt Farah
It's a 911 Turbo S. So we're going to be giving away a 911 Turbo S that we're going to have it for a couple months and we're going to modify it in ways that we like before giving it away and make some content with it. So we will get to play with the 911 Turbo S, like do some things with it. But. Yeah, yeah. So we're gonna have that and then you're gonna get to win it. So. Yay. Fran says what car brand could use a halo car like the Audi R8? Cadillac.
Zach Klapman
Audi.
Matt Farah
True. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
But Cadillac, yeah, I would say Genesis.
Matt Farah
But I don't think anybody would buy it.
Zach Klapman
No, they don't have the performance. I mean, Cadillac, you know, Le Mans and they're doing good things and they racing. I mean, Their halo car kind of is the CT5 because it takes what they were known for back in the day of like big sedan and then adds the performance element. Yeah, I don't know if a mid engine thing would. It would have to be. They would have to learn how to make true luxury cars. I think to do a $250,000 plus.
Matt Farah
We'Ll see if anyone. We got to get one of those celestiques. I got to book that. How do I do that far? First, I do it by writing it on my list Celestique press card with my Lamy Safari fountain pen. That's how I do it. Matt loves Pearl Jam. I mean, true, but like.
Zach Klapman
I think they're underselling it.
Matt Farah
Maybe a little more zhuzh.
Zach Klapman
You need more O's. It might be a character limit, but if you did. Matt loves Pearl Jam.
Matt Farah
Okay, thank you. Matt loves Pearl Jam. Was recently in a Barnes and Noble and saw a magazine called the 25 greatest SuperC time from earlier this year. The top 10 are as. Miura, Ferrari Dino 911 Turbo Bugatti Veyron. McLaren P1, BMW M3 competition. Ford GT Aston Martin Vantage. BMW M1, Ferrari 296 GTB. That is a random ass list of cars. And I would really like to know how this person came up with this and why the BMW M3 competition is the greatest supercar. Who wrote that?
Zach Klapman
I mean, this is the top 10. And why is McLaren P1 there but McLaren F1's not there?
Matt Farah
Yeah, it's very, very good.
Zach Klapman
Unless they're like. That was the high.
Matt Farah
Scroll down. Here's a link to the publication thing. This is some weird.
Zach Klapman
We have to. We. We'd have to read their justice.
Matt Farah
This is some advertorial garbage or I don't know. I don't know what this is. This can't possibly be something that's. Is this some weird virus you've just clicked us into?
Zach Klapman
I don't know, maybe PDF.
Matt Farah
This looks like it's a book. Who wrote it? Scroll down the name and shame. It's just a mat.
Zach Klapman
It's a ultimate showdown.
Matt Farah
It's just some, like, advertorial, like, freak. Yeah, this is all stupid.
Zach Klapman
It's. There's Diamond. Oh, here we go.
Matt Farah
Here we go. Never heard of you guys. I don't know who this is.
Zach Klapman
Who.
Matt Farah
Yeah, who are any of these people? Yeah, I don't know who these people are. Sorry, but that's all. I don't know. That's stupid. Don't buy that. That's Fucking dumb. That doesn't make any sense. I think their list is stupid and their magazine stupid. Nice cam says. Nice cam says. What are your plans with the Myers Manx? Is it going to be a putter around town car or do crazy like take it off road or on a beach?
Zach Klapman
Running Lamar in it?
Matt Farah
Yeah, dude, obviously I'm gonna drive it off a cliff into the ocean on purpose.
Zach Klapman
Or when it all falls apart and you give up.
Matt Farah
No Red Bull fluke dogs. That's what it's for. We're gonna put wings on it. No, it's my, it's a car. I want a car to like, I want, I want a car that I don't have to like drive to the canyons to enjoy. Like, like, you know, I let my cars, I like to fill little niches right with the cars. And so the Porsche, it fucking sucks for like running errands in just like not fun for that but it's amazing to go to the canyons in. So okay, it's for that. And like the NSX is, is like it's okay to run errands in but that's not really what I want to spend my time doing in like low mile nsx. Like that's, that's for a different thing. And you know Hannah's got like her, her little weird cars like, but I don't really enjoy driving either of those. And when I saw the Manx I was like, I was like this is a car that I can like enjoy at like around town like bullshit speeds more than I would enjoy the other cars because it's fun at, you know, and we can talk about it a little bit now but like it's fun at, at 50 miles an hour and it's fun at 10 miles an hour.
Zach Klapman
It was funnest below 50, I would say. It felt very much like a friendly motorcycle or a slow Caterham or something like that. Very approachable and friendly.
Matt Farah
Yeah, I mean and it looks great. It looks, they all look really cool. But I think mine in particular looks really amazing. It sounds weird and looks weird and makes people go what the fuck is that? It's not slow, at least from 0 to 70 or so. It's 90 horsepower and 115 pound feet at the tires. And it weighs 1530 pounds.
Zach Klapman
It's 120 horsepower. It's 10 to 1 actually. Power to weight is very similar to Alpine.
Matt Farah
Yeah. And nice tight four speed, easy clutch, easy rack and pinion steering, like decent brakes, good shocks. Like it's just, it's the kind of thing where like if you're gonna go drive three or four miles, you know, across la, that's more fun than a real sports car.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's playful. Not in the sense of like you slide it around and the driving is playful. Like it as itself is a playful thing. People look at you and kinda smile. It looks non threatening. What did I say when we talked?
Matt Farah
You said it was like a Shelby Cobra that was non threatening.
Zach Klapman
It's a non threatening, non tactical car, Cobra thing. It pulls out some of the machismo and people just go, oh, that's cool.
Matt Farah
Yeah, it's just where, you know, it's like the Vespa. Like I say when I'm riding my Vespa, wherever I'm going, I'm like a little bit on vacation. And this is like that, like whatever you're doing with it, you're going to the grocery store, whatever, going out to dinner, you know, maybe going to the beach, maybe I'm going to office. Like I'm a little bit on vacation with that.
Zach Klapman
It's a good way to put it.
Matt Farah
Fucking cool, man. If you, if you're, if you can make yourself feel a little bit on vacation when you're driving around in Los Angeles with traffic and lights, it's like it's not fun driving in the city. So I'm trying to make that fun. Hopefully we can. And also like taking it up to pebble and like ripping it around during car week. Like that's going to be a good time.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's excellent for everything Pebble, I think, except if you get stuck in a long traffic jam occasionally up there, I.
Matt Farah
Don'T think it'll be. The car won't overheat or anything.
Zach Klapman
I think it gets loud and if you're sitting still it could get hot. But I mean you'll have the top up.
Matt Farah
So yeah, we have the Bimini, so hopefully we won't get too cooked. But yeah, I mean it could get a little toasty in there.
Zach Klapman
Look, it's the only demerit it has. I mean there's you know, locking trunk and it will be loud sitting in traffic, like sitting still. But. But it's fucking fun, man. It's cool.
Matt Farah
We were talking with Eric Hendricks the other day and he said something like. Yeah, like everyone at the shop said to like, you have to do this thing. And it made me think of when we were down there with the exhaust and I was like, should I do this? This louder exhaust? And every single person in the shop looks.
Zach Klapman
I told Sarah, that story. I've never seen six men working. They're all actively working. One's doing electrical, one's moving car. Everyone stopped and turned as if you'd fired a gun in the air. And they all shook their head, no, do not get the louder exhaust. The one we were in was plenty loud, dude. I think. I bet you quiet it down. After six months, I bet you you look for an even quieter solution.
Matt Farah
It wasn't that loud. It wasn't loud enough that it really bothered me. And if I was gonna go for a longer drive, I'd probably wear earplugs anyway, but.
Zach Klapman
Or that.
Matt Farah
Yeah, but fuck, man, that car is. It's very, very stupid. I mean, it's exceptionally stupid. It's not. There's. There's no rationale whatsoever for spending that kind of money on that kind of.
Zach Klapman
Car, but so many good cars are.
Matt Farah
I just like, God, it's just way too awesome to not fucking have. And, like, let's go.
Zach Klapman
I think once the dumber the decision, the stronger the emotional reaction. Usually.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So I think that's their. There you go.
Matt Farah
Yeah. And plus the process of build. Of doing it, like, I think. I truly think that the actual process of building this car really strongly resembles the process of building a Pagani or a Koenigsegg or something with those people in the room. You basically get treated like that. And then the end result is this car. Like, you're accessing that level of bespoke. This was made for you that normally you have to be at a very, very high level of car building to get.
Zach Klapman
Mm.
Matt Farah
You don't. Most people are not sitting down with Horatio Pagani to build their car. Or maybe they are, I don't know. But if they are, they're spending a fucking ton of money to do it. So, anyway, Wynonna's Bug brown BMW. Any Primus referee reference is a good Primus reference. What is the best normal commuter car with low wind noise, ride quality, and miles per gallon that isn't a Tesla or German? The new Prius.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
100% the new Prius.
Zach Klapman
Yep.
Matt Farah
There's. End of question, not even a discussion. Get the plug in, don't get the plug in. Whatever works for your lifestyle. But if all I had to do was fucking highway miles to working. Back, back. I'm in a new Prius and I'm looking back. Yo, I had lunch with our homie Dave F. Who works in the movie industry. Remember our old friend had dinner with him the other night with Hannah. He got. He Was so proud of this. He got an Acura zdx.
Zach Klapman
Whoa.
Matt Farah
The new one.
Zach Klapman
Oh, okay. Yeah.
Matt Farah
The electric one.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
It's on the GM architecture.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Drove it to the Hoosier launch.
Matt Farah
Yeah. He got a ZDX 24 month lease for nothing. 12,000 miles a year, 2,500 down, 279amonth. The sticker on the car was 71K2.
Zach Klapman
71.
Matt Farah
279Amonth with 2,500 down for a brand new ZDX.
Zach Klapman
That's like.
Matt Farah
That's like a cell phone.
Zach Klapman
It really is. If you're commuting right now, do your math on how much you spend on gas.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Whoa. Yeah, that's what he said. He said. He's like, I actually, he's like, I never would have bought an electric car, but this deal was amazing and I realized I would actually be saving a ton of money. He's like, I didn't realize when you get an EV, you can switch your home EV, your home electric plan to an iDrive and EV plan, which I forgot we did a long time ago. And you're on a different meter cycle and you'd shoot cheaper to charge your ev. And he's like, dude, now that I'm. He's like, I've been on this for two months. He's like, I'm. He's like, I realize I'm never using more than a third of the battery in a day. And so like what was I worried about? And it's cost me nothing.
Zach Klapman
That car is really good hands free driving too. It's. Yeah, it's a good comfy thing.
Matt Farah
Yeah. So that's cool.
Zach Klapman
Nice.
Matt Farah
Gin and tonics. Gin and Taconic State Parkway. Love it. After watching the Roma review, it got me thinking about weight distribution. Can you talk about the different driving characteristics or dynamics of a front or mid engine car versus rear or mid engine car if they have similar weight distributions? For example, The AMG GTC is 4753 and a Ferrari 488 is 4159. Do those few percentage points make that much of a difference? Yes, they do. And actually I think they make more of a difference if you go the other way. Meaning if AMG GGC is a front middle. So it's 47 front, 53 rear. That's like really good for front mid car that you want to be a little bit tail happy. Like if a car has a rear weight distribution a few percentage points. Like that 4753 car is going to be real nice to slide.
Zach Klapman
Sure.
Matt Farah
It's going to be pretty balanced, but a little rear biased. You're going to be able to rotate it on the entry. So. So if you have that rear bias, if you stand on the brakes and shift the nose forward, you can get a little more pendulum and an easier rotation on the entry. If you have an opposite of that, where it's 53 front, 47 rear, it's gonna have the tendency to want to continue straight, which will make it more of a relaxed highway car. But it won't turn in as hard and you're gonna have to work at it harder to get that nose, the rear loose to get some oversteer.
Zach Klapman
Well, I think the more weight distribution to the front, then the more it plants on the nose and rotates around it to slide. But it's less inclined to turn in because of the weight. The momentum still wants to go forward. And if the front wheels don't have to deal with that weight, it will change the direction of that front end much quicker.
Matt Farah
Yeah. And also it'll change like the less. The lower the number is on the front, the lighter your steering will probably be. It does make a difference though in how a front mid and a rear mid car will behave. They will behave differently.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. My biggest lesson was when I did the spring mountain school, being able to be in the middle of a corner and just hit the gas hard and you feel it squat to the back, it jams that engine weight into the rear tires and would just shoot forward. Whereas if you did that with the front mid car, like the GTC or something else, you would be at risk of losing the back end because there's just not enough weight on those back tires to do that kind of move.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Yeah. Very good question though. Verso with no door handles. What are the best words, best and worst parts of being a small brick and mortar business owner? And how do you compare that to the best and worst parts of being a content creator? Oh, that's very interesting. What's the key to running multiple businesses and managing an online presence with fan interactions? Be comfortable with panic attacks. I would say start there. They're very different. Right. But what got you, got me used to running a seven day a week brick and mortar business is that the Internet is sort of seven days a week. I mean, it doesn't really stop. Right. So even if you're just posting content on a weekday, you're still doing businessy things throughout the weekend and the day of the week didn't really matter. So much ever. So it was kind of. It set me up for a business that's open all the time. Brick and mortar is much, much harder in terms of, like, moving pieces. Like, just the amount of paperwork and insurance and the different taxes and the different. Everything needs this and the buildings need maintaining and the HR stuff and all that. I think that's harder maybe because I wasn't trained for it. The content creation stuff, it's hard because it truly is the gig economy. Like, whatever you made before, like, doesn't really matter so much. It's just like, what's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing? And that never, like, stops, like, never, like, if it. When. When pretty well known, like, content creators, like, take a break for, like, a long period of time, six months or year, they're gone, they vanish. And it used to seem in the earlier days, like, if you made enough content that you'd have this sort of income stream that would kind of go on forever with your residual stuff. But if you're not putting out new content, YouTube won't, like, show your residual stuff. And so the stresses of being a content creator are pretty straightforward. Where's my next bit of content going to come from? And where's my next dollar going to come from? Those are hard questions, but they're pretty simple ones. When you're running a brick and mortar business, even fairly simple ones, things will happen that you can't possibly imagine would happen. And at times you don't expect them to happen. And possibly the worst times. And with content creation, like, Zach and I don't really, like, owe anybody anything. Like, there's never a case ever where someone's like, we paid you all this money. Now deliver. Like, we sell ads and we deliver the thing that we're offered. But those are all on an individual level, like, very low stakes. And so. But like, with this parking business, it's incredibly high stakes. You're dealing with my $2 million in cars. Like, that's pretty high stakes compared to it. But they complement each other. The content business, it brings in a lot of brick and mortar business. Like, those do really, they. They're good. Like, the fact that I have a pretty good team here and I can go off and make content and not be sitting here twiddling my thumbs or parking cars or trying to figure out how to get anybody to hear about who we are. Like, that's hugely beneficial. I have an enormous leg up over anyone else doing this in la. Because of all of you people, most of the time, they puzzle together quite nicely. Every once in a while, though, they do not. Islander says. Why did offshore cigarette boats become extinct? They're gorgeous. I don't think that's true.
Zach Klapman
The racing still happens. Pastrana participates in it. I don't know. I think maybe they just are. The public isn't as excited about them as they were when they first came out in the 70s, 80s.
Matt Farah
Yeah. I mean, most offshore powerboat racing is done with catamarans now because they're faster. I mean, it's just like. Just like most. You know, a lot of the professional sailing is done on boats that don't look like the boats that we're fucking sailing. They have carbon wings and they fly out of the water like they're just faster. And we're talking about racing. If you're talking about the brand cigarette, because that is a brand of boat, and that's also a casually referred to genre of offshore mono hull boating. The brand is still around. They exist.
Zach Klapman
There are four races in 2025. There's one in Michigan City, Chicago, Clearwater, Florida and Key West. So the organization is alive.
Matt Farah
Yeah. For offshore powerboat racing.
Zach Klapman
That's race world offshore 2025 ship.
Matt Farah
I mean, if you ever get to watch that shit, please do, because it's insane. It's certainly insane if you ever catch it on tv. Streets closed. Pizza boy lives close to the Lotus factory in Hethel. And they've had another round of layoffs. Six in three years. Why are they struggling this bad despite making objectively good cars? And is there still space for these smaller sports car companies? Well, look, part of it is US Tariffs. First off, it took. Took whatever the fuck happened with the 2 liter Amira and the US certification. And they had a year and a half of people who wanted cars put in deposits, couldn't get their cars, and then moved on to other cars.
Zach Klapman
Yep.
Matt Farah
I mean, they. We were there in summer of 23.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Fucking. They had thousands of cars sitting out there, going nowhere, building them and parking them in a field.
Zach Klapman
I think they had an EPA issue. Then they had the Panama Canal blocked issue. There were three things that happened in that year that basically delayed their cars.
Matt Farah
And then Covid.
Zach Klapman
It was Covid. Oh, well, that.
Matt Farah
There's the EPA for that. Yeah, and Covid. And then the Panama Canal and whatever shipping. And then now and then they have this big pivot to electrification with their SUV and their sedan, but they're coming from China. And guess fucking what. At the same time, the EV market takes a huge dump. In the us Particularly the luxury EV market, you now have a hundred percent or whatever tariff, whatever Trump's feeling like today, the tariff is from China. And nobody was going to buy $150,000 Lotus Electric EV. But now certainly no one's going to buy a $300,000 Lotus EV. And so if you can't get the sports cars to the very few people that are excited to buy the sports cars, and you've got all this resources invested in EVs that you're not going to be able to sell in America, you're in deep shit.
Zach Klapman
Yep.
Matt Farah
That's why they're doing. They just said they were gonna engineer some other car for somebody.
Zach Klapman
Oh, I didn't see that. But that's. They're very good at that.
Matt Farah
They just. There was just some announcement that they're gonna engineer something for somebody. I'm blanking on what it was because I have too much information coming into my brain every day. But yeah, I would love to see Lotus take over the production of the Alpine and somehow sell that product in the us.
Zach Klapman
That would be very cool. It would directly compete with the Amira, of course, but it would be cool.
Matt Farah
They're already selling some fucking wonky ass named shit over in China because they forgot to get the trademark for Lotus. Oh, really? Remember Neo Lotus?
Zach Klapman
Oh yeah, all those neo Lotuses.
Matt Farah
Angle of the dangle. What's a car that people think would be great on a racetrack but actually isn't great? Question and why is the answer not Alpha Force seat?
Zach Klapman
I would. That's the first one that came to mind.
Matt Farah
McLaren 570s is another one sketchy at the back.
Zach Klapman
Really? I don't know if I ever drove.
Matt Farah
One of those ones. Once they added the wing. Big difference.
Zach Klapman
Oh, you need the wing.
Matt Farah
You need the wing. I mean, Audi TT, very shady from high, high speed braking. It's a 570s.
Zach Klapman
I mean the C6Z06, right? I mean it has overheating issues.
Matt Farah
And that first gen Civic type R also had overheating issues. Not first gen. Excuse me? The. The. Whatever. FK, whatever it was. The. The 2020 joint.
Zach Klapman
The shredder one.
Matt Farah
The shredder one, yeah. Oh, there's a. I mean, h. What. What have I had? What have we had at P, Cody? Really bad. I mean, no one thinks those are going to be great on the track, huh? Yeah. I mean, mo. You know, these days, like most things are like pretty decent on a track. Like I was definitely disappointed with the Supra when I Took that on a track that wasn't so great, the first one.
Zach Klapman
But then when they revised it with whatever the one we drove, the blue.
Matt Farah
One, the manual one was better.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
The first gen one wasn't great. Gtrs. I mean gtrs set a great lap time but they just bore me to tears.
Zach Klapman
The 400, the Z. Oh yeah. The Nismo one was good, but the other one was not for that.
Matt Farah
The Rainbow Chic Shroom guy.
Zach Klapman
Good one.
Matt Farah
That's a good one. Matt, my 10 year old son and I were at Good Vibes a couple weeks ago when you had the Roma. Oh, thank you for taking the time to chat with my son. You are welcome. Shout out to him. Oh, my question. Everyone complains about the GT3 Touring having the same suspension suspension as the wing car. Has anyone modified a Touring to be softer? Yes, they have.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
So.
Zach Klapman
So I kept Tim's response because Litchfield tuners in UK made a video about it. They have like five or six different software maps.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
And they can load any of. They can load the ST suspension tune on any GT3.
Matt Farah
Yes, they can. You should just do that. Yeah. Can you scroll down a bit? Easy. Tom says, what is the best car that BMW has made since the E39.5 series and why is it the Rolls Ro. Phantom? Not wrong. BMW. I don't know if they've made it. They. They supply the engine and, and the, the UI and electronics for that car, but I don't. They don't make that. That car is built in England.
Zach Klapman
The best one Since.
Matt Farah
Since the E39.5 Series A long time ago.
Zach Klapman
It is, but it depends on.
Matt Farah
But talk to me about the bangers since then.
Zach Klapman
F80. M3 I think, I think that's the best one. If I had to choose and actually I would add that the like Vinnie's 328 diesel, you know, before diesel went out of like. That's a very touring, very good solid diesel. Someone else in the comments that they've put 60,000 miles on theirs depends on what you want from a car. M2 is really good. That's a good car. I mean that's good for us. Like we like performance driving. So my, my brain's going to what's their best performance car?
Matt Farah
The M2. The. The last M2. I think this M2 CS possibly could have been there, particularly the manual gearbox. Technically they kept making the Z8 after. I mean the, the first dude, the first X1 that you could get with the N55.
Zach Klapman
That was another.
Matt Farah
That was a little sleeper that. That kid was running like 10 second quarter miles in that fucking thing. Yeah, that was pretty nasty. The 1s, I mean, just the original 1m, I think counts. Yeah, they're not nothing in the last 10 years, my friend. Gravel trap hero says. I'm an assistant school superintendent in a conservative district. I want a new. A new car to me. 50k fun. Manual transmission. Can't be German or too loud and flashy. 20 miles each way, twisty country roads commute. Any suggestions?
Zach Klapman
Integra Type S. Oh, yeah, that would be fabulous.
Matt Farah
Get it in a dark color. No one will really look at it. Debadge, if you're that concerned.
Zach Klapman
Sure. Good seats, good stereo.
Matt Farah
Also a GR Corolla in a dark color. Yeah, you know, it won't immediately draw attention. You're an enthusiast. But it's a Corolla, you know, that'll do it.
Zach Klapman
Can't be German or get a Reading Rainbow livery, though. Like a whole car do that.
Matt Farah
Can't be German or too loud or flashy.
Zach Klapman
He says a stock NA Miata is considered an exotic sports car there.
Matt Farah
Yeah, I mean, look, you're gonna have to. You're gonna have to figure out that you need if you're gonna have a nicer car. Someone eventually will ask about your car. And if you want an American fun car for this type of budget, it's going to be somewhat flashy. It's going to be a Mustang or a Camaro or a Corvette. Right. What other choices do you have?
Zach Klapman
Chevy ss. But even in this area, people will know what that is. They'll know that that's cool and flashy.
Matt Farah
Yeah, that's not what you want for a twisty country road kit.
Zach Klapman
Chevy ss. The fun one.
Matt Farah
Oh, the sedan. I was thinking a different one. Sorry. Shit.
Zach Klapman
Well, can't do it.
Matt Farah
How about. Okay, I mean, how about a used, but in great condition with low miles. Focus rs not in blue.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
I think you could drive a black or white Focus rs. And no one's looking for.
Zach Klapman
Sure.
Matt Farah
No one's looking at it.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, white because it's a fleet color.
Matt Farah
That would be a great one. 20 miles, twisty country roads.
Zach Klapman
Make sure you like the seats.
Matt Farah
American car assembled in Germany. No one has to know that. And they're a good time. If you've got good roads, they're a lot of fun.
Zach Klapman
It's too bad you can't get them. If you could get a Mach 1 and no one would get mad at you, but they'd be like, all the money going to our school. Look at the da da da.
Matt Farah
How about a mock, how about a Mach E rally that.
Zach Klapman
Well, I mean EV might not be the way to go.
Matt Farah
I'll tell you what, if you can charge your car at home that you're a perfect commuter for an ev, you could, you could buy a good handling evil and just mob on that drive each way. And plenty of juice. Charge it home every night.
Zach Klapman
I mean, I hate to say this but if this person wants to keep being voted in a superintendent in a conservative district, Tesla Model 3 Performance is not the way to go.
Matt Farah
Yeah, unless it's a Tesla Model 3 Performance with a fucking Punisher logo on the back.
Zach Klapman
Do they like Tesla now or do they not because of the breakup? I don't know, I'm not sure. Is Tesla still cool?
Matt Farah
Okay. Alright, Tim. A says new versus used question. A well equipped M5 will run about 140k. For that price you can create a used three car garage with an EV, a sports sedan and a dedicated sports car. Would you rather have a new M5 over the three you would choose?
Zach Klapman
No, I'd rather have the three.
Matt Farah
I mean in order to do this question though, you have to accept the fact that it takes more effort, possibly more money and more energy to deal with three cars. Not to mention you need somewhere to keep them than one car.
Zach Klapman
Sure.
Matt Farah
For a lot of people only having all of these things in one car is good.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I can't have three cars. I don't have the parking space for it at my apartment. But I'm assuming this person, if they're asking, let's just assume that they have a two car garage and a driveway or they live in a neighborhood where parking's even easy. Three cars all day.
Matt Farah
Sure I would. I do. That's what I have and what I do. Yeah, I would not get a very fast hybrid luxury sedan. Yes, I would have a nice but not fancy EV commuter. I would have some kind of SUV with 4 wheel drive for the and a bunch of cargo space for when I needed that. And then I would have a dedicated sports car. And that covers all possible bases.
Zach Klapman
Yep.
Matt Farah
Yeah, for sure. And I've seen the new M5s out and about. I want to drive one as a journalist but as a, as a person who buys cars, could not be less interested in that particular thing. What do I think about single brand or single color car collections? Don't like it, don't want it.
Zach Klapman
If you had to gun to your head, you have to do single car, single brand or single color.
Matt Farah
I mean obviously you do Single color versus single brand because it's much more restricting than the other. But. But I just, I don't like when people do single color. I'll give an exception. Shout out to them. My friend Todd blue. If your name is blue, you get a pass. If your name is a color.
Zach Klapman
I disagree.
Matt Farah
If your name is a color, no offense, Todd. And you get a pass, especially if you are of the wealth level to where they will make up new versions of blue for you, which they do.
Zach Klapman
I still think that that's even worse because you're like. They're like, oh, your name is blue and all your cars are blue. Sure. It's just, it's too. On those. I go the other way.
Matt Farah
I'll give. I'll give my friend Todd Blue a pass because he is a man of taste. I don't doubt it. Not everybody has to. That's okay. But I don't like. I don't like restricting a car collection. Imagine fucking pigeonholing yourself like that.
Zach Klapman
No, I agree.
Matt Farah
No. Buy the good shit. My collection is in. Here's the theme of my collection. Buy the good shit. Good theme. We should put that on a shirt. Pugs and Porsches. 997.2s versus 991.1s for a daily. Same price, mileage and condition. 997.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. It's the right size.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Okay. Christian says. I read your Road and track article on the screens and I agree with you. My question is luxury electric cars are all screen. Non luxury cars are all screen as well. The driving experience of a BMW i4 versus an Ioniq 6, for example, will be similar. Similar. Will the only difference be exterior design? The gap feels closer than it's ever been. I have been saying something like this. You're right. I think EV drastically benefits the bottom more than it benefits the top or the mid range. Certainly the mid range. I mean, if you've been a company that's known for building good engines like Porsche or Bentley or BMW and now everything is ev, boy, are you in deep shit. Because is legitimately a car that never would have been considered a real competitor five years ago, is now a real competitor and will feel largely the same to drive. I mean, we did performance EV of the year and the BMW offering did not crack the top four in terms of performance or dynamics or anything. And to drive it on the street, it was nicely appointed, but it wasn't mind blowing. Like BMW is not winning the interior game right now. They're not winning the styling game right now. Whereas the Korean companies are producing increasing quality products that will. When you level out the powertrain by doing ev, will absolutely compete with BMW. Like I was, you know, we bought a used Porsche, but like that, that mid to high end ev, like I wouldn't spend money on that ever because like the mid level shit is so refined and nice. It's only incrementally better until you get to like the top. Yeah, but you have ride quality, things like that, UI usability, things you do every day. That's gonna differentiate. But yeah, man, there's. When it's all just software and electric motors. Like, why are you buying a fancy German car? Like what, what's that getting you? Like, not much. Oh, we talked about that. Oh. Tim McLaren says, what is the sweet spot for the C8. Couple ways to go there. The Z06 without the Z07 package.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Is a super super fast car. Car that feels super, super exotic and could be used as an everyday car. Yeah, that's where I'm at.
Zach Klapman
Takes all the good things of the Z51, but makes the engine, note the engine special and that's. There you go.
Matt Farah
Holy shit, look at this. Blurple says, I got my car back from the shop after being parked for 492 days. 350 miles into the engine break in it threw a code for a thermostat being stuck over open. What's the lamest reason you've ever had to return a car to the shop for warranty work? 492 days. That's a Lemon Law claim to me. I'm not making it past two or three months without getting a car.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, for sure. I mean they must have rebuilt the engine. A new engine. They rebuilt it.
Matt Farah
Nuts. The lamest reason, I mean, I have a friend who lemon lawd a Rivian because they were unable. Unable to align the rear wheels.
Zach Klapman
Oh, that's right, Brad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was eating through tires, right?
Matt Farah
Yeah, it was eating through the right tire. And he had a blowout actually in one and they said, oh, the rear alignment was out because it's a rear steer vehicle and they were unable to fix it. And Lemon law the car. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So something that structurally was like manufactured incorrectly.
Matt Farah
I mean my Focus RS to go back to. It had to go back because it had a Lincoln head gasketed.
Zach Klapman
Oh, that's right.
Matt Farah
MKC head gasket in mind. Yeah, that's pretty lame. Roth V says is a used F type V6 still one of the best luxury sports cars you can get for under 50k. I have to say, yes, it is. Ain't nothing wrong with a V6s, F type. That's a. That's a fine. Especially you find one with a manual.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Looks expensive, looks good.
Matt Farah
Class, classic, classic, versatile. Good for a variety of types of driving. I don't know if They've done a CarPlay update yet. If you can get CarPlay in the. In the UI when you can do that, that'll be a game changer because that is. It's got some OG fucking UI. They have a CarPlay module.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Great. There you go. Cat trick. Swayze. Pretty good. Pretty good. What took the all time? Biggest shit from one generation to the next. Next. Porsche 993 to 996, C2 to C3. Corvette Mazda RX7 to RX8 top their list. Oh, that's okay. The biggest from RX7 to RX8 is a pretty good one.
Zach Klapman
It's pretty good. But the handling. RX8 was great. The engine was bad. The C3, once you got into like the meat. Meaty years where you had oil crisis, then it was a big shock.
Matt Farah
I would say if we're talking Corsair Corvettes, it's just early C3 to late C3. Yeah. It's really the biggest.
Zach Klapman
That's where the changes really happen.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Oh, dude. Mustang. The 71 Mustang to the 73 Mustang.
Zach Klapman
Mustang is a big.
Matt Farah
Yike.
Zach Klapman
Two is bad.
Matt Farah
No good. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Bronco to Bronco 2. We got all tiny.
Matt Farah
Yeah, those are. Those are pretty bad. The.
Zach Klapman
Little.
Matt Farah
The Mercury Cougar from the 60s to the 80s got really sad.
Zach Klapman
Lincolns from 70s to 80s.
Matt Farah
I mean the Thunderbird from first to second generation. All Lincolns from the 80s into the 90s.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. They got terrible.
Matt Farah
Yeah, good question. Vin's Diesel. I've had my 335D for five years and 60K miles. All right, what other. Oh, wait, hang on. Oh, he's done all these adventures in his car. What adventures would you have someone do with their car? You could put a rooftop tent on it and camp out of it. You could drive it to like Alaska. You could do like Dalton Highway. Okay.
Zach Klapman
I was gonna say you could do a rally thing with it, but that's really risky. So maybe that's a bad idea. Go to Pikes Peak.
Matt Farah
Pikes Peak is fun.
Zach Klapman
Put the rooftop tent on it and then go attend Pikes Peak hill climb and sleep on top of your car and then drive to the top of it. Before or after the event?
Matt Farah
I like this. You could. How about Go on vacation with your car. Meaning, like, ship it to another country? I would say ship it somewhere that you've always wanted to drive and then. And then go there and drive it. Yeah, like Europe. Like, you want to go to the Swiss Alps, Something like that. Like, that's what I would probably.
Zach Klapman
Oh, you can drive it back to BMW factory.
Matt Farah
Mm. Go. Here you go. I brought this for you.
Zach Klapman
I'm in here for a service appointment. Only four questions left.
Matt Farah
Okay, we'll get all of them. Felicity. Ace. Oh, there you go. Can you explain the different trim levels with 911? And it seems that only certain options can be had with certain trims. And it's confusing for people not. Well, I don't know how deep I'm supposed to get into this.
Zach Klapman
Right. This is a deep hole.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Like, okay, so you have your base 911. That's base. It's 3 liter, twin turbo, PDK only, non limited slip, differential, non PASM. Right. Then you have the T, which is the base engine, but unlocks a whole bunch of options, including manual gearbox, limited diff, sport suspension, better wheels, rear steer, better brakes, because I don't think you even can get, like, ceramics on a base car and other performance bucket seats, things like that. So that's the base motor with enthusiast options. Then you can get the S. The S is the next most powerful motor, and it is. I don't know, it's a lot more. It's like 75 or 80 more horsepower. You get the diff, and you can get all those other options from the T, but no manual gearbox. And you can get the S in rear wheel drive or all wheel drive, and in coupe or convertible. Then you have the gts, which is the new hybrid, and that's even more powerful. It has a special engine with hybrid, turbo, and all this other funky stuff. And you can get that in all coupe, convertible, retractable, all automatic, or Targa, which is the retractable one. Then you have the turbo and turbo S. They're basically the same, but the S is more. It's just more handling, more brakes, lighter wheels, better aero, more advanced things, which is like, just insane. And then you have the GT family, which is the track focused motorsport stuff, naturally aspirated stick or pdk, all the other performance goodies and like, extremely customized.
Zach Klapman
Pretty good, I think, right?
Matt Farah
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you have the GT3Rs, which is the big wings. And then you have the ST, which is the GT3RS engine, but manual gearbox.
Zach Klapman
Wings or no wings.
Matt Farah
Lightweight things. Yeah. And there's A lot of other sub options like magnesium wheels you can only get on certain cars and certain bits you can only get on certain cars but.
Zach Klapman
And then the minutia. I'm sure there's like interior choices. Oh these seats are only on this thing. But that's. You have to get the S and yeah that's for the configurator.
Matt Farah
Yeah but if you're trying to configure a car, make sure that once you do your build you actually call at someone at a dealer and you go through and you make sure you know what each of those options really means. Because it's like you might think something means something but it really doesn't mean that. Like I learned with my climate control. Good question. Says for a one to two week car themed trip, would you prefer driving from Washington to Monterey plus car week or a week long Scotland driving trip in a Morgan plus 4? They'll cost probably the same. Debating both. For my 40th haven't been to car week or Scotland currently leaning in the latter. I would rather drive around Scotland in a mortgage then drive from Washington to car week and then do car week.
Zach Klapman
Now I have not been to Scotland. You have are there because he said car themed. So it seems like the car theme part of the Scotland trip is just the driving of the Morgan.
Matt Farah
Well that is plenty.
Zach Klapman
Right. Whereas the the west coast car trip it's like you're going to a car thing. So I think that's the question is do you want to experience it. Like for me when I drove the Morgan we had that plus four here a couple we there a couple years ago. Covid 2020 super fun to drive. But the handling characteristics in the canyons were fucking weird. Yeah it was not a fun thing. Like it didn't you know this would.
Matt Farah
Be the new one.
Zach Klapman
Okay so hopefully they fix new one has been re engineering dynamics but.
Matt Farah
Or probably would be the new one. I don't know. I mean I think. I think like car week will be there and so. So if you have the chance to do an international trip in a cool car, I think that's a more unique experience and you can use that as a backdrop for doing other stuff like whiskey tastings or you know whatever it is you're gonna. You also want to be doing in Scotland not directly car related.
Zach Klapman
You also while you're on your Scotland trip you can look at Instagram and see Monterey car week where you won't the inverse is not true.
Matt Farah
Yeah car week's really fun. It is really fun. If you get tickets to all to the things you want to go to and you get a fun car, you bring it down. It is fun. But I think having been to car Week, I'd probably rather drive around Scotland to Morgan. That would be a particularly well paired up thing. Make sure you go to the Fife Arms if you're going to Scotland. It is the hotel of hotels. It's the fucking best. Donald Dump says, wait, what the fuck?
Zach Klapman
This is like a. I'll highlight the question. It's like a joke setup. But then the question is basically, if the President heard our podcast and got mad at us and then just decreed that all speed limits everywhere, all cars are limited to 80 miles per hour across the country to punish us specifically, then how would we still have fun below 80 miles per hour? Oh, the answer is Miata.
Matt Farah
The answer is miatas or alpine A110s. And that's pretty much it. Yeah. Light and slow groms, little, little miniature motorcycles, Sierra cars. I don't think I've ever over Sierra over 80 in a Sierra car. And it was a goddamn great time.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's terrifying. Yeah, I get a good way.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Now the desk desert, we're talking land speed or wheel speed, because if it's land speed, then drifting is often below 80 miles per hour.
Matt Farah
Yeah, good point. Busch did 997. I regularly see a brand new Cayenne on Montana tags parked on Gramercy park in New York City. What's the most egregious use of Montana tags you've encountered? I mean, you have to define egregious. Have you cheated the highest number in taxes or is it egregious in terms of like, getting a Montana tag for your, like, whatever, daily? Is that the most egregious? I think that's probably more agree. What's more egregious? Because it's a slippery slope. Once you have one. Once you have a sketchy LLC for one car.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
You might as well just register all your cars. That's probably what that person with the Cayenne is doing, I think.
Zach Klapman
I never thought of this because I've seen plenty of supercars with it, and that makes me mad for the tax reasons, but I think seeing the $200,000 Range Rover Daily is probably more egregious because I don't think. I don't think there's a Range Rover dealership in Montana. Like, you know, it wasn't bought there.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
And granted this is all based on assumptions, but I'm assuming when I see it going to Like Century City to a. To a ad dealership or advertiser, like. Or an agency. They live here, they're commuting to work and they don't. Anyway. Yeah.
Matt Farah
Yes.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I personally think. I think it's more egregious to commit millions of dollars in tax fraud by having like a dozen Paganis registered in Montana than to have one Cayenne. But still it is. It actually takes like, more work. Like someone had to do more work to evade taxes with. Whereas with the Montana thing, you know, there might just be a guy who does that. Like.
Zach Klapman
What do you mean?
Matt Farah
Like with the. With you have a fleet of supercars, you might as well. Your fucking guy does it. But if you've just got a Range Rover, you've made a whole LLC just to cheat those taxes for this one car instead of just paying the fucking tax.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's lame on both sides.
Matt Farah
Yeah. That's our program today, kids. I, by the time you hear this, will be on driving. I'll be driving. I'll be driving across Northern California. You know why? Because. Pull it up real quick, Zach. The Seaside to Sierra event is now up@experiences.roadandtrack.com this one's gonna be great. And I'm driving the route this week to make sure it's great. We're gonna start at the Montage Healdsburg, which is a sick hotel. It's ridiculously dope. And then we're gonna have a full track day at Sonoma Raceway. We're gonna stay at the lodge, the Presidio in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. We're then going to drive back across wine country through Yountville to Grass Valley, where we're going to have. We're gonna go to Scott Pruitt, the racing drivers vineyard. He's got a vineyard and a winery. So we're gonna gonna drink Scott Pruitt's wine. He's gonna be there at Sonoma to give hot laps also. So you'll have one of the fastest shoes in the fucking west. And me also giving hot laps. We'll stay in Grass Valley and then we are going to drive the very, very pretty way to Lake Tahoe where we'll have a sunset boat tour of the lake. And we're gonna stay at the fucking Ritz Carlton in Tahoe. It's going to be real nice, Clark. We are going to be. It's going to be an amazing drive. I'm super stoked for this one. The food is going to be awesome. The wine is going to be awesome. And we have four great hotels. Three of the four are like, exceptionally good. The fourth one I haven't been to yet. So I'll tell you about how it goes. Next week. I'll be writing a story about it for Road and Track driving a lex Lexus LC5 Hyundai. That'll be real nice as well. Get to say farewell before they get rid of the Nav 8 with a little 1100 mile lap of California.
Zach Klapman
Sick.
Matt Farah
That'll be super fun. So that's what I'm doing for the next four days and then I'll see you guys next week with more podcasting. And we haven't forgotten about you pro drivers. Your pro drivers show will be next week as well. Thanks everybody. See you later. Bye.
Podcast Summary: The Smoking Tire – "Corvette ZR1X; Roma Spider Review; New Ultralight; Q&A"
Release Date: June 19, 2025
Hosts: Zack Klapman & Matt Farah
Matt Farah opens the episode by sharing a gripping firsthand account of witnessing a complete road rage incident. While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Matt and Hannah observe a truck driver executing aggressive maneuvers around a cyclist. The situation escalates when the truck driver performs a "dive bomb" maneuver, dangerously crossing lanes near the cyclist.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [07:24]: "That's just, like, real dangerous and, like antisocial to, like, what's clearly going on around here."
The culmination of the event sees the driver being pulled over by California Highway Patrol (CHP), allowing Matt to feel a sense of justice served.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [08:01]: "What was he doing as the CHP was standing next to him filming the cop. So I can't wait to see his side of the video on social media."
Zach Klapman contrasts this experience with a recent incident where someone aggressively passed a police officer without consequence, highlighting variability in road behaviors.
Matt and Zach recount their visit to a Mumford & Sons concert at the Hollywood Bowl. While praising the venue's acoustics, Matt describes an uncomfortable moment when a fellow concert-goer enthusiastically performed a banjo solo during a typically restrained section of the performance.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [10:45]: "That was the whitest thing that could happen on this planet."
They discuss the band's lineup changes, specifically mentioning the departure of the original banjo player due to controversial social media posts. The new, session-based banjo player is praised for his skill despite being visually less prominent.
The hosts delve into an in-depth review of the Ferrari Roma, discussing its design philosophy and performance. Matt criticizes the Roma for not living up to Ferrari's standards in usability despite its impressive driving dynamics.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [22:12]: "You're sitting real far back, kind of right near the rear axle."
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [24:39]: "Why would I buy this? Like, it drives great, but like, it's not like roomier in the front. It's not faster than the mid engine offering."
Zach adds that the Roma's name is uninspiring compared to its performance, expressing disappointment in Chevrolet's naming conventions for the Corvette lineup.
The conversation shifts to the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X, a model criticized for its lackluster naming and perceived departure from Corvette's performance heritage.
Notable Quote:
Zach Klapman [34:01]: "Honestly, I just say it's BMW's game. So it's a lot of people. Let it be their game."
Key Points:
Matt and Zach discuss the technical aspects, including weight distribution and the motor system, comparing it to other high-performance cars like the BMW E Ray and discussing its handling on the track.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [36:03]: "But it is a very good time. You know what got me really thinking about though? Z06s are about to get cheap."
Matt and Zach explore a newly revealed ultralight sports car featuring a BMW inline-six engine. They express enthusiasm over its sleek design and engineering, likening its aesthetics to classic Le Mans racers and modern high-performance machines.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [53:15]: "It looks like a Le Mans racer from the 60s. I see some elements of Porsche 908 in there as well. It looks fabulous."
The hosts discuss potential modifications and usage scenarios, highlighting the car's lightweight construction and balanced performance.
The episode transitions into a comprehensive Q&A session where listeners pose questions on a variety of automotive topics. Highlights include:
Car Maintenance: Comparison between maintaining a Porsche Cayman and an older BMW, emphasizing accessibility and part availability.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [50:06]: "I don't think the parts are that more expensive. I don't think the consumables are that more expensive."
Best Commuter Cars: Recommendations for non-German, manual transmission cars under $50k for twisty country road commutes, suggesting models like the Integra Type S and the Ford Focus RS.
Notable Quote:
Zach Klapman [84:27]: "Integra Type S. Oh, yeah, that would be fabulous."
EV vs. Internal Combustion: Discussing the practicality and performance of electric vehicles versus traditional sports cars, particularly in the context of changing automotive landscapes.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [93:02]: "EV drastically benefits the bottom more than it benefits the top or the mid range."
Single Brand vs. Single Color Collections: Debating the merits of focusing a car collection on a single brand or color, ultimately advocating for owning diverse, high-quality vehicles.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [89:48]: "Buy the good shit. Good theme."
Matt shares exciting plans for an upcoming road trip across Northern California, including a track day at Sonoma Raceway and a sunset boat tour on Lake Tahoe. He also hints at a car giveaway featuring a modified 911 Turbo S.
Notable Quote:
Matt Farah [107:35]: "We're going to be giving away a 911 Turbo S that we're going to have it for a couple months and we're going to modify it in ways that we like before giving it away and make some content with it."
Zach and Matt wrap up the episode by discussing future topics and expressing gratitude to their listeners.
In this episode of The Smoking Tire, Matt Farah and Zack Klapman navigate a diverse array of automotive topics, from personal anecdotes and detailed car reviews to insightful listener Q&A sessions. They provide candid opinions on high-performance vehicles, usability concerns in luxury cars, and the evolving dynamics of the auto industry. The hosts maintain their signature blend of technical knowledge and engaging storytelling, making the episode informative for both avid car enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.
Key Takeaways:
For more detailed discussions and reviews, visit The Smoking Tire's YouTube channel.
This summary captures the essence of the episode while highlighting notable moments and quotes. For the full experience, tuning into the podcast is highly recommended.