Driven: Totem SuperGT, the 670HP Carbon Alfa Clone

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Smoking Tire

Episode: Driven: Totem SuperGT, the 670HP Carbon Alfa Clone

Date: August 28, 2025
Hosts: Matt Farah & Zack Klapman

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Matt and Zack dissect their experience driving the Automobili Totem SuperGT—a carbon-fiber Alfetta-inspired supercar boasting 670 horsepower and ultra-limited artisanal production. The conversation spans an in-depth review of the Totem, broader takes on the wave of “reimagined” classics, and sidebars on the new Aston Martin Vantage Roadster and Chrysler’s rumored overland Pacifica van. The hosts candidly discuss what works, what doesn’t, and what makes the Totem a genuinely unique modern “tribute” to Alfa’s sporting heritage.

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Key Discussion Points & Timestamps

1. Setting the Scene: Totem SuperGT First Drive

[00:50 - 02:56]

• Matt and Zack recap a long morning spent on twisty mountain roads with the Automobili Totem GT Super—a car that “looks vaguely like a GTV but is all modern and all carbon”.
• Matt: “It’s kind of like an Alfa if you gave an Alfa a whole bunch of acid.” [00:30]
• Buzz from the drive—“My brain is a little jelly right now because it was buzzed for six and a half hours this morning, meaning shaken.” [01:05]
• Zack remarks on the "peak reimagination" trend post-Monterey Car Week.

2. What is the Totem SuperGT?

[02:56 - 05:08]

• It combines “Alfa” styling cues (GTV shape, badge), but almost no actual Alfa Romeo components.
• Carbon monocoque chassis, carbon body, bespoke interior, extremely limited builds.
• Leather, houndstooth, billet metal trimmings—very high attention to detail.
• Engine: A unique 2.8L V6 with sequential turbos, pushing up to 670 HP.
• Ferrari-sourced Graziano transaxle (from a 550).
• “If you look at it, you go, that looks pretty quick. It’s like way faster than you think.” — Matt [05:09]

3. Power, Performance & Driving Impressions

[05:08 - 13:28]

• Three drive modes offering 350, 450, and 670 HP outputs.
• “Like the Porsche 959, there’s first turbo and then there’s second turbo. And they are not the same.” — Matt [06:22]
• The car is shockingly quick: “You’re in a tiny little Alfa Romeo…and you’re pulling like a McLaren.” — Matt [09:01]
• Transmission: Short gearing, great for back roads but buzzy on the highway (4,000 RPM at 70 mph).
• “It almost feels out of character for the car…I drove it around in middle power mode most of the time, which is lovely.” — Zack [09:36]

4. Interior & Build Quality Observations

[10:12 - 15:45]

• Interior design likened to Pagani for craftsmanship, though less ostentatious.
• Controls for five-mode adjustable shocks front/rear; lots of opportunities for user error in setup.
• All switches, steering wheel, and most fittings are custom-made—very little parts-bin raiding.
• The car is individually tailored for each customer even after delivery.
• “Pretty shockingly well made for a company's ninth car.” — Matt [15:08]
• Noted input from company founder regarding setup and client adjustments post-delivery.

5. Critiques & Flaws: Honest Feedback

[18:01 - 44:58, intermittent]

• Wind noise at highway speeds: “With the windows closed, there’s a lot of wind noise. It’s real loud on the highway.”
• Tire rub: Noticeable rubbing in both the front and rear under compression, possibly due to tire width and soft suspension.
  • “It was shocking in a car that cost this much and has suspension that is very expensive.” — Zack [24:07]
• Steering oddities: Custom rack lacks proper self-centering and shows nonlinear response off-center.
  • “From five degrees or so from center, either direction...it stays at that five degrees until you actively tug it back to center.” — Matt [28:21]
• Brake pedal feel: Soft, slow-to-bite pedal. Not an issue at moderate pace, but challenging at full power.
  • “I also wanted a firmer pedal...it lands low enough your foot is too far down to heel-toe.” — Matt [36:47]
• All problems described as fixable and acknowledged by the manufacturer.

6. Broader Industry Thoughts—The Reimagination Craze

[02:27, 39:53, 85:10]

• Debate about “peak reimagination” and the wave of boutique restomods (Totem, Singer, Cyan P1800, etc.).
• Hosts stress the difference between artisanal craftsmanship (Totem) and mass-market hypercars.
• Zack: “I think this is an exceptionally well-done homage or tribute to something like this.” [40:15]
• Discussion of classic styling’s appeal for those uninterested in modern exotics’ flashiness.
• “You get it in a subtle color, and it’s not like a screaming yellow Revuelto.” — Matt [42:15]

7. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On performance: “The acceleration is shocking. Like, you can’t believe how hard it’s pulling in sixth gear.” — Matt [08:22]
• On build quality: “This is an amazing piece of fucking artwork that just needs proper setup to drive right.” — Matt [38:16]
• On “reimagining” trend: “Fifteen years ago this was just called pro touring...now it’s reimagining.” — Matt [85:45]

8. Sidebar Reviews: Aston Martin Vantage Roadster & Chrysler Pacifica Overlander

Aston Martin: [52:20 - 54:10]

• “Very comfortable, very fast, very planted.” — Zack
• Roadsters always ride better than the coupe.
• “The Vantage Roadsters are always excellent…a little better than the coupes because they get updates and refinements.” — Matt

Pacifica Overland Van: [54:10 - 59:09]

• Chrysler concept for a lifted, rugged minivan: “I’m in. I’m pro-Pacifica—as long as it’s not a hybrid.”
• Humor about practical camping, odd color/trim choices, and how these make perfect sense for family road trips.

9. Listener Q&A Highlights (Patreon)

[60:50 - End, selected]

• Recommendations for depreciated luxury SUVs: 2012 Range Rover praised for durability, simplicity, and aesthetics.
• Manual swaps: Lexus IS-F and other V8 German sedans cited as dream candidates.
• Advice for teens—Miata as a first manual for car enthusiasts.
• Strong opinions on “Transformers badges,” tuner magazine era favorites, and the value (or not) of EV muscle cars.

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Structured Highlights

Totem SuperGT: Quick Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Artisanal build quality, gorgeous interior, and exterior design
• Unique, wild powertrain (2.8L twin-turbo V6, 670HP)
• Each car tailor-made post-delivery to customer’s driving preferences
• Exhilarating performance—feels like “McLaren-level acceleration”

Cons:

• Tire rubbing at stock ride height
• High noise levels on the highway
• Custom steering rack has odd nonlinearity and resists self-centering
• Soft brake pedal hampers hard driving

Verdict:
“This is an amazing piece of fucking artwork that just needs a proper setup to drive right. I hope they can just move some bolts and adjust some things, and that would be great.” — Matt [38:43]

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Concluding Thoughts

• On the Totem SuperGT: It's a showcase for bespoke craftsmanship and a genuinely thrilling drive—equally stunning and ferocious. The flaws are surmountable and largely setup-related, appropriate for new low-volume manufacturers.
• Reimagination trend: The hosts see value in high-touch, small-batch restomods, even as the market seems saturated. They appreciate diversity beyond the now-ubiquitous 911-reimaginings.
• Philosophy of enjoyment: For both hosts, the Totem and similar projects are about joy, craftsmanship, and standing apart from mass-market, tech-laden “mainstream” exotics.

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Additional Notable Quotes

• “I think this stuff inspires me and other people. This is a little different because this is actual, like, artisanal kind of thing. This is a little shop making a small number of cars.” — Matt [02:56]
• “Find a person that’s like, ‘Nah, the GTV doesn’t look good.’ That person doesn’t exist.” — Matt [03:58]
• “If you want to have something that’s different from other ones that are around…this is an exceptionally well-done homage.” — Zack [40:15]
• “If you’re already willing to indulge he’s getting a new car of some kind, now it’s just a matter of the car that you want him to have or the car that he wants.” — Matt (on getting a teen a Miata) [98:45]

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Episode Energy & Tone

• Candid and unfiltered, with an infectious enthusiasm for both engineering details and the intangible “vibe” of standout cars
• Willingness to point out flaws, even in six-figure “artworks”
• Balances technical analysis with storytelling, humor, and a clear love of driving and car culture

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For listeners, this episode is not just a review but a window into how the “reimagined classic” movement can create cars with as much soul and surprise as their inspirations—and why, even when imperfect, they make the automotive world richer.

Transcript

[A]

What up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Matt Farah here, and today's episode is, as always, brought to you by off the Record. Listen, if you get pulled over, if you get ticketed for a moving violation, it is your right to fight that, and you should. But you should get help. Use off the record. Right? Don't plead guilty. Get off the record. Go to offtherecord.com TST off the record. We'll connect you with a qualified attorney in the jurisdiction where you got that tick, and they will fight that ticket. And they have a very, very high success rate of keeping those points off your record. That helps your insurance rates, possibly your employment status. What else? Who knows? But you don't want points on your record. That's why you get off the record. Go to offtherecord.com TST that's offtherecord.com Tst to get 10% off all legal services booked through off the Record. Do it now and on with the show. All right, folks, on today's episode of the podcast, Zach and I are back in studio. And we had a hell of a morning up on the mountain driving the Totem GT super, which is kind of like an alpha, if you give an alpha a whole bunch of acid. Also, we give some thoughts on the Aston Martin vantage Roadster that we're driving this week, and Chrysler has teased us with an overlanding van. That makes me slightly aroused. All this and more on today's episode of the Smoking Tire podcast. This is. No, I should have just done a minute of straight silence like Andy Kaufman. Hi. Hello. Hello. All right, now we have to transition brain into show. It's show cars. These are cars. Hello. My brain is a little jelly right now because it was buzzed for six and a half hours this morning, meaning shaken. It was shaken, not stirred to shake.

[B]

A which they serve at blue bottle.

[A]

Now. I just learned it's coming. I told everybody it's coming. Be ready. If you don't know about the Shaker Roto, you better ax somebody. But that's an Italian thing. And we spent all morning in another Italian thing we did. And boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. Yeah, that is. Wow. That is a lot.

[B]

It's funny. I'll jump ahead. There was someone asked a question today that they said after watching all the Monterey Car Week stuff, are we at peak reimagination at this point? And I just. It's funny that today we drove another reimagination.

[A]

Another reimagination.

[B]

I'm here for it when it's done. This well, And I think the attention's this good. I support it, I really do. And I'm. And we know, like, I'm real mad. There's too many hypercars and income and da ba da da. But like, this stuff I think inspires me and other people.

[A]

I think this is a little different because this is like actual like artisanal kind of thing. This is like a little shop making a small number of cars. And we're talking about the automobili totem. This is the, this Alfa Romeo thing. Automobile totem GT super, which is. I mean, it's best described as an Alfa Romeo resto mod though. There's like, fuck, there's no alpha in this. There's none. The amount of alpha in this is so comically small. The badge, maybe. And they remake those. It is a carbon monocoque. It looks vaguely like a gtv. It's a modernized GTV style GTA gtv. The two door, two box alpha that everybody loves, that everyone pretty much universally agrees is a great looking car. Find a person that's like, nah, the GTV doesn't look good, doesn't exist.

[B]

I bet even the 2002s and 510s back in the day that were chasing them around like Laguna were like, fuck, it's pretty.

[A]

That's a good looking car. It's a good thing to chase. Good looking car.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's that. Right? But it's all carbon. Carbon monocoque, carbon body, carbon a lot of fucking things.

[B]

Carbon window trim.

[A]

Carbon window trim. What weighs. Yeah, it weighs something under 3,000 pounds, but we don't know exactly how much it weighs.

[B]

500 of those pounds is leather.

[A]

Yeah. The interior is insane. If you scroll on my Instagram, there's photos of it. It's wide and it's. And it's got that teardrop rear end that looks so great. And then the interior is this leather and houndstooth and billet and metal and has a Ferrari. They try to not share parts. They did their best to share no parts. So it has its own engine, it has its own sequential turbo V6 that's not in anything else. And it's fucking mental. Actually, it's one of the crazier engines I think I've driven recently, now that I think of it, but with an actual Graziano Ferrari Transaxle from a 550.

[B]

50, 50 weight.

[A]

Yeah. Low, wide, and it looks like it's pretty fast. If you look at it, you go, that looks pretty quick. It's like way faster than you think. It's going to be. It's weird that something that's like $600,000 and looks like this could be like a sleeper. But the fucking thing, I mean, it pulls like, you know, well.

[B]

Cause I think this, the shape of these has always. I mean, it's beautiful, but like cute. Like those cars back then in the 2002s, 510s, they're small, they're known for having these high revving NA engines. Not a ton of power because that was just the time. I mean, for the time they were fast. But, you know, modern standards, 200 horsepower is not a lot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But so I think this still looks like. I mean, it's got jewelry and it's so like luxurious looking inside.

[A]

But if you said it was 300 horsepower, you go, yeah, okay, cool. You know, it's got.

[B]

If you said 400, everyone would go, that's. Sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That would just. That would double.

[A]

Double what the original one had. You know, it probably would be na with like ITBs or something and, you know, it would sound kind of awesome.

[B]

Like that, by the way.

[A]

Well, if it. Look, if it had an S54 in it, you know, it would also be sick.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, but this engine is a 2.8 liter V6, sequential turbos, this crazy looking airbox that has windows into the ITBs. And then this, you know, it's got three drive modes which are very distinct. 350, 450, and 670 horsepower. And the 671, you know, and like the Porsche 959, if you saw that video we made, there's first turbo and then there's second turbo. And they are not the same. First turbo is 0 to 4000. Second turbo is 4000 to redline. And second turbo in full kill mode is bananas. Bananas.

[B]

It's fun chasing you because it squats.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It shoots tons of stuff out the exhaust. Not like a problematic amount. Like, it's just, you know, there's fuel and carbon and it just goes.

[A]

So there's. And you know what? It's geared fucking short.

[B]

It's geared great.

[A]

Geared really short. It's geared for back roads, you know, but on the highway. And the speedometer didn't quite work yet, so I don't actually know how fast we were going. I literally couldn't tell you. No fucking clue. And my guess is, you know, at a normal highway speed, the same speed as all the other cars, let's call it 70. You're turning like 4,000 RPM in top gear. Like it's not exactly a relaxed GT experience. And what's funny is, with this much power, you could easily. I mean, maybe other clients might opt.

[B]

For you a tall sixth gear.

[A]

Might opt for a longer final drive or a longer sixth gear. I don't know what level of customization the gear ratios are, but even if it had a substantially longer final drive, it would still be insanely fucking fast.

[B]

Yeah. Because the 550 gearbox, that car has tall gears. But these back in the day, the GTVs had shorter gearing. That's like part of what separated them, you know, for the sporting cars and the track cars.

[A]

Yeah, but this thing, dude, when you put it in, when you drop a gear to fifth on the highway, first off, you don't. The idea that you need to drop a gear on the highway is laughable because if you roll into it in top gear, the acceleration is shocking. Shocking. Like you can't believe how hard it's pulling in sixth gear. Part of that is the short gearing, but also it has hellcat horsepower and.

[B]

It weighs a thousand pounds less. And it has probably shorter gearing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, just think about that. This basically, you know, 30 horsepower shy. Fine. It has hellcat horsepower. And it's a tiny car, dude.

[A]

I. My friend Mike, who's in town, from out of town, he's like, the best, and he loves cars, he loves motorcycles, but he doesn't really know about, like, fast the way that we do. And I fucking dropped the hammer in fifth gear on the highway, and he looked over at me and he went, what the fuck? Because you're in a tiny little Alfa Romeo that isn't. And you're pulling, like a McLaren.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, what the fuck? Indeed. It's absolutely bananas how fast this car is. Almost. It's like almost dangerous.

[B]

It almost feels out of character for the car. Like, I drove it around in middle power most of the time, for which is lovely.

[A]

450 is real nice. Yeah, Fast.

[B]

Yeah, fast. And it shot out of corners, and it was. It was fantastic.

[A]

Like, it's pretty much only first turbo. I think the way. I don't know how they do that, but I think it doesn't really fire the second turbo the same way.

[B]

I don't know. But I mean. And that felt like a rowdy kind of thing for this. And the fact that there's like, you know, ours goes to 11 and it adds 200 plus horsepower.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is so crazy.

[A]

Yeah. The little flick of the switch on the steer, the steering wheels. I mean, look, if the picture still has this Picture been up the entire time?

[B]

No, no, I went back and now I'm back.

[A]

Okay. But this interior, like, the designer of the. Like, the outside is beautiful, but when you're sitting in this car, and I spent all morning sitting in this car, that is a fucking place to be. That is the place to be. You have the sort of jewelry of almost a Pagani. Not quite Pagani, but, like, there's less.

[B]

Metal, but I actually think that's fine.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. No, Pagani is like steampunk.

[B]

Yeah. Pagani and Spiker. It's like we put metal underneath the dash.

[A]

This is the perfect balance of brightwork leather, houndstooth and visible carbon weave. And the steering wheel is great. The little buttons, the knobs. So on the left is the start button and then the middle two, on either side of the six o' clock spoke are the knobs to adjust the shocks. Five modes for each front and rear. I feel like that's an opportunity for the driver to, like, really fuck that up.

[B]

At least it's only five and it's not under the car because some, you know.

[A]

Did you play. Did you find a setting that you liked?

[B]

No. I mean, I said it felt too soft. We can get. But I was like, oh, I'll switch it to full hard. And it was already there. And I definitely didn't want it to be softer on the section of road I was on. So I did not play with it.

[A]

Yeah. I found it to be in middle. Call it three on each. It was really good on the highway. I tried full soft and it was really bouncy. Like, it just had no damper. It just. I guess it just turns the damper off entirely or mostly off. And I was like, okay, not that. And then full hard on the Canyon was pretty good. Like, I don't think I.

[B]

Not too stiff, Sorry.

[A]

No, no, I don't think it was too stiff.

[B]

Yeah. I was actually shocked, like, that. It has those five settings, but five almost felt like where the middle could be. And it would have been totally appropriate for canyon driving. There's still a lot of dive, a lot of pitch.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I mean, we'll talk about. There's a little too much in some ways.

[A]

Yeah. But, you know, gated Ferrari gearbox, very nice. The engine, I mean, on top of making a bunch of power sounds and feels like the kind of engine you would normally find in, like a prototype race car. It just. The way it fires, the way it idles at 1400rpm. It feels like it doesn't have a flywheel at all. I mean it revs up like a bike or like the 911st and in the same way where it has no inertia of its own. Like when you're cruising around and you're upshifting with a gated gearbox, you don't really shift that fast. Yeah, you know, even you can shift fast if you're really trying to violently rip it. But most of the time it's like click, click, click, click. It's like a flow. It's like that's the thing. And it has so little flywheel that you have to feather it in between upshifts. Otherwise the engine just completely dies and it's like jerky. But when it like if you don't feather it right, it sounds almost like the engine turns off. It's like.

[B]

Auto stop start.

[A]

Yeah, it sounds like it's doing an auto stop start because it drops rev so fast it just goes away. Crazy stuff.

[B]

I gotta say I was very impressed with how the engine sounds, how good it sounds for a 90 degree V6. It's a 2.8 liter and as we've said, the smaller the V6 usually the better it sounds. But you know, 90 degree V6, it's still not easy to make it sound good or interesting. And from in the car and outside the car, two distinct sounds.

[A]

I like both of them very distinct. I think the outside the car sound is a little more consistent and the inside the car sound, the engine sounds really smooth. But then there's a point in the middle from like 4-6,000rpm where it gets a little like vibrate y. It shakes something and then shakes something and then it goes kind of away at the top again. Like whatever happens in that middle there is like the V6 curse. Like you just can't the harmonics. There's no way to build a V6 that can escape the curse of the mid range vibrations.

[B]

I think it's like this is why planes shouldn't be made out of carbon fibers. Like eventually it cracks them apart. I'm not going to say this car is going to fall apart. There's a funny vibration that happens and a zoosk fitting is letting go somewhere in the armrest. But it sounds like you get some turbo sound but not huge wastegate inside the car. From outside when you went by during the drive bys it sounds like a really small na engine I don't hear versus like the roof we drove which.

[A]

Is a lot of turbo.

[B]

Last week when you're coming towards me, it was Just air. It was just. That's all I heard. And then you go past and I hear exhaust sound. But this thing coming and going. Yeah, it had great intake and a great, like really tight, like precise, like engine. Word to it that I liked it.

[A]

Tight is a, it's, it feels, I mean, especially like this company is like brand new. This is their first product and this is one of their first cars. I think the key says nine on it. I think that's probably what it is, the ninth car. Like pretty shockingly well made for a company's ninth car. I mean, we've seen personally companies that have made more cars than this that really claim to give a fuck about build quality, but, like, they don't get near this.

[B]

True. So I don't know if they are not as obsessed as this CEO and their team or if it's a supplier thing. Like, I'm not sure.

[A]

Yeah, it's. But like it's all their own switches and they make their own steering wheel. And they may, like, they're almost apologetic about the fact that they have to use a Ferrari gearbox. Like, ooh, a Ferrari gearbox. We couldn't make our own gearbox.

[B]

That's like a future Koenigsegg. Yeah, Christian von Koenigsegg, where he want, you want to make everything and you're fairly new and you go, sorry, we had to use our gearbox. And the whole world goes, that's fine. Everyone does that.

[A]

So the dude Ricardo, who started this company was at Alfa Romeo during the Stellantis time and like, it made him depressed and he left and built this instead. Started a company and built this and did such a good job of it that Alfa Romeo does not give two shits that their name is on this. It's like nicer than anything they're making. Right?

[B]

You mean the minivan Sweet shirt is going to go in a sports car? Yeah, why?

[A]

So, I mean, just really, really fucking cool. Okay, but. And I got an asterisk on it this morning I talked to Ricardo on the phone and he said, look, every one of these things is tailor made to the client. This is supposed to be a tailor made program. So he says, this car has not been delivered to the client yet. And so what happens is it gets delivered to the client. And then we come to the client and we drive with them and we ask them how they like to drive and what they, you know, and we set the car up for them. He said, everything in the car is the default setting. He said, but the alignment, the shock tuning, all the differential he said all of these things. The throttle response. He said they fine tune to the customer after they take delivery, which is where this. This car is going after us. He also said the customer personally requested. This car doesn't have a dead pedal, which is a weird request. I heart a dead pedal. And Myers Manx now makes a fucking dead pedal because of me. But it was fine. It wasn't actually something in this car that I found problematic. But he wanted to point out that.

[B]

I like that the pedal box on both sides had a lot of room, which was very open. It was leather. And then there's just three pedals there.

[A]

Yeah, it's a little. Okay, so points against point against. Number one, on the highway with the windows closed, there's a lot of wind noise. Like leaking wind noise. Like, it's a fabulous thing with the windows down on PCH or in a canyon. But, like, it's comfortable enough. The seat, which is a Sibelt seat, like, it's basically a Ferrari seat. It's like the supplier for the purosangue seat. Just like putting this on instead of. It's that same seat, which is great. It's super comfortable, super roomy. The seating position is fabulous. But it's real loud on the highway. Tire noise, high revs, wind noise. And so even though it looks like the kind of thing I'd want to like, hop in and go to fucking wine country, I would not want to do that drive, which is a bummer. That's number one. Would you like to deliver number two? Guys, we got to take a quick break from the action because support today is coming in hot from DeleteMe. DeleteMe makes it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. Look, data brokers are out there making a profit off of your data. That's the commodity. Anyone on the web can buy your private details, which leads to identity theft, phishing, and harassment. But now you can protect your privacy. With Delete Me, all you have to do, right, is sign up for Deleteme and you give them all the information that you want to be kept off of the data broker websites, right? And then they scour those websites over and over, finding that information, requesting that it's taken down, deleting it themselves, and on and on. Then they send you a report saying how they did what they found, what was taken away, what you have to step in and address. And they do that every month in an ongoing basis because Delete Me is not a one time deal. It's a service that keeps going. So I signed up for it and I gave them all the information and the first month they found like 1100 issues of my data and then the next month it was 300 and then 200 and now it's like 150 each month. I guess that's kind of the baseline, but you can do it too. And the number of spam calls and texts and things that I've gotten has dropped way, way down. So take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your delete me plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com t that's t I r e JoinDeleteMe.com tire and enter 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 HelloFresh. I love me some hellofresh because I like to cook. I really like to cook. And HelloFresh helps me indulge my cooking sensibilities. They send chef crafted recipes and fresh ingredients to your home. This summer they've made their biggest menu upgrade yet. This isn't the hello Fresh you remember. It's bigger. HelloFresh has doubled its menu. Now you can choose from 100 options each week including new seasonal dishes and recipes from around the world. Dig into bigger portions. That'll keep everyone satisfied. It's also healthier. There's an even healthier menu filled with high protein and veggie packed recipes. HelloFresh now helps you eat greener with new veggie packed recipes that have two or more veggies and it's tastier. Get steak and seafood recipes delivered every week for no extra cost. There's three times more seafood on the menu now at no extra cost. New seasonal produce each week from snap peas to stone fruit to corn on the cob and more. Again, I like HelloFresh because I like to cook, but I don't like shopping. I don't like trying to come up with new things to cook and I don't like waste. And HelloFresh cuts down on all those things. You choose interesting recipes from their site. They deliver you exactly the right amount of ingredients you need to make the recipe. That way there's no food waste and they keep it coming. And I keep the recipe cards for later so that if I want to make this meal again for a bigger serving for a party or something, I have it. It's awesome. So the best way to cook has gotten better. Go to hellofresh.com ready smoking tire10fm hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm to get 10 free meals and a free item for life. One per box with active subscription free meals applied as discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. HelloFresh.com Smoking Tire 10 FM to get 10 free meals and a free item for life. And now back to the show.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

No, I already texted Ricardo about it, by the way.

[B]

Okay. Well, there's a lot of tire rub. Yeah, a lot of tire rub. Like a surprising amount front and rear when you came back.

[A]

Considering the photo is accurate to the ride height of the car. Like, it's not like this thing is like super slim dropped.

[B]

I mean, there's definitely a couple inches of dead cat space on that front wheel above the front tire.

[A]

Please don't use that turbo term. Makes me sad.

[B]

I learned that from Dan Neal. But that's a great point. There's a lot of. Yeah, there's a couple inches of space between the tire and the, the fender lip. And it was weird. Like, you know, there were some compressions on this road, but nothing drastic. It was just shocking in a car that cost this much and has suspension that is very expensive that it would.

[A]

Have that problem too. On compressions. It rubbed in hard, constant radius corners.

[B]

And it rubbed front tires and back tires. Because you came back once and I said, oh, I can see the line on the rear tire. Here's what it's rubbing. You're like, well, I heard it in the front and I think, honestly, look, this has the same coilover supplier as the T50, which we know is sprung kind of soft, which is what made it float over all of the imperfections in the roads. So maybe these tires are just like, you know, a tiny bit too wide maybe. I mean, the rear tires, when you look at them, it looks like as it comes up in the travel, it's just going to hit the fender. It just, you go, is it?

[A]

It was hitting on the outer.

[B]

I didn't actually hit it on the outer side. So. And it looks like it's going to hit. And sometimes cars will fool you where you go, there's no way that fits. And the arc of travel is fine. I think it's just a tiny bit too wide because I don't know if I want it to Be too stiff. Where then it doesn't have that. Wonderful.

[A]

Yeah. I don't want it to not have the ride. I'd rather give up.

[B]

Up the grip, the section. Yeah. And these are pilot sport cup twos.

[A]

Yeah, they're sticky. Actually, I think, dude, soon, if you make this car into rally spec, a little. Some narrower tires, you know, some all seasons, a couple extra inches on the ride quality, tarmac rally spec, this would be very. The jam of jams.

[B]

Yeah, that's like. That's a lot of power for tarmac rally.

[A]

Well, no, you. You detune it. You would. You would absolutely.450.

[B]

You just.

[A]

Dude, I would detune it and lengthen the final drive like, a little bit, and it would be glorious if you geared out second gear to, like, 60.

[B]

What does second gear go to now?

[A]

Fucking nothing. This car. The first three gears are so short in this car. I didn't go to redline in all three. First is like nothing. First is like 12.

[B]

I could use a small shift light. Oh, I'm not gonna lie to you. Rose at 7,500. And it's so smooth.

[A]

It does.

[B]

I got close and it didn't seem bothered at all. And I think you can opt for an even more powerful engine that goes to like 8,500. So maybe it's.

[A]

They have a more powerful version.

[B]

One thing.

[A]

Oh, they did. Yeah. No, they did have a crazy power kit on this. It comes with, if you get the. The one we saw at Quail, the super light carbon, like, crazy racy one that looks like a Gunther version of that. Like a Gunther works version of this. Which looks crazy. But I'm glad we were driving the one we were driving.

[B]

So am I. Yeah. Because we. I remember seeing the other one at Motorlux.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I mean no disrespect. Like, I kind of walked past it and I was like, oh, that's just too much. Because I think the shape of the stock cars, the original cars, is, like, one of the best.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But this blue one, this is the jam. Great. They did it just perfectly. Dude.

[A]

The other one they had at Quail was the one had. It had to me, an even better interior than this one because it had this wild red. Instead of this houndstooth, it had this red with flowers pattern. And then the gearshift knob was blue.

[B]

Sight.

[A]

No. Murano glass from Venice. Like that glass thing I got brought back from Venice from Italy. It's that, but with a flower inside of it. And it's the fucking shift. It's awesome.

[B]

That's like what a hitman would draw.

[A]

It was so sick.

[B]

That's what that is.

[A]

Yeah. Tommy the flowers.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Like the highest paid hitman coming back for one more job.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a fucking Guy Ritchie character.

[B]

It is, yeah.

[A]

It was unreal. I was like, I have a photo of it somewhere, but it's crazy.

[B]

But so we should talk about the second.

[A]

No, the other bad thing.

[B]

The other bad thing.

[A]

Yeah. So, you know, they make their own steering rack and they make their own steering shaft and they. In this video I saw with Henry Catchpole, which is a cool video worth checking out, there's actually not a lot of coverage of this car. Not many people have driven it at all. And so it's very not privileged that we get to do it. But in researching about the car, there wasn't all that much. So Henry's video is really cool. It's got a video with an interview with Ricardo and he shows all these different parts and they're bragging about one of the things they make themselves is the steering. Okay, but the steering is kind of weird.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And so tell me if I'm accurately describing this. From five degrees or so from center, either direction, if you turn it to sort of go through a little bit of a bend in the road and then it doesn't self center from there, it stays at that 5 degrees until you actively tug it back to center. And if you have to go from 5 degrees right to 5 degrees left, or from 5 degrees left to 5 degrees right, you have to do a really hard tug to tug it past center. And then if you're going from center to 5 degrees right to 10 degrees right to 15 to 20 to 25, the amount of direction change is not constant in that input.

[B]

Yeah. It's basically like there's a multiplier. When you turn the wheel from 0 to 5 degrees, the front of the car moves more than you were expecting. It is the inverse of any other progressive rack I think I've experienced. But then once you're at that 5 degrees and beyond, it's a little bit more steady state.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so it's like it's very reactive right off center. Most cars aren't. But also with that magnification thing and then it slows down and then on.

[A]

Top of that, it doesn't self center.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So the closest comparison I can make is two cars. One is a home built drift car I drove once that had an angle kit on it and it's like that, but it doesn't have the angle or when I first got the Safari 911 back from Lee Keane and I had them put BFGoodrich KO2's on it, which I got for free from somewhere. And they were the wrong tire for that car. Guys, we gotta take a break from the show because Mud Water is here. Listen, here's the thing. Mud Water is a new thing, okay? They're OG Blend. It's a mix of cacao, chai, turmeric and adaptogenic mushrooms to help you feel focused without the crash. So this is my thing. I've had an issue with caffeine. It gives me panic attacks. I've been drinking decaf coffee. But I really kind of wish I could get a little more energy, a little more focused at work. And I'm not trying to do caffeinated coffee. So Mud Water, this could be the thing. It's great over ice. You just mix it with a little cold water or a little milk, you shake it up, pour it over ice and boom. You've got a refreshing feel good boost that helps you stay balanced. Every single ingredient in Mud water products are 100% certified organic, non GMO, gluten free, vegan and kosher. There's also no sugar or sweeteners added. All you do is drop the powder into your favorite mug, pour some water on it and give it a mix. Some go wild and add creamer, honey, CBD oil. The best part about Mud Water is it provides sustained energy without the spikes and crash of traditional coffee. And there are caffeine free blends available, which is what I tried. Each ingredient in Mud Water serves a purpose. The OG blend contains cacao and chai for a hint of caffeine and hot chocolate like flavor Lion's mane for focus, Cordyceps to promote natural energy and both chaga and reishi to support a healthy immune system. The Matcha starter Kit is a perfect way to step into clean energy. The Turmeric starter kit blends radiant ginger, turmeric and Rooibos chai. I actually really like Rooibos Chai. That's a really good one. And the rest starter kit is for relaxing and unwinding at the end of the day. Mud Water is available at Target and Sprouts so it's never been easier to grab a cup of this friendly pick me up. Head over to to grab a starter kit today. And right now our listeners get an exclusive deal. Up to 43% off your entire order plus free shipping and a free rechargeable frother. When you use code tire that's right up to 43% off with code TIRE at MUDWTR. After you purchase, they'll ask how you found them. Show your support, let them know we sent you. Keep your energy natural and refreshing all year long with mud water because life's too short for anything less than clean, delicious energy. And now back to the show. They have really square sidewalls and they made the wheel. I don't know if they made the wheel, but the steering did that on that car. Eventually when I put the Blizzak snow tires on on it, it kind of went away. So it might be a wheel and tire size or thing set up, I don't know. But those are. That's the only other cars I've driven that have felt like this.

[B]

Well, another one that was close we talked about, but it's worse is the Cyan Racing P1800 reimagination thing. Also a carbon fiber car and we drove that car and it had some of the worst steering I've ever experienced at any price point. And I got home and I was so bothered by it because my dad used to have a P 1800. I was, I was like what's going on here? And it turns out the P 1800 has like almost 0 caster to the steering and that means self centers very little. And so we were up here driving this thing today and we're going, oh, maybe it doesn't have that much caster.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now I admit we are not chassis engineers. If someone's listening and you say and you want to chime in in the comments like is this an alignment thing? Does it have too much toe out maybe? And like, like drift cars have toe out out and so does it have too much toe out or can you adjust the caster on this? It was just strange that I thought the sensations coming through the steering wheel once you're in a corner were pretty good. Like not the most communicative thing in the world but like on par with any decent E pass system. This is assisted but it was that mid, that off center thing that was just strange and I don't know what does.

[A]

It was a little disconcerting. And and it also happened a couple times when I was just cruising, you know, I was just cruising and you know, kind of one hand on the wheel a little more relaxed and the wheels, you know, the fronts caught something in the road and it got a big jerk, like a big direction change and just, you know, the front tires aren't that wide. I don't think they're wider than like a 255 or 265. They're certainly not. Not anything that would cause a problem. And again, to go back to what Ricardo said on the phone, this car hasn't been set up yet. So this might have a very wonky alignment in it that could be causing a problem. I also found that the alignment of the car did seem to change during compressions. Yeah. So not like on the bump stop, but it just like if you did a compression like you'd have. You would have to adjust for that. It would turn in harder when compressed.

[B]

It was. You know, I chased you for a car to car in the Aston Vantage, the convertible we have right now. And I got in that and I just felt immediately more comfortable at speed because it had none of these things. I mean, it's a bigger car, it's like it's a modern car.

[A]

All that stuff.

[B]

Just to compare.

[A]

Yeah. Well, the Alphas insanely fast in a straight line, but it's actually Both cars are 670 horsepower.

[B]

Interestingly enough, the Alpha weighs.

[A]

The Alpha weighs a lot less. Yeah. But in the corners, you can go way quicker in the Aston than you can in this particular car as it's set up.

[B]

True.

[A]

And the last thing is the brake pedal is quite soft. And I never quite. In Henry's video, and Henry drove this car, he said the brake pedal was soft, but that it eventually did bite enough. Now, he. He might be being kind or he might not have been braking in downhills or it's maybe not as hot, I don't know. But I never quite found enough brake, even though for the level of, you know, if you put the thing on kill mode, you're entering corners hot.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so it was different when there wasn't enough brake for kill mode. There's enough brake for medium 450 horsepower mode. And I also wanted a firmer pedal because like you said earlier, I forgot if you said it to this microphone or just to me outside. When you press the pedal down hard enough to slow for the corner, your foot is too far down to effectively. Heel toe.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is mildly annoying.

[B]

There were a couple times where I nailed it, but I had to really angle my knee and it was just a little uncomfortable. So I think if you could move the pedal bite up, as a lot of great sports cars do, it's almost like when you brake gently, you're too high above the gas pedal to heel toe.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But when you're braking, when you're driving fast, it lands right there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So this one you're breaking. Your brake foot is too low. Let's call it like.

[A]

I didn't notice this problem until we got to the canyon when I was puttering around town this morning, because I still drive like that always. It was fine. It was only when I started having to hit the pedal hard. So it must have been on Monterey Car Week setting, you know. But I asked them, you know, in my punch list for the Manx as well, I asked them to do the same thing with the brake pedal. This car clearly has enough hardware to slow down. It's not that, but the pedal is too low, and I can't get my foot back here the right way. I said, bring the pedal up. Have the bite come up like, two more inches. So at medium butt braking, it's firm.

[B]

Yeah. I hope it's adjustable because it's got big Brembos on it.

[A]

Well, they've really got all the. Like, we've just spent a few minutes criticizing this thing in ways that could be considered mission critical. But none of those issues are not repairable. Like, this isn't a piece of junk. This is an amazing piece of fucking artwork that just needs a proper, I think, setup to drive. Right. I hope.

[B]

I hope they can just move some bolts and adjust some things, and that would be great.

[A]

But, like, it looks amazing. It sounds amazing. It's comfortable, it rides good. It. It behaved itself. I mean, the air. It has the same electric air conditioner, I think, as the roof ctrs, which, like, sort of sucks. Even Ricardo was like, it's the best one you can buy, and it's not very good.

[B]

Yeah, it's not.

[A]

So we really didn't have much AC, but, you know, 600,000, €620,000, plus whatever the fucking tariff is. Oh, right. Because that's 100% built in Italy.

[B]

The only. Yeah, I think the only thing it's not is the battery.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like an ECU or something like that.

[A]

And it's a really, really. I can really see the appeal versus, you know, a quote, mainstream exotic. You know, if you've already had a mainstream exotic and you go, you know, these are getting more computerized, more electronic, and I don't know if I'm into it anymore. Like, this is the. This is gonna be the shit. Like, this is. This is like an opportunity for new chimera. You know, people that are reimagining, but also maybe people that are. That are building something new. Newish.

[B]

Well, also, I mean, you know, Singer led the charge, at least in the modern era. For this. And a lot of companies have followed suit with 9 11s. Yeah, there are so many reimaginings of 911s and it's nice to see something for like the Italian crowd. And I know that Alfaholics is out there. Like there's a couple companies that do. There's a company that has made the 355. What's their name's escaping me.

[A]

Evoluto.

[B]

Evoluto. Like, I like that it's happening because, you know, we, we love these cars and some of them the performance isn't up to modern standards or you just. You want to have something that's different from the other ones that are around. And I just think this, I think this is a exceptionally well done homage or tribute to something like this. And to. To change the design of this car, I think is such like a delicate, you know, it's like diffusing a nuclear bomb. It's like, well, you get a line wrong, people are gonna get real mad. But they did a great job.

[A]

Yeah, it doesn't have a bad angle for sure. And it sounds crazy and people seem to really dig it, those who understand what it is. But it also, you know, if people, if people don't really know what it is, it's not necessarily, you know, super obnoxious and in your face, you know, people, if you're for. There's not. Not everybody wants to. As I learned when we were at Singer, because I was like, you know, I'm guessing because people, you know, want to spend their money without showing off to the world that they've got money because maybe they feel a little guilty about it or maybe they're not flashy people or whatever. But. But you know, a lot of people are not comfortable driving around in a mainstream exotic. And so there's talking about. They say you, Matt Farah, you can tell the difference between an 87 Carrera and a Singer Turbo from half a mile away. Most people do not distinguish the two. Really true. And so if they get a dark blue or a black or a silver one, they can just drive that around pretty invisibly. And I think this car is sort of the same in that regard. I mean, it's definitely a little louder and a little more styled than the Singer Turbo. It doesn't. Doesn't blend as well. But you know, you get it in a subtle color and it's not like a screaming yellow, you know, Revuelto, you.

[B]

Know, I totally agree with you. Yeah, it's a good point.

[A]

It's definitely classy.

[B]

Very classy. Very classy. But this color is good too.

[A]

The color combo is great. Yeah, I really, really like it. I mean, I totally get it. I hope that the things that, that we don't like about it can be fixed because the rest of it is like very full of promise. You know what I'd like to see him do the fucking Alpha. The Spider.

[B]

Like the, was it Spider 2000?

[A]

Yeah, like the 80s, 70s and 80s Alpha. I mean, if he did, if he did this styling and powertrain treatment to the Spider, that would be crazy because they're even smaller. That's like, you know, maybe you do like, like have them do the four cylinder version of this engine or something.

[B]

I would like them to do that. And I want it to happen after Thomas and James of thr house have been doing like five seasons of Amazon. And I want to see Thomas drive it and watch him try not to buy one because he has, he has an original one. And I just want to watch his brain like him like, this is the fine. This is financial.

[A]

It would be. I mean, this is, this is one of those cars. I, I posted this picture on Instagram and the texts I got. Within 10 minutes, I got texts from three very wealthy friends that are like, is it the shit? Is it the shit? Should I. And I was like, well, you know, you better, you know, wait and see if they can fix a couple things. But like, but like, you know, this kind of the shit, it's kind of where it's at.

[B]

Yeah, it's drivable art. But I think once you get to a certain price point and when you're this close dynamically that we, we want to try and help them refine that and make it perfect.

[A]

Because no, like, this dude has talked about wanting to make a perfect car. Like, he's openly been like, I want to make a perfect car. So, like, okay, here's what you could do to this to make it a perfect car. Those are not big things. Like, those are very. Those are pretty small things.

[B]

I hope so. As long as it's not. I think the problem with two of.

[A]

Them are very small ride height and, or wheel size so it doesn't rub.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And wind noise. I know that's easier said than done, but that's a solvable problem.

[B]

With enough caulking, you can fix that problem.

[A]

That's a solvable problem if you cared about it. Maybe you don't. If you do, the other one might be a little harder, but it's not like terminal by any means.

[B]

It's A pickup point. I don't know.

[A]

Hopefully just someone who's very smart with suspensions will be able to fix that. It's just not me. I can just tell you it's broken, not how to fix it. I don't want to say broken. It's just like. That ain't right. Yeah, not for six hundo. Yeah, not for six. For. For 150, you know, if that's what you want to do. If you're trying to do like a little. A little budget version of it, I'll put up with a few things. But not. Not for six. Honda 600. Better be. Better be.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But nevertheless, I mean, nice job.

[B]

Nice job.

[A]

That's all right. It's been a day or a week. It's been a weekend.

[B]

We've had a week. Two cars in a week that are like, here's a carbon tubbed, you know, Titanium.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That you'll never see in the next week. Here's another one.

[A]

Well, and yeah, here's the craziest possible version of the thing you've already, you know, tried.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because remember, we drove that, The GTV at that velocity. That was a good time.

[B]

It was.

[A]

Yeah, that was. I think that was probably the most fun car I drove that day.

[B]

I think I drove.

[A]

I got a ride in the 250 GTO, but I know.

[B]

I think that's the only car I drove that day. So I'm like, well, that. But it was fun, and I was excited.

[A]

It was more fun than the.

[B]

Than the Mustang.

[A]

The Mustang. Definitely more fun than the Mustang. Yeah, it was. It was. And it was more fun than the Minis, and it was. Yeah, it was. That was most fun.

[B]

So you've. I think the Mustang you drove, they ran at the Laguna Seca vintage Trans Am races, like, this past car week probably. So it's just crazy to watch that real quick. Screw.

[A]

You're a real part of Jones car.

[B]

I know. Would you have wanted to, you know, be in that race or you're like that. That's not even fun to drive, even at that kind of speed.

[A]

I mean, I really would have needed a lot more practice with that car. That car was really hard to drive, and you'd have to be really comfortable, like, going to first gear in hairpins, which is not something I'm used to at all because that car had absolutely no balls below five. It was 5,000 to 8,000 rpm is what it had in four gears and fucking no brakes and no power steering. It just like. It was. It was A lot. It was. Yeah, it was a lot. It was a real handful.

[B]

And it's fast, right? It was coming over turn one in.

[A]

Laguna and it had no breaks, terrible breaks. So I. I don't know if it was for me, the Alpha, I would. I'd dice it up in one of them for sure.

[B]

It's funny that. Fitting for this conversation, I think. This past weekend, Maz and Jensen raced.

[A]

An Alpha, an Alpha Junior.

[B]

And then also Harris was at Silverstone Racing, his friend's crazy built 66 Mustang coupe race car.

[A]

It's all going backwards.

[B]

They have total. Yeah, they are, but they have totally different sounds and they're probably different. You know, there's some overlap, like the old car thing, but one is big V8 and one is tiny in line. 4. Good times.

[A]

Oh, I have to. I had to tell you a kind of an awesome story. It's a bit of. It's going to be a little bit of a name drop, but I have to tell you, it's too fun. So I took Mike. I wanted to show him all the California things. I'm tired because it's been a fucking weekend. So Friday he came up with us to shoot the roof. And then we had a barbecue in the afternoon. Saturday we got motorcycles. He rented one. And I got the BMW R12 ninet boy. And we went motorcycling. You know, six hours of motorcycling and then went to Korean barbecue. And then it was awesome. And then last night or yesterday Sunday, we fucking did. Took this pink car up to Malibu. I showed him all the spots, showed him the road we were on this morning. I've. I went out there real early with him and I fucking hit it in that car. And he was like, I can't believe that you actually built the perfect machine, like the perfect tool for this activity. He understood. He was like, this is the perfect thing for this thing.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

I was like, yes. But we went to Old Place and Tommy and Jeff shout out to Tradecraft Farms old sponsor Ganja Boys were there with Ryan Friedman. Ryan Friedman Motor Cars shout out to him. Car dealer from Florida, I think. But he was in town and they're with fucking adam Levine from Maroon 5, right? And I don't notice at first because I'm distracted because There's a roof RT12 right there. And I'm like, oh, shit. And I remember Tommy from Tradecraft telling me that he had bought some old roof and I didn't know what it was and I thought it was his and it was parked kind of fucking Fakacta. And it was real busy. And I see Tommy and I go, hey, I'm rolling around, there's no parking. But I go, hey, Tommy, what up? You're fucking parking like a dick bag over here. There's no room for the rest of us. And I fucking zip out and have to go park across the street in the fucking loser lot, right? So I walk back and Tommy comes up to me, he goes, yo, that's not my car. That's fucking Adam Levine's new car. He just bought it from Riot. He parked it like that. I was like, oops, perfect.

[B]

Love it.

[A]

But then, you know, I walk up, I say hello, introduce myself, you know, whatever. And Adam is there with his wife, whose name is Bahati Prinsloo, who is a Victoria's Secret angel. And she is, as expected, let's just say that. And she goes, are you the one with the pink car? And I go, yes, I am. And she goes, that is awesome. And I go, you see? You see? And I look at Adam and I go, you bought the wrong color, my friend. Cause his shit's black. And she wants to know all about the color. And later, Ganja Jeff's text me. He's like, yo, dude, your shit is the right color. He's like, I see. Saw that happen. And that is a bunch of dudes. Bunch of dudes, bunch of dudes. Supermodel. And she's like, was that you? Bravo, Farah. May I remind you that was a free color, right?

[B]

That's the funny thing. It's like, no. Aaron walks past it. But what you've done is you've injected a little bit of, like, the Morgan Manx energy, which is very disarming in a color form. You distilled it and then you put it on a sports car because your car could be. Most people would be like, I'm gonna get it, like, carbon gray. And look tactical because, like, I need everyone to know my car fucks.

[A]

You gotta go the other way. And the are like, I love it. They don't give a shit about the engine. No, you can't see it.

[B]

Of course not. It looks good.

[A]

And then I fucking checked the date codes on Adam Levine's tires. I was like, you gotta replace these two, the rears this year.

[B]

He's like, who's this guy? Get this guy outta here.

[A]

No, he was cool. He was actually. They were. I respect to Adam Levine and Bahati Prinsloo. They were absolutely lovely. And we fucking bullshitted for a little bit. They were all right. And he was a fucking. He's a jokester. We then went down to Scott's to get breakfast and they rolled up and Adam Levine walks to the porch and rolls up to me and goes, big fan, bro. And I'm like, oh.

[B]

That'S a good joke.

[A]

That's a good.

[B]

Because you told him like, oh, I do YouTube and.

[A]

No, someone else. Someone else did.

[B]

Someone had done.

[A]

Someone else did. But like, it's pretty funny.

[B]

All right.

[A]

It was. It was a. It was a.

[B]

It was doing a callback.

[A]

He was doing a good bit. Yeah, it was good. Good. And I got Mike to eat pluots, which is important. He was like, what the fuck is this? Which is important.

[B]

Science. It's amazing. Yeah.

[A]

Your 13% does get you things here in California.

[B]

Oh, right, yeah, yeah. If you get a pluat in the east coast, it's going to be the same thing.

[A]

It's not the same thing. Should we talk about. Do you want to talk about the van? Do you want to talk about the Aston? I mean, you had a little go in it. Do you care?

[B]

The only difference, I mean, I drove the coupe on the launch.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

So this feels great. It's comfortable and all those things, but I hate the cruise control controls.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

The little, like the rolly thing feels under sprung, so I feel like I'm over spinning it, but it also doesn't react as quickly as I spin it.

[A]

The scrolly wheel.

[B]

The scrolly wheel to go, you know, 62, 63, 64. It's like it takes two clicks for each miles per hour, but then it jumps five. Oh, and I didn't use it at all yet.

[A]

I'll have to try it.

[B]

I didn't use it when I drove it in Spain.

[A]

Ye.

[B]

We're on the track and stuff, so that's. That's my only interaction.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

But otherwise it's a very comfortable, very fast, very planted car.

[A]

The vantage roadsters are always excellent. They're always like a little better than the coupes because they come out later and they get some updates and stuff like that. Like the suspension tuning on this is really good. It's fast.

[B]

Very fast.

[A]

It's really, really fast.

[B]

Coupe is crazy fast too.

[A]

Carplay still sucks.

[B]

Carplay sucks. The trunk is good, though.

[A]

Trunk's good for a convertible. And the top goes up and down in seven seconds, which means you can put the up and down like all the time. Like a convertible top that's clunky and takes forever. Means you'll use it less. You could put this down, up and down multiple times on the same drive, which I think is great for a.

[B]

Convertible top if you live in Florida where it rains and it doesn't rain and it rains. Yeah. But fantastic car.

[A]

Yeah, it's a good one. I like it better than I liked the Vanquish. Even though the Vanquish is, like, prettier and faster. I just. I think the Vantage is a little more compact. You get the same amount of really usable space in a smaller package. It doesn't scrape everywhere. And I think the ride is a little better of the vantage, and it's $150,000 less.

[B]

It's a lot of car.

[A]

Yeah, it's a ton of car.

[B]

That's what I would say about it.

[A]

So that was fun. And I'm gonna do an Instagram review of the Vantage and we have a video review review of the Vanquish coming this week. Next week? Whenever. This next week. Yeah. You want to talk about the van? Yeah, I saw this yesterday. I'm on board. I don't know about you, Clapman, but Chrysler is doing a lifted Overlandy Pacifica and I'm fucking down. I'm in.

[B]

They did a concept. So are they gonna make it? I think that's the question. But I am here for. For it. It's also a way because Chrysler sells two cars right now. Are they both Pacificas? It's like hybrid. And the Pacifica.

[A]

And the Pacifica Hybrid. Right.

[B]

So now they have the Pacifica Overland. So now they have a third model. Let's call it.

[A]

It's just high Pacifica. It's not hybrids.

[B]

I like that.

[A]

Yeah. I'm pro Pacifica. As long as it's not a hybrid. The hybrids have been really rough. They've been not good. But the ones we've. The new Pacificas that we've rented from Enterprise have been awesome. The gas ones.

[B]

Ones.

[A]

And I really like the idea of a slightly lifted Pacifica Outback. Like, I don't really want to go super Overlandy on it, but I like ground clearance. That's a fun vibe to me.

[B]

I agree. I think minivan. Camping in a minivan, especially when you put a bunch of stuff and people in it, the ground clearance drops real quick. And then getting into that campground, it's basically a car.

[A]

For instance, if you have a priority.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's going to be problematic.

[B]

That's what it sounds like. Put that on a T shirt. So this makes a lot of sense. They're really comfortable cars. The seating, I mean, they're much. I think they're More luxurious than like an outback or something. It's not going to.

[A]

Although shout out to the outback wilderness. An excellent vehicle road.

[B]

Great MMI system. Bad.

[A]

Okay, sure. Yeah.

[B]

Seat's good ride.

[A]

Great value.

[B]

Good value. Good.

[A]

I saw a fully lifted outback wilderness with like kitted out in Malibu yesterday and I was into it. It was cool.

[B]

I think it works.

[A]

Yeah, it does.

[B]

I see the lifted crosstreks a lot and I'm on board. Yeah, I mean I know they go 12 miles per hour because they don't have enough horsepower and just trying to get those wheels rolling and all that stuff.

[A]

Tacoma owners, you know what I'm talking.

[B]

About, put a turbo on that car. Subaru, God.

[A]

Crazy.

[B]

But this is the bat.

[A]

Can I see the badge up close, please? What's the. Is it a bear? It's a bear.

[B]

It's a bear.

[A]

I think it's a bear.

[B]

Yeah, it's kind of a sad bear.

[A]

You got to step back a little bit. It's got this roll out tent. I mean I imagine these are accessories and it's not going to come with all that. But I do like the black lower bumper with the yellow fogs. Like that's pretty fun. Fun. I'd like to see if there's like a skid plate, you know, on anything that actually like maybe protects the undersides. But like I'm down, right?

[B]

Yeah, I'm into it. I'd like to. I like the. I like the light off roading because so many activities only require a few extra inches of ground clearance. So you don't need a wrangler.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And I know a wrangler could do more. But there's plenty of people that could use this, this for their entire life with their kids and they'd be more comfortable and they would be, you know, it's quieter on the road and would get better gas mileage than driving a wrangler, which they go, maybe I'll off road one day and they don't think.

[A]

It tows and Myers, Max the van. Yeah.

[B]

I don't know. What's a Pacifica's tow right now?

[A]

I have no idea.

[B]

I'll look.

[A]

Yeah, there you go. Sleeping. Sleeping bags in the back. The interior I think could use some. Something. I need some gimmicks.

[B]

Got orange seatbelts, safety orange. That way hunters don't shoot them.

[A]

Okay, orange seatbelts. But I need some more. Oh, come on. You're not really doing white seats, are you? Chrysler? White seats on an off road vehicle is incredibly bold. That's what? I mean, dude, you're just gonna climb this thing, like, dirty.

[B]

It's not like diapers show dirt. Well, interior Chrysler, you know, I feel like this is.

[A]

What are you doing?

[B]

That's weird.

[A]

That's very strange.

[B]

And the orange. We. We. Before we bought our RAV4, my wife and I, we bought. We went and looked at the Subaru dealership, and I think forester, and you get in there, and it was a lot of, like, orange and black. So I'm guessing that's what Chrysler is doing. But you don't have to. There are other colors that might look better.

[A]

I don't hate orange seat belts. But, I mean, a white. A white seat. And it's just. It's not even like the whole seat is white. It's just the part you're sitting on. It's only the uppers. The lowers are all black. Like, the second it gets to the part that's not touching your dirty hiking pants, it becomes black.

[B]

You should do the Willy Wonka. They go, strike that. Reverse it. Yeah. Make the lowers white if you need them. Yeah, that's not good. Pacifica tow rating is £3,600.

[A]

Oh, no shit. I could tow the Mags flat.

[B]

Tow the Manx. What do you mean?

[A]

The Manx is 1500 pounds.

[B]

I could tow it on the other way.

[A]

1200.

[B]

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

[A]

Great. Hell, yeah. It's not a Bentley, but you know what is?

[B]

Dude, Pacific is great. We drove it from Houston to Dallas. I'm in the back seat. Plenty of leg room. I got a plug. I'm running my laptop and stuff. Big fan.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Production vehicle. Yeah, Production vehicle.

[B]

Next.

[A]

Next. Once the. Once the taycan up, I'm gonna be like, Hannah. We're. Guess what? Here's. Here's gonna be our newest tax game.

[B]

It'd be so funny. People go, oh, you guys having kids? And you go, no, no. Just comfort.

[A]

Just loving vans.

[B]

Luxurious.

[A]

We already have one van, and nobody sits in the back of it. It's just me and Hannah sitting on top of the front wheels, just bouncing. Just bouncing the road. Bouncing down the road. Front heavy.

[B]

It's a lot like driving a boat on, like, very lightly choppy seas.

[A]

It is. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Oh, man. The bow rider, though, and the Texas quail rigs. When I got to do the bow riding, that's really glorious.

[B]

Did the suspension soak up or you were shaking all over the place?

[A]

No, no. They go the right speed. They know. They know how it is.

[B]

It's a classy driver.

[A]

You're in like a, you know, like a chair out of like, like a cigarette boat. You've got a cooler, you grab a beer, someone else is driving. It's great.

[B]

Does the seat have a spring, like a cigarette boat? Like, aren't those. Some of those.

[A]

Oh, no. Oh, yeah. Some like the, the real serious ones do have like Hydra hydraulics and. Or suspension. This is not a suspended seat, but yeah, you're out on the bow. It's all right. Should we go to the people?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast is where you ask us questions for the podcast. It's where you get the show early. It's where you get an extra show every month. It's where you get the show without ads. It's where you get all kind of things over there as well as you get the satisfaction of keeping the lights on. Your favorite car podcast. Let's go to some of those questions. Bad Gardener says, I currently have a 100 series Lexus LX470. When I decide to get rid of it. What depreciated luxury SUV should I go with? European brands? I really like the 2012 Range Rover. It's like the last one before that new body style. It was the Ford based engine. Those were like a really good year for Range rovers. Clarkson drives one in Clarkson's farm.

[B]

Every time I see one, I look at.

[A]

Yeah, they're nice knobs. Lots of knobs.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

There might be some kind of carplay retrofit screen system you can get. I'd rather, I'd rather a low mile 2012 than a lot of later ones. Yeah. Domesticated Jaguar XJS. Is it cool to put Transformers emblems on our cars? Never. The answer is no.

[B]

I was gonna say if you really like Transformers, sure. But be prepared to be made fun of by people. You shouldn't design your life around what people think. But it's, you know, it's a little childish, I guess.

[A]

I mean, I wouldn't come up to you out of nowhere and laugh in your face. But since. Since you asked, right? No, it's not cool. It's lame. It's also lame to put your Instagram handle on your car. It's also lame to put any reference to fucking Batman. If you have a Lamborghini, like, stop.

[B]

What? I'd also be curious, like, if they have an XJS they don't like. The name is funny. But why do you want to put a Transformers emblem on it now? Unless you own a car from Transformers like you have.

[A]

The Beetle is It better or worse if it's a yellow Camaro?

[B]

Camaro, Right. That's tough. Better. Cause I guess that car is in the movie, but they also made a Transformers version, right? I don't know.

[A]

I mean, I think it's better if it's a yellow Camaro. If you actually have a car in the color combo from the movie and it's part of a whole, like, thing, that's a little better than just like having it on your fucking hellcat, right?

[B]

If you're doing it for the lulz, I guess. Sure. I don't know.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, unless if your car transforms from a car into a half a car when you smash into a telephone pole, then it's really.

[B]

Every car transforms from a car into a submarine.

[A]

Think about it.

[B]

Think about it.

[A]

Think about it. Oscar Mayer Manxmobile. Pretty good. Not bad. Comparing, Wait, comparing your riding ability to your driving ability, what car best represents your pace on a motorcycle? Similarly, if you raced yourself in a Miata versus a top of the line Ducati, which would win? That's okay. Wait, comparing your riding with your driving, what car best represents your pace? I mean, yeah, I don't go very fast on motorcycles, although I go fast. I think I go faster than I think I do. Like, I think I don't go very fast. But Mike, who had never been up the mountain and rides like a lot of dirt bikes and has a lot of motorcycle experience, was like, wow, you're going quick. So, like, I don't know. But I also like got passed a bunch by people really on sport bikes. So, like, I'm not going that fast. I would say it's easier to answer the second question. Honestly. I don't really know how to answer the first question, but like, if I raced, if I was in a Mia versus a top of the line Ducati, who would win on a tight road? Definitely the Miata for sure. Yeah, definitely the Miata. I could go a lot quicker in a car than I can go on a bike. A lot quicker.

[B]

Yeah, but on like a big, like road America, something has big straightaways.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, but I don't.

[A]

Dude, I'd be. I would be. I don't know. I mean, on a track, maybe I would hit 120 or 130 on a bike or something, but I've never ridden a over, over like 110 on a bike before, ever.

[B]

But that speed lures you in, Matt. It does.

[A]

It does. It? Actually, it scares me. No, straight line. Straight line speed scares me on a bike. I don't. I'm not that interested in it.

[B]

But that's why I said, like, Road America. Any of those. Those tracks that have, like, huge straightaways where you can rip and then slow down real early. And then I would go 10 miles around an hour around the corner. Miata would catch me, and then I'd go real fast again.

[A]

No, I don't ride motorcycles to go fast. I don't seek out. I try to improve my skills every time I ride, but I don't try to improve my skills by pushing the pace harder. I just. I enjoy myself. Live Axl Rose pretty good. I like that. Money, low object, daily commuting on West LA. A Bentley 911 Dakar or something else, I would say. I mean, a Bentley GT Speed hybrid is about as good a commuter car as exists anywhere on the planet. If you have the means.

[B]

Right? I was gonna say that. Or it's the electric rolls. Oh, this?

[A]

Yeah. But that's just so big. It would be, like, annoying in traffic. A Bentley is big, but not so big that you're like a rolling roadblock. And like, a Bentley, if you got a Bentley in a darker color, like, not everybody would stare at you. If you're in an electric Rolls Royce, everybody is staring at you. But also, well, money, no object has to be Bentley. For most reasonable people, the best daily imaginable is like a 911 Carrera S. Like, just good at everything.

[B]

True. But that commute that he's talking about, Unless at some hours. I hate, you want electric. An electric vehicle that has really good radar, cruise control, semi autonomous driver.

[A]

Sure, that too. I mean, look, if you're by yourself. If I actually had to commute in the city, if I had a real job with a real commute, I wouldn't be able to do it on anything except a motorcycle. I would fucking hang myself if I had to sit in that kind of traffic. Like, no way. Motorcycle.

[B]

That might be a good for most of the seasons here. I would go electric motorcycle for money. No objects.

[A]

Yeah. Like, not even a live wire. Like, one of the little, like, smaller ones for lane splitting. Like, the pulse that I had. Like, that would rip for commuting. That'd be great. Craig S Recently took a trip to LA and noticed a lot of tire squealing noises on the freeways. Do you know why? This is the concrete.

[B]

Grooved concrete.

[A]

Yeah, the grooved concrete makes all kind of noises.

[B]

It does.

[A]

It's musical.

[B]

It kind of is.

[A]

Yeah, it's musical. My Acura and different tires make different sounds. My Acura NSX has like really sticky like R compound like track day tires because that was basically all that was available and man are those susceptible to that shit. I think stuff is broken and when it goes over the grooved concrete to the paint to the dotted line, it's just like oh yeah, fuck. Concrete sucks. It's not my favorite. Curtis Bowman says what other cars outside of the AMG talking about the SL55 we had did a video of last week. Better. Better. Best cars for, for an auto to manual swap and then throws out the first gen Lexus isf. Oh, good choice. Good choice. I think.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Wonder how that engine would do mate into a manual gearbox. I feel like it'd be pretty good if you put it neutral and rev it up. It revs pretty free.

[B]

Yeah. It's a good 5 liter, right? Yeah, it's a 5 liter V8 and a good one. That's a nice choice.

[A]

Let's see other great cars only available with a manual Lexus LFA in the Lexus family. But I don't know where you'd put the shifter.

[B]

It doesn't look like C63AMG like the 507. So many like any of the early 2000s AMG is basically. I know the toy you drove.

[A]

I mean all like all the BMW 850s, like just a bunch of them. A bunch of them are not worth saving as autos that would be worth Saving as manuals.

[B]

Alpha 4C.

[A]

Alpha 4C. Yeah, if you could do it. Yeah, for sure. E38 BMW 7 Series. Sporty short. Yeah. Roth V wants to know if my mom wants to sell her F type. Not to you. I don't think so. She hasn't mentioned it. I'll tell her. I'll tell her someone's interested. Give me a number. Throw out a number. Roth V. I can't go in there and go, do you want to sell? She's gonna go. She's gonna go, what's the number? She's not an idiot. She needs a number. Your mom drives a stick. That's a username. That's not an insult that Roth V threw at my mom. Almost bought a Taycan GTS Sport Turismo but went Ionic 5N. The Taycan facelift added power and range and active ride. But I'm struggling with the value proposition of a new one versus the half priced old ones. Will the values of the new ones sink the same way or hold a bit higher as they offer a lot more? I mean there's no reason to think there's no evidence that a new EV will not depreciate quickly. There's no evidence to support that which EV has had the magic feature that holds its depreciation better than other EVs. I just. There's no evidence of that happening.

[B]

Plus the Active Magic ride is amazing, but it's very complicated. So is the air ride on the other ones, but we don't know how reliable that system will be.

[A]

Well, but it's going to be warrantied. I mean, even if he's talking about CPO at a minimum. Right.

[B]

All right.

[A]

By the way, John Harper's CPO deal, photographer John Harper, he came out with us this morning to film the Alpha and he got a 26. This is like six. He bought it six months ago, but it's a 2016. It was like eight years old when he bought it. A cayenne hybrid with S hybrid with like 80,000 something miles on it. And it came with a CPOR a three year unlimited mile warranty, which is pretty awesome. So you know, a CPO warranty on a Taycan with active ride is going to be a pretty cool thing because that kind of stuff just like air suspension, those aren't wear items that is expected to work properly the entire time. Yeah, I said that when I got the CPO on mine. I was like, what about the air suspension? They're like, nope. It's like it is expected to operate perfectly and if it's not, it's covered under warranty. It's not a weight item.

[B]

Okay, but I would. As you said, there's no way to assume that just because the new car has new cool stuff that it's going to depreciate at a slower rate.

[A]

No.

[B]

So I'd rather go get a used one that has a CPO. You'll save yourself like $80,000 probably. Or tens of thousands of dollars for sure.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, and look, I think active ride is a $7,500 option. So it might add, add 2,500 or 3,000 to the price of a used one down the road. Like they don't depreciate slower, but if they have a higher msrp, you know, a proportion of that will end up in the used one later. Right. So the first owner will get like some of their money back for active ride, but not most of it.

[B]

Loose.

[A]

Lou Skunt loves Matt's hot dog. If you formed a dune buggy gang a la cunts, what might you call it? A Manx gang. So if people don't know what Kuntz is.

[B]

I don't.

[A]

The Countach union.

[B]

Oh, right, right, right.

[A]

I don't have a union. As a matter of fact, it's like the opposite of the union. They told me that the Manx is ready to come back. It's fixed, it's all done. They've done my notes to the best of their ability and they said it'll be ready to come back right after its photo shoot. Shoot. And I was like, hold up. What photo shoot? And so there's the opposite thing. So instead of cunts, maybe it's like suckers or something.

[B]

You have to figure out the answer. There'll be Cucks is the opposite.

[A]

Speed yellow Ledbetter. Pretty good. If you were the CEO of Porsche for a day, what three things would you have the company do immediately? Immediately stop making so much money. What three things would I do immediately? Hmm. I would tell every dealer I would. I would. I would make every dealer investigate people who flipped their GT cars, remove them from the allocations list and give their allocations to new people who have done waiting. That's number one. Number two is I would have better wheel options for the Macan electric because the wheel options for Macan electric suck. And number three, I would execute the downloadable car simulation pack for the upcoming for all Porsche EVs so you could replicate the power and torque curves, power to weight ratios, gear ratios and engine sounds of vintage Porsches in your electric Porsche. Jacking. Off the record, Exceptional. Frankly, exceptional. Everything about that is great. How does it feel knowing that so many of your fans make an active effort to bring smiles to your faces with their usernames? Good. It feels great.

[B]

So fun.

[A]

Thanks for asking. Do you know what this is? This a real thing?

[B]

It is a real thing.

[A]

Billy Idling says. Have you seen the Stark Varg yet? It feels like the successor to the something something. It's an electric enduro motorcycle that looks like a dirt bike.

[B]

And where's a little picture? Picture?

[A]

I don't really. Yeah, it looks like a dirt bike. It seems to have a chain drop drive. It has a little display screen that looks pretty rugged. I mean, it does look cool. Whoa, look at that. That handlebar controller on your left hand grip with those buttons is awesome looking.

[B]

It is.

[A]

It looks like a Viani halter. Watch the fuck. Look at the go up. The caption for this photo is the buttons next to the grip could be better. So maybe they don't work as well as they look.

[B]

There you go. It looks like a dirt bike.

[A]

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean, this is the kind of thing, like if I had one of Ali's Range Energy, you know, trailers. Not the semi one, but the recreational one, 200 kilowatts. You tow it, tow that three or four of those dirt bikes out to the desert for the weekend and then you just recharge, you know, you get five charges of five dirt bikes and you charge it off that the whole weekend. That could be fun.

[B]

Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah.

[A]

Giat Farah does that. What does that mean? Does that mean like Gat Farah is that.

[B]

No, I don't know the Y A T T. I'm not sure.

[A]

Unsure. Do we think the reef. Oh, wait.

[B]

Oh, did that re that.

[A]

That was very similar to the.

[B]

I think I copied it twice to rearrange.

[A]

Disrespectfully Agree says. Do you think companies like BMW get more leeway with polarizing designs are a desirable brand? Personally, I don't think BMW has any good designs, but there's a lot of people who would still buy one because it's a BMW. I do think brand gets you a lot of the way. I also think that people who have already owned BMWs are more likely to just get another one, even if it does look kind of weird. I also have been around people that very much like the designs of most of the new BMWs. I mean, a friend of mine who's not that into cars has one of the IX's really? And thinks it's awesome. Wow. So I think also I don't. I don't know everything. So BMW does seem to get more. They get a lot of. Because their design language seems to change every five years. But the critics seem to care more than the actual customer.

[B]

They're selling a lot of cars, pulling up the numbers and their sales, I think are up every year for the last couple years. So. What the.

[A]

We don't know shit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. John Hennis. See you next Tuesday. That's pretty funny.

[B]

That's good.

[A]

You're given a stock clean 240sx and 50k to build it. What direction do each of you take it?

[B]

I think there's a sequential box you can get for like 8 grand. I would use that start there. And I mean drift car, but one that I could also set up for grip, you know, with some small changes that is possible. So it wouldn't be like full angle kit. I would want something I could do both because they're quick on track when you set them up for road.

[A]

Course these things haul ass Yeah, I think I would set it up to be like, a gravel rally type setup. You know, I'd really want to feel some weight transfer, slide it around, have a nice, tight diff.

[B]

Have you seen the greatest S15 in the world?

[A]

No. Is it that? Pretty much. Oh, wow. That's a full, like, trophy truck. That looks like Adam's. That looks like Adam's car, too.

[B]

It does. This is like, a full trophy truck. They just put an S15.

[A]

That's a full trophy truck with a. With a fucking S15 body on it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Approved.

[B]

Love it.

[A]

Yeah. That's a little more. That's a little more than I want.

[B]

That's more than 50 grand, too.

[A]

No. Like, basically, I would want, you know, like, 8, 9 inches of ground clearance, a good diff. You know, I'd want to be able to, like, rip it up, firewalls, something.

[B]

You could do the Colorado hill clothes climb in. Yeah, that would be fantastic. You know, nice turbo engines, reliable 400 horsepower. LS, LS, LS.

[A]

It's not that that car wouldn't be about the engine. It would just. The engine would be a. A way to go fast in that car. I got other cars that sound cool. I don't need to put some weird thing in there. That sounds crazy.

[B]

No. I was thinking for the altitude, but now I'm remembering there are people that run like old V8 gravel machine gun cars. At Colorado hill.

[A]

Did Jeff drives the GT3? GT3, huh? Jeff drives a GT3.

[B]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

It's naturally aspirated, sure.

[B]

Yeah. Turbo, maintain more power.

[A]

Yeah, it's all right with the wheel spin. This is a dirt, you know? Yeah. You know, 800 horsepower is not gonna do for you. Countach. Update engine. Engine lands the 28th. That's in, what, couple days? Two days.

[B]

Three days.

[A]

Three days. Engine lands, and then it goes to Damien. At Franco's European sports cars, the engine does, and then I wait until Damien, which has a. It's a very small shop, until he has room for my car, and then the car goes over, and then he. Then he goes to work. So, you know, hopefully soon. In the meantime, like, boy, we have shit to do, so whatever.

[B]

Do you think this is a 20, 26? I won't know.

[A]

I won't know. What we really. What I really need to do is, is once I get everything over there, something is missing. I just don't know what it is yet. You know what I mean? Like, that's gonna be the thing, hopefully. Cause we have so many parts and so many bits and so many fucking everythings that we collected from Donnie's, but there's just no way that we have everything. It's not possible that we have everything. So it's just like. Like, is the thing that's missing going to be findable, cheap or expensive? There's no such thing as cheap.

[B]

The bolts are expensive.

[A]

The bolts are $15 each. There's no such thing as cheap. It's insanity. But I thought that we already have all the expensive shit. It's just like, what's missing and is that expensive?

[B]

I bought new tabs for my dash to put the trim back in, and they charge 495 a piece for these two tiny pieces of plastic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Very upsetting.

[A]

And also, it also does remain to be seen. I didn't get photos of the engine and gearbox in the crate. Like, I don't know how they were loaded, meaning I don't know if the engine and gearbox were together. If they are, then that means I also have a new clutch and new flywheel, like in there. But if they're separate, I sent them my clutch and flywheel. Like, I don't. I sent them a whole bunch of things to that, you know, that was like, use. You know, use if you need, blah, blah, blah. So I'm not sure what of that is coming back and how, like, so I can't make a. An estimate in just like, I. I bet if Damian did nothing else but put my car back together, he could probably have it back together in two or three weeks, probably. If everything's there. I mean, if one guy does nothing else, sure, probably, yeah. It's just, you know, putting parts together, but, like, something's missing and we don't know what, so can't wait to find out. Robusta rhymes.

[B]

So good.

[A]

That's pretty good, man. I like that. After watching and listening to the coverage of Car Week, I'm hoping we've reached peak reimagining. I'm tired of retro future 80s and 90s car cars. What's your opinion? It's very tough because you cannot build a brand new. It's very hard for a company to come out of nowhere and build a car from scratch that they can legally sell in America and Europe to the public. That's just very, very hard to do. And so if you're a new company, it sort of makes more sense to start with these existing vintage, especially like pre 76, like Beatles or Alphas or whatever, that you can then essentially build whatever the fuck you want. And there's a place like California can't say, wait a minute, it doesn't meet smog, it doesn't meet this, it doesn't meet that. So, like, I understand why they're saying that, but the mainstream OEMs are not giving us the real, quote, driver's cars that we are seeing seeking in a lot of the ways. And these small boutique outfits have stepped up to fill that gap. And it's just so much easier if they start with a based on something. I want to see more of it. I'm going to go the other way. I want to see more of it. I want to see somebody really do somehow reimagine a car that really surprised the Alfa GTV is a beautiful but predictable. Right. Like that makes sense that they would do that. The P1800 was a great example of surprise, surprise and delight. Yeah. The steering wasn't very good, but the execution of the construction and a lot of other things about that car were real rad.

[B]

That's very true. And it was out of left field because we never. I rarely see P 1800s at any car event. I saw one in Car Week. And you never see them modified. It's just when you see E30s and you see this and that all the time, 2002s, I'm for it because it's really just the end of the road for modification. And I'm all about people customizing their cars and seeing how they can push any car in whatever direction they want. The reimagining thing is just a term, you know, Know it's money, no object, usually. And it's. How far do you want to take this kind of idea? So I like that.

[A]

I mean, look, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, this was just called pro touring. It wasn't called reimagining. It was called. It was called pro touring. And now we just don't like muscle cars anymore. We like cars from the 80s and we're pro touring those cars. It's just a new word for the same fucking thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's not gonna stop. It's just gonna keep moving forward and like, you know, we'll see where it ends up. But that's what this is. This is the same shit.

[B]

I want to trademark this idea for Thaddeus because he. Every week we talk on the phone and he goes, someone should really sing her the E36M3. And I'm like, I don't have any money. And he's like, someone should do it.

[A]

The best case scenario is not that that good for that car.

[B]

It depends on what you want. It depends on how much you want to charge. And who wants that?

[A]

Who wants that. You're better off doing an E30 or an E46 or an E28 M5.

[B]

I think everyone, I think people really like the way the E36 looks.

[A]

I think they're insane.

[B]

Oh, well, I like it, okay, but it has so many problems that we hate. You just got to fix all of those.

[A]

Yeah. Also from Lou Skunt loves Matt's hot Dog knob. Will the EV Boxster Cayman be a fantastic car that's doomed to flop? Oh, that's a tough one.

[B]

Maybe, maybe it's a good point.

[A]

Yeah, maybe. I'll tell you what though. If they can't move them, if they're on lots and they can't move them at the right price, I'm a customer, right?

[B]

Like the Charger EV right now is discounted, what, $40,000. Some huge number.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If they do that with this at the right price. Porsche's attention on dynamics and stuff, it might drive really good.

[A]

My Taycan is at service right now getting the battery module recall done. It's a software thing. Apparently it was kind of a big deal, but it's a software thing, it's not hardware. And also they're replacing the other bit of windows. So they replaced the driver's window seal because they're frameless. So the seals at the bottom. It was some. I don't know why, but it was leaving a sticky residue on the bottom of the window. All right, they replaced it. It's never done it again. Passenger 1 so they replaced that car's there and okay, fine. But when I was down there I just did a little walk, ski around, see what's what. Lot of macan electrics. So something tells me that, you know, those will be a buyer's market pretty soon. There's going to be cash on the hood for those and Good, good. I don't regret my decision. I see. I'm starting to see a lot of macan electrics around and I'm like shit, that thing. 20,000 extra dollars for that versus what I've got. I'm in the buck money all day. Tim A. Oh wait. Well, I think Tim A. His question reveals an answer which is the Dodge Charger EV is such a dud. What EV maker could create a stylish 2 door performance GT car in the muscle car EV formula? I just think muscle cars and EVs are diametrically opposed.

[B]

I you told. I totally agree.

[A]

Muscle cars aren't even about Going fast. They're about making noise. That's the whole point of a muscle car.

[B]

I would almost want to ask anyone under the age of 30, like you could pull a hundred of them and say, do you know what a muscle car is? And see what their answers are. Because if you weren't exposed to 60s cars and nowadays like, you know, Mustangs and Camaros are kind of called pony cars sometimes or general performance cars, they're more well round. So I just think that term is locked to an era and a. And an. Like an attitude and a sound and engines basically. Yeah, yeah. I don't think you can do it.

[A]

Yeah. Everything clean but the ashtray is one of the best hip hop lines ever written. Mystical big truck driver. One of the greatest hip hop songs ever written and should be played at maximum volume whenever you are driving a drive. I just went from a seven seater that tows from needing a seven seater that tows to a needing a six seater that doesn't tow. What would you daily if you had to be able to occasionally seat six. What's the difference? I mean six, three rows. It's any. I mean a lot of cars have.

[B]

Three rows but like we don't drive them very often. Yeah, I think that's why I'm like.

[A]

I mean Durango Hellcat. That's a three row. They're pretty. They are pretty fun. Escalade you can tow with Escalade. Corvette. What do you call it? Escalade V. Escalade V. Escalade.

[B]

Corvette is a great.

[A]

Yeah. What about. I mean it's old, but a Mercedes R63.

[B]

Yes. That's seat six.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Really? Oh man, those are cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They look like. They look like a wagon that got sung by bees.

[A]

Yeah. Like what else is cool with the third row?

[B]

The Volvo, like XC940 Turbo or something. The old one. Oh, an old rear facing. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I was gonna say XC90s. XC90s are lovely. That seat six. Yeah. Long wheelbase Range Rover.

[B]

I think Hyundai Telluride does just keep that one warranty.

[A]

Silence of the Lambo. I like it. I think they've used that before. Favorite cover car from the tuner magazine era. Do you have a favorite tuner car? A specific tuner car that you remember, Zach? I only really remember one. Not, I mean, I mean two, but one is. One is the roof yellow bird and that doesn't in cam here.

[B]

I don't remember any of them from the main magazines. I know they did stories occasionally and then I subscribed to Eurotuner for a while. But my brain has just blended them all together like you know, gummy bears left in the sun.

[A]

So I mean a couple. The two that come to mind are the, the top secret Supra that had the twin turbo Toyota Century V12 in it. That's pretty.

[B]

Is it the gold one?

[A]

The gold gold one?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That one was amazing. Remember we saw it at the Audrain? Yeah, yeah. So that one. And then with the first time I saw the Brabus rocket, which was where they put the V12 twin turbo into an E class and I was like, oh, they are not fucking around. That is.

[B]

They saw. And then Jason, what's the guy's name from Fifth Gear?

[A]

Plato.

[B]

Plato. He drove the Brabus rocket. When I think they put it in a steel cls, right? And he. And I saw. I remember seeing that video on the Internet and I was like, I don't know what this car is, but I am following Brabus everywhere on Facebook.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

For a long time. Because that was so cool.

[A]

You should have seen there, you know, they, they do a bunch of different stuff now. They do boats and they do Rolls Royces and their setup at car week was like kind of insane. Habibi. Come back.

[B]

Huh? Come back.

[A]

Wants to know, can you each run through a top three list of your favorite bantam weight cars?

[B]

Like ultralight stuff?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

The Gordon Murray rocket I think is super cool.

[A]

Light car company. Rocket.

[B]

One day. Caterham.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Any of them. And how do we. What else makes really, really late? I mean, Miata. That's too heavy. Are we saying that we're saying sub 2000?

[A]

No. I mean there's no. It's just bantamweight lightweight cars. For me it's that Alpine, the modern one, but it's light by modern standards. You know the, the, the Manx, which is just hilarious. And.

[B]

If we can count Alpine, I will add that. That'll be.

[A]

Yeah, I think you can. And oh, the 1985 Porsche 911 Club Sport prototype that I drove, that was 20, it was 1100 kilograms and 240 horsepower. And I thought it had 350 horsepower and it was nasty. That was, that was aces. Nice. Cam says, what's the most you'd spend on a watch if you knew it was guaranteed to not lose more than 5% value but has a chance to increase in value. I mean it's not like it's more about what's the most expensive watch I'd feel comfortable wearing outside. And I think that number is like this is Gonna sound like an asshole, but like 40 or $50,000. But like, I'd buy a grand Seiko Kodo if I was rolling in it and I. And that's 350,000. And if I had enough where I could spend that and it didn't matter or you wouldn't lose the money. I would buy a grand Seiko kodo. Absolutely. For 350 grand or a fucking MB and F or something if I had the money. But like, how much would I spend? Is more of a function of like, I'd rather. Like, how much do you spend versus like what would I actually wear out of the house? Like, I wouldn't. I can't walk out of the house with a hundred thousand dollar watch on. That's. That's just. I couldn't do it. Have the money or not. When I was at the fucking auction. Name drop incoming. When I was at Gooding with Seinfeld, we looked at that Ferrari 250 GT California, the Ferris Bueller fucking. And I was like, that's the shit. And he's like, that is the shit. I was like, why don't you have something like. And he's like, I can't pull up to the curb and get out of that.

[B]

Wow. The Porsches are more stealthy. It's a real. If you know, you know. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

I mean, even a dope one is like, it's not that like, he's like, everybody knows what that is.

[B]

That is in the zeitgeist as being an expensive car.

[A]

Yeah. He's like, it's all anyone knows about it is that it's insanely expensive. He's like, doesn't matter how it drives. He's like, it. That's it. So I get it. Two more and then we're calling it because I got my trainer this afternoon. Okay. Christian says, how much quality is there in a Christopher Ward watch? A lot. They make a very nice watch. Their prices are a little above what you would get for a micro brand watch, but that is a high quality product. Okay, wait, let's do this.

[B]

This one's for helping a teenager buy.

[A]

A car up to your ass in gas. My young son is newly qualified to drive on a manual license. I don't know what a manual license is, but let's assume it means he can drive stick. I have the opportunity to help him into a new car as his current one is an issue. That's expensive. He's paying it all back. But over time. Initially the offer was to get him into a practical and Economical ev, but instead he wants to drive a manual while they are available new. Am I over indulging him to help him into a Miata over an ev? I'm possibly letting my own enthusiasm get in the way of a practical life lesson. What is the life lesson that he's supposed to learn that you're preventing him from if he gets a Miata? Is there supposed to be a life lesson that I'm missing?

[B]

Yeah, I don't know actually. I thought unless he's learning a lesson on his current car that he has to pay for to fix and then you help him get into a new ish Miata. Is that teaching him the wrong thing?

[A]

Well, no. Look, there's an argument to be made as a parent and I'm not a parent, but like, okay, fix the old car versus get a new car, that's one argument. But if you're already willing to indulge that he's going to be getting a new car of some of kind. Kind. Now it's just a matter of the car that you want him to have or the car that he wants. But it seems like you kind of are willing to get him the car that he wants, but you're concerned that somehow that's the wrong thing. For reasons I don't think there's anything wrong with a teenager driving a Miata. In fact, I think that's probably a totally okay thing as long as the teenager understands that this is a small car that doesn't fit much.

[B]

I think that and it's rear wheel drive and that I, I think my pro, my, I'm in support of this because it could get your kid into cars if they're not already driving a Miata could. It's a great way to expose someone to handling balance and like all these fun things we love about driving that it's away from horsepower. It's not about that stuff. It's like they might learn the, the nuances of driving. You could eventually turn it into like a race car with your son. You could have a great relationship and this could be like the foundation of a great automotive relationship with you guys. The danger, I think, is that it's a small car that's rear wheel drive. You can turn traction off. And so do you know your son, Is your son a responsible person and they're not going to do that shit or are they going to go out there and try to fd this thing and hurt themselves? Like in that regard, I think, you know, a boring EV is a more responsible thing. It's a lot harder to get into. Like, let's call it dynamic driving trouble. Although they tend to be really fast.

[A]

I don't know. And all EVs are fast. You might be the EV, the practical, boring EV, might have double the horsepower of the fucking Miata.

[B]

That's true. I think it's. It's easy to act. It's easy to have a accident in an EV because they're so fast. It's easier to have a crash because Miata makes you go, ooh, watch this.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I think if your teenager is enthusiastic enough about driving that they're talking about getting a Miata while they still can, I don't see any problem indulging that. And, you know, if you're. If you're talking about a. I assume you're talking about a maybe a lightly used Miata, not a brand new one. These are. These are fairly flat investments. If you buy a decent Miata and you take good care of it and they decide they don't actually wanted in six months or a year, you can probably get most of your money back. It's probably not an expensive lesson to learn, you know. All right, that's our show today. We have more shows coming. I'm not traveling for two whole weeks. Yay. So not traveling for. Actually, that's not even true. It's like, I'm traveling in, like, eight days actually. But I thought it was two weeks. But then I was like, no, it's not Friday. It's definitely now Monday. But lots more shows coming. Thank you to our patrons for all your support and your great questions. Do all the liking and all the subscribing. We'll have a Aston Martin Vanquish review up this week. We'll have the SSC Tuatara video up next week. And then I think this Alpha probably after that. So thank you all for supporting the Smoking Tire, and we will see you later. Bye.