From S. Korea to S. Carolina

Summary

The Smoking Tire Podcast — "From S. Korea to S. Carolina"

Date: November 6, 2025
Hosts: Matt Farah & Zack Klapman

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Episode Overview

In this remote episode, Matt dials in from South Carolina fresh from the Hilton Head Concours while Zack checks in from LA, recently returned from a whirlwind trip to South Korea with Hyundai. The episode dives into:

• Zack’s deep-dive into Hyundai’s hydrogen ambitions and his cultural experiences in Korea
• Matt’s test of the new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid and observations from the Hilton Head Concours
• US and international car culture comparisons, the strengths and challenges of hydrogen infrastructure
• Audience Q&A covering everything from watches and electric vehicles to car features both hosts love and hate

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Key Discussion Points

1. Hyundai’s Hydrogen Push & South Korea Travels

[03:35–12:32]

• Hyundai’s Dominance in Korea: Zack shares how Hyundai is everywhere—trains, elevators, buildings, and upwards of 70% of vehicles seen are Hyundai (“This company is always watching and they are everywhere.” – Zack, 05:16).
• Hydrogen Infrastructure Challenges: Hyundai invests massively in hydrogen production, capture, and distribution. Filling stations require massive real estate, with one hydrogen pump demo conducted in front of a building the size of a four-story car storage warehouse.
  • “The mere existence of a second generation of a hydrogen car is kind of unique and interesting.” – Matt, 04:40
  • Importance of industrial applications (ports, forklifts, airport tugs) being a more sensible use than passenger cars given current limitations.
• Zack’s Driving Impressions: Actual driving impressions are embargoed, but visually the new Nexo’s rear design evokes the Pontiac Aztek: “I walked around the back and I just went Aztek. You can't unsee it.” – Zack, 11:19

2. Life, Car Culture, and Safety in South Korea

[17:17–24:22]

• Unmatched Safety Culture: Zack describes constant speed cameras (~every two miles), hyper-awareness of safety, and the omnipresence of warnings and fake-out cop visages.
  • “It is the safest place I think I’ve ever been. Meaning the culture’s attention to safety I’ve never seen before.” – Zack, 17:17
• Uniform Urban Architecture: City housing clusters—identical, tall, narrow apartment buildings—are grouped together, strikingly uniform.
• Limited Visible Car Culture: Enthusiast or special vehicles are rare day-to-day; fun cars are mostly kept for weekends. “I saw two interesting cars in two cities, a Boxster and a fake Shelby Mustang.” – Zack, 23:29

3. Comparing Car Cultures (US, Spain, Japan, Mexico)

[24:22–29:43]

• Matt notes that US major metros are the strongest for seeing enthusiast cars daily; Spain, despite affluence, has few; Mexico shows the highest level of daily modified cars.
  • “The percentage of enthusiast cars is way, way, way, way, way above anywhere else in the world.” – Matt, 25:02

4. Train Travel & Hospitality in Korea

[29:44–32:31]

• Zack rides the high-speed train (150 mph), noting better value and comfort than flying, but laughs about unexpected non-air-conditioned seats. He praises impressive hospitality—like the Hyundai staff sprinting to 7-Eleven to buy a vegetarian colleague food.

5. Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid: The Ultimate All-Rounder

[33:17–40:06]

• Matt’s deep-dive on road-tripping the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid: “Zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds, 10.3 in the quarter, 630-plus miles on a tank… the easiest car I have ever driven at that speed.”
  • “I did 273 miles in under 4 hours and averaged 26 mpg while doing it, which is… amazing for a car like that.” – Matt, 35:18
• Discusses why used Panameras are a massive value: not positioned as a pure sports sedan, but delivers top-class performance and comfort (see discussion, 36:24–39:55).
  • Notable Quote: “There's enormous value in used Panameras… they’re reasonably reliable, frequently full of great options, and they rip.” – Matt, 37:54

6. Hilton Head Concours Highlights

[40:06–45:55]

• Matt recaps the regional Hilton Head Concours: hypercars, 1930s French cars, boat tails, a remarkable motorcycle display.
• Funny moment: Discussing a Ferrari SP3 Daytona with a $42K paint job and $129K in options, complete with the window sticker displayed (43:27).
  • “I feel like putting your window sticker with the prices of things… How much attention do you need to your wealth?” – Zack, 42:53

7. Patreon Questions Q&A Highlights

[47:14–101:43]

• Turbo S vs 750S (47:14):
  • 750S is wild, can spin tires into fourth; Turbo S is ultra-competent and refined.
• Comparing Global EV Infrastructure (63:28):
  • Matt and Zack discuss the promise of Ram’s new range-extended EVs, benefits and practicalities of hybrids vs full electrics; Mazda’s new rotary range-extender.
  • “People have been talking about a gas range-extended EV for a long time…” – Matt, 63:28
• Favorite and Hated Features (71:48):
  • “If you can snap your fingers and remove one car feature: Haptic buttons.” – Matt & Zack, 71:57
• Women’s Watches: Rolex vs Cartier (80:35):
  • “All women love Cartier… but if you want a great watch you’ll wear for every activity for the next 40 years, get a Datejust.”
• Macan GTS vs X3M vs Ioniq 5N (83:01):
  • Macan for analog feel and steering; Ioniq 5N for daily EV usability and fun.
• Affordable Car Upgrades (92:02):
  • “I would want to take the John Cooper Works Mini and turn it back into what it was 20 years ago—smaller, lighter, manual.”
  • “Put a turbocharger on the BRZ.” – Zack

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Hyundai in Korea:
  “This company is always watching and they are everywhere.”
  — Zack, 05:16

• Hydrogen’s Realistic Future:
  “Ports… you could clean the ports globally, virtually overnight by running all this stuff on hydrogen.”
  — Matt (relaying a local expert), 09:00

• Cultural Safety:
  “No one jaywalks there. All the crosswalks are super lit up… there’s just so much attention on safety, safety, safety.”
  — Zack, 19:51

• Panamera Praise:
  “It could do anything. It can be an EV almost every day… then you gotta go city to city at night and you’ve got your own private freight train.”
  — Matt, 38:52

• On Luxury Car Window Stickers at Shows:
  “Putting your window sticker with the prices… How much attention do you need to your wealth?”
  — Zack, 42:53

• Audience Humor:
  “Up your ass in gasoline—back to the question…”
  — Matt, 60:25

• Analog Notes vs Digital:
  “When I hand write stuff… I’ll remember what it looks like in the book, and when I flip to that page I will see it right away.”
  — Matt, 89:45

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Segment Timestamps (Selected Highlights)

• Intro & Hydrogen Tech Deep-Dive: 00:00–12:32
• South Korea Safety & Urban Culture: 17:17–24:22
• Car Culture Comparisons (US/Spain/Japan/Mexico): 24:22–29:43
• Hilton Head Concours Recap: 40:06–46:15
• Patreon Q&A Segment (selected):
  • Turbo S vs 750S: 47:14
  • Hyundai Santa Fe Design: 48:10
  • Macan GTS vs X3M vs Ioniq 5N: 83:01
  • EV Road Tripping Anxiety: 85:54–88:45
  • Car Features to Eliminate: 71:48
  • Women’s Watch Recommendations: 80:35
  • Making Affordable Cars Greater: 92:02

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Tone/Style

The episode is casual, witty, and free-flowing, with plenty of anecdotes, sarcasm, and direct audience interaction. Both hosts are candid, honest, and not afraid to critique cars, companies, or even cultural norms. The episode mixes deep automotive nerdery with relatable, often funny asides.

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Summary

"From S. Korea to S. Carolina" offers a broad tour—from the technological ambitions of Hyundai and life in Korea, to the best (and worst) modern performance cars, all wrapped up with the duo’s unique blend of insight and humor. The Patreon Q&A section delivers real-world advice, gearhead debates, and signature banter, making this episode a strong snapshot of why The Smoking Tire Podcast continues to engage dedicated car enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.

Transcript

[A]

I can't wait till this airs and you've beeped out four words. People are just can't wait. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about the dynamics of this hydrogen thing. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by off the Record. And I am gonna need it, probably because as you're listening to this, I am on the road and track Blue Ridge 500. I'm driving a Porsche 918 Spyder. I'll tell you all about when I get back. But if I get busted speeding and I'm running countermeasures, I've got my Valentine going. I've got Waze going. I am as covered as I can be. But if I can't resist the 900 horsepower and I get Bustado, I will need off the Record, just like you do. If you get busted doing any type of moving violation, go to offtherecord.com TST that's O F F T H E R E C O R D Off the and off the Record will set you up with a qualified attorney in a jurisdiction where you got that ticket. All you have to do is set it up and then turn your brain off and off the Record will handle it. One of their qualified attorneys will fight that ticket all the way up to the Supreme Court if need be. And of course, offtherecord.com TST is the code you use to get 10% off all legal services through off the Record. Of course, if you want to ask questions for the live show, if you want to get the show early, if you want to get the show without ads, if you want to get extra show access to early collabs and merch, etc. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast is where you do it. All right. On this one, I am down in South Carolina checking out the Hilton Head concourse and I recount that to Zach, who is back in la, having just returned from South Korea. I also talk about the amazing Panamera turbo hybrid I just drove. And boy, did we get some killer questions from our patrons today. It's a good one from the Smoking Tire Podcast live from South Carolina and la. Let's go. Well, holla, holla, holla, holla. Smoking Tire Podcast Remote edition. I'm down here in South Carolina today doing I was at the Hilton Head concourse. Zach was was in South Korea for six days and is now back. We haven't been in the same room together for like 10 days now. And so in order for yalls to get Yalls podcasts, we got to go remote. And I'm. I'm like. I'm like in the real middle of nowhere out here, so the Internet sort of sucks. We're doing the best we can, but welcome to the show and advance thank you to all of our patrons for asking such good questions all the time. And we got a lot of feedback about the possible new color of the canyon. Watch. Couple people didn't like it so much, but overwhelmingly positive excitement and people wanted to get in on it, reserve their numbers. So I think. I think we're doing the right thing. Zach Clapman.

[B]

Yeah. What's up?

[A]

Talk to me about your trip to South Korea.

[B]

Yeah, it was pretty incredible. I was there for six days thanks to Hyundai, and it was a. There was a lot. You know, I was on the ground for five days, and there was kind of five days of stuff. So I was there to drive two cars. One is the new version of the Hyundai Nexo, which I famously drove to NorCal and got stuck on the five when the station there ran out of hydrogen. So this is the new version of that car. And I don't know, do they have. Let me see.

[A]

Yeah, but that's. Is it embargoed? Is what you said driving?

[B]

Yeah, driving impressions are embargoed. I was going to pull up the picture of it because, you know, I want to show you the profile view and tell me what you think of the. The rear profile of this car. You go to share screen here.

[A]

Okay. Nexo would be a hydrogen car. So there is a.

[B]

There.

[A]

I mean, just the mere existence of a second generation of a hydrogen car is kind of unique and interesting.

[B]

Yeah. And we could def. We can definitely talk about that because Hyundai's investment, both time, resources, and money into hydrogen is vast. I mean, first of all, Hyundai owns South Korea. Like, I. Yeah, I rode on a Hyundai train, a Hyundai elevator cars. The buildings are everywhere. Of course. I'd say 70% of the cars you see on the road are Hyundai. Then there's Kias. And then somehow I saw two Mustangs. One was a fake Shelby. That was pretty surprising even in the distance. We were at this racetrack and in the distance were these giant, massive orange cranes, like two mountains over. Looming over the landscape like, you know, an at. At in Star Wars. And it. It was a crane they used to build ships. And it said Hyundai in size 80 foot font. I was like, they're everywhere. This company is always watching and they are everywhere. So. So their. Their investment in hydrogen. We Got to go to their R D facility and they kind of explained their vision. You know, it's. They, I think they want to be a little energy independent eventually. And it's also a little self serving. Like they've, they've put a lot of money into developing the production of hydrogen, the capture of it, the storage of it and the vehicles. So if people or industries start choosing hydrogen, you know, they're very well positioned. But dude.

[A]

Yeah. Do they have any intention of like building their own hydrogen stations in.

[B]

Oh, they.

[A]

Around.

[B]

Well, they have. So they have hydrogen production like plants. I don't know if they would build like gas stations for hydrogen or if they would just sell the hydrogen to.

[A]

To whatever shell or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good question. Like we saw, we saw fueling stations around and I don't think they had Hyundai branding on them. One huge difference. And I, I didn't mean that as a pun, but it is one is the hydrogen pump that they did a demo at. I saw a picture of it. I wasn't at that demonstration. The pump system was like the size of WCCS Playa Vista. It was, it was a, it was a single pump in front of a literal building the size of your three, four story car, car storage warehouse. And the reason that's important is when I ran out of hydrogen, what I learned from the hydrogen delivery guy is that the way the systems work is that on the property there will be a large tank where they store hydrogen. There's a middle tank that fills and pressurizes and then that dumps into your car. And the way it gets into your car is it has to equalize the pressure. So you've got, you know, you've got one balloon that's full and you've got a balloon that's empty. The balloon that's full is going to add air to the empty one until they're equal. And one of the problems that I encountered is that that middle pump takes a long time to fill. So I think they have this giant building sized hydrogen pump now to avoid those problems because they were able to fill cars back to back with no delay. So that's what it takes.

[A]

Yeah, I mean they must. This is incredibly efficient, obviously. I mean, I guess if it takes, if it takes, you know, a building with the footprint of a big gas station with one pump in order to keep that production line flowing. That's kind of interesting. Okay.

[B]

It's just the way the system works. But you know, just, I think it will require more real estate above ground, possibly. I'M sure there's other ways to do it. Whereas, you know, our gas stations, all the fuel tanks are below ground and then they get pumped up out of the little thing and it goes in the car. So it's just one of the challenges. But I mean, Hyundai has just, they're really trying to make hydrogen work and they're not trying to push it on everything. They're just like, we made this technology. It works for some commercial trucks, it works for some shipping ports right now, maybe it'll work for other vehicles.

[A]

Hydrogen. Brian, my hydrogen liaison in my neighborhood and bourbon enthusiast is 100% in on hydrogen at the ports. The short haul trucks that just run back and forth, you know, 10, 15 miles a day, the forklifts, the cranes, like all that. He is like, he's all about that. He doesn't care about passenger cars at all. He said you could, you could clean the ports globally, you know, virtually overnight by running all this stuff on hydrogen.

[B]

That's what made the most sense to me. I mean, I watched, I watched their presentation with heavy skepticism because of my experience with it. And also just knowing, you know, the infrastructure that has to be built for passenger cars, that does not exist here. And you know, the infrastructure failures is a big reason why Toyota is currently being sued by a lot of Mirai owners. So I think, you know, to ask the United States to pop up all these hydrogen stations for consumer, for passenger cars, that's just too much resist resistance. But if you have a port and like you said, all these heavy equipment, light equipment run on this. The advantage is that when the forklift runs out of hydrogen, you could just go fill it up. Whereas a lot of people were trying to promote electricity as the source of power for like new airport tugs. And it makes sense, like you need a lot of torque, you need, and you know, it can just sit there and then go into service and come out. But when you have to recharge, you know that thing, if it's an airport that runs 20 hours a day, well now you got to think of that charging and if someone doesn't plug it in, is the airport have to stop working. So stuff like that, where it's heavy equipment that would require really big batteries and long charging times, it might not be optimal, but having this and then.

[A]

Doesn'T go very far.

[B]

Right? Yeah, yeah, but this is basically.

[A]

And that you could, if you have an airport, you could put that giant building hydrogen station somewhere on property, you know.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so that, that side of it made a lot more Sense to me. Can you see these pictures of the Nexo?

[A]

I can, yeah.

[B]

All right, so what do you.

[A]

What do you looks like see when.

[B]

You look at this area?

[A]

Aztec.

[B]

Yes. I walked up to it and like the front, this looks like old Chevy S10. I went, all right, that's kind of cool. It's. It's similar to their 74 concept. And I walked around the back and I just went Aztec. And the other journalist was like, oh, dude.

[A]

You can't unsee it.

[B]

Dude, you can't unsee it. They've got it on a couple things. I know the rear end of this car is interesting.

[A]

The 90 degree side profile is the most Aztec. You showed a few different angles. The other angles are better.

[B]

Yeah. No, it's just this is this rear quarter window that is straight up Aztec. I don't know. Otherwise it's just like don't break the embargo.

[A]

Do.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or is that the embargo?

[B]

I don't know. That's not a driving impression. But you're right. I'll back away from that.

[A]

So you could. You called it. That's a.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

You could have said that while sitting in there parked. It's got spacious. You meant spacious.

[B]

I did.

[A]

Obviously you meant spacious. I can't wait till this airs and you've beeped out. Four words. People are just. Can't wait. Can't wait to. To hear what you have to say about the dynamics of this hydrogen thing. That looks.

[B]

They were. Some of the people at the company were very. They had pretty narrow views of what would break the embargo. So someone had posted some stories of what they were doing, like just being there and they had to delete those stories. But you know, oh wow. They're cautious. It's okay.

[A]

Was. I've never really spent any time in South Korea though. Was it a cool place to hang? Folks, we got to take one quick break from the action because factors coming in hot for fall, it always feels like a reset. Right. Summer's over, back to school, busier routine, shorter days, dark at 5:30. Yikes. Finding time to cook can be super tough. For me, it's not about cooking. It's about lunchtime. Finding a healthy lunch can be tough, but factor is there. Their chef prep dietitian approved meals make it easy to stay on track and enjoy something comforting and delicious, no matter how hectic the season gets. There's more variety and more meals now with a bigger selection of weekly meal options including premium premium seafood choices like salmon and shrimp. At no extra cost. They've got more GLP1 friendly meals and Mediterranean diet options. And for the first time, Asian inspired meals with bold flavors influenced by China, Thailand and more. 97% of customers, including me, say that factor helped them live a healthier life. You can feel the difference no matter your routine. I use factor for lunch because when I come off the mountain, when I'm filming whatever that morning is so busy, I never make time to prepare and plan a healthy lunch. So by the time I get back to the office, I'm like starving. And I just, I tend to want the closest thing around. Well, if that closest thing is factor, I'm eating healthy, right? When I've got that factor, I know there's four or five healthy meals in the fridge waiting for me that I can eat within two minutes in the microwave right when I get home. You can do it too. You can eat smart. At FactorMeals.com/ Tire 50 off and use code Tire50OFF to to get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for one year. That's code Tire50OFF@Factor Meals.com for 50% off your first box plus FREE breakfast for one year. Get delicious ready to eat meals delivered with Factor offer only valid for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase. We're also brought to you today, sponsored in fact by Rula. Rula is a new way to do therapy, right? Mental health. That's what I'm talking about. Talk therapy. I have seen therapists for over 20 years. I've seen the same therapist for over 10 years. And that therapist went from in person to virtual during the pandemic and has never gone back. So I know that virtual therapy is honestly the same as in person therapy. But the problems are A finding a new therapist if you don't have one or lose one, and B, figuring out the insurance. Because so many good therapists just don't take insurance at all. And taking care of your mental health shouldn't be harder than your physical health. If you pull a muscle, you see a doctor, you got insurance. But when it comes to finding the right therapist, it's frustrating. There's wait list and there's huge costs. So Rula makes therapy simple, affordable and fast. They work with most major insurance plans and the average session copay is just 15 bucks. That's basically the cost of lunch. But instead of a sandwich, you're investing in your own headspace. And with Rula, you're not just matched and left to figure it out. They check in and make sure you're actually making progress. Every therapist on the platform is licensed to, vetted and picked for their expertise. So you know you're talking to someone legit, not just whoever happens to be available. It's easy to get started. You answer a few quick questions about what matters to you and Rula connects you with in network providers who actually fit your needs. You choose the times and could be talking to a therapist as soon as the next day. No weeks of waiting or endless back and forth. So thousands of guys have already used Rula to finally get the care they need. Don't keep putting it off. Go to rula.com tire that's R U L A.com tire to get started today, take the first step, get connected and take control of your mental [e-mail] Tire and now back to the show.

[B]

It was, it was fascinating and I mean that as a compliment. I like it didn't have the visual, you know, natural allure of like Thailand. Like the, you know, they had forests but it wasn't super lush. But there weren't like jagged mountains or anything. It was just kind of like lower altitude coastal stuff. So it, but it was fascinating. It is the safest place I think I've ever been. Meaning the culture's attention to safety I've never seen before. There was a speed camera on every highway, about every two miles. Like I drove, I drove 358 miles of the country like from top to bottom and back up. And it was like at the speed limit? Yes dude, at the speed limit. And everyone goes the speed limit. And it wasn't, it wasn't like there were speed, there were speed cameras just near the city and you get out and they dissipate like they were there. And, and what's so funny is the number of warnings of an approaching speed limit or an approaching speed camera. So there's so many, like there's blue and red flashing lights everywhere to look like cops that aren't cops. There are really funny police like visages that they put in the bushes. So basically as you approach, it looks like the back of a cop car if the cop car crashed into a tree. And it's, it's, they don't actually use.

[A]

Cop cars, they use cameras. Correct.

[B]

I did. I never ever, ever saw a police car sitting on the side of the road shooting radar. I saw three police cars total and they were headed to something. So, and what sucks is like the first, the first five hours of that drive, I saw those, those outlines, those, you know, Visage things. And I went, oh, that's so silly. And then by hour seven, one of them tricked me, and I slowed down. But one of the execs of Hyundai, this guy June park, who basically, he's the reason that the end division exists. He literally.

[A]

I met June. Yeah, he's cool. Yeah, he was at the 5N launch. Yeah, yeah, that guy rules.

[B]

Yeah, he. He knows how to have a great time, like, in a car. And, like, he's like one of us who somehow just runs a division. He said that half the cameras are fake, but he didn't. He didn't tell me that until I'd already told you. So it's like America. Yeah, yeah, it's. There's.

[A]

Dude, there's more the same than, you know, for sure.

[B]

But, like, they. No one jaywalks there. All the crosswalks are super lit up. There's just so much attention on safety, safety, safety. Be careful, careful, careful. So that was a very interesting part of it. Place to hang out. Like, you know, I don't insult people that live there. Like, everyone was incredibly nice, super friendly and helpful. I don't know if I would make it a destination, like you have to do. It's not like Japan to me, where it's like, you have to go there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think if you're in the area, like, literally stop in for a couple days, walk around, eat some food, because it's great to see, you know, how other cultures live. What is this? Like, you know, because they were strange differences, like their apartment buildings. So they have 55 million people in this country, and the place is like the size of California. So where do you house all those people? Well, strangely, they don't really have. Yeah, dude up. But what's weird is you would see these groupings of apartment buildings that all look exactly the same, and they're all like four windows by two windows. So they're not wide, they're narrow, but they'd be 30 stories tall. And rather than having, you know, a development where there's. There's 30 apartments in a row on each side, they would have, like, four of them. And I think they just. They build one, and when they need another one, they build another one and another one. And it's all the same construction company, architect, exactly the same. Like, it was like asparagus growing out of the. Out of the earth. It was really just. I've never seen been to a city where there was that much uniformity in such tall buildings.

[A]

Yeah, I think, like, a lot of them, Like, I think it's not. It's probably much more modern and. And nice, but, like, Americans don't love that style because it's like. It's got that sort of like, USSR Kind of like. Like the bad parts of socialism vibe, you know, that sort of brutalist where they would build entire towns kind of the same.

[B]

Well, there.

[A]

I don't think you're talking like that. I don't think we saw some of.

[B]

Those buildings that seemed older, these seem newer. It was just strange to see, like, a group of them where, like, you know, go to New York. There's a lot of tall buildings, but they all look different for. Different. Yeah, yeah, different. There's just like. Even if there's eight different varieties, this was literally the same building over and over. Like. And it would be eight.

[A]

That's really weird.

[B]

And 30 across. So you look at this, you go, well, that's. That's housing for a million people, dude. The groupings of buildings was insane. And then you drive.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

For the next 50 miles, it's just like, open, beautiful green landscape, occasional farms. So no suburb. No other little town development. And then boom, another city in the distance. Just. Just white buildings, like, as far as you could see. That's crazy.

[A]

And I. Yeah, go on. Sorry.

[B]

No, no, go ahead.

[A]

I just, like. So the. The buildings are skinny, right? So there's only, like, going to be a couple of apartments per floor, but they just go way, way up, right? Yeah. That's crazy.

[B]

So I don't. I don't know if it's because, you know, the landscape there is. Is not flat. It's like constantly. It's like New Zealand, you know, it's a lot of little ups and downs, little hills. So my guess was rather than having to flatten, you know, the earth for, like, five football fields, you do a half a football field, you know, on the. On the top of this little hill, and you build a thing, and then the bottom, you do another one. The bottom, you do another. Like, you just. I don't know, just. Maybe it's simpler that way, or they just build it with demand, but. Really weird.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Interesting. Some people asked about car culture, and I saw zero. Sorry. I saw two, like, interesting cars during the daytime in the two cities I went to. I saw one Boxster, and I saw the fake Shelby Mustang. It was a gt, but with, like, a Shelby badge on the front. Otherwise, everyone just drove passenger, whatever, hatchbacks. And I asked June, I said, you know, is there just not a lot of car culture here? And he just said that the culture's idea is you drive your fun thing on the weekend. So maybe that's why I just didn't see any fun cars. People just, just don't like here, you know a lot of you do. Me, a lot of our friends, they, our daily is something interesting but there it's just not part of the culture. So interesting. I don't know. When you were in Japan did you see a lot of, you know, rad tuned stuff all the time?

[A]

Not like rad tuned stuff but I did see interesting cars more than in other places. I saw some classic stuff, I saw some Porsches, I saw a couple of tuner type cars. I did see some interesting customized things. Yeah. In Japan, more so than other places. Every time I go to Spain, which is now a lot apparent, you know, I'm shocked at how great the roads are and how many good racetracks there are as well. And there's fucking no sports cars and very few motorcycles. And it's not because nobody has any money. I real. I know it's on a country wide. Spain isn't a super rich country and there are a lot of people that can't afford recreational type cars. But like the parts of town where like they have these events are nicer. You know, I'm there doing, I'm sitting at the bar, I'm looking on Zillow and it's like multi million Euro. Like villas like these people could afford cars and they just don't. I saw last time other than the 911s was there, I saw one other 911 that was like a 997 and I saw one Miata and now. And that was it. And that was it for the whole trip. So you know, I'm regularly surprised at the. Particularly in major, major American metro areas. New York, San Francisco, Miami, Louisiana. The percentage of enthusiast cars is way, way, way, way, way above anywhere else in the world. I've been on a day to day basis. Okay.

[B]

Yeah. It's just that was, that, that was a difference that leapt out to me and I was curious about how it is, you know, in other places.

[A]

So actually I'm gonna take that back. Guys, we gotta take one more break for Smalls. I love reading for Smalls because I love my cats. Smalls love my cats. And my cats love Smalls right back. My cats are, I mean I travel a lot, right. And I have an in home cat sitter. So their routine doesn't get messed up when I travel. That doesn't mean like when I come home they are, aren't super, super stoked to see us. And they just like come running up. They all want treats. They want me to take them outside in the backyard to get some sun because the cat sitter doesn't do that rightly so. And they want their Smalls treats. They absolutely love these dried fish treats from Smalls. They are so, so good. And man, when they get that delicious, fresh, like real food cat food, man, do they love it. The listeners of this show, they know my cat can't live without the Smalls. And now you can get 60% off your first order plus free [e-mail] Tire Smalls Cat Food is protein packed. It's made with preservative free ingredients you find in your own fridge and delivered right to your door. That's why cats.com named Smalls their best overall cat food. The best thing about the Smalls is I'm really using specific feeding times. I'm not letting them graze all day. So as, as such, I'm doing more of the canned protein rich food, less of the the other brands dry food that I was leaving out all day. And my cats have started to lose a little bit of weight. My, my two fat girls are a little bit slimmer, but they are, they're all ready to eat. They're all own bowls twice a day. And it is great. My cats love the taste of Smalls and they just crush it when I put it down. So what are you waiting for? Give your cat the food they deserve for a limited time because you are a smoking tire listener. Get 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com tire one last time. 60% off your first order and make it a big one. Plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com tire and now back to the show. Actually, I'm gonna take that back. Mexico. Even though I'm not necessarily into the way that a lot of Mexican people customize their cars. You know, in a lot of the more rural areas and in like Cabo and shit, they, they do a lot of like, what we would call autozone mods. But like that's every. Like so many people have modded their cars. That's very true in Mexico. Yeah. And I think a lot of, yeah.

[B]

Like Latin people here, you'll go to the neighborhoods over, you know, eastern LA and you'll see what's clearly like someone's daily truck. But it's got a wing on it or it's got like aggressive rims on it and they're and yeah. Hauling stuff or whatever. I totally agree with you. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. The Mexican and Mexican American community by percentage. Fucking. Those guys don't fuck around. They'll mod. They'll mod everything, dude.

[B]

Yeah, I don't. I guess they just. There's a lot of individuality in your car, I guess from that culture, at least from our observations. So maybe there's less of it in, in South Korea.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I took a high speed train, 150 miles per hour. Loved it.

[A]

Those are fun.

[B]

Had those here. Oh my God. It's just it. It had more my seat which was not first class or anything because it was not an air conditioned cabin. I learned later that the further up the train you go based on the ticket you buy, the train gets cooler. And so our. None of us knew that, but we're like, oh, this is warm and we're going to be here for three hours. But my seat had more room than any comfort plus seat I've sat in on a plane. And the tray table had way more space than any comfort plus seat I've been on, on any airplane in the last 15 years. And I was like, this ticket was less and we're going. We're traveling the length of California. I mean it took. Yes, it took longer. We're going, you know, 150, not 500, but it's just so nice. What a nice.

[A]

Yeah. And you can. You show up 10 minutes before the thing leaves. It's not, it's not as much of a pain in the ass. Yeah. And you're left, you know, a train is left.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

A train like feels like a plane, but it's actually much less space and weight constrained than a plane. So you can have more room even in the more basic accommodations.

[B]

Yeah, the like the event staff that Hyundai hired to run this, I'll tell one, one story because it was just impressive. So one of the journalists shout out Alex Lens, he works for Motor Trend. Very nice dude. But he's vegetarian and that's not something South Korea really does. A lot of is vegetarian food, like vegetables. Everyone eats a lot of kimchi. I love it. It was great. But like I got a side of asparagus with a steak in one night and they gave me two spears of asparagus, not ten or whatever. So. So for him to find vegetarian meals at non vegetarian restaurants was pretty challenging at times. So after one meal he had eaten like a simple Caesar salad and that's all they had. And, and they, and the staff and everyone tried like they told the restaurant, do you have anything? And they, they did what they could, but he's like, I'm just starving. And we have six minutes before we have to be on a bus to go to a train that leaves. You know, train leaves when it's leaving. They don't hold that thing. And he's just like, all right, I'll just, I'll find something to eat when we get back to, to the city. And three minutes later, this woman from the staff, who I don't, I didn't get her name, she comes in breathing like, and she's got a 711 receipt and two packages of baked eggs. Because they sell that at 711 there. And she had went, she had sprinted and bought him eggs so that he could have something to eat. And she, and I was like, did you just full run to get this? She's like, yeah. And like that's, I worked in hospitality for nine years. That's like the nicest thing I've seen. Yeah, she was very, very kind. So he, and he was very grateful.

[A]

That is a good move. Shout out to the event coordinators.

[B]

Yeah, cool. Yeah.

[A]

All right. So, and then you also drove Ioniq 6N, but we can't talk about it for weeks, right?

[B]

Yeah, we can't. I, I, I, the, the teaser I'll say to people is I got to drag race June Park. You know, we had a meeting, we had a meeting to talk about like the development of the car. And I asked, is the car just as fast to 60 in normal mode as in when you have it in shifting mode? And he said yes. And I said, oh, we should have a drag race just to prove it. And he goes, okay. And I said, for real? He's like, yeah. Okay. So at 5pm when everyone else got off the track, he and I did some drag races. And just so we can talk about that later, it was very, very fun.

[A]

Yeah, cool. Well, that sounds like a good time and I will be looking forward to that when I can learn about it. I've had five, four days in Panamera Turbo S E Hybrid. Drove it 273 miles out to my folks place from Atlanta. This is if, I mean, man, it's, it's expensive. It's really expensive. But if you need a car that can do anything, I mean, zero to 60 in two and a half seconds. 10, three in the quarter, 630 plus miles on a tank. This, this car has the internal combustion sedan record around the around road Atlanta with Pat long driving. And it has the hydraulic suspension, the active ride. So it's just ridiculously comfortable and poised. And we've driven it before. But just I got out here, I picked this thing up, I woke up at like 4am in LA, flew to Atlanta, grabbed the car. It was like a four and a half hour flight. Grabbed the car, got it and just headed straight east and I made it. And I mean, once I got out of town, there was like nobody on the road. And you could just stick this thing at allegedly 100 miles an hour at like, it is nothing, just nothing at all. It is the easiest car I have ever driven at the, at that speed. And I got, I did the whole drive. I did 273 miles in under four hours. And I averaged 26 miles a gallon while doing it, which is, whoa, amazing for a car like that, for a car that makes like 800 horsepower. So that's pretty awesome. And tomorrow morning it's at, at 5am I'm gonna get up and like rip it back to Atlanta where I'm swapping it out for, for a 918, which be interesting, but dude, these. This car is so cool and it, it's so comfortable and it's so fast and it could be anything. It's got like 50 miles of electric range if you want it to be an electric car. It has a very aggressive sport plus mode if you want it to feel like kind of like a supercar. It has the active tilt and, and pitch control so it can move through the world like a helicopter on slow, winding, ambling drives, which is really great. And, and it has a lot of tech, but doesn't really overwhelm you with the tech.

[B]

But it's.

[A]

Man, this is, this one's a real winner, this car. I know it's expensive. I, I can't afford one of these, but it's sick.

[B]

Well, I was on. Let me close this window. Go back to you here. So I was on the RentHiast Radio podcast and they asked why, you know, they're heavy into Porsches, but Panameras seem to lose their value quicker or maybe just not get talked about on the used market as much as like M5 or 5 series or C63s. Do you think that's true and do you have a theory as to why, like, a used Panamera is not, you know, as sought after as some of the other competitors?

[A]

Yeah, I think because it's positioned as more of a luxury car than a sports car in the marketplace. It's not positioned as a sports sedan the same way an M5 is in people's minds in reality, I'll take if the M5 touring is really nice if you've never driven a Panamera Turbo and if you have, it's like not in the same league of car.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So. And I think, I think Panameras always have leading technology and stuff and, and there's just not as many people looking for a. I mean I think Panameras are positioned more in the same way as S class as an 7 series than they are 5 series. Even though they perform more like the M5 than they do like anything that's a 7 series or an S Class, you know.

[B]

But there's a good point.

[A]

Enormous value in used Panameras. Enormous value. They're reasonably reliable. They don't have any like super horror stories. They're frequently, you know, you can get them just built out to the, to the nines. You know. We just sold a really nice Panamera belonged to a client of ours, a 2011, I think Panamera Turbo in, in an unbelievable color and it had miles on it but had great service history. I think it was, I think we got 25 grand for it. I mean it was like, you know, if you want to spend, you know, know 50 or $60,000, you're getting a. Not that old Turbo S that is in good shape and rips.

[B]

Yeah, they drive fantastic. They're so. There's such good things to drive. I'm just, yeah. Just wondering what your take was. Okay.

[A]

I love these cars. I mean I, I think these cars are fabulous and, and they, I, I love my ev. For me personally buying like I don't need the gas engine so I personally, I don't need the gas engine, but a lot of people, I mean this is a, this is a car that just does, it could do anything. It can be an EV almost every day. Almost. You know, you plug it in overnight, level two, even level one and it's, and it's an EV 90 of the time. And then you got to go from one city to another in the middle of the night and you got your own private freight train and you're just. Yeah, you know, it's, it's amazing and it's invisible on. I mean this oak green color. I mean every once in a while, you know, someone who knows. But, but for the most part this is not a car people are looking at or think is a, is a 700 plus horsepower car that's going to be, you know, running 10 second quarter miles.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm just looking at the interior. Brown interior. It's cool.

[A]

Brown. Yeah. Oak green metallic over a chocolate interior.

[B]

This is.

[A]

This is a pretty cool spec on this one. I would go with a tan if I could get it, but. But the chocolate's nice. I like the chocolate. This is. This one's a. This is a good car. I mean I just. It's a bummer they're so expensive. But just wait. It'll come to you. Yeah, I. I really, really do like it. But. And I'm out here in. In Spring island, my. My folks place because we went to the Hilton Head concourse today and I put some photos on the. On the Instagram. The Wynn. The Wynn concourse is also happening today in Vegas. But I wanted to come out here because I got a gig starts tomorrow in Atlanta and I figured check it out. Really nice. It's sort of a regional event, but over a couple of hundred cars, a few thousand people, probably 20 different classes of vehicle. I saw some really, really great examples of hypercars and supercars. I saw some really great example of wild 30s French stuff. There was a whole section on boat tail cars. There was a whole section of celebrating a hundred years of Chrysler. There was. They actually had a whole section of like vintage speedboats on display, which I thought was very cool and a really well organized event. A lot of fun. Saw some fans, said hi to some folks. Yeah, there's the speedboat section, which I thought was really fun and it was a fabulous day. And you know, not. It wasn't like it's not pebble. Right. But there were. There were definitely a few pebble beach grade cars. And it's, you know, on a golf course and very accessible on Hilton Head. I really liked that. That's a, you know, vintage outboard engine I thought was just so pretty. A bunch of whole fin tail Cadillac section which is really cool. And the. Yeah, it was great. Really, really nice show. They put on a really good show. This, this is a SP3 Daytona, uh, one of the newer ones and had a. A red to black color shifting paint job. The window sticker, which you can kind of see in the windshield there, it's yellow. Showed that that paint job was $42,000 and it also listed 129,000 in miscellaneous other options.

[B]

Is seems I feel like putting your window sticker with the prices of things. It's like, it's very douche like because Corvette people do it and. But, but Corvettes, they won't put the price. They'll just put. Here are the specs. Like here's what this car contains, here's the model. But having the price point in there, especially when it's a car that's this expensive is like, I don't know how, how much attention do you need to your wealth to be like, by the way, not only do I have this car that we all know cost money, here's exactly, exactly how much money it costs.

[A]

Wow. So the only possible explanation is that that may have been part of a sponsor display that was a dealer. Maybe there was. Right in that area, there were a couple of sponsor displays that were like, you know, European car source or I made that up, but like, you know, some secondhand. Your European car specialist. Next to it is a 996 GT3RS there in white. It may have been a car that was possibly being offered for sale. But yeah, I agree. If that's a personally owned car, I would say that's pretty douchey.

[B]

What is this little guy? What is this thing?

[A]

So this is some kind of Lotus sports racer from like the, you know, early 60s.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

It's got this sort of aerodynamic fin tail, you know, body on it. That was probably just someone went, drew it on a napkin and went that looks aerodynamic just like that.

[B]

It looks like they said, well, fish look like this and fish move through water and we move through. So let's put two fish with a white bridge in between.

[A]

Yes, it is, it's a, it's a, it's a, a catamaran made of two fish is exactly what this car is. Yeah, yeah, there was some there though, that kind of stuff that reminds me of the, like the Le Monstra. You ever see the Le Monstra Cadillac? Yeah, that was like, looked like it was made out of someone's repurposed refrigerator or something, you know?

[B]

Yeah, it's, I think Johnny Smith got to drive it. It, I mean it looks like a monster. It is an ugly vehicle.

[A]

Yeah, it's heinous. Yeah. But I, you know, I, I, I really like this. This is a motorcycle display. Like a 19, you know, 15 or something motorcycle where there's basically no engine block. It's just like an exposed crankshaft and four pistons welded.

[B]

Holy shit. It. So yeah, it's got like, I guess the crank is in here or is.

[A]

That a. Yeah, yeah. Like I think that is the crank or that's, that's a crank housing. But there isn't like an engine block. There's just like four standalone cylinders just there in between a two part frame. Very funky.

[B]

You know what it looks like? It looks like you poured concrete into an engine block and then wherever, like. And it followed the oil and the water channels and then you took away all the metal. Like.

[A]

Right. It's.

[B]

It's like a skeleton.

[A]

Negative space of an engine block of a normal engine.

[B]

Really cool.

[A]

Yeah. Crazy, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's, that's fun. This was a good show. If anyone's in, in, in the Southeast the first week in November, that's a good, good show. That's, that's worth, worth your time. And obviously it's on Hilton Head, so there's plenty of places to stay and chill and eat and, you know, whatever. Shall we go to the people, Zach?

[B]

Yeah, let's do that.

[A]

Of course, if you, if you are a patron, you can catch the live stream and ask us questions. Are we live, by the way? No. Right, okay.

[B]

Not for these.

[A]

Sorry. Because we're remote. Yeah. Because the qualite would be poo poo. You can catch the live stream, you can ask us questions, you can get the show without ads, you can get the show early, you can get extra show and you can get exclusive access to any merch, collabs and things that we make over here. Zach, what do we got?

[B]

All right. Rev limit asks. What are your thoughts after driving. After driving the new Turbo s on the 750s versus the Turbo as a track car and a high horsepower road car option. So would you rather have a 750s or a Turbo S?

[A]

750S is crazy. The Turbo S is not crazy. 750s, if you turn the traction control off, will spin the tires into fourth gear. A Turbo S will not do that. So if what you want is extreme competence. Extreme competence, but sort of a clinical approach and something that can be a very, very relaxed, everyday daily driver. Turbo S, if you want crazy party time, you want a 700.

[B]

Excellent. Zach in Sodak says, is the new Hyundai Santa Fe 2025 and up boxy enough for Hannah?

[A]

No, it's, it's. She doesn't like it.

[B]

She thinks.

[A]

She says the tail lights look like dog bones, which she ain't wrong. Yeah, yeah. She's not into that. What she is into is the Rivian R3X. Very into that. She's into the idea of maybe getting a heavily depreciated electric G wagon in a couple of years. Because she likes the Taycan but doesn't like. Love it like she likes it, but it doesn't. She says it doesn't feel like her, which I get. It's. That's a more me car than a her car. Even though it's her car, but she was. She's eyeing the depreciation on electric G wagons, which I think will be significant.

[B]

Yeah. Like a bag of sugar thrown in water. It's just like.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Losing everything.

[A]

You know what? Zach Clapman, will you please hold the phone because I need more whiskey.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

It's my goddamn house, and I'm gonna drink Macallan if I want to.

[B]

That's fine. This question is actually for me, so I will just answer it. Listen and sometimes watch says Zach, you've drove, I read, supercharged E92 M3 three years ago. From what you remember, did it totally change the experience or just add more of what makes it already great? I think it was an E90 sedan. And, yeah, it just. Superchargers, to me, maintain quite a lot of the engine's natural feel and experience, but it just turns everything up a bit. So it still had the throttle response, it still had, you know, the torque, but it had really getting a 200 more horsepower.

[A]

Sunset on the bayou, huh?

[B]

Oh, the question was for me anyway, so I just answered it. It's about. Oh, about the supercharged M3 I drove a few years ago. But I think superchargers just, you know, get. Take whatever elements there are to a car and they just turn it up. They don't really change the character of the power delivery.

[A]

I agree. Having heard none of the rest of that, I agree with the last sentence.

[B]

All right. The ghost of Woolworths says, I live. I live close to Lake Berryessa, and I'm looking for a fun new vehicle. Matt, you've driven those roads for your road and track event. Would you say a GR Corolla or a used F87 M2? Which would be the better choice?

[A]

I mean, better. You know, Lake Berryessa in that area? For those who don't know, that's in Northern California wine country, it's in this Napa Sonoma area. Fabulous roads can be a little bumpy. That whole area in the Napa and Sonoma region is tight, technical driving. It's. It's not big, fast, open sweepers. I don't think the power of the M2 would be very useful there, but I think the rally vibe and small footprint of the Corolla would be a good time. That road there, the 128, is the. So you want to. With that road right there. And then you can also go.

[B]

I was gonna.

[A]

Yeah, a little street view so you can see the tarmac is good, but not amazing. That's One of the better sections actually. But yeah, I think, yeah, it's a little suspension travel, little ride quality and so I would say the Corolla.

[B]

Right, Cool.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Gavin Sullivan says we've often talked about weight transfer, but being something we enjoy in a car. Which hot hatch or fast sedan has the best feeling of weight transfer?

[A]

M Fiesta st Killed it back in the day. Killed it at that was unbelievable.

[B]

I think Veloster N also was a really fun thing and had, you know, you could sense where the G forces were moving the mass around.

[A]

Yeah, the Golf are. The current Golf R is very good at that.

[B]

What's funny is that the softer the springs, the more of the weight transfer you notice.

[A]

Right? I mean like my fate, like my favorite, my weight transfer champions are like the Stirrado like or you know, or the fucking roof rodeo, which. The video will be coming out very soon. I'm sorry, we've been sitting on that for fucking two months. Embargoes kept coming up. But like the, like trophy trucks, off road vehicles, raptors like 911 Dakar, like the side by sides, like all that is. That's the way transfer champs that stuff.

[B]

Yeah, definitely. Buick lesaber Tooth Tiger. Love it. Love that name says our thoughts thoughts on the new Subaru STI concept that went up this week?

[A]

Well, I mean, aesthetically, I don't hate it. Aesthetically, it looks like sort of halfway between a BRZ and a wrx. It definitely looks like something STI would make. I didn't, it didn't look enough like a real car that I really studied it past the photo, to be honest with you. Did you see it, Zach?

[B]

I mean, I looked at the pictures. Yeah. And I think. Yeah. You know, I think if they'll probably get rid of some of these elements. I think it, I think it looks close to production, honestly. Like this doesn't. It doesn't look like a crazy concept. You know, maybe the vents wouldn't be here on the hood. Maybe the wing will be smaller. But like these, these fender flares to me look like, you know, they could make them. I think it looks, Yeah, I mean.

[A]

I guess the front, the low below the belt line looks like it could be fairly legit.

[B]

Yes. Looks thick to me. It like, it reminds me a bit of like Mazda 3. But like the, the distance from the top of the front wheel to what appears to be the hood looks very crossover, even though the ride height is not crossover. It looks like a very tall, thick car. So that, that kind of surprises.

[A]

It does. I wonder I mean, if that's just a photo that was taken up close with an iPhone and it's slightly distorted, but that is a big wang on the back of it for sure. And some real box flares. I don't hate it. Yeah, I don't hate it. I do think it looks the, the back, the lower half of the rear bumper isn't my favorite. But in general, I mean, I do think I was talking to this literally with my mother last night at dinner who was talking about how much she. Well, she like, loves her Outback, you know, and she's like, Subaru is doing such a good job and I love my Outback and what do you think about Subaru? And I was like, it's funny that, you know, that you, you know, 70 something, you know, old Jewish lady love your Outback so much. I was like. Because Subaru has basically abandoned the enthusiast, you know, they've decided that people like you buying Outbacks and Foresters are more important to the bottom line than young people, most of whom don't have any money buying WRXs and STIs. And she's like, what about the Crosstrek? And I'm like, I think the Crosstrek has the same 2.5 engine that has been in Subarus for like 30 years at this point. And there's nothing wrong with a Crosstrek. Like, that's a. But that a Crosstrek is like, it's just, it's like if someone says to me, matt, I just want a car, like a car for my kid or a car for, you know, a car for someone who doesn't give a shit about cars. You just say Crosstrek like, that's the car for that.

[B]

That Crosstrek I think is the. It's like someone who aspires to own a 4Runner, but they don't want to have the poor gas mileage. Like, they can do a little off roading, but they also are super safe. They get really good. Get miles, really good miles per gallon on the highway. And they're. Yeah, they're not exciting. So if you don't need an exciting vehicle, Crosstrek is a great choice. It's funny that your mom love. Loves it because my aunt has an Outback and loves it and her daughter, like, it's. Everyone I know who owns a Subaru right now is not a car enthusiast.

[A]

Yeah, and my mom's like, down here in South Carolina, my mom's like, best friend has a Forester and she fucking loves it. You know, my dad, by the way, I don't know if I mentioned it because last time I was down here my dad was. My dad bought this Highlander like a 2017 Highlander as like a kick around car. And there's nothing wrong with the Highlands Highlander, it's a fine car. But it was like it's the most whatever car. Like it's just, it's a nut. There's a nothing with nothing car. It's just, it's. You'd rent one for a weekend. Like if you give a. About anything, you're not buying a Highlander. But like he bought this thing and he had it from, he bought it, he bought it like used. He was like ah, it was a good deal, whatever, fine. So he got over it and he bought a, a Lexus TX500H F Sport, which is a real mouthful but, but he really likes it and I drove it yesterday and I kind of like it. I kind of like it too actually. It's not bad. It, it has like really supportive, nice seats that are very adjustable and it has really great big vertically big door like, like if you're a tall man you can just slip, slip right into this thing, no problemo and just you know, for run into the golf course and puttering around. It's a non plug in hybrid so he never, my, my dad never has to plug it in, deal with that because this is a, this is, you know, he's only here half the time so the thing kind of, kind of will sit for half the year. But yeah, the, the. Not a bad car. I think it's a good choice for the old man. He got it in like a battleship gray with black wheels. Not bad.

[B]

This, this does seem like the an in between, you know, Cayenne and Highlander. Right?

[A]

Well this is like the Lexus Highlander by the way. It's on that platform but it's right.

[B]

Much more, a little more upscale.

[A]

It's upscale, it's much roomier. The way the layout of the car is it has much more leg room in both the front. It has captain's chairs in the second row. So yeah, it's, it's pretty sweet actually. Like I kind of, I'm kind of into it. Like I again wouldn't buy one and I don't need to make a video of one. But for my 73 year old father to drive to the golf course without like wrecking his back. Pretty good. Pretty good, yeah.

[B]

So this is the layout he has, right?

[A]

Captain's chairs. Yeah, yeah, Captain chairs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Pretty Nice. The old man. The old man is. He's upgraded the vehicle, but he didn't. He, he likes the Panamera, but when I, I took him to the car show and it Today, I went 3/4 throttle for about 5 seconds and he did the. Oh, you know, one of those. He did one of those. One of those. He's not, he's not about that. And he doesn't like how small the door openings are in the Panamera, which actually that's a valid criticism if you're old and tall and have a bad back. Big door openings are important. Vertically big, definitely.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right. Up your ass in gasoline. Back to the question says, does your ability to service a vehicle ever play into our purchasing decisions? So if a car we wanted to own landed in our lap, would we walk away based on the maintenance or buy a car and then figure it out later?

[A]

Only in a very extreme circumstance. I mean, I've had old Ferraris. If an old, you know, I mean, like, yeah, you got. It's got to be pretty up for me to run, run away from it at this point. I, I've told these. I will, I will not buy a Porsche 959. I don't care how rich I get. Like, not happening, you know, but. And I wouldn't. And I mean like, not a real world problem, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to deal with the Veyron either. Either. Like the tires, any of that. I wouldn't, I wouldn't. That's too annoying, that kind of stuff.

[B]

I think at almost any price point, what really would matter to me is my access to service or parts. Like, you know, we live in SoCal where you can get an old Ferrari rebuilt by like five different respected people, you know, people from Iowa send their cars here. But if you live somewhere where you're not near, like if you buy a Lotus or a Caterham or, you know, something even that's not expensive and there's no one near you that knows how to work on it. You know, if you buy a fucking Camaro in Italy, I don't know, it just. That's what I would think of. It's what's my how. What's my access to either the parts, I. E. Lotus or service. Some sort of mechanic.

[A]

Totally true. I had that hummer for three, three or four months in 06. And it actually wasn't that the car itself was such a piece of it was that it had. I experienced a very known problem among H1 hummers. There was A absolutely dead to nuts reliable known fix for it. And I couldn't find anybody to work on that car. And even, even at the time, Hummer was still an active brand with the H2 and H3 and they wouldn't work on H1s, which was crazy. That's not fair. The dealer, I was like, are you for real? I was like, are you aware this is your top of the line product?

[B]

Jeez, that's, that's.

[A]

And they said, they said we don't have a diesel tech on site. Is that possible? You're a Hummer dealer? Yo. Well, you know, we don't really sell a lot of H1s. Jesus Christ, man.

[B]

Yeah, they have, they have 15 techs that can work on the six two though.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Rolex Lt chariot. Sorry, Rolex Lt lariat. King Ranch. That's someone's name. Do we have thoughts on the upcoming Ram electric pickup that has a 3.6 V6 ICE engine that's just a generator. Do we think this is the future of plug in hybrids where, you know, it's just a range extender, but the engine doesn't provide any of the actual thrust?

[A]

I think it's a very interesting concept that I really look forward to trying out. I mean, people have been talking about a gas, a range extended EV for a long time that, you know, and, and it's, it's actually like every time I bring home a plug in hybrid, my wife goes, well, why isn't this the other way? And I go, what do you mean? She goes, you get 50 miles of electric and then 200 miles of gas. She goes, why don't I get 200 miles of electric and then 50 miles of gas to be sure that I can get to the next thing no matter what. And I go, well, the energy math doesn't really work like that. I don't think otherwise they would. Right?

[B]

Well, yeah, I mean otherwise if, if they're installing a generator system, you know, the larger electric range is just based on battery size. So you know, the company can save money and save you some money by shrinking the battery size and giving you something very close to what you.

[A]

Right. If you have to have a full size battery pack and some kind of combustion engine, the, the entire plug in hybrid premise is based on a smaller battery pack that then makes room and for the packaging and weight of the combustion engine. There is, I mean, there is going to be a balance, right? Like if you, if you just like keep shrinking the ICE engine, you know, and slowly ratchet up the battery eventually you get to a pretty small engine that's able, able to generate enough juice to recharge this battery virtually indefinitely. I think Mazda in the last like two days while I've been here showed a rotary powered concept where the rotary engine, which makes so much sense, you don't need any torque. The thing's just got to spin as smooth as it possibly can. Right. So yeah, I, I'm, I mean in, in, in concept this seems like a good idea. I hope that in practice it works that well.

[B]

Yeah, I agree. Sam H says he saw a Raptor with U Haul rental decals on it and thought it'd be funny to have a short term rally or something that had a decal system. So what would our meme wrap or customization be for a rally car?

[A]

I 100% thought about this already. I would be a fucking sprinter. Full luxury inside, like captain's chairs, fucking ripping blunts, chilling. The outside would be a FedEx, just delivery van. Just those blanked out. Yeah, park that wherever you want, just with the hazards on like.

[B]

Yeah, that's very smart. There's a guy I watched, he's a British dude that builds, you know, fancy camping vans, but his whole move right now is building stealth ones. So it's like white, white Ford Transit with fake plumbing, business livery and like he puts a ladder, he puts a ladder on it just so he can hide the solar panels. And then in the back it's, it's pretty luxurious. It's very cool.

[A]

Yeah, because he's probably parking these shits on the street, right. And getting broken into or whatever. Right?

[B]

Yeah. And I think where he is, it's harder to like, the rules about where you can park your camper to sleep for the night are strict. So he goes, well, here's a way you can just park pretty much wherever you want and hopefully no one's going to camper. It's not a camper. Yeah, exactly.

[A]

I love it. And I bet you, I bet you people, people, if you're in a work truck, I bet people are nicer to you on the highway than if you're in a kitted out sprinter.

[B]

I don't know, I've never felt any sort of, I've never felt animosity towards either van. It's just like, how are they driving?

[A]

So I haven't felt animosity either. But I find when I drive different cars that people treat me differently. Sure. When I was rolling that bench. Bentega last week. Review up on Instagram right now. Bentega speed. Very lovely vehicle. People treated me like I was a piece of and wouldn't let me merge anywhere.

[B]

It's funny what one downside of the stealth van move is with what he did. He didn't have side windows you could open because, you know, it's like, it's what. It's all white. It's supposed to be a panel van. So you. Your breathability, you might suffer or, you know, you gotta really have some open.

[A]

So you could. You gotta do what they do on the buses where they do the dot, the dots. Right. Where on the outside it looks like graphics, but from the inside, like light goes through, you know.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good idea.

[A]

So you would get a van that has windows, but then do graphic on the windows so you couldn't really see in, you know, that'd be.

[B]

Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Yeah. All right. I don't know whether I'm the boxer or the Jag. Asks if we could go back.

[A]

Very good.

[B]

Yeah. If we could go back and remake any of our past automotive adventures for the modern day, such as all cars go to heaven, be first to get a ticket, or guy taking his tree stump for a walk with a logging chain, how would we remake it differently for the modern era?

[A]

I would have chased down the logging guy 100. I would have chased that guy down and confronted him on video.

[B]

If I knew the new way.

[A]

Yeah. If I knew what that would have been, I would have chased that down for sure. Yeah.

[B]

Because you don't want to leave unanswered questions. You know, the audience is like, what? What's the story? And now you go, hey, man. Hey, man. Where'd you get this log? What do you do for me, man?

[A]

What do you. Where can I get some of the meth you're doing? Because obviously.

[B]

Yeah, that's a no brainer. That's a no brainer.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right. Zach Clapmansory says thoughts on. That's pretty funny.

[A]

That's really funny.

[B]

God, their cars. Yeah.

[A]

Very good.

[B]

Certainly a thing. Thoughts on swapping his gator strap out for a steel bracelet bracelet on his IWC portuguessr40 to give it a little more daily usability because the leather feels too dressy.

[A]

Sure. I hate alligator. Unless you're wearing suits every day, I think it does not look good. So I think you have a lot of options. IWC makes a metal bracelet for that watch. You can buy that. There is a variety of rubber straps you could get that give you a more sporty look that are cool. You can also get Leather. Leather straps that aren't alligator, that are more smooth, that look a little better casual. You could also get stuff like sailcloth. Sailcloth is a really good one because it matches the aesthetic of a leather from a distance, but up close, it's a little sportier. And you can do fun colors and stuff. If you want to do a splash of fun, you could do a bright, bold color with a sailcloth strap. So, yeah, if you want to go bracelet, go bracelet. Just make sure if you go bracelet that the end links match. You don't want just a, you know, a bar across. It's got to be flush. Like, if I can show, like, with the case, the end link bit on a metal bracelet. Like, if I took this bracelet off, you know, and just put a strap here, you'd have a little gap. Right. So that's fine with a strap. That's like how straps work. But if you buy an aftermarket metal bracelet, you don't then want to have a gap there. That's janky. So. Yeah, but I'm. I'm pro ditching gator. Gator sucks if you're not, like, 70.

[B]

It definitely seems like something from a bygone era. Trace common. I. Yeah. I don't know. It's commas, not trace.

[A]

Seashells. I like that very much.

[B]

Trace commas, not seashells says if you can snap your fingers and remove one car feature from existence forever, what is it?

[A]

Haptic buttons.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

There we go.

[B]

They've come and gone in, what, 10 years? Like, they're pretty much leaving. And that tells you. You something.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Billy Idling says, Matt, will you be test driving the new Vespa 300?

[A]

There's a new Vespa 300? Is there? I don't know, but that.

[B]

Your intrigue was great.

[A]

Is there. If there really is a new Vespa 300, it is on the very top of my priority list. I put. I'm writing it down right now.

[B]

There's something called the Vespa GTS.

[A]

I have a Vespa GTS.

[B]

All right. Is this.

[A]

Mine is a GTS Super 300. Is there a new one? Oh, well, this. This is a slightly updated. This looks a little bit different from mine. The. The wheels are slightly different, that's all. And there's new colors. I don't see anything else different. Go. Go down. Is that a new.

[B]

Got a lot of vents on it. I don't think yours had as many fins.

[A]

Yeah, no, mine does. Right. The ones on the up. Right there.

[B]

Yeah. This thing. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

That's. That's for the radiator. The. The three hundreds. Water cooled. Those are radiator vents. Other. Honestly, dude, other than the wheels and a couple of these colors, this looks just like mine. Oh, it's 310.

[B]

No, no. 310. 310.

[A]

Oh. So mine was a 300 and now there's a 310.

[B]

10 more ccs.

[A]

It's 10 more. How much can you. Can you find? Look at the tech specs and see how much power the 10cc's gives you. Oh, don't download a brochure.

[B]

Just.

[A]

Yeah, click on it. Click on one and. And see if there's a technical specifications we must know. High performance down. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

310Cc.

[A]

310Cc. It doesn't say.

[B]

It does not.

[A]

Key. Oh, it's got keyless ignition and remote start. Now. I love that.

[B]

There we go.

[A]

Wait, go back. Oh, there we go. Okay, here we go. Max power. 25 horsepower.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

I'm. Dude, I'm pretty sure mine makes 26 horsepower. Oh, you know what this is, dude? This is running to standstill. Look. Look at the very bottom of this sheet. €5 plus. This is. This is the 991.2 GT3. For scooters, they've added 10cc in order to give you the same horsepower as the old one with better emissions.

[B]

Right. So this has.

[A]

I think.

[B]

I think this looks like. Do you know your CO2 emission certificate offhand?

[A]

Nope, absolutely not. But I'm. I'm. I. Based on what I'm reading here, I'm pretty sure those 10cc's are to offset a emissions control system that takes away horsepower. What.

[B]

What year is your Vespa?

[A]

2020. And it's a G. Yeah. GTS 300. We're really investigative journalism, I think. I think mine makes 26 horsepower, though.

[B]

I just was MIP.

[A]

No, is that right?

[B]

Yours makes Go away.

[A]

Engine go down there. Single cylinder. Oh, wait. There it is. Horsepower. 23.8. Oh, I'm off. I apologize. 23.8.

[B]

So the new one makes 1.2 more.

[A]

All right, well, look, I stand correct. Did about my. About my running to stand still. 1.2 horsepower is, in fact, more. That is correct. Okay, well, look, now I. I have to feel this power increase. We. We must.

[B]

You should try the new one. What if it's totally different?

[A]

What if it's totally different?

[B]

It's gonna feel totally different.

[A]

Look, now I know. And now I'm writing it down. Vespa 310 press loan. All right.

[B]

Lucid gravity bong says they have an Ionic 5 and their lease runs out soon. They're considering the 6N as a fun commuter to add to their Ionic 9 for family. Are there any other EV sedans worth a comparison? New or used? 75, 000 max or they need to be CEO. CPO.

[A]

Yeah, Maki rally. You know, Marco just bought one.

[B]

Yep. He says he likes it a lot.

[A]

Yeah, Maki Rallies, dude. Marco just. Our boy just got one. 36 months low down payment, 550amonth. That's where you want to be. That's money.

[B]

Those are a good time. Avant to go fast. I love that name. Avant to go fast. Considering replacing the wife's and family hauler. It's a 2013 Q7 TDI. It's mechanically sound. Yeah, mechanically sound. Dated interior, I think. So this person is concerned about the complexity of longer term and longer term reliability. With most newer cars, is there concern overblown or is there stuff a sweet spot that balances core features without excess? They probably want to stick with an Audi or Volkswagen. They say.

[A]

I mean look, car. The average age of cars on the road is going up, you know, so the complexity of the cars isn't necessarily making them not work for as long as they need to work, I think. But yeah, okay, So I mean Q7 TDI was an awesome car actually. Other, I mean, other than the emissions cheating. I mean that, that's obviously bad. But as a car, it was a great car. My mom had one. So is the question. The question is, is the question just about the cons, the concerns about the tech, or was there actually a recommendation or a suggestion in there should they.

[B]

Be concerned about, you know. Yeah. What would, what would we recommend assuming that the concern about reliability is overblown if in a new. I mean, if you're an audi, Volkswagen.

[A]

New Q7 is fine. Like a new Q7 is pretty nice. 3.0T proven motor. Oh yeah.

[B]

I'm sorry, I'm just thinking I, I would say this person I'd, I would go look up like, you know, we need to know your budget. So you should take your budget and go look at forums or consumer reports for the a, the year of car you're tempted to get. Like if you want to get a 20, 22q7, you know, we always drive the brand new ones. So you. That will tell you if the new fancy screens and stuff are having problems or not. I would definitely look, look that up first. I have anecdotal, but my friend had a Brand new company car. It was an S5, this is two years ago and it went back to the shop twice I think for screen problems. And you know, Audi has a lot of screens controlling a lot of the stuff in their vehicles. So I would look at, do some research.

[A]

Cpo Cayenne hybrids too. Cayenne hybrids are rad. They're really nice. I would look at CPO those because you can get, you can get our boy John Harper, who's a photographer, who I've worked with a bunch for magazine stuff and for all kinds of stuff. He just got like a shockingly old cayenne hybrid on CPO. I want to say it was like a 17 or an 18 and he got it on CPO from a dealer. Like that's wild. And so if you can find a 2020-2023 Cayenne Hybrid like the one my dad has, it kicks ass. It's great.

[B]

This username is not AI generated. Says my wife just passed a major milestone in her career and she wants a watch. Neither of us know anything about watches. We are looking in the ten thousand dollar price range. The first brand that came to mind was Rolex, but all of her friends say Cartier. Are there any women brand watches you'd recommend looking into?

[A]

All women love Cartier. It's just a, just a rule of life, death, taxes and all women love Cartier. So I am not surprised that the two big answers are Rolex and Cartier. Rolex is if you want to buy a watch, if you got 10 grand, you're going to do what essentially my mother did, which is my mother got a nice Rolex lady datejust. It's steel but it's got diamonds on the, on the, on the indices. It's not insane but it's lovely. She got it in 1996. She's going to wear it every day until the day she does. That's what that watch is for. You get a Rolex datejust and it's the last watch you fucking buy until your death. If that's. If you're not a watch person and you want a great watch for every outfit for the rest of your life, get a datejust couple little diamonds on there, done or you go Cartier. Cartier is not an everyday watch for most people because of leather straps, you can't get it wet, things like that. But all ladies love Cartier. So this is a celebration, it's a vibe, you know. Do you want a special occasion watch that's a little fancier, maybe a leather strap, maybe it's made of gold. Or do you want something that is going to be. I'm going to put this on for every activity I do for the next 40 years. So there's your choice. I mean outside of that, you know the standards you're looking at. Well for women you might be looking at Bulgari or Bulgari depending on how you pronounce it. Really some interesting ladies focused watches over at Bulgari. There are a couple of really cool IWC's that are in smaller diameters for women if she wants more of like a tool type watch. Or you could go vintage if you really want to be hardcore. But my guess is you do not. Yeah, I think you're on the right track though.

[B]

Cool. Big Ben says I'm thinking of swapping my F80 for one of the hot small crossovers considering pre owned x3m but parentheses with softer springs, a Macan GTS or the wild card is lease and Ionic 5N home charger is not a problem. How do we feel these cars compare from my debt from a dynamic or driving enjoyment standpoint, very interesting.

[A]

What do you think?

[B]

I think well the x3m is I think the most, the stiffest and the most exciting. But if you soften the springs it'll ride better. But in my opinion then you're kind of landing on Macan gts. I think the Macan has better steering feel and I like the ratio of it better. I like the shape of the steering wheel better. I think the BMWs have that thick, you know, like Lego man handhold. Yeah, it's a Lego grip man. It's like a. It's a really thick rimmed wheel and the 5N is fun. Interesting. I. I kind of got bored of the soundscape pretty quickly. The lower center of gravity is nice, but it's also. It's a really big car. I don't know. I'll look up what the measurements are. When you talk, I'll look it up. I'm not sure how it compares the Macan gts but the Ionic when I stand next to it seems like a larger vehicle than it's.

[A]

The exterior dimensions are similar but it's not as tall. It's a little bit lower but the. The length and width are similar to a Macan but it's not quite as tall. I would probably rather have a Macan GTS with a CPO than a BMW X3M. Personally, even though the X3M is faster, I don't really care most of the time. Ioniq5n is the right car if you want it to be a regular EV most of the time, but then you have the option to turn the gimmicks and stuff on when it, it gets twisty and fun. If you turn off the sound, if you turn off the gears and you just drive it like an ev. It's a nice ev. And driving an EV every day is very refined. You, you might be a little more relaxed when you arrive at your destination because the lack of the vibrations from gas engines and transmissions and things like that. So if, if you think you might want to try, try an EV but not give up the dynamics of a fun crossover. That's what the ionic is for. But if you want, you know, gas, I would go macan.

[B]

You also have more versatility with a macan because you could, you could road trip it to anywhere more easily than you could the, the 5N.

[A]

If that's A, if that's a thought, you could marginally. My mom, by the way, is I, I've had this conversation with my mom. I think I dare. I told my mom because she just doesn't. I, I've told her about the charge network and she's like, I just, I wouldn't, I go, mom, you drive like 40 miles a day. Like you could, you, you, you don't. You barely use the battery in your hybrid. Like you could have an ev. And she's like, but, but what if, but what if. And I go, I, I go, you, this isn't a, a thing. I go, it would be, it's one thing if you didn't have a home charger and you had to find public charging in Greenwich, Connecticut twice a week, you know, in order to make it to your job in the city. Right? But if you're talking about charging at your house every day and road trip, I'm 70 something mother, you know, the idea that she's going on a road trip is ridiculous. And even so I said, I said, I said, I. Along all the interstates, every Walmart has a bank of high speed chargers. They're all over the place on the interstates. And she's like, I just, I just don't trust it. And I'm like, mom, I'm going to force you to do like a three day EV road trip with me just to prove to you that your fears are not real. And like they're, they're just not. Like, people do this every fucking day. It's not a big deal.

[B]

Well, there's a, there's a small learning curve to it that's got, there's a small learning curve. I agree in the beginning like, you know, like imagining my mom going to a charger and then the charger doesn't work and she has to try three or four of them. Like that's not good for anybody. But the charging infrastructure has gotten better. The payment things don't stop as much like there's less of those issues. But it would, I think, I think it's a great idea to take her on a three day trip and just have her experience it and get her take on, you know, what it's like and maybe. And after that trip would she go, oh, this actually is not as daunting or you know, as I thought it would be.

[A]

I mean if you, if you set up plug and charge to where your car, you know, it can, can connect without you interfering to the charge network. You set up with ChargePoint, you set up with EA and, and maybe Tesla if that, you know, applies and you've got reciprocity there. If your car works with Tesla, you show up and you plug in. I mean 99% of times you show up and you plug in, you know, so, and I'm not trying to say that everybody needs to switch to ev, but I, but I'm saying that there's a lot of people that would find their day to day lives would probably be improved driving an EV and they're just afraid of what is mostly nothing. Most.

[B]

Very true, very true. Days of the new Edge Mustang. If you redid the cheap car and.

[A]

A bad band together.

[B]

If you redid the cheap car challenge like you did with Robin Vinnie, what would the price point be today?

[A]

Gotta be a thousand bucks, right? I don't know.

[B]

What was the challenge?

[A]

It might have been 500, you know, in 06. I think a thousand bucks is your, is your minimum for a running car with a license plate on it in 2025, right?

[B]

Yeah, probably do the Mitsubishi Evolution. Matt, you hand write your notes. How do you organize them if you ever want to go back and search for something? This person uses a remarkable tablet so they can do handwriting recognition, but then they can search for a topic if they have to go look for something. Would you ever try such a thing? Matt's shaking his head.

[A]

I flip backwards in the book until I find it. Yeah, when you, when you hand write, When I hand write stuff, if I know it's hand. If I wrote something in the book handwritten, I will remember what it looks like in the book. And when I flip to that page I will see it Right away. And it does not take that long to flip through all the pages, especially if I can connect it somehow to my calendar and I know roughly what date the thing happened on or about, and then I can find it easily in the book. Yeah, but my notes don't mean to be searchable.

[B]

If I was doing it for, like, five different classes in college, like using the one notebook for chemistry writing data, like, then I understand the benefit of search function, but, you know, yours is. Is day by day.

[A]

My notebook is largely just to do lists. Lists of things to talk about on whatever podcast we're doing that day topic lists for. It's. It's all lists of stuff. And so 95% of the time when I turn the page and start a new page, I'm pretty much done with whatever is on the previous page. Most of the time, it's only once or twice a year in here. Need to go back and look for something in a notebook from. From back in before.

[B]

Plymouth Jewish space laser. Did anything happen? Trying to have Jesse Singer on this person read. There are no accidents. And it was a great book. Did we ever.

[A]

Oh, Jesse Singer. Jesse Singer. I got a circle back with Jesse. I think she was, like, about to have a baby when I contacted her and she said, like, oh, you know, it was. It was like, like maternity leave kind of thing. And she was like, can you circle back? And we tried a couple times and it didn't work. I will try again. Jesse Sing.

[B]

This name's great.

[A]

All right.

[B]

Faraday's front mount Dumbotron.

[A]

That's pretty good.

[B]

That, that car.

[A]

They put a screen on the front.

[B]

On the front of a minivan. I mean, just, just, just tell us you're laundering money. It's just, it's not really illegal anymore. So just, just, just say it. If you could make changes to any affordable car, let's say under 40 grand, what car would it be and what changes would you make? Like, this person would want to make a Kona n. A WRX competitor. So, you know, we want to take an affordable car and change it somehow to make it a new thing.

[A]

I would want to take the John Cooper Works Mini and turn it into the John Cooper works mini from 20 years ago.

[B]

Yeah. Make it smaller and more fun.

[A]

Smaller, faster, better steering, more engaging, fully disabled traction control, manual transmission. Mission. It has to go. Yeah, that's. That's pretty much it. I would go. I would get rid of, like, almost all the screens and BMWs.

[B]

Like, I would put a turbocharger on the BRZ that's a good one.

[A]

Yeah, that's a good one.

[B]

I would, yeah, I would do that.

[A]

Yeah. Just like the regular ass WRX motor would do it. Pretty much. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Front wheel drive nsx. How much time do you have left? We have.

[A]

I have six minutes and then I have to go to dinner.

[B]

Great. Front wheel drive nsx. It's a watch question. They're looking at Sheffield watches. The prices are cheap. That's a good thing. They are. They work in a restaurant and they're wondering, sorry, they work in restaurant equipment repair. Will this watch hold up to their job? Most of the forums about reliability are from office worker types.

[A]

Yeah, dude, I am not qualified to answer. If you can abuse this watch in a, you know, smashing it into stuff. I know that for the price point. These are quality watches. Have I torture tested one? I, I genuinely couldn't tell you. I'm sorry. You know.

[B]

Type R negative.

[A]

That's pretty funny.

[B]

What enthusiast cars could keep would we keep for 50 years while minimizing risk of part availability issues? Something besides 9 11s, I think a lot of Japanese enthusiast cars, I think those companies will be. Toyota and Honda are gonna be around for a long time and I think they're, I think they're recognizing the importance of their classic sports cars and they'll probably keep some sort of parts supply and yeah, BMW. I mean I think, I think the old Euro cars have huge support network. Sure.

[A]

You've never been able to not get a part for a Ferrari. I mean for any Ferrari, it's not exactly a car of the people. But if you buy a 80s or 90s Ferrari for, you know, reasonable money, you will not have a problem finding parts. They might be expensive if you want them from Ferrari but, but, but they're gonna be around.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This might be a little sketchy. Aston Martin maybe, you know, got you get a, a DB7 or something or a, or a Vanquish. It may be tough to early vanquish. May be tough to find parts for certainly lamb some Lambos like you can. If you got into a Lambo Yalpa, you know, you get into one of those for 100, 120 grand, very rare Lambo. You get into any concourse you enter but yikes. Trying to find parts for that man, that would be tough. Corvettes, you'll be fine. You know, you've always been able to get anything for a core for any Corvette.

[B]

Old Rusty Beamer wants to go Back to your BMW R2D2 review the.

[A]

What is that?

[B]

No, you drove that motorcycle that it was like the RD TW O9 or whatever it was called.

[A]

Oh, R9T.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

R9T. Yeah.

[B]

So originally this is what they say. Originally you described the drivetrain as clunky. Then a listener pointed out that the drivetrain is from an older model. So the clunky is intentional. You then said, it's not clunky, it's cool. This person says, can you explain this reasoning of change? Are we all dumb monkeys? And there's a reason designers and engineers don't listen to us. Not sure I understand the second part, but, like, I don't. It is. My takeaway is, you know, if the drivetrain is clunky when you see it as a brand new technology, but if it's an old technology, you go, actually, that's not a bad thing. It's kind of cool because it's, you know, vintage and. And tough.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, let me just say that it's not for me, but if you are into BMW's heritage and you wanted something that felt a little older, I guess, but was still a brand new bike, you could get one of these things. I'm not really sure what the question is implying. And although it seems I said that the clunky shifter was maybe cool in the context of this being a retro style bike, I did not think that made it more desirable to ride or own for me personally.

[B]

Just the tip. Troni says. What do we think of the walls that have been placed around Streets of Willow? I've seen some close call videos that look like minor mistakes that could be punished heavily. A lost Sonoma. So, so we've had, We've had you and I've had people ask about this regarding motorcyclists riding in Streets of Willow. So what is your, what is your take?

[A]

Well, so they've added walls, but they've also added paved runoff. And in the areas where they haven't had paved runoff, they've added graded runoff. So if you go off, you're not like going into a ravine anymore or hitting like boulders. So that's like a major, major improvement if you go off with enough speed and force to then go through those runoffs and hit the wall. I'm fairly certain that that might be better than the alternative, which is, I don't know, just driving out and ending up out in the desert or maybe catching an edge in a ravine and rolling. I don't think the walls at Streets of Willow are in any places that would punish you for going off more so than you would have been punished off Going off before where the undercarriage of your car would have been absolutely wrecked. Having said that, I have not driven any high speed laps of this track yet. So I'd love to go out there in the next month and poke around and run some laps and come back with some, some thoughts on that from a real driver's perspective, which I don't have yet.

[B]

Okay. And the last one, Matt and the giant Porsche. That's, that's so funny.

[A]

Oh, like, yeah, cute.

[B]

Like James and the giant peach. I recently became obsessed with the idea of getting a996 GT3. Have either, either of us ever driven one? And if so, what are our impressions? This is not a value investment play, so don't think about that part.

[A]

Not only have I driven one, there's a video of it on the channel. You can go see it. I drove it back to back with five other GT3 and RS products at the Porsche Experience center five or six years ago. 996 GT3s are raw. Really raw. They ride stiff, they're fucking loud. They really do feel like motorsport grade products, but they are much raw and more aggressive than they look like they are. They're cool. They are very cool in their own way. I, after driving one, it's crossed off my list of a desire to own. I would rather have a 997 GT3. I know they're a lot more expensive, but the, the 996 was a little too aggressive for me.

[B]

Yeah, I drove, I drove a GT3 and a GT3 RS and I was very surprised how a car that was 25 years old, I was like, this is really stiff for, for all the, compared to the other cars of the era, I would.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow. This is locked down. The steering, Steering's kind of heavy. I don't like the interior very much. Yeah, you know, it was a cool way to get in the club, but yeah, I agree.

[A]

And Marco, our friend who had one, sold it and bought a cup car. He was like, wow, I might as well just go all the way at this point, you know? Yeah. All right, well, those are some great questions from our patrons. Thank you guys for your patience as we podcast from opposite sides of the country today. The next time you hear us, we'll be back in the studio. I appreciate all the patrons for having such good questions today and I appreciate everyone who listens to the show with the ads. But just as a reminder, anyone who is a patron at any level is, at least financially Speaking, at least 1000x more valuable than if you. That's a math problem, not an emotional one than if you just listen to the ads. So we appreciate you all, but we appreciate the patrons most of all. Thank you very much, Zach. I'll see you in six days back on the West Coast.

[B]

Yeah.