
Can an old Mustang be made new again? For a lot of money, yes. But is it worth it? Matt Farah and Zack Klapman review the new (but also sort of old) and very expensive Revology Mustang GT; test drive the 2025 GR Corolla Automatic (and tell you about the differences with this year's car); Matt discovered what part of his old Bentley was leaking onto the driveway; and we answer Patreon questions including: What's the grossest thing we've done in someone else's car 981 vs 982 Cayman S differences What is our dream "Whistlin' Diesel-style durability" test? Should automotive CEOs drive the competition? What else would you buy for the GT3's $250k budget? Will rolling back EV credits help Detroit? Is car shopping for other people frustrating? Why aren't more people 3D printing? Will the electric G Wagen depreciate like other EVs? Why isn't the Lamborghini Aventador a halo car like the Miura or Ferrari F40? And more! Recorded November 7, 2024...
Loading summary
A
John Spartan 442 if you could durability test any vehicle whistlin diesel style, what would you choose and how would you test? Considering a 981 or 982 Cayman as a weekend car, what are the main differences in driving experiences between these car? Have you. What have you in someone's car that wasn't yours?
B
Oh yeah.
A
Okay, so that.
B
So that's pretty grossing.
A
I think boning in someone else's car is kind of gross.
B
Oh, okay.
A
Kind of.
B
What about just outside their focus RS really?
A
What's up everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire podcast. Today's episode is as always brought to you by off the record. We love off the Record. I hope I don't need off the Record while I'm. While you're hearing this show, I'm off on a road and track event in a 740 horsepower Bentley and my friend just asked me today, how do you drive this car without going to jail? I said it's a two tiered strategy. One I have my Valentine one going, I have Waze going. And then if that, if that technology collaboration fails me, I have off the record. I've got the app on my phone. You get the app on your phone, download it, use code TSTPOD when you set up an account or go to offtherecord.com TST and they will set you up. If you get a ticket, all you gotta do is snap a photo of that ticket, snap a scan of that ticket, send it to off the record. They will connect you with a qualified attorney that will fight that ticket in the jurisdiction where you got pulled over. They are lifesavers, folks. You're even when you're on the side of the road and the cop is writing that ticket, normally you're mad stressed. Off the Record keeps you calm because you know you've got someone in your corner. It's like, don't even worry about it. They're going to handle it. Download the app, use code TSTPOD. TSTPOD 10% off all legal services booked through off the Record. Same if you use that link offtherecord.com TST we love them. Get it in your phone so you have it. If you get sniped on the side of the road, off the Record will go to work for you. All right. On this episode of the podcast, we tried to drive the $300,000 Revology Mustang up the mountain. It didn't go so well. But we tell you about the car anyway. Pl we drove the new GR Corolla with the automatic 8 speed transmission. I have an update on what went wrong with my Bentley Turbo R. We had to ship many Lamborghini parts to Italy for my engine and a whole lot more. It's the Smoking Tire podcast with me and Zach. Let's go. And if you love the show, please give us a rating or a review. It helps us grow. Had a nice session with my therapist this morning. As one does and need to, like, not see certain aspects of life as successes and failures and see them like. I think smoking indica weed has improved my anxiety, actually. But I still see it as a moral failure for some reason. Not because of, like, how society thinks, but just because of how people were all good for you when you say you stop doing it, you know.
B
Yeah, but I think they're supportive of you making changes. You want to make sure that's you make a conscious choice to change. Like, actually, I like India because it does this and this and this. And I'm not slipping into the old habit. People go, oh, okay, yeah, you know.
A
That'S pretty much where it stops.
B
Yeah, that'll be $500.
A
I'll tell you what, if you go to Snoop Dogg's weed store and you're like, I'd like some low strength indica, they look at you like you are an alien.
B
Yeah. They're like, do you know who we are? Do you know who we represent?
A
Snoop Dogg's store, sir. We only sell weed that is like a half a point beneath meth or oxy.
B
I mean, they managed to squeeze 150% of THC into something. They have scientists working on this.
A
Yeah, yeah. So, but yeah, Tuesday I smoked or Wednesday I smoked all the weed. I smoked eight mini joints on Wednesday.
B
And I haven't slept very well. But yeah, tomorrow I have a marijuana plan for my evening. I'm very excited about it.
A
You have a plan?
B
Yeah.
A
What kind of plan?
B
I'm gonna eat edibles and go bouldering.
A
That sounds dangerous. Is it?
B
No, no, no.
A
Okay. Like real bouldering or indoor bouldering?
B
Oh, indoor, where they have mattresses. Oh, yeah.
A
Okay, cool.
B
Outdoor bouldering scares me. I know a lot of people do it, but you could die. How many mattresses? Like, I mean, there's pads, but, like, you can only carry so many.
A
Yeah, yeah.
B
And that's not enough. Whatever. Whatever you carry is not enough. I've watched videos people trying to land and catch their friends and stuff. And I'm just. I'm going to say it. I'm too old for that particular risk.
A
Why? While we were a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about riding dirt bikes or going to do, and I had a few people email me like, dude, you should do it. Be great. And I had one person that was like, I tried that when I was 45 and I broke my spine. I was like, yep, that's the one bit of, that's the bit of info I need to not do that.
B
I told Sarah about that school and she's like, I would do that. I went, really? But I have the same fear as you. I go, but what if you fall?
A
But like, walking is so nice. I really want to be able to keep doing that.
B
Yeah, I like the activities I can do now.
A
But yeah. The Wednesday long day. The world wasn't looking our way on Wednesday. And on top of everything else, we went to go film the Revology 1968 Mustang Resto mod and the GR Corolla with the automatic. And we got to the hill. I thought it was 50 mile an hour winds. As it turns out, the winds were more like 70 or 80 miles an hour.
B
There were gusts. Weather service measured gusts in some valleys. 70 to 80 miles per hour. Yeah.
A
Which I think I felt a couple of times.
B
I don't know how to measure. I just know that, I mean, it was, it was aggressive. Big rocks, big pebbles were getting flung around. And you were rightly concerned.
A
Oh, it was an enormous risk to the car. Yeah, yeah, it was a huge risk to the car. And if it was, I mean, I'm not. If it was like a production car, like if it was just the Corolla we were filming, like, I still wouldn't have probably stayed up there. But, but this is a $300,000 car made by a very small company. They don't have a whole lot of cars, you know, and so unfortunately that meant like, I left my house at like 6am, 6:15am, drove all the way up there, you know, and, and, and, and then we didn't, we didn't get to film and drove and just turned around and drove home. It was two. So I was in the car for like four and a half hours for almost nothing.
B
We did a lot of work to get no work done.
A
To get no work done, no money made, no work done. Possibly, I mean, it didn't, but possibly this very expensive car could get fucked.
B
Yeah, it looked okay when I looked at it.
A
It's fine. But if we stayed up there for fucking two minutes longer.
B
Well, and the other risk, when I went exploring the rest of the road in the GR to See if there was a quieter, less windy area. The debris on the road. I mean, do you remember we were sitting in traffic coming down because there's so much traffic. And I looked to my left and a tumbleweed was rolling faster than we were.
A
Yeah.
B
And it was the size of a full bunch of bananas. Like a three foot long conical shaped tumbleweed.
A
Yeah.
B
There were mad plans for getting ripped out of the ground. There were big rocks.
A
It was just when the wind comes across those dirt turnouts that we use to make u turn stuff. It was strong enough that it was. It was gravel cannoning.
B
Yeah.
A
You know cars.
B
Yeah.
A
And it was. It was fucking dangerous. Honestly, you don't. You're not necessarily dangerous to be a human up there, but like your car is not coming out of that if you stick around.
B
Yeah.
A
That happened with the nsx. Remember like last year, did you have.
B
To do paint correction afterwards?
A
No, because it was the first drive after I had the paint protection film put on.
B
Oh, it was protected.
A
Yeah. The PPF did its job and I got a couple of. A couple nicks in the ppf.
B
Yeah.
A
And a couple of nicks in my driver's side wheels and a couple little nicks on the windshield. But the PPF probably saved me $50,000. I would have had to repaint the.
B
Whole car if it was chipping wheels. That's a lot. Yeah, that's fast.
A
Yeah, it was fucked up. Yeah, it was really bad. But so anyway. But we both got some seat time in this car.
B
Well, dude, I had a great time in this car.
A
Did you?
B
Because yesterday was the anniversary of when I proposed to Sarah and her favorite car in the world are fastback Mustangs. So I went home and I just said, come outside. And she's like, what's going on? I was like, just, I'm going to take you for in the car. And I could tell she didn't really care.
A
Yeah.
B
She told me later, she's like, if you had said it was any other brand, I would have been like, she likes cars, but she's not going to like interrupt her day. But she walked outside and was like, she was fucking stoked.
A
No, that's.
B
So we drove to Manhattan beach, had lunch.
A
Nice.
B
Drove around, hit the big tunnel on the 105. And I mean, you know, from 105 to the 405 North, I mean, that's the longest tunnel around us.
A
It's a good tunnel.
B
And it was great. Yeah, it's great.
A
The car. See, what I like about this car is it doesn't Feel too new.
B
Right. Like, it does a great job at being muscle car theater, but feeling like. Feeling like old muscle car. It's missing some small elements, but, man, it's 85, 90% of the way there. And I. And it's much quieter inside on the highway than I was expecting. I mean, it's fine. It's really not. Wind noise isn't a big deal. Road noise isn't a big deal. The stuff all works like the Apple CarPlay Wireless works really well. Stereo is good. Like, you could drive this across.
A
I don't love the integration of that stereo. It's just, you know, it's an aftermarket screen.
B
Doesn't look great.
A
Yeah. Like, I'm not. I don't necessarily have the answer for what to do about that. I. You know, you can't. I mean, maybe they could. Maybe they could hide it behind the wood paneling a little better just to make it just be a screen. But that and those two window switches are the only hint of, like, any kind of cheapness. And it's a pretty small complaint.
B
It is. And you were totally right. I had to roll down both windows. And that's what those switches are for. Because for people who don't know, like, the regular window cranks are electric switches, which is great. You just push them down. The window goes down really fast. But like you said, if you want to roll down your passenger window. But I would hide those switches in the center console.
A
I would.
B
For that small use case.
A
Yeah, I would, too.
B
And I think, you know, Bentley has really won the center cluster game with that rotating tri screen system, something like that, where you can just have like aux gauges and then flip around and have a double DIN pop out, like. Because I agree with you. Just having that big square in the center is really the only thing.
A
It takes you out of the moment.
B
It takes you out of the age, I think, because otherwise, you know, the H VAC controls on the left side work so good. They're digital.
A
They're the old controls, but they work well.
B
They're digital now. Yeah, the old controls would move like a rod and a cable. And these are digital, so they slide really nice. If this was in a Rolls Royce, I would be like, this is the right action.
A
Yeah, actually it would. Yeah. And the, you know, the door slam is so tight on it. The panel fitment is so good. And it's. Other than the clutch, which is both heavy and has this very high catch point, which is weird.
B
Really weird.
A
Other than that, the brakes feel great. Lots of confidence Steering is pretty good. Feels a little old school. It doesn't feel like a modern unit, but I trust it.
B
Yeah, that's the hard thing, that steering in terms of difficulty and ratio feels period correct for an old car. And I was torn when we were going down the canyon. I was leading you. I was like, ooh, would I want a quicker rack? That would be better for this activity. But then once again, on the highway, this feels more period correct.
A
Yeah.
B
That's a hard thing. Maybe you can order one or the other. I'm not sure.
A
But yeah, the H Vac worked really good. The seats are much better than the stock seats. And the ergonomics aren't bad. I actually think I'd find the ergonomics better if I had an automatic. Like it was really the ergonomics of the clutch pedal that I didn't like.
B
It sat further back. It was the furthest back. So the stair. The pedals were like stairs.
A
Yeah.
B
You know, it was like close, medium far.
A
Yeah.
B
And yeah. And then there's no dead pedal.
A
Yeah.
B
So you can put your foot behind the clutch as you tend to do with stretch your leg out.
A
Yeah.
B
But you gotta make sure that you don't need it for a while.
A
Right. And so. But all of those things, it's so like if it was too comfortable, like it's. Most people who look at it don't see a resto mod. They see a very clean, you know, period built car. They're not. And I think that's the vibe that you're going for. And I think if you wanted the pro touring car, there's people who would really are better off just buying a brand new Mustang. And this is a lot more complete than you would probably get by buying a regular 68 Mustang and. And piecemealing it yourself.
B
Yeah. You know, so people will ask like, why is this so expensive? I think if you, if you bought a regular fastback Mustang right now used it's gonna be 60 to 100 grand just because people love them. And then if you want to do a full restoration, because this thing they start like they make their own body panels. They weld them together like they make a unibody. To do that level of work is gonna cost a fuck ton of money.
A
Yeah. The man hours involved.
B
The man hours a lot is a lot. And I think what's good about this and part of what you're paying for is that this is the only thing. So it's all going to be done consistently, let's call it correct. And like there's some shops that can do anything to any car, but if it's a specialty shop that does 33 Fords and Camaros and other things like, they will have to fabricate more parts originally. They're going to have to figure more things out for this platform and that can. Can increase your cost or reduce your quality.
A
Yeah.
B
So there's like a bit of, I guess, safety that comes with getting something that's brand new like this. But of course you are paying for it. It's a lot.
A
Yeah. This is $300,000. It's very expensive. But it's. I put it in the same. And maybe it's not quite as obsessively built as an icon, but it's about as close as I've seen. If they got rid of those window switches and they better integrated the stereo, I would say that they. They'd have gotten as close as I've seen to. To icon.
B
I agree.
A
But it's, it's. It would cost you. Let's say you. Let's say you bought that 68 Mustang fastback and then began to do a rebuild, a resto mod. If you planned for it to be 120 grand by the time you were done, I could almost guarantee you it's 180 grand. You know what I mean? Like, it's going to cost 50% more than you thought it would. It's going to take 50 to 100% longer than you thought it would, and your total systems integration will not be as good as you hoped it would be.
B
Yeah.
A
Even in a best case. So like I tell. When I've told this, I told to Tom Segura, I told a bunch of people, just bite the bullet with a Bronco. Just bite the bullet and get a fucking icon. Because by the time you have whatever shop do this, you're going to be so close as makes no difference to the price of the icon. It won't be as good of a product. And you'll have. And you'll have. You won't have the brand behind it if you sell it right. You go to resale an icon, it's an icon. Go to resale a fucking whatever Bronco. It's half right.
B
Jim and Dave's hot rod shop. And I'm even. There are shops that can do amazing work. Like, that's why the Riddler Ward exists.
A
Yeah.
B
You know, there are companies that have risen to that prominence. But like you said, it's just the whole world basically knows about icon now.
A
Yeah.
B
And so it just Makes it simpler if you're going to spend that kind of money.
A
So with this, I mean, what I like about what Revology does is they have basically the same treatment that they can apply to any Mustang body style from the 1960s under license from Ford. Yeah, folks, we got to take one quick break from the action for Deleteme. I signed up for Deleteme. They hooked it up. I signed up, I put in all my information. It took me about 15 minutes to probably put in all my information on Deleteme. And man, when I tell you what they found, Deleteme is a money, money thing to have. Particularly right now. We're so online. We're buying stuff online. Our address, our phone number, our credit card information, our birthdays. We need all this stuff to bring the convenience of online shopping and online into our homes. But you can also be the product, right? These data brokers are buying your personal data and then selling it to other people. And then you end up with robocalls, spam, phishing, even identity theft. It's a big problem. But now you can protect that privacy with Deleteme. I signed up for Deleteme and it took a few days actually. I knew it wasn't gonna be like a right away thing, but a few days later they were like, they sent me an email and it said OK. I logged in and they found like 1000 instances of my name, address, phone number. I mean, for the good news, it was like, it was actually mostly old addresses and old phone numbers that I don't use anymore. But it was still out there. And they got it taken out of those data broker websites. It was like very, very easy, totally straightforward. I told them what to look for on the Internet and they found it. And then they regularly update me with more stuff. They find it's an ongoing solution. And so we've got a discount code for you. Go to joindeleteme.com tire use promo code, tire for 20% off. That's joindeleteme.com Tire use promo code, tire 20% off. Get your data off the Internet with Deleteme. It is a great thing, Help keep you private and sane. And now back to the show. Yeah, so you could do 65 coupe, 65 convertible, Shelby GT350, Shelby GT500. You could do a Bullitt thing. You could do a GT500KR convertible. And you can do manual, you can do automatic, which is a 10 speed, you know, Mustang automatic. You can do a variety of different interior materials and wheel options and whatever and it ranges. I Think the cheapest, if you go to the very, very top of the page, the cheapest, that blue 66 convertible, I think is 285,000 to start. Yeah. Which is, which comes with almost everything you'd want. There's not a ton of options other than special colors and special interior materials. The one thing I don't love is this. They're using the brand new Ford automatic transmission. Now, on the one hand, there's probably not a great way to make that look super vintage. On the other hand, they should make the effort.
B
Yeah, they should, you know. Yeah. Because it out from the outside the car, because it's dimensionally accurate to the original ones. I don't know if the size is the same, but it is. Is it the size.
A
Exactly, exactly the same.
B
Okay. So then it looks perfect and then you look in and you, when you look in, you go, oh, okay. And I remember this from when I used to go to hot rod shows when there'd be like a really nice hot rod of whatever kind, but if you looked inside and something left out as being too modern or too cheap.
A
They'D use the shifter or the seats out of a Tahoe, you know, or something. Yeah.
B
And I understand, like that's a cost saving measure. That's a comfortable seat that you know is going to be safe, but it just stood out the wrong way.
A
Yeah. They told me they're working on a different shifter mechanism for this gearbox. But. So, yeah, the cheapest is that, is that convertible 65, 66. And then I think as you get to the later the GT500s and stuff, I think the price goes up and the most you could do, I think an automatic transmission GT500 supercharged in a two tone paint scheme is like three and a quarter. That's about your range. And the black one that we were driving was 293. We're talking about huge amounts of money, huge amounts of money. But we're talking about a car that looks and mostly feels like an old muscle car, but it can literally be used in, as you demonstrated yesterday, the worst traffic jam imaginable for hours. And it's like, okay, fine.
B
I was really impressed with how usable it was. And easy because an old car might handle that traffic, but also could overheat. And there's carburetor issues. And the engine, it's a modern engine, but it delivered enough of old car sound and feel and the firing order and all that stuff that I didn't.
A
And you can still hear like the 8.8 inch rear end a bit. It's a solid axle, so it doesn't feel like you're driving a brand new car.
B
No, it's stiffer than I was expecting. But on anything except for like, you know, expansion joints here, you don't really know. And then in the canyon, it handled great.
A
Yeah, it's pretty good for the car.
B
Totally fine.
A
Yeah, it was pretty good. I would, as someone who likes the idea of a muscle car but not the reality, if I had the money, I'd be much more inclined to buy one of these than to buy either an original car or have my own built.
B
Yeah, I think. I mean, I would love to own an old car again. I just looked at. Bring a trailer for an example. A green 67 fastback is this one. $70,000 and it has 90,000 miles. I feel like you either kind of go with a certain amount of money and don't try to make the car more than it is. Keep it, period. Correct. But I think when people get into trouble is you take this and then you want to turn it into the full restomod optima street car invitational kind of capable vehicle. And that's going to cost a ton of money. And then you end up with something that like feels a bit different from the original but also cost a ton.
A
Right.
B
So.
A
Yeah, yeah. And it. You know what? This. If I lived somewhere that would had nice weather but also not a ton of traffic, I could literally daily the revology car. Like you could do that.
B
Totally.
A
And if I wanted to go on a really long road trip, I would want to take the revology car because I would trust that it would probably work properly. I don't have any long term reliability reports. Full disclosure, by the way. I forgot to say before we started this segment, but full disclosure. Revology stores their marketing cars at Westside. They do directly pay me money, although they pay me for parking and not for my opinions. So you can, if you think that devalues what we have to say. Well, I understand and I won't be mad. But that's, that's the truth.
B
I don't make any money from that.
A
So you make no money from it. So you can say whatever. But I can say that of the cars that we've. We've had five or six different revology cars here in the last year and we have only had one mechanical issue. And it wasn't even a mechanical issue. The car for some reason just did not recognize the keyless fob which like, okay, then went. It went to the dealer, it went to a Ford dealer for two days and came back.
B
Whoa.
A
Yeah. Like, I think part of the deal is most of the car can be serviced at a Ford dealer because it's a brand new crate coyote motor from Ford Racing. You know, it's OBD2 if it uses.
B
Their same keys fobtech. So that's pretty cool.
A
Uses all uses. The fob doesn't look the same, but I think it's the same Mustang start button and all that shit.
B
Yeah.
A
So, I mean, it's. It's expensive as hell. Yeah. But what. What really does it for me to see where your money goes is the door slam the pot, the door slam, the trunk slam, the hood slam. Are so tight.
B
Yeah.
A
No muscle car. No muscle cars that tight.
B
I don't. There's new cars that are that tight. I mean, it's really impressive. It's kind of. It's not G Wagon.
A
It's.
B
It's headed that direction.
A
It's as close as you're gonna get to a G Wagon. Yeah. Because they. They replace all the hinges and latches with modern shit. They replace all the weather stripping with modern stuff. They replace, you know, the windshields used to be sealed with a rubber gasket. Now they use silicone like modern cars do.
B
Right.
A
The body comes from Dynacorn. Fit it by hand, each one. To make sure they're not just like installing the body, they're tailoring each little bit to make sure it's good.
B
Well, they weld all the pieces together and then they also. They have, like, smart welders that can measure the metallurgy and all the other things so that the welds are always really thick and good. Because I remember when we filmed Big Muscle, which was a show from 10 years ago for those who haven't seen it, which is probably a lot of you. We were filming with Mike Meyer, who designed suspension systems for Mustangs. And he said the biggest problem with designing those suspension systems is that every Mustang was slightly different. The mounting holes were like a mil off.
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
B
Because the Mustang a quarter inch off because of the production standards at the time. So this thing is.
A
Yeah, they put it on a jig and straighten it and weld it up.
B
Yeah. So this is all just really consistent, which allows, I think, the quality to be high. And it's the only thing they do. But, yeah, it's expensive, but people will spend 300 grand on a Bronco or an old Porsche. It's all just, what do you like? And how much money are you willing to spend on that thing.
A
Yeah.
B
So.
A
And, and I think, I think it does, it does deliver on the fantasy without making it like miserable.
B
Yeah. You know, I was, I was really impressed.
A
Yeah.
B
I was very pleasantly surprised it didn't feel like a new car or sound like a new car. I was really kind of shocked.
A
It's like an old car, just like less annoying.
B
Yeah, yeah.
A
Then when you start it up on the little, the little screen inside the tach, it says we don't build them like they used to. I like that. That's money. Yeah, yeah. Also, we had a go in the GR Corolla with the automatic transmission. We've driven a lot of GR Corollas and, and this one is, it's the eight speed auto. It's a, it is a torque converter auto. And, and it's for the person who wants to maybe commute in their car in an urban environment or share it with a partner who doesn't want to drive stick. I would say I still recommend the stick if your left leg is working. But am I mad that the auto exists? No, I'm not. I think if it makes more people buy GR products, then the auto is probably okay.
B
Right? I agree. I mean there's plenty of people, like if you live here and you don't go in the canyons, but you like the car or whatever, or it's nice having an automatic transmission and it's, it's fine. It's not an amazing automatic.
A
It's okay. It's not terrible.
B
Clutch. It's not terrible. Yeah, it's not great.
A
It's got, you know, normal and sport powertrain settings and then you've got your diff settings. Also it's interesting how I would say in normal mode it lugs the engine a bit, it shifts early, it doesn't get it into boost and with a three cylinder engine getting lugged, it's a little like vibratey. It's not, it's not balanced. It's not balanced the same way. And also there's something about. When you have a manual gearbox, your clutch pedal totally disconnects the engine from the powertrain. When you have a dual clutch gearbox in between gear changes, it totally disconnects and reconnects the power to the power to the drivetrain. With an automatic, a torque converter automatic, it never totally disconnects it. So you've got. When you're at a stoplight with your foot on the brake, you've got that creep that it wants to do, but it's holding the engine at a Sort of vibrate yellow in a vibrating way where there's just that little bit of load on it. Compared to the manual sitting there in neutral with no load on it, it doesn't have that vibration so much. So I think, I think the manual feels smoother at lower speeds, actually, because it doesn't drag torque, drag the engine all the time.
B
Okay. It feels like you're getting pushed from behind a little bit.
A
I noticed that. Yeah. When we were sitting traffic coming down the mountain, I really noticed that compared to the stick, but the paddles were responsive. They do what they're told.
B
Yeah, they do. I was just. I'm not trying to disparage the car. Like, what I noticed is that they basically. They made a thing in the press release about how they tuned the car in automatic sport mode. Like, so this is. It'll. It'll do what you want it to. It's intuitive about when you're driving quick on the track or on the back road. So, like, are you. If you're hitting the brakes and it detects a certain amount of G load, like it should be downshifting for you. I found it to be pretty good at that. Not as good as Porsche. Not to always bring it up, but like their tuning is more precise on that thing. And there were some times where the transmission upshifted mid corner, even though I was at static throttle. So I don't know if I needed more GS and if I'm driving harder, if it'll hold it. But you can just drive in manual mode. But because they talked about it so much, I was like, all right, well, let's see how this thing does. It did better at that job than I remember, like the BMW ZF doing, but it just wasn't perfect.
A
Yeah, I just. If I'm driving sporty, I'm using manual mode. I'm just not even gonna.
B
For sure. I just wanted to test it because they talked about it. They also changed things in this car. It gets front and rear limits of diffs and that was not true in the last gen. So, like there's a couple of things and they change like some super dirty.
A
Systems, but the manual gets that also. That's not limited to the autom, just this smaller. Yeah.
B
In 2025, they changed suspension tuning a tiny bit.
A
Yeah.
B
They changed a pickup point and they also gave everyone an lsd.
A
So did the other Corollas we've driven. Have they had armrests?
B
It's a great question because when I got in the Mustang, I went, oh, this has better ergonomics because it has a right side armrest.
A
Yeah. This Corolla had no center armrest.
B
And wasn't this a premium plus?
A
Yeah.
B
So this is the nicest package you can get?
A
I think so it might be premium. I don't remember if it was premium or premium.
B
Premium plus comes with the carbon roof. Unless that says carbon roof.
A
Right.
B
Unless this was optioned with one. I don't. Let me see.
A
I don't know. But there was no center armrest and it was kind of driving me fucking very annoying.
B
I have friends that Armor and Armin, who I love, did an armrest Delete in his E46. What are you doing?
A
That's. That's not good. No. And it would be one thing. It's like if you're driving manual and some. For some reason you need a. You need to free that room for the elbow. Like fine, I guess. But like when I get into the car, my right elbow as I'm usually gets on that armrest to like shuffle into the car. And without it there, I'm like flopping over to the passenger side. It's no good.
B
See Reddit GR Corolla.
A
I do not like that. Yeah. You got.
B
This one has it.
A
All right, so let's assume it's an option that this one doesn't have. You get. If you buy this car, you absolutely want an armrest.
B
So eight months ago, someone on Reddit said for GRC owners. Does this bother you that it doesn't have a center armrest? My car has always had one and I lean on it. Are there third party creations yet? So I guess it doesn't.
A
It doesn't.
B
It doesn't come with one.
A
That's so weird.
B
I could have sported. People say you get used to it. I don't notice it anymore. I like it a lot. Sitting on long drives, both elbows on the thing.
A
Yeah.
B
Your thumbs on the wheel. It matters a lot.
A
I genuinely don't remember if the other cars we've driven have had armrests.
B
You gotta save weight.
A
Yeah. It's very important. Update we. So we. I tried to make a video. This was the same as with yesterday. It was. The wind was so crazy. Since we were just talking about a transmission, I sort of tried to make a little video because I didn't want the whole day to be wasted. We're going to review it. I was very flustered from the weather and it might be trash. Like it might literally be throw in the garbage level trash. I hope it's not. I hope there's something in there that's usable, but like, the odds aren't very good. Honestly. It was a, it was a between. Between what was happening in the world, the weather, my mood that morning and the. And all of that. It was not, it was not the right time.
B
It was a rough day. What was I gonna say? Oh, so if you get a premium plus with this, it's like you're now like 46, 47 grand. Especially the automatic, it's $2,000 more.
A
So you're awfully close to a BMW 240 at that point, aren't you?
B
You're also even with CTR.
A
Oh, so that's tough.
B
Do you. Which would you choose? Gr Corolla or ctr?
A
I actually, I like how the Corolla drives a little better than I like how the CTR drives. There's a certain point, like a very aggressive front wheel drive car just doesn't. Doesn't do it for me anymore. If I wanted a front drive car, I'd probably rather have the Integra because it was such a nice thing to daily drive versus the Civic.
B
That is the better. That is, I would rather ctr.
A
Yeah, I'd rather have that. But I like the steering better in the Corolla than in the Civic. I like the sharpness. I like that you can power on oversteer if you flick it hard enough. And I like the size of it. I like that it's little.
B
Yeah. And the Type s starts at 52.
A
Yeah. So that's. That's expensive.
B
Yeah.
A
Sue, update on the Bentley. Some good news. The leak. It was leaking something very little bit, but it was more than zero. There's a big difference between zero and a little bit. A little bit to a lot, but zero to a little bit. Took it back to Charlie. He first said, it's the pat. Your power steering pump, which was very expensive to fix. And I was like, motherfucker. But then like a day later he called. He was actually not your power steering pump. It was your brake booster, which is mounted above the power steering pump. So the brake booster was actually leaking onto the power steering pump, which made it look like the power steering pump.
B
Was leaking because the drops were very dark.
A
They were dark.
B
You know, and brake fluids tend to be light, but. But also it can just grab shit.
A
Yeah. I mean, it ran down the engine, so by the time it got to the ground, so the brake booster had to be replaced. Fortunately, it was half the price of the power steering pump.
B
Whoa.
A
So it wasn't cheap, but it's a victory. It wasn't cheap, but small victories. And then I drove the Bentley home last night and I was like, God damn it, I love this car. It's just so nice.
B
It's really awesome, dude. Yeah, it really is.
A
But the, the, the maintenance cycle is not small. Let's just, let's just say it's not frequent. Well, we're going to keep working. Eventually we'll have replaced everything.
B
That's right. But then the question is, did Bentley build it correctly the first time or are these problems just intrinsic?
A
I think Jack Beruth wrote a great article a long time ago about the difference between reliable and dependable. And dependable is like a Civic, right? Or like, or a fucking four cylinder Camry from ten years ago. A car where you could pretty much treat it like garbage and it's still gonna probably get you there. Change the oil every 25,000 miles or whatever. Just fuck it. It'll just keep going like so that's dependable. Reliable is a very finely engineered thing that won't leave you stranded. But that does require expensive, specialized maintenance to keep going. And it's just engineered to a higher level and requires a higher level of care and sometimes more expensive.
B
Because it helps.
A
It helps.
B
It'll help. My arguments at home with the BMW.
A
Fits people who own old BMWs and Bentleys.
B
Yeah, but it's, but it's true of, I think any. It's like specialty cars need specialty care. Yeah, right. I mean even when people, when the FK8 Civic came out, people were overheating them because there wasn't enough coolant. Like this is a Honda. But if you drive it super hard on the track, they're like, oh, there's a flaw in the design. This needs to get fixed. Like anything that is really highly strung or specialized. In the case of the Bentley, it's probably gonna need a lot more care.
A
I mean air cooled Porsches, you drive an air cooled Porsche, it's probably not gonna leave you on the side of the road, but it might find a way to tell you something's wrong. It might start smoking, it might smell funny. It might not, you know, it might not like warm up great. It probably won't grenade, it won't explode. It won't leave you straight on the side of the road. But that smoke is telling you that you need an $18,000 top end rebuild.
B
That is the funny thing of. I remember when I was shopping for cars, there's a common phrase on Craigslist. I don't know if it's just for BMWs, but is like, never left me stranded. Which now, I mean, those of us who know you go, that just means you have a lot of shit that broke, but it never stopped turning on.
A
Yeah, yeah.
B
So that's a win. But there's an asterisk.
A
Yeah.
B
However, like you said, some cars will just let you know that they're like puttering a little bit. You know, they're missing a couple coil packs, but it still works Okay.
A
I mean, and I'm also like, insane. Like, there's not a lot of people who would, at the sight of two drops of oil on the ground, dime sized drops, immediately take the car to the shop.
B
Right.
A
I mean, I would. And then immediately spend whatever it costs to fix that problem. That's just because I'm insane. And I want this car. I don't care how old the car is, it needs to be perfect mechanically.
B
Right. That is a thing for you. Because it's. Because I was going to say, is that an economic situation, but I'm sure there are people out there that have the same budget and they would just let it drip because it wouldn't bother them.
A
There's. Well, wouldn't bother them is it's. How much does it bother you? Right. Like, so the Lamborghini leaked oil the entire time I had it, the whole time it had an oil leak. And it was just, well, make sure.
B
That car doesn't work right now. It doesn't seem to bother you at all.
A
You're right, it doesn't. Freedom we Fuck me. Vinny and the two guys at South Bay on Sunday had to ship a second pallet to Italy because although these guys. Yeah, I sent my engine, my gearbox to Italy. They were like, yes. Oh, you send the engine and the gearbox? I sent it. And they're like, where is the rest of it? I was like, what do you mean? Like, I sent you pictures of it. And they were like, we need like all this other shit. We need like your. Your entire fuel system, your entire oil system, your alternator, your starter, your. Your flywheel, your clutch, your fucking this. And there I was like, you guys, like, nobody mentioned this.
B
And they boxed it up.
A
They packed it up. Nobody said shit.
B
Wow.
A
So. So fucking Vinnie was probably there for 10 hours. I was probably there for four hours categorizing and itemizing, separating. Okay, well, what goes with an engine and what goes with suspension? Because we just collected all this shit from Donny's.
B
Wow.
A
And we had to send a whole other pallet. It was two GS. To send this thing to Italy with fucking everything in it that you would need to make my engine run over there.
B
Would those things have fit in the first pallet that went over?
A
No, but. No, they wouldn't have fit on the. In the first pallet. But it definitely would have been easier and less money to have them pick them both up together for sure.
B
And to have the experts there pick the things instead of you guys doing it.
A
No, they weren't. They weren't doing that.
B
Okay.
A
Yeah, the experts are in Italy. I then have an international bonded shipping company because to ship, there's, like, tariffs and stuff. So I had to, like, export my engine to Italy and, like, re. Import it. So, like, there's like, tax. I have to pay taxes on this stuff.
B
But that just means that the company in Italy will pay the tariff.
A
Of course.
B
That's how tariffs work. Okay, So I thought the guys that came to pick up.
A
No, no.
B
First time. Were the experts there. No, they just got it.
A
Yeah. Yeah. But I had sent photos to Italy of. Here's what we have.
B
We assume you were sending everything else, and it was just out of frame. We know what to do. You don't know what to do. I love that stuff.
A
And then they're like, they sent me the list of what I need, and, like, I can't identify most of this shit.
B
Right.
A
Like, can I identify an alternator? Like, absolutely. Can I identify, like, you know what some little fucking obscure thing means? Like. Nah.
B
Right?
A
No idea.
B
Once the hoses are off, a lot of them look the same.
A
Yeah. Do I know what the rear main seal cover looks like? Nope, I do not.
B
You should just send them everything.
A
Well, we almost did. Between Vinny Ratha, Alex, and myself, we were pretty much able to figure out what everything was in general. And if we aired and we erred on the side of caution by just sending it.
B
Yeah, you know, like, just send the car. Well, send the car.
A
They also, apparently the engine went over there with only 11 pistons and 11 rods. And what? Well, there one was separate from the engine. I fortunately had it. They said, listen, they go, we need you to send the 12th piston and rod. And they go, because it's a balanced set. And so if we don't have that, you have to buy 12 new ones.
B
Yeah. That's cool.
A
Good. That's good.
B
Why was that one out of the car? It just hadn't been installed yet.
A
I don't know why it was out of the car. I don't know. It just wasn't in it.
B
It would have Sounded interesting. They fired up. I mean, they would notice, of course, but if you're Busy running on 11.
A
Yeah, it's a mess.
B
Wow, bro.
A
Yeah, it's old cars.
B
Hence revology.
A
Right?
B
I'm not trying to do a commercial for the.
A
No, but, like, here's why you don't want to do a restoration yourself. Like, it's. It's annoying. It's very annoying.
B
It's very complicated.
A
Yeah.
B
Wow.
A
I mean, even when Donnie was doing it all there. Still annoying.
B
You get a lot of phone calls about, we need these bolts, but I can get them next month. And that's a specialty car. Of course.
A
Tens of thousands of dollars in bolts.
B
Yeah.
A
It's insane.
B
But you have the best Italian bolts. That is the benefit.
A
They are the best Italian bolts.
B
Look, if you're into Mustangs, good, because the bolts are here.
A
Yeah.
B
And they're made here.
A
And Donnie may not be on the level, but those are legitimate Lamborghini parts. I've seen the packaging.
B
Yeah, no, I've seen him, too.
A
He's not manufacturing fake parts.
B
Yeah, he doesn't have time to print those labels and make up, you know, write Italian.
A
Yeah, he can barely use Instagram. It's not. All right, let's get to the Patreon. I don't have anything else to talk about today, but I hear that you do. People have a lot to say. Did you guys have a little extra time to think and nothing to do on Wednesday because.
B
Cause, boy, did I. I think everyone voted by mail and then spent smoking eight all of Wednesday just writing questions and very. I don't know, a lot of variety in here, so.
A
Yeah. Okay. Well, we just get to them, of course, if you want to. We're not going to get through all these because Zach has a hard out. That's also the name of my. The first porn film I was in. Hard out.
B
But we will save them.
A
We have another show. Yeah, we have another show.
B
We. We started late, which is why I have to leave. So not trying, silly.
A
West side collector, car storage, team meetings. Bullshit.
B
That's how I feel.
A
Yeah. Bad. Bad. Gardener wants to see us talk to an expert on automotive cybersecurity. Ew. He used the word cyber fits in this. Yeah. What's the realistic danger of connected vehicles? Are we going to wake up one day to all of one brand's vehicles bricked or accelerating off at full speed? There was that. There was a movie. A movie recently where it was like a sort of a horror movie where all the Teslas became sort of sentient basically. And we're just causing huge pile ups crashing into each other.
B
It's funny. I'll tell you why. Off air, I think Fast eight. Wasn't that the plot point also where.
A
Like they took control of connected cars?
B
I think it was, yeah. I think they like sent all the cars crashing into people.
A
Yeah.
B
Super hacker.
A
Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it's realistically possible, given exact current hardware, to remotely control a vehicle the way that you probably think.
B
Well, it was. This was an older story. Five, six years ago, some white hat hackers broke into a Jeep and they demonstrated to Jeep like, hey, you have a hole in your security. And they did.
A
And they drove it.
B
Yeah, they did it pretty quickly. Yes, they were in the car, but they did it pretty quickly. And then there was like a recall and then they updated the thing and blah, blah, blah.
A
I think as. Oh, Jesus. Phil Koopman says, you don't need to have malfeasance for bad software to fuck up a vehicle pretty bad. It doesn't need to be hacked. It can just be shitty software, which we see. We see you're much more likely to be negatively affected in your life by garbage software than you are by hacked software. You know, like, it can just be shitty and cause the vehicle to behave in all sorts of ways. It doesn't need to be hacked.
B
Yeah, it's true.
A
But if you have, I mean, it would be an interesting conversation and six people would listen to the show, unfortunately.
B
I think that maybe we can add it to 2025, like with our lane painting interviews and stuff. Which, like, which are interesting to us and important. This is a topic that could be important. Probably not for 20 years when all the cars are connected.
A
Dre in Houston says last show regarding the turbo non S hybrid. We have some friends who own a cleaning business and they bought one for chicken tax purposes. The CPA instructed them on a certain spend and they chose that. Don't know how big of a niche it is though. I. I'm not sure that the Cayenne turbo hybrid would meet chicken tax gross vehicle weight numbers. And the regular Cayenne hybrid non turbo won't. But if so, yeah, you could. You can get your chicken tax going with a Cayenne turbo hybrid. That would be a pretty egregious way to collect that. That tax.
B
Yeah, it's. The gross weight at a quick glance is £7,088.
A
For the turbo.
B
For the turbo.
A
What about Cayenne regular hybrid? I doubt the Delta is that much different.
B
Cayenne regular hybrid Gross vehicle weight survey says it just says 6900-71.
A
Well, that's. That counts over six. So you can get the regular hybrid and get the same tax deductions. There you go. David Wilson says thoughts on the 992.2 Carrera T. Zach is going to drive it when?
B
Next week.
A
Next week?
B
Yep.
A
In Atlanta. Outside of Atlanta. In Atlanta.
B
In Atlanta. So I think their usual Atlanta route, North Georgia mountains.
A
Very good. Blood mountain. Get at it.
B
Driving that in another car that they don't want us to tell people about.
A
Oh, really?
B
Yeah.
A
Okay.
B
What color, what color is Marco's Boxster?
A
Carmine. Guards red. Oh, his Boxster. His 911. His Boxster's guards red. His 911 is Carmine red.
B
Okay.
A
My brake calipers are carmine red.
B
Carmine red is really good. I like guardrail also.
A
I like guards red a lot more on modern cars than I liked it on air cooled cars. I think the whatever, the paint, the pigment isn't exactly the same.
B
Yeah.
A
Oh, no. Cheese strudel. My dad threw up all over the interior of my gti. The crayon smell is gone and it's now forever unclean. What's the most disgusting thing you've done in someone's car or the most disgusting thing someone's done in your car that you know of? That's a funny one. I personally don't have never done anything that I consider to be that disgusting in someone's car. Personally, I have smoked blunts in people's car, obviously with their participation. I've smoked cigarettes in cars. That's. That's most. A lot of people would consider that pretty gross. I've smoked cigars. Smoking in general. I've never vomited in anyone's car or shat or pissed. Have you?
B
No.
A
Have you What? Have you fucked in someone's car that wasn't yours?
B
Oh, yeah.
A
Okay. So that, so that's pretty gross.
B
Is that disgusting? All right.
A
The medium level. If it's not your car, I think boning in someone else's car is kind of gross.
B
Okay.
A
Kind of.
B
I'm not like, what about just outside their focus rs?
A
Really? By just out? When did that happen?
B
That's a good story.
A
When and where would that occur? Have occurred?
B
Is it a mystery you will solve later when you're taking a shower and you'll go, oh, that's really. Anyway, how interesting. I think the grossest thing I did was at a prank war in college with this girl that I should have just gone out with and she wrote on My windshield in whipped cream. But I didn't know it. It was like the car was parked in the back and then it was warm and the whipped cream melted and ran down into my cabin vent intake area. And my Jetta smelled like mold.
A
Oh, that's gross.
B
Forever for six months? Pretty much. That was pretty gross. Yeah.
A
Oh well. The most disgusting thing someone has done in my car. There's two. One was when I collected the independent rear suspension for my Fox body Mustang using my brand new Honda Odyssey minivan. And it leaked differential fluid in the carpet. And I had to spend an insane amount of money to have the entire interior stripped and remade because the smell.
B
Was diff fluid is. And we've talked about this to like techs and friends that work in like mechanic industry and they go, oh yeah, nothing smells as bad as diff fluid.
A
It is the most toxic fucking shit that you can imagine. And it took literally pulling every piece of interior out of the van, having the bare metal scrubbed and power washed and having new interior carpeting put back in.
B
Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah.
A
And my friend Eric Becker shout out to him. We went to South Carolina. We were in South Carolina and we had had some drinks. Him a lot more than me. And I was, I was driving. My other friend might have been driving back from the bar in Lexus RX300. Number one, the 1998 Lexus RX300 when it was on retirement in South Carolina. That was the JRG one. And Eric threw up out the open window at highway speeds.
B
Oh yeah.
A
But not totally out the open window.
B
Right.
A
And it was a. It was. The spray was extraordinary.
B
Yeah.
A
And it was all over the outside. It was all over the inside. It was all over the goddamn place. And I did not want Viv to find out about this. So we took Eric home and then went back out and this is in South Carolina. Went back out at like 2:00 in the morning to find somewhere to clean the car down fucking there. And I went to like a self car wash place and I was there for hours.
B
How'd you clean the inside?
A
Fucking every. I bought like $35 of like armor all wipes.
B
Oh my God.
A
It was crazy.
B
Yeah.
A
I was there from like 2:30 in the morning until probably 7.
B
Oh my God. He didn't have like a chunky dinner.
A
It was fucked up.
B
That's real bad.
A
Yeah. And he felt terrible about it, obviously. You know, what are you gonna do?
B
Every now and then you see a car going down the highway and you see the streak and you Know that someone in there is having a bad night. Yeah.
A
Gross. K cars. Considering a 981 or 982 came in as a weekend car, what are the main differences in driving experiences between these cars? I mean the big difference as you point out, 981. They're all flat sixes. The 718 cars, the Boxster and the S are four cylinders. The GTS is the six cylinder. You know they sound different, they have different power bands. The turbo makes power a little lower. It's got that rumble almost like a Subaru. The other car is a more slick and high pitched. How do they drive? It's not that much of a difference to drive. The two other than that power band. The steering and stuff and the interior. Interior and all that are basically the same slightly updated. I prefer the six cylinder car but you know there's people that really like that turbo. The four cylinder with the S. I think it's a nice, it's a nice package. John Spartan 442. If you could durability test any vehicle whistlin diesel style, what would you choose and how would you test?
B
I would really like to test a like a Lexus truck against Bronco badlands or something like that and design the test. So like obviously there's some events where like the badlands would excel but there's other events where the Lexus. But just to see you know like which of these. We got a Turbo EcoBoost over here, which one kind of builds more and I don't know what it would consist of like a lot of things that would be increasingly more abusive.
A
Yeah.
B
And eventually like you know you're driving off of like a three foot rock wall or whatever and just. I don't know. I think that'd be interesting.
A
Yeah. Hmm. Interesting. I'd like to.
B
Hmm.
A
So weird because like I don't, I don't have like the desire to like break things the way that other people do maybe or you do.
B
Thaddeus. This is Thaddeus's idea so credit. And he. I remember he pitched this to us in 2011 and we were like who do you think would let us do this? His pitch was can we get a truck and jump it increasingly longer distances until it breaks as a video and.
A
We'Re like I don't want to physically be in the truck but I would check that out.
B
He thought Ford might give us an F150 for that.
A
Good thought that. Yeah. That's not. Fuck. I mean obviously I would love to demonstrate how if you were inside of a cybertruck and someone shot at you, you would die. I mean, I'd like to show that.
B
There'S a lot of videos on the Internet of people shooting their cybertruck door. So.
A
Yeah, yeah, there's that, obviously. Hmm.
B
And they prove like, it depends on the round, so.
A
Yeah. But also like windows.
B
Also windows.
A
Also windows. Very true.
B
The windows are not bulletproof. It's like video games. Like headshots. Mm.
A
Yeah, I'd like to do. You know, they did it probably wouldn't be a whistlin diesel size, but you know, back in the day, like magazines would do like 24 hour average speed tests at like Daytona.
B
Yeah.
A
You know, where they'd run like a Saab 900 Turbo for 24 hours at 150 miles an hour.
B
Andrew Frankel did that and like set a record that the. I think it was Bentley or someone. Like the brand was so proud of this record for years.
A
Yeah. Yeah, I would like to do that. I think that would be kind of fun. For at least 10 minutes, you know.
B
Yeah. Once you're at the 20 hour mark, I mean, you're trading off, but like just leaned over at Nardo Ring, just going, you know, for that long.
A
Yeah. After a while it gets old. Joe says should other CEOs take Jim Farley's route and daily drive a Chinese car to make them more urgent to the threat of a wave of good, affordable options? Well, if you're a car company CEO and you're not driving competitive product, Chinese or otherwise, you are an idiot.
B
Yeah.
A
I mean, you have to know what other people are doing.
B
I mean, it's common. The industry will buy. Well, the industry would buy cars and disassemble them to look at their competitors. And now there are companies that do that for the oem. Yeah, it's like outsourcing. And all they do is get a new car, take it completely apart and so that engineers can look at how car company A did.
A
I know of a couple of car engineers that were able to get. Do a loan exchange with other car makers specifically for that purpose.
B
That's funny.
A
Yeah. Like they're there and these are high. These are very expensive cars. And they would just. The one chassis engineer and the guy from McLaren and the guy from Lambeau, they'll just swap cars for a week and it's, you know, fair because they each get to drive the other ones. Right. So, yeah, they do it. Yeah. If you're. Yeah. I mean, it's the most, most Detroit thing ever to not pay attention to how they're building cars elsewhere in the world.
B
And so any business, if you're not looking at your competition, that's a mistake.
A
Yeah. The Michael cosgrove. The new GT3 means a moderately optioned configuration will be 250k plus without ADM. Given that budget, what single weekend fun car alternatives would you consider? Oh, so many. 250.
B
Are we going with the new cars only or just any cars?
A
Oh, we don't have to go with just new cars. I mean 250 gets you so much car. 250 gets you a crazy amount of car you can get into. You could get into a good Diablo for 250. You could get into a Ferrari 430 with a manual. Real.
B
Yes.
A
You could get into a very, very good example of a599 and have it converted to manual. That'll be amazing.
B
You could get a 550 manual of great condition.
A
You get an MC20 Cielo with like eight miles on it secondhand for 250.
B
Something newer. True.
A
Yeah.
B
Or a lightly used McLaren. You get like a McLaren 570 or 650 for that.
A
Yeah. I mean you could get us. I bet you can get a 720 for 250. I bet 250 gets you a pretty good 720s.
B
Yeah.
A
And that is better than a GT3 for sure.
B
Yeah.
A
You could get into any number of wonderful classic air cooled cars. That would be awesome. I mean 250 gets you a 993 Turbo, which is rad. You'll get you. It'll get you a beautiful air cooled car.
B
How much are 27 RSS? Like a driven one? They're million.
A
I mean a fairly crappy Carrera rs but like running driver but like pretty crappy is probably 500. Those are really expensive.
B
Maybe get a crashed Singer.
A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean you could. You could probably replicate a 2.7Rs pretty, pretty closely for that kind of money.
B
Yeah.
A
You could get. I mean imagine you get a really, the greatest 355gts Ferrari and 10 years of servicing it.
B
Yeah.
A
For that kind of money. Which is probably that's. I think that for 250 a 355 GTS, low miles, decent color with a stick, 150 grand and then 100k to keep it running.
B
That's. You can get a Spyder RS or we can get a Spider. Not a Spider rs. You can get your Spyder with the engine and have extra money left over.
A
Yeah.
B
Or a Cayman equivalent.
A
Yep. I would Rather have my car and 10 years of service and running costs for the price of a GT3.
B
Yeah. I'd rather get a Cayman 4.0 and have emotion Engineering do all the suspension. Yeah, yeah.
A
Ivan Capote, have you noticed that some brands have become more reliable? It used to be that a BMW would cost you a fortune to maintain, but they've improved heavily. Do you think this is the case with any other brand? I think most cars have become much more reliable. I mean, the, the assumption is with any new car that it should work. That wasn't always the case.
B
And I think because this was, I think referencing a Consumer Reports thing, a lot of those are based on the new car ownership experience. So not once they go beyond five year warranty. And like you said, for the most part, most cars can handle whatever you're going to do to them for the first years within the warranty. There was an era for us where you had to turn off the AC going up a hill because it would crap out even in a fairly new car.
A
They have signs all over California when you go up over hills that say turn off ac. Great.
B
That's not a problem anymore.
A
That's not fair.
B
A lot of things have gotten better. But it's been interesting to watch the shift of as Toyota has to get pushed into turbocharged engines and they've had some problems with the new Tundra. It seems like there's a upset in the matrix to what we saw as the most reliable cars all the time, just as engines get more complicated.
A
Yeah. Well, companies like Toyota that for a long time relied on their sort of simplicity. They were always sort of a step or two behind in the tech, but that allowed them to have real robust powertrains. And now when they come out with a new powertrain, it seems like it's a little problematic.
B
Right.
A
But I think all cars in general are more reliable now than they were in the past, are more efficient and more powerful. And even with computers, I think the. And there can be like crazy software problems. But like, I think a lot of things that people think of as like breaking down, that doesn't really happen anymore so much.
B
Mm.
A
You used to, like, my dad would tell me that you used to like on hot days, you know, commuting in and out of New York City, you used to see like, cars on the fucking side of the road broken down like all the time. Like, you really don't see that kind of stuff anymore.
B
We don't see it anymore with new cars very infrequently. Yeah. And. But and also when we drive by them, we don't know what the problem is. Like I've definitely seen. No, yeah, it could be a flat tire, more likely. Yeah.
A
Timbo says now that green mandates are not only not a priority under Trump and fossil fuel is, will this help Detroit be profitable again as they lost billions on EV strategy? I think it's very funny that like the guy who needs EV mandates more than anything in the world gave Trump more money than any person has ever given a political candidate in history.
B
Right. I mean he rants about subsidies and a lot of them, but I think car companies, I speculate that car companies have plans beyond four years because to develop a new technology. I mean that's a big ship. They build a ship and then send it out to sea and get it going or train, whatever, like to divert that. I don't know if they could pivot that quickly. So it depends.
A
Yeah. I think that Porsche has already begun to walk back some of its EV only strategy, saying things like, oh, by the way, like our EV platforms could also accept internal combustion powertrains. You know, they may, there may be a gasoline Macan around the corner, there may be a gasoline Cayman and Boxster in store. And that's why I kind of like sort of stay away from the, like this is going to be the last thing ever because like they can turn that ship. It's just, it takes a long time, it takes years to turn that ship.
B
And with the Porsche thing, they're looking. I think a lot of car companies have been complaining to the EU about the infrastructure and charging and the take rate on EVs and the complexity and difficulty and they're going mandating. This is not going to benefit the consumer that much. So we should probably walk this back a little bit. So I feel like car companies have to pay it. They have to pay attention to more than just what the US President wants to do because some of these things take so long to change and direct.
A
Yeah. Matt and Zach's excellent adventure. What frustrates or surprises you both about car shopping with normal people? I helped my girlfriend decide between an Accord hybrid, Camry hybrid and a gti. And it was eye opening. As someone who mostly focuses on performance, I've helped buy her last. Well, she bought, I guess it would have been two cars. She had one car when we met. She then got the Volvo and then, and then the Ford and with the Volvo, I went to the dealer with her and I refused to like say anything. Like she actually got annoyed by it because I was Like, I don't want to influence you away from having the car that you want. Whatever you think is important. Let's. And. And she was like, I actually wanted you to help and tell me things and you didn't. But, like, I, I try. I don't, I don't go car shopping with regular people anymore for this reason. Because, like, I don't. Their priorities are so not what mine are. Like, if my priorities mattered, we'd have a Hyundai Ioniq 5N. But like, they don't. They don't matter. So we don't have that. Like, do people try to ask you? I mean, they ask me for advice, like my uncles and aunts and cousins and whatever, and I give them the best advice I can. And if they wanted me to go shopping with them, I would, but no one's ever really asked.
B
I've only gone car shopping with Sarah. And I helped do the research on what we needed and I presented the options. But then we went to the different dealerships to look at Subaru, Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4. And it was very much like, this is her money. She should get the one she likes more. Because I don't want to push her into something and have her go, you know, I kind of. None of us want to be in the position where someone feels like they second guess their purchase based on our influence. I think the surprising thing with anytime I've given anyone advice is the number of people and we talked about this, so we'll hit it quick, is they know what they want. They want us to confirm what they want. And when we present alternatives of information that or opinion, they will almost always go to the car that they wanted anyway, regardless of what you. You could say that that car is known for birthing dragons and lighting on fire, but these other options that are just as fast and from competing companies will develop great cars that last forever. And they go, yeah, but you know, I'm still thinking about the Dragon car. Yeah, it's just so. That's always the most surprising thing that doesn't surprise me.
A
But yeah, they. They ask advice but don't really want it. They just want confirmation that they're not making the wrong choice.
B
Which I guess is actually how humans operate.
A
Yeah. Tell me I'm not a moron. Okay, you're not a moron. Because usually the questions they ask are like, to me, are not just not rational. Which car purchases don't have to be rational, mind you, but you're asking for a rational piece of advice for an irrational purchase.
B
It's usually. It's a very emotional purchase.
A
Yeah, sure. Should I get a BMW M5 or a 911 GT3? There's a rational answer. There's a. There's a solution I can write out for you to help decide, but you do. That doesn't matter. You know, that's not what they. That's not what they want. And it's like, I don't know. I can't tell you what your emotion wants you to be driving. Riley 3D prints a lot. Is 3D printing more or less or exactly as prevalent as you'd expect by now? Modern 3D printers that work great out of the box can be bought for a few hundred dollars, and you'd think they should be more useful by now. Can a modern 3D printer, for a few hundred dollars, print something that can be used as, like, a structural part, or is it printing with, like, plastic, like, substances?
B
Well, I think for $300, you're getting plastic. What do they call it? Filament or something like that. So structural, which structure? I don't know. I'm really fascinated by the 3D printing world and how accessible it is. But I haven't taken the plunge because I still think of it as being beyond my reach, which is probably just me not willing to look into it and learn. Because you can get files from websites and there's free this and that. And I think it'd be very cool to be able to make. If you need a bracket for something, you could mess with that. But I think, Riley, I think people that are drawn to that are probably really into making things. I think it's just a niche thing. Most people want to be able to just order a part that fits where it fits and they can go on with their life. I think that's more likely. Not everyone wants to fiddle.
A
Well, and a 3D printer does require an operator of some kind. So it's a great tool if you know how to use it. And so I do know that a lot of the tuning companies and racing shops and aftermarket people do a lot of prototypes with 3D printing to make sure something fits. And then they go send it off and have it done in metal or whatever.
B
You know, I think the professional industries use it a ton. Yeah, because you can, like you said, you can print a mold or a prototype part, smooth it, test the fitment, and go, oh, this does work. Now we make it in metal, which costs a lot more money. And now this is our new bracket shifter, whatever the fuck.
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I Think so. To answer the question, I think it's about as prevalent as I would have thought. There's parts I hear about, for instance, the shock tower. The upper shock tower on the Lexus LC is done with 3D printing. This Zinger car is doing a lot of 3D printing entirely. Yeah. I think Koenigsegg and Pagani are doing some levels of 3D printing with stuff.
B
BBI did an inconel exhaust with it. Because you can create shapes with 3D printing that you would not be able to very reliably and consistently like bend metal into to fit a certain mill.
A
Yeah, yeah. It's cool stuff.
B
We can, we can keep going for a little bit.
A
All right. I do not have by the name of Jeff. I'm sorry, I do not have your answer for your question. I'm sorry. Christian says, will the electric G wagon depreciate like other EVs? Me thinks yes. Yeah. Me thinks yes. I don't. The permanence that a G wagon has regarding its body structure and styling and all that I believe is negated by the electric powertrain or mitigated. Anyway.
B
That is an interesting question because I'd say it. Is it the most iconic car that's been turned into an ev, like, like a pant, like a Taycan is a new idea.
A
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
B
So this is something that everyone has loved and bought. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 15th owner. So maybe this is kind of. This might be the litmus test.
A
Yeah. For EV nostalgia. I think it's pretty. That's pretty, right? I mean you, you could have the other one being, I guess the new Volkswagen ID Buzz. But that is an all new vehicle. It's not. It's not. Yeah. So probably, yeah, you'll get to have a. If, especially if they come out with a gasoline AMG1, you'll have a direct back to back comparison. Right?
B
Yeah. Which one depreciates more quickly? Yeah, yeah.
A
I mean, definitely the electric one. Well, there's no, there's no way. It wouldn't. Yeah, we're driving in a couple weeks after I get back from Arizona. We're. We're driving it. Dave Coochie. Do you enjoy trying to figure out what cars the lights from RVs and commercial trucks are from? Like the tail lights, like, oh, that's from a Taurus or something. I used to do stuff like that and then I kind of stopped caring. Yeah. Tim A says, are brown Porsches underrated, overrated or properly rated? I like a brown Porsche.
B
I think certain browns look Good when they're very clean in the right light. But as soon as that color gets dirty, it just flat. Brown is not a color I enjoy seeing on a car.
A
Yeah, for me, like my colorblindness, green, brown, it sort of blends into one color. And it's hard for me to tell if something is a dark green or a brown at first glance. Sometimes I don't like, care that much about browns. Although there's like a dusty gold sort of that's like somewhere between brown and gold that I do like a lot. Lot. But I'm general pro brown. Okay. Brandon Duster says you can get the Takayan turbo seats in a lower trim. Oh, it is a factory option. Okay, got it. That was not an option when my dad got his car. But this is the new generation of car. I don't have an answer to Darian's question. It's a good compliment. Matt, Zach and Johnny are my favorite automotive journalists. How do you guys do such a good job of presenting unattainable vehicles in a down to earth and digestible matter? I know that's funny because I get a lot of notes from comments, people telling me how out of touch I am because I drive expensive cars a lot. But I suppose we try to do our best. I mean, I don't know, I feel like that's what.
B
What the auto journalism game has been since the beginning is journalists get to test stuff that most of the readers couldn't afford. And your job is to like, explain why that's exciting to read about instead. You know, it's not like telling you about someone's 10 bedroom house that you can't afford. Somehow, you know, cars are more emotional and people are more excited to learn about that. I think. I don't know.
A
Last one and then. Wait, is there a whole other page or is this the last two on the thing? There's a whole other page. Oh, there's a lot. All right, last one. And then we will call this game and we'll be back on Sunday. NK says. I believe the Lamborghini Aventador is one of the most influential cars in the last decade. You don't have to be a car guy to know what an Aventador is. Do you think it will reach a halo car level like the Miura or F40 did in the future? No, and in fact, I don't think the Aventador is that influential. I think the design is excellent. And I think the fact that if you parked a 2011 or 2012 Aventador on the street right now it has not aged very much. I think it still looks very contemporary and modern. But you know, the Miura was the first mid engine, 12 cylinder car from that company or ever. The F40 was the first of the semi modern era. Very extreme supercar. The last car built while Enzo was alive. The last car Enzo personally oversaw. And the culmination of the Dino 308, 328 line that was going on for 15 years.
B
And a departure in design, styling that was much more extreme. So it jumps off all the pages more than the previous iterations.
A
Yeah, no. Aventadors hold their value very well. I mean that's because they look pretty much the same for 10 years and you can buy an older one and it still seems like a pretty new car. And I think it is. We're talking about a car that even the cheapest, cheapest end is 350 grand. So it's not like it's not a Halo car now. But in terms of representation for history, I think it is not as significant as the miura or the F40.
B
Yeah, I think you had to move Forward like the McLaren F1 was significant and that was kind of a new benchmark. Yeah, you know from Miura. Yeah, yeah.
A
I mean and even during The Aventador era, McLaren had halo cars. Above that they had the Centenario, they had the Veneno, they had these other cars where they made a very small number of very extreme modification. The Countach, modern Countach which someone took a fucking bath on one on bring a trailer recently. Yeah, yeah.
B
And how many of those did they make? I want to say it was a.
A
Couple hundred, 200 maybe. So neat car, you know, very, very, very beautiful design. Really, really, really, really nice design. But yeah, I don't. It's not an F40 for me, it's not a Miura for me. But good car. You should strive to own one last before we get out of here. Registration is now open for the next road and track event which is you can go to experiences.road and track.com it is April 7th through 10th. Texas Hill country starts in Austin and includes track time at Coda Certificate. Certificate of the Americas. Yes. At Circuit of the Americas. Arizona. Sold out. That's it. Texas beyond city limits. Beautiful Texas roads. Hill Country, Austin, Fredericksburg, barbecue wine tasting and of course Circuit of the Americas. I will be there, I will be leading the drive. I will be giving ride alongs on the track and it's in Texas so I'm hoping I can get a McLaren for that one. We're going to be doing a bunch, a bunch of really good driving. So you can head over to experiences.road and track.com the itinerary is there. You can see where the track is, where the roads are, where the hotels and restaurants are. Get a whole vibe for it. And if you want to do it but you don't live anywhere near Texas and you don't want to deal with getting your car there, Westside Collector Car Storage can ship your car to and from this event. So we can do it. Totally. Hands off. We just shipped 11 cars to Arizona for next week's event and we're shipping 11 cars back, which is awesome. Yeah, no problems. All the cars got there early, but. But no, no worries at all. And we're gonna have a nice drive come. Come Tuesday starting in Arizona. So experiences.road and track.com come drive with me. Texas Hill Country April 7th to 10th of 2025 and you can also see the remainder of the 2025 Road and Track events schedule there as well. If you can't make that one, come to the next one for the live people, the patrons. We'll be back on Sunday afternoon. I'm going away, like I said, so we got to get a little bit ahead and we'll see you then.
B
Bye.
Podcast Summary: The Smoking Tire – "Gross Car Experiences; Reviews: Revology Mustang GT and GR Corolla AT"
Release Date: November 12, 2024
Hosts: Zack Klapman and Matt Farah
Podcast: The Smoking Tire
Testing the Revology Mustang GT Zack and Matt embarked on a challenging test drive with the $300,000 Revology Mustang GT, intending to drive it up a mountain. Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful due to unexpectedly severe weather conditions.
Build Quality and Pricing The Revology Mustang is praised for its meticulous restoration and modernization while maintaining a classic aesthetic. However, the high cost is justified by the extensive labor and specialized craftsmanship involved.
Price and Options:
"This is $300,000. It's very expensive." – Matt [14:16]
The base model starts at approximately $285,000, with top-tier configurations reaching up to $325,000. Customization options include various Mustang body styles, transmission choices (manual or automatic), interior materials, and wheel selections.
Quality Assurance:
"Revology has basically the same treatment they can apply to any Mustang body style from the 1960s under license from Ford." – Matt [20:22]
The consistent quality is maintained by handling all restorations in-house, ensuring that each Mustang meets Revology's high standards without compromising on performance or appearance.
Comparison to Iconic Restomod Shops Zack and Matt discuss the advantages of choosing a Revology Mustang over building or restoring a classic Mustang independently.
Consistency and Reliability:
"It's all going to be done consistently, let's call it correct." – Zack [14:47]
Revology's expertise ensures that restorations are performed uniformly, reducing the risks associated with piecemeal restorations by independent shops.
Resale Value:
"When you sell it right, you go to resale an icon, it's an icon." – Zack [16:36]
The Mustang GT from Revology retains its value effectively, partly due to the brand's reputation and the meticulous quality of their restorations.
Performance and Transmission The hosts evaluated the new GR Corolla equipped with an automatic 8-speed transmission, contrasting it with the manual version.
Driving Dynamics:
"I prefer the six-cylinder car but there's people that really like that turbo." – Matt [10:21]
The manual transmission provides a more engaging and smoother experience at lower speeds, while the automatic offers practicality for urban commuting.
Transmission Behavior:
"In normal mode it lugs the engine a bit, it shifts early, it doesn't get it into boost." – Matt [28:21]
The automatic transmission's torque converter leads to slight engine drag, which contrasts with the disconnect characteristic of manual gearboxes. Despite some quirks, it remains a viable option for those preferring automatic shifts.
Interior and Ergonomics The GR Corolla's interior was examined, focusing on ergonomic design and user interface.
Armrest Concerns:
"This Corolla had no center armrest and it was kind of driving me fucking very annoying." – Matt [32:05]
The lack of a center armrest in the premium models posed ergonomic issues, leading to discomfort during long drives.
Infotainment Integration:
"I don't love the integration of that stereo. It's just, you know, it's an aftermarket screen." – Matt [10:15]
While the stereo system operates well, its integration with the interior aesthetics left room for improvement, detracting slightly from the overall experience.
Bentley Turbo R Maintenance Update Matt shared an update on his Bentley Turbo R, detailing the troubleshooting and repair process after detecting a leak.
Issue Identification:
"It was the brake booster, which is mounted above the power steering pump, leaking onto the power steering pump." – Matt [36:04]
Initially misdiagnosed, the actual culprit was the brake booster, which fortunately cost half as much to replace as the power steering pump would have.
Maintenance Philosophy:
"Reliable is a very finely engineered thing that won't leave you stranded. But it does require expensive, specialized maintenance to keep going." – Matt [37:49]
The distinction between dependability and reliability underscores the necessity for meticulous maintenance in high-performance, luxury vehicles.
Gross Car Experiences The hosts recounted their most unpleasant experiences involving cars, emphasizing the importance of meticulous care.
Matt's Horror Stories:
"I have a friend Eric Becker... he threw up out the open window at highway speeds." – Matt [53:11]
From extreme interior spills to severe fluid leaks, Matt detailed the extensive efforts required to restore cars after such incidents.
Zack's Cleanliness Challenges:
"The most disgusting thing someone's done in my car was leaking differential fluid into the carpet." – Matt [51:59]
Zack highlighted the costly and labor-intensive process of repairing significant interior damage caused by mechanical failures.
Durability Testing Vehicles Listeners proposed ideas for durability tests, sparking a discussion on benchmarking different vehicle performances.
Automotive Cybersecurity The topic of connected vehicles' cybersecurity was explored, assessing the realistic threats posed by hacking.
Impact of Electric Vehicles on Depreciation Listeners inquired about the depreciation patterns of iconic electric vehicles, such as the electric G Wagon.
Road and Track Event Announcement Matt promoted the upcoming Road and Track event scheduled from April 7th to 10th, 2025, in Texas Hill Country and Circuit of the Americas.
Promotions and Partnerships The episode included promotions for services like Deleteme and Westside Collector Car Storage, offering discounts and convenient solutions for car enthusiasts.
In this episode, Zack Klapman and Matt Farah delved deep into the nuances of high-end automotive restorations and modern performance vehicles. Their candid discussions about the Revology Mustang GT and GR Corolla AT provided valuable insights into the balance between classic aesthetics and modern engineering. Additionally, personal anecdotes about car maintenance challenges and listener interactions enriched the conversation, making it both informative and relatable for automotive enthusiasts.
Follow The Smoking Tire:
If you enjoyed this summary, consider subscribing to The Smoking Tire podcast for more in-depth automotive discussions and reviews.