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Zach Klapman
What up, everybody?
Matt Farah
Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast, your favorite automotive podcast. I am Matt Farah and today's episode is, as always, brought to you by off the Record. We love off the Record here. They are here for us and they are here for you. And I love when you guys tell me that off the Record keeps points off your record. I don't have to tell you anymore. You guys are now telling me because you're using the thing left and right. Basically. If you get a ticket, you don't plead guilty. Step number one, don't plead guilty. That's for suckers and idiots. Then you get off the record, you go to offtherecord.com TST and then off the Record, we'll ask you a few questions about what happened. Why did you allegedly get pulled over? You send in a photo of the ticket. They will then fight that ticket for you. You don't do anything. They go to work in the background.
Zach Klapman
And then they get back to you.
Matt Farah
Later and they're like, hey, guess what? Dismissed. It's a beautiful scene system. Offtherecord.com TST don't be a sucker. You gotta get off the record. They are the clutch hookup. When you're road tripping, when you're driving around, when you're commuting, when you're having a little fun, you need to know off the Record's there for you. And they are. Offtherecord.com TST 10% off. All legal services at off the Record.
Zach Klapman
All right, folks, on this episode of the Smoking Tire, Zach and I are rolling down the 405 freeway.
Matt Farah
We seem to be doing this a lot, frankly.
Zach Klapman
It's very convenient to use our time commuting back to the office to record podcasts.
Matt Farah
Let us know what you think about.
Zach Klapman
That convenience in the comments.
Matt Farah
Anyway, we're in the all new Volkswagen ID Buzz.
Zach Klapman
Something I'd want to try for quite some time.
Matt Farah
And we've just come off the mountain.
Zach Klapman
Where we have driven flyin Miata's new.
Matt Farah
Car legal turbo kit. So we talk about that a little.
Zach Klapman
Bit and we have a little chuckle.
Matt Farah
At the depreciation of the cyber truck.
Zach Klapman
As well as the unsold inventory.
Matt Farah
Something tells me that may not turn around.
Zach Klapman
It's the smoking tire. Let's take a drive. Hola. Bienvenue.
Unknown
Welcome to the greenhouse.
Zach Klapman
Welcome. Welcome to the. To our. To a van. To our fake cab forward van. Yeah. Coming to you live from the Volkswagen ID Buzz. A real unforced error of a name if you ask me. ID Buzz. Don't mean nothing. They could have called it any number of things other than what they called it, but ID Buzz it is. And they've already announced they're going to be dropping the ID nomenclature from their electric vehicles next generation.
Unknown
That makes sense. It doesn't. It doesn't add any whimsy and it kind of. That fights against the buzz. Yeah, I think. And ID4 meant nothing to anybody.
Zach Klapman
You know what ID stands for isn't diesel. Oh, probably, probably. That's probably true internally. Yeah. If he called it isn't a diesel.
Unknown
It should be publicly that name too. Because they'd be like, by the way, this is not diesel. We're not doing this thing again. We swear this time.
Zach Klapman
Well, Volkswagen's entire EV program is basically. Sorry about the diesel. Ya. So anyway, the ID Buzz, this is here to really tap into what's left of that boomer energy in those Boomer bank accounts before they die. Before they die. Before they die. Let's get 75 out of them for a minivan.
Unknown
Remember the bus? This is different, but it sort of looks kind of. It does a pretty good impression of being a cab over car from the outside.
Zach Klapman
From the outside.
Unknown
But this I can't reach the windshield.
Zach Klapman
Right. Which you know, brings you to sort of the point of like why they can't have cab forward vehicles anymore. As an owner of a Delica, I can tell you because your knees are the crumple zones. Right. And so what they've done here, it's actually very creative, is they've given you a flat fronted vehicle, but the driver is sitting like six feet from the windshield. Yeah, I'm like way back. This actually feels like driving a monorail.
Unknown
Yeah, it does. It has a very train aspect. Such a train. Plus, like the wraparound windshield, with the exception of like, you know, it's got all these pillars, but we have the windows through the pillars. Yeah. And the flat face windshield. What they did, at least at my height, is it makes the dash look smaller because the seating position's not that high. But if I sit up, then I see the truth, Then I see how far I have to go before I reach home.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. And it is a fun optical illusion, but it's not the same thing as having a truly cab forward vehicle.
Unknown
Right.
Zach Klapman
And I don't want to make this podcast a review on this because we just got this yesterday. And those are what I would call first impression impressions of this thing. I mean, ultimately it drives like a lot of other evs drive, and it's a big electric minivan that's full of whimsy and nostalgia. Right? Yeah.
Unknown
I think it looks pretty cool inside and outside, but that's a first impression.
Zach Klapman
And it really, really. And I said this on Spike show and it became a clip. It really depends on color. You get this thing in a two tone hippie color and it looks fabulous. You get it in black. Black or silver? Silver or white? White. And it looks like the saddest uber ever. Like really sad.
Unknown
You need the color because it's the shape on the front is trying to smile.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
And you need that contrast and plus then it looks interesting and you know, like literally brightens the world.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
But if you try to make it look like a Mercedes, you know, black, black, then it's not a Mercedes.
Zach Klapman
So anyway, we're. We're on the road. It's very a a It's a busy week. We have to. We had to make three videos this week. So we're doing podcast from the. The ID Buzz on the way back from our first shoot, which was the. Excuse me, our second shoot. Our first shoot was my Taycan 6 month update yesterday, which there were no surprises. And that video should be out actually the same day this podcast comes out. Right. Thursday.
Unknown
Yes.
Zach Klapman
And then we've got the flying Miata Carb Legal Turbo. We just drove NC Turbo. Quite lovely, actually. Really great. Quite good.
Unknown
Oh man. I started doing money math so quickly.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. It's about. It's like 6,000 for the full kit as a kit, like in a crate. And then it's probably another. He said 20 hours of labor. So whatever your local labor rate is. And it's California Smog legal has an EO number or at least it will have an EO number in six to 12 weeks when one is issued.
Unknown
But it has smog and it passed the EO EPA regulation test. They're just waiting. They're literally waiting for that number. It's not like they're hoping to get it.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
And if you don't live in California like the other 49 states, you can buy that basically the same turbo kit right now just without the sticker on it. That person almost just backed right into us. Yeah.
Unknown
They did not slow down at all. They had a tow hitch they were leading with that would have pulled a.
Zach Klapman
Real Titanic on the side of the ID Buzz, you know, just ripped as you go past with a tow hitch.
Unknown
Oh yes.
Zach Klapman
Like can opener.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Right. Yeah, yeah, that's. I watched a video last night on Instagram just a clip of someone and I don't Know if the caption is to believe, and the truth is it doesn't really matter, but it looks like an early AMG GT with the first gen dash. Okay. On a track somewhere in Asia, a big track. Looks like it could have been a Formula one style track, but I didn't know what track it was. But the guy lost all brakes or most of his brakes at the end of the front straight. And I mean, hits the wall pretty much head on at like, you know, over a hundred in a road car, you know, not in a. Not in a race car.
Unknown
Yes.
Zach Klapman
And. And according to the caption, which again, you know, who the fucking knows, but says they survived. But it was a. It was a real. A real reminder of, you know, from the time that this person. And I don't know their skill level or anything, but. But the time in between when they realized they had no brakes, when they exited the track and then hit the wall, you're probably talking about two and a half seconds, you know. Yeah. Because they went right through the full braking zone at 170 miles an hour.
Unknown
Yikes.
Zach Klapman
You know, so that, that braking zone at full speed is not long.
Unknown
That's a. But that's a long two seconds of like seeing what's gonna happen. You can't do anything. Man. I hope they're okay. That's terrible.
Zach Klapman
I don't know about okay, but the caption did say that they didn't die.
Unknown
Okay.
Zach Klapman
So it was. It was extremely gnarly to watch though. But it didn't. It did like, really remind me about. About when you're on a track like that dude was like, totally chilling right up until he didn't have brakes anymore.
Unknown
Yeah. And. And who knows about like, was it a brake failure? Was it under press or. I don't know. Who knows?
Zach Klapman
Is that for me? Water? Is your water down there?
Unknown
That's for you. That's new. Mine's here.
Zach Klapman
All right, great. Yeah. Really? That's bad stuff.
Unknown
If you live, you're okay relative. If you crash at 170 and survive, like, anything at that point is a win, in my opinion.
Zach Klapman
We're in. We're in the ID buzz, which is a sort of hypey type vehicle. Right. Like, people are. People were pretty hyped on this thing.
Unknown
Well, yeah, I mean, they were hyped and then eight years later they had to get rehyped. I think that was the big thing about it. People were so excited. I mean, that's the power of nostalgia. You know, they released the. The concept. It was like a Decade ago. And everyone went, yes, do it. We love. I mean, because everyone loves a friendly VW bus. And then it took a long time.
Zach Klapman
To get it made, but now it's like, now they're moving them, right? At least in the right colors. They're moving them the right colors. Volkswagen started offering wraps, dealer wraps, to help sell the monochrome ones they ordered. Oh, you know, cuz like people are ordering them in bright colors. But dealers are such pussies, they don't want to. They're not gonna buy a bunch of bright colors once they're buying the like conservative colors ones and then like shocking.
Unknown
And then nobody wants them. Oh, that's funny.
Zach Klapman
And so they're starting to do like dealer wraps.
Unknown
Smart solution, honestly. And I bet the next year's inventory will be more colorful.
Zach Klapman
Probably. Yeah. But I did, I did reconfirm that story we talked about yesterday about Tesla sitting on 10,000 unsold cybertrucks worth $800 million.
Matt Farah
Folks, gotta take a break from the action because today's episode is brought to.
Zach Klapman
You by car gurus.
Matt Farah
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Zach Klapman
Right?
Matt Farah
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Zach Klapman
Do we want this?
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Zach Klapman
And I, I did reconfirm that. Oh, here's one of the fucking poor bastards right now.
Unknown
Speaking of which, here's one that made it out. It escaped. And weaving, also weaving.
Zach Klapman
It's weaving a lot. Oh, that, that person might have had a stroke while driving. I don't know. It's hard to tell when people are driving like that. But the Tesla's finally starting you see to take them in on trade. They weren't taking them in on trade trade for like the whole first year and a half.
Unknown
He said no, we don't want it back.
Zach Klapman
And nobody else wanted to take them on trade. Yeah, because they were like showroom poison. You couldn't get rid of them. And so finally Tesla has agreed to take them in on trade. And one of the articles printed the depreciation curve and a 6,6000 mile examples are being traded in at minus 35,000. Okay, so that's about 4, 560amile in depreciation.
Unknown
I wonder what the depreciation is of like an AMG or I don't know, something like that.
Zach Klapman
Well, I don't know about short. I don't know. I don't have a comp on hand for like short. It's, it's probably worse but not much worse than one of those like mid tier AMGs, like an AMG 53. It's probably not as bad as that, but that's pretty bad.
Unknown
That's it is dude.
Zach Klapman
It costs you, it cost to cut for, to cost you 560amile and not even burn. Not burn. Gas is, is wild stuff. And I not have to pay for maintenance. The Bentley all in my 30 year old Bentley cost me a dollar a mile.
Unknown
Oh that's pretty great.
Zach Klapman
Well it just costs five and a half times more per mile.
Unknown
So real quick. This is from Car Edge.com it was the first result. I don't know who they are but they, they looked at like the averages of all Mercedes.
Zach Klapman
Okay.
Unknown
And this was, they were picking their best model year value but so they picked the 2023 they think is the best. Because with the 2023 today you'll pay 66% of the price as new.
Zach Klapman
Well that's 35%.
Unknown
Right.
Zach Klapman
And that's three years. Okay. Did it say with how many miles though? I'm guessing that number is more than 6,000 miles. It might not be probably.
Unknown
Yeah but it's probably more than six, right?
Zach Klapman
That's probably 25, 30,000 mile car, right?
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So this is worse than that.
Unknown
This is very, this is much worse. Money calculator. Yeah, I mean I think the demand is down and maybe for a variety of reasons. I know I could speculate about a bunch of them and like not even just the political side of it. Like the, the whole thing with the, the cybertruck was like people put deposits down but they were refundable and they were $100. Yeah. So people may have shown more interest than they could. The economy has changed since then. They have to pull back that deposit. So maybe they overproduced them.
Zach Klapman
Well, they also thought they were putting a deposit on a 40 or $50,000 truck, not a 70 to $100,000. They thought they were putting a deposit down on something with 500 miles of range. They thought they were putting a deposit down on all these things that Liar, liar said it would do and said it would have.
Unknown
The range extender is no longer on the website.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. So it didn't, didn't deliver on any metric except that it looks like, like the concept, the only metric it was delivered on.
Unknown
So that, that probably factors into the trade in or the resale because there's just smaller demand even for new ones, let alone for used ones. And then add in of course political climate.
Zach Klapman
Right. So the question, now that, that makes me think of. And in fact, when I talked about to fucking Joe Rogan about it being a scam Back in 2019, Tesla with their low threshold of deposit, they went to the government and said, We've got 2 million deposits for this thing, we need some money. And they got a huge loan.
Unknown
Tesla would never take money from the government.
Zach Klapman
No, never.
Unknown
Would never.
Zach Klapman
No. The government teat is bad.
Unknown
Right?
Zach Klapman
We need to get people off of that. Yes. No, no, no, it's wrong. We need to get humans off of the government teeth so they can afford to give Tesla all their money. You just misunderstood it.
Unknown
Got it. Yeah. So it's a way to show. It's a way to show interest or inflate it.
Zach Klapman
By the way, if you wanted to pump your stock. Right. That would be showing your new vehicle has 2 million pre orders is certainly a way to do it. That, that makes me think of what Slate is doing right now, which is the same thing. We don't know if they have anything. Right. Resembling a functional vehicle. We've seen static prototypes pretty much. There's been a couple like mule type cars that have been driven around LA and like parked in places. So I assume they have something that drives. But Slate is talking about 100,000 pre orders for this truck. Yeah, but like we don't know how many of those orders will go through. It was like, it was like somewhere between, between 1 and 3% of cyber truck orders turned into cyber truck purchases. One to three, dude. We convert T shirts at a higher.
Unknown
Percentage than that and we don't sell that many T shirts. Yeah, the Slate Deposit for a slate truck right now is 50 bucks.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
So it's even more to your point. It's super cheap. I mean, it's a cheap vehicle. At least it's supposed to be a cheap vehicle. Hopefully they stick to their target price.
Zach Klapman
Right. Well, here in this case, the I. The whole point of it is that it's a cheap vehicle. So if they don't hit that, there's real problems.
Unknown
Right. Well, I mean, we've seen that happen before, but hopefully they deliver on. The reason people are excited is because it's a cheap EV pickup truck.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
So you have to deliver that. And I think they know that because there's no way you would. You would let that price inflate and drift anywhere near R1T or.
Zach Klapman
Oh, they're talking about a base price under 20. 20,000.
Unknown
I know. I'm saying they need to stick to that.
Zach Klapman
What are you looking for?
Unknown
Massages. I want to turn my massage off.
Zach Klapman
Oh, is it good?
Unknown
It's okay. I'd like to try it.
Zach Klapman
I'd like to try my massage seat. Now you know how you end up with no Mercedes. Really?
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Now you know how you end up with a seventy thousand dollar minivan.
Unknown
That makes sense. This has. You can just tell it has all the options.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. This is the first edition, you know, whatever. So someone said something funny to me on Instagram. I put a picture up of the Taycan from yesterday and they said, you know, if your theory on depreciation to zero is correct, then at a certain point the wheels will be worth more than the car.
Unknown
Oh yeah.
Zach Klapman
And you should figure out where that, where that threshold is cross.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Where your HRE wheels, which are probably like 15 grand new. You know, maybe they have a floor around eight grand. Right.
Unknown
You, you would have to own that car longer than you will. Longer than you would.
Zach Klapman
Yes, that's true. But there will, there is a point where that will happen.
Unknown
Can we just acknowledge that this person has an Alaska plate on their Suzuki Sidekick and please.
Zach Klapman
It's a Geo track.
Unknown
Is it a Geo tracker?
Zach Klapman
Oh, yeah.
Unknown
Oh, it is Geotracker. It's got the, the font and everything. If you drove it from there, you probably didn't 060 eventually on the sticker. That is amazing.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Wow. Imagine driving a Tracker from Alaska.
Unknown
I feel like that's a movie that's like a Little Miss Sunshine. Like he has a court appointment he couldn't change.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Unknown
And somehow it's cheaper to drive than it is to fly.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
He loses his kids forever if he Doesn't.
Unknown
I was gonna go with something more mild, but you need high consequence. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.
Zach Klapman
I was watching some auctions on the YouTubes yesterday, some auction results, and, dude, if you had bought in 2019, if you had bought either a brand new Corvette ZR1 manual or a Viper ACR, you would have doubled your money if you sold this year.
Unknown
Whoa.
Zach Klapman
You would have. You would. And even if you put a few miles on it. Wow. You're gonna put. You're gonna put four or five thousand miles. Do a thousand miles a year on that car, and you could have still doubled your money. Yeah. The huge horsepower, raw stick shift, American cars that are sort of the end of an era, Huge return on investments for a new car.
Unknown
And, like, what your acr, what are.
Zach Klapman
We, the last, like, final years? Final. Final year or two? I think that's like either 18, 19, or maybe 1920, something like that.
Unknown
Man, those. Those are gnarly.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
I drove one on the highway once to a car show for our friend who helped produce the car show. That was the weirdest drive on the 405 ever. Just like, can't see anything. Giant wing, loud tire noise. Good luck out there.
Zach Klapman
And that was the earlier generation.
Unknown
It was.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. I drove the one that was the generation after that for the scallops in.
Unknown
The wheel, in the fenders, and it was a lot.
Zach Klapman
It was very overwhelming.
Unknown
They had that at Peacote Thunder Hill.
Zach Klapman
I think that would have been 19.
Unknown
Yeah. That looked like quite a time.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
That requires some focus. That is a gnarly vehicle.
Zach Klapman
It was a lot of car. It was. It wasn't like, honestly, like, the. It was not the right vibe for me at all. It just didn't. The gearing was so long, and, you know, the engine felt kind of lazy. Even though it made big power and it was this big car with tiny little bit of room, it really wasn't for me. But you could drive it and you go, oh, yeah.
Unknown
This is.
Zach Klapman
This checks every collector's, you know, box.
Unknown
Yeah, it's. That car is like the movie version of a night out in Vegas. But that's really not for everyone. Like, it's just like, I don't know, hair plugs. H.J. like, it's so aggressive and crazy, but when it's applied by a good driver, it did so well at all the racetracks. It set all these records. I mean, it is a proper.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
You know, it's just not easy to drive at that speed.
Zach Klapman
No. And if you're driving it, like normal speeds, it Beats you up. Yeah, it's not. It's not fun to drive at a regular speed. That's why it's important that if you actually want a car to drive, as opposed to collect or invest in, you know, be honest with yourself about what you're doing with the car.
Unknown
Very true.
Zach Klapman
Race cars on the street suck. Really suck. See how I wonder how the traffic will be on the way home? I didn't look up the. I didn't look up our. Our Etta before, but, dude, I mean, that would have been. I. I called it too. I'm pretty sure when I went on the ZR launch. ZR1. The ZR1 Launch Road Atlanta, I said. I said, you buy one of these, and it's gonna be just money in the bank because it was so crazy and hairy and it wanted to kill you and it looked ridiculous and you couldn't see out the window because the hood bulge was so big and all this stuff. And I was like, every one of these is, like an inconvenience that a collector would brag about. Sure, because you can't see out the windshield because the hood's so high, because the engine's so big.
Unknown
Right. In an era where so many other cars are like, this is funny, like, optimized for travel and comfort. It's ev. It's radar cruise, larger greenhouse, sitting up high. That is the antithesis. It's very counterclockwise culture in that way.
Zach Klapman
It's. It's what you'd call vice signaling. Right. It's the opposite of virtue signaling. It's like the sacrifice. Whether it's, you know, financial or my comfort or whatever, I've made a sacrifice for performance. That's the vice signal.
Unknown
Yeah, it's. It's a Coke spoon necklace. But you're. You're hanging out at, like, Erewhon or at a yoga.
Zach Klapman
Those are not mutually exclusive. There's nothing more Venice than the cokehead yoga instructor.
Unknown
We're get this. This class done in 20 minutes, everybody. 20 minutes. I gotta get out of here.
Zach Klapman
The number of people that would party with our friend who lived by me in Venice. There would be these, like, hot, crunchy chicks that were just raging, raging cokeheads. And then would be like, oh, I've gotta go to my.
Unknown
No, the energy is from the acai smoothie and cayenne. Good shock, lemon juice, cayenne cleanse. I'm just so energized. I can't stay up all night. I don't eat anything.
Zach Klapman
So, you know, at my house, I've got.
Unknown
Our ETA is 41 minutes.
Zach Klapman
Okay, cool. You know, in my house, I've got that huge bin of all my old car magazines that I just like have yet to move to the office yet or move somewhere. And they've been just sitting in my living room for two years now. Finally, I got tired of looking at them and I'm moving them. But I thought because we needed content for this show, I was like, let me pull out a random one and see what like the classified ads are for us today. But my magazine collection really starts around like 91.
Matt Farah
90.
Zach Klapman
91. And by that time a lot of bush still then.
Unknown
Or is it starting to go, oh, different, different collection.
Zach Klapman
You know, it's funny, 91 could have been George Bush also, depending on how you're thinking.
Unknown
Senior on the center front.
Zach Klapman
Right. Like, you were like a lot of bush. And I'm like, I wasn't trying to make this political. O.
Unknown
91.
Zach Klapman
91. People weren't really advertising their supercars and stuff for sale in the car magazines because DuPont registry was out by then. They had their own magazine for that at that time. And there was a couple other, like Rob Report, I don't know if 91, but there were a couple of places to like, do that. So as I'm flipping through these magazines, there are a couple, you know, single digit numbers of classified ads per magazine. And I pulled up one, I was like, well, let me see what the oldest I have is. And it was like 1990, 1991. And there's like five cars advertised for sale. Three of the five are lightly used Pontiac Fiero GTs. Wow. And the other two are old Jaguars.
Unknown
Three of the five. Yeah, man, those were. Those were cool for a bit.
Zach Klapman
I wonder.
Unknown
I think when I was a kid I was into them.
Zach Klapman
Like, were people trying to flip them?
Unknown
That would be amazing if people get an allocation. I want to be first on the Fiero list, you know, And. And you promised the dealership, you're not going to turn into a Lamborghini clone. And then you sell it six months later.
Zach Klapman
I had to buy a Trans Am and a Bonneville.
Unknown
Yeah, these miles were free, guys. I had to buy two Sunfire and then I was able to get the Fiero gt.
Zach Klapman
Oh, dude, the Sunfire. You want to see some sadness? Some real General Motors sadness? Compare photos of the Pontiac Banshee concept to the production Sunfire, which is what that car became. The Banshee concept looks like a LaFerrari. And the Sunfire is a. One of the saddest vehicles that was produced in the early 90s. Oh, it was so bad.
Unknown
Oh yeah.
Zach Klapman
The Banshee or the Sunflower?
Unknown
Well, no, the concept is sick. Oh, I remember this. Yeah, it was really cool.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Yeah. But I can see where they took some of this and turned it into a bit of like F body Trans F body Firebird, stuff like that. They took a little bit of that.
Zach Klapman
They did. But how cool was the Banshee?
Unknown
Oh yeah.
Zach Klapman
Compared to the sadness of the Sunfire.
Unknown
It'S a land speed looking car.
Zach Klapman
So wait, so we do not have suspension adjustments in this vehicle? There's no, there's no sport modus?
Unknown
I don't believe so. Oh yeah. The Sunfire is just a Saturn with a different face.
Zach Klapman
It looks like the Sunfire is a Cavalier they all.
Unknown
But I mean like the back cab design, is that a Rabbit with a wide body kit on it or maybe just over fenders?
Zach Klapman
Oh, it's got over fenders and Porsche.
Unknown
And a wooden roof rack.
Zach Klapman
A rabbit.
Unknown
Oh, this is like a merlot color.
Zach Klapman
Real motoring club. Shout out to the motoring club. But this is, this is like. This is going to be like all the euro rare parts. But I like it. I like where this person's head is at. They've got Porsche like turbo twist wheels on a Rabbit GTI with over fenders.
Unknown
They got. They did the rear wiper delete for weight but it's got a little wing on it which is kind of cool.
Zach Klapman
Huh.
Unknown
I do think the bushings in their front left wheel are going because it's moving laterally and we're going 8 miles per hour. It's got a wiggle to it that.
Zach Klapman
And that silver tycon right there looks just like the one I Turoed might be Habibi. He's got a JBL on the dash though his priorities are in order. This guy vw, is that a fake hood scoop or a real hood scoop?
Unknown
Either way it shouldn't be there. But the only way.
Zach Klapman
No, the only reason it could be there. One excuse. Callaway turbo kit with an air to.
Matt Farah
Air intercooler right there.
Zach Klapman
It's the only excuse.
Unknown
Did they sell turbo kit for the GTI?
Zach Klapman
Yes.
Unknown
Okay.
Zach Klapman
In the 80s, Callaway had turbo kits for the GTI and for the Alpha like GTV6. Wow. That really does look like the taycan I Turoed.
Unknown
He's got hella.
Zach Klapman
It even has the same white brakes.
Unknown
I'm guessing there's more than one. Well, there's one of those in my building. Like there's a lot of silver. You know, first year with those wheels and the white.
Zach Klapman
And the white.
Unknown
I think that was like the launch. That was the base color and the base wheel. I can't tell if that that kit is real or not.
Zach Klapman
I mean, it's. It's. It's strange, but that's the all. If you have a Volkswagen GTI and have a hood scoop, that's your. That's your excuse.
Unknown
Okay. I wonder how much more power those made when it was like 48 degrees outside and then if it gets up to 70.
Zach Klapman
A lot. I don't know. I don't know the guy. You know, maybe he's coming to tour west side. Maybe we'll see him.
Unknown
We get him next to again.
Zach Klapman
What are we going to ask him? What the scoop?
Unknown
Do you have a turbo kit?
Zach Klapman
Okay, what if he says yes?
Unknown
I'll say, all right, cool. And I'll roll the window back up. What kind of wood is your roof rack made from? Cedar. All right, that's. That's a good, strong wood.
Zach Klapman
Oh, I have. I have a. I have an announcement to make. The seaside to Sierra road and track event, the September one the is honestly probably going to be the best one that we've ever done. From a hotels and roads and track perspective. It's all sick hotels. It's Scott Pruitt's winery. Racing driver Scott Pruitt, he will also be the special guest. And it's Sonoma to Tahoe. So just like sick all amazing roads. With Sonoma raceway, they road and track. They fucked up a little bit. They put it on labor day week weekend, and so people weren't really about it. So we changed the dates.
Unknown
Oh, okay.
Zach Klapman
Because people don't want to go on a trip like this on labor day weekend. They go away with their family, and then they could do this anytime. So it's now the end of September. It's like the 24th to 27th or something like that. I think 24th, 27th. Go look at experiences.road and track.com. but it's at the end of September instead of the beginning. Okay, so if you looked at it before and you went, that looks great. But not on labor day weekend. It's not on labor day weekend anymore. And as always, I can ship cars both directions. If you want to come and you don't want to drive your car to Sonoma or drive it back from Tahoe, we can ship cars and you can fly in and out.
Unknown
That'll be such a stunning drive. I've done that trip, basically and the roads that connect you from the Bay Area over to Tahoe, like, they just get better and better and better and better and better.
Zach Klapman
And I. I'm. I'm going to be driving. I think I've connected a V8 Vantage Roadster, which I'm quite. It's not. Why do I keep saying V8 Vantage? It's just vantage.
Unknown
It is.
Zach Klapman
It's just vantage. Now, Vantage Roadster, which I was very much delighted with from the press launch.
Unknown
A couple weeks ago, it's a great car. I mean, coupe is a good car. Yeah, I'm sure the roadster is just as good.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Okay, should we. I mean, should we talk about the Turbo Miata? I hate to say I've reached the end of my list.
Unknown
We should talk about it for a little bit because this goes up before that video will go up.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
So it's not cannibalizing too much, basically. And then we have questions.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Flying Miata does good work. They always really have. They've done V8 swaps, they've done supercharger.
Unknown
Kits, turbocharger kits, and I would say that they've done all those things as close to an OEM level as you can. Like, they don't. They try to do. The cars I've been around or driven that were V8 swapped were done at a very high level, and they have a consistency because it comes from one place. They would try to make them, you know, legal in as many states as possible. They're just. I don't know, it's a group of, like, engineers, but they seem to really care about that stuff and they scale things pretty well.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. And this turbo kit, you know, it's not a new. Entirely new turbo kit. What's new about it is it has a California 91 octane calibration and California compliant emission system, which is. So basically, you can send them your car or your cat and they can take apart your factory cat and put the inners of it in a new housing that will also have the turbo manifolds and stuff in it. Correct.
Unknown
Yep.
Zach Klapman
And. And so somehow, I mean, not somehow, I'm sure there's an actual scientific process, but by doing it that way, they end up with a California compliant thing.
Unknown
Yeah. And what's really impressive is I learned while we're hanging out on the hill with one of their reps who brought the car today is that they designed the kit. I said, like, all right, did someone did, like a supplier design this whole thing? And then you guys just like, you know, put your name on it or whatever they have. They have actual powertrain engineers that ordered the different parts from the different place and spec'd it out a certain way and like it was their idea that they assembled and you know, and now it works in all these places and I just think that's cool versus just like white labeling something from somebody else.
Zach Klapman
I agree. But it's, you know, this. The NC engine is 11 to 1 compression from the factory, which is on the higher side, but not anything extreme. And so when you're, you know, a lot of people talk about do you have to do the internals of the engine to do a turbocharger kit on an otherwise stock car? Which camera. The forward facing camera has just died. That's okay.
Unknown
We're in traffic.
Zach Klapman
Shall we? Yeah. Nothing is happening.
Unknown
We'll. We'll remain in traffic.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Maybe we should just cooling for that other one just in case. What was I gonna say? I. They say that you don't need to be concerned really at all with the internals of the engine to run this kit.
Unknown
Right. And they now they did say that the cars that come with automatic transmissions have weaker internals and therefore get slightly less horsepower. So which is interesting. Like between the auto and manual transmission miatas of like the same year, the engines are slightly different.
Zach Klapman
It is very strange that it's a different engine. I would have guessed, I would have been like, oh, maybe the torque converter can't handle it or some, you know, some part of the automatic transmission mission. I didn't realize that they had different.
Unknown
Yeah, I mean that's what it said on their sheet was like.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
So okay, that's. I'm just reporting that the power numbers are different.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. But like, I mean you're really going to put a turbo kit on a torque converter automatic Miata. I imagine that is a very small. Certainly not our audience is correct.
Unknown
Very true.
Zach Klapman
But I thought the. The power is really fun. They've got two different size turbos, a small and a big. What they said is pretty much the smaller one is for autocrossers. The response out of a tight corner will be instant. It'll spool up a little faster and you have a little less power on top but better response. They then have the bigger option which was on the car we drove today, which frankly is what exactly I would want out of this kit anyway.
Unknown
Yeah. Because the response is still in improved over stock like stock. The peak torque of the stock engine happens at 5,000 rpm. This happens at 4,000 rpm. You also get a lot more torque, obviously, but they've actually like flattened and expanded that power band a little bit. Peak power happens at basically the same place as the stock engine did, but now you make like 100 more horsepower at the wheels or the crank either way. And the power to weight ratio drops by like 33%. It's like 15 pounds per horsepower stock. And now it's nine and a half. I mean, the thing is, it is as fast as I would want a Miata to be. Unless I want, you know, hair on fire insanity of a V8 swap past this.
Zach Klapman
It's V8. I mean, there's just no. Or some kind of, you know, maybe that crazy AJ30 engine or something. You know, one of those kind of deals.
Unknown
Either way, we're talking engines swap.
Zach Klapman
We're talking about engine swap. Yeah, this, this. I think without driving the smaller turbo, the impression that I got is that the smaller turbo will drive more like one of these. A current turbocharged four cylinder car where the, it spools up quick and then you have that sort of flat but bland power curve. Whereas the car we drove today spools like a more old school turn tuner style turbo.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Which to me would be more fun.
Unknown
Totally.
Zach Klapman
Like, I want to feel the boost build. I want to hear that blow off noise. Like I want all those fun things. Like that's literally what I'm paying all that money for.
Unknown
Yeah, you get. I was amazed at the amount of turbo sound you get. And I got out and I said, oh, is this traditional blow off valve? And he's like, no, you can't do that for emissions now. It has to be recirculating. But it's, it has like, it has a turbo sound and a blow off sound that reminds me of driving Mark 4 Supras and stuff of that era. It's just got all of that stuff. Very little exhaust note outside the car. There's a little like the gentlest, cutest fart pop when you shift, which is funny. And from the front of the car you hear a ton of turbo whistle. So like you get all of that wonderful turbo symphony. And then of course the balance and the agility of the Miata. I think I thought it was awesome.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, they've got, they've got their suspension kit on this one and their wheels and some, some reasonably sticky summer tires. And it, I mean, it just was like the amount of grip versus the amount of mass was like completely different from, I mean just there, there's, there was, it's seemingly no limit to the amount of grip you would have coming through a corner or like just not breaking for corners frequently.
Unknown
I forgot how much the weight of a car matters for, for agility and like changing direction. Because slaloming on that road today and thinking back to driving even stuff like we. We were up there with the new Corvette Z06 and we were up there with like, I think Cayman GTS or something. Like cars that are modern but are light by modern standards. But man, when you get in something that weighs a thousand pounds less or 800 pounds less.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
And it doesn't. There's no tire squid. There's no nothing. You don't need these super huge wide tires.
Zach Klapman
And it's direction that's low and small.
Unknown
That also helps the perception of it.
Zach Klapman
And with, I mean, a Miata is so small that you can, you can run a proper racing line within your lane.
Unknown
Yep.
Zach Klapman
You can't. You can't do that in a modern 911. You can do it. The BB car. Oh, the same color. Oh, it wasn't quite the same color. I've only, you know, I've only ever seen one other Vespa in the color of mine.
Unknown
Oh, wow.
Zach Klapman
I learned, I bought mine used, but I learned that it was like a limited edition color and they only made a couple of hundred. And I only have ever seen one other one.
Unknown
Wow, that's cool. It's like that and the Cassis red Porsche, like you just accidentally find these things on Craigslist.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, that one was. That was real luck. I'd really like to get the. Those, the four soft red cars together. We'll have to do it in September when. When Timmy's car comes back from Monterey.
Unknown
I think that that car, the Miata today, was like about as fast as I need a canyon cart to be.
Zach Klapman
Oh, for sure, sure.
Unknown
There's some sections of the roads up there where, you know, going against like a 400 horsepower Cayman or something, it would pull away, but. But those moments would be so brief. But the torque out of corners and the thrust and the joy and the excitement of feeling the turbo and the power build was such a good time.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I think you'd need a supercar to go quicker. Yeah, I'd need a McLaren or. I mean, I'm not even sure if a GT3 would go much quicker up maybe with the brakes, because this car had basically stock brakes with pads and fluid. I don't know if we said it before, but the car we drove today was not some kind of prepared press car. I got a call from Keith at flying Miata a couple weeks ago saying, hey, this car, which is a mule, it's a kind of an. It's, it's, it's not a pretty car. It's just a. It's a rough used Miata whatever.
Unknown
100,000 mile on it.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, 100,000 mile car. Yeah, just a whatever car. No offense, but that's what it is. And he said it needs to get picked up from the, the emissions lab. But it was literally a storage request. Can we send a flatbed for it and then store it until this dude can come out and get it? And I was like. And he's like, by the way, you can play with it while you've got it. I was like, well, can we make a video? And he's like, yeah, it's like it's not a pretty car, but like it's representative of the product. So like, go ahead. So. So here we are. I forgot. Oh. So anyway, the point was it, it. It has regular brakes and with this kind of power.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
I would get a big brake kit and. Which wouldn't even be that big on a Miata medium brake kit. Yeah, right.
Unknown
I completely agree with you. It felt a little under braked and I, I think in some of the corners, it almost felt like the pedal had a tiniest bit of vibration. Like maybe the stock rotors are starting to warp a little. Little bit.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
But either way, when you, when you upgrade a power. The power by nearly 50%, you should upgrade the brakes too.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
So. And then also. And they mentioned this, we mentioned this in the video. But if you're gonna track it with the turbo kit, upgrade your radiator and your cooling system because we started to get. See some temps creeping up and it was 82 degrees ambient when we were done.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it was. At most we were at elevation. It was warm and it's stopping and starting. But. But yeah, I mean, it's. If you're gonna drive an aftermarket turbocharged car in hot weather, you may need to make a few adjustments and concessions. Nothing that would actually prevent me from owning it, but. Okay. If I go for a canyon blast or a track session, I gotta let it idle for a few minutes before I just shut it off. That.
Unknown
You know, I have never regretted upgrading my radiator in my E46. Like, I think if you have the whole engine apart for this turbo kit anyway, I know it's an additional cost for people and that, that is a concession, but if you can do it, you should do.
Zach Klapman
Was weird with the Fox body. I upgraded the radiator and I never had any problem with that part of it, but I did have repeated issues getting that car to hold a consistent temperature. It may. Someone told me that my cooling system was too powerful.
Unknown
Oh, okay.
Zach Klapman
And so that is such a thing as.
Unknown
Well, that is such a thing. Sometimes you have to get a different thermostat that opens at a higher temp. Yeah, because. Because you're. Yeah, because it's just.
Zach Klapman
It was eventually sorted, but it did take. It wasn't. It was like we changed the radiator, but then it was like, oh, you have to change this other. Too. So. Yeah, I. I don't. I don't remember, but I think I would ask. Flying Miata, they probably know. Do we have a few questions before we get a bunch before we end? We can go to the Patreon, which is where you ask us questions. It's where you get the show live. When we are able to do it live 95% of the time, it's where you get the show before anybody else. It's where you get access to special merch collabs, and it's where you get to come up with fun usernames that I will read on the air.
Unknown
All right, this is JJ Apex. He has a 2022 CT4V Blackwing. As his daily says, fantastic car, but the engine is soulless and. And doesn't sound good. Which is true considering either a Mach 1 Mustang or a dark horse. What do we think? He's read that the Mach 1 handles a little better and has better steering feel, but you can't get the handling package you get with the dark horse. I go Mach 1 all day, every day. I recommend that mustang to anybody who is shopping in that price bracket.
Zach Klapman
I'd probably rather have a Mach 1 than a dark horse. Also, I wasn't that big of a fan of the dark horse.
Unknown
I wasn't either.
Zach Klapman
I don't think the big screen thing helps it much. I think the steering is very digital.
Unknown
It felt huge. Which part of that is visual trickery? The Mach one, that was a press car. I missed returning because I just. I thought it did grand touring great. I thought the adaptive suspension did an awesome job. In the canyons, you've got the normal coyote engine, but you have the better transmission from the GT350. That's. That's everything I want.
Zach Klapman
Gearbox. Yeah, that's a big difference. Dark horse gets it, too.
Unknown
That's true.
Zach Klapman
Dark horse gets the Tremek. But, yes, that I would. I'd still go Mach 1. Yeah.
Unknown
First time question. All right, this person was bad leg. Reuben was recently in an accident where he was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle and has serious injury injuries to your clutch leg, hence the name bad leg. Rubin, what's a cheap, fun automatic vehicle to drive while recovering? I'm looking at newer Golfs and Civics.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
But I don't mind a few crazy suggestions.
Zach Klapman
I mean, a GTI with a DSG is a good place to start. What other cars have a good responsive automatic.
Unknown
You could get a WRX with a cvt, but you'd hate yourself and we wouldn't, we wouldn't like you either get.
Zach Klapman
A used CLA or GLA 45 Mercedes.
Unknown
That's a pretty exciting thing.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. There are some affordable caymans that have.
Unknown
PDK, OH, FRS, BRZ, etc. That is a surprisingly good automatic transmission.
Zach Klapman
That's a much better automatic than it has any right to be.
Unknown
It shocks you and the steering feels fantastic.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, that's a good choice. Yeah. I don't know about a Civic automatic. I've never been impressed by a Honda automatic transmission.
Unknown
But paint by numbers. Asked about the ID buzz in a stop sale, I would say we don't know about that.
Zach Klapman
I don't know.
Unknown
It was for the rear seat. The third seat only having two seats. So we're not sure.
Zach Klapman
The third seat only having two seats.
Unknown
Instead of what third row seats are only. Are too wide to only have two seats. I don't know. I would keep in touch with your dealership. Yeah, we skipped that one before. What's your favorite watch that has one flaw that ruins the watch? Like he loves the Seiko Alpinist. This is Beneteau driver but hates the stupid prospects logo.
Zach Klapman
I mean most of the. When I. When I love a watch. Except one thing. The one thing is usually the size. It's either too big or too small. Because if you look at it, you know, you look at it on Instagram or something, a photo of it and you love it. And then you go to put it on and the thing that's wrong with it is that it doesn't fit right, doesn't look right, doesn't sit right on your hands. I've never been like, everything is perfect about that watch except the hands. I love it, but the hands, you know, it's. It's been like. It's more like, damn, that looks great. But not on my wrist.
Unknown
Right. You know, just too big. One of the.
Zach Klapman
Too big or too small?
Unknown
One of those deep sea like what's the super thing we saw?
Zach Klapman
Deep Sea challenge. That. Yeah.
Unknown
That is the size of my fist.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's a 50.
Unknown
I held it and I went. There's. I could never wear this.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Those aren't for actual people. Those are silly. The deep sea challenges.
Unknown
It looks like an ankle monitor. If I'm in, like, in probation, I think it's fucking huge.
Zach Klapman
It does. And that even, like, I have the, quote, regular deep sea, which is 44 millimeters and even that is, I can't wear it.
Unknown
But you can't go as far down underwater.
Zach Klapman
That's true. I would die at 12,800ft. My watch would die.
Unknown
Right.
Zach Klapman
This watch. That watch can go to 6,000. Now. See, I know.
Unknown
I don't know what you're doing now.
Zach Klapman
My. I would be. My body would be compressed into a cube about the size of a dice.
Unknown
And then the watch falls off your wrist.
Zach Klapman
The watch would be fine, though. The watch would make it just fine.
Unknown
All right. Crabhab says I have a 2023 WRX and a 2017 Toyota 86. Both paid off. Thinking of selling them and getting a 987 Cayman or a 718 Cayman four cylinder. We also have practical vehicles, so don't worry about that. I'm worried I'll miss having a variety of two fun cars. Is that silly?
Zach Klapman
No. There. There's a reason I have seven cars and not two. I totally understand about every couple months, I go, I should sell three quarters of these watches and just keep the ones that I like the most. And I go. And then, you know what happens? I go, nah, nah. I like. I like having a variety to choose from. I'm into that. I understand your point exactly. If you're limited by space or money or time and you can't deal with all this stuff, then downsize for sure.
Unknown
Go to my house. Not.
Zach Klapman
Okay. I don't want to. I don't want to lead the audience directly to your house. So let's go to Blue Bottle.
Unknown
Oh, see that? Perfect.
Zach Klapman
We don't. I don't want you fucks knowing where he lives.
Unknown
Except for the person that lives in our. There's two people that live in our building that listen and they're cool.
Zach Klapman
Except for the bads in the building.
Unknown
That's so. That's totally fine.
Zach Klapman
Only fans in the building. Oh, there's a couple. There's. There's like three or four on top.
Unknown
Dox me and steal my constantly breaking E46. Nobody wants that.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
All right. Pista Anmashu says In today's world of more and more complicated new vehicles, what is the shopping list for a perfect driver's car? Assume it falls under the same volume, manufacturer's allowance, like weight, power, mechanics, etc.
Zach Klapman
The formula is 911st.
Unknown
I mean, I've kind of. I would say yes, if you could shrink it by like, 10% also.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. I mean, I don't. Can you still buy my car? Like, if you can still get my car. My car. My Spider.
Unknown
Good. It's annoying.
Zach Klapman
My Spider is a brand new car that starts with a key, has a manual top, a stick shift, manual climate control. Right. And naturally aspirated.
Unknown
I'll back you up because when we did the shoot with Marco's car, his was brand new. Like, it had been here a week.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Stock is stock. And I started driving. I went, this is such a great combination. It is. It's really good.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
And you get cool top down, special experience. It looks good top up or down. Which is rare.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Because the buttresses are there and the steering and shift feels great.
Zach Klapman
I mean, and you have a timeless driver's car that's still a 20, 24, whatever car. And it has just enough screen that your carplay works, that you've got your nav, that your secondary functions. It's just enough screen. And everything else is a real button.
Unknown
It's all. It all comes back to. Not. Not too much screen, not too much power.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Not too much size, not too much weight.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
Everything needs to be. They are leaving.
Zach Klapman
All right. Now, can I parallel park the ID buzz here? I think. Oh, yes.
Unknown
If there were ever a vehicle that does not really, like, activate the ID of a person, it's this one. Right.
Zach Klapman
Let's see. This is. This might be a trickier car to parallel park than. Than it looks from the surface because it looks like a flat front, but I really have no idea where the front bumper actually is.
Unknown
I mean, you can use the camera.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. But, like, compared to the Delica.
Unknown
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Which is, like, the easiest thing to park ever. Oh. Meanwhile, I have.
Unknown
You nailed it.
Zach Klapman
I almost nailed it. I very, very slightly grazed the curb with the rear wheel.
Unknown
Possibly just the rear tire.
Zach Klapman
The rear tire.
Unknown
No.
Zach Klapman
Rear tire, rear tire, rear tire.
Unknown
Long Island T Expressway says. How crazy an idea is it to buy a cheap 914 and restore it in my driveway for a flip? Are there things to avoid besides, you know, rust and mechanical issues?
Zach Klapman
I mean, the problem with 914s is everything is priced the same as if it was 911s. You know like you might as well buy a shitty 911 instead of buying a shitty 914.
Unknown
And 911 is so much more popular.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
That flipping it, if that's the goal, will be easier. I'm sure the entry price is more challenging. But it sounds like this person's down for a serious project. So if you are, find a 911 that you can turn into the serious project.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. The cost of buying a terrible 914 versus buying a terrible 911 will pay for itself on the other end with how much easier it will be to sell that 911 and how much you can get for it.
Unknown
Absolutely.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Two more and then we're gonna go get coffee in there.
Unknown
Best, best low tech. Matt's Alcantara steering wheel. Ask what's the best low tech mod? I pulled the fuse from my exhaust valve to have full time loud mode.
Zach Klapman
Oh. I mean in the Aston Martin Vanquish in order to have full time loud mode like my old one. It's not even a fuse. It's a vacuum line. And you pull the line and screw a wood screw into there so it's plugged all the time open.
Unknown
I would. I will. Similar is R32 and 3. You put that T valve together, right. You unplug something.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
And then it.
Zach Klapman
You cut out this little restrictor in this tube and then just plug the.
Unknown
Tube back on and then you gain how much power?
Zach Klapman
50.
Unknown
That, that.
Zach Klapman
And they even put a little line on the tube telling you where to cut it. Like there's a little yellow line. It doesn't say cut here.
Unknown
It's just a line.
Zach Klapman
There's a line where you're supposed to cut from the factory.
Unknown
That is great. No, I'll cut out the silence.
Zach Klapman
How? You better.
Unknown
Okay. This is good. Aiden Squires. I predict in the next 10 years or so the enthusiasm for 2000s to 2010s cars will reach nostalgia levels associated with Radwood era cars. Now what cars do we think best exemplify that era of the early aughts? And we're not counting.
Zach Klapman
They're already there. LP640s and 4 GTs and stuff. I mean the LP640s are a million dollars.
Unknown
Yeah. But I do, I don't think we see stuff like that at Radwood. As much like Radwood doesn't really seem to draw or cater to the exotics of the Radwood era. You know, it's more about like what everyone might be able to afford for it with definitely some expensive Things thrown. Like I would think E39M5 would probably be one of the more famous. But those are already expensive like V8.
Zach Klapman
M3s, V8 M3s, V 8 RS4s.
Unknown
Yeah. RS4s.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Unknown
And when did the Audi R8 come out?
Zach Klapman
2009. Eight nine.
Unknown
Those are under.
Zach Klapman
It's just, I mean anything that was popular then, I mean it's not like there's not, it's not like there's like surprises somewhere. I mean it's 2000, 2000 to 2010. Like we know what they were doing. We had, there was the Internet. This isn't, this isn't some like, oh, no one, no one knew. It's the Lotus Carlton. What even was that? Like there are no missing cards.
Unknown
Curveball. And going back to Pontiac, like remember the GTP? Yeah, like that's a weird oddball grand free GTP.
Zach Klapman
That's 90s.
Unknown
It was 90.
Zach Klapman
I thought maybe ended early 2000.
Unknown
I think it was early 2000s. Like weird shit like that where they had decent power finally in something very pedestrian.
Zach Klapman
These supercharged wide track Pontiac Grand Prix gtp. Sure.
Unknown
But I think you're right because everyone's already started paying attention so much to collector cars in general. Then they're paying attention to early 2000s too.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, yeah. I mean I think I will. You, you'll see complete tuner cars. So you'll stuff that was built, you know, by AMS or Switzer or you know the, the Alpha 9 kits. Like yeah, brand name tuner builds will be a big deal.
Unknown
Well respected tuners. That's very good point. Last one is what is worse branding? Mustang Mach E or ID Buzz?
Zach Klapman
ID Buzz.
Unknown
I agree. They should have called it the bus of some kind.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Mach E. Mustang. Mach E comes from Ford recognizing that the value of the word Mustang is more than the value of the word Ford. And so putting it, putting the Mach E under the Mustang umbrella gave it a sporty credibility that if it was just the Ford Electra crossover, it probably wouldn't have.
Unknown
But it also got everyone angry, which drew way more attention. I mean that must be if. I'm sure they've measured that in an office somewhere in Ford. The value of stirring up enthusiasts and people who are like it's not a Mustang Burger, Burger, burger. And just getting that name churning and drawing more eyes to it, I'm sure.
Zach Klapman
Paid off the value of rage bait 100% probably did. And, and, and I don't call it Mustang, I call it Mach E. But like I'm no longer like, offended, you know? Like, I. I. At first, yeah, it's not a real Mustang. Okay, whatever. Fine. But I just, like, I don't care, you know?
Unknown
Like, I agree. We. You hit 40, you're like, who gives a shit?
Zach Klapman
Yeah. What. I'll call it whatever it's called. It's like. You know what I mean? Like, it's. There's a lesson in that.
Unknown
Yes, there is.
Zach Klapman
There's a lesson in maturity going. I refuse to call it the thing that I don't think it is. And where you sh.
Unknown
I'll tell you what I mean. Santa Cruz is Santa Cruz. I cared a lot less about that than I did about Mach E. Mach E. I was like, really, Mustang? You're going to do that? But when someone wants to change their name, I go, yeah, sure, I don't give a shit.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, no, I was. I probably cared more about Mustang than I did about a human wanting to go by a new name that is of a new gender.
Unknown
Right. I don't get it.
Zach Klapman
Which I couldn't give less of a. A about.
Unknown
I have so many other things to do.
Zach Klapman
That's true. I. I care more about protecting a Mustang than I do about keeping that original.
Unknown
Isn't that funny?
Zach Klapman
Yeah. No, I don't care about the rest of it at all. This bronco's all right.
Unknown
That's. That's a funny litmus test for, like, are you really a car person? It's like, what gets you more upset when a car company misuses nostalgia or.
Zach Klapman
If a person changes their pronouns of humans.
Unknown
You're like, yeah, yeah.
Zach Klapman
All right. That's our. That's our show today. It is a little shorter than normal, but there's only so long. I'm willing to sit in the car outside of a blue bottle. You know what I mean?
Unknown
Sure.
Zach Klapman
We'll be back in the studio later this week. Catch us there. Bye.
Title: Turbo Flyin' Miata Review; ID. Buzz 1st Impressions; Cybertrucks Go Home
Hosts: Zack Klapman & Matt Farah
Release Date: May 22, 2025
Guests: Various automotive enthusiasts (as inferred from transcript)
[01:21]
Zack Klapman and Matt Farah kick off the episode while cruising down the 405 freeway in the newly released Volkswagen ID Buzz. They highlight their routine of utilizing commuting time to record insightful discussions on the latest automotive trends and reviews.
[02:15] - [05:10]
The hosts delve into their initial thoughts on the Volkswagen ID Buzz, emphasizing its nostalgic design reminiscent of the classic VW buses. Zack criticizes the nomenclature, stating, "ID Buzz. Don't mean nothing. They could have called it any number of things other than what they called it" [02:16]. They discuss the vehicle's design, noting the innovative flat front that allows for increased driver visibility despite the "cab forward" aesthetic.
Design and Functionality:
"It really feels like driving a monorail" [04:16], highlighting the spacious interior and the wraparound windshield.
Color Variations:
The duo remarks on how color choices significantly impact the vehicle's appearance. Zack shares, "You get this thing in a two tone hippie color and it looks fabulous. You get it in black... it looks like the saddest uber ever." [05:05]
[35:33] - [46:53]
A substantial portion of the episode is dedicated to reviewing the Turbo Flyin' Miata’s new California-compliant turbo kit.
Kit Features:
Zack explains the kit's compliance with California's stringent emissions standards: "It has a California 91 octane calibration and California compliant emission system." [36:15]. The modification involves replacing the factory catalytic converter with a turbo housing that meets emission regulations.
Performance Enhancements:
Matt details the performance boost, "The peak torque of the stock engine happens at 5,000 rpm. This happens at 4,000 rpm. You also get a lot more torque, obviously." [39:08]. They discuss the broader power band and the significant increase in horsepower, making the Miata notably quicker without compromising its lightweight agility.
Engineering Excellence:
Both hosts commend the engineering behind the kit, emphasizing that Flying Miata designs their kits in-house to ensure compatibility and performance: "They have actual powertrain engineers that ordered the different parts... it was their idea that they assembled." [37:00]
Driving Experience:
Zack shares firsthand experiences driving the turbocharged Miata, highlighting improved grip and responsiveness: "The balance and the agility of the Miata... it's like the amount of grip you would have coming through a corner." [42:20]
Recommendations:
They advise that upgrading brakes and cooling systems is essential when installing such performance kits to handle the increased power and maintain safety: "When you upgrade a power, the power by nearly 50%, you should upgrade the brakes too." [45:52]
[10:46] - [18:23]
The conversation shifts to the financial struggles of the Tesla Cybertruck, focusing on its significant depreciation and unsold inventory.
Depreciation Details:
Zack reveals alarming figures, "They have 10,000 unsold cybertrucks worth $800 million." [15:07]. They analyze the reasons behind this, attributing it to overproduction, unmet performance expectations, and the removal of promised features like the range extender.
Market Impact:
Matt reflects on how anticipation led to inflated deposits which couldn’t be met with actual deliveries: "Maybe they overproduced them." [17:33]. The hosts discuss the impact of these factors on Tesla’s financial health and market reputation.
Comparison with Slate:
Zack draws parallels with Slate, another company facing similar issues with pre-orders for their electric truck, questioning the viability of such business models: "They don't know how many of those orders will go through." [20:30]
[46:53] - [63:47]
The latter part of the podcast features a segment where Zack and Matt answer questions from their audience, sourced from Patreon.
Automotive Recommendations:
Nostalgia in Modern Cars:
A listener predicts growing nostalgia for 2000s to 2010s cars. Zack and Matt agree, highlighting models like the BMW M3 and Audi RS4 as exemplars of that era’s appeal.
Branding Critique:
[34:09] - [35:20]
Zack announces the upcoming Seaside to Sierra Road and Track event scheduled for late September, highlighting its premier location and guest racing driver Scott Pruitt. They emphasize the unique driving experience along the Sonoma to Tahoe route and offer car shipping services for attendees.
Volkswagen ID Buzz:
While visually appealing with nostalgic elements, the ID Buzz’s design choices and color options significantly influence its market reception. The move away from the "ID" nomenclature is expected in future models to better align with consumer expectations.
Turbo Enhancements:
Flying Miata’s California-compliant turbo kits offer substantial performance upgrades without compromising the Miata’s inherent agility. However, essential supporting modifications like improved brakes and cooling systems are necessary for optimal performance and safety.
Tesla Cybertruck Depreciation:
The Cybertruck faces severe depreciation due to overproduction and unmet performance promises. This situation underscores the risks associated with high pre-order volumes without corresponding delivery capabilities.
Community Engagement:
Listener questions reflect a deep interest in performance modifications, reliable automatic transmissions, and the enduring appeal of early 2000s cars. This engagement highlights the podcast’s role in fostering a knowledgeable automotive community.
Branding Strategies:
Effective branding, as seen with the Mustang Mach E, can leverage legacy and nostalgia to drive interest despite initial resistance. In contrast, the ID Buzz’s branding lacks the same impact, suggesting the importance of name recognition and emotional connection in vehicle marketing.
"ID Buzz. Don't mean nothing. They could have called it any number of things other than what they called it" — Zack Klapman [02:16]
"The balance and the agility of the Miata... it's like the amount of grip you would have coming through a corner." — Zack Klapman [42:20]
"They have 10,000 unsold cybertrucks worth $800 million." — Zack Klapman [15:07]
"When you upgrade a power, the power by nearly 50%, you should upgrade the brakes too." — Matt Farah [45:52]
"By the way, if you wanted to pump your stock. Right. That would be showing your new vehicle has 2 million pre orders is certainly a way to do it." — Zack Klapman [19:27]
This episode of The Smoking Tire offers a comprehensive look into the latest automotive developments, blending first impressions with in-depth technical reviews and market analysis. From the nostalgic charm of the ID Buzz to the high-performance upgrades of the Turbo Flyin' Miata, Zack and Matt provide valuable insights for automotive enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.