
Matt flew to Detroit to buy the cheapest Porsche Taycan he could find; Zack's M3 wrap project required WAY more work, sanding, and problem-solving than expected; a magical train carried the Farahs across Canada; and we answer Patreon questions about: The most unremarkable RHD car we've seen? Do tax incentives make EV depreciation worse? Ranking the Scandi Flick cars (2004 Subaru WRX STI, EVO 8, and Audi RS4) How to set up your new home garage What cars have no business sounding as good as they do? The LA fires Should you avoid the Porsche 7-speed manual? A Lexus with a manual transmission? Will we EVER see a day where zero new cars are for sale with a manual? Recorded January 27, 2025 Go to https://porsche.click/tst to check out everything the Porsche Track Experience has to offer! Exclusive $20-off Carver Mat at AuraFrames.com. Use code TIRE at checkout to save Check out the full lineup and get 15 percent off your first order at https://w...
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Matt Farah
Welcome back. We had a month off to get rested, do a bunch of travel, drive a bunch of stuff. And we appreciate you being patient because now we're back. It's the Smoking Tire podcast. And here we are. This week's episodes are brought to you by the Porsche Track Experience. That's right, it's a new advertiser and this week we're talking about some really fast Porsches, including the new GT3. And you might be thinking, huh, that new GT3 sounds pretty sick. Where can I drive one? Well, the Porsche Track Experience is how you do it. The HPDE program offered by Porsche and executed by Manthei Racing is the ideal entry point for every skill level from the first corner up into your entry into motorsport. They offer personal support to fit your individual driving goals and find the best suited events for you. They've got legendary tracks in Europe like Spa Monza or the Nurburgr. And they've got all the latest Porsche GT models, including the new 2025 Porsche GT3. Also available are cars with the Manti kits. To feel the difference for yourself, you could even rent full on race cars. You can learn from Porsche certified motorsport experienced instructors. The standards of the cars, events and tracks are to the highest safety standards from Manti and you can meet factory drivers and brand ambassadors as well as development engineers. For more information or booking, head over to Porsche, click tst. That's P O R S C H E C L I C K T S TST and ze spoks du spieke ze English. All right, we are back, baby. And on this episode, I have bought a new car from Detroit. It's an electric Porsche Taycan and we talk about that. Plus, I went all over the place. I took a train across Canada. My carbon footprint in January is terrible. My dad got a new car. Oh, my God. I went to Supercross. I had a whole reading list. And I went to Spain to drive the GT3. But you won't hear about it until the next episode. But a lot to catch up on. Plus, Zach has a brand new look for his vehicle. The Smoking Tire podcast has returned. Let's do it. Hello? Hello. I don't have. I don't have a good hello. I need a better.
Zach Klapman
I mean like a catchy hello. Yeah, that's what you mean. That's what you really mean.
Matt Farah
Hello, Washington.
Zach Klapman
Exactly.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Ladies and gentlemen, say what you want.
Matt Farah
About Alex Jones, but he had a hell of a hello.
Zach Klapman
He had a hell of everything. His face turned red all the time.
Matt Farah
Hell of a settlement.
Zach Klapman
I say oh, so bummed the Onion didn't get it.
Matt Farah
Oh, what a bummer.
Zach Klapman
Brilliant.
Matt Farah
So, I mean, I think the reason they didn't get there was some technicality. Not. Well, I don't know if you want to call it a technicality, but that would have been good times.
Zach Klapman
The judge, the settlement I read was that the judge said that they didn't believe that the Onion was going to make good to the creditors that Alex owed money to. So. Yeah.
Matt Farah
And if I'm the Onion, fair play. Your honor. Your honor.
Zach Klapman
Might not be our priority.
Matt Farah
Your honor, they will get paid eventually. At. Around. At exactly the same time Alex Jones was going to pay his settlement. We will pay ours.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I don't know.
Matt Farah
Hi. We didn't want to start on Alex Jones. I did not want to start there. Didn't mean it. Just ended up there. Spent a month without podcasting. Unless you were a pro driver, in which case, boy, did you get some good ass Radio juice. You learned about a lot of things.
Zach Klapman
We talked about products that are coming out in 2029. Stuff you can't even hear about.
Matt Farah
TST stock picks, 2025.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Jim Cramer came in. So just opposite. Trade him.
Matt Farah
Yeah. I have one bit of stock picking advice, and that is do whatever the fuck Nancy Pelosi is doing.
Zach Klapman
Oh, yeah. I mean, be a senator or a congressperson. Yeah.
Matt Farah
I've gone back on Reddit. Not actively, only passively, only looking, not talking. And one of the best places I found on Reddit so far is the Nancy Pelosi stock picker, which basically I don't do this, but I'm watching other people do it. They just make money by making the exact same moves Nancy Pelosi does.
Zach Klapman
True. So there's a company called Unusual Whales that actually has gotten super famous in the last two years. So the way this works is the congressperson or senator have to report their trades, but they don't have to report it in a good amount of time. In a quick time, they can do it like six months later. And the penalty is $200, which is adorable. But that's like this.
Matt Farah
They haven't increased the penalty since like 1840. That was like a lot of money.
Zach Klapman
It's so embarrassing.
Matt Farah
It's just. It's on the books.
Zach Klapman
But. So these companies will report what is reported, but it still shows. Hey, if they're still holding this, it might be interesting for you to look at. Yeah. But yeah, those people that have the insider information are really doing well. Really doing well.
Matt Farah
They're doing great. Doing great. I Don't want to talk about fires because we talked about it a bit on the pro show and it's sort of like there's a lot of things that still need doing, a lot of people that still need helping. But I think people are sort of tired of hearing about it constantly at this point.
Zach Klapman
I feel like it also rained last night, thank God.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Did that put out all the fires?
Zach Klapman
They're all like 94% now.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Okay.
Zach Klapman
It rained a lot, as it turns out.
Matt Farah
Yeah, this one thing helps.
Zach Klapman
The rain could have shown up sooner, would have been nice, the other things, but.
Matt Farah
But okay, lots are happening. I bought a taycan and drove it across the country. Talked about that on the pro show. I've got an article in Road and Track and a video coming out that we're editing right now about that trip. So you'll see that. And there's obviously in the chat for the pro drivers, there's a lot of the questions. There are a bunch about the taycan, so we'll talk about that in a bit. I don't know about you, Zach, but my carbon footprint in the month of January was fucking terrible.
Zach Klapman
You flew a lot.
Matt Farah
I flew. I had five trips in five weeks. I flew to Europe. We did do a lot of. I did take a lot of public transportation, actually. Trains, bunch of trains.
Zach Klapman
How many people were on that train total, do you think?
Matt Farah
Total?
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
A bunch. Probably like a couple.
Zach Klapman
How many cars? Is it five or six?
Matt Farah
Well, this train was 14 cars, including the locomotive and the luggage car. So like the three cars at the back were like the most luxury cars. And there's not very many people on those cars. But as you get towards the front and you get towards economy, it's like the inverse of a plane. Closer to the engine. Yeah, it's louder.
Zach Klapman
Okay.
Matt Farah
And. Yeah, and so it gets denser. So it's probably like a couple hundred people, I had to say. I think.
Zach Klapman
Okay, yeah, I forgot you told me about your cars, but I wasn't sure how many.
Matt Farah
Yeah, it wasn't like.
Zach Klapman
It was like 15 people on 7 cars.
Matt Farah
Huge diesel locomotive pulling 7 people.
Zach Klapman
Wanted to check.
Matt Farah
I do wonder what the minimum amount of horsepower you would need to effectively pull a train like that is. I mean, obviously it's a lot no matter what. I don't know what a. What's like. Can you just like look up what a standard diesel locomotive is in horsepower? Like the regular, like freight looking ones like that everyone is thinking of when you think of a diesel train locomotive?
Zach Klapman
Well, AI says the range is 600 to 4,500 horsepower.
Matt Farah
600 to 40. That's quite the spread.
Zach Klapman
AI Britannica says the same thing.
Matt Farah
Thank you for your fucking genius.
Zach Klapman
I mean, The RPMs are 350 to 2000.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Real low.
Matt Farah
That chugga chugga is. That's real.
Zach Klapman
Let's see. Someone says the big mainline GE locomotive makes 6,000 horsepower. Okay, that is three phase electric generators that make 2,000 horsepower. So that's. Yeah, diesel, I guess, powers the diesel.
Matt Farah
Powers the generator and the generator outputs.
Zach Klapman
That's a lot.
Matt Farah
Yeah, that's a good amount.
Zach Klapman
When the train's like a mile long.
Matt Farah
I'm sure the freighters and shit. As we were sitting in the sidings and the freighters were passing the other way, there'd be like two, sometimes three Locos up front. There would be one, maybe two Locos. Four Locos.
Zach Klapman
Wow.
Matt Farah
And then there'd be a mid loco. There's a 0.5 loco. Yeah. Waste. And the guy driving it. Four locos.
Zach Klapman
Also doesn't remember anything about that trip.
Matt Farah
Just like us on this Celsius. Yeah, dude. Oh, God. Every time I think about 4 loco, I have the same reaction. Just goes, oh, God. Because it only takes one night. A lot of people in college, they'll have a tequila night. That'll be like. And then I didn't drink tequila for 16 years.
Zach Klapman
Had one of those.
Matt Farah
Yeah, A gin night. I had both of those. And then there was the four Loco night. But they took it away from us and never gave back.
Zach Klapman
Probably a good idea. Like, the drink that followed it called Cocaine. And that was on the shelf for like, two months.
Matt Farah
Oh, right. Cocaine.
Zach Klapman
It was a red can. And the way cocaine was written was like in white powder script. And I think it arrived on shelves. And then someone who probably worked at the FDA saw it, was like, get the fuck out of here. Get this off the shelf.
Matt Farah
Well, there's a. You know, Hannah gets New York magazine, and there's an article in it this month. Maybe it was last month or this month. Whatever. I think the newest one about fucking kids are doing nitrous now. And they. So, like, you know, nitrous.
Zach Klapman
Are you gonna go hang out with them?
Matt Farah
Yeah, I was like, and what corner are they on? No, but like, a guy who runs a chain of head shops went to fucking, like, basically did the American gangster thing like Denzel did with heroin, but with nitrous. He just like. He was like, whip it, crackers. Get the fuck out of here. He, like, went to China and had a company make his ass like pony bottles that he then wrapped to look like SodaStream bottles. Sold them in boxes and it was called like Galaxy Gas. And you're just buying like disposable tanks and kids are coming in and doing like Walmart. Yeah. Like multiple of these tanks a day. Like, as someone who did a tank before, I've done a tank before, have done tanks. If people are doing this, like, if this is daily driver accessible, that's a major problem for society. You do not want a whole bunch of kids that have access to fucking tanks. Reason that in the past tanks were hard to get, they should not be easy to get.
Zach Klapman
And now it's just at Walmart and.
Matt Farah
Now you can just go. It's literally Walmart.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at the. Come on. There we go.
Matt Farah
Oh, no, that's it.
Zach Klapman
Watermelon lemonade, 1.2 liters.
Matt Farah
I mean, it's gotta be. Is Walmart just trying to be a platform here, like Amazon? Like, it's like, where's this? What's the seller? Does it say like a seller? Oh, yes, look. Sold and shipped by. See? Yeah. Now let's see.
Zach Klapman
So it's probably not on the shelf at Walmart. It's probably just.
Matt Farah
Yeah, yeah, it's through Walmart.com. yeah.
Zach Klapman
Five out of five stars. Yeah, I bet.
Matt Farah
Got me laded, yo. But like, that's crazy that you can buy it like that now. And oh, by the way, I forgot the kicker. It's flavored watermelon. They flavored it.
Zach Klapman
Well, don't you want watermelon whipped cream?
Matt Farah
This is the jewel of nitrous. And you should not be juuling nitrous.
Zach Klapman
That's true.
Matt Farah
So bad.
Zach Klapman
Well, you. I mean, I'm sure I've told you this for the record. I've never done nitrous. Never chose to do it as a. As a party favor. But in 2016, I was going to Burning man and I wanted to order CO2 because I was gonna make carbonated grapes, which I learned from living with you remember carbonated grapes were. Those were magic. That is, if anyone wants to make a cool party treat.
Matt Farah
Fuck, is that good?
Zach Klapman
You carbonate grapes, they bubble. It's awesome.
Matt Farah
It's exactly what you think it is. And it's a real goddamn delight.
Zach Klapman
It's a grape that has carbonated liquid in it.
Matt Farah
Imagine you could eat champagne.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, that's exactly right. Without the headache. It's fantastic. So I ordered this rack of what I thought were CO2 cap bottles, and I get there and I open them and I read it more closely, and I go, oh, shit, these are nitrous. This won't work. And my friend walks up and he goes, you gonna use those? I'm like, no, I can't use them for the grapes I was gonna make. He's like, I'll take them. And then he left. And then later that night, I just hear clink, clink. And it's just him with a bowl with empty. All the empty.
Matt Farah
Generous. Yep. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
He's also. He's very, very smart computer programmer. That's what he do this evening. That was really funny.
Matt Farah
I mean, listen, there's. We used to. A lot of people that most would consider very, very smart would spend their entire Sunday at my house doing a tank. But trust me, it should be hard to get. Like, you should only get to have it if you can figure out where to get it. That's like the step one, right? Congratulations. You figured out the puzzle. You can be rewarded with this, you know.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Be responsible.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
As responsible as one can be with a tank. They're talking about in this article. They're talking about people because they have a fucking mouthpiece on them.
Zach Klapman
So they're talking about, like, an emergency.
Matt Farah
Like, remember their chips that we got for Pike's Peak?
Zach Klapman
Yes.
Matt Farah
It's like ox that, but nitrous. It's that. And it's flavored. So they're buying it. They're fucking walking out the door, throwing the box in the garbage, going in their car, and ripp a tank in the parking lot outside the store.
Zach Klapman
How did that. I guess there's no governing body for this thing. Cause you go, it's totally unregulated. Yeah, of course. Because otherwise you go, how do you make whipped cream with this? Show us. But you don't need to. There's no way to show.
Matt Farah
The article talks about how they tend to take down their whole website. And now they put their website back up, and it's all these, like, cooking videos that have nothing to do with anything.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Because they're selling it for the same reason. They just have to make it look like it's for cooking. Yeah, absolutely.
Matt Farah
Folks, gotta take one quick break for Aura Frames who are supporting today's episode. Now, listen, we all know someone who loves taking photos. Maybe it's you, but their hundreds of pictures are just wasting away on their phone. Put them to good use. The unique, stylish digital picture frame from Aura Frames is. What's up. It was named the number one digital picture frame by Wirecutter and for a good reason. It's so easy to set up and there's different frame options. This is perfect. This is absolutely perfect because a my sister has young kids, right? And she likes to just dump all her photos of the young kids into this Cher album and it goes ding ding, ding, ding. It's blowing up my phone constantly. So here's what I did. I got the Aura frames. I said, don't put them in the shared icloud photo where it's blowing up my phone. Put it in the aura frame folder and that way the photo goes into the frame. It's sitting on my desk here. And when I'm at home, I see the new pictures, but it's not constantly ding ding, ding on my phone. It is perfect. It comes with unlimited storage. All you need is the free Aura app and a wifi connection. Upload as many photos and videos as you want year round. Now, right now you can save on the perfect gift that keeps on giving by visiting auraframes.com that's a U R A frames.com Listeners can get $20 off the best selling Carver mat frame with code Tire T I R E that's Aura frames. A U R A FR frames.com promo code tire. And don't forget to mention that we sent you to show support for the show. Terms and conditions apply. It's fucking crazy. Well, that's. Here's why that's about cars. Because these people are buying it and going to their cars, huffing a fucking tank and then driving away.
Zach Klapman
Are they driving? Are they sitting there for a while?
Matt Farah
Well, what do you do? Take a nap? The implication in the article, which was quotes from the people who worked in the store who were very concerned of what they were selling, was that, you know, people would buy the thing, sit in their car for fucking 10 minutes and then drive away. But if you've just done a volume of nitrous of any kind, you should not be anywhere near a car.
Zach Klapman
Okay?
Matt Farah
Even once the Wa wa wa wa. Even when that stops, you should not be driving.
Zach Klapman
If the wa wa lasts longer than four hours, contact your doctor.
Matt Farah
Oh, shit. Then you have not done nitrous. You have done something else. Oh, shit. So, yeah, let's see. We're not gonna talk about the GT3 today. We're gonna talk about the GT3 next show. Because even though by the time most people listen to this show, it'll be after the embargo. Mm, we'll have a video on the embargo. So go watch that if you need to. Wait. You want to hear More detail. More. More whatever. Then we'll have it next show. My phone let me down, though, on that. My iPhone. Mini. This audio thing.
Zach Klapman
Well, that let you down on Taycan.
Matt Farah
What a bummer. Let's. Let's talk about your car, because we didn't get to talk about your car last week because you wanted everybody to hear. Very important.
Zach Klapman
Well, yeah, you know, 405 motoring was very nice. Them and Pure PPF hooked me up and gave me a very nice discount on this process. So I obviously don't want to tell that story to just a thousand people. Same reason we talk about press cars on the public forum also. But I was not prepared when I started this journey. I was not prepared for how long it would take and also just how many processes my specific car would require. I'd like to preface everything by saying if you have a normal car with OEM paint, you probably won't have to deal with the shit I dealt with or that 405 dealt with, really, because we had a lot of discoveries along the way.
Matt Farah
Your car doesn't have any paint left.
Zach Klapman
It does.
Matt Farah
No, it has.
Zach Klapman
It has some paint in some parts now.
Matt Farah
Does it?
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Like primer paint or like the blue paint.
Zach Klapman
Some blue paint.
Matt Farah
Okay.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. They didn't sand the entire. They didn't sand the entire car to primer. They did sand all of the clear coat so that the. So here. So the thing with. With wrap is if you're putting it on a car that has really good, fresh, ish. Clear coat that's not falling apart, like mine literally was. I mean, I have photos, then you can just put it on there. But if your clear coat is so old that it's peeling off, which mine was, because here's a photo for everybody. And this is just one spot.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So in four different places, my clear coat was literally just peeling back. Like, you know, you cook eggs on a pan and then you leave that pan and it just starts to lift. And so because of that, they couldn't trust that the wrap would stick to the clear and that the clear wouldn't lift underneath that. And that ended up happening. We'll get to that. So this is why they said, well, we're gonna have to scuff the clear all over the place. And they said, are you okay with that? And I said, yes, because it looks like shit.
Matt Farah
Yeah, I mean, there's. There was no going back from this anyway. It's wrap or paint at this point.
Zach Klapman
Exactly. It was wrapper paint. That's what I was faced with. And sure. The car here looks pretty nice. That's because you can't see the bad.
Matt Farah
Parts, but, yeah, you could. Yeah, there's angles.
Zach Klapman
There's angles where it's pretty good.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
If you clean it.
Matt Farah
If you were trying to sell it ace, though, you could.
Zach Klapman
I could get them to show up, but then they'd go, what's this? It's like when someone takes the first picture on the ad is the front, and then you realize it's convertible. Yeah, that's very popular in the E46 sales community. They don't tell you it's a vert. They just say E46.
Matt Farah
Very, very funny.
Zach Klapman
But, like, you know, the left. A pillar was fucked up.
Matt Farah
Where are all the yellow tabs? Here's a picture. It looks like you're doing aerodynamic testing in 1964.
Zach Klapman
It does work. Yeah. Me and Pete Brocker designing the new jee Ford gt. So I dropped the car off, and they go, hey, do you want us to. We're gonna fill all the pits and all the bumps and all the dings in it. Because if you put new paint or wrap on something, if you don't fill those little parts, it's gonna be really obvious. You're gonna have all these little valleys that are, you know, just covered. So I said yes. I came back, like, a week later. I didn't know how bad my car was. And like you said, it looked like a crime map of any major city. And each yellow tag is a crime. I mean, there were. What is. This is the left side for people listening. Probably 25 pieces of yellow tape on this side with scuff. And they prime it, and they fill things.
Matt Farah
Your car looks like a crime has happened.
Zach Klapman
Also, these are all blood splatters.
Matt Farah
It literally looks like you're in a police impound. And they go, sir, it's just covered in. It's covered in evidence.
Zach Klapman
There's just too much evidence.
Matt Farah
It's an orgy of evidence on your car. And by the way, did you have a front bumper last night? And was it all one color?
Zach Klapman
Did you discard the bumper? What kind of evidence was on the bumper? Sure, I burned it in the barrel. The bumper got taken off because my car had this stock front plate mount, which is huge, and left four big holes in the plastic, and they filled them for me.
Matt Farah
Okay, cool.
Zach Klapman
In hindsight, I wish I had looked at FCP Euro first to see how much you can get a Euro bumper for, because it's actually about the same price as getting all the holes filled.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So if you're gonna do if you're gonna fill the holes on your bumper. BMW owners just.
Matt Farah
Just consider replacing the bumper.
Zach Klapman
Plastic injection has gotten a lot cheaper. It's a lot cheaper to get a new part now.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. So these are all the different dings. So the plan was, all right, so they're gonna fill these holes. They scuff this the clear down. They put the wrap over it. Right. So this is what the color looks like. So lovely. Starting to wrap it. This is obsidian green metallic. And the amount of work they do is insane. Like tucking, hiding all of these seams, rolling it over the fenders so that when the lights are on, it you can't see where the blue starts. It's really impressive how tightly done it is. And the color ppf, which this is, is thicker than the regular vinyl, so it's harder to get it to stick.
Matt Farah
To the color change. It's the PPF one, too, so. Well, it's a good thing that that shitty finish is protected under there. God forbid.
Zach Klapman
Well, no, what it does is it protects the color.
Matt Farah
Right.
Zach Klapman
Because the vinyl people are familiar with is thinner. And when you expose it to UV for a long time, it's like fades and lifts.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So this should last a lot longer.
Matt Farah
And it's also normal vinyls, like, three or four years. And PPF is usually eight to nine years.
Zach Klapman
They say this is like five. Okay. Because it's still complicated, but it's stronger. Versus if you wrapped your car before and you wanted to protect it, you have to do PPF over the wrap. So just double the cost.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Which is high.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So this shit's rad. And I mean, they have so many different colors, it was kind of hard to choose. But then I go in one day, and I say, how come the hood's off the car again? And they go, oh, you haven't seen your hood, which is never a good thing. Yeah. And they bring me in here. And so what they. What they did is they wrapped the hood, they came back, and it was separating, and they thought the glue was letting go, and it was that the hood had been resprayed, and that paint was letting go from the OEM clear underneath it. So someone had not done a very good prep job on the original scuffed OEM clear. And when they painted it, it was like cheese coming off your hamburger because it hasn't melted correctly.
Matt Farah
Well, this is now a photo of the hood with zero paint on it.
Zach Klapman
It is bare aluminum. It looks like it was being made in a factory in 1950 by Italians. Yeah. That was alarming.
Matt Farah
And good opportunity for punched louvers while you're in there.
Zach Klapman
I know. I kind of thought about it. I was getting real ham punch louvers. I kept going in there, like, you want us to do this?
Matt Farah
Like, I used to have Rod Emery's phone number today the day I call this.
Zach Klapman
Or what I could have also done is hit up Peter at Guntherwerks in Vorsteiner, and he probably would have sent me a couple of hood.
Matt Farah
I probably would have sent you a carbon hood in two seconds.
Zach Klapman
You probably would have. So couple of mistakes made. Should have replaced it.
Matt Farah
And.
Zach Klapman
Well, I don't love the look of vented hoods, especially because I'm not racing the car.
Matt Farah
Sure.
Zach Klapman
So for me, I'd rather have the full coverage.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
But it is just funny that. I mean, I didn't have to go through this before or five went through, like, weeks of trouble dealing with this bullshit and could have seen a headache. Yeah.
Matt Farah
But, like, what if you weren't you and didn't have friends to call who could do this? And a platform to trade exposure for this kind of stuff, which is what we're doing. You did pay them, but it's a discount for sure. What is the fucking retail price on this?
Zach Klapman
Over 10? Yeah, it's over 10. Depends on material, car color. It's.
Matt Farah
It.
Zach Klapman
I mean, it's expensive. Like, it is expensive.
Matt Farah
And what for funsies.
Zach Klapman
Sure.
Matt Farah
I imagine you called Shont. Oh, right here.
Zach Klapman
Paint shop.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
I did not call him.
Matt Farah
You didn't?
Zach Klapman
I don't. Because some of the sections that I have had repainted were having problems. So I didn't. I'll probably. I'll cut his name out. But some of the sections I had. Had painted by a previous place were having clear coat issues.
Matt Farah
Okay.
Zach Klapman
Now that could be because they were laid over a section that was previously painted. I don't know.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
But what they found out again is after they had scuffed the clear on a bunch of different parts, they came back two days later, and the clear was starting to lift after being scuffed.
Matt Farah
But you didn't get a comparison for.
Zach Klapman
Well, I asked Avis, I said, if you were gonna get a car painted, you know, near OEM spec, what would that cost from a shop you guys use? They said 15 to 20. So. And then I talked to some of your guys that work here. They have friends that run paint shops, and they got quotes of like five. But I said, all right, well, what's the prep like? And they were like, oh, well, they sand it quick and they shoot it on the car. Like, do they take the trim off? Do they shoot it or do they tape it? Like, what I learned basically is with any bodywork, it's how much attention do you want paid to the car? I mean, you can obviously go to Mako and get a color put on it, or you can go somewhere in between, or you can go OEM level where they take the whole car apart.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So it just depends on how much you want to spend, how long you want it to last, what you want to look like, etc.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
For me.
Matt Farah
But what's funny is, like, let's assume you do keep this car indefinitely by kicking the 15 to 20 down the road. Five years.
Zach Klapman
Sure.
Matt Farah
It costs you. I have 35. You know, it costs you a grip more. That is valid, you know, so it's. It's. I mean, a lot of people do this. It doesn't make you. You know, it's just a math problem. Right. It's like, is it worth saving up and biting the bullet now? Or, you know, do I kick the can down the road? But I. That. That bill is still coming, even if I get you.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. I. I don't. I don't know what I'll do with it in four years. You know, I will either decide to bite the bullet and go, okay, I'm going to paint this thing back to the topaz blue because I like that color, or I'll just. I'll sell the car or I'll decide I'm gonna keep it. But it's now only a fun weekend track car or something, and then the wrap can stay and start to shred, and that's fine.
Matt Farah
And you know what? I suppose there's a third door there which is, you know, in five years, or whenever it starts to look not great, you know, you take the wrap off, and presumably it's good to rewrap underneath also that. So you could rewrap it for a lot less money, you know, so you could kind of indefinitely keep that going, and you could wrap it four times for the cost of one paint job.
Zach Klapman
Very true.
Matt Farah
You know, also, like, at a certain point, this car will either be a race car.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Matt Farah
Or a drift toy or something, or fully restored. Fully.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
These are your only. Or you. Or you sell it, or you're just like, I can't. You know, and either you go find another one that's like, quote better or whatever your next thing is.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Those are the three paths I also see, you know, I'll either have enough money or enough love for it. I go, I want this resprayed perfectly. Or, you know, or just be like, all right, I'm done. It's not. It's no longer my everything car, so I can drive it hard. I'll keep the green on for as long as it lasts, and that's fine. It was also a fun way to experiment with a new color without repainting. Because the thing about repainting, if you repaint your car, the OEM color, that's what you should do. Because the engine bay, you don't want to repaint. Yeah, but if I wanted to paint.
Matt Farah
My car, my fox body had a red engine bay.
Zach Klapman
Exactly. So you have to either decide, am I going to leave the engine bay blue but then paint the car green?
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Or do I take the whole engine out, which would cost, you know, who knows, 5,000 more dollars, and then paint the whole engine bay as well.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So there's a lot of different decisions people have to make. And I understand, like, look, this is an expensive thing to have done. Most of the cars in that shop were worth way more money, as were their owners, than my car or myself. I mean, this is an expensive process, and they do seriously amazing work. Like, they took the whole car apart. They took trim off. They took lights off.
Matt Farah
Do you have new lights?
Zach Klapman
I have new lights, corners, seals. FCP Euro hooked me up with new trim, new grills. Because if you're gonna replace a new.
Matt Farah
Car on the outside.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Then you open the door.
Zach Klapman
Then you open the door and you go, oh, it's the same cracked interior.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
They did the door jam. I mean, they did a lot of work, like, so I want to give credit to 24 05, because I saw a wrap at the FCP Euro Show. It wasn't their car. It was someone participating. And the wrap was lifting on the trunk. It was like you could see wrinkles in the corners.
Matt Farah
Bad rap is really bad.
Zach Klapman
A cheaply done rap immediately jumps out at you.
Matt Farah
We have. I love the guy, and I feel bad even bringing this up specifically because the car I'm talking about burned in his garage in the Palace. It's fire, but he bought it. He's one of our clients. He's also a friend of mine, and he keeps. You know, he kept it here most of the time. At the time. At the time the fire happened, he had it at home, and his daily was sitting here, which is unfortunate. But he had it wrapped, and he took it to the dealer, which, like, they're not fun, you know. By the way, bit of advice. Never do that. Never, never do any kind of customizing through your dealer unless it's the very rare dealer, like a Galpin store or, you know, maybe like a Rick Hendrick store or something that is really doing that type of custom work on site. Because otherwise they're just using some local vendor and marking it up like 20%.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Matt Farah
So, like, you shouldn't go through a dealer. But he got this wrap, came back, and it was. This is on a car that was deep in six figures, but, like, the badges weren't, like lined up quite right. And some of the corners were just like, not great. And like, we sent it back.
Zach Klapman
I was like, whoa, Good on you guys.
Matt Farah
I was like, no, this is. This is not good.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it's. There was an R8 that was there getting the same color. And I mean, they had all the panels off and they have to hide. Hide all those corners. I mean, watching them figure out how to do it was really interesting. And new cars are easier.
Matt Farah
Looks great. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
So, yeah, now it's done. Yeah. And it looks awesome. And a bunch of people thought, I got it painted, which is a great compliment to. To the film and to the work they did.
Matt Farah
It looks like paint. I mean, it really does. You'd have to look, you know, on undersides of body panels really, to tell it it's not. And it feels like paint when you touch it.
Zach Klapman
And they ceramic coated it too. That's another thing. Like, you know, they did that, that's included in your service, which is like a pretty expensive thing to have done. But all that it matters, it makes it look a lot.
Matt Farah
A lot of people. Everyone. Whenever we have a car done through 405 or through you, one of our other vendors, we always do the ceramic on top of the fine. It's. It's. Even when it's clear, it just makes sense to do. Makes it a lot easier to clean. Yeah, it just makes dust and shit just comes right off it.
Zach Klapman
Yes. Yeah, my car's clean as my car's ever been, pretty much.
Matt Farah
It looks amazing. It looks good on the wheels. The wheels.
Zach Klapman
Oh, yeah. I got Apex RT of the wheels.
Matt Farah
Yeah, they remind me of the wheels that JF had on his M3, which in a video I think I incorrectly referred to as CSL wheels and got fucking roasted. But they look very nice.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, I did bronze wheel fork apex.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
I really love the way the shape of them and the color. I was thinking about doing gold because the gold would kind of Work with the flake, but you have gold on the spider. And I didn't want to, you know, gold compete for the champagne.
Matt Farah
Gold is, I mean, with that. It would work with that color. Guys, got to take one more quick break for Truewerk. Truewerk is hell bent on creating the most technical high performance workwear in the world. The the true work story begins in the Colorado mountains where a trade worker knew there had to be a better solution than the wet heavy gear that was weighing him down. And true work was born. They talked a real big game. When they hit me up, they said, this is going to be the best pair of pants. This is going to be the best sweatshirt you've ever worn. And you know what? They weren't wrong. The sweatshirt was really well fitted. It was light, it's warm, it's comfortable, it's got good pockets, really xxl, which is a size I wear. It fit true to size. The pants fit me perfectly. Don't need to take them to a tailor. They have good stretch, good fit, but they're not super tight. And I wore them hiking last week and they were great. Now every Truewerk product is engineered for maximum comfort, protection and efficiency with minimum bulk or extra weight. The denim and cotton canvas styles haven't changed much for over 200 years. Well, TrueWerk upgrades traditional classics by using the same fabrics worn by elite outdoor athletes. Give them to you to wear every day. The soft, stretchy sweat wicking soft shell work pants, that's what I've got. Are a major upgrade over wet heavy jeans. And the wind and waterproof shells use intelligently placed insulation for streamlined warmth that lets you stay mobile and agile. Upgrade to TrueWerk for a major change in the way you work. Truewerk helps you be your best when your best matters most. You can wear them for work, you can wear them for play, you can wear them to lounge, you can wear them as casual cl. I wear them for hiking. They are great. So check out the full lineup and get 15% off your first order at Truework. That's W E R K T R U E w e r k.com tire that's 15% off at T-R-U-E-W-E-R-K.com tire and now back to the show I'm talking about to the homies at HRE about wheels for the Taycan because the wheels fucking suck.
Zach Klapman
They're weird looking, they suck. They're very geometric and the Taycan is a wonderful smooth, round, organic shape.
Matt Farah
Here's a specific way in which they suck. They look like they're silver and black. So it's like an aerodynamic style. From. In this photo on the gram, all you really see is the silver. And if all you see is the silver of the wheel, it's the same design as the GT3 wheel or my spider wheel. Actually. The silver is the same shape as the whole wheel would be, but there's an aero disc in between the spokes that's about, I don't know, half the size of the diameter of the wheel. Like a dinner plate. It basically covers the whole brake and it just looks like shit. And I'm sure it's aerodynamic, but it looks like shit and I don't like it. And that's fine because it's a very easy thing to change. And so I was gonna do a wrap, but we can't do a wrap, really, because we need to mount cameras to this car. It has to be a chase car. And you can't mount cameras effectively to vinyl without damaging the vinyl. So it's not really worth it. It'll look like crap. So, okay, we live with white. Here is how we're going to live with white. Number one, the Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo. Mine is a four. It's the slow one, which is still pretty fast. Actually. The Turbo comes with painted fender arches. These are Subaru Outback black plastic, so we can order them Arstrada, shout out to them arling at our strada here in LA for the oem. This is who you go to. This is who everybody who's a in LA goes to for shit Porsche won't sell you. And he does it. He did my brakes, he did my side scoops, all that good shit. So we get the turbo fender flares in primer from the factory, which you can get. They're 1000 bucks for the set. And then we get the Euro side marker lights, which are the clear, like mine have.
Zach Klapman
Oh, okay.
Matt Farah
Okay. I get the euro mirror glass from Suncoast, the convex. And then we paint the flares body color white. The Turbos, even though they're painted, it's contrast, gloss, black in all the colors. We're gonna go body color, which will make it look like a nice little kind of wide body.
Zach Klapman
It'll look lower too. Yeah.
Matt Farah
And then I think we're gonna do the HRE 522, which looks like the Turbo twist.
Zach Klapman
Oh. One of the owners of 405 has those on his 992 Turbo. Now.
Matt Farah
Does it look awesome?
Zach Klapman
It looks. I think it's Too big on that car. These are big. Well, it also depends on what size you get.
Matt Farah
So not the 522M. That's the 522M, which is the mono block. The 522 is the two piece version of it. So it's got the turbo twist in the center and then a chrome outer lip. Lip. And there is a photo of it on a white taycan that basically is that there. There it is on the Tycon top. Top right. That's it. Full, full frame. Habibi with that. Because this looks. Oh, we have to go find it in the gallery.
Zach Klapman
That's annoying. But this one with a chrome lip.
Matt Farah
That's it. Yeah, that photo works too. So this one is on a sport Turismo which has no fender flares. The sport Turismo has the naked sort of side and the. Yeah, look at that. So it's a turbo twist style wheel inspired by the classic turbo twist on the 993 and the 996. But it has that chrome lip. And if we're gonna stay with white, that presents opportunity. Everyone likes white and gold, but it's been done. In fact, that photo I tried to point you was white and gold. So what if we tried something else like pop of color?
Zach Klapman
This is white and bronze.
Matt Farah
Oh, is that bronze? Okay, so yeah, bronze, gold, whatever. Is this the same car's wheel? That might be the same car.
Zach Klapman
I don't know if it's the same car, but this is. Yeah, this is bronze.
Matt Farah
So bronze. So I'm thinking maybe something else. Maybe we try. I was like kicking around maybe like chocolate, like a bit of. That has a bit of a shine flake.
Zach Klapman
That could be cool. A gold flaky chocolate, but like a nice brown.
Matt Farah
Yeah, like that could be kind of fire. Right on white. That could work.
Zach Klapman
I mean, I don't know. Hra, do they have all the wheels up on the wall? You can look at the wheel.
Matt Farah
They do I have to go down there and play. Yeah. And they have a configurator too. It's.
Zach Klapman
I like seeing it in person. Like seeing how that finish really looks.
Matt Farah
Oh, for the finish. Yeah. But they could do the configurator with the wheels on my car for sure. Ye.
Zach Klapman
And I think having the chrome lip and making the spokes a little bit smaller really helps. Because when on the M and you know, on the M, if the wheel's really big, it just looks like the spoke is reaching into the tire, which is just not what I want.
Matt Farah
The M is the one that looks really good. On the Carrera gt, if you go back to Hre's website, there's a couple photos of the 522M on Carrera GT and it looks.
Zach Klapman
This is a very cool looking wheel. The twisted spoke is sick.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Oh, here we go.
Matt Farah
Yeah. If you hit gallery. So here's a bunch of finishes and then if you go to the gallery there, there's the take on.
Zach Klapman
If you.
Matt Farah
If you want. But the. Anyway, so that's kind of where I'm at right now. No, that's a Ferrari. Oh, that's good too. Look at that. It's a Ferrari lusso with those wheels. I mean I probably wouldn't choose it for those. But that might have been what that other photo was from.
Zach Klapman
I don't know. The thumbnails are small, but either way.
Matt Farah
It'S a pretty cool looking wheel. That's kind of where I'm at.
Zach Klapman
That's cool.
Matt Farah
And then we'll do a little test to see. We'll weigh it compared to the stock wheel.
Zach Klapman
The weight difference of my apexes versus stock ones.
Matt Farah
Oh, yeah.
Zach Klapman
Holy shit. Like, I think it's like £10.
Matt Farah
Can you feel it on the street?
Zach Klapman
I felt when I picked it up because I had to tighten down my stud kit and I was like, I can actually pick up this wheel no problem.
Matt Farah
You can usually feel it when you drive if the wheel's that much lighter.
Zach Klapman
I haven't been to the canyons yet because of, you know.
Matt Farah
Yeah, I'm playing it by ear every single day for what I actually think. On what day? I think maybe tomorrow. I might go in that Cayenne we've got outside. I might go for a drive just to scout what is open.
Zach Klapman
Someone said the zoos is open. 39.
Matt Farah
The 39 is open on Google. Sorry. We're gonna go inside Baseball Bouquet Canyon. So, dude, right before the fucking Hughes, like the day the Hughes fire started, someone was like, where are we going to do. What are you going to film? Where are you going to film? It was Peter from Gunther because we got the Gunther Turbo coming tomorrow. Oh boy. And I was like, oh, thank God. You know, the forest is closed, blah, blah. But like we've got Lake Hughes Road and like that's where we filmed the mule car. Like it'd be perfect. And then an enormous fire opens up there. And that road will probably be closed for fucking year. Maybe, I don't know, maybe not. But. But it's closed now. But the 39, ooh, that might be.
Zach Klapman
That's a great road.
Matt Farah
That Might be a good time. Yeah. Okay. So I'm super stoked on your car and I'm super stoked on my new car. And there'll be a lot of content on the Taycan, so we don't need to dwell on it today. But if you have questions, let's get them in the chat. The Bentley's going for sale soon. Wednesday. Derek, my master, master detailer who works with Larry Kosilla is coming to detail it for sale for anyone who's interested. This is like a $2,000 detail. I'm having done with this car. John Harper is gonna photograph it for me. He's been doing some really good work. He photographed that green turbo we put on Bring a trailer. Did a really nice job there. Got big money. So he's gonna photograph it and then I'm sending it down to San Diego for Dougie. Doug's gonna do a little video with it too. We have to do a wrap up video for the maintenance because the game was, could I daily this car for a year for less than it would cost me to lease a mid priced electric crossover? I used a Mach E as an example. And so we will talk about the cumulative effects of Bentley maintenance after a year. And the car. I'm putting the car for sale in as perfect condition as I can possibly make it. Like, other than the slight evidence of wear and tear for 24,700 miles. A little acorn ding on the trunk, you know, an acorn like fell on it and like the slightest hint of use. This is, this car is in as perfect condition as I can make it. I had Charlie, I said, this car is going for sale whatever you find. And boy did he find it. Kicked me in the dick on the way out.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
So like, did I tell you about this one a couple weeks ago we had three or four months with nothing to write home about with the Bentley just chugging along like an old British train. It was great. All of a sudden I start to feel a little bit bit of friction in the steering. That feels almost like someone's dropped four or five grains of sand in the shaft. And like most of the time it's smooth. And then it would just catch the littlest bit on a grain of sand and then move on. And it was inconsistent where those little catches would happen, but it's something that I could feel in my fingertips. I took it to Charlie and I said, you know, in addition to everything else for the sale. And I said, and there's, I said, it feels like there's a Little sand in the steering. And so he drives it and he goes, oh my. He drives it. Okay, I feel it. Yeah, he takes it apart. Well, there's a little plastic bushing inside the steering column around the steering shaft. Right? Plastic. 35 years old. And the bits of. It's plastic. And so it's cracked. Some little bits have come off it, and they're knocking around in there as you're steering.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Matt Farah
Okay. It's like a fucking plastic. Like, you know, 1 inch or 2 inch. Bleh. Well, not only is the part not available, the plastic, little bit that's not available. Not only is it not available now, it was never available. It was never designed to be replaced individually. Now Charlie says he has never seen one break. This is the first time he's been working on these cars since 1970. This is the first time he's seen one break. Okay, what do I do, Charlie? Well, we have to get you a refurbished steering column, the whole unit for this little bit of plastic.
Zach Klapman
So here's a question. He's never seen one break. Fine. They don't sell the individual part. Interesting. Because if they're refurbishing the unit, do they not replace that part when they refurbish said unit? No, nothing Charlie does.
Matt Farah
No, they find one that's good enough and they refurbish the things around it. Oh, boy. Now, my second thought is, well, there has to be some way for people to 3D print replacements for this. But if this is the first time one he's ever seen break, then the demand isn't even there for one person to spend five minutes replacing.
Zach Klapman
Right. You are the. You are the market.
Matt Farah
And if I was a hobby, if I was Jay Leno and had the tools and probably has a 3D printer and like, like, you know, new people who could do that, like, maybe, but I just want to fix the car so that I can sell it and move on to the next thing. So in the very last thing, I. This whole time, I'm, you know, I'm driving this thing for a year, and it's, you know, things have broken, and it's mostly just that is made of plastic or gasket and over the course of a very long time has aged out and needs replacing. And I'm a weenie. Like, I saw like three drops of oil on the ground and went, that wasn't there yesterday.
Zach Klapman
And it went to Charlie rookie numbers.
Matt Farah
And it ended up, yeah, but like.
Zach Klapman
And no, I know not everybody. That's how you are. You take really good care of your cars.
Matt Farah
And part of the experiment is fixing everything. Like, I was willing to burn money on fixing everything that needed fixing to a fucking T. Most people, if, when the rear windows stopped going down, wouldn't call Charlie and go, I need to bring it in right now. They would like live with that for a little while. Like, I'm not that three drops of oil. Oh, you need to replace your fucking brake booster. Okay. Like, we just did it all. So anyway, I just wanted to be done with it at this point because while driving it is much more interesting and fun than driving, say an 80s or 90s Mercedes. Mercedes. Eventually you get to the sort of same place where the novelty of it does kind of wear off a little bit. And especially if you're daily. If it's a weekend car and you're fucking rolling, like, I totally get it. You could, you could extend the fun for a long time.
Zach Klapman
But that's also probably when people defer maintenance because it's a weekend thing, who cares? They can just. I don't need the back windows. I just drive it to dinner sometimes. Yeah.
Matt Farah
And there's stuff where if it was just me, I'd put up with it. But Hannah's drive driving it. And if I put my wife in a project car, she's not. And she's a fine driver. I would get in a car with her any day and know that she will get us there without crashing. She's not an enthusiast and that's fine. She is an enthusiast.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, she likes to talk.
Matt Farah
She's an enthusiast in her own way, but she's not an enthusiast driver in the way that we would be. When I drive a press car versus my own brand new car versus my own old car, I drive differently. Hannah doesn't do that. She has driving. That's what she has. And so when she went from an electric crossover to a 35 year old British car with hydraulic brakes, she didn't change her driving. And I, partially out of curiosity, partially out of being a good husband, didn't want to tell her too much about, hey, you have to do this differently. Because she'd be like, why did you get a thing that I have to do differently? I don't want to do that. And she's probably right. But I also wanted to see if like, you know, does the car need to be driven super gingerly or not? So the answer is not really actually, but. But still breaking distances and shit like that. And I started to be like, okay, we need, I need Hannah to have like breaks like real good, good Brakes, like sharp handling, things like that.
Zach Klapman
Things that that car does not deliver.
Matt Farah
She likes to, let's just say, follow a little close.
Zach Klapman
I do that too. Sarah gets nervous.
Matt Farah
So if she's, you know, following close, close in a, in a 91 Bentley.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Is.
Matt Farah
You're just, you're just asking for it.
Zach Klapman
You're being very optimistic that nothing will happen to the car in front of you because, you know. No, you don't want to make sure you don't have to hit the brakes quickly.
Matt Farah
Yeah. And let me tell you what I don't want to have to do. Be all, honey, you need to change your driving. I don't. There's things I don't say.
Zach Klapman
I'm with you. Yeah, I get it.
Matt Farah
Yeah. I don't. I. I let her. I let her figure those things out and then I go. That's because. That's because this. If I have to.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. There's a hand position conversation I've had once and I don't want to have again. Yes, 100%.
Matt Farah
Oh my God. But so the, the look, the, the Bentley is awesome. And it's, you know, it truly, truly is probably the nicest one you're gonna find in. Around. It's great.
Zach Klapman
So you're gonna replace the steering shaft and all this shit.
Matt Farah
Oh, it's already done. Car's downstairs. It's already done. Yeah, it's done. I mean, the good news is like, like Charlie, I mean when that guy retires, everybody in LA with one of these cars is so fucked. But like it's never down that long. Like I've heard stories about this months for parts or whatever. Like Charlie, he's expensive, but he knows where to get shit.
Zach Klapman
Well, is, is the parts from. Are people waiting for parts per month? Are they in la? Are they in other places? Like, like, I don't know.
Matt Farah
I've heard other places.
Zach Klapman
I'm sure that the concentration of Bentleys is higher here than anywhere else in the country. Except maybe like Miami.
Matt Farah
Hoover had a lot of problems getting.
Zach Klapman
Parts for his Turbo R. Oh, in Indiana.
Matt Farah
In Kansas. Kansas, whatever. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
You don't say. I understand why. But like Charlie's probably has. I mean, those garages are always full. Yeah, there's plenty of. The number of foreign car repair places, independent shops in Los Angeles is wild. Like, you just drive down any major artery street, count them as you go across 10 miles of the city. You're gonna count dozens. Says there's a big number.
Matt Farah
His is always full.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. On a similar note, I brought my car to Office Autosport to get oil change and get the alignment checked. Because Thaddeus drove my car and he said it felt like it was tramlining a bit much compared to his. So now I have new Bridgestone Race R compounds on it. Harder sidewall, like all these things. But I wanted to get it checked because the steering, like you said, has also been feeling grainy, weird. And I thought. And I found a little puddle on the ground and it wasn't oil. And I said, all right, it's probably power steering hose. I have new hoses.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Happen to have them from a couple years ago. And I go to Avis. I'm like, here's this hose. If that's what's going on, just give me a call, let me know what the deal is. And Sandro texts me and he goes, you need more parts because all of your hoses are leaking.
Matt Farah
You need more parts.
Zach Klapman
He's like, I'm glad you brought these hoses. We need more hoses and a reservoir. So much like your situation. I. I left going, I'm not gonna do that today because I need to save money or maybe do it in my new garage space. But yeah.
Matt Farah
Yep, it's. That's old car life.
Zach Klapman
Old car life, yeah.
Matt Farah
Real excited for my 3 year unlimited mile warranty.
Zach Klapman
I get it, I get it.
Matt Farah
But. So anyway, the. The Bentley will be going up on cars and bids soonish, which I'm not exactly sure on the timing, but we have a lot of questions to get to real quick. While we were gone, I did a lot of reading. A lot of flying, a lot of trains, A lot of reading. If you want to get caught up with my reading list for the month of January, three books, pretty straightforward. Escaping the Rabbit Hole is one that I liked. It's by a guy who talks people out of cults and conspiracy theories. He sort of deprograms conspiracy theorists. Kind of interesting stuff.
Zach Klapman
Mick West.
Matt Farah
Yeah, Mick West. That's it. Typhoid Mary by Anthony Bourdain. So did you know Anthony Bourdain in like 2002, wrote a book about Typhoid Mary?
Zach Klapman
No.
Matt Farah
And it's really interesting because Typhoid Mary was a chef, actually. So it's written about her from the perspective of another chef.
Zach Klapman
Wow.
Matt Farah
Which I think gives it a. And it's Anthony Bourdain, who was a great writer. And so it's full of really great phrasing, great prose, great. Just really a fun reading. Read the whole thing in about a two hour flight. I don't know, it might Be a hundred pages. It's a small book, but I'll give it to you if you want to read that. But really entertaining. And the other one was called On Freedom.
Zach Klapman
And this is uplifting.
Matt Farah
It's really uplifting. It's by Thomas, Tim Snyder. Timothy Snyder. Excuse me, not Thomas, sorry, Timothy Snyder. And basically it explores the idea of freedom. Snyder is an expert in authoritarianism, so it's kind of a good time to start reading up on authoritarianism. And his last book was on something else, but it was like On Authoritarian is on something. Help me out here.
Zach Klapman
I'm looking at his list on shit.
Matt Farah
On Tyranny. It's on Tyranny.
Zach Klapman
Oh yes, there it is.
Matt Farah
On Tyranny. So I fucking read it too. You'd think, but it was a long time ago. 2016, I think. I read On Tyranny. So I do recommend them both. On Freedom basically explores the idea of that there are different views of what freedom is. And a lot of the difference between progressives and conservatives in our country is how they view freedom. Is it certain types of people view, Is it freedom from certain things or is it freedom to do certain things? And so, you know, people that are currently the oligarchs that are running our country as of last week, they want freedom from, they want to do whatever the fuck they want. They're bait, you know, and there to not really be consequences for that. Freedom from anything. Whereas people who, let's just say, oh, I don't know, trans people, want freedom to exist as a total human in our society.
Zach Klapman
Interesting, but can't you rephrase it? Like they just want freedom from judgment, freedom from restriction.
Matt Farah
I'm just curious, but the idea, it's seeing freedom as a positive, uplifting thing versus a permissive kind of.
Zach Klapman
So support versus deregulation.
Matt Farah
Support versus like you know, just letting you do whatever. Okay, deregulation.
Zach Klapman
Okay, yeah, I, I understand.
Matt Farah
Yeah, it's, it's, it's like one of those things that sounds simple, but the book is somehow 500 pages, you know, because it's actually not simple. But yeah, I, I, it's, that one's a bit like, you know, college coursey. It's kind of textbooky. But see, that's an expert. That's a real, like listen to the experts on that one. And I'm not, I can't possibly summarize this 500 page book any better than attempting to put that one sentence together. That's literally the best I can do on this podcast. But if you want to read real deep on that shit from someone who only writes about that specific thing. That's a good one.
Zach Klapman
It's a good time to read that stuff.
Matt Farah
Yeah, it is. Should we go to the Patreon there seems like a bunch and we really didn't lose a lot of Patreon paying members while we were gone. And so I once again appreciate all of you. A few people joined during December only to get one podcast and then have us take a break. If that happened to you, I do apologize, but thank you for your support and let's get right back into it again. As always, if you are a member of the Patreon, you have access to all kinds of privileges. You can get the show watch the livestream, you can get the show ahead of time. You can get an ad free listening or watching experience. You can ask us questions or ask our guests questions for the show. You can participate in a community with other well versed and well educated members in sort of how our show has worked over the years and get access, exclusive access to early merch drops such as the next color of the notice Canyon Watch I designed which is coming in April. We have a confirmation it is coming. Let's get to it. Michael Cosgrove wants to give a shout out for the pens. We have done pen collabs with Tactile turn. They are awesome. Aidan Squires has an interesting thought on why used EVs depreciate so much. There's been so many tax incentives that Almost nobody bought EVs for full price. So should depreciation be measured at MSRP minus tax incentives? It's a good thought.
Zach Klapman
I don't know. Someone replied that not everyone qualified for the tax incentive, so maybe that doesn't actually, it seems like it's hit and miss. So I think, I think you have to calculate from MSRP just to make.
Matt Farah
Sure it's consistent well, and so depreciation affects the person who buys the car first, right? And also the next buyer. So on the one hand it's like, yes, the first person might have lost less money than the MSRP to this part because of the tax credit, but that doesn't necessarily affect the same person who's buying it depreciated. True, they're looking at it that number that they then sell it to the second guy is based more on the market value than whether the first owner got the tax credit or not.
Zach Klapman
Right?
Matt Farah
Like the value when it's sitting on the used car lot. It doesn't matter whether the first owner got a tax credit or not.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, the market sets that value.
Matt Farah
The market sets that value.
Zach Klapman
So if a car, especially with a nice luxury car like the Porsche Turbo that's sold here, the Turbo S, you know, if it started at 220msrp, let's just, let's just live in fantasy land. Someone got a tax credit for 7,500 bucks. All right, so it was you know, 2, oh 212, but then it falls to 160 and then it falls to 120. You know, whoever's buying it for 120 doesn't really care. We don't factor in the price that the person, the first owner, the rebate that they got. Yeah, like the fall is still huge. And I think even if you include these tax credits credits, some of the EV depreciation we've talked about your Taycan Taycan Turbos. The depreciation depreciation is still outpacing.
Matt Farah
Yes.
Zach Klapman
Gas Mercedes, gas Porsche, etc.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Except for some.
Zach Klapman
Okay, some gas Porsche was a bad example.
Matt Farah
Some gas Mercedes, some gas AMGs would out depreciate the Taycan, but not a lot of them.
Zach Klapman
Oh good. Oh, that's a good race.
Matt Farah
Yeah, yeah, not like the great ones, but like there's like a gle 53 somewhere that depreciated faster, you know what I mean? Angle of the dangle.
Zach Klapman
Good.
Matt Farah
Username 170k to spend fucking Richie Rich over here. Two season car. 2020 McLaren GT or 2021 R8 V10 Performance. Using it as a daily. I'd rather daily the Audi. Yeah, I love a McLaren but those five series based cars are. They're not my favorite McLarens and I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to daily that in, in, in New England.
Zach Klapman
The R8 is a really. It's got more room inside. It's a really comfortable daily. It's more room than the Huracan even though they share the platform.
Matt Farah
And yeah, it's taller and longer than a hurricane.
Zach Klapman
And the V10 performance, I mean that is a good fun car. That's a really good car.
Matt Farah
I think they look awesome dailying it. You can't argue with the R8 if you want a daily driver. Supercar, that's the choice. It's comfortable, great tech. You throw some snow tires on there. That's a fucking three season car.
Zach Klapman
Na motor sound.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Probably more service centers for that car than the McLaren as well.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Caucasian, Asian. Oh, excuse me, causation Asian.
Zach Klapman
I might have missed.
Matt Farah
Did you copy that wrong?
Zach Klapman
I wrote it. But let me see what their name.
Matt Farah
Actually Is it says now that we're.
Zach Klapman
No, it's Caucasian. Asian.
Matt Farah
Caucasian, Sorry. Now that we're used to seeing right hand drive cars, cars in North America, what's the most unremarkable one you've seen? I sat behind a right hand drive Grand Cherokee in traffic last week.
Zach Klapman
Wow.
Matt Farah
So I have a theory about that. I think the most unremarkable right hand drive cars I've seen, and this is a bit of a cheat loophole in your question, are ones that are driven by the post office in like rural locations. Like I've been to like Vermont. Vermont. Particularly New England. To go back to New England. They drive like right hand drive Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers to deliver the mail.
Zach Klapman
That must be what that was for. It's gotta be what that was for because there's. We don't border any countries that would import that. Right. I mean Mexico's left hand drive.
Matt Farah
Yeah. No.
Zach Klapman
And Canada's left hand drive.
Matt Farah
Yeah. No, you wouldn't. I mean if it's old enough like you could import one back from England if you really gave a shit. But I wouldn't be surprised if that one was used as a mail carrier vehicle.
Zach Klapman
That's cool.
Matt Farah
If they said something that wasn't a Jeep product as an example, I might think different. But all the ones I've seen have been Jeep products specifically.
Zach Klapman
Okay.
Matt Farah
So but dancer, the outside of that, the most unremarkable right hand drive car.
Zach Klapman
It's hard I think like if you, if, if someone orders a chaser but it's n A, you know, auto or something like that, it, maybe it's an eventual project. But like that would be silly to me.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Or right hand drive. Na, super. I mean, I guess it's probably cheaper and then you could put a 2J in it. But I don't know.
Matt Farah
I mean I've seen people import like, you know, right hand. Well, they're not unremarkable. They're not. I mean the most unremarkable car I've seen shipped somewhere real far away was not a right hand drive car coming to America. It was shitty American cars that had gone to the south of France to Monaco. That was the most like, oh wow, you have legally, whatever Monaco's version of federal is federalized is it might be considered France or on Monaco. I don't know how it works. But like a fucking 89 Cadillac Fleetwood, like who is doing that?
Zach Klapman
I remember Musto had a Monaco.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
For a number of years and we went and filmed it and I was like why do you like this giant thing? Cuz it's like a 73. And he ended up selling it to a guy in Finland where apparently there's a big following for 70s muscle cars that are gigantic. Right before smog restrictions kicked in. So, yeah, that. That to me is unremarkable, but to someone, they like it.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Okay. Darien Lux, please rank the Grand Tour Scandi flick cars. The 04 STI 04 Lancer Evo 8 and 07 RS5. I mean, rank.
Zach Klapman
I mean, what. In terms of what we like.
Matt Farah
The one I'd most like to own is the RS4. The one I'd most like to beat the shit out of for an afternoon is the Evo.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. And I think the. And the Subaru was always in between. It wasn't as sharp as the Evo and it couldn't make as much power as the 4G63. But it was nicer to live in and it sounded better in my opinion.
Matt Farah
Evos were so buzz, buzzy. The buzziness drove me insane. Even if. Even if it was like, yeah, if I'm gonna die in two hours, you give me a track and an Evo. Let's go.
Zach Klapman
It felt like it was made by the same people that make Hobie Cats. Like, the cheap. Cheap boats are like the Sunfish.
Matt Farah
Yeah. They make like tractors and. Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. I just learned today that Daewoo is making firearms, which really? Hannah sold those in college, right?
Matt Farah
She sold Dewoos. Yeah. You know, I've never wanted a gun, but now that Daewoo is in the game.
Zach Klapman
Wait, a Honda gift?
Matt Farah
How can I not? How can I not? Is there. If there is someone out there that has a matching Chevy Beretta and a Beretta, I'd like to know about it. And they specifically have to. Not just. They own both. It has to match thematically in some way. There has to be intent, has to be the same color.
Zach Klapman
Okay. So if someone owns a black Chevy Beretta, like matching.
Matt Farah
You have these two things that are both Berettas visually similar, and you got them specifically because you have the other one or as part of a pair.
Zach Klapman
John McClane should have driven a Beretta in one of the movies. He should. Yeah.
Matt Farah
Break Diego, brake. What car events on the east coast would you be more inclined to attend if you live closer?
Zach Klapman
Probably something at whatever New Jersey Motorsports park was called. Is it still called that?
Matt Farah
New Jersey Motorsports?
Zach Klapman
Yeah, they have fun drift stuff. I'd go to that.
Matt Farah
Oh, you mean English Town.
Zach Klapman
English Town.
Matt Farah
Sorry. Yeah, English Town.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
English Town's gone.
Zach Klapman
Well now it's called what's the thing that now they turned into the figure eight. FD stop.
Matt Farah
Oh really? I thought English Town was gone. If it's not gone. How about that? I really thought it was done. East Coast, I mean I love the. The A drain concourse is really fun. That whole week is super fun. Newport's a great place to enjoy that.
Zach Klapman
I would go to the hill climb that Ezra Dyer goes to with his Legends car. That would be a good time. Yeah, I would definitely cool hill climbs in the east coast that we don't really have here.
Matt Farah
It's funny, I don't, I be. I don't care about Amelia Island. There's nothing about that event in particular that supersedes Monterey. Well, it's just, it's another one of those and I haven't like. I really like Newport on its own. Yeah, like it's an interesting place to go. Amelia island to me is not that interesting. I fucking hate Jacksonville.
Zach Klapman
I don't know anything about Jacksonville.
Matt Farah
That's where Amelia island is. No, if I'm in Florida, Miami or bust, bro. So I don't have a lot of. I would drive some great east coast racetracks if I was there. I'd drive Palmer Watkins Glen and shit like that. I'd go to Montreal for F1.
Zach Klapman
Yes.
Matt Farah
That I would do and eat at.
Zach Klapman
Joe B's last year. Yeah.
Matt Farah
Those things. Joey bag of donuts. Top priorities for an empty shell. Oh, an empty shell of a garage.
Zach Klapman
Where do you start with your garage decoration?
Matt Farah
Well, okay. I mean garage really does have to be, you know, a functional thing.
Zach Klapman
Yes.
Matt Farah
So tools, you know, once you have handy compressed air, some kind of like pseudo central compressed air. You know where you've got the decent sized tank and the spool on the wall. Can't go back from that. You got to have the power washer. You need a power washer.
Zach Klapman
I think it depends on what you're doing with it. Like so we, we just moved into an empty shelving garage and I put shelves in and a tool chest because for me place to organize my stuff so that I make the most of a one car garage and then having all my tools like literally in one place. I haven't had that since I moved to la. That's key. But if he lives in the cold, if you're going to wrench on your car then you need all the tools and organization. But yeah, I think insulation if you're in the northeast cold climate, basically making the place an environment that makes you Want to work on your car is essential. So if it's freezing cold and you go, I'll just put on jackets and run space heaters every time. You're not going to do it. I would do insulation first and then whatever you need for your particular hobby or task. Like if you're into detailing, then. Yeah, you need that.
Matt Farah
Yeah, you probably want running water, some kind of utility sink, you know, running water, insulation. Yeah, definitely that. I wouldn't focus on the flooring too much. Flooring is kind of a. A luxury that it. You don't really get the returns and until you get to a certain level.
Zach Klapman
Agree.
Matt Farah
But. But you know, you can also. If you own the. Let's assume you own the home, you know, as needed. You know, like, you should do the things first that you would not want to. Like take your toolboxes and all this shit out to do. Like if you're gonna do insulation and like drywall, like do that before you start moving stuff in.
Zach Klapman
And if you. If you feel like you need a lift, I mean that if you're gonna live there for a long time, a lift is a. But if you don't actually do crazy drivetrain work, if you can get away with. So Vintra, he has.
Matt Farah
He's got the pop up.
Zach Klapman
The pop up thing, you know, that's a nice half measure. You get under the car a lot better, but you still can't do everything. That's a pretty good halfway to go.
Matt Farah
Really good lights. Yeah, really good. Good lighting. And even maybe if you're. If you really want to be a boss, you know, if you're going to be working on the car, fucking up lighting in the floor. I mean, if you want to go next level up lighting in the floor is way better than a fancy floor.
Zach Klapman
That would be cool.
Matt Farah
We're doing that at our new building.
Zach Klapman
Really?
Matt Farah
Yeah. We have a. We're. We're not doing. We can't do mechanical work, but we're doing an inspection lift so that you can look under a car and I can photograph it for sale.
Zach Klapman
Dude.
Matt Farah
So we're putting lights in the floor. So when you put the lift up, it's. Yeah, yeah.
Zach Klapman
How about a flashlight?
Matt Farah
I mean, that's a, you know, pretty, pretty far level of this. It's our third building.
Zach Klapman
No, of course. If you can do that, do that.
Matt Farah
I'm looking for little niches that we haven't quite filled yet.
Zach Klapman
I get. That's rad.
Matt Farah
Yeah. But good lighting is important. Yeah. Here. For Matt's cats. Every time I take an on ramp in my 2023 Volkswagen Atlas. I'm astounded by how good the 3.6 VR6 sounds at wide open throttle. What are some cars that have no business sounding as good as they do? And what are some cars that sound inexcusably bad? I'll start. I'll take the second part first. The Cadillac ATS V was an enormous miss because it sounded like fucking dog shit.
Zach Klapman
Well, it sounded like a 350Z, which is terrible. Both are good cars, both sound terrible. And with a Cadillac, I think it's less excusable because it's a luxury product. It needs to be have a refined sound.
Matt Farah
This was 95% redeemed with the CT4 Blackwing, by the way.
Zach Klapman
True.
Matt Farah
Which sounds lovely.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, that's true.
Matt Farah
Not amazing, but like great. Let's see. Cars that have no business sounding Astro.
Zach Klapman
Vans with the V8 because they have a V8. I mean, when I was younger, if I heard a V8, I assumed the car was fast, even if it was an old Suburban. But the number of times during a month where I turn my head and I go Camaro and it's an Astro van just shocks me. It's just simple vh. VH it.
Matt Farah
But what, what else was like a regular. Oh, remember. I mean this one's a deep cut. But when we were in New Zealand, Andrew's Mazda Lantis, that was fun. Which had the KLZE or something. It was a 1.8 or maybe a 2 or 1.8 liter six cylinder, tiny little six cylinder. That sounded almost like a Mazda rotary engine. Fucking thing was kind of cool.
Zach Klapman
The intake sound was great.
Matt Farah
It was really, really neat and interesting.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Let's see which engine you say the.
Matt Farah
K. I think K, L, Z, E V6.
Zach Klapman
There's a KF, KFDE V6 which is two liters.
Matt Farah
Okay.
Zach Klapman
But it might. It just had good induction sound and it may have been. I don't know if it's similar head.
Matt Farah
Design, but you can get that engine in the US the Mazda MX6 V6 had it. Which was a platform shared with the Ford Probe. Another totally decent.
Zach Klapman
That car was fun. Sounded pretty good.
Matt Farah
Thomas Rimkus. Now that all the old Top Gear cars are being scrapped, which one would you save? Remember we went to that world of Top Gear? Yeah, they scrapped all that. They got rid of it.
Zach Klapman
Oh man, that was fun.
Matt Farah
Which Top Gear car would I save? Man, those cars are all up.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, but I'm gonna find a list of them. Because Top Gear. No, that's not the Right thing.
Matt Farah
I don't remember if it was a Grand Tour car, but when Jeremy turned. Or Top Gear. When Jeremy turned the Bentley GT into the safari car, I was about that.
Zach Klapman
Oh, yeah, that was pretty rad.
Matt Farah
Awesome.
Zach Klapman
That was pretty functional too.
Matt Farah
That was a great use of. And I think he kept it. He showed it in a season of Clarkson's farm where he had to like race across the farm to take care of something. And he was like, fortunately I have a car.
Zach Klapman
I mean, Arctic truck.
Matt Farah
Yeah, of course, Arctic.
Zach Klapman
These are a list of only Clarkson's cars. Unfortunately, I couldn't find like every Top Gear car they ever built. I mean, the time they built the hotel rooms was funny.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Arctic truck.
Matt Farah
Hilux is a pretty good choice.
Zach Klapman
I think I'd go Hilux.
Matt Farah
Yeah, yeah. Arty trucks. Hilux would be good. Or.
Zach Klapman
Oh, well, also a safari car. But the Jaguar at the most recent special.
Matt Farah
Oh, the F10.
Zach Klapman
But that thing kicked ass and kept going.
Matt Farah
I think he kept that too.
Zach Klapman
That needs more power.
Matt Farah
Is that a. Yeah, they did a dually on a Miata. It was dumb.
Zach Klapman
That is very dumb.
Matt Farah
Yeah, but that was the one. That was the Christmas Middle Eastern one. Okay. Road trip back with the Taycan. So how was my road trip back with the Taycan? Well, I made actually for the most part, went about how I thought it would go. I learned a lot of lessons in which between the video I made and the. And the article I wrote for road and track and the pro show I did, I detailed all the little lessons. I used Porsche route planning software, which is very good. And actually about every three days I get an alert that our maps have been updated. So I assume that Porsche is updating stuff like that in very rapid real time, which is nice. Of the 20 something stops, I was only let down once by a failed charge and that was when the fucking Evgo and Baker didn't work. But I drove across the street to EA and it was fine. But the road trip, my only. I deferred to the Porsche charge strategy. I would charge overnight if possible, which on my road trip was not possible. My first charge of the day, if I needed one within 30 or 40 miles of starting off, I would find one myself because I'd find one that had some kind of food near it. So I would wake up, I'd get a shitty coffee at the hotel, drive 30 miles, plug in, and ideally there was something for breakfast in that area. That's the strategy. From there, I would do the whole rest of the day on the Porsche route planning software. The key to that route planning software is you have to manually set how much battery you want to be in the car when you arrive at your final destination, not at each destination. So if you want to get there with 20% left, it might get you down to like 6% on the charge stops, but you'll have. So you can, if you're like when we were coming home at the very last day, we put that down to 5%, you know, to make it home without an extra stop. Otherwise it would have said stop in Victorville and charge for six minutes or something.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Matt Farah
And the Porsche charging strategy keeps you between 20 and 80%. Now it also, as you're going along, it says drive 120 miles, charge here for 16 minutes, drive 160 miles, charge here for 22 minutes, and on and on. But it shows other charge stations in between that you're not stopping at. So you go, okay, look, if this one, what it wants me to do is get down to like 4% and I'm just not comfortable with that and I have to pee. So there's the charger here and I'll just stop here and then it'll recalculate.
Zach Klapman
That's pretty cool.
Matt Farah
It's. It really makes road tripping it solo a lot less stressful.
Zach Klapman
I was gonna say, is it, is it easier now to road trip any car than it was three years ago? Not just because the infrastructure, but the software like yo, the soft plans for you.
Matt Farah
Tesla did that, did this first and other people did it. The Ford did do it, just not as effectively as the Porsche in terms of the route planning. In fact, Ford has pretty much given up developing their own software and now Apple Maps. Ford's like really gung ho about CarPlay and Apple Maps has a similar route planning feature in it, but Porsche's is really good. I would happily road trip this car again and trust that the, the charge stops along the interstate are going to be of a high quality. Which they were. They were ea. I think every single EA charger I plugged into worked. And plug and charge worked in terms, you know, plug and charge is where you just plug your car in and there's no billing interface. It just knows your car and just does it. And the Porsche connected stuff. The app where you can remote do a bunch of things that works. It's pretty great. And there's a lot, there's a lot to. There's more details I've got in the video. We go over a whole fucking lot. It's probably gonna be like a 30 minute video. But it's great and we're gonna have a lot of time to learn everything about this car. But as far as like, can you drive across the country with zero planning in an electric car? Like yes, yes, absolutely you can. You could do it solo particularly, which I showed the photo of the Taycan, of the dash, the split screen, you know, in the press cars you're like, what the fuck does this co driver screen do? I know what it does. Now you put the route planning GPS up on that screen, you put your CarPlay GPS up in your main screen and now it's like if you want to change the music, if you want to take a call, if you want to FA da da, your charge screen, your route planner shit is always up. But you could find, you could search for your next hotel or do whatever using like Siri on your Apple CarPlay at the same time. I've never seen another car that can run two standalone GPSs at the same time.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, it was funny when we talked about that on the pro show and you showed me the pictures, it made a lot of sense because for years I would just look at the various press cars with those airbag screens. I'd be like, who needs this? What is it for?
Matt Farah
Well, I wouldn't pay for but the fact that I essentially got it for free and figured out a cool like use for it. And it's great if you have a co driver because you can, the co driver can like type shit right on it while you're driving, which you can't do in the center screen.
Zach Klapman
But a quick note is that if your car was made after a certain year, you the driver can't see that far screen from the driver's screen.
Matt Farah
My car was built during the two years where you can.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
And so once I did this, I couldn't go back. So I just kept route planner up on the fucking right and ways up on the screen and it totally eliminated the need for me to have my phone mounted on the dash. Ace. Absolutely no notes on that. And oh, by the way, at all those charge stops, even though the charging was slow because it was winter and et cetera, et cetera, every stop I charged at, I looked at everybody's charge speed at that station. If there was other cars, the Taycan was the fastest charging car at any moment that I now people had different states of charge. That's not a scientific statement. But in my observation, doing 20 something stops in 4 days every time, I never saw one car charging faster than the Taycan at Any given moment. So good for Porsche Double O Slow. When will the rest of the 2025 road and track experience be posted? The Austin one is up. Colorado one is up. We have a few slots. I think there's like maybe two slots left in Austin, three or four left for Colorado. I do not know exactly when the fall ones will be posted. Unsure. But don't worry, I will tell you. Westside Collector Cat Storage have you seen the new track in Phoenix called Podium Club at a Tessa I have not. I have not, but I'd love to check it out. Okay. Okay. All right. Tuna, no crust. This is not going to go well for you, Tuna. Just sorry, you said on previous podcasts, meaning I said that I don't really search out specific cars, but rather they sort of find you. That is the NSX, the Turbo R, etc. That is true. But if you were searching for a specific car, what would be your approach in terms of price? Assuming clean PPI and the car itself was good, would you try to stick as close to book value or would you pay 10% more if the seller won't budge given the rarity condition? So I've always paid a little more for a better example. So if the example is really good, I'm willing to pay over what would probably be considered market value because it takes time and energy to find a great car. So at a certain point that stops being worthwhile. Right? It also depends on is this something I want to drop and therefore I don't want it to be perfect, or is it something that I want to collect and therefore it should be perfect? Taycan I literally bought the cheapest one in the country and actually I think, I think one even a little bit cheaper went up like the very next day. And then in January they all jumped by like five or six thousand bucks. Maybe it was end of year deals they wanted to clear out because I bought it on December 31st for fucking tax reasons obviously. But you know, same same kind of deal on the other end. I don't really haggle. If I find something I like that's pretty close to what I would expect to pay, I don't even bother haggling. I just fucking be done with it because my brain isn't wired like that. And yeah, if I really wanted a specific car that was rare and the seller didn't come come on price like yeah, because life is short and if it's. If you see a great car, just.
Zach Klapman
Pay up for it if you want the thing and it fits all of your criteria. And you can be done with that searching process because that takes a lot of time, energy, et cetera. Ppi. Multiple cars.
Matt Farah
Well, I also, if, you know, I saved money by buying a car in Detroit the week between Christmas and New Year's. Detroit North Detroit at that 19 mile.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
So choosing. But it took me time and money to get home. So like, you know, what is the value of that car in Detroit versus the value of that car at Porsche South Bay? Yeah, you know, so there's that too. If you're. If your time is not worth as much as your money, expand your search to places that are farther where you're buying that car at a season and your money goes further. Yeah, Alex Hay says this is a good one. How do you think the fires will change car culture and contemporary approaches to daily life in and around la? Couple layers to that question. Contemporary approaches to daily life other than like possibly some preparing, you know, you've got the short term exodus of people who won't be able to rebuild their home for many years.
Zach Klapman
Right. So they're just going to leave.
Matt Farah
So they might leave or they might stay and possibly help accelerate the push that we want towards more multifamily housing in la. I was reading the most recent Alyssa Walker article. Do you know that LA is 73% zoned for single family housing? Housing. That's fucking crazy for a city like this that has a housing crisis. Right. So maybe some of these rules that Newsom was talking about dropping in order to rebuild could be applied potentially to building multifamily as needed. Contemporary approach to daily life. Honestly, if you're not within a mile or two of a five, life's going on. Yeah, you know, I went to my dentist two days ago on Montana. This is in Santa Monica, quite near the Palisades.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, that was an evac zone or warning zone for a while.
Matt Farah
If not that block, like a couple streets within my dentist were evacuated for sure. And less than a half a mile from there, houses don't exist anymore, but like restaurants, stores, I mean, you know, life is going on because it has to, you know, the city has to keep running. People still live here, you know, and people want life to go on. People are still helping and doing good and whatever. We're gonna be dealing with this for a while. And then car culture, like the biggest problem right now is like most of our roads, our fun roads are inaccessible. Yeah, all of Malibu is pretty fucked.
Zach Klapman
Angeles Crest is shut down because of fires.
Matt Farah
Angeles Forest is shut down. The North Angeles Forest Forest, Lake Hughes area. Is shut down. And so it's that, that impacts a lot. That impacts people who, you know, it's almost like, you know, we're getting our four season privilege of driving all year taken away. And it's like, it's like we're in the Midwest and the cars have to be, you know, put away for the winter.
Zach Klapman
Our winter is fire season. Yeah. That's an interesting way to look at it.
Matt Farah
You know, there's just, there's not really anywhere and there's people doing like charity cars and coffees and, and whatnot. There was some type of show at the Peterson yesterday. Of course it was pissing rain. Someone sent me a photo and I'm like, it's, it's so much, it's like rain. And yeah, the Peterson's got a parking deck, so it could be like under cover kind of, but like. And it didn't even want to do it. Like.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, well, the big fun there is always on the rooftop. It's always, you know, that's where like they do those Saturday clubs, like the.
Matt Farah
Last couple weeks, like after the fires. But also like the weather's been shitty, the air quality. I haven't wanted to go drive sports cars. I haven't been inspired to do that.
Zach Klapman
I just, I didn't think about it because there's so many fires being fought. Like let the people that have to deal with their home or firefighters, other people are having to deal with that problem in a way that is much more important, significant. And I don't even want to show up and see if the gate's open.
Matt Farah
Just. We had some firefighters here yesterday. They came by and took a tour and they had brought their new boss. They liked. When the new boss comes in, the firefighters like to bring them here and show them around and show them like, here's the right way to do shit. So I encourage it. Come on, please come. Bring every firefighter down here. That way they all know we're here.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
And they were like, we know you're here. But he. I was like, you guys, you know, were you in the Palisades? Where were you? In the Eden fire, Where were you? And they said they were in the Palisades and they said they have to wear like full on respirators up there because there were so many electric cars that burned to the ground. And the chemicals that these guys are breathing from the literal thousands of ev, not just the houses and everything else, but of these huge numbers of EVs burned and melted.
Zach Klapman
It's really toxic stuff.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
I Mean, Yeah. Battery fires, like, don't stand near one. I looked this up because years ago we lived in Santa Monica. A kid's electric bike caught on fire in a parking garage. We were walking the dog. We smelled smoke coming out of a garage. Sarah called 911 and it led to me googling and people were like, if you are near a battery fire, get away from it as quickly as possible because it can like knock you out pretty quickly. So it makes sense.
Matt Farah
The firefighters are talking about like a bird scooter fire. That was like hugely problematic too.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
So stuff. Yeah. Really crazy. Nathan Reynolds. Have you ever seen individual Mora metallic on the E46 M3?
Zach Klapman
I hadn't, but it's cool. It's like a purple.
Matt Farah
Oh yeah. That's a nice looking color.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Looks black from a lot of angles, but then in the right light it pops purple.
Zach Klapman
Yeah.
Matt Farah
Cool. Dill Doe. That's a funny D I L L space. D O E. Zach, what other colors were you looking at for the M3?
Zach Klapman
My goal was Oxford green, which is an OEM color. They had three different greens that pure PPF makes three different metallic greens that were all like close ish but not on the mark. So I chose obsidian because when the sun hits it, I think it looks as close to Oxford as possible. But Oxford is a lighter color. But they had a cool like Pacific forest green which looks, you know, the blue on Tacomas. Yeah, turn that down and make it a little darker and a little greenish. Like it looks like it'd be wandering through the forest. They have a lot of really cool stuff.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, there's a lot of options out there.
Matt Farah
Toblerone, malone. Is the seven speed in the 991.1 bad enough that I should avoid it if I'm looking for a modern manual 911 experience? Experience. No, I wouldn't say it's bad. I wouldn't say it's not the best of the breed, but it's not bad. And there may be aftermarket solutions. You may be able to get the GT3 shifter assembly or something. I don't know about the 6 speed versus the 7 speed, how that affects what you can use for a shifter mechanism. I'm sure it affects it in some way, but I'm also sure that someone has something thing that can improve it.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, there's a Delrin part somewhere.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Henry Beck Becks. What are each of your favorite and favorite parts about living in LA and things you don't like about living in la?
Zach Klapman
I mean, least favorite traffic? It's just traffic. I just drove across the country. And as I arrived here, I got stressed, I got cranky. It's slow, it's all. It's just. I know it's a cliche, but it's accurate.
Matt Farah
Yeah, traffic sucks. You know, the management of the city with the government, like, it's not. Cause it's fucking not cause they're Democrats. Just. Cause it's like a very poorly organized city. It's very complicated and in many ways like real stupid. Who has actual power to do things. And consequently it's like fucking dumb.
Zach Klapman
The stuff you had to deal with with some of the.
Matt Farah
Everything about how that runs is dumb. And it's not. It has nothing to do with whether you're progressive or liberal or whatever. It's just the organization. Organization is not police political. It's dumb. It's just all dumb. So there's that, but the sunshine, the crisp California air, the. The food, the multiculturalism.
Zach Klapman
Totally. You know, the access roads, beach, mountains, snow, desert.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
All within two hours or less.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
You know, traffic permitting. It's pretty amazing. It's pretty special. Yeah.
Matt Farah
And Andy, Colorado. How did the cold and mountains affect the range of the Taycan? So the cold definitely does. When I got the car in Detroit and it was 19 degrees the maximum I got it, they had charged it up all the way and it was showing 160 miles to empty, which I very much believed here in la, when I charge it at my house and it's fully full, it's 240 miles to empty. So it's substantial, substantial change. But the mountains, you know, the mountains actually weren't all that bad. But specifically because Hannah and I spent a lot of the uphill from Denver to Loveland Pass sitting in very slow traffic. There was a big. It was Friday in the winter, and so we had that people going to the mountains to ski. And there was also a crash. And so almost all the way from golden to Denver, which is the big uphill, or, excuse me, golden to Loveland Pass is the big uphill if you're going west. Almost all of that was done between five and 20 miles an hour instead of at 75 or 80. And then as we went west, as we went down in elevation, the range went up and up and up and up and up and up. Real world, I think 240 is more than reasonable. But as I say in the video and everywhere else, my body wants to do about 90 stop for 20 minutes every 90. And Porsche's route planning seems to kind of optimize for that. Yeah, it's good. Christian says, I was at the Lexus Cafe in Tokyo and they had a LBX hatch manual. Never heard of one. Shocked to see Lexus making it. Is it a Lux GR Corolla? Yes, it is.
Zach Klapman
Yes, it is.
Matt Farah
It is a Lux GR Corolla. It looks kind of weird.
Zach Klapman
It's not bad. It's not great. It looks like a miniature. Miniature crossover.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Extra tiny.
Matt Farah
Speaking of Lexus, my dad Bought a Lexus TX500F Sport for South Carolina. He was over his Highlander and I'm not surprised because that car, it was okay at moving people around, but bad at pretty much everything else. And he wanted something with more comfort, more leg room, more space, better technology. This, the Highlander didn't have CarPlay, you know, just like that. But it has to be big enough, you know, my dad's, you know, six, four, and enough for him and his four adult friends to go to the golf course or shooting or whatever. So super. I took him. I thought the MDX was gonna be it. I took him to look at an mdx, but he said he went to look at this and bought it on the spot.
Zach Klapman
Cool. Nice.
Matt Farah
He was stoked. Apparently TST fans at the dealer as well. So shout out to him. I forget the name of the dealer. I'm sorry. But shout out to him, thanks for selling my dad a car Christian says is a 20247 series in LA. A poor man's ghost. There are. It's a, you know, their platform shared, but they're really, really different. I. I would have to say. No, I mean, I just. I don't think a seven series feels anything like a Rolls Royce Ghost. I don't think. I think what can. There's a couple little bits that you can identify seven series in the Ghost. Meaning like the screen graphics, the shape of the key. Just some little bullshit. But in every other way that matters. A Ghost is a very different thing from a seven series. You can feel it when you. They don't drive like a. Like.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, they tune them differently.
Matt Farah
Yeah, the ghost is a 12.
Zach Klapman
I meant they tune the suspension. Because what most stands out for me for Rolls Royces is the ride.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Hugely different. This is so Miguel. I saw this story. Miguel. Miguel Flores. BC that's Canadia, where I just was ruled on an appeal that using a dash mounted phone for simple tasks is akin to distracted driving. And the example, they cover an Uber Eats driver accepting an incoming order by tapping accept on the app. Apparently that's considered distracted driving. Meanwhile, almost all new cars today come with giant factory installed touch screens. How much longer until automakers and the courts realize that phone use while driving isn't any worse than factory giant touchscreens? You're right. However, I don't think making that argument is going to end the way you think it is. I think instead of them going, you know what, you're right, we should phones, it's going to be, you know what, you're right. We should no longer allow you to use touchscreens while you're driving either.
Zach Klapman
Right. And they lock you out of your.
Matt Farah
Shot and they lock you out of your shit while you're driving. Like, that's, you know, I don't, I.
Zach Klapman
Mean, I'd have to read more on the case. It doesn't, it doesn't make logical sense at a quick glance because yes, you're using your finger, you're touching a touchscreen. Especially if the duration of your interaction is the same from each one.
Matt Farah
I think our law in California is not that different. I think in California you are not supposed to be doing, quote, simple tasks.
Zach Klapman
No, I agree. And I think it's also, we're in this weird phase where they were. It's almost like they started writing this law before touchscreens and cars became so ubiquitous. Not that they did, but it seems like a reaction to smartphones that finally gets off the ground 10 years later. And meanwhile, now every car basically has a giant task tablet in it. So it doesn't, it's. It's inaccurate. I think. Yeah, I would say it.
Matt Farah
I think it is. I do think it's dumb that you can use a touchscreen but not a phone. That's. I, I completely see the logic in the argument that that is stupid.
Zach Klapman
I don't know, maybe they need. If there's like. If you had a GPS sensor in your. Well, of course they all have GPS sensors. Like in the phone. If it knew you were only hitting yes or no, no. And then otherwise it would lock you out. I mean, there has to be like a software thing because I was on this was before I left, but I remember vividly. I'm next to a woman in traffic. She has her phone mounted on the windshield directly, directly in front of her face. It is. The distance from her face to phone is the same as to steering wheel.
Matt Farah
That's crazy.
Zach Klapman
And there's text on it. So she's like reading while sitting in traffic, hands free. That deserves a ticket.
Matt Farah
That's crazy.
Zach Klapman
But I don't know how you figure out the difference between that and just tapping. Yes, I will go pick up this.
Matt Farah
Well, there's a ticket for obstructed windshield. I mean, if you. I'm not sure. I think they have leeway to draw the line where. Okay, if you have the cell phone mount in the corner or on the dash or over to the right, you know, that's fine. But if it's in your, you know, strike zone.
Zach Klapman
There you go. Yeah, she needs a ticket.
Matt Farah
Is this the last one?
Zach Klapman
No.
Matt Farah
Oh, okay. Well, we need to finish in five. We need to finish in five minutes. So we'll kind of speed round it. Commander and Cheese want a somewhat luxurious SUV with a traditional 4x4 system between a Grand Cherokee or a Touareg, which would be less of a reliability disaster.
Zach Klapman
I don't know, I haven't read up on. I mean, Stellantis is notoriously not great.
Matt Farah
Land Cruiser. The answer is Land Cruiser.
Zach Klapman
Yeah. Or probably a better idea.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
Or even Toyota. Or use the new Forerunner.
Matt Farah
The, the new Forerunner? Yeah. You get the new Forerunner. Yeah. I just call it luxurious traditional 4x4 system. I, I, I don't want to tor. I wouldn't want to torch the Torg. Oh yeah. Touareg is Cayenne based. That's a Cayenne.
Zach Klapman
That's the Cayenne rear wheel drive with four wheel.
Matt Farah
Yeah, Yeah. I knew a Grand Cherokee is not doing it for me right now.
Zach Klapman
I like them a lot, but I.
Matt Farah
Just rather a Durango. I'd rather a fucking Durango. But it's got to be, it's got to be Land Cruiser for me at that point. Or I guess maybe Q7 if I could swing it.
Zach Klapman
Let's see what Consumer Reports. Here we go. So this is from one year ago. Someone on Reddit pulled up Consumer Reports for a Grand Cherokee and it was one of the least reliable. Jeep was one of the least reliable brands. So you're just putting it depends on how long you're gonna own it depends on warranty. Depends on all of those things. I think we need more information, but if it was a long term ownership situation, I wouldn't go with either of these.
Matt Farah
I wouldn't either. I'd say, I'd say Land Cruiser or a used full size Land Cruiser or Lexus Cruiser.
Zach Klapman
Right.
Matt Farah
Joel says with the new administration, will there be a significant slowdown from the OEMs on EVs? You know, it's funny that I think that the EVs, you know, the life development cycle of a new car is like longer than almost administration.
Zach Klapman
I think it's like 10 years.
Matt Farah
You know, I think it's, there may be a total stop in the enforcement of certain things like the EV mandates and stuff like that. I really, I read that, I mean I got, I don't want, I didn't want to get depressed and talk about fucking Trump, but I was just like, I read that they were like on the first day one of the fucking things that they were gonna stop the, you know, the infrastructure money going to charging infrastructure which is like we were, we were getting so close to it being like acceptable. So. But yeah, I mean I think, I think there probably will be some, I mean I think that OEMs that we're going to phase out some gas cars entirely may extend them by some time frame. I mean Porsche has already walked back some of their EV only stuff. It may be too late for some automakers to turn the ship. I think that the demand for EVs will slowly rise. I mean a, I genuinely, I don't have one to save the fucking planet. I have an EV because I had one and it genuinely made my day to day life of driving around real nice. And when I didn't have it for that year I went, you know what, that was nice. I want to get back to that.
Zach Klapman
I think they've had a lot of success on their own merit. There has been a lot of push to develop them and sell more of them and all those things. So if they pull the rebates away way it will be harder to sell them. But I think people like you who converted to EVs are probably not going back. And in the more people that get exposed to them and see those benefits, if, if the math also works versus gas prices and stuff, you'll probably see more people buying them because they're, they're just really nice. It's a nice ownership experience.
Matt Farah
But I, you know, I, they, they thought we're going to have a hundred percent adoption rate and all this. But no, I think they're gonna, I think they're, the adoption rate will go up by single digit percentage points each year, you know.
Zach Klapman
Yeah, probably.
Matt Farah
And I hope they continue to develop EVs. I hope they, you know that they realize that there is a market for them, that they are good price is a factor. You know, there's definitely a market for an affordable like they're selling model Threes, they're selling model Y's, people, the affordable EVs like people are buying.
Zach Klapman
If you want to buy a car that's not a Tesla, that's also A good idea.
Matt Farah
There's also that you also.
Zach Klapman
I don't know, I'd be curious to ask like a powertrain engineer, what, what is left on their to do list for EVs? What you know, I know we want lighter batteries and lights.
Matt Farah
Battery chemistry.
Zach Klapman
Are the motors. Where are they happy with the motors? Do they want more efficiency? Are they always trying to iterate or is there a big list of dreams? I'm curious.
Matt Farah
Yeah, I think they're all kind of holding out for this battery solid state kind of shit. Yeah. Two more Papa Gray Canadian snow second daily drop. I have an Integra type S and a Golf R manual on order. What is the best combo of daily driver fun and practicality for this climate? Golf R, obviously snow brings the all wheel drive into play with the Golf R100%. I'd rather in a sunny day, I'd rather drive the Integra in the snow. I'd rather drive the Golf on Blizzax. Nice cams. Last one. Will we get to a point where there will literally be not a single OEM selling a new car with a manual? If so, when? Yeah, probably.
Zach Klapman
I think eventually.
Matt Farah
Probably. I would say within. Within 15 years.
Zach Klapman
Ooh, okay. I think more than that.
Matt Farah
I mean there isn't. There's an automaker if they can get away with it. I know of two automakers that have both committed to do it as long as it is legal. Right. And there's another one that never didn't explicitly say that, but I'm pretty sure the implication is there.
Zach Klapman
I don't. Yeah, I think the size of the company will shrink like Porsche might be the last, the holdout large company, but then you'll end up with like Lotus Caterham, something like that.
Matt Farah
Yeah.
Zach Klapman
But I think it's really said they.
Matt Farah
Do it as long as it was legal.
Zach Klapman
As long as it's legal and then. Or you know the market is still interested. It would suck if it was like fully banned.
Matt Farah
Well, yeah, I don't think it, I don't think banned.
Zach Klapman
It's just about the efficiency.
Matt Farah
Yeah. Just at a certain point they will not be able to meet some standards, you know that comes up with a manual. It just won't be possible. Great questions today patrons. We appreciate you very much. Thank you for sticking through us as we took our, I don't know, mental health travel slash whatever break. Right. If the ad sales are gonna suck balls in January anyway, fuck it. Take a little vacay, get back to it in February with some new ads. But we appreciate you TST1000 is coming up March, and we are preparing for that. We're working on some other things that are very special. But thank you and subscribe to the Patreon if you're not about it. Maybe you wanted to hold out because we were gone and now you want to get back in for 2,025. We love you kids. See you next time. Bye.
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Hosts: Matt Farah & Zack Klapman
Podcast: The Smoking Tire
After a month-long hiatus filled with travel, driving adventures, and relaxation, Matt Farah and Zack Klapman return with a packed episode covering new car acquisitions, vehicle modifications, environmental concerns, and listener questions. This episode blends personal experiences with broader automotive and societal discussions, offering insights for both enthusiasts and casual listeners.
Matt Farah shares his experience with his new Bentley, discussing maintenance challenges and the meticulous care required to keep it in pristine condition. He emphasizes his commitment to ensuring the car remains in "as perfect condition as I can possibly make it," highlighting the lengths he's gone to, including detailed work with trusted detailers and photographers.
Notable Quote:
"This car is in as perfect condition as I can make it. Other than the slight evidence of wear and tear for 24,700 miles, a little acorn ding on the trunk..."
[Matt, 28:14]
Zack Klapman delves into his experience getting his car wrapped with assistance from 405 Motoring and Pure PPF. He discusses the technical challenges faced during the wrapping process, including issues with peeling clear coats and the extensive prep work required to ensure the wrap adhered properly.
Notable Quote:
"When you put new paint or wrap on something, if you don't fill those little parts, it's gonna be really obvious. You're gonna have all these little valleys that are, you know, just covered."
[Zack, 21:07]
The hosts provide an in-depth look into the complexities of car wrapping, particularly when dealing with older vehicles or those with deteriorating paint finishes. Zack shares his frustrations with the prep work needed for a successful wrap and the unforeseen complications that arose, such as clear coat failures and the need for additional repairs.
Notable Quote:
"If your clear coat is so old that it's peeling off, which mine was, because here's a photo for everybody. And this is just one spot, so in four different places, my clear coat was literally just peeling back."
[Matt & Zack, 19:17]
Matt introduces the concept of mirroring stock trades made by Congress members, particularly Nancy Pelosi. He references platforms like Unusual Whales, which track and report these trades with minimal penalties for delayed reporting.
Notable Quote:
"I have one bit of stock picking advice, and that is do whatever the fuck Nancy Pelosi is doing."
[Matt, 04:17]
Zack discusses the mechanics behind this strategy, explaining how legislative insiders' trades can offer valuable investment insights despite minimal regulatory oversight.
Notable Quote:
"These companies will report what is reported, but it still shows. Hey, if they're still holding this, it might be interesting for you to look at."
[Zack, 05:29]
The duo raises alarms about the increasing availability of nitrous oxide tanks, especially flavored varieties, which are becoming easily accessible to minors through online platforms like Walmart.com. They discuss the societal implications of this trend and the potential dangers associated with widespread nitrous use.
Notable Quote:
"You could just go. It's literally Walmart. Five out of five stars. Yeah, I bet."
[Matt & Zack, 11:45]
Matt recounts his cross-country journey in a newly acquired electric Porsche Taycan, focusing on the practical aspects of long-distance EV travel. He highlights the efficiency of Porsche’s route planning software and shares real-world insights into charging strategies, especially under challenging conditions like cold weather and traffic congestion.
Notable Quote:
"Can you drive across the country with zero planning in an electric car? Like yes, yes, absolutely you can."
[Matt, 79:14]
Zack adds his observations on the Taycan's performance, noting the seamless integration of technology and the car's impressive charging speeds compared to other EVs.
The episode features a dynamic Q&A session where Matt and Zack address various listener-submitted questions, ranging from car depreciation, the impact of wildfires on car culture, to the future of manual transmissions in OEM vehicles.
They discuss whether EV depreciation should account for tax incentives and conclude that market value predominantly sets depreciation rates, irrespective of the original buyer’s tax credits.
Notable Quote:
"The market sets that value."
[Zach, 62:29]
Matt and Zack explore how ongoing wildfires in and around Los Angeles are reshaping daily life and car culture, noting the closure of popular driving routes and the increased toxicity from EV fires.
Notable Quote:
"Our winter is fire season. That's an interesting way to look at it."
[Zach, 90:37]
The hosts predict the eventual phasing out of manual transmissions in new cars, estimating it might take up to 15 years for them to disappear entirely from OEM offerings.
Notable Quote:
"Probably within 15 years."
[Matt, 50:55]
Matt and Zack share their love for California’s diverse landscapes and cultural richness while lamenting the notorious traffic and bureaucratic inefficiencies that plague the city.
Notable Quote:
"It's the sunshine, the crisp California air, the food, the multiculturalism."
[Matt, 95:18]
They compare various models, discussing the practicality of vehicles like the Acura Integra Type S and the Volkswagen Golf R in different climates, emphasizing attributes like all-wheel drive for snowy conditions and the enjoyable driving experience of sports cars.
Matt recommends three books he read during the hiatus:
Notable Quote:
"On Freedom basically explores the idea that there are different views of what freedom is."
[Matt, 56:17]
The hosts express gratitude to their Patreon supporters, hinting at upcoming content, including detailed videos and articles about the Porsche GT3 and their respective vehicles. They encourage listeners to join their Patreon for exclusive perks and early access to content.
Notable Quote:
"We love you kids. See you next time. Bye."
[Matt & Zach, 110:22]
This episode of The Smoking Tire offers a blend of personal anecdotes, technical discussions on car maintenance and modifications, financial strategies related to stock picking, and broader societal issues impacting the automotive world. Matt and Zack's candid conversations provide valuable insights and engaging content for their audience.