Why Giants Drove a Beetle; A Correction; R8 vs AMG GT

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Smoking Tire – "Why Giants Drove a Beetle; A Correction; R8 vs AMG GT"

Release Date: May 29, 2025
Hosts: Matt Farah and Zach Klapman
Episode Title: Why Giants Drove a Beetle; A Correction; R8 vs AMG GT

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1. Correction on Volkswagen ID Buzz Window Functionality

Timestamp: 03:11

In this segment, Matt clarifies a previous misunderstanding regarding the Volkswagen ID Buzz's window controls. Initially believing the vehicle couldn't be driven comfortably with windows partially open, Matt admits, "I have to issue an update slash correction [...] it's possible." The hosts discuss how opening the rear windows to exactly 50% allows for a buffer-free highway drive, albeit with the inconvenience that any front window adjustment necessitates corresponding rear window movements.

Notable Quote:

• Matt Farah [03:11]: "Can drive without buffeting at up to normal highway speeds. [...] This is a vehicle that's meant for the windows down."

2. Personal Story: Matt's Dad and the Beetle Road Trip

Timestamp: 06:14

Matt shares an engaging family story about his father’s experience with the classic Volkswagen Beetle. Back in 1967, Matt's father and his two brothers, all over six feet tall, opted for the Beetle due to its affordability. They undertook a two-month European road trip before shipping the car to the United States. During their cross-country journey, the Beetle's engine began losing compression, leading to a vital engine rebuild in California. This Beetle served as the family car until an unfortunate crash occurred, after which Matt's father briefly used a Corvette.

Notable Quote:

• Matt Farah [09:54]: "Matt, it was the cheapest car that was a car."

3. Frustration with the Overuse of "Gated Manual" in Car Listings

Timestamp: 17:04

Zach expresses irritation over the redundant use of the term "gated manual" in car advertisements, especially on platforms like Instagram. He highlights that referring to manual transmissions as "gated" is unnecessary and repetitive, particularly since all manual cars inherently have a gated shifter.

Notable Quote:

• Matt Farah [17:04]: "You don't have to say it anymore. [...] It's just redundant."

4. Discussion on California EV Mandate and Tax Credits

Timestamp: 27:44

The hosts delve into the recent political developments impacting electric vehicles (EVs). They discuss how the Senate has effectively nullified California's aggressive EV mandate, which aimed for 20% EV adoption by 2035. Additionally, federal EV tax incentives, including the $7,500 credit and $4,000 used EV credit, have been eliminated. This shift has made EVs more expensive and potentially slowed their adoption rate.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Farah [27:44]: "EV tax credits. House voted to get rid of them. [...] That's really fun."
• Matt Farah [30:14]: "EV incentives are now dead. So 7,500 federal tax credit, $4,000 used tax credit, dead."

5. Improvement in EV Road Tripping Infrastructure

Timestamp: 35:05

Despite the setbacks in policy, Matt shares positive advancements in EV infrastructure. He mentions software updates in his Porsche Taycan that now provide real-time charger availability, enhancing the practicality of long-distance EV travel. This evolution signifies significant progress in making EV road trips more feasible and less cumbersome for drivers.

Notable Quote:

• Matt Farah [35:05]: "With drastically improved infrastructure, drastically improved charge speeds, drastically improved real time charger availability data."

6. Venting about Policy Impacting EV Development

Timestamp: 33:06

Matt and Zach express frustration over the political maneuvers hindering EV progress. They critique the rollback of environmental initiatives as a hindrance to scientific and clean energy advancements. Matt emphasizes the importance of incentives in promoting EV adoption, stating, "Incentives work, [...] it's pure capitalism."

Notable Quote:

• Matt Farah [34:06]: "Like, no, let's not do progress. Like come on. Like let's not do science, let's not do clean energy."

7. Listener Q&A and Special Discussions

Timestamp: 49:42 - 71:53

The hosts address various listener questions, ranging from recommendations on building Porsche parts to opinions on automatic transmissions in traditionally manual-equipped cars. Zach discusses his positive experiences with modern automatic gearboxes, such as the ZF 8-speed found in BMWs, highlighting their smoothness and efficiency compared to older models.

Notable Quotes:

• Zach Klapman [71:53]: "The A7 is awesome. [...] the iPhone microphone is so good at compression and limiting and stuff."
• Matt Farah [55:34]: "They change the direction of the engine 90 degrees. [...] that's the only car where they've ever done that."

8. Comparative Analysis: Audi R8 vs AMG GT

Timestamp: 50:27 - 51:51

In response to a listener's query, Matt and Zach debate the merits of the early Audi R8 versus the AMG GT. While both are exceptional vehicles, Matt leans towards the R8 for its exotic appeal and superior driving feel, despite both models being equipped with automatic transmissions. They agree that the R8 offers a more prestigious presence and better steering dynamics.

Notable Quotes:

• Matt Farah [50:30]: "I'd probably rather have an early R8."
• Zach Klapman [51:21]: "I'd rather walk out and look at the R8 and drive the R8. The steering's better than the GT."

9. Future Topics and Closing Remarks

Timestamp: 72:15 - End

The episode concludes with hints at upcoming topics, including discussions on The Twin Turbo 911 powered Cayman and BGB Motorsports. Matt mentions submitting a detailed piece on touchscreens to Road and Track, indicating deeper dives into automotive technology in future episodes.

Notable Quote:

• Matt Farah [58:31]: "I've just submitted a piece to Road and Track this morning that I think is 2,200 words [...]"

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Conclusion

This episode of The Smoking Tire navigates through corrections on technical aspects of the VW ID Buzz, dives into nostalgic personal stories, critiques current automotive marketing trends, and engages in a robust discussion on the current state and future of electric vehicles. Additionally, the hosts interact with their audience through insightful Q&A segments, providing expert opinions on various automotive topics. For enthusiasts seeking detailed and candid conversations about the automotive world, this episode offers a comprehensive and entertaining listen.

Transcript

[Matt Farah]

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. My name is Matt Farah and before we get to the program, y' all gotta know about off the Record, which I'm sure you already do because you listen to every single episode that we put out and if you don't, you should. Off the Record is our sponsor. They are awesome. I love off the Record and so many of you do too. Leave a comment if off the Record has saved your backside on this program because they have saved mine many, many times. Here's the scenario. You minding your business on the freeway and there is a police officer who pulls you over for whatever. You then get a ticket. Don't argue with the officer. Fight it out in court with off the Record. Take that ticket, say thank you, sir, go on your way and then call off the Record. They will assign an attorney in the jurisdiction where you got pulled over to fight that case. And most of the time they is getting them points off your record. And if they don't, you don't pay. It's like that. It's great. I love off the Record, you love off the Record. And the way you use off the Record is go to offtherecord.com TNT that's offtherecord.com TST that'll get you 10% off all legal services from off the Record. And just keep that one handy because sooner or later you are going to need it. Just trust me on that. All right, folks, on this episode we have an update about the worst part of the Volkswagen id Buzz. The Senate has killed California's EV mandate. Boo. Some people are like, boo. Wait a minute. Who is this guy? My dad has a story about why he bought and road tripped his Volkswagen Beetle and a whole lot more. It's the Smoking Tire podcast. Let's get to to it.

[Zach Klapman]

We are living.

[Matt Farah]

Really? Are we dying just to live?

[Zach Klapman]

We're live on the Internet like Neo and the rest of the Matrix. But are we really alive?

[Matt Farah]

I can't tell you how much I love the misunderstanding of the term red pill. Of the term red pill. The misinterpretation of the Matrix by certain people. Anyway, any who's will be as Gary would say. What's happening? Hello. It's the smoking tire. Yes, it is. It's your favorite. It's your favorite automotive podcast. I wear glasses now so I can talk like this. It's appropriation. I'm appropriating the dialect of the nerdery. Big, big update. Major correction. In the interest of journalistic integrity, I Have to issue an update slash correction from last last episode. Excuse me. As it turns out, if and only if you open the rear windows of the ID buzz to exactly 50%.

[Zach Klapman]

You.

[Matt Farah]

Can drive without buffeting at up to normal highway speeds. And let me tell you what a delight that is. This is a vehicle that's meant for the windows down. It really is.

[Zach Klapman]

It fixes it.

[Matt Farah]

Except, you know. Okay, so it is possible. We thought it wasn't possible. There is. The forum was right. It was possible. 50%. Rear window is the number. But that brings you back to the terrible rear window controls. Now, if you want to put any window down, you have to put a rear window down too. Which means you have to go down rear half down.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes.

[Matt Farah]

And then you have to do the reverse on the way up. Unless you just get out of the car with the windows down and hold lock on fob for like five seconds, all the windows will close.

[Zach Klapman]

That's good. I hate that window switch system so very much.

[Matt Farah]

But I don't want to be out there on the record being like, ah, it's impossible. And people like Fair and Vine. Correction. It's possible. The forum was right. That's how you do it.

[Zach Klapman]

You know what's weird? Like, I've read David Tuig's book. David, you don't have to email us about this. I'm gonna say his book informed me and us on how much it costs to change a tiny thing in a car. Right. The chapter on changing the key fob design if you make 500,000 cars a year, blah blah blah blah, over 10 years. Sure. So this window switch for VW though, they save a couple cents probably because instead of having four switches on the left side, they have two. Okay, capacitive button. How much does that cost? They also I what coupe does VW make? Like my brain's going, if everything they make is a four door, basically, why not have four switches? All your cars need it. It's not like the 90% of their cars are two door coupes. And they went, what can we do? We have all these two window switches. How do we make that work for a four door?

[Matt Farah]

The real the patch that I would do, because remember Ferrari, they patched the steering wheel thing where now you have to double click it to activate it. A patch I would do if I was Volkswagen is if you hold down the normal window switches for long enough, the rears should open also.

[Zach Klapman]

Does it not do that? Someone said the ID4, the ID4 had a patch that now I can't remember the Details of. But it was like it was a journalist problem, not an owner problem. Maybe. But I still think my, my.

[Matt Farah]

I tried in this and you can do it today if you just hold down the front two, it does not eventually open the rear two. If you hold down the remote, it'll open all four. No. From outside the car.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay. I also tried pressing and holding on that capacitive rear thing.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

And it didn't do anything.

[Matt Farah]

No, it doesn't. You have to hit rear to activate rear. And this is dumb. That's dumb.

[Zach Klapman]

I mean someone said, yeah. EOs. When did they stop making the EOs?

[Matt Farah]

When did they stop making the EOS?

[Zach Klapman]

I don't know.

[Matt Farah]

Why? Is that the last car that had regular?

[Zach Klapman]

Well, no, it might be the last two door coupe they made. Scirocco.

[Matt Farah]

No, in Europe they've got. I think they have both a three door Golf and a Scirocco or had up until very recently.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, all right.

[Matt Farah]

But yeah, no, okay. But anyway, I want to be on the record about, about that. Also. We got a. I got a Beetle story from my dad. We talked in the last podcast about if people who had the old Beetle were into the new Beetle and maybe if they were not. Because the new Beetle was so much different from the old Beetle. Right. My dad happened to have an old Beetle which he shared with his two brothers, all of whom were over 6ft tall. Which is a funny thing to think about. My story on the Beetle was incomplete, but it is a pretty good story. They got the Beetle because it was the cheapest car you could buy. Straight up cheapest new car you could buy. None of them really gave a shit about cars. Furthermore, my grandfather figured out that it was even cheaper if you took European delivery. And so my dad and his two brothers went to Germany and took European delivery of the beetle in 1967. Green over dark blue over tan. Drove her Europe together for two months.

[Zach Klapman]

That's cool.

[Matt Farah]

And then shipped the car home and it just became the kids. The family car for the three kids. They then drove it cross country to California. And yeah, when they got there, my dad said the engine gradually lost compression after about Nebraska. And he said as you approach the.

[Zach Klapman]

Largest mountains in the western side of the.

[Matt Farah]

So you know, he said, you know, when, if you were really, if you were really going, you know, when you, when it was new, you know, it could probably go like 80 miles an hour if you really had room. Right. He said by the time we got to California, like it would only do 50.

[Zach Klapman]

Whoa.

[Matt Farah]

So he said, yeah, they had to rebuild the engine in California. And they spent a couple weeks. I thought they left the car in California. No, it turns out my grandpa came out and helped them find some kind of shop to do some kind of rebuild on it. And then they did drive it home. And it was. It remained their high school car until my till they all went to college. And my dad was the youngest one. He said once his. His older brother Ron took it out on a snowy night and crashed it. And it was at the body shop for like, two weeks. And he said Ron felt bad, and so he let my dad use his 70 Corvette or his 71 Corvette for a couple months. So he said he was rolling into high school in a pretty new vet, which was cool.

[Zach Klapman]

Is that when you realized he should get a gto? He went, oh, this is more fun.

[Matt Farah]

It probably was because The Beatle was 67. My dad would have been a senior in high school in 70, 71. Ron was like seven, eight years older. So he was like. He had like, his first big, you know, out of college. Like, he's an accountant. So, you know, 26 year old in the early 70s. Accountant. Like, hell, yeah. Corvette, right? And yeah, I think my dad's next car would have been in 72, which was the gto. Yeah. So maybe he got the bug from the Corvette.

[Zach Klapman]

Cool.

[Matt Farah]

But eventually it just, you know, it got sold off. But I said, did, you know, did you care that it was air cooled? Did you care about the design or anything like that? He goes, matt, it was the cheapest car that was a car.

[Zach Klapman]

I hear him saying it.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, just like that.

[Zach Klapman]

Right, Matt?

[Matt Farah]

Matt, it was a car.

[Zach Klapman]

Do you think I would have chosen that thing? That's pretty cool, though, German delivery and all that stuff. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

[Matt Farah]

German. Three high school kids doing German delivery of a beetle. It's pretty rad. Good.

[Zach Klapman]

Good time also, you know, just 20 years after the whole kerfuffle, all is.

[Matt Farah]

Like, yeah, West German delivery of a beetle.

[Zach Klapman]

I'm just saying, like, it wasn't that long ago.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

You know, 20 years ago when my car was made. If I showed it.

[Matt Farah]

Just listen. It was my dad's side, not my mom's side, you know.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh, okay.

[Matt Farah]

My mom's side is the Jewish side.

[Zach Klapman]

All right.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. My dad's side. Not. Not Jewish.

[Zach Klapman]

They walked off the plane.

[Matt Farah]

No, I'm not saying. I'm not saying they were for what went on over there. I'm just saying that they weren't, like, not driving German cars. It wasn't a thing. Like that my, my grandparents, my mom's would not same. They wouldn't go near a German car.

[Zach Klapman]

Same.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Grandfather was Cadillac all the way to the end, right?

[Matt Farah]

The same catalog.

[Zach Klapman]

That's true. He had the same 72 El Dorado, white with red interior from as long as I can remember until he stopped driving. The thing was the longest. Curb feelers, white top. Like the longest car in the world.

[Matt Farah]

Every one of my grandparents last cars was a Cadillac. And my last grandma who died in 2019. No, yeah, yeah, 2019. She died like two months before our wedding. She had. Her last Cadillac was a Katera, the Caddy that zigs straight up. The agile car I could have inherited if I wanted to. I considered trying to turn it into like a lemons race car, but my little cousin like needed a car and so that was probably better use of the Katera than me. Than me just gutting it, destroying it.

[Zach Klapman]

As a race car, discarding it.

[Matt Farah]

People who need cars should get them first. If you don't need them, then we can, we can talk about that later. So. Yeah. Did you get a, did you get a Beatles story from your mom?

[Zach Klapman]

I'll call her today and find out.

[Matt Farah]

Hopefully it's better than my dad's Beatles story. Hopefully she cared about it being air cooled, efficient packaging.

[Zach Klapman]

I feel like there will be a police interaction story in there. San Francisco in the 60s. Well, yeah, no, you're speculating.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, I mean my dad was in Jersey and I don't think he had a choice in what the car was. I mean he was the. He didn't, he didn't even have a driver's license when that car became part of the family. So he was not part of that decision. But your mom chose a Beetle, right?

[Zach Klapman]

Got rid of a Mustang.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, she might have a better story there in terms of that, but did she do European delivery?

[Zach Klapman]

No, definitely not.

[Matt Farah]

Folks, we gotta take a quick break. For today's sponsor, hellofresh. Yo. The summer is here and that means fresh air, sunshine and good food with your friends. And HelloFresh makes it easier to fit quick home cooked meals into your schedule each week by curating delicious recipes like pasta primavera, chicken Dijon and pecan crusted trout, as well as over 100 seasonal snacks, sides and treats. They've offered even more for 2025. Every possible lifestyle. We've got ready made meals with chef crafted flavorful dishes that are ready in just three minutes. So you can dig in and get outside, get work done or get some me time. And every Hellofresh meal uses high quality ingredients including seasonal fresh produce and proteins that travel from the farm to your doorstep. I personally like hellofresh because I like to cook, right? I like the cooking part of cooking, I don't like the shopping part and I really don't like the figuring out what to make that's gonna be easy and quick and delicious, but also isn't something I've made a million times. I love that my hellofresh shows up with recipes that I've chosen off the website but are maybe not things that I would actively choose out of recipe books to, but I know because it's easy because the ingredients are coming perfectly proportioned because it's gonna taste great at the end that I'm happy to get it from HelloFresh so you can fit great meals that fit your spring schedule and make the season even more delicious. If you go to hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm man they are really getting complex with these codes. Write it down folks. Hellofresh.com smokingtire10 and that stands for 10 free meals with a free item for life, one per box with active subscription free meals applied as a discount on first box. New subscribers only, varies by plan. Hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm and we're also brought to you today by Kramo. Loving this Kramo because I have been trying to be a good husband to my wife and doing morning workouts. That's right. Normally I'm an afternoon workout guy but I have been hitting the gym before work and going to legree class with my wife and the exercise is good but coming to work after is problematic. Also if I'm up on the mountain all morning filming, it is hot up there now and there is some potential for stank and Kramo is here to solve this providing men with 48 hour odor protection. Kramo products are all bott barber grade made with pride, professionalism and passion to guarantee you quality without compromise. I'm using the Italian bergamot this week. It is delicious, the skin is great, my body smells great and my wife likes it too with their deodorant. It's awesome. Krameau's got that enhanced multi layered scent technology for a longer lasting experience so you can apply it once and enjoy how you smell all. But deodorant isn't just for smelling good and avoiding sweat. The scent you choose sets the tone of how you present yourself and Krameau helps men make an unforgettable impression every time this stuff Smells nice, guys. It does. I really like it. It's natural. It makes me smell manly, and it does keep me from sweating through my clothes when I go to work after the gym. Yep. And Krameau has got other stuff, too. A wide range of other grooming products for men, including shaving cream, beard oil, and shampoo. So you can find your favor scent and buy the whole body care line. Head over to target or target.com to find Krameau's new line of antiperspirants and deodorants in the Italian bergamot and Palo Santo scents. Once again, look for Cremo at target or target.com and now back to the program. You know what's pissing me off? I mean, there's a lot. Well, this could go. Ain't nothing.

[Zach Klapman]

It really grinds my gears.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. In, like, Instagram and car listings. And whenever people are referring to an exotic manual transmission car of a certain period of time, they always say gated manual. Even, like. Even the. Like a Lamborghini Murcielo, it always says gated. Gated. It's like, of course they're all like that.

[Zach Klapman]

Sure.

[Matt Farah]

You could just. You don't have to say it anymore.

[Zach Klapman]

You know that.

[Matt Farah]

But I think I'm very tired of reading gated about. It's just redundant. It's fucking manual. They're all gated.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh.

[Matt Farah]

As a matter of fact, every manual Ferrari made Since, like, the 70s is a gated fucking manual.

[Zach Klapman]

So do you want them to say gated transmission?

[Matt Farah]

No, you want, say manual.

[Zach Klapman]

Get rid of the gated.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, get rid of the word gated.

[Zach Klapman]

Gated.

[Matt Farah]

Why?

[Zach Klapman]

Because it's unique. It's special to certain brands. Not every manual car has it, so it's not actually redundant. And I think if you're like a new person to cars, if you're 12 and you read it and you see, nah, you're just too weathered. You've been here too long.

[Matt Farah]

If you're 12, you don't care about driving stick. No one that's 12 cares about driving stick.

[Zach Klapman]

That's true. We might like seeing the gaty thing.

[Matt Farah]

I just. I hate it. It's just. I'm over it. There's words I'm tired of seeing, and the word gated is one.

[Zach Klapman]

I don't mind it at all. It's just. Especially if there's no pictures in the article.

[Matt Farah]

Huh? There's always pictures. I'm, like, talking about Instagram.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh, okay.

[Matt Farah]

I'm not talking about journalism.

[Zach Klapman]

I thought you meant, like, in a magazine.

[Matt Farah]

Not Talking about journalism. I'm talking about garbage Instagram shit. All right, like, like, specifically, I'll tell you the one. There was a post about cars that are in movies.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

Specifically exotic cars in movies. It's an account that posts. It's almost like an IMDb type account, but for cars in movies.

[Zach Klapman]

Can I guess which car they talk about?

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

355 Spider in the Rock.

[Matt Farah]

No, but good guess.

[Zach Klapman]

There's a close shot of him shifting that. Specifically.

[Matt Farah]

No, but good guess. This is about the. The group of Lamborghinis that were used to film. I guess it was the Dark Knight, the Gray. Gray. Mercy's Gray elb. And like, the four.

[Zach Klapman]

The four cars, the Lamborghini.

[Matt Farah]

And like, two of them were manual and two of them were automatic.

[Zach Klapman]

Get your manual.

[Matt Farah]

And it just repeatedly, like four or five times throughout the post. Gated, gated, gated, gated.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay, that's.

[Matt Farah]

And I'm like, yeah, but like, it's. Yes, that's. Well, other.

[Zach Klapman]

I agree.

[Matt Farah]

It wasn't until I saw it this much that I felt like talking about it on the podcast. But when I saw it, I went, ugh, we need to stop this. And then I wrote it down and now we've filled three minutes of content. See how that works?

[Zach Klapman]

I think more than once in any article or post saying gated manual. That's too much.

[Matt Farah]

Sure. Let's make a rule. More than once in any post. That's good.

[Zach Klapman]

That's a good starting point. Completely.

[Matt Farah]

Okay.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

All right. More than. Yeah. I mean, that's easy, right?

[Zach Klapman]

People know. You say it once and then later you could say the shifter, the transmission, and everybody goes, I know what it is.

[Matt Farah]

And also more than zero times if your headline photo is of that thing.

[Zach Klapman]

I'll agree with that. Because they're not going to see the text without seeing the picture on Instagram.

[Matt Farah]

It's going to be there.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[Matt Farah]

Okay. That's a good one. Yeah, definitely. And if you. If you use it like more than three times in like, let's just say an Instagram post, I think you need to quit the business. You have to deactivate your account.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. You just. Well, it's.

[Matt Farah]

Because now I'll tell you why. Now you're training AI and it's all.

[Zach Klapman]

Our fucking problem and it's all gonna be getting shifter.

[Matt Farah]

Right. Your stupidity is. Now this is like. It's like Tesla's on public roads. Like, that's why you shouldn't be able to use F. Because I'm there on My motorcycle. Because your stupidity is now my problem. Your shit, your output trash is now training AI And I can't live with that. I feel like I refuse to abide by that. The dude will not.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, for your analogy, it would be like if the Tesla cars were only following bad drivers and then learning how to drive from the bad. On the way down here in the canyon, I followed this truck. It had a trailer on the back with a Rascal scooter in it. No license plate. The rear window shield is. The rear window's gone. Blown out, just a mess. This person's had a real bad time.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

And they're doing 30 the whole way. And some people made what I would call dangerous passes to go around me past this person. I just said forget it. Yeah, but if the AI was following that particular driver, this person was in the dirt. Then they crossed the yellow, then they were in the dirt. They were braking at weird points while also going like. It was the most dangerous driving under the speed limit I've seen in quite a while.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

So FSD might have learned something from them.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. You can't have that training. Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

You need to follow limousine drivers, like good ones.

[Matt Farah]

The Rolls Royce chauffeur manual is what we need happening here.

[Zach Klapman]

Exactly.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. I like if Rolls Royce came out with a semi autonomous system and said this is trained on the tenets of the Rolls Royce chauffeur manual.

[Zach Klapman]

They will.

[Matt Farah]

That would be sick.

[Zach Klapman]

They will, you know, when they introduce it, that is too strong a marketing point to not use it. But also they'll go, imagine a Rolls Royce Opera coupe.

[Matt Farah]

Right. Where you know, like back in the day when you had the rear passengers in an enclosed thing and the outside driver was just open.

[Zach Klapman]

Right.

[Matt Farah]

Imagine that shape but no outside driver. Just longer nose to further back. And it was just a 25 foot car with that's a two seater in the back and nobody and nothing driving up there. That would be the most obnoxious Opera coupe. Shit. There's a guy who just drove by the other day.

[Zach Klapman]

That's what Sam Altman will pull up in 2040.

[Matt Farah]

Can you Google Cadillac Eldorado Opera Coupe? There were these. I don't think they were factory, I think they were custom. But there was. There's these early 80s Cadillacs that were turned into these. Like that one on the third one. Seville Opera Coupe. That's the one that have these real short. It's kind of like the Cadillac version of a little bit what I'm talking about. But from 1979 it's an atrocious looking vehicle, dude, let me tell you. There's one that rolled by the shop yesterday that's all black. No landau roof. It's got a painted roof. All black. What we're looking at. Imagine you took a Cadillac Sedan Seville and eliminated the front seat and only left the back seat, moved the windshield back to the back seat, just extended the hood right through where the front seat would be to the back seat. And then put two in body, spare.

[Zach Klapman]

Tires on each side, spare tire carriers.

[Matt Farah]

And you're driving the car basically from where the back seat would be with this ginormous schnoz. It's kind of fabulous.

[Zach Klapman]

Take an sls, but make it, make it in Minecraft.

[Matt Farah]

So now picture this vehicle. Now I saw one go by yesterday, black with all gold trim and daytons. 13 daytons.

[Zach Klapman]

I'm not making fun of that car because that person can fuck me up.

[Matt Farah]

Right. All the extra room in that car is full of guns. And I saw him go by twice. I almost wanted to chase this motherfucker up the road, I have to say. In all black with gold Daytons. It is actually quite hilariously awesome.

[Zach Klapman]

Look at. I just. Maybe that's just a reflection.

[Matt Farah]

It is a coach. It's a coach built thing. It's not a factory thing. It's from Florida. Pompano beach, of course.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes. I think the hood opens very far. I think the opening for the hood seems very far back on the hood.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

You see the line?

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

So for people listening, like, like the front. Imagine where the front bumper is. Go back two full feet. That's where the seam is for the hood. And then you open it and you maintain. So it's like the engine is set back behind the axle. Yeah, but that's weird.

[Matt Farah]

Front mid.

[Zach Klapman]

That's very weird.

[Matt Farah]

Front mid.

[Zach Klapman]

It's front mid. But at least on like an AMG gt, you open the hood, the whole thing opens.

[Matt Farah]

I mean I bet it's flimsy as shit, but if you are in Los Angeles and turned one of these into a lowrider, it would be awesome. You tell me this wouldn't be sick. As a low rider in the right color, I think it would be amazing.

[Zach Klapman]

I mean the proportions would wear on me a bit.

[Matt Farah]

If you find one in a different color, it's this, this two tone white and blue is doing it no favors. And if you can see if there's one monochrome. Look at the silver. Look at the silver. Looks like a fucking Aston. The silver go down. Look at that one. They've got yeah, no spares. Look, it looks like. It looks Italian with no spares on the side.

[Zach Klapman]

All right, so this is all white, and that looks weird.

[Matt Farah]

It looks.

[Zach Klapman]

It looks. It looks tiny. It looks like a micro car. Yeah, with this little.

[Matt Farah]

It is kind of small. The gray without the spare tires and.

[Zach Klapman]

The big Ferrari, like the big vents.

[Matt Farah]

It's kind of cool.

[Zach Klapman]

This is like a weird, boxy. You know what? This is before its time. This is like a Cadillac xlr.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

It looks like a Vette. Look like Corvette, but it's square.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

This is so.

[Matt Farah]

I mean, it's stupid, but it's also, like, a little awesome.

[Zach Klapman]

It's not bad.

[Matt Farah]

Like, now picture it full black with Dayton's. And you're like, yeah, I get it. That's all right.

[Zach Klapman]

Are there more pictures here?

[Matt Farah]

Oh, there's more pictures of this one. Okay, cool. Do we have a good interior? It looks great at the rear. Three quarter looks awesome. Those might actually be Dayton's.

[Zach Klapman]

This is like a Monte Carlo Cuba.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, wow. The interior is really nice in this. It's got a Nardy steering wheel, like.

[Zach Klapman]

A Miata Burlwood Nardi interior is not nice. I would say.

[Matt Farah]

No, it's not nice. But it's in good condition. It's not like, aesthetically nice situation. Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

What a weird.

[Matt Farah]

Not a lot of leg room, though.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, it's a Monte Carlo ss, but you only sit in the back.

[Matt Farah]

Kind of sick.

[Zach Klapman]

That's kind of funny. Whoever. Whoever decided to do these Ferrari scallops. I mean, they're not even. But I like the idea.

[Matt Farah]

I like the idea. I think that they're about 20% vertically too big. They're a little too tall.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. I think they look pretty good. A little.

[Matt Farah]

A little smaller, but. But. But the idea is there somebody Photoshop a little better?

[Zach Klapman]

They're misaligned.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. But anyway, now we know about the. I don't know how we got here, but why did we get here?

[Zach Klapman]

You saw one.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, I guess I did.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes, I did.

[Matt Farah]

Did you. Did you read, by the way, this is recorded on May 23rd. May 23rd.

[Zach Klapman]

Before the Great War.

[Matt Farah]

Right. For the records. EV tax credits. House voted to get rid of them. No reason the Senate won't. Also so cool. Not like we don't like those helped or anything. That's nice. And also a lot of funding for alternative energy projects and. And battery storage and things like that. So. Yay. That's really fun.

[Zach Klapman]

Medicaid cuts, but that's a different show.

[Matt Farah]

That's a different show. This is the car part. I'm sticking to cars, Zach.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay. Battery storage for cars.

[Matt Farah]

People are about. Once a week, people find new and unique, innovative ways to tell me to stick to cars without using the words stick to cars. It's actually quite fun to read before saying something like, you know, not me, but, like, some people might be turned off by that, so you better, like, just stick to cars, you know.

[Zach Klapman]

Right.

[Matt Farah]

Talk. You talk about political things. You know, some people, like, not me. Like, I'm like a libertarian. But, like, you know, other people might be turned off by those topics.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay, they might be. I get it. If you hear people talk about something that you don't agree with. Yeah, yeah, it's difficult.

[Matt Farah]

But yeah, the ev. I mean, look, part of it was like the California. There's the California EV mandate thing. They killed that. Yeah, there were 20 by 2035. And we sort of called that. That wouldn't make it.

[Zach Klapman]

That kind of thing has been happening. I mean, California. It also happened in Europe and they keep having to move it back because infrastructure, the cost of the car, nothing is ready in time. And that's totally fair and understandable.

[Matt Farah]

They keep moving it back. They don't kill it. Having it in place keeps progress moving, even if you do move the date. Goalpost.

[Zach Klapman]

Sure.

[Matt Farah]

Right. It's like a. It does. Even if the year's inaccurate, it does sort of become a statement of intent to at least have something, right? To at least, like, force automakers to improve their efficiency, improve their ev. Although obviously Trump and all these people just don't give a shit about EVs at all. And. And would kill them out of spite. Except for Tesla, that may be not so much anymore.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, that's fair.

[Matt Farah]

Maybe not so much anymore. But before everyone celebrates Elon being gone, just remember that while he was there, he got basically every single thing he wanted, which is pretty much any agency in charge of overseeing any of his companies has been irredeemably wrecked. I mean, just. Just wrecked. And so people can be all, ha, ha, Trump didn't keep you around. And like, that's funny for a minute, but he gets to go home, like, with so many regulations just gone that were there last year, all the investigations, all the companies he runs. So actually he ran a major con on the fucking US Presidency and then was like, see ya. I can just like leave now and. Or he just bought his way in. And Trump was like, look, 130 days, you do anything you want for 130 days and then you Gotta go. You just buy me into office. Which could have happened too. I mean, either way, gets what he wants before he leaves. But anyway, EV shit, you know, California's is now dead, so we don't have that. And then the EV incentives are now dead. So 7,500 federal tax credit, $4,000 used tax credit, dead. Which. So on top of tariffs, on top of whatever, like all electric cars just got like stupidly more expensive.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Which maybe is good for the. Well, it's not good for anything, but maybe is good for the secondhand EV market if you're a seller.

[Zach Klapman]

Sure. They got more expensive. Yeah, but I think that's. They're also more expensive to buy, you know, Are there less people? Maybe. Maybe less people will get into EVs because the used cars just got more expensive. And also people will probably hang on to them longer because getting a new one might have just gotten more expensive. It's kind of like the house thing. People who bought a house 30 years ago or whatever, and they locked in a good interest rate. Well, now they can't move because interest is so high and prices.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, you sold it, where would you go?

[Zach Klapman]

Exactly?

[Matt Farah]

I mean, I guess it's good news that batteries seem to be lasting longer than people thought they would. The original testing cycles were a little more abusive than regular driving duty cycles, it seems.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, but we had a lot of research happening here. All around the world. There's a lot of research on the solid state problem. And if we pulled money out of that, Toyota's already developed some pretty strong examples of it. But that technology will probably blossom somewhere else.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, like, I don't know, China maybe. But incentives work, right? Like people like, you know, incentives and disincentives work. You fucking make something prohibitively expensive with taxes and people stop buying it. You make it, you make it less expensive through incentives and people buy more of it. I mean, literally, that works. Pure capitalism works.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Is that pure capitalism though? Because you're like subsidizing one thing or another, nudging it, and that happens across so many industries.

[Matt Farah]

I just mean maybe that's. You're right, sorry. It's not pure capitalism because it's not pure hands off capitalism. But like the money will drive the behavior, the incentive, that's kind of more like what I meant. Even though I probably used idiot terminology because I went to art school. Just say really, really good art school, you guys. Fuck me. But I mean, it's just puts us so fucking far behind just to like, like just be like, like. No, let's not do progress. Like come on. Like let's not do science, let's not do clean energy. Like what? Like are you for real? Like what did you some fucking like stupid movie villain, like bring back coal? Like what are you fucking doing?

[Zach Klapman]

Well I know and there's a lot of articles that'll explain this better than I ever could with like the number of jobs in coal is actually quite small because power is made mostly by like you know, natural gas in other ways now. But I just, I know people, I know there's a lot of people that listen and in the car world that don't like EVs and they're like haha, it didn't work or wasn't it a dumb experiment? And I think it was failed in some ways, but it worked in some ways. And it's like did everything get a fair shake? And I just wish it would just be. It just makes so much more sense to be like all right, the sun is always on like in the daytime. So what if we just capture that power? I know that the capture of the power is hard but you know, we can solve these problems and then you could just transmit that electricity into a car, drive around like versus drilling, refining, pollution. And then they got and like the drill baby, drill thing. We already produce more oil than any other country. We export a ton of it. They don't like oil companies don't want the price of oil to go down, they don't want things to be cheaper.

[Matt Farah]

Honestly I feel like these, they're only killing it for some kind of revenge on anything. Joe Biden attached his name to a lot of that and you know, 20% money, you know, their donors. It's depressing. I mean it really is because like having now done enough road tripping over the last five years in EVs, like I have actually personally witnessed progress to go from oh this is sketchy to actually you can do this with only the very mildest of inconveniences. In almost the same amount of time you could do it in a gas car. And with drastically improved infrastructure, drastically improved charge speeds, drastically improved real time charger availability data. I mean when I'm using my Taycan, which is now a four model year old car, right? But the software has been updated for the route finder. Just like, I don't know, maybe a month ago I forgot to put it in the video. Shit, like a month ago the route planning software updated and now shows number of stalls available at each charger. And if they fill up it changes my Route to go to one that has available chargers. Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Awesome.

[Matt Farah]

So it didn't do that in January when I bought the car. Now it does it. We keep getting more and more and more tools pretty rapidly, rapidly to make EV road tripping, like a real thing that you don't. That there shouldn't need to be that much planning for. And I think a lot of people are much more scared than they need to be of doing an EV road trip. The real difference is you can't speed like crazy. Like, there's not really a good argument for saying, oh, you have to set the Cruise control at 75. Like, you can't go 90 or 100, you'll go through fast. It's like, well, you're not supposed to go 90 or 100. I mean, I don't have a good. Other than you feel like it, I don't have a good. David Zipper pressed me on this when I forget if I was on his podcast or he was on mine or he was on this one, but I think we had him on because he was talking about speed limiters on vehicles and. And he tried to make me say, you know, give any reason that a car should be able to go over, like, 100 miles an hour and like, other. There's no other reason than racetracks and. Because I want to.

[Zach Klapman]

Sure, of course.

[Matt Farah]

And. And that's not really a great reason.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, it's not a. I mean, it's not a strong argument against the safety and the danger and the, you know, higher kinetic energy and all those other things. Like, you can't win that argument. And you could try to play like, you know, the freedom of choice game and all these other things, but, like, it's just not as binary.

[Matt Farah]

Well, I'm just saying that that's not a great argument for why a gas car is such a better road trip car than an EV car. It's like, because I can break the speed limit by more.

[Zach Klapman]

But how does that. I don't understand how that's a factor. Because we've been in EVs that go 170.

[Matt Farah]

No, but I'm saying. But if you're actually road tripping across the country, real world, you and I in my white Porsche, which you have to sit at 74, otherwise your range goes like this. Or a Bentley GT. We're in the middle of the desert, nobody's around, we're safe. We can go 120 for an hour and a half and see three people.

[Zach Klapman]

But we'll also burn a lot more fuel.

[Matt Farah]

We will. But there's so many more stops, and you can stop so much faster that it's just not. It doesn't affect you mentally the same way that it affects somebody driving fast in an EV and going through.

[Zach Klapman]

I mean, a good race to do, maybe just be something we could just do on paper with math is like, you cross the country and I mean, it's the Cannonball thing. Right. It's if Bentley crosses the country and averages 98 miles per hour, but they have X number of stops because you're not putting a bladder in the trunk like at.

[Matt Farah]

We can look at Cannonball, actual Cannonball results for this.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh. And just see. Yeah. What the time is.

[Matt Farah]

I mean, like, I think the. I mean, the record for a gas car is like 26s or something, which is crazy.

[Zach Klapman]

But I mean, stock gas tank, you know, for most people. Oh.

[Matt Farah]

Saying that.

[Zach Klapman]

So, yes, like, you can speed across the desert in your Bentley and you could fill up more often, but if you're stopping 10 times across the country instead of four in your battery car or six.

[Matt Farah]

Okay, so what we need to do is contact Ed Bullion and figure out what is the best Cannonball time with a stock gas tank, which I'm sure there's a category for, and then compare that to Alex, Roy or one of these other guys who's got the best. You know, I think Alex has the Cannonball record for electric car. I think. I think it's like 40 something hours. I mean, the difference in an actual Cannonball between the best you could do in an electric car and the best you do in a gas car is like a lot. It's like 40% sure with these guys are running 60 gallons of gas. So that's not exactly apples to apples.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Because the general public, I think I'm just sad that the experiment has been kiboshed for now, because the gas car experiment took longer to get to where we are than we realized because we weren't alive.

[Matt Farah]

Sure.

[Zach Klapman]

But we talked about this before. The 1900s, tens, twenties, finding gas. What was it? Leaded, unleaded. New technology seems like it arrives quickly, but perfecting it can take a much longer time.

[Matt Farah]

100 years ago, the nickname for cars, literally 1925, the nickname for cars in Citi, were murder machines. So many people were killed by cars in the city that they were calling them murder machines. And that's where literally all car lobbying associations came, because the people who lived in cities wanted cars fucking out of cities. And so the trip, that's where AAA started, by the way. AAA started as like a lobbying group to keep cars, you know, going when they were wildly unpopular because of how many people they murdered.

[Zach Klapman]

Wow.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. But, like, that was a hundred years ago. You know, the first public EV charge network of any real kind was what, 2012. We're year 13 right now. Like, come on, man. Like. And you know, the rest of the country ain't. Excuse me. The rest of the world is not stopping this.

[Zach Klapman]

Right.

[Matt Farah]

You know what I mean? So, like, all that's happening is we are gonna fall further and further behind. The rest of the world is gonna keep going, and we're just gonna have to spend more money later to catch up. Up. Like, it's not going to go away, you think? Like, come on. It's crazy. So good times. We should. We should go to the people there's.

[Zach Klapman]

Can we talk about interiors real quick for vehicles?

[Matt Farah]

Always.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, I went. I went to Good Vibes this morning, which was very fun. I also, like, I haven't driven my car that hard since I put tires and brakes on it. The Bridgestone Potenza race, Like, yes, they gave them to me for free. And so I'll tell you a negative about them just so people understand that I'm not just saying they're the perfect thing. Sidewall super hard around town. Way harder than the Vredesteins. I drove around on, like, noisier, less comfortable. Blah, blah, blah, in the canyons. Holy shit, they are so sticky, dude. I was carrying such amazing Potenza. What are they?

[Matt Farah]

I think that's what I have on the nsx.

[Zach Klapman]

They hustle.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

And Thad was behind me and we got to a stop and he's like, you have some grip and momentum in the corner, my friend. And alignment. I have that Avis did. Like, the thing tracks straight on the highway. It's not Darty or there's not a lot of tow in. But the turn in is still super quick.

[Matt Farah]

Nice.

[Zach Klapman]

Bad. Drove in like, the thing hauls ass. And it feels really sticky and really nice and light. And I just kind of forgot that. Cause it's been under so many surgeries. And the power steering shit stayed on nothing. Because I was in, you know, seven grand. I'm going, this is when the pulleys will fall off. If they're gonna. It's gonna happen now. And everything was fine.

[Matt Farah]

Great. Okay. Okay. What about interiors?

[Zach Klapman]

So I want to do this plaid insert thing I've been talking about. So I asked our body shop neighbor if he had any references, and he gave me one. And he Said this person is highly skilled, like OEM level for decades. They've worked together for a long time. And he's like, he's not concord expensive. He's not cheap. He's in the middle. And I was like, all right, that sounds pretty good. And so I called this person and got an estimate on the phone, and it was 4,000 to redo the front seats with seat inserts and new leather on the outsides.

[Matt Farah]

And I was like, 4,000 for two seats?

[Zach Klapman]

For two seats. And I could buy recaros for that and probably just have like those inserts pillow made because it's less complicated. So I'm gonna call a different show. But that was just a higher number than I was expecting.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, I think. I think, yeah, that's high, but not as high as it could be. I mean, you're talking about the whole seat, right? The front two entire seats.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes. But our friend Sarah Trimble went to a different place and that bench seat that looks so good in her truck was done for several hundred dollars.

[Matt Farah]

Great. Simpler seat, I would call them. That's a three person across bench. That's basically a couch that goes into a car. It's not the same, but I would also call that shop, too. Yeah. I mean, if you need. I don't say. I wouldn't say you need. Not concourse. Middle.

[Zach Klapman]

Right. This person.

[Matt Farah]

I would say you need not middle, but bottom.

[Zach Klapman]

I don't want you to. I don't want to open the door and see like wrinkly leather. And I don't think you would, but that might have been. That was a little too nice for me, I think. Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. I mean, that probably. You know, in fairness, it probably takes. Is it one dude by himself?

[Zach Klapman]

It is one person. It is a skilled artisan by himself.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

So I respect. I don't think his pricing is unjust. I think I wish I'd made these calls before I ordered $400 of Scottish material.

[Matt Farah]

Yes.

[Zach Klapman]

You know. Yes. It's like I should. Like you're doing.

[Matt Farah]

I know exactly what you did. You saw and went, ooh, that one didn't order. How much do I need? Better get a little extra.

[Zach Klapman]

I did exactly that. Because, you know, the research you're doing. We don't need to talk about what it is, but we went to a meeting earlier this week. You're doing homework beforehand and I'm just buying parts.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, look, we've been there. We've all been. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[Zach Klapman]

So that was my.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, you can probably get it done for less. For sure. But you could also. And you're talking about Recaro's, like buckets or like fold back Recaros like the ones in the BB car. Like those kind of Recaros.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, yeah. I don't know how much are those? I'm not gonna buy Recaros. I just feel like with the amount this person wanted, I was like, I could buy new seats.

[Matt Farah]

Yes, you could.

[Zach Klapman]

And probably take those apart, you know, because some of those Recaros, like the center comes out like Velcro.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, yeah. Like those are. That's like what I. When I did my Mustang or any of those, you just. You take the centers out and you basically have them make you a pillow. And that's a couple hundred bucks. That's not a big deal. Yeah, but if they're doing. Because your M3 seat is a lot of pieces.

[Zach Klapman]

True. That's a moving.

[Matt Farah]

There's moving things and there's a lot of like stitching across it and stuff. That's probably a lot.

[Zach Klapman]

We'll see. I'm gonna go to a second shop next week and I'll see. And if they also say four grand, I'll be like, well, I'm gonna buy super cars.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. At that point, I mean, they're not cheap either, but.

[Zach Klapman]

But, but then I get the seat position I want.

[Matt Farah]

Sure. It's expensive and you save weight.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, exactly. Or I just sell this tartan on the Internet and just go, fuck.

[Matt Farah]

Someone will want some tartan.

[Zach Klapman]

Who wants to make 15 kilts?

[Matt Farah]

Myers Manx may want it. I gave. There's. So, you know, if somebody were. They. They have to, they have to get my approval. But my extra bus fabric from the, from the Safari I gave to Myers Manx, they have. I think it's three yards of it. They have enough to do one vehicle. So it didn't work with the color that I wanted and I didn't want to change the color to one that would. I didn't want to do it. A color just to fit the fabric. It would look amazing on a Myers Manx. The though. So if somebody wants to order a Myers Manx with that fabric, you can actually get it. They have enough to do one.

[Zach Klapman]

And don't let them charge you for the fabric because you know that they got it for free.

[Matt Farah]

It comes with the buggy. Okay. I am out of. I'm out of things. So let's go to the fucking people. And before we do, I want to remind everybody that road and track has updated our fall event, the Seaside to Sierra Rally. It is Going to be sick. It's going to be Sonoma Healdsbur, Sonoma Raceway. It's going to be Pruitt Winery with Scott Pruitt on hand giving hot laps around Sonoma doing a fireside chat. It's going to be Lake Tahoe. It's actually the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe. Best hotels, restaurants, and one of the best racetracks in the country. It was originally going to be the first weekend in September. That's Labor Day weekend. We've moved it to the end. It's now the 24th to 27th of September, if you want to come drive with me. And road and track in Northern California. California. Best hotels, best wine, best food, best roads. Sonoma Raceway, fabulous racing driver on hand. I'm gonna be giving hot laps and stuff as well. Come on out. But yes, the Patreon is also. What the fuck is up, patreon.com thesmokentyrepodcast that's how you ask us questions. That's how you watch the livestream. That's how you get the show before anybody else. That's how you get the show without ads. That's how you participate in our polls. That's how you get exclusive Moichand and more. Let's see what we've got, starting with barbecue sauce on Matittis. Fuck you, money. And Porsche will listen to what you say. What piece unique are you building in the Porsche family? And recommends a Panamera Sport Turismo Dakar, which I think is a pretty cool choice. That sounds pretty fun. I saw when I was over in Germany, the, you know, the Porsche family gets to build these special cars that don't exist. And I saw a Targa that had a GT3RS engine in it and a manual gearbox, and that was superior. So I would have that.

[Zach Klapman]

That's pretty rad.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Any Mothman of mine. Oh, wait. Whoa. Okay. Can you figure. Oh, all right. What is a. Okay. Any Mothman of mine. Lot of words here. Sorry. What is a good color strap that would complement an emerald green dial and gold face of the watch? I mean, green to match the dial. You could do black or white. If you want to go summery crazy, you can go white. You can go with a gray. You could go with a green. Green.

[Zach Klapman]

You could do green.

[Matt Farah]

Yellow.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, Yellow. A gold that works.

[Matt Farah]

Yellow could work. Yeah. Yeah. I'd go fucking bright. A bright rubber strap for the summer.

[Zach Klapman]

Bright yellow. Very Lotus.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, I don't know what. I don't know what. What is c. What is cra. Zach? On Jrg Vespa's question, I'll look up. I don't know what. I'm not sure what that is. Gin and Tonic State Park. Gin and Teconic Parkway is excellent. AMG GT coupes have gotten cheapy cheaps. 60k. For a similar price, you can get an early Audi R8. Which would you rather have? Both automatic. An AMG GT or an R8? An early R8. I'd probably rather have an early R8. Right. Early R8 or early AMG GT? I'm gonna go with the R8.

[Zach Klapman]

I'd rather walk out and look at the R8 and drive the R8. The steering's better than the GT, but yeah, R8 R8 feels more exotic even though the GT coupes are fantastic cars.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

But park next to each other, people will think the R8 costs three times as much.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, yeah. Did you look up what that thing was?

[Zach Klapman]

CRA is Congress was deciding whether to use the Congressional Review Act CRA to overturn several EPA waivers regarding California and carb. I'm not familiar with the story or the update.

[Matt Farah]

I haven't seen it. We'll check it out and get back to you next episode. Let's see. Lidar nipples. What cars are imperfect but perfect for what they're designed to do. Example being a Miata, but you know, slow but fun. So narrowly focused cars. Okay. Perfect for what they're designed for. The Hummer H1 is a great example. Something like a Sherp is a great example. Your Miata example is a great example.

[Zach Klapman]

Ariel Adam.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. A McLaren Senna.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes.

[Matt Farah]

Or. Or any number of extremely fast cars. The saline S7 was a great race car and a horrible road car.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. There's any. Pick your very focused car.

[Zach Klapman]

Anything that's has its main purpose is one thing and any other secondary purpose is like, oh, that's right. People also take this to a drive.

[Matt Farah]

Thru a rock bouncer. Like that's neat. Ted Striker, what cars have you had the largest change of opinion in in the last five to 10 years? Something you initially liked and now dislike and vice versa. Now that's a very good and interesting question. Hmm.

[Zach Klapman]

Fifth and sixth gen Camaros. For a long time I was very focused on the squinting of them and now I go, good chassis, good engine. They can make good decent track cars. They're comfortable enough. Like I think they're. I think they're very solid overall vehicles.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Largest opinion. You know, I think my biggest change was in the. When in my late 20s and stuff when we Started doing this, everything had to be the fastest, the sharpest, the most exciting. It had. It had to be. The previous question of no compromise. Why are you not trying to be a race car driver?

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

And then now you can. You can. I can find joy in a slower thing or a softer thing or a friendly thing. It's not just about speed and all that stuff.

[Matt Farah]

I would say that is very, very true. Very true. I can now, yeah. See. See a lot of joy in different types of driving that maybe I wouldn't have seen before. And also, like. Yeah. Realizing that, like, race cars on the street are bad. Maybe, like, that's probably a good one. You shouldn't have. You definitely shouldn't have harnesses on the street. Okay. Enrico Palazzo said when you mentioned the automatic and manual Miata have different engine internals, it made me wonder about other hidden differences in variants of the same cars that most people might not know about. Example being the C6Z06, which had a different chassis than other Corvettes. Yeah. It had aluminum where other people had. Where the other Corvettes had stuck steel. What other cars were they like? I don't know. But the Z06 is a different model, though. But like, there. There were some other cars. The Acura NSX, for instance, the second, the NA2 like mine, when they continued to make it in. In both stick and a slush box, they never upgraded the engine of the slush box. So when the. When the. The manual went to the 3.2, if you bought an automatic, it still had the old engine in it because they never developed the new engine for the automatic. Wow. Yeah. So there was that.

[Zach Klapman]

That's a pretty good one.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. I mean, you know the Ferrari Moni I've talked about a bunch. They change the direction of the engine 90 degrees. They go from a transverse engine to a longitudinal engine, which I think that's the only car where they've ever done that.

[Zach Klapman]

That's a huge architectural change. That's pretty wide.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. The Delco pooper. What's your favorite piece of camera equipment right now? I don't know. That cat, that Sony camera, I guess.

[Zach Klapman]

I mean, the A7 is awesome. It does look way, way nicer. Hopefully you guys notice the difference in the videos, those iPhone mics. I mean, I know they look huge and it's not a technology that's brand new, but the fact, like the iPhone microphone is so good at compression and limiting and stuff and dealing with wind and to have that ability in something that connects via digital. So.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

I mean, a lap Set that did that, that we bought six years ago for like TV production.

[Matt Farah]

Twelve hundred dollars.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes. Four figures to start and now it's like a couple hundred bucks and it just works and charges and that, that.

[Matt Farah]

Audio recorder I've got to the 32 bit the F3 where you can, you can use it in almost any condition imaginable and not peek it out. That's fucking nice. Yeah. Stuff that helps you get stress free. Usable audio to us is much more important than some camera upgrade at this point.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. The variation in volume of sound while driving a fast car and talking and stuff is so great. It's very challenging for recorders to deal with.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. JF's transverse skid mark. There's rumors that Lotus may have to abandon the supercharged Toyota V6 due to no longer meeting emission standards, but may put a V8 in its place instead. I have not read that. But okay, what V8 could they realistically use? I mean the smart money says Mercedes because they've already got a relationship with them. But that would necessitate a longitudinal. You can't. You're not going to transversely mount a V8.

[Zach Klapman]

How sick would it be if they did an NA 4 liter V8 from Mercedes?

[Matt Farah]

That would be awesome.

[Zach Klapman]

That would sound so good and probably rev a lot.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, that would be cool. I wonder how that would work. I don't know. I mean this is this. Now we have to look to the Mondial T. Are they going to switch to a longitudinal engine? I mean it's been done before. Like there is precedent. But if they really switch to a V8, like what V8 can you use transversely? Like it's got. It would have to be small. Really small.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Because you have an extra cylinder. So it's gonna be a little bit longer.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

It would have to be very, very, very short. Tiny pistons. I can't possibly.

[Matt Farah]

I mean, I don't know. That'd be cool though. Christian wants to ask about touch screens. I. Let me tell you, Christian, I've just submitted a piece to Road and Track this morning that I think is 2,200 words and you will have my thoughts on touch screens on Road and track.com. it won't be paywalled or anything in the next couple of days.

[Zach Klapman]

Perfect.

[Matt Farah]

It's all I've been doing for the last 36 hours is writing this piece. So I don't want to talk about it anymore.

[Zach Klapman]

And don't scoop yourself.

[Matt Farah]

I'm not going to scoop myself. Yeah. I'm purchasing an Audi RS3 later this summer to work at your favorite winter ski resort in Montana. Really cool. And I'm wondering if you think I should do a full PPF or protect the leading surfaces in splash areas. How long do you plan to keep the car? I mean, that's my big one. If you're going to keep the car for more than five years, I would just go full ppf, especially winter conditions. It'll clean really quick. They use salt and shit up there. I would probably go full PPF if you're gonna keep that car for a long time. If it's like a lease, then I might not do it. Just skip the whole thing. I wouldn't do the impact points. I'd either go full or. Or skip it.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh, I would. If you're. I mean, if you have the money, if turning the lease back in, if they'll ding you for, you know, chips on the front of the car, I would do the front of the car. Because every car in Colorado, when I live there, like, they put sand down, rocks, salt, and it just fucks the front of your car up. So I would PPF the impact on the front, at least.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Larry Chen's other Canon tattoo. There's a joke there, and I don't get the reference, and I. I feel like I'm part of it now. Doug Demuro recently had the take that Carrera GT owners don't typically have other Porsches because other Porsches are not hardcore enough, while Porsche collectors don't have Carrera GTs because they're too hardcore. He said Porsche collectors prefer the 918 instead. That's an interesting take. And I mean, as a Carrera GT owner, he probably knows better than I do. But I know Porsche collectors who own and love and collect the Carrera gt. And I can think of a couple people who I've known who've owned Carrera GTs who don't have other Porsches. I think the Apple. Apple, whatever, Pendulum. I think it swings both ways.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes.

[Matt Farah]

I don't think there's. Same thing as Doug likes to talk about those people who obsess over the colors and shit. The people that I know will talk about the color for 20 seconds and then move on to something else, and typically because someone has asked. So I think that's like a hot take. And I think there's probably evidence to support that argument, but I think there's evidence to support. I would bet if you polled every Carrera GT owner, more of them own other Porsches than don't.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Because that's how you get allocations.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Here. For Matt's cat says thoughts on the Genesis. I didn't see that. Sorry.

[Zach Klapman]

Neither.

[Matt Farah]

Is there more.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, they had a question about our Tesla government grant.

[Matt Farah]

They want to ask about that. That the doe. The DOE loan. About the cybertruck thing. I mean I don't. I don't have it now. I remember it being a thing back then. I'd have to go to fucking like Niedermayer or somebody to get it. I don't follow the. There's too much news for me to remember this at this point. That was a thing then. And I'll ask Niedermeyer and I'll find it. But I would have to go do some more research on that. Bad gardener says. What special editions could you see yourself pursuing a JAG project? 7 or 8? A Saleen XP8, Continental GT3R? I mean none of special editions.

[Zach Klapman]

The Jag. I really like the Jag xf. We had one as a press car. I remember it well. It sounded good, looked good, long wheelbase. But when they came out with the like hyper version, the 7 8, I was like is that the right car to make into a race car? And I mean engineers can make anything into a race car. Yeah, but that one just never drew my attention because it seemed like such a compromised product, I think.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, most of those I think are fun little things that are good for reviewing and whatever, but they're not like. They're not anything I have any that much interest in purchasing. I mean I'd like to have an. All right, fine. I'd like to have an nsxr.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh sure.

[Matt Farah]

I'd like to. Maybe talking about Fantasy garage, like a 190 Evo 2, something like that. Or like a pre merger AMG hammer. That could be something that I would be into. Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, was this a road car pro drive 550 merino. That was a race car. That doesn't count.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, yeah it counts. Agent325 says with prices of air cooled Porsches being so high, average condition G body cars like 80k widebody 993s for 150. Are these cars a 100k plus driving experience? I mean look, you're not spending 100k because if you buy this car and you maintain might go up, might go down a bit, your net will not be 100k. Your net might be 15 or 20. So is it a 15 or $20,000 driving experience? Yep, you betcha. You know that's a good way to do the math. Yeah. Like your cost, your cost to buy in might be 100, but that's not your total cost.

[Zach Klapman]

As long as you plan to sell it at some point.

[Matt Farah]

Sure.

[Zach Klapman]

Right, yeah.

[Matt Farah]

But like if you're talking about an investment car, you have to sell it for it to be an investment.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Otherwise you're just lighting money on fire for fun, which is fun. Like, great, do that. But when you're like, no, it's not a hundred thousand, it's not a typically exotic driving experience. But, but those cars offer a type of driving that is not like it's a unique driving experience. And it's like they're well made, they're faster than the power numbers would indicate. They do things better than the numbers would indicate.

[Zach Klapman]

I also think that this measure is challenging and I know it's like a term we like, but it depends so much on someone's finances and what they value in driving. And also like if you compare it to a new car that's 100 grand and how that feels and the power it delivers, you can go, well, an old car is not going to do the same thing, but is it going to be more fun and therefore give me more enjoyment than this six figure thing that costs the same amount but it's brand new.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. And it's money in, money out. Also Roth V. What would Papa Roger have driven today in his 20s and 30s, assuming same career and lifestyle trajectory as back in the day? Well, he had a 72 GTO in college. He then got a Mercury Cougar after college. That was when he was working in New York City and met my mother. So he probably would have had like a Mustang. I mean, I imagine it would have been a Mustang situation. I mean, if you want to talk about accuracy, all the cars he bought from college until today, with the exception of two, were bought from his friend Bob at Town Motors in Englewood, New Jersey. So all vehicles were limited to a certain set of brands, which was Lincoln, Mercury, Porsche, Audi, Subaru. It's a good spread actually for a long time. So that covered a lot. But other than his Lexus LS and the Mercedes S Class he had had for a while. Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Do you think he. All right, well, do you think he would have gone like an Rs6 at some point? You said Audi, Subaru.

[Matt Farah]

If he was in his 20s and 30s, he wasn't making money like that. No, it would have been. It would have. Well, it was Mercury. It was a Mercury Cougar. So today they don't have Mercury or Lincoln anymore. So now it's Porsche, Audi, Subaru. So today it would be probably like an Audi A5 or something like that.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, maybe S5 for a little bit of speed. Yeah. Coming out of the GTO.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. 72 Judge. Apparently quite rare. It was the first year after the GTO no longer was a standalone model and went back to being the Le Mans GTO. They have the big. Like the 7 69-71 is the one that everyone likes with the little nostrils up high. The 72 has the big nostrils down low. Quite rare, but not as desirable as the earlier car.

[Zach Klapman]

455 and cubic inch engine, 300 horsepower.

[Matt Farah]

That sounds right. Yeah. Thought it was 72. Thought that was a 400 still. I thought 455 was after that.

[Zach Klapman]

Maybe some options.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, maybe.

[Zach Klapman]

Might have been two options. Oh, yeah, there's a base engine of 400. I don't know.

[Matt Farah]

My dad had the judge. Whatever the judge was in 72. That's what he had. That might have been the 455. I don't know. Just the tip. Well, okay. Just the tiptronic. How much does specialness of or X factor weigh into your car buying decisions? For instance, an Amira seems more special than a Cayman gts, but the Cayman GTS is probably the better car. Well, I've driven an Amira and I have a Spider. Back in the day, I bought a John Cooper Works Mini because everybody else seemed to have Subarus. I mean, I liked it. It felt more German and premium than the Mitsubishi or the Subaru at the time. And everyone else seemed to have or want one of those. A WRX or an Evo, that was it. WRX or Evo? Wrx. Evo. Everyone wanted one of those.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, I think you do like specialness.

[Matt Farah]

I do.

[Zach Klapman]

You do, yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Do.

[Zach Klapman]

Would you. So did you buy the Spider because you sent it to demand right away. Would you have bought the Spider if you had not had plans to put a bigger engine in it?

[Matt Farah]

No, probably not. Probably not.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay. Interesting. Because it's a fantastic car, but I didn't know if it would like. If it would have the.

[Matt Farah]

No, it wasn't until. No, because I drove the Spider before and I was like, oh, this is lovely. It was great. I drove it to Carl's funeral.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh, that's right.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, the blue one. And it was like fabulous. But it wasn't until the following year when I drove Demand's car and went, oh, this? Yeah, we're gonna need this now. It's a different. So the engine made it and Next episode we'll talk about the BGB motorsports fucking habibi. What the fuck?

[Zach Klapman]

A turbo s pulled into good vibes today. And I looked at it and I was like that giant thing, the engine from that was in this. And I was standing next to a GT4. I was like, they took that and put it in. Holy crap.

[Matt Farah]

Mostly fits.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Little bit of plumbing visible.

[Matt Farah]

Okay, let's see. Foodman Chew asked a couple months ago for suggestions to rent a car to drive in the Angeles forest. Ended up with a ND2 Miata. Okay, there you go. And the Miata was an automatic with paddle shifters which they say were actually really good.

[Zach Klapman]

Wow.

[Matt Farah]

Question. Have you ever been surprised about how good an automatic transmission, especially in a predominantly manual equipped car? Yes, several times.

[Zach Klapman]

I think we mentioned this on the last show. Different person, but the FRS BRZ absolutely impressed me.

[Matt Farah]

It's a very good manual. Excuse me. A very good automatic torque converter automatic. You wouldn't expect it to be so good. When they first came on the scene, the ZF was like holy shit. And they started putting it in everything. And all of a sudden a Ram 1500 has decent pad shifters. That was kind of like a game changer when automatics became not shit. And there were certain cars that they produced the car before or after the ZF and you don't want one from before. Grand Cherokee SRT is a good example of one Aston DB9. You don't want one of those. Before the ZF, when they changed over, it got so much better. So that was a big one. Yeah. What other automatic has been surprisingly good?

[Zach Klapman]

I mean the ZF8 speed in BMWs was pretty great. But you kind of already mentioned that one.

[Matt Farah]

That's really the kind of the gold standard of automatic gearboxes. I mean the other ones are sort of in the middle. There's dual clutches that are amazing. And Mercedes current top tier gearbox is this wet clutch nine speed thing. That is pretty good.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, that's a very good transmission.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Honestly, when, when Gotham dream cars, our old job got a new tow rig. It had an automatic instead of the manual in the existing.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, the, the, the shorty.

[Zach Klapman]

It was short truck that had the Allison, it had the Allison and, and the change buttons. It wasn't paddles. It was like on the end of the drive stock. But I remember how smoothly it shifted and how quickly and I was like this is great. Yeah, this was really nice.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, that, the Allison GM transmission. I hated that, that truck so much with the power really well, short single cab, short bed, 3500. It rode like an ox cart.

[Zach Klapman]

It did. But when you drove it, bingo. I moved it around the block a lot. Empty. And I was like, this thing.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, it ripped. Yeah, it had. It sat two people and had eight cup holders. It was a hysterical thing. Yeah, that is it. There we go. Well, that's all right because that's our show. That's the game. We got another show show to do, you and I, before. Before we leave. We gotta do two more shows next week. Gotta really do a lot of radio, but I'm figuring out things to talk about. We'll talk about The Twin Turbo 911 powered Cayman on next show. That's a fucking good one. Thank you to our patrons. We appreciate you all. Very good questions. I'll get the answer to that cybertruck thing from Niedermayer. I just don't remember. And yeah, we'll see you guys next time. Bye.