Forbidden European Cars Come To US, Rolls-Royce In A Pool, and A New Speed Record! THISCARPOD! 75

Summary

THIS CAR POD! with Doug DeMuro & Friends!

Episode 75: Forbidden European Cars Come To US, Rolls-Royce In A Pool, and A New Speed Record!
Date: August 29, 2025
Host: Doug DeMuro
Co-hosts: Filippo & Kenan

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Doug DeMuro, Filippo, and Kenan navigate the week's buzziest automotive stories: the possibility of forbidden European cars reaching the U.S. market (thanks to trade negotiations), a BYD electric hypercar smashing the EV top speed record, rumors of a Mercedes/BMW engine partnership, a flamboyant Rolls-Royce-in-a-pool photo op, and Porsche management drama. The hosts also share personal car updates, provide market analysis on enthusiast vehicles, and answer audience questions with their signature humor and expertise.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. EU-US Trade Negotiations: European Cars in America?

[00:27–04:47]

• Background: Trade talks are underway concerning the high tariffs on European auto imports imposed during the Trump administration (25% on vehicles).
• Rumored Breakthrough: A draft line could allow mutual acceptance of US/EU safety and emissions standards, potentially opening the door for European cars to be sold in the U.S. without re-engineering.
• Doug: "If no other good comes out of the tariff thing...if they harmonized regulations...it would be so great for so many people." [01:02]
• Filippo: "There's a lot of cars that don't come to the US from Europe because they don't want to have to meet all of the U.S. safety standards." [01:17]
• Challenges Remain: The agreement is far from certain, would not be retroactive, and state-by-state dealer laws complicate any sales gains.
• Funny Aside: Doug on mall car dealerships and paying for premium parking, "I did that, but I charged it to the company." [03:46]

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2. US CAFE Standards Rollbacks – Winners and Losers

[05:51–08:21]

• Stellantis' Relief: Trump administration’s rollback means automakers like Stellantis avoid huge fines for missing fuel economy rules—$773.5M in past fines are now off the table.
• Rivian’s Grievance: As a strict EV-maker, Rivian would lose out on selling emissions credits to companies like Stellantis.
  • Doug: "So Rivian is upset because Stellantis was going to be their customer." [07:49]
• Impact: Credit sales were a significant revenue stream for Tesla/Rivian, now evaporating—"The credit thing is a big deal." [08:14]
• Political Whiplash: The regulatory climate could change again after the next election; unpredictability rules.

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3. BYD Yangwang U9 Track Edition Sets EV Speed Record

[08:44–12:52]

• Record Run: The Chinese BYD Yangwang U9 Track Edition hit 293.54 mph, setting a new EV top speed record.
• Sheer Power: Boasts an absurd 2,959 hp—1,672 more than its already ridiculous base model.
• Hosts’ Reactions:
  • Doug: “Is it depressing for us that...the fastest car in the world [used to be] McLaren F1...now it’s the BYD Yangwang U9 Track Edition?” [09:27]
  • Kenan: "It feels hollow to me somehow." [09:53]
  • Filippo: Marvels at the horsepower delta vs. past supercars.
• Discussion: How the top-speed game has shifted from legendary exotic brands to tech-packed EVs; nostalgia for the simpler times of F1/Veyron domination.

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4. Mercedes & BMW: Possible Engine Collaboration

[13:06–16:00]

• Rumored Deal: Mercedes may source small, efficient engines from BMW for specific models (e.g., CLA, GLA), as both automakers push into electrification.
• Historically Bitter Rivals: The collaboration is surprising but makes sense for economies of scale and regulatory pressure.
• Doug: "This is why I'm absolutely convinced that the supercars of today are going to be considered rare by the standards of the future." [15:30]
• Kenan: “It's been turned upside down.” [16:00]
• Fun Jabs: Kenan jokes Mercedes “just wanted to add rod bearing problems to their list of issues.” [13:24]

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5. McLaren Collection Sell-Off

[17:41–21:11]

• Tom Hartley Jr.’s McLaren Trove: Every special McLaren, mostly orange, including the prized F1, sold as a batch to one buyer.
• Market Musings: Noting an uptick in “blue chip” collector car trading; family inherits and immediately flips the collection.
• Doug: Wonders if Hartley regrets renting a racetrack for photos: “The things just sold like that.” [19:28]
• Filippo: “Most of them were never driven...17 of 19.” [20:28]

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6. Porsche CEO Drama & Falling Profits

[21:13–23:42]

• Leadership Reshuffling: CEO Oliver Blume, currently leading both Porsche and Volkswagen, may be replaced for a Porsche-only role.
• Financial Struggles: Porsche’s profits reportedly down 90% in Q2; stock has dropped 45% since 2022.
• Chinese Market Woes: Poor EV sales (Macan, Taycan) and Chinese market weakness bite hard.
• Doug tells the story: Of Peter Schutz, American Porsche CEO who famously “drew the 911 model line into the future” to save it—“He walks up, picks up a marker...draws it off the wall, off the board and onto his wall in his office and continues the 911.” [24:11]

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7. Rolls-Royce in a Pool: A 100-Year Celebration

[25:31–27:47]

• Publicity Stunt: Rolls-Royce commemorates 100 years of the Phantom by placing one in a swimming pool, echoing drug-fueled rock star antics (Keith Moon reference).
• Practical Details: It was a pre-production car destined for destruction, set on a platform, and (allegedly) open for people to swim around.
• Skepticism: “All look like AI to me...the people look photoshopped.” [27:03]
• Doug: “Look at that. Look into that.” [26:37]

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Talk Cars Segment

8. Personal Car Updates

[28:06–35:47]

• Doug: Took his Toyota Sequoia in for free ToyotaCare service, sparking a (humorous) debate about how many free services actually come with ownership—“I think you only get two oil changes within that first couple years.” [29:43]
• Filippo: Raves about high-tech window tint (“XPEL”) and its effectiveness on his GTI, especially for Arizona trips—“It does a stunningly good job.” [33:44]
• Kenan: Expresses car-buying paralysis (spoiler: he still hasn’t bought a new car), discusses lease deals for new EVs.
• Philosophy: The hosts muse on the irrationality of car upgrades, depreciation, and the frustration of negotiations at car dealers.

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9. Subscription Services for Car Features

[36:33–39:56]

• Debate on subscriptions for features such as increased horsepower; Doug draws parallels to paying more for slightly different models (Lexus IS 250 vs. IS 350), questioning why buyers balk at monthly subs but accept “paywalls” on upgrades at time of purchase.
• Kenan: “I agree with the people. I hate the idea.”
• Filippo: “Every 911 that's not a special one has the same three-liter twin-turbo engine.”
• They note the difference between upfront vs. recurring charges is largely psychological.

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10. Honda’s Conservative Direction

[40:10–48:07]

• Doug laments Honda's lost adventurousness: "Honda is so afraid. They're so terrified to do anything." [40:45]
• Missed Opportunities: Despite having offroad cred and a power-sports background, Honda hasn't pursued a body-on-frame SUV or true pickup, ceding huge sales to 4Runner, Tacoma, Bronco, etc.
• Filippo: Pushes back--developing such a platform is expensive. Doug: “The best time to plant a tree is yesterday. The second best time is today.” [46:26]
• Consensus: Honda is risk averse, and that’s a shame, given what could be.

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11. Chicago Porsche Event & Cars and Bids Events

[50:07–53:07]

• Kenan recaps a Cars and Bids appearance at a major Porsche event in Chicago—“Porsches absolutely everywhere...even a 917 (wrap).” [50:46]
• Encourages fans to check the events tab on the Cars and Bids website.

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Market Report

[54:08–62:34]

12. Affordable Vintage Performance

• Lotus Europa: Sold for $8,500, astounds hosts.
  • Filippo: "There are old cars that feel really exotic and special...that are very accessible from a cost of entry perspective." [54:43]
• Miata Market: Low-mile NAs still approach $16,000; rougher examples have cooled but best ones still command real money.
• NSX Watch: Surging, even high-mileage examples (“floor for NSXs is remarkable”). [59:47]

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Audience Questions & Memorable Moments

13. Q&A Highlights

[62:34–86:20]

• Cybertruck SUV Success? The consensus: Ugly, but it could do well if it addressed family-vehicle needs (third row, enclosed cargo). [63:04–64:44]
• Will Kenan Buy a Car? Running joke—he says he will, never does. “All the cars I want are $120,000...I just don't want to spend that.”
• Car Hype vs. Reality: Vehicles that fail to live up to automotive “hive mind” hype—E39 M5, Ferrari 355, 250 GTO cited as examples.
  • Filippo: "Expectations are the killer of joy." [73:19]
• Why Isn't the Miata Everyone's Only Car? It's small, impractical for daily use, but still a “best driver’s car.”
• How Does Doug Write Listings Diplomatically?
  • He reviews every “Doug’s Take,” but believes in the market: "At the right number, the market decides that's what it's worth." [77:04]
• Would Doug List His Exotics No Reserve? Unambiguously yes.
• Financing Doug’s Cars: Used to finance, now often pays cash due to high interest rates.
• Carrera GT Exhausts: Loves the stock sound; too many aftermarket exhausts are obnoxiously loud for daily use.
• Hosts’ Automotive Career Journeys:
  • Filippo: Transitioned from education data to car auctions, now combines data analysis with car enthusiasm.
  • Kenan: Started at an exotic dealership in Cleveland, met Doug, became Cars and Bids' first employee.
  • Doug: Famous YouTuber turned auction entrepreneur.

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Best Quotes & Moments

Doug: "This is why I'm always saying we have to continue advancing on EVs. We will not succeed by just selling the Ram 3500 Dually. We make EVs that jump with 3,000 horsepower and can do 300 miles an hour." [11:50]

Doug: "When I was a child, all these automakers seemed like such adversaries... Maybe the multinationals are just kind of doing their thing and we're all fighting the fight on the streets." [14:34]

Filippo: "Expectations are the killer of joy." [73:19]

Doug (about Porsche CEO): "It's surprising the Germans would allow things to get to this point. However, I've learned with the Germans, when they find somebody they believe is competent, they put enormous amounts of pressure on that individual to deliver." [23:20]

Doug (regarding Honda): "Honda is so afraid. They're so terrified to do anything." [40:45]

Kenan: "It feels hollow to me somehow." [09:53] (on new EV hypercar top-speed glory)

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Notable Timestamps

• EU/US Tariff Talks: [00:27–04:47]
• CAFE Standards Rollback: [05:51–08:21]
• BYD EV Speed Record: [08:44–12:52]
• Mercedes/BMW Engine Rumor: [13:06–16:00]
• McLaren Collection Sale: [17:41–21:11]
• Porsche CEO Rumors & Financial Woes: [21:13–23:42]
• Rolls-Royce Pool: [25:31–27:47]
• Doug's Sequoia Service: [28:06–29:49]
• Filippo’s XPEL Tint Experience: [32:48–34:55]
• Subscription Services Rant: [36:33–39:56]
• Honda Rant: [40:10–48:07]
• Cars and Bids Events: [50:07–53:07]
• Market Report (Lotus/Miata/NSX): [54:08–62:34]
• Audience Q&A: [62:34–86:20]

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Tone & Style

The episode is energetic, humorous, and occasionally self-deprecating in the classic DeMuro-and-friends style. There’s an equal mix of deep industry insight and friendly banter, backed by a shared love for both quirky and mainstream cars. The hosts maintain an encouraging tone toward enthusiasts of all stripes, with a healthy dose of skepticism (especially regarding automaker marketing claims and current industry trends).

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For those who missed the episode, this summary captures the major news stories, key insights, banter, and memorable moments—perfect for staying current with the enthusiast car world, THIS CAR POD! style.

Transcript

[Filippo]

Foreign.

[Doug]

Hello, and welcome to this car pod.

[Kenan]

I'm Kenan.

[Filippo]

I'm Felipe.

[Doug]

And there's a lot to talk about. Let's start with the news. Taylor Swift and Travis. Oh, this.

[Filippo]

Yes. That is also news.

[Doug]

My bear. What's this?

[Filippo]

What do you think they'll leave their wedding in?

[Doug]

This kind of looks like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelly.

[Filippo]

Well, that's an F150 in a Peugeot 208.

[Doug]

But what is our story?

[Filippo]

The reason they're in the news is there was a news item earlier this week. So the European Union and the United States are in a bunch of trade negotiations because President Trump applied a 27.5% tariff to European goods, 25% tariff to vehicles, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So they're trying to negotiate that. Yeah. One of the things to come out of that negotiations is a line in one of the kind of potential agreements. I'm being very direct in my. This is a potential thing language, possibly is a line that basically says, the eu, you and the US will accept each other's safety and emissions standards.

[Doug]

Let me tell you something. If no other good comes out of the tariff thing, and so far, no good has not a lot of good. If no other good comes out of the tariff thing, that would be good. If they harmonized regulations, the auto, it would be so great for so many people.

[Filippo]

It would be quite something. There's a lot of cars that don't come to the US from Europe because, well, frankly, there wouldn't be demand. Let's be honest, nobody wants to Fiat Panda here but me. Nobody wants a Peugeot 208 here but me. But a big reason is that they don't want to have to meet all of the U.S. safety standards and the U.S. emission standards. Now, to be clear, they're not necessarily more stringent.

[Doug]

Yeah. It's less about European cars not coming here. It's more about. Well, some cars are not sold in both places because whether it's a US car or Euro car, because the standards are so different. So it would be nice if they were harmonized. That would change a lot of stuff. We'd get the M3 wagon. I would love.

[Filippo]

You get a lot of things.

[Doug]

Wouldn't it be nice if it applied retroactively? We could bring in an E61 M5 tomorrow.

[Filippo]

We sold one.

[Kenan]

That would be nice. It would have been nice if they did this, I don't know, 70 years ago. Would have been great if they, you know.

[Doug]

But whatever the.

[Filippo]

The thought is, this would benefit both countries, right? There's reasons that the F150, the United States and Europe.

[Kenan]

Europe, the country, the great nation of Europe.

[Filippo]

You get my point. The. I'm sure that the US negotiators are. Are thinking that great, we can then sell F150s more easily. Those are probably not legal to sell in the EU directly. They're imported by third parties. But we can then sell these cars in Europe that right now they don't meet the mission standards. They might not meet euro six years, upcoming euro seven standards. They might not meet whatever other requirements.

[Doug]

It is pretty wild like euro Europeans have. The European standards have gone pretty far in terms of a couple of things that the US Standards haven't, including emissions. But also pedestrian safety is a huge flathead and it's not that big of a thing in the States. And I would be curious where the harmonizing falls.

[Filippo]

You know, it wouldn't be harmonized. It would just be blanket. You are allowed to sell a car that only meets the European standards.

[Doug]

Oh, you can sell one or the other.

[Filippo]

That is, you can meet one or the other single line that came out of that report.

[Doug]

Yes, let's do it. I'll pay tariffs if it means. I'll pay tariffs if it means that we can get Eurocars. Filippo, think about all of the CUPRA 4 mentors.

[Filippo]

We'd be able to have so many Cooper for mentors. Now, of course, they might not be able to sell in the US A lot of EV manufacturers are learning that it's quite hard to navigate dealer rules in different states. It wouldn't necessarily be actually sold here. That requires a lot of networking. What do you mean?

[Doug]

Texas at the mall. Right. I was at the mall yesterday. There's a Porsche store there at the mall. Really? Yeah.

[Kenan]

That's Porsche design, but yeah.

[Doug]

No, no, they got cars. There was some sort of 911 and there's Audi too. They got Q5s up the up the.

[Filippo]

Rim driver on the Mission Valley Mall parking lot, like the parking garage has a section that's for Audi test drives.

[Kenan]

Wow.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

There's also a section that costs six bucks to park closer. And I did that, but I charged it to the company.

[Kenan]

That sounds like you.

[Doug]

But I saved time for the business.

[Kenan]

Right, to pick up your shorts to get back to the tenant.

[Doug]

No, no, no, no, no. I was turning in my computer, which I use for work purposes. For work purposes. That's why I have a different computer today. You want me to go on an Apple rant? I got an Apple rant ready.

[Filippo]

Once they start making A car. You can go to the Apple rant.

[Doug]

Okay, so this is the thing. Do we have any news on tariffs?

[Filippo]

Yeah, eu there's news today. We're filming this on Wednesday that the EU might remove the tariffs that they applied to U.S. imports, which also means that that's unlikely to happen because they are kind of removing some of their negotiation power on this, and they may not need to. The goal is that if they remove tariffs that they apply to US Goods, then the US Will treat them favorably. I find that unlikely. This regulation thing. Unlikely to happen.

[Doug]

But if it does, we don't have it. The answer is. We don't have an answer yet.

[Filippo]

We don't have an answer yet.

[Doug]

Let me ask you this question, and I mean this with all the sincerity in my heart. What about Norway and Switzerland? Okay, move on to the next news story.

[Filippo]

Do you actually mean that question or.

[Doug]

Not really, but a little.

[Filippo]

I'm happy with that.

[Doug]

Oh, fuel pumps. Yes. Gas, gas, gas. Diesel. And this is hydrogen.

[Kenan]

That's everything.

[Doug]

You got it all.

[Filippo]

The one place you can fill up a Mirai, right? No.

[Doug]

Do you ever fill up a hydrogen car?

[Filippo]

No.

[Doug]

I've done it.

[Kenan]

What's it like?

[Doug]

You go to a place that's not near anything.

[Filippo]

No.

[Doug]

They got them in the middle of nowhere. That's not true. And then there's like a hose. It's like giant. And it's got a big pipe on it. And you connect it and you have to airlock it. It's. And then hydrogen flows into the car. No one knows how.

[Kenan]

Does it make a sound? Like is.

[Doug]

I don't remember. I don't remember. I'm not even sure why I did this.

[Filippo]

Porsche ev.

[Doug]

And then eventually it's done, and you un. You un. Airlock it and you're good to go.

[Filippo]

I had for a while in Europe, it was popular to have, like, twin power cars that were gas and what is fundamentally natural gas. And so somebody in my family had a Fiat Punta that was both. So I have filled up a car with.

[Doug]

Compared to cng.

[Filippo]

Damn.

[Doug]

Like those Civics that we see around sometimes with the little stickers on it.

[Kenan]

Pretty impressive.

[Filippo]

What's the news story here? Unrelated to CNG entirely. So this is a little bit in the weeds. They didn't want to talk about this, but I want to talk about this. All right. A lot of. So the nhtsa, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has rules for what kind of fuel economy. Irish fuel economy. Each automaker must meet. They're known as the CAFE standards. Generally, the Trump Administration has said that as basically put out executive order saying what the Biden administration did in applying CAF standards is not something that they should have done. We're not going to enforce those anymore. So automakers that previously paid substantial fines won't be paying those fines, at least in, under the current administration. Between 2019 and 2020, Stellantis paid $190 million in fines for not meeting those standards. They've paid since 2018, $773.5 million in those fines. Wow. Which is real money. They now no longer need to. Which is notable for them because it means that they can first of all save hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

[Doug]

Some of the cost of the development of the Charger ev.

[Filippo]

Yeah, correct. And what did that car cost to develop?

[Doug]

100 million, 50 million, 75 million?

[Filippo]

I don't know.

[Doug]

Someone right into us from Stellantis clandestinely and tell us this is the money all back in their pocket?

[Filippo]

Yep. And also, I mean, they lose any disincentive from manufacturing less efficient cars or investing in more efficient cars, they lose the incentive to invest in more efficient cars. There's also flip side to that. The NHTSA has not, according to a lawsuit by Rivian, processed any of the required notifications from 2022 or forward. They're like regularly delayed by a couple years, but they've not done it for 2022, which they were supposed to.

[Doug]

Which Chrysler's just not going to pay even for a couple years where Biden was president.

[Filippo]

Yes, correct.

[Doug]

Why is Rivian care?

[Filippo]

Rivian care is because they, as with every other EV manufacturer, sell credits to other manufacturers to offset that. Rivian doesn't build any gas powered cars. They more than meet that standard. They get credits back and they can trade those.

[Doug]

So Rivian is upset because Stellantis was going to be their customer.

[Filippo]

They were going to sell $100 million worth of credits.

[Doug]

So Stellantis is up 100 million. They don't have to pay government.

[Filippo]

By the way, these are not so not all rivers.

[Doug]

Rivian is down $100 million. They were planning on raking in.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Everybody's either happy or mad.

[Filippo]

Everybody's happy or mad. Tesla has sold billions of dollars of credits that now, at least in the US won't really be realistic credits for them. Realistic revenue source for them.

[Doug]

Right. The credit thing is a big deal. The credit thing is a big deal.

[Filippo]

And so is the fine. I mean, that's. Those are some hefty fines that no longer apply. They really change.

[Doug]

We'll see how long this lasts. It's so based on the political climate, which can change pretty, pretty frequently.

[Filippo]

Right. And you also have to worry a little bit about does the future administration apply these retroactively? Do they apply fines retroactively? Maybe for years where there was technically a fine to be had.

[Doug]

No one's applying anything retroactively. You're good, you're good.

[Filippo]

Move on.

[Doug]

Okay, what do we got next?

[Kenan]

Ooh, an accurate. Speaking of electric cars, so this is.

[Doug]

This looks like very much like an NSX had some sort of thing with a rimac. Nevera.

[Kenan]

That's. Well, you know what, that's not far off. So this is the BYD Yangwang U9 Track Edition. And the reason we're talking about this is that it accomplished something pretty amazing recently. Now, this car makes 2,900 horsepower.

[Doug]

Okay?

[Kenan]

Ample, some would say.

[Doug]

Can I just say it was put.

[Kenan]

To good use recently. No, wait, it was put to good use recently as at ir, where, you know, Top Gear famously did the test of the Veyron where Volkswagen does a lot of their high speed testing. It hit 293.54 miles an hour, making it the fastest EV by quite a margin.

[Doug]

Is that the fastest car?

[Kenan]

Technically, Bugatti was able to hit 300 miles an hour. But this also just like the Bugatti only did it in one direction. To be. To have the world record, it's an average of going one direction and coming back the other way.

[Doug]

Is it depressing for us that when we were children, the fastest car in the world, McLaren F1, the Bugatti Veyron, and now it's the BYD Yang Wang U9 Track Edition. Track Edition. I'm so sorry.

[Kenan]

Thank you. Got to make sure you add that. Yeah, I. It feels hollow to me somehow.

[Doug]

I mean, it's just like, give me a name. Call it the BYD Vapor.

[Kenan]

Well, the McLaren F1, like 241, I believe, was its top speed. That was a huge margin compared to what was the fastest car before that. Was it the XJ220 in.

[Doug]

In our world.

[Kenan]

In our world.

[Doug]

Fastest car before that.

[Kenan]

Not the roof.

[Doug]

Yellowbird roof, this or that crap that nobody cares about. Modified 911 may have been XJ220 for like an afternoon, which was like 217.

[Kenan]

Can I point out then, the F1.

[Filippo]

If you're not familiar with the meaning words F1 and U9 letter number, right?

[Kenan]

Racing team makes a lot of sense. This is named after Prince.

[Doug]

If you're not familiar with the meaning of words. Well, as you Said they're the same.

[Filippo]

You can't name it the F1 anymore. Surely Formula One will do that.

[Doug]

You know what you do, and I'm not trying to be a jerk. You know what you do. Call it the F2.2.

[Filippo]

I think they should.

[Kenan]

Well, no. Then it would have been a lesser racing series. But my point is like the. So the XJ220, then the McLaren F1. McLaren F1 came out, did its thing. It held the record for a decade, 10 years. Then the Veyron came out. That also held a record for pretty long time.

[Doug]

Now the Yangwang U9 is up there at the top. Is this the one that jumps?

[Filippo]

Yes.

[Doug]

Did it?

[Filippo]

I.

[Kenan]

You know what? I assume it jumped around. It is wild. There's a video of it. It's wild to watch. Like the record being set because it really moves around at that speed even with a professional driver and all these things.

[Doug]

It is pretty impressive that it took him 3,000 horsepower to overcome what must be a significant curb weight situation. And you don't know the car's name.

[Kenan]

Also, like when Bugatti developed Veyron, they. They then went and sold them in. Lost was. It was like 5 million. It took them 5. They lost millions of dollars on every car they sold, supposedly. Meanwhile, they came out. This feels like this came out of nowhere. And all of a sudden it's just like they're able to do that kind of speed. Yeah, it's kind. It is mind blowing.

[Doug]

This is why I'm always saying we have to continue advancing on EVs. We will not succeed by just selling the Ram 3500. Dually. We make EVs that jump with 3000 horsepower and can do 300 miles an hour. All right, this is the problem with Trump. All right, go ahead.

[Filippo]

Here's where what I would like to ask. All right, so this car has 2,959 horsepower.

[Doug]

Okay. It's not 3,000.

[Kenan]

But I said. I said 2950.

[Doug]

He got it right. He got it right. I'm sorry. I wrote I don't round at that level.

[Filippo]

I round there is a base U9. Right. Which is the underlying car. How much horsepower do you think of the base U9?

[Doug]

It's like 1700.

[Filippo]

It's insane. The base one has 1287 base model. So this one has 1672 more horsepower than the base model. Well, don't Forget it has 3,000. Don't forget each of these numbers is insane.

[Kenan]

I think the Veyron Supersport went from 253 miles an hour. At the standard car to 259 miles an hour. 261. And they had to add an extra 250 horsepower just to do that. Well, the aerodynamic drag at that speed is hard to explain.

[Filippo]

I know, but like that's so much baseline power.

[Doug]

Yeah. It's insane.

[Filippo]

Like the number is more than the truth right now.

[Doug]

That's the world right now. We got power everywhere. And a good example of that is. Oh, I was hoping it'd be the Phantom of the Pool story. All right, what do you got? We got Mercedes and BMW in the same picture.

[Filippo]

Crazy.

[Doug]

God, are they warring?

[Kenan]

Yes. Two renowned adversaries.

[Filippo]

Correct. There is apparently BMW and Mercedes are in talks to have Mercedes buy engines from BMW.

[Kenan]

Ah, yes. The most reliable part of any BMW. Its engine.

[Filippo]

All right, so how many shot we can just get through all this?

[Doug]

Oh, I don't know.

[Kenan]

They really want. Mercedes just wanted to add rod bearing problems to their list of issues.

[Doug]

The engine. They're talking about engines. The CLA and the GLA.

[Filippo]

Yeah. I mean fundamentally, Mercedes has invested heavily in EVs. They probably don't have a new generation of very low emissions, high efficiency, small engines because why would they? It's for a couple of product lines that they expected to not make with gas power anymore. Right. Partnering with somebody else saves them a ton of money from developing their own engines. It was kind of inevitable to some extent. But it is wild to see the two most famous German competitors potentially collaborate.

[Doug]

Can I ask you a question?

[Filippo]

Of course, anything.

[Doug]

The GLA was also sold as a Nissan at one point. The GLA was all of this?

[Filippo]

Yes, it was the Infiniti QX35 Mercedes Benz.

[Doug]

Just trying to get out of any obligation to these vehicles.

[Filippo]

I think the Mercedes developed that vehicle incredibly.

[Doug]

I think they did too. But you get my point, right?

[Filippo]

30. That was a hatchback.

[Doug]

I don't think there was a hatchback.

[Filippo]

No, there wasn't. But that would have been it if.

[Doug]

Well, that's interesting. You know, I always found it unusual. These automakers seem like they're such adversaries. I always found it unusual that at one point that 10 speed automatic went into both Fords and General Motors.

[Filippo]

Still do.

[Doug]

Yeah. And like that was to me, that was like the beginning of my realization as a child. This happened maybe five years ago.

[Filippo]

That child that you were.

[Doug]

That maybe they don't hate each other like we thought they did. You know what I mean?

[Filippo]

Maybe it's just business.

[Doug]

Maybe the multinationals are just kind of doing their thing and we're all down here fighting the fight on the streets to get the takeovers. Do you know what I'm saying?

[Kenan]

I think that's absolutely true. And honestly in our conversation with rj, he was talking about how the CEO do all talk to one another, they're pals.

[Doug]

And I'm over here and I got a decal on my RAM of Calvin peeing on a Ford logo. And, and then, but then I realize they all like each other.

[Kenan]

That's a great reference. But it is interesting, especially as a die hard BMW fan who grew up kind of with a slight against Mercedes Benz.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Kenan]

It does make, it makes sense from your perspective like you said. And this is going to be a short lived thing anyway.

[Doug]

Maybe it says this thing also says the companies could work together on a shared engine plant in the US as well. Mercedes and BMW. The problem is you've got this economies of scale situation. This is why I'm absolutely convinced that the supercars of today are going to be considered rare by the standards of the future. Because economies of scale has become such a big thing that a 300 unit production run is over. Like a 3000 unit production run is now considered to be like incredibly rare by today's standards. Mercedes and BMW are making engines together. What has happened to our world, Kenan?

[Filippo]

I don't know.

[Kenan]

It's been turned upside down.

[Doug]

Imagine if there was an E class that was driving around with your S62.

[Filippo]

Oh, and a manual.

[Kenan]

And a manual.

[Doug]

No.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

It would be an Alpena situation.

[Filippo]

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[Doug]

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[Doug]

All right, give us the next news story.

[Kenan]

McLaren. So we, a couple weeks ago, I guess it was a month, over a month ago now, we talked about this McLaren collection that Tom Hartley Jr. Was selling. It was basically every special McLaren was owned by one guy. He ordered them all new. I believe they all had the same serial number from memory service.

[Doug]

They were all orange. I'll tell you that.

[Kenan]

They're all orange. And there's only one desirable one and it's the F1 in the movie.

[Doug]

Well, that's not. Wait a minute. The Senn. Cool. That is just bad.

[Kenan]

That's bad. That's not orange.

[Doug]

That's the worst thing I've ever seen in my life. Quite poor. There's also some sort of poorly modded MP4, but anyway.

[Kenan]

Right, right. Regardless, they all sold to one individual. Now, the amount hasn't been disclosed and it hasn't been disclosed to, but we all suspected that they would probably go to one person so they wouldn't break up the collection. That's exactly what has occurred.

[Doug]

Can I ask you a question? Do you think Tom Hartley is one of like the premier sellers of incredibly high end car?

[Kenan]

Yep. In the UK there are. It seems to be a European thing specifically where there are like very high end dealers. He's one of them. Without question.

[Doug]

Tom Hartley is an absolute G. Tom, if you're watching, you're a G. We saw you driving that 275 GTB in the, in the Tour de Gans. Killing it. But anyway, do you think, given that these things sold in a matter of weeks, do you think he regrets running out the racetrack for the photo? Probably cost some money. Cost a lot. Do you think like he could have just kind of put him in a car park? Yeah, that's what they say.

[Kenan]

Right. They do like the work and, and.

[Doug]

Just kind of made it happen.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

You know what I mean?

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Kenan]

But this is probably cool.

[Doug]

Had like, a Skoda.

[Filippo]

He got a couple laps. Well, I think he wanted that experience. And therefore you do a business reason to find a business reason to go there.

[Doug]

It's one of the great photos also, let's be honest.

[Kenan]

Storage facility where the cars are kept probably wasn't that far from the racetrack. And so, well, that's relatively easy to get them there.

[Doug]

You get my point, though. The things just sold like that. Anyway, they all went to one person who now has new McLaren F1. A lot of McLaren F1's trading hands. There was the one in Monterey. There's this one I heard about. Another one.

[Kenan]

Yes, there was a third one. It is interesting. They do seem to be trading hands more publicly. Not publicly, I guess, but more visibly. Because normally these cars traded hands behind closed doors. They go to the same 200 people in the world who have that kind of money.

[Doug]

I also sincerely believe that a lot of McLaren F1 sold to people who were not that rich, who paid a million bucks. But it wasn't like. And now suddenly their car is, like, half their net worth. They're like, I gotta get out of this thing. Like, that happened with GTOs a lot throughout the years. Yeah, sure, 250 GTOs. And I bet that's happening in some cases in these cars. People are like, gotta assume it's worth 25 mil. I can't really drive it anymore.

[Kenan]

Like, to be clear, that's not the case with this one. The guy who owned these passed away and his family didn't want the cars, understandably. And so they got rid of. Got rid of them.

[Doug]

What would you do if you're the family who inherits this collection? Well, I mean, it's like, I got an orange 720s.

[Kenan]

Well, they're all orange. Never driven.

[Doug]

Most of them were never driven. It said, like, of the however many, there were 39 or whatever.

[Kenan]

Like.

[Doug]

Oh, no, it's 19 McLarens, 17 of which were never driven.

[Filippo]

Wow. Yeah. Which two were, you think?

[Doug]

I think the F1. I think the old ones were driven. They probably the F1. And I bet he did a couple laps in whatever this is.

[Kenan]

No.

[Doug]

How do you know? I think.

[Kenan]

No, I think that's a 650s. I can't tell.

[Filippo]

Yeah. Okay.

[Doug]

I'll tell you what.

[Kenan]

Which is not a.

[Doug]

What is the difference between that car and that car, aside from the wheels?

[Kenan]

I'll tell you what. It's not the engine. It's the same engine.

[Doug]

These cars all have the same engine, except for one.

[Kenan]

Except for the V12. That's right.

[Doug]

But it's kind of nice, though, because you got a spare on hand, you know?

[Kenan]

Right.

[Doug]

Your turbocharger blows in your speed till you pop with your saber.

[Kenan]

It's pretty likely.

[Doug]

All right, that's an interesting story. Move on to the next one. Else we got.

[Filippo]

Oh, Porsche. Interesting story.

[Doug]

Oh, you think this is interesting? No, we're not confirmed on this.

[Kenan]

You'd think that it's my story, but it isn't.

[Filippo]

A gentleman named Oliver Bloom has been the CEO of Porsche since 2015. Since 2022, he's also been the CEO of the Volkswagen Group.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Kenan]

He's CEO of two companies at the.

[Filippo]

Same time that are both publicly traded companies.

[Doug]

It's like that fella, little Marco Rubio, who does all sorts of stuff in the government. He's. He's the Secretary of State and he. He does all sorts of things now.

[Filippo]

Huh. There have been Porsche shareholders specifically, that are a little upset by it because they believe that it is impacting Porsche's stock price to not have a dedicated CEO and that also he can't focus fully on Volkswagen's problems and Porsche problems successfully. So there are rumors, but that I seem fairly confirmed, that Porsche is starting a search for a new standalone CEO that will not also be the CEO of Volkswagen.

[Doug]

Porsche's had a tough time lately. It doesn't look like that from the outside because you see them. There's people driving their GT3s and doing burnouts in Monterey. But Porsche's had a lot of problems selling cars in China. EVs have been a huge hit to their business. No one's buying Macan, EV or Taycan anymore.

[Filippo]

Profits were down 90% in Q2.

[Doug]

Huge decline in profits. I'm reading here that Porsche stock shares are down 45% since 22, which is significant because the market's probably up 60% since 22. So that's a really big delta. And of course, tariffs. That doesn't make sense.

[Filippo]

Like, period.

[Kenan]

Porsche is the first major setback they've had since the recession when people weren't buying stocks.

[Doug]

I mean, what is a setback?

[Kenan]

There's still 90% drop in sales, is.

[Filippo]

No. No. 90% drop in profit.

[Kenan]

Oh, Prof. Profits. Okay.

[Filippo]

And there was also that time that that ship sank that had all the Porsches, including Matt Ferris. That happens a lot, though. That does.

[Doug]

Remember when that happened to Mazda?

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

You Google, there's pictures of Mazdas upside down. And you know what happens to all those cars?

[Filippo]

I hope they were all cx 70s.

[Doug]

It was like. Yeah, it Was like. No, no, it was years ago.

[Filippo]

I know, but they could CX7.

[Doug]

CX7. You know what happens to all those cars? They destroy them all.

[Filippo]

Sure.

[Doug]

Cuz you were upside down on a ship. You were. Some of the cars weren't underwater. Like some of those cars probably good to go. They destroy them all.

[Filippo]

They have to.

[Doug]

Or maybe they send them to Eastern.

[Kenan]

Europe, but same thing.

[Doug]

No. My God. Okay, so Portia, it will be interesting. It's obviously clear. It was clear from the beginning that it would be better to have someone who was specifically focused on each brain individually. It is surprising that the Germans would allow things to get to this point. However, I've learned with the Germans, when they find somebody they believe is competent, they put enormous amounts of pressure on that individual to deliver. And sometimes he does.

[Filippo]

Sometimes. You know, like Frederick Pike.

[Doug]

There was a time when Porsche had a American CEO.

[Filippo]

What was his name?

[Doug]

Howard Schultz.

[Filippo]

That, that's. That's the CEO of Starbucks or what? Or the founder of Starbucks.

[Kenan]

Working with such certain.

[Doug]

No, it was that Porsche had an American CEO. Peter. Peter Schutz was his name.

[Filippo]

Oh wow.

[Doug]

Howard Schultz is the Starbucks guy. That's where it came from. He's also American. Peter Schutz. And, and, and you know what he did? He drew the line on the wall. You don't know the story.

[Filippo]

No, please.

[Doug]

Story is he was in a room meeting high level product strategy planning. You don't know the story. Seriously. And the plan in the late 70s, in the early 80s, was that the 911 would be, would end and the 928 would replace it because it was front engine V8. It was kind of where sports cars were going at that time in the 70s. But like corporate, you know the story, right? Corporate morale was down at Porsche because everybody. The 911 had been in production for 20 years. It was beloved, but it was old. And the fate behemoth's story is there's a board on his wall. Peter Schutz, there's a board on the wall in his office. And it's got the lines where all the cars end. Like 911 ends here. 928 goes like this. And then there's future product here. And he walks up, he picks up a marker. They're all talking, but he picks up a marker and he walks up to the line for the 911 and he draws it off the wall, off the board and onto his wall in his office and continues the 9 11.

[Filippo]

That today would be a great LinkedIn post.

[Kenan]

God, Filippo is so corporate.

[Doug]

He's exactly right. That is exactly what people would say.

[Filippo]

Friday afternoon there'll be a lot of LinkedIn posts that are variations of that.

[Doug]

I have a friend who actually met Peter Schutz and he asked him about that story and Peter Schutz insisted that it was true. All right, do we have any more news?

[Kenan]

Yes, now we're getting to what you really want to do.

[Doug]

Wait, there was people in the pool? Yes.

[Kenan]

So what? Rolls Royce, to celebrate 100 years of the Phantom. The Phantom nameplate decided that they were going to do something that Rockstar have done in the past and they were going to put a Rolls Royce in a pool.

[Filippo]

Rock stars have done that primarily on drugs, Right, Exactly.

[Kenan]

Rolls Royce fame, esteemed, you know, the epitome of class and culture and taste, decided to do something that. Yeah, drug fueled rock stars. Okay, very interesting choice. Now, Millie, when I saw they have put out a ton of pictures on social media of this. They all look like AI to me. And so I was very skeptical. But I found, I found pictures of them.

[Doug]

So they destroyed the car.

[Kenan]

Well, so it was a pre production car that had to be destroyed anyway.

[Doug]

Okay, got it.

[Kenan]

And so it's not like they produced one for this specifically built a platform that it sat on so it wasn't just like rolling around in the pool. But people then went and swam this Phantom in a pool but you don't.

[Doug]

Want to swim in. I mean, isn't there fluid draining it? Like, doesn't this pool have to be treated?

[Kenan]

I think they drained all of it. I mean, yeah, I'm sure. Then the pool has to be cleaned and everything.

[Doug]

Where is this pool? This is a giant pool.

[Kenan]

It's a pool in England, evidenced by the people who are really taking in the sun. They see it three times a year.

[Doug]

Keith Moon drove a Rolls Royce into a swimming pool in Flint, Michigan. Allegedly, that's where the water problems in Flint began. It was when his Rolls Royce went into the swimming pool. Look at that. Look into that.

[Kenan]

The water has not been drinkable for a long time. No. Allegedly that story seems to be more. There's no like, there's like photos of it.

[Doug]

But regardless.

[Kenan]

But it seems like very possible.

[Doug]

But what I didn't realize and I'm looking at a lot of pictures and this is the only one I can see like this. There were people hanging out in the pool. I don't buy it.

[Filippo]

Now the people look photoshopped.

[Doug]

You think the people are fake?

[Kenan]

Every angle of it looks photoshopped.

[Doug]

You do have an unusual variety of Folks, that doesn't seem right. Like you have kids playing ball. This guy's doing like a disc distant swim. That guy's just sitting in a rat like I don't know. I'm not so sure.

[Filippo]

Not confident here. Also there's a fountain that might be real.

[Doug]

I look at another pictures in the fat. There's a fountain.

[Kenan]

Yeah.

[Doug]

This is a hard hitting news.

[Filippo]

This is.

[Kenan]

This is what you come to the car to this whatever we're called.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Kenan]

That's what you come to us for.

[Doug]

You come and see.

[Kenan]

But I'll tell you what. A Rolls Royce and a swimming pool.

[Doug]

You think that guy got in the pool? He's the go. Go to the next slide.

[Kenan]

There he is.

[Doug]

That's him.

[Kenan]

That's him.

[Doug]

They said all the workers there are. All right, put on your swim trunks once again.

[Filippo]

Sometimes you want to have a pool day with your company and you find a marketing reason to do it.

[Doug]

That's so true right off.

[Kenan]

Especially I like to drain the pool like it's Caddyshack.

[Doug]

All right, is that our final news story? Because I got a lot. We got to move on to the talk cars segment which is sponsored by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce getting married. Really? Yeah. They are sponsoring this.

[Filippo]

That's so nice of them.

[Doug]

They wanted to make sure people knew and like kind of get the word out and obviously we have a big reach. Okay, the talk car segment. I want to start by talking about 2024 Toyota Sequoia.

[Filippo]

You do you? Yeah. Wow.

[Doug]

I took it in for service.

[Filippo]

Congratulations. I'm proud of you.

[Doug]

Yeah. At your dealership yearly over here.

[Filippo]

Last year I went with you in a Volkswagen bus.

[Kenan]

That's a great story. What does it need?

[Doug]

Did you. Yeah, well, I went over there and what it needed was a light had illuminated on the dashboard that said service recommended.

[Filippo]

Oh, yeah.

[Doug]

And that's. That's good for me because if it hadn't illuminated, I never would have serviced it because I. That's the level at which I'm interested.

[Kenan]

Some of us call them idiot lights, but you know.

[Doug]

Yeah. Well, that's good. So anyway, took it in and you know what happened? The most amazing thing happened to me. There was a fellow named Adam there at the dealership who was my service technician, my service writer. And he brings me in and I'm all like, oh God, this is gonna be a big one.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

And he says this service is free. Really?

[Filippo]

Yeah. Because of ToyotaCare.

[Doug]

I guess I have something where the.

[Filippo]

Services are free for three years. Yeah.

[Doug]

And it's Good that I took it to the dealer. Cause I wasn't gon.

[Filippo]

Wow. You would have to spend $100 at a different.

[Doug]

Here's what he told me, though. He said the next service is free only if I do it before 25,000 miles or before March of 26.

[Filippo]

Oh, so you're.

[Doug]

There's no concern about the 25,000 miles. The car is 17,500 on it now. By March it'll have 17 6.

[Filippo]

Yeah. But you won't need service again because it will have driven 100 miles.

[Doug]

I'm curious if they would pay for another oil change.

[Filippo]

Yeah, they would.

[Doug]

I don't know.

[Filippo]

Time.

[Doug]

I think you only get two oil changes within that. Within that first couple years of ownership. You know what I'm saying?

[Filippo]

But was the last one part of Toyota care?

[Doug]

I could have sworn also that I paid for the first one.

[Filippo]

They actually only give you the second one for free.

[Doug]

Anyways, I got this Sequoia now and it's doing its thing. I gotta tell you, Filippo, I can't explain to you how often I think about getting an LX 700H over trail. Yeah.

[Filippo]

So you had that car as a press car. Yeah. Nine months ago.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Filippo]

And you. At the time, we looked deep at whether there were deals on 700 HS and there were not.

[Doug]

They had just come out.

[Filippo]

Are the deals now?

[Doug]

They've been out for a while. And so I looked and I look often and I looked and here's what I discovered. Carlsbad. Lexus has one.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Doug]

Really? And they're offering a few grand off. However. However, there's also stuff on it like VIN etching and door go.

[Filippo]

You want to call and negotiate.

[Doug]

It's like 117,000. Yeah. If you can get that down to it's 117 sticker or one 20 sticker. They're offering 117 if you can get it down to 83. I'm a buyer today.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Doug]

Today.

[Filippo]

I don't think I can do that.

[Kenan]

Filippo's fame negotiation let me right smack dab in the middle of asking.

[Doug]

And then even still, I won't get the car. That's the great story about that story. After he went back and forth negotiating with that dealer the whole day and we agreed to meet at their asking price. I ended up not getting the car.

[Filippo]

You then found a different one. I got you the deal. And then they sold the car to somebody else. I don't remember what happened. Something like that.

[Doug]

You got me the deal. All right.

[Filippo]

There was a nice, nice GMC dealership in Utah that also helped me out and they that went down a grand.

[Doug]

So well, I only wanted a CPO one I thought we were only talking to. Anyway, the point is the Sequoia has been served, is ready for its next adventure.

[Filippo]

I'm so excited for it to have an adventure again next June.

[Kenan]

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[Doug]

Absolutely.

[Filippo]

Yep.

[Doug]

Okay, Filippo, give us your car.

[Filippo]

Yeah. All right, so about two months ago, thanks to our friends at Expel Expel, my GTI has better tint. So when I bought the gti, I had really dark tint, way too dark. I got pulled over once for how dark the tint was and it had like a dark strip at the top of the windshield.

[Doug]

Oh, you didn't like that?

[Filippo]

Didn't love that. Thanks to xpel, I now have have and protective film solutions in Santa Ana that did the work. I now have like a UV protective less dark tint on every window. And we've been driving Arizona a lot in the GTI and like it felt like, okay, this is less hot than usual. But this last weekend I drove to Arizona in my station wagon which just has like the regular tint that Mercedes put on it and it was really, really hot. Yeah, like the sun driving through the desert has an impact and I was surprised.

[Doug]

The XPEL that you have is it just clear and it. But it repels windshield is.

[Filippo]

Is effectively clear. But it's UV protective and the sides are some percent that I don't remember.

[Doug]

But it does a good job.

[Filippo]

It does a stunningly good job.

[Doug]

You ever driven to Arizona in the summer?

[Filippo]

No. It's hot.

[Kenan]

Why would I want to do that?

[Doug]

It's wild.

[Kenan]

I understand it gets hot. It's interesting that you point. So I also had mine done not with Expo. I had something else done and it is. It makes it. I had tint on my car and it was much older. But now like heat rejection technology from a number of manufacturers is so good.

[Filippo]

I didn't believe it.

[Kenan]

It really makes a difference. But it does require you to be like. When I drove to Monter, Monreal was kind of out in central California. It was 103 degrees. Not quite like Arizona, but like the sun. It makes a huge difference to have that on.

[Doug]

So you're surprising.

[Kenan]

You're cruising.

[Doug]

You're cruising around with this expel. Is. This is expel sponsoring us? They.

[Filippo]

They sponsored the. The.

[Doug]

You got free expel.

[Filippo]

Free expel.

[Doug]

Did I get it?

[Filippo]

We could have talked about that.

[Doug]

But damn.

[Kenan]

And you guys bought it for me for a birthday present along with some of our other friends. So you're going.

[Filippo]

I know I could have saved money.

[Doug]

So. So you're going out there and it's keeping you cool.

[Filippo]

It is doing us.

[Doug]

I was.

[Filippo]

I've kind of just assumed that tint was tint.

[Kenan]

Yeah.

[Filippo]

And my station wagon has tint. It's 12 years old and not that dark. But I assume it was just tint. But it turns out that it's improved technology has done. It has. It has. I've. And when I first got it and drove to Arizona, I thought, oh, it's a little bit cooler. But like. No, it makes a real, real difference.

[Kenan]

Yeah, absolutely it does.

[Filippo]

So thanks. Expel and protect the film solutions.

[Doug]

So he's driving around the free tint. This is a what a Filippo dream to happen to our situation. I know he's some free tint.

[Kenan]

He likes the perks.

[Doug]

You know, I don't really have a car I would put the tin on. But I like some free tint nonetheless.

[Filippo]

Less. Right.

[Doug]

Okay. Well, congratulations Filipo, because you deserve it the most because of your frequent trips to Arizona.

[Filippo]

Thank you. I. It is. There were many days where we would drive 40 minutes and the wagon would not actively get cool. Like it would be Cooler, but it would not be cool. And maybe I should tint that too.

[Doug]

Maybe expel can hook you up with another freebie there.

[Filippo]

Maybe.

[Doug]

Why'd you take the station wagon last time and not the. The.

[Filippo]

We had a lot of things car so we need it to fit about.

[Doug]

But you had all the gta. GTI can fit a lot of stuff.

[Filippo]

Can fit more.

[Kenan]

He's also done with the gti.

[Filippo]

No, I love the gti. I'm done with the wagon. But that's a different.

[Doug]

Oh my God.

[Kenan]

Oh my God.

[Filippo]

The wagon's great too. But I'm tired of.

[Doug]

He's done with all his cars simultaneously done with them and never wants to do anything else.

[Kenan]

Just be on a bicycle.

[Filippo]

I really want to lease a new EV because lease deals are phenomenal. And then buy something fun like a prologue. A good new ev. No, the prologue is good.

[Doug]

A prologue way I would.

[Filippo]

There's nothing that would compel me to. I. I don't need the badge. So I'll buy. I'll lease a Blazer.

[Kenan]

What about getting a pre owned Rivian?

[Filippo]

Too expensive and doesn't take advantage of.

[Doug]

Yeah, the thing about one of the reasons the evs depreciate so fast is because the lease deals are so good that like the pre owned stuff is like kind of hard to make sense.

[Filippo]

It makes sense relative to buying a new Rivian. Name a number, you know.

[Doug]

Okay, I gotta. I got two more cars. Things that I desperately want to talk about. One of them is Honda. We got to talk about Honda.

[Filippo]

Honda.

[Doug]

We gotta talk about another one though. Something that hit me that I wanted to bring up last week. We had a conversation about subscription service. Yeah, for horsepower.

[Filippo]

People did not like my tape.

[Doug]

People hate it. Felipe was like, I'm into subscription for horsepower. And people like, you're the worst person ever.

[Kenan]

I agree with the people. I hate the idea.

[Doug]

I generally agree with the people. However, I was thinking of this as an example of how capitalism has really like got like we are the way we are because we've learned this like the. The way that capitalism has made us spend money. Okay, let me give you an example. Likes of Z. This is just the first one came in my mind today when I was on the elevator. Lexus is 250 and Lexus is 350, right?

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

It doesn't cost Lexus anymore to build the 350 than it does a 250. Okay. Like let's be honest, like that three. There's a slightly more material I guess in the bigger engine, but like we're talking about 100 bucks a car maybe.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

But there's like an eight grand price difference.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

And so people like, but I paid for the car. I want the whole car. Well, but like a lot of times you are paying for, or you're paying more for what is ultimately something that you could have had. But the automaker is gatekeeping it behind a paywall. But in that case, the people are fine with it.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

And if you really think about that is 250 is 350 example. Especially like you own the car five years, you paid eight grand more, you sell it, you maybe get three grand back. Like there was actually a monthly cost. But in your mind you own it. In your mind, you have it. Right?

[Filippo]

Yep.

[Kenan]

I think it was. I think it was Jeremy Clarkson made this. Or it was James he was talking about. It was James who's talking about the Ferrari F430. Like when they came out with the Scuderia, it's like the Scooteria is as good as of a car as they could have made. Why didn't they just make the normal car as good as that?

[Doug]

Now they're always doing this. And so I think that the. And honestly, people don't seem to have a problem with it when it isn't per month.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

They just seem to have a problem that it's per month. But like, you could argue. And, and also I was still trying to think, and by the way, I don't support the per month subscription thing for a lot of reasons.

[Kenan]

Yeah.

[Doug]

But nonetheless, like, we are tuned in our minds to be like, oh, it's totally okay that lexus charges me eight grand more for the 350 that cost them the same to make.

[Filippo]

Every 911 that's not a special one has the same three liter, twin turbocharged flat ties.

[Doug]

Every single.

[Kenan]

Every McLaren, even the special every McLaren.

[Doug]

Every AMG doesn't cost them that much.

[Filippo]

More to make a GTS compared to the. Whatever.

[Doug]

There's a lot of that. It's. It's interesting. But it's interesting because people are totally okay with that.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

And in some cases there's literally. I mean, the is. Is a good example because there, there's not even suspension diff. Like it's the same thing.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

But there are other examples of that. People chill with that. But the moment you put it behind a subscription. Now the, the real dream of the subscription model is that the car is cheaper to buy and you only subscribe to the features you want, which I think would be actually beneficial. To consumer. But we all know that would never happen.

[Filippo]

No, unfortunately.

[Doug]

Corporations, 3D corporations, not cars and bids, for God's sake. We're altruistic.

[Filippo]

We are. You know, we don't talk about nearly enough. During COVID every automaker, but especially gm, just decided that they weren't going to ship cars with like heated seats. And if you look at the window circuit for car shows at that time, it said like, no heated seats minus 400. But you couldn't order without heated seats. So even if you don't want them, you have to spend that $400. And now if you did want it, you had no, no choice but like, they're doing that in their packaging. But they got away with it.

[Doug]

They got away with it just taking away the heated seats. And so if you lived in the south, you didn't want them. You. But they, they don't allow that. But suddenly when they had to do it that way, they were like, yep, no problem.

[Filippo]

And apparently it was worth $400.

[Doug]

That is an interesting point.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Okay, I want to talk about this Honda and then I want to talk about Ken's situation in Chicago. Honda. I got the passport right now. That's why I came up.

[Filippo]

You remember when they held that up from a.

[Doug]

They held it up. Three of them.

[Filippo]

Three of them.

[Doug]

And I got the passport right now. And I am so disappointed in Honda. Really? Yeah. Because Honda makes six core products. They make the incredibly successful, popular, great vehicles.

[Filippo]

Name them.

[Doug]

Hv, cr, V, Pilot, Odyssey, Accord, Civic. Right. Those are the big six.

[Filippo]

Odyssey hasn't been redesigned since 2015.

[Doug]

Yeah. But it's a huge seller. Absolute killer car. All six of those cars are absolutely absolute killers.

[Kenan]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Like there is not one person in the world who shouldn't be driving one of those six cars. Unless you have any interest in automobiles and then you shouldn't be driving one of those six cars. No, the CTR is cool. But anyway, other than that, Honda is so afraid. They're so terrified to do anything.

[Filippo]

Well, you remember the Ridgeline. You didn't even mention that they sell it.

[Doug]

Yeah, but that's, that's an example of what I'm talking about when I was a child. All right, Honda was the first hybrid. Honda came out with a mid engine supercar to rival Ferrari. Honda was the first that came out with that blind spot camera, which by the way, they discontinued just as everybody else started coming out with it.

[Filippo]

Yep.

[Doug]

And now Honda comes out with this. The reason I bring this up is this passport is over here. And it is such a Cop out. It is such an utter cop out to this segment. And I was giving him the sales numbers before. Do you know can take a guess as to how many Toyota 4 runners are sold every year in the United States?

[Kenan]

An innumerable amount. All of them.

[Doug]

Genuinely I can't imagine on average 130,000 four runners 120,000 Broncos, 200,000 Wranglers.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Doug]

And passports 40,000.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Doug]

And I asked the guy why don't you just go body on frame and go locking diff and do the thing that is so popular. And he said we wanted to provide a more balanced experience for the customer. And I said the customer doesn't want a balanced experience. They're going out there buying all these trash cars that ride terribly. Go make a car. And Honda especially is a company that makes all these power Sports, right. These ATVs, these side by sides like that's a Honda hallmark. And it would be so obvious for them to graduate into this world. And they're just afraid. They're afraid of anything. The Prelude is automatic. They're afraid of like really going out there.

[Filippo]

I think they are afraid of that. I think that they would also say that the new passport is styled to look more aggressive and that that will style that way. That that what consumers actually want is something that looks like that. But it drives better.

[Doug]

But, but, but the numbers prove that not what they want.

[Filippo]

Passport has been for sale for a month. The that's last generation passport which we all agree with. Mediocre.

[Kenan]

No.

[Doug]

Honda wouldn't have agreed at that. They were trying to sell that car and they pitched it even then as the off road alternative.

[Filippo]

More off road than the old Passport.

[Doug]

Well you know what? We care to make a little wager.

[Filippo]

No, I don't think it's just easy.

[Kenan]

To add this to my calendar. We can circle back in a year.

[Doug]

Don't get it. Like I. I know that it's hard to develop a body on frame platform and do the locker thing. But 4Runner has been out there in the time that Honda's been kind of screwing around with not doing this Forerunner has sold over a million units in the United States. It is not easy to sell a million of anything. And since 15 foreigners probably sold 13 1.4 million cars in the United States. And Honda comes out same generation too with this pilot base. Yeah. Same gen. Not much work there.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Where is the Honda of yesteryear?

[Filippo]

It's worth noting that Honda has never made a body on frame vehicle. The one that they have sold two.

[Doug]

You know they are the Passport and the Crossroads.

[Filippo]

The old Passport and the slx, which were Rodeo Crossroads, Trooper. I do. But that wasn't sold in the U.S.

[Doug]

For the record, rebadge the Land Rover.

[Filippo]

Discovery as the Honda Crossroads, but they never made one. Maybe they don't want to.

[Doug]

They didn't make a V6 until they did. They didn't make a turbo until they did.

[Filippo]

How did that work out for them?

[Doug]

Well, what do you mean? They get V6s in the pilot.

[Filippo]

Every single V6 was made when they first came out with it was mated to a 4ft automatic that had since been failure 28 days later.

[Doug]

You're missing the point. You're missing the point.

[Filippo]

Accurate.

[Doug]

The point is they don't make anything until they do. They didn't have turbo until they did. They didn't have electric until they did. That's true. That's true.

[Filippo]

I don't blame them for not going down that road, but I don't think they're going to find the success with the password that they want.

[Doug]

The market is. Well, I think their true argument would be this is a lot easier. You just take a pilot, make it smaller and you kind of try to convince people it's a marketing part.

[Filippo]

Way easier.

[Doug]

But people don't buy cheaper. Like they literally don't buy it. But also they don't buy it. They realize that they're being lied.

[Filippo]

But if they sell 60,000, okay, you're halfway to a Bronco without any of the developing cost.

[Doug]

It's not none of the development costs.

[Filippo]

With a small fraction of the development cost.

[Doug]

Yeah, but you got to also consider, you know, what, what is the transaction price on that versus Bronco. Bronco had three years where they were over sticker.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

And resale is still crazy and everybody's still super into it.

[Filippo]

But then they'd have to like build like a little mountain inside their dealerships. They don't have room for that.

[Doug]

You know what they would really have to do is build a truck. Like the, the, the, the genesis of all of this is that Honda just doesn't want to build a real pickup truck. But if they would just compete. And, and by the way, we could Tacoma sales here also. And that also wouldn't look pretty if they would have just 10 years ago committed to competing with the Tacoma. They could have a 4 runner competitor and a credible Tacoma competitor and they'd have two more in their core six. I agree that sold massive numbers, but they're just too scared. They're like, they're like Filippo at 40 all, you know, he's like afraid of making a dress for context.

[Kenan]

I've seen that happen.

[Filippo]

In 2024, Honda sold 41,000 Ridgeline lines.

[Doug]

Yeah. How many Tacomas they sell in 24?

[Filippo]

192,000. Jesus. Five times as many.

[Doug]

It's five to one.

[Kenan]

That is crazy.

[Doug]

That is five to one. Just so Honda can save money on the platform. It's like, okay, but if you had done this 10 years ago, it's like the company that always rents their space instead of buying it and then 30 years in the future they look back and they're like, you know, this is exactly that. If they had just developed the platform when this was starting to become hot, they would have two more really successful products. Right?

[Filippo]

Yeah. Now I will say Nissan sold more more frontiers than Ridgelines, which is tough position to be it.

[Doug]

The best time to plant a tree yesterday is yesterday. The second best time is today.

[Kenan]

Wow, how beautiful.

[Doug]

The best time to develop a midsize body on frame truck SUV architecture is yesterday. A decade ago.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

Screw the tree. Today that market is not changing. And Honda, I think with that car the passport is still sitting there thinking we're not sure.

[Filippo]

I am sure innovated in any way in 20 years.

[Doug]

You know, I don't.

[Filippo]

Which is a. But isn't wrong.

[Doug]

There's a lot of great stuff on that car.

[Filippo]

Innovative though.

[Doug]

The transmission selector is those buttons and.

[Filippo]

Which they've been doing since the they that went into the acura RLX in 2017.

[Kenan]

Switches have existed since the 50s. But I mean whatever that.

[Filippo]

That specific design has been in use for a while.

[Kenan]

Right, right, right.

[Doug]

I will say there's some clever stuff in that car. You know, there's no hump in the set center.

[Filippo]

Good.

[Doug]

Which is pretty hard to do.

[Filippo]

My family had a 2003 Honda Pilot. No hump in the center.

[Doug]

Yeah, I mean that's. But that's good packaging.

[Filippo]

Yeah, that was 20 years ago.

[Doug]

Well, the point is they continue to be good. I've been in cars.

[Filippo]

I'm taking that back. The Honda fits packaging was innovative and excellent. And that which they developed for the Japanese market in like 2004. Oh wait, no, that was 20 years ago. Never mind.

[Doug]

All right, my point is my. Okay, fine. But that's why people buy Hondas. And honestly I think that trust me trait of just durable stuff that you already know is exactly what people are looking for. A body on frame suv.

[Filippo]

Yeah, true.

[Doug]

And Honda has the brand rep to do it if Chevy. If Chevy did it with a Blazer, maybe they get it. If Hyundai tried it, people be like, eh. But if Honda with all their power sports and all their durability rep went out there with a 4Runner rival, it would sell.

[Filippo]

Yep. I 100% agree.

[Kenan]

Got to be called something other than the passport though. That feels very weak. Name wise.

[Filippo]

If Toshihiromibe is listening. The CEO of Honda Motor Company company, as you know.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Filippo]

Hopefully he will make that directive to his team.

[Doug]

I just deeply believe it.

[Filippo]

You're right.

[Doug]

I mean I've always been right. I've always said all these manufacturers need a G Wagon competitor. I've been saying this years. I have a video from this now private on the old, on the old channel for like 10 years ago talking about how everybody needs a G Wagon competitor and suddenly we're seeing some interesting things happening. BMW is now saying they want one. Lexus is Alex ified the world. I, I think that everybody started the Telluride, became boxy, et cetera, et cetera. The Bronco show.

[Filippo]

Toyota sells 30 trillion SUVs, period. A lot of which are offered and.

[Doug]

They don't have competition. You gotta also be, if you're Toyota, you gotta also be sitting there going, I don't know why these guys don't compete with us. It reminds me of when I started on YouTube and road and track and car and driver wouldn't create a YouTube channel. And it was so clear that there was a huge revenue opportunity there. And they were just like, no, we're gonna sit this out. We don't believe in that medium. And then it all passed them by.

[Filippo]

I thought I was pretty good about finding deals. Then I started using Upside and now I realized that I was leaving money the table every single day. Gas, groceries, eating out. Upside gives you cash back on all of it. It's stupid simple. Download the free app, claim your offer, pay as usual and get paid. There are over 100,000 locations on upside. So no matter where I am, I can open the app and find a spot nearby to earn. I've paid for an entire weekend of dining out just with the cash back I've racked up over a few months. You can earn an average of 8% back on groceries and restaurants. And the best part, you can stack it on top of your existing credit or debit rewards. That's why Upside users are earning hundreds a year and why it's sitting at 4.8 stars on the app Store. You can download the free Upside app and use promo code cars to get an extra 25 cents back for Every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. Using promo code Cars.

[Doug]

Ken. And tell us about Chicago.

[Kenan]

Yes. Things that have not passed us by. So we do you Cars and Bids have been doing a lot more events recently which has been a lot of fun. We have an event.

[Doug]

How do you go to it?

[Kenan]

You go to cars. So it's carsandbids.com events or at the very top there is an event in the header. It's in the header. I'm glad you pay attention to the website now.

[Doug]

Wow. I love events.

[Kenan]

So we also have some retro. So we have some stuff that we've done in the past. We recap what happened at the event. So most recently the Cars and Bids team last weekend and I went to checked it out 25 which was a. A Porsche based event in Chicago. They set it up in this really cool part of the west loop and it was just Porsches, Porsches absolutely everywhere.

[Doug]

What was your favorite?

[Kenan]

Well, God, was there. Carrera GT was there. Of course. There it is. It was black. It was 05. You may have heard of it. No, that one was an 05. But. But there were. I mean when I say everything Porsche showed up, I mean everything Porsche showed up from a 914 to a chopped Cayenne to the Carrera GT. I mean to a 917. Like everything was there. I believe the 917 was a wrap. But we also had a local artist paint this Porsche 997 hood which we then raffled off to somebody who was in the islands and won. Awesome. And it's now hanging on their walls. Remember, this is our little bit.

[Doug]

Or they put it on their 997.

[Filippo]

Or that'd be cooler.

[Doug]

987 interchangeable.

[Kenan]

She did not. Really congratulations to Elizabeth. Is that a fact? But it was a really great event. So many people came up to us and the number one thing I was. Well, the number one thing we were asked was where you were. But the second thing we were asked was are you guys going to do more events? And the answer is yes, we're doing an event with imsa. We did one recently which you and I went to at Road America. We're doing another one at Petit Lel Road, Atlanta, which I'm very excited about in October. And we will be there doing a. The. We're going to do a huge cars and coffee event.

[Filippo]

Very cool.

[Kenan]

But nonetheless, for those who came to see us in the Midwest at Chicago A I'm very sorry I didn't mention on the podcast I completely forgot to do.

[Filippo]

Oh yeah, I knew you were going.

[Kenan]

I forgot Sean was and we all did. But yeah, Sean I'm sure was holding his head in disbelief. But nonetheless, for everybody who came and said hello, thank you very much for doing so, I had a great time getting to spend time with people talk about cars, not just Porsches and it was a really lovely event.

[Doug]

Do people talk about non Porsches at Porsche events? That's one of the reasons I've never gone to a Porsche event.

[Kenan]

Yes, they do. Surprisingly. They don't want to just talk about Porsches because they're car enthusiasts and so not everybody.

[Doug]

Like a friend. People are going to come up to me and start talking to me about your cooling.

[Kenan]

Well, you're a Porsche guy.

[Doug]

You know, I'm a Porsche guy apparently. But if someone comes up to me and starts talking about. About air cooling, I have to, you know there.

[Kenan]

That never happened to me.

[Doug]

Nobody talked to you about air cooling.

[Kenan]

Nobody talked to me about air cooling or water cooling.

[Filippo]

Just. They didn't have to ken out about that. Who would they talk about that?

[Doug]

Right.

[Kenan]

That's fair. Watch us. They. We did have a lot of good watch.

[Doug]

We're gonna do more events. I am excited. I want some events. I'm gonna go to some of these. I don't see any of these that I'm attending in the coming days, but it also doesn't go that far.

[Kenan]

Well, just keep an eye on the events tab on the on the cars and bid site and you'll see where we're going to be.

[Filippo]

And I and other people team will be at many and Doug might show up.

[Doug]

I'll be at some for sure. I I like events but nonetheless flip.

[Kenan]

And I like meeting the people and people want to see YouTube.

[Doug]

Any event I can go to in my car I will be at Filippo's. Got to pay to ship my car there. Okay. Personally are we now have to move on to the market report. The market report is brought to you by Filippo's looking at me angrily. It's brought to you by Taylor. No, it's brought to you by cars and biblical carsandbits.com.

[Kenan]

It'S brought to you by Filippo's disdain.

[Filippo]

The best place to buy or sell a cool car.

[Doug]

It's brought to you by Paris Hilton in Traverse City.

[Kenan]

Right.

[Doug]

I wonder what she drives around Traverse City.

[Filippo]

Oh yeah.

[Kenan]

She's probably driven. I mean driven in an Escalade.

[Doug]

I don't think there are like drivers waiting to pick up Paris Hilton from the airport in Traverse City. Like, I think you land and, like, go to Avis and pick up, like, a equinox.

[Kenan]

I don't think Travis, I don't think Paris is going to Travis Hill Avis.

[Doug]

You know, I, I saw those pictures.

[Filippo]

You think my Hill Hagerty drives himself around Traverse City?

[Doug]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's into driving.

[Filippo]

Right. Never stop driving.

[Doug]

Want to talk market report? Filippo, go ahead and get us started.

[Filippo]

Yeah. All right. I am not somebody that knows a lot about old cars. So when I see a car like the Lotus Europa, this sounds like I'm.

[Doug]

Not somebody who knows a lot about old cars, but this one talks about.

[Filippo]

The Lotus Europa in our lives now, this past week. Yeah. Yes. This is a car that just seems legitimately very cool.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Filippo]

And apparently it's worth 8, 500.

[Doug]

I can't believe. No, but a lot of them. Pull up your. This isn't the only one we've sold. I'm astonished by.

[Filippo]

There are old cars that feel. Yeah. I mean, and that race car one, that's impressive.

[Doug]

Like, there, there are a lot of.

[Filippo]

Cars that, to me, feel really exotic and special. Yeah. Because I don't know anything about them, but they, they look cool. They're old and they're vintage. They seem really interesting that it turns out, are very accessible from, like, a cost of entry perspective.

[Doug]

You could if imagine, go back two pictures, imagine you're sitting at Asian paradise.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

And a Lotus Europa falls off. That would be pretty cool.

[Filippo]

And you can do that for $8,500. It just seems these are such a wide world of old cars.

[Doug]

I agree.

[Filippo]

And some of them just seem like bargains.

[Kenan]

You want to know why?

[Doug]

Yeah. Maybe there's unreliable. That's true of old cars, though. And some old cars sell for a million bucks. This legitimately is a really cool car. When these come to cars of coffee, you'll look at it. Oh, I understand.

[Kenan]

I love the Lotus Europa. I love old cars. I'm used to pain. I don't think a lot of people, as many people as these cars age, are as into that pain.

[Filippo]

You learn to become mechanically savvy, probably because you got to do a lot of work.

[Kenan]

I, I, yeah, I am aware of this already.

[Doug]

But there are still old cars from this era that are a zillion dollars. This is a lot of cool for the money.

[Kenan]

I agree. And to be clear, the S1s are worth quite a bit more. The S2s are worth a little bit less. I think that they're really cool cars. They're dramatically underpowered, of course, but it's light. It's light, it's fun, it's an experience.

[Filippo]

They're great, but they're so cool. So, so much style for $8,500.

[Doug]

Man.

[Kenan]

Look at that accordion style boot on.

[Doug]

That is pretty cool. And the leather wrap. You drive this thing to Asian Paradise.

[Kenan]

Those Porsche 914 seats.

[Doug]

Yeah. Is that true?

[Kenan]

Absolutely, absolutely. Those are without question out of a 914.

[Doug]

You drive this thing to Asian paradise. You know what, you're in British paradise.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Doug]

Something to think about.

[Filippo]

Yep. Rainy and damp. By the way. 9:14 is also not all that well.

[Doug]

Look, the. The port vehicle is a Ridgeline hp.

[Filippo]

That's right. Honda Performance.

[Doug]

Oh my God. I take back everything I just said about Honda. This person is an enthusiast of the brand.

[Filippo]

Just so you know, that might have just been a car also parked at Asia Paradise.

[Doug]

Look at that.

[Kenan]

A little air cleaning, a little carb. Yeah, I know, I agree. They're laundering of very cool, accessible vintage cars. People can get into a lot of MGBs old alpha and they're fun.

[Doug]

I assume it's fun to drive. I've never driven one. I know. Old Alphas are fun to drive and they are affordable.

[Kenan]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. There you don't have to spend a gazillion dollars to get into an old cool car and. But you will have a really fun, exciting experience. You will have some stories to tell along the way. But it is, they are really fun and. Yeah, I, I agree. I thought about this too when it came through.

[Filippo]

Just like seems like such a deal.

[Kenan]

Yeah, it's cool.

[Doug]

On that subject, let's talk about Miatas.

[Filippo]

Yeah. All right. We sold a low mile na miata this week. Yeah. For $16,000.

[Doug]

16.

[Filippo]

So in 20. 20. 2021. Part of 2022, any miatas were like on the up it up and like the cheapest enemy you could find was ten grand. Yeah, some of that I thought. But like the upper end was like 20. There wasn't a wide range. Worst to best was. Yep. I thought that they had all cooled because the bottom end of the market has kind of cooled a little bit. A rough NA Miata is no longer $10,000. Yeah. But low mileage.

[Doug]

What is a rough one? Eight.

[Filippo]

I don't know. What's the lowest price one we've go back 5,400.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Kenan]

But yeah, this is 2025. I mean this was modified.

[Filippo]

Wow.

[Doug]

That car is only 51 bucks. Matt, why didn't we Buy that.

[Kenan]

What salvage title did it have?

[Filippo]

124,000 miles in Minnesota, but Minnesota.

[Doug]

So you probably. There might be some issues underneath.

[Kenan]

Oh yeah, I had an accident too.

[Filippo]

So like, like they're still like the bottom end has cooled, but the top end of the market is still surprisingly hot.

[Doug]

$16,000 that, that M Edition, now I will say a relatively low mileage. M Edition final year is. That's a pretty desirable car.

[Filippo]

But I was surprised to see that because we've sold other late ammunition models. All the emulations were 1997. We've sold other late ones and they're around that same price point even like two or three years ago. So the, the nice part of the market, we sold one for 14 grand a year or two ago. Yeah. Like those are still seemingly going up or at least flat, which is a little surprising.

[Doug]

Yeah, I mean I think it's. It's the. The case with these has always been inflation pulls them up and also it's just hard to find. Find.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Nice Enemy Miatas.

[Filippo]

And they're so cool.

[Doug]

If you want to have that experience. You had it once before, maybe you were younger, you modded one, you ruined it.

[Filippo]

Whatever.

[Doug]

You want to just like get into one and enjoy it for a while. This is a pretty cool car and it's just so easy to own and to work on. Yeah, we have that one.

[Kenan]

I love this one. This base. Base on the cloth seats, steel wheels.

[Doug]

Go back.

[Kenan]

Loved that car.

[Doug]

Go back to the. Yeah, look at that one.

[Filippo]

Oh, man.

[Doug]

Miatas. You can do anything with a Miata.

[Filippo]

The highest price ones, by the way, are all across the auction spaces. Are all VA swaps. Yeah, you want to sell your. It's like throw a v in there.

[Doug]

Five 7, 5s with a stick swap.

[Filippo]

Stick swaps. Yeah.

[Doug]

All right, Kenan, give us an NSX take. And then we got to move on to questions.

[Kenan]

Yes. So we also recently sold an nsx. So we sold that one. This one.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

God, that looks nice. Click on that. It just goes to show what was the mileage?

[Kenan]

That's the thing. 98,200 miles sold for 65.

[Doug]

Wow.

[Kenan]

The floor for NA or for the. The floor for NSX is. Is remarkable. They are just as well.

[Doug]

And.

[Kenan]

Yeah. And NA1 in this case, I think that the. I mean the floor has definitely been reached and like they are just straight up desirable cars. Virtually any mileage.

[Filippo]

As they should be.

[Kenan]

As they should.

[Doug]

Back when Honda would do something.

[Filippo]

That's right.

[Kenan]

Back when Honda would do something.

[Filippo]

I mean.

[Kenan]

Yeah, this represents Like a high water mark.

[Filippo]

Also it was in Canada.

[Doug]

Hate to say it. And it was in Canada. Hate to say it. Go back to the. Some of these side photos. The a good NSX with the right with those wheels unmodded, untouched. That's like the nsx. The NSX when I was a kid like this is what the NSX was.

[Kenan]

I totally agree.

[Doug]

It's just. And I look at this now. I would prefer a T but like.

[Kenan]

But I'll tell you what it. It was then and it still is now. It is so cool.

[Filippo]

Cool.

[Kenan]

I. I really want one but it is cool to know that they're like. Seems like they've. They're done depreciating anymore. Even automatic if I want to probably not lose any money.

[Doug]

Yeah, you could definitely. Because they are not, they are not expensive to own. As long as you're a little smart about the whole snap ring thing which this car may have actually been affected by.

[Kenan]

Yeah. Really early ones. Yeah. But a lot of them are that.

[Doug]

But even then like that's a minor issue compared to like BMWs. The engine blows that. It's so funny what each car community is like their, their issue.

[Filippo]

Right.

[Doug]

You go into the Honda world, it's like timing belt.

[Filippo]

You know.

[Kenan]

BMW engines explode. Soon to be Mercedes.

[Doug]

They work together.

[Filippo]

Go back to our NSX results because that same week, two weeks ago we go. We sold a NSXT which is what Doug would want. Yeah. 95 and does also had miles. His memory server. Right.

[Kenan]

And some light mods. But yeah.

[Filippo]

62,000 miles. I mean that's 100 grand. That's $100,000 car.

[Kenan]

I am so curious what a high mileage one drives like because I've driven very low mileage examples and wonderful.

[Doug]

I reviewed like this one or I think I wasn't that exact car but I think it was further. It was a black one. That was a. That was a headlight.

[Filippo]

The yellow one, it was a fixed.

[Doug]

Headlight in a two.

[Kenan]

Yeah. It'll take me a second to find.

[Doug]

And. And it was so enjoyable to drive. I actually don't see. Yeah. Oh God, I loved that car. Yeah. So cool.

[Kenan]

So good.

[Doug]

So legit. Those cars are so, so, so fun. So easy to own. So perfectly balanced. These are the supercars for people who don't have egos. If you have an ego you get a countach like me. If you have no ego, you just want to have the driving experience. The purest mid engine driving experience is just great. You get yourself an nsx. Although they're starting to Become valuable in kind of eagle cars themselves. I mean, really low mileage. Ones of these are pushing 200.

[Filippo]

This is not an $89,000 car anymore.

[Doug]

Well, it had miles. It had like real miles. Right, I'm sorry, I remember that.

[Filippo]

Still, I can't imagine that being.

[Kenan]

But the really late ones are, you.

[Filippo]

Know, the late ones are expensive.

[Doug]

90 grand for 130,000 miles. Pretty legit, though. Not a lot of 130,000 mile cars in the world sell for $90,000. It's true, but people know that one lasts. Okay, I want to move on to the questions. The questions are brought to you by Travis Kelce's brother Jason, who will also be at the wedding.

[Filippo]

You assume we don't know their relationship.

[Doug]

That's true. That's a good point. I don't want to impose. You can ask us questions by clicking on the community. Go to carsandbids.com, click on the community tab and there will be a thing in there that says questions, questions. And you ask us questions and we'll answer them. This week, some interesting questions and we want to start with. Actually go up to the first one because there's a picture associated. The question is from jsdngw W. If Tesla converted cybertruck to an suv, do you feel that it would be successful and overcome the stigma associated with the truck? Seeing this rendering, my answer is no.

[Filippo]

It would do well. It would do well.

[Doug]

It's pretty ugly.

[Filippo]

If you could.

[Kenan]

Yeah, that's pretty bad.

[Filippo]

If you could turn that into like a family SUV and you could justify it as I want a large family suv, I think it would legitimately do much better.

[Doug]

It's already that. If you want it though.

[Filippo]

No, but it doesn't have third row seats, doesn't have an enclosed cargo area. It has a tonneau cover. But I think it would do well.

[Doug]

I mean, it's basically that I, I.

[Filippo]

Legitimately think if you're Tesla, there is a market for consumers that already owned a Model X, haven't felt the need to upgrade, because God knows that that car hasn't changed since it came out in 2016 and 2017 and would buy this.

[Doug]

The truck has not been particularly successful though.

[Filippo]

Right. They should try this.

[Doug]

They should try this.

[Filippo]

Yeah, it's worth it.

[Doug]

Would it overcome the stigma associated. Oh, no, I think it would be like the cheap where, you know, the person driving, you know kind of some things about them.

[Filippo]

Yeah, exactly. Okay. It would be the same buyers, ironically.

[Doug]

It probably would maybe do four row something for you to think about like a. Like a Kia Carnival. The Kia Carnival sold as a four row in Asia.

[Filippo]

Really?

[Doug]

Oh, come on. Pull up the type in. Go to a new tab and do Kid Carnival 4. How do you not know this? You know everything I know. How did you Carnival four row, four rows. Yep. And then put. Go to images. There it is. Wow, friend. I can't believe this one here. I can't believe you don't know this as a four row.

[Filippo]

No. The question in that post was, did the Cardinal ever have four rows of se?

[Doug]

And the answer is, yeah. Zoom out. There's pictures everywhere. This was a big thing when it. When it. When it came out. There's an 11 seater car. The old four row. They didn't do it in the.

[Filippo]

That's pretty cool. Yeah.

[Kenan]

Well, that's crazy.

[Filippo]

Unfortunately, that interior photo is from.

[Doug]

Well, is it a Sienna?

[Filippo]

No.

[Doug]

Pull that up, pull that up. Go to that. Go to that. Go. What is that?

[Filippo]

You think I don't. You think I don't spot Toyota interior? That is some Toyota wood right there.

[Doug]

Yeah, yeah. It's a Toyota shifter. You're right. I apologize. Next question. I am Batman. Question for Kenan. And. But I'm gonna answer it. Kenan said on the very first car pot of the year that he would buy a Cayenne. Is this gonna be as real as the day we finally get to see Emily on the pod? Kenan ain't buying anything, folks. I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna let you in a little secret. Since we started the pod, Kenan has said that he was going to be buying this car and that car and GT4 and a Bikestra Spider and a.

[Kenan]

I never said GT4.

[Doug]

Well, whatever. Boxster Spider, the convertible version, and a Lotus this and a Viper that and a Cayenne. It ain't happening. Alpha, we baited you. No, I'm kidding. I was baited too, because I was hoping. But now I've realized.

[Kenan]

Well, I looked and like nothing. Like I looked at Vipers. I called about Vipers. They just weren't around.

[Doug]

Questions about a Cayenne.

[Kenan]

You're the one who told me that I should instead of getting a Cayenne. You know, I'm young. I don't have any kids. Like, I should have sports cars. I should have more cars.

[Doug]

All right, fine.

[Kenan]

Cut the Cayenne out. Because I looked at a GTS guy, brought it here to the office.

[Filippo]

I was very.

[Doug]

Let me rephrase the question. Question for Kenan. Kenan said on the first pot of the year, that he would buy a car. Will he? A car?

[Filippo]

Yeah. Eventually the M5 will break down. He'll need. Have no choice.

[Doug]

Any.

[Kenan]

No, the M5 won't break down at all.

[Doug]

And that's the answer to that.

[Kenan]

Nope, I don't think. I don't think so because again, I've kind of lost. I don't know what I want anymore. Because I'm very fortunate. I drive a lot of really cool cars for cars and bids all the time. I get to experience a lot of cool stuff. And my golden. My North Star was the 355 for a long time. And it broke my heart. And now I'm just like, too nervous to buy anything because I just. I'm afraid it's going to happen again.

[Doug]

And so I give you like a middle star. Like a star. It's somewhere out there in the sky, maybe.

[Kenan]

I don't know. I just don't know.

[Doug]

What about, like, just get a. Get a Viper.

[Filippo]

Why he doesn't.

[Doug]

He's not going to get any car. This is what I'm starting to realize. Two of you are just bluster, at least. What are you talking about? I literally bought a car while I.

[Filippo]

Was in a meeting over there.

[Doug]

At least I'm out here admitting. Yeah.

[Filippo]

Months ago.

[Doug]

Bought a car or a 997 or.

[Filippo]

I got a Mark 8, which is more than 7.

[Doug]

You. You, you, Filippo, which is that you settled for something.

[Filippo]

Triangle.

[Doug]

Here's Filippo. Possible reality.

[Filippo]

I've driven it 17,000 miles in the last eight months.

[Doug]

I'm not saying you don't.

[Filippo]

Sitting in a car right there during a meeting. I bid on it during a. A show we were taping. I bought a car.

[Kenan]

We know the story. This question is for me. And I think that the reality of it is like, my point about it is like, I. I just. All the cars I want are 120 grand. $150,000. I just don't want to spend that. Like, that's the reality of it. Like, the boxer spider is in $100,000. 575,000 is 550,000.

[Doug]

When you get to the point where you can afford those cars, all the cars you want will be in the $300,000 range.

[Kenan]

I know. That's the problem. That's why I jumped into buying a 355 when I did, because I was so afraid that.

[Doug]

I'm not saying they're going to go up in value. I'm saying your tastes are going to change. That's what happens. And so, like, at some point you just have to. Every house buyer wants what's in the next price bracket, no matter how much money you have. Have. Like that's what. At some point you just have to take a plunge. You've spent this entire year carless. You could have been driving around in a Viper. Okay, yes, the E395. I know, I know, I know. But you've had that. You've had that exting experience for 14 years.

[Filippo]

10.

[Doug]

You could be driving around in a Viper today.

[Kenan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Filippo]

Also we came. Our producer Sean came very close to getting you to buy an old alpha convert.

[Kenan]

Very derogatory things.

[Filippo]

And he was wrong.

[Kenan]

That was your fault. Maybe I should stop listening to you.

[Doug]

I'm supportive of any car at this point. Any car. You want to get an Acura Ilx Auto. Not even stick auto.

[Kenan]

It's a good thing. I don't know what that is, but I think you guys. I just got to stop listening to you.

[Filippo]

Yes, of course.

[Kenan]

Stop listening to me. I gotta buy what I want.

[Doug]

All right, Speaking of this exact thing. Next question is from Monkey Mike Kenan. First off, I'm sorry for this question that said having owned and sold on cars and bids a fully sorted low mileage E3,39 M5 and finding out that it didn't live up to the hype. What other cars the collective automotive hive mind has placed on such a high pedestal, the experience can't possibly live up to the expectation.

[Kenan]

Can we pull up this guy's name?

[Doug]

Click on his username there. What did he. What was the car like? It was a mint. Oh, he sold some fully sorted. $28,000.

[Kenan]

Oh, yeah, fully sorted. Just salvage title. Ethereum.

[Doug]

Salvage title.

[Kenan]

I'm sure it was really nice. It drove nice and straight after it was driven into a tree. You know, that's a mint example with black grills. Get out of here. You don't know what you're talking about. About this car's modded. Get out of here.

[Filippo]

Monkey Mike, we really appreciate you selling your cars on cars and beds. That car seems to do very well. It's clearly with a car that the market appreciated for establish hell car.

[Doug]

Yeah, Blue.

[Kenan]

Blue. Not a good guy.

[Filippo]

Got hit while parked, by the way.

[Kenan]

Got hit while. Sure it did. In the rear. I'll bet it was.

[Doug]

It was hitting the front because all the front mods. It must have been hit the front.

[Filippo]

No, I think.

[Kenan]

No, that's not true. People just put black grills on it for some stupid reason. God.

[Doug]

Looks. I. I do agree. It looks worse with slide Girls. But other than that this does look like a pretty nice car.

[Filippo]

Keep selling cars with those. Kenan, you were never going to ask Kenneth a question about an ether and at five where you were derogatory to.

[Kenan]

One people's definition of sorted and my definition of sort are very different.

[Doug]

Okay so. So you're. Before we even get to the question.

[Kenan]

Which I asked but was the question I forgot.

[Doug]

Before we get to that. Your point is that he did not actually have a sorted ethernet M5.

[Kenan]

Look, I've driven dozens of them.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Kenan]

When you drive one that is actually like has had all of the suspension components replaced from h arms down in the rear. Like everything it does make a big difference and like they all are a little bit different. They've all lived different lives. And like I have done everything there is to do. There's nothing left to be done.

[Doug]

Where's this one sit?

[Kenan]

And Ryan Schultz too. Ryan's M5 which I've driven many times.

[Doug]

Scroll down.

[Kenan]

Ryan's is better.

[Filippo]

I thought you did everything that had to be done. So why is Ryan.

[Kenan]

Cuz I can't replace the wheels. That's the biggest difference to me. That's it. Ryan.

[Doug]

Ryan's mountains.

[Kenan]

Ryan's is the probably the nicest in the world or one of the nicest.

[Filippo]

Your wheels are unbalanced. No.

[Kenan]

You can't replace the rears. They are. They've been no longer available for a long time.

[Filippo]

How does that impact?

[Kenan]

Slightly better the whole thing.

[Doug]

I'm not going to get an ether M5. The question is does it live up to what enthusiast cars have the collective hive mind placed on a pedestal so high that the experience can't possibly live up to expectations. You know another great example of that is another car that our friend Kenan owned.

[Kenan]

My 355. Yeah, it didn't live up to my expectations, that's for sure. And I admit like the E39 would not live up to everybody's expectations as there are certainly flaws with the driving experience, steering weight, all those things. But there are a lot of a good example 250 GTO probably deserves to be on that list for $100 million.

[Doug]

See Harry's post today?

[Kenan]

No, what he has Harry posted on.

[Doug]

Insta that he there was like for Some reason like 8 two of these GTOs had to be moved from one event to another and they asked him to do one of them. He was like it was amazing. Like hearing it full tilt while you're in the car. And also there's one in front of you.

[Kenan]

Yeah, that's some deep Harry.

[Doug]

Nobody else gets that experience for the F250 GTO transit. They're not calling me right for nine.

[Kenan]

Of the 31 around. That's pretty.

[Doug]

So there are probably a lot of cars that don't live up to expectations. I actually think a lot of them kind of feel that way.

[Filippo]

All of them is expectations.

[Doug]

One thing I will say is my three cars, I really feel like lived up to my expectations. And that's one of the reasons I've been so reticent to do anything, sell or buy anything new. Like Countach blew away my expectations. CRO GT. I knew what to expect and love it. 4 GT I think is one of the great cars.

[Kenan]

You've talked a lot about car cars that surpassed your expectations. The GT350R, the Zonda. Like a lot of cars that were a lot better.

[Filippo]

F50.

[Kenan]

Name another car. You must have driven some supercar that was like, this isn't actually that great. Was the F40 as great as.

[Doug]

Yeah, F40 is great. I mean it needs brakes, but which is why they all have been brake modded. Huayra is probably the best that I can think of.

[Kenan]

Interesting.

[Doug]

Just don't feel like it really has the engine and transmission combination that the looks should suggest that it should, should have, which I presume they've figured out for Utopia. But Wyra was a little bit of disappointment. There's probably other ones too. I can't really think of any offhands, but there are. There are a lot of cars, I think, enthusiast cars that. Well, I think 200 series Land Cruiser.

[Kenan]

Was one of mine, you would say the 70 series. But I love the 70 series and I've driven it thousands of miles. But I do think that there are. Yeah, there are a lot of cars that people put on pedestals that know especially as time goes on and they age. It's like you didn't you lose the ability to assess the car in its time period, given what it was when it was built, what was in competition, what was. What did a normal car feel like versus what does this feel like? You lose that ability. And so like, I think there are a lot of cars that are on that list and for some people maybe it is the 39 and 5. Some people it is the 250 GTO.

[Filippo]

Expectations are the killer of joy.

[Kenan]

The robber of joy. Right.

[Filippo]

You hated your Ferrari 360 because you expected it to do something that was.

[Doug]

I drove one with no expectation and loved it.

[Filippo]

And like, like. Actually I was reading a news article on Nvidia earlier because Nvidia earnings are out for Q2 and they their earnings were up 56% and their stock market is notably down because analysts expected it to be up 60% or thereabouts. Right. So like expectations are what kills us. If you go in with expectations that are more realistic for what the car can deliver based on where, when it's from, based on the era. The problem is that some people have built up cars to be something that they're not.

[Doug]

I will tell you, I more frequently have the opposite interaction, which is that I have a low expectation and the car delivers better. And I can come up with a lot of examples of that.

[Kenan]

That's way better.

[Filippo]

The Fiero Marque GTI is so much better than I expected because every review was Quite, quite critical.

[Doug]

RX8, RX8. RX8 is all timers for that.

[Kenan]

Tell you what, it's so much better than expected because you didn't expect to have one at all. But mark my words, one day I suspect I'll go back to 355 with that more seasoned perspective.

[Filippo]

Maybe.

[Doug]

That's interesting. Next question from Ronnie F. 430. Hey Doug, why does every YouTuber journalist praise the Miata so highly as the best driver's car but rarely do they have it as their main car? Is there some flaw in it? Yeah, it's small.

[Filippo]

It's a really cool automobile.

[Doug]

You ever been in one? It's little. You have it as a fun weekend car and then you put it away and you get back into your third gen 4Runner.

[Filippo]

Yep.

[Doug]

And honestly, that garage, those two cars, an ND ND and a third gen 4Runner.

[Filippo]

Pretty good, no?

[Doug]

You know what? An ND2 and a fourth gen 4Runner, that's all you need. Third gen. You know what? No. An N, an NDRF and a fifth.

[Filippo]

Gen 4 and a Honda Passport. The ND is a small two seat automobile without that much storage space that's not that comfortable for long trips. And that's why it's not many people's only car.

[Kenan]

This is a great car.

[Filippo]

It's a small vehicle. If you haven't been next to a too small. It's a small vehicle. No, I, I want one.

[Doug]

No, but the question is why do people not use as their main car? And that's your answer. Like it's ultimately like a little. A little car.

[Filippo]

Yeah. Which it should be.

[Doug]

It's. It's an amazing car and it's fun. But like I, the question asker, I guarantee you is not like is not old enough to want, prioritize comfort or have a family or anything. Like once you get into your 30s, you're, you know, pushing 40, 40 up like you, you don't necessarily want to be getting to this as your only car every day. And once you have kids, whenever, like this isn't a thing you can use as like a frequent, frequent vehicle.

[Filippo]

Here's the fact. Yeah, a GTI market GTI, yeah. Is 169 inches long, more or less.

[Doug]

Wow, that's shockingly small.

[Filippo]

The ND Miata is 154 inches long. It's 15 inches shorter than my GTI.

[Doug]

I don't even know if I believe the GTI stat, to be honest with you. I'm, I don't just, I did get out tape.

[Filippo]

I did trust Google's AI overview. So like, who knows? But it's a small, small vehicle. It's notably shorter than a gti, which is not that big of vehicle to start with.

[Doug]

Couple more questions that are all pretty good. Evs and clutch pedals. Doug demuro, to what extent do you still write the Doug's take on listings and how difficult does it get for you to be diplomatic and positive when writing about the certain cars? I write, I don't write them, but the, the our editors write them. And I look over every single one without exception. I look at every single Doug's take all of them. Which means that I do look at every single car that goes live on the site. Not just when they're posted, but before they're posted. I look at every single car without exception. How difficult does it get for you to be diplomatic and positive? The thing you got to remember is like I, more than anybody that you'll meet, I'm like a huge believer in the, the market. And so like I just, yes, some of the cars I wouldn't buy, but like at the right number, the market decides that's what it's worth. Like Ghibli is a good example. Yeah, like this at 13, 14. Like, these are pretty appealing cars. I've always said bad things about that car. But like it starts to become appealing and that's what the market values it at. And so that's what it's worth. And so that's what people believe it to be worth. And so like, to me, you know, I don't know. I don't think it requires that much heavy lifting compared to if we were selling new cars. And you have to say stuff like, we sell the passport this way because we want to Provide a balanced experience for our customers.

[Filippo]

I will also say more you more so than I think anybody realizes and that anybody else I know, like almost every car. You like all cars in some way or another.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Filippo]

It's like very rare that you like truly don't like it or can't identify why that specific one is interesting has some benefit.

[Doug]

Yeah, total. Especially the stuff we sell. Like I, I, I, the, the, the really basic stuff. The, the, the basic Korean stuff I, I have trouble with. But if it's on our site, there's something about it that's cool. Even if it's he modern. Even if it's, you know, whatever. Like there's something about it that's cool and I get that. Next question. I'm sorry, you have, you have something.

[Kenan]

No, I was going to say the other thing is like even if there are cars that are in bad condition or whatever your argument is, well, you can always turn it into a track car and like there's always an angle. Like there is always a positive to be found with a lot with these cars because we accept cool stuff and so. Yeah, I agree. Although man, you've looked over a lot of Doug's takes.

[Filippo]

Yeah, it's wild to me. We're over 30,000 options.

[Doug]

Next question from mart walk. Question for Doug. If and when the time comes to sell one of your exotic cars, would you list it as no reserve on cars and bids? Heck yeah. Next question from battlefront Brigadier. Here's my equation. Buy that ram. This guy.

[Filippo]

Battlefront brigade. Yeah, Battlefront should.

[Doug]

Question for Doug. How do you buy your cars? Finance cash, et cetera, etc. The answer used to be that I would finance them because penfed would set would loan me. I bought every car with a pen fed loan. And San Diego's like the only city in the country with a physical pen fed location. It's like San Diego and D.C. are like the only two because of the military presence. And so like you could go in and come out with a check. Like you didn't have to do the whole thing over the phone and wait for a representative and all that stuff. It's in Kearney Mesa and Miramar, I guess. But with the interest rate so high, I've had to start using cash to buy my vehicles, which is insane. I know all the other youtubers rent them or lease them or do some sort of creative financing situation, but that ain't Doug, unfortunately. I wish it was. I wish we were still at a 2% interest rate situation. But I have a lot of cash tied up in cars. And it could be going to better use, such as getting Filippo a water feature in his home.

[Filippo]

Ooh, wow. Is that what it's when, like a pipe leaks?

[Kenan]

No, that's like this Rolls Royce water feature here. That's. That's what, that's what we're going for.

[Doug]

Okay, next question from Chris182. Actually, no. I'll start, do Eric44, then Chris182, then done. Eric44. Hey, Doug, would you ever consider going to Bowdoin Auto House to get a custom exhaust for your Carrera gt? I get asked all the time about custom exhaust for the Carrera GT because the Courage GT is one of the great sounding cars of all time. And if you listen on YouTube or on Instagram, some of the clips, their custom exhaust sound absolutely unbelievable. The problem with me getting a custom exhaust, I drive the car much more often than any other car GT owner, certainly United States. There are some European owners that drive it as much as me, but I drive the car more often than anybody else. I live in a city. I do not live out in the country like Canon with. With his horses.

[Kenan]

I live down the street.

[Doug]

He's got, he's. He keeps a family of muskrats in his. In his outbuilding. I don't do any of that. And so the problem is that driving the car so much, I just, I don't want it to be annoying. And every exhaust I have ever heard for that car, as great as it sounds at full throttle, is unbelievably, annoyingly loud at low RPMs and idle. And it would, it would stop me from wanting to drive the car. It would wake up my neighbors when I take the car out early. I took kash out at 7am this morning, and I felt so bad. Like, I just, I, I, it, it's. It would wake up the car a little bit more. But it is not something I'm interested in doing for that. I've never heard in all the YouTube clips I've ever heard of courage GT Exhau. And I've never heard of one that is quiet enough in a normal situation that you can. That even the valved one, it's. They're just too loud. They just put too much into it.

[Kenan]

And I'll tell you the great secret about the Carrera GT is when you put the roof on, you get to enjoy the induction noise. And the induction noise of that car is just as good as the exhaust. It is so spectacular in that thing.

[Doug]

I do love driving through fun now. I kind of committed to just like.

[Kenan]

I firmly believe it and maybe it's in your book you have on it that it was supposed to be always be a coupe and not a convertible but it was so stiff they could just take the roof off. American consumers would want that and so they did it. But I have a feeling and the other thing is like it does sting even with a great exhaust on it. You get to hear it echo off of things. The best place to be in a Courier GT is the car behind it because that's where you get to hear all the sound anyway. So roof on induction noise. That's your answer. And it's very good.

[Doug]

And you know what? The Courier GT and I maintain this and I will forever is the greatest car designed at a strip mall in Huntington Beach.

[Kenan]

Stiff competition.

[Doug]

Okay, final question from Chris. 182. No greater car has been designed in a strip mall in suburban Los Angeles. You understand that? Don't come at me with your other cars designed in suburban LA strip malls.

[Filippo]

I've got others but I'll let it be.

[Doug]

Chris wanted you question for the group.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Can you guys outline your automotive careers and how you got where you are today? I've already talked a lot about mine. I actually would like if Filippo cuz we don't hear a lot about Filippo's past.

[Filippo]

Yeah yeah.

[Doug]

Like we know Canon worked for exotic car dealership. He references it sometimes. I want to hear about Filippo's story about his journey. We know he's Italian. We know he lived in Wisconsin. We don't really understand how both those things happen at once. Like take us through kind of the.

[Kenan]

Journey Short view back at the past Felipo.

[Filippo]

No, I I'll take it from from my professional career.

[Doug]

Oh really?

[Filippo]

We don't get to hear the early days before christen bits. All of of my jobs were education focused. I worked in education data, worked with school districts on education finance stuff. But I've known for those of us.

[Doug]

Who don't know what that means, which even though I've known you for 12 years, includes me. What is education data? I mean am I wrong? Like you're sitting here like what is he talking what is education data and education finance for the, for the audience.

[Filippo]

For the hotheads who certainly cares about this greatly. We're going to the retention is going to plummet at this moment of the podcast. Luckily it's the end. I worked for a company where we we worked with state departments of education and school districts to develop school accountability report cards to do data analysis on which Schools which teachers were creating better outcomes for their students. And then after that, I worked for quite a while at a company that works with school districts on better budgeting and managing of their resources, how to be more equitable, how to plan better using a software product that we built.

[Doug]

So you were like a consultant and they would call you up and say, yo, dude, this is Omaha Federal or Omaha Unified or whatever. I don't know how it works. This is Lincoln, Nebraska area schools. We got some budget issues.

[Filippo]

Can you help us for that company? It was a software as a service company where we sold to school districts and some other educational entities a product and I helped them implement it. And I did kind of the data ETL transformation from their enterprise resource planning system.

[Doug]

The data. The erp.

[Filippo]

The ETL from their erp.

[Doug]

Let me ask, ask you this. How the hell then.

[Filippo]

I don't know, man. That's a good question. I've known Doug for a long time. I used to film videos with. With you back in the 2014, 2015, when you first got the Hummer. The video was poorly shot and shaky because I was filming for years fleep.

[Doug]

Of all my videos.

[Filippo]

A year, two years. And then when you started cursing bids, I thought that I could apply some of my like data knowledge and car expertise and kind of combine those into one thing. Thing. Have I been successful in that? God knows.

[Kenan]

No, you started by writing listings.

[Filippo]

I started by writing listings. Just because I could put words together with a keyboard. Yeah. Yes.

[Kenan]

You struggled sometimes. I was.

[Doug]

I got a free auto check.

[Filippo]

Vehicle history report backs me up sometimes.

[Doug]

So that's Filippo's history. That's Filippo's history. He worked in education something or other. You heard it. And he was trying to optimize schools and school districts. To me it sounds like he was like the private equity for schools.

[Filippo]

He was getting teachers fired particularly. No, no, we were all.

[Doug]

No.

[Filippo]

Want to be really clear about this. No, we were all about helping school districts develop better budget.

[Doug]

We were helping to improve the school sometimes by reducing.

[Filippo]

No, no.

[Doug]

The personnel.

[Filippo]

No. Better budgeting is good. The Joe Biden quote that we used a lot at the time. Oh, that was. Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value. And our goal was to make it easier for school district actually kind of connect their goals with.

[Doug]

Okay, that's real.

[Filippo]

Wait, can I say one thing?

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Filippo]

Very. People at all my prior jobs did not know that I was into cars. This was not a part of my life.

[Kenan]

Sometimes I question it. Too.

[Filippo]

My friends did sometimes, but it was not a part of my life. And now for the last five years, because it's been five years this week of being a full time car. Wow. Wow. There's been like a incredibly large part of my life. Life publicly. Interesting.

[Doug]

Well. And you were always into car.

[Filippo]

I was like my personality, you know.

[Doug]

Yeah. But I always felt like you belonged in some sort of automotive role. And I still believe that. I. I truly believe that the rest of your career should be in automotive, whether it's here or elsewhere. I truly believe that. It's just. He's just into it. He's into it and he's good at it. Rj, call me up. He's already.

[Kenan]

Yeah, RJ will call you.

[Doug]

Kenan, you want to give us a brief overview here of your situation? As I recall, you're from Ohio.

[Kenan]

Talked about a couple times. Yeah, I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. I started working at an exotic car dealership when I was there. I had known the family that owns it for a long time. They were looking for someone to help with their digital media presence and, like, marketing in general. I started working there and then I reached out to you because we wanted you to come look at a LaFerrari that we had. And it didn't quite work out. You were moving from Philadelphia out to San Diego. We started talking about San Diego. I'd met you previously when my M5 broke down at one of your meets and you remembered who I was as a result. Result. And then I was out here for a car event, the La Jolla Concours d'. Elegance. And I had mentioned to you that I wanted to. I isolated my focus at that point to living in San Diego, which was a lifelong dream of mine because the weather, I mean, Cleveland to here, who wouldn't want to, right? And then. And I wanted to work for an auction company, you know, one of the established houses. But you were already thinking of starting. Well, now, not then. You were thinking about starting this company. And I think you went home and told your wife that day. It's like, I think we found someone who can help us do this. And I was the first person that he called when it was time to hire people. And the team, the team that built the back end of the site and what it looks like now had put something together. And I didn't hesitate.

[Filippo]

You were the first employee.

[Kenan]

I was the. Yep. The first employee. And. And. Yeah. And then I, you know, was supposed to come out, shipped my car, all my stuff, and then Covid hit.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Kenan]

And it was a whole thing from there, but eventually got out here. We launched it, and here we are.

[Filippo]

Yeah.

[Doug]

And by the way, for those who don't know, and we're curious, Nick's background. He was on the podcast sometimes, is that he was raised by wild boars in the hills of Tennessee. So there we go. That's the podcast for today, the greatest one we've ever done, but only if they keep in that stuff about Paris Hilton and Traverse City. If they take that stuff out, this podcast was a waste of time. If you're watching this right now and you haven't seen anything about Paris Hilton and Treasure City, you got screwed.

[Filippo]

You think we wouldn't cut this part too?

[Doug]

Paris Hilton, Trevor City. Goodbye, everyone. Cut him now.

[Kenan]

Goodbye.

[Filippo]

Goodbye.