Sam Abuelsamid 0:00 On Episode 194 of wheel bearings, Nicole talks about her first drive in the new Jeep Wrangler four by E plug in hybrid Roberto talks about his experience with a 2020 Kia Sorento rental car and I talked about the 2021 Buick Encore gx and the Lexus Gx 460. Not much news to talk about today. But we do answer a bunch of listener emails, all coming up on this episode of wheel bearings. This is wheel bearings Episode 194. And after my co hosts have abandoned me for a week to take some vacation, we're back again. And who do we have with us? Nicole Wakelin 0:55 I am Nicole wakelin, and I'm a freelance journalist and this week's let's see, I'll do a shout out to Dr. Mojo, which is one of the outlets I write for. Sam Abuelsamid 1:04 All right. Roberto Baldwin 1:06 My name is Roberto Baldwin. I'm an automotive and a tech journalist. And let's say Forbes wheels. Sam Abuelsamid 1:11 Oh, sounds good. All right. Nicole, you had something you wanted to share with us. Nicole Wakelin 1:16 I do. So we have a shout out to some of our latest Patreon supporters. So to Lee Gibson, Mike, he knows Matt Cooney and Thomas Kunkel, thank you for supporting the show. And if you want to support the show, you can, you can head to patreon.com slash wheel bearings, media. And then for $2.50, you get the blind spot monitor level. for five bucks, you get the Forward Collision Avoidance. I feel like we need to come up with more levels, guys, like there's a lot more autonomous vehicle technology. I think we can do that. Sam Abuelsamid 1:47 But yeah, so for Patreon supporters, you know, one of the things you get besides an ad free version of the show is you get early access to some of the special episodes. Like for example, last week, or earlier this week on the main feed, I put out an interview that I did with Danny Shapiro, the Senior Director of automotive and Nvidia. But that was available to Patreon supporters about a week and a half earlier. So if you want to get first access to all that good stuff, to help us out on Patreon. And we're gonna have some more cool stuff coming Dan is actually auditioning some aspiring writers to post some articles on the website. And we're going to be actually paying them a little bit. You know, give them a chance for some exposure and a little bit of cash from the Patreon fund. And we're working on other stuff too. And hopefully as we get further into the year, and hopefully things settled down a little bit more get a little more normal. We might do some other cool stuff. So why don't we dive into the garage? Let's start with Nicole. Nicole Wakelin 2:55 Oh, you just start with me. Okay, so this was actually what I drove right before I disappeared for vacation. I did the first drive for the Jeep Wrangler for bi E which is the new plug in hybrid from Jeep. They took us down to Austin, Texas, they had us drive around off road, they had us driving on the highway, and we got a chance to really check it out. They had it you know, when you're going to a Jeep program, you always know that there's going to be some kind of off road thing that's legitimately off road, they're not just going to take you down a dirt path that like any old sedan could handle. Like they actually let you drive them off road. And they did with this one. We went down some rocks where you had that horrible skidplate sound like that noise that you like grinding? Yeah, like if it was any other situation be saying, Oh, no, no, no. What have I done? It's a good sound on a Jeep program. You're okay with it. And at hand. I mean, it handles exactly like Wrangler, you know, you'd expect to Wrangler to be able to go up and down rocks and loose gravel. And we even went through some water that was fairly deep deep enough that you couldn't do without the doors on the vehicle because they tried to convince me somebody tried to convince me to go through that we're like, yeah, you could totally go through that with the doors off. I'm like, No, you go through with the doors off. I'm not gonna go through that water. I don't want to wet but for the rest of this drive program, and it handles it all. So in terms of driving it, it had still had the capability and this was a Rubicon that we took off road. It was the same capability to expect from a Wrangler what you don't expect and it's really cool. So you know, the whole plugin thing you kind of think like Okay, great. I have a plug in Eevee I have I think 20 ish miles of all electric range. You know, you can plug in you can take advantage of that lower fuel costs be more environmentally friendly. But what was really cool is like you don't think about the fact that one of the big things when you're offered in a Jeep you can take off your doors you can take off your roof can drop the windshield, and you have your about as as surrounded by the outdoors as you can be right but you still normally hear the engine You save that Eevee mode because you have a little select switch where you can choose how you use that battery. If you save it until you're off road and you push that when you're in the, you know off road in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly you hear things you never would hear when you're off roading. Like you can hear the grass crunching under your tires. You can hear like crickets in the grass, you can hear like grasshoppers hopping around their little wings and stuff fluttering. It was really very, very cool and very immersive. which is you know, easy's are one thing, plugins are one thing, but to be able to have that outdoor Jeep Wrangler in the elements kind of experience, but to hear everything around you, and nothing scared by you, because you no longer have an engine making a racket as you're driving around was really, really neat. It was a whole new experience. I liked it. In case you can't tell. I thought it was really neat. I thought that was cool. So Sam Abuelsamid 5:52 the the plug in hybrid is several 100 pounds heavier. Yeah, and the standard Wrangler Rubicon, which is not a lightweight to begin with what you did that weight, you know, have any problems or you know, when you were driving it just pure electrically off road, you know, obviously, the electric motors got plenty of torque, but did it? You know, without the engine did it seem like it had enough power and torque, Nicole Wakelin 6:15 it really did. Like, I was wondering that, especially as we're trying to, you know, go up fairly steep, they had this big rock, which is like giant rock and you had to go up it and then go down the other side. And it actually made it eat like the way that you know when you have the Eevee. And you instantly have the torque. So it made it very easy to modulate getting up nice and smoothly. But you don't feel that I guess you feel the heaviness a little I mean, if you just drove a Wrangler with just a gas engine and then hopped in this one, maybe you would notice a difference. But is it enough that you suddenly think, oh, gosh, this is this is heavier, this is unwieldy, this doesn't feel balanced, this doesn't feel capable, or have the oomph to get over what you need to get over? Not at all. I mean, it really, if you didn't know, I don't think you would know like if no one told you, I don't think you would notice the difference in a negative way that you were driving the plug in instead of the straight up gas engine. Sam Abuelsamid 7:11 Cool. One of the things that Jeep has announced is a partnership with electrify America to start installing charging stations at the trailheads of a lot of the most popular trails like the Rubicon trail and California and, and Moab and several other local I think they're they've talked about 16 or 17 locations where they're going to install chargers. So when you get there you can you can drive to the trail, plug in, top off the battery and then drive the trail electrically and what with the Wrangler? I think, I think it's officially rated at 21 miles. And I think that if I'm not mistaken, I think the Rubicon trail is about 16 or 17 miles, so you should be able to do pretty much the whole trail on electricity alone. Did they talk about that at all? Nicole Wakelin 7:57 Yeah, they did. In fact, they even had one of the officially Jeep branded charging stations that they had out at the ranch where we were driving, so that you could see it and see how plugged in and can handle two vehicles at a time. And we asked some of them are going depends which trailhead they're at some of them are going to be theoretically plugged into the grid. So they will just have you know, electricity coming to them others will be solar. If they're in someplace where you just can't there's no way to plug it in. And I asked about the solar like how, how many charges do you get? Like if one guy charges his jeep today? Are you done? If that's a solar charger, you know, are you going to get some series charging, and they say what they can do two at a time they figure at least 12 Wranglers a day could fully charge their vehicles at one station if they wanted to. But it was kind of neat when you like like give a give a little sciency you know, the exact angle the sun how close you are to the equator, how many hours of sun you get, it's going to be more than 12 how much more break out your math and you can figure that out because it's not. It's a hard number to identify. But yeah, they have them and they're you know, they look cool. You can use the little grid on top for the solar actually, you know moves a little bit as the sun moves. So it's it's a neat setup. Unknown Speaker 9:13 Cool. Unknown Speaker 9:14 Yeah, Roberto Baldwin 9:15 I am I've written the the altet will before also went out of business. They had a dirt bike, electric dirt bike and then zero of course has their their dual sport bikes and I written those off road and it is really nice. It's it's very it's very nice to like sort of go off road and not have that at that that engine noise is it a car I remember whatever, and just kind of like ride around and you feel it's it's it's it's like you're riding a bike without all the you know, sweat with all the effort. Nicole Wakelin 9:47 Yeah, it really did. It was like I was excited to drive it. I like jeeps in the first place. I like the Wrangler. And I wanted to see how this worked, but I really didn't. It didn't click to me how cool that would be to be able to hear everything thing, like, I realized there was like a little creek running somewhere nearby where we were driving because you couldn't hear it until you put in Eevee mode and suddenly like, wait, there's water nearby like you, you literally hear things and know things about where you are that you wouldn't. If you were just in a gas powered vehicle, it's, it's an entirely new experience, I think where people, you know, if you just have a plug in or an Eevee, and you're just taking that sedan to work, or just taking that SUV to take the kids back and forth to school, still does all the same. So you know, it's got all the perks of being an Eevee. But you don't appreciate the quiet. The same way you do is if you're someone who is you're if you're going off roading, you're outdoors, you're probably enjoying the outdoors, you probably like to hear what's around you to see what's around you to experience it. And you can't experience it like that in a car with a gas engine, you've got to have that. That quiet. It's It's a whole new perspective. It was really, it was it was compelling. It was a compelling reason to go, Okay, if I was going to get a Wrangler, this could be enough to swing me to the plug in just because if I'm going to go off road, this really makes that offer experience unique. Sam Abuelsamid 11:03 Yeah, yeah, I mean, this thing's not going to be inexpensive. The Sahara for the cup, you can get the for buy on the Sahara are the Rubicon, Sahara starts at 48,000. And the Rubicon is 51,700. And then there's a 15 $100 destination charge, but you do get it is still eligible for the 70 $500 federal tax credit. And if you're in California or some other states, there's various tax credits in you know, in those states as well. So, you know, that does bring it down quite a bit. So I mean, you know, from C 5253, you're down to, you know, mid 40s, you know, for a Rubicon with the federal tax credit, so that's not crazy expensive. Nicole Wakelin 11:49 Well, they don't have like, you don't have the base. Like I'm forgetting the trim levels for the Wrangler, but you don't have the base trim of the Wrangler in this, like it starts with the Sahara. So you're you're you're getting a pretty tricked out Jeep to begin with, you're sort of starting middle top middle of their, like their standard lineup. So you're getting a lot, it's not like you're getting this teeny little, you know, bass trim, nothing fancy, it is pretty well equipped. And you can even go one higher than the Rubicon, the high altitude, which I guess technically is like a variant of the Sahara. That one is 53 eight. So if you just want to go for all fancy pants, whether that rather than the capability of the Rubicon, that's the direction you can go. So you could get this for let's call it 54, almost 54,000 and, and of course, you know, Sam Abuelsamid 12:34 this only comes with the the four door version, the the Unlimited, not the two door so you can't Yes, plug in hybrid on the two door. Nicole Wakelin 12:41 And it has Okay, so my, here's one of my stupid bees. So they have, you know, you have red toe hooks on like the the Trailhawk stuff. These have blue toe hooks, which actually really cool like the bright blue. And like all the logos have that bright, same bright blue accent on it. But you can only get it on the Rubicon right now, you can't get on the other one. So if you get this a heart, you just have boring toe hooks. bright blue, I'm tired by the end of the year, that should change. But right now I'm like, oh, what I want, I want the fancy blue toe hooks, those look cool. Sam Abuelsamid 13:14 They given any indication of how many of these they expect to sell? Nicole Wakelin 13:17 No, you know what I did? I do not remember that question coming up. And I haven't heard what they think the buy in is going to be the take rate for the hybrid versus the rest of the Wrangler lineup. Sam Abuelsamid 13:29 Yeah, that's gonna gonna be real interesting to see, you know, how customers take to this, you know, and in June, Ford is finally going to be launching the full set of the big Bronco. And I'll actually be making my first trip come June to Austin to drive the bronco. Nicole Wakelin 13:48 Maybe I will see you there because it will be an awesome Sam Abuelsamid 13:51 first wave. second wave. Nicole Wakelin 13:53 I don't I don't know. I'd have to look. I can tell you in a minute. But that would be cool from the same wave. When am I going? I'm going to be there. I don't know. Whatever. Tuesday Wednesday is Sam Abuelsamid 14:04 my second wave. Yeah. Nicole Wakelin 14:05 Okay. Are you that one? Sam Abuelsamid 14:07 I'm on the first wave. Wow, Nicole Wakelin 14:09 I won't even see you just probably like completely separated so we don't overlap and cross contaminate our waves probably. Sam Abuelsamid 14:19 But, you know, Ford has previously said that they plan to offer electrified power trains on all of their new SUVs going forward. They haven't announced anything for the bronco yet, or for the bronco sport. But I would expect that sometime in the not too distant future they will add at least a hybrid if not a plug in hybrid version of the bronco which is gonna make it very interesting competition between that and the Wrangler because there are so close in size, you know, and they have a lot of the same kind of feature set the ability to take the doors off and everything. And one one cool thing that the bronco has that the Wrangler doesn't, is that ability on the four door at least to when you take the doors off. You can Actually stashed them in the back. There's a place where you can stash the door so you don't have to leave them behind. Nicole Wakelin 15:05 Isn't the other thing I'm trying to think was it I can't remember this is a bronco Bronco sport. It has to be Bronco. The sideview mirrors are mounted right to the frame or thing that they're not mounted to the frame. They're mounted to the doors on the Jeep. So you take your doors off, you have no side mirrors, if you take them off on the Bronco, you still have side mirrors. Yeah, that was a small but important detail. Sam Abuelsamid 15:24 Yeah. All right. Robbie, what about you? What do you drive? Roberto Baldwin 15:28 So I was on vacation. And so because I was on vacation, and because I ended up in Hawaii on vacation, there are no fleets there. So there's no one to like say, hey, I want to I want to review a car while I'm on vacation. So I got a 2020 Kia Sorento. Yeah, how about five 6000 miles. And I will say when when I travel if I if I'm renting a car, I always kind of want a Kia because you get in the it's it's it is it is. It's they're typically good cars. And they're very easy just to plug your phone in. And CarPlay works, which isn't always the case still, which seems insane at this day and age where I'm pushing like 15 buttons to get CarPlay to work and kids like you want this to work, I guess. Okay, here you go. We won't bother you again for the next week. So the 2020 it just had the refresh. But yeah, it was a good car, you don't and I can only speak for Hawaii and the Big Island. Those are the only times I've been to. But I've been, I think seven times over the last 15 years. No one drives faster than 55 miles an hour, maybe you'll get somewhat up to 6065. So you know, I just showed up stuck in an eco mode because gas is expensive. And I just cruised around the island. And it was it was a great little car. You know, you get the base level, which is something you don't typically get when you're an automotive journalist, typically when they deliver a car when you go on a car program, they gave you something, you know, at least mid level typically the highest trim level they have. So you know, it's it's nice to know the feel like what it is when someone wants to buy a car, but they don't have the cash to update to those or upgrade to those additional trim levels. And oh, really? Yeah, it's good. You know, there's a third row seat in there. I don't know if you could sit back there. Maybe tiny children. Yeah. Nicole Wakelin 17:20 He's like no, Sam Abuelsamid 17:22 no, probably could. Roberto Baldwin 17:24 Yeah, like maybe a tiny like, if you own a monkey, you can have a monkey sitting back there Unknown Speaker 17:29 thinking. Like you said, Roberto Baldwin 17:31 Yeah, just plop her back there. Um, yeah, overall, you know, this is a good little car if you know didn't have a lot. You know, it's not a powerful car. It's it's a it's a pretty, you know, the Sam Abuelsamid 17:43 3.5. Yes. Roberto Baldwin 17:45 Yeah. So yeah, you know what i'm not i'm not flying up those hills. The big guy that has a lot of like, just like, oh, here's the bypass. That's pretty much up the hill here. Like, okay, there's no turns just go straight up. Yeah. All right. But yeah, for them, but yeah, it was it was a great little car. It's good for Hawaii. Which is such a weird thing to say. And, and this sort of leads into the idea where, you know, we I think we've been hearing and everyone has seen the the stories of renting cars in Hawaii and people are renting new halls. I, I will say that the prices are insane. When we initially looked at prices in February when we booked our kryptos if I was thinking like, oh, maybe I'll get a Jeep good to go full, like, go full tourist. And it was I think $500 for the week I looked about a month ago is 12 $100 for the week. And there was nothing under $600 $800 for the week at that point. I got super paranoid at that point. Because uh, you know, you hear about people renting new halls when they get Hawaii. I'm like, Yeah, my wife's not gonna be down with us. Sam Abuelsamid 18:53 cruising around the van for Roberto Baldwin 18:56 the box ban for a week. So when we got there, I use the Avis app. And as soon as we landed, I was like trying to select the car trying to select the car kind of and the first thing that popped up was the Sorento I wanted the soul. I said yes. And we got it. But then when we got to the, to the to the lot, you know, they had cars there. Plus they had across the street, in a big field full of jeeps and Chios and Malibu's and Mustang, you know, convertibles, you know, all the typical Hawaii rental cars. So, you know, this is a big island it's you know, this is anecdotal evidence, but I think it might be getting better but at the same time, you know, that shortage isn't you know, the chip shortages and going isn't, Nicole Wakelin 19:41 hasn't we? I've tried to rent a car a couple weeks ago in San Antonio, and we had an all security ready to go when we got there in the wait to get to the counter. Because you all had to go through the country you couldn't go to your car was over three hours. And I and my husband I just literally looked and said how much do we need to Drive. Okay, you know what, forget it. We're gonna bail on the rental. I'm going to Uber because we're mostly walking around. And this is just for weekend. But then I had this last week my vacation was Planes, Trains and Automobiles to actually get to where I was going. Because there was bad weather in Orlando. So I got stuck in Atlanta and would maybe having getting in so I just gave up and said, Forget it. I'm gonna rent a car and my college age daughter and I decided to drive from Atlanta to Orlando. We literally went online, before I canceled my flight, like sitting in the airport madness in Atlanta. Like, can I get this car? Yes, reserve the car. They take my credit card whole deal, like, okay, I feel like it's pretty I walked with her. She's like, Oh, no, we don't have a car for you. I'm like, but I just, I just pay, like, You took my number. And I have a number. And here's the thing, and oh, yeah, I'm like, what does this whole confirmation thing mean? She's like, Oh, no, anybody who's rented in the last 24 to 48 hours, we're not giving them a car. And like we'd anybody who's renting less 24 to 48. Like, they're gonna show up and have no car. And she's like, Yeah, I was like, I don't understand. So they're not now I've given up my flight to get there whenever that was gonna leave. And I have no car. So I'm just going from counter to counter to counter and getting more panicked and finally got down hertz had cars, like shoot, that was the only place I went to, I think four or five different places before I got one. And granted, it was last minute. But like, even if it wasn't if you'd rented a car two days before, apparently at the one they're like, Well, sorry, see, you wouldn't want to be a you don't get a car. Oh, Roberto Baldwin 21:33 well. Imagine who is that person who's just like every person who walks up I came in my car Nicole Wakelin 21:40 was totally like, it was like, you know, as if I said, Oh, you know, can I get a cheeseburger? Sorry, we're out of burgers. Okay, I get something else. It was just like, Can I get my car sorry now? Like, there was never remorse. There was no sense of like, what are we supposed to do without a vehicle? Imagine you showed up and you rented a car for a week and they're just like, yeah, Roberto Baldwin 21:58 that was. That was my my concern. Yeah, I was like, I was like, Oh my god, we're gonna I got Turo, I put the Turo app on my phone. Yeah, I had it ready. I had a locked and loaded ready to go as we landed. Like, you know, as soon as we land, I'm like, I'm making sure we get a car before anyone else. Nicole Wakelin 22:12 Doing the right thing because I thought I secured a car. I thought it was all good to go and slick. And then I get there like, lady, what do you think no confirmation number. Go somewhere else. Sam Abuelsamid 22:24 What is this? About six years ago, six or seven years ago, we took a family vacation to Puerto Rico. And I had reserved a car with a local car rental agency. And we got there, you know, and at the time that I had made the reservation, and usually when you do a car reservation online, you know, they asked you for your your flight number, and you know what time you're getting in. And, you know, I think I had put the wrong time down for the for the flight. And it was like 10 in the morning, we got in at like one o'clock in the afternoon. And it was, you know, usually though, you know, they, you know, once you reserve it, you know, they hold it for 24 hours, you know, or at least you know, for most of the day. And so we got there took the shuttle to this car rental agency and said, No, your car, your reservation was for 10 o'clock, It's one o'clock in the afternoon. Now that car's gone. We don't have anything. It's like Roberto Baldwin 23:17 what our planes not late and Puerto Rico or planes is always on time. Nicole Wakelin 23:24 Five minutes, give or take plus or minus. That's it. Forget it. That's Sam Abuelsamid 23:28 what I get for, you know, going with a local car rental agency instead of one of the big companies. And so we ended up taking the shuttle back to and this was just off airport, we took the shuttle back to the airport went went to Avis. I stood in line there for an hour and managed to get something without a reservation while I was standing in line actually did you know online, you know, on the on the downloaded the app and did it in there and managed to get an explorer but it was it was a mess. But so yeah, I mean renting cars can be can be a challenge. And it is particularly now one of the listener questions we had today was from snap, you know, but empirical reports indicating a huge shortage of new vehicles. Any idea regarding the timeframe this will be resolved. And with Detroit not making cars what's the plan for car rental companies to replenish the fleets no more cheap rentals, which is you know what you guys both talked about, you know, because over the last year with people not traveling, you know, you know, most of the rental fleets disposed of large portions of their fleet, they sold them off, because they're not renting them. They're just sitting there collecting dust and costing the company money. You know, so they sold they sold them as used cars. And in fact, in case of hertz, you know, they they're still in chapter 11 right now. And I think they sold off more than half of their fleet over the last year. And now the thing is, as travel is starting to pick up, they can't get any new vehicles because of this, this chip shortage and it's looking now like this might last into At least the early part of 2022, during Ford's earnings call this week, they, you know, they said that, during the second quarter, you know, between April and June, they expect to only be able to build about half as many half as many vehicles as they were planning to, in that three month period, because I can't get enough chips. I mean, there's a local, there's several local lots around here that are sitting with more than 12,000, f 150s. That they can't deliver to customers, they can't deliver to the dealers yet, because they're missing some controller that they can't get chips for, they're waiting on parts, you know, and others, you know, depending on what the parts are, you know, some of them they're able to build and just set them aside. In other cases, they just can't build them at all, depending depending on how hard it is to install them after the fact. Nicole Wakelin 25:51 2022 is when they say this is lasting until so we've gotten there, probably eight months if it's sometimes Roberto Baldwin 25:58 more year, if not more. And I really believe that people are have been talking about this for a while that people are going to go crazy with travel. Like, you know, I've been to Hawaii, most of the time. When we go to Hawaii, it's this timeframe. And there weren't as many people there, there were still a lot of restaurants. They weren't close, they weren't open. But you know, we get a full flight their full five back. And they're expecting, you know, a big rush of people. And we're, how are they going to dry? Yeah, and I think people are going to be traveling all over the country or all over the world. And they're going to get to where their destination, and they're going to be like, oh, oh, there you don't have that minivan for me and my six kids. Nicole Wakelin 26:39 If you're if they're at a point where even if you rented something like if you, you rented it a couple days out, because you decided to go away for a weekend or go away sort of unexpectedly because things are still kind of cheap. And you think you have a car and you get there and you don't want that you even do it's like well, I see those little bicycles, we could probably rent like, what do you what do you do when you've got a family? That would that's like nightmare territory there. I would be if I needed to rent a car for any kind of vacation right now. I would really make sure that I rented that sucker like months out, like the second you know, and honestly, if you didn't rent it, Sam Abuelsamid 27:15 even if you're facing a cancellation fee, you're better off Nicole Wakelin 27:18 to pay Yeah, if you're gonna pay like 2550, whatever bucks if you have to cancel, okay? Or you show up at the airport with your family in tow. And they say Nope, and you're doing what I was doing, at least it was just like me, and when you know my one kid, I'm like, Okay, I'll get myself out of this. But imagine you've got a week's vacation and you literally show up with all of that the luggage the guards eat all this stuff. And it's like, no, sorry, like that. I would rent early because I don't it is getting much more crowded. I pretty much traveled throughout the whole pandemic and I can literally see every every week I'm out a little bit more crowded, a little bit more crowded, a little bit more crowded. So yeah, people are going out and they're they're clearly not enough rental cars stick around. Roberto Baldwin 28:02 it's it's it's a it's gonna be tough out there. If you if you're planning a vacation, maybe plan when near a friend who can like let you borrow a car. Sam Abuelsamid 28:12 Or somewhere where you know, you can get you know, Uber or Lyft or something like yeah, Roberto Baldwin 28:16 go to New Yorker. Well, we all want to go outside. That's the problem. We all you know, everyone wants to go out into the woods or into the beach or somewhere where you know, you can sort of like get outside and away from the Society for a little bit and away from your family. Maybe you know, spread them out. Or get about 10 feet 12 feet. Nicole Wakelin 28:38 SUV you can possibly find Roberto Baldwin 28:43 your way in the back. I just need a little more space. on the plane. We're all sitting in different sections Nicole Wakelin 28:49 actually. Like you're in row 10 the kids are in row like 52 Roberto Baldwin 28:53 that's their problem. Here's $1 for each of you for to watch our kids. Nicole Wakelin 29:00 Really sorry here's some candy to play them with. Roberto Baldwin 29:05 A game some candy and some Red Bull Good luck. Yeah, no, I Oh, that's the it's it's gonna be tough. It's it's tough as motorcycle rentals are so expensive. I know for people who read who vacation or it was like, motorcycle ridership in United States keeps plummeting. But those are have always been expensive, but maybe that might be the answer. If you're a motorcyclist. Maybe that's your answer Sam Abuelsamid 29:32 lies somewhere or just a vacation that's driving distance you know somewhere where you can drive from your home then just take your own. Nicole Wakelin 29:38 Just take your own pictures you see of countries not the US where it's legal to have like you right driving your your little scooter thing and then your wife sitting in front of you and your kids in the basket on the back and the babies in the basket on the front. Is that what you're suggesting? Roberta? Roberto Baldwin 29:56 If you can do it, do it. You know, I grew up riding motorcycles. We didn't, we didn't write it. We didn't wear helmets or gear in the course, you know. And I think we ended up a hospital a few times with my dad, but you know, let's talk about details, details, details. But yeah, maybe just drive somewhere Sam Abuelsamid 30:14 the kid doesn't have occasional bumps and bruises and scrapes, they're not playing enough, they're not getting exposure to the world. Nicole Wakelin 30:21 Exactly. In that real life experience. They need to be successful adults. Roberto Baldwin 30:27 And if and if you and if you cause those bumps and bruises, then you know, that's, that's parenting. Exactly. Sam Abuelsamid 30:37 As long as you're taking care of the kid afterwards, you know, that's important thing. All right. On that note, I had, though, since we last recorded two very different SUVs. Actually, one one's a real honest to goodness SUV, the other one, you know, is a crossover. The first First up was the Lexus Gx 460, which in other parts of the world is sold as the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. You know, it's a slight, it's a slightly shorter version of the Land Cruiser that we get here in North America. And this is a classic body on frame, SUV, you know, big, brawny sucker, you know, it's the smaller, shorter than the Land Cruiser, but it's still a big beast of a vehicle, and it feels like it, you know, this, this does not feel like a modern vehicle, you know, it feels like a like a classic, which, you know, is good and bad. I mean, if what you want is something that has Lexus style, luxury inside, but still has the ability to crawl over boulders like a Jeep, the GX 460 is for you, who those people are, I have no idea. But the apparently they're out there because Lexus is still selling this thing. And it's got, it's got the 4.6 liter I think, or 5.46646 liter V eight and 301 horsepower. It's It's It's got a thirst for petroleum products, let's say, Nicole Wakelin 32:14 No, thank you. Seriously. Sam Abuelsamid 32:17 Yeah, you know, I was getting about 12 to 14 miles per gallon with this thing. You know, it does, you know, it, like a Jeep, you know, it's got things like, you know, it's got a two range transfer case. So it's got a four wheel drive, low mode, you can lock the differentials and stuff. So I mean, you really can take this thing off road, you probably would want to put on some better tires, if you're going to do that, because the tires that comes with aren't really all terrain, but the chassis, he's got the capability to handle all that kind of stuff. You know, it's by current Lexus standards, I mean, you know, this thing's been around for a while. And you get inside and it feels kind of classic, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't have the, you know, it's got nice materials, leather, you know, nice leather and everything and wood trim. But it doesn't feel very modern. Inside, there's, this is one of the only Lexus vehicles that has a touchscreen, infotainment but doesn't have, you know, either the touchpad or the older style, you know, little mousy joystick thing. So it's just a straight up touchpad, it doesn't have support for Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. This is like an ancient version of Lexus, the Lexus enform which is their skinned version of Toyotas and tune older style and tune system. You know, it's, it's not a great infotainment system, you know, the vehicle itself, you know, it feels a little soft. You know, it doesn't feel buttoned down when you're driving on the road, you know, so it's got a fair bit of body roll, you know, when you if you hit the brakes, you know, you can feel a diving that sort of thing. It doesn't feel as well controlled as say a jL Wrangler, a current generation Wrangler you know, I I'd have a really hard time recommending this thing to anybody. I mean, if what you want Nicole Wakelin 34:16 is that because it's older like why Sam Abuelsamid 34:19 Yeah, I mean, you know, if you're gonna buy a brand new vehicle, brand new SUV and you want something that's got you know, if you want something that's got off road capability, I'm not sure why you would necessarily want the combination of kind of old school classic luxury and you know, and you know, that serious off road capability. But if you do, you know, you might want to look at something like a used Range Rover or something like that. Nicole Wakelin 34:49 That was gonna be my question if you wouldn't recommend this one because it's a little long in the tooth and you know, it doesn't have the updated infotainment and is feeling, feeling its age a little bit or What would you recommend for the person who thinks they want this? But once it to look like 2021? Unknown Speaker 35:06 Oh, Sam Abuelsamid 35:08 that's a good question. Nicole Wakelin 35:11 I'm trying to come up with an answer myself. So yeah, Sam Abuelsamid 35:14 I mean, you know, the thing is, you know, you go to a Range Rover, you know, a new range rover is going to cost you a lot more than this. I mean, this one. This one was $67,335, including the delivery charge, which is, you know, it's not it's not crazy expensive. by modern standards. I mean, you can, you can easily get a Wrangler more expensive than that, you know, with with carefully with injudicious use of the options list. Yeah. But, you know, I guess, I think, like I said, I think, you know, if you want the off road capability, you know, I guess I'm just not sure who the customer is for this, this type of vehicle anymore. Roberto Baldwin 35:55 supervillains the Super Value they have out in the middle of nowhere, they have their layer, but they also want to be pampered while they're driving. I guess they would just got a G wagen. Nevermind. Sam Abuelsamid 36:05 Yeah. You know, g wagen. You know, it's got the same kind of thing, but it's a lot more expensive than this, you know, yeah. Nicole Wakelin 36:12 person who wants has to have that big SUV for the whole family like needs the seven, day seven row, seven passenger, giant, seven passenger vehicle, once that big, burly luxury, but somehow lives someplace where they have a giant mountain cabin that requires off roading to get to it. Like, what if you live in Colorado? Like are there certain areas where this vehicle really does make sense? Sam Abuelsamid 36:39 I'm gonna be I'm sure no. Roberto Baldwin 36:41 But why? Everyone has has to go off and Hawaii, parts of northern California parts. Lots of parts of California actually. Nicole Wakelin 36:49 Yeah, there's places where this makes sense. Maybe not exactly. This one, like you said something more modern. But this kind of thing makes sense for a person who is has the big family wants to luxury, but maybe really lives out there a little bit where the roads are optional, or roads are questionable. Much of the year. The weather's terrible, you know? Yeah, maybe I'm trying to come up with a customer case here. Roberto Baldwin 37:11 They would probably get something else though. Because they want CarPlay. Sam Abuelsamid 37:14 Yeah, probably that's that's very true. And you don't get any of those kinds of modern features. It does have a CD player in it. So there's that. Nicole Wakelin 37:22 Oh, my daughter mocked a car today for having a CD player. She's like there's a CD player in this. Like, yeah, why is that? Because just move along. Sam Abuelsamid 37:34 Alexis was also the last automaker to offer a model in North America with a cassette deck in it. That Nicole Wakelin 37:40 were they really yeah, Sam Abuelsamid 37:41 the the old sc 430 convertible that Yeah, kind of weird. baubles looking one. That was the last car you could buy in in the US market with a cassette deck in it. Nicole Wakelin 37:52 Do you know what it was? I'm curious. Sam Abuelsamid 37:55 11 or 12? Nicole Wakelin 37:56 You can get a cassette deck in a car in 2011. Sam Abuelsamid 38:00 It was the eye on for several years, like the last two years of its of its lifespan. Yeah. But Roberto Baldwin 38:06 couldn't buy a cassette but you could get a car or Unknown Speaker 38:09 buy a cassette Nicole Wakelin 38:11 tapes from 1985. Sam Abuelsamid 38:14 Plus, in those days, you could also get the cassette adapters for your iPod. Right write a plug in because nobody had you know, USB or USB ports were still relatively new in cars at that point. Nicole Wakelin 38:26 Okay, I guess that's fair. I'm still shocked that a car had a cassette player. Sam Abuelsamid 38:32 So you know, the Lexus gx may very well be the last car with a CD player in North America. But sticking with the GX theme, the other vehicle I had after the after the Lexus went away was the 2021 encore Buick Encore gx, which is kind of the complete opposite. This is a small compact crossover. It's it's based on the same platform as the Chevy Trailblazer. So it's a little bit bigger than Buicks smallest vehicle which is the regular encore, which we've had for several years. And in the Chevy tracks, so this is, you know, roughly the size of a Honda HRV or a lot of other ones in that size class. So not quite the compact, you know, like rav4 CRV size one kind of one step down from that. And I actually really liked this a lot. You know, this is this is a new model last year. It's like the the design of this thing, you know, it's really good. And the there's two engines available on earth front wheel drive or all wheel drive, two three cylinder turbos, a 1.2 liters the base engine and a 1.3 is the the optional engine if you get all wheel drive like the one I had, the all the one three is the only engine available with all wheel drive. If you get the front wheel Drive. Both engines come with a CVT, which is another reason to get the all wheel drive because you get a nine speed automatic with that. Oh, yeah. And I don't know about you guys, but I, I really like three cylinder turbos I like the way they sound, they have that, that unique growl, there's nothing else that sounds quite like it. And you know, the this one three, that's, that's in the the Encore and was also in the Trailblazer I drove a couple months a few months ago. It's see it's 155 horsepower, from a 1.3 liter, the base, 1.2 liters, 137 horsepower, 162 foot pounds of torque, this one's 155 and 174 foot pounds of torque. And, you know, for a vehicle this size, it's it's a good amount of power, you know, it's got, you know, good, it's very responsive, very easy to drive, you know, and it's a Buick, so it's not, you know, they're not trying to make it sound like a sports car, but it's got just enough of that growl, to you know, to make it sound kind of fun. And it was really enjoyable to drive. You know, it's got good driving dynamics, good sides to it, you know, it's a really nice urban vehicle, you know, it's it's small enough that it's really easy to park but it's still big enough that you know, adults can fit in the backseat pair of adults can fit in the backseat, and you still have a decent amount of cargo space behind the the rear seat or, you know, if you need to carry bigger stuff you can fold down the backseat. And I think it's a really nice balance of, you know, style driving dynamics. And, you know, performance and efficiency at the same time. It's EPA rated at 28 miles per gallon combined. That's about what I got in a week of driving it and this one was equipped with this the essence model so it basically was fully loaded with everything including one of my favorite features of recent years which is the the digital camera mirror system. So he flipped a little switch on the bottom that used to be that that's you know, when you were driving at night and you had somebody behind you, you'd flip that to get the the the dimmer version of the mirror now that flips you to the the digital mirror system and in so many new cars your rear visibility is so constructed by thick see pillars and head rests in the backseat and everything else that you know with that with the the digital mirror, you get a view of everything and you can adjust the angle the you know, so you can, you know, go to a wider angle view if you want or just something that's basically a one to one view. And I really like these and they've gotten better. The first ones the when they first launched it a few years ago on the Chevy Bolt in the Cadillac CT six and 2017. Some people complained about the frame rate on there, and they've actually sped it up. So it's, it's it looks smoother now it's a faster frame rate. I remember Nicole Wakelin 43:02 the first time I tried one and it was a couple of years ago that I think it was probably the frame rate but things especially if you're driving down a road that say you had like orange, you know, barrels on the side because there was construction or something that was repeating on either side, going past you in the rearview mirror. It was this weird. It was this weird sort of disconcerting thing. I'm like, I don't like this. But it was it was like it's like oh my god, it's like a flicker like you're having like an epileptic thing. Like I can't. I can't look at that. But they are much better now. I've taken a turn the other direction and I love them when I have those in a car. Absolutely love them make it so much easier to see. And you'd have to worry about what's shoved in the back of your car. You know, I like them. I think they're a great idea. Roberto Baldwin 43:45 Do you still look into that? Because I've caught myself do this. You still look into the rearview mirror to talk to someone in the backseat even though you have the rear Unknown Speaker 43:54 view that you're like, Nicole Wakelin 43:55 Oh, no, yes, yeah. Yeah, you want to get your like I can't How do I talk to the human? I guess I look forward and talk to them now this weird, Sam Abuelsamid 44:05 which is what you should be doing anyway. Yeah, clean to Nicole Wakelin 44:08 the rearview mirror all the time to see like what's happening in the backseat. You see what's happening. It's fine. Sam Abuelsamid 44:14 But what one thing Nicole Wakelin 44:15 you have a split screen things you can see it and then he's one of those little other thing like talk to your passengers. Sam Abuelsamid 44:21 So you have a separate camera focused on the backseat. Nicole Wakelin 44:24 Yeah, just so you can just see the kids and you can chat with them. Yeah, they need to see you though because when you look in the rearview mirror, they can look at you It can't just be a camera that the driver can see it has to be something the kid cameras Sam Abuelsamid 44:36 everywhere. You need a camera at each seating position Nicole Wakelin 44:39 in every single seat to monitor Sam Abuelsamid 44:40 everything. They're on display so they can look at whoever they want Nicole Wakelin 44:44 GPS getting in there putting that new camera the what's the extra screen in front of the front passenger on the grand wagon. Sam Abuelsamid 44:53 wagon here. Yeah, it was just the legging here. Yeah, Nicole Wakelin 44:56 I think it's just the Grand wagoneer I think are the wagoneer Grand wagoneer wagon. the fanciest of Jeeps, whatever, wherever we are with that right now. Sam Abuelsamid 45:04 Well, one thing I did notice I was, you know, it was raining for a couple of days when I had it and I was driving on a dirt road. And you know, when when you drive on a dirt road and the rain, can you get all the splash on the back. And of course, you know, on these, you know, small crossovers and hatchbacks and stuff, you have a wiper, on the rear window on the tailgate, but you know, the swept area, that wiper, and the wipers, usually about 10 inches long, you know, on these things, and you have this tiny little swept area. So even with the wiper going, you can't really see very much behind you because of the mud and dust and stuff. And so there's actually a separate washer jet just for the camera. Roberto Baldwin 45:45 That's smart. Sam Abuelsamid 45:45 Yeah, it is smart. And so when you hit the rear washer, it's got the separate washer jet that cleans the camera. So you always have a completely clear view behind you, which is great. I thought that that was a really nice addition. I hadn't noticed that on a previous vehicles I've driven but i think i think they actually do have that on some of the other GM vehicles now, but I, I just hadn't had the opportunity to realize it because you you can tell when it washes because you know, you'll see the spray on the on the mirror and you know, and then it's clear, yeah. But then then you get it again, you get back to that unobstructed view, which was great. And of course, you know, it has, this one had the adaptive cruise control, Lane Keeping Assist, and blind spot monitoring heads up display, navigation, wireless, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, which is great to have, and all in including delivery $35,170 which is not bad at all, you know, for something, you know, that's in a more premium segment like this. And if you compare this to something like an Audi q3 or or Alexis an X or u x, I guess UX Lexus UX would be the closer size wise, you know, it's very, very competitively priced. And I think I think it's a great option for somebody that's looking for a more premium smaller crossover, you know, if you're doing a lot of a lot of urban driving, Roberto Baldwin 47:12 so a lot a lot of Buick encores in the rental fleets in Hawaii. Sam Abuelsamid 47:16 I'll tell you that if the original encore of the GX Roberto Baldwin 47:19 not just originals the original not the GTX you don't get fancy stuff. Unknown Speaker 47:27 Let me be straight with you. This is a radio commercial for three small business insurance. The policy has no fine print, it's clear what's covered. So while you can see the following scene, just know that this pet store is protected by three. Unknown Speaker 47:39 So did you leave the snake tank open? Unknown Speaker 47:40 Look I don't want to point fingers but yes, Unknown Speaker 47:44 I'm calling my lawyer. They're gonna need some help with this mess. Luckily, they have three no fine print. Just exceptional coverage. Three is a product of Berkshire Hathaway, direct insurance company three, no nonsense, just common sense. Sam Abuelsamid 47:57 Rather than some news this week, we've gotten a bunch of listener emails to respond to. We already talked about the one about the rental car fleets. But let's start with Chuck Goolsbee. And this This is Chuck is a Patreon supporter and he sent us sent this to us through Patreon said my little sister recently asked me where to find a Used BMW station wagon. Yes, some people still like wagons. Hey, I am one of them. I love wagon sir. Great. She lives in Seattle with her husband and one teenager and a bernese Mountain dog. I imagine she asked me since I'm the car guy and also on five BMWs Yes, it's problem. And he lists from 70 to 79 he 21 320 up through his wife's 15 2015 535 I my my first instinct of course is to warn her off of BMWs despite my good luck with all of mine. She is Joan two other wagons, VW Jetta and a Subaru Outback the ladder from what you're going to need two new head gaskets era. And then she drives a Honda CRV now which isn't just going to my teenage nephew. I think she wants a BMW for the interior luxury qualities. And the wagon for the practicalities that make wagons so wonderful. Ideally used well cared for three to six years old. My thought my only thought was the BMW CCA classifieds. But beyond that, an auto trader eBay Motors etc. I have no idea where to find such a unicorn, or even how much it would cost or what wagons are even sold in the 2014 to 2018 timeframe, even beyond BMW Volvo Mercedes. The only wagons I see around here in Central Oregon are ubiquitous Subaru Outback which are so numerous has to be essentially invisible. I think I see a BMW wagon once or twice a year so rarely that I would likely whip out my phone and post it to visit on Facebook. And any advice you could pass along would be nice. So I actually already responded to chuck by email when we got this this this question but you You actually can get a BMW three series wagon. In that exact timeframe they sold the the previous generation was an F 33 series was available in the US market as a wagon is touring right up through the 2017 model year, the current generation, they don't offer the wagon anymore, but you could get it on those models. So that's one option. Obviously, if you if you want BMW, there's also Volvo Audi I don't think Mercedes has sold a C class wagon here for a while. There's also the golf alltrack VW Golf alltrack if you know yeah, I think is still available. And then, you know, but not a whole lot else. I think I personally really liked the Volvo V 60. Oh, yeah, that's, that's a that's a really good sizing. I mean, if you don't need the V 90 is great, but it's it's really big. The V 60 is a really nice size. And you can also get that as the cross country model if you want, you know, slightly higher ride height just enough for ride height to make it look like an SUV but without actually being useful. But Roberto Baldwin 51:17 yeah, the V 60. Was was was was was my if he wasn't going to go for the three series wagon, that'd be 60 was my choice. It's it's, it looks a lay looks nice. It looks really new. It's the previous design. But you know, my wife saw one in a parking lot once and she hates everything. And she's like, Oh, what's that? And you know, it was the blue cars you know, the blue is always hard catching. But those v 60s are there's really nice and it's you get the luxury. You get the the idea, you know, you're not going to look like every other out back on the road. Yeah, it I think it hits a lot of the of the points. He's his sister like, Sam Abuelsamid 51:56 Nicole, you got any thoughts? Nicole Wakelin 51:58 No, I'm kind of when you said all track. I'm kind of on that the golf ball track. I like that. Sam Abuelsamid 52:02 Yeah. Yeah. And then modern. Modern VW is you know, if you get a relatively more recent one, you know, they've got you know, if you were to find like a 2018 or 2019, those, they still had a six year warranty six year bumper to bumper warranty on there. Which means that, you know, even if you look, you know, or if you get unlucky and get one of the VW is like like our first besought wagon that seems to be in the shop every, every time you turn around, you know, at least it's not going to cost you a fortune. Nicole Wakelin 52:36 I've had two Volkswagens, and both of them, I drove them right into the ground. Like I drove them for 10 years, 11 years and they ran. They ran perfectly until the day they decided they didn't it was like right when I was getting ready to get really great. It's been fantastic. It's like I have a new car coming in a week. It's like I'm out. Forget it and everything's falling off. Yeah, I'm like, oh, okay, I guess I timed that. Well. Roberto Baldwin 52:59 It's like in the movie where they tell the person, it's okay. It's okay. Tony Stark. It's okay. You can leave us now. And like, I like Nicole Wakelin 53:07 the car, a little Jetta, you can leave. It's like fine Atlanta. It's like a cartoon a wheel falls off a door falls off the intendant brakes and a hat like everything just come as I drove into the dealership to get into smoke Roberto Baldwin 53:17 out of the Nicole Wakelin 53:20 muffler was falling off like minutes before I got there. So I drive from my house. And it's like, nice little engine power I get there's like, you can hear me coming away. I'm like, Oh my God. Sam Abuelsamid 53:31 We we had a 2,000% lag in with that 1.8 liter turbo that was great to drive. And we had that car for nine years. And my wife loved it. It was it was it was fantastic to drive. I mean, it was basically it was a you know, a before you know Audi a4, or before B five, B, it used to be five. It was it was essentially the exactly the same as the Audi a4 of that era. You know, but just cheaper. And it was it was fantastic except for all the time that spent in the shop. But we still kept it for nine years and still it was so great to drive that we turned around and replaced it with another VW wagon we got to a 2010 Jetta TDI wagon, which we kept for seven years until we sold it back to Volkswagen for a tidy sum in the wake of their little issue with emissions testing Nicole Wakelin 54:21 that little hole emissions thing some people may have heard of maybe Sam Abuelsamid 54:24 Yeah, but that you know and but what you were saying Nicole about, you know it being great right up until the time it wasn't we we had the the panoramic moonroof in there. And so there was a shade that the power shade that would go back and forth. That was you know, kind of a mesh shade that was translucent. And right, maybe about a month or so after they announced the buyback program for the diesels. My wife pulled into the garage, she or she was about to pull out and she went to put the shade back and it went back by Half way on one side and stopped and the other side kept going, Oh, God. And so it got twisted around. The mash got torn, and said, can we fix this and start, I looked at it and I went online did a little research. And it turns out that the the parts for it to fix that it was apparently not an uncommon problem on those jettas. It was about 500 bucks for the parts, but 1500 bucks if you took it to the dealer because there was so much labor involved because they have to take out the entire headliner and things apart. Yeah. And so since we had already decided we were going to do the buyback, I went in a box cutter just cut the whole thing out and went to AutoZone and got some Window Tint film and put it on the inside some extra shade inside Unknown Speaker 55:51 five bucks, Sam Abuelsamid 55:53 and then left it like that until we turned it in. So you know, one of those one of those VW things. Nicole Wakelin 56:02 Mine ain't mine really to get and I learned how to I learned how to drive a manual transmission on that Jetta. Like I saved money. What I don't know, it was like five or $600 less to get a manual. I didn't know how to drive one. So I literally learned on it. And it's still made it. I had that for like 10 or 11 years. So I mean, like I said right until I drove into the dealership to exchange trade it in. It was brilliant. Sam Abuelsamid 56:26 I don't used to be with with VW is you know, it was very hit and miss, you could get a car that would run for 250,000 miles with no problem except for you know, oil changes and tires. Or you could get one that would be in the shop every other week. It was a crapshoot. But so we got lucky with one not so lucky with the other. Wow. Yeah. All right. Next up speedmaster. What does an electrified future hold for offroad vehicles offered four wheel drive vehicles, which we kind of talked about already with the with the Wrangler? Will sophisticated depths and traction control become irrelevant? If each wheel is separately powered. Other thoughts? I say yes, the answer to your question is probably yes. Roberto Baldwin 57:08 Yeah. Every every, every everything is controlled by the computer and you're talking about microseconds, you know, of when you're sending torque or power to each wheel, it's, you know, the the amount of controller, the vehicle is going to have over each wheel is going to be staggering compared to what you're used to with a typical, you know, four by four. And I think there's going to be the potential, and it might be aftermarket, it might be Jeep, where you have, you know, they're going to give you this, like extra level of control of how much power you're sending to every individual will. And, you know, initially everyone's going to be like, I don't want an electric car outside. I need a big engine and giant wheels and the flip over and whatnot. But I think I think there are people are going to start coming around when they start using these things. And once you know, as, as the technology matures, you know, the first one is probably going to be good, but you know, two generations later, it's going to be great. Sam Abuelsamid 58:04 Yeah, and, you know, this year, we're going to have the first couple of electric truck, you know, off road capable trucks coming to market with rivian, probably sometime mid late summer. And, you know, rivian is their setup is using four motors, two on each axle. So there's separate motor driving each wheel. So, you know, you're not even gonna have differentials, you're just gonna have control individual control to each wheel. And then later in the year, the the Hummer EV, that's a three motors set up to two motors on the rear axle one on the front. So there'll be a differential on the front of that one, but on the rear, you know, they'll they'll probably do torque, some sort of torque vectoring, just by individual motor control. And if and when Lordstown ever manages to build their get their truck into production, you know, that one actually uses for hub motors. So the motors are actually right in the wheels. That one I think is going to be a little more problematic. I I see a lot of potential problems with that. It's Roberto Baldwin 59:05 it's also Lordstown so there's a lot of problematic going on right there. Nicole Wakelin 59:09 That one one issue Roberto Baldwin 59:10 more than that one thing. It's a whole laundry list of? Yeah. Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 59:18 All right. Next, from Tim Martin, any recommendations for a used plug in hybrid or EV? The 20 to $30,000 range that drives and drives handles well typically drive about 15,000 miles, presumably a year and less than 10 mile commute each way. Look, the clarity and an old Model S thanks. Roberto Baldwin 59:39 Any thoughts? I love the Eagles. I absolutely love the eagle it's a it's a it's a GT with an electric powertrain. You know it's it's it's a ham fisted Evie, you know, they just sort of shoved a battery and electric motor into an ice platform. But I really really loved driving that car the 500 D, the also the 500. You have a rear. That's the best Viet 500. I had. Yeah, I leased. I leased the fee at 500, just the regular one. And you could feel it falling apart. And it was kind of loosey goosey. And but you know, it worked for what we need at the time. And then I got the 500 D, and I'm like, why do they even make this other car? Exactly? Sam Abuelsamid 1:00:23 Yeah, the 500 D was always my favorite version, you know that the Abarth made lots of noise, but didn't really feel that fast. The 500 he actually felt a lot quicker because of that instantaneous torque. Oh, yeah. Nicole Wakelin 1:00:37 Yeah, I like the 500. That's it. Like you said, Roberta. That's my favorite VR. Like, why do we have others? Like why just do this one go all in with the 500 D. And I actually like the ionic a lot too. from that list, little list that we kind of cobbled together before the show. Those would be my two, those my two picks. Sam Abuelsamid 1:00:55 Yeah, and and there's, you know, there's a bunch of other options. You know, one of the nice things, you know, especially if you're buying used not so much if you're if you buy them new, but one of the things about especially battery electric vehicles, for if you're a used car buyer is the resale value is terrible. There's so much depreciation on them, especially on these first generation first and second generation e V's like the 500 e golf, you can get some screaming deals on these things. You know, it's not at all hard to find a 500 e for well under 10 grand and I think he golf SIRs are similarly priced. But there's other options too. You know, the Chevy Bolt is a great Evie and it drives quite well. The second generation volt in particular, you know, which is slightly roomier than the first generation you can find those both of those for under 20 grand you know, for comparatively low mileage if you want a plug in hybrid, the Ford Fusion energy the plug in hybrid version is also good. And if you want something more premium that's still falls within this 20 to $30,000 price range. I took a quick look you can find BMW 330 ease for in that price range, which it seems surprisingly low. But you know, that's that's what's available out there. So you can get a plug in hybrid three series for you know, under $30,000. So there's there's a bunch of options out there. Roberto Baldwin 1:02:23 If you're if you're if you're driving or if you're most of your communities in town if you're in an urban area that I three is a fun way if you're if you're a fun wacky individual, the three is a fun wacky car. If you're not that individual then I would not say okay, does drive well, but it is it is a it Yeah, there are too many I Yes, it is. It is the concept car that everyone's always you know, you see a concept car, why don't they make those and BMW is like, okay, we will and that's fine. Sam Abuelsamid 1:02:52 That's what is the absolute cheapest car you can buy in the world with a full carbon fiber chassis. So yeah, think of it that way. You know, you're you're buying the same kind of chassis technology that you get in a $400,000 McLaren. Nicole Wakelin 1:03:06 Just like having McLaren. You can hardly tell the difference between the two. Sam Abuelsamid 1:03:12 They're both rear wheel drive. They have carbon fiber chassis, you know, they they have you know, to use Nicole Wakelin 1:03:20 essentially the same car so Roberto Baldwin 1:03:21 essentially the same car. Yeah, exactly. They're both wacky looking. It's everything. The i three is the Eevee McLaren is Sam Abuelsamid 1:03:34 simple to use perfectly plausible to me. Nicole Wakelin 1:03:36 Yeah, that works. Alright. Sam Abuelsamid 1:03:39 Next up, Shane. What is the actual difference between the Mercedes Benz a class and the CLA class? I can't believe they're both still on sale. I don't think they've ever actually sold the a class in North America. Have they? Roberto Baldwin 1:03:54 Did they? I can't remember. I did a class. Sam Abuelsamid 1:03:56 Yeah. Did they sell it here? Yeah. But well, the the, the a class in the CLA are basically the same thing. Except that the CLA is a coupe ish like sedan. And the a class is a hatchback. So you know, it's a it's a golf size, you know, compact hatchback. And the CLA has a trunk. But under the skin, they're they're the same thing. So, Roberto Baldwin 1:04:21 yes, I'm sorry. is he asking about the hatchback of the wagon? Yeah, we don't we don't get the wagon here. Yeah. But we do get the sedan. Yeah. So today is Sam Abuelsamid 1:04:31 dope. It is but you know, you have you know, as with most small sedans, you have a tiny trunk opening, you know, and no space to actually put anything into the trunk. Whereas with the hatchback, you get, you know, the same basic vehicle, but you also you know, when you want to put some big stuff in the back, you can fold down the back seat and you have a big opening to put it in there with. So Alright, next, from and that project classic cars, keep them stock or modern. Nicole Wakelin 1:05:01 That's how many depends on the car. Roberto Baldwin 1:05:04 I there depends on the individual. I think there's there's there What do whatever you want with your car. Unless you have like one of like four cars built of whatever your you own. Just do whatever you want with your car, I if you want to if you want to make an ad conversion go for if you want to put a CD player in your in your impalad go for it if you want Nicole Wakelin 1:05:24 to play or even Roberto Baldwin 1:05:26 if you want to put a cassette player, if you want to put if you want to put you know, car play in a Model T Do whatever you want that that is my embed that is my book, Nicole Wakelin 1:05:37 I want to I want to see the Model T that somehow has like a little screen like Apple CarPlay Android Auto, it's like the most teched out Model T ever like puts modern cars to shame with its level of tech when she opened the door. Roberto Baldwin 1:05:51 Like pop pop, pop, pop, pop pop pop up. That sound that old Sam Abuelsamid 1:05:54 Model T actually has enough electrical power from Roberto Baldwin 1:05:57 you have to put another battery in Nicole Wakelin 1:06:00 the beauty of your project card Roberto Baldwin 1:06:01 you happen to put a little generator in the back I know this is like and listen to my my to Nicole Wakelin 1:06:08 iTunes. Sam Abuelsamid 1:06:10 No, I totally agree with you guys. You know, it's like you bought the car. It is yours to do with whatever you want. Whatever makes you feel good. Go for it, you know, if you want if you want to have a concours edition, you know all original numbers matching numbers you know with repainted from a leftover batch of the original paint that was used on that car 50 years ago, go for it. If you want to build a resto mod, you know where you put a modern engine into a you know a 1960s Classic, go for it. If you want to take a classic and make it electric. Go for it. Nothing wrong with that. It has Nicole Wakelin 1:06:48 to make you happy because no matter what you do, no matter what choice you make somebody is gonna think you made the wrong one. So don't listen to anybody like if you're happy that I don't care if you don't like my cars, my car is my money. I don't care. You just have to do what makes you happy and forget what anybody else says because there's someone who's gonna love it and there's someone who's gonna think you made the most horrific mistake ever so ignore them and do what you want. Sam Abuelsamid 1:07:10 Yeah, because they're wrong. They're wrong. Unknown Speaker 1:07:12 Yes your car, your car, Sam Abuelsamid 1:07:14 your your money your car, you're driving it all yours. Just Roberto Baldwin 1:07:19 Just don't expect to go on like a you know the boards and with your with your Model T with CarPlay and then go on the Model T boards and I get yelled at for that. Nicole Wakelin 1:07:31 It's brilliant. I'll be like I want to drive this model deeper. nurturing you. Roberto Baldwin 1:07:36 invite us to the boards as your as your defenders. All right. Sam Abuelsamid 1:07:44 Next up from Brianna Wu friend of the show. What do you think of the new Ty con cross Turismo is the Porsche Tyco on cross Turismo? Is it an upgrade over the standard model? I think I have a feeling I know what you what you two are gonna say. What do you think? Roberto Baldwin 1:08:00 I love the TT icon and I haven't driven the cross Turismo but I am I am. I am very excited about the opportunity to drive it and I you know as a fan of wagons and a fan of you know, from a town where I had to go off road a bunch of times I'm like yeah, I'm very excited about it, but I haven't drove it so I can't say yea or nay Nicole Wakelin 1:08:19 Yeah, I haven't. I haven't driven the TT icon at all. Like I don't even I move. So I mean like looks cool. The you know granturismo looks cooler across Turismo looks cooler. I would like to drive that too. But I have no first hand experience. So it's like, looks wise I like it concept wise I like Sam Abuelsamid 1:08:39 to I unfortunately, I'm still waiting for Calvin and Portia to hook me up with a tie con. Hopefully it'll maybe it'll be the cross Turismo instead. I did get a chance to ride in the tie con a couple years ago at the end the prototype at the New York Formula E race in 2019. They had one there that they were doing some hot laps in between races with it. So I got to ride along with with Neil Yani former lemans winner. He was telling me that that was rellis that was just totally boring. It's just totally uneventful. You know, you get in the car, guys. 124 hours of lemans overall, you know, it's Yeah, yeah, no big deal. No, I mean, it was it was amazing. It was really impressive. How well you know, that car felt, you know, and that was still a prototype at that point. But I'm anxiously waiting for my opportunity to drive a PT icon and I'd love to have that cross Turismo because you know, the thing I think the PT icon looks great. But with that sloping roofline, you know, the backseat is going to be a little tighter. Whereas with the cross Turismo, you know, you've got the extended roofline, you've got that extra space in the back, you know, for some utility, but it's still the same car underneath. Although lifted, I think about an inch or so. So you have all the benefits of driving the Tai Chi And you know, that extra utility as well. Roberto Baldwin 1:10:04 I will tell you that I've driven the Turbo S than the turbo. I haven't driven the sort of base model yet. It is amazing what the engineers at Porsche did to make that car drive the way it does with that giant battery underneath. It's just, it was just I was just I, and people always ask me like, oh, what's your favorite car? What's your favorite car? And it's hard to say, Well, this is my favorite car. Because every week you're in a different car. And it's sort of, and without, you know, the week after I drove that, and then a bunch of cars were world Car of the Year, I probably drove about 30 cars. Someone asked me and like without thinking about Saigon. That's Yeah. It's just if you can have any carbamates icon. Sam Abuelsamid 1:10:45 And you know what one thing about the PT icon, you know, when it when it was first launched, there was a lot of disappointment and criticism because of its EPA range rating, which is decidedly mediocre. I think the longest range one was rated like 204 miles, you know, the I think the Turbo S was like 198 miles, which, you know, when you compare that to a Tesla Model S, seems very, very mediocre. Turns out though, that, apparently, Porsche was sandbagging when they when they did the testing, and real world range is actually far better. I think one of the most recent ones I saw, typically, you know, most of the real world testing I've seen with the TT icon, you know, it's anywhere from 280 to 290 miles of range, you know, so now you're in that 300, close to 300 mile range. That's enough for just about anybody. And that, you know, the topcon supports 350 kilowatt charging, so you can charge it really fast at electrify America stations. You know, and by comparison, you know, the Model S typically falls anywhere from 15 to 25%. Short of its actual of its range of its EPA ratings. So they're actually pretty close in terms of real world capability. So they take for that what you will, Roberto Baldwin 1:12:03 yeah, would they when they when they announced the EPA numbers, I was very confused, because it didn't match my experience behind the wheel of the car. And this is driving up and down Angeles crest highway and driving like automotive journalists and using, you know, the launch control multiple times, because, you know, that's my job. And they were like, Oh, it's like 200 miles. I'm like, that doesn't seem right. But what is it at a 10? day came out later that they were like, yeah, we went with the lower number. And then there's this whole, like, the whole the whole way the EPA does this, Evie. ranges is is probably in need of a of an update. Sam Abuelsamid 1:12:37 Yeah, there's some there's some serious inconsistency there. Nicole Wakelin 1:12:40 Yeah, it seems very off from what real world is? Yeah, yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 1:12:45 Yeah. All right. Well, that's all we've got for this week. Anything you guys want to share before we call it a day? Unknown Speaker 1:12:54 I think that's it. Nicole Wakelin 1:12:58 Come on, Roberto come up with something really good to share Roberto Baldwin 1:13:00 something really good to share. Um, I picked up the MDX last night. That's really nice. And I know you've talked about it, and I know you've talked about the infotainment system before. And I like like, like y'all, I am a fan of that input of that touchpad. And mostly because I use a Wacom tablet instead of like a mouse. So that's sort of, you know, once again, Sam Abuelsamid 1:13:23 not absolute. Yeah. Nicole Wakelin 1:13:25 It already is intuitive for you. Roberto Baldwin 1:13:28 I remember when the Acura, the folks came to my house and picked me up and drove me around, like my neighborhood in the city in San Francisco to sort of explain it. Like I'm like, Oh, yeah, I get it. And I'm like, Well, I'm like, No, no, no, I use a tablet. So it was it's I think if you have the car for a little bit more than a week you get used to it. But um, but yeah, it's I'm like, done. Nicole Wakelin 1:13:50 Know what car I have, I won't know till it shows up in my driveway tomorrow. Roberto Baldwin 1:13:54 Wait, what? Sam Abuelsamid 1:13:55 I have this little Nicole Wakelin 1:13:58 mystery of of here. Dan will remember this. Dan, who's You know, he experienced this. It's like and this week I have they open the front door. Oh, that's what's here. So Sam Abuelsamid 1:14:08 they have a slightly different process up in New England. Nicole Wakelin 1:14:11 Redo. So yeah. Yeah. a different process. So I have no idea what will arrive tomorrow sometime between nine and 12. Roberto Baldwin 1:14:21 Wow, that's amazing. Like, I have everything like, like I email someone emailed me back, and then we figure out the timing for everything to show up. And then it shows up in it. That's like, yeah, it's just like, let's make a deal. what's behind door number one, Nicole Wakelin 1:14:37 spin that wheel and you land on? Sam Abuelsamid 1:14:42 I have a little three ton supercharged pickup truck out in the driveway right now. Talk about that next week. Unknown Speaker 1:14:49 Okay, cool. All right. Sam Abuelsamid 1:14:51 All right. See everybody. Bye. Nicole Wakelin 1:15:03 Spring has sprung with sunny days and good times waiting to be had you'll need a great night's sleep to keep you going and a purple mattress will give you that extra bounce in your step purple is comfort reinvented the secret is the grid it allows air to flow through and eliminates pressure so you sleep cool and comfortable all night long. Keep your good days going with great sleep powered by purple. Get a free set of sheets and a free pillow with the purchase of select mattresses. Go to purple.com slash asleep well that's purple.com slash sleep well terms apply. Transcribed by https://otter.ai