Sam Abuelsamid 0:00 This week on wheel bearings, we're celebrating Episode 200 with a couple of very special guests on the show. In addition to myself, Nicole and Roberto, we're talking about a pair of Ford trimmer pickups, the 2021 Ranger and the F 350. The Kia k five, the Jeep Wrangler for buy a plug in hybrid, the Tesla Model S plaid, the 2022 link Lexus NX. And we answer a bunch of listener questions all coming up next on wheel bearings. Did you know you can support wheel bearings directly had to patreon.com slash wheel bearings, media and you can become a patron today. Your contributions will help fund the platforms and tools we use to bring the podcast to you. And exclusives improvements are already on the way thanks to your generosity. So if you want to be part of an automotive podcast like no other head to patreon.com, slash wheel bearings, media This is wheel bearings Episode 200. I am Sam with wall Samad from guidehouse insights. Nicole Wakelin 1:11 I am Nicole wakeland from car talk. Roberto Baldwin 1:15 I am Roberto Baldwin, from you know what, YouTube, just go to YouTube and look up Roberto Baldwin. Sam Abuelsamid 1:20 And Who the hell are you? Dan Roth 1:22 And I'm Dan Roth. And my parents here in no way is in no way of representing Ford Motor Company. For the company, he's just a guy. guy likes cars, and you people. That's why I'm here. Roberto Baldwin 1:44 Although we shouldn't preface everything you said was according to Ford. Sam Abuelsamid 1:50 Post, Dan Roth 1:52 we do not comment on future product or so there Nicole Wakelin 1:55 you go. Now your company Sam Abuelsamid 1:58 is getting the hang of this. This PR. Dan Roth 2:01 Yeah. Which I'm not even in PR. It's, it's Sam Abuelsamid 2:05 Yeah. So what do you what do you do Dad? Dan Roth 2:07 I guess you could say, well, so I am editor for internal communications. So there's an internal site for employees because there's 186,000 of them. And so there's internal channels that we use to communicate with those folks, both hourly and salary and retirees and they like to hear about what's going on with the company and we like to inform them. So we have you know, we take stories and we tweak them in a way that speaks to their cares, verses of the press releases that speak to your cares. And we put it out on on the sites and in emails and social apps and, and all kinds of stuff. So there's a lot of stuff that's going through my hands every day and I joined a really high performing team which was intimidating, cuz they kick a lot of ass. And it's, you know, the the cliche is like it's drinking like a fire from like drinking from a firehose, but it truly has been for two months. And just in the last like, couple of weeks, I feel like I've settled in and I've kind of gotten the hang of it. There's a lot of platforms to learn a lot of different systems. Tons of acronyms, lots. Sam Abuelsamid 3:31 There's acronyms galore. Trust me. I know. Yeah. Dan Roth 3:35 It's been really, really cool. You know, it was a big change. I went from a small advertising agency and small, not that small, it was like 400 people spread out nationwide, but a lot bigger. You know, global meetings are fun, because they happen at interesting hours, like 7am, where it just everybody sort of lines up. It's a little early for some it's a little late for others, but it's just it's it's cool so far. So I know, Sam, you did the automaker tour a couple of times, so you're probably a lot more jaded than I am. But Sam Abuelsamid 4:15 you'll get there. Dan Roth 4:16 I'm still Yeah, I'm still enjoying it. It's a you know, it's it's a challenge. And it's it's all new. So I spent, you know, 10 years, doing the same basic thing for a couple of different companies. And now it's it's a big difference. But it's you know, it's a lot more writing a lot more. It's like back in the day when we were at auto blog, you know, we would trade off and every now and then one of us would run the site. And so it's just like that constantly. It's just so if you have any kind of ADHD, this is great way to just sort of just stay engaged because there's so much coming at you at all times that it really does, like just force you to focus by sort of this overstimulation, it's great. It's like It's like Ritalin Without any pills, Nicole Wakelin 5:01 you're saving money on drugs now good to know Dan, Dan Roth 5:04 saving money on drugs? No, it's not a thing to get frugal with. Sam Abuelsamid 5:11 So, I know, you know, one of the the running sort of gags that we had over the show over the last couple of years was the the discussion of what you were going to what new vehicle you were going to buy down because, you know, at one point, you were in the market for an old Mercedes station wagon. There was a big, full size truck, you know, there was a bunch of different things that you were looking at you were driving an old Crown Victoria for a time. Or you pawn that off on it. I think your brother in law, Dan Roth 5:42 my brother, my brother, yeah, my brother, brother, okay. Yeah, cuz he called me one day. And this was apparently just a few minutes after his f 250. dropped. It's a drive shaft on my lips. So that's inconvenient. Yeah, I would say I just have four. You know, do you still have four wheel drive? Yes. Okay, shift in four, four, I do get home in the front axle. But, you know, I was like, Okay, this thing sitting in my driveway, and you clearly need it more than I do. So it became his lifeboat and he still got it. So he, in fact, he just finally registered, I was able to get it off my insurance. Oh, wow. Okay, it's my brother. Sam Abuelsamid 6:23 So, I believe that you have actually purchased a new vehicle now. Now you are again, gainfully employed. Okay, at least whatever least Dan Roth 6:32 I took advantage of a plan. Sam Abuelsamid 6:34 So what did you finally decide on? Dan Roth 6:36 Well, so at first, I wanted an F 150. And I was like, I get a company at least I'm going to sweet deal. So I was like f150 Lariat, because they're those those are nice. They have leather standard. And they are very nice. Also $60,000. And, and honestly, like a plan brings it down like a bit. But I was like, okay, that's a little too much. How about a nice extell t 302. A high. Which is pretty much the sweet spot for F 150s. If you're wondering like that is the trick to get it she says all the nice stuff on it, it's equipped? Well, you'll, you'll like it if you go for three or two. And there's different levels of 302. A. So three or three low mid high highs, the nicest Sam Abuelsamid 7:24 one. This, this is why there are something along the lines of about 14 million buildable combinations of the F 150. Dan Roth 7:31 There's definitely millions but so the 21 F 150. Like I didn't have the opportunity to get one as a meteor right. So my first experience with that was as tester, and it is really, really good. It's solid, it goes down the road in with really refined ride handling. And I'm not saying that just because it's the company I work for. I was very impressed with it. But there's just not a lot of inventory. And I couldn't bring myself to to spend that kind of dough mostly because the cheapest, you know, it's a 13 so it's getting old as well. Trying to leave money in the budget for a couple of cars. It's Nicole Wakelin 8:08 like cheap Do you have what's the old Jeep? Dan Roth 8:10 It's a 2013 Grand Cherokee limited? Ah, okay, which is It's fine. It's doing the Jeep thing. It's marking its territory and Sam Abuelsamid 8:19 stuff, leaving oil here and there. Roberto Baldwin 8:21 Yeah, loves where I've been. Dan Roth 8:23 Yeah. And it's we still like it. It's got 143,000 miles on it. So it's fine. Eventually, it's going to start rusting out because they didn't undercoat it or anything. So that's why I'm fine with the oil leak for NASA. That's fine. Coat the underside. Sam Abuelsamid 8:41 Well, as you drive along, the oil will spread along the bottom of your car and helps right on the corrosion. Roberto Baldwin 8:45 It's in the water. Dan Roth 8:50 Hey, it's just very expensive synthetic oil or whatever. So yeah, so I was like, Okay, I can't bring myself to an f150 what what else is cool. And so the Broncos sport is available, but the Broncos sport. So there's multiple trim levels. I of course, I like the stripe on the first edition, first of the shoes are sold out. And if you can find one, a lot of dealers aren't going to necessarily want to sell it to you car maker dude with your, you know, non negotiable price. So they're gonna want to make profit on more of a profit. So I was like, okay, those are hard to find. And so I went down to Badlands with the Badlands package. still hard to find so hard to make a deal. Okay, fine. Because I think both of those terms are, like sold out. So anybody who has inventory, like it's going to go fast, but there's lots of Bronco sports around I was just being picky, because I want to, you know, and it's something the way I wanted it. So I wound up with a Ranger, a ranger Larry it with the FX four package and it was the out the white letter tires that did it. I was like that I must have that it's got white letter tires. It's and it's funny people go wrong. And here in Massachusetts there's no shortage of Ford dealerships but I wound up at Tesco, which is in Rhode Island. But task is like one of the longest serving for dealers out there. And it was it was a good experience. It was just like, as as over the phone as possible. I only went in to see the guy when I picked it up. And so yeah, so far. It's it's been fine. It's got a bow 1000 miles on it now, like 1200 miles on it something like that, or 1100 I forget it a little over 1000 miles. So well, for somebody who doesn't commute? Well, I mean, it goes to go ahead to come back from Rhode Island, and then it goes to school, five days a week right now. And so the mileage will drop a little bit and nimble will have to take advantage of the 7200 pound towing capacity. Let's get 22 miles to the gallon. No, Sam Abuelsamid 11:07 that's that's good. Dan Roth 11:09 I mean, Sam Abuelsamid 11:11 for for a four by Florida. That's actually pretty good. Dan Roth 11:14 Look, it's built in it. So I think it's Wayne assembly. Right? Well, and especially Michigan assembly plant, Sam Abuelsamid 11:20 right. It's mapped about 15 miles east of where I'm sitting right now. Dan Roth 11:24 So that is the home of the bronco. And it's so it's like it's it's two thirds of a bronco the way a falcon is two thirds of a Mustang Sam Abuelsamid 11:39 rationalized all right? Dan Roth 11:43 That's fine. I like it. Sam Abuelsamid 11:45 Can you take the doors off? Dan Roth 11:46 I can not take Well, I mean, yes. That's true. Nicole Wakelin 11:52 Matter of fact. Dan Roth 11:54 Yep. And this shed? I can. It's not as easy. And I the one time I've done that I Sam Abuelsamid 12:01 you don't want me to hose out the interior. Yeah, they're a drain plug in the floor? Probably. Dan Roth 12:08 Well, probably a bond or you're maybe not standard. None of these are things that I'm going to do to a leased vehicle. So yeah, so and I, it's, it's fun. But in the you know, in the three years, once this lease is up, then there'll be other fun stuff that I can I can try out. So hopefully there Sam Abuelsamid 12:33 will be chips then. Dan Roth 12:35 Yeah, we're getting there. I think I I honestly have no, no idea. But it seems like that's improving with like, just eventually, somebody's going to make some silicon somewhere. Sam Abuelsamid 12:50 Well, right, right now there's still many 1000s of f150 sitting in storage lots all around Southeast Michigan, waiting for some missing chips. That, you know, they're just soon as they get the chips. They'll plug them in and ship those off to dealers. But in the meantime, they're just sitting there waiting. Dan Roth 13:07 That's a really nice truck though. So if you've been waiting, like Be patient, it'll be worth it. It's good truck. Yeah, and I want one. Sam Abuelsamid 13:17 Well, since we're on the topic of the Ranger, what why don't we all start off with the garage. I was actually driving a ranger last week as well. I had the the 2021 Ranger tremor, which is about as close as you're going to get to a ranger Raptor in North America for the foreseeable future, Dan Roth 13:35 you know as one of those right now. tremor Ranger tremor. Yeah. Mike Levine. Sam Abuelsamid 13:42 I've figured as much Yeah, yeah, of course. And for those who don't know Mike Levine is the head of North American product communications for the Ford brand. So it all he's the the top PR guy for the Ford for Ford vehicles. Ford trucks all the time. Yeah. So he's he's driving a raptor right now. tremor, tremor, okay. Dan Roth 14:06 Raptor. Yeah. tremor and cactus gray. Nicole Wakelin 14:09 I'm sharing pictures of it all over the place. Yeah, Dan Roth 14:12 I see the desert all the time. Nicole Wakelin 14:13 He does. He's always sheriff. Sam Abuelsamid 14:14 He goes camping out there every weekend. He was out there with Dan Edmonds this weekend. I think Edmonds was in his, his new for runner and, and Mike was in his tremor. So I personally, I prefer the color that was on mine. I had the cyber orange and I bought it. Yeah, I believe there should be far more bold colors on cars. It's way more fun to see things like cyber orange tremors. And actually a couple months ago, a few months ago when I had the bronco sport, it was also the same cyber orange which was Dan Roth 14:44 Yeah, that was the color I wanted. Sam Abuelsamid 14:46 And it's it's easy to find in a parking lot. It's great. I love that color. And actually, you know, I was I was pleasantly surprised with the tremor. You know, it was You know I drove last time I drove a ranger was a couple of years ago when it was when it was still relatively new and that one was the extended just the the super cab version with the essentially useless rear seats unless you know you're an amputee from the waist down but the or you're about four years old but even then I think I don't think there's enough room to actually put in a child seat so yeah, pretty pretty much useless. It's a truck. Yeah, exactly. But the the tremor I had was the crew cab. So it's actually got a decent size cab you know for you know, four or five adults you know, enough leg room in there to actually be useful it's not as capacious as an F 150 crew cab or any other full size Crew Cab truck Nicole Wakelin 15:49 but it's just wow that was a heck of a word given for that okay. Sam Abuelsamid 15:54 But you know, the tremor you know it's got you know, kind of the next level up of off road package from the FX floor you know, it's got the fox off road shocks and all terrain tires and things like that sits up higher than than an FX for any other Ranger. Dan Roth 16:14 What were the base trim that was on it because it was Lariat Okay, you Sam Abuelsamid 16:18 get trend? I think you can get the tremor package on a couple of different on the X lt or the Lariat. Dan Roth 16:22 Yeah, but the Lariat I think the trimmer Larian has this really nice seats Sam Abuelsamid 16:26 that it does. Yeah, it's the seats were really good. You know, the interior in general felt better. You know, I felt a little better than the last Ranger I drove which, that one, you know, I liked driving it when I drove it a couple years ago. But you know, at the price point that one was that it was like $43,000 for that Lariat. And it just, it felt the interior felt a little on the cheap side, a lot of hard plastics. And they've they seem to have upgraded the interior. But you know, the materials, you know, it seemed it felt a little more in keeping with the price tag, which, you know, was not inexpensive. You know, the one I was driving was, where's it here? It was a believe about $48,000 which is pricey, you know, but yeah, for $47,815 including delivery. Dan Roth 17:23 You can jump Sam Abuelsamid 17:24 you can jump which is good you know, you can get a truck you can jump is good. And you know, you can also you know, get it on the Excel t package. So you could you could get a tremor, you know, for like probably an XL T is probably going to be about 40 grand or so. But you know, the it felt a little more in keeping with a price tag, you know, approaching $50,000 the only engine that offer in the range of right now is that 2.3 liter EcoBoost which is a really nice engine it's got plenty of power for that thing. The the driving dynamics of this thing I think I felt were definitely way better than the Raptor at least the previous generation Raptor none of us have driven the new Raptor yet that I know of. But the the previous generation Raptor always felt really soft to me and kind of mushy and moved around a lot when especially when you're driving it on the road. And you know, this one felt a lot had a lot better control to it and a lot more enjoyable to drive. There's a what? 45 foot bed? Yeah, five foot bed on the on the crew cab Ranger. I think on the super cab you get a five and a half foot maybe a six foot bed. I Dan Roth 18:45 think there's I think there's a couple of traces sexually. Sam Abuelsamid 18:48 There's no there's there's only there's only one choice because all all the Rangers are on the same wheelbase. And they're all the same length. Okay, well, basically, whatever, whatever space they add to the cab they take away from the bed bed. Dan Roth 19:02 Yeah, but so the in practice, though, like the five and a half of bed, because that's where the five foot bed, that's what I've got. And I like the small truck because I can put the bikes in it, like putting a family's worth of bikes on top of the Jeep is a pain. Like it's tall, I'm not so it's hard to get them up there. And so I got the totally bed writer that just it's like a bar that goes across the front and it has fork mounts on it. And you just you can put them in there and they all fit with the tailgate up. So like it's not a useless bed. Sam Abuelsamid 19:36 It's no no, it's, it's it's really useful. You know, I mean, there's lots of stuff you can do with it. You know, and, you know, I think with the tailgate down, it's about six and a half feet long. You can get a bed extender for it if you know if you if you want to have that. And, you know, I really enjoyed driving it. It was it was really good. And it actually got, you know, relatively surprisingly good fuel economy for something With an off road package, they got it got like, it got 20 miles per gallon, you know, and something that's riding high like that, with, you know, it's kind of more nobly All Terrain tires. That's, that's better than I was expecting Frankly, I was expecting it to get closer like 17 or 18. So it was it was good in that respect. You know, the, the sync three infotainment system is fine. You know, I've never never had any real issues with that there's no wireless Android Auto or CarPlay. But you do have wired. So, you know, it's if you're looking for a midsize truck, you know, that's got some some real off road capability and the you know that with the tremor, you also get the the trail control system, which is kind of combination, you know, traction control and almost like adaptive cruise control. For off roading, you know that you set the speed. And basically, it'll just control your speed and all you have to do is steer, you know, which can, which can be handy, you know, if you're especially if you're in an area, that you're less familiar with the trail, you know, you can just set the set the speed, and whether you're going uphill or downhill, you know, manages all for you. So you just have to focus on where you're going. And that's that's a really handy feature to have. So, you know, it's it's a, it's a good truck. And I'll be curious to see what Ford does with the next generation Ranger, which I'm guessing is probably going to be out, you know, in about 18 months or so. Probably, but probably by the end of next year, we'll see the next generation Ranger, but for now, this this is a good option. Oh, you know, because it's an off road. Yeah, it does sit up high. And it's got these rail side running boards, sort of running boards, it's more just like steps, but they're like right up against the body. So they're not really very helpful for getting in and out of the thing. Because they don't really stick down because you know, they want to maintain the ground clearance. So that's kind of semi useless. But other than that the rest of it's great. I enjoyed it a lot. Nicole Wakelin 22:15 So I also had a tremor, but my tremor could run over your tremor. Sam Abuelsamid 22:20 Which which tremor did you have? Nicole Wakelin 22:22 I have the F 350. So I could just accidentally run over the Ranger and be like die hit a rock or something. I'm good. But it's funny when you're talking about the steps because this one has deployable steps. And they're so tucked in like so as you can see the steps on a vehicle when they're, you know, to fold it up, you can see it so he literally walked up to it. And like the door sill is somewhere around the middle of my thigh. I'm like how am I getting into this thing? And then I open it I'm like Oh, thank god this just popped Sam Abuelsamid 22:55 don't pop out as you're approaching it like they do on like some like on the on a navigator or something they Nicole Wakelin 22:59 did not they did not pop out until I was either unlocked or open the door. I think I may have opened the door where they popped out. Dan Roth 23:07 One of the things that I remember from the before times, my before times was the Ford running boards are quick. Compared to other other manufacturers do that I was always impressed with how quickly they came out because there are some cars where they have the deployable running boards, but by the time they get out, you know, unfolded you like I'm not waiting for that. Nicole Wakelin 23:28 You know what, you're right, that's actually true because then as you walk up and you know, they're there and it's almost like if they don't deploy fast enough and it's a low enough vehicle that you can still get in without them. You're sort of like starting to step in. Or it's like whack it hits you right in the shin. Not that that's happened to me but you know, but never but these as soon as they're they're quick they're very quick so but it's uh you know, when they deploy you you actually at a point where you still want to use it and you haven't tried to haul yourself up into the vehicle. I had an F 250 once it had no steps and by the time the week was over my my like arm my bicep was bigger from trying to pull myself up into it every time. Like, like, Sam Abuelsamid 24:07 loose it's got that grip on the a pillar that you can grab Nicole Wakelin 24:10 exactly the grip well that's it That was all I could reach that or the steering wheel. You're like yanking on the pull yourself up into this stupid thing. But um, yeah, so I have the F 350 which I feel I almost feel bad when I get something that because it's not like I'm I have a trailer to hook up and tow and see how that thing tows or that I'm like going to off road and jump everywhere with it. Somebody is on the screen. I'm going to stop who has joined us. Rebecca Lindland 24:36 I am going to stop hi Rebecca. I'm so sorry. I'm so late. Sam Abuelsamid 24:42 That's okay. Dan Roth 24:43 You know you're on. You're on West Coast time you're fashionably early. I could have been late. Yeah, no, you're not allowed to be late. If you're Rebecca. Rebecca Lindland 24:55 It's so nice to see all your faces. I miss you guys. I Sam Abuelsamid 25:00 miss you, too. How you doing, Rebecca? Roberto Baldwin 25:03 Oh, how's it going? Rebecca Lindland 25:05 Great. Thanks. I just saw your featured by BMP group. Yes, that's awesome. I'm famous saying, Wow, Dan Roth 25:15 what is it? Roberto Baldwin 25:18 What if I said, I said, I'm PR famous? Rebecca Lindland 25:22 Oh, yes, you are back then. I think all of us have been featured on that. Sam Abuelsamid 25:28 So things are going well. So how's life in lala land? Rebecca Lindland 25:32 It's? It is, um, it is different Sam Abuelsamid 25:39 from granted a Rebecca Lindland 25:41 little different. Well, different. No, you know, it's a lot of fun. And I have to say, So first, we need to make this clear that I am appearing. Sam Abuelsamid 25:55 Dan, so we Rebecca Lindland 25:56 have already claimed? Yeah, so I have appearing as my former self and not as my current self. Oh, my God, you know, things that it's, it's fascinating working for a manufacturer because I never have right. So this is like all behind the scenes stuff. And I have to tell you probably the funniest, the funniest moment that I've had so far, is I'm sitting in a meeting. And we're going over some some things that are under embargo, and I'm sitting I'm like, why are they telling me this? They know who I am? I don't think it should be telling me this stuff. Dan Roth 26:45 Right? I think Yeah. It's weird, cuz like, I've sat in meetings too. And like, I've listened to, like what, you know, talking about just status updates, and you hear the status updates, like from the engineering guys, you're like, trying to understand like, oh, oh, I know what they're talking about. That's interesting. I just learned to detail about that thing that like, just because of what I know, and what I used to do, like, I'm just used to listening in between the lines, where you just infer those things. And like, you don't have to do that anymore. Like, you could just go ask, Rebecca Lindland 27:19 no, I always feel like somebody was gonna tap me on the shoulder and say, What the hell are you doing here? Like, get ready? Well, no, I mean, well, keep in mind too, so I went full, full time, April 1. So I just I really are April 5, actually. And so the other day I was in the design studio with Henrik and sawstop. Dan Roth 27:48 Just for anybody Sam Abuelsamid 27:49 that's new to the show and hasn't been paying attention. Rebecca is since she left wheel bearings is now the Director of Communications for Fisker Incorporated. And she her boss is Henrik Fisker, the famed designer and actually, I saw one of his one of his greatest creations over the weekend at cars and coffee. The BMW is still a fabulous looking car, but Alright, go ahead. And yes, continue that story. Rebecca Lindland 28:15 It's gorgeous. Yeah. So yes. So we were in the design studio for some background work. And again, it's sort of No, it's just, it's really a privilege. I mean, especially working with him, you know, we were looking at this clay model. And I just went over, like, What are you looking at? You know, it's just what is he seeing through his eyes and to see a vehicle come to you kind of come to light if they're still in the you know, they haven't finished? The the exterior design is not frozen. I'm not obviously not, I'm talking about vehicle but isn't even public yet. But it was just so it's fascinating to have that perspective of what he's doing. It's really cool. It's, you know, obviously, I was delayed this evening working, you know, wordsmithing something, so that's not so fun. But there's an you know, and I have to say to like, the people are amazing, the come from all different backgrounds. And we one of the things that again, it's super interesting about living in LA, is we have a number of people that have been on production teams that have worked on TV shows. And so, you know, we're talking about doing a photo shoot, like, what, what is sometimes a monumental task. It's just Tuesday out here, play, it's, it's just another photo shoot, like, it's just, it's really no big deal. And so, it's so that's kind of really interesting, you know, and then there's other times when people ask me, you know, pretty standard questions like, what is the platform? And you know, and that's fair enough, like so it's, it's a good exchange of information and it's a great exchange of perspectives. So yeah, so it's good. That's great. So Roberto Baldwin 30:03 again, what did you see? I just need to take some notes. Let's just Rebecca Lindland 30:09 say Don't miss the LA Auto Show. Now we're really excited for ocean is going to be it's it's really, it's, it's really cool because it is it looks great. You know, there's obviously we photograph it on a pretty regular basis. I haven't seen the interior at all. There's nothing you know, so I got nothing on for that for you there. But yes, our big reveal is going to be at the LA Auto Show. Sam Abuelsamid 30:42 Is that going to be the production version of the ocean or something else? entirely? Rebecca Lindland 30:46 No, it'd be the production version of the Yes. Yeah. So that's still on schedule. But you know, as far as La, I mean, it's no Lucy is just awakened from her late afternoon nap. And she goes out on the terrorists and overlooks no part that we see the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Hollywood sign. So it's a pretty great view. And it's pretty darn sunny and low humidity. And so far, so good. No forest fires, right? Well, only one. Sam Abuelsamid 31:21 You don't have to deal with too much of that while you're living out there. Hopefully not. But I want to hear Dan. Oh, Dan Roth 31:29 yeah, it's very much the same thing. Working for an automaker is super interesting, I highly recommend it, if you're into cars, figure out a way to get me. Sam Abuelsamid 31:41 Because then they're done that, Dan Roth 31:42 yeah. Sam's the jaded one here. But from a journalist into the industry perspective, it really like it turns your head around, because you realize that no matter how many years you spent, as a journalist, sort of studying the industry, when you get into it, I was so wrong about so many things. I was so full of crap. And Rebecca Lindland 32:07 wow. Oh, and what's changed? I'm sorry. Nicole Wakelin 32:11 Oh, nice. Sam Abuelsamid 32:14 Now he's just become self aware, right? Dan Roth 32:21 What are we saving data from lunch. But it's, it's very much the same thing. You know, everybody's really supportive, and they've been there before, they understand that there's a lot coming at you. And that is just it's a, you know, it's a big company and a big industry. And just, it really is sort of one of the most complex things with most complex products out there. And there's a lot to learn, and there's a lot to support. And so, it it's taken a while to also sort of find footing. And I'm starting to get there where I feel like okay, I've got this now, and it's just two months in. So it's that kind of kind of industry. And it's interesting, you know, your Fisker, which is more like smaller boutique and like, we'll have to compare and contrast. When we're not rolling. Rebecca Lindland 33:22 I reminded somebody that you said Fisker, and again, this is all public. Fisker has, I think up to 205 employees on base or on our annual meeting that we had last week, which is roughly half the size of GM communications communication. See? Dan Roth 33:40 We have 186,000 employees. So little little bit of contrast? Yeah. But no, it's going to it's going well, it's going, it's going well, and it's Yeah, I've I've made my own my share of mistakes, which has been great and humbling. But it is, it's also like one of those things like I feel very, incredibly fortunate to just have wound up here. Chapter Eight, because there's a lot of employees, but there's not necessarily that many sort of slots for Rebecca Lindland 34:16 so what am i repeating? we're repeating over Dan Roth 34:20 internal communications, so Rebecca Lindland 34:21 Oh, interesting. Yeah. Dan Roth 34:23 So like, keeping all of the workforce informed of, you know, so tweaking things to their perspective and getting it out there. Sam Abuelsamid 34:31 So one of the interesting things, one of the fascinating things that I encountered when I went into the dark side, working on PR, Stan, you're kind of on the gray side. You know, Rebecca, no way on the dark side. But Dan Roth 34:49 yeah, and she's wearing black and gray. One of the Sam Abuelsamid 34:54 One of the fascinating things I experienced when I first started doing that was you You know, like, when we were writing an auto blog, and we would be cranking out stories, you know, write something, you know, it might get sort of a half assed edit, you know, and then be posted within a half hour, you know, and, you know, maybe the total, unless you're doing a feature of something, you know, it might be, you know, most from the time you wrote it to the time it was published, you know, a couple of hours. And now, on the on the PR side, all of a sudden, you know, you're working on stuff for some, oftentimes, months, before it gets published. You know, in some cases, it might be as much as a year, you know, you work, like, if you're working on a press kit for a new vehicle, you know, you're working on stuff that is, you know, a year out. And, I mean, probably not so much, in your case, Rebecca, because you still have a fairly small organization, but you know, it in journalism, you know, often you might have one, maybe two people that would look at something and edit it. Whereas, you know, when you're working in a company like Ford, you know, there might be a dozen people that need to look at it, you know, at various levels of the company, you know, in jobs that are totally unrelated to what you do, but but, you know, they're responsible for the product that you're writing about, and you want to make sure they have you have the right messaging and that everything's accurate. And so it was definitely different, you can really see how the sausage is ground up, you know, how the pig is butchered, and ground up. Dan Roth 36:32 That's, that's where my time in like advertising and lawyer Ville has been really, really handy. Because I understand, like, it's not Autoblog, like, you put it out there, and you can take it back, right? Oh, we made a mistake, we're gonna fix it like, no, this needs to be approved. If we're using, you know, pictures, it needs to, we got to make sure we've got releases, if you know, where we're talking about brand stuff, like somebody owns all of those things you're talking about, and you need to make sure that you are not going to mess them up. And so you have to have that instinct. And so that background and level of caution has been helpful to know like, but usually by the time it gets to me, it's been through those approval chains. So my question is like, Okay, this is v1, are we good? Do we need to make changes or, like, right, like, Sam Abuelsamid 37:29 or if I version it to Dan Roth 37:31 suggest changes, like, it's fine, right? I can, I can suggest changes. But depending on where we are in the process, like, sometimes just like, this just needs to go out. And it's good. There are other times where, where I'll suggest changes and understanding that like, it does need to go for a revision. So that's like, that's businessy business. That's, I mean, that's, that's how that goes, I will say that the most important skill I have found, has been WebEx and office. So those are, you know, you get all your writing stuff taken care of, and then really learn how to use WebEx, Outlook, and office and you'll be set. Rebecca Lindland 38:17 It is crazy. It's so funny when listening to you talk about those kinds of levels, because and the document that I was just working on, we sent it to five people, and, and not not in the immediate PR team. And we were all like, Oh my god, does it really have to go to all these people? Dan Roth 38:39 But do you know what the flip side is? Like, they're usually really good at what they do. Like, I love it now, like I sent it to if it needs to go for illegal, it's like cool. And they're Oh, yeah. And if it's not, right, they'll still make it right. And it's it's so it's not like at the agency where we did like stuff at the agency ground on on for like, there were scripts I wrote like year, a year and a half ago. And it was just like, Why can we please like, get this done? You don't need to tinker with it over you beautiful words. Let's just go to production. Like people who are unqualified, messing around with my poetry. That's not our they're good at what they do. And I'm not good at that part of it. So it's that's a refreshing change being surrounded by competence. Rebecca Lindland 39:26 Yeah, no, there's, it's true. I mean, there's people that will pick up on things and you're like, Wow, that is just such a good get, you know, I get it. And it's like, oh, my gosh, I didn't, I didn't see it like that. And that's the other thing too. So our big transition was actually going to the office. So we've been in the Manhattan Beach offices now. And Lucy has joined I don't know if you guys can hear her, but she's making appearance. So but yeah, we are now in the offices. We've been for about four weeks. And that's been actually a really interesting thing. A lot. People have hard commutes because the roads are definitely starting to pick up here. But, you know, there's opportunities also to just to just walk across the hall and run something by somebody, you know, share a screen and say, you know, are ever working on a press release? What does this word look like and such? I, and then, you know, and then out of the blue Simon, my boss, Simon scroll may say things like, Henrik is visiting the PO. Dan Roth 40:33 Great, yeah, we didn't do that. Yeah. Rebecca Lindland 40:36 She just kind of stop and say, Nicole Wakelin 40:37 I'm sorry, Rebecca Lindland 40:38 what was your you know, researching all things people transport and that was hilarious. And also not being able to say that p o p e, m, ob, i e, i l e word, in a press release? Dan Roth 40:59 What was that? Like? Is that really the role? Is that one of those things? You can't say? Yeah, Rebecca Lindland 41:04 you know what, it turns out that it's not a favorite term amongst the bad can occupants. Do you think? Sam Abuelsamid 41:13 What is the official tax on Rebecca Lindland 41:16 the PayPal transport? Right, and then pay will be called the ark. You know, people vehicles are used as well. I buy ours because we are building a vehicle specifically for for use as a transport Pope Francis, Dan Roth 41:38 you're working hard on that. Rebecca Lindland 41:40 I was I know, I and so we elected to just maintain the term people transport versus a PayPal vehicle, which could be a car that just is is out and about in the Vatican. This is really the the Fisker ocean PayPal vehicle is designed for Roberto Baldwin 41:58 cruises around in the people transport. So it's a PT Cruiser. Sam Abuelsamid 42:02 Exactly, yes. Return to the PT Cruiser. Dan Roth 42:07 There's our title. It has been ordained Rebecca Lindland 42:12 by one of our favorite ones that we saw on Twitter was so this is this is a holy sea EV, like the Holy See at the event. It was really Unknown Speaker 42:25 retweet it, but we all enjoyed it. Dan Roth 42:28 That's outstanding. Rebecca Lindland 42:31 Yeah, so it's every day is different. That's for sure. Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 42:36 Well, I'm glad. I'm glad it sounds like you're both having fun with your jobs, enjoying what you're doing? Dan Roth 42:41 What are you guys gonna get out of maker jobs? Where are you going to go? Sam Abuelsamid 42:44 Don't you been there done that? I have done my penance. And Nicole Wakelin 42:52 you make it sound so appealing, fam. Rebecca Lindland 42:56 Like, this is one of the big differences also is just events. And like, I'm not going to the Auto Show, because we're not going to the Auto Show. So like who is going or to Chicago? Who's going to shut Sam Abuelsamid 43:09 up? Nobody. Normally, yeah, well, even more. So. They had they had a briefing call last week on the Chicago for the Chicago Auto Show. And it basically this year is it's a much scaled down event. They're not using the two main halls that they have used in the past. They're using actually like, I think it's the West Hall, which is at the other end across the road when you go up the escalator. They're not? Yeah, it's so it's not it's not in like the north and south Hall, I think it is. The West West Hall is actually like on the other side, way over on the other side. And it's it's like 500,000 square feet. So it's a much smaller event than in the past. But they're doing a bunch of stuff outdoors, you know, some ride and drive stuff. I think there's only two, maybe three automakers are even going to be making announcements there. They're not, they're not hosting any media like they usually do. There's there's going to be a limit on the number of media credentials they're doing. So I'm not even registering. I'm not going to bother going. I don't know about you, Nicole or Robbie, if you're planning to go but Nicole Wakelin 44:25 I was debating it. I honestly in the back one of my things to do is to ask someone from out in the Midwest who knew more about what was going on what was going on. So not much. Sam Abuelsamid 44:36 Even less than usual. But I guess you know, New York is you know, is going to have a full scale show in August. And then of course LA is going to be the next one. There's not going to be a Detroit show this year. So LA I think is going to be the big one. I think that's when everything is going to kind of get rolling again. As far as A lot of shows go or at least to the degree that it will get rolling at all for auto shows. Roberto Baldwin 45:04 Yeah, yeah, I'd like the layout of the next first big Auto Show. Sam Abuelsamid 45:10 I know Mazda is going to be making an announcement there sounds like Fisker is and based on something I heard today, at least one other automaker, I think will probably be making probably be showing something big at La. So we'll see. But, yeah, Rebecca Lindland 45:28 that's well, you know, I think part of it too, is, you know, with Chicago in New York, is there not at the regular times. Yeah. And so yeah, right. Right. You know, they're really not right. And so I think that's difficult as well. And they're also very close together. So if you have to choose between Chicago and New York, there's the volume of people potentially. Yeah, I have, as I said, we haven't really followed and in Pebble Beach is the other one that is trying to reestablish itself. So Sam Abuelsamid 46:03 yeah, I haven't heard anything about what's going on at Pebble Beach this year. I know there's some some stuff happening. But yeah, so it's Chicago is usually the first week of February. And that was actually the last auto show I went to last year. Nicole Wakelin 46:16 I think it was for all of us. Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 46:19 In fact, that was last year Chicago Auto Show was the last time I was outside of Michigan. Oh, I have not been this Sunday will be the first time I leave Michigan since I got back from the Chicago Auto Show last year. Wow. And then, so Chicago, this scaled down Chicago show is going to be in mid July. And then the New York Auto Show, which is normally at Easter time, March, April, and in New York is going to be in late August. And then LA is back to its normal time around Thanksgiving in November. So Roberto Baldwin 46:56 ruining your Thanksgiving weekend since Sam Abuelsamid 47:01 Usually, the the press previews are right before Thanksgiving, and then the show opens to the public on Thanksgiving, or Black Friday or something like that, or is it? Rebecca Lindland 47:11 No, it's before actually, because when my brother was doing when my brother would do the merchandising store, there he was. I think it's close Thanksgiving Day. But I feel like because of the prestige. Sam Abuelsamid 47:25 It's moved around. It has been before and after. So this year, it's it's November 19 to the 28th. So it looks like it's gonna be running through like starting the week before Thanksgiving going and ending Thanksgiving weekend. And then the press previews obviously, before that, so I think I think that's probably the one to watch out for. I think that's if that's where we're going to start seeing some things happening again. But there's just been no shortage of news last few weeks. So last week, you know, we were done. Nicole was in Texas last week for for Toyota Palooza. Nicole Wakelin 48:04 Yeah, Sam Abuelsamid 48:05 they had lots of news. But before we get to that, why don't we Why don't we finish up with the garage finish up? What? What Nicole, you talked about the 350 tremor drive Nicole Wakelin 48:19 I also drove I was in Seattle, I have left my home state many times and Dan Roth 48:26 it was at the gas after shift here was a diesel Nicole Wakelin 48:29 diesel. It was oh six which was funny because my daughter heard it when they dropped it off. She's like, who is delivering stuff to the house and realized it was just a car. Yeah, so it was the diesel and it was I mean, it was great to drive. I didn't get an opportunity to drive as much as I would have liked. And there's like a truck that big. I'm not gonna take it off road randomly in little tiny sketchy little narrow off road places here because I would take a tree with me. I mean, I wouldn't feel that it would just be dragging along on the back of the truck but it would be there when I got back to my driveway. Roberto Baldwin 49:01 But anyway, trees that's all Yeah. Nicole Wakelin 49:05 But like, what does it have like a 1050 pound feet of torque? Yeah, that's like stupid crazy Dan Roth 49:12 anywhere under about 90 miles an hour. You just decide where you want that needle and it'll just put it there. Nicole Wakelin 49:18 It was just crazy insane. It is insane. It is it is like the vehicle you want when the zombie apocalypse happens it is the vehicle you want. Like if your road raging you just run everybody over like it is it's like driving a small street legal tank is what it feels like. Yeah. But it was it I mean, you know, if you are going forward, you got all the extra clearance you've got you know, you've got the capability to do it. I don't know how many people really how many people are going to seriously go off road and an F 350. I don't know I feel like it's based on big construction sites but you need the tremor to do that. I mean, are you like I'm here. Dan Roth 49:56 If you're running a ranch he wants Why not? When you Nicole Wakelin 50:00 could you could you know, Sam Abuelsamid 50:03 ranch in Montana. Yeah. Nicole Wakelin 50:06 You know, tree store like and you got whatever new car in some flash your cars attract more attention some weeks and you have random conversations with people. I talked to a lot of landscapers the few days I took it out of here we're like, Ah, nice truck, nice truck. So all the like, all the guys who are into like landscaping and doing that kind of stuff. They all thought it was the coolest thing that ever seen. So it definitely has its target market. I am not that because I don't do that kind of driving and that heavy duty stuff. But it was fun to drive it around and feel like I could you know, I just ruled the world. And then the other vehicle that I had was the question I know Rebecca Lindland 50:42 you so it was it were the running boards and stuff like how was the Nicole Wakelin 50:47 Ingress you missed that there were deployable running boards because like I said earlier that it like came up to the middle of my financial panic. I'm like, how am I even get to get in to this with the door sounds like Oh, thank God. Yes, in fact, I was taking my mom out for lunch. My mom's like, what car do you have? I'm like, not one you're getting into. Like she's five one. Like there's no way we're taking my car this week. But so the other vehicle I have with the key a K five, which I've never driven before, and I had that when I was out in Seattle. They were kind enough to get me a car for the weekend. And I drove the heck out of that because we just wandered up to this place called Stevens Pass, which is this twisty turny side roads, beautiful drive. There's still snow at the top of that mountain. That was super fun to drive. Like it was really, really fun. You know, I had someone asking me would you like on Instagram? You know, would you do this? Or I'm looking at this or Camry I would get the K five all day because it's just and it was a GT line. So it's a little bit more horsepower, a little bit sporty or stylings. A little better handling it. It's a fun little car. It is okay. Yeah. Yeah, that is the turbo. And it's not super crazy expensive. It's like what Let me see how my memory it's $28,000 and you're nice looking. Beautiful. I know, right? It's this really attractive car. So you know sedans are no one buys sedans anymore, but they do they just don't buy in like they used to. But the world still sells a heck of a lot of sedans and I think this is one that is if I was in the market for a sedan, I would totally consider this because I think and it looks nice like it's it's comfortable. The interior key always does this they feel they feel like more than whatever the price is they do really good interiors, those they have their quality materials and even when they're not using expensive stuff. They're doing it in such a way that it looks more expensive than it is. And this takes that and also puts in the performance aspects. So it's it's got 180 horsepower, 195 pound feet of torque it moves, you know, so it is it is fun to drive. So I enjoyed having that for for a long weekend experience. So yeah, I went from ginormous truck to nice normal size. Roberto Baldwin 52:59 What color was your K five? Nicole Wakelin 53:01 It was well it was red. What do they officially call it passion red. Roberto Baldwin 53:08 I think I had a gray one. It's the one that I put a random voice message in to Dan Roth 53:15 spread. I heard you talking about that last time. Roberto Baldwin 53:18 Yeah. Hyundai Kia has a Hey, leave a voice like, record your voice. Oh my god. This is a nice way to leave notes. Nicole Wakelin 53:25 If I'd had the right one. I could have heard the dulcet tones of Roberto talking to me when I got in the car. Oh, Sam Abuelsamid 53:32 did did you and your husband take advantage of the sounds of nature. Nicole Wakelin 53:35 Oh my gosh. Okay, so I have another coffee shop. I didn't have but I have another kid is driving to the mountains in a coffee shop. I was trying to play with it. My daughter's like, why would you want that? Well, maybe she's like, I don't know. I don't understand why you just play that. I'm I'm confused and like, kid it's it's it's so it's there. She's like so by it turned up a little crackling fire thing. She's like, so it sounds like my car's on fire. Like No, no, no, no, no, no, you're thinking of that raw. You know, Rebecca Lindland 54:06 it's all like a chalkboard. Dan Roth 54:08 Yeah, that's another sound that could put it is it's like the all of the appliances and everything now that play a little song when they're done because there's so proud of themselves in the cars like when you shut them off. They Nicole Wakelin 54:20 play a little song. Like my washing machine place I get 10 minutes like dessert like thing at the end. Yeah, do you have an lG Rebecca Lindland 54:30 lG two adopted that as well as Nicole Wakelin 54:33 a whole little like la dee da song, please. Dan Roth 54:37 I think it is the standard LG song to use. If I were to hum it, you get it. I'm not gonna hum it but it's different. Like back at the end of the dryer just has the buzzer that's like are with the washing machine plays like a symphony. So Nicole Wakelin 54:51 it even plays pretty sounds when it gets unbalanced. But you know, whatever. This is the washing machine show now. But yeah, so we didn't play with it. We didn't With the sounds in the the K five, but we did play with them in the key of that they just dropped off at my driveway that I'll talk about next week. But yeah, my daughter is a little perplexed, like, you know, it sounds like an ocean like are just gonna have to go to the bathroom if you're on a road trip or Dan Roth 55:14 if you're on a road trip. So Sam Abuelsamid 55:20 I believe you also had an off road type vehicle this week, Roberto Baldwin 55:24 I did have an offer type vehicle, I had the Wrangler for by IE that new plug in hybrid Wrangler. And I'm going to say I don't know how much of this is nostalgia, or how much I think there is logic behind how much I liked this car. Because the current generation Wrangler is good. previous generation. Wranglers were not. And I really liked it. I liked the fact that it's a plug in hybrid, it's not a great plug in hybrid, it only gets 21 miles of Eevee only range. So that's not great when the rav4 gets like 47 and, and 42 skate gets 42. And then Nicole Wakelin 56:06 you actually get Did you try the Eevee range? Roberto Baldwin 56:08 Did you get 20? I did try the EB range, and I got about 20 ish. But then then then I just kind of like any sort of mpg that I got out of it, it was just completely skewed because of all the weird testing I was doing and having to drive somewhere and make sure I have Eevee range. So my, the it's it's 49 mpg II, if you have you know, the battery's going in hybrid mode. But as soon as that's depleted, it's 20. And so, yeah, so I sort of, you know, any sort of like regular driving range is kind of a mess. So I got about 22 miles per gallon, while I had it. So it's, it's, again, I think, if I were driving it regularly, and plugging it in every night, and not like trying to like trick it into keeping the battery range, when I got to the off road place I would I would be able to drive it with, you know, in an Eevee only mode, it probably would have been better. It's Yeah, I really liked it. My wife really liked it. And she sort of hates everything. So that's always sort of a thing. She She is not a fan of most of the cars that end up in our driveway. It is it is pricey starts at 50,000. But you do get the federal and state and etc. tax incentives. And you know, there there is a if you look at the leasing on it, I think there's a lease that I saw, like 230 bucks a month. Sam Abuelsamid 57:34 For 230. Yeah, can't go wrong. Yeah. Dan Roth 57:36 Yeah. So you know, you they give you any miles, what's that? That's, um, Roberto Baldwin 57:40 I haven't, I haven't. It's probably like 10,000 miles. But if my wife for driving it, that's more than what she drives our B or z. We've had it for a few years. And I think she probably puts maybe five 6000 miles on it, because most time I have a car that I'm driving and so she drives that to work. And then we have like the Jaguar that we use for the dogs and that thing it's like, Dan Roth 57:59 shall we use Roberto Baldwin 58:04 word you know, people who have just old 2004 Jaguar for the dogs Rebecca Lindland 58:11 next time raising statement, that's amazing statement right there. Roberto Baldwin 58:15 But uh yeah, I took it to the off road I take it as a four by four Park and I've drove it up and down things and over things and yeah, it's took the top off. I didn't take any doors off I didn't put the windshield down. We were gonna take the entire roof off but when we got to the location where we were shooting video the it was just so incredibly windy and I like to think it was like Okay, we got it all the way we did it it was the sun writer roof so we you know, you can kind of open it up sort of like a rag top and have you know, open air over the passengers and the driver and so that was that was nice drive around and feel very Jeep in it. It doesn't handle great. You know, it doesn't corner great. It doesn't Sam Abuelsamid 59:00 move and handles a lot better than the old than the JK Wrangler did. Roberto Baldwin 59:05 Oh, yeah. Yeah, it handles much better than that. I mean, I think that's a low bar. Yeah, the bar is incredibly low on that thing. So you know, it's a compared to previous generation Wranglers. It's its head and shoulders, but but when you compare it to other you know, SUVs in the market, you know, it's it's dead, but that's the thing usually there's really nothing to compare it to until the bronco comes out and then you have that so you have the Bronco, the Wrangler and then you know then you start kind of going up and getting like in the form of runners and defenders and blah blah you know, etc etc as as as your your bank account gets emptier and emptier and but yeah overall you know it was it's it's I really liked it like the idea again that it's a plug in hybrid. It gives you makes you feel nice as a person. You can save some cash if you're driving if your commute isn't too far. I do wish that it was you know had more than 21 miles which is Sort of ridiculous this this late in the game, but what's the lance is now running things and their push for EBS I, you know, in a few years, we're probably gonna see an Eevee Wrangler. And, you know, they Sam Abuelsamid 1:00:12 showed they showed a concept and an Eevee Wrangler concept for the Jeep Easter Safari this year. And still lantis is going to be holding an electrification day on July 8, where they're going to be talking about a whole bunch of things. So I wouldn't be surprised if they if they make some announcements there. about, you know, possibly, you know, what their plans are for an electric Wrangler? Roberto Baldwin 1:00:39 Yeah, I think and I think it's a nice sort of Halo vehicle. I know, it's not the, you know, it's not the Grand Cherokee. It's not, you know, whatever. But it's, it's the Jeep brand is the Wrangler, as far as I'm concerned for, for many people, because that's what you think about when you think about Jeep, you say Jeep, you think around the Wrangler? Yeah, well, Sam Abuelsamid 1:00:57 I think, you know, you know, the, the thing, the thing that Jeep has talked about with the Wrangler, for by is, you know, this idea of, you know, you can drive it, you know, to a trailhead, you know, when you're going off roading, and then put it in electric mode at that point, and, you know, dry do your off roading in electric mode. And, you know, the reality is, you know, most of the trails, you're going to go on, you know, if you're going off road for, you know, you're going generally pretty slow. And, you know, I think like the Rubicon trail, you know, which is one of the gnarly one of the gnarliest trails out there. I think it's only like 16 miles long anyway. So you know, 2021 miles of range, you can probably do the whole thing in electric mode, you know, never never have the engine Come on. And, you know, Jeep is also putting in there, we're partnering with electrify America to install chargers at the trailheads have a bunch of these really popular trails in Moab and Rubicon and a bunch of other ones. So that you can get there you can top off your battery, you know, and then you get Nicole Wakelin 1:01:59 free charging, you can charge a Jeep for free at those. Yeah. Roberto Baldwin 1:02:03 So so if you live near a trailhead, that's pretty dope, Nicole Wakelin 1:02:06 if you live, theoretically, if you live near her trailer, you just Sam Abuelsamid 1:02:09 live next to contrail, you Nicole Wakelin 1:02:11 live right there in the dirt net. Yeah, Roberto Baldwin 1:02:14 pull off and there's a Chevy Bolt in the parking lot. Come on, get out of the way. Nicole Wakelin 1:02:20 I actually love the forebay when we I did the launch for that I haven't had it for more than just the launch program. But I loved it. And really, they the being able to drive off road with the top off and the doors off and everything off and just hear nothing but the off road stuff like not hearing an engine is so unbelievably cool. Like it's really neat to offer like that. So I loved it absolutely loved that vehicle. Roberto Baldwin 1:02:45 Yeah, I wrote up I've written a couple of dirt bikes and sort of enduro sort of DS, motorcycles off road, and you know, out and it's great because you kind of you experience more of what's going on as opposed to brand or in the case of a car and so driving it and you just hear like the rocks in each other or that the wheel is going over the dirt or service you know, maybe sliding a little bit it's it's pretty, you know, Nicole Wakelin 1:03:11 you hear like, you can hear like the grass crunching under the wheels and you can hear stuff around you that you can't like you You hear crickets you hear the water in little creek that you don't know is just out of sight like you hear stuff you wouldn't hear. It's so you hear sounds of nature, you hear the sound waves are real. Roberto Baldwin 1:03:29 The kids just turn it on. Sam Abuelsamid 1:03:33 You can hear you can hear real nature instead of synthetic nature through the speakers Rebecca Lindland 1:03:37 it you know, it's interesting, because what you guys describe is we were talking about formula II The other day, and it's it's a very, very different experience. And you know, I've said it about me I am all about the exhaust Nope. But when but when you go to a Formula E race with all electric cars, it's a very micro experience as opposed to the macro of the engine. When you're at a Formula E and you don't have that sound. You can hear the the the gear shifters you can hear the brake squeal you can hear all of that Mott the all the minutiae of what the car is doing, versus a broader sense of just all you're hearing is the engine. And so it is similar to what you guys are describing Nicole Wakelin 1:04:27 of I actually did a was attended a Formula E race and Yeah, it is. It is the is strange. And it's a little disconcerting at first like, are they are they out there doing stuff because you don't hear that roar in the background. But it's a totally different set of sounds and noises it it I don't know that it's lesser it's or better. It's but it's very, very different. And it is interesting to hear that kind of racing. Yeah, Rebecca Lindland 1:04:49 you have to train your ear to something else and get up on all that stuff because you're first it's so it's this incredible void. And then all of a sudden you're like wait a minute, what else am I hearing? So it's a cool experience it is. Sam Abuelsamid 1:05:04 Alright, so let's stick with with electric vehicles for for another minute here. Last week, Tesla delivered the first 25 Model S Platts. And Roberto, you did a great video, recap of this, did you actually go down to Fremont for the event? Roberto Baldwin 1:05:23 I did not I reached, I reached out to my Tesla contacts and they didn't get back to me, which is in typical because they don't have they don't have a press department. So there's no one there to talk to you. So you sort of like, you have people you know who work there, you're like, Hey, can you get me in there? And if they don't get back to you, then you know, they can't and I don't hold anything against those those folks because I don't want them getting no one's no one should lose a job. So I could go to stare at Ilan musk from 25 feet away. But I watched the I watched it and it was, it was something it's you know, the the Model S plaid is a, you know, impressive specs. You know, zero to 60. And under two seconds, they say, you know, until, you know, some of the rollout with the rollout, you know, then, you know, with the rollout was really more like five to 60 Yeah, so five to 60. And in about two ish seconds. But it is also you know, it also sort of, I feel like they just they they keep doubling down on some of these decisions like the yoke steering, which is, if you watch the video of people getting rides on Twitter, you can see when the person is trying to do hand over hand, it's very awkward and weird because you don't have the top of the steering wheel. And the you know, and then people are like, well, there's geocon f1. I'm like, Yeah, but the steering ratio and f1 is like you barely move it and you're doing a 360 is 30 ratio in a in a passenger. Your car is vastly different from that. Rebecca Lindland 1:06:50 Drivers, Dan Roth 1:06:53 spinners, you know, the, Roberto Baldwin 1:06:54 like you put it on, like you went for a bus, you know, or, you know, or, you know, when had the big steering wheel because no one had any points, you Sam Abuelsamid 1:07:01 know, like that probably serves double duty because if you put one of those on there, that's probably just enough weight that when you're using autopilot, you can take your hands off the wheel and it won't nag you anymore. Roberto Baldwin 1:07:11 Yeah, you get to sleep and you can just sleep in the back. Yeah, I do not recommend that. Rebecca Lindland 1:07:15 But how do you Unknown Speaker 1:07:18 how do you do the white man's overbite with the yoke steering? Dan Roth 1:07:21 The way? Oh, Rebecca Lindland 1:07:23 the white man's overbite, Unknown Speaker 1:07:26 Sally, Dan Roth 1:07:28 I guess I may drive like that. Roberto Baldwin 1:07:38 We've learned so much. Again, Dan is not a representing Florida and anyway. Right now, he does not recommend driving with one hand on top of the wheel as if he was cruising. Right? Dan Roth 1:07:56 What is escape the pina colada song. Roberto Baldwin 1:08:03 But then Ilan said this thing about any input is an error. And it was like Sam Abuelsamid 1:08:07 that that was definitely the line of the show. Roberto Baldwin 1:08:11 Because it The idea is they don't have any stocks and they removed any sort of, well, they, they make it sound like they've removed any sort of way to shift to manually ship the vehicle. When in reality, if you on the infotainment system, there's a logo of the Tesla of the vehicle itself, you swipe up, you go forward, swapped out, you go in reverse, it was just like, Oh, well, the car knows if you want to go forward or backwards. Well, if you're parallel parking, how does the car know? Especially if you're, if you're equal distances, if you're great at parallel parking as someone who lives in San Francisco, I think I'm pretty good. But like, how was the car? No, which I go forward? Should I go back? I don't know. I'm confused. I'm a car. I don't have any context. Because at the car park itself. I've never had any luck with self parking. Or I'm just I'm incredibly impatient with the with those systems and just like Oh, forget it. Sam Abuelsamid 1:09:06 I know it takes takes too much time. Yeah, every time I have of late that I've had a car that has one of those auto Park systems. And I go to a parking lot, you know, to try to use it. It's like, But wait, you know, people are looking at me like, What the hell are you doing? You know, cuz I'm waiting for this thing to try and park itself and, you know, just give up and do it myself. Roberto Baldwin 1:09:32 To hell with it, grab that we'll get to wrestle it back from the robot. Dan Roth 1:09:37 But we're all just impatient parents. Sam Abuelsamid 1:09:44 But I think really the most important part of the the New Model S plaid is the fact that it has essentially the chip from Sony PS five in the infotainment system, so you can play cyber cyberpunk 2077 Roberto Baldwin 1:09:59 I mean I think so apparently it's important enough that there were they had a whole graphic built around it, there was a video and there's like it has as much processing power in the infotainment system as the PlayStation five. And I'm sitting here to my house and I'm like, Okay, and then they showed someone playing Syrah, which is okay, but you know, if the idea is to eventually get, you know, charging as quick as as gas, so, okay, so you remove that. And then there's the, you know, full self driving, which on the vehicles that are coming out now, I'm gonna say, it's not gonna happen. So I guess he's just hanging out in front of your house playing cyberpunk. Sam Abuelsamid 1:10:40 If it doesn't actually run very well on consoles, you know, then you probably want to be probably better off to play it in your car, right? That's true. Roberto Baldwin 1:10:47 Yeah, I guess you have a point. So if it's all buggy and stuff, like I'm, I will just stay in the car. Yeah. And when I, whenever I have to charge an electric vehicle, I typically get out, you know, unless it's for a few minutes, or I'm shooting video, I get out and I go to wherever I'm like, Oh, I have to, you know, I'm going shopping, I'm gonna take the car to where the charger is at the shopping center. Or I'm on a trip, I'm gonna get out, I'm going to eat some food. I'm going to grab a lunch or go to get a drink in. You know, by till I'm done all that I come back cars at 80%. I'm good to go. drive off. I do see lots of people just hanging out in their cars in the middle of their day. But but for the most part, unless I have work to do and I need to type or write an article. Because I'm on deadline. I kind of get out of the car and go away. But that just maybe that's just me. Maybe I like the outside world. Sam Abuelsamid 1:11:34 No, well, you're a weirdo anyway. Roberto Baldwin 1:11:36 I mean, I know you're California. We're all about the outside. All year round. What's that? Unknown Speaker 1:11:45 sky Dan Roth 1:11:46 We can do that all year round appear in New England to is just as a higher chance of freezing to death. Nicole Wakelin 1:11:53 totally do it. Fine. We're good. We're all good. Sam Abuelsamid 1:11:56 I want my dogs twice every day all winter long. So you know, it's easy. I mean, polar vortex. Yeah. Okay, there's Roberto Baldwin 1:12:04 my dog. outside. If it's raining, he'll go he'll go out and look. I was like, Nah, I'm good. He's like, I'm good inside. It's cool. I'll exercise tomorrow. Sam Abuelsamid 1:12:17 Alright. also introduced I think the day after the the Model S plaid was the 2022 Lexus NX. And, Nicole, I think you saw this while you're in Texas, but you weren't allowed to talk about it yet at that Dan Roth 1:12:32 when we recorded last year Lexus was in Texas. Oh. Nicole Wakelin 1:12:38 Yeah. So we got to we got to take a take a peek at it. And yeah, everything was all kinds of embargoed and couldn't do anything. And I don't know. You know, here's the funny thing. There was so much information that came out in Texas when you actually I'm going to be totally as you pop this in the show notes. And I went, oh crap. What was that car all of that again? Like, that's how much information Sam Abuelsamid 1:13:02 looks the same on the outside? Nicole Wakelin 1:13:03 Like, what am I supposed to know? So they I mean, they did some new stuff. They refined it. I mean, it looks great when they you know, driver focused cockpit design at all. You know that it's it'll be fine. It'll be good. It's the new Lexus has that. Sam Abuelsamid 1:13:18 But But you missed the most important part. Nicole Wakelin 1:13:21 What's the most important part? There's no yeah, the ditch the ditch the touchpad which was funny because the way they downside you remember that the way they like? Yeah. So you know, we know you guys are going to be really sad about this. But we got rid of the touchpad It was like everyone's all excited. Yeah, I I hate touchpad interfaces. I don't care who does them. I don't care which OEM it is. I hate them. I hate them. I just want to touch the screen. That's it. Listen to that person, important person. I hate that. Dan Roth 1:13:56 My department says Nicole Wakelin 1:14:01 it makes me stabby I'm like, why do we need to do this? Why? Like Yeah, because it's what you want to do is you want to try and use a tiny little touchpad is you're going over bumps in the road. And now you're like, What? What's happening so yeah, so I think that that was a good call. I don't think there's gonna be a single human that's gonna complain about the fact that that touchpad is gone. Sam Abuelsamid 1:14:23 Yeah, Kristen Shah did a good article on the drive today. About I guess it was a couple of the American guys that were actually responsible for getting rid of the touchpad. They convinced Lexus that they needed to ditch the touchpad because they apparently they had not done when they when they originally designed that interface. They It was designed in Japan but they hadn't really done much outside research and focus groups with customers to see the actual is Roberto Baldwin 1:14:57 so weird. I didn't realize that he was Didn't like this? Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 1:15:02 So you know, they actually hired an outside firm to go and do some usability testing with the touchpad interface and got some actual data about how bad it was. And that's what they managed to convince the powers that be it that headquarters to finally change it. So I guess it's got what a 12 inch touchscreen now Nicole Wakelin 1:15:26 it doesn't it and actually the the previews that we saw of the the new interface really did look fantastic. They looked really good. I think they did a great job with it. Yeah, it is. It's, it's a huge improvement, it's going to be I mean, we didn't get a chance to play with it, we more just got a chance to see it. But I think it's going to be something that's going to, most of us are going to like if it works as well as it seemed to work in their demos, how's that it's going to be something that we're going to be pretty happy. I Dan Roth 1:15:55 never trust the demo Nicole Wakelin 1:15:57 thing if the demo doesn't completely screw up and FUBAR and blow up in front of the guy. Because that's what demos dude about are how much you test them, then it's gonna be having a blue screen, Dan Roth 1:16:07 you had to really get to like the blue screen of death and something some conference Nicole Wakelin 1:16:11 he did like it, but you know, still Microsoft still here, even with the blue screen of death, you know. So Bill Gates, we'll see how long easier but Roberto Baldwin 1:16:21 yeah, Bill Gates is gonna be fine. I've heard he's made a little bit of money from that Microsoft venture. Nicole Wakelin 1:16:26 Maybe a little bit of cash just Dan Roth 1:16:29 here in there. Here's the magic vaccine that turns non ferrous metals magnetic, it's amazing. Oh, Roberto Baldwin 1:16:34 yeah. Keys and sorry, other non metal things. alumunium keep going. Rebecca Lindland 1:16:45 Like a shovel. Sam Abuelsamid 1:16:49 The, the the other. I think the other key difference with the new annex is it's also the first plug in hybrid from Lexus. Because the annex is based on the same platform as the rav4. So it basically just put the rav4 Prime powertrain in this thing, I guess, you know, and it's gonna have like 37 mile range. And I mean, the rav4 prime, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago, is great, you know, the that power train is fantastic. You know, you get 40 miles of electric driving in that thing. I think I think it's a fantastic solution. And you know, so you know, you have that option and Alexis, one of our listener questions this week is actually from speedmaster He said he's interested in our thoughts on the new annex and he says his father's been been about to grab a rav4 but now thinking about the new upcoming up and x what do we think so? Nicole What do you think? Well Nicole Wakelin 1:17:49 if you well i mean they're they're very the same very different do one more like upscale kind of vibe like are you want to Alexis in a toilet are very different looks and feels in the materials inside? So it really just depends how much you want that that luxury car thing if you really like okay, I want this but i would love it with a luxury feel with better materials better look better styling, something that's a little bit more eye catching, go ahead and wait for the Lexus. But if that's not important, like if you're okay because the rav4 It looks great. I'm not knocking it but it's a very different it's a different consumer it's a different customer if he's not if he doesn't need all that then I get the rav4 Well, I think would be very different as well. What's up me isn't Unknown Speaker 1:18:34 there a good a pretty good amount of difference in the price point? Nicole Wakelin 1:18:37 Yeah, exactly. There's they haven't said what the price is going to be they say it's going to be announced closer to to that but you you know there's going to be there's no way that they're going to price that you know the Lexus NX is not going to be the same price as the rav4 or something is broken. Of course beyond their touch screen is hardly right something is Unknown Speaker 1:18:57 that's what's gone. And you know, Sam Abuelsamid 1:18:59 the while the rav4 does have a touchscreen, it doesn't have a touchpad. It still has and tune. So I think I would probably recommend you wait for the Lexus. Dan Roth 1:19:07 Yeah. Hmm. Roberto Baldwin 1:19:09 Well, if you were monocle get the Lexus. If you if you if you have a smartphone, just plug it into your rav4 Hey, Dan Roth 1:19:19 look, if you know off the top of your head, what semi aniline leather leather is then you know which choice to make. Nicole Wakelin 1:19:28 If you don't know the answer to that question by that by you know which one did Roberto Baldwin 1:19:31 you drive to vacation versus fly first class? Okay, I think you know, it's hard to get. Rebecca Lindland 1:19:36 I feel like I mean that commercial like don't become your parents. Like if you were to say, Nicole Wakelin 1:19:42 No, I'm thinking to read Rebecca Lindland 1:19:45 that commercial insurance company commercial. It's not true. I don't know which one it's really funny that like your parents, Dan Roth 1:19:51 doctor. I do all the things that commercial my good. Where were you born in a barn close. Rebecca Lindland 1:19:57 Like you were an old man. Dan Roth 1:19:58 I know. My kids are stand there. Sir Humphrey School now so their hobby is like eating and watching stuff. So the six stand in front of the fridge with an open mic. Please don't refrigerate the kitchen get what you need to get out. Wow, like Yeah. Roberto Baldwin 1:20:15 All the time at your house. What's in here? Dan Roth 1:20:18 You want to shut off the lights when you leave the room? You know, you know how many watts that ceiling fan is using their money and while Nicole Wakelin 1:20:28 we've been recording this I heard by AC kick on I'm like Who the heck turned on the air conditioning? I'm literally turning it off on my phone. Sam Abuelsamid 1:20:37 Children do that. Dan Roth 1:20:41 Yeah. So I mean, even me sort of being sort of not tech averse, but just paranoid. I i for the amount of control I could do with that I would get a smartphone just so I could shut everything off. Nicole Wakelin 1:20:54 Ever like Turning off the heat when I'm like in Texas or something? It's like you guys are warm enough. Let's turn that back down. Sam Abuelsamid 1:21:03 It's over 50 degrees. What do you complain in? Dan Roth 1:21:06 The House tells me that it's a nice balmy you know, 63 inside. Sam Abuelsamid 1:21:13 The pipes are not freezing. What the hell are you complaining about? Nicole Wakelin 1:21:17 turn that back down. wear a sweater. Roberto Baldwin 1:21:19 You have a sweater? You have it? Rebecca Lindland 1:21:24 Oh, I'm sorry. I'm assuming the people that bought my house, the tree house. I don't listen to the show. I but I found out after I sold it that for reasons that nobody could explain. I could still control the thermostat. It was super creepy. Because when I went and I found out when I went to delete the app, and I'm looking I'm like, wait, that's today. And that's the current temperature. Like how is this possible? And so I knew they weren't they hadn't moved in yet. And so just for fun. I raised it up a couple of degrees of margins on the pipe freezing or anything. And then I come back then I said like oh my gosh, it's still at that temperature. lowered it back down to Dan Roth 1:22:19 100 gallons of oil pretty quick. Well, Rebecca Lindland 1:22:20 that really the the it was propane was the temptation to mess with that was high. I'm not gonna lie. It was high. So I had to delete the app. Nicole Wakelin 1:22:32 To come to that. Roberto Baldwin 1:22:35 I had to delete the app. Sam Abuelsamid 1:22:37 What did you have the the Nest thermostat, I had the Honeywell Rebecca Lindland 1:22:40 Honeywell, I'm TC control. And I really we can't eat because when the internet would go down, like when I the couple times that I lost power that house, the internet would go down and then I would get a message saying, you know that I could no longer connect to to the device at Honeywell. And then um, as I said, like, things were returned. Like I wasn't on I wasn't anywhere near that the internet was gone from the house. Everything was gone. And I could still control the thermostat which is beyond creepy. This this Dan Roth 1:23:15 is how this is how cyber hacking happens. This this is how Yes, Sam Abuelsamid 1:23:20 this you know, this is why I have thermostats that I have to actually get up off my butt and press a button to change the temperature or Dan Roth 1:23:29 thermostats in my house or the little round honey wells and they still have the mercury switch and Roberto Baldwin 1:23:35 as a as a former reporter for the connected home and a former infosec reporter. I don't have anything. It's smart in my house. Nicole Wakelin 1:23:46 If you ever have a smart thing, so if you'd like to hack my house Have at it because I have all the smart things. Dan Roth 1:23:53 What's the Twitter account internet of shit, just like Internet of shit. Roberto Baldwin 1:23:57 That's great. Dan Roth 1:23:59 It's basically like any connected device will be there and you'll see the downside. Roberto Baldwin 1:24:05 Does it need a nap? Probably not. Dan Roth 1:24:08 Why does light bulbs need now? light bulbs do not? Sam Abuelsamid 1:24:10 Oh my gosh. So Dan Roth 1:24:13 we had questions right there. Yeah, we have a question. All right. Sam Abuelsamid 1:24:20 So next one is from my middle name is nuisance. I'm going from the bottom of the list up Dan Roth 1:24:25 okay. That I can answer or Sam Abuelsamid 1:24:29 Well, we'll see this one this one I think is a good chance you might be able to answer it. It's been a long time since I've sold a car privately. where's the best place to list them? I have an O eight Miata with 43,000 miles. Well, and I'm the original owner very clean. Is it a bring a trailer car Craigslist, eBay or just Facebook marketplace? Well, your trailer will probably get the most money from bring a trailer. Why would you want to sell an O eight Miata with only 43,000? Roberto Baldwin 1:24:57 The other question like what Nicole Wakelin 1:24:58 do you only have 43,000 miles on an O eight Miata that's what I want to know. Yes, Roberto Baldwin 1:25:02 it was a weekend car went out on the weekend you know Dan Roth 1:25:06 reasons for not you know for wanting to sell so that's fine. Leave the poor guy alone Nicole Wakelin 1:25:12 you know he's like last question I ever send two wheel bearings Dan Roth 1:25:17 what is what is bringing trailer charge you to list on their site and be weird. That's Hearst now so there's other alternatives Sam Abuelsamid 1:25:24 diverse by them? Yeah, Roberto Baldwin 1:25:25 yeah. Here's the bottom. I was still there. Dan Roth 1:25:27 There's like cars and bids. And what's the end of it like barn finds? There's like all of the sites they charge a commission Facebook marketplace you should absolutely not do because it's Facebook and they can burn it out. Nicole Wakelin 1:25:42 Tell us what you really think Dan? Don't hold back. Sam Abuelsamid 1:25:45 Read about that. Roberto Baldwin 1:25:47 Facebook marketplace is a is a train wreck for looking at the cars because it is 99% scams or people lying about the price Dan Roth 1:25:56 Craigslist had been like, yeah, it's just kind of got vacuumed over to Facebook, because that's where the users are. Like, Craigslist is still kind of a cesspool. But it's hard on all of us. But you should probably just call like, or go to carmax or carvana You don't Roberto Baldwin 1:26:14 have to know you're gonna get them you're gonna get more for bring a trailer than your car max. I Nicole Wakelin 1:26:19 think even with whenever they charge you, I would think Yeah, wait, Roberto Baldwin 1:26:23 what? 20 43,000 miles they're gonna they're gonna send something there. They're gonna take your pictures. They're gonna have someone write you up a really nice posting for it. You're gonna get way more money than it's worth like everything else on bring a trailer. Yeah, it's it's Yeah, I Dan Roth 1:26:38 think that's the thing like to bring a trailer. The picture sell the cars, which I guess is like, not, this is not a revolutionary opinion. But like, you see the cars and then they they're presented? Well, the better they're presented. I think that the more excited you make the people with, you know, internet money. Roberto Baldwin 1:26:59 Yep. Everyone's and people always want a Miata. Any Miata? Dan Roth 1:27:03 Yeah. Sam, why don't you ask him what he wants for it once you already have Rebecca Lindland 1:27:11 one kid to another one. Roberto Baldwin 1:27:16 Well, you have a spare me. I Unknown Speaker 1:27:17 learned my lesson. Sam Abuelsamid 1:27:23 That's true. You could not be more true. Oh Dan Roth 1:27:26 my god. Yes. Way more reliable. Sam Abuelsamid 1:27:32 No, I love I love my na Miata. My 1990 Miata only has 62,000 miles on it. So what? 1990 Dan Roth 1:27:40 Oh, that's a first year. Sam Abuelsamid 1:27:42 Yeah. Very first year. I mean, it was built in October of 89. It's it's you know, it's a very early cars serial numbers like 23,000 Nicole Wakelin 1:27:51 good gravy. Yeah. A car that I haven't driven two deaths by the time I got rid of it. So Roberto Baldwin 1:27:57 what why don't you buy this car Sam because clearly you're not driving the other one. This is the one you should buy. This is your drive. This is your daily driver and the other ones like your show car. Nicole Wakelin 1:28:05 The answer is don't put it on anything. Just reach out to Sam and Dan Roth 1:28:10 Amy. missing an opportunity here. wheel bearings, classifieds, Sam Abuelsamid 1:28:16 there we go. Roberto Baldwin 1:28:18 Yeah, list your car with us. It'll be the first one where are you at? my middle name is nuisance I don't know if I want to meet someone named my middle name is nuisance to take photos. Nicole Wakelin 1:28:29 To sell the car someone who goes by nuisance I don't know that's what Dan Roth 1:28:32 we want to do. And it was accurate but we like them anyway. Unknown Speaker 1:28:38 The Dan Roth 1:28:41 checkout like those options bring a trailer I guess would be a first step and just see what they like let us know what kind of fees and stuff they charge just like the photos don't come free. So Nicole Wakelin 1:28:53 I want to know what he does when you decide nuisance. Tell us what you do. Dan Roth 1:28:57 Now like I'm a listener now Yep, you guys are doing fine. Sam Abuelsamid 1:29:03 All right, next question from no substitute. I own a Gen two Raptor Ford Raptor. This week Ford announced that the gen three with 3.5 liter EcoBoost delivers the same horsepower and torque figures. Are we at peak IC or is this a sign Ford is investing in Evie tech is a priority. Nicole Wakelin 1:29:22 Yan any comment on I can Sam Abuelsamid 1:29:25 tell us and tell us all about the Raptor our Dan Roth 1:29:27 I don't know what you're talking about. Roberto Baldwin 1:29:30 So how much can you squeeze out that engine? Sam Abuelsamid 1:29:34 Well, they had like 650 horsepower in the GT. So there's clearly there's clearly a lot of headroom there. Now, I think we are approaching peak ice but Ford has said that you know that the gen three there is going to be a raptor, our version of that. And there you know there will be you know there's speculation that that Raptor or We'll use the supercharged 5.2 liter V eight from the GT 500, the Shelby GT 500, which in the Mustang makes 760 horsepower. And I have no doubt that, you know, Ford desperately wants to one up the ram tr x, before, you know, before these engines go away entirely in these big trucks. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see a 700 plus horsepower, supercharged V eight Raptor are in the next in the next year or so. But you know, beyond that, beyond this generation, it could very well be that, you know, the next generation Raptor is only electric, you know, this may well be the end of the line for internal combustion trucks like that. Yeah. Rebecca Lindland 1:30:46 So, and this is just like, I would ask this question, if it was six months ago, do you? Do you see battery technology? Ai developing to the point where even like, like that, the f 350? Can that be all electric? Like, is that? Is that something that you see in say, even the next 10 years? Or do you think that there are, there are tasks? And I you know, we've talked in the past a lot about, you know, purpose built vehicles, like do you think that we will get to the point where, where battery electric will be sufficient to complete all the tasks that something like a pickup truck is asked to do? Sam Abuelsamid 1:31:33 I think that, at least in the next 10 years, there will probably be still some tasks where you want an internal combustion engine, I have little doubt that by 2030, we will probably see an electric superduty pickup an electric f 350. You know, we're getting the electric f 150. next spring, and I've written in it and it's really, really, really good. The, the right now, the only real downside to the electric trucks is towing, they have the capability to tell. But if you have to tow any kind of long distance, it's still less than ideal solution to say the least. Because when you tow, you are going to lose at least half of your range, and even a 300 mile electric f 150 you're down to 150 miles of range. And Dale hooking up to charge up that battery, you know, that's probably 160 kilowatt hour battery. You know, that's, that's going to take some time. So I think that at least for the foreseeable future, there will still be applications for internal combustion trucks, you know, primarily for towing, but, you know, maybe a few other applications. But I think we will see electric variants of pretty much everything towards the end of the decade. Yeah, Nicole Wakelin 1:33:00 I tend to agree. I think the same thing. I think there's just some applications that won't let EBS do it quite yet. But I feel pretty confident that in a decade or so that's not going to be the case because they're making such strides think or Evie technology, what it was doing even five years ago, you know how far it's changed. If they continue to, like progress at the same rates. I feel like, yeah, we're not at guys where it's going away tomorrow, but it is it will eventually take over for me. Yeah, gM Sam Abuelsamid 1:33:29 gM is making 1000 horsepower 9000 pound Hummer, EV. Yeah. So I mean, that gets supposedly gets 300 over 300 miles of electric range, you know, from a 9000 pound curb weight. So I think, you know, I think it's certainly possible to build just about anything with batteries. Yeah. Roberto Baldwin 1:33:51 Density density will get better and better. And there's enough work. Finally, I think from the automakers from Samsung on solid state that that might actually be a viable solution in about five, six years. We'll see how that plays out. Because solid state is always five years away. I feel like it's protected perpetually five years away. Sam Abuelsamid 1:34:10 Five years away for the last 25 years. Yes, Roberto Baldwin 1:34:12 yes, fuel cell fuel cells gonna be five years ago. We're really going to get the infrastructure up this week, guys, this week. We're going for it. There's gonna be like five new stations in the next six months. Sam Abuelsamid 1:34:24 All right, so big daddy Henshaw asks, longtime listener from back in the Autoblog days. My question for you today is what is your favorite car from the beginning of wheel bearings podcast that you've ever driven or that you have driven? So who wants to go first? what's what's the favorite car you've driven in the last, let's say the last four years? Rebecca Lindland 1:34:45 You got first Roberto Baldwin 1:34:47 Porsche Tyco on Turbo S. Okay. Very good. Why are they requiring less the amount of engineering that Porsche put into that vehicle to make it a go fast and be handled the heft of that Battery, and still deliver a Porsche experience is just amazing. And it's it's an Eevee. And you can drag your friends around and you can do zero to 60 runs again and again and again and again. Which is it's That's it, it's comfortable. It's just a, it's a really fun car to drive. And it's, you know, typically I don't have a favorite car, but it's after I drove that someone asked me What's your favorite card and like, I didn't even think and that was the car that I that I mentioned. Sam Abuelsamid 1:35:30 Alright, who's next? Dan Roth 1:35:34 I'll be I'll be a company man. And I thoroughly enjoyed the Shelby GT 350 it was a few years ago now it's like 2018 the flat plane crank did that thing in like, you know, super loud exhaust mode as much as possible and kept down shifting it everywhere and just making tons of noise? Sam Abuelsamid 1:35:57 I keep it above 7500 RPM as much as possible. Dan Roth 1:36:00 Yeah. I'm going down the highway in second gear, just so you could hear roar. Yeah, there was a good time. Roberto Baldwin 1:36:07 Okay, um, that's the only current Mustang that I haven't driven. Oh, well, now it's not even current. It's gone. And it breaks my heart. I know. Sam Abuelsamid 1:36:19 Drive one. You got to try it out. Cuz I love that. Dan Roth 1:36:23 Dang, it was like a, it was a true like, really dedicated sports car. Yeah. You find? Find one. Roberto Baldwin 1:36:32 Yeah, I like the 500. I liked the GT like the GT bullet. I was like, Oh, I feel like the sweet spot is that 350 and then they're like, making it anymore. Dan Roth 1:36:41 They got the Mk one coming. So it's not the same, but I mean, it'll be good time. All right. All right. Sam Abuelsamid 1:36:48 Who's next? Rebecca? Rebecca Lindland 1:36:51 I think. I mean, it's a little predictable, and it could be very exotic. I do enjoy my Aston Martin DB lab. Sam Abuelsamid 1:37:04 Fair enough. But Rebecca Lindland 1:37:05 on a more practical standpoint, you know, the the Honda Civic Type R that i had i a number of months ago now. I think and I think I had it last fall actually. I think one of the reasons that I love that car so much is first of all, it's a manual transmission. And that immediately takes you to the time when your responsibility is to drive the car which is very different than you know when you have a lot of a das or when you have you know an automatic and but you know, you you have to attend the car is very demanding when it's a manual transmission. And so that sort of singular purpose is is not something that we enjoy very much in our multitasking world. And so I think I just I really loved getting back to the roots and getting back to driving and so I just you know, and the thing you know, I think I had similar feelings and in any in the I have the my Miata when the Miata was a manual as well and it's that same I'm really any manual will do that for you. And I just I love that I love that sort of that sense of responsibility that that you can't attend to your phone now. You can't do anything it because you are busy driving the car. And I love that Nicole Wakelin 1:38:37 okay, I almost said the Aston Martin I was kind of with you on that Rebecca and I'm like nah cuz like five people on the planet can afford one of those but something that's a little more attainable. I the first car that I ever drove that I that I got into and the minute I sat down I'm like I love this everything about it the field the drive that everything actually the the Julia the Alfa Romeo Giulia, I love that car. Yeah, outstanding. I love the Juliet. And it's like whether you're driving the quadrifoglio quadrifoglio and taking it out on a track. It's phenomenal. But then you can take that same car that you just took around the track and you can genuinely drive that on the road and enjoy it and be comfortable. But I loved it. Everything about that car if I was going to buy a new car right now and I could buy whatever I want to buy that. That is my it's still my heart The minute I sat down in it Sam Abuelsamid 1:39:28 all outstanding choices. Rebecca Lindland 1:39:30 And let me just tell you that she can also drive the heck out of an Alfa Romeo Stelvio name, sir. Nicole Wakelin 1:39:38 Possibly, I don't know what evidence you have for that. Dan Roth 1:39:44 Across the country, day flat. Sam Abuelsamid 1:39:48 Yeah, I mean, I love all those choices. You know, I mean, the only one of those I haven't driven is the PT icon. I'm still waiting on Mr. Kim to give me a call and say, Hey, we got you getting into a Tai Chi Calvin, if you're out there, you know where to find me. But, and But yeah, I have the GT 350 fantastic car, the tie bar, amazing. The quadrifoglio the sound of that turbo V six is just phenomenal. But, of course, I love every Miata. You know, they're fantastic. I think I'm gonna go with the CA Corvette. Because it is so good. Unknown Speaker 1:40:33 I mean, they're for me. Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 1:40:36 I also love the the NSX. You know, the NSX? The draw? Yeah, Roberto Baldwin 1:40:41 the sex is outstanding. Yeah, Rebecca Lindland 1:40:43 it is. But it's I just ruined it. Sam Abuelsamid 1:40:51 Who cares? You just turned it turned off. windows down. Rebecca Lindland 1:40:54 Even the look of it, though, is really, I think, but the driving experiences right now. I Sam Abuelsamid 1:41:00 fully agree. Yes, it has. It has the same infotainment system that's in our civic. But I don't care. Because the rest of the cars so good. chairs the infotainment system with the tight bar, but when I Rebecca Lindland 1:41:15 know I know you're right. The Acura NSX is a gorgeous machine. I'm looking at a picture of it right now. Dan Roth 1:41:20 I see like that's not uncommon, right? Like Ferraris. Don't have good infotainment, infotainment. And when I had the Viper, it had the Grand Cherokee, my gig radio in it. And it was it was fine. Like somebody that was what like 2008 or nine. And somebody asked him like, how do you feel about the Grand Cherokee? Like in retirement like it's fine. Why would I care? Like it's fine. If it works, it's good. Like, Roberto Baldwin 1:41:45 if it's a supercar, the infotainment system is not super Yeah, that's right. Yeah. It's the the Lamborghini arose, juris, Ernest, whatever the SUV, it's it's MMI. It's the alpha. It's it's Audi's infotainment system. That's why it's better. Sam Abuelsamid 1:42:01 Yeah. But Rebecca Lindland 1:42:04 hijack. Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 1:42:06 Yeah, the court, the CIA is incredible what they did with that, and the fact that they're able to build that car and sell it for $60,000. Yeah, it's mind boggling. I mean, it they they did an amazing job on that car. It looks fantastic. It drives amazingly well. It's ridiculously fast. Yeah, I mean, with without even going uphill, without even using launch control. You know, it did zero to 60 in 3.3 seconds. Yeah. So it's, it's just, it's a phenomenal car, and a phenomenal bargain for what it is, you know, the, it has better performance than that. NSX is, as much as I love the NSX. The Corvette is faster. And it cost less than a third of what the NSX that I drove did the NSX I had was $205,000, the Corvette I had was a base Corvette, no options on it. And it was, you know, $61,000, including delivery. And, you know, that's, that's amazing. You know, I would say that's probably the, you know, not wanting to replicate. I mean, if, if I if I was really gonna say my favorite car, it probably I would probably also go with the GT 350. But I want to pick something different. And so I'll go with the Corvette Rebecca Lindland 1:43:32 may ask you, do you, what do you think when so right at GM, with the quarterback? And is that is that philosophy? replicatable. Sam Abuelsamid 1:43:46 I think I think it's definitely replicatable. And I think that, you know, they had a very dedicated team, led by Tasha Schuster, you know, Mark Royce, you know, basically said, don't build the best Corvette. You can. Yeah. And, you know, they did that. Now. They built they built the best Corvette that's ever been created. And I think I think it is replicatable whether they're doing it or not, we will see, I think in the next the next couple of years, especially as we see their new TVs come to market. I'm a little worried, because the Hummer weighs 9000 pounds. But we'll see what they will see what they do with the rest of them. I mean, maybe they put you know, a cast iron skid plate on the entire bottom of the Hummer. I don't know. I was I was thinking the other day I was I was I was researching something and I rewatched part of the the Tesla battery day presentation and they were showing the the giant die castings are making for the front and rear structures of the model Why? And second, maybe that's a Corvette did is they decided to copy those giant die castings except instead of aluminum, they made them have cast iron. Maybe that's why it weighs nine pounds. I'm baffled as to how that thing can weigh 9000 pounds. Or no, I mean, the 200 kilowatt hour battery, it can't weigh more than about 2500 pounds. So I don't know where that other 6500 pounds is. Roberto Baldwin 1:45:20 It's all those ages. You keep putting shoes on things. It's a Nicole Wakelin 1:45:23 big letter, Roberto Baldwin 1:45:25 a big letter. It's a very heavy. It's a big heavy letter, and it weighs things. Now look ahead needs two supports. That's how an H works. Sam Abuelsamid 1:45:33 Yeah. Yeah, g m is definitely capable of doing that again, and I certainly hope they will. So Nicole Wakelin 1:45:41 I think they can duplicate but I think the Corvette was was a unique situation, because it's such a, an iconic car for them. They can't mess that up. Like it would have been terrible to mess that one up. But I think they were given a lot of a lot of support to developing that, that probably wouldn't go into just any car. Rebecca Lindland 1:46:00 Yeah, now I just want them to be able to repeat that, you know, like, that's the thing, it's like, go out and build, you know, the best Chevy Traverse, you know, have that mentality. Sam Abuelsamid 1:46:13 And based on based on what we've seen, you know, of the altium drive system, you know, I they did some really clever engineering there and I'm confident that you know, that their new line of ease is going to be really good. I'm really looking forward to trying out the lyric, the Cadillac color. Yeah, so i think i think that's gonna be that's gonna be the tell is to, you know, whether they're for real. Alright, last question. David Lama asks, I would like to get a mini car. What's the proper term, mini car like a jaros fit Mini Cooper spark etc. What do you think? What do you think has been the best of those vehicles in the past decade. That's many car of the past decade. Roberto Baldwin 1:46:59 I, I love the fit because you can put so much stuff in the fit we so I I'm in a bunch of bands that I've had two band mates who had a fit, and we have shoved entire drums drum sets in there. We've shoved giant bass amps in there. Bass amps big. Sam Abuelsamid 1:47:19 You know, it's the big amp stand up amps. Yeah. Roberto Baldwin 1:47:21 So we've we've shoved amps in there. The only issue I have with the fit is that the seating position is I'm about one inch too tall for the fit. That's it. If it wasn't for that I would have been all over the fit at some point when, when I was looking for a new car. But over it's just a great little car that we don't get anymore. And now it's hybrid in other parts of the world. So if you can pick up like a use fit, it's gonna it's a Honda, so it's gonna last, I don't know, seven 800,000 miles, you can put everything you want in there. It has more cargo space than some SUVs unless you have a large unless you're very tall. It's Yeah, I like to fit. Nicole Wakelin 1:48:00 I think I'm I'm with you, Roberto. I like the fit of that little list and just trying to think about small cars. I was looking for really small cars about 10 years ago and trying to find something and I really loved that I didn't end up going with that I made terrible mistakes and did not buy it. But yeah, no, I think the physical calendar does have it has a surprising amount of space for stuff like you think little teeny tiny car. I can put in there as a bag of groceries like oh, no, I can put a lot in there. So yeah, it's it's Sam Abuelsamid 1:48:28 a miracle of packaging efficiency. Yeah, my my older daughter had one for 13 years. And you know, it was phenomenal how much stuff you could put in there. And you know, especially if you get one with a manual transmission, even though it didn't have a whole lot of power. It was a lot of fun to drive Roberto Baldwin 1:48:47 your mind that thing up. Just go for it. Sam Abuelsamid 1:48:49 Yeah. You can get a lot of Hyundai Kona Evie. Yeah, that's too big or not. Oh, no, no, Rebecca Lindland 1:48:59 I love I really really enjoyed driving that car. I thought that was it was really well done. I liked it better than the Hyundai ionic. I just thought I don't know there was something that was really on the corner was just a lot of fun. I had it again I think I had it a number of months ago I wish I put dates on these reviews that I wrote and but I just you know i just i thought it was a really really good vehicle and I really liked the sides of it and we could fit a lot of staff and yeah, definitely room for five and good storage and stuff. So that would be my boat. Sam Abuelsamid 1:49:40 I do love the Kona Evie I don't know if I'd say there's room for five the backseat is kind of tight. But but other than that everything else I totally agree with. It's great card Dan Roth 1:49:51 is it surprise you guys didn't have you picked up the master tune which was surprising given your track record. That's all Yeah, I'm I'm not gonna weigh in with an opinion. I'm just saying, like, Roberto Baldwin 1:50:03 what happens if I can you Dan Roth 1:50:04 guys talk about the most, you know, that Sam Abuelsamid 1:50:06 the two the two was, was a great car as well. But, yeah, I think the, the fit was better, you know, just just because for a small car, you know, you can do so much with it. You know, it's it was it was really impressive car. Now, you know, minis are also a lot of fun to drive, or at least they were not quite so much with the latest generation. But you know, they have traditionally they've been a lot of fun to drive. And, but, you know, they're expensive. And you know, they have had reliability issues at various times. You know, so Rebecca Lindland 1:50:45 I did look adorable on the side of the road in my mini Roberto Baldwin 1:50:51 transmission, your transmission was shaking itself apart, you were just like, look like I look how cute I am. The Sam Abuelsamid 1:51:04 the last 20 years I you know, which was also you know, a monster too. You know, that was that was also a really, really good car. I mean, it was it was a Mazda at heart with just a less attractive facia on it. But you know, it was it was a lot of fun to drive it had, you know, all the things we appreciate about mostess Roberto Baldwin 1:51:26 I think if you're looking for something a little sporty, that's small, but maybe not like a Mini Golf GTI if you will, yeah. Yeah, Dan Roth 1:51:34 too big. That's, that's Yeah, I Roberto Baldwin 1:51:36 feel like it's a little bit too big compared to the other cars. But if you're, you're like, Ah, you know, I really want performance, and you're fine going up just a scooch the GTI sort of last fun, hot, hot, you can get out there. Dan Roth 1:51:50 I mean, if you want something new, that kind of performance, you get yourself a Fiesta ST. Sam Abuelsamid 1:51:54 Yeah, so I was just gonna say as fast as T. Dan Roth 1:51:57 I mean, that was a good time. Roberto Baldwin 1:52:01 This Fiesta made by BMW makes Nicole Wakelin 1:52:04 those guys Dan Roth 1:52:06 yeah. All I have to say is lift throttle oversteer. All right. take your foot off the pedal. It's a super good time. Sam Abuelsamid 1:52:18 And it doesn't have as much torque steers a Focus ST. So yeah, alright, I Roberto Baldwin 1:52:24 kinda want to make I'm sorry, I kind of want to make a little like, platform for the Mini Cooper. Se the electric Mini Cooper doesn't have a lot of doesn't have a lot of range. But I feel like because it's an Eevee you're not gonna have the weird transmission issues you will have with a Mini Cooper. I like the Mini Cooper se. Probably more. It's probably my favorite Mini Cooper right now. It's like when i when i grow the 500. He was like, well, this is the best. I think the Mini Cooper se is probably the best. I Dan Roth 1:52:55 love how much of a craft it is just to balance the wheels on that car. Because of the way the design of the center cap is like there's a counterweight you have to put on there to balance it. When it's Yeah, something like that. I just loved how how much thought had to be put into that for that off center design Sam Abuelsamid 1:53:16 kind of thing you would only get from a German owned car maker. Yeah. All right. Well, that's all we've got for this week. I want to really thank Rebecca and Dan for joining us for this episode. 200 so great to have you guys back and see you and talk to you again. Thank you so much. Dan Roth 1:53:37 Yeah, you guys are doing a great job. So carry on. It's entertaining to listen to as I'm no longer participating. I don't know. And it was good to see Rebecca. Rebecca Lindland 1:53:48 Likewise, it seems to emerge from the dark side. Sam Abuelsamid 1:53:54 And you guys listeners can't can't see the video because we don't publish the video but Rebecca is dressed in black but it looks like she's in a white room cuz she's got the background blur turned on. And it's all almost all entirely white behind her. So like that's kind of the kind of the Johnny I've look Rebecca Lindland 1:54:16 because my apartment isn't really, you know, fully decorated yet more than anything. It's not anything secret back there. But it is very different than the tree house. Sam Abuelsamid 1:54:28 The boulder behind you. Rebecca Lindland 1:54:30 I know there's no rock. Yeah, it's very different. All right. Sam Abuelsamid 1:54:36 anything exciting going on with that with you guys this week before we say goodbye. Dan Roth 1:54:42 Just hanging on for dear life Nicole Wakelin 1:54:45 hanging on for dear life. Sam Abuelsamid 1:54:51 On that note Thank you everybody and we'll talk to you next week. Bye bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai