Sam Abuelsamid 0:00 Coming up on episode 213 wheel bearings, the 2021 Lexus IS 300 all wheel drive the new Nissan Frontier, a refresh for the toy Ford Expedition, and an all new Toyota Tundra for the first time in more than a decade. plus half doors for the Jeep Gladiator. And we speculate about an electric GMC motorhome. All that more coming up next. Did you know you can support wheel bearings directly head 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 Episode 213 of wheel bearings. I'm Sam Abuelsamid, from guidehouse insights. Nicole Wakelin 1:03 And I am Nicole wakelin. From let's go with Kelley Blue Book today. Sam Abuelsamid 1:09 And we're Bernal Baldwin is somewhere either he has slept in because it's still relatively early on the west coast where he lives. Or maybe his internet is down, which is also possibility because it was acting a little flaky the other day are recorded so or it could be both. Yeah, it could be both. So if he joins us great. If not, we will continue on, Nicole, Nicole Wakelin 1:32 it wasn't even driving when Sam showed today. Sam Abuelsamid 1:36 What do you been driving the vehicle and Nicole Wakelin 1:37 I actually yeah, I'm actually in a vehicle that I did the launch for, I don't know, a month ago. Now I have the 22 Nissan Frontier, and the pro for x. So I've talked about this on the show already. But this is like a chance. Like we have a launch, we took it off road, which is great. Because you know, you know, they're taking you to things that are just challenging enough that you can handle without destroying the vehicle. But they give you a taste of things. But you maybe push it a little more than you would if your own on your own because you know, they know what's in front of you. You know, they've planned it, right. So this time it was more about on road driving. And you know, I'm taking it around town, I had to run down to the airport in the middle of you know, Boston, like every day kind of driving. But I have to say that so the pro forex is the off road version, right? You've got like extra skid plates, and it's got you know, bigger wheels, it has all these things to make it great off road that can tend to make a car miserable or truck miserable to drive when you're on the pavement because they get kind of bouncy, and kind of sloppy, especially if the bed is empty. And I was really impressed after a week of driving this, I sort of forgot that it was the off road trip. Like it just felt like driving a nice well mannered, small truck. It was really good. And the styling on this thing is killer. So there's a ton of small trucks out there. And again, this is a car I got stopped in parking lots like it was at the grocery store. And the guy's like, Hey, is that the new friend here? Want to take a look at it. He's checking it all out. I had a couple different people say like, is that your truck? What is that? So it's, they did a good job on the design. It's a striking design. But I really was impressed with I know that this has capability. I mean, I did that when we did the launch. I know it can go off road. I know it can handle dirt and mud and loose gravel and rocks. But as a daily driver, this thing was fantastic. I was genuinely impressed, which I didn't really expect to be I expected it to have that bouncy, uncomfortable ride, especially in a city where you're thinking, Okay, I have exactly one half inch of space on either side of me in this tunnel. And if this truck bounces either way, I'm giving it sideswiping something, you know, it didn't do that it was really good. And it is powerful if it has a 3.8 liter V six 310 horsepower, 281 pound feet of torque. And it's not a huge truck. That is more than enough to make this feel really responsive. If you you know mash the gas to get up to highway speed. It's right there with you. It has plenty of power left over if you need to pass somebody who's a little bit slower on the highway. It feels very well mannered. So I think what impressed me about this particular loan was man you can live with this just as a daily vehicle if you are someone who just is off roading on the weekend and once that capability to have fun, you can still drive it to the office during the week you can still haul the kids around in it during the week and not feel like you're sacrificing the comfort that you would want in something that wasn't an off road truck. Sam Abuelsamid 4:27 The is that Do you have the crew cab version or the just to cabin extended cab now right? Nicole Wakelin 4:37 Yeah, I think if the crew cab Sorry, I had to think for a second brain gram. So it's, it's it's a roomy truck. You know it's it's comfortable. It's going to space. The only thing you know my one complaint here's my stupid Nicole complaint because there always has to be one. When you unlock the doors it has a locking tailgate, which is fantastic except when the tailgate unlocks. It is loud. So when you click the button to unlock the door, it almost startles you that, like from the back of the truck, you hear that a lot. My daughter was Sam Abuelsamid 5:04 kind of resonating through that hollow metal. It Nicole Wakelin 5:07 resonates through the whole truck. It is a kaboom, you're like no that's that's just the tailgate and locking Shinji need that to be unlocked as you're trying to get in. Yeah, so I thoroughly enjoyed and has this cool color. I'm can't find the pink color, but it's just because I'm desperately looking at Nissan's website. And I'll be darned if I can find the paint listing. But it's this really dark green, it makes me think of like an army green, like you'd have in an old army vehicle to start green. So then the red accents that they have like around the Nissan badge, and you know, the red that's sort of terms around the pro 4x decal that goes on the bed really pops against this so it makes it a really, it's a unique chocolates. And it's a nice color. I like having a color that's a little something different than everything else that's on the road. Sam Abuelsamid 5:55 You mean that's something that's not a shade of gray. Nicole Wakelin 5:59 It's not a shade of gray. Yeah, like the pole star with it's 18 shades of gray dark gray, light gray, medium gray off gray. Sam Abuelsamid 6:06 Yeah, I've seen I've seen the tundra in that green color and it is a good it is a really good color. I'm strapped pull it up right now here. Nicole Wakelin 6:16 I know I'm trying to find the color and I'm I literally cannot find the color listing. But it's this really beautiful like dark green. And I drove through some mud and even the mud looked cool on it because it's like dried to this light brown. I'm like okay, cool. The mud looks dried all over the side of this truck. Sam Abuelsamid 6:36 Maybe here, let's try the SV trim. So Nicole Wakelin 6:39 yeah, so so I'm impressed with that. I think Nissan did a good job, you know that this hasn't been redone in roughly 100 million years. So it's been a long time. I mean, the engine was new. I think it was for 2021 Sam Abuelsamid 6:50 Yeah, they replaced the truck they put the new engine in for the last model year of the old truck. Nicole Wakelin 6:56 Right so we had one model year that already had that engine so you know you had that experience but the rest of the truck just felt especially when you'd sat down inside oh my gosh, did it look it looked old it just so desperately needed to refresh and they did a great job with this one and let's see starting price it starts at 27 I think 27 eight so you can get into one not the pro for x but you can get into one for about $27,000 so that's not crazy and it was a crew cab as I say a head crew yeah that's what I have Sam Abuelsamid 7:32 Yeah, so that's that's about you know, it's in the same ballpark as you know to call a ranger or the the Colorado and can yeah Nicole Wakelin 7:42 so this the base price on the base price of the pro for x is 37 two it's still not a crazy price when you consider how much truck you're getting because you're getting a really nice well equipped truck with that offer capabilities. So you're getting the best of both worlds there. It's still coming in under $40,000 that's not a bad deal. Sam Abuelsamid 8:01 Yeah, not bad at all. And you know, I think it's it's a lot better looking truck than the previous generation it's it's more more it's significantly more modern looking. Let's put it that way. And it's got that squared off look that Nissan has been moving to on their on their SUVs as well the the the green color is called tactical green metallic Nicole Wakelin 8:27 is that well see and I was saying it looked like army green so tactical green I was on track Sam Abuelsamid 8:32 Yep. Cool. So what do they what's the the tow rating on this thing because you know one of the reasons people buy trucks is for towing Do you know Do you happen to know off the top of your head with that is my Nicole Wakelin 8:45 gosh you asked me and I didn't write down the tow rating I can find it as a tow rating was halfway decent ended and actually did pretty good. I mean if you really want to tow you like if you're crazy with the towing you're going to want something bigger like go to a full size. What would be next up for Nissan Nissan Sam Abuelsamid 9:02 Frontier what is the front Titan? Nicole Wakelin 9:04 Yeah, no, this is the front Wait, what's their other truck all I had in my head was tundra because it's been all all tundra all the time for the last couple of days. Yeah. But yeah, Max payload looks like it's 14 I should be looking right at towing and towing is is hiding from me in this giant list of capacities. Here we go towing, maximum capacity. So on the pro 4x that I had. Maximum tow rating is 6270 pounds. That's not bad. That's a bad thing. If you get rid of all the pro forex stuff, you can get a couple 100 I think it's 6570 is your maximum. If you go Sam Abuelsamid 9:49 Yeah, going going with the off road packages usually gets you a lower tow rating, then, you know, then whatever the maximum is because the way the suspensions are set up with the law longer, we'll travel on everything that usually cuts into your toe rating Plus, you know, there are also usually heavier because of all the skin rights and everything. So that's not that's not bad. Okay, not bad. Nicole Wakelin 10:11 I mean, you're not going to be like doing like, you know, you know, work at the ranch, but that's probably not why you're buying this, you know, but if you want to know something smaller 60 to 100 pounds of towing. Sam Abuelsamid 10:21 I mean, you can tell you can tell a good size boat, you know, good size boat, yeah, weighs about 4000 pounds, four to 4040 500 pounds. Nicole Wakelin 10:28 So you can tell that in the range of being able to do that. Yeah, that's, Sam Abuelsamid 10:32 that's the sort of thing, you know, that's most people that are towing recreationally are going to be towing something up to about that size, you know, 5000 pounds is usually kind of the upper limit there. It's when you get into the big travel trailers and horse trailers and stuff. If you're going to tell something like that, then you got to move up to a full size truck and get that genetic. Nicole Wakelin 10:55 But I feel like the cool thing about trucks in this, you know, when you go with the smaller trucks is that you don't, you get just enough of the capability and the perks of having a truck without the price of the bigger ones. And without the they can be cumbersome. I mean, if you try to drive a full size truck into a city, it is not fun. It is not fun navigating city streets. And like when I've had to drive into Boston, with like an F, I had an F 250. I thought this is the worst drive of my entire life. I felt like I was hanging over the sides of everything, like big vehicles are tough in cities. So if you live in a country, and you want to have that and it's your daily driver, have at it, but if you go any place where you have congested parking lots or you know a minimum of parking, these smaller trucks can do a fantastic job for less money, and way more everyday livable than the full size models for a lot of people. Sam Abuelsamid 11:48 Yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting to see how you know the even smaller trucks that are coming now like the the Hyundai Santa Cruz and the Ford Maverick. Do you know whether they eat into, you know, some of the sales of the midsize trucks gives us over the last six or seven years the midsize trucks, you know, have really grown in sales. You know, right trucks like the Ranger of the Colorado Canyon, the frontier, they've actually done really well as the full size trucks have gotten more and more expensive. A lot of people have moved into the midsize trucks. Now with the compacts coming you know, is that going to add to that or is that going to eat into those midsize sales? You know how many how many of those people are going to move down? Nicole Wakelin 12:29 I really wonder I think especially with the Santa Cruz because that's it's such a quirky little thing like the maverick feels like you took you know you went it's like a small medium large with you know, Maverick Ranger f150 but the Santa Cruz feels like this quirky fun little odd duck of a truck like like we want to be a truck and give you some truck capability. We're not really a truck, but we're kind of a truck. That one I feel like that one would get a whole new I feel like that's going to draw people from that SUV like I want an SUV but I want to talk but I want an SUV but I want to talk here's here's where they've mashed together like that's the Sam Abuelsamid 13:04 perfect trying to bring up they're trying to get the people that the liked the the Subaru baja a decade ago. Yeah. Which sadly for Subaru was turned out to not be that many people. But you know, maybe this time, you know, I think this one, this one these these these trucks, the Santa Cruz in the maverick I think are a little more useful as trucks than the Baja was. And so I think they might do better. Nicole Wakelin 13:33 Yeah, I think they'll do better. And I tend to think my gut tells me that it will take Oh, especially the maverick will take a little bit away from like the Rangers and the tacomas and the frontiers of the world. But I think it might take more away from SUVs, honestly, because it gives you you know, it's it's, it's not quite chunky enough to be a truck, but it kind of is like an SUV that lets you do just a bit more, you know. So that's my guess. I don't know, we'll have to see how the numbers work out. But I bet it's going to take more from SUVs. Okay. Sam Abuelsamid 14:04 All right. I have been driving this week, the 2021 Lexus IS 300 all wheel drive, which in case you missed it when they launched the new iOS 300 looks almost exactly the same as the old iOS 300. When I watched I watched the reveal of that when they did this seems like it was late last year or last fall when they revealed it. And I'm looking at it I'm thinking, Okay, what are they going to show us the new one. And then I realized, Oh, they are showing us the new one. It's almost indistinguishable from the old one, which is not not necessarily a bad thing. It's not that the the previous generation was a bad looking car. I think one thing that's really interesting is almost exactly the same size. And I think it's mostly the same platform as the old one. Because it's like barely One inch longer overall less than an inch longer overall same width, same height. So if you like the look of the old is, then you'll be happy with the new one because it it does make some significant improvements in the interior. When you know first thing I noticed when I got in was it still has the dreaded Lexus touchpad but feel about those, but, but it also has a touchscreen. Yeah, so the spread is what am i right with it? So you can you can just pretend that the trackpad isn't there. You know, you can easily ignore it. I'm gonna put a piece of duct tape over it. Yeah, never noticed it again. You'll never know. never need to use it. Just touch the screen. It's all good. Nicole Wakelin 15:43 Like here it just put duct tape on your fancy luxury sedan. There you go. Sam Abuelsamid 15:48 Okay, maybe gaffer tape. gaffer tape would be Nicole Wakelin 15:51 okay. All right, I appreciate that. You're bumping it up a level, okay. Okay, Sam Abuelsamid 15:54 use something a little, little, a little bit classier, a little, maybe a little less noticeable. But I've been driving it around this week, I had to go Thursday at some appointments across, you know, actually, fairways away. And so I spent a couple hours driving it. And one thing I noticed when I got on the highway, is how quiet this thing is, it's very, very quiet, just cruising on the highway, very little wind noise, very little road noise coming through. You know, even when you get on the gas and you know, give it full throttle. And you don't hear a whole lot from the engine, it's, it's a very subdued feeling in there. It feels very composed. I remember back in 19 9091 night it was 91 when the original LS first came out, and I was working at the General Motors proving ground side as an engineer. And there was one in the GM had a large fleet of competitive vehicles that rotated around all the various departments at The Proving Grounds. And I got to try that that original first generation LS which was that was one of the first two lexuses ever they launched in in 89. And yeah, that car was so quiet, but it also was like you were completely disconnected from the road. It was different from the the kind of thing you got, you know, with Cadillacs of that era, which were also quiet but also very floaty and, you know, kind of, you know, that's where the term land yacht came from, you know, it was it was more controlled. This You know, this is a much more controlled feeling. It's kind of an in between, you know, at least in the eyes 300 form, you know, in between the, you know, a sports sedan and a compact luxury sedan where it's got that quietness but it also feels very stable. There's no bounciness to it no floatiness to it. It doesn't have tremendous steering field but i think you know, for the the customer base is going to go for something like like this car, you know, it's probably fine. The seats are very, very comfortable. These lease they were for me, you know, your your mileage will vary as we say. This one is the all wheel drive. And what's interesting is that the when you look at the specs, you know, they have there's two different is 300 there's the is 302 wheel drive, the rear wheel drive, which has a two liter turbocharged four cylinder engine. But if you go for the all wheel drive version, you actually get the Lexus's in our Toyota's 3.5 liter V six at but it keeps the is 300 badge. And then there's also the IRS 350 which also has the V six but it's a higher output version. So if you get the rear wheel drive is 300 you get 241 horsepower from the turbo four cylinder. If you get the is 300 all wheel drive you get 260 horsepower from the V six. If you get the is 350 with either rear or all wheel drive, you get a 311 horsepower version, that engine and then there's also now an is 500 which is a five liter V eight, which if you want a sports sedan, that's probably the one you'll want. That one's 472 horsepower. So the without Nicole Wakelin 19:34 Do you think when you go from the 300 to the 300 all wheel drive where you're getting 19 horsepower, do you think it's still you think you feel that 19 horsepower or Probably not, you know the all wheel drive adding extra weight? Yeah, Sam Abuelsamid 19:46 the extra weight of the combination of the extra weight of the all wheel drive plus the V six even though it has more power actually has less torque than the four cylinder. So the four cylinder is 258 foot pounds of torque you only get two Already six with the IRS. So it doesn't feel especially doesn't feel especially strong with the V six, it's adequate, it's more than adequate, you know, it's, it'll do zero 60 and just over six seconds. So it's not like it's slow, but it doesn't feel it does, it doesn't feel like it's pushing you back into your seat, you know, it, it's like everything else about this car that just feels very calm and collected, you know, it just it just gets up and goes, you know, so there's nothing exciting about 100 well behaved, very, very well mannered, very well behaved. So you know, if you're looking for something with you know, Lexus levels of quality and reliability that you know, is looks kind of sporty, you know, and is a very nice size I really like the size of this of the of this car, and he has that same class with you know, a little Genesis g 70. Or, you know, the three series or an Audi a4, you know, I think it's a good size the the rear seats got enough room for adults, the trunk sizes is decent. So you know, it's it's a very practical car you know, rather than being humongous you know, it's it's going to be relatively easy to park so i think it's it's a it's a good option to consider you know, if you're if you're looking for something that's got that slightly sportier look, but you know, is not necessarily you know, and it has more than adequate performance but you know, it's not going to really necessarily excite you this this is a really good choice I'm with the all wheel drive Of course, you know, you're gonna have good traction in the in the wintertime, if you live somewhere where where we have winters still, that's it's definitely one to consider. It's got, you know, like most newer lexuses it's got the Lexus safety system 2.5 which is basically gives you all the things you want pre pre collision avoidance, automatic emergency braking, radar, adaptive cruise control, lane tracing assist, Lane Departure alert, automatic high beams and so on. Blind Spot monitors. And this one was priced out at where is the price is over here $49,915 Nicole Wakelin 22:26 which then had some options because the base is 4150 right? Sam Abuelsamid 22:31 Yeah, so this this had the the mark Levinson audio system, which is 2020 $750 sounds really good. It's got the rear spoiler, which is kind of pointless on here, but it's, it's a fairly subtle spoiler, but you know, it's 400 bucks. You know, I think I would probably take a pass on that one body, it's body colored, so it just kind of blends in you know, unless you look really closely you probably wouldn't even notice it. It has the intuitive parking assist with auto braking, rear pedestrian detection, a panoramic view mirror I haven't really tried tried that yet. I've still got a few more days with this thing. And of course the comfort package which again, if you're in a climate where you were you feel all wheel drive would be a benefit to you probably want to go with the comfort package as well because that gets you the heated and cooled seats, leather heated leather steering wheel and, and also sunroof. So you know, I think Nicole Wakelin 23:33 any amount of money for the heated stuff in the car, like they could be like Nikola cars 50 grand, but we're gonna charge you another 25 for a heated steering wheel and seats I'd be like you're taking my money. That is my favorite thing to spend money on at a car, because it's so cold here. What do these 20 degrees out? It is worth every penny that you pay for those two options Sam Abuelsamid 23:52 ever, ever, ever since we? We bought our pissant 21 years ago that had heated seats in it. My wife will not tolerate any vehicle without Nicole Wakelin 24:03 seats. I wish your wife I'm like Forget it. No we're not buying it no heated seats move along next. Sam Abuelsamid 24:09 So our civic does have heated seats. Excellent. So yeah, you know it's it's it's a good entry into the Lexus ecosystem, you know, if you're, if you like the Lexus design language, and granted, not everybody does not everybody's thrilled with the spindle grille. You know, but if you like that, look, this is your entry point into that and it's it's not a bad place to start. And, you know, the the delivery charge, unlike some vehicles we've talked about recently is relatively more modest. $2,025. So that's a it's a good Nicole Wakelin 24:45 way to what I was writing about the other day, I saw something and the delivery fee was only 895. And I was just stunned. I was like 895 What is wrong with him? I wish I could remember which vehicle is running, but I literally wrote this Have a look back and like I must have made a typo. And I go back in and look, I'm like no. And that was only 890. Wow. are now they're running like 1213 1518 $100 It's crazy. Sam Abuelsamid 25:10 On the on the wagon. Here's $2,000. Now. Nicole Wakelin 25:16 That's the price of the heated seats, man. Yeah. Sam Abuelsamid 25:21 So all right. Let's jump into a couple of stories. Let's start off with the 2022 Toyota Tundra. You you've you've had a chance to, you've seen it in person, right? Nicole Wakelin 25:36 I have seen it in person, I saw it in person, we got to do everything but drive it you could sit inside and take a look at them and open and close things, although we did have some pre production stuff going on there. So every now and then you said inside, you're like, no, please tell me this little bits pre production because it's just that really, like they have this fake plasticky stuff. They usually like that can't be the real stuff. But it looks really good. And the general consensus was okay, you did a pretty good job here. Toyota, I think everybody was pretty pleased with it. It looks good. The, there were some neat features in it, you know, one of the things that like they had, and this is funny, they have an air dam on the front of it that automatically retracts at certain speeds. So if you, you know, or if you're so that and then I was looking at it, because there's like, if you look inside the truck, and you look down into the engine bay, you can see where there's a little motor that actually like works to flip it back and forth as needed. But I was looking at how big it was. And I said, from personal experience, if that thing flips up because you're off road, or you're you know, you're it because it hit something and it's like, oh, why? Because it said if you hit like if you were off roading and you hit you know, brush against something, it will push back automatically rather than like snapping. What if you back up and it gets caught in the other way. He's like, we thought of that. It'll also flip back the other direction, if you've like are dragging stuff backwards as you're backing up back and forth. Because I have ripped off air dams doing that. So I was like, Okay, that's good. But that was kind of a neat. That's kind of a neat feature. I thought it was cool. And you could like get down and underneath it and actually see how it worked. Which is kind of cool. You haven't seen it live in person. Have you seen? Sam Abuelsamid 27:12 I have not? Toyota has not deigned to invite me to any of their events recently, for some reason. But I have seen I have seen the photos of it. And, of course, you know, there have been a few leaked images that have popped up over the last few weeks. Yes. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this first. Nicole Wakelin 27:38 What just in general on the way it looks or something? Oh, by the way, it looks? Well. I mean, it looks it looks fine. which I know is like an insult. It's fine. It's all fine. Everything looks fine. It's fine. No, I think it looks good. I I know people are sort of polarized on the style. They think it doesn't look unique enough. Or it looks to unique. It sort of depends on everyone's point of view. I liked it in person. I thought it looked good. I was pleased. Or most people hating on it. Sam Abuelsamid 28:11 Is it better than the way it looks in the photos? Nicole Wakelin 28:18 I think you're hating on it, Sam? No, I think it looks good. And I actually the what, go ahead. Sam Abuelsamid 28:25 I wouldn't. I think my biggest problem. My biggest issue with it is the front end. It's okay, it seems like it's a little over design, I can stare at it. It's Nicole Wakelin 28:38 the front end is a little bit Toyota thing, though. Sam Abuelsamid 28:41 True, but this seems to have taken it to to an extreme degree, especially like on the TRD Pro, you know, the, we have talked quite a bit, you know, here about the excesses of modern grilles. And this one just Yes. Just takes it too far. I think in profile, it's not it's actually not bad. I I don't mind the you know, the sides and, and the you know, the back, you know, the, you know, I think you know, kind of the bolder wheel arches. You know, it's a little more interesting than before, but just the front end, I think a little too much. Nicole Wakelin 29:20 It is definitely like in your face. Like if this was driving behind you on the highway and someone was tailgating you in this you kind of think I just have to get out of the way because they're just gonna run me down and not even realize they hit me. No, it is full. You know what was needed in the TRD Pro. They have a light bar that's built into the grill like it's like a small narrow rectangular light bar right below the toilet a badge. Yeah, right below the badge that actually looks really cool. And then they have that was kind of a neat touch on the front of that. I thought it looked good. And then on the side the fender flares that are just sort of like black trim on trims on the TRD they actually have sort of a pattern that you can feel a little bit but also see it kind of makes me think a camouflage. But it's not really camouflage, like a graining on the plastic. Like a Yeah, but it's like a pattern. It's not just like, Oh, it's a hashtag marker, it's a check mark or something or like it's like it actually made, it makes me think of camouflage. I don't know if that's what it's supposed to be. But it's, but it's something you don't really see really well until you look up close up close, you can even see in the way that it looks, it almost looks like that because of the texture of it. It has slightly different shading to it. And it's it's a very subtle thing. But it adds a nice little bit. Sam Abuelsamid 30:37 Okay, I see it now I see you're saying Do you see what I'm talking Nicole Wakelin 30:40 about? It's like this. Yeah, it's really hard to see when you're in live and in person looking at it, it looks really good. So I liked I thought when you just look at the grill, see how you're thinking like, Whoa, baby, that is a lot of grill. Whole thing, you can't unsee it, when you come around, you see the whole thing like collectively, it's maybe that's collectively it's overdone. But it's a little bit more cohesive. When you see all the elements in person. I think everything it works, I guess that's what I'm trying to say when you see it in person, all the little design elements they did for that one work. And I do like they have this nifty little button on the side for the tailgate. It's like, it's kind of like makes me think of like, you know, when you when you open up a tailgate, like on an SUV, and there's that little rubber pad that has little you push that you open, you know, the sort of hidden underneath a tailgate that you push to release it, it has a release like that that's on the side, sort of by the like button next to the rear to the taillight on it that runs up and down. So you could if your arms are full, and you wanted to pop the tailgate, you can bump it with your elbow, and it comes up. So if you don't have to fit, like mess around with balancing on one foot and waving or anything Goofy, you just pop it with your elbow and it opens right up. Okay, I tried. I'm like, Can you really do that? And it works. So Sam Abuelsamid 31:56 kind of those. Those are the kinds of details that customers really appreciate, I think, Nicole Wakelin 32:02 right? I mean, it sounds like a silly thing. You're like, well, that's goofy. Why would you buy for a truck for that? Well, if you've ever tried to struggle to get into a truck or have stuff in your hands a lot, and you're trying to balance it have to put it down, pick it back up, if you could just pop that open with your elbow. That is super convenient. You know, so I thought that that was kind of a neat, a neat little touch that they did. I thought that was pretty good. I mean, it was, I think overall, I think people are gonna be pretty happy with this. I think it looks good. I think you know, the test is going to be how's it going to drive once we all get it and drive it because they did lots of things to make it feel better, they now have an available air suspension to make the ride better. They have a multilink rear suspension and stuff. And they without they got rid of the old leaf springs and went for coil springs. So they did a lot to make it theoretically, drive better. But none of us have driven yet. So we don't know, like on paper at all looks really good on paper, that should be a darn fine truck to take out on the road. But until we actually which is another couple of weeks away, I think when they have us drive and I feel like it's the beginning of October. So we got a few more weeks now we just get the details on it. But no one actually really gets to drive it until Sam Abuelsamid 33:15 I tell October. Look who's here. Roberto. Nicole Wakelin 33:21 Did you wake up? He doesn't look awake. I don't think you can hear us yet either. Port Roberto. No, I don't think he can hear us we should keep chatting. Sam Abuelsamid 33:29 Okay, so another another interesting aspect of the tundra. There's no more v eight engine. Just you got two v six options actually looks like it's the same v six you got a twin turbo 3.5 liter V six, which sounds sounds like vaguely familiar Where have I seen that spec on a full size pickup truck before? I don't know what one you know, the base setup is just that V six. And then the optional setup is a hybrid version of that which adds an electric motor in between the engine and the transmission. Very much like what you'll find in a Ford f150 powerboost Yeah, so they and you know the specs on both of these, you know in terms of the the amount of power and torque they have are remarkably close to what you get with the Ford. So, you know they've clearly taken a look at what Ford did. You know, they've been thinking along the same lines as Ford. You know, so you've got with the the base setup with the eye for what they're calling the iforce 3.5 liter twin turbo V six 389 horsepower 479 foot pounds of torque. The iforce Max is the hybrid 437 horsepower 583 foot pounds of torque and up to 12,000 pounds maximum towing Kip ability. So they I don't think they've given any kind of hint as to what the fuel economy is going to be right. Have they? Nicole Wakelin 35:09 There's been no, there were no fuel economy numbers. When we were there, there was no fuel economy and there was no I don't think we had to we have pricing. I don't think we had pricing. I feel like pricing was a big question mark as well. Sam Abuelsamid 35:24 So they, Nicole Wakelin 35:24 you know, they do that whole will tell you closer to the on sale date thing. So, Sam Abuelsamid 35:30 yeah, no, no standard cab just to four door layouts, extended cabinet and a full crew cab, three bed lengths, five and a half, six and a half and 8.1 feet. So it's all you know, fairly standard, you know, what you would expect from a modern full size pickup? You know, it's it's hitting all the right check marks? Yeah, I think one of the big complaints and they Nicole Wakelin 35:55 also worth well worth noting to the bed, they did go with a composite bed. That's a standard thing. Sam Abuelsamid 36:01 So it's a good the interior bed liner. Nicole Wakelin 36:04 Yeah, it has an interior bed liner. So they did that. They, you know, they said they weren't you know, there's steel, there's aluminum, everybody fights about what's the best kind of bed to have. But they went with this sheet molding compound it has, what do they say reinforced aluminum crossmembers underneath to help give it some extra strength. But they feel that this is a better option to resist like dents and scratches and rust. Better than going with an aluminum or with a which could you know, dent more easily or as you know, something that's steel that could rust and scratch more easily. So yeah, so composite bed is another big aspect of what they changed. Sam Abuelsamid 36:37 What about the exterior? Is that is that all steel? Nicole Wakelin 36:43 Now you've asked me a question I can't answer. I remember the aluminum crossmembers I remember that it was a composite bed, I can't tell you beyond that. Sam Abuelsamid 36:50 Okay. And then I was gonna say was the, you know, one of the other big complaints about the, the old tundra was the interior. It was, you know, kind of old looking. I mean, it's been around since 2008. But even when it was new, it didn't feel as nice as some of the domestic pickups yet had kind of, for a Toyota had kind of a cheap feel to it. This one looks a lot more contemporary, a lot more modern. You got big, big, big touchscreens. And you mentioned sitting in it before, you know the pre production model. But did it? Did it feel more premium than before? Nicole Wakelin 37:35 Yeah, you know what, because because there's because we had a mix of of trucks between you know, this part these parts or production, these parts are not so you kind of had to sort of judge you know, okay, this is not what this is going to look or feel like but when you when you saw parts, and you saw components where you knew like, okay, yeah, this this looks finished are pretty darn close to it. They did look good. And I think the the styling of it, where you could see like this might not be the leather they're going to use this might not be the plastic they're going to use, but you could see how the styling was going to look in some cases. And it was styled in the way that you felt like this is gonna, this is going to be good when they're done. And the parts that we could see for that were finished, the trims and things look really good. And they were very keenly aware and all the conversations, when we were talking to the specialist, when they were, you know, giving us their briefing before we got a chance to, you know, crawl around all the trucks, they were very clear, like we upgraded the interior, we wanted this experience to be better for our customers, we needed to upgrade the interior. So I do think that the finished product that we're going to see is going to show that off. It wasn't as if they say, Oh, well, you know, we continue to make the same quality interior we made before Well, guys, you weren't really up there before, they realize that it needed to come up a notch. And I think that they worked really hard to do that. So I feel I feel good about that I'm looking forward to seeing like said just fully all production, everything to get a good feel for it, but I think it's going to be good and the new infotainment screen, that there's a standard eight inch screen, but there's an available 14 inch screen. And as it's fantastic. The resolution is really really good. It's very, very sharp. There's standard wireless, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. So you can eliminate some cables from cord clutter inside the cabin when you're driving around. And this and I didn't get to try this but they say there's dual cabin microphones. So I don't know if you ever been in a vehicle and the bigger the vehicle The bigger the problem it is. If you say something to infotainment as a driver it hears you but your passenger says it and it knows somebody said something to it, but it's not. It doesn't pick it up. You can it's theoretically the dual microphones will make it so it's just as easy for the front passenger to voice activate stuff as it is for the driver which is kind of nice because sometimes your passenger is the one who's figuring stuff out not you Sam Abuelsamid 39:47 because they've only got you know, the two engines in there and you know, even the base engine is you know, would be considered a more of a higher end engine. Wondering have they did they talk about any plans for lower end versions of this truck at some point after launch, like a more entry level version of work truck Nicole Wakelin 40:06 know the answer to this question. I'm just going to give you the Toyota life. I'm sorry, but we cannot comment on future product. So yeah, there was nothing about there was nothing about what might or might happen. What could happen what's happening a week after they reveal the first batch of stuff. So far, you will get these two power trains and you will like them or you will not like them. There's there's nothing else so yeah, they didn't say anything about what might happen down the line. Sam Abuelsamid 40:33 Okay, cool. Robbie, are you you got your sound working yet? So have you had a chance to take a look at the new tundra yet? Roberto Baldwin 40:44 I have not, I have not had a chance to take a look at the new tundra. I know that Toyota will hold on to a vehicle and a power train for as long as humanly possible. They will they will they will definitely beat a dead horse and horse up and then throw a new coat of paint on the horse and then sell it to customers who will continue to buy said horse. Will they finally Nicole Wakelin 41:09 let this horse die and the new horse is considerably improved over the old horse. Roberto Baldwin 41:16 Yeah, the 10 of the tenders felt pretty. Yeah. Nicole Wakelin 41:21 Yeah. It needed it. It needed it was you know, sometimes it's funny, they you know, they they're doing refreshes, they're doing all new, you know, versions of vehicles. And sometimes you get it like Well, you're talking with the styling on the Lexus earlier say, um, you know, it doesn't look significantly different. Like they change it a little bit. But it's still kind of looks the same other times they take a vehicle they're like, we need to do something. And that's the tundra like we have we've redone everything, everything need there's there's nothing on that that needed to stay the way it was. And that's a good thing. Roberto Baldwin 41:51 Cool. Yeah, they definitely they need to do something with that thing is painfully long in the tooth as Sam Abuelsamid 42:01 Oh, well. Guess what now? I was just gonna say one or the detail we didn't mention is it's got coil spring versus pension now like the RAM, like the Ram 1500. Nicole Wakelin 42:11 I did mention that. Did you think I did? I think I said that somewhere? I think I did. Okay. Yeah, they changed the suspension, because now they can have the fancy. Sam Abuelsamid 42:21 You mentioned the air springs. Yeah. You mentioned that got the air spring option. I couldn't remember if Nicole Wakelin 42:26 they got rid of the old leaf springs and did and they went for coil springs instead. Sam Abuelsamid 42:29 Yeah. Yeah. So that should give it a lot better. Right? Nicole Wakelin 42:32 Yeah. Yeah. And it's always just for the rear. It's not for the whole thing. So Oh, Sam Abuelsamid 42:37 okay. No, no front, no front air springs? No, no, Frank, Nicole Wakelin 42:40 just for the rear. They're kind of said that it was from what I understand, like, okay, it'll make things better. But it's also supposed to work a lot for load leveling if you're a carrier trailer or towing a trailer. So it's to help with that. So I think they intended it more to be making trailer towing a trailer easier, not as much making your ride overall better, although we'll do that, too. So I think that was that's why they just went with the rear for that for the air suspension. Roberto Baldwin 43:05 Okay. All right, essentially. Sam Abuelsamid 43:10 Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, the only other full size pickup right now with coil springs on the back, I think is the RAM. You know, for the and then the, the F 150. Lightning, the electric version is gonna have coil springs, but they all the other f series and the GM trucks are still leaf springs on the back. So you know, I think that you know, it's a, it's a good step forward to, you know, that'll make these more definitely a lot easier to live with. Agree. All right. On, on the refresh front, with with new truck type vehicles. This week, Ford is also launching a refresh of the expedition, their full size SUV, they already revealed a refreshed navigator about a month or so ago. And basically a lot of the same changes, same types of changes are going on this vehicle in terms of some of the technology changes. So for example, it's going to have as an option, the same 15 and a half inch tablet style display that's in the Mustang Maki and in the the f150 lightning with the with the volume knob that's glued onto the screen. And then the base set up as a 12 inch touchscreen display, all with sync for they The only real visual changes to the expedition this year. The front end, new grille and new lights that kind of draw somewhat on the the look of the the latest f 150s. So they've got the what they refer to as the C Clamp signature lighting or you know, that goes around. So you've got the, the headlights themselves are within the horizontal bar, you know, that stretches out from the grill into that cluster, that corner cluster. And then the signature lights wrapped around that looking like a C clamp. And they use that terminology when they talk about the F 150. That's kind of their theme, you know, cuz it's working, you know, truck that you work with. So you got to clamp things down. So they brought that to the expedition, we've got two new trim levels this year. One is the the timber line, which is the off road version, they already launched a timber line version of the Explorer earlier this year, I think we'll see timber line versions of probably the escape and, and the, the edge before long as well. So this has got, you know, beef, your suspension, it's got two wheel or two range transfer case for the for automatic four wheel drive with a crawl ratio. The standard engine across the board on the expedition is the high output 3.5 liter EcoBoost 440 horsepower, 510 foot pounds of torque. Sounds vaguely familiar. I think we just talked about something that was very similar to that. And and then there's also the stealth performance edition. Which they don't talk hard to think of a full size SUV like this as being remotely stealthy. But it's you know, Nicole Wakelin 46:39 you'll never get this. Sam Abuelsamid 46:40 It's got it's got black wheels and mirrors and things like that. So it's a little more subdued looking, you know, but still, you know, huge. And then comfortable. Roberto Baldwin 46:52 Looks on top car. Sam Abuelsamid 46:54 Yeah. Yeah, I've copied drove expeditions. That's kind of like what it what it would probably look. Yeah. So I Nicole Wakelin 47:01 think you'll see that it says I think it's it just so the Timberline edition, it's gonna have that trail turn assist. That was a feature on the bronco. Yes. Yeah. Which, which is like really cool on the bronco cuz it makes sense because you were doing some hardcore off roading in that sucker. And you might need to do that. Are you doing that in an expedition? Or maybe it's just to get into a parking space? Ah, Sam Abuelsamid 47:23 actually, that's probably where it would be more most useful in a vehicle like this, right? You know, you're not 2020 plus foot long as you know, three row SUV. I really got to go off roading. I mean, you do as part of the Timberline packages, you get the same front skid plate that's on the new Raptor. You know, so plus, you know, additional skid plates underneath to protect all the hardware. But really, you know, are you gonna take something this huge off roading? ajin Nicole Wakelin 47:51 Yeah, right. And it even has a higher ground clearance. I don't know how much higher but it's as high as a higher grit. So Sam Abuelsamid 47:57 it's 10.6 inches, Nicole Wakelin 48:01 extra skid plates, so you can follow your Bronco to your cabin who's gonna I just can't imagine taking a vehicle this big someplace where you really need that but somebody will I guess it would not be me I would use a different vehicle Roberto Baldwin 48:14 there. There are probably tons of dirt roads up to like cabins and hunting cabins where there's like one turn where someone was an expedition had to do like a 50 point turn because the thing is gigantic. And and and they went back to work and they're like, you know, that trail, you know that trail turn assist would be really cool. That'd be great on the expedition were like, Yeah, but it's like so big. And it's the wheelbase and the turning like it's just gonna drag that tire now and it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be amazing. Like, it's just gonna drag the tire and it's not gonna pull half Nicole Wakelin 48:45 the truck around. Yeah, yeah. dragging along. Yeah, I wouldn't know who uses that. If you buy an expedition. You're listening. I want to know, if you actually use the trails are dismissed for anything other than wedging yourself into a parking space. That's exactly. Sam Abuelsamid 49:05 I do like the dark green color that they have on the timber line set. That is that is a good color though. So I think that'll that'll that'll be a nice addition to the the palette. Nicole Wakelin 49:16 Is that Yeah, because is that is that an orange little accent trim or red little accent trim? Sam Abuelsamid 49:20 I think it's red. Nicole Wakelin 49:21 It looks cool. Yeah, it looks either way. It looks really good. And it looks like there's matching red toe hooks in the picture I'm looking at. Roberto Baldwin 49:28 Yeah, one one of the other things. He never goes out of style. Sam Abuelsamid 49:30 Yeah. One of the other things they did upgrade for this year for the 22 is it's got a new version of their pro trailer backup system, which they launched three or four years ago. And when they first launched it on the the F 150. And then on the on the the expedition. At that point, you actually had to put like a little barcode sticker on your trailer that the rear camera would use to track the angle of the trailer, so as you're backing up, so when the for those not familiar with the pro trailer backup assist, when you engage that it pulls up the the rear camera on the screen. And instead of using the steering wheel to backup, and if you've ever tried to back up with a trailer hooked up, it's kind of a complicated process because you actually have to turn in the opposite direction of where you want the trailer to go. So if you want your trailer to go left, you have to turn the steering wheel to the right. And so what they the the pro trailer backup assist gives you an extra knob on the steering wheel that you actually use to steer with and you steer it, you turn it in the direction where you want to go. Not, not where, you know, not necessarily where the physics would tell you, you should steer it. And then it actually handles the steering of the the wheel, the steering wheel. And you used to have to use the sticker on the trailer itself that the camera would track the position of now you no longer have to do that they've upgraded the software in there. So it can do that just track just looking at the the trailer itself. We'll see how well that works when we get a chance. But that's I think that's a nice extra detail to Roberto Baldwin 51:16 I mean, it's cool, like anytime you can make trailering easier for people but teaching people how to do it the wrong way seems. Absolutely. Because they're going to get into another vehicle and they're going to turn it the wrong way. I feel like you could, you could say, you can say hey, where do you want your trailer to go? And then the car could like say, Okay, now turn it this much. And we'll we'll give you a little hand and we'll show you how to do this. I think that's but you know, maybe I'm just a weirdo. Nicole Wakelin 51:48 I'm terrible at making stuff. I've only had to backup a vehicle with a trailer a couple of times. And it was like at events because I don't generally have a need to tow a trailer. I'm like, oh god, I'm so nervous, which we return to the wheel. I forgot how to drive. How does this work? Like I panic every time Roberto Baldwin 52:03 I went My first job was working on the school farm and I had a back a giant horse trailer into like these really small spots to pick up horses and animals and whatnot. And I got really good. And when I first started doing this job, or you know, and then and I got trailers, I was like, Oh, I probably lost that. But no, I still have it. And it's my one superpower. And my other superpower is able to back a truck back a vehicle up to the tow hitch to the to the to the without, like on the first try. But no one's ever around when it happens. Nicole Wakelin 52:37 It's your zero power. But Roberto Baldwin 52:39 yeah, but no one has proof. So I Nicole Wakelin 52:42 mean up, you could be just as bad at backing up a trailer as I am. So at some point when you want to post the event, it's easy for me to prove that I stink at it. But let's see you actually back what Roberto Baldwin 52:53 it'll be the pressure. I think it's mostly because no one's around. And I'm like I can do this. Nicole Wakelin 52:58 So we're watching you'll do what I do. Roberto Baldwin 53:01 Take it out mailboxes. Horses are running free. Why don't we give us live horses at this event but like you said you're good. We heard the podcast Nicole Wakelin 53:14 or anything so there's live horses in here. No pressure, Robbie, no pressure at all. They're Roberto Baldwin 53:18 gonna be jumping up and down and moving the trailer while you're trying to. You're trying to back it up. I'm okay. Sam Abuelsamid 53:26 Okay. Let's see what else Oh. Any other thoughts on the the expedition refreshes should be coming out early in the new year? is when it'll be available. Nicole Wakelin 53:40 No, I think it looks good. I think it'll I think it'll be good. Roberto Baldwin 53:43 We'll see. Yeah, that's all a bunch of them. Nicole Wakelin 53:45 I really hope the dry program takes us someplace where I can have a reason to use trail harnesses. Please do that for sure why you put that on the off roading. So I can do that. Sam Abuelsamid 53:55 I suspect they will do that. Roberto Baldwin 53:58 Yeah, I haven't been on a for driving. Well, I was gonna say a year and a half. But then there's a lot of drivers haven't been on a year and a half. But they always seem to like, like this is this is a thing to curl do and they'll have like something to show you how they do it. So I think they would they would? I hope so. I would think so. Fingers probably if we want to find on a tight lead place to turn around, please. Yeah, Sam Abuelsamid 54:21 they definitely emphasize that a lot when we did the bronco drive. So I suspected that they did, especially for this one here. I think I think we'll see them do it again. Nicole Wakelin 54:32 Here it is a really cool feature on the bronco. So it is Sam Abuelsamid 54:35 it absolutely is. And the the kind of places where you know, the Broncos designed to go Nicole Wakelin 54:44 preparedness jog objects. Or maybe he's chiming in he too Thanks to trail turn assist. It's really really cool. Roberto Baldwin 54:53 Okay, I have no idea why he started barking he's off in the other room. Now. Sam Abuelsamid 55:00 dogs will do that that. No worries. Alright, so also this week, Jeep announced the availability of the dual door group for the gladiator they had already launched this earlier in the summer for the Wrangler. And since the Wrangler and Gladiator use the same doors makes sense to offer the same option for the gladiator as well. So dual door group, it gets you half doors for the gladiator, which have no frames around the windows. So you know, if you want, you know, that sort of open air feel, but without, you know, while still having at least some modicum of protection from doors, you know, if you're, if you're not quite comfortable with driving around completely doorless, you have you now have the option of the dual door group. The one detail with this is on the gladiator the dual door group cost $4,395 for half doors. But with that, you actually do get two full sets of doors. So you get you actually get eight doors with this. You get the standard framed doors, and you also get the half doors but still seems like a lot of money for half doors Don't you think? Roberto Baldwin 56:19 Wait. So you get you get you get Wait, wait, wait, wait. So you you you're buying four doors, though, right? Sam Abuelsamid 56:26 You're actually buying eight doors. Roberto Baldwin 56:29 You're buying a door. So what happens the doors you have so now you have eight doors you have to Sam Abuelsamid 56:34 store Well, well you actually you actually get you get eight doors. So you get the four regular doors. Plus, you get before half doors. So really, really you are Nicole Wakelin 56:45 option that you can only get when you buy the car like it happens when you buy it. So you're getting your normal doors and the extra doors. Sam Abuelsamid 56:51 It's it's not I don't know. Yeah. Roberto Baldwin 56:57 Four and a half two sounds like it sounds like this is something you get when you buy the Nicole Wakelin 57:01 point of sale. Yeah, that makes sense. Then you get eight doors. Okay. Roberto Baldwin 57:05 You're still doors you're still paying 1000 bucks per door is this you're paying for these extra for these extra doors for the extra doors. Okay. Yeah. Which which are only half size that's expensive on what's your only you're gonna have the doors, Nicole Wakelin 57:19 the doors with with little plastic windows, though, you know, little zippered plastic. Sam Abuelsamid 57:25 Yeah. You get those. Roberto Baldwin 57:30 And on one hand, I'm like this is insane. On the other. I looked up the price for the little charging cable for my for the Kona that we bought the Kona electric. It's a 12 $100 charging cable, and it doesn't know just the regular charging cable that came with the Kona. I was like, Oh, these are probably a couple 100 bucks. And so I was looking at that to see how much power it gets. You know, it could accept and it doesn't matter. Anyway, I just plugged it into it to 120 but it's like 12 $100 I'm like I can't buy a whole charging station, like a level two station for that money. So automakers have lost their minds. Sam Abuelsamid 58:08 Have you have you ever looked up the price for a charging cord for a Tesla? It's about three $3,000 what? Yeah, well, Hyundai is you getting the deal. Roberto Baldwin 58:21 But you also pay $10,000 for a thing that's not even out yet. Sam Abuelsamid 58:25 So well. There's that I mean, Nicole Wakelin 58:29 for some vaporware person, person Roberto Baldwin 58:31 Yeah, it's gonna go up I got that's not how technology works, but sure, Fine, whatever. So okay, so Wow, that's a well you know, you put it up our Okay, so I think people are buying a glider let's say they get a five year low. That's only a few bucks a Nicole Wakelin 58:45 month. It's a few bucks a month for your half a door for a Roberto Baldwin 58:49 door. It's also the it's also more expensive than my first car and almost as expensive as my second car. But that Nicole Wakelin 58:56 car was less than 40 $590 What did you buy it? You go? Roberto Baldwin 59:00 I bought a mount? It was my roadster. I bought it for 15 $100 in 1989 I think okay, now. Nicole Wakelin 59:09 My first car was $10,000 Wow, the money? Exactly. 10 grand. Roberto Baldwin 59:15 Wow, what do you get? Nicole Wakelin 59:16 I got a 91 or 92 Jetta Volkswagen Jetta g Oh, it was I loved it. I had farfield newgen baby Roberto Baldwin 59:29 again. new gun back. Sam Abuelsamid 59:32 I think I paid 4800 for my first car that I bought myself, you know that wasn't driving my dad's car. And that was an 84 GMC s 15. Nicole Wakelin 59:44 Okay, Roberto Baldwin 59:45 wow. So my second car was 5000 That was my 90 Honda Civic. Nicole Wakelin 59:49 Oh you got you got pricier than all the way up to 5000 Yeah, wow. Roberto Baldwin 59:53 I had to get a loan. Bender reverse car though. I had to save up all my nickels and dimes and pay for it. Sam Abuelsamid 1:00:01 Okay, last item here. Recently I saw somebody had posted something about the they posted a picture of a GMC motorhome. And I don't know if you remember the GMC motorhome from the 1970s. They were built for about six or seven years. And it was a really cool looking RV. Yeah, at the time, it was very, very modern looking for the for its era. And it No, I know what it was. They somebody had posted a little thing. But GM actually still has one that they use at the design studio when they're doing viewings out in the courtyard. So at the GM Tech Center, they've got the big design dome, and sometimes they want to show off the cars outside in the courtyard under natural light instead of inside the dome. And of course, you know, in the wintertime or, you know, when when it's cold, you know, the executives don't necessarily want to be standing around outside so they have one of these motorhomes that they have side that the windows actually flip up horizontally so they can sit inside but you know, look at these things you know, under natural light look at the the designs like they're in a claim to watch and yeah, watching a nuclear blast. Exactly goggles. But anyway, seeing seeing the the GMC motorhome again got me thinking that, you know, I know like over the last year and a half a lot of people have bought motorhomes or rented motorhomes to take vacation trips, you know, because they didn't want to fly and you know, things like that. So a lot of people have gotten into RVs again. And so again, you know, that was such a futuristic design back in the 1970s it wouldn't take much to update that a little bit, you know, put some modern headlights on it things like that, you know back Back in the day, it was actually front wheel drive they had the powertrain from an old tornato in the front of the GMC motorhome. But it that would be a perfect application to take the the new altium Electric powertrain system battery and everything and start building those again, but make it electric What do you think? Nicole Wakelin 1:02:19 You know, I'm looking at them and you're so right like it would take very little tweaking to that funky 70s design to make that look like a futuristic 2021 Sam Abuelsamid 1:02:30 Yeah, it would fit right in in the 2030s Roberto Baldwin 1:02:32 it really would make it electric I don't see why they wouldn't do it it seems like a no brainer especially i mean i i'm sorry i'm looking at an article I wrote last year about van life and how there's there was a huge increase in retail sales and then of course and then also in in like Winnebago and all and and cruise America had a huge increase so there's there's definitely people out there who are buying these and I don't think it's that's going to stop I think there are people who bought them and then their neighbors see that they bought them and they're like you know what flying is still a pain in the ass which it is I fight all the time it's a pain in the ass. And it's it's you know, I do love a good road trip. I think people are kind of getting used to rip so yeah, and electric. And then you just go to the to the to the RV park and you plug into that 240 and bam, Nicole Wakelin 1:03:23 you're done. Okay, so I googled because I had to see what this looked like and somebody has done one that is a lifted one with these huge knobby tires It looks like a steel bumper on the front and like extra you can make an off road version you could go off roading in Sam Abuelsamid 1:03:37 your trail turn assist on I Nicole Wakelin 1:03:39 would if I had her yeah with trail turn is is that is the ideal application for trail turn assist because you will need it in that thing. Roberto Baldwin 1:03:47 You got you got an Eevee and so Nicole Wakelin 1:03:52 that would be awesome. I want one of those build that GMC we will all buy it. Roberto Baldwin 1:03:56 I mean they're already building a 9000 ton. lb Nicole Wakelin 1:04:01 great. This only this only been weighed maybe one more pound than the Hummer. So yeah, good. Roberto Baldwin 1:04:05 You got a fridge and an oven. And you can make it like super clean and very eco friendly. And they'll be quiet as you're driving around the mountains. And it'll be it'll be all the things that rivian wants to be in the format. He wants to be in all these other vehicles and you can just package it and say Tata also there's the everyone's losing their mind over the the What do you call it, the ID buzz the microbus that's like that's one of the reasons why we Yes, it's it's it's sort of low on the list but also like we didn't buy our Kona We leased it because hey the microbuses Sam Abuelsamid 1:04:44 you're holding on for the micromass watching out on the on the Google Images search page if you scroll down there's actually a picture of just the the motorhome chassis and you can see i mean it's it's a perfect skateboard, you know take out that big old Oldsmobile VA In the front there, just putting a little electric motor in there and about 300 kilowatt hours worth of batteries. Yeah, that'll be it could drive all day on that. Plug it in at night at your at your RV park. That'd be perfect. Nicole Wakelin 1:05:14 That would totally work. Oh my god, it is it would totally work that could hold some batteries. Look at that thing. Yeah, but Roberto Baldwin 1:05:19 today's Space Age lightweight materials, they could save some Nicole Wakelin 1:05:23 right? want this to happen? It's not going to happen. But really Roberto Baldwin 1:05:29 they should start a petition. Can we do one of those petitions? Don't those change the world.org petition for Nicole Wakelin 1:05:35 to get you to build this? Sam Abuelsamid 1:05:40 Yes, definitely. We'll do it. Alright. Nicole Wakelin 1:05:46 So to see much like he likes the trail, turn assist. He's all about this. Sam Abuelsamid 1:05:49 Alright. Okay. Well, that's the only question we got in. And Twitter today actually was more of a reaction. Well, that was to actually where the other one what one came from Harold combs about our comment or our discussion last time about towing in Europe. And, and apparently, in the UK, if you're telling you can't go more than 60 miles an hour, still work working looking at trying to get some more information on telling in Europe and why some vehicles in Europe are allowed to tell. And then the other thing that came in and I can't remember who it was now with somebody. Yesterday as we're recording we're recording on Sunday. Yesterday, Cadillac started taking pre orders for the lyric and one of the one of the one of our listeners critical grace theory. At said they tried to log in to place an order for a launch edition lyric. And the orders opened up at 4pm eastern time yesterday. And by 4:13pm he was having trouble getting getting accessing the website I guess it was overwhelmed by 430 and we finally got in it said the reservations for the launch edition were already full. And he feels a bit bit cheated. How many builds of the largest Did they say that's that's what he was asking. Cadillac has not said I have reached out I heard from somebody that it was about 1500 of the launch additions but Cadillac has not announced how many there were I wouldn't be surprised if it was probably no more than about 1500 but we will try and find that out for next week. And Roberto Baldwin 1:07:43 that is sort of like I don't know maybe I'm crazy but it feels like they should have built more because I think everyone who went and saw that ahead of launch and looked at it we were all like this is a good value and it seems like it'll probably be a good car you know we haven't driven in obviously right well I think based on that people who are like Cadillac fans and Evie fans and like yeah, they want Sam Abuelsamid 1:08:07 60,000 for the launch edition is pretty impressive. Yeah that's pretty much loaded the only thing it doesn't have is the all wheel drive which is coming later the two motor all wheel drive Nicole Wakelin 1:08:19 it so you can order one at all right now then you have to wait until orders open up for the next batch reading what they haven't read sight reservations are full the lyric debut edition is full more vehicles will be available to order in summer of 2022 that's a that's what it literally says on their website. It's Roberto Baldwin 1:08:38 like a sneaker drop. They just Nicole Wakelin 1:08:41 get it now haha the rest of you guys can wait. We're gonna year Roberto Baldwin 1:08:44 we got to buy the other ones on Instagram or eBay. Nicole Wakelin 1:08:48 ebay. Roberto Baldwin 1:08:50 Like I got a Cadillac lyric Sam Abuelsamid 1:08:51 bring bring a trailer in Roberto Baldwin 1:08:53 they're gonna open the box. Nicole Wakelin 1:08:54 Yeah, bring your trailer it costs 60,000 but I'll give it to you for a cool 120 Roberto Baldwin 1:08:59 Yeah. Bring a trailer so expensive. Sam Abuelsamid 1:09:04 Yeah. So before we go, Robbie, did you have anything that you were driving this week? Do you want to talk about Roberto Baldwin 1:09:12 I didn't drive anything this week. I've been just incredibly chaotically busy with other things and I don't have I just didn't have time to get a car and that's that's that's, I know, I have to Robbie. It turns out I have to write about all the things that I drive and then I I also write about other things beyond. I'm 95% automotive, but then one of the reasons I went freelance is that I could do like just weird other stuff. And so there's some of that weird other stuff is catching up to me though. Okay. Hey, Hey, buddy. Where's those articles? Were that profile on that? Sam Abuelsamid 1:09:51 You want to get paid? We need some words you Roberto Baldwin 1:09:54 know? If you want to get paid we need a few Nicole Wakelin 1:09:57 months. The monies you will write the words Roberto Baldwin 1:09:59 Yeah. So yeah, I unfortunately didn't drive anything this I drove my br zero and we'll see I was at home putting up putting in Nicole Wakelin 1:10:12 something and tag to drive next week Did you schedule anything for Roberto Baldwin 1:10:15 next week? I'm gonna go look at something I can't talk about. I'm Oh, I'm also going on vacation so I'll probably I'll probably be driving a Chrysler Pacifica or a what's the other one? The Chrysler voyage? Nicole Wakelin 1:10:32 Voyager, Voyager Chrysler. Sam Abuelsamid 1:10:35 They have a Chrysler Voyager now. That's basically it's just a de content to Pacifica. Roberto Baldwin 1:10:41 Right. Yeah. Yeah. So I that I'll probably be driving that because we're going on a little vacation. And we'd like to take the dogs and when we when we take the dog places we get we get a van. So we get a man Nicole Wakelin 1:10:53 in there. Only have that GMC motorhome right now. Roberto Baldwin 1:10:56 I know we have a GMC motorhome. We could fill it with dog hair, and it would be perfect. We were like, Oh, we could put him in the cone. Oh my god that's too large. It's like a five hour drive. Yeah, no, Nicole Wakelin 1:11:08 that's not gonna work. I see. Roberto Baldwin 1:11:10 No, no, no. So yeah, so yeah. Next and then maybe the week after. I'll have to get a motorcycle at some point. There we go. Sam Abuelsamid 1:11:19 Perfect. All right. Well, in that case, let's call it a show and we'll talk to you next time. All right. Nicole Wakelin 1:11:26 Bye, everyone. Bye.