The Best of Car Talk - #2623: Virtual Dopeslaps

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

Jeannie thinks she’s doing right by her Oldsmobile and taking it in for regular service checks. But recently, the garage service manager tells her that she’s hurting the car by not regularly exercising the parking brake. Should Jeannie be exercising her dopeslap technique on the disservice manager instead? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the newsroom here at Carat Talk. No, we had one. Well, we didn't until yesterday. Now, we know that all things considered in Morning Edition can't cover every story that's out there. I mean, it's just impossible, right? It is, it is. So in the interest of public service, here are a few headlines from last year that our premier news shows probably missed.

These are real headlines from newspapers. Here's one. Police begin campaign to run down J-Walkers. How about this? Panda-Mahing fails. Veterinarian to take over. Minors refuse to work after death. I mean, they all make sense.

How about this one? Astronaut takes blame for gas. in space. I like this one here. When making cookies, include your children. That's it. Well, you know, I'm sure after these things were printed, the authors must have said, oh, did I write that?

Well, you know, it's interesting that there's a certain skill to writing headlines because there are words used that you don't normally use. And the arrangement of words is different. And you screw up by a little bit by just moving something. Yeah, well, we do it every week. We do it every week. Anyway, if you have an urgent bulletin about your car for us, the number is 888-car talk.

That's 88, 82, 27, 82, 55. Hello, you're on car talk. This is Jeannie. I'm calling from Montgomery, Alabama. Hi, Jeannie. Like an I dream of? Hey, you got it. That's me.

I wish I had the bide to go along with it, but... Anyway, what's going on, Jeannie? Well, I have a 92 Osmobile Achiva, and it's got almost 150,000 miles on it. So I take it in, you know, for oil change and check-up. I try to take care of it, right? Mm-hmm. Well, I mentioned to the guys, the mechanics, that it seemed the brakes were going down a little closer to the floor than they had been, and I just had the brakes replaced six months previously.

Mm-hmm. They did it. Yeah. The mechanic, guys, it's no problem. We'll check it out for you. So then I come back to pick up my car. I said, do you guys check out my brakes? Oh, we forgot.

So then this little manager mechanic. Ah, manager mechanic. Like the service manager? Yes. Yeah, but little. Oh, man. Dmediative in stature or ability? Both.

Oh. I've been driving legally longer than he's been alive, okay? Oh, young, too. Oh, and he's not touched my car, not looked at my car, and he immediately says to me, do you use your emergency break every day? Uh-huh. And I said, no, I don't live on a hill, I don't work on a hill. I generally am on flat land.

I'm in Alabama, not San Francisco. And he says, it doesn't matter. You should use your emergency break every day in order. in order to keep your brakes up to factory specs. And you didn't believe him because he's a little twirp. Well, of course, and I know the only way to keep him in the factory specs, and don't use them for the sake. Well, that is, that's surefire away.

That's true. Yeah. So, anyway, I get back to the office, and nobody here at the office. Has ever heard of this? Has ever heard of that until this schmoe, who's been driving even longer than I have, Yeah. He says, well, of course you're supposed to use your emergency brake every time you stop your car. I said, you're a moron.

I'm not listening to you. Jeannie, you're not making this any easier. I can't help it. Nothing y'all do is easy, is it? No, not really. So other guys say, you know, you drive backwards and that will help set the brakes or whatever. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, what I need from you.

We know what you need is, yeah, corroboration. Exactly. And a major dope slap, and I do not want to be the one to have to take it. Well, you might. I'd brace myself if I... Uh-uh. Do you say your emergency break every day with it no matter what? Well, I will be the first to admit that I don't think I've ever... I never used the break. I have ever used my emergency break, certainly not on a daily basis. Although I do use it in my cold vista because it's a stick shift car. Exactly.

Okay. Mine is an automatic. But in automatic cars that I've driven, I have hardly ever used the emergency brake, except for that once a year when you go for your state inspection. And the fellow says, put your handbrake on. You say, what? Where is it? Where is it?

But it is true that on many, many cars, applying the handbrake does actuate the adjusting mechanism for the rear brakes. It actuates them? It turns the little star wheel. Just like it, the other guy who told you that it happens when you back up. Yeah. When you back up and step on the break, the same thing happens. It turns the adjuster. Okay.

And makes the shoes get closer to the drum and thus keeps the pedal high. Well, so if I'm backing up every once in a while, aren't I doing okay? Well, yeah, but I suspect, like most people, you back up and when you're, before you step on the break, you're slam it and drive and take off. Tell the truth. And even if you did do that, all it meant was that you didn't do it enough. But if you don't want to use the emergency brake, you can just go tell that little twirp that you don't want to use the emergency brake. You asked him to check the brakes. They forgot to do it, and they turned around to blame you for it.

They could have simply adjusted the brakes, which is what you really asked them to do. Yes. But on a lot of cars that have this mechanism, you can adjust the brakes yourself by sitting in your driveway or wherever, and just pulling on the handbrake and releasing it, pulling on it, releasing it. And you do that enough times and it'll adjust the brakes. Okay. So you could do that, but I don't know. So the business of all, like, the morons and stuff? We may not be able to award a dope slap.

I don't know. Every day. I mean, I'm 44. I didn't learn this in driver's ed. They never said, you know, use your emergency break every day. No, because when you took driver's ed, never mind. Watch it. Watch it.

See you. See you, see a genie. See you. Bye, guys. Good luck. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. That's what happens when you go flying off the handle without thinking, unencumbered by the thought process, and pretty soon you got your foot firmly implanted.

Me like you do about every week. Every day. What's the sweeping generalizations? Yes, indeed. 1-888-88-288-288-2-278-25. Hello, you're on car talk. Yeah, my name is Richard from New Orleans. How you doing, Richard?

Oh, pretty good. What's happening? Well, I've got a 78 Toyota Land Cruiser. My wife is named it Bam Bam. Yeah. And it backfires. And you're driving it down the street, and it kind of hesitates, and then it backfires. And the problem is when it backfires, it's like a tank going off.

It shoots flames, which is kind of alarming to my neighbors and people walking down the street and so forth. And is it always backfire when you're accelerating? No, because you can take your foot off the gas and just kind of be cruising. and the engine will start kind of hesitating. So it gives you a warning, and then it backfires. Does this, do you know if this thing has an air pump on the motor? No, I do know it used to be a California emissions vehicle. Bingo!

And all that stuff was clipped off. Oh. Not by me. No, no, but... Of course not. But you've owned it for a long enough time so they didn't do this with all this stuff disconnected. Now it's doing it. Right.

I've had it about five years. And for the first two or three years, years it didn't do this. Man. So how was Mardi Gras this year? Great. You know, I remember, this may help you. When we were kids, we used to do a kind of a fun thing.

Yeah, it was fun for us. And we used to drive through at the time, the Sumner Tunnel here in Boston, which was a two-lane tunnel. One lane led from Boston to East Boston. under the channel. Yeah, directly north. And it would take you, right, directly north to East Boston, and would eventually take you to Logan Airport. And this tunnel was, I don't know, is still there.

I don't know, mile and a half long. It's pretty long. Yeah. And when we were in the tunnel, which was partially downhill, we would turn the ignition switch off for a second or two, and then turn it back on. And scare the hell out of ten guys behind the... result would be the biggest explosion and ball of fire coming out of your tailpipe. Because what would happen is while you had the key off, the pistons were still going up and

down and sucking gasoline into the cylinders. And of course, the exhaust valves are opening and pushing that unburned gas into the exhaust system. So now when you've got the key off, you're filling up the cylinders and the exhaust system with unburned gas. Isn't that great? And as soon as you turn the key back on and that, first spark occurred, you would ignite not only the fuel in the cylinders, which is what's

supposed to happen, but a lot of that gasoline that was trapped in that confining exhaust system, and you would create a significant explosion. And it may be then that you have a fault with your ignition system, even a bad switch could cause this. But I would think it would be more likely would be intermittent spark, and that's why you feel it beginning to miss. Exactly. When you have the little miss, that's the equivalent of, in my brother's example, off the ignition switch. Yeah, because it does loo. It's almost like suddenly, you know, somebody, all of a sudden you're pulling a boat or something. Right. I think this, this thing has an electronic ignition system. It has something called an igniter.

Probably. Probably. I don't remember. I haven't worked on a 78 land cruiser in a while, but that would be the thing I'd be most likely to suspect. That's the igniter. I would just replace the igniter because no one's going to be able to figure out if it's any good, because it's a transient problem, as we call it. You might want to look at the switch first. That's a lot cheaper. It may be easier to do. Excellent.

But it is definitely, in my humble opinion, an ignition problem. Good luck, Richard. Thank you much, guys. See you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. All right, Tommy, do you remember anything at all about last week's puzzler? Uh, I didn't think so.

Well, it's just another in my series of Bedouin Travel Puzzler. Oh, yes. And I'll have the answer in just a minute, so stay tuned. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's puzzler. Yeah, let's go.

Well, this was another Bedouin travel puzzler because you liked the first one so much. I did like it. That was great. It was rotten. Anyway, this Bedouin is driving home from work late one night and his car breaks down. We'll call him Fred.

And he calls his brother and says, Frank, I need help. You've got to come rescue me. My car broke down. So many hours later, Frank shows up with his car. and the tow rope. Yeah. Right?

They assess the situation and the broken down Bedouin, that is Fred, says, are you ready? And the rescuing brother, Frank, says, I can't tow you home. Fred says,

well, that's okay. I'll tow you. Huh? I mean, after all, the guy broke down. He calls for help. Yeah. And he's going to do the towing.

How could this possibly be. Wow. Well, the way it could possibly be, the only scenario I can envision is that Fred's brakes had failed. Yeah? So if, if, if, if in fact, Frank had tried to show him home, he'd be crashing into him every time he stopped. Sonia Henny's Tutu. On the other hand, if Fred is driving in the front, and Frank steps on the brake, and he steps on, no, and he steps on the brake, the brother will see the brake lights and know enough to step on the brake, to step on the brake himself, and slow both cars down. Because the rope will pull...

Until the rope breaks. That's next week. Man, that's very good. Do we have a winner this week? No. Nobody won. Yeah. They were so disgruntled over last week.

See, now, that's a good puzzler. That's good. I realize there is not an abundance of good puzzlers out there. So you can't go shooting your ward the first, you know, 10 years of the show. No. You got to go for the long run. Sold them out. Run.

And you've got to interspers a couple of stinkers in there. Sure. And more than that, it makes people to really appreciate the few good ones that come along every once in a while. Sure. I mean, don't forget, even the best of hitters, that's only like 300. That's right. In baseball. And everyone thinks he's a hero and a star.

And he makes $4.9 million a year. Don't forget that part. And don't forget that part. Yeah. So if you hit one out of three, that's pretty good. Of course, you're about one out of ten. But the winner is Victoria Laudis from Douglaston, New York. And for having her answers selected at random from among all those thousands of correct answers that we got,

Victoria is going to get a $25 gift certificate to Car Talk's shameless promise division. With this $25, she can get a beautiful four-color 10th anniversary car talk t-shirt, which is now in its third year of printing. That's how we keep track of this because we know that the t-shirt is 10 years. We're in our 13th year, so that... There you go. Put it all together. Which reminds me we do need a new t-shirt.

We should have another t-shirt contest coming up pretty soon. Put that on the list of things we have to discuss during the week. If you would, please. Right after this week's episode of Buffet. Good. Anyway, we'll have a new... Automotive and on. Well, quasi...

Historic or non-historic? No. Folkloric or non-focloric? B.S? Lousy? No, not lousy. Maritime. Oh, excellent.

We'll have a new maritime puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. Transportation at least. It is transportation. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can call us and ask us questions about anything. Even your car. The number is 1-888-8-28-8-2-78-255. Hello, you're on car talk.

Hi there, my name is Sarah, and I live in the other Vancouver, the little one, just north of Portland, Oregon, in Vancouver, Washington. Oh, yes, we've heard of it. Oh, yeah. Hi, Sarah. Do you have an H at the end of your name, Sarah? No, I have a short form. Yes, I wrote it down that way. I could just tell from the way you spoke. Hmm. So what's going on, Sarah? Well, I have a 1990 Chevy Lumina APV minivan. Uh-huh, uh-huh, with a hundred and thirty-six thousand miles on it. Oh, really? Bless you. Good. Now, the biggest problem. is I'm a realtor. Well, that's a problem in itself. But anyway, I'm a realtor, and I use his car to shuffle people around in. And here's a scenario. People get in my car and I go to the first house, maybe 10 minutes of good driving, and we go in and look at the house. Now, if we

come out in less than seven minutes and get back in the car, no, no, it starts great. But if we're in the house longer than about seven minutes, between seven minutes to maybe 45 minutes, We get in the car, it starts, and then it goes, and it stops. Well, this makes me look a little foolish. It's almost as though I'm trying to say to them, well, you like this house enough to stay in 10 minutes or more. You must want to write an offer, so we'll sit here until you do. Yeah, that's good.

Now, I took it into my dealership when this started happening two months ago, and I ended up spending $800 on a new distributor and drove the car off and went to see a house and got back in the car and guess what? Yeah. Have you driven it at high speed? Will it go all day at high speed? Yeah, it runs great. And actually, having a new distributor did make it run pepier and everything, but it didn't cure this problem.

Yeah. And then what happens when you shut it off? Can you then restart it? Oh, yes. If I rush my people through the showing and say, hurry, hurry, get back in the car. You know, and start the car, it goes just great. But if they like the house and stick around, then they're stuck. You know, I keep it.

Have you considered leaving the car running? That's exactly what I was thinking. I mean, that's one way to solve that problem. Just leave the thing running. You can get yourself another key and lock it up and leave it running and the air conditioner on. You can tell people, I'm leaving it on so that it'll stay, either a warmer call depending on the weather outside,

and they won't even notice that you're driving a 25-year-old car that's falling apart and therefore are a complete failure as a real estate agent. Well, that's always a difficult decision. If you are a real estate agent, I remember once being shown a house by a real estate agent who was driving the fanciest Mercedes. You're always, always suspicious. Well, it bothered me that all she was really doing was opening the front door. And the house was selling itself. And I was disturbed.

I would rather have been driving a shivet. You think that, but all the little nuances of how she presents the house. Oh, which room she takes you into first, the fresh-cut flowers, the mold-sized size. The baked bread. On the stove. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She did all of that. I guess so.

So that's the way they do it in Boston, huh? Yeah, exactly. That's how they do it. Exactly. They make it feel like a home of fire in the fireplace. Yeah. And the fresh cookies baking and this kind of... Fresh cookies.

Exactly. Chocolate chip cookies baking. It's just well-plicated. Classical music playing very, very softly. Maybe if I carry fresh cookies and played the music softly in my car, they wouldn't notice it's stuck in the driveway. It's a joke. I think these guys were on the right track when they said you, when they replaced your distributor. But I mean, I don't know what exactly they replace the distributor for, but they must

have thought that you weren't getting spark. And I think so, too. But I think it's either the coil or the ignition module. Yeah, I like that. I think it's one of those two pieces. And what happens is you get what's called a hot soak condition where these pieces are soaking up the heat from under the hood. And if you catch the thing at the right time, in other words, during that period where it won't start, it's because they've absorbed enough heat from the engine. that they create an open circuit in themselves. And then when they cool off, the thing starts up again. And as long as you continue to drive it,

you can probably keep the temperature down, believe it or not, below that certain level. Because the engine compartment gets hottest after you've shut off the engine. Because you've got all that heat that was generated and you've got no cooling going on. And you're not moving either. The fan isn't turning anymore.

The coolant isn't flowing through the cooling system anymore because everything has stopped. but the heat, the latent heat, is just coming out and heating up everything, and that's why it happens after five or ten minutes. And I bet you this problem will be worse in the real hot weather. By the time the summer comes, the length of time that it's dead will be longer. It's got to be, I think, one of the two things that my brother mentioned. It's either the coil or the ignition module.

Okay. And I never wait for the first real warm day, take it into them and have them fix it because they'll get it to perform for them. Good luck, Sarah. Great. Thank you so much. See ya. Good luck.

Bye. Bye. Hey, are you ready for the new puzzler? Yeah, I'm ready. I am ready. Well, I'm not really. I need a minute to work on my obfuscational material. Ah.

So tell everyone we'll be back in a minute. All right. We'll be back in a minute. Ha, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Did I say this was a maritime? You alluded to maritime something or other? Well, it's, there's nothing to do with Bedouins.

No, it doesn't. Regrettably. However, this came... Not even ships of the desert? No, no, no. This is ships of the sea. This came across my desk recently. Ninety-four.

And I don't know if this is true or not, but it's never stopped me in the past. Never. Nor will it in the future. Actually, this was sent in by, I don't know who sent it in. You can't tell. You can't tell. No. It comes from cyberspace, and no one knows who sends it.

Someone from juno.com, but that's about it. That's all right. Here we go. He or she says. Oh, name, Dale. Dale. He or she. Still don't know if it's he or she.

I used to work at a marina where we stored and launched boats with an overhead crane and occasionally cut the motor mounts off so they get the boats. It's not going to work with the boat. No, not well. Anyway, we had a repair shop with about five mechanics, parts to part. and a new and used boat sales department. I think I visited there once. I love it already.

One day a customer used his inboard boat for water skiing and left it parked at the dock overnight. He came in to use it the next morning, and the battery was dead. He had left his running lights on. So the head mechanic pulls the battery out and takes it to the shop for a quick charge. A while later, they take the battery back to the boat.

They put it in and try to start it. The starter spins up, you know, you can hear the motor turn, but it doesn't engage the flywheel. Hmm. It started flying several times just a day before the owner of the boat says, you know, it could possibly wrong now. So they pull the starter off figuring the start is no good.

And they put it on the bench in the shop and everything looked okay. In fact, they tested it. And it jumped right out. It worked perfectly. The gear popped out. The thing spun. So they put it back in the boat. again, it spins up

but doesn't engage the flywheel. Yeah, got it. An hour later, they figured it out. An hour? Yeah. During which time they were, what, having coffee, spoken cigars?

Exactly. And the hour has nothing whatsoever to do with much of anything. Okay. Maybe. Maybe has not. An hour later, they figured out what was wrong

and did they fix it? Yeah. Sure. Yeah, they fixed it. And in fact, all the hints Here, but this is There was nothing wrong with the motor The starter motor

There was nothing wrong with the engine We know that And there was nothing wrong with the battery Oh, really? I think If you think you know the answer Write it on a postcard Or a bird's eye maple

handmade dining room set With six chairs, please Can you mail that? Hey, why know Why not? You can mail just about anything else. Sure. You may have to take the legs off. You may have to take the legs off so I can get through the machine. And send that dining room set to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Officity. Matt 02238, or you can email your answer from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. If you'd like to call us, as always, our number is 1-888-8-2-27-82-55. Yeah. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, my name is Sean Mitchell, and I'm from Maine, New York. Sean? Yes. S-E-A-N? Mm-hmm.

Where the heck is Maine, New York? Well, I tell you what, if you find out, would you send somebody out there to get me? Get me out of here? We promise. My husband got transferred up here about seven months ago, and I am so lost. And you're from, what, North Carolina? Oh, I wish I was. No.

I'm from Kansas, Overland Park, Kansas. It's your husband in the military? No, my husband's in information technology. Oh. He's a spy. They sent us home to the mothership. Well, if we find out where it is, we will send a rescue team out there. Well, yeah, I would really appreciate it.

So what's going on? Well, it's not my car. It's my husband's car. Yeah, it's always somebody else's car. It's a 1990 Audi-quatro. It's an eight-cylinder car. I gotcha. Now, my husband likes me, but he loves this car.

Yeah. Now, when we lived in Kansas, my husband didn't have a problem with his car. But now that we're living in New York, the windows are fogging. And my husband tells me the reason the windows are fogging is because I'm breathing too hard in the back seat. You're going to tell him it's because of him. Yeah. He makes you so hot that you're panting for him. I mean, I'm the only one in the back seat.

And the reason I have to ride in the back seat is because he parks the car so close so that the kids can't scratch it, you know, getting the bikes and the balls and everything. You have to get in on the same side as he does. I do. My son is in the front seat with him. And he's narrowed it down. There are at least three people in the car, and he's narrowed it down to you. Because it's fogging back there.

Oh, it's not fogging in the front. Well, you know, I'm so huddled down in the coat in the back because, you know, you know, He has no heat on, say, but these guys sweat when they think hard. So they never turn the heat on. Yeah. So he does have the heater on, and the fan is blowing. Yes. But he has turned off the vents in the front.

Yes. So you're only getting the heat in the back. Yes. So what do you want for us? You want a recommendation of where to buy, like, the best long underwear? No, I already bought myself a fur coat. There you go. No, my brother-in-law says the re, and he worked.

for an automobile car. He's a place. He says the reason that it's foggy like that is because he's got a crack in the cooling system. Oh. But if he does turn the heat on, does it fog up in the front? You know what?

I don't know. I've never seen the heat on in the front. And what is he? Some kind of Neanderthal that doesn't turn the heat on? He says his foot gets too hot and he can't drive. He's nuts. Ask him to do this, and this will solve your problem.

Tell them, don't turn the heat on, hon, hun. Turn on instead the defroster. And if you turn on the defrauster, it'll accomplish two things. Number one, it will stop his foot from burning up because the heat will be sent to the windshield. And number two, it'll stop the car from fogging up because it will turn on at the same time the air conditioner. But it won't chill you. What it will do is remove the moisture from the air from your panting. You're panty because you're freezing.

But he tells me that it never fogged up like this when we lived in Kansas. Well, sure, because you don't have the severe weather conditions. You don't have a six-degree windshield in Kansas. When that windshield is cold, anything that hits it, any moisture that hits it, condenses. Immediately. It's like, you know, how your iced tea glass gets condensation on the outside in the summer. Yes. Okay, because you have iced tea in the glass.

Just tell them, hon, we're not in Kansas anymore. Well, I keep telling him that. He keeps calling me Dorothy. So do you think there's a crack in the cooling system? No, I think the cracks are in his head. Do you have another car? I have my, no, just my van. Just your van. I mean, but he drives this all the time.

You have to go with them? Well, when we go to church and that kind of thing. Usually we go two separate cars. Yeah, I'd start walking at church. It's good to be good healthy for you. Well, over the river and through the woods here, you know? Good luck, Sean. You've got a tough one there.

Bye. See, if, I buy. 1-888-car talk. That's 888-227-8-8-255. Hello, you're on car talk. Robert, calling from Philadelphia. Robert. The city of brotherly love.

Yes, indeed. What's going on, Robert? Well, my question regards my automobile, which is a 1999 Chevy Tracker. And it is the first stick shift that I've ever owned. Oh, really? Often, and I did this when I had automatic transmission cars, I'll pop it

into neutral, and I'll just roll down a hill, or I'll cruise along the highway of there's a slight downward grade. Neutral. Yeah, and neutral, and of course, there's so much more incentive to go into neutral in a stick shift, because you might have to go to neutral to shift anyway. Plus, then, maybe you're working

a little bit less, and in my warped mind, I think I'm saving gas. Well, the truth is, if you You would have coast down a very long hill on the highway in neutral, you would be saving gas. Not very much, but it's pretty dangerous. Yeah. Why? Well, for a lot of reasons.

Number one, I mean, it's not so much of a factor in modern cars, but it's hard sometimes to get a car back into gear if you're going along in neutral with your foot off the clutch at 60 miles an hour. And in some cars... You certainly wouldn't want to put it in neutral going down a long hill. That would be a very bad idea because the thing would just run away. from you. It would just get... I would ride a break. It would just go

faster and faster and faster. And then if you couldn't get it into gear, you'd be in big trouble. That's another reason that you wouldn't want the thing in neutral. Plus, you have no control over it either. I mean, you're not getting any engine braking, so if you are slowing down, you're really going to burn up the brakes a lot faster, too.

Yeah. And see, and every time, now, even worse, every time you put it into neutral, you'll probably step on the clutch. And every time you step on the clutch, you're wearing out the clutch. So whatever little you're saving in gas, you're wearing out the clutch. Not to mention that little rubber pad that's on the clutch pedal. I mean, those costs like eight bucks. That's right. So you don't want to wear that out. No, I think it's a bad habit to get into. The only time I would

be in neutral and coasting is if I were going less than five miles an hour. Don't, don't do it. It's not a great idea. You're not saving much of anything. And whatever you're saving, you're losing somewhere else. It's dangerous. It's a silly thing to do. It's a. It's a silly thing to do. I mean, I understand, I mean, I used to do this myself because you're so concerned about saving a few pennies on gas. But remember that they're practically giving the gasoline away. Even in these days of high gasoline prices, the stuff should cost $10 a gallon, and they're selling it for a buck and a half. See what you started here, Robert? So be happy to give them the money.

It's nothing. If you were in Italy, it would be costing you $150 to fill up your $10.000. tank every time you went there. Every year that you went there. Every year that you went there. So don't worry about it. Yeah, that's why they're driving around vehicles that are like 100 Cs. Uh-huh.

You know, so, yeah, just drive it. Well, unlike the advice given to me by my parents, I will take your advice. All right. Cool. See you, Robert. Thanks for calling. Enjoy your tracker. All right.

Bye-bye. Bye. Well, it's happened again. You've underutilized another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Yeah. Our esteemed producer is Doug the subway fugitive, not a solid. slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producers are frau Katharine Furnan, the Barbarian. Our engineer is Dennis, soon to be someone else's menace Foley. Our senior web lackey is Doug the old gray

mayor, and our technical, spiritual and menu advisor is the bugster John Bugsy, make that two triple cheeseburger's loller. Our public opinion poster is Paul Murky of Merkey Research, assisted by statistician Marge Inovera. Marge in Overa. Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzov. Our director of new product repair is warranty. My foot. Our audience estimator is Adam Million. And our shop foreman is Luke

busy. Our Russian chauffeur is Bikoff and Dropoff. Our pseudonym consultant is Norm Diplum. From the New Delhi office, our blues coordinator is Muhammad Dunlme. Our divorce attorney is Carmine, not yours. Our proofreader is Aaron Spelling and our seat cushion tester is

Mike Easter. Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Cheaterman Howe is Louis Dewey, known to the about to be audited professors in Harvard Square as you and Louis Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clock for Tappert Brothers. And remember, if you do nothing else, don't drive like my brother. Don't drive like my brother or my sister. Especially.

We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now here is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Gongbos. Vinnie? Thank you very much. Now, if you want to copy a Dissue show, which is number 16, you can get one on the web. Yeah. Just head on over to the card talk section at Cars.com

and order it there in the Car Talk store. And Vinny, I wonder if I wanted something else like the father's CD, why you should never listen to your father when it comes to Cars, when I go to the same site to get that... No, you go to www.w. Chipmunks playing poker.com. Of course, you go to the same site, the Card Talk section at Cars.com,

or you'll order the old-fashioned way by calling 888 card junk. Thank you so much, Vinny. who have steered us once again in the right direction. Hey, I can just steering wheel right here, Beth. Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheatham and Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though IRS auditors silently gnawed at each other and toss our returns in the must audit pile, whenever they hear us say it, this is NPR, National Public Radio.