The Best of Car Talk - #2664: Sparks-a-Flying

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

Alison is still madly in love with her hubby of two years, but she’s just plain mad about the fact that everytime they kiss in her car she gets an electric shock. Which has to go: hubby or the car? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. Car Talk's perks include full archive access, new call-in bonus episodes with Ray, and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappertit Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Mental Health Department here at Carthau Plaza. Now, mental health is an issue that we take very seriously here at Carthau. We do. Probably because we have such an overwhelming lack of it. Anyway, we found this interesting and we thought you might find an interesting too. Well, when you call the mental health hotline, you know, like all the phones now, you

don't get a person, you get a recorded message, and here's what the thing is. the message is. A menu of some kind. Yeah. If you are obsessive, compulsive, press one repeatedly. If you are a codependent, please ask someone to press two for you. If you are delusional, press seven,

and your call will be transferred to the mothership. If you have short-term memory loss, press nine. If you have short-term memory loss, press nine. If you have short-term memory loss, press nine. And my personal favorite, If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.

I mean, those things are lousy, those recorded messages, but this one's good. Well, I've always thought that they should make those recorded messages a little more entertaining. Oh, man, they're so boring. As soon as you hear that voice, and especially when you get the admonition, please listen carefully to the following 13 options. And then worse than that, you like one. to place an order. And there is no option for placing an order. If you'd like to speak to our personnel director, press two. If you'd like the message of Spanish, press three. If you're like

a Korean, press 21. Well, anyway. What has the world come to? What has it come to? What is that all about? Well, it used to be that you would ring someone up or some business or whatever, and you would get a capable person at the other end who could answer most of your questions and deal with most of your needs, and if that person couldn't, he or she would go out and find someone who could and say, let me connect you with Ms. Jenkins. Well, see, what bothers me about it all is for the past 10 years, we have had unprecedented growth and profitability, and that's the period during which they no longer can afford to have someone answer the phone.

What's that all about? That was the price we pay for that economic growth. You know why? Because they were making so much money that they didn't care. You know, I mean, the biggest youthful. business and when the world is your call is important to us. Yeah, right. Call is important to us.

I'm not doing business with that electric company anymore. Making my own stuff in the backyard. Like a fire. Well, if you have any questions about your car, call and push any button you want, we don't care. If we hooked up a whole bunch of alternators in my living room with belts, could I make enough electricity to watch TV every night? I would think so.

I think your hair might make enough electricity to watch TV every night. The number is 8.8. 888, what is it, 1-8882-278-8-55. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Matthew from Philadelphia. Hi, Matthew. How are you? Not bad.

And you call yourself Matthew and not Matt. Well, everybody calls me Matt, and I don't mind it. But if I say Matt, you think I say Max because I mumble. Ah, okay. That's why when people ask me my name, if I say Tom, everyone says, well, nice to meet you, Paul. And so I now, I've changed my name anyway to Dante, so there's no confusion. Well, I told you, I changed my name recently. Yeah.

I changed my erasmo. Arasmo. Well, I wanted something less ethnic sounding. Anyway, Matthew, what should we do for you? Well, I've been pressing nine for ten minutes. I've got some memories, but I forgot one. What's up? But luckily, I wrote it down.

I have a 95-4 runner that I just got last summer, and it's a stick shift. But I'm having some trouble shifting now. What's happening is once in a while, and it's gotten even less often. But for a while there, it was intermittent. What would happen is I drove it to a friend's to visit, stopped to the grocery store and the way home in a parking lot, so I didn't have to back up. But then when I got home to Parallel Park, I couldn't put it in reverse. All it did was grind. And trying to get it back into first.

I really had to push really hard. And what happens, though, is I parked it, and a few days later, I started it up, and it was fine. Was it colder that day? Well, it was cold, say, in the 30s, most of the time that this has been happening. And it hasn't happened last night, for example. it was a bit warmer. It didn't happen. When it happens, does the clutch pedal feel any different? The clutch doesn't. And when I turn off the engine, I can go through all the gears just fine.

Oh, right. Yeah, no, we know that because the problem is in the clutch. We're just trying to ascertain which piece. Yeah. And from the answers that you gave us, we know exactly what's wrong. Wow. We know exactly how to fix it. And for a dollar and a half a time. Each. Well, I'm not so sure I know exactly what's wrong.

I was hoping it was you to do it. It's either the slave of the master cylinder. Or something else. Or something else. You could be lucky enough to just find out that you're low on fluid. But because of the inconsistency of it, I'm going to guess that the clutch itself is broken. And there are around the circumference of the driven disk are little springs called anti-chatter springs. And it's not unusual for one of those to break and escape its little mooring.

And then that broken spring... Why are you bringing this up? Well, I'm sorry, Matthew. Matthew is a nice guy. He doesn't deserve this. I was going for the leak. You should pardon the expression. See, all of the other things that we've talked about are relatively, relatively compared to this,

easy to fix because they're all outside the clutch. Yeah, but you can fix those, but it's not going to help the truck any. You need to have the transmission yanked. Oh, boy. And when they take it out, they're going to find a piece. of one of these springs that's periodically getting caught between the flywheel and all the pressure plate and the driven disc and that's what renders the thing unshiftable you're in a bad mood today oh yeah if you don't like it tough matt all right well thank you very much for ruining

well we made his day huh thanks for calling that bye thanks for calling max thank you one 888 car talk that's 888 227 8255 a lawyer on car talk. Hi, this is Allison, and I'm calling from St. Louis. How do you spell it? Allison? Well, I have a-oh, there are lots of ways, you know. I haven't to have a daughter-in-law named Allison, who has an unusual spelling, I didn't even know you are married. How do you spell your Allison? I spell it with two L's and an I. And an I. No, not she. Yeah. Not she. No. She spells it. She uses K's and J's. I don't know. Where are you from, Allison? I'm, right now I live in St.

Louis, but originally I'm from Queens, New York. Cool. Yeah. How long have you been in St. Louis? About two years. Two years. Are you there reluctantly? Not so reluctantly.

I'm here with my husband's job. You wish you were in Queens? I would like St. Louis and Queens to be about an hour apart. Ah, I see. So St. Louis is all right, but you miss your old friends and family from Queens. Absolutely. And you're sick and tired of the airlines to treat you like you're a pig. you've been there yeah you know it

no he hasn't been there as a matter of fact no he refuses to fly I refuse to do business with anyone who wants to treat me that way I don't want any part of it well that's why I don't fly I know what goes on behind the scenes so anyway Allison why did you that's good enough wipe it off

they'll never notice you don't need all those blades of the turbine anyway I mean how many wings do you need anyway I'm sorry. What's up? Okay, well, the short version of my problem is that sometimes I pick my husband up for work, and he gets in my 95 Oswald Biel Atchiva, and he'll give me a kiss, hello, and I get a mildly painful shock. Aw, isn't that sweet?

Sparks are flying even after all these two years of marriage. Okay, well, every time I drive. my car since my husband changed my alternator about a year ago. When I get out of the car and close the door, I get a shock. Now, let me get this right. You want to blame your husband for this, don't you? No. Come on, tell the truth.

First of all, you said he gets in the car, he gives you a little smooth. Bingo, you get a shot. Right. Then he did the alternator? He changed the alternator a year ago. Bingo. You want to blame him, don't you? No.

Do I sense a little discord in the family already? Do you only been married for two years? You've got a long way to go. Maybe not. Maybe not. No, I think she's in love. Yes, I am. And except for screwing up, your achiever, he's been a wonderful husband.

Absolutely. See, she does think he screwed it up. Yeah. He had nothing to do with it. He didn't, because at the same time, out of the goodness of his heart, and so his wife would be safe in her car, He went and bought you four new tires. He's very good. I recently did get new tires, yeah.

And that's the reason for the sharks. I was going to blame it on Allison's wardrobe. Or lack of cream rinse. Fly away here, you know, has been known to give sharks. Or if you've been stroking the cat. Hey, I'm on the phone. I thought we were blaming my husband. No, we can't blame your husband.

No, it's the... Your husband had nothing to do with it, Alice. The reason you're getting shocks is because the tires are allowing static build-up, static electricity build-up. Okay? And you discharge it

when you get out of the car. Yeah. Or when you touch somebody. It's terrible. I can't have anybody in my car. And when I leave and I touch anybody, even hello, I give them a shock.

Yeah. No, it's the tires. I think she needs... Static cling? You see she needs some clingons, right? I think you have to stay away from those polyesteries. That's the dresses you've been wearing.

Hey, I don't wear polyester. I come here from Queens. No, we first discovered this. Some years ago, my wife had bought four Michelin tires, new missions. Not to say that there aren't other tires that do this, but these Michelin's she bought for her Dodge Caravan. And when you get out of this thing, you can see a spark almost an inch long jump off your figure. When you're reaching for like the Doordna off of the house. And it hurt.

And what we finally did to ameliorate the situation. I guess. And you're riding on the rims, took the tires off. Well, no, we actually installed ground straps on the underside of the thing. And these are rubber straps that have metal in them. And they attach to the frame of the car, and they constantly discharge the static building. They drag on the ground. Like trucks have.

Like trucks have. You've seen them on trucks. Cars have them, too. Okay. Right. And I can kiss my husband in the car again. You can kiss a much longer, more passionate kiss, if you don't mind my suggesting it. Right.

I give him a real wet one, you know. Yeah. But that's it. See you, Allison. Hey, good luck. Thanks a lot. Thanks for calling. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. All right. It's now time for my brother to not remember, not remember last week's puzzler. You're right. There was no new puzzle last week. I forgot. You mean you forgot that you didn't have to remember? Well, I forgot to forget because I'm lucky I didn't remember it by accident.

Hi, we're back. You're listening to Card Talk with us. Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers. and we're here to talk about cars, duh, car repair, and the hate mail division. What do you got from the mailbag, man? Well, it's not really the hate mail division. Oh, no?

It's just a bunch of interesting ads that people have sent us. I mean, get to. These ads actually appeared in newspapers. Here's one. Wanted. Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. Write to post office box, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You get paid after we get back. Yeah, right. It says, must bring your own weapons. And then in parentheses, I have only done this once before. Well, here's one. Well, that sounds interesting. I mean, he's already done it. She's already done it.

Here's another one. Used tombstone. This isn't a for sale thing. Used tombstone. Perfect for someone named Homer Hendelberg. Ideally suited for. Oh, man. You couldn't make up stuff like this.

No, you really couldn't. And I'm sure there's going to be another Homer Henselberg. And I didn't even know he was sick. I mean, why wouldn't you buy the thing? Yeah. It should say, ideally soon as somebody named Homer Hendelberg, who's sick.

That would be really, ideally. That would be perfect. Well, look, we will have a new puzzler coming up in the third half the show. Now, this third half thing has confused a lot of people. It has, yes. We just want everyone to know that you're really getting 50% more for your money here with Car Talk because in the time

it takes for most shows to be finished, we give you an extra half hour because we talk faster. Exactly. I mean, you get three hours. You've got a show and a half a week. It's fabulous, isn't it? Yeah. If you can do a show and a half and a week and a half and a day and a half, guys.

Anyway, stay tune for that puzzle. In the meantime... Seven maids with six. Seven moms. It's three seven rooms and seven days. If you have a question about your car or anything else, the number is 888 Car Talk. That's 888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Pam from Tulsa. Hi, Pam. How are you? I'm doing just fine, thanks. We're having a rollicking good time ourselves. Well, you are. It's fun to listen to it.

Is it spring yet in Oklahoma? It is. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the tulips are coming up, and the hills are blooming. Great. Yep, it's springtime here. It hasn't snowed here for a couple of days. Well, you know, I realize that March 20th being the first day of spring

is only for, I would say, the southern tier of the United States. And I think it's rather unfair that they should taunt. It's cruel to even mention spring on March 20th on the Northern Hemisphere here. Anyway, Pam, now that you've been enjoying spring in Tulsa, what else do you... Thanks for questions. Good talking to you. Nice talking to you, too. I have a, well, we have my son drives it now, a 1990 T-bird that I bought in 93,

and it has a sound in the front end, in the cold weather, which isn't as long as up there. It kind of sounds like it's got arthritis. It's like this real... Oh, really? Oh. Yeah, and it's really loud, and I've asked, you know, different places to look at it, and well, they can't find anything wrong, and they loob this and lub that, and what have you, but nobody seems, it sounds like metal, but I can't

seem to figure out what it could be in order to get rid of the sound. Man, there are so many things that can make that noise. And it's only in the cold weather. It's not when it's wet. Has anyone else heard it besides? Oh, yes, yes. I am not alone in this. You're not delusional.

Of any? The mothership hasn't been communicating with you. No, no, no, no. I'm sure my son would be able to hear it if he could hear it over the stereo system that he's got in there now. Yeah, well, that's pretty good, isn't it? But has it been heard by any of the professionals to whom you've taken it? Yeah, they should have. I mean, I've left it when it's been cold, you know, for just some repair work and said, look, would you check this out? And they, you know, but they say, well, it might be this. It might be that. I mean, could it be bushings or something? How long, how long has it been there?

Oh, five years. You're calling now? I couldn't get through on the line. You couldn't get through. Five years, and it hasn't changed much in five years. No, no. I don't drive it regularly now because my son drives it, so, you know. And he listens to the head-banging music, so you don't care anymore.

Between that and the ground effects on the car, you know when he's coming. How much does he drive it? He drives it, he drives it to him from school, and he's actually in an auto body tech program. Well, why isn't he fixing it himself? Can't hear it. He can't hear it over the music. Well, I mean, while it could easily be a bushing, I have a feeling that it's the bearing at the top of the McPherson strut. I think so, too.

And someone who's interested in finding the noise ought to be able to duplicate it. if they left the car on the ground in cold weather outside and pushed vigorously up and down on the bumper, they ought to be able to get it to make the noise without the car being in motion. Okay. Because if it's a suspension kind of noise, it'll be easy to find then. And they can merely listen with a stethoscope and say, oh, yeah, that's coming from the, or someplace else. And it is suspension because you said it happens when you go over a bump or something, and they'll find it and they'll fix it in 15 minutes.

No, once you find that you get your son fix it and shop. Exactly. Okay. Good luck, Pam. Well, thank you much. Thanks for your call. Okay, bye-bye. Bye-bye-88-8-8-8-8-8-2-8-25.

That's 8-88-2-27-8-25. A lawyer on car talk. Yeah, hi. This is Stan from Twin Peaks, California. Twin Peaks? Yeah. Where's that? Oh, you know where San Bernardino is?

Yeah. Barely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I've been there. We're right up the mountains in the San Bernardinoeal Mountains. Oh. Anyway, I have a 97 Subaru Outback with about 42,000 miles on it.

And when I come up, come out, we say coming up the hill. I smell this real hot like burning rubber smell coming out from the car somewhere. And it only seems to do it after going up a long grade. And I took it to the dealer early. The first year I had it, I noticed it. Really? And the dealer took it out and test drove it. Of course, you drove it on the level.

Of course. And he says, I don't notice anything wrong. This is a stick shift? No, it's automatic. Oh, it is? Yeah. There goes Plan A. No, no.

We'll come up with Plan B as you keep talking. Not to worry, as they say. We have backup. I'm going to let my brother ask you a few more. Yeah, and you come up with Plan B. And I'm working. I'm working vigor fiercely on it. What color is?

Is this a black? It's a pretty red. It's red. It's red. I have to ask a question now. Go ahead. How long a drive does it take, and is it temperature dependent? It doesn't seem to be, because right now it's cold.

Up here and I've got a lot of snow on the ground. I don't have to drive very far. I go down to a little town called Blue Jay, which is about 600 feet elevation lower. Come up to wrong hill. and I stop at the post office up in Twin Peaks so I get out and I smellless smell. But only when you get out of the car. Only when I get out, yeah.

And it's not worse in hot weather? It doesn't apparently seem to be, no. Okay, well, unless you're willing to change your position on that question, I'm afraid I'm afraid we won't be able to help you, Stan. You've not come across that problem. Well, no, here's what I think it is, and I don't know why it isn't affected by temperature. Yeah.

Okay. I think that your catalytic converter is heating up the underside of the car and beginning to melt like the underside of the carpet. It's generating so much heat. Oh, no. Yeah. For four years it's been doing this and it hasn't fried the car yet? This is a lousy answer. It hasn't fried the car, but it's fried the carpet.

On behalf of the Tappert Brothers Incorporated, I would like to distance myself and recute it. recuse myself from any discussion involving the catalytic converter. I'm absolutely opposed to it. The rug inside of the car? Yeah. I would smell it inside the car then. I only smell it when I get out of the car. I told you it was a lousy answer, didn't I?

Wouldn't he smell it inside the car if the rug under his feet was on fire? You'd have to wait until he steps out of the car? All right, here it is. Okay. Wait a minute. Stan. I was so sure of the last answer. You guys have been really helpful.

How about we stay with the catalytic converter, but what it's doing is it is somehow overheating the underside of the kind of like the undercoating on the car. You'd smell that way. You go out of the car, huh? Yeah, you might. Huh, Stan. You don't buy it, huh? Well, I see my brother thinks it's electrical.

He thinks that why it's burning up. When was the last time you had brakes replaced? Well, I've had them replaced once. Only once. Yeah. Yeah, that's what's the answer. I've had about eight new tires put on it since I bought it. It seems to really wear out tires.

Tires. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Tires! Let's play with that for a minute. I was going to focus on the brakes, but you have not used brakes pads excessively as far as I can tell. But tires. But tires. And tires are made out of what?

Rubber. And you're smelling what, Stan? Rubber. Why only uphill? Well, Stan, you've been a very uncooperative guest here. I mean, we've invited you into the studio on... Which is tantamount to inviting you into our homes. Into our homes, and you've done nothing but...

You've been nothing but trouble since you got here. Rubber. Rubber. Why would tires make smells going uphill and isn't tires? I'm sticking with my second original answer. The catalytic converter. It's still sticking with the catalytic converter. It's not burning up the carpet.

But I think it's heating up the underside of the car, you know, and there is undercoating. There is a tar applied to the seams. I don't know to what extent they put it on the undercarriage of the Subaru. But there probably is some tar someplace under there that's getting heated up. And that smell will go on forever and ever because it never gets heated up enough to disappear, but just heated up enough to give off some aroma. And it may heat up more when you're going up great. Oh, sure.

We could certainly make an argument that it's going to heat up more. And you do. You find a place, a gas station or whatever that has a lift at the top of the mountain. All right. And you call them from the bottom of the mountain. Say, look, if I'm there in an hour, can we put this thing on the lift as soon as I pull in and figure out where the smell is coming from? Sounds good. Yeah, but it is hard to figure, Stan.

I mean, you were right to call us because this ain't easy. Okay. All right. See you, Stan. Okay. Bye-bye. Hey, you know, you look like you could use a little break. Well, as a matter of fact, I was thinking I like to make myself a little bit more presentable.

I said a little break. Not a year off. Ha! 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 new puzzler. Now, I'm going to need my brother's help for this one. Yeah.

Yeah. Really? Go ahead. What is it? Do I know this puzzler? Yeah, we discussed it in the green room. Oh, you were sleeping. Green room?

I'm colorblind. This is another in the series of driving back and forth to work. back to work and you're right yeah yeah remember the sun puzzle sun was in your eyes the bus yeah okay well this is this is another another one in that series except i'm not going to work in this case i'm coming home from work where i'm usually a lot more attentive to get home i wend my way through the back streets of cambridge going through various neighborhoods some of which are what you'd call commercially zoned that is they have businesses of one kind or another industrial buildings little factories or warehouses or office buildings and the like.

And there's one building that I pass every day that makes me chuckle. No kidding. Yeah. I mean, on these buildings, as you might expect, they have the name of whatever the enterprise is contained within its walls. Yeah. Okay. So I see this building and I see it almost every day, or at least when I notice it, I chuckle. because its name, in other words, the name of the company that's on the building, seems incongruous with the building.

Why? Nothing particularly unique about this building. Lots of other buildings just like it. Lots of other buildings, many other buildings just like it. But it's because, I guess, of the sign on this building that I chuckle. And as a matter of fact, if you went into this building and asked for a demonstration of the product they sell, they wouldn't be able to give you one. Really?

However, if they took you to a building, perhaps next door or a few doors down, they could easily give you a demonstration, I think, of the product that they sell. Really? So the question, I'm going to give some more hints. No, no. Oh, I think so. Oh, no, I don't think so. Dave says, yeah, more hints.

I could safely say that each and every one of us has used this product that they sell Mm-hmm. Okay, that's all right. For sure. Yeah. And some of us use this product that they sell each and every day. And I think that's all I'm going to say. There are two possible answers.

You can't do it unless the number is two. Man, they're quick with that. See, Musselman, you don't say anything. Bingo! Oh, yeah. He won't be getting a Christmas bonus this year. Christmas bonus. You won't be here at Christmas.

So I was going to give it on the show. I don't know. I think that's fine. No more hints. No more hints. It's excellent just as it is. Have you thinking of all the hints? Anyone have it yet?

No one. No one's got it. If you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard, or preferably on the bottom of a Steinway, Louis the 15th, Rocoqueco period grand piano in walnut sat and finish with Carpathian Elm Burrell and finish the... Sent it to Puzzlet Tower, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Oh, ma. No.

Our Fair City. I get it. I was just wondering if the post office would take that if you just throw a couple of stamps on it. The Steinway. 02238. Hey, do you know what time it is? Time to power wash the curtains? No.

It's time to play. Stop the Chops! This is the part of the show where we revisit a caller from a previous show to see if the answer that we gave was 90% inspiration, 90% perspiration. Or 90% desperation. So who's our lucky contestant this week? The lucky contestant is Sue from New Jersey. You remember Sue?

I don't even remember New Jersey. Sue called us a few weeks ago because her Subaru was squealing whenever she turned to the left. And of course, we dazzled her with a seemingly irrelevant line of questioning. You must have, I'm going to guess, you must have like 37. thousand miles of this country. Oh my god, exactly. You're good. See, the numbers, when you're unencumbered by the thought process. The numbers just come to you. The numbers just come to you.

And I'm going to just throw in. See, now you're going to, you don't know when to quit. I always, you have to take a chance. I'm going to say that Sue uses a cream rinse. You're wrong about that. We haven't discussed cream rins for a long time. I haven't used a cream rins since the 70s. I haven't used soap since the 70s.

Well, did we ever give Sue a serious answer? We did. We told her that the wear sensor on her front brakes was making the squealing noise, and she needed a brake job. That's what we said. We did. Let's find out. Sue, are you there?

I'm here. All right, before we find out if your brakes were complete garbage, or our answer was complete garbage, we have to come and mirandize you. Okay. Mr. Paul's putting you in a pot and adding sugar, but... Sue, we have not spoken since your last appearance on Car Talk. Is that true? That's correct.

And the answer you're about to give has not been influenced by our staff, the $20 you got in the mail, the staff of National Public Radio, the $20 you got in the mail, or the lifetime supply of hair care products that we send you, are the $20 we got in mail. My answer is absolutely pure. Okay, all right, or were we wrong? You were dead right. 20 bucks always works, doesn't it?

I mean, usually dead is used with wrong. You were dead wrong. She scared me there for a second. Yeah, I had a little skip of a beat there myself. Dead right. Dead right. Yeah, well, it was actually an easy question. It was almost like a gimmie.

You know what? When you're playing golf and the thing is so close. And you're like 15, 20 yards from the hole? Yeah, that's a gimmie. It's a gimmie. Yeah, it was so easy. So you went and had a break job done, and of course the noise is gone. The noise is gone when I turn.

Well, great, and we're so happy that we were right for once. You did it. And thanks for playing stumped the chumps of chumps, Sue. Thank you. Bye, bye. If any listeners hear someone on the show that you'd like us to invite on to Stump to Chumps, you could either write to us by snail mail and, you know, some address that we have in Cambridge. How about Box 3,500, Cambridge Hour Fair City, 022, what is it?

That's it, that's it. All you can write to us on the website at the Cart Talk section of Cars.com, or you can just call us at that number that my brother, 88888888888888-8-8-2-5. hike hello you're on car talk my name is jack hey jack where you're from living in davis from pittsburgh davis california california yeah so what's going on i have a big problem and i need your help yeah recently engaged to a wonderful and beautiful woman and california girl valley valley girl imagine san francisco rush hour my lovely fiance say is driving and I'm in the passenger seat and we're discussing wedding plans. And we arrive first at a four-way stop intersection. And then other cars arrive. Yeah. And she looks at me and

continues the discussion until she's finished with her point. Yeah. There's a large stack up of hostages at the intersection waiting. Oh, they're all being nice and they're waiting for her. Well, nice up until, you know, a few minutes go by. And then the veins bulge and the fingers come out. Yeah, I mean, for those of you who don't know, I mean, at a four-way stop, the first person who gets there has the right-of-way. And she being the first, social chaos ensues. Yeah.

Because if the person who has the right-of-way doesn't take it, everybody else doesn't know what to do. Well, then it reverts to the law of the jungle. Well, that's what we're trying to avoid. He or she with the most scratches has right of way? Yeah, all that stuff. I have found out that when it comes to conversation, I shouldn't say this.

Go ahead. It is true. Is this going to be a sexist kind of a comment here? Yeah. Yeah. Women put a high priority on conversation. And this. Well, this little intersection incident is nothing.

Yeah. The conversation was not to you, Jack, but to her, and especially if it had anything at all to do with the wedding. Yeah, I mean, it is true. And the question is one of priorities, and it seems as though, I mean, as we know, women and men have different priorities and different views of just about everything. and we're, I mean, Oh, wait, stop, stop. We can't both sleep in your car tonight. No, no, I wasn't going to say anything bad.

Yeah. Because I already saw that you were going to be using the garage tonight. I mean, I know that. So I'm going to, I'm going to just prance around here very delicately. I'm saying that we are very different. And who's to say, who's right? That's the issue. Who's to say that four people are 24 people,

waiting for someone to go through a stop sign is more important than what she had to say to you. God forbid that you should think that. You, because if you think that those 24 people were more important than what she had to say to you. You're in deep doo-doo right now, man. And so take it from someone who's had far more wives than you'll ever have. That she might be right. I'm just curious, how did she react to all of it? I'm sure you started to make some noise about it.

Well, yeah, you know, this would be interesting. Emotional conversation ensues about driving styles and philosophies of obligation to other drivers and efficiency of moving vehicles through town. Right. And she said? And her summary is condensed to one word as whatever. Whatever, yeah. You know, I feel like there's. there's an obligation to other drivers to put driving at the top of the list of things that are going on.

That is when you're driving. First priority, yeah. For her, and many folks feel like there's a list of things that are being done, be it a cell phone conversation or a conversation with a person in the car or makeup or anything else, and that the driving is just one of many tasks that doesn't necessarily have priority. Well, I'm going to go on a limit. Go ahead. I'm going to go off a coffee.

I'm going to go out on the limb here and say that, I mean, as everyone who has driven for the last 15 or so years knows, that the situation on the roads today is far worse than ever in the history of the world, right? In terms of courtesy and observers of the rules. In terms of everything, it's lousy, it stinks, it's horrible. I'm going to be careful here. But I think that a major reason for this is female drivers? Hold on now. Hold on. I'm trying to be tactful here. How cold is it going to be?

Could we keep each other warm? Supposed to snow today. That I have nothing to say. I have no idea what's going on. Come on, don't be it, chicken. Jack, I wish you the best. Don't call me. I'll call you.

Help. But we can't help. We can't help you. See you, man. Thanks for calling anyway. Well, thank you very much. Bye. Poor guy.

So close. So close. Well, it's happened again. You've squandered another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the subway fugitive. Bungo boy, Berman. Our associate producers are Louis Cronin, the Barbarian, and Dave, David Gibraltar.

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