THIS CAR POD! with Doug DeMuro & Friends! - Doug's Favorite Video Game? Murcielago Manual Conversions Coming! Go Buy a G Wagon!
Episode Date: October 4, 2024Have a question you want answered on the podcast next week? Ask HERE https://carsandbids.com/community/podcast Welcome to THIS CAR POD! Doug DeMuro & Friends offers weekly expert insight and opinion,... on the breaking automotive stories, the car market, and audience Q&A. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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This is a car pod.
How do you like that start?
Little like, little like.
I'm Fulibo.
I'm Canon.
No, this is Nick.
Nick's filling in for Canon.
Canon could not be with us today, which is very sad.
But we have Nick instead, and Nick is insane.
And so that's great.
And I'm from Ohio, so practically speaking,
Kenan and I are the same.
Is that true?
Yeah, they're both from Ohio.
Can we train?
Speaking of Ohio.
Oh, yeah, that's so good.
Nice job.
Our first news story of the day, Mike Valentine, has passed away.
Mike Valentine created the Valentine 1 radar detector, very famous person.
The most famous radar detector.
You got one, right? I don't.
How many times have you tried to buy one off a Facebook marketplace, and it didn't work?
I assume a lot.
I have escort passports, but only because they are cheaper.
And worse.
And you bought a one, I assume you used off people in the Audi community in Phoenix.
Or did you buy it off the back of a Motor Trend magazine from 1993?
You guys are on brand, however, I can beat you.
I got them for free.
Of course you did.
In exchange for a blog word.
Blog post.
Yep.
Nick makes a car blog.
You know, we should shout out Nick's blog.
It hasn't been updated in years.
No, except when people want you to do.
Don't you update it?
Except for when they give me a free radar detector.
I update my blog.
He's updated it periodically when someone like offers him something.
He's like, I'll write a blog post about it.
Look, this is a terrible you googly about Mike Valentine.
Mike Valentine, obviously very important in the radar
detector community. And if you're speeding and don't want to get caught community.
Here's another interesting factor about Mike Valentine.
Mike Valentine bought a career GT new.
You're joking.
He's the very next VIN after Mike Carlin.
You're joking.
Now, Mike Valentine's Career GT, he got paint to sample signal yellow, the only one, and he
specified plaque number 9-11.
Wow.
Now, my plaque is 543.
My car is one of the cereal-produced ones.
You might be thinking to yourself, how is it possible that car 9-11 came right after
543. Well, Porsche is a company that wants to make money. So what did they do to car 9-11?
They just skipped it when they got to that. So Porsche was in the business of selling plaque
numbers. This happened, and we did it for 9-19. They were in the business selling plaque numbers
out of sync. And so it didn't, the plaque number didn't correspond to the actual production
of the car. So everybody's like, oh, mine was the 9-11 made or mine was the first. Wow. Nah.
What happened? Number would you have ordered?
I don't know. I mean, for resale, you want number one or number one.
1270 probably or 9-11 honestly it'd be pretty cool i bet i bet valentine had wanted one and then 9-11 is
pretty cool and so it was still available and so they gave to the out of the 940 hypothetically
what would that option cost well they it free and they do if you're a certain statue of person
if you know what i mean like like they that they wouldn't have been offering it to me i'll tell you
that but like jerry seinfeld gets that kind of treatment right and there are other people now
for 918 you could select for free which plaque you want it and so people were just choosing
and it corresponded nothing to the actual production of the car.
And that was mostly true.
Most of the career GT plaque numbers are in order, but some weren't.
And I've discovered that.
I have a VIN list of all the career GTs, and I've discovered going through it that several plaque numbers, many plaque numbers actually, are out of order.
But there is a general, the ones that aren't out of order, there is a general, you know, going.
542 was the one right before it on the other end, et cetera.
And then after 9-11, they went back to 544.
You got any other career Gtie facts for us?
Oh, well, thank you for asking, Philippo.
The Career GT recall has been announced.
Oh, I was really hoping for a fun fact.
Okay, fine.
I'll get you fun fact.
Design in Southern California.
Huntington Beach in a strip mall.
That's true?
Yeah.
Dead serious.
Sorry, you were saying about the suspension.
The recall is here.
It has not been performed on my car yet, but in the next couple of weeks it will.
Wow.
Here's the thing.
I already made a video about this.
So I'm going to keep it very short.
They're recalling the cars that are giving them.
I saw a free set of tires.
I know Nick when he heard that, he was like, can I have them?
Well, just not any tires here, the Michelin Sport Cup twos.
Cup twos.
I looked it up, it's like three grand in tires.
What do you have right now?
I don't know, but I'll tell you, Michelle Tires.
The unfortunate part for you is that Cup Tues might be less of a good fit for your driving.
I don't know what any of that means.
To be honest, I don't think either of them really matter.
But it's new tires.
Now, unfortunately, I put new tires on the car when I bought it, which was two years ago.
So, and only 3,000 miles.
But they're going to give me those, so I'll have a set.
So you and me can go to a parking when it snows.
We'll go to a parking lot light at night and do donuts into the old tires.
And cup twos.
You must be relieved as someone who adhered to the stop drive orders.
You know, yes.
Thank you.
Like everyone else that had stop drive orders, you just parked it and let it set.
I thank you for bringing that up.
I'm sitting behind them.
Another thing they're offering is $3,500 in servicing credit because all of us,
career GT owners have been subject to the stop drive order,
so the cars have been sitting.
They're going to need some servicing to bring them back into health.
And I'll tell you, it's been hard.
Not driving the car's been tough.
Do you think that Honda...
I haven't driven mine since Wednesday.
Do you think that Honda offered the same
to all their cords that are under stop sale
or whatever other cars are?
That's such a great point.
Like the Kia Telluride is under Stop Drive.
You think they're going to give them Pilot Sport Cup 2s?
Can you imagine?
There are...
I looked this up.
When the stop drive happened and when what's the same article...
I should have a 60 time improvement.
I look this up and there are like three and a half million cars
on Stop Drive in the U.S. right now.
Or some insane number.
You know, Kennan's M5 is one of them because of the Takata thing.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's a Kenan driving?
Well, it depends on the week.
Yeah, it really does.
It's in the shop, the drive.
Right, that's so true.
Anyway, there's some Career GT information for you at the top of the pod, Mike Valentine.
RIP, Mike Valentine, important for the car world.
Looks like this and drives a signal yellow career GT.
That could have been you, dude.
It sells periodically.
You know, and I actually think his biggest innovation was his advertising.
the one to two page spreads and all the magazines at the time that like really gave you the detail.
It really made you think like these are better radar detectors and like, oh, it's really important to have the arrows.
Like I think he was a master at direct response advertising.
Yeah.
I'm sure the product was good too.
As an ad guy, he thinks about that.
But you're right.
I remember them.
To this day, I mean, that's an enormous part of what I remember from that era.
100%.
Every magazine.
Every car magazine.
Yeah.
Then you could skip to the back of your DuPont registry.
by a defense dog or a mail order partners.
He's right.
They also advertised.
100%.
And weather tech.
Weather tech is the other one.
Weather tech is the other one.
Now they got a 250 GTO.
Yeah, that's right.
All right.
Next news story, Felipe.
Oh.
Passport.
You want to make the joke?
The Honda passport has dressed up for all.
I don't know what is it.
There is a Honda has teased a new passport.
So the passport, of course, is the two reverses.
of the pilot. It's a little bit shorter. The last generation one had no other changes discernible
to the human eye. But they pitched it as being the off-road version. This one, which the
pilot was redesigned came out last year. The passport is coming out later this year. And they
are claiming and trying to make the point that it's more off-road ready. Yeah. Just looking at this
picture, I'll tell you that it's not. There's no articulation. Yeah. This is, it does look like
it has some all terrains on it, which is fine.
But other than that, this looks like a crossover that's wearing some sort of costume.
It does look like it has Honda Prolog headlights.
Will they sell it with this rack?
I hope so.
What a dream.
That would make it pretty cool.
That would make it noticeable.
It's the only thing that's going to make a past.
This is the trail sport trim, which is their off-road trim.
But they have a pilot trail sport, and it's a total joke.
You know, when I went looking for an off-road vehicle, the family off-road vehicle, which no one wants, but I
want to, people are like, get a pilot trail sport. I'm like, I don't think you understand what
I'm looking for here. That's not. That's not going to do what you got to do. The, but the, the, the,
password trail sport, despite only having two roads, might. No, this will not. It's bad approach
angle, as you can see, there's no front hook. It's going to be a front wheel drive car. It's going to be
it's not going to be body on frame. No, of course not. But every manufacturer now is doing this.
Yeah. Like the, the, the Pathfinder off-road version, remember when the Raff four had an
off-road version? I will tell you, though, they'll be, like every other's. They're all doing it in a cheap
crappy imitation way of Toyota, which did it the right way. You know, the forerunner and the
Grand Cherokee sell enormous amounts to people who don't go off road, don't think it's cool.
And Honda was like, we want to compete with the Grand Cherokee. And they came out with this
trash that isn't, it's just an idea. Like, actually investing in the product is what you need to do
in order to succeed. But the pilot is a great product. You don't, the forerunner's not based
on the Highlander for a reason. Right. Of course, nobody will take their Grand Cherokee off road.
because when it breaks down,
they'll be too far from the service center.
But if you want to sell it,
if you want to sell the car,
you've got to convince people that it can.
And no one's convinced.
And that was true with the first-gen passport.
They were all sold to boomers in my neighborhood
who were empty nesters who no longer.
They wanted the smaller one.
I will give them credit because they had a pilot.
It's at least better than the Mazda CX-70,
which is identical to the CX-90.
That's one of the words.
The CX-90, which is the three-row Mazda.
I'm glad you're explaining it to me because I was lost 10 minutes.
This is an all-time classic.
It's the three-row Mazda, large.
crossover.
Okay.
replaces the CX-9,
although CX-9 might still be for sale.
They now have the CX-70,
which is purportedly
a smaller version.
It is the exact same car,
exact same length,
just doesn't have a third row.
Yeah.
And they're selling it as like the lifestyle one.
And it's like,
well,
why don't I just get the third row one
and then fold down the...
Right.
That's a lifestyle right there.
It makes no sense whatsoever.
At least the passport
is like five inch or shorter or something.
It is shorter.
It is a,
does purportedly have slightly more off-road shops in my world to have off-road capabilities.
You got to be body on frame. You got to have recovery hooks. You got to have low range.
You got to have all sorts of different. I mean, the Sequoia Terrain Select thing, which is stupid,
works really well. You got a light bar. You got a light bar. I got a light bar and camo seats, too.
I got camo seats. I got a bee and a goat with the purchase of my car.
No, no, for $80 extra. $80 extra after the purchase of my car.
Anyway, that's the pilot. Passport.
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Hellofresh.com slash free cars. Okay, that is our news for the day.
Next, we move on to our next segment, which is called Talk Cars. And in this,
segment, what we do is, follow along. We talk about cars. Nick, start us off. Well, I'm excited
about some developments in the aftermarket scene. And neither of these are commercially available,
but I have a marshalago. It's E-gear. And also, I can see her now. It's beautiful. Yeah,
it's a good-looking car. The one flaw of E-gear is that the... Sorry, all of it is a flaw.
People don't like the transmission. I actually think it's not as bad as people.
hype and that it's gotten a bad rap. However, if you look at what's happened in the Ferrari
worlds, companies got really good at swapping them. People said, all right, I will buy the automatic
and then I will swap it. You'll sound like a manual, yeah. It's like a cottage industry with a lot of
weird stuff going on behind the scenes. Yep. But we talked about it when it happened. It's been very
successful, right? So, yeah. And everyone's, the price difference between a Mercia Lago like mine
versus a manual is usually 3x, sometimes more. But, like, like, the price difference. The
Like, generally speaking, people would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the same car.
Here's the only difference is that transmission.
Same year roadster, similar mileage, manual with bid to 500K, 186.
This is a better example.
It's 4,500-mile car, $650,000 when your car is a $200 car.
Right.
Or like, there's other one that we sold with more miles.
It's still under $200,000 car.
Or Ed's blue LP640.
The LP640s were especially rare in manual.
The 580s, my generation, the first two years, they were.
basically manual only.
So like it's a little bit more common.
But basically the manuals are worth a ton.
Now two different companies have been trying to crack the nut.
Actually, it's technically the same company.
It was EAG and then when EAG split,
it's the investors of EAG of one company.
Oh, I didn't realize that it's both.
Yeah, so they may be like basically working off the same homework,
but both are posting on the respective Instagrams.
This is after their breakup of their development cars and showing,
oh, I can shift.
And then the next company will be like,
I can ship with no warning lights on the dash.
And then they're like, oh, but your odometer is not working and ours is.
But they both basically have working prototypes.
So if this is true, it could really disrupt the Mercilago market.
Because maybe the price difference doesn't continue to be 3, 4X for a manual.
If people know they could buy an e-gear and swap it,
the swaps will be extensive.
It's engine out.
The quotes I got initially from EAG before they had finished it was expect 60 to 80 grand.
But still, if it's a $500,000, $400,000 difference.
For a six-figure difference, you make that back and you get to enjoy the car a little more.
You definitely make it back.
I got to tell you, I think about this a lot.
I'm the type of guy who would buy the OE manual.
Sure.
I wouldn't pay the price difference.
Yeah.
No.
And so, it'll come down.
Yeah, I think it'll normalize.
There are going to be guys like me who are like, it just isn't worth it.
When you can get...
I think the price for OEM wants will remain incredibly high.
It will remain high, but I've noticed with Ferrari.
too. There's a lot of guys like me
who are kind of like, really, should I
spend all that money for a factory car
when a not, you can just have a horse on the shifter?
You want a horse on the shifter, but is it worth
$150,000, $200,000, $300,000 in some cases?
I think this will be a huge deal. You're probably
super pumped. You're going to do it?
Selfishly, I'm, even if the 640,
or I'm sorry, the OE manual cars don't come down,
I think the eager cars will go up.
There's converted ones for sure. They will become more
desirable because everyone knows, oh,
if I really hate the E-gear, I can just convert it down the road.
I'm willing to bid higher.
That's a good point.
So your point is even if it's not a converted car, it'll come up because the possibility is there.
It can now become a donor car to become a convert.
So here's the question.
EAG has an interesting history.
Let's put it that way.
Are you serious about that?
You're going to send your $200,000 car there?
What I've told them is, I am happy.
I can forgive the history.
I need to see complete.
I don't want to be the guinea pig.
I don't want to be car number two.
I want to see multiple cars out there
and they've worked out all the kinks.
Because no matter how good you design it,
like there will be some revisions over time.
My recollection of Roderith was not that they had that much problems
with craftsmanship,
but just with doing it at all.
There were some issues.
There were also some issues with some of the car.
If you go on the Ferrari chat,
there's some complaints about this wasn't working right after.
That wasn't working right after.
I'd be more worried about the car never being done
and never getting the car back.
But that was a problem too.
But you're not worried about that?
I mean, I would be worried about it for sure.
You would need to,
you would need to plan the car be down for several months.
It would be one you'd probably rather buy one already converted than to go through the process yourself.
But that's why your conversion will be worth more.
Like it's that time that you're losing is the value that you're at.
I imagine it that you're doubling your investment.
60 to 80 grand, 100, 120, 100, given that the split is $300,000, $400,000.
I will say, that sounds insane.
But when you look at Ferraris, they are worth more converted than they would be if not.
Like, like, they're then the cost of the conversion.
So, like, you look at 599 sticks, you look at 430 sticks, and you look at 575 conversions,
they are worth more.
Yeah.
And also, for the cheaper end, M3 FMG to manual, it's worth it.
M3SM416.
E46 conversions are worth it, maybe less so now.
Get you the dollar back.
And sometimes it's just dollar for dollar.
And on the vanquishes, it hasn't even been that.
Well, you have to send it to take it.
They're not as desirable cars also.
But on this car, I have a suspicion.
and you'll get your money back.
And it's wild that the mercy is somehow like one of the last AMG,
I'm not AMG, SMG slash EG slash F1 transmissions to be converted.
But I guess a lot of it had to do with the computers.
Anyone can manufacture the hardware, the parts,
but getting all the computers, the TCU and the ECU
and all the individual components that talk to each other has been that.
So that must be the breakthrough.
No one has obviously told the secret sauce to getting it done.
And I know of a third company that also is working on this.
And one of the posts that you sent me said that, like, its selling point was still has factory ECU.
Right.
Which is a big deal because there's a lot of other stuff that runs off that.
Yeah, the three or four that have been converted in the past use standalone ECUs, which is a whole thing.
Like, no one wants to buy a car with a standalone and go down that road.
Yeah, exactly.
You lose the originality.
So, fingers crossed.
I'm exciting.
Okay.
On our top car segment, I have a little kind of a meta question that I'm curious about for you guys.
I got two billion views on YouTube.
People walk up to me all the time on the street.
Do people, have people come up to you guys randomly?
It has happened once to me, a few weeks ago,
with next to Nick, and somebody came up and said,
had both of us and took a picture with us.
Oh, wow.
And it's separately happened to me, but I wasn't there.
Right.
Someone mistook him for you or something.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, but so this isn't happening.
You're walking through airports, people aren't.
You're in a lot of our videos now.
I know, and I'm so glad that nobody.
If somebody wants to say hi, I'm happy to say hi.
I'm not doing this for the fame.
Belifo's not the type of guy who, like, chats with people.
He like keeps his head down.
No, I don't chat with my friends.
I have this thing about how Felipe refuses to see me on weekends.
Do you know about this?
What time we convinced him to come to a coffee shop with us on weekend?
He was like so miserable that he had to like be around me.
We get Mr.
Filippo's personal time.
That's where he sleeps.
Right.
I go to a coffin and just sleep.
Do people come up to you?
No.
Really?
No, I don't think so.
You did the P-38 thing.
I think I got recognized more for being Mr. B-7.
and the Nick's car blog legacy.
I was really big in the Audi scene back in the day,
but I have not been recognized for anything cars.
Give us the story.
Give us the story.
Come on, you were Mr. B7.
Did you know about this?
No, outside of this moment.
Nick was famous on Audi Zine.
Tell us the story.
Come on.
I don't know how you missed it.
I was the November featured Audi Zener of 2011.
No, for real though.
So I've had a B7, which is the 2005.5 to 2008,
A4, S4, and RS4.
So I've gone the full gamut.
Converbal?
And I've not done the convertible.
I've not done the wagon.
They've all been sedans.
But I've kind of, and I've modified all of them as far as you could take it.
My S4 had Olens, R compounds, big break kit.
Good, good mod.
Yeah, I tracked it.
Wait, when were you actually the featured?
Because I looked up November 2011 and it was these guys.
Maybe it was 2008.
We don't know.
It was in the golden era.
It was a rough recession year, is all we know.
One month, Audi Zine featured you as the featured.
I lived in Arizona at the time.
I organized actually the Wednesday night meetups through VW Vortex.
So it was just like a...
Is that how you got your wife?
Just like, she saw it.
It was like, yes, this man.
She met me pre that.
He was an Audi.
It's actually funny.
Nick has ridden the Audi train the whole way up to the Mersealago.
Of course, now he owns no.
He had, at one point he had an A4 front track, the front wheel drive one with the CVT.
Really?
Yeah.
That was available briefly and was a rare model.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he had that.
and he had an S4 and he had,
he moved on R8 at some point.
And then you had the R8 with the R6RR engine.
R8, Mersealago.
He needs a Bugatti V-R-R-A-R-H-E.
He does.
That's next.
Good point.
The next Audi,
if he wants to go to the next level.
Yeah, the other...
How did Audi lose you as a customer?
For like regular cars?
That's the V-AG ways.
I went into a Kyan next.
So the theory with the Ascentian.
Yeah, they kept him.
Like, you start as a young professional,
you get your A,
You get your promotion, you get your S4.
You get promoted again, you get an RS4,
you keep going. And then you hit that middle
age thing where you either
have to downgrade because you have kids and you're
too stretched and you go in the Volkswagen family
or you keep ascending and you go into a
Porsche. They've got it.
I thankfully made it
into a Kaya and although I've used
one heavily depreciated.
But like that is that when you see people
in their mid-30s, they're either going down to
a VW or up to a Porsche.
They leave the Audi family.
Nick, what a she?
for Audi who sells multiple large family.
Yeah, they got him into Kyan, and unfortunately, that's when he stopped.
I don't know that he's ever actually given Volkswagen and Routy any money.
In fact, do you know, here's an amazing Nick Fack.
He one time took his Kyan to the dealer for a recall, and they quoted him an oil change,
and he thought the quote was so absurd that he used a free AAA tow to tow the car from the
dealer to an independent shop where he got the work done.
It's even worse than that.
So this was during COVID, they would pick up and deliver your car for free.
So it wasn't AAA.
It was a Porsche technician drove it from Porsche San Diego to Bolog at the time to do the service,
which had to be the most awkward key hand exchange ever.
Oh, man.
But you had them quote an oil change, right?
And you were like, nah, about it.
Well, I had a $500 voucher, much like your stop sale money.
And so I used the $500 voucher.
Then the rest, I was like, no, take it over here and they'll take care of the rest.
God, if it was ever a question that Nick was the cheapest guy in the world,
that is one of the all-time classics.
What would it take for you to give Audi money or Porsche or any VHU group?
Although used usually.
All of these lease specials, like the ETROM special.
I mean, it's actually pretty appealing.
Oh, he had a TTRS also.
He really did a send.
He really did all of it.
Wow.
After I blew the motor on the TTRS, I also took it to Audi San Diego and said,
what would it cost to fix this?
And they're like, we don't do engine replacements here,
but they gave me like an $18,000 repair bill.
And they're like, but how about we just upgrade you to a new TTRS?
And I was just like, I'm done.
But the answer is you are more famous.
People don't come up to you yet.
I'll tell you something.
As this podcast ascends to the level of the Joe Rogan podcast,
you guys will become...
Who is the false on the Joe Rogan podcast?
Not you, though, Kenan, unfortunately.
I listen to Call her Daddy, but I've heard Joe Rogan's good, too.
As we ascend to that level, you guys will become...
You'll be like Bieber.
I'm excited for the fame.
Excited for the fame.
I'm finding the turtle to you being Vinnie Chase here.
Okay, well, that's an interesting...
I'm excited for the fame.
Okay, he doesn't know what that means, but he never saw that show.
Sorry, they didn't have it in Italy.
Okay.
I wouldn't know.
I don't know what you're referencing.
He's lived in America since 2001.
He moved here on 9-11.
For the record, we moved here in 02.
Thank you very much.
9-11 was the catalyst.
Okay.
I want to talk about...
There's two other things that we're going to discuss.
on the Talk Cars segment.
One of them is the Honda Prologue situation.
Yes, please.
Okay, I've said some negative things
about the Honda Prolog on this podcast, on this podcast.
Not as negative as a Toyota BV-4X.
Some of those things have gotten back to Honda,
and they weren't happy.
So they sent me a prolog.
And then they said, hey, here's the prolog,
and by the way, we know it's not the most competitive SUV,
but you should try it out.
And I thought that was odd.
And I especially...
What a...
Do they have PRP?
I especially thought it was odd because Honda's weird.
Like their cars are the best.
They have six core products, right?
And they're the best.
In each segment they're the best.
HRV, CRV, Odyssey, Pilot, Accord, Center, right?
They're the best.
They're the best.
Only they did a Odyssey hybrid.
Yes.
Well, nonetheless, the Odyssey sells like crazy in that segment, right?
Like, everybody agrees they're the best.
But then they occasionally come out with cars that are either weird or not the best.
Element.
And the prolog is that.
I just find it so interesting that here we are in the world of the
prolog where
they kind of
admit it.
I said to them
openly,
I was like,
Tesla has better range,
better acceleration,
it costs less.
How do you justify that?
And they were like,
well,
it's kind of hard.
But they were like,
this is kind of,
it's a prologue to a,
and their explanation for it,
to answer the questions
people might have
after seeing me complain about it,
their explanation for it was
that they kept seeing many buyers
go from Honda to other brands
because they don't even offer an electric car.
And they never really have.
Honda's never really have.
had an electric car. And so they've seen all these buyers flow out, and so they want to at least
have something. And their point was, you know, it's going to be the Honda of EVs. Like, it's good,
it's fine, it's maybe not the very best, but it's like it's a safe choice. And there will be
Honda buyers who want a Honda and want to stay in the Honda family. That's reasonable. They also
said, although didn't say it, but I'll say it, that Elon Musk is insane and there are increasingly
large numbers of EV buyers. I see a lot of, I bought this car before I knew Elon Musk was
Yeah, bumper stickers.
No, people come up to me all the time
and ask car advice.
Our neighbor, I mean, I can't walk around my dog
without my neighbor coming up to me.
Hey, what do you think I should get?
And they increasingly say,
I don't want to buy a car from Elon Musk.
But I want an electric car.
I will also say two, two things.
First of all, Honda's done this before
with the rodeo, for example,
and the Oasis.
And the SLEC, Accura, SLX.
Of course.
The point being, what are you saying,
they created, they had a car
that was some other brands car.
All of Zusus, as it were.
They were Azusus.
and while they were developing their own car.
And then when they came out with their own car, guess what?
It was great.
It was actually fantastic.
The pilot that replaced it, the passport was excellent.
Right.
The passport, the original Honda passport was the Exuzzi Rodeo was kind of averaged by that.
They used that time to develop the pilot.
It came out in 03 and was like the segment killer and has been a huge success.
They basically realized that they were way behind.
They needed something.
Also, I think most consumers don't actually cross up.
They don't go to the Hyundai dealership and the key dealership and the dealership and look at each of their EVs.
They go in their CRVs.
They go in their CRV and they see it in the showroom like, oh, cool, Honda does this.
I'll buy it.
I think Honda's point was CRV leases come in or people want to trade in their CRV and they're saying,
what do you have for me that's electric?
I want to get it.
And their answer up until this point has been nothing.
Now they can at least say we have this.
If people look at the numbers, the car will not be competitive.
Yeah.
But if people just want a Honda, which a lot of Honda, let's be honest, like a lot of people do.
And you've got to figure the only BZ4X sales are to people who want a Toyota that's electric.
Because if you looked at any number, any number, any number.
number.
Yeah.
On that car.
The price, the horse power, the range, any number.
You can like, this is not a car that I want.
Yep.
No, 100%.
I'm hopeful that they are, I don't know, I would have concerns about buying, well, certainly
nobody that was buying a prologue.
Yeah, they would have to have a concern about leasing them.
And yeah, it's a good way to tie it over.
But I'm shocked that they told you, basically.
I think at some point, and I wish more automakers would do this.
Because at some point, you have to.
admit the truth.
Right.
And I guarantee you
if I had the GM PR people,
they'd be like the Blazers
is best in class,
Blazor EV.
And it isn't.
We all know it isn't.
Even the person telling me that,
what just like say what's real
so that we can establish a good relationship
and then maybe maybe one day
you can talk me into saying
some nice things about your car.
Like that's the theory about a PR person.
But it's telling me that the Blazor Evie is best in class
is just like,
it has the best in class lease deals.
Does that count for anything?
So anyway,
I thought that whole thing was interesting.
And I got to be honest,
I've been driving the prolog around
for the last few days, and it is indeed fine.
And I could totally see how, you know, parents who had to raise their kids in a pilot or an Odyssey,
and now they want to, you know, their kids are in college, they want to downsize, they want something
electric, they end up with a prologue.
And it's not the best.
It's fine.
Yeah.
And that's all Honda was trying to do this time.
And honestly, that's what most is.
Most cars are fine.
Most cars are fine.
Yeah, no, non-car enthusiasts, and you get that too, right?
The way they buy vehicles is very different.
They're not creating spreadsheets necessarily.
Some of them are, the analytical ones.
No, I do it for my friends.
friends though. They come to me and say I want to buy a card or they're getting a spreadsheet.
My neighbor traded in his Kia Nero and he's like what other cars are out there?
The Keenero is the best one. And well he was like, he's like I just, my lease is due today.
I need to figure something out in like an hour. And he just like he ended up just trading it in
for a new one because he didn't want to be inconvenience to have to think about it.
And so if again, you are loyal to Honda or just have had them. I do worry that it'll shine a bad
light on Honda if the prolog isn't as reliable as it want it to be. But also, EV's probably
we're more likely to be reliable and fine.
There's other issues, too.
It's a GM interior,
so everything isn't kind of a weird place,
especially if you're used to Honda.
Like, the windshield wipers are on the turn signal stock
and like a small little dial.
But, yeah, it could shine a bad light on Honda,
but I think consumers forget this.
People would never even remember the Honda Passport existed,
the original one.
Right.
Or the Accure SLX and all that.
Or the Mazda tribute then tradition to CX5.
Had a Mazel tribute.
Years later.
Anyway, that's the Honda Postal.
a lot of situation. It is crazy how people buy cars.
Yeah. I once read a statistic that something like 50% of people would buy a
different car than when they bought if a different, if their preferred color was available
in a different car. Yeah. Yeah, the things that it can come down to at the 11th hour
are like wild. You often hear about people that bought a car and then realize that the seat
wasn't comfortable for them. It's like, did you not sit in this car? Like at the very least,
like sit in the show room in the car. How many people come to you and ask for a car, like your
friends and family? A lot. Even though you don't know anything about car.
Like new cars?
And I get bad advice, because I can tell you as an enthusiast, here's what I would get.
Right.
I'm not thinking about like...
People ask you, must ask you about crossovers.
That's like the big one, Rav4C-RV, but you don't know anything about what do you say?
I actually like enjoy the process, so I will go research and look online and be like, okay, if you're looking for mid-sized SUV, like here are the ones.
So then I'd be like, stay away from this brand, whatever.
So I try to give good advice, but it's, I have to remember it's not advice for me because my levels of importance of things are very different.
This is one of the thing that annoys me about a lot of enthusiasts,
and especially a lot of enthusiasts forums and comments on my Instagram posts and
Facebook and stuff is that a lot of car enthusiasts straight up for you.
I will pause to review the Lexus Rax.
People like, there, you're getting paid.
And it's like, you don't get it.
Like, you don't get that the people watching that video and buying that car, that's just
consumer advice and they don't care that the X-5 is a second faster zero to 60.
That's not what they're interested in.
And that's very frustrating for me with a lot of, you know, extremely online car enthusiasts.
There's an old viral video used, I think it's called Super Normal,
but the guy's giving advice to like a single mom of three.
And she's like, what car should I get?
And he's like, duh, the only answer is an E30.
You can track in and work on it.
And she's like, no, I need room for my kids.
And he's like, oh, well, duh, then it's a crown vix.
Because you find lots of parts cars and change the motor in an afternoon.
He's like, I'm a single mom.
I don't know how to work on a car.
He keeps going through enthusiast cars.
That is so, so.
It goes to like a miata and you make multiple trips.
People don't.
A lot of times people, people don't.
Just don't understand what this real situation is.
Can I tell you guys a four card people should buy?
Yeah.
Corolla or Civic Hybrid, now that we've discussed,
we've got it's last week,
Sigraibibb Hybrid, best car on sale.
Yeah.
Rav 4 hybrid, which seven of my friends bought last year.
Ravre hybrid,
Subaru Outback, if you want something
that's team sportier.
And those are the oxy line down the three.
Those are the only cars anybody that I know
has bought in the last three years.
I will give you a little secret.
You already know this secret,
but I mean, give everybody out there a little secret.
The Toyota Venza,
which just went off the market because nobody bought it
because nobody had heard of it,
is functionally very similar to the Rav4 hybrid.
Better in every way.
But the Rav4 hybrid has this name recognition
because the Rav4 everybody knows it.
Venza's are generally newer, nicer, and cheaper
and get similar fuel economy.
And so if you want to have used Rav4 hybrid,
but you don't want to spend Rav4 hybrid money,
go pick up a VENZA for like 20% off.
It's stunning how much you have price difference there is.
Yeah.
Venza's got a little less room, but not much.
And it's got that roof that you press a button
and it goes, whoop.
That sounds just like a sunroof.
It's an umbrella.
No, it has one of those transluses.
Oh, is it really?
Yeah, like the 575 Super America.
There you go.
And if you're listening to this five years from now,
go by, I go use Crown Signia.
Yeah.
I saw one yesterday.
Driving along.
You did?
Yeah.
I checked the other week because I haven't seen one yet.
They are on dealer lots.
I checked.
Accura Honda in this prolog call told me they've sold the thousands ZDXs.
You believe that?
People out there buying cars.
We barely even need.
Nick's never heard any of these cars.
That's an accurate version of the prolog,
and it looks a little bit different.
You didn't know what the prolog was,
so I'm looking forward to checking out the video, though.
Yeah, well, I'll tell you, Nick,
you should pay attention to these cars
because they're incredible lease deals.
Someday you will have to lease something
for $1.99 a month, and they're out there.
Leathacker.com.
It's a place to go.
To the earlier point, my wife has had Ford Explorers
and enjoyed Ford Explorers,
and we want to get another Ford Explorer
because we've liked Ford Explorer.
And so you're not going to do any research.
You're just going to get a Ford Explorer.
If she's cool with it, I'm cool with it.
Let's not waste an app for this.
But the Audi family, the Audi family needs you.
That's the Kyan.
It's the LAMBO.
Guy in and a Ford Explorer.
Wow.
Moving from a Ford Focus that's 10 years old to explore.
Nick, I love you too.
Thanks for being my family member.
His name is Mike.
Can I talk about a car that you should buy?
People should buy?
Yeah.
The Nissan Armada and Infinity QX80.
Oh, that's your time.
We malign greatly.
But there's a new generation of both.
I'm going to pull the photo of them.
Yeah, I'm still thinking of the old Armada.
I don't know what it looks like now.
Yeah, it looks similar.
He wrote this down.
I've written it down every week for the last four weeks.
The Armada is underappreciated, just like the Kia Borrego was.
I stand by it.
Look at that car.
No, it doesn't.
There's one part to block her from my house, and I think about it.
The Barrego was in his wheelhouse of date, so he knows what it is.
What is that?
One model year only.
O-9 only.
Although I went to Dubai and they're everywhere.
Turns out it's still being sold there is the Kia Mojave to this day.
Did you ever think there's a very, this is only to people our age.
There's a vine where a guy slips and falls in his driveway on snow while shoveling.
It's a great vine.
There's a Kia Barrego in the corner of that.
And the only thing I think about when I see that vine is the Berega-Berga.
They did a V8 one.
They did.
Anyway, the point is you're saying the Armada is underperche.
The Armada, a bunch of reviews have come out, first drives, walk around.
The QX80, I think, is a little bit behind it.
And by all, they're apparently good.
And the interior has a ton of screens and tech.
And it's all updated.
It might be good.
And it might actually be good, but nobody will ever find out about it.
And it's a shame.
The body on frame full-size of TV has become increasingly kind of a niche car.
When I was a kid, Suburbanes, Tahoe's, Yukons were like everywhere.
Expedition came out of 97.
It was a huge deal.
They were sold, millions of them were sold.
They've become so expensive.
and so prohibitively large, so gas guzzling that like...
But then again, my Sequoia...
It sells well.
It sells well in the sense that they sell as many as they make,
but I never see them.
Even New Tahoe's are much rarer than when I was a kid.
But this might be the most competitive products in the class,
and nobody will ever know.
Body on frame full-sized SUVs is not where you want to win the war.
It's really not.
You want to win in the...
I think it will be forgotten,
but I think it will also be a deal in like five years.
What motor is powering?
It's still V8 in there?
I think there's a V8, or it's a twin turbo V6.
Nick and I are V8, guys, we wouldn't touch this thing.
Twin Turbo V6.
It's weird to be bodily on frame and then a V6.
Yeah, although my Sequoia is that.
And I'll tell you, the V6 is literally.
516 pounds for the torques.
Oh, I got more.
Do you really?
You don't have more torques now.
I do.
I got 437 horsepower and 583.
Whoa.
Big power.
I'm like a McLaren up in here.
Big power.
All right.
But nevertheless, I feel bad for the Armada,
because I think maybe the one good product that Nissan makes it.
Shame somebody will pay.
Nobody cares still.
But speaking of body on frame cars,
I have a theory that late last gen,
current gen, forerunners
are going to retain value
and go up and value.
This is a market report topic.
Let's introduce the market.
This is the market report segment.
We are going to talk about the car market
sponsored by cars and bids.
The Aspark Owl.
No, no.
That would have to exist for it to sponsor us.
The Aspark Owl.
It sponsors us.
by saying,
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That's the sound.
You know how all EVs
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they make when they're going low speed?
It goes down the road going,
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Well,
nice job.
Thank you.
It's like I've been here for a while.
Okay, so your point is that
these are going to become a big deal.
The new four-runner for 20-5 is a not body-on-frame?
It's a unibodybody?
No, it's still body in frame, but it's like a four-cylinder hybrid thing.
Oh, come on.
I love it.
But just like we talk with the Land Cruiser, not being a real Land Cruiser anymore,
I think that that reputation might follow the forerunner as well.
Well, okay.
And I think that somehow, this generation, which has been for sale since 2011.
12, yeah.
We'll remain really valuable.
So we just sold this 2024 with 910 miles.
Yeah.
MSRP was 56K, solds for 53K plus 2K,000, $2,500,000 biostrates.
Yeah.
So basically MSRP.
Yeah.
That's an interesting point.
Which is like the rare car right now that is still worth MSRP after you drive it off the line.
It's an interesting point.
I hadn't really thought about that.
It was a pro.
It was a very special thing.
It's like the FJ Cruiser.
Right.
The FJ Cruiser went away.
It was never replaced.
But they came out with like nicer four.
After the FJ went away, they came out with these pro four runners that kind of replaced it.
But it never really, this is an interesting point.
I hadn't really considered it.
The four leader is known to be X.
People love the four leader.
The new Tacoma is having a lot of transmission issues.
And I might be said the forerunner as well.
And like this is just a no net.
I will say one difference between the forerunner and the, I will tell you this.
When the fourth gen went away as the last V8, people said the same thing.
And it never happened.
But that's because it wasn't that good of V8.
I have a suspicion that the next gen forerner is going to be awesome.
I haven't driven it yet, but I've played around with it.
And I think it is the coolest thing in the world.
And I'm a big Toyota truck guy.
The thing that they've become,
grown used to after 13 years on the market?
Maybe. I think you're right that they'll hold value.
They might not appreciate. I don't think they're going to shoot up, but I think
you're right that they're going to hold. This is a really good point.
You know FJ values, right? FJs brings, FJs bring big money. We sell FJs regularly for 40s
50s. Yeah, we just sold this one a couple days ago, this bid to over 40.
They bring money. Yep.
And this card is 57,000 miles. Yep. And surely it wasn't 40 grand. New, yeah.
No, they bring money. They're real. And I think that you make a good point about
forerner. That's an interesting point.
But I will say, I do think the new forerner is an improvement.
The difference with Land Cruiser is...
It's a good point.
The new Land Cruiser, I'm going to just say it.
You ready?
The new Land Cruiser is not an improvement over the old Land Cruiser.
It's just not the same.
It is a worse product.
It's cool.
It's neat.
It looks cool, but the Land Cruiser used to be the top dog, big boy, off-roader can do anything,
25-year service like this bad boy.
And it just isn't that now.
And the difference is the forerner, it's just kind of going to a new generation.
And I think in time, the new hybrid engines will be loved by people, like loved.
Yeah.
And I love the new land cruiser, but I agree.
It's not the same.
It's not the same.
Sounds like the Honda PR team's pitch of the new land cruiser.
Not as good as the old one, but it's for sale.
Yeah.
I see a lot of the new land cruisers around.
I think it looks great.
It looks cool.
But the problem is I still don't understand why people buy it over the foreruner.
The new four-runner seems way more filling.
The new foreign isn't for sale.
Okay, but when it is, what are people doing?
They're more expensive than worse.
Very thin.
It's thin.
Especially if the GX 550 exists as well.
Right.
With a third row that the language doesn't offer.
That is the real shame.
The Land Cruiser would be a serious contender if it had a third row.
The Forer has it.
The GX has it.
The Land Cruiser doesn't.
It doesn't make any sense.
But if they did, that would slice it even thinner.
And by the way, the Land Cruiser of today's world is the...
Sequoia.
Tierty Pro.
Thank you very.
very much. I appreciate that. The Land Cruiser of today's world, of course, is the Lexus LX 600,
which is the 300 series light cruiser. Actually, the Lan Cruiser is fine. We'll accept the Sequoia's
answer. Okay, next market report topic. I have a couple, but I'm going to specifically talk about
G-wagons. Th thrilling. G-wagons, I've decided everyone should buy a G-wagon. Which G-wagon should they
buy? You are listening at home, you want a sign to go buy your G-wagon? This is your sign.
What G-wagon should they buy?
Probably an early G500.
So we have this one live live live live,
this thing is green.
That's a great car.
The thing about Gwagons is the following.
There's two things.
Number one, they don't lose value, ever.
So they're a little bit expensive to buy,
but you will never lose value.
I remember looking for O2G wagons in 08, and they were 30,
and they're still 30.
It's like still to this day.
I mean, there's been some inflation,
but the concept is the same, right?
The other thing is they're surprisingly reliable.
This motor was one of the very most reliable.
There's about three things I would do to them to bulletproof them.
And then you're like good for, and none of them are expensive,
and then you're like good forever and ever and ever.
And the early G55 also used the M113.
It was a slightly different version,
but it was supercharged of 4169 horsepower.
This is the one to get.
An early G55, great power, great performance,
with a couple of cool off-roady things.
How come you don't have one of these?
Remember, when I bought my 9-5-8,
5A, Kayen, you tried so hard to talk me into a G-Wagon.
You sent me spreadsheets with data on, like, on what?
Liability.
Yeah.
Because that Steve Lang worked for by cars did that dashboard light website
that tracked reliability, and Gwagon was like his highest rated overall car.
They are incredibly reliable.
He basically, like, yelled at me at this volume for three plus hours on why I should get one.
And really, the only thing that held me back was, like, the Kardashian image and it's being
a bit extra.
Just you can draw back.
You can make it work, though.
We're like, like,
plastic dipping,
the bumper guard as this person did.
Yeah.
Helps.
That's a thing.
Removing it entirely,
like the G500 doesn't have it also helps.
Yeah.
I think you can make it work.
Go back to the other one.
I think the way to make it work is
you throw on some off-roady looking things.
And it gets more XJ Cherokee than G-Wagon.
This has mud flaps.
It has tail light guards and headlight guards.
It has the brush guard,
the roof rack.
I find to be.
And some all-terrain tires.
And that, what do you mean?
You're backing up in the forest.
How many times have you been doing that?
You break your taillight.
To meet.
Yeah.
And the throwback fifth wheel covers actually really cool.
Yeah.
For some reason, the, the taillight covers just scream like I street parked this in a like Long Island.
No.
I don't know why.
I don't know why.
You're backing up in the jungle.
This car is seen monkeys.
Monkeys have been near this car.
That's what it screams to me.
Yeah.
I do.
I do, like I've loved my 9-58 Kyan.
I also think that's a car.
Like a lot of people should think about buying.
But the G-Wagon, you were right, did hold the value better.
Yeah.
Probably, my Kagan's actually been good on maintenance, but I think the G-Wagon would have been
extra, just as good.
One of the drawbacks is, the Gs that are especially reliable are the early 2000s with the M-113.
The tech is trash.
I mean, you'd have to do a lot of work to get it into any good shape.
The other big drawback, in addition to the image, which I agree is the biggest drawback.
Yes.
The fuel economy is atrocious.
Like, it's half what you get in your time.
And so, like, I'm telling you it's a good buy because it holds its value and it's
not expensive to own.
Well, all the money that you save and all those things will go into.
putting fuel in it because in my convertible one, which is half the size of a regular, I get
like 12 miles per gallon.
And you're driving that hard.
I do.
With no tire pressure.
I mean, that helps.
But those early, the early USG wagons like 02 to 07, I think everyone should have one.
We've convinced in the last week at least one person to buy one.
Sean should get one.
Nick Stafford sent me this one the other day.
Everybody should get one.
You should now get one.
Ooh, good idea.
That could be a good future build series for the channel.
actually. Yeah, it would be like, oh, another reliable day with my GWWA. Don't need to do anything.
That's true. There wouldn't be a lot of content. People don't realize, but these used SUVs
eventually get priced based on their reliability. Yeah. And then nothing else. That's why 100 series trucks.
100 series are valuable. These are even more valuable because the market has discovered that these
are really valuable and capable. And of course, the P-38 is free. The least valuable. Yeah, free. Exactly.
Okay, everyone should just buy G-Wagans. All right, next up, we're going to move on to questions, questions.
Questions. Now, we are pre-filming this episode a week before. So these are leftover questions from last week. But going forward, we'll have live new episodes. And if you want to ask us questions, go to cars and bids.com, click on the communities tab. And there will be a post there that says, ask us questions. You can ask us questions. And we will answer the highest upvoted ones, no matter how stupid they are. Correct.
Fun fact for you, I submitted a question to Kenan. And even though I've been on this podcast a dozen times, I did this wrong. And I created a new.
thread with my question. And it did not get asked because I did not follow the instruction.
So look for that thread. Let's start with your question. What was your question? It was just for
Canon. It was just for Canon. Was it about it? Emily? I was no, I was egging him on about the 355
Restel mod we saw. Apparently they, I saw in our news article today that they stiffened a bunch of
known failure points of the carbon fiber. Carbon fiber never breaks. First, good idea.
First, you know, in the end, it's going to come out that the carbon fiber didn't break on that. It was like
the point where it attached to something else on the hull of the ocean gate thing, the Titan
submersible. That's what he's talking.
You remember it went down to the Titanic and then instead of getting down there, it exploded.
Right.
It imploded.
Yeah, it blew up.
Okay.
First question from Big Ultima Hater 6.
If these cars were to sell in cars and bids, which one would bring the most money and which
would you buy?
Okay.
Volkswagen Golf GTI W12650
Remember that thing?
Yep
Nissan Jukr
Aston Martin V8 Cignet
These are all one-offs
They did make a few Juke R's but one is destroyed
Go through each of them
Okay so the GTIW12
They put a W12 engine mid-mounted in a
Mark 5 GTI
Yeah
The Juke R
Was it in Mark 6?
Mark 5 Mark 6 around there
The Juke R they put a Nissan GTR
drive train in a Nissan juke.
This is one of my grail cars.
100%.
The V8 Cignet was a one of one.
They put the V8 Vantage V8 in a Cignet, wider fenders, wider tires, and they sold it to
one dude who said, I'll only buy this car and finance the production of it if you
never build another.
And so I asked an agree never to build another.
And so.
Probably wasn't a difficult argument.
It's fine.
No one wants it anyway, so we'll give it to you.
Well, we can never build another of this.
incredibly desirable car. What a shame.
Anyway, the question is, what would sell
bring the most money? I don't know the answer to that, but how about this?
What do you want the most?
For Earth, the GTI would bring the most money.
Thank you. Yeah, that was like a real. That's a
W12 GTI. That would probably bring the most.
V8 Cignette would be cool as hell, though.
Yeah. I know which I would buy.
Did you want to look at the Jukear? Well, I just wanted to see
it. I know it, but I thought I would see
it again. What do you like the best of these?
I think I would do the GTI, W12.
But it's like a tough, it's a tough decision.
Wow.
I mean, look at this.
Which was Mark 6, by the way.
The person who asked this definitely knows their stuff, right?
That's like a real enthusiast versus just someone who likes a Maserati badge.
Right.
Wow.
What do you get this?
That's cool.
Look at this thing.
I think this direction I go, but it's followed very closely by the Jukear and trailed far behind by the Asthmann.
Really?
Yeah, I don't care.
I think I'd put the Signet last two.
Really?
It's definitely my first.
But unlike you guys, I've spent some time around a signal.
The other two would.
actually be usable to drive? I would imagine the signet. It's a honestly this is not
usable to drive. This does this have the W12 in the backseat. Nissan GTR powered Nissan juke
Yeah it's famously the most daily drive. You couldn't use it because you'd be you'd be beaten off
all the excited people who want to check it out. Okay, does admittedly has here this has
W12 in the backseat. Maybe not super usable. Maybe not super usable. Those Renaultz that had this
had front lift. I drove one. It was
kind of scary. They had a V6.
So it can fly is my takeaway.
That car, like a CLK GTR.
Yeah.
No, the V8 signet's the answer. Pull up a picture of the VAT.
I think that would get like 45 grand.
You wouldn't want a V8 Cignet?
No, we'd get more than that.
I would want one, but I just think if I had to stack rank them, it would be third.
You don't think that's cool as hell?
Look at those fenders.
It looks like something my two-year-old kid would play with.
Yes, it does.
It looks like how wheels made a car.
That's the point.
You know what you've lost that fun.
Pull that.
Yeah.
You've lost that fun.
within your heart.
No, this is, no.
I stand by my ordering.
This is a great stigma.
And then miles behind that's smart six.
Isn't it also just like a Toyota IQ or whatever it's called?
What do you think the Nissan juke is?
You think that's like the high quality product?
That's true.
Love the juke.
In every incantation.
The signet, okay, so you would pick the, you both pick the GTI first.
I think so.
It's a tough race for first.
Not a tough race for third.
I think that the, you can.
So cool.
The tiebreaker is number of cylinders.
So we got to go 12 cylinder first before we consider a V8.
And then the Juke R is a six buddy boy.
So you're saying it's second?
That's fine.
That's how I'll do it.
You know, I'm going to tell you a little Juke R story for you.
I was bored this summer and thought to myself.
I wonder if I could pick one of these up?
How much are they?
Are there any for, like where have they sold?
All right.
So they never sold in the U.S.
That's a problem.
I can't federalize it.
I mean, just you put Duke on the title.
One came for sailing at a dealer in Germany that has,
super cool stuff.
Okay.
And they wanted all the money
and then that became half of all the money
later.
I don't remember a couple hundred grand.
And I was like, you know,
that's pretty cool.
But then you've got to remember
you're driving a Nissan juke.
Yeah.
Are.
Yeah, but I don't think that like
goes to bottoms and a hundred years
and pulls all the money, you know,
in front of with a British auction.
You know, this was a Nissan juke.
No, but it goes to like,
Fast and a Fear movie set
For Fast 20
You could never recreate the other two cars
In your garage over a couple cold ones
But I think you could put a GTR engine into a juke
Every time I see the high performance juke
Which was the SR which is no extra power
But the body kit I think that exactly
Yeah
The car that you can most create in your garage is this
I can't even buy one
I can't even buy one OE
Well you buy an IQ which you could buy OE
And you don't even understand how many changes
As a man who spent a lot of time with a CigNet
in a parking lot in the San Fernando Valley.
I know very well.
This car is not just a Toyota IQ.
It's got a bad reputation.
It's got hood vents.
It's got vents.
All right.
Yeah.
Okay, next question, please.
V8 sign that's the answer.
And by the way, the commenters will agree with me.
No, they will.
Next question from prancing niece.
What heavily depreciated vehicles are surprisingly reliable?
QP5.
I actually agree with that.
Late QP5, yeah.
Late QP5.
V8 V8 VAT VAT.
Yeah.
E55 with the blown V8,
the O3 to 06, E55 AMG,
and other cars.
Cheap.
Yeah, they're cheap, but they're 470 horsepower.
They're fast.
I'll tell you, ISF is not heavily to,
like, there are cars that, like,
because the manufacturer's rep is bad,
they're cheap, but they shouldn't be.
You know what is?
Kiant.
Kiant.
All Kians.
Kians.
We get Kians routinely submitted us with 200,000 miles.
Can't be that unreliable.
tried to convince Sean, who would be convinced by a G-Wagon to instead buy a Kyan by sending him really cheap
Kyan results. And they're like 13 grand for Nass. My G-T-S is 10010,000 miles. What's that worth?
12. Yeah, 18 maybe, if I'm lucky. That's because I have a cool spec.
Cool spec, man. Black-on-red. This is black on red. I think that there are some cars they depreciate
because the manufacturer has a bad rep for reliability, but the individual cars themselves are actually
pretty reliable. Panamara. Cobalt S.S.
Okay. Next question.
Am I wrong?
I was going to throw the Arnage tea in there as well,
just because they are 20K cars,
and you can drive them pretty good.
They're not reliable.
They're known to not be reliable.
Compared to the red label and the green label, they are.
Other versions of the same car that were worse.
There were probably other examples of February.
I saw something the other day that really stuck out to me,
but I don't know what it was now.
Well, I'll ever know.
X-C-90s.
which gen
first
yeah three
second gen are also cheap
two five turbo
anyway
that's a good question
there actually are some cars
and there's there's a
it's a pretty good play
if you do that
because
um
there are like the astins
I think is a great example
they really
aston's rep has pushed
the values of those cars down
but I don't think that they
beginning with the 06
the AJ cars really deserve that rep
and I think they actually tend
to be pretty reliant
I think that they say you're right
brand repetition matters a lot
so like yeah
Ford excursions
on the other side of thing.
Everybody knows which engines are desirable
and prices reflect it.
Yep.
Because everybody knows.
Yep.
7.3 is what you get.
But yeah, on an Aster,
everybody just assumes they're unreliable.
They don't do the research.
They don't do the research.
They don't do the research on the QP.
The QP5 is a great example.
The early ones were bad.
It had the F1 transmission.
It had cam variant issues.
They're worth nothing.
And then people don't realize
they change the transmission.
They change the cam barriot.
They fix all these problems.
And it actually is a pretty desirable car.
But damage was done because they say,
oh, that generation of QP5 is
trash, don't touch it.
And,
and Maserati's rep in general,
I think has that problem.
And so, and so that's a,
I would argue that yours
is kind of like the one era
that's good though.
Yeah.
Because the next-gen
Maserati's were Chrysler stuff.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And anything earlier
has these problems.
But I even talk to mechanics.
Like, people who work on these cars
and they're like,
please, for the love of God,
I beg you, do not buy this car.
It is the worst decision
you've ever made.
And I was like, no, I have a P-38.
I know about a small-old cars.
And they're like,
you don't understand.
Do not buy this car.
you will regret it.
And it's been great.
It's got 90,000 miles on it, too.
You've owned it for a day legally.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I think that even those mechanics,
it's hard when you're a mechanic who sees a million cars,
a million different varieties to really understand
the distinct differences between,
unless you yourself put the time into it,
and most of them don't.
And to really understand,
hey, although I see a lot of QPs,
I'm not seeing a lot of 11 to 13 models.
I'm not seeing, you know, that's hard.
Right.
Enthusiasts do that.
Everyone else says,
my Nero lease is due today
and I need to replace it quick
so that I can get the work tomorrow
which should I get in return?
Totally.
Next question from Paul Han-Rahan.
Doug, do you play any driving games
such as Forza Horizon or BeamNG drive?
I watch a lot of Beam-N-G drive
videos on YouTube.
Do you watch them go over like
progressively larger holes and into buses?
Do you do this?
I have never heard of this.
Really? When you're on calls, Zoom calls at work
you don't do this? I do this on most Zoom calls.
Like 80% of Zoom calls.
We know.
There's a game.
called beam engine drive is like a realistic car physics simulator and you can have like giant
Thor's hammer like in the road and so that's like you can drive like a QP5 or a mercy and see
what would happen if it crashed into Thor's hammer and in the the damage is like very realistic
I want to make clear it's a great physics engine it does not rot realistic for like the safety
of a vehicle if you watch those videos I think it's great for everything you should do I'm going to
send you some links all right all right I will check that out I'm telling you beam engine drive
compilations on YouTube, you'll spend it two out, you lost two hours. You might not have kids
the next day. You'd just be, just be that, I'm sorry, I have to watch these.
I'll block out my calendar tomorrow. What happened to your kids in that day? Do that, do that.
Because the kids want to, Daddy, we play with me, he's like, no, I can't. Right. I'm busy,
but really he's watching. It sounds like something kids would enjoy. He's watching school buses.
Yeah, it really does. School buses go into a giant spinner. That's what he's watching.
Right. Like, they'll put in like road bumps that are like four feet.
tall and they'll run cars at them in 150 miles an hour and you just got to see what happens.
Did you ever play any of the truck simulator?
There's also a bus simulator.
Yes, so the question is, do I play any game?
No, I don't, but I want to.
You used to do.
I used to be really good at Forza.
I could beat anybody.
You seen somebody that like did but.
Yeah.
I love Grand Tourism for Real Driving Experience.
And then what was the game?
I love like all the old games.
My favorite memories was, do you remember the, I think it was Iron Man, the video game?
He was like, it was like an offer.
You had a pickup truck.
Oh, yes, I do actually.
Yeah.
I would play those at like bowling alleys and like other Midwest gathering spots.
The only time I guess I play video games now is.
Cruzen USA.
Outrun and cruising.
When I stumbled.
I was in Austria,
Vienna this summer and there was an arcade that had outrun,
which is the Ferrari one.
Yeah.
And there's also a really great Ferrari 355 challenge simulator.
That's super realistic that if you find those at like a Dave and Busters,
like I'm like,
block out the next two hours.
He doesn't have kids.
You have no,
You have no dad anymore.
Like, we're playing this game.
Okay.
Next question.
Last question.
Oh, this is a good one.
From Kostanik.
Hey, Doug.
Love of your reviews.
Just curious, how's it possible you own a G-Class cabriolet, but you haven't yet reviewed
the Mercedes-Mibokk G-50 Londa.
Pull up a picture, please.
Of course.
Seems like the ultimate G-class experience, and I would love your opinion.
I agree it's the ultimate G-class.
A lot of people think the ultimate G-class is the six-wheel drive pickup truck.
They're wrong.
It was this.
Not only did this have a...
a V-12, a twin-turbo V-12, but it had portal axles and a half-convertible top. And do you know why?
It's a half-convertible top? Because they couldn't make it work with the full convertible top.
No. Take a look at that top and see if you recognize it from any other car. That's right. It's the
top from the regular G-500 cabriolet. You see, they didn't... That's design right there.
You notice the circle window or the triangle window? Yeah, that's the back of your...
You noticed that bar? Oh, my God.
They got that from the regular G-500 cabriolet, and they figured,
hey, we could do a full convertible top,
or we could make it like this is a chauffeur thing
and just use existing parts.
And they did that and they charged a million dollars for it.
Why have you reviewed it?
There are a few floating around you.
There's a few floating around in SoCal.
There was one for sale at a dealer up in OC
and they had it for sale, but they were like,
the owner wants us to be quiet about it so we can't review it.
Anytime anybody's trying to sell something
and they want you to be quiet about it,
you just know the person is both sketchy and stupid.
Both of those things.
Yeah.
And unfortunately, so I wasn't able to review it.
but instead we can look at it here.
Unfortunately, I think that I want,
if I'm driving this V12 beauty,
I want to have the convertible top apply to me.
No, you're the driver.
You're the driver.
You are my chauffeur.
I don't care where you want.
So why do I have a V12?
Because I, the passenger, want to experience you.
We're in like India or the Middle East.
Like you're a driver.
You're paid nothing.
I sit there and drink champagne in the back
while you go a million miles.
I will be paid nothing to drive you around in this.
Oh, wow.
We'd do it.
Anyway, that's the story on the Laundalay.
I'd love to review one someday.
If anybody has one, send it to me.
Or saw it on her as a bit, and then we'll bring it down to office.
By the way, pull up the rear compartment.
G50 Laundalai rear.
I was just about to ask, is this three row or do you just have a lot of...
Two row, but you'll be blown away, no, rear interior.
You'll be blown away by what it looks like inside.
I apologize.
I don't know how to the situation.
The rear interior is basically the front interior of a G-wagon.
No, no, pull up the showing...
Yeah, yeah, that, that, that, that, that.
It's the front interior of a G-o-d-all-all-all-that.
It's the front interior of a G-wagon,
but what they've done is they've put two glove boxes.
They're just regular G-Wagon glove boxes.
They've put two center infotainment systems,
just regular G-Wagon infotainment systems,
and this center console is the same one
from the regular G-wagon in front.
This car was conceived, like, cheaply and poorly,
and they got a million bucks for it.
Brilliant.
It's one of the great stories in the history of the car.
BNW wishes they could do it.
BNW wishes they could do it.
Instead they're selling X-Ms for three-sack there to last week's episode.
If you haven't listened to that,
And there you go.
That's our podcast.
Filippo, any parting thoughts?
Best podcast ever.
Best we've ever done.
Nick, thank you for joining us.
Kenan will be back next week, hopefully.
We think.
Yeah.
Depends on how Emily's done.
Yeah, Emily.
Oh, boy.
She took a turn for the worse.
Not health-wise, just in general.
Goodbye, everyone.
Thank you for watching.
