THIS CAR POD! with Doug DeMuro & Friends! - New Ford Bronco Leaked? $5,000 Maserati? New Audi A2! Grand Tour Thoughts!

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

NEW MERCH! https://merch.carsandbids.com Have a question you want answered on the podcast next week? Ask HERE https://crsnbds.com/PODQUESTIONS Welcome to THIS CAR POD! Doug DeMuro & Friends offers weekly expert insight and opinion on breaking automotive stories, the car market, and audience Q&A. Thank you to our sponsors! DeleteMe - Visit https://joindeleteme.com/DEMURO for 20% off! Delta Capital - If your business generates $25,000 in monthly revenue and needs fast access to working capital, Delta Capital Group can get you funded in as little as 48 hours. Visit https://www.deltacapitalgroup.com/CARSANDBIDS to apply now to see how much you qualify for. Warby Parker - Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/CARS — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #adventure Notion - Learn more about how Notion can support your business, at https://notion.com/cars Chapters: 00:00:00 CAR NEWS 00:00:19 Thoughts on The Grand Tour 00:06:01 The New Bronco! 00:07:49 Doug's 2nd Ferrari Luce Theory 00:14:03 DeleteMe 00:15:04 Warby Parker 00:16:28 Doug's Chris Bangle Story 00:19:57 Audi A2 is Back 00:24:45 Jaguar Land Rover and VW Cutting More Jobs 00:29:06 Notion 00:30:05 Delta Capital 00:31:24 China's Car Market Is Dropping 00:35:23 Ford Using Chinese Tech 00:41:33 Tesla Cybercab Is Officially Available 00:46:49 Willow Springs Reimagined 00:47:49 Leno's Law Has Passed 00:51:25 New Racetrack in SoCal? 00:54:54 TALK CARS! 00:54:58 Doug Completed His Colorado License Plate Collection 00:58:41 Doug's E55 AMG Wagon 01:02:20 Nick's Cayenne is For Sale 01:05:31 Is Nick Buying a GT3 RS? 01:07:39 Market Report 01:07:47 $5k Maserati 01:09:46 Nissan Armada Nismo 01:10:45 Aston Marin DB9 Sale 01:11:56 Hellcats Are Getting Really Cheap 01:13:33 QUESTIONS! 01:14:36 Will R-Tronic Audi R8s Appreciate More than S-Tronic R8s? 01:21:03 How Would Doug Feel If WhistlinDiesel Purchased the G Wagen? 01:21:22 Where Were the Guys During 9/11? 01:24:31 Would Doug Ever Sell a Car on the Other Site? 01:26:28 Which Dead Car Brand Do You Miss the Least? 01:34:18 How Do You Manage a Fleet of 3 or More Cars? 01:38:49 Goodbye Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh, and welcome to this car pod. Nick's getting us started here. I'm Felipe. I'm Nick. And I'm Doug, and we're gonna start with the news, which is brought to you by Ryan Lopez. The big news story, the big news story is the Grand Tour has dropped.

Does that what they say? Yeah, all episodes are Brian. All the episodes from the first season, and we hope there are many more, have launched. Now, of the three of us, so I'm the only one who's seen it. I've been out of town and not on TV.

I've been out of town. When you're out of town, you don't have access to TV. I was busy watching the Spy Kids. I asked Nick if he'd seen and he said, what am I going to watch the sequel to something where I didn't see the first one? So anyway, you have me to report on this. What happened?

Yeah, you have me to report on this. And I am astonished at how good it is. I'm truly and honestly astonished. I have a couple things to say. First off, we now know that the train kid. Yeah, Francis. Francis. Oh, thanks for telling me his name.

The train kid. Rijois. We now know it was all an act. He's actually like a personable, funny person. I don't think that he was acting before. Just that is, it is genuinely him, but he is funny. I question the whole thing now, but he gets along great with these guys. I was very concerned.

By the way, I haven't seen much of it. I saw most of the first episode. I was traveling and watching Spy Kids. Have you seen it recently? I'm going to watch the whole thing. They drive around on a Zuzu trooper. I'll tell you this. I was not particularly excited for this.

Yeah. For a lot of reasons. I miss Clarkson. I miss James May. Yeah. And the Richard Hammond. Yeah. And, you know, we've already seen these two.

This guy, we're not sure. You know, but now I'm pumped. It looks like it's going to be awesome. At the very start, there's this like Clarkson. They, like, meet up with Clarkson. And he kind of gives them this, like, blessing to, like, go. off and do the show. And they're really good.

A couple things. First off, the them together is wonderful, it turns out. Nice. Like, the two of them get along with him in a wonderful way that, like, works out great. Yeah. James is the peach of the whole thing. We love James. He really is so good.

It's the best. But they're all good. They are all legitimately quite, in my, this is my opinion. We're going to hear what people think this week. I think I was blown away by how much better it was than I thought, number one. Yeah. Number two, now I'm kind of, no, it's a little sad. It's fine.

It's fine. Could have been you. You would have had to be, and I know the first episode is in Southern California, but the rest aren't. If it could be all the episodes. Within 20 miles of San Diego. They went out to the Salton Sea, wouldn't have gone that far. No, far.

We're going to do an episode of El Cajon. Anyway, if you're watching this, James Thomas and Francis, I am offended, personally offended that I have not, I was not selected. Now that I've seen that it could be good. I thought it's going to be terrible. I didn't want to be on it. I didn't want anything to do with it.

I haven't seen it yet, sadly. I will watch it, obviously. I am excited that it's more about cars. Some of the last parts of the Grand Tour were a little bit less car-related. As the trio became such personalities of the road. I'm excited that it's back to cars. I love both of them. I'm excited to...

You got to watch it. It's so good. They're like, the thing that I always loved about the original show, which was called Top Gear many years ago. Yeah, I don't know if you. That still exists, but yeah. Actually, they're casting, apparently. The thing that I always loved about the original show was their commute, was there,

the way they all got on. Yeah. Like, the way they related to each other, James, Richard and Jeremy. And no subsequent version, with our respects to Sean, who was, like, deeply involved in the show later, no subsequent version ever was at all successful, at, like, getting three people together who, like, worked out really well together. Yep. And I think that these guys have.

have a chance to like actually do that. That's really exciting. I'm curious what the audience thinks. Tell us below. Apparently it's quite positive. I've been following their kind of press tour and some of the social media around it. And it's generally positive. Obviously there are people that are like, oh, I missed the old trip.

But there's also been a lot of very positive reactions like yours. Everybody I know who was skeptical, which is everybody I know, has all universally been like, this is better than I thought. This is fun. This is actually good. And I honestly am legitimately excited for the first time in a long time. to watch like automotive con, non- YouTube automotive content. Yeah, I was traveling last week and watching Spy Kids,

but a lot of Normies were coming up to me legitimately, saying it was good, so I'm thinking of getting an Amazon account so I can watch it. I forgot you had this anti-Amazon rant the other day. Okay, Nick, that's great to hear. Anyway, my best to them. I can't wait to watch the rest of the season. I will continue to be upset and disappointed that I was not picked. Are you upset?

that I was not picked for my sake? I think it's for the best. I'll leave it at that. I think it would have been cool to see every single episode happen within 20 miles of my house. It would have been like nice to see all the recognizable scenes

over and over and over again. It would have been like a local tour. Yeah. It would have changed the name a little. Yeah. You do have the sort of sensitive personality of a Clarkson. You know, like you might punch a production associate

in the face. Might. Might. I do think that... It's never happened, but I can see it happen. Like the vocal oaf persona is a little missed. Like they don't need it.

They don't need to fit into the three. It's better if they don't. Yeah, you, yeah. But like, there could be someone who's maybe a little bit more forcefully, you know, out there. And I'm not saying it could be me. I'm just saying I exist, James, Thomas, and Francis and the production crew. It would be fun if they just did cameos. Like you, one-on-one, Tavarsh, one-on-one, Stradman.

Oh, wow, we're going. They call me that, hey, hey, we're shooting an episode in Orange County. Would you like to be a came-o? No. No. All right, move on the next two story. This is a big news story, folks. The new Fort Bronco has been revealed,

fully and openly publicly revealed. All right, here's what actually happened. There were some patents filed last year that were revealed by the patent office this month or late in August that showcase some new features that Ford has patented that could be on the next Bronco, but also include designs for what could be the next Bronco, which show like a slightly altered behind the sea pillar

design, the different front. The patents themselves are for like door storage in the trunk and for a camper attachment that was actually being patented. But this could be our first look at the new Bronco. Folks, do you know the Bronco's been out for six years? Yeah. And remember they were teasing photos of the Bronco for like six years before that? So it really feels like it's been out 12.

Yeah. You know, it's funny you say that because they were teasing photos for a while. However, I still think of it as the new Bronco. Oh, great. I agree. Which is funny because like it's not it in the sea. Like we talked about this before, but they're not new cars anymore. This isn't even close to a new car anymore.

It is time for a facelift. This thing looks cool. I also love that it has the old steel. The old steel. It looks like it belongs on a trailer. Yeah, that old steel trailer wheels. But like the Suzuki Samurai's all had, OE. This is what the old F-1-F250s had.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's all my truck currently. Like generic wheels. Yep. Anyway, this could be the Bronco. The front end is a little, it's got like a billboard. Yeah, that's probably what it would be.

Just like the, my God, what's that car? There's a car that has a screen on the front, the AI screen. Oh, yeah. The smiley face and it can have, it's a full screen. Faraday's minivan thing. Has a screen, maybe it'll be like that. It'll just show emojis across it. You know, last week I was watching the show Spy Kids.

They had an LCD across the front. They did it. They'll do that. Their technology, a little outdated. You know what car is horrible? Is the Ferrari luce? Agreed. Is that coming up because of Faraday or what?

I want to take a little break from the news segment to talk about the lucee. You know what hit me the other day? Right. Because Ferraris out here and their defense for the Luce, people are buying them. We sold them out. People bought them.

First of, I don't buy it. I don't think they did sell them out, and I think the only people who are buying them are people who wanted to get into their good graces so that they can buy a 12-cylindry, which ironically is depreciating. You don't even need to be in their good graces. But here's a theory that I have.

Speaking of, regardless... Oh, 12-cylindry, I love you so much. It's a 12-solendry hot wheels. I love this. Where did we get this? I have no idea. It was just there. beautiful.

I have a theory. Nick, pay attention to my theory. He's sent it. It's going to tie in, don't worry. My theory is that even if it is a success, Ferrari is for the first time in my life a laughing stock. Like, it's a joke. Sounds like on Formula One had been that for a while.

The brand has been harmed by this, whether or not it succeeds. Like, everyone I know thinks this is pathetic and stupid and ugly and bad. and silly and like a bad direction and blah, blah, blah. The fact that whether or not it succeeds, it's already failed. Yep. Because it has already harmed the reputation of this brand that has been such a North Star for like success. Yeah.

My entire life. Every brand wanted to be like Ferrari. The value of their name, the value of their logo, their brand, like what they could do, the waiting list for the cars. Everyone wanted one. The profit per car. Profit margin. And now it's like you less want to be.

seen in a Ferrari today than you did three weeks ago. Right. And there's something to that. The Acquired Podcast, which I know you helped out on one of their episodes, but the Ferrari episode, if you have four minutes to kill, or four hours rather, definitely check it out, but they talk about, there's sort of three pillars. There's the Trofosi, all the Normies that just like admire Ferrari, the F1 fans are then the actual buyers.

And I think if you kill one of those legs of the three-legged stool, like things get kind of dicey pretty quickly. The admire people are important for the buyer. Yeah. Because the buyers want to feel like everybody's admiring them. And I feel like Ferrari's defense is, oh, well, the buyers are still buying. It's like, yes, but today. That's still, we're not going to have the scholastic posters on our wall of the Luchet.

You're going to kill the next generation who just think, oh, like it's kind of a cynical EV. This is, and this is like silly and stupid and laughable. And you see what happens, by the way, when you don't have the desire crew, look at Maserati, look at Ashton Martin. Yeah. Like, you don't have, nobody has a Maserati and Ashton Martin poster on. And nobody's sitting there going, oh, my God, no 12-year-old. Oh, my God, I want an Aston Martin or a Maserati. As a result, the cars depreciate like crazy.

They do not have a deep bench of interest at the dealerships. The cars line up at the dealers. Stock units just sit there. And that's the whole the Luce is starting to dig. Whether or not it succeeds, it has failed. You always brought up the idea of Porsche making fun of their customers by, like, coming out ridiculous things that they might buy. The Luce is peak making fun of your customers.

Like it is trolling to say, we have you so by the, you know what, that you will buy this thing for this amount of money. Like, we are making fun of you, mocking you to your face. And you'll still do it. And I think after a while, even those buyers will say, I'm done playing games. Like, I'm down to overpay.

I'm down to buy the last Cali T on a Portofino aroma. Well, especially they will stop playing games if it doesn't reward them. Because it used to be, okay, if you buy the stupid car, you get a benefit of getting a really cool car that's going to double in value. Well, now the really cool cars are not doubling in value. The SF90, replaced by the 849, is not a success on the used market. The 12-cylindery is getable below sticker six-month-old car. The maniwale will be interesting to see how that is sold.

It's ironic, though, because they kind of had to do the manuali. Because, like, they need cars to sell to people who are buying the trash. Yep. But how long does that last? And that is my Luchay theory. It's all over, Sean. Cut it into a short and slap it around the internet. Oh, it will.

A lot of people compare this to Rolex's strategy. You're not a watch guy. I'm not really either. But if you go to a Rolex store, you can't buy a Rolex. Like, they don't have it in there. They just want to build, like, the hype and the people that Google. If you can buy a Rolex that day, like, as just a normal guy without a relationship, it's the heinously bad ones.

It's like multicolored with balloons on it, like, the making fun of our customers to be like, okay, if you're willing to buy this thing that no one else wants, you can start the relationship there. And I wonder if, like, they're trying to. take that strategy a little bit? They can take the strategy all they want to. It's just digging themselves a larger hole of cars they have to create that people are going to want. And so suddenly you have this group of

ugly cars, presumably the Lutei won't be the only one like this. And then you have to come up with other sports cars that are actually desirable to try to convince these people to keep buying Luches. Well, Apple released all their new products this morning. We're getting a new iPhone, a new air product.

It doesn't seem like that exciting, so maybe Johnny Ive gets called back to the Oh, homeland. Do you know, we break back in Peniparina. It's not too late. If you think about it. Penifera is over. It is too late.

It's interesting. I've been in the camp that Ferrari views themselves as a brand that innovates, and so they need to innovate and stretch the envelope. I've kind of adjusted that thinking a little bit to the point of, like, yes, you should try those. Doesn't mean you need to come to market with those. Right. You should have some people inside the company that can say, no, this will not resonate. Yes, it's out there, but like, we've got to be smart about it.

And also, like, I think innovator. I think innovating is the right move. I think the right direction is important. Yep. E's either kind of a given, but it could have been better. Yeah, and you can push the envelope. It looks like an accurate. I agree.

Yeah, it looks worse. Like Chris Bangle was like, like, shot out Chris. Like burned alive for his designs being too edgy and too future of thinking, but like we've all kind of grown to admire them, which nobody has. I don't mind it. But point being is you can push the envelope in a way that's,

and I think BMW's design still are a little bit controversial, without going full luce. Yeah. You know? Yeah. True. What's the quote, don't go full?

I'm just going to wait to see what happens. Are you like Felipe, where you signed up for everything online you can find that offered something free in return? And as a result, you're now getting spammed with robocalls, spam emails, and sometimes even door-to-door salesmen

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slash cars! I want to tell you about Chris Bangal. I want to tell you a little Chris Bangal story. Oh, I love a good Chris Bangal story. Is this about him being raised in Wausau, Wisconsin? Shout out to Wausau. Chris Bangle is, people don't know this, but Chris Bangle, the man who controversially changed

the entire look of BMWs during our childhood, completely set them on a new design direction, is from Wisconsin. I thought he's from Ohio. He's born in Ohio, but went to high school in Mosa. Did you know that? Shout out Wausau, by the way,

town where I've spent a surprising amount of time. Many years ago, I'm in Italy, and I'm walking down the street in this alpine town, and with my wife there, and we go off the beaten path, we're like on a little, we're like on a little trail

in this beautiful alpine setting, and we come across this giant chair. And, um, giant chair, just sitting, it's facing, like, it's in a field, facing a beautiful, view and we go over the giant chair and we decided we're going to sit on the giant chair

and there's a plaque and I look and the giant chair is part of this project that Chris Bangle is doing called Big Benches and it says this on the plat I've just stumbled upon this. Chris Bangle in retirement from BMW is creating giant chairs all across Europe so I swear to God type in Chris Bangle big benches creating giant chairs all across Europe that are just randomly placed in nice that people can sit in if they want to, yeah, go to images. You know, you know why? Take a look at the giant chairs. The Bengal butts need a big chair, you know?

Go to image. Doesn't that? The joke writes itself. Look at this. These are everywhere all over Europe. And you go to the thing and you're like, what is this giant chair here? And it says, Chris Bangle made this thing.

And I'm thinking, I'm just walking. It's like, it's completely around. No one's around. I'm thinking, is that Chris Bengel? The guy who messed up the seven series made this giant chair? He worked that for seven years. In this rural community? That's Chris.

There he is. Standing in front of one of his giant shit. That is a fun fact. There he is again. I actually think that seven series is aged wonderfully. Oh, wow. Sandy Cohen driving up, being a public defender and that is permeated in my brain. Chris B did an amazing job of taking them into the next generation.

Better than any one to two, A to B, generations, which I have ever seen in the industry. Ferrari's probably arguing, because as you point out, they're a little arrogant. that this is the Chris Bangle moment for them. Okay, there's a lot of pushback initially. They'll get used to it. They'll learn to love it. Or maybe we were actually right all along, and it's just like we're just early.

That's the problem with this kind of stuff, is that sometimes there's just an enormous amount of backlash. And guess what? The backlash was wrong. And the Bangle 7 series outsold the E-38, which is the great irony of the whole thing. This case, that's not true. Bronco is taking the opposite tack here,

based on the renderings of the patents, which is not going to polarize anyone. It seems like they're just making it more. clever, but why mess that up? I still look at the Bronco and think it looks great. Yeah. Also, it's a specific style. And the scouts have a similar, it's clearly the way

that you do an off-road, there's limited. Boxing, baby. I know, that's how Enos got away with making a defender. Their argument was they all look like this. And it was, it's true. Yeah, but anyway, Inos apparently is going to start producing military vehicles for the UK. Well, they better start producing something that people are going to buy.

You know what? I saw an Instagram really other day was the worst rear ends, and the Bengal butt was not on there, but you know what was? The number one worst rear end was the discol rear end was the discone, the discovery where it's like the symmetrical tailgate with like a cutout. Asynical for no reason. You can do worse.

It was so bad. NextDee, please. Oh, big news story. The Audi A2 has returned. Felipe, you read all this? Of course. So the Audi A2 we've talked about before, but it's finally been revealed fully. Wait a minute. Talked you about before. We owned one. We owned one. We at Cars and Bids bought an Audi A2 and

there's actually a question about it this week. We bought an Audi A2 in Europe somewhere. And we shipped it to America, to its new home, and I got in it, and I had wanted it for years, and I got in,

it drove it for five minutes, I said, I don't want anything to do with this anymore. Yep. And then we sold it to a guy up in the Bay Area. Yeah, that's true.

That's the story. They brought it back, it's electric now. Yeah, of course. When the A2 first came out in 2002, that's the one, whatever the year was,

the entire thing was that it's really light, all aluminum, kind of space frame design, and very efficient. The most efficient Audi at the time that Audi had ever built,

was a variant of the A2. They're taking a similar tact with this A2, and it is the most efficient EV that they've ever made. And it's obviously much heavier than it was before. There's a bunch of batteries. But it's light for an EV, and it's intended to be very efficient and kind of futuristic the same way the original AT2 was.

There's a version with 325 horsepower. That's probably adequate, right? For an EV, that's not that competitive, but... Well, yeah, but it's little. Yeah, it's small. Yeah, it's cool. The one we had, had like, 67 horsepower. Yeah, that was tough.

It had a lower drag coefficient. Aren't you pumped that they kept the look? Yeah, it looks surprising. The original is still looking to the U.S. or any markets that we really care about. So it's... Why do you think that? It's not coming to the U.S.

Just isn't. They haven't said it's coming to the U.S. It could, maybe. It's about as competitive as a lucee for a fraction of the cost. The U.S. market has proven a strong desire for electric vehicles. Have we? Yeah. How so? Well, Audi's other electric vehicle, the Q4, which by the way is the worst car on sale.

They have others now. I was behind one, and it's like the plates indicated that it had been sold in the last six months. It was listing. Like it wasn't going. I'm like either needed an alignment batter, it's already been hit, but like the car was not. It was going straight, but it wasn't. The Q4 has been selling fantastically. Which is dead, I think.

Once they knocked out those 99 a month lease deals zero down, the thing flew off the shelves. Hey, the A6, which is an E-Tron. and also not an E-Tron exists, and the Q6, which is an E-Tron. The Q6, which is a legitimately good car. There's a Q8 E-Tron still, right? Yeah, somehow. But this is out now. I love that looks like the original in a lot of ways.

Yeah, I like the rear-in. Including it has that little front panel, that little front-access panel thing. It has more space than an ID polo. Fun fact. Nobody cares. Isn't the ID Polo like a true... This is like a tall. This is taller.

The ID Polo, I've seen pictures. It's like a little regular hat-back. Yeah, although it just came out really hot. I know, you're pumped about that, I bet. Maybe Volkswagen isn't going to have to... They've sold all of the... Maybe Volkswagen isn't going to have to fire all those people after all. No, they are.

What I want to know is, so I've been to the Eiffel Tower, and I don't remember there being columns with golden Greek statues right outside of it? I think that it's the other side. I think that the side that you go on as a Midwestern tourist... Well, I went up. I think that the site... You can see all the way around, you know? I think that the site you go on as a Midwestern tourist, there's like a park around.

So we're sure this is real? Well, I think that this is the other side of the Sen. Do you know? Have you been to Paris recently? I don't like, I went to the Eiffel Tower last one was in Paris, but it was swarmed with people like you who were confused. Yeah. Am I in Las Vegas? I absolutely love that your theory here is that they photoshopped the building.

It kind of looks like it. I think they took a picture from Be Fine. So if you go, like the Apple is actually a form of that out. I'm right. It's the other side of the side of the site. So across the send, no one comes and looks at the end of tower. A sign of intelligence is when you're willing to admit you were wrong. Yeah.

When we were traveling there, we were watching Spy Kids, a little distracted. Grand Tour just came out. Get on to the next news story, please. I just love your theory here. Okay. Speaking of it is a faked photo. You agree it's a faked photo. They didn't take the...

It looks a little suss. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. But it's interesting that you can do this now. AI has given... Remember when automakers used to have... Like, the Career GT concept, the great story is that Walter Roel was driving this through the Joshua tree. Right.

And when a car would come, they would instantly pull over and throw a cloak over it. Wow. And with Walter Rolls sitting inside, truthfully. But like now you just take a picture of the desert and then you just

AI the car in, which is what they did there. In your mind, they a AI at the FFL Tower in also. We'll never know. Okay. This is a fellow... It's like the birds.

I'm sorry? Yeah. They're real. They're not real. We don't know. I got you. The one inside. Certainly wasn't.

Here's a guy building a left-hand drive L-405. Nick, could be yours. Jaguar Land Rover is cutting 4,000 jobs, a little bit over 10% of their workforce, primarily in the UK, almost entirely in the UK. They are struggling to have that big hack, like a year ago, stop production for a while.

They're also just struggling to sell cars, certainly in China, but also in the U.S., where tariffs have impacted the price and demand, and as a result, they're cutting about $4,000. Could it also be that Jaguar has no models for sale? That could be. I'll be honest, that ain't helping. However, I got a message the other day from Jaguar.

Oh, did you? I got a personal note from Jaguar's public relations, philom. And he said, do you want to come to the launch event of the new Type Zero One on October 6 in Manhattan? Ooh, let's go. Aren't that after that? This week, after we filmed the podcast. I can't speak to that, but what I can speak to is the launch event October 6 in Manhattan. Now, I can't send you to Manhattan because I can't even imagine what would happen.

in there. Nick Rochon in New York City, it would be Thunderdome. But you, have you considered going to the, okay. All right, next news story, please. No, I want to also mention other job cuts. So on top of Jaguarial Linder's job cuts, Volkswagen has been, they've kind of developed a plan and it has been approved by their key stakeholders to cut an additional 50,000 jobs. At top of what they've already cut. Volkswagen employees seven like 600,000 people. They've made a plan to cut about 100,000 those jobs in the next few years. A large part of that will be injure. Germany, including potentially closing some plans. That's where they have the most cost savings to be had.

But it is going to be, it is notable that they were able to all agree on a plan for how to restructure Volkswagen. It is also a very drastic plan to readout for Volkswagen. It is especially for Volkswagen specifically that who's made their whole career on never having done layoffs. And also Volkswagen Group is owned in part by the country of Qatar. It's owned by Lower Saxony. It's owned by their local states. On their board are like governmental. figures.

Some of the 20% of the voting rights come from the lower Saxony government. Yeah. So it's a notable that they were able to come to any kind of agreement around this when it means so many job cuts for the region. I mean, the plan is I heard it last week or whatever. Wall Street Journal did an in-depth story on it. It was like, look, this is not optional at this point. It's not optional. It's a shame because if only you had bought the ID Buzz, we wouldn't be in this situation. One of many choices I could have made in hindsight, that would have maybe even better.

Now that you want to get rid of your key, it wasn't. No, we can't go down this road because we need the audience to respect Nick. I respect anybody with an ID buzz. ID buzz is cool. No, no, no, that's not what I mean. You've been selling the Kia. We just can't go down there. Yeah, we're having some difficulties with Nick and his Kia folks.

We're not going to cover on this pod, but maybe next week when it's gone. Volkswagen is in a tough position. As a Jaguar Land Rover, China has massively slowed for them. The U.S. market is tough for them, partially because of the tariffs, but also just they haven't been that competitive here. across their product lines. Well, yes. And also... The fact that Jaguar is not competing currently is a fact...

Well, no, I meant Volkswagen also. And other rivals are entering the space with cars that are more competitive. Is anyone doing well right now? Yes. Who? Toyota. Toyota is killing it.

Cienas are still on two-year weights. Sequoias, all those cars. Okay. Toyota... We got Nissan on Death Watch. We got Maserati on Death Watch. I mean, we got a lot of brands that are struggling. Maybe one or two brands that are doing well.

I'll bet you that Ford is doing okay. They still have a lot of life. a lot of products that are like pretty, pretty desirable and pretty hot. Globably, they're doing okay. Yeah, I mean, all of these have, have relatively public. It's been a tough couple years. It's been a tough couple years. Tariffs have especially hit Jaguar Landover Hard.

They don't miller any products in North America. Although only 10% tariffs coming from the UK, 15% from the other markets where they build the Discover Defender. And that is notably lower than anybody building cars in Canada. Keep that in mind. Slovakia is where they build the defender. But yes. But regardless, it's still tariff to, what?

It's terrible. Volkswagen specifically is a tough spot. Chrysler, by the way, will have three new products next year. Apparently. Chrysler Corporation? No, no, Chrysler, the brand is how to get products again. The brand is getting new products. Yeah, they're getting two electric, small, electric crossovers and a medium-tells...

Why wasn't this a new story? Well, that's... Because we don't have any details on. Those cars aren't going to sell. I run operations here. So I spend most of my time. Think about how a team actually works together. And the question I keep getting is whether AI makes half of that unnecessary.

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Learn about how Notion can support your business at notion.com slash cars. That's all lowercase letters. Notion.com slash cars to try Notion today. And when you use our link, you're supporting our show. Look, man, I'm going to be real with you. Nikki Loub is burning a lot of cash right now. And thankfully, today's sponsor is there to help me

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The Chinese domestic market is down about 25% year over year. They've been down for many of the months in 2026. I've had the clients year every year. Autumn, there's not the demand there that there once was. What are they going to do about the Xiaomi Suu 7? I think their goal, all of these automakers' goals is to export cars.

What are they going to do about the Balfeng Leopard? Sean is there. Okay, I want to talk about China. China is in an interesting, to the Chinese automotive market is in an interesting position where there are so many new cars being produced and revealed,

like new models, that nobody can keep up with that in any real way. There have been all these brands. Many of which are heavily subsidized by the government. Different regional governments, no less, which obviously is all a little. Yeah. I mean, the control flows one way here.

Right. Down from this ridiculous car. Yeah, the home shi, whatever. It's been a return to service. There will be a lot of consolidation in that market. You can have the market go down 25% and still retain all of the upstart brands that exist. A few automakers, B.D. Gilly will obviously win.

There'll be others. You know what it reminds me of is it reminds me of the car market in America when we had Duriye and all these companies, Dodge Brothers, you know, all these things. But eventually they had to kind of either consolidate or just get lost. And they did. In this case, the Chinese manufacturers have another option, which is let's sell cars and establish markets, which at the time there weren't really established markets for the U.S. manufacturers were competed.

And so they're trying to export more and more and more vehicles outside of China because that's the only way that they will survive. Gile has made a huge push for that. They have a partnership with Ford and Europe to build some EVs at a plant there. They're also just trying to really ramp up all of their European and Canadian because they can do some Canadian sales. I think BYD's goal is to export I mean, the thing that automakers learned many years ago

that the Chinese are trying to do now, that I'm sure they would know and are trying to do now, is that, like, you cannot pin your success on one market. This is why Chrysler has never been as successful as Ford and General Motors, because, like, their whole thing is North America whereas Ford and GM were smart enough to diversify globally, but it's not just them.

Like, the reason the French keep knocking on the door of the U.S. market is because they don't want to pin all of their hopes or dreams to Europe. Exactly. And it's the same for every automaker. Like, everybody wants to be global. The Chinese automakers probably realized that quickly, but, like, it takes some time to ramp up.

They're doing well. They're doing well for, like, five years. Yeah, they've only been around for five years. They're off-star. But they're doing well getting into Latin America and to Europe and all that. But it takes some time. But then if you have, this is like this significant home country risk where your only sales are in China and suddenly things slow down.

You get, you know, all this going on. 25% declines are huge. They also don't make any, their profit margins are negative in all. in China, depending on the automaker, tough to actually succeed there. Right, when you're losing money. There are a lot of tensions. There's a lot of tariffs.

In the U.S., there's incredible tariffs and import limitations. Canada has opened that up a little bit. Europe still has pretty hefty tariffs on Chinese automobiles too. So there is a question of how much you can realistically still grow. But it's going to be interesting to watch.

I mean, U.S. EV sales also were down, like roughly 27% year-over-year. Year is tough for the U.S. because of the end of the EV incentives last year? Yeah, no, I agree, but I think in general, like, just because it's so heavily concentrated to be. The EV take rate in China has increased, something like 60% of cars are these now.

All they're really making. No, they're making whatever the correct term is for ice cars now, multi-energy. Do you know that the Chevy Blazer gas is still on sale? Yeah, of course. What do you think enterprise buys? Hyundai's? Well, yeah, but also Chevy Blazers. So the take rate for the Chinese market has a whole.

has really shrunk, not just EVs. By the way, these automakers sell non-EVs outside of China, too. Fun fact. You know what this picture reminds me of? There was this one time there was two ordinary children who discovered that the retired parents. Due on to the next. Our world-class secret agents must rescue them from medieval television. Speaking of China, there was news late last week that from Ford in a Wall Street Journal article

that Ford would like to slash hopes to slash expects to sell 100,000 fathoms. in the first year. Well, how many lighteners do they expect to sell in the first year? Well, that's a good question. The only automaker that has sold in a single model line over 100,000 units, and in a year is Tesla, which has done that with the Model 3 and the Model Y, each, respectively. Nobody else has. Other automakers have, obviously, across their product lines, but this would be a large

increase in EV sales for Ford. Ford initially predicted that they would sell 150,000 units annually of the F-150, Lightning. they sold 105,000 units total of the F-150 Lightning through five calendar years. Five calendars, man. If it's a counterpoint to that would be the Maverick, they've sold 110 through the end of August. The EV thing is the real key.

Right, right, right. But if they really feel like, okay, now that we've warmed up to the Maverick and that packaging, 30 grand. Here's a thing. If this, I'll buy this truck. I'll buy it for it.

I'll be one of your 150,000 or whatever the number was. It seemed ridiculous, so I didn't commit it to memory. I'll buy the trick. Here's what's got to be. Three things. Number one. We know enough to know it's not going to be

probably most of this. I don't know the latest it's going to be, but number one, here it comes. 17 grand. Number two, 450 horsepower

on wheel drive and number three, manual transmission. They may have a version that gets to that power. I have no idea. I doubt the 30K version will, though.

What about the manual thing? You just completely ignored the third pillar. It's like the trifosy. There are companies that offer aftermarket manual shifter for a Tesla. It doesn't a cup holder

You just do it for fun. Does that count? Does it? The other reason that's notable is, speaking of China, the U.S. government and Sean Duffy, who's in charge of the power on transportation, has sent Jim Farley a letter saying, hey, we're really upset that you are partnering with a Chinese automaker in Europe on that plant with Gile. In Cologne. No, in Spain. You know, isn't it lovely that Sean Duffy sends a letter over to Jim Farley? Like, how quaint.

So, Sean, here's how it goes. Sean Duffy's over there in commerce or whatever he's the secretary of. He's in the Commerce Department there on the National Mall. And he gets at his quill pen, you know. And he's, oh, I'm going to send a letter over to Ford. And he dips it in the ink. He writes the litter next to his fireplace. And then he folds it up and puts it.

He's got one of those stamps. He puts it in the mail. And then a couple days later, Jim Farley receives the letter. That's how it works. How lovely. And sometimes the USBS loses it. And then that's such a shame. That is not happen.

No. I have a question about Jim. I have a question about Sean Duffy for you. Please. Sean Duffy's over here saying that Jim Farley can't work with the Chinese. And they kicked out Polestar, which was a rip-loren success right up until the day it left. Everyone wanted one. But I'm walking around my community.

And there are all these Chinese-built Waymos. Right. Yeah. Zekers. How is that possible? They're upset because Ford, a red-blooded American automaker. still builds the Mustang right in the heart of Detroit and then does a burnout every time one leaves the factory.

They're upset with Ford, and yet they're letting Zekers drive around. I like that you keep having this hope that somebody will pick up this new story, which I'm here for. Like, I know you dropped it to others. I want somebody to drill deep on this. I really do.

I want to talk more about what Sean Duffie's upset about. But you get my, no, this is really to answer me. Give me an answer. That's why those Democratic laws, Lawmakers didn't want any Chinese vehicles in the U.S. Jamie Raskin almost stopped. He almost stopped. Every car at the border.

So you're going to check the vid. They'll check the vid, but he was going to stop Waymo for bringing me downtown. I want to go downtown so I could pay my parking tickets, Jamie Raskin. Why are you trying to stop me? They don't discover Lincoln as a brand. I mean, while Sean Duffy is out here telling Ford they can't Zikers are everywhere. In our specific market, which is one of the launch markets for the. So on the way here.

Yeah, same. The Ohio is. I can't believe you're just letting this go. I want to talk more about what Sean does. This is one of those examples where government says one thing and another thing. There are other cars imported from China that are currently for sale. Most of the Lincoln lineup is. What?

Yes. In 2030, they're going to move production over to the U.S. You're talking about... The Lincoln Aviator is built in China. The Lincoln Nautilus is. I can't remember what the aviator said. Is Lincoln Corsair made? The answer is...

Oh, just China. They pay the tariffs. They pay huge tariffs. They are allowed. Nobody's buying this car and they're paying tariffs. Keep in mind what Volvo is, its own, being owned by a. The aviator must be made alongside the Explorer. Yeah, the aviator is, but the other ones are.

They built that thing in Chicago. Okay, I want to talk more about Sean up. The letter said, hey, we're, we are deeply or profoundly concerned. And I think they say deeply troubled at some point by the partnership with Gilee. The batteries for the fathom are built at a, or will be built at a Ford plant. in the U.S., in Michigan, but they're licensing technology from a Chinese battery maker.

So basically, CATL developed this battery technology and Ford has licensed it to produce these batters in the U.S. and Sean Duffy's very concerned about that. Sean Duffy should stop sticking his head in Ford's business, get out of Jim Farley's face. He's out here trying to make cars

and get into Zeker. I googled it. Waymo was allowed to bring the Zeker-Ohai into the United States. It imports the Chinese built, electric vans stripped down as gliders and installs all technology on U.S. soil. You know what? It's American built. I'm cool with it now. By the way, I do want to note something from Jim Farley's response, which was that a couple days before receiving this letter, the U.S. government had been very proud and had been cheerleading

the fact that these batteries will be built in the U.S. So some confusing. That's the Trump administration. All right, move on in the next question, please. Next news story, wrong direction. Oh, cybercabs. Yeah, speaking of. Speaking of what? Waymo?

Yeah, but Waymore used... Self-driving cars I would never get into. Cybercab uses just cameras. Are they still painting the batteries, or the tires on these things? I think they are painting the tires. Fun fact, these panels are not painted. They're all gold. I want you to know something.

These panels are not painted. They are made out of gold plastic and, like, formed as such. Do you think Musk and his decision to make this gold was like, I'm worried people think I'm too in touch. Yeah. Like, I want this to really... really be a middle finger to the lower and working classes. So let's make it gold.

You know what hit me? Have you seen one of these from the front with the doors open? I haven't seen one yet, period. The doors open nine feet out into the street. There is not a single one of these in Manhattan that is not going to have the doors taken off by every single. You should see, Felipe. This picture doesn't show it. The doors open, like, it's reaching as far out as it could.

Like, it's going to take flight. It is almost like an exaggeration of what these doors. Goodness, you're not joking. Pull it up, pull it up. I'm finding a photo. Don't you think the Model X would have told them, like, maybe we just stop with the whole door gimmicks? Apparently not. I can't believe that this is what they decided to do.

Look at this. Wow. So you open this door into... Cars, buildings, birds, planes. This isn't going to happen. The cyber cab is being used now. It was revealed formally the past week, and it is now available for rides in Austin as an actual robo taxi.

I seem around here. They are doing testing. They have a driver here. Yeah. They're not like available for booking yet. I saw like that. Sort of, yeah. A couple of interesting things.

It's on, so in the U.S., automakers self-certify that a car meets highway NHTSA regulations. Yep. To be sold. The government does not check each car to validate it. Yeah. More or less. Yeah.

They do, they will eventually kind of take a look. But the NHGSA has open investigations because they say, say, you know, this probably doesn't meet our standards. Steering wheel brakes. Automakers can kind of do whatever for testing purposes. Like, they're allowed to produce vehicles that don't meet any rules and drive them on roads for testing and development purposes, which makes sense. But these are now, like, out.

And in theory, are for sale, sort of, to fleet operators. You can buy a fleet right now and then just have it roam around. Yeah, yeah. You could be a fleet owner. But they may not be actually allowed. But Tesla and Elon Musk have proven to be quite litigious. And some analysts think that, like, this could go on for years. Because NSGSA has powers to enforce it, sort of.

But Musk could say, no, actually, if you interpret it this way, if you interpret it the code in these ways, it does meet it. So in the meantime. So you can still drive around. What's happening in the meantime? It's fascinating. People who have no regard for their own health and safety can be literal human guinea pigs for Elon Musk, riding around in a gold coffin busy crowded intersections

in major metropolitan areas. Lord, yeah. That sounds like a great idea to you to save a couple of bucks getting from point A to point B. Are you... Wait a minute, but you said you were trying to take Waymo's all over to place.

So why do you think that the Waymo is okay, but not the... I don't think Waymo's okay either. Waymo, I will say. I just like an even more just about bad look. Like literally. I am not an automated self-driving expert,

but Waymo's track record is much better, and they use many more stacking technologies that improve visibility. Plus, when you see one of those Waymos on the street, it's going like this. You know what I love about the Waymos? I'm so sorry. What?

Oh, the LiDAR sensor is spinning. You know what I love about the Waymos? Truly my favorite thing, I'm not kidding in the slightest. You can cut them off and, like, behave badly. I wouldn't do that with this. I was driving the other day, and I got to a stop sign about the same time, and it started to go, and I was like,

no, no, that's not going to happen. And I just went, and it stops. And the cool thing is you can, They don't have ego. They're not going to be like some mad, like angry dude. So the other day I was like a, like the road is ending. And I was like, I'm just going to go by this thing. And it had to slow down for me, but I don't care.

And it didn't care either. It's not upset with you. It's not trying to race you. It doesn't have like a like a mentality about it. I wonder if we're going to turn from road rage being drivers, road raging to the passengers. Like, oh, you cut me off. It's going to be 10 extra seconds.

They might be upset. They might be upset. But you know who's not upset is the Waymo, which just kind of continues on and lets you go first. You know what else is interesting. So when they're idle. They have to do something, right? Like, so they often just park on the side of the road. There's a big problem in Austin right now where,

because they're supposed to be recharged with sustainable energy, they're not. They've set up a bunch of generators. And so people that live around here have these huge generator farms, gas and diesel, rather, generators. And it makes all this noise and it pollutes into all these communities. So people are having their robot overlords run generators and make noise outside of their house. Or they're parking in like busy, crowded places. because the car doesn't have any discretion as to like, this is an appropriate place for me to just idle or not.

And that's the problem with AI. There's many. Just wait till the AI becomes, till the Way mode does have an opinion. It's like that famous thing if the train is going to, if the self-driving car is going to kill a kid or a couple of kids. Now it's saying, are we going to idle in front of this house or that house? Right. And it's a moral decision.

A few months ago, we hosted our first ever in-person auction at Sonoma Raceway, as part of the Velocity In about a month, on October 17th, we're doing that again at Willow Springs Reimagined at Willow Springs Raceway right outside of LA. If you have a really special car, consider submitting it to us for sale at that auction. Last time we got some absolutely incredible results. It was so, so cool to see bidders literally bidding from our tent feet away from the car, competing with folks from all over the country and the world. So if you have a cool car, go to Carsisubits.com, click on the events page. and then submit your car for the Willow Springs Reimagined event. And if you're in the L.A. area or anywhere near it,

come down to the event. On top of our auctions, there'll be a lot of other cool things happening there, including some podcasts, some really incredible racing, and a whole lot of really special cars. You can get a discount on your ticket by clicking the link from Cars and Bits.com, clicking events, Willow Springs, and then you can get a great discount. I hope to see you there. Okay. Is that the end of the news?

I have no idea anymore. Oh, my God. Leno's law has passed. here in California, we're finally going to be able to register our old cars. It's still on the governor's death. If the governor vetoes this, I will personally drive to Sacramento and talk to him, have a conversation with him. Oh, I'm sure he's looking forward to that.

Gavin Yuson, if you're listening, he does. I think that the governor who's pretending that he's going to run for president, of course, nobody's going to vote for him. I think the governor wants to make as many outreaches as he can to the conservative community. And this particular law, which passed, had a higher level of conservative support than liberal support. And so I have a suspicion that he will pass it. It also, or he will sign it, it also pass Bolt Chambers.

And I think vetoes are stupid in the first place. Like, we elected the assembly. A greater group of idiots has never been put together in one place. And they passed this bill. Why does King Idiot? What does that say about the bill? Why does King Idiot get to make a determination now? The bill is pretty average.

It's pretty mid. Yeah, it doesn't give us everything we want or even a lot. It does exempt cars from smog up to 86. Eventually, it's going to take a few years. It's like rolling for a few years, but up to 86. And ultimately, eventually they're going to have to extend it to 96. The lawmakers don't want to do that now or just not competent enough to understand. But eventually, OBD, they're going to have to exempt it up to OPD because smog shops aren't going to want to touch anything from 86.

It'll start in 81 becoming exempting starting January 1st of 2028. So in 10 years you might build to register your Kuntosh? Stroke of a pen, no, no, no. Stroke of a pen that day, January 1st of whatever, 28, which is only a year and a half, less. Five more years are legal, or six more years are legal in California. So up to 81, because right now it's 74, 75.

And then every year, another year comes. For 486. Through 86, yeah. And then presumably at that point, someone, the one lone intelligent legislator will have to tell everybody up there that you can't get anything pre-96, smogged either.

Yeah. Eventually, I will say there are some reasonable requirements. You have to have collector car insurance or verify that it's driven less than a thousand miles here. The collector car insurance requirement has been the big sticking point on social media. And now that this is passing,

I can finally say what I want to say, which is people are like, you have to get collector insurance. I'm never going to be able to get that. Folks, you're going to be able to get it. Now that this law is passed, there will be companies providing this insurance to you. Collect your car insurance.

Trust me. It's going to be out there. You're going to be just fine. Yep. It's not going to be like it is today. Anyway, are you excited? Yeah. What do you mean?

You're the only one out here that has a car eligible. I'm already eligible. He's already eligible for 376. So it helps no one here. No, it is incredible. I think it is the right direction. I hate laws that were intended to be, like, rolling, and then they stopped because you no longer consider a 1980s car to be as old as it actually is.

You think of that a little more minimum wage so, don't you? I also do think of it. Do you think about that above. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that just because that feels recent now, doesn't mean that that is actually how it. Schwarzenegger screwed us on this. Did you know that?

It was he who signed the previous, the law into law that the cutoff would stop rolling. He used to roll. And then they stopped it. It was Schwarzenegger and some horrible legislator. They're all idiots. Doesn't really matter who it was. Except that they're not idiots.

The ones who authored this are not idiots. Am I right? And voted for it. Oh, yeah, them too. All right. Anyway, somehow there's more stories. This is wild. Yeah.

What is this? Boris said a famous racer is working on developing a new racetrack for SoCal, which is exciting. And it is called in. I have no idea how to pronounce this correctly, but Elsinor ring? Yeah, it's like the Nureberg. Lake Elsinor and the ring combined. So Elsnorring. Elsonorering.

Anyway, I'm going to tell you right now, this will not occur. Yeah, I think. In the history of things that would... The town has said they're into it. Find the funding for this. He has private investors lined up. He has said. That's what, dude, I have heard that about so many construction projects for so many decades.

It's up there when a YouTuber buys a new house and they do their home door and they're like, I'm going to install a go-car track around my house. We're like, yep, yep, we'll stay tuned for that one. When I was young, I would hear things like that. There's going to be a go-card track at this house. And now as an adult who's been through a lot of these, what I hear is, this is never going to happen. There is a shocking amount of, there is a shocking appetite for

race car tracks in Southern California. There are three big ones, thermal, button willow, Willow Springs. All not close to anything. And I'm forgetting one. What's the truck wall? There's four. And they're not close anything because of noise.

They can't be. Even this won't be. Lake Elsinor is really far too. But there is, like all of them are popular and successful. Yeah. This could be too. And so you can probably underwrite it, right? Willow Springs sold last.

to a private equity company, clearly there are ways that you can make the math work out from an investment standpoint. Even if that doesn't prove to be true in practice, clearly the underwriting is there for it. You know what I like about this track? There's a lot of opportunities for cars to go into the water. That is maybe something not worth the investment. When I'm looking at a racetrack, I want to think to myself, I'm only going to this race if a car might end up in the drink. That is what I think. the Miami F1 course though where it's fake water, but then they just park real boats on top of it,

but it's a parking lot. Yeah, that would be disappointing. I want real water. I want there to be, here's what I want. Oh, geez. I want Mitsubishi 3,000 GT spec racing, and I want one of them to go into the drink. That would be fun to watch.

You'd go see that with me. Yeah, I will say, together. Lake Elsinor is the closest of all these. By far. If the track open up in Lake Elsinore, I would never in my life again. go to thermal, button-willing. Agreed. Ever.

Their plan would be that they would have condos, as all the tracks have. So maybe next year you can get hired on a grand tour and they could film on location at the Elsinara ring. No, it's still too far, be honest. No, dude, they already found, these guys are already perfect together. I've missed my opportunity.

Well. I'm screwed. I'm screwed. Maybe they could do a spinoff of the grand tour called, what would you call the spinoff of that, huh? Top gear. All I wanted to do is. hang out with Thomas and James.

Fifth year? Do you know that one time I had breakfast with Thomas and James in Encinitas? Yeah. You complained with Swamis, I believe. Swamis, yeah, yeah. One time they came to this office. They were here. You were like, oh, what's an archival?

What's that? They came to the office and then didn't invite me to be on their show, those traitorous backstabbers. You know what? I hate the show now. You know what? It reminds me of the time that Floup needed the third train. Jesus. All right.

Carmen and Uni discovered their parents' hidden computers. There's some important taught cars segment things to discuss today, okay? Number one is the biggest taught cars of the day. I have complete, Nick, is this exciting to you? No. I have completed after 20 long years, I have completed my full collection of all of the Colorado denim license plates from every county. Felipe, is this special to you?

It would have been more special had to be taken a better fill. This is a great photo. You can see all of them, and then you can see the one I needed. And there it is, the IRL, and there it is, it's going to go up on the wall. Remind me, you have these by county name alphabetically, okay. Yeah, alphabet. You know the ABCs? Yeah. Or is my son referred to the letter song? I only believe in 21 letters of it, though. Philippo's Italian. They don't have, he doesn't have K.

Philippo grew up, I'm dead serious. Filippo grew up. He didn't know K exist until he was 17. Yep. He was 17 years old, and he wanted to try some ketamine. He was like What's that? He's like in Italy It's C-H

Now K and J's and W's Are part of life now He's got W's in his leg Now he's got to figure out What all this means He's literally The first time he was in America

He would say Is one U Not enough for these gluttonous people These two U In Italian Don't be of V

It's It's It's Double V But it works Yeah What sound does it make the W sound

the WV sound that's so exciting for you congratulations how did you acquire this so a couple of months ago on the pot I was looking for the I've been looking for the last two for years

I was looking for three for years like literally seven years I've been looking for the last three Jackson one of the really hard counties finally shook loose just another collector I had sold to me

and I was like I'm down to two I'm going to announce on the pot so you remember on the pot I announced that I was pay a thousand bucks each for the last one. last two. A guy reached out from the pod who had one of them, and I bought it from him for a thousand bucks, that went up, and then the mineral was always going to be the hardest. It's by far the

hardest county. To this day, only like 600 people live there. And another collector who had when his collection died, and that's how I got, I bought it off the estate. Did you pay it grand? I paid a grand. Dang. Wow. I bought it off the estate, and so there we are. Wow. Filippo, if you ever done anything that you're proud of? Not to this level. I would like everybody to know because the facts are important that actual Mineral County is 910. Look up San Juan County.

Colorado has three counties the population of less than a thousand. 705. What's the third? Hinsdale. Think about that. The entire county, the population is less than a thousand human beings.

And Dolores ain't far behind. And Dolores is actually the hardest. By the way, Hinsdale County lost 60 people. from 2010 to 2020, which is a solid percentage of their... These counties are all older people who had moved up to the mountains, and then they have to go get health care in Pagosa Springs and Durango because you can't live in a county with 600 people. These people are two hours from a grocery store.

Yeah. And so we expect them to buy these license. These were optional extra costs. They had to pay 50 bucks to get these license plates. In 1993? In 1992, yes. Whoa. It was a big deal.

Can we change the picture because there's two Dugs looking at me and I'm overwhelmed? No. All right. By the way, that would be $119. I want to move on. What about conjo's? Do you know much about conjo's? Conejos?

Nick's not, despite living on a Spanish-named street, Nick's not, he doesn't understand. Okay, we need to move on. The other talk cars. The viewers knew it was true. That joke would land better. Yeah, but I did it for you. My other talk cars segment is this.

Now, Nick, I have this station wagon. Mercedes E55 wagon. The ring's familiar. Yeah. And, well, this is my third AMG wagon, Nick, in my 60 class. Mm-hmm. And... With the third row swap?

I had... My first E-663 wagon had a third row, and my current E-450 wagon has a third row. OE. This one... Anyway, I got car seats in there, and it's going great. The kids love it. The kids love it. I will say, I have sat in the third row of every generation

in E-class. This is the most spacious. Your current one is the least spacious. This is definitely the biggest. Mine is not a headroom. What I didn't realize is that there would actually be a ton of room even beyond their legs to put like strollers and stuff. Anyway.

An empty second row. This has been, well, we won't be empty for long. This has been great. We have a, we have this experience and it's lovely. The kids wave to, the kids don't wave to people. Every time we park, I say, did you, did you wave to anybody? They said, no. Did people wave to you?

Yeah. I'm like, well, why didn't you? Why didn't you get into that, you know, that they don't? But anyway, it's there. It's exciting. It's very accessible, this third row, because you open the trunk and the car seats are right there. There's no reaching in. It's great.

And they love getting in and out. They love getting in and out. You can't push the button to close it very well, so that's the only for them. You have a button? Yeah. Must be nice. Power. I don't.

I'm kind of old school analog guy, but it's fine. I encourage my kids, instead of waving, to just give the Elizabeth Holmes, like, non-blink look, you know? Really weird amount Do you encourage your kids to defraud? Anyway, E55 And the only person who's driving around their kids In an E55 wagon third row Legally and safely.

What? What? How? I literally did that before you. What about the legal and safe part? I'm both. How am I illegal? Well, I don't think you're using child seats. You say? I'm using child seats. I have one child who's big enough that they don't need it and it kind of is like a booster anyways. Like where the strap comes across on my oldest is high enough that a booster would put it too low. Do you know who would argue with you is the car mom Kelly herself would say that you're wrong?

We need to have her on. We need to have her on. Kelly is my favorite, aside from James Thomas and Francis who backstabbed me. Okay. Francis didn't backstab me. He doesn't know me. But James and Thomas back to me. Aside from them, Kelly is my favorite car personality.

I agree. Really? And her pod, I believe, is like right up there with yours, if I'm not mistaken. Every week, we duke it out with Kelly for number one. She goes to pretty hard sometimes down a fashion road, and I think that's the only way that we're able to stick it out. Now, Whistlin, if he had a pod, we'd all be distant. He should consider that because he could keep it going from jail.

If he's never arrested again. Wow. I'm not saying he should be, but if he is. Oh, my God. All right. I want to move on to a jail-based podcast. I want to move on another part of the talk cars thing. It's very important.

I mean, Nick is someone on. Hold on. You're glancing over that your E-55 is lowered with spacers. And so you have a more modded E-55 than I. Manual swapped it, which is, by the way, it's a shirt that you can get at merch. com. Merch.com. And not a tip. I'm manual swap because we did not want a tip.

Yeah, that's right. What trends you got in yours? Tip. Yeah. Although, Nick, although I own five manual cars. Oh. What about you? Any?

I have a Kia surrender. Okay. I want to talk about, speaking of your cars, I want to talk about your cars. You're selling your Kyan. Now, before this podcast started, Nick told me I'm not allowed to say anything bad about the Kian that he's selling cars and bids. I'm just going to tell you, the viewer, this is the greatest Kyan in history. Okay.

This is an incredible Kyan. I'm not representing that. It is a daily driver condition, Kayen. All right? We're not going to lowball me on the podcast and set the market to be abnormally low. I think it is a perfectly average example and deserves a perfectly average, a slightly above average. This, Kyan, and I'll tell you, this is a beautiful car. I got a 992 steering wheel, car play.

Folks, he's got a 992 steering wheel and car play. Yeah. If you're a Porsche guy, that's like a big deal. The steering wheel is a knockoff and so is the car play. They're both Chinese, but it's not about that. Well, it's like a Zeker. Anyway, if you're not bidding on this car, you're making a huge mistake. Nick and I both believe it's going to sell for a tremendous sum.

Yeah. I am hoping it sells for, I have a $12,000 credit card bill due soon that I don't have funds to cover. So it's not technically live yet. If you want it, you can just pay Chase Bank directly. May I ask you the obfussed you? question. You got this Kia to replace this Kyan. You don't like the KIA. You can't ask what the Kian. You still have the Kiant. Have you thought about just giving the KIA back? The pictures are taken that

everything it's it's no you're going down this road. I'm I started the search for an L460 with third row. We said we weren't getting into the we're not getting into it. We're not we love our Kia and I will say the first one I hope they maintain their value well This says owned by crazy Nick Roshan. Boy, is he living up to that. Oh, man. Cayenne was lovely. I kept that seven years, the longest I've ever kept a car.

The cayenne is here in the office right now, and I'll tell you something from this distance, about 100 feet away, it looks amazing. This is a great cayenne. There's a couple oopsies here and there, all right? The bumper probably needs a respray. All of that is well documented and disclosed. Pull up the flog.

Do you know what's the most significant about this? It is the first official Nicky Lubb. oil change. Oh, you know, I heard that. I heard that you did your own personal oil change on it, and it went terribly, I heard. No, it went great. Yeah? I had to go in a second time and check the first guy's work. Minor oil leak from the oil filter.

Can I ask you just a quick question? Oh, no, he's going to pull up the wheels. I just have a couple questions. What occurred on these wheels? There's a vinyl strip there to emulate it. If you don't like it, you can remove it. I freehanded it, and there There was maybe one or two areas where my attention span. You know what? The wheels are straight.

The most circular thing I've ever seen in my life. This Cyan is amazing. Tell you what. It hits my number. I'll take it to lead finish and have them do it professionally. If it hits your number. What's your number there, Pally? 20.

20? It'll cover his credit card bill and then the next month too. Hopefully. I will say it is actually quite nice all or not. Nick, speaking of Porsches, I hear I'm getting out of Porsches. But you, it sounds like you're getting out of Porsche's. I'm getting out of Porsche's too. That's literally the story we were just going.

What Porsche am I getting? I did drive a 997.2 GT3RS. Uh-huh. When what happened, Nick? I loved it. I absolutely loved that car. We just went for like a little rip after Cars and Coffee. It sounded way better than I remember.

My big mistake, the first time I drove this car, I turned on like all the sport and P-C-C-B and P-C-C-RS. I turned them all on, and it was way too rough and harsh, and I was like, this car's awful. Turns out you don't need to do that when it's a GT3RS. Like, it's already pretty hardcore out of the box. Nick, can I ask you a question? And I really, really like... Are you a Porsche man now? No.

Nick? But as I think about what car to buy next to replace the SLR, which will also be auctioned in the not too distant future, say September 24th. For about that money, you could get a GT3RS, and I can absolutely see why people would reach that conclusion. I think it's not a very creative choice, but I think the driving dynamics of that

are really, really, really enjoyable. Nick, are you going to get a 9-11? Oh my God. After all this crap, we made fun of us for so long, I'm getting out of portions. I've already said I will never buy another portion. But you currently own two. But I'm selling one next week.

And then we're down to the V10. Which one are you selling? Oh, until you said that, it would have worked. The purple one. It's number 10 on the list, okay? I have Selena 7, 4GT, Ferrari 599, Ferrari 597. You put this car on your list? Gallardo Manual, F430, Aventador, Daytona, then a 997.2 GTTRS, followed by Sterado, Vipergen 5 and a DBS.

This is a great... It's like it's pretty far down the list. Quite a list. What's first? Is this list ranked? Yeah, more or less. What's first? Selina 7, which I can't afford it.

What's second? What's the first affordable car? 599. 599. What a yawn. This dude had a mercy. Can I ask why the... He's hitting every branch.

Can I ask why the Dodge Daytona's on there? Not the Dodsy Toney. Oh, the other Daytona. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not the EV one either. I want to move on to the market report. There's actually some legitimate things to discuss. But the first thing I want to discuss is the Ghibli.

Can you pull up the Ghibli? Can you sell Ghibli? I have not seen this. You're going to freak. I'm excited. He only... Five grand. He sold a modern Ghibli.

And it checks all the boxes. High mileage. Florida. We sold it for $5,100 United States dollars. $5,100. Folks, these have depreciated to zero. It's over. If you were wondering when it was going to happen, it's happened.

$5,100. Man, I've spent that. Look at this seat. Oh, my gosh. I've spent that much on a set of tires before. Yeah, for sure. Is the hood not close or is that the alignment? This is a Florida Maserati Ghibli.

Wow. Now, when we do the market report, Felipe Owe, we do a powwow before the podcast. Flip was always like, you gotta talk about cars and stuff for a lot of money. Never said that. We want cars and bids to look good. Folks, cars and bids never looked so good as when we're selling, you can get a bargain right here, right now. Gosh.

You believe that? Maserati, man. That is not good. Honestly, the Dodge dart that was of a similar gen, those are 50-1002. I know. I'm serious. The Dodge is the better vibe because at least like the maintenance. No, that repairs.

For Salner was notoriously probably probably. Julius must be more expensive. This ain't much better. Julius haven't dropped as much. $51. You know what I think did it in? Wow. I truly think you're a review and the gap in the door panel.

I think that of all the cars that I... Okay, I was in a condition here is a little tough. Of all the cars that I have ever reviewed, I really think the Ghibli's review was a real tough day for the Maserati folks. That video got a billion views and it kind of like... People still come up to me. They're like, Maserati suck. I learned that because of you.

But hey, for five grand. For five grand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is what I'd expect. I feel like you, well, I need that $5,100 right now. Now, speaking of cheap things, another thing I want to talk about is your Armada Nismo. Oh, yeah. Armada Nizmo, we just failed to sell, kind of like Nissan's been doing.

At 60, what was the sticker on this? Like yesterday, what was the sticker on this? 83. Wow. To be sure, sold for 70. I think our price. fits with the actual market level, like price level for this car at 60,000 plus our fee. You had one.

We decided it was kind of cool. As a press car, yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't spend 83. No. But 60? That's appealing. Dang.

That is tough. 60. So that'll- Did it have any miles on it? This is going to be a one model-year-only car? No, they're doubling down. There's another addition coming out. That's somehow similar.

What was the mileage? $6,200. A little bit. Okay, so someone drove it. Yeah, a little. Only cost them 20 grand. Everest. White.

In case you want to... Oh, they didn't buy it for MS. If you want to take it to Everest. Yep. Yep. We have some actually legitimate sales. The DB9 that Kennan sold. Holy crap.

Yeah, Kenan. That was fun to watch. Great pictures. Great representation, as usual. Finding these in a stick is pretty hard. So, like, when I hear DB9, I think of a price point a third of this. To be fair, most are.

Like, you can buy a crap ratty, DDB9. For you have 40, 50 maybe. No less than that. But the stick is super rare. This one's 11,000 miles, well represented, all that stuff. But that's respectable. Like, Aston's really low-mile sticks are hard to find. We actually have another one live right now that is also a convertible.

Another low-mile stick. I got that one. I got that one. Regular DB-9s are clicking on it. But yeah, we do have a low-mile stick also. Another good low-mile stick. Yeah. It's interesting.

A hundred is a quite notable. result for a DB9. You get it into what DBS manuals were a few years ago. I think they've gone up a little bit to like 130s, 150s, but still, that's quite a note. But as Kenan talked about in his video that accompanied it, like, you can't buy an Italian V12 six-speed manual factory for 100K. I mean, like with 11,000 miles. The equivalent of Ferrari or Lamborghini would be quadrupled that. Yep. What is this Hellcat for 325? Is that true? Hell yeah, brother.

Yeah, we're getting two. cheap Hellcats. Wow. 32.5. This was a local one. I actually thought about bidding on it. It is an auto, yes, but it's not like salvage title or anything. Like this was just a sort of run-of-the-mill, 40,000-mile Hellcat.

You should have, that's what they are apparently. That is a high 20. Yeah, they've been a bargain for a while, but like... Wow. I don't think I realize they'd gotten this cheap yet. The last time we talked Helcats probably over a year ago, they were in like high 40s. Yeah. That is appealing.

For 30? For 30? It's much like that 5,000 Ghibli. It's like, okay, like, what's the worst that could happen here? This is worth a shot. Wow. Worth a shot. You thinking about it?

I would. I could see Philippe-in-Helda. I would think about it. Are you thinking about it? You want to pursue 700 horsepower? I'm a manual guy, but yeah. Do all your cars add it up to have 700 horsepower? No.

Yep. No, wait, sorry, they do. They do. They do. They have to do the math. What do you think? It's like $3.50. My 9-11 and Mercedes combined.

That's like, there's like $650. It's 87. And then... The truck has... A couple of 13. You don't have a truck? Yeah, I do. F250.

Has it run? Yes, of course. And also, thanks to Nokia, and there's new tires over there, and thanks to Nomad, there are new wheels that are arriving to... Those are your tires? Yeah.

Wow. Shout out to Nokia and to Nomad. Those are going to be on the truck this week. And... 32-5 for a Hellcat, and he's driving around on this truck. 32-5, you could have 700 supercharged horsepower horsepower. Yeah.

And I respect. Would I earn that? Let's be honest. You'd earn it from me. I want to move on to the questions. Folks, the questions this week were the best we've ever had. Whoa. And I was on the YouTube.

Yeah, the YouTube post where the questions were. We posted on a post. I don't know how to do that. I don't know where it was. I don't know how it happened. It's only been a YouTube feature for a decade. We're good. I don't know how that post happened.

I don't understand it. But it was in the comments. We pinned it, and then you could click on it and go to a post. My thinking was, let's just have the people ask the questions in the comments. But Sean said, no. We have a comment that links them to a post. There are more synergy. at the post. And you know what also? The post, just having that little bit of friction that they

can't just put a comment that they have to click and then go to a post. It's a smart people. It made better questions. It really did. It added a layer of defense from the true idiots. Yeah. And we got legitimately the finest questions we've ever had on this podcast. And so that's great. Yeah. And so let's go through a few of them. We actually have a decent amount of time for questions. And the reason for that is because they were so good. I wanted to give some time to it. Starting with this question from fueled by filament. Nick, this one's for you.

Given that manual R8s are increasing in price, do you think that the R-tronic cars will appreciate more than the S-tronic cars because they can be manual-swapped? That is a very smart question. Yeah. I agree. R-tronic is earlier.

Yes. The R-tronic was the single clutch, which everyone agrees is worse. But swap-off. S-Tronic is the dual clutch, which everyone agrees is better. However, the Artronic is swappable. Yeah, the S-tronic, my understanding, is to swap it.

You actually have to, like, cut out part of the frame as well because of how the transmission is there. So it's technically not impossible, but it's bad. You're altering your frame for, like, structural rigidity. Plus, the dual clutch wasn't bad. The answer to the question, I don't know. It wouldn't shock me if swapability becomes a desirable. That's probably the only car that was ever made

where there is a single clutch version and a dual-clutch version in the same. So it'll be interesting to see, like, which one, has a... The problem right now is that the difference between an OE stick, so it's about 30K is what I'm told, maybe a little less, maybe a little more. To do a swap. The difference in values is about that. So it really only makes sense to swap if one, you already own the car and you just like came into enough money to swap it or you're pursuing a very specific spec. Like I want the V10 and this, you know, Samoa Orange or the RHGT or like a really specific one where you're like, I'd rather modify an Rtronic

than buy the OE stick. But if you're like net new to the market, just get a stick. But yeah, there's people out there doing them. It does make you wonder, though, like, does the fact that a single clutch is an opportunity, even though it's worse, actually someday mean that the car is more desirable

than the obviously better dual clutch car? Like that Grand Turismo you guys had that was swapped. It was only one year that you could get the right transmission. Right, so our 09s, that's a good point. That's another car like that. Are the 09s going to be more valuable because, like, you could do that. For Grand Turismo, you have to assume probably not a lot of people doing that swap.

I imagine eventually a lot of R8s will get swapped. Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure. Also, there's downward pressures on the automatic, on the dual clutch ones. And there'll be this, like, upward pressure on the- Probably. I mean, the dual-clutches are amazing cars, too. You know, also, R-A-8s are not climbing as much as you might think.

I know. R-8s are still the bargain. Which is really appealing. R-8s are bargains. What are we selling them for? 60s, all day. Early ones? Yeah.

I think what you have that? 65. That's a dual-clutch car. With a gated manual. Yeah. The problem is that you can still, if all you care about is having a gated manual and you don't mind that it's a V8 or a black or whatever, like you can get into them so affordably that spending $30K to swap something on a car that's maybe worth $100 at most doesn't make a ton of finances. This coming from the guy that swapped a $17,000 Mercedes, but. Even this is a deal.

I agree. I agree. Sold for 144, a lot of money, but a gated factory gated manual, 13,000 miles and a V10. Yeah. For 140, I mean, given what everything else has gotten at this point, that's a true exotic car. What's the Lambo version of that sell for? Twice that?

At least. A 13,000 mile Gallardo, yeah. Manual. A 30, that one has a mileage blocker and it's been used as a rental in four different states. I don't know if the gated manuals are used as rentals all that often. Arnets remain a bargain, especially considering how usable they are. You had one, Sam had one. Sam had two.

They never had issues. Yeah. You guys drove them everywhere, like treated them like. It's a little hard, yeah. Which no one does with Gallaudos. Which is the beauty, I mean, like, the interior is largely A3TT. Parts are available. Like a normal Audi mechanic can work on it.

There weren't issues generally. I mean, there's like little things here and there are a little larger things, but still like nothing, you know, it's not like Ferraris. You use service in an Audi dealership. It's like your Supra too where everyone respects it, right? Like you don't hate on it like you would a Lambo, oh, there's a corseller. Like any car enthusiast, no matter what your background is. Oh, it's Iron Man. Oh, it's cool.

Especially the Gen ones. Especially the Gen 2 still have a little bit of the... Dude, Gen 2 is so sketchy. I assume a Gen 2 owner. Gen 2 owner is like up the no-good. Because they all now have like you know, like all the crazy tunes and burbles and just like, yeah. It's like an R35 where you just know.

Like that's... You don't want to go there. Also like a 991 with the worst performance is at that same price point. 67 grand gets you a 991S maybe. with the PDC. Yes. Maybe. It's crazy, considering that this is like a bona fide exotic car. Like, this is a car that still turns people's heads. I'm astonished by the whole situation.

How many miles of this doesn't have? It's 33,000 miles. Yeah. That was local, too. What a deal. Yeah. I think what's interesting, too, is that certain manual conversion markets are sort of maturing. Like, it went from, like, an unproven science to like, okay, like, they've got that figured out.

They're having, like, mercy values have really risen in the last. Like, you are so because, like, when I sold my money, it was like, oh, we don't know about conversions yet. Like a year or two later, people are like, oh, actually, no, like, I'm specifically seeking out E-gear cars to convert so that I can get the spec and the mileage and everything I want. I do think that any car where there is a convertible to manual, manually convertible, not top convertible,

convertible top, but a manual conversion convertible available is an uncertain buy right now. I would not buy a manual 575, a factory manual 575 right now. I would not buy the factory manual. Mercy? Yeah, at the premium that it is, because I don't know if those premiums are actually going to hold in this world

where cars are being swapped. And it really depends on the reason you're buying. If you want the driving experience to buy a swap car, if you want the investment, I think those cars are not a smart investment right now. I agree, although what we've seen, at least with Mercy's, is that it was a rising tide that floated all ships.

It didn't, the gated cars maybe didn't start keep appreciating exponentially like they did, but they didn't really drop either. Instead, the E-gears just started to really rise. I think that there was a time where you could have bought the gated cars and done okay. Yeah. I think that today, right now, with, like you said, the swap market kind of becoming as popular as it is, now is not the time to be buying any of those, the factory manuals as an investment. Mercy's included. Like, they all rose for sure. Will they continue to rise at this point now that all

these other cars are getting converted? What if you've got one of the four OE California's that came as a manual? Or is it seven? I think it was the lower. is that it was like nine or 12, but like three were right-hand drive and one is already destroyed. That car cannot be swapped, so you don't have to worry about that. Next question from, from, Joby Auto Parts 2629. Question for Doug. Dear Doug, how would you feel if Whistlin Diesel purchased your G-Wagon cabriolet for a durability test? Is this money green?

Done deal. Have fun, whistling. Next question from Ogre D209 number four. This is a question about 9-11. Do you remember 9-11, Nick? Yeah. My license plate says we will never forget. We'll never forget.

25 years ago, this podcast is going up on the 25th anniversary of the 9-11, September 11 terrorist attacks. The question asks, Doug, where were you in the guys on 9-11? Is that an accusation? What? Is that an accusation? Oh, he's implying that we were. Where were you on 9-11? Where were you and the guys on 9-11?

I only put this in here because I don't actually know the answer for you guys, and I'm curious. Nick, tell us about your 9-11 experience. I was in high school, I believe. Yeah. When you were to graduate? 2003. So yeah, it would have been, yeah, thank you.

Good math there. So I remember they just, my art teacher, and I had the coolest art teacher. Like, I think a lot of teachers, especially for high schoolers, like, what do we do, do we tell them? Like, he was just like, screw it, I'm rolling out the TV, we're watching it. Like, and so we just all, like, sat there in dead silence, like, unable to process or figure that out.

And I remember, like, the bell went off and everyone went in the hallways. And, like, the hallways are always chaotic in high schools. And that hallway was just, like, you could hear a pin drop. Like, just no one knew what, like, everyone was just, like, frozen. Yeah. It was a crazy feeling. Yeah. Yeah.

But, yeah, high school. High school. I still lived in Italy, and we were on our way to a dentist appointment. It was in lateh time. It was afternoon. Oh, boy. We were on our way to a dentist appointment and a friend. Because our, my now step that is American and lived in.

Western Massachusetts. And so some friends knew that and called. And were like, they were concerned that he was there because you don't have an because, you know, they weren't sure. But nevertheless, I distinctly remember that phone call in the car in Italy on the way to, or that does it want it. You had a cell phone and I wanted it in it. We must have because I remember that, but surprising, right? Privilege.

Child of privilege. Cell phones are cheaper in Italy. Different. I woke up to the news. I was in Colorado. I lived in Colorado. People don't realize this, but if you lived in the West Coast, it was already going on by the time you woke up. Depends the time you woke up.

Well, it wasn't the first attack at like 8 a.m. in the East Coast. So, I mean, it was 6 a.m. in Colorado. 846, yeah. You know, 645, I guess. I wasn't waking up then. Back then. I am now. So everybody west of, you know, the Midwest kind of woke up and found out about it.

that way. But interestingly, my dad worked in a building called the World Trade Center in Denver. There were world trade centers like in major cities across the country. And so his building was evacuated immediately. He was home that day from work. And I remember coming home from work and watching it all with him. We were sitting there. 25 years. You watch, you look at those 9-11 pictures and it is wild the cars that are downtown in Manhattan. Is that your first thought? No, like there's a lot of thoughts. But you ever, you ever, we're on a car podcast. Do you ever have those thoughts. There had those heavy-duty suburbans that the square body, heavy-duty

suburbans, the fire department had those. Anyway, excursions were around. Yeah. You don't have any excursion? You're not going to pull up 9-11 excursion pictures? Okay. Oh, here's a good question. From Faruk Hashmi-11, Hello, Dug-Athon. This might be a controversial

question, but since you're currently selling your G-Wagon, maybe it makes sense, would you sell one of your cars on the other, it shall not be named auction website if it means you get 20% more on value. Wouldn't happen. Wouldn't happen. 993 MP car market?

The other auction site dealers sell into each other. No interest. Thank you. We monitor values really closely. And we are incredibly confident because we have a lot of data on a lot of cars that on cars and bids you are getting

and many cars the same because the market is pretty efficient and cars on the auction sites to get enough traffic like ours in our biggest competitors. The site's pretty efficient, or the market's pretty efficient, and or you get a little bit more is what our data shows in aggregate. And so there will absolutely not be a situation where there's a wide discrepancy in value and certainly not in that direction. Dealers sell into each other.

If we wanted dealers sell into each other, that's where we go. We head right over and over there. Anyway, the point is, I'm not doing it. I would never sell in the other place. Our place is better. It's easier to operate. It's easier to work. And it's not just dealers selling to each other.

Better experience. Next question from the car. place has enthusiasts, real enthusiasts. Like you and I. Like me and you selling cars. We're like the individuals who like love their cars selling at the place. That's what this is. That is what we are.

that I really struggle with. That, well, there's also anyways, which I've tried and I've given up on. Okay. Anyways? Anyway? It's anyway. I know. You don't.

I don't do that as an often. Regardless of that, let's just. English is my second language. Next question from Kagura 631. Dear Group, which car brand that disappeared in the 2000s or later do you miss the least? Saturn, Buick, Uwick, Oldsmobile. Oh, Bueck. Homer is.

Saturn, Buick. Oldsmobile, yeah. Mercury. I mean, what are you missing out of? Oldsmobile and Mercury. Chrome trim on an Explorer? Okay. Get that.

Oldsmobile and Mercury. What else has disappeared? Is it the most or least? It's the least. But we can do most in a second. Pontiac, Hummer, DeWoo. I do miss DeWu.

You missed the Nibb. Sob, I missed them most, obviously. Can you name the three DeW models that were sold new? Oh gosh. Yeah, yeah. Weren't they just letters and number? No. The Nibir is one.

Newbira is one. Can you name the other two? The Nubira was the middle. Yeah, I know. I can picture it. Can you name the entry in the big? The big was like a corolla-sized car. They sold them Matisse in European markets.

Didn't make it here. Three in the U.S. I think it was 99 to 01 for all three of them. And then it was gone as quickly as came. I'm really upset about. The entry one was called the Lanos. Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Then there was the new bureau, which was not only sold as a Fordo sedan, but also a five-door hatch and a wagon, really rare. And then the big was, the luxury one was called the Laganza. De Wu Laganza. Pull up a Laganza for us. Yeah. Nick, you ever considered DeWu products? No.

Really? No. Which? I would take the $5,000 gigilee, I think. Leganza was great. They were, I mean, like. There's a lawnhouse. They were cars.

The Laganza was the nice was like the luxury one, but it was like the size of a corolla, but it had leather. A little bit, but it wasn't a cam. It was maybe a camera size, I agree. A fourth contour. Look at this interior. Look at this interior. I mean this interior.

You mean the mercury topaz. Yeah, there you go. No, the fourth contour was the Mercury Mystique. You're having a little bit of a, this is. The tempo was the tempo. The tempo. The tempo. Tough day for Felipe over here.

The answer is maybe that. of the one that you missed the least. Mercury is up there. Mercury is up there. Do I actually prefer the tailouts on the Mariner to the escape? Yeah, the Mariner was the best looking of that trio. But I don't... Osomobile has...

The Aurora was great. But by the mid-2000s, all the good stuff that Olympiel had ever made was gone. Yeah. The bravada was the best looking of those SUVs, though. The third-gen bravada was heinous. Only the first-gen looked good. And that was gone, way gone by then.

Oh, the bravada looked great. And the aurora was cool and it came, we went through the end, but only the first gen Aurora was the cool Aurora. Don't you agree? The second genera. I totally agree with that. You like the second generora? This one, this is the best looking of them.

With the tail lights were the best gray. Are you crazy? The tail lights were the best tail lights. The only good looking bravada was, click on this one. No, I refuse to. Give me a little promo. The bravada tail lights were the best ones. Hey, by the way.

We met a guy at Car Week, and he's like, oh, yeah, Doug reviewed my car. and he had like some exotic there. It was like, oh, what cool exotic cardi of? And he's like an Oldsmobile bravado. I'm like, oh, man. Not what I expected to hear. I, uh... You reviewed two bravadas.

Two bravias. I reviewed a second gen, which was by far the worst bravada. The first gen... Hey, all three. There's all three. There's all three-to-goode group. One of each gen. This is one of the final 500.

In 2004, Pony... Oldsmobile made final editions of all of its models, and they did 500 final editions of... It was the bravada, the intrigue, and the allera. Three-color tail lights. You actually had ambered. Amber turn signals. The best of the tailors.

The best looking of these was the short wheel base ascender. The short wheel was the Zuzu Ascent. I didn't look the ascender. It was a little squarer. Yeah, that's why it was the best looking. I didn't like it. I didn't think it was well done. Did you know that this straight six?

It wasn't on that list, but As Susu's dead as a car manufacturer. Zuzu is another one. It is around as a truck manufacturer. That we don't miss. Nick, what's a while they were numbered cars. Number 27. The only, the finally model year of Oldsmobile, they did 500 of each of the three. three cars and they numbered.

It was the, I think the Allero the intrigue and the bravada. I don't think the Aurora was still around by then. And they numbered them all as a final. I mean, Osmobile had a lot of history. And at one point it was like a very good brand. They just... 1897? It just didn't have a place in the line.

They just didn't have them to death, basically. Yeah, they were all badge engineering cars. And they had been, the original Aurora was probably the last badge engineered Oldsmobile. Ironically, the Alero sold well. Yeah. One of the worth of your products. I think that Mercury or Daivu?

Daewu. Yeah. Dewu. I think so, too. Also, because Daew had a lot of badge engineers, GM World cars. Globally, but here it was their own stuff. I like Mercury. You had the Marauder.

You had the Mountaineer, which is a way cooler version of the Explorer. They were doing stuff. Way cooler. Yeah, dude. You get the slats, the vertical slats in the grill? You're talking about the O2. The O2 mountaineer was an improvement over the Explorer. Big mountaineer guy.

This is the one you're talking about. Oh, yeah, no, this one was rough. No, this is the one you're talking about. No, I'm talking about the 95 to 0-1. God, Nick, that was talking about badge engineering. That car was identical. They used the same wheels. They weren't even, they weren't even trying.

On Fortexplorer.com. People would facelift their explorer to do the mountaineer front end swap because we all agree. Wait, wait, does that actually exist? No. But how cool is that? No, but go to the one that facelpped one. Like, the white one. This?

That's actually a swap right there. That's an explorer sport With the mountaineer front end And everyone wanted to do that Because it was universally agreed The mountaineer was Where was that? This was an actual one

Yeah, they didn't even change the wheels Those were explore wheels The 95 to 97 they phoned it in But by 98 they were really firing on all soul Man that is a The O2 was the only good one The one that you have up there I have a story about the O2 Explore

You want to hear it? It's a good story that you'll like It touches on a lot of stuff With the 46 No, it's a 4O story in 2001 the spring of 2001 I think it was the spring of 2001 my brother used to play

he was a baseball player in high school and he used to play like in these tournaments all across the country he was like really legit and in 2001 me and my dad and my brother went to Phoenix for one of his tournaments and I was always like tagging along I didn't you know I didn't have anything to do and we land at the airport there

and they say you run in a mid-sized SUV, we're pulling the plastic off for you. It's ready. But we're pulling the, literally brand new, pulling plastic off. They pull up in an O2 Explorer, which was fully redesigned. And this was a massive deal because the O2 Explorer was the first truly full redesign of the Explorer. The 95 was the running gear and all stuff stayed the same. O2 was like a major. And I remember we drove it around. We were the only people in Phoenix with the new Explorer. And it was the coolest thing in the world. It was like driving around it.

And not only was it like driving around a press car, but like the explorer, like it's the hot, everybody's got one. At the time they were selling 400,000 of them a year. And people were coming up to us being like, oh my God, is that the new explorer? Wow. And it was so exciting for, you know, 14-year-old Doug who like, you know, my parents would buy a car and keep it for 12 years. Yeah, having the new new for one weekend having the new Ford Explorer at the time. It was green. Man. Okay, I'm going to do one last question.

It's a good story. Yeah. Yeah. Plus, you guys were a Ford family. Phoenix, I thought you would like it because Phoenix was involved. Yeah. We had a Mazda tribute. We never had a Fort Escape.

Yeah, but I don't know how to break this to you. Speaking of Badge Engineering. Okay. Okay. This has, this lesson has to be good. Make it good. This lesson has to be good. Oh, here.

Nick, this one is for you. This one is for you. Wait, can I answer Ethan 900's question? We always hear Doug talking about the hardcore off-roading he does. Go search Doug's channel. You'll see some off-roading videos. I filmed the Land Cruiser video with Doug. It's about as fun to watch as Spike Kids 2, am I right?

Look at the cast for Spike Kids 2. Okay, this one is for you. I haven't seen that one yet. Look at the cast. From a Falterback 1967, dear Nick, he actually says he doesn't say that. Oh, no. What practical issues in managing a fleet of three or more personal cars? Do you do maintenance of every 12 to 24 months,

even when driving less than 3,000 miles per year? Nick, you've always had eight, seven, eight, six, five, ten cars. What are your practical issues in maintaining such a fleet, managing it, and how often are you doing maintenance? Do maintenance as it's needed, right? Like, I'm not like Kennan where I'm doing it preventatively. It's when things break. The beauty of having multiple cars.

We call that repairers, not maintenance, but that's fine. The beauty of multiple cars, you can have one broken at any given time, and it bothers you not in a sleigh. You just leave it. You leave it. And get to it when you're ready. I got a car to shop right now. I'm not really pushing them.

The problem is, you can't, in California, when they all need smog around the same time, and you're like, I would give anything not to go to the smog, which is why I hired an intern over to some to smog my carts from me. It's not that bad, really. I mean, because you are putting so few miles on it. Frankly, from everything I've read, the oil changes, like, if you're only doing 3,000 miles,

you can push the oil change a couple months. It's not a big deal. If you do it yourself, like real men do. Well, I think you get to it when you get on time. Nicky Lou. Yeah. Well, that's what I do. But do you throw in shade it, people who go to Nickyloob?

No, well, I'm the only one that's ever been. It's not open to the GP. Yeah, but my point is you don't want to say that real men, you want to say real men go to Nicky Loop. Real men go to Nicky Loop. I'm giving you some marketing advice. Anyway, I hate it, believe it or not. I have 11 cars right now. I absolutely hate it.

It does get tiresome. Too many cars. Too many cars. I really believe, at least for me, that six was the right total number. Unfortunately, in the end, I'm going to end up with eight. I'm pairing back as well because it does, you get less excited. Like the cars burn you out, so then when you do have a chance to enjoy them, you're just kind of like, oh. Like I just, I got to deal with all these headaches to go drive because I know three of them are broken.

This one's over here. That's not usually my situation. I keep my cars really well maintained, but it's still a lot of work. What do you imply? The three big cars are always in great shape. My four GT, career, GD, and Kudash are always ready to go. that requires effort. Like every year, they are going to the shop

where they need something or not, and I'm basically saying fine stuff because I do not want to break down. So that's three of them. Our daily drivers are pretty easy to maintain just at the dealership. I'm getting this Wrangler 3902. It's going to be maintained by my buddy Bruce.

Shout out, Bruce. Shout out. And then I've decided for the station wagon that I'm going to keep it until it breaks. I'll just leave it on the side of the road. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? If it becomes troublesome, it's gone,

But it's like that car is notoriously pretty reliable. I think I'll be all right for a while. You know what I figured out sort of the hard way, which you warned me about, was the more cars you have, the more you need each one of them to be nice, right? So my problem was I kind of like did like a little mini-hoovies garage where they were all hoop-dies.

And so then they were always broken and that burned me out. Had I just bought nice examples of each where they weren't headaches, then you wouldn't be dealing with seven headaches. You'd be dealing with maybe one headache at a time. Can I ask you an honest question? Have you ever thought about just listening to me up front I've thought about it instead of listening to me later

when you've spent money and wasted it and lost a lot of time. Here's the thing is right. You're assuming that I'm giving this a lot of, like when E55 shows up on the site and there's a little two-minute timer and you're like, oh, just one more bid might take it home.

I'm not thinking about what would Doug do. I'm thinking, another 250 box, sure. Let's roll the dice. That is Nick. That's the Nick that I know and love. But then eventually you were like, why did I buy a Bentley Arnage with no reserve on that other site?

We do wonder. With a lot of non-disclosed issues and ruin my life for the next six months trying to make it decent. All right, Nick, that's some great consumer advice for us. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Felipe, do you have anything for us? Check out Carsandbids.com. We didn't even say it.

I don't think this. Cars and bids.com. It's pretty much the best site ever. It's the best site ever. We now have merch. Ryan Lopez wants to talk about merch. We didn't get Ryan Lopez's name in this. Next, you did, like right out the gate.

Next week, yeah, but we didn't, like, talk about it. Next week, he's going to be in Italy. Next week, we're going to go deep Ryan Lopez. So we get to hear about Italian smoke shows and also certainly about the lack of air conditioning. Yeah. Good night. And Wi-Fi. No, but 5G is good.

4G is also good. Good night, everybody. Bye.