Scott and Ben Review Their Cars

The guys talk about everything automotive-related, and this week they're doing something a little different: reviewing their own cars. Tune in to learn more about the good, the bad, and the ugly for Scott and Ben's vehicles.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Go behind the wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car Stuff from house stuff Works dot Com. Hi, and
welcome to Car Stuff. I'm Scott and I'm Ben. We
are joined as always with our super producer, uh No
the you know, nol Recap Brown. It's not bad, it's

(00:24):
not bad, it's not great. Well, well we'll work on
it and uh well, as we do in most shows, listeners,
we're going to maybe find a more apropos nickname for
Noel as we continue the show today, we'll try to
remember sometimes we end up going through the whole thing
and never getting back to that. Let's try. Let's try
along the way, we'll try to remember to give him

(00:45):
a an appropriate nickname this time for real. Yeah. Sure,
So we're gonna do something a little bit different today.
In the past, listeners, you've heard us talk about, you know,
our our first cars or notable cars that we we're
lucky enough to drive or in some cases unlucky enough
to drive at certain points. And we've read some of

(01:07):
your stories to your fellow listeners on the air, And
this time we're we're going to do something kind of
like a review. Well a little bit. This is gonna
be a little different than the typical review that you
are accustomed to. Uh. This is more, you know, just
you and I talking about our cars, I guess, because
we've both had a recent change of vehicles. When I
say a recent, I mean within about a year, right

(01:28):
something somewhere around there. Um, So it's kind of a
new experience to us. We've had some time to kind
of settle into the vehicles, and we talked about them
initially what we thought about them, almost right away, but
not we didn't have a whole lot of seat time,
I guess, And maybe that's the difference, is that now
we've had some time to really explore the vehicles that
we have, and we can talk about them. And I

(01:48):
encourage the listeners to write in and say, you know,
similar things that you know about their own vehicle, And
I think about your own vehicle as we talk about ours. Um,
you know, have you connected with the card? You like
taking it for drives? Things like that. That's what we're
gonna talk about. It's not so much stats and facts
and figures and things like that, you know, because you
can get that at any you know auto review site. UM,
I know they do long term reviews. And this is

(02:08):
closer to that, I guess, and that you know, here's
what I like about it, here's what I don't like
about it. And I don't know. I think we'll we'll
jump into that in just a minute. But there's a
couple of quick points of UM concern I guess. I
don't know if it's concerned, but more interest. I suppose
that UM have popped up since our last Nuts and
Bolts episode. And we talked about paint and we were

(02:29):
talking about different types of paint and you know, the
different styles of paint jobs that you can have, and
you know, metal flake and all that stuff you p
paint jobs and UM. We had mentioned the portion nine
eighteen Spider at some point in that discussion because you
know the expense of that particular color that was available,
and we thought it was a little bit silly that
you know this thing. And I think we guessed somewhere

(02:49):
around dollars. I think it was just a shot in
the dark on our part. That is not the cases
that we both looked into this. So what do we
find out? It's okay, it's amazing, and it's endle is
it is much more than ten thousand dollars? Is in fact,
significantly more, significantly more. It is in fact sixty four
thousand dollars to get that paint job on the portion. Yeah,

(03:11):
they're two that you can select for that price. Now
I know there are other, um you know, package options
that you can go with as well. Now, the base
nine eighteen Spider is something like eight hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. It's right around that ballpark. There's another, um
you know, the special package that you can add on
to it that that bumps it up to like nine
and thirty thousand dollars. And then the paint. Now, the

(03:32):
two types of paint we're talking about, there's liquid metal
chrome blue paint and there's liquid metal silver paint. So
you're talking about blue and silver. Yeah, I like the
blue one better, I think, what about you? I also
like the blue one better. The silver of course, beautiful
car either way you look at it. But the blue
to me, gorgeous color. But is it worth sixty three
thou additional dollars? And I suppose at that point that's

(03:55):
on top of the Yeah, I guess. I mean when
you're so that bumps it up to a million dollars
at that point. Well, here's here's the explanation that Porsche
has in their sales brochures, because I looked at this
as well, so they explain, Um, you know, they have
their own spiel about what this is, why it matters,
why it is sixty dollars worth of paint. I'll just

(04:20):
quote them. Nine coats of the liquid metal paint, applied
with high precision, three manual processing stages, and three final
clear coats guarantee impressive light reflection and extraordinary depth. Every
reflection helps to emphasize the contours of the spider with
even more clarity. The paint is highly vibrant and gives
the surface the appearance of liquid metal. We'd even go

(04:43):
so far as to claim that rarely has a concept
been realized so tangibly. Okay, let you think, well, it's
the next exclusivity thing, of course, and it's way over
the top as far as prep and and and work
goes into this paint. But I don't know is it
worth sixty dollars to see that color on the vehicle
versus another color? And I don't know what the other

(05:03):
options are. There's there are different race liveries that are
available as well. Uh, you can go with those are
probably even more expensive than this, of a guess, because
they require additional steps. But there are different cars you
can buy for sixty four thou dollars. Well there's that too,
But you know what, I don't know. We we have
time and time again talked about some of these high
end brands and their exclusivity that bespoke, rolls, Royces, a

(05:26):
handstitched les, bent Leys and you know, Spiker cars and
all that. Um, there's just a there's a level where
people just pay anything to have something just slightly different
than everybody else has. And uh and okay, if you
ever look at the nineteen Spider list of options and
I guess you know, like uh speed chart because you

(05:48):
know this is a hybrid vehicle, so um, like the
speed charging station is like twenty two dollars and the
luggage set, the luggage set, you know, nineteen dollars for luggage.
I don't know. I mean, that's crazy twenty dollars for luggage,
but it's fitted luggage for that vehicle. I understand maybe

(06:09):
paying paying a little bit of money for something like that.
We've we've e been talked about fitted luggage for certain
sports cars in the past and we actually think it
kind of makes sense in some cases, I get it
because that storage space is so small or oddly shaped, right, sure, yeah,
but then twenty dollars for a set for this vehicle,
that's that's been excessive. But then again, you know that's
just a drop in the bucket for somebody who's buying

(06:30):
this vehicle, probably price happy, that's true. So you know,
we can we can talk back and forth about expensive
options on the portion of Spider for a long time. Um.
In fact, you know, I've got another portion of nineteen
Spider story to tell at some point. Um. They're the
one and only Gulf Livery Porsche. Uh, nineteen Spider is

(06:51):
right here in Atlanta, and I've seen it. I've seen
in person, really yes, And I didn't take a photo
because I went to the dealership when it was closed.
It was upstairs, is on a second level and I
could see it behind glass. So it's here, it's in
it's in town. But it's the only one in the
United States, and there's a definite exclusivity to it because
the guy had to ask for rights from the Gulf

(07:12):
Oil Company or whatever parent company that is now. I think,
um to to paint it in those exclusive colors with
the number two designation from the nineteen seventy one race. So, uh,
there's a lot going on with that vehicle, and we'll
have to talk about it, because uh, there's more to
it than that. It would be cool to get in
there and and see if we could take some photos
with it, you know, use our enormous our enormous internet fame,

(07:38):
pull some strings. Um, we're being sarcastic, of course. Let's
let's move on to these. This piece of listener mail
that I'd like to get to, and this one comes
from Clayton. Now, Clayton is a longtime car stuff listener,
and Clayton, if if you recall, is a welder that
really wants to be a dancer. So um he takes
I'm just kidding that flash dance. He's a welder. He's so,

(08:00):
he's a welder who really who In his off time,
you know, when it is down months or whatever, he
drives vehicles professionally for different manufacturers. He tests them, so
he gets a lot of seat time in a lot
of different vehicles. Job. Yeah, for a lot of people
that really would be I'd love to do this personally,
I'm sure it gets to be mundane, just like anything
else because you just have to put miles on the vehicle.

(08:23):
But he does drive a lot of really interesting cars,
and he writes in and tells us what he can
because some of the stuff he is confidential. But what
we're talking about today is fine. Um, he said, you know,
these are the ones that that he can talk about,
So no secrets being leaked here. He mentions, Uh, in
this fits right in with our review topic. He mentions, um,

(08:43):
about ten different vehicles here, and I don't know if
you want to go through the real quick, Yeah, let's
just alternate and go through super fast, all right. So
the first one he mentions, This one's like a fifty
fifty for super duty. He says, hard to say, but
I drove one that had an interior, an interior that
was unfinished, and it had two seats, the steering wheel
and not much else. So yeah, that one. I don't
know how well we can judge that. That's just performance

(09:05):
at that point, right. Uh. The next one for f
one fifty, he said, Uh, what I would expect people
to say, because I love these two, he said, love
these things. The upright seating and interior size makes for
comfortable vehicle. I've driven these for a twelve hours shift
that would still be fresh as a daisy at the end.
Plus the turbos and the V six make a satisfying wine. Okay,

(09:25):
so long term or long long distance drives on that
one I can't miss with the it's that's an amazing mission.
That's true. There's another Ford, uh Mustang now, he says.
The online four engine is no slow, which the paddle
shifters seem had a place on an American pony car.
But it still has everything you would expect from a Mustang.
So it's kind of fifty fift on that one too.
He says. It's good, but I didn't really say there's

(09:47):
anything fantastic right right, And then we go to the
Volkswagen g T I total blasted drive, he says, but
still has pretty good fuel economy. A word of advice,
if you're looking to buy one, go ahead and spend
the money for the power adjustable seats. I'm glad you
said that, my friend, because I'm not the guy who
buys extra options on a car unless I think it's

(10:07):
absolutely necessary. And he says it's really necessary now, and
it's funny that the two that we just mentioned, the
F one FF and the G t I. He says,
if I was spending my own money, those are the
two that he would buy out of this whole list.
Uh So, moving on to the Toyota RAV four, he
does not like this when he says dull as a dishwasher.
Uh there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but there's nothing

(10:27):
particularly right either. So not a good review of the
Toyota Rav four. Twenty Toyota Camera. Same problem as the
Rav four. It's a car built around practicality. It's not
something you look forward to driving. And here's another one
that's kind of Hyundai Elantra. The cabin has more room
than you would expect from a small car. But that's
all he said. That's it. Yeah, it's a very simple,

(10:49):
simple explanation. Dodge charger hellcat can pass anything but a
gas station. Uh, this one was hard. I wanted to
like this one, I really really did. The driving position
was so uncomfortable for me. At least that would get
light cramps after a couple of hours. Interesting fact, the
charger has two cup holders under the hood. I did
not know that until I read this note. Why would

(11:10):
you have to well, I mean, I guess I can
see if you're working on stuff under the hood, which
a lot of people that own the Hellcat might do. Uh.
I guess a place to hold your beverage whatever that
happens to, right, Yeah, hanging out and that's it's a
weird thing. I'm gonna have to look that up and
see the photos. The next one is the Oh this
is not good ram pro Master says, avoid like the plague.

(11:32):
Oh Man, it says this one had low bill quality. Uh.
The road noise is so bad it doesn't matter if
the windows are up or down. The same for the
door seals. Uh. There's an overhead shelf that keeps you
from seeing traffic lights. And it also mad's getting out
really painful endeavor. The seating position is so upright it
feels like you're sitting in a dining room chair. Man,
this is terrible. Uh. He says. You have to straddle

(11:53):
the steering wheel to drive, and uh. He was worried
about that position because you know, if you had to
make an abrupt stop, that would be real trouble. Yeah,
and uh, going to the Porsche Kayen says, this is
very complex. You can adjust seemingly any aspect of the
car from the driver's seat accelerates faster than it seems
like it should be able to. One of my favorite

(12:14):
times his test car driver was driving to kai en
plug in hybrid along the Coastal Highway and Corpus Christie
at the windows down, the roof open in an electric mode.
I could quietly drive along the road and still hear
what people were saying in the cafe. What a weird thing.
How did be cruising down the road and hear people
talking on the side, like just hanging out talking at
the table. Very strange. Uh seen Chevrolet Suburban. Oh you

(12:36):
know what his question marks on this one because it
was de badged. It's mysterious. It could be so it
could have been a Chevy. Oh, you could have been
a Cadillac, I suppose, right, Maybe an Escalade, I don't know,
or Yukon possibly, I don't know. Suburban maybe, but he says,
like the F one fifty, this one's all about comfort.
There's a huge amount of room inside. So that is
a yes on the possibly suburban. And the last one

(13:00):
added aircraft tug don't know the maker or the year.
Loads of torque, extremely fast off the line for the
first five feet. Well, of course it is. You gotta
you gotta pull planes with it, so there's plund there's
plenty of torque there. In fact, you know what, we
had a listener that wanted to have an entire episode
about airplane v I guess airport vehicles. Vehicles, Yeah, the

(13:21):
tugs and all that stuff, maybe even the emergency vehicles.
That'd be a great show. But Clayton, thank you. That
was a super fast version of of what Clayton wrote in.
But I felt like that led perfectly into today's topic.
So that's that's why we would quote get through that
whole list right, And uh, and you know what our
reviews today, I guess of our our new and air
quotes new to us. Maybe cars um is gonna be

(13:42):
a little bit different. So so hang in there and
hopefully you'll find it interesting. I think, you know, we
should have a good conversation today. And that's really yeah,
entirely biased with relatively arbitrary standards and uh, filled with ramps. Yes,
and you know what again, listeners, think about this with
your own vehicle, you know, think about like this is
the questions that we're going to ask each other. I

(14:04):
guess but but like, what do you like about your vehicle?
What don't you like? How does it stack up to
the other vehicles you've owned? Uh? Do you do you
enjoy driving it? You know? Where are some of the
we're talking about some of the systems and like the
luxuries or comforts that you appreciate the most. And how
about something that maybe you wish that it had but
it doesn't have, or others that you know, maybe it
does have that you just absolutely don't need. It's just

(14:24):
kind of a useless button that sits there that does
really cool things, but you don't ever use it. So
we're gonna talk about that type of stuff too. So um. Also,
maybe at the end, Ben, I'd like to ask you
this about your your current vehicle. Would you like to
go back to your previous vehicle? I mean, do you
do prefer now? See we've had our cars for about

(14:45):
a year, right, so it's kind of getting to that
point where like you're either starting to connect with your
vehicle and you really like it, or maybe you're thinking
like this is a short term Uh, you know, it's
a it's a stepping stone for me onto the next vehicle.
I completely see what you're so we will get to
that and I'll ask you the same question. Of course,

(15:05):
today we're going to be talking about our respectives cars. Scott.
You have a Volkswagen CC Sport, that's right, yes, And
I have a two thousand and eight Ford Escape Hybrid.
Not because I thought it was going to change the world.
I got a deal on it. And if I'm being
absolutely honest now, I had to uh, I had to

(15:27):
kind of be well, I had to be quick about
buying myne um. I had a rental car for a
couple of weeks. My my car. I think I told
the story on on car stuff, so I won't go
into that again. But my car suddenly died. It was
like a matter of changing an engine or you know,
I had to do the the uh, you know, what's
what's best for my bank account. Uh, you know, calculation

(15:47):
on paper. And it turned out to getting a new
vehicle was was better. A new US vehicle was a
better solution for me at the time. And I did
take my time. I took my time in that. You know,
I had a round car for a couple of weeks
and then a week where I did and have a car,
and you know, I took a long time to find
this thing, and I found the right one, and I
was happy with what I found. Um And I I
say generally, overall, since you know, last March, the end

(16:10):
of March, I've been generally happy with my vehicle. I mean,
I'm going to mention a few cons and some things
they don't like about it, but overall, I'm satisfied with
the vehicle. It's just that I feel, and I've said
this a couple of times already, I don't feel like
I'm really connecting with my car yet. Ben, I don't
know what it is. It's not. It doesn't have like
and I don't know. I mentioned like sometimes you say

(16:31):
like cars have a soul or whatever, you know, but
that's it. But it just doesn't feel like it's it's
not necessarily a driver's vehicle. Maybe that's a better way
to put it. Um, it's a little bit and and
I hate to use this term, but it's a little
bit numb when you drive it. And I don't I
don't mean that in a terrible like away like, um,
I don't know, it's well, yeah, I don't. I don't

(16:51):
feel that. I don't feel like, you know, the responsive
steering and all that. You know, like you're you're you're
doing a sports car or sport of your car. Um,
they call it a sports sedan. It it's not necessarily
a sports sedan. It's it's sporty, but not a sports sedan. Um.
And it's and it's not quite a luxury car. But
it's like luxury ish. I mean, it's not it's not.

(17:13):
It's pretty nice, man, it is nice. I like it.
I mean, it's it's pleasant to look at. I really
like the way it looks. I like the way um,
I like I like the way it feels. Honestly, when
I pull up to a valet or something, you know,
versus my previous vehicle. Um, you know, there's a little
bit more pride, I guess, and hand over the keys
for this one than my last one. Although was a
fun car, you know, my last one, the Civic. Um.

(17:34):
But you almost feel like you're you're still in college
or something when you're driving something like that. And I
know that's a silly way to look at it, but
but this is just a little bit more grown up,
I guess, you know, when you show up to this
fancy restaurant with your family or whatever, and listeners. I've
gotta I've just got to point this out, Scott. You
had you have had some adventures in the Honda, for sure.

(17:57):
Over a series of years, you were taking road trips
across the country on a semi regular basis through like rain, snow,
and sleet. The one time it actually iced over here
in Atlanta, you pulled a stunt driving move to get
out of the parking lot. That's pretty crazy. And then
I had to go in. Yeah, there were there was

(18:19):
some real acrobatics. I mean, I should have been hired
for the for the joy Chitwood Auto thrill Show at
that point. For what I had to do to get
through the gate. It was like an inclined ramp and
it was a ramp, and um, it was. It was
a difficult situation. I think I described that too, But yeah,
it was. That was a fun day. Um. But there's
a there's a lot, you know, a lot of history
with the old car and maybe that's it. Maybe I'm
just h that might be part of it. I've got

(18:40):
a little bit of a of a nostalgia attack for
the old vehicle still. Um. But what about you, Ben,
So you've had years for about a year as well,
and I've got on this. I've got a lot more
to say about mine, but that's a that's a general
description of it right at this point for my feeling.
So the two thousand eight Ford Escape Hybrid M I
had ever been the owner of an SUV because I

(19:03):
never really needed one, you know, I had always if
I needed something with that capacity, I could borrow one
from someone in my family who has it. And if
I always thought if I were to drive something that
could have that cargo capacity, I would want a truck. Honestly,
if when fifties are really good, no one is paying

(19:23):
me to say that. I just believe in those vehicles.
But the way that I ended up with the with
the Escape is that I bought it from a family
member and essentially traded my money Carlo, because they wanted
to they wanted to have a project car. So this
is key here, because you two years ago, I never

(19:46):
would have guessed that you would ever get out of
that money, Carlo. You love that car so much. I
still do. I have visitation right. Well, that's that's a
thing like that's the thing like it it's a little
bit easier for you to let go knowing that you
can visit that car. You can probably drive that car
if you want I too, of course. Yeah. Um, it's
it's around. You still see it, you can. You haven't
completely lost touch with it like I have with mine.

(20:07):
But did that really did does that consolation? Does that?
Does that ease the fact that now you're in something
that you really didn't anticipate driving even a year ago
really or months ago? Uh? Yeah, it is? Is it
a little bit? Also, it's easier because that was not
my favorite of the money Carlos I had driven. Uh,

(20:28):
the I never got to drive, you know, a first
first gen. I would I would love to check that out.
I'd better start saving for the gas money now, because uh,
those are boats. What was Yeah? What It's like Clayton
said about the Hellcat. It could pass anything but a
gas station. Yeah, definitely. Those are giant vehicles, right, yes, yeah,
and the later gens are are larger too. So one

(20:51):
of the primary differences will would be you know, sometimes
Monty Carlo's, especially that generation, can have a trans shion
issues and the transmission on that Monte Carlo was slipping
a little bit. There's a little bit of give and
I was playing that game that so many of us
play when we know there's a potential big problem in

(21:12):
a few years, which is like it'll be fine today,
it'll be fine tomorrow, it'll be fine next week, and
then eventually it just becomes normal. You know, Like have
have you guys ever had that friend who has their
manual or their stick is so messed up that they're like, no,
I just have to gun it and go straight to third,
from first to third. Yeah, right, the second gear doesn't

(21:34):
work so well, the syncro is gone, but there's a
way around that. Hold on. Yeah, yeah, everybody, and we
all have those, especially with the older cars. After you
get to know a car for a while, and this
maybe goes to a bigger point, Scott, we start learning
the little tricks and idiosyncrasies of the car. Um Well,
I've talked about it on air before, but I had

(21:56):
this ridiculous problem. So the Monte Carlo is by no
means a perfect vehicle. And I'll get to the escape.
But this is important for contrast. So there was a
period for months. You remember this, man, There's a period
for months where I had them. But the security system,
the ignition on the the ignition based security system on

(22:17):
the Monte Carlo was malfunctioning, and every so often it
would think I was trying to steal it. And what
it would do at that point was it would just
refuse to start, So I had to do an ignition reset,
a process that takes about ten minutes. What this meant
was that in less and this didn't happen every time,
is every so often. And what this meant was that

(22:42):
I would get in the habit of either going out
to the car ten minutes before I was supposed to leave,
just in case and sometimes having a book with me,
or I would go. I would just be resigned to
being ten minutes late for everything. And I was ten
minutes late for stuff at work. Oh sure, Yeah. I
had several texts from you, uh you know, they would say,

(23:02):
like having the problem again, and it happened over and
over and over again. And I can imagine that was
a real nuisance for you. And they're there are ways
to um, there are ways to circumvent that fix it.
But to me, it was it wasn't something that was
worth the time of fixing. I was. I was so
uh was I was just so lazy about it. Well,

(23:23):
it took a lot of research on an effort to
do that. I mean to do that because you would
have to find a used column and key from some
other vehicle that have been scrapped or something like that, right,
and uh, and replace the whole thing. No, you know
you wouldn't have to. There's a bypass. They can install
a bypass. But um, I didn't know that. I thought
the way when I've looked this up, because when you
started telling me about this, I kind of dug into

(23:45):
this to see if I could help you in some way.
And it turns out that whatever way I found was like, well,
go to the junkyard and find you know that whatever
generation Monty Carlo that was, that's the best way to
do it. Yeah, and get a key and column that match,
and then just replace the one that you have. But
knowing and they also said this, knowing that that problem
will come back again. You know that happened again. So yeah,

(24:06):
that was a frustrating issue for you. And when you, um,
I guess when you finally got rid of it that
whether that of course wasn't the only thing, but maybe
that was like, let's see what else didn't work on there?
The gauges were all all over the place, h luckily
the luckily the spaedometer worked so I wouldn't get pulled over.

(24:33):
Um and sometimes on the gas gauge it was like
my best guess, you know, how how are you feeling?
Why you drive past this gas station? So all to say,
this imperfect car, which I loved. Man, I drove around
the country and that thing, um sometimes two minutes late
for places. But it leads me to my first point

(24:54):
about the two thousand Ford Escape Hybrid, which is it
starts every time, which is a easy to me. That's
where I'm at in life. Isn't it funny how something
simple like that makes a huge difference, right, I mean,
because I mean I was getting to the point where
I was having some similar things going on with the
with the Honda that I had, Um, you know where
I had a long list of you know, to do items.

(25:16):
You know, it was on a dry raceboard in my garage.
And when I did get the new vehicle, it did
it actually did feel pretty good to be able to
just take in a racer and wipe that whole thing
off the board because it was a long list. You know,
at that point, whether it's suspension, you know, changes or
breaks or you know whatever it happened to be new battery.
Uh you know fix that, uh that that window regulator

(25:36):
and the passenger door or whatever it was. Um, all
that stuff just goes away at that point and that
felt pretty good. Yeah, they gotta admit. Yeah, and now
we're on the other side of it. Instead of a
big list of problems, there are have to kind of items.
We have lists of want to items. You know, I
on the money Carlo, for instance, I would, Um, I've

(25:57):
replaced the speaker before, and I wanted to replace the
entire sound system was something that was a little bit
more modern so I could listen to podcasts and stuff
like that. But it hit me like, why am I
going to spend the money on a radio in a
car that has a transmission that is on the way out?
You know, I get it. It's a it's a question priority.

(26:19):
I will say one thing that's really cool. Obviously, of course,
the Ford Escape is not the best suv and its
class right and crossover suv or whatever you want to
call it, and it has had um some recalls also
in the past, uh, specifically with cooling pump for the

(26:40):
power train on the hybrid, and if you had that
done already or is that something that needs to be
done that was done in the past before I got it.
So I lucked out on that one because that was
that announcement I want to say. So I got the car,
you know, about a year ago, right, yeah, So that's
the first gen hybrid for that vehicle, right, that's the

(27:00):
first time they attempted that. I think they didn't want.
Two thousand and four I think was the start of that.
So by the time years was built in you know,
four years later, they kind of had a lot of
the bugs worked out of that. So, you know, the
recalls and that's just typical typical maintenance type stuff. You know,
things that uh they find after four or five years
do wear out. But they've got the first year bugs

(27:21):
worked out for sure at that point. Yeah, and I
have I got to say, man, I was pretty skeptical,
but at this point, I have no problem with the
with the engine. I thought it was gonna be slower
than it actually is. You know, it has a it
has a little bit a zip at the beginning. It's
never gonna you know, it's I'm never gonna race in

(27:41):
it or something. But I was pleasantly surprised I thought
it would be a little bit more cumbersome, kind of lumbering,
but it's it's surprisingly cool. Plus after dude, after decades
of driving in a car that is so low to
the ground, I feel like it feels strange to be

(28:03):
able to see past other cars in traffic, because that's
one of the most irritating things about driving a low
load of the ground car is that you're stuck behind
someone traffic. You want to know what's going on, but
all you can see is the back of that van.
I can do without it. I'm okay driving a low vehicle.
In fact, I much much prefer to be. The lower

(28:23):
I can get, the better it is for me really driving.
It's exactly right. Yeah, I mean, but you're right, I
guess in traffic that's a little bit annoying if you
can't see around what or what's happening ahead, you know,
someone who's stopping ahead, you know quickly, stuff like that.
It's important to know. And I know that my like
my wife, she appreciates the high seating position of the
GEEP vehicles that she and uh, you know, she just

(28:44):
something that she will have a hard time going back
to a low seating position. Like my car is now
and that's It's kind of funny that you mentioned that
because you know I mentioned in um the Nuts and
Bolts episode. I think we're talking about parking in the structure.
Oh yeah, and how I parked next to Dylan, you know,
our photo editor, and uh, well he since moved on.
He's he's changed floors on me now, So that's a

(29:06):
that's a that's a difficult situation for me. Yeah, I know,
it's rough. I don't know. I don't know I'm gonna do.
But um, that was that was the beauty of it.
It never happened, you know. So, Um, I noticed that
I parked next to his Mini and I don't recall
exactly what you're his mini is is, but it's a
new one. It's like fifteen or fourteen or something like that.
Um my CC is Actually the roofline is lower than

(29:30):
the Mini, and it kind of surprised me when I
saw it. I thought there's no way that would be
the case, but it but it is. And I was
thinking to myself, like, well is it I wonder if
it's lower than my previous vehicle even and I haven't
had an opportunity yet to park next to the same
make and model as is what I had before, the
five Civic s. I hatchback, and I'm gonna have to

(29:53):
do that because I know where there is one. There's
one in a someone near me owns one that's similar
the same year, and I can park next to it
and kind of check that out. But briefly, honestly, that car,
you know, the the the c c is is very
it's very low, wide long. I guess Harley Earl would
love that car for that, for that aspect of it.
But um, it is a it's it's really it honestly

(30:15):
has a good uh stance on the road. I like
the wide tires. Um. I don't know if you've ever
noticed that on that vehicle or not, but they're they're
right to the very edge of the body that they're
not tucked under like a lot of cars have you
know where. Yeah, and I think it it helps out.
It's not a stance car by any means, and it
could stand to be lowered, in my opinion, maybe an

(30:36):
inch or two, um, which I might do, you never know,
like springs or whatever. But its overall just right from
the factory. It has a very good stance and those
tires are so wide. I mean they're I say, they're
super wide, but they're not that wide. There are two
thirty seventeens, and I think what I like most about
them is that they're they're they're positioned exactly right, and

(30:57):
a lot of cars they talk to them kind of
under of the body, like I just mentioned, and it
almost looks like the body is just it's like a
little top heavy, like I'm I'm sawing my body back
and forth like people can see that, but um looks
like it might tip over or something, you know, or
they're too thin or whatever. But oh, by the way,
you know when we're mentioning tire size. I don't know
why this has escaped me for so long, but have

(31:19):
you ever really consciously looked at the tires on BMW
I three? You know, the little tiny suv uh, the
electrical suv have it super thin, like really thin. I
know what I know. It's all about efficiency. They're probably
also very I would guess they're also very hard tires
for for mileage, um, you know, like high efficiency tires
or whatever. But they're very very thin. I hadn't noticed

(31:42):
exactly how thin they were until just recently but man,
when I want to see it now, I can't get
that out of my head. Every time I see one,
I look right at the tires, but but that that
that I don't know it. Have been very pleasantly surprised
with the way that you know the car actually, um,
it does handle well. And I've said numb earlier, but

(32:02):
what I meant was like the response in the driver's seat.
You can't you can't get a good feel of the road. However,
there's a there's a there's a big however here there
is a a sport mode on the transmission. Now it's
not it's not a button that changes the suspension and
all that stuff like some of the really fancy cars have,
but there is a sport mode in this h DSG transmission.

(32:24):
So um, I think that means direct shift gearbox. And
it's a six speed transmission, and it does have the
sport mode, and it's just a matter of you know,
shifting it back, you know, pulling it all the way
back down instead of up into the drive position. I
tell you, Ben, like it becomes a different animal when
you put it into sport mode. It really does. And
I haven't driven very much with this. I haven't like

(32:46):
taking it out, you know, to the mountains or anything
like that. But I'll tell you it's it's it's fun
to merge in the highway when you have it in
that mode. It's fun to, uh, you know, just maybe
give it a quick blast whenever you're able to, like
you know, trying to get onto the onto the road
or whatever. But all it really does, honestly, because it
just holds the gear a little bit longer. So it's
not anything fantastic, But the shifts in this thing are
so fast. It's so quick, you know, between gears. It's

(33:09):
really really impressive. And I think what's maybe what it
does is it highlights how bad the and this is
a con how bad the drive mode isn't it? And
when I haven't drive and I have it mostly in
that because you know, I just care about fuel efficiency
and get into and from work and stuff like that. Right,
so like sixty miles a day, but it's like four
hours for me. So I spent a lot of time

(33:30):
in the car and I noticed how it shifts, and
I think the transmission in drive mode is just driving
me crazy in that thing, because the shift points are
so weird. They're geared for economy and being six speeds.
I've tried to figure out how it how it moves around,
but I can't exactly yet. But I'll tell you, Like,
if I'm sitting in a stoplight and i'm and I'm
you know, stopped, the light turns green and I gently

(33:52):
accelerate away. By the time I'm at the other side
of that intersection, I'm already in third or fourth gear.
Now is that crazy? That is weird? And here's the
thing I can. I can. I can determine that by
not just watching the you know, the tack you know,
so I can see, you know, when it shifts. But
there's another mode. It's like a semi manual mode where
you know, you can shift it up and down. It's

(34:13):
kind of like, um, the old Chrysler auto stick or
something you where you can select for a second, third,
you know, etcetera. Um, if I, if I quickly shift
over from drive, it's just matter of pushing it to
the right. If I if I quickly shift and drive
into that mode, it will indicate on the dash what
gear I'm in, So I know that you know I've
tried this, you know I've just gently accelerated by the
time of them at the other side of the intersection.

(34:34):
I quickly shifted over and I'm in third or fourth gear,
and I think, I think it's skipping gears and that's
that's part of that um that fuel economy thing, and
it just does that automatically. But the other thing is
that it's got these weird shift points that sometimes when
you're in traffic, you know, you'll find that it's either
up shifting or down shifting at points where I wouldn't
necessarily change it on my own, of course, but the

(34:56):
points where you wouldn't expect, um an automatic transmission to
make that change. Like it just feels weird. And it's
not like you can you can just barely feel it
because it's quick. Again, it's really really fast. Um it's
it's a good transmission, don't get me wrong, but um
this uh this this automatic mode for economy or whatever
that it's it defaults too, is uh it's it's not

(35:17):
the greatest. And I've experienced this also in my wife's
jeep renegade. It it makes interesting choices, let's put it
that way. And it doesn't always feel exactly right. You know,
there's something just a little bit off in in some
in some part of that drive, and I can't quite
put my finger. I don't know if it's if it's
deceleration or if it's acceleration, or you know, where it
happens the most. But there's just something a little weird

(35:38):
about it. So my question, I guess for you in
the same realm is how do you find the hybrid
operation to be? Do you find that you are conscious
of when it goes in, you know, between electric mode
or you know combined mode or you know all that
is that? How hard is it for you to get
to get behind that? It is very obvious. It gives

(36:00):
it ford escapes. The hybrid versions, um I imagine this
for multiple years as well. Have a noticeable shutter when
the when the actual gas engine kicks in, when the
engine kicks in and the motor stops. So the electric
motor only really functions at low speeds, so you can

(36:23):
hit you know, you can hit up to maybe depending
on how you accelerate. If you go very slow, very gently,
like you're sneaking down the hallway of a house, then
you can get up to maybe twenty something maybe before
the motor kicks in, but before the engine kicks in. However,

(36:44):
that's impractical on the road. This is something that I
miss about Monte Carlo's or lower stance cars because to me,
I'm not particularly I'm not particularly married to the idea
of being the tallest person on the road. It's just
an interest in perspective that I've I've never had since
I was I've only had, you know, like writing in trucks,

(37:07):
like trailer trucks with my uncle or something. So the
hybrid and the issue with it is that it's it's
never gonna win a race. I do miss being able
to drive for performance. It's super comfortable to Clayton's earlier points,
so it's a pretty good road trip car in my

(37:29):
in my opinion, um just just because there's there's so
much space in there, you know the money Carlo. Uh
it's coops. So the way it's slung back is not ideal. Yeah,
and that trunk space, I mean when you open the trunk,
I had limited um angle, I guess you know, you're
you're only able to get you have to kind of
angle things in and down and into the trunk. And

(37:51):
this one, of course, you got the big hatch that
you're to carry a lot, and so I understand the
the benefit of that, of course, And that's that's a
neat thing to me because I've I've never had I've
never had that capability before. But it's funny too that
one of your questions was do you notice when it
goes from electric to gas? It is so it is

(38:12):
so apparent. And I know that we've talked in the
past about how much or how little money you actually
save if you're driving a hybrid. But because a lot
of my driving now will be um will be within
you know, within an hour or so of the city,
unless I'm on a road trip, I haven't been in

(38:34):
a situation where I would have some long commute such
that a hybrid would begin to make a visible, noticeable difference.
So are you noticing a difference though? And how often
you have to go to gas? It's probably a long
time in between, right, because you do a lot of
city driving and you're very close to where you know
your work, So I don't know, it's gotta be quite

(38:56):
a benefit to not have to go and fill up,
you know. Well, I mean, if it was just standard suv,
it would have a big tank, right, I don't know
what the fuel tank sizes on your vehicle, but it's
probably still decent size, I mean big enough, but um,
but it's got to be a pretty good feeling to
to just be able to, you know, go for maybe
a couple of weeks without having to fill up the
AUS tank a couple of weeks ideal. It depends on

(39:17):
how much how much I drive, because once you get
out on the interstate, um, you start. You know, it
is a car that I drive for fun, even though
it's not as fun as the Money Carlo. I don't
know how much it as an Instalgia, yes, but it's
not a you know, it's not a car for um,
it's not a performance car at all. It's like the

(39:39):
like what is it, the Lexus GS that's like a
hybrid that has performance. And this is more of a
more of a cargo vehicle utility exactly. But I love
being able to. Man. I used to take my old
dog to the park or on road trips with me
in the Money Carlo, and he hated it because it's

(40:02):
not built for dogs. But the the Escape can carry
almost anything, pack of dogs, whole packet dogs. Finally I
can get that pack of feral dogs. I always wanted
to follow me everywhere. That's funny. So, okay, you you
just mentioned something. I wasn't really gonna talk about this
until later, but yeah, that's that's the thing, Like, do
you do you enjoy driving your vehicle now? Because it's

(40:23):
really the heart of this whole conversation is like are
you are you connecting with this this escape hybrid or
is it just a stepping stone? Do you think at
this point you're gonna go back to something different or
you're gonna do You're gonna hang onto this one for
you know, you and I both held onto cars for
you know what, seven eight years average right around there,
so you canna hang onto it for that longer. Do
you think it's more of a short term thing for you? Well, man,

(40:45):
it's only got like a hundred twenty six miles on it,
five hundred. I think I'm right on the cusp and
it's it works like, it works really well. I don't
have any at this point, knock on wood, I don't
have any abiding issues with it, so I will probably

(41:09):
hang onto it just because I'm kind of cheap. It's
not it's not my ideal car by any by any means,
but it's at this point it's reliable. You know. That's
a good point. You said ideal car, and I hadn't
really thought about this either, But the Monte Carlo wasn't
really your ideal car either. It was just it was
a car that you loved. Yeah, I mean there were

(41:30):
there were better ones out there, of course, that you
would love to have. But man, but I love those
land yachts. But I know you love that Monty Carl
and you love driving, and I just wondered if you
had the same kind of connection with this one or not,
if it's something that's more of a tool at this point.
Not not yet. I drove to Nashville in it recently
and it was great to get that out there on

(41:51):
the road with it. One thing that anybody who drives
a car that sits tall is very aware of, especially
like jeeps, there's something is the possibility of body rule.
And I do notice that I'm I'm more hesitant to
really go into a high speed curve now because I
can feel the difference in the way the Escape sits

(42:16):
versus the Monte Carlo. Like I sometimes I didn't even
have to slow down. I would just turn the wheel,
and you know, I hope for the best. Yeah, I
totally get that. And you know, I'm kind of the
same way. And I again, when I said no, I
didn't mean that. You know, it's totally lacking the feeling
of any kind at all. But um, it's definitely less
of a feeling road feeling, road sensation, I guess in

(42:37):
this vehicle. And I've taken some long trips and I've
gone to Indiana a couple of times, Northern Indiana, you know,
visit family, and UM, I gotta say, it's just it
was kind of unremarkable, you know. It wasn't like, um,
you know, the road trip was fine. It was comfortable,
you know, because it's a nice big sedan UM and
the seats are comfortable and all that. And I've got

(42:57):
lots of you know, I got whatever I need you
as far as you know, features and functions and all
that stuff, you know, the auto dimming mirrors and all that,
all the tricks and stuff that I didn't have before.
You got the stuff. No, I'm not necessarily staying I'm
not trying to like brag about it or anything. I'm
just saying that, you know, at the end of the trip,
it's just like when you get out of the car
and that's it. But my other one, it was like, man,

(43:18):
that was that was fun. I had some fun on
that trip. It just felt good to drive the car
for that long and I felt invigorated by it. You know,
it was like, um, it definitely made you smile when
you were able to go into a corner faster like
you said, or you know it sounded when you downshift
and pass a vehicle or something. You just got a
smile on your face. And this one, I mean, I
gotta tell you, I've got the two leader turbo engine.

(43:40):
So it's not the biggest engine that you can get
in this one. You can get a three point six
I think it's a non turbo, but um, like a
hundred more horsepower, and it has all wheel drive and
you know it's a manual transmission all that stuff. But
I have the two leader turbo and it's automatic, and
it's it's it's fun to drive. I mean, it can
be fun, but only if you put it into that
sport motor. Only if you're really driving it aggressively. Otherwise,

(44:02):
and I think maybe that's the idea, is that you know,
it's it's just um, it's sedate. I guess, I mean
it's it's refined. I guess maybe it is a better
way to say it. Um, but um, And that's a
totally different thing. It's like comparing apples and oranges that
it really is, you know, I completely agree. And with
that being said, so I'll stop comparing the mont in
Carlo and the Escape because they're very different. With that

(44:25):
being said, here are two things that irritate the hell
out of me about this escape already already, So when
you think of a sports utility vehicle and think of, um,
two front seats, one or two bench seats maybe right,
and then a big cargo area or bigger cargo area.

(44:48):
The thing about a compact sup and here's how small
this thing is, Scott, I can park in the compact
spaces at our parking deck. The thing about it is,
in order to get decent cargo her in capability, if
I'm moving like a big piece of furniture or something,
I have to fold down that one bench seat in
a really weird way. I have to take the headrest off,

(45:09):
I have to flip the front cushion up and then
fold the whole thing down and it's flush against the ladies, gentlemen,
I just realized that I'm acting out this process and
you totally can't see it. I'll try to articulate this verbally.
So you have to flip these seats down and they're
flush against the back of the front two seats, which

(45:31):
means that any time you want to haul something, you
have to have that operation. If you are hauling something
that's bigger than the unconverted trunk size and you have
stuff already in the back seat, your s o l um.
Because we are a family show, so that that's irritating
because often, for some reason or another, I'm in a hurry.

(45:55):
That's just where I am in life. Man. But you're
a busy guy. I think I've just always lay this. Yeah,
you're a busy guy. Second thing. Second thing, though, is
a little more serious. Is um the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration when they did test on this, And this
is something I was not aware of until I actually
looked into some of the staff for our show. The

(46:17):
escape doesn't score well. Oh is that right? Yeah, it's
got like three stars for driver protection. But let me
ask you this. I mean, this is a vehicle that
you said you purchased from a family member, and would
would that really have changed your mind? Anyways? I mean,
how how critical is that for you at this point?
You know? I mean, I I know it's good to
be safe and everything, but but it was the right
vehicle the right time for you, right Yeah? Uh, it

(46:40):
was the right vehicle right time. Price was great. The
Monte Carlo's are just so there's such long vehicles for
the kind of tight spaces that we're in here. Um,
I I don't know, man, I might steal it back,
I don't. I don't know how that will work out legally. Yeah,
I mean, you know what I'm saying about the crash
rating though I understand safety and I know it's important

(47:02):
to buy something that safe, of course, And but if
you I think maybe if you had a family that
you're hauling around two that would play into it. And
if kids get into the back and everything like that'd
be a concern. I get it. If it gets one
star or whatever that'd be, that'd be tough. But right now,
I mean I kind of can see the other way
to you know that, like, well, how important are those
the five stars for you at this point in your life?

(47:24):
It's also way it's a way quieter drive than the
money Carlo really yeah inside the cabin? Uh I will
I don't know. Man also point out like this would
have been a good idea five years ago when gas
prices were higher, because now gas prices are tanking a
lot of people who had We've seen the cycle before,

(47:46):
a lot of people who had hybrids are gonna sell them. Eventually,
they're gonna say, hey, what's so bad about what's so
bad about a Humby? Yeah? Well, h one, Well that's true.
I mean, I'm buying premium fuel at this point, and
it's below two dollars again one, which is great. I mean,
but I know that won't last. I'm excited about it now,
but soon it will come back, and then it'll be

(48:07):
expensive because it's like an eighteen yell and tank or
something like that. So, um, I see your point. But
remember you got it. What was your car eight years
old at this point? Um? So your your relative had
this vehicle right at that sweet spot when it was
it was a good move, a really good move. So UM,
I get it. No, I question another question for you
Ben about the hybrid vehicle? Um, what about battery pack replacement? When?

(48:30):
When does that come around? Because I mean, I just
looked at this and I hate to be the bearer
of bad news. And actually there's some good news here though.
Um to two pieces of good news. One bit of
bad news. The bad news is that I just looked
at the price of the new battery pack for for
for the escape, you know, for dealership installed all that.

(48:50):
It's between five and eight thousand dollars. And uh, you know,
I think it's like the whole it's under the back
end of your vehicle, right you open up the hatchets
on the load floor area, right somewhere there under there. Um.
The good news is that you can go on eBay
and find one from you know, a car that's been
crashed or total in some way, but the battery is unharmed.
Eight hundred bucks and which is great. I mean, that's

(49:12):
it's amazing savings. So you know they're out there. You
can find something like that, or you can do this.
You can have a you can get a hybrid battery
pack reconditioned. I don't know if you knew that or not.
I'm aware of that. Okay, good we have because we
have articles on our house Stuff Work site about reconditioning
batteries and is it worth it? And apparently you can
bring your battery back to you know, something like its
original capacity just by doing this reconditioning. And I would

(49:36):
have to assume, and there's no price here listed for that,
but I would assume that that is much much cheaper
than buying a brand new battery. So too. But the
thing is that we're in We're in one of those
what a time to be alive phases of innovation, especially
considering hybrid and electric vehicles. Obviously, like almost anyone, if

(49:59):
I wanted to get at an electric vehicle and money
was not an issue, I would go for Tesla. It's
just I think they're doing big things. I think those
kind of vehicles are pretty much investments. But if I'm
being honest with you, and electricity, electric power and hybridization
is out and it's not mandatory, I would go back
to just a regular I see, because it makes more

(50:23):
sense to me. Well, you know, you've also got the
bad experience of you said that that one is a
very abrupt changeover between electric and and I see operations,
So you know, taken into account that eight years later
in this whole thing, I'm sure that there are a
lot smoother at this point. So you know, the hybrids
of the plug and hybrids or whatever, um a lot
smoother in operation versus the one that you've got. So

(50:44):
maybe that's kind of skewing your your idea about it
as well. But I never would have picked you for
being a hybrid driver two years ago. Even No, I'm not,
I'm just again, dude. Thrifty is like the nicest way
to describe me, you know. I I remember we were
on we were on the air for some other episode
and I was I was listeners. You might remember if

(51:05):
you heard this. I was not particularly proud of this moment.
I was telling people that to go buy the demo
models at department stores, like the toasters and stuff you
can't get a deal on. Just to be clear, Um, Scott,
it looks like we're it looks like we might be
close to wrapping up. But I have to ask you
a couple of questions. Okay, sure, okay, So many of

(51:27):
these are just gonna be your questions repeated back to you.
Totally fine. Okay, So are are you going to keep
this v W? I'm gonna keep it. Yes, I feel
like somebody's somebody's Dad, what are your intentions? Honestly, I
I'm generally very happy with the vehicle. I like, you know,
when I when I park it, I look back at it. Uh,
you know, it looks good. I enjoy the way, enjoy

(51:49):
the way it drives and fields and everything. I know. It's,
you know, again, a little bit less of a road
car than I would like. You know, it doesn't have
that feel of my other one. But you're not gonna
get that out of sedan. I understand that or that
kind of sedan anyway. So um, yeah, I'm gonna hang
onto it. I think I've got a short term loan.
It's not very big, but that's one of my cons
is that, you know, I had to pick up a

(52:10):
Alan again. Um, just a small short term loan and
it will be done soon. But I don't know. I'm
after I'm doing with that. Of course, I want to
hang on to it. I tend to hang onto vehicles.
For you and I both said seven or eight years.
That's as long as possible. Yeah, yeah, I mean really,
I mean it could go a lot longer than that,
but by then I'm kind of ready to change, you know,
I want something different, try something different out what about you. Yeah,

(52:32):
I don't know what the recent I'm pointing out the
innovations in uh this hybrid and electric technology is because
two things are moving so quickly now that an eight
year old hybrid car is going to I think quickly
become obsolete in terms of what it can do for

(52:52):
the price. You know, we're we're seeing engineers work on
so much amazing stuff and material science and battery technology
that there may be a point where it just doesn't
make sense for me to own this car. However, we're
on the opposite side of the equation here are my friends,
because I I own this thing out right, and if

(53:13):
I have to ever go in a situation where it's like, oh,
you could have a better car, but you have to
make a car payment every month, then I'm gonna stick
with the thing I already have until it's like falling
apart and I'm riding one tire home, you know, like
unicycle style. Oh, I feel kind of the same way.
It's like, once you have it and you've you've made
that initial purchase, you might as well just keep up

(53:33):
with the maintenance and make it work. Yeah, and you
chose it for a reason, right, And we want to
hear your stories or your reviews. Not so easy yet,
you gotta hold on for just one second. I got
one more for you before we could. We gotta go.
If you could, and I we talked about visitation with
your other vehicle. But if you could, would you give

(53:53):
up the hybrid today to go back to the money
Carlo that you had, the one, the exact one that
you had. Let's say that you know, you got some
the issues worked out, but when you go back to it,
Oh yeah, if those issues were worked out and those
are those are not small comic book issues, they're they're
pretty soon. But you would go back, you would? You

(54:14):
would you trade? You make the trade? Actually, if I
could go back to anything, I was thinking about this earlier, Scott.
I think for some reason I would consider going back
to that Pontiac Bottomville because that was cartoonishly. It was
a cartoonish yacht, you know, sitting in there, it was
so it was so spacious, like I had I have

(54:36):
four people in that car before, and it looked like,
you know, we were relaxing in someone's living room. Yeah,
what about you? Absolutely I would go back, you know,
no hesitation, because um, that car I mean I I know,
it wasn't anything special or anything like that. It was
just it was so simple and it and it made
me so happy to drive that vehicle. And I just
don't get that out of this one. That's the whole thing.

(54:58):
I mean, there's a lot of pro to this new vehicle,
you know, a lot, and we didn't get to our
pro con list at all in this whole thing. I
didn't go through like the laundry list, all the features
that I don't need and stuff. But because it's got
a lot of stuff and it's it's I feel, you know,
lucky to be able to drive a vehicle like this, right.
So I mean, but I would definitely go back to
my other vehicle. I didn't want to get rid of

(55:19):
that one in the first place, so it makes sense
that I would want to go back to it. And man,
I missed this sensation of driving a car like that.
If I had another toy car to kind of play
around with, I'd be perfectly happy keeping the c C
and another vehicle to it, so I could have that
weekend drive vehicle as well. But I but I don't
have that luxury at this point. Um, So if I

(55:39):
could go back that's a different ball game altogether for
a lot of reasons. But yeah, if I if I
could just you know, make the swap again and get
my other vehicle back in good condition, you know, prior
to break down. Uh yeah, I definitely go back to it.
So there's one other thing we have to do before
we end, and I'm glad, I'm glad you caught me
on that one. We've got to find an appropriate nickname.

(56:02):
Uh null the breakdown, brown, breakdown. That's not bad, that's
pretty cool. Bad. I would I would wonder how somebody
earned the name the breakdown to breakdown, and that's pretty
like intimidating if you're a bouncer or something. Would Yeah, um,
all right, so we'll go with breakdown. And we'd like
to hear your reviews, of your reviews of vehicles you

(56:23):
have driven, the best, the worst, the weirdest, attic. I
explained how to drive his Zamboni to me, what years
back when we did that Zamboni podcast. That was a
weird one. Man, those are strange machines. Yeah, it's not
as easy as it looks, but it takes a little
bit of skill to do that. Actually more than a
little bit. Yeah, it takes a lot of skill. It
takes a surprising amount of skill. But you don't have

(56:45):
to write about his zamboni. Let us know about like
the dream cars you've driven, or the absolute lemons, like
the utter worst cars on the road. I love driven stories.
I love to read the stories about the bad stuff.
It's funny, isn't it. Yeah. Um. And in the meantime,
if you want to check out some of the other
shows we have mentioned in this podcast, visit us at

(57:06):
car stuff show dot com. You can find every single
episode we have ever done. There's a lot out there. Yeah, Ben,
you know what, man, I gotta say it. What we did,
I didn't cover one third of what I happen on
the paper in front of me here. There was a
lot that I want to talk about. We kind of
took it in different directions, but it was fun. It's
a good conversation. It seems like this could go on

(57:27):
for a long time if we wanted it to do. Really,
people love to talk about their own cars, So again,
right into us with the good, the bad, the ugly,
and uh and let us know what you think. Yeah,
And if you want to find us on social media,
we are on Facebook, and Twitter where we're car stuff
HS do you Scott, you're posting some really cool stuff
on the Facebook page. Oh you mean, like Lobster motorcycles.

(57:50):
That's when I put up there the other day and
I didn't get hardly any response. I was kind of upset.
That's so crazy Lobster motors like, look it up, you'll
find it. You'll find it on our Facebook page. And
if you want to h suggest a topic for us,
we'd love to hear from you. All our best suggestions
come from you. This is your show as much as
it is ours. You can write to us directly. We
are car stuff at how stuff works dot com. So

(58:15):
more on this and thousands of other topics is the
how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think.
Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot
com