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Road Trip Ready: Family-Friendly Vehicles for 2025 · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time Podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: This is your place for all things automotive the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Just ahead we talk to Alex.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: That's right, go ahead.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Mark, that's his name.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: He's laughing.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: He's turning red over here, alex, because I asked him.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I said so, how do you pronounce Alex's last name?
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: He says uh, I don't know, it's the same that we pronounced the last time we talked to him.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, morris, quantum what?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Quantum, quantum, that's what I told you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Just like it's spelled, that's what I told you, just like it's spelled, that's what I told you If I would have said that, it would have been wrong.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Well, let's get him out.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I have a lot of I'm used to that.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: You know, I usually just spell it out for people.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: So yeah, Okay.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to talk to you here in just a second, so you just stay right there, as this week in auto history, and I'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive news headlines.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Howdy along with Mike out of this world of ours.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, our chief engineer, david Ainsley I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us today, and I guess we're going to go up to the northeast part of the United States.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Let's do it and talk to Alex Quantin.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I knew it all relate.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: The timing is perfect on this because we got summer vacation coming up bud.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: That's right Time to pack the kids in the car and go on a road trip, and you know did you ever take a road trip with your parents?
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: You know I was in a single-parent household but we did take plenty of road trips.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: I can remember going with Mom out to Pocono Raceway to see Alan Kulwicki.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, yeah, okay, yeah, we can relate to all that Blast from the past.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Do they still have NASCAR up there at Pocono?
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: They do, they do.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: You know, dover and Pocono are still there.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Actually, I'm not sure if they're still, but I haven't been following as closely as when I was 13.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: That was always a weird racetrack to me because it was a tri-oval.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, an odd-looking, you know roundy round track that was in a triangle.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: But yeah, great race, always a great race.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I'll never forget Richard Petty winning there.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I mean it was just.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I got a lot of history to it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: And the Pocono Mountains, I mean what a beautiful part of the country.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, oh, yeah, go back, and you know yeah.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Are you still up there?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Where are you now?
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: I live in Seattle now, although most of my family live in New York.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: So I'm kind of you're in Seattle, yeah.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Northeast Seattle, yeah, northeast.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: That's it so, um, that's it so.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Um, well, all right.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll just go with that.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: What are you laughing at is he's introduced him as being in the northeast, at northeast we all got it, but you can't get his name.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you, alex, you don't mind along, you have to understand you have to understand.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Mars sets me up with this and I know nothing.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: He, he gives me no pronouncers, he gives me no background where you are, nothing, that's it.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: You want to know what he sent to me?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I will read it to you.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Let's just move on.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Move on.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, so enough infighting, see, this is why the shower's only two hours long, because we'll all go to Knuckle City here, but after two hours, because we'll all go to.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: We'll go to knuckle city here, but after two hours there's that.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Get our mothers involved.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so alex, when you, when you go and talk to your editor and say, yeah, I did this interview with these characters down in texas, they hand me out living up in the northeast side of seattle.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: You know, it's okay.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: I I'm from the Bronx, so I'm like Rhoda, I'm a fish out of water in Seattle.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: I'm really an New Yorker.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: There you go, okay, well listen.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: If we don't have a sense of humor in all this, what do we have?
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: All right, so let's talk about the subject at hand here and let's talk about road trips and family-friendly car trucks and SUVs for 2025.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're just coming off.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: Last week we announced our best cars for families for 2025.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: We went over a hundred different vehicles from nine different classes so cars, suvs, minivans and to do these we kind of factor in our overall reviews.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: But then we kind of want to dive deep on the things that matter to families, so we include safety and reliability data.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: We do a deep dive on passenger space, on cargo volume, the availability of family-friendly things like teen driver controls Very important, I'm sure my mom wishes she had had them Surround view cameras, wi-fi, rear sunshades, reverse automatic braking all the kinds of things that can help you out.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: And the winners of these research dives become the winners of these classes.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: So we have some new people this year, some new winners this year and we have some familiar winners this year and I'm happy to take any question on any one of them, Okay.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: So all of these are 24 and 25 models that you guys tested.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: They're all 25s.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, they're all 25s, Okay.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So there was the defining part of it right there.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: So a lot of the 25s I don't know how many, but I would assume quite a few were also carryovers, so you could find basically the same vehicle in 25 that you could find in 23.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Four.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: In many cases, yes, and in fact some of our repeat winners are vehicles that are very familiar, like the Kia Telluride and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid and the Hyundai Tucson, and they've been winners for at least the last four years.
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Tucson is four years, Telluride is six years.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: I think Highlander Hybrid is six years, but there are some new ones, like the Mazda CX-70 is out fresh this year.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Yes, and you know, last year the Kia EV9 was out but we didn't really have enough information on it early in the year to really give it a full evaluation.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: We don't want to put out a recommendation when we haven't really had a chance to fully evaluate it.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: So this you know the Kia EV9 is one of the new winners this year.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: The Kia EV9 is one of the new winners this year and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it's sort of the first accessible, affordable, family three-row EV.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: There are other three-row electric SUVs, but they all cost more than $80,000.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: It's a struggle to say the EV9 is cheap when it's like $56,000, but it is cheaper than 80.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Well, the CX-70 is basically the CX-90, but the 70 only has two rows where the 90 has three rows, so it's basically the same vehicle.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: My guess is it goes down the same assembly line.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So there are those kind of intricacies about some of the vehicles that most people, I don't think, really understand or know.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: But you know, if you're into the CX-70, but you wanted a third row, then you go to the CX-90.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: It's a pretty easy swap.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and the CX-90 scored really well among the three-row SUVs.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: But you know the two-row.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: I think people were a little puzzled when Mazda came out with the CX-70, being like, well, I have a two-row version of the CX-90.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: But there are some buyers who only want the two-row and what you get is you don't spend any of the design space integrating that third row, so you get a huge cargo area, correct, and the cargo is really big.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Yes, like we're talking about road trips really big.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: Yes, like you could like we're talking about road trips like if you are a family of four, you can take that cx70 on a road trip from like la to chicago, you know, do the route 66 or something, and, um, you will have room for all the stuff you need.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Uh and like, without a trailer, without maybe one of those rooftop cargo carriers, and that's really useful.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: It's also got all the benefits of being designed for that larger footprint in the cx-90, where you get a huge backseat, there's lots of comfort, it really has a nice interior and lots of features, so it's a great combo.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: We thought there are very few, or relatively few, two-row midsize SUVs.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: Now here's an automaker that's making an effort and a really good product in that space.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So let's go down the list.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Do you want to start with the family-friendly cars first?
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Sure, so we have two cars.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: You know it is possible to get by with a small car if you're just a family of three.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: So we didn't really rank small cars because we want to be able to give recommendations for people with two kids or more.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: The Honda Accord came out the top in the midsize car segment and in the hybrid car segment and the real reason behind that is it just has a huge amount of room among sort of mainstream sedans.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: It really has one of the largest back seats.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: I mean I think the leg room is on par with, like the Volvo S90, which is a big, like expensive luxury car, and it's got a huge trunk, 16.7 cubic feet.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: It's a really easy to use space.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: You can carry a lot of stuff with you.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: The doors are really big, so it makes like loading kids in and out very easy.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: And Honda also bundles a whole lot of safety equipment.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: Even in the base model Accord you get adaptive cruise control with lane centering, automatic emergency braking and you know the sort of list goes up from there.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: And if you buy the hybrid, which is, you know, honda has recently divided the Accord into like the non-hybrid base models and the hybrid high trims.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: They've done the same with the Civic.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: Now, if you buy the hybrid you not only get the better gas mileage but you usually also get more features, so more driver assistance features, blind spot, blind spot monitoring, etc.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: And you know there are a lot of good family cars right now.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: Uh, I know that the family car segment has sort of shrunk but the remaining players are like really really strong.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: But on room it's just really hard to top the equipment.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: You can't also top the reliability of honda yes, uh, I mean, I think you know you can get longer warranties, but honda does have that famous reputation and you know, every time I'm in a honda product I was just in the civic hybrid a couple weeks ago uh, they feel really well made.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: And you know, I see here in seattle the land where rust forgot hondas that are 30, 40 years old being used as daily drivers.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: So, uh, yeah, it's really hard to talk so what's the other?
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: what's the other family-friendly car in that category?
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: um, you know, the toyota camry hybrid has been totally redesigned, well, heavily updated this year.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: The the camry is hybrid, only we didn't have enough data to fully assess it and, honestly, because the back seat is a little bit smaller and it's a little less convenient, uh, that vehicle did not win one of these awards but, uh, it's still quite a good vehicle.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: Um, you know, there's also, I would recommend hyundai sonata and kia k5.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: They're also really good.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: The sonata is available as a hybrid, which is also very helpful.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: Exactly, there's a good crop, that's still there, let's talk about trucks.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: Trucks are big in texas you know, we didn't rank any pickup trucks.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, no, oh, we didn't.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: Uh, although I will say that we have a whole bunch of other awards that we have started including trucks in.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: We had stopped including them in the best cars for money and we have started again.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Um, you know, if a family's looking for a truck, uh, you know, every full-size pickup truck now comes with a really, really roomy crew cab.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Uh, you just can't beat them.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: Uh, but I will say I have a soft spot for the ram 1500.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: Uh, you know, every time we all do I like how it performs.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: It's really family friendly and you know, some of the time when you need a truck that's just, like you know, brute force.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: I would have to say the f-150 maybe has an edge there.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: But if you're driving the car every day and you're not using the max the truck every day and you're not using the max payload and you're not using the max towing, maybe you only tow 7,000 pounds at a time, like tow your race car or something.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: The Ram really does have a lot of edges in sort of like driver assistance gear, sort of storage features which are really important to families.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Like you can get the Ram box bed on the Ram which, like you have to bring a bunch of stuff with you and put it out of sight.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: That's really helpful.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, including those ice chests on either side of the bed back there for your beers back there, that's right.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: So okay, let's talk about, obviously, a very, very crowded suv market yeah, uh, we went through everything from compact to full size, and I mean fullest, full size.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Uh, the compact suv that won is the hyundai tucson.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: Really no surprise there.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Uh, it has a lot of family friendly features teen driver controls, lots of driver assistance gear, rear seat reminders but it really wins on room.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: It has a huge back seat.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: I don't know if you guys have been in a Tucson.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: My in-laws bought a Tucson and they were amazed at how large it is, and I think it's more than 41 inches of rear leg room.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: So it's, or maybe it's just under 40.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: Leg room, so it's, uh, or maybe it's just just under 40, and this is a basically your.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: I think it's 41.3.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: Exactly now that I think about it, that is eight tenths of an inch less than the back seat room or the second row seat room in a chevy tahoe, which is a much bigger vehicle.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: But so that's packing a lot of space efficiency into this small footprint and you know if you're bringing stuff with you.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: And I remember there was a store literally called Bye, bye, baby, for all the baby stuff Sure.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: Absolutely yes.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: I mean you want that space for a young family.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: It's really hard to top.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: It's also a very affordable vehicle which is very helpful.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: Interesting In the at the at the complete opposite end is the Jeep Wagoneer L.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: So usually those full-size SUVs like Suburbans and Tahos, almost all of them come in two sizes.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: Chevy has cleverly separated them into two completely different names and of course the Suburban goes way, way back.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: The Wagoneer L we chose to give the L the award specifically because it just about ties the Suburban on cargo space.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: It's a little.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: There's a little less cargo space in the Jeep than in the Suburban, but it has an easier to use third row and it gets better safety scores and you know, those things are really important to a family.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Like I'm six foot four and I can fit comfortably in the back of either the Suburban or the Wagoneer L, but I actually prefer being in the way back of the Wagoneer L.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: It just feels a little more comfortable to me and it's a little easier to get in and out of it.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: So like if you're hauling a whole bunch of kids, you want to make it as easy as possible and the safety scores kind of put it over the top.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: I think you know a lot of consumers may not even realize that Jeep makes an SUV this big, because they've been pushing Wagoneer for the last two, three years.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: But you know the Ford Expedition and the Chevy Suburban go way back.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: They have a much more established market presence.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Jeep had the Commander back during the Great Recession.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: That kind of didn't go anywhere.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: But I feel like this is a product maybe people don't know that much about, but it's a very family-friendly machine and it gets pretty good gas mileage thanks to that Hurricane 6.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: I mean, no gigantic SUV is going to be a Prius, but if you're looking to save a little bit of fuel, that's one way you could go.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Well, the Wagoneer name goes way back too.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I remember back in the 60s they had the Wagoneer and it was considered at the time really a luxury SUV because, unlike the Suburban, which was a work vehicle pretty much, the Wagoneer was the family friendly and I remember the wood clad side applique down the side of it.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: That didn't last very long but it served its purpose back in the day, gave it that upscale look.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like Jeep has done a good job of honoring that older vehicle.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Like you know, people used to refer to it as the American Range Rover, but it came first.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: The Range Rover came second, there you go, and I will say this that if you really want to do the throwback thing, go to your favorite wrap company and get them to put some wood wrap on the side of it.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: You'd be right there, throwback to the 60s.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, so that's both ends of the spectrum, the Hyundai Tucson and the Jeep Wagoneer.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: You got anything else that you want to point out for us?
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: I just wanted to touch on the Kia EV9 again.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: You know the big three-row winner is the Telluride for the sixth year in a row.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: The Telluride is just a juggernaut and it gets there on having lots of room, lots of features, lots of family convenience features and great safety scores.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: The EV9 offers a very similar amount of room, but the energy costs are a lot lower.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: You will pay more up front because it's an electric vehicle.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: But one thing that I know about just about every parent is always looking to save time.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: Particularly if you have multiple kids to take to multiple places, like one kid to take to junior high and one kid to take to elementary school and one kid to take to soccer practice.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: They're always looking to save time.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: Now, if you can charge at home and you buy an EV9, you are saving yourself 25 to 30 minutes at a clip.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Every time you would have had to go to a gas station, Drive it to school, you drive it home, plug it in in the morning, it's ready to go, and I feel like that is a huge time saver.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Plus, you get all the sort of normal benefits of the Kia three-row experience where there's lots of room, there's lots of features.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: There's lots of family-friendly driver assist gear and that really did stand out to us.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: It won the best electric SUV category by a pretty wide margin in our research.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Alex, with all this information you gave us, what do you drive?
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: I drive a Buick Regal.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Now you're talking.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: I have a Regal and I have two other classic cars.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: I have an old 88 Mazda 323 Turbo and I have a 1986 Skoda 120.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: A Skoda.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: Oh my God, I love my Skoda and you know I sold my MGBGT to buy my Skoda and I actually prefer my Skoda to the MG.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Don't tell the MG guys, they'll be really mad.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what I will say.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: This, and please don't take offense to this.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: You guys up there in the northeast part of seattle are really weird with your skodas, we are I actually did a story on another skoda in seattle that's owned by somebody I know for hagerty a couple years ago and so if you want to, you want to look at the history of american skodas.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: They were sold here for a little while.
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: So you can have a club, the skoda club.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Do you know the?
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: lilienthal's.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Do you know the lilienthal's?
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, there we go, there's the connection okay.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: So you know, we have such a great time with them and interviewing them, uh, all the time.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: They also obviously from the seattle area, portland, all that.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: And I have to tell you, and I've kept watching you doing this interview and I keep thinking father mulcahy, and I'm sure I'm not the first one that has said to tell you, and I've kept watching you doing this interview and I keep thinking Father Mulcahy, and I'm sure I'm not the first one that has said to you you look like Father Mulcahy.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I have gotten that from time to time.
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: I did watch MASH as a kid, so I'm prepared for that.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Well, that is a total compliment and I appreciate it.
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: Jocularity, jocularity, jocularity, and we appreciate you spending the time with us today.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: Jocularity, jocularity, jocularity.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: And we appreciate you spending the time with us today.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: One more note.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: You know, if people want to check these out, they can go to carsusnewscom, and if you are struggling to make the payments on a brand new one, we actually have the winners from the past 12 or 13 years up on the website.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Wow, beautiful.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: That's good Deep research there.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Alex Kwanton, thank you so much for joining us.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: My friend, Take care of yourself, Thanks guys Take care.
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: Thank you, sir.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: How fun.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, you're going to the Hot Rod Tour of Texas.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Be sure and follow us.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time team will join over 300 other enthusiasts beginning April 24th as we trek across Texas.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Get the info link at inwheeltTimecom and our In Wheel Time Facebook page.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: We are back after this quick break.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: The Tex-Mex dining experience is defined by Loopy Tortilla, your destination for Texas' best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Since 1983, loopy Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience at Loopy Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in West Houston.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Visit any of the Loopy Tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Start your Loopy experience with queso flammeado and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Dine on famous Loopy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp brochette, or a fish or vegetarian entree, and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Find Loopy Tortilla in Houston, college Station, beaumont, austin, san Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: There's a Texas location near you.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: The recipes are authentic and time-tested, the ingredients always fresh.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Loopy Tortilla he's pretty good.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: You own a car you love.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: We promise you'll be impressed, whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano ceramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Curbed your wheels.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11 275 south sam houston tollway, just south of the southwest freeway, and get a personal tour.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Gulf coast auto shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Call them today 832-930-5655 or gcautoshieldcom.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Did you did just say that?
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: You said it along, you?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: lip synced it.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I lip synced it with you.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Jeff doesn't get out much, it's like when you watch those old dinosaur movies from Japan where the mouth goes and then the dinosaur.
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: Kung Fu movies, yeah, like that.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: There's that.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the in-wheel time car talk show time now for jeff's racing calendar, sponsored by texas muscle car club challenge nhra is on this weekend.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: They are in the arizona nationals firebird motorsports park something very cute.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: I was watching a kind of a replay this morning, uh, with erica enders, one of their teammates, on the crew.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: They're having their first baby and they did not know what the baby's gender was.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: So the reveal for the baby's gender was after she went down the track.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: She pulled the chutes and the chutes were the color of what the gender was, which in this case they were pink chutes.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: So they're going to have a little girl.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: I thought that was very cool, Very cool.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Very clever.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: NASCAR the trucks ran last night.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: I did record it.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I didn't see the end of it because we were out doing adult things, but they ran yesterday.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Xfinity is on.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: We can go any way with that.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I know Xfinity is on today at Homestead and then the NASCAR the big boys are tomorrow.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: You've got Indy starting Not starting, but Indy will be on today because it's their two-week turn.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: On that F1 is the Chinese Grand Prix.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: That is Sunday.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: It's the Shanghai International Circuit of Shanghai.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I've been to.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Shanghai.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Before We've been to Shanghai, a lot 56 laps of just nonstop nonsense.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: So there you go.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: All right, thank you this week in auto history.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, here he is, from Meterville, texas, michael Mars, michael Boom.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Boom Mars.
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: Several things this week that I thought was rather interesting in auto history.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: March the 16th, the first truck driver's license, the first commercial truck driver's license, was issued in the United States.
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: Now, what this did was really the first step in regulating the trucking industry.
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: The idea behind it was to make sure everybody was certified, everybody was safely, properly trained, and the idea to reduce accidents.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: And then the first ticket was written the next day.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, this was back during Prohibition and stuff, whenever they were hijacking trucks and everything.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: So they had to do something about making things safer.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Did they do that to make sure everybody was safe on the road?
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: March the 18th, the first Volvo car sold in the United States.
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: And this was important because of what year?
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: 1958.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: March the 18th, 1958.
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: It was a PV444 was the model.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Now, this was served in California, I'd drive that.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: That's a cool looking car.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: And this particular car, the import that they brought into the United States, had a different motor than the ones they were selling at home, because it had twin side draft, one and a half inch SU carburetors to give it a total of 70 horsepower that they thought they needed in the united states tub it out so, uh, you know, volvo is known for its safety and durability and this is kind of what started all that.
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: Back in march 19th in 1964, ford introduced the legendary 427 single overhead cam, the SHC engine known as the Cammer.
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: It was designed to actually dominate NASCAR.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: That's what they were after was to go out and win.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: Nascar Featured hemispherical combustion chambers, so it was a hemi, hemi-headed Chain drive overhead cams and over 600 horsepower and race trim.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: At that time, however, nascar banned because it they couldn't compete with it.
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: There was no, it was just so overwhelming they did it.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: So they actually forward, took the car, then they moved it over to drag racing, where the real man race, and and used it there and it did really well there and it's still legendary at the drag strip.
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: March the 20th 1974, volkswagen launches the Golf, the MK1.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: Now this is the first generation Golf, a front-wheel drive hatchback, and it replaced the Beetle.
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: Now, this was actually what it did.
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: It's the shift from where Volkswagen was going, from rear-wheel drive and rear-mounted air-cooled engines, to a front-wheel drive with front-mounted water-cooled engines.
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: So this is where they made the shift away from the Volkswagen Beetle new car.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: Everything and this is where you also created the high-performance GTI variants came from this.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: March the 25th 1983, chrysler introduces the minivan.
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: Now, this revolutionized the automotive industry by introducing—.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Leia Koka.
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: Yes, and it redefined family transportation.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: We still talk about it that way that if you want to move some people, this is the way to do it.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: Now it started with the Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager had front-wheel drive and just provided an alternative to a station wagon sliding doors, fuel efficiency and, again, like you said, leia Cocaocca did this and pushed it out there, and it's still very active today with several different companies making them.
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: March 19, 1991, mazda introduces the rotary powered RX-7 FD.
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: Now, this was the third generation of the RX-7.
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: It's a lightweight chassis and twin turbo rotary engine and this is the one that people now continue to start to build the race cars off and it's actually developed a cult among following of people following that small racing scene.
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: And that's this week in automotive history interesting beautiful rx7 uh, let me do this.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: let me give you the, the Tesla answer.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: The answer is Tesla.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: How about that?
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: What was the question?
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: The question was the most valuable car brands.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: They are valued at $1.27 trillion, so Tesla is the number one valued car brand Speaking of Tesla.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Tesla has been removed from participating in this week's Vancouver International Auto Show over safety concerns, the event's executive director says.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Eric Nicol said in a statement that the show asked the electric car maker to withdraw because of a primary concern for the safety of workers, attendees and exhibitors, amid public backlash against the brand and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, If you want to go there whatever.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: They're just so wrong on many levels.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: The guy builds cars a very successful car brand, anyway, just saying yeah, I think I'm going to not do that story.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: But this one.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Police said an assailant wearing black clothing set fire to two Teslas at a Las Vegas showroom in the latest attack against the automaker.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Following CEO Elon Musk's heightened political activity as an advisor to President Trump, the FBI said it's investigating the attack as a possible act of terrorism, given what appears to be political overtones.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: The phrase resist was spray painted on the Tesla showroom entrance in red letters.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: According to police, it's a shame.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Please stop.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: We don't need all of that.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: And a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Stellantis last year against a supplier accused of holding parts hostage to get price increases.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: We'll wrap up today's In Real Time Car Talk show right after this quick break.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto Accessories has been serving Houston's auto enthusiasts since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier retail and service corridor, the Galleria area.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000 square foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: At Pro-Am Auto, you'll be dealing with a small group of professionals who truly want to help you with your automotive needs.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge, in Houston's Galleria area.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Mecham Auctions, the world's largest collector car auction company, returns to Houston April 3rd to the 5th at NRG Center.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Join us for the fun, fast-paced, energy meekum experience.
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: With 1 000 vehicles up for grabs for avid collectors, first-time buyers and enthusiasts of all ages, there's something for everyone.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Bring home your dream car register to pick and buy spectator tickets now at meekumcom well, that's all for this week's In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Be sure and check us out online at InWheelTimecom.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: We're always looking for new, informative and fun automotive things.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: If you have an idea or an event, let us know.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Our email is info.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: At InWheelTimecom, when you're looking for award-winning car talk, you can find the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show 24-7 on the In Real Time app On the road.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Grab a podcast anytime from your favorite podcast provider, including the new SiriusXM podcast channel.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: And be sure and catch us on the Odyssey radio app.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: We video stream our live show every Saturday 10 to noon on Facebook, youtube and InRealTimecom.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time video technical director is we Need More Jeff Zekin, the booking agent, video editor and people finder, mike Out of this World, mars and chief engineer David Hainsley.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Hot Rod Tour of Texas starts April 24th in Victoria and we hope you'll join us or at least tune in Details and links at UnrealTimecom.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Be safe out there, have a great week and thanks again for tuning in to In Real Time.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Be safe out there, have a great week and thanks again for tuning in to In Real Time.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Real Time Car Show.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InRealTimecom website.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.