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Vehicle Review Mashup (Summer 2020) · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am
0:08
Speaker 1: your host, Scott Brady, and I'm here with my co
0:10
Speaker 1: host Matt Scott, and today we're going to talk about
0:14
Speaker 1: the recent vehicle launches and our reviews of the new
0:18
Speaker 1: Overland fold drives we have tested, including a modified Ranger,
0:22
Speaker 1: the new GMC AT four Yukon, the new Titan, the
0:27
Speaker 1: new All will Drive Forward Transit of course, the Defender,
0:31
Speaker 1: the new RAM three point zero Diesel, and a few others.
0:35
Speaker 1: And also this episode is presented by Garman. We appreciate
0:39
Speaker 1: their support and their new Overlander GPS navigator. The Overlander
0:46
Speaker 1: is a bright seven inch color touchscreen with topography and
0:51
Speaker 1: spoken turn by turn directions for street maps so you
0:54
Speaker 1: can easily navigate on and off road throughout North and
0:59
Speaker 1: South America. This unit comes preloaded with I Overlander pois
1:03
Speaker 1: which I have personally used out in the field, and
1:06
Speaker 1: also the Ultimate Public Campgrounds Database as well, so you
1:10
Speaker 1: don't need to sell coverage to route to those favorite
1:13
Speaker 1: campsites or get to your next destination. Unit is also
1:16
Speaker 1: quite tough, which I have also experienced using it in
1:21
Speaker 1: the America's and also in Africa, and it is dust
1:25
Speaker 1: vibration and extreme temperature resistant. Aside from navigation, it also
1:30
Speaker 1: has built in tools like pitch and roll gauges to
1:33
Speaker 1: help the driver navigate challenging terrain. Thank you again, Garment
1:37
Speaker 1: for your support of this podcast. And what are we
1:40
Speaker 1: going to talk about today?
1:41
Speaker 2: Matt? Talk about what we've been driving.
1:42
Speaker 3: I guess we've I don't know, we've been driving a
1:45
Speaker 3: bunch of different stuff, new vehicles and vehicles on the market.
1:49
Speaker 2: Yeah. I guess we're.
1:51
Speaker 3: Lucky enough to have early access to the Gladiator Mojave,
1:54
Speaker 3: which is pretty cool. I have been driving a RAM
1:57
Speaker 3: fifteen hundred limited Eco diesel, and you've been driving some
2:01
Speaker 3: new stuff too, Yeah.
2:02
Speaker 1: The new AT four Yukon. We drove the new Nissan Titan.
2:08
Speaker 1: Of course, you and I both drove the Defender. I've
2:10
Speaker 1: had definitely worth chatting about now that you can actually
2:13
Speaker 1: get one that's right. And I've been spending a lot
2:15
Speaker 1: of time with the Ford Ranger that was completely modified
2:19
Speaker 1: by ARB. So what we want to do is start
2:22
Speaker 1: maybe once a quarter or so, we're going to do
2:24
Speaker 1: these little mashups where we talk about the new vehicles
2:27
Speaker 1: that we've evaluated for editorial and what are our pros
2:31
Speaker 1: and cons for each one, and these will be pretty short,
2:34
Speaker 1: little digestible podcasts on the new trucks on the market.
2:37
Speaker 2: So what did you think of the Mohabby? You know,
2:40
Speaker 2: I liked it.
2:41
Speaker 3: You know, for those who haven't listened to previous podcasts,
2:46
Speaker 3: I was a really early adopter the Gladiator platform. I
2:49
Speaker 3: was at the press launch for it, I want to
2:51
Speaker 3: say that was like February and March of twenty nineteen,
2:56
Speaker 3: and you know, we went and did a little off
2:57
Speaker 3: road demonstration, did a road demonstration to that, and on
3:00
Speaker 3: the way back to the hotel that everything was based
3:02
Speaker 3: off of, I was on the phone with my local
3:04
Speaker 3: jeep dealer.
3:05
Speaker 2: Do you have one? I want one? I got it.
3:07
Speaker 3: I had one of the first ones. I just hit
3:09
Speaker 3: twenty thousand miles on that yesterday. It looks so good too. Yeah,
3:14
Speaker 3: and you pulled in on it today and it's like,
3:16
Speaker 3: that thing looks so good.
3:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
3:17
Speaker 3: It's uh. You know, we have a dedicated podcast to
3:20
Speaker 3: that truck. But you know, that's our adventure vehicle. It's
3:23
Speaker 3: not something that I use as a daily driver. I'm
3:26
Speaker 3: not commuting on it. You know, it's for Baja, it's
3:29
Speaker 3: for Moab it's it's for remote places and not even
3:32
Speaker 3: a check engine light in twenty thousand miles. So I'm
3:35
Speaker 3: a huge fan of the platform, and I think what
3:37
Speaker 3: the what the Mojave does is it really aligns the
3:41
Speaker 3: vehicle more with people who are less interested in technical
3:47
Speaker 3: terrain and more interested in you know, desert train, wide
3:50
Speaker 3: open terrain. I mean for somebody that's driving the vehicle daily.
3:54
Speaker 3: The suspension on the Mojave is definitely a lot really nice.
3:58
Speaker 3: You know, it has a more sucil hood. The thing
4:01
Speaker 3: that I really liked about it. I love the interior.
4:03
Speaker 3: They put a little bit more sporty steering wheel on it,
4:06
Speaker 3: kind of some more perforated leather. It's just nice orange
4:12
Speaker 3: accentse The one we had, I want to say they
4:14
Speaker 3: call it punkin orange. It's it's definitely pumpkin. It's it's
4:18
Speaker 3: it's really orange. And I'm a I'm I'm a fan
4:20
Speaker 3: of orange. But it was a little bit maybe two orange.
4:24
Speaker 1: But it seemed like Jeep was sending us like the
4:27
Speaker 1: entire Skittles color colorway over a series of a couple
4:31
Speaker 1: of weeks.
4:32
Speaker 3: But I have to say that, you know, the Gladiator
4:34
Speaker 3: is great. This has a more substantial frame. I want
4:38
Speaker 3: to say they added some high strength steel and some
4:40
Speaker 3: critical areas it has. I guess what's cool is that
4:45
Speaker 3: it has a cast iron front axle, so it issues
4:48
Speaker 3: the the aluminum knuckles that are I guess an issue.
4:52
Speaker 3: If you're really really moving in these things, it's it's cool.
4:57
Speaker 3: I guess for that you delete delete the locker, right.
5:01
Speaker 3: You do not get a front locker, you get a
5:02
Speaker 3: rear locker. You do not get the electronic swaybar disconnect,
5:07
Speaker 3: and you get the I want to say it's two
5:09
Speaker 3: point seven to two low range, rather than the Rubicon's
5:13
Speaker 3: stunningly low four to one, which I think we could
5:16
Speaker 3: both argue is almost too low.
5:18
Speaker 1: Well, if you have a manual transmission, the four to
5:21
Speaker 1: one is a great thing. If you're doing a lot
5:23
Speaker 1: of very technical driving, obviously the four to one is
5:25
Speaker 1: a great thing. What I find the biggest problem with
5:29
Speaker 1: the four to one is if you're in mixed terrain
5:31
Speaker 1: sand and mud in particular, also snow, if you need
5:35
Speaker 1: to reverse with any kind of speed, you're stuck with
5:38
Speaker 1: this very low wheel spin. So if you need to
5:41
Speaker 1: reverse out of a mud hole and you've got a
5:43
Speaker 1: four to one you just can't get the tires spun
5:45
Speaker 1: up enough to clear out the mud. So I actually
5:48
Speaker 1: like I prefer a two point seven to one low
5:51
Speaker 1: range in the Wrangler for almost everything but extreme rock crawling.
5:56
Speaker 3: You know, I have to say what I if this
5:59
Speaker 3: was avehicle that was available when I was buying it,
6:02
Speaker 3: I bought the Gladiator Rubicon. I probably wouldn't buy the Mojave.
6:08
Speaker 3: It's about the same price as the Gladiator Rubicon.
6:13
Speaker 2: I'll be honest.
6:14
Speaker 3: I don't use the front locker that often, but it's
6:17
Speaker 3: nice to have. The thing that I do use a
6:20
Speaker 3: lot is the electronic swaybar disc connect. You can use
6:23
Speaker 3: that anytime you're in four wheel drive high It just
6:26
Speaker 3: drastically improves the ride quality of the vehicle off road.
6:30
Speaker 3: That's something that I wish that it had.
6:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot less head toss. It allows the suspension
6:36
Speaker 1: to move more freely. I think it also greatly improves
6:40
Speaker 1: stability of the vehicle because you're keeping tires in contact
6:43
Speaker 1: with it.
6:43
Speaker 3: But for somebody that may not be doing more technical
6:47
Speaker 3: stuff that is going to put thirty five inch tires
6:51
Speaker 3: on it, Let's say I think I think the Mojave
6:56
Speaker 3: is great. You know, the remote reservoir shocks they use
7:00
Speaker 3: start fine. I mean it's limited only by the architecture
7:04
Speaker 3: of the vehicle. Solid axle can only do so much,
7:08
Speaker 3: you know. I thought that the off road performance was
7:11
Speaker 3: probably still worse than in high speed than mine. But
7:14
Speaker 3: I'm on thirty seven's and I have, you know, some
7:17
Speaker 3: fancy kings which are probably a better shock, but it
7:20
Speaker 3: doesn't have to meet the OE standards that that obviously
7:23
Speaker 3: FCA or what is FCA called now, Yeah, Chrysler, Yeah no, no, no,
7:27
Speaker 3: they haven't, no name, I don't know, look it up.
7:31
Speaker 3: It's interesting, but yeah, I'd give it a seven out
7:34
Speaker 3: of ten. Great option. It's it's it's cool to see
7:38
Speaker 3: Jeep dialing into little areas, you know, with that V
7:42
Speaker 3: concept that they should with the six point four. I
7:47
Speaker 3: have to think that that engine in a Mojave would
7:51
Speaker 3: be a lot of fun.
7:53
Speaker 2: And I think that's what's coming.
7:54
Speaker 1: I think that Jeep is now getting some pressure, some
7:56
Speaker 1: competitive pressure, but they've already got such a found to
8:00
Speaker 1: work from that they can salt in these things that
8:03
Speaker 1: they never really we've always wanted V eight's, we've always
8:05
Speaker 1: wanted diesels, and before they didn't have a reason to
8:09
Speaker 1: because this was the only option. Now they've got some
8:12
Speaker 1: competition and they're just now taking opening up the catalog
8:15
Speaker 1: and saying, all right, we're going to throw in a
8:17
Speaker 1: V eight and a bunch of people get excited and
8:19
Speaker 1: they buy a Wrangler instead of something else.
8:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I love the threes. I don't know,
8:24
Speaker 3: let me start over here. The three six that is
8:27
Speaker 3: in the Gladiator is fine. It's reliable, it's a proven motor,
8:31
Speaker 3: it's cheap, just service. I think for international travel, that's
8:36
Speaker 3: probably the one to go. With the diesel, which we're
8:40
Speaker 3: going to be driving, we get it, what in two weeks?
8:43
Speaker 1: In two weeks we get the Diesel Gladiat. I'm sure
8:46
Speaker 1: it's going to drive great.
8:47
Speaker 3: You know, I do still have questions on it, and
8:49
Speaker 3: in terms of long term reliability that engine just prior
8:54
Speaker 3: to that, which is the same basic structure. I had
8:58
Speaker 3: friends that had that in the fifteen hundred with limited success.
9:03
Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm just excited to see the Gladiator platform grows.
9:07
Speaker 3: It's so good for overlanding. It's a perfect hit. They
9:12
Speaker 3: just they literally nailed a perfect hit again, just hit
9:16
Speaker 3: twenty thousand miles. In my personal one, I paid full
9:18
Speaker 3: price for it. I didn't get any discounts or anything.
9:21
Speaker 3: I was that enthusiastic about it. And I have vehicle
9:24
Speaker 3: add as some of our readers will know, still have it,
9:27
Speaker 3: not planning on selling it.
9:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. It says something when you hold
9:31
Speaker 1: onto a vehicle for more than a year. I just
9:33
Speaker 1: renewed the registration. Wow, commitment, you're gonna be okay. Yeah,
9:38
Speaker 1: might put a ring on it, but that's good. I
9:44
Speaker 1: did like the Mohabi. I think for me, I think
9:47
Speaker 1: it's trying to be something that it's not. And for
9:50
Speaker 1: people who want to Mohabi that is a little bit
9:53
Speaker 1: more go fast. It works, but you're always going to
9:55
Speaker 1: be dealing with the weight of a solid front axle.
9:58
Speaker 1: It will never respond as effectively as independent at high speed.
10:02
Speaker 1: There's a reason why race trucks have independent suspension, and
10:08
Speaker 1: it's just you have to know that. You have to
10:09
Speaker 1: understand that and say, Okay, I really want solid axle.
10:13
Speaker 1: I really want a gladiator. But to think that it's
10:15
Speaker 1: going to perform like a raptor, it's just not physic stone.
10:21
Speaker 3: I think that there are advantages to a solid axle
10:25
Speaker 3: for aggressive desert driving. I never have to worry about
10:29
Speaker 3: my ground clearance changing. Right, I don't have a differential
10:33
Speaker 3: that is rapidly with every impact coming up and down
10:38
Speaker 3: and getting closer to the dirt.
10:40
Speaker 2: That's nice. They're way easier to lift.
10:43
Speaker 3: Again, I have a factory two inch lift on mine
10:46
Speaker 3: with thirty seven inch tires.
10:47
Speaker 2: So like, let's say.
10:50
Speaker 3: Ranger or a Tacoma, there is virtually no way to
10:54
Speaker 3: fit thirty seven's on that vehicle without substantially modif finding it.
11:01
Speaker 3: And then you're talking him joints and you're talking all
11:03
Speaker 3: this kind of stuff, and they're not going to drive good.
11:05
Speaker 3: They're not going to have the reliability and durability that
11:08
Speaker 3: you need, you know.
11:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you want thirty sevens on a pickup by
11:13
Speaker 1: a gladiator, by a gladiator, so so yeah, I mean, like.
11:18
Speaker 3: I don't know, I would put money that even with
11:19
Speaker 3: a camper. My gladiator is way more proficient and high
11:23
Speaker 3: speed stuff. And let's say, uh, ZR one, because they
11:26
Speaker 3: have to deal with this little Y're not Z one,
11:29
Speaker 3: that's the Corvette, the ZR two. You know, they have
11:32
Speaker 3: to deal with thirty one inch tires. Yeah, and maybe
11:35
Speaker 3: if you're lucky, you can fit thirty threes. Yeah, thirty
11:38
Speaker 3: sevens do forgive a lot of sins, that's exactly.
11:41
Speaker 1: So. I also had the diesel Wrangler for a little bit.
11:44
Speaker 1: So this is the first time for us to really
11:46
Speaker 1: talk about the diesel drive train in a Wrangler.
11:50
Speaker 2: I liked it a lot. Yeah.
11:52
Speaker 1: The consideration obviously is international travel where you don't have
11:56
Speaker 1: access to ultra loosol for diesel, but for driving around
12:00
Speaker 1: found in Prescott, we're at fifty two hundred feet. I'm
12:03
Speaker 1: I'm I have a turbocharged motor with really good torque.
12:07
Speaker 1: I towed a Brewder trailer with it, and this that
12:11
Speaker 1: little jeep I was getting twenty five twenty six miles.
12:14
Speaker 1: Agam legitimate and I don't drive. Yeah, you're just driving it.
12:18
Speaker 1: I'm just driving and getting that kind of gas mileage.
12:20
Speaker 1: It's I mean, this is the thing I love about
12:23
Speaker 1: the diesel Wrangler. It's the vehicle we always wanted. We
12:26
Speaker 1: always wanted solid axle Wrangler with lockers and swave our
12:30
Speaker 1: disconnects and can fit a thirty three inch tiger from
12:32
Speaker 1: the factory and has a diesel motor.
12:34
Speaker 2: We've always asked for this vehicle.
12:36
Speaker 1: We now can buy it and to me, even if
12:38
Speaker 1: I don't buy one personally, I think it is so
12:40
Speaker 1: cool that it's finally available, you.
12:42
Speaker 3: Know, I think what I think what Jeep does really
12:45
Speaker 3: really well is, you know, aside from the V eight's
12:48
Speaker 3: and the diesels which we're now getting, they listen to
12:52
Speaker 3: their customers and I really do appreciated that. But yeah,
12:56
Speaker 3: what what better? That's it's the dream team.
12:58
Speaker 2: It really is.
12:59
Speaker 1: I mean the fact that in twenty twenty we can
13:02
Speaker 1: get a diesel solid axle wrangler with lockers, swaybar disconnects
13:06
Speaker 1: thirty threes and you can take the roof off in
13:07
Speaker 1: the door size so the windshield dow. I think we're
13:10
Speaker 1: kind of in the Golden Age of overland trucks. I mean,
13:13
Speaker 1: certainly in the early nineties that also existed with eighty
13:16
Speaker 1: series and diesel.
13:18
Speaker 2: G wagons and all of that.
13:20
Speaker 1: But right now it's it's the Golden Age again, just
13:24
Speaker 1: a little different.
13:24
Speaker 3: I don't even think that there's a comparison. I mean,
13:27
Speaker 3: I know most Americans still look at you know, diesel
13:30
Speaker 3: landcruisers and Highlexes and this as you know, they've kind
13:34
Speaker 3: of there's there's a folklore to them and a bit
13:37
Speaker 3: of a myth going on or not that great. I
13:39
Speaker 3: mean I have a I went out and as soon
13:42
Speaker 3: as I could, I got the turbo Diesel eighty when
13:44
Speaker 3: you could import it and probably going to be for
13:48
Speaker 3: sale soon because the Gladiator is just so much better.
13:52
Speaker 3: The Gladiator gets technology his smileage than the Diesel. Yeah,
13:55
Speaker 3: the technology has improved. At the time, those vehicles were
13:58
Speaker 3: the hallmark of reliable. But manufacturers have figured a lot
14:03
Speaker 3: of this reliability stuff out. Electronics have improved.
14:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. Not just Toyota is reliable anymore.
14:08
Speaker 1: Most manufacturers are very reliable now and that's pretty exciting
14:11
Speaker 1: to see.
14:12
Speaker 2: All right.
14:12
Speaker 3: And then you had a Diesel RAM fifteen hundred. Yeah,
14:16
Speaker 3: the Diesel RAM fifteen hundred Limited, which I loved it,
14:22
Speaker 3: to be honest, I've always loved that that new fifteen
14:27
Speaker 3: hundred platform. It rides spectacularly. Didn't have the airbag suspended.
14:34
Speaker 3: That one had air suspensions. You could raise it or
14:36
Speaker 3: lower it. The interior is, like I'm going to say this,
14:43
Speaker 3: like it is on par with a lot of the
14:46
Speaker 3: land Rover range Rover products where they're a little bit
14:49
Speaker 3: more minimalist. The limited package is more embellished. You know,
14:56
Speaker 3: they have some weird like Western themed stitching going on,
15:02
Speaker 3: and I'm kind of like, like, that's a little bit tacky.
15:06
Speaker 3: But the materials in the inside, the leather is just
15:09
Speaker 3: it's a really really really nice place to be. It
15:13
Speaker 3: handles pretty good. You know, the diesel in that vehicle
15:19
Speaker 3: wasn't the focal point would be the economy, the fuel
15:24
Speaker 3: economy that I could return.
15:26
Speaker 1: Sure, it wasn't a powerful engine, So you missed the
15:30
Speaker 1: hemy in that particular application.
15:32
Speaker 3: You know, Laura's dad has a basically identical truck. He
15:36
Speaker 3: has the Limited, but he has the five to seven,
15:38
Speaker 3: and I think the five seven is more interesting to drive.
15:43
Speaker 3: I think the diesel obviously gets gets phenomenal gas mileage,
15:47
Speaker 3: but I think what I walked away from is that
15:51
Speaker 3: as a technology demonstrator, to see the diesel, to see
15:54
Speaker 3: the air suspension, to see the quality that that company
15:57
Speaker 3: is able to achieve, it leaves me really really excited
16:02
Speaker 3: for this grand wagon ear that they've been teasing.
16:05
Speaker 2: Soon.
16:06
Speaker 3: It's coming soon, and boy, I have to say that, yeah,
16:14
Speaker 3: eight out of ten for me for that Limited. You know,
16:18
Speaker 3: it's not Listen, guys, we're not talking here about about
16:21
Speaker 3: the I know, Overlanders kind of like the more basic
16:25
Speaker 3: things cloth interior or whatever, because it's more of a
16:29
Speaker 3: purposeful vehicle. But I'm just talking about what that company
16:32
Speaker 3: can do.
16:32
Speaker 2: And it was. It was great, a nice daily driver.
16:36
Speaker 3: I mean it was, you know, as a black truck
16:38
Speaker 3: in the summer in Arizona, so the AC wasn't super great,
16:41
Speaker 3: but you press a button in the seats, start blowing
16:45
Speaker 3: cool air at your dairy air, and it was. I
16:49
Speaker 3: really liked it.
16:50
Speaker 2: It was a nice looking truck.
16:52
Speaker 3: It was a lot better than the Nissan Titan that
16:54
Speaker 3: I drove immediately after. It was like it was going
16:58
Speaker 3: from something very significant to huh, something with some challenges.
17:03
Speaker 3: People pay for this and they weren't that different in
17:06
Speaker 3: price point, which was the interesting thing for me.
17:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, so very valid.
17:12
Speaker 1: And then another long termer that we've had, we got
17:15
Speaker 1: the ARB outfitted Ford Ranger and which looks great.
17:21
Speaker 2: It does.
17:22
Speaker 1: It looks great, and they've addressed essentially all the things
17:25
Speaker 1: that I didn't like about the Stock Ranger, principally the
17:28
Speaker 1: rear suspension, shock tuning with the new old Man EMU
17:33
Speaker 1: on there, the multi leaf pack. It's a nice little truck.
17:37
Speaker 1: I drive it almost every day and I have I've
17:40
Speaker 1: kind of fallen for it. I mean, I'm impressed that
17:43
Speaker 1: it's got a Ford Motorsports tuner on it and it
17:48
Speaker 1: starts pushing three I think it's three hundred and seventeen
17:50
Speaker 1: horsepower now and out of a force I would have
17:53
Speaker 1: never thought to buy.
17:54
Speaker 2: A force transmission's so good.
17:56
Speaker 3: People seem to fail to realize that, yes, cars have
18:00
Speaker 3: become more powerful, but it's really the gearbox technology that
18:04
Speaker 3: is making these things so driveable. I had that gearbox
18:07
Speaker 3: in my Raptor and people, oh, that's going to break.
18:11
Speaker 2: No, it's not.
18:13
Speaker 3: It didn't break. It's been great. And having ten different
18:16
Speaker 3: ratios to choose from makes that three hundred and seventeen horsepower.
18:21
Speaker 3: That thing's pretty quick. It's really quick. It's noticeable.
18:24
Speaker 1: And again we're at fifty two hundred feet and I'm
18:26
Speaker 1: getting great performance out of the truck. So there's a
18:29
Speaker 1: lot of things that I like about the vehicle. Principally
18:31
Speaker 1: the suspension. ARB has done a nice job of because
18:35
Speaker 1: they're starting to partner with Ford more. They did a
18:38
Speaker 1: nice job with the front bumper. It's really going to
18:41
Speaker 1: be fun to see what that ARB partnership results in,
18:44
Speaker 1: particularly around the new Bronco. So the fact that ARB
18:49
Speaker 1: is working that closely with Ford, I think we're going
18:50
Speaker 1: to see a lot more forward factory solutions that feature
18:54
Speaker 1: ARB products.
18:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I guess that's a good thing. Good.
18:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, consumer. So all right, let's do a little update
19:00
Speaker 1: on Defender. Yeah, the Defender is now available. I actually
19:03
Speaker 1: saw one at the dealer. I want to say, the
19:05
Speaker 1: initial the initial run of them has sold out, and
19:09
Speaker 1: obviously the world when we drove the Defender Namibia in
19:13
Speaker 1: February March, the world has drastically changed. So it's it's
19:18
Speaker 1: fascinating just to see them out there. When we were
19:22
Speaker 1: up in Colorado last month, there was three or four
19:24
Speaker 1: of them running around and tell your ride, and I'm
19:28
Speaker 1: pretty excited. I keep going online and I keep doing
19:30
Speaker 1: the you know, the vehicle configurator, and I love the
19:34
Speaker 1: fact that they actually went to production with the built
19:37
Speaker 1: in air compressor, they went to production with the shower system.
19:42
Speaker 1: There's a lot of really cool things about that car.
19:45
Speaker 1: And we've got a couple of them that are going
19:46
Speaker 1: to be showing up here in the next few weeks.
19:49
Speaker 1: Will this podcast will come out after we're talking about this,
19:53
Speaker 1: but we're doing a television show with the Defenders. I'm
19:57
Speaker 1: pretty excited to see how it is to you use
20:00
Speaker 1: that vehicle for a week in the field. When I've
20:04
Speaker 1: got it, the keys all to my all to myself.
20:06
Speaker 1: So my favorite thing on the Defender.
20:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't. I think the styling
20:13
Speaker 3: of it on the exterior is very forgettable. Like they
20:16
Speaker 3: use a lot of just these kind of gentle curves
20:19
Speaker 3: and there's nothing. I guess I still look at an
20:22
Speaker 3: off road vehicle and I want I want a little
20:23
Speaker 3: bit of aggression. But I love the interior really good.
20:27
Speaker 3: It's so practical, Like I find when I get into
20:30
Speaker 3: a car these days. You know, I have this big
20:32
Speaker 3: cell phone because phones are not getting smaller. I have
20:34
Speaker 3: this wallet that has all this junk in it. I
20:37
Speaker 3: have my keys, I have this I have that. There's
20:39
Speaker 3: places to just like download all your crap into in
20:42
Speaker 3: the Defender. Like there's a really nice pocket next to
20:45
Speaker 3: the for left hand drive vehicles or we'll talk about
20:49
Speaker 3: left hand drive vehicles. On left hand side, there is
20:50
Speaker 3: a little pocket you can put your stuff. There's you
20:52
Speaker 3: know that the dash is essentially hollow on it's it's
20:57
Speaker 3: a really practical view.
20:58
Speaker 1: I think it's one of the best interior currently available
21:01
Speaker 1: for fans to vehicle based travel, no question, and it's
21:04
Speaker 1: also class leading ride quality. We did do a full
21:08
Speaker 1: podcast on the Defender. Matt and I certainly have our
21:12
Speaker 1: reservations around the front end styling, but I think all
21:15
Speaker 1: of that's going to be addressed with the aftermarket. Bumpers
21:18
Speaker 1: are going to come out, things already starting to. Things
21:20
Speaker 1: are going to make that front end not forgettable. It's
21:23
Speaker 1: going to make it memorable, and it's going to make
21:25
Speaker 1: the vehicle even more suitable for back country travel. What
21:29
Speaker 1: we really need to see with Defender is these things
21:31
Speaker 1: out in the field proving to be reliable over a
21:35
Speaker 1: period of time, and then I think you're going to
21:37
Speaker 1: start to see sales increase within the overland crowd.
21:40
Speaker 3: And we didn't really have any major issues with places
21:43
Speaker 3: we took them, and we were in pre production vehicles. Obviously,
21:46
Speaker 3: Landover's watching those things like a hawk. But yeah, it'll
21:51
Speaker 3: be interesting, I believe. I said in my editorial, like,
21:55
Speaker 3: if it's reliable, it will be one of the greats.
21:59
Speaker 3: And they've done everything that they can.
22:01
Speaker 2: I think they have.
22:02
Speaker 1: They really they really put a lot of thought and
22:04
Speaker 1: passion into that vehicle.
22:05
Speaker 2: You can see it all right.
22:07
Speaker 1: Well then now that yes, so this podcast will come
22:13
Speaker 1: out after the embargo, which is good. So I've had
22:17
Speaker 1: access to the AT four Yukon. GMC has decided to
22:21
Speaker 1: permeate the AT four option model across all of their
22:25
Speaker 1: forward drive vehicles. So anything with an AT four badge
22:29
Speaker 1: is kind of like a trail rated jeep. So it
22:31
Speaker 1: gets larger diameter tires, it gets a more aggressive tread pattern,
22:35
Speaker 1: it gets some underbody skid plating, it, they do some
22:38
Speaker 1: work to improve the approach and sometimes a departure angle.
22:42
Speaker 1: It gets some unique styling as well, and then they
22:45
Speaker 1: also usually include some kind of a driver selectable off
22:48
Speaker 1: road mode as well. This Yukon had four stage airbag suspension.
22:54
Speaker 1: It had excellent ride quality. I think that that's one
22:57
Speaker 1: of the huge benefits of the air bag systems. And
23:00
Speaker 1: then we also get a much bigger payload. This is
23:02
Speaker 1: an seven or eight passenger vehicle, so because it can
23:06
Speaker 1: haul so many people, it has to have a really
23:08
Speaker 1: high SAT with gear. Yeah, it has to have a
23:09
Speaker 1: really high payload. It drove nicely and the five to
23:13
Speaker 1: three was a little underwhelming on the power. The AT
23:16
Speaker 1: four is only available with a five to three. Unfortunately,
23:18
Speaker 1: because of the front end bumper architecture, you're not going
23:21
Speaker 1: to see the diesel in the AT four.
23:24
Speaker 2: But the five three is totally adequate. It's kind of
23:26
Speaker 2: like the three six. It works.
23:27
Speaker 1: It works, and really nice comfortable vehicle. I did the
23:30
Speaker 1: whole Mogion Rim road with it. We did some trails
23:34
Speaker 1: in Sedona with it. Very comfortable vehicle. I really liked
23:38
Speaker 1: the suspension. This was a pre production unit. I did
23:43
Speaker 1: not see the effectiveness out of the traction control that
23:45
Speaker 1: I would have expected, So maybe that will be resolved
23:48
Speaker 1: for production. I think we need to get a hold
23:50
Speaker 1: of a production unit before we have final say on that.
23:53
Speaker 1: But I was a little disappointed in the traction control performance.
23:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, out of it.
23:57
Speaker 3: And I guess this is kind of GM has had
24:01
Speaker 3: the ZR two YEP, but this is really their first
24:06
Speaker 3: kind of more general foray into actually offering products maybe
24:10
Speaker 3: more targeted towards an adventure or off road enthusiasts, because
24:13
Speaker 3: they really haven't they've not had it.
24:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I I don't know.
24:18
Speaker 3: I guess I've always kind of thought they have the
24:20
Speaker 3: Corvette and they have the Camaro, but that was where
24:24
Speaker 3: most of their excitement went. It's just it's cool to
24:29
Speaker 3: see more options for people. Like you said, we're pretty
24:31
Speaker 3: much in the golden edge of overlall.
24:33
Speaker 1: Now they have the Bison, which is one of the
24:34
Speaker 1: best mid mid sized trucks that you can buy today,
24:37
Speaker 1: diesel front and rear lockers, great suspension, It's certainly one
24:42
Speaker 1: of the high marks within the GM lineup. But what
24:45
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see is this attention from the manufacturers
24:48
Speaker 1: towards off road performance. It's one of the fastest growing
24:52
Speaker 1: and most lucrative segments of automotive today because they see
24:55
Speaker 1: so much pressure from evs. So they're going to make
24:58
Speaker 1: lifestyle vehicles that still have pistons in them, and that's
25:02
Speaker 1: going to be off.
25:03
Speaker 2: Road for a while. And I think that that's where
25:04
Speaker 2: we're going to see a lot of the off road innovation. Yeah.
25:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, And they're fun to tinker with, they're they're just
25:10
Speaker 3: fascinating vehicles.
25:12
Speaker 1: So so, do we want to talk a little bit
25:13
Speaker 1: about the Nissan Yeah, maybe just maybe just a little bit.
25:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, Listen, there's nothing wrong with the vehicle.
25:21
Speaker 2: He's on Titan as well, beas.
25:23
Speaker 3: On Titan sl It's like the cost co of luxury
25:27
Speaker 3: pickup trucks. As how I'm politely trying to say it,
25:31
Speaker 3: you know, looking at what they were actually selling for,
25:36
Speaker 3: because pickup trucks are confusing in that regard. You can
25:39
Speaker 3: have pickup trucks that have a seventy thousand dollars sticker,
25:43
Speaker 3: but they're actually selling for mid fifties. So you know,
25:46
Speaker 3: the problem is that what they're actually selling for is
25:49
Speaker 3: you're comparing it to F one to fifty King Ranches,
25:52
Speaker 3: You're comparing it to F two fifty Lariats, you're comparing
25:56
Speaker 3: it to twenty five hundreds, you're comparing it to very
25:59
Speaker 3: well equip Ram fifteen hundreds, and it just doesn't play
26:04
Speaker 3: ball with them. Unfortunately, they have that new I want
26:07
Speaker 3: to call it, they say they call it the Endurance
26:09
Speaker 3: V eight. The motor was fine. The transmission it just
26:15
Speaker 3: didn't seem to be very refined, but it actually like
26:20
Speaker 3: handled pretty well.
26:21
Speaker 2: I think. Yeah.
26:22
Speaker 1: My experience was, if you drove that vehicle conservatively, it
26:26
Speaker 1: felt it did not feel like it performed well. If
26:29
Speaker 1: you started to really push it, I started like, the
26:33
Speaker 1: motor needs to rev the transmission needs to know that
26:36
Speaker 1: you're alive and you're getting after it off road. The
26:39
Speaker 1: vehicle just struggled. It's really not an off road vehicle.
26:42
Speaker 1: They don't really have a package that's suitable for that.
26:45
Speaker 1: There are other options. They do have the Pro four X.
26:49
Speaker 1: They do model, but.
26:52
Speaker 3: I guess there's so many good American pickup trucks, and
26:57
Speaker 3: then there's the Tundra, which is, as you outdated.
27:03
Speaker 2: I don't know, Yeah you can. Nissan.
27:06
Speaker 1: They try so hard, and the people at Nissan are
27:09
Speaker 1: such good people, but they they need they need to
27:12
Speaker 1: interject some performance into these lineups in order to remain
27:17
Speaker 1: relevant as evs start to take control. So if you
27:20
Speaker 1: don't play ball with demonstratable performance, real functional components of
27:27
Speaker 1: these vehicles that make them exciting or make them play
27:30
Speaker 1: ball with the others in the space, I think that
27:33
Speaker 1: Nissan will can continue to struggle.
27:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I guess I've always seen Nissan as
27:38
Speaker 3: kind of I don't want to call it a budget brand, but.
27:41
Speaker 1: Good quality vehicles, lots of reliability. They're just not competitive
27:44
Speaker 1: on price. Is why I would have a hard time
27:48
Speaker 1: recommending that vehicle. I'm sure it's reliable, the build quality
27:52
Speaker 1: was just fine. It just they just need to interject
27:56
Speaker 1: some excitement into it or they need to adjust the
27:58
Speaker 1: pricing that you see on MSRP, and that will bring
28:00
Speaker 1: the model into.
28:01
Speaker 2: The interest of the consumer.
28:03
Speaker 3: Like the Frontier is a great option because totally they're affordable.
28:06
Speaker 3: You can get into them totally laboratively. So my favorite
28:10
Speaker 3: Nissan for sure is the Frontier. Take a look at
28:12
Speaker 3: the Frontier. But so these are some of the new vehicles.
28:15
Speaker 1: We have a power wagon coming, We've got a Diesel
28:18
Speaker 1: Gladiator coming. I'm testing even and all will drive forward
28:22
Speaker 1: transit right now. So there's gonna be a lot more
28:24
Speaker 1: to talk about in the next episode. And we thank
28:27
Speaker 1: you all for listening and we will talk to you
28:29
Speaker 1: next time.