Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Revolutionizing Car Hauling and Luxurious Towing: ATC Trailers at the Florida RV Show

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Revolutionizing Car Hauling and Luxurious Towing: ATC Trailers at the Florida RV Show · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody and welcome to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm off to a great start so far, because I didn't have the right page open.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, bob.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Seger.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I only had an hour and a half to get the right page up Well you've got me doing so many things this morning.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Mr Mars, I don't know whether I'm coming or going From the Sugar Shack Studios in Houston, texas, usa.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: This is the award-winning and will time car talk show.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Just ahead, looking for a car hauler, the Florida RV show is one of the biggest and we go there with one of the manufacturers.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Also, I'll give you my thoughts on driving the 2025 Kia K4, and Jeff has the Motor Minute all coming up on this segment of the NWL Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Mars, we always need more.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm, don Armstrong, so glad that you could join us on this Saturday as all of us here prepare for our big yearly winter blast.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Woo-hoo, and all the news stations are all over it and it's supposed to be freezing and terrible and I don't know whether we're going to survive or not, but it's supposed to get down into the 20s on Tuesday.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: With snow and ice.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, it's going to be a whole two days of winter.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: It's going to be bad.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll see if all that comes true.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: We're anticipating locusts next Saturday.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Hey, let's head down to Florida shall we.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: It's warm down there.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Jeff Shank and he's with ATC Trailers from the Florida RV Show.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Jeff, it's great to have you with us this morning and thanks so much.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: Thank you guys so much for having me on.
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: I'm honored to be asked to be here.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Well, we're not going to keep you too long, because I know it's getting to be lunchtime down there in Florida.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: That's right, I see you in short sleeves, so apparently the weather's pretty good, surf's up.
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: It's better than it is back home in Indiana.
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: I'll say that for sure.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So we're going to talk today about car haulers, sport haulers, and you're going to have to give me a definition on that.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Stackers I know what those are and the toy haulers, and I'm a little familiar with some of that stuff, but I'm not well-schooled in it and I know that we've got a bunch of guys gals too that are all into hauling, race cars basically, and show cars as well, and I know that you guys make some products for that.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Tell us about one of them.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so my name's Jeff.
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: I'm here with ATC and we've been building race trailers, snowmobile trailers, cargo trailers, stacker trailers for 25 years now, so we know the hauling industry quite well.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: We're into goosenecks.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: What I've got behind me here is a stacker where you're actually going to be putting two cars on top of each other, whether it's, you know, maybe you have a Tahoe and a sports car, maybe you have a couple sports cars, a couple collector cars, but it's a really compact way to be able to carry your cars down the road anyway.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: And there's room in that trailer, I would imagine, for some toolboxes and other things.
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so let me show you this unit.
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: This one here is our 24-foot stacker.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: It's our Rome 800.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: This one has a couple extra options on it here towards the front, where you've got the big storage boxes and things like that to go up there.
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: Another unique option that this trailer has, here too, is it has what we call a ramp side door combo, and what that does is this door will actually come down as a ramp and you can drive a golf cart in sideways is there room for a golf cart in there?
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: yeah, just a typical four foot by eight foot golf cart fit just perfectly in there.
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: Awesome, so you don't have to unload your cars, you can back it out and then you can go tooling around the racetrack.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: The event, whatever it is there great idea.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: So the doors are actually kind of part of the ramp yes, exactly, and then it pins in so that you can still drive a motorcycle up at anything like that.
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, this trailer, this trailer has an msrp of like 95 000 dollars.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: Um, it comes with, uh, triple 6 000 pound axles.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: You end up getting around 12,000 pounds of payload.
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: So you got plenty of room.
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: But let's take a look in here and I'll show you what we've got in here for the interior.
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: One of the things that makes ATC unique is that we build all of our frames out of complete aluminum.
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: So it's aluminum cross members, aluminum studs, all that.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: And we even build our own aluminum lift.
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: This is a proprietary lift that ATC has designed, and you can basically raise it and lower it so that you can go ahead and put a car underneath, a car up top.
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: And then one of the really cool things that our lift does as well is you can also put it at a four degree tilt, and that's so that the especially low clearance cars will be able to get much easier transition up into the trailer.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Anyway, now, is that whole one side over there to your left.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Is that all open?
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what we call our premium escape door, and what that does is that ensures that once you drive your car in, you can actually remove the fender box so you can see how you can actually see the actual tires down there.
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: You can open your car door directly over top.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: So you don't have to crawl out the window.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, bingo.
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: Otherwise you can only open it.
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: About this, you know six inches or so, and you have to find a way to we're very well familiar with that.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you what is the maximum payload that you can haul in that?
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: you know a couple cars, you're talking maybe, I don't know seven, eight thousand pounds yeah, the the lift here has a six thousand pound rating on it, so you could put six thousand up there, but I think the hotel total uh payload on this one is right around 12 000 pounds okay, yeah yeah, lots of room for even some heavy cars and is that a tool, uh, a workbench up there at the head?
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: yeah, yep, we've got an upper cabinet, a lower cabinet there.
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: Um, it's got a nice little light strip under there so you get a little bit of a work surface and so forth, and we offer different cabinet configurations in there as well.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: It's got an attic up top here as well, so that we'll say, you have some small motorcycles or some gear, you can lift the attic all the way up, push your items up here on top of the actual attic and you've got extra storage up here then too.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: So there's my sleeping quarters up there.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Jeff, you can throw tires or coolers.
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Well, let me ask you this with all the openings and the doors and and uh, slides, is it secure?
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, a lot of times people go to the easiest access point to get into a trailer.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Are these all pretty well locked down?
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: yeah, yeah, they do have some really premium locks on the outside, um.
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: And then, yes, anytime you build a trailer with this big of a structural opening, um, it's not like you can just pop this door into any trailer that you want.
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: I mean, this has been designed and engineered from day one to be able to have this type of an opening.
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: So, structurally, we prep for all that.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: There's backers through the wall, so, yeah, it's a very robust design even though you have such a large opening here.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Do you have these on your dealer's lots, or is it all just custom order stuff?
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, we do, and we build our stackers.
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: They're definitely on dealer lots.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: We have them in a 22-foot length, this one here which is a 24.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: And then we do a 26, 28, and 30.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, we have a nice category and offering in the stacker market.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: And what are those walls made of?
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: It looks like you can clean them pretty easily.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, what it is.
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: It's an aluminum wall.
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: We put it on screwless.
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: We use some of the same applications we use on the outside, so there's no rivets, no fasteners.
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: It's a nice clean interior, wipes up real easy, and so forth.
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: Some people have been using it as a whiteboard, write your notes on, and so forth, but it's a really nice wall.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Now let me ask you this you know we're down here in Houston, texas, and we've got about three months of about 100-degree heat and you know at the racetrack there is no mercy whatsoever.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Do you air-condition these things?
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: You can get a front-mount air conditioner.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: Stackers are built to the legal height so you have enough height in there.
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: So you can't do a rooftop air conditioner on here.
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: But we do have a front mount air conditioner that gets installed on the front wall and, yeah, you can still blow some significant cool air back here.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Now what about the generator?
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Do you have access to a generator within the trailer, or how does that work?
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we have some cabinet packages that would allow for the inclusion of a generator.
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: We also have that tongue area up there where people are putting generators, and then it also depends on your tow vehicle.
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: Some people are pulling with the big coaches that already have the generator.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what my question was.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you can plug the trailer into the coach trailer and get power from there.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: Yes, or you can bring along your own generator if you want to, and you can have an onboard generator where it'd be installed, like on the tongue, or even just like we have some cabinet packages where you can actually slide in a portable generator or anything like that now, jeff, you told me before we went on the air this morning that you've got another trailer that you wanted to show us yeah, yeah, let's take a look.
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: Um, this is our um stacker trailer, so the one that I'll show you next is actually a toy haul.
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: Now, the toy hauler is the type of a trailer that you would have when you're actually out, you know, relaxing at the track, and you want to be able to stay out at the track, have all of the accommodations from home and so forth.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Jeff, one question to back up on that last one how much is that one that we just left?
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: That one was $95,000 MSRP.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: Okay, all right.
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: Okay, that one was a $95,000 MSRP.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Yep.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: So continue on with the tour.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: So yeah, okay.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: So let me show you this one over here.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, this one is our Play 750.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: It's our 4419 model.
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: It's a fifth model.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: Now we do actually have a Gen Y hitch up here on the front which gives a really even toe up here on the front which gives a really even toe.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: This unit right here comes at $195,000 for the MSRP on this one.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: But it's got living quarters in it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah, it's got beautiful living quarters in there and it's designed for heavy-duty hauling.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: I'll take that one.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Jeff.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Boom.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: If you need somebody to go ahead and demo some of these, you just let me know.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, there you go.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Well, let's go for it.
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's got the generator, it's got the LP systems in it.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: We've got big storage and so forth down here as well.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: What kind of generator do you use?
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: It's an NPS generator, so it's a 6,000-watt generator.
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: It'll run the whole the whole rig so he's yeah, you're, so you're between, you're between those, uh, those, those vehicles there and you need to move away from there because they can't get your signal over here makes atc special is the fact that we do an all aluminum frame and so everything in here is aluminum and this shows kind of what it is that really makes ATC different.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: But yeah, let's go ahead and take a look inside and I'll show you how the inside here all right, yeah, we might lose you well, yeah, well, we may, so you may just have to keep the phone out there on the on the outside.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, look at that.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: So I guess is is the convertible part of the trailer.
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, this is the convertible part.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: So this ramp patio that I was on that'll drop all the way down to the ground.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: You can pull your sports car, your Jeep, whatever you want, in there, and then when you come up here, this is actually a partition wall and this can be moved either to this position or this position, depending on the garage space.
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: Or if you have a big jeep or a big truck or a big car, you can take this completely out and now you've got like 19 feet of actual space and so forth as you go into the rest of the trailer so I could cook my hamburgers and still love my corvette all in one enclosed area.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, you're pulling it exactly.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Well, exactly, the corvettes in the in the hauler.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah yeah, exactly yeah this is.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: This is the kitchen area on the left hand side.
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: There we've got a fridge that's on a slide out, so that'll slide out and give you a nice space up in the front.
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: Um, we've got a little island kitchen here.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: And another thing that makes atc toy haulers different is we don't use any wood in our construction whatsoever.
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: So all of these cabinets are made out of aluminum and we use no wood in the trailer whatsoever.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: So the longevity, the durability, we're really set for generational style quality so I'm going to throw this out there, just because it's a thought that comes to my mind.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, you know what this is the airstream of toy haulers and car haulers yes, exactly I like it yeah, so we got a nice bathroom in here.
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: It's got a glass shower door, a spa fixture and so forth.
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: Um, it's a very generous sized uh bathroom in here, and then up here in the front we'll show you the uh bedroom that's up here.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: It's got a side slide out for the bed so you're actually sleeping, as we say, east to west in the trailer.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: I love it.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a king size bed on this one.
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: And then it's got a monstrous closet up in the front where you've got the mirror, you've got all the hanging rods and different things like that so when you take the wife with you, then you're not, she's not going to be too uncomfortable on the road.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, inconveniences.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Exactly, exactly, yeah, so the whole family can go along and you can be out at the race events, the track, whatever it is, and you can have really comfortable accommodations.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: And really, if you want to bring a car ATC is about the only brand out there that's doing that where you can have these type of accommodations and heavy duty hauling.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: So how many models do you have overall in the ATC lineup?
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: Well, in the car haulers we've probably got, my goodness, maybe 15 or 20 models, but then we offer a lot of options so you can do all kinds of different things that you want.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: In there we do small cargo trailers, and then in the toy hauler line we've got a line of these units right here which are our Play 750, fifth wheels, and then we have Play 550 on the bumper poles, and then we even have a mid-sized Play 450.
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: So lots of options.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: All of that's on our website too, so lots of great stuff that you can check out on our website.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Let me guess Is it ATCcom?
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: Boom, you got it.
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: Atctrailerscom.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: Atctrailerscom.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: Yep ATCTrailers.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess that there's dealers all over the United States and Houston's a big enough market.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I would imagine you've got a dealer or two here.
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we've got dealers that span across the country and so forth.
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: But yeah, we've got a dealer locator.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: You can pop on there, plug in your zip code, your address, and you can find out where the closest dealer is.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: What a great tour.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Jeff, we really appreciate you taking the time.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: And hey, let's touch base.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: When you have a new product and you want to show it off, give us a call, let us know when you're going to be available and we'll get you on.
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: Fantastic.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: Thank you guys very much and I enjoyed doing a little tour with you guys.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: Thank you we appreciate you.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again soon.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: All right, that's the segment, and you can catch the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show 24-7 on inwheeltimecom and the Odyssey Radio app.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: We also video stream our weekly show on Facebook, youtube and InWheelTimecom, and podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider, including SiriusXM.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break.
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  Speaker 1: Loopy Tortilla he's pretty good.
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• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show on this Saturday and we appreciate you hanging along with us.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Time now for Jeff's Motor Minute.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, guys, we're a lighthearted show.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: It's this right here.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: We're a lighthearted show.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: We've got some news to give you that Mr John Cramond, the professor of Mecham Auto, has passed away this past week.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: He's nicknamed the professor because that's what he does.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: He was so in-depth in what he knows and the knowledge that he brought to the folks as well With his generous time.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: He worked hard at the auction experience engaged everyone there.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: If you were a car enthusiast and you were lucky to know him, you would have an in-depth conversation not only about life, music, but about automobiles as well.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: So we're very heartfelt on this.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: His career began in automotive repair.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I didn't know this until recently, but John was a pilot.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: He worked as a.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: He did sales in aircraft as well as automobiles, so he grew up with his father in the business.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: He was also a musician too.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was a musician.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: He fronted a band called Redline 7000, which was based on a Mustang motor that he had in a car.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: But that was the band he fronted and he was self-taught playing guitar.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: So we're going to miss John.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: He was a friend of the show.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we had him on many times, many, many times, especially right before the Mecham auction.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: He was always fun to talk to, absolutely.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: We always ran long in the segments because we didn't want to let him go.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Exactly, super knowledgeable.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: There's a celebration of life for John.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: It'll take place Friday, january 24th, from 4 pm to 7 pm at Fitzgerald Funeral Home in Rockford, illinois.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: That was his hometown, but he actually grew up in California.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: John was 68 years old what a shame, yeah.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: And Colonel St James.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: As I mentioned last week, he also passed away.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: You may remember Colonel St James on well, I remember him at 104 KRBE, but he worked at several stations, including KILT and KLOL.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, we're going to have a little get together with a bunch of radio people tomorrow at the pub down here in the fountains for him.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: All right Time now for this hour's car review.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Had a chance to drive the Kia K4 for 2025.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: It is assembled in Pescaria, mexico.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: What it is Available trim levels include the LX, the LXS, the EX, the GT line, the GT line and we had the EX.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: It's a midsize car.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Four-door seats, five.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: It's all new for 2025.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I really like this thing too.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you said you did.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sleek, modern design with a front fascia that reminds of electric vehicles.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: It's that slick.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I thought it was yeah.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Rear quarter and roofline integration is a bit cumbersome back there by the rear door.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: It also includes the door handle and I guess that's why they kind of made it look kind of funky.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: If you look at it in a faraway picture, I didn't really have a problem with it and I really didn't notice it stand out until I started looking at some of the pictures that we took of it and it was just very different At any rate, horizontal and vertical, and vertical rear lighting, horizontal and vertical.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Now, each trim gets its own wheel design, but I liked about it.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: The overall design gets high marks in my mind.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: That rear roof integration that I didn't notice until I started looking at some pictures of it.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Interior highlights 12.3-inch infotainment screen with Android and Apple connections.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Single screen integrates the instrument and infotainment center.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: So it's all one great big screen up there.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: It is really cool.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Linear HVAC vents in one smooth dash design.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Seating is comfortable with nice materials, interesting fabric choice too.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: It's something that you're going to go really.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: Huh, that works.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Cargo trunk room is small because this is a small vehicle.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: They call it a midsize, but trust me, it's small.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: The slick design.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Huh, that works.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Cargo trunk room is small because this is a small vehicle.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: They call it a midsize, but trust me, it's small.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: The slick design.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: We could use improvement.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: The seat covering design could be a little bit more attractive through some piping or some little zing to it.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a little ching, a little bling.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Engine is a 2.0 liter four-cylinder engine 147 horsepower, 132 pound-feet of torque.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: You think, oh, that's not enough power for me.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: The idea is it's got a CVT transmission.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Here's the fun part 29 miles per gallon in the city, 39 on the highway For a combined of 33, I got 35 miles per gallon with this thing over 295.2 miles.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: The mileage, obviously.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Not a thing.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Mileage and power is a good combo for this car.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what's even better the price.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Ride and handling.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Nice with an independent rear suspension.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: What could use improvement?
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I just wrote down here leave it alone, don't touch it.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: It's perfect, don't touch it, okay.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Base trim price on my vehicle, which I told you was an EX, is $23,990.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Price is tested $25,320.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: Price is tested 25 320 base model price drum roll 23 21 990, 21 990.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: That counts against my score.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: That does count against your score.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does anyway.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Uh, competitors, well, can't beat the price, man.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Uh, honda civic starts at 24, 250 the toy for $22,175, if you can find one with a base model, hyundai Elantra is $22,025.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I really did like this car.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Kia and Hyundai are winning me over in several fronts and this is one of them.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: This is a non-turbocharged four-cylinder engine that gets that kind of mileage.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I'm all in.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, even if it's not a first car for you, if it's a second car or a driver back and forth to work, how do you beat that?
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: And you don't have to worry about plugging it in somewhere Exactly.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: And we're going to get into the plug-in vehicles and the electrics here in a little while during the show.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: But I tell you what EV sales are going down A little bit.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know they're sitting on the lots and they're trying to move them, but it's a little difficult because they're a little bit pricey.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Anyway, that's my review of the 2025 Kia K4.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Very good?
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: I don't know, so is this something, maybe for you as a second car later on, because I know you want to keep the Vette, but you don't want to keep the Vette.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: You want to work on the Vette.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: You want to keep the Vette.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: You're a little indecisive on that.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: So would this be something that you would go to?
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Possibly, especially if I had to commute, because it's an easy commute car.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: It rides great, it gets good gas mileage, it's quiet.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, going back and forth to work, and if I put a lot of miles, I got a friend of mine that puts 60 miles a day one way back and forth to work, commuting.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: He drives a Dodge Challenger with a Hemi motor.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Oh boy, this would beat it by three times as far as gas mileage is concerned.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: How do you?
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: How do you?
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: How do you say no, I don't want that, I'm all into that well, that's, that's the thing.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: It took me a long time to teach my son that you can have your toys, but you got to have something to get to work to pay for them toys.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: So, like jeff was talking about, you want the corvette but you need a commuter car to save the wear and tear on the Corvette and drive it because it's special.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, we have some friends of ours that have growing children.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: That won't be too long.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at Rochelle Salinas right now.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: That won't be too long and they're going to start paying for college education.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, so what are you going to do for them when they get there?
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, public transportation depends on where?
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Where?
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: And you know they're going to want a car Now, do you want?
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: to buy.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: They're going to need a car.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Well, sooner or later, somebody's going to need a car and we want them to come home when they want to come home.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: We want them to be safe and we don't want a car that's in the shop all the time broken down, don't want a car that's in the shop all the time broken down, and so you want to give them something, especially what I had two girls.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: So you know you don't want to leave them stranded on the highway and I think that's something to consider, certainly with you know warranties and that sort of thing, and they're reliable and they get great gas mileage.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: And while that's something I would definitely have to consider, you know, when Katie went off to college, I had already bought her.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: When she turned 16, I bought her a 2007 Ford Focus two-door crank windows At least it had air conditioning, and it didn't have the heater delete or the radio delete.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: So it had radio and, you know, nice air conditioning in it.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: It was a five-speed manual transmission, so I got it cheap.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: She still has that car.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: She's about to turn 32 years old.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Dad, I'm not selling the car.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: I can't get anything for it.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Anyway, I'm going to keep my car.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: I love my car.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: She's very right about that.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: She's not going to get anything for it.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, all right.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: The address is info at inwheeltimecom Rochelle, with the Houston Auto Show, is coming up right after this quick break.
• 26:42
  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.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier retail and service corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 27:25
  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.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: From the open roads to the open waters.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Your adventure starts at the Houston Auto Boat Show at NRG Center.
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: One ticket, two shows.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: Check out top cars, trucks, sport boats, fishing boats and more New designs, new technology and everything in between Spectacular experiences, amazing fun.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: There's something for everyone.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: Get your friends, get your family and get your tickets now.
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: The Houston Auto-Botive Show making waves and fueling adventures.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.