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Hybrids Beat EVs When Real Life Gets Involved · In Wheel Time Podcast

0:05
Don Armstrong: And welcome to the Inwheel Time Car Talk Show.
0:08
Don Armstrong: Just ahead.
0:08
Don Armstrong: The guy that knows everything about cars, the famous left coast lover Jack Nierad.
0:16
Don Armstrong: Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars, plus this week's top automotive news stories.
0:20
Don Armstrong: We've got some good ones for you today.
0:22
Don Armstrong: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, Mars, we always need more Jeff Zeke.
0:26
Don Armstrong: David Ainsley is uh taking a day off, kind of.
0:29
Don Armstrong: He's monitoring us.
0:31
Don Armstrong: Yes, he is ready to point out all any and all mistakes.
0:35
Don Armstrong: He is.
0:36
Don Armstrong: Any day that ends in a Y, he takes off.
0:38
Don Armstrong: Yeah.
0:40
Don Armstrong: Have you got any nasty remarks yet, Mars?
0:43
Mike Marrs: Oh, yeah.
0:44
Mike Marrs: I've been off screen kind of doing some checking on some stuff.
0:48
Mike Marrs: He's throwing our way.
0:49
Don Armstrong: Oh, great.
0:50
Don Armstrong: Well, there's that.
0:52
Don Armstrong: Is Jack with us yet?
0:53
Mike Marrs: Yes, sir.
0:54
Don Armstrong: Oh, okay, good.
0:55
Don Armstrong: Well, I've got a little story here before we get to him.
0:58
Don Armstrong: California new car buyers bought more hybrids than fully electric vehicles in the first half of this year, breaking a four-year EV lead and giving dealers a boost over direct sales brands.
1:11
Don Armstrong: Tesla.
1:12
Don Armstrong: New data shows.
1:13
Don Armstrong: Hybrids made up nearly a quarter of California's new vehicle registrations, while EVs accounted for 16%, according to data from California New Car Dealers Association.
1:25
Don Armstrong: While California remains the nation's largest EV market, some analysts see hybrids outpacing EVs in coming years as Toyota Honda and other brands expand their gasoline electric combo lineups.
1:37
Don Armstrong: State shift from EVs is part of a broader U.S.
1:40
Don Armstrong: trend following the September 30th repeal of the federal EV tax credit.
1:46
Don Armstrong: Ladies and gentlemen, here he is, America on the road, founder, host, and R, Carr Karnak the Great, Jack Nierad.
1:54
SPEAKER_03: Yay.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: So good to be with you.
1:57
SPEAKER_03: I've learned so much already.
2:00
Don Armstrong: About yourself.
2:02
Don Armstrong: You always tell us good things.
2:04
Don Armstrong: So uh I just thought I'd throw that in there because Mr.
2:08
Don Armstrong: California here.
2:09
Don Armstrong: Uh Jack just got off the beach, and uh and and you look fabulous.
2:14
Don Armstrong: The tan is fantastic, and you're I know that your wallet is a little lighter because of the price of gasoline out there.
2:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely true.
2:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's still well over five dollars out here, and uh maybe that's why people are buying so many hybrids.
2:28
SPEAKER_03: I think they're buying a lot of hybrids too, because uh there's many more to choose from, right?
2:33
SPEAKER_03: I mean, a lot of Toyotas are hybrid only.
2:36
Don Armstrong: Yeah, and that's what I kind of wanted to focus our attention on.
2:39
Don Armstrong: And if you've got something that you wanted to throw in there, be feel free to do that at any time, Jack.
2:44
Don Armstrong: But my daughter uh is uh coming up on an end-of-lease thing with a Nissan rogue that she loved, uh, but she's ready to move on.
2:53
Don Armstrong: And I told her, I said, I think, because she drives a lot and she takes lots of road trips to uh on business uh to Austin, San Antonio, sometimes to Dallas.
3:04
Don Armstrong: And I said, I think that your best bet would be a hybrid.
3:09
Don Armstrong: I just got out of a Hyundai Alantra hybrid that got 47, four seven miles per gallon in the week that I had it.
3:20
Don Armstrong: Jack, who who would have ever dreamt of something like that uh five years ago?
3:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's crazy, huh?
3:27
SPEAKER_03: We were testing, and uh, we'll talk about it on our show coming up, uh, the Kiotelluride, uh, the new high uh Kiotelluride hybrids.
3:36
SPEAKER_03: Right.
3:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:36
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's got something like 600 miles of range with a full tank of gas because of the the great mileage that it gets, something in the 40s, I think, or close to 40, with a boy, a big three-row SUV like that, it's kind of crazy.
3:49
SPEAKER_03: But uh 40 miles in a big three-row.
3:52
Don Armstrong: That's hard to believe.
3:53
Don Armstrong: But uh that they're out there.
3:55
Don Armstrong: And I don't, I guess if you're really into cars and you do what you're supposed to do and do your homework when you're selecting a car to buy, that you would probably at least run across something that will tell you that they're out there.
4:08
Don Armstrong: Um, so that's one that you have driven lately.
4:12
Don Armstrong: Is there something that you haven't driven that you're looking forward to?
4:15
SPEAKER_03: Uh, there's so many of them.
4:17
SPEAKER_03: I haven't driven very many General Motors cars uh in a long time, and I'm about to to drive like the new Escalade, the Escalade ED, all of those vehicles are uh would be fairly new to me because I haven't been in them in a while.
4:30
SPEAKER_03: So I'm pretty excited about driving that kind of thing.
4:32
Don Armstrong: Well, I'm you know, the the the way that this whole thing has evolved with EVs, and let's face it, I mean uh the hybrids I'm seeing, I'm I'm meant to say, is that the if I'm not mistaken, it was the Toyota Prius that really kind of started that whole thing.
4:46
Don Armstrong: And back in the day, and I guess still there are some folks that make fun of them, but the car actually looks pretty darn good, and it's still with the same basic technology that they had, what, 20 years ago, Jack?
4:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, in a lot of ways.
5:00
SPEAKER_03: And uh the funny thing about the Prius, too, is as it's gotten better looking, it's gotten less popular.
5:06
SPEAKER_03: You see fewer of them.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and I I think the new one is very good looking.
5:10
SPEAKER_03: But I think there's so many hybrid choices now, and Toyota gives its buyers a lot of hybrid choices, that's certain.
5:17
SPEAKER_03: Uh maybe there's no no great reason to go, oh, I'm gonna get the Prius versus say a hybrid version of the RAV 4 or something like that.
5:24
Mike Marrs: Yeah, many more choices.
5:26
Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, I say that because Laura today is actually looking at a Toyota, she's looking at a RAV4.
5:30
Don Armstrong: Well, I'll and I that that was gonna be my point that I was gonna make is that if I think if I were going to look for a hybrid, I think that I would look at Toyota first only because they have had a lot of success and an innovator really of the hybrid process.
5:46
Don Armstrong: And I you never hear of a recall of uh a Prius, you just don't do it.
5:52
Don Armstrong: And um, I think that they've got a lot going for them.
5:55
Don Armstrong: As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, Jack, that that whole technology has been coined and used by other uh manufacturers.
6:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretty much almost licensed by Toyota.
6:07
SPEAKER_03: And I I think the uh you know Ford and Chevrolet, for example, for you know, the the big American brands are kind of being left out in the cold in this hybrid thing.
6:17
SPEAKER_03: I mean they've gone uh heavily electric, you know, certainly General Motors has.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but this middle ground of hybrid makes a lot of just a lot of sense for so many people.
6:27
SPEAKER_03: You don't have to change your lifestyle at all.
6:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you just get better fuel economy.
6:31
Don Armstrong: You don't have to plug it in, you don't have to worry about finding a charging station.
6:35
Don Armstrong: And, you know, when my my daughter takes these trips for her business, there are times that she will be on the road when it's dark.
6:43
Don Armstrong: I don't want her going to some charging station after dark.
6:46
Don Armstrong: Now she's a grown woman and knows how to take care of herself, but still, why put yourself in an uh awkward position, possibly?
6:54
SPEAKER_03: I I've always found it weird that these electric charging stations are unmanned.
6:58
SPEAKER_03: There's nobody, you know, they're just kind of out there somewhere.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that's one of the reasons I think so many of them are out of service all the time.
7:06
SPEAKER_03: And we we continue to see that.
7:08
Don Armstrong: Well, one of the things that uh, you know, that I think it's a misconception, uh, that depending on the vehicle, of course, you know, these hybrids, at least the one that, for instance, that that uh Hyundai that I drove, it's thirty thousand dollars and it was a loaded up one that gets 47 miles per gallon.
7:27
Don Armstrong: That's affordable.
7:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely true.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: Uh I I you have to do the math on hybrids a lot, and maybe the plug-in hybrids are not the way to go because the premium is so high.
7:38
SPEAKER_03: But the typical hybrid, um, you know, the payback period is pretty quick.
7:42
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it makes a lot of sense.
7:44
SPEAKER_03: And uh with a lot of these, there's nothing other than a hybrid.
7:48
Mike Marrs: Yeah, well, I go ahead, Mike.
7:50
Mike Marrs: So so in in my situation, my wife, she averages less than 10,000 miles a year on her car.
7:56
Mike Marrs: I mean, it's the reason she's still driving a 12-year-old car.
7:58
Mike Marrs: But if I've I've talked to her about a hybrid for kind of the opposite reason that Don's talking about, she would drive mainly on the battery with the type of running she does.
8:07
Mike Marrs: She doesn't get more than five or six miles from home uh normally.
8:11
Mike Marrs: But and if she does, then she's got the gas powered, obviously.
8:14
Mike Marrs: But she could I could see her literally having to put some sort of fuel additive because the gas doesn't get burnt quick enough.
8:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, if she were in a plug-in hybrid uh with enough range to get her back and forth.
8:27
Mike Marrs: Well, I wouldn't put her in the plug-in, I'd put her in in a in a regular one.
8:30
Mike Marrs: I just the plug-in.
8:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, if you're in a in a regular one, Mike, you're probably going to be using the gasoline engine pretty s significantly.
8:36
SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, I a lot of people would not be on electric power for very very long in a uh typical hybrid.
8:44
Don Armstrong: Well, and to that point, I did drive a plug-in hybrid.
8:47
Don Armstrong: I don't get too many of them, and I don't recall what exactly what it was, and it it took almost the entire battery charge for me to go 40 miles from home to work.
9:00
Don Armstrong: And you know, I can see where some people, not very many, but some people that would be okay.
9:08
Don Armstrong: But the cost it wasn't much uh more than or uh than than a regular EV, which is expensive.
9:18
Don Armstrong: Right.
9:18
Don Armstrong: And I just didn't understand why you would limit yourself to double down on it.
9:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
9:23
SPEAKER_03: I uh that's why I think plug-in hybrids uh are not going to um be very popular out there.
9:29
Mike Marrs: The plus the premium for the big battery is is such right yeah, but plus like Don driving it 40 miles to work, you gotta have a place there to plug it in to get home.
9:39
Mike Marrs: Right, right.
9:40
Mike Marrs: Well, if you're gonna be able to get it.
9:42
Mike Marrs: Well, you're gonna be on the gas, yeah.
9:43
Mike Marrs: Right.
9:44
Don Armstrong: Yeah, and and I will say that you know, it did work for what it was, but unless you're just a church and grocery store getter, then that I just don't uh it doesn't make sense to me because the price of the hybrids these days are in that area, and that's what I would have.
10:01
Don Armstrong: Not limited.
10:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely true.
10:04
Don Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
10:05
Don Armstrong: So uh what have you driven lately that excites you?
10:08
SPEAKER_03: Uh I've driven the new Kia Seltos, the 2027 Kia Celtos.
10:13
SPEAKER_03: As a matter of fact, I just reviewed it.
10:14
SPEAKER_03: I have a new substack now.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: I'm excited about it.
10:17
SPEAKER_03: It's called Jack Arnie Red Cars, Crime, and Curveballs, uh, which are are my three uh kind of loves.
10:25
SPEAKER_03: I love cars.
10:26
SPEAKER_03: I write about crime a lot, and I love baseball.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: I'm writing about all of those things.
10:31
SPEAKER_03: But um the Celtos is brand new for 2027, and it is kind of a mini telluride.
10:38
SPEAKER_03: It is a really good vehicle.
10:41
SPEAKER_03: Um interestingly enough, the one I tested, and this is a subcompact SUV, a two-row, five-passenger subcompact, was$37,000.
10:52
SPEAKER_03: So this was fully loaded with a turbocharged engine and all of that.
10:56
SPEAKER_03: You can get one though, it starts at under$25,000.
11:00
SPEAKER_03: And I would say toward the lower end of the price range, there is the sweet spot for the Celtos.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: Nice vehicle though, and much larger than before, much more substantial.
11:11
Don Armstrong: And let while you're speaking of a turbocharged four-cylinder, I have had several in the past few months that have terrible turbo lag.
11:26
Don Armstrong: And in a big city, and you know you're living in an LA area, you can't afford to have turbo lag.
11:33
Don Armstrong: You will get yourself killed by doing that because I'm ready for the power when I kind of squirt across the intersection, and the turbo lag just does not work for me.
11:43
Don Armstrong: And I don't understand.
11:45
Don Armstrong: There are some manufacturers that have it down pat.
11:49
Don Armstrong: There's no turbo lag.
11:50
Don Armstrong: The car behaves like a real, honest to God, straight gasoline engine.
11:56
Don Armstrong: You step on the accelerator and it goes.
11:58
Don Armstrong: But there are some manufacturers out there, you step on the accelerator and it's got to think about it.
12:02
Don Armstrong: Or has to downshift and then it goes through this whole rigmarole four seconds later and you finally get the power.
12:09
Don Armstrong: You've driven them.
12:09
Don Armstrong: I know you have.
12:10
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
12:11
SPEAKER_03: I've driven so many of them, and we we talk about it on our show too.
12:15
SPEAKER_03: I mean, uh, this is the result of regulations, right?
12:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, there would not be these complicated turbo engines across these broad-based um segments if it weren't for the fuel economy regulations that are now not in effect.
12:30
SPEAKER_03: You know, they they built these to meet these crazy fuel economy regulations that they used to have uh that have gone away because they were virtually impossible to make, but we're still stuck with these engines.
12:43
SPEAKER_03: I think stuck with these engines is is the right term because uh, you know, I'd much rather have a normally aspirated four-cylinder engine, maybe a little less power, but I certainly more reliable, maybe better fuel economy, could well be better fuel economy.
12:58
SPEAKER_03: Um less maintenance.
13:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, less maintenance.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
13:03
SPEAKER_03: I think when these things are uh five, six years, seven years old, finding mechanics who are going to uh you know, an independent mechanic who's gonna work on all these turbocharged engines is I think gonna be pretty difficult.
13:16
SPEAKER_03: And it's gonna be expensive for sure.
13:18
Don Armstrong: And you know, you we talk about uh you know the the cafe regulations, but there's also the whole point system that these manufacturers have to meet, and you know, these uh premiums that you have to pay for these big high horsepower engines that don't get any mileage.
13:34
Don Armstrong: You know, my old 25-year-old Corvette, Corvette, mind you, with a standard V8 engine in it, an LS1.
13:43
Don Armstrong: If I get on the highway with it, 30 miles per gallon, 30 in a Corvette.
13:48
Don Armstrong: I get 31 weekly on mine.
13:49
Don Armstrong: Yeah, and Jeff's new uh Buick that he drives, 31 miles per gallon.
13:54
SPEAKER_03: They're not working hard, right?
13:55
Don Armstrong: I mean idling down the road is what they're doing.
13:59
Don Armstrong: And you know, they can make up for the power loss through the transmission if they put the right transmission in it, in my estimation, anyway.
14:06
SPEAKER_03: Right.
14:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely right.
14:07
Don Armstrong: Well, uh, have you gone on any good road trips with your with you know, going and you know, checking out brand new cars?
14:15
Don Armstrong: I mean, have you have you gone to New Zealand to drive anything?
14:18
SPEAKER_03: I wish I had.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: I'd love to get to New Zealand.
14:20
SPEAKER_03: I I've been to Australia, but never New Zealand, so that would be terrific.
14:23
SPEAKER_03: I drove a Corvette.
14:24
SPEAKER_03: Speaking of Corvettes, I drove a Corvette all the way across the uh Australian continent uh for Motor Trend back in the day, so that was a blast.
14:32
SPEAKER_03: Really?
14:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:33
SPEAKER_03: So that's when the America's Cup was being uh contested in Perth, Australia.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: And so we got uh it was called America's Car to America's Cup, and we drove across the continent to do that.
14:45
SPEAKER_03: It was it was a blast.
14:47
Don Armstrong: You know, you'd mentioned the fact that uh you haven't had many GM cars, and you know I haven't either, and I think that it it goes to say that they're not holding a whole lot of hope out for us uh uh journalists and getting us the cars.
15:01
Don Armstrong: And to me, my sales pitch is always hey, you're getting free advertising by by letting us journalists because we're gonna write an article about your car.
15:12
Don Armstrong: You can't buy that.
15:14
Don Armstrong: You're not gonna buy me and my opinion on it, and same thing for you, right?
15:18
Don Armstrong: So why not why not bump up the goose up the uh press fleet?
15:22
Don Armstrong: I could be bought.
15:23
Don Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
15:25
SPEAKER_03: You know, I I agree with you totally, and I think uh Tesla is probably the master of that, right?
15:30
SPEAKER_03: I mean, keeping Tesla out of uh journalists' hands has been uh their uh gambit from the beginning, and and I'm not sure why.
15:39
SPEAKER_03: Uh especially when Tesla was new, I think they they really needed that.
15:43
SPEAKER_03: But uh it's interesting to me um what cars we can get and what cars we can't, and I think if the manufacturer is is really uh proud of the vehicles and is confident in the vehicles that they're building and think that there's a market for them, they're gonna put them into our hands and we're gonna be able to test them.
16:02
Mike Marrs: You know, you mentioned Tesla Jack back in the day.
16:06
Mike Marrs: They did send some out to some of the regional press associations events.
16:11
Mike Marrs: And and the two that I saw at the Texas events, the Texas Autorider Association, right?
16:17
Mike Marrs: They didn't make it through the weekend.
16:18
Mike Marrs: They had to tow them off.
16:20
Mike Marrs: We never saw any more after that.
16:22
Mike Marrs: Yeah, well, maybe that's why maybe they learned very early.
16:25
Don Armstrong: Because of the charge system, that one of them was the Gold Wing doors.
16:28
Mike Marrs: They opened up and they couldn't close them.
16:30
Don Armstrong: Ah, well, there's that.
16:32
Don Armstrong: Yeah, they always take a chance on that, and especially when it comes to the pre-production vehicles, and we've run into some problems like that in the pre-production, but they stayed up front.
16:42
Don Armstrong: This is a pre-production vehicle, so you take that into consideration.
16:46
Don Armstrong: Well, Jack, it's always great to talk to you.
16:49
Don Armstrong: Tell us what you got coming up on America on the road this week.
16:52
SPEAKER_03: We're going to be talking about um all those regulations that you talked about in California.
16:58
SPEAKER_03: What's interesting is uh they're now talking about a road use tax in California because of the electric vehicles not paying gas tax, right?
17:06
SPEAKER_03: We have the highest gas tax, I think, in the country or one of them.
17:10
SPEAKER_03: Uh but now that so many vehicles are electric here and the hybrids you talked about, uh people aren't using as much gas, so they're not paying as much gas tax.
17:19
SPEAKER_03: So now we have to figure out another way uh to tax people.
17:23
Mike Marrs: What we did in Texas, the EVs pay uh when they go get their license plates renewal, they pay a considerably higher fee, like almost twice of what a nice vehicle would pay.
17:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think compensate for that.
17:34
SPEAKER_03: I think we're gonna see that and and much, much more.
17:37
Don Armstrong: Well, I'm waiting for you to say, Don, guess what?
17:39
Don Armstrong: We're moving the home base of America on the road to Texas.
17:43
SPEAKER_03: Um it's not gonna happen, I don't think.
17:46
SPEAKER_03: But I do have two daughters in Texas, and uh, one of my daughters gets to Houston all the time.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: She uh works for uh a company that services a lot of the oil businesses, and so she gets down to Houston from Dallas uh oh, probably two or three times a month.
18:01
SPEAKER_03: Grandkids, Jack?
18:02
SPEAKER_03: No grandkids yet.
18:03
Mike Marrs: I said I wasn't moving either, but that third grandchild, I moved.
18:07
SPEAKER_03: Well, I know my my wife is looking at that as um, well, that might get us to into Texas, but uh, we'll see about that.
18:15
Don Armstrong: Well, we'll well, don't move anytime soon because we love ribbing you about living out in California and those uh high high gas prices and all the things Mr.
18:24
Don Armstrong: California Jack Nierad has to offer.
18:26
Don Armstrong: We appreciate you, brother.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we appreciate you.
18:30
SPEAKER_03: Love to talk to all three of you.
18:31
SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much.
18:32
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Jeff.
18:32
Don Armstrong: Thank you.
18:33
Don Armstrong: Talk to you soon.
18:33
Don Armstrong: Jack Nirad, America on the road.
18:35
Don Armstrong: Check it out.
18:36
Don Armstrong: Coming up, Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars, and I'll have the stories making automotive news headlines.
18:40
Don Armstrong: The in-wheel time car talk show continues after this 90-second break.
18:43
Don Armstrong: Stay with us.
18:45
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Don Armstrong: Loopy tortilla.
19:45
Don Armstrong: The NWL Time Car Talk Show thanks you for 15 wonderful years.
19:50
Don Armstrong: Yep, our first show aired May 7th, 2011, on the local radio station.
19:53
Don Armstrong: Then it was a move to the digital world and social media, and you followed.
19:57
Don Armstrong: Thank you.
19:58
Don Armstrong: We continue to build and grow our fan base, and it's all because of you and your auto enthusiast friends.
20:02
Don Armstrong: We appreciate your support.
20:04
Don Armstrong: It's always great to see you at our remote broadcast, too, and we hope you'll continue to stop by and say hello.
20:09
Don Armstrong: It's been a great ride, and we hope to bring you more fun and adventure right here on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
20:16
Don Armstrong: Be sure and join us for our live show every week, In Wheel Time Air Saturdays.
20:20
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20:23
Don Armstrong: And of course, if you miss it, you can catch 30-minute podcasts from this show at your favorite podcast store.
20:28
Don Armstrong: Thanks for joining us today.
20:29
Don Armstrong: Timeout for the cruise in and events calendars, Jeffrey.
20:31
Jeff Dziekan: Here we go.
20:32
Jeff Dziekan: We got one today.
20:33
Jeff Dziekan: It is going from uh 6 p.m.
20:35
Jeff Dziekan: till whenever it closes down.
20:36
Jeff Dziekan: It's the East Side Ride Saturday Night Cruise In.
20:38
Jeff Dziekan: It's in Baytown, Texas, Michael, and the entry fee is free.
20:42
Jeff Dziekan: Then you've got one for tomorrow.
20:44
Jeff Dziekan: It's JJ Swap Meet and Car Show.
20:46
Jeff Dziekan: It's in Rosenberg, Texas, not far from here.
20:49
Jeff Dziekan: It's an open car show and swap meet.
20:50
Jeff Dziekan: Entry fee if you want to show your car.
20:52
Jeff Dziekan: It's 20 bucks.
20:53
Jeff Dziekan: Another one tomorrow, 6 a.m.
20:55
Jeff Dziekan: to 10.
20:55
Jeff Dziekan: It's in the woodlands.
20:56
Jeff Dziekan: It's Cars and Coffee for a Cause.
20:58
Jeff Dziekan: It's at 95956 Pines in Woodlands.
21:02
Jeff Dziekan: I think that's up over there by Cynthia Woods.
21:04
Jeff Dziekan: It's an open cruising.
21:05
Jeff Dziekan: Entry is a donation.
21:07
Jeff Dziekan: So be generous at your donation.
21:09
Jeff Dziekan: I got another one for tomorrow.
21:10
Jeff Dziekan: 10 a.m.
21:11
Jeff Dziekan: to whenever.
21:11
Jeff Dziekan: It's torqued Saturdays.
21:13
Jeff Dziekan: Torqued Sundays, I'm sorry.
21:14
Jeff Dziekan: Today is Saturday.
21:15
Jeff Dziekan: It's at Nose Cafe.
21:16
Jeff Dziekan: Torqued.
21:17
Jeff Dziekan: Torqued.
21:17
Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
21:18
Jeff Dziekan: Springs Tubana Road in Spring, Texas.
21:20
Jeff Dziekan: And the entry fee is free, so be generous with free.
21:24
Jeff Dziekan: 8 a.m.
21:25
Jeff Dziekan: to 11 p.m.
21:26
Jeff Dziekan: tomorrow.
21:26
Jeff Dziekan: Coffee, cars, and donuts in Whitehall Cafe.
21:29
Jeff Dziekan: It's in Navasota.
21:30
Jeff Dziekan: So that's a nice little cruise going on up there.
21:32
Jeff Dziekan: Go towards College Station and all that stuff.
21:33
Jeff Dziekan: Be a nice little road course.
21:35
Jeff Dziekan: Tomorrow, also 9 a.m.
21:36
Jeff Dziekan: to whenever.
21:38
Jeff Dziekan: Corvette meet at 8715 Spring Cypress Road in Spring, Texas.
21:42
Jeff Dziekan: It's Corvettes only.
21:44
Jeff Dziekan: Dang it.
21:44
Jeff Dziekan: So the entry fee is free.
21:46
Jeff Dziekan: So don't bring your Ford.
21:47
Jeff Dziekan: It's only Corvettes.
21:49
Jeff Dziekan: Another one tomorrow, 6 p.m.
21:50
Jeff Dziekan: to whenever.
21:51
Jeff Dziekan: Car meet up at D and M True Value.
21:54
Jeff Dziekan: Gotta mention True Value in Willis.
21:56
Jeff Dziekan: So go on out there.
21:57
Jeff Dziekan: What you're talking about, Willis?
22:00
Don Armstrong: All right, some of the uh stories making headlines this week.
22:02
Don Armstrong: It uh you know it's funny because I don't hear a whole lot about it.
22:06
Don Armstrong: It not since it happened.
22:08
Don Armstrong: You know, there was a huge earthquake in uh in uh Japan.
22:12
Don Armstrong: Yeah.
22:13
Don Armstrong: Well, that deadly earthquake sent more automotive factories offline July 31st yesterday, with Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu suspending output after the disaster disrupted key suppliers, including ASIN and Renesis.
22:33
Don Armstrong: Uh the shutdown will extend into the first week of August, likely erasing output of more than 10,000 vehicles.
22:40
Don Armstrong: Automakers have not provided clear timelines for resuming work at affected sites.
22:44
Don Armstrong: Impacted nameplates may include trucks and crossovers shipped to the United States, including the popular Toyota Forerunner and Infinity QX80 SUVs and the Lexus NX and the Nissan Rogue crossovers.
22:57
Don Armstrong: Toyota added its important tahara truck and Lexus assembly plant to the list.
23:02
Don Armstrong: That plant in central Japan, far from the quake zone, assembles Lexus GX SUVs, which I'm driving this week, and I'll tell you about it next.
23:11
Don Armstrong: LS and IS sedans and LM luxury vans.
23:14
Don Armstrong: It also produces the Land Cruiser 250 SUV forerunner as well as the Century and Engines.
23:20
Don Armstrong: It will be idled for the week of next week, August 3rd through the 7th.
23:25
Don Armstrong: Toyota on July 31st also extended temporary shutdowns at three plants on the southwestern island of Kiyushu.
23:31
Don Armstrong: That was the center of the earthquake, the affected factories at the Miata assembly plant for Lexus, the Kanda engine plant, and the Kakura hybrid powertrain plant.
23:43
Don Armstrong: Those sites will remain idle through at least the second shift of August 5th.
23:48
Don Armstrong: Miata makes the Sedan UXRX and NX crossovers with about 90% of output.
23:55
Don Armstrong: It exported.
23:56
Jeff Dziekan: You talked about the center of the earthquake.
23:58
Jeff Dziekan: Actually, I saw a report on that.
24:00
Jeff Dziekan: I've got a DK channel on some obscure channels flipping through, and they actually showed some of the devastation.
24:05
Jeff Dziekan: The island that that epicenter happened, it's actually an island south of Japan, right?
24:10
Jeff Dziekan: By just a little bit of a waterway.
24:12
Jeff Dziekan: But uh it's a big island and uh devastation.
24:14
Jeff Dziekan: I mean, roads are absolutely gone on that whole place.
24:18
Don Armstrong: Well, I've got some good news.
24:19
Don Armstrong: Okay.
24:20
Don Armstrong: The Gordy Howe International Bridge is open to mortarists after months of controversy over financial aspects of the project, of course.
24:29
Don Armstrong: Officials announced in a post on social media that the Howe family crossed first in honor of the bridge's Canadian American hockey namesake, Gordy Howe.
24:38
Don Armstrong: Minutes later, another post marked the crossing of the first commercial truck, a vehicle from a trucking company in Tecumseh, Ontario, that is carrying auto parts to Michigan.
24:49
Don Armstrong: And of course, let's not forget the fact that the uh folks that are involved in the union up there uh with the transportation union, they've said don't use it.
25:03
Don Armstrong: And the reason being is because they're charging more to go over that bridge than the old bridge, the ambassador bridge.
25:10
Don Armstrong: And so they want you to use the ambassador bridge.
25:11
Jeff Dziekan: There's also a tunnel.
25:12
Jeff Dziekan: Is there a tunnel?
25:14
Jeff Dziekan: There's a tunnel, too.
25:14
Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
25:15
Jeff Dziekan: Well, you would know.
25:16
Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
25:16
Jeff Dziekan: Have you been through the tunnel?
25:17
Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, been through the years and years ago.
25:18
Jeff Dziekan: I've been tunnel, bridge, all that.
25:21
Jeff Dziekan: Just not the Gory Howe.
25:22
Jeff Dziekan: So don't be a hoser.
25:23
Jeff Dziekan: Oh, yeah.
25:24
Jeff Dziekan: Don't be a hoser.
25:26
Don Armstrong: Go across the bridge.
25:27
Don Armstrong: Waymo.
25:28
Don Armstrong: Waymo is exploring its exit robotaxi partnership with Uber, the latest relationship twist between two companies that have functioned as both rivals and partners, as bizarre as that may seem.
25:43
Don Armstrong: Uber currently offers rides in autonomous Waymo vehicles on its platform exclusively in two U.S.
25:48
Don Armstrong: cities, Austin and Atlanta.
25:50
Don Armstrong: After ending a more limited partnership in Phoenix last month, an Uber spokesperson said that Waymo has given notice that it plans to launch service through its own app in those cities in January of 28, alongside their existing deployment with Uber.
26:05
Don Armstrong: This would end Waymo's exclusivity in Austin and Atlanta and allow us, quote unquote, to launch with other A V providers in those cities, which we will be prepared to do, the spokesperson added.
26:21
unknown: Okay.
26:22
Don Armstrong: Have you been in a Waymo?
26:24
Don Armstrong: Have you been in a driverless vehicle yet?
26:26
Jeff Dziekan: To see them on TV.
26:27
Jeff Dziekan: I've never seen one live in color.
26:29
Don Armstrong: Well, I've got another story coming up about a new one that's not going to have a steering wheel.
26:34
Don Armstrong: Okay.
26:35
Don Armstrong: And it's already been approved.
26:36
Don Armstrong: You know what?
26:36
Don Armstrong: I bet you won't have passengers either.
26:38
Don Armstrong: Probably not.
26:39
Jeff Dziekan: I don't know why they wouldn't have me was one.
26:42
Don Armstrong: And Ford Motor Company and Aramark.
26:46
Don Armstrong: The managers, the the manages self-service payment kiosks at its factory snack bars, are reviewing multiple cases of workers now who say they were terminated over technological glitches.
26:57
Don Armstrong: The reviews come after Kentucky truck plant electrician Kurt Crom said Ford fired him because Aramark accused him of stealing a$1.95 chocolate chip cookie, even though the bank records show that he paid.
27:10
Don Armstrong: At least three workers at the Automakers Michigan Assembly Plant were let go over similar allegations and then reinstated after being cleared.
27:19
Don Armstrong: Sounds like another company that I know.
27:21
Don Armstrong: They blame you and they fire you.
27:23
Don Armstrong: And then they go, Now what did you do?
27:26
Don Armstrong: Another worker at the plant, Nick Nabozni.
27:31
Don Armstrong: Nick Nabozni is fighting for his job back after a kiosk failed to process a debit card payment of less than eight dollars for Doritos and Rich Crackers.
27:40
Don Armstrong: There was no talking to me, no review.
27:43
Don Armstrong: No, you're a great employee, been here for nine years.
27:46
Don Armstrong: Was it a mistake?
27:47
Don Armstrong: Nabosny told the free press, no immediate termination yet.
27:52
Don Armstrong: Ford, in a statement to Automotive News, said it's reviewing limited instances where Eramark kiosk issues have been raised.
27:59
Don Armstrong: Eramark also said it's looking into the matter.
28:03
Jeff Dziekan: You're fired.
28:04
Jeff Dziekan: Talk about Waymo.
28:05
Jeff Dziekan: Uh Waymo take the wheel.
28:08
Jeff Dziekan: It's a song.
28:10
Jeff Dziekan: Mike got it.
28:12
Don Armstrong: It's a song.
28:13
Don Armstrong: Is it really a song?
28:14
Don Armstrong: Jesus take the wheel.
28:14
Don Armstrong: Jesus take the wheel.
28:15
Jeff Dziekan: Waymo take the wheel.
28:16
Jeff Dziekan: Waymo.
28:16
Don Armstrong: Waymo took the wheel, Mike.
28:18
unknown: Yeah.
28:21
Don Armstrong: Go ahead, Mike.
28:22
Don Armstrong: What are your thoughts on that?
28:23
Mike Marrs: No, no, I'm not saying that.
28:25
Don Armstrong: Why?
28:27
Don Armstrong: Why?
28:27
Don Armstrong: Waymo take the wheel.
28:29
Mike Marrs: Waymo.
28:29
Mike Marrs: Yeah, I think that I think that's great.
28:31
Mike Marrs: I'm just thinking.
28:32
Don Armstrong: That's great.
28:34
Don Armstrong: You cop out on good things like that.
28:36
Mike Marrs: Yeah, well, I I have a cousin that he's been uh down in Austin on business.
28:40
Don Armstrong: Don't tell me he's a Waymo driver.
28:42
Mike Marrs: No, no, no, no.
28:43
Mike Marrs: He's used Waymo and or a driverless car.
28:47
Mike Marrs: I'm not sure it was Waymo, but he drove a he said he was kind of nervous the first couple of times in the Austin traffic.
28:52
Mike Marrs: Uh, but after he'd done it three or four times, he said it really wasn't bad.
28:55
Mike Marrs: He hadn't had a lot of time.
28:56
Don Armstrong: It's that fifth time that'll get you every time with a big rack.
28:59
Jeff Dziekan: Well, you gotta get liquor.
29:00
Don Armstrong: Either that or you get caught up in some sort of huge traffic jam at an intersection, or the Waymo is trying to get out of the way of the fire truck and doesn't know what to do.
29:08
Don Armstrong: Or locks you in, actually.
29:10
Don Armstrong: Or locks you in, yeah.
29:11
Don Armstrong: That's it.
29:12
Don Armstrong: Or ransom.
29:12
Jeff Dziekan: Going to need a lot of liquor for that one.
29:14
Don Armstrong: All right.
29:15
Don Armstrong: That's it for this particular segment of our show.
29:18
Don Armstrong: We'd love to hear from you.
29:19
Don Armstrong: Shoot us an email.
29:20
Don Armstrong: The address is info at nwheeltime.com.
29:23
Don Armstrong: We'll be back after this 90-second break.
29:25
Don Armstrong: Stay with us.
29:26
Don Armstrong: Your car is a direct reflection of you, so don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance.
29:32
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29:35
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29:38
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29:43
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29:48
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29:52
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29:53
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29:55
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30:02
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30:06
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30:10
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30:12
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30:18
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30:26
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30:29
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30:33
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30:38
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30:41
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30:48
Don Armstrong: Call Bill today, 832-922-0963.
30:52
Don Armstrong: That's 832-922-0963.
30:57
Don Armstrong: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
31:01
Don Armstrong: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheeltime.com website.
31:11
Don Armstrong: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
31:20
Don Armstrong: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.