Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Current Car Market Insights, Subaru Reviews, and the Future of Stellantis Brands

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Current Car Market Insights, Subaru Reviews, and the Future of Stellantis Brands · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you've got the award-winning in-wheel time car talk show coming up.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: If you've been holding off buying a new car, john benson from us news and world report says you may want to rethink that.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'll give you my thoughts on driving the 2024 subaru wrx.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Jeff has the motor minute.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: That more in this segment of the in Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Howdy Along with Mike out of this world, mars down there in the safety green shirt.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us today.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Chief Engineer and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, david Ainsley.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: David, do you remember the last time you saw David?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Didn't we go to San Quentin and visit him on a sunday or something?
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I think it was that he visited us in san quentin.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: If you, remember that what it was?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: It was a remote.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: No, it was a hot rod tour, wasn't it?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: No, no, no he didn't go, it was cranberry cranberry.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Cranberry was the last one.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hot, did he even make it back from cranberry?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: I?
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: don't think so.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I think he's still.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: He's still up there.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: I think he liked it too well.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: I think he does.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Well, we knew he went on vacation to the UP and enjoyed the heck out of that.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Good for him Well we saw the videos.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: It's about all the pictures and all the nice stuff going on.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, we really haven't met up with him.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: No, I haven't seen him either.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I did have dinner with him one night down in the.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: In his end of the world.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: In his end of the world, yeah Well, he wasn't at.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Loopy Tortilla was before Granberry.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, granberry was it.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: And then we hit a run here coming up with, starting with Woody's.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: We buried ourselves here in the studio trying to fend off the heat.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, we need to have him on as a guest.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: No, we're good.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Why is now a good time to buy a car?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Do you know?
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Interest rates are going down maybe.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Well, the inventory is up.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And our buddy with US News and World Report, John Vincent, joins us now.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: John, good morning it's good to see you.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Look at you sitting in the front seat, looking at the back seat.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: We're sitting in the back seat.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I like it.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I need to fix that.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, don't fix it, it's absolutely perfect.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: We like sitting in the back seat.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: What?
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: is it.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: What is it?
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We're sitting in the back seat of it's a Mercedes Acura TLX Type S.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Well, that's nice.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: It's only got two pedals, though.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, only two pedals.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but that's okay, one of the pedals is really good.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and don't forget those paddle shifters that are up on the steering wheel Ah good eye, good eye.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Well, john, you, my friend, how have you?
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: been.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: I have been good, I've been very busy this summer, but uh, with work with work, driving a lot of stuff.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's good, yeah, well, we have two and um.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: What are you driving this week?
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: if I may ask, um, I have a subaru cross trek this week.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we like that cross trek?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: yeah, I just got out of the subaruX.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Have you driven one of those yet?
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: I have, I had that last month.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we had one with a little six-speed in it and it was really nice.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: That's a very good six-speed and a really good clutch.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you're exactly right.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I pointed that out when I drove it.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I told you guys.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: You said you.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: That is the smoothest shifting car I think I've ever been in in my entire life.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: You said this thing needs a clutch.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: That's what you said.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: No, I didn't.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: No, that's what you said.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: We never kicked it up.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: I think the Miata still wins on the best clutch.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: But, this one's close.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I got you is why may now be the best time to buy a car.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Now we can always say, oh wait, just a couple of more months and it's really going to get good, and it may very well.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: But for those people that have had this pent-up desire to buy a new car, whether they're forced into it or really want one, now may be a pretty good time because interest rates are coming down.
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: Well, interest rates are starting to come down and it's the time of the year where the year-end kickoff sales really start going.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, it used to be fantastic in the fall because everybody was turning over everything.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Now cars are introduced throughout the year.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: It's not quite the same, but there are still plenty of good deals out there.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: Inventories are strong, Interest rates are starting to slide down a little bit and all the factors are coming together for it to be a buyer's market again.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And for the first time in quite a while, incentives seem to be growing on a lot of cars.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Yes they do, yeah, and I think that that's the real hook on some of these.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that that's the real hook on some of these, because you're looking at some of the cars that I've heard of that are incentivized, that they're giving almost 0% financing and long-term payback on them and $1,000 cash, whatever you want to do with it, things like that.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: Yep, everything's coming back.
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: Cash back is back.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Lower interest rates really good leases.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Everything's on the table right now.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Do you see a lot of people leasing as opposed to buying?
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: So leasing pre-pandemic was about a third of the market, if you can believe it.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: It plunged during the pandemic and it hasn't recovered yet, but it's still around a quarter-ish of the market.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Well, a quarter is pretty significant when you're talking about millions and millions of cars.
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's very geographical.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Some cities and states the lease rates are much, much higher than others.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and leasing to me.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily lease a car, but I would buy a car off lease, and that market has pretty much dried up, has it not?
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: Well, during the pandemic, when leasing kind of went away, the pipeline for certified used cars that would be coming back went away.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: So it's much tougher to find a certified used car right now.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: What are people buying right now?
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Suvs, compact SUVs, compact SUVs.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: You know, I know that there's this movement afoot with the manufacturers backing off of building these mega factories, including mega battery factories, because the sales rate on the EVs it hasn't gone away, but it's not what they predicted it to be.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: The take rate just isn't there and now all of a sudden they're going oh, but we build hybrids, we have hybrids and it seems to me that and I've said this for several years now I've always thought that hybrids really are the way to go If you want gas mileage the advantages of you know really good gas mileage, but you don't really have to worry too much about the charging stations.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Right, I drive a.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: My personal car is a plug-in hybrid, so it's an electric car for short trips and a gas car for long trips.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the advantage there is is that, especially if you drive around town, it really is the perfect car to have.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: How many miles.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: I have about 30 miles of range.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: That covers my wife's commute perfectly.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: So you know she gets home from work, we plug the car in and it's got a full tank the next morning.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know I've discovered I work 30 miles from work and I've been getting EVs for whatever reason here lately in the press fleet and I have found I can really quell my anxiety over charging places by plugging it in when I get to work, which is a 110 charger basically, and plugging it in when I get home, so it takes care of almost the trip going to work for eight hours of charging almost, and then I get home charges overnight and I'm good to go.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I kept that thing almost at 100% charge the entire week that I had it.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: You know, people ask me how long it takes to charge an electric car and I tell them, you know, maybe a minute or two, because that's how long it takes me to plug it in and then it's ready to go the next morning.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I don't really care how long it takes.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't have a level one or level two charger.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I've got, you know, that, 110 volt on the front porch that I plug it into and for me that works just fine.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: However, with what you're driving with the plug-in hybrid, I would do just fine with that 30 miles to work 30 miles on a charge.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Charge it all day.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I got a full charge when I get in.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Make it back home Rarely, do I use gasoline?
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: So there's a kudo, not only do I have a full charge, but the car can do what's called preconditioning and have the temperature in the cabin correct when I get to the car, using electricity instead of the power on board the car.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: You mean to tell me that you have heat up there?
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: Not like your heat.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: That's good, Although I was in DC this last week and it was 101 with 90% humidity.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah well, that's our heat there.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but we're not in Washington, we're here along the coast, but I can tell you that we envy those people that have a nice middle-of-the-road summer.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: When it comes to temperatures are concerned, I think we're over the 100 degrees now.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: We got some rain back in the forecast, and I think that the hot, hot, hot part of summer, for the most part, is done here.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Well, so what kind of car do you have?
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: that the wife drives.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe 4xe.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, I got you.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Yep, we've driven those we like those I like the Grand Cherokee?
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that the Shine has kind of gone off of the Grand Cherokee and I'm not exactly sure why.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: It won every award known to man and they sold a bajillion of them, but I think that the competition got a whole lot stronger in that market.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: The competition got a whole lot stronger in that market and the price of the Grand Cherokee got very high.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: It's gotten lower in the last couple years actually because they realized they reached a little too far into the stratosphere on that one.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah so, speaking of that, let's talk about stelantis for a moment, shall we?
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: He's grinning because, uh, there are now calls from the uaw for Mr Tavares to resign his position because he's ruining what once was a great American company, and sales over at Stellantis have gone down the toilet, and we're saddened by that.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: So am I.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I mean Stellantis and its Jeep, jeep, dodge, ram divisions.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: They make some great cars, but there some of their other divisions are, you know, bringing them down.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: Chrysler is a one-car brand.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: It's really hard to have a brand that only can make one car and that's the minivan.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: Uh, dodge right now is a one car brand, it's actually two car.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: They have the hornet and the durango right now.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: Don't have any other cars in the market.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: Um, it's really hard to survive when you're doing that.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: I what?
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I guess it all falls on the ceo of company.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: But here's the question what are they thinking over there?
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: They have nothing in the pipeline.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: They're going to go all electric, but in the meantime, ah, let's go ahead and kill off the number one performance brand in the entire world.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: They've worked decades in perfecting the marketing skills and 1,000 horsepower under the hood, sold them like no tomorrow, and we're not going to do that anymore.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: You would think the stockholders would be up in arms with that, because I think what they're doing is they're surrounding themselves with these people, with all these great young ideas.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Like you went into a woke story before, I think that's happening.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Happening, but not as prevalent, not as in your face.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: That's what's happening in my opinion I think the uh product pipeline was supposed to accelerate a whole lot faster than it did.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of those cars were supposed to be in the marketplace by now and everything's been delayed.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: So they have this gap, and gaps are never good for automakers no, I mean there's no, there's nothing.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: No product.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Unless you want to horn it, forget it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: You ain't going to get anything else, because that's all we got.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: I'm surprised that the dealers haven't retaliated I'm a little surprised too, but they have a lot of promises out there for a lot of, you know, pretty good looking stuff, but we just haven't seen it delivered, and weren't they?
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: It's sad, and it's what the union was complaining about, is that they promised a ram factory for a new mid-size pickup truck and now they're saying maybe we're not going to build that mid-size pickup truck and, you know, utilize that plant and employ a whole bunch of union workers.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: That was the Belvedere factory that you're talking about, right, yep.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And didn't they?
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: During the contract negotiations, when everybody was on strike wasn't Stellantis and their factories?
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: They were all up front with, hey, we're going to strike and we're going to be on the news, and that was all part of it.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Now there's a little bit of payback.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Exactly, and it's going to be another test of the union, although the union is acting pretty united these days.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: So the union has a lot of strength right now, but they can't really tell Stellantis that they have to build a car if Stellantis doesn't think that it's going to pencil out.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So the rumor has it that, with the UAW calling for his resignation, do you think that that's going to pan out?
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Do you think that the guy's going to resign?
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I doubt it.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: I doubt it.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: I think those decisions are actually made in Europe for Stellantis right now and not made based on what's happening in the US.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: And I think that's part of the problem, because the Japanese car makers, whenever they started coming over here and bringing their cars over here, they wanted to sell and do their cars the way they did over there, and I think that's part of the same problem.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Now you've got a leadership team that's coming from a different part of the world, a different culture, whatever you want to call it, and they're making decisions that don't necessarily fit the North American market in the way it's been in the past, and I think that's a big part of the problem.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep, don't forget Hoffa resigned Jimmy.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Hoffa resigned.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I worry about my friends and I call them my friends.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Mike, you and I both have been up to Auburn Hills.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: We have friends that still work there and I worry about their jobs.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I do too.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I do too, and you know you being in the same industry that we are here with you know, doing car reviews and looking at cars and getting to drive new cars every week and doing reviews.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: We worried about those friends.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And if you live in a city, whether you're in the automobile industry or not, if you live in a city that basically makes their living off of building cars or supplying the, the manufacturers, you, I gotta worry about your next door neighbor absolutely.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: And you know, if a factory closes, it devastates the entire community because you know people aren't going to the grocery store, people aren't going to the restaurants.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Um, it takes the whole city down, yeah, it does and I can personally tell you and attest to that.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Janesville, wisconsin.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: My brother worked at the GM factory there.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: They made Suburbans back in the day, made all sorts of stuff, because it was a very old factory there in Janesville.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: That factory not only doesn't exist, I mean they mowed it down, it's gone.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: All it is is a big pile of rubble in a very large area of the city of Janesville, wisconsin, and we kind of took a tour around it last time I was up there in the spring and there are little bars here and Steve and Penny Steve, my cousin Steve and his wife.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: There are little bars here and Steve and Penny Steve, my cousin Steve, and his wife.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: They said, oh yeah, that was the bar that was popular with all of the shift workers at the plant and so when they get off work they would go there.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: It was like almost a 24-hour bar, a little bitty hole-in-the-wall place.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: But we've all been to those places.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: The factory shut down.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: That was the end of the bar.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: That was the end of relationships.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: That was the end of the bar.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: That was the end of relationships.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: That was the end of friendships.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: People had no place to go.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: They had nothing.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: It's a social center?
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much, and that's just one aspect of a small town in Wisconsin.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: And I drive past Belvedere going from Chicago area, from the airplane up to Wisconsin, and I see that big, ginormous plant there and I'm thinking, man, they built some really cool cars there back in the day and then they shut that factory down and it really is devastating and I don't think that most people really think about that.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Well, thanks for listening to our drivel, john.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: It's okay, I enjoyed it.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Well, you can be our therapist up there, is that okay?
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think riding around in the Acura kind of helps out.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, and especially with you turning around looking in the back seat, I like it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Well, they should bring that back.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: They have station wagons.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: You can look in the rear.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: There you go, so that could be a new thing.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: That's it.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Bring it back, but remember the windows of those station wagons opened so the kids can puke out the back window.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: You've got experience?
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you've been there haven't you, john.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: it's great to talk to you, my friend, Tell everybody up there we said hello.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: For more puking stories you can contact, that's right, us News and World Report.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: There you go, john Benson, good to talk to you.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Good to see you, my friend.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Take care of yourself, we'll talk again soon Great talking to you, guys, you bet Okay, how funny.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good guy, good guy.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: All right, I guess do I need to take a break here.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: We can.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's do it.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: We want to get ahead of the game.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: A live two-hour weekly show on Facebook, youtube and InWheelTimecom, and podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider.
• 18:39
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• 20:08
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• 20:10
  Speaker 1: If you don't know which of the multitude of protection products to go with, john Gray will give you an honest opinion and won't sell you something you don't need or can't afford.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: John will help you understand the many options and pricing right on the spot.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: He's your guy to have your ride looking its best and protected too.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: See the state-of-the-art shop yourself.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Free tours anytime.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is easy to get to, located just south of the Southwest Freeway on the Sam Houston Parkway.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield Full service luxury car care.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Today and online at gcautoshieldcom.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: It's the In Real Time Car Talk Show.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: You know fall's right around the corner.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: And the In Real.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Time has some remote broadcasts lined up, Including Woody's Waterfront Car Show September 28th, Hemi Hideout Open House November 9th and Houston Autorama Thanksgiving Weekend.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: We hope that you'll stop by and say hello when we're out there.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Time now for this hour's Motor.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Minute.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to bring you a little bit of update on John Forrest.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Jack Beckman is taking over the ride for the last seven races and here's how that goes, so the seven races left.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: According to the NHRA rules, when the driver is unable to compete, the race team may bring in a substitute.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: He can earn points for the original driver in a maximum of eight tour events.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: This is the seventh so he can actually join.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: He could have joined last time when they raced, but they had some off time and all this other stuff, right.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: So beckman will close out the final seven races of the year as a substitute for force.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: John's continuing to recover in his southern californ California, home from the accident.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: We all know that it happened in Richmond, virginia.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Beckman's words were it's still John's car, nobody's replacing John Force.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: He gets the shoe and for right now they got a great hot rod and of course they had some incidents where they put some plugs out and all that stuff on the last run.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: But Force is a little bit of a different driver.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Jack weighs more than john.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: He does the clutch different, backing up after the burnout is a little different, so the teams have to adapt to that.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: So the funny car points are as follows austin proc is number one, uh, with 1100 points, 1100 plus points.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Uh, bob tasca, love his mom, bob tasca.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: The third, his mom, is Bob Tasker III.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: His mom is great 972 points.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: Hagen is 960.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Fourth is JR Todd and of course, fifth would be John Force slash Jack Beckman.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: So wish him all the luck and you know he still can win the championship for John, which will be the umpteenth I can't what is it?
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: 19, 20, something of that nature.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: He's won 18, 16 or 18 championships.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: So that continues and we wish him well on that.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: And Mike just mentioned that we may have some surprises coming up with Jack in the near future.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Well, I want you to know that there was somebody had written an article in one of the things that I watch on NHRA and they were saying you know, there's a hole in the pits this weekend at the US Nationals, the first time since John's been racing that he's not been at the US Nationals and this is really the biggest race, so to speak, in HRA.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like a homecoming Well, it's like the Daytona or the Indy, that type of function.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Well, it is Indy, yeah, that type of function?
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it is Indy, yeah.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: So, at any rate, we wish him well and hopefully that we'll see him soon.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Time now for this hour's car review.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I had a chance to drive the 2024 Subaru WRX.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: It comes in base trim level, premium, limited, tr and GT.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I have the TR-R Okay, could you go through that one more time?
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I have the TR-R, r-u-h, r-u-h.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I have no clue what that means.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe you can decipher it.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: There it is the window sticker on it.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: You tell me what the RUH is.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: It's a midsize sedan, seats five, including the driver.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: This particular body style was all new in 2022.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Exterior features bulging fenders on an Impreza sedan body.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Sharp looking front end with a great big hood scoop on it.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Quad pipes dual exhaust, but quad pipes with a racy lower valance in the back.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Tr-style wheels look great and exclusive to the trim level.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I curb-rashed one really bad.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Uh-oh, to the trim level.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I curb rashed one really bad and I called the lady that that takes care of the car and she's oh, don't worry about it.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I felt so bad.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: It was one of those wheels right there.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I felt so bad that I told her I said I'll pay to get the wheel fixed.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I never do that.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Well, guess what I did.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Do it.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: The overall look and stance gets an a on my list.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Offer a hatchback version, because this one's got a trunk anyway.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Uh, interior highlights recaro seats, sports seats they're standard with this particular model model.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: High bolstered with the TR trim level.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Huge infotainment screen that's easy to use.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Black, everything inside Could use some color accents, though I don't know.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Red stitching just doesn't seem enough.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Need some highlights in there.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: A little pop to it.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Smooth shifter on this thing.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Cargo trunk room Well, it's small.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: The dashifter on this thing.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Cargo trunk room well, it's small.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: The dash layout on this thing is excellent.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Bigger differentiation from the premium trim to this hot rod trim.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: 2.4 liter boxer, turbo motor, 271 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque, six-speed manual transmission this is the smoothest shifting transmission I think I've ever had in my entire life.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Did you find out what Rue is?
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: No, we're working on it Rue, Ours Rue.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: Well, I got the TR, but nobody seems to know what the Rua is.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: I think it's the sound you make when you scuff a wheel.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Oh God, no, but I had a lot of things on my body that were puckering.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Oh no.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Well, stuff happens.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: 19 miles to Gallon City, 26 highway for a combined of 22 is what it's rated.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I got 25.4 over 301.2 miles.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it the power is plenty adequate for this car.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: It's a fashionable car.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement is to just throw this out there at Subaru.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: How about putting another turbo on it?
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Make it a twin turbo?
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Ooh, I don't know whether the four-banger would do it or not, whether it would hold up.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: It's screaming.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: The TR gets handling upgrades that include sticky tires and bigger brakes.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it the race car feel of this car, this thing.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: It feels like you could just throw it around in corners and clearly I did right to the curb, but I didn't do it intentionally and I wasn't racing it.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Also, what could use improvement?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I think adjustable dampers on it would be good.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Base trim price $41,655.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Price is tested $42,907.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: The base model price is $32,735.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Competitors Toyota Gur Corolla $36,500.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: The Hyundai Elantra N $33,700.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: The Mazda 3 2.5 turbo 36.635.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: And I had to throw the VW Golf GTI in there for 31.965.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Fun car, good looking.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: I think you should go for one.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Go and drive one.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: You're going to go well.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I think he was right.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Martha, martha knows, martha knows, martha knows.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Alright, let's see, I've got to change the page here.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got a break coming up.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: That's why I'm trying to get to that.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, don't be pushing on me, you're sick.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I'm sick and I don't feel good.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to keep my distance here.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: If you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: The address is info at nwheeltimecom.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: We are back after this quick break.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto Accessories has been serving Houston's auto enthusiasts since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 28:44
  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 square foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: At Pro-Am Auto, you'll be dealing with a small group of professionals who truly want to help you with your automotive needs.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: The award-winning In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show brings you great guest interviews each week, from manufacturers and suppliers to the aftermarket, racers, enthusiasts and other friends just like you and me who love to talk about all things automotive, the In Real Time Car Talk Show takes it to the road too, with remotes at Tailpipes and Tacos, woody's Waterfront Car Show and the Hemi Hideout.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: In Real Time's live video and audio stream can be found on the iHeartRadio app, youtube, facebook and InRealTimecom.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Every Saturday, 10 am to noon Central Time, or grab a podcast anytime from your favorite podcast.