Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / We Compare Garage Floor Coatings | Two New Hybrids | and a Castle?

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We Compare Garage Floor Coatings | Two New Hybrids | and a Castle? · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:06
  Mike Marrs: All right, time now for driving destinations, Mr.
• 0:08
  Mike Marrs: Morris.
• 0:09
  Mike Marrs: Yes, sir.
• 0:10
  Mike Marrs: Got a few things here that we thought maybe that uh some areas that may not have quite noticed, or you may have missed them.
• 0:18
  Mike Marrs: First one up is gonna be Belleville and Newman's Castle.
• 0:21
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is uh uh one of those places that you may not believe that this is really here destination.
• 0:27
  Mike Marrs: It's an easy small town drive, or it's a small town, and it's an easy drive, but there is where you're gonna find Newman's Castle.
• 0:34
  Mike Marrs: And this gives it a real centerpiece.
• 0:36
  Mike Marrs: Uh, it's got a drawbridge, it's got a moat, a courtyard, and you can even take guided tours.
• 0:41
  Mike Marrs: And of course, you can go down to town Belleville and have lunch and have a complete family day trip out of it.
• 0:46
  Mike Marrs: And it's only about an hour and 15 minutes away, but the castle is what will get your attention when you get there.
• 0:52
  Mike Marrs: Uh the second thing is going to be San Felipe de Austin.
• 0:57
  Mike Marrs: That's my Spanish accent there.
• 0:59
  Mike Marrs: This is one of the favorite places you can go to because it's close.
• 1:02
  Mike Marrs: It's got a relaxed day, and it's got a story a lot of Houston families may not know, particularly if you're new to the Houston area.
• 1:09
  Mike Marrs: It preserves Stephen F.
• 1:10
  Mike Marrs: Austin's original Texas colony.
• 1:12
  Mike Marrs: It's got a visitor center in it, it's got exhibits, and it's got a reconstructed town site.
• 1:18
  Mike Marrs: This is kind of like they tried to make it like it used to be.
• 1:21
  Mike Marrs: So uh you can combine it with a trip to Belleville or even Seely for lunch and browsing and uh kind of make it more than just a quick stop to go by and see what's going on because they do have a lot of activities, a lot of people doing things there that you can watch to see how they did it back in the day.
• 1:38
  Mike Marrs: Then, if another place you can do is head east towards the Trinity River, uh you get a combination of Texas street history and the Gulf Coast scenery.
• 1:47
  Mike Marrs: Fort Anouac was important in the early roles leading up to the Texas Revolution.
• 1:52
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is where the park now is, offers a fishing and birding pier.
• 1:55
  Mike Marrs: It's got natural areas and views overlooking the water.
• 1:58
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is a less obvious Houston destination, and it fits kind of the idea that you're looking for someplace new, you want someplace to go, but you don't want to go too far, but spend the day and check the schedule because they do have a lot of activities going on here during the year as well.
• 2:13
  Mike Marrs: Then if you want to go a little further over towards East Texas, go to the Big Thicket Natural Preserve.
• 2:20
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is you're really going to get out of the Houston traffic.
• 2:24
  Mike Marrs: You're going to get in the East Texas Forest because uh you get over near Coont.
• 2:28
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is where you're going to find it.
• 2:29
  Mike Marrs: It's a small town, uh, wide spot in the road.
• 2:32
  Mike Marrs: Best I remember, it's got two red lights now.
• 2:34
  Mike Marrs: And uh, but they've got a lot of areas that go out through the ecosystems, and the visitor center is where you can really choose where you want to go because they've got so many choices.
• 2:43
  Mike Marrs: They've got junior ranger program that's set up for their kids.
• 2:46
  Mike Marrs: So if you're close enough that you can make regular trips out here and really get involved and get away from the wide or the the concrete world to get out into the woods.
• 2:57
  Mike Marrs: The next place we've got on it, it would be the San Jacinto Battleground and the Lynchburg Ferry.
• 3:03
  Mike Marrs: Now, if you're in Houston, it's hard, you know, you're bound to have heard about it, but still, it's a neat place to go out to because they've got the battlefield, they got the museum.
• 3:13
  Mike Marrs: You can take uh the Lynchburg Ferry still run.
• 3:17
  Don Armstrong: Guys, yes, it does.
• 3:19
  Don Armstrong: It's the oldest running ferry in the state of Texas.
• 3:22
  Mike Marrs: Well, I thought I'd read someplace that it stopped, but I can't.
• 3:24
  Don Armstrong: And I can relate to it because I think the ferry started about the time that I was born.
• 3:28
  Mike Marrs: There you go.
• 3:28
  Mike Marrs: That's how you got over to the 1800s, I think.
• 3:31
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 3:32
  Mike Marrs: So you can go out here, you can get uh Texas history, you get ships, industry.
• 3:36
  Mike Marrs: Uh unfortunately they moved the battleship Texas down to Galveston, but it was a neat combination whenever it was there.
• 3:42
  Mike Marrs: So there's uh a lot of things to go out here and see.
• 3:45
  Mike Marrs: It's a pretty good sized area that you can actually drive through a lot of it to see it.
• 3:49
  Mike Marrs: Then you can go on the last one, go up to West Columbia, Varner Hogg Plantation.
• 3:54
  Mike Marrs: Now, I heard about this whenever I first came back, moved down here to Texas, and there was we're weird stories, but it's uh another historic place, and you can go to the Varner Hogg Plantation.
• 4:05
  Mike Marrs: Now, he was a governor of Texas.
• 4:08
  Mike Marrs: This plantation's 200 years old, and you got a lot of ranching and oil, and you can go through the historic property and see all the historic aspects of it.
• 4:17
  Mike Marrs: Now, it's uh good for people with older children because there's a lot of things that they can read and see and do over in Brazilia County.
• 4:25
  Mike Marrs: And one thing I wanted to mention whenever I came down here, people were telling me about this place, and they were telling me that uh James Hogg, the governor, named his two children.
• 4:34
  Mike Marrs: One of them he named Ima Hog, and the other one was Eurahog.
• 4:38
  Mike Marrs: That's right.
• 4:38
  Mike Marrs: And and I will say I've done the research, and Euro was not a real thing.
• 4:42
  Mike Marrs: Ima was, poor girl.
• 4:44
  Jeff Dziekan: Ima was, yeah.
• 4:45
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, if they did that today, she would be in big trouble.
• 4:49
  Mike Marrs: Anyway, that's the place.
• 4:51
  Don Armstrong: She's got a beautiful mansion here in Houston.
• 4:53
  Don Armstrong: That's something else to uh check out as well.
• 4:55
  Don Armstrong: Yes, perfect.
• 4:56
  Don Armstrong: All right stuff.
• 4:57
  Don Armstrong: Thank you, sir.
• 5:05
  Don Armstrong: So uh, you know, I I I will tell you that I got into painting garage floors.
• 5:12
  Don Armstrong: Gosh, back in 2007.
• 5:14
  Don Armstrong: I've built paint on garage floors.
• 5:16
  Don Armstrong: Well, I've done that too.
• 5:18
  Don Armstrong: But as they say when you know you paint a car, it's really all in the prep.
• 5:23
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 5:23
  Don Armstrong: And I have found out through multiple mistakes that it really is all in the prep.
• 5:29
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 5:29
  Don Armstrong: And you've got to do it by the directions.
• 5:32
  Don Armstrong: Or you have enough money in your savings account that you can hire somebody that is a garage floor prep guy to come out and spend a couple thousand, three thousand dollars to go.
• 5:43
  Don Armstrong: But the paint these days is like two or three thousand dollars a gallon.
• 5:46
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, depending on the kind of paint you use, a prep, like you said, and the condition of the floor actually.
• 5:51
  Jeff Dziekan: We can get into that.
• 5:52
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 5:53
  Jeff Dziekan: Okay, we'll go for it.
• 5:54
  Jeff Dziekan: All right.
• 5:54
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, uh the main types of garage floor coatings are epoxy, polyurethane, polyurea, polyaspartic, and uh poly uh polycuramine.
• 6:03
  Jeff Dziekan: I know this way.
• 6:03
  Jeff Dziekan: Okay, that way.
• 6:04
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh plus you've got floor paints that every one of them offers different durability, chemical resistance and application methods, like Don said.
• 6:11
  Jeff Dziekan: So the national average of epoxy garage floor coatings ranges from 1700 to 30 to 3,500 basically.
• 6:19
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh but most homeowners pay around 230 to 2500 to have it done.
• 6:24
  Jeff Dziekan: It depends on how much you want to spend, the of the coating, the size of your floor, and the condition of the concrete and whatever add-ons you want into that.
• 6:33
  Jeff Dziekan: So here we go.
• 6:34
  Jeff Dziekan: One of them is epoxy coatings.
• 6:36
  Jeff Dziekan: It's a two-part resin system and chemically bonds to concrete, forming a hard, durable surface.
• 6:41
  Jeff Dziekan: It's highly resistant to chemicals, any impacts or abrasions, and makes it ideal for garages with heavy traffic or machinery.
• 6:48
  Jeff Dziekan: Epoxies come in several forms.
• 6:49
  Jeff Dziekan: They come in a water base, uh, low-high solid epoxy, and a hundred percent solid epoxy.
• 6:55
  Jeff Dziekan: So there you go with that one.
• 6:57
  Jeff Dziekan: The next one we have is a polyurethane coating.
• 6:59
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh, it's flexible, it's a chemical resistant product, uh, offering a smooth, glossy finish.
• 7:05
  Jeff Dziekan: There's less brittle than epoxy, it can handle temperature fluctuations better.
• 7:09
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh, polyurethane is often used as a top coat over epoxy to enhance its UV resistance and durability.
• 7:16
  Jeff Dziekan: Polyurrhea coatings, it's fast curing, it's flexible, it's durable, uh, and its flexibility allows it to stretch without cracking, making it resistant to temperature changes and heavy wear.
• 7:27
  Jeff Dziekan: Polyurrhea is ideal for high traffic areas, requires quick application due to its rapid curing time.
• 7:34
  Jeff Dziekan: So if you're using it, you gotta be quick with this, or it's gonna kind of uh bugger up what you're trying to do.
• 7:41
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh polyparas uh polyasparic coatings uh is a modified version of a polyurrhe, similar durability and flexibility and improved UV resistance.
• 7:52
  Jeff Dziekan: It also cures quickly, allowing for minimal downtime, which is useful for chemical uh for commercial and busy residential garages, sort of like what we did with uh uh Mr.
• 8:02
  Jeff Dziekan: Moody there.
• 8:03
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh polycuramine coatings combines benefits of polyurrhea and epoxy, offering a self-leveling, self-leveling, highly durable coating that can often be applied in a single coat, which is very good because you'll you'll want to spend a lot of time out there.
• 8:17
  Jeff Dziekan: It provides excellent chemical and abrasion resistance and is suitable for the DIY or professional application.
• 8:24
  Jeff Dziekan: Now, things to consider, the key points of this is the durability.
• 8:28
  Jeff Dziekan: Is it resistance to wear?
• 8:30
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh application, is it easy to install, cure time, number of coats you've got to put down, maintenance, cleaning requirements.
• 8:36
  Jeff Dziekan: Do you spill something on there, you gotta hurry up and get it off there?
• 8:38
  Jeff Dziekan: The upkeep, the cost.
• 8:40
  Jeff Dziekan: Now, the cost again is size, what you want to do, you want certain uh accents put into the coating.
• 8:46
  Jeff Dziekan: Those are all cost factors.
• 8:48
  Jeff Dziekan: And then of course the lifespan, how long will it last?
• 8:50
  Jeff Dziekan: So those are things to consider.
• 8:53
  Don Armstrong: My experience with that is uh paint.
• 8:57
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, it could be.
• 8:58
  Don Armstrong: And back in the day, um it was relatively um well, it it was cost effective for me, but there was a lot of prep involved, and you gotta put down, you know, base coat and do this, la la la la.
• 9:11
  Don Armstrong: Well, it just so happened that I lucked into it and did okay.
• 9:15
  Don Armstrong: And it took a whole week.
• 9:17
  Don Armstrong: You know, you gotta let it cure, you gotta let it breathe, all of that.
• 9:21
  Jeff Dziekan: The prep, you gotta scrub it with a broom and all of that.
• 9:24
  Jeff Dziekan: Oh, yeah.
• 9:24
  Don Armstrong: And those chemicals alone will kill you.
• 9:26
  Don Armstrong: And then you have to etch it.
• 9:27
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:28
  Don Armstrong: Etch it.
• 9:29
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:29
  Don Armstrong: And uh that was a process that I didn't know anything about, but I learned pretty quickly.
• 9:33
  Don Armstrong: It just roughs it up, and then you that's what it sticks.
• 9:36
  Don Armstrong: It opens the pores of the concrete.
• 9:37
  Don Armstrong: It's a whole thing.
• 9:39
  Don Armstrong: And uh so I lucked out on one.
• 9:41
  Don Armstrong: The other one, I did the exact same thing.
• 9:44
  Don Armstrong: It was different kind of paint, same color, but uh I didn't let it cure enough.
• 9:50
  Don Armstrong: And uh the first car that went in there, the paint stuck to the tires.
• 9:56
  Don Armstrong: Pulled it right up off the floor.
• 9:57
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:58
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, you could go to like a you could go to a paint place, you can go to your local hardware store.
• 10:01
  Don Armstrong: You know how much that is a gallon?
• 10:03
  Don Armstrong: Five gallon.
• 10:03
  Don Armstrong: You can buy five.
• 10:05
  Don Armstrong: You can.
• 10:06
  Don Armstrong: But I bought it in the one gallons, and it took two gallons to do the the garage regular two-car garage.
• 10:13
  Don Armstrong: And uh it was now it's up to$200 a gallon.
• 10:15
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, well, like I said,$3,500 to have somebody do it, and you know, it's professionally done, but you've got to be out of your garage for a few days.
• 10:21
  Jeff Dziekan: It's not like you put it down and two hours you get you're done.
• 10:23
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, and that's the other thing.
• 10:25
  Don Armstrong: So you've got all your junk in the garage and all of the toolboxes and all of that stuff.
• 10:30
  Don Armstrong: Where are you gonna put it?
• 10:32
  Don Armstrong: You know where I put it?
• 10:33
  Don Armstrong: Front porch.
• 10:34
  Jeff Dziekan: You take the transmission out of the garage, you put it in the bathtub.
• 10:37
  Don Armstrong: Well, there's that.
• 10:37
  Don Armstrong: Yes, I I've done all of those things.
• 10:40
  Don Armstrong: You know, it's it's it's a process.
• 10:42
  Don Armstrong: It is.
• 10:42
  Jeff Dziekan: And they look nice, don't get me wrong.
• 10:44
  Jeff Dziekan: I had a neighbor that did it.
• 10:45
  Jeff Dziekan: You can buy the gray stuff to make it look like a real concrete and all that, but you got cracks, you got divots, you got chips, you got stuff that come off of there.
• 10:52
  Mike Marrs: All that your house settles.
• 10:53
  Don Armstrong: Exactly.
• 10:54
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 10:54
  Don Armstrong: Well, if you know, if if the if the garage floor is cracked, might want to get that fixed first.
• 10:59
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, there's that.
• 11:00
  Don Armstrong: You can fill it in with something.
• 11:02
  Mike Marrs: Then you got to keep it fixed.
• 11:03
  Mike Marrs: That's the problem.
• 11:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 11:05
  Don Armstrong: And let the rest of the house just go ahead and sink and have the bricks fall off the side of it.
• 11:09
  Don Armstrong: But by God, the garage.
• 11:12
  Don Armstrong: All right, time now for a joining us on this uh Saturday and time now for a car review.
• 11:24
  Don Armstrong: Mr.
• 11:24
  Don Armstrong: Mars uh actually got one of uh these things to drive.
• 11:28
  Don Armstrong: We're gonna find out what he thinks of it.
• 11:30
  Don Armstrong: The 2026 Range Rover Sports.
• 11:33
  Mike Marrs: Yes, sir, and it's uh different.
• 11:36
  Mike Marrs: I'm gonna tell you that right up front.
• 11:37
  Mike Marrs: It's the Range Rover Sport Dynamic SE plug-in hybrid.
• 11:42
  Mike Marrs: Now, the final assembly location for this is in the UK.
• 11:46
  Mike Marrs: It comes in available at six trim levels, and again, we were driving the SE plug-in hybrid.
• 11:52
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is considered a standard SUV as far as size.
• 11:55
  Mike Marrs: Seats five passengers.
• 11:57
  Mike Marrs: Now, what they've done is they've tried to create some more dynamic exterior styling, as they call it, with the the lines and the way the vehicle looks.
• 12:05
  Mike Marrs: It's really a pretty sharp-looking car, particularly in the red.
• 12:08
  Mike Marrs: There's two different shades, red, both of them are really great looking.
• 12:11
  Mike Marrs: So on the outside of it, you're going to find LED lighting all the way around, including the auto high beam settings.
• 12:16
  Mike Marrs: Uh, it's got heated power folding side mirrors on it.
• 12:20
  Mike Marrs: It's got a panoramic sunroof to open it up to get lots of light in if that's what you're looking for.
• 12:25
  Mike Marrs: Uh, it's got a power lift gate.
• 12:28
  Mike Marrs: And one of the things that I really like about it, if you look down the side of it in these pictures, it's slick.
• 12:33
  Mike Marrs: It's almost like it's been shaved, but it's got deployable door handles.
• 12:36
  Mike Marrs: You walk up, you got the key fob, and then the handle pops out so that you can get it and open the door.
• 12:42
  Mike Marrs: I love it.
• 12:43
  Mike Marrs: And then uh we were rolling on the 22-inch satin dark gray wheels, and it also uh just really a nice looking car, particularly with that black trim.
• 12:54
  Mike Marrs: Now, on the inside of this vehicle, we had the Caraway Ebony Windsor Leather Seats.
• 13:02
  Mike Marrs: That's a heck of a name to say that it's a light brown as far as I'm concerned.
• 13:06
  Mike Marrs: Front heats, front seats are heated and ventilated, and the second row seats are also heated and ventilated in this vehicle.
• 13:13
  Mike Marrs: It's got a 13.1 inch infotainment screen.
• 13:15
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is where you're gonna find all your controls for your convenience controls.
• 13:20
  Mike Marrs: And one of the things that uh you'll see here coming up in one of the pictures here in a moment, it is very slick.
• 13:27
  Mike Marrs: You're not gonna find any knobs or buttons to turn.
• 13:30
  Mike Marrs: You're gonna have to do everything through the screens on it.
• 13:32
  Mike Marrs: And some of the icons, by it coming from the UK over here, you've got to do a little hunting, you've got to get used to them, and you probably would real quick if you own this vehicle.
• 13:42
  Mike Marrs: It does have the wireless charging, it's got Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and the uh it's got a Meridian 3D surround system.
• 13:51
  Mike Marrs: It's got 400 watts, it's got 15 speakers scattered around inside this vehicle.
• 13:56
  Mike Marrs: And you can pull up to a red light, and any of these guys that want to uh play games with you and see who's got the loudest, you can play with them pretty well with this vehicle.
• 14:05
  Mike Marrs: Not that I did that, it's just what I was told.
• 14:08
  Mike Marrs: And then uh up under the hood to make this vehicle go.
• 14:12
  Mike Marrs: Well, here's this picture right here on the screen.
• 14:14
  Mike Marrs: You can see how there's no knobs, no buttons.
• 14:16
  Mike Marrs: You've got to do everything through the screens.
• 14:18
  Mike Marrs: Now, the engine on this is a 3.0 inline six, it's a hybrid.
• 14:22
  Mike Marrs: Now it combines to put together 454 horsepower.
• 14:26
  Mike Marrs: And even though this is a 5,800-pound vehicle, that is plenty of juice to make this thing go.
• 14:32
  Mike Marrs: It'll jump and run on you real quick.
• 14:34
  Mike Marrs: 457 pound feet of torque.
• 14:36
  Mike Marrs: It's backed by an eight-speed automatic transmission for the all-wheel drive.
• 14:40
  Mike Marrs: And it's got a tow rating of 6,614 pounds.
• 14:44
  Mike Marrs: Now, that's pretty hefty as far as you know, light boats, kayaks, motorcycles.
• 14:51
  Mike Marrs: You can do a lot of towing, different things that you're going to do around town on a regular basis.
• 14:55
  Mike Marrs: Now, uh it's rated on the gasoline motor only, it's rated at 21 miles per gallon.
• 15:01
  Mike Marrs: 53 by the com combine of the gasoline and the electric motor.
• 15:06
  Mike Marrs: And one of the other things I really like about this vehicle, it's got the dynamic air suspension.
• 15:11
  Mike Marrs: And so it'll level out and it does really great going down the roads, particularly in a 5,800-pound vehicle.
• 15:16
  Mike Marrs: It's a nice riding driving vehicle.
• 15:18
  Mike Marrs: Base trim price on this vehicle is$95,100 as tested.
• 15:24
  Mike Marrs: $96,725.
• 15:26
  Mike Marrs: If you step over to the gas model, you can get into this thing as cheap as$81,325.
• 15:32
  Mike Marrs: Some of the things to compare it to, try to find some of those high-end hybrids, the Porsche hybrid that starts at$103,000.
• 15:41
  Mike Marrs: Mercedes-Benz GLE hybrid kicks out at$71,350.
• 15:46
  Mike Marrs: While the Rivian, first time I've had a chance to talk about the Rivian, R1S starts at$75,900.
• 15:53
  Mike Marrs: So these are all up there in that range of luxury SUVs that are hybrids that you might want to look at if you're looking at that category of a vehicle.
• 16:03
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 16:03
  Don Armstrong: Thank you, sir.
• 16:04
  Don Armstrong: Time now for Jeff.
• 16:11
  unknown: All right.
• 16:11
  Don Armstrong: Time now uh on the NWEL Time Car Talk Show for this week in auto history, Mr.
• 16:16
  Don Armstrong: Mars.
• 16:17
  Mike Marrs: Yes, sir.
• 16:18
  Mike Marrs: Found a few things this week uh coming up this week that we thought were rather interesting.
• 16:21
  Mike Marrs: And we're going to start with August the 29th, 1927.
• 16:26
  Mike Marrs: The drunkometer, probably officially called the Drachometer, but drunkelmeter is the way it's spelled, and I like it.
• 16:32
  Mike Marrs: So this is the actually the precursor to the modern breathalyzer because up until this time, people, officers of the law, they just had to observe people and kind of figure out what they were going on to decide if they uh were inebriated or not.
• 16:46
  Don Armstrong: What is that thing that she's blowing into there?
• 16:49
  Don Armstrong: Is that a bubble?
• 16:50
  Don Armstrong: Uh some sort of rubber rubber kind of thing.
• 16:54
  Mike Marrs: It's a balloon.
• 16:55
  Mike Marrs: So they blew into the balloon to capture the air.
• 16:58
  Jeff Dziekan: The drunchometer.
• 16:59
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, on the drunchometer.
• 17:00
  Mike Marrs: Then they would let the air out and it would measure the amount of alcohol that was in the device.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of tubes and stuff going on.
• 17:10
  Mike Marrs: They modified it a little bit, so it's a lot better now, of course.
• 17:13
  Don Armstrong: Looks like a catheter in the box there, doesn't it?
• 17:16
  Don Armstrong: To me.
• 17:16
  Mike Marrs: It looks like you could look you looks like it used that for a lot of different things.
• 17:21
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, and some rings too.
• 17:23
  Don Armstrong: Moving on.
• 17:24
  Mike Marrs: Moving on.
• 17:26
  Mike Marrs: August the 30th, 1945.
• 17:28
  Mike Marrs: Hudson returns to civilian car production.
• 17:30
  Mike Marrs: Now, World War II, everybody started making things to support the war.
• 17:35
  Mike Marrs: They quit making cars.
• 17:36
  Mike Marrs: So in August the 30th, 1945, Hudson produced his first post-war vehicle, and it was a Super Six coupe.
• 17:43
  Mike Marrs: Like a lot of others, they started remaking their cars because nobody really expected the huge demand of everybody after the war if everybody wanted to buy these vehicles.
• 17:53
  Mike Marrs: So it worked out well to get everybody started.
• 17:55
  Mike Marrs: Then on August 31st, 1955, GM built a Sunmobile.
• 18:03
  Mike Marrs: Now, one of their engineers, this is over 70 years ago, a GM engineer demonstrated a Sunmobile at the company's Power Rama show in Chicago.
• 18:14
  Mike Marrs: It was only 15 inches long and it was a model, but it used 12 selenium photoelectric set uh cells to produce the power.
• 18:24
  Mike Marrs: Basically, this is the precursor to the EVs.
• 18:27
  Mike Marrs: This is what they used to work and to try and create the EVs and sun power off of them.
• 18:32
  Mike Marrs: It worked for a 15-inch vehicle.
• 18:36
  Mike Marrs: Then on September the 1st, 1989, Lexus arrived in America.
• 18:42
  Mike Marrs: Now they uh started building.
• 18:44
  Mike Marrs: This has really started a new chapter in the American luxury car market.
• 18:48
  Mike Marrs: Because whenever Lexus came in, they were very nice.
• 18:50
  Mike Marrs: They challenged, uh they were coming out of Europe, and the American luxury brands now suddenly had to compete with price competitive vehicles that brought in uh a lot of a quality and luxury items for the price range.
• 19:04
  Mike Marrs: Then on September the 5th, 1994, the National Corvette Museum opened in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
• 19:11
  Mike Marrs: Now it was appropriate because that was where the Corvette production had been since 1981.
• 19:17
  Mike Marrs: So the museum actually became a big part of that landscape there.
• 19:21
  Mike Marrs: A lot of people go there.
• 19:23
  Mike Marrs: We've been there a couple of times with uh doing some interviews.
• 19:26
  Mike Marrs: I would love to go there in person one of these days.
• 19:30
  Mike Marrs: I was actually on a flight out of uh the local here, going off to a car event, and there was a gentleman sitting behind me talking to his daughter.
• 19:37
  Mike Marrs: He was flying to Bowling Green.
• 19:39
  Mike Marrs: Him and her were gonna pick up his new Corvette and then drive it back home.
• 19:43
  Mike Marrs: And I thought that is the way to buy a new Corvette.
• 19:47
  Mike Marrs: Then on September the 5th, 1940, the Federal Aid Highway Act.
• 19:51
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is kind of a precursor to uh the shaping the Americas highway system.
• 19:57
  Don Armstrong: It's before, isn't that in the in the the uh Dorothy and and Toto and and yeah, e Pleurabus Unum.
• 20:06
  Don Armstrong: Kansas.
• 20:07
  Mike Marrs: It was in Kansas.
• 20:09
  Jeff Dziekan: I'm taking that forward.
• 20:12
  Mike Marrs: So so the way this worked, because they actually started because of the highway system, it was important at the time, back in the 40s, the national defense, and this is what allowed the the federal government to go in and spend the money.
• 20:25
  Mike Marrs: That was their excuse to go in and spend the money and build the highway system and eventually led to the interstate system that we have today.
• 20:32
  Mike Marrs: So these are some things that you're gonna see coming up this week in automotive history that we thought were rather interesting.
• 20:37
  Don Armstrong: Uh listen, e pluribus unum.
• 20:41
  Don Armstrong: Uh that that got me.
• 20:42
  Don Armstrong: I'm I'm waving the American flag right now.
• 20:45
  Don Armstrong: I'm thinking, yeah, don't click your heels together.
• 20:48
  Don Armstrong: Uh we're all gonna go to Kansas and all of that.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 20:58
  Don Armstrong: All right, time now for this hour's car review, the 2026 Toyota Crown, built in Aichi, Japan.
• 21:05
  Don Armstrong: It comes in these trim levels, the XLE and the Limited.
• 21:11
  Don Armstrong: Uh the reviewed trim level is the limited.
• 21:15
  Don Armstrong: Uh it's a small wagon that looks like an SUV.
• 21:20
  Don Armstrong: It is considered a wagon.
• 21:22
  Don Armstrong: Does it look like a wagon to me?
• 21:23
  Don Armstrong: It looks like an SUV.
• 21:25
  Don Armstrong: Seats five, including the driver.
• 21:27
  Don Armstrong: Exterior changes, it was all new last year.
• 21:31
  Don Armstrong: This is the Cygnia version of it.
• 21:36
  Don Armstrong: One of the sharpest-looking SUV wagons on the market today.
• 21:40
  Don Armstrong: I think.
• 21:41
  Don Armstrong: Front fascia is modern with a nod to the Lexus brand.
• 21:45
  Don Armstrong: Sloping roof line is a nice arrow style, narrow taillights and sunshade at top of the uh hatch adds to the great look.
• 21:58
  Don Armstrong: What I liked about it, everything.
• 22:00
  Don Armstrong: Everything.
• 22:00
  Don Armstrong: Look at that grill.
• 22:02
  Don Armstrong: Kind of has a little smattering there of the Lexus, doesn't it?
• 22:06
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 22:08
  Don Armstrong: Absolutely nothing.
• 22:08
  Don Armstrong: Toyota nailed it with this.
• 22:11
  Don Armstrong: Now, interior highlights include a great instrument cluster that melds into the center screen for a sleek, user-friendly feel.
• 22:22
  Don Armstrong: Well thought out center console, handy and useful.
• 22:28
  Don Armstrong: Roomy second row seating and great leather appointments.
• 22:32
  Don Armstrong: Wide opening hatch with a panoramic sunroof with a nice shade on the top.
• 22:38
  Don Armstrong: See that one there?
• 22:39
  Don Armstrong: See the cell phone?
• 22:40
  Don Armstrong: It's vertical, right ahead of the shifter.
• 22:43
  Don Armstrong: It is the perfect place for your phone.
• 22:46
  Don Armstrong: Pardon me?
• 22:47
  Don Armstrong: It's out of the way.
• 22:48
  Don Armstrong: It's out of the way.
• 22:49
  Don Armstrong: Cargo trunk room, adequate for this size vehicle.
• 22:53
  Don Armstrong: Start comparing it to other vehicles.
• 22:55
  Don Armstrong: Don't, but if you have to, it's going to be a little bit smaller.
• 22:58
  Don Armstrong: Good.
• 22:58
  Don Armstrong: That's exactly what we want.
• 23:00
  Don Armstrong: What I liked, the vertical phone charger takes minimum space and works great.
• 23:05
  Don Armstrong: We could use improvement.
• 23:07
  Don Armstrong: Nothing.
• 23:08
  Don Armstrong: Stop trying to rock the boat.
• 23:11
  Don Armstrong: I wrote that.
• 23:14
  Don Armstrong: I did that.
• 23:16
  Don Armstrong: Engine.
• 23:17
  Don Armstrong: 2.5 liter, four-cylinder, hybrid motor.
• 23:21
  Don Armstrong: No other choices.
• 23:23
  Don Armstrong: It doesn't need any.
• 23:24
  Don Armstrong: 240 net horsepower, CVT transmission, 2,700 pound tow rating.
• 23:32
  Don Armstrong: Here's the good part.
• 23:33
  Don Armstrong: Miles per gallon, 39 in the city, 37 on the highway.
• 23:38
  Don Armstrong: For a combined of 38, I got 36.9 miles per gallon over 409.8 miles.
• 23:45
  Don Armstrong: Not bad, Mickey.
• 23:46
  Don Armstrong: Not bad.
• 23:47
  Don Armstrong: What I liked, the drivetrain is plenty responsive.
• 23:51
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 23:52
  Don Armstrong: Nothing.
• 23:53
  Don Armstrong: This is the gold standard for hybrids, in my opinion.
• 23:57
  Don Armstrong: Ride and handling.
• 23:59
  Don Armstrong: What I liked about it, the smoothness.
• 24:01
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 24:02
  Don Armstrong: Nothing when it comes to the ride.
• 24:05
  Don Armstrong: They got this right.
• 24:07
  Don Armstrong: Go and drive when you're going to go, well, Don Armstrong's not right about much, but he's right about this one.
• 24:13
  Don Armstrong: Base trim price,$48,790.
• 24:17
  Don Armstrong: Price as tested,$53,944.
• 24:23
  Don Armstrong: Base model price to get in it,$44.69.
• 24:29
  Don Armstrong: Here are the competitors.
• 24:30
  Don Armstrong: The Toyota RAV 4.
• 24:32
  Don Armstrong: Now it's kind of a distant cousin, only because they have a hybrid version of the RAV4.
• 24:37
  Don Armstrong: It starts at$32,850, but it's not this one.
• 24:41
  Don Armstrong: The Nissan Murano starts at$41,670.
• 24:45
  Don Armstrong: And the VW Atlas Crossport 383.
• 24:49
  Don Armstrong: I want you to go drive this.
• 24:51
  Don Armstrong: Even if you don't want to buy it, drive it.
• 24:53
  Jeff Dziekan: You're going to go, wow.
• 24:54
  Jeff Dziekan: So the sedan crown is not made anymore.
• 24:58
  Jeff Dziekan: Um because the crown started out as a sedan.
• 25:01
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 25:01
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, it's still made.
• 25:02
  Mike Marrs: Is it?
• 25:03
  Mike Marrs: Okay.
• 25:03
  Mike Marrs: Yep.
• 25:04
  Mike Marrs: Well, it's still the website.
• 25:06
  Mike Marrs: Let me put it that way.
• 25:07
  unknown: Yeah.
• 25:08
  Jeff Dziekan: This thing, uh, this thing nails it.
• 25:11
  Jeff Dziekan: Kathy was looking at the the the Toyota's when she was looking for her car and she ended up on landing on Alexis.
• 25:16
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 25:17
  Don Armstrong: Well, uh, this one, wow.
• 25:21
  Don Armstrong: I'm impressed.
• 25:22
  Don Armstrong: And it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to new cars these days, but that's one rocks the boat.