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Rusty Gold: How One Woman Revolutionized Car Auctions · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central, I think.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I adjusted my headset volume to blow my brains out at this level.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But, at any rate, hello and good morning.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Let me get down here and turn it down a little bit.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I thought why am I hearing bleed through and stuff?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Well, that's what happens when you turn the volume up so loud.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: You can hear things that were said.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: You can hear things that were said 10,000 years ago on this.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the award-winning Wheel of Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know why we would win any awards the way we start off this show.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Just ahead we talk to auctioneer Yvette Vanderbrink Also.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I'll give you my thoughts on driving the Kia Niro, mr Zekin, over here next to me, as the Motor Minute In this segment of the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, mars.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong, so glad that you could join us.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I also got the fan blowing on me because I'm a little hot.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, got the fan blowing on me because I'm a little hot.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but all the boys say that, but not the girls.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: But not the girls.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they never did anyway.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Um, so good to have you with us on this saturday.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: It's going to be another hot one here in houston, texas, and we're kind of done with this, but we got at least another couple of months to go so we're hanging supposed to get some rain this afternoon.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so we have an auctioneer by the name of Yvette Vanderbrink.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Vanderbrink Auctions, and let's just pull her up right now, shall we, and say hello to Yvette.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Yvette, good morning.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Hi, how are you doing?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I think we're doing okay.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Let me stop my eardrums from bleeding and I'll be much better after the volume mishap I just had.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: But, yvette, we wanted to talk to you.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: We pretty much gave everybody everything that was going on on the auction that you had last week.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: But one thing that struck me is the fact that you are a different kind of auctioneer.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Is the fact that you are a different kind of auctioneer?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: This is not Mecham or any of the other big names, but you have some very unique auctions.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: A lot of the stuff is on site, a lot of barn finds.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: So tell us how you got first of all into the auction business.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Well, it's kind of a crazy story actually.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Well, that fits right in with our show.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: So I grew up in the car world.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: My dad was a collector, our family were dairy farmers in South Dakota and my dad, to make extra money, would restore vehicles but mainly pickups for farmers and area farmers and he realized that people really wanted them and he didn't have enough time to make them for everybody.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: So he started selling rebuilders and that was the start of Nordstrom's Auto Recycling, which is one of the biggest salvage yards in the United States, and it's a late model yard.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: My brother runs it now and so we were around racetracks all the time and all that.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: But anyway, I worked at a hospital, believe it, before I started auctioneering and they changed shifts on us.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: I had little kids and I had to think of something different and I thought about auction school after high school.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: But there's no women doing that.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: And so I was driving to work one night, thought about it and filled out the paperwork, talked to one of the old boys down by me and didn't tell anybody else that I was looking at it, and shoved the papers in my cupboard in my kitchen and forgot about them.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: About half a year later, my mom goes are you going to go to church.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Tomorrow we go to one of the open Bible churches in Texas.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: You're probably familiar with them.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: I think you could be naked.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Jump around, need a Snickers, nobody's going to bother you.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: We're on our way after the show doing that yeah exactly, but anyway, we went and there was a prophetic minister there, tom Stammen, and he called people up by their hair color or their shirt color.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: And he called me up and he goes are you going to listen to me?
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And I said I don't even know who you are.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: And he goes how come you haven't sent those school papers in in your kitchen?
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: And I said what?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: And he goes this is how you're going to help people.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: It's going to be extremely hard, but it'll work.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: And that was 25 years ago.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: What a great story that is.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: That's a really shortened story.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I got it, but that gives us some real insight into you.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: So what was your first auction?
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Do you remember it?
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: Yes, I do.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I went down to Tyndall, South Dakota, to actually buy a D John Deere because my husband and I did old tractors, so I actually went down to buy a D John Deere for him.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: He's downstairs and I wound up coming back with the auction instead of buying the tractor and I told him he could buy it on the sale and he never got it.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Well, you pulled the tractor right out from underneath it, so to speak.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: But anyway, it was in Tyndall, South Dakota, and it was the Saturday after 9-11.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Oh my yeah, A little distraction there.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: And so a lot of people weren't flying.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: And that was my first auction and so we adapted.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: My seller said we're going and we had a huge crowd and it was a big success.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: And then, after that, word of mouth got on that we were doing something different, I was using a lot of tech.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Back then it was dial-up and chat rooms.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yes, the Internet was brand new and so we were doing advertising nationally.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: I was using chat rooms, I was using different things to get word out about these auctions.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: And I remember in that sale I remember an old guy saying did you see that there's Florida plates here?
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: So I knew I was doing my job and word of mouth came around that we were doing things different, we were getting the money and I worked with some very unique customers and anyway that it it kept going from there.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: And then in 05 we went out of state, out of the midwest for the first time, went to ohio, did a huge ford auction old ford auction and just kept going from there.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: But it was hard the first two years.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: I had a stalker and we had to handle that, oh my God.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Well, there's always that.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Well being a lady in the car world.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Some of them good old boys.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: They don't like that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no doubt I had one guy say hey, honey, why don't you make me a sandwich and let the boys do it?
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I took his number away.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Doubt I had one guy say hey, honey, why don't you make me a sandwich and let the boys do it?
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: What a line.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Remind me not to use that line.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah, no, you don't want to do that.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, are the the auctions?
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Were they and I assume that some of them still are farming kind of auctions?
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: no, they're not no, no, I always did.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: The old cars and old tractors, old motorcycles, yeah.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: And then we do sell farm ground in the Midwest.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Now, we had pictures of your auction last week.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, it's a pretty big open field and you have the vehicles categorized by year, make, model.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: How does that work?
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: So this last one we just got done I've been working on for a year and it was a family in montana.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: It was grandpa's stuff, dad's stuff, three generations, and it was in eight locations and we had 604 lots wow, it was 604 vehicles and tractors, and so we first had to get the legal stuff done and then moved everything to their farm or the ranch and lined it up.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: On two farms and because of the location this is where technology is so good we had had no cell phone, no electricity.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: If it rained you couldn't get in or out.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Sometimes we had antelope, no services and no radio.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: No walkie-talkie would even work, so we wound up doing it online.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Only Ran it for 20 days, we marketed it for about a year and it was a big success, and now we're loading out.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you something how do you get those great big fire trucks out on the farm in the middle of nowhere?
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: They had the equipment to get the when they bought that stuff.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: They had lowboys and flatbeds and sometimes they drove and then they parked.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Well, how did it get in the auction?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is a area of the united states that if you'd not told me where this was, the highway that it was on, I would have never known.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: So this guy, this family, collected these things, but they didn't collect those fire trucks from out there in the countryside actually they did no um, yes, so out here it's so remote.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Um, and I witnessed this firsthand, most of the ranchers out here have their own fire equipment because the nearest fire station is hour to hour and a half away at times.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Or, uh, it's all volunteers.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: So almost all the ranchers in the area have some type of fire equipment, but the old ones we had.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: They searched out and bought those and they came from East Coast all over.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: But the ranchers out in Montana actually do have their own fire equipment.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: And I watched it.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Well, I have to tell you that, to that end, it's like a lot of the petroleum companies and the refineries down here, they have their own fire department within the facility, and that sounds very similar, that whole kind of thing.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Well, let's move on and talk about the upcoming auction that you have.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Oh well, next Saturday, august 9th, we're going to be down in Hebron, nebraska, for the Lambert family and her husband passed away from cancer and before he died he told her to call me and I don't know who he is, but anyway.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: So I went down there and met her and they have about 40 vehicles Grandkids, before he died, the grandkids and his kids got to keep one and he personally went with them and they picked him out.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: So these are all the vehicles that we um are selling and, uh, they are everything from uh 58 plymouth savoy christine type car to mustangs to model a's and they all run and drive a little bit different than usual and we're going to be selling them in nebraska so what?
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: uh don just bought a fire truck from you, okay, and uh, it's out on and out in the field does.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Does he have a certain amount of time to remove that vehicle?
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Uh, payment done online and then he's got to get a trailer, or do you have folks that will remove it for him?
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: No no.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: They're on your own, not only no, but hell no, hell, no, we're not getting in the removal business, so I give them phone numbers for trucking companies and it is up to the buyer to come and remove their items.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: So right now it rained.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: It's kind of a mess.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: That's what's going on over there and we'll be loading out for the next two weeks.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Two weeks, so there's a little bit of room in there.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: On this one.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: On this one.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Usually, like on the one coming up, they have seven to ten days because trucking is very difficult to get right now.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Is that your switchboard ringing over there?
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: That's guys that are saying it's muddy and they can't get in or they're stuck.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: And they're all waiting to talk to you, and here you are, and I'm 14 hours away.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: What do you want me to do?
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Wave the weatherman wand?
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: I don't have cell phone out there, so I'm their coordinator.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I got you, I got you.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Well, that's interesting.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So most of your auctions are like this one the one that you had and the one that you got coming up.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: So I kind of got to be known for doing barn finds.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: So a lot of the auctioneers that are sellers that I knew were guys that hoarded or bought a lot of stuff and a lot of auctioneers had no idea what to do with this stuff and they saw what we were doing.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: So I would get referrals or they would call me and we kind of had a recipe for making these work and uh, you know, it's interesting, as a lot of them were widows or some of them were older guys that it was time to sell.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: They were getting pressured from their families because they didn't want to deal with it after they died sure and uh or and so I'd go in kind of tell them what they got, what to do, what we needed to do.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: And I love I'm a live auctioneer.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: I was there before internet, you know.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: And uh.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: So we like to do them simulcast, but at time which is live and online.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: But a lot of times the location won't allow us to do it, like Montana, or that's not a huge amount of cars, for example, like 15 or so, but they're still desirable.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: It gives us an avenue to sell them to the world, and we'll do them online only.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Do you have a lot of regular customers that buy from you?
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, yeah, I get a lot of hats, hugs, grants.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're kind of like their agent.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Drug dealer.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Oh really.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Oh, my, yeah, that's it, but it's an addiction.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Well, of course it is.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: It's not an agent.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an addiction.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: That's why we're doing this show, because we're addicted to cars, just like you are.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: You know the thing of it is is they're easier to come home than they are to leave, and so that's how this hoarder situation happens.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: It's all in the hunt where guys find that 59 Chevy or they find this and they bring it home and it never leaves.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to do something with this one of these days.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: It's just got to get up to it and get to that point.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: But I've got it also I'm gonna fix it sometime.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: We have a lot of sometimes at our house yeah, well, I mean, it's part of the, it's part of the thrill of going.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: You do the hunt, you, you got the, you got whatever it is that you've been looking for after all these years.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: You bring, bring it home.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Well, I got it.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, getting to restore it or something, that's a whole other thing.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Let me get the farm hand over here to start working on that left front fender.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: Let's start working on that paint job.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I know how that works.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go look for more parts for it.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: That's right, and the parts turn into cars.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: A body shop to restore things is quite expensive and they're getting harder to find.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Also, when you bring a project home, a good thing the patina craze is so good but to do one yourself, it's time.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: You never, ever, ever get your time and money out of it.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: But it's all in the hunt.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: My dad was very much like that.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: He had 60, 57 Chevys and 228 cars total by the time I did his sale.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Wow, yeah.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Well, I hope that he got to reap the rewards.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: He did.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Good, he did he's still alive and still still hunting to cowboy hat complaining that you sold all his cars.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So event, how do we uh?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: How do we find your website?
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: um vanderbrinkauctionscom.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: You can just google vanderbrink auctions.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: The biggest thing is on social media is we have a big presence on social media and you get to see me dirty and working all the time and I do a lot of video to let people know what's going on, and that's facebook, instagram, tiktok, youtube channel she's a tiktoker, she's everywhere.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, look at you.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: I tell you what I did a big impala sale back three years ago in colorado and is strong.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: You know what's better than TikTok?
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: And I got most of my audience from TikTok.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: You know what's better than TikTok?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: What In-wheel time?
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: In-wheel time is better than TikTok yeah.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, it's an interesting crowd, you know.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: So are we.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Statistically, facebook is your best marketing tool.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: The average age on Facebook is 45 and mostly male, believe it or not, and we target mainly to men.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: We do target to women.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of women in the hobby.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: I'm one of them and you know I have cars myself and I just actually got one.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: I haven't drove it, I'm really excited about it.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: And that is I got one, I haven't drove it, I'm really excited about it and that is.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: I got one from my dad.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Finally, and it's a 63 Bel Air post with 40924.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Well, did you have to pry that out of his hands?
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I did.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Well, I can understand and.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: I sold it to him at auction in 07.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: And then the motor has about a mile on it.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: He redid it and I told him he's got Corvettes I don't know why new ones.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: And he said you can have one of them.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: And I said no, I want Lloyd May's car back.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: So I went up there and we got talking and now we have it home and my husband got it running and hadn't ran for about 15 years.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: I wish he would come up here.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Hey Vanderbrae.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I wish that we had a whole hour to talk to you, because you're a very entertaining event.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: We've got to go, but listen, it's great to talk to you, and every time make sure that we're on your mailing list so we know what's coming up, and we're going to stick you in the show every now and then.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Oh, that'd be fun.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I did that big Lambrecht Chevrolet auction in 2013.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: Yes, we were asking them and for the car dealer that kept his new cars we should talk about that sometime.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Let's do it on our next conversation.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it, hopefully here in the next month or so Alrighty, I better go find out what the heck he's doing.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: Do that?
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Shame him he's too quiet, guilt him into it.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Thanks again, yvette.
• 18:38
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  Speaker 2: Jeffrey, here we go.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine you've owned and enjoyed a classic car for 20 years.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Then you find out the car you have might be the only one with the same VIN number.
• 20:47
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• 20:53
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• 20:57
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  Speaker 2: The problem arose in 2022 when he moved to Florida and he wanted to register the car.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: The state of Florida says no, you can't do that.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: You got a VIN number in Texas for the same kind of car.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: So he got a lawyer.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: He said that there was a couple that registered the car in Texas, got a new title after he told them theirs was fake.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: So they went ahead and redid that.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: So there's a judge that's going to determine based on the VIN tag.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: The expert says that this was made.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: The clone they're calling it a clone was made from an aluminum tag rather than a steel tag and it used the incorrect font on that vin tag.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: The clone was to have 1283 miles on it on the odometer, which is extremely low for a car that could have had uh sole security.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: So the one that this mr wilkinson bought had 56 000 miles when he bought it in Massachusetts, so that was the legitimate one.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: The alleged fake was purchased by its owner at where?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: A Mecham auction in 2022.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Mecham is not named in the suit and they've insulated themselves from legality for inauthentic cars that run through the auction.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: And let me tell you something I know somebody that didn't have the correct tag in the right place, although the car was legit.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It was and Mecham would not take the car, but they took this one I know.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But what I'm saying to you is that they usually vet their cars very well and there was a hidden VIN number apparently up into the fender not the fender, well, but the fender itself that I wouldn't know to look there, but apparently it was and it didn't match.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: And so they said, nope, we're not doing it.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: So what it is.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: If you have a clone like that and you're trying to pass, you could lose over $100,000 of the value.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: So this car was worth pretty much nothing.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: If you got proved that you were doing it intentionally, which they bought it from an auction, so obviously they weren't.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: But yeah, whoever put it in the auction, you know that's called well, they may or may not have even known themselves.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: It's called but at some point, somebody knows?
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: there's a disillusion of title, or just just something of title, uh, falsifying it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: That's what it is time now for this hour's car review.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I had a pleasant opportunity to drive a 2025 kia nero n-i-r-o, not an e-r-o and uh, I was quite surprised and taken back.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I didn't go into it with any preconceived ideas or notions about the car.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I didn't really know anything about it and then I got to drive it for a week and I was impressed.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: And I know you're going to go wow.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: And Kia Niro he's impressed with that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I am For an everyday car that run around town.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: This is a good one.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I think you may be the same impression.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: The final assembly location on this was wasong korea.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, but you know we've just done a big deal with them with a 15 tariff and uh, so you want to pay some big tariff fee on that and I've got a story about that in canada coming up available trim levels on the kia nero, lx, ex, ex Touring, sx and SX Touring.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I had the top-of-the-line SX Touring.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Now the government calls this a small station wagon.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Does that look like a typical station wagon to you?
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: No, it does not.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Seats 5.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: It was completely redesigned in 2023.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Unique, attractive front fascia and daytime running lights on this vehicle.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: That really makes it stand apart from others in the same class.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Volvo-esque rear taillights high up next to the hatch glass.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, matching wheel openings with attractive wheels that are unique to the different trim levels that they offer.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Side sculpting is highlighted, or downlighted, or however you want to call it, by some black just above the lower valance Accents.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an accent, is all.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: It is what I liked about it the uniqueness that I think will appeal to most people and what could use improvement.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Nothing Need more vehicles like this.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Make it unique, but make it attractive at the same time.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Interior highlights Rotary gear selector on the center console, near the starter button.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I saw a picture of one that actually had a shift knob on it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: So apparently they've got a couple, depending on the trim level you go.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: Easy to use and understand infotainment screen.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Difficult to find lane-keeping controls.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: You've got to drill down into the menu box to turn off the lane-keeping control.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: I don't want that.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I don't want lane-keeping control, I don't want start-stop.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Those are the two pet peeves of mine, and if you can't turn them off easily, as you know, I ain't buying it.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: That's just me.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it was really its simplicity on the interior.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: A nice Harman Kardon sound system, by the way, is also in it.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Integrated dash design I like that too.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: What I like?
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Its simplicity in the use of the infotainment system and the knobs and buttons that were in it.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: You can find the stuff when you're looking for it.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Seats are comfortable but could use a little bit more design pizzazz.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's kind of plain how it's powered.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: This is a 1.6 liter gasoline engine, but it is a hybrid, so it does have a battery and a charger in it.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: You don't have to plug this one in, although they do have a plug-in version and they have a full EV as well, but this particular one was the hybrid 139 horsepower, which is not much 195 pound-feet of torque.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: But what makes the engine work?
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: The six-speed automated manual, it's called, and it reacts pretty well, and so you really don't notice a real downplayed power output on the engine.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Miles per gallon this is where it shines 53 city, 45 highway, for a combined of 49, I, don Armstrong, got 43.7 miles per gallon.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: That's what you need to bring all that crap over from Niterville over here and back and forth on Interstate 10.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You need that, so is 53 in the city is less miles on the highway than it is the city.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's winding up the gasoline motor.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I got you Around town, it's using a lot of battery.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the great thing about them.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: So obviously what I liked about it was the fuel economy.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: A little more power for acceleration, but I don't care.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: This basically is an around-town urban car Ride and handling.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: This car is built for city driving.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Handling is a little lackluster, but this is not a corner carver.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Pricing base trim price $35,390.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Price is tested Top of the line $37,600 with a couple of options.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Base model price $26,990.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Also available as an EV or plug-in hybrid, as I mentioned.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Competitors to the vehicle in base size and price Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid starts at $28,495.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Now remember this one starts at $26,990.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Then the Toyota Prius starts at $28,350.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: And then throw in the Kia Sportage Hybrid for $28,790.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: So they're all right in that $2,000 mark price point.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I think that's a winner If you're looking for a car to putter around town in, it's a winner.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Go for it.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Now, you mentioned the Volvo-esque taillights.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: I see that.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: I saw that in there.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: They're very similar.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so far as the station wagon look, it has not a station wagon.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Back in the 50s and 60s the station wagons had the roll-down back.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, why can't they do that today?
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: They've got room with these big fat fascia bumpers on the back.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Well, I know, Remember that door back there is pretty big and it's all one piece.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: They could redesign it, You're telling me an Impala wagon's door is less heavy.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: You're not lifting it like you are on the new ones.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: Pulling it in would be easier.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I'll sign your petition.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I got a pencil.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to draw one this afternoon.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email the address info at inwheeltimecom.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Back after this, you own a car you love.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 29:39
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• 29:40
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• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Curbed your wheels.
• 29:56
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• 29:58
  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 30:01
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• 30:03
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• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Call them today 832-930-5655, or gcautoshieldcom.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show now reaches 5.3 million folks each year.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Check us out on inwheeltimecom, the Odyssey Radio app, youtube, facebook and just about every other entertainment source out there, including our live broadcast every Saturday 10 to noon Central Time.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: The InWheelTime Car Talk Show has informative automotive guest interviews, new car reviews, along with popular features, including Jeff's Car Culture, the latest new cars, cruise ins and racing dates.
• 30:53
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• 30:55
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• 30:56
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of's InWheelTimecom.
• 30:59
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• 30:59
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 31:11
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• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.