Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Navigating Car Finances, Smart Buying Tips, and Pet Travel Safety - Featuring Chip Lupo from WalletHub

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Navigating Car Finances, Smart Buying Tips, and Pet Travel Safety - Featuring Chip Lupo from WalletHub · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a ratio, and we're going to talk to Mr Chip Lupo about that.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: You'll be surprised.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Jeff has a feature on trips, taking your dog on a trip with you Pets, pets, you said dogs, pets, dogs.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dogs are pets.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you can take your pet turtle on.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Or goldfish.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Goldfish Just checking.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Mars Reviews the new Subaru Forester Just ahead on this segment of the two-hour in-wheel time car talk show.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Howdy Along with Mike out of this world, mars.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us today.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: David Ainsley sleeping in Yep.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get right to it.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about money, or lack thereof.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I was talking to Chip before we went on the air this morning about me refusing to pay any more money toward streaming services or cable.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I ditched cable.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing that anymore.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: So if it's anything more than $22 a month, guess what?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing it, but apparently Chip, a lot of people are doing it.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: When it comes to car loans, chip is an analyst for WalletHub.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: And Chip, what in the world is going on here?
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: We got cars that are averaging $50,000 a whack.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: We know they're selling cars, so people are going into deep, deep debt now.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: Well, again, this is a classic example of the cost of items going up, but wage is not rising to match that.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: And Houston well, texas in general does not seem to fare very well in that area Houston more so than some of the other cities in our study, because Houston, being a large metro area, is a larger annual income.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: But what we found though we based this on the percentiles are based on the average car loan balance over the median income.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: Houston has a pretty pretty solid annual median income, but we're talking only about work income, so that doesn't include any investment income.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: Rental income of $50,000 a year with an average auto loan balance of about just under $21,000.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: And that's a debt-to-income ratio of about 41%.
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: Ideally, you want a DTI of about 35% to 36%.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: So that means you want a DTI of about 35% to 36%.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: So that means you have a little bit left over at the end of the month after paying your bills.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: And again, the lower the better.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: So at least you have a little bit of money so you can go buy a box of donuts at the grocery store at the end of the work week.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: So how does that compare to, say, five years ago?
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Well, it's higher because post-pandemic people are buying more cars.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: The cars are getting more expensive, obviously because there's still some supply chain issues with the microprocessors that power a lot of these new cars.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: So people are spending more for used vehicles, driving up the cost, and again the incomes are not keeping up with the rate of inflation for vehicles.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: So you're getting yourself in a little bit of trouble with that debt to income ratio.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Keep in mind, two gentlemen, that we're talking about just atincome ratio.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: This is just for car loans.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: This is not counting your credit card debt.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: Someone, one of you guys, had mentioned your student loans.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah or not, your student loans?
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Daughters' student loans.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Mortgages.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and just on a quick side note, with the life insurance you had mentioned, I would recommend not letting any of your loved ones watch any episodes of Forensic Files.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: If you've got life insurance, keep them away from watching Forensic Files, because that seems to be kind of a motive there in a lot of those cases.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: So let me ask you, since you brought that up when you were talking about the percentages of debt, you know the 41% for the car debt and it doesn't include the house and whatever else, the student loans and things.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: So I mean, if you start adding that stuff up, you're well over 50%, 60%, aren't you?
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: Exactly, and what inevitably happens is that you start falling behind on payments and in a lot of cases, the car loan is usually the first one to stop.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: That's usually you.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Theoretically, you pay to keep your mortgage.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: And then what happens?
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: Sooner or later, the repo man is going to come find you.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: So if you're trying to pin it down, just to make it a little simpler, what ideally would your car percentage be?
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: 20, 10?
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, if somebody was really trying to look at their overall budget well, ideally the lower the better.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: 10 would be a be a good number.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: But what you can do car dealerships, banks, you can log on and they have these car loan calculators where you can type up how much you want to put down.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: And it's not a bad idea to treat it like a mortgage and maybe put down 20% of the cost of the car.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: That seems to be a good number to get those payments down.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: The more you can save up front, the higher the down payment, the lower your your monthly payment will be well chip.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: One of the things that I think that you didn't include in that is if you buy, let's just say, a three-year-old car that's got under 40 000 miles on, you didn't include repairs, because now you've got maintenance and repairs on that car.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: So therefore, the let's just say, $35,000 car that you went and got a note for a used car, right, and now you're going to have to keep up the maintenance on it.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: You're going to have to buy a set of tires, brakes, oil changes and all the things that go along with maintaining the car.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Much less if some major catastrophic things happen to it, for instance, you lose a transmission or something like that, right.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Then you have to ask yourself okay, well, what about all these ads that we see on TV for these rip-off places that are called aftermarket warranties, extended warranty?
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, my girlfriend got caught up in that and that warranty was costing two hundred dollars a month, and when it came right down to it to repair the jaguar that she had, of course she set herself up for those kind of repairs.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, once those repairs were done, it was $4,000 out of her pocket, in addition to whatever the extended warranty people decided they weren't going to pay because it wasn't included Right on.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: Right that they weren't going to pay because it wasn't included right on, right now.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: As far as our study, we went on the assumption that when you're buying from a dealership, that the car is going to have some kind of a warranty built into it, whether it's three years, 36 000 miles, which are which are not bad deals as opposed to these aftermarket ones that you're talking about.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: We got suckered into a home warranty when we first got married and a year later we were two years later we were paying on a dishwasher and still paying the monthly premium.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: So we we got out of that one real quick it would have been cheaper just to go and buy a new one dishwasher?
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly let's say they're in business because they make money on you and on me and on Jeff and Mike, right, yeah, so spend your money wisely.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: That's probably not the wisest thing to do.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: No.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Well, there goes our next advertiser.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: I guess they're not going to be buying us anytime soon, good Please.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: We don't want to have anything to do with that.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Don't throw Mike and I into that.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Him and I don't have any money.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: No, but you got home warranties.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: And car warranties?
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: No, but to your point, one of my daughters had.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: She got a divorce and got upside down in a car and all that stuff with the debt ratio we were talking about.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: That's what I happened to think of with her.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Her ex fixed that up for her.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: So when she finally got to where she could buy a house an older house she bought that home warranty, which I strongly suggest that she not do, man.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: She got her money out of that, though.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: I mean she burned through that because she bought that house and they said, yeah, we're covering everything, got her washing machine fixed, got a new hot water heater, got some plumbing fixed, all kinds of stuff, and then, boom, she dropped them.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: But she got her money out.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: But that's about the only way.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: She only had it about a year and she's the only one I know of that ever got their money out of it.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah me too, yeah, it's bad.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: So what's the recommendation Chip?
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: What should we do to not really get this thing out of whack in our budget?
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Well, we mentioned earlier.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Well, you can start by buying less expensive used vehicles.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Or, you know, save up.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: We talked about save up money up front to minimize the cost of your loan.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: If you can afford to pay in cash, that's always nice.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Hold on to your existing vehicle as long as you can.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: My father was a mechanic for 35 years and he always says that well, when the repair bills start to become more expensive than a monthly payment, then it's time to move on.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Okay, also, we would.
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: We talked about the DTI and again, the lower the DTI that was more favorable to lenders.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: We would recommend, of course, as a personal finance website, to check your credit score.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Maybe sign on to WalletHubcom, get a free account.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Check your credit score before you go out shopping, because if you have a good enough credit profile, you'll get some lower rates, particularly if terms on car loans well to that point.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: You know, I wrote an article with a couple of car reviews in it and it was comparing a couple of trucks.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: One was a honda ridgeline and the other one was a toyota tacoma and they were both, in my opinion, pricey.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: But that's the way that today's trucks are.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: But instead of going and buying the truck the Ridgeline let's just take the Ridgeline, for example, that you can option up to $50,000,.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Why not back out $10,000 out of that by, instead of buying the Z1 Ridgeline, whatever it may be, back out and buy the B3 one.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: You still got the same truck, it costs you $10,000 less, and take that $10,000 and put it in your pocket for a rainy day.
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: That's a good point, because for that $10,000, maybe you're paying for maybe one extra bell or whistle.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: You're more or less paying for that model, for that particular trim number on the side of the vehicle.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: But yeah, just be practical on things like that.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: And of course, anyone who goes out and pays sticker price for a vehicle is a sucker.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right and you know there was a time when inventory on car dealer lots was low, if there was any inventory at all.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: There's one honda dealership that was on the east side of town uh, on the way to the drag strip, the former drag strip here in town and for two years during the pandemic we went by there.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: There was not one new car on the lot.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: We thought they'd gone out of business.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: They didn didn't go out of business, but apparently they were selling whatever they could get in, right online and right to the homeowner, the car buyer, and we're going.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: How do you stay in business like that?
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: So there was this big gap in cars that were being turned in off of loan, off of lease, and there were no used cars to buy, and what there was out there they were getting snapped up in a hurry.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: So there's this cattywampus thing going on in the car industry and I think that we've caught up with that.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: But now the price of cars has gone through the roof.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, I go past many dealerships on the way to work every day and those dealership lots they're packed full of cars, but those cars are expensive for the most part.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: And you mentioned trucks too, and that's where the big money is for these dealerships.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: You mentioned the Tacomas.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: You go price a reasonably loaded Tacoma against a Toyota Camry.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: You're going to see a dramatic shift in the increase of the price there.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: People love their, people love their truck.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: People love big trucks and to don's point, with these dealerships that didn't have any inventory during the pandemic.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: The salesman would call the prospective customers, say we got a truck coming at 11 o'clock.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: It's got nine cars on it.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: You want it, you want one come down.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: And then, as they're unloading the truck, people were buying them Wow.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize that.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I think, how can a person calculate their debt-to-loan ratio?
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: And what should you do?
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: What would you suggest?
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: that we do.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: What tools are there.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Well, again, you can log on to it.
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: You can do just a regular Google search for auto loan calculator and you fill in numbers and it crunches the numbers for you how much you're willing to spend per month, projected interest rate, any down payment, any trade, and it'll spit out the numbers for you.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: But what if you wanted to go a step further and you wanted to know okay, I can tell my car is going to cost me this much and I can calculate that.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: But now I want to calculate my house note.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: I want to calculate my rent, my electric bill.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: I want to figure out my whole debt ratio, not just the little car part.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Is there something out there that will do that?
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: Well, there's a number of all kinds of software out there for personal budgeting that will do that.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: But yeah, it all comes down to budgeting, of course, and then you cite all of your monthly expenses against your income and then whatever is left, then you can make a reasonable guess about how much you can afford to spend on a vehicle.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: You know, somebody asked me the other day.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: They said what car would you recommend?
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know how much do you have to spend.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know, I really like this car.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: You know how much that car is?
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: No, I don't know how much it is, but I like the car.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Well, don't go into a dealership and go.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: I don't know what I want to buy.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: But sell me something, yeah and I don't know how much money I want to spend.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: If I were a salesman, I'd go come on in.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Where am I going on vacation?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: They're going to sell you the car with the biggest spiff on it, yeah.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: They tried that on Kathy.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we have a very nice Jaguar.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, don't even say that word.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And it A beige, that's beige.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: A beige Jaguar, a beige Jaguar with a new transmission.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah so, at any rate, well, interesting facts and figures.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And what does WalletHub do?
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Well, we're primarily a personal finance website and we do studies that kind of shed some light on how you can improve your situations through personal finance.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: You can log on to Walletubcom, create an account.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: We offer free credit scores, updated daily, free credit reports and 24-7 credit monitoring and, of course, you have access to a whole number of studies in addition to the ones that we've just done here today.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Well, Chip, we sure appreciate you taking the time from the Carolinas to talk to us today.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: Oh sure, my pleasure.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: We appreciate it.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: We appreciate your interest in our work.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, most definitely do, and hopefully we'll check in with you in the not-too-distant future and you'll say Don, what do you think about that $100,000-a-year raise that you got?
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: What did you buy with it?
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: Not the Jaguar.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Apparently not what's in your wallet, chip.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Thanks again, we appreciate you.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: How funny.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Thanks guys, Enjoy the game today.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you, you too.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: All right, let's take a break, shall we Sure Making my brain work way too hard on a Saturday morning.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Well, you're all stuffy.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I know, trying to recover from a cold, I'm tired.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I don't sleep at night.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Well, the cold doesn't have anything to do with that, I just don't sleep at night anyway.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Hey, the In Real Time Car Talk show is available 24-7 through the iHeartRadio app.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Just look for In Wheel Time Car Talk and a new daily podcast.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: All several of them, as a matter of fact, are available from your favorite podcast provider.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: We also video stream our live two-hour weekly show on Facebook, youtube and InWheelTimecom.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time Car Talk show continues right after this quick break.
• 17:28
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• 17:36
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  Speaker 1: It's located on 99 the Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard in Katie, find yourself in Aggieland Head to the Loopy Tortilla in College Station.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Located just around the corner from Kyle Field, it's a great place to enjoy those famous frozen margaritas before or after the game.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Going to Louisiana, the Loopy Tortilla in Beaumont is on I-10, so you can't miss it.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: The original group of Loopy Tortilla restaurants has the best Tex-Mex anywhere and you're invited anytime.
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  Speaker 1: If you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: The address is info at inwheeltimecom.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Trips that you want to take, but you want to take Fido with you.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Fido, fido or.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Bean or whoever it is.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Bean the turtle.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Bean the turtle.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: He's in Denver.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: No, she, she's Bean, she Bean, yeah, she.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: We could take she Bean, yeah she.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, we could take the Suze, but we know what the Suze would do.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: She'd sleep all day.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: There's kind of a theme behind this that we're going to talk about.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Let me get you going here.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: So these are six tips, and I told you earlier in the preview that my son took his pet when they went out to Wimberley and they went tubing.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Well, there, it is right there.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Yep, there it is.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: They're all driving.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Those three cats are driving, their dogs are driving.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: So putting a cat in a pet carrier is like playing a high-voltage game of operation.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Some animals do travel well.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Dogs are a different story.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Dogs love to go for rides.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: So do humans.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: So the number one thing that we're going to talk about look at that.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: That's how they test uh, crash test dummies.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: They got crash test dogs as well.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: So don't let your pet put his head out the window.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: We know that some dogs like it to ride and get the wind in their face.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: It's fun for them to, you know, be out there and lapping up with their tongue.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: But you can get insects in your dog's face.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: In their eyes you get debris.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: It can hurt them very, very badly and, of course, if your dog has a strong prey in their bloodline, they might jump out the window, chase a cat squirrel, whatever the case, out the window of the car.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: If you need to put air in your dog's face, don't let them do it out the window.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Put them in front of an air vent, put them in front of one of the AC vents.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: They like the wind in their face and they'll be just dandy and love you for it.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Plus, it leaves more room for me to hang my head out.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: There you go.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Well, you do that all the time.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Don't let your pet lounge on the front seat.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: You wouldn't put a baby in the front seat, mike, so why would you put your pet in the front seat?
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: You just don't do that.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Restrain Rover with a harness or a crate.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Now, there's all kinds of crates.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: I did some research go from like 50 bucks up to 500 bucks, depending on what you want to put your pet into in the back of the car or the, or the front seat or the back seat, however you want to do it.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: So make sure you got the proper one to do that.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Buckle them up.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: There's harnesses to put seat belt attachments and things like you do with a car carrier.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: You can find crash test results also on the ntsb site as well.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Give plenty of water.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Dogs For dogs, for dogs, plenty of water.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: You know if you chug a bottle of water, a Red Bull or something, or a cold beer, mike, while you're driving down the road to be hydrated, your dog needs that too.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Your pet needs that.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Beer.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Make sure that you've got some nice fresh water.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be warm.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: Make sure it's kind of a but you're not really hot.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: They need that hydration as well.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Stop every few hours.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: It's the.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Suze, I'm telling you that was the theme.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: These are all beagles on here.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: I see that.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: So if you're taking a long trip and you do need a restroom or you need to stretch your legs, your pet does as well.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: If they're housebroken or if they're a little older model of a dog or a cat, they might have some issues with their bladders and things.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: So make sure you're taking care of that as well.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: And the last one is don't leave your pet in the car.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: You know you're going to come back to the car and either have a broken window or your dog's going to be missing, or even a worst case scenario there.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: So just some tips on it Take care of your pet, you know.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Treat them like everything else that you take care of in your car and you'll be just fine.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Went to the grocery store this was I don't know about a month ago and there was a car that we parked next to and the car had a dog in it.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh well, they'll be right back so we do our grocery shopping.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: It takes about 30, 40 minutes or so.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Come back out, the dog is still in the car.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: The car is not running.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Come back out, the dog is still in the car.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: The car's not running, the windows aren't open.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: The dog, you can tell, is distressed.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: What did we do?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: We called the police.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and the police came and I don't know what happened after that.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know whether they broke the window, but whoever the dumbass was that left the dog in the car, they should have been arrested.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: At least had the window broken on the car.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Who does?
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: that who does that?
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Bad people, bad people at no consideration.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: Got no concept, so take care of your pets.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I was ticked.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: They took little Lou Lucille is their dog and they had a harness on them like a little life vest with a handle on the back so you can just pick them up, put them in the water, take them out of the water.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: It was very cool.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Time now for this hour's car review here on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Mr Mars is driving a 2025 Subaru Forester.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, are you not ready for the review?
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: I was getting George ready, sorry.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Yes, I am ready for the review.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: All right go.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Is George Coleman his hair or something?
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: So I was driving the 2025 Subaru Forester Premium.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: Now, this is the sixth gen of the Forester and it's been redesigned.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: It comes in five trims base, premium, sport limited and touring.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: So we were driving the premium.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: This is a small SUV that Subaru considers it the right size as passengers.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: It'll hold five people.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: Up front, you're going to find these new narrow LED headlights.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: They've got the responsive headlights that'll turn with you as you go LED fog lights, taillights all the good LED lights all the way around.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: Had the panoramic moonroof Not a sunroof but a moonroof and they have A panoramic moonroof.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: A panoramic moonroof.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: It's for when it's a full moon.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: So it also has usable roof racks that are now standard on the Forester instead of an option.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: It has a power liftgate with hands-free, the foot sensor on it and it rolls on some nice 7 by 17-inch wheels.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: And it's got a new dash design.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: This year it had the cloth seating material and had a folding rear seat.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: The uh comp rear seat has a console that has cup holders on it, which is always a nice thing.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: 11.6 inch starlink multimedia system in the middle of the dash, nice big screen to use.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: And the uh.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: It also has a cargo cover in the back to keep things out of sight, out of mind.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Usbc's got a's and c's all the way around had a wireless charger.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: That I thought was real strange.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: It wouldn't work with my phone for several days till I figured out there's a little button up there right beside where you lay the phone.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: You have to turn it on.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Instead of just setting the phone there like most of them.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Do you actually have to turn it on after that?
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Fine, now we had under the hood.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: We had a 2.5 liter boxer-type flat engine 180 horsepower, 178 pound-feet.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: It is an all-wheel drive vehicle with a CVT?
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Now you can.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: There is an option to step up to where you can get one that'll have an automatic that you can use paddle shifters on, but we didn't have that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Tow rating is 1,500 pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot, but this is a small SUV.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: It'll tow your jet ski.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: It'll tow a small camper.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: 1,500 pounds covers a lot of things that you're actually towing Now in the city.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: The EPA says you should be looking for about 26 miles per gallon out on the Highway 33 for a combined mileage of 29.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Now I got 31.8 miles in this vehicle driving at 384.7.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Now I do put a lot of miles on it across the highway, jeff, I'm kind of out there in the sticks.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: So I kind of lean to that, so it kind of changes the way it does.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: Now I will say also I like driving this vehicle.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: The steering's been updated this year.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: They actually derived the steering mechanisms from the WRX, the sporty model, so it's got some really nice steering.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: It's quieter.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: They made some changes in the manufacturing Drive-by-wire.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I didn't even look at that, but they did make some changes in the manufacturing on how they put the car together, how it's assembled, where they put the glue.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: They changed the glue, they changed some of the material to keep it a little bit silent.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: You know the sound deadening materials and the chassis itself is 10% stiffer so it doesn't kind of move and wiggle and squeak as much.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: So it's much quieter than what it's been in the past.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: Now the base model for this is 29,695.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: Now this is the 2025 Supra Forester and base trim price, which you step up to the premium, which is the next level up, is $31,995 Now our as tested price.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: So we have very few options.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: So it was only $34,590 For this with the all wheel drive.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: So if you're looking for something to compare it to In that small SUV CUV category A, kia Sportage I have a friend that's got one of these.
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: He loves it $27 it 2719 is the base to get into it.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: The uh 2024, that was 25.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Now the 2024 toyota rav4 I haven't got a pricing on the 25 yet but it's 30,025.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: And then the ford bronco sport, you can get into it for 29, 950.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Again, these are base model prices and then you kind of option it up from where you go from there.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: So overall, all in all it's a little bit smaller than some of the other subarus but I think with the things they've done to it for 25, like the wrx steering and and stiffening the chassis and a lot of other things, it's really a nice driver.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: The the later video you had of it.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: The color is nice because subaru, to me, sometimes puts some unique color combinations on their vehicles with the cladding and things and all that.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: It kind of doesn't.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: You look at it, you go, ooh, why did they do that?
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: But the solid colors, like the grays, and the softer tones, I like that.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: The interior's nice on it it is.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: It's kind of a nice compromise with the big seats and stuff to make things, so it doesn't hurt so bad to get it wet.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Today's In Real Time Car Talk Show is sponsored by the group of original Loopy Tortilla Restaurants in Houston, beaumont and College Station, gulf Coast, auto Shield and Pro-Am Auto Accessories.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Talk show continues right after this quick break.
• 29:15
  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.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier retail and service corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000 square foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 29:52
  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.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto, 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 30:10
  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.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: The In-Wheel 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.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: In-wheel Time's live video and audio stream can be found on the iHeart Radio app, youtube, facebook and InWheelTimecom every Saturday 10 am to noon Central Time, or grab a podcast anytime from your favorite podcast provider.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 30:45
  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.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast Podcast, addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.