Welcome to stepside a podcast about trucks. I'm Matt Haughey, internet nerd. Who's been obsessed with trucks, his whole life. And with me as always  I'm Joel Johnson.

I am a guy who is owned and operated consumer. Yeah. Yeah. That's my deep resume. That's why you can trust the stepside podcast because we have owned trucks like anyone else. Uh, it is, uh, Thursday, March the third, 2022. Uh, Matt, there's been some truck news this week.  Big things happened in the land. I mean, when is there not truck news, but let's pretend this is an especially exciting week.

The first we were talking about the idea of this podcast, it'd be hard to like make myself maintain truck news knowledge and it just comes to you like every week I've got 15 things. I see. Okay. They haul it in, I mean, look, trucks are the most popular, uh, category of vehicle, at least by. The number one selling and also where all of the interesting stuff in cars is happening right now, because all the car makers think that everybody just wants trucks.

So I think we're geniuses is my point. Like we're ahead of we're ahead of the curve. It's time, the mass media ignored the truck loving public, and we're here to serve that audience. So first up, uh, Jeep finally announced this week, I saw a story on the verge.com. Their first electric SUV is coming in 2023.

I don't know if you had seen, uh, still Lantis, the mother company of Jeep and Alfa Romeo and all those, the former formerly known as FCA Fiat-Chrysler alpha. Uh, they did a thing, uh, about six months ago where they did electric taglines for all their. And, uh, I don't even know if they meant to put it out to the public, to be honest, it really seemed like something that it kind of leaked, but all of the, all of the, all of the brands for all of their new electric vehicles were all just basically testosterone and murder.

It was like, gee blank. We will electrocute the future. And like, we're gonna re we're going to go through a light healthy, you know, BDSM relationship with, uh, with Alfa Romeos electric, new trucks, like it's all over the place. But to this week, it's, uh, this week it's Jeep. And I gotta say they put out a couple of pictures, a nice, uh, yellow color.

It looks a lot like, yeah, it looks like a compass. It looks like a grand Cherokee it's language. It's weird. It's two door, like has a launch, but, well, you know what I've noticed, they do a lot now. Uh, Toyota just did this with their EVs. I don't remember what  yeah. They're offered their off-road like prototype thing when you look at it.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like a wrap for me. It's an FJ cruiser sort of design and it was shown as a two door, but, or it was shown as a four-door rather, but if you like zoomed into the picture, you could see that what would have been the rear doors are like a foot long. Like, no, I mean, it's like, it literally doesn't actually fit

when you're trying to broadcast an outdoor image, there's still like the Jeep Wrangler is still, you know, the, the example par excellence of what a four by four, looks like. And so. You sell a lot of these designs, I feel like ended up looking better in two doors and then they S the, but what sells is actually four doors.

Uh, I will that the best example of that, or the most immediate example. Now it's the Ford Bronco, which, you know, in the two door, I think is a very attractive little truck. Yeah. And then you see the four doors on the road. I'm starting to see a few, uh, driving around and they're huge. The real big truck.

Yeah. They're kind of a, they kind of went nuts on that approach and departure angle and shortened up the overhang so much. They look weird, but I mean, I've heard like 90% are going to be four doors, you know, sold. Honestly, it's the like designers who went to art center, college of design, like the automotive degree program who make really cool concepts that look cool.

So of course, they're going to pick it to. Uh, but what actually sells there's four doors. So yeah. Yeah. I saw that shirt, this new Jeep GBV, like, uh, it's E V E like, it looks like a gas version converted. Cause it's got such a hood and it doesn't need necessarily that much hood,  appoint in the industry and the switchover where we're trying to figure out if people want stuff that looks like the future, or if people want stuff that looks like today.

And so I think some companies are going to try to go way out there, uh, with, you know, like the ionic five and you know, crazy new designs and, and obviously EVs, a lot of them are wind tunnel tested to be more slippery in the air. So they get better efficiency and that, and that kind of gives you the laws in shape.

And then I think there's some companies that are like, no, we're going to make a square. We're going to put a syndrome. On four wheels and it's going to be electric, but it's going to look bad-ass and, uh, and if she goes that direction, I think that's fine. Ford and Chevy, you know, I think the Ford has to be exactly the same body panels because we can't make new body panels.

We can't, you know, there's so many zillions of accessories might as well make it exactly a Ford F one 50, the lightening you mean? Yeah. But you could have done anything here and it's like, okay. It looks like one of their existing designs. Okay. I mean, I, I don't tend to look at Jeep as a leader in design and styling.

Yeah. That new grand wagon here is a real interesting collection of shapes that are definitely large. Uh, but like, I don't, you know, it doesn't mean for one this week at the Portland auto show last weekend, and it was. It's suburban. It is, you know, whatever the XL suburban model with the square rear doors is like, it is the massive FBI suburban sized.

And then, uh, and I was laughing cause they had two and one was like 80 grand. Well, it was like 110 with every option possible. Uh, and the high end one had a gun safe in the center console for your American driving needs. Uh, and then the cheap one was like missing a lot of stuff and it wasn't that nice.

And I was like, this is still like 80 grand. Yeah. The packaging stuff on a lot of American companies have finally really embraced the European style. Like the entry level stuff is super stripped out. And the top end, if you want all the, uh, the special features you're gonna get. A lot of times, twice as much almost, uh, which is, is wild.

It's it's really, I think at this point, just the Japanese and Korean automakers that are still putting, you know, the lower trim has a lot of good deals. Uh, what, uh, what else we got in truck news? Uh, well, uh, uh, there was there's, there's literally like this. Uh, let's have a podcast where we talk about a rumor that I read on some website, but in all of this still ANSYS news that came out when they were talking about the GBV, they also sort of mentioned, and some executives intimated that they're about to think about it, uh, that that Dodge may bring back, uh, the Dakota, which the Dakota is their size.

Uh, yeah. Uh, well, no, I maybe, yeah. Like, I mean, nobody really knows, but they, the one thing that was effectively said is an executive said, it's not going to be built on the, the Ram full-size jazzy. Cause I get, yeah, it's not Dodge anymore. It'll be a Ram Dakota since Dodge's is, or Ram is its own brand.

Right. Um, I don't have feelings about Dakotas. Like I I've never been. You know, the very first, when the, when the Dodge 1500 got redesigned in the, in the nineties to look kind of like a semi with the four, uh, you know, the rounded, uh, hood, it was kind of like a little bit of a retro throwback. That was certainly like that, that is a truck design that stuck in my mind as a 12 year old or whatever I was as like, oh, trucks are cool.

Like that's a neat thing. And I would point them out on the road and be really excited about it. By the time that Dakota came out, the Dakota was just a shrunk down version of that. And I don't know, I don't, I don't know a lot of people really well here's what's happened. All those mid-sized trucks were just fleet trucks or trucks for people that couldn't afford a full size truck.

And then, you know, maybe didn't need it a course, but they were never like a premium sales leader versus, a full size. And then you had the Tacoma and when  the Tacoma. 10 years ago, 15 years ago, that combined with like the famous top gear episode about them dropping a high Lux off a building and setting it on fire, all of a sudden Toyotas and Tacomas in particular became like the roughest truck, the best off-road truck, the most durable, the most, you know, everything that was the thing to get.

And so Tacoma was basically the only mid-size trucks still being sold. The ranger had been taken off the market. The Colorado had been taken off the market by Chevy and it caught a  bunch of automakers flat-footed. So now you've got Colorado is back. Ranger is finally starting to come back.

 It makes perfect sense that they're going to want, especially if a full kitted out Dodge or Ram 1500 is, you know, 60, 70 grand just to get in the door. It's nice to have something in the 40, $50,000 range. So it could be cool. It could be cool. I will give, I will give Ram this. Uh, the Ram interiors right now among the full size is they're the best.

Like maybe they don't hold up the best. Maybe they're not the best in real life, but going to an auto show going around and poking at something like the interiors on those are great. So they do maybe an upscale mid-size with the Dakota where it's still big screens and leather and all of that stuff.

Maybe that could be, uh, I remember the 90 slabs society, Dakotas is not being super reliable. And I remember they really early on at a convertible for some reason. Like, I just remember that like close to launch a convertible Dakota, like a California edition. It was super weird with a soft top that leaked.

And then I think the only thing I've seen cool ever, but the codas was like, who these garage selling, uh, you know, 7,000 mile, what, like the super fast version from the late nineties, it looked amazing. Like I forgot they made it when I saw it. Um, yeah, I'm just pulling this up here. There's an 89 to 91.

Dodge a Dakota sport convertible that idea. It's pretty sweet. I mean, th it's got the, thanks. You got your flexi frame, you got everything you need in the truck. I mean, I'm sure that thing was creaking off the showroom floor. Like there's no way that that was safe or put together properly, but it looks extremely fun.

Uh, I, this is so I really love convertible trucks and there's obviously not a ton of them, but like there's basically no convertible truck. If somebody came to me and said, would you buy that? I'm dealing. Yeah, of course. Like that looks like that rules. Yeah. I mean, full-size trucks are now starting like 50 grand for decently equipped ones.

You got to have a lower price point. Come on. So yeah, that makes sense. I mean, we'll see. Yeah. Uh, okay. Also, this is, this was so funny cause I, I was collected a bunch of stuff to say like, all right, what happened this week? What are we doing? And I stumbled across that. The American chucker con. Which I didn't even hear anything hiding her hair like the last week, because there's a bit of a war happening.

And, uh, turns out the trucker tomboys are actually kind of picking up steam like, jeez. Uh, the thing is, and I don't, don't get me wrong. I'm happy about this, but they're apparently being very civil and polite. Uh, I read a quote from a woman in an article that said we don't expect any traffic blockage or, or major traffic delays, uh, which, you know, cool.

Well, I, I appreciate that. But also like then what are you doing honking? Uh, but apparently, yeah, there's a couple of them. Some of them have dissolved, uh, Peter petered out, uh, but some of them are still kind of cooking. And I saw one that said there was about a thousand trucks, so I guess they're just gonna drive to DC.

And then something on, I see photos, I see trailers. And I'm like, who owns those trailers? And how are they out of commission? How's this person losing money on this trailer? Like what is happening? That's pretty weird. Like I can see bringing the tractor part. Yeah, that's fine. You know, maybe they're owner operators, but when you have giant trailer, I just don't like somebody else owns that.

That's weird. Yeah. Uh, I've been all the trailers. Close to disposable from what I understand. Yeah. They probably were just like, well, this will block more traffic like this. I can paint bigger, bigger signs on this. But what I find to be really funny about it though, is it? Cause I was like, well, I, I, and I presumed that I presumed correctly that they were convoying because of COVID mask updates and uh, government overreach and you know, all of that stuff.

And, uh, yes, it turns out that is why they are doing it. And, but in the last week or two. Yeah. All the new sites seen is basically all of the governors of the states and stuff being basically like, yeah, we're not doing that anymore. Schools, no mask, whatever. So America should have gotten on top of it a little faster if they wanted to have a big, yeah.

Big political truck convoy. My, uh, brother-in-law is visiting from out of state and he was cruising through Portland and he said there was this like sad bunch of truckers in downtown Portland, apparently trying to get something started. And I was like, boy, they must be really mad that like, you know, their news, the news cycle is not holding them up.

You know, the news cycle is why nobody's paying attention to them because there's more pressing matters, but yeah, as mandates go away, uh, I drive, I salute their commitment to tilting at windmills. You know, I guess if you've already taken the time. Uh, it turned down enough jobs. Like I'm sure I love a road trip salute anybody seeing this great country of ours.

So I hope they're having a great time, but, uh, yeah, I, I was, I was shocked when I, when I saw that hat, I was like, oh, they're still doing that. Like, that's how I think that they feel good about, so yeah. Uh, you know, wave to your local convoy unless they have swastika flags and then you can safely ignore them.

Uh, do we have any rebellion news this week? Because I was going to save, I was going to save that for last, but let's uh let's yeah. Why don't you tell people what ravine that the big pile of shit that ribbon? I think I woke up Tuesday morning to two texts from friends going, Hey, is this happening to you?

And then it was links to various news sites saying Vivian's gonna, uh, up their prices. Which is fine. Honestly, when the views of the trucks are coming out, I was like, Jesus Christ. That's a lot of truck for 75 grand. Like, you know, people are saying, this is the best truck they ever driven. The greatest interior, like Ashley as four motors is like real off-road chops.

And I've seen some demos of like fully lockered out for runners, struggling up a hill or someone from ravines, just like, you know, just, just pressing the gas. And it does it, um, like really difficult stuff. So I was like, man, 75 grand. Yeah. You know, and they locked in those prices three years ago. And so I'm sure everything costs more, but like, how do you raise prices?

You do it like Tesla, like whatever, starting next month, they're going to be more expensive for all new orders, but they hilariously retroactively added 12 to 15 grand to everyone's pre-order and they sent me an email going, I'm sorry, you have to do this. Um, if you want to keep the same. You can wait two more years till 2024.

When we come out with a two motor model instead of the four motors or two smaller. Yeah. I said, 20, 24, we're going to start making a smaller battery pack, or we're going to put less motors on it. If you want the same price, you can chill out and hang out for two more years. And it's already been two years for me.

And I remember I was like, they literally sent me the build sheet. They said, please log in to see what changes. So you log in, they show you my show, me my build sheet and all they changed. I, I picked out an SUV, 75 grand and like 10 grand of options. And it was, um, it just said first edition, 90 K and then 10 grand of options.

And your total was like 99 grand instead of like 84 or something, uh, that was looking to pay the summer when it's supposed to be built. And I, and I was like, this is insane. Like I've never heard of retroactive screen over pre-orders that have been waiting for years. I understand the price should be different.

Like we're in a different world. It's been years, but. I don't know I was astounded, you know, so I first saw the news. Uh, it was, and they, it was attached to some other piece of news. I don't remember what it was, but it, it was like, oh, and by the way, we're raising the price. And I had the first thought that you did, which was like, you know, you probably should, these things may be, you know, especially with the price increases that have happened through the pandemic and, you know, supply chain, yada yada, like, okay, of course you're gonna, you're gonna raise the price.

And then when I saw that it was for anything that hasn't been delivered yet, I was, uh, astounded like, because, uh, you know, people will wait for a while and Ruby, and I would say, arguably, if you're going to get an Eby truck, even though the lightning is just about ready to start delivering first orders to people, I think it's fair to say that ribbon is probably the best either.

In the near, you know, availability, ignoring things that have been announced, but are a couple of years out, uh, you know, the Hummer looks cool, but it's a stunt vehicle and you know, the lightning will be cool, but it's a F150 and it's, you know, relatively big. And, and so, you know, the ribbon ribbon totally makes sense, but it's like, oh, that's just what, isn't that?

Just going to get people to cancel their pre-orders, which apparently it did because today, yeah, this morning I got another email from RJ, the CEO going boy, we really underestimated the backlash. The funny part was in the original email of like, Hey, the price is going up. It would say like, Hey, if you want to talk to us, click here.

And it just went to the contact page and there was no options except send them an email or start a chat or something. And I'm like, I'm not going to yell at some customer support agent. Like, like, man, I, my assumption is, um, I was 50 50 on canceling. I was like talking to my wife. It's been over two years, like, should I just cancel?

Like, that was a lot of money. It was just like special gift to myself. I've been waiting years for it. And I was like, I would be fine without it, you know? Uh, I was 50 50 on canceling and thinking about it this week. And then, seeing them, I would assume a lot of it being an expensive car, a lot of lawyers bought it.

I was assuming it was probably forums where these lawyer owners pre-order holders probably were talking about class actions, you know, about like you can't change the. Uh, Kickstarter game has never, you know, added 20 bucks before it ever hit the streets. Like it's super weird for her. And if you're comparing this to Kickstarter as a good example, you know, you're in rough shape.

I mean, you can do a class action for almost anything. So I think that's entirely possible, but I, I bet you, it wasn't even that, uh, I think they just were dumb, you know, I think they just didn't think through, you know, there's something that happens. Uh, wow. Stock is down at 50 bucks a share, well, seven day I say, all the stocks are cratering is maybe unfair, but in the sixties until Tuesday when they probably sent that email.

But I mean, I think it's just one of those things. You know, you get into these big companies and there's a, there's a CFO, or, you know, somebody like looking at the margins of stuff and saying, Hey, we got to start charging more and they've ran the numbers to say, well, we've got this many pre-orders and this many people will probably bail and, and they never stopped to go, why are we doing it this way?

Because all they had, all they had to do is say, uh, I mean, they could even met it in the middle of, let's say like, if it delivers this year, we'll honor the price. But if it's going to extend into next year, like this is when the prices are going up for everybody, give people a little bit of margin, but they just, yeah, they clearly, they, uh, they, they made a mess of their own.

And I got to say like, I'm cheering for Ravion. It's a new company. American made, uh, mostly American based manufacturing to my knowledge. Uh, I, I'd never driven one yet. I'd be like poked around and. Seems great. And, and it is on my list. Like I'm, I'm in the market for another truck, but it, that little back and forth basically took it out of the running for me where I was like, nah, I'm good.

I'm gonna let, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go somewhere else. So, yeah. And, and this happened a couple of weeks ago, I think, uh, technically, uh, although we haven't recorded in a couple of weeks, but the truck I thought I might buy, I was mostly right. Which is, this is the big announcement. Everybody get really stoked.

I know our fans have been losing their minds, waiting to see what I'm going to decide. Uh, I was going to buy a ranger, plugin electric. That was going to make that, that was it. They haven't announced it. It's not clear that they're going to, they almost legally have to in, in Europe, I'm not, it's not a joke.

Like, like, like they, the EU is requiring a ton of, uh, plug-in electric hybrids from companies now. Um, but then they announced the ranger Raptor, which won't be available here until next year. I think it's going to release in like April or may of next year. Oh, uh, it's a few, uh, I think about 7,500 units are going to be released in Australia this year, because even though the trucks made in, I believe it's made in South Africa.

I know they made some in Thailand, but I think the range of rappers are made in South Africa. It's basically an Australian truck, right? Like it's a global truck. The community for them has always been in an Australia. It's sort of built to Australia and off-road specs, whatever that, whatever that means.

And I. I immediately was like, all right, forget, plug-in hybrid. I'm buying a Raptor. So, uh, yeah, I follow a British YouTuber, mountain biker, and he has something it's like a ranger tremor over there, but it's like really built up. It was Fox, a wild track, which is a trim. There's a wild track, uh, tra K that available in America or is that never, it is not been a bit, it looks like a ranger wrapped or something like, oh, obviously they can just perk up the engine and put a better suspension on it.

I mean, you know, I think realistically the difference between. What the ranger Raptor will be versus what the previous gin, a wild track will be in the grand scheme of things. It's probably not super different, but, uh, you know, I, the, the goal for me, as you know, like I'm not a big hardcore off roader and I'm not, I don't beat my trucks if I really mostly use them as a fancy camper.

And I do a ton of miles, right? Like I do cross country trips. I'd put, you know, I burned thousands of dollars in gas a year on these trips. And I was like, that's why I should just do a plug-in hybrid. It'll get great gas mileage. It totally makes sense. And then I just, I saw the ranger Raptor, and I was like, that's going to be 50 grand, 55 grand.

All it needs is like a camper shell on it. And I don't even need to touch the suspension. And it's and I was just like, no, that's it. So I got to clear a couple things out of the stable this year and get myself financially prepped for it. But, uh, the Caribbeans, the off the list, that was the only thing that I was maybe thinking about going with.

And it wasn't real likely anyway, cause distance plus EVs is still pretty janky right now. So, uh, yeah, everybody can stop emailing me. You can stop hitting me up on the sidestep social that we haven't set up yet. Uh, the official plan right now is to buy a ranger Raptor. Uh, as soon as they pre-order, it they'll, they'll get my money and uh, and that'll hopefully be my rig and hopefully they won't change the price on it.

Wow. That looks pretty big. I mean, oh man. I saw, I saw some Rangers at the auto show and I still remember the first, whatever two years ago when they first brought one and I was just like, this is so much bigger than I thought it would be. Like, it just felt like it was too close, even though I know F-150 people are like, oh dude, it's tiny.

It's. It's just like still has like a five foot tall, you know, hood and stuff. It's huge. Well, you know, it's funny you say that, cause I feel like Ford might make a smaller truck for people that don't want a body on frame solution. Uh that's based on a car chassis and a unibody, uh, situation. And it would be interesting if I knew somebody who had purchased one of those recently.

Yeah. So I got my, uh, big news is Ford Maverick. My, I ordered it in August. Um, showed up on the dealer lot Monday. Uh, I got Tuesday morning, so I guess I've had 48 hours with it and I put a two or 300 miles on it. I'm trying to burn through the first thousand before. Um, we'll run people through the spec, tell people.

Sure. Yeah. Uh, I, I wanted most of the nice stuff, so I had a Ridge line, black edition and all the options. It was like $42,000 truck from 2017 that I actually pre-ordered when they announced that those were coming out. So I got it in summer 2016. Um, so I'm going from like a $40,000 truck to like a $25,000 truck.

Um, even though it's the one was like 30 with all the. Um, but I wanted, I didn't want the nicest one. They didn't want leather seats and all that. And the price range is crazy. It starts at, you know, 20 grand and I think the highest end Lariat one's like 35 or six, if you do everything possible, it's knocking on 40 it's almost twice as much, almost twice as much.

And it reminds me of like, um, you know, going to auto shows and seeing a range rovers, like where you see the base price is 35 and the one on the floor as you're touching it is 85. And you're like, how is that possible? And they just have this, you know, mile long option lists. So like, so after two days I'm like, okay, it's a cheap truck.

It's nice. It's small. I like it small. I mean, I loved, I loved my eighties Toyota pickups. Um, it feels more, car-like like, I'm probably, my seat feels like it's about two inches lower than I would expect. It would be in an SUV. Like it feels a little more car. Like I'm getting 25 miles a gallon on the first 300 miles, which is fantastic.

And I don't have a hybrid. I had a. So, what I wanted was like cloth seats, but all the options I could get, and I want to tow, occasionally we have a big trailer for UTV and yard waste and stuff. So I was like a guy to get the all wheel drive to get the tow package. And then I got the FX off-road package with the off all wheel drives.

I kind of live in the sticks. And so, and I remember I bought, like, what I've learned is like, wow, Ford is really chintzy with the like options and the like I'm reading the book and there's just like, I mean, there's 360 cameras, I think on just the upper crust, most highest end one with, you know, options on top of the highest end one.

But like I paid, I got Fords 360 safety package and it was probably 1500 bucks and it was like blind spot mirrors. And like all of a sudden it's not lane keep assist, but it rumbles the steering wheel when you cross a line, but it doesn't steer you back. And I can't remember the other one. But I was on the freeway, testing it out and I'm like testing out a cruise control and I'm like, Hey, why am I coming up on this guys?

Just truck's bumper in front of me, doesn't have radar cruise for like, I paid 1500 bucks for safety features. And like radar cruise is only on the upper, like the Larry of models. And I was like, come on, that's like 20 bucks in electronics at this point. Um, so yeah, there's just like a bunch of stuff. Like you don't get a wireless charger in the center console, unless you're like the 30 something thousand level, like lariats and stuff.

And it just reminds me of, um, like the Ford Bronco, right. Everyone talks about how rad, like the cheap one is the one with the steelies looks cool. And the Maverick was steel wheels looks cool. And there are only 20 grand. And I think the cheapest Bronco's 28 grand, but I, you know, I sat up the other night going, what would a perfect two-door Bronco cost me if I won, because there's so many options.

There are only a certain tiers, you know, if you want, like. pre-wired switches and the roof that's like only in the like biggest off-road package. And so I expect out a two and it was 72 grand. And I was like, well, how did I go from 28 to 72? And it's because if you want a 360 camera, then you have to have this trim with this technology package.

And they have way too many. I mean, I I've, this is the first American car I've ever purchased ever in my life. Uh, the first one I definitely pre-ordered well, you do live in Oregon, so it's illegal not to own a Subaru. So you're already to get the authorities after me. Asian car companies, you know, they have pretty good adoptions at pretty good price points and you want to limit.

I like the Honda, like there's an edX and LX and SSI and that's it, you know, like there's hardly any options with a lot of, um, like it's getting a little nuts. I, uh, so it's funny that you're bitching about the adaptive cruise control because to me, uh, out of everything that is in modern cars, adaptive cruise control to me is like, Yeah, I, I won't buy another car without it, like it's, it's, it's fantastic.

Right. I've had an, I am driven to last 10 years. And so, uh, I, like, I had this old Volvo  that was the first thing, you know, it's 2008, there was no radar cruise control back then. I don't know. This is hilarious when you drive it, you have to pay attention to what number you're on in the, so I had, I took a Tahoe out of the, the local press fleet up here.

Uh, cause I was doing for my work. I, I do some stuff and I used to work with Chevy. So I'm still friendly with them. Although this isn't an ad, I don't work for Chevy. It's not a review either. Um, and it had distance warning, right. Of like, Hey, you know, when do you want us to throw a alarm when you're close, you know, a breaking alarm.

And uh, and I'm like, oh, well that must mean it has adaptive cruise. Nope. Like still just regular cruise control. I'm like, so you have the radar even like you're, you're seeing how far cars ahead are and you'll alert me, but I got to pay more to get like the adaptive, uh, yeah, yeah. Actually yesterday on the long drive, I was like zoning out for half a second.

And I got the warning for the first time, this truck that like person in front of you is stopping suddenly and it was BBB and it was, it was like spot on. It was earlier than my Honda would have done it. And I was like, holy shit. That was, that was like helpful. Like I was just zoning out for a split second and like, and the person in front of me was like making a left or something and locked it up.

And it's uh, so I have two cars now. I've got a, uh, Volvo  cross country. Love it. Fantastic. One of the best cars I've ever had. I mean, it has its problems. It's I can tell it's going to start falling apart with it, put more miles on it, but, uh, but it's got every option that you could have, right? Like completely, completely, uh, every option box taped and that.

We'll keep you in the lane, recenter you in the lane, you know, with the wheel, uh, has like, it's basically just adaptive cruise control, but it has, you know, like a, uh, slightly autonomous or whatever you would call it, like driver assist, you know, thing. And it's also a big floaty station wagon. And then my other car is Ford's car manual transmission, no assistance, no adaptive suspend.

I mean, it's just a sports car, right. And I really genuinely have problems now when I switch from one car to the other, and it takes me about 10 minutes to remember how to, how to turn the wheel because in the Volvo, I basically can just sort of generally, you know, give it enough signals to Intuit the direction I want to go.

And it handles everything else. And then in my nine 11, it like wants to go. Like it'll go exactly where I tell it to go. But if I tell it to go five degrees off center, like that's where it's going to go. And I've definitely had a few times as I'm like taken off in the nine 11 to go like, you know, put around, uh, where I almost go off road or I go out of my lane and almost wreck because I I've just, I like, I'm not in that head space of like, oh right.

I'm driving now. Like it's all me. I have the same experience with, uh, my Honda truck had active lane keep assist. Uh, and once in a while my wife had to borrow my truck and turn it off. Cause it was just annoyed her and I would be driving it, you know, in the town. And there's some long sweeping curves where I'm driving with one finger going, Hey, why am I like starting to hit the curb?

Like what that cause that I'm getting like, uh, I've heard autopilot is so good on planes, you know, like young pilots and not that good in emergency situations. Cause everything is autopilot. So I was like, God, it's happening to me with like driver drive self-driving cars, you know, the small level when self-driving we have now it's like, like you really do drop your guard, uh, with all of that stuff.

And as long as it works, I guess it's not that big a deal, but, uh, yeah. It's it's yeah. The other thing, I took a road trip to California a couple months ago and I drove something like 15 or 17 hours nonstop and like, friends are all like losing their shit. And I was like, yeah, like everything is auto-driving.

I'm like I have one finger on the wheel and I'm going through a backlog of podcasts. Like I could have gone all day. I just stopped because it was 10:00 PM. And, you know, I needed to be somewhere in the morning. So I got some, but I really don't need a truck like to be on it. Like the main reason I'm getting another truck is because I want to put a nice camper on it.

Cause I like the, the big sleeping pop-up camper situations, but that v-necks. Is the best road trip car I've ever had. And it's it's for that same reason. It's like, I don't really have to pay that much attention once I'm on the freeway. And like, I can just kind of set it there and keep a hand on the wheel and, you know, and I'm, I'm I pay attention.

I'm not like messing around with my phone or anything. I'm not sure, but, uh, but then if I take, you know, a big truck or if I take a sports car on that same thing, you know, after four hours I'm whooped. And so, you know, it's, it's, it's definitely a thing. Uh, but you know, also, I don't know, I feel like in a Maverick on something, it's the bottom tier of what somebody is offering, they're trying to get in at a certain price point.

Like I can kind of make some excuses for that for basically everything. Adaptive cruise control to me, that should just be a standard feature in cars. Now it's insane that it does. I mean, cause it's like, okay, sorry. If I'm going to rent here. If we had sound effect board, this would be like Joel's rant.

Yeah, here it goes. Yeah. And it's like, all right. Cruise control. When w when did that get invented the sixties? Well, yeah, when was it everywhere? I feel like the eighties probably, yeah, wide adoption or whatever. And you know what, for the eighties, it was great. You can set a speed and it's going to keep you there.

But if you can do adaptive cruise control, which is going to prevent all of the bad situations that cruise control, vanilla cruise control creates, which is that you're not paying attention. And all of a sudden you're like coming up on a car too fast or whatever. Like it's a safety feature to me. And that's, that's really what it all boils down to, to me, it's like, I'll pay for leather.

I'll pay for a better stereo. I'll pay for cameras even like in most situations. But if it's a safety feature, it should just be built in. Like, I just, I think it's insane when car companies are like, oh, pay more for safety and. And like, these things are already very unsafe. Like, and if, yeah, if you can technologically do it .

Cause it's like I added a million things. I went from, you know, I have an XLT, so it's like the  middle range model. It was like 32 grand. So it went from like 25 up to 32.  I thought I bought the highest end ones for the biggest screen and all that stuff.

What would you call the, a keyless entry? Like I'm like, huh? Does this work or not? It doesn't like the door handles are not, they don't have like touch sensitive pads on them and I'm like, oh my God, there's no, there's no like, you know, easy in and out. Um, the funny part is, uh, you have to stick a key.

An old school, key into a tumbler and turn it except only on the highest end, like Larry at one has a push button. And it's like, why did you make two dash layouts? Like for one car, like just pick one and stick with it. The spread of features is weird and the way they priced it is weird and they have really wide pricing and, and we'll call this foreshadowing depending on how brave you get.

But there is a burgeoning community online that are, unlocking features in cars, with cannabis and OBD two hacks. And I would not be surprised if you've got the cameras and you've got a bunch of stuff that adaptive cruise control is something that you could unlock. And of course it would Boyd your warranty, you know, all that stuff again, the first like weird hack I would download from a forum would be.

There's a, there's like a bunch of buttons in the center console that do kind of preferences stuff. And the ones that remember you're setting between car starts is super, just all over the map. So like, uh, you know, as an auto parking brake, when you come to a stop that auto parking break things great. And like a drive through, you can kind of rest your foot or traffic.

Um, then he punched the gas to release the brake, right? That it, like, I seem to feels like my Maverick remembers that setting between drives, but the auto start stop when it come to a stop feature of turn off the engine, you know, at a stoplight that has to be toggled every single time I start the car.

And like I said, a couple of times where I had to like dart out in traffic and like, there's an extra second of waiting for the engine start and then the floor it, uh, where you're just like, come on, just turn that off. You know, like use it in the drive through and basically nowhere else. But yeah, like, I'm sure I just remember every car I've ever owned.

Um, if you go on the forum, someone's made a black box. Auto checks, the nav systems like pled press, okay. For me, and then do all these, uh, extra settings driver settings. You know, when I start up the car based on what I want. And I was like, if that comes out, I'm first in line for that, uh, the, the thing I'm bummed about not getting a Maverick on and, uh, You know, we could, we have to save it until you get a few thousand miles under this thing, but knowing you, I think it's always super fun when you are part of the launch year of anything and especially trucks and things that are very heavily modified and after marketed, uh, I bet there's going to be a ton of fun stuff, uh, coming out for that truck if there is not already.

So in a future episode, we will, uh, we will we'll say like the one, I was like Mo this stereo needs this. Uh, and I'm already on YouTube looking at stereo shops. I've already done like improvements to the audio. And then the other thing I'm like, this is the only other weird thing about the truck is, um, hitting the high beams.

I live out in the sticks. So the auto high beams kicks on. As soon as I leave my dress. It's weird. The high beams do not go much further down the road. It's just like all the light, you know, you know, it's like modern, bright headlights are kind of like aimed downwards, but they're very extremely bright.

You don't want to blind anyone. Like IBM's just like make everything brighter, but don't bring up the level temporarily. So I'm like, uh, you know, the first time someone wedges an led light bar in the bumper, like I'm going to buy that because like, I need more light for it's surprisingly how mellow its I-beams are.

Um, but I think, I think Ford hit a home run. It's just, I feel bad for, I think it's the $20,000 truck that gets 40 miles a gallon and it can park it in the city is basically an American dream car. And I think they could sell as many as they produce. But when I was at the auto show, I'm walking around, you know, I'm touching a Maverick for the first time ever going God.

I hope the backseats are big and they're quite big. Like for its size, they're ginormous. Um, it feels better than like a Chevy Colorado. It feels better. You know, like most mid-size trucks is close to comparable to the rate. The, the original line I have, like, I can sit behind myself with the seat where I like it and I'm six, two, like, that's amazing for a compact truck, but I was like, oh, I didn't get this option.

I didn't get it. And some guy, the old guy overheard me and said, oh, do you order one too? And I said, yeah, I'm getting it next week. And he said, oh, that's terrific. I ordered one in November. And they told me November 20, 22, I would get it. And I went, oh man, that sucks, dude. Yeah. I mean, it's, uh, the Maverick in particular.

I mean, like there's lots of cool stuff coming out. There's lots of things I'm interested in and I have, uh, uh, you know, unique taste, but, uh, the Maverick is one of the coolest vehicle. That's come out of Cardom in ages. And I really hope, I really, really hope both because I'm a fan of Ford and their current leadership and what they're trying to do, but also just for cars in general.

Uh, I hope they can spin up the manufacturing a lot faster because I feel like I would rather, and it's not to be clear. I don't hate a Subaru. I don't hate, I mean, I drive a four wheel drive or all wheel drive, uh, you know, station wagon, like get, get what you want to get, but I just feel like the Maverick, especially if they can keep the prices relatively low is just the perfect all around vehicle for most.

Right. Like if there was, if this is the wire cutter, I would say the Maverick is the best for most. When it comes to like, it's got four doors, it gets good gas mileage, relatively cheap, and you can throw some crap in the back. Um, so yeah, I'm cheering them on, on that one. Like, I, I really think that's a good.

That's a good one. And if they they'll the hybrid, they launch with the hybrid and get good gas mileage. Maybe they do a four by of that at some point. That'd be really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking at  the Maverick dealer inventory within a hundred miles of me, as far as I can go. And there's four trucks in like Northwestern, Oregon, and there, most of them are not even actually it's like estimated prices.

Um, I, it's funny. I searched for Maverick inventory and I got like people reselling cars with 30 miles on them for 10 grand, more than they paid. I see. Holy shit. Someone's selling a Lariat for 42 43 grand with 30 miles on it. Jesus, someone sell them the like low end one for 40 grand. My God. Wow. Yeah. It's just like, man, I wish I wish this could be a big hit car if they can meet demand.

And they're not doing that right now. I mean, yeah. I mean, he is right. Like, except for people that have stuff that nobody wants to buy. Uh, but, uh, yeah, I remember like when I saw the, the Tundra TRD, you know, the new Tundra coming out, I was like, why are they even announcing it? Like, it's, it's going to be like a year long backlog and stuff, but I'm already seeing them on the street.

So it's like toilets got their shit together or prioritizing it. Uh, from what I understand at I, this news changes every couple of weeks and I don't pay that much attention to it. But, uh, Toyota, I think is one of the companies and this is, I have no idea if this is correct or not, but because they are a relatively more primitive product in some ways, certainly when it comes to, you know Tech features, I guess I would say, uh, that they haven't been hit by supply chain stuff quite as bad.

Uh, from what I understand the Bronco, I don't know if you've seen, uh, with the Bronco people call ice mountain, uh, which is, I believe up in Dearborn or Detroit, somewhere up there. Uh, wherever the factory is they've got a lot with, you know, a couple thousand Broncos just sitting on the lot that they can't deliver, basically.

Cause they're missing one or two chips to, to get something in place. And I think it's the weird time where Toyota is like, you know, oh chips. Like we don't use those. Like we have, we have our own vacuum tube supplier for the Tundra. That's like, you know, owned and operated that we've had for 70 years.

Like we're still, we're still good there. But, uh, I, I looked into the Bronco cause I had a moment of. I I've, I've been real weird about the Bronco. I was, I was a hundred percent certain. I was going to buy one when it was announced that I didn't put a down payment on it. And then it came out and I was like, it's too big.

It doesn't get good enough gas mileage, not sure I want it. And then just the last couple of weeks, I was like, well, well, that'd be good for, you know, I could get it for a couple of years. That could be fun. And, uh, I went to go look for him and it's the same thing. Even the entry-level ones, people buy them, they put a hundred miles on them and they sell them for 15 grand more.

And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'll pay a little more, I'll pay MSRP. That's basically where I'm at. It's like, I'll, I'll pay what you paid for it. I don't mind doing that, but I'm not paying a premium, uh, when I've got two perfectly good. Functioning cars, but, uh, I've ended the move now. I mean, if anybody's listening to this and going, is it, is there a practical shopping advice?

That is why I normally come to the step side. Uh, the, the movies days, 100%, if you are a person of, even modest means is if there is a vehicle that you have the least amount of interest in when it is announced and they do, pre-orders put the money down on the pre-order and you can always get it back. Uh, but these days, a lot of times you can even sell the pre-order your spot in line to people.

But, uh, especially with the war going on, there's still a lot of sh you know, infrastructure problems in, from the pandemic and a lot of supply chain problems. Uh, if you really, really want something and you don't want to pay a ridiculous dealer markup or a, you know, The a hundred mile used markup, uh, just risk the a hundred bucks, which is usually what it is.

It's usually a hundred bucks and like, go ahead and put a down payment on it and wait for it to come out. And at least you'll save your spot in mind. So that's yeah, I forgot my, uh, I mean, there's always a hot car I think about is, you know, it was coming out six or 12 months away and, you know, the Mavericks the first time.

And I, like, I really watched a Doug DeMuro, you know, video of it. And then I w you know, called it my Ford dealer and like just instantly ordered one, uh, that w that was the website was like, basically call your Ford dealer. We're an old school company do not do this online. We don't take money from that.

It was the weirdest thing. They didn't take a single penny from me. Like all the way to the end. It was on their lot before they ever asked for a dime for. Uh, I assumed like, I don't know, shouldn't I give you 500 bucks, like last August. And, but my wife has been talking about the only minivan she would ever drive in her entire life would be if VW, relaunched the microbus, like a 60 style.

And you know, when 99 rolled around, they made a new beetle. They made a new Carmen DIA, but it was too expensive. And they ended up calling to Audi, TT, and then they were going to make a bus, but then like minivans didn't cost 40, 50 grand. And DW was like, we can't do it cheaper than that. So they just killed it.

But you've probably seen like 2001 concept, you know, micro buses. Beautiful. So like the Evie micro buses coming out March 9th is going to be announced. And like, I will probably put cash on that because oh, like has always said, like, I don't, I want to be first in line for. Uh, you know, a new, uh, revamped bus from, from BW and the electric and it's electric.

And then with school, no, I feel like that will give us lots of stuff to talk about and I will share my, I will save my why I am not that enthusiastic. VW buses in general story for another time, but I'm glad they're finally doing it. I am thoroughly. No, I mean, they're all terrible in the past. And I know, I know someone has owned every single one of them and has a terrible, terrible experience, but it's an electric skateboard with some cramp on top of it.

How could they screw it up? I have never met a happy VW bus owner. And they'll, they'll try to tell you, they'll try to tell you, oh, it's so great. And the design, and it's got so much room inside and it's also doesn't ever run. So, but, uh, you know, God, God bless him for doing it, but I wanted to finish up actually with a couple of, uh, recommendations for other things, for, for people to check out.

First of all, uh, when you mentioned Doug, Doug's a great guy. I don't know. Uh, well, like we, we kind of in the Jalopnik universe, you know, I'm sure. Campfire rooms together or something 10 years ago, but there was an interview with him. Uh, and I, and I apologize. I didn't look it up, but if you look up Doug DeMuro interview on YouTube, I'm sure it'll come up.

It was with the YouTuber that does some sort of like, kind of, he's like a car guy, but he also does like personal finance or, oh yeah. I saw that really cool where he talks about like actual money per video and shit. I really enjoyed that video and I think it really underlined, you know, Doug's got a funny affectation in his videos and it works and that's his brand now.

And you know, it's a little goofy, but everybody knows it and he knows it. Um, but that, I thought that was a really great video. If you were curious about what it's like to be a car YouTuber and specifically like how Doug runs a business. And I thought it was really cool that he, he got into most of that.

And then the other thing that I will shout out this week is, uh, two of my favorites from Jalopnik, uh, Jason  and David Tracy had left Jalopnik to start their own. New car site called . So if you, uh, look at, it's just a, kind of a placeholder, you can put your email in to get on an email list and stuff, uh, torch Penske, uh, who is the definition of a mench like incredibly cool guy, uh, is, you know, a automotive obscure, a sort of, you know, loves to get into the details on a femora.

And, uh, and I'm sure he's gonna go, you know, unstrained from, uh, a job that he has to put out, you know, stuff that maybe people will click on. Uh, I think it's, he's going to get even weirder and crazier and get into more strange stuff, which I love. And, uh, David Tracy is, uh, God bless him. Uh, a man consumed by Jeeps and.

Terrible purchase decisions and then trying to repair them, uh, uh, uh, some Jalopnik friends of mine. And I went over there when I lived in Detroit, went over to David's house. And, uh, if you hear rumors of a man that, you know, cleans car parts and his dishwasher, and, uh, basically sleeps on his couch because there's, you know, uh, open differential on his bed like that it is not a myth like that.

David Tracy is that. So the two of them together, I think it's going to be a really cool novel kind of a site in the car world. And they're going to do video content, do the whole thing. I'm really stoked for them. Like, you know, there's a million people doing, you know, here's another extreme video and here's the new veil side, you know, body kid I got from my million dollar Ferrari and like, you know, God bless him.

But, uh, too, I, it makes, it makes my heart glad, uh, when two real freaks, uh, get to go out and do real freak stuff. So check out the autopay and I think that's going to be real cool. Yeah. I really loved Jason's stuff. Uh, you know, as weird wagons and like the electric, uh, Chinese thing you had dropped shipped to himself as hilarious.

Yeah. Strange thing about Jalopnik video on YouTube is it's like extremely short, like three minutes, two minutes. And like, I'm always like, dude, I want to see your whole collection. Like take 10, take 20 minutes. It's fine. You know, we don't have commercials. Uh, why was, was there an internal reason for like the crazy short Jalopnik videos?

Uh, I mean, you know, I haven't worked at, uh Jalopnik or any of those sites. Eight years coming up on something like that. Um, but it wasn't much of a thing back then. Well, here a lot long story short, I don't want to turn this into a media podcast, but, uh, I was getting nickname know, Nick dins here, he calling in from a umbrella store and, uh, he, uh, it really kind of was a nickname thing.

Like the, you know, I, nobody, I would expect listening would know this, but, you know, I was kinda towards, I wasn't the first generation of Docker people, but I was, I was like employee eight or 10 or something like that. Right. And, um, For years, we tried to do video stuff and the long and the short of it is I think it was some of it was bad luck.

Like we would try to start a video department and bef, but there wasn't a lot of advertising for video. So it was hard to like kind of build a revenue model for the video, because video is a, just a totally different discipline than. Then blogging. Uh, and then, you know, part of the other thing was like, didn't just basically the founder of these sites, uh, or the company that started these sites.

Uh, just doesn't like video just never did. And so, you know, I personally, and I'm not the only one that did, I personally had started video programs at Gawker media, at least twice in my time there. Uh, so that's how many times it had tried to get started. And then didn't, um, and there's some times in there that, uh, there was some really good quality stuff, uh, that, that, that could talk through the video game side, I think especially did some really good stuff, but it just was never really properly supported and funded properly.

Um, and I actually, you know, Doug is, Doug is a perfect example of that because, and he says this, he kind of implies it, but, but, uh, and I mean, it's, he did everything, right? Like, no, no shade on Doug, but like Doug started his YouTube. When he was employed by or freelancing with auto Jalopnik no allotment. So it's like, you know, he, he, he was just creating little videos to make a long side, uh, his blog post.

And then we noticed like, Hey, wait a second. These are like actually competent. Yeah. Way too many views for very wisely. Yeah. It was like, okay, by Jalopnik go do this. The first two years of his videos, I mean, I've been watching for whatever, five or six years, his first two years, he always mentioned this like obscure trader, like blogging.

You have to look up his author page. And it was like tremendous pain in the ass and it always was. This video is so much more than whatever your blog is, dude, like you are pimping the wrong thing. And like, I think he came to the same conclusion. It was, it was a weird time. Uh, and I, you know, I salute everybody, uh, that came through the blogging, uh, era and figured out a pretty valuable lesson, which is like, you need to just do your own thing and own it yourself.

And the problem is, is that blogging and written word stuff is only ever going to be so profitable and YouTube turned out to be pretty dang profitable pretty quick. So, uh, yeah, that's, uh, it's, there's no editorial reason why those videos are short or anything like that. It's just sorta kinda how it ended up working out and.

And I say this as a writer who has tried to make a lot of video myself, uh, sometimes being a good blogger does not often more often than not being a good blocker does not mean you're going to be good on video or know how to make a good video. So in skillset it's a different skill set. And I think it just took a while for people to realize that, and now you got, you know, however, 15 years into YouTube or whatever, you've got people that came up within YouTube and in that world who were just excellent at it.

So yeah, I think, uh, we should wrap up , you don't have any recommendations since I didn't even tell you I was going to do recommendations. I looked at my recent red watch library, not a big deal.

Although I see Doug Humira was just reviewed the LX 600 Lexis, big, you know, um, uh, land cruiser, you know, it's only available in America and at the auto show. Uh, Lexus was there and, uh, the four 60 EGX, like the current 2022 model, which finally has CarPlay this year, which is ridiculous. Um, Toyota, that thing is so much bigger inside than the like a hundred plus thousand dollar LX 600 was they had parked next to it.

A friend is actually searching for both. He's like a old dad and he's like, I don't want a crappy Jeep anymore. I think I'm finally ready for like a luxury, but real off-road or like body on frame. I've been looking at the LX, you know, line forever 2020 to get car play and get the new world design and everything.

And we get inside and it's like the back shorter, the front seats, like the dash is bigger and it just felt claustrophobic compared to the GX four 60, which is like an $80,000, you know, super nice, smaller, smaller, physically on the outside way. Bigger on the inside, it was designed. I have not seen one in real life.

Uh, I will say that. Warming up to the crazy Cylon front end, uh, Lexus iteration. I keep calling it the fuck. It let's do five blades. Yeah. It's definitely that vibe. Uh, but I would be totally down to do a land cruiser episode, uh, because I'm a former land cruiser owner. I have a lot of thoughts about it. Uh, and, uh, and the new ones coming out.

It's it? Maybe it's the, maybe they're good. There's always a thing with land cruiser when the new one comes out and people say, this is the one that ruined it. And then five years later, people are doing crazy stuff with them and they're like, yeah, the new one looks great. It's just, it's only available as a hundred, $5,000 or base model.

Yeah. Well that's 20, 22 baby. All right. Cool. Thanks for sticking with us and, uh, see C around. All right. See ya.