Transcript
WEBVTT
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Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast From the Sugar Shack Studios in Houston, texas, usa.
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It's the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
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Just ahead it's Car Recalls and the Hemmings Sold Car Game Show.
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All right.
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Jeff has the crews in and events calendars and Mr Mars is going to do his car review right out at the top of the box here, so hope you'll stay tuned for that Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, mars.
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We always need more.
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Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong.
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Thanks so much for joining us on this cold and rainy Saturday here, and if you're looking for us at Gulf Coast Auto Shield's Car Social, we're not there.
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Because it was postponed until January the 11th because of the bad weather that was moving in.
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Yesterday afternoon was just fine, no big deal.
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No, yesterday was too windy for me.
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Still a little chilly.
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You need a back rubber we started getting a little drizzle late yesterday afternoon.
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Drizzly, yeah, we started getting a little drizzle late yesterday afternoon Drizzly.
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Yeah, we didn't Didn't get any hard rain until this morning on the way over here, but it came in a little bit earlier.
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Mars lives real close to the Louisiana border, which is a long way from here, isn't it Depends on how you drive, when we know how you drive, so it's not quite so far.
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How many tickets have you gotten lately?
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Lately Define your term for lately, lately in the past three years how many tickets.
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Zero, really, yes, you talked your way out of them, or what?
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Well, I've been very lucky and I have a wife that's insistent that I stop doing some of the things I do.
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And she helps me Like the on-ramp acceleration tests that I do when she's not with me because I can't.
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She doesn't take good notes.
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Yeah, especially when you're leaning up against the door, smashed up against the door, trying to go around a corner too fast.
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Yeah, you're screaming and tearing Screaming is the problem.
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It messes up the audio.
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I know you can't hear the radio with all the screaming going on.
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So let's do this car review.
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So we're talking about the 2025 Subaru.
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No, not we, you.
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I am talking about the 2025 Subaru Outback Touring XT.
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Now, this is the Subaru.
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It's been around quite some time.
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This particular model, the Outback, is one of the larger ones.
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It comes in nine available trim levels, so we're not going to go through all of them, but there is a base model and it goes up to the Touring XT at the top of the line, which is what we just happen to be driving Now.
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This is considered a small SUV, five passenger and on the outside of it, you're going to find a lot of things that you expect from a vehicle of Subaru's caliber.
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That's kind of focused on getting people through bad weather, bad road conditions and things.
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So you've got LED fog lights, led headlights that are steering responsive.
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They also have the auto off and on.
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It's got a lot of satin chrome that is on this, like on the side, folding mirrors that are heated and retractable, the roof rails that are very usable in this vehicle.
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They've got a retractable crossbars and, because this vehicle isn't so tall as some of the other SUVs that are out there, you can actually put stuff up on it while you're standing on the ground.
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You don't need a ladder Now.
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It's got the hands-free power lift gate.
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In the back of it it's got a power moonroof and it rolls on some nice 18-inch alloy wheels.
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Now you get inside of it.
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It's got a power moonroof and it rolls on some nice 18 inch alloy wheels.
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Now you get inside of it because this is the upper trim level.
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We've got a napa, leather trim seating surfaces and, uh does have the subaru starlink 11.6 inch multimedia with navigation monitor in it.
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So it's got plenty of napa leather.
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Does that also come with a bottle of wine, or should?
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How does that when they ship it in?
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that's where they ship it in.
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They get the leather from all the cows that are eating all the grapes that are out there, so it does have lots of.
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It's got four USB ports in it.
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The front seats are heated and ventilated seats, while the second row it's the outboard seating areas only Are the ones that are heated.
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Now it does have the front view monitor.
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So again, this is kind of centric to going off-road, light off-road.
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You probably do some rock climbing if you wanted to in it, because it does have over eight inches of clearance in it got a rear view camera.
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It's got a rear seat reminder in it, retractable cargo cover so that when you put stuff in the back of it it's out of sight, out of mind.
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If they can't see it, they're not going to want to break into it.
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And it comes with a harman kardon audio on it.
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Now, up under the hood, since this is the larger trim level of the upper trim level, it's got a 2.4 liter, 2.4 liter turbo boxer type engine.
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So it's still the flat engine, but it's got the turbo on it.
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It's backed by a cvt that's got an eight speed manual setting on it for shift mode.
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So if you get out into the mud or someplace where you really want to have a little more control.
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You can kick it over there and and it'll respond like it's a eight-speed manual transmission instead of the cvt.
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This vehicle only weighs 3641 pounds, so it's not that heavy, but it will tow 2700 pounds.
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Now the epa says you should be looking for about 22 in the city on the highway, 29 combined, 25.
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Now.
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I drove this car 345.8 miles and got 24.7 across.
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That not bad.
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And I really enjoyed driving this vehicle because even with it's got the four-wheel independent suspension on it and it is raised so it gets the 8.7 inch clearance, but it gives the the suspension a lot of travel in there.
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So when you hit the bumps and stuff it absorbs a lot, but it gives the suspension a lot of travel in there.
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So when you hit the bumps and stuff, it absorbs a lot of things on the road a lot better.
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And it was really a nice, comfortable drive.
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Like driving Grandpa's Deuce and a Quarter down the highway, something like that, oh yeah.
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It was surprisingly compliant, but it was firm.
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You felt confident in what you were doing.
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Now the base model on the Outback is at 28 895, so it's it's kind of down in there.
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But since we were at the number nine trim level up there the base trim price starts at 42 795.
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Had a couple of little options, had some destination fees.
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Msrp is tested.
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It's 44 331.
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It's right there in the sweet spot, it is, it is is.
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It is Because if you look at the Honda CR-V, which is again another small SUV that's considered a competitor, it's $30,100.
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The Nissan Rogue you don't hear much about that anymore, but it's $29,230.
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Or the Toyota RAV4, $30,245.
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They're all small SUVs.
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They've got a little bit of off-road ability about them as far as getting into mud or gravel or something like that, without getting out in there too serious.
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So if you're looking for something in that category, the Subaru is obviously one you need to look at, and that's my review Very good Of the 2025 Subaru.
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Outback.
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Speaking of Subaru, for the second time in four years led Consumer Reports annual brand report card, as domestic automakers struggled in a ranking that measures factors including vehicle performance, safety and reliability.
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The 25 report card, issued about two months earlier than usual, is part of an updated data set released by Consumer Reports that packages all of its automotive rankings in one spot.
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The outlet, on December 5th, also issued the 25 list of most reliable brands, which Subaru topped as well.
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So here are the top 10.
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You ready 10, Infiniti 9, Toyota 8, Hyundai 7, Kia 6, Audi Kind of surprising.
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5, Honda Six.
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Audi Kind of surprising.
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Yeah, Five Honda Four Porsche, Three Lexus, Two BMW, One Subaru.
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That's the brand report card.
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And, by the way, at the bottom of the list is Jeep.
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Oh.
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Well.
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Most reliable new vehicle brands top 10.
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Okay, hyundai is 10.
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Kia, 9.
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Bmw, 8.
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Audi, 7.
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Mazda, 6.
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Acura, 5.
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Honda, 4.
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Toyota, 3.
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Lexus, 2.
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Subaru 1.
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Toyota, three Lexus, two Subaru one.
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Very good Consumer Reports said conventional hybrids, which do not plug in to recharge and run both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, are the most reliable type of electrified vehicle.
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The outlet found that conventional hybrids have roughly the same rate of problems as gasoline-only models, despite being more complicated to build.
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Plug-in hybrids, however, have 70% more problems on average, while EVs themselves have 42% more.
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So I just thought that that was interesting and it kind of tied into your car review, mr Morris.
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You're welcome.
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Speaking of Consumer Reports our listeners.
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If they go to ConsumerReportsorg and type in In Wheel Time, they can get a discount on a subscription.
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Is it 10%?
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I believe it's 10% or $10.
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$10?
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Do it, do it.
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Yeah, just find out Go.
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They sent me a thing to subscribe to Consumer Reports and I didn't use that Stupid me.
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What do I know?
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Clearly nothing.
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Apparently not.
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We can't get him in the shot.
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You're going to have to adjust the shot.
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Well, I think he's going to have to come around over to here.
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We'll put him next to me and then you get out of the shot.
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Why don't you all just share a chair yeah?
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I was going to put him on my lap, but he shook his head no, no he didn Come around here Do you want booze.
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Booze and food, Food and booze.
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We got food.
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David Ainsley, our chief engineer, has joined us.
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He was going to join us on the remote broadcast today, but since we're having food and beverages after the broadcast today, David came to join us and we appreciate you driving up from Friendswood today.
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Yeah, and the ladies' auxiliary in real time ladies' auxiliary should be here.
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Yeah, did you go through the house or did you come through the gate?
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Gate, gate.
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Yeah, well, at any rate, and Kyle just got accepted to UT Arlington today.
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Really Yay, congratulations.
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So it's a great day at the.
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Ainsley household.
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Yep and I'm stopping to rob a bank on the way home.
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Let's not even go there.
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Oh yeah, that's right.
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Well, they say that if you borrow, if you get a loan from the bank, put in a 30-year loan, you got 30 years to pay it, but if you rob the bank, you can get out in 10 years.
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Better yet rob the armored car At an HEB At an HEB and walk away with a sack full of cash, which is a quarter mile away from the police station.
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I still I'm puzzled about that one.
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He just walked up and grabbed a I don't get it.
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I don't know about all that, but Whatever Shots fired Kind of like what they used to do with cars when they were charging these interest rates, exactly, but now it's all Stellantis recalling 317,630 Ram trucks because of a problem with a brake hydraulic control unit.
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The unit may fail or malfunction, affecting the anti-lock brake system and traction control, increasing the risk of a crash.
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The recall includes the 2017 and 2018 Ram heavy duties, the 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500.
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That, according to NHTSA documents, 100% of affected vehicles have the defect.
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Oops.
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That way you don't have to worry about it.
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If you got one, you got the defect.
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If you got it, you got it.
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Yeah, it's kind of like a I'm not even going to go there.
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Yeah, it won't rub off.
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My mind went in a completely different direction, but you can only imagine what that was.
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It's because David's here Glass sunroof panel made detach on the Mercedes-Benz Pretty much everything known to man it is.
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I mean, look at the size of that list right here.
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Look at that, look at the size of that thing.
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What is that?
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two dozen vehicles.
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Mercedes-Benz, you got a.
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Mercedes-Benz.
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Go to safercargov, type in your VIN number and it will tell you.
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Glass roof panel made detach, martha.
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There's a hole up there on top of the head up here.
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What happened to that glass?
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That's up there, martha.
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Where are you?
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It's lodged in the truck behind us.
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Steering intermediate shaft may fracture.
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We hate fractured shafts don't we?
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I might, yeah, Mars go ahead.
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My, my, my, my.
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Toyota Corolla and Corolla Hybrid, 23 to 24 being recalled.
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Hyundai Elantras and Santa Fe's 21 to 22 models.
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Rear view image may not display.
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We talked about that with Jack Engine stall from software era.
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Honda CRF1100.
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Is that a motorcycle?
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I don't know what that is.
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Yes, it is Tesla Model Y for 24.
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Front seat, back recliners improperly welded and Porsche Macon electric 24 to 25 headlights are too bright.
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Power surge.
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Headlights are too bright.
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Most of them are these days.
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I don't write it.
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David, how have you been Doing good.
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How are things with your radio station group?
00:13:39.485 --> 00:13:41.048
Everything is good.
00:13:41.048 --> 00:13:41.789
Had a nice holiday.
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You know, no calls everything better, everything's working that's good.
00:13:46.846 --> 00:13:48.090
Well, it's only taking you what?
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Half a year to get all that straightened out.
00:13:49.693 --> 00:13:53.331
Now, a year and a half, oh, a year and a half, my paul he forgot the first year.
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He can't think back that far no, I can't, he can't think about yesterday.
00:13:57.326 --> 00:13:59.107
That's exactly right.
00:13:59.107 --> 00:14:00.448
We pulled this off this morning.
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Yeah, we did Somehow, some way, and you know we did it really in record time.
00:14:04.211 --> 00:14:07.453
I think you got here at 845.
00:14:07.453 --> 00:14:17.922
Well yeah, I was right behind him, and Jeff was right behind him, and I put the whole studio back together because it was all piled up in Mar's truck.
00:14:17.922 --> 00:14:24.965
So we did all this in an hour and 15 minutes, just by the hair of our chin.
00:14:25.225 --> 00:14:26.171
We had three minutes.
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I didn't even break a nail.
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Let's take a break and then we'll do some other fun stuff as we head up to the top of the hour.
00:14:37.613 --> 00:14:46.239
I did want to remind you that if you download our app to your phone, you'll have access to the In Real Time Car Talk show 24-7.
00:14:46.239 --> 00:14:49.796
Just look for In Real Time Car Talk in the app store.
00:14:49.796 --> 00:14:56.918
Check us out on the Odyssey Radio app, david, where you can stream our show there.
00:14:56.918 --> 00:14:59.673
Podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider.
00:14:59.673 --> 00:15:07.054
We also video stream our weekly show on Facebook, youtube and InWheelTimecom, 10 to noon Central Time every Saturday morning.
00:15:07.054 --> 00:15:11.275
The InWheelTime Car Talk Show will continue right after this quick break.
00:15:12.144 --> 00:15:20.456
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00:16:19.529 --> 00:16:23.105
Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your save-the-paint company.
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John Gray and his team of detailing experts can help your cars finish without a full repaint.
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Searching for the real experts in window tint or windshield protection?
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Gulf Coast Auto Shield, dash cams, radar detectors Gulf Coast Auto Shield.
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Got a new car.
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Get that thing protected as soon as you take delivery.
