Cars on Call

News: the 2025 Euro Audi A3 will require buyers to pay subscription fees for adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, and dual zone climate control. We hate this but it's not going away, regrettably. Collector car expert Adams Hudson eulogizes the great Italian automotive designer Marcelo Gandini, who's portfolio includes the original BMW 5-series, Lamborg...

News: Two Felicity Ace lawsuits. We knew this was coming after the car transporter ship named after a stripper sank 2yrs ago, and we get into it Collector car expert Adams Hudson gives us the best of Amelia Island after his recent trip there. He saw many amazing cars and brings us an update on the ever-changing collector car market. CoC trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran discusses the top 10 ways pe...

Bronco update -- previous guest James Steele waited for 2yrs for his 2023 2dr Ford Bronco Sasquatch, and he just traded it in. For what? A 2024 4dr Bronco Raptor of course. We discuss.... Mercedes has been fading in the US luxury sales race, finishing 3rd in 2023 behind BMW and Lexus. In fact, Audi is catching up, which is big news. Mercedes' plan for 2024? Start selling less expensive vehicle...

Friend of the show and former guest James Steele traded in a 2023 Bronco for a new Bronco Raptor Trauma surgeon Dr Stephen Moran talks about Lyme scooters and how unsafe they are. We spotted a Porsche Taycan Turbo S. It's quite a car, but OMG does it depreciate! Speaking of depreciation, collector car expert Adams gets into the cars that depreciate the most. Spoiler alert: the Taycan is on the...

Champion Porsche of Florida had a huge scandal in 2019 where customers who wanted to buy highly coveted Porsche GT cars got scammed by a dealership employee. We get into it. Trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran discusses the horrific Cruise/GM accident in San Francisco and takes the companies to task for how a terrible situation was made worse by their handling of it. We spot a 1986 Ford Bronco ll. The...

Mark Greene's podcast Cars Yeah! is well known to automotive enthusiasts around the world, and Mark joins Cars on Call for a very special episode. Mark talks about his childhood as a young car guy, the 20-plus years he spent building Griot's Garage into a (very) successful business, and his popular podcast, which is now approaching its 2,500th episode. Mark has interviewed every person of...

We preview the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe compact SUV. It's smaller than the Palisade and promises to be as successful. CoC is excited to see the Genesis version when it launches! Trauma surgeon safety: Dr Stephan Moran discusses the significant safety benefits of guard rails. He's concerned that electric vehicles, which are a lot heavier than internal combustion cars and trucks, can break thro...

Toyota's coming out with a rest-of-world (ie - non-North America) pickup that's cheap and bare bones but not safe enough for the U.S. We discuss that vehicle as well as other small pickups like the Ford Maverick, which are increasing in popularity We spot a 1986 Lincoln Mark Vll LSC, which we think was America's best effort against the Germans in the 1980s. Adams gets into it. Trauma s...

Steve-0 discusses 2023 full size pickup truck sales. These popular vehicles drive the entire market, so Steve-0 gets into it. OMG they're wasteful! But they're great to drive on the highway. Our trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran says inflate your tires properly in order to keep you safe and maximize safety. And check your tires' age often, because they may just be worn out or too old. Bt...

Porsche issues a stop-sale order for the Carrera GT. Which hasn't been for sale since 2006!! Steve-0 discusses 2023 luxury car sales: BMW is number one again, with Lexus, Mercedes, and Audi taking up the next three spots. Big surprise: Porsche outsold Lincoln. No one would have predicted that 20yrs ago. Trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran talks about winter driving safety. Tires, tires, tires! And...

100 shows is a great milestone to reach, so the guys list their favorite five segments, and we "discuss" But first, Steve-0 likens the current BEV moment to the development of the cell phone, which began in 1983, went through a long phase of evolution, and then settled on the iPhone in 2007. As cell phone users 25 years ago didn't know what ideal devices would eventually be, BEV owne...

News - Steve-0 drove a Smart Fortwo. He had fun but it’s only good in town and SGM has a lot to say about its safety profile Car spotting - Adams spots an 1972 Opel GT, a weird euro sports car sold in Buick dealers that had pop-up headlights with mechanical (non-electronic) mechanism to pop them up Safety - our trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran talks about how a Smartcar isn't safe, but it's...

Steve-0 rode in a self-driving Waymo car and talks about it #thefuture Audi Sport turned 40 in 2023. We discuss how it made Audi the legitimate luxury automaker it is today thanks to victories in Rally racing and LeMans, where they won 13 twenty four hour races (14 if you count the 2003 Bentley win, which was actually an Audi win--yes we talk about that). Not coincidentally we spot a 2001 Audi TT,...

GM and Mary Barra confront more problems, including a "stop sell" for the BEV Chevrolet Blazer and Edmunds announcing that their test Blazer, the Motor Trend SUV of the year, if you can believe it, had 23 problems that kept it at the dealership for 2wks of their 2mos experience with it. Shame on Motor Trend for their award! We spot a 1986 Pontiac Firebird and revel in its '80s graphi...

The Wall Street Journal recently published a hit piece taking down GM CEO Mary Barra. Among other things the article discussed how Barra overinvested in battery electric vehicle (BEV) and self-driving tech, while underinvesting in proven hybrids and internal combustion vehicles. We say: GM's CEO should have hedged her BEV/self-driving bets rather than going, "all in". Trauma surgeon...

Jeep drops the Renegade, a lousy Jeep based on the lousy Fiat 500L. We're *very* glad to see it die. Trauma surgeon Stephan Moran talks about how distracted pedestrians contribute to pede-cyclists deaths. Dr Moran introduces his, "pede-cyclist fatality risk duality coefficient". Yes, we're trademarking it. We spot a 2002 Jaguar S-type sedan. We think it either killed Jaguar or co...

Collector car prices are dropping. Cars on Call collector car expert Adams Hudson weighs in with the deets, including a deep dive into what the market looks like for the next year or so. Stephan spots a Mango green Mercedes AMG G63. He hates it, Steve-0 loves it, and Adams doesn't care. We laugh about collector car advertisement phrases and what they really mean. Trauma surgeon Stephan Moran g...

Just over 5yrs ago Nissan arranged for their CEO Carlos Ghosn to be arrested and charged with financial crimes that involved, among other things, not actually stealing anything. Mr Ghosn is now hiding in Lebanon, where he can't be extradited, and Nissan has taken a beating financially. Maybe next time quietly fire your CEO and avoid a raft of problems. Our collector car Adams discusses the 200...

Hyundai announces that customers will be able to buy their vehicles on Amazon soon. Stephan says it's more "Teslafication", a term he coined about 2yrs ago. He's right! A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that went for $500,000 in 1985 sells for $52,000,000 at a recent auction. We talk about GTOs and focus on Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason's because we love that band and his cars. Steve-0...

Mercedes decides to put BEV charging stations at Buc-ees. Say what? The guys agree that Mercedes and Buc-ees don't belong together. Trauma surgeon Stephan Moran and former CoC guest USAF Lt Gen/F15 pilot (ret) Brett Willams did the two-day Masters Porsche track experience at Barber Park together. They loved it, and Stephan talks about it. Next Stephan gets into the safety lessons that he learn...

Manufacturers are pausing production of battery electric vehicles (BEV), cancelling factories, and walking back sales forecasts. We discuss why BEVs are suddenly on the struggle bus and get into how and why, "the dogs aren't eating the dog food". Our two cents? Slow down implementation of pure electric cars and rely on hybrids in the near and medium term. We spot a pristine 1978 Dodg...

A few weeks ago we each picked a $35,000 collector car for our virtual garages. Today we sell that car and spend $50,000 on a dream collector car to replace it. The only caveat, it must seat four. Adams spots a 1999 Plymouth Prowler, Daimler Chrysler's attempt to resurrect the hot rod. The guys agree that it was ugly then, and it's still ugly. In general, the best fix for a bad looking car is more...

The guys take issue with Jeep’s congress-like delays in getting the Wagoneer to market, and we hate the styling. The market agrees by steering clear of it and the more lux Grand Wagoneer. Car Spotting: Adams sees a Mitsubishi Montero. Remember those? Neither does anyone else, though Stephan recalls they were generally seen in front of a blue haze of oil smoke.   Safety : Trauma surgeon Stephan Mor...

Stephan and Adams are away so guest host Jeff Bank and Steve-0 do the best they can to fill in. Jeff gets into infotainment systems and why JD Power says they're making new car buyers unhappy. Jeff explains why the logical fix is to let Apple and Google take over. Steve-0 agrees. Steve-0 discusses Q3 2023 auto sales data: what's up and what's down. There are some surprises! Next, Jeff...

Steve-0 went to the 7th Porsche Rennsport Reunion with previous CoC guest USAF Gen (ret) Brett Williams. They had a great time, and Steve-0 tells us about it. Trauma surgeon Stephan Moran spots a Gen 1 Bentley Continental GT and loved it. Sadly, its innovative W12 engine is going away. Trauma surgeon safety message: One Wheel electric skateboards are unsafe. Avoid them. Regardless of why you buy a...