Cars on Call

News: Supra isn’t selling. Just 484 in Q1, less than 671 Nissan 400Zs (and way less than 1930 Porsche 911s or 8600 Corvettes). Car spotting: the sublime 2018 Lexus GSF. Better than that year's BMW M5? Trauma surgeon safety Infiniti is now irrelevant as a luxury brand. After starting at the same time (and in the same place) as Lexus in 1989 they went from promising newcomer to not quite keeping up to sad also-ran in the luxury car battle. To prove the point: in 1990 they rivaled Lexus, but in 2024 sales wise they’re equal to, and about to be passed by, Porsche. And that’s despite many Infinitis being sold to rental car companies. We get into it. Finally Adams gives us a great "This or That": 1973 Datsun 240Z vs 1991 Nissan 300ZX #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeon #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #carsafety #collectorcar #nissan300zx #datsun240z #infiniti

#carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeonsafetyWe celebrate the Ford Mustang's 60th birthday! Stephan goes through the original pony car's 60 years, generation by generation. Steve-0 talks new Mustang sales: spoiler alert, it sells way better than its competitors, the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger, both of which are going away. Then Adams gives us a list of the most collectible Mustangs, and our trauma surgeon Stephan Moran MD goes through important racing Mustangs. The guys list their all-time favorite racing Mustangs and configure dream collector 'Stangs. Steve-0 mentions a few memorable press car Mustangs he's driven. And finally we all configure new Mustangs and discuss why our choice is good and the other guys' are stupid. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeonsafety #fordmustang #mustang60 #fordmustangbirthday

A new Toyota 4Runner is coming and we have a lot to say about it. Adams spotted a Gen 2 Toyota MR2. He likes it, but Steve-0 doesn't. Trauma surgeon Stephan Moran MD talks self-driving cars, starting with the recent Tesla settlement with the family of an Apple engineer who died behind the wheel of a Model X using Autopilot in California, and moving on to active driver assistance systems (ADAS), which he believes should always include driver monitoring systems (DMS). Adams eulogizes the Audi R8, which just went out of production. It was a great car. Steve-0 discusses Mansory, the luxury car personalization company in Germany that takes high end cars like Rolls Royces or Bentleys and "enhances" them with garish colors inside and out and other outlandish embellishments. We hate. #toyota4runner #toyotamr2 #teslaautopilot #audir8 #mansory #mansoryrollsroyce #carsoncallpodcast

News: Q1 new car sales highlights: Bronco/full size pickup sales down, small regular and luxury crossovers up, Maverick killing it. Adams spots an early 2008 Mercedes SLR McLaren. Both companies expected big success, but things didn't turn out that way. Our trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran talks about the recent decrease in highway deaths and how we have a long way to go to reach zero deaths (we're at 42k/yr right now). Adams rants about BEVs: he doesn't like them and is bothered by how they're not even good for the environment. The guys pick $10,000 collector cars they'd happily put in their garages. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeon #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #carsafety #collectorcar #vintagecar

News: Easter wknd is *the* Jeep off road event of the year in Moab, UT. Jeep typically brings a few concepts for their most active fans, and this year they brought 4 good ones. Trauma Surgeon Safety: CoC trauma surgeon Stephan Moran, MD talks about automated driving systems and why they don't work unless they come with robust driver monitoring systems. Car spotting: Adams spots and discusses the great 1965 Pontiac GTO. Steve-0 Rant: GM full-size SUVs are carrying the company and get no respect from anyone, especially GM management. That's a shame. The guys are CEO of Stellantis and get to make special bespoke Jeeps for ourselves. What would they be? The only rule is everything has to be available in 2024 (body/transmission/engine). #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeon #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #carsafety #collectorcar #vintagecar #pontiacgto #selfdrivingcars #jeep #jeepmoab #gmsuv #gmfullsizesuv

Ford halted production of their best-selling F-150 because sales are softening. GM and Ram are also experiencing a slow down in sales of their full size pickups. We blame climbing interest rates and higher prices. Trauma surgeon safety: CoC trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran discusses the fact that the well-publicized death of billionaire Angela Chao in a submerged Tesla Model X was complicated by the fact that Ms Chao was drunk. Then he goes into drunk driving (and scootering) in general. CoC spots a 2020 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Steve-0 visited the incredible Ingram Porsche collection in Durham, NC. He describes it (hard to do it justice, honestly). Finally, Adams goes through the different kinds of car collectors and collections as well as what makes a collection great, good, or bad. And the guys say which cars they'd buy for their dream collections. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeon #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #carsafety #collectorcar #vintagecar #cardesign #ingramcollection #ingramporsche #drunkdriving #fordmustang #mustangmach1 #f150 #pickups

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, Lamborghini Miura and Countach, and Renaut R5 Turbo. Our trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran discusses Angela Chao's death in a Tesla Model X after it sank into a pond and teaches us how to survive if your car gets submerged in water. Adams spots a 1989 Buick Reatta. You don't see many of those anymore. We revisit interiors. Our trauma surgeon talked about the safety benefits of the Ineos Grenadier interior with buttons instead of screens last week, and we know that the popular current 4Runner interior looks just like one 10yrs ago. We get into how interiors make a difference in attraction and collectability in addition to safety. Finally we each pick our #1 favorite interiors of all time. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeon #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #carsafety #collectorcar #vintagecar #ineosgrenadier #buickreatta #marcelogandini #carinterior #cardesign

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 people get distracted during driving, as well as how interior design contributes to safety (or detracts from it). Car Spotting: 2024 Ineos Grenadier. A new SUV with an old look. We like it! Adams' stroke of dumbness this week is modern sports cars with overly complicated controls. His first recommendation to make these cars less dumb is to reintroduce the manual transmission to sports cars like the Corvette, then remove screens and other tech "improvements" to make things simpler. Lottery Car: you suddenly have $500k to spend on a car. It can be new or used but has to be driven, not necessarily daily but at least weekly. We each pick one. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeonsafety #traumasurgeon #strokesofdumbness #ameliaislandconcours #distracteddriving #ineosgrenadier #felicityace

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 vehicles and throttle back on the BEVs that their customers seem not to want. Trauma surgeon safety -- our trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran gets into regional differences in car crash and fatality rates. Albuquerque is the least safe city. Which is best? Toyota, Stellantis, and Mercedes Benz are investing in Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) companies like Joby. Is that a smart move? CoC says yes. The average price of a new car or light truck in the US in 2023 was $47,000. Stephan and Steve-0 (and Jeff Bank) pick three vehicles they would buy for that much or less. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #broncoraptor #fordbronco #mercedeseqs #fordbroncoraptor #mercedeseq #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #joby #vtol

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 list... This or that: Radwood era Mazda RX7 vs Nissan 300ZX #carsoncallpodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#steveautos⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgeon⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgery⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgeonsafety⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#autosafety⁠ #fordbronco #fordbroncoraptor #porschetaycan #depreciatingcars

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 guys talk about how this SUV foreshadowed the Explorer which arrived 4yrs later as well as Ford's habit of calling some of their vehicles back then "ll" presumably in honor of CEO Henry Ford ll. Cars on Call has a lot to say about the AMG division of Mercedes, especially that they're not nearly as cool as they used to be. Each of us then list our three favorite AMG cars of all time. #carsoncallpodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#steveautos⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgeon⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgery⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgeonsafety⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#autosafety⁠ #broncoii #fordbroncoii #mercedesamg #mercedesna

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 note in the in the car world, and Cars on Call was thrilled to get to turn the tables and interview him. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #carsyeah #carsyeahpodcast

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 through barriers too easily. We spotted a 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI (the US version of the iconic Golf GTI sold in Europe). 2024 is the fiftieth year of the Volkswagen Golf. Adams gets into its history and why it had and has so much staying power. The guys have 200,000 fictitious dollars to spend on a collector car. They each come up with really cool cars. Of course. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos, #volkswagengolf #vwgolf50jahre #golfgti #rabbitgti #traumasurgeonsafety #traumasurgeonsafety #traumasurgery

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 surgeon Dr Stephan Moran reviews a number of automotive safety features from the past. Many (most?) didn't really make people any safer, but they're interesting and serve as reminders of how much progress has been made in the world of car safety. Finally, the guys each go through their three favorite cars from TV shows. Listeners will probably not be surprised to hear that the Rockford Files, Speed Racer, Get Smart, the Brady Bunch, the Monkees, and others make our lists. #carsoncallpodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#steveautos⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgeon⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgery⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#traumasurgeonsafety⁠⁠ ⁠⁠#autosafety #tvshowcars #rockfordfiles #speedracer #themonkees #mannix #munsters #starskyandhutch #lincolnlsc #lincolnmarkvii

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. Btw - just because the outside of your tires looks fine doesn't mean the inside is. Adams spots a 2023 Aston Martin DBX SUV. The guys aren't psyched about it, but all three of us want Aston Martin to survive. Adams gets into AM's history. You're a 40-45 year old successful professional or tech start up "dude' (or dude-ess) and you want a vehicle that reflects your success. You're not rich yet, but you're getting there. What do you drive? The guys talk about the answer to that question if you were living in 1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, 2015, and 2025. It's a spirited conversation and you're welcome to tell us your ideas.

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 don't go out unless you have to. We spot a 1974 MGB, and car collector/historian/consultant Adams Hudson gives listeners a thumbnail history of a brand that was great until it wasn't. Finally, Adams asks us whether we'd buy a vintage Jaguar E-type or Datsun 240Z if we had the choice of "this or that". #carsoncallpodcast⁠ ⁠#steveautos⁠ #vintagemg #mgcars #mgb #carreragt #porschecarreragt #porsche ⁠#traumasurgeon⁠ ⁠#traumasurgery⁠ ⁠#traumasurgeonsafety⁠ ⁠#autosafety

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 owners don't know what really good BEVs will ultimately turn into with time. You'll have to listen to learn each host's five favorite stories, but regular viewers won't be surprised that the list includes the Felicity Ace transport ship that sunk, the Toyota 4Runner, Teslification of the car industry, don't ever put your feet up on the dashboard of your car, how our trauma surgeon Stephan Moran helped save the life of NASCAR great Jack Roush, BMW lost their way, the glorious history of Jaguar, kit cars, etc etc. Finally, we each list our favorite car spotting vehicle #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #roushracing #bricklin #classiccars #BMW #felicityace #4runner #traumasurgeon #traumasurgery #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety #BEVproblems #electriccars

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 safer than driving a golf cart or a motorcycle Buick - last week we discussed how >50% of dealers are walking away from the brand as it electrifies. That’s not good news, and we think it means that Buick is dying. We give Buick the Jaguar treatment (from two weeks ago) and get into their past greatness. Finally we’ll each name our favorite Buick #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #buick #opelgt #classicbuick #strokesofdumbness #buickgrandnational

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, an iconic Audi and one of the best platform sharing cars ever (despite its great reputation it actually shares a platform with the pedestrian VW Golf). Trauma surgeon Dr Stephan Moran then goes into the many safety benefits of AWD. Then, the three of us pick a dream three car garage. The rules: new vehicles only, they're our only cars, and we have to keep them for five years. Finally, we make 2024 predictions #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #traumasurgeonsafety #traumasurgery #audisport #auditt #audirally #audilemans

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 graphics. No, it won't ever be a collector car. Trauma surgeon Stephan Moran, MD discusses Waymo and how that Google-related self-driving car company is leading the way toward safe roadways. Our collector car expert Adams Hudson asks in this week's, "This or That?" would you want an older Cadillac CTS-V wagon or a newer Porsche Cayenne GTS SUV? Finally, the guys configure the new Ford Bronco that they would want in their garage. #carsoncallpodcast #steveautos #rangeroverevoque #rangeroverevoqueconvertible #nissanmuranoconvertible #fordbronco #fordbroncoconfiguration #traumasurgeon #traumasurgery #traumasurgeonsafety #autosafety