Episode 6: The Curly Of The Big Three Stooges, a.k.a. Stellantis
Hello! In this episode, Jordan starts us off with genuinely one of the funniest jokes Victoria's ever heard in her podcasting career during a discussion of how we like to fly. We then discuss the fact that Volkswagen is almost certainly going to whiff on launching Scout (remember Scout?) because The Vibes Are Off. Then we give the fans what they DEMAND and deep-dive into the train wreck of STELLANTIS on the heels of them losing Twenty Six Billion Dollars. Then Jordan gives me the scoop on a BDS-compliant Forza Horizon, aka "TDU: Solar Crown", and how we miss when car games were still fun.
Also sorry about the little bit of background noise from me, Victoria, I absolutely had to run the dishwasher because I had run out of clean forks and we record right before I eat dinner. I promise I will be better about doing my silverware.
Editor's Note: P.J. O'Rourke is dead.
Referenced Stories:
Volkswagen Delaying Scout??? @TheDrive
The Microbus concept Victoria had a Barbiemobile @eBay
Original Plan for Scout Validation Vehicles In 2026 @Car And Driver
S. Korean Former PM Sent To Jail Forever @BBC
Amtrak Cancels Plans To Replace Bilevel Cars (Superliners) @Trains
VW Still Selling Tons Of EVs In Europe @ArsTechnica
Edmunds Loves The Model Y??? @Edmunds
VW Changes ID.4 To ID.Tiguan @AutomotiveNews
Tim Walz Has a Scout. Too Bad He Sucks @LA Times
Tim Walz Pulled Over Drunk Driving His Miata @Time (NOTE: He was doing 96 MPH, not 103 MPH, at the time of his arrest. This publication regrets the error.)
Stellantis Lose $26.3 Billion Dollars @Freep
New Pacifica @MotorTrend
RAM REV cancelled @Car And Driver
Stellantis PHEVs Cancelled @AutomotiveNews
Edmunds "Sick Of" Their Charger EV @InsideEVs
Fiat Struggles @Club Alfa
Fiat Struggles (Europe Edition) @ara
MORE HEMI, SAYS FILOSA @AutomotiveNews
European Diesels Coming Back @Forbes
Dodge Challenger: America's Id @Jalopnik
The Aston Martin V12 Vantage Top Gear Segment
Francis Fukuyama's Instagram
BDS Movement Target Microsoft
The Giant Bomb TDU2 Video
Comments (32)
I just wanna say that GM considered buying Chrysler Group back in 2009, pretty much entirely for Jeep. Source: the Bob Lutz autobiography I got through Inter-Library Loan, which I read when I was still a massive Chevy guy, compared to now, when I'm probably a Subaru girlie
Please go on Lions Led By Donkeys, they would love to talk about Mishima with you lol
Having lived in Cheshire, UK, where everyone just "have to own a SUV: we live in the countryside, you know", I am the only person who regularly goes slightly off road, to camp for LARPS. In my Nissan 350Z.
To be clear, the long-distance bilevel order needed to die for multiple reasons but there's no reason to give credit for that to the idiot currently in charge.
Also DM me, my boss is getting rid of his XJ
When I was looking to replace my VW E-Up! the thing that jumped out at me about the Fiat 500e is that it can't be your only car. You look at those two, and the big difference is that the Up's trunk space is CAVERNOUS in comparison. You can put a camping set back there, you can cram a 50" TV in there, and I know this because I've done it. I can't say the same about the 500.
so uhhhhhhhh ... what do we think of the new F1 cars that run out of battery 200m before the corner
Yes!! XJ supremacy Victoria
Sorry to do this, but the Russian piracy drama isn't weird in the way you think. FitGirl and Empress are both cis women. Empress tried to start shit and called FitGirl trans, accusing FG of stealing her credit (lmao) for repacking *her* cracks. I haven't got the inclination to actually read through her vitriol but it's pretty boilerplate transphobia from what I hear. HOWEVER. I have also heard Empress cultivated a gooner cult of personality around her and has gone so far as to fake her own arrest to fuck with people. She seems like a real freak and I'd love to hear an episode on this shit, especially because I dunno what's happened since about the Biden weeks.
What… what are you talking about
This feels like an episode somewhat aimed at me. (I'm trans and love cars, so it is in general but more specifically....) Between Victoria mentioning my obsession concept car the ME412 (and properly describing its demise) and Jordan mentioning my car (the 500 Abarth, one of the 2 answers for the car that allows you to have the most fun within the speed limit along with the Miata), it's aimed at me so hard... Then you hit TDU:SC and all the old greatest racing games.
Another episode, another bit of extremely depressing Victoria backstory
it's endless!
Victoria mentioned PSA Group and I was like "my God, is Palmetto State Armory making cars now too?!"
A good friend of mine in Germany has one of those new Renault 5s and adores it, it's so cool
They are still building the factory for the Scouts outside of Columbia SC. The construction is really fucking up the traffic whenever I go visit my family down there
If you do a series or some episodes on racing games, I will subscribe for a year (turn on annual subscriptions?)
I'm not sure when this was recorded, but the discussion of V8s is very funny given what's happening in the straights of Hormuz.
It was recorded before Context Happened lolol
Used to go to that Fry’s in Webster all the time, never went to the Oil Rig one though. The Webster one was my last stop when I left Texas.
Y'all have failed to mention the single best part of the ID buzz: it was almost called the eBussy
Also: I live in the worst part of a pretty posh neighborhood so I see many dumb cars, like the dude who Daily's a McLaren, more g wagens and lifted trucks than is reasonable, but the one person I respect for car choices has two Rolls', one new and one from the '70s that was imported from the UK. That's a level of "fuck you" money that I will never be able to comprehend
NAME THAT BRAND show: 'Get unreliable... no more unreliable... even more unreliable' and immediately think STELVIO. I drove a rental Stelvio for a month; Sunday driving across Liechtenstein the service engine light comes on. My partner finds recall: they spontaneously catch fire... Beautiful, sporty, fun drive, just waiting to explode... such an Italian auto statement 🔥
I couldn't hear the dishwasher at all. Also fuck Tesla, for all the usual reasons. One of the guys I work with said his mother in law bought a new one and a piece of paint fell off the bumper because they don't know how to build cars. Because of that, this brand new high end car is considered totalled thus Tesla will absolutely not service it or sell parts for it's repair. That's not even going into the high horse way they treat indie shops who get these pieces of shit in to work on. Fucking pricks, the lot of them.
Trust me I am right there with you. I've thought their cars were unacceptably low quality since like 2020, which was a much less popular opinion back then lmao
Exactly like NIN, it may be a bad time but it's still a good time 🤘 Also I thought I was going insane by myself thinking the Jeep Wagoneer is quietly becoming the iconic Paramilitary Secret Police vehicle, glad it's not just me lol
There is an Alfa Romeo/Maserati dealership in my small city. It is in a run down part of town (I used to live in the neighborhood) and I've always wondered why on earth it is here. That is a very good blue though.
ahhh my nugget-ass ID.4 made it on the pod! 100% agree, it's a fundamentally bad vehicle but i'm cursed to love it. cannot recommend buying a 6,000lb RWD crossover with only 200(!!!) hp for Minneapolis winters
Wait y'all get to get directly on trains? I have two class 1 tracks that go through my town and Amtrak will sell me a ticket for a 60 mile bus ride
Sameee
Is it too late for a podcast wedding registry?
Whenever I look at these show notes it’s clear you put so much work into this!