Unlikely Tow Vehicle; Kona Review; McLaren's Money Problems

Matt Farah (0:00)

What up, everybody? Welcome to The Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Avantz. Avantz is a special club that helps enthusiasts save money and enjoy their passion even more. Because members get sweet discounts on the things they'd buy anyway, and a nice quarterly print magazine, not to mention events all around the country. We love Avantz, and they are helping you save money, like I said, on things you're going to buy anyway, like tires, because Avantz members get 10% off at Discount Tire, plus an additional 10% off Michelin and BF Goodrich, so if you spent $1,500 on a set of Pilot Sports, you're going to save 300 bucks just because you're an Avantz member. It's only 99 bucks a year to join, and when you do, they send you a $70 Griot's gift card, so it's almost nothing. Use code TST for 10% off. Go to avantz.com/tst, that's avants.com/tst, to sign up today.

All right, folks, on this episode of the podcast, Zack and I review the incredibly exciting Hyundai Kona. Oh yes, the Kona. Also, contemplating a Bentley as a tow vehicle. Yeah, you heard me right. McLaren's are going 0% on the Artura, and after 72 days, I'm getting my Taycan back. It's The Smoking Tire podcast. Let's go.

We have some things to talk about today.

Zack Klapman (1:30)

Good morning.

Matt Farah (1:30)

I'm a little stressed out. I thought, because I'm here in Los Angeles for like two and a half weeks, that I'd have time to like chill a little bit. You know? No.

Zack Klapman (1:40)

We did the calendar yesterday.

Matt Farah (1:41)

I'm like, oh, that's a whole lot.

Zack Klapman (1:42)

There's so many colors on my calendar this week. So many different things.

Matt Farah (1:46)

And then like, how did it get so full? It's like, it's certainly not like a complaint, because we have an awesome job. What we get to do for work is real cool. But like, it's crazy that, you know, I could be gone for like a whole week working.

Like, long days, like fun, not appreciative, like, but like, as far as the other job is concerned, you might as well have been on vacation.

Zack Klapman (2:14)

You know what I mean?

Matt Farah (2:15)

Like, there's no difference. But even though your body is like, no, no, I was working, I swear. The other job is like, but you weren't here.

What's the difference if you were at work, you weren't fucking here.

Zack Klapman (2:28)

Time stood still here. Yeah, even though it progressed for you over there.

Matt Farah (2:34)

But no, you shouldn't feel bad for me, because while I was on that trip, I was talking to like Fred and Aaron Brown and a lot of the guys who write a lot of the web stuff for Rodentrack, the younger guys. They're in their late 20s and early 30s.

It's funny because, Nick, do you know how many stories I'd start with these guys and go back start back in the day? Like so many. Every story is like, you guys back in the day.

Zack Klapman (3:02)

I'm like 20 years older than these guys now. I'm so old.

Matt Farah (3:06)

I tell stories that are just like shit we did in the early days of The Smoking Tire, and they look at me like, that's crazy. Yeah, it was. But they tell me stories about what it was like to be like a blogger during the collapse of Gawker, during the, like, who actually owns Jalopnik now era?

Zack Klapman (3:30)

When Hulk Hogan just walked in and hit his penis against all the computers.

Matt Farah (3:33)

And I think it was Fred, he said he applied to be like a weekend editor at Jalopnik, and they were going to hire him, and he wanted to do, like, a test weekend to see if he could, and they want the, they wanted, like, 14 articles a day for, like, two days. And I was like, I'm sorry, what?

How is that possible?

Zack Klapman (4:00)

I mean, the length is, they're short, but still.

Matt Farah (4:02)

Yeah, if you say, if you said blogs, not articles, but, like, but still.

Zack Klapman (4:05)

It's still. It's like, two an hour, effectively.

Matt Farah (4:08)

Dude, that's crazy.

Zack Klapman (4:10)

30 minutes to write a post, that, you know, you gotta fact check with the, yeah, a really high output.

Matt Farah (4:15)

Yeah, that's crazy.

Zack Klapman (4:16)

For context, when I got offered a job at Car and Driver, like in 2011, I think, they required six posts a day for web. So, half that.