Automotive Intake
Two best friends talking about cars - something that has surely never happened before.
Automotive Intake
5. Battery Issues
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This week Liam & Raife face the daunting reality of their technical reliance, the worrying success of an EV adventure and tree cam makes its debut.
Liam - @liamjcarter
Raife - @smithraife
Donnie Fray Mamboy! Well, good morning. Good morning. What's it say on the top of your thing? Lean in, lean to me. I was counting up, it's just not showing me what the it looks like anymore. It's now just got a timer on it instead. That's exciting. It's f2.8.
SPEAKER_02That's bloody impressive, isn't it? I don't piss about, mate. So why have you got that on your head? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Basically, today, ladies and gentlemen, for our uh visual viewers, for the people watching on YouTube, and I guess you can get a video on Spotify, can you? Yeah. Yeah. That's why I'll watch him. Um we d we are without our little camera friend to I say little, he's quite tall. He's taller than both of us. He's quite taller than both of us put together. Put together? Sure.
SPEAKER_02Um we're without him today. He's a busy boy, so um we're having to set all of this up ourselves and we don't have the dynamic camera angle. Also, it's the middle of the day. It is. Which feels very strange to be talking just absolute bobbins with you when it's sunshine. Um so we're gonna see how this goes. I've got a camera on my head because f you again. Um I'm gonna take it off eventually, I'll just put it somewhere, and that can be arm of the chair cam or something like that. Uh but at the moment it's Liam's giant forehead cam. How are you, Rafe? We should have spent a few days with each other with that on your head so I can get used to it first. Yeah. We should have gone out like this. Yeah, we should have. We should go out like this. Yeah? Because no one's gonna notice. Do anything stupid. Oh right, yeah. Because it's on camera. It's fucked with your hair so much. Yeah, it really has. Should take the TVR on a date at some point. No. Yeah, because if it goes bad, you might not be able to leave if it doesn't start. Yeah, sure I'll give you a lift home, yeah. If you can give me a push. Or I'll give you a lift home. By the time you get there, just evaporate it. Dust. Just too much heat too much because you know in the T VR I don't know, I've never really spoken too much about the T VR on it. No. Um in the T VR it's supposed to have a heater. But it doesn't. Okay. And there's supposed to be a heater box in the engine bay, which isn't there. But all the plumbing is there for a heater to be there. And the plumbing is a big hole which goes through into the straight into the cannon. Into the cabin. Great. So engine heat. Engine heat comes through the air vents, as well as from under the car big time, and from under the bonnet over in and just generally radiating through every surface. You can't touch the door handles after a long drive. Uh you can't touch. Can we add that the door handles are on the tunnel? They're on the gear tunnel, yeah. Which is so hot. It's so unbelievably hot. I had my car got really hot in the central tunnel the other day. The I have a aftermarket head unit that came with the car, and I think it was put in in the 2000s. One, I love it. It's so retro and cool. And secondly, it got so hot I couldn't touch it the other day, and I was like, oh well, I guess that's that done then. So I haven't turned it on since. We've had an interesting week with cars, haven't we? We have. Done anything interesting with a car? I have. Oh. I actually have. This is expensive. Was the car interesting? No. Well then why do we care? Because the activity was interesting, and my opinions on it, if posted as a clip to social media, will make us famous. Um no they won't, it'll just be good rage bait. Um quick, say everything awful. Um and then Well, basically. Raf. Liam. I my good friend and pal. My long-term automotive buddy. My confident. Where we agree on so much and love the motor vehicle. Yes.
SPEAKER_03Electric motor. Woo!
SPEAKER_02Um so basically I I went camping, right? I went I was I was meant to go just see a few mates in Taunton. I never saw you as a camper. Neither did I. Neither did I. Size of one. No, I'm I'm not a camper. I'm not a campy boy. Um up for debate. So I well, I actually forgot to specify that it was gonna be camping. I didn't I didn't realise until the last minute. That's my fault. But I was like, well, instead of just trying to find a tent or see if someone's got a spare tent so I can sleep on the cold. I can't go over there. Stop looking at the camera on my head, Wraith. I'm taking it off. One second, ladies and just ah foot can for free? Foot cam for free. Wow. Um Yeah, so instead of trying to find a tent or something, I thought, why don't I just use you know, the big family wagon to that's a genius idea looking at that camera? Sorry to our audio listeners, this is gonna be a heavily visual episode. Um yeah, sorry, so I thought I'll just take the family wagon and camp in the back of it. The family wagon is a 2026 Kia EV3 GT line S for anyone who gives a shit. Um So I started loading up the that morning, started loading up the car and figuring out how the hell I was gonna do this, got a load of seat cushions. Do the seats fold flat? Um yes, but with an asterisk, and the asterisk is there's a tiny bit of a slope, tiny slope to the seats. Oh, just the actual seats are set. Yeah, because they're not uncomfortable. No, but they're fine. So they're not like really thin and terrible. Like your old 911 and Audi TTs, where they're literally just they feel like a piece of MDF that have leather wrapped around it that you can fold perfectly flat. Yeah, no, these are seats in a practical car. Nice. So they're just nice and seat-like. Good.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, so seats folded flat, put a load of sofa cushions in it, and just and like a kind of cover over them, and I was just wow, my arm looks huge in that camera. Um and I was just on my way.
SPEAKER_02Um the drive to Taunton took me about five hours in the end.
SPEAKER_03Oof. Which was rough, it shouldn't have.
SPEAKER_02But I did nothing the entire time because the car had I was gonna go on my X5, so compared to my X5, this car has bloody smart adaptive cruise control that can change lane for you and steer for you, and I literally did a sod all You lazy fine powers. Is that a good thing that cars can do there? No, because at one point I crossed my legs and it scared the shit out of me. Why did you do that? I didn't know I was so subconscious. I've been doing nothing for so long. I was like, and just crossed my not like fully like on my lap, as I'm just like in the foot. Well, I just one leg went in front of the other, and I just sort of sat there and went, Whoa, hang on, I'm driving a bloody car. Jesus Christ. And um so it does, I think, make people a bit complacent, which did frighten me. And you're quite an active driver as well. So for it to make you complacent is a real sign for people who are looking to be complacent as well. Yeah. Exactly. So yeah, it was great. But you got there, so you got there. You've got an EV3 that's got foldable-ish flat seats. Yep. Which it's been like the hostel beds where you just sit up slightly, and given your back, it's probably a great. Yeah, and also I had to lower the boot floor so it wasn't flat all the way. Because the thing just bends and it has a low brai like 60 kilos, and I've weigh more than that. So I had to lower it so it had more to sit on and put like two cushions at the back. Which meant that there was one cushion for the back seats and two cushions for the boot floor. Which were I guess where your feet went? You went where kind of from a head and boot forward Where is your head? My head was towards the front of the car. Okay, so it's where your feet would have fallen. Yeah, yeah. Sort of arse forwards was two was really cushiony, two cushions. Yeah. Ars up my head towards my head was one cushion. You don't trust that as forward. No, I no, apparently I don't. Back is completely subconsciously. I'm gonna record what you're saying. Carry-ons Um, which did mean there was a bit of like a lump right just sort of top of where my tailbone is, you know? Yeah. Felt it felt great, it was good for my back. It was lovely. Um This is gonna be a horrendous camera angle for you, I think. Move that now. Sorry, please continue. The fact you put it there in the first place means you don't mo don't know me at all. Um So yeah, I slept in that car for two nights whilst my friends around me were sleeping in tents. And I had air conditioning all night because you can just stick it in utility mode, run everything off the main battery. So you drove how many hundreds of miles to get there? Hundred and seventy something like that. 170 miles to get there. Yeah. With heating and entertainment on or And heated and ventilated seats, Harman Kardon sound system, basically, how self-bloody driving. Charge-wise, because what's actually going to make the difference between this being a better idea than just taking your MX5 and putting up a tent is how inconvenient it was. It's going to be nicer than a tent. Yeah. We all know that. Yeah. Assuming there was space. The fact you've managed to, well, you've managed to find a way to make it more comfortable than a tent. How's the charge sit you? Left with a hundred percent charge, because it's gonna be a long journey. Yeah. Stick a hundred percent in it, no problem. I got there with about sixty percent charge, I think. I then used the air conditioning. That's bloody good. It was bloody charge. That's bloody good, that is. I then used the car quite a lot that evening and just like left it running at one point by mistake. Got it down to like 40% charge, just with like everything on, basically. Um it was on yeah, probably actually no. I'm gonna say it was on fifty. Okay. It was on fifty high fifties. And then I slept in it, and I was like, I really hope I don't wake up to just a fucking dead car. That would absolutely that would I wouldn't be able to be able to get it out of the field. Like, come on. So I went to sleep. I remember occasionally lifting up my head and looking at the dashboard and going, okay, 55, that's alright.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I was like 55%, okay, lie back. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And lie back down, and then still can't sleep because I'm in a bloody car, and I'm like, this is so strange. Um, and then like an hour later, I lift my head off again, look at it, still fifty-five, okay, fine, and fell asleep eventually, woke up, it had lost 3% charge overnight, keeping me nice and colder, slash warmer, whatever it needed to do, it was an auto. Um, and then I just watch all my friends just climb out. Unfold themselves.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just like squint snap their legs straight so they can move. And I'm like, good morning! In fact, actually the first morning.
SPEAKER_02U the the um I I had people were like congregating around 110, which was more or less directly behind mine, and everyone was out there. And I kind of just like opened the boot and sat like uh paint me like one of your French girls sort of pose. I was fully clothed. Hello! I just thought I was really I bet you were the most hated person the entire time. To the point where I started to feel bad, so I made it. Yeah, I uh got to a point where I started feeling bad, so I made other people tell me they had a wonderful night's sleep. Um Yeah. Hey, I know you all hate me, pretend you don't. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Oh, you Do you think that this is a personality trait of electric car people just to be the most insufferable insufferable human car? I started to feel it creeping in. Oh no. So to get rid of it, I had a lovely chat with a guy who owned a Dax Cobra at Fleet Services on the way back. I was like, tell me about your car, please. Uh can I smell your fingers?
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna put my mouth around the exhaust pipe and you're gonna start the car and rev the fing disc off it, okay?
SPEAKER_02Um What's your best way of getting an automotive fix in a hurry? Just driving, man. I should sniff the ground.
SPEAKER_03Sniff the ground?
SPEAKER_02Find the the first shiny puddle I can and bathe in it. Just have like a little yeah, nature bug. Run my tongue along a double yellow line F to cat's eye, right?
SPEAKER_03That was rough.
SPEAKER_02And if I had Camden and EV3, I'd do all of those things at once. It was fine. I didn't I didn't need an automotive sort of petrol car fix that badly. Because I was actually I because I'm such a massive nerd, I really enjoyed trying to figure things out and and electric or not. I find it's boring to hate electric cars. I do think it's kind of I don't know why at the moment there's just been a lot of media where actual car y people have been chatting about it in a way that makes sense. Because the amount of people that are talking about the performance of them and the dynamics of them is whittling out, which is making me incredibly happy, and they're just talking about like, well, yeah, it makes sense. Yeah. So you know a guy with a diesel focus? Yeah, he's probably gonna buy an electric car next.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I could I couldn't have done that. What would you prefer? And Damn. I couldn't have done this weekend with a petrol car. I would have had to use a tent or just have a window cracked open and be at the mercy of whatever the temperature was. Um I couldn't have done it. I charged the thing once. Was it noisy for everyone else? No. Not even like a air con No, there were tents all around. I asked people, because I've if if it was the case, I'd move further around. You're already being annoying enough. Yeah, actually. Yeah. But yeah, because there were tents around me, I would have just moved on to a bit further away. And I said to them, like, can you hear like clicks and bumps actuating and valves opening and stuff? And no, apparently it was dead silent. So would you recommend it? I know it's a weird question. I absolutely would. I absolutely would without a question. I think it's strange because as soon as it started introducing electric cars, I've always said yeah they're they're a great idea for if you're bumbling around a town because diesel cars aren't gonna do it, and petrol cars Well, they're just trying to be quiet and trying to be automatic, they're just trying to be nice. That was the case for the last ten years, probably, until fairly recently. And but this is you know a fairly long haul drive, not mad, but you know, a de a decent distance and then using it quite heavily overnight, charged it once, went back home, and when I got home I even had enough charge to go and get someone from the station and come back again. Obviously you're you're limited on how far you can go to do that as quickly and as comfortably. I. By the way, I assume that the five hours drive up was nothing to do with you stopping and charging.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02Okay, it was literally just traffic. But there's a limit of how far you can go before it starts being slowed down by the electrics, but then I guess it's made up for by the convenience of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I stopped twice on the way up there just because I just needed to stop. I've been driving for ages and the traffic was really pissing me off.
SPEAKER_00Fair.
SPEAKER_02And if I had been charging for the entire time I was stopped both times, I would have got there with like 90% charge. But I wasn't, I was just parked because I needed to just chart out from it. Rather than the stuff. Yeah, because you'd done so much concentrating. Well I'd be yeah, I've been sitting in stop start traffic, not doing a bloody thing, going, God's sake! And that was stressing me out. Yeah. So I had to be like my brain's tired from sitting. Sitting. Yeah, and just looking at the screen going, oh it'll let me change lane. One tap of the indicator changes lane for me.
unknownLovely. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Um Thank you, Kia. Yeah, on the whole, I love I love I love petrol cars for how they make you feel on the whole. The most part. For the most part. That Kia does not do a lot of things that a petrol car will to us people. No, no, absolutely not. So I love petrol cars for how they make you feel, but I'm really starting to enjoy electric cars for what they let you do. I love how you didn't use the L word. What's the L word? I love petrol cars. And I quite like electric cars. I don't love electric cars yet. I'm not saying I never will. One night you were like, Good night, Kia. Because it's got the I thing, and then Kia went, I love you, Liam. He went. You too.
SPEAKER_03I went, thanks. Yeah, it fucking broke down on me immediately after that. It was a shame. Um anyway.
SPEAKER_02Anyway. You've had a bit of a week with cars that seems to be on the absolute flip side of my week with cars. What I want to do is display. What I don't want to do is hate on the thing that we're most passionate about. And the reason why we do this, and the reason why we get up in the morning. It's cars, cars, cars, cars, cars. So this episode is gonna be of, you know, this car podcast is me, you know, gushing about electric car and you just absolutely shitting all over your petrol car. Please, shit all over your petrol car. So at the same time you drove to wherever the f you were going? Um Somerset, mate. Somerset. I went to South Wales. We went equal amounts west. Yes. We did. We were probably well I think we were exactly perpendicular from each other. Is that the word I think our latitude no, our longitude was the same. Yeah, we were about an hour top to bottom from each other. Well, there's a bit of water in the middle, I heard, which eh, it's alright. Yeah. I almost put mine in the water, just out of choice and frustration. Just to cool them down. So it's making this ironic, isn't it? Um I have a 26-year-old MX5.
SPEAKER_03You do, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's a lovely car. It's um it's got ABS, which was new for that model. Yeah, it does. Didn't know. Well, it doesn't at the moment. Um it's got it's got an ABS light on the dashboard. Oh, fine, okay. Which is and I assume it doesn't have ABS. Do you know? I haven't actually had to try it out. Just give it a try. It will be good to know, right? It is one of those things you should figure out. Fairly soon. Yeah. Um so that's already an annoying issue, and the brake pads on the front need replacement. But hey, I could make the journey and I knew it was gonna be okay. Sounds great. So I started my way. I've driven that car more in the past two years than it had done in the previous 15.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Damn.
SPEAKER_02I've taken a low mileage mo low mileage example of that car and turned it in. How many miles was on when you got it? 70. 70,000 miles in 24 years.
SPEAKER_03Mid mileage, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Which think about that divided by 24. It's not a lot of miles a year. That thing had been doing nearly a hundred miles each year, that was it. For the past, like, I think it was ten. And in pre-lat was doing a couple of thousand, maybe. Like that car has not been driven much at all. Um so a relatively low mileage example car, which has now got a hundred and twenty. Hundred and fourteen thousand miles. Okay. And I did well over a thousand miles over the weekend. But I drive it quite regularly and quite fast. I've been up to the peaks in it, I've been uh where else have I been with it? I've been places. Um and I've had long daily commutes and stuff. And the car's behaved quite well. It's had a couple of problems where it would stall itself recently. From what I worked out when it was hot.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02It'd be it'll just it would just try and stall, so you keep the revs up. And if you turned it off, it might not turn back on, so you pop the bonnet for a bit, walk away, come back, try and start, and it'll work. So I've just been doing that. Cracking on with it. Assume that was just because it was been like thirty nine degrees. Yeah. Anyway, I'm on my way up. I've left about Nine, ten o'clock at night. I've got a nice cool drive. And do the first bit absolutely fine. Then I get pull off this motorway, stop at these traffic lights, pull onto the next motorway for the next year. Um I believe you sent me a screenshot when you got there of Google Maps. Yes. And it said stay on this road for like 136 miles. 186 miles. I believe that was it. I have to double check, but it was M4. Go the whole way. And it was literally M4, and then where I was staying, it was pull off the M4 and you're there. There was nothing after that point. And so I got to these traffic lights. As I pull up, the car starts to stall. I'm like, no. Mm-mm. And it's been I've been sixth gear, I've been sensible the whole time. I had a little spurt at the very start, bumped into a friend. Um as I just left. And yeah, had to go, which was nice. Um but that was it, that was ages ago. It should be cool, whatever. So I've revved it up and I'm going. This is really weird. Because I didn't think it'd be doing it by now. And I'm looking up. And my lights are flickering. Ooh. And I spent a long time looking at this, going, this is strange. My lights, I maybe they always flickered. Maybe it's just old. Yeah. And I was like, I swear it's flickering though. And then I'm like, right, maybe it's it's gotta be battery then. Or something. It's gotta be power related. So that's when I find out my head unit's boiling hot. So I turn that off and I spend a long period of time without any music. Right. I'm like, I'm just gonna have to carry on and just see what happens. And then at one point I indicate and the car goes boom, off, back on. I'm like, oh no. That's really bad. This could die on me at any moment. It goes literally brief second, everything fades, everything fades back up. Oh, I don't like it. You know, it's funny, I've just remembered.
SPEAKER_03I my T VR's done me very well. I've done a fair amount of miles in it, and it's never heard it. I've run out of fuel in it with you once.
SPEAKER_02That's literally the only thing that's actually gone wrong with. Well, I ran out of fuel while the battery was also buggered, which made it seem a lot worse than it was, but everything just died when I just ran out of fuel. Um But there's one thing it does when it gets hot, and that is it doesn't do it every time, but that is that besides the typical old car dial style. Besides that, I was on my way home from Goodwood at one point, really bloody hot day, and I just went to change lane and I indicated and accelerated, and I had more power between each blink of the indicators, not by loads, not by loads. It wasn't like no power, everything. It was just like I it felt like I was losing maybe 1015 horsepower between each blink of the indicator. So your cars are worse than my T VR, mate. Yes, oh it gets worse too. I then it goes, you've got two miles left. You are now allowed to turn and slow down. And this is where I'm like, okay, I've managed to make it that far. And I was just I knew I was like, I'm just gonna keep going. I'm not gonna stop because I guess the closer I can get, the better. Because where I'm going is gonna be work, so there's gonna be at least people there that I know and need, and I'm already far enough away from home that I'm those ones are a write-off.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um and I see a roundabout. And you're in Wales. I'm in South Wales. South Wales, right. Which was beautiful, but I don't know at the time because it was dark and I was scared. Um I touch the brake pedal. Yes. My light's dim. Which is very nerve-wracking. As soon as you touch the brakes, it just goes and I could hear it clicking. Going, every time I touch the brake pedal, it's going dark. Or the bulbs go. So I was like, okay, right. So I managed to get in, I put off and I stop, and the car doesn't stall. I'm like, why are you just behaving now? Like, what what what what have I done differently? Whatever. I'm going to bed. And I do eventually. Um wake up the next day, come outside, all my colleagues are there, and I offered one of them a lift um to where we're where we're working. And jump in the car. Shuffle. There's so I I have a small car and I brought a lot of stuff on the way for five days. Yep. Um, so we shuffle loads into the boot of the car and like loads behind us on the parcel shelf, and then fumble in. And I put the key in. Absolutely nothing. Not not a light, nothing. Well, that's the battery dead, then isn't it? Good. So we jump out, pull the stuff out the boot, asking, like, does anyone have a jump pack? When I was like, yeah, we'll definitely have one somewhere, but it might take a while because it might not be here, it might be where we were, blah blah blah blah. So I'm just like looking in it, like, well, let's see if anything's wrong, because it's never done on me before. See if there's anything obvious while we're waiting. So I'll just move some wires and stuff, and then it then I hear which is my head unit. You don't magically gain power. I don't have that power in my hands. Wiggled some wires. Right. Car starts. Good. Go a mile down the road, pull into a shop. As pulling into the shop, start stalling and dying on me. Okay, good, right. So I've parkled janky and everyone fucking sees as well, by the way. It's embarrassing as hell because it looks like I've just stalled the car parking. It's forward into a bay. Okay, good. Wiggle some wires and it starts again.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Okay. Having to rev now. Because it won't so anyway. Have the day at work, and while we're there, there's some mechanics there, give me a hand, and I'm like, can you have a look? Just see. There's some electrical tape on bits that just didn't look like you have electrical tape, you can just have a look. So he's yeah, yeah, look, so he fiddles. And I'm stood side of the boot and he's like, I think I think I found the problem. I was like, why is it? And he just holds a wire, quite a thick wire. I'm like, should that be attached to anything? He's like, Yeah, that should be attached to your terminal and your battery. I was like, Oh no. Is that I've been lucky, haven't I? Cause that should have one bump, good enough. And I can assure you, for the rest of the story, if I had hit a bump hard enough, that would have come off. Um So I don't know how I got left by anyway. We've jammed it in sideways, so like half the terminal's poking out, whatever, just top down, because it's what we had available. Whatever. Carry on with my day, come back to the car, turn it on first time. Oh, thank goodness for that. Temporary solution to the problem I can survive the five days.
SPEAKER_03There is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. I haven't even left sight when the car completely dies on me. There is nothing less permanent than a temporary solution. Oh, come on. And I actually recorded this. Yeah. So I've got it somewhere of me going, my car's died, and then it's seven minutes from the moment I say that, get out the car to solution and resolution. But it felt like a year. Yeah. I will speedrun it for you. Thank you. I get out of the car. Yep. I go to the battery. Yep. Go, I'm gonna wiggle some wires. Yep. The wires are really hot. Oh. Which shouldn't happen. Nope. I go, well, that's not good. Yep. I try to start the car, wiggled wires, nothing happens, still completely dead, no lights, no nothing. Great. And then I notice that the battery has moved and touched the body of the car. And the terminal that we had poking out, touched the body of the car, and it's drained the entire battery into the car. Which by the way, does that make a car live? I'm not certain.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Secondly, my TVR wouldn't do that. It's made of fiberglass.
SPEAKER_02I thought mine was made of rust, and I don't think it happened through that either. Well that that would have probably sped up the rusting process for 10 seconds. That battery wasn't as dead as it was. Exactly. I on my journey, on my journey, I stopped at the services not far from Stonehenge. Oh I'm wearing by the way. Um and a T VR pulled in the car park, and I just got chatting to the guy. Nice. And I was like, have you come far? He's like, yeah, I've come from Bournemouth. Oh wow. I was like, Where are you headed? He's like, Cornwall. I was like, any problems? He's like, no. I was like, what? Hell yeah, man. Nice. With every day that goes by, I get braver with that car, honestly. I think you should. I saw you driving it at night a little while ago and I remember. I didn't mention anything at the time that much. I just think, oh, RT mile.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I just sat at home refreshing Instagram to see your last active voice. Oh, it's like an Instagram. Either he's dying happy and looking through reels, or he's alive. So that was fine. Um anyway, your um sailing Japanese. Um The mug has changed colours, right? Yes, yes, it has. Is it supposed to do that? No. It's probably got a terminal that's hit the body of it. I try and pry it and move it, and it nothing happens. Right. And then eventually just seem like, come on, move it just moves the whole battery. I was like, oh, that wasn't tied at all. Whoops. Anyway, I pull out the boot floor, which is like this MDF type whatever cover and I just stamp on it to pieces. Which sounds like I was an angry batch of making some wood to wedge between the battery and thing. Someone pulls up, he has a socket but no spanners, so we managed to hand tight it better than you would without one. Did you not turn the battery round to the point where it wasn't? I couldn't undo it all the way.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I see.
SPEAKER_02And also, no. No, I don't think that's possible. Right, okay, fine. No, because I couldn't undo the terminals to be able to spin it round. Right. Because the person who managed to undo it to cram it in was no longer there, so he'd have no way of undoing the terminals. So I just wedged it. Otherwise I probably would have undone it and just turned the actual terminal around. So because normally it hit the edge of a battery, but because we'd messed around with it, the terminal was poking out. Um without a wire though, so whatever. Um and then it has electrics, but the car won't start. Battery's flat. Some electricity. It has taken so it's now working, it's no longer just powering through the car anymore. But it's but the battery has drained itself. Uh well been drained. So we bump start it. Car idles for a bit. Stops idling for a bit. And I just drive five hours. Of which I don't have fuel for that, so I have to stop at a petrol station. I leave it running, I go inside. You got any jump cables? No, I don't. Absolutely no problem at all, I'm leaving. So I drive off, go to the next one. Any jump cables? Yes, I do. Great. There's some dude outside of the doors of this one as well. So my car's running and he's like staring at me. I'm like, you've got a look of like, oh, I'm scared.
SPEAKER_03You still lock the doors though, couldn't you, with yours?
SPEAKER_02No, because batch uh car's ignition's on. And I need to. Would not physical Yeah, it is physical. But if the car's running, how we're gonna get the keys. From the ignition barrel. Yeah, thank you. Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry it's stopped starting my car with the button. I don't even need to take the keys out of my pocket, don't I? Rich prick. I was about to tell you how how to get into the T VR if it's Oh yeah, but that's a bad idea.
SPEAKER_03It's far too easy. Please continue.
SPEAKER_02Oh yes, I forget, there's two cars you have like uh older than mine. You're very used to that. Um you could probably take the keys out the ignition of the T VR and still run. It's a fortune. It's the worst things. Um but yeah, I and he's like, Can I have a lift? I just go, no. I was so stressed. And my genuinely my first thought was no, because if I take you any, we're gonna break down three miles down the road and you're gonna be more stuck than you are now, without a Starbucks attached. And a unlimited supply of cigarettes. So I yeah, I he had jump cables, car restarted, and it behaved the entire time from that point onwards. Yeah. Constant fear. I literally sat in bed thinking about it the whole time until I came home. And when I came home, I stopped at the fuel station and it was behaving and running and idling and everything. It's like this battery is fully charged. And I sat there, I was like, my phone's in twelve percent though, because I've spent a whole day working and I'm gonna be about to drive all the way back down. Yeah, yeah, fair. And um I go to plug in the adapter that I have, the wireless transmitter. Your Bluetooth has connected successfully, one of those, and um put it in and immediately stops idling, starts misfiring, dying on me, unplug it and it just won't run, and I just clever. Give up. I didn't see I stormed to like the the food court area and sat there sulking with my phone on charge, and then bought a wireless charger, uh portable charger with cables that were like maybe 20 centimetres long, so then it was blocking first, third, and fifth. And I had to have my phone on so I knew where I was going. Although hilariously, it's like, okay, well, it's gonna be a hard drive, you have no idea where you are, so just just drive on this road for 120 miles. Okay, thank you. Um yeah, I it was all battery problems, and it is making me think that maybe my heat-related not starting problem is to do with maybe the fan coming on and the battery going, I can't handle this. Um along with the fact I've always had my transmitter plugged in and all this stuff. It doesn't discharge it overnight. That happens a lot in cars. Okay, but I'm very fortunate I've got a 12-volt socket that turns off when the car's off. Rare but gold. I I uh I remember I I've named my car Betty. Oh, of course, yeah. And I would call her Betty or Bet, I always say to her. You should never the problem is you personify a car, you fall in love with it. And I remember I'd like close my door and lock it and just go f off, Bet. And walk away to the hotel room. Just having a domestic with your car. Which hey, my car's going, yeah, yo, I really need a new heart. I'm struggling, I'm like f off. Dramatic little Jesus. Get me home and then I hope you die. So it's kind of my fault. Because it's a battery. I I had so much so much anxiety about my car just not working. And that car's usually so good to me. Yeah. But ions are normally just good. Oh, they run forever. Those engines are impossible to explode. I know someone's trying to blow one up. Because he's got a 1.8 and he's owns a 1.6 at the moment, and he's just like, I don't I haven't done anything. I haven't like put done a service in two years. He takes a drift days and shit, and he's like I'm just I'm trying to blow it will not die. It will not die. I don't know, I can't know. I had a packet of crisps looking at Stonehenge. Have you been to Stonehenge?
SPEAKER_03When I was very, very young.
SPEAKER_02I know you have because uh the profile picture of your long dormant Facebook account. It's a picture of like eight-year-old you with Stonehenge. I might replace my actual profile picture with that. Yeah, do it. Uh but I was in literally standstill traffic. Like, because there's a lot of traffic there anyway, and obviously people are like stones. So um I was just sat there, I was like, I just looked in the passenger seat. I was like, it's a packet of crisps, own it. I was like, Alright. So I just basically lead back, not the seat, just like got comfortable in the seat. And just ate a packet of crisps looking at Stonehenge, just like, well, wow. Stones.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um I just want to share one last thing of my journey as well. How do you share? You've told the story. I wrote I didn't write notes. I voiced to note some things down while I was on the way. Right. There's quite a few things that explains this situation. There's a couple I want to read. One of them played. Oh, did you voice to text? Also, half of this is unreadable. I was hoping all you could hear is like cars driving past and like fucking thing Fucking freaking down here again.
SPEAKER_04Um that's a shame.
SPEAKER_02Well, one of them is just the cabin is really boring and warm. And that's one why should I bother? Secondly, it's because I didn't want to wind down the windows because I was worried about using the power. I didn't have any music or anything on, so I was just like, I guess I'll note this one. Um the other ones I start coming off of car information because I was clearly just driving for however many miles. Um that was second camera died. Tree cams dead. Tree cams dead. Oh, that's a shame. Um I've written distant chevrons on the road on the M4. So on the M4, there's chevrons that like suggest what that amount of distance could be. I'd pop it pop it there, yeah. They've got dish distance chevrons on the M4 where they go, this is two car lengths, stay this far away. And I thought that was interesting. I've never s I don't think I've seen that before.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_02Oh clearly that's normal. Do you remember seeing those?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Don't remember where, I just remember them.
SPEAKER_02Well, I was in Wales. Um speed limits on the M4 when you get into Wales, um, a lot of them are 50s. 50 miles per hour. And it says, um speed limit change to improve air quality. What? Yeah man. So they're slowing people down to keep them in one place for a long period of time. To improve air quality. Yeah, I just thought that's that I'd I'd never seen that before. You're not necessarily doing lower revs if you're doing 50 miles an hour. You probably are. Probably, but maybe not. You might have to shift down a cog. I guess they they also do it for noise reasons in some places to 50 miles an hour. Air quality.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, fine. I mean it was good for them. Yeah, I just Good for them. Good for them. If it's working. Great. If it's working.
SPEAKER_03Because I know everything about air quality when it comes to motor vehicles. I don't. I'm sure it works. I'm sure the people who came up with that are very clever people. I have no drop my microphone, I have no idea. Um Well it sounds like you had a lovely time.
SPEAKER_02I did. There's one last thing. Oh god. Um all the signs in Wales obviously have English and Welsh on it. Yeah. And the word for services in Welsh. Oh. Wow, what, twice the size of the word services? And it made me laugh every time I passed one. Just like it's like services is tiny in the middle, and then the sign is so unbelievably long versus what we're used to, which says services one three, one third of a mile or whatever. And then that's it, tiny little square. And be like, cool. It's like services. And then the sign is huge because it has to fit the longest word in the world, and I found that very funny. And then we all know that slow is a raff in Welsh as well, which hey, sm bit of entertainment. And every time I saw the word araf, I was like, haha, and then I couldn't see anymore because my lights dimmed when I put the brakes on to a RAF. Um that small bit of joy was oh no. Immediately crushed by the MX5. Cars, eh? Cars, eh? Hey him. Hey him. Bold. I love him really. I do. Um I just I I struggle to find much excitement because I too have a Mazda MX5. I just I really want to I really want to replace it. But at the same time, anything I could possibly replace it with would be just a ridiculous stupid thing to do. Because it's too good. And I'm not saying that like, oh Alex, it does if I need it to, and I'm clever, almost 60 miles to the bloody gallon. It's got a fair size boot, it's not too bad. It's comfortable, the air con works, it has a great sound system, it it just does it just that uh you don't worry about it ever. And I'm gonna go and replace that with a Lotus Aurora. What? Right. It's all about purpose of why you own a car though. Yeah. Because if you own that MX5, to just get from A to B, literally that's it. Then you would own a Fiesta. So it isn't just that MX5. No, it's too It's fun to drive. Fun to drive. And it is really fun to drive, because it weighs as much as a packet of fags. Cheap to run, but is that is there some expense, is there some money in cheap to run that you can put into fun to drive? Because if you have a bit more wiggle room in your cheap to run, then buy an MX5. To answer your question. If you've got some money you can go, ah, I will accept that it will be half the miles per gallon because I can put that money into the fun to drive pot. It's all about it's a money game. It's all a money game. Because currently you have enough money in your fun to drive pot that you haven't had to buy a fiesta yet. Because your brake pads will probably go slower in a fiesta, and your tires will last longer in a fiesta, and it probably the services are cheaper. I appreciate we're talking about that chasp with four bangers, but there is probably some cheaper things to buy a fiesta. that you've gone no no I'm gonna take some money from my from that pot and put it into the fun to drive pot. If you have some more buy an Avora or buy an Elise which has a force to lender naturally aspirated engine as well. Are you worried about practicality? Do you not have some fake money? We'll call it um what should we call it? Points? Craig. Craig no nothing no we'll call it points. We have some points in each category.
SPEAKER_03Right yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right if you if you've got some room that you can take out of practicality some points you can take from practicality and put it into fun to drive because how much less practical is an avora going to be it's more practical. Okay why don't you own an Avora? Because it's a lotus and you're worried about not getting A to B. Yes. Yes okay fine. This is the problem. Because the RX5 does fun to drive really bloody well it does economical really bloody well it does practicality not amazingly but it does it. And it does cheap to run really very well. It does all those things so well that getting another car it might be a bit more fun to drive or a bit will sound a bit better or a bit more inspiring. But it will lack almost all the others because they're they they lack the duality I think um in the same in to the same extremity. So why would you buy an Avora over it?
SPEAKER_03Because I really want one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah but why do you want one?
SPEAKER_03Because they sound cool they look amazing they they they feel like a sports car like a grown-up sports car that's it and for me that's not enough reason to get in one and then go f me I'm spending a lot of money on petrol this month.
SPEAKER_02Jesus Christ or so you have something that might not get A to B so you need something consistent. Yeah I don't just want to toot the horn of the MX5 the whole time though. Neither do I because I I genuinely I'm not an MX5 I never wanted one I still I'm not a massive MX5 enthusiast. I just think it's really good. K-Man. K-mans an idea but things get real expensive very quickly or something if you if you have that issue done. Do Kmans have IMS problems I don't know probably I think all those six and the flats I don't know about uh IMS sorry I know they're bore score and stuff I don't know about IMS and and and sometimes you know normal things are the engine needs to be lowered slightly it's like take that out yeah so that that's the thing it's it's the MX5 has is so annoyingly stood its ground as kind of the one of the last remaining sports cars. I think the Supra's too heavy and I think it looks ridiculous. I think the Z4 is too heavy and I think it looks ridiculous. I don't think that one's worked um and the I just don't consider them sports cars they're GT cars I'm sorry it's GR86. GR86 is weird you're kind of 2 plus 2 as well isn't it's what I'm gonna say if you're coming out of two seat sports cars where do you go from there? I like a GR86 but I'm not also we're talking about a a within a certain budget because otherwise you start going potential supercars or Alpine A110s and stuff like that which I think are a different not a manual neither is a supra they did do a manual supras in America no they did them over here I think no not one what the manual supras I think they did do them over here. Get on Google lads get on Google Come on baby get a manual could you get I don't think they do any supers over here anymore. I don't think so either in the UK oh come on I hope I'm feeling lucky can you get a I'm pretty sure they did uh I hope it tells me of the right era okay fine apparently you can yes you can buy a manual GR super in the UK Well this is this is is that true yes I believe it is really yeah they've become a lot more attractive to me I'll be honest with you yeah because you've heard so much about them because people really raved about them huh you didn't even know they blow it up I'm looking at one in autotrader by the way right now a 70 right actually this is a great question for you a 72 plate one it's got the GR86 wheels which look really good. GR86 wheels yeah they've got those wheels on it looks very nice I thought they're just the normal wheels uh no they look like the um Toyota Yaris GR wheels kind of yeah they have to I guess they're that's a GR design I think all the manuals come with those wheels I'm pretty sure I think so too from what I've seen. So there's a manual Supra 72 plate with how many miles on it it has 8,000 miles on it. Right in four years. That's not many at all manual it's obviously the three litre one Supra T GR is manufactured approved vehicles covered only 8,000 miles. Blah blah blah blah blah blah well spec'd your climate control which we know is obviously priority numeratuno sorry it's probably worth one million pounds I'm sorry about your coffee. Thanks for doing that one out of mouthful of salute prick how much for the manual supra I I'm gonna say fifty thousand pounds. Plenty of that's that's a lot of money bang on um absolutely bang on that's mad that is a that does change my heart a little bit that's madness because that's a lot of money that's madness it's by no means a good enough car for to warrant that much money. It's a good car oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm not saying it's a bad car three litre manual two seat sports car it's a good car and the fact it exists in the first place is fantastic.
SPEAKER_03It's not a £50,000 car in my opinion.
SPEAKER_0272 players well that's four years old. I appreciate they're gonna be sought after because there isn't many of them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Even a high mileage one isn't going to be dropped to 20 grand I haven't heard amazing things about the manual to be fair. No I don't think people have spoken well I still prefer it. That manual's kind of I guess I'm going to hope and assume it's the same manual across GR86 not with the the amount of more talk it has I don't think yes and a T86 Yeah T86 for me I didn't like the T86. I know you didn't but I never thought it'd be your recipe no it's low power R86 feels a little bit more grown up than the T86 which is kind of why I didn't think you'd like the GT86 and I don't but you've driven a GRIS I have driven G Ris so have I yeah really overrated for this. I think overrated in terms of the hype obviously there's a lot of hype sure but in terms of the actual ratings Yeah how did you find it feels fair enough like it's it's good it's really good fun compared to the insane hype that was around them no like not not it doesn't live up to that but in terms of the actual I don't know journalistic ratings that were given to hatch it's uh it's gotta be up there because you can have a rear you can because you can have it rear biased and that's all that matters to me. Oh well then get a Clio V6 no or an M140i. What's a ridiculous to know Jesus I don't know M240i still no I would actually have an M140i then an M2 and then an M240i I don't know why I don't like the M240i. Yeah but and I think an M140i is a great car num but so as a GR86. No I haven't driven one a GR Yaris not massively numb it's exactly the same amount of numb as an M140i but maybe worse. Rear wheel drive more power than it has grip which is fine makes it feel more powerful. No what do you think why does it need more power than it has grip? And your TVR has more grip than power it depends how fast you go. Exactly it's the same thing. You can drive them sensibly and not crash them most people don't but you can Yeah but I also want to be able to mat it out of a corner and be able to put some power down. You can you has more power than there's grip because you can also twat it like a knob put a tiny bit more angle on the steering and it will power slide which you don't get in like these a bit slightly slower especially anything that has a hatched boot sorry you said twat it like a knob which I've never heard you say before I didn't even notice I said um I just think they're boring um basically that's my entire that's my entire thing I think they're boring. Is it a BNW thing? Yes you're not a big fan of BNW I love BNWs we hated on them last time every time someone mentions a BNW model to me I go maybe I do hate BMWs but if I think of BNW I love BNWs but for some reason any model anyone mentions I go I don't know why. I don't think there's a BNW you'd have I'd have confused I love the OGM2. There is E92M3 Post 2015 why do you have to ruin everything? Because I just wonder if any of these new BMWs are something you like also any ninety I'd have I'd have the four door no two door mate. Yeah thought you'd um I I don't what from twenty fifteen onwards this is F eighties M140s M240s M2 just to be the just to be the just just to be ridiculous and make people hate me I'd have an F80 M4 GTS which everyone hated people well they didn't hate the water or whatever it was yeah yeah and my water injection yeah I'd have one of those I love those cars I because no one likes them they become incredibly rare. I love it I love it I think it's ridiculous and I love it. That's fair and it's also got the painted insides of the wheels which I actually think is really cool. I always wanted to hate it and never did yeah never got never got round to hating it. Matt Bray which is a colour again a colour I would never have do you know what it was just the right amount of like oh we're gonna do something stupid and we're gonna do it stupidly and it was like oh okay that brand is kind of doing something fun which is unheard of and what? Water injection. Yeah it was stupid I wouldn't have one I'd have I'd rather have an M4 C S which I thought looked really good the matte blue bonnet vent did it really everyone said lots of good things about that like a lot of good yeah people spoke well of it for some reason um that I would actually have that I love a DTM. Yeah it's a good car I and also again it had the cool bonnet from memory the same as the GTS bonnet I think it's a good car. I like an F80 I'd have an M3 I'd have a normal F80 M3 you can get them in the manual if you want to be silly but they had gorgeous hips and good steering wheels a bit thick but good steering wheels good interiors.
SPEAKER_03I think F80 M3 is also where I'd kind of draw the line for modern BMWs here I'm joking.
SPEAKER_02Oh blind actually saw it four times it passed me and then it passed me and then it passed me and it passed me and I was already sick of it by the first time I saw it from the distance Do you know what I do when I see an XM especially if it's in like close quarters. Through rocks no no I I especially like because in the MX5 if the roof's down it's a sunny day people can see you I make a concerted effort to make like a disgusted face but like a disgusted and also slightly shocked face and just like I'm just like what so hopefully just hoping one day one of them catches a glimpse glimpse of my face looking at their car looking just mortified they go what what have I done? They start looking around themselves and then remember they drive past the shop window and see the reflection they jump. Yeah they would do the face I must say at the time I was stood near an 8 series which was the most beautiful car BW every yeah 8 series original 8 series not not the not the newer not the 2017 series but like yeah the the old 90s 8 series and an XM drove past you can imagine my like I hate this I love this Brad I hate this Brad I love this Brad I was I was twitching yeah but hey alas to the best of us yeah I love an 8 series man that as a BNW I would have on a positive note what if I said what's the most beautiful car ever made what's the first thing that comes to your head and say it in three, two one Gordon Murray S1 I I disagree on spot I didn't say Gordon Murray S1 I was just going to say Gordon Murray Swan. No it's I don't think it is necessarily it's just what's the first thing that comes to your head? Alpha Romeo TZ3 Stradale. Absolutely fair enough. Do you know the TZ3 Stradale Zagato? Is this the one that we looked at last time? The green one Alpha Romeo TZ3 yep TZ3 Stradale Zagato I'm gonna Google it too just so I know I'm Oh is this the one with the really ugly rear what? Yeah it's not got an ugly rear it's called a cam tail mate look how goofy that looks like why it's eyes look so goofy. No it doesn't it looks freaking gorgeous. Look at that mouth mate that looks gorgeous What are you talking about? I love the wheels I remember sliding the hell out of it in Gran Turismo I don't think that's the most beautiful car ever made no you're wrong. I'll try to end this on a positive note by bringing it up but that's it looks so funny. I don't think it's a bad looking car it just has such a personifiable face and it looks really really goofy.
SPEAKER_03But that's the back of the car that's not its face that's its barn.
SPEAKER_02Yeah and it's ours has incredibly goofy also all of these are on American plates and American plates are literally giving it goofy teeth. Imagine if they did like a GT version of it like a GT3 version they kind of did that was the concept car for it. I just do we I don't want to If you enjoyed this um get your head checked Yep I've been Rafe and you've been Liam which is the exact same word as Rafe if you change some of the letters around I hate you so much Wow I'm so sorry. Thank you all find us on social medias at Automotive Intake find him on social media at Liam J Carter nice and easy and me at Smithraith R A I F.
SPEAKER_03That's about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah then