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[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CAR ENGINE]
MIKE SPINELLI: The horsepower wars may still be raging, but
another battleground is emerging in the auto industry.
That's lightness.
Car makers are looking for better fuel efficiency through
new, weight-shedding technology.
But does that mean a new breed of affordable lightweight
sports cars is on the horizon?
In the looming war for lightness.
That's today on AFTER/DRIVE.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MIKE SPINELLI: The horsepower wars, it's the biggest numbers
game in the auto industry, it's the reason a new Toyota
RAV4 can smoke Magnum P.I.'s old Ferrari 308.
But if the horse power wars are truly winding down, as
some say it is, what will come next?
20 years ago, if you told anyone they could buy a
production car with more than 600 horsepower, they'd have
laughed you right out of the Arthur
Treacher's fish and chips.
Now, there's at least 15, one of which is a
$60,000 Ford Mustang.
What about 500 horsepower?
Well, I stopped counting at 40--
four zero.
Different car models.
400 horsepower--
it's way more than that.
And a V6 Camaro has nearly as much horsepower as the Top Z28
from the late '90s.
And that's forgetting there's a whole new set of hybrid
electric supercars that will make in the 800s and 900s.
It's obvious, if the auto industry puts its mind to
something, they can make it happen.
But just as they've got more powerful cars, they've gotten
heavier and more complex.
But that's all about the change, soon it will be about
the other figure in the power to weight ratio--
lightness, the next frontier.
To help us sort it all out, it's Zac and Mike from Classic
Car Club, Manhattan back on /DRIVE.
Thanks, guys.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Happy to be here, Mr. Spinelli.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, no problem.
So we're talking about the end of the horsepower wars.
Are you happy to see it go?
Or you're not happy to see it go?
It might not end, actually.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah.
That was my first question, is that going to end?
I don't know.
As someone who's been really privileged to drive hundreds
of great cars that we own at the Classic Car Club, I think
I understand why they're put out these huge horse power
numbers, it's great marketing.
I totally get it.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I also feel like a lot of the cars are
undriveable.
Well, you can't really put it to use.
And I don't mean that in an old kind of guy way--
you can't drive that around town, but--
You know, the new and GT 500?
600 and something horsepower--
630 horsepower.
I drove it recently.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, I just drove one of those.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: On the pedal, traction light's going
off, the rear wheel's spinning,
it's got a live axle.
MIKE SPINELLI: It's insane.
Right.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It's kind of hilarious.
MIKE SPINELLI: It's insane.
Now, two Corvettes now have over 600-- no, actually over
500, one is 600, 600 horsepower--
insane.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: And the cheapest 200-mile-an-hour car
is the GT500 he was talking about, if anyone could
actually get to 200, and that's all I'm saying.
But so horsepower is really just part of power to weight.
Now, power to weight is the whole idea of
building a good car.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It's the ultimate equation.
MIKE SPINELLI: Ultimate equation.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Right, yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: You want that to be as
favorable as possible.
Here's the other side of that.
Let me give you some stats.
The average passenger vehicle in the US market is how heavy?
What do you think?
ZAC MOSELEY: 3,700?
You?
MIKE SPINELLI: All right, it's 3,800 pounds.
You've got it, all right.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: He knows a thing, he knows a thing.
MIKE SPINELLI: I forgot who I was talking to.
3,800 pounds, right?
So--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I'd add to that, by the way.
A lot of our really fast cars--
ZAC MOSELEY: Aren't that far off, yeah.
3,200.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: They're heavier, actually.
And I don't mean cars with a lot of horsepower.
But, like our Bentley Continental was 4,200 pounds,
or something crazy like that.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Some of them are tanks, and they're still
doing 0 to 60 in 3.4.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: Totally.
If you can get a car that's 3,400 pounds.
It's almost like, wow, that's not really that heavy.
But it's 3,200 pounds.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah.
Whereas, if you get in our M2, it's 2,200 pounds.
It's 200 horsepower.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, there you go.
ZAC MOSELEY: It's awesome.
MIKE SPINELLI: So, with that, we're going to get to that and
that whole idea.
But the thing that I think is going to drive this lightness
deal is that if the top or the cafe standards go up to 54
miles to the gallon, right?
So if car makers are going to have to fleet standard 54
miles to the gallon, they're going to have to drop weight.
And that's kind of the next frontier for
all these car makers.
So a couple of things.
Carbon fiber, right?
So obviously, carbon fiber's been the thing.
BMW's got the i3 now.
That's sort of the first-marketed-ish
carbon fiber car.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: Aluminum they've
been using for a while.
So they've been kind of incrementally putting
these things in.
Also, titanium, but that's kind of a precious metal, so
that's always going to be expensive.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: That's right.
MIKE SPINELLI: General Motors is messing with magnesium.
I know you guys watch racing and I know you're fans of
vintage racing, so you know what magnesium and the old
construction is
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Those and fires.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, fires.
So magnesium--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Flame as well.
They look spectacular when they go up.
MIKE SPINELLI: Exactly.
But imagine a magnesium that's not as flammable.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: But isn't also magnesium, isn't it
really susceptible to just sort of deteriorating--
MIKE SPINELLI: Right, it is.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Wet.
MIKE SPINELLI: Exactly, corrosion is a big deal, but
GM thinks that it has a kind of a line on the next
generation magnesium that could be lightweight, cheaper,
and also non-corroding.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Right.
MIKE SPINELLI: But--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Just don't buy the first one.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right, just don't buy the first
generation, right, exactly.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: You have a Lansia Beta.
MIKE SPINELLI: And also adhesives, because--
this is all nerdy crap-- but you're going to build cars out
of these kinds of precious metals or using composites or
precious metals, like aluminum or titanium.
And you're going to use composites.
You need adhesives to put them together, because, obviously,
can't weld
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Aluminum to titanium, or whether they
[INAUDIBLE].
MIKE SPINELLI: Exactly.
So adhesives are important for that.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Right.
They're probably lighter too, aren't they?
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, absolutely.
So the whole point is that--
though, wait a minute.
One more thing, there's steel.
So the steel industry is looking at higher strength--
ZAC MOSELEY: Lighther-weight steel.
MIKE SPINELLI: Steel, lightweight steel.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: So everybody is, all the energy in the
industry is going toward making cars lighter.
ZAC MOSELEY: Right.
MIKE SPINELLI: Is that a good thing?
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah, absolutely.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: So loaded question.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Driving opinions
are everybody's opinions.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Zac and I have the same opinion.
I think we prefer a car as light as it can possibly be,
and horsepower is quite secondary to that.
For instance, I drive a 1974 911, It's my
current daily driver.
And it started its life off as a Brumos race car.
And it only has about 220, I think 228 horsepower on the
[INAUDIBLE].
But it only weighs 2,200 pounds.
That's a fantastic driving experience, for me, anyway,
that's what I like.
I find with all the high-horsepower cars.
I get it, like I said, I get it, I get the marketing.
It's really cool to show up I've got 600 and whatever
horsepower under the hood and stuff.
But I don't think most people are capable of
driving that properly.
I get to drive a lot of stuff.
I'm a relatively good driver, I'm not great.
And I know.
I drover here in McLaren.
We decided--
MIKE SPINELLI: I know, it's parked downstairs.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I used 240 horsepower the whole way here.
Do you know what, it was still really fast and fun.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: And so for me, I'm kind of interested to
see all the cars come out a lot lighter.
I think that they are great.
I think, unfortunately, consumers are probably going
to pay the experimental cost of all of that again.
ZAC MOSELEY: Right.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, so before we get--
Yeah, basically, the next frontier we're talking about
is performance cars or sports car.
But this is actually, we're testing out
Zac's theory today.
So this show is inspired by Zac.
I just wanted to mention that.
ZAC MOSELEY: That's why I've been so chatty.
MIKE SPINELLI: That's right.
So what you said to me was with nowhere else to go on
horsepower, manufactures are going to have to pour their
resources into the driving experience.
ZAC MOSELEY: Right.
MIKE SPINELLI: So then I started thinking about the
whole push toward lightness.
Now, this is--
ZAC MOSELEY: And I have a point on that too.
Like, you get in a Bentley with carbon ceramic brakes.
And you're like, holy, this thing can stop.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
ZAC MOSELEY: Because it feels like you're on a conveyor
belt, you feel that you have two tongues getting dragged
down by these big brakes.
You get in a Lotus Elise and you touch the
break, and it stops.
And you know, it's uneventful, but that's the point.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
ZAC MOSELEY: It's good at, you don't even
recognize it as an event.
We've made these cars so heavy that to get them through a
corner, to get them to to accellerate, to get them to
break is a big impressive feat.
But if you weren't impressed with that feat, it actually
should be focused on the driving
experience and having fun.
MIKE SPINELLI: But that's a really good point, because
when you think about, when weight is added for some
reason, right, there's like a curve of the amount of extra
stuff you have to do to manage the weight, right?
So I was talking to an engineer from Bentley.
It was about the Supersports, right?
So the Supersports, it's really a good
handling car, right?
So they've been able to manage--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Pff.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Sorry.
MIKE SPINELLI: For its size.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Oh, well, OK.
MIKE SPINELLI: But the way--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: The very heavy, heavy girlism--
good looking.
It's the same thing to me.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, well, but the amount of extra crap they
had to put in in order to manage the weight sort of
makes this kind of diminishing returns, right?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Right.
MIKE SPINELLI: So the less stuff you can add--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: There's another equation I like to
power-to-rate, which is weight to feel, right?
ZAC MOSELEY: Right.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: So in those really heavy cars like Zac's
talking about or the Bentley, this is like my thought, my
feeling is that the heavier they get, you say the more
they have to add to make the experience something, and the
further disconnected you are from the actual experience.
You don't feel the road anymore.
I personally think that Bentleys, they feel the
steering is completely vague for me.
I don't know, And I think that the weight is a lot of that,
because such heavy power steering on it, and everything
else that goes into it, I'm really
disconnected from the road.
I don't know what's going on in the car.
ZAC MOSELEY: And I'll also say, in addition to this
argument that lets you focus back on the driving
experience.
When you take power to a certain level, you have limits
on grip and tires, they are practical for normal use.
What are we going to see?
0 to 60 at three seconds flat in your standard sports sedan
in a few years, what else do you need to do for the
on-paper wars?
Then the press hopefully will be focused on how does this
car feel, how does it drive, and the driving dynamics.
And if we can start to pump all those engineering
resources that are cranking the horsepower per liter at
the moment into that, we'll have some
awesome cars in the future.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, that's a really good point.
And I just want to add to that by saying that by 2025 car
makers are going to have to get to 54.5 miles to the
gallon for their fleets.
Now that means--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: That means over the average
of the whole fleet?
MIKE SPINELLI: That means over the average
of the whole fleet.
But the whole point is car makers' engineering decision
making is based on, a lot of it is based on
regulations, right?
So the energy of the industry goes toward whichever way the
regulations are going.
So if the regulations are putting this kind of demand on
them, there are only two things you do-- can you make
internal combustion engines more efficient?
Maybe a little bit, but they've done a
really good with that.
You can add stuff like hybrids, you
can go to all electric.
But really, if you can cut weight, you're going to get to
that efficiency number.
But the byproduct of that is that if all that energy is
going toward that, it's also going to go toward making
lighter cars that can be better drivers cars.
So we're going to benefit from that, just because that's
where the energy of the industry is going.
What do you think of that?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Exactly.
ZAC MOSELEY: It kind of goes back, there's an economic
saying that if you save $1, that's $1 in your pocket.
But if you earn $1, you have $1 left.
You still have to spend whatever you had to do
to earn that $1.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, that's true.
ZAC MOSELEY: So you save a pound, you get your pound.
But if you add a horsepower and it costs you half a pound?
You know, you've seen that effect.
MIKE SPINELLI: But I think they've already picked all the
low-hanging horsepower fruit, right?
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah, absolutely.
MIKE SPINELLI: They're going to have to go to--
you could go to, if there was nothing else to worry about
regulation wise, you go to 8-liter push rod V8 with twin
turbos, who cares, right?
But now they've gotten so much efficiency out of all these
engines that if they go to lightness, then they don't
even have to use what they've already done.
They can actually build car that are more efficient.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Breathe a little bit of a new life into
the engineering that they've already created.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
And even if they have lower-volume cars that are
built for enthusiasts, because don't forget, enthusiasts
don't buy a lot of cars overall, right?
Usually, it's minivans, it's family stuff.
So we're only a small part of the market.
But if they're already making the strides elsewhere, they're
going to just be able to use it for us, and we're going to
get the benefit of it.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I feel like a lot of the--
I agree--
but I feel like a lot of the weight that's been added is
not only huge engines and the byproduct of horsepower, but
it's also the byproduct of legislation.
MIKE SPINELLI: Dude, you can't--
ZAC MOSELEY: I know, that was about to go down.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Classic.
Is this Charles and Ray Eames?
MIKE SPINELLI: This is a prop table.
It can't actually support a human foot.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: So I think was it next year or the year
after every car needs to have a reverse camera in it.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
ZAC MOSELEY: Traction control.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: You know, it's all that stuff.
Which, first of all, you should
look over your shoulder.
It's the proper way to drive.
Now you're going to have everybody just staring at a
camera and they're going to run over their
neighborhood, because--
whatever, Don't get me started.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, that's true.
But everything is based on whatever the regulations are,
and then they go from what they can't do and then they go
down to what they can do, right?
As an engineer, that's kind of the thing that they--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I also feel like there's a couple of cars
out right now that have already sort of consigned to
the fact that horsepower is an old argument.
So last time we were here we talked about the BRZ, FRS,
whatever you want to call it.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Super fun and, again, this is what Zac
was saying, driving a car to its limit.
That's when things become fun on a car, on a motorcycle.
It's not jumping on 1,000-CC bike or
700-horsepower car to me.
And just put your foot down and going straight, and
leaving some 11's.
That's cool, you know, whatever.
It's more about always being on the edge of what that
vehicle can do.
Right before you completely lose it, but being able to
control it on the edge.
So I think that the FRS is a good example of that.
We recently bought a Fiat 500 Abarth--
great fun.
MIKE SPINELLI: Oh, yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Should be rear wheel
drive, but great fun.
Not a lot of horsepower, but it's generally pretty light.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, it is pretty light.
It's what 2,600, something like that?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I don't know, I don't know.
We're just getting trash like that.
Get out of it.
What?
You know.
But it goes to prove a point that I think that there are
certain smart brands that are already figuring out that we
might have lost the fun in driving.
We can bring that back and maybe ignite some passion in
younger people.
At 18- and 19-year-olds, new to driving, everything for
them is like an iPod in the dash and stuff.
But I think people will always like the visceral fun of
driving a car if you give them something fun and
controllable.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah, and as you said happily, this could all
come as a byproduct of getting more efficient.
You have to do it the right way.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
And so, other than the BRZ/FRS, right?
So some other stuff is coming down the line, right?
There is a new Miata, supposedly,
in the works, right?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah, huge Miata fans.
MIKE SPINELLI: You're right, so the new Miata, so we hear,
is going to be much lighter.
They are going to use a lot of the new lightning
technologies.
You know out right now, actually, the car's about as
heavy as it has ever been, right?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah.
ZAC MOSELEY: MIKE SPINELLI: It's got the--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: They made the [INAUDIBLE] switch was a
little lighter, just to--
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, right.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I don't know they made
however light it was.
MIKE SPINELLI: But the next Miata is supposed
to be pretty hot--
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: --pretty light pieces of work.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Did you see what it looks like?
MIKE SPINELLI: I have not.
Have you seen what it looks like?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: No, we race Miatas.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yes.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It's a blast, right?
But always in the back of your head, we have three of them,
the truck trail and all--
it's got that smiley face on it.
It always makes me think of from like "Cars," the movie,
like a race car.
MIKE SPINELLI: Hey, guys, what.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Can it be more angular and angry?
But whatever.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right, the next one, I've heard, is also going
to look more aggressive.
So I don't know, we're going to see.
The interesting thing is that they've been giving
journalists this Super 20 concept to drive for like the
last three years.
It's got like 30,000 miles on it.
Basically the Super 20 is the ultimate Tuner MX5.
It's stripped down, it's got stiffer--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It's got to be like what we drive.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, it's basically what you, guys,
drive, but for the street it's a little bit less aggressive.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Has two seats.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, right, exactly.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: A dashboard.
ZAC MOSELEY: Generally, yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: But I think that if you sort of read into
the PR a little bit, I think that they've been giving it to
everybody, because, I think, that's what the next Miata is
going to be a little bit closer to that.
So that's what we're going to probably see.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: That's interesting.
MIKE SPINELLI: We'll see if that actually comes true.
But the other thing is Nissan is supposed to be doing a
smaller version of the Z, right?
So
MIKE PRICHINELLO: The Y.
MIKE SPINELLI: I don't know what that's going to be like.
But that's supposed to--
Because right now, the, what, the 370?
The top one is like 50 grand.
Like it's insane.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It's a great driver car.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah, it's OK.
I mean, it's not my favorite, but--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Feel a little funny driving it, like
you're from the valley, you know.
But otherwise--
MIKE SPINELLI: Valley guy?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: --if you're inside of it, you don't look
like you're a C-rate actor.
MIKE SPINELLI: But there are these
drivers' cars coming out.
Do you think it's something that we're going to see--
Do you think people care?
And so this is the thing.
We live in this car enthusiast bubble.
And we're really interested in cars that come out that are
obviously lightweight, rear drive, tight
steering, decent damping.
So do you think that this is something that--
I mean, are there signs that this is something that's going
to be a mess?
ZAC MOSELEY: We've already hit this with BRZ, but that has
kicked it off everywhere.
Every top journalist has flagged it as one of their
"top five cars they've ever driven." And then they're
going to get to point, where they are just going to run out
of other things to brag about on paper.
You can't--
Literally, where is it now?
We should figure out how many cars can do 0 to 60 in under
four seconds.
When it gets to everything's in three seconds, there's
nowhere else to go, so they're going to have to find some new
criteria to talk about.
And it's going to be all back on driver feel, I think.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Well, I think that we've seen that in
our own business.
So we launched the Classic Car Club, we introduced it to
America nine years ago, almost.
And when we first opened it, I would say that general
automotive acumen of your everyday person was much lower
than it is now.
And people were turned on by very obvious things.
So new Ferrari, vintage Ferrari, Lamborghini--
sort of Italian makes, that sort of a thing.
If they made an FRS eight years ago and we put it in the
fleet-- in fact, I will tell you, one of the first cars we
has in the fleet was a Subaru WRX STi.
I know, it's not a Ferrari, it's not a Lamborghini, but
great power-to-weight ratio.
Awesome fun, we all know about that.
A lot of people are like, why is there a Subaru in here?
And we sort of had to explain to them or decide not to
explain to them-- just drive it or don't, but it's awesome.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: And now we have, when people are
interested, want to come to the Club and check it out, and
everything, they're really excited to see things like the
Abarth and maybe 911s from two or three generations, 964s and
things like that, that aren't all about the horsepower.
But people seem to be looking for more in-tune driving
experience.
That's sort of the subtle street-level nonsense that I
get from being at the Club all the time.
MIKE SPINELLI: I think that's right.
And I think that everybody is sort of caught up in the
demographic argument a lot.
Everybody's talking about whether millennials are into
cars or not, or whether baby boomers are into cars more
than millennials, or who's buying more cars, baby boomers
or millennials.
You know what?
We're sort of operating in a
cross-demographic enthusiast group.
Who cares what the demos are, really?
Ultimately, unless you're a marketer, who cares?
If the cars are good, and you can get people excited about
them in some way--
we'll have to talk about that because the way they've gotten
them excited about it in the past is by saying "0 to 60" or
"horsepower." So how do you do that with a car whose main
selling point is driving experience?
They have to come up with some kind of way.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah, but I think they're doing it,
because everything's content now, right?
Everything's online, you could watch a video anywhere--
you're watching us.
And I think really smart brands that, again, like the
FRS, when they launched, they came out with that really cool
commercial, I think it was just a web video, it wasn't
even on TV, right?
It was a car on a mountain pass, drifting through the
whole thing.
And in that 10 seconds you got everything
that that was about.
You didn't have to read this litany of specs--
it didn't matter.
It was just about the experience that you can have
driving car.
MIKE SPINELLI: That's interesting.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I think people like Ken Block help a
lot, right?
So he's like ignited a whole another cultural of people who
want to have fun driving a car, drive only to have fun.
And that is awesome.
That's what it should be about.
I just think that the last couple of years, a decade or
so, maybe engineers, everybody was sort of chasing that new
money, and then that new disappeared.
But you know what?
20-year-olds didn't matter back then, and so they didn't
make cars for them, and they're
starting to do it again.
MIKE SPINELLI: Well, you know, I'm a little biased, because
of we're on YouTube.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: But in the YouTube world, in the YouTube
heavy world, where kids search YouTube before they search
Google now in some ways--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah, that's what I do.
I'm too lazy to read.
MIKE SPINELLI: I'm too lazy to read, right?
I think, if you're not reading, maybe that the specs
and the kind of magazine bullet
points are less relevant.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Totally, less relevant.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah, that's what I think.
MIKE SPINELLI: That's an interesting point.
I never thought about that.
I'm very happy about that, by the way.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Totally.
MIKE SPINELLI: Because the more videos--
obviously, we're talking about cars, so we're sort of
limiting the audience of what we do here on this show.
But it's all about watching cars do their thing on video--
ZAC MOSELEY: Absolutely.
MIKE SPINELLI: --and less about the numbers.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Well, Zac said earlier,
paper to paper, right?
But I don't think that matters as much any more.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah, most of the cars I'm most excited about
now, I can't even tell you what the horsepower is.
I've seen countless videos on the new GT3.
I know it's powerful.
I'm really excited that everyone say that it feels so
good, and it's awesome to drive around track.
And I want to see what that feels like.
But I've witnessed the experience in video.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: You know, that's really funny, actually.
I thought to myself just the other day, I was like, what is
the horsepower-- and I was like, f--k, I'm off my game.
I used to like-- don't you think?
MIKE SPINELLI: Right, that's true.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: But I just think it's not that I don't
like cars any less, I like them more than I ever have.
ZAC MOSELEY: It's just that the medium hasn't presented
you enough that way.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Consumed different
information about that.
MIKE SPINELLI: I agree.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Well, we've cracked the code.
MIKE SPINELLI: I was thinking that, yeah, I think we cracked
the code, because I can't remember specs like I used to.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah.
MIKE SPINELLI: And maybe it's my elderly brain, but I have
to sometimes look up horsepower, but--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah, I, too, look up weight, though.
MIKE SPINELLI: Oh weight, but I--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: I do look up weight.
MIKE SPINELLI: --weight, and I actually feel like I know
weight more than horsepower now.
That's a weird situation.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: You know, the number I'm most interested
in that nobody has published really yet, or it's not one of
the contenders is torque.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah.
Because torque, for me, is a lot more, if you chasing that
horsepower force--
ZAC MOSELEY: Well, it's in the seat-of-the-pants experience
in acceleration, all comes from torque.
MIKE SPINELLI: Yeah it's true.
We really want to be, I don't know if that's really
horsepower wars, it's torque wars is actually--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Yeah, I don't know what all of the 620
some odd horsepower of the car feels like that we drove here,
but I know that all the torque feels like.
MIKE SPINELLI: Right, exactly.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It's the only fun part, really.
MIKE SPINELLI: So what have we found out today?
We're talking about--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: People can't read.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Torque is pretty good.
[INAUDIBLE]
are fat.
MIKE SPINELLI: No one can read anymore, yeah.
It's all about video.
And the driving experience is the next frontier.
ZAC MOSELEY: Yeah, absolutely.
MIKE SPINELLI: Look at that.
Zac, Mike.
Good to see you.
Thanks for coming on AFTER/DRIVE.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: It was a pleasure.
MIKE SPINELLI: That's it.
What do you, guys, think?
Don't forget, slashdrive.tv, @Drive on Twitter,
facebook.com/drivetv.
Talk back, damn it.
We'll see you, guys, next week.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: First shot, spin.
MIKE SPINELLI: All right, I go first?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: All right, first shot.
MIKE SPINELLI: Oh, here we go.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Fail, fail.
MIKE SPINELLI: All right, all right, go ahead, thanks.
Too gentle?
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Mike, you're going to record?
Ready?
Oh,
MIKE SPINELLI: It's just like the first time--
-Never been with a woman.
MIKE SPINELLI: --having sex with a lady-- you're a little
nervous, your palms are sweaty, it doesn't respond
well to that.
Is she going to like me?
-Ah.
MIKE SPINELLI: You tried like four times.
-Yeah, but I suck.
-You broke the door open.
-All right, Ian.
MIKE SPINELLI: We have to see.
I think the young buck is going to get it.
-Ian's going to get it.
He's going to show us all.
He's too naive to be nervous around a vehicle.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: You've got to be a little
bit rough with it.
You've got to get long.
-Yeah, [INAUDIBLE].
IAN: How do you, how do you do it?
ZAC MOSELEY: You actually do have to touch it.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Should we get people on the street?
MIKE SPINELLI: Did you get this?
Did you get this bottle of ***, by the way?
-The bottle of ***--
-Why, you want to just gather it?
-A bottle of ***.
MIKE SPINELLI: Homeless guys pissed on the--
-Cab driver.
MIKE SPINELLI: Cab driver ***, that's right--
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Homeless guys still have bottles of--
-You know, he was a bit dehydrated, [INAUDIBLE].
MIKE SPINELLI: Taxi ***.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: All right, we've got to get a street
person to try to open.
A passerby.
Excuse me, sir?
Can we, can we involve you in a test to see if you can open
up the door on this car?
I'll show you how, and we'll see if you can do it on your
first shot.
Yeah?
Go ahead and try to do it.
It'll be fun.
It's just for YouTube.
So here, watch.
This it how it works.
You have to slide your hand underneath and that it opens.
PASSERBY: OK.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: But it's not easy.
We're not making fun of you.
See if you can do it.
-No one has gotten it yet.
So let's see if you get it.
MIKE PRICHINELLO: Keep on going.
-Oh, second try.
-Well done.
[CAR ENGINE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]