Podcasts

The Truth About Cars offers car talk with podcasts that you can download and listen to whenever you want to know the truth about cars.

These Are The Most Reliable Car Brands

For today's podcast, we sat down with Tyson Jominy, Vice President, data and analytics for J.D. Power, to discuss what the most reliable car brands are.

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Have We Reached Peak EV (Part Two)?

Last week we were discussing electric vehicles with BJ Birtwell, who likely would consider himself and EV evangelist, and Alex Knizek from Consumer Reports, who noted that seven of this year's top 10 vehicles were electrified.

This week we dig deeper into what is happening with the EV market.

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Have We Reached Peak EV? (Part 1)

Electric vehicles are dominating the industry conversation, so we had a chat with someone who is a bit of an EV evangelist...as well as with a journalist who noted that his outlet elected seven electrified vehicles to its latest Top 10 list.

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Are Plug-In Hybrids the Future?

On today's podcast, we ponder if plug-in hybrids are the future, talk Tesla and Ram, and ruminate on our first races attended as fans.

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This State Might Ban Gasoline Cars. Here’s Who’s Fighting Back

This week we speak with Mike Spagnola, president and CEO of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), about a proposed ban on internal-combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in Connecticut.

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Are Auto Shows Dying?

The question I posed in the headline is an interesting one. There's been a lot of consternation that auto shows are dying, set to be killed by a changing world.

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TTAC Podcast: What's the Best Used Car for the Money?

Welcome back to the TTAC podcast! Today we have Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars.com, on to talk about best and worst used cars for the money. TTAC car reviewer Chris Tonn also sits in.

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TTAC Podcast: Talking Frozen Teslas With Tom Appel and Chris Tonn
TTAC Podcast: The Best and Worst Cars with Jake Fisher of Consumer Reports

We're doubling up this week after the tech issues we faced last week.

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TTAC Podcast: We're Back!

We promised you a podcast last week, and we're back!

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Housekeeping: The TTAC Podcast Returns!

Hey there! Remember the podcast we did until early last year? It was put on hiatus for a variety of reasons we'll keep in house -- and now, it's back!

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Shameless Self Promotion: TTAC Joins The Consumer Guide Podcast

Just a quick note of self-promotion here. You've heard our podcasts. Now you can check out my guest spot on Consumer Guide's podcast.

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TTAC Podcast: 2023 Chicago Auto Show

As February ends, we look back a couple of weeks to the 2023 Chicago Auto Show on our latest podcast.

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TTAC Podcast: Talking Mazda and More



Time for yet more shameless self-promotion! The latest episode of our podcast is now live. On it, we discuss the Mazda CX-90, EV pricing, and Honda's fuel-cell strategy.

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TTAC Podcast Episode 8 Has Dropped

In our final podcast episode of the year, I chat about the new Toyota Prius and Kia EV6 GT with automotive industry analyst Robby DeGraff, who works for AutoPacific.

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Chatting LA and EVs on the Latest TTAC Podcast

The latest episode of the TTAC podcast is here!

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TTAC's Next Podcast: Chatting Cars With Robby DeGraff

The TTAC podcast is back, and we were aggressively Midwest this time around.

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TTAC Podcast Episode 3: New York Auto Show, State of the Industry, and More

The next episode of the TTAC podcast is here!

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Talking Gas Prices and More on the Second TTAC Podcast

Hi there! Remember that podcast we did a few weeks back? Well, we’re back with more.

There’s also more to come.

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Housekeeping: We Have a Podcast Now

One of my hopes as editor of this august site has been to get a podcast off the ground. It was a back-burner idea for years, then Matt and Steph and I recorded a trial run in 2020.

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The Case For Better Place: Shai Agassi Addresses The APEC Transport/Energy Ministerial Conference

TTAC’s Twitter followers already know that I’m at the 2011 APEC Transport/Energy Ministerial Meeting in San Francisco, rubbing elbows with key decision-makers from the world of energy and transportation across the Asia-Pacific region. Earlier today I had the opportunity to sit down with Better Place CEO Shai Agassi, the intense, formidable CEO of Project Better Place. I’ll be writing about that conversation shortly, but many of the major points are covered in the speech Agassi gave shortly afterwards to assembled ministers, media and businesspeople. The speech boils down Better Place’s hugely ambitious plan to tackle one of the most complex challenges the world faces: transportation’s dependence on oil. If you’re looking for an Al Gore-style “green” speech, keep looking. Agassi tackles the problem from an economic and technological approach, and he makes a case that is well worth about 17 minutes of your time.

If you’re not familiar with Better Place, you can read some of TTAC’s coverage of the battery-swapping, network-managing, mileage-leasing project at our Project Better Place tag here (much of it on-the-ground reporting from Tal Bronfer, who has been following its rollout in the Israeli market). A comparison of battery swap to other EV business models can be found here, and a study of EV grid management issues can be found here.

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Daily Podcast: Ain't No Time for the Summertime Blues
Daily Podcast: Ain't No Time For The Summertime Blues
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(Not So) Daily Podcast: And We're Back
(Not So) Daily Podcast: And We're Back
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Daily Podcast: No Sale
Daily Podcast: No Sale
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Daily Podcast: Clunker Nation
Daily Podcast: Clunker Nation
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Daily Podcast: What Is the Chrysler Brand?
Daily Podcast: What Is The Chrysler Brand?
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Daily Podcast: Something For Everyone
Daily Podcast: Something For Everyone
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Daily Podcast: CAFE Culture

The list of CAFE violators ( in PDF form) reads like a valet’s to-do list: Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati. These firms pay CAFE fines because, well, they can. CAFE fines are calculated by multiplying each tenth of a mile per gallon of average non-compliance by $5.50, then multiplying that dollar amount by the number of vehicles sold. As a result, luxury firms pay the highest fines when they try to go mass market: Merecedes paid about $30 million for 2007. But if CAFE is already weighted to let small companies off the hook, why are we hearing about new rules which seem to relax standards for firms selling fewer than 400k vehicles per term? Aren’t the regular loopholes enough?

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Daily Podcast: Outta Sight Oversight
Daily Podcast: Outtasight Oversight
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Daily Podcast: A8 Misbehavin'

As promised in today’s podcast, here’s a teaser image of the forthcoming Audi A8 (courtesy of Top Gear‘s blog).

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Daily Podcast: The Great Kuga Hunt

No, we’re not talking about stalking women of a certain age. To my summer flu-addled mind, this Focus-based softroader should be on the US market already, cashing in on one of the few successful segments left here. We hear it’s going to be built in Kentucky, but when?

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Daily Podcast: Confusion for Clunkers
Daily Podcast: Confusion For Clunkers
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Daily Podcast: Fording the River
Daily Podcast: Fording The River
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Daily Podcast: Weeklong Testing

As Robert posted below, TTAC is redoubling its efforts to get timely road tests by reaching out to the very manufacturers we lay into on a daily basis. But why, you might ask, would these giant firms feed the mouth that bites them?

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Daily Podcast: Death To The Car Mag

Like most people under the age of 40, I never read car magazines. Actually that’s not true. I’ve been stealing copies of Auto Motor und Sport from my dad for years. Even after its long trip across the Atlantic, the anal-retentive German’s anal-retentive car magazine still manages to scoop the American mags on many of the most compelling industry developments. But the real draw is the mag’s road testing, which really confirms every stereotype of Teutonic attention to detail. No metric is too mundane to be measured, graphed and scored… think Consumer Reports for people who actually like cars and think OCD medication is for the weak. On the other side of the equation is evo magazine, which is hands-down the best enthusiast-oriented car magazine.

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Daily Podcast: Doom, Unaverted

GM claims to be calibrated to break even at a Seasonally Adjusted Annual sales Rate (SAAR) of 10m sales. Which assumes that GM’s portion of those sales will remain steady. As we’ve learned today, that’s not likely. GM’s market share is being pummelled by bad news, bailout backlash, and (according to the Merrill Lynch report) poor product replacement rates. While GM talks up the Volt, discusses a Prius fighter and touts an American-made compact, its major product push has been centered around a single dying brand (Buick) and its single new product, the LaCrosse. Yes there’s a new Equinox, but has anyone noticed? Camaro may be the choice of bold, audacious lemmings everywhere, but for how long? It’s gut check time . . .

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Daily Podcast: The Wages Of Sin
Daily Podcast: The Wages Of Sin
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Daily Podcast: What's In A Name?
Daily Podcast: What's In A Name?
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Daily Podcast: The Once And Future Czar
Daily Podcast: The Once And Future Czar
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Bob Lutz Speaks and Speaks and Speaks and Speaks and Speaks
Ex-Car Czar Bob Lutz has made the jump to hyperspace, joining New GM as . . . Car Czar. Of course, Bob can’t quite leave the Old School behind. More sp…
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Daily Podcast: Sex Sells
Daily Podcast: Sex Sells
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Daily Podcast: Cars Of Future Past
Daily Podcast: Cars Of Future Past
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Daily Podcast: Board To Tears
Daily Podcast: Board To Tears
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Daily Podcast: Converjence
Daily Podcast: Converjence
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Daily Podcast: Eco-Friendly Family Edition
Daily Podcast I: A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama
Yes, it’s a palindrome. No, it’s not my favorite. (Do geese see God?) But as a history buff—as in that’ll buff right out—I&rsqu…
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Daily Podcast: GM Loses $84.7m a Day
Somewhere in the background, a White House spinmeister is busy telling the cross-dressing Fox News anchor (if he doesn’t, he should) that his viewers s…
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Daily Podcast: What Happens Next?
Now that Chrysler and GM have submitted their “viability plans,” the Congressional corridors of power have been eerily silent on the subject. Oh…
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Daily Podcast: Extra Effort
I hopped in my Boxster and headed to the Lexus dealer yesterday. We’d agreed on a price for their ’08 2k mile IS-F. Only a single hurdle remained…
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Podcast: Branding is Genetic
My step-daughter Sasha and I had a little chin-wag this morning. After debating my potential car “needs” with her in private, it struck me that T…
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Podcast: Prowler? ChryCo CEO Bob Nardelli Owns a Plymouth Prowler?
Once we learn the identity of the investors behind Cerberus’ Chrysler FIATsco, the “debate” will move on as if nothing happened. Even if Os…
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Daily Podcast: Name That Knob
Capn’ Mike is back from the Middle East. Our Road Test Editor has been busy looking for something tasty to take to his next posting in Germany. MS repo…
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Intermittent Daily Podcast: The Weirdo's Paradox
Intermittent Daily Podcast: The Weirdo's Paradox
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Rant: To Tell the Truth
I blame the Quakers. My Friends-owned alma mater’s motto is “For the Honor of Truth.” What the Hell does that mean? What for the honor of t…
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Rant: U.S. Car Market D.O.A.?
Rant: U.S. Car Market D.O.A.?
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Intermittent Podcast: Lieberman and Berkowitz Talk Crazy
In today’s podcast, Jonny and I talked — among other things — about the Toyota Century (mistakenly referred to as the Toyota Crown at first…
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Rant: What Is A Cadillac?
Coming of age in the 70’s (lucky me), Cadillac represented everything I didn’t like about American cars. Like its lesser-priced sibs, it was an a…
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Rant: Force of Habit
In The Incredibles, as Syndrome is about the vanquish Mr. I, the fan-gone-bad pauses to explain his actions. As he does so, our hero counter-attacks. “…
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Intermittent Daily Podcast: Maserati Warning Light
Engineer A: How’s testing on the Merak going?Engineer B: The brakes catch fire all the time.Engineer A: Put in a warning light.Engineer A: Make it big.
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Intermittent Daily Podcast: It's the End of the Acura NSX, and I Feel Fine
The car bloggers went sub-ballistic (what would that be, scientists?) today because Honda announced that it was killing the NSX project. Well, I say good rid…
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  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)