matt farah: this week on roadtestament-- winners of the year, losers of the year, bikeof the year, car of the year, and the beater of the year. is that good? mike musto: that works. matt farah: jamie,mike, wes, larry, farah on road testament. follow us on twitter @drive. flip the switch, follow us onfacebook slash drivetv.
you may notice chris harris,leo, mike spinelli, and jf are not here. they're not team players. we are here. so let's get into this. the winners of 2012,we basically-- well, spinelli, who isnot here because he's not a team player-- sent out a questionnaire forus to choose our favorite
cars, biggest winners, biggestlosers, car of the year, predictions for 2013. it was a whole mess of stuff. so winner-- mike musto: porsche. matt farah: mikemusto and jf-- porsche boxster. mike musto: everything, i think,in the forthcoming porsche lineup is a winner.
they've just reinventedthe whole brand and i think it's fantastic. and they don't make a bad car. matt farah: they don'tmake bad cars. that's true. but their sports cars arekind of polarizing now. richard hammond drove the new991 and then immediately bought a 997. so people don't like theelectric steering.
i dig the boxster though. mike musto: i likethe boxster. driven a boxster yet? larry kosilla: no, i haven't. matt farah: driven it? wes siler: i don't drivecars anymore. matt farah: you don'tdrive cars anymore? wes siler: yeah, there's oneproblem with the porsche brand, right?
you look like that guyif you drive one. matt farah: this guy? are you telling me danielbaldwin doesn't look good driving this car? [laughter] matt farah: still, you can now,i think, be a man and drive this car. mike musto: for the first timeyou can be a guy and drive a boxster and still feel likeyou have your junk intact.
matt farah: it's funny, theproblem with the boxster is they were always kind of cool. mike musto: and theywere always good. matt farah: fun to drive. mike musto: but now, i thinkthat porsche updated the looks enough, so it has that kind ofaggression to the front end. matt farah: that's a man car. and as voted by several people,including me, srt bringing back the viper-- morepower, with traction control,
doesn't want to kill you, looksawesome, especially in that color, big meaty tires,stick shift, good interior. what's not to like? mike musto: but didn't they justpost that the zero 1 beat the viper around-- matt farah: yeah, and then ralphgilles basically said, well, randy pope isn'ta very good driver. wes siler: ralph gilles islike the baddest ass car executive ever.
mike musto: well,he has to be. wes siler: he makes that car. matt farah: yeah. he makes that car. and he sent marco and johnto race us at one point. and those guys were cool. next winner-- ian, hit it up. bikes.
wes siler: crf250l, right? matt farah: i don't knowanything about this bike. wes siler: this thingcosts $4,500. it's a dual sport. it goes off-road and on. it can go anywhere any dirtbike can go off road. it's really fun toride on road. and it gets, like, 74miles per gallon. $4,500!
matt farah: that'spretty awesome. mike musto: that's prettygood, yeah. wes siler: $4,500. it's awesome. matt farah: honda'smotorcycle game is pretty tight these days. wes siler: honda has thetightest motorcycle game there is right now. all their new products arecheaper than ever, and better
than ever, and get greatfuel economy. and they're all super versatileand practical. you can ride all them all day. crf250l, cbr250r, nc700x,cb500, cbr500, cb500x-- they're all just epically-- matt farah: tim, that'smy password. wes siler: --epicallygood motorcycles that are super cheap. mike musto: would this bike workfor, say, a beginner up
to somebody like my size? wes siler: yes. jamie robinson: honestly, itis a great beginner bike. honestly, it really is. and you can go far with it, interms of the level as well. it's not just for beginners. but it's a greatbike to start. mike musto: i like forgivingmotorcycles. that looks like a forgivingmotorcycle.
because i suck at riding. and that's probably why. matt farah: let's hitthe next one, ian. what have we got? oh, yes, motorcycle racing. jamie robinson: maxbiaggi, yeah. he's been in the worldchampionship for many, many years. valentino rossi knocked himoff his perch in motogp.
went over to world superbike. he's retired now. he's like 42. and he just won the worldsuperbike championship. matt farah: and then retiredthe next day, right? jamie robinson: it was anamazing championship. matt farah: it's a boss move. it's super boss. of course it is.
jamie robinson: the rsv4aprilia there is one hell of a machine. matt farah: yeah, wes knowsthat bike well, having dropped one. wes siler: having totalled it. matt farah: no, to retire atthe top of your game-- wes siler: that's theway to go out. matt farah: hopefully he doesn'tscrew it up and come back like schumacher.
wes siler: he's not. matt farah: well, 42 is prettyold to be racing motorcycles. jamie robinson: yeah, and he'sone of the few riders that's been right up there in the topof the world championship, fighting for the worldchampionship, year in, year out. matt farah: happyretirement, max. jamie robinson: good on him. matt farah: next winner--
america! wes siler: circuitof the americas. matt farah: america's a winnerbecause we have a formula 1 racetrack now. mike musto: it's awesome. matt farah: look at justthis picture-- the elevation-- look how far down this is. mike musto: thaddeus andi drove this track.
matt farah: it's ridiculous,right? mike musto: and it's awesome. matt farah: the on-boardfootage that i've been seeing-- i haven't got to drive it yet. but it looks amazing. mike musto: it's spectacular. they're going to start openingthis up for track clubs and what not.
matt farah: thank god. mike musto: so, i know in marchi'll be down there for a three training session. matt farah: i will totally go toaustin and drive this track all day, they getthe vettel gt. mike musto: the biggest thingthat they need is the surrounding areas need to bulkup, as far as hotels and things like that. because if you go down there,there's no place to stay.
matt farah: well, isn'taustin like 20 miles? mike musto: well, it's a littlefarther than that. yeah, it's pretty far. matt farah: well, i'msure they'll get it. this is a bad-ass race track. mike musto: the best is when youdrive up on the right hand side, for anybody who evergoes there, there are two houses completely fullof junk and rednecks. they just sit out there andwatch everybody come up.
wes siler: that's awesome. mike musto: yes, it'soutstanding. matt farah: that's brilliant. wes siler: motogp ishere next year. we're going to be there. jamie robinson: oh,absolutely. wes siler: yeah, absolutely. yeah. matt farah: extremely awesome.
jamie robinson: it'sgoing to be a great motorcycle track as well. matt farah: so that's ourcollective bargaining agreement of winners rightthere for 2012. i think we move ontothe losers-- honda. mike musto: not ok. matt farah: honda, theyhad a rough one. they had a rough year.
but not only do they have thisthing, which sucks, they had to redesign their civicafter one year. mike musto: they didn't reallyredesign the civic when they said they redesigned it. matt farah: jf submittedhonda, and i sort of agree with him. remember in 2001, whenhondas were awesome? wes siler: that'swhat they say. 10 years ago, as carjournalists, anytime anybody
asks us for a carrecommendation, you either said honda civic orhonda accord. you just did it. matt farah: it wasjust the move. and now it's hyundai. wes siler: and nowit's hyundai. automatically-- whatcar should i buy? hyundai. mike musto: hyundai.
matt farah: hyundai. and i just raced the 1999honda civic in lemons. and it was awesome. it was awesome. it weighed nothing. i ran at 7,500 rpm, six times alap, for literally 300 laps. and it was just no problem. it was great. it was really fun, and i reallywish they would put an
si gas engine in this-- mike musto: they won't. matt farah: --and justcall it a day. but they won't. fail. next. uh. remember my mini? i had a 2006 john cooper worksmini, and it was awesome.
it was so fun. we could fit in it great. now, why hasn't mini added anyhorsepower to their cars in the last 10 years? mike musto: i don't thinkthere's any room. matt farah: like, the johncooper works version of this thing, is 208 horsepower. that is such a sorry number. wes siler: how much doesthat car weigh?
mike musto: that one is atleast, probably, 3,200 pounds. wes siler: a 3,200 poundcar called a mini? larry kosilla: they justkeep getting bigger. matt farah: they keepgetting bigger. mike musto: well, the problemis, they tap the handling to be so good and so good. and you do see a lot of theseguys at track days. matt farah: not withcountryman. you've seen a countrymanat a track day?
mike musto: oh yeah, i'veseen a couple out there. they're out there. and the problem with thesecars is that-- it goes back to the power. they handle pretty well. but then as soon as youget on any type of a straight away, anything-- the only thing that's notkilling those is miyatas. that's it.
everything else is justkicking [inaudible]. matt farah: we had to johncooper works coupe one, the really small-- mike musto: that's not bad. matt farah: --baseballcap one. and at a straightaway at autoclub speedway, the focus st smoked it, and cost$13,000 less. mike musto: the cooper mini,the coupe, the baseball hat one, that's $38,000.
matt farah: it's insane. wes siler: wow. mike musto: that's a big nut forwhat amounts to a little-- matt farah: i paid $36,000 formy john cooper works mini, which was a lot. and i actually thought it wasworth it at the time. and it was. i got a lot of fun timesout of that car. but they're sort of likewhat subaru is doing.
they haven't reallygone anywhere. mike musto: they needto reinvent now. matt farah: they need big biggerengines, or bigger turbos, whateverit is they do. so mini get your horsepowergame in check. 'cause this thing ain't fastenough for what it looks like. harley davidson. jamie, would you like-- jamie robinson: i'm just quitedisappointed that they don't
come out with a new motorcycleand just change the game up. because they can, andthey used to. matt farah: didn't harley makea sport bike in the '70s? [interposing voices] jamie robinson: i know thatthey're all about cruisers and stuff. but all i see is they're justnot changing much at all. and it's such a shame. there's a huge brandright there.
matt farah: he's really tryinghard to not to-- wes siler: a very smart personsaid to me the other day that really resonated. he said the sound of a harleydavidson is the sound of america dying. matt farah: that's sad. mike musto: what, isbuell coming back? wes siler: eric buell is nolonger associated with harley in any way.
he has his own brands. it's very small. they're based in a garagein east troy, wisconsin. they will never sellvolume bikes again. he makes a very highend race bike. matt farah: but his bikelooks really cool. wes siler: it's really great. matt farah: the most tellingthing about harley davidson is that when i was looking forphotos for this, i just typed
into google "2013 harleydavidson." and then i typed in "1995 harley davidson." mike musto: exactly the same? matt farah: and the pictureslook exactly the same. this is a 2013. what about this says 2013? mike musto: those lights. matt farah: oh, yeah,the little v bulb. wes siler: those are heinous.
matt farah: and theylook really awful. all right, enough trash talk. wes siler: get that thingoff our screen. matt farah: yeah, go. bmw. i didn't like-- larry kosilla: didn't theypump in the sound? mike musto: everythingis just flat. matt farah: i didn't reallylike the new m5.
mike musto: their wholething is flat. their entire modelyear is flat. matt farah: is it me or arebmw and amg switched? mike musto: a littlebit now, yeah. totally. matt farah: amgs areexciting and loud and fun and involving. and these are sort of muted. mike musto: well, if you go backto early '90s up through
mid 2000s, anything with an mbadge was fantastic, and a genuinely fantasticautomobile. matt farah: you had an e39m5, which was awesome. mike musto: yeah, itwas a great car. but even the m3s, theywere all great. now, they're kind ofbig muted boxes. matt farah: the exhaust thingreally pisses me. larry kosilla: the moment idid that, and pumping the exhaust through the radio--
matt farah: and honestly, whenyou're driving it, you really can't tell the difference. you don't notice. but just the factthat it's there. mike musto: you don'tdo that, dude. not in a performance car. matt farah: and it's fast, butthey're not particularly exciting to drive. larry kosilla: it's liketurn the exhaust up.
matt farah: we have x5m, and iactually thought that was more fun than the m5. mike musto: absolutely. matt farah: because that thingdoes things that suvs shouldn't be doing. mike musto: well, physics. it really defies physics. matt farah: it defies physics. whereas this is like,it just kind is.
mike musto: well, that doesn'tlook exciting to me. if i'm going to spend all thatmoney on something with an m badge that has 500-plushorsepower, i want to pull up someplace and have people go,that's something different. that's something uniquethat is special. matt farah: which actuallythe amg cars do that. mike musto: they look special. matt farah: not so much. sorry, bmw.
i like you, but-- ok, now, ferrari. this is not a knock againstcalifornia. i put this on here. ferrari are not losers. ferrari customers are losers. because ferrari will sell youone of these with a manual transmission. and they sold two of them thisyear-- a total of two stick
shift cars. and it's not evenferarri's fault. the customers aren'tordering them. and their customers sucka fat [bleep]. wes siler: there you go. mike musto: really nothing morecan be said about that. seriously. ferrari customers, [bleep]. matt farah: i just this in here,because who would want
to buy this car? that's really it. i see very few redeemingqualities about the mitsubishi outlander. mike musto: brand? matt farah: the brandas a whole. even the evo, whichcould be good-- mike musto: is not. matt farah: --isn't.
mike musto: it wasgood seven years. matt farah: just like honda. forget the outlander. oh, poor saab. the problem with saabis that this car was really pretty, actually. you ever see one ofthese in person? mike musto: it's anice looking car. wes siler: i droveone in sweden.
and it was actuallya really nice car. matt farah: it was kindof nice, right? wes siler: it was fun, yeah. matt farah: and i feel like ifthey had just a little more money and just a little moretime, jason castriota would have got his new 9-3 in there. he said he would send me thedrawings for that, by the way, now that they're outof business. and i think the world isa better place for
having saabs in it . mike musto: well, saabswere always good cars. and it was a very niche car. the owners were always quirky. you were like a collegeprofessor, or like a doctor, or something like that. matt farah: back in theday they were fun to drive, like those-- mike musto: i'd liketo have a saab.
i used to have one. it was a fantastic car. larry kosilla: --wascrazy about saab. mike musto: ian'sgot two of them. matt farah: ian and hisgirlfriend both have viggens. i've only seen, like, threeof them my whole life. and they have two of them. he's corning the marketon viggens. but i will miss saab.
i wish they had a little moretime and a little more money. and next biggest loser-- wes's disgusting arm. so gross. mike musto: that's crazyterminator stuff. next picture. wes siler: yeah, next picture. matt farah: next picture. oh, that's disgusting!
wes siler: that'smy left knee. that hole was two inches deep. that's my left arm afterit was sewn up. mike musto: that lookslike something-- larry kosilla: scarierpart is your feet. look at those things. jamie robinson: yeah, whatkind of foot is that? mike musto: what's upwith your toes? what's that toe?
wes siler: i've gotweird toes. jamie robinson: your middletoe is the longest one. matt farah: keep going. keep going. wes siler: there'smore photos here. matt farah: no! mike musto: no! wes siler: that's my butt. mike musto: we're going toget so much hate mail
for showing his ass. wes siler: this is how i rideto the emergency room. i crashed an aprilia rsv4,which i'm very sorry about, guys. and i slid down the roadin a pair of jeans. you should always wear propermotorcycle gear. i was wearing everything,but i was wearing jeans. mike musto: you hadto pick him up? wes siler: i suffered someabrasion-related injuries to
my posterior. matt farah: wes's entirebody qualifies as the biggest loser of 2012. horrible. that is terrible. we had some predictions for2013 that were submitted. let's see the first one. the first one was from jf, andthat was that everybody will want the a45 amg.
mike musto: what thehell is that? matt farah: it's thenew a class. mike musto: it's like amore ugly 1 series. matt farah: yeah, but it's gota turbo in it and all-wheel drive and it's goingto be fast. and i think it'll be neat. it'll be cool. that's really ouronly prediction. continue.
oh, yeah, and then mike saidthat diesel was going to-- mike musto: yeah, i thinkdiesel, little by little, it's really starting to catch on. matt farah: i love the diesel. mike musto: and the hybrids-- i think people are finallyrealizing that hybrids are just not as good as everybodysays they are. matt farah: they're not. mike musto: and they'rerealizing that diesel is
actually the smarter, moreintelligent way go, if you want a car with mileageand reliability. matt farah: jamie comes froma country where it's predominantly diesel. mike musto: diesel. matt farah: and is it a "grassis greener on the other side" thing, or you think dieselis the way to go? jamie robinson: well, honestly,loads of people run diesel vehicles over inthe uk, and there's
no problems at all. matt farah: but jeremy clarksonbitches about them like they're terrible, butthey're really not. jamie robinson: he bitchesabout everything. mike musto: he's kindof a [bleep]. wes siler: for the way americansdrive, how many people do we know that aren'tcar people that are afraid to floor their throttles-- that's bad for the car--
or afraid to rev their enginebecause it's bad for the car? that's what diesel excels atis their small throttle opening, that low rev, justsqueeze it a little bit, accelerates onto the highway. jamie robinson: more to talk. matt farah: my momhas a diesel q7. and it is fantastic. every time i come to new york,instead of getting a press car or something, i justgrab her q7.
mike musto: don't go outand buy a prius. go out and buy a jetta tdi. you know what i mean? matt farah: and audi's basicallybringing their entire lineup-- is going to be diesel. jamie robinson: whichis fantastic. mike musto: bmw is too. they're bringing a lotof vehicles in,
too, which is good. jamie robinson: the problem isgetting diesel here, though. you have to go into a truckstop and stuff. wes siler: no, you don't. mike musto: no, no. wes siler: it's at everygas station now. mike musto: it's notbad anymore. matt farah: people saythat, but 80% of stations sell diesel.
mike musto: it's not that bad. matt farah: it'sreally not bad. jamie robinson: i takethat back then. matt farah: it's not bad. i think diesel's goingto be good. what do you have nexton my list? i believe next-- ah, the motorcycle of theyear, which will be presented--
wes siler: take thatone, jamie. jamie robinson: the panigale-- it is amazing. not only stunning to look at,but it's an awesome ride. it really is. i actually thought it wasn'tgoing to be as good as it was. matt farah: why did you thinkit was not going to be good? wes siler: too much hype. jamie robinson: it justlooked too perfect.
so i was like, well, there's gotto be some flaws with it. and then i rode it, andi was just amazed. matt farah: does it make thatawesome clutch noise that ducatis make? wes siler: it has a wet clutch,so no more tambourine. [tambourine noise] jamie robinson: ducatimotorcycle, the engine noise is just phenomenal as well. and that thing is a bullet.
it's so quick. matt farah: whatdoes it weigh? jamie robinson: not a lot. matt farah: likenothing, right? mike musto: less than youand i put together. matt farah: and whatdo they cost? what's a panigale cost? wes siler: it starts about-- jamie robinson: around$25,000.
wes siler: it's about $20,000,then you go up to $25,000 if you want olen suspensionon it. matt farah: oh, you canget olens on it? that's cool. i like that. jamie robinson: i mean,honestly. it comes with top-notch components. matt farah: and it smoked chrisharris, who was driving [inaudible].
jamie robinson: brembobrakes all that. wes siler: the entire conceptthat a car can ever be faster than a motorcycle isjust retarded. mike musto: well, itused to be though. it used to be, back inthe '80s, i mean-- wes siler: motorcycles-- it's just math. it's power to weight. matt farah: just powerto weight.
it's tough to beata motorcycle. jamie robinson: and imagine howbig the roads are for us. you get in one of these bigmodern cars, and you're going around a corner, and youhave to be careful to stay in your lane. and we're like, we gotthat much space. matt farah: it'sa bad-ass bike. i'm afraid of it. i don't want to ride it.
i don't want to be partof that bike. wes siler: well, you'regoing to ride in the back, aren't you? matt farah: big surprise. big surprise. jamie robinson: he wouldn'tget on the back. no way, that seat's too small. matt farah: we'regoing to do it. we're going to get on back.
i'm going to wear a thong. it's going to be amazing. we're going to look justlike a rap video. it has to be like a 2001 gsxr750, wooden suspension. wes siler: would you getyour ass waxed first? matt farah: yes. it'll be delicious. it'll look just like yourass after [inaudible]. big surprise, we votedunanimously, pretty much-- the
frs brz, car of the year. it's the most boringcar of the year. mike musto: but itmakes sense. matt farah: of courseit makes sense. it's so obvious. mike musto: it's the first carthat i think brings people back to the soul of driving. it's like a 240z, whenthey first came out. front engine, rear-wheel drive,fun enough to go out
and learn how to drivequicker, makes you a better driver. matt farah: and drifting, whichis probably the hardest and most rewarding thingyou can do in a car-- this is a great carto learn that. not only because it's lightand it's fun and easy to drift, but because you can driftfor multiple days on one set of tires. mike musto: on prius tires?
matt farah: on prius tires. they're cheap to replace. i went through eightsets of tires in a day drifting a corvette. whereas all day on this-- same tires, drove home,no problem. it's pretty awesome. larry kosilla: the fact that twocompanies came together, that's pretty nice.
mike musto: well, it'sa good car, too. matt farah: it is a good car. and when the turboones come out-- mike musto: it'll be better. matt farah: --it'll be better. i just drove a turboone for tuned. tuned, coming soon. and we're going to finish thisoff before we get out of here and go to important meetingsand things.
mike and i, in 2012,purchased beaters. mike musto: we did. matt farah: and so we're goingto let you guys decide the beater of the year, or thebeat off, as it were. who bought the better beater? so up first in the beaterchallenge, the battle wagon. mike musto: yes, this is the1992 chevrolet caprice, powered by a l05 v8 that makesa whopping 180 horsepower. matt farah: that's 5.7 liters.
mike musto: 5.7 liters. matt farah: 180 horsepower. mike musto: but it does have a323 gearing in the rear, and an awesome tail gunner seatthat we use for filming. so when the back falls down,big thad's in the back with the camera doing our thing. and it's got the suspension,which is about equivalent to an ocean liner. matt farah: it is very wafty.
mike musto: it is. but we put 8,000 miles on thatcar in five months, and that thing has never missed a beat. matt farah: well, it wasa total grandma car. mike musto: it was literallya grandma car. and the thing has nevermissed a beat. it gets 400 mile rangeout of a tank. it's rock star status. matt farah: it's rock star.
it's so awesome that whenchris harris came on the podcast, he went home going,i'm buying one. he's literally trying tobuy a caprice wagon in the uk right now. wes siler: my god. matt farah: i don't knowif it's right- or left-hand drive. mike musto: ensign, thoseare all left-hand. matt farah: well, we don't know,because he's not here
because he's nota team player. mike musto: that's true. matt farah: and of course,my beater. boom! 1993 mercedes s600. mike musto: is the bumperhanging off there? matt farah: no. no, it's chrome. there's a chrome piece there.
it's an optical illusion. mike musto: ah, all right. matt farah: it looks likethe bumpers coming off. it's not. there's chrome there. mike musto: ok. matt farah: s600, v12,armor-plated, bulletproof. it's bulletproof. because i spent, on roadtestament, like a month ago
with alex roy, saying, don'tever buy one of these. and now i have one. original msrp was$140,000-plus. i paid $2,500 for it. it has 192,000 miles on it, 6liter v12, 385 horsepower, and it has an option that i haveonly ever seen in this car, which is a power-operatedcenter mirror. mike musto: we need to runa series of challenges. matt farah: we will havea series of challenges.
mike musto: between the battlewagon and the benz. matt farah: suffice to say,there is a reason i went for the bulletproof one. it was owned by a rapper beforeme, who goes by big bird mafia. i swear to god. and actually, other than acouple little things, it's actually in really good shape. so leave a comment.
who bought the betterbeater, musto or i? you buy a beater this year? larry kosilla: nope. matt farah: i wish we hada picture of your car. mike musto: larry,beater bike? larry kosilla: 103,000miles on it. matt farah: larry's impala ss. mike musto: if you want thecaprice space, give me a call. matt farah: so that'sroad testament.
let's thank everyone who'shere and shame everyone who's not here. i was here first, waitingfor all you [bleep]. mike musto: no, we were atcassie's deli eating pastrami. matt farah: i hate you all. see you guys in 2013. we out.
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