The Carmudgeon Show

The V-6 engine is more complicated and expensive to build than a straight-six, but far less refined. It exists only as a solution to a packaging problem — it’s not the kind of powerplant that engineers actually want to build. So why do we lust after the Alfa Romeo Busso V-6?

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Every classic-car event is overrun with air-cooled Porsche 911s. There are reasons why — the 911 is great to drive, robust, and reliable — but should misery be part of the old-car ownership experience? Is buying an aircooled 911 the obvious choice, or is it the lazy one?
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The Carmudgeon Show is a comedic, information-filled 25-minute conversation with Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott, two car enthusiasts who are curmudgeonly beyond their years...

Some people dismiss the Mazda MX-5 Miata as a hairdresser’s car. Others think it’s the answer to all automotive questions. Does the truth lie somewhere between these two extreme positions — or is one of them actually right? Derek just bought a heavily modified NA Miata with Öhlins dampers on it, and it’s great. Jason had a stock NA and it wasn’t...

Everyone has a bad day, and the same goes for car companies. The late 1990s and early 2000s were a really bad time for Mercedes-Benz, and they’ve recovered just fine. Do we think the same will happen to BMW?

Or is the Bavarian company beyond repair? We thought VW was once beyond repair, but they’ve proved us wrong before. And Maserati has been having a bad day for the last 40 years.

Let’s discuss...

That’s the question Derek Tam-Scott asks on this week’s episode of the Carmudgeon Show. Jason has owned his 1987 VW Scirocco 16V since 1997 — and has had plenty of other Mk1 Volkswagens, including a Cabriolet — that have out-ranked, out-fun, and out-lasted the Porsches, Ferraris, Lotuses, BMWs, Miatas, and Cosworth-Mercedes in his collection. 

Jason drives the fastest, best, and most expensive cars in the world — but hasn’t found anything to knock the Scirocco off its pedestal...

When the W198 generation Mercedes 300SL road car came out in 1954, it was the McLaren F1 of its day. A no-compromises, high-tech, and exotic car that went faster than any other roadgoing car, it was decades ahead of its time...

Derek Tam-Scott arranged a holiday road trip for a bunch of his friends, and in this episode, Jason Cammisa learns his real motivation for it: to abuse a loaner car. What follows is a discussion about the great parts of taking road trips with friends, the dangers of mountain weather, and a lot of stories about how to properly get your money’s worth out of rental cars. From Jumping Jettas to Flying Tercels, this Carmudgeon show is light on the facts but heavy on the laughs...

Why, as enthusiasts, do we love wagons so much? Jason and Derek discuss why they love wagons in general and their wagons (BMW E30 325i Touring, Audi C3 200 20v Avant, Mercedes S211 E500 4Matic) specifically. But Americans hate wagons, or so the manufacturers say when everyone asks them why they don’t bring wagons to America...

This week, we get to know the real Derek Tam-Hyphen-Scott, as he teaches us how he deals with oblivious drivers who pace each other in the left lane. Of course, he blames that bad behavior on Jason Cammisa. There are lots of opinions in this one — California drivers are bad, but it’s the Pacific Northwest that takes the crown for the worst drivers in America. 

Or perhaps the world, since Derek and Jason seem to agree that American drivers have some of the worst lane-discipline on Earth...

Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott discuss what went on behind the scenes in order to make the recent ISSIMI video about the Ford Shelby GT500 video including: Lisa the flag girl, Derek's shirtless cameo, and the challenges of getting all the cars together in the same place at the same time. They also discuss why the video features a Challenger Hellcat and not a Redeye or a Demon, as well as the methodology used for getting the drag race and hot lap times...