Welcome to In Wheel Time Car Talk!
Nov. 9, 2023

Car Shows and Luxury Vehicles: From AutoRama to the Mercedes-Benz GLS Series

Car Shows and Luxury Vehicles: From AutoRama to the Mercedes-Benz GLS Series
The player is loading ...
In Wheel Time Car Talk

Step into the driver's seat with us as we navigate through the fascinating world of car shows and luxury vehicles. We promise you'll gain fascinating insights into the 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLS 450 SUV as we highlight its exterior features, interior highlights, and its impressive engine. But that's not all; we also reminisce about Larry Way's enthralling encounter with the legendary car builder, Gene Winfield, at the annual Auto Rama show in Las Vegas.

Next up, we take you behind the scenes of the Houston Auto Ramas, giving you an unparalleled perspective into the process of selecting semi-finalists and winners. Let's not forget the Summit Racing Series championship, a unique competition that requires participants to qualify at several shows. To top it off, we'll be sharing some captivating stories including Craig's amusing experience of removing the roof racks from his brand new vehicle.

Finally, we take a sneak peek into the future with our review of the 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLS. We'll be discussing the exterior features, interior highlights, and its three liter inline turbocharged engine. Plus, we look ahead to some exciting car events such as Houston's Auto Ramas and the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social. So sit back and fasten your seatbelts as we speed into an exciting journey filled with the thrill of car shows and the allure of luxury vehicles.

---- -----
Want more In Wheel Time Car Talk any time?

In Wheel Time Car Talk is now available on iHeart Radio!

Just go to iheart.com/InWheelTimeCarTalk where ever you are.
----- -----
Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Car Talk and check out our live broadcast every Saturday, 8a-11aCT simulcasting on iHeart Radio, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.

In Wheel Time Car Talk can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:

Apple Podcasts, Pandora Podcast, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox and more on your mobile device.

Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/

https://www.iheart.com/live/in-wheel-time-car-talk-9327/

https://www.youtube.com/inwheeltime

https://www.Facebook.com/InWheelTime

For more information about In Wheel Time Car Talk, email us at

info@inwheeltime.com

Tags: In Wheel Time, automotive car talk show, car talk, Live car talk show, In Wheel Time Car Talk




InWheelTime.com/InWheelTimeCarTalk.com available on iHeartRadio, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and most podcast providers.

Transcript
Speaker 1:

Welcome to another in wheel time podcast, a 30 minute mini version of the in wheel time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am From the sugar shack studios in Texas, usa. It's the in wheel time car talk show, and Turn the page, don't, with an international flair right now. Yes, because we have Larry way coming up with Auto Ram is going to talk to us about all of the details going on there. It's always good to talk to. Larry Got to drive the 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLS 450 SUV. I'll give you my thoughts on it. Conrad has the cruise in calendar and this week in auto history and later We'll bring you the stories making automotive news headlines just ahead on the in wheel time car talk show, howdy, along with Mike out of this World, mars King Conrad along. We always need more. Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong. Thanks so much for joining us for a last hour of our show, because it is the last hour. If you're listening to a podcast, it's only 30 minutes long, so you'll have to go to the next podcast to complete this hour on podcast. However, if you are on our live broadcast Watching live, live live, then stay tuned. We've got a whole hour. What happens if they want to set their clocks back now Will they hear the nine o'clock hour again. Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna describe that I'm asking for Conrad.

Speaker 1:

So tonight, if you're listening on a broadcast, listening to our podcast, twice, twice, then you will find out that this is the day that we turn our clocks back. Yeah, you fall back, so we gain an extra hour of bedtime. I didn't say sleep, both theoretically.

Speaker 4:

Theory, I think you're yet a key bars.

Speaker 1:

It'll work.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna talk to Larry. Y'all Did he?

Speaker 1:

Way. Ladies and gentlemen, mr Auto Rama himself from Canada says he can't hear, we can't hear you, I don't know we can't hear you either, so I don't know what's going on but you look really good, larry. Yeah, you look at sharp yeah and we see your mouth moving, so you, we got to be doing something, right.

Speaker 2:

Mr Mars is gonna have to work on that.

Speaker 1:

But at any rate you heard audio you heard the, you heard the auto Rama spot.

Speaker 2:

It's an annual event. Here is an annual event.

Speaker 1:

Thanksgiving week and I have to tell you that my original auto, rama, was back in the day and I'm gonna basically give you, give away my age. I want to we give it away all the time I know you knew shut up, and so it was at the Albert Thomas convention Center, which was brand new at the time, in downtown Houston, which is now that venue down there that has a hard rock cafe and all that stuff. There's also a music venue that I hate that you either stand and watch and listen or, if it's a comedy act or something, they have folding chairs down there. It's just.

Speaker 2:

Now what you want.

Speaker 1:

No, but at any rate that used to be the George are sorry the Albert Thomas convention center. Were you living here then?

Speaker 2:

No, that was way before my shut up way.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that was my first auto, rama, and that was gosh.

Speaker 2:

I must have been 1617 something like that back in the 60s 1860. I.

Speaker 1:

Didn't say 1860s, for that had to be back in the 60s. Yeah, well, it was okay.

Speaker 2:

So don't give me the evil eye.

Speaker 1:

I'm not good. That's the side of the stink guy Okay, now can. Larry, can you hear us?

Speaker 3:

Good morning.

Speaker 1:

Oh my god, it's a miracle. You know what? Yeah, it's the, it's the it's the it's the border crossing of Canada. Oh yeah, it's causing this interruption.

Speaker 3:

Actually I'm in Las Vegas.

Speaker 1:

Oh, what for what show? See Michelle the see.

Speaker 3:

Michelle just ended.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, well, we're talking about that before we came. I do, it ended yesterday.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it did. It was a huge success. I would say the crowd was probably 80 or 85 percent what we had in 2019, but it was really good.

Speaker 1:

Oh good, that's good to hear what were you doing there.

Speaker 3:

Networking. You know representing Autorama and you know shaking hands and you know you don't need any help or an assistant, do you? Maybe somebody carry your bag. Go the line. There's a long line.

Speaker 1:

I'm sure that they're. I'm sure that.

Speaker 3:

But I must say the best day I had was Friday. Yesterday I I spoke to Gene Winfield you know his health is not what it was and spoke to his caregiver. She said we do like to come to our hotel room while Gene's having breakfast and I spent an hour with Gene Winfield.

Speaker 1:

Wow, oh, that's great. He's like a million years old.

Speaker 3:

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. He's just so darn wonderful. We talked about you know all the times I talked about Houston, audorama. You know getting a motorized scooter and going to his room and walking back with him, and you know all these things we did together. It was just absolutely wonderful. That's good, well, that was the best part of this whole trip for me.

Speaker 2:

Well, Gene's definitely a legend in the custom car world.

Speaker 1:

Well, he worked with George Barris and all the other famous car builders back in the day.

Speaker 3:

And Gene's the only one left.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so he's not very mobile anymore, but apparently he's still got his mind.

Speaker 3:

He's still got his mind. He's still making appearances. They called me last night. I was out this. The caregiver called me last night. It was out to dinner with someone else. They were driving back to California because he wanted to go to a show today. So he's still making appearances, wow, and just loves it. That's what he loves to do. He loves the people and he loves being with people.

Speaker 1:

And he loves talking to people, and I will tell you, if you remember correctly and I know you do that every time we had him on the show there at Audorama there was always a crowd around. I wanted to hear everything every letter that he was speaking, because he's such an interesting guy that invites everybody in to talk to him, and he's just a great entertainer, not only just a talent, an incredible talent when it comes to cars.

Speaker 3:

He's and one thing there's a lot of things I love about him, but one thing is that he shares his talent. He has workshops and if anybody asks him questions, he shows them how to do it, and so many people do not do that in our lives, but he's done that his whole life, shared his talent with others and he's been so generous to people. He's just an absolute wonderful man.

Speaker 1:

Well, I assume that he's not going to be at Audorama this year.

Speaker 3:

He's not going to be our 63rd annual. 63rd annual. Audorama is coming up Thanksgiving weekend, you can get discount tickets at O'Reilly Auto Parts stores and we have another great show in store.

Speaker 1:

And who are the special guests this year.

Speaker 3:

Well, we have. Actually, we have a couple of things. We have an FMX freestyle motocross show, which a lot of our shows we can't do that in because the ceilings aren't high enough, Because you know, they do flips and tricks in the air with their motorcycles, yeah, so we're looking forward to that. We have the Luchabrothers Luchabros, they'll call themselves. They're the AEW Wrestling Tag Team Champions. We have them Friday from two to five.

Speaker 1:

Are they going to wrestle?

Speaker 3:

Probably not, but I can maybe set it up for you, don.

Speaker 4:

No, no, I'm good. My money's on the wrestlers. Who's going to be?

Speaker 3:

your tag team partner.

Speaker 4:

Conrad.

Speaker 1:

Conrad, will Conrad? No, I've had two back surgeries, I don't need a third. Thank you.

Speaker 3:

I've had two back surgeries also. Well, saturday, from two to five, we have Noel G. He played Hector in the Fast and Furious movie.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And then on Sunday you're ready for this, yeah.

Speaker 1:

The Hulk, the Hulk, lufa Rigno, oh my god, the real Hulk.

Speaker 3:

It's from one to four on Sunday. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

I hope nobody gets a mad.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly. Well, wow, that's a great lineup. I'm glad to hear it. Yeah, and what people don't know is somebody's got to get these guys from the airport and bring them downtown.

Speaker 4:

Guess who that guy is yeah, you're talking to him, that'd be Larry.

Speaker 3:

I've spent so much time in airports waiting for people I mean traveling also, but waiting for people. They missed their flight or something's happened.

Speaker 1:

Do you have that little sign that says Mr Ferrigno that you hold up so he gets off the plane?

Speaker 3:

I'll probably recognize him when he comes.

Speaker 2:

He'd be the guy in the ripped clothes and the green skin.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1:

Are you serving at the convention center for the Thanksgiving event?

Speaker 3:

I want to go in early. I think the first round is at 7.15. And what those people do? Well, the chefs are getting ready but they stuff bags and, as you guys probably remember, I'm a walker. So you walk around and you pick up pasta and canned goods, whatever it is, and you put it in bags, because hundreds of cars will line up and pick up bags of food and most of the people, till they run out, that are there for breakfast, lunch, I should say will get a bag of food too. So it takes about an hour and a half to fill those bags. So I'm going to go in early and walk and help fill bags and then I'll stay once, so I'll be there for most of the day.

Speaker 2:

What a great tie-in for you and Otto Ramett. I always do that every Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3:

You know, when I if it's been a few years ago, and I was watching the news Wednesday night and they said, well, we're looking for volunteers, and I called Pete, who's our show manager no one's our company and said we don't open till 4. And I don't really have anything to do until early afternoon. You know, would you mind if I did that? He says, oh heaven's, no, that's a great thing for you to do. So I started doing it and then every year I get an email and I sign up and yeah, I enjoy it. I enjoy it and it's so nice to see so many people enjoying this and the other things they do. Like one year there was four ladies that are cutting hair and COVID times. They were given COVID shots, they're given flu shots and there's videos. So there's other things. Other people volunteer to do other things for them. So it's really a big deal. Of course, all the politicians come. It's a great photo op, but I think every country in the United States, or sorry, every city in the United States and every city in the country of Canada, should do this. It's just a huge, huge thing for these people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's a tradition here in Houston.

Speaker 3:

Also a big thing to put on, but it really is something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So, larry, let's talk about the Magnificent 7, if we can, for just a second, do we know who the Magnificent 7 are going to be yet? No no, how does that tell us the problem? First of all, explain what the Magnificent 7 are and then explain to us the method that they go to choosing these cars.

Speaker 3:

Well, we have a Mill Winder's Award, so it's a vehicle that's the first time shown in Houston. It's $5,000. So it's a pretty big deal. So they go through and the judges, jasper, but also the management, together they'll get a list of who's eligible and then they'll walk around and they'll look at the vehicles and then they'll sit down and have a meeting and they'll pick seven semifinalists and then the judging staff will decide which is the best car, of course, and that'll happen Saturday night, the proper Saturday. They'll probably know who that is. Saturday before the show yeah no, no during the show during the show yes, so the yeah, the. It's called the mill winers award, which is one of the original clubs. Was the Houston, not a Ramah. But it's a big deal. I mean if the person wins best custom, you know he gets, you know but wait, those seven cars are up front. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, so you? You do this on Saturday, but they're already said, they're already up front. How do you? How does that work?

Speaker 3:

No, what they do, what? What? As what they'll do, they'll go through the applications and say, okay, these people are all eligible, and then what? They go around and they pick the cars on Friday. They'll they'll as they're set up and they'll look at them and they'll get the semi-finalists and then they'll pick the top, the top car.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so, so as they register, there's something about the registration process that helps identify them. I mean, you know right. Well, first time in Houston, you know right, and it's not just the car, but you guys also Judge the display as well, correct?

Speaker 3:

Correct, correct. Yes, so there's, there's a separate. There's a separate award for the display, but but a display, yes, you know, you can win award. I think the top 10 displays gets award. Get awards, your top eight. I'd have to look at my notes. There's this there's a separate award for the displays, but the display is part of the vehicle and it, you know, is themed to the vehicle, so that that is really important because it shows the vehicle well and then it attracts the public, of course, and attracts the judge's eyes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and and do some of these cars Follow your show, the Auto Ramas, as they move around the country.

Speaker 3:

They do. We have a championship, we have the Summit Racing Series championship, and they'll they have to qualify. I think this year they have to go to four shows to qualify and then, once they qualify, they can go to this. They'll be invited to the championship finals. Now, the championship finals for so this is the 23 24 skickoff. The Houston Auto Ramas the 23, the 22 23 Championships will be at our show in Cincinnati, which will be the second weekend in January, so people that qualify will go to Cincinnati, though, and they'll be judged. Those cars will be judged and they'll pick the winners, and There'll be part of our Cincinnati show, of course, but that's where it will be. That's for the 2020, 2022, 2023 championship finals will be, so the probably be 2025 for 30 vehicles there was a time. I mean, I've been doing this for 40 years though. You know, 25, 30 years ago We'd have 40 cars and we had a lot of motorcycles touring and there'd be 10 motorcycles. That was really a big deal and these were Really high-end cars. I mean it was it was a time when there was more people touring. It costs a lot of money to build a car, but it costs an awful lot of money to tour. Yes, it does Whoo, you know gas and hotels and and, and you go to a show and the judges, and let's say you're in the truck category and there's three of you touring, well, you know, I beat you two guys and then you, then the judges will say, well, this is what you need to do to your truck. So there's, you got two weeks off so you can go and you do some things, hoping to beat so the throughout the season. They're also doing things to their vehicles. Now, if it's a major thing, no, but most of the time it's not. But They'll do things to try and be more competitive. It's just ongoing, it's a real.

Speaker 1:

To tour a vehicle it's really Quite an endeavor so the show opens on Thanksgiving Day, larry, and runs through Sunday. You do you have the hours in front of you.

Speaker 3:

I believe it's a four till eight on Thanksgiving, ten till ten Friday, saturday and ten till six on Sunday.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and do you have? Do you have a full boat of Entrance that are going to be there at the show?

Speaker 3:

Well as I understand it, yes, I, in fact they. I think they even have a standby list. So Steve reams the show chair. No, steve.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I know Steve very well, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yeah, he says we're full, very good, and by so no. So it's gonna be another great show. We have shorties, low rider showcase. As you know, we have a little bit of everything. We have cars, trucks and motorcycles and and low riders and we Some of us are some people are partial to, you know, the custom cars or street rods or low riders, whatever it is, but we need to have something for the whole paying public, for everybody. We have something nice to see for them. So, um, we really have a really Great cross-section once again, and I love the Houston show because when you walk it, that's gigantic building, of course, but when you walk in and you see all those cars along the front and it's so long and it's just, you know.

Speaker 1:

And you also get to see us once a year, you bet you guys and see you broadcast live on Saturday morning. Yeah, well, we'll be there and we look forward. We look forward to seeing you, larry, and it's great to talk to you, even though you're in Las Vegas. Are you gonna go back to Canada today?

Speaker 3:

No, actually. Well, I have a block of rooms of 27. So I'm and I so hotel just down the street from SEMA, so everybody's talking at me, so everybody will be gone by tonight. There's a car, there's an outdoor car show we go to today, which is really quite nice, and there's a museum there and I've never seen so many autographed guitars and so much memorabilia in my life. So we're going there today. I'm going with a couple of friends, but tonight or by tomorrow morning most everybody will be gone. So I'm not going home till Tuesday. So it gives me a couple of days just to relax and go for walks and just chill. Get your breath and be in the warm weather, cause it's cold at home.

Speaker 2:

Well, there's that. Hit the blackjack tables right.

Speaker 1:

All right, so we'll see you Thanksgiving weekend. Georgia Brown Convention Center and it's autooramacom.

Speaker 3:

Autooramacom, you get all the information Beautiful.

Speaker 1:

Larry, it's great to talk to you.

Speaker 3:

I'm glad to talk to all you guys. Look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. You got it. We'll see you then. Thanks.

Speaker 1:

Larry Larry Way. Take care, mr Autorama himself. All right time now for the cruise in calendar and I can start off. If that's okay, may I steal one of your cruise in? Steal it, that would be the chrome and coffee that happens tomorrow from nine to noon at the Avalon diner at the fountains out in Stafford. And let me just say this that it's probably one of the nicest, coolest cruise ins ever. So you get to meet up with all the cruise in people and it's always a bunch of different people every week.

Speaker 2:

It's interesting how that all works out and Don will be there with his Corvette, hopefully.

Speaker 1:

What will Craig bring? His McLaren maybe?

Speaker 2:

I don't know whether he's got something special. Whatever his choice is.

Speaker 1:

But the other nice thing about it is come hungry because you can stop there at the Avalon diner and have breakfast with the rest of us. So that's always good, ned Moore.

Speaker 2:

Yep, so heroes and hot rods. This afternoon it's a charity car show up at a 1910 Cypress Station in Houston and it's an open car show. Taps and turbos. Car show at no Labels. Brewing in Katie, texas, starts this afternoon Again the Lumberton fall car show. Just to give an out for show. Mara is out there in the Golden Triangle is at the 119th Church Loop in Lumberton, texas, and that's an open car and truck show. Bring a. Your entry is bring a canned food item for donation and they don't need any more beets. I like beets, I'm a beet fan. No, I'm like they taste like pickle.

Speaker 1:

You and.

Speaker 2:

Michael.

Speaker 4:

Jackson go beets, they taste like dirt.

Speaker 2:

You and Michael Jackson beat it, beat it. Tomorrow morning is the Woodlands Coffee and Cars for a cause. At 95.95, six pints drive in the Woodlands, the entry is a donation for the cause, and Pistons at the park in Austin Park, in North Pizza, in Flugerville, texas. And then North Pizza Is that a street? Yep, it's next down the street Pepperoni Avenue. Pepperoni Avenue, yeah, right there near Anchovies Way. Okay, okay, moving on, and then again Northside Mustang Club. A shout out to you guys, I know you're listening. They're in a new Cane right now at Bulls Dallas Park. Thanks for your support. Okay, the end, the end.

Speaker 1:

Back to you, don. Thank you so much, godrad. All right time now for the car review. This hour I got a chance to drive the Mercedes-Benz GLS450. It comes in these trim levels GLS450, gls580, and GLS AMG63. I had the GLS450, which, according to Edmundscom, is the most popular vehicle of the three. It's more affordable and, you'll see, it's a standard SUV three row. I would not put it in the same size category, however, as the Suburban, because it's not. It's smaller. How many passengers? Six with the driver, two, two and two. Two, two and two Exterior changes from last model year was all new for 2022. Exterior features include the understated modern design. It's classy looking. With lots of windows you can see everything. Huge grille with an oversized Mercedes-Benz badge right smack dab in the middle of it. By the way, they have different grilles for different trim levels. Clean design. Rear hatch with dual exhaust. The AMG has got four exhaust pipes on it. Big tire wheel options is beautiful. What I liked about it? The conservative elegance. I don't know how else to put it.

Speaker 2:

That's Mercedes.

Speaker 1:

Yes, what could use improvement? What's with roof racks in 2024? Don't know.

Speaker 2:

Nobody uses them Never. I don't know why they're up there.

Speaker 1:

Well, and I guess it's to give it that off-road look. Well, guess what that look went out about 10 years ago. So stop putting roof racks on it.

Speaker 2:

Well, remember, richard said they'll seran, wrap you at the race and take you right around on the roof.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, it's. I don't know. It's a no-go for me. Matter of fact, craig hated them so bad he took them off one of his brand new vehicles that it came with and had to plug the holes. Interior highlights the kitchen sink wasn't offered, but the interior is awesome.

Speaker 2:

That's a lot of display space on that it is.

Speaker 1:

So it is, yes, an infotainment and a dash design that is all inclusive. One screen has instruments and an infotainment that stretches half the dash Seating has made as more adjustments than you can actually have by law. There's enough room in the third row, believe it or not, for six foot tall people. Wow, yeah, we tried it out. We put my grandson back there, along with his mama, my daughter, and no problem. Leg room is plentiful back there, which is surprising actually, Cargo trunk room big with the third row down. What I liked? The customizable ambient lighting. You want to change the color, you want to turn it on, turn it off, all of that sort of stuff, and it's pretty. Inside, Sun goes down. You go ooh, look at that, it's a car. It's a car. You can use improvement. I don't know. It has more. It has more comfort than your living room, I think. What can be challenging, however, is the technology. Get out the owner's manual, spend at least a good hour with the owner's manual with the car on, and you see if you can find stuff, because I couldn't find it. Oh, I'm sorry, I turned your microphone off because you were down there fumbling with your microphone and making all sorts of noise and we could all hear all of that. My bad, that's your yes.

Speaker 2:

I was trying to hear everything else, but anyway. But I was going to say I had to drill down. I mean, you're right, you had to drill down into those screens to try and find stuff. It wasn't right there.

Speaker 1:

I could not find how to reset the trip meter on it. Oh, it's down in there. I know it is it's down in there, but I never found it.

Speaker 2:

It's not something you could. I mean you talk about distracted driving, it's not intuitive.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's exactly right, so keep that in mind. If you're a techie, you are going to love this car.

Speaker 3:

I'm not a techie.

Speaker 1:

But there you go. It has a three liter inline turbocharged six cylinder and it's a mild hybrid. I'm not exactly sure what the definition of a mild hybrid is, but somehow it's a mild hybrid. 375 horsepower out of this six-manger, 369 pound-feet of torque, and it'll get it with that nine-speed automatic transmission. That's a quote from Mars. That's the way he uses it. It'll get it 19 miles per gallon. City 24 highway I got 21. I'm sorry for combined at 21,. I got 23.7. Over 373 miles. What I liked love the inline six, turbocharge and you know torque. Yes, and you know Stalantis is going with that inline six. Forget the V6. Let's go with the inline six. What could use improvement? They need to disable the start-stop feature on every car that is ever produced. Clip the wires off of there, okay.

Speaker 2:

But they do return fuel economy and that's their reason.

Speaker 1:

Okay, when gas gets up to $10 a gallon, that may be important but it could very well be. Smooth, smooth, smooth ride and handling well-controlled dampers. That has an air suspension. What could use improvement? Nothing. Show me the world what ride perfection is all about. This is it. This is ride perfection. This is not a race car, this is a road car. Oh boy, is it nice. Base trim price $87,000. Price is tested $95,720. Okay, so what is it that costs so much money? Let me give you a couple of examples. The acoustic comfort package is $1,200. The AMG line package Not the AMG, but the AMG line package.

Speaker 2:

The appearance.

Speaker 1:

That costs $3,250. The DXI exclusive trim is $1,750. So if you want to goose it up with all of the extras, then you just go for it, but it's going to cost you an arm and a leg and maybe even more. Now competitors BMW X7 for 77,850, the Infinity QX80 74,150 and the Lexus LX600 costs $90,815.

Speaker 2:

So they're all in that same price range.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a lot. That's my review of the 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLS. Open the wallet. Buy it, you're going to love it and you'll have to go to school on the tech.

Speaker 2:

So you take it back if they gave it to you again.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show is available 24-7 through the iHeart radio app Just look for In-Wheel Time Car Talk. We also video stream on Facebook, YouTube and InWheelTimecom Podcasts available on over a dozen of the most popular podcast outlets. The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break.

Speaker 4:

Hey, houston, america's greatest hot rod tradition is back Thanksgiving weekend, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Auto-Roma At the George R Brown Convention. Center four action packed days of hot rods, customs classics, trucks and performance cars.

Speaker 3:

The Ultimate Low Riders.

Speaker 4:

Showcase sponsored by Shorties Hydraulics, see Lone Star Throwdowns, Texas-sized truck spread. And don't miss the traditional rod and custom section. Friday, saturday and Sunday see wild, high-flying freestyle motocross stunt shows, shop, the swap meet and women's world all weekend On the celebrity stage presented by Nick's auto repair and classic car restoration. Friday meet AEW Tag Team Superstars to Luge of Bros. Saturday it's Noel G Hector from the Fast and Furious. Sunday it's Lou Ferrigno, the original, incredible.

Speaker 3:

Hulk the.

Speaker 4:

O'Reilly Auto Parts Auto-Roma. November 23rd through 26th at the George R Brown Convention Center. Discount tickets at O'Reilly Auto Parts, part of the Summer Racing Equipment Show Car Series. See AutoRomacom for more info.

Speaker 1:

Houston's finest cars are invited to another Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social Saturday, december 2nd, and you're invited too. Show off your personal pride and joy, or just stop in to see the likes of Lucid Lamborghini, porsche, ferrari and more. Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your one-stop shop for paint detailing, coatings, window tint, clear bras and wheel repair. The Car Social is your opportunity to get a tour of this state-of-the-art facility located at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway. It all takes place Saturday, december 2nd, 9 to noon. This is the perfect opportunity to connect with other car enthusiasts, from BMWs to mentallys, corvettes to McLarens. The Car Social is a different kind of show Talk to the owners. See Gulf Coast Auto Shield's facility. You'll be amazed. Put it on your calendar now the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social Saturday, december 2nd, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway. The In Real Time Car Talk Show will be there too. We'll see you then.