The Right Jack | The New RAV4 HPV | Driving Destinations | Lexus IS 350 | Auto History

Quick Setup And Segment Start

unknown 0:05

As well.

Don Armstrong 0:06

Grab one that piques your interest. All

Picking The Right Car Jack

Don Armstrong 0:08

right. Time now for Jeff's Car Culture this week. Car jacks. And all I can think of is those old school bumpers. Oh my God. Yes, the bumper jacks. Bumper jacks.

Jeff Dziekan 0:19

Well, I'll tell you, I don't endorse any of these. These are just things that uh people might want to look into for their particular need for where what they're using on their vehicle. So not every tool needed software or the availability to connect to your Bluetooth. Sometimes all you need is a dependent mechanical tool, like a floor jack. Whether you're rotating tires or changing brakes, Quality Jack is the foundation of most of your do-it-yourself jobs. So here we go, Michael. If you're looking for a simple everyday garage jack, this Blackhawk may be one for you. After simple setup, you will be amazed at this 87-pound lift per pump. You know that, Don, with a mere one and a half pumps of the arm raising the jack to a full height.

Don Armstrong 0:59

That's a NASCAR stuff.

Jeff Dziekan 1:01

Yeah. During the test, this car was raised 21 and a half inches, providing ample space to slide two jacks under the pinch welds, which is very important because you always want to do that. Additionally, that the jack's longest chassis design, making it easy to reach cross-member lifting points. So the next one, Mike, uh, you got a type of uh jack who are type, you're if you're the type who values efficiency and convenience, the power belt Unijack combines a classic bottle jack and jack stand into one space-saving tool. Very cool. In terms of safety features, the power belt was one jack tested that offered the most tactical safety feature utilizing familiar lock drop mechanism that you're used to seeing on jack stands and other hydraulic lifts. So this is more of a mini professional total car lift. Uh the one downfall was the short lever, which resulted in a low pump to lift ratio. So it's a little bit more compact. The next one, Mike, is a slick. It's I'm sorry, sick and tired of watching the cost of living rise by inflation. Why not watch your vehicle rise by inflation with a Viver pneumatic jack instead? Hey, how about that? Uh with the entire different modus operandi, this jack requires a compressor to operate. Attach the compressor, slowly open the valve, and watch in awe as the jack lifts in an impressive rate. Experts say lifting the and lowering the jack at variable speeds, it takes a little bit of practice, but it's possible to learn it in just a little bit. Uh you have to be careful of the height and the lowering availability, uh, closing the valves off and such. So the maximum height measured is 15.8 inches, plenty of room to lift the front vehicle for jack stands and a quick tire stop. That's a pretty neat little thing there. I like that. Unless your vehicle is a military grade tank, you're be hard pressed to find a car in your fleet that the big red can't lift. The big red has an impressive weight capacity of 8,000 pounds, and that shows it's heavy-duty steel frame and reinforced lifting arm. Another thing about the Big Red is that the low profile jack can be used in low profile vehicles with low, low height of 3.8 inches and its lowest setting. The max lift of this is 20.5 inches. The lifting range is versatile enough for a variety of cars, strong enough to handle the heaviest of the lot. So that's a pretty good little jack there. Last one, Mike. If you're looking for low, uh light and long-lasting trusty jack, the Pittsburgh Low Profile Aluminum Racing Jack may be just what you're looking for. The low profile design is specifically tailored for vehicles with minimal ground clearance, making it a great choice for racing enthusiasts or low profile vehicles. Experts say what makes it different is the traditional floor jack in its aluminum material design. Uh weighing in at 24 pounds less than an exise up makes all the difference in maneuverability and portability. So it's important to move those things around if you put it in your trunk or in the back of a pickup. You got to have that lightweight and also be able to lift your vehicle up. So uh again, check them out if you've got a specific need for it, be it racing or just everyday do-it-yourself stuff, check them out.

Don Armstrong 4:04

And my Corvette. Even the lowest of the low jacks, I still have to get under there and kind of give it an elbow thing up, just you know, like a quarter of an inch to get the jack underneath there. And there are four jacking points on the car, two on each side, and you're supposed to have what is called a puck. And it's a thing that goes into the frame and you twist it to hold it there. So that makes it even lower because the puck is probably about uh half to three-quarters of an inch thick. What a pain. All right, well, there you go. Thank you, sir. All right, Mr.

unknown 4:45

Okay.

2026 Toyota RAV4 GR Sport Review

Don Armstrong 4:46

Time now for this hour's car review. I had a chance to drive the 2026 Toyota Rav 4, built in Aichi, Japan, but not built this week. That's for sure. They're still trying to recover from the earthquake stuff. Here are the trim levels. They are available in the SE, the Woodland, the XSE, and the GR Sport. Top of the line. I had the GR Sport. This is a plug-in hybrid all-wheel drive that I had. Small SUV seats five. Completely redesigned for 2026. Now in its sixth generation. That's how popular. It's a good-looking little car. It is. Yeah, and the updates to it, really something. Edgy front end is a welcome element. A big open mouth lower grille includes faux brake ducting. Black wheel opening accents adds an off-road look to it. Uh the rear lights hug the back glass in a smooth transition with a spoiler sunshade up on top, which is different. Usually it's just a sunshade, but this is a spoiler sunshade. What I liked about it, the overall edgier design, I think it really does look good. Interior highlights include, well, our GR anyway, had leather and cloth combo seating with red piping for a nice racy look. Big center infotainment screen as much as a multi-function affair that works very well. Uh the dash design carries through to the door panels. This is a well-screwed together vehicle. Uh the cargo is competitive with others in its class with only two rows of seating. Used to have a third row option. They've done away with that because it's just too cramped back there. It makes absolutely no sense. What could use improvement? Absolutely nothing. Good-looking vehicle all the way around. Engine is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder that, when combined with the electric motor, remember now this is a plug-in hybrid, the one that I had. It gets 324 horsepower combined. Uh, runs a CVT transmission. Till rating is only 1,305 pounds. That's not what this is meant for. Miles per gallon, 86 miles per gallon electric. Uh gas and electric combo gets 37 miles per gallon on the gas only. I got 83.1 miles per gallon electric over 355 miles. But remember, the electric is only good for a very short period of time. It is a plug-in electric hybrid. Uh, what I liked about it, it can drive up to 52 miles on a full charge on the electric without the gas kicking in. And what could use improvement? Well, I used 70% of its full charge over 40 miles. That's doing the highway. And I plugged it in at work and I plugged that in at home. And so I basically drove for free. Well, except for the price of the electricity. Riding handling, the GR Sport offers a little more feel to it, but it is still a family SUV. What could use improvement? Nothing, because of the different trim levels offered. The base trim price, trim price on this GR plug-in hybrid is $48.5. Price is tested $51,335. That's pretty expensive. Now you can get into one with just a plain gasoline engine four-cylinder for $42,950. I don't want to discourage you from putting it in the mix if you're shopping for an SUV like this. Competitors, Hyundai Tucson plug-in hybrid. It goes for $40,325 as a starting price. The Kia Sorrento plug-in hybrid starts at $48,290. And the Ford Escape plug-in hybrid starts at $354.35,400. That's the plug-in hybrid. And those are all are the competitors to it. I think I'd look at that Hyundai, Tucson starts at $43.25.

Jeff Dziekan 8:57

Or just get the non-plug-in hybrid part of it. And aren't they going to discontinue the escape? Is it Ford putting that aside? You're asking me to remember that? Yeah, yeah.

unknown 9:09

No, I don't remember that.

Jeff Dziekan 9:11

Tune in next week for the answer. Yeah. Or not.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Thank you, sir.

Don Armstrong 9:21

All right, Mr.

Houston Flood Control You Can Visit

Don Armstrong 9:22

Mars. Time now for driving destinations. I know you've got something fun and exciting for us.

Mike Marrs 9:28

It's different. Let me put it that away. So, you know, it it is hurricane season down here along the coast. We just recently had a little tropical storm, and everybody got all hot and bothered over it, thinking that we were going to get washed away again. But there's a lot of things that we have done in this area, particularly in Houston. You know, Houston wasn't simply built, it was engineered. And so a lot of things happened behind the scenes with reservoirs, bios, and channels to kind of help check some of that flooding that goes on in one of the country's biggest cities. Now, the first thing that we're going to talk about is the Attics Reservoir. Now, this was built by the U.S. Car Corps of Engineers after the floods at 1930. This is when this started. It's not really a lake in the traditional sense. Most of the time, it just looks like a big plain or like a big prairie or something out there, like a big park, a green space inside of Houston, but it's designed so that it will store billions, literally billions of gallons of water, to keep it from rushing downstream into Buffalo Bio and right down into downtown Houston. Now, the earthen dam there actually stretches for miles. A lot of people drive by it, they don't even realize what they're really looking at, but it's really part of the flood control structures. It was all engineered for this purpose, but they also used it to create some parks. There's some trailheads that you can actually go to, park, go do some walking out through the open beast basin whenever it's not full of water. The second one we want to look at is the Barker Reservoir. Now, this is just south of Attics, and it's kind of the twin that works together with it. And the two of them, they create the largest flood control project in Texas. They work as a team, they hold the stormwater, and they release it slowly as the weather clears. Now, during Hurricane Harvey, when my house in particular, I know it flooded, uh, both reservoirs reached record levels, and that just gives you an idea how much water they will hold. But again, they've created parks, they've engineered this so that they got use when it's not flooding to create parks. You can go fishing, you can go hiking. There's a lot of areas and picnicking that you can do with these areas. Then uh the third one that we want to look at is the Buffalo Bio itself. Now, Houston knows that as a big scenic park. You can go kayaking, you can go jogging down the trails, but the real purpose of that is part of flood control. It's one of the main drainage arteries, and it brings the stormwater from West Houston that traditionally would flow right through downtown and it funnels it out into Galliston Bay. And again, there's a lot of parks and green spaces that go along the way. And so it's not just recreation, but it does because of the spacing, the way they're designed, it looks like a big slope that goes back almost like you would consider a beach, but it's a green space. That's so that it can hold even more water. The fourth one we want to talk about is Terry Hershey Park. And you'll notice all these are considered parks because that's the way they were engineered so that the citizens of Houston get a little more value out of them. Now, this is over in West Houston, and you can see the flood control engineering in action without looking at it like it is. It's got the wide green corridors, natural vegetation, the sloping banks that all help it hold more water and funnel it in to keep it from flooding out houses and things around the Houston area. The last one is the most unique one is the San Jacinto Monument. Now, this is going to seem kind of strange as uh uh a flood control tour, but it is again part of the flood control that you can see the bigger picture if you go up into the observation deck at the top of it. Now you can see out over the ship, the Houston Ship Channel, Galveston Bay, the waterways, as well as like the area right there around it that holds water, the bios, the reservoirs, all that's part of a system that has been over the years kind of engineered with the natural flow of things to try and lead everything out into the Gulf of America. And so this is really one of the best places you can go to see the parks, see how everything kind of fits together. It's a great view from up there if you've never been up there.

Don Armstrong 13:28

And I can tell you from experience, if you go to the San Gacino Monument down there to the San Jacino area, take lots of mosquito spray because I'll tell you what, it can get brutal, especially at certain times of the year. Thank you, Mr. Mars. In-wheel time car talk show continues right after this quick break. Stay with us.

Jeff Dziekan 13:54

So enjoy.

Don Armstrong 13:56

All right. Yeah, well, mine ran yesterday and darn near killed me.

Auto History From K-Car To Route 66

Don Armstrong 14:00

Uh, time now for this week in auto history, Mr. Mars.

Mike Marrs 14:07

In auto history. We're gonna start out with in uh August the third, 1981. Chrysler officially introduced the K-Car. Now, they weren't real flashy, but they were very important in bringing their front-wheel drive platform because it was they sold the heck out of these.

Don Armstrong 14:25

Yeah.

Mike Marrs 14:26

Yes. And it was what gave it helped Chrysler manage to get through the financial collapse back in the 1980s. So it was really important for them to push this car out. Then the other thing we're gonna look at in on August the 1st, way back in 1899, and I really wish Sergeant Woodard would pull me over under these circumstances. Back uh New York City police who made their first America's earliest automobile speeding arrest. Taxicab driver was accused of driving his electric cab 12 miles an hour. And they pulled him over because the speed limit was eight miles per hour. Oh, wow.

Don Armstrong 15:04

So yeah, but they didn't have a radar detector, so how did they know? Was it a lady driving?

Mike Marrs 15:11

Could be, could be. Didn't really say how they did it. That's a good question. How did they figure that out? Then moving on over to August the 5th. Now, this is traffic signals that really became more sophisticated back in 1940. Uh, they really started putting in electric traffic signals in Cleveland, Ohio, instead of the hand operated ones. So it actually created a lot more uh the better capability to synchronize these.

Don Armstrong 15:35

And that is also where the phrase Cleveland steamer started.

Mike Marrs 15:40

Okay, I thought that was oysters or something, but okay. Then uh looking again up here on August the 6th, back in 1926, the last piece of Route 66 was actually approved and put into position. Now, this took several years to put this highway together, but it really had to go from Chicago out to uh the left coast, and uh it became a very famous highway. It still is. There's still a lot of people go out and try and find and drive sections that are still available. I was in Springfield uh one year when they were doing uh it was considered the middle point, and it was a big celebration, and I was doing some stories there on Route 66, and it was really interesting to see that particular area because everybody just kind of skips to Springfield and goes on. Then in August the 8th, Firestone tires really began their this is the first place that you could the first store that Firestone ever opened up to sell their rubber tires. And they really started out and became one of the largest tire manufacturers, and they were the early tire supplier to Henry Ford that helped get him going on his mass production of automobiles. So this was another important feature of automotive history that we ran across that uh we thought was rather interesting. All right, that is some of the things we found this week in automotive history.

Don Armstrong 17:01

Cool automaker's face. All right.

2026 Lexus IS 350 F Sport Review

Don Armstrong 17:08

Um, I'm going to uh give you now my take on uh our next car review. And the car review that I have for this half hour, uh trying to play catch-up, so we're doing a two car review. This car review is the 2026 Lexus IS 350. F Sport. It comes in the F Sport design, the F Sport itself, and the F Sport special appearance package. This is built in Aichi, Japan, which is the factory that's currently closed because of the uh earthquake over there. I just had the F-Sport. I think that this is one of the best-looking sedans on the market today. Five seats. Obviously, the back seats are going to be a little bit tight because of the it's a small-ish kind of car. All new in 2014, refresh styling inside and out for 2026. Um, new front grille is still too big, uh, but the spindle look has been turned down just a little bit, too, toned down a little bit. So keep that in mind. I I think that this is really a good-looking vehicle. Upswept rear wheel openings looks racy. Uh, reworked trunk incorporates a new spoiler back there. I like it. Um, dual exhaust exits below the black painted panel. Uh, what I liked about it overall, the body tweaks are spot on. I don't think anything could use improvement. Good looking wheels, yep, red calipers. It's got its going. Look, it look at that interior. How could you not like that? Get that looking right there. I love that thing. Interior highlights include new infotainment system. It is the bomb. No more touchpad. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The red interior is one of the best looking out there. 12-inch infotainment screen is very nice. I'm gonna roll through these. It's got everything about this just speaks to me. This is a Don Armstrong vehicle. Oh, there you go. Trunk room is small. What I liked about quality, design, and materials top-notch in this thing. There's the phone charger. Or could use improvement. Some of the screens are a little bit difficult to find, is a note that I wrote to myself. This is an old school 3.5-liter V6 naturally aspirated that turns out 311 horsepower, 280 pound feet of torque. Not a ton of horsepower, but this is an everyday driver that looks good. Eight-speed automatic transmission gets 19 miles per gallon in the city, 27 on the highway for combined at 22. Guy got 27.2 miles per gallon over 347 miles. What I liked, no turbo lag because it doesn't have any. Normally aspirated. It could use a little bit more horsepower. Don't touch it. I like it. It's fine. Leave it alone. Run it forever. Ride and handling, sporty, but not too rough or stiff. What could use improvement in the ride and handling department? Nothing. Base trim price, $47,950. Prices tested $60,473. The base model price, $45,500. Competitors, BMW 3 Series, $48,000. Mercedes-Benz C class, $49,000. These are base prices now. And the Genesis G70, $43,450. And that's my review. Next week, Hyundai Alantra Hybrid.

Proven Engines And Wrap Up

Jeff Dziekan 20:44

Thank you for joining us. You call it the uh engine old school. I would call it reliable because it, even though it's been around a while, it's it's reliable. That's why it's been around a while. Proven. There you go. Better word, proven. All right.