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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1394 - Matt Farah

Matt Farah is a car enthusiast and the host of “The Smoking Tire” seen on YouTube and also a podcast available on Apple Podcasts.

Joe RoganhostMatt FarahguestJamie Vernonguest
Dec 5, 20193h 8mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Matt Farah and Joe Rogan Debate Cars, EVs, Speed, and Insanity

  1. Joe Rogan and automotive journalist Matt Farah spend nearly four hours talking about cars, driving culture, and technology, bouncing between deep gearhead detail and broader cultural tangents.
  2. They compare analog sports cars to modern supercars and EVs, dig into Tesla’s business practices and self‑driving claims, and rave about Porsche’s Taycan and McLaren’s 720S as performance milestones.
  3. The conversation expands into custom builds, watchmaking as mechanical art, the limits of human driving skill versus modern power, and the practical challenges of EV infrastructure and urban life.
  4. Along the way they veer into risk, social media, conspiracy thinking, animals, and how quickly technology has reshaped both machines and human behavior.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Analog cars still deliver uniquely engaging driving experiences.

Farah argues that older, lighter, manual‑transmission cars (like air‑cooled 911s and his lifted “Safari” build) feel more alive and accessible than today’s ultra‑powerful, highly computerized machines, even if they’re slower on paper.

Modern performance might have eclipsed average human capability.

With cars like the McLaren 720S and ZR1, Farah says he feels safer using automatics and dual‑clutches on track because the speeds and power levels are so extreme that taking a hand off the wheel to shift can be genuinely dangerous for non‑pros.

Electric cars excel at usable, everyday speed but hide risk.

Rogan and Farah note how Teslas and the Porsche Taycan deliver brutal, silent acceleration that makes mundane commuting effortless—and also makes it easy to drive extremely fast without the usual auditory or mechanical cues.

Tesla’s marketing around autonomy and future products is viewed skeptically.

Farah calls terms like “full self‑driving” misleading, criticizes accepting deposits for vehicles and capabilities that don’t exist yet, and uses the Cybertruck, Roadster pre‑orders, and robo‑taxi promises as examples of hype outpacing deliverables.

Thermal management is a key differentiator in EV performance.

Porsche’s Taycan uses an 800‑volt architecture and integrated thermal systems (linking battery, motors, brakes, and HVAC) so it can deliver full power repeatedly and deep into the battery, unlike many current 400‑volt EVs that quickly dial back performance.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

At this point, cars are actually too fast to just sell to regular people.

— Matt Farah

Don’t pay for something that isn’t then handed to you.

— Matt Farah (on vehicle pre‑orders and hype)

A Tesla is the new BMW in terms of people who are driving like shit bags on the way to work.

— Matt Farah

It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going, it just matters how fast it feels.

— Matt Farah (quoting a friend on why light, analog cars are fun)

We’re buying dragsters you can drive to Whole Foods.

— Matt Farah

Analog performance cars vs. modern supercars and hyper‑EVsTesla: Autopilot, Cybertruck, Roadster, and business model skepticismPorsche Taycan and the future of electric performanceDanger, speed, and whether modern cars are “too fast” for normal driversCustom and restomod culture (Singer, Safari 911s, Rezvani, McLaren builds)EV infrastructure, urban living, and Farah’s car storage businessMechanical watches and craftsmanship as parallel obsessions to cars

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