Joe Rogan Experience #1394 - Matt Farah
Joe Rogan (host), Matt Farah (guest), Jamie Vernon (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Jamie Vernon (guest), Jamie Vernon (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Matt Farah, Joe Rogan Experience #1394 - Matt Farah explores matt Farah and Joe Rogan Debate Cars, EVs, Speed, and Insanity 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.
Matt Farah and Joe Rogan Debate Cars, EVs, Speed, and Insanity
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.
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.
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.
Along the way they veer into risk, social media, conspiracy thinking, animals, and how quickly technology has reshaped both machines and human behavior.
Key Takeaways
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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EV adoption is constrained more by infrastructure than by cars.
Farah points out that LA’s electrical grid and building codes already limit how many chargers he can install in his new storage facility, suggesting that wide‑scale EV uptake will require massive grid and charging build‑outs, not just better vehicles.
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Mechanical craft obsessions (cars, watches, cues) share the same appeal.
Their detour into high‑end watches, custom pool cues, and hand‑built cars underlines a common fascination with complex, tactile, over‑engineered objects that combine function, aesthetics, and extreme attention to detail—far beyond rational utility.
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Notable 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
Questions Answered in This Episode
How should regulators and manufacturers balance raw performance with driver skill levels and public safety as cars continue to get faster?
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.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Are marketing terms like “Autopilot” and “Full Self‑Driving” ethically acceptable when systems still require constant human supervision?
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.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What kind of charging and grid infrastructure would cities like Los Angeles realistically need to support majority EV adoption?
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.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Why are some enthusiasts willing to spend hundreds of thousands on restomods and air‑cooled horsepower when objectively faster modern cars are cheaper?
Along the way they veer into risk, social media, conspiracy thinking, animals, and how quickly technology has reshaped both machines and human behavior.
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Does the quiet, frictionless nature of EVs change our psychological relationship with speed and risk compared to loud, mechanical cars?
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Transcript Preview
Three, two, one.
I gotta get a picture of that. (slaps table)
Matt Farah, ladies and gentlemen.
Joe Rogan.
We're going live.
Are we?
Dude, the interior of your car is fucking disgusting.
(laughs)
And I can't believe you like it.
It's-
Why would you do that when you can get any interior? You could make it any color. You decided to do b- what is it? Bus?
It's city bus fabric.
City, legitimately?
It's actual city bus fabric. Yeah, yeah. We got it from the city bus supplier. (laughs)
Pfft.
I like-
I mean, is it just, like, puke-resistant or something?
a- It's everything resistant, UV-
Really?
... dirt, stain.
Really?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I-
But does it feel good?
All right. Hi, everybody.
Hi.
I have a-
It's Matt Farah.
(laughs)
(laughs)
I have an old 911. It's called a safari build.
Yeah.
This guy named Lee Keen built it, and I showed it to Joe. I brought it here.
There it is.
There it is. And it's-
See, people on the video were looking at, uh, the smoking tire on Instagram.
Thank you. And, uh, that's my everyday car in LA. It's got-
You drive that everywhere?
Yeah. It's got big fog lights and bash bars, and it's got a lift on it.
It's a manual too, right?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
In traffic?
Y- yeah, but I don't ... I also have a little scooter, so it's, when I need to go fight traffic-
A scooter.
... I leave it on the- Yeah.
You drive a scooter?
Yeah, a little Yamaha 125.
Oh, Jesus.
Bro, you wear a fanny pack.
(laughs)
I can ride a scooter. (laughs)
I mean, for your own health and safety.
No, it's the best.
Really?
It's the be- I mean, look, riding motorcycles is dangerous. We all know that.
Right.
But it, I think it's a calculated risk.
Yeah.
You know. And I, like, the other day, my wife and I left the house at the same time. We live in Venice. And she left in a car, and I left on the scooter.
Mm-hmm.
And, like, exactly, like, 40 minutes later, she, I got off the bike and texted her that I was at my destination in Koreatown, and she was at her destination in Culver City.
Wow.
So I was literally, like, double, triple the distance that she had gone, so. But anyway, the city bus fabric is amazing, and I fully anticipated that 90% of the people would like it and 10% of the people would find it deeply offensive. I'm surprised that you fell into the offense
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