The Best of Car Talk
Episodes
#2627: Better to Die in a Fiery Crash
04 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Jose is stuck on the horns of a dilemma -or is he? Whether to risk getting ripped off by a local repair shop or to die in a fiery crash. Click and Cla...
#2626: Rats!
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This time, on 'Click and Clack’s Wild Kingdom’, Anna from Illinois encounters a rat in her Honda and we all lose our ever-lovin’ minds. It’s ‘...
#2625: The Click and Clack Creed
28 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What to do about the ‘mechanically-challenged’? Click and Clack used to run a do-it-yourself garage back in the day. And after rescuing a few hund...
#2624: How to Know if You Have a Cracked Head
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Paula’s pickup truck may have a cracked head. Can two mechanics who definitely have cracked heads help her fix the problem? Find out on this episode...
#2623: Virtual Dopeslaps
21 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Jeannie thinks she’s doing right by her Oldsmobile and taking it in for regular service checks. But recently, the garage service manager tells her t...
#2622: Starting from Stupid
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tony has a Saab story for us that involves losing coolant -and, possibly, brain cells, too. The fact that he called Click and Clack should indicate ho...
#2621: Worst Car of the Millenium
14 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of the last millenium there were plenty of motorheads proclaiming this Ferrari or that Maserati as the ‘Best Car Ever’, but only two gu...
#2620: Hubby's Fuelishness
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Whitney lives in the New Hampshire mountains with her cheapskate hubby who insists on driving the cars bone dry before refueling them. And while this ...
#2619: Teens and Cars
07 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Linda is a lovely lady from the land of nice; Minnesota. As lovely as she is, however, Linda has to contend with her three teenagers, one of whom wrec...
#2618: Who, What or How but Never All Three
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle states that position and momentum cannot simultaneously be known. Click and Clack’s uncertainty principle is th...
#2617: Definitely Not OK
28 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What’s worse: a screaming clutch, an oil leak, an engine fire or a Tommy Puzzler? You be the judge on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.To manage...
#2616: Non-traditional Repair Materials
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On past shows we’ve discussed repairs using a variety of ‘improvised’ materials such as underwear waistbands, road signs and extra virgin olive ...
#2615: 'Relaxed Fit' Comes for Cars
21 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Raconteur and friend of the show, Daniel Pinkwater has been on a lifelong quest for the perfect car. His is a quest not motivated by horsepower or des...
#2614: The Sludgehammer
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bernardo needs to get the crud out of his engine, but he can’t afford an expensive trip to his mechanic. Could a can of miracle goo from the auto pa...
#2613: Plague-proofing Your Car
14 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Rain is an aptly named woman from Florida who is currently battling at least two biblical plagues attempting to take over her Acura. Since Charlton He...
#2612: Monotasking
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Leave it to a couple of mechanics to make the case for doing only one thing at a time. A defense of ‘Monotasking’ on this Episode of the Best of C...
#2611: Hey, Mr. Spaceman
07 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the day, local baseball hero for the Red Sox, Bill ‘Spaceman’ Lee took some of his bonus money and bought himself an old BMW that he still...
#2610: Runaway Inflation
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Pete from Nashville is really worried about inflation. Not the kind that hurts your wallet, but the kind that takes your head off. He’s suffering fr...
#2609: Rum Runner Jim
31 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Jim is a rum distributor in Florida who’s having trouble with his boat engine. Probably needs to squeeze a few more horsepower out of it in order to...
#2608: Where Engines Never Warm Up
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of cars don’t like operating in the cold of a normal winter and Matt and his Delorean are having a tough go of it… at the South Pole. ‘Pen...
#2607: House Call
24 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
David lives practically around the corner from The Good News Garage and he’s found a mechanic who not only has customers bring their cars to his hou...
#2606: A Blended Car Family
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Nan just married her new guy and moved into his house but her car isn’t welcome. Hubby has an Audi and ‘his baby’ -a Triumph TR6 taking up both ...
#2605: The Family That Parks Together
17 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Al and his brother are about to come to blows… over parking. He wants to know if it’s possible to navigate into a parking space that you can’t b...
#2604: The Whoop Tube
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Lee’s Lincoln Town Car feels like it wants to brake on it’s own when cruising down the highway. His mechanic decided that it’s a problem with th...
#2603: Back to Nature
10 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Holy ‘Mutual of Omaha’, Marlin Perkins! Spiders and Cats and cell phone calls from the top of a California Redwood on this episode of the Best of ...
#2602: Lincoln Logs or a Lincoln Continental?
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Charlotte and her husband have woven a tangled web, indeed. They just adopted four kids between 10 and 6 years old and the little darlings are getting...
#2601: Customer to Dealer Incentive
03 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Leslie’s family was about to upgrade in more ways than one. They were on the prowl for a minivan when Leslie, 9 months pregnant, had a sudden, urgen...
#25104: Dang Skippy
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A merry melange of motor maladies on this end of the year episode of the Best of Car Talk.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com...
#25103: Bryology Anyone?
27 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Typically when arbiting marital car disputes, it helps to know what each spouse does for a living. Lawyers, for instance, are always right because law...
"What a Sled!" A Holiday Car Talk Bonus
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Holidays from the Best of Car Talk! We had our eye on a really ugly holiday sweater for you, but they didn’t have your size. Instead, we thoug...
#25102: Happy Camper
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Katie is a hiker and camper but she called the least ‘outdoorsy’ guys possible to find out if it’s safe to pour her old camp stove fuel into her...
#25101: Diana's Dodge Biohazard
20 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Diana’s dyin’ to ditch her Dodge unless our dummies can decode her dilemma: a smell so bad that it almost defies description. Hold your nose and o...
#25100: Parts and Labor
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eric has a modest proposal: Shouldn’t the cost of the $4 part that his mechanic is replacing on his car also bear some resemblance to the cost of th...
#2599: The Lincoln Lawyer
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce’s son is a lawyer in Orlando, Florida who, like most of the other lawyers in the area, drives a Lincoln Town Car. Except this one is not rea...
#2598: The Not-So-Itsy-Bitsy Spider
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gina was tooling along a local country road when an humongous spider descended in front of her eyes and into her lap. She doesn’t have any questions...
#2597: We're Part of the Solution
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ivan was enduring an attempt to upsell him on a special oil treatment when he heard this doozy from the mechanic-turned-salesman: “We’re not the p...
#2596: Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Karen from Virginia has two problems: Her Ford Taurus wagon shakes something awful from time to time. The second problem is her physicist husband’s ...
#2595: The Big Hair Problem
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica and her mom both drive their VW but every time Jessica goes to start it she gets a shock. Is this some kind of anti-Fahrgvergnugen that only J...
#2594: Having Fun with a US Census Agent
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Paula from Virginia mostly wanted help with her Toyota Camry but, as a US Census agent she couldn’t resist wagging her finger to remind all of us to...
#2593: Driving Blind
22 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lori’s man is acquiring old vehicles at an alarming rate. He loves working on them but, since he’s blind, he can’t drive them. Should Lori be pu...
#2592: How to Divorce Your Car
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ellen from Boston has had enough and wants to divorce her Honda. It's been in 3 accidents, vandalized repeatedly and been hit by a falling tree. Will ...
#2591: Customer Fleecing Systems
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who doesn’t like a good flush? Certainly not us. Unless it’s our $ being flushed into some unscrupulous car dealer’s pockets via some newfangled...
#2590: Automotive Family Planning
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our ‘Family Planning Division’ has been busy! a few weeks ago it was Anne from Georgia playing ambulance driver with her post-vasectomy-reversal h...
#2589: Help Me Rhonda
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rhonda’s minivan needs help, Mike’s Subaru shuns Sundays and Gwen’s van has literally gone to the dogs on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.L...