Navigating Wars of Words as a Journalist — The Carmudgeon Show Jason Cammisa Derek Tam-Scott Ep. 164

Three cars have caused Jason a journalistic existential crisis: the Alfa Romeo Tonale, the Tesla Cybertruck, and the Tesla Model 3 Performance.  Two of them have nothing to do with the cars, and everything to do with the internet backlash from passionate enthusiasts. It's war out there. === Click here to join the Hagerty Driver's Club: https://bit.ly/Join-HDC-Cammisa-Rev Jason's Hoodie & Merch: https://closed-course-productions.printify.me/ === The Carmudgeon Show has a new studio! (Or at least a new look.) But back to the cars: All of the innovation in the car industry these days is happening at the nontraditional OEMs. Which necessarily means that all of the interesting stories are about EVs.  And yet every time Jason does a review of an EV, it incites an online war between EV fans and ICE fans. And when Telsa's passionate fans and detractors become involved on X (formerly known as Twitter) it gets personal. Suddenly, Jason is vilified and "loses his credibility." This reality has caused Jason to take a serious look at the possibility of no longer reviewing new cars. He wonders if his personal interest in them is too small to put up with the backlash — and maybe he should concentrate on the older cars he loves more? On the other hand, is that letting the armchair warriors win? Perhaps. But the larger trend, as Jeremy Clarkson pointed out recently, is that new cars are shit.  And it was the Alfa Romeo Tonale that highlighted Jason's concerns. Not because it's a bad car — it's not — but Jason had a hard time getting excited about a 1.3-liter PHEV compact SUV with an Alfa Romeo badge on it. It has none of the qualities he likes in cars. And specifically none of the qualities (other than gorgeous green paint) that he feels are appropriate for a brand like Alfa Romeo. Hear all about the dissonance on this episode of the Carmudgeon Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Om Podcasten

Part of the Hagerty Podcast Network, the Carmudgeon Show is a comedic, information-filled conversation with Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott, two car enthusiasts who are curmudgeonly beyond their years. Proving you don’t have to be old to be grumpy, they spend each episode talking about what’s wrong with various parts of the automotive universe. Despite their best efforts to keep it negative, they usually wind up laughing, happy, and extolling their love for cars. Which just makes them angrier and more bitter. Jason Cammisa is an automotive journalist, social-media figure, and TV host with over 300 million views on YouTube alone. Jason’s deeply technical understanding, made possible by a lifelong obsession with cars, allows him to fully digest what’s going on within an automobile — and then put it into simple terms for others to understand. Also, a Master’s Degree in Law trained him to be impossible to argue with. Derek Tam-Scott still tries. He’s a young automotive expert with old-man taste in cars, and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering — which means he knows how to be civil to Jason. Or at least he tries. With a decade and a half’s experience buying, selling, driving and brokering classic and exotic cars, he’s experienced the world’s most iconic cars. And hated most of them.