The automotive world is full of podcasts, and those podcasts are overwhelmingly just two or three dudes sitting around Shure SM7B microphones to talk about the latest and greatest in top-dollar automotive innovation. But, for most car enthusiasts, that’s not exactly relatable — most people will never be lucky enough to hoon a McLaren, Ferrari, or Porsche on the ragged edge. So what would a podcast for the rest of the automotive world look like?
It would look a lot like “Tran Girlismo,” the new podcast from on-and-off Jalopnik writer Victoria Scott and friend of the site Jordan Hofstetter. The pair are both lifelong car enthusiasts with deep ties to Jalopnik — they even reference pieces like Scott’s review of the Dodge Challenger and former EIC Rory Carroll’s review of the Bugatti Chiron from our hallowed pages in the debut episode — who’ve found their love of all things on four wheels waning in recent years. The podcast, at least in its initial episode, aims to address one simple question: Why?
Why does car culture feel so out of reach?
Listening to Scott and Hofstetter talk about how car culture has grown more and more financially out of reach lately rings especially true to me. Enthusiasts cars like the Supras and S2000s the pair of hosts respectively owned years ago, have since skyrocketed in price, while wages have remained the same, meaning they probably wouldn’t be able to afford the same cars today. I’ve also owned plenty of performance vehicles in the past that I couldn’t afford to buy now. They even get into how that lack of access to performance vehicles affects race tracks, who can no longer rely on a steady stream of income from enthusiasts scraping together change from the couch to go racing.
“Tran Girlismo” is, at least in its first episode, an automotive podcast that talks about the unfortunate realities of being an enthusiast in the year of our lord 2026, and lines up cause and effect to explain how things got so bad. The hosts also offer hopeful avenues for the future, like sim racing, which can let us all experience track driving even when we’re priced out of the real thing. And someday, with any luck, I’ll bully my way on to the podcast and sell them on the cheap speed of motorcycling. The podcast is set to release weekly on Victoria Scott’s Patreon, and can also be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
