Miss ‘MythBusters?’ You Should Give This Show a Test Drive

I miss MythBusters. Adam, Jamie, Kari, Grant (RIP), and Tory showed the fun side of science better than any show before them had, and they taught viewers not to take the things they saw in movies, on TV, and online at face value. The show’s been gone for five years (the brief reappearance from 2017-18 with a different cast notwithstanding), and watching reruns gets a bit stale after a while. Enter Motor MythBusters.

Motor MythBusters is a new streaming show, available on the MotorTrend app. If you’re like me, you didn’t know there was a MotorTrend app; I enjoy driving and I understand how automobiles work, but I have never been a “car guy” or much of a gearhead. But, just as I learned things about explosives (for example) from the original MythBusters, I’ve learned quite a few things about cars from the new show. Mainly, though, it’s just a lot of fun to watch, because (like the original show) they take myths from pop culture, and because Tory, Faye, and Bisi clearly have a blast making it.

Yes, that’s Tory Belleci from the old show, along with mechanic Faye Hadley (who was on MotorTrends All Girls Garage) and professional race driver and engineer Bisi Ezerioha. They swear they never met in person before their first on-camera meeting, and I believe them, but you’d never guess it from the instant chemistry they have. Faye and Bisi organize the engineering side of things, while Tory builds and, of course, drives. I spoke with Tory and Faye about the show, and Tory had this to say:

I love fast cars. I love, you know, cool cars. And so being on this show, it forced me to learn things about cars that I never would have learned.

And you know, now I can, like, change brakes. Because we were testing the myth from Strange Brew that in the movie, a bad guy cuts their brakes and he tells the guy, you know, they’re going to have two stops. They’ll be able to stop twice. But then the third time the brakes will fail and they’ll crash.

And so we went out and tested it, and I had to learn how to change brakes.

I’ve seen a few of their episodes. The best one has to be the one where they make the car from The Flintstones. Really, they do! I won’t spoil the result, but I will say that seeing that car become real would be enough reason by itself to watch this show. And you might find yourself watching movies you haven’t seen, or haven’t seen in a while… like the aforementioned Strange Brew, which I’m pretty sure I hadn’t seen since it came out when I was 10.

They don’t just have fun, though. Like in the old show, they do some pretty gross things. I’ll let Tory’s words give you a mental picture:

If your radiator had a leak, there was a myth that if you pee into radiator and top it off, it could actually keep your engine cool. So we had to collect three gallons of urine… And it took maybe about two or three months to get three gallons… If you think three-month-old urine is disgusting, wait until you put it in a hot radiator and the steam comes up.

Fortunately for you and me, apps don’t transmit smells.

Now, I know what you’re probably asking: Do I really want another streaming service that I have to pay for? Believe me, I sympathize, but as services go, this one is a pretty good deal: After a free 7-day trial, it’s only $4.99/month or $44.99/year. They have an iOS version (and also one for AppleTV) and a Google Play version, of course. Trust me, if you liked MythBusters, you owe it to yourself to give Motor MythBusters a chance; I’m not a car guy, and my 20-year-old daughter (who doesn’t have her license yet) and I both really enjoyed it.