Car Keys with Robin Leech and Jay de Marcken – February 9, 2026

He is Robin Leach. He is Jada Markin. This is Car Keys.

Well, good morning a good day to this edition of Car Keys with Jada Markin and Robin Leach and

We have a number of topics that I think we're going to cover in this

Show you're going to be listening to or you're listening to and the first one

It is a topic that I have quite a bit of interest in because I own

I'm responsible for four Jeep Cherokees

Currently existing in my family

and

They went out of production in the last

iteration of them in

2023-24 and they have now finally

Revealed in the form of a delivery of a new Jeep Cherokee

2026 model year, I believe

Which is I have been to my dealer to see

personally, but not to be able to drive and I think I

had earlier read a

article in Motor Trend magazine who was not particularly

Impressed by the new version of the Cherokee and it's got me thinking

I wasn't going to be impressed by the new version of the Jeep Cherokee

But I will say that visually on the floor on the floor of the

showroom that it was quite a nice looking vehicle both inside and out

It is larger than the current crop of

Cherokees that I am very familiar with

It does not have the same drivetrain. I'm not sure what that's going to do

I think I came away thinking it will probably sell well for those people who want to have a

a Cherokee version of the Jeep lineup and

Probably will never use it off-road, which is where I think the

New Cherokee might not be as

Adaptable to off-roading as what I think the existing my crop of Cherokees is first of all it comes with a lot of

new

technical equipment and

Technology that was not available in the old version

That is probably a good thing and a bad thing depending on who you are and what your knowledge base is and what you like about

The existing Jeep Cherokees versus what you may like about or not like about the new one

The engine and drivetrain is markedly different than the old

Line of Jeep Cherokees in that there is no longer a multi-speed

Transmission at least currently available in the new ones. It is using a CVT transmission, which

Jay will comment more on later on I think which is a basically a

Speed what is it? It's it doesn't have any

Individual speeds at least in the planetary hearing system of the old transitions

Sometimes they can make them feel like they have different hearings in them as Subaru can and theirs

But it also comes with a one engine. It's a turbocharged

four-cylinder

Engine with lower horsepower than the turbocharged

Engines in the past generation

But it's also a hybridized as well and the good news about it is if you look at the sticker

And we'll get to that in a minute the sticker rating for

MPGs on this new Cherokee are between 35 and 39 miles per gallon

depending on the way of the way you it's driven

back to that

comment about

Sticker

Miles for gallon figures, which is on many new cars. It's not all new cars that are produced

That they tells the potential buyer that it's going to get a city rating a

Highway rating and sometimes a combined rating of what you could get

If you were to drive the car in the most economical mode that you could possibly imagine doing

those

Figures alone are often inaccurate in real life use of vehicles because you have

Conditions in which you park vehicles and leave the engines running or you have vehicles that you start up in the morning

remotely from your kitchen window and

Let them run 10 minutes to warm up the interior so you're comfortable when you get in

both

Things which diminish the actual miles per gallon rating that you'll get pertainful fuel if you were to

Be compulsively

Keeping notes about that kind of thing and I'm one of those people. Let me get back to that cheap Cherokee

Right for a second. What in the world would you would make you?

leap over the

Snowbank and want to buy another cheap Cherokee

Versus what well, that's my question. So how does it compare to everything else on the market to me?

It just looks like another bland

Generic

SUV that can be compared to everything else out there

Question it's that question is probably applicable to almost any car that you might have been driving prior to a new version of that car coming out

I am

I am highly

favorable towards my

Edition of the Cherokees. I think they are they have been perfect for me and from the 2014

Which is the first time I ever bought a Jeep to the current

latest model which is the

2020 and I do not have newer versions, but I have four versions in between those two year

Brackets and so I don't drive all four of these are members of my family that drive two of the four and I drive two of the four

So one at a time. I presume I only one at a time. Yes

But I absolutely love the existing the older version of the Jeep Cherokees from a number of factors

I think we know that. Yes, and the new one is maybe we can

The new one is going to be equally acceptable to the

Probably the normal Jeep fire, which I may not be

Who does not much use it much more than liking Jeeps in general

To do their daily driving throughout the life of their car ownership

And I think the new Jeep Turkey is going to be very fine for probably

Maybe 90% of the people who buy them and the 10% that don't like them will be somebody like me that decides

They don't want a CVV transmission because I don't think it's going to be as functionally

Efficient and capable in maybe some off-road conditions that I might

Want to use my Jeep for which I've done with the

How do you see the future of the Jeep brand in the whole

Stellantis line up big mess that I see. I mean, they just they just took a 26 billion dollar

Deduction in the last quarter of 2025 what well on the like a lot of like a few other manufacturers to compensate for

their errors in

judging

A

Electrification yes

I don't see it as a problem

If I think they've changed we I think we mentioned this in a recent show that they are they have eliminated the plug-in hybrid

lineup of all the Jeep models

From the Wrangler Forexie to the grand charity

Versions of those cars which used a combination of plug-in capability battery and transmission and gasoline engines

They're going to stick with hybrid stuff. This new Jeep is a hybrid Jeep. It does not require a plug-in

It's mileage rating on the sticker is

Extraordinarily attractive for people who look at that kind of thing for an SUV type of vehicle

SUVs are not normally I think before the hybrids came out and Toyota is one and Honda is another one

So why would somebody buy a Jeep Cherokee versus a Toyota?

Because they like their previous Jeep if they own them to want to keep stay with Jeep

I don't think anybody who buys a Toyota or is run driving a Toyota is going to necessarily change

To a Jeep for example

So you're just like to change models because they like to drive different cars between their leases or their ownership of past

So you think brand loyalty is still a thing

I think brand loyalty is probably a good thing

for stillness as well as it certainly is in the Hondas and the

Toyotas and the Hyundai's and the Kia's and the Porsches and you know the normal lineup

Yeah, but the Toyota what's the name of the little?

SUV is the best-selling car in the world. So, you know trying to retain the customer base makes a

Lot of sense same thing with the Honda CRV. Those are vehicles that sell in in mass numbers

Cherokee has not sold in mass numbers compared to

These vehicles so now how do you gain new customers? And I don't think that the Jeep

Chair no gain new customers very easily. I would agree with you what you're summarizing and implying by that comment

If you've got an excellent product out there, and you've got users who who recognize that they are driving something of

Considerable level excellence for them and they're satisfied with they're gonna stick with it

But I know people who lease one brand of cars for lease and then they want to go try something else

Just because they want to have something different to drive for the next lease term

I

Think Subaru's are excellent, but I'm bored with Subaru's visually and I haven't a desire

My family owned the Subaru probably 50 years ago when they were little boxcars

much less another big big boxcars, yeah, exactly and

They were very popular because they were then at that time

They were functionally adequate for many many people they last a long time. Well, they rusted out a lot and

You still do that. I don't think the new ones rust out. I don't think I

You know, I'm very impressed with the Jeep so far

I don't have any signs on my 2014 Jeep and we live in a rust belt

For vehicle usage as you know with the salt and then winter weather, but there is no body

degradation of my 2014 Jeep now having a hundred and thirty thousand miles on it and going strong

Conversely to the old Subaru's and the tin boxes that were sometimes they were claimed to be made out of recycled steel

I don't know

But we were digressing from the Jeep comment, but I'm almost through with it. I think the Jeep is gonna sell

I don't think it's gonna sell in record numbers or over the old one

but I think it'll make keep some Jeep loyalists in Jeeps and

Lose some Jeep loyalists and they're gonna lose me because I don't have any interest. No, I haven't driven it yet

It's bigger than my current Jeep and my current Jeep is a perfect size for me

I don't need it, but I do know for an example that one person who had a Jeep Cherokee

Purchased it and found out they couldn't put a wheelchair behind the rear seat and

Because it was too large. They couldn't close the rear

liftgate

When they had a wheelchair

Folded wheelchair in back for somebody who needed to use that the new Jeep is gonna take care of that like people

you know have two pairs sets of golf clubs and a Porsche or a

Front-engine car or electric car and the trunks have diminished in size and some and aren't big enough to hold

You know a set one set or two sets of golf clubs, you know that those are the those are those people are minuscule in numbers

They're not gonna buy a particular vehicle for that kind of thing

But that's the way we all choose vehicles, you know, we have more fabulous vehicles to choose

going forward when we want to change cars or and so

Speaking of that, I was I was you know looking reading about industry news and and where the big three if they still exist are going and how

China is taking over a good chunk of markets everywhere including China now has 10% of the European market, which is

Should be an eye-opener

The locals. Yes. Yeah

Where was I going with us? I'm not sure but you are straight way into

Subjects that we can continue on so continue. Well, I I just

Yeah, I wanted to talk about a car that I actually drove in the last week and you know that yes, you do and it's not a brand-new car

It's been on the market for a few years

and and I always saw it when it came out as the the competitor to

Tesla threes and wise and that is the Ionic five by Hyundai

which

Robin you being a Hyundai

Sam, yeah

Yeah, I'm surprised that you haven't have you even driven one an Ionic five driven one

Okay, they've been out for four. I own a

2013 Hyundai hybrid Sonata, which I plan on keeping

Yeah, we know that

Ionic five for a second. Yeah, this is a fully electric car. There's been around for a while

and

It it I think it has a pretty cool boxy look. It's categorized as an SUV

But it kind of looks like a hatchback to me

And when you sit in the car it has this it has first of all it looks well finished

It looks a little more polished than a than a than a Tesla from the inside

While re while retaining that modern look and big screens in front of you, but the big screens kind of give you

Pretty conventional information and there are still buttons in the car

But the driving experience is just I thought was fabulous

I I did about a little over a hundred miles

round trip on

Secondary roads the car is like all electric cars is fast. It's comfortable. It's quiet

it does everything well and I just thought it was just a great all-around car and they do sell in pretty good numbers and

it is still

Hyundai's

Number one, I think number one selling electric vehicle

range for those

Ionic parts

No, no, no, I think they start in the low 40s

Okay, and and you have you know, you have two-wheel drive versions. So you have four-wheel drive versions

They don't have exceptional range, right?

They I think the maximum range is around

280 miles and if we get stuck with that 300 miles

Range in mind they fall a little bit short

I had an 80% charge, you know a normal everyday 80% charge when I started my journey in the car

And I had like 210 mile range. I think which was plenty to do what I had to do

and

and yeah, it just it just

It's a it's a great all-around car

And I think people who are looking electric cars should still put it on or close to the top of their list

Okay, let's let but anyway enough about the ionic five, okay

Let's let's let's keep on the electric car top. Oh, I know where I was going

I hold on let's talk about it in based on

brutal weather conditions at the northwest corner and has

Just experienced as this show is being done

With the fact that we had temperatures sub zero

recently in the mornings and

Not only did they do the effect electric car ranges, which you can tell it's more about in 30 seconds or so

but they also

affect

quality of quality level of batteries condition level of batteries because I

had a vehicle that failed to start at the minus six

Temperature that should have started easily and failed to start and I attributed to the age of the battery

Which didn't didn't not show that it was going to fail in a minus six condition, which happened very recently

and

required a jump start with

Tables no less as opposed to jump packs, which I have discovered are very

prone to not working because of lithium-ion battery

Power packs that do not apparently work well in cold weather

starting really truly dead or low level of

Non-functioning non-starting functioning batteries. How old was your battery?

The one that failed is in a four-year-old Jeep charity. Hey, there's no battery that came with it

And it just did not start the battery level was at 11.2 volts

Which was below the starting level which I have deemed is got to be 11.8 volts or better

To actually get the engine to crank when you push the start button

So let me tell you something my 11 year old Volkswagen still has its original battery

It's a diesel which we know diesel are hard to start in cold weather indeed and in negative five

weather yesterday morning the car just

Fired right up. Well, there you go. That's that that that shows you quality vehicle

But we're on range on electric cars. Do you have that as a topic to discuss?

Yeah, I mean

I don't know I read through that article. I don't know what to make of it. I don't have an electric car

I know there's a whole thing about preheating

the batteries

But basically

This one test I read through it, you know, the person had gotten in the car

it was like 20 below or 30 below and

They were going on a short drive and it took forever to

Heat up the car

And yes, they lost a lot of range, but you know, like you said, you know, if you get in the in a in a I see

a

Powered car you you you also, you know, you started up and waste a lot of fuel just warming it up. So I

Still don't think it's a whole big issue

Right except for when you get the extreme a sudden a

Stretch of extreme weather which we have just experienced. I don't remember having this kind of weather in many years

That lasted for 48 hours around our listing area. The skiing is good skiing is fine

The brutal wind is was not good on the temperatures

produced weaknesses

in a couple of my battery I see

car batteries

recently that

Let me to talk about

cold weather with batteries

But

Electric cars are known to lose a certain amount of range in cold weather

You say preheating uses up some of the range. I believe cold weather

without preheating also

Afflicts electric batteries

With range degradation

The moment you started up and what may give you 300 miles and 70 degree temperature might give you 250 miles in

Minus six or even less

Knowing that you have to use obviously heat

So

Going back to ski vehicles. What do you look at the cars in the parking lots when you go to ski areas? Lots of SUVs

Everything has racks that can't fit skis inside

My Jeep Cherokee you fold the seat

One half one third or two-thirds of the seat in the back of a Cherokee and you can slide most

Yeah, but okay, so when one's the last time you went skiing with a passenger in the car

Well, one passenger it doesn't matter because one pass doesn't take up doesn't mean you

You can't have two people in the car. What what's the coolest of ski vehicle you've seen in the parking lot

I'll tell you mine in a second. Okay, go ahead because I I don't really have a coolest one

I've seen in the party like that. So at one of our local mountains a few years ago

I saw an Audi R8 and for those people who don't know what an Audi R8 is

it is a

Audi a sports car that is made in in collaboration with Lamborghini. It's a v10

central

All-wheel-drive sports car

Cedar only and it had a roof rack on it and it was driving through the snow and I thought that was the absolute coolest

Ski vehicle that I saw okay

Yeah, although I did drive a couple times when I had in my Miata years ago

I did drive top down to the mountain with my ski sticking out of the car

You were young and reckless in those days

Now we move to a speed cameras and small yes. Yes

Okay, we want you you think old and reckless and then all of a sudden you think of speed cameras

You think of me and okay. Okay. Well, let's let's give our listeners in the northwest corner a bit of talk about this

What the small some of the small towns have been doing sometimes behind outside of my knowledge base

But I've just read the article

That you sent me about in the legal journal our small towns and this is really right here in the northwest corner Sharon

Salisbury Falls Village Canaan Cornwall

Well, I've been doing studies of whether or not we need to put small speed cameras on our roads to offset the lack of

Human

people in cars

Patrolling our roads to try to keep speed and check where it's out of control

If you want to call over 10 miles an hour over the closest speed limits out of control, which I do not

We have seen that some areas in the country have put speed cameras up as

Revenue increases

And just to try to slow traffic. We have a small village in the Massachusetts

Agri-Mott

Which does not need speed cameras, but they have trained the drivers that when you approach this town from either direction

you assiduously

Drive through those vehicle those towns this town at the post of the posted speed limit

Which I think is 30 miles an hour without any need for even when there's no patrol

no officer sitting in the middle ready to

Regulate you manually if you are exceeding that that speed

But Sharon is particularly noted in this article in our local paper has done a lot of research on it

And they did it on several roads route 41

caucus down road

Williams Road and a few others all of which I am familiar with and my one comment to

the select man Casey Flanagan is that

There's not enough traffic on those roads to warrant putting speed cameras on them

Although allegedly there were 33,000 sighted

No, no not sighted there were 33 the study

Insightable events a month. I don't know how they have 33 cars on some of those roads like

and

But maybe 33,000 cars

Well, it was over a month, you know multiple months. It is the outs not just a day in any event

I don't think any of our towns really need speed cameras except no

I would I would I would oppose my last comment this comment by saying

some of the people in Sharon come down into the village from the north and from the south into the middle where you're trying to get out of the

So-called shopping center or the post office or the gas station at speeds, which I would call

sightable for excessive speeds

and maybe a speed camera in the middle of Sharon one each direction might be on a

Pro you know a desirable thing in some so here's the thing. I mean the speed cameras

What what is the goal? Is it revenue enhancement or is it a safety concern and you know

Well, of course and and and that's what most efficient

I mean, that's what all of the officials that were interviewed in the in all these towns all said

You know the goal would be to improve safety and and does

so what is the the

What is the cost and what is the benefit and so far?

None none of the towns have come to the conclusion that was worthwhile doing there are issues people

Have issues with speed cameras in general and that is a thing in this country versus other countries

What I find it what I find crazy about the whole proposition is that even if you had speed cameras

You would have by law you there's a whole legal process involved, but you would by law every single

a

Citable

Offense would have to be reviewed. I know I know and that's just I mean that just defeats a whole purpose to me

I think it and it also affects. I mean in these small towns

That means that somebody in the town hall, let's say or your local resident trooper knows

Exactly who's doing what speed where what time and yes, I I think there is a privacy concern

That is totally legitimate. I have no problems with within theory like it's done in Europe

Having speed cameras in in air like in school areas like on Main Street where you have

You know dangerous situations and where keeping keeping people in check will really help

Yes, now, I think it was in North Canaan

Where they came to the conclusion that they were better off having

Radars with the signs flashing at you your speed which as far as a safety

Argument is concerned does have some effect. You do see people slam on their brakes as soon as they're see they see their speed light

Up when entering town and there is yeah, well

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. We know Salisbury's got several speed cameras around and

So do other towns as well. They flash at you. You look at your speedometer and you're doing 45 and it's a 30 mile an hour thing and

Yes, you do initially hit brakes

But I think that most people start ignoring those when they know that there's no other

Enforcement and the speed cameras are just speed cameras. They're not

Photograph photo cameras that are going to take a picture of your plate as you go by and then you're going to get a ticket in the mail

So I

Notes that our roads in Salisbury have several locations the one coming into Salisbury from Canaan, for example

Doesn't flash until you get almost at it and then it gives you the correct speed hasn't been serviced in years as far as

Starting to flash when you come around Bracken tip corner

listeners will know what that means and come down the straightaway past the

Condominium area that light does that on that sign go on until you're just about a hundred feet from it

And which when it will give you probably the accurate speed sometimes it flashes earlier and doesn't give an accurate speed

What what is the fastest you've had it flash at?

Don't answer well, I can artificially answer that question by say

Anyway, it's it's an interesting debate

And we may be running out of time so I don't know how far we can go with this

But I think that we don't need them in the in our corner in any big

large

Use fraction until next show it is Robin Leach and J. DeMarken and this is Parkies and we hope you enjoyed

Parkies with Robin Leach and J. DeMarken is produced at the facilities of

WHDD

91.9 FM Robin Hood radio comm sharing Connecticut

Car Keys with Robin Leech and Jay de Marcken – February 9, 2026

About this episode

Jeep Cherokee

CVT transmission

turbocharged

hybridized

Stellantis

plug-in hybrid

Jeep Wrangler

Toyota

brand loyalty

Porsche

Kia

Honda Crv

rust belt

Hyundai Ioniq 5

Hyundai Sonata

range

two-wheel drive

four-wheel drive

lithium-ion battery

diesel

preheating

SUV

Audi R8

V10 engine

all-wheel-drive

Mazda MX-5 / Miata

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