The Honda Civic is a small car that many people buy because it doesn’t use much gas and usually works well for a long time. It’s a good choice if you want a simple and dependable car to get around.
The Toyota Camry is a medium-sized car that many families like because it’s comfortable and doesn’t break down often. It’s a good car if you want something easy to drive and keep running.
The Subaru Forester is a type of SUV that comes with all-wheel drive, which helps it drive better on slippery roads. It's a good car if you want something reliable and useful for everyday driving.
All-wheel drive means the car sends power to all four wheels at the same time. This helps the car grip the road better when it's wet, snowy, or rough outside.
The Hyundai Sonata Hybrid is a car that uses both gas and electricity to help you save fuel. The 2014 model is known for being comfortable and good on gas.
The Volkswagen Type 3 is an old small car made many years ago. People who like old cars talk about it because it looks different and is part of car history.
The Toyota Grand Highlander is a bigger version of the Highlander SUV. It has more space inside for people and stuff, so it's good if you have a big family or carry a lot.
The Toyota Highlander is a big SUV that can carry a family and lots of stuff. It’s known for being dependable and good for everyday driving or long drives.
The Lexus NX is a small fancy SUV that can use gas or a mix of gas and electricity to save fuel. It’s good if you want a nice car that’s also good on gas.
The Ford F-150 is a big truck that many people use for work or carrying heavy stuff. Some newer versions with electric parts have had some problems, so it’s good to check carefully before buying.
The Tesla Model Y is a small SUV that runs only on electricity, so it doesn’t use gas. People like it because it can go far on a charge and has lots of cool tech inside.
The Toyota Corolla is a small car that doesn’t use much gas and usually lasts a long time. It’s a popular choice if you want a simple and cheap car to drive every day.
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both gas and electricity to save a lot of fuel. It’s great if you want to spend less money on gas and help the environment.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and sporty car made in the USA. People like it because it’s exciting to drive and doesn’t cost as much as some other sports cars.
The Honda Passport is a bigger SUV that can handle rough roads and still be comfortable to drive every day. It’s good if you want a tough but easy-to-use car.
The Subaru Forester Hybrid is a version of Subaru's small SUV that uses both gas and electric power to save fuel. Subaru started making hybrid cars later than some other companies but now has this model available.
The Hyundai Genesis is a fancy car that has many nice features but doesn’t cost as much as some other luxury cars. It’s good if you want a comfortable and stylish ride.
The Range Rover is a big, fancy SUV that can drive on rough roads and looks very nice inside. It’s good if you want a strong and comfortable vehicle but can be expensive to fix.
The Toyota Corolla Cross is a small SUV that’s bigger than a regular car and doesn’t use much gas. It’s good if you want a car that can carry more stuff and people comfortably.
The Toyota 4Runner is a strong SUV that can drive on rough roads and carry lots of gear. It’s good if you want a vehicle that works well for outdoor adventures.
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that’s really fun to drive. It’s light and easy to control, making it great for people who like sporty cars.
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He is Robin Leach. He is Jada Markin. This is Car Keys
Hello to our listeners for this week's show of Car Keys with Jada Markin who is
traveling the roads of Europe today in this week's show and Robin Leach who's sitting at the
desk to conduct the show. I
have
started subscribing to Consumer Reports and got just in time for the show the
2026 auto issue which is packed full of interesting things. I have not been very much of a fan of the Consumer Reports car
reviews over the past decades, but I must say
this is the first one I've actually looked at in depth probably in a
couple of decades if not more and
they've condensed their reviews to what I consider to be quite an interesting situation and they've got a lot of top kicks,
10 bests, 10 worsts and all that and I'm going to cruise through some of the
categories with some comments that will come from both myself and Jay I'm sure as we go through.
It's interesting to note that their take on the cars in general
seem to be at least in the less expensive models and vehicles available. Full of
Subaru's, Honda's, Toyota's,
lesser numbers of Hyundai's and Kia's.
The Ford Maverick truck is in there. I'll go through a couple of categories. They've categorized them in price ranges
or well let's say under $30,000 or under $40,000 vehicles we start out with and they have
a Honda Civic, a Toyota Camry, a Subaru Crosstek,
Subaru Forester. You can get a Camry under 30 grand? Yes, you actually can.
29,110 apparently. I don't know whether you'll ever be able to find one of these in a dealer.
You might have to special order it. It's extraordinary and it's cut four-wheel drive,
all-wheel drive standard at that level. It's extraordinary for a Camry and of course that's a
very nice vehicle. It has been since I first owned a Camry hybrid back in 2009 or 10 I believe.
It was the first hybrid that I ever had before I transferred into the
Hyundai Sonata hybrid which is the 2014 which I still own and cut it.
Albeit it is older and doesn't. So what does Consumer Reports say about the under 30 grand cars?
They're all very good. They all come, they all get good mileage. They've divided them into
categories because the Honda Civic which ranges from 24.7 to 34,000 or 33.5 has a gasoline, a hybrid
and the mileage is 33 from gasoline, 44 for the hybrid and they say it drives well. It's got a
manufacturer's have been sneaking in upgrades to interiors and components in the lesser expensive
vehicles. Unbeknownst to probably many users who don't know that they can appreciate some of the
larger cars features and get them in the less expensive lines of vehicles without money.
Do they classify the cars? I mean is there a top 10, 1, 2, 3?
Well what I'm in right now is just a section of top picks. So they are not classified in a
1, 2, 3 type numerical situation. They categorize them in terms of a small car, Honda Civic,
luxury small SUVs, Audi Q3, BMW X3, Cadillac XTS, luxury mid-sized SUVs, BMW...
So only in Europe do you see an SUV towed by a Compact SUV?
Okay, interesting. Whereas we would use big pickup trucks,
well I just saw Tiguan on a trailer being towed by another Tiguan.
How many of the largest sized vehicles do you see on the European roads such as the big Mercedes
and the big Audi? You see large vehicles, you see a lot of large vehicles but you just see a lot
of smaller vehicles too. Well when I was in Italy a year ago it was interesting to see
there were very sparse in terms of the numbers of the larger vehicles.
I did see a couple of big Dodge Ram pickup trucks in Italy and I said why? I don't know what...
Yeah you see them here too. Sure you do but not in very big numbers.
To finish the most comfortable model is luxury mid-sized BMW had two
the X5s were the models Land Rover, Range Rover Sport and then the luxury mid-sized three row
SUV, the Audi Q7, BMW X7 and Cadillac S-Galant. Those are all more expensive vehicles.
Let's cut to the chase. Would you trust consumer reports on any of this?
Actually it'd be impossible for you and I to be able to trust or not trust it because we'd never
get the chance to investigate these their lists but I don't have much disagreement. What I don't
know is what is most comfortable? Is it a soft ride? Is it a firm ride with good shock absorber
control that doesn't bounce or vibrate or shake when you hit a paho? I don't know how you identify
the word comfortable in terms of these vehicles. I think that's very subjective. I think it's a very
subjective situation. Which seems like very not consumer reports because they tend to portray
how are you otherwise going to identify what is most comfortable or what is most
sporty or whatever. I guess they have to write about something. So this is what they write about.
They have a great choice section. Three great choices if you want an SUV. Toyota Corolla Cross
Hybrid is one of their suggestions. The Honda CR-V Hybrid is another suggestion. The mid-sized
SUV is the Toyota 4Runner's suggestion. Any talk of wagons? They call them SUVs. Those three.
And then one was subcompact, the second was compact, and the third one was mid-sized.
Then they have a Sedan or sports car choice. You'll like this one, Joe. Small car, Chevrolet
tracks. I don't know how they come up with that. Sports car, Mazda MX-5 Miata. That seems appropriate.
Luxury car, BMW 5 Series. If you want a pickup truck, the Ford Hybrid is back.
Let's move on from consumer reports. Let's move on from consumer reports. Okay, let's move on.
We don't want to be as boring as they are. Some are driving experiences I'm trying to see more
often on our roads around our listing area. And that is the instance in where I am approaching
an intersection and somebody else is approaching an intersection from a different side of the
intersection. And one side, not me, is driving right through the stop sign without stopping.
This seems to be something that is recurring. I've noticed more in the last week or so.
This particular shows... Maybe they didn't see you. Maybe you didn't have your legs on.
Well, I may be on the road at the wrong time or right time of the day. But
there are people that it bodes well to bring up to our listeners that we should have
due diligence visually when we are approaching intersections these days. Because you might find
not that you as the driver would be interested in driving through without stopping. But you may see
others doing that particular action, which is certainly in direct violation of the
requested signage instruction for us to stop completely before you go through an intersection
so you don't get anybody coming through from a different direction. That goes along with our
my complaint about dusk to darkness drivers that are not turning on their headlights or their cars
are not turning on their headlights or lighting adequate for you that you could see them 300
yards down the road in the nighttime dusk time, especially when they are gray or black or dark
sedans in dark road areas. It's just the habits of our drivers, I think. We've been discussing
on this show about drivers have been deteriorating in their capabilities or their
politeness or whatever else you want to find it as we are heading into the new season.
Would you agree Jay?
Yeah, but you know, I, you know, you don't care. Okay, well, that's all right.
No, I don't care. I mean, personally, I mean, I'm not expecting people to have, you know,
yeah, just try to improve people's driving when you can and try to be aware.
As a person who drives a lot, are you impressed by the European methods of driving and politeness
of the drivers? I was just telling my friend a little while ago here in the car, I think that,
and I've said this on our show before, I think that drivers over here in the last since I left
25 or 30 years ago, I think driver behavior has improved as far as civility is going,
but also the speed limits are so strict that, you know, pretty much everybody's going to get
to the same place at about the same time. So, and there's certain rules that are,
that are pretty straight, that are, that people follow pretty well, like rules of merging and,
and intersections. It just seems to work, but I think that driver ed is a longer and more
complex thing here. I want to go to car insurance. I mean, I have been shocked by
getting new car insurance rates for my fleet of vehicles and consumer back to the report,
like just discovered a section which has which cars cost the most to ensure.
The list says this is a very important thing, which I don't think anybody thinks about when
we go out to buy a car, what the insurance is going to be on cars, but I would say that in the last
five years, maybe seven years, car insurance rates per model, at least in my fleet, have doubled
over what they were maybe as recent as three years ago, but certainly since seven years ago.
And I've seen my car insurance premiums go up. Yeah. Well, in my particular experience,
they've doubled from, and I had a multi-car discount rate. So they were more between $1,000
and $1200 per vehicle, and they are now $2,000 plus per vehicle. And this is,
I really noticed it because the insurance company I use used to... So let me ask you this.
In the annual rates, and now they've gone to six months
billing and six month terms on the insurance cards you get, which is a paper mint
right there. Maybe it's because you're getting older and they don't trust you to make it to the next
year. Do you think it's an age thing? You're going to get two, six month terms on those cars too.
You're not getting annual insurance rates. I don't think any more in most, in many of these
countries. So Robin, how many cars do you have? Give or take? Robin, how many cars do you have?
Give or take? A half a dozen? Ten. Ten. Okay. Yeah. So my point is, so you're...
So the newest car that we have are cars that my wife has decided she wanted and they are pre-owned,
so they're not new on the current year situation because we do not want the new,
some of the new vehicle features that are disappearing from the older versions,
concerning dashboard applications like knobs for tuning radio stations,
setting volumes, and that kind of thing. But just one by a car I've never seen before.
Our newest car, 2020, 2020. So let me ask you a few questions here. It doesn't really matter what,
but do you have all the cars under the same policy? Yes.
And is there any provision for collectible cars or older cars? That is not the case
of this particular company. Well, we'll talk more about insurance in a later show. And until then,
you will for Carkeys with Robin Leach and Jay DeMarkin. Carkeys with Robin Leach and Jay DeMarkin
is produced at the facilities of WHDD91.9 FM, RobinhoodRadio.com, Sharon Connecticut.
About this episode
Robin Leach and Jay de Marcken dive into the 2026 Consumer Reports auto issue, exploring top picks across various vehicle categories including small cars, SUVs, pickups, and electric vehicles. They highlight the prominence of reliable brands like Toyota, Subaru, and Honda, noting surprising affordability and hybrid options such as the Toyota Camry under $30,000. The hosts discuss Consumer Reports' methodology, reliability ratings, and how it contrasts with traditional car magazines. They also touch on manufacturing locations, tariff impacts, and fuel economy ratings, sharing personal experiences and insights on the evolving automotive landscape.
