Oil is the main ingredient used to make gasoline and diesel. When oil gets cheaper, fuel prices usually start to come down too, but it can take time and may not drop as much as oil did.
Fuel prices often rise quickly when costs go up, but they don’t fall as quickly when costs drop. That’s why it can feel like gas is “punishing” you more during price spikes.
Diesel fuel is used in many trucks, SUVs, and some passenger cars, and it’s priced separately from gasoline even though both are petroleum products. Diesel prices can be especially volatile due to supply/demand and refining constraints.
The Gulf of Hormuz is a major chokepoint for global oil shipping, so disruptions or threats there can quickly affect crude oil prices worldwide. That’s why it’s often cited in discussions about gasoline and diesel cost changes.
A test drive is when you actually drive the car to see how it feels. The host is describing how they drove the Cherokee to judge ride and acceleration.
This is a Jeep SUV called the Cherokee. The speaker is talking about the 2026 model they test drove and what you can expect when it shows up at dealerships.
Car makers sell the same model in different “packages.” Each package has different features and a different price, which is what the host is describing with the Cherokee’s three trim options.
Base price is the car’s starting sticker price before you add taxes and fees. The host is comparing that starting number to what the specific car they looked at cost.
The speaker is saying the new Cherokee is being offered with fewer engine choices than before. That matters because the engine is a big part of how the car drives and how it uses fuel.
A CVT (continuously variable transmission) uses a belt or chain and variable pulleys to keep the engine near its most efficient RPM. Instead of fixed gear steps, it smoothly changes the effective gear ratio, which can make the car feel different from a traditional automatic.
Miles per gallon (MPG) tells you how far a car can go on one gallon of gas. The number on a sticker is based on testing, so your real-world MPG can be different.
The Subaru Outback is a car that looks like a wagon but works like an SUV. The podcast is saying they saw a new one and liked it. It’s popular because it’s practical and can handle different road conditions.
The Subaru WRX is the sportier, more performance-focused Subaru. The speaker thinks Subaru is moving away from that “sport/rally” identity toward more mainstream vehicles.
The Audi Q5 is a luxury SUV. The speaker is saying some versions can be set up to handle less-than-perfect roads better, depending on the drivetrain you choose.
A heated steering wheel is a steering wheel that warms up in winter. The speaker is upset that you can’t get it on some versions, which matters a lot for cold-weather driving.
Heated seats are seats that warm up in winter. In this discussion, they’re mentioned as an option you can get even if the heated steering wheel isn’t offered.
Ferrari is a famous Italian car brand that usually makes high-performance sports cars. Here they’re talking about Ferrari possibly selling more cars by adding different types of models, like an SUV.
Porsche is known for sports cars, not off-road trucks. The point here is that even if Porsche makes an SUV, it’s not what they’re traditionally built for.
Jaguar is a luxury car brand from the UK. They’re talking about Jaguar trying to come back with an electric model and changing how the brand is positioned in the market.
They’re saying they’d like a wagon that still offers a manual transmission. “Six speed” means you shift through six gears yourself.
LIVE
He is Robin Leach. He is Jada Markin. This is Car Keys.
Hello to this week's show of Car Keys with Jada Markin and Robin Leach.
It is, weather-wise, a
Moisturist spring day.
In the economic news,
we have possibly some hope for lowering fuel prices as
this show is being done. Oil prices were plummeting on the world markets.
We'll see whether the gas prices, which go up like a rocket and float down like a feather,
make a
descent today
across the board, across our listening area, because it was widely varied over this last weekend and
I'm looking forward to seeing whether the plunging oil price that went down overnight
over maybe some calm in the Middle East are going to result in lower prices for fuel oil,
car gas, and diesel fuel.
Diesel fuel is atrocious, I must say, Jay. Yes, it is.
549 at one place and who knows what it is elsewhere.
I drove up to New Hampshire on Thursday thinking I'd find cheaper diesel and
I got back and I filled up at
489 and 24 hours later was at 549, like everywhere else.
So you put in 10 gallons, you save 70 cents a gallon maybe?
No, no. By the time I got back, I needed to put, I put over 20 gallons.
So I saved a ton of money on that one tank. Okay. Well, that's wonderful. But it still cost me 110 bucks.
It's also interesting to note that I have learned through some sources that
apparently this
area in the Gulf of Hormuz, or in the Gulf,
we don't get any of the oil benefits if the Hormoz Straits are
operating fully. So that should not be affecting any of our fuel prices in our country as far as I know.
And I don't have a lot more to say about it, but that's what I think our listeners should know.
So yeah, well, Hormuz is affecting the other parts of the world, not us.
So let's talk about cars. Okay. I have a first-hand edition
test drive and comments about the
2026 Jeep Cherokee, which is hitting the dealers lots as I went
to Tarrington to a Jeep dealer and had a very nice test drive in in the newest version of cars that I have
Responsibility of three of. In my violent? No, I'm not buying one. I'll get to that in a moment.
It's interesting to note that these are early production models, or early production, let's say,
offers out there. There are only three models you can choose from.
There's a basic one, which was in my day when I bought at 14 was called the Sport.
It's now I can't remember what it's called because I can't see my computer.
But the Laredo is the middle grade,
one, and then there's the limited.
And here is the base price of a Laredo, which is what I test drove, is under $40,000.
The price of the vehicle I looked at was before taxes and licensing and all that was
$41,300 plus. And it was pretty well equipped, but
I'll go first to the ride. I took a five mile test drive instead of the normal four rights in your back at the dealership,
which the seldom is five miles.
The sales person with me let me go on some different roads.
Some where I could experience the performance of the one engine that's available on the new models.
There is no alternative V6 versus turbo four versus non-turbo four, which has been available in the
which are three engines that were available in the last
production line of these cars.
And it is a turbo for 1.6 liter engine combined with hybrid batteries.
Now, that engine was surprisingly
efficient and also sprightly.
It does not equate to the turbo four in the last generation of the Cherokees,
which has been out of production for I think one and a half or two years.
But the acceleration was very good.
I don't know. I didn't get on
where I could pass cars on a road to see how good it was
instantly, but there was very little turbo lag, mostly because I think the battery boost of the electric battery
componentry jumps in and
helps boost the power of the gasoline part of the powertrain.
There is no nine-speed,
nine selectable speeds, and the transmission is a CVT, constant variable
range transmission, like some other cars have or vehicles have.
So you don't feel yourself shifting through gear ratios like you do in the older versions.
That is seemingly not a
disadvantage in
my test drive.
Okay, so let me go ahead and jump in.
Let's get to the point. How does it stand out?
How is it different from the previous model? And how does it stack up against
Mazda CX-5, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, the big hitters
in that segment of the market? There's one model. It is a
fossil-fueled hybrid vehicle only.
No non-
hybrid vehicle available or no electric vehicle. How it stands up against that list of
cars or SUVs. I can only
contemplate because I haven't driven most of them in the hybrid format.
This hybrid is very good.
The vehicle itself is physically bigger than the old Cherokee by I
think two or three or four inches in length and maybe an inch in width.
I'm surprised we haven't heard you. The ride is very comfortable. I was able to
test it on some fairly undulating bumpy town roads and it felt more comfortable than the past
generation of Cherokees, of which I am very familiar with. It was quiet.
It's got a touch screen for many of the controls along with voice control, override capability.
It does have knobs, two knobs for radio.
That is volume on the left knob, which is the way it's always been in the older versions of vehicles.
And a right knob for scrolling through the
range of stations that you get wherever you are with this vehicle.
It's just more like everybody else bland. Has it lost a bit of its way?
I think it's lost a bit of its way in the following manner. When Jeep brought out the older Cherokees,
they talked about how the knobs were big so that if you were a truck driver or you were wearing
gloves, you could turn the knobs. You can't do that on the new vehicle if you've got gloves on
because of cold weather. Now, I know not many people wear gloves inside a car, so that's a minor tip.
But the other major controls were on a touch screen. I did not, you know, in a 15-minute test
drive or going five miles or whatever it is, you don't get to sit around and learn about the new
technical features which are not on the older models. So there's a lot of new technology in there
and whether that's a plus or a minus probably depends on the technical capability of the owner
user. And yes, you can learn all these things after you have a new vehicle long enough to get
familiar with all the new features that the high-tech componentry adds to the new vehicles
that are coming off the assembly line. There are some manufacturers that are being smart
and maintaining more knob control in some of their vehicles even as we are in the 2026 model year.
So I like the interior. Let me just continue because the interior is very nicely done.
I happened to be and the seats were comfortable. The performance was good. The mileage rating,
I didn't get a chance to really rate the mileage, but the sticker says you're going to average 35
miles per gallon in the mixed highway city driving, which is better than probably most of the vehicles
are equal to or better than many of the vehicles that you mentioned before as competitors.
I happen to like the exterior design of this vehicle. It's not as unique as the older generation
Jeeps were that's got in terms of the lighting design of the front end. I don't know what it looks
like in the back end, but I think it'll sell where I don't know anything about. I don't know
its off road capability. I mentioned to the sales person about my concern of being stuck on a beach
of soft sand and whether that CVT transmission would have enough torque to get me out of it
if I needed to get away from a rising tide. He came up with a very interesting answer, which I bought
hook line and sinker, but couldn't prove that it's correct or not unless I owned one of these vehicles
and tried to go out on a beach with soft sand with a rising tide. He said it will use the battery
mode only in the mud and snow mode, the mud and rock mode. You do have four modes of drivetrain.
You have sport, automatic, snow, and I think it was mud and rocks or something. I don't know
that's true about that, but that would override my concern about a CVT transmission, not
having the torque pull capability if you were really mired in muck and trying to get out of it.
Of course, I don't think very many people are going to ever take their Jeeps off the road.
I think fewer will take this particular model. There's not a trailhawk version,
which is the off-road alternative to the non-trailhawk versions of the older generation,
and that had a different transmission ratio. It had a different height of ground clearance,
and it had different underbody components which were more tuned into being defensive against
things that you might hit with your underbody in a non-off-road capable vehicle.
Jay? None of this sounds life-changing as far as it's not life-changing. Well,
it's life-changing in one area, and that is the miles to down it gets. It is very good on the
sticker, and I believe that I've been able to exceed the sticker ratings on most of my vehicles.
I don't think 98% of the users of cars actually ever matched the sticker ratings, so the sticker
ratings are there because the manufacturers had to prove to the EPA or whatever that they could get
miles per gallon that would meet the then current standards which have been lifted and are no longer
around. So boasting about high mileage on a sticker is of little use in terms of real world.
Reality of use going forward. All right, moving on. So I was driving back from New Hampshire this
last week and passed a new Subaru Outback. I like it. Well, why don't you go get one?
No, I don't want to get one. I think speaking of losing their ways, I think Subaru has...
I mean, I really do not care for the new styling on the Foresters and on the new Outback,
but that's a personal thing. I also think that this choice of going totally SUV and moving away
from what was originally a wagon and then a wagon on steroids with clad fenders.
I think long term, I don't know where this is going. Subaru is going more mainstream.
You can see that I think Subaru is dropping some versions of the WRX, which was the sports version
of the Impreza, which had a cult following and was active in motorsports and rally racing
and just created this image of a cool different car brand. And now they've gone mainstream
and I'm not sure that they're going to... I don't see the point and I'm kind of skeptical of the
future of Subaru. But hey, I've been wrong before. I want to jump in on this cult of all the
manufacturers bringing forth off-road capable models or units within the model. Honda's got a
trail sport moniker on some of their mid-sized to what I would call larger SUV vehicles.
And I believe Ford is heading that way with the Bronco. I read a recent article about how Lincoln
is going to get a version of the Bronco. And it's sort of like the Lexus versus the Toyota
line of vehicles. The Lexus is a luxury line, but they too have cars with off-road capabilities.
The Audi Q5 has got off-road capability in the drivetrain options that are a knob in the vehicle
or on a push button, including off-road. One, I think it's titled off-road in the Q5 that my wife
has. That's a 2021. So all these car manufacturers seem to think that if their cars are not able,
at least in print, to go off the main highways and byways that 98% or 99% of the users are going
to stay on, they're going to sell more vehicles. I don't think they sell more total, but they may
spread out the variety of the models that get sold to equate to the total number of a particular
line of vehicles that comes out each year. So let me go on a side note and then I want to get back to
dumb marketing if I ever saw dumb marketing. All right. As far as the ultimate off-road version
of a street car, and there is one going through town, I've seen it once or twice,
is the ultimate off-road Porsche 911, which is a 2023-2024 Porsche 911 car.
So they've made this off-road rally version of the 911. It's pretty much a limited edition.
I think they've built it in 2023-2024, and I don't believe they still make it now,
but it's got clad fenders like a Subaru outback, and it's a little higher off the ground. It has a
roof rack with lights, and you can put an extra gas can for when you run out of gas in the desert.
But I think the coolest use of it is as a winter vehicle, and I have seen it on the
wintery roads lately. Anyway, put snow tires on that thing and a ski rack, and I think you've got
the ultimate off-road vehicle, but that's just me. No, that is just you, and probably there are
few of you with that same opinion. Well, there are very few of those cars. There are models of that
car itself on the road. Of course, the ultimate off-road vehicles we're talking about are really
Jeep Wranglers, Ford Broncos, Mercedes, whatever the off-line road is that, and what's that new
one that comes in that's custom-built that we've seen a few of around here, the new Toyota Land
Cruisers, and the like. I think all this other bluster you talk about marketing is just for
marketing capability, so that if they've got a Honda lover in their lineup of vehicles, but they
don't have an off-road cable vehicle, they might lose that Honda owner. So be it. I mean, marketing
is really crazy. Now, let's go to Mark. I want to go to marketing for another minute and a half or
less. No, I don't want to go for more than that, so let me start. Okay, you can go follow me up,
but the new Jeeps don't come. The Jeeps came from the outset of 2014 until the end of that model
round in 2023, a cold weather group that included all you needed for cold weather driving,
and the all-you-need part was the inclusion without having to order an extra of the heated
steering wheel. Guess what? And two of the three models of the Jeep, new Jeep, it does not come
with a heated wheel, but it comes, it can come with heated seats and heated outside mirrors,
but you cannot even order a heated steering wheel on the new two of the lower versions,
limited being the higher version. If anybody wants to look for Jeeps,
the people who have heated steering wheels, one safe experience, the heated steering wheel of the
car, just about a hundred percent of them don't want to ever have to buy a car without a heated
steering wheel availability. We can agree on that. So Jeep has just blown it in the marketing
department, and this may be something that they will rectify when the market is built.
I don't think so. They've been pretty good at messing things up.
No, you don't know Jeeps. So you can continue any way you want.
I wanted to talk about in the list of 25 cars or so that a car and driver is looking forward to
seeing in the next year or two. I went down the list and a few cars that are worth mentioning,
but I did see a Corvette SUV and then I just had to shake my head and I go GM is again doing one
of the dumbest marketing things ever. It's on par with Ford doing a electric Mustang.
And Ford's producing that vehicle you just talked to us about.
You're talking about Chevy and the Corvette GM and comparing it with your Porsche off-road
vehicle. You've just discussed that length. There's a big difference. Porsche is a brand.
To expand the brand, they came out with a it's a brand within a group. Porsche has to sell vehicles
as a brand. GM has a gazillion brands. They don't need to sell a Corvette SUV,
especially when Corvette dealerships are basically incorporated in probably Chevy
dealerships mostly. And Chevy has a bunch of SUVs and you have Cadillac SUVs and you have Buick SUVs.
I just think coming out with a Corvette SUV doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense.
Well, I agree, of course. And the fact that Ferrari is doing so. Again, Ferrari is a small brand
and if they want to sell more cars, they have to sell more models. I don't really like the idea of them
putting out an SUV. Well, you've just confirmed what I just said to our listeners a few moments ago
that all the manufacturers seem to think that they've got to jump on the bandwagon of having a model
that has SUV slash off road slash capabilities. And because they think they're going to sell
markedly more of that. Then again, I've been wrong before that kind of thing and Corvette
with that kind of thing and I believe a Porsche in that kind is they're just not made for off.
They're not off road vehicle companies. No, but you know, they probably will come out with a
very kind of one or two of them, you know, probably a few more.
And the more I think about it, maybe they're not wrong. I don't know. The other marketing thing I
wanted to talk about is, you know, Jaguar after completely being wiped out and having zero product
no one electric product is coming out, I guess, with the I type. So they're looking at coming out
with I believe an electric vehicle rebranded trying to go more up even more upscale and compete
with the Bentley's and the Rolls Royces of this world. And I did notice that they have the the
styling of it is still based on the outgoing designers new branding that looks more like a
watch or jewelry. Yeah. Yeah, I know how you feel about it. And I feel pretty much the same way.
But it'll be interesting to see if they can actually reposition the brand on the market. I'm
kind of skeptical. But we'll see. I don't know how you feel about it. I agree with you totally on
Jaguar. I think, you know, Jaguar lost its way when they had that some kind of jewelry type designer
and put out an abomination of a design plan. Fortunately, they got they got fired instead
of bringing that kind of vehicle to market. I have not seen any of the newer the succeeding
designs that have been coming out with the new design group that has supposedly been hired to
try to reinvent Jaguar to bring him back to the US roads. By the way, the outgoing design chief who
actually only we thought mistakenly that he had been fired months ago, he actually only just left
the company. But he's also responsible for the newest Land Rover Range Rover, which I think is a
pretty which is a very attractive vehicle. So the guy didn't do all bad.
That's true. I would agree he didn't do all bad, especially if he is the response for the Range
Rovers. They're basically selling everything they're producing as far as I can tell in the United States
and the Range Rover level, which is the highest level. And I understand that if you want to go buy
one, you get the luck of the draw. Any dealers have anything that's not already preordered and sold.
And it can take weeks if not months. Well, months of that weeks to to get one specced out to what
you want to do. And I think most Range Rover owners are pretty sophisticated in what they want in the
as far as the interior componentry is concerned. But they look great. They've held their they've
held their style pretty well throughout the last five to 10 years. I think at the Range Rover level,
we're talking about the highest that the highest model that they put out, which is a six figure
model for sure. And good for Range Rover. But if it's the same designer, I don't know where you
went wrong on Jaguar. But in my opinion, as you've heard, and the listeners have heard was not very
high about what he was trying to promote as a potential design. So, you know, new design range
for the Jaguar model. Anyways, do we have anything to talk about driving? It's as bad as ever.
You know, drivers do not use turn signals until they're practically stopped. Sometimes they put
the turn signal on the right and go left. And vice versa, that's probably dyslexia in action. I don't
know. They still don't like to run their headlights sometimes until somebody flashes at them. And
they realize that they're not being seen if they even realize that. But there are too many people.
This morning, I came up in a foggy trip from New Canaan area and in a row of cars. And you
don't see these cars without headlights. They don't jump out at you like cars with proper lighting
that's in that that's being used. Do in in vision visual conditions that are less than perfect.
Well, I'm about to hit the road and spend the next five or six hours on the road. So I am
sure I'll encounter a few non lit cars along the way. But pay attention for future discussions,
because it's just too bad that people just seem to forget that turn signals are there. They're
installed to be used whenever you're making a turn off of the main road that you are driving on.
Would you agree or disagree? And it would be nice to be it be civil if they would let the people
behind or in front of them know, not at the point of actually making the turn off of the road,
so that people could slow down and or avoid running into them in the back,
because they knew exactly in advance what the vehicle ahead of them or coming at them was
going to do. And that is just becoming an increasingly noticeable condition to me.
Robin, I think, I think, yes, I don't disagree with you, but
people are going to be what they're going to be. There you are.
So be safe out there. Hey, so if we still have a few minutes, here's a question I came about.
What's the legendary car that doesn't deserve the hype in your opinion?
I know it's it's an open question. We're not going to answer that in a legendary car.
Yeah, that doesn't deserve the hype that it gets.
I don't have an answer. I'm sorry. What's your idea of it? I'm not sure. What's the best all
around car? These are probably an SUV that has got the proper height off the road, plus a comfortable
suspension that can handle different curves and bumps and all that and keep the driver comfortable.
But can I give you one? I don't know. Range rovers have got pretty good suspension systems.
This new Jeep I drove, I didn't really get in a real bump. Let's stay in the best all around cars.
Best. Well, best all around would be some kind of mix in the SUV range of cars.
How about a great wagon? You know, a great wagon. Well, you know, why can't somebody make a great
wagon with a six speed manual? BMW could do that. I think they do. In Europe, they may.
They're bringing back a wagon. I got to call it a wagon. A lot of these cars, the Subaru Outback,
looks like a wagon. It's not a wagon anymore. It's an SUV. It looks like a cardboard box.
Okay. What does the wagon look like? A Santa Fe? No, there are plenty of nice wagons out there
that have been. You've owned one or two smaller wagons, but you know, wagons don't have to be,
you know, Volvo in the V60, V90. They were true wagons in the old range. BMW 3 Series,
which there's talk about them coming back with the new 3 Series would come out with a wagon,
including in the U.S. I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see. Maybe we talk about wagons. You
watch the wagons on your next trip. And until next time, this is Car Keys with Jay DeMarket
and Robin Leach. We hope you enjoyed this show. Car Keys with Robin Leach and Jay DeMarket is
produced at the facilities of WHDD91.9 FM, RobinhoodRadio.com, Sharon, Connecticut.
About this episode
Fuel prices and geopolitics set the tone, with talk of plunging oil costs not necessarily translating into cheaper gas and especially painful diesel swings. The driving focus turns to a first-hand test drive of the 2026 Jeep Cherokee, now a hybrid-only model with a 1.6L turbo + battery assist, CVT, and a comfortable, quiet ride. Hosts debate the move toward SUV/off-road marketing, gripe about missing heated steering wheels, and question brands chasing “capability” trends—while also calling out bad driver behavior like missed turn signals and headlights.
