A hybrid uses two kinds of power, usually a gas engine and an electric motor. The car can change how it delivers power, so how gently or firmly you press the pedals affects how smooth it feels.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a large SUV made for tough driving, including rough roads and off-road trails. The podcast mentions it being redesigned, which usually means Toyota updated parts of the car like features and how it feels to drive. People talk about redesigns because they can change what the vehicle is like to own.
With hybrids, the car may switch between gas and electric power. If you press the accelerator or brake too suddenly, it can feel jumpy; smooth pedal inputs usually feel nicer.
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical torque to move the vehicle. In hybrids, the electric motor can provide immediate torque, and the way it’s blended with the engine can affect how jerky or smooth the car feels.
“Jerky” means the car feels like it lurches or doesn’t move smoothly. With hybrids, that can happen when the car switches between gas and electric power.
Pedal sensitivity is how quickly the car responds when you press the gas. With electric and hybrid cars, the response can change depending on whether the car is using the battery or the gas engine.
The starter is what gets the engine going when you start the car. With stop-start, the engine restarts more frequently, so some people worry it could wear out faster.
If you don’t drive the car for a couple of weeks, the battery can slowly run down. When that happens, the start/stop feature may not work until the battery is charged again.
Sport mode is a driving setting that makes the car feel more aggressive. The speaker says in sport mode the car usually won’t use the start/stop feature.
A battery warranty is the manufacturer’s promise to replace or repair a battery if it fails within a specified time or mileage. Warranty terms vary by brand and retailer, but “dead early” cases are often handled through proof of purchase and testing.
Condensation is basically moisture forming when warm air cools down. When a car sits through cold-to-warm temperature swings, that moisture can show up inside the engine or tank.
Brake lines are the fluid tubes that help your brakes work. If one breaks, the brake fluid leaks out and the pedal can hit the floor because the brakes can’t build pressure.
If the brake pedal suddenly drops to the floor, it usually means brake fluid is leaking or pressure isn’t building. That means you may not have working brakes.
An auto show is where car companies bring cars to display them. Usually there’s a special preview for the press before regular visitors can go, so it can feel less crowded.
Before the public can go, there’s usually a media/press day. Reporters and guests get to see the cars first and hear what the companies want to announce.
Tariffs are taxes on imported products. If cars or parts are taxed when they cross borders, it can change how expensive they are and where companies decide to build them.
“Battery-operated cars” refers to early battery-electric vehicles that rely on stored electrical energy rather than a gasoline engine. The mention of a short range (about 20 miles) highlights the historical limitation of battery energy density and charging infrastructure.
Range means how far the car can go before it needs more energy. In EVs, range can change a lot depending on how you drive and whether you recharge during the trip.
Driver’s Ed is the training new drivers take to learn how to drive safely. It usually includes lessons in a classroom and practice driving with an instructor.
A road test failure rate is how many people fail their driving test. Here, they’re saying the numbers went up, and they think it may be because fewer younger drivers are getting the training.
LIVE
He is Robin Leach. He is Jada Markin. This is Car Keys.
Hi to our listeners for this week's version, edition of Car Keys with Jada Markin and Robin Leach.
We are in the middle of a warming temperature trend in our listening area,
and I hope it maintains itself longer than the last short one did a couple of shows ago.
Along with the warming trend, we have rising gas prices still, fuel prices that is,
because we discussed diesel and gasoline as our main sources of propulsion fuel besides the
electric battery and hybrids. But they are not seemingly going down. I made a comment in an
earlier show about none of the gasoline or oil that goes through the Harmoos Strait is ever
directed towards coming to our shores to be converted into the proper gasoline. And that was
a hoped for comment to see if the gas prices would come down as there was a blip in the rise in
oil downward, which has now been reversed and is now higher than ever. So along with that,
I want to start out talking about a couple of topics that I have read recently in a motor trend
magazine. I find it very interesting because they do a lot of car vehicle tests. And they
featured a story in a recent issue about the Toyota 25 Land Cruiser. It's been redesigned.
I'm looking at a picture of it and I must say I do like the front end of the Toyota Land Cruiser.
But they have a topic about driving a Toyota Land Cruiser because it's a hybrid. How to
drive it correctly because apparently if you don't know how to drive it correctly,
it's not as comfortable to drive. Well, it all boils down to pressure, foot pressure used in
this particular line of vehicles or vehicle delicately as opposed to less delicately. And
since most drivers don't generally think of using delicate foot pressure, and I want Jay to chime in
on this, in either maybe the accelerator pedal or the brake pedal, so goes that with hybrids and
with gasoline vehicles, there is apparently a opinion that if you do modulate your pressure on
the Elyse gas pedal, the pedal that's going to propel the electric motor and or the combination
of a hybrid, it can make a vehicle drive more pleasantly in motor trends test testers eyes.
The reason they bring it up as a delicate need is because apparently it's very jerky because of
the sensitivity of the pressure of the gas pedal or the floor pedal which propels us in activating
the use of the electric motor when it's needed and versus the hybrid drivetrain etc. Not many
of us probably have the benefit of owning a new Toyota 25 and forward Land Cruiser with this
feature, so I think I'll leave it there. Delicate foot pressure is apparently very important in
the pleasurable use of this particular vehicle. Jay, you've driven electric vehicles. What do
you find is the sensitivity factor when using it driving electric vehicle and or hybrid vehicle
when the drivetrains might be adjusting and the gas engine jumps in or the battery jumps in?
Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I've driven a bunch of different hybrids. I've driven electric
vehicles. I'm just quickly reading up on the Land Cruiser. First of all, I think the Land Cruiser
is an awesome vehicle. It always has been one of the most rugged vehicles on the planet, period. I
mean, and you've talked about this. You've ridden in older Land Cruisers in the middle of Africa and
that's where a lot of them go and that's where a lot of the older when they get older will probably
end up. Honestly, I did not know that the powertrain on the new Land Cruiser was a hybrid and I'm just
reading that now. So I don't have much to say about that. Okay. While you're reading and we
could come back to that if it's relevant for later part of the show is another article was,
is engine auto stop start a problem? We have touched on this and they say not in our actor,
but I know a lot of people who think it's a nuisance and I do not think it's a nuisance. I
when the car is not moving, but I have not had any trouble with stop starts on the vehicles that I
have stop start available in and that I think that I think the guy who came up with the concept
is laughing every day because it has created so much unnecessary controversy that you're right.
It's it's me. It's a non starter. I mean, most cars you can either not started or not.
But some people would advocate that the that it is a real gas saver. Others will tell you that,
oh, it's just unnecessary strain on the starter. You know, honestly, I don't know what to think.
Well, it doesn't bother me if it does save a little fuel, I would say 90% of the time.
It's a good thing. If I'm in a car and I know it has it, and I want to be the first one off the
start, I will make sure it's deactivated by the time I want to press on the on the gas and go.
And this is if it's a gas car. Obviously, if it's an electric car, none of that makes
any difference. Well, just stop the pedal and it just goes on the Jeep Cherokees.
Most of the Jeep Cherokees I have it is a it is equipped with the stop starter.
Now, none of none of the three that have it are hybrids. They are just gasoline engines. And the
first thing that happens is unless the 12 volt battery is charged up to a certain level, it
does not activate. And it will say stop, start not functioning cabin heating or battery charging.
So the stop start system requires a battery at a proper charge level. And battery sitting in a
car for a couple of weeks may lose a little charge. And so my start stop systems don't happen every
moment that I'm driving my car. I've never found it to be a problem. The people who thought they
shouldn't buy a car with it thought that the starter welder would wear out early. Whatever
else they thought it was going to do to the car. I think that's all been properly technologically
developed. Not I think it's a psychological thing. People are just anxious that the car might not
start quick enough. I have it on one of my cars that is a has a stick shift as the manual. And
red light, for instance, the car will stop as soon as I dip the clutch in to put it in gear.
It'll start it will never stop with the car in gear, even with the you know, with the with
let's say first gear engaged and the clutch depressed, it will the engine will start right
there. Also, it's a non issue to me. Yes, it's a non issue. It should be a non issue for all
listeners who think it is an issue. And if you drive your cars in sport mode, like I tend to do,
that that thing is never going to is never activated in sport mode. Well, what I also
notice if you're a stop sign, and it's going into action in the jeeps, if you turn the wheel,
either way, it starts right up to as if it's going to start moving the car. I think that
works in some cars, not in others. They all work a little differently. But all in all,
I think it's a good feature. I do too. Okay, back to you back to your back to your Land Cruiser.
So I don't know what the issue was with Motor Trend really, I mean, it wasn't much. It was just
I think it's just that they felt they discovered that if they modulated the pressure used by their
foot on on the thing, it made the it made the operation or the activation of the various
features of the battery coming in or the gasoline should come in more smooth. Then they if they
were pressing hard on accelerator, they got a jerky start because it over, you know, the electric
motors started too quickly or put too much torque into the movement. And so you were jerked back
in your seat. We should all we should all use the go pedal a little less jerkily. So yeah,
that's true. Okay, let's go to the word. What about the cars that were the 10 cars
might surprise us about what was stolen more? Is that what that was? Yeah, disappearing from the
from the way I told you, I don't think that's an issue. I mean, we've had one stolen car in the
last five years in our neck of the woods. I never quite understand. I don't have the list in front
of me. But yes, cars are stolen. And you'd be surprised at the models that get stolen the most.
And if it can be any reassurance to people in in our tri-state area, I don't think any of those
models are on the top of the selling selling list. So it's not a huge issue. What I wanted to talk
about briefly is, you know, it's spring. And some of us are taking our summer cars, quote unquote,
out of storage. And Robin, you've taken a few cars of your own and other people's cars out of
storage in the last few days. What are we looking at? And what are the first batch surprises? And
when I took my little sports car out of the garage this year, obviously, well, not obviously,
but the battery was dead. I was a little surprised because it was a brand new battery last spring.
And and it was dead, dead, dead. That jump started it. And it just would not be recharged. And I
was told, oh, the battery is dead. No big deal. It's under warranty. There's a two year warranty
on the battery. It's one of those green batteries, green color. And, you know, I thought it was a
little bit disappointing. Seeing as I have a car that has a battery that is 11 years old and has
never been changed and works perfectly fine. I find it a little disturbing that batteries seem to be
failing after one or two years on a regular basis. And companies like Costco and Walmart offer
pretty straightforward battery warranties. It just boggles my mind that that we can still,
we can't, we can't rely on a battery. We can't rely on a battery and new battery. And I agree with
you. What I don't know is why does that battery draw down? What is drawing down that battery on
your sports car in particular will let you get back to it in a minute. I have a Ford 1320 diesel
tractor and it parks outside most of the time or inside in an unheated garage all winter long.
And it has, it got a new battery recently. I think the first one lasted about eight years,
but it never loses a, what do you call them, ampere of its charge. It requires glow plugs
to heat it up into coal. I started up a couple of times in the winter time. It started up and
fired up. And I don't put it on a charger at all. And I have not had a problem with that tractor
battery in the, it's now four years old. So what do you do then? Then I have a Jeep that
lost battery power in a recent battery that I thought was old and needed to be recharged.
And it would die or went down. The vaporage voltage went down to under 11.6, which seems to be the
level of which if it's below that, it won't crank because,
and I don't know what was drawing it down. Yeah, but that was not a battery issue. I mean,
I'm talking about, you know, just pure battery issues. 12 volt batteries, right?
That, you know, that just go dead for no good reason. For no reason. So I know that when,
you know, and, you know, I beat myself up because I did have a trickle charger. I just got too lazy
to install it. And, but obviously a lot of people put trickle chargers on their cars when, when
they're in storage in storage. And it's a good idea. So you've taken a bunch of cars out and,
and, you know, what do we do when we, when we take the cars out? I mean, we check for low tires.
That might have lost pressure and be a little soft using a pressure gauge to find out,
you can drive cars to a place where you can blow up the tires, inflate the tires,
if you don't have an inflator, as low as probably 22 to 24 pounds, but you don't want to go driving
long distances and at fast speeds. You want to get to a garage and in Connecticut, we're fortunate
that you do not have to pay a, put coins in a inflator at a garage in Connecticut. Some of
the garages have coin up options, but if you go inside the, you, they have to turn it on because
state law is still active in Connecticut about saying you don't have to pay to get your tires
inflated. That's the first thing you're going to check. Then you're going to check the oil level,
but as you might want to discuss, to make sure that you don't have, you want to check that there
were no leaks under the car when you drive off the parked area that you've been parking on.
And you can see drips of, if there is a problem, you might have a transmission fluid drip. You
might have an oil drip. What else? Power steering, probably not a windshield washer leakage unless
it's cars outside and the windshield washer might have frozen, fluid might have frozen if it was
in a weakened condition, if that can be, if that can happen. What do you have on your list?
So yeah, I think, I think, I mean, I'm a believer in an oil change period. The car has been sitting
for three, four months. You know, the question is, you know, we ask and I asked, the mechanic who
works on my car said, do we do an oil change before putting the car into storage or do we put,
change the oil, you know, when it comes out of storage? And the answer with a smirk was both,
you know, put clean oil in it to store it, and then you change the oil when you take it out.
And then he said, well, more seriously, between the two, I put, you know, clean oil
when you get the car back on the road. And that's what I did. And this is a car I don't drive a
whole heck of a lot. So, you know, it does three, four thousand miles a year. Actually,
I hope to drive it more this year, but, you know, I just got the oil change. I have several cars that
probably haven't been driven two thousand miles a year for the past several, maybe even a decade or
more. Well, I should be doing that to the cars. And I must say, I do not aspire to doing that,
but I do aspire to driving the car long enough, not just driving two miles down the road from a
garage to my parking area and stopping it. I think when you start a car up, you can't just
go to the grocery store and come back, especially in cold weather. It does your engine no good,
not to get fully heated, the oil fully heated, whatever gets warmed up by usage fully circulating
around through the car, because you do get condensation in the oil storage area,
because they're not full, are they, Jay? Does the oil sit in a pool down in the engine block,
which gets circulated by the engine being run? But when it's at rest, there is a gap between the
level of the oil in the oil sump where condensation could occur in changing temperature conditions,
which happened when it gets warm after a cold winter or gets warm after a cold night. And
that's when the condensation starts getting there. And that happens in gas tanks also.
If your tank is not full, and this might be something you should do, have a full tank of fuel
in your car if you're going to store it, but then again, Jay, you say we should put fresh fuel in the
tank. Well, I feel the gas tank before storing the car because of the condensation. And obviously,
you know, the car sits for three months, it's not like it's three decades, like you leave some of
your cars in storage for, but in which case, I probably would change the fuel altogether,
probably have and you had other issues when that car came out of storage. But yeah, no,
full fuel when it goes in, but we're taking our cars out now. One thing I just remembered now,
I took a client's car out that hadn't been used in many months. And I drove down the road and the
pedal went to the brake pedal went to the floor. And I blew a brake line and that was it. I had
zero brakes. Luckily, I found out pretty quickly. And this was a car that was that was and still
is meticulously maintained. You know, no expense is spared. It's everything is done on a regular
basis. I've seen some of the invoices. But yet, you know, rusted brake lines, I guess, and sitting
there for a bunch of some time and, you know, taking it out and all of a sudden pedal went to the
floor. Well, that's interesting because I have found I don't know if it was related to the fact
that it sat forever. But you know, hey, I don't either. But I think you have you what do you have
you have brake lines and I'm not sure what they what they're made of. But they did hear it over
time. You have brake cup, you have close couplings. And I think that is the probably maybe the weak
link in the brake line system. When something like that happened to you, it probably a coupling
may have blown either because of a weakened condition or the pressure on the brake. I don't
know what kind of pressure goes into the brake lines when you step on them on the brake. But
you know, with any stop lock brakes, you know, you're supposed to step as hard as you can on
so they get maximum use that I there's got to be quite a bit of pressure build up. And if there's
a weak link in the brake line system, that's exactly what you're going to have happen to you
when you next apply the brake, if you get one fair stoppage out of it before you lose the brake
fluid. But they also recommend, and I don't know that I don't do this, the brake fluid be changed
for a condensation possible issue every two or three years. Well, car collectors are adamant
about changing all the fluids very regularly. And people who do maintenance and cars will
advocate that that is one of the maintenance item is like, you know, really regular changing all
the fluids. And I plead guilty to not doing it like I do not doing it necessarily. You know,
I just did the not too long ago, the 100 mile 100,000 mile fluid change on the on the on my
Volkswagen on the transmission and differential front diff and rear diff. And you know, I probably
should do it a little bit more often. But let's talk about transmission oil changes. I'm interested
in that comment because the old in the old days, I was told by many dealers that this is probably
what we already did had conventional transmission fluid. If it was sold by a dealer, it must be
true. Well, dealers would say that you don't want to do it because you might un-gum gummed up works
that that allow the transmission seals to to work better. Okay, that dealer did not have any
trained technicians, I guess on staff. There are more than there's more than one. This has happened
over, let's say 40 or 50 years. It's not I haven't asked the question lately of late. Oh, yes, I have.
I recently had a for listeners, listen, a clunky condition in my one of my automatic
transmissions and we know about that one. Okay, the dealer said, I went and said, should we put new
fluid in? No, they changed the transmission said, well, no, they they said, they said that if you
had a new, you need a new transmission, which they didn't know whether you did or didn't,
it would cost $10,000. And the extended warranty wouldn't cover it because the Jeep is worth $2,000
because it's my oldest Jeep. And so they don't want the warranty program would only give me $2,000
against the $10,000 transmission change if I'd had and I would have to pay eight or trade the Jeep
and get rid of it. Well, Robin, now I want to go back to the fluid situation. No, we're done with
the fluid situation. No, we're not in New York. We're going to New York to the auto show this
week. Okay. You're going on going, we're going separately, I believe, but we're going to the
press edition opening, the pre public show opening, where there will be meetings. I'm going to go and
free lunch. And yeah, well, yes, that's true. There'll be meetings all day. You can go to
various meetings that you choose out of the menu that will be given to you or you can get online.
And hopefully will be hopefully all the vehicles will be there already set up so that we can roam
through them without crowds of people around us, which because it doesn't open until Friday or
Saturday of the week that we're going. Okay. It'll be interesting because I've never been to a press
preview introduction to a car. I'm thinking there might be more people than on the regular weekday
show day. Well, Jay, you can tell about you can tell our listeners about that when you come back.
I will. I will. So any updates on what you're looking for at the auto show? Well,
I don't know. I think we know pretty well about updates of vehicles. I'm interested to see where
they what what discussions they are going to hold regarding the general condition of the
propulsion part of the industry going forward over the next decade or so.
Maybe we already know you and I might project that we know a lot about what they're probably
going to say, but I don't know. And Taris may or may not be a big issue. It shouldn't be
in my opinion, because I don't think we need to listen to that topic.
So a little side note. You know that Mercedes built their first
the first car they built in the U.S. was in 1903 in Long Island. And you know why they did that?
Tariffs back in 1903. No. Okay. Yes. Okay. I did not read the rest of the article because
it was a paid subscription magazine. So but anyway, I thought it was a little interesting
and I don't tariffs have been around forever. Manufacturers have been building cars left and
right forever. There were electric cars back in the 1900s early 1902. Remember? No, I don't
remember. I wasn't very well. No, I wasn't either. But I've read about them. And you know, they had
battery operated cars and I think probably their range was like 20 miles or something like that
back in the day. But nobody went more than 20 miles back in those days. They didn't have any
place to go. Now, most people still don't go more than 20 miles. You know, this range thing.
So actually this weekend, I had a conversation because I drove up to New Hampshire
in my Volkswagen. So, you know, I had 600 miles range and it was a 400 mile round trip. And I was
in the car with somebody who asked me, we were talking about cars and electric cars
and talking about the Rivian. And this person asked me, he said, so could we have made this
trip in the Rivian, the round trip? And I said, yeah, you know what? Probably not.
So this comes back to how you drive electric cars to a certain degree to my
discussion earlier about the Toyota example. You've driven electric cars. If you scoot away
from the traffic light or a stop sign and with full torque use of the electric motor, you're
using up, you're using up miles very quickly between, you know, same in the gas car. Same in
the gas car. That's correct. But you're not, Jay, you and I will argue about this forever.
You have far more limitations about recharging the electric car than you do about finding a
gas station if you're going to do that with the super powered, with the super powered high
performance gas cars that are out like the Corvettes and the like. So I don't think we want to go there.
No, the point was this was a normal, you know, regular trip for people in the car,
comfortable ride, moving at a very good clip. No, we could not have done it in a Rivian.
We might have been able to do it in a Lucid just barely. And that's pretty much about it.
Right. But on the other hand, you know, we went for lunch somewhere, we would have plugged the
car in somewhere while we were having lunch, and we would have had our 80% charge in 20 minutes
or so. And we would have been perfectly happy coming back. Where did you go? What state did
you go up to? That was in New Hampshire. Okay. So you probably have to figure out where to have
lunch because you'd have to find a place that had a plug. I had great lunch. That was not a
problem. A vacant plug nearby. So you didn't have to walk or take a taxi to the restaurant or your
choice. You're right. But, you know, all these manufacturers have software incorporated in the
cars, and it's really not a huge deal. But it is a consideration. But again, how many days a year
do I do 400 miles in a day? Oh, I will do 500 miles today, but that's a different story. And yes,
not an electric car. But anyway, that's, you know, just, I don't even know how I got on the
range thing and the 400 miles. But New York auto show, kind of looking forward to it actually.
In these conversations, I also, talking about Driver's Ed, I know I'm going from one subject to
another. Are you guys talking about Driver's Ed? Go ahead. So Driver's Ed, I just read an
article recently about Massachusetts is considering changing the age at which you have to take the
30 hours of classroom and some road driving from 18 to 21. And I guess most states don't require
Driver's Ed classroom under the age of 18. And, you know, I just, I'm shaking my head because
it should be mandatory no matter whether you're 16, 18, or 50. I agree.
So the Massachusetts noticed that the road test failure rate went up in the last five years or so
from somewhere around 28% to over 40%. And they attributed that to the fact that fewer younger
drivers are getting their licenses, which is something we've talked about before. And therefore,
the older drivers who are maybe in their early 20s are failing at a greater rate because they
have not taken that classroom education. So yes, Driver's Ed is a good thing. Am I happy I didn't
have to do it? Of course I am. Do I think it should be mandatory for everybody? Yes.
Well, you're talking about when they're first getting their first license or you're talking
about periodically every five years. No, no, no. They're just getting your license.
We've had the conversation about recurring education, which I'm a believer in it. I wouldn't
like it, but I'm a believer in it. But there's also a seminar during the auto show about safety.
And I cannot remember if it's on Wednesday or Thursday. But it's something that I would like
to attend, but it seems to go on for a long period of time. But anyway, what else at the auto show?
Well, we're going to discuss the auto show with our listeners after we've been,
and we'll have more to say about it, I'm sure.
Harkies with Robin Leach and Jay DeMarken is produced at the facilities of WHDD91.9 FM,
RobinhoodRadio.com, Sharon Connecticut.
About this episode
Gas prices and driving habits take center stage, starting with MotorTrend’s take on the redesigned Toyota Land Cruiser hybrid—specifically how “delicate” accelerator modulation can smooth out jerky electric/hybrid torque transitions. The hosts then debate engine auto stop-start, arguing it’s largely a non-issue if the battery is healthy and noting how different modes affect activation. Spring car-storage prep sparks practical talk: dead batteries, tire checks, oil/fuel strategy, and even a scary brake-line failure. The show also touches on EV range realities, upcoming New York auto show plans, and Massachusetts considering raising the driver-ed age.
