Chinese Cars in Austria, New Jeep Cherokee, Consumer Reports Top Picks
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Company
Progressive
Progressive is an insurance company that sells auto insurance. They’re saying you may be able to lower your premium by getting a quote and using discounts.
Car
Lucid Air
Lucid Air is an all-electric car from the company Lucid. In a long rally, an electric car’s power and how efficiently it uses energy can be a big deal.
Term
dash clock
A dash clock is a clock built into the dashboard of a car. On older cars, it was often a factory feature and helped define the interior style.
Car
Jeep Cherokee
The Jeep Cherokee is a smaller SUV from Jeep. It’s generally aimed at everyday driving rather than the biggest, most expensive SUV sizes. It comes up in comparisons because it’s one of the more compact Jeep choices.
Company
Leap Motor
Leap Motor is a Chinese car company that makes electric vehicles. They’re brought up because the hosts are discussing whether Chinese brands might work with Stellantis and change production plans.
Concept
class action suit
A class action is when lots of people with the same kind of problem team up in one lawsuit. For cars, it usually means many owners are complaining about a similar issue.
Term
recall
A recall is when a car company says, “We need to fix something on these cars.” It’s usually because there’s a safety problem, and owners are told to get the repair done.
Term
EVs
EVs are electric cars. They run on electricity from a battery instead of gasoline. People usually talk about EVs in terms of charging and whether there are any safety or reliability problems.
Concept
extended range electric vehicle
It’s basically an electric car with a backup generator. When the battery gets low, the engine helps recharge it so you can keep going without stopping as often.
Term
electric range
Electric range is the distance the car can go using battery power only. It’s the number that matters if you’re trying to avoid gas on your normal drives.
Brand
General Motors
General Motors, or GM, is a big car company. Back then, they sold some early diesel cars and advertised how far they could go on a tank. Regulators later pushed back on how those numbers were presented.
Car
Fisker Ocean
The Fisker Ocean is an electric SUV. The point here is that when a car like this stops being produced, the factory that built it has to find something else to make.
Car
BMW Z4
The BMW Z4 is BMW’s sporty roadster. It’s mentioned to show the factory has built different kinds of cars, not just electric ones.
Car
Toyota GR Supra
The Toyota GR Supra is Toyota’s performance sports car. It’s brought up to show the factory has built popular enthusiast cars too.
Term
turbocharged four cylinder engine
It’s a small engine (four cylinders) that’s helped by a turbo. The turbo packs more air in, so the car can feel stronger and often use less fuel than you’d expect from the engine size.
Term
wheelbase
Wheelbase is the spacing between the front and rear wheels. When it’s longer, you often get more room inside—especially for legroom—and the ride can feel more stable.
Term
trim level
A trim level is the “version” of the car you buy, with a certain set of features. Higher trims usually cost more because they include more equipment.
Term
commanding driving position
A commanding driving position means you feel like you’re sitting in a spot where you can see well and feel in control. If the seat can’t go high enough, it can make that feeling harder to achieve.
Concept
all-wheel drive
All-wheel drive means the car can send power to all four wheels. That usually helps when roads are slippery, and the hosts are saying Jeep should lean into that like Subaru does.
Company
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is a well-known organization that tests cars and gives ratings. Their “top picks” are meant to help you choose based on real-world results, not just ads.
Concept
within a generation on the market
They’re saying that as a car stays on sale, the company usually fixes problems that show up after launch. So later years of the same model often feel more sorted than the first ones.
Concept
powertrain smoothness
Powertrain smoothness is how nicely the truck’s engine and transmission work together. If it’s smooth, it feels calm and effortless when you drive.
Concept
ride quality
Ride quality is how comfortable the truck feels over rough roads. A better ride means fewer harsh jolts and less bouncing.
Concept
handling
Handling is how well the truck turns and stays stable when you drive it. Good handling makes it feel safer and more fun to drive.
Term
chip shortage
The “chip shortage” refers to a global shortage of semiconductors used in modern vehicles. It reduced vehicle production and increased demand, which often led to limited inventory and higher prices.
Term
Apple fritter
An apple fritter is a sweet fried pastry with apple in it. It’s usually glazed or coated, and the hosts are just joking about liking it.
Car
Leap Motor C10
The Leap Motor C10 is an electric car made by a Chinese company called Leapmotor. The show is asking owners to reach out so they can talk about what it’s like to live with.
Concept
compact crossover
A compact crossover is like a smaller SUV, but it drives more like a car. People like them because they sit higher and feel more versatile than a typical sedan.
Car
Plymouth Horizon
The Plymouth Horizon was an older, smaller car from Plymouth (a Chrysler brand). It was made mainly for saving money on fuel and being practical, not for performance.
Term
Top canvas top
A “canvas top” means the roof is made of fabric. Some SUVs with this setup let you remove or fold the roof down for open-air driving.
Concept
front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive means the front wheels do the work of moving the car. It’s common on smaller cars because it’s efficient and easier to build.
LIVE
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Whether you drive a car, need a car, or just occasionally bummer ride with friends,
you've come to the right place.
Join Jill and Tom as they break down everything that's going on in the auto world.
New car reviews, shopping tips, driving green, electric cars, classic cars,
and plenty of great guests.
This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.
All right, this is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.
I'm Tom Appel.
Thank you for joining us today.
When you have a moment, check us out at consumerguide.com.
Lots of cool stuff there.
I won't get into it today.
With me in studio is Jill Simonillo.
She's contributing editor here at consumerguide.com.
North American Car the Urger and Freelancer.
How are you?
I am doing very well.
I have so much to talk about today.
I do not know how to prioritize.
We could start with my news.
We can.
All right, do that.
Yeah, no, I literally just found out today that I'm officially going to be competing
in a new road rally.
Oh, it's new.
New, new.
This is the first year in existence.
And it is the Trinity Rally, and that's T-R-I-N-I-T-E.
And it is put on by the founders of the Rebellion.
So you'll see a lot of similar players who are participating in this.
But it is not an off-road race or rally, I should say.
It's not a race.
And it is a like timespeed distance kind of enduro race.
So you'll be an old school rally.
An old school rally with, you know, the route books and no plot points to the best of my
knowledge, there will be no navigating on a map.
And I think we get to keep our phones.
But I will be competing with Lucid in a Lucid Air.
All right.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah.
Keep us posted.
So kind of cool.
But yeah, if you want more information, be sure to go to Trinity.
What is the website?
It's trinityrally.com.
So Trinity with an E. And my partner is going to be Kristen Shaw, who is my
former partner for the Rebellion.
And we are reprising the Brute Squad.
She's been a guest on the show.
She has been.
I think twice.
Yeah.
I think twice.
Yeah.
All right.
As long as we're talking about ourselves, I've got something real quick.
Okay.
I don't remember when we talked about it, but I remembered to follow up.
This is the watch I was talking about.
All right.
This watch, and I'll take a picture of it and post it on Facebook,
is built by a little company called Orista in Germany.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And they're little, they're cute little hand, not cute, they're actually man-sized,
but they're hand-made watches.
They're relatively affordable because Orista is not a big brand name or anything like that.
They're beautiful watches.
But this one, the reason I'm talking about it at all and that we talked about it,
this is a remake of the Dash Clock in Ember City's Benz 280SL from the late,
I think early 60s.
Okay.
Right in there.
But yeah, good looking watch.
But that's exactly what that would have looked like.
Okay.
So cool.
It's cool.
It's not licensed.
You know, and I should say that overall you are looking very cool today.
You've got a haircut and you've got like a nice green shirt on.
You're looking very nice today.
And I'm only like two weeks from a shave.
Yeah.
Yeah, well, I wasn't going to bring that up.
I'm bringing up the haircut.
I've got a Miacopa to address.
I don't know what I said wrong.
I think Sam pointed this out.
Our good friend Sam Fiorani from Auto Forkast Solutions.
But when we were talking about Canadian factories and we were talking about Brampton,
the Stalantis plant, possibly closing or doing work for Chinese car makers.
Somehow I got something wrong, but what had moved out of there from the planning
was a car we'll be talking about later, which is the Jeep Cherokee.
So just to fill in all the gaps on this, Belvedere, Illinois,
but an hour north of here, not even an hour north of here,
was going to build an electric pickup truck for Ram, a mid-sized pickup truck.
Those plans fell through.
No one wants anything electric anymore.
So what was going to happen at Belvedere stopped happening.
Well, I thought they were going to build the new Dakota.
I don't know when that's coming, but what they are going to build is the Cherokee.
Okay.
That's the story.
That's 100% ago.
So we have a lot of Cherokee news today.
You drove it.
I did.
We'll talk about that a little bit later on.
Currently driving it.
Speaking of Chinese companies that might build things with Stalantis,
we talked about Leap Motor, which I kept calling Leap Motors.
It's Leap Motor.
Okay.
So a listener, I'm trying to find his name here.
He actually commented on Blue Sky, right?
DS Bloomer from New Zealand owns a Leap Motor car.
Yeah.
He says he loves it.
He's had it for a couple of years.
He's very happy with it.
He has the C10, which is a small crossover.
It's attractive.
It looks like a small wagon, but it's the 70 kilowatt hour LFP battery.
That's lithium iron phosphate battery, which works really well in some climates.
220 horsepower, and he's very happy with it.
Yeah.
So we have a listener who drives a Leap Motor.
Yeah.
All right.
Thanks for it.
Thanks for reaching out to us.
Yeah.
Thanks for checking in.
Please do that more often.
Weird story, but VW, remember they were all about diesels,
then they were all about electrics?
They're killing the ID4 in the US.
Well, they're not killing it.
It's taking a break.
Yeah.
Just like the ID5 is taking a break.
We'll see how long that break is.
Well, you know what?
I have faith that they will bring them back in about three years.
Oh, three years.
Maybe.
So anyway, they need more room to make the Atlas.
So at least they've got something that's selling hot,
and you've experienced the new Atlas.
Yes.
All right, Cadillac Lyric.
I don't know a lot about this.
A lot of rumors, a lot of stuff in the socials.
But Cadillac Lyric, a class action suit is building up,
because apparently some lyrics break up.
Oh.
They just stop.
I couldn't find a lot about this.
We'll talk about it later when we have more facts,
but it's out there right now when people are trying to put together a class action.
I don't know what the goal of the class action is.
I don't know if it's a refund for your money or a brand new vehicle.
I don't know.
Yeah.
It is weird that we haven't seen a recall first.
In the 21st century, it seems like everyone recalls everything right away immediately.
Yeah.
Well, I don't know how they can be successful with a class action without a recall.
Or maybe they're doing the class action to force a recall?
I don't know.
Yeah.
I don't know.
They can be completely different things,
because they're entirely different entities.
But we'll see where that goes.
Um, okay.
Remind me about this after the quiz.
I need your help with something.
What?
It has to do with Toyota and Subaru EVs.
You need my help?
I do.
Okay.
And then we're going to do this therapy on air.
Okay.
I will try and talk you through the therapy.
Okay.
Yeah.
I need help.
Kia.
Yes.
The Tasman pickup.
Yes.
We're getting it.
Yes.
Not soon, by 2030.
Well, soon is.
Which is about the same time that we should be seeing the new Hyundai pickup truck.
Yeah.
So we were talking just last week about body on frame vehicles from Hyundai and from Kia.
Here's one of them.
Yeah.
So likely to be built in the US.
They're going to have, so they will set up an assembly line for that.
Yeah.
So the Tasman pickup is coming.
That's one more vehicle in the very crowded mid-sized pickup truck category.
Yeah.
You know, we've heard a lot of chatter.
I know you also listen to automotive news, daily podcast, and they've been talking about it a lot
in terms of, you know, they don't know how it's going to be able to compete,
but they're going to have to do something that is exceptional.
So it's either the truck is either going to have to do something exceptional
or it's going to have to be priced.
Well, they're talking about an E-rev.
So an extended range electric vehicle.
Yeah.
Again, I think that automakers have created interest in something that may have no interest.
And that's range.
If you are not talking about an electric vehicle,
do you care how far your car goes on a tank of gas?
Assuming it's better than 300 miles.
Well, so here's the thing.
If I want to get the benefit of electric.
So driving around town, coming out here to the radio show, it's about a 25-mile drive,
you know, being able to do that round trip on electric, you know,
getting better fuel economy, driving down to Indianapolis.
But with a truck specifically, I need to tow.
I need to haul.
Which is an immediate range buster.
But is range now an issue for those things?
Well, so here's the thing.
For an electric truck, 100%.
Well, there are no electric compact pickup.
No, no, no.
But I'm just saying, as soon as you start talking about electric,
range becomes an issue because a truck can't do truck things on electric.
No, no.
If you're talking about an electric vehicle or even an extended range electric vehicle,
maybe, but giving these combined ranges is weird.
People are giving range for the, like hybrids or something like that.
They'll give a range of 560 miles.
So like, who cares?
Well, what they care about is what the electric range is.
But if it's a hybrid, there's no electric range at all.
But you're saying EREV.
My point is that manufacturers are advertising combined range.
So either EREV combined range, which is electric gas, or hybrid range.
And again, it doesn't matter.
I think they're creating a category of interest where there isn't any interest.
Okay, so taking electric out of it, and you're talking about a gas vehicle.
I will say, again, driving back and forth to Indianapolis a lot,
it is very nice to get into a car and say, oh, I have 560 miles of range.
I could drive all the way to Indianapolis and back without stopping at a gas station.
Yeah, but you need to pee three times in that time.
I don't.
I don't know.
Does anyone actually drive six hours?
Yes.
Do they?
I do.
No stopping.
No stopping.
Well, there's you.
Yeah, there's me.
Back in the late 70s, early 80s, when General Motors was selling the first diesel engines,
the old will be able 350 diesel and things like the Chevy Caprice wagon and stuff like that.
They used to advertise the total range on those cars.
And it would be the EPA got kind of upset about how things were being advertised.
And there'd be these huge numbers.
And the EPA didn't want them to highlight the highway mileage or the total highway mileage.
The total highway mileage was often seven or 800 miles.
It's like, wow.
There may have been some need for that because diesel wasn't always available in those days.
And you wanted to get real diesel, not ag diesel, which were different things.
But anyway, all right, that was just a question.
That wasn't even on my list of things to talk about.
What was I going to say here?
You were going to help me with my Toyota Subaru problem.
Scout has pushed back its launch dates.
So that's Scout Motors, not a division of, but a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen.
This is important.
Very important distinction.
If you're trying to avoid franchise, the wrath of franchise.
But the traveler, which is the SUV, is going to be pushed back to a launch of September 2028.
And the Terra pickup, 30-30.
How are we talking about 30-30 already?
You know, it's four years away.
I'm still getting ready for Y2K.
All right. So we talked a little bit about the thing going on in Canada.
All right. What about in Austria?
Oh, no.
All right. Steyr of Magna Steyr, one of the largest auto suppliers in the world,
has that factory in Austria.
And they used to build the Fisker Ocean, the BMW Z4, and the Toyota GR Supra.
Right.
Well, none of those exist anymore.
Yeah.
So Magna's looking for work.
And where are they turning for work?
You can guess this.
Think Canada.
Chinese?
Yes.
Okay.
A company that I don't know how to pronounce, it's X-P-E-N-G.
And I think most people pronounce it X-Pung, X-Pung.
It's a very weird pronunciation.
And I think there are syllables we don't have in English in there.
X-P-N-G, you said?
Yeah. X-P-E-N-G.
And G-A-C.
Both relatively small EV manufacturers are looking to build things in Austria
with Magna Steyr for sale in Europe.
Okay.
For the exact reasons you would think to Dodge tariffs.
Right.
All right.
So there's that deal there too.
You know, we could talk real quick about the help I need.
Are you ready?
Okay.
I have in front of me, hand written.
This list of Toyota EVs and the similar, the similar, I'm doing weird motions with my hand.
You are, I'm following your weird motions.
Yeah, Subaru models.
I can't keep these Subaru models straight.
Why not?
No matter what I do, I can't remember them.
Okay.
So the Toyota CHR, which is new.
And it's the smallest but not cheapest Toyota EV becomes the Subaru Uncharted.
Yes.
Okay.
That's the one that I'm just like, what's the plural of that Uncharted?
Oh no, I didn't even think of that.
Oh yeah.
The BZ used to be the BZ4X.
Right.
Is the Saltero.
We knew that.
We knew that, that's easy.
The BZ Woodland.
Yeah.
I'm not going to remember this, Trailseeker.
I don't remember that.
And then the Highlander, the Highlander we don't have yet, is becoming the Getaway.
Correct.
This is a lot of stuff to remember.
It is a lot of stuff.
And I'm old.
The Uncharted is the one that I will forget.
Because again, I have a mental blip over what the plural of that is.
Subaru had such clearly defined names and these are all weird.
I don't like Getaway.
You know what though?
I've had a lot of people tell me on social media they like Getaway.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
I don't.
Good quiz coming up later.
Okay.
I think that's most of the stuff I needed to get to.
Okay.
Oh no, I just killed everything we're going to talk about after the quiz.
That's fine.
I can, we can take a little extra time now and I'll talk about the Jeep Cherokee.
Well, we're going to do that anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tell me about the Cherokee.
So for people who don't know, let me just wrap this up here real quick.
The Cherokee was discontinued in 2026.
Actually, just to make this full circle, I'm sorry, 2023.
I was like.
2023.
Leaving Belvedere without anything to build.
We just talked about Belvedere factory.
So this whole thing comes full circle now.
There's a brand new Cherokee.
It looks bigger, beefier, more substantial and it needed to.
Because it slots between the Compass, which the old Cherokee did not look bigger than,
and the much larger, much more expensive Grand Cherokee,
which was always a very refined, very luxurious car.
So there's a huge price gap there.
New Cherokee seems to fix a lot of these problems.
Yes.
I'm pointing at you.
Go.
Go.
Okay.
Yeah.
So this is a really interesting vehicle because it is a ground up redesign,
you know, two years in the making.
It is a hybrid only powertrain, which is, I think, very interesting, you know, that, that.
Is it hybrid only for now or forever?
For now, I don't know if they've announced a gas powertrain in it.
If I'd thought about it, I would have checked that before asking you.
Yeah.
But, but it's the first ever hybrid only Cherokee, obviously.
And, you know, I, I, so I've been driving it for almost a week now.
I did not take a road trip to Indianapolis, but I've been making several trips out to the
suburbs and back.
So I've been doing some combined driving.
So I've had a really good opportunity to test the hybrid powertrain and it's really good.
I've been averaging in combined driving 40.5 miles per gallon and EPA estimates like 37
miles per gallon in combined driving.
The, the four by E powertrains, which are now gone from Jeep.
Yes.
We're not very smooth.
No.
Just wanted to throw that out there.
So this is good.
Well, I'm, let me issue the caveat.
The fuel economy is really good.
I will say that I don't know that the actual operation and shift between hybrid and gas
is terribly smooth.
The engine is a little bit loud.
You know, it's a little bit buzzy.
You can definitely hear when it switches back and forth between the two.
And there are times when I like turn.
There has never been a Fiat Chrysler or Stellantis four cylinder engine sold in the U.S.
That wasn't buzzy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I like, I'll turn it on in my garage and it's like,
and I'm just like, what, what, what, it did something wrong.
You know, it feels like it's revving too high.
And then as soon as like the, the engine shuts off and it switches into hybrid mode,
I'm just like, maybe I imagined it, but then the next time.
Does the engine always kick in when you start it?
Yeah.
So far it has.
A lot of hybrids don't.
Like you'll get into a Toyota and start it and you'll get no gasoline engine at all.
Yeah.
You'll drive out of your neighborhood before the gas engine kicks in.
Yeah.
So, but this, this has a 1.6 liter turbocharged four cylinder engine,
210 horsepower, more than 500 miles of range.
Who cares?
Clearly not you.
Again, back a long time ago, Consumer Guide had a test car and it was a Suzuki SX4.
Okay.
Delightful car.
Delightful.
It was just a little, you know, economy car with a two-liter engine and fun to drive,
really well built, handled well, really screwed together nicely.
And it was affordable.
Mileage was not great for what it was.
But, but not only was the mileage not great, it had a tiny, tiny gas tank.
And we are having a hard time getting 250 miles of range out of that.
That's annoying.
500 miles is really good.
I've driven about 100 miles, more than 100 miles so far.
And yeah, I mean, the, the tank shows that I have like 390 miles of range left to go.
So I'm pretty pleased with the fuel economy.
I think that that is, that is really good.
It definitely drives big.
So, you know, coming out of my garage, I have to do like a three point turn in,
in my alley to get around the corner and not hit anything.
And so it's, it's definitely wider, bigger, and it feels heavier.
It is those things.
Yeah. And you feel it.
You definitely feel it.
The wheelbase is six and a half inches longer, which pays off in mercy leg room.
And the whole car is six inches longer.
Yeah.
And that compares to the grand Cherokee, which is about 194 inches.
And then the Compass, which is about 173.
So it slots nicely in that lineup now.
Yeah. No. And, and, you know, I mean, it's handsome.
I like the interior appointments.
It looks really nice.
The vehicle.
And you're driving the Laredo, which is the second cheapest trim level, right?
As tested price for this vehicle is about $41,000.
And I forget what the base version is, but I want to say that starts around 37.
And as a petite driver, I'm going to have to say, like, this is not going to be great
for smaller drivers.
The belt line is really high and I haven't been able to get the seat up high enough to
be able to feel like I have a confident commanding driving position.
And the seat bottoms a little bit big.
I am giggling and you're probably wondering why.
I saw a text message come through from Paul Harreld.
Paul Harreld just checked in.
Paul, the two-liter, from Paul, the two-liter engine in my Eagle Talon TSI was very smooth
and sounded great.
For people who don't remember, Eagle was the division of Chrysler at the time.
It was part of that whole Eagle Renault Jeep thing that went down in the 90s.
Right.
But that's true.
However, that engine was built by Mitsubishi.
So there you go.
Yeah.
But yeah, no, I mean, overall, like, I like the interior fit and finish.
I like the room and the spaciousness.
But the, like I said, the seat bottoms a little bit big for somebody my size.
And it definitely, you feel the extra bulk.
I wanted to talk about the price a little bit because I've seen some groaning online
about the price.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Two things to consider.
All-wheel drive is standard.
Standard, yes.
And hybrid is standard.
Yes.
That's about $5,000 retail value of equipment.
So if you were to knock that off, the base price goes from $38,000 to $33,000.
Right.
I think that's perfectly reasonable for what is a smallish mid-sized crossover.
Right.
So, I mean, if they do bring out a gas engine, you know, only, and it, you know, it should,
or in addition, you know, the price should drop.
But I mean, here's the thing.
It slots between the Compass and the Grand Cherokee.
It's where they need a car very badly.
Exactly.
Actually, the Compass sells reasonably well.
Yeah.
All that engine is fuzzy, but we've already covered that.
But they need something here.
And now they have it because the Grand Cherokee has always been sort of a luxury offering.
It's been very expensive.
And even cheap versions of the Grand Cherokee, that's so cheap.
So this is good.
This is good for Jeep.
We'll see how well this sells.
Right now, they're all all-wheel drive.
I haven't been arguing, and we can have this conversation later,
that all Jeep should be all-wheel drive.
A la Subaru.
I mean, that should be there.
I would not disagree with that statement.
Yeah.
When they were telling, like, the old, not the Compass, what was the other car?
They had two cars that were exactly alike, except for the front-end styling,
the Compass and the Patriot.
Was it the Patriot?
But those...
I'm trying not to remember the Patriot.
Those vehicles, or the Patriot, I think, was something else.
But I'll think of it during a commercial break.
But both of those cars, they sold cheap fleet versions of that were front-wheel drive
and with nasty interiors.
I'm like, this isn't Jeep.
It's kind of what they did to hurt their brand.
But I think this is getting them back on track.
Yes.
So overall, good truck?
Yeah, I would say overall, good.
What's the competition?
Oh, gosh.
You asked me a question I did not...
I'm thinking, like, Hyundai Santa Fe.
Like the smallish midsize.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's two-row, whereas Santa Fe has a three-row option.
Well, such that it is.
Oh, I mean, I can fit back there.
But yeah, I mean, small midsize is where you're going to find it.
And that is on sale now or soon.
Maybe not now because we're only getting this low trim level, which is weird.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So maybe soon.
Yeah.
All right.
We are going to take a break.
When we come back, we talk to Alex Nizek, the director of auto development testing
at Consumer Reports.
Awesome.
But their new top 10 list.
Yes.
All right.
Stick around.
Questions or comments?
Drop us a line at carstuff at consumerguide.com.
That's carstuff at consumerguide.com.
Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.
And we're back.
This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.
I am Tom.
She is Jill.
Hi, Jill.
Hello.
I didn't talk about this yet, but I'm very excited.
It's personal information.
Okay.
No place on an auto show.
Yes.
No, it does not have a place on an auto show.
We have a new refrigerator.
Why is that exciting to you?
Ice cubes.
Mostly ice cubes.
Like self-made or the machine makes it?
No, but we lost the water and the door capability.
And then the ice wasn't being made because it wasn't getting cold enough anymore.
Okay.
And I'm just a guy sitting in an office that is in air-conditioned without diapepsy.
And that's sort of a modern hell.
Wait, your office isn't air-conditioned?
We don't have air-conditioning.
Long story.
We have window windows.
What in the 1999 is that?
Because we live in an old radiator home,
we just never got around to doing it, and it would be very expensive to do.
So every time we think we're going to do it, the weather gets nice.
We're like, oh, we'll just live with the window units for a little while longer.
I have lived in apartments in Chicago with window units.
I do not live in them anymore.
All right.
That's all I got.
Got it.
All right.
I'm just excited.
I'm glad you have a new refrigerator at Ice Cubes.
Do you know what's in the fridge?
Diapepsy.
Cans of diapepsy.
I'm like, diapepsy.
Not the bunch of crunch or whatever it is you sent me a picture of yesterday.
What in the heck was that?
I called it trail mix, but it was really just Reese's peanut butter cereal and funyons, many funyons.
What?
Yeah, and I called it.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
That's even worse than what I thought.
Funyons and Reese's.
Like what world does like salty onion goodness and like sweet crap go together?
My office.
Oh my God.
All right.
We've wasted a lot of Alex's time here.
Sorry, yes.
On the phone is Alex Nizek.
He's the director of auto testing.
I'm sorry, auto test development to consumer reports.
Alex, how are you today?
I'm doing really well.
That was really fun to listen to.
Sorry.
I'm super sorry about that.
I'll say I'm totally on board.
New ice.
Ice is great.
I'm not sold on the trail mix.
No, I will share a picture of the trail mix later.
You have a picture.
I have a picture.
It's hideous.
It's even worse now that I know what it is as a traditional trail mix fan too.
I'm not so sure.
I thought it was like root loops and like Captain Crunch or something, but no.
Funyuns.
Funyuns, mini funyuns.
They come in a can like Pringles.
No.
Props to being unique about it though.
Thank you.
I'm glad someone appreciates me.
I do not.
Alex, how are you, sir?
I am well.
How are you both doing?
I think we're well.
Yeah, really good.
Before we get going, just remind people what consumer reports is,
because it's very different than other auto review sites.
Yeah, sure.
No, I appreciate that.
Yeah, so we are, first and foremost, we're a non-profit organization.
So we're focused on testing, of course, and really advocating really for the consumer
and what people are buying.
And so a huge part of what we do is cars.
We test other stuff too, like refrigerators and ice makers and what have you.
I don't do that for the record.
I don't know anything about those.
Do you test trail mix?
No.
Or, yeah.
Well, maybe you, maybe.
I don't know.
I don't have to talk about that.
But yeah, so we, we test a bunch of different stuff, right?
But cars is one of the biggest ones.
And we're, cars is a little separate from the rest of CR.
CR is down in Yonkers, New York.
But we're actually, the car testing is up in Colchester, Connecticut.
So we have our own test facility, our own track, which it's your, you know,
car nerds like us having a track effectively in your backyard is a huge blessing.
And it's cool.
It is very cool.
Yeah.
So one of the big differences when it comes to the cars is we buy everything that we test.
So we do go and we'll rent cars from automakers like press fleet stuff to get an early,
you know, taste of what's coming out.
But then ultimately the cars that you see all the results on,
whether it's online on our site or in the magazine, that's all.
You know, we went out to the dealership and we bought them just like you or I would in our
normal life, right?
So that makes sure not only are we getting something that's representative of what,
you know, everybody else is going to get, but we usually buy a middle of the road trim,
you know, the volume, your bill versus like the totally decked out version.
So just a couple of the differences that we do, but we also not only are we doing the
testing and all the fun stuff, but, you know, as we get into the top picks discussion,
we also do a lot of survey work with not only CR members, but just like nationwide talking
to consumers, talking to people about their cars and stuff like that and really working
all of these different sources of information into ultimately what you see again on our site
or in the magazine.
So pretty, pretty comprehensive.
Alex, remind us, how many members do you have?
Yeah, a lot.
I mean, over, we have over 3 million.
Yeah.
So it's a lot of different, a lot of different people, a lot of different people submitting
information about their car, whether they buy it again or the problems they have,
all the different stuff.
So yeah, a lot of, a lot of people contributing and that's really what makes it special,
right?
Because we couldn't do it without people giving us that information.
So it's a very circular, I guess, in that way.
We're going to talk about your top 10 picks in a moment, but I wanted to ask you about
one of the vehicles on there real quick earlier when we talked to consumer reports,
like we've been doing this for about six years now.
And when we talked to you guys, and you guys couldn't get a reading on Tesla and there
was a couple of things going on there.
One, I think you guys questioned the information you were getting from Tesla owners,
and then there just weren't that many that were responding.
But now you have Tesla on your top 10 picks list.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
How many Tesla owners do you have?
And do you feel really good about that information now?
Yeah, I mean, we, yes.
Ultimately, you need a certain quantity of sample, right, or responses per vehicle
for it to be statistically relevant.
Sure.
Can't just base this off of a couple, right?
So you need a good number there.
So we do have enough.
Yeah, that was part of the problem is we weren't really able to, or we had information,
but basically their reliability, which is part of what we get from our survey,
was not good enough, frankly.
Yeah.
And we see that with EVs overall is that their reliability tends to be lower than your comparable
gas or hybrid car.
But, you know, the trend, and I'm sure you've heard this before from us, even elsewhere,
the longer a vehicle tends to be within a generation on the market, you know,
generally they're improving things, fixing issues, making it more refined over time.
And so that seems to be what we're seeing with the Model Y, for example,
where it's just that reliability is finally good enough where it's a great car otherwise,
right?
But now it kind of has that last piece of the puzzle to ultimately be a top pick.
I want to talk about your top 10 list, but I just want to point out that the Model Y
right now is a deal used.
Yeah, a lot of EVs for that matter.
Exactly.
For sure.
Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
So you guys recently published, was it in February, your 2026 top 10 picks?
Can you walk us through that list?
Yeah, sure.
And I'll start by saying just to clarify, you know, it encompasses all of that stuff that
I was just talking about, right?
The fun stuff I get to do testing them on the track and out on the roads and really
how they are just as a vehicle in terms of performance, but then also that survey information.
So the owner satisfaction, basically asking members, hey, would you buy this car again?
How satisfied were you with it?
And then also the reliability, right?
And reliability is so key.
And it's something that we can kind of uniquely do.
And we ask car buyers, whether it's CR members or just national surveys,
what is the most important thing to you when you're going to buy your next car?
And on average, it's either a fuel economy or reliability.
And those two things swap first and second place, depending on the time of year you ask,
So super important.
So we work those three things in, satisfaction, reliability, performance, and then also we
take into some accounts some key safety information and basically put that into the
blender and that's how you get your overall score and that drives what's in the top picks.
So a lot of different things going into there.
But yeah, so we have, do you want me to just run rapid fire through the list?
If you don't mind, or I can ask you about it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's that?
Well, I'll run through them and then we can come back and talk about some of them.
Sounds good.
Civic, Camry, Crosstrek, Forester, Model Y, Toyota Grand Highlander, Lexus NX, BMW X5,
Ford Maverick, and Ford F-150.
So quite a varied list.
Yeah, very varied list.
Of the picks on here, is there one that stood out above the rest of the vehicles?
Great question.
There's a few, which is like the worst answer and typical car person answer, right?
Well, I can't choose.
Honestly, like if I really had to pick one, the Civic stands out to me.
Not only because...
I'm just going to say heck yeah.
Yeah, sweet, nice.
It's so, it's so reliably and historically a great car.
And I just feel good and comforted seeing it on this list.
It's great.
And the cool thing is, and this goes for a lot of the cars on here, but the Civic specifically,
it's all the versions we tested.
So it's the regular gas powered one, if that's your thing.
The hybrid, which is fantastic.
And then also the SI.
So there is a manual transmission car on our list.
Oh yeah, I didn't think of that.
And the automotive world rejoices.
Yes, exactly.
One, you know, save the manual out of time.
Yeah, so I don't know, it's just cars are expensive these days, right?
This $50,000 transaction price.
The Civics starting at half that, right?
And the hybrid, it's one of those cars that it handles really well.
Any of the versions of the Civics handle really well, which I appreciate.
It's small, it's fuel efficient.
The hybrid in particular makes me laugh because you can go, let's say,
drive it spiritedly around and you're still getting like 35, 40 miles per gallon,
which I think is just awesome, right?
It is.
Yeah, so Civic really stands out.
But beyond that, I'm going to jump to the opposite end of the list
because the Ford F-150 also stands out.
And also, let me say, I'm jumping around a little bit, but what makes,
again, consumer reports a little different in the context of this list is most of the
other lists that you're going to see out there from other publications,
what have you, are usually vehicles that came out that year, right?
So it's like the best car of 26 and it's models that came out for 2026.
These are not.
These are cars, they could have come out, you know, fresh in 26,
but they're also cars that we tested before.
So they're just good cars in general, right?
So the F-150 is one of those because it's certainly deep in its current generation,
but similar to the model Y, its reliability is ticked up over time where we can recommend it.
And I think that's great because historically we haven't seen reliability
in the full-size truck category be all that strong, but it's a huge part of the market
and people are buying these things left and right.
So it's nice to be able to point people in a direction of a car that,
hey, we know you're interested in a full-size truck.
Here's at least a reliable option within that category.
I'm pretty excited about that.
Alex, I have a question about this category.
Did you see the F-150 owners really strongly preferring their vehicle?
And here's why I ask, all the pickup trucks, the big pickup trucks,
have really interesting strengths.
And I think that if you go with the GMC or the Chevy, you've got powertrain smoothness,
sometimes fuel economy, and ride quality.
And then you got the ram for the crazy interiors.
And then the F-150, I think always cleans up for just kind of sense and control, logical.
I love the handling of the F-150.
It's also great for petite drivers.
Yeah, is it?
It is.
But do you guys rank these?
Do you have any sense of that?
And do you run into that wall where people are just super brand loyal in this category?
Yeah, I mean, it happens.
It's hard to say, I guess, from the information that we get,
how brand loyalty might be influencing things.
But the nice thing is we do see that in general, people are pretty happy with their trucks.
I'm actually flipping through some of the information as we're talking here.
Whether you're looking at Silverado, Ram, F-150, they're all pretty close in terms of
the owner satisfaction, which is pretty good.
64 out of 165 back in the area, which is decent.
So yeah, it's a category where I think anecdotally, you and I,
the three of us, we know that truck buyers tend to be more conservative in that class.
And if you're a Ford driver, you're just going to keep buying Fords, right?
Rarely are you conquesting one person from one brand to the next.
But the point is Ford F-150 sells a ton, right?
So it's nice to see that the reliability is going up.
That means more people are going to be driving a better car.
Yeah.
And then at the opposite side of the side of the side spectrum there,
you've got Maverick on the list.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, really quite the opposite for sure.
Yeah, the Maverick's cool.
And it's been on our list before.
It's funny because the F-150 is what people buy, but the Maverick's probably what most people need.
We just had that conversation.
By the vehicle, you need 50 weeks a year.
Yeah, exactly.
You rented the other one for two weeks.
Yeah, people don't necessarily do that.
That's OK.
I get it.
I get it.
But anyway, yeah, the Maverick, what I love about it this year or recently anyway,
is they finally added all-wheel drive to the hybrid version.
Yes.
I think that was a critical move, right?
We know people want both of those things, so it's nice to finally have that.
So, but yeah, great truck.
You don't really have to put up with the poor fuel economy associated with a larger truck.
Rides better, easier to get in and out of all that stuff.
So, pretty nice to have it here too.
The Maverick has taken an interesting place in the automotive journals on the world.
I think it is replaced, and we've needed a replacement for a long time,
since the Jetta diesel went away.
I was going to say, for the brown wagon with the manual transmission, I don't.
And all-wheel drive.
Yeah.
Yeah, this is the new journalist car.
And we know that folks from Riding Drives, Larry Veliquette at Automotive News,
they all have Mavericks.
Yeah.
Yeah, you see them a lot.
You know, the only thing that's a little, I don't know if disappointing is the right word,
but certainly interesting to follow is just the starting price.
I don't know if you remember.
Oh, right.
20 grand?
20 grand, right?
And they did.
Once a full time.
They did it, right?
But I just checked.
I'm looking at it now.
I think it starts at 28 now.
So, you know, maybe people just weren't buying the $20,000 version, or I'm not too sure, but.
Well, we had, do you remember when that launched, and I'm sure you do, it launched
right as COVID was getting.
It did, yeah.
And the chip shortage was ravishing supply of vehicles.
And I knew people who wanted Mavericks.
And they could not get them.
And dealers could not answer questions about delivering them.
And we all know really that Ford just sort of like, we can sell anything we build now.
We're not going to sell 20 grand pickup trucks.
Yeah, there's just no margin there.
There's no margin.
I would imagine, yeah.
And they've since raised the price a bunch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
40%.
Nice.
Still working for them, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Talk to us about the Lexus NX.
I'm interested in what you guys find worth noting in a luxury vehicle.
Yeah, yeah.
Good question.
The NX, it's been on the list before.
I mean, of course, Lexus kind of being in that Toyota family, right?
They're winning with that reliability.
So that's helping as we see the reliability there with the NX.
Beyond that, three versions of it actually are included here, right?
Gas version, hybrid version, and plug-in hybrid.
Toyota's plug-in hybrids tend to be quite good in terms of decent range and good power
from the electric powertrain so you can kind of reasonably drive them around in their electric
mode without having the engine pop on and off all the time, which makes it a little
more luxurious while you're doing that.
Yeah.
And I think it's a pretty well-rounded package, right?
If you want something that's going to handle, if handling is your priority, for example,
like BMW X3 is probably going to be the better choice, something like that.
But it's going to be fuel efficient.
It's going to be easy to live with, comfortable, looks pretty good.
And then again, that reliability, fuel economy, it's hitting those marks pretty good.
So I've been on the list before and here it is again.
I've long argued that no Lexus crossover is actually sporty.
They look sporty, and you get my F-sport versions of them.
I don't disagree.
But ultimately, they're not really sporty, but they are incredibly refined and quiet
and well-screwed together.
Yeah, yeah.
It's interesting.
We drove, it's not on this list, but the one of the more intriguing ones was the
Lexus TX500H.
Yeah, like had the adaptive suspension and the rear steer and all this stuff.
And we put it on our track and it was at least surprising.
Let me tell you that.
Would I call it sporty on its own?
Maybe not.
But I mean, kind of by the fact that it's a three-year-old family SUV.
But it performed better than I expected.
Let me put it that way.
I actually just test drove that exact vehicle a couple of weeks ago.
And no, not sporty, but would I take it on a cross-country trip?
Heck yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, definitely.
And get the mileage too.
Alex, we are flat out of time.
How can people get a closer look at this list?
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, just head to consumerreports.org slash cars and you're going to find all of the
latest and greatest car stuff right there on our site.
And the top picks is one of the featured things right down there.
So you really can't miss it.
Well, cool.
We will link to that too from our show notes.
Alex, thank you so much for your time today.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
All right.
That was Alex and Isaac, director of test development and consumer reports.
We're going to take a break and come back to quiz time.
Questions or comments?
Drop us a line at carstuff at consumerguide.com.
That's carstuff at consumerguide.com.
And we're back.
This is the Consumer Guide Carstuff Podcast.
I'm Tom.
I just got a new refrigerator and she is Jill.
I did not get a new refrigerator.
What did you just do with your microphone?
Sorry, I was taking a picture.
Oh, of the donuts?
No, my little Brute Squad logo.
Sorry, putting something in my stories.
All right, all right, fine.
We have a quiz coming up here.
Actually, I think you lowered my mic to take the picture of the donuts.
I don't know.
I'm blaming you.
I don't know.
I'm blaming you.
So you're not happy about the donuts.
Well, I'm not unhappy about the donuts.
I just don't want the big Apple thing.
This thing here that has its own gravity is the Apple fritter.
It's bleeding.
I don't think it's bleeding.
Bleeding Apple stuff.
I brought these down to visit with Patti Vasquez at WCPT.
Was that last week?
She loved the Apple fritter.
Loved it.
That's the cinnamon swirl.
Cinnamon is totally my favorite.
And this is orange.
Not orange.
Really?
No.
Cinnamon.
Yes.
Cherry cake, blueberry cake.
I will always opt for those.
I don't know when they do cherry.
That's like a spring thing for some reason.
Yeah, so like keep-
Is it a July thing?
They do cherry.
They do.
They do cherry.
So keep your eyes out.
They didn't advertise the orange.
I just found it there.
But anyway.
Because nobody else wanted it.
The clock is ticking.
Okay.
You have some social media stuff?
I do.
Nine seconds.
You can follow me on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn,
Blue Sky, Threads, Facebook, I don't know.
All the things, LinkedIn.
I forget.
And now I'm being repetitive at Jill Siminello.
And you can find my hashtag Car De Jure.
I drop new videos on YouTube and TikTok every day for your daily dose of drive.
And if you have a Leap Motor C10 and you live in New Zealand, drop us a line.
Yes.
Or if you have another cool car that you want to talk about, drop us a line.
Any car.
Yeah.
If you are proud of your car, take a picture.
We'll talk about it.
Yes.
Did you like it?
Actually, that's a great thing.
Yeah.
People should just take pictures of their car if they like them.
Yeah.
And we'll give them a shout out.
Yeah.
Let's start that now.
Yeah.
And speaking of, you didn't give your social media yet.
Car Guy Tom, Twitter and Twitter X and Blue Sky.
Yes.
Also, Facebook.
On Facebook, you can keep track of the radio stuff I do,
because Steve and Johnny and Patty Vazquez do a lot of promoting of their guests.
Okay.
All right.
And as does Nic de Gileo.
Yes.
That's this week.
There's a new Nic de Gileo podcast out there.
I'm on it.
We should talk about that.
Or people should listen to it.
Yes.
That's what I meant to say.
Are you ready?
For the quiz?
Yes.
I'm never ready.
And you've already essentially told me I'm not going to like it.
You're not going to like it.
I am.
And that's what's important.
And producer Randy is going to like it.
I think he will.
Yeah.
Consumer Guy Karst of Power podcast,
a quiz 322, though it's not really 322.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Hey, do we have my Best Buy list coming up soon?
No.
On the schedule?
No.
We need to get that in.
Oh, I thought it was scheduled.
I, you know, it was supposed to be scheduled.
And then we had a kerfuffle with the schedule
and it got unscheduled.
Oh, OK.
We got to get that scheduled again.
Today's topic is what was it?
Oh, great.
That's it.
What was it?
What was it?
I'm going to give you a model from a dead brand
and you have to tell me what it was.
OK.
It's very simple.
Five questions total, plus the bonus question,
always related to the topic of the day.
And what do you mean by what was it?
Like car.
I'm going to tell you now.
OK.
I'm going to give you a car model.
OK.
Car model.
And I'm going to give you possible categories
that that model would fit into.
OK.
Are you ready?
OK.
Yeah.
Plus a third choice that makes no sense contextually,
but I just felt like doing it.
You'll see what I mean in a moment.
OK.
The Oldsmobile Intrigue.
OK.
Oldsmobile Intrigue.
What was it?
Was it a mid-sized sedan?
Was it a compact crossover?
Or was it a prune juice-based cocktail
served at Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen and Bar?
I think it was that one.
Oldsmobile Intrigue.
You know what's funny about the Intrigue?
Sipowitz drove one on NYPD Blue.
You see it in one scene in one episode
and it's the world's most obvious product placement.
But there it was.
Sipowitz.
Oldsmobile Intrigue.
I'm going to say mid-sized sedan.
It was.
OK.
Yeah.
I'm like, I don't remember it,
but I don't remember SUVs being a thing
probably when that was out.
It's something that would have been called Cutlass
10 years earlier.
OK.
Yeah.
All right.
You've got one point.
You're on the board.
OK.
The Geostorm.
What was it?
Was it a sporty coupe?
A tiny SUV?
Or a Mexican telenovela?
Oh, I really wanted to be the telenovela,
but I feel like it was a sporty coupe.
It was.
Wasn't that like on the same platform
as the Cavalier or something?
No.
OK.
Never mind.
No.
No.
Um, who built this?
It wasn't Suzuki.
I think it was.
Was it G?
No.
No.
No.
Not the Hatsu, not Suzuki.
I'm forgetting who it was.
I'll get it in a moment.
But anyway, I'll get a little thing
from Sam here in a moment.
I know.
I'm like, maybe I could Google it really quick.
Don't worry about it.
Right.
Wait, did you say sporty coupe?
I did.
You've got two points.
You're doing fine.
Are you ready?
Plymouth Horizon.
OK.
Was it a compact car or a subcompact
two box economy car or a Plasmatics cover band?
Do you remember the Plasmatics?
No, I do not.
Wendy O'Williams.
She was a very chesty lead singer
that tended to perform naked.
If you were a guy from the 80s,
you remember the Plasmatics.
OK.
And you didn't care about the music,
you just wanted to look at the album cover.
I'll just nod and smile.
I'm sure my husband knows what that is.
OK, so what would now read me the question?
And what were my options?
Compact car, subcompact two box economy car,
or Plasmatics cover band.
What in the heck is a two box?
You're not familiar with the term two box?
No.
The rabbit, the gulf,
was among the first two box designs.
It was basically a hatchback.
OK.
Two door or four door,
but you had basically a box with a hood.
OK.
It was a term that was very popular at the time
because that design was new.
Got it.
So two box or what was the first option?
Compact car, or subcompact two box.
Basically what became the gulf was the two box design.
Right.
So I'm not familiar with this vehicle.
I'll go with two box.
Yes.
The horizon was actually one of the first
two box subcompacts in the US.
Really kind of groundbreaking.
It was based on a Simco design.
Simco was a French company that Chrysler owned at the time.
But they'd actually preceded the rabbit to the US.
There's also the Ford Fiesta, very similar.
So you have three.
I can't believe it.
All right.
Are you ready?
Oh, sorry.
I was still looking at.
This is it.
Was it re-badged?
Azuzu impulse was the GeoStorm.
There you go.
I got distracted.
I forgot Azuzu.
Yes.
That's it.
Because most of the Geos were Azuzu's or Suzuki's.
OK.
And one was a Toyota.
OK.
All right.
I forgot to do something here.
Older Bill wrapped up in 2024.
The intrigue was offered between 98 and 2002.
Geo wrapped things up in 1997.
The storm was available from 1990 to 1993.
And the horizon, that's wrong.
Oh, no.
Plymouth wrapped things up in 2001.
Right.
Right before I got into this business.
And the horizon was wrong from 1978 to 1990.
All right.
OK.
This one you know, the Dahatsu Rocky.
I have never heard of this.
Really?
No.
Never heard of it?
No.
Was the Dahatsu Rocky a tiny convertible SUV,
a compact all-wheel drive wagon,
or a popular dessert item at PF Changs?
By the way, PF Changs is always funny.
I have a very funny story about PF Changs.
Do you?
Everyone does.
PF Changs is always funny.
Yes.
Yeah.
It has to do with their-
It's like umlauts.
Umlauts are always funny.
It has to do with their lettuce wraps.
What?
Lettuce wraps.
I know, right?
The crap Americans will buy.
Yes.
But what were the options again?
The Dahatsu Rocky.
Uh-huh.
A tiny convertible SUV, a compact all-wheel drive wagon,
or a popular dessert item at PF Changs.
I'm going to go with the compact wagon.
No.
It was a tiny little crossover.
A tiny little SUV.
Do you remember the-
You said convertible SUV?
Yes.
Wow.
Yeah.
OK.
Yeah.
Top canvas top.
You could pop it down.
Do you remember the Chevy Tracker or the GeoTracker
or the Suzuki Sidekick?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was in league with those.
OK.
I saw a GeoTracker over the weekend.
Did you really?
I really did.
Now the GeoTracker grew over time.
And they became full-body 4-door SUVs.
But yeah.
OK.
All right.
You've gotten four.
All right.
Did you know you got that one wrong?
I got that one wrong.
I got three.
But I said I've already won.
So I can bomb the rest of the quiz if I want to.
The Renault Le Carr.
Le Carr.
I bet you Randy meant to buy one at some point.
Lots of people, roughly our age, are like,
I need one of those.
OK.
All right.
Was it a tiny front-wheel drive pickup,
a subcompact two-box economy car,
or a candy bar from Sweden made with goat's milk?
I have a problem with something being called Le Carr
being a pickup truck.
Wow.
That's astute.
So I'm going to go with the other option,
not the third one, the middle one.
The subcompact two-box economy car?
Yeah, it was tiny.
And it was available with a canvas roof.
OK.
So not a true convertible, likely on the Fiat 500.
OK.
It had like a peel-back roof.
Yeah.
But it was a delightful little car.
And then in Europe, there was something called the R5,
which was a hot version of it.
OK.
Turbocharged showed up in Bond films.
OK.
Yeah.
So Renault backed out of the US in 1987.
I don't know.
Is that right?
Yeah, I think that's about right.
And the Le Carr was available from 1976 to 1983.
OK.
There you go.
You've seen them.
And they say Le Carr on the rocker panel.
There's a sticker.
OK.
Yeah.
Le Carr.
Yeah.
It was the R5 in the rest of the world here,
or not the R5, the Renault 5.
OK.
R5 was a sporty version.
All right, nice job.
You got four or three?
Four.
Four.
All right.
Yes.
I don't know how we haven't done this one yet.
For a bonus?
For a bonus question, but we're doing it now.
And that's Subway in India.
OK.
Subway is in India.
It is.
OK.
Although not as much as you'd think.
How many subways do you think there are on the planet?
5,000.
5,000.
37,000.
OK.
How many do you think there are in the US?
The correct answer is too many, but I'm looking for a number.
5,000.
20,000.
I've just figured I'd go with it again.
OK.
So on a per person basis, there aren't nearly as many in India.
What with them having more people?
Correct.
By about a billion.
Uh, how many do you think there are in India?
10.
1,000.
Pluses without going over.
I have four menu items here from Subway in India.
You have to tell me which one is the fake.
OK, OK.
And then I want to talk about one of them.
OK.
All right.
The corn and peas sub, the Mexican patty sub, the tandoori tofu wrap,
and whether or not that's real, I want that, or the spicy sweet potato flatbread.
One of those, fake.
I feel like the bottom two could be real.
Read to me the top two again.
The corn and peas sub, and the Mexican patty sub.
Yeah, I feel like one of the top two doesn't sit well with me.
Might not sit well with you after you eat it.
Fair, fair point.
I'm going to go with the corn and peas.
Is the fake?
Yeah.
No, it's real, and it looks good.
I had to check this out.
I'm just trying to figure out how you could have corn and peas on a sub without it being too drippy.
It's served like a salad, so it looks like egg salad on a bun.
It looks very good.
Obviously, these are prep pictures, but I'm very interested in that.
That's real.
The Mexican patty sub, unbelievably is real.
Interesting that you can use the word Mexican to sell food in India.
Right.
The only place in the world where they scoff at the idea that Mexican food is hot.
You don't know hot?
Yeah, that's fair.
We're in India.
Mexican food is not hot.
Tenduri tofu wrap is real.
The spicy sweet potato flatbread is fake.
Interesting.
Yeah.
That I could see is being real because I know a lot of India is highly veg.
They are.
Yeah.
And they have a very specific veg menu when you walk in,
and I think some of the subways don't actually sell any meat at all.
And if they do, it's just chicken.
Right.
So there you have it.
Only a thousand subways in India.
Okay.
Yeah, it would take a very long time for everyone in India to go to one.
Yes.
So which one of these did you want to talk about?
Oh, that was it, the corn and peas sub.
Okay.
Because it looks good.
And it's weird.
I've never heard of that combination before, but why wouldn't that be yummy?
No, but you know, I mean, what I was thinking of like a curried corn and peas,
just kind of dripping all over the bun, that's what was in my brain.
No, it sounds like a mess.
And that sounds like a mess, which was like I was,
can't possibly be real.
It's not a mess.
Okay.
Did we talk about the donuts?
Uh, we did.
On air, did you complain already?
No, I just said I want the cinnamon.
Oh, okay.
You can have the apple fritter thing.
The apple fritter, which is gigantic.
It's huge and it's oozing.
But, but producer Randy might want the fritter.
It's oozing.
And then there's the orange donut, which I'm equally interested in.
So are you taking pictures?
Yeah, I took a picture of the ooze.
All right.
Oh, so we'll be doing the consumer guide best by list at some point.
Yes, we will.
We have to do that.
Actually, we have to do that too, because it's always our most popular episode.
Okay.
You know what?
Before we leave this studio, we will get it on the calendar.
So funny thing, little consumer guide history, a little bit like consumer reports.
We used to do other products way back when, when I started a consumer guide in 2002.
We had a division that did lawn mowers, computers, cell phones and all that stuff.
And ultimately, we simply couldn't find the revenue in it.
And part of the problem too, this is interesting.
And I think this would be difficult.
I'm sure it's difficult for consumer reports.
Things like lawn mowers and cell phones don't have model years.
So the cycle at which you need to update them can be accelerated to the point of being crazy.
And then people just, like Apple sometimes does almost no announcement of an update
of something concert.
And then you're behind that.
You're just behind the schedule.
Yeah.
Cars are so much easier.
Most cars, Tesla, for example, not easier because they don't do model years.
They don't do model years and they just make changes randomly.
Yeah.
And they'll do over the year updates.
But they call the year that is produced the model year.
Yeah.
So, but you could have like a 2025 that has XYZ and a 2025 that has PDQ.
All right.
Guess what we did?
We had a great episode.
We burned through an hour, baby.
We did.
Big thanks to Alec Nizek of Consumer Reports.
Thank you, Jill.
Thanks to producer Randy and the good folks here at Talk Zone.
Let's talk more about cars again.
Next week.
Next week.
Remember to check us out at ConsumerGuide.com.
The Car Stuff podcast is produced by J-Turn Media.
To advertise on the show, please drop us a line at carstuffatconsumerguide.com.
The show to grow.
Thank you for listening.
About this episode
The Car Stuff Podcast covers a fast mix of auto news and practical buying logic, then digs deep on Consumer Reports’ 2026 “top picks.” Jill shares personal rally news and a few industry updates, including Stellantis’ Belvidere plant pivot to a redesigned Jeep Cherokee, plus Chinese EV makers eyeing European production in Austria. The hosts also discuss the new Jeep Cherokee’s hybrid-only setup, fuel economy, and cabin/seat fit. Alex Nizek explains how CR builds its rankings (testing + owner surveys + reliability) and highlights standouts like the Honda Civic and Ford F-150. A quirky dead-brand quiz and Subway-in-India bonus round close it out.
Original notes
The hosts open the show by discussing Tom's new refrigerator, and his inability to keep Subaru's suite of new electric vehicles straight. Jill agrees to help him keep the Subaru EVs straight.
Jill and Tom go on to cover a number of news items, including the discontinuation of the Volkswagen ID.4 electric crossover, Chinese cars being built in Austria, and Kia's plan to build a midsize EV in American by the 2030 model year.
In related news, a listen from New Zealand checks in to let the hosts know that he owns a Leapmotor EV (discussed last episode) and is very happy with it.
Still in the first segment, Jill reviews the all-new Jeep Cherokee.
In the second segment, Jill and Tom welcome Alex Knizek, Director of Auto Test Development at Consumer Reports, to the Car Stuff Podcast. Alex describes the process by which Consumer Reports evaluates new vehicles, and walks the hosts through the outfits 2026 Top Picks list.
In the last segment, Jill is subjected to Tom's "Dead Brand" quiz. Listen in to hear how she scored.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Car Stuff Podcast
Consumer Guide Automotive, Tom Appel, Jill Ciminillo
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