Episode 437: 2026 Nissan Leaf, 2026 Ford Expedition Tremor
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57:32
Car
Nissan Leaf
The Nissan Leaf is an electric car that people can plug in to charge instead of using gasoline. The 2026 version is the newest model, and it's important because it shows how electric cars are changing over time.
Term
generations
Generations are different versions of a car model that come out over the years. Each generation usually has improvements and changes compared to the previous one.
Car
Nissan Juke
The Nissan Juke is a small SUV that stands out because of its unusual design. It's known for being fun to drive and has a sporty look.
Term
ProPilot Assist
ProPilot Assist is a feature in some Nissan cars that helps drivers by controlling the steering and speed, making driving easier and safer, especially on highways.
Concept
mainstream EV
A mainstream EV is an electric car that many people can buy and use, not just a few specialized models. They are made to be practical and affordable for everyday drivers.
Car
Nissan Kicks
The Nissan Kix is a small, budget-friendly SUV that was made to be affordable for everyday drivers. Over time, it has been updated to include more features that you would find in other cars, making it more appealing.
Term
electric vehicles
Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
Term
battery capacity
Battery capacity is how much energy a battery can hold. In electric cars, a bigger battery means you can drive farther before needing to recharge.
Car
Chevrolet Bolt
The Chevrolet Bolt is a small electric car that is known for being affordable and having a decent driving range. It's a good option for people looking for an electric vehicle without spending too much money.
Car
Toyota Crown
The Toyota Crown is a big, fancy car that is very comfortable and has a lot of high-tech features. It's known for being a luxury vehicle that people enjoy driving.
Term
hatchback
A hatchback is a type of car that has a back door that opens upwards, making it easier to load and unload items in the trunk.
Car
BMW X2
The BMW X2 is a small SUV that looks sporty and is fun to drive. It was marketed as an SUV, but it has features similar to a hatchback, which is a car with a rear door that swings upward.
Concept
crossover
A crossover is a vehicle that mixes features of cars and SUVs. They usually have more space and a higher driving position than regular cars, making them popular for families.
Car
Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is an electric car that looks like a regular sedan but runs on electricity instead of gas. It's popular for its long driving range and high-tech features.
Term
battery gauge
The battery gauge shows how much power is left in an electric car's battery. It's like a fuel gauge in a regular car but for electric cars.
Car
Toyota A90
The Toyota Supra is a fast and sporty car that many people love for its speed and cool design. It's famous for being fun to drive and is often seen in car shows and races.
Car
Nissan Ariya
The Nissan Ariya is a new electric SUV from Nissan. It's designed to be eco-friendly and has modern features to compete with other electric cars.
Car
Tata Motors Aria
The Tata Motors Aria is a crossover SUV that tries to mix comfort with usefulness. It's not very well-known, but some people talk about it because of its different features.
Term
solid state battery
Solid state batteries are a new kind of battery that uses solid materials instead of liquids. They might be safer and last longer than the batteries we commonly use today.
Term
front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive is when the front wheels of a car are used to move it forward. This setup is common in many cars and helps with fuel efficiency and control.
Term
all-wheel drive
All-wheel drive means that all four wheels of a car can get power from the engine, which helps the car grip the road better, especially in rain or snow.
Term
kilowatt hour
A kilowatt hour is a way to measure how much energy a battery can store. It helps you understand how far an electric car can go before needing to be charged.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster and more powerful the car can be.
Car
Honda Odyssey
The Honda Odyssey is a popular family minivan that has a lot of space and is good for driving in different weather, like snow. Many families choose it because it's reliable and comfortable.
Term
hands-free driving functionality
Hands-free driving means the car can drive itself for a while without you needing to hold the steering wheel. It uses special technology to do this, but it's not perfect and still needs your attention sometimes.
Brand
GM
GM stands for General Motors, an American company that makes many different kinds of cars. They also include helpful features in their cars to keep drivers informed.
Term
gauge cluster
The gauge cluster is the part of the car in front of the driver that shows things like how fast you're going and if there are any problems. It's important for keeping track of how the car is doing.
Term
EV
EV means electric vehicle, which is a car that uses electricity to run instead of gas. They are better for the environment and can save money on fuel.
Term
level two charging
Level two charging is a way to charge electric cars faster than plugging them into a regular wall outlet. It uses special charging stations that can fill up the car's battery more quickly.
Term
CCS standard
CCS is a type of fast charging system for electric cars that lets you charge your car's battery much quicker than normal. It combines two types of charging to make it more efficient.
Term
J1772
J1772 is a type of plug used to charge electric cars in North America. Most electric cars can use this plug, but Tesla cars need an adapter to use it.
Term
North American charging standard
The North American charging standard is the way electric cars are charged in the U.S. and Canada, using specific types of plugs and charging systems that most cars can use.
Term
fast charging
Fast charging is a way to quickly recharge an electric car's battery. It uses special charging stations that can fill up the battery much faster than regular home chargers.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a big car that looks tough and can go really fast. It's popular because it has a lot of room inside and is fun to drive.
Car
Porsche Taycan
The Porsche Taycan is a high-end electric car made by Porsche. It's known for being fast and having different ways to charge its battery.
Term
CHAdeMO
CHAdeMO is a way for electric cars to charge quickly at special stations. It was mainly used by Nissan cars like the Leaf, so you could charge them faster than at regular plugs.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq 5
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a new electric SUV that looks really modern and is good for the environment. It's popular because it can go a long way on a single charge and has a lot of cool features.
Car
Hyundai Kona
The Hyundai Kona is a small SUV that looks trendy and is easy to drive around the city. It's a good choice for people who want something practical but still stylish.
Car
Fiat 500e
The Fiat 500E is a small electric car that's great for city driving but doesn't go very far on a single charge. It's designed for people who mostly drive short distances.
Car
Ford Expedition
The Ford Expedition is a large SUV that can carry many passengers and their belongings, perfect for family trips.
Car
Oldsmobile Curved Dash
The Oldsmobile Curved Dash is one of the very first cars made in America. It's special because it helped start the car industry and has a unique shape.
Car
BMW X5
The BMW X5 is a fancy SUV that is comfortable and has a lot of cool features. People like it because it drives well and looks nice.
Car
Ford F150
The Ford F-150 is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and is great for work or towing. Many people like it because it's tough and reliable.
Car
Tesla My Model
The Tesla Model Y is a modern electric SUV that can go far on a single charge. It's popular because it has a lot of space inside and comes with cool tech features.
Car
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 is a famous race car that won a lot of big races in the 1960s. It's known for being super fast and is a big part of car racing history.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a classic sports car that many people love for its speed and cool looks. It's famous for being fun to drive and has a long history in car culture.
Car
Mazda Cx5
The Mazda CX-5 is a smaller SUV that looks nice and is fun to drive. It's a good option for people who want a practical car that still feels sporty.
Car
Mazda 3
The Mazda RX-3 is an older small car that is special because it has a unique engine that makes it light and fast. It's loved by car enthusiasts for its performance.
Car
Mazda Cx30
The Mazda CX-30 is a small SUV that drives really well and looks good. It's a nice choice for people who want something practical but still fun to drive.
Car
Mazda Cx50
The Mazda CX-50 is a new small SUV that is designed to be fun to drive. It's a good option for people looking for a mix of sportiness and everyday usability.
Car
Hyundai Palisade
The Hyundai Palisade is a large family SUV that has lots of space for people and their stuff. It's a good choice for families because it's comfortable and has many helpful features.
Car
Subaru Ascent
The Subaru Ascent is a big SUV that can fit a lot of people and their stuff. It's known for being safe and good for families.
Car
Mazda Cx90
The Mazda CX-90 is a bigger SUV that has lots of space and nice features. It's designed for families who need more room and comfort.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to the Unnamed Automotive podcast.
My name is Sammy Hage-Assad,
and with me, as always, is my good friend
and fellow automotive journalist, Benjamin Hunting.
Say hi to the people, Ben.
Greetings, frozen listeners.
Greetings to everyone, frozen or liquid hot magma, right?
No, I'm only-
Is that the alternative to frozen?
If you're a liquid hot magma, go see a doctor.
That's the voice of Ben,
my very good friend and fellow automotive journalist.
Ben, you can find his work all over the internet.
Isn't that right, Ben?
Yes.
Give me a hint.
You can find my work at MotorTrend at driving.ca
and at Inside Hook.
Where in the world can I read Ben's work?
Well, now we're gonna get a copyright strike.
I didn't copy entirely. From Rockefeller.
And you could find my work.
No, no, no, from the surviving members of Rockefeller.
There's like 12 of them.
Isn't there? There's gotta be a couple.
That means there's a good chance we're getting a lot of suit.
Oh, no. If there's 12 of them.
If they listen.
Yes.
Of course they listen.
Do you think they listen?
They need some great car information this week.
They have a service that's constantly searching podcasts
for copyright strikes.
They're like the YouTube-
They're just like, where in the world is where in the world?
They're like the YouTube of 90s acapella groups.
I really hope that our listeners know
like the reference, really.
It doesn't matter. Let's move on.
Okay. You can find my work at AutoTrader.ca
and driving.ca and driving.ca's YouTube channel.
I've got some stuff coming out there.
Ben, we've got some cars talk about this week.
Cars we haven't talked about in a very long, long time.
And you in particular drove a car
that I think a lot of people are curious about
because it could shift the world of electric vehicles
as we know it.
Well, I mean, maybe.
Maybe. Anything can.
I think right now, what's shifting the world
of electric vehicles is very unusual political decisions
being made in markets where people are unsure
what's going to happen in the future.
I think that's the single biggest shift for EVs.
I don't know how much the 2026 Nissan Leaf
is going to move the dial within that environment,
but it is notable for a bunch of reasons.
The first being the Leaf hadn't been redesigned
in quite a long time.
I don't remember exactly how long,
but I can tell you the last time I drove a Leaf,
I was living in a different city.
And it was years ago.
Sammy, what's the last time you were in a Leaf?
Oh, man, I haven't been in a Leaf in a long time.
Must have been for like a test fast or something.
And I think it's important to point out
that it's had like two generations.
And now this is the third, right?
Your guess is as good as mine.
I think you're probably right.
But it was an ugly one that had the same.
The same headlights as like a Nissan Juke or something.
Well, so the last time we talked about the Leaf on the podcast
was in 2021.
Oh, yeah.
And that was the previous, that was the middle generation,
I guess, the second generation.
Middle generation.
But what's important to note is even if we're not sure
how many versions of the Leaf there are,
we're very certain that the Leaf has had a journey
that started out with being a very basic form
of electric transportation, not a lot of range,
not a lot of power.
Then it graduated to kind of a middling form
where it had OK range kind of.
The pricing was not as cheap as you would think.
Like I believe it was still more expensive than the Bolt
when they were contemporaries.
But Nissan really made a go of filling it
with as much technology as it could.
It had all the ProPilot Assist semi-autonomous driving stuff
that you could find in that era.
And it was a big step up for the previous Leaf
for this version of the vehicle.
I think that they have done their most
to make the Leaf a mainstream EV
in a way that I don't think it was before.
I mean, this reminds me of the strategy
that they took with the last low cost car
we talked about from Nissan, which was the Kix.
When it first arrived on the scene,
it was this really affordable kind of plucky thing.
And then when they updated it,
they gave it like everything that every other car had.
And that changed the dynamic of the Kix in a certain way.
Is that happening?
Is that a similar trajectory?
And is that-
There's some truth to what you're saying,
but I think it's a lot more complicated
when you talk about electric vehicles
because the drivetrains, they can advance fairly quickly
in terms of battery capacity and management
that gives you different range options.
And the subcompact or small EV market
is radically less competitive
than what the vehicle you were just talking about.
The Kix is facing, right?
There's like so many small SUVs out there.
But when you're looking for an affordable EV,
particularly one that's not an SUV
and that is small in size,
I mean, right now it's really just the Leaf
and the Bolt, I guess, and the Bolt is leaving.
So-
Yeah.
It's a weird thing the Bolt is gonna be made
for like one year essentially, right?
Yeah, it's done.
We talked about it on a previous episode.
It's a bad decision.
It's just like, I can't believe it.
Like I-
Well, I can't.
You can't believe GM made a poor choice
when it came to product planning.
I mean-
But we've been, me and you in particular
have been waiting for this.
Yeah, I mean, we are personally betrayed by this decision.
Don't get me wrong.
But it doesn't mean, I guess I've come to expect betrayal.
I don't know.
What does that say about me
and how I navigate the world?
The Leaf has changed a lot
and I'm gonna talk about the ways it has changed.
The first is it kind of is doing its best
to look like an SUV now.
Even though it's not, it is visibly taller,
although it has less crown clearance than the old Leaf.
It has a bulkier appearance.
It's still a hatchback,
but it kind of looks like a buffed up hatchback.
It's almost like the two series.
Sorry, not the two series.
The X2, remember the X2?
I remember the X2.
It still exists, the X2.
Well, it's not quite what it was though, right?
Yeah.
For a while, the X2 was almost like a stealth hot hatch.
That's true, yeah.
Where it was marketed as a crossover,
but really it was a hatchback
and it was recently fun to drive and all this stuff.
I think that it's kind of the similar for the Leaf.
They're not really marketing it as a crossover,
but they're like winking really hard at you
with all of the advertising,
trying to get you to think it's a crossover.
I had a friend reach out to me
talking about their perception of the Leaf
and how much they think it looks like a Tesla,
like a Model 3.
And that they think that part of the reason
why there are so many two-tone paint jobs
available with the Leaf is to hide that fact.
Interesting.
So in any case, the Leaf looks a lot different
inside, it's also quite different.
It is much more pleasant inside than I remember it being.
The old car wasn't bad,
but it felt more of its price.
The new car, the price has gone up
and as a result, the interior trappings are too.
In the US, it starts around 30 grand now,
which isn't a huge increase versus the older one,
I don't think, but in Canada,
you're looking at $48,000 to buy a Leaf
and you could spend up to 55 if you want.
I had the middle trim, the SV Plus,
that's $51,000 in Canada.
In the US, it is $34,000.
That, if you take the exchange rate out of things,
that's like 29,000 US is like 38,000 Canadian.
So there's still a $10,000 gap.
Like there's a big difference
at how these vehicles are marketed in Canada.
And I wonder how much of that is the incentives
that are available in Canada that are,
you know, we'll put the price up
because the incentives will knock it down
and now we're competitive with our US pricing.
So it's hard to tell, it's a tangled web right now
with whether there's going to be new federal incentives
applicable to the Leaf
and which problems you live in giving you a discount.
Okay, but there's an important thing
to talk about with this car is that it's just,
it's like a huge upgrade over what it used to be.
Performance, range, features.
Is it a huge upgrade in range?
I would think so, isn't that what it's all about?
It's 249 miles, I believe.
It's not bad.
I mean, it used to have like 100 back in the day.
Sorry, 288 on a full charge.
I think 250, if you get certain wheel sizes,
like the larger wheel sizes.
Okay.
I had the vehicle in the cold,
very, very, very cold weather.
I saw between 218 and 180 miles of range,
depending on, displayed, depending on the weather.
And when I say cold, I mean really cold,
like minus nine Fahrenheit,
which is minus 23 Celsius on one day where I was driving it.
And that's when I had the 180 miles.
But when we're talking range and we're talking cold,
I had some weird stuff happen with the Leaf in the cold
that I haven't experienced with other EVs.
And the first one was the gauge for the battery
that tells you how much charge you actually have.
It doesn't really move when it's cold.
And I looked-
That's a problem.
I looked in the owner's manual.
The owner's manual says that in very cold temperatures,
which is definitely what I was facing,
there can be a lag in communication
between the state of the battery and what the gauge shows.
When they say lag in communication, they're not kidding.
I drove 70 kilometers at 100% battery and minus 23.
And it didn't budge.
It didn't budge.
And then when it did start moving, it moved real fast.
Like every 30 seconds, I would lose 1% battery
until it started to settle.
And I ended up on a trip, it was 130 kilometers.
And halfway through the trip, I was at 100%.
And by the time I arrived at my destination,
I was at like 64%.
So that should tell you what the actual consumption was.
The range estimator, the guess thing underneath the battery,
underneath the battery charge indicator,
it was moving all the time.
So that thing was doing some kind of calculation.
I don't understand why they're not linked
or how the range estimator is able to move
when the battery charge indicator
is not getting communication from the battery.
That's a bit confusing.
But I can tell you, it happened not just once,
but a couple of times where I drove quite a bit
at 100% and nothing changed.
And normally you're in an EV and that can happen.
It's like, you know, when you fill your fuel tank
and it stays at full for a long time
and you kind of flew yourself into thinking,
oh, you know, this is the week I never have to buy gas.
Like this is the week where I beat physics
and I can drive indefinitely on a single tank of gas.
And it was kind of that situation.
But then I discovered it was actually a sticking problem.
The other weird thing that happened to me,
and this only happened one time,
whereas the battery was a regular thing,
the minus 23 day, minus nine Fahrenheit,
I got into the car and I'm trying to accelerate
and it feels like I'm stuck.
It feels like the vehicle's not moving.
And I didn't really notice it too much
because at first when I pull out of my house,
I'm on a unplowed road, a dirt road,
and I'm not driving very quickly
because I'm just trying to get where I'm going
without sliding into the ditch, right?
I get to the highway and the highway is plowed,
so I have traction.
And I pull out on the highway in front of another car
and I hit the gas or the accelerator and nothing happens.
And I'm like, what's going on?
I start crawling forward, like maybe half power,
and I'm in a 90 kilometer an hour zone,
55 miles an hour, and there's a car coming up behind me
and I'm like, oh no, and I feel like a jerk
because I'm blocking this person now,
but I'm also really confused.
And I get to a hill and I have my foot to the floor
and the car starts losing speed, like dropping.
And I don't understand what's going on.
And then I start to think like,
am I in some kind of reduced power mode
because it's so cold?
And, but maybe about 10 minutes later,
I look on the dash and there's a turtle icon,
an orange turtle icon.
Oh no, the turtles.
The turtle, I couldn't see it
because of how I had the steering wheel.
Oh, that's even worse.
Yeah, so the steering wheel was set
so that the top right and top left corner
of the gauge cluster were blocked.
And that's where the turtle was in the top left.
And then I looked it up and it turns out
that I was in this reduced power mode
because of how cold it was.
And so I'm in the manual and I'm like,
well, what am I supposed to do when I see this turtle thing?
Like in my mind, it's like,
I guess I keep driving and the battery
will eventually warm itself up or something, right?
Cause there's no, I don't really have another option.
The manual says go somewhere warm and let the car warm up.
I guess like you buy the car like a Cuba
or Dominican Republic vacation.
You send it away for a week, comes back,
it's feeling better.
The other thing it said was plug in right away
and some of the energy from the plug
will heat up the battery.
Now I had had the car plugged in all night.
Yeah.
So that's clearly not true, right?
Yeah.
It's, so anyway, have you ever had an EV
go into a power, a safe mode or a reduced power mode
because of temperature, because of cold temperature?
Not because of temperature,
but I've had it due to low range.
Like I think when you get under like five percent.
That's not what we're talking about though.
This battery was at 100%.
So I've never had it happen because of temperature.
And I can't think like, does this happen in the Aria too?
Is this a Nissan thing?
I don't know.
In any case, very unusual, very strange.
And it was quite cold at other points during the week.
And I did not have this happen with the leaf either.
It was just really this one night,
or sorry, one morning after being out all night
in this extreme cold.
I think that's really an important thing to talk about
when it, whenever EVs are involved,
is just how much their cold weather performance can change.
I've never heard of it being that drastic,
that like limiting that you had in your car,
but it's definitely understandable, I think.
But the funny thing to me is,
and you're gonna have to be patient with me on this,
but I went on the first drive of the Aria a few years ago,
and everyone was pretty excited,
but there was this kind of like brewing sentiment
from the execs that I talked to,
that Nissan wants to be one of the first automakers
to deliver a solid state battery powered vehicle.
And that if they just do that,
all of their problems will be solved.
And I don't think, I don't know if that's,
I don't know enough about solid state batteries yet
to know whether or not they're going to solve
the cold weather problem,
but they need more solutions than,
they need more effort than just,
we're waiting for the next generation of battery tech, right?
I don't know if, I mean,
do they really need a new generation of battery tech
given that other car companies
don't seem to have this issue
with the current gen of battery tech?
Like that's, I don't know.
I don't know, it was just, it was just strange.
Other things about the, the leaf and the cold.
So like I said, unplug roads for the most part,
totally fine, maybe like three inches of accumulation.
The leaf is a little bit lower,
like a half inch lower than the old leaf,
which was just straight up a sub sub comeback hatchback
with no, you know, like faux SUV pretensions.
I didn't get it stuck on the road,
but there were a couple of times,
I actually did get it stuck one time.
And this is the only press car I have gotten stuck
since I moved out into the middle of nowhere.
What happened was I was driving down my gravel road
covered in snow, there's an alpaca farm near me
that I enjoy, I enjoy like going
and I kind of, I kind of creep on the alpacas.
I like park and I watch them from my window
and they watch me and I watch them
and they watch me and then watch me watching them.
And since I change cars every week,
no one picks up that it's me that's doing this, right?
So I can just go back and watch the alpacas whenever I want
to find it very peaceful, it's very relaxing.
But today I just chose that place as my turnaround spot
because the alpacas weren't outside,
super cold, not fair for them, very snowy.
I know they're from the Andes and whatnot
and they're used to it, but at the same time,
you wanna, you gotta be sweet to the alpacas.
So there's this driveway that goes down into the farm
where the alpacas are and I pull into it,
and I said down, so there's a bit of an angle.
Leaf is front wheel drive.
I can't back up.
Is there an all wheel drive version?
No.
No.
Single motor, a single motor, front wheel drive,
795-
Again, front wheel drive when you don't need
to be front wheel drive.
EVs, you can put their motors anywhere.
Sure, I don't get it either.
Rear wheel drive would not have helped me here though.
Oh, okay.
It's 75 kilowatt hour battery and it's 214 horsepower.
The vehicle will not back up.
I am on, there's some ice under the snow.
I actually start sliding further down this driveway
towards the chain link fence that's across it.
And I'm like, I don't need this.
I don't need this jazz.
I don't need this.
I didn't need this today.
I started sawing the wheel back and forth
to get some, try to get some traction.
I turned traction control on and off,
trying to figure it out.
I get it moving backwards like an inch at a time,
but someone is down near the farm
and they're waving at me to stop, stop.
Yeah, good.
Thanks chief.
And they walk up and the guy,
the guy's like, I'll just open the fence
and you can drive down and go out the other exit.
And I'm like, oh, that's a great idea.
So, so I do that.
No problem going up the hill the other way.
Like once I have some momentum,
then like 10 minutes later,
I decided to stop on a hill to get some pictures.
Of course.
I get the pictures, I get back in the car
and it will not move forward.
And I'm like, oh no.
And this is not as abrupt of a hill
and I'm on the road now.
Like I'm not at it like a, on the other driveway,
you know, it's kind of like where you're teetering,
where like the back half of the car is flat
and the front part of the car is on an angle.
In this case, the whole car is like on the same plane.
And I had to back down the hill.
So that doesn't often, like I had an odyssey
in a big snowstorm two months ago.
And I had no issues with it.
It was great.
No problems, really good in the snow.
Front wheel drive as well.
But the leaf not nearly like as long
as you don't stop, as long as you maintain momentum,
excuse me, it's fine on winter tires.
But the moment you stop and smell the roses
or get outside and freeze your hands off
while you're taking pictures,
things can get real very quickly.
Brutal, okay.
That's a major, I mean, you think that's a snow thing, right?
Like that's a snow and muddy thing, I suppose.
Well, you're not gonna go mudding in a leaf.
I mean, maybe if you're a YouTube personality,
that's something you went to.
Okay, that's fair.
A couple, the safety systems worked pretty well,
even in the snow.
Normally when I drive these cars
and they get salted snow on them,
all the safety systems turn off
because the sensors get blocked.
That didn't happen in the leaf.
I'm assuming it's mostly camera-based
and the camera was, except for that one very cold day,
for about 10 minutes, I had condensation
in front of the camera between it and the windshield
and no way to take care of that.
The camera never disabled itself while I was driving.
The on-roads where it couldn't detect the lines,
it just didn't work.
It would say, hey, you have adaptive cruise control,
but I can't, sorry, I can't see where the lane is,
so you're not gonna get lane centering.
But one weird thing that happened was
when I was leaving the city with it the first day,
it was a dry day and there was salt on the road,
but you know that dry salt that blows everywhere
and it just kind of masks the lines
because the lines are painted white
and the salt was white.
And so the lane keeping system that would warn you
if you went off out of your lane, it was working fine,
but ProPilot Assist would not activate lane centering.
It would say, can't find lane.
So I wonder if, it's gotta be the same camera system.
And I just wonder if it needs more confidence
in what it's seeing then lane departure
in order to have that fine control over the steering wheel.
But I've never had one of those systems work
and the other one disabled.
You know what I mean?
So that was a little bit strange,
but most of the time it worked very well.
Like it never fully turned itself off.
So that's impressive on a vehicle like this,
especially one that's, you know, low to the ground.
It's not like an SUV.
I'm driving a tall SUV this week
and all of those systems shut themselves off
in a snowstorm yesterday.
You know, just couldn't handle it.
Yeah.
I mean, that's, it's one of the funniest things I feel
is that these systems are designed to help you
and make you, allow you to feel more confident while driving.
But in reality, they don't work very well
unless the conditions are perfectly.
Yeah, they never work when you need them to work the most.
I'm already confident when the weather is, is clear.
So what it does is it erodes your driving skills over time.
So that when bad things happen, you're not ready.
Yeah, exactly.
100% that's it.
I think that's one of the funniest things.
And it's the most true thing about, about these driver aids.
Yes.
And I'm driving a car this week.
We'll get to it in a minute
that has hands-free driving functionality.
And it's not perfect.
It, and there are times when it is very good.
I think we've talked about hands-free driving
with GM Supercruise, but it can't do everything.
It can't do everything all the time.
And to become reliant on it would be cool,
but just will not happen, like just it won't happen.
And so you end up being like hyper-vigilant
about what system in the car is working and what isn't.
But you also end up not being hyper-vigilant, right?
Because you kind of get lulled into this sense
of the car's taking care of things.
And sometimes when these systems turn themselves off,
it's not easy to know that.
I guess that's true, yes.
So it can catch you by surprise, unfortunately.
Some cars are just better at notifying you than others.
That's why I like what BMW and GM do
with the light-up steering wheels,
where it's right in your face
and you know whether it's on or off.
That's better than having an icon on the gauge cluster,
which like the turtle icon can easily be missed
if you're not particularly looking
in that section of the drive.
Or if your head-up displays can often help with this, right?
Because it puts the information directly in front of you.
And I'm a huge head-up display fan.
I think head-up displays are like,
and the real ones, not the...
Yeah, no flip-ups, please.
No flip-up weird thing that is basically
where the digital dashboard is anyways.
Mini has that one too now,
where they're like, we're not gonna give you a gauge cluster,
but we're gonna give you something even worse.
Just to wrap things up with the leaf, I liked it.
When it wasn't in turtle mode, power was fine,
it drove fine, it was comfortable.
I think it's a good size.
I like EVs in this form factor.
It's nice to see a car that has like a normal-sized battery
that still gets decent range,
like when it's not absolutely freezing outside.
The overall package is good.
I think in Canada, that's a lot of money to ask for this.
I don't see it as being all that competitive at that price,
but in the US, it's not horrible.
I mean, and if you want a base leaf,
if you just want a commuter car,
there's an argument that this is a good value.
So I think that this was a big step forward
for Nissan with this car.
Another thing unusual about it that I want to mention,
it has two charge ports.
One on the left is for the level two charging,
like CCS standard, the one that is not the Tesla center.
J1772 or something?
It doesn't have a combo plug, it just has level two.
If you want to do fast charging,
you have to go to the other side of the vehicle
for the next plug, the North American charging standard.
I got an adapter for that so I could use it with CCS.
I went to a charging station in the chill of the night
to try and get it to fast charge
and it would not connect to either of the two stations
I tried to connect to.
No way, really?
It worked fine at level two at my house,
but fast charging, no thank you.
Can I also add, let me just be clear,
one is the old standard without the CCS bottom, right?
Yes.
And the other side is the NACS Tesla style charger.
Yes, and I had an adapter to use it at a combo charger.
And the problem with adapters,
and we've said this on the show before,
I don't know what failed that night.
If it was the charger, the car or the adapter,
there's three points of failure.
I haven't, I've had to use chargers now
with a couple of cars
and I haven't had any significant issues yet,
but I haven't used any super fast charging.
I haven't used a DC fast charger yet,
just the regular level two charging.
I want to say that charge,
it's rare to see a car with both styles.
I mean, it's unheard of.
I think the Leaf might be the only one
in North America right now.
Yeah, I think that's true too.
I feel like the, this might be weird.
I feel like the Taycan used to have two chargers,
but it didn't have an NACS port.
Yeah, I think you're right.
One was like a CCS port and one was just the non CCS port.
I think that maybe in like another market,
it had two different chargers.
And then in North America,
they were just trying to sell it on convenience or something.
Well, this is a great point actually though.
The old Leaf used to use Chatham-O, right?
Yeah, and it was at the front of the car.
He was in the grill.
Yeah, yeah.
So is now, I've got to double check something
because a part of me believes that Chatham-O might be dead.
It's a hundred percent dead in the United States and Canada.
There's not as, the Leaf was the only Chatham-O car.
No, hold on.
I think that you can fast charge.
I'm going to double check before I get my butt kicked.
Hold on.
Don't you talk about fast charging a plug-in hybrid?
I am.
Is that what you're about to say?
Is it, are you going to say Mitsubishi?
Yeah, that's my boy, the Mitsubishi.
Does it not have a Chatham-O charger?
I don't think so because I've driven one
and I would have flipped out if it had a Chatham-O charger.
Why?
Because I don't have that technology.
No one has that technology.
It's on every charge.
It's on every charging station in Canada for the most part,
but it doesn't get used.
It's like, it's just the standard that time forgot.
I'm trying to find it.
I don't think the old one did.
I think the old one did.
In any case.
No, that can't be true.
In any case, check out the Leaf.
If you're in the United States, if you're in Canada,
I'm not so sure.
I think for that money,
no, but I mean, how much does an IONIQ 5 cost?
We've talked about this IONIQ 5, especially one,
I think they sell a model that isn't quite like real,
in my opinion.
The one with the small batteries.
The small battery and rear-wheel drive,
I don't think they stock them.
I don't think they put them in anyone's.
58, 50 is the entry price for a 26.
That's 3,000 more than a Platinum Plus trim leaf.
I don't think that that makes sense.
We've talked about this with the Kona, right?
We always talk about the Kona.
Oh, I totally forgot about the Kona.
I think the Kona is the natural rival for this thing.
I think you're right.
In Canada, because of pricing, yes, in the States,
I think that the Leaf is cheaper off the top of my head.
Sammy, you know, you're talking about how the starting price
for the IONIQ 5 in Canada right now for that $58,000,
it is the large battery.
Oh, they've gotten rid of it.
It looks like it, because the preferred long-range
all-wheel drive is only 60,000 versus 58 for this other one.
They both have the 84 kilowatt-hour battery.
That's wicked, holy moly.
Yes, get an 80 kilowatt-hour battery for 3 grand more,
for sure.
I mean, yeah, it's only 10 kilowatt hours more
than the Leaf, but the IONIQ is a more useful car
in the sense that it's larger, more comfortable,
and you can get all-wheel drive for a little bit more money
if you don't want to get stuck at the Opaka farm like I did.
I think this is a tough sell against an IONIQ.
I think it's a decent competitor to the Kona.
And there's also the Equinox.
The Equinox feels a lot bigger than either of those two vehicles.
Well, now that the Bolt is only around for one year,
do you think if they sell it for more than one year,
we're going to be allowed to take them to court
like all the Durango SRT buyers did?
I think if they sell it for more than one year,
the Earth will reverse its rotation,
and that will be the least of our concerns.
So that's pretty much all I have to say about the Leaf.
I think it's much more competitive in the US
than it is in Canada,
and I think it's a good rival to the Kona EV.
Affordable EVs are such an interesting.
It feels like nobody's gunning for it,
and at the same time,
no one has nailed the segment in a way
that makes it hard to just not recommend
going to the next step up.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, it's no one's interested
in making a very small amount of money.
It's kind of how it seems to come across.
But you notice how we're not talking about the Fiat 500E
in this conversation once.
Well, the 500E is limited in more ways than just range, right?
Like it's too small to be really appropriate
for a lot of people.
Currently, the 500E is available for lease
at a dealership nearby for $28 Canadian a week.
That's like $20 US a week.
So that's a sub one hundred.
Well, I'm going to do some basic math for you.
80 bucks a month.
Sub $100 US a month.
That's a good price.
That is 12,000 kilometers of driving a year,
which is about you won't ever need to ever be able to do that
in a 500 even if you tried.
What if you put it on a treadmill?
Yeah, you'd have to have it plugged into a generator.
You just want to get your money's worth, right?
So the car I drove has no inklings about efficiency
or electrification.
In fact, it is a it is the one of the biggest things
that I drive whenever I do these these press reviews.
And yet it fits in your enormous garage somehow.
It did fit just like a glove, honestly, without without any
room to to to to spare.
I have to like suck my tummy in when I'm scooting in around it.
It is the Ford Expedition and I will know it's not they make
a bigger version of the Ford Expedition called the let me
make sure I got this right.
Expedition Max.
So you can get the Max, but you got the Sammy Expedition Sammy.
I got the regular one.
And I I'm I have it this week because I'm going to be
usually utilizing all of its space for a road trip with four
adults and a child and we need all of the space and stuff
we can get because we're hauling in strollers and suitcases
and all that kind of stuff.
I mean, you could have picked up a minivan.
Just gonna say yeah, that's true.
The model I had in particular was the tremor.
I will point out that it seems like the expedition has gotten
a pretty significant redesign.
The exterior looks kind of similar to the outgoing model,
but the interior is where things have changed fairly dramatically
in terms of the amount of there's a lot of technology in the car
now there are some like two massive almost redundant screens
including a curved dash that sits on top of the dash like a
curved digital display that sits on top of the dashboard.
And at some point seems to kind of overlap with the infotainment
system like if you look at the infotainment system and then
look look on top of the dash the same information is on in both
places.
It's very strange.
So I'm looking at the trim levels for the expedition and it
seems like they've really simplified things like there used
to be something called Timberline and that's that's gone.
Now there's just active platinum tremor and King Ranch.
Yeah, so it seems like I think active is probably I would I
haven't taken a look at it, but I would guess that it's like
the lower trimmed version of a tremor while platinum and King
Ranch are King Ranch are probably just two models in the same
kind of like two piece in the same pod basically, you know,
like they're they're the high end versions fully loaded.
But so to say that one I had was not well equipped for starters
the car comes with a twin turbo I believe it's a twin turbo.
Yes, twin turbo v6 that has 440 horsepower.
The trip the the the cheaper models feature a 400 horsepower
model.
I don't know if that's a significant enough difference
when you're when you're hollow.
What's the torque figure?
I'm sure it's vastly different.
It is 510 pound feet of torque on the high output model while
the entry level model features.
Why won't you tell me Ford?
They won't tell me I'm sure someone will tell you.
That's just the way it is, man.
All right, we'll never know.
One thing to note about you were talking about how there's a
longer version called the max, right?
Yes, the tremor is the only trim that can't be ordered on the
max.
Yes, so that's an important thing to talk about.
I don't have that model.
Obviously it's test out and if I did, I probably wouldn't
been able to put it into my garage.
The tremor as well comes with a bunch like it's special.
It is meant to be an off-road model.
So it comes with a couple of features that are are designed
to emphasize that.
First of all, the exterior is a little bit more rugged.
So you'll see some blacked out badging.
It has some orange trim bits around where you would expect
the fog lights to be.
It has like an orange segment in the wheels and they're 18
inch wheels with massive all-terrain tires on them.
I'm not a winter tires on yours.
I do not have all I do not have winter tires.
I'm currently on, I think they're called general tire
grabbers if I'm not mistaken.
Be careful in your road trip.
Yeah, and I'm going somewhere particularly snowy.
So I'm not really excited about that experience, but it has
the all-wheel drive system, four-wheel drive system actually
and you can set up a bunch of different drive modes.
There's a feature in it that I haven't been able to test out
called trail turn, I believe trail turn assist trail turn
assist, which I believe it lets you pure wet the vehicle
right using the inside brake.
I want you to visualize the panic in my gut when I try to move
this land yon the way it's trying to expect you to do it.
It's like a poor man's crab walk.
It is basically a handbrake turn, I think at speed like kind of
yeah, but only on one wheel.
Yeah, exactly.
I will say there is some really interesting things in this car
that are that really caught me off guard.
In particular, it has a total redesign of the steering wheel
controls in which that there are only two illuminated control
that basically how do I describe this?
There are two D pads basically like video game D pads on the steering
wheel, but they are not illuminated except for one button.
When you touch the pad part of the steering wheel, an on-screen
display shows up in the gauge cluster to show you what you're
touching because those are blanked out buttons, but they still
have functionality and then you can press the button that you
want. It is an awful experience because that means that instead
of driving, I'm trying to figure out what button I'm trying to
get my thumb on and I don't know why they did this.
It sounds like a total nightmare.
I don't understand why they would do this either.
They very clearly have the capabilities to just put icons on
the display and the only reason I would understand why they
didn't do that is because in order for you to change the adaptive
cruise control gap setting, you have to press like two buttons.
So you have to press the gap button and then up and down on
that side of the steering wheel.
It's really unnecessary.
Every other automaker has figured it out.
It sounds like Ford used to have it figured out too before
they forgot it and did this.
Yeah, and in addition to that, it's also a strange shape for
a steering wheel.
It feels way, it's very oval, almost like a flat bottom and
flat top steering wheel.
That's what everyone wants.
It's very strange.
I guess they're trying to mimic the yoke thing that I think
Tesla had and Lexus had for a little while.
And I don't think it's super successful.
On the other hand, this car does come with blue cruise, which
is the Ford hands free alternative to what's it called in super
cruise.
Yeah, super cruise.
And it's you mentioned BMW had one as well.
Yeah, but I was talking about the notification systems.
I don't have any notifications except for on the digital gauge
cluster.
That's when it tells you that you should help help like grab
the wheel or not, which again is not ideal because you're not
staring at that gauge cluster all the time.
So those are my main idea.
Those are my main concerns with with all this technology in
the car.
It also has a motorized moving center console.
Or armrest something that I think will probably it does not
move fast enough for people.
Why does it move?
Why do I need to move?
Explain this to me.
I think that they can put stuff in the storage.
I'm not doing it.
Do I need to catch it?
Like when it's moving, like is it escaping me?
What is it doing?
What do you say moving?
There's two buttons on the armrest.
Okay, move this whole thing forward and backwards.
Why backwards?
It hides a a path through storage area between the driver
and the passenger and when it moves and then obviously it
goes closer to the people behind you.
In addition to that, there's also a I think it's a tablet
mount on the back of the armrest.
That's how wide it is.
Is there a hinge for this?
Like didn't we used to use hinges?
Am I crazy?
It has a hinge.
It has a hinge.
Does the hinge?
I have no idea how to picture what's happening here.
You have an armrest on top of the armrest.
Just stop our buttons.
I feel dumber like with each word you say.
Am I not helping you understand this?
How do I not help you?
It goes forward and backwards, but it also has a hinge.
Yeah, it opens up.
It wasn't opening before.
I don't know.
It was going forward to do what to not open.
No, it can open like this whole console just moves.
Oh my goodness.
We need to move on.
Okay, fine.
And then in addition to that, my car has motorized third row
seats.
Do they have a hinge?
Yeah, they they have to in order for them to fold.
See this, I understand and it has a split tailgate.
So the that that I don't know if that's great or not.
I'm not a fan of that.
It always feels like, hey, you're here's a way for your
groceries to fall on the ground, you know, like.
No, it's more about the idea that when I press them on the
opening button, I have to press another button to draw.
Yeah, that's always that's always great.
That's always like get make it a process.
Yeah.
One of the interesting things is you can fold down the middle
seat of the second row and third row, all of them.
So you have this massive pass through throughout the whole
car.
That's I guess that's what you do with your sliding motorized.
I guess the tailgate actually helps with the groceries
because you could pop the top one and then the groceries
don't fall because the bottom one's there.
I remember isn't it Land Rover that came out with this first
that was their big thing.
I thought BMW had it too with the X5.
Yeah, I think you're right.
I think you're right.
Um, a lot of things to enjoy about this car really really
punchy powertrain despite its size.
It is again 440 horsepower 510 pound feet of torque in this
model and features a 10 speed automatic transmission which
in which normally feels very nice but occasionally I've had
it like judder or jump.
Is that a weird way to describe an action?
It feels like sometimes it slams into gear and then just
kind of like lurches forward really aggressively and I don't
know what's causing that.
I don't know if that's just a seems bad.
Yeah, I don't know if that's just a cold weather thing
or something.
It's not a great experience.
It's a great feeling which is weird because as far as I
understand expedition is based on f-series and f-series is
like one of the most sold vehicles in the world and any
issues would be like any issue that happens to one car is
happening to like 400,000 of them.
But that 10 speed transmission has been nothing but problems
for Ford in the f-series.
So then that makes a lot of sense.
I'm expecting my father has one and he hates it.
Okay.
He has a six speed in his older F 150 and the 10 speed in the
new one and he prefers driving the 2012 model.
They both have the five liter V8.
No, no more V8 are available in the expedition.
It's an important thing that you brought it up despite it sharing
a lot of I don't think it's had a V8 for 10 years now.
Really?
I'm pretty sure it's been EcoBoost exclusively for a very
long time.
Yeah, for a while.
And the other thing to mention is that it cost quite a bit.
The my model in particular is about 82 grand.
In Canada, my trim level came to $107,000.
Okay, we need to pump the brakes and just discuss the idea of
paying six figures for a Ford that isn't a GT 40 or some crazy
Mustang variant.
I agree with you mainly because they also make the navigator,
which is based on the same car.
And I'm also driving this tremor model, which feels
compromised in terms of, as you mentioned, off-road, like,
I mean, I don't know what kind of off-roading.
It has a rock mode and I keep looking at this and I'm like,
and it has rock rails.
Like when you push side steps or like rock rails.
But when you push the rock mode, nine inch nails comes out of
the dashboard and hologram form.
Yeah.
And you get to request one song.
So I'm just like, I don't understand this trail turn, which
again, whipping a car of this size around.
It's only for low speeds.
It's not a cool move.
Like, I don't know what kind of, you'd need to have so much
confidence in what that feature can do to use it in a tight
space.
It's exclusively for low speeds.
Okay.
Like it says that in the description.
So I can't say whipping it anymore.
No.
I mean, you're making it sound like it's like when you said
handbrake turned before.
It's like drifting.
Like you're going to be like in a high school parking lot.
Yeah.
Hammering it.
And anyway, it's got a limit.
It's got a locking locking diff and all that, but and a locking
wheel and a locking wheel.
But it feels like those are features that are not necessary
in a vehicle of this.
I think like Kubo is off-roading in a gigantic three row SUV.
It just doesn't really have a floating, not just like trail
like on a trail, which like every Subaru impressive can do
like real off-roading.
But the thing with a long vehicle is trails are a challenge
when you have to turn like if you have a tight corner, you
might not be able to get through them.
Like and the longer wheelbase is a bit is a bit funky over
certain obstacles too.
So yeah, I mean, these they're not intended for, you know,
this isn't this isn't an expedition Raptor, right?
Like it's not that I keep wondering why they don't have
an expedition Raptor though.
Because of everything we just talked about.
But if they're going to make an off-road thing, make it all
the way off-road, right?
They make a Nismo version of the Armada and that's not even
off-road.
Yeah, but that's like that's super low to the ground.
Yeah, hella sweet.
Like don't even I need stuff like that.
Okay.
All right.
Well, we what we can do for you is yellow on the bumper.
Yellow, yellow fog light surrounds on the bottom and sorry
tow hooks.
Is that okay?
Is that anything?
That's what they do.
You're 100% correct.
Anyways, 82 grand for this is too much.
I feel like the entry level model, the 62 grand model is as
as much as I'm willing to pay for an expedition as luxurious
and high tech as this is.
The other thing to mention, of course, as you said, if I'm
taking a bunch of people adults, especially on a adventure,
a minivan will do the trick probably better than this thing.
It might actually have winter tires.
Yeah, it would have winter tires and I wouldn't have to worry
about struggling how to park it in places like I do with this
tremor.
Now, one more thing I wanted to talk about before we close
today's podcast.
There was a story I sent you yesterday.
When you say you, you mean me, right?
Yeah, you.
I sent Ben yesterday something that I thought he would really
he would love.
It's about the 2026 Mazda CX-5 and this is a car that has
gotten a very significant redesign.
And you have to mention that this is an Australian market
review that you sent me.
I sent you the but automotive news is their source is
in American publication.
So I never read the sourcing.
I just the sorry the source that they used came from the
American American journalist and American.
Oh, I can't read it now.
It doesn't matter.
Why is this okay?
Sorry, it's interesting because the headline is Mazda cuts
invisible costs on CX-5 to protect margins from terrorists
and restore profitability.
Okay.
I want to submit that there are no invisible cuts you can
make to a car.
I think that when you have a car that was one thing and then
you make it lesser than that car, you can perceive that in my
opinion from behind the wheel or in the second row or wherever
it is like the article gets really weird about these cuts
like well, not the article.
It's the it's the actual the chief financial officer of Mazda
here.
I'm not sure if that's Mazda US Mazda global or Mazda as you
mentioned Australia.
They mentioned that they for on the nitty gritty side, they
cut some cost and weight from the steel body structure by
coordinating with their supplier.
We're using because it's also a longer vehicle and a wider
vehicle and now it has less steel in it.
Let's let's sit with that for a second and see how we feel
about that.
Yeah, I don't like that.
The other thing that they really pointed out and they got
really into the nitty gritty here is that Mazda changed how
it wraps leather on the CX-5 steering wheel.
Now, I know this sounds really like nitpicky, but apparently
Mazda is no longer cutting it precisely and sewing it on a
curve so that the stitching lines up horizontally and they
argue that buyers don't value this more than the angled
stitching used by rivals.
Yeah.
So the whole the whole crux of this person talking about the
cuts they've made to this car is that we've decided to make cuts
in areas where customers don't care, aka where Mazda perceives
that customers don't care.
There's a whole bunch of worrisome stuff in this in this
interview slash discussion.
The first is why are you telling us this stuff?
Why are you coming out and saying, Hey, here's the new CX-5.
It's lesser than the previous CX-5.
Yeah.
Don't worry, not in a way that you'll notice like that's like
saying the t-shirt that I'm wearing that says the CX-5 is
lesser than the old CX-5 is answering a lot of the questions
I've been getting about this CX-5.
You don't need to tell us these things unless you're trying
to get ahead of something that you think will be a problem.
So then you can see.
Yeah, go ahead.
The second thing about what he's saying is that talk about
the steering wheel.
If I'm being ungenerous is the kind of niche detail that you
bring up because it's something that a journalist can print
that like hopefully keeps them from asking questions about
things that actually matter.
You think it's a misdirect.
There's something really, I think it's a total misdirect.
So there are, first of all, there's there's an important
discussion to be made about Mazda looking at their
looking at their competition and being like, I guess we'll
just be more like them.
And then there's another discussion about where they
made other changes.
For example, Mazda used to have a lot of physical controls
in their in their vehicles.
Even their latest ones have a lot of physical controls.
But if you look at the infotainment system on this,
it has a ton of touch buttons.
The there's a really bizarre looking d-pad again on the
steering wheel.
So they've changed some some of the things that I think used
to make a Mazda Mazda.
And they've also removed the turbocharged engine for now.
I think from almost everything that you're saying really
makes me feel like this is a decontented vehicle.
I agree with you.
Now here's the major issue I have.
Major issue that I have is that for a long time Mazda made
its its its energy, I guess it really stood out from everyone
else despite being a smaller automaker by delivering a better
driving experience than the mainstream competition.
I used to love the way a Mazda 3 drives.
We all know that the the MX-5 is a great driving car.
The first generation and second generation CX-5's also
drove fairly well and that could be said about even some
of the latest versions of their cars too.
But somewhere along the lines they said instead of a car
being fun to like a better driving experience, we want to
make the cars a more luxurious experience.
They tried to go premium, but like not be true luxury.
Yeah.
And then they that's when they kind of started becoming
an amorphous blob of an automaker because the MX the CX-30,
CX-50 and then the two latest blunders, the 70 and 90 lost
all sense of the automaker entirely for the effort of
trying to say that we care about certain details that are
interesting and unique and make the car feel like it's worth
more money.
And now they're walking that back.
Exactly.
So now they're in the middle of they're in no man's land,
right?
Yeah.
It's like what is if you're going to do this, they've now lost
the premium drive.
I mean, we haven't driven the car, but they've lost the in previous
like examples from them.
They've lost the driving, you know, like joy of their mainstream
cars and now they're losing the like attention to detail,
which made them stand out.
And it's like you said like saying to me that they're going
to say that that's too expensive to do when if you like we just
got out of the Palisade and we remember the first generation
Palisade saying, holy look at the the the attention to detail
on the knobs of this car, right?
And now as it's walking back there, their attention to detail
on their leather stitching, I think that's that's a as you
said, just the want the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, they're not only walking.
They're not only walking, you know, removing the attention
to detail.
They're advertising that fact like this is things you don't
need to tell us.
Like let us discover whether the vehicle is actually lesser
than before.
Don't set us up to think that because now I'm going to the
situation looking for areas where they've cut corners.
And as you mentioned before, like it's it's the homogenization
of the badge.
Like why would I buy a Mazda versus another vehicle?
If you're a hunger.
Yeah, what's the reason for doing so?
You know, like is it just styling now?
Is it just price?
Like what what are you really selling me as the Mazda
experience?
It's really worrisome.
It's just it's a strange thing used to be like look me and
you have been on Mazda programs together and they used to be
the the automaker that seemed like it was run by the engineers
and not the not the accounting department.
I think that's what that's what they used to be like.
But the reality is they're such a small company that the
accounting department is super important.
They can't afford to make mistakes.
You know, they're like Subaru in that sense.
They they can't come out with a product that nobody wants.
Like Subaru survived that with the the B9 Tribeca.
Yeah, and they came right back with the ascent though.
But the no, not right back.
Well, not right back.
Yes, but they learned their lesson, right?
I guess.
But they're very conservative in terms of what they bring out
and and Mazda like they swung really big with the CX-90.
I don't personally know how successful it's been for them.
So I can't speak to that.
But I don't like do people put put the CX-90 on the same level
as a Genesis, for example, like is it viewed as Genesis light?
Is it viewed as Acura light?
Like where does that fit for them?
And and now that the CX-50, we're talking about the CX-5, right?
You were saying about the CX-5.
Yeah, and they have a CX-50 still.
If the CX-5 is not going to be going for like premium or a semi
luxury experience anymore, then if you buy a CX-5, are you going
to be interested in upgrading to a CX-90 later on and paying
that awful car?
We've all driven it.
No, no, thank you.
So it's it's just it's really hard to understand why this is
happening.
And the reason I guess why Sammy and I are talking about it so
much is because we're, you know, we're cheering for its small
car companies to survive.
And we used to I used to recommend CX-5s.
I used to recommend 3s, Mazda 3s and CX-30s.
They had their place and now Mazda is like is no longer the
automaker that we recall when they we were recommending, I think
in my opinion.
I guess we'll see what happens.
I don't know.
I used to think that Mazda would be a very dependable automaker
for I mean, a dependable choice for somebody who is looking
for something interesting to drive and off the beaten path in
terms because Toyota's can be very expensive.
Honda's can be very expensive and lame to drive to or were
like that.
And Mazda was seen as like the alternative for somebody who
maybe wanted to care a little bit more about what they were
driving.
And now it feels like they've lost that CX-90 and 70 is a
blunder.
That is a huge mistake and I don't know how they're going to
it seems like they're going to be unable to recoup that.
If you have any ideas on how to save Mazda, you can reach out
to us at unnamedautomotivepodcast.com.
There is a contact form.
Just fill that out.
Click submit and it ends up in our inbox or you can email the
old fashioned way Benjamin at Benjamin hunting or you can find
Sammy on Instagram.
He is at Sammy underscore ha like you're laughing next week.
Then I think we're going to be talking about a three row
electric vehicle.
Yeah, we actually know next week we're not going to be talking
about anything because I am you're going to your your your
fortress of solitude in the woods and with four other people
which makes it a lot less solitary than it says on the sign
and I am going to be going to Toronto a sensibly to visit
you, but you won't be there.
So because Sammy is traveling, even though I will be in
Toronto, we won't be able to get together to record an
episode.
So we're going to have a week off and when we come back, we're
both going to be talking about the Ioniq nine, which we
happen to have sort of simultaneously driven.
It's the gigantic battery powered SUV from Hyundai and I have
a lot of thoughts about it, Sammy.
I have several thoughts about it because of the winter that I
had to drive it in.
Oh, I assure you it is far more wintery here.
Oh, that's true.
I can't wait to hear how you're done with it because it did
not go well.
Okay, well, we're going to we're going to tell you guys next
week or the week after that.
All right.
Thank you for listening, everybody.
Bye.
About this episode
The discussion centers around the 2026 Nissan Leaf and the 2026 Ford Expedition Tremor, highlighting significant updates to the Leaf after years of stagnation. The hosts delve into its new design, improved range of up to 288 miles, and enhanced interior quality. They also share personal experiences with the Leaf in extreme cold, noting unusual battery gauge behavior. The conversation touches on the competitive landscape for affordable EVs and the implications of recent market changes, making it a relevant listen for those interested in the future of electric vehicles.
all wheel drive
battery capacity
battery gauge
CCS standard
Chademo
crossover
EV
fast charging
front wheel drive
gauge cluster
BMW X2
BMW X5
Chevrolet Bolt
Dodge Charger
Fiat 500e
Ford Expedition
Ford F-150
Ford GT40
Ford Mustang
Honda Odyssey
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai Kona
Hyundai Palisade
Mazda CX-30
Mazda CX-5
Mazda CX-50
Mazda CX-90
Mazda RX-3
Nissan Ariya
Nissan Juke
Nissan Kicks
Nissan Leaf
Oldsmobile Curved Dash
Porsche Taycan
Subaru Ascent
Tata Motors Aria
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model Y
Toyota Crown
Toyota Supra
Original notes
The show starts with a review of the 2026 Nissan Leaf, which Benjamin tested out in the most wintery of conditions. How did the already limited range keep up with the low temperatures? And what about its handling of the snowy roads? Benjamin shares his experiences and more in this somewhat affordable EV.
Then Sami tests out one of the bigger SUVs out there, the 2025 Ford Expedition Tremor. Able to haul 8 passengers and deal with off roading, this big truck-based family hauler has some cool new tech to discuss, and some worth nitpicking.
Finally the show ends on a discussion about Mazdas new approach to their cars, namely cost cutting. Are they the only ones? Thanks for listening!
Unnamed Automotive Podcast
Unnamed Automotive Podcast
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