Gas Prices are Crazy. Is Now the Time to Buy a Hybrid? Episode 113
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Concept
electric vehicle (EV)
An electric vehicle is a car that runs only on electricity instead of gas. You charge it by plugging it in, and it doesn’t make pollution when you drive.
Concept
hybrid
A hybrid car uses both gas and electricity to help it go farther without using as much fuel. It can switch between the two to save gas.
Company
eBay Motors
eBay Motors is a website where people can buy and sell cars and car parts online, kind of like an online car market.
Company
Mother's California Gold Car Care Collection
Mother's California Gold is a brand that makes special products to clean and protect cars, like wax that makes the car shiny.
Term
spray on wax
Spray on wax is a liquid you spray on your car to make it shiny and protect the paint without much effort.
Car
Rivian R1-T
The Rivian R1-T is a fully electric truck that doesn’t use gas. It’s made by a company called Rivian and can drive a long way before needing to recharge.
Concept
fuel crisis
A fuel crisis happens when gas prices go way up or gas is hard to get, so people start thinking about buying cars that use less gas or run on electricity.
Term
electric vehicles
Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity stored in batteries instead of using gas. They are quieter and can be cheaper to run.
Car
Kia EV6
The Kia EV6 is an electric car that runs on batteries instead of gas. It's a newer model with good technology and can drive a long way before needing to recharge.
Concept
federal tax credit
A federal tax credit is money the government gives back to people who buy electric cars to help make them cheaper.
Term
MSRP
MSRP is the price the car company says the car should be sold for before any deals or discounts.
Term
electric variant
An electric variant means the car runs only on electricity, without using gas. It’s better for the environment because it doesn’t produce smoke from the tailpipe.
Concept
EV infrastructure
EV infrastructure means the places and equipment where you can plug in and charge electric cars. If there aren’t many chargers nearby, it can be hard to use an electric car.
Concept
charging network
A charging network is a group of places where electric cars can be charged. If you live somewhere without many chargers, it can be hard to keep your electric car powered.
Term
miles per gallon
Miles per gallon tells you how far a car can go using one gallon of gas. The bigger the number, the less gas you use, so you save money.
Term
fuel prices
Fuel prices are how much it costs to buy gas for your car. When gas gets expensive, people often look for cars that use less fuel or run on electricity.
Term
alternative fuel vehicles
These are cars that run on different types of fuel instead of just regular gas, like electric cars or ones that use special fuels to be cleaner.
Term
impulse purchase
Buying something quickly without thinking about it much, just because you want it right then.
Term
average monthly payment
This is how much money most people pay every month to have their car, either by loan or lease.
Term
federal incentives
These are special money savings or discounts from the government to help people buy cleaner cars like electric ones.
Term
leasing
Leasing is like renting a car for a few years where you pay monthly but don't own it when the time is up.
Car
BMW X5
The BMW X5 is a fancy SUV that can use both gas and electricity to help save fuel. It’s a popular choice for people who want a nice car that’s also more efficient.
Concept
K-shaped economy
A K-shaped economy means some people or groups are doing well and making money, while others are struggling and falling behind.
Term
fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency tells you how far your car can go using a little bit of gas. A car that goes farther on less gas saves you money.
Term
interest rate
Interest rate is the extra money you pay when you borrow money to buy a car. If the rate is high, you pay more each month.
LIVE
Gas prices are surging. There's war in the Middle East, and the world is a very uncertain
place. Maybe now is the time to buy a hybrid, or perhaps an EV. I'm Greg Migliore, welcome
back to the AutoGuide Show, presented by eBay Motors. This week, we're talking to Joseph
Eune of Edmonds to break down what surging fuel prices might mean for your next car purchase.
This week, I'm also doing the gear test, and I reviewed a couple of products from
Mother's California Gold Car Care Collection, including a spray on wax. In the AutoGuide garage,
I've been driving the Rivian R1-T, and our road test editor, Kyle Patrick,
joins me to talk about his time in the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid. You'll want to stick
around for that. We close things out with the mailbag. But first, a word from eBay.
eBay has reinvented vehicle buying. From click to curb, everything's covered. With their new
secure purchase, eBay isn't just where you find your car, it's where you buy it, start to finish.
Title, financing, registration, delivery, it's all built in. And eligible vehicle
purchases are backed up by up to $100,000 in protection. This is what modern car buying looks
like. Get your next ride on eBay. eBay, things people love. Secure purchase is powered by Carmel
Dealer Services LLC and eBay subsidiary. Joining me now is Joseph Eune, consumer insights analyst
for Edmunds.com. Welcome to the show, Joseph. Thank you for having me, Greg.
Alrighty. So today, we're going to talk about the rising cost of fuel and what that might mean for
consumers who are in the market for a new car, of course, with their pocketbook. That's frankly,
how people seem to vote the most is with their pocketbook. So we're seeing fuel prices surge.
What did some of the Edmunds data, and obviously you guys are seeing some increased
interest in hybrids and electric vehicles. Can you kind of talk about that a little bit more?
Yeah, I think it's perhaps expected. Every time there's some sort of fuel crisis, people tend to
look towards the most obvious thing affected by fuel prices, which is their cars, especially here
in America. And so I remember back in 2006, 2007, when we first had that big surge in fuel prices
where everyone was like, oh, no, what do you do? And everyone was trying to buy up those old
Geometros and Civic DXs and all that stuff. And all of that activity hasn't been as severe,
but now that electric vehicles are in the mainstream for the most part. I think there's
renewed interest whenever there's any kind of fuel spike for people that if they were in the
market, maybe they wouldn't have considered it before. I think they may have looked towards
something, some sort of alternative, especially since now there are enough electric vehicles
in popular segments with enough options so that people can be like, well, maybe I should take
a look at XYZ instead of the gas version of the car that I was looking at before.
One thing we talked about on a recent podcast, how used electric vehicles are much more of an
option than they obviously have really ever been before because just, you know, many can be coming
off lease. Some of these are actually pretty good vehicles. We're talking like maybe a 2023
Kia EV6. This isn't like a 2011 LEAF or something. Not that there's anything wrong with that,
but it's like this is a car that could be still very much of the moment as far as technology.
So what are you guys seeing in that front? Yeah, I think it's a great kind of a value
segment right now. If you're in the, I think at any price point, you can get a great EV if you're
shopping used because I think the depreciation for these cars was kind of unforeseen in a way.
We didn't know what they were going to be worth at the end of their leases. I feel like most
manufacturers marked up their residuals to push the lease programs as much as they could. And that
was kind of what the federal tax credit was for, right, to have mass adoption really quickly so
that it can kind of filter down to the use market in a couple of your time. And we're seeing the
effects of that happen right now. And at prices that we didn't think were going to be this good,
especially for the second time or the third time buyer. You can get, as you said,
practically brand new EVs for probably sometimes less than half what the original MSRP was.
And these are great cars that still get plenty of good enough range and are and could be a great
option for people that are in the market right now and maybe aren't sure about paying the current
premium for a brand new EV or don't need all the features of a brand new EV that are coming out
right now. Now, let's talk a little bit about hybrids. It's almost like a throwback. What's
old is new again. You think back to Prius, which now there is an electric variant of it, but it was
Prius, Prius hybrid for most of its life. And it's interesting that OEMs are sort of pivoting back,
perhaps because the technology is already there. It's easier. It can be cheaper, depending on,
you know, how you apply it. What do you think will you see momentum with hybrids? Let's talk
about those sort of specifically for a minute here. Hybrids have been quietly kind of building up to
be a real, real mainstream player, I think for powertrains, because everyone wants to save money
at the gas station. But most people are afraid to make the full switch to electric. And I can totally
see why we've had what, over 100 years of just driving a gas car, and we've had the infrastructure
in place to make that experience as seamless as possible. And I think in the early days of EV
ownership and kind of still to this day, depending on where you live, that infrastructure support
isn't there. And for people that drive long distances, that have long commutes, owning an EV
just feels like an inconvenience. And if you live in a, even like a semi rural area where you may
not have the charging network capabilities that exist for you, then that means it's not really
an option for you to even consider. And so when you have those factors combined, but you still want
to, for whatever reason, spend less money on gas or be a little more eco-friendly, the only real
alternative, I think, is hybrid vehicles. And most hybrid vehicles these days, especially in the most
popular segments like a compact SUV or a mid-sized SUV, these cars are getting what, 40, 50 miles
to the gallon now, you know, when you're driving in the city. And that's very difficult to ignore,
I think, when you're a shopper and looking at what these cars are doing. And gas cars are
more efficient than they've ever been, obviously, but hybrid technology has been refined and refined
for close to 30 years now. And when you have that kind of refinement in technology and in
battery tech and how the engines and the motors switch back and forth, you have a very refined
product with a very clear benefit. And you get to feel good about it. And I think that's what's
been a huge win for manufacturers that have a decent hybrid lineup. What I think is interesting
is, last fall, like politics really sort of intersected the auto industry. It does tend to
do from time to time. And, you know, with the end of the federal tax credit, and then we did see
sort of like a surge, if you will, in EVs, as people tried to snap up, you know, sort of, you
know, a little bit, it seemed like, because, you know, obviously it didn't have that. But at the end
of the day, politics tends to be very seasonal with the car business. It tends to go away.
And it sounds kind of like what you're saying, and what we're seeing is people start to maybe put
away the electric, like the politics that have, you know, sort of followed electric cars a while.
And, you know, it's six, seven months later, and they're like, well, wait, fuel costs this much.
I don't really care if it's, this isn't a political issue for me. I don't want to spend more of the
pump. Maybe I do want an electric car. Or, whoa, these hybrid things that I kind of forgot about,
I could get one of those in almost any flavor of brandy I might like. Here they are. Is that
something maybe you are seeing that ultimately that like, it's sort of water finds its level,
right? You know, people, you know, for a while they're thinking politics or sort of figuring out
maybe what side they're on. But at the end of the day, dollars and cents is sort of very universal
when it comes to car buying. Yeah, you're absolutely right. As you said at the beginning of the
segment, people vote with their dollars at the end of the day. That's what matters the most.
And when you look at the car market right now, and you look at fuel prices, it's kind of inevitable
that regardless of what your opinion was on these vehicles, if you're looking for an alternative,
these are it. Like, you look at the fuel prices going up, you know, here in LA, we have two very
famous gas stations that are typically about $1, $1.50 higher than like the city average.
One's in Malibu and like one's in the middle of the city in like a weird five-point intersection
where everyone knows that's like, you only go there if you're out of gas. That's the gas station
you go to if you like car stop there. And everyone knows it's that expensive. And those
stations are I think at like $7 now, $6, $7 a gallon. And so when you have these
surges and fuel prices and you look at how much it costs to fill up your tank,
my sister is complaining to me over the weekend, she's got a little Corolla hatchback. And so for
her fuel is negligent. But even she noticed that her for her to fill up her tank was $50.
And she was like, bro, what is going on here? And then I was like, well, like if you looked at
the news once in a while, that's what's happening. And I think for and I it's very noticeable,
right? You go to the pump, you expect a certain number. And then suddenly the week the next week
that you fill up, maybe it's 50% higher, maybe it's 60% higher depending on where you live.
And so when you when you when it hits you that hard that fast, and you go, oh, what are my options
here? Your options are to look at something else. And that's something else is EVs and hybrid vehicles.
And guess what? They're better than you could have ever imagined if you're if it's the first
time that you're looking at these cars. Alright, we will take a break. We'll be back with more
with Joseph Ewan from Edmunds. You're listening to the Auto Guide show presented by eBay Motors.
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subsidiary. All right here we're back with Joseph Yoon from Edmunds talking fuel prices, hybrids,
electric vehicles and maybe is this a good time to make a move on one of those types of vehicles
if you're in the market. Fuel prices we were talking about this before the break have just gone
bonkers. You know I looked at the prices for California and my head just kind of blew up
because I think it's pretty bad we're recording here in Michigan where they're
$359. It's late Friday afternoon here and that seems bad but it's not nearly as bad as some other
places. The average price according to AAA as again as of Friday $363 for regular fuel a month ago
was $294 so you're talking about 70 cents right in just a month even like a week ago it's up 30 cents
it's up 5 cents just since yesterday so it's like these are the kinds of things that we haven't really
seen since well the war in Ukraine started about four years ago. I'm curious there's probably
there's some obvious parallels with gas prices go up gas prices go up but are you guys seeing any
differences things how this might play out differently this time around? I think the biggest
difference will be that the tax credit doesn't exist this time around. In 2022 when the conflict
in Ukraine happened the tax credit had been in place just about a year and dealers were finally
starting to realize that they could use that commercial vehicle loophole to really upsell
those leases to potential buyers and that's when we started seeing EV lease rates go into the 50s 60
70% range and when the fuel prices happened and people who had the financial kind of means to do
so they looked at the lease deals on the market and were like seems like a no-brainer to me
and we got a huge ramp up of adoption into battery electric vehicles. I think the only
difficult thing this time around is that because that $7,500 tax credit isn't there I think the
barrier to entry is a little bit higher for the average consumer than it was in 2022 and I think
the other thing will be I don't know fully the geopolitics of where we get our oil from
but I think we get more from the Gulf than we do typically elsewhere and so I think it also
depends on how long and how the fuel supply chain crisis kind of plays out this time around
because I feel like the Ukraine fuel crisis was more of like a temporary thing. I don't
think this administration wants to drag this conflict out and around longer than it needs to
but a lot of the times it's kind of out of their control right it happens how it happens and so
depending on how this conflict unwinds hopefully soon then we then it might you know
the adoption rate for these hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles might be lower
but we'll have to see. I think the interest is definitely there and I know some people you
know especially people with the financial means they're always looking for an excuse to get into
a new car and and this is as good as excuse as any but for the average consumer right now
with the car prices the way they are with the interest rates the way they are
making the switch is not as easy as as it sounds it's not like a it's not like we can you know
make an impulse purchase on a car these days especially since the average new car is close
to $50,000 average monthly payment is flirting dangerously close to $800 a month and even if
you consider leasing as opposed to financing an EV because the incentives at least at the
federal level aren't there anymore you have to fight much harder to get a worse deal than you
could have prior to September 2025 and so the hurdles are there the barrier of entry is much
higher so I think it'll really come down to how long the prices for fuel stay elevated.
It's interesting because if you look at like the like the history of the auto business it's very
much like a boom and bust cycle for companies for types of products and for types of propulsion
systems in this instance you know you remember maybe 15 16 years ago we thought the small car thing
was going to be a thing Ford rolled out things like the fiesta and the the echo sport I believe
that little crossover like people thought that was really going to be what we were driving for a while
so these things change and obviously this has been such a big you know geopolitical event gas
prices went up so sharply I mean it's so quickly just in the last like week or so so it's it's
definitely on people's minds and you do kind of wonder hey if things taper off maybe you know
people are like ah I can go back to the v8 Tahoe I'm not as concerned about it but if they do stay
elevated just you know google it you know look how many hybrid options there are out there I mean
like you could buy a Hyundai Palisade that gets incredible gas mileage and it's a hybrid you know
Santa Fe the Corvette will offer you a hybrid option so in some ways you know it seems like if
if things stay up perhaps maybe people do start to look at hybrids as a way to go I guess we'll see
would you put any sort of timeline on that like three months six months too early to even tell
because again it's just so like again the car business is such a tidal wave of change
yeah it's I mean I think it's impossible to say right now we're still kind of in the thick of
we haven't even figured out what's going to happen like tomorrow really
and so I think it's really tough for me to put a timeline on you know what this is going to look
like anytime soon but you're right though where I think if the conflict drags on I don't know
maybe over six months maybe over a year at least in terms of meaningfully
sustaining high fuel prices then I think automakers might try something again like they did
back then when they were saying oh maybe we need a small car in the lineup which is kind of an
interesting time right now because Detroit has really kind of let go of that market entirely
right you know the subcompact or even the compact vehicle doesn't exist in Detroit
the you know Ford said they're gonna even cancel the escape in favor of the Bronco Sport and so
I think it's going going to be you know if this drags on any longer I think it could have real
implications on I think for automakers because then they have to contend with customers saying
hey like where's my where's my little car option where's my what's the best way for me to save
fuel and you don't have the type of car that gets the gas mileage that I'm looking for and so
that's it could be a real problem and you're right that it's a big boom and bust thing when it comes
to market trends because as you're as you're probably fully aware auto development takes like
almost a decade right five seven years for a major model update so the only way I think
automakers can pivot quickly is if they can find a different market that they plan to import a
smaller vehicle but for Detroit that doesn't exist anymore they don't they for largely you know
was uninterested in the European market you know couldn't really make it work so they don't have the
small cars there they don't have the small cars in Southeast Asia and so we have this scenario
where it could really affect their bottom line just because they don't have alternatives and so
we'll have to see how this how this happens yeah I'm also kind of wondering I think yeah I
agree with you to your point of like the time like if it does linger suddenly you're going to see
like car companies consumers go into car companies and say hey this isn't working what are we going
to do I also wonder though if just this for this like little snapshot in time it seems like the
car companies are actually like across the board like look at some of the hybrids from Honda from
Hyundai from BMW in a way they're well positioned at this moment to sort of weather it because they
could say oh hey you think our you know expensive straight six is expensive and you know the BMW
whatever well we have a hybrid x5 for you so it seems like they're sort of well positioned right now
but if it does drag on you know it would be sort of like a back to the future sort of thing
getting close to rapid up here I'm still curious about pricing do you think you know as far as just
like car prices are really going up you know I look at the automotive news sort of daily barometer
and if it hits over 50 for that day you're kind of like well just kind of roll your eyes and shrug
how much do you think that is going to you know really impact decisions is it just could it just
put some people straight up out of the market fuel prices are otherwise but the other side of that
and I'd like to hear what you think is electrics hybrids just anything with wheels is expensive
right now that almost makes me wonder if some people might just say well I wasn't going to do a
hybrid or an electric even but it's 50 and the gas ones 47 maybe I saved some money down the road
I guess what do you think of that sort of proposition I think it's it's one of those
things that we've been talking about a lot in terms of just general affordability even before
the fuel stuff happened I think a lot of things that people that talk about economics are talking
about right now is the k-shaped economy where kind of a minority of the consumer base is
upholding a big part of the economy and that reflects true in the auto industry as well where
high income households are doing most of the new car purchasing because a big portion of the
consumer base can't really afford a new car right now because cars are flirting with the
$50,000 mark for an average new car and so that's one of the things where I think you know even if
the interest is there maybe we don't see it reflecting the sales anytime soon because
it's going it's going to be ruinous to make the switch if you don't have the financial means to
do so you know let's say for example you bought a car three four years ago you liked it but now
you're thinking oh man this car only gets you know 25 miles to the gallon what's it gonna cost me
to get into something that's more fuel efficient well it's going to cost you the negative equity
that you hold in the car that you own plus the cost of the new vehicle plus whatever the interest
rate is now which I don't think is any lower than four years ago if anything it's higher so when
you factor in those things and let's for whatever reason let's say you're you know confident enough
to walk into the dealership to consider this option and then you look at the worksheet and
I don't think the numbers are going to work for most people unless you have a car that's already
paid off or you know unless you're already in the market and you were shopping you know actively
shopping already I think it's going to be difficult for most people to make the switch just because
everything is so expensive right now and so yeah it's uh and again I think it also did you know
we keep coming back to you know how long is it's going to take because if it's a sustained thing
then I think people may find it easier to justify making that big reach but if if it turns out that
you know we're out of there before by July 4th and fuel prices um stabilize that we're going to have
a lot of angry customers that are going to have buyers remorse all right well it's going to be
very interesting to see how this plays out over the coming weeks and months uh it's it's certainly
a time of uncertainty he's Joseph Yoon consumer insights analyst for Edmunds Joseph thanks for
joining us all right thanks for having me good ebay has reinvented vehicle buying from click
to curb everything's covered with their new secure purchase ebay isn't just where you find your car
it's where you buy it start to finish title financing registration delivery it's all built in
and eligible vehicle purchases are backed up by up to one hundred thousand dollars in protection
this is what modern car buying looks like get your next ride on ebay ebay things people love
secure purchase is powered by caramel dealer services llc and ebay subsidiary
all right welcome to the gear test segment of the week mike schley is off he's off doing
some other things but I happen to have some mother's car care items in my garage that I needed to test
have been meaning to test these for a while kyle patrick our road test editor is also jumping on
welcome kyle hi greg nice to be here all righty if you are listening to this you're probably i'm
thinking man kyle sounds good if you're watching this on youtube where we encourage you to check out
you might notice that he's actually in a toyota corolla a late winter toronto snowstorm has
sidelined him but uh the audio is great and hey it's just a little bit of a different backdrop
today as we record later on a friday afternoon it's it's pretty gnarly here in detroit so
it's it's that time of year i guess so i mean that feels like a decent segue for you to talk
about these uh these car care products i'm guessing right that sounds good that sounds good so the
first one i'm going to break down is mother's california gold ceramic spray wax so this one
worked pretty well i tried it out on my wife's 2017 gmc akadia it gave it a nice deep shine
it's as simple as spray it on spread it around and then kind of wipe it off buff it up and it
it looked pretty good frankly i haven't seen that sort of uh shade of maroon kind of red
in a while it looked pretty good so i was impressive pretty again pretty easy to use
you can get this online at the mother's website or other places as well
it's uh let's see it's about it's 1799 and you can get 10 off just by answering your email
so this is actually super easy comes in a very nice red bottle you know very looks good in the
you know the shelf of your garage my neighbors were asking me about it again it worked out pretty
well i think um i've now done the test here and i liked it but i will probably use this again you
know especially when it's uh last weekend we had a pretty nice like weather-wise weekend so i was able
to do things like this um you know as we mentioned it's snowing in toronto and it's like sleeting
in michigan so it probably won't be doing too any more car care tests for a few weeks at this point
but you never know but i could definitely see myself uh trying this again later in the spring
um you know again easy to use mm-hmm yeah i was gonna say it feels like that's kind of the
important deciding factor for any of these things right is like if you found that it was easy enough
to do you're more likely to actually use it more often which feels like a recommendation in and of
itself because we all know how often we we kind of say like oh yeah i'll take care of the car i'll
give it that one really nice clean and now it seems like it's encouraging you to do it more often
now if you have any paint blemishes or scratches or things like that which i will that's kind of a
nice segue kyle uh easy to do is with the uh mother's california gold ceramic paint correction
so a little bit of a mixed bag here very easy to use it's got one of those kind of applicator tops
you just you know kind of put it right onto the scratch or the imperfection
or you know whatever is going on with your paint you might want to try to just improve the looks of
it a little bit um and then you know kind of wipe it right off what and it works pretty well you
know it does scratches oxidation towel marks swirls some of just whatever road sort of imperfection
you might get uh and my wife's car again had a bit of a scratch that i thought hey this is a good
one to you know give it a rip see what happens can't make it any worse and it did seem to kind of
lighten it up from a distance make it look a little better but it obviously didn't get the
scratch out and i don't know if that's necessarily the mission of this type of paint correction
because the scratch was reasonably deep at this point in my uh testing a bunch of my son's friends
so a bunch of eight year olds were gathered around watching the the paint correction testing
and they were kind of like well you know like not thumbs up not thumbs down but kind of like like
mid like sideways as the kids say so it did something maybe not uh the miracle cure i was
kind of hoping it would be but i would say this it's kind of rare from these paint correction
things to really totally reset your car so this it did work it did a little bit but um you know
as far as like setting expectations you know scratch is still there so yeah so i i mean we
we know that like if you want a serious fix you're gonna have to take it somewhere probably get a
get a professional look at it but i mean the advantage here greg i'm assuming the price is
is pretty reasonable then 1799 again with a 10 discount if you enter your email uh so uh again
you know it's it's worth it as far as just if you're trying to do some light improvements
you know perhaps maybe like a less aggressive scratch this might have you know done a little
bit more but um so yeah that was my uh sort of weekend testing uh with the uh uh the mother's
california gold what a spectacular name uh as far as uh car care collection and again the
brand wax though did work great um so that's our gear test for the week we have more just after this
okay so we are back here going inside the auto guide garage where kyle drove the mitsubishi
outlander uh plug-in hybrid we were talking about electrics and hybrids earlier in the show
i think that's a great segue uh and i also have been driving the rivian r1 t which i
cannot wait to tell you more about kyle why don't you tell us about the mitsubishi
sure uh i was very fortunate enough to go and drive this uh in vancouver um i'm pretty sure
before american drives have happened so yay canada uh i am a fan of the plug-in hybrid
outlander i think uh this feels like damning it with faint praise saying that it is far and away
the best mitsubishi product but i mean like it's it's genuinely a good product uh it's a flagship
and i think that's kind of what mitsubishi needs right now right as much as enthusiasts want to
you know wax poetic about the old evo a plug-in hybrid family vehicle is where the market
is right now and this thing was already good before the updates for this mid-cycle facelift
are the best sort of mid-cycle facelift because it's just thorough it's almost everything is just
slightly better than before so the interior is a little nicer there's a better sound system
and then mitsubishi's engineers have gotten properly nerdy and given us a more efficient
battery pack and it's larger it now powers the car exclusively more often which is something
that mitsubishi already did the ple the p have or fev i don't know which people like to say uh
already used its motors a lot of the time and now the motors are more powerful you have 297 system
horsepower so it's it's ample right i mean this is a vehicle that's barely bigger than a rav4
and so it it moves and yet you're still getting it's almost 50 miles of range electric so if you
you know live in the suburbs and you have a pretty short commute hypothetically you're never
actually rarely putting a full tank in you're using electric power and then mitsubishi said
that the vast majority of owners they plug in it at home right and that's where level two is fine
with a plug in you have a full battery every single morning i i really liked the car i i think
it's a very impressive not altogether cheap but not expensive family vehicle it has been a minute
since i drove uh in mitsubishi but i did drive uh an outlander uh this is ben obviously this is
pretty refreshed uh a few years ago uh it was just the regular like sort of non hybrid uh at that
point but i was actually quite impressed with it i really was i think it's easy for like mitsubishi's
to show up on sort of like lists where people sort of just dunk on them and i think that's like that's
to me that's a little past that's uh that's expired i think they're solid vehicles i really
liked the design elements of it uh i like just the it does do a good job of affecting like a
sporty kind of crossover vibe in ways that other alleged sporty crossovers don't frankly and i also
think with fuel prices rising hey a hybrid crossover seems like a really good idea right now
yeah yeah and uh one thing i will add that uh i almost forgot about during this drive uh the regular
outlander actually has a new engine this year it kind of snuck under the radar it has a it's swapped
out the naturally aspirated four cylinder for a turbocharged mild hybrid uh and so while there's
more complication involved in that it's more powerful it's more fuel efficient and mild hybrid
means it's going to be more fuel efficient at stops too uh so i'm very curious to try that one so yeah
i i think um i mean what you said greg like people should not sleep on mitsubishi uh if you are
of people are go to the mitsubishi dealership take a look at either the plug-in or the regular one
and uh you'll come away impressed as long as you don't have to sit in the third row the third row
is for kids only uh which which you know is understandable and mitsubishi will admit as much
but don't try to put adults back there i do tend to think the hybrid the the lighter hybrid if you
will is kind of the sweet spot for this looks like the plug-in will get you up to 38 miles of range
just on electricity under good conditions that's a pretty good deal but it's a bit more expensive
you know than just going with the the traditional hybrid
yeah so uh i mean talking about a little more expensive um should we maybe talk about your
very subtle definitely not overpowered uh mid-sized pickup truck so as far as prices let me
call up this number this is a little bit more than uh i think the outlander p have
i drove the rivian r1t quad max i feel like that's like a great monster truck kind of name
it is a spectacular name 123 885 uh so that is kind of eye watering i don't you may have not even
known that it was quite that expensive uh but this is truly the uh the tip of the spear at this
point this is for the r1 quad buyer that wants it all is willing to pay for it and i can totally
respect that you know you're talking 1025 horsepower and almost 1200 pound feet of torque uh from as
the name would imply four electric motors it will get you to 16 in about 2.5 seconds um it is uh
yeah it'll get you more than 400 miles of range if you click the handy dandy conserve button so it's
kind of doing everything to all people uh the inside is gorgeous as you would expect uh now
would i recommend this specific one to you know a number of people i would say no drop down and get
one of the fewer motors if you will because they do have a two and a three motor setup and that's a
little bit of a better deal you get all the rivian stuff that you want and i think uh that's probably
where most people want to go uh because you can get even actually like better range plenty of power
and it still looks like a rivian inside and out it's some of the lower trims which actually start
down in the 70s and i have driven rivians a few times at this point even the lower trims are still
i think a tremendous value i look at this one as almost like a mercedes competitor at this point
which if you're gonna put that heavy of a price tag on there it kind of is you know because there's
not all that many vehicles that have um that you know that much uh that heavy of a price tag i will
say this i think my eight-year-old put it best because we were talking about this on the ride
home from school and i was like he's like what do you think of this dad and i was like oh i love it
but it's expensive and then his reply was but look at all this stuff you get and i think of that
since he was totally right like the screen in the back is great for the rear seat passengers it has
this uh spectacular sort of soaring sunroof the infotainment is enormous colorful easy to use
the materials i think it's like a walnut gorgeous you can check out my interior review if you're
listening to this uh head over to autoguide my interior review is up and i also have like a
preview post so you can check those out and i talk about just how much i like the interior
which i would compare it to very high-end volvos there's no orifers crystal shifters
because you don't need that an electric vehicle like this but just a tremendous tremendous all
around product they've done some things since this first launched i actually drove rivians i think
this was 21 maybe 22 uh they had some different things back then they had that sort of like pass
through uh underneath the bed where you could put like a few golf clubs a fishing pole but they've
sort of i think grown up a little bit and simplified the aesthetic the design they're not trying to do
too much maybe they learned a little bit from tesla with their like falcon doors on the crossover
which just only really caused problems and i think rivian is a very um i think that's a smart
company right now uh one of the reasons we're talking about the rivian r1 t
quad max is because last week the r2 just debuted which is a hugely important vehicle
for rivian much lower price point and it could totally i think even change the fortunes of the
company i think we're at a point now where the r1's uh the truck which i tested the suv which
is also a pretty good size suv i think they will and should continue to sell them but i think they're
going to recede more is almost like halo vehicles and the r2 is really going to carry uh the water
and i think you're going to see i think the r3 is another one they're looking at uh that's even
smaller that's kind of like the that kind of quirky off-road themed hatch which is very tempting
frankly for some of us of a certain age it's got that right kind of like eighties and nineties
hatch off-road vibe um that could definitely i think i could i could enjoy driving that one
so we'll see i mean it's a pivotal moment for rivian i really enjoyed driving the r1 t i think
again it's expensive and the interior doesn't have buttons which is i think the two criticisms you
can level at the r1 one is a little more specific to this trim and the other is specific to rivians
i was at a press conference last fall with rj scurringe and the journalists were asking him
like hey are you ever going to do buttons and he said no that's not what we're doing um he didn't
like completely ever totally rule it out but his response was definitely like well this is what
we're doing right now um and there were like he wasn't ashamed of it you know what i mean he wasn't
like saying hey we're we're wrong um without i guess fully closing the door but it could be a
challenge to work some of these like even turning up the radio volume like at one point i was telling
one of my passengers i'm gonna turn up the radio right now look how long it takes me and they were
like don't do that again that was scary um but that's more of a specific criticism uh for another
wise you know attractive vehicle uh i think i like the truck a little bit more than i like the suv
right now but that's just total recency bias i'd like to get some time in the r1 s uh because i
think that certainly has some sort of classic off-roader vibes as well i don't believe you've
driven a rivian but do you have any thoughts uh just on rivian right now uh i uh i have um but i
drove them before uh before you and i were working together so i drove uh an r1 asked jeez
three three and a half years ago uh and then a t two years ago um and uh yeah i think i mean a lot
of the same feelings where i think it's a really impressive halo model and it will be repositioned
as such once the r2 is full steam ahead uh but in terms of just you know you want the ultimate
truck that does literally everything it's really hard to argue uh i'm sure there's trucks that can
carry more in their bed but look a lot of people don't use trucks that often for truck things and
the shape of it is cool it's so distinct it drives so well one of the great things about all EVs but
also of course rivian is like yeah when you don't want to use 1,025 horsepower you can dial it down
and and it drives really comfortably and you get good range it's a pretty efficient package all in
i think uh you know you're looking at a hummer as the alternative which is a very different
proposition but in terms of these super trucks these six figure ones uh yeah i i think the
rivian still has a whole lot to offer it's funny you mentioned super truck i wrote that in my review
that i hope to get on the site uh probably this week is uh as this podcast drops on on uh Monday
the 16th but i hope to get that story up i've got some cool pictures of the r1t uh it's it's a riot
to drive and as i was trying to like contextualize this thing the hummer kept kind of coming up as
far as it's like competitors or high inversions of the Silverado or Sierra EV uh because it's you
start to run out of you know room as far as what this can really compare with the cyber beast i
guess is the other one and this is a little bit more than that uh and i would probably take this
over i think i would take this over for me it would be a toss up between this and maybe the hummer
just because as far as uniqueness special things and i'm talking at this specific price point i
really like the Silverado EV as well it's a really strong one um i guess the Ford f150 lightening is
going by the way so maybe that's a huge purchase at this point uh but this one as far as style again
it's it doesn't look like almost anything else out there without being too over the top i think
they really nailed the design a lot of cool features um i really had a good time driving it
again it's a great cruiser uh sometimes uh when i review EVs i have like a mini segment called
adventures in charging this thing charged no problem uh the press fleet had multiple adapters
in the center console for me so i was fortunate to charge on like a 50 or 60 degree day so it was
like not a problem so that you know that's my that's my time of the Rivian R1T check out my
stories on site we've got some videos up there as well full review coming um in mid-march here so
with that let's go to the mailbag uh and this is a timely question which of the newer EV makers
perhaps startups it's currently in the strongest position uh the writer's asking scout rivian
lucid anybody else and there's a few other ones out there um i think i know my answer uh maybe
it's a tie i'm not sure but i've talked a bit here kyle who do you have on in pole position uh so i'm
gonna i'm gonna this is a tough one because i kind of want to say rivian uh but i feel like you
might also say that and since you just were talking about rivian i feel like you might be better
placed to continue talking about it so i'm going to use this as a segue to discuss uh where i was
this week which was in new york city at lucid investor day to well see what the company had in
store and you can go to autoguide and read up on everything i saw there including their take on a
robotaxi which i i feel like is more of an abstract uh i guess that might be good for company health
which is the point of this question but i i think people tend to ask this with the understanding of
will this company that i buy my personal car from still exist in a few years uh i think lucid
is maybe not as well placed as rivian because the market loves these rugged vehicles but i
think lucid is now placing itself in a much more uh healthy position with its new upcoming
midsize models we know that this is how ev brands have to start right they have to start with these
high margin more halo models to to get the money flowing and then it's the midsizers that can
expand the amount of money but you know you need a network to sell these vehicles so the midsize
vehicles they showed off two of the three upcoming ones uh the cosmos and the earth and they're
targeting the midsize suv market because we all know that's what sells there will not be a sedan
from the midsize project at least so far lucid said you know never say never but
we know that the market is huge this is where things like the rav4 play or the bronco like
everything it's the thick of the market and so they're going to bring out these three vehicles
that sort of go from sporty to rugged we don't know anything about the rugged one even its name
uh yeah they're they're going to target $50,000 to start which is a sweet spot that's
right where the average transaction price is nowadays for vehicles so getting a luxury suv
there is a is a pretty solid move and i think being a luxury brand lucid kind of insulates itself
better from market issues in the sense that people expect to pay a bit of a premium for a model
i can say that i saw the cosmos which was a big shock none of us expected that
we have no pictures we're not going to see it for months officially but i will say it is very
funky it's it's such a unique shape and it evolves the language and i think in a way that i think
is going to get people's attention and i i firmly believe that as long as lucid has the runway to
launch this and get it out in the market on a wide scale i think people are going to be really
impressed because lucid has in my mind hands down the best ev tech they have the most efficient and
most powerful and yet lightweight motors i think once people realize what this company is capable
of and that it's built by people who really just love cars not just evs i i think that will do well
so that's my very long-winded answer to say i think lucid is in a good spot they're they're
struggling right now because they don't have a whole lot of product but give it a year when
cosmos is set to launch and i really think we're going to see big changes good answer good answer
it actually my view on lucid changed dramatically in the last like 48 hours you know it's just
watching your coverage and seeing that hey they do have a plan they're not just going to roll the
ball out with six figure luxury sedans that are gorgeous but have a market that is you know not
it's very tough to break into when you don't have 120 years of brand awareness like Mercedes Benz
or something so uh i definitely got to watch that space i think i drove a lucid air once that was
one of the best cars i drove that year gorgeous randomly the comedian john love it was in front
of me he was on snl and a bunch of sitcoms like 10 20 years ago he drove the car before me he just
happened to be staying at the hotel where they were doing the press drive um and he kind of just
cut in line and they i think the people knew sort of who he was and so he drove the car i'm like okay
um and i honestly i think when i look at lucid i think it makes some sense if they were to keep
the air around it like keep that as its own kind of halo thing like we just mentioned with rivian
and then keep these smaller more mainstream products in the heart of the market and then
you've got the shiny sparkly thing over here you've got the thing in the middle that keeps you in
business so um you know very excited to hear more about lucid my answer i'm going to stick with rivian
for right now and that's because they have the r2 uh again i was very impressed with the r1t
i generally like the r1s when i've driven it like sort of the previous generation so to speak
uh so i think at this moment they're in the best shape i think um you know i think i also look a
little bit lucid for sure i think scout in a year or two could surge to the front of the pack
because i think they're vehicles with off-road vibes that's just like what the people want
they're a little bit behind everybody though because they're going to launch their two
big flagship off-road models and then it's going to take them a few years um i talked to the CEO
scott kio who you might remember from you know i think mercedes and odi other places and he said
their intention is to have something smaller but again they're years behind lucid rivian etc so
again right now my answer is rivian but i i tend to think scout is going to be the one that jumps
perhaps to the front of the pack not just for their outdoorsy sort of um you know ll bean vibes
but also because they are looking at an e rev which i think that gives them more options more
cards to play and 87 percent of their um sort of reservations have gone to the e rev um and many
are going to the traveler the suv so i think that kind of tells you without saying which direction
the company's going to go which could be um hybridization and crossovers which to me that's
a pretty good formula for a midsize vehicle were you going to throw a Polestar out there
i you literally took the words out of my mouth i was going to say also Polestar is interesting
don't sleep on them i tend to say how are they really much of a startup when they're just so
supported by um by volvo but i there are one to watch i think their products have been interesting
they've gotten past the like the Polestar one which was actually a hybrid it was also six figures
that's a swoopy coop kind of thing um and they've moved into like the three and the four and things
like that um i think in some ways the reason i put them behind rivian is they don't have that like
buzz factor that rivian and potentially scout could have so yes i i agree and as someone who's
driven a Polestar recently too i drove the four i i think there's a lot of stuff going on
there that's positive and i think one of the great things the Polestar has done very quickly
is established itself as like a viable Porsche alternative in terms of its dynamics like they
are targeting buyers who care about driving and they've presented a really good product for that
i am so excited to drive the Polestar five but there's still this like there's this slightly
cold feeling um not i don't want to say clinical but it's just it's missing the warmth uh that i
feel like some people really get drawn to like there there's a human element uh with rivian
right like the the Sasquatch the little mascot is such a fun thing that i think is drawing people
who may not only care about cars towards rivian i've had so many people who are you know they buy
their cars as appliances but they ask me about rivian because they're very curious about it so
i think Polestar still has to get over that hump in terms of general population interest but they
have great products coming up and i'm really happy that they are going to start a second generation
Polestar too because that was the car that really brought them wide appeal so it it's a tough one
it's it's a weird we're not even talking about the climate that all these evs are launching into
right of like i it's it's kind of a crapshoot like any one of them could be the next leader
in a year or two you made a great point about scout uh lucid depending on how different these
midsize models are could be a big thing the air is sticking around till at least 28 so it stays as
a flagship um yeah i i think rivian for me is the one that i am that's my bet if i have to pick one
rivian is the one that will get the most success with the market in 18 months time
all righty so there you go take it to the bank and be sure to get in the comments now and at
18 months time and uh you know see how well we did on these i guess uh so that was the mail bag
section and that's all the time we have this week thanks for listening thanks for hanging out kyle
you're welcome if you enjoy the show please like share and subscribe we're available on
apple podcasts spotify youtube or wherever you get your podcasts you just listen to the autoguide
show presented by ebay motors all right so this week's question is a timely one the hunday Ioniq
six is going away uh the question is actually again pretty straightforward what do you think
of the demise of the hunday Ioniq six if you missed it the regular so to speak six is going away
and just the Ioniq six and will carry on which i think is kind of weird in many ways but i guess
it makes some sense because it seems like the like the body style of the Ioniq six never quite
resonated with consumers i personally liked it i mean referencing like straight six and
things like that that go back to a bygone era you know i was here for the tear drop styling i
thought it was beautiful i had a couple different uh press loans with it i gave it high marks i felt
the interior was good uh perhaps there wasn't enough to differentiate it in a good way from
the Ioniq five which it seems like people of our sort of generation just they love it for that kind
of like tron 1980s gen x vibe that they're going for i think you almost have to kind of want to see
that a little bit like it's a little bit overplayed uh but i really like the Ioniq six i'm sad to see
it go in its conventional form but it does give that end variant uh something that is truly special
you could get this almost like really powered up sports sedan so i don't know i don't know if you
have that strong a take or not but what do you think of this news i like the end as well but i
think uh it proved um i mean test the same situation with the rest the electric cars aren't doing as
well people are really going into suvs and i think the cars that are going to be successful or are
being successful are at the lower end because that's sort of where cars are right like we have a
lot of compact cars left but we don't have many midsize cars left so the pricing of it i think to
your point was too close to the five the reason the end lives on i personally think it's just this
year they probably already built a bunch of ends and they just want to sell them and there's a better
profit center around that um and then it probably when they go away it goes away um it it allows them
to have a another halo performance car i mean sort of like the golf right golf's long dead but the
gti and golf are live on so hopefully i'm wrong and it does stay for a couple of years but this
too it's sad to see it go because i didn't mind the styling and i really liked how it drove but at
that point people are getting close to luxury v's or they're just going to an suv so um clearly it
wasn't succeeding and i'm sure tariffs weren't helping it much so that's the end of that i guess
all right i think we can leave it there that's the end of that that'll be uh for this week's show
that's all the time we have thank you for listening if you enjoy the auto guide show please
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About this episode
Fuel prices are soaring amid global uncertainty, prompting many to reconsider their next vehicle purchase. Joseph Eune from Edmunds discusses how rising gas costs are driving increased interest in hybrids and electric vehicles, especially as used EVs become more affordable and practical. The episode explores the appeal of hybrids as a familiar, efficient alternative for those hesitant about full EV adoption due to infrastructure concerns. The conversation also touches on how political factors influence buying trends but ultimately, cost savings at the pump remain the primary motivator for consumers.
Original notes
Gas prices are surging. There’s war in the Middle East and the world is a very uncertain place. Maybe now is the time to buy a hybrid, or perhaps an EV? This week Host Greg Migliore talks to Joseph Yoon of Edmunds to break down what surging fuel prices mean for your next car purchase.
In this week’s gear test, Greg sampled spray-on wax and paint correction products from and Mothers’ California Gold Car Care Collection.
In the AutoGuide Garage, Greg has been driving the Rivian R1T and our road test editor Kyle Patrick joins to talk about his time in the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid.
We close things out with the mailbag, where we ponder the fortunes of Lucid, Rivian, Scout and more.
The AutoGuide Show
By AutoGuide.com
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