Car Stuff Podcast Feb 3, 2026

Telsa Kills Models, Mitsubishi Outlander Review, Best Cars of 2026

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57:39

Car

Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla SE Hybrid is a version of the Corolla that uses both a gasoline engine and an electric motor to save fuel. The 'SE' means it has some extra sporty features compared to the regular Corolla.

Term

all-wheel drive

All-wheel drive means that power goes to all four wheels of the car instead of just two. This helps the car grip the road better, especially in bad weather like snow or rain.

Term

heated seats

Heated seats are seats in a car that can warm up to keep you comfortable when it's cold outside. They use electricity to heat the seat cushions.

Car

Toyota Corolla Cross

The Toyota Corolla Cross is a small SUV that is based on the Corolla. It provides more room for passengers and cargo, making it a good choice for families or those needing extra space.

Car

Fords Model

Car

Ford Maverick

The Ford Maverick EV is a new electric truck that Ford plans to release. It's designed to be a smaller, more efficient pickup that runs on electricity instead of gasoline.

Car

Lexus LC

The Lexus LC is a high-end sports car known for its stylish looks and luxury features. It's available as both a coupe and a convertible, making it a top choice for those who want a sporty yet comfortable ride.

Term

software-defined vehicles

Software-defined vehicles are cars that use software to manage many of their features. This means they can be updated remotely, similar to how apps on your phone get updates.

Car

BMW iX3

The BMW iX3 is an electric version of BMW's X3 SUV. It uses electricity instead of gasoline, making it more environmentally friendly.

Term

Neue Klasse architecture

Neue Klasse architecture is a new design framework by BMW for building electric cars. It helps make the cars more efficient and allows for different styles and sizes.

Term

800-volt architecture

An 800-volt architecture means the car can charge faster than most electric cars, which usually use 400 volts. This helps you spend less time at charging stations.

Car

Kia Telluride

The Kia Telluride is a popular SUV that offers a lot of space and features for families. It's well-regarded for being safe and a good value for the money.

Car

Hyundai Palisade

Car

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is a fancy electric car that looks like a regular sedan but is very fast and has a long battery life. It's packed with smart technology and is popular among electric car buyers.

Car

Tesla Model X

The Tesla Model X is a large electric car that can carry many passengers and has unique doors that open upwards. It's known for being very high-tech and fast.

Car

Tesla Model

Concept

electric vehicle

An electric vehicle is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas. The Tesla Model S is a famous example of this type of car.

Term

charging network

A charging network is a group of places where electric cars can be charged. Tesla has built many of these stations so that people can travel long distances without running out of power.

Car

Ford Falcon

Term

crossover

A crossover is a vehicle that mixes the features of a car and an SUV. They usually have a higher seating position and more space for passengers and cargo, making them popular for families.

Term

Gullwing doors

Gullwing doors are doors that open upwards instead of sideways. They are often seen on fancy sports cars and make it easier to get in and out of the car, especially in tight spots.

Car

Tesla Cybertruck

Car

Chrysler minivan

Chrysler minivans are family-friendly vehicles that offer a lot of space for passengers and cargo. They are popular for their convenience and comfort, especially for families with kids.

Car

Honda minivan

Honda minivans are vehicles designed for families, offering plenty of room for passengers and their belongings. They are known for being safe and reliable, which is why many families choose them.

Term

Valentine's Day is the best time to send your favorite person a reminder of just how much

they mean to you.

A Hallmark card is a super simple and beautiful way to say how grateful you are for the love

you two share.

Don't forget, Valentine's Day is Saturday, February 14th.

Visit Walgreens today to find a Hallmark card that shows just how much you love them.

Because love lives here.

Whether you drive a car, need a car, or just occasionally bummer ride with friends, you've

come to the right place.

Join Jill and Tom as they break down everything that's going on in the auto world.

New car reviews, shopping tips, driving green, electric cars, classic cars, and plenty

of great guests.

This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.

All right, this is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast.

I am Tom Appel.

Thank you for joining us today.

When you have a moment, check us out at consumerguide.com.

That's all I'll say.

All right, with me in studio is Jill Siminello managing, oh, sorry, contributing editor here

at Consumer Guide.

I mean, I could manage you.

You could.

It's difficult.

It is.

My wife has given up.

Prolific freelancer and North American Car of the Year juror.

Yes.

How are you?

I am doing well.

The hellish is the wrong word because that seems to suggest heat, but the hellish cold snap

is over.

Yeah, no.

I went for a walk today before coming here and it actually, I had to vent my jacket because

it was so warm.

It is only cold now in Chicago.

Yeah, it's 20 degrees and I had to like vent my jacket or 25.

The nightmare is over.

Yeah.

I had, we'll talk about this later if we have time, but I drove the Corolla SE Hybrid

all-wheel drive during the cold snap.

It held up well.

The whole drive system is excellent.

Didn't want to warm up and it doesn't have heated seats.

So you want to make sure you're getting a Corolla that's available with heated seats for this.

Yes.

Other than that, a fine car and it's not the car's fault that it didn't have heated

seats.

Well, I'm blaming you for wearing shorts.

Maybe.

Here's a thing.

Literally wearing shorts.

I'm just going to point that out.

You can't see it.

I have complained from time to time that I think some versions of the Corolla are

expensive and that the Corolla Cross, the small crossover is a little expensive.

On the Corolla SE, getting all-wheel drive, $1,400.

Just do it.

Yeah.

I'm like, that doesn't seem bad.

No.

It's a great deal.

It's usually more like $2,000, $2,200.

Depends on the brand, depends on the maker, depends on the car, but $1,400.

Just do it.

You're going to get the money back when you sell the car.

Yeah.

Especially if you live anywhere that gets snow.

Yeah.

And I found some accumulated snow in an unparked parking lot.

This car is very good in the snow.

That is a good all-wheel drive system.

But we can talk more about that later.

I need to cover something interesting.

You know about this.

We haven't shared this yet with our listeners, at least not on the show itself.

We are now part of the Believe, the Believe, B-L-E-A-V podcast network.

Believe.

And we have moved from Buzzsprout to Simplecast to make that happen.

It looks like everything went fine, although it messed up my website a little.

If you go to the website and you go to listen on our homepage, it's a little

messy.

I got to get that fixed.

But it works.

Okay.

It works.

So we just want to let people know that this changed.

This happened.

It shouldn't affect anything for listeners, but if it does, let us know.

Yes.

And how can they let you know?

Carstuff at ConsumerGuide.com.

Drop us a note.

We will get that fixed as soon as possible.

But it looks like it was as seamless as they promised me.

And we're already enjoying new listeners.

So thank you.

Welcome new listeners.

Yes, hello.

All right.

A crapload of news to get through this week.

Yeah.

And you have a review to get to.

Yeah.

So I'm just going to read some news.

Okay.

I want you to indicate how interested you are in the store, and then we'll circle back.

Okay.

All right.

First, Ford's model team moment.

This new electric truck they're going to build.

Right.

Has a name.

Okay.

Maverick EV.

Okay.

So we know.

So creative.

I don't know if we need to circle back on that or not.

The vehicle is due to go into production not that far in the future.

So there's that.

That is new.

Ford's new efficiently built small electric vehicle.

All right.

That's the first news story.

The Lexus LC.

Yes.

Dead.

Yeah.

This is the beautiful Lexus top of the line flagship sports car and sports car convertible.

I always thought that if you were a thinking man and you've always wanted a Ferrari,

get this instead.

No, this will not run with a Ferrari on a track, but it certainly looks good on the street and

it is not shy of sporty behavior.

It's a wonderful car.

And these are going to be very collectible used, I suspect.

Yeah.

It's beautiful.

As production ends.

There's that story.

This one's the interest.

I'm sorry.

As you say, there's a lot of RIP news today.

So.

Yeah, there is.

We're going to get to some bigger news about that.

This is a little story.

I don't know if we're going to circle back on this one or not in the future,

but I just want to get it out there.

We've been talking a lot about software-defined vehicles, SDVs.

BMW has probably what's closest to an SDV coming out this year, and that is the IX3,

which runs on their new Neue Classe architecture.

It's an 800-volt architecture.

Should charge very quickly.

Rain should be good.

Anyway, this is going to be the first of many vehicles built on this.

Software-defined should be a very good electric vehicle if this works.

If it works.

We're not seeing.

Hashtag.

Software-defined scares me a little.

Well, yeah.

But one of the great things about software-defined.

Over the updates.

It is over the year updates.

Your vehicle will not necessarily become obsolete so quickly if they can update stuff.

Yes, that's exactly right.

I wanted to get this out there because maybe if we talk about sales, we don't

always mention this.

The Kia Telluride, for example, is constrained by manufacturing limitations.

So the fact that they sold 123,000 last year, which is a big number, it could have been

bigger.

They sold as many as they made as the end of that story.

That is exactly what I'm saying.

And they could have sold more.

It's just this is true of the Hyundai Palisade as well.

And they import these boogers still.

They need to start building them here probably.

Yeah.

Well, they're going to have to anyway.

Yeah.

Because the tariffs are going to crush them.

But anyway, here's the big news.

I feel like you should be playing taps or something.

Maybe.

Because I know what you're going to say.

Yeah.

Mixed emotions.

Yeah.

The Tesla Model X and the Tesla Model S.

Yes.

Dead.

Yes.

And there's a lot here to unpack about this.

We can circle back on this if you want to.

But the Model S was probably the single most important electric vehicle in history.

I would agree with that.

It was proof of concept.

People bought them.

People liked them.

And Tesla built a charging network around this single vehicle.

The only thing wrong with this vehicle now is when Tesla hasn't updated it since it came

out in 2012.

And it's a little expensive.

But no one wants a luxury sedan, a big luxury sedan.

Right.

Don't know why manufacturers keep trying to build them.

The X was the wacky big crossover with the Falcon doors.

Yeah.

The Gullwing doors.

Which is kind of a stupid thing from the beginning.

And it was one of those things that proved that Elon was a nut bag.

Because he kept.

Tell me how you really feel.

No, really.

Delaying production of a crossover, which they badly needed.

Yeah.

Just so that they could do these doors.

Just so they could do these stupid doors.

And then people didn't really like the doors.

Also someone lost their fingers in the doors.

Yeah.

This is bad.

Probably not your best idea.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Well, you know, it's really interesting.

You say that they haven't been updated.

And I'm going to counter that a little bit.

Because they got a redesign, I want to say it was like 2015, 16, where they went

away from the black nose and they had like the body color grill.

And then it was completely re-engineered underneath the skin in 2021.

So I would say that there are three generations of this vehicle, even though you can't really

tell.

Even though every body panel is exactly the same.

Pretty much.

Also, this is a thing with Elon Musk.

He says that they don't really redesign vehicles, that there's ongoing improvements.

Whatever.

Well, they definitely don't follow a traditional model of your cycle.

No.

Like if you were looking for full self-driving technology, like you can't go to the beginning

of a model year and say, oh, this vehicle has it.

You have to actually really look at the vehicle and say, okay, middle of 2000.

I think it was like 2016.

They started adding some of that.

But yeah, you got to be very careful.

Yeah.

So a little weird.

But it is interesting and noteworthy that this vehicle has finally reached the end

of its run.

Also, Fremont, California, where they used to build these things.

Yep.

Fremont was a Toyota GM plant way back when.

Right.

It's not going to be building humanoid, optimist robots or not.

I just want to add the or not.

Or not.

Because we don't know.

They haven't started yet.

We also don't actually know what the demand is for humanoid, optimist robots.

I don't know.

I mean, if it could make my bed in the morning, maybe.

So Tesla now sells two vehicles, excluding the Cybertruck, that are kind of getting old.

And there's really nothing coming, the $25,000 vehicle is not coming.

There's supposed to be a Roadster coming.

That's not going to sell a lot.

I don't see that actually coming.

I think they're making a transition to be more of a mobility company.

A tech company.

And a tech company rather than a car company.

Interestingly, Hyundai not ignoring its cars, but they're into the robotics as well.

Yeah.

And we don't talk about that much on this show.

But it's something we might want to talk about at some point because they've really

big play.

Yeah.

For those guys.

According to Inside EV, Scout taking orders for their vehicles, the pickup truck and the

travel.

What's the...

I forgot what they're called.

Do you remember the models?

Yep.

It's the Terra and the Traveler.

There you go.

Terra and Traveler.

Almost everyone who has put money down wants the range extender.

I am not surprised by that.

Yeah.

So no pure electrics being demanded there.

So Scout being flexible about this probably saving the whole venture.

Yep.

All right.

Interesting story here.

I heard this on Automotive News.

The Minivan.

Oh, I thought you said Miniman.

I did.

Yeah.

Are you talking about the Optimus Robot again?

Or what are we going with this?

Okay.

The Minivan is making a comeback.

Yeah.

This has been a pretty small segment for a long time, which is part of the reason

we haven't seen that much investment in the vehicles.

Chrysler's been dragging its feet on a full redesign.

Honda's been dragging its feet on a full redesign.

Well, Nokia been doing some nice stuff, including adding a hybrid.

But it seems that Minivans now look price competitive to three-year-old crossovers.

And news out for the weekend, the average payment is now up to $775 for 70 months.

So crazy talk.

70 months.

Yep.

The average loan now over six years.

When I bought my Ford Ranger in 1991, my father was mad at me and disappointed that

I went with a four-year loan.

He thought that was crazy talk.

Yeah.

Cool thing from Mercedes-Benz.

They're redesigning their big S-class sedan.

Okay.

The legendary S-class sedan.

It has heated seat belts.

I mean, I've been in cars with heated armrests and you think you, how stupid

is that until you have them and you're like, oh my gosh, I need this in my

life.

I find that about most features.

Yeah.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Yeah.

And I try it.

I'm like, oh, I kind of dig this.

I need this in my life.

My favorite is the heated steering wheel.

Oh.

Like nothing has come along that I want more than that.

I don't generally get cold, but my hands get cold.

Yeah.

All right.

Another piece of news, Belvedere, Illinois.

Yep.

Where they were going to build.

They're going to build the Cherokee and the Compass.

Uh-huh.

They've pushed back the start of manufacturing in seven months.

Okay.

Don't know why.

I mean, it's not being well-covered.

All right.

We have a couple of minutes here.

What do you want to dig into more?

We've covered much news.

Well, I have one more news item for you that you didn't get to.

Oh, all right.

I'm listening.

Hyundai Santa Cruz.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Also dead.

And you know, if you guys have followed the podcast for a long time, you know,

that was the vehicle I ran in the Rebel Rally the first two years I competed.

So I have, you know, a general love and affinity for this vehicle and I'm incredibly

sad to see it go.

It's interesting too, because I like the vehicle.

There's not much about the vehicle I don't like, except I thought it was pricey.

But there are two different approaches here to something that has turned out to be very

successful for Ford.

So the Ford Maverick, they build a lot of those and sell a lot of those and were able

to raise the price 50% and still have a lot, still selling a lot despite that.

And I don't know what it is about the Santa Cruz, except that maybe it looks too much

like a crossover.

It's a little bit quirky in the design.

Maybe not as functional as the Maverick, even though the bed size is similar.

It looks less functional.

And I mean, one of the things that we really tried to prove during the Rebel Rally, and

if you're not familiar, it's R-E-B-E-L-L-E.

You should Google it.

It's really cool.

It's a women's off-road navigational challenge.

Now I have to link to that.

Yes, you do.

You said it and now I have to link to it.

You're not driving on roads.

You're literally off-road pretty much for eight days.

And this vehicle was a champ.

And we did give it a lift.

We did put skid plates on it.

There were a couple of modifications we did.

But overall, this is an incredibly capable, cool, fun vehicle.

And we loved the heated seats and the comfort while we were in the desert.

Yeah, just not selling for them.

They're probably going to do something soon pickup truck-wise.

That's a lot more conventional.

They're talking mid-sized body on frame.

Interesting thing like that.

And I'm sure he's just covering his ass at this point.

But Elon Musk is talking about the Cybertruck and like,

well, the first one didn't work.

We're going to try a different design.

20 years from now.

Yeah.

But interesting.

Yes, so that's going away too, Santa Cruz.

So that's a lot of death notices this week.

Crazy stuff.

But the Minivan thing, I was actually

spoke to Nick DeGilio about that.

I was on his podcast this week.

And it's interesting to see that make a comeback.

And he was just thinking he doesn't see many Minivans

anymore.

But if you see a countable, maybe you

don't know you're looking at a Minivan.

It is a very handsome, attractive SUV-like Minivan.

So we'll see if this is a blip.

It'd be nice to see that segment get a little kick

in the butt.

And you've got the Sienna, which

is available in hybrid form.

And all of them are hybrid.

So that's cool.

All of the Sienas are, yep.

Yep.

The Honda still has a traditional V6, which is nice.

Yep.

Little dated, but probably the most fun to drive.

Second oldest Minivan in the segment.

What's the oldest?

Pacifica.

That feels like that's not interesting.

I'm pretty sure it's a Pacifica.

It's either the, I'm pretty sure Pacifica is the oldest

and then you have the Odyssey.

Or it's flipped, but it's only by a year.

But Pacifica, Pacifica.

Do you know people who can't say Pacifica?

Yes.

Yeah.

I am not one of those people.

Pacifica, no longer a hybrid, but really smooth V6.

And you can get one that is truly a luxury vehicle.

Yep.

So that's a nice Kia K4, I'm sorry, Kia Carnival.

Cheapest vehicle in the class, by far.

There's lots of cool things.

Still a van under 40 grand.

Yeah, it's the newest thing with all the coolest

technology you can imagine.

And that's it.

That's everything there.

Yep.

And that segment hasn't been over half a million units

total in a very, very long time.

Nope.

But who knows?

But millennials and boomers apparently are responsible

for the comeback.

Well, that's cool.

And if you're thinking about one, drive them all.

Yep.

Very, they all have very specific things that are cool.

Also, Stolengo, which is a wonderful, wonderful feature.

People often don't use it.

Yeah.

They end up filling those bins with crap

and then they can never fold the seats down.

And then they forget the crap.

But no, I mean, I think Stolengo is really cool.

I actually managed to fit in Stolengo once.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah.

Border crossing?

No, you know, it was really funny.

I was like, I think I could fit in this.

And I was like wedging myself into it.

And I'm like, you know what?

I'm not going to put my shoulders down in it

because the call to the Chrysler PR person

would not have been pleasant.

Hey, I had to get Jaws of Life out of this vehicle

because I got stuck in Stolengo.

Here's the thing, too.

If you call a paramedic, you have to pay for that.

Yeah, so you don't want to intentionally do that.

People don't know that.

They think it's just free.

Oh, the government loves me, free paramedic.

No, not the case.

You just drove here in a Mitsubishi.

Yes.

We have not talked about Mitsubishi.

I don't think we've ever talked about a Mitsubishi

test car on the show.

At least it's been a hot minute.

Yeah, so you were driving the Outlander SEL.

Correct.

Dutel.

Yeah, so I.

Nice color.

Yeah, so I really enjoying this vehicle.

I mean, the engine is, I'm going to be honest,

it's like 1.5 liter four-cylinder engine.

It's a little bit on the wimpy side, but overall.

We should tell you about the fact

that this vehicle is very, very closely

mechanically related to the Nissan Rogue.

Correct.

And that is the engine out of the Nissan Rogue

and transmission.

Right.

But it is very comfortable, though.

The seats are really bougie.

I know you love that word.

And very high end looking.

So I actually just posted to my Instagram

and I posted to TikTok and YouTube

about what am I driving this week video.

And I didn't show anything from Mitsubishi.

And people are like, oh, it's a Mercedes.

It's a BMW.

And I'm like, nope, this is Mitsubishi.

So it looks, especially on the inside,

SEL is the higher trim.

It looks a lot nicer, I think, than what you would expect.

So it is a nice vehicle.

And I'm enjoying the comfort.

I'm enjoying the handling.

I think it handles really well once you get to speed.

It's comfortable on the highway.

They have a version of Nissan's ProPilot Assist,

which is the adaptive cruise control and steer control

system.

And that works really well.

It's comfortable.

It's quiet.

And I know the exterior design is a little bit

polarizing, but I like it.

I would call it clunky.

There's too much going on there.

There is an engineering word.

I used to work at the gas station with a guy

from the University of Illinois.

He was an engineer.

And they used to call that clutch.

Clutch?

And clutch was a collection of too much stuff on one thing

so that the design no longer made sense.

And that vehicle looks a little cludgy to me.

And if you're not buying a vehicle because of design only,

you're making a mistake.

But what's interesting, too, you mentioned that it

is significantly different, though this

is based on the Nissan Rogue, that chassis tuning is different.

Interior trim is different.

Exterior trim is different.

So if you're looking at one, you can look at the other.

And you might be able to get a better deal on the Mitsubishi.

Right.

But then also worry about resell value.

So there's a lot to think about.

Yeah.

And I mean, when I've driven the Rogue and the Mitsubishi

back to back, I actually like the Mitsubishi better

because it just looks nicer to me.

And I will also say the other thing

that the Mitsubishi has going for it,

that the Rogue does not at this moment have going for it,

is the Outlander comes with a plug-in hybrid option.

Yeah, pretty big commitment for somebody.

It is.

And as we've talked about previously,

don't buy one if you're not going to plug in it.

Yeah, don't do that.

Mitsubishi commits a cardinal sin here

by having a trim level that is ES.

Oh, God.

And one that is SE.

Yeah.

Why would you do that?

But anyway, starting around 32 grand,

there's the ES, the LE, the SE, the SEL, which you drove.

Yeah.

A sporty but not very sporty rally art edition.

And this heralds back to rally art stuff

that was pretty seriously sporty that they used to sell.

A trail edition, which is not especially trail-ready.

Right.

And there's something called, it's significantly more money

than the SEL, but it's based on the SEL,

the black edition.

45 grand, but that's a very high trim level

with a lot of black out trim and stuff.

But yeah, it's good to see one of these things.

Good to hear a review of one.

They don't sell a lot of these.

And Mitsubishi has done to three models.

Yeah.

Right, the Outlander, the Outlander Sport, and the,

what is it called?

Oh, God.

I just, I had it in my head.

Yes, I'm like, I just completely blanked on it.

And the Eclipse Cross and the Outlander Sport

are similar in size and price,

and I don't know why they offer both of them.

But this is the volume car for Mitsubishi in the US.

They desperately knew new product.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't look at this bad boy.

Yeah, no, I think it's a great SUV.

The S-Tested price for the vehicle I was in,

it did have some pricey options.

It had like the premium package with like $3,000

that had like the dynamic Yamaha sound system

and the rear camera mirror and that kind of stuff.

But it had some big options.

And so the S-Tested price for this vehicle is $47,000.

It's $47,000, $35, yeah.

That's pretty well loaded.

Yeah, it's very well loaded.

That's a big run up from 41, so $6,000 in options.

Yeah, and it has like standard, well not standard,

but it has all-wheel drive as well.

Yeah, is that standard in the S-Tested?

It is not standard.

It's standard on the PHEVA, I don't think it's standard on it.

Oh, it is standard.

I mentioned those premium trim levels,

the Rally-Art, the Trail Edition and the Black Edition.

All of those have standard all-wheel drive.

And that's largely just to limit

the number of things that are on a dealer.

Right.

All right, so this vehicle, thumbs up, thumbs down.

Should people consider it?

Thumbs up, definitely consider it.

If you're looking for a two-row vehicle, I believe,

and I haven't crawled back there yet,

there is a very small third row.

So if you need the very occasional third row

for somebody who's smaller than me,

and that's like smaller than five feet tall,

yeah, it's a great option.

Fun story, I know we're out of time.

You can buy a plug-in hybrid or can soon

buy a plug-in hybrid of the Rogue,

which is just this vehicle.

It's just a plug-in hybrid outliner.

Funny thing, it comes with three-row seating,

which the other rogues do not.

Do not, yeah.

All right, we are going to take a break

and when we come back,

we're gonna talk about Kelly Bluebook's best buys.

Yes.

All right, stick around.

Yes.

Questions or comments?

Drop us a line at carstuffatconsumerguide.com.

That's carstuffatconsumerguide.com.

The Chicago Auto Show zooms into McCormick Place

this February 7th through the 16th.

The cars are certainly the star,

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Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.

And we're back.

This is the consumer guide, Car Stuff podcast.

I'm Tom Appel.

She is Jill Simonillo.

How are you?

I am doing well.

I forgot to mention something.

What did you forget to mention?

It matters not at all.

Okay.

But I want to mention it.

Sunday night, dinner for my mom's birthday.

And she's like 109 now.

Yeah, 108.

Okay.

Yeah.

She's not really, by the way.

We went to the Wild Onion Brew Pub in Barrington.

Okay.

It's a place we've been going for a long time.

Beer and cheese soup.

Vegetarian beer and cheese soup.

Okay.

Changed my life.

Got it.

You can get it on the side

or you can get a big pretzel to dip in it.

Ooh, that would be lovely.

Yeah, yeah, that's good stuff.

Okay.

All right.

On the phone with us is Brian Moody.

He's the executive editor of Kelly Blue Book

and they have put together their 2026 list of best buys.

Yes.

So we're going to be talking about those

on the market in general.

Brian, how are you today?

I'm great.

How are you?

Thanks for talking about this fun topic

of our Cars of the Year.

Well, thank you for making time for us.

Kelly Blue Book is a big deal.

We appreciate what you guys do

and you guys have been around for a very long time

and you're very well respected.

So thank you for making our show seem classy.

Well, I mean, it is 100 years.

So that's a really long time.

Is that this year?

Yes, 100 years.

Remember when it used to be a book?

I do.

Well, it's not a book anymore now,

it's like an online thing.

One thing that I think people misunderstand

that when people think of Kelly Blue Book,

even when you were getting the little book versus now,

that's not the wholesale price.

That's just a price that they're gonna charge you

that the dealer can still make money

and is a fair price for you.

I think a lot of people think the Blue Book price,

oh, that's the wholesale price, it's not.

Yeah, it's funny because there used to be a yellow book

and a black book and when I sold cars,

we used yellow book to establish trade and values.

But these were print and Consumer Guide

was printed until 2008.

And when I started with Consumer Guide,

we were selling 35 to 40,000 examples

of the magazine a month.

That was in 2001.

By the time we unloaded it

because it was totally unprofitable to do print anymore,

we were doing something like 17 or 18,000

every other month.

So that's what happened to print.

So what kind of a book was Kelly Blue Book

back 100 years ago?

It was prices and information about cars

that maybe would be difficult to come by at the time.

It started out as a dealership in 1926.

So that was the first origin of it.

Later came the book, which was pricing guides.

I'm even, this isn't, I'm not 100 years old,

but I can remember being at an auction

and you would get pricing updates via pager.

So I'm at least that old.

I don't, I was not aware of pager pricing updates.

That's fascinating.

I refer to it as the Nissan Stanza era

when they were creating crossovers

and couldn't quite figure out whether it was an Expo LRV

or whether it was a Tercel ATM or whatever.

There was that same thing for electronic devices

when it kind of was maybe a pager,

but maybe on the road toward becoming a PDA,

which was on the road to becoming a smartphone.

And there was a little, maybe some,

maybe some like little cursors you could move around

to see what was the latest update

on the auction that you were at.

Crazy. So, I know.

That's crazy stuff.

So what are you guys at?

We'll talk about your best buys in a moment,

but what do you guys at Kelly think the auto industry?

Let's talk about the market.

It's gonna look like this year.

Sure.

Trices are gonna remain relatively elevated,

meaning that the average transaction price

is still gonna be about $50,000.

But remember, that's an average.

And so people shouldn't get all spun up on averages

because averages are pulled up by a couple of things.

First, electric cars are very expensive.

That pulls up the average.

More new car buyers today are opting for luxury cars,

close to 20%.

That's kind of unheard of

if you look back in the pre-COVID era.

That's pulling the average up.

I think most people don't realize

that there are plenty of good inexpensive cars

for sale right now.

The Toyota Corolla, the Honda Civic,

the Nissan Leaf, the Nissan Sentra, on and on.

There's many cars that are around or under $30,000.

The Kia K4 starts well under $25,000,

and a nice one is still like 26, 27.

So there's plenty of cars in that group,

even though the average is around 50.

Yeah, Jill reviewed the K4 last week,

the K4 hatchback.

Hatchback, yeah.

And fully loaded trim and found that.

It was like $32,000, but still like really well done.

And $32,000 is not too much in today's world.

That's still almost 20 grand under the average.

So I think when people hear averages, they think,

oh my gosh, everything's $100,000.

It's not.

Brian, what do you think of moves like Toyota's decision

to kill the base trim level of the Highlander?

The Highlander now costs more money

than the Grand Highlander because there's no longer,

was it a base XL trim or LE?

They killed the LE trim level.

And that seems like almost forcing people up market.

Yes, but they also have, there's this thing

that I didn't do too well in.

It's called math.

And when they look at the numbers of people

that are taking for an LE,

plus there's one of the thing that I think

needs to be kind of pointed out.

Toyota moving to almost all hybrid.

That's great.

I think 2026 is gonna be the year of the hybrid.

Many people are gonna end up with one,

whether they chose it or not.

Like the Camry is a great example.

I just want a good sedan.

Right, I just want a good sedan.

Oh, yours is a hybrid?

I don't know.

I just got the car that worked best for my budget.

When doing that, it's already pretty obvious

that a hybrid version of a certain car

is roughly three or four grand, maybe more,

extra versus the gas-only version.

And when you eliminate a lower trim level like that,

you do force people up market.

It's a way, I believe, of hiding things like tariffs.

So you're raising the price functionally,

but it doesn't look that way on paper.

So the same thing with raising the destination fee

or this kind of thing.

Say your whole model line,

all of your cars in the U.S. incur an average

of a $2,500 price increase because of tariffs

or whatever reason, cost of living, who knows.

Well, what they can do is they can offer no price increase

on the inexpensive car,

but then on a $90,000 pick-up, say,

that's gonna have a $3,000 increase.

So there's all of these ways,

things that they can do automakers,

and this isn't about Toyota, this is all automakers,

levers they can pull to make it seem like the car

is about the same price it was before,

even though it might have fewer features,

even though you might not have the option of an LE,

I think the option of an LE car,

and this is all cars, not just Toyota,

the option of the base model is really a psychological play.

Well, this car starts at $25,000.

Is that the one you're gonna get?

No possible way, but it does start at $25,000.

And it looks like a deal.

It's funny too, yeah,

because you do have this sheen of economy

that sort of overlays the entire trim level lineup,

even though no one's really comparing XLE

to Turbo Hybrid 3XZ,

but Brian, let's talk about your best buys.

Sure, there's an interesting trend.

It goes something like this,

four Toyotas, three Fords, three Hyundai's.

I think that's telling.

So cars like the Toyota Camry,

the Toyota Sienna, the Toyota Tacoma,

the Toyota RAV4,

I mean, that tells you something,

Toyota's doing something right,

but then also to have three Fords and three Hyundai's

is also telling in that like when it comes

to these certain kinds of cars,

Hyundai Palisade, Hyundai Kona, those kind of things,

they're doing a good job

and consumers are noticing

and they tend to hold their value.

Part of the deal with the best buy awards

is that they value,

meaning how much it depreciates over five years

as part of the formula,

not just drive it around and comment.

So there's math involved in that too.

And as I indicated earlier,

it turns out they don't need me for the math.

So I didn't participate in that.

Interesting and consumer guide named the leaf

of Best Buy this year as well,

but it's good to see the leaf on this list

because the leaf hits an interesting price point,

especially in this incentive free environment

we're rolling into.

Yeah, I think it's a great little car.

Whether or not it's actually an SUV,

I don't know,

but it doesn't, here's the thing.

This is what I've noticed by,

I unfortunately my Instagram and Facebook feed

is full of automotive stuff,

whether I want it to be or not, right?

Don't take it from me.

Don't watch a video of a monkey

stealing a tourist's sunglasses.

If you watch the whole thing,

guess what you're gonna see for the next five months?

Yeah.

Monkey videos.

So when you look at some of these cars,

I feel like there's a lot of people online,

YouTubers or however you wanna say,

that are responding to things that people don't care about.

And one of the things is, like I just said,

is it an SUV?

I don't know,

but it's an electric car for about $35,000,

less if you want more.

And I see that you guys were talking about

the Nissan Rogue plug-in hybrid before.

Every video I see says something like,

you know, this isn't really a Nissan,

the average person is going, I don't really care.

Yeah.

I don't know what you're even talking about.

It's a Nissan and it has a plug.

I went to the Nissan dealer,

it's got a Nissan warranty.

I get it serviced at the Nissan dealer

and it looks like a small SUV

and it's a plug-in hybrid.

I'm in.

They're not at home debating at the dinner table.

You know, in the global politics

and the geo manufacturing facility,

people just want what's a good car.

And I think the couple of on these lists

are just a good examples of that Nissan Leaf,

Honda Civic, Toyota Sienna.

Here's my personal favorite on the list,

the Ford Maverick.

People love the Maverick.

That's just a great truck.

Jill and I have talked about the Maverick a lot

and one of the things about the Maverick

that sort of frustrates me is that vehicle

was supposed to be a 20 grand vehicle.

And they launched that thing and then COVID hit

and they were able to raise the price of that vehicle

fully 50% and they still sell like crazy.

Yeah.

They do.

That's true.

You know what the Ford Maverick is?

Have you ever heard the expression,

the answer to a question nobody was asking?

You ever heard that?

Oh yeah.

Okay, the Ford Maverick is the opposite of that.

It's the answer to a question everyone was asking,

how can I get a good truck for less money that's not so big?

And they had to line people up to sell the Ford Maverick.

And the money still works.

These are still much more affordable than a Ford Ranger.

And much more fuel efficient.

And a Tacoma.

Yeah.

Oh, Tacomas got so expensive.

Nice trucks though.

I mean, they're nice trucks.

I think here's the one thing.

There was apparently some kind of dinner

or some kind of presentation for the slate pickup.

Remember that thing?

Yeah.

Well, every headline said it's under 20 grand.

Right.

Well, that's not true.

The crème brûlée must have been amazing.

Because it's not.

It's a $30,000 truck.

I mean, that's all I can think of is like,

everyone doubled up on shrimp cocktail on that one.

Imagine if that truck had a Honda 1.6 liter gas engine.

What would the price be then?

That's a very good question.

24, 22.

I mean, they're not going to do that simply

because adding a gas engine to something

really complicates the rollout.

Yeah.

I mean, that's gonna have crank windows.

So, you know, they wouldn't do that.

It is a good question to ask, even hypothetically.

Like, would that be a really cool,

and it would be.

Could be.

It could be just like the Maverick.

What they did was made a gas engine and a hybrid

knowing that if they made it fully electric,

they wouldn't be able to even come close

to the price targets they set.

So they looked at the market,

they looked at their customers and said,

we need to be at this price for this size and equipped truck.

And that's exactly where they got,

and that's how they got there by doing it as a hybrid

rather than an all electric.

Yeah.

So a couple of questions for you.

We are running short on time,

but I want to talk about your EV choices here.

Your EV choice was the Ioniq 5,

and then your three-row crossover pick was the EV9.

I'm sorry, I said Ioniq 5,

and then the three-row choice is the EV9.

The EV9 gets pretty expensive.

I was wondering if you could talk about that decision.

I think because there's only a handful of three-row EVs,

right?

I mean, we could maybe include the Model X as a three-row EV,

but ultimately is that a useful third row

and also the car is going away.

My personal choice for the money would be the Ioniq 9.

It just makes a little bit more sense

because it costs a lot,

but the interior and the driving experience delivers.

I think that it's one of the hard cells on EVs.

And again, there's not many three-row EVs.

That when you have a Kia EV9

and the price is $75,000, that's hard.

That's just hard to get around.

But at the same time, does it function well?

Yes, and it has nice features and it's comfortable inside.

And especially compared to the Model X, it's quite roomy.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think when you're looking at three-row SUVs,

like you have the Ioniq 9,

you have the Rivian R1S that are similarly sized.

I don't, BMW has the IX, but that's only two rows.

And I'm like, there's not much.

Maybe the EQS?

The EQS, I think what's gonna happen

eventually with these categories is pretty soon,

it's just going to be best three-row SUV.

Electric one out.

Right, younger buyers are not, you're gonna say,

oh, but this one's a hybrid.

And they're gonna say, I don't know.

I just want what I want.

And you know, that's the younger,

there is a growing enthusiasm among young people.

But generally speaking, the average consumer

among millennials and Gen Z,

they are not digging into the spec sheet

and seeing which one has more horsepower at RPM

and how much torque it makes.

I sort of miss those days.

No one talks about peak torque anymore.

Yeah.

No, I mean, what people want to know is like,

if I'm at a stoplight and some guy next to me

is revving his engine and he's gonna pass me on the right,

am I gonna be able to beat him?

That's what they care about.

I'll tell you one last little thing

that I think is hopeful for all of us.

My teenage daughter who was about to start driving

began texting me saying, dad,

do you know you can get a used Corvette for $12,000.

Interesting.

There's hope.

Is she interested in driving a manual transmission?

That's the hope that I want.

She is.

And I also told her, I'm not buying you

a Florence Horsepower sports car.

As your first car, I would just be being a bad dad

if I did that.

So what we, are we settled was?

A cool bad dad.

Well, yeah, perhaps.

Where we settled was, she said,

I want a car when I take it to school,

the other kids don't know what it is.

And I was like, I have something for you.

We found a really great low miles,

excellent condition.

All the safety features, 2008 sob 93.

Yes.

Excellent car.

I love that car.

That is one of my favorites.

It was a luxury car,

so it has side curtain airbags and anti lock brakes

and traction control and stability control.

All the things that you would want for a kid,

but it's also affordable.

And by the way,

you can install a backup camera

and Apple CarPlay for about 800 bucks.

So don't worry about getting a car

with that right off the lot.

First car my wife and I bought

after we got married was a sob 9,000.

We still,

Awesome cars.

We still get teary eyed when we remember that car.

But yeah.

All right, we are completely out of time here, Brian.

Tell us how people can find out more about this list

and your reviews of these vehicles.

Yeah, you can go to kbb.com for more information

on the 2026 Best Buy

and they're broken down by category.

It's not car of the year.

It's say car of the year,

buy category, mid-sized car, compact,

that kind of stuff.

Cool, we will link to this.

Brian, thank you so much for your time today.

Yeah, of course, thank you.

Pleasure talking to you.

That was Brian Moody with KBB.

We're gonna take a break and when we come back.

Quiz time.

Questions or comments?

Drop us a line at carstuffatconsumerguide.com.

That's carstuffatconsumerguide.com.

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Welcome back to the Car Stuff Podcast.

I moved my microphone way, way up in the air.

Well, you are tall.

I don't know.

Let me just ease into this.

And we're back.

I'm Tom.

She is Jill.

And it's quiz time.

But first, you want to talk about emotional seedia or...

Social media, yes.

That's what I meant to say.

Yeah, yeah.

What was the word you couldn't say earlier?

What was the word?

I don't even remember.

There's always a word.

Yeah.

There's a lot happened between now and then.

Yeah.

So social media, you can find me at Jill Siminello.

That's with a C.

And it's...

I also use the hashtag Car De Jure.

So like car, do, sure.

So the car of the day.

And I am on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.

I'm on all the things.

If I'm not on something you think I should be on,

I'd like to hear about it.

Are you on Blue Sky?

I am on Blue Sky.

How many followers do you have?

I have no idea.

I don't be labor the follower situation like you do.

But you would have if we had had a contest.

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

You're angling for your free lunch.

I see.

I've got a free lunch coming.

You do have a free lunch coming.

Yeah.

Got to 500 first.

You did.

If anyone's asking.

So if anybody out there is following him

and they're not following me, shame on you.

Car Guy Tom.

I am Car Guy Tom on Twitter, X and Blue Sky.

Yes.

And I'm all over Facebook as me.

Putting pictures of TVs.

Yeah, I don't do as much car stuff.

You know what I do-do?

That's weird.

Do-do?

You know what I do?

Do-do-do?

I'll regret this later.

I don't want to hear that conversation about your do-do.

But go ahead.

I do usually on Sunday or Saturday when I'm working on the pictures of the review

I'm working on.

I do post the best pictures from the photo shoot of the car I'm reviewing.

Got it?

So people can check that out.

And right now I'm finishing my review of the Polestar 4.

I love that car.

What a good car.

I love that car.

You know what's funny?

Everything people were scared of because China bad.

None of this is true.

Because this is a Chinese car.

It was developed by a Chinese company.

It is a version of a car sold in China as the Zika, the 001.

It's built in South Korea and sold in the U.S.

This car's got a crazy resume.

But it is a wonderful car.

The only thing, I was a little freaked out by the fact that there isn't rear glass.

Correct.

And I found that somehow looking over my shoulder was not as completely satisfying

in terms of me getting a look at the road because there wasn't rear glass.

Right.

It's a little weird.

Changing lanes kind of freaked me out.

Even though it's a very wide angle view that you get in the electronic rear-view mirror.

In the rear-camera mirror.

Yeah.

Anyway, Polestar 4.

Yes.

Good car.

Yes.

Chinese.

Yes.

Not a problem.

Nope.

All right.

It's quiz time.

Are you ready?

I am always ready.

Today's topic is how red is it?

Oh, great.

I'm going to give you a car.

Okay.

And you have to tell me which of the red colors is actually available in that vehicle.

Oh, God.

It's that easy.

So easy.

Okay.

And then five questions total plus a bonus question.

Okay.

Bonus question always related to the topic of the day.

Okay.

Have we talked about cheese today?

No.

We will be.

Yes, we did.

Beer cheese.

Your beer cheese soup.

There you go.

Telsa Kills Models, Mitsubishi Outlander Review, Best Cars of 2026

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