Test Driving the 2026 Jeep Cherokee | The AutoGuide Show Ep. 110

Welcome back to the AutoGuide show presented by eBay Motors.

I'm Greg Migliore and we have a great show for you this week.

The Jeep Cherokee is one of the most iconic names in the car world and it's backed with

new styling and a hybrid powertrain.

But how does it measure up against its predecessors?

Stick around and find out.

Our road test editor Kyle Patrick is just back from the first drive and we're going

to tell you all about it.

Later on, Mike Schley joins me for his latest gear test, a portable fridge for your car.

In the AutoGuide garage, I recently tested the Volvo EX30 and Kyle's going to tell

me about the Audi A6.

We'll close things out with the mailbag.

But first, a word from eBay.

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Kyle joins me now to talk about his latest test drive.

This is the all important Jeep Cherokee.

I'm super excited to hear about this.

If you're listening to this on your phone sometime on Monday, the bar go for this,

that's sort of a journalism term, just dropped.

So head over to the site.

If you haven't done that, you can read Kyle's full review.

But right now you may be listening to the first impressions of this very important Jeep.

So we're super excited about that.

So Kyle, welcome to the show.

What are your impressions on the Jeep Cherokee?

Oh boy, Greg, I have a lot of thoughts about the Cherokee because as you kind of hinted

in the intro here, it is one of the most iconic names in Jeep's history.

And so many people have so many thoughts on what it should be.

And this new model is a CRV and RAV4 competitor.

And I think that's an important move for Jeep because the brand left that segment

a few years back with the last Cherokee.

And we all know it's the biggest segment out there.

You need something there.

The compass is just a little too small to really compete.

The Cherokee fixes that.

For one thing, it's big.

It's real big.

It's 188 inches long, if I'm remembering correctly, which makes it almost two feet longer

than the classic XJ that we all remember and love, which is wild to think about, right?

Is that seemed like a right size SUV?

And this one is a compact, compact midsize.

Jeep tends to use the term midsize.

It really straddles the line.

And I think that works for Jeep, right?

Because they do have the compass that's smaller.

And now this more important and sure to ruffle some feathers.

This is a hybrid only.

It's not Jeep's 4 by E plug-in system.

It is a regular hybrid system.

It is a 1.6 liter turbocharged engine paired with two batteries.

You get 210 horsepower, 37 miles per gallon combined.

So surprise, surprise.

It isn't as capable off-road as you might expect from a Jeep vehicle.

I mean, I say that with a big asterisk because we dealt with torrential downpours, our entire drive.

So I couldn't actually drive it off-road.

The off-road was scrubbed from the plan.

That being said, it still is a Jeep.

It still has good ride height, knob-leaf tires, ish, all things considered.

And it looks rugged.

And I think that's a big deal, right?

People want, as we've seen with so many other brands, they want things that look rugged.

And this does.

It looks a little more mean and ready to go on an adventure than you would expect of the Japanese competitors.

I definitely think Jeep was leaving some money on the table by not having the Cherokee for a couple years.

They took that kind of pause.

They were trying to line up some manufacturing things.

I think they were trying to figure out maybe just how hard they might go into EVs,

which turns out not to be very hard at all for Stalantas.

But I think that was kind of, they stubbed their toe for a little bit.

They gave up some market share and bringing this thing back obviously makes all the sense in the world.

A name with so much heritage.

I actually saw this at the Viper Plant of all places in Detroit.

I went to a background here this summer, last summer.

And that's sort of where they did the preview for it.

So I didn't get to drive it.

Very excited to drive this thing too, by the way.

But I was kind of taken that the styling was not quite what I was looking for.

Like, to me, they were trying very hard to sell this, is the natural evolution of the Cherokee.

Whereas, I think you can make a credible case for things like the charger,

sure, that it's a natural evolution, but not a carbon copy.

But how do you think this thing looks?

So in person, I enjoy.

I like how it looks.

I like the squared off face a little bit more.

But that being said, I see what you mean,

especially if we're looking at that iconic 80s and 90s model.

That really kind of set the design for what the Grand Cherokee is now.

I know that the Grand Cherokee coexisted with it.

But yeah, this is smoother.

And I think, given where the market has gone since 2001, when the XJ disappeared,

I can see their argument.

But to be honest, I think the previous Cherokee with its squinty face kind of already threw that out.

So now we can go in a different direction.

I will say that the size was hard to get past.

This was my first time seeing it in person.

And so in photos, it does look pretty small.

It looks like a little brother to the Grand Cherokee.

And then on this event, since the Grand Cherokee was also there,

which for listeners, you'll be able to read my review on that in a few days,

if you're listening to this right on Monday when it came out.

Parking the two of them together, this is nearly the same size.

And so that threw me off is just how elongated this looks in real life.

I see what you mean.

And I realize that there is one gap in the trim lineup at launch, right?

There is no trailhawk.

So when I was at the background again, they sort of basically said, stay tuned for that.

So I don't really see a world where that doesn't take place.

At one point, the Dodge CEO or the Jeep CEO kept flowing.

And he said, trackhawk.

And people immediately, like, their phones lit up.

They're starting to take notes.

He's like, whoa, hey, hang on.

Meant to say trailhawk there.

But they can do a lot of things with this platform.

So I mean, we'll see.

And I think, I mean, it's interesting because they're Jeep.

They're like one of the original off-road brands.

And then you look at, like, Hyundai with the XRT Pro trim, Subaru with the Wilderness,

Honda with the Trail Sport, you name it.

Everybody has, like, an off-road-like trim.

And I think specifically by not having the Cherokee, they were letting other people eat their lunch.

But now, too, I do think they need to literally go off the trail

and do, like, some sort of trailhawk trail-type trim pretty soon.

Just because, again, you were leaving money on the table by not having the Cherokee.

Now you're leaving money on the table by not sort of catering to what some of these other,

like, sort of lifestyle folks are going to want.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I agree with you there.

I think the nice thing about this vehicle is it is on the Stella Large platform,

just like the Charger and the Recon.

And so you know that there's flexibility in there.

But yeah, I think they'll need to get ahead of it and give us some news on this trailhawk,

not trackhawk, before the end of the year.

What did you think of, I mean, kind of big part here.

How did it drive?

What did you think of the powertrain?

So, Jeep really stressed during the presentation here, they really stressed that

the importance for the hybrid powertrain was its smoothness.

How it engages its different power sources.

And for anyone who's driven a 4xE, you can understand why that might be a focus.

That was not the most refined powertrain.

This one truly is.

Very impressive in the handoff between power sources.

You do get a little bit of drone from the gas engine when it kicks on and you're going up a hill.

That's necessary.

That's kind of the nature of this class, right?

You have 210 horsepower.

You're moving something that's 4,300 pounds.

It's going to happen.

But in terms of how it feels when it's doing it, it's very smooth.

And I think that matters more than hearing a little bit more engine noise.

The good news too, I will say, is that while it is larger than all its competitors,

it doesn't drive that way.

It actually feels very compact and you get a really clear sense of where the ends are.

And when we're driving in torrential downpours and having to dodge rocks that have slid onto the road,

yeah, that's actually a nice encouraging feeling.

So from that perspective, it was good.

There's good space in the back.

Jeep talked a lot about how there's more cargo storage space and there is.

There's a lot more than the last Cherokee, but it's still lagging behind other competitors

in the segment, which is kind of surprising given the size of it.

But yeah, overall, I think it was very agreeable.

And well, I have more thoughts on that, but I'll pass back to you for a sec.

All right.

Yeah, a couple numbers here that I will throw at you real quick.

37 miles per gallon, that's combined, up to 500 miles of range.

The 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder is actually in its third generation in Europe.

So while this is kind of new to us, it's a pretty proven engine that Stalantis has tried in other

markets. So I think that is going to be a strong, I think that's a strong play for Jeep is kind of

pulling something off the shelf that's already been proven out.

But we're going to talk more about how the Cherokee drives right after this.

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Okay, we're back talking to Kyle Patrick.

You're listening to the Auto Guide Show presented by eBay Motors.

We're talking about how the Cherokee drives.

Now you didn't really get to go off-road,

but it sort of sounds like off-road came to you with this downpour and stuff getting into the road.

That's not about as tricky as any off-road course I've ever done.

Do you think like off-roaders are going to buy into the Cherokee?

Do you think they're going to, for what, you know, this segment is,

do you think people are going to get into this?

I think, look, using the name, you're going to invite them criticism from the hardcore off-roaders,

but they were never going to buy this segment as their main off-roader anyway.

And the Wrangler still exists.

So, in my mind, this makes sense for someone who is already a Jeep family,

but wants their family vehicle.

I've said this a few times since I drove it.

We remember the early 2000s when Jeep started expanding out and becoming a much larger automaker,

and it had the Patriot and the original Compass.

And those got a lot of flak for being softer and not real off-roaders,

because back then in the early 2000s, SUVs were only just starting to really exist across other

brands, and so it felt like Jeep was watering down its recipe.

Now SUVs are everywhere, and they're the dominant shape on the market.

So Jeep having a RAV4 competitor that isn't a hardcore off-roader makes a ton of sense,

because you're still getting the Jeep flavor in a segment that everyone wants a part of.

I think the important thing here is that, as we've said, Jeep is now in this segment,

and it isn't necessarily a front-runner in a lot of ways, but it still carves out its own

unique flavor in a very crowded segment.

The interior, for example, is quiet.

It's very comfortable.

It feels refined in a way that I think is more grand Cherokee, and actually maybe a little Mazda,

which is a tough competitor, right?

The Mazda has the swankiest interiors in the mainstream segment, and this feels a lot closer

to that than it would a RAV4 or a CR-V, both of which aren't super impressive in their cabins.

So I think that's an important angle too for this.

Yeah, I didn't sit in it when I kind of did like a walk around of it,

but I was impressed with the interior.

It's in some ways, it's classier and more straightforward than I've come to expect from

some different Stellantis products.

Now, like a high-trim Jeep could be as luxurious as almost anything,

but to me, that's always like a separate thing.

It seems like a very well-executed interior, just very straightforward, good-looking materials.

I think the Mazda comparison is excellent.

It's very fitting here, because Mazda doesn't try to be somebody else.

When you get inside like a CX-70 or a CX-90 or you name it, it feels like a Mazda,

and it's not like overly done over the top, sporty or luxurious.

It's just sort of like the right elements of all of those,

and I think Jeep does that with that off-road kind of vibe here, and for the segment,

that's going to be good for a lot of people who want something that looks good,

they show off to their friends, but also still has that kind of off-road vibe.

Yeah, absolutely. The other nice thing about the Cherokee interior,

this is a new one for Jeep. There are no leather options. It's all leather-free,

and you wouldn't know it. We've now gotten to that point where faux leather,

unless you tell people, they're not going to know. The lighter interior color I had during the day,

it does make it feel brighter and airier. It feels special inside, and I think that's a good thing,

because this segment does not always guarantee that. I should probably talk price,

because that is an important aspect of this vehicle, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it,

because that's not my job. It starts at $38,000, including destination, which is a lot, right?

But Jeep has spent probably the last 18 months or 24 months kind of realigning its prices,

knowing that they got out of hand, and the brand is being pretty upfront about that.

This doesn't start with a base trim. I mean, I know it does, but its base starts where everyone

else's mid-trims are. When you count the fact that it also has standard all-wheel drive, because

it's a Jeep, I don't think they can get away with selling a front-drive one.

It turns out it's in line with the pricing with other brands, right? And it tops out currently

with its highest trim at $45, which, again, is a lot for this segment, but that's where everyone is

now. You can buy a loaded CR-V for basically that amount of money, same with a RAV4.

So I think Jeep is coming in at a competitive spot, and they're going to hammer home the fact

that, yeah, it's a Jeep, and so it has this legacy of off-roading. Whether or not it can deliver,

I don't know. I didn't get to do it, but it's also bigger. And so I think it has a strong argument

for it, and we're going to have to see how it plays out on the market.

I have done some off-roading in Jeep Cherokees. I actually did one. This is the last generation,

of course, at the Chrysler Proving Grounds, kind of in the middle of Michigan. And I think it's

very good off-road, especially with the upper, like, more off-road-capable model variants,

because it is kind of the right size. It fits well and tight, sort of like

rough off-road kind of cornering situations. It's, frankly, easier than if you were to take

a larger Jeep or a forerunner or something. The use case, it can be very practical in that sense.

I wouldn't totally discount the off-road side of this, because I know Jeep is going to try to

really sort of pound that rock as hard as they can, but it can do other things. And another,

I think, kind of, this takes a little like mental recalibration. They're almost pitching this,

is like, it's in like a rev for a competitor, as far as being in that part of the segment,

but it's, again, to your point, it's a big vehicle. So you're almost paying, like,

compact pricing for sort of like mid-sized pricing, or mid-sized size. So, again, that's

definitely, like, that is sugarcoating it, like you said. But it definitely, it is something to

consider, because it is pretty large. I do wish they had figured out the storage cargo capacity

a little better. That seems to be at times a weakness with Jeep. Like, remember the old Cherokee

actually had about the same, maybe even less storage space than the Compass, which is hard to,

like, wrap your mind around. So I don't know. That's kind of fun with different numbers there,

but I think they actually, on NetNet, they prove the case of the Cherokee, as far as how useful

it could be to families who want to still have some fun. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think, you know,

without going too far off into the weeds here, is Jeep probably realizes, look, it's not going to be

fighting RAV4 for sales. It's not going to be the top of the class. But that's why they have the

Compass and the Cherokee to kind of go on either side in terms of size. And that gives you a unique

angle where, yeah, a lot of buyers probably want something that's just a little bit bigger,

but they don't necessarily want to go a full class up. And this gives you that. And

all we're going off are the official figures for cargo capacity right now. As we all know,

the numbers only tell part of the story. So once we actually get to spend a week with the Cherokee,

hopefully in a few months time, then we can load it full of camping gear, I guess, or

adventure ready stuff and see exactly how useful that space is. So yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic.

I think this was the right move. For me, the ultimate test for this will be sometime in July

or August when the family goes up north, as we say, to the upper peninsula. We go camping,

we take the dog, we take the tent, we take coolers of beer, hot dogs, golf clubs,

swimming equipment snorkeling. But for my family, this would be a vehicle we would want to take,

because it's good for the expressway with the fuel economy figures. It fits everybody. It's not

huge. We're not like this huge family. So it'd be a pleasant ride up north, as we say, up Interstate

75 and over the Mackinac Bridge. So for me, that'll be the real test. But Kyle, thanks for hanging

out. We'll be back with more from you. After this, we're going to talk to Mike next with his gear

test. You're listening to the AutoGuide show presented by eBay Motors. 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. Mike joins me now to talk about a little bit of a different gear test. This is the

Booge RV portable car fridge. I can't wait to hear more about this. Tell us, Mike, what did you do

with this? So I got this a couple of years ago for these long distance road trips I used to do

with my dad and my son. We got it because we'd always take a cooler, but like people know

that have just regular coolers every day, maybe multiple times a day depending where you are,

you have to keep filling up with ice and then empty out the water and fill it up with ice and

everything that's in there is going to get wet at some point. So I thought why not test out a

portable car fridge? So Booge RV makes a whole line of them. They make more advanced ones that

are designed for little travel trailers that maybe don't have a built-in fridge, but you could

not hardwire but directly plug it right into the system. I had the 12 volt car fridge, which is

great because it comes with dual plug. So you can plug 12 volt into your vehicle. Luckily the

two of the three years we've taken it on long trips, there's actually been a regular

two prong plug in the vehicle, so I could plug it in there. But even with the 12 volt, it could still

keep anything in there as cool as you want. You adjust the temperature so you could have it actually

as a freezer if you want to make it cold enough. With the 12 volt, it just takes a lot longer to

get it down to temperature. Once it's up to temperature, it can hold it. What I would do

is I'd plug it in at home before my trip for a couple hours to get it down to whatever temperature

I want, usually just, you know, like what a fridge would be, degrees above freezing, keep everything

nice and cool. And then plug it right into the vehicle, leave it plugged in all day, especially

if you have a vehicle that will allow it to still run even when the vehicle's off. It's fantastic.

If you don't, I left it for hours and I'd come back and everything would still be

more than cold enough. Like we could actually travel for days with milk. We could take meat in

there. All sorts of stuff that you probably wouldn't want to push your luck with in a cooler.

And then at night when we'd go to the various hotels, we'd just throw it on the dolly and

take it up to a room and plug it back in there. And it's like you had a fridge in your room as well.

When I tested it, they were kind enough to also give me the power pack. So it's this giant

rectangle brick of a battery. And if you charge that up, it can power the fridge for hours on its

own. So even if you aren't in your vehicle or in a room, if you go to the beach or if you're,

who knows where, and you want to still lug the big fridge with you, it can power itself. So what

I found an advantage for that is at night on these adventures, there was 80 cars and about 160 people.

I would all hang out in the parking lot at night and just, you know, talk about the day and whatnot.

So it was a great way to keep soft drinks cold at night in the parking lot while you're chatting

without having to have a car running the whole time. So, yeah, Booja Vee isn't the only company

that makes these, but I've had this now for four years. I've taken a camping, I've taken on road

trips, I've used it in a power outage. I highly recommend it. It doesn't have the biggest capacity

inside, but that's because it needs space to store the electrical cords and whatnot, plus

it's a fridge, it's not just a cooler, so it needs to have all the cooling elements in there. But

yeah, I highly recommend it. It's again, it's, as the name suggests, it's fancy. It's not the

cheapest fridge out there, but I've been very happy with it and it's real easy to use. So I do

recommend it if you're looking for a high quality portable fridge. Where did you put this in your

car when you were transporting it? Like in the trunk, in the back, the back seat, I'm just having

visions of the old Ford Flex with that kind of like cooler in between the seats. How does one

transport your Bujavi fridge? So it totally depends on what you're driving. So the first year we had

a Ram 1500 Limited and it did have a tonneau cover, but I didn't want to put it back there because I

couldn't lift the lid up with the tonneau cover in place and I wanted to pull it out every time.

So since there's just the three of us and they have these fold rear seats, I just pulled it up

one of the rear seats and it sat on the other side in the back and it was great. It was like,

yeah, totally having a fridge built right into the car. And then the other vehicles have just

been your usual SUVs like a GV80. And I just put it right in the back corner by the plug

and same thing, it's popped the hatch and there was your fridge and then easy to get in and out

when you take it to the hotel rooms. All right, sounds good. I think this is one of my actually

very favorite gear tests we've done. This just, this has given me a lot of ideas. We will drop a

link to this refrigerator in the show notes. So if you're listening to this, head to our site.

We'll have a link for this. Thanks for hanging out, Mike. We'll be back with Kyle for some road

tests in the AutoGuide Garage. Okay, it's time to step inside the AutoGuide Garage,

where we have a couple of interesting vehicles, the Audi A6 and the Volvo EX30. Kyle, you drove

the A6 slightly more recently than I did and it's a little bit newer and perhaps more newsworthy.

So I'll let you lead off. Tell me about this car and what you did with it.

Okay, well, Greg, to start, Audi has been a little bit of a professional blind spot for me

for a while. I just haven't been in their cars. So it was nice to go and drive this. It also

helped that it was in Palm Springs in February. So getting out of the Polar Vortex was nice.

But I will say that the A6, it was a hard car to pin down prior to the drive and even now I'm still

a little confused about who it's for. I will say it's handsome. It's a very good looking car

and in a class where the five series is divisive and the E-Class is a little boring and I don't

like saying that, but it is. The A6 is handsome. Audi has seen the riding on the walls. We know

that everyone buys SUVs now and so the A6 lineup is much smaller for this generation. It is one

engine. There is no S6. There's no four-cylinder. There's just the V6 now and I think it's a good

motor. It's 362 horsepower, 400 and a little over 400 pound-feet of torque. So it's the torquiest

regular six-cylinder that you can get in this segment and horsepower is competitive with the

others. It's a mild hybrid so it does the whole start-stop thing when you're rolling to a stop.

It's not great on fuel economy against the inline sixes. That is, it's one weak point,

but it's powerful and it's fun and it's the base engine and Audi really made a note of how

for pricing for this new A6 you're getting into a V6 where the other Germans are offering a four

cylinder. So you're getting a lot more power and it's a weirdly good value when you frame it like

that for what is a mid-sized luxury sedan. There are massage seats. There's the fancy headlights

that Audi has become famous for in modern day and you know what? It drives pretty well. It's

so I think they've done a good job of really shortening or shrinking the lineup for the essence

of the vehicle. I just don't know who it's for. That's very fair. For me I think especially given

the market segment like German luxury sedan buyers do like power and they like engine size. So I

think that's a very strong selling point and I've also, I would put Audi maybe second among the

like the sort of the German big three as far as their styling right now. I think Mercedes right

now is just stem to stern, just excellent. They do everything so well inside and out. I feel like

Audi has maybe passed BMW a little bit in certain segments as far as just having designs like you

mentioned the headlights. Just having a very well tapered look and I feel like they've also

chilled out a little bit and some of their overly styled lines and silhouettes and I think that's

reflected in the A6. So this is one I can't wait to drive actually. I'm intrigued by it.

Yeah. I think what you said made a lot of sense. I'm still not sure about the CLA from Mercedes.

That's a different one. But the interior is one aspect of the A6 where I'm not quite sold on.

Right. There's a lot of screens and Audi used to be the leader in terms of interior quality

and styling. And so to see them kind of floundering with just a lot of screens and not a lot else,

it's a little disappointing. I will say that the screens work well. But yeah, that was one

aspect where I think BMW actually has probably better interior design. But yeah, I'm excited

for you to drive the A6 when you hopefully get a chance in the summer. But I want to hear your

thoughts on a small little electric vehicle that I'm quite a fan of. Excellent segue. And I want

to hear some of your thoughts. So I drove this late last fall. It was quite cold. My initial

sort of memory was like freezing at like a quick charger trying to actually top off the batteries

because I ran it down quite low. But I generally like my time with it. I think it's quirky. It's

fun. It's different. I think the cabin is pretty well done. And it's a little roomier than you

might expect for the segment. So I thought that was a little bit of a surprise and delight.

Mine had these kind of like hounds tooth like patterns on it. The dashboard was nice and clean.

Very Scandinavian as you would sort of expect. Center Council was a problem like for me and like

multiple family members. I wrote down in my notes that it was like a Russian novel. It apparently

took me days to figure out how to open it, which is hilarious. But I thought there were things

like that, like it was a blend of simple Scandinavian, just, you know, clean design,

which is weirdness. I thought for the sake of being weird. And that's where I ran into things

like the Center Council. It was also probably more basic than some Volvos I've driven in the past,

but that's sort of fair given its price point. There was no aura for his crystal shifter, which

I mean, hey, come on, man, I have standards here. We got to have crystal shifter. On the road,

it's very nimble, easy to handle. I thought the steering was very direct, good visibility. If you

look at pictures of it, the greenhouse, even though it's like kind of a swoopy coop, the visibility

going forward to the side is still quite good. So, you know, in that sense, it was pretty,

pretty fun to drive. I found the Android system kind of annoying a little bit. I generally,

I'm okay with Android systems. Like I feel like GM tried for so long to like force us to adopt this

that I got used to it by driving GM press cars. I'm still not fully there on how

some of these Android systems interact. And also the key thing, maybe you have this experience,

I thought the key fob was super annoying. Like it kept like locking when you would get close.

If you were too far away, it would lock again. Like again, when you have like a young family like

I do, it's obnoxious when your eight-year-old's trying to get in the car and it's snowing and

it's locked. And you're like four and a half feet away instead of being four or whatever the

sensing rate like range was. So, I thought that was the example of being kind of like

way too like wonky. In my notes, I have so much like wonky written here. I did charge it previously

at the Nissan Tech Center, which was kind of a fun little footnote of my test drive. I took it to

a Nissan Sentra drive. So, I actually had a good like 25 miles out to Farmington Hills,

25 miles back kind of drive. So, it was good on the highway, you know, sometimes cars like this

can get a little breezy and drafty and obnoxious. So, so yeah, it's kind of.

Did you have the dual motor or the single motor? I had the dual motor. Okay, so it's a rocket.

Yeah, yeah, maybe I buried the lead. This thing can really take off. Plenty of all the electric car

sort of vibes you would expect. Yeah, I mean, in that sense, it was pretty fun to drive.

Yeah, I was supposed to drive this actually two years ago and it was supposed to show up for

North American car truck and SUV of the year testing and they did actually have it but then

they like withdrew it because they didn't get it on sale in the US market with enough critical

volume. So, we didn't get to vote on it. So, it was like one of these vehicles that's been a little

bit of a kind of a ghost floating out there. So, this was my most extended time with it,

I guess, is how I would put it. Okay. No, it's good to hear and a lot of my thoughts align with

yours where there's so much to like about it. I like the shape. I like the looks. The infotainment

kind of annoying. It needs some work. The lack of four window switches annoying.

And the FOB, it feels like it was designed, I understand it's the smallest model from Volvo,

so it was designed for people who are primarily driving alone or maybe just a couple. But yeah,

if you have family, you have kids who want to get in, that FOB is really annoying. It also feels

about as premium as a tic-tac package. There's no weight. There's no feel at all to it,

which is disappointing. But I think the flip side to software to find vehicles in this day and age

is the things that we are annoyed about with the EX30 can be fixed during its life. And so,

I have hope that Volvo does update it well because there's so much to like there.

It's a good looking crossover. I think the exterior, the headlights, the kind of those

like sail panels in the back, a lot of good stuff from Volvo there. Got a lot of attention,

that's for sure. And I think that's always a good sort of sign that vehicles are resonating,

even if they're polarizing. Definitely put a lot of stuff in it too. It gets like there's

more room in there than it might look like. So yeah, I liked my time with it. We'll see what

the market is, given just like the climate for EVs currently. It's still a little on the small

side. It's not cheap. So it's kind of all of the things for why people might decide they have a

hang up for buying an EV. But it was fun to drive. It's also like I said before, it's nimble. So

parking this thing was amazing. I was surprised how easily I could wedge it into shopping center,

parking lots and things like that. So yeah, it was a fun. It was a fun week with this.

But as you can see, I have some mixed emotions about it. Yeah.

All right. So that is the Auto Guide garage. Thanks for hanging out in the garage here with

me, Kyle. I will be right back after this with the mailbag. All right. In this week's episode,

we have a mailbag question, kind of a riff on the Mazda RX8 trademark filing you maybe saw

earlier this week. I actually wrote the story. Question is, I saw your story on the RX8 trademark

filing. What's going on there? Well, short answer is we're not totally sure. Trademark filings,

patent filings can meet a lot of different things. It could be literally just paperwork.

Maybe your general counsel needs to make some money at the end of the month. I don't know.

But it also typically means things like you're trying to preserve a trademark. Maybe you want

to use it for toys. And then there's always like option door number three, which is hey,

maybe it's future product. I would put that at, I don't know, 50-50 for Mazda right now.

They've shown some beautiful concepts, that icon SP concept, just absolutely gorgeous.

Some of their executives have spoken openly about having a sports car as a spiritual successor to

the RX7 or the RX8. So maybe file the paperwork so you have that name. Going through the documents,

it said it was a new application, which you could take that a lot of different ways.

Did they let the previous one lapse? Is this maybe they're trademarking the name a certain

weight with that like dash in it? Could be a lot of different things. But I think one of the things

that I think has been cool about the car industry since I've been covering it is different sort of

low volume segments have been invested in by automakers. And you're seeing that a lot of makers

of all stripes. So in maybe the 90s, early 2000s, which is ironically when the RX7 and RX8 were

around, you didn't see them placing bets in areas where there wasn't a clear path to victory.

Since then, you've seen automakers invest in all sorts of sports cars, off-road vehicles,

off-road trims, electrics. So that's kind of a long-winded way of saying, I think the time

is right. The conditions are there for Mazda. If they wanted to go down this road, they could

do this. So I would love to drive an RX8 and RX9, whatever they want to call it. Make a rotary

hybrid. Let's see. What do you think, Kyle? I think Mazda is an interesting spot because I would

argue no other brand has a reputation tied to a single type of engine more than they do. It's like

Mazda wasn't the first to do a rotary, but they're the ones that did it most. And so now that has

become such an integral part of the brand's DNA that every year we go through, sorry, you guys

are going to bring a rotary sports car back. They have to do that dance with us. And look, I know

that it's a small company. I know that it's essentially independent. And so the amount of

money that you need to throw at developing a unique sports car on a unique platform with a

unique engine that, to put it lightly, has had some speed bumps over the years. It's a lot, but I

mean, it's also in terms of brand equity and brand awareness, a home run. If Mazda brought out a new

sports car powered by a rotary, they would have all of the coverage across the globe. So I appreciate

your optimistic take. For me, it's probably like 20%, a chance that it's actually a new model.

But there's something there. And I think whatever it could be, pair it with the Miata. Come up with

a platform that somehow works for both. I don't know. It's a tough thing. It would probably piss

off people, but my suggestion is maybe make it less of a pure sports car and make it more of a

keep the Miata as a very focused, purest model. I'd love to see it, I guess, at the end of the day.

I get the feeling that it's just to, you know, hold on to a valuable name for them. But I would love

it if Mazda could bring back a rotary sporty car of some sort. And I used to think that it had to

be an RX-9. But no, there were three generations of RX-7. So yeah, make another RX-8. Do it. Give us

the rear hinged doors, too. I drove an RX-8 in a snowstorm one time, manual transmission,

probably summer tires. It was a heck of a ride. Let's put it that way. Those cars are memorable,

though. And that's why I think they should do it. Give the people what they want. Give the Mazda

fans what they want. Here's another conspiracy thing. Look for a partner. Maybe Mazda does the

rotary engine. And maybe they keep that. But somebody else does the platform. And maybe they

kind of design something that's ubiquitous. Like, I thought it worked with the Z and with the Supra.

Other people had strong feelings on that. But I mean, for a long time, Chevy and Ford actually

had the same, like, automatic transmission in the Mustang and the Camaro. Like, this can be done.

It can happen. It's true. And actually, to bring it back to another story that was published on

AutoGuide this week, there are rumors that Lexus is working on a hybrid coupe to replace the LC

and RC, because those are, well, the RC is dead now and the LC dies this year. And the LC is one

of our absolute favorite coupes. You know, if Toyota needs a partner to do a really nice grand

tour and, you know, keep the hybrid powertrain in the LC, if Mazda also wants to play, just saying.

That is an excellent theory. If you're listening to us, thanks for listening at this point.

Please go to the comments. Tell us what you think. We should leave it right there,

because that's a perfect ending. Thanks, everybody, for listening to the AutoGuide show this week.

Please like, share, and subscribe. Please give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

It helps us get the word out. If you'd like us to answer one of your mailbag questions,

just get right in the comments on the post right below this on AutoGuide.com.

Be safe out there. You just listened to the AutoGuide show presented by eBay Motors.

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Test Driving the 2026 Jeep Cherokee | The AutoGuide Show Ep. 110

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