The Rise of Pickup Trucks: A Game-Changer for Women and Men Alike

When it comes to utility vehicles, many people think of SUVs or trucks with a high center of gravity, which can make them difficult to maneuver. However, this perception is slowly changing as modern pickup trucks have become more practical, versatile, and capable. With the increasing popularity of pickup trucks among women, it's clear that they're no longer just for guys who need to haul heavy loads or tow large trailers.

The 67% increase in pickup truck sales over the past few years is a testament to the changing landscape of utility vehicles. Gone are the days when pickups were associated with rugged outdoor enthusiasts and construction workers. Today, pickup trucks appeal to a wide range of people, including women who value their capability and practicality. According to Jake, a fan of pickup trucks, there's an image that women want to project – being capable and independent. Women who own pickup trucks often have horses, go mountain biking, or ride motorcycles, making them interesting and empowered individuals.

Marketing to women is crucial in the pickup truck industry. Rather than creating a "girly" truck, manufacturers need to appeal to their lifestyle and needs. A truck that's too feminine can be perceived as insulting, so it's essential to focus on the utility and capabilities of these vehicles. The tan oak or Ranger, smaller pickups, even take away some of the high-stepping height issues associated with larger trucks. This makes them more accessible and easier to maneuver.

The Honda Ridgeline is an excellent example of a car-based truck that has gained popularity among outdoor enthusiasts and families alike. With its practical features, such as a rear seat that can accommodate child seats and storage compartments for gear, the Ridgeline has become a favorite among those who need a reliable and versatile vehicle. Jake's sentiment about the Ridgeline being ahead of its time is well-founded, as it introduced many innovative features that are now standard in other pickup trucks.

As we look to the future, it's likely that we'll see more car-based trucks on the market. The traditional body-on-frame design is slowly being replaced by car-faced vehicles that offer better fuel efficiency and maneuverability. SUVs, which were once considered not real SUVs, have become increasingly popular as they offer a balance between comfort and capability. The Volkswagen Atlas, for instance, can be retooled to create a pickup truck with a car-based design.

While the idea of putting a pickup bed on an existing SUV is intriguing, it's not entirely impossible. Manufacturers could consider reconfiguring their designs to incorporate a rear cargo area or even a pickup bed. This would not only appeal to those who want more capability but also increase the versatility of these vehicles. As we move forward, it's likely that car-based trucks will become increasingly popular, offering a better balance between utility and practicality.

In conclusion, the rise of pickup trucks among women is a significant trend that reflects changing attitudes towards lifestyle and capabilities. By focusing on the practicality and versatility of these vehicles, manufacturers can appeal to a wider range of customers. As we look to the future, it's clear that car-based trucks will play an increasingly important role in the market, offering a more accessible and practical alternative to traditional body-on-frame designs.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ena u.s. senator visits the test track we ask whether small SUVs are really just hatchbacks in disguise our pickup trucks appealing more to women and we answer viewer questions next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode I'm like monticello i'm jennifer stock burger and I'm Jake Fisher now we've got a lot of stuff to get you today I've got a ton of notes so let's get right to it now for those of you that don't know the autotest Center is located in Connecticut and yesterday we got a very special visit from United States Senator Richard Blumenthal also of Connecticut and so Jen I was wanted you to kind of start it off by telling us how this visit came about and what he was looking to get out of it and what we were looking to get out of this visit yeah so so obviously you know he's our senior senator from Connecticut he's been here before on other automotive issues this particular visit was in conjunction with a piece of legislation that's currently in the US Senate called the AV start act and the start means something in its safer transportation through the advancement of revolutionary technologies oh I thought it was a little bit of a mouth I thought it was autonomous vehicles getting started I thought that's what the start and it is and it is so the revolutionary technology is the semi autonomous and the building blocks of these autonomous self-driving cars and we're all about the safety benefits of the technologies the advancement part is where we have some concerns at Consumer Reports in that it's moving too quickly putting too many cars on the roads that are bypassing some of the safety standards so they're looking to kind of fast-track it but without all the safety regs underneath so this was an opportunity with the senator for us to demonstrate what's currently on the market some of the semi autonomous driving features and see on show him where the concerns are in handing over to a driver where they're not they're not able to functional if there's not line markings or things like that so we did some demos and Jake did some demos with yes I want to talk about the demos that you took the senator through sure yeah so we took them through we took them on the track and we were just really showing them showing them what these systems are capable of and what they're not capable of so clearly we don't have any really autonomous vehicles I mean they'll really exist and they're certainly not marketed right now so we have some of these vehicles that have some features that are some autonomous and we demonstrated that so what cars were you driving we we we drove the Tesla Model 3 out in the track you know it showed it's very good at you know holding in in its lane but we demonstrated so if a car's parked there and you're cruising along at 60 miles per hour it's not necessarily gonna stop at a stop vehicle when you get to the end of the track it's not gonna realize you're at the end of the track and you're going into the the woods so it's you know it there's just the point is is that you need to keep engaged in these types of systems all right you have to pay attention to where you're going you have to keep your hands on the wheel for most of these systems and you know if you don't do that and if you do use these systems how you should not you're distracted something can happen like that we also took them out on the Cadillac ct-6 with supercruise showing them another technology which actually has the driver monitoring system so a camera that's looking at the driver making sure someone actually looks were there and in that case you actually went out on real roads we weren't just in the test center right you went out on right right and it's another interesting away piece of that too is that even if they have some autonomous technologies we prefer the way Cadillac has implemented it and said well it's really only safe on highway so we're not going to make it available on secondary roads whereas Tesla has you know even on our track here with some lines it's like sure you know it may not be the really the safest place to use it on a back road but it is available to the to the user so what was his take away what what could you tell was his take away and what things did he learn from you maybe as you were explaining these systems down well I mean one of the things that he learned is you know really what the capability is and what it's not so I think it was kind of loud and clear that even these these systems they got level to autonomy systems I mean they're not that capable they could do some things well but you really have to stay engaged so he's actually looking at taking this legislation and having it affect the cars that are on the road right now that's the level twos that Jake's talking about aren't in the eav starting right and one of the things we're saying is they should be right so the current vehicles yes should be included so for those of you that don't know the AV start act is in the Senate but the house already passed a version of it yeah they passed a bill that was called the self-drive Act last year and senator Blumenthal Dianne Feinstein of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts are currently holding up right the are Tesla's going off they are currently holding up the Senate bill until they get some amendments about safety in their right you know the automakers are saying this will allow the technology to move more quickly Jake where do you where D what do you think about this is that where are you with that well I mean safety needs to be number my priority and for for for multiple reasons one obviously we don't want to get hurt but the other piece of it is if people do get hurt it could actually slow down this technology so really if we want this to develop and we want to create new things I'm gonna make people safer you got to do it in a safe way and we do see the benefits done in a safe manner exactly I think he had a good quote at that you know kind of right it shouldn't be a race to be first it should be a race to be best and safest yeah and we interviewed him the editorial team and I viewed him later on and I think one of the best quotes and maybe he learned this yesterday was he said he feels the most dangerous moment is when the human has to take back over either you need to be fully involved or not at all I don't know if that was his position before but I know that's something you've preached so maybe that came from you Jake I don't know I think we gave him some good things to potentially include in the bill brother amended driver engagement level to etc which are things we've been asking for so it was a good good visit I think now on this past Monday EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt made a declaration that he's going to be plans to lower the future fuel economy targets for cars and trucks and light trucks in the US and he said the Obama administration made assumptions about the standards that didn't comport with reality and set the standards too high now on the surface Jake I mean to me this seems like this would maybe be a good move for the auto manufacturers but bad for consumers and the environment what do you take from where he's trying to go with this and what do you think the auto manufacturers are going to think about this well and the consumers how does this affect the consumers well I was I was I was surprised that our ROM our government section of the the podcast is going this long this important stuff for consumers so here's the interesting thing about it is that you know we're really we're monitoring the cars in our tests and we just on the on the in April we had a whole story about you know looking at what cars have actually accomplished and the truth is is that in the last 15 years fuel economy has really improved quite a lot while acceleration is improved while comfort of convenience has improved well the cars have gotten larger so so a lot of this kind of we heard the sky is falling stuff before and you know and the cars having gotten more expensive so the truth is that there is that capability now going forward it's unclear and and there's been reports from a lot automotive makers who don't want to put that roll back those those those standards and even there's no reports of suppliers saying we don't want to send this back because actually there's a lot of development of technology that can drive jobs you look at the suppliers to the auto industry to create you know cars with better fuel I should say you look at all the stuff that we're seeing I mean the you know aluminum you know advanced materials and cars you know more advanced transmission and dual clutch transmissions continuously variable transmissions 8 9 10 speed transmission and not to say that there are small small displacement turbo right and let's say that they're perfect and winter sweeps we've we've cited some reliability issues them a lot of money and they've invested a lot of just already and they're getting to figure out how to make these things reliable and more robust so so you suddenly exactly right you know you've invested all this money in this technology to get these fuel this fuel economy and then suddenly you don't need it anymore there's a problem my concern is and again this is future they're talking 2022 to 2025 so it's not an immediate change that we're gonna see wait because the manufacturers those the cars are already employees right so that's what they're already working on 2022 but and probably 2025 but my concern is when you take away that driving force will they continue to make those investments if they don't have to and and we've seen such benefits to Jake's point already because they were striving for those goals that they thought were in place well if you take those away now we Consumer Reports continues to award fuel economy highly in our own ratings then we'll continue to do that and that's a big rewarded too because they're right and we wrote a story about this article just just a couple days ago and we said that you know if these continued fuel economy improvements happen the way they're planned right the way they right now 2025 would yield savings of about 3,200 ollars per car and $40.00 per truck or SUV over the life of that vehicle even would the added cost of the new technologies - you're right Jake where you said the car the vehicles haven't really gotten that much more expensive when you account for inflation now oddly that's one of the things reasons they said that they didn't that they were rolling them back is that it was high consumer cost we haven't really seen it in the cost of vehicles you know right now we may not be seeing it with gas you know at reasonable prices but boy we'd be more interested in this I think if gas were for $4 a gallon and the other piece that we didn't talk about so much and not getting is that it also includes greenhouse gas emissions that's part of the package as well if they're saying they're gonna roll back those standards as well so it's a clean air and a fuel economy piece to it as well and look consumers are buying these cars and they benefiting and and today I think hopefully a lot of them know that this is helping the environment when you're driving a cleaner you know more fuel conscious and so you're saving the planet bye-bye you know everyone's the manufacturers and the consumers are all benefiting the planet this way and it's not killing performance vehicle right no this stuff is happening I mean they're still building the fastest most powerful cars that we ever could imagine well thank you no you know performance vehicles we've got the three most recent test car purchases at the track are the BMW x2 the Jaguar a pace and the Volvo XC forty and they are all part of this kind of ever-growing entry-level luxury SUV segment that all so includes the Audi q3 BMW x1 Buick Encore Infiniti qx30 mercedes-benz GLA MINI Countryman Jake I mean are these things the new hatchback and do people really are they gonna pay forty to fifty thousand dollars for the new hatchback because that's what these cost they're you know when you there's ones you can find out that on the dealer floor are forty to fifty thousand on your performance Segway be there because these are performance cars these are hatchbacks you know it's very interesting that you know as a market the US market really has kind of said that we don't want the latch backs and you know dodge omni's and all those things aren't cool really I mean you know nothing cool about a hatchback but but suddenly they've reinvented the hatchback as a luxury small SUV and these things are just kind of elevated hatchbacks with big wheels and some leather in them and they're able to sell them at these prices and even beyond just the luxury vehicles I mean we just did we're testing the Ford EcoSport which which I mean this is really a thing thank you for that but it's it's I mean it's it's like a Ford Fiesta he has raised for you it's a raised Fiesta I mean this is like a tiny little car and it's expensive we paid $20 for this thing I mean sure it's got a you know all the drive like here you go you want a luxury car you want an SUV it's like these are little hatchbacks right so god I was just gonna say I almost get the end getting into the luxury brand though I can get that I can afford this BMW or I can afford this infinity I get that no no no the only one I can't I can't afford it an x5 but play can't afford the next two type of thing I get that I let's get the EcoSport for that price like there's so much better I'm with you but yeah for me it's it's kind of like I'm looking at these and I'm you know compared the sizes versus a compact SUV and actually the wheelbase is interestingly are very similar between we're talking like you know Subaru Forester we're onto CRV rav4 Mazda cx-5 the will between all of these and the entry-level luxury SUVs are very similar but the entry-level luxury SUVs are actually several inches shorter so you're getting in a sense a less car for the money they have more power but the compact SUVs cost a lot less and if it were my money I'd rather smack my mic there it's if it were we all picked up on that if it were my money I'd rather go with a like a Mazda cx-5 which drives more pretty close to a lot of these like more babies more Rumia costs a lot less doesn't have as much power but it still handles really well drives you know really nice no and that's that's advice that we would get you know what it's not a BMW image you don't actually you know have an image score that we add to the cars right that's my point yeah yep Miss moneybags let's get to some viewer questions now for those of you that watched lacs last week's episode we were ly did a live taping from the New York Auto Show and we had a really good viewers to come out and be in the audience and it went really well we really enjoyed the interaction they asked some unscripted questions of you and John link ov and Mike Quincy and you guys did a great job answering them and actually I think maybe the most gratifying thing to me was after the podcast was over so many people stuck around and talked to the game and asked us questions agree that bird good exactly told us their own story and gave us some really good feedback and a young lady that I was talking to gave me some feedback she said well you know you guys asked us to give these 30-second video questions and then she's like I never see him so what do you do with him and little points off for her she missed an episode of two because we have shown a couple yeah not many but part of the problem is we haven't gotten a ton of really good ones yet so we're looking for more on that no angry more yeah on that note we got a pretty good one yesterday I think it was yesterday right yeah okay so it was yesterday and so we're gonna play that for you now and we're gonna try and answer this question hi token cos this is Mike and I'm late and we have a question we are moving back to the u.s. in June 20:18 for the first time after being away for almost 10 years and we're planning to do a two to three month road trip starting in Seattle driving the long way around to Chicago mm-hmm so we have a maximum budget of about $14,000 we've looked at some civics and Corollas in the mid 2010 also some new Elantras we're just looking for like reliable modern cars so we're looking for something obviously with good gas mileage that's comfortable but when we get to Chicago we might sell the vehicle and we're looking for something that has a good resale value as well so give us your advice what do you think what should we buy thank you for your help thanks okay so these guys are looking for a reliable modern car with good gas mileage and it's comfortable for me and but they also want to sell it at the end you know their trip so for me that immediately takes out new because you're gonna lose so much resale you know as soon as you buy the car I'm talking 14 grand yeah they had a price point yeah what are you gonna buy 14 grand right so I mean if it were me you know I would probably say because you're doing a road trip maybe you actually want something a little bigger than a sedan that they were talking about maybe something more like a wagon or a small SUV I would say maybe something like a you know a Toyota Venza you know from like the what is it 2010 to 2012 range although the fuel economy is not great on that thing well that's what I was gonna say you definitely you know when you think of a trip they were talking about road tripping yeah what's a fuel economy and there and he I think you know he throws out of Corolla in there don't think they're adverse to something smaller yeah so you know we did but I think you might want more space you know it might cuz you're gonna have lug in a load we're gonna pick some stuff up along the way you know who knows what you're gonna buy we did a neat story just this week it's it's timely again in that we did best used cars by price point and we have a ten to fifteen thousand dollar range and that does include Corolla is one of them so that was a good good Honda Fit and I find that again I've said before deceptively roomy I'm sorry lots of space inside it might not be bad that group that compact has kind of sacrificed noise and a little bit of ride comfort which if you're road-tripping would also be kind of important but they certainly meets the price point Honda or Toyota would certainly have resale you all right so those and then Kia Soul Mazda 3 Prius they were also a Prius I mean while 2010 2013 Toyota Prius that accomplishes their fuel mileage it accomplishes my a thing of hatchback woods with space right and good resale that could be wrong oh boy here we go set up set us right Jake okay the answer is obvious a Camry yeah well that's my 2013 she hadn't gotten I interrupted my fault so you were right you're just getting there and I'll tell you why because if you're gonna spend thousands of miles in a car you don't want to be in a Corolla you don't want to be in a fit you don't even want to be in a Prius you want something that's quiet and rides nice if you want to go worry about selling a car there's no nothing easier to go sell in a camera he's gonna be reliable that's fuel-efficient it's just a no-brainer that was the next segment yeah great feel totally better ride quieter Jake is right once again whatever and with that we want to hear from you guys so send us a 30 second video submission and maybe we'll play it on the show you can send it to consumerreports.org slash talking cars or if you're cool see our dot org slash talking cars now we have another viewer comment and this person says Consumer Reports says Cadillac has great vehicles that no one buys yet they don't recommend a single Cadillac in ratings or reliability and rank Escalade as one of the worst vehicles makes sense I think that was a dig I don't think the person really meant that no there was some sarcasm yeah a little bit of sarcasm and this I think relates back to something you were talking about in York Auto Show when we were talking about the Cadillac XT you said Cadillac makes great sedans that no one buys so we're gonna this is going to be a new segment that we're gonna call Jake splainin yeah I mean yeah there were because we're reports didn't say that I said that and I think I've said they before that you know I really do like the the modern Cadillacs enhance they drive great but yeah this guy's right he's right so why aren't they recommended the would they are recommended they make great driving vehicles certainly they make cars that ride and handling it handle well and are comfortable but the reliability isn't there to match it and with the reliability there we're not recommending cars that are unreliable and also there's other things with them too the infotainment systems Cadillac you it's really cumbersome so as a driver as a driver I like driving and I think that there's the road test score and then there's this it doesn't make it a good car that's not enough to make it a good car right yeah that's absolutely true they make great driving something could be really good to drive then it could have bad reliability and then we can't recommend it so when we say stop wrong call us out yeah that won't be the last Jay explain um I don't give him a bigger head okay so one of the biggest attention grabbers at the New York Auto Show was this Volkswagen Atlas tanno concept pickup truck and we got a comment about that and and this person said VW build that truck fast looks hella nice can we say hella on national television already says we can right looks hella nice for an SUV based pick up now VW hasn't committed to building this yet but they say they're gauging public interest and one that we've read some stories from other publications that are saying if VW really wants to build this they should try and market it toward women and it's yeah that's interesting because we just recently wrote a story and we said it's called our pickup trucks becoming the new family vehicle and part of them becoming the new family vehicle is they're also appealing more to women these days and you know we have a figure the number of women who registered full-size pickups which is you know this is a little smaller than that but full-size pickups has increased 67 percent from 2008 to 2016 Jen you're a woman capable and you like to do outdoorsy things so two questions for you could marketing toward you work to make you you know want to buy pickup truck and two what is it about pickup trucks that appeal to you because I know I think you do kind of like pickup trucks I do so so let me just start by Believe It or Not women may really need a pickup truck you know you think of I mean I've said multiple times I got two horses in the backyard we have a pickup truck at home if I was single I would probably have a pickup truck if I had two horses you can't just load hay and grain and and shavings in the back of your SUV r it's gonna be one messy SUV and I would expand that you guys have talked about your bikes women like mountain biking I sports and I even think of the you know fixer-upper the chip and Joanna Gaines you go to a flea market you want to bring some old stuff home you don't necessarily want to load all that in the back of of an SUV so there's real need real utility for women as well as men in getting a pickup truck why I think it's a 67% increase is the lot of the compromises have gone away yeah they ride better they have better fuel economy they do they're versatile in the cabins you got all these flips and the seats move and you could put your storage we've even said they fit family you know you said family child seats fit well there's tons of room so a lot of what was a compromise before is not anymore so you can get your utility that you either need or just want I do think there's an image that women you said the word I like that word capable I think they portray an image when you're a female we'd like being up high we've already established that that's why we like SUVs yeah it makes us feel capable that we don't have to maybe borrow some guys truck to do the things we want to do yeah I always kind of get a little interested when I see a woman driving a pickup truck because I think I just you wonder we easily think oh you know what does she do with that truck does she have horses does she go mountain biking does she ride motorcycles what is it that she does that she you know has a pickup truck it makes her interesting it does make her into me anyway I mean one thing is I mean what would be W showing is certainly not gonna be a pickup trucks gonna tell horses no drum but I mean well they yeah I mean there's I mean so Paul they could put hay in the back though right and then that's what I absolutely absolutely but but the other piece is you know I'm kind of my senses go up which is like marketing to women because I mean what you don't want to do is market this as a girlie truck right that's the worst thing you could possibly do so I think yeah I think I would almost find that a little bit offensive right exact market to what my lifestyle is be it male or so so III do think that this it would be a truck that would appeal to many women and many guys and to a lot of people but but yeah you don't want to go and make it the girly truck and no and I would say with the tan oak or the Ranger the smaller pickups they even take away a little bit of the high steppin height all right you know the parking issues maneuvering such a big vehicle they take that away one step more and this this is this would be a car based truck like like pickup like like a Honda Ridgeline and I mean that's clearly who they would be trying to compete against sure Jake should Volkswagen build this truck and you know what would be you know how much would it cost to you know retool the Atlas you know SUV to to build this you know basically put a pickup bed on the back well I mean look I mean it it's up to them obviously and you know I mean it's again it's like the Honda Ridgeline would you like to see like I would love to see it I would love to see it I am I am I'll be honest I'm not a pickup truck guy and the reason is it's usually too much capability of what I need but you know I do like the ridgeline and I do like you know throwing the snowboards in there and the mountain bikes in there whatever you know I could I could tow my racecar with it you know I mean it's enough see I don't know we think 15 years from now we could be seeing a lot more car vase because instead of you know instead of the regular traditional you know body-on-frame pick I actually think it's inevitable and I think the ridgeline was ahead of its time and I think it's it's just what we saw with SUVs I mean for so many years you know those aren't real SUVs and right and you know the Explorer was still a truck based vehicle for for so long and now yeah it's a thing of the past they're all car faced there's there's none of that we need a real four-wheel drive system ya know because these are vehicles that appeal to people so I think we'll get there I don't know how quickly we'll get there but I think that's where the markets gonna go okay that's what Volkswagens good yeah all right well that's gonna do it for this episode if you want to learn more about the cars that we talked about in the show click on the links in the show notes below as always thanks for watching and we'll see you next week youa u.s. senator visits the test track we ask whether small SUVs are really just hatchbacks in disguise our pickup trucks appealing more to women and we answer viewer questions next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode I'm like monticello i'm jennifer stock burger and I'm Jake Fisher now we've got a lot of stuff to get you today I've got a ton of notes so let's get right to it now for those of you that don't know the autotest Center is located in Connecticut and yesterday we got a very special visit from United States Senator Richard Blumenthal also of Connecticut and so Jen I was wanted you to kind of start it off by telling us how this visit came about and what he was looking to get out of it and what we were looking to get out of this visit yeah so so obviously you know he's our senior senator from Connecticut he's been here before on other automotive issues this particular visit was in conjunction with a piece of legislation that's currently in the US Senate called the AV start act and the start means something in its safer transportation through the advancement of revolutionary technologies oh I thought it was a little bit of a mouth I thought it was autonomous vehicles getting started I thought that's what the start and it is and it is so the revolutionary technology is the semi autonomous and the building blocks of these autonomous self-driving cars and we're all about the safety benefits of the technologies the advancement part is where we have some concerns at Consumer Reports in that it's moving too quickly putting too many cars on the roads that are bypassing some of the safety standards so they're looking to kind of fast-track it but without all the safety regs underneath so this was an opportunity with the senator for us to demonstrate what's currently on the market some of the semi autonomous driving features and see on show him where the concerns are in handing over to a driver where they're not they're not able to functional if there's not line markings or things like that so we did some demos and Jake did some demos with yes I want to talk about the demos that you took the senator through sure yeah so we took them through we took them on the track and we were just really showing them showing them what these systems are capable of and what they're not capable of so clearly we don't have any really autonomous vehicles I mean they'll really exist and they're certainly not marketed right now so we have some of these vehicles that have some features that are some autonomous and we demonstrated that so what cars were you driving we we we drove the Tesla Model 3 out in the track you know it showed it's very good at you know holding in in its lane but we demonstrated so if a car's parked there and you're cruising along at 60 miles per hour it's not necessarily gonna stop at a stop vehicle when you get to the end of the track it's not gonna realize you're at the end of the track and you're going into the the woods so it's you know it there's just the point is is that you need to keep engaged in these types of systems all right you have to pay attention to where you're going you have to keep your hands on the wheel for most of these systems and you know if you don't do that and if you do use these systems how you should not you're distracted something can happen like that we also took them out on the Cadillac ct-6 with supercruise showing them another technology which actually has the driver monitoring system so a camera that's looking at the driver making sure someone actually looks were there and in that case you actually went out on real roads we weren't just in the test center right you went out on right right and it's another interesting away piece of that too is that even if they have some autonomous technologies we prefer the way Cadillac has implemented it and said well it's really only safe on highway so we're not going to make it available on secondary roads whereas Tesla has you know even on our track here with some lines it's like sure you know it may not be the really the safest place to use it on a back road but it is available to the to the user so what was his take away what what could you tell was his take away and what things did he learn from you maybe as you were explaining these systems down well I mean one of the things that he learned is you know really what the capability is and what it's not so I think it was kind of loud and clear that even these these systems they got level to autonomy systems I mean they're not that capable they could do some things well but you really have to stay engaged so he's actually looking at taking this legislation and having it affect the cars that are on the road right now that's the level twos that Jake's talking about aren't in the eav starting right and one of the things we're saying is they should be right so the current vehicles yes should be included so for those of you that don't know the AV start act is in the Senate but the house already passed a version of it yeah they passed a bill that was called the self-drive Act last year and senator Blumenthal Dianne Feinstein of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts are currently holding up right the are Tesla's going off they are currently holding up the Senate bill until they get some amendments about safety in their right you know the automakers are saying this will allow the technology to move more quickly Jake where do you where D what do you think about this is that where are you with that well I mean safety needs to be number my priority and for for for multiple reasons one obviously we don't want to get hurt but the other piece of it is if people do get hurt it could actually slow down this technology so really if we want this to develop and we want to create new things I'm gonna make people safer you got to do it in a safe way and we do see the benefits done in a safe manner exactly I think he had a good quote at that you know kind of right it shouldn't be a race to be first it should be a race to be best and safest yeah and we interviewed him the editorial team and I viewed him later on and I think one of the best quotes and maybe he learned this yesterday was he said he feels the most dangerous moment is when the human has to take back over either you need to be fully involved or not at all I don't know if that was his position before but I know that's something you've preached so maybe that came from you Jake I don't know I think we gave him some good things to potentially include in the bill brother amended driver engagement level to etc which are things we've been asking for so it was a good good visit I think now on this past Monday EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt made a declaration that he's going to be plans to lower the future fuel economy targets for cars and trucks and light trucks in the US and he said the Obama administration made assumptions about the standards that didn't comport with reality and set the standards too high now on the surface Jake I mean to me this seems like this would maybe be a good move for the auto manufacturers but bad for consumers and the environment what do you take from where he's trying to go with this and what do you think the auto manufacturers are going to think about this well and the consumers how does this affect the consumers well I was I was I was surprised that our ROM our government section of the the podcast is going this long this important stuff for consumers so here's the interesting thing about it is that you know we're really we're monitoring the cars in our tests and we just on the on the in April we had a whole story about you know looking at what cars have actually accomplished and the truth is is that in the last 15 years fuel economy has really improved quite a lot while acceleration is improved while comfort of convenience has improved well the cars have gotten larger so so a lot of this kind of we heard the sky is falling stuff before and you know and the cars having gotten more expensive so the truth is that there is that capability now going forward it's unclear and and there's been reports from a lot automotive makers who don't want to put that roll back those those those standards and even there's no reports of suppliers saying we don't want to send this back because actually there's a lot of development of technology that can drive jobs you look at the suppliers to the auto industry to create you know cars with better fuel I should say you look at all the stuff that we're seeing I mean the you know aluminum you know advanced materials and cars you know more advanced transmission and dual clutch transmissions continuously variable transmissions 8 9 10 speed transmission and not to say that there are small small displacement turbo right and let's say that they're perfect and winter sweeps we've we've cited some reliability issues them a lot of money and they've invested a lot of just already and they're getting to figure out how to make these things reliable and more robust so so you suddenly exactly right you know you've invested all this money in this technology to get these fuel this fuel economy and then suddenly you don't need it anymore there's a problem my concern is and again this is future they're talking 2022 to 2025 so it's not an immediate change that we're gonna see wait because the manufacturers those the cars are already employees right so that's what they're already working on 2022 but and probably 2025 but my concern is when you take away that driving force will they continue to make those investments if they don't have to and and we've seen such benefits to Jake's point already because they were striving for those goals that they thought were in place well if you take those away now we Consumer Reports continues to award fuel economy highly in our own ratings then we'll continue to do that and that's a big rewarded too because they're right and we wrote a story about this article just just a couple days ago and we said that you know if these continued fuel economy improvements happen the way they're planned right the way they right now 2025 would yield savings of about 3,200 ollars per car and $40.00 per truck or SUV over the life of that vehicle even would the added cost of the new technologies - you're right Jake where you said the car the vehicles haven't really gotten that much more expensive when you account for inflation now oddly that's one of the things reasons they said that they didn't that they were rolling them back is that it was high consumer cost we haven't really seen it in the cost of vehicles you know right now we may not be seeing it with gas you know at reasonable prices but boy we'd be more interested in this I think if gas were for $4 a gallon and the other piece that we didn't talk about so much and not getting is that it also includes greenhouse gas emissions that's part of the package as well if they're saying they're gonna roll back those standards as well so it's a clean air and a fuel economy piece to it as well and look consumers are buying these cars and they benefiting and and today I think hopefully a lot of them know that this is helping the environment when you're driving a cleaner you know more fuel conscious and so you're saving the planet bye-bye you know everyone's the manufacturers and the consumers are all benefiting the planet this way and it's not killing performance vehicle right no this stuff is happening I mean they're still building the fastest most powerful cars that we ever could imagine well thank you no you know performance vehicles we've got the three most recent test car purchases at the track are the BMW x2 the Jaguar a pace and the Volvo XC forty and they are all part of this kind of ever-growing entry-level luxury SUV segment that all so includes the Audi q3 BMW x1 Buick Encore Infiniti qx30 mercedes-benz GLA MINI Countryman Jake I mean are these things the new hatchback and do people really are they gonna pay forty to fifty thousand dollars for the new hatchback because that's what these cost they're you know when you there's ones you can find out that on the dealer floor are forty to fifty thousand on your performance Segway be there because these are performance cars these are hatchbacks you know it's very interesting that you know as a market the US market really has kind of said that we don't want the latch backs and you know dodge omni's and all those things aren't cool really I mean you know nothing cool about a hatchback but but suddenly they've reinvented the hatchback as a luxury small SUV and these things are just kind of elevated hatchbacks with big wheels and some leather in them and they're able to sell them at these prices and even beyond just the luxury vehicles I mean we just did we're testing the Ford EcoSport which which I mean this is really a thing thank you for that but it's it's I mean it's it's like a Ford Fiesta he has raised for you it's a raised Fiesta I mean this is like a tiny little car and it's expensive we paid $20 for this thing I mean sure it's got a you know all the drive like here you go you want a luxury car you want an SUV it's like these are little hatchbacks right so god I was just gonna say I almost get the end getting into the luxury brand though I can get that I can afford this BMW or I can afford this infinity I get that no no no the only one I can't I can't afford it an x5 but play can't afford the next two type of thing I get that I let's get the EcoSport for that price like there's so much better I'm with you but yeah for me it's it's kind of like I'm looking at these and I'm you know compared the sizes versus a compact SUV and actually the wheelbase is interestingly are very similar between we're talking like you know Subaru Forester we're onto CRV rav4 Mazda cx-5 the will between all of these and the entry-level luxury SUVs are very similar but the entry-level luxury SUVs are actually several inches shorter so you're getting in a sense a less car for the money they have more power but the compact SUVs cost a lot less and if it were my money I'd rather smack my mic there it's if it were we all picked up on that if it were my money I'd rather go with a like a Mazda cx-5 which drives more pretty close to a lot of these like more babies more Rumia costs a lot less doesn't have as much power but it still handles really well drives you know really nice no and that's that's advice that we would get you know what it's not a BMW image you don't actually you know have an image score that we add to the cars right that's my point yeah yep Miss moneybags let's get to some viewer questions now for those of you that watched lacs last week's episode we were ly did a live taping from the New York Auto Show and we had a really good viewers to come out and be in the audience and it went really well we really enjoyed the interaction they asked some unscripted questions of you and John link ov and Mike Quincy and you guys did a great job answering them and actually I think maybe the most gratifying thing to me was after the podcast was over so many people stuck around and talked to the game and asked us questions agree that bird good exactly told us their own story and gave us some really good feedback and a young lady that I was talking to gave me some feedback she said well you know you guys asked us to give these 30-second video questions and then she's like I never see him so what do you do with him and little points off for her she missed an episode of two because we have shown a couple yeah not many but part of the problem is we haven't gotten a ton of really good ones yet so we're looking for more on that no angry more yeah on that note we got a pretty good one yesterday I think it was yesterday right yeah okay so it was yesterday and so we're gonna play that for you now and we're gonna try and answer this question hi token cos this is Mike and I'm late and we have a question we are moving back to the u.s. in June 20:18 for the first time after being away for almost 10 years and we're planning to do a two to three month road trip starting in Seattle driving the long way around to Chicago mm-hmm so we have a maximum budget of about $14,000 we've looked at some civics and Corollas in the mid 2010 also some new Elantras we're just looking for like reliable modern cars so we're looking for something obviously with good gas mileage that's comfortable but when we get to Chicago we might sell the vehicle and we're looking for something that has a good resale value as well so give us your advice what do you think what should we buy thank you for your help thanks okay so these guys are looking for a reliable modern car with good gas mileage and it's comfortable for me and but they also want to sell it at the end you know their trip so for me that immediately takes out new because you're gonna lose so much resale you know as soon as you buy the car I'm talking 14 grand yeah they had a price point yeah what are you gonna buy 14 grand right so I mean if it were me you know I would probably say because you're doing a road trip maybe you actually want something a little bigger than a sedan that they were talking about maybe something more like a wagon or a small SUV I would say maybe something like a you know a Toyota Venza you know from like the what is it 2010 to 2012 range although the fuel economy is not great on that thing well that's what I was gonna say you definitely you know when you think of a trip they were talking about road tripping yeah what's a fuel economy and there and he I think you know he throws out of Corolla in there don't think they're adverse to something smaller yeah so you know we did but I think you might want more space you know it might cuz you're gonna have lug in a load we're gonna pick some stuff up along the way you know who knows what you're gonna buy we did a neat story just this week it's it's timely again in that we did best used cars by price point and we have a ten to fifteen thousand dollar range and that does include Corolla is one of them so that was a good good Honda Fit and I find that again I've said before deceptively roomy I'm sorry lots of space inside it might not be bad that group that compact has kind of sacrificed noise and a little bit of ride comfort which if you're road-tripping would also be kind of important but they certainly meets the price point Honda or Toyota would certainly have resale you all right so those and then Kia Soul Mazda 3 Prius they were also a Prius I mean while 2010 2013 Toyota Prius that accomplishes their fuel mileage it accomplishes my a thing of hatchback woods with space right and good resale that could be wrong oh boy here we go set up set us right Jake okay the answer is obvious a Camry yeah well that's my 2013 she hadn't gotten I interrupted my fault so you were right you're just getting there and I'll tell you why because if you're gonna spend thousands of miles in a car you don't want to be in a Corolla you don't want to be in a fit you don't even want to be in a Prius you want something that's quiet and rides nice if you want to go worry about selling a car there's no nothing easier to go sell in a camera he's gonna be reliable that's fuel-efficient it's just a no-brainer that was the next segment yeah great feel totally better ride quieter Jake is right once again whatever and with that we want to hear from you guys so send us a 30 second video submission and maybe we'll play it on the show you can send it to consumerreports.org slash talking cars or if you're cool see our dot org slash talking cars now we have another viewer comment and this person says Consumer Reports says Cadillac has great vehicles that no one buys yet they don't recommend a single Cadillac in ratings or reliability and rank Escalade as one of the worst vehicles makes sense I think that was a dig I don't think the person really meant that no there was some sarcasm yeah a little bit of sarcasm and this I think relates back to something you were talking about in York Auto Show when we were talking about the Cadillac XT you said Cadillac makes great sedans that no one buys so we're gonna this is going to be a new segment that we're gonna call Jake splainin yeah I mean yeah there were because we're reports didn't say that I said that and I think I've said they before that you know I really do like the the modern Cadillacs enhance they drive great but yeah this guy's right he's right so why aren't they recommended the would they are recommended they make great driving vehicles certainly they make cars that ride and handling it handle well and are comfortable but the reliability isn't there to match it and with the reliability there we're not recommending cars that are unreliable and also there's other things with them too the infotainment systems Cadillac you it's really cumbersome so as a driver as a driver I like driving and I think that there's the road test score and then there's this it doesn't make it a good car that's not enough to make it a good car right yeah that's absolutely true they make great driving something could be really good to drive then it could have bad reliability and then we can't recommend it so when we say stop wrong call us out yeah that won't be the last Jay explain um I don't give him a bigger head okay so one of the biggest attention grabbers at the New York Auto Show was this Volkswagen Atlas tanno concept pickup truck and we got a comment about that and and this person said VW build that truck fast looks hella nice can we say hella on national television already says we can right looks hella nice for an SUV based pick up now VW hasn't committed to building this yet but they say they're gauging public interest and one that we've read some stories from other publications that are saying if VW really wants to build this they should try and market it toward women and it's yeah that's interesting because we just recently wrote a story and we said it's called our pickup trucks becoming the new family vehicle and part of them becoming the new family vehicle is they're also appealing more to women these days and you know we have a figure the number of women who registered full-size pickups which is you know this is a little smaller than that but full-size pickups has increased 67 percent from 2008 to 2016 Jen you're a woman capable and you like to do outdoorsy things so two questions for you could marketing toward you work to make you you know want to buy pickup truck and two what is it about pickup trucks that appeal to you because I know I think you do kind of like pickup trucks I do so so let me just start by Believe It or Not women may really need a pickup truck you know you think of I mean I've said multiple times I got two horses in the backyard we have a pickup truck at home if I was single I would probably have a pickup truck if I had two horses you can't just load hay and grain and and shavings in the back of your SUV r it's gonna be one messy SUV and I would expand that you guys have talked about your bikes women like mountain biking I sports and I even think of the you know fixer-upper the chip and Joanna Gaines you go to a flea market you want to bring some old stuff home you don't necessarily want to load all that in the back of of an SUV so there's real need real utility for women as well as men in getting a pickup truck why I think it's a 67% increase is the lot of the compromises have gone away yeah they ride better they have better fuel economy they do they're versatile in the cabins you got all these flips and the seats move and you could put your storage we've even said they fit family you know you said family child seats fit well there's tons of room so a lot of what was a compromise before is not anymore so you can get your utility that you either need or just want I do think there's an image that women you said the word I like that word capable I think they portray an image when you're a female we'd like being up high we've already established that that's why we like SUVs yeah it makes us feel capable that we don't have to maybe borrow some guys truck to do the things we want to do yeah I always kind of get a little interested when I see a woman driving a pickup truck because I think I just you wonder we easily think oh you know what does she do with that truck does she have horses does she go mountain biking does she ride motorcycles what is it that she does that she you know has a pickup truck it makes her interesting it does make her into me anyway I mean one thing is I mean what would be W showing is certainly not gonna be a pickup trucks gonna tell horses no drum but I mean well they yeah I mean there's I mean so Paul they could put hay in the back though right and then that's what I absolutely absolutely but but the other piece is you know I'm kind of my senses go up which is like marketing to women because I mean what you don't want to do is market this as a girlie truck right that's the worst thing you could possibly do so I think yeah I think I would almost find that a little bit offensive right exact market to what my lifestyle is be it male or so so III do think that this it would be a truck that would appeal to many women and many guys and to a lot of people but but yeah you don't want to go and make it the girly truck and no and I would say with the tan oak or the Ranger the smaller pickups they even take away a little bit of the high steppin height all right you know the parking issues maneuvering such a big vehicle they take that away one step more and this this is this would be a car based truck like like pickup like like a Honda Ridgeline and I mean that's clearly who they would be trying to compete against sure Jake should Volkswagen build this truck and you know what would be you know how much would it cost to you know retool the Atlas you know SUV to to build this you know basically put a pickup bed on the back well I mean look I mean it it's up to them obviously and you know I mean it's again it's like the Honda Ridgeline would you like to see like I would love to see it I would love to see it I am I am I'll be honest I'm not a pickup truck guy and the reason is it's usually too much capability of what I need but you know I do like the ridgeline and I do like you know throwing the snowboards in there and the mountain bikes in there whatever you know I could I could tow my racecar with it you know I mean it's enough see I don't know we think 15 years from now we could be seeing a lot more car vase because instead of you know instead of the regular traditional you know body-on-frame pick I actually think it's inevitable and I think the ridgeline was ahead of its time and I think it's it's just what we saw with SUVs I mean for so many years you know those aren't real SUVs and right and you know the Explorer was still a truck based vehicle for for so long and now yeah it's a thing of the past they're all car faced there's there's none of that we need a real four-wheel drive system ya know because these are vehicles that appeal to people so I think we'll get there I don't know how quickly we'll get there but I think that's where the markets gonna go okay that's what Volkswagens good yeah all right well that's gonna do it for this episode if you want to learn more about the cars that we talked about in the show click on the links in the show notes below as always thanks for watching and we'll see you next week you\n"