The Importance of Maintaining Your Battery Life

When it comes to maintaining your car's battery life, there are several things you can do to ensure it lasts as long as possible. One thing that is often overlooked is the importance of avoiding range anxiety. The 20 and 80 range, in particular, is a common rule of thumb for many car owners. This means driving your vehicle within the 20-80% charge range, rather than trying to squeeze every last bit of life out of it by charging it up to 100%. By doing so, you can help prolong the life of your battery and avoid unnecessary wear and tear.

It's also worth noting that there are several other factors that can contribute to a battery's lifespan, such as extreme temperatures. Just like how your phone tries to avoid overcharging its battery by limiting it to 80% capacity, some cars have features in place to do the same for their batteries. For example, BMW cars often come equipped with run-flat tires, which are designed to allow you to continue driving even if a tire is damaged or goes flat. However, these tires can be prone to rubbing against curbs and other obstacles, which can cause damage to the rim.

So, what happens when you drive over a curb or hit a pothole? The result can be devastating - dented or damaged rims that are difficult and expensive to repair. This is why it's essential to take extra care when driving in urban areas with rough roads. Avoiding curbs and other hazards is crucial to maintaining the health of your tires and preventing costly repairs down the line.

If you do find yourself in a situation where you've damaged your tire, don't worry - there are steps you can take to minimize the damage. First and foremost, get your car to a safe location as quickly as possible. If you're on the road, try to pull over to the side of the road or find a parking spot to avoid further damage. Once you've pulled over, assess the situation and take action to mitigate any further damage.

One thing that may help prevent curb damage is changing to a wider tire with a larger rubber lip. However, this is not always recommended as it can change the handling and ride of your car. It's also worth noting that some tires have built-in protection against curb damage, but these are relatively rare. In most cases, it's better to stick with the same size tire that came on your car in the first place.

For those who are willing to take a different approach, there is an alternative solution available. Some tires are designed with extra protection against curbs and other hazards. These tires often have built-in features such as reinforced sidewalls or specialized tread compounds that help prevent damage. If you're considering making a switch, it's essential to do your research and choose a tire that meets your needs.

Ultimately, maintaining your car's battery life requires a combination of regular maintenance, good driving habits, and a little bit of caution when it comes to curb damage. By taking these steps, you can help extend the life of your battery and avoid costly repairs down the line. Whether you're driving in urban areas or on long road trips, there are several things you can do to ensure your car's battery stays healthy and lasts for many years to come.

When it comes to running flat tires, BMW is notorious for using them on nearly all their vehicles. However, these tires have some unique characteristics that can affect their performance and lifespan. For example, run-flat tires are designed to be stiffer than regular tires, which can affect the handling and ride of your car. Additionally, because they're designed to allow you to continue driving even if a tire is damaged or goes flat, run flats can be more prone to damage from curbs and other obstacles.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need to drive on a run-flat tire after it's been damaged, it's essential to take extra care. Avoiding high speeds and taking your time when driving on a damaged tire is crucial to minimizing the risk of further damage or even a blowout. It's also worth noting that some run flats may not be designed for long-term use, so it's essential to check the manufacturer's recommendations before relying on them.

In conclusion, maintaining your car's battery life requires attention to detail and a willingness to take extra care when it comes to curb damage. By avoiding range anxiety, using the same size tire that came on your car in the first place, and taking steps to mitigate the effects of curb damage, you can help extend the lifespan of your battery and avoid costly repairs down the line.

If you have any questions or topics you'd like to discuss related to this article, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can send comments, questions, or 30-second video clips to talkingcars@icloud.com. We're always happy to hear from our readers and look forward to continuing the conversation in future episodes.

Finally, if you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about cars and related topics, be sure to check out some of our recommended resources. From car maintenance guides to reviews of the latest automotive technologies, we've got everything you need to stay informed and up-to-date on all things automotive.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis week we give our first impressions of the 2022 nissan pathfinder with gas prices climbing nationwide everyone is looking to save money on fuel costs and we share some tips on how to lessen the pain at the pump we also answer audience questions about premium fuel tires and tesla next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode i'm mike monticello i'm ryan pezelkowski and i'm alex nizik so uh a couple episodes ago uh episode 309 we uh talked about uh favorite cars that we used to own and maybe that uh we wish we still had and i i gotta say uh jen stockberger jake fisher and i had a real fun time talking about those old cars and uh apparently you folks did too because we got a whole bunch of responses including some photos and stories about uh cars that you used to own we thought we'd take a few moments and go through some of those read some of the uh more interesting ones that we got and as always want to remind folks if you do have you know comments questions if you want to send in a 30 second video clip the place that the place to do that is talking cars at icloud.com so let's take a look at uh some of the fun stuff that people uh send in about their favorite cars alex from southboro massachusetts says boy did the cars i wish i'd kept segment hit me right in the gut i bought a 2002 honda s2000 this car was such a joy it was essentially hand built on a dedicated production line by honda in japan and the way it drove the s2000 handled like it was on rails the most astonishing six-speed manual transmission i've ever driven and i couldn't agree more uh when i think of you know manual transmissions i think you know honda s2000 i think acura nsx and i think mitsubishi lancer uh evolution eight with the five-speed manual those are three of the absolute best uh uh manual gearboxes i've ever driven s2000 brings me back because when i first started working at the track one of the very first what i'll say fun cars that i got to take home um because i was young when i started i was 18 years old and it was a few years later that i was able to take these you know car home and the s2000 was a car that i took home and i barely fit in the thing because i'm six foot two and it's a little bit snug but what an amazing car what a it's legendary because i don't think we'll ever see another car like that again i mean the the red the thing redlined at like 9 500 rpm or something crazy i mean it was a it was a whaler and then the handling like you said it was like it was on rails it was just an absolute treat to drive i'll always remember that cars yeah i'm kind of jealous that you guys got to uh spend i've never really driven one but it's definitely a dream car of mine especially that uh that apo uh ap1 that gets the 9000 rpm redline that you mentioned and um yeah with the weight prices have been going on those i think it'll probably stay a dream car yeah true all right okay roger says i noticed all your favorite cars were generally your first car uh i had two 1969 bmw 2002s that i got in 73 and 74. love them kept them for 14 years adjusted my own valve clearances remember that ryan alex when was last time you adjusted valve clearances on a car i think i have to on one of mine but i haven't done it yet so we'll get to it don't delay corey from vancouver washington says my favorite car i've ever owned was a 1994 honda civic dell soul s i i don't know what the sales numbers were for the del sol but i'm shocked it didn't last longer it still holds a very special place in my heart i am with jake fisher on this one my favorite car was the 1986 toyota mr2 i had it through college and drove it through the winners it was so balanced that i didn't need snow tires absolutely love this car so if you watched episode 309 and if you didn't shame on you go back and watch it right now we'll we'll wait you go watch it can then come back uh um so jake said that his favorite car was his first generation mr2 uh as with harold did he get rid of it did he don't get rid of it he still has it so he's oh it's going to think he turned it into his race car and he now wishes that he had never done that because now it's it's totally unlivable for the street um because it's all you know suspension stiffened up and lowered and all that and you know all that kind of stuff so he wishes it was in in stock form still i actually i got to drive that car years ago um he had at the track and he was getting it ready for a race at lime rock and um i got to drive it around a little bit and yeah that car you could say balanced is the word i mean that car was extremely well balanced and then if you have it set up for racing it's you know it's corner balanced and weighed and everything so it's a it was an incredible not a lot not a lot of power but let me ask you this one yeah jake thinks he's all an engineer uh how was how was his suspension tuning did you like the setup yeah i mean listen it's super stiff it's a it's a race car and this was years ago so i i have a little more uh knowledge now than i did then but um yeah i mean it was it was on rails it was uh if it had more power it would have been like a supercar almost you know yeah yeah amazing stuff so mike mike from east northport new york says my favorite car is my 2002 toyota mr2 which i still own it has more than enough power for me and handles like no other car i've ever owned as you guys can see from mike's photo that's that's a third generation mr2 jake's jake's uh and uh was the and harolds was the first generation and yeah uh regardless of the generation you know all of them were great handling did you have you ever driven one of those i never got the driver i did john yeah it was it was a great handling little car again it didn't have much in the way of power but man it handled really cool go ahead no sorry i was i just always loved the look of them and i had no you know i knew what the mr2 where it came from and now that that card just looks like a blast to drive that that third gen car is actually one that i've been semiactively trying to find one um because i feel like that would be perfect for around uh connecticut on the tighter back roads and stuff with the mid engine but yeah i don't know they're they're hard to find okay um well anyway that was a lot of fun folks so thanks for thanks for your interest and thanks for sharing our enthusiasm for uh for these cars in this case uh kind of older cars so let's move on to our next segment which is uh we're kind of you know with uh the onset of you know the summer travel season and gas prices unfortunately going up we thought this would be a good time to you know talk to you guys about strategies to fine-tune your technique to maximize fuel economy uh and hopefully make things a little easier on your wallet so we actually have a story uh related to this up on our website consumerreports.org and it's it's called uh 10 tips to get the most out of a tank of gas and we're not going to go through all 10 tips right now because we want you know maybe you guys to do a little reading on your own some some research but we are going to give you a few of the tips that we find pretty interesting and alex we're going to start with you sure um because maybe something that's forgotten uh about a lot is is how much you know your vehicle's aerodynamics and the things that you do to your vehicle can affect fuel economy so talk to us about that yeah sure so a lot of work goes into a modern vehicle to make sure it's aerodynamic and fuel efficient in that regard so it's less important at slower around town speeds but at higher highway speeds you know basically if you look at the drag equation um velocity is or drag is proportional to the square of velocity so the faster you go the more drag you get on the car and then also in there is your coefficient of drag which you're changing by adding stuff to the roof of your car or anywhere on a car bike a kayak whatever it is and then also surface area is in there in that equation so you're changing all those things basically by adding stuff to your car and like i said less important at um around town speeds but the faster you go on the highway the more that's going to start sucking from your fuel economy so basically what i would recommend is uh if you're going on the highway if you can take stuff off your car if you're not going to to use it or if you are traveling somewhere with you know kayaks or bikes or whatever it is um maybe take it down a couple miles an hour you know if you're doing 70 maybe do 65 and and it'll make a big difference on your fuel economy um ryan you know i like to call you uh you know our tire tester extraordinaire um sounds really nice because you're you're obviously heavily involved in the tire testing program actually it'd be nice if someone would give me a nickname why do i give you guys all these nicknames no one ever comes up with a cool one for me but whatever no who cares we're still working on it so but so um since you know so much about tires tell us about how important proper uh maintaining proper tire pressure is related to fuel economy yeah so i mean you hear it all the time check your tire pressure and um if you you you don't you should you should always check your tire pressure once a month typically you could lose a psi um every month um a normal in normal temperatures if the temperature drops you know 10 degrees you could lose another psi but tires were designed cars were designed a certain way like alex was talking about to make to maximize uh performance and you know fuel economy so when your tires are under inflated you're you're it's more energy it takes more energy to roll that tire over the um surface now you have four of them they're touching the road so that's four of them now slowing you down if they're all you know couple you say four or five psi low um you don't want to over inflate them either because like i said there's performance involved too so the foot if you put too much air in them it picks a tire up off the the asphalt too much um on the outer sides and it changes the footprint so the footprint's important for grip and uh you know handling cornering all that stuff you know there's an optimum footprint that they're looking for and that's why when you're on your door you know inside your door placard in your car or in your manual the car itself will give you the proper pressure to run on the sidewall there's a maximum pressure you don't want to use that unless you are um you know you do need those that type of a condition but a normal car you want to use what the uh it says in the placard because it's you know it was designed that way um to go with those tires that the original size tire that came with it so um yeah i mean it's it's very important um it's it's you know not even a fuel economy if you're going on a long trip you don't want to have a blowout because you had to uh you know low pressure low pressure from the tire can build up a lot of heat lead to a tire failure now you're stuck on the side of the road with your family and all your stuff so tire pressures are extremely important and just a general look over you know go over make sure your tires look like you know they're up they're up to snuff too um yeah give them a good inspection every once in a while yeah absolutely absolutely i look for bulges cracks all that stuff um admit check check the pressures once a month please it'll go a long way i love it uh so uh the tip i wanna talk about is driving evenly which may sound weird like what's the big deal with that but but actually you know if you think about it you so you want to avoid accelerating heart you know and breaking heart uh and think of it sort of like you know what's the same everything in moderation right that kind of the same thing goes a long way here i mean so when you're accelerating from stop obviously you don't want to hold up traffic but when you floor it you know take off really hard you're you're ruining your gas mileage and the same thing when you're you know you want to anticipate uh what the traffic is doing ahead so you don't have to suddenly brake really hard you're you're losing all your momentum you know you can kind of kind of make a game out of it right the game is to get the best fuel economy you can get try and beat you know last the last fuel tanks um record that you got check out that story um i think it can really give you guys some some good ideas to think about some ways to maybe change your driving habits so you can get you know maybe another couple miles per gallon uh and save you a little money while these fuel prices are up and while you're potentially doing a lot more driving so uh before we go any further i just want to talk to you folks real quick about the talking cars donation program um if you don't know consumer reports is a non-profit organization everything that we do uh we were able to do because of memberships as well as donations from folks like you so every little bit can help um and because of the money we get uh we're able to put out this this podcast that we love doing for you folks uh if you uh you can find more information at cr.org give talking cars and thank you guys so much so let's move on to uh this week at the test track and this week we're going to talk about the redesigned 2022 nissan pathfinder these are going to be our first impressions we uh rented a pathfinder platinum four-wheel drive from nissan to see uh what the new model is all about before we buy our own for the cr test program uh the pathfinder has a 284 horsepower 3.5 liter v6 with a nine-speed automatic transmission the one we drove that we rented from nissan costs 50 290 dollars uh the just a quick history on the pathfinder when it came out it was you know like a blocky looking uh two-door uh five-seat model with real off-road abilities uh as it evolved over the generations it kind of got to the point where this last generation felt more like a minivan you know in like suv clothing i mean it was it was bland to drive it had clumsy handling and it's continuously variable transmission that it had just kind of ruined the whole experience so alex i'm going to start with you talk to us like mechanically and and stylistically what's changed with this one versus the last generation stylistically so that's a word ryan all right make another word i'll add it to the dictionary um yeah so it's redesigned like you said but it is definitely still a um car based platform right so we're talking unibody um it's not like a return to form like the original or some off-road suvs where their body on frame and all that so we're still talking a car based platform which is you know i think what most people would actually prefer if they were to drive them both um and this is still a three-row suv roomy um but uh stylistically you know they've kind of gone back a little bit and and made it more boxy which i can appreciate um i think it looks a lot better it avoids some of that minivan look that it had before but i think the real news or the big news anyway is the return to an actual automatic transmission um and it reminds me of the mdx a little bit that we talked about a few weeks ago in some regards in that it's a bigger naturally aspirated v6 which is kind of somewhat rare nowadays with um with a you know nine-speed uh transmission so yeah so ryan so uh styling can only go so far they can make the outside look however they want but what's this new one uh like to drive especially i mean uh i mean we want to compare it you know also to what's out there right now but it's hard to not compare it to what you know where it just came from what's you know what's the the power train riding handling like for you with this new one yeah so i mean handling right off the bat is definitely better than um the la the previous generation i wouldn't go ahead and say this is some sporty um you know wonderful to drive suv it's very nice it's acceptable i think it's um you know it's for size i mean it's it's quite a bit bigger than um the previous generation it doesn't feel as big but it it's bigger but it handles nicely i mean the steering isn't the most engaging and it's got some you know it's got a little bit of body roll you can feel some of the weight but it's not bad i mean it's it's quite good but the the the nine speed uh and that engine that's what does it for me i mean it just drives like a nice normal uh vehicle it's got plenty of power shifts when it needs supposed to um i think i had i remember being you know there was a little bit of a delay on um you know some of the takeoffs but other than that i mean i was really pleased with it you know the i think the interior is really nice um nice touches everywhere i mean i'm not sure our mod the model we rented was probably a little bit of a higher trim but it's you know the seating position everything about it was really nice i think the the touch screen had a little bit of a delay that i found a little annoying but the little nuances that they'll work through i think but right off the bat it's considerably better than the last one i mean yeah i would certainly we'll see how it tests um when we get one i'm sure we're getting one i would certainly be watching for that you know a future car to tell people hey this is something you might want to check out right uh alex um you are you pretty much agree with ryan here and also talk specifically about the ride how's the how's the ride you know ride to handling compromise yeah sure um i thought that they struck a pretty good balance i'd say you know it's it's um competent enough where it's not totally mundane to drive um but it remains pretty comfortable i think it did a good job soaking up the bumps um all that sort of stuff you know it may not be totally engaging to drive and it its size kind of shows up a little bit if you're on back roads making you know left to right turns uh consecutively like that but yeah overall i think it's it's nice and competitive um and just to add on to the the powertrain component i think something that is a little unique is uh at least if you equip it properly it can tow they say up to six thousand pounds which um at least for a car based suv like this um is pretty good yeah so if that's something you're looking for and then when you're not towing you can get some i mean we'll see what the fuel economy is like but um theoretically some better fuel economy than if you were to choose something like a tahoe yeah i mean that means you can you can tell a pretty good sized boat uh or definitely a truck you know a decent sized travel trailer with something like right um let's talk about uh driving position in seat comfort alex you know do you fit in this thing obviously it's a big suv but sometimes there's center console intrusions uh left foot rests are out of position arm rests that aren't placed yeah well how was this one uh pretty good um i had no complaints um you know sometimes i i sit a little closer i think than some people my height but which can result in that right knee issue sometimes but i didn't really have that here i thought the view out was pretty good i was a little disappointed by the seat and i only say that in the context of the rogue that we just tested kind of had this like really nice body hugging seat that when you get into it makes a really good first impression and it's not that the pathfinder seat was bad but i was expecting to have at least that seat that's in the smaller rogue here but it didn't seem to be the same to me and i guess it was a little let down i i uh yeah i thought it was quite comfortable in terms of the cushions but i agree it does lack bolster you know side bolstering support and i did run out of you know the front cushion tilt up adjustment you know to give me some more leg support so it wasn't uh but i didn't find it uncomfortable ryan you're about to say something talk to us yeah and i i meant to touch on that it is comfortable but it's it's somewhat simple by um you know design it just looks it's a basic type of seat but you know what sometimes that works and here it works um a little more bolstering i mean they could fluff it up a little extra here and there but it's uh in general it's pretty good i like i'd like to say though in general i feel like nissan in the past you know a few years has really stepped it up with some of their cars i mean the sentra the the rogue is quite nice this is you know so far quite nice um you know it's it's kind of a breath of fresh air because like we said the last pathfinder was you know and it was around for a while yeah yeah it seems like they've gone from making cars that like you said just kind of like to suddenly you know they're getting the interior right you know this this vehicle has a fair amount of padded surfaces and what appears to be pretty nice quality stuff again we'll see what the interior of our vehicle you know is like this is as we said you know a you know a top platinum trim so sometimes the interior is a little bit nicer on those but we'll see i thought the second row was quite comfortable i thought the third row again you know it's hard to judge third rows because they're you know unless the vehicle's you know a gigantic van it's it's going to be tough to make a third row that's pretty comfortable and i wouldn't call the third row comfortable i thought you know foot space was tight in between the second row seat rails there was plenty of head room uh but the seat is very flat and again it's low so your knees end up being up in the air so again it's mostly going to be for kids but it's it's right whether you agree but i did think the second roll was pretty good well the second row is quite good the third row is this is one of these suvs that they stuff a third row in and it works for small children or adults in a real pinch if you need to sneak somebody a short ride but you're not going to sit somebody back there for long comfortably an adult anyway uh ours had the captain's chairs so i believe you can get a bench seat as well but the captain's chairs made it pretty easy to there's like a button on the back side of the the backrest that just kind of flings the seat forward and you can you can walk back there and then it also has this kind of interesting and i'm not sure who would end up using this but a removable center console in between those two captains chairs in the second row and you can pretty much just lift it out i i don't know if it stores on board or what the deal is with that and who might use it but kind of an interesting feature your question is more why would you take it out is that what you mean yeah yeah yeah i could see people sometimes you you go to pick up something at home depot or you do something and it's like just get this stuff out of here you know like um sometimes you can take the third row out of like the old tahoes and stuff and like sometimes it's nice to just get rid of it even though it doesn't store in the vehicle you just put it at home for a little bit yeah that makes sense alright let's let's touch on one last thing which we always go to these days which is infotainment and controls uh alex it's pretty similar to the rogue yes and that's a good thing for the most part totally you got it um the touchscreen is pretty much a carryover from the rogue it seems and i think that's a good thing you know it's not flashy it's it's pretty basic but it gets the job done and it has things that you want like wireless carplay wireless android auto so i think that's that's a good thing and i would like to commend nissan for not going with the capacitive touch control like trend that's going on everything looks modern and stylish but it's still physical buttons and i think they did a great job you got knobs you got buttons for everything so that's fantastic for that yeah absolutely um as far as active safety and driver assist features uh the pathfinder comes standard with forward collision warning automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection blind spot warning rear cross traffic warning rear automatic braking and lane departure warning so uh you can read uh the entire first drive with even more information on cr.org and as we said you know we'll be buying one for our fleet and as soon as we do we'll uh put on our our breaking miles and then we'll get it through the program and have full road test results after that so let's move on to uh audience questions don't forget to send those questions comments 30 second video clips to talking cars at icloud.com you know we love the videos and this week we got several in so we're we're going to start with the video questions and let's go to nick from columbus ohio and see what nick is asking us today hey talking cars i've got a 2021 cx-5 gtr i've had it for a few months now and i've been putting in premium gas since i got it i'm wondering is there going to be a big difference if i put regular in there not getting that full horsepower and torque on the turbo and then secondly is there any danger of switching back and forth between regular and premium gas i love the podcast and keep a good work thanks okay so uh nick uh is talking about this gtr which is really a grand touring reserve but i actually kind of love alex that he calls it a gtr um i feel like i feel like i'm allowed to be like look into the mazda club a little bit with that yeah maybe that's what enthusiasts call it i love it so uh you know he's spot on though that you know he knows this stuff which is that you know uh on 87 octane it makes 227 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque on 93 octane and makes 250 horsepower in 320 pound-feet of torque but you don't have to run it on premium right so he has two questions will he see a big difference in uh by running regular instead of premium in terms of horsepower and is there any danger to switching back and forth between regular and premium yeah so um first of all mazda's pretty unique and interesting that they even give two ratings for this turbo engine that's pretty unusual so um off the bat that's that's definitely interesting to notice and i'm glad that you pointed it out so as far as if you're gonna see the difference i would say that totally depends on your driving style if you're somebody who really you know dips into the throttle quite a bit then yeah you'll probably see it but if you just kind of loaf around with the car you it may not be worth it to spend the extra money for the premium so i would say just experiment and try it out so digging into it a little bit further mazda doesn't actually recommend at least that i could find that you should put 87 or you should put 93 in so on their website if you go and build the car for example it actually says 87 recommended but then if you go into the owner's manual it actually doesn't say anything about it um which is pretty interesting and i figured out that the epa is actually rating the fuel economy based on running it with 87 so i can't say that you'll get different fuel economy but um to at least uh match what the epa is getting you should put 87 in but to answer your last question there nick uh definitely no harm in switching back and forth the engine is rated for both um and it's designed to handle both it basically automatically adapts to whether you put in 87 93 or end up with a blend based on what you put in um so definitely no no harm in switching so i would say try it out and and see what you like more all right well that's good to know at least so maybe if you're feeling a little flush with money go for the 93 uh that fill up uh if things are a little tight that week or month uh go with the 87. oh yeah gas is more expensive so i was gonna gonna say real quick if you he does try to test that out you gotta let a full tank go in between so that you get a pure you know 91 or 87 or whatever you know yeah like you're testing you put 93 in a correction like you just said you're gonna end up with a mix in between so right okay good good point ryan uh okay let's move on to another video question this one comes from nashif thank you for answering my previous question that was very helpful i eventually settled on a tesla model 3. just last week i heard that the tesla model 3 starting this month's orders has removed radar from their car and is going to rely purely on optical sensors and as a result of that a certain security feature certain sorry safety features are going to be disabled for a quote short period of time one of them is going to be the forward collision warning which to me seems like a pretty big security feature safety feature so i was just curious like what did you guys think is that going to impact that car's rating and do you think i should treat that as a deal breaker thank you and keep up the good work all right so this is kind of a confusing one uh on the one hand i'm glad it was brought up on the other hand it's a little hard to answer but the short answer is yes this has affected the model 3's rating as a cr top pick uh but it's a fluid situation as a lot of things are with tesla and and the reality is it could change tomorrow but here's the story tesla has uh decided to no longer equip model 3 sedans and model y suv suvs with radar sensors instead relying on a camera based system called tesla vision and tesla said these vehicles may be delivered with some features temporarily limited or inactive for a short period of time as the automaker introduces the new technology this is according to a tesla blog post um for those of you that don't know we do reach out to tesla quite often uh but they've pretty much gotten rid of their public relations arm and so it's very hard to get an answer from tesla about these things so as of this podcast recording nitza the national highway traffic safety administration has said nitsa updated its five-star ratings website on wednesday may 26 to account for production changes that tesla reported about its 2021 model 3 and 2021 model y vehicles due to these mid-year production changes vehicles produced on or after april 27 have not received nitza's check mark for recommended safety technologies because nissa's five-star ratings only assigns a check mark when the technology has either been verified by nitsa or reported by the vehicle manufacturers as meeting nitz's performance criteria since neither of those have happened yet they had to take away the check mark so nitsa told cr that it rescinded the check marks after tesla briefed the agency on production changes due to the transition to tesla vision from radar and because of that consumer reports we changed you know our rating and we no longer list the model 3 as a top pick so here's what our own jake fisher you know for those of you who don't watch regularly he's in charge of all of our vehicle testing uh at um consumer reports he said is it extremely rich it's extremely rare for an automaker to remove safety features from a vehicle during a production run even temporarily but this isn't the first time that tesla has done this uh in 2016 some tesla model x vehicles were sold without active aeb a problem that took six months for tesla to rectify through a software update and in 2018 some owners lost automatic emergency braking for more than a day after a software update so that's what's going on as soon as nitza changes their rating assume that they do here at some point we will then uh change ours but you know we go by nissa so that's that's what's going on with that so as far as whether to buy a model 3 right now um yeah you might buy one and it may not have those those safety features uh so it's something to think about uh let's move on to another one this comes from adam from san diego and this is another video question hey talking cars my dog and i have a question if you have an ev is it better to charge it or plug it in every day up to maybe 80 or 90 percent or leave it unplugged throughout the week until it gets down to about 20 percent and then plug it in once per week thanks so uh alex adam and his dog uh want you to answer this question for him yeah yeah thanks adam and uh definitely cute dog um so the latter that you mentioned is actually recommended so um to get the most life out of your your battery over time in your ev um you would want to theoretically avoid spending time with the battery at 100 or you know theoretically zero percent so you want to kind of keep it in a range where it's not fully discharged but also not fully charged so if it's realistic for you to to plug it in daily and keep it between like the 20 and 80 range then that's gonna get you um the most life over time now of course i think you know don't go out of your way to um you know induce range anxiety if you're not going to make it somewhere you're going just because you don't want to charge it up to 100 you know drive your vehicle how it's meant to be driven and um you know don't stress about it too much there are a lot of other things too that can contribute towards the the life of the battery like you know getting really hot over time or really cold and and all these other things so um it's it's kind of like your your iphone where they just recently implemented this feature where it tries to not charge over 80 until you absolutely need it so if you plug it in at night it sits there at 80 percent until maybe an hour before you get up and then it charges the rest of the way so you can kind of think of it like that yep i had no idea that was going on and i have an iphone i really need to be more on top of the technology it'll say it'll say scheduled charging or something right yeah you can you can turn it off if you want but um yeah it kind of holds true for for lithium-ion batteries whether they're in a car or a cell phone see i learned something every time i watch this podcast um let's move on to another question this one comes from sean sean says we have a bmw x2 with run flat tires they came with a little ridge to sort of protect the rims but to no avail would we be able to put on tires that are a little wider to protect the rims better or maybe a larger more protective rim ridge made by the tire manufacturers and i gotta say there are a few things that are more um just deflating because i i hate to admit it but i've curved a few wheels in my day and there's nothing more deflating than well there are other things but it's one of the most deflating things to park and not realize there's a curb right there or realize he got so close and you hear that scraping noise and you're like oh please please only have rubbed the tire and you get out and if it's a sports car inevitably you you you damage the rim and it's just oh it's terrible ryan uh so talk to us here yeah especially those nice granite curbs that are nice and squared off that we have around here in new england um so yeah uh don't put a wider tire on the car that's not gonna give you that lip believe it or not um you want to stick with the same size tire that came on the car for sure um there are tires that have that little rubber lip um it's kind of a little bit of a shoulder that sticks out and um it is it's a sacrificial piece of rubber there basically that's uh protecting the the rim and the tire itself because there's a lot of now sidewall tire behind that um and that's you know that's more important the further you get in there right without like window shopping and doing a lot of research it's hard to tell you uh where to or which ones to get or what does that the other which ones do that the other thing is you're looking at run flat tires and you're already in a a very small market there's not a ton of run flats out there bmw's notorious for this they just they have you know they put run flats on nearly all their vehicles and they are there's just not a lot of choice there so i mean my advice is to don't change the size um that's not going to give you that extra lip you're just going to have to do some research and see what you can come up with um i mean you could go to a non-run flat if you wanted i suppose but you're going to need you're not going to have a you're not going to have a spare you're going to put a spare in the trunk it could also change some of the handling aspects in the ride because the car was designed to have run flat tires on it which are naturally stiffer it gets a little messy so but i would definitely not change the size to get that rubber lip because that won't happen all right well sean hopefully that helps a little bit that's going to do it for this week's episode if you want to learn more about the cars and the topics we talked about you can click on the links in the show notes don't forget to send those questions comments 30 second video clips to talking cars at icloud.com thank you all so much for watching and we'll see you next week well that i could say yeah what i could say is sorry would i please please i would like ryan to speakthis week we give our first impressions of the 2022 nissan pathfinder with gas prices climbing nationwide everyone is looking to save money on fuel costs and we share some tips on how to lessen the pain at the pump we also answer audience questions about premium fuel tires and tesla next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode i'm mike monticello i'm ryan pezelkowski and i'm alex nizik so uh a couple episodes ago uh episode 309 we uh talked about uh favorite cars that we used to own and maybe that uh we wish we still had and i i gotta say uh jen stockberger jake fisher and i had a real fun time talking about those old cars and uh apparently you folks did too because we got a whole bunch of responses including some photos and stories about uh cars that you used to own we thought we'd take a few moments and go through some of those read some of the uh more interesting ones that we got and as always want to remind folks if you do have you know comments questions if you want to send in a 30 second video clip the place that the place to do that is talking cars at icloud.com so let's take a look at uh some of the fun stuff that people uh send in about their favorite cars alex from southboro massachusetts says boy did the cars i wish i'd kept segment hit me right in the gut i bought a 2002 honda s2000 this car was such a joy it was essentially hand built on a dedicated production line by honda in japan and the way it drove the s2000 handled like it was on rails the most astonishing six-speed manual transmission i've ever driven and i couldn't agree more uh when i think of you know manual transmissions i think you know honda s2000 i think acura nsx and i think mitsubishi lancer uh evolution eight with the five-speed manual those are three of the absolute best uh uh manual gearboxes i've ever driven s2000 brings me back because when i first started working at the track one of the very first what i'll say fun cars that i got to take home um because i was young when i started i was 18 years old and it was a few years later that i was able to take these you know car home and the s2000 was a car that i took home and i barely fit in the thing because i'm six foot two and it's a little bit snug but what an amazing car what a it's legendary because i don't think we'll ever see another car like that again i mean the the red the thing redlined at like 9 500 rpm or something crazy i mean it was a it was a whaler and then the handling like you said it was like it was on rails it was just an absolute treat to drive i'll always remember that cars yeah i'm kind of jealous that you guys got to uh spend i've never really driven one but it's definitely a dream car of mine especially that uh that apo uh ap1 that gets the 9000 rpm redline that you mentioned and um yeah with the weight prices have been going on those i think it'll probably stay a dream car yeah true all right okay roger says i noticed all your favorite cars were generally your first car uh i had two 1969 bmw 2002s that i got in 73 and 74. love them kept them for 14 years adjusted my own valve clearances remember that ryan alex when was last time you adjusted valve clearances on a car i think i have to on one of mine but i haven't done it yet so we'll get to it don't delay corey from vancouver washington says my favorite car i've ever owned was a 1994 honda civic dell soul s i i don't know what the sales numbers were for the del sol but i'm shocked it didn't last longer it still holds a very special place in my heart i am with jake fisher on this one my favorite car was the 1986 toyota mr2 i had it through college and drove it through the winners it was so balanced that i didn't need snow tires absolutely love this car so if you watched episode 309 and if you didn't shame on you go back and watch it right now we'll we'll wait you go watch it can then come back uh um so jake said that his favorite car was his first generation mr2 uh as with harold did he get rid of it did he don't get rid of it he still has it so he's oh it's going to think he turned it into his race car and he now wishes that he had never done that because now it's it's totally unlivable for the street um because it's all you know suspension stiffened up and lowered and all that and you know all that kind of stuff so he wishes it was in in stock form still i actually i got to drive that car years ago um he had at the track and he was getting it ready for a race at lime rock and um i got to drive it around a little bit and yeah that car you could say balanced is the word i mean that car was extremely well balanced and then if you have it set up for racing it's you know it's corner balanced and weighed and everything so it's a it was an incredible not a lot not a lot of power but let me ask you this one yeah jake thinks he's all an engineer uh how was how was his suspension tuning did you like the setup yeah i mean listen it's super stiff it's a it's a race car and this was years ago so i i have a little more uh knowledge now than i did then but um yeah i mean it was it was on rails it was uh if it had more power it would have been like a supercar almost you know yeah yeah amazing stuff so mike mike from east northport new york says my favorite car is my 2002 toyota mr2 which i still own it has more than enough power for me and handles like no other car i've ever owned as you guys can see from mike's photo that's that's a third generation mr2 jake's jake's uh and uh was the and harolds was the first generation and yeah uh regardless of the generation you know all of them were great handling did you have you ever driven one of those i never got the driver i did john yeah it was it was a great handling little car again it didn't have much in the way of power but man it handled really cool go ahead no sorry i was i just always loved the look of them and i had no you know i knew what the mr2 where it came from and now that that card just looks like a blast to drive that that third gen car is actually one that i've been semiactively trying to find one um because i feel like that would be perfect for around uh connecticut on the tighter back roads and stuff with the mid engine but yeah i don't know they're they're hard to find okay um well anyway that was a lot of fun folks so thanks for thanks for your interest and thanks for sharing our enthusiasm for uh for these cars in this case uh kind of older cars so let's move on to our next segment which is uh we're kind of you know with uh the onset of you know the summer travel season and gas prices unfortunately going up we thought this would be a good time to you know talk to you guys about strategies to fine-tune your technique to maximize fuel economy uh and hopefully make things a little easier on your wallet so we actually have a story uh related to this up on our website consumerreports.org and it's it's called uh 10 tips to get the most out of a tank of gas and we're not going to go through all 10 tips right now because we want you know maybe you guys to do a little reading on your own some some research but we are going to give you a few of the tips that we find pretty interesting and alex we're going to start with you sure um because maybe something that's forgotten uh about a lot is is how much you know your vehicle's aerodynamics and the things that you do to your vehicle can affect fuel economy so talk to us about that yeah sure so a lot of work goes into a modern vehicle to make sure it's aerodynamic and fuel efficient in that regard so it's less important at slower around town speeds but at higher highway speeds you know basically if you look at the drag equation um velocity is or drag is proportional to the square of velocity so the faster you go the more drag you get on the car and then also in there is your coefficient of drag which you're changing by adding stuff to the roof of your car or anywhere on a car bike a kayak whatever it is and then also surface area is in there in that equation so you're changing all those things basically by adding stuff to your car and like i said less important at um around town speeds but the faster you go on the highway the more that's going to start sucking from your fuel economy so basically what i would recommend is uh if you're going on the highway if you can take stuff off your car if you're not going to to use it or if you are traveling somewhere with you know kayaks or bikes or whatever it is um maybe take it down a couple miles an hour you know if you're doing 70 maybe do 65 and and it'll make a big difference on your fuel economy um ryan you know i like to call you uh you know our tire tester extraordinaire um sounds really nice because you're you're obviously heavily involved in the tire testing program actually it'd be nice if someone would give me a nickname why do i give you guys all these nicknames no one ever comes up with a cool one for me but whatever no who cares we're still working on it so but so um since you know so much about tires tell us about how important proper uh maintaining proper tire pressure is related to fuel economy yeah so i mean you hear it all the time check your tire pressure and um if you you you don't you should you should always check your tire pressure once a month typically you could lose a psi um every month um a normal in normal temperatures if the temperature drops you know 10 degrees you could lose another psi but tires were designed cars were designed a certain way like alex was talking about to make to maximize uh performance and you know fuel economy so when your tires are under inflated you're you're it's more energy it takes more energy to roll that tire over the um surface now you have four of them they're touching the road so that's four of them now slowing you down if they're all you know couple you say four or five psi low um you don't want to over inflate them either because like i said there's performance involved too so the foot if you put too much air in them it picks a tire up off the the asphalt too much um on the outer sides and it changes the footprint so the footprint's important for grip and uh you know handling cornering all that stuff you know there's an optimum footprint that they're looking for and that's why when you're on your door you know inside your door placard in your car or in your manual the car itself will give you the proper pressure to run on the sidewall there's a maximum pressure you don't want to use that unless you are um you know you do need those that type of a condition but a normal car you want to use what the uh it says in the placard because it's you know it was designed that way um to go with those tires that the original size tire that came with it so um yeah i mean it's it's very important um it's it's you know not even a fuel economy if you're going on a long trip you don't want to have a blowout because you had to uh you know low pressure low pressure from the tire can build up a lot of heat lead to a tire failure now you're stuck on the side of the road with your family and all your stuff so tire pressures are extremely important and just a general look over you know go over make sure your tires look like you know they're up they're up to snuff too um yeah give them a good inspection every once in a while yeah absolutely absolutely i look for bulges cracks all that stuff um admit check check the pressures once a month please it'll go a long way i love it uh so uh the tip i wanna talk about is driving evenly which may sound weird like what's the big deal with that but but actually you know if you think about it you so you want to avoid accelerating heart you know and breaking heart uh and think of it sort of like you know what's the same everything in moderation right that kind of the same thing goes a long way here i mean so when you're accelerating from stop obviously you don't want to hold up traffic but when you floor it you know take off really hard you're you're ruining your gas mileage and the same thing when you're you know you want to anticipate uh what the traffic is doing ahead so you don't have to suddenly brake really hard you're you're losing all your momentum you know you can kind of kind of make a game out of it right the game is to get the best fuel economy you can get try and beat you know last the last fuel tanks um record that you got check out that story um i think it can really give you guys some some good ideas to think about some ways to maybe change your driving habits so you can get you know maybe another couple miles per gallon uh and save you a little money while these fuel prices are up and while you're potentially doing a lot more driving so uh before we go any further i just want to talk to you folks real quick about the talking cars donation program um if you don't know consumer reports is a non-profit organization everything that we do uh we were able to do because of memberships as well as donations from folks like you so every little bit can help um and because of the money we get uh we're able to put out this this podcast that we love doing for you folks uh if you uh you can find more information at cr.org give talking cars and thank you guys so much so let's move on to uh this week at the test track and this week we're going to talk about the redesigned 2022 nissan pathfinder these are going to be our first impressions we uh rented a pathfinder platinum four-wheel drive from nissan to see uh what the new model is all about before we buy our own for the cr test program uh the pathfinder has a 284 horsepower 3.5 liter v6 with a nine-speed automatic transmission the one we drove that we rented from nissan costs 50 290 dollars uh the just a quick history on the pathfinder when it came out it was you know like a blocky looking uh two-door uh five-seat model with real off-road abilities uh as it evolved over the generations it kind of got to the point where this last generation felt more like a minivan you know in like suv clothing i mean it was it was bland to drive it had clumsy handling and it's continuously variable transmission that it had just kind of ruined the whole experience so alex i'm going to start with you talk to us like mechanically and and stylistically what's changed with this one versus the last generation stylistically so that's a word ryan all right make another word i'll add it to the dictionary um yeah so it's redesigned like you said but it is definitely still a um car based platform right so we're talking unibody um it's not like a return to form like the original or some off-road suvs where their body on frame and all that so we're still talking a car based platform which is you know i think what most people would actually prefer if they were to drive them both um and this is still a three-row suv roomy um but uh stylistically you know they've kind of gone back a little bit and and made it more boxy which i can appreciate um i think it looks a lot better it avoids some of that minivan look that it had before but i think the real news or the big news anyway is the return to an actual automatic transmission um and it reminds me of the mdx a little bit that we talked about a few weeks ago in some regards in that it's a bigger naturally aspirated v6 which is kind of somewhat rare nowadays with um with a you know nine-speed uh transmission so yeah so ryan so uh styling can only go so far they can make the outside look however they want but what's this new one uh like to drive especially i mean uh i mean we want to compare it you know also to what's out there right now but it's hard to not compare it to what you know where it just came from what's you know what's the the power train riding handling like for you with this new one yeah so i mean handling right off the bat is definitely better than um the la the previous generation i wouldn't go ahead and say this is some sporty um you know wonderful to drive suv it's very nice it's acceptable i think it's um you know it's for size i mean it's it's quite a bit bigger than um the previous generation it doesn't feel as big but it it's bigger but it handles nicely i mean the steering isn't the most engaging and it's got some you know it's got a little bit of body roll you can feel some of the weight but it's not bad i mean it's it's quite good but the the the nine speed uh and that engine that's what does it for me i mean it just drives like a nice normal uh vehicle it's got plenty of power shifts when it needs supposed to um i think i had i remember being you know there was a little bit of a delay on um you know some of the takeoffs but other than that i mean i was really pleased with it you know the i think the interior is really nice um nice touches everywhere i mean i'm not sure our mod the model we rented was probably a little bit of a higher trim but it's you know the seating position everything about it was really nice i think the the touch screen had a little bit of a delay that i found a little annoying but the little nuances that they'll work through i think but right off the bat it's considerably better than the last one i mean yeah i would certainly we'll see how it tests um when we get one i'm sure we're getting one i would certainly be watching for that you know a future car to tell people hey this is something you might want to check out right uh alex um you are you pretty much agree with ryan here and also talk specifically about the ride how's the how's the ride you know ride to handling compromise yeah sure um i thought that they struck a pretty good balance i'd say you know it's it's um competent enough where it's not totally mundane to drive um but it remains pretty comfortable i think it did a good job soaking up the bumps um all that sort of stuff you know it may not be totally engaging to drive and it its size kind of shows up a little bit if you're on back roads making you know left to right turns uh consecutively like that but yeah overall i think it's it's nice and competitive um and just to add on to the the powertrain component i think something that is a little unique is uh at least if you equip it properly it can tow they say up to six thousand pounds which um at least for a car based suv like this um is pretty good yeah so if that's something you're looking for and then when you're not towing you can get some i mean we'll see what the fuel economy is like but um theoretically some better fuel economy than if you were to choose something like a tahoe yeah i mean that means you can you can tell a pretty good sized boat uh or definitely a truck you know a decent sized travel trailer with something like right um let's talk about uh driving position in seat comfort alex you know do you fit in this thing obviously it's a big suv but sometimes there's center console intrusions uh left foot rests are out of position arm rests that aren't placed yeah well how was this one uh pretty good um i had no complaints um you know sometimes i i sit a little closer i think than some people my height but which can result in that right knee issue sometimes but i didn't really have that here i thought the view out was pretty good i was a little disappointed by the seat and i only say that in the context of the rogue that we just tested kind of had this like really nice body hugging seat that when you get into it makes a really good first impression and it's not that the pathfinder seat was bad but i was expecting to have at least that seat that's in the smaller rogue here but it didn't seem to be the same to me and i guess it was a little let down i i uh yeah i thought it was quite comfortable in terms of the cushions but i agree it does lack bolster you know side bolstering support and i did run out of you know the front cushion tilt up adjustment you know to give me some more leg support so it wasn't uh but i didn't find it uncomfortable ryan you're about to say something talk to us yeah and i i meant to touch on that it is comfortable but it's it's somewhat simple by um you know design it just looks it's a basic type of seat but you know what sometimes that works and here it works um a little more bolstering i mean they could fluff it up a little extra here and there but it's uh in general it's pretty good i like i'd like to say though in general i feel like nissan in the past you know a few years has really stepped it up with some of their cars i mean the sentra the the rogue is quite nice this is you know so far quite nice um you know it's it's kind of a breath of fresh air because like we said the last pathfinder was you know and it was around for a while yeah yeah it seems like they've gone from making cars that like you said just kind of like to suddenly you know they're getting the interior right you know this this vehicle has a fair amount of padded surfaces and what appears to be pretty nice quality stuff again we'll see what the interior of our vehicle you know is like this is as we said you know a you know a top platinum trim so sometimes the interior is a little bit nicer on those but we'll see i thought the second row was quite comfortable i thought the third row again you know it's hard to judge third rows because they're you know unless the vehicle's you know a gigantic van it's it's going to be tough to make a third row that's pretty comfortable and i wouldn't call the third row comfortable i thought you know foot space was tight in between the second row seat rails there was plenty of head room uh but the seat is very flat and again it's low so your knees end up being up in the air so again it's mostly going to be for kids but it's it's right whether you agree but i did think the second roll was pretty good well the second row is quite good the third row is this is one of these suvs that they stuff a third row in and it works for small children or adults in a real pinch if you need to sneak somebody a short ride but you're not going to sit somebody back there for long comfortably an adult anyway uh ours had the captain's chairs so i believe you can get a bench seat as well but the captain's chairs made it pretty easy to there's like a button on the back side of the the backrest that just kind of flings the seat forward and you can you can walk back there and then it also has this kind of interesting and i'm not sure who would end up using this but a removable center console in between those two captains chairs in the second row and you can pretty much just lift it out i i don't know if it stores on board or what the deal is with that and who might use it but kind of an interesting feature your question is more why would you take it out is that what you mean yeah yeah yeah i could see people sometimes you you go to pick up something at home depot or you do something and it's like just get this stuff out of here you know like um sometimes you can take the third row out of like the old tahoes and stuff and like sometimes it's nice to just get rid of it even though it doesn't store in the vehicle you just put it at home for a little bit yeah that makes sense alright let's let's touch on one last thing which we always go to these days which is infotainment and controls uh alex it's pretty similar to the rogue yes and that's a good thing for the most part totally you got it um the touchscreen is pretty much a carryover from the rogue it seems and i think that's a good thing you know it's not flashy it's it's pretty basic but it gets the job done and it has things that you want like wireless carplay wireless android auto so i think that's that's a good thing and i would like to commend nissan for not going with the capacitive touch control like trend that's going on everything looks modern and stylish but it's still physical buttons and i think they did a great job you got knobs you got buttons for everything so that's fantastic for that yeah absolutely um as far as active safety and driver assist features uh the pathfinder comes standard with forward collision warning automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection blind spot warning rear cross traffic warning rear automatic braking and lane departure warning so uh you can read uh the entire first drive with even more information on cr.org and as we said you know we'll be buying one for our fleet and as soon as we do we'll uh put on our our breaking miles and then we'll get it through the program and have full road test results after that so let's move on to uh audience questions don't forget to send those questions comments 30 second video clips to talking cars at icloud.com you know we love the videos and this week we got several in so we're we're going to start with the video questions and let's go to nick from columbus ohio and see what nick is asking us today hey talking cars i've got a 2021 cx-5 gtr i've had it for a few months now and i've been putting in premium gas since i got it i'm wondering is there going to be a big difference if i put regular in there not getting that full horsepower and torque on the turbo and then secondly is there any danger of switching back and forth between regular and premium gas i love the podcast and keep a good work thanks okay so uh nick uh is talking about this gtr which is really a grand touring reserve but i actually kind of love alex that he calls it a gtr um i feel like i feel like i'm allowed to be like look into the mazda club a little bit with that yeah maybe that's what enthusiasts call it i love it so uh you know he's spot on though that you know he knows this stuff which is that you know uh on 87 octane it makes 227 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque on 93 octane and makes 250 horsepower in 320 pound-feet of torque but you don't have to run it on premium right so he has two questions will he see a big difference in uh by running regular instead of premium in terms of horsepower and is there any danger to switching back and forth between regular and premium yeah so um first of all mazda's pretty unique and interesting that they even give two ratings for this turbo engine that's pretty unusual so um off the bat that's that's definitely interesting to notice and i'm glad that you pointed it out so as far as if you're gonna see the difference i would say that totally depends on your driving style if you're somebody who really you know dips into the throttle quite a bit then yeah you'll probably see it but if you just kind of loaf around with the car you it may not be worth it to spend the extra money for the premium so i would say just experiment and try it out so digging into it a little bit further mazda doesn't actually recommend at least that i could find that you should put 87 or you should put 93 in so on their website if you go and build the car for example it actually says 87 recommended but then if you go into the owner's manual it actually doesn't say anything about it um which is pretty interesting and i figured out that the epa is actually rating the fuel economy based on running it with 87 so i can't say that you'll get different fuel economy but um to at least uh match what the epa is getting you should put 87 in but to answer your last question there nick uh definitely no harm in switching back and forth the engine is rated for both um and it's designed to handle both it basically automatically adapts to whether you put in 87 93 or end up with a blend based on what you put in um so definitely no no harm in switching so i would say try it out and and see what you like more all right well that's good to know at least so maybe if you're feeling a little flush with money go for the 93 uh that fill up uh if things are a little tight that week or month uh go with the 87. oh yeah gas is more expensive so i was gonna gonna say real quick if you he does try to test that out you gotta let a full tank go in between so that you get a pure you know 91 or 87 or whatever you know yeah like you're testing you put 93 in a correction like you just said you're gonna end up with a mix in between so right okay good good point ryan uh okay let's move on to another video question this one comes from nashif thank you for answering my previous question that was very helpful i eventually settled on a tesla model 3. just last week i heard that the tesla model 3 starting this month's orders has removed radar from their car and is going to rely purely on optical sensors and as a result of that a certain security feature certain sorry safety features are going to be disabled for a quote short period of time one of them is going to be the forward collision warning which to me seems like a pretty big security feature safety feature so i was just curious like what did you guys think is that going to impact that car's rating and do you think i should treat that as a deal breaker thank you and keep up the good work all right so this is kind of a confusing one uh on the one hand i'm glad it was brought up on the other hand it's a little hard to answer but the short answer is yes this has affected the model 3's rating as a cr top pick uh but it's a fluid situation as a lot of things are with tesla and and the reality is it could change tomorrow but here's the story tesla has uh decided to no longer equip model 3 sedans and model y suv suvs with radar sensors instead relying on a camera based system called tesla vision and tesla said these vehicles may be delivered with some features temporarily limited or inactive for a short period of time as the automaker introduces the new technology this is according to a tesla blog post um for those of you that don't know we do reach out to tesla quite often uh but they've pretty much gotten rid of their public relations arm and so it's very hard to get an answer from tesla about these things so as of this podcast recording nitza the national highway traffic safety administration has said nitsa updated its five-star ratings website on wednesday may 26 to account for production changes that tesla reported about its 2021 model 3 and 2021 model y vehicles due to these mid-year production changes vehicles produced on or after april 27 have not received nitza's check mark for recommended safety technologies because nissa's five-star ratings only assigns a check mark when the technology has either been verified by nitsa or reported by the vehicle manufacturers as meeting nitz's performance criteria since neither of those have happened yet they had to take away the check mark so nitsa told cr that it rescinded the check marks after tesla briefed the agency on production changes due to the transition to tesla vision from radar and because of that consumer reports we changed you know our rating and we no longer list the model 3 as a top pick so here's what our own jake fisher you know for those of you who don't watch regularly he's in charge of all of our vehicle testing uh at um consumer reports he said is it extremely rich it's extremely rare for an automaker to remove safety features from a vehicle during a production run even temporarily but this isn't the first time that tesla has done this uh in 2016 some tesla model x vehicles were sold without active aeb a problem that took six months for tesla to rectify through a software update and in 2018 some owners lost automatic emergency braking for more than a day after a software update so that's what's going on as soon as nitza changes their rating assume that they do here at some point we will then uh change ours but you know we go by nissa so that's that's what's going on with that so as far as whether to buy a model 3 right now um yeah you might buy one and it may not have those those safety features uh so it's something to think about uh let's move on to another one this comes from adam from san diego and this is another video question hey talking cars my dog and i have a question if you have an ev is it better to charge it or plug it in every day up to maybe 80 or 90 percent or leave it unplugged throughout the week until it gets down to about 20 percent and then plug it in once per week thanks so uh alex adam and his dog uh want you to answer this question for him yeah yeah thanks adam and uh definitely cute dog um so the latter that you mentioned is actually recommended so um to get the most life out of your your battery over time in your ev um you would want to theoretically avoid spending time with the battery at 100 or you know theoretically zero percent so you want to kind of keep it in a range where it's not fully discharged but also not fully charged so if it's realistic for you to to plug it in daily and keep it between like the 20 and 80 range then that's gonna get you um the most life over time now of course i think you know don't go out of your way to um you know induce range anxiety if you're not going to make it somewhere you're going just because you don't want to charge it up to 100 you know drive your vehicle how it's meant to be driven and um you know don't stress about it too much there are a lot of other things too that can contribute towards the the life of the battery like you know getting really hot over time or really cold and and all these other things so um it's it's kind of like your your iphone where they just recently implemented this feature where it tries to not charge over 80 until you absolutely need it so if you plug it in at night it sits there at 80 percent until maybe an hour before you get up and then it charges the rest of the way so you can kind of think of it like that yep i had no idea that was going on and i have an iphone i really need to be more on top of the technology it'll say it'll say scheduled charging or something right yeah you can you can turn it off if you want but um yeah it kind of holds true for for lithium-ion batteries whether they're in a car or a cell phone see i learned something every time i watch this podcast um let's move on to another question this one comes from sean sean says we have a bmw x2 with run flat tires they came with a little ridge to sort of protect the rims but to no avail would we be able to put on tires that are a little wider to protect the rims better or maybe a larger more protective rim ridge made by the tire manufacturers and i gotta say there are a few things that are more um just deflating because i i hate to admit it but i've curved a few wheels in my day and there's nothing more deflating than well there are other things but it's one of the most deflating things to park and not realize there's a curb right there or realize he got so close and you hear that scraping noise and you're like oh please please only have rubbed the tire and you get out and if it's a sports car inevitably you you you damage the rim and it's just oh it's terrible ryan uh so talk to us here yeah especially those nice granite curbs that are nice and squared off that we have around here in new england um so yeah uh don't put a wider tire on the car that's not gonna give you that lip believe it or not um you want to stick with the same size tire that came on the car for sure um there are tires that have that little rubber lip um it's kind of a little bit of a shoulder that sticks out and um it is it's a sacrificial piece of rubber there basically that's uh protecting the the rim and the tire itself because there's a lot of now sidewall tire behind that um and that's you know that's more important the further you get in there right without like window shopping and doing a lot of research it's hard to tell you uh where to or which ones to get or what does that the other which ones do that the other thing is you're looking at run flat tires and you're already in a a very small market there's not a ton of run flats out there bmw's notorious for this they just they have you know they put run flats on nearly all their vehicles and they are there's just not a lot of choice there so i mean my advice is to don't change the size um that's not going to give you that extra lip you're just going to have to do some research and see what you can come up with um i mean you could go to a non-run flat if you wanted i suppose but you're going to need you're not going to have a you're not going to have a spare you're going to put a spare in the trunk it could also change some of the handling aspects in the ride because the car was designed to have run flat tires on it which are naturally stiffer it gets a little messy so but i would definitely not change the size to get that rubber lip because that won't happen all right well sean hopefully that helps a little bit that's going to do it for this week's episode if you want to learn more about the cars and the topics we talked about you can click on the links in the show notes don't forget to send those questions comments 30 second video clips to talking cars at icloud.com thank you all so much for watching and we'll see you next week well that i could say yeah what i could say is sorry would i please please i would like ryan to speak\n"