**A Lesson from Our Hosts: The Importance of Reading the Owner's Manual**

Our hosts recently discussed their personal experiences with new cars, and one topic that came up was the manufacturer's break-in procedures. When purchasing a new vehicle, it's essential to familiarize yourself with the recommended break-in period to ensure a smooth driving experience.

**A Second Hand Tip: Don't Break into Cars That Aren't Yours**

Our hosts started by emphasizing the importance of not breaking into cars that aren't yours. This might seem obvious, but it's crucial to respect other people's property and never attempt to drive someone else's vehicle without their permission. Additionally, our hosts mentioned that Slim Jims don't work as much in older Honda models, suggesting that some car parts may not function as expected over time.

**The Dealership's Role in Informing Consumers**

Our hosts noted that dealerships often fail to inform consumers about the manufacturer's break-in procedures. They believe that dealers should take a more active role in educating buyers about these procedures and how to properly care for their new vehicle.

**A Look into Manufacturer's Instructions**

While reading the owner's manual is not always fun, our hosts recommended doing so to learn about the manufacturer's break-in procedures. For example, the 2019 Cherokee manual instructs drivers to drive moderately during the first 300 miles, with speeds up to 50-55 mph being desirable. The 2018 BMW X2 manual advises against using launch control and warns against exceeding maximum engine and road speed beyond 1200 miles.

**The Importance of Varying Engine Speed**

Our hosts emphasized the importance of varying engine speed during the break-in period. Driving at different speeds, such as on the highway or in low gear, can help the moving parts work together smoothly. However, it's essential not to push the vehicle too hard and avoid full throttle acceleration under all circumstances.

**A Call for Better Communication from Dealerships**

Our hosts suggested that dealerships should take a more proactive approach in educating consumers about the manufacturer's break-in procedures. This could include providing additional information during the test drive or offering guidance on how to properly care for the vehicle after purchase.

**The Value of Reading the Manual**

Finally, our hosts emphasized the importance of reading the owner's manual and following the manufacturer's instructions. By doing so, consumers can ensure a smooth driving experience and prolong the life of their new vehicle. They encouraged listeners to take control of their own car maintenance and ask questions if they're unsure about any aspect of owning a new vehicle.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, our hosts emphasized the importance of reading the owner's manual and following the manufacturer's break-in procedures. By doing so, consumers can ensure a smooth driving experience and prolong the life of their new vehicle. We hope that this article has provided valuable information and insights for our readers, and we'll see you next time on Talking Cars at Ike Loud!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe discussed the ongoing conflict between cyclists and motorists and what they can do to coexist on the road plus we cover the new Mitsubishi Eclipse cross SUV and answer audience questions next on talking car hi everyone and welcome back I'm John linka I'm Keith berry and I'm Mike Monticello and because may is bicycle safety month we're going to focus our initial segment on bicycle and car safety and driver driver cyclist interactions because each of us have had you know different involvement with cycling mike and i are cyclists avid cyclist keith has lived in an urban area and how to interact with cyclists in a totally different way and you know it's it's a key thing that we all as drivers you know need to be aware of but also people who are cyclists you know mike want you to tell us a little bit about your background first and yeah and we'll follow up so I mean I've been cycling for almost 25 years I started when I was about five so do the math I'm still a I'm still a young guy yeah I mean since almost the womb yeah yeah but you know and I've had you know I come from both sides of me and I'm a car driver but I of things that cyclists do that are that are not not smart that make it worse for cyclists at the same time I've been hit by a car and my ex-wife was badly hit by a car when I was on the same Ryder sir so you know it hits close to close to home for me sure cycling safety yeah I mean for me I've cycled for maybe 15 years now and gotten really into it and you know you go on you go on group rides and you see good and bad etiquette you know but when you're out there and the group rides or even by alone you see the bad etiquette by most car drivers you know it not all of them are bad I mean let's just start this not all cyclists are bad and it's probably minority not all drivers are bad but you know there's a lot of statistics I'm gonna get into and you know there's a lot of deaths out there I mean the eight hundred and forty cyclists were killed in 2016 you know that that's a huge number and it unfortunately been going up well that's what I think of because I mean that's that's sort of my experience with cycling I don't I I'm from the Boston area and did a lot of commuting in the city and because of my job had to drive a car in the city right and it was the least efficient way of getting anywhere and I'm a bit of a radical about this in some ways that I think that even though I'm a I love cars and love writing about them driving that in certain areas I mean out here we're in a suburban almost rural area but back home I mean there are areas where I think cars just should not be and it should just be turned over to pedestrians and cyclists because the - just don't don't mix and the easiest way to move a lot of people is in you know and on bikes public transit and walking well hats so yeah wonder you know one of the questions is you know since you've your experience you've said some some interesting things about the leaving Boston coming here coming here going back to Boston what about cycling lanes and also you know how you think about it Oh totally so you know the thing I have to remind myself is just what you said about how it's how easy it is to you know have a fatal crash on a bike and you know it even if the cyclist is doing something wrong or you know isn't following the rules way that I want them to or isn't signaling or annoyed me in some way if I get mad about that or if I don't give them enough space when I'm behind the wheel of a car I could kill them if I make a mistake if I don't look I could kill someone and that's what I think whenever I get behind the wheel when I'm driving you know commuting through Cambridge it's different around here you know when you encounter cyclists it's it's totally different you're usually coming around a corner and it's you know some recreational cyclists these aren't commuters going to work and it's a totally different environment that you know in Boston they're there that we're getting bike lanes we're kind of starting to the infrastructure I don't think is is good enough but there you know you have to I've trained myself to you know check my blind spot when I'm when I'm turning or make sure that I don't you know right hook someone and cut them off and and hurt them and that's what we we don't have out here is bike lanes especially on these these back roads you know so that's why it's maybe even more critical as a cyclist to be mindful that there's other people on the road right you know so and you mentioned group rides group rides is actually I think the safest way to go on a bicycle ride because you're more visible the whole group whether it's five guys or 50 guys everyone's gonna see you right right what the problem is when you have a group ride you have you know quite often those group riders are annoying car drivers because they're taking up too much of the lane or they're you know they're not riding single file right there riding parallel just because the law say you can take up the lane doesn't mean you have to take up the lane you know and when I lived in California they have a lot of really wide bike lanes out there and you know so you're supposed to ride in the bike lane and I'd be on these group rides of like 30 to 50 people and so the bike lanes wide enough to ride two or three abreast right and yet sometimes they would still move over and be taking up part of you know it would be four lanes of traffic to two lanes this way two lines the other way and they'd be taking up one of those two travel lanes and John you were talking about reasons why bike riders my cyclists might want to do that though right you know there's there's times where you need to almost be a defensive offensive rider you know because you're making yourself present you know and you use something I think we're gonna have some some some b-roll you know some footage here like you know it's gonna show bikes with you know lights lights make you really visible rear light front light you know some people may say oh that's so dorky well you know what it's safe you know and if anything gives you visibility is more is better than than being cool you know I totally am with Mike in the sense of you know people pace lining and rolling off or they're talking it that's some of the the habits cyclists get into this mindset that when they're on these group rides because they think they're going really fast and they're doing all this training and it feels like racing it's like it's like they get out there and they forget to there's other cars around just instances where we come to a stoplight and we've got a group of 10 15 guys and now they're oblivious to the fact that there's a car behind him who wants to go right on red yeah but because they're not moving over and taking up the lane the way a car would they're just spread out all the way across the lane now that car is waiting there they could be going right on red and they're not so cyclists have to remember you're not the only ones on the road you think you know you you have to give room to cars and you want to do things like make eye contact with the car and you want to stop at stop signs you mean when I first started riding I'll be honest I didn't stop at stop signs I would roll through red lights and you know I finally got smart realize this is insane you're supposed to follow the same rules as the car so you're supposed to come with that respect yeah so so what happens is cyclists don't do that and then cars just they're like okay these you know this is why so many car drivers are annoyed with cyclists because the cyclists feel they don't have to follow the rules of the road so they follow the rules of the road and you make eye contact with the driver you wave they give you room you wave to them say thank you for that I think I think of it each day as trying them you know bring another car driver back to not hating cyclists that's true you know one of these I want to jump into because you know it's it's a big segment we could talk about 840 pedal cyclist it's a d-o-t term killed in 2016 829 and 15 so you're looking at an increase only 701 only 701 I mean I'm not trying to knock that down but in 2007 so it's been rate going up most fatalities actually were not at intersections 30% were at intersections only 4% of fatalities and bike lanes the majority happened in daylight and then the next largest is in dark only 5% at dawn and dusk so it's not like oh the light is hard you is see people a staggering number in 2016 59 of the deaths were kids and then 130 were for people 65 and older so well and a lot of those happen in Florida 138 deaths were in Florida 147 in California so great weather and dense urban weather and with the rise of distracted driving and people on you know car drivers being on their phones it's so easy all it takes is a second and you've you've run that that you've you've hit that recklessness you know you're the cars here cyclists here you're looking down at your phone and use beer slightly over and run over that cyclist that's all it takes you know well you know one of the things I wanted and I'm not trying to cut you off but you know we talked about some tips you know that that from both a driver's perspective as well as a cyclist perspective and I wanted to toss it to Keith because you had a really good interesting one that would help I think with all driving at it yeah I mean III think it's it's it's important to put yourself in the in the shoes of everyone whose every road user so you know when you become a vulnerable road users when you're pedestrian when you're a cyclist there is you know the infrastructure in this country is built for cars in many places and I personally don't think that it should be but in many places in the country obviously out here it's different than in cities it's changing its changing its evolving and I think that the best way to figure out where the the reasons why other road users act the way they do is to get behind the wheel of a car if you're a cyclist if you're a if you only drive get on a bike and get out there be a pedestrian share it literally learn how to the road I would actually really like it if car drivers if everyone got the chance to drive you know it's just do a mile in an 18-wheeler and see how hard that is sure you get a lot of respect for those for those people you know but yeah it's I mean Mike you had some some thoughts for cyclists you know about signalling in traffic yeah I mean you know obviously always signal when you're making a left-to-right turn I mean John so old-school he he goes like this to go left and he goes this the old Boy Scout right approach or whatever to go right so a traffic sees me I always feel that if you do buy this your block yeah make it make a big you know hand signal either way we use you know stopping you know put our hands back when we're stopping and it's like a driver when I come up to it you know there's a bike lane next to me and I know that the traffic is the bike traffic is gonna cut across me I always make eye contact with the first rider in that group who's waiting for the light to let them know I see them and they can go then I'm not just gonna plow into them because I'm looking at my phone cuz I mean on group rides I can't say how many times I've seen we people just roll through stop signs roll stop lights and if you as a group or even on your own make the the point that you're you're going to stop and then the car waves you through then your call thank you and then everyone has a better day because of it all right it's the same as some cars pull up yeah you know to a four-way and you know the one guy says like you go on I got it and and also I mean wear your helmet I mean you know it's surprising we looked up some helmet laws and it's surprising first of all there's no helmet laws for adults anywhere in any state in the country although there are some city ordinances that require some some Howlett laws but like in connecticut it's it's only if you're 15 years or younger then you have to wear a helmet but so wear your helmet you know my personal thing kind of stuck up if I see a guy who's not wearing a helmet you know I won't wave to him if he waves to me first nobody what a great loss great but you know because it's like that the helmets actually we we had helmets we had props but someone thought we would look dorky if we were wearing our helmets for this segment but the helmets right luckily we weren't wearing spandex right I mean I had no one wants thieves I think I'm wearing spandex yeah I think it's by accident though the helmets are so light and and have so much good ventilation these days there's there's really honestly no reason to not like crack mind and I went over the handlebars at about five miles an hour hit a pothole and touch that in a second and cracked the helmet and didn't have a concussion so like the helmet took the brunt of a five day amazing how much they they you know how light they are yet how strong they are the other thing you mentioned lights the rear flash rear red flashing lights are very inexpensive these days they're very easy to find your bike you can recharge them on your computer okay I think we have some footage showing ya antenna and same with the the front lights these days you know I mean we just we grew up we use the generators where I put the generator over on the tire but these days the front lights are again pretty inexpensive they're very easy to recharge and they're quite bright and so I mean those are the kinds of things that if you think you're gonna be riding at all close to dusk make sure you have this right sure you know - final thoughts first of all for drivers look you don't want to go over a pothole you know you're worried about the wheel you're worried about being a bump well think about a cyclist going over a pothole they are going to bend their wheel and fall in front of you they are going to blow out their tire and fall in front of you so keep your eyes up for yourself but also think about what the cyclist is doing yeah if that person's were if the cyclists were in front of you it's not because they're a jerk I mean it could be a jerk right but it also could be that they're literally saving their their skin and also think about the the speed differential you know the cyclist may be doing 20 miles an hour and you're doing 30 if you're gonna make a right turn wait 10 seconds wait five seconds you're gonna get to your parking space you're gonna get to the red big box your red light at the same time but that speed differential you cut in front the cyclist is probably gonna clip you know you know what we didn't discuss tips for deer well you and we I want to give tips to deer not a cyclist out in handy because I once got hit by deer I didn't hit the deer the deer I think we'll have to do that lorem fauna different drivers yeah we're gonna totally pivot and go to cars now and we're gonna focus on a new sort of britain karts we're now talking back to talking car excellent a new vehicle came in on a toss you Keith the Mitsubishi Eclipse cross mm-hm small SUV yeah it is a small SUV so III know that you know obviously you can find out what CR thinks about Mitsubishi's yep I personally I don't really have anything wrong with the Outlander Sport and I think that if you're looking for an inexpensive car with a warranty and actually really good all-wheel drive system the Outlander Sport which is Mitsubishi she's kind of current compact SUV it's fine it's very inexpensive you can find it brand new for not a lot of money right and then I don't want to check you know the Mitsubishi feelings or you know from our test data you know so it is it's how they perform just like all the other vehicles and in their class against their peers exactly I mean it's not gonna be you know no Mitsubishi is gonna be the quietest the most luxurious it etc the Eclipse cross though is just baffling to me because Mitsubishi already makes a perfectly decent serviceable affordable compact SUV and then they come out with this this other car which is has less exterior less interior space I think exterior and it's $28,000 well that's the thing which just blows my mind that it takes away the one thing about that car that that actually kind of made it charming well you know Monte you know since you you kind of blend both testing as well as editorial and content work you know what's it been like for driving well it's it almost feels like this is a vehicle that Mitsubishi they felt like they needed a new vehicle you know and they just sort of cobbled this together put on this new exterior which actually I will say I think it looks better in person than it looked in photos I don't know if that's praise or not but I think grace it looks terrible in person but it really feels like they cobbled this together as quickly as they could and they didn't totally finish the R&D we know it's funny Andrew who's over on the camera - he even said it's sort of like you know the teacher was watching all the designers and is like okay pencils down yeah yeah send it to the tens of dealerships it's got this real high-tech like remote touch style touchpad right the infotainment the infotainment which is stupid but at least it looks high-tech and it's funny because with that implement system it almost feels like they took like they looked at all the worst infotainment systems and then they took a little piece from each one no like yes yeah like that Lexus like you know sort of pad thing and and right you know that the touchscreen is far away and there's no like Honda there's no volume or tuning knobs it's there's just some things that don't make sense I will say when you get into the car initially that there's you know there's some soft touch here and there this and it doesn't look terrible and like that upholstery but yeah but once you start using it and you start driving it around and it's you know it's it's again sort of like how it looks okay when you first get into it until you get deeper same thing we first start driving it it's pretty quick off the line you know it's got this turbo four-cylinder and it has a CVT continuously variable transmission but then it seems like it runs out of steam yeah pretty quickly and so a little while away and you know one of the things that you touched on Keith and it $28,000 a lot I mean that's a subaru forrester that's honda cr-v that's recipe for ford escape you know for for sport I mean the the old eclipses are crying to have their name associated with this old it headlights so we're not making it's interesting yeah we're not but it's just it's it's just not a it doesn't really seem like a full big effort and again at that price it's it's a challenge to to really for people you know to justify going and shopping that when there are so many good vehicles so like you said there aren't as many dealers around is a Mitsubishi is a very small dealer network so even though it has that great warranty where are you gonna get it fixed if you live 30 miles away from the clothes actly exactly so we're still testing it like Mike said you know check back in the next couple weeks for our final results so we're gonna switch over to some audience questions right now because we've been getting a lot of really great ones to our iMessage account which is talking cars at icloud.com our first one is about used cars I'm looking to buy my first used car for college between eight and ten thousand dollars I'd like suggestions for anything from a compact hatchback to a midsize crossover but it has to be reliable not try to make a boat not be as common as a Prius it'd be from 2005 to 2013 thanks a lot for the help so I'm gonna throw it to Mike first what did you come up with as a suggestion I came up with - okay you're doing it I give I give the audience more for their money as the winner to look at it it doesn't do that at work but he does it for the audience okay thanks a lot well they do really count yes yeah so I came up with a Honda Fit 2009 to 2012 honda fit and 2009 to 2012 Mazda 3 both are reliable and both are pretty fun to drive you know the Mazda 3 being a little bit more fun to drive the Honda Fit being you know have more usable interior and you can get both with manual transmissions you know the Monte 3 you know comes in a sedan or hatchback obviously this person would want the hatchback I honestly think you can't go wrong with the other one good for me the Mazda 3 is the more fun car to drive but I could totally see a college kid driving either one of these cars and having lots of space and having a little bit of fun and yeah I honestly think the friend of mine just said his daughter's looking at a Mazda 3 or Civic and he said I think we're gonna Mazda 3 hatched College so it's right down right there in the ballpark Keith what about you I think I mean I know he's looking for something it isn't totally common and I'm gonna recommend the Civic but that's it's sort of my go-to recommendation for so for someone who's who's looking for something you're gonna have the rest of your life to buy interesting really interesting cars and you know the guy's not mad right it doesn't feel III kind of I got all my interesting cars when I was in college and now nothing can be you know I have nothing to look forward to so none of them actually ran but you know I had this Renault so there's a lot of all kinds of stuff Stirling's you know yeah so this I think you know again you can get a stick shift the Civic gets reliable you know you might lose it in a parking lot but if you really want to if you really want to make yourself stand out you can rebadge it like an acura 1.6 L and tell everyone you're Canadian yeah boy esoteric and exoteric okay okay I went totally off 2007 Acura TSX the TSX is a recommended used car it's reliable we don't go to 2007 but it's a solid car and I also went for sister vehicle the 2006 acura RSX that's a fun car super sporty hatchback tutorial if I forgot about that uh you know it's it's a it's the down the road from the Integra with the four lights and that's when Honda was such a a drivetrain you know engine and transmission company made sporty fun car and you don't see those too much anymore though that I noticed and I saw one the other day yeah not common so so those are the choices I think you can you can find some really good cars a lot of love for Honda a lot of Honda they're you know older Honda that again you know when they were fun our second question I purchased six brand new vehicles in my life and I've never been told by the dealer to check the owner's manual for braking procedures seems to me that dealers need to do a better job about informing consumers about the manufacturers break-in procedures so do you guys have any tips well my first tip is you should not be breaking into cars really that they belong to someone else true yeah in slim jims don't work as much no they really don't so seriously I know Mike went over to our shop manager John Ibbetson to talk about right I talked to Big John and you know and also keep in mind we break in all of our test cars for two thousand miles again driving not slaving for a variety of reasons not just the engine yeah because that's that's what you're really trying to do is you're trying to break in all the moving parts in an engine so that they wear properly down the road that's why you do this break-in period we also we're doing it for tires and brakes for our test cars that's why we go a little longer than the usual break-in period for a car but so so that's why you want to do it but first of all I think the car salesman the car dealer should tell you yes sir and so I did a little digging you know at some of our cars that were are in our garage over there our usual studio and the 2019 Cherokee says because all these manuals differ actually in terms of what they tell people and they say drive your car moderately during the first 300 miles after the first 60 miles speeds up to 50 to 55 miles per hour are desirable while cruising brief full throttle acceleration within the limits of local traffic laws contribute to a good break in wide open throttle low gear can be detrimental and should be avoided the 2018 BMW x2 says moving parts need to begin working together smoothly during break and do not use the launch control I wasn't even aware our x2 had launch control but moving parts working together it's like adding someone new to the podcast yeah and I just the little breaking part not sure how well it's going yeah by the fifth episode maybe and then they say up to 1200 miles do not exceed the maximum engine and road speed avoid full load or kick down under all circumstances and then 1,200 miles you know engine and vehicle speed can gradually be increased but the bottom line more than anything is very your speed very the way you drive the car you know without being extra so don't drive it crazy hard don't do a lot of full throttle stuff yeah don't bake but don't at the same time don't baby it and don't just you know do the first 500 miles on the highway you want to have you want to be varying the engine speed you want to vary the way you drive the car well because you want to drive your new you get your new car and you want to drive it you want to get out there and see what it can do but kind of resist that temptation and that we've we've all bought cars for the for for Consumer Reports for test cars and I don't know if any of us have visited the service department for example that they've taken us over it as I go here's here's at least the service depart what you can ask that question you mean when you're first buying the car and the car you know I mean the only thing that you get is you get to delivery and you get the I'll go through a lot of the how to use infotainment system right but please give me fives on my serve now because otherwise they're gonna fire me tomorrow and that's so from the manufacturer to be in order to give money you know back to the dealership and so that the salesperson could actually earn some money because they don't make a lot of money per car and it would be great and it actually probably help them get their fives if there was a bit of explanation about hey this is how you handle it to begin with but then and the key thing is for all you people out there I mean read the manual usually says engine break-in or break-in period at the back of the manual go to that page just see what they say and and follow close to what they say you know it's it's just smart yep well I think we're gonna have that as the last word on this episode so thanks for watching we really appreciate the questions so again like we said our iMessage account is talking cars at Ike loud comm check the show notes below for everything that we talked about and links to all the information and thanks for watching we'll see you next time I would listen to this this is the podcast rightwe discussed the ongoing conflict between cyclists and motorists and what they can do to coexist on the road plus we cover the new Mitsubishi Eclipse cross SUV and answer audience questions next on talking car hi everyone and welcome back I'm John linka I'm Keith berry and I'm Mike Monticello and because may is bicycle safety month we're going to focus our initial segment on bicycle and car safety and driver driver cyclist interactions because each of us have had you know different involvement with cycling mike and i are cyclists avid cyclist keith has lived in an urban area and how to interact with cyclists in a totally different way and you know it's it's a key thing that we all as drivers you know need to be aware of but also people who are cyclists you know mike want you to tell us a little bit about your background first and yeah and we'll follow up so I mean I've been cycling for almost 25 years I started when I was about five so do the math I'm still a I'm still a young guy yeah I mean since almost the womb yeah yeah but you know and I've had you know I come from both sides of me and I'm a car driver but I of things that cyclists do that are that are not not smart that make it worse for cyclists at the same time I've been hit by a car and my ex-wife was badly hit by a car when I was on the same Ryder sir so you know it hits close to close to home for me sure cycling safety yeah I mean for me I've cycled for maybe 15 years now and gotten really into it and you know you go on you go on group rides and you see good and bad etiquette you know but when you're out there and the group rides or even by alone you see the bad etiquette by most car drivers you know it not all of them are bad I mean let's just start this not all cyclists are bad and it's probably minority not all drivers are bad but you know there's a lot of statistics I'm gonna get into and you know there's a lot of deaths out there I mean the eight hundred and forty cyclists were killed in 2016 you know that that's a huge number and it unfortunately been going up well that's what I think of because I mean that's that's sort of my experience with cycling I don't I I'm from the Boston area and did a lot of commuting in the city and because of my job had to drive a car in the city right and it was the least efficient way of getting anywhere and I'm a bit of a radical about this in some ways that I think that even though I'm a I love cars and love writing about them driving that in certain areas I mean out here we're in a suburban almost rural area but back home I mean there are areas where I think cars just should not be and it should just be turned over to pedestrians and cyclists because the - just don't don't mix and the easiest way to move a lot of people is in you know and on bikes public transit and walking well hats so yeah wonder you know one of the questions is you know since you've your experience you've said some some interesting things about the leaving Boston coming here coming here going back to Boston what about cycling lanes and also you know how you think about it Oh totally so you know the thing I have to remind myself is just what you said about how it's how easy it is to you know have a fatal crash on a bike and you know it even if the cyclist is doing something wrong or you know isn't following the rules way that I want them to or isn't signaling or annoyed me in some way if I get mad about that or if I don't give them enough space when I'm behind the wheel of a car I could kill them if I make a mistake if I don't look I could kill someone and that's what I think whenever I get behind the wheel when I'm driving you know commuting through Cambridge it's different around here you know when you encounter cyclists it's it's totally different you're usually coming around a corner and it's you know some recreational cyclists these aren't commuters going to work and it's a totally different environment that you know in Boston they're there that we're getting bike lanes we're kind of starting to the infrastructure I don't think is is good enough but there you know you have to I've trained myself to you know check my blind spot when I'm when I'm turning or make sure that I don't you know right hook someone and cut them off and and hurt them and that's what we we don't have out here is bike lanes especially on these these back roads you know so that's why it's maybe even more critical as a cyclist to be mindful that there's other people on the road right you know so and you mentioned group rides group rides is actually I think the safest way to go on a bicycle ride because you're more visible the whole group whether it's five guys or 50 guys everyone's gonna see you right right what the problem is when you have a group ride you have you know quite often those group riders are annoying car drivers because they're taking up too much of the lane or they're you know they're not riding single file right there riding parallel just because the law say you can take up the lane doesn't mean you have to take up the lane you know and when I lived in California they have a lot of really wide bike lanes out there and you know so you're supposed to ride in the bike lane and I'd be on these group rides of like 30 to 50 people and so the bike lanes wide enough to ride two or three abreast right and yet sometimes they would still move over and be taking up part of you know it would be four lanes of traffic to two lanes this way two lines the other way and they'd be taking up one of those two travel lanes and John you were talking about reasons why bike riders my cyclists might want to do that though right you know there's there's times where you need to almost be a defensive offensive rider you know because you're making yourself present you know and you use something I think we're gonna have some some some b-roll you know some footage here like you know it's gonna show bikes with you know lights lights make you really visible rear light front light you know some people may say oh that's so dorky well you know what it's safe you know and if anything gives you visibility is more is better than than being cool you know I totally am with Mike in the sense of you know people pace lining and rolling off or they're talking it that's some of the the habits cyclists get into this mindset that when they're on these group rides because they think they're going really fast and they're doing all this training and it feels like racing it's like it's like they get out there and they forget to there's other cars around just instances where we come to a stoplight and we've got a group of 10 15 guys and now they're oblivious to the fact that there's a car behind him who wants to go right on red yeah but because they're not moving over and taking up the lane the way a car would they're just spread out all the way across the lane now that car is waiting there they could be going right on red and they're not so cyclists have to remember you're not the only ones on the road you think you know you you have to give room to cars and you want to do things like make eye contact with the car and you want to stop at stop signs you mean when I first started riding I'll be honest I didn't stop at stop signs I would roll through red lights and you know I finally got smart realize this is insane you're supposed to follow the same rules as the car so you're supposed to come with that respect yeah so so what happens is cyclists don't do that and then cars just they're like okay these you know this is why so many car drivers are annoyed with cyclists because the cyclists feel they don't have to follow the rules of the road so they follow the rules of the road and you make eye contact with the driver you wave they give you room you wave to them say thank you for that I think I think of it each day as trying them you know bring another car driver back to not hating cyclists that's true you know one of these I want to jump into because you know it's it's a big segment we could talk about 840 pedal cyclist it's a d-o-t term killed in 2016 829 and 15 so you're looking at an increase only 701 only 701 I mean I'm not trying to knock that down but in 2007 so it's been rate going up most fatalities actually were not at intersections 30% were at intersections only 4% of fatalities and bike lanes the majority happened in daylight and then the next largest is in dark only 5% at dawn and dusk so it's not like oh the light is hard you is see people a staggering number in 2016 59 of the deaths were kids and then 130 were for people 65 and older so well and a lot of those happen in Florida 138 deaths were in Florida 147 in California so great weather and dense urban weather and with the rise of distracted driving and people on you know car drivers being on their phones it's so easy all it takes is a second and you've you've run that that you've you've hit that recklessness you know you're the cars here cyclists here you're looking down at your phone and use beer slightly over and run over that cyclist that's all it takes you know well you know one of the things I wanted and I'm not trying to cut you off but you know we talked about some tips you know that that from both a driver's perspective as well as a cyclist perspective and I wanted to toss it to Keith because you had a really good interesting one that would help I think with all driving at it yeah I mean III think it's it's it's important to put yourself in the in the shoes of everyone whose every road user so you know when you become a vulnerable road users when you're pedestrian when you're a cyclist there is you know the infrastructure in this country is built for cars in many places and I personally don't think that it should be but in many places in the country obviously out here it's different than in cities it's changing its changing its evolving and I think that the best way to figure out where the the reasons why other road users act the way they do is to get behind the wheel of a car if you're a cyclist if you're a if you only drive get on a bike and get out there be a pedestrian share it literally learn how to the road I would actually really like it if car drivers if everyone got the chance to drive you know it's just do a mile in an 18-wheeler and see how hard that is sure you get a lot of respect for those for those people you know but yeah it's I mean Mike you had some some thoughts for cyclists you know about signalling in traffic yeah I mean you know obviously always signal when you're making a left-to-right turn I mean John so old-school he he goes like this to go left and he goes this the old Boy Scout right approach or whatever to go right so a traffic sees me I always feel that if you do buy this your block yeah make it make a big you know hand signal either way we use you know stopping you know put our hands back when we're stopping and it's like a driver when I come up to it you know there's a bike lane next to me and I know that the traffic is the bike traffic is gonna cut across me I always make eye contact with the first rider in that group who's waiting for the light to let them know I see them and they can go then I'm not just gonna plow into them because I'm looking at my phone cuz I mean on group rides I can't say how many times I've seen we people just roll through stop signs roll stop lights and if you as a group or even on your own make the the point that you're you're going to stop and then the car waves you through then your call thank you and then everyone has a better day because of it all right it's the same as some cars pull up yeah you know to a four-way and you know the one guy says like you go on I got it and and also I mean wear your helmet I mean you know it's surprising we looked up some helmet laws and it's surprising first of all there's no helmet laws for adults anywhere in any state in the country although there are some city ordinances that require some some Howlett laws but like in connecticut it's it's only if you're 15 years or younger then you have to wear a helmet but so wear your helmet you know my personal thing kind of stuck up if I see a guy who's not wearing a helmet you know I won't wave to him if he waves to me first nobody what a great loss great but you know because it's like that the helmets actually we we had helmets we had props but someone thought we would look dorky if we were wearing our helmets for this segment but the helmets right luckily we weren't wearing spandex right I mean I had no one wants thieves I think I'm wearing spandex yeah I think it's by accident though the helmets are so light and and have so much good ventilation these days there's there's really honestly no reason to not like crack mind and I went over the handlebars at about five miles an hour hit a pothole and touch that in a second and cracked the helmet and didn't have a concussion so like the helmet took the brunt of a five day amazing how much they they you know how light they are yet how strong they are the other thing you mentioned lights the rear flash rear red flashing lights are very inexpensive these days they're very easy to find your bike you can recharge them on your computer okay I think we have some footage showing ya antenna and same with the the front lights these days you know I mean we just we grew up we use the generators where I put the generator over on the tire but these days the front lights are again pretty inexpensive they're very easy to recharge and they're quite bright and so I mean those are the kinds of things that if you think you're gonna be riding at all close to dusk make sure you have this right sure you know - final thoughts first of all for drivers look you don't want to go over a pothole you know you're worried about the wheel you're worried about being a bump well think about a cyclist going over a pothole they are going to bend their wheel and fall in front of you they are going to blow out their tire and fall in front of you so keep your eyes up for yourself but also think about what the cyclist is doing yeah if that person's were if the cyclists were in front of you it's not because they're a jerk I mean it could be a jerk right but it also could be that they're literally saving their their skin and also think about the the speed differential you know the cyclist may be doing 20 miles an hour and you're doing 30 if you're gonna make a right turn wait 10 seconds wait five seconds you're gonna get to your parking space you're gonna get to the red big box your red light at the same time but that speed differential you cut in front the cyclist is probably gonna clip you know you know what we didn't discuss tips for deer well you and we I want to give tips to deer not a cyclist out in handy because I once got hit by deer I didn't hit the deer the deer I think we'll have to do that lorem fauna different drivers yeah we're gonna totally pivot and go to cars now and we're gonna focus on a new sort of britain karts we're now talking back to talking car excellent a new vehicle came in on a toss you Keith the Mitsubishi Eclipse cross mm-hm small SUV yeah it is a small SUV so III know that you know obviously you can find out what CR thinks about Mitsubishi's yep I personally I don't really have anything wrong with the Outlander Sport and I think that if you're looking for an inexpensive car with a warranty and actually really good all-wheel drive system the Outlander Sport which is Mitsubishi she's kind of current compact SUV it's fine it's very inexpensive you can find it brand new for not a lot of money right and then I don't want to check you know the Mitsubishi feelings or you know from our test data you know so it is it's how they perform just like all the other vehicles and in their class against their peers exactly I mean it's not gonna be you know no Mitsubishi is gonna be the quietest the most luxurious it etc the Eclipse cross though is just baffling to me because Mitsubishi already makes a perfectly decent serviceable affordable compact SUV and then they come out with this this other car which is has less exterior less interior space I think exterior and it's $28,000 well that's the thing which just blows my mind that it takes away the one thing about that car that that actually kind of made it charming well you know Monte you know since you you kind of blend both testing as well as editorial and content work you know what's it been like for driving well it's it almost feels like this is a vehicle that Mitsubishi they felt like they needed a new vehicle you know and they just sort of cobbled this together put on this new exterior which actually I will say I think it looks better in person than it looked in photos I don't know if that's praise or not but I think grace it looks terrible in person but it really feels like they cobbled this together as quickly as they could and they didn't totally finish the R&D we know it's funny Andrew who's over on the camera - he even said it's sort of like you know the teacher was watching all the designers and is like okay pencils down yeah yeah send it to the tens of dealerships it's got this real high-tech like remote touch style touchpad right the infotainment the infotainment which is stupid but at least it looks high-tech and it's funny because with that implement system it almost feels like they took like they looked at all the worst infotainment systems and then they took a little piece from each one no like yes yeah like that Lexus like you know sort of pad thing and and right you know that the touchscreen is far away and there's no like Honda there's no volume or tuning knobs it's there's just some things that don't make sense I will say when you get into the car initially that there's you know there's some soft touch here and there this and it doesn't look terrible and like that upholstery but yeah but once you start using it and you start driving it around and it's you know it's it's again sort of like how it looks okay when you first get into it until you get deeper same thing we first start driving it it's pretty quick off the line you know it's got this turbo four-cylinder and it has a CVT continuously variable transmission but then it seems like it runs out of steam yeah pretty quickly and so a little while away and you know one of the things that you touched on Keith and it $28,000 a lot I mean that's a subaru forrester that's honda cr-v that's recipe for ford escape you know for for sport I mean the the old eclipses are crying to have their name associated with this old it headlights so we're not making it's interesting yeah we're not but it's just it's it's just not a it doesn't really seem like a full big effort and again at that price it's it's a challenge to to really for people you know to justify going and shopping that when there are so many good vehicles so like you said there aren't as many dealers around is a Mitsubishi is a very small dealer network so even though it has that great warranty where are you gonna get it fixed if you live 30 miles away from the clothes actly exactly so we're still testing it like Mike said you know check back in the next couple weeks for our final results so we're gonna switch over to some audience questions right now because we've been getting a lot of really great ones to our iMessage account which is talking cars at icloud.com our first one is about used cars I'm looking to buy my first used car for college between eight and ten thousand dollars I'd like suggestions for anything from a compact hatchback to a midsize crossover but it has to be reliable not try to make a boat not be as common as a Prius it'd be from 2005 to 2013 thanks a lot for the help so I'm gonna throw it to Mike first what did you come up with as a suggestion I came up with - okay you're doing it I give I give the audience more for their money as the winner to look at it it doesn't do that at work but he does it for the audience okay thanks a lot well they do really count yes yeah so I came up with a Honda Fit 2009 to 2012 honda fit and 2009 to 2012 Mazda 3 both are reliable and both are pretty fun to drive you know the Mazda 3 being a little bit more fun to drive the Honda Fit being you know have more usable interior and you can get both with manual transmissions you know the Monte 3 you know comes in a sedan or hatchback obviously this person would want the hatchback I honestly think you can't go wrong with the other one good for me the Mazda 3 is the more fun car to drive but I could totally see a college kid driving either one of these cars and having lots of space and having a little bit of fun and yeah I honestly think the friend of mine just said his daughter's looking at a Mazda 3 or Civic and he said I think we're gonna Mazda 3 hatched College so it's right down right there in the ballpark Keith what about you I think I mean I know he's looking for something it isn't totally common and I'm gonna recommend the Civic but that's it's sort of my go-to recommendation for so for someone who's who's looking for something you're gonna have the rest of your life to buy interesting really interesting cars and you know the guy's not mad right it doesn't feel III kind of I got all my interesting cars when I was in college and now nothing can be you know I have nothing to look forward to so none of them actually ran but you know I had this Renault so there's a lot of all kinds of stuff Stirling's you know yeah so this I think you know again you can get a stick shift the Civic gets reliable you know you might lose it in a parking lot but if you really want to if you really want to make yourself stand out you can rebadge it like an acura 1.6 L and tell everyone you're Canadian yeah boy esoteric and exoteric okay okay I went totally off 2007 Acura TSX the TSX is a recommended used car it's reliable we don't go to 2007 but it's a solid car and I also went for sister vehicle the 2006 acura RSX that's a fun car super sporty hatchback tutorial if I forgot about that uh you know it's it's a it's the down the road from the Integra with the four lights and that's when Honda was such a a drivetrain you know engine and transmission company made sporty fun car and you don't see those too much anymore though that I noticed and I saw one the other day yeah not common so so those are the choices I think you can you can find some really good cars a lot of love for Honda a lot of Honda they're you know older Honda that again you know when they were fun our second question I purchased six brand new vehicles in my life and I've never been told by the dealer to check the owner's manual for braking procedures seems to me that dealers need to do a better job about informing consumers about the manufacturers break-in procedures so do you guys have any tips well my first tip is you should not be breaking into cars really that they belong to someone else true yeah in slim jims don't work as much no they really don't so seriously I know Mike went over to our shop manager John Ibbetson to talk about right I talked to Big John and you know and also keep in mind we break in all of our test cars for two thousand miles again driving not slaving for a variety of reasons not just the engine yeah because that's that's what you're really trying to do is you're trying to break in all the moving parts in an engine so that they wear properly down the road that's why you do this break-in period we also we're doing it for tires and brakes for our test cars that's why we go a little longer than the usual break-in period for a car but so so that's why you want to do it but first of all I think the car salesman the car dealer should tell you yes sir and so I did a little digging you know at some of our cars that were are in our garage over there our usual studio and the 2019 Cherokee says because all these manuals differ actually in terms of what they tell people and they say drive your car moderately during the first 300 miles after the first 60 miles speeds up to 50 to 55 miles per hour are desirable while cruising brief full throttle acceleration within the limits of local traffic laws contribute to a good break in wide open throttle low gear can be detrimental and should be avoided the 2018 BMW x2 says moving parts need to begin working together smoothly during break and do not use the launch control I wasn't even aware our x2 had launch control but moving parts working together it's like adding someone new to the podcast yeah and I just the little breaking part not sure how well it's going yeah by the fifth episode maybe and then they say up to 1200 miles do not exceed the maximum engine and road speed avoid full load or kick down under all circumstances and then 1,200 miles you know engine and vehicle speed can gradually be increased but the bottom line more than anything is very your speed very the way you drive the car you know without being extra so don't drive it crazy hard don't do a lot of full throttle stuff yeah don't bake but don't at the same time don't baby it and don't just you know do the first 500 miles on the highway you want to have you want to be varying the engine speed you want to vary the way you drive the car well because you want to drive your new you get your new car and you want to drive it you want to get out there and see what it can do but kind of resist that temptation and that we've we've all bought cars for the for for Consumer Reports for test cars and I don't know if any of us have visited the service department for example that they've taken us over it as I go here's here's at least the service depart what you can ask that question you mean when you're first buying the car and the car you know I mean the only thing that you get is you get to delivery and you get the I'll go through a lot of the how to use infotainment system right but please give me fives on my serve now because otherwise they're gonna fire me tomorrow and that's so from the manufacturer to be in order to give money you know back to the dealership and so that the salesperson could actually earn some money because they don't make a lot of money per car and it would be great and it actually probably help them get their fives if there was a bit of explanation about hey this is how you handle it to begin with but then and the key thing is for all you people out there I mean read the manual usually says engine break-in or break-in period at the back of the manual go to that page just see what they say and and follow close to what they say you know it's it's just smart yep well I think we're gonna have that as the last word on this episode so thanks for watching we really appreciate the questions so again like we said our iMessage account is talking cars at Ike loud comm check the show notes below for everything that we talked about and links to all the information and thanks for watching we'll see you next time I would listen to this this is the podcast right\n"