The Luxury Car Conundrum: A Teenager's Dilemma

When it comes to luxury cars, teenagers often have high expectations. They want a vehicle that exudes style, sophistication, and a touch of glamour. But, as any parent knows, purchasing a luxury car can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to considering the financial implications. In this article, we'll explore the challenges of buying a luxury car for a teenager and some practical suggestions for parents who want to make an informed decision.

The Luxury Car Options

One option that has been suggested is an old Lexus ES. While it's true that this car was once considered luxurious, its age may be a concern for some parents. The 2006 Infinity G35 is another model that has been mentioned as a potential candidate. However, the parent in question is interested in the modern successor to the G20, which is the Acura TSX.

The Acura TSX: A Reliable Option?

The Acura TSX is indeed a solid choice for parents who want a reliable and fuel-efficient luxury car. With its advanced safety features and comfortable ride, it's an excellent option for a teenager who wants to drive in style. However, the parent in question had previously considered other options, including the Honda Accord.

The Honda Accord: A Practical Choice

The Honda Accord is often cited as a practical choice for families with teenagers. Its spacious interior, supportive seats, and reliable performance make it an excellent option for drivers of all ages. With its advanced infotainment system, the Accord offers a range of features that will keep your teenager entertained on long drives.

The Importance of Reliability

One of the key considerations when buying a luxury car for a teenager is reliability. A well-maintained car can save you money in the long run and provide peace of mind for both you and your child. The parent in question had mentioned the importance of reliability, which suggests that they're willing to consider factors beyond just style or prestige.

The Cost Factor

Of course, one of the biggest concerns when buying a luxury car is the cost. A $9,000 price tag may seem daunting, but it's essential to weigh this against the benefits of owning a reliable and fuel-efficient vehicle. The parent in question had mentioned that they were willing to consider cars that might not be considered "luxurious" by some standards.

The Drifting Car Conundrum

In an amusing aside, the parent in question had joked about drifting cars, which made us chuckle. However, this comment also highlighted the importance of safety features when buying a luxury car for a teenager. A reliable and safe vehicle is essential for parents who want to give their child the keys to a new set of wheels.

The Final Verdict

Ultimately, the decision to buy a luxury car for a teenager will depend on your individual circumstances and priorities. By considering factors beyond just style or prestige, you can make an informed decision that balances your child's desires with your budget and concerns. Whether it's the Acura TSX, Honda Accord, or another model entirely, there's a luxury car out there that's right for your teenager.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entwo new sedans from Hyundai your questions about fuel economy and buying sedans for Suns next on talking cars hi and welcome to talking cars with Consumer Reports I'm Tom mler I'm John linov I'm Mike Quincy hey Mike welcome to the talking cars podcast Thunderdome it's great to be here glad to have you with us we're going to start out this episode with a question from Tacho 772 I thought Consumer Reports was supposed to be fair and balanced see we're getting things off to an easy start but maybe I'm wrong they don't ever mention Hyundai anymore or at least try to avoid it just like how they don't mention about 2015 Sonata yet mention both Camry and Legacy it's like Hyundai's become this elephant in the room that Consumer Reports tries to ignore John the gig's up the gig's up yeah we got to talk about Hyundai who but but Hyundai is one of those car companies that I love to talk about because they've always got something interesting going and every year when you look back in time they keep getting better and better certainly in our tests well they do I mean and we bought two new Hyundai behind us is the 2015 Hyundai Genesis uh we also bought a new 2015 Hyundai Sonata it's we got one of the very first ones to come out from the dealer we'd have it parked behind us but it's back at the dealer the car is already been brought back because of a w a problem for the steering and a problem for the brakes yeah they're having a coup couple early build problems but first let's talk about the Genesis what do you think of the Genesis Mike I I have always loved the Genesis I think the Genesis is one of those cars that is so even back with Peter Gabriel the Genesis someone had to do that the lies down on Broadway I'm sorry okay um the Genesis to me is always represented um a car that for the for the for the the person who who who doesn't have a lot of money but wants to step up their sort of luxury car experience uh so much value going in the interior is beautiful they've always been nice to drive they're comfortable they're quiet and this this latest one is even better I'm I'm really impressed by it's not cheap anymore I mean the car the car we have is almost 53,000 buckss that's a that's a very fair point they aren't the steel that they used to be but uh it is still very elegant and when you drive a Genesis if you have someone as a passenger they'll invariably say this is a Hyundai yeah what do you think yeah so they're gone the Lexus route the first ls's that came out really affordable in the 30 something, range to think back and now you know5 Grand 1990 right right and now you're talking $100,000 cars so when this was in you know the the 30s to 40s you know it was a steal now at 50,000 um it seems to be their Niche is going to be that they're going to be a not German they're going to be Buick you know very comfortable very quiet it's not the same uh four-door performance car that the last one really felt like um this one I still felt the rear suspension is a little unsettled at times to me I thought this was actually one of the better riding Hyundai in recent memory maybe it's not 100% sorted out okay but I I do think it rides better you know even though 53 Grand look you you're trying to compete with an A6 you're trying to compete with a Lexus GS our car has all the electronic giv all the features it's probably 10,000 bucks less than those cars certainly and it has usable features that that knob climate I mean uh infotainment system is far easier to master just jumping in it than any other system out there so definitely it's just I find it a little softer than the competitors and that's where they want to be exting yeah it's not as exciting that's where you want it to be it's I think there is a market for that you know I don't think everyone needs a sports you you buy a Genesis even a base Genesis you're going to have tons and tons of stuff in there that most of the German manufacturers will make you pay more for yeah now I mean it's easy to question the genesis's value but the Sonata I mean we have a Sonata SE you know the base four cylinder just with some comfort and convenient package it's $23,000 300 bucks it's a really wellone car for that money M what do you think uh great great fuel economy uh I mean were you getting good mileage out of it well um I don't know what exactly we're we're coming in so far that we've got on the on the tri computer 700 mil because it's at the dealer right now um but but one of the things that that Jake fiser has said often in the past about Hyundai in particular is you're getting great fuel economy you know there's there's there's no there's no turbo there's no hybrid there's no diesel it's just a really good efficient four-cylinder engine see I'm not sure that applies anymore because you know it used to be the Sonata did get great fuel economy but now you had the Ultima Leap Frog it you had the Accord out of CVT they've stuck with six-speed automatics because Hyundai figures drivers don't like cvts and Y maybe they have a point cbts we've seen I I haven't been as as much of a detractor in cbts simply because we've spent so many years with small engines and four-speed automatics that would rev up so you know cbts they're Tad annoying at times but well done ones they could be fine a cord for example you know we all think is is good uh even you know anything that has a step to it is going to be much more palatable than something that just revs up high uh this this is a blandish car it's it's a little practical it's totally practical and but it's pulled back from that very aggressive styling yeah the previous generation car put Hyundai on the map they sold a ton of those things because it looked so damn good right they' they've backed off on The Styling just when everyone else is going to it 200 and then you know you saw the fusion and such like that so there's more of an ooid styling going but to be fair you can see out of the Sonata a lot better you can get in and out of it better the controls are almost as easier as the car also feels more solid I mean the last sonata a lot of road noise felt a little 10 teny when you when you close the doors exactly this car feels a whole lot more solid uh so we'll see how it does yeah like to get more miles than it when it comes back and hopefully it comes back for good you know they iron out those early launch it's problem with early we have to do is criticize something and Hyundai will change it in 6 months anyway not six months two weeks um talking about fuel economy uh we got a bunch of questions about fuel economy how levenson asked when cars are evaluated for fuel economy does CR use any Eco modes that the car might have I've tried on my Prius recently and I've gotten about 2 miles per gallon more than an average tank I think now being the resident engineer here I I'll answer the question we'll talk a little bit more about it we test cars in their normal mode whatever it's shipped from from the dealer when you restart the car what does it revert back to keep in mind we want to test the fuel economy of the car not of the driver what Nico mode does is it changes the way you drive basically it's going to make you drive slower it's going to make you accelerate slower because it's backing off on throttle mapping it's going into higher gears it might save a touch fuel economy sometimes they play with air conditioning but that's really rare Ecom modes change you they don't change the car itself what do you think of Ecom I I think they're boring I I mean I almost always turn them off the the recent BMWs that we had that had a a sport button I turn it on as soon as I turn the car on the Mini Coopers we have the store I immediately put it on yeah BMW likes to go to Eco but I'm wondering when you get when they're doing the EPA testing do the manufacturers put it in eco mode no well there's the trick that's what it does again they're following pretty similar rules to us when you start the car where does it start it defaults in then CU a Jeep a Jeep Grand Cherokee either the so or the gas you turn it on eco mode I shut it off because I hate it right shut turn on the car again eco mode I paid 45 Grand of this I want the thing to stay off when I turn it off I flip in and out depending on my drives driving to Yonkers or you know two hours you don't want to get there quickly no no no no I I I throw out the anchor and and stuff don't need to get the headquarters anytime soon um you know I I I play with the modes to see what it's like but Mo inevitably it's that the pedal feels you know you have to push through through to do any acceleration you have to push through to do any passing you know merging um you know it it may make you drive gentler it may feed in the arguments of you know if you have to drive the car better you'll get better mileage well there we go there you go we've got a bunch of arguments here uh kind of along the theme of blame the dumb American from Dave Houston automakers need to downward revise F economy numbers because in real life Americans drive like idiots and not in a fuel efficient manner and I'm not talking about hypermiling and from J good one Americans are too much addicted to Japanese car style of driving that's why they aren't getting better fuel economy with turbo engines and hybrid engines developed outside of USA dude Japanese car style of driv and not just talking about massachusett drivers right yeah yeah special type of driver they're they're a unique breed look there's plenty of articles online about from the telegraph from European green car about Europeans not meeting my specs from the manufacturer specs in real world you know so it's not just an American phenomenon um you know at the end of the day you could drive anything gentle and you could drive anything hard you can fog a smart car and not get the mileage you could drive a pickup truck really easily yeah I'm driving the Suburban right now you know and I could get 22 23 indicated you know how fast are you going 65 65 you know I'm keeping the speed limit no on the flat you know but you just judicious use of the throttle you're in V4 many do that but that's the thing that's the thing if you're not in the right lane you're impediment to most traffic you know on one lane roads you're blocking everybody up if you have any Hills you're not going to get into that so it's it's so many factors not Americans on the other hand it's kind of fun to take a Prius and always running at the at the red line yeah you're a twisted guy that's that's how most Priuses are driven in thean the green car let's rev the crap out of the engine all the time exactly oh my God mik why are you so bad um again the way we test things we take all these variables out of it uh you have to our city course you have to be at a certain speed you have to get to a certain place at a certain time it is keeping up with traffic it is not having the variables of oh I can loaf along I can piss off everyone in the long line behind me in my Prius which is not being driven by mik quinon um okay uh we have another question that kind of falls into the category of doing things right uh from from M Anthony 225 question I've read that Ford's automated manual transmission has to be driven differently than a regular automatic will you explain the technique required thanks I believe it's shifter Drive D go yeah it's pretty much put your foot down light throttle it's a little bulky a little bul a bit a little stut you know what he's getting at well no I I think I I think I do I think I do um it's been a popular meme on some car forums that again it falls into the Americans don't understand Europeans accept U dual clutch Transmissions more than Americans Europeans typically drive manual transmissions for them not to have to shift wow it's like Christmas every day it's like they've never heard of an automatic they don't but you know fuel economy and you know your tax don't large displacement engines that don't work well with automatics so yeah I mean if you're used to driving a stick and you go to this and it's a little jerky around Town hey okay fine I'm used to that you know s yeah you know I mean you could drive a stick pretty smoothly around town I it's it's one of the things that we've seen with a lot of dual clutch Transmissions you see it with VW you've seen it unfortunately with the Fiat 500 L you see it with the Ford Powers shift all the manufacturer talked about software updates and such again it's not American it's it's probably small displacement engines the type of start stop you know European a little more Highway little slower speeds around around congested cities versus American rural roads you know and some of these dual clutches are better than others yeah no doubt no doubt vw's gotten better and it's better with gas than diesel no doubt um moving on to more happy happy questions um we got two questions of people who want to buy cars for their sons which I think is a very nice thing nice thing to do I got an answering machine I did I did I did not get a car no I got I got College bills I think so here we go from M okay I have a brain twister for you Tom thank you thanks for that we'll go now see so I have $9,000 for my son I want to buy him a nice luxury sedan or SUV from either Japan or Europe plus Volvo which is part of Europe uh I well it's China they know your history with Volvo a lot of all I would love to hear what you guys think what do you think nine grand lexur sedan for their son what do you go with this is a teenage driver you think I don't know I'm assuming so nine grand luxury gosh you're really going to I have an easy answer but uh well I mean maybe an old Lexus ES is that luxurious enough or is that even going to fit in well yeah but well if you're a teenager are you craving a luxury car or a Volvo what do you think Infinity G35 2006 that's a drift did you do research no and we talked about Tom zv Tom's old G20 oh no those days are long God actually you know what you raise a good point but it's the modern successor to my Infinity G20 it's the Acura TSX that's a can you get one for n Grand yes yeah you know you're going to be around wait did you do research I always do research why do you think I have the iPad why do you think I don't allow you guys to have iPad that's true I mean you'd be because was an editorial but that's all right uh no I mean I I think accurate TSX it's a good one I mean the some of the research I've seen you know you're getting cars 20062 2008 you know you're getting six to 8year Old vehicles ,000 what are you going to do well no exactly so I'm saying that's what you're looking for at luxury you know you can get something that's not luxury you could get a CRV if you want an SUV you could get a newer Civic you can get an Ultima you can get some much more Moder hey you know what it just depends do you want a 8-year-old German European car for your son to have to be stranded with and then you have to take him everywhere or do you want something that at least you're going to the the parents are going to have to Moonlight to pay those repair and that's the thing so it's 9,000 you can get these cars maybe a little more information I I do think though you know if you like BMWs that does buy you a rather nice three series like an 053 series you're going to have to fix it but it's got all the modern safety stuff so an early XC90 you could get one of those oh no you don't no do not get that do not listen to joh do not listen to John uh from Carol cop we recently bought a 2008 Infinity M35 her son's 18th birthday which is a hell of a lot better in an answering machine I want I want them to adopt me and M35 is one of my favorite cars we' had wonder and graduation present with 95,000 miles on it although it's a wonderful car he's I would even get that for nine grand no actually they might be selling so we he says he'd like to trade it in for something more fuel efficient because 18 miles per gallon on premium gas is no fun sounds like 18 miles per gallon on premium gas is a whole lot of fud a large problem with car shopping with him is that he's 6'4 doesn't fit into a lot of cars he wants something fuel efficient reliable big enough for him and not super expensive on repairs but still fun to drive and maintain an upscale feel he wants it all currently we are considering a Volkswagen Pat Accord Lexus ES or CT any input it's appreciated the Honda Accord has always been one of our cars for tall drivers no CT no Lexus CT even if he was even if he was short there is nothing there's no reason to buy Lexus C no the Lexus CT is a sad car yeah you're right the Accord has always had a very accommodating driving position great seats get one of the higher level ones getting ex with leather interior supportive yep pad's roomy Pat's definitely y supportive seats that's fine it's not buying it for Driving Experience that's great no I think I think he had the word reliable though I mean I was to say repair bills it's been okay it's okay like we talked about in an earlier episode it's not well but the Honda you know you get up into one of the exls you start getting into that infotainment system which is going to be mading no no get a used one I I think we're talking three or four years old there we go yeah yeah that that that's going to definitely be your pick that's going to wrap it up for this episode of talking cars a little bit of news for you we're trying to take this thing weekly we're gonna see how that goes we're g to see if our film crew of Tracy and Dave if it drives them to utter insanity or more Insanity yeah actually even further Beyond deeper into Insanity than they already are so as always we thank you for listening keep the questions coming thanks and we'll see you next timetwo new sedans from Hyundai your questions about fuel economy and buying sedans for Suns next on talking cars hi and welcome to talking cars with Consumer Reports I'm Tom mler I'm John linov I'm Mike Quincy hey Mike welcome to the talking cars podcast Thunderdome it's great to be here glad to have you with us we're going to start out this episode with a question from Tacho 772 I thought Consumer Reports was supposed to be fair and balanced see we're getting things off to an easy start but maybe I'm wrong they don't ever mention Hyundai anymore or at least try to avoid it just like how they don't mention about 2015 Sonata yet mention both Camry and Legacy it's like Hyundai's become this elephant in the room that Consumer Reports tries to ignore John the gig's up the gig's up yeah we got to talk about Hyundai who but but Hyundai is one of those car companies that I love to talk about because they've always got something interesting going and every year when you look back in time they keep getting better and better certainly in our tests well they do I mean and we bought two new Hyundai behind us is the 2015 Hyundai Genesis uh we also bought a new 2015 Hyundai Sonata it's we got one of the very first ones to come out from the dealer we'd have it parked behind us but it's back at the dealer the car is already been brought back because of a w a problem for the steering and a problem for the brakes yeah they're having a coup couple early build problems but first let's talk about the Genesis what do you think of the Genesis Mike I I have always loved the Genesis I think the Genesis is one of those cars that is so even back with Peter Gabriel the Genesis someone had to do that the lies down on Broadway I'm sorry okay um the Genesis to me is always represented um a car that for the for the for the the person who who who doesn't have a lot of money but wants to step up their sort of luxury car experience uh so much value going in the interior is beautiful they've always been nice to drive they're comfortable they're quiet and this this latest one is even better I'm I'm really impressed by it's not cheap anymore I mean the car the car we have is almost 53,000 buckss that's a that's a very fair point they aren't the steel that they used to be but uh it is still very elegant and when you drive a Genesis if you have someone as a passenger they'll invariably say this is a Hyundai yeah what do you think yeah so they're gone the Lexus route the first ls's that came out really affordable in the 30 something, range to think back and now you know5 Grand 1990 right right and now you're talking $100,000 cars so when this was in you know the the 30s to 40s you know it was a steal now at 50,000 um it seems to be their Niche is going to be that they're going to be a not German they're going to be Buick you know very comfortable very quiet it's not the same uh four-door performance car that the last one really felt like um this one I still felt the rear suspension is a little unsettled at times to me I thought this was actually one of the better riding Hyundai in recent memory maybe it's not 100% sorted out okay but I I do think it rides better you know even though 53 Grand look you you're trying to compete with an A6 you're trying to compete with a Lexus GS our car has all the electronic giv all the features it's probably 10,000 bucks less than those cars certainly and it has usable features that that knob climate I mean uh infotainment system is far easier to master just jumping in it than any other system out there so definitely it's just I find it a little softer than the competitors and that's where they want to be exting yeah it's not as exciting that's where you want it to be it's I think there is a market for that you know I don't think everyone needs a sports you you buy a Genesis even a base Genesis you're going to have tons and tons of stuff in there that most of the German manufacturers will make you pay more for yeah now I mean it's easy to question the genesis's value but the Sonata I mean we have a Sonata SE you know the base four cylinder just with some comfort and convenient package it's $23,000 300 bucks it's a really wellone car for that money M what do you think uh great great fuel economy uh I mean were you getting good mileage out of it well um I don't know what exactly we're we're coming in so far that we've got on the on the tri computer 700 mil because it's at the dealer right now um but but one of the things that that Jake fiser has said often in the past about Hyundai in particular is you're getting great fuel economy you know there's there's there's no there's no turbo there's no hybrid there's no diesel it's just a really good efficient four-cylinder engine see I'm not sure that applies anymore because you know it used to be the Sonata did get great fuel economy but now you had the Ultima Leap Frog it you had the Accord out of CVT they've stuck with six-speed automatics because Hyundai figures drivers don't like cvts and Y maybe they have a point cbts we've seen I I haven't been as as much of a detractor in cbts simply because we've spent so many years with small engines and four-speed automatics that would rev up so you know cbts they're Tad annoying at times but well done ones they could be fine a cord for example you know we all think is is good uh even you know anything that has a step to it is going to be much more palatable than something that just revs up high uh this this is a blandish car it's it's a little practical it's totally practical and but it's pulled back from that very aggressive styling yeah the previous generation car put Hyundai on the map they sold a ton of those things because it looked so damn good right they' they've backed off on The Styling just when everyone else is going to it 200 and then you know you saw the fusion and such like that so there's more of an ooid styling going but to be fair you can see out of the Sonata a lot better you can get in and out of it better the controls are almost as easier as the car also feels more solid I mean the last sonata a lot of road noise felt a little 10 teny when you when you close the doors exactly this car feels a whole lot more solid uh so we'll see how it does yeah like to get more miles than it when it comes back and hopefully it comes back for good you know they iron out those early launch it's problem with early we have to do is criticize something and Hyundai will change it in 6 months anyway not six months two weeks um talking about fuel economy uh we got a bunch of questions about fuel economy how levenson asked when cars are evaluated for fuel economy does CR use any Eco modes that the car might have I've tried on my Prius recently and I've gotten about 2 miles per gallon more than an average tank I think now being the resident engineer here I I'll answer the question we'll talk a little bit more about it we test cars in their normal mode whatever it's shipped from from the dealer when you restart the car what does it revert back to keep in mind we want to test the fuel economy of the car not of the driver what Nico mode does is it changes the way you drive basically it's going to make you drive slower it's going to make you accelerate slower because it's backing off on throttle mapping it's going into higher gears it might save a touch fuel economy sometimes they play with air conditioning but that's really rare Ecom modes change you they don't change the car itself what do you think of Ecom I I think they're boring I I mean I almost always turn them off the the recent BMWs that we had that had a a sport button I turn it on as soon as I turn the car on the Mini Coopers we have the store I immediately put it on yeah BMW likes to go to Eco but I'm wondering when you get when they're doing the EPA testing do the manufacturers put it in eco mode no well there's the trick that's what it does again they're following pretty similar rules to us when you start the car where does it start it defaults in then CU a Jeep a Jeep Grand Cherokee either the so or the gas you turn it on eco mode I shut it off because I hate it right shut turn on the car again eco mode I paid 45 Grand of this I want the thing to stay off when I turn it off I flip in and out depending on my drives driving to Yonkers or you know two hours you don't want to get there quickly no no no no I I I throw out the anchor and and stuff don't need to get the headquarters anytime soon um you know I I I play with the modes to see what it's like but Mo inevitably it's that the pedal feels you know you have to push through through to do any acceleration you have to push through to do any passing you know merging um you know it it may make you drive gentler it may feed in the arguments of you know if you have to drive the car better you'll get better mileage well there we go there you go we've got a bunch of arguments here uh kind of along the theme of blame the dumb American from Dave Houston automakers need to downward revise F economy numbers because in real life Americans drive like idiots and not in a fuel efficient manner and I'm not talking about hypermiling and from J good one Americans are too much addicted to Japanese car style of driving that's why they aren't getting better fuel economy with turbo engines and hybrid engines developed outside of USA dude Japanese car style of driv and not just talking about massachusett drivers right yeah yeah special type of driver they're they're a unique breed look there's plenty of articles online about from the telegraph from European green car about Europeans not meeting my specs from the manufacturer specs in real world you know so it's not just an American phenomenon um you know at the end of the day you could drive anything gentle and you could drive anything hard you can fog a smart car and not get the mileage you could drive a pickup truck really easily yeah I'm driving the Suburban right now you know and I could get 22 23 indicated you know how fast are you going 65 65 you know I'm keeping the speed limit no on the flat you know but you just judicious use of the throttle you're in V4 many do that but that's the thing that's the thing if you're not in the right lane you're impediment to most traffic you know on one lane roads you're blocking everybody up if you have any Hills you're not going to get into that so it's it's so many factors not Americans on the other hand it's kind of fun to take a Prius and always running at the at the red line yeah you're a twisted guy that's that's how most Priuses are driven in thean the green car let's rev the crap out of the engine all the time exactly oh my God mik why are you so bad um again the way we test things we take all these variables out of it uh you have to our city course you have to be at a certain speed you have to get to a certain place at a certain time it is keeping up with traffic it is not having the variables of oh I can loaf along I can piss off everyone in the long line behind me in my Prius which is not being driven by mik quinon um okay uh we have another question that kind of falls into the category of doing things right uh from from M Anthony 225 question I've read that Ford's automated manual transmission has to be driven differently than a regular automatic will you explain the technique required thanks I believe it's shifter Drive D go yeah it's pretty much put your foot down light throttle it's a little bulky a little bul a bit a little stut you know what he's getting at well no I I think I I think I do I think I do um it's been a popular meme on some car forums that again it falls into the Americans don't understand Europeans accept U dual clutch Transmissions more than Americans Europeans typically drive manual transmissions for them not to have to shift wow it's like Christmas every day it's like they've never heard of an automatic they don't but you know fuel economy and you know your tax don't large displacement engines that don't work well with automatics so yeah I mean if you're used to driving a stick and you go to this and it's a little jerky around Town hey okay fine I'm used to that you know s yeah you know I mean you could drive a stick pretty smoothly around town I it's it's one of the things that we've seen with a lot of dual clutch Transmissions you see it with VW you've seen it unfortunately with the Fiat 500 L you see it with the Ford Powers shift all the manufacturer talked about software updates and such again it's not American it's it's probably small displacement engines the type of start stop you know European a little more Highway little slower speeds around around congested cities versus American rural roads you know and some of these dual clutches are better than others yeah no doubt no doubt vw's gotten better and it's better with gas than diesel no doubt um moving on to more happy happy questions um we got two questions of people who want to buy cars for their sons which I think is a very nice thing nice thing to do I got an answering machine I did I did I did not get a car no I got I got College bills I think so here we go from M okay I have a brain twister for you Tom thank you thanks for that we'll go now see so I have $9,000 for my son I want to buy him a nice luxury sedan or SUV from either Japan or Europe plus Volvo which is part of Europe uh I well it's China they know your history with Volvo a lot of all I would love to hear what you guys think what do you think nine grand lexur sedan for their son what do you go with this is a teenage driver you think I don't know I'm assuming so nine grand luxury gosh you're really going to I have an easy answer but uh well I mean maybe an old Lexus ES is that luxurious enough or is that even going to fit in well yeah but well if you're a teenager are you craving a luxury car or a Volvo what do you think Infinity G35 2006 that's a drift did you do research no and we talked about Tom zv Tom's old G20 oh no those days are long God actually you know what you raise a good point but it's the modern successor to my Infinity G20 it's the Acura TSX that's a can you get one for n Grand yes yeah you know you're going to be around wait did you do research I always do research why do you think I have the iPad why do you think I don't allow you guys to have iPad that's true I mean you'd be because was an editorial but that's all right uh no I mean I I think accurate TSX it's a good one I mean the some of the research I've seen you know you're getting cars 20062 2008 you know you're getting six to 8year Old vehicles ,000 what are you going to do well no exactly so I'm saying that's what you're looking for at luxury you know you can get something that's not luxury you could get a CRV if you want an SUV you could get a newer Civic you can get an Ultima you can get some much more Moder hey you know what it just depends do you want a 8-year-old German European car for your son to have to be stranded with and then you have to take him everywhere or do you want something that at least you're going to the the parents are going to have to Moonlight to pay those repair and that's the thing so it's 9,000 you can get these cars maybe a little more information I I do think though you know if you like BMWs that does buy you a rather nice three series like an 053 series you're going to have to fix it but it's got all the modern safety stuff so an early XC90 you could get one of those oh no you don't no do not get that do not listen to joh do not listen to John uh from Carol cop we recently bought a 2008 Infinity M35 her son's 18th birthday which is a hell of a lot better in an answering machine I want I want them to adopt me and M35 is one of my favorite cars we' had wonder and graduation present with 95,000 miles on it although it's a wonderful car he's I would even get that for nine grand no actually they might be selling so we he says he'd like to trade it in for something more fuel efficient because 18 miles per gallon on premium gas is no fun sounds like 18 miles per gallon on premium gas is a whole lot of fud a large problem with car shopping with him is that he's 6'4 doesn't fit into a lot of cars he wants something fuel efficient reliable big enough for him and not super expensive on repairs but still fun to drive and maintain an upscale feel he wants it all currently we are considering a Volkswagen Pat Accord Lexus ES or CT any input it's appreciated the Honda Accord has always been one of our cars for tall drivers no CT no Lexus CT even if he was even if he was short there is nothing there's no reason to buy Lexus C no the Lexus CT is a sad car yeah you're right the Accord has always had a very accommodating driving position great seats get one of the higher level ones getting ex with leather interior supportive yep pad's roomy Pat's definitely y supportive seats that's fine it's not buying it for Driving Experience that's great no I think I think he had the word reliable though I mean I was to say repair bills it's been okay it's okay like we talked about in an earlier episode it's not well but the Honda you know you get up into one of the exls you start getting into that infotainment system which is going to be mading no no get a used one I I think we're talking three or four years old there we go yeah yeah that that that's going to definitely be your pick that's going to wrap it up for this episode of talking cars a little bit of news for you we're trying to take this thing weekly we're gonna see how that goes we're g to see if our film crew of Tracy and Dave if it drives them to utter insanity or more Insanity yeah actually even further Beyond deeper into Insanity than they already are so as always we thank you for listening keep the questions coming thanks and we'll see you next time\n"