Rising Vehicle Repair Costs; Hybrid vs. Regular Car Debate; Car Buying Advice _ Talking Cars #244

The search for the perfect vehicle for aging parents is a common challenge many face today. In this episode, we discussed various options that cater to their specific needs, particularly when it comes to getting in and out of vehicles.

For my dad, who struggles with mobility issues, I'm looking for something that's easy to get in and out of, but also comfortable behind the wheel. A good starting point would be the Kia Soul, which is available in two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive configurations. However, if snow traction is a concern, an all-wheel-drive system may be necessary. Another option could be the Subaru Forester, which offers excellent ground clearance and easy entry and exit points.

But what about my 76-year-old mom, who loves her 2006 Kia Sedona? Unfortunately, it's become a challenge for her to get in and out of the vehicle due to its height. For someone of her age, comfort and mobility are key considerations when choosing a new car. In this case, I would recommend exploring options that prioritize ease of entry and exit.

One potential solution could be the Toyota Avalon, which we've previously tested and found to be comfortable and spacious for older drivers. While it may present some challenges for taller individuals, my mom's petite frame might find it easy to get in and out of. The Avalon also offers a smooth ride, logical controls, and ample room inside.

For those who prefer a mid-sized SUV, the Kia Sorento is another option worth considering. Its ease of entry and exit points make it an attractive choice for older drivers. However, I would advise against opting for the base model, as it lacks features like forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking.

Bart's question about the 2006 Kia Sedona takes us back to our previous road test, which found the vehicle to be relatively easy to get in and out of. While it may not seem like a significant issue for some, I assume that my mom is slightly shorter than average. In this case, I believe the Avalon would be an excellent choice, offering a comfortable ride and plenty of room inside.

Finally, we discussed the importance of considering factors like visibility, controls, and ground clearance when choosing a vehicle for older drivers. The Subaru Forester remains one of our top recommendations due to its excellent safety features, easy entry points, and ample space. By understanding the unique needs and challenges faced by aging parents, we can find vehicles that prioritize comfort, mobility, and practicality.

As always, we invite you to share your own questions and concerns about cars in the comments section. For more information on the topics discussed today, be sure to check out our show notes. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next week!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey talking cars fans we really love making talking cars each week but we want to make sure you enjoy it as much as we do that's why we've created a survey to find out what you like best about the show what you want more of and what we can improve I go to CR org slash talking cars survey and let us know how we can make the podcast better we really want to be your favorite automotive podcast and your responses can help make that happen thank you for your help and enjoy the show on this episode we talk about why fender benders are getting more expensive to repair we debate whether or not a Miata is a good daily driver and we give tips on buying a used car sight unseen next on talking cars hi and welcome back I'm Mike Quincy I'm Mike Monticello and I'm Ryan physical coach so we're always asking for your questions video questions text questions at talking cars at icloud.com we've got a massive backlog to get through so we're gonna hop right into it we got a whole bunch of video questions so let's start out this is justin from switzerland I talk in cars so I've never purchased a car in my life so I'm really looking for some tips advice I am looking for something all-wheel drive something that's very reliable and I'd like to have something kind of stylish if possible my budget I like to stay under 40 K possible and I don't want to buy anything brand-new but would like to stay between a model years of 2017 and 2019 when I was driving I used to drive a Oh two Ford Explorer so I was used to sitting up high I love that but I don't necessarily need to do that so looking forward to hearing back enjoy that view here in Switzerland and across the lake in France so never bought a car before looking for all-wheel drive nice scenery out there in Switzerland good good gig if you can get it I'm so Ryan what what advice do you have for Justin well he you know he said super or very reliable he wants I find of focused on that so naturally I started looking toward the Toyota or Lexus and this kind of took me by surprise I kind of forgot about this car the Lexus NX yeah it was a small SUV he also said stylish mm-hmm and that's kind of a stylish car other than that I would say maybe an Audi q5 you know 40 40 thousands a lot a used car which is great amount of money he can spend on yeah those are two to look at I mean I don't know if he's looking for an SUV I mean he had that seemed like he was because he mentioned Explorer you know probably likes that sort of commanding view that the SUVs give so right I can't I kind of focus on an S SUVs as well right and so my pick for four for Justin was a 2019 Mazda cx-5 2019 because that's when they had the optional turbo four-cylinder engine with 227 horsepower cx-5 is a great SUV without that engine but when you have that turbo four-cylinder in there it just really transforms it now suddenly it's got a whole bunch of fun Turbo Power cx-5 has a great terior and so you have to opt for the grand touring or the signature trim but both of those come in brand-new at under 40,000 so you gotta use 2019 you're gonna you know be well under I think well I know 1718 but yeah why wouldn't you go do a $40,000 budget yeah you know you get a really nice news card like a point and very reliable and I stuck with with it with the program I went with the 2016 or a newer Lexus RX you mentioned Lexus before Toyota really reliable you know kind of stylish very comfortable all-wheel drive you know really a pretty nice car and and pretty popular yeah but but thinking about when he said you know really haven't bought a car before do we have some kind of general buying it oh yeah I mean it's he's I'm not sure if he's gonna buy it when he gets here I hope so because buying a used car sight unseen is pretty risky radical okay I mean you wanna you want to take check this thing out driving a good look at it and if you've never driven it that type of car you don't know if you even like it I mean you might like even the two cars I said they drive quite differently um but that you know your preference when you're spending that kind of money means something right so what what can you tell Justin about just buying you know it's as well cars bought yeah so I mean the nice thing is these days you can do you know all of your shopping online and you can do the bulk of even the buying you know and negotiating price negotiating process you know via email text phone call so you don't have to go to the dealer if you don't want to you know early on in the game but what I would say though is once you've kind of gotten to where you've agreed on a price at least a tentative price for this vehicle whether it's new or used have the salesperson email you the purchase order because there might be some fees in there that especially for Justin who hasn't ever bought a car before there might be some fees in there some dealer fees that maybe he wasn't counting on that is gonna you know now be tacked on to the to the overall total vehicle price total sale price of this vehicle so have them send you that purchase order so you can look at all the little you know potential dealer fees all right and some of those things that they might sneak in certainly being a used car would be you know extended warranty exactly $500 service warranty you know a way to get you to bring your car there to have all the oil changes done so and we've typically suggest don't buy and don't don't buy those either the service warranty because if sometimes you added up the service warranty cost more if you you know rather than if you just went yourself did it on your own and the extended warranties we usually don't recommend buying those because they rarely work out in the favor cost-wise buyer and it does buy a super reliable car you have to be what be careful on the purchase orders because sometimes it's pre-printed right you know if a salesperson you know hand writes it in is one thing but it puts pre-printed in if you haven't bought a car before you might think oh oh that I have to buy this yeah and my only a general buying advice Justin is don't fall in love in other words no that's like you see one car like oh I have to have it and the salesperson knows that you're head over heels for this car they're gonna get like big I don't be afraid they just walk away right absolutely absolutely great question and also love your vacation or maybe it's your work spot but anyway switch them is lovely this time of year moving on to the next this is doctor Dave in Cleveland hi talking cars I love the show I had a question about TPMS we live here in the suburbs of Cleveland and have decent winners and we switch out to winter cars on five different cars and one annoying thing is having to reset and pay for the reset for the TPMS I've gone to all-weather tires to try to avoid this on a few of the cars and also my Audi I have an a5 convertible doesn't need it because it uses the rotation of the hub instead of sensors in the wheels so my question is our manufacturers moving towards more sensors in wheels and Center modules are they moving more towards like Audi has always done using the hub rotation to detect differences in spin as though other a tires gone low rather than the absolute pressure thanks alright so tire pressure monitor censoring systems at gPMs yeah that's really what he's talking about swapping over from from you know summer tires are all season to winter tires must be a pain yeah I can appreciate this though he seems like soozee asti's got all weathers on some cars he swapping from winters hardcore dogs guys this is good but to answer his question first though we don't we haven't seen a real trend of manufacturers going to the indirect system which is measuring off the wheel speed or the hub speed as he says we haven't seen a real trend there there's some manufacturers do that like Audi's been doing that for a long time a few have started to do that but there's still a lot that uses actual sensor in the wheel like GM per se so we actually like the direct system which has the sensors in the wheels because it'll it'll display the actual pressure and some vehicles will actually just play the dis pressure where you've got you can look on your - Ryan it'll show the individual tire pressure for each yeah correct yes so something many do some don't even if they're they have that direct system with the sensor in the wheel but we also especially myself coming from the land of actually changing tires we like the indirect system because you have to worry about these sensors being in the wheels breaking them they can be expensive over time the batteries can die in these I mean takes a long time but it comes in maintenance issue and then like he said switched switching from winter tires back and forth it gets expensive if you're gonna actually have this keepa sensors in there but there's no really real work around it stuff yeah and we really we haven't seen a trend I don't know if it will you know going to the future vehicles are gonna get they're getting more and more complicated and they're talking about you know it's but the potential for smart tires and cars that are going to drive themselves so there's the sensor in the wheel now can maybe get other could be the opportunity for other data and information to come through that sensor where the indirect systems a little more primitive in the sense that it's just going off a wheel speed you know so it's it's which way is it gonna go we don't know but the idea of having a monitor on your instrument panel to say you know your what are your tires is getting low it's it's such a good thing right it's helpful to well and it's just it's helpful to to understand you know different times the heat of the year your tire pressures do change he's helpful to know if it's if one is way down or if it's only just a couple psi down off of the other right so in the indirect I'm sorry system has gotten better in the sense that now when you when you inflate your tires so the proper pressure and you have an indirect system where it's going off the wheel speed it you actually calibrate the vehicle to that pressure so it knows this actual speed so what could happen so over time you all your tires can lose air at once right but it never sees just one so it maybe it never thinks that you have a low tire some of the old systems were like that it would take you know it'd take a lot we'd take more air loss for that to happen for you to recognize there for the car to recognize it but now you know you can go down a couple psi and lawn and it will recognize it because it knew its original wheel speed so ultimately we don't know which way it will go it may not it might not go away it might just be you know some people use and indirect someone use a direct system but unfortunately for dr. Dave he's gonna have to deal with it yeah any good thing we have Ryan here to answer tire questions excellent questions the trials and tribulations of owning a lot of cars next up is Paul from Walla Walla Washington hi talking cars had a question about a 2019 Mazda Miata I was thinking about replacing my Subaru Crosstrek or adding Miata in addition to my cross track and wonder what you thought of if the Miata is a reasonable car as a daily driver or over it really is more of a second car appreciate what you think Thanks so can't get through talking cars without talking about a Miata yes we love it so much so Miata is a daily driver what do you think well so we looked up where Walla Walla Washington was and they do get some snow there so the first thing is you've got to take that into mind you know even with winter tires Ryan correct me if I'm wrong your than your the tire expert here but the Miata is still not gonna be a great snow car you know it doesn't have great ground clearance for getting through any kind of deep snow so from that perspective loam but then just as a daily driver this is a car that has a very tight cabin you know there's not a lot of space to store anything once you're inside the car if you ever bring like a big guy like you as a passenger or if he's a larger guy you're gonna feel cramped in there a lot plus it's you know has a fair amount of tire noise a fair amount of wind and engine noises and this is you this is a kind of car that can wear on you over too busy that said if you have a really fun drive to work then maybe it could be worth it right but it sounds like maybe the best situation is keep the Subaru Crosstrek you know as your daily driver and then use the Miata on the weekends or the occasional you know what I really want to have a fun drive into work today so I'm gonna do it you know that way you don't you know get bored of the car get not bored but get tired of having to deal with this you know kind of small little car that you're driving super fun right that said I'd also say you know if you're looking at a 2019 Miata you also might look at the toilet 86 or Subaru BRZ both all three of those cars are very reliable and relatively inexpensive and super super fun to drive I personally think the 86 and BRZ are more fun to drive than the Miata and roomier that budget AMPA to top so you can't put the top down but you've got you know the Miata has the better shifter but otherwise you've got better steering better handling it's really pinpoint in the 86 and the BRZ so that my choice would be actually you know take a look at those as well a nice problem to have anyway next up is Steve from Michigan hi I really like the new 2020 202 Corolla hybrid comparing it to a standard model le you're looking at a $3,000 price premium given the miles per gallon advantage I feel you can make that up fairly quickly but what about long term maintenance costs could the pipe remodel potentially have more expensive repair drills later down the road Thanks so looking at the Corolla versus the Corolla hybrid you're absolutely right is about a $3,000 price premium to go with the hybrid model both did very well in Consumer Reports testing both returned phenomenal fuel economy but when you think about the national average for a price of gallon of gasoline it would take between like eight and nine years to kind of make up a price difference with the regular Corolla versus the Corolla hybrid and a factoring about 12,000 miles driving a year I mean it's I would say this isn't necessarily about saving money as much as it about gasps other words I want to be a green car person and I just I want to burn less fuel you burn less fuel with with a hybrid model compared to a non hybrid model so I I mean that's kind of the way I'm looking at this yeah the the you know hybrid versus non hybrid price you know difference and and you know when you make that amount up in terms of years it's been a problem for a while I mean it's you know until you can buy a hybrid for for almost the same price as as the the non-hybrid it's it's difficult especially with the regular model doing very well that's right the regular Corolla it's a Consumer Reports top pick and as far as reliability goes it's it's actually one of the great success stories for our own automotive reliability data is the Toyota Prius which has the battery packs and the electric motors has an enviable reliability record going back almost 20 years incredible I mean we have so much data on it's not an uncomplicated car right so in terms of the second part of Steve's question about reliability that that would be the least of my concerns over buying a Toyota hybrid and thinking that's gonna cost more money down the road because we don't we don't the data the other thing that we've been seeing is that in some models such as the Toyota rav4 we've actually found and also the Ford Escape Hybrid we found that that the hybridization of those cars actually the hybrid version you know the the you know having some electric assist actually made it a better a better driving vehicle improved drivability so it's so you might in those two cases route the Toyota rav4 hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid you we'd actually suggest buying them even though it cost a little bit more money because you're getting a nicer driving car than the regular price and you're saving gas that's an excellent point so our next question is from Nelson from Cary North Carolina normally Consumer Reports recommends not to buy a new car the first year it's produced with this logic apply to the Honda CRV Hybrid expected in the US this year it's already available overseas and will be based on the existing Honda Accord Hybrid however it will be built for the first time at a plant in Indiana with these circumstances require weeding a year or no so Mike what do you have for Nelson well son Elsa it absolutely absolutely is based on the existing accord hybrid powertrains so that's that's a good thing but we we don't normally take into account when when we're doing our you know new car predicted reliability where the car is built that's not something we factor into we're more concerned about the brand as overall and the specific model you know it's history of reliability so in this case what what Nelson can do is just simply look at their reliability of the Accord and the Accord Hybrid and the existing CRV and then you can kind of you know look at determine from those two cars okay well because there's not a whole lot actually brand new on the CRV hybrid it's probably going to have very similar reliability and in this case it means about average reliability is just you know that's not what we've gone out and said yet for our new carpeting reliability for it but it's a good bet since the Accord has been both the Accord and the CRV the CRV was redesigned in 2017 the Accord was redesigned in 2018 both those cars since their redesigns have been hovering right around average reliability a little up and down cattle over Hanabi yeah historically so it's oh it's good but not great right that's probably about where the CRV Harbor is gonna be as well so you know waiting a year in this case might actually be a good idea you know just to see if there are some a few new car bugs transitioning that drivetrain into the CRV but it probably it's gonna remain about average reliability anyway because that's what we're seeing with these other two models I mean some manufacturers are worth the risk more than others right but yeah okay well we'll have to see how that one pans out next up is Angelo from New Jersey my wife recently bumped her 2018 Ford Explorer XLT into a tree stump and did some damage to the bumper it didn't look like much but the repairs cost for $4,900 given the complexity of modern cars the engineers factor in the cost of repair when designing new vehicles you'd think that insurance companies would be outraged at these costs for seemingly minor incidences it's a great question and it brings up what we've been seeing in terms of of automotive technology I mean sometimes you have you have one step up and you have one step back so these safety features certainly are doing their jobs I mean Consumer Reports is is saying you know the advanced driver assist systems or as they are saying a - you know 8s is innate a that's what it stands for there they're making cars safer but what what is without a doubt is because of these repairs because they're so complex you're not just repairing a bumper you have to replace a sensor you have to get your almost the windshield glass Calot recalibrating for goodness sakes so you're absolutely right it is not as simple and as inexpensive as it used to be but the bottom line is is that these if you're seeing fewer accidents because of this technology will save and repairs refuge exactly priority on a vehicle nowadays it's probably safety right right you know yeah the main thing that makes sense the first thing is to not get in the crash yeah the second thing is you'd like it's not be right that expensive it to repair if you do get in a crash but but you're gonna solve all that by simply not getting in the crime check out the story repair the the hidden costs of safety features on consumerreports.org next up is David from Boston my family which includes three teenagers is looking to upgrade from our Honda Pilot to a three row hybrid or electric luxury SUV and we've shortlisted the 2020 Volvo xc90 plug-in hybrid and the Tesla Model X what would you recommend so Ryan I'll take a pic man so if I'm going to pick between the two of these I'm gonna pick the Volvo I mean the Tesla's yeah you got to charge this thing yeah if you're gonna go on long trips you got to factor at all those things and III think you're just better off with the Volvo for that type of a vehicle if you were gonna buy a little car to commute back and forth to work the electric might make sense if you had a you know a set range every day but this is a much more of exploring vehicle you're gonna take your family to go places all right yeah David doesn't specify you know sorry yeah I would honestly even I would look at some other stuff like Alexis are hybrid right personally right yeah so I mean it's it's interesting because the two vehicles chosen here are both have much worse than average predictive reliability so you're gonna have to factor that in from the get-go but I'm sorry I'm with Ryan I mean the Model X I mean it has the fancy you know showy going doors for the rear rear side doors which you know it gets a lot of wow factor when you you know go to a restaurant restaurant or whatever and said I mean but it is kind of a pain and there's like I said there's been some reliability issues with that thing a lot of realize with the Model X you know I'm with you on the charging that if you're gonna be taking a family on a long trip you probably don't want to have to be charging even even though you know the Model X can go and depending on the model can go over 300 miles which is a pretty long range but you might not want to deal with it but both cars have some issues they both have a little bit of stiff --is-- ride the Volvo has some controls that a lot of people here aren't big fans of that said it has a very beautiful interior has a pretty nice drivetrain but again with the Volvo it's a plug-in hybrid but it only has about 14 miles of electric only you know range so again you're not getting a lot out of that but you never have to worry about being on a trip and then and then having to go charge up somewhere and wait around for 30 to 45 so when you when you started giving your pick you immediately went to the lack of reliability yeah in in the in the Volvo and then the Tesla that's exactly what I wrote in my notes I started laughing so I thought well since since reliability doesn't seem to be much of a factor here I'm saying go with the Chrysler Pacific hybrid because you could have you got the plug-in you've got the hybrid you've got thing the green kind of bent to this whole thing but then talk about three teenagers and I had two full-size boy that's a true okay pick right there though that's that's what I that's what I was going with me it's the most fuel-efficient minivan currently on the market you get a certain amount of electrical only miles again but right it does Drive really boy I wish I will say those like you no these they're all for 30 third row their small third rows okay major I mean that's tight the Uyuni van I mean I don't know if it fits into his luxury see the Pacifica I can sit back really reasonable yeah yeah you could put teenagers back there if you needed to but stigma Ryan was the only one that went the reliability around so you gotta you gotta give him credit even even the RX a third row in the Rx is tight right yeah I just I think you'll have a you'll have less issues with it I say move beyond these the minivan stigma and and just enjoy the practicality of it and we're gonna go yeah but he picked Quinn's picked at first I just piled on we get made fun of anyways really matter great question so next up is Chris from California I can't seem to find good guidelines on what tires are best for the San Francisco Bay Area with temperatures in the 30s and 40s on winter mornings and up to the 90s in the summer did the cold mornings rule out summer tires with all seasons or all-weather tires do the trick here well Chris just so happens that Ryan knows something about tires yeah so tires in San Francisco alright great question easy answer regular all season tires are gonna be the best bet here it rarely snows there if and even even more rarely does it stick to the ground so a winter tire out of the question a summer tire out of the question also because those cold temperatures obviously you don't really want to be on a summer tire under 50 degrees 40 degrees is starting to push it but a summer tire is more performance-oriented they don't last as long they're more expensive blah blah blah you don't want to go that route and all weather tire is a glorified all season tire in the sense that it has better snow traction but that's not an issue here temperature-wise that one all season tire I mean I've done actual testing in you know sub-zero temperatures and on clear roads they still perform better than even a winter tire in terms of grip but you know the winter tire is really for on snow performance though here easy all season tire check our ratings and it's sort of a funky dilemma because in San Francisco they could be bright sunny and then the fog comes in to the temperature drops it's it's an odd city from that perspective but actually that's a kind of one of the reasons why I always enjoy going there to visit was because you didn't know what the weather was gonna be and it wasn't typically as hot as much of the rest of especially Southern California always enjoyed but even the off season tires if it did snow he's fine like you - no traction you'll get it you'll get by but it's just not worth having those or summer tires of souther yeah it's more of a more of an issue if they were gonna be driving in icy conditions or deeper snow conditions right great excellent next up actually this is the last one we got we've got two questions that are pretty similar the first is uh mr writes I want to surprise my retired parents with a car and looking for some recommendations it's hard for my dad to get in and out of anything too low but also something good for my five-foot-tall mother to be comfortable behind the wheel and Bart adds my 76 year old mom loves her 2006 kia sedona but it's so tall that it's getting tough for her to get in and out of these days any recommendations on something lower to the ground Thanks and the two mics are awesome we love you Bart it's the best the best question we've had all the whole episode anyhow so recommendations for kind of older you know aging parents we get in and out of all these vehicles so we have a pretty good idea the Kia Soul that's only two wheel drive some wheel drive you know if you want an all-wheel drive that rules that out but you could put snow tires on it if you're in a place where you're worried about snow snow traction or the the obvious one is the Subaru Forester right it's all-wheel drive it's easy to get into it's a good car alright so since since thunder yes because Bart likes the mics you're gonna have to help us out here well so we're still dealing with a Marv though right this is so I'm are I'm Bart well okay so with for a Marv I would say you know I think your choices are excellent but if you were thinking more along a luxury vehicle you know you might look at the BMW x3 which is you know again very easy to get in and out of and just it's going to drive a little nicer and if you you know thinking something a little larger maybe like a mid-sized SUV then maybe you know go with Jen stock burgers always go to choice the the Kia Sorento again very easy to get in and out of and lots of room so now if you want to move on to Bart that that's an interesting question because if you look at our road tests of the 2006 kia sedona we actually say that it's pretty easy to get in and out of so because we don't know how tall she is I'm going to assume that maybe she's a little shorter what I would say is actually go with something like the Toyota Avalon which we would say we have said in the road test it's a little hard to get in and out of because it's low yeah but if she's a shorter person it's actually not gonna seem that that much lower you know it would be different for say even for different weaning you and me getting into a car right you're a much taller guy it's gonna be harder for you to get into a low car if she's a little on the smaller side it's not gonna be that big of a deal and the Avalon is a great oh it's a it's a great car for an older person as such a smooth ride roomy interior logical controls there's just a lot to like about that car and I think she'd be pretty happy with that thing and I just went we have one in the you know out in our test fleet right now our rented one actually and I just got in and out of it and it's it's not it's not that bad to get out and I thought okay if someone was even smaller than me it really wouldn't be hard to believe I usually leave those jokes for the mics are still awesome you know if we talked about this question and it was it's always like the the car for kind of elderly parents parents that are losing some of their mobility we always go to the Subaru Forester and I just kind of assume that both you guys were gonna be going off about the Forester because because it's always among the the best car for older drivers I just explained the reason why in case people don't know is because when you open the door and go to sit down it's what we would call chair height right now this seats right or right there so you don't have to you're not getting up you're not going down in the sills narrow right and the visibility is good all around the controls are really easy that the reason that I went with the Kia Soul is certainly for Bart is that Bart's mom has a Kia Sedona so I thought maybe she has a relationship with the Kia dealer yeah she's familiar with keys she likes Kia's and a nice list that the soul also met wit wit amar was looking forward to about similar fuel economy to the to the Forester less expensive and but but avoid the base model the soul because the you need to go to the S trim to get a forward collision warning automatic emergency braking good to well that about do it for this episode as always keep those questions coming talking cars at icloud.com and as always check the show notes for more information on the vehicles the topics that we discussed thanks so much for tuning in we'll see you next weekhey talking cars fans we really love making talking cars each week but we want to make sure you enjoy it as much as we do that's why we've created a survey to find out what you like best about the show what you want more of and what we can improve I go to CR org slash talking cars survey and let us know how we can make the podcast better we really want to be your favorite automotive podcast and your responses can help make that happen thank you for your help and enjoy the show on this episode we talk about why fender benders are getting more expensive to repair we debate whether or not a Miata is a good daily driver and we give tips on buying a used car sight unseen next on talking cars hi and welcome back I'm Mike Quincy I'm Mike Monticello and I'm Ryan physical coach so we're always asking for your questions video questions text questions at talking cars at icloud.com we've got a massive backlog to get through so we're gonna hop right into it we got a whole bunch of video questions so let's start out this is justin from switzerland I talk in cars so I've never purchased a car in my life so I'm really looking for some tips advice I am looking for something all-wheel drive something that's very reliable and I'd like to have something kind of stylish if possible my budget I like to stay under 40 K possible and I don't want to buy anything brand-new but would like to stay between a model years of 2017 and 2019 when I was driving I used to drive a Oh two Ford Explorer so I was used to sitting up high I love that but I don't necessarily need to do that so looking forward to hearing back enjoy that view here in Switzerland and across the lake in France so never bought a car before looking for all-wheel drive nice scenery out there in Switzerland good good gig if you can get it I'm so Ryan what what advice do you have for Justin well he you know he said super or very reliable he wants I find of focused on that so naturally I started looking toward the Toyota or Lexus and this kind of took me by surprise I kind of forgot about this car the Lexus NX yeah it was a small SUV he also said stylish mm-hmm and that's kind of a stylish car other than that I would say maybe an Audi q5 you know 40 40 thousands a lot a used car which is great amount of money he can spend on yeah those are two to look at I mean I don't know if he's looking for an SUV I mean he had that seemed like he was because he mentioned Explorer you know probably likes that sort of commanding view that the SUVs give so right I can't I kind of focus on an S SUVs as well right and so my pick for four for Justin was a 2019 Mazda cx-5 2019 because that's when they had the optional turbo four-cylinder engine with 227 horsepower cx-5 is a great SUV without that engine but when you have that turbo four-cylinder in there it just really transforms it now suddenly it's got a whole bunch of fun Turbo Power cx-5 has a great terior and so you have to opt for the grand touring or the signature trim but both of those come in brand-new at under 40,000 so you gotta use 2019 you're gonna you know be well under I think well I know 1718 but yeah why wouldn't you go do a $40,000 budget yeah you know you get a really nice news card like a point and very reliable and I stuck with with it with the program I went with the 2016 or a newer Lexus RX you mentioned Lexus before Toyota really reliable you know kind of stylish very comfortable all-wheel drive you know really a pretty nice car and and pretty popular yeah but but thinking about when he said you know really haven't bought a car before do we have some kind of general buying it oh yeah I mean it's he's I'm not sure if he's gonna buy it when he gets here I hope so because buying a used car sight unseen is pretty risky radical okay I mean you wanna you want to take check this thing out driving a good look at it and if you've never driven it that type of car you don't know if you even like it I mean you might like even the two cars I said they drive quite differently um but that you know your preference when you're spending that kind of money means something right so what what can you tell Justin about just buying you know it's as well cars bought yeah so I mean the nice thing is these days you can do you know all of your shopping online and you can do the bulk of even the buying you know and negotiating price negotiating process you know via email text phone call so you don't have to go to the dealer if you don't want to you know early on in the game but what I would say though is once you've kind of gotten to where you've agreed on a price at least a tentative price for this vehicle whether it's new or used have the salesperson email you the purchase order because there might be some fees in there that especially for Justin who hasn't ever bought a car before there might be some fees in there some dealer fees that maybe he wasn't counting on that is gonna you know now be tacked on to the to the overall total vehicle price total sale price of this vehicle so have them send you that purchase order so you can look at all the little you know potential dealer fees all right and some of those things that they might sneak in certainly being a used car would be you know extended warranty exactly $500 service warranty you know a way to get you to bring your car there to have all the oil changes done so and we've typically suggest don't buy and don't don't buy those either the service warranty because if sometimes you added up the service warranty cost more if you you know rather than if you just went yourself did it on your own and the extended warranties we usually don't recommend buying those because they rarely work out in the favor cost-wise buyer and it does buy a super reliable car you have to be what be careful on the purchase orders because sometimes it's pre-printed right you know if a salesperson you know hand writes it in is one thing but it puts pre-printed in if you haven't bought a car before you might think oh oh that I have to buy this yeah and my only a general buying advice Justin is don't fall in love in other words no that's like you see one car like oh I have to have it and the salesperson knows that you're head over heels for this car they're gonna get like big I don't be afraid they just walk away right absolutely absolutely great question and also love your vacation or maybe it's your work spot but anyway switch them is lovely this time of year moving on to the next this is doctor Dave in Cleveland hi talking cars I love the show I had a question about TPMS we live here in the suburbs of Cleveland and have decent winners and we switch out to winter cars on five different cars and one annoying thing is having to reset and pay for the reset for the TPMS I've gone to all-weather tires to try to avoid this on a few of the cars and also my Audi I have an a5 convertible doesn't need it because it uses the rotation of the hub instead of sensors in the wheels so my question is our manufacturers moving towards more sensors in wheels and Center modules are they moving more towards like Audi has always done using the hub rotation to detect differences in spin as though other a tires gone low rather than the absolute pressure thanks alright so tire pressure monitor censoring systems at gPMs yeah that's really what he's talking about swapping over from from you know summer tires are all season to winter tires must be a pain yeah I can appreciate this though he seems like soozee asti's got all weathers on some cars he swapping from winters hardcore dogs guys this is good but to answer his question first though we don't we haven't seen a real trend of manufacturers going to the indirect system which is measuring off the wheel speed or the hub speed as he says we haven't seen a real trend there there's some manufacturers do that like Audi's been doing that for a long time a few have started to do that but there's still a lot that uses actual sensor in the wheel like GM per se so we actually like the direct system which has the sensors in the wheels because it'll it'll display the actual pressure and some vehicles will actually just play the dis pressure where you've got you can look on your - Ryan it'll show the individual tire pressure for each yeah correct yes so something many do some don't even if they're they have that direct system with the sensor in the wheel but we also especially myself coming from the land of actually changing tires we like the indirect system because you have to worry about these sensors being in the wheels breaking them they can be expensive over time the batteries can die in these I mean takes a long time but it comes in maintenance issue and then like he said switched switching from winter tires back and forth it gets expensive if you're gonna actually have this keepa sensors in there but there's no really real work around it stuff yeah and we really we haven't seen a trend I don't know if it will you know going to the future vehicles are gonna get they're getting more and more complicated and they're talking about you know it's but the potential for smart tires and cars that are going to drive themselves so there's the sensor in the wheel now can maybe get other could be the opportunity for other data and information to come through that sensor where the indirect systems a little more primitive in the sense that it's just going off a wheel speed you know so it's it's which way is it gonna go we don't know but the idea of having a monitor on your instrument panel to say you know your what are your tires is getting low it's it's such a good thing right it's helpful to well and it's just it's helpful to to understand you know different times the heat of the year your tire pressures do change he's helpful to know if it's if one is way down or if it's only just a couple psi down off of the other right so in the indirect I'm sorry system has gotten better in the sense that now when you when you inflate your tires so the proper pressure and you have an indirect system where it's going off the wheel speed it you actually calibrate the vehicle to that pressure so it knows this actual speed so what could happen so over time you all your tires can lose air at once right but it never sees just one so it maybe it never thinks that you have a low tire some of the old systems were like that it would take you know it'd take a lot we'd take more air loss for that to happen for you to recognize there for the car to recognize it but now you know you can go down a couple psi and lawn and it will recognize it because it knew its original wheel speed so ultimately we don't know which way it will go it may not it might not go away it might just be you know some people use and indirect someone use a direct system but unfortunately for dr. Dave he's gonna have to deal with it yeah any good thing we have Ryan here to answer tire questions excellent questions the trials and tribulations of owning a lot of cars next up is Paul from Walla Walla Washington hi talking cars had a question about a 2019 Mazda Miata I was thinking about replacing my Subaru Crosstrek or adding Miata in addition to my cross track and wonder what you thought of if the Miata is a reasonable car as a daily driver or over it really is more of a second car appreciate what you think Thanks so can't get through talking cars without talking about a Miata yes we love it so much so Miata is a daily driver what do you think well so we looked up where Walla Walla Washington was and they do get some snow there so the first thing is you've got to take that into mind you know even with winter tires Ryan correct me if I'm wrong your than your the tire expert here but the Miata is still not gonna be a great snow car you know it doesn't have great ground clearance for getting through any kind of deep snow so from that perspective loam but then just as a daily driver this is a car that has a very tight cabin you know there's not a lot of space to store anything once you're inside the car if you ever bring like a big guy like you as a passenger or if he's a larger guy you're gonna feel cramped in there a lot plus it's you know has a fair amount of tire noise a fair amount of wind and engine noises and this is you this is a kind of car that can wear on you over too busy that said if you have a really fun drive to work then maybe it could be worth it right but it sounds like maybe the best situation is keep the Subaru Crosstrek you know as your daily driver and then use the Miata on the weekends or the occasional you know what I really want to have a fun drive into work today so I'm gonna do it you know that way you don't you know get bored of the car get not bored but get tired of having to deal with this you know kind of small little car that you're driving super fun right that said I'd also say you know if you're looking at a 2019 Miata you also might look at the toilet 86 or Subaru BRZ both all three of those cars are very reliable and relatively inexpensive and super super fun to drive I personally think the 86 and BRZ are more fun to drive than the Miata and roomier that budget AMPA to top so you can't put the top down but you've got you know the Miata has the better shifter but otherwise you've got better steering better handling it's really pinpoint in the 86 and the BRZ so that my choice would be actually you know take a look at those as well a nice problem to have anyway next up is Steve from Michigan hi I really like the new 2020 202 Corolla hybrid comparing it to a standard model le you're looking at a $3,000 price premium given the miles per gallon advantage I feel you can make that up fairly quickly but what about long term maintenance costs could the pipe remodel potentially have more expensive repair drills later down the road Thanks so looking at the Corolla versus the Corolla hybrid you're absolutely right is about a $3,000 price premium to go with the hybrid model both did very well in Consumer Reports testing both returned phenomenal fuel economy but when you think about the national average for a price of gallon of gasoline it would take between like eight and nine years to kind of make up a price difference with the regular Corolla versus the Corolla hybrid and a factoring about 12,000 miles driving a year I mean it's I would say this isn't necessarily about saving money as much as it about gasps other words I want to be a green car person and I just I want to burn less fuel you burn less fuel with with a hybrid model compared to a non hybrid model so I I mean that's kind of the way I'm looking at this yeah the the you know hybrid versus non hybrid price you know difference and and you know when you make that amount up in terms of years it's been a problem for a while I mean it's you know until you can buy a hybrid for for almost the same price as as the the non-hybrid it's it's difficult especially with the regular model doing very well that's right the regular Corolla it's a Consumer Reports top pick and as far as reliability goes it's it's actually one of the great success stories for our own automotive reliability data is the Toyota Prius which has the battery packs and the electric motors has an enviable reliability record going back almost 20 years incredible I mean we have so much data on it's not an uncomplicated car right so in terms of the second part of Steve's question about reliability that that would be the least of my concerns over buying a Toyota hybrid and thinking that's gonna cost more money down the road because we don't we don't the data the other thing that we've been seeing is that in some models such as the Toyota rav4 we've actually found and also the Ford Escape Hybrid we found that that the hybridization of those cars actually the hybrid version you know the the you know having some electric assist actually made it a better a better driving vehicle improved drivability so it's so you might in those two cases route the Toyota rav4 hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid you we'd actually suggest buying them even though it cost a little bit more money because you're getting a nicer driving car than the regular price and you're saving gas that's an excellent point so our next question is from Nelson from Cary North Carolina normally Consumer Reports recommends not to buy a new car the first year it's produced with this logic apply to the Honda CRV Hybrid expected in the US this year it's already available overseas and will be based on the existing Honda Accord Hybrid however it will be built for the first time at a plant in Indiana with these circumstances require weeding a year or no so Mike what do you have for Nelson well son Elsa it absolutely absolutely is based on the existing accord hybrid powertrains so that's that's a good thing but we we don't normally take into account when when we're doing our you know new car predicted reliability where the car is built that's not something we factor into we're more concerned about the brand as overall and the specific model you know it's history of reliability so in this case what what Nelson can do is just simply look at their reliability of the Accord and the Accord Hybrid and the existing CRV and then you can kind of you know look at determine from those two cars okay well because there's not a whole lot actually brand new on the CRV hybrid it's probably going to have very similar reliability and in this case it means about average reliability is just you know that's not what we've gone out and said yet for our new carpeting reliability for it but it's a good bet since the Accord has been both the Accord and the CRV the CRV was redesigned in 2017 the Accord was redesigned in 2018 both those cars since their redesigns have been hovering right around average reliability a little up and down cattle over Hanabi yeah historically so it's oh it's good but not great right that's probably about where the CRV Harbor is gonna be as well so you know waiting a year in this case might actually be a good idea you know just to see if there are some a few new car bugs transitioning that drivetrain into the CRV but it probably it's gonna remain about average reliability anyway because that's what we're seeing with these other two models I mean some manufacturers are worth the risk more than others right but yeah okay well we'll have to see how that one pans out next up is Angelo from New Jersey my wife recently bumped her 2018 Ford Explorer XLT into a tree stump and did some damage to the bumper it didn't look like much but the repairs cost for $4,900 given the complexity of modern cars the engineers factor in the cost of repair when designing new vehicles you'd think that insurance companies would be outraged at these costs for seemingly minor incidences it's a great question and it brings up what we've been seeing in terms of of automotive technology I mean sometimes you have you have one step up and you have one step back so these safety features certainly are doing their jobs I mean Consumer Reports is is saying you know the advanced driver assist systems or as they are saying a - you know 8s is innate a that's what it stands for there they're making cars safer but what what is without a doubt is because of these repairs because they're so complex you're not just repairing a bumper you have to replace a sensor you have to get your almost the windshield glass Calot recalibrating for goodness sakes so you're absolutely right it is not as simple and as inexpensive as it used to be but the bottom line is is that these if you're seeing fewer accidents because of this technology will save and repairs refuge exactly priority on a vehicle nowadays it's probably safety right right you know yeah the main thing that makes sense the first thing is to not get in the crash yeah the second thing is you'd like it's not be right that expensive it to repair if you do get in a crash but but you're gonna solve all that by simply not getting in the crime check out the story repair the the hidden costs of safety features on consumerreports.org next up is David from Boston my family which includes three teenagers is looking to upgrade from our Honda Pilot to a three row hybrid or electric luxury SUV and we've shortlisted the 2020 Volvo xc90 plug-in hybrid and the Tesla Model X what would you recommend so Ryan I'll take a pic man so if I'm going to pick between the two of these I'm gonna pick the Volvo I mean the Tesla's yeah you got to charge this thing yeah if you're gonna go on long trips you got to factor at all those things and III think you're just better off with the Volvo for that type of a vehicle if you were gonna buy a little car to commute back and forth to work the electric might make sense if you had a you know a set range every day but this is a much more of exploring vehicle you're gonna take your family to go places all right yeah David doesn't specify you know sorry yeah I would honestly even I would look at some other stuff like Alexis are hybrid right personally right yeah so I mean it's it's interesting because the two vehicles chosen here are both have much worse than average predictive reliability so you're gonna have to factor that in from the get-go but I'm sorry I'm with Ryan I mean the Model X I mean it has the fancy you know showy going doors for the rear rear side doors which you know it gets a lot of wow factor when you you know go to a restaurant restaurant or whatever and said I mean but it is kind of a pain and there's like I said there's been some reliability issues with that thing a lot of realize with the Model X you know I'm with you on the charging that if you're gonna be taking a family on a long trip you probably don't want to have to be charging even even though you know the Model X can go and depending on the model can go over 300 miles which is a pretty long range but you might not want to deal with it but both cars have some issues they both have a little bit of stiff --is-- ride the Volvo has some controls that a lot of people here aren't big fans of that said it has a very beautiful interior has a pretty nice drivetrain but again with the Volvo it's a plug-in hybrid but it only has about 14 miles of electric only you know range so again you're not getting a lot out of that but you never have to worry about being on a trip and then and then having to go charge up somewhere and wait around for 30 to 45 so when you when you started giving your pick you immediately went to the lack of reliability yeah in in the in the Volvo and then the Tesla that's exactly what I wrote in my notes I started laughing so I thought well since since reliability doesn't seem to be much of a factor here I'm saying go with the Chrysler Pacific hybrid because you could have you got the plug-in you've got the hybrid you've got thing the green kind of bent to this whole thing but then talk about three teenagers and I had two full-size boy that's a true okay pick right there though that's that's what I that's what I was going with me it's the most fuel-efficient minivan currently on the market you get a certain amount of electrical only miles again but right it does Drive really boy I wish I will say those like you no these they're all for 30 third row their small third rows okay major I mean that's tight the Uyuni van I mean I don't know if it fits into his luxury see the Pacifica I can sit back really reasonable yeah yeah you could put teenagers back there if you needed to but stigma Ryan was the only one that went the reliability around so you gotta you gotta give him credit even even the RX a third row in the Rx is tight right yeah I just I think you'll have a you'll have less issues with it I say move beyond these the minivan stigma and and just enjoy the practicality of it and we're gonna go yeah but he picked Quinn's picked at first I just piled on we get made fun of anyways really matter great question so next up is Chris from California I can't seem to find good guidelines on what tires are best for the San Francisco Bay Area with temperatures in the 30s and 40s on winter mornings and up to the 90s in the summer did the cold mornings rule out summer tires with all seasons or all-weather tires do the trick here well Chris just so happens that Ryan knows something about tires yeah so tires in San Francisco alright great question easy answer regular all season tires are gonna be the best bet here it rarely snows there if and even even more rarely does it stick to the ground so a winter tire out of the question a summer tire out of the question also because those cold temperatures obviously you don't really want to be on a summer tire under 50 degrees 40 degrees is starting to push it but a summer tire is more performance-oriented they don't last as long they're more expensive blah blah blah you don't want to go that route and all weather tire is a glorified all season tire in the sense that it has better snow traction but that's not an issue here temperature-wise that one all season tire I mean I've done actual testing in you know sub-zero temperatures and on clear roads they still perform better than even a winter tire in terms of grip but you know the winter tire is really for on snow performance though here easy all season tire check our ratings and it's sort of a funky dilemma because in San Francisco they could be bright sunny and then the fog comes in to the temperature drops it's it's an odd city from that perspective but actually that's a kind of one of the reasons why I always enjoy going there to visit was because you didn't know what the weather was gonna be and it wasn't typically as hot as much of the rest of especially Southern California always enjoyed but even the off season tires if it did snow he's fine like you - no traction you'll get it you'll get by but it's just not worth having those or summer tires of souther yeah it's more of a more of an issue if they were gonna be driving in icy conditions or deeper snow conditions right great excellent next up actually this is the last one we got we've got two questions that are pretty similar the first is uh mr writes I want to surprise my retired parents with a car and looking for some recommendations it's hard for my dad to get in and out of anything too low but also something good for my five-foot-tall mother to be comfortable behind the wheel and Bart adds my 76 year old mom loves her 2006 kia sedona but it's so tall that it's getting tough for her to get in and out of these days any recommendations on something lower to the ground Thanks and the two mics are awesome we love you Bart it's the best the best question we've had all the whole episode anyhow so recommendations for kind of older you know aging parents we get in and out of all these vehicles so we have a pretty good idea the Kia Soul that's only two wheel drive some wheel drive you know if you want an all-wheel drive that rules that out but you could put snow tires on it if you're in a place where you're worried about snow snow traction or the the obvious one is the Subaru Forester right it's all-wheel drive it's easy to get into it's a good car alright so since since thunder yes because Bart likes the mics you're gonna have to help us out here well so we're still dealing with a Marv though right this is so I'm are I'm Bart well okay so with for a Marv I would say you know I think your choices are excellent but if you were thinking more along a luxury vehicle you know you might look at the BMW x3 which is you know again very easy to get in and out of and just it's going to drive a little nicer and if you you know thinking something a little larger maybe like a mid-sized SUV then maybe you know go with Jen stock burgers always go to choice the the Kia Sorento again very easy to get in and out of and lots of room so now if you want to move on to Bart that that's an interesting question because if you look at our road tests of the 2006 kia sedona we actually say that it's pretty easy to get in and out of so because we don't know how tall she is I'm going to assume that maybe she's a little shorter what I would say is actually go with something like the Toyota Avalon which we would say we have said in the road test it's a little hard to get in and out of because it's low yeah but if she's a shorter person it's actually not gonna seem that that much lower you know it would be different for say even for different weaning you and me getting into a car right you're a much taller guy it's gonna be harder for you to get into a low car if she's a little on the smaller side it's not gonna be that big of a deal and the Avalon is a great oh it's a it's a great car for an older person as such a smooth ride roomy interior logical controls there's just a lot to like about that car and I think she'd be pretty happy with that thing and I just went we have one in the you know out in our test fleet right now our rented one actually and I just got in and out of it and it's it's not it's not that bad to get out and I thought okay if someone was even smaller than me it really wouldn't be hard to believe I usually leave those jokes for the mics are still awesome you know if we talked about this question and it was it's always like the the car for kind of elderly parents parents that are losing some of their mobility we always go to the Subaru Forester and I just kind of assume that both you guys were gonna be going off about the Forester because because it's always among the the best car for older drivers I just explained the reason why in case people don't know is because when you open the door and go to sit down it's what we would call chair height right now this seats right or right there so you don't have to you're not getting up you're not going down in the sills narrow right and the visibility is good all around the controls are really easy that the reason that I went with the Kia Soul is certainly for Bart is that Bart's mom has a Kia Sedona so I thought maybe she has a relationship with the Kia dealer yeah she's familiar with keys she likes Kia's and a nice list that the soul also met wit wit amar was looking forward to about similar fuel economy to the to the Forester less expensive and but but avoid the base model the soul because the you need to go to the S trim to get a forward collision warning automatic emergency braking good to well that about do it for this episode as always keep those questions coming talking cars at icloud.com and as always check the show notes for more information on the vehicles the topics that we discussed thanks so much for tuning in we'll see you next week\n"