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The First Impression of the 2019 Audi A6

We give our first impressions of the all new 2019 Audi A6. The team has been discussing this car for some time now, and we're excited to share their thoughts with you.

Ford's Announcement of an All-Electric F-150 Pickup Truck

Just recently, Ford announced an exciting development in the automotive world: an all-electric F-150 pickup truck. This news is sure to send shockwaves through the industry, and we can't wait to see how it plays out.

Is a Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty Worth Your Money?

Another hot topic on our minds right now is whether a bumper-to-bumper warranty is worth your money. We'll be discussing this in more detail later, but for now, let's just say that the answer might surprise you.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWe give our first impressionsof the all new 2019Audi A6, discussFord's announcementof an all-electricF-150 pickup truck,and whether a bumper-to-bumperwarranty is worth your money.Next, on \"Talking Cars.\"Hi, everyone.Welcome back to another episode.I'm Jon Linkov.I'm Ryan Pszczolkowski.And I'm Jake Fisher.And this week, in someelectric vehicle news,Ford has announced theirplans for the near future,for their EVs.First off, a Mustang-inspired--I have to give you quotes--crossover.In 2021, they might bring outa fully electric Ford F-150.And then in 2022, twomidsize EV crossovers.We have history of it.But I think the biggest thingis that the F-150 was showntowing 10 double-decker railcars with 42 F-150s, whichequals 625 tons.Ryan, is a fullyelectric 625-ton towableelectric F-150 whattruck buyers want?Oh, man.It depends on the range.Me, personally, I mean, yeah,the electric cars have power.I mean, there's no doubtit'll be able to tow a ton,or 600 tons, whatever that is.Exactly.That's a stunt.I mean, I'm sure it cando something impressive.But--Yeah.How long did it do it,and how far could it go?Yeah.That's whatever.But to me, on aweekend, when I'mdriving around, bombingaround town, doing stuff,the last thingI'm thinking aboutis, like, worrying aboutcharging this thing.If it can make an entireweekend without me charging it,or, you know,you're towing stuff.You're going to beusing the battery more.It all depends on whatit's actually capable of,charge-wise, I think.I mean, it's a huge seller.So if they said, getthe 10% they thought,you know, it's stilla ton of vehicles.Yeah.Again, a ton.Yeah.No, I mean this is bignews, because it's Ford.And that is, like, the numberone selling vehicle, right?I don't know what theattitude's going to betowards an electric truck.I mean, this is America.Yeah, yeah.I mean, I'm impressed.People have embracedthese EcoBoost motors,which got away from the V8.That's been impressive, I think.Those are great motors.The turbo-chargedfour-cylinders.Exactly.Right.I don't know aboutan electric truck.I don't know.Part of it comes from,possibly, because theyhaven't said exactly--the link up with Rivian,which has EV plans.And Ford put $500 millioninto Rivian, whichhasn't built a vehicle yet.But what's interestingabout that is, so, I mean,you look at Rivian, wholooks pretty seriousin terms kind ofgetting into the,you know, think of morelike the Tesla space,in terms of like astart-up and whatnot.But you know, Rivian is like,kind of getting really into,like, big, useful vehicles.Like a big, three-row SUV,and a big pickup truck.So it's definitelyinteresting, you know,getting in that market.And it looks like that perhapsthis partnership, or investing,is going to allow them toget an F-150, potentiallywith some of the same parts.Who knows?But I mean, what Rivian'sbeen talking aboutis a 400 mile range.And if you really think aboutthat, what 400 miles meansis that we do have a prettydecent electric infrastructurenow, across the country.So I mean, if you wantto stop every 350 miles,and maybe have ameal, or something.Because I mean, how longdo you really want a--If it's a fast charger.Right.Well, yeah.Yeah.Exactly.I mean, you look at what youcan do on some fast chargers.And, yeah.And what it takes to have lunch.Sure.You get most ofthat 400 miles back,or whatever you've driven.So you know, itis a possibility.It is interesting.You know, again, getting inthe head of, like you say,in terms of truck buyers--It's a mentalitythat concerns me.I mean, the technology,I feel like--they're going to get there.They're going to makethis stuff happen.But truck buyers havesurprised us in the past.So I mean, like you said.I mean, the three-five EcoBoostthat was in the Ford F-150,they sold that rightalongside with the big V8s.Yeah.And it surprised me thatpeople were going for the V6.You know, again, F-150 took abig risk, going all aluminum.And I know some of thecompetitors were saying,oh, that's just aluminum.That's going tobreak or whatever.Right.But again, F-150 isdoing really well.So who knows?Going back to the towingthing for a second,you know, so the three-fiveEcoBoost with the right setup,tows more thanthe five liter V5.Right.And I think that's what--some people wereinterested in that.This thing had the performance.This electric truckcould potentiallytow even way more than that.I mean, we know the powerthat electricity has.But to your point about range--Yeah.What's it going to do at range?So if you actuallywanted to like,tow some kind of traveltrailer or whatever, camper RV,I mean, suddenly that 400turns into who knows what.Right.And now it mightbe a little awkwardto try to get intothat charging station.So who knows,depending on who it is.For goodness sake.So it might be anoccasional use vehicle.Could you imagine?Yeah.Trying to pull a regularvehicle into a gas station.Right?For some people,like me, multiturn.Maybe it's not for that buyer.But I mean, I thinkthere will be--But as a work truck, maybe.But even if it's like,you know 5% of the sales,it's huge numbers--40,000 vehicles, possibly.And I think it's really coolthat Ford is really taking thisseriously.I mean, it's not just the F-150.It's this Mustang.I was going to go there, yeah.I mean, Mustang is like--it's just like random words.Mustang, crossover,SUV, electric.You know, it's like--It's like a word jumble.Throw in autonomous orsomething, you know?Exactly.Oh yes.I mean, it's justlike, all the stuff.But it's kind of about time theygot, maybe, serious about it.You know, and really stepinto the electric completely.Right.The little SUVs,that makes sense.I mean, that's kind of wherethings are going longer term.You know, and it isan interesting pointin the sense that EV historywas a focus electric early on,and that was 100 miles of range.And then the C-Max andthe Fusion, the sedanand the small SUV hatchback,they were just plug-in hybrids.And in some ways, Fordbeing late, were waiting.And a lot of peoplesaid, like, where's Ford?And they're not--they're not Tesla.And they're notan early adopter.It makes sense.Yeah. .Much like the othermanufacturers that we've seen,like Jaguar and Audi.I'll tell you whatI would love to see.I would love to see an electricsmall pickup truck, honestly.Because I mean,for my needs, like,I occasionally needa pickup truck.And I think a lotof people do this.They have the pickup truckfor when they need it.Yeah.You know?And I could see, like,OK, fine, it's electric.And you're not worried aboutit if it sits for a while.You know, if it's electric.Keep it on a tricklecharge or whatever.Yeah.So on that, we have alot of information on EVsand other electric vehicleson consumerreports.org.So check it out there.So in other news, justbefore this episode taped,the NationalTransportation Safety Boardmade documents public about acrash between a Tesla Model Sand a firetruck back inJanuary 2018 in California.Jake, what can our audiencetake away from this?All right.So the driver wasusing autopilot.And he's fine.But so what was interesting is,when they talked to the driver,he understood.He said, I understood thelimitations of autopilot.He knew that autopilot wasn't--he still had to pay attentionand all these different thingsabout it.But despite that, inevitably,people get distracted.Even knowing thedetails of this.And I think we're seeingmore and more of this.It's just the waythe system operates.And we see this-- so like,for instance, when we wentand we rated thesetypes of systems,we really said that the Cadillacsystem was really the best.Because what theCadillac system does,uniquely, is it makessure that the driver islooking where they're going.It's got a camera thatlooks at the driver.That's the Super Cruise.Without that support--this Cadillac Super Cruise.Without that support, you seethis with the Tesla autopilot--and regardless of if thedriver understands limitationsand knows that he shouldlook, it's just human nature.It's human nature, whenyou go a certain distance,and you don't haveto turn the wheeland adjust that, you don'thave to do the speed control,you're going to look,do something else,maybe get distracted a bit.And this situation,you know, we'veall had thesetypes of situation.You're driving someoneand somebody pulls outand something'sthere right away.Sure.You've got to be payingattention right away.And you know, I could telleveryone, pay attention,pay attention.But the point isis that you needthat support with the system.It needs to be designeda way to make surethat driver is engaged.You should watch you.Make sure you're watching it.Absolutely.Right.So what you're sayingis, they kind ofencourage complacency onthe part of the driver,because it just becomeseasy to do other things.And it's not like theyconsciously do this.It's just, it just happens.You know, it's like--look, I could tellyou, like, hey.Watch that paint dry over there.Keep your eye on it.And you could be like, OK.I'm like, it's reallyimportant, Jon.You got to do that.OK.Yeah.You know what?After five minutes?It's drying.You're going to look away.You're going todo something else.Yeah.It's just human nature.Unless there'ssomeone that's goingto go poke you, or give youan alert, and say, oh, Jon,you're not looking.You got to keeplooking at that paint.Sure.You need the support.It's got to bedesigned in that way.Well, we reached outto Tesla via email.Here's what they said.While our driver-monitoringsystem for Autopilotrepeatedly reminds driversof their responsibilityto remain attentive andprohibits the use of Autopilotwhen warnings areignored, we've alsointroduced numerous updates tomake our safeguards smarter,safer, and more effectiveacross every hardware platformwe've deployed.So for more on this story, goback to consumerreports.org.So now we're going tomove to the newest testcar in our fleet,which is the Audi A6.We bought the-- holdon to this lingo.The A6 45 TFSI, whichmeans it's poweredby a two-liter turbo-chargedfour cylinder enginethat makes 248 horsepower.It uses a seven-speedautomatic transmission.And our version drives all fourwheels, the Quattro system.The suggested retailprice, $59,390.But we were able toknock it down to $53,711.Ryan, what's your take on it?The whole segment is putting alot of two-liter turbo engines,turbo four cylinders in it.Does it hold up?Yes.The big news here is it'sa pretty good-sized carwith a four cylinderturbo in it.I think it has plenty ofpower, after driving it.It's still a fourcylinder in a $60,000 car.Almost.Yeah.My point here is, our lastE-Class, the Mercedes E-Class,had a four cylinder in it.I didn't know until thesecond time I drove itthat it was a four cylinder.This car, I knew right away.From what?Not because of the power,but just at low speeds,it has this littlebit of a shudder.It has that vibrationof a four cylinder.And maybe this is just me.But I can feel that.And it gives it a little bitless of a premium feeling.The other problem Ihave is the last A6had the three litersupercharged motor in it.Yeah.And that was fantastic.Right.Like, I have a hardtime getting over that.That was like a sweetspot in my heart.They still have that.It just costs a little more.Yeah, not 60.Yeah.Yeah.I have a hard time--it's a great car.I mean, it has power.It had a little bit of ahesitation off the line,I felt.I was going to say,city versus highway.Yeah.Once you're cruising, Imean, it's a nice car.You wouldn't complain, I don'tthink, about any of that.The interior is a carry-overfrom the A8, really.I'm kind of usedto all that stuff.So I thought it was quite nice.Yeah.So they have the dualtouchscreen, Jake,you know, up top and down low.And it gives youa little feedback.Right.You've you've actually hada lot of comments on that,I think, towardsthe positive side,about how Audi hasintegrated their system.So often, at this time,like I go and arguewith you about thedriving experience.But I'm going to argue with you.OK.And I'm going to argue withyou because you said it'sthe newest car in our fleet.And it was interesting.And I don't thinkit's interesting.And it's not the newestcar in our fleet.OK.Because we just picked up--Yes, that's true.Late last night, anAudi Q3, which we allcan't talk about, becauseI haven't been in the car.I didn't want us to give awaythe news for the next podcast.In the future podcast,we'll hear about it.Yes.But that is thecar that matters.Because, look.This is a big sedan.And yeah, you know what, look.Let's cut to thechase, you know.We've talked about the A4.We've talked about the A8.It's kind of in the middle.Yeah.You know, it's got a verysimilar control system.We can look up whatwe said about that.It's kind of gotthe haptic feedback.And you know, it clicksand stuff like that.It's got the Google stuff.That's all neat.It's a very similardriving experience.I, mean it's kindof like, you know,you cut the sausage indifferent sizes, right?It's very similarto the A4 and the 8.But this is a worldwhere luxury means SUVs.Yeah.And you know what?It's going to be, you know,all the small SUVs and the Q3.You know, that's whereit's going to be.These are the cars--every one of them.I don't care if it's a MercedesBenz or Cadillac or whatever.Everyone is buyingsmall luxury SUVs.I mean, what even thefuture of these sedans?I don't know.Unfortunately, you're right.Yeah.I don't want to talkabout it anymore.No.We're done.I'm going to say it.I love sedans.SUVs are taking over.We get that.But it's still, I think,still interesting.You know, they're puttingthese smaller motors,and they're performingquite well in these cars.True.I think the downsideof that, though,is you lose some of thatpremium feeling, justthe vibrations and the sound.It's just not there.It's a high end car.Let's face it.I mean, it's--But you're totally right.Because we are seeing that.I mean, just interms of the trendsof these smallturbocharged engines.They do the performance.Yes.Absolutely.They get the fuel economy.They get the performance.They do the zero to 60.But it's a completelydifferent experience.Yes.They sound tractor-likewhen the door is opened.It doesn't--And you're standingthere, you know.The remote start or something.It doesn't sound as good.And it's a compromise that we'redoing for all these things.But beside the engine,you know, there'sthe driving aspect of it.But what aboutactually sitting in it?You know, and enjoyingit or not enjoying it?Is it roomy?Yeah.One of the things--I'm sorry to step on you--the A8, for such a big car,had no interior storagespace whatsoever.Yeah.No, I agree.So this has room in it.And most German cars havea little more room in them,I feel like.This is an A6, soit's a little bigger.I think the interior isbeautiful, just like the A8.It's lacking someinterior storage.It's got that cubby, andyou can kind of like----phone.Almost put a few pencilsin there, you know.They don't have-- the consolecompartment's not acceptable.I mean, there should besomewhere to put some stuff.Yeah.But I think ultimately,though, thisis a car that it drives nice.It's got nice handling.And the ride is really good.It's very, very quiet.All those kind ofAudi-like qualities.And the other Audi-like quality,which I think a lot of peopledon't know, or maybe peoplethink of Audis of the past--Audis make reliable vehicles.Right.So I mean, our data isshowing, year after year,that Audi isconsistently making a lotof cars that really do last.That they don't have alot of problems with them.Better than the otherGerman competitors,and actually better than a lotof the Japanese luxury makes.Right.I like the car.Again, I've hadAudis in the past.I know my wife reallywants one of these.She wants an A8, butthat's not happening.Um.I like driving it.It is quiet.It cruises very well.You know, it's very nice.It's a $60,000 car.It should be kind of nice.It should be nice, right?Yeah.It should be nice.So we're going to havemore information on itwith our first drive.We actually have up therethe three liter version.And we're going to befinishing testing soon.So check out consumerreports.orgfor more on the A6.So at this point, we're going tomove on to audience questions.Send them into us--TalkingCars@icloud.com.The first one isa video questionfrom Dave fromMadison, Wisconsin.Dave, take it away.Hi, \"Talking Cars.\"I am in my 2007 NissanMurano SL all wheel drive.And I love this car.It only has 86,000 miles on it.And I want it to lastfor 200,000 miles.I'm pretty bad when it comesto keeping up with maintenance.We try to get in fora regular oil change.But besides that, what can Ido to help maintain and helpthis car last foras long as possible?I live in Madison, Wisconsin.So we do have the winterweather to deal with.Are there any tips or thingsthat I should absolutelybe doing to helpkeep this car going?Thanks.OK.So Ryan, Dave's talkingabout running his 2007 NissanMurano to 200,000 miles plus.Infinity and beyond.Yeah.You talked to our chiefmechanic, John Ibbotson.He had a littlebit of informationon how to keep it going.He didn't say much.He said, read the manual.That sounds like John.That does sound like John.Very John-like thing to say.Yeah.Yeah.So, nowadays, thesecars are engineeredto a certain specification.And they put allthe information youneed to know how to maintainthis vehicle in the manual.So you know, hementioned he's notthat great at keepingup with the maintenance.Yeah.He kind of sometimesdoes the oil change.You need to keep up with that.You have to keep up with that.Changing the oil is imperative.I mean, there's noway around that.And the manual isgoing to walk youthrough all thosesteps along the way.Up to 200,000 miles,you're actuallygoing to repeatsome of the stuff.Some of the big stuff.You know, the transmissionmay-- that car mighthave a lifetime fluid in there.It might tell younot to do anything.Don't do anything.Whatever the manual tells you.Yeah.And he seems prettylucky in a sense.It's low miles forsuch an old car.Yeah.Ryan is totally right.I mean, the thingabout these things--I mean, we oftenget these questions.Like, there's like some kind oflike magic dust you could do,or some kind of like treatmentyou could get on your car--Right.And the truth is thatyou go to the manual.And you do what's in the manual.Follow it to a T.Don't do extra.Exactly.And sometimes, like,you might go to a shop.They're like, oh, we'regoing to do this for you.And some kind of specialflush or whatever.Sometimes you can do more harmthan good with those things.You're disrupting things.So just-- I mean, right.I mean, these things areengineered a certain way.They're designed a certain way.Do what is on that manual.Don't do any less.Don't do any more.And you're going to be OK.Right.Granted, along that way, you'regoing to run into some issues.There's going to be thingsthat you have to fix.Sure.But as far as theengine going that far,if you change theoil, you shouldbe able to get towhere you want to go.Keeping it reliable versusstuff just ends up breaking.Exactly.200,000 mile car from '07--Just stay on top of it.Going to break.Absolutely.So we're going to moveon to our next one,from Dr. Alex from Connecticut.Local guy.\"At what temperaturedo you measurewet and dry braking foryour published tire reviewsand ratings?You've said that wintertires have advantagesin cold weather,but just in snow.Are winter tires actuallysuperior in colder temps,or is it just not quite asbad as your published datasuggests?\"I'm going to go to Ryan again.You know, justkeep turning right.Yep.Ryan, you're the tire expert.Yeah.What answer for Dr. Alex?This is a great question.And it's an interestingtopic, actually.So, to answer hisquestion first,I wrote down somegibberish here.When we do our braking, thisis either round about numbers,because every yearit's different.Roughly the air-- wedo it in the spring.So the air temperatureis about 70 degrees.It's mild.The wet surface isabout 70 degrees,because the sun's hitting.Even if it's not sunny, thesurface has some warmth to it.And we're runningpond water over it.So this water kind ofcools it back down.The dry surface is roughlyaround 100 degrees, becauseof the sun load and just,when the air's that warm,the ground is still warmer.So what we did thoughis, there was a claim.Gene and I-- GenePeterson, my boss--Yep.Who's in chargeof tire testing--we read a claim thatwinter tires actuallystopped better on dry asphaltin subzero temperatures, reallycold temperatures.And we were perplexed by that.So we did a littleinvestigation,as we do around here.And we took some tires.We took 16 different tires--models, eight winter tiresand eight all-season tires.And we did-- we gotup at like 6 o'clockin the morning, 5o'clock in the morning,came up here on a cold day.It was about-- the airtemperature was 25 degrees.And the surface was 10 degrees.Because it was inthe middle of winter.Dry surface.Dry surface.Obviously, we couldn'tdo wet at thatbecause it wouldn't have been--Would've been ice.No snow or anything.No.Just a dry surface.Because at the endof the day, youhave a snowstorm around here.The snow gets clearedoff the roads.And the roads are generallyclear most of the time.It's not like we'realways driving on snow.There are places in the country,and way up north in Canadathat it's always snowing.So that's that.But what we found thoughwas the all-season tiresstopped about the same.So the all-seasondidn't have any changebetween normal tests?There was very little-- we wouldsay that they didn't change.OK.It was very, very little.The winter tires did stopshorter than themselvesin the warmertemperatures, by about 8%.But they were stillconsiderably longerthan the all-season tires.OK.The reason we test themall at the warm temperatureis, because theseall get graded--they're all on a similar ratingsscale, at the end of the day.And we want to show people that,yeah, these winter tires aremuch worse on dry and wetsurfaces, for braking,than an all-season tire.OK.So what's the overall advice?I know, that was alot what I said there.But so overall, what happensis, if you have to drive--and if it's winter, and youhave to drive in the snow,we recommend youhave winter tires.Because they will get youthrough snow and ice safely.So regular snow, up in Canada,up in the northern tier,packed snow.Yes.You know, if you can affordto not drive in the snowand wait for thestorm to be over,all season tires aregoing to be better.Because they do, ondry, clean, clear roads,perform better than snow tires.Absolutely.But that's the compromise.Tires are a compromise.So you have to kind ofweigh out your situation.And you know, go to our ratings.Check out what we havefor information on tires.And you make adecision from there.That's exactly whatI was going to say.Go to consumerreports.org.We've got a ton oftire information.All right.So that brings us toour final question,from Stephen, whosays, I recentlypurchased a 2019 Honda CRV.During the buyingprocess, I was offereda lifetime bumper-to-bumperwarranty for about $3,000for as long as the originalowner had the vehicle.For someone who keepstheir vehicles a long time,this seems like itcould be a decent value.I didn't purchase thewarranty, but was intriguedwith the warranty,and wanted to knowif the CR staff is familiarwith this type of warranty,and what your advice would be.So Jake, what kindof advice would youhave for Mr. Stephen there?It's a lot of money.You know, I mean it's about10% of the cost of the vehicle.And it's somethingthat you may or may notbe using down the road.So it's interesting-- hesays, this type of warranty.There's lots of differenttypes of this kind of warranty.I mean, some are offeredby the manufacturer.Some are offeredby a third party.Sometimes, you'reoffered by a third partythat's not around fiveyears down the road.Sometimes it's abumper-to-bumper warrantythat you can only get itfixed in certain areas,and certain shops.So first of all, absolutelyread all the fine print.But the other thing is, look.I mean, the cars that aregoing to be under warrantyfor a couple of years-- takethat $3,000, put it in a bank.Save it for later.Or invest it or something.And you know what?Down the road, look, CRVis a reliable vehicle.I was going to say that.It's a CRV.It's going to be all right.Yeah.I mean-- I thinkyou're going to be OK.Take the $3,000, put itaway, rainy day fund.Is there a time though tobuy a warranty like that?So maybe not a CRV.You could do the math.You know what?They're not going to give you--they're not going to goand sell these warrantiesand lose money on them.So statistically, you'regoing to lose moneyif you're buying the warranty.I'll throw that out there.What you're buyingis peace of mind.And if you're buying avehicle that does nothave a very goodreliability history,maybe you want to consider it.But maybe you should considermaybe not buying that car.I want to throwthat out there too.That's fair.That's fair.And also, you don't have to buyit at the point of purchase.You can buy it a yearinto it, two years.You can find out, oh mygosh, I love the car.But it's reallynot that reliable.So I can get thewarranty, right?Yeah.Worth asking, while you'rebuying it, at least.You know, can Ibuy this later on?Certainly.Well, I mean my brother-in-lawbought a BMW X3.And he called meup, he goes, I'mat the finance andinsurance person's office.And they're trying tosell me this warranty.And I said, you couldbuy down the road.And he says thatlater on, after hetold the woman that hedidn't want to buy it,she goes, oh, yeah.We'll sell it to youlater if you want.So, yeah.You can get them down the road.You don't have to buy itat the point of purchase.A Honda CRV, pretty reliable.So that's going to doit for this episode.As always, check out the shownotes for more information.Also, send us your questions,TalkingCars@icloud.com.Thanks for watching.And we'll see you next time.\n"