The Importance of Proper Car Maintenance: Tips from Ryan

When it comes to maintaining your car's performance and efficiency, there are several things you can do to ensure that it runs smoothly and effectively. One of the most important aspects of car maintenance is to keep the sunroof closed when driving in hot weather. This may seem like a small thing, but it can make a big difference in how hot the car gets inside. If the sunroof is open, the sun's rays can heat up the interior of the car, making it uncomfortable for occupants. By keeping the sunroof closed, you can prevent this from happening and keep your car at a comfortable temperature.

In addition to keeping the sunroof closed, there are several other things you can do to cool down your car when driving in hot weather. One of these is to use automatic climate control. While it may seem like turning up the air conditioning will help to cool down the car, this isn't always the case. Automatic climate control systems are designed to maintain a consistent temperature inside the car, regardless of the outside temperature. If you turn up the air conditioning too high, the system may not be able to keep up with the demand, and the car's temperature may not decrease as much as you would like.

To avoid this problem, it's best to use automatic climate control in a way that allows the car to cool down on its own. This means setting the temperature to a moderate level, such as 72 degrees Fahrenheit, rather than trying to blow cold air everywhere. You can also adjust the fan settings to help circulate the air and speed up cooling. Another tip is to watch a YouTube video on how to cool down your car when it's hot outside. Our own Quincy has put together an informative video that shares some valuable tips on this topic.

When it comes to choosing a new car, there are many options available. One popular option is the Kia Niro hybrid. This car is known for its practicality and reliability, making it a great choice for many drivers. However, one thing to consider when buying a Kia Niro hybrid is that it may not be the best choice for everyone. While it gets an estimated 40 miles per gallon, some people may find it boring to drive. Additionally, the car's interior design may not appeal to all drivers.

For those who want a more exciting driving experience, there are other options available. One such option is the Ford C-Max hybrid. This car has a more sporty look and feel than the Kia Niro hybrid, making it a great choice for those who want a fun-to-drive car without sacrificing practicality. The Ford C-Max also gets an estimated 40 miles per gallon, making it a great choice for those looking to save on fuel costs.

Ultimately, when choosing a new car, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. What works best for one person may not work for another. By doing your research and considering different options, you can find a car that meets your needs and preferences.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe talk about presidential tweets the 2019 Chevrolet Blazer our Infiniti qx50 and answer your questions next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode I'm Mike monticello I'm riding to the Wachowski and I'm Keith berry all right guys well I got a ton of notes here so you know what that means we got a lot of time to go through today so let's get right to it we got some auto related news recently president Donald Trump tweeted about the auto industry mm-hmm as he sometimes does tweet mm-hmm occasionally I've heard that and here's what he said he said based on tariffs and trade barriers long placed on the US and it's great companies and workers by the European Union if these tariffs and barriers are not soon broken down and removed we will be placing a 20% tariff on all of their cars coming into the u.s. build them here so Keith I'll throw this to you since you actually lease a European car I do know people what that is yeah I I lease a Jaguar XE diesel not a recommended car yeah yeah not a recommended car from CR but I like this a little more you started working before I started working here when I was making bad decisions I made a good decision all the decisions now so anyway but so what would you tell a consumer who was thinking about buying a European car in the not-too-distant future is this time to panic and get out there and get it while the getting's good or what would you say to them when you know president tweets something like this well I appreciate the softball question on trade policy we can can tweak and cover that here today we're equipped so this is a really tough question to to answer mostly because tariffs are an incredibly complex thing and the supply chain from an automobile is one of the most complex supply chains and in existence parts come from all over the world and we don't know yet I mean this is a tweet and it's a very general tweet there's a lot of emotion in it but there aren't a lot of specifics there's that 20% number but it doesn't necessarily mean that my you know the next Jaguar I buy is going to be 20% more expensive because you know some parts come from different countries that protects color car that's not the case but you know a lot of cars have European cars have seats from the United States a transmission from Japan right you have no idea how much is gonna be but the consumer facing angle to this I I do think that a car that is kind of on the edge of being popular to put it to put it timing they don't sell a lot here in this country exactly so cars like compact sedans like like my car fuel-efficient cars if I were an automaker and I knew that the price was going to go up even a percent I would I would maybe pull that car from the United States right competitive what you're saying is there could be less options if this we don't even know if this is gonna happen no and no nothing if it does happen you know your BMW 3-series isn't necessarily going to go up by 20% it's a little more complicated that's a good point though because you know the sedan is slowly kind of dying in the US and right why would they send them here to be marked up even more and not sell even more yeah it doesn't make sense the other thing I mean Ryan there's there's European cars are actually made here yes there's a lot of European cars made here so I those cars won't be affected theoretically there yeah theoretically so you know BMW SUV is the x3 x4 x5 x6 they're all made in South Carolina yeah basically every one of the refugees other than the x1 and x2 are made here Mercedes I got a list here Mercedes GLA Kia Sorrento Toyota Tundra the Honda Civic the Accord was the first Japanese car to be made in the US and 1982 is still made here I thought that was pretty cool there's a lot of cars that are over just open to plant here right yeah so it is you know these there is some good in this and there's a lot of cars that are made here but to your point earlier they these parts aren't all made here they're coming from all over the world right so you know there's a lot of it's a complicated thing there's gonna be a lot of other issues with it yeah and we don't know if it's gonna happen it's a tweet that's right and you know but this actually brings them out to another topic which is we just published a story on best deals for cars that are made in American by that we mean cars that are assembled here in America and not all the parts we maybe come from them from the rear so we published this story on consumerreports.org and you know what's what's what we did was we had our analysts look at these cars and figure out the cars that have the best incentives and discounts through the July 4th holiday so if you're thinking about buying a new car right now and you want something that's assembled here in the u.s. go to see our org and check out this story interestingly there's only one so the classification was it had to be a recommended Consumer Reports car and it had to have is you know the biggest incentives possible and so there was really only one true American nameplate the Ford f-150 was the only one that made this list you know we've got a several Toyota's some Nissan's some Kia's and a couple of Hyundai's made that list so go check out that story I think you might find it pretty interesting how big of a deal you can get right now and how many cars that seam might seem all-american or actually made actual made up elsewhere yeah yes muscle cars there a lot of them are made in Canada well and also what's interesting on that subject is you know if you look at the window sticker it'll say where the car is assembled you know what country the car is assembled in and then it'll also say the percentage of content content the Senate shows us the age of marks and also where the engine transmission it's kind of interesting if you look at your window sticker so speaking of American cars Chevrolet recently announced that it's bringing back the Blazer yeah but yeah don't let America yep still American car and I think it looks kind of cool I'm gonna throw this to you Ryan because I know you've got a little you know blazer heritage so the Blazer before you know it was based on the s10 pickup uh your family I believe had a couple of weeks yeah we actually my mom had a k5 blazer I forget the year this is us you had the full-size full-size blazer this was like a you know the equivalent to the Bronco right and I was young I forget what year it was but I remember bombing around and that thing literally that was like the sensation you were bouncing around and it was you know big loud Chevy 350 motor and you know we had two different ones actually at one point the years later actually my sister in high school her first car was a the same thing a k5 blazer my father was Kanaka at a garage and this is somebody brought him a car he fixed it up and my sister got it but it was not a safe vehicle she didn't have that for too long that's very smart right yeah but that was a you know a truck body-on-frame truck that was a totally different day and age this is a modern you know a unibody fits between a traverse and an equinox it's just barely bigger yeah so it's it's barely bigger than the equinox yeah just another example of an you know another SUV just getting crammed into a stacked lineup of SUVs right you know it's I mean it's the name blazer is exciting like when I first heard that I was real excited it looks pretty good I think it yeah it's gonna be attractive to people maybe but yeah why not just rename one of the one of the other one yeah yeah I think that first of all you know sedan sales are continuing to go down a little bit so SUVs are where it's at and I think for now Chevy's trying to give you know yeah for now it buyers as many options as possible in that SUV segment what do you what do you think of style I mean some people say it kind of looks like it has like sort of Camaro stuff up front and yeah and so I was I was kind of I was really bullish on the styling until until you talked to me and and said Keith the one you're gonna be able to afford you're not gonna look like that yeah specifically he's trying to pay off that that Jack yeah it's tough it's under warranty though but ya know it's from the front in that kind of RS trim the kind of blacked-out eyes it looks that in a cool the lot of the showing here the RS don't get pretty cool probably won't look white is in the roof and the rear kind of rear quarter is sort of I think looks like the last generation rav4 I think that's where it kind of loses the plot that that floating roof design that's so popular these days I'm not a big fan of that I it just it doesn't fit right to me so look at the side too I wish you know yeah they can fix it yeah I wish a little more boxy because that's what it was you know II when they had the s10 blazer it was literally an s10 pickup they made us do a blazer smaller but it was very boxy and I mean yeah cool what the awesome I think right yeah yeah and you can't obviously have a matt boxy but they can incorporate you know sorry squared off wait for the Bronco right well then taunting was that we've actually years now yeah so yeah so we'll see I mean obviously this is something we're gonna buy we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna test and all that well we'll get one here comes out in early next year and it's gonna have both a four-cylinder and a 3.6 liter v6 with around 305 horsepower and you know then more than more than Blazers past right and of course this car based I like it what struck bass you're not gonna go any but it should be a nicer vehicle to drive theoretically and it will come in front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive and safer for your sister yeah yeah she's moving so let's move on to one of my favorite topics always which is what we're driving at the track what we've driven at the track three million so this week we're gonna deal with the 2019 Infiniti qx50 that we just recently finished testing and the background on this car is that it it replaces what used to be the ex35 now it's been called the qx50 for a few years when infiniti did their big name name changing you could probably make a mathematical formula my good old infiniti names to make them a new one yeah fahrenheit we explained that the e^x was based on the G which is now the q50 we've already lost the bottom line is you guys you can come online and look this up but the bottom line is this used to be a you know rear drive based car and uh it you know was kind of like a tall wagon version of the of there's one of their sedans and now they have this this is shares a platform with the redesigned Nissan Altima so uh and you know now it's front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive when we tested an all-wheel drive person so Keith let's start with you I mean after driving it is this the kind of vehicle that makes you want to you know get in and take a first bill it is not okay um I know you know we talked earlier you know you all had some ideas about the drive pleasant enough I'll let you talk a little more about that but I mean from first look I actually really like that in an age where so many car manufacturers are just making everything look the same for various reasons fuel economy parts commonality fit all that sort of stuff the Infiniti kind of zagged when everyone else's eggs and I like the sort of well that's agging good or bad I don't know I don't know different it will the Katara's zigged so I think I'd rather okay um yeah I like the hood I like kind of how it has those scoops on it I like that you know the swoopy stitching I like the fact that it has it it might not be my taste but I like the fact that they're making a statement about the styling and then you get in the car and you look at how much it costs and you look at the fact that doesn't have doesn't have car play it has one of the worst infotainment systems I've I've ever used in 2018 there's no excuse for that kind of dual setup there's two screens they don't really talk to each other it's it's confusing it look one of them has like a cover over it it looks cheap it really hates I I really like it's it's not but apparently it has this like really interesting engine that I've been reading about for like five years that Nissan is coming out with this and it's gonna be the next big thing well theoretically I mean that's you know so it has as a turbocharged 4-cylinder but the big thing about the turbocharged 4-cylinder is it has its variable compression ratio so that's that's what caught my my attention the styling I think it looks pretty good but I'm not it's too rounded for me and it drives me well but yeah we can talk about the driving with Ryan I want you to explain to the viewers what a variable compression ratio engine is and the benefits you know well the benefit is this they've been able to adjust the compression ratio while you're driving so it's actually adapting to the conditions and your throttle inputs as you're driving so when you have a normal engine has a standard or a fixed compression ratio the Pistons moving up and down and it's it's fixed so you always have a say ten to one compression ratio to have a high if you have a higher compression ratio you can actually use less fuel mm more efficient so say you're cruising and you lift off the throttle you're not using as much you don't need the power so we were gonna use a little less fuel is kind of like GM shuts off a couple cylinders it's also a turbocharged engine so they can look when you lower the the compression ratio the turbochargers actually filling the cylinder with more compressed air making more power when you need the power um so with the there it's it's an optimization thing they're making best condition for what you're doing what does it work well that's so it's it's it's a you know modern engineering it's a feat but it's it didn't return that well I mean we got 22 overall mile per gallon our x3 is a regular turbocharged four-cylinder which I'm sorry that I absolutely love it's our top recommend I should have drives its we can talk about that after but that gets 24 over all right and just for the heck of it on the highway I was the qx50 29 versus 36 out of the x3 so I don't know well and not only so not only is it not getting the better fuel economy that Infiniti promised with this thing mmm and also it's not matching the epa combined figure that's right 26 mpg but it's as compared to our testing right yeah yeah so but it's also not you know the quickest car in the class so it's neither you know it's neither the quickest car in the class nor is it getting the best fuel economy I mean it does 0 to 60 miles per hour in 7.2 seconds but both the audi q5 and the mercedes-benz GLC 300 ma r faster so you know you're it was supposed to be this the best of all worlds and it doesn't work out that way plus it has a continuously variable transmission you know CB t yeah what so it's it's you know it's one of those transmissions that allows the revs to go way up right now what I found is that you know it does make pretty good power and it works pretty well let's say 25 to 30 percent throttle but once you start getting harder into the throttle than that when you're trying to get some real acceleration that's when it is too high and it gets allowed inside because and that's a bit of a bummer because the integral actually is quite is pretty quiet and then I like the interior I think it's comfortable has a pretty decent ride not the best ride in the mouth but a pretty decent ride yeah it also the other thing about this vehicle is it just kind of it drives it's kind of clumsy in the way it handles its mundane you look at it it's not that big of a vehicle but when you're driving it partially because of those crazy you know the way the hood defenders it looks big when you're driving it and it feels big with your accident and it's not the way I think an Infiniti should drive you know when you're finished to drive more supportive the g37 it's that's that's what that's what infinity it pull a hard string you know for the good old days yeah yeah so I mean so okay so what's it what's a better vehicle then the q50 I mean my vote on the x3 yeah that's what I would choose to hold there all right so for full results on the qx50 and go to Consumer Reports org let's move on to your questions great let's get some questions yeah so you know guys and gals we haven't been getting as many 30-second video submissions as we'd like so please send some more to talking cars at icloud.com along with comments and questions anything you want well show you the video if you want to be on talking cars now's the time you'll be semi-famous yeah yeah so let's get to the first question today this person says I recently bought a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Limited lease return it has three driving modes Eco normal and sport just choosing one of those really make much difference in performance and/or fuel economy so Keith how eco is eco and how sporty is sport in a car like the Hyundai Sonata well it depends so when you get like a really high-end car those driving modes will really change the driving dynamics of the car it'll change the air suspension it'll change a bunch of things about it and really be like having it might unlock more horsepower that you don't want to have just driving around the you know driving around town you're not gonna have that in in a sort of average you know midsize sedan what you will have is a different throttle response different shift points all designed to maybe give you a little more power when you when you want it in sport and maybe make it a little harder to you know floor it when you're in Eco so you save a little fuel it's not gonna be a huge difference try them out and see if you like how they how they drive that's that's what I do we actually you know we have we have a Hyundai Sonata right now and and ours has you know I don't know if they change the naming of the modes but ours is Comfort eco and sport and it defaults to comfort and that's the mode you know as a tester right you can you can attest to the fact that we test the cars in in their normal default mode in this case its comfort right yeah we'll make sure before we do any testing that we're in the standard default mode which usually it'll say standard or comfort usually and we make sure we do the testing in there but like he said I mean these are they're not I don't want to call them gimmicks but there there are more ways to trick you into driving you know in an eco mode driving a little more gently so that you don't step on the throttle too hard or too easily and you know Peggy you're yeah exactly in this case you know when you when you put it into Eco mode in our Sonata it makes the throttle a little feels a little heavier a little more dead in a sense like because as if it's trying to get you to you know to not drive as hard the transmission is more reluctant to downshift so that you're keep the car at a lower rpm right when you switch to sport the the bigger thing there is really that it does firm up the steering a little bit yeah but it does do it and you know the throttle becomes more responsive and the transmission also is more responsive I mean it's not big differences but anyway hopefully that answers your question small differences but you know if you if you try hard you can feel something don't don't be afraid to try them out it's not gonna break anything or kill your fuel economy but probably best results just leave it in its normal mode yeah yeah okay here's another question this person says my daughter who lives in a southern state is buying a new car and it's understandably concerned about heat building up in the interior which is more important exterior color or interior fabric color I've always thought dark cars absorb more heat now we recently published a story about this it really has to do with more with you know not leaving kids also safeguards and huge stadiums and how hot we did some testing out how hot cars can get and dr. Emily Thomas you know she always liked me to say talk to because she has a PhD so yeah she did some testing she had a dark-colored car with the dark interior on the same day as a light-colored car with a light interior and the difference is in terms of how hot they got inside were minimal although the important takeaway was they both got totally hot yeah so you know only a few degrees difference but the most important thing is you need to you can't leave children pets or the elderly unattended in your car even even if you think it's not you know that hot of a day the cars gonna get a lot hotter right then you think and it can get dangerous I maybe you know you have any other tips what a second yeah I mean I think this this is one of those cases it's it's kind of like like international trade policy that there's so many variables that you don't know what's gonna happen you know if the Sun moves a little bit or you park next to a tree or you're parked backwards or you close the sunroof I mean it's it's it's gonna hot as hot you know once you get to a certain level it doesn't matter the the key is aside from that safety major safety issue when you get in the car you want to be comfortable you want to make sure that you open those windows get the you know get the air circulating if you've parked the car make sure that you're if you have a sunroof make sure that it's closed close that you like that little motion I do the old school yeah Frank the sunroom yep exactly yeah and make sure it's closed because that's gonna heat the car up even more when you get in the car if you have automatic climate control don't turn it all the way down to sixty because that doesn't matter automatic climate control is gonna bring it to 72 if you set it to 72 the car knows best design that if you want to turn up that fan to make it blow on you that that's that's totally fine I think you're talking about me cuz you get in the car after me and you know if you people do it's you know it's me cuz it's set to a country station and because I said it like 62 but keep in mind I had it at 62 the whole time because I was hot you should then you should watch this YouTube video that our own my Quincy put up and it is about how to cool down your your hot car and that's where I learned all those tips I'm not some sort of cool down your car genius there are actually things that you would learn on this that aren't common sense so check out the video it's on our YouTube channel yeah and and I have seen that video and it's actually pretty hilarious is really funny he goes so go check that video Wow if you want to learn some stuff and get a chuckle okay final question why shouldn't everyone always buy a Kia Niro hybrid for a new car it looks normal seems practical rated safe initial reliability reports are fine drives normal and consistently gives 40 plus mpg if at all it seems to be suboptimal for fun driving in power are there any better hybrid alternatives Ryan you're already laughing over the funny well he's right there's everything he's stated here is correct but I think this is the beauty of the world everybody has a different you know opinion on things they like different vehicles we all drove the same car does this person really want us all driving I know how boring would that be what brings up some good points yeah that's what some alternatives so if you can deal with the fact that it has kind of a funky interior and I actually prefer the neuro straightforward interior but I'm actually owned a lot of Priuses in my life and I love the fact you know ours we rated fifty-two miles a gallon which is better than the the 40 that the Niro gets and your 43 miles yeah and which is that's a significant difference I get you know to get back to my XE to defend it a little bit I get 41 miles a gallon and in you know one of the reasons I got it is because I got a deal on the lease that made it the same price as a variance we've all moved on from your jag or the point is to go with the Prius because it gets such better fuel economy yeah the point of the knee roll was you know it's more they're kind of aiming more like the crossover or SUV crowd from a distance and it looks kind of sporty but then so I thought and it has a more normal transmission instead of a continuously variable transmission or CVT it has a dual clutch transmission which you know is not still a normal full automatic brought it's closer normally they drop you know they have real shift points and all that kind of stuff so I thought that was gonna be okay this is gonna be the hybrid that I'm gonna enjoy driving but it is kind of a little bit boring to drive and even with this normal transmission there's still because of this transmission right this is a dual clutch thing it has some hesitation off the line so now you're like well hold it so we're you know in this case the CVT we'd be better yeah so at least in that instance so I mean it's kind of like they had the opportunity for this car to be really good and they didn't quite you know hit the mark as well as it good it also isn't you know the front seats not super comfortable there's just some things about it this I think it's a great car but it's some it's it's good it's not nothing's perfect yeah it's not pretty no car is for everybody and yeah and you know you could also look I think a Ford c-max hybrid would be something else to think about you know that's kind of if you're looking long throughout that space too it has more you know that's get one quick yeah yeah so that's going to do it for this episode you know if you want to send your questions and comments video submissions again it's talking cars at icloud.com if you want to learn more about the cars we talked about today click on the links in the show notes as always thanks for watching and we'll see you next week youwe talk about presidential tweets the 2019 Chevrolet Blazer our Infiniti qx50 and answer your questions next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode I'm Mike monticello I'm riding to the Wachowski and I'm Keith berry all right guys well I got a ton of notes here so you know what that means we got a lot of time to go through today so let's get right to it we got some auto related news recently president Donald Trump tweeted about the auto industry mm-hmm as he sometimes does tweet mm-hmm occasionally I've heard that and here's what he said he said based on tariffs and trade barriers long placed on the US and it's great companies and workers by the European Union if these tariffs and barriers are not soon broken down and removed we will be placing a 20% tariff on all of their cars coming into the u.s. build them here so Keith I'll throw this to you since you actually lease a European car I do know people what that is yeah I I lease a Jaguar XE diesel not a recommended car yeah yeah not a recommended car from CR but I like this a little more you started working before I started working here when I was making bad decisions I made a good decision all the decisions now so anyway but so what would you tell a consumer who was thinking about buying a European car in the not-too-distant future is this time to panic and get out there and get it while the getting's good or what would you say to them when you know president tweets something like this well I appreciate the softball question on trade policy we can can tweak and cover that here today we're equipped so this is a really tough question to to answer mostly because tariffs are an incredibly complex thing and the supply chain from an automobile is one of the most complex supply chains and in existence parts come from all over the world and we don't know yet I mean this is a tweet and it's a very general tweet there's a lot of emotion in it but there aren't a lot of specifics there's that 20% number but it doesn't necessarily mean that my you know the next Jaguar I buy is going to be 20% more expensive because you know some parts come from different countries that protects color car that's not the case but you know a lot of cars have European cars have seats from the United States a transmission from Japan right you have no idea how much is gonna be but the consumer facing angle to this I I do think that a car that is kind of on the edge of being popular to put it to put it timing they don't sell a lot here in this country exactly so cars like compact sedans like like my car fuel-efficient cars if I were an automaker and I knew that the price was going to go up even a percent I would I would maybe pull that car from the United States right competitive what you're saying is there could be less options if this we don't even know if this is gonna happen no and no nothing if it does happen you know your BMW 3-series isn't necessarily going to go up by 20% it's a little more complicated that's a good point though because you know the sedan is slowly kind of dying in the US and right why would they send them here to be marked up even more and not sell even more yeah it doesn't make sense the other thing I mean Ryan there's there's European cars are actually made here yes there's a lot of European cars made here so I those cars won't be affected theoretically there yeah theoretically so you know BMW SUV is the x3 x4 x5 x6 they're all made in South Carolina yeah basically every one of the refugees other than the x1 and x2 are made here Mercedes I got a list here Mercedes GLA Kia Sorrento Toyota Tundra the Honda Civic the Accord was the first Japanese car to be made in the US and 1982 is still made here I thought that was pretty cool there's a lot of cars that are over just open to plant here right yeah so it is you know these there is some good in this and there's a lot of cars that are made here but to your point earlier they these parts aren't all made here they're coming from all over the world right so you know there's a lot of it's a complicated thing there's gonna be a lot of other issues with it yeah and we don't know if it's gonna happen it's a tweet that's right and you know but this actually brings them out to another topic which is we just published a story on best deals for cars that are made in American by that we mean cars that are assembled here in America and not all the parts we maybe come from them from the rear so we published this story on consumerreports.org and you know what's what's what we did was we had our analysts look at these cars and figure out the cars that have the best incentives and discounts through the July 4th holiday so if you're thinking about buying a new car right now and you want something that's assembled here in the u.s. go to see our org and check out this story interestingly there's only one so the classification was it had to be a recommended Consumer Reports car and it had to have is you know the biggest incentives possible and so there was really only one true American nameplate the Ford f-150 was the only one that made this list you know we've got a several Toyota's some Nissan's some Kia's and a couple of Hyundai's made that list so go check out that story I think you might find it pretty interesting how big of a deal you can get right now and how many cars that seam might seem all-american or actually made actual made up elsewhere yeah yes muscle cars there a lot of them are made in Canada well and also what's interesting on that subject is you know if you look at the window sticker it'll say where the car is assembled you know what country the car is assembled in and then it'll also say the percentage of content content the Senate shows us the age of marks and also where the engine transmission it's kind of interesting if you look at your window sticker so speaking of American cars Chevrolet recently announced that it's bringing back the Blazer yeah but yeah don't let America yep still American car and I think it looks kind of cool I'm gonna throw this to you Ryan because I know you've got a little you know blazer heritage so the Blazer before you know it was based on the s10 pickup uh your family I believe had a couple of weeks yeah we actually my mom had a k5 blazer I forget the year this is us you had the full-size full-size blazer this was like a you know the equivalent to the Bronco right and I was young I forget what year it was but I remember bombing around and that thing literally that was like the sensation you were bouncing around and it was you know big loud Chevy 350 motor and you know we had two different ones actually at one point the years later actually my sister in high school her first car was a the same thing a k5 blazer my father was Kanaka at a garage and this is somebody brought him a car he fixed it up and my sister got it but it was not a safe vehicle she didn't have that for too long that's very smart right yeah but that was a you know a truck body-on-frame truck that was a totally different day and age this is a modern you know a unibody fits between a traverse and an equinox it's just barely bigger yeah so it's it's barely bigger than the equinox yeah just another example of an you know another SUV just getting crammed into a stacked lineup of SUVs right you know it's I mean it's the name blazer is exciting like when I first heard that I was real excited it looks pretty good I think it yeah it's gonna be attractive to people maybe but yeah why not just rename one of the one of the other one yeah yeah I think that first of all you know sedan sales are continuing to go down a little bit so SUVs are where it's at and I think for now Chevy's trying to give you know yeah for now it buyers as many options as possible in that SUV segment what do you what do you think of style I mean some people say it kind of looks like it has like sort of Camaro stuff up front and yeah and so I was I was kind of I was really bullish on the styling until until you talked to me and and said Keith the one you're gonna be able to afford you're not gonna look like that yeah specifically he's trying to pay off that that Jack yeah it's tough it's under warranty though but ya know it's from the front in that kind of RS trim the kind of blacked-out eyes it looks that in a cool the lot of the showing here the RS don't get pretty cool probably won't look white is in the roof and the rear kind of rear quarter is sort of I think looks like the last generation rav4 I think that's where it kind of loses the plot that that floating roof design that's so popular these days I'm not a big fan of that I it just it doesn't fit right to me so look at the side too I wish you know yeah they can fix it yeah I wish a little more boxy because that's what it was you know II when they had the s10 blazer it was literally an s10 pickup they made us do a blazer smaller but it was very boxy and I mean yeah cool what the awesome I think right yeah yeah and you can't obviously have a matt boxy but they can incorporate you know sorry squared off wait for the Bronco right well then taunting was that we've actually years now yeah so yeah so we'll see I mean obviously this is something we're gonna buy we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna test and all that well we'll get one here comes out in early next year and it's gonna have both a four-cylinder and a 3.6 liter v6 with around 305 horsepower and you know then more than more than Blazers past right and of course this car based I like it what struck bass you're not gonna go any but it should be a nicer vehicle to drive theoretically and it will come in front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive and safer for your sister yeah yeah she's moving so let's move on to one of my favorite topics always which is what we're driving at the track what we've driven at the track three million so this week we're gonna deal with the 2019 Infiniti qx50 that we just recently finished testing and the background on this car is that it it replaces what used to be the ex35 now it's been called the qx50 for a few years when infiniti did their big name name changing you could probably make a mathematical formula my good old infiniti names to make them a new one yeah fahrenheit we explained that the e^x was based on the G which is now the q50 we've already lost the bottom line is you guys you can come online and look this up but the bottom line is this used to be a you know rear drive based car and uh it you know was kind of like a tall wagon version of the of there's one of their sedans and now they have this this is shares a platform with the redesigned Nissan Altima so uh and you know now it's front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive when we tested an all-wheel drive person so Keith let's start with you I mean after driving it is this the kind of vehicle that makes you want to you know get in and take a first bill it is not okay um I know you know we talked earlier you know you all had some ideas about the drive pleasant enough I'll let you talk a little more about that but I mean from first look I actually really like that in an age where so many car manufacturers are just making everything look the same for various reasons fuel economy parts commonality fit all that sort of stuff the Infiniti kind of zagged when everyone else's eggs and I like the sort of well that's agging good or bad I don't know I don't know different it will the Katara's zigged so I think I'd rather okay um yeah I like the hood I like kind of how it has those scoops on it I like that you know the swoopy stitching I like the fact that it has it it might not be my taste but I like the fact that they're making a statement about the styling and then you get in the car and you look at how much it costs and you look at the fact that doesn't have doesn't have car play it has one of the worst infotainment systems I've I've ever used in 2018 there's no excuse for that kind of dual setup there's two screens they don't really talk to each other it's it's confusing it look one of them has like a cover over it it looks cheap it really hates I I really like it's it's not but apparently it has this like really interesting engine that I've been reading about for like five years that Nissan is coming out with this and it's gonna be the next big thing well theoretically I mean that's you know so it has as a turbocharged 4-cylinder but the big thing about the turbocharged 4-cylinder is it has its variable compression ratio so that's that's what caught my my attention the styling I think it looks pretty good but I'm not it's too rounded for me and it drives me well but yeah we can talk about the driving with Ryan I want you to explain to the viewers what a variable compression ratio engine is and the benefits you know well the benefit is this they've been able to adjust the compression ratio while you're driving so it's actually adapting to the conditions and your throttle inputs as you're driving so when you have a normal engine has a standard or a fixed compression ratio the Pistons moving up and down and it's it's fixed so you always have a say ten to one compression ratio to have a high if you have a higher compression ratio you can actually use less fuel mm more efficient so say you're cruising and you lift off the throttle you're not using as much you don't need the power so we were gonna use a little less fuel is kind of like GM shuts off a couple cylinders it's also a turbocharged engine so they can look when you lower the the compression ratio the turbochargers actually filling the cylinder with more compressed air making more power when you need the power um so with the there it's it's an optimization thing they're making best condition for what you're doing what does it work well that's so it's it's it's a you know modern engineering it's a feat but it's it didn't return that well I mean we got 22 overall mile per gallon our x3 is a regular turbocharged four-cylinder which I'm sorry that I absolutely love it's our top recommend I should have drives its we can talk about that after but that gets 24 over all right and just for the heck of it on the highway I was the qx50 29 versus 36 out of the x3 so I don't know well and not only so not only is it not getting the better fuel economy that Infiniti promised with this thing mmm and also it's not matching the epa combined figure that's right 26 mpg but it's as compared to our testing right yeah yeah so but it's also not you know the quickest car in the class so it's neither you know it's neither the quickest car in the class nor is it getting the best fuel economy I mean it does 0 to 60 miles per hour in 7.2 seconds but both the audi q5 and the mercedes-benz GLC 300 ma r faster so you know you're it was supposed to be this the best of all worlds and it doesn't work out that way plus it has a continuously variable transmission you know CB t yeah what so it's it's you know it's one of those transmissions that allows the revs to go way up right now what I found is that you know it does make pretty good power and it works pretty well let's say 25 to 30 percent throttle but once you start getting harder into the throttle than that when you're trying to get some real acceleration that's when it is too high and it gets allowed inside because and that's a bit of a bummer because the integral actually is quite is pretty quiet and then I like the interior I think it's comfortable has a pretty decent ride not the best ride in the mouth but a pretty decent ride yeah it also the other thing about this vehicle is it just kind of it drives it's kind of clumsy in the way it handles its mundane you look at it it's not that big of a vehicle but when you're driving it partially because of those crazy you know the way the hood defenders it looks big when you're driving it and it feels big with your accident and it's not the way I think an Infiniti should drive you know when you're finished to drive more supportive the g37 it's that's that's what that's what infinity it pull a hard string you know for the good old days yeah yeah so I mean so okay so what's it what's a better vehicle then the q50 I mean my vote on the x3 yeah that's what I would choose to hold there all right so for full results on the qx50 and go to Consumer Reports org let's move on to your questions great let's get some questions yeah so you know guys and gals we haven't been getting as many 30-second video submissions as we'd like so please send some more to talking cars at icloud.com along with comments and questions anything you want well show you the video if you want to be on talking cars now's the time you'll be semi-famous yeah yeah so let's get to the first question today this person says I recently bought a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Limited lease return it has three driving modes Eco normal and sport just choosing one of those really make much difference in performance and/or fuel economy so Keith how eco is eco and how sporty is sport in a car like the Hyundai Sonata well it depends so when you get like a really high-end car those driving modes will really change the driving dynamics of the car it'll change the air suspension it'll change a bunch of things about it and really be like having it might unlock more horsepower that you don't want to have just driving around the you know driving around town you're not gonna have that in in a sort of average you know midsize sedan what you will have is a different throttle response different shift points all designed to maybe give you a little more power when you when you want it in sport and maybe make it a little harder to you know floor it when you're in Eco so you save a little fuel it's not gonna be a huge difference try them out and see if you like how they how they drive that's that's what I do we actually you know we have we have a Hyundai Sonata right now and and ours has you know I don't know if they change the naming of the modes but ours is Comfort eco and sport and it defaults to comfort and that's the mode you know as a tester right you can you can attest to the fact that we test the cars in in their normal default mode in this case its comfort right yeah we'll make sure before we do any testing that we're in the standard default mode which usually it'll say standard or comfort usually and we make sure we do the testing in there but like he said I mean these are they're not I don't want to call them gimmicks but there there are more ways to trick you into driving you know in an eco mode driving a little more gently so that you don't step on the throttle too hard or too easily and you know Peggy you're yeah exactly in this case you know when you when you put it into Eco mode in our Sonata it makes the throttle a little feels a little heavier a little more dead in a sense like because as if it's trying to get you to you know to not drive as hard the transmission is more reluctant to downshift so that you're keep the car at a lower rpm right when you switch to sport the the bigger thing there is really that it does firm up the steering a little bit yeah but it does do it and you know the throttle becomes more responsive and the transmission also is more responsive I mean it's not big differences but anyway hopefully that answers your question small differences but you know if you if you try hard you can feel something don't don't be afraid to try them out it's not gonna break anything or kill your fuel economy but probably best results just leave it in its normal mode yeah yeah okay here's another question this person says my daughter who lives in a southern state is buying a new car and it's understandably concerned about heat building up in the interior which is more important exterior color or interior fabric color I've always thought dark cars absorb more heat now we recently published a story about this it really has to do with more with you know not leaving kids also safeguards and huge stadiums and how hot we did some testing out how hot cars can get and dr. Emily Thomas you know she always liked me to say talk to because she has a PhD so yeah she did some testing she had a dark-colored car with the dark interior on the same day as a light-colored car with a light interior and the difference is in terms of how hot they got inside were minimal although the important takeaway was they both got totally hot yeah so you know only a few degrees difference but the most important thing is you need to you can't leave children pets or the elderly unattended in your car even even if you think it's not you know that hot of a day the cars gonna get a lot hotter right then you think and it can get dangerous I maybe you know you have any other tips what a second yeah I mean I think this this is one of those cases it's it's kind of like like international trade policy that there's so many variables that you don't know what's gonna happen you know if the Sun moves a little bit or you park next to a tree or you're parked backwards or you close the sunroof I mean it's it's it's gonna hot as hot you know once you get to a certain level it doesn't matter the the key is aside from that safety major safety issue when you get in the car you want to be comfortable you want to make sure that you open those windows get the you know get the air circulating if you've parked the car make sure that you're if you have a sunroof make sure that it's closed close that you like that little motion I do the old school yeah Frank the sunroom yep exactly yeah and make sure it's closed because that's gonna heat the car up even more when you get in the car if you have automatic climate control don't turn it all the way down to sixty because that doesn't matter automatic climate control is gonna bring it to 72 if you set it to 72 the car knows best design that if you want to turn up that fan to make it blow on you that that's that's totally fine I think you're talking about me cuz you get in the car after me and you know if you people do it's you know it's me cuz it's set to a country station and because I said it like 62 but keep in mind I had it at 62 the whole time because I was hot you should then you should watch this YouTube video that our own my Quincy put up and it is about how to cool down your your hot car and that's where I learned all those tips I'm not some sort of cool down your car genius there are actually things that you would learn on this that aren't common sense so check out the video it's on our YouTube channel yeah and and I have seen that video and it's actually pretty hilarious is really funny he goes so go check that video Wow if you want to learn some stuff and get a chuckle okay final question why shouldn't everyone always buy a Kia Niro hybrid for a new car it looks normal seems practical rated safe initial reliability reports are fine drives normal and consistently gives 40 plus mpg if at all it seems to be suboptimal for fun driving in power are there any better hybrid alternatives Ryan you're already laughing over the funny well he's right there's everything he's stated here is correct but I think this is the beauty of the world everybody has a different you know opinion on things they like different vehicles we all drove the same car does this person really want us all driving I know how boring would that be what brings up some good points yeah that's what some alternatives so if you can deal with the fact that it has kind of a funky interior and I actually prefer the neuro straightforward interior but I'm actually owned a lot of Priuses in my life and I love the fact you know ours we rated fifty-two miles a gallon which is better than the the 40 that the Niro gets and your 43 miles yeah and which is that's a significant difference I get you know to get back to my XE to defend it a little bit I get 41 miles a gallon and in you know one of the reasons I got it is because I got a deal on the lease that made it the same price as a variance we've all moved on from your jag or the point is to go with the Prius because it gets such better fuel economy yeah the point of the knee roll was you know it's more they're kind of aiming more like the crossover or SUV crowd from a distance and it looks kind of sporty but then so I thought and it has a more normal transmission instead of a continuously variable transmission or CVT it has a dual clutch transmission which you know is not still a normal full automatic brought it's closer normally they drop you know they have real shift points and all that kind of stuff so I thought that was gonna be okay this is gonna be the hybrid that I'm gonna enjoy driving but it is kind of a little bit boring to drive and even with this normal transmission there's still because of this transmission right this is a dual clutch thing it has some hesitation off the line so now you're like well hold it so we're you know in this case the CVT we'd be better yeah so at least in that instance so I mean it's kind of like they had the opportunity for this car to be really good and they didn't quite you know hit the mark as well as it good it also isn't you know the front seats not super comfortable there's just some things about it this I think it's a great car but it's some it's it's good it's not nothing's perfect yeah it's not pretty no car is for everybody and yeah and you know you could also look I think a Ford c-max hybrid would be something else to think about you know that's kind of if you're looking long throughout that space too it has more you know that's get one quick yeah yeah so that's going to do it for this episode you know if you want to send your questions and comments video submissions again it's talking cars at icloud.com if you want to learn more about the cars we talked about today click on the links in the show notes as always thanks for watching and we'll see you next week you\n"