Reliability is a Crucial Factor in Car Buying Decisions

When it comes to purchasing a new car, reliability is an essential consideration that can make all the difference between finding the perfect vehicle and settling for a mediocre one. A reliable car can save you money in the long run by reducing maintenance costs, while a less-than-reliable model can lead to costly repairs down the road. In this article, we'll explore the importance of reliability and how it affects our perception of different vehicles.

The Volvo XC90: A Gorgeous but Flawed Vehicle

One car that often comes up in conversations about reliability is the Volvo XC90. While the exterior design of this vehicle is undoubtedly stunning, with its sleek lines and premium materials, the interior is where things get a bit more complicated. The infotainment screen can be finicky to use, and while the interior itself is well-appointed, it's not exactly a driver's car. The Volvo XC90 rides stiffly, which may not appeal to everyone, but its high seating position and thin pillars do provide excellent visibility.

The Importance of Driving Experience

For many car enthusiasts, driving experience is paramount. A good vehicle should be enjoyable to drive, with responsive handling and a smooth ride. While the Volvo XC90 is comfortable and luxurious, it's not exactly what we'd call a driver's car. In contrast, the Audi Q7 offers a more engaging driving experience, thanks to its agile handling and more refined suspension.

The Land Cruiser: A Reliable but Fuel-Hungry Beast

Next up is the Toyota Land Cruiser, a vehicle that's known for its off-road prowess and reliability. However, when it comes to fuel efficiency, the Land Cruiser leaves much to be desired. With an estimated EPA rating of just 12 mpg combined, it's not exactly the most economical choice. While it may not handle well on paved roads, the Land Cruiser is a formidable force in the rough stuff.

A Final Word from Our Host

So, what do we think? Is the Volvo XC90 reliable enough to justify its premium price tag? Or is there something more out there that meets our needs? Our host shares his thoughts on this and other vehicles. "I mean, it's a vehicle I mean the Land Cruiser is you know well known long line they have a Lexus version the LX 570 but we haven't tested one in a while," he says. "It's all on them, I mean I haven't been in one in a while, I know they have a new 8-speed automatic now, but you know it seems like there's nothing really wrong with the vehicle other than it gets really poor fuel mileage and doesn't handle very well on a road if you're gonna go off-road it's a great vehicle certainly if you are never gonna go off-road I think there's better choices maybe a maybe a Cadillac Escalade maybe a Mercedes GL, you know big vehicles like that."

The Legacy of the Land Cruiser

Interestingly, despite its age and lack of major updates in recent years, the Toyota Land Cruiser remains a beloved choice among outdoor enthusiasts. In fact, many buyers are willing to pay a premium for this vehicle simply because it's hard to find. With only about 3,000 units sold per year in the United States, the Land Cruiser is essentially a niche product that caters to a specific market.

Conclusion

In conclusion, reliability is an essential factor to consider when purchasing a new car. While the Volvo XC90 and Toyota Land Cruiser may offer some benefits, they also have their drawbacks. By doing your research and understanding what matters most to you in a vehicle, you can make an informed decision that meets your needs and budget. Whether you're looking for a luxurious sedan or an off-road warrior, there's a car out there that's right for you.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe talked about the Cadillac ct-6 and xt5 as well as the Toyota Prius and the new Chevy Volt and what's the best 3 row SUV next I'm talking cars hi everyone and welcome to talking cars with Consumer Reports sitting in for top Mutchler I'm John linka I'm Jake Fisher and I'm Mike Monticello so I want to welcome you guys helping me out in my first podcast here hosting we got a lot of topics to talk about today talk about the Cadillac resurgence like this xt5 behind us got some viewer questions about three row SUVs and then a couple other things about some vehicles that we may or may not have tested what we're gonna have so let's jump right into it Cadillac resurgence we have added the ct6 sedan and the xt5 SUV to our fleet want to get your guys impressions on it we have driven them a little bit but we also had some press cars so Jake what do you think about these two Cadillac that's a car what's a brand brand flag for me so I mean look I mean we talk a lot about Cadillacs on the show we've Bhutan's we've got a lot about Cadillacs in general and they are doing something really really good and it's kind of started with I guess the CT CTS Cadillac CTS and then the the latest is the CT six which is their larger vehicle they drive really good it's like this best-kept secret right I mean really when you compare it to like mercedes-benz or BMW these things drive incredibly it's an amazing ride and handling combination that really just blow the way even the GM the the German right competitors which is where their focus I mean they're targeting mercedes banz ready you know they are W and in some cases you think they're out BMW in for example being done I think they absolutely are I mean when you look at our mainstream offerings the way they have designed in tune these vehicles they've nailed it now does it matter I mean the sales aren't necessarily showing that especially in terms of the cars it seems like people I mean certainly just brand conscious people and that's good to drive a lot of it there's a lot of stigma still you know people think Cadillac is an older you know they like Rome or something like that you know and then so so yeah so in terms of cars yeah they're they're they're nailing it so you know you've gotten a couple of them what do you think about first let's talk about the xe5 you know cuz place the SRX and it's got some interesting feature that the all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive well it's it's funny it's almost like two different companies are designing you know the sedans versus the SUV's ct6 just fantastic I mean it really drives wonderfully xt5 as much as they want to act like this is an all-new vehicle and you know completely different than the SRX it kind of feels like an SRX you know it's got a sloppy steering and but it rides pretty stiff the engines pretty loud a higher rpm you know there's some good things about it too the start/stop fires up amazingly quickly yeah General Motors and Chevrolet in general I think their most recent products I think we've seen with the new Malibu's as well the - the hybrid as well as a regular Malibu and also I think of the cruises you know they have instantaneous you can't turn it on and off on the cruise you can yeah right you're initially you're like where's the button to turn off the rest I don't need to turn off but but I just wanna bring it back from the details and you read those details but but I think you've nailed it they're two different car code but that's right there's Cadillac cars there's kind of like trucks so they're always having this difference and the Cadillac trucks have been yeah but they're making more money right I mean people are selling these things because people look at the right one SUVs right Cadillac cars have been incredible and this is just another example of a Cadillac truck which is just yeah and it may not have it may not matter I mean they're gonna buy it anyway it looks it looks good it's the right side right you know I mean it's it's certainly something is very functional for a lot of people but but no I mean it does not drive again you know just like I compare this cars where I think they're out doing BMW right now they certainly are not out doing BMW when it comes to dress-ups I mean let's face it this is not a vehicle I mean make no mistake this is not a vehicle that is based off of a rear drive Cadillac you know high locomotive right this is a front drive and this is basically you know a Highlander yeah I mean so much so that it's front-wheel drive and if you want all-wheel drive there's a button to cycle through to get to the all-wheel drive mode so it's cheating for fuel economy it's playing the game it's what most people want but you know what if you want to stop it and pull on to an on-ramp you know or make it look you're spinning the tires which you're not expecting in most unless you bought a front-wheel drive only and you could keep it in all no driving in that and that rectifies this but I mean in terms of just everyday driving it you know if you are used to buying you know plus 3q v exactly exactly or the new mercedes-benz DLC that we haven't sleep which is just wonderful vehicle this ain't this a Annette right and the visibility it's got the same thick pillars it's got Q a little better but still he was a mess inside but the interior is pretty nice I mean the materials are really good and I like the way they have all these different types of materials you know that the upper - is one material then the lower - is a little different material they do that really nicely and if you're getting the ct6 realized they do a lot of the same stuff together right but as a driving vehicle it's just it's just not it's kind of yeah well Eminem's Roddy asked you know how do we purchase the XC five right here was it in platinum no we didn't buy the Platinum that's a very small segment we test-drove a platinum version we even had that trick rear mirror rear view mirror camera where in the rear mirror you see a huge wide image from behind you it's nice but you know it's not really a good substitute for good visibility and the XC five doesn't really have great rear visibility I mean we actually have that feature on our Cadillac ct-6 and I would have to say it's nice I mean what okay I mean theoretically and people been asking for it seems logical right it's like you got the rear camera you've got the rear view mirror they kind of do the same thing and what they're able to do is they're they have a camera and they put it where the rearview mirror is we flip it over and now suddenly you don't see the people behind you you don't see the headrest seems cool in theory right the problem is it's they created this wide-angle view which makes everything very small it's a little odd to look at it first you have to get used to it you can't actually make out the car behind you for instance because everything is kind of condensed and small so I I'd use a little bit I'm not a big fan of anyway well what I say is they're both in test we're gonna be putting on the miles you know they're thousand miles or so right now we'll have more coming off moving to another General Motors product that's GM the Chevrolet Volt okay so we did a big story we did a big story on online in our magazine Chevy Volt Toyota Prius we talked about the Prius a lot with it's 52 miles per gallon overall but Chevy Volt we want people want to know what do we think about it well the neat thing about both vehicles they're both fully redesigned and the Volt now it's it's electric range is now up to a legitimate 50 miles before I think it was mid 30s so now you can you should be able to most commutes not all commutes you should be able to get to and from work on one charge certainly and then go home and recharge it overnight and your that's that's the way to use a bolt you can even take advantage if your employer has it you can just plug it into 110 you could use their for high-speed charger you know to do your overnight quote-unquote charge during the day right it's a little slow too you know on the charging but you know if you haven't used all your electricity in it then it won't matter you you should still be okay and you know it drives better than before it feels less one of our guys said the old one felt like a science project it wasn't quite finished and I think that really sums up the old Volt pretty well this one feels like a much more normal car and you know because it you know with the electric power initially you've got two or ninety four pound-feet of torque so it stops the Prius aquiline right you know it's like two seconds quicker zero to 60 so there's a lot of good things about it but the Prius feels like a more normal car you never have to plug it in and it's always efficient all the time right I mean Prius has always been a top pick when it's when we had one that was current test it's 10 years running I believe except for this past year when they redesigned it you know JQ you have an older Prius you know your wife drives but what do you guys think about the new one in comparison with the Volt you know which is the real choice for someone who's a a driver but also green thinking I mean and has a family I mean look I mean III think it goes without saying that the sales of the Prius or they're gonna just just stomp the the Volt and and I think what the Volt is you know you've got the two power trains I mean certainly they've improved it in every way they have but it's little does have a bunch of compromises because you carry around kind of too big power trains you know I mean you try to you know the rear seat is totally compromised it's a joke I mean before it was only two passenger now there's a third seat belt but I really pity and it's still on user it doesn't even work well for a child seat which is where they say well the child could fit in here but the perch is so short most rear-facing seats would hang off of it so it's not even a great spot for a so you've got battery that could carry around 50 to 50 miles you've got a full engine that could power the car all the time you've got the gas tank to do all that subs so you've got a lot of complexity and and the thing about I mean the paranthesis it just works right it's such it's so proven I mean it's been around for what 15 15 18 years yeah and it's been reliable and it works and and you know again you don't have to plug it in but you're getting ridiculously good fuel economy so I think that's gonna be the big seller it's funny that they've almost swapped stylised know before the Prius was kind of boring it was just whatever and and the bolt was kind of a little weird looking with that really high tail yeah and now the Volt is actually a pretty good-looking car and the Prius is a little weird it's a family vehicle finally and you see the Cruze you see the Malibu right yeah you know the interior like you said it's not a science experience not weird it doesn't have the capacitive buttons that are just driving was almost like GM tried so hard with the last one to make it look as close to the show car that they said forget it we'll just run with the interior that we've got from the show and it was a mess you know the the vault the big thing that I've seen again with the Prius you turned that car on in the winter or in a cold morning you get heat it's got an engine it's running the Volt you're like using the seat heaters and the stereo will heater and you're cranking it up and hoping it kicks in you know that that's a compromise and that's an on deal for me between the tight rear seat you know for family use but no heat yeah well that was weird I was surprised this winter when that happened you know so we've got some viewer questions we're gonna move on to a lot of it's about 300 SUVs so we've got three here achilles eight nine one asks 2017 GMC Acadia or Mazda cx-9 which is better jatha zero six two three asks how does the kia sorento compared to the cx-9 and then hkm for life is confused on purchasing a Dodge Durango built on much like content here v6 rear wheel drive either limited or Citadel versus the cx-9 I need a daily driver for my kids schools activities so cx-9 versus new Acadia verse sorrento verse thank you the rank working on the chart yes yeah so I mean okay some of things someone that we're not done testing you know that that's really more at the bottom but um they're different they're it's different strokes for different folks right I mean if you're looking for something that's really enjoyable to drive that's probably cx-9 is that the best one for a family and livability it maybe not you look at you know the let's say the take them one by one but the the Kia Sorento I mean inside that's probably got more the features it's a bit nicer inside it's a bit more comfortable a bit bit larger the infotainment is kind of worked out a very straightforward one it's a heritage yeah it's a very nice car to live with does it have the steering of the cx-9 no is that what you're looking for in a three row SUV maybe not Dodge Durango Dodge Durango you know I mean the Durango makes sense if you don't you need you need more capability that's that sure that's your car if not you know maybe it's a little bit more than than you need new Acadia the new Acadia the new Acadia you know inside it's quite nice certainly not the driving drivers car yeah but are any of these really for that but that's the thing you know I mean are is that really what you're looking for I mean I think you know the Acadia certainly has the potential to give it you know again the Kia Sorento but it's it's generally gonna be a lot more money what'll be interesting to see what what Chevy does when they come out with a traverse which would be a less expensive write in that market vehicle and hopefully they get that right that's another really good competitor in that market you know one of the ones that's not mentioned here toyed a Highlander compared with with these other ones it almost seems a little bit dated yeah you know not the option particularly may be compared to the Acadia but you know and that Sorento as well yeah I'm the Highlander is still even though it might seem dated it still works really well the Acadia kind of like the xt5 within its class just drives kind of blah the Sorento I mean strong reliability strong or satisfaction top pick this year right so you know we recommend it but you know compared to like a cx-9 Mazda just always seems to get the little things right you know the the throttle is always a little just nicer when it when it comes on and the brakes just a nicer feel to them the steering has a little better feel so if you care about that stuff the Mazdas probably the better choice that said we haven't tested it yet so we can't say for certain yeah but you know those are the things that make me choose something like a Mazda see yeah and the Durango just drive it you know pretty big but I just wanna hang on something you said they get the little things right they also get the little things wrong yeah you know I mean they do have that attention to the drivers vehicle but in terms of some of the creature comfort stuff they leave out a few things I mean the infotainment systems not quite there I mean that that power seat doesn't really have all the adjustments that you need I mean it's it's it's it's interesting they kind of they they pick their battles yeah infotainment hasn't really popped Mazda up well in consumer consumer reports owner satisfaction surveys you know this people have really kind of banged on that one's being a convoluted system difficult to use and then you get into the new mods and it's there and it's very prominent and it's you know it's how you got it get through everything what I found it's it's we had a top-level version that we borrowed from Mazda as well as we have have our tested one very nice very luxurious interior you know if your cross shopping it with maybe some upscale SUVs you might look at it and say oh you know maybe I will step down and save a little bit of money the drivers car but not the luxury vehicle and where they're positioned also you're only allowed to get the a lot of advanced safety features is an option on higher trims not on the base trim and that's a problem as well you know we really want to see forward collision warning with automatic braking at least available on every model it's not standard on every trip and that's an issue with the Mazda and welcome knew exactly yeah they explained that implement system a little better to us when they were here and I'm a slow learner admittedly I still didn't fully understand you know the quick ways to navigate around the system yeah yeah some weird hard keys the you know keeping favorites that always you know befuddles me so to speak but well I do think for parents they have either borrowed or bought the patent or whatever it is from Nissan Infiniti you can move the second row seat forward with the child seat installed so again family friendly feature but there's other things such as a real high waistline and hard for kids to see out so in tests as well we'll get to that moving on to another viewer question viewer two two three five eight asks why don't you guys mention the Volvo xc90 it is a great SUV just like the Audi q7 so out eq7 is our top rated SUV it's really nice it's really nice it's $70,000 so you know it has a lot of a lot of three features in it it's very roomy I was shocked I took it this past weekend I fit two kids in the backseat with an adult in the center and they were comfortable my MDX I couldn't do that so nice vehicle but why not so we think with the Volvo I mean it's it's actually a very nice vehicle to drive I mean I think we all kind of appreciate it it certainly moves Volvo quite a bit it's got a lot of showroom appeal that's for sure really there's kind of two Achilles heels with the Volvo I mean one is the the infotainment system which is kind of like kind of while these stuck in no that's much simpler yeah you know so I mean there's that I mean but if you look past that it's the question about reliability and that's really what why why we're really talking about the queue and we're not necessarily talking about the Volvo so I mean Volvo has been kind of okay in terms of reliability howdy has have poke we're about five years now of just their entire product line being very good in terms of reliability Volvo they've changed so much on that car on a new engine by doing everything every in a supercharged that they've been running they've been doing it for a while so I mean it's really kind of a big roll of a dice right now you know we should have a lot more data on this vehicle in the fall and and maybe we'll see how it goes but I think it's too much of a gamble oh yeah I think anybody goes further than that though I mean the xc90 look I think it's a gorgeous vehicle I think it looks really good that infotainment screen looks neat the interior is really well done except that the infotainment screen is hard to use so it looks really good inside good materials but you know and it's got this turbocharged supercharged engine you think it's gonna you know be really strong and it's only okay you know whereas the the q7 feels really good right you'll economy that's c90 rides pretty stiff so it's just not as nice of a driving vehicle as the q7 yeah you have a very high seating positions thrown like but thin pillars great visibility but yeah not a real driver's car it's not bad it's just not as good as the Q so I think that's why we don't bring it up as much yeah he feels finished yeah it is a finished product and styling you know styling either beholder you know whether you like the way out he's gone versus the bolbo look and such but yeah the question of reliability is a big one with this new Volvo um we're you disagreeing with me saying it deputy 90 is good-looking uh no no what I'm saying is that is that I don't look at it in that in that sense in this and you know oh well you know looks trumpet I mean for what I want is I want what works for the driver because that's where you spend all your time if I was sitting with a piece of art you know I wouldn't want it to have a nice great frame you know it holds that picture in there I want it to look nice and that's the same thing when I'm driving the car I want it to be usable and you're out rated by the screen I'm frustrated by a screen that washes out you're like what which way am I supposed to Swahili exactly so one final question we've got so Christopher Perez wants to know have you guys purchased a 2016 Toyota Landcruiser please test that beast please beasts beasts I see now exactly it's a vehicle I mean the Land Cruiser is you know well known long line they have a Lexus version the LX 570 but we haven't tested one in a while you know it's all on them I mean I haven't been in one in a while I know they have a new 8-speed automatic now but you know it seems like there's nothing really wrong with the vehicle other than it gets really poor fuel mileage and doesn't handle very well on a road if you're gonna go off-road it's a great vehicle certainly if you are never gonna go off-road I think there's better choices maybe a maybe a Cadillac Escalade maybe a Mercedes GL you know big vehicles like that but I mean you know the Land Cruiser it's really comfortable it's it's luxurious they only sell let's see about 3,000 per year at best and Lexus actually sells more of the Alexus and in fact rnos was saying that they export a lot of the Land Cruisers people buy them and ship them overseas because you know they're hard to find and dealers and you can deal on the Lexuses the Lexus to stay here you could actually negotiate and you know you remember when we tested the last Land Cruiser it was a blue one I think and you know it just was a vehicle it was just a big SUV you know and it went off-road and yeah I mean you know again it's it's basically the same as that Alexis it's very soft it's very nicely you know it's very luxurious but again it's a small player and you know I mean look at the previous test it's just it's been around for so long same engine you know they nice engine but yeah nice five seven but they put some safety features in it they put in a new infotainment system but you know our rating still Hantz stays the same you know well everyone that's it for this edition of talking cars as always thank you for watching and we'll see you next timewe talked about the Cadillac ct-6 and xt5 as well as the Toyota Prius and the new Chevy Volt and what's the best 3 row SUV next I'm talking cars hi everyone and welcome to talking cars with Consumer Reports sitting in for top Mutchler I'm John linka I'm Jake Fisher and I'm Mike Monticello so I want to welcome you guys helping me out in my first podcast here hosting we got a lot of topics to talk about today talk about the Cadillac resurgence like this xt5 behind us got some viewer questions about three row SUVs and then a couple other things about some vehicles that we may or may not have tested what we're gonna have so let's jump right into it Cadillac resurgence we have added the ct6 sedan and the xt5 SUV to our fleet want to get your guys impressions on it we have driven them a little bit but we also had some press cars so Jake what do you think about these two Cadillac that's a car what's a brand brand flag for me so I mean look I mean we talk a lot about Cadillacs on the show we've Bhutan's we've got a lot about Cadillacs in general and they are doing something really really good and it's kind of started with I guess the CT CTS Cadillac CTS and then the the latest is the CT six which is their larger vehicle they drive really good it's like this best-kept secret right I mean really when you compare it to like mercedes-benz or BMW these things drive incredibly it's an amazing ride and handling combination that really just blow the way even the GM the the German right competitors which is where their focus I mean they're targeting mercedes banz ready you know they are W and in some cases you think they're out BMW in for example being done I think they absolutely are I mean when you look at our mainstream offerings the way they have designed in tune these vehicles they've nailed it now does it matter I mean the sales aren't necessarily showing that especially in terms of the cars it seems like people I mean certainly just brand conscious people and that's good to drive a lot of it there's a lot of stigma still you know people think Cadillac is an older you know they like Rome or something like that you know and then so so yeah so in terms of cars yeah they're they're they're nailing it so you know you've gotten a couple of them what do you think about first let's talk about the xe5 you know cuz place the SRX and it's got some interesting feature that the all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive well it's it's funny it's almost like two different companies are designing you know the sedans versus the SUV's ct6 just fantastic I mean it really drives wonderfully xt5 as much as they want to act like this is an all-new vehicle and you know completely different than the SRX it kind of feels like an SRX you know it's got a sloppy steering and but it rides pretty stiff the engines pretty loud a higher rpm you know there's some good things about it too the start/stop fires up amazingly quickly yeah General Motors and Chevrolet in general I think their most recent products I think we've seen with the new Malibu's as well the - the hybrid as well as a regular Malibu and also I think of the cruises you know they have instantaneous you can't turn it on and off on the cruise you can yeah right you're initially you're like where's the button to turn off the rest I don't need to turn off but but I just wanna bring it back from the details and you read those details but but I think you've nailed it they're two different car code but that's right there's Cadillac cars there's kind of like trucks so they're always having this difference and the Cadillac trucks have been yeah but they're making more money right I mean people are selling these things because people look at the right one SUVs right Cadillac cars have been incredible and this is just another example of a Cadillac truck which is just yeah and it may not have it may not matter I mean they're gonna buy it anyway it looks it looks good it's the right side right you know I mean it's it's certainly something is very functional for a lot of people but but no I mean it does not drive again you know just like I compare this cars where I think they're out doing BMW right now they certainly are not out doing BMW when it comes to dress-ups I mean let's face it this is not a vehicle I mean make no mistake this is not a vehicle that is based off of a rear drive Cadillac you know high locomotive right this is a front drive and this is basically you know a Highlander yeah I mean so much so that it's front-wheel drive and if you want all-wheel drive there's a button to cycle through to get to the all-wheel drive mode so it's cheating for fuel economy it's playing the game it's what most people want but you know what if you want to stop it and pull on to an on-ramp you know or make it look you're spinning the tires which you're not expecting in most unless you bought a front-wheel drive only and you could keep it in all no driving in that and that rectifies this but I mean in terms of just everyday driving it you know if you are used to buying you know plus 3q v exactly exactly or the new mercedes-benz DLC that we haven't sleep which is just wonderful vehicle this ain't this a Annette right and the visibility it's got the same thick pillars it's got Q a little better but still he was a mess inside but the interior is pretty nice I mean the materials are really good and I like the way they have all these different types of materials you know that the upper - is one material then the lower - is a little different material they do that really nicely and if you're getting the ct6 realized they do a lot of the same stuff together right but as a driving vehicle it's just it's just not it's kind of yeah well Eminem's Roddy asked you know how do we purchase the XC five right here was it in platinum no we didn't buy the Platinum that's a very small segment we test-drove a platinum version we even had that trick rear mirror rear view mirror camera where in the rear mirror you see a huge wide image from behind you it's nice but you know it's not really a good substitute for good visibility and the XC five doesn't really have great rear visibility I mean we actually have that feature on our Cadillac ct-6 and I would have to say it's nice I mean what okay I mean theoretically and people been asking for it seems logical right it's like you got the rear camera you've got the rear view mirror they kind of do the same thing and what they're able to do is they're they have a camera and they put it where the rearview mirror is we flip it over and now suddenly you don't see the people behind you you don't see the headrest seems cool in theory right the problem is it's they created this wide-angle view which makes everything very small it's a little odd to look at it first you have to get used to it you can't actually make out the car behind you for instance because everything is kind of condensed and small so I I'd use a little bit I'm not a big fan of anyway well what I say is they're both in test we're gonna be putting on the miles you know they're thousand miles or so right now we'll have more coming off moving to another General Motors product that's GM the Chevrolet Volt okay so we did a big story we did a big story on online in our magazine Chevy Volt Toyota Prius we talked about the Prius a lot with it's 52 miles per gallon overall but Chevy Volt we want people want to know what do we think about it well the neat thing about both vehicles they're both fully redesigned and the Volt now it's it's electric range is now up to a legitimate 50 miles before I think it was mid 30s so now you can you should be able to most commutes not all commutes you should be able to get to and from work on one charge certainly and then go home and recharge it overnight and your that's that's the way to use a bolt you can even take advantage if your employer has it you can just plug it into 110 you could use their for high-speed charger you know to do your overnight quote-unquote charge during the day right it's a little slow too you know on the charging but you know if you haven't used all your electricity in it then it won't matter you you should still be okay and you know it drives better than before it feels less one of our guys said the old one felt like a science project it wasn't quite finished and I think that really sums up the old Volt pretty well this one feels like a much more normal car and you know because it you know with the electric power initially you've got two or ninety four pound-feet of torque so it stops the Prius aquiline right you know it's like two seconds quicker zero to 60 so there's a lot of good things about it but the Prius feels like a more normal car you never have to plug it in and it's always efficient all the time right I mean Prius has always been a top pick when it's when we had one that was current test it's 10 years running I believe except for this past year when they redesigned it you know JQ you have an older Prius you know your wife drives but what do you guys think about the new one in comparison with the Volt you know which is the real choice for someone who's a a driver but also green thinking I mean and has a family I mean look I mean III think it goes without saying that the sales of the Prius or they're gonna just just stomp the the Volt and and I think what the Volt is you know you've got the two power trains I mean certainly they've improved it in every way they have but it's little does have a bunch of compromises because you carry around kind of too big power trains you know I mean you try to you know the rear seat is totally compromised it's a joke I mean before it was only two passenger now there's a third seat belt but I really pity and it's still on user it doesn't even work well for a child seat which is where they say well the child could fit in here but the perch is so short most rear-facing seats would hang off of it so it's not even a great spot for a so you've got battery that could carry around 50 to 50 miles you've got a full engine that could power the car all the time you've got the gas tank to do all that subs so you've got a lot of complexity and and the thing about I mean the paranthesis it just works right it's such it's so proven I mean it's been around for what 15 15 18 years yeah and it's been reliable and it works and and you know again you don't have to plug it in but you're getting ridiculously good fuel economy so I think that's gonna be the big seller it's funny that they've almost swapped stylised know before the Prius was kind of boring it was just whatever and and the bolt was kind of a little weird looking with that really high tail yeah and now the Volt is actually a pretty good-looking car and the Prius is a little weird it's a family vehicle finally and you see the Cruze you see the Malibu right yeah you know the interior like you said it's not a science experience not weird it doesn't have the capacitive buttons that are just driving was almost like GM tried so hard with the last one to make it look as close to the show car that they said forget it we'll just run with the interior that we've got from the show and it was a mess you know the the vault the big thing that I've seen again with the Prius you turned that car on in the winter or in a cold morning you get heat it's got an engine it's running the Volt you're like using the seat heaters and the stereo will heater and you're cranking it up and hoping it kicks in you know that that's a compromise and that's an on deal for me between the tight rear seat you know for family use but no heat yeah well that was weird I was surprised this winter when that happened you know so we've got some viewer questions we're gonna move on to a lot of it's about 300 SUVs so we've got three here achilles eight nine one asks 2017 GMC Acadia or Mazda cx-9 which is better jatha zero six two three asks how does the kia sorento compared to the cx-9 and then hkm for life is confused on purchasing a Dodge Durango built on much like content here v6 rear wheel drive either limited or Citadel versus the cx-9 I need a daily driver for my kids schools activities so cx-9 versus new Acadia verse sorrento verse thank you the rank working on the chart yes yeah so I mean okay some of things someone that we're not done testing you know that that's really more at the bottom but um they're different they're it's different strokes for different folks right I mean if you're looking for something that's really enjoyable to drive that's probably cx-9 is that the best one for a family and livability it maybe not you look at you know the let's say the take them one by one but the the Kia Sorento I mean inside that's probably got more the features it's a bit nicer inside it's a bit more comfortable a bit bit larger the infotainment is kind of worked out a very straightforward one it's a heritage yeah it's a very nice car to live with does it have the steering of the cx-9 no is that what you're looking for in a three row SUV maybe not Dodge Durango Dodge Durango you know I mean the Durango makes sense if you don't you need you need more capability that's that sure that's your car if not you know maybe it's a little bit more than than you need new Acadia the new Acadia the new Acadia you know inside it's quite nice certainly not the driving drivers car yeah but are any of these really for that but that's the thing you know I mean are is that really what you're looking for I mean I think you know the Acadia certainly has the potential to give it you know again the Kia Sorento but it's it's generally gonna be a lot more money what'll be interesting to see what what Chevy does when they come out with a traverse which would be a less expensive write in that market vehicle and hopefully they get that right that's another really good competitor in that market you know one of the ones that's not mentioned here toyed a Highlander compared with with these other ones it almost seems a little bit dated yeah you know not the option particularly may be compared to the Acadia but you know and that Sorento as well yeah I'm the Highlander is still even though it might seem dated it still works really well the Acadia kind of like the xt5 within its class just drives kind of blah the Sorento I mean strong reliability strong or satisfaction top pick this year right so you know we recommend it but you know compared to like a cx-9 Mazda just always seems to get the little things right you know the the throttle is always a little just nicer when it when it comes on and the brakes just a nicer feel to them the steering has a little better feel so if you care about that stuff the Mazdas probably the better choice that said we haven't tested it yet so we can't say for certain yeah but you know those are the things that make me choose something like a Mazda see yeah and the Durango just drive it you know pretty big but I just wanna hang on something you said they get the little things right they also get the little things wrong yeah you know I mean they do have that attention to the drivers vehicle but in terms of some of the creature comfort stuff they leave out a few things I mean the infotainment systems not quite there I mean that that power seat doesn't really have all the adjustments that you need I mean it's it's it's it's interesting they kind of they they pick their battles yeah infotainment hasn't really popped Mazda up well in consumer consumer reports owner satisfaction surveys you know this people have really kind of banged on that one's being a convoluted system difficult to use and then you get into the new mods and it's there and it's very prominent and it's you know it's how you got it get through everything what I found it's it's we had a top-level version that we borrowed from Mazda as well as we have have our tested one very nice very luxurious interior you know if your cross shopping it with maybe some upscale SUVs you might look at it and say oh you know maybe I will step down and save a little bit of money the drivers car but not the luxury vehicle and where they're positioned also you're only allowed to get the a lot of advanced safety features is an option on higher trims not on the base trim and that's a problem as well you know we really want to see forward collision warning with automatic braking at least available on every model it's not standard on every trip and that's an issue with the Mazda and welcome knew exactly yeah they explained that implement system a little better to us when they were here and I'm a slow learner admittedly I still didn't fully understand you know the quick ways to navigate around the system yeah yeah some weird hard keys the you know keeping favorites that always you know befuddles me so to speak but well I do think for parents they have either borrowed or bought the patent or whatever it is from Nissan Infiniti you can move the second row seat forward with the child seat installed so again family friendly feature but there's other things such as a real high waistline and hard for kids to see out so in tests as well we'll get to that moving on to another viewer question viewer two two three five eight asks why don't you guys mention the Volvo xc90 it is a great SUV just like the Audi q7 so out eq7 is our top rated SUV it's really nice it's really nice it's $70,000 so you know it has a lot of a lot of three features in it it's very roomy I was shocked I took it this past weekend I fit two kids in the backseat with an adult in the center and they were comfortable my MDX I couldn't do that so nice vehicle but why not so we think with the Volvo I mean it's it's actually a very nice vehicle to drive I mean I think we all kind of appreciate it it certainly moves Volvo quite a bit it's got a lot of showroom appeal that's for sure really there's kind of two Achilles heels with the Volvo I mean one is the the infotainment system which is kind of like kind of while these stuck in no that's much simpler yeah you know so I mean there's that I mean but if you look past that it's the question about reliability and that's really what why why we're really talking about the queue and we're not necessarily talking about the Volvo so I mean Volvo has been kind of okay in terms of reliability howdy has have poke we're about five years now of just their entire product line being very good in terms of reliability Volvo they've changed so much on that car on a new engine by doing everything every in a supercharged that they've been running they've been doing it for a while so I mean it's really kind of a big roll of a dice right now you know we should have a lot more data on this vehicle in the fall and and maybe we'll see how it goes but I think it's too much of a gamble oh yeah I think anybody goes further than that though I mean the xc90 look I think it's a gorgeous vehicle I think it looks really good that infotainment screen looks neat the interior is really well done except that the infotainment screen is hard to use so it looks really good inside good materials but you know and it's got this turbocharged supercharged engine you think it's gonna you know be really strong and it's only okay you know whereas the the q7 feels really good right you'll economy that's c90 rides pretty stiff so it's just not as nice of a driving vehicle as the q7 yeah you have a very high seating positions thrown like but thin pillars great visibility but yeah not a real driver's car it's not bad it's just not as good as the Q so I think that's why we don't bring it up as much yeah he feels finished yeah it is a finished product and styling you know styling either beholder you know whether you like the way out he's gone versus the bolbo look and such but yeah the question of reliability is a big one with this new Volvo um we're you disagreeing with me saying it deputy 90 is good-looking uh no no what I'm saying is that is that I don't look at it in that in that sense in this and you know oh well you know looks trumpet I mean for what I want is I want what works for the driver because that's where you spend all your time if I was sitting with a piece of art you know I wouldn't want it to have a nice great frame you know it holds that picture in there I want it to look nice and that's the same thing when I'm driving the car I want it to be usable and you're out rated by the screen I'm frustrated by a screen that washes out you're like what which way am I supposed to Swahili exactly so one final question we've got so Christopher Perez wants to know have you guys purchased a 2016 Toyota Landcruiser please test that beast please beasts beasts I see now exactly it's a vehicle I mean the Land Cruiser is you know well known long line they have a Lexus version the LX 570 but we haven't tested one in a while you know it's all on them I mean I haven't been in one in a while I know they have a new 8-speed automatic now but you know it seems like there's nothing really wrong with the vehicle other than it gets really poor fuel mileage and doesn't handle very well on a road if you're gonna go off-road it's a great vehicle certainly if you are never gonna go off-road I think there's better choices maybe a maybe a Cadillac Escalade maybe a Mercedes GL you know big vehicles like that but I mean you know the Land Cruiser it's really comfortable it's it's luxurious they only sell let's see about 3,000 per year at best and Lexus actually sells more of the Alexus and in fact rnos was saying that they export a lot of the Land Cruisers people buy them and ship them overseas because you know they're hard to find and dealers and you can deal on the Lexuses the Lexus to stay here you could actually negotiate and you know you remember when we tested the last Land Cruiser it was a blue one I think and you know it just was a vehicle it was just a big SUV you know and it went off-road and yeah I mean you know again it's it's basically the same as that Alexis it's very soft it's very nicely you know it's very luxurious but again it's a small player and you know I mean look at the previous test it's just it's been around for so long same engine you know they nice engine but yeah nice five seven but they put some safety features in it they put in a new infotainment system but you know our rating still Hantz stays the same you know well everyone that's it for this edition of talking cars as always thank you for watching and we'll see you next time\n"