**The Evolution of Safety Features and Electric Vehicles**

Safety features have become an essential aspect of modern cars, with many manufacturers investing heavily in advanced technology to protect drivers and passengers. According to experts, the addition of safety equipment, such as automatic emergency braking systems and lane departure warning systems, has significantly reduced the number of accidents on the road. However, there are still concerns about the cost-effectiveness of these features, particularly when it comes to replacement costs. In a recent study, it was found that while the upfront cost of these safety features may be high, they can ultimately lead to cost savings in the long run due to reduced maintenance and repair needs.

Another area of concern is the impact of advanced safety features on driving dynamics, particularly in adverse weather conditions such as snow and ice. A recent article published by Consumer Reports highlighted the challenges faced by drivers who rely on these systems, which can sometimes fail to function effectively in low-visibility conditions. For example, during a drive through heavy rain and snow, even advanced front-wheel drive vehicles struggled to maintain traction. This raises questions about the reliability and effectiveness of these safety features in various driving scenarios.

The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) has also brought new challenges and opportunities for manufacturers. With many countries investing heavily in renewable energy sources, EVs are becoming an increasingly viable option for environmentally conscious consumers. However, there are still concerns about range anxiety, charging time, and battery durability. According to some experts, the answer lies in longer-range electric vehicles that can travel hundreds of miles without needing a recharge. In fact, some manufacturers have already begun to produce EVs with ranges over 200 miles, which are likely to become increasingly popular in the coming years.

In terms of market trends, it appears that many car manufacturers are focusing on selling SUVs and crossovers rather than traditional sedans. This trend is driven by consumer demand for versatility and practicality, as well as the desire for a higher driving position. As a result, manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda have shifted their focus towards producing SUVs with advanced safety features, including all-wheel drive systems.

Meanwhile, some car enthusiasts are predicting that traditional sedans will make a comeback in the coming years. According to one expert, it may be more profitable for manufacturers to sell smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles rather than larger, more luxurious SUVs. This approach has already been successful for manufacturers such as Nissan, which recently introduced an all-wheel drive variant of its popular Altima model.

**Electric Vehicles: The Future of the Auto Industry**

The development of electric vehicles (EVs) is expected to have a significant impact on the auto industry in the coming years. With many countries investing heavily in renewable energy sources, EVs are becoming increasingly viable options for environmentally conscious consumers. According to experts, the key to success lies in longer-range electric vehicles that can travel hundreds of miles without needing a recharge.

One manufacturer that has already taken the lead in this area is Volkswagen, which has developed a range of EVs with impressive ranges and features. The company's e-Golf, for example, has a range of over 100 miles, while its ID.4 SUV has a range of over 200 miles. These vehicles are not only environmentally friendly but also offer a unique driving experience that is both fun and practical.

However, there are still concerns about the cost-effectiveness of EVs, particularly when it comes to charging infrastructure. According to some experts, the development of fast-charging networks will be crucial in making long-range electric vehicles more accessible to consumers. In fact, many manufacturers are already investing heavily in these networks, with some companies planning to establish hundreds of charging stations across the country.

In addition to its range and cost-effectiveness, another key factor is reliability. According to experts, EVs are likely to be more reliable than traditional gas-powered vehicles due to their reduced maintenance needs. In fact, many manufacturers have reported a significant reduction in maintenance costs for their electric vehicles compared to traditional models.

**Consumer Reports: What's Next for the Auto Industry?**

As we look to the future of the auto industry, there are several trends and technologies that will likely shape the market in the coming years. According to Consumer Reports, one area of focus will be on safety features, particularly advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The company has already reported on its tests of these systems, which have found them to be effective but not always reliable.

Another area of focus is electric vehicles, which are likely to become increasingly popular in the coming years. According to Consumer Reports, longer-range EVs with 200-mile ranges or more will be a major game-changer for consumers. The company has already reported on its tests of these vehicles, which have found them to be fun and practical.

The rise of autonomous vehicles is also expected to play a significant role in the auto industry, particularly when it comes to urban driving. According to some experts, self-driving cars will become increasingly common in cities, where traffic congestion and parking challenges are already major issues. However, there are still concerns about safety and reliability, particularly when it comes to edge cases such as pedestrians or animals on the road.

In terms of market trends, Consumer Reports has noted that traditional sedans may make a comeback in the coming years. According to some experts, manufacturers will focus on producing smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles rather than larger, more luxurious SUVs. This approach is already successful for companies like Nissan, which recently introduced an all-wheel drive variant of its popular Altima model.

Overall, the future of the auto industry looks exciting and rapidly evolving. As we continue to invest in advanced technologies and innovative designs, it's likely that consumers will benefit from safer, more practical, and environmentally friendly vehicles that meet their needs for years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe're here into New York International Auto Show to talk about what vehicles moved us and what the new technology is next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode talking cars I'm John linka I'm Mike Quincy and I'm Jake Fisher and this is a really special episode for us we've been able to get out of the state you know we escaped Connecticut we're here at the New York International Auto Show they let us out and we have a live studio audience in front of us and it's great because we're gonna talk about the Auto Show tell you guys what we saw and then take some questions and it's a big show this year we're pretty impressed with it right Jake I mean it's almost like the people's Auto Show I've been coming to the New York Auto Show ever since I was a kid you know I grew up in Jersey and every one of those like five coming here this is actually probably the biggest New York show I have ever experienced and there's so many like serious introductions like big cars and he says this is amazing oh definitely I mean it's stuff that instead of being concept II you know and all kinds of stuff that you're just never gonna see it's a styling you know exercise there's real cars that everyone in this audience people are gonna be coming in the show over the next couple of weeks can just go out and buy because of practical useful cars right I mean the New York show used to be kind of like the unwanted stepchild of the Auto Show circuit and you've got companies like Toyota Subaru and Nissan introducing major major big selling models here in New York so you know let's you know let's hear it for the home team let's go to New York sure I mean Acura RDX the cult Toyota Corolla hatch the Toyota rav4 Subaru Forester Nissan Altima the list goes on we're going to talk about a bunch of those and we're gonna jump in right now two to two cars that see our members really really like they're very popular sellers first off Jake Toyota rav4 I mean big seller big vehicle very important vehicle well let's talk about how big of a seller that is it was interesting Cadillac was talking about you know record year in terms of their volumes and how much they sold they sold more Toyota rav4 s last year than all Cadillacs so I mean this is actually other than pickup trucks in the US market this is the number one non pickup truck that biggest the biggest loss for Toyota and you know we talked about to it all the time we talk about how conservative they are and there are redesigns and they kind of you know take it easy try to get my ability this is not necessarily a conservative at least one way to take a look I mean it looks very different from the old route for it doesn't it without going to a huge weird grill or anything like that you know it's it's it's a it's a sharp looking vehicle and it's got some of the design elements I mean we can see it from over sitting you know what the roofs almost floating but they still kept it the you know traditional and in some ways powertrains for example sure they're still doing a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine and I think for those of us out out in the audience that really like fuel economy they're still doing a hybrid model now I don't think they sell in massive numbers but the last hybrid that Consumer Reports tested we got 31 miles per gallon overall which is like the best we've ever seen in an SUV a fuel economy test so I mean I I'm really glad that they're bringing that back and there they put beauties in the allottee beholder but I think it's kind of stylish I think it's kind of cool well you touch on that with fuel economy that there's two elements of the rav4 we're gonna hit on those and move on because it's also part of this the forester people come in to buy for two reasons really that the dealer networks are telling us one's fuel economy and what's the other one the safety features and the new advanced safety features people it's at getting people and this is not just us saying this is actually people you know the the dealers dealerships I mean they're actually saying that this is what is bringing people and and we're seeing more and more of this not just optional but standard across the board I mean Toyota is certainly you know they've done a lot in terms of that super forest or standard eyesight system which is which is a real let's jump into that one let's jump into the Subaru Forester because because one of the big things with Subaru is you know they they've been a small company and they've seen some big sales with the Forester I think a lot of people who traditional Forester customers were a bit worried when they heard was going to be redesigned sure no no but what did they drop on us well they they dropped a new reason redesigned model for 2019 a standard forward collision warning an automatic emergency braking but what they didn't do is change radically the look of the Forester still kind of boxy but but that actually hasn't hurt its evaluation with Consumer Reports it has lots of glass area still good visibility really easy access easy to get in and out of the front seats so you know they were smart enough to say we met it up mess this up one of the cool things they have in their displays they have the whole they had at least at the introduction I maybe they took it away but I think they're gonna keep it for the show is that they had all the generations of forests are sitting there and I think they're up to five no five generation and and you could see the familial relationship throughout I mean the first one is hilarious to look at it's like a small rectangle with a giant box of glass on there on the top of it you know but you still see big windows like you said small roof pillars but it still delivers the Super Bowl hallmarks don't standard all-wheel drive but I think there were nice conservative I mean I know you guys take a look when you see it but I mean it's really hard to tell the difference between this redesign and the old what do you think about automotive history Ford had a great selling Ford Taurus and they did that kind of Ovid redesign work everything got round and sells tanked you know it's kind of like maybe Subaru looked at that and said we could get we can we can't we can't mess this up well you know they've gone a little aggressive with some of the cars you know the Impreza has changed over the maybe maybe was the be ninth Rebekah they just went over the top they're like we'll never do that again never true but but I mean it's I think the taillights have changed but anyway what they do did make it better and one interesting thing that they have done is we talked about driver engagement monitoring and the Cadillac ct-6 which has this this is another car that has a camera that looks at the driver and is supposed to and it's there for safety not to kind of help out with a level twos autonomous drive thing kind of but it's actually sitting there to look at the driver and let you know if you know you're falling asleep or you're distracted or whatnot so so that's very I think we're gonna touch on that a little bit later so we're not gonna so we're gonna move to some more suvs but to brands that desperately needed them the first one Cadillac which you touched on over there with their their sales numbers the new xt4 came out they finally have a luxurious compact SUV what are you thinking about they have to have it it doesn't matter I mean this is this is the heart of the luxury market you know you could have all I mean look kinda like as many great cars but when it comes to luxury big purse there's no one no one's by right yes yes so to go that long without that sized SUV is a hole so I mean we'll say well we'll drive it well as soon as we will see how it drives me the obviously there's issues with q But Q is perhaps that it's improved but it still it still as a mess in some ways compared to that number the other systems like you said they definitely needed that one another brand that needed an SUV but opposite almost opposite and Lincoln knew a br name resurrected surf because they had the name them something IMO USC I don't know I could no I could never get the naming formulation right with with Lincoln right so so with the aviator the aviator is handsome it's it's really good-looking to me it looks like like a classic Land Rover it just it has it just has really nice lines to it yeah and I think for a lot of people certainly in this in this segment where you're spending extra for luxury I think look looks are important it's got that really unique center console with the people with a floating almost a floating control panel its kicked up that's that's an interesting element cuz it's not just a giant swath of plastic and digital hardware there's almost like a pass through there but the other thing is I mean inside that car it's gorgeous I mean take a look at inside it I mean it's like oh my god everything a soft touch and they did a lovely leather they did a lot of nice things with the Ford Explorer that it's based on you know well but it's it's you know it's the level I mean obviously this is not production finalized but I mean holy moly inside I mean this is like like billions I mean it's obviously do it it's obvious that manufacturers can sell upmarket SUVs I mean Lexus has have been doing it with the RX forever so leaders that Lincoln has to figure this out that they have to get on this bandwagon they have to get do taking these these high profit models and and get people in and out of their deals almost a dance yeah it's almost as if you know they brought the Conti but are we gonna see another generation of that yeah well I mean just luxury in general people are almost done with finances well some brands did bring out sedans and some some kind of Portland's so Toyota Corolla hatchback interesting to bring out a a hatchback as the introduction vehicle lovely it's a sedan you know so we're couldn't call today I'm called a car instead why well I mean first of all I mean the news is new to it occur all right I mean the fact that it's hatchback or not but I think what's kind of interesting is that the launching with well first of all they had the Corolla IA which was their hatch and that was kind of getting old and they need to replace that in the Corolla I am as well and his Scion yeah I would be I am which was the wagon anything but but what's interesting about you look at the market or you look at what they're doing in terms of small cars it's always the hatch this is 41 and Corolla I mean one thing that I do a lot of things well thing they don't do is kind of like you know excitement you know people don't really think excitement in Corolla but swells milquetoast its conference they were touting the Corollas history and use the number one selling car in the history of the world well they also showed that the all these rear wheel drive car oh right right they'd almost hear the collective audience ago so I'm showing them drifting around but but but if you look at what's going on in the market I mean what are that they're hot hatches right a B people think of the GTI to think of the Ford Focus RS they think of you know even the Hyundai Elantra GT but maybe a Ford Focus ST putt or an RS but that's this morning like Honda Honda Civic are right I mean that's again hatch so if they could kind of get that kind of sporty and they talked about six-speed manual you know I mean again probably not like roll a lot Corollas with 16 manuals but talk about that now bring out the sedan alright and maybe they could that'll help yeah the other car that I I was kind of taken with it it's I think it's a good-looking car Nissan Altima and that that was a long in the tooth model training that that at one point it was a car that we talked about like wow great fuel economy and then the whole segment pass it by you know that great coming for a v6 and the four-cylinder so Mike tell us about that because it's got some interesting it's got one interesting feature in the segment but a bunch of a bunch of new things I mean when you think about the the segment leaders in sedans usually think a cool and Camry and you think why don't--why is only Subaru offering all-wheel drive what you know lo and behold smart people at Nissan said why don't we put all wheel drive in it which I think it's pretty smart because I think some people don't by the court in the Camry because it's missing all-wheel drive right another another reason to give Nissan some props here this also is going to have standard forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking we sound like a broken record but we love we love this equipment we think every car should have it so what's Rubin safety technology I mean right there it's almost the the new electronic stability control sure but this car can't come soon enough for Nissan the ultimate in Consumer Reports testing has really just kept sinking and singing and I was actually just talking some of the the Nissan people about the all-wheel drive and and look I mean all the drive is a really brand new good segment because I mean some of the domestics kind of played with Ford but what they did was they often made it kind of a high level one and what Nissan's gonna try to do is kind of bring that down so even the base models are going to be available with all-wheel drive I'm not the performance turbo version right it's not available with the turbo two two later so that'll be really interesting and and that may mean that if you're in the Northeast or an you're in the north or near Canada it may be the majority of Altimas are gonna be all over yeah yeah you may actually hunt if you're living up here to go find a front-wheel drive one right so think I have a new 2.5 liter 4 cylinder which has the all wheel drive or front drive and then the big turbo is only gonna be front-wheel drive right but I'm gonna kind of agree I like the way it looks I like the styling I think it's it's it's not just a boring boxy sedan it's it's it's really nice it's edgy without being out yeah there yeah we're gonna move on a couple trends that we've seen at the show and we've we touched on a little bit of it but the first big one has really been the integration of safety features as as standard features on a lot of cars and you know we still here at Consumer Reports want a standardization of the knee Naumann clay Chur right out the industry we don't want it to be you know advanced safety track view whatever it I mean it was the same thing with electron stability can hear it Stabilitrak or this track or whatever but still a lot of companies are coming out with with standard AAB and FCW right yep yeah absolutely I mean the cars that were mentioning and yeah I mean you you you have to at this point to be competitive and it's the right thing to do and they're paying attention to Consumer Reports ratings because if we say yeah we're gonna give the extra points for this so you know you might as well put it in well it's a key differentiator I mean first we buy all the cars we test etc but in our ratings if a manufacturer has it standard across the model not just on a couple trims they do get an extra point in their in our rating so that is that is moving the market a bit another thing that Jake was talking about Hyundai has this interesting thing and and our biker friends our triathlete friends and and you know our roadie friends will really like this because it has to note the doors because getting doored particularly in something like Manhattan or whatever is it almost everyday occurrence yeah so I mean it what they're doing is they got all these sensors on the cars right and they're figuring out new ways of dealing with those sensors so you think about like cars that have like blind spot warning they could see something going on so in the new Hyundai Santa Fe they're showing this system where if there is like a something coming up that and there's a kid in the backseat and they go to open the door they'll actually lock the door prevent them from opening that so I mean we'll have to see how that works we can actually simulate that on our track and not what real kids are good cars I don't know but but it's really cool that they could think about all these sensors and figure out new ways of using them and we saw the same stuff with the same idea with kind of like that tracker of trying to figure out when there's a kid in the backseat and reminding exactly yeah run days done this stuff like that and other manufacturers to write a minder for chips for children GMC has that just other certainly the other trend that that we kind of picked up on you know I mean others have seen it too you'll see it well out there this is behind of infotainment systems has really changed it's almost it's almost kind of converging into a standard way right right I I think when you when you think of it the evolution even of basic radios and cars they were kind of a standard chassis and on one side was the volume and the other side was the tuning and there was presets in the middle and really don't get stolen just about all the but I just got all the automakers kind of did that and I think we're kind of seeing in some ways the same thing with these infotainment assist they've got a great screen and but they've really enough criticism from Consumer Reports and probably other other folks and let's just say you know you can't do anything you have to swipe and you have to pinch you have to do this and and more and more manufacturers are bringing back hard buttons and easy to use well what's funny is that I mean we've gone through this look weird learning you know time we're just like the controls were just you know somebody's a there's a touchpad here and there's a knob here there's something on the ceiling I mean it's just like red on the Ranford but that also moves around and a mouse and they couldn't really figure out a lot of them just really kind of fell in our face but now there's a convergence and and honestly if you look at a lot of these new cars basically look like an etch-a-sketch that is right in the middle of the dashboard you got basically a tablet with two knobs that go like this and you know it's Nissan it's it's it's it's Subaru it's it's Toyota it's it's they almost look like they have the same units that's like it just gets it's a plopped right on your dashboard yeah and it honestly worked pretty well it's my enough it's not you know it's accessible it's not blocking anything not taking your visibility down so low like some really big tablet type things yeah but it has the hard key is it to have the hard buttons available instead of you have a screen in front of you you want to adjust the seat here so you hit climbing and you wait a second then you can wait a second and then you decide you want level 1 level 2 level 3 and you hit that and the whole time you're not doing this and then we've done the sunroof Lotus six out a four and I love that had the role for seat heaters yes you just scrolled it sure that all of a sudden became a touch and to turn a knob and then all of a sudden it was just in another menu and you know taking it and making it more cumbersome just for the sake of having a style I was just in the the new here's another car that's here is the Lexus QX right which is kind of like think of it kind of like a Lexus Prius SUV right yeah but it's got and Lexus has got a really gotten weird with this mousey thing and that they actually have these little dials now for volume and tuning that's right here they're analog and they kind of sneak them in so they don't actually show them but it's like it's almost off the - they took a lot of running errands it's a Saturday or Sunday and you're running around it's cold out and you want the seat heat on and so you stop being starting all the time every time you get back in the car you have to redo the dance to turn the seat heaters on yeah again instead of just keeping the knob kind of on medium and it just stays there and you start up the car well look at the CT I did see that today I took a look at it particularly downstairs yeah that was the one I like there's a secret there's a lot of cars and stuff that I say up here you know you can see in other parts of the room I worry people are gonna be driving like this I'm not sure it may encourage one-hand driving so that we're gonna we're gonna see that way we're gonna transition to the final little segment here about sometimes why people really come they come to see the metal they want to see the metal that moves and we each took time to you know walk the floor over the last two days but the favorite vehicle of the show or favorite technology of the show something really stood out and I'm gonna go to Mike first because there's a very interestingly named interesting vehicle that's that I'll let you go and then we can watch on social media because it was who debuted yesterday but I'm trying to work this at its the Volkswagen Atlas tan oak now we didn't know it was at 10:00 okay or so I don't we didn't know how to pronounce it Melissa I'm a truck guy I love trucks we talked about the Honda Ridgeline how much we love that so III really this is a concept pickup truck from Volkswagen now Volkswagen teased us in the near past remember they the microbus concept which version at what we always think oh that's the coolest thing ever you got to build this right so if they're doing it again it's gonna drive me nuts go over to the VW area and check out this truck to learn the Builder it has if you build it they will it has just the right proportions listen Ford got back in the small truck market they're bringing back the Ranger Honda's been pretty successful with the ridgeline I think there's a market for small trucks I don't think everyone needs f-150s and rams and in Silverados it's true but the rig sells 32,000 units a year I don't know how many of those they're gonna Safeway with another car base trick but I mean we talked about Nissan before and how sometimes their product line gets old we know someone who works for Nissan and they said the old frontier pickup truck is is is still going I mean they've been producing this forever and he says it's a cash cow because all the tooling and all the stuff they used to put it together it's long and paid for so VW has this platform with the Atlas they've got good v6 engines they have all-wheel drive technology build it build it bill it build it build it and they may make an electric because they're gonna be putting electric they showed electric drive gains in their 4c and their foot sorry to row Atlas concept that they have as well so as much as I like cars and and and everything else my favorite of the show is is that VW pickup JQ you you talked about you talked about the subaru technology and I think that really hit home for you right well super technology obviously is is really important but you know what forget this I'm with Mike you know what I'm ever I see if they can call it something else I think it's pen and whack but it's spelled tan oak can't forget it forget it yeah Volkswagen pickup trucks an evergreen tree and there's Beach family it's actually the North Alico Karpis densive Flores but that wouldn't fit in the back so you're breaking up John but but but here's the thing okay you look at SUVs right an SUV is the new family car and for years SUVs were truck based okay and then suddenly you know in the late 90s they figured out how to make an SUV off of a car and it took a while for that really to take hold I think when it comes to small trucks look Ridgeline Honda Ridgeline has always been a car based truck and it really was kind of a small player ahead of its time I think eventually we'll come we'll talk about this in 10 years you know we'll still be riding bikes but it if I take it slow we'll see what happens speak for yourself yeah but I think eventually this is where the markets gonna head people are gonna realize that you can make a truck that looks like a truck that does the things that the truck does ninety eighty to ninety percent of what most people need right but it dry it's great it drives nice make it make it you know so it's really kind of like Ridgeline - I shouldn't have to load the bed just to get a decent ride right the Tacoma it's a coma exactly it's a harsh riding truck around every day but then I took it on vacation and filled it up and like okay it's gonna be the next big shift in the autumn industry it has to be I I went a whole different direction the other Tanner okay Hyundai g70 it's it's similar to Kia stinger turbo engines manual transmission if it was a wagon that came in brown every journalist would have voted right before the show I like the interior of this better than the stinger I'm not enamored with the controls of the stinger I like that it's a little or chiseled looking and it's little has a little bit of luxury key is not the luxury brand right big key I said in the last episode say it again looks kind of like a JC Whitney catalog got dumped on it there's it's really good-looking it's really nice I think it's a very yeah you know those friends it's always flying under the radar people don't realize how good Genesis is said it what's the best automaker who was who is that kind of leading consumer magazine how you think of yeah but when people talk about getting maybe a luxury car that they've done well in their life they want it they want to trade up something I sure have you checked out the Genesis and they said what's that right say well it's kind of an offshoot oh honey you know it gives you a lot for its money right it gives you a lot so now we're gonna do some questions from our live audience here and anything about the show whether it's something you've seen on social media and see it online stuff you've seen already or questions about you know industry or anything you're considering buying so I think we have the first question the young man down here okay uh my name is Brandon Lee nice to meet you I'm from the Bronx New York I'm here with true media program I was just wondering as a young adult transitioning to college what's an affordable good quality car deck I still pick girls up in like first of all used cars what you want yeah because the new car depreciates you know 20 percent the first six months it rolls off the lot after three years it's almost 40 percent let someone else take that hit they're gonna get the st. that this the the technology whether it's infotainment or safety that a lot of new cars have after that / it's all personal choice really I mean you want a reliable car you don't look to our look to our stuff online look to our stuff you know that has a 30-bed you know best used cars under $30,000 because we look at cars that are safe for that after that whether it's a Subaru BRZ sports car that you know you get you're gonna roll up in or if it is you know something as practical as a Toyota Corolla you know because someone's gonna say there and go hey you know is it a decisions spend all money on tires it's a great question hi my name is Dave I'm also from the Bronx New York and my question for you is I'm in the market for a midsize SUV and I've always been a Honda Acura fan but they're killing me with the elimination of what has become my favorite feature in my 2013 it chord which is the lane watch camera and of course they're replacing it with the blind spot monitoring my question for you is what do you think is a better way to go relying on sensors and a little yellow light in the mirror or give the driver the information with a camera and let me decide a whether I have time to move in or if they're approaching me too quickly so I'm kind of at this place where I really like the 2019 RDX it's kind of calling my name but without that lanewatch camera I'm at a really hard time letting go of my Accord you could buy the insight because they'd will have the lane watch camera in there cuz it's a slightly older and older tech but it's a very good question and one that we've talked about a lot because we have a strong opinion on that here's my advice so if you set your mirrors because I understand I understand where you're coming from because you know certainly blind bottom irons are great but again it's not 100% and that's what you're getting at so if I can actually see what's going on there I can make that decision I would say if you set your mirrors right and don't set them so you can see the sides of your car set them out so you can't see the side of your car you can actually eliminate a lot of those blind spots yourself and you could actually see some you just also those you know you put the bearers on the little little con convex mirrors you could add on to them and you actually eliminate those blind spots so if you do want to make sure you have a visual and that's what I would recommend and the tough thing about that system is that it does nothing for the left side you know so it's great on the right and it's great for bikers and stuff like that but you're still you still have a blind minor and you know so it's if it'll for all of us because we test cars all the time and we have features that we like and we don't like and none of us really liked the lane watch but here we have someone that's saying no I in the right in the red situation that's mean you know four lanes or something like that's pretty amazing Robert from beautiful Staten Island New York right over here I just had a question about the new Corolla and I guess by extension a lot of the new cars but um I know a couple the trims come standard with the manual transmission I was just wondering how that worked with Toyota's kind of standard suite of safety tech how does that work well we we we were curious about this too and we've actually tested on some cars so one kind of an enabler about it is is the start stop and now I don't know if that's worth whoo Corolla but so the whole situation of stalling a car kind of goes away with start/stop because as soon as you get off the clutch you it'll restart but the issue is that this car is actually stopping you from cutting to an accident if it slams on the brakes that stops you and you don't go for the clutch I've tried on the track and in this situation it's almost like you know without even thinking you gentleman the clutch and you wind up not stalling it if you don't do that I'll stall the car okay you didn't you didn't crash the car stall if you restart it and it's really it's worth it so we've seen that in some cars it'll go it'll stall the car you restart it and you haven't you know cracked apartment if it's your first date though they're not going to be impressive hi gentlemen my name is Wallace I'm from New York now I live in Jersey nobody judge me in the beginning of this segment you talked about the all-new rav4 I didn't know anything about it until my friend ironically talked about it last night and it's my first time seeing it to me when I first seen it the back of it look like a Jeep product and then the wheel arches look like a Jeep Compass or something Toyota be real happy to hear that and the second thing is Acura's big release for the RDX I'm also RDX accurate fan I haven't tight past ten years going still running um the RDX this is a big release for them and they have a lot riding on it and you guys really didn't touch on that when you were talking about the SUVs I think what would they have to be most concerned about is try to make you know improve their control some accurate controls a bit a little flaky at our tests but I mean it's always been a solid performer one of one of the few actually Acuras that we've recommended over times their mobile liable vehicle right at this point and they're replaced and we're talking about this when we're putting our April issue together and Jake said so you know why the Akira is the RDX the only one recommended it's the oldest design so I like older accurate Stu yeah you know and I and and they had some great cars but but to put a fine point on it I mean the current RDX is the only one that is decent reliability right now and it's because it's the older one and they've had issues with transmissions and now they're throwing this ten speed into it I would just say hold off you know the religious in the car wait a year let's to make sure they get the bugs out of that car first yeah and that's with anyone I mean whether it's the most reliable brand out there or vehicle that they're replacing everything takes a drop but being of being a Honda Acura fan you obviously remember the day when everything Honda made or Acura made was was great reliability and they were powertrain company their four-cylinder engines for a while ever and and it's it's not like they lost their way but they've kind of lost it how are you gentlemen I'm Rob from Staten Island I kind of have a question on the opposite end of all this technology it's all the start/stop the automatic collision braking they're all great technologies but how do you handle or how do you offset the fact that these safety systems are great but minimal accidents destroy them what it's a great question this is actually a question that I have talked with the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety about because they represent the insurance companies and if they're adding all this safety equipment that is winding up you know damage and costing more money to replace than all these things is it a net benefit or a net no certainly it's great in for in terms of safety but in terms of cost and actually according to their data it offsets it because what they're looking at is that because that safety equipment is there even though yes it's expensive replaced when you get in those things but it cuts out so many of those collisions you wound you wind up actually better than you would be so and we also recently published a story on what happens when you're driving a car with all these safety these front sensors and during the snow and ice well anything and it all gums up the works and how you know they don't they don't always they can't always work through the front when you're the front of your car is is full of ice right I saw it sometimes in rain and such you know they get dirty so that that is an issue and that'll be an issue going forward as even as autonomy starts rolling forward there you have to deal with that type of thing as well that's certainly gonna have have an impact on those cars so not easy when someone taps you when you're parked on the side of the street but it probably will will offset like Jake said hey gentlemen my name is Francisco from Queens New York now that Nissan introduced us to introducing all the drive to the Altima what do you guys think you guys think Toyota and Honda will follow soon we talked about it for years well I have a theory I in my estimation it's more profitable to sell a rav4 and a CRV than it is to sell an all-wheel-drive sedan so I think there is a certain and we've seen it before I mean looked there used to be a camry wagon used to be an accord wegen i think they were much prefer to sell you a pile at a Honda Pilot or a Toyota Highlander so I think that's what's holding them back what's really interesting in some other markets I mean in Japan they have an all-wheel drive Prius I wish there was more cars like that available I think it's also they had developed the qx50 platform that they introduced in LA and that's very similar and you know they were talking about it's a couple little tweaks here and there right yeah you know for for the big engine to have it so you already have something that's based on Camrys not they're not doing a camry anywhere and then they get the Nissan kicks that's a little Drive only so I mean the whole world's upside down right they said that's for the person who drives a center and wants something to sit up higher so we're all you make it front-wheel drive and keep the cost down this is for someone who wants an SUV but doesn't want it so they're gonna go with a sedan that has all-wheel drive my name is Maxim or from Long Island New York now with electric vehicles Volkswagens come up with a bunch of them they're already here do you see that burly customer reports a couple of years from now he's gonna have a section for electric vehicles things the prom is that there's no transmission they're gonna be more reliable and blah blah blah I know this so is that an option that Consumer Reports you know consider the future when all these manufacturers have electric vehicles thank you I was just having this conversation with with Gabe I think he was here we were just talking about that I mean we're talking about putting more electronic let your car do stations at the track we're looking at our budget going forward we're gonna be a lot of long-range electrics I mean that's really I think the game changer a lot more cars that are going 200 300 miles they're electric they're real cars and yeah reliability they should be better go walk over to the Hyundai booth the brands at Kona two and fifty mile range is the promise and the cone is a small vehicle but no compromises as far as car goes cargo capacity or rear seat room now it doesn't have a lot of rear seat room to begin with but it's not as if you're sitting with your knees up or you know they made it as a jump seat so yeah it's an SUV looking vehicle not like the bolt which to some people the styling is a drawback in the next two years we may see you know a dozen vehicles with over 200 mile range and they're real cars and we're absolutely gonna have to commit to test these cars yeah that's that's an excellent question and we definitely will have something like that in the future that's all we've got for this really special episode of talking cars with Consumer Reports for Mike for Jake I want to thank you for all for coming out I want to thank our podcast viewers and listeners for their there week over week attention and hour our thumbs up remember you could always find out what we talked about in the show notes below thanks for watching and see you next timewe're here into New York International Auto Show to talk about what vehicles moved us and what the new technology is next on talking cars hi everybody welcome to another episode talking cars I'm John linka I'm Mike Quincy and I'm Jake Fisher and this is a really special episode for us we've been able to get out of the state you know we escaped Connecticut we're here at the New York International Auto Show they let us out and we have a live studio audience in front of us and it's great because we're gonna talk about the Auto Show tell you guys what we saw and then take some questions and it's a big show this year we're pretty impressed with it right Jake I mean it's almost like the people's Auto Show I've been coming to the New York Auto Show ever since I was a kid you know I grew up in Jersey and every one of those like five coming here this is actually probably the biggest New York show I have ever experienced and there's so many like serious introductions like big cars and he says this is amazing oh definitely I mean it's stuff that instead of being concept II you know and all kinds of stuff that you're just never gonna see it's a styling you know exercise there's real cars that everyone in this audience people are gonna be coming in the show over the next couple of weeks can just go out and buy because of practical useful cars right I mean the New York show used to be kind of like the unwanted stepchild of the Auto Show circuit and you've got companies like Toyota Subaru and Nissan introducing major major big selling models here in New York so you know let's you know let's hear it for the home team let's go to New York sure I mean Acura RDX the cult Toyota Corolla hatch the Toyota rav4 Subaru Forester Nissan Altima the list goes on we're going to talk about a bunch of those and we're gonna jump in right now two to two cars that see our members really really like they're very popular sellers first off Jake Toyota rav4 I mean big seller big vehicle very important vehicle well let's talk about how big of a seller that is it was interesting Cadillac was talking about you know record year in terms of their volumes and how much they sold they sold more Toyota rav4 s last year than all Cadillacs so I mean this is actually other than pickup trucks in the US market this is the number one non pickup truck that biggest the biggest loss for Toyota and you know we talked about to it all the time we talk about how conservative they are and there are redesigns and they kind of you know take it easy try to get my ability this is not necessarily a conservative at least one way to take a look I mean it looks very different from the old route for it doesn't it without going to a huge weird grill or anything like that you know it's it's it's a it's a sharp looking vehicle and it's got some of the design elements I mean we can see it from over sitting you know what the roofs almost floating but they still kept it the you know traditional and in some ways powertrains for example sure they're still doing a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine and I think for those of us out out in the audience that really like fuel economy they're still doing a hybrid model now I don't think they sell in massive numbers but the last hybrid that Consumer Reports tested we got 31 miles per gallon overall which is like the best we've ever seen in an SUV a fuel economy test so I mean I I'm really glad that they're bringing that back and there they put beauties in the allottee beholder but I think it's kind of stylish I think it's kind of cool well you touch on that with fuel economy that there's two elements of the rav4 we're gonna hit on those and move on because it's also part of this the forester people come in to buy for two reasons really that the dealer networks are telling us one's fuel economy and what's the other one the safety features and the new advanced safety features people it's at getting people and this is not just us saying this is actually people you know the the dealers dealerships I mean they're actually saying that this is what is bringing people and and we're seeing more and more of this not just optional but standard across the board I mean Toyota is certainly you know they've done a lot in terms of that super forest or standard eyesight system which is which is a real let's jump into that one let's jump into the Subaru Forester because because one of the big things with Subaru is you know they they've been a small company and they've seen some big sales with the Forester I think a lot of people who traditional Forester customers were a bit worried when they heard was going to be redesigned sure no no but what did they drop on us well they they dropped a new reason redesigned model for 2019 a standard forward collision warning an automatic emergency braking but what they didn't do is change radically the look of the Forester still kind of boxy but but that actually hasn't hurt its evaluation with Consumer Reports it has lots of glass area still good visibility really easy access easy to get in and out of the front seats so you know they were smart enough to say we met it up mess this up one of the cool things they have in their displays they have the whole they had at least at the introduction I maybe they took it away but I think they're gonna keep it for the show is that they had all the generations of forests are sitting there and I think they're up to five no five generation and and you could see the familial relationship throughout I mean the first one is hilarious to look at it's like a small rectangle with a giant box of glass on there on the top of it you know but you still see big windows like you said small roof pillars but it still delivers the Super Bowl hallmarks don't standard all-wheel drive but I think there were nice conservative I mean I know you guys take a look when you see it but I mean it's really hard to tell the difference between this redesign and the old what do you think about automotive history Ford had a great selling Ford Taurus and they did that kind of Ovid redesign work everything got round and sells tanked you know it's kind of like maybe Subaru looked at that and said we could get we can we can't we can't mess this up well you know they've gone a little aggressive with some of the cars you know the Impreza has changed over the maybe maybe was the be ninth Rebekah they just went over the top they're like we'll never do that again never true but but I mean it's I think the taillights have changed but anyway what they do did make it better and one interesting thing that they have done is we talked about driver engagement monitoring and the Cadillac ct-6 which has this this is another car that has a camera that looks at the driver and is supposed to and it's there for safety not to kind of help out with a level twos autonomous drive thing kind of but it's actually sitting there to look at the driver and let you know if you know you're falling asleep or you're distracted or whatnot so so that's very I think we're gonna touch on that a little bit later so we're not gonna so we're gonna move to some more suvs but to brands that desperately needed them the first one Cadillac which you touched on over there with their their sales numbers the new xt4 came out they finally have a luxurious compact SUV what are you thinking about they have to have it it doesn't matter I mean this is this is the heart of the luxury market you know you could have all I mean look kinda like as many great cars but when it comes to luxury big purse there's no one no one's by right yes yes so to go that long without that sized SUV is a hole so I mean we'll say well we'll drive it well as soon as we will see how it drives me the obviously there's issues with q But Q is perhaps that it's improved but it still it still as a mess in some ways compared to that number the other systems like you said they definitely needed that one another brand that needed an SUV but opposite almost opposite and Lincoln knew a br name resurrected surf because they had the name them something IMO USC I don't know I could no I could never get the naming formulation right with with Lincoln right so so with the aviator the aviator is handsome it's it's really good-looking to me it looks like like a classic Land Rover it just it has it just has really nice lines to it yeah and I think for a lot of people certainly in this in this segment where you're spending extra for luxury I think look looks are important it's got that really unique center console with the people with a floating almost a floating control panel its kicked up that's that's an interesting element cuz it's not just a giant swath of plastic and digital hardware there's almost like a pass through there but the other thing is I mean inside that car it's gorgeous I mean take a look at inside it I mean it's like oh my god everything a soft touch and they did a lovely leather they did a lot of nice things with the Ford Explorer that it's based on you know well but it's it's you know it's the level I mean obviously this is not production finalized but I mean holy moly inside I mean this is like like billions I mean it's obviously do it it's obvious that manufacturers can sell upmarket SUVs I mean Lexus has have been doing it with the RX forever so leaders that Lincoln has to figure this out that they have to get on this bandwagon they have to get do taking these these high profit models and and get people in and out of their deals almost a dance yeah it's almost as if you know they brought the Conti but are we gonna see another generation of that yeah well I mean just luxury in general people are almost done with finances well some brands did bring out sedans and some some kind of Portland's so Toyota Corolla hatchback interesting to bring out a a hatchback as the introduction vehicle lovely it's a sedan you know so we're couldn't call today I'm called a car instead why well I mean first of all I mean the news is new to it occur all right I mean the fact that it's hatchback or not but I think what's kind of interesting is that the launching with well first of all they had the Corolla IA which was their hatch and that was kind of getting old and they need to replace that in the Corolla I am as well and his Scion yeah I would be I am which was the wagon anything but but what's interesting about you look at the market or you look at what they're doing in terms of small cars it's always the hatch this is 41 and Corolla I mean one thing that I do a lot of things well thing they don't do is kind of like you know excitement you know people don't really think excitement in Corolla but swells milquetoast its conference they were touting the Corollas history and use the number one selling car in the history of the world well they also showed that the all these rear wheel drive car oh right right they'd almost hear the collective audience ago so I'm showing them drifting around but but but if you look at what's going on in the market I mean what are that they're hot hatches right a B people think of the GTI to think of the Ford Focus RS they think of you know even the Hyundai Elantra GT but maybe a Ford Focus ST putt or an RS but that's this morning like Honda Honda Civic are right I mean that's again hatch so if they could kind of get that kind of sporty and they talked about six-speed manual you know I mean again probably not like roll a lot Corollas with 16 manuals but talk about that now bring out the sedan alright and maybe they could that'll help yeah the other car that I I was kind of taken with it it's I think it's a good-looking car Nissan Altima and that that was a long in the tooth model training that that at one point it was a car that we talked about like wow great fuel economy and then the whole segment pass it by you know that great coming for a v6 and the four-cylinder so Mike tell us about that because it's got some interesting it's got one interesting feature in the segment but a bunch of a bunch of new things I mean when you think about the the segment leaders in sedans usually think a cool and Camry and you think why don't--why is only Subaru offering all-wheel drive what you know lo and behold smart people at Nissan said why don't we put all wheel drive in it which I think it's pretty smart because I think some people don't by the court in the Camry because it's missing all-wheel drive right another another reason to give Nissan some props here this also is going to have standard forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking we sound like a broken record but we love we love this equipment we think every car should have it so what's Rubin safety technology I mean right there it's almost the the new electronic stability control sure but this car can't come soon enough for Nissan the ultimate in Consumer Reports testing has really just kept sinking and singing and I was actually just talking some of the the Nissan people about the all-wheel drive and and look I mean all the drive is a really brand new good segment because I mean some of the domestics kind of played with Ford but what they did was they often made it kind of a high level one and what Nissan's gonna try to do is kind of bring that down so even the base models are going to be available with all-wheel drive I'm not the performance turbo version right it's not available with the turbo two two later so that'll be really interesting and and that may mean that if you're in the Northeast or an you're in the north or near Canada it may be the majority of Altimas are gonna be all over yeah yeah you may actually hunt if you're living up here to go find a front-wheel drive one right so think I have a new 2.5 liter 4 cylinder which has the all wheel drive or front drive and then the big turbo is only gonna be front-wheel drive right but I'm gonna kind of agree I like the way it looks I like the styling I think it's it's it's not just a boring boxy sedan it's it's it's really nice it's edgy without being out yeah there yeah we're gonna move on a couple trends that we've seen at the show and we've we touched on a little bit of it but the first big one has really been the integration of safety features as as standard features on a lot of cars and you know we still here at Consumer Reports want a standardization of the knee Naumann clay Chur right out the industry we don't want it to be you know advanced safety track view whatever it I mean it was the same thing with electron stability can hear it Stabilitrak or this track or whatever but still a lot of companies are coming out with with standard AAB and FCW right yep yeah absolutely I mean the cars that were mentioning and yeah I mean you you you have to at this point to be competitive and it's the right thing to do and they're paying attention to Consumer Reports ratings because if we say yeah we're gonna give the extra points for this so you know you might as well put it in well it's a key differentiator I mean first we buy all the cars we test etc but in our ratings if a manufacturer has it standard across the model not just on a couple trims they do get an extra point in their in our rating so that is that is moving the market a bit another thing that Jake was talking about Hyundai has this interesting thing and and our biker friends our triathlete friends and and you know our roadie friends will really like this because it has to note the doors because getting doored particularly in something like Manhattan or whatever is it almost everyday occurrence yeah so I mean it what they're doing is they got all these sensors on the cars right and they're figuring out new ways of dealing with those sensors so you think about like cars that have like blind spot warning they could see something going on so in the new Hyundai Santa Fe they're showing this system where if there is like a something coming up that and there's a kid in the backseat and they go to open the door they'll actually lock the door prevent them from opening that so I mean we'll have to see how that works we can actually simulate that on our track and not what real kids are good cars I don't know but but it's really cool that they could think about all these sensors and figure out new ways of using them and we saw the same stuff with the same idea with kind of like that tracker of trying to figure out when there's a kid in the backseat and reminding exactly yeah run days done this stuff like that and other manufacturers to write a minder for chips for children GMC has that just other certainly the other trend that that we kind of picked up on you know I mean others have seen it too you'll see it well out there this is behind of infotainment systems has really changed it's almost it's almost kind of converging into a standard way right right I I think when you when you think of it the evolution even of basic radios and cars they were kind of a standard chassis and on one side was the volume and the other side was the tuning and there was presets in the middle and really don't get stolen just about all the but I just got all the automakers kind of did that and I think we're kind of seeing in some ways the same thing with these infotainment assist they've got a great screen and but they've really enough criticism from Consumer Reports and probably other other folks and let's just say you know you can't do anything you have to swipe and you have to pinch you have to do this and and more and more manufacturers are bringing back hard buttons and easy to use well what's funny is that I mean we've gone through this look weird learning you know time we're just like the controls were just you know somebody's a there's a touchpad here and there's a knob here there's something on the ceiling I mean it's just like red on the Ranford but that also moves around and a mouse and they couldn't really figure out a lot of them just really kind of fell in our face but now there's a convergence and and honestly if you look at a lot of these new cars basically look like an etch-a-sketch that is right in the middle of the dashboard you got basically a tablet with two knobs that go like this and you know it's Nissan it's it's it's it's Subaru it's it's Toyota it's it's they almost look like they have the same units that's like it just gets it's a plopped right on your dashboard yeah and it honestly worked pretty well it's my enough it's not you know it's accessible it's not blocking anything not taking your visibility down so low like some really big tablet type things yeah but it has the hard key is it to have the hard buttons available instead of you have a screen in front of you you want to adjust the seat here so you hit climbing and you wait a second then you can wait a second and then you decide you want level 1 level 2 level 3 and you hit that and the whole time you're not doing this and then we've done the sunroof Lotus six out a four and I love that had the role for seat heaters yes you just scrolled it sure that all of a sudden became a touch and to turn a knob and then all of a sudden it was just in another menu and you know taking it and making it more cumbersome just for the sake of having a style I was just in the the new here's another car that's here is the Lexus QX right which is kind of like think of it kind of like a Lexus Prius SUV right yeah but it's got and Lexus has got a really gotten weird with this mousey thing and that they actually have these little dials now for volume and tuning that's right here they're analog and they kind of sneak them in so they don't actually show them but it's like it's almost off the - they took a lot of running errands it's a Saturday or Sunday and you're running around it's cold out and you want the seat heat on and so you stop being starting all the time every time you get back in the car you have to redo the dance to turn the seat heaters on yeah again instead of just keeping the knob kind of on medium and it just stays there and you start up the car well look at the CT I did see that today I took a look at it particularly downstairs yeah that was the one I like there's a secret there's a lot of cars and stuff that I say up here you know you can see in other parts of the room I worry people are gonna be driving like this I'm not sure it may encourage one-hand driving so that we're gonna we're gonna see that way we're gonna transition to the final little segment here about sometimes why people really come they come to see the metal they want to see the metal that moves and we each took time to you know walk the floor over the last two days but the favorite vehicle of the show or favorite technology of the show something really stood out and I'm gonna go to Mike first because there's a very interestingly named interesting vehicle that's that I'll let you go and then we can watch on social media because it was who debuted yesterday but I'm trying to work this at its the Volkswagen Atlas tan oak now we didn't know it was at 10:00 okay or so I don't we didn't know how to pronounce it Melissa I'm a truck guy I love trucks we talked about the Honda Ridgeline how much we love that so III really this is a concept pickup truck from Volkswagen now Volkswagen teased us in the near past remember they the microbus concept which version at what we always think oh that's the coolest thing ever you got to build this right so if they're doing it again it's gonna drive me nuts go over to the VW area and check out this truck to learn the Builder it has if you build it they will it has just the right proportions listen Ford got back in the small truck market they're bringing back the Ranger Honda's been pretty successful with the ridgeline I think there's a market for small trucks I don't think everyone needs f-150s and rams and in Silverados it's true but the rig sells 32,000 units a year I don't know how many of those they're gonna Safeway with another car base trick but I mean we talked about Nissan before and how sometimes their product line gets old we know someone who works for Nissan and they said the old frontier pickup truck is is is still going I mean they've been producing this forever and he says it's a cash cow because all the tooling and all the stuff they used to put it together it's long and paid for so VW has this platform with the Atlas they've got good v6 engines they have all-wheel drive technology build it build it bill it build it build it and they may make an electric because they're gonna be putting electric they showed electric drive gains in their 4c and their foot sorry to row Atlas concept that they have as well so as much as I like cars and and and everything else my favorite of the show is is that VW pickup JQ you you talked about you talked about the subaru technology and I think that really hit home for you right well super technology obviously is is really important but you know what forget this I'm with Mike you know what I'm ever I see if they can call it something else I think it's pen and whack but it's spelled tan oak can't forget it forget it yeah Volkswagen pickup trucks an evergreen tree and there's Beach family it's actually the North Alico Karpis densive Flores but that wouldn't fit in the back so you're breaking up John but but but here's the thing okay you look at SUVs right an SUV is the new family car and for years SUVs were truck based okay and then suddenly you know in the late 90s they figured out how to make an SUV off of a car and it took a while for that really to take hold I think when it comes to small trucks look Ridgeline Honda Ridgeline has always been a car based truck and it really was kind of a small player ahead of its time I think eventually we'll come we'll talk about this in 10 years you know we'll still be riding bikes but it if I take it slow we'll see what happens speak for yourself yeah but I think eventually this is where the markets gonna head people are gonna realize that you can make a truck that looks like a truck that does the things that the truck does ninety eighty to ninety percent of what most people need right but it dry it's great it drives nice make it make it you know so it's really kind of like Ridgeline - I shouldn't have to load the bed just to get a decent ride right the Tacoma it's a coma exactly it's a harsh riding truck around every day but then I took it on vacation and filled it up and like okay it's gonna be the next big shift in the autumn industry it has to be I I went a whole different direction the other Tanner okay Hyundai g70 it's it's similar to Kia stinger turbo engines manual transmission if it was a wagon that came in brown every journalist would have voted right before the show I like the interior of this better than the stinger I'm not enamored with the controls of the stinger I like that it's a little or chiseled looking and it's little has a little bit of luxury key is not the luxury brand right big key I said in the last episode say it again looks kind of like a JC Whitney catalog got dumped on it there's it's really good-looking it's really nice I think it's a very yeah you know those friends it's always flying under the radar people don't realize how good Genesis is said it what's the best automaker who was who is that kind of leading consumer magazine how you think of yeah but when people talk about getting maybe a luxury car that they've done well in their life they want it they want to trade up something I sure have you checked out the Genesis and they said what's that right say well it's kind of an offshoot oh honey you know it gives you a lot for its money right it gives you a lot so now we're gonna do some questions from our live audience here and anything about the show whether it's something you've seen on social media and see it online stuff you've seen already or questions about you know industry or anything you're considering buying so I think we have the first question the young man down here okay uh my name is Brandon Lee nice to meet you I'm from the Bronx New York I'm here with true media program I was just wondering as a young adult transitioning to college what's an affordable good quality car deck I still pick girls up in like first of all used cars what you want yeah because the new car depreciates you know 20 percent the first six months it rolls off the lot after three years it's almost 40 percent let someone else take that hit they're gonna get the st. that this the the technology whether it's infotainment or safety that a lot of new cars have after that / it's all personal choice really I mean you want a reliable car you don't look to our look to our stuff online look to our stuff you know that has a 30-bed you know best used cars under $30,000 because we look at cars that are safe for that after that whether it's a Subaru BRZ sports car that you know you get you're gonna roll up in or if it is you know something as practical as a Toyota Corolla you know because someone's gonna say there and go hey you know is it a decisions spend all money on tires it's a great question hi my name is Dave I'm also from the Bronx New York and my question for you is I'm in the market for a midsize SUV and I've always been a Honda Acura fan but they're killing me with the elimination of what has become my favorite feature in my 2013 it chord which is the lane watch camera and of course they're replacing it with the blind spot monitoring my question for you is what do you think is a better way to go relying on sensors and a little yellow light in the mirror or give the driver the information with a camera and let me decide a whether I have time to move in or if they're approaching me too quickly so I'm kind of at this place where I really like the 2019 RDX it's kind of calling my name but without that lanewatch camera I'm at a really hard time letting go of my Accord you could buy the insight because they'd will have the lane watch camera in there cuz it's a slightly older and older tech but it's a very good question and one that we've talked about a lot because we have a strong opinion on that here's my advice so if you set your mirrors because I understand I understand where you're coming from because you know certainly blind bottom irons are great but again it's not 100% and that's what you're getting at so if I can actually see what's going on there I can make that decision I would say if you set your mirrors right and don't set them so you can see the sides of your car set them out so you can't see the side of your car you can actually eliminate a lot of those blind spots yourself and you could actually see some you just also those you know you put the bearers on the little little con convex mirrors you could add on to them and you actually eliminate those blind spots so if you do want to make sure you have a visual and that's what I would recommend and the tough thing about that system is that it does nothing for the left side you know so it's great on the right and it's great for bikers and stuff like that but you're still you still have a blind minor and you know so it's if it'll for all of us because we test cars all the time and we have features that we like and we don't like and none of us really liked the lane watch but here we have someone that's saying no I in the right in the red situation that's mean you know four lanes or something like that's pretty amazing Robert from beautiful Staten Island New York right over here I just had a question about the new Corolla and I guess by extension a lot of the new cars but um I know a couple the trims come standard with the manual transmission I was just wondering how that worked with Toyota's kind of standard suite of safety tech how does that work well we we we were curious about this too and we've actually tested on some cars so one kind of an enabler about it is is the start stop and now I don't know if that's worth whoo Corolla but so the whole situation of stalling a car kind of goes away with start/stop because as soon as you get off the clutch you it'll restart but the issue is that this car is actually stopping you from cutting to an accident if it slams on the brakes that stops you and you don't go for the clutch I've tried on the track and in this situation it's almost like you know without even thinking you gentleman the clutch and you wind up not stalling it if you don't do that I'll stall the car okay you didn't you didn't crash the car stall if you restart it and it's really it's worth it so we've seen that in some cars it'll go it'll stall the car you restart it and you haven't you know cracked apartment if it's your first date though they're not going to be impressive hi gentlemen my name is Wallace I'm from New York now I live in Jersey nobody judge me in the beginning of this segment you talked about the all-new rav4 I didn't know anything about it until my friend ironically talked about it last night and it's my first time seeing it to me when I first seen it the back of it look like a Jeep product and then the wheel arches look like a Jeep Compass or something Toyota be real happy to hear that and the second thing is Acura's big release for the RDX I'm also RDX accurate fan I haven't tight past ten years going still running um the RDX this is a big release for them and they have a lot riding on it and you guys really didn't touch on that when you were talking about the SUVs I think what would they have to be most concerned about is try to make you know improve their control some accurate controls a bit a little flaky at our tests but I mean it's always been a solid performer one of one of the few actually Acuras that we've recommended over times their mobile liable vehicle right at this point and they're replaced and we're talking about this when we're putting our April issue together and Jake said so you know why the Akira is the RDX the only one recommended it's the oldest design so I like older accurate Stu yeah you know and I and and they had some great cars but but to put a fine point on it I mean the current RDX is the only one that is decent reliability right now and it's because it's the older one and they've had issues with transmissions and now they're throwing this ten speed into it I would just say hold off you know the religious in the car wait a year let's to make sure they get the bugs out of that car first yeah and that's with anyone I mean whether it's the most reliable brand out there or vehicle that they're replacing everything takes a drop but being of being a Honda Acura fan you obviously remember the day when everything Honda made or Acura made was was great reliability and they were powertrain company their four-cylinder engines for a while ever and and it's it's not like they lost their way but they've kind of lost it how are you gentlemen I'm Rob from Staten Island I kind of have a question on the opposite end of all this technology it's all the start/stop the automatic collision braking they're all great technologies but how do you handle or how do you offset the fact that these safety systems are great but minimal accidents destroy them what it's a great question this is actually a question that I have talked with the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety about because they represent the insurance companies and if they're adding all this safety equipment that is winding up you know damage and costing more money to replace than all these things is it a net benefit or a net no certainly it's great in for in terms of safety but in terms of cost and actually according to their data it offsets it because what they're looking at is that because that safety equipment is there even though yes it's expensive replaced when you get in those things but it cuts out so many of those collisions you wound you wind up actually better than you would be so and we also recently published a story on what happens when you're driving a car with all these safety these front sensors and during the snow and ice well anything and it all gums up the works and how you know they don't they don't always they can't always work through the front when you're the front of your car is is full of ice right I saw it sometimes in rain and such you know they get dirty so that that is an issue and that'll be an issue going forward as even as autonomy starts rolling forward there you have to deal with that type of thing as well that's certainly gonna have have an impact on those cars so not easy when someone taps you when you're parked on the side of the street but it probably will will offset like Jake said hey gentlemen my name is Francisco from Queens New York now that Nissan introduced us to introducing all the drive to the Altima what do you guys think you guys think Toyota and Honda will follow soon we talked about it for years well I have a theory I in my estimation it's more profitable to sell a rav4 and a CRV than it is to sell an all-wheel-drive sedan so I think there is a certain and we've seen it before I mean looked there used to be a camry wagon used to be an accord wegen i think they were much prefer to sell you a pile at a Honda Pilot or a Toyota Highlander so I think that's what's holding them back what's really interesting in some other markets I mean in Japan they have an all-wheel drive Prius I wish there was more cars like that available I think it's also they had developed the qx50 platform that they introduced in LA and that's very similar and you know they were talking about it's a couple little tweaks here and there right yeah you know for for the big engine to have it so you already have something that's based on Camrys not they're not doing a camry anywhere and then they get the Nissan kicks that's a little Drive only so I mean the whole world's upside down right they said that's for the person who drives a center and wants something to sit up higher so we're all you make it front-wheel drive and keep the cost down this is for someone who wants an SUV but doesn't want it so they're gonna go with a sedan that has all-wheel drive my name is Maxim or from Long Island New York now with electric vehicles Volkswagens come up with a bunch of them they're already here do you see that burly customer reports a couple of years from now he's gonna have a section for electric vehicles things the prom is that there's no transmission they're gonna be more reliable and blah blah blah I know this so is that an option that Consumer Reports you know consider the future when all these manufacturers have electric vehicles thank you I was just having this conversation with with Gabe I think he was here we were just talking about that I mean we're talking about putting more electronic let your car do stations at the track we're looking at our budget going forward we're gonna be a lot of long-range electrics I mean that's really I think the game changer a lot more cars that are going 200 300 miles they're electric they're real cars and yeah reliability they should be better go walk over to the Hyundai booth the brands at Kona two and fifty mile range is the promise and the cone is a small vehicle but no compromises as far as car goes cargo capacity or rear seat room now it doesn't have a lot of rear seat room to begin with but it's not as if you're sitting with your knees up or you know they made it as a jump seat so yeah it's an SUV looking vehicle not like the bolt which to some people the styling is a drawback in the next two years we may see you know a dozen vehicles with over 200 mile range and they're real cars and we're absolutely gonna have to commit to test these cars yeah that's that's an excellent question and we definitely will have something like that in the future that's all we've got for this really special episode of talking cars with Consumer Reports for Mike for Jake I want to thank you for all for coming out I want to thank our podcast viewers and listeners for their there week over week attention and hour our thumbs up remember you could always find out what we talked about in the show notes below thanks for watching and see you next time\n"