This episode of the Autoblog Podcast features Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore, Road Test Editor Zac Palmer and Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. The trio begin by discussing the 2022 Technology of the Year award. Ford's Onboard Scales and Smart Hitch hauling/towing tech as tested in the F-150 Lightning won this year. Why the Ford won, how testing went down and Ford's competition — including the GMC Hummer EV and Genesis GV60 — are discussed.
After diving through the Technology of the Year award testing, the three take on this week's news. A mysterious vehicle based on the Corvette (that isn't a Corvette) is supposedly on its way. Audi is giving us "Performance" versions of the RS 6 Avant and RS 7 Sportback. Plus, we discuss a recent study that provides data for the 10 longest lasting vehicles on the road today. After the news, the crew dive into the cars they've been driving this week. Greg's been behind the wheel of a Nissan Pathfinder, while Jeremy and Zac have been driving some plug-in hybrids, including the Lexus NX 450h+ and Autoblog's long-term BMW 330e xDrive.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to the "Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore. We've got a great show for you this week. A big show. We're going to talk about the Technology of the Year Award winner for 2022. So without further ado, that is the Ford onboard scales and smart hitch as tested in the Ford F-150 Lightning. We're super excited to talk about that.
And with that, I'll bring in senior editor for all things consumer Jeremy Korzeniewski, and road test editor Zac Palmer. Both these guys spent a lot of time, obviously, at the testing, which was a full staff wide thing, but they were both very involved specifically with the F-150 test. And Zac had to do everything from like, getting sandwiches to running the event day. It was a busy day for both these guys. So welcome aboard. This is a big show.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, happy to be here.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, me too. Tech of the Year week. This is the big one.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, so it's good. So we're going to get into this, but I know a lot of people-- you want to know what else is going on in the world. So we also are going to talk about the new Corvette, non-Corvette, Corvette is what headlight I saw. We'll talk about that. There's an RS6 Avant Performance and RS7 Sportback performance. They look awesome. Do you guys think they're coming here? Yeah, that's probably a no, right?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Actually Audi just confirmed it as a yes, so we can talk about them--
GREG MIGLIORE: Breaking news.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: --as though, they are in fact coming here. Yeah, I know I just updated the story here, so.
GREG MIGLIORE: Is it that a great? Like, I feel like just cars, the world has gotten better. It used to always be like Audi puts out this press release about some awesome car that we're not going to get. It's only for like the suburbs of Munich, Germany. Now, it's like hey, we're going to make this sporty wagon, and it's going to come to the America. So great, great news on that front.
I will also talk about some of the things we've been driving Nissan Pathfinder, Lexus NX 450h+. Wow, that's really rolls off the tongue. And we'll also update you on our long term BMW 330, which if all goes according to plan. We'll be in my driveway and off about 48 hours.
So with that, let's talk about Tech of the Year. It was a really interesting test this year the towing and hauling tech to sort of generically put it all together did edge out the biometrics. That's the facial scan and the fingerprinting technology, the Genesis JV 60, which we tested it in, which was third place. And then second place was crab walk in the Hummer EV from GMC.
It was pretty close this year to like all three were somewhat close together a couple of votes either way could have probably swung it, which I think is a good thing. It was definitely spirited debate and we got to spend a lot of time with the vehicles with the technology. Process starts in the summer. We start off with a long list. We just put stuff on. We take stuff off, and then finally it culminates with this day long group test, which is always a fun thing to do for tech of the year for Best pickup trucks, you name it. So it was a lot of fun to do.
Jeremy, you did a lot of the demonstrations with the video, which is on our site already. If you're listening to this, check it out. Curious, when you were picking it up, like, the technology was pretty easy to use, I guess for me. And I'm not really like great at picking up technology fast. Ironic thing to say on a tech of the year podcast. But you know, you kind of got in there and we're rocking and rolling, you know. And you've had a lot of experience in trucks, so.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's funny you should bring that up. Zac, our other co-host today, he originally picked up the F-150 and the Lightning and did the like initial little testing on it. And then he had to go for other-- to do some other tasks. So I jumped in, and it was ridiculously easy to figure out.
Literally, the hardest part of it was figuring out what screen to get to in the infotainment. And that's simply because the Lightning's infotainment system is that really big huge one that's different than some other F-150 models. So once I figured out how to get into the proper views, the screens, it was very, very easy to use. And if you watch that video, literally you're watching me explain it the second time that I demoed it.
So I did one quick little practice run to make sure like, OK, yeah, I get this. And then cameras started rolling, and you know. The fact that things went off without a hitch and we felt comfortable using that first take as our published video basically tells you everything you need to know about how simple it is to use and to figure out. So definitely kudos to Ford for-- for not making it overly complicated.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I think it's very intuitive. And it's interesting too because when you look at the different texts that we tested this year, you've got facial scans, and then we've got like the reborn Hummer EV driving sideways. As far as just like just sexy technology, Ford towing and hauling tech isn't really what you would think might rise to the top. But my take on it is just how cleverly, like you can use it via the infotainment system.
You could also fire up the app on your phone. At certain trims, the taillights will help you out. So even though it's like it'd be technology that goes back to like, literally the first things with beds on them that were hauling things back 100-plus years ago, it makes it better. It makes it easier. And it's just-- I mean, even as simple as like the way the infotainment system, like the screen I should say, is so well integrated. It's-- it's very useful, you know. And it does feel futuristic.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I think it's super cool too, because this is clearly not a case of tech for tech sake.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: This is definitely something-- like, this solves a problem. You know, I-- I tow, I haul quite often, and I'm always like look at stepping back, looking at my load thinking like, yeah, that should be about right you know for-- and you know, I have some-- some level of experience doing this. There's a lot of people who don't. You know, they buy pickup trucks. They-- they tow a few things a year. They do their Home Depot truck run, and they-- they pack a whole bunch of mulch or stones or something, paver bricks, whatever into the back.
And you're second guessing yourself like the entire time you're driving slow. You're feeling the steering to make sure that everything seems OK. This takes the guesswork out of it in a really simple, easy to understand way, easy to access, which means people might actually do it, and very visually simple. You don't have to like, break out the owner's manual and say like, well, what does this screen mean? Well, what this bar graphs? There's a couple numbers. It's-- it's really well done.
ZAC PALMER: I completely agree with-- with both of you guys. It's the simplicity of how it presents to us, and it's also the simplicity in how Ford has actually made it work. They're not doing a whole lot underneath the truck here to actually make this happen. This, all of these new systems are put in place using well, mechanicals that we already had.
So the truck knows its-- knows it spring rates. It knows the suspension's deflection at each corner. And from there, it's able to measure your load in the bed, and it's also able to look at the smart hitch to know how you should load your load onto the trailer. So there's not like a lot of extra complexity and cost going into the truck here. This is using a lot of technology that is simply already there and just being really smart with it.
And I also think another thing that makes this a really great Tech of the Year choice is that this can be applied to a lot of other vehicles, specifically the smart hitch can be applied to things outside of trucks. I mean, there are a lot of SUVs and crossovers these days with some amount of towing capacity, whether they be 1,500 to 7,500 pounds or anywhere in between, there are a lot of people out there with a lot of vehicles that can tow.
And I would even argue that a lot of the people in those kind of vehicles may be first time or beginner towers. And this just makes it all that much safer if you implement a system like this on the F-150. I have to say like, a Ford Explorer or a Honda CR-V. I just see a lot of future possibilities there for this sort of technology to proliferate throughout the industry.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, no, I think it's-- it's definitely forward looking, and it reminds me a little bit of our Pro Power Onboard, which won last year, also from Ford, also an F-150-based technology you know, where you could literally power your TV or your Halloween tailgate like you did there, Zac. And it-- it really just-- it makes using a very important vehicle a little bit easier. I think, you know, that's-- in some ways, that's what I think really carried the day here with the winner.
The other ones which I guess, probably good time to talk about that now, super flashy, super futuristic in many ways, but you know, the usefulness I think, it's a little less debate. It's a little less obvious. They are useful. We've definitely tested some things that are like, wow, this is pointless or this is tech for tech's sake. And neither of these two fall into that category, but they're not quite as bread and butter. Like, they make your life better, you know, because you don't really need to drive your SUV sideways. It's cool. It's awesome, and it's super fun to do.
But yeah, and truth be told, I would have been OK with any of these winning. This is actually what I really liked about the field this year is how spirited and competitive it was. Like, every tech I think had an editor that was willing to like go to the mat for it, you know, and would give it a lot of points, and demonstrably preferred that tech over the other two. So I think that's a great thing.
But yeah, I mean, let's-- let's talk about the Hummer CrabWalk. I mean, I think it's a hell of a lot of fun. Zac, you got to spend some time with it. I think you actually even were the star of our Crab Walk video, you know. What's your take on this?
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, so I think that one of the reasons why the Hummer got as much attention as-- as it did this year in as many points as it did is with our third point value in there, which is the wow factor. There's definitely no tech at Tech of the Year this year that had more wow factor than the massive Hummer EV moving sideways, having the turning radius of say like, a Honda Civic with its four-wheel steering system. It just-- it makes you stand there, and you go, wow, over and over every single time you see it.
What may have been its undoing though, is looking at the actual usefulness of that crab walk feature that we were testing for Technology of the Year. If you're really big into off-roading, perhaps it would be useful in some circumstances. However, is it going to be useful day to day? Is it a safety feature? Is it-- is it something that we think is going to move along to every single car out there?
No, it's not. It's-- it's something that shows up in something like a super truck that the GMC Hummer EV is. So very cool. However, not the coolest or most useful tech we saw here. I know that Jeremy actually set up a little cone course with it and had some fun with it. So I'd love to hear his take on it too.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I did. So the first question I asked after the wow factor, which I have to say I also did the watch to freedom mode. Also, huge wow factor in that. It's absolutely like, massive. My stomach-- and I've driven like McLaren 720S and you know. My stomach hasn't dropped during acceleration like it has in that thing since the last time I was on a roller coaster like, at Cedar Point.
But yeah, the crab walk. So my first question was after getting over wow, that's cool, is OK, is this useful? So I decided to set up a little course in the parking lot away from everyone else using branches that-- that were near our testing area. And I deliberately set them up too tight for the Hummer to be able to navigate through without using its crab walk and four wheel steering features.
And after that test, I was convinced, OK, yes, this works. This has a practical function. It allows the vehicle, which is very large, to navigate through much tighter-- a much tighter set of obstacles than it otherwise would be able to. So check mark, the next question is, OK, it works. It has a use case, but how useful is that use case going to be for the majority of buyers? And that's where-- I think that's where the Hummer loses a few points.
And I'll-- I'll just throw out that the order that they finished is the order that-- that I had ranked them on my ballot because yes, the-- the Hummer is the most impressive, seemingly impressive tech, whereas the Ford is solving an issue that a lot of potential customers at least, a couple of times over the course of owning the vehicle is going to be very helpful for them.
The Hummer, very-- I mean, how many people are going to take these $150,000 trucks off road in a course that is so tight, that they need to use crab walk? Tiny, a tiny percentage. We're talking about the people who try to make their millions on YouTube by breaking things are the ones who are going to find it the most useful.
Are there other use cases? Potentially, I've seen videos of people parallel parking into a spot using crab walk. That again, seems more like a gimmick that you're going to do once or twice just to show off, but the actual usefulness was-- was low. But I don't think that, that should take away-- like, if you're listening to this and you're thinking like, oh, this is such a stupid gimmick. I don't think it should take away by how-- it should take away how well it works and how impressive it is to see it in action.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I think that's one of those things too where again, the usability here is like, nah. But I also will say this, the Hummer is, I think in the class of almost like the Mercedes G-Class as far as like, it's a luxury item. It's a conversation piece. It's a status symbol. And when you're going to pay that much money for it, you want it to do some things.
So to me, it increases the value of just the vehicle, sort of in the way that like a luxurious watch or whatnot has some things in it that may seem superfluous, but they do add to the prestige and the value of it. And that's what I think this does pretty nicely. So I mean, when you roll up to your-- whatever, your private island off road course and you're driving sideways, you know, the guy in the Wrangler Rubicon is not doing that you or whatever.
So it's-- I do see the point when you're trying to make some of these, especially these like, first, like the Edition 1 Hummers, you're trying to make them desirable and aspirational and rebuild the brand. You've got to do stuff like this. So that's where I think it's-- there is a purpose that just is less practical, if that makes sense. So it's fun. I love it. It's like driving a pontoon boat, I think. That's the feel.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: [LAUGHS] If a pontoon boat for the road? You hear it-- you heard it here first, folks.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, that's my drive impressions of it, if you will.
ZAC PALMER: It's a very fast pontoon boat.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It is.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
ZAC PALMER: If it is a pontoon boat.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's a pontoon boat with like, a supercharged Lamborghini V12 outboard.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, and then there's the third one, the Genesis JV 60 with the biometrics. They could scan your face, fingerprints. That one is one that didn't work quite as easily as we thought it would. There is a little more heartburn, some dissonance on that. But I also say this, having tested other items like this that require like, some level of learning, a learning curve, some level of like you have to do it, and you have to do it right or it doesn't work. That type of thing. This one worked far better than I expected.
Like, I got it to work I think on my first try after somebody showed me. But that to me was pretty good. It's super cool, I think. It's also-- in it basically, the way we summed it up in our story is, it takes like technology from your phone, from your mobile device to the car, which is very natural transgression or trend like rote if you will.
So I think, again, my personal view is, I didn't like it quite as much as the other two. And obviously, a lot of people felt that way because it finished third. But I was also very intrigued by it. It was again, a spirited contest. So yeah.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah. You know, the GV60 really did piqued my interest as something that could have won this thing. But I think it was more the implementation of the tech and the actual functionality that ended up, you know. It was a little clunky and it didn't always work exactly how well it was supposed to. In my testing, I lined it up, you know, you go through the whole setup process, which only takes about two minutes or so.
But then I'm out there standing and looking into the facial recognition scanner. And first, to activate it, you have to be touching the door handle, which is well, it feels a little clunky. I don't really want to have to touch the door handle. I just want to walk up to the car. It see my face and go.
But then also when it was in direct sunlight, it just failed to recognize my face about two or three times. And that is just something that cannot happen, especially when this is a tech that you're going to rely on to get into your car without a key. You can't be out at the beach, finish your day, no key insight, walk up to it, your car is in direct sunlight, and it just won't read your face. That's-- that's not a great look. That's not fun for you. That's not fun for the triple A person that has to come out and rescue you if, for whatever reason, it still can't work.
So that is what really brought my point value down. The idea, I think, is still really cool because I don't like carrying around key fobs. Like, it's-- we have really big key fobs these days. It can be annoying. If you're going for a run, if you go into the beach or whatever, you don't want to carry that around and lose it. And you know, it's smart. But I think that the actual winner of this Ford might enjoy the fact that they have the old standby, the numerical number pad. That thing never fails.
Is it as cool as-- as a facial recognition? No, it's certainly not, but yeah. Maybe in like, a year or two, this will be more fully baked, and we will be walking up and staring at our cars to unlock them. But I don't think that it's-- it's ready for prime time quite just yet.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: My thoughts are pretty similar. I found it worked about as well as it does on a smartphone or my laptop, my-- my Microsoft Surface. The majority of the time, it recognizes your face and works. With-- with a smartphone, no one sets that up without a pin back-- like to fall back on, like, if the facial thing doesn't work. And even fingerprint stuff doesn't-- it's not 100% of the time. Every once in a while, you got to move your finger slightly. You got to wipe the sweat off if you've been playing volleyball or something who knows.
We've got that pin as-- as your fail-safe. Well, the Hyundai, I don't think I would ever-- if I-- not Hyundai Genesis. Yeah, I don't think I would ever walk away from the vehicle feeling comfortable leaving the keys inside and locking it using that without having the key as my fail-safe in the same way that I would never not have a pin code back up on my phone. If that's the case, it defeats the purpose. If I'm going to carry the key fob with me anyway, then what do I need the other-- the facial recognition for?
However, I will say it's-- it's cool. It works the majority of the time. And if you're really techie kind of person, like if you're the kind of person who loves the facial unlock on your phone, you're probably going to like it in your car too. It's-- it's a cool thing. It generally works. I think I had better than a two out of three hit rate on it. I just found it unnecessary because like Zac said, Ford solved this issue 30 years ago or more.
Some-- some good friends of mine have got a 2004 Ford Edge. It's got the-- the number pad on the outside of it. And they use it all the time. They lock their keys in it and use that code. Like, this isn't actually superior to that in my mind. So for-- I wouldn't say that it's tech for tech sake necessarily. I would just say it's-- it's an unnecessary evolution of something that's been figured out.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, and the actual fingerprint starting to-- it's-- I think that the one big plus there is that you can scan your fingerprint and say, this is like a two or three person household, and three people are driving this car. You can walk in it, scan your fingerprint, it recognizes who you are. And all of your settings, presets, seat settings and all that roll up.
And that actually reminds me a little bit of-- like two years ago, Tech of the Year where we did the Subaru Forester with its eyesight facial recognition in the cabin. It's just like a neat way to get all of your settings and whatnot loaded up where it doesn't involve you selecting a profile on a screen and going through those.
But once again, it's just slightly clunky, you know. You-- first, you put your finger on-- on the sensor, then you can push the push start button instead of just like walking right in and scan your finger in the car starting up. So there are some improvements that can be made here that I feel like would have maybe push it higher and maybe could have even competed with-- with the Ford for the win. But I think that we're all pretty-- pretty similar opinion here that third or close to second is about where-- where it should have landed this year.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I think this is one of those texts that I think we'll either see it get better and more usable. And perhaps, we'll see the tech migrate to other things beyond your phone. Who knows. And then it'll just kind circle back and be a little more on the present with Genesis and other car makers, or it'll be like the Subaru EyeSight, the Jaguar, like keyless thing we tested a few years ago, stuff that just kind of filters in for like, a reason or a season, but not exactly a lifetime, if you will, to get poetic here, so.
So that's Tech of the Year guys. Again, congratulations to Ford for winning. Our top honors, little bit of Autoblog history here, Ford is now the only two-- the second two-time winner. They joined Tesla, which won in 2014 and 2016. So we have now two-- ones who have doubled up, if you will. And then some of the other winners include Chrysler, Kia, Cadillac, Chevy, Lexus, Kia, and so on. You know, we've been doing it since 2013. And yeah, this is our big deal award, so. You know, I'm excited to get started for next year.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, me too. Give the post a read. It should be a fun one to go to even after you've listened to this podcast.
GREG MIGLIORE: Check it out. Check out the videos. It's a lot of fun. All right, so let's transition to the-- the news side, the news and reviews. We'll kind of run through this pretty quick here. But we have a non-Corvette Corvette. This is kind of an interesting one. Mark Reuss, who's the president of General Motors, mentioned this during an investor call last week. It's apparently going to be like on the C8 platform, but not exactly a Corvette.
So I mean, I don't think we're bringing back the XLR, if you will. If you guys might remember that which I drove on a track at the Autobahn racetrack in middle Illinois like, a long time ago. That was a riot. Yeah, what do you guys make of this?
ZAC PALMER: I am pretty mystified because yes, when you say a non-Corvette Corvette, that is directly where my brain goes to XLR, XLR-V.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
ZAC PALMER: But man, I-- it's-- it's confusing. I feel like Chevy is really turned the Corvette, just model sequence and all that, a little bit on its head with the C8 here. You know, they've thrown a lot of things at the wall-- you know, we have the classic Corvette Stingray. And now, we have the Z06. But you know, there's going to be a hybrid coming. There's going to be a fully-electric Corvette coming.
And I guess the one that they're sort of foreshadowing here is going to be the Zora that has also been rumored. I mean, who knows if that's actually true or not. But theoretically, I mean this would be like, the ultimate Corvette on a Corvette platform that we could get. So I'm excited. It's going to be difficult to see like, all right, how much better is the actual performance going to be because I feel like they're going to run into a ceiling here really quickly, especially when they throw all wheel drive at it with this hybrid one and have a fully electric one.
They're just-- it might feel a little bit like the 911 lineup and just all these small little tears, just a different use case for each one. And Chevy's going to have to pick their lane and make a use case and an argument for each of them. I guess I'm excited to see where it goes.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: The only thing I would add to that is I-- looking back at history, Corvette technology has-- has filtered down to other Chevrolet vehicles for a really long time, most notably in engines, transmissions. A lot of GM's high-performance kit debuts on the Corvette, and then filters its way down. And if it weren't for the Corvette, we probably wouldn't-- we probably wouldn't have some of those things like the-- the so many different variants and versions and power levels of the-- the traditional GM Chevy-based V8. Traditionally, 5.7 liter, 350 cubic inch, but that varies.
Magnified suspension is another good example of something that debuted for Chevrolet on their flagship performance car. And filter down to-- to other vehicles, Cadillacs, et cetera. That's not exactly what-- what GM said in their investor conference. I didn't actually-- I wasn't there, so I didn't listen to it and hear it out of with my own ears. But they said, based on a Corvette. So that means like Corvette bones, Corvette platform.
The only thing I can figure is that they're probably talking about, like Zac said, the ultimate future performance Corvette. Maybe they're not going to call it-- maybe it's not going to say Corvette anywhere on it. Maybe it's going to say you know, Zora or-- or past ones-- like think of the ZR1 of the 1990s. It was still a Corvette, but you know. I don't know if it's going to be like that.
I think if you extend the thought a little bit out, probably four years, Chevy should have been capitalizing on-- you know, on Corvette performance. There's probably going to be an electric Corvette sooner than later.
Ford took the Mustang and made it into electric crossover. You know, there probably should be-- there probably should be more links to the flagship Corvette across GM's line than there already is. So I don't know. I would love to see them invest heavily in Corvette. Make it-- you know, it already is a world-beating supercar for the price. But extend that idea.
I don't know why there wouldn't be a Corvette-like, four-door crossover, something that use a similarly based and powerful propulsion system. It just would make sense for them to do that. I mean, look at what BMW does. BMW is M's second ever M car is a crossover.
And you know, people are throwing a fit about the looks a little bit, but they're not throwing a fit about the fact that BMW is making this performance SUV or performance crossover. We've come to expect it. So why wouldn't Chevy follow that same kind of path and expand Corvette performance, especially future electrified Corvette performance across its model range.
GREG MIGLIORE: It sounds good. I mean, at different points, we've talked about how like, if Corvette where they-- were to be able to grow the range, it could even almost be its own brand, if you will, in the way that we're seeing Mustang is there is a Mustang crossover now, an electric crossover. You know, there's no parsing that out. That's the reality.
So you wonder how many different ways could they take a Corvette. I mean, we'll see. I imagine too to take this even a step farther. I mean, you could spin Corvette off and that might be a pretty valuable company, if you had like crossover or something electric, you know.
It could even be like Ferrari, where like the former parent holds on to a lot of the-- the initial shares. So you're still kind of controlling it. It seems like might be a fun job, like almost like a retirement gig for Mark Reuss or Tadge Juechter or something. Just playing a little fantasy football here with car brands.
Speaking of fantasy, so this is pretty awesome. This never happens. It seems like some new hot Audi came out this morning, and it feels like for as long as we've been doing this, it's like you see the press release. You see the pictures, then you say, they're not coming here. That's not the case. RS6 Avant Performance and the RS7 Sportback Performance revealed. We have some news from Zac.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, so we're getting the performance versions of the RS6 Avant and RS7, which is, well, that's exciting. I mean, performance for Audi-- sort of within the name, normally means more power, better handling, a little lighter weights. All of those good things, which is honestly kind of what I thought the RS6 Avant needed after it was released here. It's this awesome, awesome wagon that has 591 horsepower, the looks to kill, and all of these great luxurious accouterments.
But you drive that versus an AMG E63 S Wagon back to back, and you're sort of like, I think I'd rather have the Mercedes please, and thank you. It's just a good bit sharper. The engine, well, it's-- it's quicker. It feels more powerful. Handling is better. And just in all those little ways that enthusiasts enjoy a car more than Mercedes is simply more.
The performance version? Well, that could bring this thing a little closer and perhaps even with-- with the AMG. So there could be an even better argument for going to buy an RS6 Avant than there was before. I wouldn't say that anybody should not buy it. Previously, the thing was ridiculously good. But now, it's just going to be even better and arguably a little cooler-looking. I really like these new wheels that they throw on it.
And the same goes for the RS7 Sportback. Am I as excited about the RS7 Performance as I am the RS6 Avant? No, definitely not. I love the wagon. The wagon looks the best. But this is really cool that we're actually going to get these performance variants here in the US. And they're supposedly coming sometime next year. So it's not long if you're in the market for a super wagon or super Sportback.
GREG MIGLIORE: I Can't wait. I can't wait. Another story that Jeremy, you kind of were overseeing, doing some editing on, the 10 longest lasting vehicles on the road today. It sounds like a Chevy truck commercial from about 20-years ago, "Like A Rock." I think that's Bob Seger. Who are the top ones? Any surprises?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I mean, I think the only surprise is that there's some hybrids on there. The Toyota Highlander Hybrid made a maiden appearance. And in hybrids in general, if you run down the list, the Prius is also on there. First, a little bit of background. So the list is based on an ana-- analyzing 2 million vehicles that iSeeCars has in their database. They took the top 1% of cars, of every model sold in the last 20 years, and figured out what has the highest potential mileage that way.
No one will be surprised by seeing the top several choices. The Toyota Sequoia was number one. The top 1% of them have 295,509 miles. Next was the Land Cruiser at 280,000, the Chevy Suburban at 265,000. And then from there, it's a who's who of trucks and SUVs with the Toyota Avalon thrown in for good measure and the Toyota Highlander thrown in for good measure.
Interestingly, American trucks aren't in this top 10 list. But if you expand it down into the 20s, then you'll see a good number of Ford F-150. Chevy Silverado's will easily pass 200,000 miles as well. So I think what this demonstrates-- there's-- there's a few ways to look at it. It demonstrates, I think that most vehicles, when properly maintained and cared for and fixed when things break, will last a really long time.
Change your oil, flush your fluids. And if something does happen to go bad, there's a leak, get the leak repaired. If your-- your power steering is starting to go wonky, take it in, and have the little power steering. The basic bits of the car are probably engineered to keep going for a really long time without catastrophic failure I think is what you see from this list.
I think, growing up, if you grew up in the '80s like I did, or Greg did-- Zac is the youngster here, if you grew up in the '80s, like the idea of a car hitting 100,000 miles felt like a milestone. Now, a car hits 200,000 miles and you're like, I think it's still got a little bit of life left in it. So just in general, high mileage cars are not nearly as scary a proposition as they used to be.
Also, I think there's a potential for a little bit of confirmation bias on the list. You see a lot of Toyota models on here. And some-- there's the Ford Expedition and the Chevy Suburban are in the top 10, but not the Tahoe, or excuse me, not the Silverado and the F-150, which basically have the same drivetrain and power plants.
If you buy a vehicle intending to keep it for a really long time and keeping the maintenance up-- like first of all, I think a lot of people buy Toyotas for that reason. And so they do invest in getting them fixed when something breaks with the intention on keeping it for a really long time. That's one of the reasons they bought a Toyota in the first place, because they intended on keeping it for a long time. And it's got that reputation.
The Expedition and the Suburban around there too, because I think a lot of people buy these big SUVs. They-- they're road trip cars. They probably hook up trailers, and-- and crisscross the country in them. And they-- they know they're going to be putting big mileage on them. So when something needs fixing, they fix it. I think some of what you're seeing on this list is-- is evidence of that, that there are certain types of vehicles, even brands of vehicles that people buy and are willing to invest to keep going.
And then there's a lot of throwaway cars too. No one buys a-- no one is going out and buying Ford Tauruses thinking that-- that they're going to put 300,000 miles on it. If they did that, they probably were going to buy an Avalon or a Camry. So it's not that surprising that you don't see some of what you consider like, the bargain priced competitors don't make the list, and the ones that people do pay a premium for do make the list.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, it makes sense. There's nothing out here that really blew my mind, but I think it's-- to your point, it's interesting to see your cars like you have to readjust your brain, you know. A hundred miles, you used to think, OK, you might want to cash out before I have to really spend money to fix this. Now, it's like, if it's 200,000 miles, you're happy with the car. You keep going, you know. And that's-- that's kind of a cool thing I think.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I do think it's interesting. The-- if I was going to pick one specific model to focus on, that I think is interesting, it made the top 10. It's the Honda Ridgeline. I think there's lot of-- there's a misconception that it's not a durable vehicle because it's not a body and a body on frame truck.
You know, the-- people think, oh, you know, the Toyota Tacoma, it lasts forever. Well, guess which one's-- guess which one's on the list with the high mileage? The Honda Ridgeline. Is it because people maybe don't work them out as hard? Maybe, but clearly, if you take care of it, you know, you're going to be pushing over 250,000 miles is a potential expectation if you're using your-- your Honda Ridgeline is, even using it as a pickup truck.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, no, I think the Ridgeline is going to be one where to see those on the road for quite a while, so. Let's talk about cars we've been driving. I have been to the Nissan Pathfinder, the SV trim. It's a very nice three-row crossover. And they call it four-wheel drive. I believe it's all wheel drive.
I feel like with the new generation of Pathfinder, they've really steered into this like, rough and tumble. The Pathfinder is back as a truck. Sure, a little bit, but it's also I would say, for the most part, a somewhat-- somewhat less generic crossover than it was before. And that's-- it's a decent SUV. We drove plenty of miles for the Thanksgiving holiday with it, which is great. Everybody was super comfortable.
You know, the vehicle was new last year. It was actually up for SUV of the Year for [? Net ?] [? Toy ?] and a few other outlets and juries, if you will. So it's been pretty well received. It didn't win. And you know, I think a lot of people are like, hey, what do you think of the Pathfinder? I tend to put it like, the upper middle of the pack. You know, there's other things that I think are a little bit better, more interesting design, a little better executions, better fuel economy.
But-- I mean, still, if you're-- you're a Nissan person who've-- you've had Pathfinders before. They do move the ball forward with this. You know, it's nice. The interior is demonstrably nicer than before. And it's definitely something that if you need to like, move people and stuff, you know, this is the par of the market that you're in. It's-- it's worth your consideration, you know.
Nothing about it really blew my mind or stood out, which is kind of a tough thing to say, but it also is very solid. You know, the infotainment was OK, but not like offensive in the way some companies will really frustrate you.
ZAC PALMER: I actually had some of the similar complaints with-- with the infotainment is as you did there. It-- it feels old for being like a brand new car, doesn't it? Like, it's just not-- [SIGHS] there are a lot of good things there, but it's-- it's not entirely up to spec, I feel from where--
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I mean, I think that's fair too. And I mean, you know, it's-- for sort of like a new generation of the vehicle, it didn't feel as perhaps as like much of a step forward to say, like the Kia Telluride or the Hyundai Palisade do in the same segment, you know. So yeah, I mean, you guys have driven this. What do you think?
ZAC PALMER: I think just like you said there with-- with the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade, I would still have those over at Pathfinder. You know, those-- what I'd rather have Mazda CX-9. If I didn't need that much third row space, yeah, I'd rather have that too.
The Pathfinder, yeah, it looks a whole lot better now. And I think that it drives a whole lot better. I read-- I think Byron did the first drive for us last year. And he was pretty amazed. Like, well, this thing is like so, so much better. The last time that I drove a Pathfinder was actually the previous generation 1, and that was like the Rock Creek edition.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
ZAC PALMER: It was not good. It was genuinely like one of the worst drive, three-row SUVs out there at the time. Now, the Pathfinder is like super respectable, nice SUV to drive around in. So middle pack to middle above pack, I think I'd rank it right around where-- where you have it too.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, I think too. The-- I drove the Traverse fairly recently as well. And I feel like it-- like, you've got this kind of like, middle class of like, large three row SUVs that like-- I think it's tough for them to like, do conquests if you will, as far as pulling somebody out of another one or beating the new flashy sort of king of the hill. But they're also solid and they're better than they were. And to your point, that old Pathfinder was really a historic piece of work. Let's put it that way.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I actually haven't driven the new Pathfinder yet. So I'll comment solely on its looks. The-- the previous one could be mistaken for a rugged minivan, kind of blobby overall. The new one is still a little bit blobby to my eyes, but more like-- like SUV shaped, than minivan-shaped, which I think is definitely something that works in its favor.
And now, it looks like a like a real rugged SUV as opposed to like a-- a jacked up wagon or anything like that. So I think that's good. The-- I've always liked Nissan's V6s. They always feel kind of maybe-- maybe a little unrefined, but always-- they're always there with the power. So you know, I-- I think that's a check in its box as well.
And moving to the 9-speed automatic, like we said, even if you don't care how the CVT drives, I keep track, I keep tabs on it because a lot of people ask me like, oh, they ask me about used vehicles a lot. And the Pathfinders of old with their CVT and the Infinity QX60, especially the early ones that use the same CVT, way more transmission problems than-- than their competitors. So glad to see that Nissan ditched that in favor of a more reliable solution.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, sounds good. So let's shift gears over to the Lexus NX 450h+. Can you tell what that is?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, so first of all, I hate this naming convention that Lexus is using here-- the numbers, letters, and symbols.
ZAC PALMER: I know.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah.
ZAC PALMER: Like, all three.
GREG MIGLIORE: I like the plus parts, to be honest.
ZAC PALMER: It's ridiculous, yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: So which ones to 450 minus then? Oh, no, there isn't one.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, that's and I have the same complaint about Sport and Sport Plus, you know. Like, do we really need this? Do we really need to break down sport and sport plus in our kind of family-oriented luxury crossover? No, we really don't need a sport plus mode. But whatever, I digress.
Basically, what the NX is, it's the-- there's two ways to look at it. It's the younger sibling to the best selling RX Lexus crossover. It also could be seen as a really nice luxurious RAV4. Either way, I would say is not a terrible way to describe it.
I really enjoyed the NX 450h+, which let me break this down. NX-- I know everyone's laughing. NX is the model, as opposed to the RX. It's the smaller of the two-- two row crossovers in Lexus dealerships.
The line starts with the 250, which I would say you should avoid at all costs. Because for only $3,000 more, you can replace the 2 and 1/2 liter naturally aspirated 4-cylinder that also comes in the RAV4 with a turbocharged 4-cylinder that is much more befitting of a luxury nameplate than the base 4. So I would skip that 250 entirely. I would go straight to the 350.
The other two options are the 350h, which has nothing to do with the standard 350 non-h that the 350 h is a naturally aspirated 4-cylinder and hybrid motor combination. That's the most efficient of all the powertrains in the NX lineup, unless you also consider the 450h+. And there is no regular 450h. There's only 450h+. The plus is the plug.
So if you keep the battery charged up in the 450h+, it then has the potential to be more efficient for most drivers than the standard 350h because it has a much bigger battery. It's much heavier because of that battery. So if you run it as a hybrid without ever topping up the battery, it's not going to be as efficient as the standard hybrid. If you continually tap up the battery at home as you should if you bought one with a plug, then-- then it's a really efficient car.
I really enjoyed driving it. The bigger electric motor of the plug-in, the bigger battery allows you to do most of your driving on electricity alone, even when it's in regular hybrid mode. The engine only kicks on when-- when necessary, and that didn't happen to me very often, which made the drivetrain feel very smooth, very electric, which is a compliment.
The rest of the vehicle is very Lexus. It is quiet. It is smooth. It is comfortable. A little bit numb by design, but I think that works for them. It's their bread and butter. It's what they do. It's not a perfect vehicle by any means.
The first thing I'll mention is, we talked earlier in the show about tech for tech sake, there's quite a bit of tech for tech sake inside the NX. Starting with the door handles, they are electric-- electrically operated door handles if you use them. If you just push them like you're supposed to with your thumb, pops the door open. Unless the car senses something in its blind spot, in which case, the electronic door opening won't pop. The backup is to pull twice on that same tab, and it releases mechanically.
So it's almost like they're recognizing the fact that OK, an electric door handle might malfunction. What if you crack your-- your mirror that has the blind spot warning in it and you don't know what if you've got snow covering your sensors, and it thinks there's something in your blind spot that really isn't? The fact that it's got this manual release built into the same mechanism, I think just goes to show that it's basically not necessary in my opinion. So there's that.
But that's admittedly a small complaint. A bigger complaint I have is the touch sensitive buttons on the steering wheel that are completely unlabeled and unmarked. They-- they're just buttons. And you know where they are, and you feel them. They-- they only tell you what they're doing by looking through the heads up display, which is cool. OK, that's fine. But why-- why? For-- for what purpose? For what reason? How is this moving the needle further than just being kind of cool? Again, tech for tech sake.
ZAC PALMER: I remember both Byron and James drove on NX, and they had massive complaints about the same thing-- the weird steering wheel buttons. This almost sounds like something that needs an emergency one or two year refresh thing because it-- like every single person I've ever talked to that has driven an NX is like, these are useless. [LAUGHS]
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Right. Well, just--
ZAC PALMER: Like, this makes no sense. [LAUGHS]
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Just label them, you know.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: So-- so we know what they do, when you're like at a glance. You don't have to like, stare at your-- like, the whole idea of a head up display is to keep your attention on what's happening in front of you. You don't want to then draw your attention away by giving us these unlabeled buttons that we're trying to figure out what it's doing on the screen in front of you. And I tested it with polarized glasses. And sure enough, it's really hard to see at certain angles when you're wearing polarized glasses.
So it's-- again, that tech protect sake, again, not a deal breaker though, I think. Here are the two potential deal breakers that I see, and then I'll get off my-- my high horse. It's small. The NX is-- is measurably smaller than any vehicle it competes against. You really don't feel that in the two front seats. You feel it in the cargo and you feel it in the back seat.
So if you are an upwardly mobile, somewhat well-to-do couple or maybe you've got one kid, this will probably still work for you. And maybe you don't care because you want a Toyota or a Lexus, and that's what you're buying on purpose. Maybe you don't care how it compares in size to its competitors. Fine. It's probably going to be big enough for you.
The real issue I had is, how expensive it is for the size that it is and for its competitive set. The 350 h which, as I mentioned earlier, is the most efficient or the 350, which is the turbocharged more high performance model are nearly $15,000 cheaper than the 450h with the plug or for the 450h+ with the plug. $15,000 is huge. That's a lot of money. If you're-- you know, like, $15,000 might be the amount that you're putting down on the car. That might be your down payment. $15,000, if it's not your down payment and you're spreading it across payments, we're talking a month more to get this one with the plug. I don't think the value proposition is there.
It's the best one, and it's priced like the best one. But when it comes to brass tacks, really think hard about how you want to spend your money. You're probably better off with just the standard hybrid or pocketing the money, and-- and getting the 350. It's-- it's quick. It's like less than half a second different and 0 to 60 than the 450 range trapping-- range topping model. I just think the pricing disparity is too much. If it were $8,000 more, I'd say, yeah, that's the one to buy. $15,000 more is-- is too much.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, I think that's fair. I just went and did a little comparison because I'm curious about the pricing here. Like, how many years would it take if you religiously plugged in your 450h versus that 350h. And it looks like, according to EPA, estimates $1,800 a year in fuel for the 350h, $1,250 and electricity and gasoline every year for the 450h. So that is a $550 cost difference. How many years would that be that you'd have to plug-in your 450h+ to reap the benefits. That's-- that's a lot of years.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: More than you're going to-- more than you're going to own it.
ZAC PALMER: More-- more than you're going to own it.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: The other-- you know, the argument there, though, is like OK, you can do emissions free driving for 30-something miles a day. And I think that's a sound argument. But I also think the people who are die hard enough to spend $15,000 more on this, if-- if their goal is to reduce their emissions that by that much, and they feel electrification is the way to do it, they're probably going to buy an electric crossover, you know. For this price difference, I'd go electric if that were my big concern.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think that's a really good point to it. We've talked about this on recent podcasts is how where do plug-in hybrids really sit, sort of in the market right now? You know, you get a little bit of electric vehicle range. You know, it depends on what you buy. Generally, a little bit the more you pay for it, but not always. You get a little bit more range.
And then they work as essentially hybrids. And do you want to pay for that added tech? Are you gonna-- is that how your life sort of works? And this is one where you sort of see with the cost being such as it is, where the argument makes a lot less sense than some other vehicles that we've looked at.
To me, on the lower end of the spectrum, they can be good values, you know. Again, if you have a short commute, and you're really into it, and again, like I said, the price is where people want it to be, it could be a good deal. You pay more at that premium doesn't necessarily shake things out.
So I mean, I guess that kind of brings us to our final-- final car here-- the 330e, our BMW long-termer. It's a plug-in hybrid. I was just researching because I don't have a home charger. You do DC fast charging, which I think is kind of cool. I'm looking forward to doing that. You've had it for a little while now, Zac. I mean, tell us which you think of the car, but tee it up. I mean, is this a useful hybrid or is this one that you're kind of wasting your money on?
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, so to like--
GREG MIGLIORE: Plug-in hybrid, I shouldn't say.
ZAC PALMER: Yeah, to go right at the money argument here, the 330e is a screaming deal as far as cost is. You look at a 330i, MSRP versus a 330e, the e is $1,100 more than the i. So yeah, that makes a whole lot more sense versus that Lexus NX comparison there.
And I honestly, the same argument applied to the X3. I did the first drive for the X3, xDrive30e about a year or two ago. And I was like, just buy the plug-in hybrid because it's almost no extra money, and you get to plug-in and get 20-plus miles of electric range.
So, but back to like, the car as a whole here, we've-- we've had this in our long term fleet now for-- well, we're about nine months in. We had a little bit of a break with it in the shop for a while getting some repairs to the front bumper after-- just a little scrape happened. Waited a long while for parts to get in, which is basically the theme. That has been the theme for the past two years with all of our long-termers. When anything has happened, broken, whatever, parts are tough to find, and they take a long time to get in.
Hopefully, if you have a new car, that hasn't happened to you. But that has certainly been our experience in trying to get appointments, parts, et cetera. But it's back now. So we've-- we've had it back for about a month and a half at this point. We are just-- just crested over 9,000 miles here with our-- our long-term test. It's been in for one oil change. It's still a pretty normal service schedule even-- even with the plug-in hybrid.
But there are a few things that I've gathered with my most recent stint in it that I was a little unsure of at the start. For one, I wish that it had the adaptive M Sport suspension. This is the first three series that I've driven in, probably one of the first BMW in a long time that I've driven that doesn't have the adaptive electronically adjustable shocks. This has the passive suspension.
And the tuning on it is definitely BMW-esque. It's-- well, stiff to ride around town. And it's-- honestly, a little more uncomfortable than I wish it would be. And I've driven three series with the adaptive suspension on it. It's so much better. You get the comfort in. When you don't want to have any fun, and then you throw it into sport and everything stiffens up, and it's better.
The compromise with-- with the passive dampers, I-- I'm just not a huge fan of it. And I think that it's worth the extra money there. As far as the actual plug-in hybrid portion of it, that I really love driving this car around on electric power. I know that one of the editors that had it previously. John, he would always plug-in religiously, so he would put a lot of electric miles on it.
And we've done really quite well with it as far as fuel economy goes. I mean, even on the highway, you know, when you're not using that electric power because you-- you've already burned through it in like a 300- or 400-mile trip, this thing is getting about 32 to 33 miles per gallon, which is pretty dang close to what a normal 330i gets.
And that's-- that's always impressive when you have a plug-in hybrid with the added weight of the battery, the motor, and all that. All things being equal a lot of the times. Just the gasoline-- pure gasoline version gets better highway fuel economy.
One little complaint that I have about the actual highway fuel economy and range of this thing, though, because it has that battery and the electric motor, the-- the space for a fuel tank is a lot smaller than in a regular 330i. So a normal three series has about a 14, 15-gallon tank. This guy is only about 10 gallons.
So there's not a lot of range after you do fill it up. Even when I have the range counter down. I've had it down to about three or four miles, left to E at this point just to see like, how much can I get in there when I do a full-- full fill up. And I can get about 10 gallons and no more. So that's-- that's a detriment to your highway range as-- as a grand tour. Not the worst thing in the world, because it takes three minutes to fill up, but just a small thing here or there as-- as you're living with the car over a long period of time.
So has-- has my opinion change? Like, should you buy this over a 330i still? I think, yes, I would still totally have it over at 330i. When you do hop on it-- and I know Greg, I'm handing this off to you next. Make sure that you throw it into sport and extra boost mode. Because if you don't put it in sport and extra boost mode, you don't get the extra accelerator boost from the electric motor, and it feels considerably weaker.
You just have to make sure that after you hit the sport button, throw it into extra boost. Then it's like, oh, that's the acceleration, the 0 to 60 in just-- just over 5 seconds that you were expecting. So you got to do that. And yeah, it's a lot of fun to drive. Handles like a 3 Series. It feels like a 3 Series. And yeah, still enjoying our time with it, so.
GREG MIGLIORE: I'm excited. I haven't driven a 3 Series in probably over a year. So I'm quite excited to get behind the wheel of it, get behind the wheel of this plug-in hybrid take on this very venerable car line. That's for sure. And I think you said it well. You got to put it in sport in overboost mode, which is really a way to live life, right? You know, just--
ZAC PALMER: Absolutely.
[LAUGHS]
GREG MIGLIORE: --you got to live your life in overboost mode, so. All right, guys, well, that's all the time we have this week. Congratulations again to Ford for winning their second their Autoblog "Technology of the Year Award." If you enjoy the show, please give us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Send us your Spend My Moneys. That's Podcast@Autoblog.com. Be safe out there, and we'll see you next week.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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