In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. Get a behind-the-scenes look at life for Autobloggers during the coronavirus outbreak, as they talk about how it's not only affecting the automotive industry at large, but the people who cover it as well. Amidst the chaos, Hyundai unveiled the 2021 Elantra, and out editors opine about the new small sedan. They briefly discuss what cars they'd want to drive cross-country if they had a flight that had been canceled, before talking about the cars they've actually been driving, including the Mercedes-Benz GLS 580, Jeep Renegade and Lincoln Corsair. Finally, they reach into the mailbag and help a listener pick a new car.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
GREG MIGILORE: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the "Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore working remotely, as are my other two co-hosts today. Senior editor for all things green, Jon Snyder, what's going on, man?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Hey, how's it going? I'm just getting over a little cold myself.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. I mean, that's what's going on right now, but luckily we're all in isolation, so--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It could be a lot worse, yeah.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, yeah. So-- yeah. And also, on another one of our lines here is News Editor Joel Stocksdale. What's going on, man?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Hey, not too much. I've had plenty of time to get used to this whole social distancing thing.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. You're an old pro at it now.
GREG MIGILORE: So yeah, we've got a great show for you. Just so everybody knows, "Autoblog" is working from home, as is, it seems like, basically half the world. Warren Buffett is working from home. I've heard a couple other funny things. Joe Biden's speech last night was from his house, and it kind of looked like it was on a webcam if anybody was watching network news or CNN last night. So literally, everybody who can is working from home. It's kind of wild.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. Stephen Colbert did a show from a bubble bath, which is pretty cool.
GREG MIGILORE: Nice. Where are you guys? I'm just curious. If you can reveal, what's your work-from-home setup like?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I've been moving all over the house just to change things up. If one room gets loud or if a chair gets uncomfortable, I just go somewhere else, and new change of scenery. It's kind of perfect.
GREG MIGILORE: Same. I'm like-- I like to start off the morning either-- sometimes even just on my phone, dashing off emails and stuff wherever I can do that. And then once I get into the groove, I have the spot on the floor of my bedroom upstairs which works out pretty good. It's got some good lighting.
But you can't stay there all day. Eventually I'll migrate downstairs. We got a full house. My wife's here. My dog's here. My son's here. Everybody's home. Schools are closed. Doggie daycare is closed. Everybody's here.
So yeah, it's just sort of like a work in progress just moving around the house. And I actually like changing the scenery a little bit, you know? I don't have a home office. There's a couple of rooms I could make a home office. But I don't know. I kind of like moving around. How about you, Joel?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I've mostly been on the couch. I do have a desk that I could work at, but the couch is really comfy. I've actually moved into the bedroom for the podcast, though, because there's some carpeting in there, and I'm hoping it won't be too echoey. And my dog is-- she's somewhere outside right now, I think.
GREG MIGILORE: Nice. Yeah, my dog-- she's been all over the place. She doesn't know what's going on. And she thinks, like-- like, sometimes she'll get an 9 o'clock walk because we'll just take a family walk because you've got to burn off the energy, if you will. But then she's like, why is everybody here but not paying attention to me? So it's just-- it's funny. Some of the dog jokes on Twitter right now are quite amusing.
Yeah. But anyways, we should probably give our listeners the show rundown. We've got a great show for you today. We are going to talk a little bit more about stuff besides working from home because I know everybody's doing that. We'll talk a little bit about what the coronavirus's impact is on the auto industry, some of the things have been pushed back, some of the enthusiast things that I think you guys might care about, trying to go beyond the numbers a little bit.
We did have a new car reveal last night. That was the Hyundai Elantra. It was Wednesday morning, so everything's so fluid. So yeah, who knows what's going to happen tomorrow? But that's what was going on in the car world at the time of this recording, if you will.
Then we will get into what we were driving. Mercedes Benz GLS-- John's got a nice one of those, a really nice review he did too, sort of like a car seat/cleaning review. That's cool. And then I was in a Jeep renegade, which I liked, and it got me rethinking just that segment. We did the crossover comparison, small crossover comparison a while back, and that was a lot of fun. It was last fall, actually. You guys were both there.
And just kind of made me rethink things a little bit because a lot's changed. Joel spent some time in the Lincoln Corsair. And then lastly, we will spend your money. So with that, let's kind of really jump into things here.
I mean, you can't really understate the coronavirus's impact on the auto industry. Just today, General Motors, Ford, and FCA have announced that they're shutting down production in North America through March. The company's corporate branches are all working from home. We've got news that basically, car production in Europe is totally shut down.
I mean, it's just-- the auto industry is, I'd say, very much like the rest of the economy, in which case it's either working from home or shut down. If you're actually building cars, that isn't really a work-from-home situation. A couple of weeks lost production can be a lot though, especially for a critical vehicle.
And then broader implications-- we are going to see-- I read a report that said you they might see 1 million fewer sales this year, which would still be a relatively healthy number, historically speaking. But what we've seen from the last 10 years, that's a pretty big drop. Frankly, if it's only a million, I think that's-- I would take that deal right now the way things are looking.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And I think--
GREG MIGILORE: And then a bunch of events.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And haven't automakers already been kind of preparing for a downturn in car sales? I mean--
GREG MIGILORE: They should be.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I feel like a million-sale decrease is not going to be the worst thing in the world for them. I mean, obviously, it's not good either, but--
GREG MIGILORE: Well, you know, what we saw the last time this happened with the Great Recession is companies really pared back their lineups. They focused on certain segments. They focused on-- fuel economy was certainly paramount then, as it is now, although gas is crazy cheap in a lot of places. But it doesn't really matter because nobody even wants to leave their house, it seems like. And if you do, you're on foot.
So we'll see. I mean, I know last time-- my frame of reference for this is the '08 to '09 Great Recession, bankruptcies of GM-- yeah, GM and Chrysler. And like you said, sometimes it can give companies-- obviously, there's no good, but it can force companies to really focus and look at things the new way.
I mean, there is that sort of theoretical model. I think we all would hope there was a different way to do that. But other things we're looking at-- we were supposed to-- Joel, you were supposed to be at the Ford Bronco event today.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, that's not happening.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Nope.
GREG MIGILORE: Good thing there are all those leaks last week, I guess. And I mean that somewhat jokingly, but yeah. What else has been pushed back? You guys probably know this. Le Mans has been pushed back, and that's not even until, like, June. I mean, basically everything has been pushed back. Nothing is still open in the car world. That mirrors the broader world. Yeah. It's a crazy time.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I love how some of the NASCAR drivers are joining an e-sports thing to drive remotely and still be able to give something to the fans and have some competition. I think that's a really clever idea, a pretty nimble move on their part and a wonderful fan service. I'm actually-- I'm not a big NASCAR fan at all, but I'm tempted to go and watch that just to have something to watch, to have some sort of sports-like thing, some sort of competition to watch while all the sports are currently suspended.
GREG MIGILORE: I'm with you. That's the other thing. There's nothing on TV, you know? It's at least in past crises, if you will, you could go home and watch something, but now it's just-- it's all news, and it's tough to get away from everything.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It's a good time to catch up on movies and books and old TV shows. And we've actually been going through an "Autoblog" and categorizing some of these and finding the streaming services where you can watch some of our favorite car shows and movies and read car books. And so those lists are all online for you. And yeah, we're doing the same thing. [LAUGHS]
GREG MIGILORE: I'd say this too. If you're listening to this-- you know, this is just sort of a real quick note from the editor, if you will. We're going to try to do two things for as long as this lasts. One is to bring you coronavirus news as it impacts the auto industry, usually putting our own spin on it, trying to help you out with things like ways to disinfect your car, stuff like that, and also, just how to not think about this stuff.
We know if you're an Autoblog reader, viewer, user, most of the time it's a fun website. It's fun cars, fun, interesting topics what we're reviewing-- eBay finds, stuff like that. We know you come to us just to not think about other stuff. So that's sort of like our second mission right now is if you want to look at Autoblog and not think about what's going, we've got a place for you. So I guess that's sort of my invitation. Come along with us as we try to-- try to get through this all together. Yeah. That's what's going on in the coronavirus world, I guess.
It's interesting too that-- you're going to probably notice this on the site-- we don't have as many reviews of cars simply because all the press trips were canceled. We're going to try and do what we can with the fleets that are available locally as long as those are available. The fleet companies are all working from home, and we're certainly sanitizing the cars as best as we can. So we're-- that's what's going on.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: We're even supposed to sign paperwork for cars to get dropped off with our own pens.
GREG MIGILORE: OK. Yeah. The guy who dropped off a car for me a couple days ago now, he's just literally-- they called me, then they left the keys in it, then they texted me. Never even saw them. So I don't know if I was supposed to sign anything, but clearly, no one was concerned about paperwork. And I can't blame them, you know?
It's everything-- even a week or two ago, stuff that you wouldn't have thought twice about, now it's like, everybody's just keeping their distance. And that's the right thing right now. Any other-- I mean, this is a crazy thing that's come in just recently this afternoon. Tesla was told to close their factory in Alameda County in Northern California. And apparently, they are still kind of keeping it open.
What kind of crazy insanity is that?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's wild.
GREG MIGILORE: I don't know. Check out that story. We just updated it. We've been-- we've updated that three times. One was they said they were going to stay open. Then they were to be closed. Then the sheriff's office is like, hey, man, you're closing. Then there was another update where it was like, they're defying the order. They say they're closed, but people are still going in there. So--
JOEL STOCKSDALE: This is what happens when your top-end boss tweets something about thinking that the coronavirus panic is ridiculous. I mean, it figures that that same guy would be like, ah, keep the factory open.
GREG MIGILORE: I mean, I would-- I think he should face some repercussions for that kind of defiance. That's just stupidity as far as I'm concerned. You can't just, when you're in charge, tell your workers to go to work even though he said-- he sort of said they didn't or told them not to, but it doesn't really sound like it was like, don't go to work. It sounds like it was more like a wink and a nod sort of thing.
I mean, we'll see more. Maybe there's more to this. Who knows? But--
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, it's a wild move, especially after Tesla's been-- an Elon Musk has been sort of keeping his head-- not underwater, but down to earth. He's been not so crazy lately. He hasn't had any huge scandals in the last couple months. Once the "pedo guy" lawsuit wrapped up, you didn't hear a lot about it.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: It's kind of nice.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. I mean, he had his Solar City trial coming up where shareholders say that he went ahead with that deal at his benefit, at the shareholders' expense. But that got postponed due to the coronavirus thing. But that was not even a big blip on the radar in terms of news.
These kinds of lawsuits are a dime a dozen for big companies. But for Elon Musk to not be making huge news himself for a long time, or for Tesla not making big news for something that Elon Musk did wrong for so long, and then for this to happen-- man, I hope they get their stuff together, because I was really pleased with the way things were going for Tesla for a while.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. I think it's weird too when you think of the broader implications. What are like a week or two of production, you know? I mean, like, who cares what's going on in the world right now? Do people need their Teslas that bad? I don't think so.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Well, some of the fans might say otherwise, but they're-- not all of them are always grounded in reality either.
GREG MIGILORE: All right. Well, that's the heavy stuff of the day. I'm curious, like-- before we transition to the Elantra, if you will, I'm curious-- what do you guys-- any other interesting things you guys are incorporating into your day? My plan was to have a beer during the podcast because it's late in the day, but then I just-- I was up really early this morning, and I'm doing an espresso, actually, just because it's only 3:40. You gotta keep going.
Yeah, I don't know. I actually have taken up yoga, which is kind of different. I find it's-- it's tough to do with all the stuff going around the house. You don't really have a lot of spare time. But a couple days this week, I've enjoyed doing that just because literally, it stretches you out.
I don't know. The dog is getting her walks. That's for sure. I was reading this story on this sports website called The Athletic. It was interviewing all these basketball coaches who have nothing to do. And one of the coaches-- I think it's Michigan State's coach-- was saying his dog has had four walks a day. So I don't know. Are you guys-- what's your work-from-home life? Any weird quirks or tips, things like that?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Well, I've been getting more-- I've been getting a little more sleep in the morning. I've been sleeping in because I don't have to commute, you know? And because I was sick, so I was taking advantage of that extra hour. And at night, my wife and I love to cook together. And during the week generally, it's been-- she has things almost ready for dinner by the time I get home. And now I get to get my hands dirty, so to speak, in the kitchen again, which feels really good.
And I've been spending a lot of-- shorter time-- shorter amounts of time in the press cars, but I've been paying closer attention to them because I'm not zoning out on this long commute. I go out there with a purpose to check out a specific thing, and then I dial in on something and learn about it, which has been kind of neat. I'm able to absorb a lot more with less driving. And it's sort of interesting-- I'll be interested to see what happens in terms of emissions and pollution with people traveling less.
You look at what-- in Italy, in China, the air has cleaned up, and in Venice, the canals are clear, and fish are returning to them. It's pretty interesting how the impact of this virus and human behavior is having on the environment. But in all honesty, I don't-- once I got past the anxiety of it, being able to take advantage of the extra time and maybe researching some things or getting back into some hobbies I've been neglecting-- it's kind of cool.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. How about you, Joel?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Not really much to report. Mostly just doing the same kind of work from the couch.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. Like you, John, I've been doing-- we've basically been cooking every night. It's kind of fun. Made some spinach marinara sauce the other night. That was good. There's just-- there's time, if you will. And you've gotta-- when you're done with work-- and there's always work to do. But at some point, just work and home life kind of intersect, and you're just-- you're done for the day. And it's like, OK, time to make dinner or something. So that's been fun.
I think this time where everybody's sort of, you know-- I don't know-- on top of each other in their houses is a good thing. It's just-- it's a very interesting time. I wonder-- I think 10 years from now, we're all going to look back at this and really look at this as, like, wow. We lived through that. That was wild.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It reminds me of the blackout from 2003 or whatever, which was shorter. But same thing-- you know, everything shuts down, and you sort of live your life a little bit differently for a while, and then you look back on it. I look back on that fondly, and I hope that I do with this too.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I can't wait for this to be over, but I'm glad you guys are having fun.
GREG MIGILORE: I'll say this. That blackout was interesting. I was moving into my-- I had an off-campus apartment in grad school. And literally, I was leaving because I was at my parents' house that summer, and I was moving to campus. And it was funny because they didn't have power. And they were like, uh, can we maybe stay at your place a little bit? Because we're up there, and my apartment there had power. It was about 90 minutes away. So yeah, it's funny the things you remember about these odd circumstances.
I would-- yeah, I mean, it's weird. Let's put it that way. I went shopping the other day in the Jeep Renegade, which we can get to, and filled that thing up. It was wild. It wasn't crazy like some of the things people are saying, but people were kind of looking at each other a little bit different. You were trying not to get too close to anybody. Yeah. It was-- it's different times.
Maybe we should talk about the Elantra, right?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yes, some non-coronavirus news. I am down for that.
GREG MIGILORE: OK. Let's see here. Yeah. So Byron Hurd, our new associate editor-- he's actually been here almost three or four months now. He handled that last night. He was supposed to go to-- I think it was LA-- to drive it and be there for the reveal, maybe just see it. I'm not sure if he was actually going to drive or not.
But-- yeah, so that was canceled. And we did a livestream, and we had that up last night. I think we're going to see more of these livestreams. Check them out. And then obviously, that story's up. You got to check it out. He broke it up really nice, a lot of different subheads, really good first look, thorough first look.
There's a lot going on visually. I would compare it to a little bit more smaller but more severe version of the Sonata. I just like the Elantra. I think it's a really good value in that segment. I don't know. This one seems maybe a bit over-baked, but I will reserve judgment until when or if I drive it. But I'm curious to hear what you guys think.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, I'm really excited about it. I think it looks pretty cool. I think-- I was hoping maybe it looked almost even a little bit more coupe-like in some ways, but I really like the surfacing on the doors and things. I like the faceted, creased lines. I think it's going to look super cool when eventually, a faster, more aggressive in-line version comes out.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. That's really interesting. We don't know as much about that, but that's certainly more of the enthusiast play a little bit. I don't know. What do you there, John?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: It depends on the angle. I really like the look from the rear. I like the way the roofline slopes back into the fin above the rest of the rear. I'm undecided on that profile, especially those creases in the doors. It reminds me a little bit of the Blazer. When I first saw that, I didn't like it, but it's grown on me.
I have a feeling that when I see this in person, that it might come together quite nicely. But overall, my impression of it is definitely positive. Moving into the interior, I like some of what's done there. The interior is a little simpler, less overwrought. Everything looks very-- laid out with purpose and practicality.
I'm not sure what I think of that digital display. I like digital instrument clusters, but this one is very much like a tablet that's sort of-- I don't know-- not quite as integrated as it could be. But for the price point, that's kind of a cool feature to have in a car like the Elantra. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward to driving the hybrid as well.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. The hybrid is going to be a very interesting play. I'm with you on the interior. I think that's one that you kind of really need to experience in person. But it certainly looks cool. We are kind of riffing off the pictures here.
I drove the Sonata, like, a week ago, maybe, and I really liked the design. I thought it looked super cool. It's aggressive. They're going for it. And to me, this is a very similar design.
I think the sides-- if you look at the doors, you get a little more of that sort of concave look. It's a little bit different than how the Sonata looks, but it's the same idea-- aggressive front end, different kind of-- some might say over-styled back end, but it looks pretty good.
Yeah. I'll give Hyundai credit. They're really going for it again. The one thing I don't see in these pictures is the Sonata has got that bright work, to use almost a British term, going from the headlights back. I don't really see that. The front of the Elantra is more, I'd say, headlight and grill-intense.
It's not quite as retro. The Sonata-- I think, Joel, you and I kind of brought this up-- that there was almost like some vague 1960s echoes if you really want to look at that and see it. This to me is more almost like-- I don't know. It's a little more-- yeah, it's just a little more severe, even. I don't know how I feel about that girl.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, I-- it's definitely different from the Sonata. There are cues that you can kind of see between the two, some of the lines on the side. But it's definitely distinct from the Sonata. And I kind of like that because I feel like a lot of automakers lately, they've really gotten into this rut where every single car has to look like the same thing, just slightly different sizes. And so I can appreciate that Hyundai is offering a distinct model with its own look that may have some design cues here and there that are related to other models, but that it's still kind of its own car.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. I think the Elantra has-- and really for the last decade or so, it's been a strong part of Hyundai's lineup. I've driven Elantras at-- this is, like, the third different publication I've worked at where I've been able to drive all different versions of the Elantra-- like generations, I mean.
So again, I think it's just impressive how Hyundai gives you more than you expect in that segment, even compared to Honda. Other companies generally have-- they do have very competitive offerings in that segment, but I'm impressed. I think they're going to-- again, this will be one that you kind of need to drive, but I feel a good vibe so far.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: And it sounds like there's going to be an Elantra for everybody, you know? There's going to be--
GREG MIGILORE: That's a good line right there.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: [LAUGHS] You know, the regular-- naturally aspirated 2-liter. There's going to be the hybrid, and then there's going to be, hopefully, eventually an end-line version to cater to the enthusiasts if you don't want to break the break the bank but want something along the lines of the Civic SI, something to compete with that.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. And that would be fun.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Something I'm kind of wondering about here is what the introduction of a Hyundai Elantra hybrid is going to mean for the Hyundai Ioniq. Because Hyundai is targeting at least 50 MPG combined. Well, I guess the Ioniq, it gets, like, 55, 58, so I guess Ioniq will still be a little bit higher.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: But I see what you mean. It could make the Ioniq a lot less relevant, and certainly a lot less desirable, when you have something brand new and all up to date and good looking. I think the Ioniq looks good too, but the Ioniq is maybe a couple years away from refresh.
So I could see them going either way with pulling the plug on that, so to speak, or to change up the Ioniq to give it more of a distinct vibe from this. I know it's on its own platform, and there's the electric and the plug-in hybrid. But yeah, it sort of makes the actual Ioniq Hybrid less relevant.
GREG MIGILORE: Well, I know it's a slow news week, but I think that's about as much as we can talk about the Elantra. We're giving it the mid-engine Corvette treatment. But that's OK. Do check back the site, though. There are some news and announcements coming out. So obviously, we have plenty of coronavirus news, but if that's not your cup of tea, we do have other car news, things like this.
I expect we would actually see more of this stuff. It's going to kind of pick up as maybe we all bunker down, if you will. So away we go. Another cool feature you might want to check out before I move on from news here-- do check out James Riswick. Our West Coast editor has a featurette here on what you would drive from Seattle to New York, basically going off the premise of your flight's been canceled, and you got to drive. You can do anything. What do you want to do?
So he got some good interaction using his own Twitter poll, which I think is cool. Lots of different takes on here. There's one '84 Mercedes USA 300 SD with only 160,000 miles on it, complete with a picture. That's awesome. Yeah. Former Autoblog Editor Alex Kierstein also chimes in with an old Mercedes 450 SEL G69. That's an awesome one. Yeah, but do check these out. It's a cool story. We're going to try and keep it light with stuff like that, just keep everybody's mood up.
We do have a long-term Volvo S60. I'm not quite sure who actually has possession of that right now, but we have an update on there. So yeah, that's what's going on. We also did hear more news that Corvette production is done. So I'm not quite sure the reasoning for that. We have it on our site, I believe. So that's sort of like, if you will, news, but also just interesting stuff because you get the C8 in there. So yeah. Any other thoughts, guys, just on the news of the world before we move on?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: No, I'm just thinking about what I'm going to drive across the country now. [LAUGHS]
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah. Those old '80s Mercedes, a couple of people in my neighborhood have those. I kind of want to-- obviously, buying a car right now isn't high on anybody's list. But that's almost a thing I kind of want.
An era-- that era of Mercedes is just a really nice transitional style. It's got that old look from-- you know, even from the '50s and '60s that just kind of hung around even into the early '80s. So I dig those. I would agree with some of James's followers, if you will. And yeah, I don't know.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Our road test editor, Zach Palmer, he suggested a Lexus LC500, and I can't think of anything I would rather pick. That's the one.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, there you go.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: This kind of makes me wish I still had my old 442 convertible, because that would be a great one.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I didn't know you had a 442 convertible.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah, I did for a little bit it. It was my mom's. I inherited it. But it would be a great time to also have a car to work on and fix up. But that would be a fun car to drive across the country, drop the top through the desert, just old-school on the road, that sort of vibe.
GREG MIGILORE: Mm-hmm, yeah. And one quick update. The GM Corvette news, if you will, is that it actually-- it's not coronavirus-related. We say that in there. It's just heavy demand, and then there was a UAW strike last fall. So essentially, they kind of just have hit a tipping point, and then they're going to shift over to the 2021 models 30 days sooner. So yeah, OK. So we're kind of doing a grab bag news section here.
Let's move along. You guys may have just heard a guest appearance on the podcast by Blue the dog. She's barking outside. I don't know if you guys can hear that. Hopefully not too much.
But let's move along to the cars you've been driving. John, you were in the Mercedes GLS. That's the big, amazing S class, if you will, of the SUV segment from Mercedes. I noticed you had a really cool review just talking about life and how you had to make some adjustments to your life in light of all of this. But yeah, tell us what you did with it.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. So I did a lot of carting around my son for his last couple of days of preschool before everything shut down. And it sounds now more and more like that's going to be the end of the school year. So he's going to kindergarten next year. Kind of bummed that he didn't get a chance to say goodbye to his classmates and his teachers and whatnot, but I was-- his babysitter had a car seat in her car, the one I usually use.
So I had to go put my wife's in mine, and that one's kind of a pain in the ass. Then I had to go get the one out of the babysitter's car, who was self-quarantining, and grab that. And so I was swapping a car seat in and out over and over. And then I went and-- we had bought an elliptical because we're not going to go to the gym.
And we'd been planning to buy one for a while and figured this might as well be the time. And it fit in there pretty spectacularly. I wish I had taken a picture. I was more concerned with, how the hell am I going to get this out of the car and into the house by myself? But yeah, so I did a lot of that stuff, just getting ready to hunker down for a while.
And then my son always likes to check out the cars I have. And this was a great one for-- you know, he gets ansty. Let's go outside and just hang out in the car for a bit, check it out. And it had the free driving assist that helps get you unstuck when you're off-roading, and it just makes the car bounce, which we tested for our Tech of the Year. And just bouncing the car up and down the driveway was enough to get tons of giggles.
And then playing with the MBUX voice recognition, voice controls, having-- asking questions. My son is just coming up with weird questions and asking them and laughing at the responses. But it's a really, really nice car.
I wouldn't get the 580. I feel like it's overkill. I'd rather have better fuel economy. But man, it is really easy to reconfigure it if you need to put more people in it or if you need to put cargo in it. The seats all drop with the push of a button, or you can just do individual seats.
It is-- it's really, really nice. It's really the whole package. It's very expensive. But this is one of those cars where if you have the money, you're going to actually, I think, in my opinion, get what you pay for.
GREG MIGILORE: Well, that's actually an interesting observation, I think. Because a lot of times, we get in these really high-falutin SUVs-- specifically German, I've noticed a lot-- like, ah, jeez. It's amazing, but it didn't even have this, this, or this. You're like, OK, jeez, you know? It's, like, 100 grand, or at least 80, without even getting out of the-- you know, a couple options.
So I didn't drive this one much, but I've driven the GLS a little bit, and I would agree with you. it feels like it's worth the value.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. And I mean, this one's priced at $118,000, but it's got-- this one is loaded with a lot of stuff-- the driver assistance, warmth and comfort, executive rear seat package, which is kind of overkill, the energizing comfort, everything, everything.
And you could dial back a bunch of those options and not even notice and get the price down quite a bit and still have a feature-loaded Mercedes that looks great and functions great. And it's perfect whether you're carting little ones or a whole family or just four dog cages or whatever. The interior is huge and seriously very practical.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, that's-- it's very nice. I think Mercedes-- they weren't the first to the game in the segment. That's for sure. But I think they've really done it right.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I agree 100$.
GREG MIGILORE: Cool. Well, check out John's review. Lots of cool pictures about what his real-life experience was in that, so do check that out, something cool on Autoblog. Let's move along to the Jeep Renegade. I'm not sure if either of you guys got into this, but I spent a little bit of time on it.
I like it. I know it didn't-- it was-- let's see. I don't have the rankings offhand, but it didn't win our small crossover comparison. That was the Kia Soul. A lot of us liked the design during that test which we did last fall. And I was a little all over the place. This one had the 1.3-liter engine in it.
The interior was OK, I think. You sort of are willing to recalibrate your brain at that price point because in that segment, there's some decent interiors, If you will. Nothing is amazing. There's no GLS interior, of course, because you're literally at the opposite end of the spectrum.
But it's interesting. The exterior design is cool. I would say this. It's one of the better entries in that segment, but it's also perhaps the worst Jeep. That's how I would put it. And it gets expensive quickly.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yes.
GREG MIGILORE: So it makes me think, why would you spend this kind of money when you could get a basic Wrangler or a basic Cherokee? So the Jeep tax is real. They're not cheap. But I don't know. That was my take. Jump in there, John and Joel.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I can think of a couple reasons why you'd get this over a basic Wrangler, basic Cherokee. For one thing, you get way better gas mileage.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, but who cares? I want the cool Jeep.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, because some people might be a little bit tight on their fuel budget or commute a long way and don't want to get, like, 20 MPG everywhere they go.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: OK. So let's be let's be practical. OK. Fair enough.
GREG MIGILORE: Then I would get a Jeep.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, because you still want the look. You want the look, but you don't necessarily want the compromise. Because the other thing-- a Wrangler-- both the Wrangler and the Cherokee, they drive way more truck-like. And I think there are people that they might like the truck look but don't like the truck driving experience. So I feel like the Renegade fills in better there.
GREG MIGILORE: It's-- I will say this-- the driving experience as far as just handling, it reminds me vaguely of the Nissan Cube-- this kind of squared-off, smallish vehicle that, you know, it's-- engaging isn't the right word. Sharp, precise is not the right word. But there is a bit of a feel to it. I don't know I would say connected, but it's kind of fun to whip around corners, stuff like that.
So there is that. The powertrain is a little-- I don't know. 1.3 liters-- that's not the most exciting thing. So there's all of that. But I would say this. If you're in the market, it's very interesting.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: After I got out of it this time around, I came into the office, and the first thing I said Zach was, hey, do you like turbo lag and torque steer? Because the Renegade just has oodles and oodles of torque steer, and then it just waits and waits after you put the accelerator down. And then it takes off.
But yeah, it's very-- if you like that character, it could be fun. I personally found it kind of frustrating. Surprisingly, though, it sounds pretty good especially from the outside. The exhaust note on the Renegade, surprisingly, is pretty good.
But other than the couple powertrain complaints and the price I like it a lot. It's airy. It's roomy. It feels pretty capable. I really like the styling. It is that Jeep look that is inimitable. And it came in third in our comparison with the Kona and HRV and Kia Soul. I think it got docked pretty hard for value, among other things.
But that's sort of where I land on that. I'm not a huge fan of that powertrain, but the package itself is kind of-- you know, if it's your thing, you're going to like it. If it's not your thing, you're better off with something else for sure.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. I think that's kind of the key takeaway, that there are better values. There are better driving cars. But if you do like Jeep, but you just need something smaller, cheaper, and more economical, this is a solid way to go.
And I would also say that this is-- if you want an American compact crossover, this is probably the best one, because the Trax is pretty awful, and Ford Ecosport is pretty awful. We don't know about the Trailblazer yet. We haven't gotten to drive it yet. I actually think the first drive of that is one of the ones that got canceled or was postponed because of coronavirus.
GREG MIGILORE: It was supposed to be last week.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: But yeah, if you need an American compact crossover, Renegade hands down, or maybe Compass.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. I think that's a good point.
GREG MIGILORE: Where did they build it? In Italy, though?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: The Renegade is built in Italy. I forget about the Compass. I'm not positive. But the Renegade is actually rather Italian. I think actually, some Italian police forces have Renegades in their fleets.
GREG MIGILORE: I can see that. It's a pretty good police-type vehicle. I actually see a few around the office when we were allowed to go into it. There were a bunch of Wranglers and Grand Cherokees. So Jeep can make its way to the police fleets.
Anyway, Joel, why don't you talk about the Lincoln Corsair?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. So this was interesting. First thing I will say-- it may be based on the Ford Escape, but it really does feel like its own thing and a much better thing. And those are both really important characteristics because for the longest time, Lincoln's have just felt like slightly fancier Fords. And it didn't make any sense, really, to get one, because Ford had its own fancier Fords that were Ford branded. But the Corsair actually does feel like its own thing.
I think it actually looks a bit more handsome than the Escape. It has a more formal shape, kind of a taller front grill, just more upright all around. The interior-- the interior is really the biggest improvement. It's a legitimately nice place to be. And it has that slightly glitzy American luxury feel to it. There's lots of chrome details everywhere.
And some people might think that's a little bit garish, but I kind of dig it. I like that it's going a slightly different route than most other luxury vehicles. This one was pretty much decked out. I don't have the-- I don't have the window sticker on me, but I was just playing with the configurator. This one would have come close to $60,000.
That may be pushing it a little bit. But that did include the higher-output 2.3-liter turbo engine, all-wheel drive, the 24-way, quote, perfect position driver seats, which are really nice. They've got split seat-based extensions and five different lumbar adjustments. It's even gotten massage, and it's heated and ventilated.
It's a nice place to be. It had adaptive suspension. Power is really good. It's smooth. The engine is-- I don't know if it's refined, but it's definitely isolated from the cabin really well. And the cabin itself is really, really quiet. So those are two key luxury things.
I did feel like the ride was a little bit on the floaty, boaty side. It just kind of-- it didn't settle down quickly after bump. And then switching it to sport mode, it felt slightly too harsh. So I didn't quite feel like there was a just-right setting for me. But on the whole, I think I did like it. I think there's still a little bit of room for improvement, but this is a really good first step for a new generation of Lincoln crossovers.
GREG MIGILORE: I think Lincoln's lineup is pretty well rounded at this point. There's lots of good-- up and down, there's good stuff. I think that's really something that they should be commended for. I think it's taken a little while. I think it was the right move to go back to actual names for the cars-- Navigator, Aviator, Corsair.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Lincoln has good names too.
GREG MIGILORE: With Nautilus, yeah. I think Lincoln's strong right now.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I agree. I didn't get to drive this, but my overall impression of it is-- if you compare it to-- a lot of times when you step from a Ford vehicle into a Lincoln vehicle, the step in price isn't that much. I feel like it's a little more here, but I feel like this sets itself apart more, at least in this segment. It's a really nice-looking vehicle inside and out. And I'd be really thrilled if they put the Escape's hybrid powertrain into it because that would be really cool.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, so here's the thing. There's a plug-in hybrid coming up that will be kind of the range topper. So they won't offer a regular hybrid like the Escape Hybrid, but they will have a plug-in version.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: I would like to see-- I'm interested-- I'm glad they're doing a plug-in hybrid. I feel like they could get away with just a regular hybrid with this. I mean, I know they have the plug-in hybrid for the Aviator, so they're maybe trying to advanced that powertrain. But I feel like-- I don't know. I feel like companies are moving or maybe even should move away from plug-in hybrids and have electrics and then have conventional hybrids.
Because the conventional hybrid is going to be far more affordable. You add a lot of extra price when you add that plug. And at that point, I would rather have something all electric. But if I'm buying something that I want practicality, and I need the range, I'm just going to go for a conventional hybrid, probably, unless I can get a smoking deal or incentives, of course. But we'll see how that-- I shouldn't be to judgy until I get a chance to see what comes of it, because it could be actually really cool.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. I think the play for Lincoln is offering the plug-in, it differentiates it a little bit more from the Ford. This is something-- this is a hybrid and then some. And it's also not entirely a pure efficiency play. It's also the plug-in hybrid is more powerful.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: That's a very good point.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: The plug-in hybrid-- it's 266 horsepower versus 200 for the Ford. So in addition to being greener, it's also-- well, I mean greener depending on how you look at it-- it's also more powerful. And I'm guessing they probably just don't feel like there is really enough market there to go full electric on the Corsair. I think probably what they really need is their own standalone model, probably Mach-E-based.
GREG MIGILORE: That's an interesting area, a Lincoln version of a Mach-E.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Which I think would be pretty freaking sweet.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Yeah. I'm onboard. I'm 100% onboard with that. [LAUGHS]
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I wonder what you'd call it. Yeah, maybe you use the Continental name.
GREG MIGILORE: Because the Continental, we think, is going to go away. I mean, I think they've said it's officially going to go away. And then-- yeah, I think it could work.
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: They can call it the Intercontinental.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: There you go. That's not bad.
GREG MIGILORE: The Zephyr. That was a good name. I liked that.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: The Transcontinental.
GREG MIGILORE: The Transcontinental. That sounds like a work van. On that note, we should probably spend some money. All right. Let's do it. So this is an update to an earlier spend my money question, essentially narrowed down the field.
So the writer is set to get a promotion in about two months' time. Narrowed down the decision, curious on our take on this. So hey, happy to do that. Wants to stick as close to $25,000 as possible because anything going over is going to come out of their pocket.
Here's the trio so far. There's Mazda 3, all-wheel drive, 2020, 2017 Lexus ES350 with about 30k on the clock, 2017 Lexus G80, also around 30k. Would like to stick with a new car, so that tends to lean towards the Mazda 3, but willing to dip into the lightly used market, as those other two options indicated.
Drove the Civic SI and liked it. But also, I think this is interesting-- can't imagine seeing that in their driveway every morning and being happy with the styling. I like the Civic SI. I think it looks cool. Also looked at the Kia Soul. Not really to their flavor.
Looked at the GT86 from Toyota but found the drivetrain extremely underwhelming. That's probably true. They could do some things to dress that up a little bit, although I will say this-- the 86 is more my flavor of brandy. So yeah, kind of where things are. I'll kick things off with you, Joel.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Based on everything that he has looked at and price range and things, I really think the Mazda 3 is what he should go with. He obviously wants something sporty and fun if he's been looking at Civic SI and Toyota GT86 and even Jetta GLI. And the Mazda 3 definitely does that. I love the way it steers and it handles. It's got a responsive engine.
I think it looks really good. And clearly, looks are something that matter to him. And I think the Mazda has kind of a very-- a much more mature look than the other things that he's looked at. And probably most importantly, since he's also looking at some luxury cars, the Mazda 3 has a wonderful interior. It's so nice. It really feels like it wouldn't feel anywhere out of place in something significantly more expensive. So I really-- I think Mazda 3 is the way to go.
GREG MIGILORE: John, how do you feel?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: You know, I'm a little torn. I saw the Lexus ES on there, and I was drawn to that immediately. I agree. This person's looking for something a little more mature if you don't like the looks of the Civic SI but you like the way it drives. Mazda 3 definitely would be a good one.
But yeah, I was originally thinking ES. But the Mazda 3, I think, really splits the balance of being fun and looking like something-- you don't look like a clown or a boy racer driving it. It's actually pretty elegantly designed.
You could-- I don't know how much all-wheel drive is necessary to you, but for about $25,000, you can get into a base Mazda 6, which is actually pretty nice too. Just something to think about.
GREG MIGILORE: Cool. I'm going to go with Mazda 3 for my vote. It's a beautiful car, drives well. The fact that you can get all-wheel drive on it, I think, is kind of cool. So that's how I would go.
I think there's a lot of interesting things out there in that price point, even cross-segment. So do let us know where you land, but that's how I would land, with the Mazda 3. And I think that's where the episode-- this episode of the "Autoblog Podcast" is going to land.
It's been good talking to you guys. It's funny. We have to broadcast it to actually catch up over the airwaves. But yeah, any final thoughts, gents?
JOHN BELTZ SNYDER: Just stay safe, wash your hands, and go out for a nice, relaxing drive if you're getting cooped up.
GREG MIGILORE: That's a good way to put it. And we'll leave it there. So be safe. Wash your hands. Stay 6 feet away from everybody. And until next time.
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