Greg Migliore and Joel Stocksdale talk about the new Nissan leaf .
TranscriptGREG MIGLIORE: Welcome to episode 525 of the "Autoblog Podcast." I'm Greg Migliore. Joining me today in studio, associate editor, Joel Stocksdale. How's it going, Joel?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Good, good.
GREG MIGLIORE: This is a really big podcast. We have a lot going on this week. First week of September, the kids are back in school. It's good to be fully back here. It's actually even a little chilly here in Michigan, so it feels like fall. Fall means lots of new cars. If you've been following along with us this week, the biggest reveal, biggest event by far, has been the reveal of the 2018 Nissan Leaf.
It's a better-looking car, lots of new features, a little more tech-savvy, more range, so it's more powerful. This is basically all the things that people were criticizing the Leaf before previously. It seems like Nissan has addressed these. I watched the reveal, you've seen a lot of this car. What is your initial impressions?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, I love the way it looks. It is a colossal improvement over the previous model.
GREG MIGLIORE: Absolutely.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I mean, it's-- it's low-- I mean, physically, it is lower, wider and longer, but it looks-- it looks that way, too. I think a big part of that is the more horizontally-oriented lights and contrasting roof that you can get at all-- it all makes it look a little bit lower and more hunkered down.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. Good-looking car. It's more sophisticated, I think. They wanted it to look a little bit less like sort of that science experiment thing, sort of kind of how the Chevy Bolt actually really looked like-- a science experiment. And then, you know, Chevy, and now we see Nissan kind of bringing it back to more of a mainstream car. But what I like about the looks about the Leaf is it still looks special. To me, this looks like sort of like a luxury small hatch, almost like something you might see out of Nissan's alliance partner, Renault.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, for sure. It's also-- it definitely is going to be a better performer. It's rated 147 horsepower.
GREG MIGLIORE: Right.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: 236 pound feet of torque. And it's got about 150 mile range.
GREG MIGLIORE: Mm-hmm. All good things. Of course, if you want to know more details about the Leaf, you got to check this out on our website. Lots of great coverage from our editor of Autoblog Green, John Beltz Snyder. He went to Japan. He was gone for a whole week. He drove the cars, so he's got his first drive. All that good stuff is up. Be sure to check that out.
Of course, check out the replay of our livestream that we did earlier this week. Really cool stuff. You can just watch what the car was like to be revealed. It was cool.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And something I'm curious-- what do you think? Do you think 150 miles is enough?
GREG MIGLIORE: You know, so I think it is, actually. What's cool about this is they're pricing this below the Model S, below the Model 3, below the Chevy Bolt. So the price that they did confirm is $30,875. So that's actually down about $690 from the outgoing model. That's interesting. It's-- it's a little bit more of a value play. You know, a lot of different people can get into a Leaf and thus, get into an electric car at that price point. And when you realize, hey, the car costs a little bit less money, you could sort of make your peace with the fact that 150 miles is less than what the Tesla range and what the Bolt potentially offer.
You know, that being said, I think it's still a decent amount of money. If you're smart and you're really into the Leaf, try and see if you can still get that federal tax credit, which is several thousand dollars. It was up to 7,500, I believe. And that really takes that price down.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. As far as I know, it's still $7,500. So you'd be looking at a car that's only, like, $23,000.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's a steal, I think, especially for how good this thing looks. And, you know, to your point, Joel, 150 miles-- that's 43 more than the old car. And that is way more than most people drive in a typical day. Even if you have a long commute-- say you drive 50 miles, which is pretty long-- you get to your office, theoretically, it has some sort of charging so, you know, maybe you make that sort of arrangement. Charge it up, drive home, you're totally fine. Even if you can't charge it, well, hey, you've still got probably 50 miles of sort of runway, if you will, to get you home and maybe run an errand or two.
So I think this is-- this could be the sweet spot of the market. An affordable electric car that looks good and is very affordable. I think this is also what the Bolt is going for. You know, it's from another mainstream car brand. So I'm excited to see how this plays out. It's a really good time if you like electric cars.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, I personally kind of feel like 150 miles is a little bit low for my needs. I would feel more comfortable if the 230 miles on the Chevy Bolt EV.
GREG MIGLIORE: You're a Bolt man?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. I mean, I like the way the Bolt drives, too.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sure.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: But I'd have to reserve judgment on the Leaf until I can get behind the wheel. But we did see that it looks like me some will be releasing a longer range Leaf in the near future, possibly around 220, 225 miles.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think that could be-- could be a cliche-- but it could be the difference maker, you know, to use that term, because then you get on that level right in Bolt territory. My guess is it would probably cost Bolt territory.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So that's where you get more of an apples to apples comparison. Have not driven the new Leaf, but having driven the Bolt, was very impressed with that vehicle. A lot of high praise for that. It drives well. It looks a little bit different, it's still-- it's kind of a science experiment vibe going on. But, you know, I think Nissan's got a formidable, you know, hill to climb, you know? The Bolt is tough.
And of course, Tesla's are out there. They're good-looking vehicles, too. They're, you know, status symbols. So, you know, it's definitely-- it's an interesting time, like I said, to like electric cars.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: For sure.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. I mean, that's the Leaf. You know, hey, if you have any questions about the Leaf, feel free to reach out to us on Facebook, on Twitter. Leave comments at the bottom of our posts or videos. We'd love to engage with you more about this car. It really is, I think, one of the most important vehicles we'll see heading into 2018.
Speaking of 2018, it is the fall. We're getting a preview of a lot of the models that will be coming out. The new season sort of kicks off with a big European auto show. It alternates between Paris and Frankfurt. This year, it's Frankfurt. You're going-- you're going to Germany. I think you're going to have a great time. I've covered the show many times. It's a lot of walking, but it's also going to be a really big show this year. So you've done some research on this-- what's on the menu so far?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, it's definitely going to be a big show. I've been going through and kind of picking up the highlights of what we're going to be seeing. Mercedes is going to be one of the big showers at Frankfurt this year. Kind of their minor reveal will be S Class coupe and cabriolet. They've shown the pictures for that. It's gotten a mild refresh. Now uses the 4 liter turbo V8 instead of what they were using previously.
But their big stuff, actually, a lot of this has to do with electrics and alternative fuels. One of them is the GLC F-CELL, which is a plug-in fuel cell crossover SUV. It'll go about 31 miles on an electric charge and has a total range of 310 miles on hydrogen.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's interesting. I think it's kind of cool, also interesting, to see sort of a return to fuel cells. You know, the infrastructure has never been there really for, you know, in the United States. In Europe, the roads are a little bit tighter, things are closer together. Maybe it could work over there. I'm really interested to see what they're going to do with this sort of technology.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. I mean, I was-- I was surprised to see that they're going to have a fuel cell just because, like you said, there hasn't been a whole lot of infrastructure development. And as far as car makers are interested, it's basically been Toyota and Honda and also, Hyundai.
GREG MIGLIORE: Right.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Chevy had their Equinox fuel cell for a while several years back, but haven't really heard anything about that in a long time.
GREG MIGLIORE: I believe I drove that car and it was quite a long time ago. I drove it at the Autobahn Country Club, I think, in Illinois. Totally random thing. It could have been a Pontiac fuel cell. I might be wrong on this-- really going down some rabbit holes. But yeah, you know, to reinforcement-- enforce that-- the technology has been sort of stagnant. Automakers have kind of turned away from it, and it's-- I think it's cool to see Mercedes spend some money and get back into it. We'll see what they do with it, though.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: For sure. And even more interestingly, this fuel cell is developed with Ford. So--
GREG MIGLIORE: That's telling.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: It'll something interesting to see if maybe Ford has something down the road do.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think Ford is definitely going to look at you know a number of ways you know for alternate-- alternative propulsion. So.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Other Mercedes-related stuff, two EQ concepts. One of them is the EQA, which is going to be kind of a CLA, GLA class size vehicle. We're expecting it to be a little hatchback similar to the bigger EQ concept that showed earlier. And the other EQ is the Smart Vision EQ, which is a fully autonomous smart concept that they'll be showing. And it's a funky-looking little thing.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. I would have thought it would have-- yeah, that's another kind of curious play. I'm surprised Mercedes is you know using Frankfurt to show this-- this vehicle. It almost seems more like a CES sort of vehicle. I don't know, it's an interesting play to roll it up in Frankfurt.
But the thing about the Frankfurt show is this is the time of the year when car companies, especially European carmakers, want to show hey we're technology leaders. So that's another reason you start to see some of these sort of curious concepts, if you will, come out. What else is on the menu? There's got to be something a little bit more fun than all these hybrids and autonomous cars?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, there is, and again, it comes from Mercedes. It is the long awaited AMG Project One hypercar.
GREG MIGLIORE: About time.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. We've seen the powertrain for it. It has a 1.6 liter turbo charged V6 that is taken from their F1 cars and it's plopped into a hybrid hypercar. It will have 1,000 horsepower and go over 217 miles per hour.
GREG MIGLIORE: I can't wait. This is-- this is the kind of sort of numbers that you only see from things like Bugatti or Konigsberg. And, you know, to see a mainstream car maker say, hey, we're going to invest in a halo car, and we're going to do this, I think that's great. It's cool they're finally going to show-- is this a concept or is this the full deal?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: This is going to be the production car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Wow. I can't wait to see this thing. This is going to be fun. I think this is-- you know, we give out-- sometimes, we give out awards for the show. I think if we do that this year, this is a strong contender.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, it's-- I mean, you could maybe argue that there might be other cars that are more significant, per se, but-- or more important to the industry, but you can't-- it's hard to argue with a crazy super fast hypercar.
GREG MIGLIORE: And with an F1 engine, you have 1,000 horsepower. I think those are your two key arguments.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And-- and it is very much a racing engine. It's-- I remember it-- it doesn't rev quite as high as the F1 engine. It revs to about 11,000 PPM.
GREG MIGLIORE: Just 11,000 RPM. OK, that's fine, we can make do.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. And it's got kind of a race car engine lifecycle, too. Mercedes said it will need a rebuild at about 31,000 miles.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's hilarious. Like, here's your car, you're going to buy it, you're going to own it, but by the way, it's only going to last about 31,000 miles. But realistically, how many cars do you think are going to hit 31k on the odometer? I mean--
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Probably not all that many.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: This thing could go 50 years without ever reaching that rebuild point.
GREG MIGLIORE: Right, right. So lots of good from Mercedes. Couple more highlights. What else were we looking forward to besides, you know, the wheat beer and the knackwurst.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. Mini has a couple of interesting things. They also have an electric concept. And they also have a John Cooper Works GP concept coming up.
GREG MIGLIORE: That's going to be fun.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. Oddly, neither of them have any performance specs yet, so that's something that we'll be looking for when we get into the show. The GP looks pretty crazy. Like previous GP models. It's got a big rear wing. It doesn't have a back seat. It's got chassis bracing in the back. And this one has these ridiculous fender flares that run up the whole length of the fenders.
GREG MIGLIORE: Wow. It's-- you know, Mini has done some really interesting concepts over the years. And sometimes, they-- it's like those concepts translate directly to production, which I think is great. And sometimes, you never hear of these things again. So we'll see what happens here. I mean, does anybody remember the Mini Rocket Man concept? Like, what happened to that thing?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So, I mean, I would like to see this thing come to life. Sounds really cool. And I like what Mini does. I hope they-- you know, they sort of double down on this you know performance confidence that they're bringing to the show.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, and I think there is a solid chance that we'll see a production Mini GP just because we've had one for each of the previous generations of modern Mini. And this one doesn't look too different aside from the wild bodywork. And, I mean, it just seems like some of-- they've done it before, why not again?
GREG MIGLIORE: I think you're right. If I were a betting man, I think this one sounds like it's a pretty safe bet to reach production. One more car.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: All right, one more, one more. Well, I'd say we should talk about Honda's EV hybrid stuff.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK, good choice. Couple of cars here, right?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, technically. But we don't know a lot about them, so we can squeeze them in real quick.
GREG MIGLIORE: We'll count them as one.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. So one of them is Honda has a mystery EV concept. And about all we know is that it's designed for Europe and that's about it. They just released a teaser that shows, like, a charging progress report.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK, so we know it's an electric car that needs to be charged.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yep. Granted, it's for Europe, so probably kind of a small practical little hatchback, maybe?
GREG MIGLIORE: Kind of like a city runabout sort of thing.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Interesting, interesting. Well, that's-- you know, you got to come back to us next week. We'll have all the details on this. I'm intrigued by this one.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Mm-hmm. And the other thing from Honda is they've got a CRV hybrid that they're going to be showing. And they showed a CRV hybrid at a Chinese auto show earlier this year, but with no details. Looks like this will probably the same thing and we're hoping that this will actually have the specs and things on it.
GREG MIGLIORE: Have we heard anything about will this come to the United States?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: They haven't said anything officially as far as I know, but it would be insane if they didn't.
GREG MIGLIORE: I agree. I mean, this is literally what American buyers would like. It's-- it's a really good crossover. I think it looks great, drives great. One of their best products. You add the hybrid to it, and, you know, you've got that strong Honda name, I think you could sell a lot of these things. You know, especially if gas prices go back up, suddenly, you've got this crossover that's also a hybrid.
You know, if they price it right, that's a really attractive proposition, especially to families, people who need to put the golden retriever in the back, but hey, hybrid works, too. I know this is another sort of-- could be a big deal for Honda.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. And actually, I did just remember when Honda was talking about their hybrid and electric strategy in the future, they did say for sure that they are going to bring a hybrid light truck to the US. They didn't say specifically what model, but the safe bet is the CRV.
GREG MIGLIORE: That sounds-- that sounds like a pretty safe bet. You know, and another safe bet, we got to transition out from the new section. If you guys have any questions about, you know, our quick sort of blitz through the cosmos, always be sure to reach out to us on social platforms. Happy to follow up if you have questions about some of the stuff, because we get through it quickly. You know, reach out to us. Let us know what you think.
But it was a cool week last week. We had the Alfa Romeo Giulia in the office. This was in Lusso trim, so it had a lot of cool stuff on it. I was psyched to drive it. I thought it looked great it. It had all wheel drive, it had the engine with 280 horsepower, so it was pretty responsive, but it wasn't like the muscle car Quadrifoglio edition. Inside was beautiful. It was tan, some nice wood pieces.
I remember sitting it and thinking, you can really see well over this car. I was surprised, because a lot of cars these days, it's like the blocky pillars are in front of you, you've got the big hood. And it was just-- this really was a driver's car.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, I was very excited to drive this because, well, I haven't had an Alfa experience until now. This was my first Alfa.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK, all right.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And I, as you may have seen in our drivers notes-- I have been such a huge Alfa Romeo skeptic. I just I've not understood the mania this company seems to inspire in fans. I don't know if it had something to do with "Top Gear" hosts having said stuff like you can't be a real petrolhead until you've owned an Alfa. But I've heard all of this gushing about them and I've always had a hard time understanding why.
And having driven it, now I finally kind of get it. That 280 horsepower engine, it doesn't sound like it's amazing, but I never felt like I needed any more power out of it. It felt like a really good amount. And it is 300 pound feet of torque.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a torquey drive. It feels good.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: The engine sounds pretty good for a turbo four cylinder. They can sometimes sound kind of anonymous, but this had-- had kind of a little bit of a gargling kind of growl to it. And it handles great. The steering is so quick. And it feels good.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. It was-- it was engaging to drive, absolutely. I definitely took the long way home the night I was driving it. I pulled right out of our office here, 1 Autoblog Towers, right off of Woodward. That's a pretty famous road here if you're in Michigan or the Midwest. Took that north a little bit. Took it a little bit through kind of like this pretty spread out suburban kind of road and yeah, it was fun.
I mean, taking the corners a little bit quick. You know, it was cool. You know, you played with the settings a little bit-- none of them really made a huge difference to me. But it's nice to have. This one came in at $51,490, which seems about right to me, actually. You know, you get a lot of stuff on it. It's a good-looking car.
Wasn't wild about the infotainment, I think. I figured it out fairly quickly. It's fairly simple, but this is actually an instance where I think hey, use the FCA UConnect. Maybe call it something else, make it look a little bit different. But that's a great system. That's bulletproof. That must have been one where Alfa just kind of dips into the family sort of parts bin and goes for it there.
Otherwise, I didn't have many complaints. It looks great. It was-- this one was subtle. You know, we had that Quadrifoglio one that was bright red, if I recall. Really stood out. This one was a little more subtle. And, you know, I-- to your point, I see what people-- why people are so taken with Alfa. You know, I've always liked them. I've driven a few of them, different generations, different years. I drove a '69 once, got a speeding ticket in it. That was kind of cool.
It was wild. I got pulled over and they were like, do you know fast you were going? And I'm, like, well, the speedometer doesn't work and it's in kilometers, so no. But I got, like, a parking ticket for it. So I guess I got off-- got off lightly. But there is sort of that romance. You know, maybe you've driven one or two of them, you haven't really lived with one. So it's sort of that-- like, the idea of the brand is a little bit different than, like, people who own some of those cars in the '80s and '90s that were not as good-looking, they were not as reliable-- well, they were not reliable. And, you know, I think people are still buying into it.
And what's attractive to me about, you know, the Giulia, and the Stelvio is these are different than some of the other-- you know other vehicles in the segment. You know, they're different than BMWs, they're different than Mercedes and Lexus and Acuras.
To me, you've got brands like Alfa, Jaguar, and Cadillac that offer you these, like, design propositions that are different, they're bolder. Some of them are more performance-oriented. And it's just sort of like if, hey, you want something that's like sparkly and different, you know, it's cool that these brands are showing some strength, I think.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. And-- I mean, I'm never going to be upset that there's another company out there offering it really good to drive car. The only thing I still worry about a little bit is whether or not Alfa has really gotten all the reliability kinks worked out. Driving this one, I mean, the switch gear felt kind of chintzy. And I did pick up but one or two creaks while driving, and it only had 4,000 miles on it.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, that's-- that's scary. I kind of experienced some of those things, as well. I was wondering, like, am I noticing this because I was listening for it? Like, it's an Italian car, you maybe you listen more closely. But yeah, I mean, that's-- legitimately, if you're going to spend 51 grand on a car, you know, Mercedes and BMW, Lexus and Acura, they have stronger and more recent track records of reliability. Do you want to put this kind of money down on a car that, you know, has not been reliably sold in the United States in decades? You know, that's a question.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. It kind of makes the case that maybe the best way to go about it would be to lease one right off the bat. So that way--
GREG MIGLIORE: Fair point.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: --if things if things go badly, you you're not committed to it 100%.
GREG MIGLIORE: Fair point. That's-- yeah, you know, it may not be a long term proposition, but it's a fun car to drive. You know, I'd like to get another chance at driving this one or ones like it. You know, we had the Quadrifoglio, and that one was pretty severe, for my taste. So-- it seemed like the transmission was a little bit harsh. This model, it just seemed like the powertrain was just a little better-integrated, just a little smoother. Obviously, having considerably less power had something to do with it. But it just seemed like a slightly better execution. And I don't normally say I like the car with less power, but I really like the Lusso.
So that's a lot on the Alfa Romeo Giulia. Let's briefly touch on the BMW M550i. I know it's a cool car. You like the 5 Series. I spent the weekend in it. Did lots of different things with it. It was-- you know, it's fun to have that big V8 under the hood. It sounded good. It-- you know, it just made a statement. You know, the neighbors were looking at it. They're, like, what's going on with this car, you know? It looks just a little bit more special than the regular 5 Series. I think I think it's good that they have it in their lineup. It's not exactly an M5, per se, but you get a lot of performance out of it.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I mean, that's what I was going to ask. I didn't have a chance to drive this one, but did you feel that it was deserving of having an M badge somewhere on the car, even if it's not officially truly an M car?
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, it's-- you know it's interesting, because M is such a loaded letter. When you see it, you're like, oh, wow it's an M. And, you know, at first, I didn't even make the brain calibration. Like, oh, M550 suite-- no, wait, that's an M. You know, there was some mental pushups there. But 456 horsepower, 480 pound feet of torque, that's a pretty great output. The inside had some subtle M badging and finishes, things like that. It looked kind of like an M car.
You know, to be honest, though, as much as I liked it, it almost didn't feel like-- it didn't feel like an M car. It felt like a really powerful, well-put-together 5 Series. And I guess if they'd called it something different, I would have been like, this car is awesome. When you slap the M badge on there, it's kind of like, wow, that's-- that's a lofty expectation to live up to.
And it's a brilliant car. I think it probably is the right move to call it ab M550. You know, you need to cash in on that sort of brand awareness. But when I look at it truly from, like, an enthusiast perspective, you know, it's not that close to an M5, at least not how those cars feel, and just how-- you know, how you feel when you're driving, when you're waiting to drive the car. And it-- you know, there's just-- it's a tough level of expectations, that's for sure.
But like I said, this is a brilliant car. Had a great weekend in it. Very practical. Put all kinds of things in it. The trunk is pretty big. It's fun to drive around town. It looks good. Fits, you know, golf clubs, food, dogs, whatever you want. So it's, you know, certainly a big, practical, fast sedan. So lots of good stuff.
That's what we're driving. If you're curious about what we're driving, you know, we get a lot of cool things in the fleet-- you know, they're in our drivers notes. You know that's on our site. Those goes up-- go up on Thursdays and Fridays. We do walkarounds, live drives. You guys check those out on Facebook and our other video platforms. If you're curious about a car, sometimes, we'll get really cool cars that come through the fleet and they sort of just pass through like ships in the night, you know? And we drive them for background, for comparison's sake. But let us know. If there's something you're curious about, you know, we can sort of drop that in. A little-- a little vignette about what we're driving.
We're going to move things along though, to the opinion part of the show. I think the whole show has opinion, isn't it? But this is where we just take an opinion and it's either popular, it's unpopular. In this case, we're going to talk about the notion of auto shows. With Frankfurt upon us, I think it's pretty critical to talk about it. Joel, you've got somewhat of a strong opinion. How do you feel about the relevance of auto shows in the modern automotive world?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, as for the relevance of auto shows, I am kind of starting to wonder whether or not they're really-- really necessary. Nowadays, so many reveals are done-- they're broadcast digitally. You can livestream them. I mean, we've-- we've covered livestreams here.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yes, the Leaf was just shown.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Exactly. And, I mean, we can see the whole reveal from anywhere at any time. We get the information ahead of time frequently-- not always-- that so often you can just about cover an entire auto show from-- I mean, from our office. We could cover most of an auto show just from here without having to send anybody. And so to an extent, it does kind of seem like gosh, you'd save a lot of fuel and a lot of time and a lot of money by just getting all the information to editors wherever they happen to be, and not have this whole dog and pony show-- Camaro and Mustang show--
GREG MIGLIORE: Sure.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: --at some official location.
GREG MIGLIORE: I don't think that's-- I think that's actually a pretty prevailing opinion right now, not just among auto journalists-- who cares what we think and what we travel-- but, like, car companies. You know, they're-- they're reviewing the cars themselves. And when you do that, you own the news cycle. From a media standpoint, it's a really good move if you're going to just try and get people to focus on your car.
I mean, it's good from the media standpoint, because we get to focus on one car instead of running from one press conference to another, to another, to another, sometimes, they're at the same time.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Sometimes, it is a literal run.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's quite often a little run. When you get to Frankfurt, you better bring your tracks spikes-- it's a run. So, I mean, in some ways, the day perhaps has passed, especially with everything is digital, everything is mobile. You know, you're not going to wait two months to read about this in your favorite car magazine, because you'll have seen everything probably on your phone, like, when you wake up Tuesday morning and you're scrolling through and seeing what the reaction is, you know, to the cars that were revealed.
I will take a slightly contradictory position from you, Joel, because at this point, this moment in time, September of 2017, they are still relevant. We're still sending you. Lots of other people are still going. As you just mentioned, there's a ton of cars there. Right now, they're still relevant. Two years from now, I don't know if I'll be able to say the same thing. I think this is going to be kind of like a slow glide path until, you know, maybe one or two like semi-mid-major auto shows sort of drops off the calendar, and they just go back to be consumer shows. You go to the show, you shop for the cars, you look at the cars.
They're still great events for consumers to go and sit, you know, feel, look, and touch on the cars. But from a media standpoint, I think you're going to see next couple of years, some of these mid-level shows, you know, dial back a little bit. And then it might, you know, sort of be, like, maybe three or four big auto shows a year. And that's it. That's what the media goes to.
And ultimately, it probably will only be one or two. It's going to be like almost like a Super Bowl at that point. It'll be more like a-- maybe a trade show or convention. You know, it'll-- it's going to evolve, absolutely.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah. And I suppose you could make the argument that there is relevance, also, in being able to go to a specific place, talk to engineers and executives that you may not really have access to at other points in time or maybe more controlled by PR people and making sure that-- that nothing is given away too soon.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sure.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And sometimes, I mean, when you're actually there, and you're in the media scrum, and you're hearing all the questions and stuff, it may prompt a new idea for you, something to-- something to ask about that maybe you wouldn't have thought of just on your own at your computer staring at the screen.
GREG MIGLIORE: Sure.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Picking out your information. And I'll also make the argument that-- I mean, I at least enjoy big flashy auto shows, whether or not it's relevant.
GREG MIGLIORE: Absolutely. I think-- like I said, right now, I think they're still totally relevant. You should think they're relevant, too. Come to Autoblog, look at all the reveals, totally relevant, you know? But we're talking, I think, mainly from the media perspective and from the automaker perspective, so forgive us if this is a little insider-y. But also, this is where people get their first looks at the cars. So I think there is an intrinsic value to discuss where these things are going going forward.
And like you, I love going to auto shows. I think it's great to interview people. It's where you really get the stories, the good stories. Stuff that you can't get other places, where, you know, you get up close and personal with the cars.
So speaking of getting up close and personal, we got to reach out to one of our readers. It's time for Spend My Money. Joel, you're an ace at one of these. You ready for this?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yep.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK, this is a little bit of a-- little bit of a letter here, so I'm going to kind of synthesize it for you. Reader writes to us, currently has a 2015 Lexus IS 350 F Sport. Pretty cool. They're at the end of their lease. Daily commute of 50 miles. It's about an hour each way, so that's a good-- definitely a commute. I've done commutes like that. But they use their 2010 Versa for that, which is a bit-- at 130,000 on the odometer. So that one's getting a little long in the tooth, as well. Looking for one car to replace both of these for $50,000 or less.
So they're crossed up between an MK6 GTI 4 door and a 2015 Mazda 3 2.5 GT hatch with the manual-- that sounds pretty good too. Wanted to know if we have other suggestions. I bet you have one or two. Here's some of the criteria. Car has to be a four door, performance-oriented, decent miles per gallon, able to apparently carry a baby, have utility, and be easy on their lower back. Thanks for your time and great show. Thank you for writing in. What do you think, Joel?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Well, the two possibilities, the GTI and the Mazda 3, those are pretty spot on. Like, you'd have a hard time going wrong with either one. I would say the GTI would be a little bit more fun. It's got more power. It's-- it's got quite a bit more torque. And I think would provide generally feel a little bit more sporty, not that the 3 isn't fun to drive, but GTI is very clearly a performance car. The Mazda 3 on the other hand, would definitely get better gas mileage, for sure.
And it's-- I think I like the Mazda 3's just a little bit better than Volkswagen.
GREG MIGLIORE: Fair enough. Yeah.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I don't know how you feel on that, Greg.
GREG MIGLIORE: I mean, I would probably go GTI here, just because I think the Mazda 3 is a fun car to drive for short to medium periods of time, but a car he has to live with for a long time, I'd totally do GTI, I think. That would be a lot of fun, I think.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: I do have a couple of ideas.
GREG MIGLIORE: Let's hear them.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: And I don't know that they're necessarily better, but they're at least other possibilities that you may not have thought of.
GREG MIGLIORE: Better ideas.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: One of them is a car that I consistently forget exists, and I remembered about-- I actually remembered it this past weekend, because I was talking to a friend of mine that is considering getting a car soon, and that's the Buick regal GS.
GREG MIGLIORE: Wow. Yeah, I forgot about that car. And it's a good car. Yeah, good point.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, it looks great. And it's got a peppy engine. It's a turbo four cylinder that's, like, 280-some horsepower. And it is available with a manual transmission. And if you wanted to, you could even get it with all wheel drive, as long as you're OK with an automatic.
GREG MIGLIORE: That is a really good perceptive option. It's a fun car to drive, too. It really is.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Yeah, and you can get him for pretty cheap. The other thing-- oh, and of course, it's kind of a midsize-ish sedan. So plenty of space.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, you can put some stuff in that car. You got the European sort of chassis-tuned, because that Regal is essentially an Opel, so.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: My other suggestion would be Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT. Not the-- not the current generation, but the previous generation--
GREG MIGLIORE: Good point.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Because that one has basically the WRX turbo four cylinder. It's all wheel drive. It's available with a manual transmission. And the previous generation arguably isn't as good-looking and it's not as popular as, like, the regular WRX. So there's a better chance of finding just a nice clean stock version that hasn't been beat to heck.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a good one I definitely did not think of. I think that-- that could be a strong possibility. Something that, you know, perhaps, reader, you didn't think of. Definitely worth checking out. The Regal GS is like-- that's straight out of left field. Honestly, you should just go test drive one of those. It's fun. Even if you're like, eh, this isn't my flavor of brandy-- well, hey, that's OK. You got to drive a sporty manual transmission car. Sounds fun to me, right?
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Mm-hmm.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, well that-- that's our recommendation. I'm saying GTI. Joel is offering you several different choices that, in all seriousness, are definitely worth looking into. These are really reasoned options that have lots of good benefits for each one. Thanks, Joel.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: No problem.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, so that is today's show. Thank you for watching the "Autoblog Podcast." Be sure to reach out to us on Twitter, on Facebook. You know, we want to hear from you. We want engage with you, you know, on the podcast. This is something that we feel like is a great way to communicate with you, the Autoblog user and enthusiast. So thanks for being here, Joel. Always a pleasure. Safe travels to Frankfurt.
JOEL STOCKSDALE: Mm-hmm.
GREG MIGLIORE: Cool. And I'm Greg Migliore thanks for watching and listening.
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