In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder to recap Earth Day 2020 coverage, including a first drive and range test of the 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S, Tesla and the state of the EV industry, and what we think are the best green cars of all time. Then they shift gears to talk about the Ranger pickup getting a tuning package from Ford, as well as their own dives through the Ferrari Roma configurator. They discuss the cars they've been driving — the 2020 VW Jetta and our long-term 2019 Subaru Forester. Lastly, they reach into the mailbag to help a listener buy a used car.
Transcript[THEME MUSIC]
GREG MIGILORE: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the "Autoblog" podcast. It is Earth Day. So far on the Earth, here in Michigan, it's actually snowing. So not sure if that means climate change or it's just colder-- you know, whatever. Maybe the seasons changing are quarantined. Who knows what's going on?
But we got a great show for you today. We're gonna talk about more than just green cars, of course. So I know some of you are probably super-psyched to hear we're going to do Earth Day stuff, and some of you are already maybe looking to see what the next podcast is. So stick around. We got a little bit for everybody. We're gonna talk about the Ferrari Roma configurator. That's cool. The way we all spec'd out our cars. We're going to talk about some interesting updates for the Ranger. Ford Performance kind of got under the hood and found a way to get a little bit of power out of that, so that's pretty neat.
We've been driving the Volkswagen Jetta-- as in, I've been driving the Volkswagen Jetta for my essential groceries and things like that. And we have an update on our long-term Subaru Forester. But that means I should probably bring in our two co-hosts for today. Senior editor for all things green, John Snyder. Happy Earth Day. How you doing?
JOHN SNYDER: I'm doing real good. I'm staying warm, and I keep looking at that fireplace thinking I should maybe-- I thought I had my last fire a couple days ago, but I don't know. It still feels like winter.
GREG MIGILORE: I'm thinking of bringing my fire pit outside. It's in the basement. This is sometimes a good time of year to do that. You know, it's cold enough that you want to be around the fire, but sitting around a fire when it's 90 degrees doesn't really do it-- for me anyway. I don't know. So we'll see. Also on the phones with us, Jeremy Korzeniewski, our consumer editor. Do you have a fire pit?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I have a fire pit. And I have two fireplaces in my house. And, you know, I'm kind of with John on this one. I think it would be a lovely evening to have a last fire of the year. Well, until the end of the year when it gets to be winter. But the last fire of the first half of the year.
GREG MIGILORE: I only have one fireplace, and it is gas fed. So that means I don't really need to worry too much. If I want to have a fire in early May, which I've done, there you go, you just flip a switch.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Hey, real quick pro tip, if you've got a wood burner in your house. Go to Lowe's or Home Depot, and look for something called pinon wood-- P-I-N-O-N with the little kind of accent over the O. I always find it imported from Mexico. They're little itty-bitty logs, but they smell great. And they burn five times longer than the cheap firewood that you get at any gas station or Kroger or something. Yeah, pinon wood-- that's where it's at. That's what you want.
GREG MIGILORE: All right. This podcast is sponsored by-- you know, I don't know. Anyways, so let's jump right in. So we mentioned off the top we're going to be talking about some Earth Day stuff. Lots of stuff going on. I think this is a really, really interesting year, perhaps never more so, to just talk about all the different green cars, alternative methods of propulsion, fuels, things like that. And just there's so much going on from Tesla to what Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, General Motors are doing with their green car strategies.
How much of this is going to be impacted by fallout from the coronavirus? I mean, I kind of wonder if green cars might get scaled back. Does this actually make them more important? Our managing editor, Greg Rasa, actually had a really interesting piece-- it's on the site-- about commuting. If we're working from home a good chunk of the time-- which I actually think we're probably going to be doing going forward, especially jobs like ours in an office, you don't need to be there every day-- what does that do? You know, what does that do for CO2? What does that do for just the state of air quality? So much different stuff out there. So my mind is all over the place on this Earth Day 2020.
To maybe bring it back, the Taycan is something that I think has really caught the hearts and minds of enthusiasts. It's a really interesting vehicle. I think Porsche really has put it together well. A couple of-- you have a lot of different content on the site. And I think when I look at it, just it's really interesting. You know, we had a drive where one of our contributors, Dan Edmunds, got over 300 miles. And the rating's only 203. So to me, this is a classic example of a product that is sort of over-performing, over-delivering, and it's from a legacy automaker. So I'm curious to know what you guys think.
JOHN SNYDER: Well, I think it's super interesting. I know a lot of times these range estimations are fairly conservative. But man, this seems like really conservative. Granted, his test route is different than, say, the EPA's or what different people would drive typically. But still, that's a really impressive range. And it's in a car that, you know, you could very easily make that range go down a lot just by driving it the way it wants to be driven. You know, that Taycan can really, really hustle. But it's kind of amazing that it can-- it's like the best of these worlds where it has 200 real-world miles of potentially hard driving, or if you just want to drive normally, you get rewarded with a lot more range.
GREG MIGILORE: You know what the big thing about the Taycan, like the biggest talking point for me, if you will, is finally we have a Tesla fighter from a traditional automaker, if you will. And I mean, we've had them in different shapes and forms, the Chevy Bolt, even the Volt at different stages. We've got a legit product from an automaker that I think you could look at and say, well, wait a minute, do I want a Tesla, or do I want this? I could get a Porsche, and it could do all these things.
And I would argue that Tesla still has a coolness to it that I think for certain people, that's going to be the car they want. And when I see a Tesla, sometimes I really want a Tesla. But I really like Porsches. So to me, this is one of the vehicles that's sort of leveling the field, if that makes sense.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: You know--
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, totally. Go ahead, Jeremy.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I have yet to drive a Taycan. I'm really itching to do so. But from everything that I've heard, if you're not a Tesla fanboy-- which, let's be honest, there's a lot of Tesla fanboys out there, and I feel like they're all glued to their internet screens and ready to type some nasty messages as soon as you say something that could even remotely be seen as negative against Tesla. But if that's not you, then the Taycan is really cool.
It's like you guys were just saying-- finally an automaker that isn't Tesla and is thought of around the world as a premium brand is making a really cool electric car. And, you know, the one thing that I was like, oh, that just killed it, was the EPA range. But every Tesla we're seeing, including our own that we just were in, seems to indicate that it's really right on par with what you're likely to get in the real world from a competitive Model S. So I mean, I think it's great.
GREG MIGILORE: Very cool. You know, I look at the I-PACE, that's a vehicle I was really excited to drive. I remember when I walked downstairs into our basement parking garage, when we were allowed to be in our office, such as it was. And I remember thinking how cool and different it looked in a way that I thought, man, this is cooler than a Tesla. So I feel like we're kind of getting to this inflection point where the mainstream automakers can make their electric offerings as cool as Tesla.
And I also think it's really interesting that you have Tesla, the new kid on the block, relatively new, has almost become the company to beat. At least that's the narrative, you know. So when I look at vehicles like the Taycan and the I-PACE and the-- John, you and I spent a good deal of time in the Audi e-tron, I want to say, last fall maybe-- vehicles like that that really get you excited to drive them, not just for the electrical capability. And that one blew me away. I was really impressed with that one. But also just for how they look, how they feel. You know, again, I like Audis. And I thought to myself, man, why would I need to go try and worry about the Tesla build quality or the Tesla-- like, when am I going to get my Tesla? You know, I could just go get an Audi. So I think that's where I think you're really looking at the field change.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, the I-PACE was sort of the first one where I was like, oh, wow, this is really an alternative to Tesla. It is just-- it's gorgeous, really neat details, excellent, excellent car to drive, just tons and tons of grit, really, really nice center of gravity, really low. But it's kind of weird still. It's kind of got a weird shape. And then it had some tech issues. I found some of the user interfaces, particularly with the infotainment, really not great. But that's not just the I-PACE. That's a lot of Jaguars, and a lot of other car brands, too.
But yeah, then we got in the e-tron, and I was like, wow, this is sort of the other end of that where it's this really-- you know, it feels equally nice and luxurious. But it's a lot more sort of mainstream. I feel like I could be in-- you can put a gas engine in this, and it would feel at home, except this just does everything better. It doesn't seem weird, it doesn't seem out there, there's no sort of polarizing design going on there, in my opinion. I think it's all pretty straightforward. But everything's just sort of-- there's an attention to detail. And then the driving experience is just really good with that. It's not quite as sporty, I don't think, as, say, the I-PACE or anything from Tesla, really. But it's like 80% of that, and that's all you need. And then, like, just the whole experience of the car and the details, the interior design, the technology, all of it comes together really well. And that car, it doesn't blow you away in any specific way, but it just comes together really, really nicely and leaves a really good impression on you.
And, you know, car companies, these legacy automakers will admit, yeah, they were chasing Tesla. They still are. And Tesla's the reason that they're making these cars. And because of Tesla, they have to make them really good if they're going to convince people to buy them. So yeah, there are alternatives to Tesla out there, but they're out there largely because of Tesla. And I think that's all a good thing.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: The thing about the I-PACE, though, is its size puts it in a funny spot.
JOHN SNYDER: Oh, yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: It's sized much smaller than any of the vehicles that pricing-wise you would probably compare it with, especially if you get into the backseat of an I-PACE. I mean, as John just said, the thing is absolutely gorgeous. But those super-sleek aerodynamic lines mean that it's pretty claustrophobic inside if you're sitting in back. And there's just not a ton of room and space. And for a lot of people, I think the actual size of the vehicle maybe is immaterial if they're looking for a premium European flashy electric car.
Obviously the Jaguar is going to fit into that group alongside Tesla, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes has got their EQ series that we're going to be seeing more and more of. But yeah, it's hard to compare the I-PACE with other-- like, what are its competitors? Obviously because it's electric you line it up with the premium electric vehicles. But pricing and size-wise, it's kind of hard to pigeonhole into a category.
GREG MIGILORE: I'm curious what you guys think the Mach-E is going to do for electric vehicles.
JOHN SNYDER: Man, I'm curious to find out. I think it really has the potential to-- you know, we kind of live in this bubble here in the greater Detroit metro area where the Big Three or everything. And I in certain parts of the country, lots of the country, it's like, those people want to buy an American brand. They want to buy something that's cool, that maybe has a little bit of a sense of machismo to it. And I feel like electric cars maybe haven't really provided that so much. Tesla, you know, does, but with something with a Ford badge on it that's this performance thing-- and I personally think it looks great, too-- has the potential to bring this mainstream.
With its price I could see them selling a lot of these. And people are starting to take the electrification for granted. Once you're driving that, you're not really thinking about, oh, this is an electric vehicle. It's weird. You're thinking, oh, this is a cool Ford, and one that people can actually afford to put in their garage. So I think potentially it could really change the way a wide swath of America sees electric cars.
GREG MIGILORE: I think the Mach-E name really kind of gets it in there, too, because it becomes this performance somewhat callback to history, like the Mach One. I really think Ford's dialing into this electric effort in trying to put all their eggs, if you will, into this basket. They're not trying to make it some weird science experiment. They're like, no, it's a Mustang, and we're going to put the Mach name on it. So I think that's cool.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I think that's probably true. The people who are old enough to remember the Mach One and be offended by the Mach-E name probably aren't the target customer for it. The target customer's probably going to see Mach-E, they might be vaguely familiar with a Mustang Mach One as a cool car, and that's about as far as they're going to make that name association. So I don't think-- you know, whatever. Mach-E, probably a really smart name for it.
As far as the vehicle, I also think it looks great, like John said. Very excited to see those things actually hitting the road in the real world. Also super-excited to drive that one. And I think that and the upcoming Volkswagen EVs that are going to start proliferating, I think those two brands, Ford and VW, they've got huge potential to-- you know, I hate to use the term disrupt, but kind of in the same way that Tesla has disrupted the premium automotive sphere, Ford and Volkswagen could really disrupt the more mainstream automotive marketplace and really start putting electric vehicles in the minds of people who thought of them as something that they couldn't afford and had no chance of parking in their driveway.
JOHN SNYDER: Right. And I think there's a--
GREG MIGILORE: Go ahead, John.
JOHN SNYDER: I think there's also a certain subset of buyers for whom maybe they can afford something more aspirational but they don't want a Tesla. They still want-- like, maybe they drove a $70,000 F-150 or a Cadillac Escalade or something like that, and they don't want a Tesla. They want what they've had. And now that Cadillac is coming online, they're going to have an electric Escalade among other electric vehicles, and then GMC with the Hummer, and then Ford and Chevy with their electric pickups, there's just going to be something for everyone fairly soon.
There's still going to be Tesla, and there's going to be more Teslas. And there's going to be mainstream brands, whether they're more affordable cars that someone like my family would buy or something that the person who is driving a G wagon around would be driving around suburban Detroit. There's going to be something for all those people very soon.
GREG MIGILORE: So it's Earth Day, Green Day, if you will. We gotta at least do a quick lightning round, state of Tesla. You know, my take is I give them-- I don't know, I guess if I was giving them a grade, I would give them a C-plus right now. They're passing. They're making some interesting products. They are actually putting out some-- or they were putting out some positive sales and financial figures. I mean, the whole world's going to turn upside down, so it's almost hard to even judge a company by that for at least the rest of this year.
But it seemed like they kind of got it under control. Elon Musk sort of took a little bit of a step back and appeared to be a little more statesmanlike, though lately it seems like he's been getting again up to his old tricks with some of the things he's been saying. But that's neither here nor there. But overall, the company-- again, I think their head is above water. The vehicles they've been promoting have been doing well. The Cybertruck, who knows what's going to go on there? But they seem a little bit like less of a basket case than I would have said a year ago. So just if you're gonna give them a letter grade, state of the union, where do you guys fall on Tesla?
JOHN SNYDER: I'm going to give them a little higher grade than that. I'm gonna say a B, B-plus maybe even. You know, they still have their issues. They're still learning. But just the sheer amount of Tesla Model 3's that the company has sold and in such a short time swiftly going from a very small automaker to selling more cars in certain categories than anyone else, people are buying sedans. They're just buying the Tesla Model 3.
And I think the fact that Tesla is still trying to push the envelope wherever it can in terms of technology and trying to be on the leading edge, I think they're continuing to achieve that-- not without hiccups here and there. But overall I think Tesla is in a really, really good place right now. Especially with Elon involved, there's still going to be promises that are maybe a little too high that maybe can't be met or production issues. But going from making a few Roadsters out of Lotus cars to having one of the best selling sedans in the country, and now working on all sorts of other better technology energy storage, I think it's just a really impressive feat.
GREG MIGILORE: Jeremy, you want to weigh in on a grade there?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah. I'm going to go with a B, a solid B, and here's my thinking. Tesla is-- John just laid out really well how they've gone from this historical footnote with the Roadster to a legitimate car company that on paper at least, which is crazy, but on paper is just massively valuable, judged by people who buy and sell stock for a living. So I'm not going to comment on that because I'm not an expert on it.
But what I do know is cars. And I can tell you that the last several Teslas that I've hopped in and taken for a spin have been really fun, cool cars, aspirational vehicles. And I think that's cool. I'm basing that B grade on the actual vehicles. A couple thoughts, though. Back when the Model 3 first hit the market, Musk said something to the effect of, like, it was a make-or-break moment for the company. And its massive success turned into a big make-it point for the company.
I have no inside information here, but it would be worrying if the Model Y-- their new crossover which they expect to be their best-selling model-- if this is another "make it or break it" point for the company, the coronavirus COVID pandemic couldn't have come at a worse time, because they're literally just ramping up to get that out of there. And they had to shut their factory down in California, which is where they're going to be pumping a bunch of these out, right? So that's a worry. My gut tells me this isn't the same kind of do-or-die moment for Tesla as maybe the Model 3 launch was. So there's that concern.
Another concern is, they can't just focus on the here and now. Like, every time you hear something from Musk, he's talking about something that has nothing to do with the current vehicles that they're making. He's always talking about the Cybertruck, which is years from now. And who knows how successful that's going to be? He's talking about robo-taxis that the vehicles are going to be-- they're going to be cheaper now than they will be worth in five years because they're going to have this return on investment because they'll be able to make you money while you're not driving.
Like, all this stuff to me sounds like pie-in-the-sky crazy talk that doesn't have anything to do with actually buying and selling cars that people want to buy right now. And I just feel like they'd be better served focusing on those things and having such a really strong base to build off of and surprise everyone with really great full self-driving capability when it's ready-- to come out and watch everyone react to it and say, like, oh, holy crap, Elon Musk is God, and Tesla is the greatest thing in the world. But stop promising that kind of stuff right now. Just build and sell cars that people want to buy, and let all that other crap-- just lay off of it for a little bit. That's my thinking.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. I mean, to be fair, and you admitted this, but other automakers are doing the same thing. They're just quiet about it. You said, just wait and surprise everyone. That's what other companies are doing. I think Tesla-- yeah, they approach their public facing side of the business completely differently than these other companies. They talk about these pie-in-the-sky things, and I think that's part of why people, the fans are so devoted. They want a future-looking company, and they don't need to talk about so much the cars here and now because their fans do that for them. I mean, they don't have to advertise. They've got people out there just selling the cars for them, basically.
And I think that different approach has worked for Tesla. And I don't know. I'd be curious to see what would happen if they decide to stop promising things in the future and just focus on the cars right now. I think it would make them sort of a boring company.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Well, OK, so as an example, where's the semi?
JOHN SNYDER: Right.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: How many years-- and everyone was going crazy reporting on the down payments and, like, oh, Budweiser is buying. Oh, Walmart is buying. Oh, everyone's buying. Like, it got them in the news cycle and got people talking about them, but there's no product yet. We're still waiting on that. And Cybertruck, he's been talking about that forever, and the latest news story we have on it is, oh my goodness, it's going to float. Why are we doing this? What is the purpose of all this-- I guess you could say that Musk on Twitter is Tesla's marketing department because he gets people talking about it, but it's just so divisive.
You know, so many people love Musk and love Tesla and are huge fanboys. But I would argue that just as many people are just completely sick of it and tired of the constant hype machine that it seems to be without all that much product and not that many sales to go along with it. Like, I don't know. There's a part of me that's just like, OK, you want to be taken seriously, build great cars like you're doing, sell a whole bunch of them like you're doing, stop talking and parroting and just do. I don't know.
JOHN SNYDER: I don't know. It seems to be working for them so far.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah.
GREG MIGILORE: So one thing I'm curious. We'll close the Earth Day segment here with just kind of-- I sort of titled this mini-lightning round, Greatest Green Car of All Time. It doesn't have to be greatest by sales, by value, but maybe a little more curated or reinforced than just your favorite green car of all time. So I'll go ahead and lead off with the EV1, the GM EV1 if you will. I think it was ahead of its time. I think they did something that was really-- I mean, I went to the Volt introduction, and they literally kept calling it a moonshot. But in many ways, the EV1 was really a moonshot a decade earlier.
I think it could have, had it stuck around, really become as iconic as the Prius. I really think that could have happened. I'm not saying it would have, but I think it could have. And to me, it's one of the great what-ifs of the industry, not only just for it's electric capability, but it was a really interesting looking car. That whole silhouette, that shape-- you saw, I think, different elements of that turn up in later EVs. So to me, that is one of the greatest what-ifs of the auto industry, especially of the last 30 years. What if GM had put some marketing money into that, like a lot of marketing money? What if it had caught on a little bit more? What if the Michael Moore movie didn't quite happen the way it was and sort of repainted history a little bit?
I mean, if it were me, if I were a GM, I would be so proud of that thing. I would trot that back out. I'm sorry, if Hummer can come back to life, EV1 is a name that doesn't have, to me, a lot of negative baggage associated with it. It sounds good. It's like one the alphanumeric designations that actually makes sense. Electric Vehicle 1-- you've got the original electric vehicle. Not really, but you've got one of the original modern ones. So that's my mini-rant, but that's my vote. John, what do you think?
JOHN SNYDER: Boy. You know, coming into this podcast I had one thing in my mind, and then over the course of the last 60 seconds, I've gone all over the place. But I'm landing on-- I'm going to land on the Honda Insight. It is the first hybrid mass-marketed in America. It beat the Prius to North America by half a year or so. And I think it's just a way cooler car. The first Insight is awesome.
It looks super-cool. I still-- every once in a while I'll see one on the road, and I just want it. But yeah, they just did cool things. It was super-efficient. And it was just a shame how Honda sort of dropped the ball with the second gen Insight. But I think the Prius is probably more impactful in terms of public car buyers. Definitely it's the hybrid that people think of as sort of the standard bearer. But I think the Insight was even cooler. And the new Insight is great. It's fantastic. But yeah, that first gen Insight really sort of is what got the ball rolling here in the US for electrified vehicles.
GREG MIGILORE: What I think is really interesting in both of our nominations here-- and I would agree with you. The Prius is the icon as far as bringing hybrid tech to the masses. But just how thin the margins are with hybrids and electric vehicles as far as failure. It's like, if you don't get it totally right and sort of catch lightning in a bottle, you can have a good product, it doesn't go anywhere. Or you can have an OK product, and maybe it does, just because you showed up at the right time. And I don't know. I think this is one of the most delicate parts of the automotive sector right now. But over to you, Jeremy.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: OK, greatest green car of all time-- I really like the vintage Jaguar C and D-Type in British racing green. I think they're absolutely gorgeous.
GREG MIGILORE: Fair enough, fair enough.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I don't know about the rest of you guys. No, in all seriousness--
GREG MIGILORE: The Stanley Steamer. The Detroit Electric, if you want to go far enough back.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I don't know. I'll be honest, my first gut response to that when I saw the question on our little podcast sheet that we were going over. Like, the green car movement has been in the works since the 1970s with ups and downs with the-- was it '73, '74, '75, before I was born, the oil embargo--
GREG MIGILORE: The crisis.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, the crisis in oil. And everyone started-- you know, they didn't want gas guzzlers. The four-barrel carburetor was a four-letter word. Everyone wanted to downsize, downsize, downsize. You could make an argument that the Volkswagen Beetle was a green car, that people were turning to those things because they were cheap, and they got 30 miles per gallon. But in that way they were green. But emissions were terrible. They didn't have any modern emissions and things.
So scrapping that, looking back at what cars have made the biggest imprint on the eco-friendly green marketplace, it would be hard to make an argument against either the Toyota Prius or the Tesla Model S. I mean, if I'm going make an official choice, I'll pick the Tesla Model S, just because if it weren't for Tesla, we wouldn't be seeing all the other cool cars we've talked about-- the Jaguar I-PACE, the Porsche's Taycan, the Audi, the Mercedes, all these other ones that are coming out right now-- in the same way that we wouldn't talk about the Ioniqs and the Kia Niros and the Chevy Volts and all of that if it weren't for the Prius. But if I'm just going to pick one, I'll go with the Tesla Model S.
GREG MIGILORE: Cool. Very cool. So that's our Earth Day segment. Check out autoblog.com. Of course you know to go to the website. But definitely check it out. John kind of curated about 10 posts give or take-- probably a little bit more than that, actually-- past and present. Some have been resurfaced with just updates, things like that. Do check it out. Our green car gallery, our favorite gallery is up there. Our green car-- EV guide is up there. All sorts of different things. Do check it out. Yeah, that's Earth Day 2020.
So moving along to the news section of the podcast. Couple of things that caught my eye. Of course there's a lot going on in the industry with the coronavirus, with just different things like that. So again, go back to the site. But these were two little snippets that I thought were cool-- specifically that the Ford Ranger is getting a little bit extra power from Ford Performance. Yeah, you can obviously get that at your dealer. It's got a warranty to it. And I think that's kind of a cool play for the Ranger, because a number of us, when we did the mid-size pickup truck comparison, that was one of our complaints about it.
Now, it did win, if you might recall. Do check that out. But we didn't love the 270 horsepower engine through 10 pound-feet of torque. It was fine. It was adequate. It was a little raspy. I actually liked the torque. I thought that was pretty good. But I know some people did ding it. Like, just the raw horsepower figure, while being OK for the segment, people didn't love it. So I think this is-- it's not a game changer per se because, one, we're not selling a ton of Rangers and two, just an ECU from Ford Performance probably isn't going to go to the masses and change it.
But this is a long-winded way of me saying, I think this is kind of cool. I think this kind of gets the Ranger to a little bit of a better place. And I think actually when they roll out the redesigned Ranger, it's going to be a much stronger execution. I think this Ranger, we liked it. Ford made a huge deal out of it. There was a huge amount of interest in it. But it's actually a pretty old truck. You know, this is the one that's been on sale, a version of which, overseas for quite some time, and then we're going to get an all-new one relatively soon. So to really boil it down, it's a nice little thing that you can do. And I like it.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I mean--
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Go ahead.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Like, factory ECU upgrades aren't exactly new. Like, we could call it the Ford Ranger Polestar, for instance. Remember when Polestar was doing that in their Volvos? And that was kind of a successful thing that now they've launched it in it's own brand. So it's not exactly something new, but it almost makes me wish that Ford would advertise it as an actual-- because it is certified under their warranty. Why not just make it a dealer installed option right off the bat when you buy the truck? Like, check the option box that bumps you from-- what did we say it was? 270-310 to 320-355-- how many people would opt for that if it was just presented as the upgraded engine package right from the factory when you buy it?
Regardless of that, I think it's great. Whoever turns down more power? What I'd want to know, though-- maybe the reason they don't do it, and this just popped in my head, is do they not have to get separate EPA fuel mileage certification display? How much more fuel does it use to make that extra power? That's a good question.
JOHN SNYDER: That is a good question to follow up and find that out. Or do our own test.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Do our own test.
GREG MIGILORE: That's a--
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I think if they offer it this way, they don't have to have it tested. It's not a factory-- and maybe that's why they do it that way. I don't know.
GREG MIGILORE: But you could still get it at the dealer and get it under warranty. So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, maybe.
JOHN SNYDER: It's a cool service to the enthusiasts of the model. You know, there are Ranger people out there. There were when it was around before, and there are now. People who love the truck and more people who are going to end up buying them and fall in love with the truck, and they're going to be Ranger people. And it's a cool service for them to be able to do something a little bit different with their truck that makes it a little bit cooler, a little more powerful, without voiding the warranty. And it's legal in California, too.
Five years from now, when there's a new Ranger or whatever, people are going to be looking back and buying these used ones and be like, oh, did you get the Ford tuning package for it? And it's going to be-- the same way people talk about things that they've done with their Jeeps or their Subarus. This is just a little sort of nugget. Yeah, I think it's a fan service for the burgeoning Ford Ranger enthusiast community.
GREG MIGILORE: It actually bumps it to best-in-class barely in horsepower. The Colorado is at 308, the Gladiator is at 285, as far as the gas-fed engines. So that's kind of a neat little piece of trivia.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: And it's really reasonably priced, too. It's only $825, which if, let's say, 20 years ago if you could tell someone that like, hey, for $825 you can bump your power from 270 to-- what did we say it was? From 270 to--
JOHN SNYDER: 320.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: 320. Like, that's a 50 horsepower gain for $825.
GREG MIGILORE: It's pretty neat.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, that's awesome bang for the buck, right?
GREG MIGILORE: My only concern, like you guys said, was the fuel economy. Like, I mean, you're getting all that horsepower. Like, whoa, what's the trade-off? And if I recall, just anecdotally driving the Ranger around town, that thing really drank some serious gas, if I recall.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Well, the more you put your foot into a turbocharged car like that, the more fuel-- and if they're building more boost and shoving more air in it, they need more fuel to keep the ratio. So it's definitely going to-- definitely going to be thirstier.
GREG MIGILORE: Cool. So let's move along to Ferrari. The Roma configurator was online last week. And I had a lot of fun specing out my Ferrari. And I didn't actually get the one-- or not get. I wish I got it. I didn't actually build the one that I honestly would build, which is a straight-up red Ferrari with probably a light interior, because I think a light saddle brown interior always looks good. Probably wouldn't do as much carbon as I spec'd it out with. That was just the mood I was in.
And yeah, I think it's a really nice-looking car. And--
ANDY: I found you! I found you!
GREG MIGILORE: Hey, guys. We're having a guest on the "Autoblog" podcast. My son has just run down here. h
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: He found you.
GREG MIGILORE: Hey, buddy.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: He found you.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, he did find me, as they say. Hey, if Jimmy Fallon can have a guest on his show-- his kids are on it-- I guess we'll have Andy on the podcast. Have a seat, bud.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: That's awesome. Hi, Andy.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: So, Greg, it's funny. The Ferrari you described is basically-- the one that you didn't build is basically the one I built. I went with red, sort of a saddle brown interior, didn't opt for the extra carbon, and I think it looks pretty bad ass. So I went with simple wheels, black brake calipers. I went with the sport exhaust because it just looks cool. I didn't go with the blacked out one.
But I wanted it to look sort of red and classic without too many frills. And I really like it. Originally I was going to go with blue because I like blue. Pretty much every time we do one of these configurator posts, I'm always picking something blue. But I just had to do a red on this one, the Rosso Mugello, and I think it looks fantastic.
GREG MIGILORE: There are a couple of really good shades of red in this configurator. Jeremy, how did you go?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I went with a blue color. And I'm going to make the same caveat that Greg made. I don't know if this is-- like, if I were fortunate enough that I could design my own Ferrari Roma in the real world and actually have a chance to bring it home, I don't know if this is how I'd actually do it or not. But I went with a really cool soothing blue color, because I feel like the Roma, it's got these really clean lines, much cleaner than anything that we've seen from Ferrari in a really long time. And it doesn't look anything like the '70s Daytona. But the crispness of it and the cleanness of its design kind of reminded me a little bit of the Daytona. And I love Daytonas in blue. So that's where I went with it. There's actually a really cool option in there that you can choose Daytona-style seats, so I did that.
And I went with a-- I don't even know what you'd call it, kind of like-- I don't know. Almost like an oxblood leather interior, so like a really deep red, not bright Ferrari race red, but something that I could see it with a really pretty blue and that really deep red would just be super-classy, I feel like. So that's where I went with my design, and then I unclassed it by adding carbon fiber exterior accents, which I don't think I would do in real life. But since I'm playing with fake money, I decided to go ahead and try. I went with matte wheels, and I think I went with red brake calipers to kind of go with the red interior. But again, I don't know that I'd actually order it that way. But I do think it looks really cool and classy.
GREG MIGILORE: Very cool. I was actually just doing quick Google searches on those great Daytonas in blue. Oh, man, that's a great looking car.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Beautiful.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, I actually realized the color of the car I spec'd out was blue Roma, so how apropos is that? Anyways, while I wish I could drive that car, let's talk about cars we have driven. I spent some time in the Volkswagen Jetta, which is a very nice car. Also, just to preview this, John has been in our Forester for quite some time. One of the benefits of coronavirus is we're not swapping cars, so you got some time to spend, if you will, with the car you're in. And you've been in that Forester for a while there, John. That's OK. A couple of weeks.
JOHN SNYDER: A few weeks.
GREG MIGILORE: Not too bad. But anyways, I was in the Jetta. And real quick, I enjoyed it. I used it to-- here's my caveat. I literally drove it to go get some essential groceries. That's what I did. I needed to get some milk. And yeah, I mean, there's some things that I thought stood out. Like, 40 miles per gallon on the highway is really cool. I think that's a really strong number for a sedan in this segment. I think it looks good. It's essentially like an Audi to me-- a mini-Audi, if you will, in Volkswagen trim. And yeah, I think it's good value. This one was the SEL in premium trim. It came in at just south of $29,000. I'm trying to squint to see what the Monroney-- 28,800. So it's pretty cool.
JOHN SNYDER: Well, it's been a while since I drove the Jetta. But the one thing I remember from it is the door, the little pocket in the door, was the perfect size to hold a Nalgene water bottle. So I think I've got a tweet out there where I do the Nalgene test with the Jetta and pop it in the door.
GREG MIGILORE: Nalgene tests are John's specialty. If you follow him on Twitter, you gotta check these out.
JOHN SNYDER: But I remember first seeing the Jetta at the Detroit Auto Show, sitting in it, and being like, I'm not too thrilled with this. Particularly the interior was kind of wacky. But then when we got one in the office, we had a couple in the office that-- you know, it started growing on me the more I drove it. It definitely did feel a bit more premium when it was spec'd with the right interior.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, I--
GREG MIGILORE: Go ahead, Jeremy.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: I'm going to just counter a little bit what John just said and only-- not because I disagree with him at all. I think he's absolutely right. But the counterpoint is the only time that I've spent with the current latest generation Jetta for any length of time is a year and a half ago, just before moving to Ohio, I took a trip out to Ohio, and I had a Jetta for a week. And it was an absolute stripper base model. Sticker price was under $20,000. And it was the 1.4 turbo. Is that the same engine you had, Greg?
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah. It had a 1.4 turbo, six speed manual transmission, and when I picked it up to drive it, I was like, oh, man, this is like a penalty box. Like, it was so barren and just seas of black on the inside. And by the time I gave it back, I was like, I'm going to miss this thing. Because it's actually got some character to it. It's not like-- I grew up, I'm of the generation of the late '80s throughout the entire '90s where Volkswagen was seen as the premium European alternative to your typical Chevy, Ford, Dodge, whatever. And now Volkswagen is just like-- it's just another brand. It's another choice. They're not quite so positioned upmarket as they used to be.
But they still somehow manage to have a little bit of character to them that when you're driving it, it still feels like, OK, it's a Volkswagen. It's not a Chevy. It's not a Ford. It's got a little bit of flair to it in some way. And the number one overriding memory I have was just how efficient the thing was with the six speed manual and that tiny little turbo engine. Like, I usually get good fuel mileage out of cars, on the upper end of what you'd expect to get. And I don't think I had-- I never went below 40 miles per gallon on any reasonable length of trip that I took. So on the highway driving from Detroit to Columbus, Ohio, to visit family, I think I turned 44 miles per gallon out of the thing.
JOHN SNYDER: Nice.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah. And even just driving around the city, I was right at that 40 mile per gallon mark, the tank or two that I put through it. So what is there to complain about that car? Less than 20 grand, a little bit of style, a little bit of flair, super efficient. I think that's great.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGILORE: I think the Jetta is one of the better values in the segment, too. I was sort of expecting when I got out of this-- because they had heated leather seats. The rear seats were heated, which I couldn't believe. It was a pretty nice interior. It was a little quirky, but I expected it to be more like 33, 34, just getting to that territory where you're like, well, this is nice. But then you look at the sticker and you're like, oh, yeah, I don't really want to pay that much for a Jetta. But having it just under 29 felt about right to me.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Pet peeve time. Every new Volkswagen I had to get into, picture what a power on/off button looks like. It's kind of got that circle and a line in it. Volkswagen's dials that have the power button for the radio and the volume, the power symbol spins with the dial. And it drives me crazy.
Like, I've got this OCD thing where dials, I want them pointed either 90 degrees to the right or left or straight up or straight down. And I also like all of my temperatures on even numbers. And if the radio has a volume, I want it at an even number. Like, if 21 is perfect, I'm going to compromise and go with 20 or 22. And I'm well aware that it's a weird OCD thing with me. But that spinning power symbol on the radio control in Volkswagen drives me absolutely crazy.
JOHN SNYDER: I think that's a fair complaint, because I've noticed that in cars, too. And yeah, I don't like it.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: What is it, half a cent for them to make that part of the dial stay straight up and down? Like, I would pay 100 extra dollars for that car if it didn't happen.
GREG MIGILORE: So I think we've hit the Jetta pretty hard. I will say this. Not doing much driving besides essential things, it was fun to get out. It was a sunny Saturday morning. I went to this restaurant near me that was actually selling groceries, so we were able to get some fresh produce, things like that. It really felt good to drive.
You know, the Jetta is hardly the Ferrari Roma, but it's not exactly a Prius either. So I enjoy driving it. And I guess we'll leave it there. John, you spent some time in the Forester, which has been in our fleet now for going on probably about eight months at least. It's one of our more sturdier long-term vehicles. What have you been doing with the Foreseter?
JOHN SNYDER: It's funny you say sturdy. It's got another crack in the windshield.
GREG MIGILORE: Oh, boy. Again? OK.
JOHN SNYDER: And it's a process to replace it because of the eyesight. We assume it's because of the eyesight. But also nobody's fixing glass right now. I'm just going to have to live with it for a little bit. But also, this is really weird. I got in it to go pick up dinner last night. And I'm driving down the street. I heard kind of what sounded like a sloshing. It sounded like it was coming from underneath the car. Later on, when I was getting out of the car, I dropped my phone down the side of the seat. And I go to fish it out, and it's wet down there.
GREG MIGILORE: That does not sound good.
JOHN SNYDER: No. So I'm taking it in on Monday. But there's something funny going on with it. But yeah, it's still on those winter tires, too. And I'm excited to get it off of those. As much as I think they're cool, on these roads, it kind of-- when the roads are dry and not super-cold, the steering feels a little weird. It's sort of twitchy and squishy. I'm looking forward to getting it back on its regular all-season tires.
But other than that, it's been great. I can fit a ton of stuff in the back, a ton of groceries. Normally this time of year, I'd be getting big bags of soil or whatever. And you'd be getting mulch. But I'm not doing that. But ours has that giant floor mat for the cargo area. There's lots of little things like that that just make it seem practical and usable and livable.
The interior is really-- you know, it's impressive how much stuff you can fit back there. For the new generation, the Forester, it didn't grow much on the outside, but it grew on the inside. And that rear hatch grew, too. So it's just possible to stuff huge items back there. It's really impressive. But yeah, it needs a little TLC right now. But it'll be back and doing well very soon. And I hope I can get some mulch or some soil with it before too long.
GREG MIGILORE: I miss the Foreseter. It's a fun little crossover. You know, did a lot of cool things with it-- tailgates last fall. It was good in the snow with those winters on it. We actually have the gold wheels on it with the winter rubber, which is kind of neat. So I mean, it looks cool even though I know you're probably at this point on relatively dry roads, although it was snowing earlier.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, there.
GREG MIGILORE: You know, it's not exactly the right quality you're looking for. But it's been one of my, I'd say, top five-- yeah, probably top five-- as far as favorite long-termers we've had during my nearly six years at Autoblog. So yeah, I mean, it's in the near-great, if you will, level of long-termers. We've had some really good ones, but we've got some ones that weren't so great. But it's hanging in there. It's doing some good things.
JOHN SNYDER: It is. It would be one that I would consider owning. I would rather have-- and we had a podcast segment on this before, but I'd much rather have an Outback though.
GREG MIGILORE: Yeah, 100%.
JOHN SNYDER: I'd rather spend the extra money and get that. It just feels like a way better vehicle, higher quality, better overall experience. But the Forester is good and definitely a huge improvement over the last generation in terms of quality and comfort and practicality in terms of size.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, we were talking about the Jetta just a minute ago. And the Forester kind of falls into that same category to me as a really practical, virtuous car that has just enough character and interest to it that it it's elevated above daily transportation and something that you can kind of look forward, have some pride of ownership, look forward to getting in and driving every once in a while. And I think that's just really important when so many cars are just seen as a way to get from point A to point B. Having something with some character, with some interest to it, I think is really great. And I think the Forester kind of falls into that. The outback even more so, but the Forester still is a really solid, good choice.
GREG MIGILORE: Cool. So we'll leave the drive section there. And should we spend some money? This is a really thorough one. Joe in Washington, DC, writes to us that-- let's see, he's got some criteria. Let's put it that way. This is about maybe a 1,000-word email, which is awesome. He's been looking for a car since last August. His '08 Mazda3 was rear-ended and totaled, so that's rough. The metro is stopped in Washington. I wouldn't want to get on the subway or public transportation right now if I didn't have to, so I understand that. And he's going to need a car, essentially.
A lot of different details here. But here's the criteria. He needs an efficient 30 miles per gallon plus highway, or crossover, something that will be reliable for the better part of the decade. So he wants to spend some money and have a car he's going to like and keep, which is great. That's a need. A want is he likes camping and hiking, so it needs to be able to handle some of the rougher back roads, snow and such, things like that. There we go.
Budget is up to about 17 grand, maybe willing to stretch a little bit for something really good. Here's the car he's looking at closest-- and this is the one that came to mind for me immediately-- was the 17-18 Mazda3 Hatch, CPO if possible. So that's what he was looking at. A couple of the other ones that he's sort of ruling out but still throwing in there-- the 17-ish Civic Hatchback, which he says isn't actually a hatchback. That's a good observation. Subaru Crosstrek, Mazda CX-30, the new Mazda3-- which is probably too expensive, he says-- the CX-3, and-- yeah, those are all the criteria. So basically doesn't care as much about backseat comfort or fancy tech. He likes hatchback CUVs. Yeah, it's quite a great Spend My Money. Also doesn't really like CVTs. We'll kick it to you, Jeremy. Where do you land on this?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Oh, boy. You know, I always like to come with some options on these Spend My Moneys. And when I first read it, my thinking was, OK, here's a person that, like you said, wrote 1,000 words basically explaining why the '17 Mazda3 is the perfect car for them. And so I was like, OK, that sounds great. Go with the Mazda3. And I still think that would be a great choice. The Mazda3-- he's talking about the not current generation, he's talking about the last generation-- is a great car.
So he mentions that he really likes the Subaru Crosstrek but that they're just a little bit too expensive. They hold their value really well. So something to consider is that the Subaru Impreza is basically the same car as a Crosstrek without the cladding and with a little bit less suspension travel-- or a little less ground clearance, excuse me. But it's basically the same thing. If that lack of CUV bent doesn't completely dissuade you from the option, the Impreza does not hold its value like the Crosstrek does. And I did some internet searching and found that you can buy a really nice 2018 or 2019 Impreza in the buyer's price range, no problem. So consider an Impreza if you really like the Crosstrek and you're drawn to Subarus, as you say, in your note.
Otherwise, some options-- the GTI springs to mind. If you want to save some money a Niro might make sense. If you're really interested in hearing offbeat options, Acura made a TSX wagon several years back that fits into your budget. The Lexus CT could potentially fit into your budget if you look at, say, 2014-ish, something like that. But yeah, if you decide that the 3 isn't perfect for you, I'd consider an Impreza.
JOHN SNYDER: I was going to say Impreza as well for a lot of the same reasons. It's a good car. I mean, if you like the Crosstrek, the Impreza feels very similar when you live with it. It's maybe a little more comfortable. But you do miss some of that elevated ride feeling of the Crosstrek. But I think the ride itself is a little more comfortable in the Impreza. And yeah, you can get a decently equipped Impreza from fairly recently for a good price. You mentioned the Lexus CT-- that's a really good one.
But my first thought reading over this was also the Kia Niro or Hyundai Kona. But I really think the Impreza is a very, very good option. And that's probably, if I had to pick one to land on, that would be the one I would land on.
GREG MIGILORE: I think I'd go with a Mazda3 still. Not to do confirmation bias, if you will, but I just like that car. I think for me, that's kind of where I'd land. I think it looks good, drives well. Like, Jeremy, you said, this was the last gen. But I still like that last gen, too. It was a good car. So I'd probably land on that, I think. And I actually don't think when you're going between the Subaru, the Mazda, you're getting a pretty similar, I think, car, if you will. It's just a slightly different flavor. So yeah. Any final thoughts, guys?
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Well, OK. So something I noted. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I read through this email, and I don't think that this person specifically said whether a manual transmission was OK. They said not CBT, which for the Crosstrek and the Impreza both do have a CBT. But if you were considering a Crosstrek but just is out of your budget, then the Impreza is going to have that same automatic CBT transmission that the Crosstrek has.
The Lexus CT also is going to be a CBT, but it's the weird-- the planetary gear CBT. It's not exactly the same thing as a Prius CBT. And the electric motor assist on that kind of does away with a lot of the rubber band feeling that people don't like about CBTs. And it's a Toyota. That powertrain has proven very reliable. So I wouldn't worry about the CBT being a weak spot.
Other vehicles that popped into my head that I wouldn't necessarily recommend, but if you want to take a flyer, the Nissan Juke would kind of fit into there. They don't make them anymore, but for your $17,000 budget, you can even get a Nismo with a six speed manual and a more powerful turbo-- you know, you're not going to have all wheel drive, but you've got the ground clearance that you're looking for. In the right set of tires, I think you'd be fine. If you really want to go out there, you can get an older-- I mean, mid-2014, 2015, whatever year they stopped making them, Volvo C30. That's kind of like a--
GREG MIGILORE: Oh, the C30 is an interesting car. Yeah, that's really interesting.
JEREMY KORZENIEWSKI: Yeah, it's kind of out there, but it would fall into the budget. It'd be kind of a premium thing. It doesn't have a CBT. It has a fun little turbo engine. But yeah, I mean, when I was reading through it, I was thinking, yes, stick with what you're leaning to, leaning toward. And I think that's still good solid advice, like Greg said. Confirmation of the Mazda3 being a good choice. Absolutely a good choice-- no one's going to fault you for that. I think it's really good. But if you're writing in and you're considering other options and you're willing to expand the horizon a little bit, there are some other fun options that you could look at.
GREG MIGILORE: Very cool. All right. So we'll leave it there. Please send us your Spend My Moneys. We'd love to spend your money while everybody's in quarantine. Jeremy and John, thanks for being with us this week. It's been a fun show. Until next time, we'll see you on the other side.
[THEME MUSIC]
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