In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. The Volkswagen Bus revival is the big news this week, but first, we discuss winter driving in our long-term Hyundai Palisade, and review the Hyundai Kona Electric and Jaguar F-Pace SVR. Then they dive into the reveal of the VW ID. Buzz, and Chevy's tease of the Blazer SS performance EV. John's been compiling lists of the most efficient EVs, plug-in hybrids and plug-free vehicles of 2022. Finally, they take to the mailbag to help a listener pick a suitable replacement for a 2010 Mazdaspeed3.
Send us your questions for the Mailbag and Spend My Money at: Podcast@Autoblog.com.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
GREG MIGLIORE: Welcome back to The Autoblog Podcast. I'm Greg Migliore. Joining me today is senior editor for All Things Green, John Snyder. What's going on, man?
JOHN SNYDER: Nothing, just enjoying the last little bit of winter we're getting right now. All the snow's sort of melted, but still kind of cold. Hoping maybe to get a little skiing in this weekend. It would be the last one of the season, but other than that, yeah. Like we were talking before the podcast, it's almost grilling season. So looking forward to that too.
GREG MIGLIORE: We subscribe to this like delivery grocery thing that kind of helps us save time, if you will. Then we get to the store and just get all the other stuff, but I think there's some veggies and maybe some ground beef patties like probably thawing on my porch, but that's OK. So I need to go down and check that out after the show. I might do some grilling. Just thinking I may only be a couple of weeks away from golfing, which would be amazing.
JOHN SNYDER: I saw people out earlier this week.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. So generally, most of the courses you can golf now, but you have to walk. I prefer just the cart. It's easier you can have a couple of beers. You don't have to lug clubs around. I have walked, but it's definitely more of a physical activity as opposed to concentrating on the game of golf, but I digress.
We have a great show for you today. We're to talk about the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, finally revealed. We're actually recording this as it's being revealed. So we wanted to get that into this week's show. I mean, you've probably already essentially seen it. Looks pretty good. We'll break down a little bit about what it means to have a van back eventually in the US market. It's going to take a few years. Blazer SS Electric was teased today. That came out of the blue. We'll have something to talk about there. Hyundai Palisade long term update. We both have driven it this week in fact. So we have a lot to talk about there. You got to drive away with a Hyundai Kona.
JOHN SNYDER: EV.
GREG MIGLIORE: EV, yeah. I should be precise there. And I will give you another update on the Jaguar F-pace SVR. I've had it. It just left the other day actually, the same day of the Palisade arrived. So a little bit of a different preschool drop off. Let's put it that way. But still, good in both ways. And finally, we will spend your money. We've got a great question involving the Mazda Speed 3. Cannot wait to get into that. The Speed 3 has a lot of resonance for me, but more on that to come.
So let's get right in here. We'll talk reviews. I guess we'll lead off with that, talk about some of the cars we've been driving. Palisade long-term update. It's been here almost a year. We're going to be kind of passing it on relatively soon. I think I'm the last auto blogger who's going to drive it, but you actually have spent multiple weeks in it now. You did take it on your kind of winter vacation I believe. So talk about just some of the winter aspects of the Palisade.
JOHN SNYDER: Sure. Well, first of all, no surprise, this thing's really good in the snow. It's got the clearance, it's got the all-wheel drive, got the stability, the long wheelbase. Snow mode helps a lot, helps distribute the torque, makes it start off in second gear, generally reduces slippage and wheelspin pretty well.
It was interesting, because we bought-- the Snyder family bought an almost identical Palisade to The Autoblog long-termer because we like the long-termer so much. The long-termer has winter tires on it while the Snyder Palisade does not, has the factory all-seasons. So I got to see the difference there too, which was cool. But even without the winter tires, it was great. The winter tires did make a big difference in braking and turning. If you carry a little too much speed through a turn on all-seasons, it'll plow a little bit. Braking distances are longer. The abs is more likely to kick in. The winter tires just really help shorten those braking distances and control the grip as you're decelerating and as you are changing your angular velocity when you're turning. So it sort of keeps you on track through the corners a little better.
The snow mode does help quite a bit. It really sort of slows things down just off the line really. You can still get plenty of speed out of it. You step on the gas, it'll happily go, but it's those low speed driving situations where it just gives you a little more stability and control. Didn't have to use the fake differential lock, like all-wheel drive lock button. Never got into any too deep of snow that we couldn't get out of. So we'll see. Maybe this summer I'll get stuck in some sand or something.
But yeah, just a great, great vehicle for that. We took it skiing. It fits skis between the-- You put down the third row or even just the left side of the third row, the 60-40 split and put the skis up between the captain's chairs, and you can pack stuff all around it. We had two kids in car seats, our giant dog. We brought along a dog crate, not the collapsible kind. We put in a jogging stroller. We put in a pack and play. We had a cooler. And a long weekend's worth of multiple changes of clothing per day, including snow clothes and helmets and stuff, all on top of three pairs of skis and poles and boots and stuff like that. So it was still-- it convinced us when we drove to North Carolina and we were able to-- we had two kids, two dogs, week's worth of stuff, no problem. So it's still proving itself. This is, again, one of the more extreme use cases for it, but we do use those extreme use cases more often than I thought we would. So yeah, we're really loving this Palisade. But yeah, I really enjoyed it in the snow.
One complaint I have, and I noticed-- I went online to sort of look at it and noticed this is a common complaint. The windshield wipers sort of hide behind the cowl when they're resting. And say if you leave your wipers on or like on auto when you turn off the car, and then it snows, and you go and turn on the car, the wipers go and snow gets pushed down in the cowl below the wiper arms. And if they can't come all the way back down to that resting position, they just stop working until you clear all that snow out of there. It's hard to get it out there. It's hard to reach in there. It's a deep cowl. You can't manually pull the wiper blades up off the windshield. So it was kind of tricky, but then there's a service position.
So I looked in the manual after looking on some forums, and there's a little trick. After you turn the car off, you hold the wiper stock up for two seconds and the wipers go into a vertical service position where you would have them if you needed to change the wiper blades, but it also is really good for being able to get the snow out from under the cowl. I've seen other people suggest just opening the hood and digging it out, but I don't know. If there's a bunch of snow on the hood too-- like, my first step is usually the windshield. So if I can get those wipers into that vertical position, then I'm good to go clearing it all out. But other than that, I love this thing, love this thing in the winter. Yeah, it served us really well.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's definitely nice for family use, for sure. I would say it's probably one of the best alternatives to just a pure minivan out there.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: With the interior layout. Yeah, I mean, I've been doing preschool duty all week in this thing and it's really good for that. Hoping to maybe take a little bit of a longer trip here before it goes back. We'll see. Maybe something up north here before, again, it goes back. I think it actually-- I've thought this during multiple stints in the Palisade. It does a really good job of looking upscale, distinctive. It's a very attractive large crossover SUV, whatever you want to call this three-row barge, if you will. But it managed to strike I think the right tone. It's not like this blocky off-road thing. It's not super over-styled like some of the Lexus or maybe Infinities you might see. It's just, to me, it's like really just a distinctive attractive vehicle. I think that's really cool.
I went to pick up some pizza. This was actually not this time around, but before. And the guy who was running food out to everybody's cars-- it was like a drive-thru kind of setup-- wrote down the make and model, and he was like, Black Cadillac. And I was like, well, it's actually a blue, but it's pretty dark blue Hyundai Palisade. So yeah, I don't know. Frankly, this is exactly what Cadillac could use. To me, this could even look like a Cadillac in a different alternative universe. So I really like the style.
One small thing, super small-- I almost wonder if like they can make a version that would be a little higher up off the ground. Even though I think it definitely strikes the right balance between like SUV kind of stance and capability versus a very drivable type character. It's easy for everybody to get in and out of. I don't know. Sometimes I'm like-- There is something when you're in like a really high-up SUV. That's almost more like an observation, but I could-- if they did something like that, it might not be in keeping with the tone, but I don't know.
JOHN SNYDER: I mean, I didn't have much interest in the Explorer until I drove the Explorer Timberline, a little bit raised, up a little bit ruggedized, more stylish than functional, but there is some functionality to what they did to it, and made the car a lot more interesting to me. I don't know if the Palisade is the natural candidate for that sort of treatment, but it would be neat, like you said. I definitely wouldn't say no to trying one out.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right. Well, so that's the Hyundai Palisade. I will have it for another few weeks here. Probably the last time you're going to see it there, John, but you also have another one in your driveway.
JOHN SNYDER: Yes, down to one now.
GREG MIGLIORE: Down to one. It's more like the Palisade the long-term garage there for the Snyder family.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: How's the Hyundai Kona you're rolling around in, EV?
JOHN SNYDER: It's great. The biggest problem with it is the backseat's tiny.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: So putting two car seats in there is a little tricky. Usually, if the car is big enough, I like to put my daughter's rear-facing seat behind the driver's seat and then put Wally's high-backed booster forward-facing on the passenger side, because when he gets dropped off at school he can just hop right out to the curb. When we get the baby out, it's on my side anyway. So I just get her out. Obviously can't do that with the Kona. I have to swap those and sort of say, sorry, Wally, you don't have a lot of leg room, bud. And if someone wants to sit-in front of Lola in the passenger seat, they're also going to be kind of squished.
But other than that, it's a fun car. It's quick. It's very nimble. It's very car-like in driving it. You do start to feel dwarfed by a lot of the other cars on the road, but if you don't mind that, which, I tend to like smaller cars. I like darting through traffic and I'm feeling like I'm in a little go-kart, and this feels like a little electric go-kart.
It's got the digital dash and heated and cooled seats and a pretty nice interior. You're not going to get some of the nicer materials that you'll get in some of the more upscale Hyundais, but it's not bad and the design is nice. And the color on this one, you saw it when it rolled by. It was sort of gray. They call it cactus fern, it's like a gray-green. It's really, really nice color. Sort of a neutral tone with just a hint of green in it, and it looks really good.
So yeah, it's a fun car to rip around in. It's happy to spin the front wheels. Sport mode, it's nice and quick and it's definitely one that I would enjoy driving on a daily basis if I didn't have to put people in the back seat. It's just not a very usable back seat unfortunately. The Kia Niro has slightly more usable backseat, if I recall correctly, but I think I like the styling of the Kona better than the Niro. So I'd probably choose the Kona anyway, but yeah.
Even in the cold when it showed up after being driven and delivered, I had over 215 miles of range on it. Yeah, you just don't have to worry about range so much compared to some of the other things I've been in lately. But yeah, it's a swell vehicle. And if you're not looking to pony up for the Ioniq 5 or just don't want something that big, this is a good compromise for a single person or a young couple that don't have kids yet.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. It's definitely a fun little car. The Kona did pretty well in our compact crossover comparison a few years back. We generally liked a lot of the different elements of it.
JOHN SNYDER: I wanted that to win, honestly.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: It's the best of the bunch.
GREG MIGLIORE: That was a good one. I feel like the Kia Soul won if I remember right.
JOHN SNYDER: It did.
GREG MIGLIORE: But I think it's also an interesting option before stepping up in price or in size. So you've got the Ioniq 5, which is really compelling. It's definitely part of that new flashy breed of EVs. There's also the Polestar 2, which immediately takes you up and do another price segment, but it's not that large of a vehicle. So if you start to cross-shop I want a smaller-ish EV-- and the Polestar 2 is basically a sedan. So I would argue the Polestar 2 is probably more practical than the Kona EV when I think about it, because there's a decent trunk in there, OK back seat. I got a car seat in the back of the Polestar 2.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. It's probably-- If I recall, it's a bigger back seat, more comfortable than the Kona.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. So there's some things out there at that price point. Yeah, I don't know. Any plans for the Kona EV this weekend?
JOHN SNYDER: Not sure. Hoping to go skiing this weekend, but that means we'll be taking the Palisade.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, good point.
JOHN SNYDER: But we'll be using the Kona for everything else. I have been successfully putting both kids in the back and playing bus driver.
GREG MIGLIORE: There you go.
JOHN SNYDER: Haven't really gotten any complaints from Wally. He went a big size downgrade from being able to put the second row captain's chair all the way back and really swing his feet around to this, but he doesn't seem to mind.
GREG MIGLIORE: There you go. So we will wrap up the drive section here with the Jaguar F-PACE SVR. This is the $97,400 crossover that I talked a bit about last week. I'll kind of wrap up my thoughts here. I felt like we needed to kind of break up this like fleet of Hyundai car reviews here, so trying something a little bit different.
But I did take it on a really long drive last weekend. It's pretty good on the highway. For me, it almost is like a good version of like what I would call like the modern speedwagon. It's just such a brute and it looks awesome, I think.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, especially in that yellow.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, bright yellow, school bus yellow almost. Super loud. It got a ton of attention in the preschool line, let's put it that way, mainly for the color. The car itself, sure, it stands out, but just this blinding yellow really is something. And you don't get that many supercharged V8s anymore, and this is one of them, and it's raw, and it's in your face, and the exhaust sounds great. I like the look of the F-PACE too. That's the thing that grew on me over the weekend over the last week or so is, it's almost got this like 22-inch wheels, which are an option. The roofline is kind of chopped. It's kind of almost like raked, if you will, like slammed or something. Like, a lot of different design ideas tend to play into it. So that was kind of cool.
It's pretty drivable, like I said. You get all this power. It handles pretty well. You're a little bit off the ground, but you have these big wheels. And to me, it just felt, like I said, like a modern speedwagon, which I think is pretty cool.
JOHN SNYDER: Which would you prefer between that and, say, the Porsche Macan Turbo? Just gut check.
GREG MIGLIORE: Ooh, that's tough, that's tough. Well, I just got out of the F-PACE SVR, so I think I would go there simply because I do like the rawness of the Jaguar. I will be, I guess, a prisoner of the moment. I'll do the auto journalist cliche. Well, if I drove them back-to-back, I could see myself landing on the Macan Turbo, because Porsches do sound good too and they have excellent steering, but right now I'm thinking Jaguar. I just tend to like the very unique approach that Jaguar brings with most of its products. Frankly, they're not the best in most of the segments they compete in, but they're right there with Alfa Romeo as far as like they're different, they're interesting. Whereas I think Porsches to a lesser extent, but even Mercedes, BMW, and Audi could get a little boring. There's a level of like you know ubiquity there where you just kind of like, OK, there's another BMW X3. F-PACE, there's some attitude there, especially in SVR trim.
JOHN SNYDER: Fair enough.
GREG MIGLIORE: So how about yourself?
JOHN SNYDER: I don't know. The supercharged V8 just sounds super fun.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: It's just such an unusual thing to see anymore, especially in a segment like this. So for the novelty of that, I don't know. Honestly, I'd probably still land with Porsche Macan just because I like the way those drive and know them better.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: But I don't know, that supercharged V8 might win me over. If something was going to win me over, it would be that.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. It's that or the design. Actually, the interior is quite nice. Of course, this one is 97-4. So you a base F-PACE gets a little more basic. Let's put it that way.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: I was trying to draw some parallels to great Jaguars of the past, because when you're driving this thing, you're like, yeah, I'm driving a Jaguar. But Jaguar has not used V8s all that often over its history. I mean, they've definitely had some very memorable cars for sure, but it's not like the Germans or the Americans, where I mean just it was what size V8 you want in literally every segment for decades. Jaguar has been very judicious with the inline sixes, even four-cylinders. In some ways, the large V8 has almost been a-- it's become more common in the last 10, 15 years. So I'll keep researching that because I think it's an interesting thread.
I came upon this yesterday. I was like you're doing too much research for like one clause in your story. Like, you're literally looking for like one sentence maybe and you've been researching for this for the last 20 minutes. So I expect my road test to go up probably next week. I'm basically done, but then I got into this writing groove the other day where I was on the couch. I actually had a fire going, the dog was sleeping next to me, and I didn't have to do drop off duty that morning. So I still actually had my glasses on and the world was very narrow. And I was like, oh, I'm making every line better as I go through it during the writing process as opposed to just a churn and burn. Like, it's all here, there's no swear words, get it out the door.
JOHN SNYDER: It's a good feeling.
GREG MIGLIORE: So I don't know, it may or may not read that way, but I was in a groove and then I got disrupted by something, but that's life. So should we talk about the ID. Buzz?
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's live. It's out there. We are recording this as they are showing it. Obviously, if you've seen any of the pictures before, that's what it is. I think it's really interesting. It's a van in 2022, but we're not going to get the three-row until 2024. So it's a little bit away. What do you think? I mean, first impressions.
JOHN SNYDER: I'm really pleased with how they maintained the style of the concept. Seeing some of the prototypes and mules and spy photos, I was worried that it was going to get a little dumbed down. But the final product here, it looks true to the concept. It's got sort of that beach vibe, that sort of California vibe. I think it's really cool.
It's definitely new and sort of futuristic, but it still somehow captures that retro feeling. I don't know whether it's the doors or the proportions, but yeah, it makes me think of the old VW bus. It actually makes me think of that. I was worried that it would just be this new thing that the history is kind of lost on it, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I feel drawn to the interior. I like the way it looks. Again, like really sort of funky, some neat colors. I'm just sort of sad that we still have to wait a long time for this. It's coming as a 2025 model maybe in 2024? That's still a long ways away. And Europe's going to get their versions before us, but then we're going to get the longer version, the three-row version, which I think makes sense for the US. That's what people here want. They want three rows in something of this size.
But I'll be interested to see down the road what sort of different offerings they offer here. I know there's going to be a cargo version in Europe early on. Right now commercial electric vehicles are all the rage and delivery vans things like that. Volkswagen is a huge manufacturer, if they could get their share of the pie through one of the many delivery companies or logistics companies here in the US and start selling them to the fleets, maybe some of those different versions could trickle down to the consumers too.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a great point. I think naturally using an electric cargo van for like Amazon, all the different like fulfillment companies, if you will, I think that makes a ton of sense-- FedEx, everybody. So that's intriguing. I think it's just like an interesting almost like return of an icon. Initial indications are good. Again, to your point, the styling what we thought there.
It's electric. The only power train that they've announced is the ID.4 power train. So it'll be interesting to see by the time this gets here for the 2025 model year, I mean, what is that going to be, right? I would assume the ID.4 will have some upgrades by that point as well.
JOHN SNYDER: Oh, for sure. They've already got some changes in the works. There's plenty of time for market research to hone this in for the US market. This is just what they're promising us so far.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: Who knows what more we'll get.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's a good strategy I think, too. Try and get some volume potentially with a cargo option. Try to get like a style play that I think many people will subscribe to. This is a very interesting product. There's literally nothing like this out there right now. There's no other like just small-ish, but three rows, vans that you can get out there. It almost reminds me a little bit of the Nissan Cube from a while back, but I think it'll be a little more practical than that.
JOHN SNYDER: Oh, for sure.
GREG MIGLIORE: I'm intrigued.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. And the long lead time gives Volkswagen plenty of opportunities to drop little morsels here and there and keep the buzz, so to speak, rolling for this car before it hits market. Hey, US, you're going to get this now, or we're going to offer this other powertrain or whatever. There's an opportunity to keep attention high for this.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. I think there'll be a lot of-- the Buzz name is frustrating. I don't love that, but I mean, I get why they did it. Yeah, it's hard not to be cliched with generating buzz, the bus, the buzz, all of the stuff. I don't know. I mean, it's interesting to see how automakers have been like sort of investing in segments that we totally gave up on. Like, the Maverick is a great example. Who would have thought that would work? And it is, and it's been a better than expected replacement for the Ford Focus. We'll see what this could do for Volkswagen.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Tastes are sort of shifting back again. Eventually maybe we'll get sedans again.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. Who would've thought.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Maybe, maybe. So check out all of our coverage on Autoblog. We're basically all sorts of Volkswagen coverage this week. We drove a '75 bus. Consumer editor Jeremy Kwasniewski owns one of those.
JOHN SNYDER: He sold it.
GREG MIGLIORE: He sold it, that's right. I forgot about that
JOHN SNYDER: He sold his camper. And then I had the '67 samba bus for a day like a year, year and a half ago, or was it last summer? I don't remember.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think it was 2020, right?
JOHN SNYDER: I think so, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: Maybe.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: 2020, 2021, who knows.
JOHN SNYDER: But man, that was cool to drive. That was before-- Yeah, that must have been 2020 because that was before I had my beetle, and and driving that samba bus was like man, now I really, really want some sort of air-cooled Volkswagen. And I had my eye on the beetle, and then now there's one in my garage. So I get to sort of live that dream. Now that the weather's getting nicer and I've got the new retro-looking Michigan plates on the beetle, I'll be out there cruising around in it.
GREG MIGLIORE: As a Volkswagen owner, a vintage Volkswagen owner, I mean, does this van kind of hit with you?
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: OK.
JOHN SNYDER: Well, yeah, I mean--
GREG MIGLIORE: Because you are like one of the guys they would probably want to hit with this.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, totally, someone who loves vintage Volkswagens, and someone who loves electric vehicles, and someone who loves sort of weird, funky vehicles too, it hits all those things. And when they make a camper van version of this, hoo-boy. I'm going to be-- Those camper vans are usually pretty expensive, especially nowadays, but that's going to have me salivating for sure.
GREG MIGLIORE: I think it's interesting that they are showing this now, but there is still so much lead time between it. And frankly, I was at Pebble Beach in '17 when they sort of announced it. And I remember writing it from my hotel room in Carmel Valley Ranch, and I wasn't able to get over to the actual reveal, and that's where they showed like the Buzz concept. They said it was going to production, if I recall. So that was five years ago, four and a half years ago, and now we're like still two probably like calendar years out. So I don't know. It's an interesting strategy. But hey, keep the buzz-- I hate to say it-- going, and away we go.
The Nissan Z took forever. All generations of the Z have taken forever, it seems like.
JOHN SNYDER: That's fine though.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah. We're going to talk about it. Real quick, Chevy Blazer Electric SS. This was a teaser that was dropped this morning. So it's like, hey, let's talk about this. This might be fun. You used to own a Blazer, if I recall.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So there's that.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, an old S-10 Blazer.
GREG MIGLIORE: So this is vastly different, but it will be Chevy's first electric performance model is how they're billing it. OK, sure.
JOHN SNYDER: I think it'll be-- it could be a good fit.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: I was not sold on this new Blazer when it came out. I didn't like the looks of it. Since then, the whole landscape of vehicles has changed, including styling, and my own personal tastes have evolved as I've gotten used to certain things. But my first time driving the Blazer I was like, wow, this is actually a good SUV to drive. It's very planted. It rotates well. It's got that nice width to it. Putting a battery under the floor and giving it some power will be great for this vehicle. Low center of gravity, it'll handle even better. I could see this being genuinely fun to drive. The Blazer now is actually kind of fun to drive. Give it that instant torque and that lower center of gravity and it could be really cool. Hoping that this lives up to my expectations, and I think it should.
I mean, gosh, it's nice to have some GM EVs that are sort of big, but not as big as the Hummer, because that is just so big. But yeah, the next step is more approachable and affordable, but still sporty and exciting EVs for GM.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's one of the better sellers for General Motors, because it certainly fits that like compact-ish crossover segment. It's definitely in between. You have the Equinox and the Trailblazer, and a few other things a little bit larger and smaller. I think credibly, they could have called this-- stay with me here, like some sort of Camaro almost. I think this looks as much like a Camaro crossover as the MACH-E does look like a Mustang. I think Ford really leaned into it and Chevy didn't. And you know, whatever. It makes sense to go different directions here. It's because it's not the most authentic Camaro, let me put it that way. But it's very styled up and I do like how it looks. It has grown on me as well.
They're a little, again, like they're oversold in metro Detroit. So sometimes it's like it's hard to like-- I don't know. When every third car is a Chevy Blazer, it seems like, sometimes it doesn't feel as special, if you will, but that's to be expected in this market. But I do think it looks pretty good. I think an electric powertrain, this could be fun to drive.
We saw the electric Equinox they showed a few weeks back, which looks just gorgeous. It's way better than any Equinox I can think of.
JOHN SNYDER: Oh yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So I think they might be getting things right in this segment. And I mean, to kind of piggyback on what you said, the Blazer is actually a pretty good driver. I've only literally driven one time. It's like they made their way through the press fleets once and then they disappeared into some ghost fleet I guess. I don't know why. It is a respectable product. But they offer a variety of tried-and-true GM powertrains. It looks pretty good. The interior is solid. It's competitive within the segment. So I can see why they sell so many of them, and I think electrification is only going to help.
JOHN SNYDER: Funny enough, I drove a Blazer to GM's 2020 EV day like right before everything locked down, and it was the event where they took away your phones, but they showed you the Celestiq and the LYRIQ and the cars that they hadn't announced yet, which, now they're starting to show like the Equinox. And there was a Buick, an Equinox-sized electric Buick that they're planning, and a Bolt-sized Buick, and an Escalade-- I mean they didn't call it an Escalade EV, but it was an Escalade EV, and things like that so. But the Blazer, there was no Blazer on the floor or mentioned at all. And the Silverado was notably absent as well. So it's good to see that there are some surprises in store from GM.
They're really putting all their chips on electrification and ultium. And so yeah, they have to deliver, and so far it looks like they are. I mean, the Silverado looks sweet. The Equinox is cool. And then yeah, this electric Blazer, I expect good things from it.
GREG MIGLIORE: It's interesting. We almost maybe buried the lead here. SS is back. Outside of like the Camaro SS, what else is there? So to me, this is great news. I love it.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. You love the SS. What if they brought back just like the SS, not like the something SS, just the SS and made it electric?
GREG MIGLIORE: That would be interesting. I will say this. A better play would bring back an electric Impala SS. Do it that way. I always thought the SS was a little trite. Like, OK, wait, this is more of like a badge or a trim. You're just going to call the car the SS? But I liked it. That was a fun car. That was like one of the more core enthusiast Chevy Sedan niche products. The typical customer for that car was like me and a few other people. Like, it was such a narrow base, but it was something. I mean, you want to talk about a car from another time. Driving that in '14 or '15, it had that Australian audio system because it was a Holden. Like, the outside looked super dated. That was fun, though. I tell you what. Every now and then you still see a few of them.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. I haven't seen one in forever.
GREG MIGLIORE: Well, they didn't make or sell that many of them. That's for sure. In a way, it was probably worse than the Pontiac G8. The G8 at least somewhat relevant and new for its time, whereas the SS in like 2014-15 it was like, hey, we want to sell you this car from like the last decade, but we're going to say it's new. But you like V8s, right? And you like manual transmissions, big sedans, you like big Chevy sedans. Well, this is it. It's not the best thing you can buy, but if this is what you want, here it is. And it was a lot of fun. I mean, a rear-wheel V8 muscle car like in 2015 like that? I mean, if you're not into the Charger, kind of cool.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, fair enough.
GREG MIGLIORE: Is what it is from that. Let's transition to some of the more efficient cars of 2022. The SS is not one of them, used, if you could find one. But you're working on this piece. Tell us about it.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, well, I mean, gas prices are on people's minds right now, understandably. So I was putting together just sort of a list of the most efficient cars for 2022. And of course, the most efficient ones are all electric, but I broke them down by all-electric, plug-in hybrid, and no plug. So all-gas, sometimes hybrid, sometimes not. Most of the plug-free vehicles that are in the top 20 are hybrids, but there are a couple that aren't.
But anyway, if you look at the EVs, the most efficient in terms of EPA, MPGE, a calculation of miles per kilowatt hour, however you want to parse it out, Tesla Model 3 is far and away the winner, specifically the Model 3 rear-wheel drive. Its 132 MPGE. And then if you just bunch up by model and don't break it down into little trims or other specifications within nameplates. Next is the Lucid Air, Tesla Model Y, and then tied for fourth are the Bolt EV, the Kona Electric I'm driving right now, and the Tesla Model S. It's pretty interesting.
Interestingly enough, on a lot of these lists, regardless of powertrain, there's a lot of Hyundai Kia and a lot of Toyota. For plug-in hybrids, Prius Prime, at 133 miles per gallon equivalent, it would be-- 133. Yeah, it's like the most efficient of all of them really.
GREG MIGLIORE: Wow, OK.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Which, this is due to the specific math of the EPA. It depends on how you drive and where you drive and how often you're actually plugging in your plug-in hybrid. But yeah, the Prius Prime, 133 MPGE. Yeah, the Ioniq, the current Ioniq PHEV is way up there. The Ford Escape and the Kia Niro PHEVs are up there, and the Rav4 prime are among the top five.
As for cars that aren't plug-ins, the Ioniq, the Prius-fighting one, the standard hybrid, not the new Ioniq line, 59 MPG, which, if you go by the EPA's cost per year based on driving I think 15,000 miles a year, 12,000 miles a year, I forget, they calculate about $900 per year to operate that. Whereas the Model 3, the most efficient Model 3 is $500 per year.
But it's pretty interesting. Going through this list, there's lots of different ways to break it down. You'd be surprised. Some of the more efficient cars actually can cost more to operate, because some of these plug-in hybrids use premium fuel, things like that. But yeah, I just thought it was a really interesting list. I almost want to take this and put it all in a spreadsheet and have it sortable by different things by annual cost, by powertrain type, by actual mileage.
And then this leaves out things like driving range, because driving range isn't necessarily an indicator of efficiency, basically how many miles you go per kilowatt hour whether your battery is you 50 kilowatt hours or 100 kilowatt hours. It's that per-kilowatt hour mileage that matters. But anyway, that's going to be up soon. So if you're in the market for a car and aren't feeling these gas prices, there are some options there.
Now, granted on this list there aren't a lot of big vehicles. So I'm thinking I'm going to go through at some point and find the most efficient trucks, break it down by segment, because I think that's interesting and useful information too. But if you're just going for pure efficiency, I've got that list for you and there's some good cars on there.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, no, I think fuel prices and fuel economy are obviously top of mind for everyone right now. It's interesting when you do get into something that does require premium fuel just how painful that is at this moment in time. So even if you do have like an electrified powertrain, like it's a hybrid setup, but still that maybe that Turbo 4 is requiring premium fuel, well, it's going to be painful when you head over to your Shell station.
I filled up the Infinity QX55 with its thirsty VC turbo engine a couple of weeks ago when we were on a road trip, and that was not cheap with its premium fuel required. I forget how much it was, but for a relatively little crossover, like 60 bucks each time.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah. Yeah, the most expensive car to fuel per year on this list is a plug-in hybrid. It's the XC-60, the Vol XC-60 plug-in hybrid at almost two grand a year in fuel.
GREG MIGLIORE: Wow. I'm trying to remember. That's not the one that's turbo and supercharged, is it?
JOHN SNYDER: No.
GREG MIGLIORE: They still have that hybrid setup where it's like a hybrid, the engine's supercharged, and turbo, and there's just so much going on. It's like all-wheel drive. The transmission has all this other stuff going on. But yeah. This is the recharge, OK, got it. Yeah, that's-- Hybrids cost money. So it goes. Should we spend some money?
JOHN SNYDER: Might as well, yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: All right, let's do it. That's podcast@Autoblog.com. Send us your Spend My Monies. This is a good one. Mark in LA writes, "Hello, I love your podcast and I'm interested in your ideas for my upcoming car. I'm a gay medical provider in LA looking for a sport sedan that will be fun to drive, will turn some heads, and will have usable back seats for occasional group trips. I have a 2010 Mazda Speed 3 with about 100,000 miles on the clock, and in the next few months I'm looking to get a new car that upgrades comfort and performance without losing too much raw mechanical connection, if possible. Is there a car out there like this, or is the car world firmly divided into numb, soft, luxury cars, uncomfortable ugly enthusiast, cars and the rest?
I live in LA and I love long weekend trips to the mountains and up the Central Coast, but I also want something with usable back seats to pack in friends. I don't want any big land yachts. Although I prefer manual transmissions, I would concede and get an automatic if the overall package is right. Budget's in the upper 40,000s, but less is more. I love my friend's 2017 M-235I. I have been wanting to test drive a Genesis G70. The most recent WRX and STI weren't great improvements over the Mazda for turbo lag or comfort/luxury, but I like them otherwise.
I'm interested in the upcoming generation. The Alfa Romeo Guilia sounds great too, but after years of flawless Japanese reliability I don't know if I want to risk that. I test drove a Mk.7 GTI and thought it was too numb and the Black interior felt like a crypt. So probably no Golfs on my menu. Not into muscle cars and I'd prefer something a little bit lighter on its feet. Getting dealers to let me test drive a Civic Type R has been difficult and the looks would be embarrassing, although the new model looks a bit more subdued."
So great question, first of all, really excited to dive into this. The 2010 Mazda Speed 3, we had a long-termer of these when I was at Auto Week over a decade ago, and it really has a lot of frankly memories for me because it got me like just introduced into like that culture of like how enjoyable and fun and visceral driving a Mazda, specifically like Speed could be. And it was interesting because at the time, we had a lot of the older guys like, yeah, the Mazda Speed 3, it's the greatest thing, but then they pretty quickly moved back into like the GMC Yukons. And like the younger web news editor at the time, it's like, yeah, he can have a Speed 3 for like every weekend if he wants it. No kids or dogs at the time. So different kind of world for me. But I love that car. I'm kind of curious what one with 100,000 miles is like to drive though. That seems like it's time for an upgrade.
I'll throw two out here real quick-- the Hyundai Veloster N I think might be the closest thing you will get to a modern-day Mazda 3. It roughly lines up with that horsepower output. You're looking at 275. The curb weight 31, 32, somewhere in there. It's a turbo 4. So again--
JOHN SNYDER: It's such a good car.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah, so that's going to line right up in there. Did I steal one of your picks there, John?
JOHN SNYDER: You did not. I didn't think of that. I wish I had.
GREG MIGLIORE: I feel like the Veloster and the Veloster N are really starting to creep up more and more into our spend my money questions. And just to go back here, I'm literally looking at an old Auto Week long-term update. The Speed 3 had a 2.3-liter, 263, horsepower, 280-pound feet of torque, turbocharged 4 cylinder that was front-wheel drive. So yeah, man, I'm already having flashbacks to those-- just all about the torque spin. Driving that thing in the winter, that was wild. Let's put it that way. I vividly remember going to a Ford Christmas party, hitting the brakes on Michigan Avenue, and not even stopping and going right on through. It was really light on its feet. Let me put it that way.
So Veloster N, that'd be my first choice. Not my first choice. That would be my choice for if you're looking to be as close, perhaps, to the Speed 3 as you can get now. Because you can get a manual. The other one I would say-- it's tough, though, because the back seat in the Veloster, that's not a lot of space.
The other one I would say is the Genesis G70, which Mark does list here as one of his choices. If you look for the 2021 model, you can still get a manual. So at that point, that's barely a used car. You probably can still find one on lots. You can probably still find a '21. I don't know if you can find a manual. That's going to be tricky, but that's an appealing option. I think I would go with that.
And I just was speccing one out before this meeting. Budget is in the upper 40s, like max, if you want. So for that, you can get the 3.3-liter V6 with all-wheel drive, starts at about 44. That's the eight-speed automatic, which is a good transmission I think.
JOHN SNYDER: It is.
GREG MIGLIORE: It does come with paddles. So that could work for you. If you want to go rear-wheel drive, that's 42,350, still 3.3-liter turbocharged V6. So California, maybe you don't need all-wheel drive obviously like we do here with all the snow and stuff, but you might want it. Either way, both fit in your budget pretty nicely. So those would be my top two picks.
To just talk about around the edges here real quick, I tend to agree. The Rex and the STI have not done much for me in the last few years.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: You are a former Rex owner, so maybe you might have a different take. Julia's gorgeous. It's very visceral and it's definitely luxurious, but you know, I don't know, unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo before, I don't know if you want to go down that road. It's definitely going to be different from your Mazda ownership experience.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: So yeah, to me, I landed on those two. So what do you think, John?
JOHN SNYDER: So he suggested the G70 as a possibility. The one thing that concerns me with that, it's a great choice, the back seat is a bit cramped.
GREG MIGLIORE: Yeah.
JOHN SNYDER: So the Kia Stinger, same platform, more room in the back. Definitely better for putting adults back there on a regular basis, similar performance. If you go used, you can get a manual transmission. And with the Stinger, you've got a lot of money to play around with to get what you want. And you could do the G80. That's getting a little bigger and it starts right at the end of the budget, but it's a great car and plenty of room. Looks really nice, really sporty drive, very luxurious.
The other thing I was thinking, if you can wait a little bit and if you can get an allocation, wait for the new Integra.
GREG MIGLIORE: Wow, there you go. Slam dunk.
JOHN SNYDER: You'll be able to get that with the manual transmission maybe. That one, you'd have to get the-- I think the according to the leaked order guide or whatever that came out, you can only get the manual in the very top trim. We don't pricing yet, but it might fall in that price range considering that the Integra will start around 30,000, Acura has hinted. But as of this recording, we're recording this on a Wednesday, those reservations open tomorrow the 10th, Thursday. So if you're listening to this on Friday, it opened yesterday and who knows. The way these reservations have been going for highly-anticipated cars lately, they get booked pretty much immediately. But if you're on the ball and you can wait a little bit, that might be the car for you. A lot of the Civic SI performance probably with way better, more mature looks, and it's got the cool Integra nameplate.
But I really like the Veloster N. I drove that one last fall. Oh my God, what a riot that car is. It's just a joy to drive. It's so spirited, so nimble, and so quirky, and it looks cool. Inside and out, really neat design elements and accents, and illuminated end badge and headrest and stuff. It's just a sweet car. And yeah, the engine is very, very engaging. Yeah, really fun. If that's something that might float your boat, I'd definitely recommend looking at that, because it's just so much fun. That one I was really sad to see leave my driveway.
GREG MIGLIORE: I was surprised how much I oddly drove both the manual and the dual-clutch transmissions. It's been probably a year, but the dual-clutch is quite good too. Like, I don't think you would be disappointed. If that's all you had and you like the car, that could be the right thing for you as well.
It's interesting, too, looking at some of the things that are sort of eliminated, like no muscle cars, because a lot of times like a Mustang is something you might throw in here. The GTI is always a natural one in here. I drove it and was not blown away last summer. I was not. So there's that. I know different editors have liked the GTI maybe a little bit more than I did. I still like it for sure, but it just was not-- I don't know. Maybe I'm aging out of it. I still would potentially own one. Golf R I would probably pass on that and stay with the GTI, but definitely still one of the more connected experiences you could get out there.
I mean, I think there's enough new stuff coming out, like the Integra, the Genesis, and the Veloster that-- I mean, there are things that weren't even in the competitive field probably when he was considering a car like the Mazda Speed 3.
JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.
GREG MIGLIORE: The world is-- there's just a lot of new things out there. I think we covered that pretty well. Yeah. Send us your Spend My Monies. That's podcast@Autoblog.com. If you enjoy the show, please give us a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Be safe out there and we'll see you next week.
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