Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi American Renaissance, Carbon Monoxide Deaths

Summary

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Car Stuff Podcast: Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi American Renaissance, Carbon Monoxide Deaths

Host(s): Tom Appel & Jill Ciminillo
Date: July 20, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features an action-packed discussion covering the latest in the automotive world. Key topics include Jill’s in-depth review of the all-new Mazda CX-5, a detailed interview with Mitsubishi's Jeremy Barnes about the brand’s ambitious new direction and product plans, important safety news on carbon monoxide deaths related to older vehicles, shifts in electric vehicle owner concerns, trends in dealership service, and much more. Sprinkled throughout are memorable moments, playful banter, and industry insights with timestamps for easy reference.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. New Format & Social Media Presence

• [02:28 – 03:24]
  Jill and Tom discuss the podcast’s video simulcast on Zoom and posting full episodes to Jill’s YouTube (Car du Jour).
  • Tom jokes about playing “When Will Tom Shave?”
  • Jill: “Hashtag never. I’m going to say never.” — [03:07]

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2. Automotive Safety: Carbon Monoxide Deaths

[04:06 – 07:13]

• Tom shares a tragic news story about a family’s carbon monoxide poisoning in a used Ford Explorer—a former police vehicle likely compromised by modifications (e.g., holes drilled for cages).
  • Key insight: Police vehicle modifications can create pathways for exhaust gases.
  • Stat: “Last year, in vehicles parked outside, there were maybe 10 examples [of carbon monoxide deaths]. It’s very, very rare…” — Tom [04:51]
• Discussion about absence of standards for CO inside cars and possible policy changes.

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3. Electric Vehicles: Consumer Concerns Shift

[07:13 – 10:21]

• Market research indicates charging at home has overtaken range anxiety as the biggest consumer barrier to EV adoption.
  • Tom: “The number one concern is charging at home. And that makes some sense to me…” — [07:35]
• Jill discusses legal and logistical challenges for renters wanting home chargers, sharing her own apartment/garage situation.
  • Explains Level 1 vs. Level 2 charging and real-world practicality:
    • Level 1: Could take “three days to charge to 100%” — Jill [10:07]
    • Level 2: “Six or seven times faster.” — Tom [09:40]

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4. Hybrid Pickups: The Forgotten F-150 PowerBoost

[10:36 – 11:42]

• Discussion about the Ford F-150 PowerBoost, a hybrid that gets little consumer/media attention despite practical features (bed outlets, electric boost).
  • Noted that GM full-size pickups (Sierra, Silverado) aren’t offering hybrid versions yet—a missed opportunity as hybrid popularity grows.

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5. Dealership Service Trends: Mobile Service is On the Rise

[12:42 – 16:16]

• Dealerships offering mobile servicing (recalls, oil changes) is increasing appeal for busy consumers.
  • Jill: “If they could come to my office and do it while I was working, that would be very appealing to me.” — [13:29]
• Modern dealership amenities now include massage chairs, premium coffee, big screens, etc.
• Tom highlights how this helps dealers optimize service bay time for high-profit repairs and whether prices will remain competitive.

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6. Quickfire: Best Test Cars They’ve Driven

[16:33 – 19:23]

• Tom challenges Jill to quickly name her top five test cars; she fires off:
  • Rolls Royce Ghost, Lucid Air, Toyota GR Corolla, Ford Bronco Raptor, Chevy Colorado ZR2
  • Jill: “You know, I really do like the Ford Bronco and the Ford Bronco Raptor is especially awesome.” — [17:10]
• Tom’s list includes: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Land Rover Defender, Lucid Air, Porsche 911.

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7. In-Depth Review: The All-New Mazda CX-5

[19:24 – 26:33]

Jill’s Take:

• A longtime Mazda enthusiast, Jill’s impressions of the new CX-5 are mixed, especially regarding technological and interior changes.
• Key Changes:
  • Large new 15.6-inch interface screen; removal of rotary dial.
  • All major functions (HVAC, audio, etc.) now require screen interaction (with Google built-in, but not yet activated in her test car).
  • No turbocharged engine anymore: now 187 hp, 186 lb-ft torque—adequate, but “no zoom in the zoom.”
• Interior:
  “...the overall interior to me was really bland, very boringly done... it was just very boringly done.” — Jill [22:20]
• Drive Quality:
  Quiet at cruise, noticeably louder under acceleration due to non-turbo engine.
• Target Audience:
  • Great for first-time Mazda buyers; outstanding features for the price (as-tested ~$41,000).
  • Prior Mazda drivers may be disappointed by the character loss: “I think it’s slightly de-Mazda-fied.” — Jill [26:11]
• Tom adds: Rotary dial is disappearing from the whole lineup as screen-based systems take over.

Notable Moments:

• Jill: “If you’ve never driven a Mazda, you will love this vehicle ... However, I think that if you have driven Mazdas before ... they will not like it.” — [25:33]
• Zen intro sound on startup gets called out as charming but optional (“You can turn it off, and I have a TikTok that shows you how.” — Jill [22:10])

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8. Featured Interview: Mitsubishi's American Renaissance with Jeremy Barnes

[29:03 – 45:59]

Mitsubishi's New Direction:

• Jeremy Barnes outlines their “Momentum 2030” midterm plan:
  • A new or extensively revised vehicle each model year through 2030.
• Product Updates:
  • New Outlander with updated interior, mild hybrid/turbo powertrains, updated Outlander PHEV (up to 45 miles EV-only).
  • “Eclipse Sportback” is a new battery-electric crossover sharing engineering with Nissan Leaf, due late 2026.
  • Off-road focused Outlander variant coming in spring.
  • Midsize pickup and midsize SUV (in partnership with Nissan) coming, both US-built.
• Value Proposition:
  • Multiple SUVs starting below $30k—rare in today’s “$51,000 average purchase price” market. — Jeremy [34:59]

Brand Identity Discussion:

• Shift to Adventure/Off-Highway Focus:
  • “...moving Mitsubishi back to a place of ruggedness, of vehicles that you can drive out into the wilderness and will always bring you home.” — Jeremy [38:40]
  • Leveraging rally and Dakar heritage for brand repositioning.
• Use of Eclipse name:
  • No immediate plans for a sporty car return, but “never say never.”
  • Eclipse’s legacy helps Mitsubishi “walk in the door without having to introduce ourselves immediately.” — Jeremy [41:41]

Notable Quotes:

• Jeremy: “Our biggest challenge is not that people think poorly of us, it’s that they don’t think of us at all.” — [45:18]
• Jill: “...when I’ve driven the Outlander, for example, I’m like, oh man, this is way better than the Rogue. Like this is a much better Nissan Rogue.” — [47:10]

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9. Industry History & Brand Context

[47:41 – 49:03]

• Tom and Jill reminisce about the DaimlerChrysler era (shared platforms), quirky Chrysler models like Crossfire, and how Mitsubishi sometimes got lost in the mix.

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10. Lightning Round: VW Trim Names Quiz

[51:00 – 58:00]

• Tom quizzes Jill on “Was It a VW Trim Level?” with humorous asides about confusing modern trim labels.
  • Jill scores 1 out of 5, lamenting inconsistency (“I’m a little bit of a nerd, and I really like consistency...”) — [55:13]

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11. Bonus: Detroit’s Weird Soda—Faygo Quiz

[58:04 – 61:34]

• Jill tries to identify the fake Faygo soda flavor among “Ohana Peach, Rock & Rye, Dr. Faygo, Jasmine Blast.”
  • Rock & Rye, though real, sounds fake; Jasmine Blast is the impostor.

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12. Closing Banter & What’s in Their Driveway

[61:41 – 64:13]

• Tom and Jill chat about recent test cars (Range Rover, Lucid Gravity), the financial future of Lucid, and a breezy discussion about stock picks and industry woes.
  • Jill: “Well, you know, I’ve been watching SpaceX stock, speaking of stocks, because that’s gone down.” — [64:29]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom: “The amount of CO in the car was higher in some used Explorers that had been police cars.” — [06:09]
• Jill: “I wouldn’t say I miss it, but I think Mazda owners are really going to miss it [rotary dial].” — [24:29]
• Jeremy Barnes: “It’s definitely a new dawn all over again at Mitsubishi. It's very exciting stuff.” — [33:01]
• Jeremy Barnes: “...if we can get you to sit in one, we can make you go, ‘This is a Mitsubishi and I get all of this for that?’” — [45:51]
• Jill: “It’s not that people think poorly of Mitsubishi, they just don’t think of Mitsubishi.” — [47:10]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [04:06] — Carbon Monoxide deaths & Ford Explorer police vehicles
• [07:13] — EV Consumer Concerns: Shift to home charging challenges
• [10:36] — F-150 PowerBoost & Hybrid pickups discussion
• [12:42] — Dealership service: Mobile trends & amenities
• [16:33] — Top Five Test Cars Lightning Round
• [19:24] — Deep Dive: Mazda CX-5 First Drive & Critique
• [29:03] — Interview: Jeremy Barnes of Mitsubishi on product, future direction
• [51:00] — Volkswagen Trim Level Quiz
• [58:04] — Faygo Soda Flavor Quiz

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Episode Takeaways

• Mazda CX-5 has leveled up tech but lost some intangible “Mazda-ness.”
• Mitsubishi is actively rebuilding, with affordable, electrified SUVs and fresh direction—worth shopper reconsideration.
• Car safety and EV adoption hinge on often-overlooked practical issues (air quality, home charging).
• Dealership experience is being reimagined for the modern consumer.
• The industry continues to surprise with brand comebacks, tech shifts, and plenty of personality.

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Find More:

• Jill’s full reviews and podcast video: YouTube (Car du Jour)
• Consumer Guide Automotive

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Questions or comments? Drop a line at carstuffinsumerguide.com

Transcript

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Join Jill and Tom as they break down everything that's going on in the office, auto world.

New car reviews, shopping tips, driving green

electric cars, classic cars and plenty of great guests.

This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast.

[Tom Appel]

All right. This is the Consumer Guide Car Stuff Podcast. I am Tom Appel, publisher of Consumer Guide Automotive. Thank you so much for joining us this week. When you have a moment, when you have a chance, please do us a favor. Check us [e-mail] lots of stuff going on there. I won't get into this. This week we have an action packed show. A lot of stuff to get so why don't we just jump right in with me as always, Jill Simonello. She is a contributing editor [e-mail] North American Car of the Year juror and and a freelancer. Yes, I just noticed you waved and I always forget you will repurpose this for use on YouTube. Talk about that real quick.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, yeah. So you know since we are now doing a different format, we are recording this live live via Zoom. I guess I should say we' it we're recording via Zoom. And so after the show, I just essentially take the entire recording and upload it to my YouTube channel, cart a Jour, which you can find under my name, or Carta Jour. And I have it in a special playlist. And so you can actually see what we look like and facial expressions and what are we wearing today? You know, that kind of thing.

[Tom Appel]

So we could play a fun game called When Will Tom Shave?

[Jill Simonello]

Hashtag never. I'm going to say never.

[Tom Appel]

I was actually going to get a haircut next Saturday, and then I realized I have an appointment. I can't do that. And usually I like to get. I like to shave for the haircut, you know, so I just leave super clean. I don't know that that's going to happen now.

[Jill Simonello]

Well, no. So never. Yeah, I. So there you go. But, yes, so we. We do post these on YouTube in addition to pushing this out to all of the various podcasting networks.

[Tom Appel]

So, yeah, so check that out. Give. Give Jill a little business there. Later in the show, we talked to Jeremy Barnes. He is the senior director of communications and events at Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi, sort of a brand. We haven't talked about much, largely because you and I haven't seen test cars from Mitsubishi, and they haven't been making much news. We just drove the. The updated 2026. Both of I. Both of us have had some time in that vehicle. It's very good.

[Jill Simonello]

The. The Outback or the Outlander?

[Tom Appel]

Outlander, yeah. I'm sorry, did I not say that?

[Jill Simonello]

I think you said 2026 and then stopped there.

[Tom Appel]

All right. Yeah, yeah. The Outlander, which is their. Their compact crossover and their volume car, and it's worth knowing about. Sad, sad, sad story out of Toledo, Ohio. And I don't know if you saw this, Jill, but a family of five were parked in a Ford Explorer, a used older Ford Explorer with the air conditioning on. It's been hot, and the car was idling outside, and three of the people died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

[Jill Simonello]

I did not see this story.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah. And I think that there might be some overreaction to the story. One like that. This is a Ford Explorer, which I'm not entirely sure is relevant to the story or that CEO is. Is a huge threat to the lives of drivers. But some interesting stuff here. Carbon monoxide poisoning in cars. Last year, in vehicles parked outside. There were. There were maybe 10 examples. It's a very, very rare thing that somebody dies from carbon monoxide poisoning in a car that didn't intend to die. It's still unfortunately a form of suicide. And that's tragic and we don't want people doing that either. But there is an interesting story and it's that between 2011 and 2019 there were some complaints about the air quality in Explorers. So there was in fact an investigation. The investigation found nothing.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, I seem to recall that investigation.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah. But there was one interesting thing that was, was determined in the investigation and this might be where this story ends up going, that the amount of CO, and that's CO, not CO2, the CO in the car was higher in some used Explorers that had been police cars.

[Jill Simonello]

Interesting.

[Tom Appel]

And it turns out though, and there's not a direct correlation made yet between these two facts, but these facts exist nonetheless. To install things like the cage in the back of a Police Explorer, bolt holes have to be drilled through the floor. So what's happening is that, is that access for CO from the exhaust is coming up through the floor or can come up through the floor. And I think what we're going to find out eventually is that this was a used vehicle that was not handled well, that the exhaust system was, was problematic. That in fact there had been holes left in the floor from it being a stripped down police car, I think. And, and that's all terribly tragic, but there's probably easy ways to prevent this happening again. Yeah, including like, including like rubber plugs,

[Jill Simonello]

you know, something like that or you know, just putting carpeting over it or. I don't know. But yeah, there's got to be something that can be done. But no, that is, that is unfortunate. I did not hear this story.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, we'll hear more about it. I think there will be an investigation. It's interesting to note too that there is, there are no standards for CO emissions inside a car. Instead there are lots of standards for keeping crappy air out of a car, including exhaust. So we'll see if there are any changes to the way the laws are applied to related to air quality in a vehicle. Interesting piece of news. It's market research. It has to do with electric vehicles. Not earth shattering, but interesting. Resistance by consumers to electric vehicles has changed a little bit. And the number one concern is no longer range, it is charging at home. The number one concern is charging at home. And that makes some sense to me as probably most of the people who own electric vehicles, especially the early adopters, if we're still using that term for EV owners, have homes, they have garages, they can charge. And there's probably lots of people like, I don't know, you, you Live in an apartment, you have access to a garage. But can you install a Level 2 charger in your garage? Probably not.

[Jill Simonello]

Well, I, I, no. But yes. I feel like there are some laws on the books in some states, and I think Illinois is one of them, that if I wanted to install a charger in my rental garage, the landlord has to approve that, but I would have to pay for it and I would have to agree to leave it there when I move. So I think I could legally do that. But I don't, I mean, fiscally, I don't know that it would be. Make sense. If I'm not planning on living here forever, which I'm not, I'd like to look into that.

[Tom Appel]

I'd be interested to know what it costs to do that, like in the parking garage, like yours. Because it's a communal parking garage.

[Jill Simonello]

Yep.

[Tom Appel]

It's a big thing. And you would have to run power to wherever it is you park. Do you have a dedicated parking spot?

[Jill Simonello]

I do have a dedicated parking spot and I will say I do have like there is, I do see like power up above in the, in the first ceiling. And I do actually have a 110 jack in my parking spot that I will use occasionally to plug in like PHEVs or electric cars if I'm not driving far.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah. For people who don't know 110 or level one charging, it's, it's, it's a temporary solution. It, it'll help and you'll get some mileage overnight, but you're not going to fully charge your battery in any short amount of time. Level 2 charging, which is what you can do in your house or your garage, something like that is six or seven times faster. It is meaningfully, meaningfully quicker. But it costs, it costs money.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah. So like level one will take you like three days to charge to 100% if you are meaningfully discharged. And like doing the Level 2 charger, it'll take something like 8 to 12 hours, so it can be done overnight.

[Tom Appel]

The next time I don't finish a project, I'm going to say that I was meaningfully discharged.

[Jill Simonello]

Meaningfully discharged. Okay.

[Tom Appel]

I don't know what that means, but it sounds serious. Like doctor's note serious.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes, Yes.

[Tom Appel]

I talked to you about this a little bit before we went on air, before we went live. Jill and I just think it's interesting that we have not talked much about the Ford F150 power boost pretty much since it was introduced. And for people who don't know, this is A hybrid version of the F150. And it uses the 3.5 liter EcoBoost engine, plus electric boost. And it's got some stuff that comes with it, too. That's pretty meaningful. Meaningful. I should stop using the word meaningful today. But you could. You can tap that power, right? There's, there's a. I think even 220 outlets in the. In the bed of the. Of the pickup. So you can do a lot with that ultimately, but I don't know why we're not talking about that. And interestingly, the Sierra, the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado, we'll be seeing brand new versions of that very soon. Of those big pickups. No, hybrid. Yeah, we're in. We're in this crazy hybrid era. Everyone wants a hybrid, but no one's talking about hybrid versions of those vehicles. Instead, counterintuitively, GM made its V8 engines bigger.

[Jill Simonello]

Yep. More power. Well, that, that, that seems to be the. The trend. I mean, Ram brought back the Hemi.

[Tom Appel]

They did. They did, yes. And actually took off the mild hybrid system from that.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah.

[Tom Appel]

It's like we. We really don't want to be efficient.

[Jill Simonello]

No.

[Tom Appel]

All right, question for you. When's the last time you worked in an office that you went to every day?

[Jill Simonello]

2014.

[Tom Appel]

And. And were you there most days?

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

Okay. And did you kind of work 9 to 5 during the week?

[Jill Simonello]

Because my office was in Schaumburg or, you know, in the Schaumburg area, Arlington Heights. I was allowed to, like, work from home for a couple of hours before.

[Tom Appel]

Okay.

[Jill Simonello]

To avoid traffic. So I would typically work from like 10 to 6, which would then also help me, like, avoid traffic on the way home. But I would work a couple of hours at home before I would get on the road.

[Tom Appel]

So you're actually. That was actually, I remember that office because I met you for lunch a couple of times. You were by a bunch of car dealerships. The Gulf Road Strip in Schaumburg, Illinois. One of the interesting things that's happening, and I'm wondering if it's interesting to you as a would be consumer, if you weren't driving test cars, is that dealerships are beginning to offer mobile service, and they are putting together big vans that can go out and do things like recalls, oil changes, tire rotations, basically lesser mechanical things that need to be done. Probably things like a 30,000 mile, you know, service and stuff like that. And my question is, how much does that appeal to you as a consumer?

[Jill Simonello]

I mean, if they could come to my office and do it While I was working. That would be very appealing to me. You know, it's funny, I. I don't spend obviously a lot of time in dealerships because of, you know, having test cars. And, you know, my husband and I buy a car maybe once every five years. And so I. But I recently had the opportunity to visit a dealership a couple weeks ago and walking through their customer service area. Like, dealerships have changed in the last couple of years. I don't know the last time you were in a dealership, but this had, like, massaging chairs in it that people could sit in while they were waiting for service. And it had like a really good coffee maker and big TVs. I think I even saw like a gaming console in there. And I'm just like, man, I might actually want to go to the dealership to get my car serviced, you know, But I mean, if I did work a 9 to 5 job, probably not.

[Tom Appel]

Dealer customer service scores are based in part on customer satisfaction. And service satisfaction is based on how comfortable people are and how long they have to wait for their car. And I think their ire over a long repair is softened somewhat by the fact that, oh, there's a big screen. And this magazine is from last week, not, you know, last decade. So.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, but massage chairs. That's all I'm saying. Free massaging chairs.

[Tom Appel]

But the dealer thing is, is the mobile service thing is interesting because it affords dealers an opportunity to expand their service capacity without adding space or modifying their service area. It's remote. And if it can be done for easy things, oil changes, tire rotations, things like that, that means that your techs at the building can be doing expensive, higher profit things. Right. And. And that can happen where the equipment, you know, you have the equipment and things like that. So this is like a trend, and it's a big deal. And more and more dealers are. Experience, are experimenting with this. I'm wondering too, if they can keep the cap on prices. Like, is an oil Change still about 75 bucks, 80 bucks? If they can keep it there for a, you know, for a synthetic oil change, that's great. If they start raising prices on this, that would kind of suck.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah.

[Tom Appel]

But new thing, it's a trend. But the dealers who have experimented with this seem to like it.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, I mean, I would have to think they would cost you a little bit of a. Or charge you a little bit of a premium, you know, just for the, you know, convenience of not having to go to the dealership. But I don't know, maybe not Maybe not.

[Tom Appel]

They wouldn't at first. Probably they have to draw people into wanting to do this and we'll see where it goes.

[Jill Simonello]

Kind of like a trial on a car. So then you get sucked into the subscription fee.

[Tom Appel]

That is, by the way, that is why manufacturers want people to go back for service so much. I mean, dealers want the money from the service, but manufacturers want you to come back and walk around the showroom and think about buying a new car. So they really don't want you leaving.

[Jill Simonello]

Right.

[Tom Appel]

Leaving the brand, leaving the fold. Saturday night I visited with our friend Steve and Johnny and some caller called me up and we chose to not have me try and answer this question this week.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay.

[Tom Appel]

And I want to know if you can do this quickly.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay.

[Tom Appel]

You can answer this question quickly. What are the five best test cars you ever drove? Go.

[Jill Simonello]

Five best test cars. I would say the Rolls Royce Ghost, the Lucid Air, the Toyota GR Corolla, the. I'm like, what else? Oh, you know, I really do like the Ford Bronco and the Freud Bronco Raptor is especially awesome. So that would leave me one more. You know what? I'm also a really huge fan of the Chevy Colorado zr. Two very different models.

[Tom Appel]

You did that very fast. Are you comfortable with this?

[Jill Simonello]

I mean, this is what's coming to me immediately off the top of my head.

[Tom Appel]

Okay, that's a good list. You said the Colorado, the Ghost, the Lucid Air, the GR Corolla and the Bronco.

[Jill Simonello]

Yep.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah. I was literally alerted to this by text during a commercial break. And I'm like, I, I don't, I don't think I want to do this, but I've got some stuff here. And this is not a definitive list, but I'll just. I drove a Mercedes Benz S Class fairly early in my career as an auto journalist. 2004 or so, maybe 2005. And it came to consumer guide with no options, no AMG wheel and tire package, nothing like that. And it was the quietest, smoothest riding vehicle I had ever driven. And it had the base V8. There was a smaller V8 that was available in the, in the base test class. So smooth, so smooth, so quiet. And there's plenty of power. That, that was a fantastic car. I'm really, really, really fond of the current Defender. I think it makes great use of space. The powertrain is fantastic. I like that six cylinder engine. The fuel economy is decent. And for some reason a vehicle that is that capable off road should not ride and handle as well as it does. But it Does. It's an engineering marvel. Yeah, I agree with you on the Lucid air. It's on my list. What a fantastic car. We could talk about this next week. Lucid's in big, big trouble. We talked about their financial issues.

[Spin Quest Promoter]

Right.

[Tom Appel]

Rumors are now, rumors are now they might, they might declare bankruptcy. Finally. I drove a Porsche 911 around the same time I drove that S Class. It's kind of a base car with a manual transmission. Holy smokes. That is like the epicenter of what a sports car should be.

[Jill Simonello]

Right?

[Tom Appel]

So good. All right. You, yes, you, you Ms. Jill drove the, the all new Mazda CX5.

[Jill Simonello]

I did.

[Tom Appel]

Tell us about that.

[Jill Simonello]

I have very mixed emotions about the new. Very mixed emotions. I should start by saying that I tend to be a little bit of a Mazda fan girl. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Mazda vehicles. Like the Mazda 3 is just one of my favorite just kick around everyday driving kind of vehicles. And you know, The Mazda Miata MX5, I mean, come on, like what, what a better like little sports car with a manual transmission. And, and so you know, I have a strong love in my heart for this brand and when I got behind the wheel of the CX5 the first thing I thought was this is not a Mazda. Oh, and the, you know, so the first thing that they've done and we, we have had a guest on the show to talk about this, but they removed the dial. And I know as automotive journalists we tend not to like these dial things because they're really hard to get used to when you only have a vehicle for like three to seven days. And, and, and, and so when you have such a short amount of time with a vehicle, like when you have something that is very owner focused and something that would take some time to get used to and to learn, there's a big learning curve. You know, we, we tend to not like that as much. And I didn't mind it, I didn't hate it, but it just wasn't my favorite thing. But they've removed that and in its place they now have a like on the top end trims. And I was in the what the premium plus they have. So the very top trim, they have a 15.6 inch screen. This is bigger than my laptop, is bigger than my MacBook Air. You know it is a large screen and everything is through the screen. So you don't have any more like volume dial. You don't have H Vac controls with buttons or dials. Everything is done through the screen. Now it does have Google built in and you can use voice commands to do this but the test card did not activate that so I was not able to test that out. So you have this very large screen and that's the first thing you're going to focus on when you get into the car. Well after the Zen intro sound. Because the Zen intro sound is pretty nice. So like you, what is that? I call it the Zen intro sound. So you open the door and you sit behind the wheel and it's like woo. It's got this really zeny, calming, relaxing, namaste sound that's going on.

[Tom Appel]

Well, I'm not going to like that.

[Jill Simonello]

Well, you can turn it off and I have a TikTok that shows you how. But so after the sound the thing that you're going to notice is this big screen. Then just the overall interior to me was really land very boringly done. And if you have driven the, the CX90 or the CX70 or even the CX50, those vehicles have this really nice attention to detail with cool reverse stitching and just some really nice details. And this just didn't, it was just, I mean it did have reverse stitching but it was just very boringly done. And so there was a strange, there

[Tom Appel]

was a deliberate attempt to, to kind of de content this vehicle and move it more distinctly down market of the CX50. And for people who don't know what happened, the CX5 has been Mazda's best selling vehicle for a very long time. And then the CX50 came out, it looked a little more stylish, a little bit more sporty and was priced slightly upscale just up market of the CX5. But the CX5 now also no longer available with the turbocharged engine.

[Jill Simonello]

No, no, no, zoom, zoom in the zoom.

[Tom Appel]

No,

[Jill Simonello]

I mean it's 187 horsepower, 186 pound feet of torque, that's not awful. But it's just no zoom.

[Tom Appel]

No. And I just read 0 to 60 time from it might have been car and driver of eight seconds. So I'm sure that puts it mid pack. I'm sure that's plenty of power and I'm sure it's plenty of power around town.

[Jill Simonello]

It's fine, it's fine. But I missed the turbo and so you know it, it did feel like quieter when you're at cruising speeds but louder like when you're under acceleration just because the, the engine is gonna have to try a little bit harder, you know and I, I, I didn't Mind the big screen, you know, and, and with voice controls, I think that would be manageable. You know, I like the steering wheel. They change. Instead of putting the steering logo.

[Tom Appel]

Well, I got to hold your feet to the fire here. I thought you never liked the big knob.

[Jill Simonello]

No, I did not like it. I just didn't love it, if that makes sense. I was not one of those people who was bothered by it. It just wasn't like I actually liked it.

[Tom Appel]

And now. Okay. Yeah. So you miss it a little?

[Jill Simonello]

Well, I wouldn't say I miss it, but I think Mazda owners are really going to miss it.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, maybe.

[Jill Simonello]

And so I actually did and I'll send you the link, but I did a first look review of this and I also have a road trip review. I haven't posted that yet, but I did a full first look review and my overall consensus of this vehicle is if you have never driven a Mazda, you will love this vehicle. It is really well appointed. I mean the, the as tested price for the vehicle that I had all in with all of the things you can't get anything else on it was like 40, $41,000. So you know, for, for everything, you know that to me and that included premium paint color. So you know, I thought that was a pretty decent price for the vehicle that you're getting. And if you've never driven a Mazda, I think you're going to think it's awesome. However, I think that if you have driven Mazdas before, and I have a couple of friends who, who are Mazda owners, I think that they will not like it. I think that they will miss the rotary dial. I think that they will miss the zoom in the zoom zoom and I think that they will think the interior is just a little too plain. And I have gotten some feedback to that extent from my friend and TikTok.

[Tom Appel]

Here's some bad news. The rotary dial gone from the CX5 going to disappear from the CX50. They have, they need, they basically needed more control than the rotary knob would afford them for a lot of the functionality that's coming online. So they have to get rid of that, unfortunately. All right, we got to take a break. Final, final thoughts on the CX5.

[Jill Simonello]

I think this is a really great vehicle and I think it's slightly demozda fied but if you've never owned a Mazda before, I think you're gonna love it. If you are a current or former Mazda owner, there are some things about it that you just may not like. It's a little bit more plasticky than you would hope for. But the price is really good and you get a lot of great features for your money.

[Tom Appel]

There you go. All right, that's where can people read your review?

[Jill Simonello]

It is on my YouTube channel right now and I will send a link and make sure we include it in the show notes.

[Tom Appel]

Sounds good. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we talk to Jeremy Barnes of Mitsubishi.

[Podcast Producer/Host]

Stick around, questions or comments, drop us a [e-mail] that's carstuffinsumerguide.com

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[Podcast Producer/Host]

From Geico Subconscious News, I'm Tammy. Racing thoughts broadcasting from your brain. Tonight's top worry. If something happens to your apartment and you need to, like, stay in a hotel and pay for it, that would be crazy, right? Art Palpitations has more.

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[Jill Simonello]

Aw.

[Podcast Producer/Host]

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Welcome back to the Car Stuff Podcast.

[Tom Appel]

And we're back. This is the consumer guide Car Stuff Podcast. I'm Tom. She is Jill. Jill, how are you?

[Jill Simonello]

I'm doing very well, thank you.

[Tom Appel]

Did I ask you that earlier?

[Jill Simonello]

I don't think you did.

[Tom Appel]

It may not be redundant this week. Normally you give me a hard time about constantly asking you how you are.

[Jill Simonello]

No, no.

[Tom Appel]

But I don't think I've done that yet.

[Jill Simonello]

I think you missed it. How are you doing, Tom?

[Tom Appel]

I'm doing good.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay?

[Tom Appel]

I'm doing good. As you can see. I still haven't cleaned my office.

[Jill Simonello]

No, I think it's gotten worse since the last time we. We did a show.

[Tom Appel]

Actually, it may have. And then again, I apologize if anyone's watching this on YouTube. I apologize for the door being open to this closet, but if I close that, the cats will come in here and Scratch at it. So, yeah, it's a thing. So you and I, we haven't talked much about Mitsubishi in the last couple of years, but there's news there.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes, there's some stuff going on.

[Tom Appel]

And you and I have driven the Outlander recently. That is their best selling product and that is their compact crossover that plays in the exact same pool as the CRV and the RAV4. And by the way, you can't get a RAV4. So

[Jill Simonello]

that is true.

[Tom Appel]

Maybe think about it out later, but on the phone with us is Jeremy Barnes. He is the senior director for communications at events at Mitsubishi. Jeremy, how are you?

[Jeremy Barnes]

I am wonderful. I'm very, very grateful for you guys having me on today. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me.

[Tom Appel]

Absolutely. It's our pleasure. So Mitsubishi has been quiet, let's say for a couple of years, but things are starting to happen there. Tell us a little bit about what's happening and why we should start to get excited about what's going on there.

[Jeremy Barnes]

Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, that's, I won't, I won't argue with you on that. Yeah, things have been a little quiet for a while, but we've been, we're plugging along steadily. We've had a handful of years of solid sales. We are excited about what the future brings. That's really the biggest thing. As you said, there's a lot coming down the pike, a lot on the horizon for us. Now we are in the midst of a midterm plan that we call Mitsubishi Momentum 2030. Momentum 2030 takes us out through our fiscal 2030. So that's sort of the end 2031 calendar year. But what that plan is is it's made up of four key areas. The most important one, let's just say the most exciting one for all of us, us car people, is that one of the things it calls for is an all new or extensively revised vehicle to be launched every single model year between 2026 when we and all the way out through 2030. We've got a lot of that stuff, stuff happening right now. We actually launched a plan about two years ago to our dealers at a national dealer meeting that we did here in Nashville where our national headquarters is located. And since that time, we've launched the 25 Outlander, which is had an all new interior. You said you've both driven the Outlander just recently. So that's the second update to that Outlander in just a year because that added a brand new mild hybrid powertrain we used to have 2 1/2 liter normally aspirated 4. Now it's a 1 1/2 liter turbo. With the mild hybrid system. The vehicle got that all new interior. We have an an Outlander plug in hybrid coming along literally any day now that will have that all new interior with that killer Yamaha audio system in it as well.

[Tom Appel]

It is good.

[Jeremy Barnes]

We also have increased all electric range will be up to 45 miles of all electric range in the plug in hybrid up from the 38 in the previous one. Then in another couple of months we've got the Eclipse Sportback coming out. That's our brand new battery electric vehicle. That's a vehicle that was, that is based heavily on the Nissan Leaf. We're a business partner of Mitsubishi's. Nissan and Mitsubishi have a global business partnership. Then spring of next year we have the an all new rugged off road variant of the Outlander coming out that'll have distinct bodywork. It'll have some more updates to the all wheel drive system. Very, very exciting vehicle. But starting to move us further into that, that kind of off, off highway I like to think of it initially and then you can think of sort of off road. So Jill, I know that your, your rebel history, you know there's a difference between the crossover class and the, the true four wheel drive. So think of us kind of in that crossover section now moving down the road to for true four wheel drive down the road. We just announced we've got the midsize pickup truck coming back to North America that's also going to be developed in partnership with Nissan and that'll be built in the US we are in development with Nissan right now or I should say in discussion with Nissan right now about another midsize SUV coming down the pike that's also going to be built in the US as well. So yeah, there's nothing but great stuff coming down the road for Mitsubishi. We are really excited about what the future brings. It's definitely a new dawn all over again at Mitsubishi. It's very exciting stuff.

[Tom Appel]

Jeremy, the last vehicle you mentioned was a midsize crossover.

[Jeremy Barnes]

Yeah, we had said it was a midsize crossover SUV that we are entering into discussions with Nissan. There'll be a vehicle on both brands, nameplate in other words and that vehicle will be built in the US So

[Tom Appel]

the expansion here that we're looking at includes an electric vehicle, plug in hybrid, a mid size crossover. What am I. Oh and a pickup truck.

[Jeremy Barnes]

Pickup truck. Yep, absolutely.

[Tom Appel]

So that's a very interesting line.

[Jeremy Barnes]

That's a full showroom it really is, you know, plan. Part of that plan is we had said it's going to essentially double the number of vehicles that we have in the lineup in, in our showroom. Right. We used to sell the Mirage. You remember the Mirage? Some cop subcompact, subcompact hatch and four door sedan. We discontinued production of that back in the end of 25, we're out of vehicles. There are no more. I mean there's a couple of maybe 10 or 15 mirages left in the country. We sort of see one or two trick up, tick up every now and then in our sales numbers, but we're fundamentally out of those vehicles. So we're kind of all SUVs at the moment with the Outlander Sport is our entry vehicle starting just over, just under 25. Grand Eclipse Cross starting just under 30 grand. Outlander also starting under 30 grand. And then Outlander plug in hybrid starting at about 35,37,000. So there's a three distinct new SUVs under 30,000 in a market that, as you guys know. What's the average purchase price today?

[Jill Simonello]

It's what, 51 at least. Yeah.

[Jeremy Barnes]

So under 30, which is a real, I think it's a real value play. It's, I think it's a place that Mitsubishi is really, really effective at.

[Jill Simonello]

So where.

[Tom Appel]

Oh, go ahead, Joe.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay, I'm like, can you talk a little bit about the, the Sportback that's coming, the Eclipse Sportback? Because I, we do have some details. We've seen a couple of pictures. You know, we, we have a basic idea of, of what's coming. But can you give us a little bit more detail and tell us when we should expect to see this?

[Jeremy Barnes]

Yeah, absolutely. So let's sort of take these backwards a little bit. So cars should be on sale, they should be in dealers, maybe west coast, maybe very, very late September, perhaps early October, back onto the east coast by sort of say mid October timing frame in, in dealer, in dealer stock. So that's kind of the timing thing. Now said the vehicle is based on the Nissan Leaf. Mitsubishi and Nissan do have a joint partnership. Right. The two of us are also partners with Renault in a global alliance that we call the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance. So where and when it makes sense for the brands to, to, to work together on engineering, to work together on sharing products even to an extent, we do that. Right. Nissan had the Rogue plug in hybrid, right. Which was a variant of the Outlander plug in hybrid. They sold that vehicle last year. Again, we' the Eclipse Sportback, which is A variant off of the Nissan Leaf. And if you go far enough back, frankly, if you go back to when we launched the current outlander back in 2021 as a 22 model, the Outlander and the Rogue, don't forget, think of some as sort of sister vehicles that were separated at birth, right? But they look different and they act different because they are different, right? You can say that they're from the same family, but they're not the same people. And that's kind of how Rogue and Outlander are those of us in the business. Okay. You know, you can sit in an Outlander and you can look at that center screen or the dash or the gear shift knob and you can go, okay, I can see some Nissan takeaways there. But the reality is, to a customer, the two cars look completely different, right? Rogue's built in the U.S. outlander's built in Japan. The two cars don't share a single body panel. Outlander's larger in every dimension. It has a standard third row that Rogue doesn't even offer. Right. We, we have, have. They're not standard, but they're all but standard and everything but a single trim, 20 inch wheels, right? So there's a lot of things that are very different, that our all wheel drive system, we call it super all wheel control, has different logic than the Nissan system. The mechanicals are the same, right. The way it operates using brake biased, torque vectoring, and instead of having a differential, it's using brakes to grab a spinning wheel. The mechanicals are all the same, but it's that what's going on in the mind. That's why I say that they're two sisters that were separated at birth. They, they have parents, but they got very different personalities.

[Tom Appel]

Speaking of personalities, question for you about where Mitsubishi is going in terms of identity. I'm old enough to remember, I'm old enough to have changed the oil on the Cordia and Tradia. That's how old I am.

[Jeremy Barnes]

Great stuff. I said, by the way, box flares. Box flare. 88 starion. That's my car.

[Tom Appel]

Oh, those are actually the people who bought those early on. This is the 80s. Love those cars. But I, I think that Mitsubish Mitsubishi's early presence in the US was more or less based on sporty tech. And then you guys, you guys did an EV thing for a little bit. Where do you want Mitsubishi to be now? What do you want consumers to think about the brand?

[Jeremy Barnes]

It's a great question, Tom, what I would say to answer that question, I take it back to about a month ago in Japan, our global president had discussed our global midterm plan that takes us out through, I think it's out through 20, 32 or so, and talked about new vehicles coming down the road. And that was the point, for example, when he announced that the Pajero or Montero was going to come back on a global basis, we'd have nothing to say about that coming to the US Yet. Don't know if it's coming. We'd like it, but don't have anything to say on that front at all. I'll make that perfectly clear before I get the inevitable question. But what he said at that point, though was, was we have something that we call internally Mitsubishi Motors. Ness. It's one of those very long words that frankly, we put together to make the marketing people have something to build ads around. But the reality behind it, though, is that it's born of a company that uses technology to make vehicles better, to make vehicles operate the way that the driver wants them to operate. So when you turn the wheel, the wheel a little bit, the car changes direction a little bit. Turn the wheel a bunch. Car changes direction a bunch. We do that with all wheel drive systems. And those all wheel drive systems were born on the the roads of the World Rally Championship. Right. From the four manufacturer. The four drivers championships that we won over the years, they were born the deserts of Dakar. We've won Dakar 12 times, more times than any other car company ever in the history of the event. So I think what we said as part of that future business plan when we talked about Pajero coming back globally is moving Mitsubishi back to a place of ruggedness, of vehicles that you can drive out into the wilderness and will always bring you home. The ability to go adventuring. I like to think of it at the moment think of it as off highway, not off road. Again, Jill, I'm using that nuance from Rebelle, the idea that the ladies that run Rebelle say car in your driveway is more capable than you think.

[Jill Simonello]

Yep.

[Jeremy Barnes]

And it is stunning where you can take a box stock modern SUV today. Right. You just. No one knows what those things are capable of. And I'm not talking about, you know, a Defender or a range rover with 35 inches of wading depth. I'm talking about an Outlander. It's just amazing where those vehicles will go. So I, I think think of it initially as off highway, moving down the road, as we get to future vehicles, to more off road. And then some really exciting stuff coming down the pike as we go beyond there as well.

[Tom Appel]

But I can't talk to you about it. Sounds exciting. So question for you about use of the word Eclipse. The name Eclipse, we have it for the Eclipse Cross small crossover and the Eclipse Sportback, the new ev. Does the use of Eclipse in this context, these contexts preclude Mitsubishi in any way from going back to sporty offerings?

[Jeremy Barnes]

I. I've been in this business long enough to never say never. I've. I've, I've seen nevers that I have proclaimed with all of my heart and soul turn out to be. It was just kidding. That is not. Our current planning direction is to go back to sporty cars. It's just not really where the brand is focused right now. Like I said, think of it focus more of an adventure brand, an off road brand. And I don't. When I say say off road, again, think of it more off highway, at least, at least initially. Moving down the road to something a bit more rugged in the future. Eclipse is. It has a place of respect within the Mitsubishi nomenclature. And when you're a small company with limited resources, it kind of makes sense to fall back on some of the naming that people already say. Eclipse, people assign Mitsubishi to that. Okay, maybe they assign small sports car to it than SUV or battery electric vehicle, but they do assign Mitsubishi to it. So we walk in the door without having to introduce ourselves immediately. Maybe we have to tell them who we've become these days, but we don't have to tell them who we are. So that's kind of where that fits. As an aside, do you know where Eclipse comes from?

[Jill Simonello]

I do.

[Tom Appel]

The name? Yeah,

[Jeremy Barnes]

it's actually a racehorse from the 1800s where the moon covers the sun. It's got nothing to do with that.

[Tom Appel]

I was just thinking of the Diamond Star vehicles from the 80s, but no.

[Jill Simonello]

1800s.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Barnes]

Yeah. It's a. It was a very famous racehorse.

[Tom Appel]

I did not know that. That's very interesting. So I have a real quick question for you about the, the compact crossover segment. I think Jill and I agree on this point, but the interior of the new Outlander is in fact very nice. Congratulations. It feels very high end. And if you were to tell me that this was a premium brand vehicle when I was sitting in the sel, I would not doubt that. Is, Is that segment in general moving upscale?

[Jeremy Barnes]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yes, it is. Because it, it. If, if I'm. If it's not the number one, it's. It's the number two segment in the entire industry right now. Right Right. But more importantly, think of it as. Think of what the. The place, place that that vehicle occupies in the Mitsubishi hierarchy. Right. Outlander is our flagship nameplate. You said at the very top of the piece, Tom, when you said that you and Jill had recently driven it. It is our flagship nameplate. Again, I'll use the relationship with Nissan. Nissan's got a Rogue here, but then they've got, what, a Murano or a Pathfinder or maybe the other way around, and then they've got Infinity all the way above that. And in the us, Outlander is our flagship. So a fully loaded Outlander is a more luxurious vehicle than a fully loaded Rogue by intention because they actually play different roles in our respective brands. So, yeah, I mean, a fully loaded SEL Outlander with that beautiful brick brown interior, with that killer Yamaha audio system, every bell and whistle on the planet for $44,000. It's a lot of car for not a lot of money.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, no, it feels very premium and that's really why I asked the question. Jeremy, we've run out of time, but what have we forgotten to ask you,

[Jill Simonello]

or what else will you tell us?

[Jeremy Barnes]

Well, one thing I'll tell you is I always say that our biggest challenge is not that people think poorly of us, is that they don't think of us at all. So if there's one message that I can leave with your viewers and your listeners, it is, think about Mitsubishi. Put us on your shopping list. Go drive one, Go sit in one. If we can get you to sit in one, we can make you go, this is a Mitsubishi and I get all of this for that. That's the thing I would ask you to tell all of your viewers and all of your listeners. And if we can achieve that, I'm confident that we've got nothing but a bright future.

[Tom Appel]

Awesome. Sounds good. Jeremy, thank you so much for your time today.

[Jeremy Barnes]

On the contrary, thank you both. It was a real pleasure being on.

[Tom Appel]

All right, that was Jeremy Barnes with Mitsubishi. We're going to take a break and when we come back.

[Jill Simonello]

Quiz time.

[Tom Appel]

Quiz time.

[Podcast Producer/Host]

Questions or comments? Drop us a line@car stuffonsumerguide.com that's carstuffinsumerguide.com

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[Jill Simonello]

Else.

[Podcast Producer/Host]

Welcome back to the Car Stuff podcast.

[Tom Appel]

And we're back. This is the consumer Guide Car Stuff podcast. I'm Tom, she is Jill. And we just chatted about Mitsubishi. It's kind of nice, it's kind of nice to talk about a brand that had gotten dusty.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah. You know, and I, I really like that Jeremy pointed out that, you know, it's not that, that people think poorly of Mitsubishi, they just don't think of Mitsubishi. And I would say that they are definitely one of those underrated brands that I think more people should look at. And you know, when I've driven the Outlander, for example, I'm like, oh man, this is way better than the Rogue. Like this is a much better Nissan Rogue. And, and you know, and that's kind of by design. As Jeremy said, Mitsubishi kind of got

[Tom Appel]

short shrift in the Daimler Chrysler days. Chrysler had a stake in Mitsubish. And really, if we're going to be honest about what happened back then, Chrysler and Mitsubishi were getting hand me downs from Mercedes. And you might remember this, but the Dodge Durango, the Durango we still have in showrooms right now was based off the Mercedes Benz ML.

[Jill Simonello]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Appel]

That architecture has just been updated. And the Chrysler LX cars, the 300, the Charger, the Challenger, there was the Magnum, the wagon for a while. Those are actually based on Mercedes Benz E class parts and those turned out to be fabulous cars.

[Jill Simonello]

Well, you remember the Crossfire, right?

[Tom Appel]

Oh, the Crossfire just was a Mercedes.

[Jill Simonello]

It was like the SLK.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, the SLK, what was that called? SLK350 and there was an SLK AMG. Yeah, the Crossfire, that was ugly.

[Jill Simonello]

I didn't not like it, if that makes sense.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, I don't know. It was weird looking. That's when Chrysler was doing that hood Strake thing.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

And there was those really weird gutters

[Jill Simonello]

in the hood non minivan Pacifica that they first came out with with the hood lines. Yeah.

[Tom Appel]

Very strange styling thing.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

All right, Jill.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

You're in the social medias.

[Jill Simonello]

I, I am in the social medias. Yeah. You can, I, I, you can find me in TikTok and YouTube pretty much every day. I upload new videos there daily. But I'm also on Instagram, Twitter, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, all the things, as I like to say, threads. So, and I I like. I like comments. I like to talk to people. I'm not one of those people who doesn't read the comments. I literally read every comment. And I may not respond to them all, but I do. I do read every comment. So I appreciate people who interact with me. And if you ask questions, I will try to answer it. But, yeah, I'm on all the things you can find me at Jill Simonello, and I use the hashtag car du jour. So, like, the car that I'm driving today card is your.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, I don't like people, so social media is perfect for me.

[Jill Simonello]

Because you're antisocial.

[Tom Appel]

Yes. Yes, I am. Car guy Tom on Twitter X and on Blue Sky. Lots of good car chat on Blue sky these days. Also, I don't do a lot of car stuff on Facebook, but I do share pictures of the car I'm writing about that week.

[Jill Simonello]

So I've got pictures of TV screens.

[Tom Appel]

Yes, yes. That's Star Spotter, and that's something I do in conjunction with Nick Dijilio. We talk about it on Nick Dijilio's podcast. But what I'm watching an old western and it's mostly gun smoke, and I spot someone who is not yet a star, but going to be a star. I quickly take a picture and I got a pic. I got a picture this week not from. Not from Gunsmoke, but from a rawhide of deforest Kelly Bones McCoy from Star Trek on that show playing a bad guy. How can Bones be a bad guy?

[Jill Simonello]

Gotta start somewhere.

[Tom Appel]

I guess so. All right, it's quiz time.

[Jill Simonello]

All right, I hope you're ready, but I do want to say I did listen to last week's episode, and Brandon did a great job being a co host, and I want to point out that I got, like, one out of six, so he totally would have beat me. I think he mentioned that I always say that I beat him on the quizzes. He totally would have beat me. That was not my. That was not my subject.

[Tom Appel]

Was that the Corvette quiz? Yeah. Yeah. That had to be a little tough because he knows a lot about Corvettes.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah. Yeah. So he did an amazing job. And I would have gotten, like, one out of six on that. All right.

[Tom Appel]

I do tailor these, I think, appropriately. This week's topic is, was it a VW trim level?

[Jill Simonello]

Oh. Oh. Okay.

[Tom Appel]

These are all 20, 26 model years, so not was it. Is it.

[Jill Simonello]

Is it. Got it.

[Jeremy Barnes]

Okay.

[Jill Simonello]

All right.

[Tom Appel]

I'm just going to give you a 2026 Volkswagen model and a trim level. And you have to tell me if that's a real trim level available for that vehicle as we speak.

[Jill Simonello]

Got it.

[Tom Appel]

All right, you ready?

[Jill Simonello]

I am as ready as I can be.

[Tom Appel]

The 2026 VW Jetta, can that be had in S trim? I would also like to point out that I really dislike Volkswagen trim levels.

[Jill Simonello]

Oh, no. Kia is the worst with their trim levels. They make me crazy.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, but these are bad.

[Jill Simonello]

Pro X line, SX Prestige. What?

[Tom Appel]

That is madness.

[Jill Simonello]

I'm like, what in the heck are you doing to me?

[Tom Appel]

Okay, sir, Jetta S for 2026.

[Jill Simonello]

Is that a Volkswagen? I, I, I'm gonna say no.

[Tom Appel]

Yes.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah. For 2026, the Jetta can be had in S, Sport SE and topline SEL trim.

[Jill Simonello]

Jill, I have no points.

[Tom Appel]

You have no points.

[Jill Simonello]

I know your favorite phrase, all right? You haven't gotten to use it for a while.

[Tom Appel]

No, I haven't. You've been. You've been cleaning up. The Golf GTI for 2026 can be had in Wolfsburg edition trim.

[Jill Simonello]

Man. If it cannot be had in a Wolfsburg condition trim, you know, they. They need to just leave the United States. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say yes, because that is, like, such a classic trim. I. All of the GTIs we've had have been Wolfsburg trims. So if they don't, they should just, you know, they should just call it a day.

[Tom Appel]

There isn't. No.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, they need to call it a day. They need to call it a day.

[Tom Appel]

Oh, they do call. Would it probably be that trim over the Autobahn? So there's S, E and Autobahn. Used to see Wolfsburgs sometimes late in a model year. Yeah, especially in the 80s, they would just put together a Wolfsburg, and it was often like a price special where they'd add some equipment to a vehicle but not raise the price. And I want to say I dated a girl who, Whose brother bought a Wolfsburg edition Jetta. That was one of those cars that sort of changed my life. I couldn't believe how good it was. Like an 80s Volkswagen. Holy crap.

[Jill Simonello]

So they've removed the manual transmission, and they don't have a Wolfsburg edition in the GTI anymore.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah.

[Jill Simonello]

Thumbs down. That gets a thumbs down.

[Tom Appel]

What's next? They go to three wheels? Yeah, the Volkswagen ID4. That's Volkswagen's electric compact crossover. Is it available in Pro S plus trim? Pro S Plus.

[Jill Simonello]

I mean, that sounds like a very EV trim to have. Yeah, I. The newest Volkswagen we've owned is a 2018 so clearly not a up to snuff on my 2026 models. I'm gonna say no.

[Tom Appel]

Yes. The ID4 is available in Pro Pro S and Pro S plus trim levels. I hate all of those trim levels a bunch.

[Jill Simonello]

Well, you know, what I don't like is that they're not consistent amongst the. I'm a. I'm a little bit of a nerd, and I really like consistency. And so I'm kind of of like, as irksome as I find the xline xs, Prestige plus, whatever from Kia. Like, at least they're consistent and they put it. You know, the. The. They have, like, pretty consistent trims across the lineup, and that's just so drastically different. Yeah. Boo.

[Tom Appel]

You need to win all the way out now to make this work for you.

[Jill Simonello]

This isn't looking good for me. Got it.

[Tom Appel]

All right. The Atlas cross sport for 2026. Is there a Trekking edition? Trekking?

[Jill Simonello]

I think there is. I'm gonna say yes.

[Tom Appel]

No,

[Jill Simonello]

I should just be saying the opposite of what I'm thinking at this point.

[Tom Appel]

Do you remember the Jetta Trek?

[Jill Simonello]

No.

[Tom Appel]

It was a Volkswagen Jetta. It was in conjunction with Trek the Motor, the bicycle company. T R E K Trek. And you got a free Trek bicycle and roof rack with your Jetta. It was kind of cool. I need to check on ebay and see if any of those Trek Volkswagen trucks are still out there. I think they were. I think they were decent bikes. Most trucks were decent bikes.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah. I'm like, I feel like my husband has a track bike.

[Tom Appel]

I do. I've had the same Trek bike for, like, the entire time I've been married. Never had a problem with it. All right. The Crossboard is available in se. SE with technology. SEL R line black and SEL Premium R line trim levels. There's no rhyme or reason to that. Nightmare.

[Jill Simonello]

No, no, no. I'm gonna say yes, yes, yes, that's true.

[Tom Appel]

Finally, the Volkswagen Taos. How do you pronounce that?

[Jill Simonello]

I say Taos.

[Tom Appel]

Taos. So you do try to make two syllables out of it.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah.

[Tom Appel]

Okay. The Taos.

[Jill Simonello]

It's kind of like Jaguar.

[Tom Appel]

Is there a Taos SEL Pro? No, there is not. You got a point.

[Jill Simonello]

Woohoo. Well, I got. Did I get the last one?

[Tom Appel]

No, you said there was a Trekking.

[Jill Simonello]

Oh, that was. That was. I thought you had another question between the Trekking and the other one. Okay.

[Tom Appel]

No, no, no, no. So you've got one point. You have not been shut out. The Taos is available in S.S.E. s.E. Black and SEL trim levels. All right. I hope you're ready for a really. A solid. A solid bonus question.

[Jill Simonello]

I am so ready.

[Tom Appel]

As auto journalists, we have a lot of friends, contacts, and colleagues in Detroit.

[Podcast Producer/Host]

We do.

[Tom Appel]

And one of the things in Detroit that they have that we don't really have in Chicago is Faygo soda. F A Y G O Soda.

[Jill Simonello]

I thought you were gonna say Coney. Coney Dogs, but okay. Faygo, that's the direction we're going.

[Tom Appel]

They got the Coneys.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, they got the Coneys. We don't have the Coneys.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, they got the Coneys. And if you ever want to. To kind of be grossed out, look into the chili that they put into Coney's.

[Jill Simonello]

I do not want to be grossed out.

[Tom Appel]

It's mostly super lean organ meat. Yeah, it's usually made out of something like heart.

[Jill Simonello]

Says the guy who's a vegetarian. So you're trying to gross out all the people who eat meat. Thanks.

[Tom Appel]

Yes, I am. But Faygo been around since 1907. They love it. They love the stuff in Detroit.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

It, like, sells, like, Pepsi or Coke over there. It's crazy. I need you to tell me which of the following Faygo flakes flavors is fake.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay.

[Tom Appel]

And they get weird. Are you ready?

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

Ohana, Peach. Ohana, Peach, rock and rye. Dr. Faygo or Jasmine Blast.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay.

[Tom Appel]

Making an interesting face.

[Jill Simonello]

I have. I have never heard of any of these. My aunt and uncle always used to have grape fago or, like, orange for us.

[Tom Appel]

That's pretty conventional.

[Jill Simonello]

Didn't know they had, like, bougie names outside of, like, grape and orange.

[Tom Appel]

They list 50 flavors. Now, which. Okay. Which much much Makes things very tough for the people who. Who run a 7:11.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah. Okay, read. Read through them again for me.

[Tom Appel]

Ohana, Peach rock, Ampersand, Rye, Dr. Faygo, Jasmine Blast.

[Jill Simonello]

I mean, I want Jasmine Blast to be real because I don't we all. Because I like jasmine tea. I don't know if you've ever had jasmine tea, but it is literally my favorite.

[Tom Appel]

Jasmine Blast. Sounds like an employee of a gentleman's club.

[Jill Simonello]

Wasn't gonna go there.

[Tom Appel]

I didn't go all the way.

[Jill Simonello]

There was not even a thought in my head. How about that? Until you put it there. And then you wonder why we get X rated ratings.

[Tom Appel]

That hasn't happened in a while. I always thought it was your potty mouth.

[Jill Simonello]

No, it's yours. You're the one who's putting the thoughts out there. Okay, so I want Jasmine to be real. So I'm Gonna say that's real. I think it's probably like the rot. The. What is it? The wooden rye. Rye. The rock.

[Tom Appel]

Rock, R O, C, K ampersand. Rye, R Y E. Rock and rye.

[Jill Simonello]

That seems weird to me. And the Dr. Faygo one seems redundantly weird to me. I feel like it should be one of those that. Because it only one is fake. Right, Right. I'm gonna say rock and rye is the fake.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, no, that's real and really popular and I've tried it and it's strange. It's strange, but it's. It's kind of like cherry with weird hints of brown liquor. Obviously it's not alcoholic, but Ohana Peach is real. Rock and rye is real. Dr. Faygo is what you think it is. A Dr. Pepper ripoff. Jasmine Blast is the fake.

[Spin Quest Promoter]

Boo.

[Tom Appel]

Yep. Yep. You got one today.

[Jill Simonello]

That's like the lowest I think I've gotten in a while.

[Tom Appel]

But you didn't get shut out.

[Jill Simonello]

I did not get shut out.

[Tom Appel]

Do you know what's in my driveway?

[Jill Simonello]

Is it the one that you posted pictures of today?

[Tom Appel]

No.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay, then. No, I don't know what's in your driveway.

[Tom Appel]

That was last week, by the way. I. I want to talk about that vehicle later.

[Jill Simonello]

Okay.

[Tom Appel]

But that was the Range Rover. Just the Range Rover. Range Rover, the top of the line luxury, big crossover, big suv. It is so refined. And then I found all sorts of little things about it that irritated me. Like, is this because it's British? Is this. What's the deal? But I like the Defender so much for. For a bunch of reasons. So. But. But dang, on the highway, that Range Rover is so quiet and so smooth riding. And the one I drove has the available BMW 4.4 liter V8. What a sweetheart.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah.

[Tom Appel]

I mean, if you're looking for a vehicle that defines luxury, this is that vehicle. And if you're looking for a vehicle that defines luxury and has weird little British idiosyncrasies, this is that vehicle.

[Jill Simonello]

Review of that coming. So maybe. Maybe we'll talk about that soon then.

[Tom Appel]

Well, let's do that. Let's talk about that at the same time, because there's a lot there to like, including that color. I had

[Spin Quest Promoter]

no.

[Tom Appel]

I just got the lucid gravity.

[Jill Simonello]

Oh, okay.

[Tom Appel]

And that's a tough thing to review now because I keep hearing about lucid going bankrupt.

[Jill Simonello]

See, and the CEO did go on LinkedIn and he tried to debunk those rumors. So I'm unconvinced that bankruptcy is in the future.

[Tom Appel]

Well, a bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean the end of the brand either. It just means a reorganization.

[Jill Simonello]

Right.

[Tom Appel]

So we'll have to see what happens. But one of the problems with the brand is that the stock has gone from a high of around $500 a share to about 4 bucks a share. So if you rode this wave, you're just sad.

[Jill Simonello]

So buy now. If you want to get in on it, buy now. I'm just saying buy stock now. I mean, I can't because I review cars and I ethically find that an incorrect thing to do. But I can tell you to buy.

[Tom Appel]

I just want everyone to know that Jill has just given you a stock pick.

[Jill Simonello]

Yes.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, I don't know if I do stock picks.

[Jill Simonello]

Like I said, I wouldn't buy it because I can't. But I think that if you were interested at all, now would be the time.

[Tom Appel]

Man, I don't know. I don't know. Because if they declare bankruptcy, they could still hang around, but the stock would go to zero.

[Jill Simonello]

Yeah, but if you're only buying at $4, I mean, what are you missing?

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, I mean, that's true. I mean, you could get in for like 200 bucks and it might matter.

[Jill Simonello]

Exactly, Exactly. Well, you know, I've been watching SpaceX stock, speaking of stocks, because that's gone down.

[Tom Appel]

Yeah, yeah, it's below the launch price now, so SpaceX, of course, famously another one of Elon Musk's many projects. All right, guess what we did.

[Jill Simonello]

We gave one too many stock tips and we need to end the show now. We talk too much. That's what we did.

[Tom Appel]

If we gave one stock tip, we gave one too many stock tips.

[Jill Simonello]

One too many. Yeah, because that is not our forte, by the way.

[Tom Appel]

All right, big thanks to Jeremy Barnes of Mitsubishi. That was a great conversation. Thank you, Jill. Thanks to producer Margaret. Let's talk more about cars again next week. Next week.

[Podcast Producer/Host]

Remember to check us [e-mail] the car

stuff podcast is produced by J Turn Media.

To advertise on the show, please drop us a line at carstuffinsumerguide.com.

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[Tom Appel]

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