This is cruise control and you're on Air Automotive magazine with co-hosts Fred Starr and Les Jackson going through everything you need to know about new and used cars. Industry news will fix a repair your car on the air. Fasten your seat belts and let us take the wheel. Your ride is about to begin. Coach. Because you're on cruise control. This control is control. And hello, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to Cruise Control. This is your on air Automotive magazine.
You better have those seatbelts fashioned because we have quite a ride today and I'm blessed. Jackson Of course, that guy there is Fred Stobbe. He's got a pile of papers. I don't I don't even think we could read them within the next couple hours, but we will try anyway. Big doings. Big doings. Yeah, big doings. Less Jackson And we're going to get into it on our first show of the year. And Ford tops the sales scales for sports car and trucks and commercial segments. But we'll roll away.
F-150s put a damper on all of its success. I know. We'll find out. I have a feeling it might. And Kia has another plan for stopping the theft of some of the models. You're probably well aware that some of the models, some nasty people put ways of getting into the ignitions online. That seems to me that should be criminally charged. Yeah, although it's the it's quite the opposite they're charging Kiya but that's that's a whole other story. But let's talk about the genesis G70 sporty sedan.
It's out and we have some pricing information. Liz Jackson So so we'll share that with our audience, won't we? That's great. If the audience would like to chip in and buy me a genesis, I'll give you my address. Anyway, we're going to talk tech, and this time the science Mazda is using to make its already stunning soul. Red crystal color boy, that's spectacular. Even better. And man, it's it's not like a candy apple, but it's sort of the modern equivalent. Oh, yeah.
It almost looks it almost looks like you dip the vehicle in and paint it. It's. It's cool, don't you think? Yeah, it's it's, it's almost like. Yeah, like you dipped it in a big fat of paint. Yeah. That's thick. Yeah. And then this is one we were discussing earlier. Stellantis says no to shows, no more car shows. You won't be seeing anything from Stellantis at any car show this year. That's right. And the DC car show is two weeks away and this is the first we've heard about it anyway.
Yeah, that's how it is. And then you have an at the wheel review the first of the year. That's right. The New York. Right. Yeah. Buick Encore, GM X pretty cool outside almost it almost has that undercut jerk face reminded me a little bit of the Aston Martin believe it or not but it's not at Aston Martin pricing. When we come back, we'll have a full at the wheel review of this model. So stay tuned to Cruise Control your on Air Automotive magazine. I'm Fred Staab. He is less Jackson.
We will be right back. So stay tuned. Cruise control and welcome back to Cruise Control your on air Automotive magazine. It is Fred's job and less Jackson. We are here ready to go with plenty of information and top of the heap for Ford last Jackson they scored big in sports car sales trucks and commercial vehicles. That's for 2023. They have they have done very well.
Ford Mustang has outsold every other sports car offered in the U.S., not just the Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro, but also even the Mazda MX five Miata and Toyota, supra. Biggest selling sports car of all time, a single model. And and the Mustang is 61 years old. I do. I just love this. And 48,605 Mustangs were sold in 2023. Um doesn't sound like a huge number but it's it's the lead for that for that segment, right.
Well it is and you know, it doesn't sound like a big number, but remember, there are about 300 different makes and models you could buy right now. So getting getting 48,000 of them is pretty good. They also sold 31 Ford GTI Supercars. That does not include 67 800 horsepower GTI Mach four track toy model which yeah sounds fun. And that my friend is a future collectible for sure. When you say Oh. Yeah, it's already a collectible, it's not even the future.
Yeah. Um, so let's jump over to trucks for Ford F-Series. Still the best selling truck in this country for many, many years. Going on 50 years, I guess. Right. Um, yeah. Yeah. 750,789 F-Series trucks were sold last year, and F-150 Lightning became the best selling electric truck of the year. Uh, and nobody sold more EVs in America than Ford. Besides Tesla, Ford was number two as far as electric vehicles go. Um, and the hybrid was the second best selling hybrid, the hybrid F-150. Oh, yeah.
Which makes sense. Commercial vehicles, you see them everywhere. I mean, if it isn't a if it isn't a Ford, it's a mercedes. Yeah. You know any other brand. That's true. Transit vans, F-250 350 all the way up to F 600. Um, they're on everything. Their every fleet seems to have a Ford vehicle. So that's good news. That's the good news.
But then comes a potential roll away recall and December 20, 23, um, this was a piece published by Car Buzz on how Ford issued more recalls than any other manufacturers for the third year in a row to I guess if you sell more vehicles, you got more recalls, potential calls. But there is a roll away problem on certain F-150s.
Um, and it could affect 112,965 of the 2021 to 2023 F-150 is for a rear axle bolt that may break and it only involves the heavy duty rear axle with the heavy duty electric well is a special axle and a special trailering package that has has caused this. So the rear axle hub bolt may fatigue resulting in damage to the axle hubs blinds. And if your truck is one of those models affected, you will hear a clicking or rattling noise coming from the axle. Yeah, there's going to be an interim repair.
They don't say what that. Is, but that's right. But but then they also have the fusion and the Lincoln MKC for a problem potential front brake failure. Now that that's not good. Yeah that's not good. But they seem to be they seem to be getting through it. And another big you made a point about this earlier on is Kia the key a theft deterrent. Right. And it came from tic tac.
We won't even mention the group of individuals that are doing this, but that people could break into some of the Kia vehicles easily. There was a fix for it. And then cities started suing KIA because people were stealing their cars a seems misplaced to me, but there is a new theft deterrent device if you own one of these vehicles and we will tell you about it when we come back. On cruise control. You're on Air Automotive magazine. I'm Fred Stobbe. He is last Jackson.
We will be right back. So stay tuned and cruise control. And welcome back to Cruise Control. Boy. Oh, boy, there's just so much going on in the automotive world and we promised to tell you about here. And there are ongoing but mostly solved theft problem. And basically what they've done with they they've announced right at the very end of December, they announced they have a new device to keep thieves from getting into their lock actually to breaking their ignition cylinder body.
And it's for people that are not eligible for the security software upgrade that they introduced earlier in 2023. And it basically you need probably special tools or or or explosives to to get through the ignition lock, which is great. But, you know, as Fred and I alluded to earlier, what about the people that gave everybody instructions on how to steal the keys? Yeah. Yeah. Where are they? Or what about people? You catch doing this and, you know, hey, this is this is illegal.
You're doing something illegal. So if they cut their hand when they're breaking into the car, are we going to, you know, sue the owner because this person cut their hand because they smashed a glass? You know. You know, dealers, by the way, dealers have installed close to 940,000 software upgrades on their on the Keys. So and they. Do. They do put a little sticker on it.
Actually, we have a friend that has a Sorento that this was done and it says this has been modified, you know, so you can't steal it. If you know me, Fred and you know me and my workshop, if I had a key, I would have I would have installed basically a rodent trap. So when they touch it, it cuts their fingers off probably. But yeah, then you would. Be, I believe in Swift punishment. Yeah. Yeah. And, but to me when you sue here for that, that's ridiculous. You know, it is ridiculous.
And first off, the only person that I think could sue for that would be if someone said, Well, that's a defective car, but it's not a defective car because it's. No. You know, you're not supposed to be digging around with a screwdriver. You know. That's right. Sue, Tick tock for putting it up and not taking it down. Yeah, well, that's a whole other thing. I I'm not a fan to Tick-Tock, so. But, you know, you have to. You have to break into the car to get to the ignition. Yeah, exactly.
So, you know, the car is locked. Exactly. Anywhere. Anywhere anyway. But if you have one of the vehicles, I think they are 2011 Sportage's 2011 to 2016. Forte's 2010 to 2022. So 2011 to 2021. RIO and 2014 Sedona, you'll probably be getting contacted by Kia to to get this. I guess it's like a collar or a metal collar of some kind. I think so. Yeah. So it's it's very annoying. It's certainly annoying. But here this is not annoying. Let's talk about Genesis.
They priced out their 2014 G70 sports sedan. It's a sedan less. It's a car. Look at that. You can just slide in. You don't have to pull yourself up. Yeah, it's it's an award winning 20 2014 G70 sports sedan so it is newly enhanced. You would like that, right? To just say less Jackson I like enhanced. I like the new enhancements They're sporty they have very great ride characteristics even though they're sporty.
Yeah. Um so core according to their chief operating officer, the standard 300 horsepower and high performance Brembo brakes offer an even more dynamic driving experience while the refreshed interior cabin provides a heightened sense of serenity. Boy, the writing is getting amazing. I actually was reading something this morning that talked about active life Stylers and I just. Oh, well, listen, I live for that, you know?
So there are two powertrains offered in the g70 for 2024 in the North American market, a 2.5 turbocharged inline four cylinder gas engine and a 3.3 liter twin turbocharged V6. The 2.5 starts at 41,500 and comes with many things including Genesis, Highway Driving, Assist and Driver Assistance features a touch type climate display, climate control display and Frameless rear view mirror.
They've made designs and updates to multi-function switches, door and car console panels, a patterns air vents, cupholders and the key fob. So there you go. You get a new key fob. The 3.3 turbocharged has an MSR p of 49,009 50 includes things like rain, sensing, wipers, ventilated front seats, lexicon premium audio and a dark chrome grille. So this is certainly their model three killer, isn't it? It is. It's by the way, I counted them. It's 42 standard features. That's a lot of standard stuff.
And so that's a lot of stuff. And that two. Point good stuff. A lot of good stuff. That 2.5 liter inline four puts out 300 horsepower, £311 feet of torque and flows through an eight speed automatic, which is amazing. And and there's a standard all wheel drive model 2.5 TI 43,600 and sports prestige model option group you can get it on all wheel drive.
A rear wheel drive adds $4,200 sport aluminum trim wide, some roof parking distance warning ventilated front seats, the premium audio alloy pedals. And then if you step up to the 3.3 liter sport advanced rear wheel drive, MSRP 49,009 50 the all wheel drive models 52,050. And then with the prestige option you would add another 40 $400. That gives you things like Nappa leather, a microfiber Suede Headliner heads up, display, limited slip diff, heated steering wheel and a number of other options.
Then you can take that same package and add it to the 3.3 all wheel drive model for another 40 $400. So you're you're pretty much you're almost up to like $56,000 for the top of the range model. Beautiful car though even that four cylinder with 300 horsepower. I mean that's that's that's pretty stout You know. It is in Genesis is such a fine machine if you've never driven one, you should take the opportunity and drive one.
By the way, someone was asking how much horsepower does that twin turbo make? The 3.3 liter twin turbo V6, 365 horsepower, £376 feet of torque. And that is a nice one. I look forward to doing an at the wheel review of that vehicle soon. How about you? I would just love to. It's I just love being in them. It's my favorite favorite brand, certainly favorite of all of their cars and SUV. Such as? They're great. Yeah, they absolutely are. They absolutely are.
I've said often that they've kind of hit them out of the park, hit it out of the park continuously. So it's it's great stuff for the genesis. And we'll be talking about Genesis vehicles and a whole lot of other vehicles coming up when we continue on cruise control. Hey, auto shows in trouble. Well, Stellantis says no more auto shows for us. We're also going to have an at the wheel vehicle coming up, the Buick Encore X and we'll talk about Paint Tech. So it's all coming up on cruise control.
You're on Air Automotive magazine. And welcome back. Welcome back. We we just this is such great fun to talk about and it's cool technology mazda's red color, which currently is called what is that color? So, so red. So red. Chris This beautiful. It's just beautiful. Silver candy. Happy red, right?
It's but not quite And and Mazda has is you know they've noticed that people love the color so they've gone several steps more and gone to chemists and paint engineers to come up with with a new patent for a new color red that and basically optical physics is my background.
So I do understand this, but I if it to explain would take the rest of our hour and you'll fall asleep anyway so but the fact is it plays with the way light is absorbed and reflected and it ultimately comes up with with with this spectral reflectance that you've never seen before, you know, in a car paint. So they've last year they introduced artists in red. Kind of a more of a maroon ish almost. Right, right. But richer, deeper shade and soul.
Crystal But but this new color is is just going to be eye popping and and it's you know, we as we said at the beginning of the show, it looks like it was dipped in red plastic. Yeah. It's there's just no way to describe it without looking at it or it looks like you could eat it. Yeah. Now, is this what Dave can dig? The car customizer says he calls it flop and paint where it changes color as you walk around and. Right part of part of that.
And it has to do with layers upon layers and the way the layers have been laid down and where the the different metallics, the direction, the different metallics are going are moving. Wow. Or have moved. I mean, it is. You don't want to scratch this course. No, no, it's. Much throw it away. It's almost like a custom paint job from from the factory. I mean, it is as you said, we were talking candy, apple read it. That's what I immediately thought.
But I've seen some of these vehicles in the sun, and it is it just really draws your eye, you know? It really does. Amazing. Yeah. And it's funny, They're on big SUVs, you know, kind of bread and butter vehicles. And yeah. I might rather see it on a on an Aston Martin, but, you know. Yeah, a Corvette. It would look nice on a Corvette when that Corvette. Yeah. So. Yeah. Nice on the car that your our friend Glen and I our building next. Which one is that. I know you did a Corvair.
I know you did a Corvette. Yeah. Midyear. You're building a an original narrow body to 89 cobra. Oh, my. Well, that would look nice on that. Oh, yeah. That would look nice in that. And I often said that there are so many great factory colors now that, you know, if you said, okay, I'm building a street rod or something like that, you don't have to go to a custom paint shop. I just looked at at a you know, and you can get the paint because it's a factory color, right? That's right. You can get it.
You know. So pretty cool stuff. Pretty cool stuff. I love the science behind it. And I did learn. I know, especially with metallic paints, if you from our Kevin, our friend, mutual friend Kevin Tate's, if you put them on the wrong way, hold the gun the wrong way, you'll get like Tiger striping. So basically what they're doing here is they are controlling the angle at how the paint is applied to take advantage of that as opposed to just poorly applying metallic paint and getting.
I think they're just I think they're just dipping the the car in a big fat of paint. Yeah. It just like an apple. Like like an apple. You did that in there and it's it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing. Like burgundy cherry, man. It's just. It is. It does look like you could eat it. Yes, it does look like it could eat it so. Well, let's talk about Stellantis.
And you and I have noticed this trend of car companies pulling out of shows where when we first started doing this, everyone less and I would go to these shows and there would be huge reveals on press day. I mean, huge theatrical, you know, cars driving through glass plates or being covered in mud. Right. Remember those? Oh, yes. Well, the the intro of the the Ford and Mercury mid-sized cars back in the early nineties drove through a huge glass plate the size of the stage.
Yeah. Yeah. And, well, we've seen some incredible reveals and expensive, expensive events where they've take brought 300 journalists to New York or Detroit or L.A. and big parties. I mean, and they're just not doing that. No, they don't need to anymore.
Well, the problem with it for for automotive journalists like ourselves was they would cram all these great press reveals in and you want to see them all, but you really couldn't shoot any video or doing interviews because you had to get to the next one. So you felt like you're just running around like a chicken with no head. And we were literally running to the next review at about 20 reviews each day. Yeah, 2 to 3 days.
Yeah. And, and so they thought, well, hey, there's this thing called the Internet and we can just release it and do it or put it somewhere else. They are doing these things off site. So that's one use of the, of the car shows. And then of course the public would come in and they wouldn't see those extravagant reveals, but they see the cars. And that's the purpose of this, to see a bunch of vehicles try them out and then kind of narrow down with what what you want to focus in on. Right.
But it seems like car shows are getting smaller. I mean, Stellantis backed out a SEMA backed out of the I mean, they used to do a huge presentation at SEMA. They would have a huge area have bring in celebrities and show custom cars and have giant displays. But they've backed out of all that and they're just not going to do any pulling out of all shows in Canada and U.S.. You're actually involved with one in the DC area and you said you've got three weeks to go.
And they yeah, they pulled out, which is huge. I already wrote the Stellantis Products section of the DC Auto Show Program Guide like I do every year, and they're going to I do believe they've got local dealers to provide product. But yeah, surprise there can't be. Yeah. Cam I have a representative that is just enjoy the show. Camp Jeep was one of the big draws. I know it was a huge. Huge draw. If you've never done it, they would have all kinds of obstacles.
The jeeps could drive over and you could try them out. You know, a mountain about 50 feet high right in the in the convention center. And they would you drive over with their their drivers. Yeah. And interactive. Yeah but you know that costs money and they're just not going to do it and it just I don't know we'll see where this goes. It's really I think the show is for what I said.
It's for people to see the cars in a kind of a limited pressure environment and and and kind of sit in them and see, you know, get an initial feeling about, hey, you know, I like this one. I like that one. Okay, I'm going to narrow it down to two or three vehicles and then start looking, you know, but the worst would be if you go there and you're interested in Dodge products and they're not there. Well. That will help with your decision. Right. And that'll certainly help with your decision.
And, you know, we have it this show, we have VIP tour guides. I started that a number of years ago, and we take people around and explain the cars to them, explain the technology, and they pay money for that brand. And, you know, it started last year with none of the German companies showed. Right. People say, well, wait a minute, where are they? Well, I didn't show. Then they yelled at less, the tour guide, and said, well, where are you hiding them? That's right.
Yeah. So eventually the sticks and the tar and feathers are going to come out. Right. But why isn't he showing us the why isn't he showing us any of the German brands? Where's the other floor with all the other cars. There isn't one. No. Well, we're going to have a floor with a car and we'll review this one. This is the Buick Encore Gsx. Great little Buick. When we come back on cruise Control your on Air Automotive magazine. Stay tuned. Plenty more. Cruise control.
And welcome back to Cruise Control your on air Automotive magazine. Fred Staab and Les Jackson. And we are glad you're with us. A lot going on and we have an at the wheel review this time It is the 2024 Buick Encore Gsx small little Buick made in Korea. Believe it or not, Buick is the most affordable brand in the GM lineup right now, not Chevy. Buick. That's amazing and amazing. And so we thought we'd take a look at this vehicle new for 2024.
Well, it's got what they call the virtual cockpit, which is a couple of flat screens behind glass. We'll tell you a little bit more about that in a minute. And it is powered by a turbo three cylinder less. This one has the you can get a 1.2 turbo i3 at 137 is the 137 horsepower is the standard engine or a 1.3 liter three cylinder, 155 horsepower engine. That's what we got. And this was all wheel drive.
So power flows through a nine speed automatic transmission and we're going to kind of delve into this all a little bit more. But small SUV kind of reminded me of the Ford EcoSport. And in certain ways, if you've been in that some of the controls are familiar that you would have seen in other Buicks and other GM products throughout the years. And others are different, but they the virtual cockpit. I was not crazy about it. It looks very plain.
As you can see, it is a small screen behind a glass panel. And at night it just looked very, very plain to me. I think the graphics could be improved. Storage is decent. Nice thing. It does have a compact spare and Jack which is good to see on this vehicle. 1.3 liter turbo three cylinder did the job fine. I felt it was well well designed and well tuned with the with that nine speed automatic. It drove fine. For what? It was not going to be a hot rod, but this was the SST package.
It gives you some piano black trim on the outside. It also gives you some black wheels, a little bit sportier, kind of a high riding vehicle on the outside. I thought it looked sort of like if you squint and stand on one leg, the deep 707 especially in the front, the Aston Martin SUV, I like the styling on the outside and I like the color, which in this case was kind of that burnt orange. They call it copper ice, actually.
But I thought that was an interesting combination and color that that's a color we were talking earlier about how it can change in the in the sunlight. And certain times it looked very, very orange and other times it looked kind of well, a little a little less orange, let's put it that way. So let's go through this outside styling is great. As I said, looks like a quality piece. It is the sport touring, all wheel drive model. Ours, as I said, was copper, ice, metallic, ebony interiors.
Ebony with ebony accents, 1.3 liter turbo, nine speed does real well. Overall crash score is five stars, which is great. On the inside, it's the materials in that are fine but is a little plain. A lot of black plastic, a lot of black upholstery. And of course there's the new Buick logo for 2024. We see it on the steering wheel and you see it in the front of the vehicle. I love the overhead view monitor, Apple, CarPlay and Android Auto.
Still, although GM's going to eliminate those wireless charger. Good connectivity. Here's what I like a button for hitting all wheel drive and then it shows you you are in all wheel drive easy to use controls for heated steering wheel heated seats outback you know decent you sit up high in the back decent leg room not a lot going on a little connectivity for rear seat passengers in the form of the USB and usb-c. Looks like you can also get a power port if you want.
Plane, interior, the virtual cockpit. I don't think it was a win, frankly, because it's too small. Screens behind a piece of glass and the graphics look very plain. You get a couple of different gauge settings. Both of them look pretty plain to me. And when you see that little square at night, it just looks very blank on the dashboard. Storage is good. Um, there's no power port the back or anything like that. But as I mentioned, there is a jack and a spare tire, which is always good.
I always look in all our reviews because you want to find that out under hood. It looks like, you know, a three cylinder engine you don't really know it's a three cylinder. It could certainly be a to liter four cylinder, but doesn't sound any different. Performs well, nine speed automatic.
By the way, this comes with a three year 36,000 mile bumper to bumper limited warranty, five year, 60,000 mile powertrain, limited warranty with roadside assistance and courtesy transportation, which are first maintenance visit whichever comes first see Buick icon for details start stop system which worked fairly well and the infotainment system is a that is an 11 inch diagonal HD color touchscreen that part of it worked well I like that wireless auto apple CarPlay at least for now
until GM moves away from that cap list fuel feel nice to see few little surprises here and there. The base price is 28,400 and then ours added a 1690 $5 experienced Buick package with a power moonroof the 19 inch gloss wheels. The comfort package with remote vehicle starter system eight way power seat for the driver, heated steering wheel driver, front passenger driver and front passenger Heated seats Seatback Front Passenger flat folding, which is very nice.
That's a touch of the vibe there and the Advanced technology package 4095 Added Adaptive Cruise Control HD Surround Vision Wireless charging. We pop for the Bose Premium speaker system for $500 more. The car price metallic for 95 black roof package, which was 395 and it was not equipped with rear park assist. So there's $145 credit which is probably due to supply shortages yet, which is interesting to see that in 2024 hours. How was the ride. Ride Wasn't wasn't real choppy.
I mean it is a short wheelbase vehicles so you're saddled with a little bit of that. But it wasn't objectionable it was my neck didn't hurt after driving it. It does look like it rides pretty high. There's a lot of space above those wheels of the tires between the wheel well and the tire. But it did not have a rough ride. It wasn't super powerful. And on the inside, it just felt a little well, not high end, I'll say that. I think the exterior looks more high end than the interior.
The in the assembly point is Korea. South Korea engine is from the United States. Transmission from United States. So what do I like about it? I like the great crash rating on it. Fuel economy Highway 28 combined City 22. Combined 27. That's not super great for this vehicle. I would like to see it in the low thirties, but I the exterior styling. I like the crash rating. Um, you know, the room was okay on the inside. I felt I felt it should be a little bit higher end for the price. By the way.
Total tested price 35,025. Um, you know, I, I see what they're trying to do with that dash panel, but it just looked very plain to me. I don't know, I, I, I didn't find that as a plus, but I'm afraid a lot of manufacturers are going with that way anyway, that is the 2024 Encore Sport touring all wheel drive edition Time for me to say I'm Fred Staab. I am Last Jackson. We're going to see you down the road. Take care. Bye.